cabals

On Wikipedia the term cabal is often used loosely to describe real or imagined collectives of users who have chosen to group inside or outside of the mainspace or project namespace in order to pursue an interest.

There is no Cabal

Whether any given cabal actually exists usually is impossible to determine conclusively. Often the existence of a cabal is posited by a group holding opposite views to those of the supposed cabal; they may look like a cabal to others.

History

In the early days of Wikipedia, annoyed by a huge amount of vandalism and other irresponsible editing, a number of persons, including "fathers-founders" themselves, considered the idea of "benign cabals". Larry Sanger was a strong proponent of giving editors considered to be experts an extra power, which was one of his major disagreements with Jimbo, and he even attempted to implement "expertocracy" in Citizendium. In 2001, Jimbo himself mused on the idea of "cabal membership", which had eventually led to the concept of administrators.

Types

Cabals can be roughly divided into three types:

  • Secret cabal – This type of cabal is restricted in its membership and secretive about its functions or existence. The aims of such groups may be disruption of the project, promotion of its members to become Wikipedia functionaries, or canvassing and/or meatpuppetry and/or tag teaming, possibly to impress a specific point of view on the encyclopedia. While speculation exists about how much influence such groups have over the encyclopedia, social groups are a fact of life, and some users have been known to use off-wiki means (IRC, e-mail, external websites, etc.) to coordinate their actions on-wiki.
  • Editor cabal – This type of cabal went through discussion on Wiki English. In August 2005, a group called Esperanza was formed with the idea of fellowship and strengthening WikiLove. The main concern about Esperanza was that it was bureaucratic and elitist and this was a strong concern when the group was brought to MfD. In December 2006, the group was disbanded. The Counter-Vandalism Unit is an example of a sanctioned cabal, dedicated to fight vandalism.
  • Joke cabal is often accused of operating hierarchical cabals which most editors would not know the existence of. To satirize the theory a number of editors formed joke cabals. Some examples are The Bathrobe Cabal, The Rouge Admin Cabal and The Penguin Cabal. They can offer light relief to editors especially after periods of heavy editing.

Conclusion

Joke cabals are generally tolerated until they affect the project, at which point the matter often is taken up at one of the administrative noticeboards. Wikipedia pages used by individuals who are solely here to socialize, not contribute, may be raised at WP:MFD.

See also

References

Tags:

cabals Historycabals Typescabals ConclusioncabalsCabalWikipediaWikipedia:Article spaceWikipedia:Project namespaceWikipedia:USER

🔥 Trending searches on Wiki English:

FIFA World CupJuJu WatkinsPete ButtigiegShubman GillJesse PalmerSeven deadly sinsElizabeth IIMatthew GarberKobbie MainooRuby FrankeBillie EilishCharles IIIX (2022 film)United Arab EmiratesRuth KearneyRagnar Oratmangoen2024 Indian general election in West BengalOutlook.comNatasha RichardsonKeira Knightley2021 Suez Canal obstructionSunshine Skyway BridgeEuropeSilver BridgeKen MilesAlina HabbaWikiCuba Gooding Jr.Islamic StateNorth KoreaThe BeatlesTheo JamesCurb Your EnthusiasmIvan ToneyRhea Ripley50 CentChristopher NolanBrandon ScottMadonnaLokesh KanagarajPremaluMargot RobbiePASTEFHarold RamisFrance national football teamRoman EmpireHamasThe Zone of Interest (film)Toyota Hilux ChampInvincible (TV series)Mao ZedongJeffrey DahmerTulsi GabbardOttoman EmpireBlackRockBBC World ServiceFrierenJapan Air Lines Flight 123Post MaloneList of constituencies of the Lok SabhaHarry KaneNetherlandsEva MendesGeorgia (country)Damien HarrisKieffer MooreSuki WaterhouseMel Gibson2020 United States presidential electionVietnam War2024 Russian presidential electionBaltimore Harbor TunnelMasters of the AirMichael JacksonDiana, Princess of WalesList of countries and dependencies by populationGoogle MapsTaapsee PannuChance the Rapper🡆 More