After listening and reading some comments at the WMF Metrics Meeting today,
I have a few other thoughts. These aren't directed at anyone in particular,
and I hope other people will comment in this discussion.
* With regard to adding, clarifying, or changing rules: the situation may
be different in different wikis. For example, ENWP has a very large and
complicated set of community policies; smaller wikis may have few or no
written policies. I'm reluctant to add to the cobweb of policies on English
Wikipedia, but perhaps for some wikis it would be helpful to set up new
rules that go into greater detail than "be civil".
* At community meetings and conferences I attend, the attendees are almost
unanimously polite and considerate. How can we take that same atmosphere
onto online spaces?
* Would it help to increase the number of administrators on some wikis? If
so, how do we do this in a thoughtful way? There are tradeoffs to be
considered.
* How can we help good-faith and competent administrators to feel good
about what they do, and help to motivate them to keep doing it?
* To borrow a comment from Sumana: how do we balance freedom of expression
with hospitality? We tend to be strong proponents of freedom of expression;
can we simultaneously be strong proponents of civility? ("Civility" does
not necessarily mean "free from disagreement"; rather, I'm hoping that we
can have disagreements in a civil manner.)
With those thoughts, I'm going to give myself a vacation from reading
mailing lists for the next few days before I get trouted by Marti for being
here instead of working on LearnWiki. I hope other people will share their
thoughts on this topic.