Wikipedia:Arbitration Committee Elections December 2018/Candidates/Joe Roe/Statement

Joe Roe
Hi, I'm Joe. I've been an editor since 2006 and an administrator for just under a year. My main editing interests are archaeology and academic biography; recently I've been focused on filling in our biographical coverage of notable women in archaeology. On the administrative side, I work mostly in articles for deletion, deletion review, and new page patrol.

I'm nominating myself because several editors whose judgement I respect have suggested I'd be a good candidate, because I have the time to serve on the committee, and because I think I will find the work engaging and rewarding. Since getting the admin tools last year, I've learned a lot about assessing consensus in complex and often contentious discussions. I don't frequently participate in dispute resolution venues like WP:ANI, and I think they can be overemphasised: most disputes on Wikipedia take place, and are resolved, in regular article and project talk pages or discussion venues like AfD. My general approach to dispute resolution is to try to cut away extraneous "drama" and encourage editors to focus on the salient common ground: our policies and guidelines, verifiable information, and the fact that we are all here to build an encyclopaedia.

I would not be joining the committee with any specific agenda in mind. I'm a firm believer in consensus as Wikipedia's most important organising principle. In that context, I see ARBCOM as the necessary exception to the rule: it exists to deal with those few edge cases where consensus-building fails. It follows that the cases it considers should be extremely limited, but that it should not be shy in passing effective resolutions when they are needed.

I edit under my real name and am willing to formally identify myself to the WMF. I have never been blocked or banned, meet the critera for access to non-public data, and am willing to sign the confidentially agreement. I have one alternate account, User:Joe Roe (mobile), which I use when travelling or on public computers.

Thank you for your consideration. –&#8239;Joe (talk) 17:09, 13 November 2018 (UTC)