Civility artifacts edit
Kirill Lokshin on civility and professionalism [1]
Civility from Civility discussion page: Sunray, Dreadstar, GTBacchus, Olive [2]
Comment Barneca from Beaucrats/Noticeboard [3]
Comment GTBachus on civility and process [4]
Comment Buster7 on physical cues and civility [5]
On Civility and lies edit
I think most of us think of ourselves as standing outside of Wikipedia right now trying to fix the problems,trying to make it work well. Now turn that inside out or inside in and put us all, all of the editors, inside Wikipedia. We are now Wikiepdia, its "heart", and as the heart we create the articles. Wikipedia flows outwards from us. We also are the problems. Outside of Wikipedia, we separate ourselves from the problems, and from each other, isolate ourselves, our thinking. Inside of Wikipedia we are the functioning unit, and are responsible for having created whatever happens in the encyclopedia including its problems. This isn't a physical shift obviously. Its a shift in our own habits, in the way we view the encyclopedia.
At the heart of the encyclopedia are also the hearts of the editors. At the risk of sounding trite, damage one heart and you damage the whole. If we think as Wikipedia as this whole that gives rise to the parts of the encyclopedia, that's the picture. Dreadstar's point about lying, is so much larger than telling a lie given this paradigm, not that I am putting words into his mouth, but rather how I extrapolate from what he is saying. The heart of the encyclopedia, and the hearts of the editors are influenced by every single aspect that protects or damages it. Damage one heart in any way, and lies of any kind are a lack of openness in the heart, and you damage the whole. When an editor lies, for whatever reason, whether the lie is found out or not, damage is done the editor's heart who tells the lie, at least, and possibly the editors who deal with the lie, and the whole larger heart of Wikipedia is damaged. This isn't just about lies obviously, but is about anything that damages or supports the encyclopedia.
You can't tell people this necessarily. Many would scoff, but you can begin to shift the paradigm, by saying let's look at ourselves as the functioning "heart" inside of, and of, this encyclopedia.
This paradigm is becoming known in other collaborative environments, and is an obvious movement toward the better functioning of a global sustainable world where we are connected to each other and to the world we are destroying/creating.
Parameters then have to be as holistic as we can make them I suspect, and based on the sense that every editor is an important functioning aspect of the encyclopedia just because he or she is inside there with us. We are all part of the heart. We have to begin to design parameters based on this paradigm, it seems to me. Aren't you sorry you asked?!(olive (talk) 00:07, 14 March 2008 (UTC))