Wikipedia:Requests for adminship/Malleus Fatuarum

Malleus Fatuarum

Voice your opinion (talk page) (6/2/1); Scheduled to end 18:50, 2 December 2007 (UTC)

Malleus Fatuarum (talk · contribs) - While he's not one of the "big-hitter" editors, Malleus Fatuarum (like BrownHairedGirl, LaraLove et al) is one of the unsung heroes who keep Wikipedia alive. As well as some major article writing & rewriting experience (mostly, but not exclusively, on Northern England and related topics, from Stretford to Ferret), he is one of the driving forces behind WikiProject Greater Manchester and also does a superb job at the much-maligned WP:GAC; rather than the curt "this article isn't good enough" that all too many reviewers settle for, he has a long history of doing complete rewrites of "almost good articles" rather than see them fail; it's now become part of my routine to run any new article I write or rewrite past him — he invariably finds and corrects at least a dozen mistakes I didn't even notice I'd made — and to point new users towards him for the answers to WP:MOS questions. For those who care about such things, he has over 7500 edits since February, including over 5000 in the mainspace. His talk page is an exemplary model of an editor with his finger in pies all across the mainspace, but who's not afraid to get his hands dirty patiently explaining policy & consensus to some of our more difficult characters, all the while without snapping or sulking. To pre-empt the chorus of "doesn't need the tools"; yes, he doesn't have much experience at XfD/AIV, but I totally trust him not to get involved in any area he isn't up to speed in without thoroughly understanding policy first. He's an editor to whom the less glamorous buttons would be invaluable (the ability to salvage viable material from deleted articles and build them up into valid content, for instance). He's also got that too-rare ability to tell the difference between "new user who doesn't understand policy" and "disruptive POV-pusher". I think that not only has he the potential to be one of our best admins, but given his dedication to policy, a year down the line will likely be one of our best bureaucrats and/or arbitrators. — iridescent 21:45, 24 November 2007 (UTC)

Candidate, please indicate acceptance of the nomination here: I am very pleased to accept this nomination. --Malleus Fatuarum (talk) 18:28, 25 November 2007 (UTC)

Questions for the candidate

Dear candidate, thank you for offering to serve Wikipedia as an administrator. It is recommended that you answer these optional questions to provide guidance for participants:

1. What admin work do you intend to take part in?

A: Initially it's quite likely that the majority of the admin work that I'll take part in will be directed towards the immediate protection of the integrity of the encyclopedia, and supporting other editors in that goal. As Iridescent quite correctly said in his nomination statement, I have not so far involved myself much in deletion debates for instance, except in cases where the article was of some personal interest. I recognise that if I were to become an admin, then I may not always have that luxury, or the luxury not to get involved in at least some of the issues raised at WP:AIN. Do I need the tools? No. Might the tools sometimes be useful? Yes.

Iridescent made the comment that I am not one of the "big-hitter" editors, and neither would I be one of the "big-hitter" admins, certainly not at first anyway. I would just be making use of whatever new tools were available to me to help other editors deal with the problems they felt were preventing them from improving the encyclopedia. And I would certainly not be making any decisions in areas where I was uncertain about policy until I felt that I fully understood both what the policy said, and more importantly, what it really meant in practice.

2. What are your best contributions to Wikipedia, and why?

A: It's not for me to judge, but I'm pleased with my contributions to the Greater Manchester and Good Article wikiprojects; I've also been able to help a number of articles achieve FA status. I'm also pleased that I was able to play a very small part in helping to develop the guidelines for writing about UK cities, and helping to spread the use of those guidelines. Without wishing to get into a GA vs FA pissing contest, I'd say that one that one of my best contributions to Wikipedia has been in working with other editors during the GA review process on improving articles so that they can be listed.

3. Have you been in any conflicts over editing in the past or have other users caused you stress? How have you dealt with it and how will you deal with it in the future?

A: I doubt that anyone with more than a few mainspace edits hasn't encountered some kind of conflict, and I've certainly had some, but by and large other users rarely cause me any stress. I can think of two, perhaps three, incidents, the most serious of which is here, a disagreement about the POV of an article. I attempted to resolve that issue by discussion on the article's talk page, and by soliciting the opinion of other editors who had contributed to that article, in an attempt to achieve consensus. That particular problem was eventually solved when an independent editor on a spam patrol independently came across the article and also questioned its neutrality here. If I found myself involved in a similar situation in the future I would probably do much the same, but would perhaps be a little more likely to request some form of arbitration or independent assessment instead of waiting for it to happen. I have also had a couple of disagreements over the development of two particular articles, only one of which I would consider to be significant. In the case of this article, I felt that the changes being made to it in a premature effort to get it to FA status were actually harming the article, and even jeopardising its recently acquired GA status. The relevant discussion can be seen here and in the preceding sections. The only other minor conflict that comes to mind was here, involving a disagreement with a fellow Greater Manchester wikiproject member over the development of an article towards GA. We managed to resolve our disagreement, again by talk page discussion and by getting an independent view from a third-party. That editor and I were then able to continue working together, we got the article to GA status shortly afterwards, and we continue to work closely together on GM related articles.

In the spirit of Monty Python's Spanish Inquisition sketch, and for the sake of completeness, I perhaps ought to comment on this discussion, over the Lead section style guidelines. I did find that discussion frustrating, but what it reminded me was that there are some issues that carry a lot of baggage, and those editors like myself who haven't been around wikipedia since Adam was a boy may not be aware of those issues or their history. And by analagy, newer editors than myself may equally not be aware of policies or guidelines that have become almost second nature to me, sometimes having discovered them by innocently falling foul of them, like WP:SPAM. I remember being mortified when I was gently told off for external link spamming; so I hope that I will always at least make an effort to put myself in the other persons shoes, and try to understand the issue from their perspective, as well as state my own point of view as clearly as I can, to avoid any misunderstandings. Too often conflicts escalate because what's being read isn't what's been written.

Optional question from Epbr123:

4. After making this comment, do you still feel you were being bullied by User:Marskell? Epbr123 (talk) 20:23, 25 November 2007 (UTC)

I have absolutely no intention of raking through old coals. As a general rule I happen to believe that fault can only very rarely be allocated entirely to one or the other side of a disagreement; it is for others to judge whether what I interpreted as bullying was indeed bullying, and how much it was a reasoned and reasonable response to anything that I may have previously said or done. What I currently feel is neither here nor there. --Malleus Fatuarum (talk) 20:47, 25 November 2007 (UTC)

General comments

• Links for Malleus Fatuarum: Malleus Fatuarum (talk · contribs · deleted · count · AfD · logs · block log · lu · rfar · spi)

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Please keep discussion constructive and civil. If you are unfamiliar with the nominee, please thoroughly review Special:Contributions/Malleus Fatuarum before commenting.

Discussion

Support

1. Support as nom. — iridescent 19:55, 25 November 2007 (UTC)
2. Support Great contributor, great editor. As well as this, Iridescent nomination = instant support. —Qst 19:56, 25 November 2007 (UTC)
3. Support. A hard working and dedicated editor. I haven't agreed with everything I've seen from Malleus Fatuarum, but he's been willing to reconsider his opinions when asked, and generally has something useful to contribute to a discussion. I'm confident that giving him admin tools would make him even more of an asset to Wikipedia than he is now. Mike Christie (talk) 19:57, 25 November 2007 (UTC)
4. Yes, a good choice. Does what we're here to do. Majorly (talk) 20:03, 25 November 2007 (UTC)
5. Support A great editor will be even better once given admin tools Alexfusco5 21:22, 25 November 2007 (UTC)
6. Support The user will do fine, and perhaps even contribute further with the new tools . --MoRsE (talk) 21:26, 25 November 2007 (UTC)

Oppose

1. Oppose Malleus is a very devoted and skillful article writer, and one of the few users who doesn't mind doing the dull task of copyediting, but I'm afraid I don't think he's quite ready to be an admin. He has had virtually no experience in admin related areas, so I have doubts about his need for the tools and his knowledge of some key guidelines and policies; he is still not fully aware of the guidelines in the areas he is working in at the moment, eg. here. I also don't think he is coolheaded enough; his conflict resolution skills could do with a lot of work, eg. here, here, here, here, here, here, here. When offered to be nominated for admin, he stated here that the only use for the tools he would have would be to protect articles and block editors; as he has no history of vandal fighting, I imagine he intends to use these tools during content disputes; this is something I don't feel comfortable about. Epbr123 (talk) 20:09, 25 November 2007 (UTC)
2. Oppose While I am pleased to see the work the user does around here, I am hesitant when it comes to their levelheadedness after seeing Epbr123's diffs shown above. Jmlk17 21:33, 25 November 2007 (UTC)
3. Oppose Editor reverted an edit [1] on the basis of a lack of WP:RS, WP:OR and WP:POV according to his edit summary, and then shoved in his own WP:OR opinion straight after.[2]. Sorry. Pedro :  Chat  22:09, 25 November 2007 (UTC)

1. Oppose....

I hear a new administrator we may have, and that is Malleous Faturarum, or should I call you Darth Mullus? I sense a great deal of confusion in you, young Malleous. There is much fear that clouds your judgment. I sense a plot for you to destroy the Wikipedia.

Twisted by the dark side young Malleous has become. The boy we trained, gone he is, consumed by Darth Mullus. He would have control of the front page and the articles! He's too dangerous to become admin.

You could stay on Wikipedia, but we do not grant you the rank of administrator. The users will decide your fate.

Jmlk17 21:33, 25 November 2007 (UTC)

Neutral

1. Neutral. Can't support after Epbr's diffs, but won't Oppose you either. Good luck anyway. Malinaccier (talk • contribs) 21:42, 25 November 2007 (UTC)