---
title: "Wiki Culture, Reader/Writer Distinctions, and Divergence from Structured Authoring"
date: 2011-11-19
description: "$( document ).ready(function() { // Handler for .ready() called. $("
canonical_url: https://idratherbewriting.com/2011/11/19/wiki-culture-readerwriter-distinctions-and-divergence-from-structured-authoring/
---
# Wiki Culture, Reader/Writer Distinctions, and Divergence from Structured Authoring
> I'm not a wiki fan myself — I'm a structured text guy bred in the bone — but I am fascinated by the trend, and by the variety reactions to it.
> Wikis started more as a cultural statement than a technology. They were a tool for the democratization of content, the intent being to eliminate the distinction between reader and writer. In the wiki philosophy, every reader was also a writer, there was no ownership of content, and not notion of a final, finished, of blessed editions of content. The wiki was always open, always evolving, and blessed only by the consensus of the community. Today, it would style itself “occupy content”.
> What wikis have become, largely, is an unstructured CMS with only one face. A traditional CMS has two faces: one toward the author, and one toward the reader. A wiki has only one: the same face toward reader and writer, with every page having an edit button on it. Except that today the edit button is locked or hidden from most users. The distinction between reader and writer has been reintroduced and enforced. The original wiki philosophy has been rejected.
> Still, the stated motive of most people who adopt wikis for technical communication is to allow more collaboration and to open up authoring to a wider community. So some shadow of the wiki philosophy is still at work. That being the case, I think there are a couple of things that people need to understand about the wiki philosophy and its consequences.
> The first is, if you want to crowdsource effectively, you need to be open. People need gratification. If the content they contribute disappears into a black hole of moderation and curation, they don't get the immediate gratification of seeing their work published, and gratification delayed is gratification denied. You won't get a lot of content from the crowd unless you let the crowd publish.
> The second is a consequence of the first. The implication of the idea that there is no distinction between reader and writer is that the reader has to take more responsibility for what they read. The old contract between the writer and reader of technical content, that the published content had been vetted and could be relied upon uncritically, cannot be sustained in a crowd-sourced world. The reader of a wiki, like the reader of any Internet content, has to assume some responsibility for vetting the content they receive.
> By and large, readers do understand this. It is the responsibility they accept every time they type something in a Google search box. The simple fact of the matter is that readers prefer unblessed content that addresses their task and is available now over blessed content that does not cover their task or will not be available until next year. Timeliness and coverage trump all other considerations most (thought definitely not all) of the time.
> The question for tech writers is, is there a place in your hearts, and in your company's relationship with its customers, for unblessed content that enhances coverage and timeliness?

I like Mark's comment for several reasons. He brings up several key points with wikis:

- "[Wikis] eliminate the distinction between reader and writer."

- "Readers prefer unblessed content that addresses their task and is available now over blessed content that does not cover their task or will not be available until next year."

- "People need gratification. If the content they contribute disappears into a black hole of moderation and curation, they don't get the immediate gratification of seeing their work published."

- "The old contract between the writer and reader of technical content, that the published content had been vetted and could be relied upon uncritically, cannot be sustained in a crowd-sourced world."

When we talk about wikis, it's important to see them as more than just another authoring platform. As a reader, knowing that I can change the text alters my sense of the text. It is no longer the absolute word on the matter. I can be a part of the conversation; I can change the message. It is my content as much as another's.