[WikiEN-l] Don't remove a WP:OFFICE tag put there by Danny

[Michael Snow]

Delirium wrote:

> Jimmy Wales wrote:
>
>> Delirium wrote:
>>
>>> I didn't say anything quite that extreme, and contrary to Jimbo's 
>>> assumption, I'm not particularly angry about it either.  I'm just 
>>> worried that the current policy of letting some people go "over the 
>>> head" of editors by taking things to the Wikimedia Foundation, which 
>>> then deals with them in a top-down manner, will introduce systemic 
>>> bias into the encyclopedia.
>>
>> Current policy does not let anyone go "over the head" of editors and the
>> Wikimedia Foundation does not deal with them in a "top-down manner".
>>
>>> This leads to some articles having different policies than other 
>>> articles,
>>
>> This is false. 
>>
> Come on Jimbo, you're better than this.  The email quoted above just 
> consists of "ur wrong", with no suggestions as to why.  I must confess 
> to being as confused as The Cunctator as to what you mean by such 
> blatantly counterfactual assertions.

I think that would be part of why Jimbo followed his post with an 
apology for being snippy and blunt.

> 1) How is someone calling up the Wikimedia Foundation and getting a 
> page protected not going "over the head" of editors, and not acting in 
> a "top-down manner"?  Even if justified in some cases, it's clearly 
> doing just that.

See my previous message for an explanation of why these terms are not 
good descriptions of the situation. They're obviously rhetorically 
convenient, but if the objective here is to get Jimbo and the Foundation 
to agree to adopt your rhetoric, it should be clear that no good can 
come of that kind of discussion.

> 2) You have explicitly stated that we ought to treat articles on 
> living people in a different manner than other articles.  Isn't that 
> "some articles having different policies than other articles"?

I don't think that general statements about various groups of articles 
amounts to having different policies applied to those groups. Saying 
that we should take special care with articles on living people, or 
controversial topics like the Middle East, is not a policy as such, it's 
a policy consideration. Is there actually a policy that applies 
differently to articles on living people?

--Michael Snow