[Foundation-l] Can a wikimedia-b list be setup

[Ray Saintonge]

Jeff V. Merkey wrote:

>I share with you my views and observations of the current "We" and where 
>it should be opened to embrace
>a broader view of humanity.
>
>There are three things that
>motivate human beings I have always seen true in my 46 years on planet 
>earth in career and life advancement.
>
>Knowledge, Power and Money.
>
>In business, anytime I ran across a person who was solely motivated by 
>power and not money, I fired them
>at the first opportunity. I did so because my experience has taught me 
>that people who are motivated by power
>and other intangible ideals are dangerous to organizations and 
>collective efforts and will always put themselves
>and their self-serving desires above the good of the whole. People who 
>are motivated by money are very
>predictable and easy to manage and are solid contributors to any 
>organizations success. Their patterns
>are inherently easy to anticipate and accomodate.
>
The people who are motivated by power are especially dangerous to those 
who already have the power. 

Those motivated by "other intangible ideals" (i.e. ideologues) are not 
self-serving.  They see their ideology as being for the good of the 
whole, and will readily sacrifice themselves in order to have their 
ideology prevail. They make great suicide bombers, but tend not to stay 
in that business for very long.

I agree about the money-motivated, but these are not the people that you 
can count on for a lot of imagination.  The really bright ones become 
MBAs where they can strive for the pinnacle of incompetence.  This 
permits them to do an excellent job in the most complex of routine tasks.

>By giving people the chance to express power over others with admin 
>status, etc. a large majority of the current
>community are in this first group and are there for the power and 
>control aspect over Wikipedia's direction by
>either oppressing others or combining into a cohesive front. There are 
>also a lot of folks who are there solely
>for the benefit of knowledge and increasing their skill. Almost none of 
>the folks in the class motivated my money
>are even present or represented. They exist outside of the community.
>
The Wikipedia admins who most severly exercise power are little more 
than drill sargeants who like everyone to march in step with all arms 
swinging in unison to the same height.  They are motivated more by order 
than by power. 

>My observation of the community is that it is comprised of folks 
>motivated by the pursuit of pure knowledge, and
>those motivated by desire for power and to use it as a platform for 
>various platforms. What I am talking about
>is balancing its composition to embrace an element that is currently 
>absent. An element to concert it into something
>that will endure as an institution into the far future.
>
Those motivated by knowledge or by altruism tend to pursue their goals 
without considering how events around them influence their goals.  They 
can be frustrated by the power games of the order freaks.  They will 
listen to reason, and reconsider their views in the light of new 
arguments.  They are most frustrated when opponents refuse to provide 
reasonable arguments for their actions.

Ec