Wikipedia:Requests for adminship/StephenBuxton

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Contents

[edit] StephenBuxton

Voice your opinion (talk page) (0/0/0); Scheduled to end 06:23, 30 May 2008 (UTC)

StephenBuxton (talk · contribs) - I would be lying if I told you that StephenBuxton was my strongest candidate, but I am not lying when I tell you that I have not be prouder to nominate any other candidate. I met Stephen back in February when I was looking for an admin coachee. Stephen caught my eye despite the fact that he was a pure vandal fighter (I don't like pure vandal fighters!) When I offered to be his admin coach, I was brutally honest. I told him, Right now, if you ran for RfA, your candidacy would go down in flames because his edits failed to demonstrate an understanding of policies. In short, while his anti-vandalism activities were top notch, he needed a lot of work elsewhere. I felt as if he didn't understand what Wikipedia was about and wanted him to have a better appreciation for the project as a whole.

His coaching page, a monstrous 150KB page, shows how he strongly embraced coaching! After accepting my coaching, his edit count dropped significantly because (at his own initiative) he stopped using tools and started focusing on other aspects of the community. In fact, to see his anti-vandalism efforts, you have to look at his pre-coaching days. I encouraged him to read some policies/guidelines, he went above and beyond any of my expectations! He probably learned more about Wikipedia in February than most have learned all year! With his newfound expertise, I ran him through some typical coaching exercises: Speedy Deletions, AfD/DvR, Policies and Guidelines, and 3rr/Naming.

But his ability to impress me didn't stop there. Stephen exposed himself to AfD's, embraced article writing, and became active at the helpdesk. The reason I don't generally like pure vandal fighters is because they don't know what it means to build the encyclopedia and can do as much damage as good. I look at mainspace edits in part because it is the easiest way to gauge if the candidate might have given his heart and soul to contribute to the project. But there are other ways. For example, Stephen was involved in a significant discussion concerning the role of "the secret" in magic tricks with TenOfAllTrades. Because of this experience, his perceptions of the project have been reshaped. While I expected this change to result from "content" building, his involvement with the Magic Project accomplished my wishes in a better/more complete manner than I hoped for. Stephen now has a different understanding of what it means to work on this project. He is no longer just an anti-vandal fighter, but a committed to the project.

The candidate that I present to you today is a significantly more qualified than the one I took as a coachee just 3 months ago. He not only understands policies and guidelines better but Wikipedia itself. To me, Stephen is the poster child of what Admin coaching should be. I encourage you to evaluate his coaching page, I think you'll be impressed. Again, while his first love is vandal fighting, you will have to go back a few months to find evidence of that. While Stephen plans on returning to his roots, I believe his experiences these past few months will help him be a better admin. While some of us have reservations about vandal specialist admins (see my history and you'll know I do.) I am not worried about Stephen.Balloonman PoppaBalloon 21:42, 30 May 2008 (UTC)

You probably want to stay away from me as a nom.---Balloonman PoppaBalloon 03:04, 1 June 2008 (UTC)

Candidate, please indicate acceptance of the nomination here:


[edit] Questions for the candidate

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

1. What admin work do you intend to take part in?
A:
2. What are your best contributions to Wikipedia, and why?
A:
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:

[edit] General comments

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

[edit] Discussion

[edit] Support

[edit] Oppose

[edit] Neutral