[Wikipedia-l] Re: Our options; *your* opinion requested

[Lee Pilich]

Herein my opinion:

At 22:39 11/11/2002 +0000, Larry wrote:
>ISSUE 1.  The problem or lack thereof.
>
>PRO: There is indeed a serious problem now on Wikipedia.

[snip]

No, the "problem" now is no worse than it has ever been, at least not since 
July, when I arrived. If there is a problem, it is manageable.

Vandalism happens in many forms - revert or improve the edits. Simple.

>ISSUE 2.  What to do about the problem, if anything.
>
>The Anarchist/Radical Freedom Option: We should strip everyone of powers
>to ban and to delete pages permanently.  "SoftSecurity" alone is adequate
>as a safeguard against Wikipedia's abusers.

I don't see how this is the "anarchist" option. I should think the 
anarchist option, in as much as anarchists can be said to be a unified body 
(which they're certainly not), would be to give everybody (read "all signed 
in users") the ability to delete pages, the ability to undelete pages, the 
ability to block and unblock IPs. I would be in favour of that. But things 
work as they are now, also, I think.

I love the wikipedia, but sometimes I get the impression that certain 
people on this list are very bored, and so argue about something when 
there's really bugger all to argue about. Edit some articles, for god's 
sake. I thought the idea was to build an encyclopaedia, not argue in circles.

There's my opinion. Sorry I couldn't quite resist mild rudeness. I shall 
now retreat once more into my shell.

LP (camembert)