[Foundation-l] [Commons-l] Some reflections about the governance of Commons

Mon Jun 15 16:21:39 UTC 2009

David Gerard hett schreven:
> 2009/6/15 Marcus Buck <me at marcusbuck.org>:
>   
>> David Gerard schrieb:
>>     
>>> I'd hope this isn't a summary of the views of other Commons admins.
>>> Anyone else? Or is the Commons admin community this insular and derisive?
>>>       
>
>   
>> That was an inversion, a change of perspective. A rhetorical measure,
>> that is intended to show how some arguments of the other party feel.
>> Sometimes this can lead to a catharsis where suddenly the own arguments
>> seem less general and valid and suddenly you can appreciate and
>> understand the worries of the other. Sometimes.
>>     
>
>
> No, I emailed Rama about this first and he said he was entirely
> serious (and added a string of personal attacks). It's actually
> verified as his honest view of things. Which suggests he shouldn't be
> let near anything to do with any other project, but anyway.
>
> So the question is how much this is the atmosphere on Commons. If so,
> it needs urgent outside action, and no two ways about it.
>   
It's not. It's the general atmosphere on Commons that Commons is not 
just an appendix and that Commons is a project in its own right. But of 
course nobody thinks that other projects are "just service projects" or 
that all Pikiwiki content is useless. That's not the case.
And even if Rama _said_ this, I still don't think, that he really 
_believes_ it (cause it's blatant nonsense). I guess he was just angry.

Commons is a project that has to do much workload with few people. A 
project that is often perceived to be unfriendly or arrogant. This image 
is partly self-inflicted and partly created by "the outside world" 
(that's all the other projects). Cause the users from the other projects 
contribute much valuable content, but also many copyvios and problematic 
files. The Commons community has the task to clean up the problematic 
cases. Some cases can be solved successfully (by adding licenses, 
sources etc.), others have to be deleted. So Commons has exactly the 
same problem as administraters in every project. They are always the bad 
guys cause they delete stuff. If you suggest that there's a general 
atmosphere like that on Commons, that's just like stories about "admin 
cabals" on en.wp (or any other project).
There's no evil plan of Commons to subjugate all other projects under 
its reign of terror. There's really none.

Marcus Buck