[WikiEN-l] Admin / experienced user flameout - how do we talk people down off the ledge?

[George Herbert]

Admin Rodhullandemu just retired after being blocked for blocking
Malleus Fautorum to win a dispute

For reference:
  https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Wikipedia:Administrators'_noticeboard#Block_review

On and off wiki I have mentioned before that we are really bad, as a
project, at identifying people who have worked themselves into an
angry corner and feel that they must blow up and leave, and then
talking them down and defusing the situation.  This is in my
experience the typical (or at least, a major and common) exit mode of
longtime highly involved contributors.

Our existing policy and precedent really don't address this problem.
We have had individual admins and experienced editors spot the pattern
start and work to calm situations down on an individual basis, with
mixed results.  But typically the pattern is not really recognized
until it's too late.

Posed for consideration - This is a problem worth putting more time
and effort into, and which the project will benefit significantly from
getting right over the long term.

The question is - what exactly do we do about it?


-- 
-george william herbert
george.herbert at gmail.com