User blog comment:Dopp/Meet More Wikians with Improved Profiles/@comment-3569803-20110801235055/@comment-1025281-20110802004015

Godisme, how is that damaging content? How does a user page (which will never be read unless the user actually does something) somehow "damage" the quality of articles and other written material on the wiki which are written by regular and dedicated contributors? There's no "damage". There's just extra lines in recent changes which can be ignored at will, and if that's the "damage" you refer to, it's pretty trivial.

Social networking features, if applied correctly to wikis, are not a waste of time. As I elaborated in a previous comment: "Especially considering the topic and audience of many wikis, sticking too strictly to the Wikipedia trail doesn't encourage people to contribute and make the wiki better in any way. The important thing to realise is that people are inherently social creatures and dislike being alone for extended periods of time. Better profiles help to get rid of that feeling of loneliness and make users feel more "part of the group" and more easily recognise that there are "real people" around." It's about helping the less tough and determined to stick around and (even if it is only eventually) be useful.