Howdypedia:Administrator selection
From Howdypedia, the Bang! Howdy wiki
The requests for adminship process is, on paper, a reasonable affair. Since Wikipedia continues to use it, it must surely be effective. Still, there are enormous differences between Howdypedia and Wikipedia (and YPPedia, for that matter), the most important here being size. Wikipedia has 4.5 million registered users; Howdypedia has 150. Wikipedia has 1200 administrators; Howdypedia has 5. Wikipedia has 22 bureaucrats; Howdypedia has 1. The RfA process at Wikipedia depends on a large number of users from whom to gather an informed consensus, and in that it seems to work reasonably well. The same can't be said for our own RfAs: In virtually all cases, the decision on whether or not to promote is so clear-cut that the RfA is merely a formality. Most of the real discussion on a candidate occurs on IRC, and since I am the only bureaucrat, the decision is effectively mine anyway. The RfA process seems rather cumbersome when it is used so little, and I have decided to eliminate it. The alternative would be to simply appoint more bureaucrats: While this would spread out the responsibility and power for promotions, it would not solve the issue of lack of community interest/participation.
Users who wish to nominate themselves or others can contact me (email and IRC are the only options right now, though I may add a form to simplify the process); I may also nominate people myself. I will discuss nominations with the community (on IRC, and on the wiki itself if need be), and when I have heard everybody's opinions, I will make my decision.
I'll now answer some questions I would expect people to ask. If you have any others, ask them here, or on IRC. —Emufarmers(T|C) 00:08, 4 June 2007 (PDT)
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[edit] Is this just a power grab?
I'm already the sole bureaucrat of the wiki, and I hold all technical power over it. I essentially choose administrators as it is—I see no sense in pretending that this RfAs here are anything but a charade, so long as the wiki's numbers remain low. If we have enough interest/people in the future, then we may go back to RfAs.
[edit] But won't this stop some people from participating?
I considered this, but it doesn't seem likely: The only people who seem to vote on RfAs are those who are involved enough in the wiki to be on IRC as it is. Since I can solicit the opinions of many people on IRC who wouldn't otherwise vote on an RfA (whether because they are uninterested, or simply uncomfortable about discussing others in public). I hope this will allow the opinions of more people to be considered.
[edit] What about a paper trail?
IRC isn't transparent in the way that MediaWiki is. Still, all of the real discussion always takes place on IRC anyway, so there's little loss of transparency.
[edit] It doesn't sound like you're changing much, then.
I'm not. This is just a visual change—all the real changes in the process have already made themselves over time.
