[WikiEN-l] IRC Group Contacts Surgery, August 2009

[Kwan Ting Chan]

WJhonson at aol.com wrote:
> Yes I'm reminded of that lack of accountability in this exchange:
> A: Why did you, as an admin, do action X within Wikipedia?
> B: Well I asked on IRC and they told me to do it
> A: Who told you to do it
> B: I can't remember but I'm sure it was someone who thought I should do  it.
> A: So you yourself have no reason to, as an admin, do the action you  did?
> B: Yes I asked on IRC.
>  
> This is a true story.  Which is why IRC should be shut down.   There is no 
> accountability, and no transparency.  And yet things which pass  on it, are 
> then imposed in-project with no back-trail.
>  
> Will Johnson

The problem here is not the existence of IRC. The problem here is the 
admin doing something without good reason to and using what someone said 
off-wiki as an excuse. Admins is suppose to take responsibility for 
their action, heck all editors are supposed to take responsibility for 
their edits. If an admin take admin action just because someone told 
them to, then the problem is that that particular person shouldn't be an 
admin.

Are you honestly telling us you think shutting down semi-official IRC 
channels would stop a big online community such as Wikimedia's 
contributors to stop using non-wikis method of communication? The most 
likely result is the same group of people who would be using IRC's to 
just carrying on where they are unofficially. The next most likely 
result is they would move elsewhere in terms of either location or 
technology. The least likely result is they would stop altogether.

KTC

-- 
Experience is a good school but the fees are high.
     - Heinrich Heine
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