slimvirgin(a)gmail.com wrote:
Exactly right. Almost every block is at serious
risk now of being
reversed by an admin who's never read the blocking policy, has had
very little interaction with the community, and who got elected with
under 20 votes, but decides he quite liked something the blocked user
once posted, and so therefore he has to unblock, leading to wheel
wars, endless explanations of the most obvious things on WP:AN/I, and
a consequent unwillingness on the part of other admins to block
troublemakers until they become serious problems (and even then it can
be difficult: see the Marsden situation). Unfortunately, part of this
problem is fueled by the philosophy that adminship is "no big deal,"
which if Jimbo reads this thread, I ask that he consider commenting on
somewhere, because I've lost count of the number of support votes I've
seen quoting it, leading to yet another unknown and possibly clueless
admin being promoted. Combine poor admins with hundreds of users who
are turning Wikipedia into a social club, and you have a giant mess.
I'm not sure how this whining about new admins is helpful. Rather than
stirring up bad feeling amongst admins, perhaps you could do something
more productive about the situation, such as asking new admins to
explain their actions, voting oppose to people you think are unfamiliar
with admin policy, etc.?
I, in general, don't see how complaining about inexperience among new
admins, is going to give them the experience necessary. I think it
should stop, and more productive behaviour should start.
Chris, considering that you were the person who wheel-warred on Marsden's
blocking (Marsden was eventually banned by Jimbo), while admitting you did
not know the details of the case, and incorrectly claiming that permanent
bans could only be applied by the Arbitration Committee (though the policy
quite clearly says otherwise), I'm not surprised you reacted negatively to
those comments. Nevertheless, this list *is* the place to discuss these
things.
Jay.