SmashWiki:Requests for adminship/Black Vulpine

Black Vulpine (talk • contribs • edit count • RFA page)

Candidate, please summarize why you are running for adminship below.
So, I've been here, what, eight months now? When I first came here, I didn't even know how a wiki worked, but I came here, was welcomed warmly, and I worked hard to learn the ropes, and how to interact with everyone, new and old. About a month later, I was granted the power of rollback, enabling me to combat vandalism, and still, I wanted to be able to do more for this wiki.

I know there's more to being a sysop than just countering vandalism and blocking people where necessary. Here's what I know of the other main responsibilities of being a sysop, and are confident I have:

• Assuming good faith where there is even a tiny shred of doubt
• Being able to confer with other team members and reach consensus
• Have a solid understanding of policies, especially on article deletion and protection
• An ability and willingness to learn from new policies, as well as mistakes that are made
• Understanding that administrators are not kings, everyone is equal, and we must not 'boss' others

On top of this, here's also what I know a sysop is responsible for, but for which I need more confidence in:

• Have good social skills, welcoming new users and helping them where necessary
• Have a solid understanding on the policies of blocking users and conflict moderation
  • Expanding on this, being able to make unbiased decisions on conflicts where other users are not able to

I know that the situations admins face are vast and varied, so let me talk about some common situations, and detail what my mentality will likely be for each of them:

Blocking

What I understand this is: Perhaps the most important part of being an admin, and one of if not the most complex. The ability to determine whether a user should be edit-blocked, and how long for. Note: All examples provided here assume the edit is on a mainspace or talk page.

• A user makes an edit that seriously breaks a page, but there's a chance it may have been good faith

  Action: Revert but do not block. Depending on the severity of the damage, I may talk to the user in question, but if there is even the tiniest chance the edit was good faith, no block will ever be handed down without conferring with other admins.

• A user replaces all the text on a page with something of their own

  Action: Block. How long will depend on how venomous the content was. Anything like 'lol' or 'this fucking sucks' will probably only be a slap on the wrist block (1 week or less), but anything more than that will result in a longer block. Anything that's a major personal attack or a clear attempt to troll like this was could result in a permanent block, and more than likely will if it's determined that it was an account created just for abuse. If the offender is an IP, I'd only go up to 2 weeks, given that perma-blocking IPs should be avoided. For anything that's not cut-and-dry (and for me, that would probably be anything that isn't clear vandalism), I will want to seek advice from the seniority.

• A user personally attacks another user

  Action: Caution them. Remind them of the policy and warn them not to do it again. If the offence is serious, an immediate short block may be warranted... but until I gain more confidence in this area, I probably would confer with other admins regarding that.

• A user creates an account with an inappropriate name

  Action: For anything offensive or using non-Roman characters, block immediately and post the talk page advice as shown here (I don't really know what to call it :P). For anything that's jumbled nonsense, confer with other admins.

• An account or IP may be a sockpuppet

  Action: Check it if suspicious, perma-block if confirmed. If account to be blocked is an IP, block for 2 weeks unless advised otherwise by seniority. If checkuser fails but the suspicion remains, I will confer (noticing a pattern here?). I will also confer if a confirmed sockpuppet has good faith history, and probably also question the user on their talk page, but no block will be given, at least not straight away.

Conflict moderation

What I understand this is: The ability to come between other users, preventing edit warring and arguments from occurring through means of diplomacy and tact. My confidence in this area is very low, and will probably only be most often employed at times where an admin's 'deciding vote' is required.

• Can argue well without getting upset

  In some cases, yes, and in others, no. I would say I could handle the most basic situations, but given that's a point of view, I'm not sure I can even provide examples to explain myself here.

• Can be trusted to resolve hostile situations

  Probably not. That said, most of us, myself included, can often rely on simply saying something along the lines of, "Let's all just stop and be adults about this," which in many cases is all it takes to help bring the flames down.

• Can recognise when I'm getting emotional, and need to back off

  I think so. I can be emotional at times, but I feel reasonably confident that if I'm starting to get upset, I can recognise it and at least attempt to walk away. The occasions where I would not be able to walk away are very rare, and in those cases, I would try to express how I feel, in attempt to defuse the situation. At the same time, I'll try to get another admin to jump in and help.

Policies

What I understand this is: The ability to enforce policies of the Wiki, both written and unwritten.

• Has tried to help with enforcement of policy before

  Plenty of times. Most of my recent talk page posts have been poking others about policies.

• Follows policies myself

  Absolutely, or at least to the best of my ability. I had a problem with 1RV in my early days here, but it's a problem I have never repeated, at least not to that level.

Helpfulness and social skills

What I understand this is: The ability to interact with other users, especially the new ones, and orient them with the ways of the wiki.

• A new user is having trouble with applying the correct formatting

  Action: Show them what they should do, or correct them. If it's the latter, I'll leave a talk page message pointing out what I've done.

• A new user isn't following policy

  Action: I'll (try to) gently remind them about the policy they're not following. If the problem continues, I'll discuss it with other admins.

• A new user is making some very high-quality edits that are really standing out

  Action: Commend them! Hard work should be rewarded with at least a word of thanks.

Ability to work with other admins

What I understand this is: Being able to confer with and respect the decisions of other admins.

• Will agree with other admins' decisions

  I'd be lying if I said I would agree 100% of the time. Most of the time I will agree. On the rare occasions I do not, I will discuss and ask questions calmly, rather than fight about it or worse, overturn the decision myself. There will be no exceptions to this - even in situations where I feel I am definitely right, I will talk first.

• Will confer with other admins where a solution to a problem is unclear

  I've touched on this many times already. There's a reason the administration isn't just one person. It's a team, and as such must be treated so. I will need to ask questions, and there may even be times when questions will be asked of me. Some of you will have heard me say this before, but my mentality is to think, then act. Don't act, then think.

Availability

What I understand this is: How and when I will be available to the wiki.

• When I will be available

  I'm available almost every day. Because I'm from Australia, I'm usually around in the evening and across midnight as well.

While there's some gaps in my abilities, I ultimately feel like I'm ready to take on the greater challenges. It was after all Serpent King and Disaster Flare who taught me everything I know, and I know they have more to teach me as well. Whether this RfA passes or not, I will strive to take on board whatever I possibly can, whether from those two amazing guys or from you, the community. So, if you have anything to say about how I should improve, please do not hold back. Thank you! Black Vulpine of the Furry Nation wishes you a happy new year! 17:20, 31 December 2017 (EST)

Support

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Oppose

1. Ok so here it is. I'm going to try to word myself very carefully here, because I don't want this to come out the wrong way. First let me start by saying, I firmly believe that you will make a great admin one day, and I look forward to that day when it comes, however I just don't think that day is coming so soon. Here are some of the problems I have with you being promoted at this time:

1. You are still fairly new to the wiki. As you stated above, you have only been here for around 8 months, which really isn't as long as it seems, considering how long it takes some admins to get promoted. I am well aware that there is no policy or guideline regarding a minimum amount of time that one must be a user on this wiki for before they should apply for adminship, but I think that it is nevertheless important, particularly since you stated that when you first joined, you were new to wikis. While I agree with you that you have learned a lot in the time you have been here, I am highly skeptical that you are at the necessary level to be an admin at this time.
2. Your temper. You were probably expecting me to mention this one, but your temper is something that concerns me. On multiple occasions on the Discord, you have gotten angry, even after being promoted to chat op, and were even given a warning from Serpent King recently to not let this go to far. I understand that some of this may be played up for humour, but nevertheless the prospect of someone with the tremendous power that an admin has potentially having a short fuse concerns me, as it may cause you to act a little too harshly or rashly at times, which could cause issues. Obviously this is something that you can learn not to do, but as of now, it is evident you have not fully mastered it yet.
3. Your attitude, and the example you set. Ok this has to be fair gotten a lot better recently, but even now, I am occasionally seeing instances of this, most notably on the Discord and when warning/messaging good faith editors who made mistakes. Admins are supposed to be approachable and friendly towards regular editors, and when dealing with good faith edits that are problematic, they should never be intimidating right off the bat. This is a minor pet peeve I have with Serpent King's talk page messages too, but you just generally can come off as intimidating on the wiki. As for on the Discord, like I mentioned before you have a habit of losing your temper and raging about things that happen to you of For Glory, getting rather aggressive and borderline rude at times. At first this may not seem like an issue since it is on the Discord, but if you look deeper there are some issues with this. When you are promoted to admin, you become an admin on the Discord too, and when this happens, all the other users of the server, including potential future editors, will look up to you. Your behaviour will reflect on the wiki and our admin team strongly. With this in mind, your raging on the Discord absolutely has to stop if you are to be promoted. Calling players derogatory terms and insulting entire groups of mains on a regular basis is not a good look for an admin.

One last minor point: your recent incident with the user "J itsawonderfulworld" could border on assuming bad faith. I'm not hugely concerned about this, but it is an incredibly recent incident, so I thought I'd mention it.

Right, let me just finish by saying this: I've been reading a lot of failed RfAs recently, and I would like to tell you to not get discouraged should you not get promoted this time around. Remember that Disaster Flare, Serpent King and Toomai all have a failed RfA under their belt, and they are currently perhaps the most respected admins on the wiki. I have no doubt that you will some day become an admin, so should this RfA fail, please don't kick yourself about it or get discouraged in any way.

That is all. Alex Parpotta the flying lobster! 17:56, 31 December 2017 (EST)

Neutral

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Comments

I'd like for you to give at least a few examples to back up 2 of your claims

1. Being able to confer with other team members and reach consensus
2. An ability and willingness to learn from [...] mistakes that are made

Serpent King 17:57, 31 December 2017 (EST)

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