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

[Ryan Delaney]

On Wed, Jul 14, 2010 at 1:04 PM, Fred Bauder <fredbaud at fairpoint.net> wrote:

>
> >
> > The other side of that coin is that when there are systemic problems that
> > necessarily reduce in stress or even abusive treatment of administrators,
> > you ought to be identifying and correcting that. Right now, you have
> > exactly
> > such a situation. Working toward identifying and correcting whatever
> > cultural aspects of Wikipedia community compound rather than relieve the
> > stress and suffering caused to administrators doing their jobs is an
> > important priority not to be "crowded out" by the thinking that we need
> > to
> > learn to deal with oppressive bureaucracy or a culture of mob justice.
> >
> > With that in mind, there is a diplomatic pitfall to the approach you
> > suggest. In same cases, focusing on helping administrators learn to "cope
> > with the pressure" inherent to the jobs they've volunteered to do is
> > going
> > to come off patronizing. I certainly heard it that way when people made
> > this
> > kind of suggestion in real-time, because it was another example of
> > someone
> > telling me what *I* needed to be doing differently. I didn't feel like
> > the
> > problem was that I needed to learn to accept that I was being treated
> > badly;
> > it may well have been better for my peace of mind if I had, but that is
> > not
> > a solution that is going to help the project.
> >
> > So from a strategic perspective (retaining human resources) it's
> > perilous,
> > but also it might lead you to develop blind spots to real and solvable
> > problems. You don't want to get into a situation where any time a problem
> > comes up you recall that "Stressful situations are inevitable, we need to
> > [take a break and cool down / come back later / apply whatever other
> > therapeutic technique we've prescribed]" because then you'll not do what
> > you
> > need to do to fix a serious cultural problem that necessarily gives rise
> > to
> > administrator "flame out".
> >
> > My skin was already plenty thick. A lot of the people who have burned out
> > or
> > resigned as a result of this were experienced editors who knew what it
> > was
> > like to be under pressure for making a decision someone didn't like. You
> > can't do everything right, but you can recognize problems and take steps
> > toward addressing them. Helping people learn to cope with stress may be
> > one
> > prong of your attack, but it can't be the only one -- not here.
> >
> > - causa sui
> >
>
> Yes, we need to address the problems, not blame the victims and help them
> cope with nightmares.
>
> Fred
>
>
>
>
What do you propose?