Why Wikipedia is harder to write than Linux

Interesting article at Wikipedia Review.

The article ends in asking:

It’s basically a failure of leadership. There are plenty of models of successful open source projects. Debian and Ubuntu, for example, are exemplary social contract communities with good project leadership.

For reasons unbeknownst to me, Wikipedia eschewed that proven organizational model in favor of a cultish enterprise with way too much anonymity and way too little organizational vision, and negligible attention to an ethical value system.

I suspect I have a vague understanding of why that is. I'll try to get a thorough overview of the issues together, but for the time being, here's the executive summary:

• Jimbo, having seen only small wikis in action by the beginning of 21st century, and being a staunch follower of the cult of Objectivism, irrationally believed in the concept of objective consensus.
• Some people around him bought it up, for reasons ranging from the idea's apparent neatness to personal charisma.
• History happened.