Wikipedia:WikiProject Military history/Coordinators/August 2006

Overview

Positions

The project coordinators are generally responsible for maintaining the procedural aspects of the project, and serve as the designated points-of-contact for procedural issues:

Lead Coordinator

Has overall responsibility for procedural and administrative matters within the project (one open position).

Assistant Coordinator

Assists the Lead Coordinator as needed (six open positions).

Duties

Some examples of coordinator work:

• Ensure that project announcement and task lists are kept up-to-date.
• Perform maintenance and housekeeping work on the project's internal pages, categories, and templates.
• Manage the proposal and creation of new task forces.
• Monitor and assist the article assessment process. (This will also likely involve verifying and closing A-Class nominations.)
• Oversee the recruitment of new members, including the use of project notices and other advertising methods.
• Lead in drafting project guidelines and oversee the implementation of project decisions on things like category schemes and template use.
• And many, many other things that tend to come up at inopportune times!

Coordinators also generally assist project members with any questions or concerns.

Election process

• The election will run for two weeks, starting at 00:00 (UTC) on August 12 and ending at 23:59 (UTC) on August 26.

• Any member of the project may nominate themselves for a position by adding their statement in the "Nominees" section below by the start of the election. If a nominee does not wish to be considered for the position of Lead Coordinator, they should indicate this in their statement.

• The election will be conducted using simple approval voting. Any member of the project may support as many of the nominees as they wish. The nominee with the highest number of endorsements will become the Lead Coordinator (provided he is willing to assume the post); the next six nominees will become Assistant Coordinators.

• Both project members and interested outside parties are encouraged to ask questions of the nominees or make general comments.

Nominees

Please make only general comments at this time. A formal voting phase will begin on August 12.

Current time is 14:40, 18 August 2024 (UTC)

Sample

=== [[User:Example|Example]] ===

{{user|Example}}
: <Statement goes here>

; Comments and questions 
*

Geo.plrd

Geo.plrd (talk · contribs)

As a coordinator I would work on clearing up the requested articles and recruiting members. I would act in your best interests. I would be open to your concerns. I will serve to the best of my ability. Geo. 20:09, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

Comments and questions

• In your opinion, what are the main strategic directions to develop for the MILHIST project as of now? -- Grafikm ^(AutoGRAF) 21:15, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

The article requests need to be cleaned up. More articles need to be tagged and reviewed.recruitment is another direction. Any backlogs need to be cleaned up. Geo. 21:29, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

• How many military articles you wrote/checked/reviewed/brought to FA? In other words, what have you already done for the project and its articles, and what do you plan to do? -- Grafikm ^(AutoGRAF) 21:15, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

I started the Women in the Military article. i plan to clear up article requests by recruiting members who are knowledgeable about the articles.

• In the case you don't plan to contribute directly to the articles, what coordinator chores would you like to have (feels like a RFA question :) -- Grafikm ^(AutoGRAF) 21:15, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

i will contribute to articles i know about.Geo. 21:29, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

• The Interiot tool shows that you are on WP only since may and only made 477 edits and 27 articles edits. Do you think you're experienced enough to assume such a position? If you do, what do you think your strengths and weaknesses are? -- Grafikm ^(AutoGRAF) 21:30, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

I am capable enough. I can multitask and organize.Geo. 21:58, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

Grafikm_fr

Grafikm_fr (talk · contribs)

Hi, my name is Grafikm_fr (and Alex Lokshin in real life, although me and Kirill are unrelated as far as I know :)

I joined the MILHIST wiki project in March 2006. I'm the grandson of a professionnal soldier who drove his T-34 from Kursk to Germany, so naturally I'm interested in WWII and Eastern front battles :) Since then, I took two military articles to FA status from scratch and currently writing a third. My goal is actually to bring all major Eastern Front articles to FA status :P As of now, I have something like 8k edits under the belt in less than 6 months. I also assessed some of the articles (something like 1500 according to my estimates) and would like to keep it going (more on it later :)

I also started a bot named grafikbot, which I plan to use for various janitorial works pertaining to the project. In particular, it now delivers the newsletter, sparing precious time, and was also used to send you the message telling you to sign up and to comment on this very page :)

While I think Kirill is the perfect lead coordinator for our project and I'm not going to dispute this position any time soon, I have quite a few ideas and directions to develop for the project as an assistant coordinator, such as automated article tagging, improved copyedits to help FAC process and the Assessment Drive. (if you want me to go further in detail, ask me)

Comments and questions

• As far as I know, we're not related in any way ;-) Kirill Lokshin 18:15, 27 July 2006 (UTC)
• Well, since you asked (and given that you've experienced this issue on FAC yourself): what are your ideas as regards copyediting (particularly in reference to getting copyediting to FACs that need it)? Kirill Lokshin 18:21, 27 July 2006 (UTC)
  • I think copyediting review has to be integrated to our peer review process in one way or another. We have excellent contributors capable of producing top-notch articles, however copyediting remains a problem because it is usually quite hard to reread one's own work, which can seriously compromise a FA candidate article.
  • Consequently, I think a good way to proceed would be to maintain a list of people skilled in copyediting and willing to help other editors. I started a list of people who helped me for my 2 FACs and they just might be willing to cooperate :)
  • Sure, some problems with always get through. However, what I would like to avoid at all cost is the FAC of Vasilevsky, where the text started with big prose problems (blame me, sure, but heh, English is not my mother tongue so...) that should have been pointed out either during PR or another process.
  • Now, if we can commit more people (including copyeditors) to peer review, the question of a separate process might be moot and copyediting just be integrated into the PR. -- Grafikm ^(AutoGRAF) 18:45, 27 July 2006 (UTC)
• Thanks for your efforts with the Grafikbot and distributing the newsletter. If there's one thing I am totally bollocks at, it's bots and scripts. LordAmeth 16:20, 28 July 2006 (UTC)
• I echo LordAmbeth's thanks for your effort on the bots and the newsletter. I think your work speaks for itself, and you would make a good assistant coordinator for this project. old windy bear 18:53, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

Harlsbottom

Harlsbottom (talk · contribs)

Compared to certain members I am relatively new to Wikipedia. I like contributing to what is the most powerful resource on the internet and I want to help influence WPMILHIST so that it keeps getting better. Continual rating and ranking of importance is a must for the project. As an Assistant Coordinator I would push (as I am now) for greater standardisation of userboxes, especially in the Maritime section. I have a number of article creations planned, as well as a major beefing up of dreadnought articles. My knowledge of WWI and WWII is extensive and I have a working of knowledge of most other conflicts in history, as well as access to extensive resources. My record might not be long, but I trust that whichever way this goes I'll be given a fair shake. -Harlsbottom 01:02, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

Comments and questions

Kirill Lokshin

Kirill Lokshin (talk · contribs)

Mmm, where to start? I have acted as the project's Lead Coordinator since February (and did some of the organizational work informally before then); I suppose that this means that I can be credited with—or blamed for!—a substantial portion of our current structure and administrative setup. Thus, I suspect that my candidacy here might prompt an examination of my past performance in this regard.

I do believe that I have always acted with the project's best interests in mind, and that I have been generally successful in cultivating the project's growth; hence, I would like to continue to do so in whatever role the project believes to be appropriate. I welcome any questions or comments that anyone may have. Kirill Lokshin 20:21, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

Comments and questions

• I believe Kirill has done an excellent job, has considerable knowledge of military history, but more importantly, is able to work well with people. I strongly recommend we retain him as coordinator. I also stress that we need continuity. The program has begun to develop, this is not a time to change direction. Nor is it a time, frankly, to bring in someone with no proven record of either working on articles, or editing them once written. We need to retain Kirill, and give him competant assistants. old windy bear 21:41, 26 July 2006 (UTC)
• What is thy bidding, my Master? I think Kirill have done a tremendous amount of work as the lead coordinator, and that he should remain lead coordinator. As oldwindybear pointed out, it is also a matter of continuity. -- Grafikm ^(AutoGRAF) 22:51, 26 July 2006 (UTC)
• I will second what Graf has said, since he put it better than I did - I think Kirill has not only put a tremendous amount of work in, which needs to be acknowledged, but we do badly need continuity. old windy bear 23:54, 26 July 2006 (UTC)
• Support nomination for lead coordinator, same reasons as above. Andrés C. 14:20, 28 July 2006 (UTC)
• Kirill puts in so much time and effort to this project, he has truly helped make this project what it is. I do not envy him the position. As long as he continues to desire to take the time and do the work for all of us, I say we keep him lead. LordAmeth 16:20, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

Loopy

Loopy (talk · contribs)

Well, hullo! I don't really want to repeat too much of what I said last elections for fear of boring you, so I'll keep it brief. I've been on Wikipedia for over two years now - I've contributed all over the place - music, comedy, TV, but the vast majority of my efforts have been directed towards military or history related articles. Creating articles from scratch, fulfilling requests and expanding stubs bring the most satisfaction for me, but I am always more than willing to muck in with the maintainence tasks - tagging, conversion (Gordon Bennett, remember the battleboxes?) and whatnot. I was elected an Assistant Coordinator in the February elections and I would like to think in that time I've worked in the best interests of this project. I've recently been forced into a hiatus of sorts by real life, with only enough time to add bit by bit to my pet project, the Military history of New Zealand, but now I'm pretty much back and ready to fight the good fight.

As for the project, my views haven't changed since last time;

"I think this Wikiproject epitomises what all others should be like and what all genres of the encyclopedia should have in place - a community of likeminded editors who can support, complement and complete the knowledge and contributions of others, while improving the field they cover in the encyclopedia. [...] I don't think it's unrealistic to imagine this project as one of the most prominent and effective ones around in say, a year's time."

We've grown hugely since February and the project as a whole has become a lot more solid (as well as larger), and we have a lot more in place for us to to make Wikipedia's coverage of military history the best it can be, and I would like again to help oversee that. And, if not, fine by me - I'll still keep editing regardless of title =)

Comments and questions

LordAmeth

LordAmeth (talk · contribs)

I have found recently that I enjoy the community aspects, and organizational aspects, of Wikipedia more than the actual article writing. I still love contributing and writing articles as I always have, particularly since my personal field of interest seems to be one with not very many other editors/contributors. I am starting grad school in the fall, and I really do not know what to expect in terms of workload and prevalence of freetime, but I'd love to help out organizationally however I can. (Read: I do not think I have anywhere near the kind of freetime to be Lead Coordinator, but I'd like to Assist, if you'll have me.) I have already taken the initiative to create and organize many Japanese-history campaignboxes and categories, and while my ideas may not have always been popular, they are always backed up by a very rational and logical categorization concept, and a significant extent of experience with the field of history. LordAmeth 00:53, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

Comments and questions

• It should be pointed out that LordAmeth is actually one of the oldest participants in the project; he was already taking part in the old WikiProject Battles when I first signed up. (He probably still remembers things like Category:Battles in Japan. What fun we had with that! ;-) Kirill Lokshin 15:23, 27 July 2006 (UTC)
  • Oh, geez. You're making me feel old. I have been contributing since December of 2004, but I still always thought of myself as being a relative newbie. LordAmeth 02:41, 28 July 2006 (UTC)
• LordAmeth has been around wikipedia for a couple of years, and has amassed a volume of superior work, and shown a willingness to work with others. He possesses both things needed here, (in my opinion), people who have a proven record of good editing coupled with the ability to work with other people in an organizational framework. He has shown the ability to do both, and deserves one of these positions. old windy bear 18:29, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

Nobunaga24

Nobunaga24 (talk · contribs)

I would like to nominate Nobunaga24 as a coordinator because, from what I have seen, he's serious and committed to improving military history articles and his edits are very professional, NPOV, and have greatly added to the military history body of knowledge on Wikipedia. I believe he's a definite asset to the military history project and would be a valuable contributor in the role of coordinator for the project. Cla68 00:12, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

I accept the nomination--Nobunaga24 00:20, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

Comments and questions

oldwindybear

oldwindybear (talk · contribs)

I have been on wikipedia now for awhile. For those of you who have worked in the military history project, at least some of you know my work. I contributed heavily to the articles on the Carolingians, and a number of other projects, including rewriting the article on Flavius Aetius, and the Mongol invasions, (especially the Mongol Invasion of Central Asia, which I rewrote on request, and Mongol Tactics, and a number of other topics in military history). I believe we should retain Kirill as coordinator, and would like to be an assistant to assist him. I hope my work speaks for itself. I ran for assistant last time, and when I was not selected, worked as hard as I could wherever I was needed. Again, I hope my work speaks for itself. I believe we cannot elect a coordinator without a proven track record, which Kirill has, and assistants without a track record. For those interested, I have two degrees in history, but I echo Essjay in that degrees are not the definitive measure of either mastery of a field, or the ability to apply knowledge. I have that ability, and more importantly, the ability to ask for help, and work with others. No person can undertake this alone. old windy bear 21:41, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

Comments and questions

• Having worked with old windy bear on 4 or 5 articles over the last few months I think he's got the qualities that you want in a project coordinator: he's a workhorse whose dedication and commitment to WP are obvious, and he knows his subject matter inside out. I think he'd be a great choice for this team. Ewulp 02:34, 27 July 2006 (UTC)
• Based on my experiences with oldwindybear, he is a committed and diligent—and extremely knowledgeable—contributor. Kirill Lokshin 18:16, 27 July 2006 (UTC)
• From what I've seen and experienced myself, Old windy bear is an excellent contributor with a great amount of historical knowledge. If you want a patient, steady, and dedicated wikipedian on your team: choose Old windy bear. Rex 19:18, 27 July 2006 (UTC)
• Windybear's been around, and has done great work. It's important to have people here who not only do the administrative and organizational stuff, but who are truly passionate, devoted, and knowledgable in the study of history and the writing of articles. LordAmeth 16:20, 28 July 2006 (UTC)