On Fri, 22 Nov 2002, Jimmy Wales wrote:
(I confess: I don't understand what should go to wikien-l and what should go to wikipedia-l.)
General Wikipedia discussion goes in Wikipedia-l, English-specific Wikipedia discussion goes in WikiEN-l.
Never mind that there already exists intlwiki-l for general Wikipedia discussions; basically, the non-English speaking crowd wants to muscle in on the main Wikipedia discussion, and push aside the English-specific Wikipedia discussion into a new list. I don't have any objections, really. I think it would have been better to RENAME Wikipedia-l WikiEN-l and leave the international discussion on intlwiki-l.
When a wasp is in the house, most people try to shoo it out a window with a newspaper. They open a window wide, and then take a newspaper or magazine and launch repeated attacks on the wasp to try to convince it to fly out the window. This is a frustrating and usually impossible procedure. It is contrary to the nature of the wasp. It's exhausting and usually ends in the death of the wasp. I would imagine that some people get stung in the process.
Buckminster Fuller found a better way, a way that works with virtual certainty, with comparatively little effort. Here's what to do: close the curtains and/or shades and/or blinds on all the windows except the open window. Turn off the light in the room. Make the room as dark as possible, except for the window where you wish the wasp to go. The wasp will fly out quickly and voluntarily.
There are lessons to be learned here. In the design of proper traffic systems, it's important to not fight against human nature. Rather than expecting and hoping people to behave properly at huge intersections, it's safer to build overpasses and ramps.
In dealing with problem members, we should ask ourselves: are we shooing a wasp? Is there a better way?
The upshot of this post is that the wise way (wise ways are made to seem so with parables and the like ;-) ) is not to kick members out, and that there is a better way. (If your final question was not rhetorical, then what was the point of the post?) This means that what we just got done reaffirming, that we should sometimes kick problem members out, is not the wise way.
But goddammit Jimbo, yes it most certainly is. Sometimes you gotta use a nice big flyswatter and crush the wasp before it causes any further ruckus. We know this already, from experience.