[WikiEN-l] Admin burnout

[William Pietri]

Thomas Dalton wrote:
>> So, shall we remove the admin bit from anyone who admits to knowing how
>> to cause such damage? Or shall we immediately take steps to make it so
>> such damage is impossible?
>>     
>
> You're misunderstanding the nature of risk. Our aim is not to remove
> all risk, that's impossible. Our aim is to reduce risk to the minimum
> possible while stilling being able to make our encyclopaedia as well
> as possible.

Is that our aim?

Long ago, I used to work for market makers. These days, I do a lot of 
work for Internet companies. In both lines of work, risk management is 
essential. In both, the aim is to take as many well-managed, 
likely-profitable risks as possible. That's how things get better, and 
that's where a lot of your best information comes from.

The risk management strategy you describe strikes me as a good one for 
something much more settled, like a water utility.

Do you really think Wikipedia should be that risk-averse? I had thought 
it a much more dynamic enterprise, at least for the next few decades.


William