In message 41C7E70D.80000@earthlink.net, Michael Snow wikipedia-ihVZJaRskl1bRRN4PJnoQQ@public.gmane.org writes
Angela wrote:
I don't think three years is excessive. It might seem a long time since Wikipedia is a relatively young project
It seems like a long time not just because Wikipedia is young, but because realistically, it is a very long-term commitment relatively to the contributing lifespan of quite a few Wikipedians. Turnover and attrition will happen among arbitrators as well.
It's not an unprecedented period of office in online fora. The "open" members of the UK Usenet Committee (the body which supervises the uk.* newsgroup hierarchy) is elected in thirds every year -- see http://www.usenet.org.uk/committee.html