On 10/28/07, Oldak Quill oldakquill@gmail.com wrote:
On 28/10/2007, Anthony wikimail@inbox.org wrote:
On 10/28/07, Oldak Quill oldakquill@gmail.com wrote:
Wasn't anon page creation turned off by Jimmy (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Village%20pump%20%28tech... If so, wasn't that a Foundation action (if Jimmy was just acting on his own, where is this stated?)?
It wasn't a Foundation decision. I'm not sure where this was stated publicly, though.
Jimmy Wales announced an end to anon page creation on this list (http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikien-l/2005-December/033880.html): "Today, as an experiment, we will be turning off new pages creation for anonymous users in the English Wikipedia."
I had taken "we" to mean the Foundation. It certainly wasn't a community (and therefore wasn't a project) decision.
I think the "we" meant Brion, but maybe someone else flipped the switch. "Originally Anonymous page creation was originally presented as Jimmy's sole initiative." And some emails I had with people back when this proposal was announced confirm that.
I'd say it was a project decision, just not a community one. Doesn't Jimmy Wales retain some sort of monarch role in the English Wikipedia? De facto, he did in December 2005, as evidenced by his ability to single-handedly implement the experiment we're talking about.
If the English Wikipedia wants any chance at community governance, they've gotta come up with something more realistic than "consensus".