User:Pseudo-Richard/Admin school

Should the Admin school stay open, or shut down?

Please state your opinon at Wikipedia:Miscellany for deletion/Wikipedia:Admin school.

This page and it's design are totally open to editing. If you would like to improve it, please do so. The top portion of this page can be edited at Wikipedia:Admin school/Header.

The Transhumanist 11:27, 5 November 2006 (UTC)

Waiting patiently

I added myself to the admin coaching waiting list: by the time I'm near the top I'll be ready for the extra knowledge! — E ditor at Large ^(speak) 22:20, 19 October 2006 (UTC)

No more waiting. That bottleneck is blasted - right here!. So if you have any questions, fire away! Looking at your edit history, you are a bit heavy on the user page editing. You need to shift your ratio to the encyclopedia itself. After you get a couple thousand more edits there, you should be ready to tackle Wikipedia's blue pages. The Transhumanist 16:08, 1 November 2006 (UTC)

Great, thanks! Yes, I know about the userpage editing: my main problem is that I start new articles in my userspace and edit large articles (Ahmose I, as a good example) that take a while in my sandbox. I also work on stuff for other users on my subpages, and contribute to things on other users' subpages.
Two days ago (before I got this message) I started doing some constructive encyclopedia-editing, copyediting articles extensively. I think that will be my focus here, as I much prefer fixing others' work than adding original content of my own (not that I don't do that too).

May I ask for suggestions regarding how I can learn more about Wikipedia policies, and the nitty-gritty things average editors don't need to know? — E ditor at Large ^(speak) 20:47, 2 November 2006 (UTC)

Policies and the nitty-gritty

May I ask for suggestions regarding how I can learn more about Wikipedia policies, and the nitty-gritty things average editors don't need to know? I'm especially interested in things relating to vandalism and the admin's role in conflict resolution. — E ditor at Large ^(speak) 20:47, 2 November 2006 (UTC)

Ask any policy question that you would like. And the nitty-gritty, well that's my favorite behind-the-scenes subject...

Loads and loads of cool tips, tricks, and techniques can be found in the Wikipedia:Tip of the day archives (and check out the new ones on the discussion page there), and at Wikipedia:Tips.

More nitty gritty things can be found at Wikipedia:Tools and Wikipedia:Bots. And you can't get nittier or grittier than using AutoWikiBrowser, so if you haven't registered to use it yet, then by all means do so. By the way, AWB can also be used as a bot, which makes it a very versatile and powerful tool indeed.

Two of the more technical sides of Wikipedia editing are Wikipedia:Tables and Wikipedia:Templates.

The first rule of conflict resolution on Wikipedia is do not engage in reversion wars (see Wikipedia:Wheel war). Bring the issue to the talk page. If that doesn't work, then post a request at the article content section of Requests for comment. And there's an excellent section of article resolution links on the Wikipedia:Department directory.

If you have any more questions, fee free to ask. The Transhumanist 05:28, 3 November 2006 (UTC)

I've already been involved with templates (I created the {{photography subject}} one and some userboxes for WikiProjects and other users) and I'm familiar with wikitables, although I prefer HTML.
I don't have enough mainspace edits to qualify for AWB (I try to keep other users happy so most of my edits are on talk pages, plus all the talk page warnings for vandals), but I'm working on it.
Tools and Bots I will look into: they're what I'm hoping to get involved with :-) and luckily *knock on wood* I haven't dealt with a single problematic person and haven't been involved in any edit wars. I just like helping others, and I was wondering what role an admin plays in problems like these. — E ditor at Large ^(speak) 14:13, 5 November 2006 (UTC)

The admin's role in conflict resolution is no different than anyone else's. No matter what a user's "user rights" are, their voice should not be accordingly weighted. You should read WP:WAIN. — User:ACupOfCoffee @ 20:56, 5 November 2006 (UTC)

Guide me...

I'd like some more guidance on how to go about using my time and skills more effectively on wikipedia. There are some things that seem to go over my head in this internet community.......IMHO, it's not as much of being the ideal admin as being the ideal wikipedian. I'd like to be confident in my savoir-faire of wikipedia before taking another shot at adminship. You can take a look at my improvement page and my failed RfA for some insight about where I need help. The ikiroid (talk·desk·Advise me) 03:06, 5 August 2006 (UTC)

To get a feel for what your fellow Wikipedians value in an administrator, read through the RfA archives. Also take note of the objections posted in your RfA, roll up your shirtsleeves and put in some time in the article namespace. Just press "random article" until something interesting pops up, and start editing away. Alternatively, you can start browsing at Wikipedia:Contents and keep clicking on links until you spot something interesting or which needs help. Get your main namespace edits up to about 3,000, to 5,000 and then go for RfA again. The Transhumanist 12:28, 1 November 2006 (UTC)

I'd love to be an admin...

I'd love to be an administrator! Big top 04:59, 27 August 2006 (UTC)

Admins need experience all around. I noticed you haven't done much with Portals or Categories yet. You might want to put some edits in there. You also seem to like aviation and space flight. You could check each of the pages on the Template:Contents pages (header bar) to see if those two subjects are adequately covered. Once you are done with those, any and all Help:Contents pages need monitoring/proofreading/updating/improving. If you need more to do, or another direction, feel free to ask. The Transhumanist 13:29, 1 November 2006 (UTC)

I'm nearing 5000 edits

Now that I'm nearing 5000 edits, my thoughts are increasingly turning to the mop. Coaching seems to be a good idea to me, so I'd love to have it. Erechtheus 04:56, 5 October 2006 (UTC)

You've got quite a bit of main namespace experience. You would be a major asset to the Wikipedia:Help desk and Wikipedia:New contributors' help page as a volunteer to pass on your editing experience to others. Volunteering there will give you an opportunity to become more familiar with Wikipedia's reference pages (help pages, directories, etc.), as you will need to look up the answers to any questions you do not know. Once you've got a good grip on those, come back here and help coach! And above all, have fun. The Transhumanist 14:47, 1 November 2006 (UTC)

Need a mentor

I am not considering running for adminship at this time, but I'd greatly appreciate a mentor to see if I'm on the right track (as an admin or an editor). Although at #46, I guess I'll be waiting a while :) — riana_dzasta _{wreak havoc|damage report} 04:55, 13 October 2006 (UTC)

Everything you need is already recorded on Wikipedia. This is an encyclopedia, after all. And Wikipedia's coverage of itself is extensive, with thousands of pages on how to do everything in Wikipedia. If you have any specific quesitons, feel free to ask.

Nice user profile:

http://tools.wikimedia.de/~interiot/cgi-bin/Tool1/wannabe_kate?username=Riana_dzasta&site=en.wikipedia.org

Category talk: 4

Category: 11

Image talk: 17

Image: 9

Mainspace 3108

Portal: 3

Talk: 205

Template talk: 5

Template: 21

User talk: 1920

User: 423

Wikipedia talk: 28

Wikipedia: 424

avg edits per article 1.46

earliest 12:10, 17 May 2006

number of unique articles 4220

total 6178

To prepare yourself for adminship, spend more of your time in the Wikipedia namespace, Portal namespace, and categories. But don't lose site of the encyclopedia itself, which is the main namespace (articles). If you racked up a couple thousand edits touching up help pages, you'd know everything you'd need to know for becoming an admin. If you get stumped on anything, come back here, and I'm sure someone will help. The Transhumanist 15:31, 1 November 2006 (UTC)

Hi, Transhumanist! How very thoughtful of you :) I know, I know, I should get my WP:space edits up... but mainspace and RC patrol are just soooo tempting. I'll try my best :) Glen S said he would help me out with admin coaching a few weeks ago, but he's pretty busy, so I don't think that's going to work out. So thanks very much for your help :) I have to get to uni now, but I'll try to get back to you afterwards. riana_dzast a 22:26, 2 November 2006 (UTC)

Damn, there were a lot of :)s in that message. riana_dzast a 22:28, 2 November 2006 (UTC)

Would like general improvement

I would just generally like to learn more about improving my contributions to Wikipedia, such as bringing articles up to FA status, etc.. I'm a little busy right now with theater, music and school, but by the time I get to the top of this list, I'm sure I'll have plenty of time (a few months from now? Hooray for backlogs ;) ) to edit more frequently. -- Ci e lomobile ^{talk / contribs} 05:53, 19 October 2006 (UTC)

Let's break the backlog. This is Wikipedia, which means jump right in! Never forget the can-do attitude. Everyone here knows the answers to someone else's quesitons. So as more questions get posed here, be sure to read them over to see if there are any you can answer. Concerning FA, see my reply to #Meta editor, below. The Transhumanist 15:37, 1 November 2006 (UTC)

Failed RfA, need coaching

Given the failure of my recent RFA I think admin coaching would be a good way of improving my suitability for adminship if/when I decide to reapply. Cynical 18:34, 19 October 2006 (UTC)

Concerning your RfA, the opposition seemed to be focused on a perception of negativity. You can disagree with others (in AfDs, RfAs, etc.), but you need to show more compassion toward your fellow Wikipedians. Without changing your vote, go beyond the vote to help in some way, with advice, offer to answer questions, etc. The spirit of adminship is helping others, while protecting Wikipedia. It's up to you to find the right balance. The Transhumanist 16:01, 1 November 2006 (UTC)

Been editing for a few months...

Been editing for a few months, in about 6 months I'd like to go for an RFA, but in the meantime i'd like some coaching to become a better editor, and, hopefully, one day a better admin. I'd like to know a bit more about the finer points of Wikipedia. CattleGirl ^{talk | e@} 10:30, 20 October 2006 (UTC)

Learn by example. Pick your favorite admin or two, and then carefully study their contribution histories. Dip in and read how they deal with users. As for editing, study the edit histories of featured articles and their talk pages. Then you'll know how quality articles are edited. Use the diff button to read the changes, and don't be shy - go in and display each version and look them over carefully. User:Pegship is one of the most knowledgeable editors I've ever run across. Check out her contributions. The Transhumanist 16:22, 1 November 2006 (UTC)

I know my way around

I know pretty much the ins and outs of wikipedia, except the policys. I know the common ones, but the obscure ones I need to learn. Otherwise I pretty much know how to do things appropriately, I just need to get in the habit of doing (such as edit summaries, checking the minor edit check). Maybe if this works out well, I'll try for WP:RFA in a few months. --andrewI20^Talk 05:41, 30 October 2006 (UTC)

Yep, edit summaries are important. You are already on the right track. Read the policies, but don't forget the guidelines. Familiarize yourself with 's departments, and above all, master Wikipedia's help pages. (Hint, hint, the help menus are pretty complete, but the help pages themselves still need lots of work). The Transhumanist 15:12, 1 November 2006 (UTC)

Vandal hunter at your service

Started a little while back, creating my own article. I have now found my calling in vandal fighting, but I know there is so much more to learn. Like the others, I want to learn the 'tips and tricks' of wikipedia. Pcbene 01:25, 29 October 2006 (UTC)

Many of Wikipedia's tips and tricks are presented at Wikipedia:Tips and Wikipedia:Tip of the day. While you are there be sure to jot down your best vandal hunting tips. The Transhumanist 15:05, 1 November 2006 (UTC)

Meta editor

I started editing properly a few months ago, but I have mostly focused on the background areas of Wikipedia, like maintaining WikiProjects, the community portal etc. and have not really contributed loads to articles and would like some advice concerning articles and getting them to ga and fa status. Thanks. Lcarsdata (Talk) 09:30, 29 October 2006 (UTC)

From the Wikipedia:Department directory:

Featured Article Help Desk	WP:FAD • WP:FAHD
The first step: peer review	WP:PR
Featured article candidates	WP:FAC
Featured list candidates	WP:FLC
Featured picture candidates	WP:FPC
Featured portal candidates	WP:FPCAN

Featured articles	WP:FA
Featured lists	WP:FL
Featured pictures	WP:FP
Featured portals	WP:FPORT
Featured article removal candidates	WP:FARC
Picture of the day department	WP:POTD

After familiarizing yourself with the above pages and their talk pages, if you still have questions, please come back here and ask. Thanks. The Transhumanist 14:55, 1 November 2006 (UTC)

Ling Nut

Ling.Nut 19:00, 29 October 2006 (UTC) I've only been a Wikipedian for a couple months, but have 5K+ edits. I'm putting my name here because the waiting list is apparently long; by the time my name is called I should have logged considerably more flight time. Am especially interested in clearing out backlogs throughout Wikipedia. --Ling.Nut 19:00, 29 October 2006 (UTC)

Well, here they are: Category:Wikipedia backlog. Good luck. You can also hone your skills by checking out Wikipedia:Tips and Wikipedia:Tools. And are you up and running with AutoWikiBrowser yet? The Transhumanist 14:51, 1 November 2006 (UTC)

AWB is my little friend. :-) Hope to chat with you more after finals! --Ling.Nut 21:21, 2 November 2006 (UTC)

I want knowledge

I'm not looking forward to be an Admin, till the time comes. I still feel, I lack knowledge on many things in Wikipedia. I'm willing to learn, if only someone is there to help. Call me when my number comes. If it is long, who knows, I may even hop on to the other side of the table, if I feel better of my capabilities. Cheers. -- Ch e z ^{(Discuss / Email)} • 07:45, 30 October 2006 (UTC)

Look over Wikipedia:Department directory. If you can't find something to interest you on that page, then come back here and I'll give you an assignment personally. Check out my user page to see the kinds of projects I've been into. The Transhumanist 14:27, 1 November 2006 (UTC)

I've been on Wikipedia for awhile now

I've been on Wikipedia quite awhile now (a year or two, tops), but I'm still rather ignorant of many technical aspects. In particular, I've no idea what it takes to make it to Featured article status, or how to cite references using wiki-tech (that is, anything but putting a link into the main body of the article). Eventually, I'd like to run for adminship, but I'm currently so far removed from wikipolitics that I'd have no idea what is expected of me. I focus mostly on writing articles, but I'd like to learn how to deal effectively with other aspects of Wikipedia. Canæn 07:55, 30 October 2006 (UTC)

Familiarize yourself with the Wikipedia:Department directory. There's a whole section on there devoted to featured status. The Transhumanist 14:27, 1 November 2006 (UTC)

Reporting for duty!

I AM READY TO BE ALL I CAN BE SIR!! I have a lot of time and love Wikipedia. I am going for adminship at the horizon, and want to do as much as posisble.

THEN DROP AND GIVE ME 50!

What Wikipedia needs most is content and content polishing. It is after all, an encyclopedia. Become familiar with every page listed on the Wikipedia:Comunity Portal and get involved in whichever page you think needs the most help, and before too long, someone will tap you on the shoulder (nominate you) to become an admin. The Transhumanist 11:34, 1 November 2006 (UTC)

Well, I'd like to thank you for replying to me, and replying to everybody. I don't suppose you gave out all those thank you's manually did you? Yeah, I'm on Wikibreak and pretty much only edit my talk page and the Reference Desks for now. X [Mac Davis] (SUPERDESK|Help me improve) 05:43, 2 November 2006 (UTC)

I appreciate it. By the way, I used a macro instead of keying in all the "you got mail" notices. I could have used a bot, but macros can be pretty quick too. The Transhumanist 07:42, 3 November 2006 (UTC)

Hope to learn a lot...

I hope to learn a lot from this experience, so I can become a better Wikipedian, and hopefully, some day an admin. -AMK152 03:17, 27 June 2006 (UTC)

Wikipedia is huge, and there are hundreds of ways to help or contribute. What are you most interested in doing? The Transhumanist 10:18, 1 November 2006 (UTC)

I am most interested in learning to improve templates more than what i know now, copyediting and preparing pages for FA/GA. -AMK152 21:43, 1 November 2006 (UTC)

Ah, it sounds like you already know how to use Wikipedia:templates. It's a mystery to most beginners, because the word "template" is nowhere to be found in template wikitagging, just those cute curly brackets. The easiest way to learn how to make and apply templates is to copy and modify existing templates. Find templates that do for other articles what you want to do with the articles you are working on, and clone them. Touch them up so that they make sense in their new home(s), and viola! For some really sophisticated templates, check out the ones that support the Main Page, and the Wikipedia:Tip of the day (TOTD) project (they are displayed at the top and bottom of that page). TOTD's randomizing "Tip of the moment" template shows a new tip every time you enter or refresh the page upon which it is displayed. For some interesting header templates, check out the help desk pages (WP:HD and WP:RD); and for some cool tables of contents, check out the pages on Template:Contents pages (header bar), which itself is a template. And of course see the catalog of templates at Wikipedia:Navigational templates. I hope you find the templates which suit your purpose If you still have trouble finding templates to do exactly what you want, please let me know, and we'll escalate to the next level of endeavor. The Transhumanist 04:53, 3 November 2006 (UTC)

General advice

To become a better Wikipedian, make Wikipedia better. Wikipedia is both an encyclopedia and a community. Anything you can do to improve either or both of those is a reflection upon you and all other Wikipedians. Not only will you enrich yourself, but you will enrich other Wikipedians in the process -- and everyone who accesses Wikipedia from all around the world is a Wikipedian. Every person on the planet is a potential Wikipedian, so keep them all in mind, and you'll do fine.

To understand the RfA process, read 10 to 20 cases from each of the two following pages:

The Transhumanist 09:45, 3 November 2006 (UTC)

I, too, would like to be an admin

Hello! I've been thinking of becoming an admin for some time, but I don't really know in what fields I lack the experience, so some suggestions would be more than welcome :) Regards, --Missmarple 12:24, 3 November 2006 (UTC)

As a first step, let's take a look at your edit profile:

http://tools.wikimedia.de/~interiot/cgi-bin/Tool1/wannabe_kate?username=Missmarple&site=en.wikipedia.org

6500+ edits in article space. Nice. Very nice.

I see that based on a comment on your talk page you've started using edit summaries more. Keep that up. The reason edit summaries are so important in RfAs is because they are important generally speaking as well. They are intended to help other editors understand what your edits were for without having to go into each and every article you edit to find out (which can be quite tedious). If you simply keep forgetting to provide edit summaries, you might want to try the setting in my preferences to configure Wikipedia to automatically remind you whenever you forget. To do this, click on my preferences at the top of the page, click on the Edit tab, and then check the box next to Prompt me when entering a blank edit summary.

Oh! You're a music lover! Could you pleeease do me a favor? Please take a look at List of basic music topics, and let me know what you think of it.

According to your edit profile, you've got 370 edits in the Wikipedia namespace, also called Wikipedia's "blue pages". This is kind of low. The blue pages include most of Wikipedia's administrative departments and action pages like the deletion departments (WP:AfD, WP:MfD, etc.), the help desks (WP:HD, WP:RD), and dispute resolution pages (like WP:RFC). To become an admin, you need to become more active in Wikipedia's administrative side. You can start with the links I just provided, or you could take the tour of the Wikipedia community, after which you will have a pretty good idea where you want to fit in.

To take the tour, do this: browse (click on) every link on the Help:Contents menus, every link on the Wikipedia:Community Portal, and every link at the Wikipedia:Department directory. If you don't have time to read each page, at least skim 'em. You don't have to do it in a single day, just fit in a few minutes here and there.

Based on your high education level, I think you might have fun answering questions at the Reference desk.

As you become more familiar with the behind-the-scenes areas of Wikipedia, and you need to ask more questions... Please feel free to ask away. The Transhumanist

13:42, 3 November 2006 (UTC)

Has my "window of opportunity" closed?

I edited anonymously for three years before registering this account. During my early days I almost exclusively edited articles, but later on I shifted more and more toward Project and User talk pages (and monitoring RC and Newpages). Now I feel that there are very few articles left where I can make substantial contributions. Does this mean that my "window of opportunity" has closed? Scobell302 15:55, 3 November 2006 (UTC)

I'm going to assume you were asking "Does this mean my window of opportunity to become an admin has closed?" The answer is: definitely not.

First things first. I need to find out if we can establish proof of your ownership of the IPs, so that those edits will count toward the evaluation of your experience. So I have some questions for you:

Were your anon IPs shared or unshared?
How many anonymous IP addresses did you edit with?
Do you have any of those IPs now?
Did you cross post with any of them? That is, did you edit your real account's user or talk page with any of the anon accounts?
On any talk page (user or article), did you accidentally switch in mid-conversation to an anon IP?

Even if the answers to 2, 3, and 4 are "no", you should track down your anon IP accounts. We may be able to establish your ownership. The ideal situation would be if you had the same IP address for those 3 years and still have it today.

Now, getting to the issue of there being "very few articles left where I can make substatial contributions", I find rather startling. Would you mind sharing with us what subjects you are interested in contributing to?

There may be several solutions to both of the problems you've alluded to. But we need more information to go on. Please explain your situation in more detail. The Transhumanist 17:13, 3 November 2006 (UTC)

In order to answer the points you raised, I'm going to have to use e-Mail, since this would involve giving out information I'd rather not post on Wikipedia (or any other Wikimedia project). I haven't enabled my Wikipedia account e-Mail since that might invite spamming (it has happened to a number of users). So can you provide me with an e-Mail at which I can contact you? Scobell302 18:05, 3 November 2006 (UTC)

You can create as many free email accounts as you like at yahoo.com, and cancel any that get overloaded with spam. Here's an email address you can reach me at: chipperdoodle72@yahoo.com. -- The Transhumanist 08:58, 4 November 2006 (UTC)

Failed three RfAs

I am planning to run for adminship in about three months and there was some pretty strong (although useful) comments made about the quality of my edits here. If I carry on editing in a similar manner for the next three months, will there be any success? Am I on the right track? I have been editing since the beginning of this year and made over 15 000 edits. --S iva1979^{Talk to me} 18:13, 3 November 2006 (UTC)

I can only say, slow and steady to win the race. - Cheers, Mailer Diablo 18:26, 3 November 2006 (UTC)

You're a good user, so take it easy, and wait some months. :) NCurs e _work 20:31, 3 November 2006 (UTC)

Keep editing your best, and adminship should follow in due course. Don't be in such a hurry. I'll take a closer look at your contributions when I have time. Right now, I'm kind of caught up in the deletion discussion for this page. The Transhumanist 01:52, 4 November 2006 (UTC)

The difference

Note that there is only one thing that differentiates between administrators and other editors. And that is trust.

Administrators gain their position because the Foundation and the Community trust them enough to allow them the use of powers which could -- potentially -- be harmful to the encyclopedia. Otherwise admins are much like other editors: some know a lot about policy and get involved in enforcing it and some don't. While it's all very useful to learn about policy whether you are intending to be an administrator or not, that isn't the critical factor in passing an RfA. The critical factor is getting the community to like and trust you and that requires showing involvement, good judgement, people skills and commonsense above all. In short you have to be seen as an active, useful and likeable member of the community. Sure, knowledge of policy helps with that but it is only part of the formula. In the end Trust is the big thing you have to gain if you want to be an admin. Lose it and you won't remain an admin for long. -- Derek Ross | Talk 16:15, 3 November 2006 (UTC)

Should the Admin school stay open, or shut down?

Please state your opinon at Wikipedia:Miscellany for deletion/Wikipedia:Admin school.

This page and it's design are totally open to editing. If you would like to improve it, please do so. The top portion of this page can be edited at Wikipedia:Admin school/Header.

The Transhumanist 11:27, 5 November 2006 (UTC)

Edits

How many edits is generally accepted for an Admin? i have 1.5k and was planning ti to it at 2k but im unsure if thats too low.Thanks--~~Þέŗṃέłḥìμŝ~~ ^Life_Death 13:42, 22 May 2009 (UTC)

1500 edits will be considered by many RFA contributors to be too low. Others will disagree on the grounds that it's not the quantity of edits but the quality. However, in actual practice, enough oppose !votes will show up to sink anybody with less than 3000 edits and even then 3000 is a bare minimum. 5000 edits is a better target. --Richard (talk) 15:47, 22 May 2009 (UTC)

Ok , thanks.--~~Þέŗṃέłḥìμŝ~~ ^Life_Death 17:09, 22 May 2009 (UTC)