On Fri, 1 Jul 2005, Gregory Maxwell wrote:
On 7/1/05, Geoff Burling
<llywrch(a)agora.rdrop.com> wrote:
As for de-adminning, the only thing I have to add
is that admins who
leave Wikipedia, & fail to make prior arrangements, should lose their
admin rights after 3-6 months. I see this as just a janitorial action,
intended to help keep things simpler; & if you leave Wikipedia without
saying "good-by" or letting anyone know that you'll be back, then
I feel that person doesn't deserve our trust.
Eh, you don't have to put it like that.. Sometimes duty calls
elsewhere in life..
True, my phrasing was a bit harsh. But still, how much effort does it
take to let someone know that one is in the hospital/dealing with a
family crisis/moving somewhere without internet connectivity, & won't
be contributing to Wikipedia for a long while?
Then again, if this *did* happen to one of us, who would we send
notice to? Frankly, if I got an email allegedly from another admin (&
the headers checked out), who said she/he was leaving Wikipedia for a
while, *I'm* not sure how I would act on it, beyond posting a copy of
the email on the admin's user page.
We're not paid to be here.. However, in active
admin accounts are a bad thing... someone who cracks a few admin
accounts could cause enough damage to keep the developers busy for
days. So we should revoke admin powers on such accounts, but only for
that reason.. not due to a lack of trust..
That's why I compared this to a janitorial activity. However, the case
I was thinking about applies only if the admin leaves *without* offering
any notice: just stops editting one day & does not return for 3-6 months.
And we should be liberal in
returning the powers if the user becomes active again.
Well, I guess this is where we disagree: if an admin gives notice of
a temporary absence -- that is, she/he'll intends to return -- then they
get to keep adminship -- or have it restored upon return. If they just
vanish (or leave in anger over some issue), then it should be removed,
& if they return that Wikipedian has to go through the approval process
once again.
Geoff