SirFozzie: Teetering on the edge... Options

[SirFozzie]

The more I think about things on Wikipedia, the more I'm inclined to use the old Branch Rickey line when after a poor year for his team, one of his top players demanded a raise....

"We finished last with you.. we can finish last without you just as well".

Why?

Because quite frankly, I'm tired of pushing against the status quo in so many things.

Ireland related editwars? Yeah. THAT'S gonna go away real soon.

"Fringe Science"? Dear god, I hope people won't be surprised that my first, second, and third thoughts when reading all the AE/AN/ANI reports since the ArbCom case closed ten days ago was "God, I wish I could ban them all". Not Argumentum Ad Nauseum, more like Argumentum Ad Insanium. (I know, bad Latin, I don't care)

Flagged Revisions? Again, the status quo will never change. there's too much inertia to ever get it into motion without something extra-ordinary (IE, Jimbo decides to take the PR hit and God-Kings something through)

Followers of (insert political party here) thinks Wikipedia is far too biased in favor of (insert political party here). (and usually, the people on that side think it's just as biased the other way).

Even when ArbCom does things right, they screw things up. ScienceApologist's topic ban is being flouted blatantly, and instead of letting a clear boundary be set, they demand it be done as an "ArbCom clarification", which means at least some folks on ArbCom sit and discuss things endlessly..) This thing closed ten days ago. A "clarification" on the wording shouldn't take another 4+ days.. they have everything at hand! But instead, the fire rages out of control. Same as it ever was.

I was talking with a person recently whose name gets bandied around here quite frequently (although not as frequently as it used to). We got to talking about ArbCom Enforcement and the situation on Wikipedia. And they said as a conservative estimate, there would need to be at least THREE times as many administrators to keep things under control. Not three times as many admins at AE (although that would help), three times as many administrators, period! Not to mention 80% of the admin class aren't doing much of anything to manage conflicts on Wikipedia

Anyway, I'm wondering if it's time to let someone else have fun with the mop, and drift away. Let all the articles on my watchlist go, and let the vandals at em.

[Cla68]

I was talking with a person recently whose name gets bandied around here quite frequently (although not as frequently as it used to). We got to talking about ArbCom Enforcement and the situation on Wikipedia. And they said as a conservative estimate, there would need to be at least THREE times as many administrators to keep things under control. Not three times as many admins at AE (although that would help), three times as many administrators, period! Not to mention 80% of the admin class aren't doing much of anything to manage conflicts on Wikipedia

I notice you used "they" instead of "he" or "she" to refer that person. I think "they" are right that Wikipedia needs three times more admins to stay on top of project maintenance. Of course, though, the admins also need a more structured organization to help support their decision making and institutionalize standard responses to similar events. Hopefully, the person you were conversing with has never helped torpedo anyone's RfA for political reasons, because that would have removed some admins that might have helped shoulder the load for the rest of you all.

Anyway, simply asking for a suspension of the privileges is a graceful way to go, as opposed to blocking all of the problem editors from the Troubles and Fringe Science, then deleting their userpages and salting them with profane edit summaries, or redirecting all their userpages and the articles in question to Jimbo's userpage and then fully protecting them, or something like that.

By the way, your efforts with the Mantanmoreland fiasco did produce some results. Your status as an admin probably gave you some authority to push that through that you might otherwise not have had.

This post has been edited by Cla68:

[gadfly]

Interesting:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Dds...s_administrator

[Peter Damian]

Interesting:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Dds...s_administrator

Fourth, although the notion of wikipedia still seems good, its actual state now seems to me to be almost fatally flawed because of its large, unwieldy structure that makes real effective change impossible. This is largely because there appears to be no one at a high enough level who is willing to make the tough decisions necessary to improve it, perhaps because of a too-sentimental clinging on to principles that are now counter-productive. So, we have the curse of nationalism that causes endless disputes that should simply be stamped on (see the whole swathe of problems brought by problems to do with Ireland-related issues as one example), small highly vocal pressure groups that cause disruption (like the ongoing Arbcom case to do with Ayn Rand), and a failure to take a principled stand in matters of Fringe Science and other areas when advocates of fringe views use arguments that one might call "argumentuum ad attrition" (to mangle poor Latin) to wear the opposition down.

Quite. The Ayn Rand was what did for me also (I have given up for Lent but perhaps we can make it permanent).

[privatemusings]

I'm not going to miss this one... it took me 4 years to grow a mullet, and by that time the cool kids had shaved heads. I too have resigned my admin bit - uniquely without actually acquiring it in the first place - that's how much I don't want it any more ;-)

I'm kinda surprised at all this though, to be honest - haven't the fundamental criticisms been present for ages now? Is this a cost / benefit type decision for some, a la John A - and if so, what was the catalyst for the realisation ('cos it doesn't seem much changed?)

Is this an 'insiders only' crisis, of the existential angst variety, (prolly, I reckon) or does this represent an actual shift in some dynamic or other....? interesting stuff......