[WikiEN-l] Rollback, and now here comes instruction creep

[Nathan]

Jesus, nice essay.

On Jan 15, 2008 3:39 PM, David Gerard <dgerard at gmail.com> wrote:
> On 15/01/2008, Charlotte Webb <charlottethewebb at gmail.com> wrote:
> > On 1/14/08, Steve Summit <scs at eskimo.com> wrote:
>
> > > Today's brave new Wikipedia...
>
> > And just what's so brave about it? If I've noticed any change at all,
> > it's a sudden, abject lack of boldness on all fronts.
>
>
> But process is important!
>
> Process is important in Hell, and to Hell. Some demons minimize the
> importance of process, using such slogans as "Product over Process" or
> pointing to the policy "Brutally Sodomise All Rules With Mocking
> Scornful Laughter". But process is essential to the creation of the
> inferno. Process is a fundamental tool for carrying out Satanic
> consensus, and for allowing a very large number of demons to work
> together on a collaborative inferno. Process is also the mechanism by
> which demons can trust that others are playing no more unfairly than
> they can get away with, that the rules do not suddenly change, nor are
> they different for some privileged demons. Poor process or no process
> ultimately fails to harm the product.
>
> There are many different processes in Hell. These include the various
> torture, speedy disembowelment, and barbed-penis sodomy review
> processes; the various dispute exacerbation processes; the Request for
> Unholy Host process; various processes for policy formation and
> alteration; and the Featured Sinner candidate process. There are
> processes more specific to particular areas of Hell, such as that for
> proposing imp types, and processes internal to various subareas of the
> inferno. There are also more informal processes such as those that
> happen in discussion on a particular sinner, when which hideous horror
> or style of taunting is most appropriate for a given sinner can be
> settled among the interested demons.
>
> Most of these processes depend on demonic consensus in some form. Some
> of them ultimately rely on votes, or something like votes, to
> determine that consensus on a particular issue. But even during a
> "vote" most of them not only permit but encourage discussion in
> addition to simple "Yes" or "No" votes, in hopes that people of one
> view can persuade those of another, or that a compromise can emerge,
> and in either case a true consensus, not just a majority or
> super-majority, can emerge.
>
> And of course, Satan himself will from time to time just tell you
> what's fucking what.
>
> It is no accident that the basic mechanism for demeaning civil rights
> is called "Due Process of Bureaucracy". Indeed, in most bureaucratic
> systems the effective mechanisms for stifling rights and freedoms are
> essentially procedural ones.
>
> Of course, Hell is not a government, nor is its primary purpose to be
> a social or communitarian experiment. But many of the same problems
> arise whenever lots of entities interact, some of them with strongly
> opposing views. The basically procedural methods that have been used
> to solve these problems when running governments often must apply,
> with suitable variations, in an inferno such as Hell — and this only
> becomes more true as such an inferno becomes larger and more
> influential.
>
> Sometimes a process can be like unto a pitchfork in the buttocks. Some
> processes demand that demons go through several steps to achieve a
> result. Some can be cumbersome or time-consuming. Some do not deal
> with particular situations as rapidly as a demon might wish. Sometimes
> going through the process seems unlikely to give the result that a
> demon desires. In all these cases, there is a temptation, sometimes a
> strong temptation, to act unilaterally, to simply "fuck" the problem
> as one sees it. Often this is technically possible in Hell. Sometimes
> many demons will support it.
>
> The problem with yielding to this temptation is that it affects the
> overall structure of the functionality of Hell. It throws sand in the
> gears of the inferno. When demons see others acting outside of
> process, they may be convinced that they ought to do the same; or they
> may be convinced that the dark whispering voices and views will get no
> respect or consideration. If all demons act outside of process, there
> is no process, no organization to our efforts. Then we do not have a
> functional collaborative inferno; we have some hippie bullshit. Which
> is no way to run an inferno.
>
> The primary goal of Hell is the damnation of sinners, and any process
> is only a means to that end. Even the community of Hellions, important
> as it is to some, is only a means to that end.
>
> Often following a process takes more time and effort in a particular
> case than acting unilaterally. Sometimes following a process will give
> a less distended sinner's anus in a particular case. But frequently
> acting outside of process causes strong and widespread
> dissatisfaction, which consumes far more time and effort than any
> saved by avoiding the process in the first place.
>
> Even in the more numerous cases where no great uproar results, actions
> outside of process still tend to damage the trust of individual imps
> and demons in the institution of Hell, and to damage the community.
> And the community is the essential tool in the damnation of the
> sinners. Without the community, there is no one to brutally sodomise
> them, and there is no way to organize the brutal sodomy. Without the
> community, there is no reason for anyone to undertake any of the many
> needed but unglamorous tasks on which the damnation of the sinners
> depends.
>
> Process need not be inflexible — most Hell processes and policies can
> be changed if the community, or the relevant section of it, wants to
> change them. Many processes allow for exceptions or alternate routes
> in particular cases or circumstances; such exceptions can be added to
> processes that do not have them.
>
> In a small group there is little need for structure or process. When
> five people work on a sinner, little structure and no formal process
> may be required. When five thousand work together on a substantial
> group of sinners, there must be some structure or the inferno will
> collapse. While Hell intentionally has relatively little structure, it
> must have some to continue in a productive way. Processes, formal and
> informal, are some of the key elements in that structure.
>
> During the early days of Hell, few processes were needed to maintain
> its essential structure. Many — at first most — demons knew each other
> or rapidly came to know each other. Issues could be resolved by
> informal discussion or casual fights to the death with tooth and claw,
> with little need for any other process.
>
> As Hell has grown, more process has developed. While many demons still
> know or know of each other, there are many overlapping
> sub-communities, and no one knows all or even most of the most
> accomplished torturers. Demons have strong and differing views about
> policy and damnation issues. Process, often formal process, is needed
> to allow issues to be resolved in ways that all can accept as
> reasonable, even when individuals strongly disagree with particular
> results. Unilateral action tends to subvert that acceptance, and lead
> to a "me-first" or a "my way or the highway" attitude to the inferno —
> even or especially when demons sincerely believe that they are acting
> for the enhancement of the inferno.
>
> Action outside of process is particularly dangerous when it involves
> powers restricted to the Unholy Host, or knowledge available only to
> long-established demons. This tends to create at least the impression
> of a caste system. No one wants to be on the bottom of a caste system,
> and such perceptions reduce the motivation for demons to contribute.
>
> For all these reasons, demons and particularly the Unholy Host ought
> to adhere to and use existing processes, and resist the temptation to
> act outside of process, other than in truly emergency situations. If a
> process is not good, think enough of fellow Hellions to engage the
> problem and propose a change to it; don't just ignore the process.
>
>
> - d.
>
>
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