What should Jimbo do?, redemption strategies Options

[SB_Johnny]

Just curious here: what exactly could Jimbo actually do to fix problems like BLPs, porn, the horribly broken social structure, the elitism in the bureaucracy, and the shady side of the WMF/Wikia relationship? Can he redeem himself, or is it too late? Would anything short of getting a quiet day job be satisfactory?

[Text]

What should Obama do to fix unemployment rates, poverty (around 30% of the families in USA live with poverty wages), excess taxes, poor healthcare system and the rest? A new world war, perhaps?

Come on, Jimbo is just a wandering shadow now, who lives while being paid in money by the media every time he speaks at press conferences.

To solve X, delete X.

X has to be eraseable though. You can't do that with people's narcissism, its need for e-hate, and general silliness and irresponsible behavior.

[Milton Roe]

Just curious here: what exactly could Jimbo actually do to fix problems like BLPs, porn, the horribly broken social structure, the elitism in the bureaucracy, and the shady side of the WMF/Wikia relationship? Can he redeem himself, or is it too late? Would anything short of getting a quiet day job be satisfactory?

I have no idea how much power Jimbo has left. But the WMF board could:

*Outlaw all BLP. It can go in a special file, retrievable 1 week after the subject dies. We could discuss a special dispensation for the 1000 most famous living people on the planet. But you know where that would lead. Best not to go there at all. It's work and drama and it's not worth it.

*Offer adminship to all editors with more than 1 year and 5000 non-simple edits (vandal reversion would not count-- content needs to be added and thought needs to be demonstrated). However, for the adminship to activate, admins must agree to edit under their birth name or something linked to a bank account, however, checked by wire transfer donation of $1 dollar to WMF. If Jimbo and David Gerard can do it (edit under their own names), I see no reason why anybody can't do it. At least from the point of personal danger.

*Protect all articles based on prior history of vandalism. Semi-protection does not have to be all-or-none, it can be "dial-a-level". Articles never vandalized would remain IP editable. Each vandalism earns a new level of sprotection (edit count and time editing) along with a comparable and commensurate timelength block of the vandal account (IP accounts included).

* Accounts tracable to schools, libraries, etc, should be automatically soft-blocked in a way to prevent IP editing, but still allow nameuser account creation. So, anybody can edit-- if you don't mind ripening a username for weeks and weeks, even months, only to lose it all, when you vandalize something.

* Any image not PG-13 goes in a separate sections of COMMONs. There might even be R- and X-rated sections as well. There images would simply not show to IP users. Name users would have to have an email address and indicate their age > 13 or 17 or whatever, in order for viewing to be enabled when they view articles that link to these images. IPs and nameusers who haven't done this, would see the same article (the text would be fine), but the image would simply be redacted as "not available to your account". To see the X-rated stuff you have to do the $1 wire-transfer. Good luck with that if you're a minor.

* Something similar would happen to entire articles with a topic of explicit sexual content like bios of porn stars and descriptions of sex acts. On the other hand, the straight medical and anatomical stuff can be left alone for view by anybody. The nudist colony rule: let anybody of any age look at 1000 penises or breasts. Erect human penis photos would be PG-13 at least.

That's a start.

[Cock-up-over-conspiracy]

Let's face it, after the WP:FAIL of Wikia, Jimbo is not going to attract another run of venture capital funds, is he?

What is his future?

I suppose he might surf on as a board member of various NPOs. His current status as token celebrity geek will fade but he may experience a second resurrection close to death when he is wheel out as the man that started Wikipedia (remember that?).

It depends how much of a hopeless joke, or rather the public's perception of the Wikipedia as a hopeless joke, the Wikipedia becomes.

What should he do? How about, "go back to trading", retrain as a medic and join Médecins Sans Frontières, or take the high road to Damascus and change to doing some real voluntary/development work?

Just don't expect folks to give him 1,000 resurrections.

[EricBarbour]

I suppose he might surf on as a board member of various NPOs. His current status as token celebrity geek will fade but he may experience a second resurrection close to death when he is wheel out as the man that started Wikipedia (remember that?).

Don't be too certain that he'll just "fade away". It takes a LOT to embarrass the true egomaniac
into giving up on his pursuit of fame, fortune, and loose women. I daresay Jimmy qualifies.

Remember Mike Milken? Despite spending 2 years in prison and coughing up more than $1 billion in
fines and settlements, today "he is ranked by Forbes magazine as the 458th richest person in the world.[1]"
AND he runs major NPOs involved in the health-care field. Even founded one of them.

[Emperor]

One tiny little step Jimbo could do is to ask Wikipedians to unprotect his own biography. Say something like, "Unless all BLP's are protected, I don't want mine to be." or "You can edit this page right now. Wikipedia should be open to IP editing. That's my stand.".

[Milton Roe]

One tiny little step Jimbo could do is to ask Wikipedians to unprotect his own biography. Say something like, "Unless all BLP's are protected, I don't want mine to be." or "You can edit this page right now. Wikipedia should be open to IP editing. That's my stand.".

Yep. And the Carolyn Doran BLP, excruciatingly well-sourced from public documents, would be fascinating. And the Wales Marsden public affair deserves one all its own, like the Mel Gibson drunk incident.

[thekohser]

Just curious here: what exactly could Jimbo actually do to fix problems like BLPs, porn, the horribly broken social structure, the elitism in the bureaucracy, and the shady side of the WMF/Wikia relationship? Can he redeem himself, or is it too late? Would anything short of getting a quiet day job be satisfactory?

He could also just die, and then we hope for more responsible and effective leadership to fill the vacuum. I'm kind of figuring his sitting around in that pizza shop with his daughter, reading the Cat Warrior series, is maybe shaving a few months off his lifespan. The added inches around his gut are certainly showing up now.

[TungstenCarbide]

Just curious here: what exactly could Jimbo actually do to fix problems like BLPs, porn, the horribly broken social structure, the elitism in the bureaucracy, and the shady side of the WMF/Wikia relationship? Can he redeem himself, or is it too late? Would anything short of getting a quiet day job be satisfactory?

He could also just die, and then we hope for more responsible and effective leadership to fill the vacuum. I'm kind of figuring his sitting around in that pizza shop with his daughter, reading the Cat Warrior series, is maybe shaving a few months off his lifespan. The added inches around his gut are certainly showing up now.

The Jimbo leadership has sailed. Seven years ago he could do whatever he wanted at WP. Now he can't even delete porn at commons, thereby proving; "Its not my fault, man". Probably a good defense if he ever gets sued.

Wikipedia has planet sized inertia. It's reached critical culture mass - a culture that Jimbo had a large part in shaping. Most suggestions to make Wikipedia more responsible will get shouted down and the stomped by this culture. There really isn't anything Jimbo can do anymore to reshape the project. He'd be more effective forking it.

[Michaeldsuarez]

Most suggestions to make Wikipedia more responsible will get shouted down and the stomped by this culture. There really isn't anything Jimbo can do anymore to reshape the project. He'd be more effective forking it.

Agreed, Jimbo can't even get everyone to agree on Pending Changes / Flagged Revisions. The latest straw poll (and talk page) shows. There's a very vocal opposition group.

This post has been edited by Michaeldsuarez: Fri 1st October 2010, 8:28pm

[GlassBeadGame]

It is impossible to say how much Mr. Wales expressed concerns (BLP, pornography) are real but constrained by the realpolitik of WP and public relation concerns and how much is simply his trying not to look irresponsible and uncaring. He should walk away from all leadership positions like Dr. Sanger did at CZ. Then he should get an anon WR account and post his unvarnished concerns about the direction WP has taken free from any need to be concerned about his status, public relation concerns or on wiki politics.

[Jon Awbrey]

It is impossible to say how much Mr. Wales expressed concerns (BLP, pornography) are real but constrained by the realpolitik of WP and public relation concerns and how much is simply his trying not to look irresponsible and uncaring. He should walk away from all leadership positions like Dr. Sanger did at CZ. Then he should get an anon WR account and post his unvarnished concerns about the direction WP has taken free from any need to be concerned about his status, public relation concerns or on wiki politics.

Then — after 2 or 3 minutes of doing that — he could join The Village Of The Permabanned here.

Jon

[GlassBeadGame]

It is impossible to say how much Mr. Wales expressed concerns (BLP, pornography) are real but constrained by the realpolitik of WP and public relation concerns and how much is simply his trying not to look irresponsible and uncaring. He should walk away from all leadership positions like Dr. Sanger did at CZ. Then he should get an anon WR account and post his unvarnished concerns about the direction WP has taken free from any need to be concerned about his status, public relation concerns or on wiki politics.

Then — after 2 or 3 minutes of doing that — he could join The Village Of The Permabanned here.

Jon

Think of it as penance. 10,000 post on WR would be good for his soul. Maybe he could employ some help:

O, not to-day, think not upon the fault
My father made in compassing the crown!
I Richard's body have interred anew;
And on it have bestow'd more contrite tears
Than from it issued forced drops of blood:
Five hundred poor I have in yearly pay,
Who twice a-day their wither'd hands hold up
Toward heaven, to pardon blood; and I have built
Two chantries, where the sad and solemn priests
Sing still for Richard's soul. More will I do;
Though all that I can do is nothing worth,
Since that my penitence comes after all,
Imploring pardon.

Henry V, IV:i

[Emperor]

He could also just die, and then we hope for more responsible and effective leadership to fill the vacuum. I'm kind of figuring his sitting around in that pizza shop with his daughter, reading the Cat Warrior series, is maybe shaving a few months off his lifespan. The added inches around his gut are certainly showing up now.

Come on. That's a little over the line, and it debases the legitimate criticism that you and others have made on this site.

[Somey]

He could also just die, and then we hope for more responsible and effective leadership to fill the vacuum. I'm kind of figuring his sitting around in that pizza shop with his daughter, reading the Cat Warrior series, is maybe shaving a few months off his lifespan. The added inches around his gut are certainly showing up now.

Come on. That's a little over the line, and it debases the legitimate criticism that you and others have made on this site.

I agree - at Jimbo's age, added inches around the gut are almost inevitable, no matter what children's books you read or where you read them.

[thekohser]

He could also just die, and then we hope for more responsible and effective leadership to fill the vacuum. I'm kind of figuring his sitting around in that pizza shop with his daughter, reading the Cat Warrior series, is maybe shaving a few months off his lifespan. The added inches around his gut are certainly showing up now.

Come on. That's a little over the line, and it debases the legitimate criticism that you and others have made on this site.

Do you seriously believe that any event other than death will pry Jimbo willingly from his WikiMonster? As for SB Johnny's initial question about "what can he do to improve the situation" -- you and I both know that Jimbo lacks the fortitude, talent, and tact to effect any significant improvement in Wikipedia.

By the way, thanks for getting my back, Somey. The Warrior Cats 'n' pizza meme has got a lot of legs left in it. It would be a shame if guys like Emperor stunted its potential.

[SB_Johnny]

He could also just die, and then we hope for more responsible and effective leadership to fill the vacuum.

Well, let's hope the guy lives long, prospers, and gets to spend lots of time bouncing his grandpups on the knee.

Seriously, though: to "fill the vacuum" would be almost impossible without an independent cult following at least as large and loyal as Jimbo's. Assuming Barack Obama isn't going to volunteer, I'm thinking this is Jimbo's bed to make. And yeah, he'll need to change the sheets.

Back on topic (rare for me, I know): I think it might do wonders if he spoke publicly and frankly about the problems that aren't so obvious to the passersby. Sue Gardner's sunshine campaign needs a bit of counteraction.

[thekohser]

Honestly, I think it would help matters if he would just stop lying to the public.

[Milton Roe]

Well, let's hope the guy lives long, prospers, and gets to spend lots of time bouncing his grandpups on the knee.

And then, one day, when he's chasing a grandkid through the garden in a game ("Life is so beautiful"), bada-BOOM, the Big One hits.

And it's not long after that, any reader of his bio on WP will find out that he secretly liked to suck donkey dongs. His power gone, nobody will even bother to revert. It will be like one of those deathbed scnes where the relatives have left with the silverware, before the coroner is even called.

[CharlotteWebb]

Most suggestions to make Wikipedia more responsible will get shouted down and the stomped by this culture. There really isn't anything Jimbo can do anymore to reshape the project. He'd be more effective forking it.

Agreed, Jimbo can't even get everyone to agree on Pending Changes / Flagged Revisions. The latest straw poll (and talk page) shows. There's a very vocal opposition group.

It is impossible to say how much Mr. Wales expressed concerns (BLP, pornography) are real but constrained by the realpolitik of WP and public relation concerns and how much is simply his trying not to look irresponsible and uncaring.

His attitude toward flagged-revs is a matter of heated dispute.
http://wikipediareview.com/index.php?showtopic=28799

(Note: that thread probably belongs under "the Jimbo phenomenon" but said sub-forum didn't exist at that time.)