SmashWiki:Requests for adminship/Aidanzapunk (2)

Aidanzapunk (talk • contribs • edit count • RFA page)

Candidate, please summarize why you are running for adminship below.
Alright, here goes nothing. This is something I have been tossing around in my head for a while, but I think that it's high time that I go through with it.

For those of you who do not know me, my name is Aidan, and I work under the username Aidanzapunk here on the SmashWiki. I've been an on and off user since mid-2013, and have seen this wiki grow during that time. I previously sent out a request for adminship almost three years ago, to no avail. In a bit of fairness and hindsight, it was admittedly rushed, and mostly put out due to a rise in vandals. It failed due to what I believe to be a lack of experience, as well as no need for another admin. This time is different: while, yes, vandals have been and will continue to be present, the issue raised this time around comes from the admins themselves, who have lamented on quite a few occasions about the lack of active admins. Three years may seem like a short time to some, but a lot can change during that period of time.

One of the bigger changes to emerge on the wiki during this three-year timespan was our jump from the IRC to Discord. It was quickly realized that there would need to be more than admins keeping everything in check, so the role of "Chat Operator" was created. Not only did my application successfully go through, but it was the first to do so; as such, I have been a successful moderator (so to speak) of the SmashWiki's Discord server for over a year now. Speaking from a personal viewpoint, I also feel as though I have changed as an editor and a community member over the past three years as well, as I have moderated (and even sometimes run) more personal wikis on my own spare time, and I believe that this time around, I am more suited for the administrator position.

In terms of dispute handling, this is a bit of an odd case, I will admit: in a situation where something is brought up, I will tend to act calmly and try to follow protocol with how certain things are handled. In a typical debate between two users, however, I will admit that I tend to stay out of things for the most part, but still make sure that things don't go out of hand on the sidelines. This, however, can be chalked up to me being on the autism spectrum, which really helps in social situations like this. While I am prone to making myself clear in an argument I myself am in, that does not mean that I myself will go over the line, nor does it mean that I don't try to moderate the discussion itself to make sure it doesn't go out of hand. The opposite has held true in the past, but it was usually meant with no malicious intent, and I believe it has been remedied as time has gone on.

As stated previously, I (and plenty of others) have heard firsthand the complaints from the other admins about the lack of active staff, as there are currently only two active admins, and four semi-active admins who do not frequent the wiki as often. If this request were to go through, there would be another active admin to handle problems or other requests on the wiki, and arguably quicker than the others; I don't have a life am stuck in my room 24/7 am on the wiki more often than the other admins, and, at the present point in my life, have much less going on.

The only plausible drawback that I can see being an issue with my position as an administrator is me starting my freshman year of college in about a month (at the time of this writing). This would hinder my presence on the wiki as both a moderator and an editor, but I've found ways to work in free time and still complete studying in the past.

Thank you. Aidan, the College-Bound Rurouni 16:49, 15 July 2018 (EDT)

Support

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Oppose

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Neutral

1. Neutral. I can see an argument both for and against you being an admin. On the plus side, you have been a chat op on the discord server for a long time, and (in my opinion) you are one of the most responsible and level-headed chat ops on the server. In addition, you have been a long time valuable contributor to the wiki, and could very well go on to serve the wiki even better as an admin. However, I haven't really seen any particularly compelling evidence on the wiki itself of your capability of fully handling the roles of an admin, nor have I really seen any enthusiasm or eagerness from you to do so. In addition, there exist some troubling and aggressive responses from you on talk pages, and an aggressive personality is something which could be very problematic for a prospective admin (which incidentally is a major reason why I opposed Vulpine's RfA, although I will say you are noticeably better than him in that regard).

   Overall, I could see both this request and your potential adminship going either way, hence why I am currently neutral on the matter. Alex the Jigglypuff trainer 17:03, 15 July 2018 (EDT)

   With the Bayonetta talk page thing, the only aggression that showed was due to what I perceived as a complete ignoring to what I was saying in the discussion, and instead focusing on another point altogether that was only vaguely similar to the point I was making. To be clear, I am not sure whether a resolution came about because of a misunderstanding between either party (as I admitted to not fully realizing something), or because one side wasn't clear to the other with what they were saying (as I will admit right now that both me not being clear and me not interpreting things correctly are a possibility, knowing myself as a person). Aidan, the College-Bound Rurouni 17:20, 15 July 2018 (EDT)

   Well, from looking at the discussion and the page edit history I think you were a little to quick to jump to anger and cursing, and it later turned out that you yourself had also made a misunderstanding. I only think this is a problem because admins essentially represent the site, and if it appears as though some admins are potentially irritable, then at best it could reflect badly on the wiki and at worst it could lead to potentially poor or rash decisions being made by said admins. As I stated though, this is not as bad as the case with Vulpine, and so I do not see it as grounds to outright oppose your proposal.Alex the Jigglypuff trainer 17:25, 15 July 2018 (EDT)

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