[WikiEN-l] Moderation on this mailing list

[Parker Peters]

On 2/21/07, Rich Holton <richholton at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> <snip>
> >>
> >
> > If more administrators would pay attention to this in the first place,
> then
> > we wouldn't have problems with abusive administrators.
> >
> > The problem is, way too many administrators feel they are free to be
> dicks
> > because of their position, and then kick other people around for
> responding
> > in kind.
> >
> Peter,
>
> I think that you're over-stating the problem...not just in this post but
>   in most of your posts. Yes, the ranks of the admins are not free from
> "dickism", and in a sense, any dickism is too much. But I am convinced
> that the vast majority of the admins are well-meaning, reasonable,
> conscientious contributors.
>
> However, the more I think about the way interactions take place on
> Wikipedia, the more I am convinced that the asymmetry in power and
> experience between an admin and a typical editor results in vastly
> different perspectives on the same actions. What seems (and in fact is)
> reasonable to an admin or an experienced user, can seem to be (and in
> fact is) a demonstration of admin "dickism" to a newbie.
>
> Without abandoning the effort to find and appropriately deal with the
> admins who have (for whatever reason) run amuck, let's admit that those
> admins are the minority.


Sorry, but  I can't agree with your assessment.

The problem admins may be in the minority. They may not be.

Some admins are perfectly fine one day and then absolute dicks the next;
there ought to be a corrective mechanism of an admin being temporarily
relieved of duty, both as a form of stress relief and yes, a punitive
measure should an admin act like a dick.

Right now, there is no such mechanism, and quite the reverse, admins who
behave like dicks are defended by other admins.

As for the "vastly different perspectives" thing, I've touched on a few
things in a long email (which I don't think has gotten past the mod queue
yet) that admins in general need to stop doing, because they are most
definitely forms of dickery if not worse.

Anyways, my last painkiller dose is taken for the day, so I'm off to try to
sleep.

Parker

-- 
====
Parker Peters
http://parkerpeters.livejournal.com