Geoffrey Burling wrote:
Of course, Jimbo's best solution for dealing with the growing distance between him & the average Wikipedian is to travel & meet more -- which he is doing. But Jimbo is one person, life is short, & the number of Wikimedians is great.
If I was in Jimbo's position and was wanting to improve my understanding of the average Wikipedian, I think a relatively easy way to do it would be to get myself a sock puppet account and do a little editing _as_ an average Wikipedian. I'd try out the things that are the sources of controversy, such as AfD or the use of certain types of sources. Get into disagreements with some average Wikipedians and see what they think policy and standard practice really are. Continuing the monarchy analogy, this would be sort of like the Prince and the Pauper.
Perhaps he already does this. In which case, never mind. :)