[WikiEN-l] Streamline the sysop recruiting process

Mon Apr 7 20:08:49 UTC 2003

I think your worries are just as sensible as mine ;-)

I worry about making too much of a hierarchy. We already have...

An Elite:
* Dictator-for-life: Jimbo Wales (controls URLs, bandwidth, machines; sets policy)
* Developers: can delete or alter any page, any time, without a trace! same for blocking, promoting, renaming users)
* Sysops: can delete pages or protect them from the lower classes; can block IP's.

A Lower-class:
* Signed-in users - cannot be blocked, except by a developer
* Anonymous (IP) users - can be blocked by any sysop

This looks to me like 5 levels of power. Some people don't like us having that many levels. Some people profess to trust those in the top 2 levels (the Gang of Five); some make no such profession of trust. 

Although I worry about the long-term future of Wikipedia, so far it has weathered all storms. (Ah, that's easy for you to say, "Uncle Ed", sitting in your ivory tower... Yeah, you have a point...)

Ed Poor
Wikipedia Developer and Sysop