On 10 Nov 2007 at 12:10:38 +0000, Guy Chapman aka JzG <guy.chapman(a)spamcop.net> wrote: When it comes to essays about preferable Wikipedia behavior in dealing with people who disagree, I like WP:BRD (Bold, revert, discuss) much better than WP:RBI... the ultimate aim of the former is to lead to a discussion, rather than to lead to banning and ostracism and the suppression of discussion. Which of these mindsets is more in keeping with the spirit of a community devoted to the collection and dissemination of information? While the trolls and vandals do some harm, a lot more harm is done to Wikipedia, in my opinion, by the Judge Dredd types who see themselves as the thin blue line against trolling, vandalism, and anarchy, and have no compunctions against acting as judge, jury, and executioner against anybody they see as an enemy, or as somebody aiding the enemy. Human history is full of cases where people decided that some enemy (real or imagined, significant or exaggerated) justified a state of war in which normal civilized, genteel considerations no longer applied. The results, which include the Spanish Inquisition, the Salem Witch Trials, and McCarthyism, are often judged harshly by later historians. In the throes of a moral panic, people can enter a state of hysteria where they undermine the values that made their community good in the course of allegedly defending it, like the soldiers who destroyed a village in order to save it. A Twilight Zone episode, "The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street", provides a fictional illustration of the tendency of a community to be its own worst enemy. -- == Dan == Dan's Mail Format Site: http://mailformat.dan.info/ Dan's Web Tips: http://webtips.dan.info/ Dan's Domain Site: http://domains.dan.info/