User:Dylan620/School

Dylan620


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Don't let the name fool you; I'm not the teacher. Instead that will be Juliancolton (talk · contribs) who, on Halloween of 2008, accepted my request for him to adopt me.

Let's get started

Hey Dylan, hope you're having a happy Halloween. Well, let's get started. First off, so I can get an idea of your activity on Wikipedia, I'll give you a list of various editing tasks. Your job is to add {{tick}} to the ones which you have already participated in.

Have you ever posted on an article talk page, regarding improvements to the article? Y
Have you ever edited an article significantly, or been a primary contributor to one? Y
Have you ever written an article from scratch? Y
Have you been a primary contributor to a Good article?
- Have you ever reviewed another editors' Good article nominee?
Have you every been a primary contributor to a Featured article
- Have you ever commented on another editors' Featured article candidacy? Y
Have you ever created a page that was later deleted/merged/redirected? Y
Have you ever created a redirect page? Y
Have you ever participated in Articles for Deletion?
- Miscellany for deletion? Y
  - Redirects for deletion?
    - Templates for Deletion?
      - Any other form of deletion requests?
Have you ever reverted vandalism? Y
Have you warned a vandal for vandalism?
Have you ever reported a vandal to Administrator intervention against vandalism?
Have you ever reported an inappropriate username to Usernames for administrative attention
Have you participated in Requests for adminship?

Alright, I think I got the basics. One more thing. Below is an image that humorously describes Wikipedia in one editor's view. I want you to answer a few questions about. What does this image symbolize? Do you agree with it? Why or why not? –Juliancolton ^Tropical ^Cyclone 19:42, 31 October 2008 (UTC)

Yikes. To me, that symbolizes YouTube rather than Wikipedia. Wikipedia should be 95-97% useful stuff, rather than the 5% that the chart credits it with. Wikipedia's an encyclopedia, not a blog haven (or an Uncyclopedia-esque site) --Dylan620 (Home • yadda yadda yadda • Ooooohh!) 19:50, 31 October 2008 (UTC)

Indeed. Now, at the current time, how much of Wikipedia is, in your mind, actually useful stuff? –Juliancolton ^Tropical ^Cyclone 20:11, 31 October 2008 (UTC)

Sorry, if this interrupters the class but thats okay. Other teachers come in the class sometimes. I was giong to say was the first test was great and you comment above was also good. Leave Message orYellow Evan home or User:Yellow Evan/SandboxHappy Nevada Day 20:05, 31 October 2008 (UTC)

Thanks! --Dylan620 (Home • yadda yadda yadda • Ooooohh!) 20:12, 31 October 2008 (UTC)

Oh, and by the way JC, by my opinion, Wikipedia is 99.99% useful stuff. The other 0.01% is the Wikipedia humor, which I still believe should be kept because it adds humor to Wikipedia, and gives even the most serious editors a good laugh. I have to go now; I have to get ready for the wedding, but I'll be back tomorrow morning. --Dylan620 (Home • yadda yadda yadda • Ooooohh!) 20:18, 31 October 2008 (UTC)

Alright, that's a fair opinion. On another note, it would be good if you read up on this page, and learn how to indent your comments when replying to another editor. I'll have some more tasks/questions soon. –Juliancolton ^Tropical ^Cyclone 21:09, 31 October 2008 (UTC)

To let you know Dylan, that link is not the most important thing in the world. Leave Message ,Yellow Evan home ,User:Yellow Evan/Sandbox,Hurricane Fausto (2002),Hurricane Hernan (2008) , Tropical Storm Dora (2005) or Tropical Storm Norman (2000) 14:05, 1 November 2008 (UTC)

Yellow.. why the hell are you commenting here? Only Julian, me and Dylan should really comment..... Julian... what do I do next? User:Itfc+canes=me ^Talk ^{Contributions} 20:18, 1 November 2008 (UTC)

True. Leave Message ,Yellow Evan home ,Sandbox[ 20:44, 1 November 2008 (UTC)

Evan and I go back some time. I'm OK with it. Anyway Julian, how's about some anti-vandalism tools (i.e. Twinkle) next? I would really like to learn how to be quite the avid vandal fighter. Oh, and hi, Itfc! --Dylan620 (Home • yadda yadda yadda • Ooooohh!) 22:39, 1 November 2008 (UTC)

I personally prefer Huggle better, as it takes you to the vandalism, and reverts and warns in one click of the mouse. However, Huggle is a powerful tool, and care should be taken when using it and any other automated editing devices. Twinkle is handy too, and it does a lot of varous tasks aside from fighting vandalism. –Juliancolton ^Tropical ^Cyclone 22:46, 1 November 2008 (UTC)

How about both Twinkle and Huggle, then? Nothing wrong with that, is there? --Dylan620 (Home • yadda yadda yadda • Ooooohh!) 23:12, 1 November 2008 (UTC)

Not at all. Just follow the instructions at each tool's respective page, and you should be good to go. –Juliancolton ^Tropical ^Cyclone 23:39, 1 November 2008 (UTC)

I've printed out the Huggle manual. Even if I don't become an administrator, I will still be taking vandalism very seriously. I might possibly install Huggle this evening, but I plan on studying the manual closely, first. --Dylan620 (Home • yadda yadda yadda • Ooooohh!) 13:08, 2 November 2008 (UTC)

For Julian

		The Original Barnstar
		Consider this the apple for the teacher, if you will. :-) --Dylan620 (Home • yadda yadda yadda • Ooooohh!) 13:04, 2 November 2008 (UTC)

Heh, very clever. :-) So how are Huggle and Twinkle coming along? Have you enabled them yet? –Juliancolton ^Tropical ^Cyclone 18:33, 3 November 2008 (UTC)

Sadly, I am not able to use Huggle; I am missing rollbacker permission, which was declined here. However, I have just installed Twinkle now. --Dylan620 (Home • yadda yadda yadda • Ooooohh!) 20:29, 3 November 2008 (UTC)

Good news!! I've just caught 74.138.80.190 red-handed for removing content from the Kmart article. --Dylan620 (Home • yadda yadda yadda • Ooooohh!) 23:55, 3 November 2008 (UTC)

Cool, congrats. Now go to Special:RecentChanges and try to rack up a few hundred reverts in an hour. :-) –Juliancolton ^Tropical ^Cyclone 23:57, 3 November 2008 (UTC)

Tomorrow, definitely. Tonight, however, no. Although I would be honored to help, I have imminent homework that should persist until I go to bed. BTW, I didn't revert the vandalism (being beaten to the revert by Squeak90); I just warned the culprit about it, but that's a start, right? --Dylan620 (Home • yadda yadda yadda • Ooooohh!) 00:10, 4 November 2008 (UTC)

Alright, now I'm ready. Just one thing first: adding any appropriate Twinkle userboxes to my home page. --Dylan620 (Home • yadda yadda yadda • Ooooohh!) 11:36, 4 November 2008 (UTC)

Policy

As you know, Wikipedia's policies are vital to keeping the encyclopedia and its processes alive. An experienced editor, particularly administrators, are expected to know at least the basics of many policies, ideally all of them. Wikipedia:Policies and guidelines is a good place to start. The core content policies are especially important, and include Wikipedia:V, WP:NOR, and WP:NPOV. So, here are some questions that will tell your level of policy knowledge (don't cheat!).

What is your interpretation of WP:V, in your own words?
What is your interpretation of WP:NOR, in your own words?
What is your interpretation of WP:NPOV, in your own words?
What is WP:BLP?
What do you feel is Wikipedia's most important policy?

–Juliancolton ^Tropical ^Cyclone 19:20, 4 November 2008 (UTC)

Sorry it took so long to respond, but you can blame homework, school, and a slow computer last night for that.

I'd have to look up WP:V. Isn't "V" short for "vandalism?"
- Actually, WP:V is a policy regarding Verifiability, which essentially means you have to provide reliable sources for information that is likely to be challened. –Juliancolton ^Tropical ^Cyclone 21:01, 5 November 2008 (UTC)
To me, WP:NOR is a policy that prevents plagiarism on Wikipedia.
- From WP:NOR: "Wikipedia does not publish original thought: all material in Wikipedia must be attributable to a reliable, published source". –Juliancolton ^Tropical ^Cyclone 21:01, 5 November 2008 (UTC)
To me, WP:NPOV means that you basically can't rely on a single source. Unless you want a poor (start or stub-class) quality article.
- Well, sort of. NPOV stands for "Neutral Point of View", which as the title suggests, means we have to write articles in neutrally, and without bias. –Juliancolton ^Tropical ^Cyclone 21:01, 5 November 2008 (UTC)
Before I could answer the WP:BLP question, I hadn't read your "don't cheat" warning, and looked it up. So, I'm afraid I can't answer that question.
- WP:BLP ensures that our articles about living people conform to high standards, and with attention to verifiability, neutrality and avoiding OR. –Juliancolton ^Tropical ^Cyclone 21:01, 5 November 2008 (UTC)
On my opinion, you actually didn't mention (at least on my terms) Wikipedia's most important policy; WP:5P.

- Well, that is indeed a useful page, but it's not a policy per se. Policies are guidelines that all editors must follow (except in rare circumstances; see WP:IAR). That's more of an introduction to Wikipedia for the new editors. –Juliancolton ^Tropical ^Cyclone 21:01, 5 November 2008 (UTC)

--Dylan620 (Home • yadda yadda yadda • Ooooohh!) 20:51, 5 November 2008 (UTC)

Hmmm... if that's the case, then how's about WP:V? Or every policy you brought up. Also WP:VANDAL. --Dylan620 (Home • yadda yadda yadda • Ooooohh!) 23:02, 5 November 2008 (UTC)

There's an extremely important policy that we've both forgotten to mention: WP:C. Violate that and you're in block haven. --Dylan620 (Home • yadda yadda yadda • Ooooohh!) 23:05, 5 November 2008 (UTC)

To determine if a page is policy, look at the top for a tag that reads, "This page documents an official English Wikipedia policy". Indeed, WP:C is very important, and should not be violated. However, a one-time violation usually doesn't result in a block; blocks, and sometimes bans, are often reserved for persistent violations.

Alright, if you have time, it would be good for you to read WP:POLICY, and try to memorize the gist of as many policy pages as possible. Good luck! –Juliancolton ^Tropical ^Cyclone 23:40, 5 November 2008 (UTC)

I've seen WP:LOP; a list of every policy on Wikipedia. I've hit the wall at the moment, i.e. "Wikibonked," but I'll try to look up every policy. --Dylan620 (Home • yadda yadda yadda • Ooooohh!) 01:20, 6 November 2008 (UTC)

Actually, if you're Wikibonked, the best thing to do is to take a break from Wikipedia for a couple days. It'll clear your mind, and hopefully you'll come back energized and refreshed. –Juliancolton ^Tropical ^Cyclone 01:21, 6 November 2008 (UTC)

The thing that's keeping me from doing so is that I don't think I'd be able to sustain my break. Last time I took a break from Wikipedia, it was meant to last a few days. But when I got back, it had only been a few hours! And I'm not totally stressed; I put "bonked" up instead of a Wikibreak template because of school activities and projects. By Thanksgiving, I should return to normal edit level. --Dylan620 (Home • yadda yadda yadda • Ooooohh!) 10:50, 6 November 2008 (UTC)

Hmm, ok. Let me know when you want to continue coaching activities. –Juliancolton ^Tropical ^Cyclone 23:47, 9 November 2008 (UTC)

Ok, here are some more questions, which are stolen from User:Malinaccier's coaching process User:Juliancolton/Faces.

1. What are your favorite contributions to Wikipedia? Your best contributions?

A. I apologize for replying so late. I have to admit that my favorite contributions would be the creation of the Tropical Storm Odile (2008) and Believe (Staind song) articles, and the creation of TF:ROCKO. I also consider them to be my best contributions, alongside improvements that I made to the Rocko's Modern Life article, and the creation of the Tropical Storm Percy page. --Dylan620 (Home • yadda yadda yadda • Ooooohh!) 22:34, 14 November 2008 (UTC)

2. Do you tend to concentrate on any one article type to edit?

A. I used to include television articles, but now I'm planning on just working on tropical cyclone articles. --Dylan620 (Home • yadda yadda yadda • Ooooohh!) 22:34, 14 November 2008 (UTC)

3. What weaknesses do you see in yourself?

A. I fear that I may have a tendency to leave alone pages that I wanted to create. This might be off-topic, but where could I find a good amount of appropriate sources for Typhoon Rananim? --Dylan620 (Home • yadda yadda yadda • Ooooohh!) 22:34, 14 November 2008 (UTC)

4. What kind of editing habits do you have? Do you get on, check your watchlist, and then head to recent changes patrol or new pages, etc.?

A. I haven't truly established firm editing habits, to tell you the truth. --Dylan620 (Home • yadda yadda yadda • Ooooohh!) 22:34, 14 November 2008 (UTC)

5. Why do you enjoy editing Wikipedia?

A. I enjoy editing Wikipedia because it gives me a chance to both make new friends (i.e. Elena85, Yellow Evan, Hurricanehink (or, if being friendly acquaintances isn't enough, I would at least like to be his friend), and now you. :-)), and it gives me a chance to make a (locally) huge difference on topics I enjoy. I forget the specific month, but I have been editing since 2006. I didn't know any better, and my edits turned out vandalistic. However, I have since been rehabilitated, and I have been a constructive contributor since August of 2008. The gap is so big because my edits were very scarce from 2006 and into the first half of 2008. --Dylan620 (Home • yadda yadda yadda • Ooooohh!) 22:34, 14 November 2008 (UTC)

–Juliancolton ^Tropical ^Cyclone 15:16, 11 November 2008 (UTC)

Regarding the "rehabilitated" thing, I probably should not have put it there. I meant to say that I grew to learn more about Wikipedia, and became a constructive contributor from my learning. --Dylan620 (Home • yadda yadda yadda • Ooooohh!) 14:34, 28 November 2008 (UTC)

Copyediting

At my talk page, you said you wanted to learn about copyediting. For the moment, I'll give you some relevant links to look over, and when I find more time I'll try to type out an essay of my own for you, and other admin coachees/adoptees, to read. You can find a more comprehensive list at User:Juliancolton/FA writing links, although many of them focus little on prose or copyediting.

–Juliancolton ^Tropical ^Cyclone 20:48, 17 November 2008 (UTC)

Editing blocks

You said you wanted some lessons on blocks, so here is the set of questions my admin coach provided me. –Juliancolton ^Happy ^Holidays 15:08, 23 December 2008 (UTC)

Example 1

XXX made three reverts, was warned for 3RR and then made another revert.

I believe a 24-hour block would be necessary. --Dylan 620 _Contribs ^Sign! 19:56, 23 December 2008 (UTC)

Yep. –Juliancolton ^Tropical ^Cyclone 01:26, 20 February 2009 (UTC)

Example 2

YYY made three reverts, was warned for 3RR and then made a partial revert.

Partial or full, a revert is still a revert. 24 hour block. --Dylan 620 _Contribs ^Sign! 19:56, 23 December 2008 (UTC)

Sounds good to me. –Juliancolton ^Tropical ^Cyclone 01:26, 20 February 2009 (UTC)

Example 3

ZZZ made four reverts, was reported to AN/3RR and then self-reverted.

It's 3RR, not 5RR. 24-36 hour block. --Dylan 620 _Contribs ^Sign! 19:56, 23 December 2008 (UTC)

If they self-reverted, you would have to investigate the situation closely. It would depend on several factors. –Juliancolton ^Tropical ^Cyclone 01:26, 20 February 2009 (UTC)

Example 4

3 consecutive reverts, then two more separate reverts. User was reported to AN/3RR.

This one is kinda hazy. Short block; 24 hours at longest. --Dylan 620 _Contribs ^Sign! 19:56, 23 December 2008 (UTC)

Not even sure I understand the question; that's what I get for copy and pasting! –Juliancolton ^Tropical ^Cyclone 01:26, 20 February 2009 (UTC)

Example 5

User makes 2 reverts in 2 days on one article, 6 on another article over 3 days, 4 on another over 2 days and 3 on another over 24 hours.

48-72 hour block for edit warring. --Dylan 620 _Contribs ^Sign! 19:56, 23 December 2008 (UTC)

72 would be a bit long, but otherwise, that would be fine. –Juliancolton ^Tropical ^Cyclone 01:26, 20 February 2009 (UTC)

Example 6

User has been edit warring on a single article. He has made approximately 15 reverts in a two week period.

The example speaks for itself. 48-72 hour block. --Dylan 620 _Contribs ^Sign! 19:56, 23 December 2008 (UTC)

Sounds reasonable. –Juliancolton ^Tropical ^Cyclone 01:26, 20 February 2009 (UTC)

Example 7

Content dispute between 5-6 editors. A lot of edit warring, but no one's violated 3RR. What would you do?

All editors would be warned to discontinue edit warring. I would block the worst edit warriors for a minimum of 24 hours. --Dylan 620 _Contribs ^Sign! 19:56, 23 December 2008 (UTC)

I suppose that would work, but it would be more appropriate to full-protect the page on which the users are warring. –Juliancolton ^Tropical ^Cyclone 01:26, 20 February 2009 (UTC)

Example 8

Username: www.BusinessEnterprises.org

I would block this user indefinitely. His username appears to advertise a company or group. However, I would gladly unblock this user momentarily to give him sufficient time to get his username changed at WP:CHU. If he were not to get his username changed in the allotted time, however, I would re-instate the indefinite block. --Dylan 620 _Contribs ^Sign! 19:56, 23 December 2008 (UTC)

Promotional usernames are usually only blocked if the user's edits are promotional, as well. –Juliancolton ^Tropical ^Cyclone 01:26, 20 February 2009 (UTC)

Example 9

Username: RealTek, Inc.

Same issue as Example 8. Indefinite block, although I would be willing to unblock this user on the same conditions as Example 8. --Dylan 620 _Contribs ^Sign! 19:56, 23 December 2008 (UTC)

Example 10

Username: Bitch78

Offensive username. Indefinite block, although this time, I would be unwilling to give this user another chance. --Dylan 620 _Contribs ^Sign! 19:56, 23 December 2008 (UTC)

Yep. –Juliancolton ^Tropical ^Cyclone 01:26, 20 February 2009 (UTC)

Example 11

Username: Iwannafkuup

This one is even worse. Indefinite block. --Dylan 620 _Contribs ^Sign! 19:56, 23 December 2008 (UTC)

Right. –Juliancolton ^Tropical ^Cyclone 01:26, 20 February 2009 (UTC)

Example 12

Username: Asswipeface

Indefinite block, on the charges of an inappropriate username. --Dylan 620 _Contribs ^Sign! 19:56, 23 December 2008 (UTC)

Good. –Juliancolton ^Tropical ^Cyclone 01:26, 20 February 2009 (UTC)

Example 13

Username: S;jsdfgjkhfsadfaef

That's a heck of a hard username to remember. Looks like the account's creator was just banging on the keyboard to get the result of his username. Indefinite block, I guess. --Dylan 620 _Contribs ^Sign! 19:56, 23 December 2008 (UTC)

While it is a random typing username, an immediate block wouldn't be necessary. The best course of action would be to use {{uw-username}} on the user's talk page. –Juliancolton ^Happy ^Holidays 17:35, 25 December 2008 (UTC)

Example 14

Username: CroatoanBot

Indefinite block as an inappropriate or misleading username, or as an unapproved bot, if this user was a bot. If it were an approved bot, however, I would not block. --Dylan 620 _Contribs ^Sign! 19:56, 23 December 2008 (UTC)

Spot-on. –Juliancolton ^Tropical ^Cyclone 01:26, 20 February 2009 (UTC)

Example 15

Username: AndysAutolandCompany

I would block this user indefinitely. The username appears to advertise a company or group. --Dylan 620 _Contribs ^Sign! 19:56, 23 December 2008 (UTC)

You have the right idea, but generally, usernames are not blocked as promotional until they start editing as such. If the account hasn't edited, discuss it with the user. –Juliancolton ^Happy ^Holidays 17:36, 25 December 2008 (UTC)

Further chiming by PeterSymonds

1) What is the difference between a username softblock and a username hardblock?

Couldn't tell you right now; I don't know what a softblock is. --Dylan 620 _Contribs ^Sign! 20:31, 23 December 2008 (UTC)

2) Under what circumstances should a softblock be used?

Sorry, I have little to no clue about a softblock. --Dylan 620 _Contribs ^Sign! 20:31, 23 December 2008 (UTC)

3) Under what circumstances should a hardblock be used?

A hardblock should be used for a highly inappropriate username. --Dylan 620 _Contribs ^Sign! 20:31, 23 December 2008 (UTC)

4) What would you do if each of those users requested an unblock for the purposes of being renamed?

I would unblock the user, and give them 24 hours to get renamed at WP:CHU. If the user failed to get his username changed within the next 24 hours, I would re-block the account indefinitely. --Dylan 620 _Contribs ^Sign! 20:31, 23 December 2008 (UTC)

I'd advise you to read Wikipedia:Blocking_policy#Setting_block_options. Best, PeterSymonds (talk) 21:08, 23 December 2008 (UTC)

UAA

To start off, I'd like to see how you preform as a UAA clerk; as appropriate, use {{UAA}} on 5 reports, and list the result here. Good luck! –Juliancolton | ^Talk 14:16, 5 April 2009 (UTC)

I've never been a clerk anywhere before, but OK! --Dylan (chat, work, ping, sign) 17:14, 5 April 2009 (UTC)

CSD

Welcome back! I know you've done some good CSD work as of late, so here's the next task. Patrol new pages until you've tagged 10 pages for deletion, and list them here immediately. For every article accurately tagged (eg. an admin deletes it with your rationale), you receive one point. If you manage a perfect score of 10 points, you'll receive 1) bragging rights and 2) a {{cookie}}. Ready? Go. –Juliancolton | ^Talk 17:46, 3 July 2009 (UTC)

New Age Love - tagged WP:CSD#A7
File:The Unconscious.jpg.JPG - tagged WP:CSD#F4
Elanco - tagged WP:CSD#G12 (had been tagged as a copyvio by CorenSearchBot two days prior)
Paco Sery - tagged WP:CSD#A7
Toner Sales & Service - tagged WP:CSD#G11
Keep Young And Beautiful (song) - tagged per my own rationale: "substantial copy of another article"
File:Samantha droke.jpg - tagged WP:CSD#F4
Siky Boyz - tagged WP:CSD#A7
Ryan bryant - tagged WP:CSD#A7 (though I personally think it could also meet WP:CSD#G10)
Frankmarlinroofing - tagged WP:CSD#G11 (though I personally think it could also meet WP:CSD#G2)

→ Dylan 620 (Toolbox Alpha, Beta) 18:49, 3 July 2009 (UTC)

Just a quick note that Mazca declined the deletion request for Paco Sery after the creator of the article improved it substantially, so I guess no cookie for me. :( I was personally willing to withdraw my request, but I decided to leave the tag up for admin discretion. → Dylan 620 (Toolbox Alpha, Beta) 22:01, 3 July 2009 (UTC)

Well, 9 points will still be pretty good. :) See, the purpose of this "game" is to test your ability to work under pressure, and avoid haste. –Juliancolton | ^Talk 22:22, 3 July 2009 (UTC)

Well then let's see if I can get those 9 points! :) → Dylan 620 (Toolbox Alpha, Beta) 22:27, 3 July 2009 (UTC)

XfD

First, go ahead and read through WP:DEL and WP:XFD, and report back once you've done so. Did you learn anything new by reading those pages? –Juliancolton | ^Talk 14:26, 15 July 2009 (UTC)

I hope you're happy with what I learned; I just passed up a whole afternoon of editing reading the deletion policy! :P --Dylan 620 (contribs, logs) 00:16, 16 July 2009 (UTC)

What I learned from reading WP:DEL

What a content fork is.
What overcategorization is.
Disputes over page content are not dealt with by deleting the page.
Merging an article's content then deleting the resulting redirect is incompatible with the GFDL.
Deletion should not be used to archive a page.
How to transwiki pages.
Once another editor objects to a page's proposed deletion, it may not be proposed for deletion again.
If a page was deleted out of process, it may be restored immediately. The deleting admin should then be notified.
Requests to restore pages that were deleted via the proposed deletion process should be restored immediately, though the pages may be immediately brought to AfD.
"Any user with a genuine reason to view a copy of a deleted page may request a temporary review (or simply ask an administrator to supply a copy of the page). Note that these requests are likely to be denied if the content has been deleted on legal grounds (such as defamation or copyright violation), or if no good reason is given for the request." -Wikipedia:Deletion policy#Access to deleted pages

As a secondary note, PROD appears to be a fairly easy admin area to master, no? Please correct me if I am mistaken. --Dylan 620 (contribs, logs) 00:16, 16 July 2009 (UTC)

As another note that I forgot to place after my reading, I also read WP:XFD, I just didn't learn anything new from my reading there. --Dylan 620 (contribs, logs) 21:42, 16 July 2009 (UTC)

Excellent! Hmm, what next... for now, head over to Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Log/2009 July 9 and participate in a few discussions. Once they've all been closed in a few days, we'll see how many you judged correctly. –Juliancolton | ^Talk 21:47, 16 July 2009 (UTC)

Progress so far

Well, we've been working on-and-off for several months now, so let's check up on your progress. I'll post the standard three RfA questions. Answer them to the best of your ability, so I can get an idea of your progress so far. –Juliancolton | ^Talk 23:45, 11 August 2009 (UTC)

Questions for the candidate

Dear candidate, thank you for offering to serve Wikipedia as an administrator. It is recommended that you answer these optional questions to provide guidance for participants:

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

A: If I were an admin, I'd flex the mop over at DYK, AIV, UAA, requests for permissions, CSD, PROD, and occasionally AN or WP:ANI.

DYK: I have recently started helping out at DYK by reviewing nominations, and I've already begun to assemble whole sets of hooks. Sure, I have access to the prep areas, where sets are assembled, but the final step before a set winds up on the Main Page is through the queues, which are fully protected from editing. I would use the ability to edit fully protected pages to transfer sets assembled at the prep areas over to the queues.
AIV: As you are probably well aware, I am an active vandal fighter here on Wikipedia. In the cases of vandals whose acts warrant a report to AIV, it would be a lot easier for me if I could eliminate the middle man and block the vandals myself (among other vandals reported to AIV).
UAA: I have Wikipedia:Usernames for administrator attention/Bot on my watchlist, and the bot sometimes reports particularly nasty names. Since a link to the block button is provided in the bot's edit summary, I can press it in the blink of an eye. But that's just for the worst of names; the less severe names do, of course, require review. For instance, if the bot reported a user for having the username "Arsenal" (which contains the literal pattern "arse"), I would not block.
Permission requests: I would largely be reviewing requests for, well, every permission, actually!
CSD: I plan on returning to my old hobby of tagging broken redirects for speedy deletion soon. I used to tag many of those, but I always had to wait for an administrator to get to them. Having the admin tools would allow me to eliminate the middle man and delete the pages myself. In addition to clearing the broken redirect backlog, I would also review pages listed in CAT:ASD (for attack pages) and CAT:CVSD (for blatant copyright violations).
PROD: Prod is fairly simple; if a prod has not been contested within seven days, I would delete the page. Per the deletion policy, however, I would immediately restore the page if I was requested to.
AN and ANI: I would see to any miscellaneous favors that I felt capable of performing myself. I would also review community consensus at ban discussions.
CAT:RFU is an admin area I forgot to mention when first answering this question. I'm well aware of how to handle requests at CAT:UCR, but perhaps we could use 10 examples of unblock requests for my next lesson?

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

A: Despite my general lack of content contributions, I have both a DYK and a featured list in Timeline of the 1996 Atlantic hurricane season, the article which I consider my finest piece of work. I am also proud of the help I lent to another editor in the creation of the William Thompson Lusk article. In case you're wondering, I also hope to get Shinedown discography featured in the future.

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: To be honest, I've had enough conflicts during my time here to roll my wiki-career into one huge ball of conflicts the size of Rhode Island. Some particularly nasty ones:

Wikipedia:Featured list candidates/Timeline of the 2001 Atlantic hurricane season/archive1 is the conflict I regret most of all. I exploded in frustration after another editor called the timeline ugly. As you can see, I am much more civil and mature than I was back in November 2008.
I would never submit myself to an RfA without admitting my low point in January 2009. Back then, I couldn't edit an article for the life of me, and it eventually got so severe that a report about me was created at Wikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard/Archive181#User:Dylan620; I escaped that thread without a topic ban by the skin of my teeth. I couldn't respond to this at all, since I had used the WikiBreak Enforcer at the time.
I forgot to mention a content dispute I was involved in over at What If (Coldplay song) when I first answered this question. The article had earlier been redirected to X&Y per consensus at an AfD. Recently, two users were continually restoring the article's content against consensus, and many editors (including myself) reverted them. See here for the timeline of the dispute/edit war. It ended with me requesting that the page be fully protected temporarily; an administrator soon granted my request.
In my time fighting vandalism here, I have been attacked by hordes of vandals, but it never gets to me; I just revert it and move on.

--Dylan 620 (contribs, logs)^{help us!} 00:32, 12 August 2009 (UTC)

As a quick notice, I will gladly expand my answers if you would like me to. Cheers, Dylan 620 (contribs, logs)^{help us!} 13:37, 12 August 2009 (UTC)

A request

Fairly good answers. Now, I'd like you to explain that ANI thread back in January. Did you take any actions in response? What were the events that led up to the discussion? What do you think you could have done to avoid it? What efforts have you taken to improve since then? –Juliancolton | ^Talk 01:55, 13 August 2009 (UTC)

"Did you take any actions in response?"

No, I did not. At the time, I had WikiBreak Enforcer installed, and while there were suggestions in the thread, I did not know how to carry them out.

"What were the event that led up to the discussion?"

Largely a MySpacey edit counter (8% mainspace contributions at the time), an obsession with the list of banned users, ill-formed commentary (see the diffs in the thread), breaks which never happened (I tried to take breaks, but I was too addicted to Wikipedia for the breaks to last long), and an inability to reform.

"What do you think you could have done to avoid it?"

I could have:

Found some way to be constructive
Backed off of LOBU
Thought before posting commentary
Asked for advice on how to get focused on article editing

"What efforts have you taken to improve since then?"

I do have spotty article contributions. As you know, I created Timeline of the 1996 Atlantic hurricane season and got it featured. I also helped another editor in the creation of the William Thompson Lusk article, as I pointed out in my answer to Q2. The rest of my mainspace edits (which now make approx. 29% of my total edit count) mostly consist of Huggling, CSD tagging, and general gnomish work. I have also broken my addiction to WP:LOBU. In addition, I am now capable of posting thoughtful commentary (I consider my finest pieces to be located here, where I think I turned into a Balloonman clone for a second, here, here, and here). --Dylan 620 (contribs, logs)^{help us!} 14:34, 13 August 2009 (UTC)

Unblock requests

Hey Julian, if you don't mind, can the next admin coaching lesson be on which unblock requests to accept and which ones to decline? I'm already aware that unblock requests for inappropriate usernames to be changed are typically granted, but I was just curious about "typical" unblock requests. Cheers! --Dylan 620 (contribs, logs)^{help us!} 21:09, 13 August 2009 (UTC)

Sure. I'll type out three hypothetical unblock requests and explain the contributions of each account. Explain your decision to grant/deny each one.

{{unblock|i'm sorry, I know vandalizing is very bad and it won't happen again.... my younger brother logged into my account while i was in the bathroom. Please unblock me!!!}}

The above account replaced five articles with "4CHAN RULES" in quick succession, and was blocked on their level-2 warning.

Declined: To the editor in question: "'My little brother did it' is not an excuse for vandalism." --Dylan 620 (contribs, logs)^{help us!} 23:06, 13 August 2009 (UTC)

{{unblock|I'm very confused. I wrote an article about our company to inform the public of what we do. I noticed our competitors all have articles on Wikipedia, so why can't we?}}

The above account wrote (and twice recreated) an article about their law firm that was deleted as blatant advertising and eventually salted.

Declined: To the editor in question: "If the best appeal to your block you can make expresses grief about how your 'competitors' have articles on Wikipedia, then you clearly are not here for the right reasons. In addition, blatant advertising is explicitly forbidden on Wikipedia – see Wikipedia:FAQ/Organization and Wikipedia:Conflict of interest for more information." --Dylan 620 (contribs, logs)^{help us!} 23:06, 13 August 2009 (UTC)

{{unblock|I sincerely apologize for the trouble I've caused. I have taken several days to reflect upon my actions, and I would like to become a constructive contributor. I ask that you give me a second chance}}

The above account preformed several test edits (though not necessarily with malicious intent) on Talk:Main Page.

Accepted: To the editor in question: "Assuming good faith that you did not intend on causing harm. Please make further test edits at Wikipedia:Sandbox. I also see that you wish to become a constructive contributor, and I believe I can help; would you like me to adopt you? Thank you for your politeness and your willingness to reform!" --Dylan 620 (contribs, logs)^{help us!} 23:06, 13 August 2009 (UTC)

Excellent! Ready for some more advanced ones? –Juliancolton | ^Talk 17:21, 14 August 2009 (UTC)

Whenever you are. Best, Dylan 620 (contribs, logs)^{help us!} 17:33, 14 August 2009 (UTC)

{{Unblock|Dear administrator,

Will all due respect, this is entirely unfair. Your site contains libellous information on our client, which I tried to remove. Surely you can understand that such information can have real-world implications? If you do not unblock me and allow me to once again address the aforementioned issues, I will be taking legal action. Thank you.}}

The above user was blocked after blanking a living person's article numerous times, despite repeated warnings.

Declined and indef-blocked: To the editor in question: "Until you withdraw the above legal threat, you are now blocked indefinitely per Wikipedia:No legal threats." --Dylan 620 (contribs, logs)^{help us!} 13:47, 17 August 2009 (UTC)

{{Unblock|I did violate 3RR, yes, but I did so rightfully and within my right to ignore all rules. The information being added by User:X was false, and violated the BLP policy. I therefore feel it was my duty to remove the content.}}

The above user made 5 reverts in the period of 24 hours to revert negative, unsourced information from an article.

Accepted: To the editor in question: "Okay, I'll let you off the hook this time as your use of Wikipedia:Ignore all rules was correct here. In the future, please report possible BLP violations to the BLP noticeboard." --Dylan 620 (contribs, logs)^{help us!} 13:47, 17 August 2009 (UTC)

It is of note that reversion of BLP violations is explicitly listed as an exception to 3RR. –Juliancolton | ^Talk 19:10, 17 August 2009 (UTC)