SmashWiki:Requests for adminship/Black Vulpine (2)

=== Black Vulpine (talk &bull; contribs &bull; edit count &bull; RFA page) === Candidate, please summarize why you are running for adminship below. So, it's been 7 months since I last applied. After being left with little to no support from my last application, I ended up going on a rollercoaster ride as part of my journey to figure out what went wrong. Yes, it hasn't been very long, and there was much that needed to be fixed. However, the intense amount of activity that has been generated on the wiki since Ultimate's announcement has provided me with a ton of opportunities to fix these issues.

Overall, there were six issues brought up across the board in the first RfA, with Serpent King highlighting all of them in detail. The biggest ones were my emotions and ability to manage conflicts, but allow me to go through all of them now.

Conflict moderation

Since this was the biggest problem, let's start here. Part of the problem is that I sold myself short, as I indeed already had a perfect example of me coming between two users to stop trouble, but it was also early days for me back then, and I didn't have much else to show anyway. However, I am now confident that I can handle this area effectively, as moments like this and also my posts on this talk page demonstrate. The latter example at the very least demonstrates my knowledge of conduct as an admin, and where the standard needs to be. Which brings me to...

My temperament and attitude in dealing with users

This section covers two issues from my previous RfA, the former of which was the other biggie. I now have learned to recognise when my temper is going to rise and more importantly, keep it under control during a critical moment. I know it was a problem, and even now, I have to remain conscious of it at all times. However it's precisely because of that that makes me feel better about this. I know that seems weak, but this is sort of a 'live and learn' argument. Most telling is that I went on a hiatus (albeit brief) 4 months ago, and there hasn't been a single rage-related incident from me since then.

As for my attitude, it was said that this was already on the way to improvement way back when. In general, my attitude when communicating with other users is almost always an attempt to remain friendly, even when the wrong thing has been done. My threshold on determining bad faith has also increased, to the point of assuming good faith on edits that the average user might not necessarily consider good faith.

Assuming bad faith

Shouldn't be a problem now. Before, I was deemed to be too quick to assume bad faith for some situations but since then my threshold has... wait a minute, wasn't I literally just talking about this? Let's just move along...

Decision making

Serpent King raised the issue that I might ask other admins for help more often than I probably need to be. Given what I wrote before, that's a fair point. I feel like my decision-making ability has improved since then. Not so much that I'm completely independent, but enough that I should be able to make basic decisions without asking for help.

CheckUser

SK also raised the issue (minorly) that I might use CheckUser whenever I have so much as an inkling when something is up. That's also fair. Most discussion about this has since been in the Discord, but I reasonably believe that my threshold on this has increased. A lot of the most recent incidences of me detecting sockpuppetry have been spot on, so maybe I have a sense for this or something? (God, I sound so freaking arrogant there, don't I?)

With the increase of activity on the wiki, having an effective staff is more important than ever, so for me to become an admin now, I understand that I will absolutely need to be at the top of my game here. One helping factor is that I'm usually available in the hours that other admins are not, but I do recognise that means I might be overwhelmed with all sorts of requests for help. I believe I can handle this though, especially since I have had a few people asking me for help with issues lately, some of which I've even had to turn down because I needed to be an admin to pull it off. I am sure that I've proved beyond a shadow of a doubt how strong my commitment to the wiki is, but the level of trust? That is for you to demonstrate to me. Black Vulpine of the Furry Nation. Furries make the internets go! :3 19:12, 15 July 2018 (EDT)

Oppose

 * 1) Oppose. In my limited experience with you, you come across as very self-centered and unwilling to admit your mistakes. You tend to carry yourself as though you have the right to make the final decision anyway and I'm honestly concerned that, given the power of adminship, it could go from just giving an impression to being a legitimate problem. Most of my interactions with you have been decidedly negative in ways that no one in a position of power should act (and I'm speaking for both of us on that -- I have treated and reacted to you in ways that would be inappropriate, as well).
 * Secondly, I don't really see a reason why you would need adminship. The duties you are most skilled in completing don't require adminship to be done well. I don't think you've been active during any vandal strikes I've seen, so you wouldn't be a significant boon in handling them quicker. In conflict, you become very opinionated -- this is far from a negative trait, as opinionated users are very important, but it means that your best skill in conflict is to strongly defend one side of the argument, and adminship isn't necessary for that. Any user can participate in a well-reasoned debate.
 * In summary, you're doing just fine as a normal user and, given my concerns with your attitude, I personally don't believe we need new admins badly enough to justify promoting you. I mean no offense in any of this and I don't doubt that you could probably handle it if it were necessary, but it's far from necessary right now. TheNuttyOne 19:56, 15 July 2018 (EDT)
 * Alright, I do feel there are a few points you have missed. You admitted that your experience with me is limited, so there is that.
 * Being self-centred and unwilling to admit mistakes is actually the complete opposite of what I've been doing as of late. I feel like I made a massive transformation in the last 7 months, although most of the changes happened in the last 4.
 * You don't think I've been active during vandal strikes that you've seen. That's fair. But the key words there are 'that you have seen'. As quite a few people in the Discord will attest, there's been plenty of incidents I have been present for, that I've had to just work on rollbacking and not much else because no admins were available at the time. Remember, I'm most active when most of the wiki is asleep, so actually, as far as countering vandals goes, lack of response has been a source of frustration for me.
 * It seems that every time there's an RfA, someone brings it up, and today it's you: 'We have too many admins' is a bad reason to oppose. While you bring up some other points that might be worth considering, your reasons for opposal should be solely based on your assessment of the applicant, not on the status of the wiki.
 * Black Vulpine of the Furry Nation.  Furries make the internets go! :3  20:20, 15 July 2018 (EDT)
 * 2 things. 1, That BV hasn't been involved in kicking out vandals is false. 2, Nutta wasn't saying the wiki didn't need another admin, but rather that your typical patterns on here do not necessitate admin powers, which is an entirely valid point (whether or not it's true remains to be seen).  Serpent SKSig.png  King  20:27, 15 July 2018 (EDT)
 * Having too many admins wasn't my sole reason, hence why I didn't outright oppose Aidan's -- I actually think we could use another admin. I just don't think we need an admin badly enough to justify ignoring my misgivings about you, which is an assessment of you relative to the state of the wiki, which is arguably even more important than an assessment of you alone.
 * Again, I'm speaking mainly from my personal experience with you. I've tried to stay out of conflicts that I have no stake in because I know I can get too hotheaded for no reason, so I'll admit I haven't been observing every single one of your recent attempted conflict resolutions. However, the conflict resolution you cited as proof above honestly doesn't give me more faith in your abilities. Your messages on Torey's talk page were, in my opinion, unnecessarily blunt and didn't make enough of an effort to help him understand why he was wrong, just telling him he was. You pushed him to start discussing on the talk page if he disagreed with other users but made little effort to do so yourself; you took the conversation to his personal talk page rather than the page's talk page and gave your logic as an end-all-be-all "this is how it is", pushing him to start the actual proper conversation on the page's talk, then proceeded to revert his edit yet again without waiting for his response or any other users' opinions. I'm also inclined to say this edit could be an improper use of rollback, as his edits were entirely in good faith. Your compromise post being captioned "Happy?" also comes across as very passive-aggressive and sarcastic; however, as someone who is often sarcastic on accident, I could let that slide if not for the rest of the interaction being mostly unnecessary.
 * The vandal thing is fair, and I did specify that I personally hadn't seen it, leaving it open that I may have just not noticed/not been online. However, if your sole rebuttal (barring the ones I re-rebutted above, which you are of course free to re-re-rebutt) to my logic is that you can handle vandals (hey that rhymed) that are active when few other users are, graveyard shift janitorial services doesn't really qualify you for adminship. TheNuttyOne 21:37, 15 July 2018 (EDT)
 * 1) Oppose, unfortunately, I really haven't seen any indication that you have improved at all since your previous application. In fact, between then and now you actually got demoted from chat op on the Discord for using anger and aggression to moderate, which is exactly what I was afraid you would do as an admin when I opposed you last time.  Alex  the  Jigglypuff trainer  03:59, 16 July 2018 (EDT)
 * 2) I now oppose for Alex's reasons. Awesomelink234, the Super Cool Sonic Fan  Leave a message if needed 04:06, 16 July 2018 (EDT)
 * 3) Oppose, I'm gonna unfortunately have to oppose here. The main reason for me opposing is that you just can't seem to handle conflicts easily and hold a grudge against people that pissed you off. The most notable examples are with Ac2k and Brian. You just can't seem to keep yourself in check for too long before becoming angry. I've especially noticed you holding a grudge against Brian, which definitely isn't my idea of a good admin. Even times when he's legitimately trying to help you, you just outright deny his help and become noticeably upset and/or angry. This leads me to my next point, you honestly do seem a bit self-centered. I mean, maybe not completely self-centered, but I do notice certain self-centered vibes whenever I see you talk on Discord sometimes. Anyways, that's my two cents on you becoming admin. I obviously did not mean to sound rude nor do I personally dislike you at all, I'm just noticing some things that need to be fixed before you can become admin. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Pokebub (talk • contribs) 04:40, 16 July 2018 (EDT)
 * I was advised not to bring those issues up unless someone else did. I didn’t want to, but I took that advice anyway and now I’m regretting it. Anyway, let me go after those issues now.
 * I reckon if Ac2k got wind of me getting demoted as CO, I would never have heard the end of it. As it is, things were taken to the extreme, to the point of him eventually getting banned for harassment, but obviously that’s not the issue being had here. While being harassed, I handled it poorly, and was driven into depression, and eventually my 3-day hiatus, during which I was left to think about how I could handle issues better. My hiatus would have been longer, but Ultimate’s announcement caused me to cut that short. After taking time to quietly observe the responses to various issues by other admins, including upon Ac2k, it became clear to me what I should have done from the beginning. This same mentality could have and should have been applied to Brian. Instead I let the anger and frustration take over, and ended up losing my badge because of it. I was however able to get a chance to put what I learned to the test, as about a week before the ban, Ac2k came after me again over a content dispute, and was refusing to back down and wait for a response, which I needed to discuss with Discord before providing. You can look at my talk page to see this.
 * I don’t hold grudges, and I certainly don’t blame Brian or Ac2k for what has happened, as much as I’d like to. It’s easy to blame others, but in the end it comes down to how you deal with it. I know that now, and I thought I might have adequately proved that with my current talk page. I have made my improvements, but my greatest fear is that nobody will want to trust me ever again because I’ve had these massive failures, and that’s how it looks to me right now. Black Vulpine  of the Furry Nation.  Furries make the internets go! :3  05:11, 16 July 2018 (EDT)
 * 1) Minor oppose. This is mostly a quick and under-researched opinion, so it may change, but here's my sense: You want this too badly. You talk constantly about your desire for adminship on the Discord as if it's the main reason you're on-wiki. You act as if you feel you deserve it, rather than that you've earned it, and that's the wrong viewpoint to have. Toomai Glittershine Toomai.png The Non-Toxic 07:18, 16 July 2018 (EDT)
 * 2) Somewhere in the middle between a slight oppose and a full oppose. With all due respect, I'm kinda in the same boat as Toomai. Nearly any time an issue is brought up in regards to the wiki on Discord (be it a vandal, a user who means well but clearly isn't following the rules, or anything else), you subtly drop your wish to be an admin, and it kinda does give off a vibe that I don't think you want to give. Additionally, I also personally think that just over half a year isn't a long enough time between one's first request and one's second, because not as much can happen in that amount of time, but that's more of a personal opinion. Aidan,  the College-Bound Rurouni  14:31, 16 July 2018 (EDT)

Neutral

 * 1) Neutral, leaning towards support You've only been on here for just over a year. However, in that time, unlike myself, when I applied back a year after I joined and didn't have much experience and wasn't well known, you're pretty well known on this wiki and know how things work around here.  Awesomelink234, the Super Cool Sonic Fan  Leave a message if needed 22:08, 15 July 2018 (EDT)

Comments
I think for the sake of convenience, I need to link to my previous RfA somewhere on this page. So, here it is. Black Vulpine of the Furry Nation. Furries make the internets go! :3 22:14, 15 July 2018 (EDT)

Right, I give up. I thought I might have been able to get somewhere this time but the impression is strong that a bridge has been burned and I frankly do not see a way out of this. If the power of wishful thinking counts for anything, there'll be a way forward for me someday, but for now, the game's over. Black Vulpine of the Furry Nation. Furries make the internets go! :3 17:49, 16 July 2018 (EDT)