Guild Wars 2 Wiki:Requests for adminship/Dr ishmael/Archive 1

Dr ishmael

Dr ishmael (talk • contribs • logs • block log)

I am nominating this user for adminship. Aqua (talk) 20:50, 29 May 2012 (UTC)

I accept the nomination. —Dr Ishmael 20:52, 29 May 2012 (UTC)

Status

Successful, gains sysop rights. 21:55, 7 June 2012 (UTC)

Candidate statement

I know that I've only been active here for a month, so many of you may not feel that you know me well enough to give a strong argument for/against me, and that's understandable. However, in that month, I think I've done a good job of demonstrating a strong dedication to improving this wiki in any way I can.

I've been a sysop at GuildWiki for the past four years. Besides being a wiki admin, I've also had the pleasure to work with the staff at Curse on configuring and upgrading MediaWiki, installing extensions, and even writing a couple extensions of my own. I'm definitely familiar with the inner workings of MW, probably more so than anyone here, with the obvious exception of poke.

On the map of admin styles, I am the paperweight that keeps the janitorial corner from curling up - my people skills suck, mostly because I am a very objective person, and thus I tend to come across as brusque and impersonal. (If you compare it to moving into a new subdivision, while everyone else is coming by to drop off welcome baskets and flowers, I'm the one who hands you the pamphlet of POA bylaws.) I will contribute to dispute resolution inasmuch as I can provide logical arguments for one side or the other, but don't expect me to magically make everyone start holding hands and singing kum-ba-yah or anything.

What I'll bring to the GW2W admin team:

• Experience — GW2W may work differently from GuildWiki, but the core competencies of being a wiki admin are the same everywhere. Different company, different business culture, different bureaucratic procedures (or lack of them)... but the same job role.
• Initiative — I don't mean to disparage the current admin team, but as a whole, they seem reluctant to take any admin actions beyond dealing with spambots (this is, of course, based on my impressions of them over the past month), and even those usually have to be reported on the noticeboard. Until Tanetris cleaned it out yesterday, some pages had been languishing in Category:Candidates for speedy deletion for nearly a month - not exactly "speedy," eh what? I'm not afraid to get stuff done that needs to be done.
• Vigilance — Hello, my name is Ishmael, and I am an RC addict. 'Nuf said.

Why I want to be an admin:

• In my quest to "get stuff done," I often run into roadblocks because there are things I can't do as a normal user. An important example is when we have to do major reswizzling of article disambiguations due to things being renamed in-game or removed from the game. This often involves the deletion of redirects left behind by page moves in order that a different page can move to that title. As an admin, I could handle these situations immediately instead of having to wait up to a month (see above) for an admin to perform a "speedy" deletion.
• Semantic MediaWiki and its associated extensions will require some configuration in the MediaWiki namespace, and they will introduce a number of other admin-restricted features. As I am the "expert" on SMW around here, it would be much more efficient if I had direct access to these features, instead of relying on an intermediary admin to perform the edits on my behalf.

In conclusion, I promise lower taxes, a turkey in every pot, and a bottle of sake in every hand. ISHMAEL 2012!

Discussion

• Explanation of why the candidate should or should not retain rights/be given additional rights.
• Wiki user with years of experience with sysop tools. Extremely active and being an admin will only enhance his editing and improving the wiki. What else can I really say? I don't think anyone really has any reservations about him even if he has been active here for only a month. In that short month, he has accumulated a massive edit record, taking part in important discussions, coming up with new ways to show tables or the lack there of, and with admin tools he can help in many ways he has helped in guildwiki... which I don't think anyone will disagree with the assessment that he has been an excellent sysop there. In much of the same way I think he'll be an excellent sysop here. Also he will add diversity to the sysop team as he isn't from GWW but from the unofficial Guildwiki. --Lania 21:33, 29 May 2012 (UTC)
• I fully support this RFA. I've known The Doctor for a few years now from Guildwiki, and I am certain that if he wants to put effort into this wiki, it will be well worth giving him the admin tag for it. He is the Go-To man for any technical wiki problems or wiki renovation. --El_Nazgir 21:38, 29 May 2012 (UTC)
• I promoted this user once before, and I'd do it again; he has proven to be one of my most useful sysops. Yeah, I know, GuildWiki is not GW2W and blah blah blah. I'm just saying that I have a high amount of trust in this user and his capabilities, that's all. Take it from a former bureaucrat. Besides, look at the Doc's contributions for the short time that he's been active here. There's nothing but positive, constructive edits. Moreover, I don't feel - I know - that he can make use of the tools, since he has the back-end knowledge to write code and the (for lack of a better term) OCD to keep things like Candidates for Deletion clean. Plus, he knows how to bot, which is quite useful. Users may change between wikis, but they rarely lose their fundamental characteristics, so I have no doubt that the Doc will prove useful on this wiki as well. The one caveat that I would mention, and I'm pretty sure the Doc knows and acknowledges this as well, is that he isn't the best user when it comes to mediation, resolving user conflicts, and that sort of thing. This is especially true where certain brutally honest and sort of abrasive other admins are also involved, but I won't name any names. But I feel that his other strengths more than make up for that, and I think he knows to stick to his areas of expertise. tl;dr - full support, high trust, 100% confidence. Vili 点 21:58, 29 May 2012 (UTC)
• I actually think it's a bit too soon for this. I'm highly wary of giving sysop tools to a strongly opinated user who has been here for only a month and is extremely willing to quickly do anything to improve the wiki. It feels like the sort of situation in which someone could act in good faith but generate brusque changes that others would not necessarily agree with, without giving time for the community to discuss the changes. The fact Ishmael comes from another wiki is, from this point of view, more of a negative than a positive - it would be easy to fall in the trap of "this works over there, so there's no reason to believe it won't work over here, so let's implement it now". I would be more confortable had the doctor been here a longer time, and thus I had more faith in his ability to understand how this community works (as ponderously slow as it often is), or at least I had examples of how he behaves when consensus is heavily against what he perceives to be better for the wiki. Right now, I think we still have the risk of a new sysop bulldozing over the community in his eagerness to improve things. Erasculio 22:23, 29 May 2012 (UTC)
• With a massive edit history that's just choc-full of useful contributions, I think Dr. new guy would make an awesome addition to further help the wiki. I don't know the guy other than that, and it is a sound observation that we shouldn't jump the gun on someone that not everyone knows. But we could really do with someone like this guy; he's consistent, constructive and productive. --Xu Davella 23:06, 29 May 2012 (UTC)
• Already I can see how Dr ishmael is making this wiki better. He has a great sysop history in the Guild Wars wiki family and a clear passion for documenting this game. I would like him to get sysop privileges here. -- aspectacle  23:10, 29 May 2012 (UTC)
• Reserved. My comments are somewhat an extension of Erasculio's--I do not doubt good intent from this user, nor potential, but I am also curious as to which one any additional tools will increase in greater measure: making his life easier, or making the Wiki better. The candidate does bring a valuable amount of knowledge, but the use and the reasons for use of that knowledge, along with the provision of that for the Wiki community, are just as important. This self-awareness, in the way that the user would be willing to put himself second to the community, is really what I am personally looking for in this nomination, as otherwise, in my opinion: experience still takes time in a new environment; there was never a need for initiative, as there was for a while a dearth of information and no community detriment for lingering pages; and RC was similarly patrolled in these circumstances. These are simply responses and observations; the candidate has a great foundation and certain technical proficiency/efficacy but more time as a user--strange as it might sound--might make him even better. Redshift 03:35, 30 May 2012 (UTC)

• It has been my distinct pleasure to serve with Dr ishmael (and more recently his lovely wife!) on GuildWiki for the past hundred years or so. He played an instrumental role in migrating GuildWiki from wikia to Curse, and it would be no exaggeration to say that the majority of initiative taken on GuildWiki in the last year has been his doing. I have absolute confidence in Ish's ability to make use of sysop tools to better the wiki. The only area I would suggest he pay extra-special attention to when he's promoted is taking care not to clash with certain strong personalities- the ability to prevent conflict is worth more than the ability to resolve it. 03:52, 30 May 2012 (UTC)
• I've seen much of the work Ishy has done on another wiki. That he will be motivated to make this wiki the best possible is without doubt. He's technically competent in a way that very very few others even can be, but much of that competence will be wasted if he's unable to bring it to bear on the wiki where it can be used, These two facts I know without a doubt. I have only seen him to be an active and responsive admin, but that is only my personal observation. Would he be an asset? Yes. Torrenal 03:57, 30 May 2012 (UTC)
• If he doesn't get it, then who should? In my short career of wikinism i never saw anyone dive in with so much coding knowledge, enthusiasm, ideas and care. I don't know him other than what i've seen him do on this wiki, and that's enough for me to fully support his rfa. --Ee 05:44, 30 May 2012 (UTC)
• I had hoped that Doc would run for administrator little later. Like Redshift and Erasculio, I too feel that a little more "user time" on GW2W might be more beneficial in the long run, but on the other hand I wouldn't want to delay anyone from getting back at the job they have been doing for a pretty long time already. Still, I'm mildly suprised that he has already garnered this much favor amongst community; it feels like he just appeared out of nowhere (read: GuildWiki :P) just a week or two ago. Mediggo 06:48, 30 May 2012 (UTC)
• I mostly agree with the statements of other users, he seems suitable to be an admin. His experience with this position on GuildWiki is speaking for him, and he also seems motivated and competent. The only issue I might have with this RFA is your short presence on this wiki. In my opinion it's important to have admins who are known by the community, and I fear that's a point where I like to see improvement. This is however not a subject what makes me oppose this request, not at all. The real thing that's an issue for me is communication. You say in your candidate statement that you lack personal skills and are an objective person. I wonder how you will deal with cooperation or how you stand in a team of admins, I suspect that consultation is needed to deal with bigger issues. I also wonder how you will communicate with the community if needed. Again, I don't know you good enough to estimate how you will deal with situations like this, but it is currently stopping me to support you completely. -- Cyan 10:32, 30 May 2012 (UTC)
• I echo Erasculio's concerns. My own (mostly negative) interactions with the user notwithstanding, he seems to be taking the wiki by the reins as much as possible to push through as many wide and sweeping improvements as possible - a task much more fitting a user than a sysop. Sysops doing this can scare away newer contributors, or silence them by force of will, which leads to fairly one-sided conversations (skewing consensus), and in the case of changes that will affect the whole wiki, can lead to messes that need to be cleaned up later (a few of our current sysops would do well to keep this in mind, too). He might make a decent addition to the team in a month or three, after he's had more time to test the waters, finish proposing changes, and participated in more community discussions. Until then I'm fairly opposed to promotion. -Auron 12:25, 30 May 2012 (UTC)
• I'll mostly be rehashing what everyone else says, but here goes. Ish is a very competent admin, particularly in technical areas. While he has years of experience, it is in a community different from this one, and he's been one of "the powers" there for a while. He's also very forward thinking and can get a lot of stuff done, but there is that possibility of bulldozing. However, despite the negatives, I think he'll quickly adjust and work with the community. And, ultimately, I think that there won't be much of a change in a month or two, so giving him the rights now would be appropriate. --JonTheMon 14:30, 30 May 2012 (UTC)

Candidate response

For those concerned about "bulldozing" and not playing well with others, I point you to Template talk:Skill fact#revamp proposal. I believe that's the most sweeping change I've initiated so far. I made a proposal, then made modifications/improvements based on feedback. I didn't even implement the change myself.

If anyone could point out something I've done that would qualify as "bulldozing," I would appreciate it, because I don't think I've done anything of the sort. —Dr Ishmael 12:53, 30 May 2012 (UTC)

It's not a matter of accusing you of anything, or even claiming that you have "bulldozed" over people; had you done so, I doubt there would be as much support as seen above. Rather, that the potential is there, as hinted in your candidate statement. Right now, I have not seen enough to be certain you would not behave in such way. A few months would be enough for those concerns to be put to rest, which is why I stated I think it's too soon for this RfA. Erasculio 13:11, 30 May 2012 (UTC)

Most of the time, the bulldozing isn't even a conscious act; the individual simply believes in his idea so much that his intensity in the discussion often ends it before it has a chance to start. This is a problem no matter who causes it (since a decision without consensus is effectively useless), but the problem is compounded when someone in a perceived position of power is doing it.

It's not a personal failure that you'll never overcome, it's just a transitional period you should be finished with before stepping up to the plate. -Auron 13:30, 30 May 2012 (UTC)

(Edit conflict) Why do you think I would behave any differently if I were promoted? Because I won't, I know better than that; admin tools are not instruments of power to be used to bludgeon other users into submission. If I ever did anything like that, I know that Auron would see to it that I got demoted and perma-banned instantly. I'm not clamoring for adminship in a bid to have more "power" so I can reshape this wiki to fit my ideas - I don't even have any ideas of what shape the wiki should be. All I've been doing is finding places that need improvement and helping to fix them. Can I help it that I've seen a lot of places like that over the past month? No, that's because I was new to the wiki, with fresh eyes unclouded by what has gone before. I've learned a lot about how this community works in the past month, and frankly, I don't like all of it, but I think I've learned to work within it. —Dr Ishmael 13:40, 30 May 2012 (UTC)

See, there's that clashing thing I was talking about. 14:34, 30 May 2012 (UTC)

Everyone has a possibility of "Bulldozing" as you call it. Would you not promote someone for a possibility of doing something wrong while it is guaranteed to bring advantages too? Everyone makes mistakes, and there's a whole community to point it out to him so he can improve on that, and I cannot see Ish simply ignoring advice like that or not learning from his mistakes. I understand the whole "new to the community" thing, but a lot of people here can vouch for him, myself included, and he wouldn't be a "community admin" anyway. I think that after the past few years on gwiki he can see when things are going south when clashing with other people. Last time (iirc) he simply wouldn't continue on something because he knew it would only escalate with the person involved. --El_Nazgir 15:13, 30 May 2012 (UTC)

Well so far on the GW2W, and about the past year or so on Guildwiki, I would say that almost nothing that Dr Ishmael has done counts as "bulldozing". There is a big difference between forcing the discussion and forcing the issue that needs to be resolved vs someone implementing changes w/o discussion or consensus. So far, all I see is him forcing the discussion to take place so that everyone can start thinking about the important issues like adding SMW to this wiki. I think this fear of him abusing sysop tools to shape the wiki in his own ideal vision is overblown. --Lania 18:12, 30 May 2012 (UTC)

I think the keywords here are "potential" and "inconscious." Mediggo 06:37, 31 May 2012 (UTC)

Everyone has 'potential' for many things. Looking at the possible issue of Ishy 'bulldozing', three thoughts occur to me. 1) I've never seen this. 2) As with many negative traits, it can also be seen in a positive light - a drive to move forward where others might just let a decision never happen. 3) What matters most is not that an error is possible (nobody is perfect), but how one handles it once they discover its happened: Does Ishy recognize when he's err'ed and work to correct it? That last is a big thing in my book. Someone who is unable or unwilling to admit errors shouldn't be in a position of power Torrenal 13:55, 7 June 2012 (UTC)

(Reset indent) If the consensus really is that more time is needed before my motives and potential reactions can be fully characterized, I'm fine with leaving this RfA open until then. There doesn't seem to be any point in closing this one now, then opening a new one in 2 weeks. —Dr Ishmael 18:08, 7 June 2012 (UTC)