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

[Carcharoth]

On Tue, Jul 13, 2010 at 7:48 AM, George Herbert
<george.herbert at gmail.com> wrote:

<snip>

> I have had to walk away from recent changes repeatedly.

Picking up on the "walking away" bit.

There are, of course, those who find themselves *unable* to walk away.
Either because they are deeply involved, or because they find
themselves being drawn back time and time again. Or because they enjoy
the drama. I've fallen into that trap a few times myself. I'm sure it
is in some essay somewhere, but the ability to be able to walk away is
an important one (though not allowing yourself to be *bullied* away of
course).

The other aspect is that different users exhibit different levels of
maturity depending on their current state. Being able to ease past
that without responding in kind or allowing your frustration to show,
is one strategy (though calling people out for any immaturity is also
important, you need to pick the right place and moment). Remonstrating
with someone in the middle of a discussion about something else ends
up being a distraction. I find it best to try and refocus people on
the substance of what is being discussed, and then to take up the
other issues later.

Carcharoth