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Sdkb

Voice your opinion on this candidate (talk page) (66/1/0); Scheduled to end 18:01, 16 February 2024 (UTC)

Nomination

Sdkb (talk · contribs) – Dedicated, talented, friendly, knowledgeable, and prolific, Sdkb is one of our best editors and would make a fantastic administrator.

Sdkb has been editing Misplaced Pages seriously for over five years, since mid-2018. Their Misplaced Pages contributions in that time have run the gamut. Their content work is impeccable—most impressively at Pomona College, which they almost singlehandedly brought to FA, but there are many more articles I could mention. In addition to content work, Sdkb has a knack for doing the work nobody else wants to do, often when it's most important to do it. Sdkb is a talented technical contributor and runs SdkbBot. A friendly face at the Teahouse, you can often find Sdkb patiently fielding questions from new users. Speaking of new users, I've seen Sdkb work very hard to improve the editing experience for newcomers, and I'm not the only one—when Sdkb received the Editor of the Week last year, the citation highlighted their hard work in streamlining a lot of the templates used to welcome new editors.

I now want to take a moment to touch on the less measurable qualities that make a good sysop. I have watched for many years as Sdkb has developed as an editor and as a maintainer of this project, and Sdkb has grown to evince precisely the kind of judgment, character, and temperament I like to see in our administrators. When we've talked over the years, Sdkb has shown a willingness to stop, reflect, and change their mind, as well as an ability to thoughtfully consider and engage with new ideas and arguments.

Sdkb is a real joy to work alongside. It's quite a privilege to present Sdkb to the community for adminship. Best, KevinL (aka L235 · t · c) 10:43, 9 February 2024 (UTC)

Co-nomination statement

For every RfA participant out there who wants to see a candidate with a strong content record, I am thrilled to present Sdkb, a longtime editor who weighs in at over 40 DYKs, a good article for Jean Walton, a featured list for List of Pomona College people, and a featured article for Pomona College that reaches nearly 6,000 words. Much of their work runs the gamut on Pomona, from its alumni to its administration and faculty to related student organizations and even sister schools. But they've also taken on lots of other topics, including folk music, journalism, the arts, and various Eastern United States locations.

Now, lots of candidates can and do come through here with solid content records such as this one, where count and breadth alone make the candidate's content bona fides quite strong. But in terms of real quality writing, their FA of Pomona College is in a class by itself – quite literally, it is the only FA on an institution of higher education. Writing an FA in an area where no current article has that distinction requires a certain clarity of purpose and creativity in content; these are mental muscles that normal Misplaced Pages contributing doesn't require an editor to flex, but Sdkb has those talents in spades. In our conversations, I've always found them to be diligent, civil, and incredibly sharp – when we sparred over a niche application of sourcing guidelines for DYK, they brought a clear and convincing argument with evidence to back it up, and in the end, I was persuaded that they were right and that their article was good to go. A level-headed, dedicated, and, as my fine fellow nominators have laid out, all-around talented editor. With that, I am happy to offer Sdkb's name for the mop :) theleekycauldron (talk • she/her) 10:44, 9 February 2024 (UTC)

Co-nomination statement

I first encountered Sdkb in late 2020, seeing their name in edit requests and bot approvals. Since early on in our interactions, I've been struck by their deep attention towards the experiences of new editors, shown from their work improving our introduction pages and the article wizard, to over 700 edits at the Teahouse. In every interaction I've found them polite and conscientious, clueful about policy, and able to communicate clearly—all important qualities in admins, who often form the first impression of our community for new users.

As a technically minded editor, Sdkb has spearheaded high-visibility changes like improvements to the welcome template and talk page banners, but they are also happy to work on less glamorous maintenance tasks, like responding to edit requests, improving template readability, and operating their bot. Though I have interacted with Sdkb most in these areas, I know them best as a truly well-rounded editor, and as an admin, I expect them to help out with exactly these kinds of important but understated maintenance tasks that make up so much of the admin workload. It's my pleasure to co-nominate them for adminship. — The Earwig (talk) 13:51, 9 February 2024 (UTC)

Candidate, please indicate acceptance of the nomination here: I accept the nomination, with gratitude to my three nominators as well as everyone else who has helped lay the foundation for my candidacy. I’d also like to thank the community for taking the time to review and evaluate my contributions. The standard disclosures can be found on my user page. {{u|Sdkb}}  17:55, 9 February 2024 (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. Why are you interested in becoming an administrator?
A: Fundamentally, I'm interested because I support Misplaced Pages's aspiration to build an encyclopedia that makes information accessible to everyone, and the admin tools would allow me to help out. I have been approached a few times over the years with nomination offers, and I feel I’m at a point now where I’m ready to expand my work into administrative areas to help out with some of the sizable backlogs there.I have worked in many different non-admin areas, seeking variety and searching for areas of need. I will bring this knowledge base and approach to my work as an admin, exploring different tasks — dabbling cautiously at first while I familiarize myself — to figure out where I can be the most useful. More concretely, I could see myself initially using the tools to close XfDs and other discussions that require admin action (here's an example of a close I made), making edits to full-protected templates when consensus has been established (e.g. stuff like this), viewing deleted contributions of newcomers seeking help at the Teahouse, and applying my professional copy editing background to correct errors on the Main Page (e.g. stuff like this on this TFA, or this on this TFA).
2. What are your best contributions to Misplaced Pages, and why?
A: I am most proud of my work to improve help resources for newcomers. To document the full scope of the world's knowledge, we desperately need to expand and diversify our ranks. I regularly respond to queries as an active host at the Teahouse, but my efficacy is limited when offering personalized help to individuals because I can only assist one editor at a time. Therefore, I have focused on improving help pages and templates that can reach thousands of editors. In 2020, I proposed changes to the standard welcome template that simplified it to make it less overwhelming. I also did a full revamp to improve the roughly 60 pages in the Help:Introduction tutorial series. More recently, I have collaborated with the WMF's Growth team to inform the development of their features to aid newcomers. For instance, my vision for a better Article Wizard is being used as a model at their project on article creation for new editors.My second area of focus is usability and templates, another realm with the potential for large-scale impact. I've launched successful proposals on things like revamping the left sidebar, merging {{Auto Archive Notice}} into {{Talk Header}} (i.e. why this banner is no longer cluttering talk pages), removing portal links from the top of the Main Page, and streamlining the wording of the universal editnotice. I've worked on numerous editnotices and template documentations, revamped talk page messages like {{uw-ewsoft}}, and added automatic short descriptions to the 70,000 transclusions of {{Infobox song}}.Lastly, in the area of content, my biggest achievement is taking Pomona College through FAC. Colleges are complex and multifaceted topics, which makes them hard to improve to FA level. When I nominated it, no article on a contemporary higher education institution had passed FAC in more than a decade, which compounded the challenge — since there were no good precedents, the reviewers and I had to formulate and agree on standards for what college FAs should look like at every turn. I also sometimes help out at FAC (Inuit clothing, Red panda, and Archaeology, Anthropology, and Interstellar Communication are examples of my reviews), and I was one of the main editors at COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. I have about 40 DYK credits, a mix of Pomona-related topics and articles in politics, journalism, sociology, the arts, and other assorted areas. I have also written a handful of essays.
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: I find that heated responses to a situation almost never help, so I avoid them. Since I care about Misplaced Pages, I occasionally find it stressful when I believe the project is making a mistake, but I can always put on some classical music and take a step back to breathe, and I retain faith in the consensus process to work everything out in the end.Given how actively I edit, including in controversial areas, I've naturally encountered conflict every so often. I find it's helpful to stay calm and adhere to WP:CIVIL and other guidance designed to minimize conflicts. Being human, I haven't always lived up to the standards I set for myself, but on the whole I like to think I'm fairly good at de-escalation. Some examples where I think I interacted well with editors disagreeing with me are here, here, here, here, and here.

You may ask optional questions below. There is a limit of two questions per editor. Multi-part questions disguised as one question, with the intention of evading the limit, are disallowed. Follow-up questions relevant to questions you have already asked are allowed.

Optional question from Ganesha811

4. Are there any areas of adminship you do not plan to participate in, due to unfamiliarity or lack of technical knowledge? If you later decided you wanted to help in these areas, what would be your plan to become an effective admin in those areas? —Ganesha811 (talk) 20:12, 9 February 2024 (UTC)
A: Although I'm struggling to think of any area I would not be at least open to exploring, there are still plenty of realms with which I am unfamiliar. SPI and UAA are two that come to mind. I also have yet to learn the Lua programming language used in modules. My approach when entering a new area is to go gradually. I'll start by reading relevant guidance and looking at examples (which carries zero risk because I'm not making any edits). From there, I'll start participating in more minor ways (perhaps coding a very simple module or actioning a UAA report that looks very non-borderline), consulting with knowledgeable editors as needed. Once I've done that for a while and feel comfortable, I'll progress to more major or difficult actions (e.g. coding a more complex or high-usage module, or making a call on a borderline UAA report). {{u|Sdkb}}  20:37, 9 February 2024 (UTC)

Optional question from MaterialsPsych

5. Hello Sdkb. Thank you for volunteering to stand at RfA and seek out adminship. I have been leaning towards supporting you, but I came across something in your user rights log that I would like to learn more about. You were first granted temporary template editor rights on May 6, 2020, by Primefac. Approximately 48 hours later, these rights were removed by JzG, seemingly with cause. I then see that you were re-granted the rights a few months later by L235. I have dug into this a bit to try to apprise myself of what happened (and I'm a little surprised you didn't mention this event in your Q3), but I would like to hear directly from you. In your view, what exactly led to your template editor rights being removed? Do you feel the removal of your rights was justified? (These can be considered two separate questions for the purpose of the limit.) MaterialsPsych (talk) 20:21, 9 February 2024 (UTC)
A:

Discussion

Please keep discussion constructive and civil. If you are unfamiliar with the nominee, please thoroughly review their contributions before commenting.

RfA/RfB toolbox
Counters
Analysis
Cross-wiki
Support
  1. As nominator. KevinL (aka L235 · t · c) 18:04, 9 February 2024 (UTC)
  2. Qualified ten times over. HouseBlaster (talk · he/him) 18:06, 9 February 2024 (UTC)
  3. Support. I see a good track record, good content creation (5,379 pages!), many additional rights like template editor, rollback, and new page reviewer. There is a good namespace balance as well. 2003 LN6 18:08, 9 February 2024 (UTC)
  4. Support - Seddon 18:11, 9 February 2024 (UTC)
  5. As co-nominator. — The Earwig alt (talk) 18:12, 9 February 2024 (UTC)
  6. Support Strongly. Great content creator. --Enos733 (talk) 18:17, 9 February 2024 (UTC)
  7. Of course! I definitely appreciate their efforts to support new editors. That's something very important to me. Good luck :)! —asparagusus (interaction) 18:19, 9 February 2024 (UTC)
  8. Support per noms and personal interactions. Been hoping this might come. Eddie891 Work 18:20, 9 February 2024 (UTC)
  9. Support as has lots of technical knowledge to be able to competently perform administrative tasks. Awesome Aasim 18:20, 9 February 2024 (UTC)
  10. Support LGTM Prodraxis (talk) 18:22, 9 February 2024 (UTC)
  11. Support Why ever not? ResonantDistortion 18:23, 9 February 2024 (UTC)
  12. Support. If anything, HouseBlaster is underestimating how many times over they are qualified. Firefangledfeathers (talk / contribs) 18:24, 9 February 2024 (UTC)
  13. Support. Over qualified for the position. Easy one! Content work is not on main userpage for some reason, but can be found at User:Sdkb/Pages. May you have a smooth week! –Novem Linguae (talk) 18:26, 9 February 2024 (UTC)
  14. Support will be a net-positive to the project. « Gonzo fan2007 (talk) @ 18:28, 9 February 2024 (UTC)
  15. Support Honestly thought they already were one. SportingFlyer T·C 18:29, 9 February 2024 (UTC)
  16. * Pppery * it has begun... 18:32, 9 February 2024 (UTC)
  17. As nominator :) theleekycauldron (talk • she/her) 18:33, 9 February 2024 (UTC)
  18. Support Leijurv (talk) 18:34, 9 February 2024 (UTC)
  19. Support Conducts themselves already with the poise and responsibility of an administrator. I am particularly appreciative of the efforts to streamline talk page banners, and look forward to continued good work with the added tools that come with the mop. Fritzmann (message me) 18:49, 9 February 2024 (UTC)
  20. About darn time! NW1223<Howl at me•My hunts> 18:49, 9 February 2024 (UTC)
  21. Support Waiter, waiter, more content admins! Generalissima (talk) 18:53, 9 February 2024 (UTC)
  22. throws criteria out of window ~~ AirshipJungleman29 (talk) 18:54, 9 February 2024 (UTC)
  23. of course. — Ingenuity (talk • contribs) 18:57, 9 February 2024 (UTC)
  24. Support: Duh! ResPM (T🔈🎵C) 19:00, 9 February 2024 (UTC)
  25. Support and suggest adding extra free guac on the side. Panini! • 🥪 19:04, 9 February 2024 (UTC)
  26. With those noms, it's hard to do anything but support. (Oh, and that Pomona College article is pretty amazing, granted.) --DoubleGrazing (talk) 19:05, 9 February 2024 (UTC)
  27. Support -- Pawnkingthree (talk) 19:08, 9 February 2024 (UTC)
  28. Support no evidence that user is actually a mammal. Polygnotus (talk) 19:20, 9 February 2024 (UTC)
  29. Support: I've always had a good impression of Sdkb, and reading through their handling of the two Pomona College FACs has solidified this. Good content contribution, level headed, able to handle a high-pressure environment. Caeciliusinhorto (talk) 19:23, 9 February 2024 (UTC)
  30. I was waiting for this! Aimed for #50, lost my patience though ;) NotAGenious (talk) 19:25, 9 February 2024 (UTC)
  31. Support. In particular I'd like to endorse the response to Q2. Sdkb's interactions with me as a newcomer are part of why I'm still here. Absolutely a conscientious person who has been and will continue to be an asset to the encyclopedia. -- asilvering (talk) 19:26, 9 February 2024 (UTC)
  32. Support: an excellent temperament and a Misplaced Pages polymath. The nomination statements and A1-3 provide an excellent introduction to the editor's work, which has improved the encyclopedia in many different directions. Thank you for running. — Bilorv (talk) 19:26, 9 February 2024 (UTC)
  33. Support especially reading their answer to Q2. RickinBaltimore (talk) 19:27, 9 February 2024 (UTC)
  34. Support Hameltion (talk | contribs) 19:27, 9 February 2024 (UTC)
  35. Support, with enthusiasm.-- Cerebral726 (talk) 19:30, 9 February 2024 (UTC)
  36. Support long overdue. Snowmanonahoe (talk · contribs · typos) 19:31, 9 February 2024 (UTC)
  37. Support Everything looks solid and proven out in the types of areas that they plan to work in, including experience level. Beyond that, I really like the patience and dedication to helping newbies. North8000 (talk) 19:35, 9 February 2024 (UTC)
  38. Support will make an excellent admin. Polyamorph (talk) 19:37, 9 February 2024 (UTC)
  39. Support giving the tools to this skilled and thoughtful editor! ezlev (user/tlk/ctrbs) 19:44, 9 February 2024 (UTC)
  40. Support. One of those people you always think "surely they already are", and then they're not, but now they will be :) ♠PMC♠ (talk) 19:45, 9 February 2024 (UTC)
  41. Support. 14 novembre (talk) 19:47, 9 February 2024 (UTC)
  42. Support.~Gwennie🐈｟💬 📋｠ 19:48, 9 February 2024 (UTC)
  43. Support Babysharkboss2!!
  44. SupportSVcode(Talk) 20:00, 9 February 2024 (UTC)
  45. Support, no concerns here. Dr. Duh 🩺 (talk) 20:01, 9 February 2024 (UTC)
  46. Support thrilled to support with no reservations. Their advocacy for readers and newbies is sorely needed, and their admin work will certainly be exemplary. —Ganesha811 (talk) 20:06, 9 February 2024 (UTC)
  47. Strong support It is an absolute pleasure to see Sdkb's contributions at Teahouse and be a welcoming presence for new editors. I hope all editors reading this RfA emulate Sdkb. Thank you for volunteering! ~ 🦝 Shushugah (he/him • talk) 20:10, 9 February 2024 (UTC)
  48. Support in the strongest sense of the word. This is an editor who took time out of multiple days to answer several basic questions I had about a form of content creation I wasn't familiar with. Their Pomona College work speaks for itself. Outstanding to see others agreeing that they deserve the mop. Best of luck! ~ Pbritti (talk) 20:13, 9 February 2024 (UTC)
  49. Support Thrilled to see this RfA :). Very welcoming user, will make a great admin. —Femke 🐦 (talk) 20:14, 9 February 2024 (UTC)
  50. Support. I had an excellent experience collaborating with Sdkb on a template, which predisposes me to support. Looking over the nomination statements and Sdkb's answers to the standard questions gives me every reason to believe that they will be an exemplary admin. Generalrelative (talk) 20:15, 9 February 2024 (UTC)
  51. Support, great user who I thought was an admin already. – Hilst 20:18, 9 February 2024 (UTC)
  52. Support. Super Ψ Dro 20:19, 9 February 2024 (UTC)
  53. Trusted, competent. ~ ToBeFree (talk) 20:32, 9 February 2024 (UTC)
  54. More than qualified. 2 FAs, a GA, and years of experience here! Justarandomamerican (talk) Have a good day! 20:36, 9 February 2024 (UTC)
  55. Support - Easy one. Thanks for volunteering! — Rhododendrites \\ 20:38, 9 February 2024 (UTC)
  56. Support Has clue (many). Civil (very). Regards, --Goldsztajn (talk) 20:39, 9 February 2024 (UTC)
  57. Support my interactions with this user have been positive. Therapyisgood (talk) 20:40, 9 February 2024 (UTC)
  58. Support absolutely. Utopes (talk / cont) 20:42, 9 February 2024 (UTC)
  59. Support: From what I've seen from them I think they'll do well with the mop. Hey man im josh (talk) 20:45, 9 February 2024 (UTC)
  60. Absolutely! CaptainEek ⚓ 20:46, 9 February 2024 (UTC)
  61. Support – happy to see this. :) Clovermoss🍀 (talk) 20:53, 9 February 2024 (UTC)
  62. (edit conflict)Support. Will make a fine admin I'm sure. Ks0stm 20:54, 9 February 2024 (UTC)
  63. Support - the genius behind this deserves a mop of their own. GiantSnowman 20:55, 9 February 2024 (UTC)
  64. Support, thought you were one for forever. ofHearts 21:00, 9 February 2024 (UTC)
  65. Support. MarioGom (talk) 21:02, 9 February 2024 (UTC)
  66. Support per other users positivity. Good luck! User:Yoblyblob (Talk) :) 21:04, 9 February 2024 (UTC)
Oppose
  1. Oppose The first time I interacted with Sdkb was during this discussion, where he seemed completely dismissive of the entire WP:TFA process--didn't care that FAs were promoted on their quality alone and didn't care that TFAs were scheduled months in advance.Much more to be said regarding off-site conduct. I was provided evidence that Sdkb has been using off-site means of communication to rope other users into edit warring on their behalf. As just one, albeit minor, on-site example: a user leaves a kitten on Sdkb's talk page for an unrelated matter. Less than 12 hours later – presumably after that user came back from a nap – that user makes their first and only edit to an article to edit its lead to Sdkb's preferred version. I am horrified at the prospect of Sdkb being granted CheckUser rights, considering what I've seen. Homeostasis07 (talk/contributions) 20:41, 9 February 2024 (UTC)
    I don't usually respond to oppose !votes, but your logic/train of thought here is giving very much 'Pepe Silvia' vibes, and admins don't automatically get CheckUser rights, it's a completely separate right... GiantSnowman 20:58, 9 February 2024 (UTC)
    This looks like an overblown content dispute arising from Marilyn Manson; in reviewing it, I see nothing objectionable about the candidate's behavior. I would also note that after interacting with editors on one subject, I have from time to time checked out their contributions and seen what else they're up to, sometimes resulting in me editing a page they have recently edited. Unless you are willing to share your evidence of off-wiki malfeasance with the appropriate forum (or already have), I don't think it's right to cast aspersions like this. —Ganesha811 (talk) 20:59, 9 February 2024 (UTC)
    SDKB had edited several hundred articles since their last contribution to Marilyn Manson, and it would not have been noticeable from their contributions page. I have ignored their off-site behavior for quite a long time, but now is indeed the time for ArbCom to investigate. Compiling now. Homeostasis07 (talk/contributions) 21:06, 9 February 2024 (UTC)
Neutral


General comments