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

I agree, but I think the exact wording of the "Hi there! I’ve been following some of your edits and you’ve done a really good job so far,..." example sounds patronising (edit: I see below that it was meant as an general example, so this paragraph is largely redundant), and if someone said it to me I would feel they were treating me like a child. I try to treat others as I would have them treat me, and try to be polite while not patronising. (Reminds me of the tale of how Walmart failed in Germany because they don't like door greeters).

I agree that an admin is just a user with access to more tools, and when I've had to write policy/guides I've tried to make a point of indicating that everything is open to further discussion and changes.

There's definitely a fine line between an admin making corrections to be in-line with written guidelines and it seeming like the admin is trying to control everything. As an admin, I also try to communicate the fact that I'm just another user by proposing things for deletion and request feedback just like everyone else, rather than just deleting things immediately.

I've had some bad experiences with overbearing admins who don't seem to care about seeming like bullies. Recently I saw an admin block someone just because they created another wiki on the same subject. When I was a new user, I made a complaint about a tyrannical (as per definition: Marked by unjust severity or arbitrary behaviour) admin, and I got the standard response of "feel free to make your own wiki if you don't like it".

While these "Tips for being a great admin" are great for people who care about being a good admin, some admins simply don't care. Since these types of admins make new users seem unwelcome, I think there should be more Staff oversight on admins who act outside of the policies of their own wikis. Or a Volunteer Tyrant Task Force.

Thanks to the standard behaviour on most forums, the titles "admin" and "moderator" have become synonymous with "people who you do not disagree with or you will be banned", so perhaps the title "admin" should be changed to "Helper" or "Janitor", just to take the implication of importance away from the position.

edit: In a discussion with another user about something that he had done in good faith that I was trying to let him know what I'd changed it (I don't remember the specifics), he said to me "ban me if you like, I don't care", even though what he had done wasn't even considered an offense, let alone a blockable one. That user clearly had the impression that if you do anything that an admin disagrees with, they can just block you.