[WikiEN-l] I will be leaving the project

Mon Jun 20 21:13:24 UTC 2005

The rules do not have any innate value. That is to say, the mere fact  
that something is in the rules does not make it right, any more than  
its absence from the rules makes it wrong. Sysops are not expected to  
be mechanical robots in enforcing the 3RR or any other rule. This  
doesn't mean people are above the rules. It means that sysops are not  
obliged to block in every case.

One of the things that should always play into a decision about  
blocking is the good faith of the contributor, the necessity of the  
block in getting the point across, and the nature of the dispute.  
Frankly, Rick's block wasn't cut and dry - removing copyvio  
absolutely should not count as a 3RR revert, and there's no reason to  
think that Rick did not sincerely see a copyvio problem. And it's  
important to err on the side of protecting Wikipedia from lawsuit  
with copyvio - if there's a reasonable suspicion, remove first, then  
spend the time sorting it out.

Which isn't to say that Rick handled this well. He didn't. it is,  
however, to say that he did not handle it so badly as to deserve the  
abject slap in the face that this block was. And he's right to be  
pissed - I would be.

I hope Silsor intends to spend a LOT more time than he has browsing  
recent changes and dealing with the abject stupidity that Rick was  
our first line of defense against. Because otherwise, that block just  
hurt the project a lot.

-Snowspinner