Ray Saintonge wrote:
Matt Jacobs wrote:
Having been bitten multiple times, I can
definitely say the unfriendly
atmosphere has been a problem for a while now. Editors/admins who are
regularly rude to others are not only tolerated by most of the community,
they often have a group of supporters around them always ready to praise
everything they do, manipulating RfCs and other voting (sorry, !voting)
situations.
This is not unlike schoolyard bullies who are usually accompanied by a
swarm of sycophants.
It is certainly true that our systems are at their worst when confronted
with cynicism within the community. Not surprising, since the essential
and founding assumptions of Wikipedia were that people are not like
that. And most really aren't. But this remains an unsolved problem. To
connect it directly with newbie-biting is a stretch, if not an
impossible one: there is something in the idea that people on the site
are assertive beyond the needs of the job because a confident manner is
self-preservation.
Charles