User:Avenged Eightfold/Admin coaching

Since admin coaching often consists of asking questions and what-if scenarios, let's just start with the traditional RFA questions.

Traditional RFA questions
1. What admin areas do you intend to work in?

A: I would intend to work in many areas if an admin. At WP:AIV, I would block repeat vandals after checking their edits and making sure that they must be blocked. This would keep vandalism off of Wikipedia from this user. At WP:NEWPAGES, I would delete any pages that meet the speedy deletion criteria. I would then notify the user their p[age met the requirements. At, the Main page, I would update current events and the featured content after they have been chosen and ready to be on the main page. I would also use the rollback feature, as I would remain on RC patrol, but be more effective.

2. What do you believe are your best contributions?

A: My best contributions have been in two fields: sports articles and vandalism fighting. In sports articles, I have created many article and greatly expanded some, such as Luis Castillo (baseball), Juan Uribe, and Lyle Overbay. I am also a very active editor in the Boston Red Sox Wikiproject. In vandalism patrol, I have spent a lot of time on RC Patrol, and have made about 35 AIV reports. The rollback and blocking features would help me greatly in the vandalism area.

3. What conflicts have you been in and how have you handled them?

A: As it is very hard to avoid conflicts on a site like this, I have been involved in some conflicts with vandals. I have so far been in no edit wars, and all of the IP vandals that have attacked, been angry at me, or even speedy tagged my user page, were all reported to AIV by me and blocked soon after.

Go ahead and answer these questions and then we'll go from there. Remember, your answers to these questions is going to be your first impression on the !voters, so answer well. Useight (talk) 22:36, 17 December 2007 (UTC)

Your answers were pretty good, especially one and two. However, you have several typos, "Wikiprdia", "p[age", "aviod", and "conflics". You'll want to make sure that you weed those out because people will ding you for those. As for question 3, can you think of any specific time, perhaps giving diffs, as to a time when the situation got heated and you kept a cool head? The !voters like to see evidence that you can handle such situations. Useight (talk) 23:39, 17 December 2007 (UTC)

Highly probable questions
Now, you've already been through 2 RFAs. Don't worry about that too much, I didn't succeed until my third try. However, you're going to have to give evidence that you have improved. Take a look at your past RFAs (Requests for adminship/Stormtracker94, and Requests for adminship/Stormtracker94 2), noting the reasons why you were opposed. Your answer to #1 will be critical.

1. How have you improved since your last two RFAs?

A: I have improved in many ways since my last two requests. First off, I have amassed many more mainspace edits, which was a reason that many opposed me. Secondly, I have read over the Wikipedia policies again and have gained a better understanding of them. I have also used my knowledge of these policies at WP:AFD. I am more experienced, and have almost five months of editing now. Finally, I have interacted with other users a lot more than my last request, which was also a opposing reason. This is how I have improved.

2. What are your personal criteria for a potential admin?

A: My ten criteria for adminship:


 * Editor is experienced
 * Strong edit history
 * No recent blocks or vandalism
 * Good written or expanded articles (GA, FA)
 * Uses edit summaries
 * Editor is civil
 * Involved in wide range of areas
 * Editor is active
 * No recent edit warring
 * Shows knowledge of policy

3. What is your interpretation of WP:IAR?

A: My interpretation of WP:IAR is that rules and policies are on Wikipedia to guide you and are not rules that you absolutely must follow if they are in the way of you contributing in a good way. This applies to most rules, but some less such as WP:3RR and WP:VANDALISM.

I like your answers, especially number 1, they show that you put thought into them and don't sound overly-anxious. Useight (talk) 05:46, 19 December 2007 (UTC)

Preparation for next RFA
Your last RFA ended October 23, so we need to wait 3 months for the next one, so that's mid-January. But let's talk about whether we think you're ready and it's just a matter of waiting or if there are still some places for improvement.

Looking at your stats, you have 4001 total edits with 2041 to the mainspace and 603 to the Wikipedia namespace, so nobody can really complain about a lack of experience there. More specifically, though, you stated that your main admin functions would be to AIV and CAT:CSD. You have 33 reports to AIV, which is impressive (I think I have about 8), but you have only tagged about 70 articles for speedy deletion. This number has to be increased. !Voters on RFA aren't going to go through all your deleted contribs, like I did, but they may look at your recent ones and if they can't find a bunch of speedy deletion tags, when that is one of your main admin functions, they won't like that. Hence, that is my assignment for you: Keep watching the Special:Newpages and tagging articles for deletion. Useight (talk) 05:44, 19 December 2007 (UTC)

Your experience
Have you ever:
 * Listed a page for protection?
 * Only once


 * Participated in WP:AN or WP:ANI discussion?
 * No


 * Acted as a neutral party in dispute?
 * No


 * Used any .js tools or installed any editing helpers (popups, TWINKLE, etc.)?
 * Yes, I use three: (0 section editor, Lupin's AVT and AFD helper) I also use TW now.


 * Contributed to the Reference desk?
 * No, but I have contributed to the help desk.


 * Read the Signpost?
 * Yes, every week

A few more questions

 * What do you believe are your weaknesses? If you were made an admin, what tasks would you have to read up on? What tasks do you feel you would totally avoid?

A: I believe that if I was an admin, my weaknesses would be are dealing with the 3RR rule and page protection, because I have not spent very much time in these areas. I would definitely need to read up on these admin areas if I became an administrator, I would hold off on these until I have read up fully and understand them, than be a part of them.


 * If you could change one policy without any fear of opposition or reversion, what would it be? What changes would you make?

A: If I could change any of these policies without any opposition, I would definitely change the copyright policy. I believe that Wikipedia should be a web site where anything is free to use, due to it being an non-profit organization officially recognized by the U.S. Government. I would put in a new part of the policy that would state that any image on Wikipedia is free to use, but some cannot be used outside of Wikipedia.


 * When do you feel it is appropriate to decline a request in WP:AIV?

A: I think that is appropriate to decline an AIV request when either the user has not been sufficiently warned in the time period of the past 1-2 days (such as a user posting a user that has received a uw-vandalism 2 that day, but a uw-vandalism 4 last year). I also think that you should decline an AIV request if the user did not state what the user/IP address was doing, and would leave a note on that user's talk page specifying them to do so.


 * A user requests semi-protection of an article, but you fully protect it. Why?

A: If a user requests semi-protection of an article, but I fully protect it, I would only fully protect the article/template if it was a high risk template, there was very persistent vandalism going on by many different users or IP addresses, or if there was a constant dispute/edit war going on within that article.


 * An administrator speedy deleted an article under G11. Later, you notice that an anonymous user has recreated the article. Should you delete the article under G1, G4, both, or do something else?

A: This would not be possible, because anonymous users cannot create articles.
 * Oops, my question was outdated. Excellent catch. Useight (talk) 17:09, 6 January 2008 (UTC)