On Dec 9, 2007 11:08 PM, Relata Refero
<refero.relata(a)gmail.com> wrote:
The cyberstalking list saw the !! email, which
contained a vast error
of judgment, namely the implication that an obvious returning account
was a disruptive returning account; that error of judgment was
unchecked, in that nobody appeared to correct it prior to an
(undiscussed on-list) block; the list appears to contain several
respected editors.
The audience of a mailing list is substantially smaller than
Wikipedia's noticeboards, so mistakes are less likely to get noticed -
I think that's the #1 problem. And everyone I know is swamped by
email.
Those may well be the reasons why it happened, but that still doesn't
change the fact that it _happened_. The fact that it happened is the
problem, and events subsequent to the actual block IMO caused more
damage to Wikipedia's credibility and reputation than the actual block
itself did.
If something like this were to happen again in six months, what should
we do differently? Or better, how can we reduce the possibility of it
happening again in six months?