[WikiEN-l] I will be leaving the project

Mon Jun 20 21:41:31 UTC 2005

Granted Rick's actions were attempting to keep a possible copyvio out
of WP, but revert warring with other respected users was a pretty lame
way to go about it. It was not going to resolve the GAP project
copyvio problem.

Dan

On 20/06/05, Phil Sandifer <sandifer at sbcglobal.net> wrote:
> The rules do not have any innate value. That is to say, the mere fact
> that something is in the rules does not make it right, any more than
> its absence from the rules makes it wrong. Sysops are not expected to
> be mechanical robots in enforcing the 3RR or any other rule. This
> doesn't mean people are above the rules. It means that sysops are not
> obliged to block in every case.
> 
> One of the things that should always play into a decision about
> blocking is the good faith of the contributor, the necessity of the
> block in getting the point across, and the nature of the dispute.
> Frankly, Rick's block wasn't cut and dry - removing copyvio
> absolutely should not count as a 3RR revert, and there's no reason to
> think that Rick did not sincerely see a copyvio problem. And it's
> important to err on the side of protecting Wikipedia from lawsuit
> with copyvio - if there's a reasonable suspicion, remove first, then
> spend the time sorting it out.
> 
> Which isn't to say that Rick handled this well. He didn't. it is,
> however, to say that he did not handle it so badly as to deserve the
> abject slap in the face that this block was. And he's right to be
> pissed - I would be.
> 
> I hope Silsor intends to spend a LOT more time than he has browsing
> recent changes and dealing with the abject stupidity that Rick was
> our first line of defense against. Because otherwise, that block just
> hurt the project a lot.
> 
> -Snowspinner
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