On Wed, Feb 20, 2008 at 6:59 PM, Raphael Wegmann raphael@psi.co.at wrote:
Wily D schrieb:
On Wed, Feb 20, 2008 at 6:09 PM, Raphael Wegmann raphael@psi.co.at wrote:
How about WP:BLOCK? "Administrators must not block users with whom they are engaged in a content dispute."
Is it still "correct action" if they do?
One, of course, still has the legs of IAR, the general principle of "no lawyering" and so forth to stand on from time to time, but in general no. Of course "content dispute" is a nebulous term, and oft times overly broadly defined by those who're misbehaving - if you removing trolling, for instance, the person trolling will inevitably claim they're in a content dispute with you, which is simply not true.
But if they make a correct block in that situation, what is it you're hoping someone else would do? Unblock then reblock? In an "all volunteer" justice system, it's hard to get people roused about technicalities when justive has been done.
You don't even consider, that an admin might do wrong, do you? Don't you think, that it's pretty easy to abuse your power, when you are judge and executor at the same time? What prevents you from calling all your opponents in content disputes wiki-lawyering trolls?
-- Raphael
Sure, admins make terrible decisions all the time. I've altered at least one admin action I've taken afterwards based on feedback from other editors, and as recently as today I asked another admin to reconsider his admin action, he did so and reverted his decision. Admins are these odd creatues called "humans" that make stacks of bad decisions.
It's easy to abuse your power when you're judge and executioner, but admins don't really have these rolls. Anyone an admin "sentences" can be unsentenced, anyone we "execute" can be resurrected. These actions do happen all the time - review of administrative actions are easy to obtain.
Nothing prevents me from making ad-hominem arguments in content disputes. Of course, that's a terrible method and I'd likely lose such a dispute, but I could do it, same as anyone from the lowliest IP to Jimbo Wales. The ArbCom has shown a willingness of late to bust the chops of any admin who looks like they've done anything remotely wrong, and if there were any substance to the assumptions behind these questions one could employ it with good success.
Cheers WilyD