Wikipedia:Requests for adminship/Splash

Splash
[ Vote here] (77/1/0) ending 06:29 September 9, 2005 (UTC) - I nominate Splash for adminship based on my overwhelming respect for his contributions in the various talk spaces and the Wikipedia name space (not that his article contributions are shabby, either). He's an eminently reasonable user who already contributes a great deal to the various _fD processes admins are involved in, as well as assorted consensus-building pages. He's also prolific beyond belief, which may contribute to why I was startled to learn that someone whose name I've seen so much around Wikipedia (and always in a positive light) isn't an "old-timer". --The Literate Engineer 06:29, 2 September 2005 (UTC)

I can't believe this! I'm co-nominating! We agreed I'd nominate Splash today (see!) and then I wake up and here this is. He's a thoughtful person that I would certainly trust with the admin tools. And I would point out that he's already been closing VfD discussions, but only keeps as he's allowed. I guess I don't really have to say much more. Dmcdevit·t 15:20, September 2, 2005 (UTC)
 * Candidate, please indicate acceptance of the nomination here: I accept. And thank you, The Literate Engineer, for such a generous nomination statement. Apologies for the long answers to The Questions; I figured I might as well be thorough. -Splash 12:39, 2 September 2005 (UTC)

Support Oppose
 * 1) Support. Splash has shown a great deal of good work during his three months here, with well rounded contributions and levelheaded participation in VFD debates. Sjakkalle (Check!)  06:40, 2 September 2005 (UTC)
 * 2) Support Wouldn't have nominated if I didn't support. The Literate Engineer 06:43, 2 September 2005 (UTC)
 * 3) Support Remember you from the crazy AfD debate... I honestly thought he was already one, so I'll have to vote support. Just remember to try to detach yourself when you use the new tools :) Ryan Norton T 06:52, 2 September 2005 (UTC)
 * 4) Merovingian (t) (c) 07:42, September 2, 2005 (UTC)
 * 5) Strong support - not only did I think he already was one, I was absolutely certain of it. Very very very good contributor. - ulayiti (talk)   (my RfA)  08:20, 2 September 2005 (UTC)
 * 6) Support ITHAWO Martin - The non-blue non-moose 08:26, 2 September 2005 (UTC)
 * 7) Support, competent and level-headed user. Radiant_ &gt;|&lt; 08:27, September 2, 2005 (UTC)
 * 8) Support, Loom91 08:31, 2 September 2005 (UTC)
 * 9) Support no worries with Splash --Doc (?) 08:54, 2 September 2005 (UTC)
 * 10) Strong Support Don't worry about the relative newness: Splash is a prolific, dedicated, and intelligent contributor with a strong sense of policy. Great work all around, but on VfD specifically. Andrew Lenahan - St ar bli nd  10:53, September 2, 2005 (UTC)
 * 11) Strong Support Ditto to what ulayiti said. I see you at VfDs so much, I figured you were an admin, just waiting to close them. Acetic  ' Acid  10:57, September 2, 2005 (UTC)
 * 12) Strong Support. Great contributor to many areas of Wikipedia. --Canderson7 12:05, September 2, 2005 (UTC)
 * 13) Strong support. --Kbdank71 13:21, 2 September 2005 (UTC)
 * 14) Support AfD work speaks for itself.--Scimitar parley 14:17, 2 September 2005 (UTC)
 * 15) Support =Nichalp «Talk»=  14:26, September 2, 2005 (UTC)
 * 16) Support. I too was surprised to discover that he wasn't already an admin.  --Alan Au 14:37, 2 September 2005 (UTC)
 * 17) Support Very solid. Rx StrangeLove 15:15, 2 September 2005 (UTC)
 * 18) Nominate. It's been eight hours and I'm #18. Hmph. Dmcdevit·t 15:20, September 2, 2005 (UTC)
 * 19) Support Splash has been doing awesome work at VfD (or shall I say AfD now) 71.106.28.156 15:36, 2 September 2005 (UTC)
 * 20) Support Contribs look great.  Very hard worker.  8000+ edit, adminship seems long over due! Also, if Acetic Acid says support that is good enough for me.  Psy guy (talk) 15:45, 2 September 2005 (UTC)
 * 21) Michael Snow 15:53, 2 September 2005 (UTC)
 * 22) Support, long overdue. Rje 16:11, September 2, 2005 (UTC)
 * 23) Strong Support &mdash; thats over 8000 edits in three months! Rolled back his edits; a very notable candidate. I also like the 'essay type' answers to the questions :) You would make a very good admin. Good luck! < Journalist C./ Holla @ me! 
 * Yes, I Support too. --Bhadani 16:19, 2 September 2005 (UTC)
 * 1) Support. Friday (talk) 17:15, 2 September 2005 (UTC)
 * 2) I've seen you around. Support. Andre ( talk ) 17:18, September 2, 2005 (UTC)
 * 3) Support - although I'm not familliar with this user, his responses to the questions were excellent. He's obviously given a lot of thought to the admin position, and I believe he will make an excellent one. -Satori (talk) 17:42, 2 September 2005 (UTC)
 * 4) Strong Support! Heck yes! A very helpful and useful user. Good luck with your admin duties :) - Sun glasses at night 17:58, 2 September 2005 (UTC)
 * 5) Strong support. I like to see a little longer with the project, but excellent record of contributions shows Splash is trustworthy, which is the most important thing. - Taxman Talk 18:22, September 2, 2005 (UTC)
 * 6) Strong support. Trustworthy, as well as effective at RC patrol. Joyous (talk) 19:23, September 2, 2005 (UTC)
 * 7) Support, good all-around editor K1Bond007 21:03, September 2, 2005 (UTC)
 * 8) Support - as I said I would, once you had a few months experience. Guettarda 21:55, 2 September 2005 (UTC)
 * 9) Simple Support. -feydey 01:33, 3 September 2005 (UTC)
 * 10) Strong support, absolutely. Just look at the way Splash answers the "Questions for the candidate" section so throughly and professionally. He does a lot of excellent judgement on VfD and other Wikipedia processes and is quickly one of Wikipedia's "backbone" members. It really is time for him to get admin status. Great guy, and great work on Wikipedia. &mdash; Stevey7788 (talk) 02:27, 3 September 2005 (UTC)
 * 11) Strong support. What? Isn't he already an admin???? Then he surely deserves to get the broom and the flamethrower. No objections from here. --Tito xd 03:07, 3 September 2005 (UTC)
 * 12) Support. Dragons flight 03:12, September 3, 2005 (UTC)
 * 13) --Jusjih 03:44, 3 September 2005 (UTC)
 * 14) BRIAN 0918  &bull; 2005-09-3 04:07
 * 15) Support Fully, unconditionaly and completely! I'm only sorry I wasn't first on this list. Hamster Sandwich 04:10, 3 September 2005 (UTC)
 * 16) Support. Absolutely, without hesitation; can certainly be trusted with the mop and bucket. Mindspillage (spill yours?) 04:24, 3 September 2005 (UTC)
 * 17) Strong Support. He will make a great admin, in fact I thought he was one already!   JeremyA (talk) 04:59, 3 September 2005 (UTC)
 * 18) Support as per all above. Meelar (talk) 05:01, September 3, 2005 (UTC)
 * 19) Support. &mdash; J I P | Talk 07:10, 3 September 2005 (UTC)
 * 20) Support. Wow, really thought Splash was an admin.  -- BMIComp (talk, HOWS MY DRIVING) 09:00, 3 September 2005 (UTC)
 * 21) WT...? Splash is not an admin? Well, then it's about time he was.— encephalon |  &zeta;   12:19:37, 2005-09-03 (UTC)
 * 22) Bing! - yes folks! That's the sound of yet another vote being added! Grutness...  wha?  13:36, 3 September 2005 (UTC)
 * 23) Of Course Fire Fox T C 15:57, 3 September 2005 (UTC)
 * 24) Support, thought he already was an admin. Jaxl | talk 16:48, 3 September 2005 (UTC)
 * 25) Strong Support I absolutely hate using ye olde RFA cliche, but again, I'm forced to: thought he was one already. Bratsche talk 17:21, September 3, 2005 (UTC)
 * 26) Support. Jonathunder 20:14, 2005 September 3 (UTC)
 * 27) Strong support. He's sober, thoughtful, and thorough.  Nandesuka 21:16, 3 September 2005 (UTC)
 * 28) Support. Appears to be a strong deletionist, but I'm confident that he won't abuse sysop powers.  JYolkowski // talk 23:01, 3 September 2005 (UTC)
 * 29) Support. Extremely active in janitorial tasks. Zzyzx11 (Talk) 23:08, 3 September 2005 (UTC)
 * 30) Support. -- Joolz 01:05, 4 September 2005 (UTC)
 * 31) Support. I've seen this guy in action during RC Patrols; he knows what he's doing! Owen&times; &#9742;  13:27, 4 September 2005 (UTC)
 * 32) Support. the wub  "?/!"  17:55, 4 September 2005 (UTC)
 * 33) Support. You are the only person to vote oppose on my RfA who I would vote for. You've caught my mistakes and helped me fix them before the community found em many times ;) You've been helpful to me and I hope I have been to you but now you get your own SysOp :) R  e  dwolf24  (talk) 21:27, 4 September 2005 (UTC)
 * 34) Support, even though it's not needed. Proto t c 13:55, 5 September 2005 (UTC)
 * 35) Support. I notice Splash regularly doing RC and A/VfD. He is clear and helpful. Alf <sup style="color:green;">melmac 16:32, 5 September 2005 (UTC)
 * 36) Support Contributes a lot Hbdragon88 16:34, 5 September 2005 (UTC)
 * 37) Support I thought he was an admin already. Pilatus 17:10, 5 September 2005 (UTC)
 * 38) Support. Meets my guidelines. android  79  17:48, September 5, 2005 (UTC)
 * 39) Support. In my brief return, I have been impressed by Splash's work.  I don't understand how it was Splash's fault that 13 other people opposed an RfA.  Zoe 23:52, September 5, 2005 (UTC)
 * 40) Strong support. Of course, Splash gets nominated while I'm out of town. Pity; I had a truely moving bit of prose in the works for my support vote, now it would just be a waste of pixels as this deserving nominee appears to have near-unanimous support. Splash will be a great admin. Fernando Rizo T/C 03:45, 6 September 2005 (UTC)
 * 41) Support I tried to nominate him before. : ( <p style="font-family: Comic sans, Comic Sans MS, monospace;"> V. Molotov [[Image:Flag of California.svg|25px]]  15:15, 6 September 2005 (UTC)
 * 42) Support. I've been waiting to support Splash, I'm glad to see this nomination. &Euml;vilphoenix Burn! 15:31, September 6, 2005 (UTC)
 * 43) Support. A reliable editor. -Willmcw 18:41, September 6, 2005 (UTC)
 * 44) Support Hiding talk 20:44, 6 September 2005 (UTC)
 * 45) Support Stewart Adcock 21:00, 6 September 2005 (UTC)
 * 46) Support. El_C 23:56, 6 September 2005 (UTC)
 * 47) Support, I don't know him all that well, but he had a minor disagreement with me on a VFD i closed today, and I really like the way he handled it. Obviously not an idiot, :) -- Phroziac (talk) 02:37, September 7, 2005 (UTC)
 * 48) Support. - Mailer Diablo 21:25, 7 September 2005 (UTC)
 * 49) Support Showed extreme good sense in the Lame 'upper middle income' edit war in Malaysia. Blaming him for Rls departure is harsh btw. Borisblue 00:15, 8 September 2005 (UTC)
 * 50) Support. Dedicated contributor. -- BD2412 talk 01:32, 8 September 2005 (UTC)
 * 51) Support. utcursch | talk 12:17, September 8, 2005 (UTC)
 * 52) Support. We need more like Splash. - brenneman <sup style="color:#2f4f4f;">(t) <sup style="color:#2f4f4f;">(c)  23:51, 8 September 2005 (UTC)
 * 53) Support. Mmm hmm. siafu 01:04, 9 September 2005 (UTC)
 * 1) Oppose ironically because of dodgy voting in RFA: started a trend, the outcome of which was detrimental to the wiki. The JPS 12:19, 4 September 2005 (UTC)
 * To further clarify, I am referring to this which has resulted in this. It is clear that this user does not value honesty and maturity. It would have been far preferable to offer to coach the user. Be wary of the pack mentality. The JPS 16:18, 4 September 2005 (UTC)
 * I wasn't going to comment on any votes, but that's quite a serious charge. Respectfully, my RfA vote there also resulted in RI asking for clarification here, and me giving a lengthy explanation here. RI replied "Wow. Thanks for your detailed explanation". We had had a very civilised discussion, and I considered it case closed. -Splash 16:32, 4 September 2005 (UTC)
 * IMO your behaviour there was very childish and immature and although you trapped the guy and won with your vote a very good editor left Wikipedia as result. I very much regret not to instruct RI beforehand to be aware of people on hunt here. Pavel Vozenilek 21:03, 5 September 2005 (UTC)
 * Pavel as editor, contributer and member of this community I find your comments to be innapropriate in the extreme, particularily in this space. Hamster Sandwich 22:32, 5 September 2005 (UTC)
 * Well, everyone has an opinion. Back to the problem: RI felt cornered and and target for easy chase and left in disgust. He made a lot in keeping Wikipedia clean and its's a huge loss. His thousands and thousands of fixes will be missing now. (I am commenting the question raised here from what I know, I am not willing to vote on Splash.) Pavel Vozenilek 01:58, 6 September 2005 (UTC)
 * But it's hardly Splash's fault, is it? I mean, 13 other people opposed RI's adminship, so you can't really blame him alone for that. - ulayiti (talk)  <font color="#b09000"> (my RfA)  15:38, 6 September 2005 (UTC)
 * I was possibly a little too harsh in my comments, for which I would like to apologize. I won't strike them from the RFA, but my tone possibly articulated more hostility than intended. The JPS 12:25, 7 September 2005 (UTC)

Neutral

Comments
 * Yet another very promising candidate that I'm passing up solely because it's far, far too early. I won't do anything lame like opposing--if he gets it, good luck, but I personally cannot endorse someone who has only been editing for three months. --Tony Sidaway Talk  11:51, 2 September 2005 (UTC)
 * As a PhD student, is your wiki availability going to be significantly different during the school year than during the summer? Dragons flight 13:38, September 2, 2005 (UTC)
 * No, as I do my PhD throughout the year. We're not expected to take the summer (or any of the other undergrad holidays) off. I probably take less actual holiday than I would if I had a proper job. I'd never finish otherwise! Despite the number of hours I've spent editing in the last few months, I've been doing my PhD at the 'same' time. -Splash 13:57, 2 September 2005 (UTC)
 * Darn engineers don't you have to grade any papers or teach classes? Sure, you've been working on your PhD.    I wonder what your advisor would say?  Dragons flight 03:12, September 3, 2005 (UTC)
 * Mercifully for the undergrads, my Department has enough academics that postgradlings are not needed to take classes, or to do any assessment. I will acquire the odd practical session to demonstrate, but that's an afternoon every other week or so. From your phrasing, I guess you're not in the UK &mdash; postgrads here have generally (but not always) light to non-existent teaching loads. -Splash 14:52, 3 September 2005 (UTC)
 * Kate's edit counter reports 8000+ edits. --Alan Au 14:37, 2 September 2005 (UTC)
 * Remember when you start doing VfDs Splash, BJAODN counts as a Delete, mmmk? Ryan Norton T 07:20, 3 September 2005 (UTC)
 * Yes. -Splash 14:52, 3 September 2005 (UTC)
 * It looks like Splash is really going to need a nudge to get through, so I thought I'd help his cause by pointing out that this attempt at mediation is an excellent example of first-rate conflict resolution; anyone displaying such a clear-headed thought process deserves the keys. Keep up the good work, Splash.— encephalon |  &zeta;   03:31:23, 2005-09-04 (UTC)
 * Dodgy voting on RfA? I think not- because it isn't Splash's fault that everyone decided to pile on after- it was the fault of those who merely restated what he had said. The last time I checked, RfA was supposed to be about civilized, reasoned discussion, particularly when opposing.  If we all took the Boothy method it would be extremely detrimental.  The results are extremely regretable, but it isn't Splash's fault, it's the sheep who followed him. --Scimitar parley 14:11, 6 September 2005 (UTC)

Questions for the candidate

A few generic questions to provide guidance for voters:
 * 1. What sysop chores, if any, would you anticipate helping with? (Please read the page about administrators and the administrators' reading list.)
 * A. I already do what I can in this regard: I close clear-keep VfDs regularly, I patrol Special:Recentchanges when my broadband connection is up to the task and Special:Newpages when it's not, or when I'm feeling less energetic. I'm active on CfD and TfD too, and I do cleanup when I'm feeling bored. It would be nice to cleanup properly and complete the job I start. Having a mop would help with all of those. I have a firm grip on policy (speedy, blocking and the others) and will apply them firmly but fairly, although I'm a little soft on adding speedy tags &mdash; given any doubt I take it to VfD. I will only resort to WP:IAR in emergencies &mdash; it's too unilateralist for my taste in regular use.


 * I'd plan to work hard in playing my part on the various pages with backlog: TfD and CP in particular need some attention at the moment, and I'd be keen to extend my VfD closures to keep that down to size, too. I'd be careful to evaluate the debates as well as the outright expressions of button-pressing-or-not. Consensus is not a mere matter of statistics. In my current closures, if people want me to merge, or redirect then I do as I am told (check my contribs list). I do my best to merge articles where that is the outcome, although sometimes the material is beyond me and I wouldn't want to leave a mess behind. If people want something more complex done, I will comply as best I can, and if I don't know how to comply, I will leave it someone who does, or ask someone. They're bound to be out there somewhere. I do not presently close CfD or TfD debates &mdash; I feel uncomfortable committing things to deletion without being an admin, but given a mop-and-bucket I would help take some of the load (and the flak!) in both places.


 * I already watchlist WP:VIP, WP:AN, WP:AN/I (and would add WP:AIAV) and would be able to react to what I read there more usefully than at present. I'd (gently) pay WP:AN/3 some attention as sometimes it responds more slowly than it might; having not been involved there yet I'd take some driving lessons first. I participate at VfU too, although it's something of trying to pin the tail on the donkey so removing the blindfold would be welcome!


 * This is a lot of stuff: I'd do it in a round-robin kind of way so that I didn't get too hung up on one thing, and still had time to write decent articles. -Splash 12:39, 2 September 2005 (UTC)


 * 2. Of your articles or contributions to Wikipedia, are there any about which you are particularly pleased, and why?
 * A. My most significant contributions are in the middle of my user page. The first bunch I basically rewrote from scratch and I'm happy enough with all of them, to varying degrees. They are mainly telecommunications articles, as well as the set about my University. My first article, University of Bristol, I still retain affection for, and I think it's written neutrally, factually and clearly and is comprehensive. It is a little heavy on the detail, though. I'm currently trying to get Phase-shift keying ready to go to WP:FAC, with help from User:HappyCamper. I rewrote it comprehensively a while back and have made all-but-one of the images myself. Dull as it is, Space-time block code is also an article I'm pleased with. It's well referenced, covers the groundwork and key discussion points, and has an introduction I hope most people can understand. After a comment from an undergrad at my Uni, I rewrote RC circuit and RL circuit as both were seriously lacking. You'll have spotted that I'm heavy on theory; this is a result of studying too much of it. I think it needs to be in technical articles, or they do not do the 'pedia justice. I should perhaps think about arranging it spin-out articles instead, however, or scrunching it into its own sections. Being an engineer, I'm careful to offer applications of the theory where I can, and being a PhD student, I cite my sources wherever possible. (In the two circuitry articles, I don't cite sources because I did that off the top of my head, and it's basic theory that can come from anywhere from lecture notes upwards.)


 * Edit-counters will want to know that I do my major edits in the sandbox-with-preview button, so I post them in a single edit, fully-formed.


 * There's a fair collection of images on my user page too; most of them are technical, but they're accurate and important in the articles they appear in.


 * As I said, I do NP-patrol when I can. This being a slower thing than RC patrol, I try to stub-sort stub articles as best I can and wikify where it's needed. I do not plan to stop writing articles if should be made an admin; it's fun, rewarding, self-educational and what I came here to do in the first place! -Splash 12:39, 2 September 2005 (UTC)


 * 3. Have you been in any conflicts over editing in the past or do you feel other users have caused you stress? How have you dealt with it and how will you deal with it in the future?
 * A.My major article edits are to such dry subjects that I have not become embroiled in wars over them (I'm often the only substantive editor). Nevertheless, I have helped out in a few disputes either by invitation or by noticing it. Some fixable things get posted to Wikiquette alerts and I've responded to those a few times. I give the page(s) in question a thorough reading and consideration and then write my response. Where I can I look for a compromise, and am careful to justify why I think each party should give the necessary ground to reach it. Often, they've been citing sources 'at' each other: a careful and critical evaluation of these can often lay the groundwork for proposing a weaving together of peoples opinions. A good example of this, is my response to a disagreement over Malaysia, my response is in this diff. That ended the question, pretty much and, although the result was something else, at least both sides had seen where the other was coming from, what they needed to fix and how they might fix it. I was asked to take a look at London, Ontario &mdash; an anon had threatened to "revert until I die". My initial response is this diff. It's a binary question over inclusion of a single bullet-point or not so I give a clear answer whilst balancing both sides' views. I'm not sure if this is settled or not yet (the protection was the result of the execution of the above threat), but we've certainly got the anon to register and participate in discussion, so it's a minor triumph.


 * A particular case is one that is running at the moment, to which I and User:JeremyA are third-parties. Genseiryu and WGKF (both currently protected) have suffered long, high-grade edit-warring for at least 2 months. JeremyA and I have both tried informal mediation and clear-cut warnings, and JeremeyA administered some stronger medicine. Throughout, I've (we've) tried to offer ways of bridging the gap and asked (pleaded) that both sides remain civil and discuss. Since this hasn't worked, I've learnt the sort of way that a conflict can self-escalate despite cooling efforts. This has two uses: 1)I'd never behave that way in a conflict myself and 2) I know what the most determined disagreements can look like. We have not yet reached a conclusion, although we are currently trying a 3rd-party RfC. Note that I am a third party to this, and have no interest in the articles themselves, only in ending the scuffle. Since Jeremy has been involved with it longer than I have, I'd leave any adminny actions to him. I've thought "GAH" at times, but I refuse to allow others to stress me with their stubborness.


 * I'm a religious user of the show preview button. I almost never post the first draft of any edit I make. I think we all wish we'd had a second-chance to reconsider saying something in real-life, and the show-preview button gives just that. It is one of the most powerful tools in keeping things cool. -Splash 12:39, 2 September 2005 (UTC)