On Feb 19, 2007, at 9:19 AM, Rich Holton wrote:
Jossi, you say that you are not against having many
more admins,
but you
are against relaxing the criteria for becoming an admin. Do you
have any
useful suggestions for expanding the ranks?
Endeavor to make at least 5 nominations
this month. If we all did
that ....
Relaxing the criteria should have benefits beyond increasing the
number
of admins. It should help to eliminate the perception that being an
admin is a "big thing". Yes, many non-admins overrate the prestige of
becoming an admin--and many admins do as well.
Adminship *is* a big thing, as it
pertains to the level of
responsibility given to us. The "prestige" thing, in my experience,
is not so much an issue for us as admins, but mostly to newbies that
tend to give you some kind of credence because your are an admin. Any
Wikipedian *knows* that adminship is both a privilege and a burden.
Are there some admins that walk with a swagger because they are
admins? Sure. But that is the exception and not the rule.
I don't think it does anyone any good to minimize the real differences
that exist. As an admin, I can view any deleted article any time I
want
with no permission, implicit or explicit, and no community review.
This
is a big deal to some non-admins, and there are presumed legal reasons
for keeping this distinction. Just telling people to self-nominate for
the current, restrictive RfA is not a viable solution to people who
may
have good reason to view those deleted articles. This is just one
example.
That is a small point... If an article was deleted by community
consensus, it should be kept deleted. What interest should an admin
have to view a deleted article, beyond addressing a Deletion Review?
If you haven't been following this list recently, I urge you to
view the
archives and review this thread and the thread on admin burn-out. I
think it will help you to understand some of the issues that lie
behind
some of the recent posts.
I have read that thread. And I concur with the view that we need more
admins, but without making the requirements less onerous; that admins
need more supporting and less bitching against them (as to encourage
more editors to become admins); and that as we interact with editors
and spot those that put the project first, we ask them for their
agreement to nominate them for adminship.
-- Jossi