Marc Riddell wrote:
[To any & all,
I am doing some thinking about how the WP Community could help Admins who are struggling with the work. My goal is to come up with a formal mechanism that these Admins can turn to for help and support before they choose to simply give up and leave the Community. It could serve as a form of intervention before a burnout occurs.
What are your thoughts about this?
Marc Riddell]
*************Hello,
The above is the second of two similar posts I placed on the List.
In the days since the first of this inquiry was posted I have received just one posted and one private email voicing any interest in pursuing this issue.
Most of the posts on the first ³Admin burnout² thread seemed to reflect a genuine recognition and feel that a problem does exist in how the WP Community treats its Admins. Some of these posts came from Admins with personal experience in this area. But what was, and still is, missing is a seeming willingness to do something about it.
I am surprised and disappointed that so little interest seems to exist here in helping Admins - who are, first, people. Rather, the focus seems to be on following the rules, knowing your place, copyrights, images, being the biggest, and countless other technical and administrative issues. There is also a lot of talk about how to choose and discipline Admins, but virtually nothing on how to keep them. Persons - and their struggles - at the core of this community are being discounted and abandoned.
A ³society² is the ³who's who in the zoo² a ³culture² is how the people in that zoo treat each other.
The social structure within WP is quite clear, and the cultural ethic within it appears to be, ³Be bold, take risks, but if you get into trouble you're on your own².
If Wikipedia ultimately fails and I sincerely hope it does not it will not be due to outside influences, but, rather, an indifference to its people.
An organization can be held together for a while by paper clips, clear tape and patching plaster, but the real bond that holds it together is its people.
There is a cancer in the culture.
Marc Riddell
I don't know the answers, Marc. And I sincerely hope I am not part of the problem. I do think we expect too much from our admins, especially given the limited number of active ones we have. I'm not sure that reducing the number of admins that leave is the answer, though it sure should be a part of the answer. The reality is, given the nastiness of the task and the lack of tangible reward, it's probably unavoidable that many admins will leave or dramatically reduce their activity with time.
In your original post, you talk about a "formal mechanism that these Admins can turn to for help and support". Perhaps if you were to be a bit more descriptive with your idea, it might receive more support, or at least feedback. And, though I'm not certain, it could be that the word "formal" chased some people away.
I do agree that "there is a cancer in the culture." Perhaps I'm full of smelly cheese in my ideas about where the cancer lies. But I do want to figure out a way forward, and I am willing to listen to new ideas.
-Rich (user:Rholton)