[WikiEN-l] Another admin burnout

[Risker]

On Dec 19, 2007 8:00 PM, George Herbert <george.herbert at gmail.com> wrote:

> On Dec 19, 2007 4:49 PM, Steve Bennett <stevagewp at gmail.com> wrote:
> > If there's a broader issue we should be discussing here, please tell
> > us what it is.
>
> It's been a recurring theme, but the point is that we still haven't
> figured out how to detect and head off (talk to, counsel, convince to
> take a stress-break and come back, whatever) flameouts by admins and
> longtime editors.
>
> There's a difference between people chosing to leave the project, and
> a project where the usual mode of leaving for experienced participants
> is an antagonistic conflict incident blowing up.
>
> That we haven't really come up with good solutions doesn't mean that
> we should stop noting incidents as they happen.
>
>
> --
> -george william herbert
> george.herbert at gmail.com
>


Like many who are responding to this question, I've been around long enough
to see this pattern repeated many times, although from the editor
perspective rather than the admin one.  There are a few high profile admins
who, even as I write this, appear to be self-destructing; there is no doubt
in my mind that they are committed to the project, but they have clearly
lost their way.  In real life, adult friends of people who are going off the
rails tend to reach out, talk to the person  and try to help the person get
back on the right track, or at least to take a good break.  That doesn't
seem to happen very often on Wikipedia; perhaps it is the ephemeral nature
of online relationships, or perhaps there is something specific in the
cultural norm that causes us to turn a blind eye to the inappropriateness of
the behaviour until it becomes so outrageous that failing to act becomes
unthinkable.

I've never sought out the kind of wiki-friendships that would put me in a
position to "pull in" someone who's going over the line, but I know that
many of those most in danger of crossing that line seem to have many
supporters.  Generally speaking, few editors want these folks to be pushed
into dispute resolution or banished from the project; they simply want them
to return to better behaviour. Yet those closest to the admins who are
having difficulty keeping their eye on the ball seem to rise to their
defense, to actively demand that people "put up or shut up."  Eventually,
someone files an RfC or an RfAr, and instead of having an admin who needed a
month away from ANI we have a disheartened person feeling devalued,
bitter and unwanted.  Perhaps more people need to be willing to talk firmly
but supportively to their friends who have lost sight of the big picture,
before such extreme steps are required.

Risker

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