On 7/9/05, Tony Sidaway minorityreport@bluebottle.com wrote:
Alphax said on July 5:
Michael Turley wrote:
I'm always disappointed when I hear of people leaving, but I'd rather have an unstable person leave because of a failed admin nomination than promote an unstable person to adminship. At least this way, the instability has only driven a single user away.
Um, you seem to forget the case of RickK - an unstable admin who left
and deleted pages when they went...
This is a great inflated bubble of an argument.
Firstly we're told that RickK was unstable. No evidence is presented.
Secondly we're told that RickK "deleted pages" when he went.
Well actually all RickK did when he went was delete his user space articles. As he was a member in good standing when he left, he was surely entitled to do so. http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special%3ALog&type=delete&...
I object strongly to the characterisation of RickK as an unstable administrator. He was one of the best we've had, he worked long and hard, and he finally decided he'd had enough. I wish he would come back, but if he's had enough then we should be thanking him for his long and faithful service. Which I do gladly. Thank you RickK.
If you read back, you will find that I did not refer to RickK as unstable, because I think that would be quite an overstatement of certain personality traits. I want to make sure that no one mistakes that for my comment. The accusations that he deleted pages are not mine, either.
However, to leave in a huff twice over perceived insults indicates a certain degree of impulsiveness that could be described in other, less neutral ways depending on one's perception and past interaction with him. Between RickK and another admin, I was almost driven from Wikipedia within days of registering my user name because I perceived this as a place that was, behind the scenes, not very attractive. Tony Sidaway was actually instrumental in keeping me from obsessing over some of the interpersonal conflicts and directing me toward my current, much more zen-like attitude toward Wikipedia.
Keeping in mind that administrators are the day-to-day face of Wikipedia to the general public and the editors at large, especially new users who arrive every day, I stand by my comments quoted above regarding my preference of unstable persons leaving rather than being promoted to adminship.