On Fri, 22 Nov 2002, Jimmy Wales wrote:
Well, it was a good point, so I'm glad you sent it
to the list.
Banning is a "necessary evil" in the short run. And quite possibly in
the long run, although I'm optimistic about alternatives.
It's an evil because of the dangers of the slippery slope.
The dangers involved in the *current* context are highly overrated and
much too much worried about--since *yer the man* who does the banning in
these cases!
I can understand of course that you want to openly admit the dangers of a
slippery slope; this is because you rightly want people to know that it's
extremely important that the power not be abused.
But as a matter of fact, we--the vast majority of us--do trust you, and
those of us who do not either don't know you, or wouldn't trust *anyone*
with the power (most likely on purely ideological grounds).
Larry
--
"We have now sunk to a depth at which the re-statement of the obvious is
the first duty of intelligent men." --George Orwell