Monday, March 20, 2006

ArmchairWiki

Todd Zywicki, who almost has the name for it, points out this new project.
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2 comments:

B said...

This is an interesting idea.

Lots of people who are dissatisfied by mainstream sports journalism have suggested that if you open up the data and analysis you'll end up with a much higher quality product. A problem, however, has been the inevitable tendency of people to have very different ideas of quality. Or what they want in their sports coverage.

Lots and lots of fans want to go somewhere where they can be surrounded by folks who share their interests and general opinions. They also put a premium on loyalty (to team, favorite players, etc.). Go to webboards like those hosted by ESPN or Boston.com or RealGM or hundreds of others and you'll wade through thousands of posts that come across as (ego alert) pretty rabid and stupid. But then they obviously appeal to a very large number of people, suggesting I'm just in a small demographic that wants something different.

The interesting contrast to this seems to be the middle ground created by the now-infamous Sons of Sam Horn. While anyone can read their content (or most of it), they have restricted membership to a few thousand people and are very quick to purge folks who cut against the grain. It helps that their core membership is very serious about having a more sophisticated conversation about sports.

I suspect using Wiki technology will lead to the largest segment of users crowding out all others. Or, given my bias, a descent to the lowest common denominator.

4:19 PM
maz said...

RE: Armchair Wiki

Given the level of discourse on some of the websites which you've pointed us to over the years, I agree. And I think we've discovered, even in our own little corner of cyberspace, how easy it is to degenerate even just a step or two in the wrong direction if you're not careful (guilty as charged, your honor.) Sons of Sam Horn is indeed the exception, not the rule.

The only mitigating thing I can think ArmchairGM has going for it is that there's a huge interest in this sort of fantasy GM stuff (case in point). Maybe with a modified SOSH approach, or even just the new registration tack that Wikipedia has taken, they'll be able to foster civility.

8:28 PM

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