[Wikipedia-l] Fund-raising suggestion

Sun Apr 9 19:17:53 UTC 2006

My earlier post on policy clarification leads me to suggest a good 
way to raise a continuous stream of money.

If I had the option, I would stump up a $50 donation in an instant, 
to acquire an "advocate" to ensure that policy is followed, while I 
attempted to edit an article "by the rules". The advocate would NOT 
take the side of the donor.

At the moment, administrators can quickly assess contraventions of 
3RR (three revert rule) and vandalism. Other issues on policy are 
typically judged by consensus which depends on the knowledge and 
experience of editors on policy. There is often a conflict of 
interest, and often poor understanding of policy.

I envisage policy advocates, who would initially take a short online 
test to assess their competence, and may then be called upon to 
uphold policy, either on a question by question basis, or on an 
article by article basis.

If there are only a limited number of such advocates, their services 
could be acquired by bidding.

At no time will an advocate take sides, and nor is an advocate 
guaranteed to resolve a dispute. But in those cases where they can, I 
think their services would be invaluable.

Regards,
Ian Tresman