[WikiEN-l] avoiding rule-boundedness

[Ray Saintonge]

Philip Sandifer wrote:
> I don't think that this is a problem that is solved via policy. Policy  
> is a relatively ineffectual medium. It does very little on its own.  
> Policy doesn't drive off POV pushers - communities of editors - often  
> very localized ones - do. Policy ostensibly guides them in how they do  
> this, but as often as not it doesn't - just like most articles aren't  
> actually written by consulting WP:V, WP:NOR, and WP:NPOV, but are  
> written by a community of editors with a decent idea of what a good  
> article should look like.
>
> Our policies are almost, but not entirely incidental to the actual  
> work of improving the encyclopedia - they're certainly a second line  
> of defense, consulted when the first line of defense - social control  
> - fails.
>
> In other words, what we need is not better policy, but rather better  
> users who rely on thought and judgment that is informed by principles,  
> not on rigid policy.

You know that policy has gone too far when the good guys are a bigger 
problem than the bad guys.

Ec