Thomas Dalton wrote:
So, shall we
remove the admin bit from anyone who admits to knowing how
to cause such damage? Or shall we immediately take steps to make it so
such damage is impossible?
You're misunderstanding the nature of risk. Our aim is not to remove
all risk, that's impossible. Our aim is to reduce risk to the minimum
possible while stilling being able to make our encyclopaedia as well
as possible.
Is that our aim?
Long ago, I used to work for market makers. These days, I do a lot of
work for Internet companies. In both lines of work, risk management is
essential. In both, the aim is to take as many well-managed,
likely-profitable risks as possible. That's how things get better, and
that's where a lot of your best information comes from.
The risk management strategy you describe strikes me as a good one for
something much more settled, like a water utility.
Do you really think Wikipedia should be that risk-averse? I had thought
it a much more dynamic enterprise, at least for the next few decades.
William