On Mar 9, 2004, at 05:09, Tim Starling wrote:
Erik Moeller:
That of course does not address the question what these bureaucrats are *allowed* to do.
I tried to make the bureaucrat access work across wikis but Brion was livid.
Not exactly. When we first set up the 'bureaucrat' system, somebody (snok?) snuck in interwiki control to it. This made the Sysop Cabal refuse to *allow* the people who needed it to get it (sysops on smaller wikis to manage their own affairs) on the fear that Some Bad Person would use sock puppet accounts on small wikis, trick people into getting bureaucrat access, and then make sysops on the English Wikipedia to do Bad Things.
Later, Tim tried to hack it back in. In addition to the fact that having it destroys the entire point because of the reaction (see above), the code was tied to Wikipedia's setup and not a clean thing to have in the general code.
I tested the water on giving bureaucrats the power to desysop on #wikipedia, and the answer I got was firmly negative. What I'm proposing is a minimal change, by replacing developer power with the power of a small set of users who are selected by an appropriate process. Currently, any software engineer can get shell access by putting in a few hours of work, or by bringing a unique skill to the group. It's hardly a good way to select the management of an organisation.
As developers we do *not* manage the social structure of the wiki. We are servants. We try to keep the servers running smooth and clean and improve the functioning of the wiki. I'm not sure I understand what you're suggesting be _changed_.
-- brion vibber (brion @ pobox.com)