I don’t expect to win an edit war with David Gerard.
Now might be a good time to revisit that belief. He just got a topic ban on “editing about Scott Siskind, broadly construed”. I make the case on the LessWrong article talk page that this topic ban could be construed as extending to the LessWrong article, and also that there is a separate case against him editing that article based on similar behavior to the behavior that he got a topic ban for.
It would probably really take a lot of time to even understand what is and what is not considered to be in accordance with wikpedia rules. I note that, as in any other volunteer organization, a lot depends on who wants to put more time and effort into fighting for his/her convictions.
The Wikipedia rules are… meaningful, if you interpret them in good faith. But if are using arguments as soldiers, then pretty much in every situation for any side you can find a rule that can be used in its favor. The key is to find it, and express it using words familiar to other admins.
For example, if a person edits an article they are somehow related to, it is either a good thing (we want to encourage experts to edit Wikipedia) or a bad thing (conflict of interest). Depending on whether you agree with the person or not, you choose the relevant rule, and insist that it applies. Similarly, most content can be removed as not important (Wikipedia is an encyclopedia, not a collection of everything) or kept as important to some people (Wikipedia is not on paper, we do not need to worry about number of pages). Short articles can be removed (as useless) or kept (because even a short article encourages people to extend it). Then there is a debate about what sources are considered “reliable” scientifically (demand higher rigor if you disagree with the conclusion, anything goes if you agree) and politically (conservative or neutral). Shortly, the rules do not enforce themselves; they need people to enforce their interpretation.
As you said, if you visibly volunteer a lot, you gain status within the community. When a conflict escalates, the higher status person has much better chance to win.
The more experiences people can use more sophisticated techniques, for example if you are high status and you break enough rules that there is a realistic chance you might get banned, say: “guys, I honestly believe I did nothing wrong, but I value our friendship and peace so much that I decided to stop editing the article, because I love this community so much”. Then everyone rejoices that the problem was resolved without having to ban a high-status person. Two weeks later you change your mind and start editing the article again. If anyone proposes a ban again, your friends will dismiss it, because “we already had this debate, stop wasting everyone’s time”. (David Gerard tried to play this card, and almost succeeded.)
There is also the passive-aggressive art of treating opponents with subtle disrespect and framing their activities in worst possible light, and when someone does the same to you, crying “assuming good faith is the fundamental principle of Wikipedia debates”. Generally, accusing your opponents of breaking Wikipedia rules is a good way to gain support among admins. For example, if you complain about Wikipedia bias on a different website, it can be linked as a proof of “brigading”.
Original research is discouraged on Wikipedia, but of course this itself becomes a topic of a debate (anything your opponent said, unless it is literally a quote, is original research; but of course you cannot really write an encyclopedic article as a concatenation of quotes). You can play the game of making parts of article longer or shorter depending on whether they put the target in favorable or unfavorable light. I could go on… but generally, there are all kinds of tricks, and the high-status volunteer is more likely to know them, and is more likely to be forgiven for using them.
I had to sigh when I read “it can be hard to find editors who don’t have a strong opinion about the person. But this is very far from that, likely one reason why the NYT actually used David Gerard as a source”.
Now might be a good time to revisit that belief. He just got a topic ban on “editing about Scott Siskind, broadly construed”. I make the case on the LessWrong article talk page that this topic ban could be construed as extending to the LessWrong article, and also that there is a separate case against him editing that article based on similar behavior to the behavior that he got a topic ban for.
It would probably really take a lot of time to even understand what is and what is not considered to be in accordance with wikpedia rules. I note that, as in any other volunteer organization, a lot depends on who wants to put more time and effort into fighting for his/her convictions.
The Wikipedia rules are… meaningful, if you interpret them in good faith. But if are using arguments as soldiers, then pretty much in every situation for any side you can find a rule that can be used in its favor. The key is to find it, and express it using words familiar to other admins.
For example, if a person edits an article they are somehow related to, it is either a good thing (we want to encourage experts to edit Wikipedia) or a bad thing (conflict of interest). Depending on whether you agree with the person or not, you choose the relevant rule, and insist that it applies. Similarly, most content can be removed as not important (Wikipedia is an encyclopedia, not a collection of everything) or kept as important to some people (Wikipedia is not on paper, we do not need to worry about number of pages). Short articles can be removed (as useless) or kept (because even a short article encourages people to extend it). Then there is a debate about what sources are considered “reliable” scientifically (demand higher rigor if you disagree with the conclusion, anything goes if you agree) and politically (conservative or neutral). Shortly, the rules do not enforce themselves; they need people to enforce their interpretation.
As you said, if you visibly volunteer a lot, you gain status within the community. When a conflict escalates, the higher status person has much better chance to win.
The more experiences people can use more sophisticated techniques, for example if you are high status and you break enough rules that there is a realistic chance you might get banned, say: “guys, I honestly believe I did nothing wrong, but I value our friendship and peace so much that I decided to stop editing the article, because I love this community so much”. Then everyone rejoices that the problem was resolved without having to ban a high-status person. Two weeks later you change your mind and start editing the article again. If anyone proposes a ban again, your friends will dismiss it, because “we already had this debate, stop wasting everyone’s time”. (David Gerard tried to play this card, and almost succeeded.)
There is also the passive-aggressive art of treating opponents with subtle disrespect and framing their activities in worst possible light, and when someone does the same to you, crying “assuming good faith is the fundamental principle of Wikipedia debates”. Generally, accusing your opponents of breaking Wikipedia rules is a good way to gain support among admins. For example, if you complain about Wikipedia bias on a different website, it can be linked as a proof of “brigading”.
Original research is discouraged on Wikipedia, but of course this itself becomes a topic of a debate (anything your opponent said, unless it is literally a quote, is original research; but of course you cannot really write an encyclopedic article as a concatenation of quotes). You can play the game of making parts of article longer or shorter depending on whether they put the target in favorable or unfavorable light. I could go on… but generally, there are all kinds of tricks, and the high-status volunteer is more likely to know them, and is more likely to be forgiven for using them.
I had to sigh when I read “it can be hard to find editors who don’t have a strong opinion about the person. But this is very far from that, likely one reason why the NYT actually used David Gerard as a source”.