[WikiEN-l] Daniel Brandt

[Rich Holton]

Phil Sandifer wrote:
> 
> On Feb 24, 2007, at 3:28 PM, Ray Saintonge wrote:
> 
>> That absence of consensus alone contraindicates any kind of speedy
>> action.  When who shows up in a "speedy" situation that hour (not just
>> that day) makes a difference there is just too much room for abuse.
>> What happens with Brandt or any other person that wants an article  
>> about
>> himself removed is only one little corner of the problem.  A truly
>> collaborative environment has no place for debates that depend on some
>> kind of win/lose paradigm.  Speedy deletes should never be a weapon  
>> for
>> winning a POV war.  Unless something is _immediately_ dangerous it can
>> afford the time for due process.  Immediate gratification is not  
>> important.
> 
> This gets at another very, very fundamental problem, though - one  
> that is increasingly ripping the project apart at a foundational  
> level. (I am not, it should be noted, speaking here on a community  
> level. I'm talking about the encyclopedia itself.)
> 
> Our due process is capricious and based on who shows up. This is most  
> obvious on AfD, where articles are serially renominated until they  
> get deleted. The renominations are justified under the slogan  
> "consensus can change," but in practice it's not consensus that  
> changes - few of the people who voted keep the previous few times  
> even show up to weigh in. That's not consensus changing - that's the  
> equivalent of asking daddy if you can have a cookie because mommy  
> said no.
> 
> -Phil

I agree that this is a troublesome development. The more active users, 
the more of an issue this becomes. Finding a good way to fix this is not 
easy.

[brainstorm]
How about if there is a list somewhere of AFD participants. Anyone can 
add their name to the list, but an AFD can only be closed when a quorum 
(TBD) of those participants have made some comment on the deletion 
proposal. Someone will be de-listed if they have not commented on any 
proposal for a defined period. Of course, they can immediately re-join 
the list of participants at any time.
[/brainstorm]

NB: A "brainstorm" in this context means a relatively unfiltered idea, 
intended primarily to stimulate thought, modifications, and other 
proposals. Seldom will an initial brainstorm idea be accepted as is.

-Rich Holton