On 6 Oct 2006, at 21:04, Gregory Maxwell wrote:
On 10/6/06, Stephen Streater sbstreater@mac.com wrote: [snip]
It is a shame because the tools of adminship are really tools which every experienced user acting in good faith should have. ... that was always the intent, .. Remember? "No big deal". But life has turned out so much more complex.
That's because people don't trust strangers, and most people on RfA are strangers.
Basically, paranoia is safer.
Yes. This is a factor. I can think of .. um, one? Wikipedian I've met in person whom I wouldn't want to support for adminship, ... comfort is still very much a meat based thing for most people.
But it goes beyond the simple familiarity issue that you pointed out: As an RFA participant we're asked to state our trust about how the person for an indefinite time into the future when challenged with a potentially infinite spectrum of tasks under an infinite number of conditions. People change, our needs change... and as a result our process makes it unrealistically difficult to feel comfortable with an approval.
It is interesting how the psychology is set up. People could also be concerned about all the good decisions that might be lost if someone is not promoted. But as these never happen, they are easier to ignore individually.
But collectively, the conservative nature of Admin promotions is contributing to the problems we see. For examples, Admins don't generally choose to stand up and correct bad actions in other Admins - they are being selected to be inane and bland.