Perhaps if you're a scientist the experiments are better designed. I, for one, often create experiments simply to see if something will work better than it did before. I believe that is the definition being used here by Jimbo. Moreover, most people seem to hold this definition of the word.
Finally, despite all the philosophy regarding human nature, I will continue to apply good faith in this situation until such time as I feel that it can not be used. Yes, we as humans tend towards centralization of control and of all things for the purposes of simplification; I do not see that as being the root cause of this issue, though. There was a problem, and it demonstrated an inherent problem in the system. To solve that problem steps have been taken in an attempt to see if the problem will be corrected.
--Martin
On 12/7/05, The Cunctator cunctator@gmail.com wrote:
On 12/6/05, Martin Osterman stonewallgrant@gmail.com wrote:
Perhaps my newness to the encyclopedia (member as of March, 2005) has
left
me feeling naieve. However, I'm inclined to give Jimbo the benefit of
the
doubt. He says it's an experiment, so I'm inclined to go with that.
On what grounds do you suggest that this is a "permanent policy change"
in
the guise of an experiment?
Primarily because experiments are better designed. I think part of the problem is that what I'm thinking of as an experiment is different from how Jimbo's using the word. He's probably just using it to mean "I'm making a change and I'm not 100% certain of what will happen, even though I'm pretty sure it'll be good."
Whereas I expect "experiment" to mean "I'm making a change and I don't know what will happen, but I've put in place mechanisms to measure as many of its effects as I can, so that I will be able to determine whether it is good or not."
My suggestion is also based in a little appreciation for the immutability of human nature, which suggests that all institutions institutionalize, that is, tend towards restrictiveness, hierarchy, and centralization of control. Steps in that direction are rarely reversed. This is a small step, but its direction is clear. _______________________________________________ WikiEN-l mailing list WikiEN-l@Wikipedia.org To unsubscribe from this mailing list, visit: http://mail.wikipedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikien-l