Misplaced Pages

Revision as of 18:53, 5 June 2021

Vami IV

Voice your opinion on this candidate (talk page) (28/1/1); Scheduled to end 16:19, 12 June 2021 (UTC)

Nomination

Vami IV (talk · contribs) – As an editor with over six years of activity across mainspace and the back end alike, Vami IV is long overdue for a nomination for adminship. His content work is prolific: Vami is responsible for creating 242 articles, 164 of which are biographies of women under the auspices of Women In Red. He has expanded numerous others with well-researched and encyclopedic content, particularly stubs for the long-running 50,000 Destubbing Challenge.

On the back end, Vami is a born collaborator who works well with others, an essential skill for any admin. His 229 GA reviews, many nominations of others for Editor of the Week, efforts to educate users interested in helping out at the highly technical contributor copyright investigations area, and work as coordinator of WikiProject Germany all bear witness to this. I hope you'll agree with me that Vami will be a strong addition to the admin corps. ♠PMC♠ (talk) 03:54, 31 May 2021 (UTC)

Co-nomination by Lee Vilenski

I am absolutely delighted to introduce Vami IV to the community as a candidate for adminship. Vami has been with us for almost six and a half years, and in that time has produced over 80,000 contributions. They have been continually active since 2016 and are a fantastic contributer, working on articles up to FA class, such as Fort Concho and Ludwigsburg Palace with 25,000 edits to mainspace. Their skills in content creation is exemplified by having a Triple Crown, and won the Editor of the week award in 2019.

However, Vami is much more than just a content creator. They work in WP:CCI, somewhere where the toolset is incredibly helpful, for revision deletion as well as handling blocks. I very much trust Vami with handling themselves with decorum in discussions, and have no qualms with them having the toolset. I hope you’ll agree that Vami IV is a fantastic editor that would benefit from the toolset. Best Wishes, Lee Vilenski 18:58, 31 May 2021 (UTC)

Candidate, please indicate acceptance of the nomination here: I accept these nominations, and thank their authors for writing them. And the people, admins or otherwise, who convinced me to run for the mop. For five Marches out of the six I've been here, I never treated the idea of being here at RfA seriously. I was of the opinion that I didn't need to be an admin, and that Misplaced Pages didn't need me as an admin. I still believe I am correct about those things. But in my sixth March I decided to run because, as I said at my ORCP, I believe in this project and want to help maintain it in a greater capacity. So I reaffirm this: I do not see adminship as something owed to experienced editors, but something a suitable, experienced, and motivated editor owes to the project. –♠Vami_IV†♠ 04:45, 31 May 2021 (UTC)

I have never edited with an account other than this one or an IP address, and I have not and never will engage in paid editing. –♠Vami_IV†♠ 22:30, 4 June 2021 (UTC)

Questions for the candidate

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

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

A: I intend to be a copyright admin, investigating and cleaning up copyright violations. I understand that there is also a deficit of admins at WP:AIV and WP:PERM, but my focus, especially while I get my sea legs, will be copyright cleanup.

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

A: The easy answer would be the two Featured Articles, five Good Articles, and Did You Knows that earned me my Triple Crowns. There's also my participation in Women in Red, the contests run by Encyclopaedius, or my GAN reviews. But my answer is the article Hololive Production. I ordinarily wouldn't be proud of a C-class. As experienced editors know, a C-class is a job half done. But I am proud of the story behind it. A handful of editors, and a community of volunteer fan translators built that article from scratch, from Japanese-language media. It still has problems, and has changed a lot since I started pursuing other projects in December 2020, but that collaboration on- and off-wiki – giving readers a new, more collaborative and accurate sense of this project – is my best work.

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: Of course. Always because I made a mistake, because I was gung ho about something. To be honest, it was people like me for whom WP:BRD was written. How I've resolved disputes (and my goofs), is exactly that formula: be bold, get reverted, and then work it out. Take this example from back in 2018. As an admin however, I will be more cautious before doing something like this again.

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 question from Cryptic

4. What was the context of your recently-deleted User:Vami IV/Userboxes/clericalfascist?

A: I grew up in a conservative household, but in the lead up to the 2016 US Presidential elections, I fell into the camp of Donald Trump. I adopted increasingly right-wing politics, and even publicly professed to be fascist. Thankfully, I had a lot of people to mock and shun me for my cringe beliefs, and friends to talk me down from those cringe beliefs. Since then, I've done a lot of soul searching and reading, and on-wiki written about such things the history of American imperialism, Confederate war crimes, and helped purge racists from this project. It goes without saying that I still feel a lot of guilt about how I used to be. –♠Vami_IV†♠ 17:17, 5 June 2021 (UTC)

Optional question from John M Wolfson

5. Your edit summary usage is spotty compared to what is ideal for an administrator, at a rather low 75%. Furthermore, as late as last November it was as low as 50%, and has vacillated between there and 100% since then. Communication is an essential skill for adminabili, so edit summary usage should be rather high. Will you commit to using edit summaries in all of your edits? There is an option in your preferences that you can check to remind you to use a summary at every edit. You don't necessarily need to check it (I don't), but it can help.  – John M Wolfson (talk • contribs) 17:48, 5 June 2021 (UTC)

A: Yes. I turned on that preference a couple months ago to force myself to use edit summaries. –♠Vami_IV†♠ 17:56, 5 June 2021 (UTC)

Optional question from Go Phightins!

6. I was just wondering if you might say a little bit more, in general, about how you think about reaching conclusions like this one, that "enough is enough" and the encyclopedia is better served moving on without a particular editor in our ranks. I imagine this comes up in the CCI area too, and so I am just a bit curious as to your thought process about these sorts of conduct issues (and am not asking for reflection on the particular AN/I thread I linked). Thanks.

A: I reach my conclusions regarding the net positivity of someone based on their willingness to consider criticism and advice, and change. In that case, that editor was absolutely unwilling to do any of that, had demonstrated this on their talk page and at ANI, and had a history of angrily rejecting any input regarding his edits while trying to pull rank. As the Buddha is incorrectly said to have said, "It is better to conquer yourself than to win a thousand battles." –♠Vami_IV†♠ 18:34, 5 June 2021 (UTC)

Optional question from Bilorv

7. (Per a comment below.) Do you believe this 79-word attributed blockquote to be a copyright violation? Why or why not?

A:

Optional questions from Elli

8. You do a lot of work in CCI, removing copyright violations, because they are against site policy. However, one of our most fundamental site policies is "ignore all rules" - as long as doing so makes the encyclopedia better. How can you justify removing copyright violations from articles that are deemed good/vital - cutting them down significantly - why not apply IAR and let them stand?

A:

9. Would you consider closing controversial discussions as an admin? If so, how would you assess consensus in a large discussion where, if you count the !votes, it's split narrowly in favor of one option, but you're convinced that the other side has stronger policy-based arguments?

A:

Optional question from Scorpions13256

10. Imagine a situation where a 10-year-old article has turned out to be a complete copyright violation. Would it be smart to nominate it for deletion via AFD?

A:

Discussion

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

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

Support

1. Support trusted user, demonstrates a need for the tools. -- Asartea 16:20, 5 June 2021 (UTC)
2. Support - not a jerk, has a clue, will be another admin to look at my RD1 requests at CCI. firefly ( t · c ) 16:21, 5 June 2021 (UTC)
3. Strong support I am passionately enthusiastic about this RfA. Vami is a fantastic editor and person. He's unyieldingly dedicated to his goals; he writes with fluency and sophistication; he understands what the project wants and needs, and serves it best he can. He won't just be a good admin, he'll be a fantastic, Hall of Fame admin. Vaticidalprophet 16:22, 5 June 2021 (UTC)
4. support Net positive, seems to be a good editor for adminship! 🌀CycloneFootball71🏈 |sandbox 16:24, 5 June 2021 (UTC)
5. Support Proficient, hard working, good history of content creation. I have a lot of respect for Vami and the work he does around here, and I'm certain he'll be a great admin. ◢  Ganbaruby!  (talk) 16:24, 5 June 2021 (UTC)
6. Support I, like many others, have been watching Vami for some considerable time to push them towards running. I would have supported off their work a year ago. However, since that point I've also got to know them personally in more depth, and have been able to experience their good judgement and interaction with other users. All of these nicely combine in someone who would be a good mop, especially in the perenially understaffed copyright field. Nosebagbear (talk) 16:26, 5 June 2021 (UTC)
7. Support Vami is an important contributor at CCI, a place where he demonstrably has a need for the tools. He knows (and follows) rules and customs, and (afaict) is civil and can introspect. He will do well with the bit. Wilhelm Tell DCCXLVI 16:30, 5 June 2021 (UTC)
8. Not a jerk; has a clue. TonyBallioni (talk) 16:36, 5 June 2021 (UTC)
9. Support, trusted contributor and shows a need for the tools. EpicPupper (talk, contribs) 16:42, 5 June 2021 (UTC)
10. Support. I have interacted with Vami quite often over the last few years, at first because he reviewed some of my good articles, then actually to collaborate with a good article with him. From these interactions, I have found him to be trustworthy. I have also seen him conduct a lot of cleanup at CCI, which sadly is a little understaffed. I think, based on his activity at CCI, he has a pretty good need for the tools there. Epicgenius (talk) 16:56, 5 June 2021 (UTC)
11. Support. Trusted editor with a need for the coveted mop. JackFromWisconsin (talk | contribs) 17:03, 5 June 2021 (UTC)
12. Support. MER-C 17:09, 5 June 2021 (UTC)
13. Support. I have come across Vami IV a few times in the past and they have been amiable without appearing to be a pushover. They are a fine content creator, with a couple of successful FA nominations to their name, the most recent being promoted just three weeks ago. Gog the Mild (talk) 17:15, 5 June 2021 (UTC)
14. Support. Looks like a great candidate. Best of luck! –Novem Linguae (talk) 17:40, 5 June 2021 (UTC)
15. Support I have full confidence in Vami. Their GAN work is particularly praiseworthy. (t · c) buidhe 17:41, 5 June 2021 (UTC)
16. Support Trusted user, genuinely dedicated to improving Misplaced Pages in all facets, took serious thought into running for admin. Most importantly, does a good deal of work at CCI, which always needs more mops. Kncny11 17:42, 5 June 2021 (UTC)
17. Support Net positive. Has a clue, not a jerk. Best, —Nnadigoodluck███ 17:51, 5 June 2021 (UTC)
18. I'm surprised I haven't encountered him in my content work and FACs, but seems good to me with the appropriate answer to Q5.  – John M Wolfson (talk • contribs) 17:57, 5 June 2021 (UTC)
19. Support Net positive.Pharaoh of the Wizards (talk) 18:02, 5 June 2021 (UTC)
20. Support. Clear need for the tools, and has the skills to use them in an area that I’ve heard needs more admins. Honest and satisfactory answer to Cryptic’s question makes me feel even better about supporting. ezlev (user/tlk/ctrbs) 18:04, 5 June 2021 (UTC)
21. Strong support: brilliant content work and I gave them an award for it recently. We need more people in CCI who have the mop, enough reason for a strong support by itself. #4 doesn't concern me—people can change and any current fascist will give off a spectrum of warning signs that are not present here. Some random checks convince me that Vami IV has a temperament plenty good enough. — Bilorv (talk) 18:09, 5 June 2021 (UTC)
22. Support Looks good to me. – SD0001 (talk) 18:19, 5 June 2021 (UTC)
23. Support, do not see any issues.--Ymblanter (talk) 18:29, 5 June 2021 (UTC)
24. Support as nom, obviously. ♠PMC♠ (talk) 18:32, 5 June 2021 (UTC)
25. Support Had good experiences with him since our first interaction. Nova Crystallis (Talk) 18:39, 5 June 2021 (UTC)
26. Support Passes my RFA criteria. Clovermoss (talk) 18:44, 5 June 2021 (UTC)
27. Support Have only seen good things from them. FemkeMilene (talk) 18:45, 5 June 2021 (UTC)
28. Support On balance, I am satisfied with what I see in terms of reflectiveness, willingness to change course when necessary, and instincts on conflicts with other editors. And any help in the copyright area is, of course, welcome. Go Phightins! 18:53, 5 June 2021 (UTC)

Oppose

1. Oppose I am not satisfied with the response to Cryptic's question, in which the candidate feels guilty about being conservative and/or right-wing. Misplaced Pages already has enough of the opposite bias. ✌️ The owner of all 🗸 18:29, 5 June 2021 (UTC)

@The owner of all: He was fascist, not conservative. He never once implied that voting Trump was something to be ashamed of. Scorpions13256 (talk) 18:47, 5 June 2021 (UTC)

Neutral

1. Obviously the Seamus Heaney farce was quite unacceptable; I'm glad the candidate acknowledges this. Only eight days ago, too? I note that they also think a referenced block quote is a copyright violation; I'm yet to see them distance themselves from it. Bizarre. Having said that, anyone who can respond to the kind of foolishness we regularly see at AfD without bursting their spleen with laughter clearly has something praiseworthy in their temperament. Good luck.FWIW, I'm also interested to know the answer to Cryptic's question, for obvious reasons. ——Serial 16:58, 5 June 2021 (UTC)

   @Serial Number 54129: Where is the "referenced block quote" link meant to point? I'm not seeing Vami at a glance? -- Asartea 17:37, 5 June 2021 (UTC)

   No, that ~80 word referenced-block quote is what they believe to constitute a copyvio; it would be useful to hear from them in this regard. ——Serial 18:03, 5 June 2021 (UTC)

   You won't hear anything unless you ask, so I've asked. (Though my own opinion is that this is reasonable to link in CCI when searching for a general context of copyvios by a user, that we should be stringent with long quotes and that there's certainly not sufficient reason for using such a long quote rather than picking snippets and/or paraphrasing.) — Bilorv (talk) 18:15, 5 June 2021 (UTC)

General comments

• And FWIW, I can assure you that Vami has, in all interactions I've seen on the Discord server, uniformly, without exception, expressed his remorse about the userbox in particular and his fascist views in general. Also, as he's replied to Cryptic, we don't have to take him merely at his word that he's changed - his edits speak for themselves. Wilhelm Tell DCCXLVI 18:10, 5 June 2021 (UTC)

• I am uncomfortable with how an editor who's not here is being discussed at Q6. I note that the question was not asking for specifics about the case or the editor. This comment made well after TPA was revoked was already inadvisable IMO. Usedtobecool ☎️ 18:53, 5 June 2021 (UTC)