User:Xerxes/Adminship answers

Questions (and answers)
I'm already an administrator, but, since I posted these questions expecting others to answer them, I suppose it's only fair that I give my answers as well.
 * 1) Why do you want to become an administrator? Originally, I didn't.  When we first started the wiki, I was content with working as any other contributor, happy to leave the technical aspects of managing the wiki to Danik and Hawke.  I came to realize that having adminship was also a badge of responsibility, a statement that you were working for the betterment of the community. That's when I wanted it. -- I also wanted to be able to Move pages without having to ask anyone.:)
 * 2) In your opinion, what is the role of an administrator? Equal parts janitor and mediator.
 * 3) In your view, do administrators hold a technical or political position? Ideally, it's a purely technical position. The user rights granted to administrators (protect, delete, move pages; ban users; rollback edits; etc.) do not convey authority of any sort.  However, in reality, administrators are perceived to be in an elevated strata of the community and are expected to act accordingly.  That perception confers a responsibility on administrators to see that the community runs smoothly, everyone's voice is heard, and disputes are amicably resolved.
 * 4) How do you feel admins should use their power/stand in comparison with other users? I'm fond of saying that wiki's are collaborative endeavors managed by consensus.  We're all equal members of that democratic community.  Administrators exist to serve the community, not rule over it.
 * 5) Have you been in any conflicts over editing in the past or do you feel other users have caused you stress? How have you dealt with it and how will you deal with it in the future? The MUSH tends to attract self-assured personalities, with formidable verbal skills.  Conflicts are unavoidable, and often very long-winded (see: Cheetos).  I take comfort in the fact that even the most savage flame war in our little domain has little importance in the grand scheme of Real Life.  I also hold firm to the Assume good faith principle.  Resolutions (and peace of mind) are much easier to obtain when you choose to believe that people are not deliberately causing conflict, just advocating what they believe is right... and acknowledge that you might be wrong.
 * 6) Of your articles or contributions to the SW1ki, are there any with which you are particularly pleased, and why? Article-wise, I migrated the SWINFO entries related to the CSA over to the wiki.  That's not really much of a wiki accomplishment (however I also wrote the SWINFO information).  I was proud of that when we first started.  These days, I feel pretty good about the contributions that help the community: getting the Forum up and running, useful templates, etc.
 * 7) What sysop chores do you anticipate helping with? Danik and Hawke do a great job keeping up with the daily requests -- page deletions, dealing with vandalism, applying standards and templates, etc.  In the rare instance that there's something they haven't gotten to yet, I might step in.  Besides that I look for ways to tackle specific problems.  The How do we...? questions, e.g. How do we setup a forum? snd How do we get this template to work?.
 * 8) How important is it for you to be involved in things that involve discussion and voting? If I feel my opinion will be beneficial to a discussion, I've got no problem making it known.  I don't think administrators should always voice their opinions in every matter.  The average contributor needs to feel like they have a say in the way the wiki runs (it encourages participation and improves the wiki), and sometimes an administrator adding their two-cents worth of input is more intrusive than helpful.
 * 9) Do you think admins performing actions (i.e. deletions, blocks, etc.) for reasons not covered on policy should be sanctioned/punished? If so, how? Good judgement is the rule, of course.  I think administrators should always hesitate before exercising their power.  Expediency is great, but we must ensure that we don't deprive others the chance to participate.  The judgement of the administrator does not overrule the judgement of the community.
 * 10) Under what circumstances would you consider blocking an established user? An administrator has a responsibility to remain impartial and assume good faith.  Everyone can go off the rails or act stupidly or without thinking.  If I can be convinced that a person has learned their lesson, no block. To get blocked, we're talking gross violations of the policies and/or spirit of the wiki -- threats, vandalism, obvious bad faith, etc.
 * 11) If you could change any one thing about the SW1ki, what would it be? Standards and process.  When the wiki was founded, we madly created articles and content, but we didn't really spend much time on the infrastructure or community.  There remain a lot of gray areas when it comes to standards and policy.  I'd like to see the community come together and start defining those areas.
 * 12) What's more important to you: consensus or policy? Consensus.  Policies are nothing more than the rules and standards we've all agreed to follow -- static consensus, as it were.  Also, policies no matter how robust can't cover every possible case.  When that happens good judgement and consensus take over.
 * 13) Have you ever held a staff position on Star Wars MUSH? Yes.
 * 14) What are your views on the relationship between the MUSH and the SW1ki? The SW1ki exists to be a resource for the MUSH community, a chronicle of MUSH history.  Information is a powerful thing and should flow from the MUSH to the SW1ki.  We have to be careful of inventing too much background information on the wiki lest we few SW1kipedians subvert the efforts of the players and institutions (RPA, Factions, etc.) on the MUSH.