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

[Poor, Edmund W]

I don't understand your "functionality" vs. "authority" distinction. 

I maintain that Wikipedia has *de facto* five levels of AUTHORITY. Now, the users on each level may have different roles and responsibilities; they may carry out different functions.

But I maintain that each category of users has power over all the users in the lower categories. 

Jimbo can pull the plug on the machine, arbitrarily fire any developer, block any user, etc. The developers can erase a user account, grant or revoke sysop rights. Sysops can block unsigned users.

That is a hierarchy of power, like it or not. By the way, I never said I favored such a hierarchy. I am just describing the status quo.

There are five levels of POWER in our community. If we agree that such is the case, then let's start discussing what responsibilities they should have: if you will, what their "functions" should be. There's always some improvement to be made, right?

Ed Poor