Wikipedia:Requests for adminship/MB: Difference between revisions

MB

The following discussion is preserved as a request for adminship that has been automatically placed on hold pending a decision as to the outcome. Please do not modify the text. The result of the discussion will be posted soon.

Voice your opinion on this candidate (talk page) (65/2/0); Scheduled to end 14:29, 8 January 2023 (UTC)

Nomination

MB (talk · contribs) – It is my great pleasure to nominate MB for adminship. MB has been editing since 2015; I noticed him while monitoring NPP, and I don't ever remember declining a single tag. He also does a tremendous amount of categorization and gnoming, completing the small but essential maintenance necessary to keep our articles top quality. In particular, MB has a lot of technical skills working with templates and parameters; goodness knows we always need more technically-minded admins. A perusal of the discussions he's been involved in shows a lot of positive interactions, and he clearly demonstrates the levelheaded temperament that is essential for being a good administrator. Deletion discussions in particular can get very contentious, and his comments at AfD and RfD are always well thought out and helpful for coming to a clear consensus. It's my judgment that MB will make an excellent addition to the admin corps. The Blade of the Northern Lights (話して下さい) 23:57, 30 December 2022 (UTC)

Co-nomination statement

There had been a hiatus in leadership for a couple of years when MB, an established content provider, drafted a NPP newsletter early last year to call attention to the ever increasing backlog. What ensued from his energy was the creation of a solid coord team who together have now addressed around 50 long outstanding bugs in the Page Curation and have organized drives which have brought huge backlogs to their lowest level ever.

Through his own initiative with the Open Letter action to the WMF which garnered 444 signatories, he obtained the attention of the two most senior people in the WMF, the CEO and the CPTO, and set a new precedent for direct community dialogues with them and obtaining progress.

Most previous NPP coords have had the much needed extra tools to efficiently manage the important content control processes. Please join with Blade of the Northern lights, one of the earliest pioneers of modern NPP and support MB's need for the mop. Kudpung กุดผึ้ง (talk) 20:29, 31 December 2022 (UTC)

Candidate, please indicate acceptance of the nomination here: I accept the nomination, with thanks to The Blade of the Northern Lights and Kudpung for their kind words. I have never edited for pay or other forms of compensation, and do not have any other accounts. MB 13:54, 1 January 2023 (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. Why are you interested in becoming an administrator?

A: I have been involved at NPP for five years, becoming a coordinator last year. Being able to view deleted articles is very useful when looking into likely recreations of spam articles and it would be more efficient to be able to do this myself rather than having to contact an Admin. I would also be able help other NPPers out in the same way, as well as assign and remove the NPP and Autopatrol perms. The Redirect autopatrol is another pseudo-right that only an Admin can add or remove. I could also process CSDs, especially deletion of redirects holding up AFC moves to mainspace and PRODs placed by NPPers on new articles. All prior NPP coordinators have been Admins. MB 13:54, 1 January 2023 (UTC)

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

A: One of my favorite articles is East German balloon escape. I found there was no article about it so I wrote it and it has received 20,000 views both times it ran on OTD. Fred Thomas (athlete) is another “missing article”; I say that because there so many articles on athletes with questionable notability yet this one didn’t exist until I wrote it two years ago. Kerima’s ethnicity was publicized inaccurately for promotional reasons decades ago making it look as if she was Algerian. Research uncovered the true story, and Google now says she’s French. Firoza Begum is an article I found at AfD and saved.

Beyond content, my best work for Wikipedia is in stepping in as coordinator at NPP last year to fill a void. MB 13:54, 1 January 2023 (UTC)

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: Conflicts of course happen. I avoid acting impulsively/emotionally and usually try to cite a policy/guideline that supports my position first, and then if necessary try to get a consensus by starting a discussion. For example, when I remove overly promotional text, and it is restored multiple times, I’ll ask the user if they have a COI. They usually don’t respond and if they restore again, I just escalate to WP:COIN. MB 13:54, 1 January 2023 (UTC)

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You may ask optional questions below. There is a limit of two questions per editor. Multi-part questions disguised as one question, with the intention of evading the limit, are disallowed. Follow-up questions relevant to questions you have already asked are allowed.

Optional questions from Casualdejekyll

4. The most important part of being an administrator, in my personal opinion, is judging consensus and closing discussions. Do you plan to be active in this area?

A: I have never closed any kind of deletion discussion and don’t plan to work in that area, preferring to just contribute to the discussions. I have formally closed some Move and Merge discussions and will continue to do that. I have informally closed some non-content discussions by implementing the proposals. MB 00:15, 2 January 2023 (UTC)

5. If so, do you have experience (i.e. past closures) you can point to in this area?

A: Talk:James Bryant House and Talk:The Centaurus are uncontroversial Merges.Wikipedia talk:Manual of Style/Capital letters#Capitalization in section headers that start with numbers is a policy MOS change I recently implemented after assessing there was consensus for the change. MB 00:15, 2 January 2023 (UTC)

Optional question from Rschen7754

6. What are your views on how WP:BURDEN and WP:NEXIST should work in practice in the NPP process, while factoring in WP:BITE?

A:. In my monitoring of NPP related commentary at various discussion boards, I am well aware that some editors feel NPP accepts too many poor quality articles, while others feel our acceptance standards are too high. We need to try to navigate between these two positions as much as possible. Sometimes, we accept an article with no sources and tag it with {{sources exist}} if the subject is clearly noteable, particularly if it is otherwise well-written. I support that. Often, our judgment is that an article shouldn’t be in mainspace yet and we Draftify. I support that too. Making the process less WP:BITEY has been a focus of mine at NPP. I recently had NPP policy changed to delay draftification for at least an hour (from 15 minutes) from the last edit to give an editor more time to work on the article. I initiated changes to the draftify script to make it guide the reviewer to provide useful simple-language messages to the author about what improvements are needed, and I co-authored HELP:NPR, a new simple-language help page specifically for new users who have tried to create an article directly in mainspace. MB 00:21, 2 January 2023 (UTC)

Optional question from Liz

7. While I have a positive opinion of you, MB, I am skeptical of candidates who answer Question #3 as you did. Conflict, or the pontential for conflict, is a big part of being an active administrator. If you are an active admin, it can happen daily. You can't have a leadership role like you've taken at NPP without encountering some disagreement with your decisions. Rather than saying you avoid conflict, I'd like you to answer with an actual incident of conflict that occurred and discuss how you handled it, whether it was a positive or a negative experience that you learned from. If you gain adminship, you can expect angry editors to show up on your User talk page and before supporting, I'd like to see how you have handled specific conflicts when they happen instead of reading about your philosophy of how one should handle conflict. Thank you for putting your name out there for consideration, I wish you good luck with this RfA process!

A:

Discussion

• Links for MB: MB (talk · contribs · deleted · count · AfD · logs · block log · lu · rfar · spi)
• Edit summary usage for MB 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.

Support

1. I have not interacted with the candidate directly, but I often see them around, and I don't have any concerns regarding their behaviour. Their content creation is good, they are civil, and seem to have a good temper. The only thing for me is their rare participation in technical aspects of Wikipedia, but this is not a big issue. —usernamekiran (talk) 14:33, 1 January 2023 (UTC)
2. Support – some of the best have come from NPP (yes, I am biased when it comes to NPP) but there is no denying this candidate is among our best. To say MB is qualified would be an understatement. Adminship is a no-brainer. Atsme 💬 📧 14:42, 1 January 2023 (UTC)

   ​ +1 to everything you said. —usernamekiran (talk) 17:56, 1 January 2023 (UTC)

3. Support I have seen them around NPP, and particularly the proactive open letter regarding NPP's dire need of maintenance and support from WMF. I would like to hear your feedback, as a veteran editor on how documentation for transcluding/substituting templates could be easier. I saw you struggled a bit earlier with transcluding this RfA. It is in no a deal breaker/concern for me, because I trust you to be cautious with tools you are not familiar with, when acting in mod capacity. ~ 🦝 Shushugah (he/him • talk) 14:48, 1 January 2023 (UTC)
4. Support A good candidate who will make an excellent admin. The editor has a very solid grasp of policies and has done excellent work at NPP. scope_creep^Talk 14:50, 1 January 2023 (UTC)
5. Support looks good. — Ingenuity (talk • contribs) 14:59, 1 January 2023 (UTC)
6. Support, precious --Gerda Arendt (talk) 15:09, 1 January 2023 (UTC)
7. Support, amazing editor. _signed, 511KeV ^(talk) 15:23, 1 January 2023 (UTC)
8. Support no concerns. Sarrail (talk) 15:26, 1 January 2023 (UTC)
9. Support --Minorax^«¦talk¦» 15:31, 1 January 2023 (UTC)
10. Support No concerns and an amazing editor. Thingofme (talk) 15:32, 1 January 2023 (UTC)
11. Support No objections. Good luck! --Vacant0 (talk) 15:32, 1 January 2023 (UTC)
12. — Trey Maturin™ 15:37, 1 January 2023 (UTC)
13. Support net positive.Pharaoh of the Wizards (talk) 15:46, 1 January 2023 (UTC)
14. Support as co-nom. Kudpung กุดผึ้ง (talk) 15:56, 1 January 2023 (UTC)
15. Support LGTM NW1223<Howl at me•My hunts> 16:16, 1 January 2023 (UTC)
16. Support Trustworthy editor, trustworthy noms. Will be an even bigger help with the mop. Miniapolis 16:32, 1 January 2023 (UTC)
17. * Pppery * _{it has begun...} 16:38, 1 January 2023 (UTC)
18. Support Great work at NPP, not worried about their AfD match rate; arguments show good understanding of the process even when in the minority. —Femke 🐦 (talk) 16:40, 1 January 2023 (UTC)
19. Support no problems. Sheep (talk • he/him) 16:48, 1 January 2023 (UTC)
20. Support per noms. Gråbergs Gråa Sång (talk) 16:51, 1 January 2023 (UTC)
21. Support - No issues. Comr Melody Idoghor (talk) 16:51, 1 January 2023 (UTC)
22. Support. A prolific and accurate problem-fixer with good uses lined up for the tools. Enough content creation to satisfy those who consider that important. Certes (talk) 17:12, 1 January 2023 (UTC)
23. Support. The new year only minutes old; this sort of candidate is a good portent for the days ahead. Fully qualified. BusterD (talk) 17:16, 1 January 2023 (UTC)
24. Support No issues, net positive. -Kj cheetham (talk) 17:20, 1 January 2023 (UTC)
25. Support per nom. Zsinj^Talk 17:24, 1 January 2023 (UTC)
26. Support 0xDeadbeef→∞ (talk to me) 17:45, 1 January 2023 (UTC)
27. Support: Great nom statements, looks like a swell editor. May this new year bring more great candidates like MB. ~ Pbritti (talk) 18:04, 1 January 2023 (UTC)
28. Support I think MB will be a helpful administrator. Schazjmd (talk) 18:05, 1 January 2023 (UTC)
29. Support. Fully qualified candidate, who has taken on an important role. Newyorkbrad (talk) 18:49, 1 January 2023 (UTC)
30. Support Net positive. --TheSandDoctor ^Talk 18:51, 1 January 2023 (UTC)
31. Support: yes. jp×g 18:56, 1 January 2023 (UTC)
32. Support. As a fellow NPP coordinator, I've worked closely with MB and I have every confidence he'd do a great job as an admin. –Novem Linguae (talk) 19:00, 1 January 2023 (UTC)
33. Support Impressive work, level-headed, and no concerns after reviewing their contributions. Best of luck! Lord Roem ~ (talk) 19:01, 1 January 2023 (UTC)
34. Support. MB has done excellent work in managing NPP, and I am certain he will bring those skills to the administrative side. The Night Watch (talk) 19:07, 1 January 2023 (UTC)
35. Support - gladly, net asset to the project, no issues.Onel5969 ^{TT me} 19:43, 1 January 2023 (UTC)
36. Happy New Year and Best of Everything to You and Yours! P.I. Ellsworth , ed. ^put'r there 19:45, 1 January 2023 (UTC)
37. Support Volten001 ^☎ 19:47, 1 January 2023 (UTC)
38. Support as the nominator, of course. Sorry for the delay, my day hasn't quite gone as planned. The Blade of the Northern Lights (話して下さい) 19:53, 1 January 2023 (UTC)
39. Support Good way to start 2023. Regards, --Goldsztajn (talk) 19:55, 1 January 2023 (UTC)
40. Support A definite plus for the project. No concerns about being entrusted with administrator tools. — Archer1234 (talk) 20:01, 1 January 2023 (UTC)
41. Support - A perfect fit for the job: trustworthy, competent, good disposition. Thank you for volunteering. Netherzone (talk) 20:53, 1 January 2023 (UTC)
42. Support - the wub "?!" 21:44, 1 January 2023 (UTC)
43. Support Not a jerk, NOBIGDEAL. Excellent work at NPP. Additionally, it seems we are averaging 1 RfA candidate/day in 2023. Maybe we can keep this up? HouseBlaster^talk 21:44, 1 January 2023 (UTC)
44. DanCherek (talk) 21:55, 1 January 2023 (UTC)
45. Support Looks good to me. -- Kicking222 (talk) 22:30, 1 January 2023 (UTC)
46. Support—I believe we would benefit greatly from having this editor as an administrator. Kurtis ^(talk) 22:56, 1 January 2023 (UTC)
47. Support All of my interactions with this editor have been positive, and will make good use of the tools. Mdewman6 (talk) 22:57, 1 January 2023 (UTC)
48. Support Leijurv (talk) 23:07, 1 January 2023 (UTC)
49. Support, this is exactly the sort of nomination that gets 2023 off to the right start. BD2412 T 23:15, 1 January 2023 (UTC)
50. Support Elli (talk | contribs) 23:40, 1 January 2023 (UTC)
51. Support, no concerns. ScottishFinnishRadish (talk) 00:03, 2 January 2023 (UTC)
52. Support I trust these noms, and anyone who does that much for NPP deserves our unending gratitude. Toadspike (talk) 00:12, 2 January 2023 (UTC)
53. Support - I have interacted with and seen MB a few times over the past year and have never once seen anything problematic in any way. I think having this editor as an administrator would be a benefit for Wikipedia. - Aoidh (talk) 00:23, 2 January 2023 (UTC)
54. I've also interacted with MB numerous times, and I've found him to be exactly the kind of editor we need as an administrator. –Epicgenius (talk) 00:51, 2 January 2023 (UTC)
55. Tol (talk | contribs) @ 01:13, 2 January 2023 (UTC)
56. Support An NPP veteran who would be an asset with the tools. Looking forward to passing the baton. ^Complex/_Rational 01:57, 2 January 2023 (UTC)
57. Support I've had amazing interactions with them and have full confidence in their ability to understand Wikipedia's PAGs. Clovermoss🍀 (talk) 02:25, 2 January 2023 (UTC)
58. Support mostly on the basis of the noms and the user's talkpage as an "Administrator without tools". I'm willing to revise this for now if the current oppose proves to show a pattern. – John M Wolfson (talk • contribs) 02:37, 2 January 2023 (UTC)
59. 🐶 EpicPupper ^{(he/him | talk)} 02:38, 2 January 2023 (UTC)
60. Support No reason to think this user would abuse the tools --rogerd (talk) 02:39, 2 January 2023 (UTC)
61. Not a jerk, has a clue. TonyBallioni (talk) 02:52, 2 January 2023 (UTC)
62. Per my comment on MB's talk page. — Wug·a·po·des​ — Preceding undated comment added 03:24, 2 January 2023 (UTC)
63. Support Has a clue, not a jerk, no big deal — TheresNoTime (talk • they/them) 03:38, 2 January 2023 (UTC)
64. Support Why not? -FASTILY 03:42, 2 January 2023 (UTC)
65. Support MB is an editor who has done lots to help around the site, especially NPP, and would greatly benefit from the tools! echidnaLives - talk - edits 04:02, 2 January 2023 (UTC)

Oppose

1. Oppose I was sorry to see MB was up for administrator. I did work with MB on Bass Lake (Watauga County, North Carolina). Background on that: I had tried to convince Cones Lake AfD participants that they had ivoted Keep based on references for another lake. Nobody listened. Next MB sent Cones Lake to AfD again based on my arguments in the original AfD. So I started an article for the correct lake. Beyond that one article on Bass Lake, the majority of my experiences with MB have not been positive. Here are just a few recent examples. When NPP was backlogged I offered to help and MB's comments had me excluded based on my AfD match rate. MB is also an anti-WP:ARS (article rescue) editor and he said this about the group: "...they collaborate to "win" by any means and then disappear without actually improving the article". MB had to know that this was a complete falsehood, but they made this inaccurate statement in an anti-ars ANI thread. MB has demonstrated that they will not be an impartial administrator. Lightburst (talk) 02:21, 2 January 2023 (UTC)

   As a lead coordinator of NPP, I’m not certain this user would be able to patrol from a purely neutral standpoint based on their record at AFD - This comment doesn't seem to be about your match rate (which is 70%), but about your !voting to keep more often than to delete (2:1 ratio), which is a rather more pernicious reason to prevent an editor from receiving permissions. I say this, because MB is not claiming that you lack the competence or accuracy, but that you are not capable of neutral editing because of that record. That has squat to do with match rate. You can contrast MB's AfD record which is heavily skewed to deletionism and his 'accuracy' is barely better than yours.[1] Mr rnddude (talk) 03:26, 2 January 2023 (UTC)

   Articles end up at AfD specifically because in most cases their suitability for the encyclopedia is usually correctly challenged and probably the vast majority do end up as 'delete'. That's the whole purpose of the exercise and why the system was created. It's a fail safe instead of NPP being simply a binary process; AfD does its job and that's why indeed a few articles do get kept or merged. The statement about MB's ANI comment justifies a thorough read of that case before singling out it as an RfA oppose rationale and certainly read more than the closer's accurate statement. - many well known admins made similar comments. If I had seen this comment - as I do still occasionally comment at PERM - I would have endorsed it. I sense there is more to this oppose vote than is wholly appropriate. Kudpung กุดผึ้ง (talk) 04:09, 2 January 2023 (UTC)

2. I cannot support a candidate who replaces an article with a redirect to draftspace and tags it for speedy deletion as a cross-namespace redirect, or one who thinks that "Recreation by same author of declined Draft:Newport" is a valid speedy deletion rationale. I can accept someone who tags pages in a way that is in the grey area of discretion, but things like tagging an article as a duplicate of a draft (apparently as an experiment, while being unsure of the policy when it was clear at the time) are simply bright-line policy violations. This is a shame, given that he has taken up the difficult role of coordinating NPP, but this is about whether an editor should be given access to administrative tools and not about whether he is a good editor. Sdrqaz (talk) 04:14, 2 January 2023 (UTC)

General comments

The above adminship discussion is preserved as an archive of the discussion. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the talk page of either this nomination or the nominated user). No further edits should be made to this page.