G'day Neil,
Given the history of Wikipedia, Jimbo's been the most hands-off project leader in the history of the Internet. Indeed, the community has been left to decide almost everything for itself; and this has proved, in almost all cases, to be the right thing to do.
Perhaps some of the current problems, such as the userbox nonsense and general culture wars, are partly due to this -- without continual intervention from above, many people may be unaware, or have forgotten, that the Wikimedia Foundation and its corporate structure even exists (and, in some cases, may also have forgotten about the whole "Wikipedia is an encyclopedia" mission thing).
I recall a user --- but not, alas, his name --- who, in the midst of the userbox thing, suddenly leapt out of his chair with shock and cried out, "who the heck is this Jimbo person?"
Many noble Wikipedians took on the task of educating this poor fellow, who, upon enlightenment, was horrified to discover that he had been working for a tyrannical dictatorship all this time, and immediately undertook to convince various admins, and Jimbo himself, to pattern the website with notices to the effect of "WARNING! IF YOU EDIT HERE, YOU HATE FREEDOM!" Electroshock treatment starts next Tuesday.
Wikipedia has not grown so big that one needs to be hands-off, or ultra-respectful of policy, or abandon age-old techniques of editing and interacting. However, it *has* grown so big that some users can be here for months without even knowing that we're an encyclopaedia, let alone some of the fine detail. It would be nice if there were any easier way to educate them.
-- Mark Gallagher "What? I can't hear you, I've got a banana on my head!" - Danger Mouse