[WikiEN-l] The admin problem

[Tony Sidaway]

On 2/28/06, The Cunctator <cunctator at gmail.com> wrote:
> Defenses of backchannel discussions seem to me to always be rather
> weak, especially considering the gross potential for abuse and the
> lessons of history.

There is far too much unjustified suspicion about this. One
administrator recently started deleting copyright infringing copies of
Time magazine covers, an action for which he received the full
authorization of Jimbo Wales.  He was RfC'd!  When finally he obtained
from Jimbo permission to reproduce the email (which I also received)
the response was to openly question his honesty, and demand that he
prove that the email (which carried Jimbo's email address, that of the
recipient, and my own name, and was posted openly on the wiki with
Jimbo's permission) came from Jimbo.

That kind of corrosive supiciousness is the problem.  For the most
part our administrators, those who are involved in backchannel
operations, are the best and the most trustworthy we have.