[WikiEN-l] A question to a "wikipedian"

[Anthere]

--- daniwo59 at aol.com wrote:
> Hi!
> 
> I am a little annoyed by Martin's recent antics,
> regarding the unblocking of 
> vandals, not to mention his defense of the most
> obvious cases of extreme 
> vandalism (the Zog incident comes to mind). It is
> very difficult to ban someone on 
> Wikipedia--in fact, the number of permanently banned
> users I know of is just 
> six (HJ, Ark, Lir, Michael, DW, Zog, some of whom
> had various incarnations). 
> The ability to block an IP (and not a user name) is
> used to prevent kids from 
> adding grafitti to the site. In most cases, it is
> effective, and those vandals 
> disappear once it becomes more challenging to edit.
> It is not some instance of 
> eternal damnation. If the person apologizes and
> begins to really contribute, 
> they are welcomed back. Even in the serious bans
> above, people have been told 
> that if they reform their behaviors they can return
> and continue to contribute. 
> Discuss it with Jimbo and they will be welcomed
> back. Most don't because they 
> have no interest in coming back. 
> 
> Wikipedia is a project with a stated
> objective--creating an encyclopedia. Its 
> objective is not to create an ideal democratic
> society a la Martin's 
> perception of one. Nor is it a dumping ground, where
> anyone can put any crap they want 
> in the name of free speech. It is a place that works
> best by consensus and 
> compromise--not by making abrupt decisions that this
> must be the policy, come h
> ell or high water. That is why I was opposed to
> making a final decision on the 
> date format and spelling policies. Look how much
> time that wasted from the 
> overriding goal, when a compromise of allowing
> people to do what they want seemed 
> to be working fine for the most part. Unfortunately,
> it was Martin pushing 
> that finalizing agenda again. 
> 
> The end result of all this is that some of the
> serious long term contributors 
> have left--Zoe, for one, was one of the most
> prolific Wikipedians and a real 
> defender of the project against vandalism. While
> Martin is certainly prolific 
> on the Recent Changes, a quick look at his past 500
> changes show that his work 
> is over 90 percent focused on users' Talk pages, and
> most of the rest on 
> contentious pages, where it is bound to flame the
> fires of dispute.  
> 
> What I would like to see are some solid
> contributions--an article culled out 
> of a Talk page does not count---before wasting our
> time with the Vandal 
> Liberation Front. Instead I wonder when he was made
> a sysop whether it was to police 
> it over the rest of us or to further the goal of
> creating an encyclopedia. 
> 
> Danny

Have you understood the principles upon which
Wikipedia is built ?


__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
SBC Yahoo! DSL - Now only $29.95 per month!
http://sbc.yahoo.com