EricBarbour wrote:Triptych wrote:In the case of administrators, I've often thought that they get non-monetary consideration in that they are granted power over others. Face it, the majority of those types love to block other people. So they do some administrative stuff for the WMF in order to get the accesses to go after those that annoy them. And stalk them with checkuser and so forth. Enjoyment. Non-monetary compensation. "I'll sweep the floor if you let me in to Disneyland."
Generally correct, until the move to San Francisco, when the WMF started hiring the "truly faithful" as actual employees. I've been wondering if this is a major reason why the administrative "corps" has gotten so corrupt and abusive lately. Because they smell a buck to finally be made from all that volunteer work. Also, most of the admins who only wrote content have given up, leaving patrollers, bot drivers and crazies. The shit we're observing now will probably get worse in the coming years.
There is an interesting discussion here but it's not germane to this thread: what are the long-term trends in the editing behavior of those with the toolbox?
I think you are right that the content-writing Admins are fewer and farther between... I believe, however, that to some extent this is a byproduct of a growing recognition that content writing and patrolling are complementary-but-dissimilar activities on Wikipedia, and that those whose primary activity is writing or copyediting have little real need for the toolbox and aren't seeking it. Moreover, sometimes those who do seek it aren't being given it, for lack of demonstrating a "need" which does not actually exist.
My own belief has long been that the most liberating thing for a content writer to do is raise a rigid middle digit to the notion that "Adminship is promotion" and RFA is a necessary part of the validation process. At the same time, it is fine to acknowledge that it is a needed thing for the patroller types as an enforcement mechanism. Admins are not the enemy, I have learned over the course of years...
The number of times I have found myself wishing I had tools can be counted on one hand: during the Norton case, and maybe three or four times when I couldn't make a page move because the software stopped me from doing so. Adminship really is "no big deal" if you are a content person with no intention of ever blocking anybody for anything...
The bottom line is this: Administrators aren't getting "more patrollery," they are more patrollery because content writers are staying away, or being kept away. I don't think this has anything to do with the bloated DDD money teats on the San Francisco WMF sow...
RfB
