[Wikipedia-l] Re: Inflammatory rhetoric (Ark)

[lcrocker at nupedia.com]

> In an anarchy he/she is as sovereign as we are.

Wikipedia isn't, never was, and never will be an anarchy.

>> I have stated that his rhetoric is a violation of our etiquette
>> policy; that didn't work either

> This is incorrect.   
> We have suggested guidelines, not enforceable policies.

We have very few, but they are real and enforcible: no copyright
violations, no outright vandalism, NPOV (yes, that is an enforced
policy, not a guideline--in fact, when we get around to non-profit
status it will be legally enforced because you can't qualify as a
non-profit if you advocate any political point of view), and a
basic minimum of civilized behavior.

All that being said, I'm personally in favor of being quite lax
on violations of mere etiquette.  People have strong feelings, and
are sometimes rude; that's just a fact of life.  If they are rude
and write well, I say we learn to live with it and just go about
our business of writing an encyclopedia.  It's only when their
actions escalate to real damage to the encyclopedia, or to the
user community as a whole, that we should consider action.