On Jul 14, 2006, at 10:15 AM, Timwi wrote:
There is one thing I don't really quite
understand, and I was wondering
if someone could explain this to me in very simple and easy-to-follow
terms...
Well, I can try...
Basically, I seem to be making the following two
recurring
observations:
(1) Users who are unhappy with some admin action or other post to the
mailing list - sometimes angrily, sometimes rationally, but always
making explicit that they are annoyed - complaining about what
they
perceive to be "admin abuse".
Agreed; however, typically each user
objects to a different action, and
often, to the action of a different admin. It is very infrequent that
we get multiple objections about the same action.
(2) Admins sometimes defend their actions by using the
argument, "If
you've managed to piss off several admins, chances are you've done
something wrong."
Agreed - however, a more accurate gloss of the argument
is: given some
action - 1 user objects to it, multiple admins support it. That is the
crux of the argument.
Given that this massive influx of annoyed complaints
plainly
demonstrates that users are much more commonly and much more seriously
the ones that get annoyed,
Invalid. You cannot measure the frequency or severity
of annoyance
based merely on the number of posts to wikien-l. A more accurate
(although still radically inaccurate) estimate would include every post
to AIV, every comment at AN (and subpages), most of the comments at VP,
many of the comments at the XfDs, most of the comments at CP, most of
the comments related to image deletion (including the reasons given for
deletion), and many talk page comments, as well as some method for
measuring complaints on IRC. Wikien-l has by design tilted towards
complaints by blocked users (until the creation of unblock-l, it was
the designated place for such complaints), so it is not surpirsing at
all that most of the threads begin with such a complaint.
and supposing that the argument #2 is
applicable,
Invalid. It is not applicable. Argument #2 claims that multiple
people have objected to *the same thing*. As I said above, the vast
majority of the complaints we get on wikien-l are about *different*
actions. We get very few examples of multiple complaints about the
same action, and when we do, we typically investigate (or at least
discuss) them.
doesn't it follow plainly obviously that the
admins are
doing much more significant wrongs?
Since two of your postulates were wrong (see
above), no, it doesn't. ;-)
<snip conclusions to incorrect argument>
Hope this helps explain your confusion!
Jesse Weinstein