[WikiEN-l] To: Jimmy Wales - Admin-driven death of Wikipedia

[Philip Welch]

On May 29, 2006, at 4:13 AM, Conrad Dunkerson wrote:

> Look around at your fellow admins from time to time and ask  
> yourself... is
> there ANY way this person could pass an RFA at this point? If the  
> answer
> is 'no' then the de facto situation is that a person who does NOT  
> have the
> support or respect of the community has powers which are only  
> supposed to
> be held by those who DO... and that inherently breeds disruption and
> resentment and ongoing damage to Wikipedia as a whole.

Wikipedia admins are appointed for life (or at least until  
resignation or disciplinary dismissal) for a very important reason-- 
they can't properly do their job if they have to worry about being re- 
appointed or re-elected. Tenured professors and Supreme Court  
justices fall under the same model for the same reason.

-- 
Philip L. Welch
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Philwelch