Chilling Atmosphere

I know nothing about what this contributor wrote since I'm a newcomer and have not participated in the fray here at Wikipedia. However, I have to say I found it very compelling because I've seen these patterns repeated in many mature organizations. To get more visibility into the issue, I'd suggest these approaches (if they don't already exist):

• Survey and debrief user/editors who've stopped participating and learn the real reasons for their withdrawal.
• Create an independent group that is empowered to address situations where established/powerful/admin users are perceived to be flouting policy or widely accepted etiquette.

As I'm sure many of you know, there's software to detect the tone and style of text-based interactions, such as Cataphora. Since Wikipedia uses automation to detect vandalism, why not use it to detect bullying and power struggles? The politics behind Wikipedia and the creation/editing of articles seems to me at least as, if not more, fascinating than the articles themselves. This topic seems to fit right in.