Date: Wed, 26 May 2010 20:04:43 -0400
From: Gwern Branwen <gwern0(a)gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [WikiEN-l] declining numbers of EN wiki admins
To: English Wikipedia <wikien-l(a)lists.wikimedia.org>
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On Wed, May 26, 2010 at 7:34 PM, David Goodman <dgoodmanny(a)gmail.com>
wrote:
Are you saying that a _declining_ number of
administrators means a
_growth_ in bureaucracy? ?It would normally mean the opposite, either
a loss of control, or that the ordinary members were taking the
function upon themselves. ?What I see is a greater degree of control
and uniformity, not driven by those in formal positions of authority.
If you assume that administrators are identical to the bureaucracy or
some non-shrinking proportion thereof, then that does look like a
falsehood.
If you assume that administrators reflect rather the number of
committed long-term contributors, and their numbers wax and wane
pretty independently of the need for administrators, then that makes
sense. Little kills enthusiasm and participation as surely as
bureaucracy. Why are so few even trying for adminship?
My guess is that it's because the bureaucracy has become too intimidating.
I suspect many editors do not want to commit the time and effort to learning
it all.