[WikiEN-l] Aneurysm

[William Pietri]

Tony Sidaway wrote:
> What encyclopedic end would be achieved by someone trawling through
> this mix of discarded rubbish in a belated attempt to make it
> licence-compliant?  Why should anyone make the effort? Let it go.
>   

I don't know about you, but I spend time on Wikipedia because it's fun 
and because it's rewarding when it's not fun.

BJAODN is a great example of people taking something annoying and making 
it fun. It's proof that we jointly have a sense of fun, an esprit de 
corps, a belief that all the idiots in the world can't spoil this for 
us. Rather, it was proof of that. Honestly, I haven't looked at it much 
lately, but first coming across it was a joy, like finding an easter egg 
in a treasured game.

The reason to put it back, and to clean it up if it needs cleaning, is 
to show that spirit still lives. That will help us keep good editors and 
attract new ones.


For me personally, another part of the motivation is as much the manner 
in which this was done as the outcome. I thought it was rude, 
unnecessarily dramatic and wasteful, and I'm unconvinced that this 
happened out of a pure-minded desire to treat our contributors fairly 
under the GFDL. It feels to me like somebody rammed something down the 
community's throat without any attempt to build consensus.

I don't even like good decisions done like that, and so that magnifies 
the harm I see in what I think is a bad decision.

William