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

[Carcharoth]

On Tue, Jul 13, 2010 at 2:51 AM, Ian Woollard <ian.woollard at gmail.com> wrote:
> I'm pretty sure that the main solution to this is to make the wiki
> experience better, not trying to specifically treat people that are
> getting frustrated's experience better.

I agree. It works both ways. New editors, who may not fully understand
all the details yet, get frustrated as well. Get experienced admins,
new editors, and people who hand out advice at ANI without fully
looking into something, and you often end up with a mess. To answer
Ryan's point, I think a *lot* of built-up frustration can be traced
back to people falling into a "defend the wiki" mentality and seeing a
never-ending siege mentality stretching away in front of them.

I find the best thing to do is mix things up a bit. Chop and change.
Not so much that you lose focus, but enough that you don't become
overly focused and lose perspective. And never ever feel that you are
the only one able to do something, and if you think you are the only
person dealing with some routine task, ask for help. Get others
interested, offer to train them up if it is complex, give them advice,
and go away secure in the knowledge that whatever it is, it is now in
safe hands. It is all part and parcel of working together on such a
massive project as this.

Carcharoth