[WikiEN-l] Administrator coup / mass deletions

[Gwern Branwen]

On Wed, Jan 20, 2010 at 8:25 PM, Apoc 2400 <apoc2400 at gmail.com> wrote:
> Apparently there is some kind of coup on English Wikipedia where a large
> group of administrators have decided that since the community disagrees with
> them, they will use their admin powers to override consensus and policy. At
> least that is what they seem to claim it is.
>
> "The community is incapable of such a conversation and decision."
> --MZMcBride
> "Hence my actions." Kevin
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Administrators%27_noticeboard/Incidents#User:Rdm2376_starting_mass_deletions
>
> Specifically it is about mass-deleting articles about living people for the
> sole reason of lacking sources.
>
> Is there anyone here who can do something about this before it becomes an
> even bigger wheel-war?

Yes, the Arbcom has done something about it. Specifically, it has
patted them on the head and said, 'good job, guys! Just be quieter in
the future'.

https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Wikipedia:Arbitration/Requests/Case#Motions

    "* That unsourced biographies of living people may contain
seemingly innocuous statements which are actually damaging, but there
is no way to determine whether they do without providing sources;
    * That Wikipedia, through the founding principle of "Ignore All
Rules", has traditionally given administrators wide discretion to
enforce policies and principles using their own best judgment; and
    * That administrators have been instructed to aggressively enforce
the policy on biographies of living people.

     The Committee has determined that the deletions carried out by
Rdm2376, Scott MacDonald, and various other administrators are a
reasonable exercise of administrative discretion to enforce the policy
on biographies of living people.

     The administrators who carried out these actions are commended
for their efforts to enforce policy and uphold the quality of the
encyclopedia, but are urged to conduct future activities in a less
chaotic manner.

     The administrators who interfered with these actions are reminded
that the enforcement of the policy on biographies of living people
takes precedence over mere procedural concerns.

     The Committee hereby proclaims an amnesty for all editors who may
have overstepped the bounds of policy in this matter. Everyone is
asked to continue working together to improve and uphold the goals of
our project. The Committee recommends, in particular, that a request
for comments be opened to centralize discussion on the most efficient
way to proceed with the effective enforcement of the policy on
biographies of living people."

Translation: BLP now means anything whatsoever unsourced is evil & to
be burned with fire; anything is justified in pursuit of previous; IAR
now means flagrant admin abuses are justified if you can cite
imaginary bits of a policy, and other admins have to sit there and
take it; silent mass deletions are now an acceptable admin tactic.

I particularly enjoy the 'innocuous statements' point. It's
reminiscent of the best Cold War paranoia: your friend, your
co-worker, or even your dog could secretly be a Commie agent! No one
is safe! Not even *you*. I have a list of 55 unsourced
innocuous-seeming statements in the [[State Department]]...

-- 
gwern