[WikiEN-l] It all makes so much sense now!

[Ray Saintonge]

David Gerard wrote:
> He also has, separately from his Board role, the final smackdown on
> en:wp, which he almost never uses (it's delegated to the Arbitration
> Committee because Jimbo doesn't scale) and which causes great
> arguments every time he does.
>   
I'm sure there are a lot of people who see his comments on either side 
of a dispute as so much drive-by.  Given the amount of his travelling, 
his participation in some of these chronic debates is necessarily limited. 
> I find myself amazed at how outsiders think Jimbo has absolute power
> at Wikipedia, when if he said the sky was blue lots of people would
> disagree almost by reflex ... and then it's down to his powers of
> persuasion, same as if any of us want to convince people of something.
> I suppose he has a lot more ears listening to him.
There's a certain amount of hero-worshiping going on, whether he agrees 
with it or not.  It's more like a game of Simon says.  There are any 
number of debaters who are not past trying to win an argument saying, 
"But on September 30, 2004, Jimbo said ..."  He may have changed his 
mind since, or the quotation may be out of context.  Such drop-dead 
arguments from authority tend to circumvent whatever the real current issue.

Ec