[WikiEN-l] Admin burnout

[charles.r.matthews at ntlworld.com]

Ray Saintonge wrote

> Jeff Raymond wrote:
> 
> >George Herbert wrote:
> >  
> >
> >>We apparently just lost Alkivar (hopefully just on a stress relief
> >>break, but he says he's out of here indefinitely).
> >>
> >>We're doing terribly at keeping identified, overstressed admins from
> >>ending up going over the edge.  What are we doing wrong, or what do we
> >>need to learn to do right?
> >>    
> >>
> >On the other side, his message isn't really just about admins, but 
> >editors in general.  People who edit articles simply are not valued on 
> >this project anymore.  Tha'ts a big problem, since it's people who edit 
> >articles that got us to this point.
> >
> Absolutely!  Newbies get jumped on for breach of incomprehensible 
> rules.  Articles are cluttered with transclusion templates that only the 
> experts know how to edit properly.  Articles get threatened with 
> deletion because they don't have the right kind of references.  Some 
> editors become so obsessed with trying to be authoritative that they 
> take all the fun out of editing.  We all want an accurate reference 
> work, but there are certain intangibles that we should not accept as 
> part of the cost.

It's kind of fascinating how these discussions go, off into blue sky meandering and frank ranting. An admin leaves (which is regrettable, but I hope Alkivar will come back some day). And you get a whole washing line full of people's pet beefs attached to the notion. Anecdotal evidence proves little enough, in the first place. 

Charles
> 

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