[WikiEN-l] BetacommandBot, (currently) centralized discussion

[Eugene van der Pijll]

WJhonson at aol.com schreef:
> I'm not suggesting we have a rule for not using book  covers.  I'm
> suggesting that those people who interpret our policy to state  that,
> are harming the project.

We *do* have a rule that says exactly that; it's not a matter of
interpretation. Have you read [[Wikipedia:Non-free content]]? That
complete page, including the guideline examples, is policy.

You may think that that rule is harming the project; evidently, other
people think it isn't.

> Some editors place the rules as gods over the community, without realizing  
> that it is the community which made the rules.

No, in this case, it wasn't the community, it was the Foundation, and
before the board resolution it was Jimbo who stated that the
encyclopedia had to be free. This is one policy that cannot be changed
by the community.

And a considerable part of the community doesn't want to change it,
either. Some people think we should write an encyclopedia that happens
to be free; other people think we should write a Free encyclopedia. This
division in opinion about how large a part of our mission the freedom of the
encyclopedia is, has caused a lot of discussion in the past, and this
one about BCB is a part of that.

Unfortunately for some, these discussions will -- as I said -- change
nothing, as the decision has come from above, like the ten commandments
to Moses. 

Eugene