G'day Dan,
On 23 May 2007 at 21:36:12 +0000, "Fred Bauder" fredbaud@waterwiki.info wrote:
Consensus never trumps policy.
I thought policy was made by consensus?
It's a pickle, eh? That's why Buzzwords are Bad, kids.
Perhaps a better way to put it is that consensus never trumps core principles (e.g. NPOV, being an encyclopaedia, being free content). Consensus can certainly trump policy; consensus can rewrite policy. Heck, who needs consensus? You and I can trump policy just by going out and saying "No, fuck that." (I do this a lot). So long as you're doing the Right Thing ...
The important things to remember are: Consensus Stamp of Approval does not make it appropriate to do the Wrong Thing. Nor can people stop Wikipedia being an encyclopaedia by voting on it. Not even if it's a really, really big vote, with all the people from CVU and Esperanza and Concordia and so on voting to destroy the project. It just can't happen.
I think that's what Fred was trying to say. And if it wasn't, it damn well ought to have been.
Cheers,