QUOTE(EricBarbour @ Wed 25th January 2012, 4:09pm)
It appears the only way to change Wikipedia is via the repeated application of massive public embarrassment.
No. Jimbo, Sue and many of the sinecure-suckers at the WMF are capable of embarrassment or deep concern because they have actual incomes and revenue streams that are affected by WP's reputation. The Frei Kultur Kinder that have the actual run of WP have no such concerns, although they are certainly capable of getting into a royal panic about having their true agendas or their "IRL" identities exposed. It would not occur to them that they ought to feel
embarrassment, however. Within the cocoon of their insane and insular little wikiverse, they are just as right as right can be.
The WMF can urge, cajole, inform or menace the Frei Kultur Kinder. It can even attempt the impossible by trying to reason with them. But it cannot order or require them to do anything beyond those few cases that fall under "WP:OFFICE." In the end, the WMF can put up increasingly expensive Potemkin villages to divert the public, but they have no power to bring any meaningful reform to WP, scandals and embarrassments notwithstanding.