On 02/05/07, Jeff Raymond <jeff.raymond(a)internationalhouseofbacon.com> wrote:
Andrew Lih wrote:
> Yes, and during this entire crisis there were
over a dozen active
> admins in the IRC channel double checking, sharing info, asking for
> advice, reacting to the onslaught and watching each others' backs.
Yes, wonderful, a whole bunch of people in an IRC
channel (probably the
private one) with no real accountability or oversight other than to
eachother making decisions based on law.
Great idea, folks.
I urge you to read and respond to my post earlier today about this
precise problem:
http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikien-l/2007-May/070335.html
The Tyranny Of Structurelessness by Jo Freeman -
http://flag.blackened.net/revolt/hist_texts/structurelessness.html -
is one of my favourite essays on emergent hierarchies: if you pretend
there's no hierarchy, one will emerge out of your sight and bite you
in the backside. (I'm unconvinced its solutions, particularly electing
everyone, are directly applicable here - just about every process on
English Wikipedia even resembling a vote rapidly turns into an insular
committee or a lynch mob.)
There are those who consider cabalism as a bad thing on English
Wikipedia and the source of all problems. Unfortunately, with 4330
frequent editors and 43,000 occasional editors a month, no-one is
going to know everyone. So people will cluster with those they do know
just to get anything done. Pretending this can be suppressed, and
particularly pretending this can be suppressed by suppressing talking
about it, is denial and avoidance.
- d.