[WikiEN-l] Moderation on this mailing list

[Rob]

On 2/21/07, Rich Holton <richholton at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> However, the more I think about the way interactions take place on
> Wikipedia, the more I am convinced that the asymmetry in power and
> experience between an admin and a typical editor results in vastly
> different perspectives on the same actions. What seems (and in fact is)
> reasonable to an admin or an experienced user, can seem to be (and in
> fact is) a demonstration of admin "dickism" to a newbie.

This is pretty much the problem.  To many newbies, admins represent
the power elite, The Man, and not individual volunteers, thus they
think nothing of subjecting them to abuse.  Any response is seen as an
abuse of power, even when the incident is relatively innocuous.