[WikiEN-l] Ryulong blocked ALL accounts

[Stephen Bain]

On 4/20/07, Gallagher Mark George <m.g.gallagher at student.canberra.edu.au> wrote:
>
> The second issue, a favourite of mine, is the difference, to use a footballing phrase, between the letter of the law and the spirit of the law.  What Tony means by "Wikipedia policy" --- he can correct me here if I'm wrong --- is the *spirit* of the law, while written policy is what they actually say.  On Wikipedia, as with football, it's recognised that the written word is insufficient to explain our best practices.  Where the letter is found wanting, the spirit can be used to override it.  It's entirely possible to follow policy and still get slapped by ArbCom, because although you may have done what the policy pages said, you did something incredibly silly.  Likewise, it's possible to ignore policy pages and do the Right Thing.  The policy pages are not, and cannot be, perfect, so you need to use your judgment and common sense in interpreting them.  Strive always to do, not what the letter of a policy page says, but what the spirit of Wikipedia says.

And this, of course, is the soul of Ignore All Rules, something which
is less well understood than it ought to be, methinks.

-- 
Stephen Bain
stephen.bain at gmail.com