On 03/04/11 2:04 AM, Amir E. Aharoni wrote: > 2011/3/4 Ray Saintonge<sainto...@telus.net>: >> On 03/03/11 5:44 AM, Amir E. Aharoni wrote: >>> The name "administrator" gives the impression of some mythical >>> "balance of power", although administrators don't actually >>> administrate - they (un)delete, (un)block and (un)protect, in addition >>> to editing articles and participating in discussions just like >>> everybody else. The name "sysop" (system operator), used occasionally >>> in English, and more frequently in some other languages (e.g. Hebrew), >>> sounds less like a managerial role, but it's technical and cryptic and >>> requires explanation. >>> >>> Giving user groups exact and real names will likely change the >>> attitude of many users who see these user groups as "the powers that >>> be" and think that they're impenetrable. >> You make a strong point. People cherish their titles and the >> self-esteem. Being able to say "I am a Wikipedia administrator," to >> someone who has never edited Wikipedia gives an impression of >> importance. Breaking the task into its components leaves each part less >> prestigious. > Most admins with whom i am familiar aren't using their adminship to > gain prestige. > > I'd rather be "the guy who wrote a detailed encyclopedic article about > every diacritic sign in the Hebrew alphabet" than an admin - i find a > lot more prestige in it. I am happy about being an admin, not because > of prestige, but because having the permission to delete pages without > going through some request page is simply useful for writing articles > and making the wiki better. > > Put simply, good admins, who use their permissions to create a better > wiki, are not supposed to object to such a change.
Absolutely, but you only get that warped perspective because you deal essentially with good admins. :-P It's the ones that you don't associate with that I would worry about. Ray _______________________________________________ foundation-l mailing list foundation-l@lists.wikimedia.org Unsubscribe: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/foundation-l
