Dear Dr. C:

I fear we may be talking past one another.  

No one in this thread has ever suggested eliminating all museum-written
labels and using only visitor comments. 

The majority of Wikipedia articles are written by people with some expertise
in an area.  However, the wiki does indeed allow anyone -- regardless of
qualification -- to write and edit articles.  This is beyond dispute; the
items you post confirm the open nature of the wiki process. 

(The proposal to "validate" certain articles would not change the open
nature of the wiki.  Nor would it result in paid, or even expert, editors. 
I feel compelled to note that you were the person who first implied that
Wikipedia spent a lot of money on editors vetting every item.  To dismiss
this argument as "not important" when you uncover evidence to the contrary
is disingenuous.) 

Again, no one is proposing that a museum allow visitors to write all labels.
But the wiki model shows that, if this were to happen, it would not
necessarily be a disaster.  No, the remarks of four patients do not replace
the training of one doctor.  But the collected knowledge of four hundred or
four thousand soldiers do comprise a body of information not present in the
writings of a single historian. 

Finally, you have a couple of times referred to the ICOM definition of
museums.  Taken from their code of ethics, it is as follows: 

“A museum is a non-profit making permanent institution in the service of
society and of its development, open to the public, which acquires,
conserves, researches, communicates and exhibits, for purposes of study,
education and enjoyment, the tangible and intangible evidence of people and
their environment.”

(A fuller definition is included in the statues, available here
http://icom.museum/statutes.html#2 ) 

I see nothing in this to require that all labels be written or overseen by
museum professionals or other experts.  If I am missing some crucial
passage, please provide a link so I may read the correct document. 

Eugene Dillenburg

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