Cyphoidbomb

Voice your opinion on this candidate (talk page) (40/2/3); Scheduled to end 05:03, 26 July 2015 (UTC)

Nomination

Cyphoidbomb (talk · contribs) – In his seven years on Wikipedia, Cyphoidbomb has made a number of substantial contributions to Wikipedia. Over the years he has been active in many gnomish activities, he has made nearly 700 edits to AIV space, over 500 to the help desk, and has made nearly 400 RPP reports. He also has been active in sock puppet investigations, in countering long term vandalism, and in patrolling over 700 new pages. In the area of content creation, Cyphoidbomb has made significant efforts in Wikipedia:WikiProject Television. Since the previous RfA 16 months ago, Cypoidbomb has gained lots more experience especially in deletion which was an area of contention in the previous RfA. Cyphoidbomb has continued to show the decorum expected in an administrator and I am confident in their ability to benefit Wikipedia in that role. Winner 42 Talk to me! 02:39, 19 July 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Accepted! That was some glowing nomination prose, Winner. Here is my introductory ramble: I'm re-applying for adminship mostly out of practicality. I believe I need better tools to make my job easier. Though I was encouraged to run again in six months [1][2][3][4][5], one or two editors though that waiting 12 months would be better and I waited 16. In my original run, I was led to believe adminship was no big deal, but that turned out to not be the case. My failed run was disheartening, mostly because of all the piled-on negative commentary I received from people with whom I'd never worked before. Surely karma for all the "Unexplained, unsourced" reverts I've done over the years. However, I've always viewed adminship more as a position of trust, not as a gilded scepter only to be wielded by the creme de la creme, and I've tried hard to perform with integrity and with the community's interests in mind. We all come with different skills, interests, access to resources, and so on. Most importantly, I think, I have behaved ethically, honestly and responsibly, and I have used my existing powerful tools (AWB privs, reviewer privs, Twinkle, etc) in that capacity.

I am a wikignome and I believe I'm a good one at that. I get along with most regular editors, I leave thorough edit summaries, I communicate well, I've never been blocked, I'm fine with dropping the stick when I'm wrong, and any rare corrections or admonishments that I've received from more experienced editors I've taken to heart and have avoided those problems again. One reason that my last run failed was because of deficiencies I had with nominating articles for deletion. I have corrected these issues, and while I'm sure fault can probably still be found, I think I've demonstrated that if the community has a problem with my contributions, they can trust me to take it in the spirit intended, change accordingly, and not get terribly bent out of shape about it. I don't know what else is reasonable to expect of someone who is asking to be in a position of trust.

The bulk of my work involves maintaining articles that are heavily vandalized by children and rogue groups. It's not the best life here, but it's what I do. I wish I had more free time to continue helping at the Help Desk, etc, but it's a time suck, for instance, to have to keep writing the same reports again and again, explaining from scratch to whichever admin might be haunting AIV "this is vandalism and if you open your textbooks, you can tell it is vandalism because edit A doesn't conform to reference B" when it's clear that it's yet another incarnation of the The Marhc Vandal, The Vietnam Disney Vandal, Maelbros or whomever, and they could quickly be dealt with if I were an admin. So, that's the short of it. I guess it's time to bring on the scrutiny. Thanks. Cyphoidbomb (talk) 03:26, 19 July 2015 (UTC)[reply]

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

A: Administrative intervention re: vandals, socks, trolls, de facto banned users, etc. is where I spend most of my time, but I'm willing to help out where possible.

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

A: In my first run I mentioned my anti-vandal work and anti-sockpuppetry as my biggest contribution. I'm very proud of it, and wish I didn't have to do it.

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 don't get into many conflicts with regular editors. When involved in honest academic debate, I try to treat all with respect even if I disagree with them. I do my best to avoid temptations for ad hominem and if used against me, try to refocus to the subject. I have a fairly thick skin.

Additional question from Mkdw

4. It's been well over a year since your last RFA. What do you feel is the biggest difference between then and now?

A: My biggest flaw last year was my imperfectly executed AfD noms. I believe I've remedied those concerns by doing due diligence in the form of WP:BEFORE duties. My watchlist had expanded tremendously, so my workload has as well. Vandalism, from my perspective, seems to be on the rise or at least there are more persistent actors. I do, however, feel that my connections with other editors have improved over the year. This is a community after all.

Additional question from Ritchie333

5. A brand new user blanks the "History" section on Deen Castronovo's article with no edit summary. An experienced editor reverts using the Twinkle "revert as vandalism" tool. The new editor re-reverts with a summary of "please do not restore this upsetting material". What action, if any, would you then take?

A: Although there is no outward indication that a user clicked the red "Vandal" button, that tool doesn't allow for an editor to add an explanation. (I don't use this tool because of the lack of summary prompt.) That said, both sides seem deficient in their communication and should be encouraged to discuss on the talk page. If the remover's concern was that the content may present a BLP violation or constitute libel, that would be a legitimate reason to remove, however, they should be encouraged to open a discussion to explain because it would be a controversial change. Similarly, reverting with no explanation isn't helpful either, and the reverting user should be encouraged to discuss his restoration of the content. If it's not a BLP violation, and it's sourced, and the remover just doesn't like the content, that wouldn't be a valid reason for removal and they should be informed that Wikipedia doesn't censor and "I don't like it" is not a valid reason for removal of content.

Additional question from Ritchie333

6. Your article contributions seem to largely consist of reverting other editors using Twinkle. What other options are available to you on articles other than reverts?

A: Well clearly adding to articles is an option available to me. Copy-editing is an option. Reorganizing, streamlining, and so forth.

Additional question from Ceradon

7. Will you be open for recall if/when you become an administrator?

A: Don't see why not. It's voluntary and I get to set the criteria.

Additional question from Kraxler

8. Last week you created WordGirl (season 7) and WordGirl (season 8), I suppose to show at this RfA that you can create articles. Although that was a move in the right direction, could you explain why you didn't add any categories to these articles?

A: Hi Kraxler, to address your first concern, my creation of these articles had nothing to do with my RfA. Both were created on July 9, but the first time I'd started to consider running again was July 15 when Winner pinged me in a discussion about admins who had previously failed RfAs. The WordGirl articles were a mess and something I was trying to budget time to fix, because in some cases seasons had been doubled up in one article, article navigation was a mess, and so on. My WordGirl edits from that day involved a lot of juggling of information and matching of colors, and adding of these colors and date ranges to the series overview table in the main WordGirl article. Not to mention the mind-numbing challenge of having to verify all titles and airdates against the references, with our episode list in ascending order and the reference in descending order by air date. So the answer is: There were a lot of dogs to keep in the yard. Oversight.

Additional questions from SNUGGUMS

9. Even if you haven't gotten any articles to FA or GA yourself, which article(s) that you've worked on do you feel currently represents your best work and why?

A:

10. If an article is deleted for failing to meet notability criteria, but is repeatedly recreated before meeting notability requirements, when would you feel is a good time to salt the article?

A:

General comments

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

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

Discussion

Support

1. Support as nom. Winner 42 Talk to me! 05:12, 19 July 2015 (UTC)[reply]
2. I don't see why not. Jianhui67 ^T★C 06:42, 19 July 2015 (UTC)[reply]
3. Support --Fauzan^{✆ talk}_{✉ mail} 07:35, 19 July 2015 (UTC)[reply]
4. Support - I see a lot of activity on the notice boards and a good AfD record at first glance. The candidate will be a net positive. Best of wishes, Ж ^{(Cncmaster) T/C/AVA/RfA-C} 08:08, 19 July 2015 (UTC)[reply]
5. Support- history of good contributions, demonstrated good judgment, and a persuasive case for needing the tools. I've never understood the contempt toward article curators and maintainers; they contribute as much, or more, article work as anyone and it tends to be of a higher standard. Cyphoidbomb will no doubt make an excellent admin. Reyk _YO! 08:52, 19 July 2015 (UTC)[reply]
6. Support -- seems a reasonable pitch. Commitment is there, understanding of policy is broadly there, some AfD issues from last time but I'm sure they're aware of these and will be cautious going forward. I note the content creation concern - as a statement of the obvious the entire project is based in good content, and entirely dependent on good content creators. But while Cyphoidbomb is not by any means a content creator, a review of their edit history shows they're strongly committed to maintaining it through gnoming and vandal-proofing. Cyphoidbomb, mild suggestion that you go write some more articles as well: it will give a better understanding of how some on-wiki disputes arise and are (or should be) resolved. But for now, no reason to say no to this RfA. -- Euryalus (talk) 08:55, 19 July 2015 (UTC)[reply]
7. Support: well qualified. 'Nuff said. --Drmargi (talk) 08:58, 19 July 2015 (UTC)[reply]
8. Support, maintaining the integrity of our existing content is at least as important as creating new content. Cyphoidbomb does a good job in that regard, and has explained how the tools would make that job easier. Huon (talk) 09:23, 19 July 2015 (UTC)[reply]
9. Support Having a look at his contributions I think he is ready to become an admin --EurovisionNim (talk to me)(see my edits) 09:47, 19 July 2015 (UTC)[reply]
10. Support. While I would have liked to have seen more content creation and work in that area, I am of the opinion that the mop is for maintenance more than anything else, so this point is assuaged. Cyphoidbomb has demonstrated ample experience in his 45,000 edits; he has worked at AIV extensively, with nearly 700 edits. A random sampling of his edits there reveals nothing that gives me pause. His record at AfD isn't perfect (whose is?) but I find it sufficient. Cyphoidbomb has markedly improved since his last RfA, something I most definitely like -- I see stubborn insistence on foolhardy or incorrect points as counterproductive in a community such as ours. A lot of activity on noticeboard leads me to believe that Wikipedia will profit greatly at having another administrator to slog away at backlogs. A very good candidate, in my opinion, and I should look forward to having you on our team. Best, --ceradon (talk • contribs) 09:55, 19 July 2015 (UTC)[reply]
11. Support I was one of the first users who opposed Cyphoid in the previous RFA due to AFD concerns. Looking at the candidate's edits, they have addressed those issues and learned from their mistakes, so I'm confident that they will make a good admin. Valenciano (talk) 10:44, 19 July 2015 (UTC)[reply]
12. Support Will be an asset with the tools. Spencer^T♦C 11:00, 19 July 2015 (UTC)[reply]
13. Support I've seen this candidate at AIV quite a few times and their reports are generally spot on. They can be trusted with the mop and bucket. Best of luck!--5 albert square (talk) 11:18, 19 July 2015 (UTC)[reply]
14. Support I work alongside Cyphoidbomb at the TV project and yet I wasn't aware of the previous RfA untl some time after it ended and I noticed some positive changes in his editing and interactions with others. After finding the RfA and looking through the comments, it was clear that he had taken them all on board and was actively seeking to improve himself as an editor. Cyphoidbomb is a valued member of the TV project who always tries to collaborate with others and makes quality edits. About the only negative thing I have to say is that sometimes he is not as confident in his abilities as he deserves to be. However, he only has 45,000 edits under his belt and I'm sure he'll address such a minor "shortcoming" in time. I have a lot of time for this editor and I have no problem supporting his nomination. --AussieLegend (✉) 11:40, 19 July 2015 (UTC)[reply]
15. Support again. Unlike GJP, the lack of a GA doesn't worry me. An admin in the CSD or AfD areas needs to recognise degrees of crap rather than degrees of cream, and to be able to spot potential for survival in an article rather than potential for GA. Each to his/her/its own opinion, though. This project needs technical people, gnomes and janitors. It does need content creators, but they wouldn't get far without the support staff, just as a composer wouldn't get far without a publisher, a pianist, ticket sellers and a piano tuner. Peridon (talk) 14:23, 19 July 2015 (UTC)[reply]
16. Support I see no reason not to support this candidate. I may change my mind if a convincing reason to oppose is presented. Chillum 14:30, 19 July 2015 (UTC)[reply]
17. Support: their AfD work seems okay but what seems to be much more important (given their nom statement and Q1 answer) is that their vandal-fighting work is brilliant and could become even more helpful to the project if they were given admin tools. — Bilorv_(talk)^(c)(e) 16:07, 19 July 2015 (UTC)[reply]
18. Support, don't see any major issues with the candidate's work. Nakon 17:00, 19 July 2015 (UTC)[reply]
19. Absolutely – I've been highly impressed with Cyphoidbomb's conduct and judgement in my various Reviewer activities. Also liked what I've seen from him at ANI (and elsewhere). I feel he's completely qualified. (Aside: If Cyphoidbomb can't make it through an RfA, I'll feel like no one can!) --IJBall (contribs • talk) 17:21, 19 July 2015 (UTC)[reply]
20. Support A long time asset to the project which will increase with the tools. Huon's statement is also pertinent to my support. MarnetteD|Talk 17:44, 19 July 2015 (UTC)[reply]
21. Support - Cyphoidbomb is a Good Egg with no history of problems and plenty of on-wiki experience. I remind everyone that administratorship was never intended to be a big deal, and we should stop trying to make it so. Dirtlawyer1 (talk) 17:55, 19 July 2015 (UTC)[reply]
22. Support - I have worked with Cyphoidbomb at the TV project and they consistently use their knowledge of Wikipedia to collaborate with others and make the project, and the entire site, all the better. They are more than deserving to add adminship privileges to their repertoire. - Favre1fan93 (talk) 17:59, 19 July 2015 (UTC)[reply]
23. Support: GAs and FAs are essentially just trophies and for bragging rights (with the exception of Today's featured article). I don't deem admins fit because they have ten, five, or even one circle(s) or star(s) of bling. Just because one hasn't hit paywalls doesn't mean that they'll blow up the encyclopedia; it's ones who have little participation in maintaining the encyclopedia who probably will with the mop. I'm willing to give prolific counter-vandals the mop. Esquivalience ^t 18:14, 19 July 2015 (UTC)[reply]
24. Support We need vandal fighters. --Randykitty (talk) 18:38, 19 July 2015 (UTC)[reply]
25. Support Polite, levelheaded, seems to know what he's doing. I get the content creation argument but, on the flip side, I don't want to spend my time vandalwhacking either. It's good to have admins with a diverse range of interests. Opabinia regalis (talk) 18:58, 19 July 2015 (UTC)[reply]
26. —Kusma (t·c) 19:51, 19 July 2015 (UTC)[reply]
27. Support I have seen this user's anti-vandal work over the years, and am happy with it. Oppose suggestions that an admin should have created at least one GA are, IMHO, not defensible. The principal role of an admin is the maintenance and preservation of the encyclopedia, and expansion thereof is wholly secondary. This user will be seriously competent in the role as I see it. --Anthony Bradbury^"talk" 21:04, 19 July 2015 (UTC)[reply]
28. Support This user is good at vandal-fighting, and although he is a little quick on the draw sometimes and makes mistakes, I have the feeling giving him the tools will be a net positive to the project. Spaghetti07205 (talk) 21:25, 19 July 2015 (UTC)[reply]
29. Support - Superb editor. The current vote for "oppose" is ridiculous. Orphan Wiki 22:13, 19 July 2015 (UTC)[reply]
30. Support Supported their first RfA, and they're a better editor (and will be a better admin) since then. Miniapolis 22:36, 19 July 2015 (UTC)[reply]
31. Support - trustworthy editor. PhilKnight (talk) 22:37, 19 July 2015 (UTC)[reply]
32. Support - AfD contributions have greatly improved, and I no longer have the concerns I had last time that the user is a bit too hasty in tagging for speedy deletion or !voting delete at AfD when the article should be kept. Everything else looks good (those were really my only two concerns last time), and the answers so far are satisfactory. Inks.LWC (talk) 23:22, 19 July 2015 (UTC)[reply]
33. Support as an asset for the project. Kharkiv07 (T) 23:23, 19 July 2015 (UTC)[reply]
34. Support - Seems like a fantastic, trustworthy editor to me. Azealia911 _talk 00:24, 20 July 2015 (UTC)[reply]
35. Support Opposed last time but I thought their answer to my question was outstanding. In so many ways, being a sysop is about taking care and time. More so than you might expect when you're an editor. Their content creation is low and while I don't think it is an absolute requirement, there is so much value in having a body of work. There really are things you will learn and see that you won't pick up from reading and patrolling policies and pages. I would suggest to make it one of your goals to do the lion's share of the work to get an article to GA or FA. Mkdw^talk 00:49, 20 July 2015 (UTC)[reply]
36. Support. Fully qualified candidate. Newyorkbrad (talk) 02:14, 20 July 2015 (UTC)[reply]
37. Support Net positive.Pharaoh of the Wizards (talk) 05:50, 20 July 2015 (UTC)[reply]
38. Support I think I've declined an RFPP from him only once, and it was a borderline thing that someone else might have protected. If he's asking, there's a good reason for it. Gives detailed rationales, which are incredibly helpful, and he's always civil. I'm in. KrakatoaKatie 08:40, 20 July 2015 (UTC)[reply]
39. Support, finally. While the lack of content contributions is regrettable, the admin tools are primarily geared at protecting material and removing problems rather than at creating new articles or the like. Reviewing the user talk history and their edit histories on talk pages does not indicate to me any major problems, nor do the projectspace contributions indicate issues. Highly active in vandal/bad edit policing thus my baseline requirements "dedication to the site" are basically met. Jo-Jo Eumerus (talk, contributions) 09:03, 20 July 2015 (UTC)[reply]
40. Support The turf he works in is difficult, subject to lots of mistruths and outright hoaxes. I used to work in those areas and it's troublesome trying to corral children with overactive imaginations so of course I support his nom, he does great work and would be a worthwhile admin, see you around RFPP! tutterMouse (talk) 09:39, 20 July 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Oppose

1. Oppose, Cyphoidbomb has only created 4 articles total, none above start class. GregJackP Boomer! 06:02, 19 July 2015 (UTC)[reply]

   Lengthy discussion moved to talk page at Discussion moved from oppose section. North America¹⁰⁰⁰ 05:05, 20 July 2015 (UTC)[reply]

2. Strong oppose -- unfortunately, the very recently created WordGirl (season 7) has substantial episode descriptions copy-pasted from the copyright-protected source [6]. We cannot have administrators doing things like this. Note: I've put the copyvio boilerplate on that page, which covers the offending text. If you want to check, you can see it in the version before I did that. --Stfg (talk) 11:13, 20 July 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Neutral

1. Lack of significant article creation on its own is not necessarily a reason to oppose but I've always maintained that people who police pages should know how to produce them. Fails #5 of my criteria. --Kudpung กุดผึ้ง (talk) 13:02, 19 July 2015 (UTC)[reply]

   No outstanding maintenance tags is a tough standard – I think I've "self-tagged" most of the articles I've created because I feel like not doing that is disingenuous. It's hard not to add a {{Refimprove}} tag to articles about some subjects with some (but not much) coverage... --IJBall (contribs • talk) 17:24, 19 July 2015 (UTC)[reply]

   I've successfully policed pages for years and have a CSD log to prove it, yet I am still article-creation-less. Ж ^{(Cncmaster) T/C/AVA/RfA-C} 03:24, 20 July 2015 (UTC)[reply]

2. I'm still not sure, even after the questions were answered. I thought back to this old blog post which says "There are a million things that a good chef does that have to do with improvisation .... an automaton chef who is merely following instructions might be able to produce a given dish when everything is working perfectly, but without real talent and skill, will not be able to improvise." I think a good admin is similar, they must understand policies, but improvise when to use which one, and when not to. GAs and FAs are easy evidence to show someone can. Without that, you need other evidence. It's possible to do it, but lots of Twinkle reverts don't inspire me. I'm worried about Cyphoidbomb deleting borderline CSDs with canned edit summaries, or accidentally causing a dramafest by blocking Cassianto. Ritchie333 ^{(talk) (cont)} 17:48, 19 July 2015 (UTC)[reply]
3. Undecided at the moment. Ritchie does bring up a good point about Twinkle reverts making up a large number of edits, so it would help to do more work without the use of Twinkle. Snuggums (talk / edits) 03:54, 20 July 2015 (UTC)[reply]

   Twinkle is pretty much an essential tool in the TV project. Cyphoidbomb spends a lot of time maintaining articles about TV programs aimed at younger audiences (and I'm glad of that because I couldn't handle it!) where often the only option is to revert because content that is added simply is not recoverable. Sure, he could manually undo the edits, but why do that when there is a tool that will do it for you? Why walk to work when you have a car or public transport? Cyphoidbomb is clearly using Twinkle appropriately, as he seems to always add a summary explaining why he reverted using Twinkle. To me that's being smart about the way that he's editing. --AussieLegend (✉) 08:26, 20 July 2015 (UTC)[reply]

   The problem I have is not really Twinkle itself, rather I get the impression that Cyphoidbomb edits articles without (at least beyond his specialist domain of TV shows) giving strong evidence he understands the subject matter, or wants to. In my view, that's important as it allows you to show empathy with newcomers who don't understand policy and might not even want to. His answer to Q5 mentioned policies and explained why the actions were problematic, but what I was hoping for was some explanation of context - a not too notable musician has been accused of rape and assault and the sources cited to the claim are not too good, which might lead to somebody (Castronovo himself or maybe a friend or family member) being upset and blanking the article per WP:DOLT. In that instance, I think explaining BLP policy and consensus building would probably fall on deaf ears, as someone is editing Wikipedia out of duress to get something "unpleasant" removed from a popular website. A subtle, but important distinction. Ritchie333 ^{(talk) (cont)} 09:20, 20 July 2015 (UTC)[reply]