WikiConflictResolution

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Wiki used to draft new standard is failing? Aaron Schwartz writes about a critical point in the life cycle of the weblog roadmap wiki [1]: Ideas and Opinions were collected, but as things are getting more concrete, we see that no conflicts have been resolved, and now a small number of people is taking things into their own hands. [2] Using a wiki led to a novel approach to standards-drafting, but it seems that the community was unable to follow the WikiWay to the very end.

CategoryCase CategoryConflict

I don't think Aaron was saying the wiki was failing. The problem was social. There were no leaders. Software can't fix that. --ss

Yes, wiki-the-online-community is failing, not wiki-as-a-platform. -- Alex

Do we really know this? There may be many reasons for failing. Consensus and refactoring might be difficult if technical features (diffs, revisions) are not sufficient. It would be worth analizing. The message might also be: wiki culture is not prepared to resolve real world interests. -- Helmut

Indeed. Aren't wikis conflict-avoiding in the first place? Due to the principle of EnlargeSpace opposing forces can accomodate without agreeing. Standards comitees (and most other conflict "resolving" entities) are only a way of politely kicking other opinions into their teeth. -- DavidSchmitt

You are right -- EnlargeSpace allows to avoid conflicts. Perhaps the community should have focused on producing OneText. The key is to use the conflict resolution pattern appropriate for the life cycle of the problem. -- AlexSchroeder

WikiConflictResolution

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