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Revision as of 20:13, 24 July 2011

Richardcavell

Voice your opinion on this candidate (talk page) (7/1/1); Scheduled to end 16:21, 31 July 2011 (UTC)

Nomination

Richardcavell (talk · contribs) – G'day everyone. I wish to nominate myself for adminship. For the relevant history, please see:

• Misplaced Pages:Requests for adminship/Richardcavell 2
• Misplaced Pages:Requests for adminship/Richardcavell.

I am making a self-nomination for the same reason that I did last time - because I want to disclose up front my history of adminship and unsuccessful re-application for adminship. My reasons for applying for adminship this time are in fact somewhat different to what they were the previous two times. Here they are:

• I have recently become quite involved in bots. I have written a bot framework in C, and have successfully tested it. I plan a major expansion of this codebase, and I would like to have admin tools to help me test the framework, and provide the option for my bot to also be given admin status in future. (Note that this RfA is for me, not my bot).
• I have also had reason to become very interested in privacy issues recently. Richard Cavell is my real name. My home town is Melbourne, Australia. However, I have recently had to permanently leave my home town due to real life privacy issues, and my Internet access is now subject to certain privacy measures. (My apologies for being deliberately vague. Details available on request to sensible users). I lurk on IRC most of the time, and I am very keen to be able to make a quick response to privacy issues for other users who are in the same sort of position. I have had cause to request urgent attention to privacy issues that affect others, and usually do this on IRC rather than on Misplaced Pages talk pages (because it's quicker).
• I would like to be able to look at deleted edits, which is something that only an admin can do.

... in addition to the usual admin duties, and my longstanding desire to reform Category:Hormones. To address the issues from my last adminship request:

• I have re-read all of the relevant policies. I note that many of them have changed considerably since I became an admin in 2006. I see this as a positive thing. Take this statement from Jimmy Wales, which was published two weeks before my first RfA. I agree with Jimmy's statement, but probably didn't back in 2006. I note also that Misplaced Pages is far more influential these days than it was in 2006, and has a much more rigorous, academic focus, and therefore should exercise more responsibility.
• I have learned much about referencing, and have taken to citing my work much more frequently than in the past. Look at my work on The Matty Johns Show since the last RfA for an example. I also intend for my bot to (eventually) work with references.
• Regarding my reasons for resigning adminship in 2008, I have given my side of the story in RfA 2. There were several factors that led to me feeling distant from the project (the Essjay controversy, my feeling that Misplaced Pages was becoming too political, etc) that no longer exist.

Consequently, I request that the community trust me with admin status again. - Richard Cavell (talk) 15:39, 24 July 2011 (UTC)

Questions for the candidate

Dear candidate, thank you for offering to serve Misplaced Pages as an administrator. Please answer these questions to provide guidance for participants:

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

A: When I was an administrator, I used to speedily delete relevant pages, warn and block vandals, and close AfDs. In addition to those typical admin tasks, I have become interested in bot operation and privacy.

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

A: I have a long list of pages that I've created, linked from my user page. I particularly edit on topics related to law, medicine and showbusiness.

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: The most recent conflicts I've had are in relation to the subject of an article and her management exercising some type of editorial oversight over her biography (Misplaced Pages:Conflict of interest/Noticeboard#Rebel Wilson), and a discussion about the use of Adolf Hitler's name (Talk:Adolf Hitler#Mention of his name).

Additional questions from The Utahraptor

4. You say in your nomination statement that you would like to view deleted edits. Why do you want to view deleted edits?

A: I find it very useful when trying to identify vandals (deleted vandalistic pages will not show up under User contributions unless one is an administrator). It can also help when trying to decide on speedy deletion candidates,Misplaced Pages:Redirects for discussion, and so on.

5. In your last RfA, many users, including myself, opposed due to your misinterpretation of the BLP policy. What have you done since then that demonstrates that you now fully understand the BLP policy?

A: I hope that I have been demonstrating caution in respect of BLP issues, such as here, here, here, here, and here. I have also taken issue with an unsourced statement concerning a biography of living penguins here.

Question from /ƒETCHCOMMS/

6. If you don't feel comfortable answering this question, then don't :). Are the privacy issues mentioned in your nomination statement a direct result of your involvement or activities on Misplaced Pages? Do you feel that becoming an administrator would be wise at this point?

A: I apologize for being a little vague about the privacy issues in question. Suffice to say that I have left my home town and very few people know where I currently am, owing to my concerns about my personal safety. These concerns did not originate from anything to do with Misplaced Pages. However, I am quite visible on Misplaced Pages. I guess it's partly my fault, because I use my real name. Even if I didn't, it is one way that people could identify my location. All my Internet activity is undertaken using measures to keep my geographical location private. I feel very strongly that any person should have the right to access Misplaced Pages, or any general-purpose website, in this way.

General comments

• Requests for adminship/Richardcavell
• Requests for adminship/Richardcavell 2
• Requests for adminship/Richardcavell 3

• Links for Richardcavell: Richardcavell (talk · contribs · deleted · count · AfD · logs · block log · lu · rfar · spi)
• Edit summary usage for Richardcavell 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

• Edit stats can be seen on the talk page. --Σ _contribs 16:50, 24 July 2011 (UTC)

Support

1. Support. Richardcavell was a valuable admin back in the day (check the logs, lots of good work) before some very strange drama brought him to resign. The BLP issue that brought down his second RFA was kind of sketchy, but the incident it centered on was pretty minor and I think he still should have passed (he added the persons full legal name to Josie Parrelli from his own personal knowledge and defended it). Not as active as I would like but he is an intelligent contributor, experienced and clueleful and very gentlemanly. I have no doubt he can be a good admin because he already has been one! jorgenev 16:38, 24 July 2011 (UTC)

   Support - Looks good to me! Reaper Eternal (talk) 16:55, 24 July 2011 (UTC) Can no longer support per A6

2. Support. Richard's previous tenure as an admin demonstrated he can be trusted with the tools, and his decision in RfA #2 to put himself up for the community to judge rather than simply requesting them back (as he was permitted to do) speaks highly of his integrity. 28bytes (talk) 17:08, 24 July 2011 (UTC)
3. Yes. Would like to fully understand privacy issues, but it's not that important. NativeForeigner /_Contribs 17:12, 24 July 2011 (UTC)
4. Support. Most odd that you didn't get my support at RfA number 1, but glancing at RfA, mainly out of morbid fascination these days at how difficult and challenging the whole procedure has become, I was naturally surprised to see a familiar name, someone I knew as an administrator. Don't see any reason not to give him the bit, yes, unsourced information in BLPs always has been an issue, but more so are those contributors who want to stick next to statements like "The sky is blue". Nick (talk) 17:58, 24 July 2011 (UTC)
5. I'm inclined to say "yes" here. /ƒETCHCOMMS/ 18:03, 24 July 2011 (UTC)
6. Support because, quite simply, you should never have lost the mop in the first place. Swarm 18:12, 24 July 2011 (UTC)
7. Support His adminship finished before I started looking behind the articles themselves, but in the time I've been here, he's always been knowledgeable and it was a while before I discovered he wasn't an admin. No problems for me with this application - I just hope it doesn't cause any for him. Peridon (talk) 18:40, 24 July 2011 (UTC)

Oppose

1. Oppose. It seems like insanity for someone concerned about their privacy to the extent that they feel obliged to move their home should raise their online profile by becoming a WP administrator, and there are already quite enough unhinged administrators. Malleus Fatuorum 18:24, 24 July 2011 (UTC)

   The fact that RC has privacy issues doesn't necessarily mean he would make a bad administrator or abuse the tools. The Utahraptor/_Contribs 18:29, 24 July 2011 (UTC)

   But it does mean that he may be better off not having the tools. Malleus Fatuorum 18:49, 24 July 2011 (UTC)

   Malleus, do you have any evidence for your implication that the candidate is "unhinged"? (I've not read over the previous RfAs yet, so I won't have seen it if it's in there.) --Demiurge1000 (talk) 20:12, 24 July 2011 (UTC)

Neutral

1. Neutral for now, leaning toward support. You certainly have come a long way since your second RfA, but this, this, and this (among the links you provided in Q5) did not show me how you demonstrated your knowledge of the BLP policy. The first link has nothing to do with Misplaced Pages's BLP policy; it was simply a punctuation error. I can see where you were coming from in the second link, but I would think, since Alfred called himself Fred in the television episode, that the usage of the {{Cite episode}} template, with a link to the video in which Alfred called himself Fred, would be sufficient. Like the first link, the third link has nothing to do with the BLP policy, as it was just a difference in spacing. The first link you provided in the answer to Q5 did show me you've at least learned a little more, however, so don't feel bad. You are definitely a highly respected editor, and I wish you the best of luck in the rest of your RfA. The Utahraptor/_Contribs 18:14, 24 July 2011 (UTC)

   That first diff you mention was quite obviously not just a punctuation error. Putting someone's occupation in scare quotes is a subtle way to insult them, kudos to RC for reverting that. 28bytes (talk) 18:18, 24 July 2011 (UTC)

   Ah. I suppose the same could be said for diff 3, which I just realized also contained quotation marks. I've been away too long... ;) The Utahraptor/_Contribs 18:20, 24 July 2011 (UTC)