[WikiEN-l] Centralization of power: not a good idea

[Poor, Edmund W]

Sheldon Rampton advocated:

> Have Jimbo appoint a governing committee. This would inevitably be a
> non-representative subset of the entire community, but having Jimbo as
> our benevolent dictator is also non-representative.

Sometimes Sheldon has good ideas, but this is not one of those times. He
is otherwise a fine writer, and I've learned a lot from him.

Centralizing power won't help us make an open-content encyclopedia. In
fact, the very reason Jimbo and Larry gave up Nupedia was that having a
central committee guiding all productive activity simply doesn't work.
(It didn't work in the USSR or any other Marxist socialist state,
either: no incentive for individual excellence, and no sufficiently
incorruptible way to coordinate activity)

The thing that has propelled Wikipedia to greatness and will forever
sustain it, is the ability for "anyone, any time" to update it. All we
need are some simple community norms and a transparent, agreed-upon
method of enforcing these norms.

* Be accurate and neutral
* Don't attack other users

We all agree on these norms.

* Don't make trouble, or be elsewhere.

We've been working on how to codify and enforce this rule. We tried:

1. Long, agonizing discussions on the mailing list (drags on for
months!)

2. Bringing "cases" to Jimbo.

3. Mediation and Arbitration committees (still improving, began less
than 3 months ago!!)

Now Erik and I both think it's time to consider empowering individual
admins to use their judgment. Let's talk about the best way to do this.

Ed Poor