User:L293D/RfA tips

This is a collection of things I think should be done or avoided before requesting adminship. This page is intended to be serious, but these are only opinions.

"If you want to easily pass an RfA, avoid doing anything that shows that you have the slightest interest in or skill at the sort of things Wikipedia administrators do. Just create a lot of good content with good citations, and if you see someone putting something in an article claiming that, say, drinking bleach cures coronavirus, silently walk away and let them have their way, hoping that someone else will deal with it."

Before RfA

 * Do NOT edit WP:ANI or WP:AN for at least six months before you run, except for obviously uncontroversial comments. If you take part in any kind of content dispute, or editor conduct discussion, you will inevitably annoy some editors who might remember it when you run.
 * Stay out of politics, because unfortunately, people will often remember you as "that guy I disagreed with". People IRL are often very attached to their political viewpoint, and may hold grudges against you on WP. Politics are uncivil in real life, and are often so on Wikipedia. The people that constantly dwell in political discussions will know exactly how uncivil they can be before they get into trouble, and aren't planning on running for adminship. They will try to get you to respond in an even more impolite way, and then drag you WP:AE or ANI or something of the sort. If/when that happens, you RfA is screwed for at least a year.
 * Do NOT help out at AfC. This may sound weird, but if you want to succeed, stay away for six months before running. That's because AfC constantly requires you to make tough judgment calls, and a couple drafts you accept will inevitably turn out to have been written by a COI editor or have some problem you overlooked. Just one or two recent errors can be used to oppose you, and may crash you RfA.
 * If you participate in AfD discussions, take the necessary time to write a good, policy-based !vote. If you don't have the time or patience to do that, don't vote at AfD, or at least not before an RfA.
 * When you disagree with someone don't just assume good faith. AGFing is good for normal editing, but if you're going to run soon, assume you're wrong when you disagree. Start your comments with "I may be wrong, but..." or something like that.
 * Do make a lot of uncontroversially useful edits, for example reverting vandalism. Even that, though, should be done with caution and plenty of AGFing.
 * Do help backlogs and/or project pages, such as WP:AFCRD, WP:RMT, WP:RM, WP:CfD, WP:RfD

At RfA

 * Don't use humour. RfA is one of the most serious places on Wikipedia, and using humour might convey to voters a sense that you think adminship isn't serious.
 * Definitely DON'T respond to oppose !votes. No matter how bad the vote rationale is. Normally, if the !vote is stupid enough another editor will respond to it.