User blog comment:Brandon Rhea/Tips for being a great admin/@comment-452-20121025235412/@comment-452-20121027002845

Harry granger, I brought up several different issues in my comment, I'm sorry I didn't separate them better. In that paragraph I was referring to changing other's perceptions of what a user with "admin" rights is, not changing to behaviour of power-tripping admins - of which I have no solution other than to empower the community so that they can stand up to them.

Although, now that you bring it up, letting the community know that users with admin rights are nothing more than janitors in practice may make it easier to overthrow any tyrannical mop-wielders. (Not that there's nothing wrong with actual janitors, they play a crucial role in the world, as do wikia admins, but neither of them are irreplaceable is my point)

Brandon Rhea - nothing specific, no outstanding examples, but in general I try to use edit summaries to explain that I'm not just doing something on a whim, and I start a lot of talk page discussions asking for feedback on changes I've made and proposals - I hope that both of those things help get across the general idea that although the word "admin" is in my user header, I'm not a maverick and I'm openly seeking input into my edits.

edit: Also transparency in general. I've never said "We're doing it this way because I say so", if I ever think there's a better way to do something, I'll post the full pros and cons of the issue and ask for feedback.