User:Torinir/Wikiconcerns

My Personal Wiki-Concerns
Since seeing the explosions generated by certain recent activities and back-end discussions, I have to be concerned at the direction this great resource is taking. While I sometimes agree, and sometimes disagree with some actions taken by others, there are limits to acceptable conduct that must be addressed.

Civility is an absolute must. I've been a competition admin at TeamWarfare League for a couple of years, and an admin at Proving Grounds for a few years before that. I would have been kicked from either league if I showed even a small amount of sheer attitude that I've seen from some people here. I won't mention names. You should know who you are. If this statement applies to your conduct, I'll leave it to your own desire if you wish to take my advice or not.

I've dealt with unruly teams, hostile actions over administrative decisions, and attempts to brute-force rules through. Yes, there are times when you have to be firm in handling those scenarios, but should it come at a cost of your integrity? No. If you don't feel like you can resist taking a swipe at someone while handing out a block or reverting borderline information in an article, or responding to comments on a talk page, maybe you should ask yourself this... "How would I feel if I was reverted or blocked or replied to with that kind of commentary?" 90% of the time, the answer will be with anger. That anger will only inflame what may be an already touchy situation and can, and often does, lead to an explosion.

The best editors stand above all abuse, even though it can drive a person crazy (and it does, trust me.) That's not to say that they won't scream or curse the ancestry of those who bring the abuse to them, but they keep it away from viewable sources.

This holds especially true for sysops and those with other special privledges. You represent Wikipedia every time you make a statement, whether you intend to or not. If you're known as an admin, you can never truly be just another user because you'll always be known as one of the "powers that be." This has benefits, to be sure, but it comes with a much higher level of responsibility and greater expectations toward personal conduct. Every time the responsibility is breached or the expectation broken, the trust in Wikipedia itself is eroded to a slight degree.

Another major concern is when persons try shadow pushing rules/policies. I know that sometimes critical issues require instant action, and discussion after the fact, but there must be real discussion at some point. If you leave the people out of the loop, don't be surprised when the masses start knocking on your door demanding explanations or demanding changes or, in extreme cases, resignations.

I've never brute-forced major rule changes at TWL or PG without consulting the community. Alienating large sections of the community will cause horrendous amounts of damage to the project. This is plainly unacceptable without some solid reasoning. Legal issues do demand a "strike first, ask later" attitude, but when the alienation happens over seemingly trivial issues, damage is inevitable.

I cannot speak for any other editor here. I can only bring my voice to bear for myself, but I can say that I've been very disturbed by recent goings on. Enough that I had thought of abandoning the project myself for a short time. This may not cause many eyes to even raise a micron, but it's still a point to note as I rarely abandon any project I take on. I may put it on the backburner for an unspecified amount of time, but I rarely abandon it. When we stop being allowed to be part of the overall process, or are intimidated into not participating, we're going to stop contributing to the project in general. Wiki is about collaboration and contributions by everyone (almost everyone, anyway), and recent events have smacked in the face of that collaboration so sharply that it is no longer possible to ignore the fallout this will generate.

Notes: ''There are no wikilinks here by personal choice. I'll likely expand on this in the future. This is only my personal view based on incidents on-wiki that I have observed, which I will not wikilink. Insertions of links to current incidents in any context at WP will be removed, as I will not, under any circumstance, direct this essay toward any individual here, other than to identify my own experiences, and even then, no names other than myself.''