Wikipedia:Arbitration Committee Elections December 2014/Candidates/Dougweller/Statement

Dougweller

 * I'm tossing my hat in the ring after being asked to run by User:Bishonen. I've had this account for 8 1/2 years and have a dormant account, User:DougWeller which has 2 edits, the first six months before I created this account. If elected, I will comply with the criteria for access to non-public data/

My main article interests are archeology and to some extent history, mainly American and British. For a variety of reasons I also edit in areas where nationalistic pov editing is a problem. I love doing research and fnding good sources to add to articles. My approach to editing articles is basically academic and NPOV, trying to use only the best sources and to display any controversies or differing viewpoints fairly. I've accumulated a decent library on the areas of archaeology and history that interest me and I use JSTOR quite a bit. I'm more of a content improver than an article creator as many of our existing articles are either bad, only present one aspect of a subject, are outdated or just wrong. At the moment I'm hoping to organise some Wikipedia training for members of the regional volunteer archaeology group I belong to in order to recruit more editors interested in editing archaeology articles. I'm retired having worked in a variety of fields including social work (in New York and London), ten years as a University Lecturer and local authority administration, all of which have involved working with people, education and at times mediation.

I've been an Administrator for just over five years. I'm a former ArbCom clerk and a member of OTRS, although I've been inactive there recently. Because I have a huge watchlist I find myself doing quite a bit of vandal blocking and dealing with sockpuppets,

I have no fixed opinions on ArbCom and have not kept up with its actions or any controversies around it. If elected I'll approach the job with an open mind and no preconceptions other than I think it is a vital part of our community and that it needs to have the trust of that community if it is to do its job. Conflict is inevitable in a community such as ours and when other tools fail it's the role of ArbCom to stop it from damaging the community. I think I have the experience and skills to help ArbCom do that job.