[WikiEN-l] Scott McCloud on Wikipedia

[Sage Ross]

On 2/27/07, geni <geniice at gmail.com> wrote:
> On 2/28/07, Sage Ross <sage.ross at yale.edu> wrote:
> > This isn't as ridiculous an idea as it seemed (to me) at first glance.
> >  Maybe not a month, but a few days or a week where the process was
> > halted and a discussion about AfD took place instead might at least
> > move the community, and particularly the AfD regulars, closer to
> > consensus on what the proper purpose and methods of the deletion
> > process should be.
> >
> > Nothing new is likely to be said, but at least it will make a larger
> > proportion of !voters aware of a larger proportion of the viewpoints.
> > And probably get some users to put some more thought into their own
> > positions.
> >
> > -Sage
>
> People will wait it out. And during that period will likely respond by
> shoving more borderline stuff into CSD. Or in the case of admins
> outright out of process deletion.
>
> Neither of these two is a good outcome.
>
> Attacking the AFD regulars or irregulars head on wont work. They will
> react by viewing you as enemy and will likely oppose any reforms by
> default. This is basic wikipedia politics.

But if this suspension of AfD isn't driven by a specific reform
agenda, but merely a discussion aimed at increasing the uniformity and
predictability of the deletion process (in light of the waves of
negative press for the last few months), it might be possible to avoid
most of the potential backlash.

It would be more of a community-building exercise (as cheesy as that
sounds) than an attempt to impose outsider (with respect to AfD)
ideas.  Considering that you (geni) are the most forthright defender
of the current deletion system, you seem to have a very low opinion of
those who participate in it.  I'd like to think that Wikipedians who
are far enough into WP culture to be AfD regulars would be more likely
than the average editor to have internalized AGF.

-Sage