User blog comment:Agent Spy/Spam and Vandal Reduction Team/@comment-33628828-20130411204313/@comment-33628828-20130411235450

Too often, when a small group of people decide who is in a group then the only people in a group are very similar and liked by the other people. This is a bad thing, it leads to a lack of diversity and that causes groupthink, where the group just goes along with a plan regardless of whether or not it is a good thing. Disagreement is good, debate is good. Either way, it doesn't matter for janitors if they exist, since janitors just mindlessly clean up spam and vandalism. No discussion/debate required.

What is important, and what a larger vote can accomplish is to ensure that the people with rights are actually able to get along with and communicate with the community as a whole. This is more important than "fitting in" with the group of privileged users that they are in. And also, people do generally take into account things like previous experience and suitability when voting - assume some good faith. These votes aren't strict votes, either. They run like votes on Bricki - while at the end of the day someone passes if they get the required support, the vote is really a debate with both sides presenting reasons for or against the user getting the rights.

Keep in mind, the LMBW can still use the system that it has now. But for anything global on Brickimedia - the board, janitors (if we have them), etc, those will be elected positions. At the very least, elected by the admins of all the wikis. Like I said, a small group deciding is no less a popularity contest than a big group. The only difference is that a bigger group can be, in many cases, more objective - especially with a discussion-styled vote.

I have had lots of experience with wikis (global admin on Wikimedia, checkuser on two Wikia wikis, bunch of other rights that I've collected over time). I can very confidently say that the quasi-democratic system works best for wikis in general, which is why I promote it. But, like I've said before, the LMBW can do whatever it wants to. Brickimedia is a federation, not a single state :)