User:Wikidemon/sandbox/expertocracy
 | 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. |
 | This page in a nutshell: Wikipedia is not an expertocracy: On the Internet nobody knows whether you're a dog - or a Macarthur Fellow -- and that's a good thing |
Background
[edit]Being an expert in a subject, any subject from particle physics to trainspotting, is a wonderful thing. It brings pride, awareness, understanding, and for some, recognition, awards, formal positions, and money. Believe it or not, we even have some noted experts on Wikipedia, though you have to look hard to find them. Most are incognito, or at least they don't brag.
Experts who really know their stuff and are used to being treated accordingly often face a severe problem adjusting to life here on Wikipedia, the "encyclopedia everyone can edit". As often as not they get into disputes and are stymied by other editors who have but a fraction of their intelligence, insight, and knowledge. If that.
Then they lose their cool. They they pull rank, they express displeasure, they make accusations and hurl insults. They become obsessive to force their understanding of the WP:TRUTH through repeated aggressive edits. They tell someone off. They make a legal threat. More likely then not, they throw up their arms, quit Wikipedia on their own, or get thrown off, to rejoin the real world where they spread their news that Wikipedia is an idiotic place run by amateurs, and never gets anything right. Some even assign class projects to students, proteges, and think tank associates, to test it out and find for themselves what a pointless, biased, inaccurate, or hoax-able place Wikipedia is... which sometimes results in their charges getting kicked off Wikipedia as well.
If this is happening to you, it isn't too late! You're a smart, capable person. You mastered a subject a million times more dificult than Wikipedia. So if you can just take a deep breath, count to 2^10 and make yourself some tea, and more importantly, listen to what others are saying instead of assuming they are idiots, maybe this can all work out. If you stick around you may become one of the many tenured PhDs, high-powered lawyers, groundbreaking artists, or professional athletes who have learned to love and contribute here.