User:Acalamari/RfA views

A lot of users say that requests for adminship is broken. For example, some believe that it is too much like a vote, others believe it is not like a vote enough. Do I believe there is anything wrong about RfA? Yes, I do. I believe that it is too aggressive and stressful, both for participants, and (especially) the candidate.

You see, there are a lot of angry people at RfA. Too many users seem to feel it is necessary to get angry, but really, it is not. In fact, on RfA pages, it says:

"Please keep criticism constructive and polite. Remain civil at all times."

I agree 100% with that statement; criticism should be constructive and polite, but sadly, there is a lot of criticism that is neither constructive nor polite. I believe that the view "everyone has their own opinion/standards on RfA" and the "Voice your opinion" button on RfAs are abused way too often; they are used as an excuse to oppose for trivial or silly or joke reasons, to create difficult-to-pass or impossible personal standards, or to generally insult the candidate. They are not always used for their intented purpose, which is to offer a candidate ways to improve. "Voice your opinion" does not mean "roast the candidate".

An example is when some users, if questioned about their support/oppose/neutral, instead of discussing in a reasonable manner, respond with "this is my opinion", or worse, change from "oppose" to "strong oppose", even if was not the candidate responding to them. Again, I feel this is unnecessarily aggressive, and just damages RfA. While it is accepted that users can have their own standards or opinions, it should be noted other people are allowed to comment on them if/when appropriate.

It is extremely stressful going through RfA, and even if your RfA is going very well, it is still rough. Having people argue, or being insulting or uncivil does not make things easier in any way.

Do I have any other criticisms with RfA? Amazingly, no I do not; I have found RfA to be decent place on the whole, except, as I have mentioned above, the behavior of some participants. I believe that lack of civility on RfAs is the biggest problem with RfA at the moment. Requests for adminship will be a much better place when we can all participate and communicate there in a decent manner, rather than argue and insult.