[Wikipedia-l] A proposal for the new software

[lsanger at nupedia.com]

On Fri, 19 Oct 2001, Anatoly Vorobey wrote:

> 1) Make some important pages, like the homepage and large categories,
> editable only by users who actually registereted with an email
> address, and got themselves login and password.

This could be combined with Jimbo's proposal, and it wouldn't be a bad
idea in any case.

> This already discourages the "casual" vandal, which I think is the
> majority of vandals. To further discourage a "determined" vandal, try
> one of the following:
>
> 2a) Important pages, when edited, are saved automatically into a
> different category, say "queue:original-name". Regulars are encouraged
> to periodically view the queue category changes on a separate page,
> and to approve of changes using a special link; once a change to an
> "important" page gets two approvals by other regulars, it goes "live".

I think a moderating system would be very complicated in the
end--simplicity, for Wikipedia, is key.

> 2b) Important pages are only editable by registered users who edited
> considerable amount of Wikipedia pages during the last month; say,
> changed more than 200 lines altogether; this would be measured
> automatically by the program. There're no "karma points", no complex
> hierarchies, only a group of "privileged" users who are only
> privileged because they know what they're doing, having edited a fair
> amount on Wikipedia. The "privileged" status is invisible and isn't
> shown anywhere, except a non-privileged user doesn't see the edit link
> on important pages.

I agree!  Although I think that once one has achieved oldtimerhood it
shouldn't be revokable (except by a sysop).

Larry