On 4/14/06, Ian Tresman <it(a)knowledge.co.uk> wrote:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Policies_and_guidelines
The Wikipedia policy and guidelines pages says that one way that
policies are decided, are by Jimbo himself.
Does Jimbo have to physically update the policy page himself for his
word to become law, or do his mailing list comments on policy
clarification carry equal weight, or does the community have to
decide on his comments and have a consensus?
When Jimbo makes a public statement which is clearly a statement of
policy, it is policy. The question of if it must be put on the policy
pages is somewhat moot, because someone should just go ahead and do so
as whenever he makes such a comment.
This isn't as odd as it might sound. The policy pages on the Wiki are
constantly evolving, and it can be difficult for someone who isn't
busy traveling around the world promoting Wikipedia to track where the
appropriate place is... much more difficult for someone who is.
Here is an example of Jimbo setting policy without, as far as I'm
aware, updating the policy pages:
http://mail.wikipedia.org/pipermail/wikien-l/2005-May/023760.html ...
In may times, Jimbo's raw decision alone doesn't make for great policy
language... so thats another factor why we should not expect him to
always update the policy directly. It's fine for users to enhance the
policy beyond his statements, so long as they remain true to his
intentions... the standard practice of distributing editing and
Jimbo's own ability to execute oversight should ensure that is the
case.