WP/WER/Band of Farmers

In reading the oldest archives of WER I keep running across Dennis Brown's earliest theme of "We are farmers". That's what stirred me to start harvesting "farmer" references that DB was making from the many dozens of conversations from the archives. After all, the WER Archives have a rich cornucopia of many focused discussions on important topics with participation by quality "silverback" editors and administrators. It seems like such a waste of good fertilizer that can be used to enrich the soil of Wikipedia and improve our crop. My idea is to gather up as much of the references as possible and put them in one Fertilizer Warehouse somewhere, with a "current discussions" link from the Main Page. It's an idea that was presented (in an other form) way back in the early days of the project. Buster Seven Talk 00:15, 27 March 2017 (UTC)[reply]

From Archive 2

And a big part of editor retention is creating an environment that quality editors want to participate in, without fear of POV warriors, edit warriors, vandals or personal attacks. Prompt and fair blocking plus equitable policy enforcement are important parts of Editor Retention. Dennis Brown - 2¢ © Join WER 17:57, 3 August 2012 (UTC)

Therefore, I feel we ought to focus on the environment, not on the people. What can we do to make the environment a more pleasant one for the editors we have -- to make it more respectful, less stressful, etc? Ethically, that is a legitimate thing to do. It's the only thing that will work in the long term anyway, if the aim is to keep Wikipedia going into the future without a large percentage of its participants feeling miserable about their involvement. SlimVirgin (talk) 21:13, 5 August 2012 (UTC)

This is the first hint that Dennis wanted US to be farmers...... One of the ways we help keep good editors here is by taking out the trash and keeping the place clean. POV warriors, vandals, sockpuppets and disruptive users cause good editors to leave in frustration, which is part of the reason I work SPI and ANI daily. Unfortunately, Sockpuppet Investigations stays so backlogged that we can't keep up. If any admins or non-admins are interested in helping patrol SPI, gathering evidence and helping present case info (pithy, of course), then it would be appreciated. Good things grow in good soil, and getting rid of trouble makers is one way we make Wikipedia more enjoyable for serious editors. If any former clerks want to come back part time and help, it would also be extremely appreciated. Dennis Brown - 2¢ © Join WER 12:36, 6 September 2012 (UTC)

Good soil grows good things. Sometimes, this means hard decisions, like blocking someone who is constantly disruptive, even if they are brilliant, or being forced to make a decision that isn't fair, but it is simply the best solution and the lesser of two evils. But it is either that, or do nothing. Enforcing the rules isn't a black and white issue, everything is relative and there are more problems than admins to deal with them and every admin is different, so enforcement is uneven. I probably use WP:POLICY$x less and block less quickly than most admins. I just try to just use common sense, but even that is relative, I suppose. At the end of the day, each decision is based on this long term goal of making the place a better environment, not so much about fixing one article. This is why I'm quick to block sockpuppets, but very slow to block two people edit warring in good faith and instead full protect the article. There is no "good way" to do much of anything here, only solutions that work right now, that keep the long term goals in mind. Everything here (like life) is simply too dynamic, and it will always be flawed and will always be ugly sometimes. Dennis Brown - 2¢ © Join WER 14:09, 20 September 2012 (UTC)