Whoever believes that an administration of a crowdsourcing website can do whatever they want just because they are running the website should recollect what recently happened to Internet Brands and Wikitravel.
Popcorn, anyone? Wikipedia is not an organization, and the WMF does not administer the Wikipedias. It owns them, which gives the WMF the *legal right* to administer. It's quite obvious that, as the wikis have been operating, for the WMF to take over administration would require major changes. But it would not be impossible, and only a narrow imagination would conclude so. This issue of superprotect and how it was used raises issues of power and control. It seems to be assumed in these discussions that this is a deliberate assertion of power, "we are in charge and you are not," and in a sense, it obviously is. However, is that the intention? Why are WMF employees confronting the community at this time and in this way and over a relatively small issue, and without a clear policy statement from the Board? The WMF has been, apparently, silent so far, which could mean that the Board and Executive Director have no plan, that they are trying to figure out what to do. This would be completely unsurprising. There are now editors suggesting a strike. That would be the community -- or a segment of the community -- attempting to force the WMF to submit to their way. And the superprotect flap was the WMF attempting to force the community to submit to their way. That tends to be where we go first when we are sure we are right, and others are wrong. And if it goes this way, everyone loses, very likely. https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Requests_for_comment/Superprotect_rights is the usual wiki train wreck, which is what happens when raw, unripe proposals are made. But the WMF is not like the community, it is possible for it to come up with reflected, deliberated response. That, indeed, is why they have the money and the control. I recommend no rush. Do this right. That RfC is generating a lot of comment. Someone can and should refactor it to summarize the arguments, to create a true "consensus document," I've been calling it. But whether or not anyone will find the time to do it, I don't know. It's a lot of work. Still, I'd think that the WMF would be noticing that it touched a live wire. So now what? Abd ul-Rahman Lomax I'm so excited I can't wait for Now. _______________________________________________ Wikimedia-l mailing list, guidelines at: https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Mailing_lists/Guidelines [email protected] Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikimedia-l, <mailto:[email protected]?subject=unsubscribe>
