[WikiEN-l] Moderation on this mailing list

[David Gerard]

On 22/02/07, Rob <gamaliel8 at gmail.com> wrote:
> 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.


Yeah. Being an admin is to some degree a public relations role and can
in fact require the patience of a saint on-call. (I am myself highly
imperfect at this.)


- d.