Wikipedia:Requests for adminship/Abd 2

Abd

Abd (talk · contribs)

Voice your opinion (talk page) (16/9/5); Scheduled to end 04:09, 17 February 2008 (UTC)

Abd is a very objective user and one smart fellow. He has a lot of knowledge and experience with Wikipedia. Sarsaparilla (talk) 18:40, 9 February 2008 (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 did not request or expect this nomination, and have seriously considered declining it. Most of the work that I do for the project, or plan to do, does not require the privileged tools, and possessing them could even be a distraction. However, I also respect the intentions of the nominator, and have a general belief that I should serve when asked or I become aware of a need that I can meet. Nevertheless, due to the burden of many responsibilities, I do not expect that I could perform much of the ordinary mop work. There are, however, certain tasks that I'm sure I could and would help with, that come to mind because I've needed them myself, such as recovering copies of deleted pages, as appropriate, for review by users who have requested them. Ultimately, I'd like to make this an unnecessary task, but wishes aren't horses. I would be an extra hand when extra hands are needed, and how often that would occur is something I cannot predict. I saw the granting of the rollback tool to non-admins as a step toward creating what I have called a penumbra of chosen support around administrators; while administrators may not have seen it this way, I considered that any administrator who granted the rollback tool to a user would be responsible for that user's actions with it; thus I would not grant that tool to a user merely upon request, and, indeed, I might look at a request from an unknown user with a jaundiced eye. Not so a user who had been steadily working to remove vandalism already, or had otherwise shown responsibility. I might work toward setting up rapid-response systems to deal with vandalism and disruptive editing more efficiently, more intelligently, and more fairly. As an ordinary user, I can suggest such systems, as an administrator I could be the active agent for one (but it would be a drop in the bucket unless other administrators followed suit).

My interest in Wikipedia comes from a long consideration and study of decision-making systems in peer associations quite like Wikipedia; I anticipated the rise of such, and recognized Wikipedia, as soon as I became seriously involved in editing, as quite analogous to what I'd seen, studied, and facilitated elsewhere. Many of the policies and guidelines are quite what I'd expected they would be. My major focus, however, and I am known for this outside Wikipedia, is how to handle the communications problem when the scale becomes very large; I have theoretical solutions, but they have never been tried on anything even approaching the Wikipedia scale. However, on the other hand, they are fail-safe, they are efficient and are designed to require very little effort; indeed, to be scalable, they must be extremely efficient and extremely easy to use. I will be working on this regardless of whether or not this RfA succeeds, and I do not need the admin bit to do it, but there may be a few places where being an administrator might help.

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

A: They are yet to come. I've been learning my way around, as situations come up, reading the guidelines and policies and essays where the community has expressed or has attempted to find consensus, and discussing them. I've followed Arbitrations and contributed to one, and a comment I wrote to place on the Talk page of an administrator who was, sadly, about to lose his bit and was bitter about it, received some positive comment from at least one other editor; for the comment, see [1] It was written December 1, and my understanding of Wikipedia continues to grow rapidly, but it should give an idea of how I think about this place and, also, about administrator conduct.

I have only become extensively involved with a few articles, most notably Instant-runoff voting, which is an article which continues to be in flux; a major participant, the source of a lot of editing conflict, was just exposed as another James Salsman sock. The article did get, at one point, almost to where the POV tag could be removed, but it has slid back a bit. I have recently taken an interest in Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder: controversies; there was continued conflict there long before I arrived, and it may be that my participation has helped to start the process to find a consensus; but, as is common, doing what I see needs to be done is a bit destabilizing for some. SPA editors who have been heavily controlling an article for a year often don't take kindly to being confronted about it, no matter how civilly it's done; but these people drive away newcomers, experts, and anyone who disagrees with them; most of these people don't have the patience or time to persist when rudely reverted. Newcomers often edit contrary to guidelines and policy; a POV editor will use this to simply reject their work, instead of assisting them to find the proper way to do what they want to do, at least as far as what they want to do has some value, and it usually does. In this case, even though there had been found reliable, peer-reviewed sources explicitly noting controversy over the diagnosis, nearly all mention of the controversy had been gradually excluded from the article; it's a familiar story, actually, repeated over many different articles, this is just one that I have some connection with. I have ADHD, not marginal, so I understand the topic from the inside. In order to uncover what had happened, which involved, among other things, misrepresentation of sources, I had to actually, I know this seems excessive, go to a ... physical library and find an article that wasn't on the internet! (Misrepresentation of sources is actually a common problem with certain kinds of articles, particularly where a peer-reviewed journal that is cited may not be available to most editors. I have ideas about how to remedy the situation, and I expect to be implementing them in short order. Again, I don't need admin tools for this....

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: Well, I've sometimes said that if a user has never been blocked, they have not beenworking hard enough for the project. That's an exaggeration, of course, and most work for the project does not involve the kinds of actions that could result in a block. But then there are what might be called battleground articles, where there are constituencies in the outside world, with great resources, attempting to control the spin of the article. Having administrative tools is often useless for dealing with this, for if one has sufficient knowledge to recognize what is happening, one is quite likely to have sufficient conflict of interest to be unable to use the tools (and, in fact, this has tripped up more than one administrator). (It can take having knowledge in the field to understand the implications, which is commonly associated with the formation of a POV, to be able to recognize the subtle spin involved in balance issues, for spinmasters will use carefully selected and framed fact to create impressions, they get paid for that.) Having found myself in that position, I have confronted a series of James Salsman socks (at least four), three of them before they came to administrative attention, an anonymous IP editor (whom I identified from the IP as having a major conflict of interest,and who was blocked), and single-purpose accounts, and was once, as a result, blocked (perhaps properly as a precaution) and then immediately unblocked (also properly) when the administrator realized what I had actually been doing. My understanding is that generally users have the same rights as administrators; and the same responsibilities (i.e., being an administrator is no protection against 3RR violation when the administrator is involved with the article) and being temporarily blocked as a precaution -- in error -- is no harm for an experienced user. (But it can be very harmful for a newcomer, indeed, fatal for their relationship with Wikipedia.) I'll be happy to answer any questions here, or on my Talk page. No, it has not caused me stress. I was a single parent with five teenagers at one time, I was a moderator for the Usenet group soc.religion.islam, attacked by fanatics on all sides, yet able to maintain my balance; Wikipedia is a piece of cake. Only once did the obsession button get pushed here, and it was when I tried to file my first 3RR report, screwed it up, and the report was rejected and my pleas for assistance went unheeded -- and, as a result, damage continued for quite some time. It's an old button of mine, and I quickly recognized it, and that was that. So one of the things I might to is to patrol WP:ANI/3RR and assist. But not with articles and editors I've been involved with! (and, yes, I did eventually figure out how to put up diffs properly. I'm 63, but I'm not dead yet.)--Abd (talk) 03:52, 10 February 2008 (UTC)

Questions from Avruch

4. What is the difference between a ban and a block?

Is this an open-book test? It is in real life, of course, we have a manual at hand. In any case, my first answers are from my immediate reaction, and then I'll check the answers -- as I would if I had any doubt about precedent in an actual situation, either from "the book" or from other administrators or knowledgeable users -- and correct my response if I think it necessary. And an administrator who makes a mistake, and discovers it or it is pointed out, likewise should immediately correct it, as did User:Durova. And as User:Physchim62 did not. Most of the precedents, however, are simply common sense, starting with WP:IAR, which means the same on Wikipedia as Public policy (law) means in the legal system: the welfare of the project can supersede any guideline or policy. But usually doesn't.

To my understanding, as an administrator, I'd have a block button. Nobody has a ban button. A ban is a community or other broad or authoritative decision, a block is an administrative action, taken by a single administrator, to restrict the access of a user or IP address or address range, and it is for a specified period, beginning normally with 24 hours, there being some level of disapproval of shorter blocks as being at the same time punitive and useless, though very short blocks have been used to enter information in the block record, and I recall some controversy over that. Block are extended as needed, typically becoming longer with each block, until they may become "indefinite." A ban is essentially a standing community request to permanently block a user, but it has no effect unless an administrator blocks; administrative blocks require justification in the immediate facts regarding user behavior or from ArbComm decisions, and administrators may be held responsible for error in blocking, but blocking a proven sock of a banned user requires no special finding beyond identification. Better be proven, though.

One more comment on blocks: administrators should always extend professional courtesy toward blocked users; blocks are not punitive, but are to protect the community. Particularly when new users are blocked, the block notice should, in my opinion, express regret that the block was deemed necessary, and carefully and helpfully explain how the user may appeal. But an administrator, given this, should not hesitate to block to protect the project and other users, for a disruptive editor, sometimes with only one edit, may permanently drive away other users who are not willing to engage in tenacious dispute, and this kind of damage accumulates over time. However, administrators, regardless of personal opinion, are servants of the community and should not stray far, except in emergencies, from established practice. --Abd (talk) 06:56, 10 February 2008 (UTC)

5. If another administrator removes material from an article and cites a BLP concern as the reason - but you believe the material does not violate BLP policy and should be included- what do you do?

Anything from nothing, discussing it with the other administrator, up through the various forms of dispute resolution; however, no action I'd take here would involve the use of the administrative tools. Technically, that the one removing the material is an administrator, as, say, distinguished from any ordinary or experienced user, is not relevant. I *could* put the material back, just as could any user, depending on the details of the situation, and subject to the same rules and possible sanctions as any other user. However, BLP is serious policy and BLP problems can present a hazard to the project, so I'd be pretty conservative. Further, there is the issue that administrators are expected to behave in exemplary fashion, which can dampen WP:BOLD a bit. My conclusion: if I think it that important, I'd use standard dispute resolution procedures. Which, by the way, I've never followed, beyond the simplest steps, for so far I've been sufficiently bold and at the same time sufficiently willing to agree and cooperate and find consensus that it has not yet been necessary, beyond the simplest level of asking for third opinion. Give me some time, I'm sure I'll walk down those more involved roads. --Abd (talk) 06:56, 10 February 2008 (UTC)

6. What is your opinion on administrator recall and do you plan to add yourself to the category?

I haven't paid much attention to it beyond looking at it once. This is actually a tough question. It should, in my opinion, be fairly easy to remove administrative tools (and it should, in fact, be easier to obtain them than it is, and those go together). We might recall that initially, all users had the same tools. As the scale increased, this became impossible, as is quite understandable and predictable, but there are far too few administrators, considering the user population. My general impression is that, with proper guidance and support, many more users could be trusted with the tools than currently are. I rather doubt that, were there to arise a situation where ArbComm would de-sysop me, that it would be necessary to actually go to ArbComm, for the loss of community confidence would, I'd think, be obvious. But what if I thought that the apparent consensus that I should be desysopped was a false consensus? This is where the question gets difficult. The possibility of a false consensus, which appears through participation bias, is actually the problem that interests me the most: how to compensate for participation bias, without losing the benefits of selective participation (for there are some)? However, I rather doubt that I'd be using the tools in a manner that would be likely to create cause to remove me from the position of trust. There are things I want to do that could be controversial, but they don't involve administrative tools (nor do they involve any kind of disruptive activity). I'll answer again after looking at the page. --Abd (talk) 06:56, 10 February 2008 (UTC)

7. What are the policies most crucial to your role as an administrator?

We'll start with WP:IAR. But that's pretty esoteric, really (and commonly misunderstood. I mention this Rule Number 1 because the welfare of the project (and those who participate in it) comes first, and specific rules cannot encompass what is appropriate in all situations. I don't know what kind of work I'll be doing, exactly, so I can't predict which specific guidelines and policies will be most important to my use of the tools. Not having had the buttons, I have not studied the actual policies involved in their use, such as blocking policy; I presume that before taking any action that might possibly be controversial, I'd review the involved policies and follow them (and I know a fair number of administrators I could ask, plus there are all the usual sources for assistance). Administrators as such don't make content decisions and my focus with the policies has been on those which guide content. Administrators make process decisions, such as whether or not a user post is a personal attack on another user and thus justifying some warning or sanction, or whether there is disruptive editing (which is not about content; a user can make disruptive edits in pursuit of content "policy," i.e., his or her personal interpretation of such, but contrary to process policy). However, one very important policy is that administrative tools are not to be used for advancing some personal cause or promoting a personal opinion. Administrators, as administrators, are servants of the community. If they don't want to do what the community wants, they may refuse to act, but may never use the tools contrary to the consensus of the community.

I appreciate the opportunity to reflect on these questions. As I mentioned, I'll open the book and check my answers, and come back, presumably tomorrow, with another edit to correct errors that I find, probably giving a better view of what I would actually do, as distinct from predicting it here, off the cuff. --Abd (talk) 06:56, 10 February 2008 (UTC)

General comments

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

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

• The talk page contains information from the previous RfA. Dlohcierekim Deleted? 16:15, 10 February 2008 (UTC)
• Link to prior RfA

---

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

Discussion

• 1400 edits and 500 mainspace edits is usually too few to pass an RfA. You might want to speak to whether your particular experience or background should make you an exception to this (unwritten) rule. Avruchtalk 04:14, 10 February 2008 (UTC)
  • There has been editors who have passed with less edits. I have no idea why people oppose and support due to a 'rule" of more edits equals better editor, or even a more experienced editor. Please be aware that a thousand vandalism reverts takes less effort than a dozen thoughtful comments. Edit count is not a judge of a good editor, and I urge people to reconsider if they oppose due to it. — Dark ^(talk) 06:36, 10 February 2008 (UTC)
  • I should not be an exception to an edit count guideline. I do not consider myself an experienced Wikipedian. However, I do understand the boundaries around the use of privileged power, and thus I think that the wrong issue is being considered, not just with me, but with many RfAs. If I'm inexperienced and therefore useless, well, you have just increased the number of administrators at great cost with no benefit. So to speak. But if I'm inexperienced and barge ahead furiously with foolish actions, then serious harm could be done, or, alternatively, if I have an axe to grind using the tools. The sole question, in my mind, should be, "Is this user unlikely to abuse the tools or use them in a harmful way, and is this user unlikely to poorly represent the community, and is it reasonably possible that some benefit will accrue from approval?" If so, the vote should be Support.

I really am not concerned with convincing anyone that I should be an administrator, I'm not even convinced myself, but I do care that Wikipedia has the administrative support it needs, and it needs much more than it has. Edit count is a very poor measure, it indicates little about how the editor will behave if granted the tools, unless we look at the edits. A few hundred edits might be enough to indicate clearly enough the character and sobriety of one editor, and ten thousand might not be enough for another. What if it was ten thousand mediocre, very easy, or inconsequential edits? (But never vandalism.) By continually raising the bar, it becomes more difficult to recruit administrators. Administrators with good character can be trained to use the tools, it's harder to teach character to someone who is merely technically proficient. As to participating in consensus process, I do have many years of experience with it, most of how Wikipedia works is quite familiar to me. Again, it doesn't matter with me, I'm not going to be a furious wielder of the mop, Wikipedia is not going to rise or fall based on this RfA, nor am I, but someone younger or in a different position might be missed for the same reasons, and multiply this by many RfAs, plus RfAs not filed because it's discouraged, and it could make a big difference. As always, I'm more concerned about the process than the content. I'm the content here, and how important edit count is, is process.--Abd (talk) 07:59, 10 February 2008 (UTC)

I think that edit counts can be misleading when used as a measure of knowledge or experience or even how much time one has been spending on Wikipedia. My edit count is fairly high for the length of time I've been here because I frequently take five or ten edits to revise an article as I continue reading it over and thinking of more stuff I want to change or add, and a lot of my summaries say "fix" or "oops" (I probably should use the Preview button more, but sometimes I get overconfident). So, while on paper I have more edits that Abd, Abd has probably written more words total than I have. Also, there is a lot of learning that can be done just by passively reading policy pages, discussions, etc. and Abd's edits show that he has clearly done a lot of that.

Some people would say that Abd's focus on a few subjects is "obsessive" and a negative trait. I view it as a potential strength for a sysop. We need more admins who will go into depth on an issue. If you have something complicated that you want someone to take a thorough look at, Abd would probably be the one to ask. While we also need sysops who take a more generalist approach to their admin activities (spending time on a variety of duties), it's also good to have that focus when we need it. Accordingly, I think he would be a good contribution to the admin community.

As for objections to Abd (or anyone else) checking users' contributions – if that's stalking, why do we have that tool? It's to help users scrutinize one another's activities, so that we can exercise oversight over one another and curb abuses. Granted, it is easy to have an emotional reaction when you're the one being scrutinized, but that's where keeping cool is needed.

Lastly, in reference to the comment that "he continues to be embattled" – "embattled" simply means "beset with attackers or controversy or conflict." Could that not describe a lot of admins and regular users who get involved in contentious debates? Somebody has to do it. I think Abd has kept a pretty cool head. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Sarsaparilla (talk • contribs) 19:15, 10 February 2008 (UTC)

By the way, I removed the notice on my page about designating Abd as a proxy because he has not accepted and therefore it has not taken effect.

Sarsaparilla (talk) 15:16, 10 February 2008 (UTC)

I need somebody to please explain the proxy thing. How do proxies work in Wikipedia? Never heard of it. Dlohcierekim Deleted? 05:22, 11 February 2008 (UTC)

For a detailed explanation, please see Abd's comments Wikipedia talk:Delegable proxy and Wikipedia talk:Delegable proxy/Abd's message. Abd made a proposal on the mailing list, and I attempted to sum it up in an essay, describing it as a system in which users delegated their voting rights to others. But as Abd points out, we do not have votes on Wikipedia. So it could perhaps be more accurately be described as a non-binding method of estimating consensus with the help of proxies executed by users who are basically saying of their proxy, "I generally trust this user to make a decent decision where I cannot myself participate." Sarsaparilla (talk) 05:37, 11 February 2008 (UTC)

Support

1. The fact that he was tempted to decline is prima facie evidence of a lack of power hunger! Support wholeheartedly! Sarsaparilla (talk) 04:08, 10 February 2008 (UTC)
2. Support per these intelligent posts: 02:40, 25 December 2007, 02:02, 29 December 2007, and 05:12, 30 December 2007. Sincerely, --Le Grand Roi des Citrouilles^Tally-ho! 04:16, 10 February 2008 (UTC)
3. Contrary to the opposes, I feel his responses to questions and Le Grand's diffs above demonstrates enough knowledge of policy. — Dark ^(talk) 06:07, 10 February 2008 (UTC)
4. Definite support. Good and eloquent contributor. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Sj (talk • contribs) 06:56, 10 February 2008 (UTC)
5. Support, appears to have a good grasp of policy. Lankiveil ^{(complaints | disco)} 07:59, 10 February 2008 (UTC).
6. Support, because I like your edits and also think you understand policy. But wait!!! Whoa back. I am inexperienced, just like you. Ergo, thats TWO of us editors who have no place in Wiki.Kaiwhakahaere (talk) 08:06, 10 February 2008 (UTC)
7. Support sensible. - TwoOars 09:27, 10 February 2008 (UTC)
8. Support Unlikely to abuse admin tools. --Siva1979^{Talk to me} 10:00, 10 February 2008 (UTC)
9. Weak support per Jmlk17. Should this not succeed, keep it up and I'll support strongly in a few months. User:Dorftrottel 11:16, February 10, 2008
10. I would consider that this user has a very good grasp of policy. I see absolutely no benefit making the candidate wait some arbitrary time period before being granted the sysop flag; such process is simply for process's sake, and does not help the encyclopedia. What should be considered before commenting is whether the candidate can help Wikipedia, and will not harm it; looking at some contributions and comments that the candidate has made, the only option is to strong support given the clear policy knowledge and good manner that he has. EJF (talk) 11:26, 10 February 2008 (UTC)
11. Support - not afraid to get stuck into some messy topics integral to good 'pedia building, and seems to exhibit some diplomacy. cheers, Casliber (talk · contribs) 11:31, 10 February 2008 (UTC)
12. Support. Thoughtful answers to questions. Opposition based on a lack of experience is misconceived, as this candidate clearly has the experience needed to use the few extra buttons wisely. --Malleus Fatuorum (talk) 12:14, 10 February 2008 (UTC)
13. Moral support, thoughtful replies to the questions and unafraid of controversial issues. But rather inexperienced and possibly a bit too focussed on contributors, rather than content. Tim Vickers (talk) 16:39, 10 February 2008 (UTC)
14. Support I don't expect problems with this candidate. Martijn Hoekstra (talk) 17:58, 10 February 2008 (UTC)
15. Support; in spite of a low edit count, he's quite a strong candidate. Do please read the three diffs cited by Le Grand Roi des Citrouilles above. This candidate will be a fine admin. Antandrus (talk) 18:20, 10 February 2008 (UTC)
16. Strong support. A refreshingly eccentric contributor. Adminship should be no big deal, and this candidate's attitude is consistent with that. No danger of abusing the tools here! --Ginkgo100^talk 22:22, 10 February 2008 (UTC)
17. Strong support, very good answers to the questions. --Aqwis (talk – contributions) 22:53, 10 February 2008 (UTC)

Oppose

1. Oppose I'm sorry, but I don't believe you have enough overall experience as of yet. Jmlk17 06:02, 10 February 2008 (UTC)
2. Oppose Per Jmlk17 - This was my major concern while doing my analysis. I'm sure in 4-5 months my username would be in the support list. Wisdom89 (talk) 06:03, 10 February 2008 (UTC)
3. Somewhat Reluctant Oppose I have no doubt that Abd is a good editor, and I'm fairly certain that he can be trusted to use the tools properly. However, he admits in the 'discussion' section above that he is not an experienced Wikipedian ("I do not consider myself an experienced Wikipedian."). While his answers to the questions show intelligence, they also serve to illustrate his unfamiliarity with some basic aspects of Wikipedia. I'm not concerned with his edit count, but rather with the fact that, by his own admission, he is lacking in the experience department. And while I feel that he can be trusted to wield the tools, I think that at this point he lacks the experience to effectively and appropriately use the buttons. I could definitely see myself supporting some time in the future, but I can't now. Good luck! faithless (^speak) 11:46, 10 February 2008 (UTC)
4. Oppose - per Jmlk17. And although this has not much relevance with this RFA, does the candidate know what this means? Rudget. 12:11, 10 February 2008 (UTC)
5. Strongly Oppose - He has a tendency to judge other editors and their editing practices far too often in talk, and believes that this practice is productive. He seems to have an unlimited amount of time to do lengthy commentary in talk, and has spent a lot of time researching editors edit history(in my opinion verging on stalking behaviour). He also appears to know a great deal about Wiki policy and these combinations, intentionally or unintentionally, have been used to wear many editors who disagree with him down. By this I mean that disagreements are resolved not through communication but by the other side simply throwing in the towel. He generally appears to be a little obsessive and has difficulty "letting things go". I am on the verge of making a formal complaint and have sought advice on how to proceed. I have placed four warnings on his talk page which were deleted. Granted, the third warning used the wiki "don't be a dick" as a heading with a quotation from that essay, but that was the behaviour I saw at the time. On hindsight that probably wasn't the best approach but you would think that a potential administrator would take the highroad and seek conciliation. The olive branch has been extended to him many times.--scuro (talk) 14:38, 10 February 2008 (UTC)

   scuro, could you provide some diffs or links? It would help me in making my own assessment. Thanks, --A. B. ^(talk) 15:51, 10 February 2008 (UTC)

   I was asked to comment and I did. "Comment" to me means opinions. To truly support what I said would take a long time so I really have to ask to what end? If the process would be part of a formal complaint that would examine Abd's refusal to stick to content, I'd agree. I'd like him to follow guidelines.

   Really you could argue that our perceptions make the case. There are three possibilities...I can be lying, I can be right, I can assume I am right but am wrong. Miamomimi, another editor who has also dealt with Abd, recently posted this about what I last posted at this RA, "Hi Scuro, I noticed the request to participate in a discussion below and would tell you that I concur with your comments". If I am a biased editor with no purpose other then POV pushing, she could be my counterpart. We are often on opposite sides of issue dealing with ADHD but we don't make it personal. We accept each other for who we are and work in good faith. So now that two editors have the same complaint, the possibility is that we are both lying, we are both right, or we both assume we are right but are wrong. The third possibility speaks to his style. If two contributors from very different backgrounds get a bad vibe from him, you have to ask why he should become an administrator at this point in time? Bottom line, he refuses to follow guidelines and stop commenting on editors or editors writing styles...even though several editors have asked him not to do so for the last month. That is a rigid stance, and he has not accepted several olive branches offered by Miamomimi or myself.--scuro (talk) 04:12, 11 February 2008 (UTC)

   Well, in RfA, one generally provides difs so that it will provide support for one's points and give the other members of the community an opportunity to see what you're talking about. Dlohcierekim Deleted? 05:11, 11 February 2008 (UTC)

6. Oppose On the right track. Not ready yet. Dlohcierekim Deleted? 15:17, 10 February 2008 (UTC)

   "Tempted to decline" suggests that nominee recognizes a lack of readiness. Dlohcierekim Deleted? 15:40, 10 February 2008 (UTC)

   Ignore all rules as the guiding policy for use of the admin buttons does not leave me overcome with confidence. Dlohcierekim Deleted? 15:43, 10 February 2008 (UTC)

   Answer to question 1 does not hint at sufficient understanding to follow the rules, let alone ignore them. Dlohcierekim Deleted? 15:44, 10 February 2008 (UTC)

   <EC>I found about ten AFD discussions in which nominee partook. I did not see any AIV referrals. I find it hard to substantiate any claim that nom has had sufficient experience to use the mop. Dlohcierekim Deleted? 15:52, 10 February 2008 (UTC)

   Lack of link to prior RfA on this RfA and obsolete info on talk page do not suggest a grasp on policy/experience sufficient for adminship. Dlohcierekim Deleted? 16:21, 10 February 2008 (UTC)

   The answer to question 3 suggests that nominee has learned little about conflict resolution beyond trying to ensure his position prevails. He continues to be embattled. Dlohcierekim Deleted? 16:38, 10 February 2008 (UTC)

7. Oppose Low edit count.Curious why previous RFA link was not put at the offset.Sorry but will support you in the future but not now.Good luck .Pharaoh of the Wizards (talk) 19:11, 10 February 2008 (UTC)
8. Oppose per Pharaoh. Majoreditor (talk) 21:30, 10 February 2008 (UTC)
9. Oppose - not enough edits yet.   jj137 (talk) 03:41, 11 February 2008 (UTC)
10. Oppose First, because IAR is the last resort, to be invoked only when nothing else is possible and there will be essentially total consensus on the result. It is not the guiding principle of ordinary work at WP -- If used that way, it is a prescription for chaos. The basic foundational rules that have obtained general consensus are the guiding principles.
    

    Second, because at the ADHD articles he cites as his best work, I see him taking a very judgmental view of the material, trying single handedly to sort out the contending experts, and citing his own personal knowledge. (That I agree with him on most of the actual issues is irrelevant.) If he acts this way as an admin., he will cause more trouble than he solves.

    Third, because I have the uncomfortable feeling the ed. intends to use WP as an study case for decision-making systems, and I do not feel we can take the risk involved in being an experimental subject. And finally, since he says that "I do not expect that I could perform much of the ordinary mop work." I think perhaps he would have been wiser to follow his first instincts and decline the nomination.DGG (talk) 05:11, 11 February 2008 (UTC)

    Wow. Dlohcierekim Deleted? 05:14, 11 February 2008 (UTC)

Neutral

1. Trustworthy editor, however lack of experience in areas that relate to using the extra buttons. Addhoc (talk) 11:26, 10 February 2008 (UTC)
2. Neutral at present. I am inclined to support, but would first like to see a comment from you relating to the diff highlighted by Rudget, naming you as another user's proxy voter. In which votes is not specified. --Anthony.bradbury^"talk" 13:28, 10 February 2008 (UTC)

   comment went under wrong comment Have a look at Scuro's talk page. Dlohcierekim Deleted? 16:28, 10 February 2008 (UTC)

3. Neutral -I'm concerned about the lack of experience, and am unsure about supporting, but the concerns aren't enough to oppose. I do think that Abd has shown a good knowledge of policy, and will keep an eye on this RfA for anything that may cause me to change my mind. In any case, best of luck to Abd, and please don't get disheartened if this fails; you will still be an excellent editor. Keilana|^{Parlez ici} 17:56, 10 February 2008 (UTC)
4. Neutral I see a very good editor in your future...you have a good knowledge of wikipedia's policy, but the lack of experience doesn't quite want to make me support yet. I'll vote for you in another RFA, just maybe later. Spencer^T♦C 18:51, 10 February 2008 (UTC)
5. Neutral - You're a good candidate, but need just a bit more experience. Up the mainspace counts, and it would be a support from me. Mastrchf91 (^t/_c) 02:08, 11 February 2008 (UTC)