User:Renamed user 5417514488/problems with the English-language Wikipedia

This is an essay.

It contains the advice or opinions of one or more Wikipedia contributors. This page is not an encyclopedia article, nor is it one of Wikipedia's policies or guidelines, as it has not been thoroughly vetted by the community. Some essays represent widespread norms; others only represent minority viewpoints.

While the English-language Wikipedia provides a reference work of arguably fairly good quality, sensible and mature community members will note that it has a number of problems inherent in its community, notably:

there is a deep unwillingness to change for the better, and tradition seems to gain higher priority than the Wikimedia Foundation's vision,
the principles of quantity and openness, while important, gain higher priority than the values of quality and freedom,
disruptive trolls are tolerated to an extent instead of being immediately ejected,
the community is governed by the most powerful tribes, not by simple, clear, and effectively-enforced rules, a constitution, and administrators with actual authority to sensibly enforce rules with due leniency, common sense, and reasonableness,
professional experts are seen as knowledge equals with amateurs and often rejected by the latter people, not respected and given an opportunity to work alongside (as opposed to under) amateurs,
the values of respectfulness, pleasantness, constructiveness, and productivity are not effectively enforced.

In addition ...

Bureaucracy has sometimes (and dangerously) prevailed over common sense in dealing with vandalism, making Wikipedia less reliable in the meantime.
Blatantly non-notable pages on deceased persons have sometimes been kept.
Sentiment blinds and clouds the minds of many editors on issues that generate the slightest iota of passion or emotion, making them ignore any claims to the contrary on an article's worthiness to be included on Wikipedia.

More than technical changes in the project, social changes are needed in the community.

See also