I don't understand your "functionality" vs. "authority" distinction.
I maintain that Wikipedia has *de facto* five levels of AUTHORITY. Now, the users on each level may have different roles and responsibilities; they may carry out different functions.
But I maintain that each category of users has power over all the users in the lower categories.
Jimbo can pull the plug on the machine, arbitrarily fire any developer, block any user, etc. The developers can erase a user account, grant or revoke sysop rights. Sysops can block unsigned users.
That is a hierarchy of power, like it or not. By the way, I never said I favored such a hierarchy. I am just describing the status quo.
There are five levels of POWER in our community. If we agree that such is the case, then let's start discussing what responsibilities they should have: if you will, what their "functions" should be. There's always some improvement to be made, right?
Ed Poor
On 11/11/02 2:15 PM, "Poor, Edmund W" Edmund.W.Poor@abc.com wrote:
I don't understand your "functionality" vs. "authority" distinction.
Again, there's a doctor, a plumber, and a fry cook in a room. Who has more authority? Who has more moral authority?
The Cunctator wrote:
On 11/11/02 2:15 PM, "Poor, Edmund W" Edmund.W.Poor@abc.com wrote:
I don't understand your "functionality" vs. "authority" distinction.
Again, there's a doctor, a plumber, and a fry cook in a room. Who has more authority? Who has more moral authority?
It depends! Is somebody having a heart-attack? Are they being sprayed by water from a broken pipe? or Are they simply all feeling hungry?
Ec
Ed Poor wrote in part:
I don't understand your "functionality" vs. "authority" distinction.
I maintain that Wikipedia has *de facto* five levels of AUTHORITY.
There are five levels of POWER in our community.
I don't know exactly what "functionality" is supposed to mean, but there is definitely a difference between power and authority. You alluded to it in your description of the developer level, although not with exactly those terms.
Power is purely factual; it's what you can do if you decide to. Authority is normative; it's what you're authorised to do. Power without authority, if acted upon, is abuse of power. Authority without power cannot be acted upon, but should be; to rectify this, authority must be backed up with power.
"functionality", AFAICT, could mean either of these, or something else entirely.
-- Toby
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