[Foundation-l] Reflections on the recent debates

[Nathan]

I'm generally in favor of Jimmy's leadership, or the idea of project
leadership in general. See my March 27 post opposing the poll to
remove his Founder flag, on meta. I'm also strongly in favor of reform
in the area of sexually explicit imagery on Commons and other
projects, see the many threads I've started or participated in over
the past three years on this subject. A week ago, I would have said
I'd very much like to see Jimmy's leadership in this particular area.

On the other hand, leadership is more than taking unilateral action.
It's more than power, and more than authority. If Jimmy had explained
himself fully, perhaps with a statement very similar to what Mike has
written in this thread, the reaction would have been much more muted.
He may have had active assistance from the Commons community instead
of active opposition and an angry backlash. The "GodKing" status is
the result of political capital; the goal should be to provide
leadership while expending as little of that as necessary, because
once it's gone it's gone for good - c.f. Jimmy's relinquishing of
certain rights on the English Wikipedia.

Lastly, I think his recent activity has been clumsy and amateurish,
particularly prompted as it was by Fox News. For those not familiar
with Fox News, its impact and its reputation... The rest of the
mainstream media views its claims with suspicion and some degree of
disdain, and with good reason. By reacting so aggressively to Fox's
counter-factual claims, we make it harder for our allies and
responsible journalists to argue and prove that we are not guilty of
hosting "child pornography" and tolerating pedophilia. That's too bad
- as they say, the coverup is usually worse than the crime.

Nathan