On Darwinism and Wondir

If a change to an organism is to be successful, it must serve some purpose and it must allow the organism to survive in preference to its natural competition. Wondir has evolved, bit by bit, since long before I took any notice of it, but for it to survive without becoming no more than a niche animal - too specialised, like the sabre-tooth, to survive once its prey has gone - the next couple of evolutionary steps will prove to be most important.

I've written about the problems I see with the Wondir model, and I've written about the joys of being a Wondir contributor. Now that I've had time to reflect on what I've seen and thought, I can predict.

Wondir's main rival in the cannibalistic interactive knowledge market seems to be Google Answers, but I would proffer Wikipedia as just as big a threat. Many of the answers to questions I've seen on Wondir have linked to the wiki, or quoted from it or at least plagiarised from it; the best ones have been informed by wikipedia. This is certainly true of many of my own answers. To do justice to the question asker, I often read up on a given subject at wikipedia. I use it to confirm what I knew, to check facts and get the names of important theories, and often I use it as inspiration.

But what does this mean for Wondir? Is it competition? Returning to my initial speculation, suggesting the niche nature of the board, then yes. There is a great danger that those question askers arriving at Wondir because it offers something that Google Answers charges for will leave disappointed, because Wondir is not the same animal. Is Wondir a suitable place to ask in-depth questions? Is it reasonable to post a question that would require an investment of time of the answerer, or in these cases would it be better for that person to head over to wikipedia and leave the board to those who use it in its true spirit?

What then do I think is the true spirit of the Wondir board? Simply put, its existence is based upon its reactiveness, its spontaneity. Wondir contributors pride themselves on replying to a question as quickly as possible (ironically, the Hawaiian translation of 'wiki wiki'), often getting in an answer within minutes. What happens to a question that cannot be answered so quickly? It moves down the board, lost and forgotten as other questions arrive that demand attention. A question that moves past page 5, say, of the board is as good as lost. I've looked for myself - there are some damned fine questions in the deeper reaches of the system that I would like to answer but is there any point? Will anyone read it? Is the question asker still listening, or has he or she looked elsewhere at this point?

Arguably (and I'm hoping to generate an argument - or at least a debate), Wondir is a reflection of modernity, a mirror into which we gaze. Its short-comings highlight our own, and its illumination to outside observers on the zeitgeist is more valuable than the throw-away questions one sees asked time and again. The bad grammar, the incomprehensible questions, the requests for information that could have been found with a copy and a paste into Google's search engine, the replacement of depth and consideration by speed and efficiency - all this could be describing the world in general, and not just a question and answer board.

Praise be to those whose hard work rewards the unworthy. At the time of writing, a dog breeder by the username of jevette has contributed more than 11,300 answers to the community, and it would be irresponsible and inaccurate to say her efforts have all been in vain. I have now answered over 100, and some have proved memorable, directing my thoughts away from where they usually reside. But what has become of my time? Have I provoked a discussion with my words? Have my answers been challenged? Has anyone else noticed the questions I've taken so long to answer, now that they're as far away in Internet terms as the Moon is from London? Has anyone else had their thoughts moved elsewhere, in new and exciting directions?

I hope so. For, if Wondir is the zeitgeist posing as an online answers board, it would be depressing if the answer to this question was no.