Wikipedia:Requests for adminship/Youngamerican

Youngamerican

Voice your opinion (3/0/0) Ending 02:05, 2 November 2006 (UTC)

Youngamerican (talk · contribs) – A registered user since February '05 and a dedicated contributor since that May, Youngamerican has been a pleasure to deal with and an asset to this community. He has 6,200+ edits, of which a healthy proportion are in projectspace and talk. In my experience (and I have a lot of interactions with this user) he has demonstrated good judgment, a cool demeanor, and an enviable deliberateness. So unlike me, this user is not known to jump into fights, run off his mouth, etc. That is generally a very good thing. In the mainspace, Youngamerican has toiled to greatly expand the world's knowledge of all things West Virginia (which apparently is a state somewhere) - but can venture out of its borders as well, see, e.g., Idit Harel Caperton. He has not told us what his views are on race-gender-sex-politics-God-eventualism-Jimboism-chocoholism, keeping his userpage completely devoid of anything remotely resembling a userbox. Finally, let me throw in his considerable experience at AfD, a handful of reports at AIAV, and his status as one of the founding fathers of Wikipedia:WikiProject KYOVA Region (five bucks to anyone who can guess what KYOVA is without clicking). So, in conclusion, while he will not be an administratively obsessed sysop like, say, me, he will definitely benefit the project more if he is armed with an Uzi, a Roomba, and The Club. This November, Vote Youngamerican. Bring Accountability Back to KYOVA! - CrazyRussian talk/email 00:45, 27 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Candidate, please indicate acceptance of the nomination here: I accept. youngamerican (ahoy hoy) 02:05, 27 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Questions for the candidate

Dear candidate, thank you for offering to serve Wikipedia in this capacity. Please take the time to answer a few generic questions to provide guidance for voters:

1. What sysop chores do you anticipate helping with? Please check out Category:Wikipedia backlog and Category:Administrative backlog, and read the page about administrators and the administrators' reading list.

A: I believe there are several areas where I can be an effective sysop. As Wikipedia continues to grow at an rapid rate, the backlogs of needed administrative actions also expands. I would focus much of my attention on sorting out the various articles and images nominated for speedy deletion by deleting those that clearly meet accepted criteria and assigning those that do not to more appropriate methods of deletion (prod or AfD) or removing those from consideration that are nominated for speedy in bad faith. I would also work to clear out prodded articles that had been tagged for the proper amount of time and close AfDs by paying careful attention to the arguments presented and to community consensus (regardless of my personal opinion). Additionally, I would assist Wikipedian photographers that want to move their images to the Commons by deleting their photos from the 'pedia once transwikification has been properly completed help out other users as needed as my skills with the mop develop over time.

Essentially, I would use my new tools with the utmost respect for the trust placed in me by the community with a pragmatic balance of caution and diligence while always placing the good of the encyclopedia above all else.

2. Of your articles or contributions to Wikipedia, are there any with which you are particularly pleased, and why?

A: In addtion to the Idit Harel Caperton article which I worked to morph from a boderline promotional piece to a "Good Article," I have worked on several other articles and topics on Wikipedia. I have used my time as a Wikipedian to bring balance and compromise to the article on Robert Byrd, expand upon issues related to the hot dog, enahnce and create, in a neutral manner, various articles related to West Virginia, and keep an eye out for vandalism to the 400 or so pages on my watchlist. I have also taken several pictures for the encyclopedia (some good, some utilitarian) in an effort to bring visual context to several articles, especially those dealing with a geographic feature or location.

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

A: That is how I met CrazyRussian! A few months back we butted heads over some AfDs regarding shopping malls. After our various sparring sessions, we developed a mutual respect and admiration (if not universal agreement) that has improved the quality of my work on Wikipedia. This and other instances of contention has taught me that these disagreements, when handled in a respectful and constructive manner, allow for excellent opportunities for networking, consensus building, and personal growth to the benefit of Wikipedia as a whole.

Totally optional question from Konstable (talk · contribs)

4. Under which circumstances would you consider putting an indefinite block on a user who is not new but is not really well established either (say someone who's been here for a month or so)?

Excellent question. I would only take such extreme actions (especially early in my career as a sysop) under specific circumstances where the user was putting the safety, welfare, or career of another editor in peril. I would immediately report my actions and the reasons for said block to Arbcom and Jimbo, as policy dictates. I would want any such action to be completely transparent and open to oversite and, if neccesary, being overturned.

General comments

See Youngamerican's edit summary usage with mathbot's tool.

Discussion

Support

Strong Support Smart, effective, and overal great user. Crz summed it up quite well. Yanksox 02:22, 27 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Strong nominator support - CrazyRussian talk/email 02:58, 27 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Wow, someone who wants to be an admin and has experience in the areas they want to help out in as an admin? That is something you don't see every day.--Andeh 03:05, 27 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Oppose

Neutral