John Lee wrote:
On 3/8/07, Ben Yates <ben.louis.yates(a)gmail.com>
wrote:
Isn't Jimmy just supposed to be the
proverbial head of state at this
point, no longer the commander in chief?
The last time I checked, the arbcom's powers are derived from Jimbo, not the
other way round, so Jimbo had every right to act, since he is superior to
the arbcom in hierarchical terms.
It's kind of vague, really. Historically, the Arbitration Committee
took over the roles Jimmy previously exercised. Informally, he
currently heads it (from afar, mostly), and has authority to veto its
decisions, appoint/remove members, etc. Even more informally, he does
so in accordance with community approval (elections, the policy
ratification vote, etc.). At one point Jimmy was also formally in
charge, but now in hierarchical terms the Foundation's Board of
Directors would be, with Jimmy retaining informal/customary authority
over some English-Wikipedia-specific processes. Now that authority over
the community is mostly effective because the community tacticly
approves of it, so teasing out which has priority is tricky. =]
-Mark