On May 29, 2006, at 4:13 AM, Conrad Dunkerson wrote:
Look around at your fellow admins from time to time and ask yourself... is there ANY way this person could pass an RFA at this point? If the answer is 'no' then the de facto situation is that a person who does NOT have the support or respect of the community has powers which are only supposed to be held by those who DO... and that inherently breeds disruption and resentment and ongoing damage to Wikipedia as a whole.
Wikipedia admins are appointed for life (or at least until resignation or disciplinary dismissal) for a very important reason-- they can't properly do their job if they have to worry about being re- appointed or re-elected. Tenured professors and Supreme Court justices fall under the same model for the same reason.