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Oversight

Courcelles

Courcelles (talk · contribs · blocks · protections · deletions · page moves · rights · RfA)

Nomination statement (250 words max.)

Hello, I'm Courcelles, and I'm applying to retain the checkuser and oversight permissions following the end of my term on the Audit Subcommittee in April of next year. I've been a member of that subcommittee for nearly six months now, and an administrator here for around eighteen. In that time, I've also been semi-active as an operator of both permissions, and am frequently available on-wiki and through IRC to handle requests that come up. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask them.


Standard questions for all candidates

Please describe any relevant on-Wiki experience you have for this role.

A: Well, I've wielded the suppression tools as needed for the last six months, and the revision delete one for about a year longer than that. I personally don't think counting logged actions means much, but I have made fairly substantial use of both tools in the time I've had access to them. Courcelles 22:10, 26 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Please outline, without breaching your personal privacy, what off-Wiki experience or technical expertise you have for this role.

A: Oversight, unlike Checkuser, is a technically simple tool. Any admin that has operated the Revision Delete tool will be able to pick up the mechanics of it inside ten minutes. Oversight is all about knowing what should, and what should not be, suppressed. I think I've picked this up in my 18 months of sending OS requests in, and six months of handling them myself, reading oversight-l, oversight OTRS tickets, and reviewing other usage of the OS tool in my capacity as a member of the AUSC. Courcelles 22:10, 26 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Do you hold advanced permissions (checkuser, oversight, bureaucrat, steward) on this or other WMF projects? If so, please list them. Also, do you have OTRS permissions? If so, to which queues?

A: I currently hold the CU and OS flags here as a member of the AUSC. I'm on OTRS, with acccess to oversight-en, info-en, and permissions. Courcelles 22:10, 26 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Questions for this candidate
Comments
Comments may also be submitted to the Arbitration Committee privately by emailing arbcom-en-b@lists.wikimedia.org

Fluffernutter

Fluffernutter (talk · contribs · blocks · protections · deletions · page moves · rights · RfA)

Nomination statement (250 words max.)

I would like to nominate myself for the position of Oversighter. I’m an experienced Wikipedian of more than 3 years’ tenure. I am a new administrator (I was promoted in August 2011, with unanimous support). I have a history of calm, reasoned actions and good judgment, and have never had any objections to my use or request of revdelete, or had any oversight requests declined.

Standard questions for all candidates

Please describe any relevant on-Wiki experience you have for this role.

A: As I noted in my nomination statement, I am a fairly new admin, so my in-practice experience in actually carrying out revision deletions is more limited than some other candidates' might be. I have 52 logged revision deletions since I became an administrator (according to the latest dump on WP:LOGACTIONS), none of which have, to date, been disputed. I also have placed a fair amount of oversight requests (both before and after being promoted), all of which, to my knowledge, have been acted upon. I regularly use Huggle, which brings me in contact with oversight-able vandalism and new pages fairly often.

Please outline, without breaching your personal privacy, what off-Wiki experience or technical expertise you have for this role.

A: To be truthful, my general answer to “what technical expertise do you have” is “not much”. I’m computer-savvy and have a good intuitive sense of interfaces, but mostly I just have quite a lot of experience being calm and methodical, in general, and learning new tasks quickly. I have (somewhat limited, by virtue of being a new admin) experience with operating revdel, and I believe I’ve used it appropriately. It appears that the oversight tool front-end works very much like the revdel tool, so I believe the learning curve there shouldn’t be too steep.

Do you hold advanced permissions (checkuser, oversight, bureaucrat, steward) on this or other WMF projects? If so, please list them. Also, do you have OTRS permissions? If so, to which queues?

A: I don't hold advanced permissions on any other project. I do have OTRS permissions, with full info-en access.


Questions for this candidate
  • As a relatively new administrator, have you gained any experience in dealing with the type of material that oversight handles, either through revdeleting or requesting oversight yourself. Can you describe said experience (without revealing details of course) and how it has aided you in understanding Wikipedia's privacy policy? Beeblebrox (talk) 16:56, 26 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]
A: As I noted in my answer above, I have had experience requesting and carrying out revision deletion, and with requesting oversight. Since my promotion, I've become more comfortable with making final judgments for myself about whether a revision needs to be hidden under the revision deletion criteria, and I actually find the oversight criteria to be more straightforward than the revdel criteria. I suspect this is because oversight is pushing the boundaries of our privacy and history-keeping policies, and the closer you get to the edge, the more confidence you need to have in any action taken that pushes those boundaries. Revision deletion criteria can be a bit fuzzier (whether something is "purely disruptive" or "grossly insulting" is left to the individual admin to determine, essentially), but oversight has firm criteria which set a definite line in the sand.
  • How much Experience would you say you have with the revision delete tools as an admin? (And of course this is an opinion question, more like do you feel fully comfortable using it) -- DQ (t) (e) 19:42, 26 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]
A: To regurgitate numbers for you, I have, as of the last database dump, 52 logged revision deletions. A modest number, yes, but I feel my experience is fairly wide in general, when you take into account pre-admin requests, post-admin actions, and issues that I've discussed with other admins and oversighters.
A: Numerically, I'm at a disadvantage, but I've never been a numbers player, quite frankly. I will never be the most active at anything, and I will never rival the astronomical log lengths of some other administrators. I think that my strength lies in my methodical, thoughtful approach to admin actions and my willingness to consult other trusted users on issues that I find to be outside my experience. I don't take hasty actions on the basis of "well, this might be ok"; I think about what I'm doing before I do it. This doesn't mean that I can't or don't act quickly when it's necessary, but it does mean that I strive to not act hastily.
Comments
Comments may also be submitted to the Arbitration Committee privately by emailing arbcom-en-b@lists.wikimedia.org
  • I reluctantly have to oppose Fluffernutter's appointment for now. I believe (s)he is a competent and promising administrator who is a serious asset to the project. The problem is one of experience - more specifically discovering what kind of admin Fluffernutter is going to become. Fluffernutter's activities over the last month or so of adminship show someone still trying to gain their footing after jumping in to a successful RfA, and I don't know where exactly (s)he is going to make their landing.</metaphor> I think in six months, they'll probably be a shoe-in, but I'd like to see more history before I can be sure. If we could postpone the appointment review until wintertime, I think we would have a much better idea of what kind of an admin we are working with here. VanIsaacWScontribs 09:19, 30 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]
  • I am satisfied both with the answer to my question and with the candidate in general. Sure 50 revdeletions isn't a ton, but generally if you've done something 50 times and not caused any serious problems, you've probably got a solid handle on it. As the candidate noted, suppression is just a high powered form of revdelete with stricter standards for implementation. I'm confident that in this case we've got someone who can work within those standards. Word of advice should you get in: when in doubt, leave it for someone else or discuss it on the mailing list, especially during your first few weeks. Beeblebrox (talk) 18:01, 30 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]
  • At this time I must oppose because I believe that Fluffernutter needs more time to earn the trust in his or her very new admin role before trying for another leadership position. In six months or a year, if Fluffernutter demonstrates that he or she can handle the responsibilities and workload of being an admin, then we can consider assigning additional responsibility. Pinetalk 19:36, 30 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Where did you get the idea that oversight is a "leadership position"? It's an extra tool that is used as quietly and as infrequently as possible and seldom if ever discussed openly on Wikipedia. There's is nothing remotely related to leadership involved. Beeblebrox (talk) 20:50, 3 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]
You may choose to define the term differently. Pinetalk 08:45, 5 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Someone else had a question on my comment so I'll reply more extensively. The way I'm looking at this is that OS involves shapes the community's level of vision into the events on WP. Also, any user with special permissions has abilities to make changes in a way that will affect users who cannot override the user with special permissions. Perhaps a better word choice would have been for me to say, "additional responsibilities and special permissions." Pinetalk 22:36, 5 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]
  • I'm going to have to go directly against Pine here. OS is pretty invisible; the flag itself confers no extra authority (and a lot of extra work!) All that matters is that the candidate is discreet and has good judgement under pressure. From what I've seen of Fluffernutter's work, she fits the bill. From experience (granted, on a much smaller project), the wobbles of the first two months of adminship or so are not because of poor judgement but a lack of confidence. That comes with time, but I'd much rather have as a 'sighter an admin who is always ready to double-check an action than one who sees it as a "leadership position" and thinks they can't do any wrong. sonia♫ 05:19, 4 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]
I think that's the concern, whether 'nutter is going to evolve into someone who believes they can't do any wrong, or whether they will always be ready to double-check their actions. Right now, we just haven't been able to see where (s)he'll settle on that spectrum. VanIsaacWScontribs 13:47, 4 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]
  • In my rush to finish commenting the other day, I forgot to comment here to say Fluffernutter would be an excellent choice to add to the O/S team and i've seen great work through OTRS, IRC and onwiki. -- DQ (t) (e) 10:53, 5 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]
  • I have no issues with Fluffernutter; I would prefer for prospective oversighters to have slightly more tenure as an administrator though. JORGENEV 17:49, 5 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]
  • I'm not worried about Fluffernutter experience, remember Elen of the Roads had about the same amount of tenure as an administrator when she got elected to ArbCom last year. Being highly trusted is what matters, and she has proven that. Secret account 03:30, 6 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]
  • Though Fluffernutter only recently became an admin, she could if she had been willing become one much earlier. She had unanimous support from the unusually high number of 152 editors, and her work since then has shown the expected ability to learn quickly. Some new admins have made rather a mess of their first few actions, but I wouldn't say this of her--she's done as well as any admin could be expected to do. I'm sure she'll learn equally quickly here, & I completely trust her integrity and judgement. DGG ( talk ) 02:03, 9 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

WilliamH

WilliamH (talk · contribs · blocks · protections · deletions · page moves · rights · RfA)

Nomination statement (250 words max.)

Hi again. In case you missed it, I’m Will and I have been an editor for 5 and a half years and an admin for 3. I live in GMT/BST and have OTRS access. I’d like to offer assistance as an Oversight because I believe that my nature and experience would be only advantageous to Wikipedia in this role, and it would be a pleasure to assist the good work the Oversight team already do. I have the utmost respect for privacy. As previously stated, I am frequently available, often at odd hours. I am over 18 and already identified to the foundation.

information From candidate: I am currently packing for a flight tomorrow. I look forward to getting stuck into these questions once I have reached my destination. WilliamH (talk) 21:31, 26 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

information From candidate: As mentioned, I have reached my destination and have been working through questions as best as I can. WilliamH (talk) 00:59, 1 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Standard questions for all candidates

Please describe any relevant on-Wiki experience you have for this role.

A: I've been an admin for three years and inevitably have had experience requesting Oversight. In particular, I am a helper and operator in #wikipedia-en-help, where a perennial issue is helping new and inexperienced users with their first edits/articles. This combination understandably results in the manifestation of edits that should be suppressed. WilliamH (talk) 00:59, 1 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Please outline, without breaching your personal privacy, what off-Wiki experience or technical expertise you have for this role.

A: One of the most pertinent things I can put forward is that I have a proven legacy of several years never having violated the privacy of any of the Wikipedians I know in real life, but as mentioned, I was a voluntary assistant manager to MSN's official community for teenagers before MSN Groups was disbanded, prior to me editing Wikipedia and Wikimedia projects. Given the nature of this community, there were instances where individuals posted sensitive material about themselves that had to be removed in the forums, either because they wished it to be removed, or because it had to be removed per policy or the law. As an example, sometimes it would be people who had been outed by an angry ex-boyfriend or girlfriend, and their details had to be removed. Material seldom had to be redacted, but when it did, the scope for doing so was virtually identical to Oversight policy here.
I have also worked for a couple of local schools, employed by the local county authority and cleared by the UK Home Office's Criminal Records Bureau. If I had disseminated the information I had access to, I would've lost my job very quickly indeed. WilliamH (talk) 00:59, 1 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Do you hold advanced permissions (checkuser, oversight, bureaucrat, steward) on this or other WMF projects? If so, please list them. Also, do you have OTRS permissions? If so, to which queues?

A: I have OTRS access to info-en, Junk, Junk (non-spam) and permissions. WilliamH (talk) 00:59, 1 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]


Questions for this candidate
  • How much Experience would you say you have with the revision delete tools as an admin? (And of course this is an opinion question, more like do you feel fully comfortable using it) -- DQ (t) (e) 19:43, 26 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]
  • You have only logged one action with RevDel according to WP:ADMINSTATS; why do you think you have the experience and the technical aptitude required to be an oversighter?
A: I'll answer both of those questions in one since they overlap, and I think that User:DeltaQuad touches on what I think is most relevant.
The expertise for oversighting edits is minimal, on par with blocking in my opinion. Admins cannot have had previous experience with blocking before being inaugurated, and Oversighters were obviously appointed before RevisionDelete was enabled for administrators in 2010. So I think that the technical aptitude aspect is a bit of a misnomer and yes, I feel comfortable using it.
As for experience, to me this translates as understanding: knowing what should and shouldn't be oversighted. For your consideration, I offer the sort of requests where I anticipate issuing a suppression, namely and mainly disclosures of non-public personal information in various contexts, for example (and not exhaustively) a) accidentally, where a logged-out editor makes an edit in such a way that his IP is linked to his account, b) good faith, where a user acting in good faith and perhaps unaware at the time of the consequences of their actions submits something like a home or work address, and c) in bad faith, where an editor outs another editor. Since first requesting Oversight over 2 and a half years ago, I reckon I have a pretty solid understanding of its scope. WilliamH (talk) 00:59, 1 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]
  • Looking at your contributions, it seems that the majority of your activity was back in 2008 and early 2009, and then you were inactive (or almost inactive) until July this year. Is this a fair interpretation of the statistics, and if so, would you mind telling us (without going into any detail you're not comfortable with) why you were inactive for so long and whether you think you'll have sufficient time to undertake this role in future?
No problem. I wouldn't say it was a completely accurate interpretation. There is the aspect of real life, which I can't expect anyone to edit exclusively away from. I tried to keep things ticking over and many of my contributions do not leave a paper trail, such as assisting users in IRC and checking deleted contributions. Additionally, in terms of content building, I do not tend to make incremental edits on wiki, but write in Wordpad and preview my work, which often results in large edits seemingly out of nowhere.
Real life circumstances did not lend themselves to contributing much before the summer of this year, but that was then and this is now. An important aspect is that Oversighting is not time consuming. New e-mails reach me very quickly and to take care of a request is no problem at all. On a side note, I don't like to see editors burning out. As far as I'm concerned, I'm a Wikipedian for the long haul. There's still many more things I'd like to do here, and I don't believe that going at them full tilt is a healthy philosophy. WilliamH (talk) 00:59, 1 October 2011 (UTC)[reply]
Comments
Comments may also be submitted to the Arbitration Committee privately by emailing arbcom-en-b@lists.wikimedia.org
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