Psychologist finds Wikipedians grumpy and closed-minded

This article is weird for a few reasons:
"a team of psychologists surveyed 69 Israeli contributors to the popular online encyclopedia, comparing them with a sample of 70 students matched for age and intensity of internet use." So who does this "finding" target- just the Israeli contributors?

"heavy users of sites such as Digg and Twitter may have similar characteristics. "People who prefer online social behaviour tend to have higher levels of social anxiety and lower social skills," he says."
Let's realize that "sites such as" would put all us CURRENTERS in this category!

Personally I do not have "low social skills". I'm a people person who loves socializing and public speaking but also likes contributing to online sites like Current and Twitter. Not to mention that I'm trying to expand my "internet presence" as an artist, but I wouldn't say that everything I do is about ego as this article would suggest.

In any event, I think it's good that people who are afraid to socialize or have anxiety about it are able to communicate with the world despite that!

White and nerdy.

Gotta love broad sweeping statements that add little insight and have very little usefulness!

I'm socially inept and this proves it

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Interesting study. I hope more are to come along the same lines. But even if we assume that study to be sound, it really doesn't mean that the same applies to Current users. From what I can tell the generalizability has not yet been established. Different sites may attract different users and I can imagine the differences to have a wide spectrum.

What would a psychological profile of psychologists have to say?

did he find all his information on wikipedia? hehe

Wait a minute, anti-social misanthropes use the internet to compensate for their lack of social skills?

WHO KNEW?!

Reminds me of all the studies produced prior to the late 70s that found "homosexuals" to be more likely to lead unhappy lives, more likely to be addicted to drugs, etc.

Designing a study (inadvertently or not) that chases a stereotype, predisposed to come up with a certain conclusion. Eventually more studies will float to the surface to pinpoint what's really going on here.

I've actually always wondered who sits down and adds information to wikipedia; I know tons who use it but none who contribute

I'm with DeliaTheArtist on this. Firstly a sample of 70 people is hardly representative and "People who prefer online social behaviour tend to have higher levels of social anxiety and lower social skills" is complete rubbish and applies to any form of online activity & not just people who contribute to Wikipedia

Just because you contribute to sites like Wikipedia & as Delia says Current for that matter, doesn't mean you lack social skills. You could have another study of 70 people and find the complete opposite in that, people who contribute to social sites are far more social than people who don't.

Make A mistake and you are sent to the SANDBOX

Can you Say

[kon-duh-sen-ding]  

showing or implying a usually patronizing descent from dignity or superiority: They resented the older neighbors' condescending cordiality.
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