User:Zachary crimsonwolf/coaching

*Wannabe Kate's tool

Coaching

Hello! Ok, so getting started.. how about you tell me how you got started on Wikipedia? What do you like about contributing here? --Fang Aili ^talk 17:00, 19 July 2007 (UTC)

Well, I got started...I don't really recall why, all I know is that I signed in one day, and..the rest is history! Esperanza was what made me hooked to Wiki, and to continue to contribute to the encyclopedia but after Esperanza was deleted, I decided to stand on my own and try to go on without relying on Esperanza. And I really like the Wiki because there are many, many nice people here, and besides, I had fun editing the articles, and sometimes I come across really amazing pictures/information. To top that all off, I learned a lot on Wikipedia. --Zacharycrimsonwolf 11:32, 20 July 2007 (UTC)

I got started on the 'pedia one day when I noticed there was no article on a particular figure skating gold medalist. So I wrote an article, and then a few more, and the rest is history. :)

I was involved in Esperanza too. I was sad when it was disbanded. --Fang Aili ^talk 14:42, 20 July 2007 (UTC)

What would you like to do with admin tools? --Fang Aili ^talk 14:42, 20 July 2007 (UTC)

Well. You see, eventhough I wanted to be an admin before (and still hoping for it), my RfA is rather..well, not much. I didn't even know what an admin can do (only some of what they can do) until recently. Anyway, I now know that being an admin would mean I have to work harder to revert vandalism, etc., etc. So..I hope that I would be able to use them to improve Wiki, I've came across certain articles and they are..well...for a lack of better word..disappointig. But it depends, I don't know how they really work. --Zacharycrimsonwolf 09:25, 23 July 2007 (UTC)

This page will tell you more about what admins do. Being an admin doesn't mean you work harder, it means you can work differently (than a non-admin). Admin powers boil down to: delete and protect pages, and block users. Everything else, for the most part, can be done as a regular user. About disappointing pages--articles rarely need admin involvement to be improved! So if you see something you can fix, just do it. As you gain more experience, you'll figure out where you'd like to help and what tools would be best for you. For example, if you get into a lot of vandal fighting, it would be useful to be able to block persistent vandals. --Fang Aili ^talk 13:36, 23 July 2007 (UTC)

Okay, but is there any special software that needs to be installed as an admin? --Zacharycrimsonwolf 13:02, 25 July 2007 (UTC)

No. The new buttons (delete, block, etc) are automatically enabled once the b'crat sysops a user. --Fang Aili ^talk 18:29, 25 July 2007 (UTC)

I personally think that no matter what people say ("admins are just regular users with a few extra buttons"), they are given respect. Even I, as a newbie last time, will go "woah, its an admin!". What is your opinion of this, as an admin? --Zacharycrimsonwolf 12:55, 26 July 2007 (UTC)

Good question.

I think admins definitely have a sort of aura about them, rightly or wrongly. "Regular" users look to admins for experience and advice. I would like to believe that "adminship is no big deal", but the Wikipedia community has gotten too large, and is too jaded for such an idea to really work. Bad admins have caused so much trouble over the years that people are much pickier about who gets the buttons. It is much more difficult to "lose" your admin buttons than it is to get them (the community cannot simply vote away an adminship), so adminship requires a great deal of trust. At each RfA, some people are thinking, "Can I be sure this person won't cause years of wikidrama?", because the wrong person with the buttons can cause a lot of trouble, and it can go on, and on, and on until ArbCom gets involved.

In addition, some of the admin "standards" have gotten, well, out of hand, in my opinion. Some people require that a user has gotten an article to FA status, and just will not accept anything else. Others will not accept under 3000 edits. When I stood for adminship I believe I had in the realm of 2000 edits (and no FAs), and this was considered plenty at the time (April '06). So these days, when you run into an admin, you might give her a certain respect because she has "run the gauntlet" of very high admin standards, and "must" be a really awesome user indeed. I agree with you that admins tend to get more respect, and they are treated differently than non-admins. I have seen numerous instances where an admin was just acting like a jerk, and if he was a normal user he could have been blocked for disruption (with no questions from anyone), but since he was an admin, no one wanted to block him. It's that kind of behavior that makes people skittish at RfAs.

I hope that answers the question. :) --Fang Aili ^talk 14:13, 27 July 2007 (UTC)

Well, then what would he/she do if a admin meets another admin "jerk"? And in the RfAs, MfDs, AfDs, if an admin acts....um...wrongly, what should we do? --Zacharycrimsonwolf 12:48, 1 August 2007 (UTC)

Depends on the situation. Suppose an admin did something that merited a block, say, for 3RR. For starters I might post on WP:AN/I and say that I intend to block so-and-so for X hours, because of such-and-such behavior. Other admins will post and say they support or don't. If there seems to be support, I would go ahead with the block. Or I might just go ahead and block if I think there is no question. I would have to be sure the misconduct was clear and unambiguous. Make sense? --Fang Aili ^talk 14:23, 1 August 2007 (UTC)

Yeah. But what's 3RR? --Zacharycrimsonwolf 12:08, 2 August 2007 (UTC)

See WP:3RR. It's the policy against reverting more than 3 times. By that point it's considered edit warring. Before one reaches that point, s/he should try to discuss the situation. (3RR does not apply to vandalism reverts.) --Fang Aili ^talk 13:28, 2 August 2007 (UTC)

Next

Okay, thanks. What's next in this coaching process? --Zacharycrimsonwolf 11:04, 3 August 2007 (UTC)

Let's go with one of the standard RfA questions: What are your best contributions to Wikipedia, and why? --Fang Aili ^talk 18:43, 3 August 2007 (UTC)

Mainly in the geographical articles because I had very good sources for them (although I am still figuring how to put the sources in). At the same time, I learned while editing the articles, so..you can say that I had fun editing them. Meteora, The Ross Ice Shelf are some of the ones. -Zacharycrimsonwolf 15:25, 4 August 2007 (UTC)

Besides, I am rather fond of debates in the MfDs, AfDs and such. I got into my first one in Wikipedia:Esperanza. Then I was hoping for more. Even though I found the debate pages, I must say that they are rather mild compared to the Esperanza ones (as you can remember, there were two). The debates are :

User 1:This is suggested to deleted.

User 2:I agree.

User 1:Reason?

User 2:Blah blah.

Admin:Deleted.

Well, you get the point. Almost every one is instantly deleted, no arguments. Anyhow, I'm proud of my participations in them. --Zacharycrimsonwolf 15:37, 4 August 2007 (UTC)

You are hoping for more debates? I don't get it. I mean, you debate if you have to (I prefer the word "discuss"), but that's not really what we're here for. --Fang Aili ^talk 00:50, 7 August 2007 (UTC)

Sorry for the late reply, I was extremely busy (examinations). Anyway, I meant that the discussions are not...err..hot. If you were there during the Esperanza deletion discussion, you'd find that its very heated. So what I meant was that I would like something like that more frequently. --Zacharycrimsonwolf 13:09, 17 August 2007 (UTC)

No problem! How did your examinations go?

Ah, discussions that don't involve a lot of vitriol or drama -- yes, those can be nice. :) I was around for the Esperanza debate--I did not read deeply into it, because its being nominated depressed me. I put my 2 cents in, and then pretty much backed off.

Where would you like to go next with coaching? Have more questions? --Fang Aili ^talk 13:58, 18 August 2007 (UTC)

Um...I think I must have made a mistake. What I meant really was that I like heated discussions, not mild ones. As for questions...I have been taking info from a Reader's Digest book to edit an article called Meteora. So, can I use the sentences in the book and change them before putting them in the article? I know I can't directly put the sentences in, its copyright violation. But is it right to do such a thing? And I don't know how to put in the book as a source. --Zacharycrimsonwolf 12:26, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

Oh ok, hmm. Well, just stay civil and keep a clear head. Do you participate on AfD a lot, then? I'm sure there are a lot of debates on a regular basis. Or if you are interested in hammering out Wikipedia policy or guidelines, there is always discussion going on about that.

About using info from Reader's Digest-- just be sure to put it in your own words. Rewrite it significantly; don't just change a few words here and there. WP:CITE can help with citing sources. --Fang Aili ^talk 14:24, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

Okay. Thanks by the way. The problem has been sticking to me for about...oh, who knows when. Right. Maybe you could take a look at my RFA. I'm not sure if you know about it, but there you go. What do you think? --Zacharycrimsonwolf 08:01, 25 August 2007 (UTC)

Looks like you just need more time and experience. Try branching out into different areas. The more you do, the more you'll learn. You have a ways to go before being an admin, so just take it easy, stay active, and it'll happen.

Also--I'm more or less taking a wikibreak. I will try to come online to check on my admin coachees, but other than that, I suspect I'll be pretty much off-wiki for a while. If anything urgent comes up, send me an email. --Fang Aili ^talk 21:52, 27 August 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for the advice. I'm sort of on a Wikibreak too. I'll only check on my messages, it'll be November before I'm fully active again, but I can't guarantee even that. Anyway, hope you have a nice day!! Cheers!!! --Zacharycrimsonwolf 14:14, 30 August 2007 (UTC)

Hi Fang Aili. I am curious as to how I am doing right now. Can you take take a look at my progress overall and see how I fare as an editor? I have made an rfA, but I don't think I will succeed this time as well. What do you think? --Zacharycrimsonwolf 16:00, 14 September 2007 (UTC)

You only have about 300 edits since your last editor review; I don't think you need another review right now. I looked over your recent contribs, and you're doing ok. But most of your edits are to User or Wikipedia space. I would suggest you focus on adding to the encyclopedia for a while. You have some nice additions, like Meteora, but you should contribute more. Cheers, Fang Aili ^talk 13:41, 15 September 2007 (UTC)