The IT Skeptic - Comments for "The Folly of the Crowd"

terminological debasement

skeptic — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 19:16:48 +0000

Phew, I nearly deleted that comment as spam :)

Good point about terminological debasement: Web 2.0 started off as this fine high ideal but then got debased and diluted by vendors, analysts and commentators until it means "whatever we do now that isn't so last millenium" (and thereby tainted by that embarassing e-commerce stuff - this time it is REALLY different so please buy my start-up before the angel money runs out)

Yeah, like whateverz, init LOLERSK8Z@11

Chris J — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 18:18:52 +0000

Iz you sayin' I don't no nuffin?!?! I no dat Distric 9 is like a well gud moovie init?!!? Vote Palin 4 prez!! Britney is a faker!! Long live KFC, whoop-whoop :P

Ahhhh, web 2.0, I thought that was supposed to be Tim-Berners-Lee's semantic web, not user-driven content? As my alter-ego would say, "yeah like whateverz, init!?!?!"

I like a good rant now and then - keeps me young

skeptic — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 03:23:00 +0000

Burrado's model of contributors and reviewers works only when the population is large enough.

If we focus on Wikipedia or Linux we miss what is happening away from the show-piece successes at the top. Lower down is a flood of twaddle and dodgy software. I've seen the damage "free" software can do within a corporation which can be just as much as the damage done by MS-Access. And I've seen the self-appointed unqualified experts who promote misinformation (many would include this blog in the latter category)

My response to the CatB is here. "You get this stuff on trestle tables in the Bazaar and it isn’t going to last long."

Hold on there it's just a technology.

zennippon — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 20:31:07 +0000

Hi Skep,

What's caused this rant against "web 2.0" ? It's just a piece of technology that has provoked some debate. Sure people have jumped on the bandwagon and claimed it will change the world. May be it will, maybe it won't.

Save your energy for the Corporates who are selling some pretty crap software marketed as the answer to all Business's ills. Now that is something worth ranting about.

PS: I found your blog on a Google search. Damn fine blog. Until then I thought I was the only one who thought like I do. (Now that's very web 2.)!).

What is a Web 2.0 ???

buraddo — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 18:49:24 +0000

Are you talking web 2.0 as social network, the participation web or the mash-up web.. All these have been considered "web 2.0"..

I don't think the participation philosophy of the online environment is so much a crowd, but a virtual team of experts, supported by a collection of people in other roles. The crowd mentality is very lowest common denominator.

If you consider open source communities, you have 5-15% committers (true experts), 20-25% contributors (testing, bug fixing, documentation, evangelism etc. etc.) and the rest a consumers (pay for for community, provide requirements etc..).. The main concept of the participation web is the "Cathederal and the Bazaar" or "Innovation Happens Elsewhere".

Wikipedia articles are predominantly created by individuals who have knowledge which is not contained in the wikipedia organization. They have reviewing mechanisms and other governance processes to validate this experitise (no debates on how effective they are).

Its about the best of best cannot exist with the construct of a single organization.

$0.02

Brad Vaughan