On Fri, 1 Jul 2005, Gregory Maxwell wrote:
On 7/1/05, Geoff Burling llywrch@agora.rdrop.com wrote:
As for de-adminning, the only thing I have to add is that admins who leave Wikipedia, & fail to make prior arrangements, should lose their admin rights after 3-6 months. I see this as just a janitorial action, intended to help keep things simpler; & if you leave Wikipedia without saying "good-by" or letting anyone know that you'll be back, then I feel that person doesn't deserve our trust.
Eh, you don't have to put it like that.. Sometimes duty calls elsewhere in life..
True, my phrasing was a bit harsh. But still, how much effort does it take to let someone know that one is in the hospital/dealing with a family crisis/moving somewhere without internet connectivity, & won't be contributing to Wikipedia for a long while?
Then again, if this *did* happen to one of us, who would we send notice to? Frankly, if I got an email allegedly from another admin (& the headers checked out), who said she/he was leaving Wikipedia for a while, *I'm* not sure how I would act on it, beyond posting a copy of the email on the admin's user page.
We're not paid to be here.. However, in active admin accounts are a bad thing... someone who cracks a few admin accounts could cause enough damage to keep the developers busy for days. So we should revoke admin powers on such accounts, but only for that reason.. not due to a lack of trust..
That's why I compared this to a janitorial activity. However, the case I was thinking about applies only if the admin leaves *without* offering any notice: just stops editting one day & does not return for 3-6 months.
And we should be liberal in returning the powers if the user becomes active again.
Well, I guess this is where we disagree: if an admin gives notice of a temporary absence -- that is, she/he'll intends to return -- then they get to keep adminship -- or have it restored upon return. If they just vanish (or leave in anger over some issue), then it should be removed, & if they return that Wikipedian has to go through the approval process once again.
Geoff