I should have noted that the hyperbole might apply to Fred's position as well, not just Chip Berlet's. My point was intended to comment on the general situation, not any one person's involvement.
--Michael Snow
-------- Original Message -------- Subject: Re: [WikiEN-l] Bad And Wrong Policy/Procedure/Guideline Date: Sat, 4 Nov 2006 05:27:56 -0700 From: Fred Bauder fredbaud@ctelco.net To: English Wikipedia wikien-l@Wikipedia.org CC: Fred Bauder fredbaud@ctelco.net, Michael Snow wikipedia@earthlink.net References: mailman.1134.1162588000.25378.wikien-l@Wikipedia.org 454C3843.9090606@earthlink.net
On Nov 3, 2006, at 11:50 PM, Michael Snow wrote:
Rob wrote:
On 11/3/06, David Gerard dgerard@gmail.com wrote:
Have a look at the arbcom pages some time. Fred Bauder seriously proposed some time last year that Chip Berlet should not be allowed to edit articles about the LaRouchians because - hah! - his expertise on the subject meant he was too involved.
Did he actually say that "expertise" should be a disqualification from editing or did he say that due to his experience Berlet may have a preconceived notion that the LaRouchians were all nuts and should thus be disqualified?
After allowing for some hyperbole in this description of Berlet's views regarding LaRouche supporters--at some point, when all the experts have reached the conclusion that the earth orbits the sun, you can't disqualify them from writing articles that describe the solar system, simply on account of their vehemence in making that argument in the past. In particular, when people show that they can write neutral prose in articles, it should matter very little that they express strong views on the talk pages.
--Michael Snow
I don't think I said any such thing in the first place.
Fred
This will have to be forwarded to the mailing list if it is to appear there.