It's not just wikipedia that does this; it's not even specifically a problem of open communities. Organisations all over do this. People underestimate complex

It's not just wikipedia that does this; it's not even specifically a problem of open communities. Organisations all over do this. People underestimate complexity and think that they can assign permissions and control access beforehand, and they invariably end up making things hugely complicated in some vain endeavor to solve largely imaginary problems. Wikipedia, stackoverflow - but also companies with their crazy policies, and governments (which kind of inspired the word kafkaesque). Clearly, this is human nature. Oh, it doesn't actually work, so any successful organization also develops an unofficial way to get stuff done, and those facing real risks need to develop an audit culture too. But the lure of just that slightly more detailed access control system stays, and rules proliferate. Heck, our entire system of human self-organisation is one big cruft of rapidly growing rules, contracts, laws and treaties. It's everywhere. They only ever really shrink at any meaningful rate when the parties involved cease to exist.