Abe Sokolov wrote
I concede that Wikipedia is no longer the small
community it once was, but
rather an increasingly complex and cumbersome organization comprising
thousands of user, meaning that attention to procedure is crucial if the
project is to be manageable. The problem is not the bureaucratization of
Wikipedia in and of itself but rather how Wikipedia is being
bureaucratized.
Don't see it myself. I think I could edit WP for a couple of weeks before
meeting any signs of central control or 'bureaucracy'.
If Wikipedia is serious about its goal of creating an
encyclopedia, it
must
develop a conflict resolution process that bans users
who make nonsensical
edits, not those who are reverting them.
I think WP is serious. Nonsense postings are pushed to the margins, as far
as I can see (forgive me if I'm not much interested in Larouche issues,
which I think are barely relevant outside the USA).
Larry Sanger's advice
(
http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2004/12/30/142458/25)
should be taken seriously while the project is still salvageable.
I actually thought Larry had it wrong, basically. Not that deferring to
those who know what they are talking about is wrong for WP - it is obviously
the right approach for example for me, a generalist, to take in many cases -
but that there was some way deference could be plumbed in to the wiki.
Charles