Much has been said about the concept of what belongs in a Wiki designed with a specific purpose. And just like people who congregate for particular purposes can sometimes be diverted into other interesting pursuits, a Wiki should be allowed to evolve in similar fashion. It is the accumulation of ideas, and participation by larger numbers of people that often result in true genius being revealed, and limiting oneself to a single topic, even when others contribute to that topic, can, and will, stifle creativity, and ultimately limit the utility of collaboration, which is what the Web, and the Wiki, are all about.

No matter what your political leanings when it comes to the Web, and the Wiki, let's face it, the Wiki is a very frustrating place to be if you are looking for a sterile, unadulterated environment, where everyone sings from the same sheet of music at all times. Heck, I don't know that any place actually exists like that. Even "The Borg" developed some sense of individuality once they were exposed to its virtues!

The order of the day in any community should be tolerance, compassion, and cooperation, and the Wiki environment is a perfect place to exercise these principles. Keep the big picture in mind! We have a great opportunity to share and enjoy each other's thoughts, and discourse, as long as the Wiki Police don't become too aggressive.

''What happened to the FullStandardsRfcPage, did the WikiPolice get it? It lasted less than 12 hours, isn't that a little unhappy? ''

The Wiki relies on a reasonable level of consensus about what belongs here (which sometimes breaks down). Deleting a page of little content as soon as someone is aware of it isn't unreasonable. It will reappear if someone disagrees. In this case, I'd agree that FullStandardsRfcPage didn't add significantly to the Wiki. It didn't do anything that a quick search with Google wouldn't do better.

And this whole page isn't really saying anything new, either, so I expect someone will come along and delete it like they did the previous spelling of it.

''Er... I moved this page here so it would have a better WikiWord title, not deleted it. -- EarleMartin''

ItDepends on who the WikiPolice are then, doesn't it? As to the page in question, it has much to do with the existence of this wiki and the whole internet for that matter. It spells out the open nature of the internet and the open way in which its standards, protocols and methods were proposed and developed. The page as it was composed was just in gestation, with more comment and history to follow. To compare it to the questionable taste pages. As Forrest Gump would say, life is like a box of chocolates. And to paraphrase, happy is as happy does. -- MarkRogers

''Last I saw of it, it didn't "spell out" much at all, largely being a pointer to another page on the WWW. If there were grander plans for it, lay those out on the page, or, better, don't create the page until there's significant content to add. There are too many short pages created that don't go anywhere, and it's essentially impossible to spot the few that might when the content is just a few words. I think there's more value in deleting the rubbish promptly (accepting that some might turn out to have been a little hastily deleted) than in leaving them all to see if one or two evolve. The best response to someone deleting that page would to be to recreate it, this time with content sufficient that it's value is clear, rather than adding yet more claims of over-policing.'' I'm happy with that!

MatthewAstley makes a suggestion in TimebombNewPages. ''I can deal with that! I'm a happy soul after all.''

Then FullStandardsRfcPage was deleted again with the brief remark, "Rebuilt and Renamed, to be posted June 2003 under new name".  Just FTR.

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CategoryWikiMaintenance