A few months back, a Michigan State grad student was soliciting participants for interviews to be used for his Masters thesis. He found some, and the thesis is out now.

It is thesis-ly entitled

WIKIPEDIA AS COLLECTIVE ACTION: PERSONAL INCENTIVES AND ENABLING STRUCTURES

You can see it at http://www.msu.edu/~john2429/Wikipedia%20a...ve%20Action.pdf

I was one of the subjects Ben interviewed. It was about the time, maybe a couple of weeks before, I started to contribute to WR. I can't say I see anything of myself in the thesis, even keeping in mind that I had yet to develop and sharpen my critique of WP through participation and interaction on WR. I was not one of the two banned users he interviewed. I wonder who they were?

Everybody Writes, Nobody Reads

Jonny

WOW!!! GREAT READ!!! Guys you should definitly read this. While it is unjustfully pro-Wikipedian (I doubt he participared in controversial articles the way I did), it is a good material to understand the phenomenon.

I like this quote he provides:

Each man is locked into a system that compels him to increase his herd without limit - in a world that is limited. Ruin is te destination toward which all men rush, each pursuing his own best interest in a society that believes in the freedom of the commons. Freedom in a commons brings ruin to all. (p. 19 of his thesis)

I really think that reading such materials and our more critical vision of Wikipedia could really help us build a better project, the true stuff for which Wikipedia existed for before the entire system corrupted.