[WikiEN-l] Admin burnout

[The Cunctator]

On 2/9/07, George Herbert <george.herbert at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> On 2/9/07, Stan Shebs <stanshebs at earthlink.net> wrote:
> > Marc Riddell wrote:
> > >
> > > [...] But, by not having such an organized support system for the
> > > reasons you stated, don't the wackos win? Who gives a damn if they see
> it as
> > > a cabal or whatever, the benefits can far outweigh the bullshit. I
> don't
> > > mean to belabor this, but, as you might guess, I'm a great believer in
> > > interpersonal support systems.
> > >
> > If it was just a matter of wackos, then yeah, we would just ignore them.
> > But there seem to be a bunch of otherwise-rational editors who would
> > make trouble over it as well, and would take mutual support as a reason
> > to escalate the whole thing into "impending destruction of WP by
> > power-hungry admins". Just look at Cunctator's one-liner here - an admin
> > leaves in pain, and his response is "well, a little churn is good". I
> > encourage you to try designing a support system though, WP can't afford
> > to lose all its admins to "churn".
> >
> > Stan
>
> Let me follow that up a bit.  I think a little churn is good, too.
> But there's a difference between "Joe's taking a break right now and
> will be back later" and someone getting so frustrated that they start
> getting abusive and then leave with no intent to return.
>
> The difference between a break, or even taking a sabattical from admin
> stuff while still contributing, and a burnout is rather clear.
>
> People taking breaks is healthy and good.  Burnouts aren't.  I would
> be extremely happy if we could figure out a consistent way to convert
> impending burnouts into breaks.


Wait until they come back?