[WikiEN-l] What is happening to the community

[Thomas Dalton]

On 06/03/2008, SlimVirgin <slimvirgin at gmail.com> wrote:
> Erik Möller wrote in another thread:
>
>  "[T]he real substance here is the destructiveness on the margins of
>  our own community; that is what we must address. Wikimedia has
>  cultivated a tolerance for open hostility. If we see ourselves as a
>  community with a shared purpose, let's start acting like one. That
>  doesn't mean blindly following the leader - I have had my fair share
>  of arguments with Jimmy over the years - but it does mean rejecting
>  the destructive, malicious behavior that we have seen in recent days."
>
>  Erik is right. What is happening to the community is the real issue.

I think a key word in that quote that people seem to be missing is
"margins". The vast majority of the community are not a problem (at
least, not a big one, we're far from perfect, of course), the recent
issues have been caused by a tiny minority of destructive individuals.
We should do what we can to prevent such individuals causing problems,
but they'll always be there somewhere.