Wikipedia:Arbitration Committee Elections December 2010/Candidates/Elen of the Roads/Statement

Elen of the Roads

 * Let me introduce myself - Elen of the Roads, an Englishwoman, mother of grown up children (definitely old enough), held a named account since 2008 and edited actively since February 2009. I ran for adminship quite recently, so there is more current information on me at that link.

Wikipedia is facing a challenge. What started out as a group of people with a single vision and a shared culture has grown into a sprawling worldwide entity, with editors from around the globe and a high profile presence at the top of everyone's Google search. The challenge is to keep the enthusiasm, to keep going, while finding ways to manage this multicultural, multilingual, multi-visioned society in a way that allows all contributors to stay with us, find their place, and produce an encyclopaedia.

I think a key for a successful Arbcom is to have a mix of interests. Some of the candidates (and the sitting Arbs) are excellent content creators, some have been tireless in maintaining good order or working in the background to prevent entropy overtaking us. My interest is in governance, in how this project moves forward: how we manage and regulate ourselves to create an atmosphere in which good editors can collaborate in peace, new editors are encouraged, the young who create articles about My mate Steve for a dare have their energies harnessed, good people don't burnout or implode, and those who start from opposite corners of the ring can learn how to work together - even if it's only to express their differences better.

In the outside world, I work in local government, in a role that has involved handling complaints for a city. I do feel this has given me some experience I can bring to an arbitration role on Wikipedia. At the very least, I am used to dealing with piles of conflicting testimony and people who either don't understand the system or think they can beat it. This - all of this - is the contribution that I hope to bring.

I have recently acquired a WP:DOPPELGANGER account - User:Elen on the Roads. Amusingly, it was blocked within 30 seconds by another admin, as a precaution in case someone was trying to spoof me. I can confirm it is under my full control. I have never edited Wikipedia with any other account than these.