[Foundation-l] Jimbo's authority (on "global bans")

[George Herbert]

On Thu, Mar 25, 2010 at 12:49 PM, geni <geniice at gmail.com> wrote:
> On 25 March 2010 02:51, Tim Starling <tstarling at wikimedia.org> wrote:
>> Gregory Kohs wrote:
>>> Point of clarification... does Jimmy Wales have the authority to
>>> impose a "global ban" on a user?
>>
>> Yes, Jimmy has always had such rights, and he continues to enjoy broad
>> community support.
>>
>> -- Tim Starling
>
> No he doesn't. However he didn't actually impose a global ban in this
> case but it is unlikely there are any significant wikimedia projects
> that would not block the individual in question on sight.

Both the "yes he does" and "no he doesn't" sides are asserting and
assuming rather than reporting a known quantity.

There has been no organized or widespread attempt to either ask Jimmy
to give it up or to take it away.  I can name a number of individuals
who assert that should happen, but there's no poll, no project, no
policy proposal to do so.

We simply don't know what the community actually feels about it, in
part because Jimmy uses the power so sparingly that very very few
people ever encounter it firsthand.


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