charles matthews wrote:
<snip>
What that leaves is no clear "Deliberative Function". That seems to be the missing constitutional jigsaw piece, for enWP. This list and various places on the site itself are partial answers to the need to discuss policy and other matters.
Charles
I think that's what those of us bitching about Jimbo's ostensible abandonment of involvement in the wiki have in mind. There's nobody on Wikipedia who can absolutely put his or her foot down on something and say, "Stop it you f*ckfaces, that's just wrong". Some members of the arbcom could theoretically do that, but at the risk of eroding what authority and semblance of impartiality they have. IMO, a number of major disputes related to the userbox wars, wheel warring, etc. could probably have been resolved with less acrimony had Jimbo, Angela or someone else with their level of authority stepped in. As things stand, there's a lot of confusion and ill-will within the community, still breeding and stagnating.
Hopefully this all part of the wiki process, and we'll manage just fine without Jimbo. Still, I have my doubts about how much longer we can continue to scale the old model.
John