[WikiEN-l] Request to mailing list Wikipedia EN-l rejected ("Oversight")

[Steve Bennett]

On 6/11/06, Tony Sidaway <f.crdfa at gmail.com> wrote:
> Not to single Selina out here, but could we have a bit more pro-active
> rejection of incoherent rants, obvious trolls and the like?  We've
> seen a lot of useful discussion here, but on the other hand there has
> been a lot of stuff from banned users who simply won't accept that the
> problem lies with their behavior and not a fundamental problem with
> the entire edifice of Wikipedia's administration and dispute
> resolution.

I don't (currently) see my role as moderator as chairman of a debate,
but simply enforcement of standards decided by members of the list.
When enough complaints reach the wikien-l-owner list, that's when
moderators should act. In general, I would rather err on the side of a
few trollish posts getting through, than being accused of censorship
and excessive selectiveness.

That said, I have occasionally rejected messages which perpetuated
inflammatory, off-topic threads.

I'm happy for there to be a discussion about what the mods should be
doing exactly - the directions we received from David Gerard were
basically to be fairly lenient and only step in when things get out of
hand.

Steve