Should Wikipedians with severe autism be barred from admin positions?

[oranges33]

So many Wikipedia administrators appear to have severe autism. It's not *always* a bad thing. I know one administrator with autism that is *ok*. But the rest with autism or APD seem to be part of why Wikipedia is failing

Number of issues with autistic people in power


1. Autistic people get too stuck to predefined social rules and codes, no matter how ridiculous they are. Not that an autistic person is a conformist, they may pick off-the-wall codes of conduct. But they tend to evenutally "latch onto" moral codes and codes of conduct in an overly strict and overzealous way, simply to make sense of the world around them. And also to have a script they can use to interact with people. If an editor is not following the script, but has a good edit, often an autistic admin won't let in the edit, because the editors presentation of it broke a moral script.

2. Autistic people have a hard time backing down from emotion. Editors will sometimes come on and be a bit too forceful in their quest to get an edit accepted. If the administrator has autism, they'll get angry and stay angry, often too long to let the good edit in. A scientific study by Shivani Patel showed that autistic people spend way more time ruminating over angry thoughts than normal people https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl ... ct%20trait.

3. They have a reduced ability to feel empathy and thus have a hard time engaging in civil discussion. They'll all abide by the "code of conduct", but their social behaviour is still severely lacking (they can't tell how to respond to emotions, and their passive aggression is often through the roof)

4. Autistic people have an issue with understanding theory of mind, so when someone breaks a previously articulated rule set an autistic person is borderline worshipping, this can result in petty and rageful behaviour. Because they don't understand how someone could NOT follow the social or moral rules.

[ericbarbour]

a) this will NEVER HAPPEN, even if a "spectrum-y" admin loses his lunch and murders another Wikipedia addict in cold blood. They need their robotic people.

b) you do know I could post this on Twitter and hundreds of "activist" types will come after you in a rage, right? It's a TERRIBLE CRIME to even imply that people on the ASD spectrum aren't able to do anything "normies" are. I've known quite a few actual autistic people, and they were basically good, honest and capable folks.

The problem we have here is with giving raw power over a major website, to people who may or may not be able to deal with other people. Admin selection should focus on interpersonal dynamics and negotiation, not on banhammering. The internal culture is the real problem.

[notalawyerxyz]

Autism is on a spectrum, and I would say it is a hodgepodge of various conditions that leads to similar diagnostic criteria. On the Asperger's side of the spectrum myself, there are substantial differences between myself and others. There is a difference between being rigid with your beliefs, and trying to censor someone because of their beliefs. The prior is willing to argue and defend their cause and hear what the other person has to say, and the other prefers to bury their head in the sand. However, i am thinking the latter is more of the case of common people in general which is why aspies tend to end up super intelligent loners.

I think that in the case of wikipedia's admins, they suffer from delusional, maybe of a persecutorial level, and anxiety disorders. So they have really rigid beliefs of a delusional nature, they have anxiety, but the reason why no one likes them (their social impairment) is because they are too dumb to even attempted communicating a cohesive idea. So technically they are symptomatic of autism, even if it is not really autism. They find a community of people with similar disorders, and find a maladaptive therapeutic value in creating a safespace by effectively killing (deprivation of logos) anyone who enters into a discussion (I am not talking an article edit) anyone who disagrees which makes them feel uncomfortable become of their own intellectual impotence-and get reinforcement from a community who things depersoning (killing) is a good thing to do.

They might technically be on the lower end of the autistic spectrum, but I think the spectrum needs to be partitioned into finer detail instead of tossing us all together and effectively abandon this autism spectrum disorder. I can assure you, these content moderators all over the place, enjoys nothing more than banning people with asperger's.

We've been bullied pretty hard by the left for some 30+ years.

[Strelnikov]

How were you bullied by "the left" for 30-plus years?

[wexter]

How were you bullied by "the left" for 30-plus years?

As Strelniko noticed. Who is on first? Third Base.

The honeypot of Wikipedia to an autistic would be "the ability to fit in while being allowed to follow a specialized fixation in a prolific manner." Autistic people don't fit in and "normal folks" roll their eyes about those among us who are fixated to absurdity.

Wikipedia cannot discriminate against people with disabilities. Wikipedia discriminates against experts, people with critical thinking skills, and common sense. Autistic folks rise to the challenge of becoming administrators, its the ultimate validation.

Malvin, from Wargames, lives on and by Wikipedia;

Jim Sting [to Malvin]: Remember you told me to tell you when you were acting rudely and insensitively? Remember that? You're doing it right now.

[notalawyerxyz]

How were you bullied by "the left" for 30-plus years?

I can't go into much detail without doxxing myself, but there is some 3rd world stuff going on in this country.

[Kumioko]

Sounds like Chicago..lol

[ericbarbour]

Wikipedia cannot discriminate against people with disabilities. Wikipedia discriminates against experts, people with critical thinking skills, and common sense. Autistic folks rise to the challenge of becoming administrators, its the ultimate validation.

This is basically accurate, with the added wrinkle: they don't know this is the standard, and they will never admit this is the standard. Because their entire "culture" is based on lies and manipulation, they would have to admit their careers on WP were nothing but lies and manipulation, or at least they were facilitating it.

[Cla68]

From what I understand, certain gaming sub-cultures in the US are heavily populated with young males on the autism spectrum. Many of them are rigidly libertarian. I know that sounds like an oxymoron, but I think it's accurate. As an example, you have the 4Chan "weaponized autism" that helped get Trump elected in 2016 with their hilarious memes and other things they did to promote his candidacy and vilify Hillary Clinton. In part, it was a backlash against being smeared by the Gamergate feminists who apparently were trying to take over at least part of gaming culture in the US. I don't think those gamers, incels, and others involved are "far right" Republicans, as the media tries to paint them. They are independents.

Anyway, for whatever reason, that sub-culture doesn't appear to be drawn towards trying to control Wikipedia. The admins on the English Wikipedia who are on the spectrum seem to be more leftist in persuasion. They can be especially dogmatic when it comes to science topics that support liberal causes, like climate change, skepticism of alternative medicine (as to why ardent defenders of Western medicine and critics of alternative medicine are often left wing would be an interesting topic of discussion), gender studies, atheism, and the like.

So, if Wikipedia's admin corps had an equal representation from autists on both sides of that political spectrum, it would probably help balance things out a little.

[wexter]

Anyway, for whatever reason, that sub-culture doesn't appear to be drawn towards trying to control Wikipedia.

So, if Wikipedia's admin corps had an equal representation from autistic on both sides of that political spectrum, it would probably help balance things out a little.

I don't think there is autistic cabal, or Illuminati, influencing anything; instead they are happy just clicking away and getting "slot machine" type of validation.

The primary characteristics are
poorly developed social skills,
difficulty with expressive and receptive communication
the presence of restrictive and repetitive behaviors,
Repetitive play or verbal expressiveness
A fixation on certain activities, ideas, or concepts.
A reluctance to engage in new experiences or to disrupt routines.