Thread:JoePlay/@comment-5450408-20161112063046/@comment-8-20161117175747

Hi Cacher97, Joe asked me to look in to give some advice. I'm more commonly involved in such situations then he is :) Watch out, this is going to be a long one!

I've seen the thread about this, so I can answer a little more specifically This sort of thing is always tough, whether it's on a small or a large wiki. I think the key question here is: how much do you trust the other admin?

If you trust him, then it's likely you would decide to believe his interpretation of events. After all, if he is being harassed, it's understandable that he wants to block the harasser. And his reasons for deleting the threads are plausible, even if not necessarily the best way to deal with them. But it's important for you to decide how you feel about working with this person as admins in the future.

And that takes us to the second question: were his actions reasonable?

There are a few things to consider here. Is it reasonable to block on Fandom for something that happened elsewhere? Was it best to remove threads that the admin saw as trolling, to stop that trolling from getting attention? Were the edits to the post reasonable? Or did he step over a line there? And was his response to you adequate?

My view is that it is generally best to keep issues from another site off Fandom. But if the other user involved chooses to bring the argument to Fandom, especially in order to "cause trouble", that that makes it an issue for the wiki.

I'm a big believer in Don't Feed the Trolls, but I prefer not to even give the troll the attention of deleting their words, unless they are extreme. But that's a personal preference, deleting can work too.

On the edits, that's generally a no-no. It would, in my opinion, have been much better to reply as a new post rather than on the user's one.

And I see his response as generally reasonable, if rather grumpy ;)

Overall, I would have liked him to ask you to help with the situation, or at least to get your opinion. And I would hope that he discusses the best actions for future incidents, and comes to an agreement with you on what the policies should be. But overall the mistakes he made (in my opinion) were not major.

These are just my opinions though, you will have to make your own assessment of the situation.

So what to do next? You as bureaucrat have the right and ability to remove his admin flag. As there is no community to consult, that decision can be yours alone (you should expect some anger and reaction though). If you choose not to go to that extreme, then it is likely a matter of talking to him to explain what you are okay with in his actions, and what you see as a problem for an admin to have done. I recommend that the message is polite, clear, and leaves plenty of room for a good future relationship.

The most important thing is to consider why he acted as he did, and the good (or bad) intent behind it. If you think it was all done in good faith, it makes it easier to take the talking route.

This would also be a good time to consider the request to use Skype. The pros are the privacy it gives, and the ability to take discussions out of view of trolls; the cons are that it reduces transparency and can increase the feeling of "them and us". Personally, I have always used an off-Fandom means of communicating with key contributors and fellow staff.

So that's a lot of digest and a lot to decide. Please ask if you have any questions or want me to expand on anything above - as you can see I love talking!

Good luck!