Misplaced Pages

Revision as of 17:49, 3 August 2009

Cobi

Voice your opinion on this candidate (talk page) (70/5/1); Scheduled to end 03:33, 10 August 2009 (UTC).

Nomination

Cobi (talk · contribs) – Cobi is an editor who I have great respect for, and am happy to be able to nominate for adminship. I hope that we can get past the more arbitrary and 'stats based' RfA criteria with this candidate, and promote someone who would be a true asset as an admin. I do hope everyone takes the time to read this nomination, which I will try to keep as short as possible, to facilitate that goal.

Cobi does not have a lot of edits. Nor does he have a lot of featured articles. He is not the average pre-vetted adminship candidate. But I imagine virtually all of you have been affected by his work. Among other things, Cobi wrote ClueBot. This bot has arguably improved the Misplaced Pages reader's experience more than any single editor could ever do. Additionally, Cobi is one of only two non-admins trusted with the ability to modify the Edit Filter, which can block edits from being saved, and the only one of the two that was given that ability by a consensus of the community. Cobi is a member of the Bot Approvals Group, the group that approves the operation of every bot allowed to operate on Misplaced Pages. Since his first edit in 2007, Cobi has acquired the knowledge, trust, and capability to benefit Misplaced Pages as an admin in a way that an average admin candidate can not. So I ask that those who comment please consider not just the 'stats' Cobi has a acquired, but instead look at the very substantial impact he has made, and the very substantial trust he has earned, before deciding if he will properly use the admin tools. Prodego 04:29, 1 August 2009 (UTC)

Co-nomination by MindstormsKid: Ever since I started editing I've known Cobi as a very smart and polite person. Cobi may not have many manual edits, but the fact that he runs 5 approved bots and that the anti-vandalism one is very accurate shows that he knows his way around wikipedia. If Cobi gets the mop, we will all benefit greatly. ≈ MindstormsKid 01:20, 2 August 2009 (UTC)

Candidate, please indicate acceptance of the nomination here: I humbly accept this nomination. -- Cobi 03:33, 3 August 2009 (UTC)

Questions for the candidate

Dear candidate, thank you for offering to serve Misplaced Pages as an administrator. It is recommended that you answer these optional questions to provide guidance for participants:

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

A: Primarily vandal fighting. Some open proxy work, and BAG work.

Expanded A: As I have done a fair amount of vandal fighting, and as I even wrote a bot to do it, I am fairly proficient at it. This would include blocking vandals, reverting/deleting vandalism, and editing the edit filter and it's MediaWiki-namespace notices. The relevant noticeboards include: AIV, RFPP (to an extent), CAT:CSD, AF/R, WP:AF/FP, and ANI (to an extent.)

I'm a verified open proxy checker and, as such, will block open proxies per policy.

I'm also a member of the BAG and, as such, will occasionally need to block unapproved bots and unblock previously blocked bots once they get approval to operate.

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

A: ClueBot. It has made over 1.1 million edits reverting and warning vandals. This has helped out article writers by letting them focus on writing articles and not having to revert the article and warn the vandal.

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: I have. However, I don't stress over it, or let it get to me. I generally try to understand their point of view, and logically explain my point of view.

Expanded A: The only "conflicts" that I have been involved with have been in relation to false positives reported about my bot. Such false positives are inevitable, but users can often get very indignant when this happens. This has not caused me stress. My approach has always been to gently explain the computation behind the false positive and try to fix this from happening again. My approach as an administrator would be very similar, in that I would quickly find the problem, make a judgment on its correctness, and "fix" the problem, while making sure all involved parties have as little discontent as possible.

Additional optional question from NuclearWarfare

4. Do you intend to still add yourself to CAT:AOR under this criteria, as you indicated in your last RfA?

A. Yes.

Optional question by DarkFalls

5. What has changed since your last RfA?

A: Primarily experience and time. It's been over a year since my last RfA. I also tried some article work, and brought UnrealIRCd from a redlink to a DYK.

General comments

• Requests for adminship/Cobi
• Requests for adminship/Cobi 2
• Requests for adminship/Cobi 3
• Requests for adminship/Cobi 4

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

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

Discussion

Support

1. Strong Support - Prodego's nomination put it quite well. Cobi has been here a while, and he is trusted with far more than just adminship at the moment (Abuse Filter Editor, ClueNet hosting). Cobi has a clue No pun intended, really, and is as suited for the role as anyone that I have seen come through RfA. Good luck! NW (Talk) 03:36, 3 August 2009 (UTC)
2. Strongest Possible Support Wizardman 03:36, 3 August 2009 (UTC)
3. Strong Support Cobi will make a terrific addition the the admin team. No reservations whatsoever. →javért 03:37, 3 August 2009 (UTC)
4. Support; a bit inactive for my liking, but extremely knowledgeable. –Juliancolton |  03:38, 3 August 2009 (UTC)
5. Had no clue you weren't. Can we just SNOW close this as successful? → ROUX ₪ 03:41, 3 August 2009 (UTC)
6. Support As nominator. Prodego 03:44, 3 August 2009 (UTC)
7. Support without hesitation. Despite three past unsuccessful RfAs, you have truly shown that you will make a fine admin. Good luck! The Earwig (Talk | Contribs) 03:48, 3 August 2009 (UTC)
8. Strong Support. Cobi has earned a great deal of trust, and has imparted clue over a million times already.   — Jeff G. (talk|contribs) 03:54, 3 August 2009 (UTC)
9. support. Nice guy, definitely admin material due to his non-articlespace work. Hayley»(talk) 04:02, 3 August 2009 (UTC)
10. Support Just like I supported the last time, I have no reason to oppose him.--Caspian blue 04:11, 3 August 2009 (UTC)
11. Support Why not? -FASTILY 04:15, 3 August 2009 (UTC)
12. Strong Support Absolutely. Until It Sleeps 04:16, 3 August 2009 (UTC)
13. Support PseudoOne (talk) 04:18, 3 August 2009 (UTC)
14. Of course. I would have nominated Cobi myself, had I not been on vacation yesterday. From what I see, Cobi is not our average user. He is not an avid article writer, but that should be overlooked for this RfA. He is incredibly well versed in technical skills, and this allows him to understand more esoteric parts of the admin toolset, such as open proxies and the abuse filter. He will definitely benefit from receiving the tools. (X! · talk)  · @222  ·  04:19, 3 August 2009 (UTC)
15. Rjd0060 (talk) 04:20, 3 August 2009 (UTC)
16. User has been around long enough that we know they won't be messing around with mainspace so the lack of content building isnt an issue for anotherwise great user. Spartaz 04:42, 3 August 2009 (UTC)
17. Support Cobi obviously knows a lot about vandal fighting, and BAG. Writing Cluebot must be time-consuming, so I have no problem supporting.--Res2216firestar 05:02, 3 August 2009 (UTC)
18. Support Easily ready for the mop and bucket, but I would like to see a bit of "nitty-gritty" article creation/maintenance. But that's far outweighed by excellent vandal fighting. Irbisgreif (talk) 05:05, 3 August 2009 (UTC)
19. Strong Support -download ׀ sign! 05:20, 3 August 2009 (UTC)
20. Tan | 39 05:23, 3 August 2009 (UTC)
21. Like always. Didn't we promote a sysop from another wiki with under 75 edits for a specific function? I trust Cobi. Keegan (talk) 05:54, 3 August 2009 (UTC)

    Are you referring to this? Lәo_(βǃʘʘɱ) 05:56, 3 August 2009 (UTC)

    Yes, I was. I was trying to be a bit more nudging than to link to it. Keegan (talk) 06:16, 3 August 2009 (UTC)

22. Support Proven trusted user, and he knows his way around... I think he will do a great job with the mop and bucket... -Pax85 (talk) 05:59, 3 August 2009 (UTC)
23. Support Heck, if Cluebot wanted admin status, I'd support that too. Supporting Cluebot's creator is a no-brainer. Ray 06:06, 3 August 2009 (UTC)
24. Support The brain behind ClueBot obviously deserves the mop. I don't find his alleged "sparse activity" on Misplaced Pages to be any cause for concern--the point is that we can trust him to use his admin powers wisely. B Fizz 06:08, 3 August 2009 (UTC)
25. Strong Support Will be a very strong addition to the admin team ,great track and find the project will only gain with Cobi having tools.Pharaoh of the Wizards (talk) 06:35, 3 August 2009 (UTC)
26. support. NVO (talk) 06:48, 3 August 2009 (UTC)
27. Support Obviously has the clue level to be an awesome vandal fighting admin. Beeblebrox (talk) 07:16, 3 August 2009 (UTC)
28. support I support giving adminship to any user who I believe will be a benefit with them, regardless of edit count, article experience etc. Viridae 07:21, 3 August 2009 (UTC)
29. Support Clean blocklog, highly clueful longterm user. ϢereSpielChequers 07:30, 3 August 2009 (UTC)
30. Support I've nominated him previously, and I remain a strong supporter of him. Being an admin isn't a reward for running a bot or for writing articles or for whatever. It's simply a way to make it easier to maintain and improve the encyclopedia. This is what Cobi does, as well as or better than many of us. We should have way, way more administrators than we do, but that's a discussion for elsewhere, I guess.  :) kmccoy (talk) 08:20, 3 August 2009 (UTC)
31. Support. Adminship is not a reward for prolific content contributors. It's an extra toolset for people who would have a use for them and can be trusted with them. The opposes so far are for reasons unrelated to this candidate's suitability for the role.—S Marshall /_Cont 08:43, 3 August 2009 (UTC)
32. Support. Cobi has the necessary experience to help out. Good luck! -- Luk 08:59, 3 August 2009 (UTC)
33. Support - trustworthy editor. PhilKnight (talk) 09:25, 3 August 2009 (UTC)
34. Support because I see an editor who comes here with a very good track record and has proven himself trustworthy. Serial FA creators are awesome, but bot-programmers are of just as much value to Misplaced Pages, in my opinion. Master&Expert (Talk) 10:00, 3 August 2009 (UTC)
35. Support, a trustworthy admin asset. -- zzuuzz 10:11, 3 August 2009 (UTC)
36. Support; hard working editor that can really use the tools to great effect. Cobi has been working on infrastructure since he's been around, and giving him the maintenance tools is consistent with this. — Coren  10:13, 3 August 2009 (UTC)
37. —Dark 10:17, 3 August 2009 (UTC)
38. Support I opposed last time, but I was really nit-picking, and in all honesty probably shouldn't have. The guy has done more to improve Misplaced Pages than just about any other single editor. He can be trusted with a few extra buttons. faithless () 10:35, 3 August 2009 (UTC)
39. iMatthew  at 10:45, 3 August 2009 (UTC)
40. (edit conflict) Support His work on Misplaced Pages may be specialist but RFA is not a competition to elect the candidates who are perfect in every way. His bot work and coding skills have saved the editors of this project thousands of hours they would have had to spend cleaning up after vandals and I see nothing bad happening if he gets the tools. His answer to question #5 does not mean he claims to be an article writer, it means that he has shown to know how to do it which just serves to assure me that he understands the effort that goes into writing articles (which is essential for anyone who has the technical power to delete such pages). In short, Cobi is clueful, technically skilled and knows his way around the project without any reason to assume that he will misuse the tools (I had pre-watchlisted this RFA in fact). Regards SoWhy 10:47, 3 August 2009 (UTC)
41. Strong Support, granting the tools will benefit him, and in turn benefit the project. --Taelus (talk) 10:49, 3 August 2009 (UTC)
42. Support Martinp23 11:18, 3 August 2009 (UTC)
43. Edit conflict Support --Chris 11:20, 3 August 2009 (UTC)
44. Another (edit conflict) Support Highly trustworthy, GDonato (talk) 11:20, 3 August 2009 (UTC)
45. Support - why ever not? Adminship is just another job, a set of tools, that Cobi can clearly make good use of. —Sean Whitton / 11:26, 3 August 2009 (UTC)
46. Support. Cobi is trustworthy and has made a significant contribution to the project. WJBscribe (talk) 11:49, 3 August 2009 (UTC)
47. I like the way SoWhy put it. Cobi has been friendly and responsive to my bug reports. If we can't trust Cobi, we're already screwed, so he might as well be an admin. - Dank (push to talk) 12:06, 3 August 2009 (UTC)
48. I supported last time. I support this time. Kingturtle (talk) 12:08, 3 August 2009 (UTC)
49. Support.  Frank  |  talk  12:10, 3 August 2009 (UTC)
50. Sounds like a case of WTHN. Crotchety Old Man (talk) 12:21, 3 August 2009 (UTC)
51. Support. No problems here. Good luck! Pastor Theo (talk) 12:28, 3 August 2009 (UTC)
52. Kusma (talk) 12:33, 3 August 2009 (UTC)
53. Support. PeterSymonds (talk) 13:11, 3 August 2009 (UTC)
54. Per nom, and I have no reason to believe he will abuse or misuse the tools. J.delanoy_adds 13:13, 3 August 2009 (UTC)
55. Support. I think Cobi would be a fine addition. --Kanonkas :  Talk  13:57, 3 August 2009 (UTC)
56. Support - Cobi has amply demonstrated his commitment to the encyclopedia through his bots, if nothing else. Plenty of evidence that he’s smart, sensible, and would use admin tools maturely. Beyond applying some kind of bright-line requirement for article work (something I always disagree with, but particularly strongly in the case of this candidate), I can see absolutely no reason to oppose and many reasons to support. ~ mazca 14:06, 3 August 2009 (UTC)
57. Support. This can only help the project. -- Deville (Talk) 14:06, 3 August 2009 (UTC)
58. Support- An asset to the community. PerfectProposal 14:16, 3 August 2009 (UTC)
59. Support Why not. America69 (talk) 14:36, 3 August 2009 (UTC)
60. Strong Support Cobi is definetly ready for adminship. Wii Wiki (talk) 14:43, 3 August 2009 (UTC)
61. Late support as co-nom and member of the "You aren't one already?!" club. ≈ MindstormsKid 15:08, 3 August 2009 (UTC)
62. Support Has a clue and is trustworthy. Pmlineditor 15:36, 3 August 2009 (UTC)
63. (edit conflict)Support Cobi has already greatly improved Misplaced Pages through ClueBot, and I trust him fully with the tools. LittleMountain5 15:38, 3 August 2009 (UTC)
64. Support I supported each of the last three; why stop now? Joe (talk) 15:48, 3 August 2009 (UTC)
65. Support Mifter (talk) 16:44, 3 August 2009 (UTC)
66. Support Doesn't look like he'll abuse the tools in any way, and he seems to know his stuff. Timmeh 16:47, 3 August 2009 (UTC)
67. Support - Of course. King of ♥ ♦ ♣ ♠ 16:49, 3 August 2009 (UTC)
68. Nathan 17:05, 3 August 2009 (UTC)
69. With added experience, I find I can fully support you this time around. Best of luck, Malinaccier (talk) 17:41, 3 August 2009 (UTC)
70. Support a candidate who has done a lot of valuable work in the unfashionable areas of Misplaced Pages - fighting vandals, making sure everything runs smoothly. Cynical (talk) 17:46, 3 August 2009 (UTC)

Oppose

1. Strong Oppose - Nothing or very little has changed since the last RfA. User is relatively inactive and doesn't contribute to articles beyond huggle/AWB. Wisdom89 _{(T / )} 03:49, 3 August 2009 (UTC)

   The user does, however, contribute in a way that makes it significantly easier for others to do so. Not to mention that what ClueBot does makes the encyclopedia better for the readers, which is the entire point we're all working on this thing anyway. Granting the mop and bucket to Cobi will allow him wider latitude in doing what he already does: making Misplaced Pages more reliable and easier to edit. → ROUX ₪ 03:59, 3 August 2009 (UTC)

   Just a quick note that adminship isn't a reward - even for cluebot - but I do agree that the shiny buttons will make Cobi's work easier and there are no real downsides to giving them to Cobi. :-) Spartaz 06:07, 3 August 2009 (UTC)

2. Oppose as a 4th nomination. Yes, time has passed, but in almost a year and a half since #3, you boast about turning a redlink into a DYK? That's a pretty paltry contribution to article work. Make no mistake, I love ClueBot, and was looking for a reason to bend my own rule, but a single DYK is not "street cred" in content creation, and touting it like it is, is almost worse than not having any. Jclemens (talk) 08:17, 3 August 2009 (UTC)

   I believe you have misconstrued my intentions. I never intended to "tout" it as if it were something great — it's not. DarkFalls asked what had changed, and I said that time and experience. On the side, I mentioned that I had at least tried to do something in content creation, which was one of the complaints in my last RfA. -- Cobi 08:27, 3 August 2009 (UTC)

3. Oppose - Sorry, but I view article contributions as integral to this project and cannot support anyone with scarce contributions to the aforementioned area. Best of luck. Regards, --—Cyclonenim | Chat  13:06, 3 August 2009 (UTC)
4. In my opinion, though ClueBot has helped out Misplaced Pages significantly and though this use has been given a great honor by the community already, I think giving this user the mop based off of what ClueBot has done would be like giving him the mop as a award not as a tool. Also, i would have liked to see more work in the mainspace.--Next-Genn-Gamer 16:46, 3 August 2009 (UTC)
5. Why does he need it? Septentrionalis PMAnderson 17:41, 3 August 2009 (UTC)

   See here. → ROUX ₪ 17:44, 3 August 2009 (UTC)

   Not enough; and I share the concerns that this is insufficient experience with article space. I will not sweat it if the opposes continue to be a supermajority, but I am not convinced; and Roux' need to reply to every objection turns me off. Septentrionalis PMAnderson 17:47, 3 August 2009 (UTC)

Neutral

1. At Misplaced Pages:Requests_for_adminship/Cobi_2, I wrote that I would support in the next RfA, and I missed Misplaced Pages:Requests_for_adminship/Cobi_3, so I was ready to support now. But I am disappointed by the answer to question 5 ("What has changed since your last RfA?"). "Time" by itself is not an argument, and "experience" is conspicuously vague - and the one example, the article UnrealIRCd is still only a stub. — Sebastian 17:19, 3 August 2009 (UTC)