[WikiEN-l] Administrators and dispute resolution

Wed Jan 4 18:32:35 UTC 2006

I think it does us all a disservice to say that dispute resolution
isn't part of Wikipedia administration.  It's part of the editing
skills expected of an editor on Wikipedia.  Skill in resolving
disputes is unevenly distributed but a good editor is one who can
handle himself--and other people--well in a dispute, and a bad editor
is one whose skills of persuasion are inadequate to support his
actions.  An administrator has to make tough decisions, for which he
must possess the mental agility to prepare himself, the consequences
of which will test his resilience and responsiveness daily.

An administrator who can't hack dispute resolution is about as much
use as a chocolate teapot