[WikiEN-l] Re: Mother Teresa article

Mon Oct 27 17:06:36 UTC 2003

The Cunctator wrote--
> That is to say, in my opinion, the root causes for this current upset
> lie in failures of the institution (Wikipedia policies and customs)
> rather than the individuals--though the individuals should be able to
> transcend the current failures of the institution by avoiding such
> temptations as calling for NPOV votes.

The Cuncator is absolutely right.

Root causes of the "current upset" have everything to do with Wikipedia 
policies and customs, in particular, the absence of some sort of means 
for dealing with article disputes that cannot be solved within the Wiki 
consensus editing model.  Whether this mechanism is formal (mediation 
and arbitration have been suggested) or social (with, for example, other 
Wikipedians engaging in facilitative behavior in an effort to contain 
and resolve the conflict), is a choice we can make.

 > the individuals should be able to
 > transcend the current failures of the institution by avoiding such
 > temptations as calling for NPOV votes.

This the latest in a number of attempts at out-of-process methods to 
control the content of the article.  Neither Erik nor James has exactly 
been a model of civility and restraint, probably due to the fact that 
they are both passionate about the article and do not have any clear, 
fairly administered recourse for resolving the conflict.

Louis