Erik Möller wrote in another thread:
"[T]he real substance here is the destructiveness on the margins of our own community; that is what we must address. Wikimedia has cultivated a tolerance for open hostility. If we see ourselves as a community with a shared purpose, let's start acting like one. That doesn't mean blindly following the leader - I have had my fair share of arguments with Jimmy over the years - but it does mean rejecting the destructive, malicious behavior that we have seen in recent days."
Erik is right. What is happening to the community is the real issue. Even when I joined Wikipedia as a relative latecomer in 2004, the sense of community and shared purpose was still palpable. People fell out, of course, and made mistakes, but AGF wasn't an empty gesture or a rule we blindly followed. We assumed good faith because we were all here to give of our time, without payment or any benefit other than a feeling of satisfaction, to produce something that might help to educate and enlighten other people. In exchange, we hoped that others would educate and enlighten us. It was the most inspiring idea I'd ever come across, that people all over the world could unite to benefit each other in that way.
But suddenly Wikipedia became very popular, and there was more money than before, and people started jockeying for position, and now we're tearing each other apart.
Everyone involved in this, no matter how right they feel they are, has to somehow muster the strength and courage to put their individual interests to one side and focus on the project, because it really is a wonderful, unique, awe-inspiring thing we're involved in here. I think we forget this because we see it from the inside. We get jaded.
The question for good people on all sides is: what can we do now to help save and protect this community and its ideals?
Sarah