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Retirement
editDue to careless and thoughtless members, who fancy themselves enforcers (but without any qualifications), I now find contributing content a frequently stressful and unpleasant experience. These individuals largely don't contribute any content to Wikipedia - their life's work is to remove content, mostly without any logical/legal foundation (or due process). They back-up their view with "friendly" Admins and other like minded members of their "gang". It will be these people, striving for barn stars and perpetuating opinion by removing or resisting factual content, that will proliferate. Wikipedia will die a death of a billion cuts.
These aren't the only type of people who are destroying or undermining Wikipedia. There are others who have such strongly held incorrect opinions that they tie articles in knots (using obscure Wikipedia rules in a distorted fashion). A great example of this is "The Open", the Royal and Ancient golf championship. There is no doubt it is, and always has been called "The Open", but after a nearly twenty year fight the article has only recently been given the correct title. Prior to this it was incorrectly titled "The British Open". How can an encyclopedia have any credibility when such things can exist. This is far from an isolated case, look at Talk:Hall & Oates, to mention one.
If Wikipedia has any chance to survive, the governance of the platform has to be improved. The lone rangers and their opinion posses shouldn't be rewarded with barn stars, but have their behaviour analysed and be held accountable where appropriate.
I will be removing my contributions to wiki commons too. To quote Network: "I'm as mad as hell and I can't take this anymore."
Now I know I'm free of this nightmarish platform, I can feel my stress levels lowering. Maybe courtesy vanishing will feel even better.
Another user (PhilOSophocle) on their Talk page expresses similar sentiment, but more eloquently than I have here.
Wikipedia
editImagine a world without Wikepedia, it would have been easy to invisage 20 years ago - now, impossible. I often say it is my primary research tool, but that honour probably goes to the Search Engine. However, frequently all the good links and information are right here in-the-pedia - no extra effort required, so I guess that makes it primary after all. Thanks to all the good people who make this the most powerful non-commercial resource the world has ever known. I can't wait for the future!