Agreed - it is clear that the meaning was a group of
people deciding that the community process was not
getting the result that they wanted, and that they
should take action themselves (even though they did
not have a mandate to act).
The kinds of comments on Requests for Review of Admin
Actions typify this atmosphere, where a complaint that
someone has abused their admin powers might be met
with 'Good' or a comment to the effect that admins
should not be constrained by rules or guidelines, or
accountable for their actions.
Mark
--- Jim Cecropia <jcecropia(a)mail.com> wrote:
---------------------------------
Well, "lynch mob" has a meaning in US culture beyond
literally "stringing someone up" "extra-judicially."
It refers to an atmosphere in which the question on
the table which can be stated: "We're fed up this guy,
podners, what're ya gonna do about it?" I see some of
that here. I've had an unpleasant run-in in an issue
in which 172 was a part, and I do think he is too
aggressive and arbitrary; but I've also come to
realize that he is one of the best contributors to
Wikipedia. This shouldn't give him (or anyone) a
"pass" to become a "super-user," but I think our
efforts should focus on how we can get experienced
contributors to follow certain basic rules without
"banning," which is an insult, rather than a time-out.
Maybe it's not possible, but I think the desire for
collegiality should make us think.
To return to the "lynching" issue, when Clarence
Thomas was being hammered for allegedly saying "Long
Dong Silver" to an aide, he finally described the
process as a "high-tech lynching"; noone thought he
literally meant that someone was going to string him
up, but everyone got the point, and it characterized
the atmosphere correctly. Also, BTW, the classic
example of lynching in literature is probably "The
Ox-Bow Incident."
Cheers!
--
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