Wikipedia:Admins are people too

Throughout Wikipedia history, many editors have aspired to the position of administrator. It is small wonder why, given the power and, sometimes, prestige that is often associated with the tools. But the life of the administrator is not always a pleasant one, due to the controversial tasks that must be performed by those who wield the mop. Administrators are given the ability to do things like blocking and topic banning users and deleting pages, but these rights carry with them inherent controversy. While not every admin task performed is going to start a firestorm, any administrator that makes a difficult decision is willingly opening the door for some serious scrutiny and often for outright attacks. It's a dirty job, but somebody has to do it, and those who do often get little thanks for subjecting themselves to the wrath of the community. No administrator is perfect, but those who sign below are indicating that they understand that the administrators are still human beings, just like the rest of us (except for the bots, of course), and they should be afforded as much courtesy as anyone else. Instead of being quick to be angry with administrators, one should instead be inclined to have thankfulness for those who are willing to take the heat for doing the jobs that Wikipedia needs done.

Signatures

1. AutomaticStrikeout (T • C • AAPT) 17:56, 21 March 2013 (UTC)
2. TBrandley 18:16, 21 March 2013 (UTC)
3. ZappaOMati 22:20, 21 March 2013 (UTC)
4. The Anonymouse (talk | contribs) 07:46, 22 March 2013 (UTC)
5. Lettik (talk) 13:01, 23 March 2013 (UTC)
6. —cyberpower ^Chat_Offline 03:22, 24 March 2013 (UTC)
7. Tom Morris 14:21, 26 March 2013 (UTC)
8. TCN7JM 00:56, 5 April 2013 (UTC)
9. Vanischenu^「m/_Talk」 16:31, 12 April 2013 (UTC)
10. Oppose per WP:NPA - Calling volunteers administrators "humans" is a grave insult to their nature. Clearly we are all robotic machines, because no human would willingly agree to this, let alone *ack* enjoy it. :) ·Salvidrim!· ✉ 00:47, 17 April 2013 (UTC)
11. This outs the admins; we can't reveal their true human identity. Go Phightins! 00:55, 17 April 2013 (UTC)
12. Oppose. People, sometimes. Admins prehistoric monsters too. Well, previously. See Bishzilla admin log. bishzilla _ROARR!! 17:51, 17 April 2013 (UTC).
13. Lord Sjones23 (talk - contributions) 02:14, 24 April 2013 (UTC)
14. DocTree (ʞlɐʇ·cont) Join WER 02:33, 26 April 2013 (UTC)
15. My76Strat (talk) 22:54, 3 May 2013 (UTC)
16. Tazerdadog (talk) 05:14, 8 May 2013 (UTC)
17. Tito Dutta (contact) 15:53, 11 May 2013 (UTC)
18. Cameron11598 (Converse) 00:31, 12 May 2013 (UTC)
19. hmssolent\^{You rang?} _{ship's log} 03:44, 30 May 2013 (UTC)
20. LlamaAl (talk) 01:54, 2 June 2013 (UTC)
21. TheOneSean ^{[ U | T | C ]} 18:20, 3 June 2013 (UTC)
22. Rtucker913 (What do you want?) 11:52, 28 June 2013 (UTC)
23. Of course! Granted, this does not excuse repeated patterns of hostility or policy violations, but it is important to remember that human beings err. As an aside, I think the aura surrounding adminship ought to be dispelled entirely. It shouldn't be seen as a position of "prestige", but rather a technical feature handed out to trusted editors for the purposes of enabling them to better maintain the site. In recent years, I've noticed a trend towards this ideal, and I think it's because the people we're appointing as administrators are generally modest enough to avoid creating an authoritative perception. Kurtis ^(talk) 12:11, 9 July 2013 (UTC)
24. I'm not convinced about the prestige bit, and I'll also dispute the "must be performed" bit. The truth is that no admin has to perform any particular admin act. If you are uncertain about it, or even just if you think its a very close call - then often its best to move on and leave it to a fellow admin who is more certain about the matter. As for the idea that admins get an inordinate amount of hostility - it really depends on what you do as an admin. Stick to the uncontentious stuff and you can do much without ruffling anyone's feathers. ϢereSpielChequers 15:28, 3 August 2013 (UTC)
25. Minkai^(rawr!)_{(see where I screwed up)} 15:54, 1 December 2021 (UTC)
26. queen of 🖤 (they/them; chat) 20:30, 21 March 2024 (UTC)

See also

• Wikipedia:Arbs are people too
• Wikipedia:IPs are human too