Wikipedia:Requests for bureaucratship/Avraham

Avraham

Voice your opinion (talk page) (2/0/0); Scheduled to end 21:49, 6 March 2008 (UTC)

Avraham (talk · contribs · blocks · protections · deletions · page moves · rights · RfA) - With the apparent need for more bureaucrats, the volunteering of a number of respected editors, and after some thought, I have decided to volunteer my services for the community's approval as a bureaucrat as well.

My general thoughts about requests for administratorship and bureaucratship are encapsulated on my user page as User:Avraham/RfA-B. These positions require that the wikipedia community feel that the candidate exhibits good judgment, and that they trust the candidate to exercise that judgment in difficult situations.

Regarding RfA's, we need bureaucrats less for when an RfA's candidacy is 22% or 98%, we need them for the cases when the statistics are in that 70% to 80% range, when it is the bureaucrat's job not to decide upon the candidate's status, but to carefully peruse the arguments and statements posed, and decide on what the community's consensus is vis-a-vis the candidate in question.

I have always been of the opinion that there should not necessarily be a limit on the number of bureaucrats. Different people have different requirements on their time, and having a quorum available is always beneficial. Having more community-trusted, bureaucrats allows for a better resolution in the most difficult of RfA cases as well.

About myself, I have been a registered wikipedian for around 2.5 years, and an administrator for about 1.5 years. I have approximately 21K edits that span most every area of wikipedia. I am also an administrator on commons, and an m:OTRS volunteer.

I appreciate your time in considering my application, I hope that I have earned your trust over the past 2.5 years, and I look forward to any and all constructive criticism that you may have.

Thank you,

-- Avi (talk) 22:16, 28 February 2008 (UTC)

Candidate, please indicate acceptance of the nomination here:

Self-nomination -- Avi (talk) 22:07, 28 February 2008 (UTC)

Questions for the candidate

Dear candidate, thank you for offering to serve Wikipedia as a Bureaucrat. You may wish to answer the following optional questions to provide guidance for participants:

1. Have you read the discussions on when to promote and not promote? What do you understand the criteria for promotion to be?

A. Yes, I have read the discussions. The criteria for promotion is community consensus. As stated on Wikipedia:Bureaucrats: “They are bound by policy and consensus to grant administrator or bureaucrat access only when doing so reflects the wishes of the community, usually after a successful request at Wikipedia:Requests for adminship.” This is what requires us to have a human bureaucrat as opposed to bot that can perform long division. It is not for the times when the consensus is obvious one way or the other, it is for the gray zone. Common practice is that over around 80% is clear, and under around 70% is clear, but that zone in-between is where the community relies on the judgment of its bureaucrats to best "tease-out" what its consensus is.

2. How would you deal with contentious nominations where a decision to promote or not promote might be criticized?

A. My optimal policy would be to be able to discuss it with fellow bureaucrats, on an open page, where the bureaucratic consensus as to the community consensus can be followed and understood by all. In those situations there is bound to be those that will argue with whatever decision is reached. When there is an open process and discussion, then at the very least, the final decision is understandable--which leads to much more acceptance. In the event I would be the only bureaucrat available to make this decision, I would do so with a detailed explanation of my thought process and which policies and guidelines were used to best capture the community's consensus, for the same reasons.

3. Wikipedians expect bureaucrats to adhere to high standards of fairness, knowledge of policy and the ability to engage others in the community. Why do you feel you meet those standards?

A. I have been an administrator here for over 19 months, and my record is open to all. I have been considered worthy of trust on the Commons as well. I have been trusted enough to be approached to mentor cases of editors as their last resort before community sanctions, and have been considered fair enough to be approached as such about editors whose issues deal with among our most difficult ones, such as the Palestinan-Israeli issues. Also, I have been considered trustworthy, fair, and discrete enough to be allowed to volunteer on the m:OTRS list, where the most difficult and contentious issues that affect all Wikimedia projects, and are bound by the policies and guidelines of all of our projects, not just Wikipedia, are dealt with.

4. Do you have the time and do you have the desire to visit WP:RFA, WP:B/RFA, and/or WP:CHU on a regular basis to attend to those requests?

A. Yes, I do, and will do my best.

General comments

• See Avraham's edit summary usage with mathbot's tool. For the edit count, see the talk page.

---

Please keep discussion constructive and civil.

Discussion

Support

1. Admin for 1.5 years and understands that we need crats for closing RFA's in the 70-80 percentile range. Malinaccier (talk) 22:10, 28 February 2008 (UTC)
2. Being a crat doesn't require a PhD in rocket science, or the stability and precision of a neurosurgeon. Not saying anything about Avraham, maybe he's a neurosurgeon, but I'll support either way. Avruch ^T 22:22, 28 February 2008 (UTC)
3. Experienced user who understands consensus. Nousernamesleft^{copper, not wood} 22:29, 28 February 2008 (UTC)
4. Although I disagree (sometimes strongly) with Avraham on matters connected with Israel, I have seen that he has a sensible approach and is always willing to listen carefully. He has done a first-rate job in his mentoring work. Most important of all, he is scrupulous in following policy and consensus, even when it conflicts with his POV (100%, without exception). I trust him to exercise bureaucratship in the same fashion. NSH001 (talk) 22:36, 28 February 2008 (UTC)