[WikiEN-l] Things about admins

[Jesse W]

On Jul 14, 2006, at 10:15 AM, Timwi wrote:
> There is one thing I don't really quite understand, and I was wondering
> if someone could explain this to me in very simple and easy-to-follow
> terms...
Well, I can try...

> Basically, I seem to be making the following two recurring 
> observations:
>
> (1) Users who are unhappy with some admin action or other post to the
>      mailing list - sometimes angrily, sometimes rationally, but always
>      making explicit that they are annoyed - complaining about what 
> they
>      perceive to be "admin abuse".
Agreed; however, typically each user objects to a different action, and 
often, to the action of a different admin.  It is very infrequent that 
we get multiple objections about the same action.

> (2) Admins sometimes defend their actions by using the argument, "If
>      you've managed to piss off several admins, chances are you've done
>      something wrong."
Agreed - however, a more accurate gloss of the argument is: given some 
action - 1 user objects to it, multiple admins support it.  That is the 
crux of the argument.

> Given that this massive influx of annoyed complaints plainly
> demonstrates that users are much more commonly and much more seriously
> the ones that get annoyed,
Invalid.  You cannot measure the frequency or severity of annoyance 
based merely on the number of posts to wikien-l.  A more accurate 
(although still radically inaccurate) estimate would include every post 
to AIV, every comment at AN (and subpages), most of the comments at VP, 
many of the comments at the XfDs, most of the comments at CP, most of 
the comments related to image deletion (including the reasons given for 
deletion), and many talk page comments, as well as some method for 
measuring complaints on IRC.  Wikien-l has by design tilted towards 
complaints by blocked users (until the creation of unblock-l, it was 
the designated place for such complaints), so it is not surpirsing at 
all that most of the threads begin with such a complaint.
>  and supposing that the argument #2 is
> applicable,
Invalid.  It is not applicable.  Argument #2 claims that multiple 
people have objected to *the same thing*.  As I said above, the vast 
majority of the complaints we get on wikien-l are about *different* 
actions.  We get very few examples of multiple complaints about the 
same action, and when we do, we typically investigate (or at least 
discuss) them.
>  doesn't it follow plainly obviously that the admins are
> doing much more significant wrongs?
Since two of your postulates were wrong (see above), no, it doesn't. ;-)

<snip conclusions to incorrect argument>

Hope this helps explain your confusion!

Jesse Weinstein