This page is mainly for comments relating to my admin coaching. I will be working with long-time editor Fang Aili to get in good editing shape. Please use my talk page for all other topics. Thank you.

Contents 1 AfDs 2 Two things 3 Stuff 4 Next 5 Da signpost 6 Edit conficts 7 A plan 8 Howdy 9 Adminship

You may leave your messages below.

Hey! Cool page. I sent you another e-mail; let me know if you get it.

[edit] AfDs

1. My first question is-- do you participate at AfDs? (Respond here and we'll keep all the discussion together.) Cheers! --Fang Aili ^talk 15:52, 13 June 2006 (UTC)

I did receive your e-mail this time. About your first question... I do participate in AfD, at least in terms of:

a. Voting for articles (keep/delete, speedy keep, speedy delete, merge, move). I had actually voted on four yesterday here, here, here, and here. Although all four yesterday were for delete, I've voted keep on a number of AfDs, and

b. I have also tagged articles for speedy delete and hangon.

I'm going to review WP:AfD and WP:SPEEDY sometime today, because a quick glance at those pages shows me I should have been using subst'd tags, which I was not doing. --Firsfron of Ronchester 18:00, 13 June 2006 (UTC)

Sounds good.

People sometimes oppose on grounds that a user always "goes with the flow" and doesn't have an independent opinion (doesn't argue for the survival of an article when others are against, doesn't actually do research before voting, etc). Just an FYI for the future.

Read over those policies and I'll write you another question or comment tomorrow. Sound good? Do you have any questions? --Fang Aili ^talk 18:39, 13 June 2006 (UTC)

I appreciate the pointers, Fang Aili. I have objected strenuously to articles I felt were being deleted out of hand. A few dinosaur articles, in fact, were almost speedied because they were so new nothing was yet showing up on google. In the case of these last four articles, I did vote along with everyone else, but one was on a non-notable housing unit, one on a local pharmacy, etc. I do appreciate your pointers, and your plan to come back tomorrow with more comments sounds awesome. I look forward to catching you here tomorrow. :)--Firsfron of Ronchester 21:36, 13 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Two things

Oh just 2 things I wanted to get out of the way-- Possible reasons people may oppose you:

1. "Too many userboxes" ([1], etc.)
2. "Annoying signature" ([2], etc.)

You may change or not change your userpage and sig as you see fit. I personally don't care about either of these things, and by the time you run for admin public attention may be diverted elsewhere. (However the blue of your signature is a little bit light, and can be hard to read.) --Fang Aili ^talk 18:52, 13 June 2006 (UTC)

I'm aware of the userbox and sig controversies. I actually tried to keep my userboxes down to the projects I'm involved in (WP:Dinosaurs, WP:Buffy, Esperanza, Counter-vandalism) and things that might help with contributing to the encyclopedia (programming languages, etc), but I guess I could definitely get rid of a few wasteful ones.

My sig: I thought it was sort of soft and soothing, with a calming effect, but maybe it is hard to read. I hadn't considered that. I appreciate the tip, and I'll see if I can't create a better one.--Firsfron of Ronchester 21:36, 13 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Stuff

My higher brain functions aren't working on all thrusters today, so I'll just, um, ramble on a bit here. I'm pretty sure you'll say no, but have you helped bring an article to feature standard? This is one of the new personal criteria I see at recent RfAs. At least one person opposes anyone who has not done that. You certainly could become an admin without it, but it'd be really cool if you did. (This is something I still haven't done; I seem to do shorter articles and other stuff.) --Fang Aili ^talk 20:49, 14 June 2006 (UTC)

Yes, Psittacosaurus is a featured article I worked on, and I, along with the rest of the WP:Dinosaurs team, continue to work on others. We're close to getting a second featured article, and have set up a featured article workspace. I have noticed on the RfAs that more and more people are requiring 1FA. That's fine with me. :) --Firsfron of Ronchester 22:04, 14 June 2006 (UTC)

Damn, rock on. --Fang Aili ^talk 23:03, 14 June 2006 (UTC)

We should have Albertosaurus featured soon. Most of my edits, like yours, tend to be short. But I bet a featured article would a big boost for the ice skating project. :) OK, what's next? --Firsfron of Ronchester 23:16, 14 June 2006 (UTC)

Looking over those pages' histories, I notice you didn't add much text to either article. Which other articles have you added the most to? --Fang Aili ^talk 20:08, 15 June 2006 (UTC)La la la la.. I can't hear you.. la la la..

Sorry I didn't see this earlier. I did check, but was actually looking for a new topic. My bad. Here's your answer:

1. Psittacosaurus. I actually did quite a bit of work on this one, but it's not immediately apparent judging solely from checking one page's edit history. I shall, however, provide links.

• I did some small editing on the article, on March 23, adding the second of three required categories, May 11, adding the third category. A lot of our collaborations take place on the talk page of WP:Dinosaurs, so that the authors aren't tripping over one another in their haste to compile a great article that doesn't look like it was written by someone with Multiple Personality Disorder.
• here is the first section, where I discuss the article and whether it should be split in two,
• here is where I announce I've nominated it for a FA,
• here I where I propose getting additional pictures,
• I e-mailed the author of the picture for use on WP,
• I uploaded the picture,
• here I where I announce I've secured us an accurate depiction of the dinosaur for the page,
• here is another Psittacosaurus discussion bit by me,
• here is where I discuss punctuation of the article,
• here I give a link to how to make inline references for the article, which were requested during the FA review.
• here I add another photo from WP Commons, different from the one I had earlier secured (both were used).
• There's actually more I worked on for this article, but these links should give you some idea that, although my work is not apparent in the edit history of the article itself, I clearly did contribute.

2. Albertosaurus.

• here is where I make suggestions during the article's peer review process. Again, I let User:Sheep81 make most of the adjustments so that the article didn't sound like 12 different people wrote it. I also wrote comments on the FA candidacy page. And
• here I fix a bit of grammar. Certainly less than my work on Psittacosaurus, true, but it was more complete than the earlier article.

3. A full list of hundreds of dinosaur articles (and a dozen categories) I created can be found here. It's an extensive list. I primarily work with lesser-known dinosaurs, but I believe I've worked on every dinosaur article (all 1000 of them) on Wikipedia. Samples of work I've done can be found here, on Archaeornithomimus, here on Tichosteus, here on Gastonia, etc. I've helped get several dinosaurs to the main page, and am currently working on a project to get Wikipedia about 50 up to date photos of various dinosaur genera, since that is one area the project is constantly hamstrung.

I hope these answers help alleviate your concerns, Fang Aili. :) --Firsfron of Ronchester 00:29, 20 June 2006 (UTC)

Uh.. do you want to be an admin right now? Cuz all this is looking quite impressive. --Fang Aili ^talk 02:00, 20 June 2006 (UTC)

Hee! I appreciate your ego-boosting, Fang Aili, but I know I'm far from ready for adminship, just yet.--Firsfron of Ronchester 07:57, 20 June 2006 (UTC)

Bit of an update: Albertosaurus did succeed its FAC, and is now a Featured Article. I also did a lot of work on the new FAC, Velociraptor, which has also just become a Featured Article. I'm up to three FAs, now. :)--Firsfron of Ronchester 06:46, 29 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Next

What would you like to do with your adminship? (This echoes the first standard RfA question: What sysop chores, if any, would you anticipate helping with? Please check out Category:Wikipedia backlog, and read the page about administrators and the administrators' reading list.) --Fang Aili ^talk 14:30, 15 June 2006 (UTC)

English Wikipedia is huge, and with only ~900 admins, some of whom are not active or are semi-active, there are still areas that occasionally get neglected. I'd like to try my hand at WP:AIAV, closing WP:AfDs, closing WP:CfDs, and helping out on the Administrators' noticeboard/Incidents page. I've helped out some on Recent changes patrol, but obviously can only revert and warn users. I do already use popups, AWB, Lupin's anti-vandal tool, etc. Is there something else I should definitely be doing?--Firsfron of Ronchester 18:21, 15 June 2006 (UTC)

Sounds good to me. --Fang Aili ^talk 18:31, 15 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Da signpost

Do you read the signpost? ({{signpost-subscription}}, etc, if you want to put it on your userpage somewhere). --Fang Aili ^talk 18:38, 15 June 2006 (UTC)

I've browsed the Signpost before, but I guess I never really paid a lot of attention. The current issue reads a bit like a gossip column, with the demotion of NSLE making "front page" news. I guess I should subscribe if you think there's a lot of useful information in there, though.--Firsfron of Ronchester 19:04, 15 June 2006 (UTC)

It's not a requirement by any means, but lately I've found it useful in keeping up with what's going on, and getting a grasp on the larger picture. --Fang Aili ^talk 19:31, 15 June 2006 (UTC)

I've subscribed. Can't hurt, right? :) --Firsfron of Ronchester 20:33, 15 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Edit conficts

Have you been involved in any edit conflicts? If so, how did you handle them? --Fang Aili ^talk 02:07, 20 June 2006 (UTC)

It's impossible to have almost 7,000 edits and always agree with what other folks want to add (or remove) from a page. I guess the key is just remembering that the ultimate goal is just a better encyclopedia. I believe I work very well with my fellow editors, and I always try to remember that on the other side of the screen, every editor I come into contact with is a real human being with feelings, who is also trying to build an encyclopedia, and who wants to say something. He or she may not be able to express him/herself very well, and in those cases, part of my job is to see if I can't incorporate the text in a better way, instead of just reverting, as I've seen some editors do.

In terms of conflict: yes, about a year ago, I had what I consider a conflict with a user on one of the planetary articles, but we discussed it on the talk page and eventually came to what we both felt was a good compromise. More recently, another user was adding copied and pasted (apparent) copyvio advertizing text to grocery store pages, and vandalized my user page and the user pages of anyone who added the advert tag to the articles in question. That was a bit more frustrating, as I spent weeks trying to find an admin who would look into the problem. Even that, though, ended up resolved when the vandal was --finally!-- blocked. Still, that one was really frustrating.

I think that's it in terms of conflict.--Firsfron of Ronchester 04:47, 20 June 2006 (UTC)

Why did it take weeks to find someone? I assume you went to the appropriate help pages. --Fang Aili ^talk 23:11, 20 June 2006 (UTC)

I'm not sure why it took weeks, but it did, and I did report the problem on various pages, none of which seemed quite correct. here, for example, which received no response. Probably would have been better to put it on the actual incident page, huh? Then again, even a comment about it not being the right place would have been better than no response whatsoever. Ah, well, I learned a lot just from that incident alone. :) --Firsfron of Ronchester 03:39, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

Ugh, and now I'm involved in a conflict. Yikes! Talk about egg on my face...--Firsfron of Ronchester 03:48, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

Hey, it happens. What's it all about, anyway? I'm having a hard time figuring it out from your talk page. E-mail if you wish. --Fang Aili ^talk 17:21, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for a bit of understanding. As far as the conflict is concerned, WikiProject Dinosaurs recently (on May 30th) started an Image review process. This project was proposed to improve the photos being used on the projects. Any new photos submitted by the project members were, in theory, supposed to go thru the process of consensus, and we'd, as a group, pick out the best photos, and veto photos and other images that were outdated (no longer considered accurate, since anatomy of dinosaurs has greatly changed over the years).

User:Ballista went thru the entire process: collected at least 50 new photos that he took himself at various museums, and submitted them for the project's approval. After a week of debate, editing, re-taking photos, etc, he put the accepted photos on the appropriate pages. Just a few hours later, one of our project members, User:Spawn Man, removed some images, saying they were "bad", "out of focus", "irrelevant", etc, and left a condescending note for Ballista on his page, about not using bad photos.

Beside the obvious lack of civility, the images Spawn Man removed (he gave examples) were mostly not even Ballista's pictures! He didn't check the edit histories, and assumed the terrible photos on the pages were Ballista's. They were not. Spawn Man also claimed no one ever told him about an image review process, even though it's linked from our main talk page, and we had many, many discussions about it. He just never read any of them. Spawn Man left notes on my talk page about "bad" photos, and left examples, but Ballista's actual photos can be seen here. I left Spawn Man a note on his talk page, telling him that his edits were ill-informed and not correct, as the whole team spent weeks sifting thru the images choosing what the group decided were the best ones, and that he chose not to participate in those discussions. He started a series of personal attacks against me in response.

Spawn Man has a long history of incivility, saying things like "Get f@ucked you loathsome little man", to one editor, not me, a few weeks ago, "Cry baby", "I'm surrounded by idiots" (to the whole team, apparently), etc. These outbusts have been growing worse as time goes on. I reported the incidents on WP:PAIN, and he was put on a 12 hour block last night. He's now admitted on his talk page that he "probably deserved it".

Still, I'd like Wikipedia, and especially one of the larger projects I work on, to be free from conflict. I don't like it, and it never helps the project. The users there are generally very mild, but have increasingly been yelled at by Spawn Man for doing things like "not informing him" (when notes were made right on the main talk page for all project members to see), adding italics to dinosaur genera (a requirement for any scientifically described animal), adding group-accepted photos, etc.

I am happy with the block. I am glad it wasn't longer. He is an enthusiastic editor, but his outbusts needed to receive a stronger warning than the many warnings from regular users that he has been receiving for months. I just hope he'll learn from the mistake, and move on.

I think the worst part of this dispute, though, is that the whole image review process was in part created to prevent problems like warring over images. We submit photos we think are good, and if the rest of the team approves, they go up. No one's required to follow it, but it doesn't help when one editor either doesn't read the discussion board (apparently just writes there) or just doesn't seem to care about building consensus ("I'm not nice to other people", an exact quote from Spawn Man). That saddens me.

Anyway, now that I've aired my dirty laundry... :/ --Firsfron of Ronchester 18:36, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

Sounds like he just has some sort of difficulty working with others. There's not much you can do about it. I think you handled it fine. --Fang Aili ^talk 19:28, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

I really appreciate your statement, Fang Aili. However, I think I should have been less agressive. When I talked to Spawn Man, one of the things I said to him was that the images Ballista put up were not bad, out of focus, or duplicates. I told Spawn Man that if he told Ballista the images were bad, he either needed a different monitor, or wasn't being truthful. Looking back on it, I think that statement was too aggressive. These are the sorts of things I need to adjust about myself before I pursue an adminship. Being an admin, I know, requires striking a balance between firm and fair, and clearly I'm not ready just yet. But I want to work on it.--Firsfron of Ronchester 19:46, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

I haven't read the exchanges but I see what you're getting at. Yes, always try to Assume Good Faith(tm) and use the least amount of aggression necessary. There can be a tricky line between AGF and being toyed with, and determining that line is something that comes with time, I think. --Fang Aili ^talk 20:20, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for the advice. I take it seriously.--Firsfron of Ronchester 20:42, 22 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] A plan

No, I don't really have a plan. Is there anything you're curious about? Mysterious admin secrets you want explained? ;) --Fang Aili ^talk 23:11, 20 June 2006 (UTC)

Oh, I want to know all about the cabal... ;) Actually, I do have questions. Let me prepare a list.--Firsfron of Ronchester 03:25, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

Alright Fang Aili, I prepared a list, but rather than "waste" your valuable time with questions I figured I could already answer myself, if I looked hard enough, I whittled down the list considerably. That's kinda why it took me so long to get back to you on this. If I'm ever to become an admin, I need to be able to do a little research. This was good training, for me, because even though I've been here since 2004, I learned of some policies and procedures that I wasn't really aware of before.

So, here are my questions, with the frivolous ones I could find on the site removed:

1. Blocking policy. I've read WP:Block and the related pages many times, but I haven't found, you know, a chart showing the various blocking levels (expiration time table) and what a user has to commit to get blocked. I guess it's not really clear-cut, as, obviously, a user with many good edits will often receive some leniency and, depending on the severity and the blocking admin, the preventative measure seems to vary wildly between admins. Is there a hard-and-fast rule? I suppose there isn't really a chart, because I've seen a lot of admins change the length of a block and discuss it on various talk pages. I'm also aware that an admin can remove a block if the user agreesto stop the errant behavior, but some users have never been unblocked. Is there a secret admin tablet, with a list of 'Thou Shalt Not Unblock User...'?

There are no hard-and-fast rules. Generally vandalism blocks start at 24 hours. If it's a shared IP, like a school or AOL account, the block will be much shorter in order to reduce "collateral damage". There are a lot of schoolchild vandals who will vandalize viciously for about 15 minutes between classes, but will disappear quite soon afterwards, so the block does not have to be long. In cases of non-shared IPs, like I said 24 hours is pretty standard. If s/he comes back to block after that, the block time is typically increased. Usually admins will want the vandal to be warned with {{test1}}, {{test2}}, {{test3}}, and {{test4}}, though if the vandal was particularly offensive he may have gotten a {{bv}}, in which case he makes himself easier to block. It really all depends on the judgement of the blocking admin. But an important thing to remember is that blocks are not supposed to be punative, only preventative, so as in the schoolchild example above, it doesn't pay to block school IPs for 24 hours when you know the vandals are going back to class in a few minutes.

Additionally, there are cases of vandalism-only accounts, which can be pretty much blocked on-sight after it is obvious s/he is a sockpuppet of a disgruntled user. Also, offensive usernames get indefblocked without discussion.

Blocked users can request to be unblocked (with {{unblock}}). Typically the unblocking admin will confer with the blocking admin, or at least make sure everyone is on the same page. Usually if the offender promises to amend his ways, and is not a repeat offender, he'll be unblocked. --Fang Aili ^talk 17:01, 27 June 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for the answers. I was aware of some of this (like how a vandal can request unblocking, about vandalism-only accounts, offensive usernames, and blocks being preventative, not punitive: the admin noticeboards are on my watchlist), but this helps sort out the confusing stuff. Thanks. --Firsfron of Ronchester 20:16, 27 June 2006 (UTC)

2. This one obviously couldn't be answered by looking things up. What's your biggest mistake while you've been an admin? Ever make a big error? If so, what happened? Tell me about your adminship. What have you succeeded in doing, in your opinion? What are your weaknesses? Feel free to not answer, if it makes you feel uncomfortable. I just want to maybe recognize if maybe I have the same problems, and work on them, if it's even possible.

I haven't made any big mistakes of which I'm aware. I've deleted a few things that shouldn't have been, and people have called me on it. So I restore and life goes on. I put an "open door" on my userpage for anyone who wants to contest a deletion. Usually people are satisfied with my justification (in most cases it's a non-notable band; I direct them to Wikipedia:Notability (music)). I've succeeded in being another mop-wielder--I don't know how many deletes I have but it's gotta be quite a few. Early on in my adminship I also helped clear a ridiculous backlog at WP:CP, and try to keep the backlog down now. Weaknesses: I don't entirely understand image policy; I've deleted a few but still feel a bit insecure about it. I've tried to read about image policy and copyright and everything but for some reason I don't quite get it. (By the way, images can be undeleted now, woo hoo!) I also do not want to get involved in any online disputes. Trying to solve problems online is so much more difficult than face to face; I just do not want that stress in my life. Maybe that is not a weakness but more of a "wiki lifestyle" choice. Thus I avoid making big changes to sensitive topics. I'm sure there are a number of wikipedia areas that I'm not familiar with, also. --Fang Aili ^talk 17:01, 27 June 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for your answer. I did read about the new image deletion revert in the Signpost. Pretty cool! Although I imagine it won't come without problems of its own...--Firsfron of Ronchester 20:16, 27 June 2006 (UTC)

3. Aside from my current signature (which I will certainly change before an RfA) and gobs of userboxes (which I will pare down), what potential failings do you perhaps see in me that should be corrected before I pursue an adminship? I'm aware that you have not "known" me long, and that you may not have even glanced at my contributions, so maybe this isn't even an appropriate question. But I guess it can't hurt to ask, and I think it's also possible that an experienced admin might easily see flaws that could be worked on, given time. Whenever I do become an admin candidate, I want to know that I'm a decent Wikipedian, and recognize areas I need to improve. You've already given me a few to think of (like making sure not to just "vote with the crowd" on AfDs/CfDs/MfDs, etc, and really trying to think of other solutions). What other "trouble" areas might I have?

I don't see anything obvious right now. Have you done much vandal-whacking? Have you participated on WP:AIV? --Fang Aili ^talk 17:01, 27 June 2006 (UTC)

I have done what I consider quite a bit of vandalism reversion and warnings using (originally) the RC list, (later) Lupin's tool, and (now) VandalProof, which is the best. It's totally automated, so you can revert and warn with one click. Awesome tool. But when I come to persistant vandals, it might be nice to have a way to stop it, aside from reporting it to already overcrowded abuse boards. --Firsfron of Ronchester 20:16, 27 June 2006 (UTC)

Cool. I'll respond more tomorrow or the next day. --Fang Aili ^talk 22:18, 27 June 2006 (UTC)

Great. No hurry. Take your time. :)--Firsfron of Ronchester 22:21, 27 June 2006 (UTC)

4. What's been your best experience as an admin? Specifically as an admin, not as an editor?

I hope none of these questions are too personal, and are things that can be answered.--Firsfron of Ronchester 06:13, 25 June 2006 (UTC)

There's no one thing that stands out. I've just enjoyed having the extra tools. It's nice to be able to delete junk on-sight, or block a vandal, without going through someone else. --Fang Aili ^talk 15:20, 30 June 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for your answer. I wasn't sure there was anything that stood out, but I imagine it would be nice to be able to delete junk entries and block vandals without the lengthy reporting and difs-providing process. Thanks.--Firsfron of Ronchester 21:21, 30 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Howdy

Just wanted to touch base and see how it was going. Right now I don't really know what to coach you on. You seem to have a pretty good grasp of what Wikipedia is all about. Let me know if you have any more questions, and I'll try to think up some more coaching stuff too. Cheers. --Fang Aili ^talk 16:16, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

Well, no hurry. I know your wiki-stress is thru the roof right now; I'm not in any hurry. I've been going thru the RfAs, where, you know on the bottom, people ask the candidate questions, and answering the questions myself, in my head. Then I check my answers, and see if I was right. I think it's good training, and I'm always learning things. Take your time, Fang Aili. For me, WP's about having fun while building an encyclopedia. You're not having fun if you're stressed out. Happy editing! :) --Firsfron of Ronchester 18:27, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

Thanks. :) --Fang Aili ^talk 18:59, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Adminship

Cool, go for it! Would you like me to nominate you? --Fang Aili ^talk 13:07, 21 July 2006 (UTC)

Wow, that would be cool, Fang Aili. I mean, I don't want you to feel obligated or anything... at the same time, I know some people frown on self-noms. I could find someone else if you felt uncomfortable nominating me.--Firsfron of Ronchester 18:33, 21 July 2006 (UTC)

No way, I'll do it. :) --Fang Aili ^talk 18:48, 21 July 2006 (UTC)

How many edits do you have now? Could you give me some general stats? I don't have access to my edit counter thingie right now. --Fang Aili ^talk 19:11, 21 July 2006 (UTC)

Way cool of you, Fang Aili. :) I really appreciate it! For my stats... a lot can be found on my user page. I had 9,050 edits this morning; my edit summary usage is 100% for major edits, 99% for minor edits; I'm on three WikiProjects, I'm on the Counter-Vandalism Unit; I'm a member of Esperanza (although admittedly I don't do much there, it's still fun to read). I do monitor Recent Changes and I regularly use VandalProof (usually all day on Sundays, from work, since I have nothing to do at work on Sundays; the office is empty). I've got three Featured Articles under my belt, hopefully soon four. More junk can be found on my user page. --Firsfron of Ronchester 19:35, 21 July 2006 (UTC)

How did that thing with Spawnman turn out? It looks like everything is peachy now. --Fang Aili ^talk 19:55, 21 July 2006 (UTC)

He admitted he shouldn't have resorted to personal attacks, we continued working closely with one another on the project, and we both moved on. Clearly, he wants what's best for the encyclopedia and WikiProject Dinosaurs, and he was able to put his anger behind him. For my part, I know he's got the good of the project at heart, and I'd rather work with someone who is enthusastic, even overly-enthusiastic, than someone who is blasé about the subject. I've just awarded him a barnstar for his enthusiasm and many excellent edits on Tyrannosaurus, and he gave me one, too.

I'm so happy the situation worked out in the end. It's a fun project, and for me, the whole reason I'm on WP is to have fun and build a great encyclopedia. WikiStress is never good, as you recently discovered. How is your WikiStress now, Fang Aili? Is it better? Were you able to come to some sort of resolution on the Ladies/Women debate?--Firsfron of Ronchester 20:09, 21 July 2006 (UTC)

I'm glad it worked out. The ladies/women thing hasn't been resolved. A few people have responded here, but I was hoping for a stronger consensus. I'll have to deal with it at some point, but I've been doing other things lately. Thank you for asking. --Fang Aili ^talk 20:15, 21 July 2006 (UTC)

Sorry to hear it. At least Wikipedia is large enough that you just work on other things for a while. I just hope that when you get back to the question, a nice compromise or a clear consensus can be reached.--Firsfron of Ronchester 20:28, 21 July 2006 (UTC)

Nomination away! You need to add it to Wikipedia:Requests for adminship. Cheers and good luck. :) --Fang Aili ^talk 20:38, 21 July 2006 (UTC)

Well, my heart's pounding, but my RfA is now listed. Did you feel this nervous when you were up for your RfA? Thank you so much for your help these past (almost) two months, Fang Aili. Whatever the outcome of this RfA is, I want you to know how much I appreciate your assistance.--Firsfron of Ronchester 21:37, 21 July 2006 (UTC)

I was nervous when I was on RfA. I'm also a little nervous for you, too. It looks like you're off to a great start, though! I'm on IRC right now too, if you'd like to chat. :) --Fang Aili ^talk 22:27, 21 July 2006 (UTC)

I'd love to chat with you. Unfortunately, IRC is only available to me Sunday thru Thursday, from work. I'm at home right now, and this old PC barely handles a web browser, let alone chat programs and such. If I load more than five pages, or three programs, I start crashing and such. :(--Firsfron of Ronchester 22:35, 21 July 2006 (UTC)

That could explain why we never connected on IRC. I can't get on IRC at work, but only at home. :) --Fang Aili ^talk 23:07, 21 July 2006 (UTC)

BWAH! Yeah, that could be the reason. But I'll catch you on IRC someday. So far, it looks like the RfA is going well. There have been lots of positive comments. Warm fuzzies! I was (and still am) steeling myself for possible criticisms, stuff I could improve on for the next time, but it hasn't happened yet.--Firsfron of Ronchester 23:13, 21 July 2006 (UTC)