CharlieEchoTangoSkidoo!, goodbye message Options

[mbz1]

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=...oldid=481622603

...But leaving aside the personal attack by a pompous asshole, I realize now that I do not enjoy spending time on Wikipedia anymore. I'm not a drama queen, and this is not a ragequit, rather, it is the result of real life stress, lack of motivation, and a long trend of growing disillusion towards this project. Blocking vandals, deleting pages, granting rollback, and edit-warring with anons, this is just not what I envisionned myself doing here. I haven't been productive in content space for a while now, and I simply do not have the time and patience to commit to the maintenance side of this project anymore.

So, perhaps ironically, I thank the laughing idiot for making me take a step back here and think about my involvement with this project. I was never a great editor, or great administrator, but I gave it what I could, especially early on, and I'm proud of whatever small deeds I accomplished around here. I think now is the time for me to focus on what really matters.

He makes some interesting points. IMO sooner or later most work to be done on wikipedia will be maintenance. I believe maintenance is boring. I wonder, if one day there will be more vandals than admins who'd be willing to spend time blocking them, and users who'd be willing to spend time reverting vandalism.

This post has been edited by mbz1:

[Somey]

IMO sooner or later most work to be done on wikipedia will be maintenance. I believe maintenance is boring. I wonder, if one day there will be more vandals than admins who'd be willing to spend time blocking them, and users who'd be willing to spend time reverting vandalism.

Well, there are those of us who believe, quite strongly and with significant amounts of anecdotal evidence as well as some statistical evidence, that most work to be done on Wikipedia is already maintenance and has been for at least two years.

As for the question of whether or not "vandals" outnumber admins, that depends on how you count - clearly there are vast numbers of "vandals" out there, far, far more than the number of admins, but the "vandals" only show up intermittently whereas the admins are there all the time. So realistically, you'd have to count both groups based on something like activity-per-day, or even activity-per-hour. Even then I'd say the number of "vandals" is probably greater, but with bots, "helper" programs like Twinkle and Huggle, and the "quick revert" links implemented a few years ago, it's far easier to fight one than to be one.

The real issue posed here, seems to me, is whether or not burnout incidents like this one with User:CharlieEchoTango are happening more or less often, and is there anything about more recent burnout cases that's different from cases that were common in the past. I'm forced to admit I haven't been observing this stuff as closely as I used to, but the general impression I get is that there is a difference, and it has to do with the effect of increasing amounts of manufactured drama on the people who are asked to "do something about it" when it happens.

"Drama" (as defined by the internet) is simply an inevitable byproduct of the Maintenance Phase - as opportunities for creativity are slowly eliminated, and "productivity" is redefined into something that's boring and mundane, people look for other things to interest them, and when they can't find them, they artificially engineer them. And nothing is more interesting than watching people fight, explode, implode, or self-destruct.

Ultimately, if they don't get this worked out somehow, the Maintenance Phase could give way to what I call the "Implosive Attrition Period," which would be the opposite of the "Explosive Growth Period" we saw in late 2005. And even if they do get it worked out, they're only going to slow it down - i.e., they're probably going to see a "Slow Attrition Phase" instead... though that could last for several years.

[mbz1]

IMO sooner or later most work to be done on wikipedia will be maintenance. I believe maintenance is boring. I wonder, if one day there will be more vandals than admins who'd be willing to spend time blocking them, and users who'd be willing to spend time reverting vandalism.

Well, there are those of us who believe, quite strongly and with significant amounts of anecdotal evidence as well as some statistical evidence, that most work to be done on Wikipedia is already maintenance and has been for at least two years.

Well, if you are to look, at DYK nominations http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template_talk:Did_you_know it does not look as that "most work to be done on Wikipedia is already maintenance", does it?

[Somey]

Well, if you are to look, at DYK nominations http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template_talk:Did_you_know it does not look as that "most work to be done on Wikipedia is already maintenance", does it?

How closely did you look at it? Most of the articles in question are either BLPs or about things that have appeared/happened within the last few years. There are also a number of what I'd call "obsessive detail-split" articles (like "Borges and mathematics," for example) that are arguably new content, but ultimately just extensions of existing articles that are probably too detailed (and trivia-bloated) already.

So then, the question becomes, does the normal ebb and flow of culture, celebrity, and current events produce enough "raw material" to continually satisfy Wikipedia's needs, in terms of providing a genuinely creative outlet for new and existing users?

It's quite possible that it does, and if so, Wikipedia could continue like this for quite a long time. What's more, if necessary they could, and probably will, lower the "notability" bar even further than they already have... But personally, I don't believe this question is settled, by any stretch.