Wikipedia:Requests for adminship/Buster7

Buster7

Voice your opinion on this candidate (talk page) (20/6/2); Scheduled to end 13:32, 14 August 2013 (UTC)

Nomination

Buster7 (talk · contribs) – It is my pleasure to present Buster7 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log) as a candidate for adminship today. I believe I first met Buster through our mutual wiki-friend/role model Dennis Brown. Together, Buster and I started the Editor of the Week project, which has now been in existence for over six months primarily due to Buster’s behind-the-scenes diligence. Buster’s best qualification, in my opinion, for adminship is his ability to be helpful without being patronizing, defensive of policy and/or other editors without being ridiculous, and welcoming without being insincere. Buster’s dedication to helping new users is truly admirable – at one point I believe he noted his aspiration to welcome 25 newcomers daily. On the content side, Buster has amassed over 9500 edits to article space, including over 100 each to each of the timelines for the four years of Obama’s presidency. He manages to remain level-headed in the face of conflict that inevitably ensues on controversial articles such as those. In addition, he has mediated at the talk pages of both Sarah Palin and BP, two additional controversial areas in which Buster’s professional attitude and calm demeanor are worthy of accolade. No matter how Buster eventually decides to utilize the admin tools, should you choose to bestow them upon him, I can unequivocally state that he would use them as he sees fit for the betterment of the encyclopedia and would undoubtedly be a net positive. One final note: Buster informs me that today is his 66th birthday; happy birthday, Buster. Go Phightins! 11:39, 7 August 2013 (UTC)

Co–nomination

It is my pleasure to co-nominate Buster7 in his request for adminship. He is a very experienced editor, with more than 30,000 edits in a little over five years. However, statistics only tell a small part of a candidate's story and I believe personality is a far more important issue. With Buster7, personality is not a problem. To me, he is a very approachable, friendly, down-to-earth person, one who is not likely to let the position of administrator go to his head. Although is not afraid to get involved in contentious areas, Buster7's may be at his best when he works to provide encouragement to his fellow Wikipedians, through such venues as the Editor of the Week project. We can always use more admins who are seeking to acknowledge the efforts of others. I am willing to trust Buster7 with the administrator tools and I hope that you are too. AutomaticStrikeout  ?  13:20, 7 August 2013 (UTC)

Candidate, please indicate acceptance of the nomination here: I accept the nomination. ```Buster Seven Talk 12:47, 7 August 2013 (UTC)

Questions for the candidate

Dear candidate, thank you for offering to serve Wikipedia as an administrator. Please answer these questions to provide guidance for participants:

1. What administrative work do you intend to take part in?

A: My first order of business will be to attend the New Admin School. I'll look into participating at WP:30, WP:Teahouse, intervention against persistent vandals and I will continue to welcome new editors. Note: I will not block (or unblock) for the foreseeable future. WP:DRN is something I will pursue.

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

A: I have written two essays I am proud of, User:Buster7/Wikiknights and User:Buster7/Incivility. I dispense the 100000 Edits Award. I've welcomed thousands of new editors. My best contribution might be that I stay out of trouble...and, therefore I don't waste other editors time. I'm very proud of what fellow clerks and I have created at WP:WER/Editor of the Week. I have been a sane, sensible long-term member of the community. I don't think that will change. The article Lincoln Park Conservatory is a worthy contribution as is my continuing editing and monitoring of the various Timelines of the Obama Administration.

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: Yes, I have. After repeated attempts to reconcile our differences I realized we might always be adversaries so I walked away. If he(?) showed up where I was editing or "talking", I walked away. I removed him from my watchlist and went on my way.

Additional question from Mark Arsten

4. In your view, when should a WP:CIR block be issued?

A: Only in the most extreme case of "lack of clue". I would be concerned for the fragile nature of the person lacking the capacity to edit responsibly. The more I think about it, I'm not sure I would ever block for CIR. More than likely, I would ask for advice.

Additional question from Ottawahitech

5. A while ago you left a message on my talkpage asking me about where I was from. Do you believe Wikipedians should be compelled to answer these types of questions?

A: It was quite a while ago. Not necessary to answer at all and I never pursued it. It was a personal question to appease my natural curiosity. I have a house 20 miles outside of Ottawa, Il. Just wondered if you were a neighbor.

Additional question from Mkdw

6. Would you mind providing more clarity as to why you believe you'd need the sysop tools in the areas mentioned in Q1? (The reason being you can participate at the WP:TEAHOUSE, WP:3O, and WP:DRN with out the sysop tools).

A: In an effort to elaborate on what my plans are, I gave examples of areas I'm interested in. When I started at Wikipedia 5 years ago, I had no idea what doors I would open or what projects would catch my interest. If I'm granted the mop, I'll walk into Admin School, have a seat and see where the wiki-wind blows me. Where ever it is I will do my best, be a good citizen, be an active participant and collaborate toward Peace.

General comments

• Links for Buster7: Buster7 (talk · contribs · deleted · count · AfD · logs · block log · lu · rfar · spi)
• Edit summary usage for Buster7 can be found here.

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Please keep discussion constructive and civil. If you are unfamiliar with the nominee, please thoroughly review his contributions before commenting.

Discussion

Support

1. Enthusiastically, as nom Go Phightins! 13:23, 7 August 2013 (UTC)
2. Support as nom. AutomaticStrikeout  ?  13:31, 7 August 2013 (UTC)
3. Support I've worked with Buster for over a year now, unquestionably ready for the bits and can be trusted. Excellent attitude, calm demeanor and a willingness and desire to serve, which are the traits we need in admin. Dennis Brown | 2¢ | WER 13:41, 7 August 2013 (UTC)
4. Support I do not believe they would abuse the tools or the position.--MONGO 13:46, 7 August 2013 (UTC)
5. Support - Looking at my admin criteria, looks like there's no problems at all. ZappaOMati 14:09, 7 August 2013 (UTC)
6. Support - looks okay to me.Deb (talk) 14:17, 7 August 2013 (UTC)
7. Support; I have seen Buster7 calmly talk someone down from the Reichstag over unbalanced editing; he possesses the temperament suitable for adminship. He also has a good deal of clue. Horologium (talk) 14:34, 7 August 2013 (UTC)
8. Support Polite and coherent. While the need for tools isn't clearly established per answers to #1, Buster7 is a trusted editor with pleasing attitude and approach. Let him help us. Alex Shih^Talk 15:01, 7 August 2013 (UTC)
9. Support Thought Buster already had a mop. I've seen his interactions and activity and strongly agree he'll use the tools to benefit Wikipeda. DocTree (ʞlɐʇ·cont) Join WER 15:21, 7 August 2013 (UTC)
10. Support - I've seen him around and he has a very good attitude, calm demeanor and a willingness to serve the community. Lord Sjones23 (talk - contributions) 16:04, 7 August 2013 (UTC)
11. Support I'd trust him with the tools. Mark Arsten (talk) 19:40, 7 August 2013 (UTC)
12. Support No major problems I can see. Intothatdarkness 19:53, 7 August 2013 (UTC)
13. Support Magnificent editor. At this point in the projects development, the community is in great need of folk who gracefully resolve conflict, spread goodwill, and generate enthusiasm for editing. Buster is one of the very best at this. Without spending hours reviewing the context, Collect's diff to Writegeist's talk seems to show a rare lapse in chivalry, but on balance Im still 100% confident Buster will make a fantastic admin. FeydHuxtable (talk) 20:01, 7 August 2013 (UTC)
14. Support. I like the answers given as they indicate that as admin, they will work in areas...THAT NEED some admin attention, even if these areas do not require one to be an admin. Shoot, most of the venues where admin do frequent do not require one to be an admin to participate. Yes...its a mop, not a club, not a badge and not a crown. We need more admin wanting to clean up where needed and not be overlords of any particular area.--Mark _{Just ask! WER TEA DR/N} 20:07, 7 August 2013 (UTC)
15. Support I met Buster7 over the past few weeks and I have been impressed with his helpful and kind attitude. Δρ.Κ. ^{λόγοςπράξις} 20:39, 7 August 2013 (UTC)
16. Support highly unlikely to break the wiki, and should be a WP:NETPOS with the tools. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Tazerdadog (talk • contribs)
17. No reason not to support. Go for it. NintendoFan (Talk, Contribs) 21:58, 7 August 2013 (UTC)
18. Support especially because of his willingness to wear lots of hats if necessary, rather than concentrating in just one or two areas. Collect points out a problematic edit, but as Buster says farther down, he quickly realised and removed it. I daresay he won't make such a mistake in the future after hearing so much about it here. And as far as not needing the tools frequently — so what? Every good admin action he performs is less work for the rest of us, and it's not as if we have a limit on the number of admins. And what's wrong with someone urging a little courtesy on his userpage? Why is a courtesy requirement seen as a negative? Nyttend (talk) 22:00, 7 August 2013 (UTC)
19. Support I have spent a few hours today looking over his contribution history. I would be more impressed with an admin wannabe if there had been more participation at WP:AFD. He seems to be opposed to hurting the feelings of new editors by deleting their first article, which is fine as long as the encyclopedia does not become a mass of vanispamcruftisements. I would like to see more than 8 articles created, but he has done many edits which improved articles, and his recent edits have used the cite web template. Maybe he has reverted and warned vandals in the past, but I only saw a little WP:AIV action in recent months. He is a very collegial editor in general rather than a power-mad ban-hammer swinger like some if he joins the ranks of administrators. We are not limited in how many admins we can have at a given time, so it is not crucial that the tools be limited to those keenest to block and delete. I would trust him with the mop. Edison (talk) 22:06, 7 August 2013 (UTC)
20. Support Yeah - I see nothing that would make this anything other than a net positive, and that's really my criterion. Oh, and he's a good guy, working on good stuff, like retention, too - and speaks common sense whenever I have cause to notice. No red flags apparent, lots of experience and clue. All good. Begoon ^talk 22:16, 7 August 2013 (UTC)

Oppose

1. Collect (talk) 15:07, 7 August 2013 (UTC) Noting the camdidate's statements [1]: I have some derogatory and self-created (by him) information that I would like to reveal regarding ***. But, I would like to create a situation where most of the editors that have worked to formulate a quality article are present. Unless *** pushes too much, I will probably wait till closer to the election. (I feel like Sam Spade/Private Detective).And then, lets just go back to being fellow editors with an extreme dislike for an editor whose name begins with a C and ends in a T, which he follows with a disclaimer - and then a slew of personal commentary directed at me anyways <g>. Not to mention his never-ending colloquy with Writegeist and his "precious" edit [2] about another editor Do you have a psychopathic schizophrnic I can borrow? in April of this year. Demeanor unworthy of being an admin IMO. I do not consider calling someone a "psychopathic schizophrnic " is indicative of calmness nir of collegiality, and this was within the past few months, so can not be considered "old." Collect (talk) 15:07, 7 August 2013 (UTC)
2. Oppose due to your answers to questions 1–3. Q1 asks what admin work you would take part in, and you answered with nothing that is admin work. Do you know what admins do here? Your answer to Q2 doesn't paint a picture of very much content work at all, which leaves me in doubt about your understanding of what content editors go through here. Your answer to Q3 is vague and not very useful. --Laser brain (talk) 18:33, 7 August 2013 (UTC)
3. Oppose - You list ambitions to work in areas that don't require admin privileges. Having yourself voted here before, you aren't a complete novice at RfA and I would've expected more elaboration. Marcus Qwertyus (talk) 19:00, 7 August 2013 (UTC)

   I really don't know where the mop will lead me. Most likely it will be in arenas dealing with new editors, vandals, civility, speaking up for editors that need a voice. I could scour previous RfC's and give you a long list of what I would do and where I would do it. But right now, today, I'm really not sure. In real life, I AM a janitor at least I was one for 20 years. So I know how to swing a mop (keep things clean and tidy), how to keep the peace between warring tenants (here it would be warring editors), I know how to use tools to repair things and get them to operate as they were intended. ```Buster Seven Talk 19:26, 7 August 2013 (UTC)

   Most editors expect that if you don't know specifically what you want to do, that you at least have contributed to areas that deal with admin matters, (e.g. AIV, RPP and AfD). Marcus Qwertyus (talk) 19:50, 7 August 2013 (UTC)

   Yes, I have contributed to AIV with positive prompt results. I've requested some Page Protection, specifically Belgium. I was at one time an active member of ARS. Not so much lately. ```Buster Seven Talk 20:37, 7 August 2013 (UTC)

4. Oppose - I'm sorry, but I find your answer to question 3 unsatisfying, especially given Collect's link and your past history.--Jasper Deng (talk) 19:02, 7 August 2013 (UTC)

   I really have had very little conflict over the years. The conflict I reference in my answer to question 3 may bubble to the surface here in the next few days and I will explain my position then, if necessary. ```Buster Seven Talk 19:15, 7 August 2013 (UTC)

   Specifically, you're not being very specific in your answer to question 3, especially with regards to conflicts you have had a while ago as well.--Jasper Deng (talk) 19:17, 7 August 2013 (UTC)

   Do you have a specific conflict in mind? I don't edit war. I've never been banned. My talk page has never been vandalized. Have I had words with editors? Sure, but nothing major. ```Buster Seven Talk 19:32, 7 August 2013 (UTC)

   Describe those "words with editors" in detail (in particular, you should also know that the "I AM" above and this edit summary on this RfA can both be considered (not saying they have to be) WP:SHOUTING).--Jasper Deng (talk) 19:39, 7 August 2013 (UTC)

   The "I" is capitalized because it leads the sentence, the "AM" is capitalized to make proud emphasis that, in RL, most of my adult life was as a Janitor in the Service Employees Union Local #1 in Chicago. I apologize if you thought I was shouting at you. ```Buster Seven Talk 20:05, 7 August 2013 (UTC). As to "words with editors', you could go to the talk pages of Bahai Faith, Mythology and Voluntary Human Extinction Movement and peruse discussions I am currently (the past week or so) having with an editor over the word "humankind". ```Buster Seven Talk 20:20, 7 August 2013 (UTC)

   Might you explain your far-less-than-cordial verbal interaction with user R-41? I daresay that calling someone a "psychopathic schizophrenic" is not precisely an example to be proud of, coming only a few months back (April 2013) (not in the "distant past" by a long shot). . Cheers. Collect (talk) 20:45, 7 August 2013 (UTC)

   The comment was mean and hurtful and completely uncalled for. I made a joke that was insensitive and inconsiderate just to be funny. I reverted it 40 minutes later. ```Buster Seven Talk 21:01, 7 August 2013 (UTC)

5. Oppose I'm not convinced by any of your answers to the first three questions. It makes me confused that part of your answer to Q1 says that you'd like to deal with persistent vandals, and yet you don't like the idea of blocking people. By the looks of your project contributions I don't think you've spent enough time working on some of these administrative areas. Q2 says that the best article you've contributed to is Lincoln Park Conservatory, but at the moment half of the article is not referenced at all! According to your answer to Q3 "walking away" is not always the right thing to do while in a conflict. To make things worse part of your reply to one of the opposers was "I really don't know where the mop will lead me." and yet you still decided to accept the nomination without thinking about what you really want to do with the tools. I think that's a case of poor judgement in my mind. Minima© (talk) 20:12, 7 August 2013 (UTC)

   Well, said, but a little absurd. Walking away during a content dispute is one thing...but walking away from CONFLICT is another thing entirely and IS the right thing to do. Not knowing what they wish to do with the tools is EXACTLY why many would consider this candidate more apt for the position as they are not thinking how they will use the tools. I asked for rollback and have yet to use that tool. Adminship is nothing special, yet you feel that it is and that good judgement calls for a predetermined idea of what one intends to do with the tools. I would assume he will use them to clean up where needed. This is not a judgement call issue, but one of honesty. I would hope that Buster does not have an idea where the tools will lead them. I like that. I think it shows that he is does not have any predetermined ideas of what an admin is or should be.--Mark _{Just ask! WER TEA DR/N} 21:21, 7 August 2013 (UTC)

6. Oppose Buster appears to be part of a small clique at the BP article. When a member of said grouping appeared at WP:ARE about a different corporate related article, Buster and another "wiki-friend" piled in without seeming to understand exactly what was going on, calling it an RFC at first, then referring to the post as an "'Admin Notice'" [3]. Buster appeared to defend the editor without really knowing what was going on, or the situation at the other article Wikipedia:Administrators'_noticeboard/3RRArchive215#User:Petrarchan47_reported_by_User:Bobrayner_.28Result:_No_action.29. This does not inspire confidence that he would act neutrally, or with any WP:CLUE as an administrator. It also shows that he lacks the necessary experience and competence to even identify different admin boards. IRWolfie- (talk) 22:51, 7 August 2013 (UTC)

Neutral

1. Leaning support, but I'd like to see Buster's comments on Collect's !vote beforehand. Ed ^{[talk] [majestic titan]} 18:20, 7 August 2013 (UTC)

   Please see my answer to Q3. If my RfA hinges on not responding to Editor Collect, so be it! ```Buster Seven Talk 18:58, 7 August 2013 (UTC)

2. Neutral I am unclear in what giving this editor the sysop tools would accomplish as all the areas listed in Q1 do not require them. Mkdw^talk 21:13, 7 August 2013 (UTC)

   Neutral _{misunderstanding now resolved} I'm uncomfortable with the banner the user has placed on their user page stating: Always Assume That Ladies/Women/Females/Girls/Your Mom Are Present. Discourteous behavior will not be tolerated even if not directed toward them.. I'm not sure bold exclamation of what appears to be an antiquated "fairer sex" attitude aligns with Wikimedia's mission to address deep-seated issue of gender bias amongst editors; gender should really be irrelevant, particularly to someone welcoming new users and working at the teahouse. This doesn't necessarily preclude my support for adminship but shall stay neutral for now Jebus989^✰ 21:26, 7 August 2013 (UTC)

   The banner has nothing to do with the any "fairer sex attitude". It has to do with a solution to the Civility problem. Most men aren't crude, rude, or lewd in front of their Mother. How do we get editors to stop agitating each other with cursing and aggressive words? It's just an idea. So far its working ...on my talk page, at least.```Buster Seven Talk 21:48, 7 August 2013 (UTC)

   If you'd just said "don't say what you wouldn't say in front of your mother" it would be fine, I suppose, but you specifically mention any female (or lady, girl, woman). In my experience it doesn't seem that Wikipedia has any endemic problem with swearing or aggression—we are building an encyclopaedia afterall, it's not quite that exciting. Maybe you could remove the 4 other gender-specific terms to address this concern? Jebus989^✰ 21:57, 7 August 2013 (UTC)

   Actually, Wikipedia suffers from a lot of civility problems. Even if we were not, I'd be incredibly disappointed to find someone taking exception to a notice that requests others to be courteous. AutomaticStrikeout  ?  22:09, 7 August 2013 (UTC)

   Ive made the change Editor Jebus suggested. I think it clarifies the message. ```Buster Seven Talk 22:13, 7 August 2013 (UTC)

   You spectacularly miss my point AutomaticStrikeout, I'm not starting a campaign against requests for courtesy, just expressing my discomfort with what could possibly be construed as sexist undertones ("even if it's not directed at females! Good heavens!") but Buster has now clarified the intention and resolved my concern Jebus989^✰ 22:18, 7 August 2013 (UTC)

   Actually, I understood your point quite clearly. I don't see Buster's note as having been sexist, but we might as well agree to disagree. AutomaticStrikeout  ?  22:22, 7 August 2013 (UTC)

   My apologies, just somewhat strange of you to reply with an unrelated strawman argument if that was the case. In fact it's now resolved (and marked as such) so agreement or lack thereof isn't necessary Jebus989^✰ 22:29, 7 August 2013 (UTC)