This thing has really gotten out of hand.
Wikipedia has grown so large that it is no longer possible to rely on
so-called soft security.
A small community like Ward's Wiki (which is chiefly about software
development) or MeatBall (which is about creating online communities)
which has a HIGH RATIO of readers to writers, can rely on soft security.
Every change is read by dozens of Recent Changes junkies.
The days when a single admin (like Maveric in his heyday) could be "on
duty" for several hours at a time and single-handedly hold back the tide
of vandalism -- well these days are forever gone, my friends.
Sorry, but we are the victims of our own success. And it takes the full
attention of a dozen admins to counter one determined troublemaker.
The arbitration committee was created, not for vandals and
troublemakers, but for long-running personality conflicts or
style/content disputes. But when there's a troll loose in the dungeon,
we need to the authority to act quickly and quarantine the problem.
I did not plan to be the one to force the issue; I had hoped to avoid
even the slightest hint of "unilateral action", but todays' crisis
seemed to call for what we might call "citizen's arrest". Responding to
repeated calls for help, I blocked a user and all his known puppet
accounts. This action requires immediate review by the Arbitration
Committee.
If the committee wants to unblock him before making a decision, that's
fine. That's what Fred and all them are supposed to do: figure out how
to handle a case where everyone else has given up. If they want to keep
the block in place while they investigate and make up their minds,
that's fine too.
Ed Poor