On 03/04/11 2:04 AM, Amir E. Aharoni wrote:
2011/3/4 Ray Saintongesaintonge@telus.net:
On 03/03/11 5:44 AM, Amir E. Aharoni wrote:
The name "administrator" gives the impression of some mythical "balance of power", although administrators don't actually administrate - they (un)delete, (un)block and (un)protect, in addition to editing articles and participating in discussions just like everybody else. The name "sysop" (system operator), used occasionally in English, and more frequently in some other languages (e.g. Hebrew), sounds less like a managerial role, but it's technical and cryptic and requires explanation.
Giving user groups exact and real names will likely change the attitude of many users who see these user groups as "the powers that be" and think that they're impenetrable.
You make a strong point. People cherish their titles and the self-esteem. Being able to say "I am a Wikipedia administrator," to someone who has never edited Wikipedia gives an impression of importance. Breaking the task into its components leaves each part less prestigious.
Most admins with whom i am familiar aren't using their adminship to gain prestige.
I'd rather be "the guy who wrote a detailed encyclopedic article about every diacritic sign in the Hebrew alphabet" than an admin - i find a lot more prestige in it. I am happy about being an admin, not because of prestige, but because having the permission to delete pages without going through some request page is simply useful for writing articles and making the wiki better.
Put simply, good admins, who use their permissions to create a better wiki, are not supposed to object to such a change.
Absolutely, but you only get that warped perspective because you deal essentially with good admins. :-P
It's the ones that you don't associate with that I would worry about.
Ray