On Sun, Jul 11, 2010 at 12:29 PM, George Herbert <george.herb...@gmail.com>wrote:
> 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.herb...@gmail.com > > You most definitely do have this exact problem and I am one of many test cases. I find myself replying to these topics due to my still-passionate belief in the value of the project being balanced out by my equally convictional belief that Wikipedia culture is so thoroughly broken on this issue that it would be truly foolish for me to try to continue to help. As you might have already gathered from the tone of the previous paragraph, as well as another email I recently wrote to this mailing list about it, I'm still sufficiently sore about this that I might descend into ranting if I get on to the topic -- I have a lot of lingering resentment about this still, with all the attendant (and irrational) expectations of apology and reconciliation. Suffice to say that the process of AN/I is extremely ill-suited to handling allegations of administrator misconduct for reasons you and David Goodman insightfully and accurately diagnose. I want to make clear to some, including Charles Matthews (though he is not the only person to suggest this 'wikibreak' idea to me and others in similar situations) that I am most definitely not on a "Wikibreak". This isn't an issue of me getting angry and needing to 'cool down' -- it's an issue of me coming into contact with first-hand knowledge that administrators doing difficult work on the worst parts of Wikipedia will absolutely not find themselves supported by the community for doing so -- to the contrary, they will often find themselves cut down. Only a fool would continue to do difficult administrative work in this environment, regardless of his or her mood at the time. Although I would very much like to see the situation improved, I have no intention whatsoever in editing in any administrative capacity until I see evidence of improvement. So, as I see it, the only road forward that is consistent with both my faith in Wikipedia as a concept and my unwillingness to edit in an administrative capacity is to make whatever small contributions I can to people like you who want to know what is going wrong, what could be handled differently or better, and what the experience is like for people in my situation. - causa sui _______________________________________________ WikiEN-l mailing list WikiEN-l@lists.wikimedia.org To unsubscribe from this mailing list, visit: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikien-l
