[WikiEN-l] Libel chill

[Delirium]

Jimmy Wales wrote:
> Since WP:OFFICE is done publicly and under intense scrutiny from the
> community and the external world, I hardly see any need for a special
> narrow committee to be specifically tasked with overseeing it.
>   
Is that indeed intended to be the case?  There seems to be some 
confusion in this discussion over whether WP:OFFICE actions are, or 
ought to be, always done publicly.  In the particular case that spawned 
this altercation, there was no public tagging of the article, just a 
silent protection, and indeed someone  reverted the addition of the 
"protected by WP:OFFICE" tag.  What's unclear to me is if that whole 
mess was merely confusion, or intended to be but not yet stated as 
official policy.  Several people have argued that it either is, or 
should be, official policy, and others have argued that it isn't and 
shouldn't be.

Basically: Are WP:OFFICE actions supposed to always be publicly 
announced and scrutinized by the community?  It was my impression that 
they were, but some of the discussion in this set of threads has made 
the issue more murky.

-Mark