[WikiEN-l] Admin burnout

[Stan Shebs]

geni wrote:
> On 2/9/07, Rich Holton <richholton at gmail.com> wrote:
>   
>> Because I really don't know and am curious, can you give an example to
>> illustrate the amount of damage an admin can do?
>>     
>
> Userboxes. Take admin powers out of that fight and things would have
> been a lot less ah dramatic.
>   
Given that the issue was unimportant one way or the other, I don't see 
where the massive damage comes from.
> Other than that there were the ones who facilitated the Bobby Boulders
> troll. Many things are best left buried. A significant number of those
> involved are still admins.
>   
I work on WP for a hour or so every day, and this is the first I've 
heard of a "Bobby Boulders". Are you sure it was that big of a deal?

This whole overdramatization of admin activity is the root cause 
underlying burnout, I'd say. All admin actions are reversible, so no 
permanent damage is possible, but POV-pushers and other miscreants have 
learned that they can get their way by blowing everything way out of 
proportion, accusing admins of tyranny and cabals and bla bla bla, so 
that the reasonable people get tired of it all and walk away.

It's kind of a clever way for POV-pushers to get control of WP actually; 
raise the bar for new admins, drying up the supply, and drive the old 
ones away with continual harassment.

Stan