Post 4: Porter's "Intertextuality and the Discourse Community"

I couldn't help but think about our current Wikipedia project while reading Porter's article. This made me relate to his opinions on a more realistic level. On page 88 of Writing About Writing, Porter states that “Intertextuality means looking for traces, the bits and pieces of Text which writers or speakers borrow and sew together to create new discourse." To me this is a the reason behind us learning about composition through Wikipedia. All texts are interdependent, the tone of our articles are all dependent on the types of articles that have been written about a our subjects in the past and future articles depend on the quality and tone of the articles we create.
According to Porter, writing "as individual, as isolated, as heroic"  is a detrimental mistake many writers make. This is because doing so creates an unrealistic view for the reader. Writing should be looked at as more of a conversation rather than a comment or statement portraying the writers views on a particular subject. Porter suggests that there is no such thing as a writer who is original, has a personal voice, is exercising a free, creative will, and whose writing comes from within. I agree with Porter when he mentions that writing is more efficient when the writer is thinking of the audience. By knowing exactly who your audience is a piece of writing becomes more of a conversation and helps the writer to think outside of their normal conventions. In order for a writer to be successful they must first learn how to be a "socialized writer." When students are taught to write for a particular discourse community instead of focusing on being completely original in writing it is easier for them to see what writing is really based on, the conversation. Writing as an individual, as isolated, or as heroic ignores the discourse community in which the writer is present, which is harmful.