[WikiEN-l] an observation

Tue Jul 1 11:01:17 UTC 2003

steve vertigo wrote:
> How does having a democratic and responsive way of
> dealing with issues conflict with making an
> encyclopedia?

It doesn't, generally, although I think we can all agree that there is
sometimes tension between ideals of openness and ideals of quality in
the encyclopedia.  We have to deal with these friction points
thoughtfully and 'conservatively' in the sense of working to adapt our
policies over time, but cautiously, so as not to follow the fad of the
month.

What will naturally happen is that we will tend to fall at different
points along a spectrum, but as long as we all recognize that
reasonable people can differ, we're already a long way down the road
to finding mutually satisfactory solutions.

Steve isn't the first person to recommend a formalization of the way
some things happen, and I'll be thinking and writing more about that
in the next few weeks.

--Jimbo