[Wikipedia-l] Wikipedia moderators and moral authority (was Re: Repost: clear guidelines and the power to enforce) (fwd)

[Larry Sanger]

Cunctator opines:

>> There seems to be a pretty fixed number of Wikipedians who write "write
nonsense, brazen political propoganda, crankish unsupported stuff" on a
consistent basis.

And that fixed number can be counted on one hand.

It is a problem that people stop editing out of frustration, but the
evidence just isn't there that this is a ballooning problem. <<

I'm not just concerned about the ones who do it "on a consistent basis."
I'm really concerned about the behavior, not the people.  Moreover, the
number of people who have polluted Wikipedia to any very significant
degree in these ways would easily run into the many dozens.  That's not
counting the mere vandals.  We've just forgotten about them because
they've gone away, in many cases very quickly.  The ones whose names
immediately come to mind can be counted on one hand, yes.

I admit of course that I was merely stating my own opinion as to the
seriousness of the problem.  It's hard to quantify, but it seems
completely obvious to me.  It's not like there was a golden age of
Wikipedia when everyone was friendly and cranks weren't in sight.  On the
other hand, I remember writing at one point (for the "replies to our
critics" page, I think) that we hadn't had many problems with cranks and
internecine warfare.  Now, I really couldn't write that, and I suspect the
"replies" page should be updated, if it hasn't already been.

What do the rest of you think?

Larry
-- 
"We have now sunk to a depth at which the re-statement of the obvious is
the first duty of intelligent men." --George Orwell