User:Grace Note/reform

Wikipedia needs reform. It needs a serious effort to rewrite its policy basis. Some policies need to be abandoned or seriously reconsidered, some contradict others. That was okay when there were 40 editors. It isn't now.

We need broader agreement on whether we are broad or narrow. I opt for broad but I understand the narrowists. I think we should adopt pure wiki deletion as a way forward and we should end voting on deletion. Actually, we could end voting altogether. I vote for that ;-)

I'm for reforming the admins. I think we could rotate adminhood among the editors who make certain criteria. This helps the power structure not become entrenched and allows those who become too fond of throwing their weight around to have a chilling out period in which they can concentrate on adding content. Out of these admins should be selected a dozen onthespot arbitrators, for the purpose I'll outline next.

A dual problem is that too many behaviour cases are decided arbitrarily and that too many are not! It's usually plain to see who's being a fuckhead. We don't need to subject some of our number to a mindnumbing three-month-long parade of bullshit to work it out. Often arbitration is just the next step in a dispute that has already had an RfC or two. The onthespot arbitrators can be called on to decide whether a remedial action is needed for RfCs or in disputed cases, in which an admin wants to block someone but the person thinks it's unfair, or their supporters do. (I'm not saying disband the arbcom! I'm saying keep it for matters that really do need arbitration.)

I wouldn't want those remedies to be blocking or banning too often. Let's be creative. If someone is making personal attacks, give them NPA parole. Let them walk the tightrope. Admin decides, no appeal, a day off for making one. (See how rotating admins would aid the wikilawyering that goes on in this kind of case? The people who are making those decisions would change, so it's not "the cabal hates me" is it?) If someone is editwarring, you put them on 1RR. No arguments about what a revert is. Admin decides, no appeal. You are warned and then you are blocked. Let's put an end to the gaming of the system and bullshitting. Let's encourage talking about it. If an editor refuses to talk about it, ban them from editing the page. They can edit talk, that's all. If someone is simply single-issue POV pushing, consider banning them from the issue. The arbcom has done this in the past and I think it's a good remedy. The ban need only be a month long. Anyone who wants to return to the same sterile bullshit after a month's break really does have a problem. There are thousands of pages here!

This stuff should all be public in my belief. No arbitration submissions in private. Not because I don't believe that a commonsense approach to things is a good idea but I think that submissions should be public, not necessarily to allow them to be contested (I would actually disallow that -- arbitration would be greatly improved if the involved parties didn't treat it as a flame war) but to ensure that the process is seen to be fair. Cobbling together decisions with the input of editors with an axe to grind is not a good way to convince people there is not a cabal out to get them.

The process thing is a real problem. It happens because policies in important areas are too loose for a big organisation. Take a hypothetical. An anon vandalises a page. It's probably just a schoolkid who thinks it's cool to write "dick" on a page. The first time you just revert it and say "hey that's not cool" on their talkpage. They do it again. You revert it again and maybe you say "do it again and you get blocked", maybe you don't, you just block them. But the process guys have invented a whole structure of warnings for vandals. Hang on! This is a schoolkid who is writing "dick" on pages. Maybe a potentially valuable contributor in the future, yes, but at this point a problem. I've had a lot of thought about this. I don't think anyone should be purposely put off contributing but I think that if a contributor is put off contributing because we gave him a day to think about whether writing "dick" on a page was a great way to do it, well, tough shit. Taking the admin to task because he didn't bother warning the halfwit three times, or worse, refusing to support a person's bid for adminship because they don't know what template gives what warning, is ridiculous. Make the first block an hour even. That would put off most silly boys and girls, wouldn't it? Automate a note to talk and bob's your uncle.

And about process. No one should ever be saying "I agree that the article shouldn't be here but you didn't follow the correct procedure."

Oh another thing. A personal attack happens when someone feels attacked. If you've made a person feel attacked, you've probably broken this core policy. Don't bicker over whether what you just did actually was an attack. Just be nice. Say sorry, move on. Apologising for hurt caused, even if unintended is not a bad thing! If you've hurt someone in the course of writing an encyclopaedia article, you should be contrite. It's supposed to be fun. The same thought goes to "pissing on [people's] playgrounds". If you need telling why that's a bad way to approach other contributors and to make an encyclopaedia, you're the problem, not the solution.