On 3/21/07, stevertigo stvrtg@gmail.com wrote:
Yes, but unsolicited discussion of private governance matters is one of the identifying marks of a troll.
What does leadership of an open-source effort to build a free and open encyclopaedia have to do with "private governance"? It's not like I'm asking questions relating to Jimbo's other business interests. And I'm not even trying to put anyone on the spot here - if certain questions are sensitive, then that's fine. But I don't see how a question like "can Jimbo overrule consensus" could be construed as a sensitive one best dealt with privately.
The overall picture I'm getting is this: 1) Jimbo is a board member on the Wikimedia foundation and one of its official spokespersons. 2) Jimbo retains one or more extraordinary powers on the English Wikipedia to do with arbitration. (if ArbCom is not confined to en, my apologies) 3) Jimbo retains an unofficial role as community leader and spokesman on the English Wikipedia. His pronouncements and directions are followed, if at all, because of trust, respect, his previous role as GodKing, and perhaps due to community misunderstanding of his role.
What else am I missing?
I would note that role 3) definitely seems to be declining. He intervenes much less frequently than he previously did, and is much less present on the mailing lists and talk pages than previously.
Steve