[WikiEN-l] Admins who pretend to quit (was Re: MONGO and the ArbComm)

Wed Dec 13 20:38:11 UTC 2006

On 12/12/06, M Roget <mroget at gmail.com> wrote:
> Can we have a rule that states that any admin who "quits" Wikipedia to
> protest this or that is automatically desysopped? It's one thing to take a
> wikibreak or to leave because of real life time commitments but any admin
> who quits in order to make a point has abdicated their responsibilities.
> There seems to be a trend of admins announcing their departure only to come
> back in a few days after dozens of people have posted supportive statements
> on their talk page. Call me cynical but this looks like manipulative
> trolling to me and automatic desysopping would create a disincentive. If
> someone really intends to leave they won't care about being desysopped -
> they'll even request that it be done but if somone is just pretending to
> leave an automatic desysopping will make them think twice.
>
> Michel

I think your point of view is a fundamental misunderstanding about
what an admin is. Admins don't hold special standing in our community,
they are just users who have proven their ability to not go insane
with the tools. If he comes back, why not let him have the tools?
Admins keep the encyclopedia running and unless someone has proven to
be unreliable with the tools, desysopping is a bad thing.

If you wish to prevent this kind of drama in general, make a rule that
isn't admin specific, make it so for all users. What has leaving and
coming back to do with adminship?

--Oskar