Inactive admins who only make edits to keep the bit

[Hex]

In another thread,

As you have observed, a few admin make a few edits every year just to keep it, and I've seen one or two make that only edit per year at WP:BN, if you want to go look them up. I don't think that is in the spirit of the policy for retention.

I understand an admin wanting to take a half year break from admin duties and just do light editing, and keeping the tools for moving articles or more editorial type tasks, but not just parking on the bit as a badge of honor, year after year.

El_C (T-C-L), 11 edits in 6 years, just so he can view deleted revisions "for research".

And researching a post about the origin of "preventative not punitive" in WP blocking policy revealed another one, that I'd never heard of before: Aaron Brenneman (T-C-L), admin since 2006 (Wikipedia:Requests for adminship/Aaron Brenneman 2 (T-H-L)).

Hence this thread. It's name and shame time, folks.

[Poetlister]

And researching a post about the origin of "preventative not punitive" in WP blocking policy revealed another one, that I'd never heard of before: Aaron Brenneman (T-C-L), admin since 2006 (Wikipedia:Requests for adminship/Aaron Brenneman 2 (T-H-L)).

Hence this thread. It's name and shame time, folks.

Aaron Brenneman isn't the most prolific of editors, but scarcely in the "6 edits in 5 years" category. He's basically a good chap and I can't see why he shouldn't stay as an admin.

[greybeard]

Jayjg (T-C-L), one of the most notoriously abusive WP admins and POV-pushers, now logs in for an hour or so once a year, makes several hundred automated edits, and then leaves again. He's now on his third or fourth year of this strategy, which began shortly after his defrocking as a Checkuser, and after being called on for conduct unbecoming an admin by Arbcom, on which he once served.

[Zoloft]

BradPatrick (T-C-L) could be included on that list.

Charmlet and Barking Fish each approached his talkpage suggesting he shouldn't have the sysop bit but they were ignored.
linkhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk ... _admin_bit[/link]

[tarantino]

There is a list of all the 2323 present and former admins that is sortable by their logs at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:JamesR/AdminStats .

106 have made only one admin action. 209 have made five or fewer. MZMcBride is the leader of non-bot admins because he deleted hundreds of thousands of IP talk pages. My theory is he did this to hide evidence of edits that are detrimental to his wiki career, but I don't have proof.

[Rembrandt]

106 have made only one admin action. 209 have made five or fewer.

Many aren't admins at all and are listed due to glitches in the logging process. For eg. Amophar (T-C-L) a blocked sock is featured. Protection log

[Hex]

Charmlet and Barking Fish each approached his talkpage suggesting he shouldn't have the sysop bit but they were ignored.

Before deciding to start this thread, I left the following comment on El C's talk page: You should have some decency and resign your administrator status. This seems to have driven our slimy old friend Jehochman (T-C-L) into a rage, judging by the messages he's been leaving on my talk page. He's also removed the comment I left El C.

[Zoloft]

Charmlet and Barking Fish each approached his talkpage suggesting he shouldn't have the sysop bit but they were ignored.

Before deciding to start this thread, I left the following comment on El C's talk page: You should have some decency and resign your administrator status. This seems to have driven our slimy old friend Jehochman (T-C-L) into a rage, judging by the messages he's been leaving on my talk page. He's also removed the comment I left El C.

Removing your comment seems rather wude.

[Jim]

Charmlet and Barking Fish each approached his talkpage suggesting he shouldn't have the sysop bit but they were ignored.

Before deciding to start this thread, I left the following comment on El C's talk page: You should have some decency and resign your administrator status. This seems to have driven our slimy old friend Jehochman (T-C-L) into a rage, judging by the messages he's been leaving on my talk page. He's also removed the comment I left El C.

Jonathan currently has his undergarments in a bunch because the blocks he and Chief Petty Officer Harry made to the folks fixing up Neelix's walled garden, last time around, got criticised here, and he had to admit (oh, noes) error, so you should be gentle. Also, he always gets excited at this time of year, because it's election time, and a chance for him to explain to the world his expert theories of arbitration. Don't spoil the man's fun. He might stamp, or cry.

[Hex]

MZMcBride is the leader of non-bot admins because he deleted hundreds of thousands of IP talk pages. My theory is he did this to hide evidence of edits that are detrimental to his wiki career, but I don't have proof.

Going to have to invoke Occam's razor here. It's just another guy with way, way too much time on his hands and a poor understanding of the value of the database. I do find it interesting that at first he was justifying the deletions on the basis of a dubious essay, but at the end switched to CSD G2, which was completely inappropriate. Just another example of someone using admin powers to do what they think is "right" for Wikipedia regardless of actual policy.

If it had only been a few pages, I'd undelete them right now and possibly tag them with Template:OW (T-H-L). But looking through the deletion log (which is a pain, because it doesn't have a namespace filter - thanks, MediaWiki developers), I can see something like 2,500 just on the 5th of March 2009 alone, one every twenty seconds though the whole day. Clearly he was running some kind of unauthorized automation. Short of someone directly altering the database, nobody's ever going to fix that.

[Poetlister]

Charmlet and Barking Fish each approached his talkpage suggesting he shouldn't have the sysop bit but they were ignored.

Before deciding to start this thread, I left the following comment on El C's talk page: You should have some decency and resign your administrator status. This seems to have driven our slimy old friend Jehochman (T-C-L) into a rage, judging by the messages he's been leaving on my talk page. He's also removed the comment I left El C.

If it comes to that, you've removed some of his messages.

[Jim]

If it comes to that, you've removed some of his messages.

Once again, PL, you confuse just noticing something happened with actually understanding why, and whether it's worth mentioning.
Sorry and all that, but deleting hostile messages on your own talk page, with an accompanying dialog in edit summaries, is not comparable in any way to having a self-important third party remove your comment from someone else's page.
I'll send you a "nuance pill".

[Hex]

Don't spoil the man's fun. He might stamp, or cry.

He just wrote another message on my talk page then self-reverted to stop me doing it. What a fucking sad sack.

Incidentally, if you never want to receive a talk page notification of any kind again, I highly recommend moving User talk:You to User:You/Talk. I only become aware of messages when I look at my watchlist, and if it's from a loser I don't even have to see the diff. As in the case of whatever Jehochman just did.

[Jim]

Don't spoil the man's fun. He might stamp, or cry.

He just wrote another message on my talk page then self-reverted to stop me doing it. What a fucking sad sack.

I know. It's a bit like going "Hi Jon " would be - so I won't do that.

[Vigilant]

Don't spoil the man's fun. He might stamp, or cry.

He just wrote another message on my talk page then self-reverted to stop me doing it. What a fucking sad sack.

Incidentally, if you never want to receive a talk page notification of any kind again, I highly recommend moving User talk:You to User:You/Talk. I only become aware of messages when I look at my watchlist, and if it's from a loser I don't even have to see the diff. As in the case of whatever Jehochman just did.

He's just mad because he can't see over the bar even when he's standing up.

[Jim]

Don't spoil the man's fun. He might stamp, or cry.

He just wrote another message on my talk page then self-reverted to stop me doing it. What a fucking sad sack.

Incidentally, if you never want to receive a talk page notification of any kind again, I highly recommend moving User talk:You to User:You/Talk. I only become aware of messages when I look at my watchlist, and if it's from a loser I don't even have to see the diff. As in the case of whatever Jehochman just did.

He's just mad because he can't see over the bar even when he's standing up.

[Smiley]

Wesley (T-C-L) has only made three edits in as many years, yet still has the bit.

[Liz99]

MZMcBride is the leader of non-bot admins because he deleted hundreds of thousands of IP talk pages. My theory is he did this to hide evidence of edits that are detrimental to his wiki career, but I don't have proof.

Going to have to invoke Occam's razor here. It's just another guy with way, way too much time on his hands and a poor understanding of the value of the database. I do find it interesting that at first he was justifying the deletions on the basis of a dubious essay, but at the end switched to CSD G2, which was completely against . Just another example of someone using admin powers to do what they think is "right" for Wikipedia regardless of actual policy.

I was looking at adminstats the other day and wondering how on earth any one person could have deleted 805,727 pages. I mean, #2 on the list is RHaworth with 256,655 pages and he basically spends his time on Wikipedia deleting page after page. The other week, a newish editor went to RHaworth's talk page and asked if he could be his deletion mentor. He did not receive a positive response.

[Poetlister]

MZMcBride is the leader of non-bot admins because he deleted hundreds of thousands of IP talk pages. My theory is he did this to hide evidence of edits that are detrimental to his wiki career, but I don't have proof.

Going to have to invoke Occam's razor here. It's just another guy with way, way too much time on his hands and a poor understanding of the value of the database. I do find it interesting that at first he was justifying the deletions on the basis of a dubious essay, but at the end switched to CSD G2, which was completely against . Just another example of someone using admin powers to do what they think is "right" for Wikipedia regardless of actual policy.

I was looking at adminstats the other day and wondering how on earth any one person could have deleted 805,727 pages. I mean, #2 on the list is RHaworth with 256,655 pages and he basically spends his time on Wikipedia deleting page after page. The other week, a newish editor went to RHaworth's talk page and asked if he could be his deletion mentor. He did not receive a positive response.

Was he using any sort of automated deletion procedure? It must be totally against the rules to run an unauthorised bot from an admin account, not to mention highly dangerous.

[Liz99]

Was he using any sort of automated deletion procedure? It must be totally against the rules to run an unauthorised bot from an admin account, not to mention highly dangerous.

Looks like the answer can be found by reading the main page of this ArbCom case: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia ... /MZMcBride. Most of the deletions occurred in 2009 and prior.

[Poetlister]

Was he using any sort of automated deletion procedure? It must be totally against the rules to run an unauthorised bot from an admin account, not to mention highly dangerous.

Looks like the answer can be found by reading the main page of this ArbCom case: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia ... /MZMcBride. Most of the deletions occurred in 2009 and prior.

Hm, thanks. Ironic that Secret was involved, given that we have a live thread about him elsewhere.

[Zironic]

Was he using any sort of automated deletion procedure? It must be totally against the rules to run an unauthorised bot from an admin account, not to mention highly dangerous.

Looks like the answer can be found by reading the main page of this ArbCom case: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia ... /MZMcBride. Most of the deletions occurred in 2009 and prior.

Geez. Were Wikipedia actively trying to get editors to leave the project back in 2009?

[Liz99]

Geez. Were Wikipedia actively trying to get editors to leave the project back in 2009?

No, but there would be these occasional flare-ups, two I recall reading about back in those years. One where some editors/admins started deleting userboxes en masse because they thought were trivial and useless and people went ballistic over it. Over userboxes! But I guess some people feel like it provides a sense of identity and personalization for their user page.

Then there was McBride case which I believe involved deleting a lot of "secret pages". Since they aren't used now, it's hard for me to know what secret pages were but they were some kind of user subpage that, back in the day, wasn't easy to find so, like finding a geolocation cache, people would get a little thrill when they stumbled upon one. Guest books were also popular where editors would sign each other's guestbook page. Needless to say, some editors thought these pages (along with "games" that used to be hosted on Wikipedia), were beside the point and distracting people from actually working on the project.

It was clearly a different era than today.

[SB_Johnny]

It was clearly a different era than today.

Yup. It was better.

[eppur si muove]

It was clearly a different era than today.

Yup. It was better.

But that list doesn't even include "ferkit".

[Hex]

It was clearly a different era than today.

Yup. It was better.

"I'll put raw text of the page history on the talk page, since the deletion makes it impossible to attribute it via weblink." Hey man, you're an admin now - why not restore the original page and move it to be your subpage? That'll bring the entire revision history with it.

[Hex]

Since they aren't used now, it's hard for me to know what secret pages were but they were some kind of user subpage that, back in the day, wasn't easy to find so, like finding a geolocation cache, people would get a little thrill when they stumbled upon one.

Here are the ones that MZMcBride deleted. (source)

User:Coolgirly88/barfed/found/that (T-H-L)
User:Coolgirly88/barfed/found/that/image (T-H-L)
User:Coolgirly88/barfed/found (T-H-L)
User:Coolgirly88/This link (T-H-L)
User:Coolgirly88/barfed (T-H-L)
User:Vhoscythe/Nintendogs (T-H-L)
User talk:Coolgirly88/This user (T-H-L)
User:Coolgirly88/This user (T-H-L)
User:Coastergeekperson04/ (T-H-L)
User:Chantessy/comments (T-H-L)
User:CattleMan/jdhjdj (T-H-L)
User:Burner0718/Tricked (T-H-L)
User:Bluegoblin7/Sandbox 463 (T-H-L)
User:Amulet Heart/Award (T-H-L)
User:AngelOfSadness/Diabolikal Rapture (T-H-L)
User:Aranho/Testpage3 (T-H-L)
User:BB Pacifica/S=page (T-H-L)
User:Barkjon/scrt pg (T-H-L)
User:Ted Ted/From (T-H-L)
User:Supuhstar/The Christian Sim (T-H-L)
User:Thetruthbelow/ Hidden Link (T-H-L)
User:Thedeadmanandphenom/Am i an athiest (T-H-L)
User:Ajdlinux/Interests (T-H-L)
User:Bluegoblin7/???? (T-H-L)
User:Bluegoblin7/Super Secret Page Challenge (T-H-L)
User:Chubbennaitor/HAHA (T-H-L)
User:Crowstar/awesomepage (T-H-L)
User:D4g0thur/***SECRET PAGE*** (T-H-L)
User:Simply south/Shhhhh! (T-H-L)
User:Islaammaged126/This user (T-H-L)
User:Jamie C/XYZ (T-H-L)
User:JpGrB/ReAl ****** PaGe (T-H-L)
User:JpGrB/Secret page (T-H-L)
User:Misscutie27/TooEasy (T-H-L)
User talk:Nextil/:D (T-H-L)
User:Nextil/:D (T-H-L)
User:Power Slave/STITHP (T-H-L)
User:Zheliel/toDo (T-H-L)
User:Zheliel/H.P (T-H-L)
User:Zheliel/901230 (T-H-L)
User talk:Zenlax/Sandbox2 (T-H-L)
User:Zenlax/Sandbox2 (T-H-L)
User:Pupster21/moo (T-H-L)
User:Rebelyell2006/Other Page (T-H-L)
User:RC-0722/Metabee's favorite tree (T-H-L)
User:RobHoitt/3/2/4/3 (T-H-L)
User:Robster2001/Secret Page (T-H-L)
User talk:Robbie0513/Shhhhh (T-H-L)
User:Robbie0513/Shhhhh (T-H-L)
User talk:RogueMad2/Secret page (T-H-L)
User:RogueMad2/Userpage 2/Special (T-H-L)
User:RogueMad2/Secret page (T-H-L)
User:Sirkad/Guest Book (T-H-L)
User talk:Skittlesrgood4u/You Found It! (T-H-L)
User:Skittlesrgood4u/You Found It! (T-H-L)
User:Skittlesrgood4u/Could It Be? (T-H-L)
User:Some Person/The Real Secret Page (T-H-L)
User:Speeda psx/**UserSXpage (T-H-L)
User:Tezkag72/monobook (T-H-L)
User:Tezkag72/Map 4 (T-H-L)
User:Tezkag72/Map 1 (T-H-L)
User:Tezkag72/Map 2 (T-H-L)
User:Tezkag72/Map 3 (T-H-L)
User:Tezkag72/Secret Page (T-H-L)
User:Sub619/special (T-H-L)
User talk:The Haunted Angel/Hello, Zepp (T-H-L)
User:The Haunted Angel/Hello, Zepp (T-H-L)
User:Themaeeandhisfriend/Secret Page Challenge (T-H-L)
User:Thisisborin9/Secret page (T-H-L)
User:Trekphiler/Trekphiler (T-H-L)
User:Unisouth/The Secret Page Challenge (T-H-L)
User:Unisouth/188919 (T-H-L)
User:Vinsfan368/^^ (T-H-L)
User:WikiZorro/90210 (T-H-L)
User:Djmckee1/Userpage/ReallySecretPage (T-H-L)
User:Dudleybus/The Secret Page Challenge (T-H-L)
User:Dudleybus/139 (T-H-L)
User:Dvyjones/SqrtPi3141517724 (T-H-L)
User:E9/53CR37=P463 (T-H-L)
User:Enbéká/01hi2d34de5n (T-H-L)
User:Enbéká/01hi2d34de5n/6h78i901de234n5 (T-H-L)
User:Evaunit666/Secret page (T-H-L)
User talk:GeneralIroh/Special (T-H-L)
User:GeneralIroh/Special (T-H-L)
User:Ezekiel 7:19/Banzuke (T-H-L)
User talk:GeneralIroh/Secret (T-H-L)
User:GeneralIroh/Secret (T-H-L)
User:Aliasd/Jaksjslk212ij3 (T-H-L)
User:AlcheMister/yOuFoUndMYSecReTpAgE!! (T-H-L)
User:AlcheMister/SeCOndsECrEtPaGE!! (T-H-L)
User talk:.:Alex:./SuperSecretPage (T-H-L)
User:.:Alex:./SuperSecretPage (T-H-L)
User talk:.:Alex:./SecretPage (T-H-L)
User:.:Alex:./SecretPage (T-H-L)
User:.:Alex:./Fake (T-H-L)

Many were restored, only to subsequently be re-deleted. See also the contemporary discussions

• Wikipedia talk:Miscellany for deletion/Secret pages 2 (T-H-L)
• Wikipedia:Why secret pages should be deleted (T-H-L)
• User:Bahamut0013/Secret pages (T-H-L)
• Wikipedia talk:What Wikipedia is not/Archive 34#Does WP:NOTMYSPACE apply to secret pages?

and Wikipedia:Miscellany for deletion/Secret pages (T-H-L) (2008), which was used as justification by MZMcBride during the arbitration case.

I hadn't seen the case before. I now know why - because it was happening at the same time as the hellishly mismanaged "date delinking" arbitration. I notice that he resigned his administrator status during it rather than have it taken away, and the case ended with a totally wishy-washy set of remedies. Given the atrocious way that the ArbCom of the time handled the other arbitration, I'm totally not surprised.

[Liz99]

Since they aren't used now, it's hard for me to know what secret pages were but they were some kind of user subpage that, back in the day, wasn't easy to find so, like finding a geolocation cache, people would get a little thrill when they stumbled upon one.

Here are the ones that MZMcBride deleted. (source)

User:Coolgirly88/barfed/found/that (T-H-L)
User:Coolgirly88/barfed/found/that/image (T-H-L)
User:Coolgirly88/barfed/found (T-H-L)
User:Coolgirly88/This link (T-H-L)
User:Coolgirly88/barfed (T-H-L)
User:Vhoscythe/Nintendogs (T-H-L)
User talk:Coolgirly88/This user (T-H-L)
User:Coolgirly88/This user (T-H-L)
User:Coastergeekperson04/ (T-H-L)
User:Chantessy/comments (T-H-L)
User:CattleMan/jdhjdj (T-H-L)
User:Burner0718/Tricked (T-H-L)
User:Bluegoblin7/Sandbox 463 (T-H-L)
User:Amulet Heart/Award (T-H-L)
User:AngelOfSadness/Diabolikal Rapture (T-H-L)
User:Aranho/Testpage3 (T-H-L)
User:BB Pacifica/S=page (T-H-L)
User:Barkjon/scrt pg (T-H-L)
User:Ted Ted/From (T-H-L)
User:Supuhstar/The Christian Sim (T-H-L)
User:Thetruthbelow/ Hidden Link (T-H-L)
User:Thedeadmanandphenom/Am i an athiest (T-H-L)
User:Ajdlinux/Interests (T-H-L)
User:Bluegoblin7/???? (T-H-L)
User:Bluegoblin7/Super Secret Page Challenge (T-H-L)
User:Chubbennaitor/HAHA (T-H-L)
User:Crowstar/awesomepage (T-H-L)
User:D4g0thur/***SECRET PAGE*** (T-H-L)
User:Simply south/Shhhhh! (T-H-L)
User:Islaammaged126/This user (T-H-L)
User:Jamie C/XYZ (T-H-L)
User:JpGrB/ReAl ****** PaGe (T-H-L)
User:JpGrB/Secret page (T-H-L)
User:Misscutie27/TooEasy (T-H-L)
User talk:Nextil/:D (T-H-L)
User:Nextil/:D (T-H-L)
User:Power Slave/STITHP (T-H-L)
User:Zheliel/toDo (T-H-L)
User:Zheliel/H.P (T-H-L)
User:Zheliel/901230 (T-H-L)
User talk:Zenlax/Sandbox2 (T-H-L)
User:Zenlax/Sandbox2 (T-H-L)
User:Pupster21/moo (T-H-L)
User:Rebelyell2006/Other Page (T-H-L)
User:RC-0722/Metabee's favorite tree (T-H-L)
User:RobHoitt/3/2/4/3 (T-H-L)
User:Robster2001/Secret Page (T-H-L)
User talk:Robbie0513/Shhhhh (T-H-L)
User:Robbie0513/Shhhhh (T-H-L)
User talk:RogueMad2/Secret page (T-H-L)
User:RogueMad2/Userpage 2/Special (T-H-L)
User:RogueMad2/Secret page (T-H-L)
User:Sirkad/Guest Book (T-H-L)
User talk:Skittlesrgood4u/You Found It! (T-H-L)
User:Skittlesrgood4u/You Found It! (T-H-L)
User:Skittlesrgood4u/Could It Be? (T-H-L)
User:Some Person/The Real Secret Page (T-H-L)
User:Speeda psx/**UserSXpage (T-H-L)
User:Tezkag72/monobook (T-H-L)
User:Tezkag72/Map 4 (T-H-L)
User:Tezkag72/Map 1 (T-H-L)
User:Tezkag72/Map 2 (T-H-L)
User:Tezkag72/Map 3 (T-H-L)
User:Tezkag72/Secret Page (T-H-L)
User:Sub619/special (T-H-L)
User talk:The Haunted Angel/Hello, Zepp (T-H-L)
User:The Haunted Angel/Hello, Zepp (T-H-L)
User:Themaeeandhisfriend/Secret Page Challenge (T-H-L)
User:Thisisborin9/Secret page (T-H-L)
User:Trekphiler/Trekphiler (T-H-L)
User:Unisouth/The Secret Page Challenge (T-H-L)
User:Unisouth/188919 (T-H-L)
User:Vinsfan368/^^ (T-H-L)
User:WikiZorro/90210 (T-H-L)
User:Djmckee1/Userpage/ReallySecretPage (T-H-L)
User:Dudleybus/The Secret Page Challenge (T-H-L)
User:Dudleybus/139 (T-H-L)
User:Dvyjones/SqrtPi3141517724 (T-H-L)
User:E9/53CR37=P463 (T-H-L)
User:Enbéká/01hi2d34de5n (T-H-L)
User:Enbéká/01hi2d34de5n/6h78i901de234n5 (T-H-L)
User:Evaunit666/Secret page (T-H-L)
User talk:GeneralIroh/Special (T-H-L)
User:GeneralIroh/Special (T-H-L)
User:Ezekiel 7:19/Banzuke (T-H-L)
User talk:GeneralIroh/Secret (T-H-L)
User:GeneralIroh/Secret (T-H-L)
User:Aliasd/Jaksjslk212ij3 (T-H-L)
User:AlcheMister/yOuFoUndMYSecReTpAgE!! (T-H-L)
User:AlcheMister/SeCOndsECrEtPaGE!! (T-H-L)
User talk:.:Alex:./SuperSecretPage (T-H-L)
User:.:Alex:./SuperSecretPage (T-H-L)
User talk:.:Alex:./SecretPage (T-H-L)
User:.:Alex:./SecretPage (T-H-L)
User:.:Alex:./Fake (T-H-L)

Well, that list is much shorter than I expected and can't account for 800+K page deletions! I read that a lot of deleted pages were IP talk pages but it's a situation I should provide a citation so here is a link to a random page of his deletion log https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?ti ... tagfilter=

Nice list of insults, SB Johnny!

[Hex]

Yeah, the IP talk pages thing is something else.

As you mentioned guestbooks... I really like them. The effort that people put into designing their signatures, when they were popular, was like a form of folk art. Looking at them (there's a list at the failed Wikipedia:Miscellany for deletion/Guestbooks (T-H-L) from 2011) reminds me a lot of the GeoCities days.

Signature books
You keep asking how they help build an encyclopedia. But you also link to WP:EA (T-H-L). I think that is your answer, no? Anything that builds a spirit of friendliness and co-operation and helps people get to know each other as human beings seems to me a good thing. Unlike divisive userboxes, the autograph books seem to just be about saying hello and being friendly. --Jimbo Wales 13:08, 20 December 2006 (UTC)

I agree!

[SB_Johnny]

It was clearly a different era than today.

Yup. It was better.

"I'll put raw text of the page history on the talk page, since the deletion makes it impossible to attribute it via weblink." Hey man, you're an admin now - why not restore the original page and move it to be your subpage? That'll bring the entire revision history with it.

Huh, hadn't thought of that.

[Mason]

Wikipedia:Miscellany for deletion/Guestbooks (T-H-L) from 2011

Hey, I remember that. Looks like I commented on it four years ago yesterday. Good times.

Ticks off a few of the Wikipedia Bingo boxes: discussion started by a blocked (and locked!) sockpuppet? Check. At least two participants who have since been banned themselves? Check. Lots of energy spent over something harmless? Check! Plenty of WP:POLICYLINKS to communicate that the nominator knows the proper shibboleths? Check. Colorful signatures? Check! Invocation of the dear leader? Check! Good times.

[Drijfzand]

Well, that list is much shorter than I expected and can't account for 800+K page deletions! I read that a lot of deleted pages were IP talk pages but it's a situation I should provide a citation so here is a link to a random page of his deletion log https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?ti ... tagfilter=
Nice list of insults, SB Johnny!

I've checked about 15 of those IP's, none of them more than 5 to 10 edits, somewhere in 2007. Of the 2000 that Hex linked to, only seven had a new talk page. I don't see a problem with such deletions, those were likely standard welcome posts. The few edits I looked at weren't vandalism (apart from one user who reverted himself, the only two edits he made), so I doubt these were warnings, and even if there were warnings among them, deletions happened more than a year after the last edit.

[Poetlister]

It was clearly a different era than today.

Yup. It was better.

But that list doesn't even include "ferkit".

Or "Godfrey Daniel".

[tarantino]

Beeblebrox has started a request for comment on this.

[Hex]

Beeblebrox has started a request for comment on this.

Thanks, that's useful. I've left a couple of comments.

[Hex]

Wikipedia:Miscellany for deletion/Guestbooks (T-H-L) from 2011

Hey, I remember that. Looks like I commented on it four years ago yesterday. Good times.

Ticks off a few of the Wikipedia Bingo boxes: discussion started by a blocked (and locked!) sockpuppet? Check. At least two participants who have since been banned themselves? Check. Lots of energy spent over something harmless? Check! Plenty of WP:POLICYLINKS to communicate that the nominator knows the proper shibboleths? Check. Colorful signatures? Check! Invocation of the dear leader? Check! Good times.

It really is a classic of the genre, isn't it!

[Vigilant]

Beeblebrox has started a request for comment on this.

The swami Vigilant prognosticates: Nothing will come of this.

[Hex]

Beeblebrox has started a request for comment on this.

The swami Vigilant prognosticates: Nothing will come of this.

On the other hand, the "oppose" section will serve its usual purpose of highlighting the dull of wit.

[Vigilant]

Beeblebrox has started a request for comment on this.

The swami Vigilant prognosticates: Nothing will come of this.

On the other hand, the "oppose" section will serve its usual purpose of highlighting the dull of wit.

I'm not seeing many more well reasoned support voters.

[Poetlister]

I'd oppose the gaming clause. In a sensibly run organisation, where people can be trusted to have common sense and use discretion widely, it would be reasonable. However, given the way things work on Wikipedia, you have to be very prescriptive. The rules should say exactly what is an acceptable minimum, including how many of the edits should not be in user space, and that should be it.

[Hex]

Here's a good one.

Oppose I edit actively but rarely use my admin tools (because I don't like drama boards and handling blocks/unblocks). I would most likely lose my admin tools if I'm forced to do 3 admin actions per year. The problems we currently have is not enough admins, so I guess this new proposal is telling editors who are active writing but not actively using their tools to lose their toolsets? And I didn't like that view at all. OhanaUnitedTalk page 18:05, 29 November 2015 (UTC)

OhanaUnited (T-C-L) (real name Andrew Leung), according to his user page, "just turned 23". That's been there since September 2012, and he became an admin in February 2008, which would peg him as having been 18 at the time. Given that the logs for OhanaUnited show his number of admin actions dropping sharply year-on-year, I find it hard to read the above post as anything but an attempt to stave off having the shiny badge he no longer needs taken away from him.

[Kumioko]

Here's a good one.

Oppose I edit actively but rarely use my admin tools (because I don't like drama boards and handling blocks/unblocks). I would most likely lose my admin tools if I'm forced to do 3 admin actions per year. The problems we currently have is not enough admins, so I guess this new proposal is telling editors who are active writing but not actively using their tools to lose their toolsets? And I didn't like that view at all. OhanaUnitedTalk page 18:05, 29 November 2015 (UTC)

OhanaUnited (T-C-L) (real name Andrew Leung), according to his user page, "just turned 23". That's been there since September 2012, and he became an admin in February 2008, which would peg him as having been 18 at the time. Given that the logs for OhanaUnited show his number of admin actions dropping sharply year-on-year, I find it hard to read the above post as anything but an attempt to stave off having the shiny badge he no longer needs taken away from him.

I pretty much agree unfortunately. There are a lot of other things one can do besides Blocks and unblocks. There are protected page edits, deleting stale drafts, deleting Stuff for deletion if consensus agrees as well as empty cats and the like. There are literally tons of things to do that could be done to free up others. With that said, there are also some more subtle "uses" such as seeing deleted content which would be hard to prove was done but would still be a use of the tools. In general though I would say if they are not using it then they don't need it and it should be taken away. I could do three edits in less than a minute with the admin tools that would be completely non controversial and would be a benefit.

[Black Kite]

The new "limit" is pointless anyway, though.

Go to AFD, close 8 AFDs, making sure 3 of them are "Delete". The 3 deletes will hit your admin actions limit, and the 5 that aren't will hit your 10 edits (removing the AFD template, and adding the OLDAFDFULL template to the talkpage for each one).

Should take about 15 minutes, max.

Edit: actually thinking about it, you'd only need to close 2 as Delete, as long as at least one of them has a talkpage.

[greybeard]

A better solution would be to make all admins run for re-certification via an RFA-lite process every two years or so. Like all other reform proposals on Wikipedia, this will never happen.

Come to think of it, however, what the current (useless) proposal could use is a stalking-horse campaign for a much more draconian rule. That might boost support for the weak tea.

[Poetlister]

Here's how these things work on Wikisource. ResidentScholar was elected an admin in 2008 in a sort of RfA. He was confirmed in 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2012, but then he annoyed people and was sacked in 2013. You can also find admins sacked for inactivity, but always after a vote.

[Kumioko]

A better solution would be to make all admins run for re-certification via an RFA-lite process every two years or so. Like all other reform proposals on Wikipedia, this will never happen.

Come to think of it, however, what the current (useless) proposal could use is a stalking-horse campaign for a much more draconian rule. That might boost support for the weak tea.

I am not opposed to this either but I would be generous and say 3 years. The problem with this idea is that the majority of current admins would not get reelected and they know it largely because many of the current admins have been admins sine they gave it away 8 or 9 years ago. There are relatively few still editing actively that have had it less than 5 years.

[SB_Johnny]

Here's a good one.

Oppose I edit actively but rarely use my admin tools (because I don't like drama boards and handling blocks/unblocks). I would most likely lose my admin tools if I'm forced to do 3 admin actions per year. The problems we currently have is not enough admins, so I guess this new proposal is telling editors who are active writing but not actively using their tools to lose their toolsets? And I didn't like that view at all. OhanaUnitedTalk page 18:05, 29 November 2015 (UTC)

OhanaUnited (T-C-L) (real name Andrew Leung), according to his user page, "just turned 23". That's been there since September 2012, and he became an admin in February 2008, which would peg him as having been 18 at the time. Given that the logs for OhanaUnited show his number of admin actions dropping sharply year-on-year, I find it hard to read the above post as anything but an attempt to stave off having the shiny badge he no longer needs taken away from him.

Does his having the badge make yours seem less shiny or something? I don't really see the point, though having been around both before and after commons adopted activity minimums, I think it could make things worse.

[Hex]

Does his having the badge make yours seem less shiny or something?

Not even remotely. This is just a minute step towards a more professional and accountable admin system.

I don't really see the point, though having been around both before and after commons adopted activity minimums, I think it could make things worse.

How so at Commons?

And, it's not like anything ever causes these people to wake from their slumber and suddenly dive in to solve a problem. They're just stale hangers-on who almost certainly aren't keeping abreast of current operating policy.

Something I hadn't seen before that basically answers my initial post to this thread: Wikipedia:List of administrators/Inactive (T-H-L)

I think the award for most truly shameless hanger-on goes to Lee Daniel Crocker (T-C-L), one of the earliest Wikipedia users and original programmers of MediaWiki. Last content edit in 2010; an AfD comment in 2012; edited user page in 2013 to add a Ten Year Society (I created that!) userbox. Then nothing until January 2015, when he appeared on the bureaucrats' board to ask for his sysadmin status back after it was removed for inactivity. The logs for his account show not even one single admin action since 2005. What an asshole.

[Poetlister]

... having been around both before and after commons adopted activity minimums, I think it could make things worse.

How so at Commons?

Good question. It takes a certain kind of genius to make things worse at Commons.

[Dennis Brown]

I think the award for most truly shameless hanger-on goes to Lee Daniel Crocker (T-C-L), one of the earliest Wikipedia users and original programmers of MediaWiki. Last content edit in 2010; an AfD comment in 2012; edited user page in 2013 to add a Ten Year Society (I created that!) userbox. Then nothing until January 2015, when he appeared on the bureaucrats' board to ask for his sysadmin status back after it was removed for inactivity. The logs for his account show not even one single admin action since 2005. What an asshole.

He's not an asshole, he's a God. He said so clearly in the link you provided.