User blog comment:Jack Firesword/Wiki Diplomats/@comment-3508190-20120726101019

Mathmatician's point below is an excellent one so it bares repeating: Large established wikis should have the means to solve each and every dispute internally. Smaller wikis may not. In larger wikis there are always several admins. So when there's a problem between users that one admin cannot resolve another admin could step in. That usually works. Same thing if there's a problem between an admin and a user. Either of the two could ask another admin to mediate. That usually works as well. As long as there's a large diverse group and everybody is willing to talk, all conflicts can be resolved. That's nice. But it only works reliably on large and well established wikis. On smaller wikis there might be just a single admin: the founder. So what happens when this admin/founder and some user or another simply do not get along? What if the admin/founder is really just what Wikia never fails to stress a founder is: The guy who happens to have clicked the "Create Wiki" button? In other words: What if the admin's diplomatic skills leave a bit to be desired? Who can he/she/they turn to? To the forums here? They'll be turned down. To Staff? They only get involved if things are truly catastrophic - if that. Who then?

This does in no way invalidate the point RandomTime made below: Larger wikis should be left to their own devices - if only because the policies and customs may be too difficult to explain to an outsider. But a wiki needs to reach a certain amount of critical mass before it can exist completely without any outside mediation whatsoever. The mere fact that there are wikis that have reached the critical mass is no reason to deny outside help to the smaller wikis who may (still) it.