Wikipedia:Arbitration Committee Elections December 2019/Candidates/SoWhy/Statement

SoWhy
I became a Wikipedian in March of 2004 and passed RFA in October of 2008. Like many editors less versed in article writing, I started out as a vandal fighter and new page patroller, although gaining adminship has proven to be a gateway for my nascent content creation skills to develop, first rescuing articles from (speedy) deletion and submitting them to DYK and later even creating some GAs of my own. A short while ago, I even got an FA, making me eligible for a Four Award, something I would never have expected 15 years ago when I registered on this project. Even though I am still not (and will likely never be) a content creator first and foremost, I am aware of the challenges and requirements.

When a couple of users I trust suggested I stand in this election, I was surprised that they believed I would do a good job as an ArbCom member. But when one of them pointed out that ArbCom’s main job is to be calm, diligent and fair, I think I can honestly say that I can be that and I am confident I can learn what I don’t yet know. Diversity of thought seems to be a good goal to have in mind for the Committee imho.

I’m from Germany, went to law school and working as a lawyer, a job that regularly requires me to see all sides of a problem in order to best counsel my clients. It also means that handling sensitive data is my daily bread, so I can confidently say that I will fully comply with the criteria for access to non-public data.

I use two alternative accounts, User:Yhwos and User:SWM. I also registered User:Sowhy to prevent impersonation. Back in 2009, I used User:Azerajion for a short while (declared to ArbCom) but it’s been blocked since and I have no plans to use it anymore.

Note: I will be on vacation from 23 November until 8 December, so any questions asked in that period are most likely not going to be answered, although I will try to check in every few days if possible.

Regards So  Why  11:16, 12 November 2019 (UTC)