[WikiEN-l] When Unsourced Isn't That Bad

[Phil Sandifer]

On Apr 9, 2007, at 12:21 PM, Kirill Lokshin wrote:

> On 4/9/07, Philip Sandifer <sandifer at english.ufl.edu> wrote:
>> So what can we do? What can we put into place that facilitates this
>> sort of local engagement?
>
> Work through the relevant WikiProjects more?  There's a certain
> element of disdain for them -- "I don't want to talk to WikiProject X
> because they're all fanboys/POV pushers/people violating OWN/etc." --
> that needs to be done away with; but they're an existing
> infrastructure for interacting with editors that work primarily in a
> particular subject area without getting involved in the Wikipedia-wide
> bureaucracy.

I agree - the WikiProjects were always, at their best, intended to  
provide exactly this sort of vehicle. They've also long been tied  
down in a tricky way - on the one hand, we don't want to give them  
the leeway to create their own policy, or else we get something like,  
as David called it, WikiProject AfD. On the other hand, we need to  
empower them at least somewhat.

It occurs to me that this is, in practice, exactly what CZ's system  
of editors does. It empowers certain trusted individuals to have  
certain amounts of control in certain subject areas, thus  
functionally creating micropolicy in certain subject areas. Obviously  
we don't want to go CZ's route of credentialism, but there may be  
something we can use here.

-Phil