[WikiEN-l] Rootology's new site

[Mark Gallagher]

G'day Guy,

> On Thu, 28 Jun 2007 00:31:48 -0700, Todd Allen <toddmallen at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> 
>> I don't think you're correct there. A lot of people use hobbies, be that
>> editing Wikipedia, rebuilding classic cars, collecting postage stamps,
>> whatever the case may be, because they personally enjoy it and it keeps
>> their mind sharp. Ruining the ability to do that for them, whether it's
>> dropping their stamp collection in a puddle or running them off of
>> Wikipedia, is not a harmless action. If it were simply "just a website",
>> and no one cares, we wouldn't have a blocking policy, we'd just block
>> whoever we damn well like (or don't like). Just a website, right?
> 
> I haven't seen many people run off Wikipedia who didn't badly need to
> be run off in order to allow the rest of the million or so editors
> enjoy the project.

This is ... *broadly* correct (FACVO "broadly").  It also depends how 
you define "run off".

I've yet to see someone receive a year ban from ArbCom who didn't 
deserve it, even when I'm sympathetic to that person (e.g. SkyRing, a 
chap for whom I have a lot of time ... but who also sorely needed 
banning).  Admittedly, I don't keep a close eye on every single ArbCom 
case, so I might have missed one or two bad ones.

On the other hand, I *have* seen plenty of potentially valuable newbies 
leave in tears after being bitten by some insensitive jerk from CVU, 
WikiProject Spam, AfD, whatever.

Sometimes the clueless idiot with the overbearing sense of entitlement 
is the Wikipedia regular, not the bloke we kicked out.


-- 
Mark Gallagher
"'Yes, sir,' said Jeeves in a low, cold voice, as if he had been bitten 
in the leg by a personal friend."
- P G Wodehouse, /Carry On, Jeeves/