== Admin resignation statement ==

I volunteered to serve as an administrator on the English Wikipedia in 2011, in the capacity of serving the English Wikipedia Community and answerable to the English Wikipedia Community (via direct interaction through the feedback of my peers, and via the judgment of the Community-elected Arbitration Committee should that be necessary). Even though I have largely kept away from the most controversial issues, it has still been an occasionally stressful role - but I have always felt supported by the confidence I have had in the English Wikipedia Community who elected me to the position of adminstrator, and in the Arbitration Committee as the Community's elected authority.<p>Things, however, have changed significantly since the Wikimedia Foundation's ban on adminstrator Fram at the behest of the Trust & Safety team. I accept that as a Community (including through our representatives on the Arbitration Committee) we have been poor at managing civility and harassment, and I've held back on any personal action in this case so far in the hope that something better might emerge - and that we might get some more clarity on the ban of Fram and on its consequences.<p>I had hoped I could support a new way forward, but that would need the buy-in of the Community and of the Arbitration Committee, and since the Fram ban plenty of people have tried their best to suggest some sort of compromise and some sort of improved approach.<p>Unfortunately, the only responses we have received from T&S team leader [[User:JEissfeldt (WMF)|Jan Eissfeldt]] to date (June 22), have reiterated his position that he is undeniably right, that he has no accountability to the Community that he is supposed to be serving, and that his judgments (and those of his team) are to be considered infallible and cannot be appealed.<p>Had there been clear recent harassment by Fram, I think more people would have been on board with the ban decision. But whatever Fram might have done seems to be stretching the definition of "harassment", and the denial of any form of appeal by Fram is in direct contradiction to any evidence so far presented, and to the ideals of openness and accountability that we have spent such a long time trying to achieve.<p>I want to make clear that I do accept that the WMF can (and should) issue bans from time to time, and I strongly support every ban that they have implemented so far (at least in as much as I understand the reasons - which, in the most part, I do). In fact, I'll go so far as to thank them for taking on the burden of things like legal issues, child protection, and cross-wiki abuse.<p>But the extension of that reach into everyday English Wikipedia conduct issues, without prior consultation, without any proper discussion, and implementing a minimum sanction of a one-year ban with no course of appeal, is far removed from the ideals of openness and transparency upon which our (imperfect) Community is built, and to me it marks a chilling and demoralizing change in the power structure under which we work.<p>If I were to remain as an adminstrator, I would in effect ulimately be serving Jan and his team, under undisclosed new rules and under threat of unappealable sanctions should I violate those undisclosed rules, rather than serving the Wikipedia Community under its imperfect but transparent and accountable rules.<p>That is not what I signed up for, and I am not willing to serve Jan and the T&S team under such a regime, and I so I reluctantly conclude that I must resign as an administrator. I thank the Community for affording me the privilege of serving you while I could. [[User:Boing! said Zebedee|Boing! said Zebedee]] ([[User talk:Boing! said Zebedee#top|talk]]) 17:38, 22 June 2019 (UTC)