SmashWiki:Requests for bureaucratship/Disaster Flare

Disaster Flare (talk • contribs • edit count • passing RFA • RFB page)

Candidate, please summarize why you are running for bureaucratship below.

Hello all. It's been a while since I did something like this. I've now officially been an admin for a little over 4 years now and admittedly, things have been somewhat rocky over that time. I've showcased a lot of weaknesses as an admin, such as temper problems, trigger happiness with banning, things like that. I understand applying for bureaucracy with those under my belt can be seen as an issue and I do understand any skepticism you may have, considering. However, I ask that you hear me out and don't immediately write me off for past experiences, as well as write me off just because we already have two bureaucrats. For this application, I'd like to start off by addressing one of my worst weaknesses as an admin, my temper: Over the past 4 years, I've showcased a lot of issues controlling my temper, resulting in my judgment clouding and saying things I shouldn't have said or just overall becoming completely unreliable to the discussion. I understand that this is a serious flaw to have as any sort of wiki staff member. For those on Discord, you may have noticed I have been taking steps to improve. I'm on medication now to control my anxiety, which has also, as a side effect, lowered my temper, I've become more patient, and I've ultimately apologized to some of you that I have wronged. As such, this will help benefit my dispute handling that much more, and while I haven't had any chances to handle a dispute in recent days (most discussion affairs have since transitioned to Discord nowadays, rendering talk pages a tad bit archaic), I trust in my ability to handle disputes better than ever before. I will not make any excuses, I understand I've been immature in the past. I'm aiming to be better than that in my recent journey to self-improvement. The other thing that was a huge problem (though not necessarily a flaw) is that I've had a habit of just disappearing from the wiki. However, I've gone a few years without a computer, so I was unable to make a lot of constructive edits in that time. I now have a school computer I can use, so please don't worry about potential inactivity. I'm not going anywhere if I can help it.

Next up, I'd like to provide what I've learned over the past 4 years:

I've been taking steps to learn more about the competitive scene in order to be more helpful on that side of the wiki, and have been doing tons of research on smashers in order to have complete results tables and create smasher articles so we can have the most complete smasherbase possible. I'm also beginning to study hitbox data among other things in order to hopefully finally help curb the ever-increasing competitive expertise tags (which is now quickly approaching 3000 as of my writing this). I'm also an Editor-in-Chief on LylatWiki, and while I haven't been as active there, I am a major influence in the wiki's evolution in recent years, even if I do not edit much there. Lastly, worth noting, is I'm now learning more wiki markup and aim to help more on the template side of things as well.

Lastly, I'd like to go over the major new powers I would get as a bureaucrat:

1. First is promoting a user, whether it be rollback, adminship, or bureaucracy. I think we can all agree that while choosing to give someone rollback is easy, picking admins and bureaucrats is a very difficult task that should not be taken lightly. However, I consider myself a good judge of character and generally can tell when someone is not to be trusted. I've learned this over time in my experience on wiki and even irl. Promotion requires a lot of careful thinking and I would not just go gung ho promoting everyone, my aim would be to give everyone time to vote, then think on it for a while and make my decision at least after about a month.
2. Next is renames. I recall Serpent saying in the past that that should be something admins should have, and honestly I'm inclined to agree. We have a pretty clear policy on it and it'd be kind of difficult to accidentally misuse it.
3. Finally, interwiki. I highly doubt I'd ever need to use this for any reason, but since it is an added tool, and anything could possibly change, trust that it is in the right hands, should I ever need to use it for any reason. As a part of LylatWiki's hosting group, Grifkuba, I've been toying with ideas for new NIWA wikis that I can create and add that much more knowledge to our growing alliance, which would create an opportunity for me to use interwiki.

I think that about covers everything, but of course as always, I'm open to any and all questions or comments. If you have anything you're curious about or concerns you, please, by all means ask me. I don't want anyone second guessing themselves with their votes because this is a big step up for me, should I get the position. That said, thank you for your consideration, and make the vote you feel is right in your eyes. Disaster Flare (talk) 17:37, April 3, 2020 (EDT)

Support

1. Support I think you've done the best you could as admin, and could further your assistance with bureaucratship. I'm glad you admitted to your wrongdoings and that you wouldn't do that again. Side note, I know it happened over a year ago, but take this as my official apology for my actions on April Fools' Day last year. Really didn't know what I was thinking, but I shouldn't have argued and called you rude because of your response to Discord removing light mode as their prank, and no one else should do the same, either. Sorry for getting a little off-topic here. Awesomelink234, the Super Cool Gamer (talk) 17:47, April 3, 2020 (EDT)
2. Support. I've known you for at least the past four years, and both of us have seen progress from the other, as time will tell. The tricky part about an RfB is that, much like an RfA, there's less necessity and real reason; rather, it, more often than not, is very much a want, and you have to prove that you're able to handle it. You've dealt with stuff as an admin much longer than I have, and I definitely don't think that you'd have trouble dealing with things. My only concern is you taking on too much at a time, especially given your dealing with whatever movie crap you have (in spite of the current pandemic), but that can be an issue with just about anyone—as long as a balance is found, then you should be fine. Aidan, the Rurouni 18:31, April 3, 2020 (EDT)

   Oh don't worry about me. I know when I'm biting off more than I can chew. I'd been dwelling on this for a while so this isn't just a last minute decision (like my first RfA was heh). Disaster Flare (talk) 18:35, April 3, 2020 (EDT)

3. Support. We have had a lack of active bcrats and even admins recently. Now you have recently been active again and from what I can see, you have what it takes to be a good bcrat. I'm quite impressed that you caught a lot of sockpuppets, especially that recent one where you caught over 30+. In recent times you have demonstrated the best usage of admin powers with deletion and blocking. I believe you can be trusted with these tools. OmegαToαd the Toαd Wαrrior (BUP) 18:46, April 3, 2020 (EDT)
4. Support. Since my account here is relatively young compare to other active accounts, I haven't known you as long as most other people here, so I can't be the judge on what you have done in the years prior. However from what I know you're a really competent administrator and user in general and there has been no bad blood between us since I joined (and as far as I know, you don't have any bad blood with any of the newer users), which is the proof I need to see that you have improved since first becoming an administrator. CookiesCreme 19:26, April 3, 2020 (EDT)
5. Support, I believe that you have the experience in those things as well as the need for multiple bureaucrats. ZeldaStarfoxfan2164 (talk) is bad for me 20:10, April 3, 2020 (EDT)
6. Support. Trip's been a phenomenal sysop since being promoted back in 2016. He's very knowledgeable about Smash and I believe he'll help keep SmashWiki under control. The mentioning of interwiki is very strong proof that he understands the ins and outs of NIWA. You've got my vote. Falcon-X (Freedom House) 21:11, April 3, 2020 (EDT)

Oppose

1. ...

Neutral

1. ...

Comments

Could you include some specifics about why you want and need the additional powers, and perhaps provide some evidence for your claim about being a good judge of character? I hate to sound mean, but a lot of the stuff in your application is largely irrelevant to the rights and responsibilities of bureaucratship... Alex the Weeb 17:48, April 3, 2020 (EDT)

Certainly. It's less a matter of whether or not I need the powers (truth be told, anyone who says they need the powers is lying, nobody needs them), but I would like to have them. The biggest matter that comes to mind is that the coronavirus pandemic, while irrelevant to this current matter, has greatly impacted the wiki as well as its staff. As such, I feel like we're quickly approaching a time where extra hands are going to be needed very quickly, especially so since we're still receiving new information (such as the recently announced ARMS character) in this time of uncertainty. I'm not doubting Serpent and Toomai's ability to handle things as is, but they shouldn't have to handle everything on their own when all of this stuff in real life is going on too. As for my claim about being a good judge of character, the most recent example I can think of were those 30 sockpuppets I discovered. I noticed that behavior on Tabuu's page that nobody else seemed to really pay any mind to and did some digging on it. I can provide more on-wiki examples if that isn't enough. Disaster Flare (talk) 17:53, April 3, 2020 (EDT)

Going further along to providing more examples, this user in question is another recent one. I had been watching their edits and started picking up certain habits that made me become suspicious, so I checked their IP and found they were a sockpuppet of former editor Brawl Boss. Generally, going back through my block log, the list is just to great to list them all here. Generally, any sockpuppet you see me block, I picked up some kind of pattern others didn't and immediately became suspicious. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Disaster Flare (talk • contribs) 22:12, April 3, 2020‎ (PDT)

I'll be honest, I completely forgot that you were the one who caught Sm4shmeister, but that was definitely a good catch. I guess there is support for your claim in your blocking history, so I'm satisfied about that. The main hesitation I have is that your application specifically wasn't particularly convincing, as a lot of it is dedicated to explaining why you shouldn't be ruled out because of your temper, rather than reasons to support your promotion. Alex the Weeb 18:26, April 3, 2020 (EDT)

Here was my mindset with this application: First, address my biggest flaw. Next, address what I'm doing with the wiki now as well as future projects. Finally, address the powers provided via promotion. I felt like this was the best way to tackle this application and I still do, but I do understand the room for error, which is why I'm expecting and ready to tackle any questions or concerns. I do understand what you're saying, shoot as many questions at me as you wish until you feel like you're ready to vote. I'll answer each and every one of them to the best of my ability. Disaster Flare (talk) 18:31, April 3, 2020 (EDT)

Ok, I think I have a good final question: becoming a Bureaucrat also gives you the power to hide edits. What would be your criteria for deciding to hide an edit? Alex the Weeb 18:38, April 3, 2020 (EDT)

Actually, admins can hide edits too, which I've already done in the past, but I will still answer the question anyway. Generally, I feel it's only a good idea to hide an edit if it involves any extreme content, such as racism and anything sexually explicit, be it targeted toward a specific user or otherwise. Additionally, if it contains personal information that is considered a breach of privacy, such as addresses, phone numbers, or, in one case I've had to do before, a smasher's real name. Disaster Flare (talk) 18:43, April 3, 2020 (EDT)

My understanding from SW:ADMIN is that while admins can delete revisions, they can't fully hide them, and deleted revisions are still visible to other admins, while a Bureaucrat hiding an edit means that it not only won't appear as a deleted revision to regular users, but also won't be accessible to admins. Since it's a pretty extreme measure, it would be interesting to here what you would consider a situation which would require it to be done. If I've misunderstood, do let me know. Alex the Weeb 18:48, April 3, 2020 (EDT)

(reset indent) Oooh I see what you mean now...in that case, that changes my answer entirely. Due to how extreme a measure it is, it'd have to be something extremely serious, so it's definitely not something you'd want to just throw around all over the place. The immediate thing that comes to mind would be anything that would be deemed upsetting and could be triggering to someone. Think any sort of edits containing illegal content and anything involving severe and very serious death threats. Of course, the chances of this kind of thing happening is incredibly slim, especially at a time when the wiki is mostly peaceful, but it's crucial to consider every possibility. After all, Murphy's Law, anything that can go wrong will go wrong. Disaster Flare (talk) 18:52, April 3, 2020 (EDT)

Typically this tool is for hiding personal information (phone numbers, addresses, credit card/bank info, SSNs, that kind of stuff), though I could see application for death threats and illegal content as well. SerpentKing 19:00, April 3, 2020 (EDT)

Yeah, those things are definitely a given too, thinking about it a bit more. Either way, the point still stands that issues like this don't usually pop up, but again, it's important to consider it anyway. Disaster Flare (talk) 19:01, April 3, 2020 (EDT)

---