[WikiEN-l] Everything in Specific

[James Rosenzweig]

I will attempt to respond briefly to all the concerns
that apparently have taken flight this weekend, should
anyone care what I think.

1. Don't desysop Morwen, but do run ANTICAPITALIST off
for a while.  We need good anti-corporation dialogue
to keep articles honest, but if we shone sunlight on
this fellow, he'd turn to stone (Tolkien reference).

2. Frankly, I don't understand the "secrecy"
hullabaloo over the arbitration committee.  I know and
trust half the people on there, and if they're willing
to serve with the people I don't really know (who
comprise the other half) then I don't care if they
choose to go by a pseudonym.  If the issue is secret
deliberation, I wonder if anyone has considered what
public deliberation would look like on a wiki? 
Forgive my stodgy conservatism, but I'm most happy
with a committee that can talk things over in private.
 Without a reasonably sensible method of dealing with
the troubles we have, Wikipedia will crumble.  I would
go so far as to say I'd prefer this current system
even if it banned me: at least I'd understand that a
group of editors with the trust of a large percentage
of the people here had come to a considered agreement.
 If we don't like the makeup of the
committee.....well, that's what the annual changing of
the guard will alter.  The committee's individual
members will come and go, and hopefully their common
desire to make Wikipedia a better place will be
sufficient guide.  I trust it more, I feel compelled
to say, than whatever the hell we've been doing since
January.  Anthere, I am sure the AC misspoke, as we
have no right to ban anyone on fr.wikipedia.org. 
Certainly we at "en" take too little notice of or
concern with the other languages, and this needs to
change (in fact, I believe it is changing).  I hope
the AC will apologize, and I hope you will forgive
them.  I think there are bigger fish frying, but then
that's my opinion.

3. If someone wants to go to the trouble of
anonymizing proxies to mess with us, I say we've been
big enough to stop them before, and I'd gladly suffer
dozens of such miscreants to offer free speech to one
oppressed voice from the darker corners of this world.
 If we go about blocking anonymous proxies wholesale,
I will thrash about loudly, and doubt I will be alone.

4. As a more general plea, I would like to say that
working on this encyclopedia is a lovely thing (thank
you, Jimmy, by the way -- I've never said so to you
directly before), and meeting all of you (even those
with whom I have had horrible disagreements) has been
a remarkably life-enriching, mind-expanding gift to
me, and I wish the squabblers wouldn't break this
thing when I've just really settled down to enjoying
it.  It is a most selfish reason, I admit.  But I am
desperate to remind those who need reminding that at
the core of this place is a working, breathing
encyclopedia whose immense worth and whose vast amount
of good information has lifted it out of the reach of
a few vandals or cranks seeking to destroy.  Even at
their absolute worst, Wik and Anthony left a thin
trail through a Recent Changes page filled with the
contributions of logged-in and anonymous users from
around the world who are possessed of the crazy and
reckless notion that knowledge ought to be free, and
it is a gift thoroughly worth giving the human race to
add one's own limited experience to this place.  All I
really want to say in my ramble and bluster is that I
don't care terribly much who decides who's banned and
how we structure HTML tables or whatever it is we are
arguing about this week as long as we don't lose sight
of what this place is and is becoming.  As noted
above, if this community thought banning me would make
Wikipedia a better place, I would accept it -- there
is something happening here more important than one
person's ability to edit.  I would be personally
mortified, and probably quite upset, but in the long
run I would not cease to admire this work, or
recommend it to others.  I consider myself lucky to
have been given the opportunity to contribute as much
as I have: words I wrote are adding to the knowledge
of others daily in small ways, which makes me feel
quite proud and humble all at once.  Perhaps my
motivations aren't so selfish after all.  You may
decide, and I promise not to be offended if you think
me puffed with conceit.

Apologies for this lengthy post.  I'd avoided the
mailing list for months because I was sure it would
lead me to.....well, to do exactly what I'm doing now.
 I recognize that there is likely not one good
practical idea here for resolving the issues of the
present day, and admit that I said it all primarily
because I felt someone ought to.  I promise to be
quiet a good long while now.  Peace to you, and please
don't forget this marvelous thing that has brought us
together,

James Rosenzweig (Jwrosenzweig)


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