[Foundation-l] The High Priests of Wikipedia

[George Herbert]

On Tue, Jun 8, 2010 at 7:30 AM, Amory Meltzer <amorymeltzer at gmail.com> wrote:
> Good?
>
> "Though the Wikipedia has more than 12 million registered users, its
> inner core consists of roughly 1,700 administrators who possess the
> ability to reject edits, lock down pages from further editing, and
> deem entire entries unworthy. But the real power lies in the
> Wikipedian equivalent of the College of Cardinals -- some 200 to 300
> super-administrators who may banish transgressors for life and chart
> the wiki's strategy and direction..."
>
> With the exception of the first two numbers, nothing there is wholly
> or remotely true.

I think that there's a definite point to that.  There are a few core
admins and core vocal engaged users who are "super-users" in the sense
that we've generally mastered the policy and political stuff inside
and can get things done, either directly or by doing the right thing
process-wise.  I don't know how far out to draw the line, but
somewhere between 250 and 500 people all told is probably a reasonable
guess.

How much influence we hold over content is a more complicated
question.  Most of those super-users believe in the value of inclusive
consensus in a strong way.

With that said, WP:BITE is a constant problem...


-- 
-george william herbert
george.herbert at gmail.com