[WikiEN-l] Re: #wikipedia-en-admins

Mon Jan 23 03:23:33 UTC 2006

On 1/22/06, Tim Starling <t.starling at physics.unimelb.edu.au> wrote:
>
> Jay Converse wrote:
> > I disagree with this assessment entirely.  I highly doubt the community
> > would support secret decision making.  A consensus would be immensely
> hard
> > to reach simply because you and 15 people go "Well we discussed this and
> we
> > have our reasons".  I highly doubt the community would stand for that at
> > all.
>
> Here is the channel topic as it was for about 10 hours before I started
> writing my post:
>
> "English Wikipedia Administrators' noticeboard, on IRC. Discussions are
> private and sometimes
> privileged. Do not repost without permission. If decisions are made as the
> result of discussions,
> the reasoning should be provided on-wiki."
>
> Clearly they do intend to make decisions. Decisions are an unavoidable
> outcome of on-topic
> discussion. We've seen decisions made on #wikipedia and introduced on to
> the wiki in this way, but I
> don't mind that because IRC conversation is faster and more productive
> than wiki-based chat, and the
> forum is non-exclusive.

 "If decisions are made as the result of discussions,
the reasoning should be provided on-wiki."  My point was not that decisions
will not be made in there.  My point is that without support from those who
are not there and actively participating in the discussion, an arbitrary
decision-making like that will go nowhere.  One chat session does not a
consensus make.

> I see the channel as a way to quickly get help for administrative duties
> > that non-admins can't provide help on.  As a relatively new admin, I run
> > into new problems that I can't figure out myself on a semi-frequent
> basis.
> > It'd be nice to have the availability of a dedicated admin group to
> respond
> > in a much more immediate way than talk pages.  I personally happen to
> prefer
> > IRC correspondence to talk page correspondence for quick issues.
>
> Try #wikipedia.
>
> -- Tim Starling
>
>
>
I've given up on #wikipedia.  There's either off-topic chat or some heated
policy discussion going on, but every time I try to ask a question, out of
all 150+ people in there, I don't get a reply.  Maybe you have a different
experience, but I never seem to be listened to in there, and in fact, that
channel was a significant reason behind my wikibreak last year.  Nothing
like getting ignored to shoot your self-esteem in the face.

--
I'm not stupid, just selectively ignorant.