Brian Wolff, 27/11/18 18:45:
I'm still open to communities who want to continue to have the old
behaviour to opt out of the new behaviour - The primary thing here is
that the default has now changed, so that anywhere that was using the
old behaviour for no other reason then it was the default is now using
the new behaviour.
The problem with this is that the right to unblock yourself is clearly
something of use in unforeseen emergencies, not something for which
you'd usually write up a consensus discussion or a guideline 5 years in
advance.
I understand the feeling of urgency in doing such changes by fiat in
response to apparent threats, but I hope you do appreciate the potential
for such permission changes to alter the power structure and social
workings of the wikis in ways we don't fully anticipate. This change may
seem small, but it does dismantle one component of the reciprocality of
administrative powers on the wiki.
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Administrator
In particular, such a new default means, on wikis with 2 sysops, that
one sysop has the capacity to unilaterally and irreversibly block the
second sysop, and that in any last-resort controversy the permissions
encourage and give a prize to whoever shoots first. (Which is already a
common problem in online communities, see StackExchange with their
"fastest gun in the west" dilemma.)
I think it would be wise for such a default to be changed only on wikis
which have at least 3 administrators *and* a bureaucrat.
Federico
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