Agreed - it is clear that the meaning was a group of people deciding that the community process was not getting the result that they wanted, and that they should take action themselves (even though they did not have a mandate to act).
The kinds of comments on Requests for Review of Admin Actions typify this atmosphere, where a complaint that someone has abused their admin powers might be met with 'Good' or a comment to the effect that admins should not be constrained by rules or guidelines, or accountable for their actions.
Mark
--- Jim Cecropia jcecropia@mail.com wrote:
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Well, "lynch mob" has a meaning in US culture beyond literally "stringing someone up" "extra-judicially." It refers to an atmosphere in which the question on the table which can be stated: "We're fed up this guy, podners, what're ya gonna do about it?" I see some of that here. I've had an unpleasant run-in in an issue in which 172 was a part, and I do think he is too aggressive and arbitrary; but I've also come to realize that he is one of the best contributors to Wikipedia. This shouldn't give him (or anyone) a "pass" to become a "super-user," but I think our efforts should focus on how we can get experienced contributors to follow certain basic rules without "banning," which is an insult, rather than a time-out. Maybe it's not possible, but I think the desire for collegiality should make us think.
To return to the "lynching" issue, when Clarence Thomas was being hammered for allegedly saying "Long Dong Silver" to an aide, he finally described the process as a "high-tech lynching"; noone thought he literally meant that someone was going to string him up, but everyone got the point, and it characterized the atmosphere correctly. Also, BTW, the classic example of lynching in literature is probably "The Ox-Bow Incident."
Cheers!