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"The life of the law has not been logic; it has been experience." -- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., The Common Law (1881) page 1. In other words, the Anglo-America

"The life of the law has not been logic; it has been experience." -- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., The Common Law (1881) page 1. In other words, the Anglo-American system of common law is a system that has developed by generalizing from particular cases as they come up, and not by thinking from the top down about what kind of rules would be ideal. It's rich with deeper meaning that there are a number of comments here about the development of rules and laws as we comment on an article posted on Wikipedia. I am one of thousands of volunteer editors on Wikipedia (since May 2010) years after having been (1) an editor of a glossy monthly bilingual publication about a foreign country as an expatriate resident of that country, (2) an editor of a series of English-language trade magazines about manufactured products from that same country, and (3) a student-editor (usually the only kind of editor such a publication has) of a law review. I started editing Wikipedia as late as I did, years after Wikipedia was founded, because when I first heard about Wikipedia I thought its editorial policies are madness--and, sure enough, the articles that resulted from the original policy included a lot of cruft. As Wikipedia has continued in existence, it has not been able to continue an Ayn Rand anarchy of bullies but has gradually had to develop rules and procedures and (a little bit of) hierarchy and organization. Most of the articles on the topics I do the most of my professional research in are still LOUSY, and I have been interviewed twice by the Wikipedia Signpost in the last several months about what needs to be done to improve articles on Wikipedia for various WikiProjects. The article kindly submitted here illustrates the problem, with its incoherent presentation of facts and speculation from a mixture of good and poor sources. I live among the largest Somali expatriate community in the world outside Somalia (Minneapolis and its suburbs--we can listen to Somali-language local radio here since the 1990s) and have a new client for my supplementary mathematics classes whose family is from Somalia. That country's internal conditions during my adult life have been HARSH, and I don't envy any Somali patriot's task in trying to build up a country with peace, stability, and justice for all Somali citizens. I do wish all Somalis well in adapted customary legal systems to the modern world.

javert 12y ago
> Ayn Rand anarchy of bullies Ayn Rand has absolutely nothing to do with this, and you shouldn't use her name as a form of generic insult. That is just stupid. Also, Ayn Rand wrote at length against anarchy, so your insult doesn't even make sense. She also wrote at length against the arbitrary use of force, which is what bullies use.
- LyndsySimon 12y ago
  As an Anarcho-Capitalist who formerly considered himself an Objectivist, I agree. Rand's Objectivism pretty much says that government is a necessary evil, then goes out of its way to try to put together a system that is minimally invasive. Rand herself hated self-described libertarians and anarchists.
  - javert 12y ago
    True. But let's not get off topic. The point is: it's trashy to use someone's name as a generic insult on HN.
    - byonic 12y ago
      It's trashy to use someone's name as a generic insult anywhere.
- tokenadult 12y ago
  You seem to be unaware that Jimbo Wales was an avowed Rand disciple when he set up Wikipedia. Her views of how societies should be organized were very much the model for how Wikipedia initially was organized.[1] (For once, a link to Wikipedia is probably the best I could do for sourcing this statement.) Mr. Wales may not have exactly the same point of view today as he had then, and FOR SURE he is quite interested in deepening ties between the Wikipedia editing community and actual expert scholars to further improve the encyclopedia's content quality, but as an editor in the trenches that is the editorial culture I encounter as I try to improve the encyclopedia. Wikipedia's editing culture is not a professional editing culture--I've been a professional editor, and I can tell the difference. It may be that Wikipedia's internal organization will have to change for the Wikimedia Foundation to meet its goals for article content quality. Other commentary on the writings of Ayn Rand, who definitely has some of the most dedicated fans I have ever met, can be found in a famous blog post by John Rogers.[2] I invite all the participants here to read it and see what you think. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Wales#Political_and_economic_views https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Wales#Political_and_econ... [2] http://kfmonkey.blogspot.com/2009/03/ephemera-2009-7.html http://kfmonkey.blogspot.com/2009/03/ephemera-2009-7.html
SamReidHughes 12y ago
It's amazing how this off-topic rambling is at the top of the page when there are so many better posts below.
- frandroid 12y ago
  Posts gets voted on whether they're useful/interesting or not, not on topic or not. And then this post is on topic anyway, what with talking about how law develops, the relevancy of the article with actual experience in editing and the Somali community.
- melloclello 12y ago
  I thought it was insightful and interesting!
- simonebrunozzi 12y ago
  Sam, tokenadult is by far my most favorite commenter on HN. In fact, I'm not alone. Huge karma. That is one reason. The other reason might be that a few people upvoted his comment, and that's why it's on top. Of course you might disagree with the ranking, but ranking is there to give us an idea of what the whole community thinks.
  - SamReidHughes 12y ago
    I don't care if he's your favorite commenter. This comment of his is just a simulation of a cogent post. It's "rich with deeper meaning" that it's a Wikipedia article? Give me a break. You can sit there rattling about Wikipedia and deign to wish Somalis well all you want, but that has nothing to do with Xeer.
- undersuit 12y ago
  It's amazing how this off-topic rambling is at the top of the page when there are so many better posts below.

javert 12y ago

> Ayn Rand anarchy of bullies Ayn Rand has absolutely nothing to do with this, and you shouldn't use her name as a form of generic insult. That is just stupid. Also, Ayn Rand wrote at length against anarchy, so your insult doesn't even make sense. She also wrote at length against the arbitrary use of force, which is what bullies use.

LyndsySimon 12y ago
As an Anarcho-Capitalist who formerly considered himself an Objectivist, I agree. Rand's Objectivism pretty much says that government is a necessary evil, then goes out of its way to try to put together a system that is minimally invasive. Rand herself hated self-described libertarians and anarchists.
- javert 12y ago
  True. But let's not get off topic. The point is: it's trashy to use someone's name as a generic insult on HN.
  - byonic 12y ago
    It's trashy to use someone's name as a generic insult anywhere.
tokenadult 12y ago
You seem to be unaware that Jimbo Wales was an avowed Rand disciple when he set up Wikipedia. Her views of how societies should be organized were very much the model for how Wikipedia initially was organized.[1] (For once, a link to Wikipedia is probably the best I could do for sourcing this statement.) Mr. Wales may not have exactly the same point of view today as he had then, and FOR SURE he is quite interested in deepening ties between the Wikipedia editing community and actual expert scholars to further improve the encyclopedia's content quality, but as an editor in the trenches that is the editorial culture I encounter as I try to improve the encyclopedia. Wikipedia's editing culture is not a professional editing culture--I've been a professional editor, and I can tell the difference. It may be that Wikipedia's internal organization will have to change for the Wikimedia Foundation to meet its goals for article content quality. Other commentary on the writings of Ayn Rand, who definitely has some of the most dedicated fans I have ever met, can be found in a famous blog post by John Rogers.[2] I invite all the participants here to read it and see what you think. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Wales#Political_and_economic_views https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Wales#Political_and_econ... [2] http://kfmonkey.blogspot.com/2009/03/ephemera-2009-7.html http://kfmonkey.blogspot.com/2009/03/ephemera-2009-7.html

SamReidHughes 12y ago

It's amazing how this off-topic rambling is at the top of the page when there are so many better posts below.

frandroid 12y ago
Posts gets voted on whether they're useful/interesting or not, not on topic or not. And then this post is on topic anyway, what with talking about how law develops, the relevancy of the article with actual experience in editing and the Somali community.
melloclello 12y ago
I thought it was insightful and interesting!
simonebrunozzi 12y ago
Sam, tokenadult is by far my most favorite commenter on HN. In fact, I'm not alone. Huge karma. That is one reason. The other reason might be that a few people upvoted his comment, and that's why it's on top. Of course you might disagree with the ranking, but ranking is there to give us an idea of what the whole community thinks.
- SamReidHughes 12y ago
  I don't care if he's your favorite commenter. This comment of his is just a simulation of a cogent post. It's "rich with deeper meaning" that it's a Wikipedia article? Give me a break. You can sit there rattling about Wikipedia and deign to wish Somalis well all you want, but that has nothing to do with Xeer.
undersuit 12y ago
It's amazing how this off-topic rambling is at the top of the page when there are so many better posts below.