Wikipedia:Wiktators

The term "Wiktator" is sometimes used to refer to a Wikipedia administrator who is somewhat (or very) tyrannical in style. This essay covers a different use of the term.

A Wiktator is a Wikipedia editor who, for whatever reason, is able to act as a "consensus of one" in making changes. These situations are uncommon but not altogether unheard of. In fact, it is likely that at least one Wiktator is operating now. A Wiktator may be benign or tyrannical.

Benign Wiktators

A benign Wiktator is one that is editing Wikipedia for the good of the encyclopedia and/or community; there simply isn't anyone around the area he or she is working on to either support or oppose him/her. This is often the case when someone comes upon a WP:WikiProject which has gone fallow, but has not yet been noticed and scheduled to be disbanded. After the editor realizes that "nobody is home," so to speak, the editor goes to work on the WikiProject, arranging or rearranging things as he/she sees fit. As any political scientist will tell you, dictatorship is the most efficient form of government, in terms of the leader getting things done.

Truly benign Wiktators do not guard their wiktatorships. They do not WP:OWN them. They welcome the help other editors would bring, and often toil away waiting for a motivated soul to come along.

Example

A good example of a Wiktator is the original author of this essay, ɳorɑfʈ ^Talk!. Noraft came upon WikiProject Essay Categorization and/or Classification. It had not been worked on in a year. Noraft began with a couple small tasks, but quickly became WP:BOLD. In just a couple months, he set up a professional WikiProject page, laid the framework for an essay portal, created a WikiProject Banner, applied it to 700+ essays, created over a dozen essay categories, and is now in the process of categorizing every essay on Wikipedia. He has not had to discuss a single issue with anyone, in order to gain consensus to proceed (although he has been posting what he's been doing on the project talk page). While this has resulted in efficiency, Noraft welcomes a challenge to his wiktatorship; such a challenge means someone else is interested in helping. Someone please depose him!

Update

In March, a successful coup was staged on ɳorɑfʈ ^Talk!'s Wiktatorship when a couple editors began discussing some of the changes, and forming consensus. ɳorɑfʈ ^Talk! was happy to have the help! Recently, however, the project has not been worked on much, and ɳorɑfʈ ^Talk! is considering taking on the mantle of Wiktator once again. Heavy lies the head that wears the crown.

Tyrants

Some Wiktators, on the other hand, are in it for the powerfeeling of superiority. They feel they WP:OWN their wiktatorship, however they got it. They may fight bitterly during and after a coup, or storm off, vowing never to return.

Coup attempts

Thankfully, coup attempts against Wiktators (both benign and tyrannical) are almost always successful. A single person challenging a Wiktator effectively breaks their "consensus of one," and forces them into discussion. History and talk pages show us that democracy is more easily obtained from Wiktators than dictators.