[WikiEN-l] [Foundation-l] Lobby takeover of wikimedia projects, particularly English wikipedia

[Nathan]

Since we start off with overkill, wouldn't it be easier to appoint admins
based on resumes, personal interviews and obstacle course performance
instead? And bureaucrats, having passed basic admin training, are selected
for bureaucrat candidacy school and we take the top 10% of those?

Really, I think you're jumping at shadows. No one can point to even one
admin account gained through some organized advocacy attempt, nor to any
significant effects even as a result of this one "discovered" group. The
point is there is no problem, and until there is... no solution is necessary
- particularly not of the drastic sort. Most of the "organized" nationalism
groups formed on-wiki and stay on-wiki, maybe you should fix that first.

Nathan

On Mon, May 5, 2008 at 11:50 PM, White Cat <wikipedia.kawaii.neko at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Although it is a well known issue, this issue has finally made its way to
> spotlight with the ongoing CAMERA incident on English wikipedia... I am
> sure
> English wikipedia's arbcom will come up with a reasonable conclusion and
> the
> purpose of this email is not related to the CAMERA arbcom case directly.
>
> Due to the very nature of wikis they are very open to outside interference
> and manipulation. Although there had been many discussions on the matter,
> they never generated the intended level of brainstorming.
>
> I am sure someone can provide a brief history of past external
> manipulations
> so I will avoid listing them on this email.
>
> You may be under the false impression that large wikis such as
> en.wikipedia
> is invulnerable to such attacks, but this would be a fatal mistake.
> English
> wikipedia is probably the most vulnerable language edition of wikipedia.
> If
> a lobby group were to secure some 10 admin accounts they can effectively
> overwhelm any process we have on English Wikipedia.
>
> So lets discuss possible solutions and precautions.
>
> I recommend that foundation pass a ruling on the matter of lobby
> takeovers.
> Although it goes without saying along with NPOV, spelling it out has
> benefits and no harm. This way we can more easily and promptly purge them
> on
> wikis that did not have a serious conversation on this matter enough to
> come
> up with a policy.
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