[WikiEN-l] Admins shouldn't shoot back

[Gracenotes]

On 6/19/07, Marc Riddell <michaeldavid86 at comcast.net> wrote:
>
>
> Slim Virgin wrote:
> >
> >> Yet we persist in doing it here
> >> -- and worse, because we have no idea who our "menial employees" are,
> >> or whether we have one person filling several jobs -- using the excuse
> >> that adminship is "no big deal." Ditch that attitude, and we would
> >> quickly find a way to deal with some of our problems. So long as it's
> >> in place, there's no will to find creative solutions.
>
> Menial:
>
> Adjective:
>
> 1. lowly and sometimes degrading: menial work.
> 2. servile; submissive: menial attitudes.
>    pertaining to or suitable for domestic servants
>
> Noun:
>
> 4. a domestic servant.
> 5. a servile person.
>
> ‹Synonyms 2. fawning. See servile. 4. attendant, underling, hireling,
> lackey.
> ‹Antonyms 1. dignified. 2. proud.
>
> (Random House Unabridged Dictionary, (c) Random House, Inc. 2006.)
>
> Is this a word we really want to use to describe ANYONE who is a member of
> the Wikipedia Community?

Only if we want to create a culture that glorifies article creators and
despises
maintenance workers--the one where a vandal fighter will fail an RfA, and
some
one has written a featured article and fought "trolls" will go on, become an
admin, and do "important" things: gang up on good faith editors who happen
to get in the way of some agenda, incite them to personal attacks and
promptly accuse them of the same, argue on talk pages, and other items. It
is they who will *make* adminship a big deal by gaining power, popularity,
and
influence galore. And if we classify the valuable maintenance work as
"menial"
(I mean, take a look at one maintenance individual edit out of thousands:
hardly impressive, is it? Didn't think so), those that put in work to make
Wikipedia feel like an encyclopedia will become less and less regarded
as part of our community; they will fail RfA's. Those that currently work
on maintenance will become disillusioned and leave. And I don't think anyone
will give a damn, Sounds like a fun culture, huh? We're not there yet, but
remember that you have a tool you can use: an oppose vote. Use it wisely,
and we'll be well on our way. Oh, and I think we'll stop Trojan accounts as
a side effect. Not sure how that works, though.