[WikiEN-l] Re: [Wikipedia-l] Educating newcomers

[Magnus Manske]

Toby Bartels wrote:

>What *would* help with decentralising administrators' power
>is mav's idea of automatic old hand status.
>  
>
Decentralising administrators' power? Has that been a problem lately? On the contrary, I think. The desire for voting originates not in a strong, central decision-making, but in the lack thereof. We don't get anything done because there *is* no central authority at all saying "OK, let's do that". Because there are too many people giving too many opinions over too long a time, until noone cares about the topic anymore, or knows who wants what for which reasons, and there is never ever a point where a decision is reached.
On the few occasions I remember when some "central authority" made a "final" decision, there was usually few resistance. Everyone said "well, if *Jimbo* says so...", glad that someone made a decision.
Voting, for us, is not a way to get rid of the landlords who've been suppressing the poor village people. It's a way to canalize the flood of opinions so we won't drown in them.

Magnus