User:Bluegoblin7/Admin coaching

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Process: Material is placed and developed here. There may be exercises, things to read, questions posed and answers given, etc. Use the talk page for more ephemeral stuff like process related questions, comments, concerns, and so forth

Contents

[edit] Participants

[edit] Agenda/Checklist/what you want out of this

List of things we should try to achieve: (let's jointly develop this list together but here are a few things to think about, we three will restructure this as needed... Please also answer some of these below)

  • Why do you want to be an admin? You should have a clear understanding of this. It's not all wine and roses, it's hard work... so why?
  • What does an admin do and is it interesting to you? what areas are most interesting? what areas are least?
  • Some reading to get you started is often helpful.
  • exercises - I have seen exercises and will be reusing some of them, things on deletion, on blocking, etc. For the most part it's not that there is a right answer, it's that you are comfortable with why you came up with the answer. Adminship is a combination of the need to respond really quickly sometimes, and the need to be very deliberate and thoughtful sometimes. Part of being a good admin in my view is knowing which is which. How do you tell?

[edit] Agenda/Checklist discussion

  • I would like to be an admin as I would like to help fight vandalism, but my main area would be RfAs, AfDs, XfDs etc. I would also hang around Page Protection, and as I would like to become really active in template creation, DYKs and article creation this year, they would also be helpful. I understand that in being an admin I have even more of a role to play at Wikipedia, and that I will probably get abused, especially by IPs, for making "bad" decisions.
  • An admin closes RfA's, sorts out disputes, closes XfD's, protects pages, blocks vandalising users etc. Most of it sounds fairly interesting, and I would like to help out. Main bits would be where there are large backlogs at the moment, and and I would like to see some of WP's backlogs shrink! The least interesting areas are probably going to be the backlogs ironically, as it will be very tedious!
  • Reading... I guess i should read the stuff below, and then discuss them!
  • I'm looking forward to the excerises! I have some experience of admin tools on other (much smaller) wikis, and I would like to see if I am handling things there ok for here! I presume the question is saying how do i tell which is the right answer? Well, I would have to check discussions and all the for and against, and then make my decision from there. If i'm not sure, I can always ask anther admin!
Thats a great range of things you can help out with as an admin but what made you want to volunteer for all the extra work and abuse you may receive as an admin. What will you get out if it? Tbo 157(talk) 17:47, 7 February 2008 (UTC)
Well, I wanted to volunteer for the extra work becuase I know WP are short of admins, and there are backlogs on a nlot of key pages. I guess the abuse just comes as part of that.
BG7 15:03, 17 February 2008 (UTC)
I think there are quite alot of admins but not enough very active admins who sort through all the backlog. Ive tried before but due to the amount of backlogged pages, it didn't go very far. What do you think of this? Tbo 157(talk) 18:29, 26 April 2008 (UTC)
Well I think that it's just a thing about motivation and wanting to make Wikipedia a better place. I have seen that there are a few backlogged pages that are cleared, but not enough! I would work mostly with the Requested Moves page I think, as it seems to be backlogged quite often. Also, although it's not backlogged, I would work on the DYK page, as I believe it needs a bit more participation. BG7 08:22, 11 May 2008 (UTC)
What kind of qualities do you think an admin should have? Tbo 157(talk) 18:17, 13 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Admin Reading list

To get you started... Here are a few things to read and think about from Lar (Guinnog may add more)

  • User:NoSeptember/The_NoSeptember_Admin_Project is an amazing array of resources on adminship. In that array I would look through a lot of things... browse around! but here is User:NoSeptember/RfA_talk_topical_archive_index a good list of things for further reading
  • User:CatherineMunro#Why am I here? one of my favorite essays, period. Think about what it means, think about adminship as merely one thing, one tool, one process that helps us do the overall goal. How does it fit?
  • User:Mindspillage/admin one of my favorite essays on adminship. Could you be this good of an admin? I'm not sure I myself am, but it is something to strive for.
  • User:Essjay/Neutrality Another take on how to be a good admin. Neutrality, impartiality, fairness. These are so important! Look within yourself and see if you really think you can do things this way. If not, perhaps adminship is not right for you (generic you, no comment on anyone in particular intended) It is really a shame that this page was deleted, it's really very good. I placed it on a user page for a previous coachee, Akradecki, see User:Akradecki/Admin coaching/Essjay neutrality ... That stance is not necessarily for everyone, but it's a thought provoking read.

Out of left field:

  • Wikipedia:Tip of the day/July 8, 2006 What does this rule really mean? What is the spirit, not the letter? How do you enforce spirit when trolls and trouble makers are going to want the letter, and then want to twist it around on you and wikilawyer?

Think about some of those and see if any of them color your thinking... You may have read some of them already. You don't necessarily have to read every single one in the entire admin project (although if you want to, you'll be much better informed). What I am interested in is a discussion on what one or two of them meant to you, whether you agree or disagree, and why, and so forth. These can be a springboard for good discussion. ++Lar: t/c 03:17, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Reading list discussion

Pick any one, and discuss it. Let's see how and what you think about things. Then pick another one. We'll know when to stop.

What do you think of the points made in User:Mindspillage/admin? Try and put down a concise and thought out answer, rather than a short and simple answer, as this is what people look for in RfAs. Take some time to read through and think about it. Remember alot of areas of adminship on Wikipedia requires thought and can take up alot of time. Tbo 157(talk) 17:03, 17 February 2008 (UTC)
Well, I think that most of the points in there are pretty much exactly what an admin needs to do.
To take the points individually:
Blocking
I totally agree with this policy. Since i discovered Twinkle today, I will be advising users a lot more for vandalism, and also I agree with users not being blocked straight off.
Possibly the most important part is not taking requests. At the end of the day, it's the admin who has to deal with potential repurcussions, not the requesting user.
3RR
I would probably not block someone for 3 reverts, and I would discuss it. If it was serious, i may take block action, such as reverting my vandal revert etc. I would in most cases however refer to the 1RR as said and discuss - words will do so much more than blocks.
Admin Wars
Where ever possible, I would avoid admin wars, and try to discuss things first. Edit warring is bad enough between IPs and normal users, but when admins start doing it - you know something is up!
Reverting/Rollbacking
I agree with the things said here. Good faith edits are exactly that. We want editors to learn and contribute more and better, rather than putting them down by accusing their good-faiths as vandalism. If I was in doubt, I would get a 2nd opinion.
COI
I would probably steer clear of things involving me, unless they were obviously wrong. Again, if I was in doubt, I would get help, and would always revert to an entry before the thing happened, rather than picking one or the other. Or I would merge them.
Dirty Laundry
I would only use the AN/I in extreme cicumstances, and I had tried everything else. As I have said, I will discuss first and see what happens!
Thanks,
BG7 02:24, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Thought provoking questions

We may pose thought provoking questions here.

[edit] Exercises

We may pose some exercises here.

[edit] Notes and references

With thanks to User:Lar and User:John who designed this coaching page layout and who also granted permission for it to be used.