On 6/29/05, Michael Snow <wikipedia(a)earthlink.net> wrote:
Michael Turley wrote:
The blocking feature makes newbie biting much
easier, which is not a
good thing.
...
Regarding "domination". I chose the word to best express why *I* am
uninterested in a particular subset of admin tools. I prefer
persuasion to force. I have no current interest in tools of force
here at Wikipedia; I intend to test the boundaries of wikilove, good
reason, and persuasion.
...
Finally, the rollback feature, as far as I can tell, is unique, in
that it is a very valuable editing enhancement, but is the only one
that doesn't have any powers of enforcement behind it.
The rollback feature *is* a power of enforcement, just like blocking is,
in the rhetorical framework you're using (other people prefer the
rhetoric of janitorial tools). Blocking doesn't have any additional
powers of enforcement behind it either, as we regularly find when
dealing with vandals who can edit from multiple IP addresses. Rollback
is just as susceptible to use in biting newbies as blocking, although
people may differ on the degree of seriousness involved.
Reverting is widely considered a "slap in the face" to the person being
reverted. If we are to use your rhetoric, then I don't see how we can
avoid considering it an instrument of force. If you really are such a
wiki-pacifist as you claim, and prefer persuasion to force in all
circumstances, then you shouldn't be interested in having the rollback
function either.
--Michael Snow
No, this is incorrect.
Blocking users and locking pages exert complete dominance over either
the other user, or the page in question. From what I know, rollback
exercises no control at all over the other user, and no more control
over the page than regular editing because unlike the other two I
mentioned, rollback doesn't foreclose the other person's ability to
re-edit.
Reversion is a bit of a slap in the face, but it's a tool that every
editor possesses equally. No single user has a monopoly of force.
Where there is no monopoly of force, people either live in a constant
state of warfare, learn to get along together, or appeal to someone
who does have overwhelming force to apply.
From what I know of it, rollback is merely a more
convenient way to
accomplish an edit. It doesn't eliminate the possibility of
the
rollback being reverted like a block or lock does.
--
Michael Turley
User:Unfocused