User:Brian McNeil/Random musings

It is interesting to reflect on how Wikinews has developed since I first signed up around three years ago. At that time you could look in on the project in the morning, check recent changes, and you would see everything since you last looked the previous evening; five articles a day was a good day. Today, it is somewhat of a letdown if we don't make ten in a day, which - all things considered - is pretty good for such a small team of what? 15-20 dedicated volunteers. Yet, we're hitting around 500-1000 edits per day, something that would be interesting to compare to the early days of Wikipedia. You really can't make a comparison with the Wikipedia of today, it is the 800lb gorilla that nobody can ignore.

There have been ups, there have been downs, and there has been some internal strife during my time here. Neutralizer became such a disruptive force within the project that an arbitration committee was formed. Those around at the time of that "strife" will recall that the disruption was not limited to Wikinews and his determination to use every and any wiki platform to attack and criticise the U.S. government had cross-wiki consensus established that he cease and desist or get reported to his ISP. In the run up to that I made an effort to steer him away from articles where his belief was that Wikinews was a glorified mouthpiece for the U.S./Israeli POV. It was a waste, and when I gave up and spoke frankly I was briefly blocked for "great incivility". Yes, I have a block log; this will come as no surprise to some of the more conservative (with a small "c" - not in political terms) community members who have perhaps not experienced trolling and disruption elsewhere.