[Wikipedia-l] Re: Stable versions policy

Wed Dec 21 06:34:39 UTC 2005

Wikipedia Romania (Ronline) wrote:

>On 12/21/05, Brion Vibber <brion at pobox.com> wrote:
>  
>
>>Articles are continuously edited over time. As time goes on, ever-newer
>>versions
>>will be marked as the stable version which is first shown to the public.
>>    
>>
>Yes, but only after lengthened amounts of consensus...
>  
>
>>If that means "no-one could edit them", then we already have that model! You
>>can't change a given revision on Wikipedia; you can only make a new
>>revision
>>based on it.
>>
>>But even worse, today when we freeze an article to show a stable revision,
>>*nobody* can edit it except an elite cabal of sysops. Is that "open"? Is
>>that
>>"free"?
>>    
>>
>I haven't yet heard of anyone freezing an article to create a stable
>version. The concept of a stable version doesn't yet exist.
>
If you read Brion's message carefully, you will realize that the concept 
of stable versions he refers to in the present system are commonly 
called "protected pages". I trust you have heard of those.

--Michael Snow