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[edit] There's a new game in town, and you can't play

It's all in how you look at it. When it was announced on June 5th that there was a new power added to the Wikipedia code, it was couched in all those terms one expects to hear about in the name of safety:

A new revision-hiding user class, "oversight", was created recently. Users with the function can permanently delete page revisions containing personal information, copyright violations, or libelous content. — Ral315

Yes, it sure sounds like a good idea. Stop all those copyright violations, personal intrusions and libelous content. However, it does another thing: make it blazingly simple to remove history that ever existed. Wipe clean, with a simple command, any viewpoints, writings, controversies or ideas that got in the way of the magic 17.

The magic 17? Well, you see, 17 people have been given this new classification, this ability to disappear Wikipedia's history.

[edit] Let's meet the magic 17 28

As yanked from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Listusers/oversight on April 16, 2007, here are all the accounts with oversight access:

1. Blnguyen (oversight, sysop)
2. Charles Matthews‎(oversight, sysop)
3. David Gerard‎(checkuser, oversight, sysop)
4. Dmcdevit ‎(checkuser, oversight, sysop)
5. Filiocht ‎(oversight, sysop)
6. Flcelloguy ‎(oversight, sysop)
7. FloNight ‎(oversight, sysop)
8. Fred Bauder ‎(checkuser, oversight, sysop)
9. Jayjg ‎(checkuser, oversight, sysop)
10. Jdforrester ‎(boardvote, oversight, sysop)
11. Jimbo Wales ‎(developer, oversight, steward, sysop)
12. Jpgordon ‎(checkuser, oversight, sysop)
13. Kirill Lokshin ‎(oversight, sysop)
14. Mackensen ‎(checkuser, oversight, sysop)
15. Morven ‎(checkuser, oversight, sysop)
16. Neutrality ‎(oversight, sysop)
17. Nichalp ‎(Bureaucrat, oversight, sysop)
18. Paul August ‎(oversight, sysop)
19. Raul654‎(Bureaucrat, checkuser, oversight, sysop)
20. Rebecca ‎(checkuser, oversight, sysop)
21. Redux ‎(Bureaucrat, checkuser, oversight, sysop)
22. Sannse ‎(oversight, sysop)
23. SimonP ‎(oversight, sysop)
24. Taxman ‎(Bureaucrat, oversight, sysop)
25. The Epopt ‎(checkuser, oversight, sysop)
26. Theresa knott ‎(oversight, sysop)
27. Tim Starling ‎(Bureaucrat, checkuser, developer, oversight, sysop)
28. UninvitedCompany ‎(Bureaucrat, checkuser, oversight, sysop)

Did you nominate them to have these powers? Did you sit in on the discussions? Did you debate the pros and cons of this feature being added to Wikipedia? No, no you didn't. You're a meat puppet, sad to say. You might find tomorrow, the day after, anytime really, that stuff you worked on is gone. Really gone. Super gone, like someone who spoke a little too loudly in China or bought a little too much ammonium nitrate.

Update: It appears that 17 people blessed with the power to abuse the GFDL was not enough. One person has already had their oversight privileges revoked after a developer discovered that she was "removing some edits that aren't legal issues", and seven new Wikipedians have been added to the roster. (July 1, 2006)

Update: apparently the problem is so bad they need even more help. 23 censors and we're still counting. (September 22, 2006)

Update: and it was 28 as of February 2007.

[edit] We had to burn the article to save it

"For the good of Wikipedia!" the wikizealots cry out. "Protect the Jimboship!" comes ringing down the halls from open mouths, the Wiki-aid dripping from their lips. Fair enough. No doubt this will ensure that things the Magic 23 don't like will be removed much more efficiently.

But remember your cry of support the next time something gets said or edited that makes Jimbo's eyebrows knit or which gets into Theresa Knott's hair or which makes Mindspillage's lips purse. One bad day, one missed cup of coffee, and it's gone. Gone, gone gone.

[edit] Blank checks and balances

But at least they can undo each other's work, right? At least if Jimbo decides to disappear something that gets under his skin, another more level-headed member of the 23 club can step in and set things right, right? Well, read the announcement again:

"For legal reasons, revisions deleted through oversight are not visible to anyone, including oversight members. The only way to retrieve such revisions is by manual restoration by a developer."

Yes, that's right. Once this is done, nobody knows it happened. They can ask it to be reversed.... if they know about it. They can request it be undone, assuming anyone believes the person who says it was done in the first place.

Surely such a complete weapon of mass destruction will have checks and balances. Surely the Magic 23 will never use it to push an agenda. Surely they'll only use it in extreme cases, in special situations, in specific ways.

Surely, nothing could possibly go wrong with this.

Will you remember the Wikitruth, when we're disappeared?