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

[Ryan Delaney]

On Tue, Jul 13, 2010 at 12:25 AM, Carcharoth <carcharothwp at googlemail.com>wrote:

> 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
>
>
I don't think this can be regarded as any kind of permanent solution.
Walking away would have done nothing in my case because I was the one being
hounded.

- causa sui