[WikiEN-l] Wheel warring

[The Cunctator]

On 2/6/06, Ben Emmel <bratsche1 at gmail.com> wrote:
> On 2/6/06, Philip Welch <wikipedia at philwelch.net> wrote:
> >
> > I've proposed a strict policy against wheel warring at
> > [[Wikipedia:Proposed wheel warring policy]]:
> >
> > 1. Any given use of administrative powers cannot be reverted or
> > reversed by another admin unless the issue is brought to adequate
> > discussion.
> > 1. a. Blocks may be extended without discussion, but they cannot be
> > shortened or lifted.
> > 1. b. 1RR is strictly enforced on protected pages.
> > 2. Any administrator who reverses another administrator's use of
> > admin powers without any discussion shall be desysopped immediately
> > without further review.
> > 3. Once discussion is opened, a final decision cannot be made until
> > either the parties involved have reached Wikipedia:Consensus or a
> > specific intervening decision is made by the Wikipedia:Arbitration
> > Committee, User:Jimbo Wales, or the Wikimedia Foundation Board of
> > Directors. (This means that mere interpretation or extrapolation of
> > something Jimbo said previously does not warrant admin reversion.)
> > Any administrator who reverts another admin's use of administrative
> > powers before this has happened shall be desysopped immediately
> > without further review.
> > 4. Administrators desysopped under this policy must wait three months
> > before starting the process to regain admin status.
> >
> > --
> > Philip L. Welch
> > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Philwelch
>
>
> The only objection I have to this is that sometimes, an admin makes a
> mistake (say, for example, a 3RR block when in reality, only three reverts
> and a legitimate edit was made). I've had editors contact me wanting to
> contribute to Wikipedia, but find they can't because of a wrong blocking. In
> these cases, I usually go ahead and unblock them, and then leave a nice
> message on the blocking admin's talk page. Any other delay due to
> communication between admins I think is unfair to the blocked editors.
>
> This is an international project, and we all can't expect to be online at
> the same time, what with time zones, sleeping, eating, school, work and
> such. I don't think I'll be able to say to that blocked editor "Sorry, I
> can't unblock you for fear of losing sysop status for at least three months.
> You'll have to wait while Admin XYZ, who is currently sleeping in
> Asia/America/Europe to check his email/talk page and unblock you."
>
> But otherwise, a strict wheel-warring policy is needed. Admins aren't above
> the law. Our disciplinary procedures should at least attempt to show this.
>
> We are now at the age where adminship is truly a "big deal".

It really doesn't have to be.