User blog comment:Z!/When It Comes To New Users Exploring Wikis/@comment-5004899-20120314134534

Nobody would have any interest in editing wikis at all if there was no community aspect. The tradeoff you speak of means that more people are coming to the site, so you're gathering more readership as a result and likely more good editors who might not have made an account if not for chat. Plus, chat is an option.