Ryan Delaney wrote: > > > On Sat, Oct 17, 2009 at 3:15 AM, Charles Matthews > <charles.r.matth...@ntlworld.com > <mailto:charles.r.matth...@ntlworld.com>> wrote: > > Apoc 2400 wrote: > > Isn't it time to be honest with ourselves and nominate > "Wikipedia is not a > > bureaucracy" for deletion? > > > "Bureaucracy" is a fairly helpful description of how Wikipedia > actually > functions, as far as management style is concerned. Decisions are > taken > according to practice that has been codified to some extent (in some > areas, to a large extent). If you want to get something done, knowing > where to go and how to apply is at least half the battle. But my > reading > of WP:BURO would make the comment "A procedural error made in posting > anything, such as a proposal or nomination, is not grounds for > invalidating that post" central to its intention. I say we don't > delete > that. > > Charles > > > > Wikipedia has no "management style" because there are no managers. We > should not be a bureaucracy in any sense of the word. > > That is the point of WP:BURO. It's not that "We are a bureaucracy, but > if you cut some corners we'll look the other way." That's not what it > says at all. It says "We are NOT a bureaucracy" and so "Knowing where > to go" should be much, MUCH less than half the "battle" of > contributing to Wikipedia. > > - causa sui > I'm sure that styles without central managers feature in management books, though. In fact I know they do. The question is whether it is more helpful to insist that the reality is a purist wiki/collaborative style of work with everything freeform, or to look the actuality in the face every now and again. The way we operate is a hybrid of pure wiki editing with other stuff. And being in denial about the scale issue seems head-in-the-sand to me. A wiki with 10,000 pages is a big wiki. And we have 1000 times that, one way and another.
Charles _______________________________________________ WikiEN-l mailing list WikiEN-l@lists.wikimedia.org To unsubscribe from this mailing list, visit: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikien-l