[Foundation-l] en.WP dysfunction (was: A letter to Wikipedia collides with the non-free content policies)

[Nathan]

Who is "them"? They are us, we are you, you are they. The English
Wikipedia was the first project, it predates the Foundation, it has
the largest community by far, it is the project that gets the most
attention, it has the most articles and the highest number of readers.
It works in English, as does this list. These things explain far more
clearly why Foundation-l gets turfed Wikipedia problems than the idea
that en.wiki users are whiney pukes who need rational parents to step
in. The anti-English Wikipedia sentiment sometimes found on this list
does no one any credit.

I don't know necessarily what Remember the dot was hoping to achieve
by posting to Foundation-l after already receiving advice from Mike
Godwin, but I don't think the "Why does en-wiki bother us and can't
they leave us alone?" response is warranted. A simple answer or lack
of response would have been much more effective.

Nathan

On Jan 26, 2008 11:22 PM, Birgitte SB <birgitte_sb at yahoo.com> wrote:
> The idea that en.WP will recieve an offical WMF
> evaluation of specific case, when the most general
> pleas for clarification recieve no answer [1] is . . .
> ambitious.
>
> I really do not understand why en.WP is so
> dysfuntional that they cannot make common decisions
> within the community without appealing to the
> foundation several times a month.[2][3][4]  My biggest
> concern about a meta-arbcom is that it's cases will
> end up being 90% dire en.WP issues that *must* be
> appealed higher-up.  en.WP seems to be having about 5
> issues a month they believe they cannot deal with
> themselves, and this is *without* any meta-arbcom or
> other established process to appeal to.
>
> Why can en.WP not come to decisions within their
> community?  Is it because Jimbo's historical special
> relationship has handicapped them into always looking
> for a higher authority to step-in?  Or are they just
> bolder than other wikis and have no qualms about
> making demands on everyone's time for minor issues? Is
> it that they lack leaders that are willing to close
> these sorts of cases?  Or have they grown so big they
> can longer be managed at all?  Can we simply continue
> to ignore their dysfunction, or is there something to
> be done to help them become more self-suficiient?
>
> Birgitte SB
>
> [1]
> http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2008-January/037363.html
> [2]http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2008-January/037403.html
> [3]http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2008-January/037136.html
> [4]http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2008-January/037636.html
>
> --- Remember the dot <rememberthedot at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > The foundation's input would be appreciated in
> > resolving this issue. A
> > scanned letter addressed to "Wikipedia" was uploaded
> > to the English
> > Wikipedia:
> > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Studentsorry.jpg
> >
> > The author of the letter did not release it under a
> > free license, and Mike
> > Godwin, the foundation's legal counsel, clarified
> > that the recipient of the
> > letter (Wikipedia) does not have the right to freely
> > license it.
> >
> > The letter has no encyclopedic use, and was uploaded
> > mainly because it is
> > humorous.
> >
> > So the question is: is keeping this letter one of
> > the "limited exceptions"
> > to
> >
> http://wikimediafoundation.org/wiki/Resolution:Licensing_policy?
> >
> > --
> > Remember the dot
> > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Remember_the_dot
> > _______________________________________________
> > foundation-l mailing list
> > foundation-l at lists.wikimedia.org
> > Unsubscribe:
> >
> http://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
> >
>
>
>
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