User:Sharktopus/ADCO

Welcome!
Welcome to admin coaching! Over the next few months I'll be quizzing you and hopefully polishing up your contributions. Before we start, please answer these questions:


 * Why do you want adminship?
 * I love the idea of a great free encyclopedia. I love the idea of using my skills and knowledge to carry that great project forward. I started off creating content I thought should be added. The community at WP:DYK helped me repair some of my beginner mistakes; it was my first experience in Wikipedia of a group project, a microcosm of Wikipedia itself. I wanted in turn to give support to the group, but I was frustrated that some of the tasks that need doing are only doable by admins. Only admins can make up Queues. Only admins can correct errors on the Main Page. I know admins do many other things besides that, and I fully intend to educate myself so that I would be capable of doing more stuff than that.   Sharktopus  talk  23:29, 2 September 2011 (UTC)


 * If appointed as a sysop, what work do you intend to do?
 * As an admin, I would like to work at DYK, as noted above. I am also interested in BLP and in copyright problems, subject areas I got interested in doing reviews at DYK. I am not yet well-trained enough in either area to be a good admin right this minute, though. I would also, once I was confident I had all the appropriate policies mastered, do some work on science-related or biography-related AfDs.   Sharktopus  talk  23:29, 2 September 2011 (UTC)


 * What do you want to achieve with the admin coaching process over the next few months?
 * I would like to get an overview of admin tasks and responsibilities. I would also like to learn a lot more about WP policies on WP:BLP, WP:CP, WP:CSD, and WP:AFD.   Sharktopus  talk  23:29, 2 September 2011 (UTC)

A bit more!
Now the basics are covered! Please answer the following and we'll be good to go (I just want to get an idea of your experience so I know what to focus on during this coaching program).

Have you ever:
 * !voted in an RFA?
 * I voted for SmartSE. after seeing the RfA mentioned on somebody's talk page, but have not kept track of recent nominations.   Sharktopus  talk  00:07, 3 September 2011 (UTC)


 * requested a page to be protected at WP:RfPP? No


 * had an editor review? Not yet but I will.


 * used automated tools/.js tools such as Twinkle, AWB, or Huggle? Not in any very knowledgeable way.


 * contributed to an XFD?
 * I participated probably too much in this deletion discussion.   Sharktopus  talk  00:07, 3 September 2011 (UTC)


 * answered a question at the help desk? Not yet.   Sharktopus  talk  00:07, 3 September 2011 (UTC)


 * uploaded an image?
 * I have uploaded quite a few images to Commons, although the Gallery feature does not seem to be working: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:Contributions/Sharktopus   Sharktopus  talk  00:07, 3 September 2011 (UTC)


 * mediated or otherwise acted as a neutral party in a dispute?
 * I have tried on occasion, for example here    Sharktopus  talk  00:07, 3 September 2011 (UTC)


 * participated in discussion in WP:AN or WP:ANI?
 * Never at AN, I don't think. Rarely at ANI, most recently suggesting a bot script to look for problem edits.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Administrators%27_noticeboard/IncidentArchive716#Wikipedia_makes_headlines_for_its_reliability._Again .   Sharktopus  talk  00:07, 3 September 2011 (UTC)


 * taken a look at meta philosophies? I'm interested in knowing what philosophies you believe you adhere to.
 * The names for these different philosophies are new to me, but I recognize myself in some more than others. I am more an inclusionist than a deletionist, more of an eventualist than an immediatist. Unless content is baldly OR, POV, or otherwise counter to policy, I would rather add a tag than delete it. I like to encourage new people to stay and improve as editors, not push them back out the door for being imperfect. I guess that makes me a moderate "anti-statusquoist" and "communityist", although I do think we are here to build an encyclopedia.
 * I am newby-friendly but I am not troll-friendly. I don't see myself as a sysopist or politicist. I like three of the four points under "rehabilism" but I disagree that "The cost of fighting a troll is higher than fixing whatever trouble they cause." The cost of not fighting habitual trolls is also high. As for edit-warring, I believe in BRD and talking things out on the talk page if editors disagree. That's all for now, it is late here.   Sharktopus  talk  03:16, 3 September 2011 (UTC)


 * helped out on the Account Creation Toolserver Interface? Not yet.   Sharktopus  talk  14:14, 3 September 2011 (UTC)


 * requested and received/been denied for Rollback? Not yet.   Sharktopus  talk  14:14, 3 September 2011 (UTC)


 * had a previous RFA? No.   Sharktopus  talk  00:07, 3 September 2011 (UTC)


 * Written a good article?
 * I have only nominated one so far (Timema). I was a co-writer with a lot of generous help from others. 00:07, 3 September 2011 (UTC)


 * Created any featured content? Not yet.   Sharktopus  talk  14:14, 3 September 2011 (UTC)


 * I know you've written DYKs, but what is your best one??
 * The best that I did essentially by myself was Botaniska trädgården (Uppsala), about an old botanical garden in Sweden. But the best of the best (like Timema) were done with help and inspiration from other people.


 * This would be a different question, but the work I am proudest of was improving the BLP Mehriban Aliyeva, a remarkable political figure in Azerbaijan -- mentioned in the Wikileaks as the most powerful member of the country's most powerful family -- elected official, public figure, head of major foundation, etc. etc. etc. You wouldn't have guessed that from the article, which was a poorly-written hash of PR hagiography with Wikileaks,and citing from Wikileaks only gossip about her makeup, clothes, and alleged plastic surgery. So I dug up some actual sources and did a rewrite– not eligible for DYK or anything else. I also felt I did a useful job sorting out some of the amateurish medically-confusing misinformation in articles about Paederus dermatitis and Blister beetle dermatitis, once again not eligible for DYK or any other awards.    Sharktopus  talk  02:57, 3 September 2011 (UTC)

Homework
Absolutely fantastic answers to the above questions, thank you for filling them out!

Now, for homework, I would like you to dive right in and get some hands-on experience. Please check out and vote on BLP AfDs which can be found here. I don't expect you to put in your two cents on every one of them, but have a go at a few, and most importantly, look to see what arguments are frequently used, and decide which ones have weight and which ones don't. Seeing policy in action is a much better way of learning than reading the policy itself.

Secondly! Please patrol new pages and see if you can't find you some A1's or A7s. These are the two CSD criteria which are trickest to spot (I have found), so if you manage to find some that get successfully deleted this will be a good boon to your understanding. If you find some which aren't then deleted, please ask here why they weren't, or the deciding administrator themselves.

Remember, A7 is about significance - not notability, these are two very different things.

As soon as you've had a crack at these things, please leave a note here. I'll go through your contributions and give you some feedback on what you've done. I will also then be posting examples of situations in which you'll need good knowledge of WP:BLP policy, so we can work on that together. Remember, you can ask me anything, so if you run into trouble along the way, post questions here too! No one is expecting you to know everything (I certainly don't!) PanydThe muffin is not subtle 16:51, 3 September 2011 (UTC)
 * Thank you, Panyd. Once I get enough time to gather coherent thought about this, I look forward to proceeding.   Sharktopus  talk  04:28, 4 September 2011 (UTC)

Trying to be constructive at AfD
This takes quite a bit of time for each article, since I don't know much about doing this yet.
 * Articles for deletion/Candice Reed Nominated based on WP:N and WP:BLP1E criteria. The bio subject is Australia's first IVF birth, now a journalist and advocate for IVF. I added a couple of references to the article and !voted "Weak keep or merge."    Sharktopus  <sup style="color:black;">talk  00:35, 5 September 2011 (UTC)
 * Articles for deletion/Philip Reid (author) Nominated based on WP:N. Bio subject is an Irish golf journalist. I found more sources, improved article a bit, and !voted "Keep."   Sharktopus  <sup style="color:black;">talk  01:51, 5 September 2011 (UTC)
 * Articles for deletion/Sabrija Vulić Chicago-area singer (with a European journalist by same name); no coverage found for singer, official website non-existent, !voted "Delete."   Sharktopus  <sup style="color:black;">talk  01:51, 5 September 2011 (UTC)

Dipping my toe in the water at NPP

 * Acarinae about a subfamily of mites. It was unreferenced and had no categories and no wikiproject, so I added all those, leaving notes for the creator (at both his accounts) who has stated he plans to create many new articles explaining that new articles should add info rather than drawing readers away from higher-level pages that in fact have more information and references than the new page. I tried to do this tactfully.   Sharktopus  <sup style="color:black;">talk  02:31, 6 September 2011 (UTC)