[Wikipedia-l] Re: Wikipedia-l digest, Vol 1 #407 - 5 msgs

Larry Sanger lsanger at nupedia.com
Mon Jun 3 19:30:59 UTC 2002


</lurk>

> From: Jimmy Wales <jwales at bomis.com>
> Daniel Mayer wrote:
> > Anybody of good intentions can be a sysop if they want to be.  I don't think
> > we should label people as having a particular status and thus imply that this
> > status is anything particularly special.
>
> I agree.
>
> The ability for any random person to show up and edit any page at any
> time, on an equal footing with oldtimers, is the most frightening and
> appalling way to run a website that I can imagine.  It's the secret of
> our success.

I agree totally as well.  There's going to continue to be a tendency on
the part of a few people (and, by the way, I certainly wouldn't accuse Lee
of having this tendency) to want to designate a Wikipedia elite and an
underclass.  Ultimately, this would undermine the process, and I hope
we'll keep nipping it in the bud whenever we see it.

By *highlighting* differences, we would *create* the impression of a
political elite, when in fact none really exists.  This would politicize
Wikipedia--something I hope we can unite in opposing.  But Wikipedia is an
encyclopedia project that thrives on freedom and the common understanding
that everyone is on the same footing, as Jimbo says.  To remove this
freedom and this common understanding is to undermine the very thing that
has made the project work so well this far.

Larry

<lurk>




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