Vicki-
That power is supposed to be used only to enforce
an already-existing
ban: it was created to deal with Michael's endless aliases and can
reasonably be used in any similar situation. It doesn't mean that any
sysop--of whom, as you note, there are many--can exclude someone
from Wikipedia. That way lies instability at best.
It was always allowed for developers to ban signed in users in cases of
obvious vandalism. Now that sysops have the same ability, I see no reason
why it should remain limited to people such as myself.
I agree with Vicki on this. Anything more than a short term "emergency"
ban needs to be a community decision. In the case of enforcing an
already-existing ban that community decision has already been made.
Vicki's stability concerns are very real. RK has been a sysop. It is
certainly conceivable that he would apply the same interpersonal skills
to that role as he has to his discussions of anti-semitism.
Ec