[WikiEN-l] Reply to the April Fools Day comments

Fri Apr 1 04:53:51 UTC 2005

Raul, I wasn't trying to be unfriendly in my earlier posts... I was
frustrated with the process and the strong anti-populism and calls of
"Wikipedia is not a democracy!", which mean one thing when Jimbo says
them in the context of trolls and vandals and another when an admin
says them in the context of acting unilaterally in community
discussions.  But I *do* recognize that you were trying very hard to
find a good solution to this quandary, and I appreciate that.

Discounting the opinion of the community, and trying to find reasons
to ignore it rather than struggling with a compromise or consensus --
this happens all the time on-wiki.  It isn't usually a problem; wiki
is built to cope with that... except in those corners were one person
has set himself up as the local dictator :-)   You're a fabulous FAD,
but I expect a lot more of you in that role than I do in other
contexts; including a willingness to acquiesce to the consensus of
others.

On Mar 31, 2005 10:26 PM, Mark Pellegrini <mapellegrini at comcast.net> wrote:
> /Raul's categorization of this as a disagreement
> between a mob and a group of respected editors is wishful thinking. -- SJ
> 
> /A lie - I never anything of the sort. Please don't put words in my mouth. 

That's laying it on a bit thick.  You're right, you never said
/exactly/ that...  but you talked about the people in favor of the
article as though they didn't care about the quality of the
encyclopedia, and as though they weren't respected as editors (when,
in fact, most of them *were* respected editors who care about the
'pedia, and I would guess that most of them think this is a fine way
to enhance and celebrate its excellence, not merely its "community"). 
And you talked about "never making the mistake again" of holding a
poll to gauge community opinion.

Okay, here's an exact quote:
     "about a third of people want a regular FA - this third includes
most of the 'big time'  respected editors. the other two thirds wants
a fake article"

The hyphenated clause was wishful thinking.

-- 
+sj+