User:Qq/Laissez faire

Hierdie blad is 'n opstel. Dit gee die mening en idees weer van enkele gebruikers op Meta-Wiki, wat besmoontlik nie deur almal gedeel word nie. Dit is ook nie 'n amptelike beleid of riglyn op Meta-Wiki nie, maar kan wel so geag word op ander Wikimedia-projekte. Voel asseblief vry om hierdie bladsy soos benodig by te werk, of gebruik die kletsblad om groot wysigings voor te stel. هذه نصيحة. تعبر عن آراء وأفكار بعض مستخدمي ميتا-ويكي لكن قد لا تكون مدعومة على نطاق واسع. هذه ليست سياسة على ميتا-ويكي، لكنها قد تكون سياسة أو إرشاد في مشاريع ويكيميديا آخرى. لا تتردد في تحديث هذه الصفحة عن الحاجة، أو استخدم صفحة النقاش للتعديلات الجوهرية. Гэта эсэ. Яно выражае думкі і ідэі некаторых вікіпэдыйцаў або мэта-вікійцаў, але не абавязкова зьяўляецца меркаваньнем большасьці. Гэта не старонка правілаў Мэта-Вікі, але можа зьяўляцца правілам або рэкамэндацыяй у іншых праектах Вікімэдыі. Вы можаце абнаўляць гэтую старонку як заўгодна, а можаце скарыстацца старонкай абмеркаваньня, каб прапанаваць істотныя зьмяненьні. Ovo je esej. Sadrži misli i ideje nekih korisnika Meta-Wikija, ali ne mora nužno da bude široko prihvaćen. Ovo nije pravilo na Meta-Wikiju, ali može da budi pravilo ili uputa na drugim projektima Wikipedije. Slobodno promijenite ovu stranu po potrebi ili koristite stranu za razgovor za veće promjene. Açò és un assaig. Expressa les opinions i idees d'alguns usuaris de Wikimedia o del Meta-Wiki però pot ser que no tingui un ampli suport. Això no és una política del Meta-Wiki, però pot ser política o guia d'estil en algun altre projecte Wikimedia. Sentiu-vos lliures d'actualitzar aquesta pàgina quan faci falta o utilitzeu la pàgina de discussió per a proposar-hi canvis d'importància. Toto je esej. Vyjadřuje názory a náměty některých wikimedianů nebo uživatelů Meta-Wiki, ale nemusí mít širokou podporu. Toto není pravidlo Meta-Wiki, ale může to být pravidlo, doporučení či vodítko na jiných projektech Wikimedia. Můžete tuto stránku aktualizovat podle potřeby, nebo použijte diskusní stránku k návrhům větších změn. Traethawd yw hwn. Mae'n mynegi barnau a syniadau o rai defnyddwyr Wicimedia neu Meta-Wici ond efallai nad oes ganddo gefnogaeth lydan. Nid yw hwn yn bolisi Meta-Wiki, ond y gallai fod yn bolisi neu ganllaw ar brosiectau Wikimedia eraill. Mae croeso i chi ddiweddaru'r dudalen hon wrth angen, neu ddefnyddio'r dudalen sgwrs er mwyn cynnig prif newidiadau. Dette er et essay. Det udtrykker visse Wikimedia- eller Meta-Wiki-brugeres holdninger og idéer, som ikke nødvendigvis deles af et flertal. Dette udgør ikke en politik på Meta-Wikien, men det kan være en politik eller et regelsæt på et andet Wikimedia-projekt. Du er velkommen til at ændre denne side efter behov, eller til at foreslå større ændringer på diskussionssiden. Dies ist ein Essay. Er drückt die Meinungen und Ideen einiger Meta-Wiki-Benutzer aus und wird eventuell nur von wenigen Benutzern unterstützt. Dies ist keine Richtlinie aus dem Meta-Wiki, kann aber Richtlinie oder Leitsatz in anderen Wikimedia-Projekten sein. Tu dir keinen Zwang an und aktualisiere diese Seite falls nötig, oder benutze die Diskussionsseite, um größere Veränderungen vorzuschlagen. Dies ist ein Essay. Er drückt die Meinungen und Ideen einiger Meta-Wiki-Benutzer aus und wird eventuell nur von wenigen Benutzern unterstützt. Dies ist keine Richtlinie aus dem Meta-Wiki, kann aber Richtlinie oder Leitsatz in anderen Wikimedia-Projekten sein. Tun Sie sich keinen Zwang an und aktualisieren Sie diese Seite falls nötig, oder benutzen Sie die Diskussionsseite, um größere Veränderungen vorzuschlagen. Αυτό είναι ένα δοκίμιο. Εκφράζει τις απόψεις και τις ιδέες κάποιων χρηστών του Meta-wiki αλλά ενδέχεται να μην έχει ευρεία υποστήριξη. Δεν είναι πολιτική του Meta-wiki, αλλά ενδεχομένως είναι πολιτική ή οδηγία σε κάποιο άλλο εγχείρημα του Wikimedia. Μπορείτε να ενημερώσετε αυτή την σελίδα αν χρειάζεται, ή χρησιμοποιήστε την σελίδα συζήτησης για να προτείνεται μεγαλύτερες αλλαγές. This is an essay. It expresses the opinions and ideas of some wikimedians or Meta-Wiki users, but may not have wide support. This is not policy on the Meta-Wiki, but it may be a policy or guideline on other Wikimedia projects. Feel free to update this page as needed, or use the discussion page to propose major changes. Esto es un ensayo. Este texto expresa opiniones e ideas de algunos usuarios pero éstas no tienen un amplio consenso. Esto no es una política de Meta pero sí puede serlo en otros proyectos. Sea usted libre de actualizar esta página o use su página de discusión para proponer cambios mayores. See on essee. See tekst väljendab Meta-Wiki kasutajate ideid ja arvamusi, kuid sellel ei pruugi olla laiapõhjalist toetust. Tekst ei ole Meta-Wiki ametlik poliitika, aga võib olla ametlik poliitika või juhtnöör mõnes teises Wikimedia projektis. Vastavalt vajadusele võite seda lehte uuendada või kasutada arutelu lehte, et pakkuda välja suuremaid muudatusi. Jen eseo. Ĝi esprimas la opiniojn kaj ideojn de iuj Vikipediistoj aŭ uzantoj de Meta-Wiki, sed eble ne havus vastan subtenon. Ĝi ne estas la regularo de Meta-Wiki, sed ĝi eble estas regularo en aliaj projektoj de Wikipedia. Laŭvole ĝisdatigu ĉi tiun paĝon laŭ bezono, aŭ uzu la diskuto-paĝon por proponi grandajn ŝanĝojn. این صفحه یک انشا است. این صفحه نظر و ایدهٔ برخی از کاربران فراویکی را بیان می‌کند اما ممکن است از حمایت گسترده‌ای برخوردار نباشد. این صفحه یک سیاست در فراویکی نیست، اما ممکن است سیاست یا رهنمودی در دیگر پروژه‌های ویکی‌مدیا باشد. آزادانه آن را به روز کنید، و برای تغییرهای بزرگ از صفحهٔ بحث استفاده کنید. Tämä on essee. Se ilmaisee joidenkin wikimedialaisten tai Meta-Wikin käyttäjien mielipiteitä tai ajatuksia, mutta sillä ei välttämättä ole laajaa kannatusta. Tämä ei ole Meta-Wikin käytäntö, mutta saattaa olla käytäntö tai ohje muissa Wikimedia-hankkeissa. Päivitä tätä sivua tarpeen mukaan tai ehdota isoja muutoksia keskustelusivulla. Ceci est un essai. Il exprime les opinions et les idées de certains contributeurs de Meta-Wiki, mais peut ne pas rencontrer le soutien des autres. Il n'est ni une règle ou une recommandation sur Meta-Wiki, mais peut l'être sur d'autres projets Wikimédia. N'hésitez pas à modifier cette page si besoin est, ou à proposer des changements majeurs sur la la page de discussion. Dit is in essay. It jout mieningen en ideeën wer fan guon meidoggers op Meta-Wiki, mar it is net sein dat eltsenien it der mei iens is. Dit is ek gjin offisjeel belied of rjochtline op Meta-Wiki, al kin dat wol sa wêze op oare Wikimedia-projekten. Fiel jo frij om dizze side wêr't dat nedich is bij te wurkjen of om grutte wizigings út te stellen op de oerlisside. Isto é un ensaio. Expresa as opinións e ideas dalgúns wikimedistas ou usuarios de Meta-Wiki pero poida que non teña un amplo apoio. Non é unha política en Meta-Wiki, pero si pode selo noutro dos proxectos da Wikimedia. Síntete libre de actualizar esta páxina se cómpre ou fai uso da páxina de conversa para propor grandes cambios. Des isch e Essay. Är druckt d Meinige un Idee vun e baar Meta-Wiki-Benutzer uus un wird unter Umständ nume vu wenig Benutzer unterstitzt. Des isch kei Richtlinie us em Meta-Wiki, cha aber Richtlinie oder Leitsatz in andere Wikimedia-Projäkt syy. Due der kei Zwang aa un due die Syte wänn netig aktualisiere, oder bruuch d Diskussionssyte go greßeri Veränderige vorschlaa. עברית: דף זה הוא מאמר. הדף מבטא את הדעות והרעיונות של חלק מהמשתמשים במיזמי קרן ויקימדיה או במטא־ויקי, אך ייתכן שאין להם תמיכה נרחבת. דף זה הוא לא דף מדיניות במטא־ויקי, אך ייתכן שהוא דף מדיניות או דף הנחיות במיזמי ויקימדיה אחרים. הרגישו חופשיים לעדכן את הדף לפי הצורך, או השתמשו בדף השיחה להצעת שינויים משמעותיים. Ovo je esej. Izražava mišljenja i zamisli nekih wikimedijaca ili nekih suradnika Meta-Wikija, ali ne mora nužno biti široko prihvaćenim niti imati veliku potporu. Ovo nije pravilom na Meta-Wikiju, ali može biti politikom ili smjernicom na drugim Wikimedijinim projektima. Slobodno ažurirajte ovu stranicu po potrebi ili rabite stranicu za razgovor radi predlaganja većih izmjena. Ez egy esszé. Néhány Wikimédia- vagy Meta-Wiki-felhasználó véleményét fejezi ki, de lehet, hogy nem kapott széles körű támogatást. Nem irányelv a Meta-Wikin, de irányelv vagy útmutató lehet más Wikimédia-projektekben. Szabadon frissítheted ezt a lapot, ha szükséges, vagy használd a vitalapot, ha nagyobb változtatást szeretnél javasolni. Isto es un essayo. Illo exprime le opiniones e ideas de alcun wikimedianos o usatores de Meta-Wiki, ma pote esser non appoiate per le consenso general. Isto non es un politica del Meta-Wiki, ma pote esser un politica o directiva in altere projectos de Wikimedia. Sia libere de actualisar iste pagina in caso de necessitate, o usa le pagina de discussion pro proponer major alterationes. Ini adalah sebuah esai. Esai ini menyatakan pendapat dan gagasan dari beberapa Wikimediawan atau pengguna Meta-Wiki dan mungkin tidak didukung oleh komunitas secara meluas. Esai ini bukan kebijakan Meta-Wiki, tapi mungkin saja merupakan kebijakan atau pedoman di proyek-proyek Wikimedia lainnya. Silakan memperbarui halaman ini seperlunya, atau gunakan halaman pembicaraan untuk mengusulkan perubahan besar. Questo è un saggio. Esprime le opinioni e le idee di alcuni utenti di Meta-Wiki, ma potrebbe non incontrare il sostegno di altri. Non è una raccomandazione o una linea guida di Meta-Wiki, ma potrebbe esserlo su altri progetti Wikimedia. Non esitate a modificare questa pagina, se occorre, o a proporre modifiche rilevanti nella sua pagina di discussione. この記事はエッセイです。何人かのメタウィキの利用者の意見と考えを表していますが、幅広い支持を得ているとは限りません。メタウィキの方針ではありませんが、他のウィキメディア・プロジェクトの方針かガイドラインであるかもしれません。必要に応じてこのページを遠慮なく編集し、大きな変更の提案にはこの記事のノートを使用してください。 이 문서는 수필입니다. 이것은 일부 사용자의 의견을 나타낸 것으로, 총의를 얻지 않았을 수 있습니다. 이 문서는 메타위키 정책은 아니지만, 다른 위키미디어 프로젝트에서 정책이나 지침으로 사용하고 있을 수도 있습니다. 이 문서를 편집하거나 주요 내용을 바꿔야 한다면 토론 문서를 이용해 주세요. Tai yra Vikipedijos rašinys. Čia pateikta vieno ar keleto naudotojų (o gal ir visos bendruomenės) nuomonė kai kuriais Vikipedijos tvarkos klausimais. Jis skirtas ne pačiai meta viki o kitiems Vikipedijos projektams. Tokius rašinius gali taisyti visi, tačiau siūlytume esminius pakeitimus pirmiausia aptarti aptarimų puslapyje. Fanoharana no eto amin'ity pejy ity. Maneho ny hevitry ny mpandray anjara sasan'i Metawiki, ka mety vitsy ny mpanohana azy. Tsy manolotra fitsipika, na torohevitra ofisialy ny votoatin'ity pejy ity, fa mety ho izy eo amin'ny tetikasa Wikimedia sasany. Raha ilaina dia ovay ity pejy ity, na mikasa fanovana lehibe eo amin'ny pejin-dresany. Ова е есеј. Во него е искажано мислењето и идеите на извесни викимедијанци или корисници на Мета-Вики, но не значи дека тоа ужива широка поддршка. Ова не претставува правило на Мета-Вики, но може да виде правило или напатствие на други проекти на Викимедија. Најслободно менувајте ја страницава, или пак користете ја страницата за разговор ако сакате да предложите некои поголеми промени. ഇതൊരു പ്രബന്ധം ആണ്. വിക്കിമീഡിയയിലേയോ മെറ്റാ വിക്കിയിലേയോ ചിലരുടെ അഭിപ്രായം മാത്രം ആണ് ഇത്. ഇത് പൊതുവേ അംഗീകരിക്കപ്പെട്ടിട്ടുള്ള ഒരു മാർഗ്ഗരേഖ അല്ല. എങ്കിലും ഇതെ മറ്റേതെങ്കിലും ഒരു വിക്കിപ്പീഡിയയിലെ മാർഗ്ഗരേഖയായി കണക്കാക്കപ്പെടുന്നുണ്ടാകാം. ഈ താൾ താങ്കൾക്ക് സധൈര്യം തിരുത്താവുന്നതാണ്. എന്തെങ്കിലും മാറ്റങ്ങൾ നിർദ്ദേശിക്കാനുണ്ടെങ്കിൽ സംവാദം താളിൽ കുറിപ്പ് എഴുതുക. हा एक निबंध आहे. यामध्ये काही विकिपीडिया सदस्यांची किंवा मेटा-विकि सदस्यांची मते आणि कल्पना मांडण्यात आल्या आहेत. त्यांना बहुतांशांचा पाठिंबा असेलच असे नाही. हा निबंध मेटा-विकिवरील धोरण मांडत नाही, पण इतर काही विकिमीडिया प्रकल्पांमध्ये हा निबंध धोरण किंवा मार्गदर्शक तत्व म्हणून वापरला जात असणे शक्य आहे. आवश्यक असेल तेव्हा विनासंकोच हे पान संपादित करा किंवा काही मोठे बदल सुचविण्यासाठी चर्चा पानाचा उपयोग करा. Ini adalah sebuah karangan. Ia menyatakan pendapat serta buah fikiran sesetengah ahli wikimedia atau pengguna Meta-Wiki tetapi tidak semestinya mempunyai sokongan yang meluas. Ini bukannya polisi di Meta-Wiki, tetapi ia mungkin merupakan polisi atau garis panduan di projek-projek Wikimedia lain. Silakan mengemaskini laman ini jika perlu, atau gunakan laman perbincangannya untuk mengusulkan perubahan-perubahan yang besar. Dit is een essay. Het geeft de meningen en ideeën van enkele gebruikers op Meta-Wiki weer, maar wordt waarschijnlijk niet door iedereen gesteund. Dit is ook geen officieel beleid of richtlijn op Meta-Wiki, maar dat kan het wel zijn op andere Wikimedia-projecten. Voel u vrij om deze pagina als nodig bij te werken, of om de overlegpagina te gebruiken om grote wijzigingen voor te stellen. Dette er et essay. Det uttrykker meningene og ideene til enkelte wikimedianere eller Meta-Wiki-brukere, men har ikke nødvendivis stor støtte. Dette er ikke en retningslinje på Meta-Wiki, men kan være retningslinje på andre Wikimedia-prosjekter. Du er fri til å oppdatere siden om det trengs, eller skrive på diskusjonssiden for å foreslå større endringer. Dette er et essay. Det uttrykker meningene og ideene til enkelte wikimedianere eller Meta-Wiki-brukere, men har ikke nødvendivis stor støtte. Dette er ikke en retningslinje på Meta-Wiki, men kan være retningslinje på andre Wikimedia-prosjekter. Du er fri til å oppdatere siden om det trengs, eller skrive på diskusjonssiden for å foreslå større endringer. Aquò es una redaccion. Exprimís las opinions e las idèas d'unes contributors de MetaWiki, mas pòt rencontrar pas lo sosten dels autres. Es pas una règla o una recomandacion sus MetaWiki, mas o pòt èsser sus d'autres projèctes Wikimèdia. Esitetz pas a modificar aquesta pagina se fa mestièr, o a prepausar de cambiaments màgers sus la la pagina de discussion. Ten artykuł jest esejem. Wyrażone są w nim opinie i pomysły niektórych wikimedian lub użytkowników Meta-Wiki, ale niekoniecznie mają szersze poparcie. Nie jest to zasada obowiązująca na Meta-Wiki, ale może to być zasada lub zalecenie na innych projektach Wikimediów. Możesz aktualizować tę stronę w razie potrzeby lub skorzystaj ze strony dyskusji artykułu aby zaproponować większe zmiany. Isto é um ensaio. Ele expressa as opiniões e ideias de vários wikimedianos ou usuários do Meta-Wiki mas pode não ter grande respaldo. Isto não é uma política no Meta-Wiki, mas pode ser uma política ou orientação em outros projetos da Wikimedia. Sinta-se livre para atualizar esta página quando necessário, ou use a página de discussão para propor alterações maiores. Acesta este un eseu. Aici sînt exprimate opiniile şi ideile unor utilizatori de pe Meta-Wiki, dar este posibil să nu aibă accepţiune majoritară. Aceasta nu are titlu de politică pe Meta-Wiki, dar poate fi politică sau ghid de reguli pe alte proiecte ale Wikipediei. Poţi să îmbunătăţeşti această pagină după cum crezi adecvat, sau să foloseşti pagina de discuţie pentru a propune schimbări majore. Это эссе. Оно выражает мнения и идеи некоторых пользователей Мета-вики, но может не пользоваться широкой поддержкой. Эссе не является правилом Мета-вики, но, вероятно, может быть правилом или руководством в других проектах Викимедиа. Вы можете обновлять эту страницу как считаете нужным или воспользоваться страницей обсуждения, чтобы предложить значительные изменения. This is an essay. It expresses th' opinions 'n' ideas o' some wikimedians or Meta-Wiki users bit kin nae huv wide support. This insae policy on the Meta-Wiki, bit it kin be policy or guideline oan ither Wikimedia projects. Cop free tae update this page as needed, or uise th' collogue page page tae propose major changes. Toto je esej. Vyjadruje názory a námety niektorých wikimedianov alebo používateľov Meta-Wiki, ale nemusí mať širokú podporu. Toto nie je pravidlo Meta-Wiki, ale môže to byť pravidlo, odporúčanie či vodidlo na iných projektoch Wikimedia. Môžete túto stránku aktualizovať podľa potreby, alebo použite diskusnú stránku na návrhy väčších zmien. Ово је есеј. Садржи мисли и идеје неких корисника Мета-Викија, али не мора да буде широко прихваћен. Ово није правило на Мета-Викију, али може да буде правило или упутство на другим пројектима Викимедије. Не устручавајте се да промените ову страну по потреби или користите страну за разговор да бисте предложили веће промене. Den här sidan är en essä. Den är inte en av Wikimedias policys eller riktlinjer, och återspeglar kanske endast författarnas åsikter. Uppdatera sidan om det behövs eller diskutera innehållet på diskussionssidan. หน้านี้เป็นข้อเขียน แสดงถึงความคิดหรือไอเดียของผู้ใช้วิกิมีเดียหรือเมต้าวิกิบางคนซึ่งอาจจะยังไม่ได้รับการสนับสนุนกว้างอย่างขวางนัก นี่ไม่ใช่นโยบายบนเมต้าวิกิ, แต่อาจเป็นนโยบายหรือแนวทางของโครงการอื่น ๆ ของวิกิมีเดีย อย่ากังวลในการแก้ไขหน้านี้ตามที่คุณต้องการ หรือใช้หน้าอภิปรายในการเสนอการเปลี่ยนแปลงใหญ่ ๆ Це - есе. Воно виражає думки й ідеї деяких користувачів Мета-вікі, але може не користуватися широкою підтримкою. Есе не є правилом Мета-вікі, але, імовірно, може бути правилом або керівництвом в інших проектах Вікімедіа. Ви можете підкорегувати цю сторінку безпосередньо, якщо вважаєте за необхідно, або скористатися сторінкою обговорення, щоб запропонувати значні зміни. Đây là một bài luận. Nó thể hiện ý kiến và ý tưởng của một số thành viên Wikimedia hoặc Meta-Wiki và có thể không được đồng tình một cách rộng rãi. Đây không phải là quy định tại Meta-Wiki, nhưng nó có thể là quy định hoặc hướng dẫn tại các dự án khác của Wikimedia. Xin hãy thoải mái cập nhật trang này nếu cần, hoặc sử dụng trang thảo luận để đề xuất những thay đổi lớn. 这是一篇论述。它只表达了部分维基人或元维基使用者的意见及观点，此等观点可能未获得广泛支持。这不是元维基的政策，但可能是属于其他维基计划的政策或指引。如有需要，欢迎更新本页面，或在讨论页提出修改的建议。 这是一篇论述。它只表达了部分维基人或元维基使用者的意见及观点，此等观点可能未获得广泛支持。这不是元维基的政策，但可能是属于其他维基计划的政策或指引。如有需要，欢迎更新本页面，或在讨论页提出修改的建议。 這是一篇論述. 它只表達了部分維基人或元維基使用者的意見及觀點，此等觀點可能未獲得廣泛支持。 這不是元維基的政策，但可能是屬於其他維基計劃的政策或指引。如有需要，歡迎更新本頁面，或在討論頁提出修改的建議。 呢篇係一篇論述。佢只表達左部分維基人或者維基元使用者嘅意見同埋觀點，呢啲觀點可能未獲得廣泛支持。 呢個唔係元維基嘅政策，但可能係屬於其他維基計劃嘅政策或者指引。如果有需要，歡迎改呢版，或者係討論頁度提出修改嘅建議。 呢篇係一篇論述。佢只表達左部分維基人或者維基元使用者嘅意見同埋觀點，呢啲觀點可能未獲得廣泛支持。 呢個唔係元維基嘅政策，但可能係屬於其他維基計劃嘅政策或者指引。如果有需要，歡迎改呢版，或者係討論頁度提出修改嘅建議。 [translate]

Laissez-faire (also known as capitalistic inclusionism or wikilibertarianism), on Wikipedia, is the doctrine that users should be free to make whatever contributions they choose (especially in non-Mainspace pages) as long as they do not forcibly interfere with the equal right of others to contribute as they choose. It especially relates to contributions made to userspace and is the result of a confluence of policies such as Wikipedia:Don't worry about performance, Wikipedia:Editors matter, etc.

Basic economic foundational underpinnings

Freedom is a necessary condition for efficient production. In a free economy, each citizen is allowed to choose their occupation based on their own preferences, skills, and economic needs, permitting a more efficient division of labor than if jobs were assigned to individuals by a central authority. A free enterprise system allows for entrepreneurial activity in which participants may open new businesses on their own initiative; this allows for the rapid organization of efforts to meet demands as soon they are perceived by individuals, without delays caused by seeking approval of a new operation by the government. As Friedrich von Hayek once asked, "Is it really likely that a National Planning Officer would have a better judgement of 'the number of cars, the number of generators, and the quantities of frozen foods we are likely to require in, say, five years,' than Ford or General Motors etc., and, even more important, would it even be desirable that various companies in an industry all act on the same guess?"

To the extent that Wikipedia can be compared to or described as an economy, it falls into the category of a mixed economy. Wikipedia follows some free market principles in that editors are free to choose what articles to work on, and they may start new articles at will. It is a phenomenon whose manifestation in real world capitalist economies was succinctly described by Thomas Carl Rustici as, "We do what we do best and exchange for the rest." But on Wikipedia this freedom is curtailed by the submission of some articles to the community's judgment of what is notable and worthy of an investment of time and effort. This is contrary to the philosophy embraced by the U.S. and Japanese free enterprise systems – the first and second most successful national economies when ranked by GDP – in which high technology is frequently harnessed to produce seemingly frivolous products such as the tamagotchi. One could easily argue that the intellectual and monetary resources poured into the development of this toy could have been more usefully invested in curing cancer or teaching students advanced calculus. This argument ignores the fact that many possible benefits of such technological developments are not immediately obvious. For instance, young people fascinated with such toys may be inspired to learn more about electronics, seek careers in technology, etc. which will require them to learn subjects such as math that they otherwise might have had little interest in. Toys are a driver of research and development; as Angelic Layer notes, "Nowhere is the demand for new technology higher than in entertainment and no entertainment field is more advanced than The World of Toys." Moreover, empirical evidence suggests that countries such as Communist Russia and North Korea that limit freedom, censor creative work, and centrally decide which product lines to invest in, are ultimately less productive, not more.

As the Property and Environment Research Center and other free market think tanks are fond of pointing out, "Incentives matter," and economic experiments at institutions such as George Mason University have demonstrated that this principles applies no less to artificially constructed environments involving human participants than to macroeconomic situations. WP:EM indicates, "Unlike most other reference works, we don't pay people to write for us, and there are very few incentives, perks or privileges associated with contributing." In a free economy, however, people engage in activities based on renumeration they will receive; as Ayn Rand points out, "America's abundance was created not by public sacrifices to the common good, but by the productive genius of free men who pursued their own personal interests and the making of their own private fortunes." What, then, motivates users to contribute? Surely some seek to advance public awareness of organizations, causes, ideas, or facts they find interesting and important, which brings a kind of fulfillment unrelated to userpages. But WP:EM also notes that there is certain userpage content "only tangentially related to Wikipedia, if at all" with the potential to "make an editor happy, or strengthen Wikipedia's sense of community and shared enjoyment."

Relaxing restrictions on userpage content could shift the demand curve to the right.

Principles of supply and demand indicate that as the price offered for a unit of labor increases, the number of units of that labor that the labor market will offer increases. That price does not necessarily have to be monetary, and indeed on Wikipedia, the compensation for editing labor always takes forms other than monetary. It stands to reason, assuming a reasonably elastic demand curve correctly indicating a connection between said content and participation in the project, that if we offer more opportunities for users to create and keep the personal content, then overall participation will increase.

Much as some Soviet citizens started black markets in the 1980s in response to unmet demands in the marketplace for imported blue jeans, rock-and-roll records, and home decor items, some users have begun opening shops for marketing signature and userpage content creation. Some in the wiki community advocate shutting these shops down, based on the idea that they contradict WP:NOT and WP:USER. Aside from the question of whether these pages technically violate policy, there is the larger question of whether policies against substantial "non-encyclopedic related material" are beneficial to begin with. Is this really the way to build a vibrant community and spur the creative, collaborative process necessary required for efficient content production? A sufficiently large economy can afford to invest surplus resources on luxuries to raise the general quality of life, as determined by the citizens themselves in the votes they cast via economic decisions. (In Wikipedia, the only difference is that the preferences are expressed through edits rather than dollars.) If we make the pie bigger – i.e. if we expand the overall base of contributions – we can afford to carve out a slice for creative userpage content.

File:Wikipedia Production Possibility.png

We may be at point W on the production possibilities frontier.

A key point of contention in the debate of whether to expand the limits on allowable non-encyclopedic content in userpages is whether the net effect will be beneficial to the project, or harmful in that it will distract from article production. The latter view seems to regard Wikipedians as already being at the A_x point on the production possibilities frontier curve shown at right, at which allocating more factors of production to userpage content production will harm article production. In reality, we may be at point W, and it may not be possible to reach A_X; our best bet may be to reach Z.

Specific proposals for harnessing wikientrepreneurialism

Under a radical version of wikientrepreneurialism, participants might be free to create and use their own software modifications on Wikipedia independently of the centralized MediaWiki development system in which modifications to be used on Wikipedia are approved from above and implemented by an understaffed group of developers. This could include plugins, scripts, as well as entirely new modules such as new communities whose link to the encyclopedia project is not immediately evident but would ultimately function synergistically with it. One theory is that if a community of political bloggers, for instance, formed via userpages, it might be possible to take advantage of that network to recruit participants for WikiProjects on political subjects, or locate people with particular expertise or interests. Even the chess championship type of pages might be a place to recruit people to help with chess-related articles. It could happen spontaneously as well, e.g., by people playing chess and citing openings which might then draw their interest to the underlying articles.

A basic principle of website design is that one wants to have sticky content, in that the site attracts people to keep coming back as well as spend long periods on the site and view multiple subpages. Wikipedia has done well at this as far as appealing to a certain demographic is concerned; many people are content coming here and surfing through the various parts of Wikipedia all day long; but that is still only a small portion of the overall English-speaking, Internet-using population and does not achieve significant market penetration into the blogging, gaming, social networking, and other non-wiki communities. Google has pursued a strategy of having their service fulfill many varied needs without requiring the user to leave Google. One can use webmail, search, chat, spreadsheets, and so on in one integrated service. They have chosen to tie together seemingly unrelated services rather than focusing exclusively on one specialty.

The stickiness fits in with Google's business strategy, which is to bring in revenue by displaying advertising to people. Our goals are different – rather than making money, we are "dedicated to encouraging the growth, development and distribution of free, multilingual content, and to providing the full content of these wiki-based projects to the public free of charge," as the Wikimedia main page puts it. That is a broadly worded goal, which allows us to add other elements (e.g. Wiktionary, Wikibooks, Wikinews) which fall into the category of what Wikipedia is not but contribute to our larger goal. Those new sites have given us our own kind of "stickiness" in that people can find definitions, browse original texts, etc. without leaving Wikimedia sites. And the stickiness through diversity of projects is probably beneficial to our own goals, as it means we can create a consistent user experience among projects, exercise control over the content, link from one to the other, etc. The merits of adding activities like social networking and blogging to Wikimedia are not as immediately obvious as those for adding services like Wiktionary, and it would probably mean a drastic shift in our philosophy and culture, which some people would not be happy with. But the Wikimedia mandate does not necessarily exclude those activities, and they could of themselves generate free content, in addition to the possibility of bringing in contributors. They might be a different type of contributor; some might be Wikipedia contributors secondarily, and interested in other activities primarily. That shouldn't be any more harmful than the fact that some people on Wiktionary are primarily Wikipedians and only go on Wiktionary when they want to transwiki something.

These ideas challenge one to take an even bigger-picture look at the Wikimedia mission statement:

“

The mission of the Wikimedia Foundation is to empower and engage people around the world to collect and develop educational content under a free license or in the public domain, and to disseminate it effectively and globally. In collaboration with a network of chapters, the Foundation provides the essential infrastructure and an organizational framework for the support and development of multilingual wiki projects and other endeavors which serve this mission. The Foundation will make and keep useful information from its projects available on the Internet free of charge, in perpetuity.

”

Can social networking, blogging, and so on fit into that picture, and if so, what is the best way to do it? A key question under this theory is, How does one decide when to stick to what they're good at, and when to expand into seemingly unrelated activities in order to get more users? Another example of the latter might be Answers.com, which started out just mirroring Wikipedia and similar reference sites and now has become a job search site, shopping network, etc. The fact that people (including some existing contributors) are spontaneously trying to use Wikipedia for social networking/blogging/web hosting suggests that those might be logical places to expand. The kind of people who like to blog, for instance, are content creators. So, they might also like to work on Wiki articles. If we draw people into our site for one activity, we might draw them into the other, just as Answers.com might draw customers for its job search service when they come there looking for a mirrored wiki article. As WP:EM notes, "our most valuable resource is neither money nor webspace, but Wikipedia's contributors." This viewpoint holds that drawing in editors is as important a strategic goal for us as drawing in advertising revenue is for the social networking sites.

The case of Esperanza and the shops

The deletion debate at Wikipedia:Miscellany for deletion/Wikipedia:Esperanza/Archive1 and Wikipedia:Miscellany for deletion/Wikipedia:Esperanza illustrates a conflict between more traditional Wikipedians and Esperanzists that is analogous to the mutual antagonism between businessmen and intellectuals described in Ludwig von Mises' The Anti-Capitalistic Mentality. While we may reject the alleged cliquishness, arrogance and general worthlessness of this defunct mini-community, we cannot extinguish such communities without also harming some productive creation:

The vain arrogance of the literati and Bohemian artists dismisses the activities of the businessmen as unintellectual moneymaking. The truth is that the entrepreneurs and promoters display more intellectual faculties and intuition than the average writer and painter. The inferiority of many self-styled intellectuals manifests itself precisely in the fact that they fail to recognize what capacity and reasoning power are required to operate successfully a business enterprise.

The emergence of a numerous class of such frivolous intellectuals is one of the least welcome phenomena of the age of modern capitalism. Their obtrusive stir repels discriminating people. They are a nuisance. It would not directly harm anybody if something would be done to curb their bustle or, even better, to wipe out entirely their cliques and coteries.

However, freedom is indivisible. Every attempt to restrict the freedom of the decadent troublesome literati and pseudo-artists would vest in the authorities the power to determine what is good and what is bad. It would socialize intellectual and artistic effort. It is questionable whether it would weed out the useless and objectionable persons; but it is certain that it would put insurmountable obstacles in the way of the creative genius. The powers that be do not like new ideas, new ways of thought and new styles of art. They are opposed to any kind of innovation. Their supremacy would result in strict regimen­tation; it would bring about stagnation and decay.

The moral corruption, the licentiousness and the intellectual sterility of a class of lewd would-be authors and artists is the ransom mankind must pay lest the creative pioneers be prevented from accomplishing their work. Freedom must be granted to all, even to base people, lest the few who can use it for the benefit of mankind be hindered. The license which the shabby characters of the quartier Latin enjoyed was one of the conditions that made possible the ascendance of a few great writers, painters and sculptors. The first thing a genius needs is to breathe free air.

In the criticism of the shops at Wikipedia:Miscellany for deletion/User:Vintei/shop, the mainstream Wikipedians swap roles, this time taking on the role of intellectuals who criticize capitalism on materialistic grounds for producing allegedly low-quality signature and userpage artistry that appeals to the masses but contributes little of serious value, which was also foreshadowed by von Mises' work:

Again there are grumblers who blame capitalism for what they call its mean materialism. They cannot help admitting that capitalism has the tendency to improve the material con­ditions of mankind. But, they say, it has diverted men from the higher and nobler pursuits. It feeds the bodies, but it starves the souls and the minds. It has brought about a decay of the arts. Gone are the days of the great poets, painters, sculptors and architects. Our age produces merely trash.

The judgment about the merits of a work of art is entirely subjective. Some people praise what others disdain. There is no yardstick to measure the aesthetic worth of a poem or of a building. Those who are delighted by the cathedral of Chartres and the Meninas of Velasquez may think that those who remain unaffected by these marvels are boors. Many students are bored to death when the school forces them to read Hamlet. Only people who are endowed with a spark of the artistic mentality are fit to appreciate and to enjoy the work of an artist.

Among those who make pretense to the appellation of edu­cated men there is much hypocrisy. They put on an air of con­noisseurship and feign enthusiasm for the art of the past and artists passed away long ago. They show no similar sympathy for the contemporary artist who still fights for recognition. Dis­sembled adoration for the Old Masters is with them a means to disparage and ridicule the new ones who deviate from traditional canons and create their own.

The political economy of Wikipedia

Although Wikipedia is nominally not a democracy in the sense that decisions are made by a process of discussion rather than by votes, the policymaking power does ultimately rest in the community. Any user may propose a new policy. It has already been established that wikicapitalism is needed for efficient creation and improvement of articles, but the need for independent, entrepreneurial initiation and guidance of production is equally as valid in the realm of internal policy debates which help form new consensuses, shaping the overarching political economy of Wikipedia. In accordance with this, opinion essays about Wikipedia-related topics are currently allowed in the Wikipedia and User namespaces, even if the views they espouse go against current Wikipedia policy and the views of the majority. Von Hayek's comments in The Road to Serfdom: "The conception that government should be guided by majority opinion makes sense only if that opinion is independent of government. The ideal of democracy rests on the belief that the view which will direct government emerges from an independent and spontaneous process. It requires, therefore, the existence of a large sphere independent of majority control in which the opinions of the individuals are formed." As Milton Friedman points out, "History suggests only that capitalism is a necessary condition for political freedom."

Criticisms

My conception of freedom. — The value of a thing sometimes does not lie in that which one attains by it, but in what one pays for it — what it costs us. I give an example. Liberal institutions cease to be liberal as soon as they are attained: later on, there are no worse and no more thorough injurers of freedom than liberal institutions.    —Friedrich Nietzsche, Twilight of the Idols

Wikipedia:Laissez-faire is not particularly objectionable, provided that there is the requirement for editors to be able to back their edits up with reason. In the absence of that requirement, aside from creating clutter, it seems to justify vandalism and trolling that, so long as vandals and trolls create new articles, there ought to be absolutely nothing wrong with their behavior.

The main argument against Wikipedia:Laissez-faire is that it either unnecessarily wastes Wikipedia resources or worse, outright encourages trolling and vandalism. It seems to totally ignore the problems of information asymmetry, the problem of natural monopolies, the existence of public goods, ignores the fact Wikipedia's goal is to create an encyclopedia and has limited funds, and therefore has no actual requirement that articles that are created either be backed by rational argument for why they ought to be included in Wikipedia. It justifies this by totally ignoring the insights of Psychology, Sociology, and Ecology on human behavior, based on the heterodox economics of the Austrian school and outdated classical liberal philosophy, which makes the ridiculous assumption of innate human rationality. For more on this, see Keynesianism, Social liberalism, and Group dynamics. Furthermore, in claiming Wikipedia cannot engage in central planning due to the arguments made by Hayek and Mises, it seems to assume Wikipedia is a quasi-government, a comparison that Mises and Hayek would've rejected themselves, since Wikimedia, being a private non-profit, non-government organization, is already subject to market forces that would push it in the appropriate direction.

Regarding assymetry of information, because users have varying degrees of knowledge about particular articles, social clusters (colloquially referred to as "troll mobs") can gather around certain topics. The fact that conspiracy theorists and other people supporting fringe views will be more knowledgeable than the average person on their token issue, they may in fact be largely successful and this problem may be addressed through active oversight by administrators and expert editors who review articles. If Wikipedia is to be considered analogical to a government, then the existence of administrators and Wikiprojects which review articles for factual accuracy can be thought of as public goods.

On monopolism, because the success of a particular edit is dependent upon the amount of people supporting it, in general, the most contentious articles will be prone to such clusters which stand in the way of the individual and rational editor from making edits. In general, freedom is a good thing, but the exstence of marginal non-coercion (commonly referred to as negative liberty) is not particularly of any value if it is not sustainable and therefore leads to a gross reduction in the amount of opportunities (see positive liberty and A Theory of Justice by John Rawls) to make edits overall, for all editors. The establishment of a policy of non-coercion may encourage vandalism and trolling, such that it brings harm even to the individual editor who may be unable to make changes to a particular page because of such clusters. An open question is: How does laissez-faire address this? If two editors are, in fact, engaged in a dispute where they edit-war, which one is violating laissez-faire? Does laissez-faire apply even in the case of bad faith or hoaxes? It's important to point out that Wikipedia is not Anarchy and Wikipedia is not a battleground.

Aside from the issues of vandalism and trolling, however, there is the argument that it would waste resources. It is often said that people aren't donating money so that users can have fancy user pages. Estimates or hard figures on how much additional money is consumed or would be consumed, by loosening userpage restrictions have not been offered by critics, so it is admittedly possible that loose restrictions on userpages may have a minimal impact on Wikipedia's finances. Jimbo Wales himself has said that the Wikipedia website is one of the smallest things in Wikimedia's budget.

Other arguments are that allowing non-encyclopedia-related content will distract users from productive edits and that allowing such activities will draw in users who come primarily for social networking purposes and make few useful contributions. Empirical evidence for these assertions has not been cited; the only experimental evidence could have resulted from Wikipedia:Esperanza which was aborted before conclusive results could become apparent. Economic history suggests the opposite; the tendency has been for productive, creative individuals to migrate to where they will enjoy greater freedom, as witnessed by the brain drain of doctors and other skilled workers from East Germany to West Germany. Did it matter that some less productive workers were undoubtedly attracted to the West along with them? The overall effect of freedom on the economy was positive.

If the example of economies throughout history holds true, Wikipedia policies that hinder the free market's tendency to reward productive labor could lead to the secession of productive workers from the project. Thomas DiLorenzo's book The Real Lincoln theorizes that the origins of the American Civil War were not primarily slavery-related, but were related more to protectionist tariffs (such as the Morrill tariff); internal improvements that disproportionately benefited the north but were paid for with federal funds; and a general shift of power from the states and the people to the federal level, which southerners were not able to reverse through the political process. It is hard not to see the parallels between (1) these federal policies' detrimental effect on Southern wealth, which led them to secede to form the Confederate States of America, and (2) the current userpage policies' detrimental effect on the reward system that was evolving at Wikipedia (in which users were compensated for their labor with the ability to socially network, keep some non-encyclopedic content on their own page, etc.), which led the affected users to leave the encyclopedia. Even attempts to offer recognition to users in the form of a "wiki-doctorate" have been suppressed by the community. We have seen the more wikilibertarian-minded users attempt to shape policy in a more free market-oriented way through Village Pump discussions, deletion debates, etc. More and more, it is becoming obvious that they are on the losing side of the policymaking "consensus." What will happen when they despair of trying to change the consensus? Maybe we should ask Sirkad.

The exodus of many productive Wikipedia users in the face of denial of the rightful rewards for their labor which the free market would have provided may be familiar to those who have read Atlas Shrugged. In that novel, the workers whose efforts were needed to keep the economy going began to withdraw from the socialist system to a haven known as Galt's Gulch, where a pure capitalist economy thrived. After their departure, the socialist economy collapsed. It is worth asking, What happened to all these users who mysteriously vanished? Where did they go? And what will happen to Wikipedia if many more of them leave?

In conclusion, there seems to be a dearth of direct empirical evidence to inform public policymaking in reference to these matters, although the theoretical and practical evidence in real world applications (not to mention Ayn Rand's novels) argues in favor of laissez faire. In making policy decisions on WP:USERPAGE revisions, a question arises as to whether Wikipedians should base their votes on conjecture and "what-if" scenarios as to what will happen if laissez-faire is adopted, or whether hard proof of the net harmfulness of the proscribed content should be required. On Wikipedia, as in a democratic society, users can use whatever basis they want for making decisions on public policy – even if those bases consist primarily on the unproven negative consequences of freedom which may well be counterbalanced by the existence of unintended consequences of restrictive regulations. It is a phenomenon familiar to any who have witnessed the erosion of capitalistic systems in favor of social democracy and other mixed economic systems which have come to dominate most of the world today.

See also

• Wikipedia:Why do you care?
• m:Wikicommunity