Wikipedia:Arbitration Committee Elections December 2019/Candidates/Laser brain/Statement

Laser brain
I'm Andy. I've been editing Wikipedia since 2008 and I became an administrator in 2009. I've spent much of my time as a coordinator at WP:FAC, where my job is to read critical comments and weigh consensus. I have also participated at WP:AE and other venues where editor behavior is examined and assessed. Overall, I have significant experience reading remarks and disagreements and determining the best path forward. I speak my mind, stick to what's right for Wikipedia, and make difficult decisions even when they're unpopular. I also build content, including multiple Featured and Good articles. That means I understand this nuthouse from many perspectives.

I firmly believe in transparency and fairness. Transparency means that processes and evidence should be easy for anyone to examine. I recognize that there are rare cases when evidence needs to be kept private. Privacy is good in rare cases. Secrecy is bad. The difference is that privacy is sometimes necessary for protection of participants; secrecy is when something is kept hidden because one is fearful of it coming to light.

I'm a human. I'm usually chill. I sometimes lose my cool. I've treated other humans here with kindness, compassion, and patience. Ocassionally I've dressed them down when I thought they deserved it. I call 'em like I see 'em. I'm not a politician or a go-along. If you're looking to cast your vote for someone who's going to act in the best interests of the encyclopedia, I may be your candidate.

I believe the role of ArbCom is to serve the community as a mechanism of last resort, and to be authoritative, not authoritarian. If elected, I would serve with fairness and care.

I confirm that I will fully comply with the criteria for access to non-public data.