[WikiEN-l] Don't remove a WP:OFFICE tag put there by Danny

[Cormac Lawler]

On 3/11/06, Daniel R. Tobias <dan at tobias.name> wrote:
> On 10 Mar 2006 at 20:25, "David Gerard" <dgerard at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > Else you may be blocked or temporarily desysopped. These tags are
> > bloody serious, the WP:OFFICE rule is only used in case of actual
> > problems, and the Foundation handles them as expeditiously as they
> > possibly can. I expect everyone will piss and moan, but removing a
> > WP:OFFICE tag is a really really dickish thing to do. So please don't.
>
> Not that I have any intention of doing such a thing... but I still
> have some concerns about the whole WP:OFFICE business. Sure, I
> realize the necessity for something like that; as long as Wikipedia
> and its parent foundation exist as real-world entities rather than
> just disembodied Internet phenomena, there will be people in charge
> who have bills to pay, legalities to comply with, servers to keep
> running, and so on... and, hence, concerns for which their butts are
> on the line in a manner not shared by the typical geek just editing
> Wikipedia for the fun of it.  Nevertheless, in a site which prides
> itself on openness and rule by community consensus, having actions
> take place unilaterally and secretively goes against the grain, and
> should be kept to an absolute minimum.
>
> There's kind of a feel that, if an article happens to offend the
> "wrong" people (who have some kind of political, financial, or legal
> leverage to use against Wikipedia/Wikimedia?), the Wikipedia Secret
> Police can just make it disappear, and community consensus (and all
> the Wikipedia pillars) be damned.
>
> We already know that the community is secondary to the goal of
> producing an excellent encyclopedia.  But is that, in turn, secondary
> to some secret corporate agenda held by the Foundation Office?
> Blanking articles into sub-stubs and protecting them doesn't seem
> conducive to producing an excellent encyclopedia, and doing this
> without explanation is not conducive to the community.
>
> --
> == Dan ==
> Dan's Mail Format Site: http://mailformat.dan.info/
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> Dan's Domain Site: http://domains.dan.info/


Dan, I think if you actually *read* the policy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Office_Actions you'll see that
it's nothing like the secretive, corporate, anti-Wikipedia,
anti-community type of thing you suggest. It says on the page that it
is a "temporary action to allow us to be kind while we sort out the
encyclopedic way forward". Community consensus won't tell us when
we're in danger of being sued - that's more likely to be ascertained
by the person who's just received the angry email/phonecall - but
community consensus will, as always, be what actually writes the
balanced article in the end.

N'est pas?

Cormac




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