Charles Mackay Would Likely Agree

A bigger entry shall be coming sometime (perhaps), but I figured I'd post some links that I read recently.

The first two are by Jaron Larnier, and though from 2006 are still valid.  Digital Maoism and Is a free market in ideas a good idea? (Actually an interview with Larnier, rather than an article by him) both deal with the same subject: is the hive mind really such a good idea when trying to make an authoritative source of information or coming up with answers to any questions where the answers are aesthetic or of a non-concrete nature?

The other two are from the Globe and Mail, and serve (at least one of them) as illustrations of the previous: Wikibook = Wikibomb is about Penguin's "Million Penguins" project, which invited Internet users to contribute to an attempt to write the next great novel — with predictable, non sequitur-ish results.  The second, Duality of Wikipedia, is only peripherally related.  It deals with a subject called "wikigroaning" — the habit for the trivial and faddish to receive inordinate attention on Wikipedia.  As the opening paragraph states:

"There was once an Englishman named John Locke, who had some interesting thoughts about political theory. There is also a character named John Locke on the TV show Lost.

"Which one has the longer entry on Wikipedia?"

That noise you likely just made? That's a "wikigroan".