Wikipedia:Requests for adminship/LaraLove

LaraLove

Voice your opinion (talk page) (29/2/1); Scheduled to end 12:47, 10 November 2007 (UTC)

LaraLove (talk · contribs) - Dear Friends, I am nominating LaraLove for the highly-esteemed yet no big deal position of administrator. As Wikipedia is not a paid profession, then it must be an endeavor undertaken for fun or perhaps some strange altruistic reason. With that, as editors, we delve deeper into areas that interest us and spend our time bettering our knowledge of policy, and develop strength in certain areas. As I started as a vandalfighter and AfD regular, Lara has shown her greatest asset to take on GA review and making massive edits to mature articles (tough to tackle) by cleaning up references and scrutinizing every last detail. To me, this is the dirty work of the encyclopedia because for every 'friend' you make, there are 23 people who are unhappy with your decision. I find her work to be of the utmost importance, and frankly, not a task that I would ever assign to myself. Like editors, GA and FA are aspects of Wikipedia that do more than preserve the integrity of the 'Project' but more importantly, improve it immensely. It is the reason that some kid in the middle of Virginia can come across articles of such caliber and be assured that they are to our highest standards. GA is the building block of an article that would make the 'paper guys' cringe because her job is thankless and unpaid. (I'm pretty sure she is not getting paid for this. Please tell me you aren't getting kickbacks from Graceland!) In any event, she is quite well known in this arena for her understanding of policy and her editing ability. She also takes the time to grace us with her presence at RfA. She (not physically) is well-rounded, and there is no doubt in my mind that we will be much better off having her as a sysop, as she is accountable, responsible, and dedicated. As I have never nominated a fellow editor, you can rest assured that I am excited for her RfA to begin, and for those of you who are not familiar with her 'work,' I can say with certainty that just as you have entrusted me with a sponge (I lost my mop) that she will make a fine asset to our current group of eclectic and dedicated administrative team. She is just that good. the_undertow ^talk 06:39, 3 November 2007 (UTC)

Co-nom from Phoenix-wiki (talk · contribs) You will, no doubt, have seen LaraLove around the 'pedia and won't need me or anyone else to tell you what a great editor she is. Anyway, LaraLove, unlike many who request adminship, has some fine mainspace contributions in addition to her antivandal work. She has also shown sound judgement and understanding of policy in her work with images, helping to clear out fair use images without rationale. She visits the admin noticboards regularly, reporting vandals and trying to help out as much as she can with other reports. She will definitely make a great administrator--Phoenix-wiki (talk · contribs) 14:44, 3 November 2007 (UTC)

Candidate, please indicate acceptance of the nomination here: I accept. Thank you! Lara❤Love 12:47, 3 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: I don't have experience in WP:XFD, nor do I care to gain any at this time. I've burned myself out on article reviews while working in GA, so it may be a while before I stick my toes in that pool, but there are other areas of interest to me. Breaking out the bullet list:

• I now sit in #cvn-wp-en and would watch WP:AIV, so I intend to help with blocking vandals using these tools, as well as those I encounter while doing RC patrol and during my regular editing. I have experience issuing warnings and reporting vandals with whom have met the threshold for a block. I believe my AIV report to block ratio is high, if not perfect, as of late.
• I have experience with requesting protection of pages which receive high levels of vandalism regularly. I intend to help with this at WP:RPP.
• I've gained an interest in image tagging. I have learned a lot over the past few months from 17Drew, and recently Betacommand requested help working a list of images which were in violation of WP:NFCC. In helping with this, I added to my understanding of Wikipedia image use policy. I would apply this to reducing the backlogs at WP:PUI, CAT:CSD and CAT:REFU.

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

A: I believe my work in Wikipedia:WikiProject Good articles is probably my best work.

• I've reviewed hundreds of articles. I lost count long ago, but between WP:GAN, WP:GAR and backlog elimination drive quality reviews, it's a staggering number.
• I created the Uncategorized Good articles task force and Good articles project quality task force. The objective of the first was/is to categorize all Good articles under one of the eleven top categories at WP:GA and maintain it. The latter ensures consistency and quality throughout the GA project. This includes the sweeps process, which I also got going. In this, all listed GAs (although particular focus on those list in 2006) will be re-reviewed to ensure they meet current standards.
• I also worked to get two existing articles listed—Fall Out Boy and Maroon 5 (please judge the quality of the work, not the topic. ;) )—and wrote Hogettes with Jayron32, which was just listed GA and I also took it through WP:DYK.

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: Ah, yes. I have encountered many conflicts working in the GA project. In one such instance, there was a particularly difficult editor making unilateral changes to project pages and instructions (a frequent occurrence). He attempted to undermine our reassessment process by voting against consensus, ignoring our criteria. It was extremely stressful and resulted in a handful of GA regulars, including myself, taking a short wikibreak from the project. (Links: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10). There was also an instance of an academic Wikiproject considering a boycott, so to speak, of GA. That was averted. There have been additional issues with editors upset about decisions I have made regarding their article and GA, as well as editors upset with various areas of the GA project where I stepped up to deal with it. Outside of GA, I've dealt with disgruntled vandals, editors who prefer to edit as they want regardless of policy, trolls, etc. I had a troll feeding problem. I entered a twelve step program and have now received my one month chip; *tear* I'm proud.

Optional questions from Mr.Z-man - Please answer as if you were an admin. Mr.Z-man 16:51, 3 November 2007 (UTC)

4. You come across an image of a celebrity tagged as {{PD-self}}. The image appears to be a publicity photo taken on the red carpet of an awards show, but you cannot find proof that it is copied from somewhere else (the image elsewhere on the internet). It was uploaded by a relatively new user who has no other image uploads. What do you do and why?

A. I tag it with {{PUIdisputed}} and await further information. While possible that the person did take the image their self, it's doubtful when one considers the money typically made by photographers for such images. Common sense puts into question why anyone would release such an image into the public domain. Lara❤Love 17:08, 3 November 2007 (UTC)

5. Someone requests semi-protection of an article about a recent mass murder because of vandalism by anonymous users. The incident is still making international news headlines and new information is coming out on a regular basis. Looking at the article's history, there is about an edit every minute and the majority of edits (more than 50%) are by new and anonymous users. The edits by new and anon. users seem to be about evenly divided between helpful and vandalism edits. Do you protect the page? Why or why not?

A. Deny protection. Wikipedia is the encyclopedia that anyone can edit. Granted, there are many instances when pages do need protection, but it's my belief that those for which have the most traffic, such as high profile current events, we need to hold true to that foundation. The main page article, for example, is never protected (unless my nominator gets frisky :P). They generally take a hard hit of vandalism while featured, but they're also heavily watched. As long as many of the IP contributions are productive, it would be counter-productive to prevent them. Lara❤Love 17:08, 3 November 2007 (UTC)

6. Have you addressed my concerns with my questioning your ability to uphold policy in my review of you in the second editor's review? And, what steps have you taken to familiarize yourself with policy (BLP, V, etc.)? Miranda 19:08, 3 November 2007 (UTC)

General comments

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

• Links for LaraLove: LaraLove (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/LaraLove before commenting.

Discussion

• Past editor reviews:

Wikipedia:Editor review/LaraLove

Wikipedia:Editor review/LaraLove 2 Miranda 19:05, 3 November 2007 (UTC)

Support

1. Good candidate from what I can tell. Hesperian 11:48, 3 November 2007 (UTC)
2. Wondeful Candidate. Sure she will not abuse the tools. Good luck!--SJP 12:43, 3 November 2007 (UTC)
3. Strong Support Someone please leave a note at User talk:Jimbo Wales telling him he can desysop five or ten other admins; they've just become redundant. --Ling.Nut 13:25, 3 November 2007 (UTC)

   Further remarks: erm, some people may not appreciate my jocularity. Let's reword: Lara is as dedicated as any I've seen, and has a sure hand and good judgment. I'm sure the weight of the mantle of Admin will be well borne by her. --Ling.Nut 13:47, 3 November 2007 (UTC)

   Yes, suggesting that someone leave a message on Jimbo's talk page is a bad idea. I've emailed him instead (duh, the Cabal doesn't work out in the open; didn't you get the memo?). The desysopping should happen later this weekend. EVula // talk // ☯ // 17:10, 3 November 2007 (UTC)

4. Support I have a high opinion of LaraLove, and think she will make a good admin. I think she's a passionate editor and I've occasionally seen her get a little irritated in conversation; I'd like to encourage her to be calm when dealing with difficult situations. This has not been a big issue, though, and her dedication to the project and work ethic are both evident and will be huge assets to Wikipedia if and when she becomes an admin. Mike Christie (talk) 13:42, 3 November 2007 (UTC)
5. Strong support. I also have a high opinion of LaraLove. She is a fabulous GA reviewer, and many of our best articles owe a debt to her for her high quality copyediting and attention to detail when she reviews articles. I have always found her easy to work with, even when we have disagreed. She is an editor who is not afraid to speak her mind, but that's no bad thing, and I completely agree with the nominator that she is "accountable, responsible, and dedicated". She will make a great admin. Geometry guy 14:11, 3 November 2007 (UTC)
6. Support great GA contributions, pro-active and well deserving of the extra buttons. Good luck! The Rambling Man 16:06, 3 November 2007 (UTC)
7. Strongest possible support, excellent, well-rounded and judicious contributor. Great! Go to WP:200, plz. @pple complain 16:08, 3 November 2007 (UTC)
8. Support - This RfA is overdue, everyone else has already expressed my feelings. She will make a great admin. Regards, Neranei (talk) 16:12, 3 November 2007 (UTC)
9. Support, certainly. Respected editor, valuable contributions, thoughtful answers. PeaceNT 16:20, 3 November 2007 (UTC)
10. Finally an RfA candidate that wants to work with images. Another admin would help very, very much. 16:25, 3 November 2007 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Maxim (talk • contribs)
11. Support. Qst 16:29, 3 November 2007 (UTC)
12. Support All of my experience with this editor has been positive. Wikidudeman ^(talk) 16:44, 3 November 2007 (UTC)
13. Support A user who is certainly very suitable for adminship and hopefully will be a good one. Any work helping with backlogs is much appreciated. GDonato (talk) 17:02, 3 November 2007 (UTC)
14. Support Hi Lara! I can't say anything that won't sound cliched, so I'll just pile on. Cheers—Cronholm¹⁴⁴ 17:06, 3 November 2007 (UTC)
15. Support Absolutely, she's one of the best ones here. — iridescent 17:08, 3 November 2007 (UTC)
16. Support As one of WP's most productive GA writers I have interacted with her numerous times and have had nothing but positive interactions.--TonyTheTiger (t/c/bio/tcfkaWCDbwincowtchatlotpsoplrttaDCLaM) 17:09, 3 November 2007 (UTC)
17. I've always considered Lara to be a very well-balanced editor. I'm sure she'll do well with the tools. EVula // talk // ☯ // 17:10, 3 November 2007 (UTC)
18. Support. I've seen her a few places, and always thought that she was a model editor. Malinaccier (talk • contribs • count) 17:25, 3 November 2007 (UTC)
19. Support as co-nom well duh!--Phoenix-wiki (talk · contribs) 17:26, 3 November 2007 (UTC)
20. Support Appears to be a good editor. Answered questions clearly, and with ease. Looks quite easy to get along with. Good pedian. Twenty Years 17:30, 3 November 2007 (UTC)
21. Support - Good answers to my questions, good contributions. Mr.Z-man 17:33, 3 November 2007 (UTC)
22. Support She suggested to have GA sweeps, and that's a really good suggestion. A GA sweep was long overdue. OhanaUnited^{Talk page} 17:49, 3 November 2007 (UTC)
23. Oppose Support Good user. No reason to oppose this user. NHRHS2010 talk 17:51, 3 November 2007 (UTC)
24. Strong Support Good luck, Lara! I can't think of anyone more suited to be an admin than you. GlassCobra 17:53, 3 November 2007 (UTC)
25. Strongest Support for a candidate in my !voting related edits - I really did think you already were one. The amount of support so far is evidential of that. You truly are an outstanding candidate. Rudget _{Contributions} 18:12, 3 November 2007 (UTC)
26. Strong Support per pervious comments. She will make a great admin.--Alabamaboy 18:18, 3 November 2007 (UTC)
27. Support - of course. Addhoc 18:21, 3 November 2007 (UTC)
28. Support - super editor, always courteous to others. Will make an excellent admin - Alison ^❤ 18:30, 3 November 2007 (UTC)
29. Support with no hesitation. bibliomaniac15 A straw poll on straw polls 18:38, 3 November 2007 (UTC)

Oppose

1. LaraLove opposed a candidate with a reasonable rationale, but then went on to back her rationale up with ageism. [1][2] As an under-18 admin, I'm not comfortable supporting someone who uses age to oppose or to back up their oppose. Acalamari 17:54, 3 November 2007 (UTC)

   Why? Wikidudeman ^(talk) 17:56, 3 November 2007 (UTC)

   Come on Acalamari. Surely LaraLove's other edits make up for that. Rudget _{Contributions} 18:10, 3 November 2007 (UTC)

   (ec) There were additional reasons for the oppose. I also explained to someone else that disagreed with my view that there may be an instance when I would support a young admin, should their contributions assure me that they were mature and responsible with their editing. However, in that particular case, I was not comfortable supporting and I voiced all my reasons why. I stand by that vote, and I continue to feel that 12 years old is too young in most cases. I'm sorry if that offends you. I think you're a great editor, and a great admin. If you were 12 or 13 when you got admin, I'd think you were probably an exception. But even a few exceptional prepubescent admins wouldn't change my personal view that 12 is too young in most cases. Lara❤Love 18:12, 3 November 2007 (UTC)

   It is not ageism to oppose a 12 year old admin when that candidate has demonstrated a lack of maturity.--Alabamaboy 18:17, 3 November 2007 (UTC)

   This is why it's best not to put your age on wiki anywhere, not to mention to protect yourself from the bad guys. — Rlevse • Talk • 18:28, 3 November 2007 (UTC)

2. Sorry, I'm obviously biased here, but I'm going to oppose. Ageism is a big no-no in my book. Underage people are just as capable of contributing to free knowledge as older people. --Agüeybaná 18:54, 3 November 2007 (UTC)

   What type of bollocks is this? I've no views on this candidate, but opposing someone for ageism is even more bloody stupid as opposing someone for their age. We don't oppose people because of their personal convictions be they too ageist, sexist, left wing, right wing, or anti-fruitarian. We consider only whether they have the skills to be a good admin. Arguably young people tend not to (although personally I'd not use that as a criterion) but there is no possible argument that ageist people (if she is) make poor admins.--Doc^g 19:05, 3 November 2007 (UTC)

Neutral

1. Neutral Sorry to break the pile on, but am I alone in finding an RFA transcluded with 5 supports already in place slightly discourteous to the RFA process ?[3]. It's happened before now at RFA and I'm afraid it shows poor judgement not to have asked the supporters to remove their comments. And before any one cites my "ludicrous" 6 co-noms I had a vote on my RFA before I transcluded it, and I removed it. Sorry Lara, you're great but this shows a less than perfect judgement. I await the slagging off I'm going to get. Pedro :  Chat  16:22, 3 November 2007 (UTC)

   I'm not usually a fan of challenging opposers/neutralers (?); I consider it disruptive, but Pedro, this is just ridiculous. Blaming the candidate for the over-eagerness of her supporters?! Maxim_{(talk) (contributions)} 16:28, 3 November 2007 (UTC)

   (ec) Pedro, I wouldn't ever slag you off. However, I think it would be inappropriate to blame Lara, just because some users who are clearly fond of her, added their support before it was transcluded... Qst 16:28, 3 November 2007 (UTC)

   Really? I didn't know it was a problem. I've seen RfAs before that were transcluded with votes already in place, I saw comments made about it, but I'd never seen anyone drop their support over it. Well, shame on all of you premature voters! I demand those of you with the bit be immediately desysoped!! XD But seriously, Pedro. I respect your decision, but I would like some clarification on exactly why it's an issue, if you don't mind expanding. Also, how not knowing this reflects on my ability to be a successful admin, and how this overshadows my 9,000+ contribs when judging my, well, judgment. :P Lara❤Love 16:38, 3 November 2007 (UTC)

   I know it looks unfair, and I certainly can't oppose - I've had conversations with Lara and wrote quite a comprehensive note of Feedback in September as seen here. I like her, I think she a great editor, I think she'll do well as an admin and I'm sure this RFA will pass with a pile on. But I personally find the concept of "hidden voting" distasteful. I removed a support from my RFA [4] prior to transclusion as stated above. And yes, I know I argued that I couldn't tell my nominators to hold back, but nomination and actual supports are two seperate things. Cannot I comment based on my own standards ? I'm sorry guys but I personally feel it's not good form to transclude with votes / !votes already in. Like I say it won't matter - this RfA will pass for sure and my best wishes with that - but I feel it would be a compromise of my personal beliefs to support at this time. The precdent to this is of course Wikipedia:Requests_for_adminship/Can't_sleep,_clown_will_eat_me_2 allthough I believe the number of votes were higher than in this case. Pedro :  Chat  16:43, 3 November 2007 (UTC)

   Pedro, of course you're entitled to this. :) I almost never harass commenters in RfA's - I thik it's usually rude, but sometimes I break the habit. I'm also stating my opinion. Thanks, Maxim_{(talk) (contributions)} 16:49, 3 November 2007 (UTC)

   You're dead to me now, Pedro. Ha!! I'm just kidding!!! Well, my bad. I don't see what it matters. But I respect your decision. "Hidden voting" seems to be assuming bad faith, however. I asked and one found it while doing RC Patrol. I'm not sure about the others, but I didn't contact anyone. Wasn't even online. I added my questions, dropped a note on Phoenix's talk page and went to work to get royally disappointed and head back home. The votes were there when I arrived and I didn't think anything of it. Just took a deep breath, transcluded and yea... that's it. I'm a deep shade of purple at this point... I should probably start breathing now. Lara❤Love 16:53, 3 November 2007 (UTC)

   Breathe ! Breathe! Okay, look, it's probably not very AGF of me is it. I've got to go and sort out SonOfPedro now, so I'll refelect on my bad faith and revisit your RFA asap. I will be off-line probably until Monday so I apologise to all if you're earnestly leaving me notes to change my mind, (or indeed not bothering and just thinking that I'm a total arsehole). I'll reflect on it. Meantime, enjoy the pile on up in Support! Pedro :  Chat  16:59, 3 November 2007 (UTC)

   I'd see it as a good thing; multiple users had the RfA watchlisted before it even existed, meaning that they'd thought she would make a good RfA before she was actually up for the position. :) EVula // talk // ☯ // 17:02, 3 November 2007 (UTC)

   Just FYI: I am one of the "pre-supporters"; I hadn't even realized it was a pre-support, or I'd have delayed. I saw a post on someone's talk page mentioning the nom, clicked on the link and promptly supported. I didn't come to it through the RfA page and so I didn't notice the discrepancy. Mike Christie (talk) 17:08, 3 November 2007 (UTC)

   Quickie, whilst WifeOfPedro isn't looking - I have nothing against those who supported prior to transclusion. I just think Lara could have shown better judgement by removing the supports before she moved it to the main page. It doen't mean she'll be a bad admin. It means I personally don't like the concept of RfA's being presented with anything in support before they appear on the main page. I can only echo the respected User:W.marsh at the RfA I identified above (which I admit was different due to the extreme level of supports) "While this situation seems largely accidental, it's not hard to imagine how this kind of thing could be gamed to get a highly controversial candidate on RfA with 70/0 support by the time anyone known to oppose them ever finds out about it" It's no fault to Lara, no fault to the supporters, but it is poor judgement and a dangerous thing if the community thinks it's acceptable. Thin end of the wedge and all that. I'm sorry it had to happen on an RfA for such a respected memeber of the community. Pedro :  Chat  17:16, 3 November 2007 (UTC)

   Me too. I'm going to head to the talk page with a reply. Lara❤Love 17:30, 3 November 2007 (UTC)

   I'm in the same position as Mike Christie: I came directly to this page and had no idea that I was expressing my support "pre-transclusion". This doesn't show a lack of judgement on anyone's part: it shows that RfA needs to tighten up its instructions! There's no difference in principle between transcluding with some votes and transcluding with several co-nominations: it is for the instructions to say that one is okay, and the other is not. If so, then not only should they explicitly state that voting can only commence once the page is transcluded, but they should also say that the 7 day period starts from the moment of transclusion not from the moment of acceptance. This one started at 12:47 today, in accordance with the current instructions, and I commented at 14:11. Clearly, the instructions need some rewriting! Geometry guy 18:05, 3 November 2007 (UTC)

2. Candidate has indicated that they have no intention of assisting with article deletion backlog – Gurch 18:40, 3 November 2007 (UTC)

   There're lots of things to do other than deleting articles. OhanaUnited^{Talk page} 18:43, 3 November 2007 (UTC)

   This time next week there won't be – Gurch 18:47, 3 November 2007 (UTC)

   That's true. Of the various administrative tasks, because I'm burned out on article reviews, I have no interest in participating in XfD at this time. I will assist in the image deletion backlogs, however. Lara❤Love 18:45, 3 November 2007 (UTC)

   (ec x 10) While I appreciate your right to your opinion, Gurch, there's a huge amount more to adminship than deletion backlogs. Any editor who uses the sysop bit solely for the benefit of the project is justified, IMO. Put it this way; if she works some other area, that just frees up other admins to address other areas. It's all good - Alison ^❤ 18:48, 3 November 2007 (UTC)

   Again, this time next week there won't be. It is intended as encouragement, if you deal with article deletion backlogs, then you will get my support; if I hadn't wanted people to deal with article deletion backlogs I wouldn't have voted, so it's not as if this has any effect on anything – Gurch 18:50, 3 November 2007 (UTC)