[WikiEN-l] Admin burnout

[David Gerard]

On 09/02/07, Rich Holton <richholton at gmail.com> wrote:

> I propose an experiment:
> Select at random 100 editors who meet some minimal criteria* and make
> them admins. Make it clear to them that they may turn down adminship
> without prejudice.
> Then, we watch these 100 "probationary" admins for 3 months. If they
> abuse their admin powers in that time, their admin status is removed.
> Otherwise, we treat them as regular admins. The only difference with a
> "probationary" admin is the level of scrutiny they receive.
> If this works, then after 3 months we do it again. And again every three
> months. Soon, adminship loses almost all of its "status" appeal. It's
> just something you'll get if you hang around and keep your nose clean.
> Of course, you can still apply through RfA. But I predict that RfA will
> quickly become much less political and controversial.
> *My suggestion for "minimal criteria":
>     At least 50 edits to at least 10 different non-own-user pages for
> each of the past three months, and
>     No blocks in the past three months
> Essentially, just enough to give a good indication that the user is
> involved and isn't a trouble-maker. Nothing more.
> Comments? Flames?


EXCELLENT idea. If Jimbo and the ArbCom like it (I'm picking the AC as
sanity checkers here) then the experiment should be declared.


- d.