Systematic bias: Difference between revisions

399 bytes added ,  25 December 2003
due process = court = high overhead, when's it worth it? when sysops are involved
(what the REAL problem is: lack of process enables liars and libellers, drives off those who care about truth; some solutions)
(due process = court = high overhead, when's it worth it? when sysops are involved)
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A '''systematic bias''' is a bias arising from ''how'' participants in some joint process work together.  It is related to, and may arise in part from, a [[systemic bias]].  However, one deals with the two in quite different ways - while a systemic bias can often be dealt with simply by disrupting the cliques and inviting in new participants, a systematic bias can only be addressed by what is known in legal terms as "[[due process]]" - a dragging-out and delaying of decisions so that persistent factual claims can be evaluated, and decisions are not made until a deliberation has occurred on the credibility of each one.
A '''systematic bias''' is a bias arising from ''how'' participants in some joint process work together.  It is related to, and may arise in part from, a [[systemic bias]].  However, one deals with the two in quite different ways - while a systemic bias can often be dealt with simply by disrupting the cliques and inviting in new participants and raising awareness, a '''systematic''' bias can ''only'' be addressed by what is known in legal terms as "[[due process]]" - a dragging-out and delaying of decisions so that persistent factual claims can be evaluated, and decisions are not made until a deliberation has occurred on the credibility of each one.  This may involve [[factionalism]] to a degree and an [[w:adversarial process]] in which each [[faction]] gets to assert its truth, and where these compete to define reality, but with other factors (such as who holds the actual technological and killing power) equalized.  This is of course the function of a courtroom where the term "due process" emerged/applied.


For ordinary distinctions such as, e.g. "[[simple vandalism]]" on a [[large public wiki]], such a process may be overkill.  However, for deep distinctions that involve the [[sysop power structure]], such as [[sysop vandalism]], there is going to be a "due process" or nothing, since, the sysops themselves have the technological power to prevent their own activities from being investigated.
For ordinary distinctions such as, e.g. "[[simple vandalism]]" on a [[large public wiki]], such due process may be overkill.  However, for deep distinctions that involve the [[sysop power structure]], such as [[sysop vandalism]], there is going to be a "due process" or nothing, since, the sysops themselves have the technological power to prevent their own activities from being investigated.


=== consequences of systematic bias ===
=== consequences of systematic bias ===
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