On Feb 19, 2007, at 9:19 AM, Rich Holton wrote:
Jossi, you say that you are not against having many more admins, but you are against relaxing the criteria for becoming an admin. Do you have any useful suggestions for expanding the ranks?
Endeavor to make at least 5 nominations this month. If we all did that ....
Relaxing the criteria should have benefits beyond increasing the number of admins. It should help to eliminate the perception that being an admin is a "big thing". Yes, many non-admins overrate the prestige of becoming an admin--and many admins do as well.
Adminship *is* a big thing, as it pertains to the level of responsibility given to us. The "prestige" thing, in my experience, is not so much an issue for us as admins, but mostly to newbies that tend to give you some kind of credence because your are an admin. Any Wikipedian *knows* that adminship is both a privilege and a burden. Are there some admins that walk with a swagger because they are admins? Sure. But that is the exception and not the rule.
I don't think it does anyone any good to minimize the real differences that exist. As an admin, I can view any deleted article any time I want with no permission, implicit or explicit, and no community review. This is a big deal to some non-admins, and there are presumed legal reasons for keeping this distinction. Just telling people to self-nominate for the current, restrictive RfA is not a viable solution to people who may have good reason to view those deleted articles. This is just one example.
That is a small point... If an article was deleted by community consensus, it should be kept deleted. What interest should an admin have to view a deleted article, beyond addressing a Deletion Review?
If you haven't been following this list recently, I urge you to view the archives and review this thread and the thread on admin burn-out. I think it will help you to understand some of the issues that lie behind some of the recent posts.
I have read that thread. And I concur with the view that we need more admins, but without making the requirements less onerous; that admins need more supporting and less bitching against them (as to encourage more editors to become admins); and that as we interact with editors and spot those that put the project first, we ask them for their agreement to nominate them for adminship.
-- Jossi