On Fri, 20 Apr 2007 00:05:56 +0200, Jimmy Wales <jwales(a)wikia.com>
wrote:
The question of whether a particular good faith gesture
in an effort to
create an atmosphere of good will which may lead to a more favorable
outcome for both sides will actually WORK or not is a valid question, of
course.
There is also the issue of whether, in reaching out to Brandt, you
will simultaneously issue a gut-wrenching blow to people who have been
savagely attacked, often for no real reason. And I don't think that's
overdramatising the issue.
There is a big difference between, say, removing his user page and
associated debates and coming to an agreement to leave each other
alone, and letting him back in. Most of his edits leading up to the
block appear in any case to be either promoting Wikipedia Review or
editing information about himself. I may have been overly superficial
in this review, but I didn't see much evidence that he is actually
here to improve the encyclopaedia. What is his goal, actually? To
continue the long-lost argument over his article? Or to actually, you
know, add good information to the encyclopaedia?
Truthfully, if he never came to our attention ever again because he
spent the rest of his days quietly Wikignoming away, the issue would
eventually be forgotten. Do you see that happening? Or are we simply
giving him more rope and standing ready to catch the chair when he
kicks it away? Will he take some more of our known good editors with
him? He's taken a few out already, as you know.
Or: Why on earth would we do this? What's in it for us, as a project?
I guess that's the bottom line, and I'm still not seeing a positive in
the cost-benefit balance.
Sorry to be negative, but I have to put myself firmly in the utterly
bemused camp here.
Guy (JzG)
--
http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:JzG