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Proposal:Witchhunts to remove admins

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  1. Achieve continued growth in readership.
  2. Focus on quality content
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  4. Stabilize and improve the infrastructure
  5. Encourage Innovation.
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The status of this proposal is:
Request for Discussion / Sign-Ups

Every proposal should be tied to one of the strategic priorities below.

Edit this page to help identify the priorities related to this proposal!


  1. Achieve continued growth in readership
  2. Focus on quality content
  3. Increase Participation
  4. Stabilize and improve the infrastructure
  5. Encourage Innovation


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Summary

Due to complex procedures for removing admins, there needs to be a quick method to stop rogue (or "loose-cannon") bad admins (badmins), while also protecting the various "whistleblowers" from retaliation. Using mindless "witchhunts" as the scapegoat, then disliked admins could be blocked, with no verdict of guilt, because the initial decision was merely a witchhunt, not a fair review of actual policy violations. Blocked admins could be later de-sysoped after formal reviews. Obvious mistakes could be unblocked pronto. Perhaps call the activity: a "badmin-hunt" as a periodic, or emergency, process.

Suggestion

Define some quick procedure where people can nominate "bad admins" (or "badmins") for a quick survey to see if they should be blocked, and later de-sysoped, based on multiple user complaints. The process needs to be quick and almost mechanical, so individual users would not be blamed for the outcome. Make it clear, as being a "witchhunt" procedure, that some admins might get blocked by accidental frenzy, or mistaken identity (perhaps with a former admin of similar username), and no actual verdict of guilty is implied by blocking an admin. Again, the important priorities are:

  • Suspected bad admins could be quickly blocked.
  • The various opponents could remain anonymous.
  • The procedure, as a witchhunt, means no one is judged as guilty.
  • Long-term investigations could de-sysop rogue admins.
  • As a witchhunt, mistaken blocks could be quickly reversed, because there is no actual guilt when condemned as a witch-admin.

Motivation

After enough unjust events of badgering and hounding by admins, many people are likely to be quite fearful, of employing proper procedures, to slowly remove a rogue admin (a "badmin") from office. The power, to stop admins, needs to be released in a quick, blameless manner, allowing for expected mistakes, on both sides, where a case of mistaken identity could be quicky unblocked, such as an admin with a username similar to a former, long-gone rogue. Also, admins would be allowed to name other admins.

Quickly remove "rotten tomatoes" to avoid spoiling the whole Cabal.

True justice is rarely swift, so an arbitrary witchhunt could circumvent (bypass) the careful deliberation, of documenting actual policy-violation actions, and block a rogue admin, pending further (slow) review steps, in hours or weeks following the badmin-witchhunt. Without some quick way to stop them, rogue admins will continue to use tactics, or groups of friends, to intimidate their victims, who would be unable to follow procedures of formal admin-removal. Behind the motivation is the key danger about admins: "Absolute power corrupts absolutely". Shift the power back towards the middle.

Potential costs

If mistaken blocks were quickly reversed, and all admins knew to expect false accusations during each witchhunt, there would be little impact to operations. However, if a rogue admin, currently "gaming the system" (WP:GAME), has been able to keep terrorizing scared users, then the costs would be reversed, as becoming enormous positive benefits from "quickly" blocking rogue admins, pending a later, slow analysis of their contentious actions.

Also, the fear of being blocked might tilt admins into being more friendly than when acting invincible in their opinions of numerous other users. Most admins must realize, after a short while, how it is very difficult to stop them, no matter how rude, judgmental or snarky their actions have been. Some new fear, of adverse consequences, might cause them to temper their formerly harsh actions.



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