JAY JG wrote:
Wikipedia would not be able to handle 43 Vogels. Even 10 would tax its current resources and structure. If 1 in 4000 is intelligent, coherent, and motivated, Wikipedia is in trouble.
I don't think so. Remember my constant mantra: the purpose of our community is to write a high quality neutral encyclopedia. Our openness is a means to that end, and a very excellent one we should respect highly.
But if 43 Vogels show up, I'll personally ban them all if necessary, and that's that. That's not likely to be necessary, because we're pretty good at devising community-oriented solutions to such problems.
I appreciate your determination, but banning doesn't work for some people; people with dialup accounts, for example, who are unafraid to create multiple sockpuppets. How many socks did Cantus use to carry on his recent war? How many has CheeseDreams created?
I admit I'm just projecting a doom and gloom scenario, but I think what has saved us so far is the fact that most of the troublemakers are either stupid or not organized or both. That could change; in my view, it will change.
Quality is what we're all about. Getting it right is what we're all about.
I've been speaking lately about some research that I've done about how wikipedia is actually written. It isn't the product of millions of people writing one sentence each: it is the work of a small (in the hundreds) and mostly close-knit community. This community must be (and _will be_) respected in our values of NPOV, quality, getting it right. And if some random Nazis have to be removed, then so be it.
No one within this community should ever think that I respect our principles of openness more than I respect the community itself. So I will not ride the ship of openness to the bottom of the ocean.
It's very encouraging to hear that.
Jay.