There is conflict on the German Wikipedia; constructive dispute or harassment - sometimes it's hard to tell. The existing community as well as new contributors complain about rude communication online and a lack of efficient regulatory mechanisms.
As conflict management is a central task when writing an online encyclopedia collaboratively the community administers already edit wars, vandalism and manipulation quite effectively. But culture of onwiki communication seems to exclude people from contributing and conflicts bind volunteers in less fruitful discussions.
I will show key research findings concerning different interpretations of conflicts in the three phases of the de-Wikipedia. Although meaning and perception of conflicts changes over time each phase has its achievements and challenges.
To make constructive conflict possible again, I would like discuss our new multimodal approach with the community to improve conflict management onwiki.
Speakers: Vera Krick