[WikiEN-l] Reversion warriors

Tue Nov 18 18:16:11 UTC 2003

> Ed Poor wrote:
> I find to my shock that my "solutions" are often do not provide
enduring
> satisfaction. I'm more like a Soviet premier using military and
> political power to suppress ethnic strife than a genuine peacemaker.

Or a caring but underaged and immature parent trying to raise a child.
(Or a well-meaning, slightly erratic uncle who's clueless about
childcare...)

> This troubles me. This disturbs me. This is the number one factor that
> drives me to want to leave Wikipedia forever.

Do you think you would only enjoy participating in Wikipedia if you put
yourself in a role as sysop/mediator?

You might want to try not using your sysop powers (protecting pages,
renaming pages) to affect disputes for a while.

This doesn't mean you'd have to stop doing work to try to strengthen the
overall Wikipedia more than simply contributing and editing articles.

For example, you could instead actively recommend more people into the
sysop ranks, especially people who are boring editors who wouldn't
necessarily pipe up--those who simply contribute steadily and avoid edit
wars.

You could work to minimize the Votes for Deletion entries by improving
stubs (dull work, but critically important).

Etc.