then LDC wrote:
There's two issues there: as for upload privileges,
those in favor
of restricting them to logged in users make a good
case, so I'll make
that happen soon.
The second issue is should the Wikis share uploads.
I'm of the
There is a third issue, which we saw in spades on the
Phase II
software: once someone is logged in, we will no
longer see that person's IP and
therefore will have no way to block that person--and
there will most
certainly be people who log in solely to upload files
that should not be
uploaded, and who will deserve to be blocked.
This problem could be solved by reinstating the
UseModWiki feature of
revealing the IP of someone who is logged in simply
by hovering the
mouse over the username. It worked quite well, even
on my dynamic IP--each
time I logged out and back in whatever I did on
Recent Changes would
reflect the IP I had assigned me when I did it. I
would love to see the
feature returned.
cheers,
kq
Better idea; Reinstate a type of �trusted hand� status and name it something like �old hand�. Old hands would be users that have been around for at least 30 days and have made at least 30 edits (status would be automatically granted by the software when those two requirements are met � there could be more than a 30 edit requirement if that is deemed necessary). Then have the software only allow old hands, sysops and developers the ability to use the upload utility. This would be grandfathered in for current users.
I would further suggest that old hands would also have the ability to edit protected pages and use the administrative move feature (I don�t know if we should restrict the possible �vote for� feature to old hands though). Then the only special privileges sysops would have would be pure meta functions; blocking IPs, manually setting user status, deleting pages and protecting/unprotecting pages.
Having a 30 day/30 edit requirement ensures that users are exposed to wikipedia long enough to become familiar with our naming conventions, policies and guidelines. Whether they actually do pay attention is up to them. If needed their status could be reset back to just �user� by a sysop. Alternatively, sysops should be encouraged to upgrade the user status of any user that �gets it� early.
I see no reason why we should prevent long time users from editing protected pages and moving pages and their history. I also don�t see any need to /ever/ have to block the IP of a long-time logged-in user. Why then would this information be displayed, even to a select few? Furthermore, how is it going to be possible to associate a user with an IP on the blocked page? Even though I trust this won�t be abused, the existence of the possibility of abuse could be chilling to some.
Allowing sysops the ability to block anyone, anytime might be viewed by some as strengthening the perceived quasi-cabal we have now into a real one. I have mixed feelings on whether to allow the display of IPs of non-�old hand� users though�This might still be a good idea, but then to see the IP of an �old hand� all a sysop would have to do is reset the user status of the �old hand� to just �user�. To prevent this type of activity from going unnoticed logs should be made.
Besides, there are only about a dozen active sysops and the protected pages need to have more maintainers (It�s tiring to constantly to have to review and take requests on what to put on or edit on protected pages by well trusted long-time users � I would prefer to just edit their edits in the wiki way). Having an �old hand� status would also help a great deal with the upload issue � those that want to use wikipedia as just a server are going to have to ; 1) create an account, 2) log-in, 3) make 30 valid edits and 4) wait 30 days.
--mav
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