Wikipedia:Requests for adminship/Elonka 3

Elonka

Voice your opinion (talk page) (10/2/0); Scheduled to end 00:50, 14 December 2007 (UTC)

Elonka (talk · contribs) - Ladies and gentlemen, I now offer you my tenth candidate for adminship, Elonka.

To start with, this is Elonka’s third request for adminship. Her first request, which took place in October 2006, didn’t reach consensus, and ended at a final tally of 86/47/18; Elonka’s second nomination did not reach consensus either, but ended at a high tally of 158/72/5. That RfA happened in late-July of 2007, so there has been a good space of time between each of her nominations.

Elonka Dunin has been a contributor to Wikipedia ever since September 2005.[1] Since the time she joined, she has amassed some 37,000 edits, over 26,000 of those being to the mainspace; 1459 to the Wikipedia-space, a healthy amount to images, categories, portals, and templates; and roughly 7100 to various talk page-types. However, while Elonka’s edit count is impressive, so are her editing and writing skills. Thanks to Elonka’s work and her wide range of interests, a large variety of articles have been expanded and improved by her. These range from pages such as Knights Templar, Dan Brown, Pauline Fowler, and Austin Miller, to other articles such as Shawar, Claude Beck, Damien Spinelli, Recueil des Historiens des Croisades, and Palestine Pilgrims' Text Society.

With her personality, I have observed that Elonka is good at remaining calm during rough situations, and she is always willing to discuss problems, as well as keeping civil at all times. At her last RfA, despite the stress that it generated, Elonka was polite and calm throughout the entire process, and was a good-sport at the end. She is also willing to listen to and take advice, and eager to reach out to newcomers to help them: these are more good qualities in my books.

Finally, Elonka has stated in the past that she likes the idea of the admin recall system, and plans to place herself in Category:Wikipedia administrators open to recall. She also has E-mail enabled, which is handy for users who need to contact her.

I do believe that Elonka being an administrator will be a major benefit to the project, and I am honored to nominate her. Acalamari 23:00, 6 December 2007 (UTC)

Co-nomination 1 from TimVickers

There are two requirements for a good administrator: experience and character. User:Elonka has been editing Wikipedia since September 2005; made large contributions to an eclectic mix of articles, such as Knights Templar, Dirty Dancing, and Dan Brown; and made over 26,000 mainspace edits – she is a highly experienced user who has a demonstrated an impressive commitment to the project. Her experience is unarguable.

However, character is harder to assess, and over her two years of contributions, Elonka, as she herself admits, has made some mistakes and stepped on some toes. However, looking over her contributions from the last six months I haven’t seen anything that causes me serious concern. She seems to have learned from her early mistakes and matured into a polite, hard-working and effective editor. I think Elonka will make a good administrator. Tim Vickers (talk) 19:15, 6 December 2007 (UTC)

Co-nomination 2 from Alison ^❤

I am absolutely honoured and delighted to co-nominate Elonka for adminship. She's been here a long time now, has a vast amount of experience and has been a valuable and prolific contributor to the project. While I understand her previous two RfA attempts have had mixed results, so much has happened in the interim and so many of the original issues have been addressed and I believe she is now more than ready for adminship. She is patient and polite, highly knowledgeable regarding policy, shows kindness to others and is involved in diverse areas of WP. She is an asset to the project and I believe she will make an excellent administrator - Alison ^❤ 00:32, 7 December 2007 (UTC)

Candidate, please indicate acceptance of the nomination here:

Thank you for your faith in me. I humbly accept. --Elonka 00:46, 7 December 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: I'd like to help clearing various backlogs, such as at WP:PROD, and to help ensure quick responses at WP:RFP and CAT:PER. I will also help a bit with vandal fighting. It won't be my primary activity, but if I spot an obvious vandal attacking an article, it will be helpful to have the tools so that I can deal with the situation on the spot, rather than having to go poke someone else to do it. I would also like to participate more at WP:DRV, where admin access can be helpful in seeing deleted edits. --Elonka 23:18, 6 December 2007 (UTC)

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

A: I love to write, and am particularly proud of the articles on the Knights Templar (on the Wikipedia main page on October 13, 2007), Dirty Dancing (the 1987 film), and Fustat (Egyptian capital). Lately I've been doing a lot of reading on the Crusades, as well as pre-Islamic history and rituals, so I've been using the knowledge thus gained to expand and improve many related Wikipedia articles, such as on Mecca, Black Stone, the Hajj, and Isra and Mi'raj. I've also been expanding many articles related to the Mongol Empire. And on a completely different subject, I helped rev up Wikipedia:WikiProject Soap Operas, such as improving the guidelines there to try and get a handle on the many many soap opera articles that are currently flowing in to Wikipedia. Towards this end, I've been helping a lot at the Pauline Fowler article, which will be at Featured status someday (soon I hope!), and can then be used as an example that other soap character articles can emulate. --Elonka 23:33, 6 December 2007 (UTC)

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: Anyone with over 35,000 edits, is pretty much guaranteed to run into the occasional conflict.  :) I'd say in the vast majority of cases where I'm involved in a conflict, I'm one of the people who helps untangle things, towards finding a compromise that everyone can live with. In the occasional case though, I may find myself butting heads with someone where we just can't seem to figure out a way to communicate effectively. The most recent case of this happening is at the article Franco-Mongol alliance, where we're working our way through the various steps of Dispute Resolution. It's probably going to take months more of patient effort before we finally come to a respected community consensus, but I'm in it for the long haul.  :) My ultimate philosophy is to stay polite, try very hard to see the other person's point of view, and try to find a reasonable compromise that keeps things in adherence with Wikipedia's core policies such as WP:NPOV and WP:V. In terms of future conflicts, I like the way that we have noticeboards on certain issues, and think that this is a good way of addressing common problems. For my own part, I've been trying to help out at WP:RSN. --Elonka 23:46, 6 December 2007 (UTC)

4. How do you feel about Category:Wikipedian administrators open to recall?

A: Just as I've said in my previous RfA attempts, I completely support it, and will definitely add my own name to the category. I've liked the idea even before I started thinking about becoming an admin -- I think it's a classy way to handle things.

5. Since there is an article about you on Wikipedia, as well as other articles about members of your family, which you have edited, questions have been raised about your adherence to WP:COI and WP:AUTO. What is your response?

A: I did engage in some edits when I was a much newer editor, but as I became aware of the wiki-culture, this has definitively stopped. I no longer participate in the editing of articles about me or my immediate family members, and my last edit to any of those articles was well over a year ago, except for one case where I requested a speedy-deletion on an article about one of my cousins. I still feel that he's notable enough to meet WP:BIO, but that the article didn't yet have sufficient sourcing to make an exceptionally strong case. Since it put me in a bind where I couldn't edit the article (because I would be charged with COI), I simply requested that it be speedy-deleted. On another of my relatives, I agreed with deletion at the AfD, simply as a way to bring peace to the encyclopedia. There are none of my relatives that have to have articles here on Wikipedia – the information is already in multiple other places out on the web. If it's less disruptive to see articles about my relatives deleted, so be it. --Elonka 00:45, 7 December 2007 (UTC)

6. Re: Q4. Could you please indicate your standards for being recalled as an administrator? Just so there are no surprises later during this process. Thanks! Roadmr (t|c) 01:14, 7 December 2007 (UTC)

A: My standards will be pretty straightforward. If six editors in good standing post to my talkpage and ask me to step down, I will immediately resign my adminship. --Elonka 01:51, 7 December 2007 (UTC)

7. If somebody demanded that you provided them with a shrubbery, how would you respond? Tim Vickers (talk) 01:21, 7 December 2007 (UTC)

General comments

• See Elonka's edit summary usage with mathbot's tool. For the edit count, see the talk page.

RfAs for this user:

• Requests for adminship/Elonka
• Requests for adminship/Elonka 2
• Requests for adminship/Elonka 3

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

---

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

Discussion

Support

1. I strongly support this nomination, being the nominator. Finally, I am first to support a candidate that I've nominated. :) Acalamari 00:51, 7 December 2007 (UTC)
2. Strong support. My support of this RfA will probably surprise no one as I nominated Elonka last time round. I was disappointed that it was unsuccessful as I believe Elonka has a lot to offer the Wikipedia community. She is a long term editor who despite some early mistakes and a lot of adversity has persevered in contributing here. She has contributed a wealth of high standard content in her time on the project. Elonka has also had interactions with a number of difficult users, with who she engages politely but firmly, and has been of great assistance on troublesome BLP articles including those where the subject has become angrily involved. I think it is regretable that editors who have been around for a long time and have become well known to the community sometimes suffer at RfA compared to newer editors who have had less time to rub people the wrong way. I cannot see Elonka becoming an administrator harming the project, on the contrary I think having this talented contributor with the extra tools will be of great benefit to us. Elonka has shown herself willing to learn from past mistakes, willing to hear the concerns of other users, and utterly committed to the project. She is in my opinion highly suited to adminship. WjBscribe 00:55, 7 December 2007 (UTC)
3. Co-nom Support - absolutely :) - Alison ^❤ 00:55, 7 December 2007 (UTC)
4. Support. Excellent candidate. SlimVirgin ^{(talk)(contribs)} 00:56, 7 December 2007 (UTC)
5. Support long overdue This is a Secret ^account 00:59, 7 December 2007 (UTC)
6. Support. This editor has improved substantially since I opposed her first RfA. --Hemlock Martinis (talk) 01:00, 7 December 2007 (UTC)
7. Support I supported last time and I see no reason to change this time. Captain panda 01:00, 7 December 2007 (UTC)
8. Strong support; she's a fine editor, and will be an excellent admininstrator :) Redrocketboy 01:01, 7 December 2007 (UTC)
9. Support a long time contributor, that has learned from past mistakes and has applied the feedback received in previous RFAs in a constructive manner. ≈ jossi ≈ (talk) 01:06, 7 December 2007 (UTC)
10. Support. I had reservations during Elonka's last RfA, as I was not familiar with her personally, and a lot of prominent editors were bringing up concerns. However, I have dealt personally with her in the months since - and have seen firsthand how much of a polite and friendly editor she is, and how she is willing to tackle difficult subjects with politeness and decorum. She's contributed reams of information to the project, and has always responded positively to constructive criticism. Elonka's work has been a boon to this project, and her dedication and judgment will be of great benefit to the administrative team. --krimpet⟲ 01:13, 7 December 2007 (UTC)
11. Support, it is high time to give this dedicated editor the mop. --Spike Wilbury ♫ talk 01:14, 7 December 2007 (UTC)

Oppose

1. Weak oppose with regrets as I do realise this oppose is going to put me in disagreement with a number of those editors I genuinely respect. While I don't run across Elonka that often — we work in entirely different areas — every encounter I have ever had with her has left me with a nasty taste in my mouth, and a read through her contribution history does nothing to dispel the impression. Quite aside from possibly the most out-of-touch-with-policy comment I've ever seen from an established editor back in July (discussed ad nauseam in her last RFA) she seems to be the embodiment of what I think is wrong with a certain clique of editors: an obsession with "enforcing policy", despite an apparently hazy conception of what policy actually is (while it's been four months now, I still have fond memories of this rather surreal conversation); a general impression that the correct way to resolve disputes is to nit-pick and wikilawyer against anyone who doesn't agree with her until they give up out of boredom; and a repeated history of making very dubious allegations of incivility against anyone who doesn't agree with her. Couple this with her semi-permanent edit-warring (she appears to still be edit-warring as busily as ever at Franco-Mongol alliance — take a deep breath and have a stiff drink before you attempt to wade through the mess of the talkpage — although to her credit, in her answer to Q3 she has at least finally recognised that maybe she might not always be right), and her WP:IDONTLIKEIT approach to speedy deletion tagging, and you have someone I wouldn't trust with deletion buttons; not so much because she might delete things that shouldn't be deleted (we've all done that), but because I don't believe she'd ever admit she might have made a mistake and restore the content she'd deleted. All that said, given her nominators, I am willing to be convinced that she's improved; and I'd also like to take the opportunity to say that I don't agree with much of the criticism she received last time. — iridescent 00:54, 7 December 2007 (UTC)

   Disagreement yes, conflict, no. Like I said, somebody's character is hard to assess through text and very dependent on the circumstances of the conversation. This is a discussion where we can politely disagree. Tim Vickers (talk) 01:14, 7 December 2007 (UTC)

2. Sigh. Oppose. No indication that the problems that impeded her multiple past attempts to gain adminship have been addressed. The very acceptance of this nomination is rather tactless. Why should we all be spending time on failing Elonka's RfA every few months? --Irpen 01:09, 7 December 2007 (UTC)

   You know it isn't mandatory to come and vote here. Redrocketboy 01:11, 7 December 2007 (UTC)

   Perhaps I did not make myself clear, sorry. Of course we may skip nominations. The issue is the nominations of the candidates who are viewed by the community as unfit to possess buttons. I think if editors have reasons to believe this being the case, they should come and vote. And they did. And not once. So, what changed? --Irpen 01:16, 7 December 2007 (UTC)

   I don't know, but I'll leave it at that, as arguing won't achieve anything I don't think. Thanks. Redrocketboy 01:20, 7 December 2007 (UTC)

Neutral

1. Subject to movement, but it's character that's the hang. What I see in common with the few administrators who have caused the most trouble in the past is pride. I don't mean that in the garden variety, all have sinned, way, but the "I am important, bow before me, as I bow before my masters" way. Two administrators I can think of have consistently assured all and sundry that they are the very heart of Wikipedia, that everyone depends upon them, that "thousands look to me every day for opinions," that they are integral to ArbCom ongoing investigations, and the like. While these people have contributed well, they have also proven to be immovable dams in the edit flow, and when they have used the block button, all Hell has broken loose. We have just reburied Hell from the last time this happened. If a person isn't actually humble, administration is not right for her or him. If a person is actively self-promoting, I have to oppose outright. I know, and I fully agree, that this means that a user like Elonka who has been here for a long time and contributed widely and stepped into some of the bigger... piles, as it were... on Wikipedia gets more scrutiny than the shoal of little users passing RFA with 30 total votes, but I can't do anything about that. If I do have reservations about someone's character, I can't support. It is absolutely nothing personal, nothing against Elonka or her extraordinary contributions, but I'm quite serious about Cincinnatus being our model administrator. Geogre (talk) 01:33, 7 December 2007 (UTC)

   • Geogre, thanks for taking the time to post, and for what it's worth, I really do hear you. I've seen the problems that have been caused in this community by those who have misused power. I'm not sure what I can do to reassure you that my intentions are sincere. There's really no chance of me suddenly going rogue with admin powers. I mean, look at it this way: I'm already a professional online community manager. It's been a full time career of mine, for almost 20 years now. I have managed communities larger than those on Wikipedia, and have had much, much more power than anything I might get by a simple admin bit on the MediaWiki software here. I'm not working hard on Wikipedia because I want to "get" status. I already have status (yeah, I know, that doesn't sound humble, but it's true). On Maslow's hierarchy of needs, my status need is already pretty well met. I'm here on Wikipedia not for "power", but for the creativity side. I love to write, I love to organize large amounts of information into understandable structures, and I really like it here and want to help. Do you really think it's possible that someone could have over 34,000 edits if they didn't genuinely love the place?  :) --Elonka 01:48, 7 December 2007 (UTC)

2. I simply do not trust Elonka with admin tools based on my own past experiences. But in fairness, I do not have any recent interactions with Elonka, so I'm willing to see what other people have to say before commenting further. -- Ned Scott 01:43, 7 December 2007 (UTC)