On 12/7/07, Wily D <wilydoppelganger(a)gmail.com> wrote:
On Dec 6, 2007 6:06 PM, <joshua.zelinsky(a)yale.edu> wrote:
Quoting Anthony <wikimail(a)inbox.org>rg>:
This may be the most important question of all.
Durova has shown herself to be a good and honourable editor. There is
a belief (true or not) that the block of !! was not an isolated
incident, but the result of an atmosphere that simply mislead her into
thinking things that were appropriate that weren't. While Durova
seems to have realised her error (and certainly increased my esteem
for her in the process), it remains worrisome that the circumstances
that lead to this mistake are not being discussed so we can avoid it
in the future, and that editors are actively inhibiting any honest
discussion of how to keep good editors off that path in the future.
Individual blame is not particularly interesting, but what went on to
lead up to this is. Ignore history, doomed to repeat it (and so on).
WilyD
I think WilyD is on the right path here. As a community, we have some
responsibility for Durova's error, too. There had been a growing level of
discomfort with the way some blocks were being carried out, but we as a
group failed to distill this discomfort to the point where we provided the
feedback to Durova and other admins that something wasn't quite right here.
It was only when her process affected somebody who was widely seen as being
exactly the kind of editor Wikipedia needs that the community reacted, and
the reaction was swift and quite possibly excessive; more importantly, all
that frustration got focused on one person (Durova) instead of the culture
that had to that point permitted relatively undiscussed blocks without
serious review of the reasons for those blocks.
There are some signs that this message is starting to get through; more
admins are bringing blocks to ANI and AN for discussion. Everyone is
becoming more sensitive to the fact that good editors and admins are
perfectly capable of seeing only trees instead of forests, and that
independent outside views really are of benefit. There are more voices at AN
and ANI reminding admins that when they are involved in a dispute with
another editor, it's better to bring in someone else rather than use the
buttons.
These are good things. We need to continue to build on the lessons we all
learned, otherwise the situation that harmed the reputation of three valued
community members will have had no benefit.
Risker
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