[WikiEN-l] Thoughts on admin-only IRC channels and RC patrol

[Chris Jenkinson]

Ryan Delaney wrote:
> While I support this idea (and I would even approve of a measure where the
> software automatically granted rollback to all users after they passed a
> certain number of edits), this can also be accomplished with godmode light.
> I suggest that more non-admin vandal patrollers familiarise themselves with
> this and other powerful monobook.js scripts.

Thanks for the compliment Ryan!

Two of the points you have asked above have quite reasonably been made 
before. I'll give short answers here and point you to where it is 
discussed in more detail.

Firstly, using javascript does not work for all contributors, and for 
those it does work for, it doesn't offer any advantage if you are on a 
slower connection (that is, the same amount of data is transferred 
whether you do it manually or use a script). Rollback, as it is a 
server-side implementation, will work for all contributors it is given 
to, and also uses less bandwidth to 'operate'.

Regarding giving rollback automatically, I think this is a bad idea. 
Basically, rollback should only be used in certain circumstances because 
of its lack of edit summary. Granting it automatically (for example, at 
the same time someone gets the ability to move pages) will mean that 
people unfamiliar with our policy on it will use it in 'content 
disputes'  - which is itself Wikipedia lingo - and this may become 
uncontrollable. It's best to give it out if people ask for it, so they 
will have to be familiar with our policy on using it. Also, giving it 
out automatically means it is unfortunately gameable and exploitable by 
trolls and vandals.

For more detail on this, see:
  --> 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Requests_for_rollback_privileges#Replies_to_common_objections

Chris

-- 
Chris Jenkinson
chris at starglade.org

"Mistrust all in whom the impulse to punish is powerful."
  -- Friedrich Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra