Board Thread:General Wiki Discussion/@comment-7503158-20150612071613/@comment-4050367-20150612130732

My personal thoughts on this are mixed. I get your point that if a user needs to be warned but no admins are active then there still needs to be a warning given.

I'm not particularly aware of how Planet does their warning system, and you didn't explain it well enough in your initial post so I can't really say anything about that. So if you could expand on that, I'd be happy to hear how they do it, and if you have any specific examples that would be great. Also, just curious: Are you suggesting ANY user could do this, or would there be requirements?

There are a few things I'd like to note though. First of all, the only reason this exists is due to Sub's reply to you when you warned Street in the Street/Echo/Sif fisaco that happened while I wasn't here, and obviously you respectfully disagree with him, but now you've taken it to the next level and made a forum about it. It's just important to know the motivation and history behind the thread.

Second, you're right. Every single admin can't be on 100% of the time, because then we'd never go to school, never would eat, sleep, etc. However, there is some diversity when it comes to handling timezones (Brian, Ulti), and there are five admins/bureaucrats that are either semi-active/ moderately active/ or just plain active. The administration relies on each other to help out if one has other things they need to take care of in the real world. For example, I've had Ulti help with getting Fanon Con going, and he's done a fine job with it. My point is, there has been at least one active administrator on wiki to handle these kind of things. As the wiki has entered the Summer Season, and we see the activity increase, the administration should be active enough during this time, and usually is pretty active as well during the Fall.

Third. I've dealt with this before, but it continues to be a reoccuring subject. Sub once said something that I truly do like, and it's on his userpage:

You're probably wondering "what's the difference between a user and an admin". As a good friend of mine once said..there is no difference, we are just users who help the well being of regular users, we are users as well.

You said that the wiki treats admins as "special" people. Here's the thing. We have a responsiblity to make sure this wiki is a great community for Ben 10 fans who love to write about the topic they enjoy. We have a responsiblity to fight the evil forces of trolls, spammers, and vandals. We have a responsiblity to maintain order on the wiki, via warnings. Warnings are simply part of our job as the people who try to ensure the wiki is the best it can be. Now you said it was a minor thing, and okay that's understandable, but warnings are meant to be used by the administration to make sure we have a safe and friendly community, a good argueless family. We help the well being of regular users, and warnings are how we do it. We have a lot more responsibilites to handle. We're not gods. We're not kings. We're maintainence, friends, allies, innovators, dreamers, writers, leaders. And finally, everyone is special Echo. Every single human being is a different and divinely created human being, thus making them each and every one of them special.

By giving users the ability to give any kind of warning is potentially opening the floodgates for further problems down the line, and I would hate to see that. I don't want this community being torn apart because of it. I do want to make people understand that the administration are regular users that just have a few things they can do, and have a few more responsiblities. Administration still has to follow the rules. Administration still don't do certain things. I have said before that if the administration is doing something wrong, you can ask to talk on chat, and I'll come on when I can, and we're talk. I'm open to talking with the community and improving the wiki on the things that need to be corrected, that's what this year is about. But just because I listen doesn't mean I say yes to everything. I'm not voting quite yet, but I think of a metaphor at the moment.

If the admins are the police (also regular people w/ more responsibities) that maintain the rules/laws of the community/society, should we give everyone the right to give warnings/arrest people? Just something to think about.

I look forward to further discussion.