On Sun, May 09, 2010 at 10:46:50AM +0100, Jimmy Wales wrote:
>
> In the interest of encouraging this discussion to be about real
> philosophical/content issues, rather than be about me and how quickly I
> acted, I've just now removed virtually all permissions to actually do
> things from the "Founder" flag. I even removed my ability to edit
> semi-protected pages! (I've kept permissions related to 'viewing' things.)
In the immortal words of Judge Judy; "Perfect, PERFECT!".
== Perfect ==
I was just about to post about the need to assure the commons community
that there would be no repeat performance. This is a risk-management
issue: why would a commons user take an initiative that might be
marginalized or rendered futile in the near future?
That kind of situation has a paralysing effect on a community.
The paralysing effect has now been largely negated.
Perfect.
== PERFECT! ==
Do you know how long I've been trying to encourage experienced/high profile
admins to hand in their flags?
Why? It's a Poka-yoke / idiot-proofing measure
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poka-yoke
As a precaution, one should not take (high profile) actions, without
confirming it with at least one other person in the relevant community.[1]
By not having the requisite permissions oneself, one is forced to talk
with someone who does, no matter how impatient, panicked, or tired one
is. Obviously this doesn't catch all edge-cases, but it certainly
reduces the number of ways in which things can go wrong.
In this case, Jimbo Wale's founder flag gave him _Uber_-Admin powers.
That's Got to Lead To Uber-Pain. And It Did.
So now that's fixed. I wouldn't be surprised if Jimmy's influence
in the community didn't actually *increase* due to this. [2]
PERFECT!
== Me three? ==
Jimmy Wales correctly identifies the fact that experienced
users who do hand in their flag should still be able to view
things, such as deleted pages, etc.
In fact, the reason that I haven't been able to convince fellow
admins to retire, is because they really didn't want to lose
their viewing abilities.
<drama>
Before, I was but a single voice, calling in the dark. But Now! Now that
the world's most high profile Wikipedian has *de-facto* finally
vindicated my position, after all these years...
</drama>
... it would be really nice to have a similar set of permissions
for "retired" admins and stewards. Please? <Puppy-dog-look>
sincerely,
Kim Bruning
[1]It is always wise to work in pairs anyway. Ask Ward Cunningham, or
any other Agile-type person you know!
[2] This wouldn't be immediate. First some wounds will need to heal,
of course. And people still need to vent their catharthic
venting for now.
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