SmashWiki:Requests for bureaucratship/Aidanzapunk

Aidanzapunk (talk • contribs • edit count • passing RFA • RFB page)

Candidate, please summarize why you are running for bureaucratship below.

Hi. I'm Aidanzapunk, but you can just call me Aidan. I joined this wiki almost seven years ago, put out a request for adminship two years later, got denied, put out another request for adminship three years after that, got accepted, and I've been an admin since. I've had a lot of ups and downs, but I'd generally like to think that things have gone well.

So, admittedly, I didn't initially want to do this. I didn't think I'd be ready, especially given my tendency to ask other admins and crats what their opinions were on what was happening, either on the wiki or in the Discord server, and how it should be handled. And then both Disaster Flare and Serpent King went on hiatus. Though Disaster Flare would end up coming out of hiatus shortly after Serpent King started his, this effectively left Toomai as the sole crat, which he rightfully brought up concern towards.

Now, Serpent King actually spoke to me before he stepped away from the wiki and passed on the ownership of the server to me, unsure of whether or not it was the right decision, and looking for someone to pass the server onto. Given the fact that I had previously temporarily handled ownership of the server while he dealt with his grandmother's passing, this was a good call on his part. Toomai, while he's been around on the wiki much longer than I have, even admitted he didn't think he would've been a good person to pass the server onto, due to him not being as active in the server as other staff. But it was in that moment while I was talking with him that I realized that someone would need to handle his responsibilities and make sure everything was going as smoothly as possible, and Toomai mentioned it as well. So, I'm coming forward today, putting a request for bureaucratship out, and seeing what you all think. I will clarify that this is not a pity RfB, but rather one that's being presented with hindsight and rethinking.

I could choose to go on about my strengths and weaknesses as an admin, and how those would come into play if I were to be a crat, but there's two major things that really tie it all together: judgement, and communication. I'll be going over those individually, while also discussing how those play into both the different powers of a crat, and each other.

• Judgement: Admittedly, I have a terrible sense of judgement sometimes; I either overcompensate, or undercompensate. Hell, even this could fall under that, because I didn't think I'd be willing to try for cratship. But hindsight is a very good friend of mine, and it's especially prevalent if other people are involved with judgement. Yes, the wiki has had some incidents that probably could've been handled better with better judgement, but those are all learning experiences. Judgement is formed after the fact, you learn how to judge future situations by how you judged past ones. If someone is promoted to be admin or crat and something happens that causes them to be disliked by the community or, worst case scenario, lose that position, then I will know to be a better judge in the future, and communicate with the right people in future situations. This is not to say that I'm not willing to own up to situations ending poorly, far from it. But that's also just it, I will take the failure to heart, and know to handle the situation better should there ever be another situation that is like it, or could lead to it. Judgement also plays very much into a crat's role of deciding who does and who doesn't get to become an admin. With being an admin, you have to have good judgement (how long does X user get a block, based on what they've done), good managing skills (being able to handle everything thrown at you), and good communication (being able to work with the rest of the admins). You have to watch out for people who only want the admin status just to be an admin, as well as people who let their own judgement get in the way of being the best admin they can be. As a crat, I would watch out for these points when looking to promote a user to admin status. I would also take a look through their edit history, and look for any conflicts or things that are unbecoming of a user or admin (such as a heavy emphasis on minor edits rather than anything major).
• Communication: I am very much a fan of communicating to work better. As I am autistic, communication has been a big part of my life from the moment I could talk. I'm very much willing to communicate with people, both individually and on a larger scale, and this extends to my position as an admin here on SmashWiki. As I mentioned, I was initially concerned over my tendency to go to others instead of being able to handle things myself—this has been an issue I've seen in myself for a very long time. However, thinking back on it, I see it more as a strength than a weakness, especially in terms of being an admin; I would rather a group decision be made, even if it's just two people, than an individual decision on my own. (Hell, even Serpent King himself read over this RfB before I submitted it.) I'm more than willing to communicate with people I trust and have been trusted by the community—be it other admins/crats, chat ops in the server, or other people I genuinely trust—on situations that I don't think I could handle on my own, to help me be a better judge on those situations and future ones as well. Additionally, as I have ADHD, I can forget to do things from time to time...to time...to time. If I've forgotten to handle a troublesome user, change someone's username, or promote someone looking for a position, then a casual reminder on that would be perfect. Communication also plays a key role in deciding to promote, because if a user is disliked by the community, or someone else brings up an issue that, in my own judgement, I missed, it would definitely be worth noting, and confronting the candidate about; communication would also help with actions after promotion, as users should be able to call out an admin for making poor choices, regardless of how major or minor they are, without the fear of going against a "person of power," since admins and crats are just regular users with a few extra tools they can use.

There are some genuine flaws of mine that I would like to address, though. I briefly mentioned me being autistic and having ADHD, and while these are not, nor will they ever be, "flaws" by definition, they do still act as detriments to my everyday capabilities due to being disabilities; while there is not much I can do in terms of handling them, as they will forever exist, communicating with me in regards to me doing something wrong or forgetting to do something is greatly appreciated, and I implore you to not hesitate to contact me in regards to it, regardless of whether I become a crat or remain an admin. Additionally, as was mentioned in my second RfA, there have been some times where I've let my temper get the better of me, but I fully believe that I am beyond that; while I am not afraid to make myself clear, I believe I'm capable of doing so in a less outburst-ish way. I also have noticed a decline in my activity and overall communication with the greater community (not just in regards to the server itself, but also people outside the server who don't work on the wiki), which I plan on remedying; I helped spread the SmashWiki's statement on our stance regarding the uprising of information regarding the competitive community, which was met with praise, and I also plan on helping further the connection between not just the SmashWiki and the rest of the Smash community, but myself and the rest of the wiki community.

Would I be the perfect bureaucrat? No, everyone makes mistakes, we're only human. But would I try my hardest to be the best one I can be? Without a doubt. Aidan, the Rurouni 13:00, July 8, 2020 (EDT)

Support

1. For the words, I think, I should support. Well it’s probably due to SK hiatus. NGL you’ve been in the server for many years and it’s just been decided with each run and edits, it’ll be a good opportunity for you to become a Bureaucrat. It’s even likely that you helped people, give advice, etc. Even in the discord too btw. HowplayzPrepare Yourself 13:19 July 8, 2020 (EDT)
2. I definitely support your RfB, and it's not just because we're currently in dire need of another. I've seen you put in a lot of work when it comes to helping around the wiki - especially things that typically might not be on the scale of requiring direct admin/bureaucrat assistance. If there's ever a vote, tag, or anything that's been left alone and needs to get done, more often than not I've seen your name come around to help out. Seems to me that you've acknowledged (what you consider to be) your own personal weaknesses, which I believe is the first step towards improving yourself. You've got my trust - I'm certain that having you in a Bureaucrat position will be a great help to the wiki, now and likely far into the future. Acgamer28 14:04, July 8, 2020 (EDT)
3. Aidan knows their stuff and would do just fine as a bureaucrat; more importantly, I think Aidan would receive criticism well on the rare occasion they screw up. Support. Miles (talk) 14:20, July 8, 2020 (EDT)
4. Support. You're often willing to offer your help to other users, such as when you offered to help my custom moveset page. I also believe you handled the Smash Bros. sexual harassment situation on the wiki very well. You're also one of the first responders when a vandal runs rampant. There are definitely more that I can talk about, but to sum it up I believe you have made great judgement as an administrator and overall I am very confident that this judgement will make you a great bureaucrat as well. CookiesCreme 14:52, July 8, 2020 (EDT)
5. I'm going to slap my support right here. I may not know the guy very well(but then, you don't need to know everyone in the first place), but me and Aidan do share similarities: autism, ADHD, temper issues, et cetera. This, along with his abilities and the legion of edits under his belt, would make for a rather... interesting crat. Other than this, the speed at which he can react to bad faith edits and put them in the dustbin where they certainly belong, tied with his experience, would make Aidan a great addition to the unfortunately pea-sized Bureaucrat roster. I have spoken. JustSomeCloudMain who ain't interested (talk) 17:38, July 8, 2020 (EDT)

Oppose

1. Oppose. So I guess I'll start with the obvious: it very much seems to me like you're using SK's inactivity as a means to boost your chances of promotion. Furthermore, it seems like most of the support you have gotten is simply due to you being a good editor and admin, and isn't based on how you would handle the increased responsibilities of bureaucratship. Aside from that, I have some other concerns as well.
   
   First of all, as you yourself seem to be aware, it seems as though you're not really ready to be a bureaucrat. In your RfB you come across as being very nervous and unconfident, and that in and of itself is a problem. You also don't seem all that convinced that you even want or need to be a bureaucrat, or that you would make particularly good use of the additional tools provided to you. I'm not at all convinced that your promotion would be of much benefit to the Wiki.
   
   Additionally, and of equal concern, there remains the issue of your temper. I was only mildly concerned about this in your successful RfA, in which I voted neutral, but since then I have become more convinced that you are vulnerable to letting your temper run wild. A while back, there was a clash between the two of us on Twitter, regarding a passive-aggressive edit summary you left, and the aggressive way you responded to me on Twitter has stuck in my mind since then. But that was a while ago, and until recently I would have been willing to pass this off as a one-time incident. However, a couple of weeks ago, I happened per chance to come across a more recent outburst from you. I wasn't planning on ever bringing it up, as I thought it would cause unnecessary drama, but now that you are applying for bureaucratship, it seems very relevant. On another Wiki, I stumbled across this rather concerning outburst source: [1] which now makes me believe that your temper is still somewhat unstable, contrary to what you stated in your RfB. There is no doubt in my mind that a bureaucrat has to be level-headed and professional when representing the Wiki, even if they are doing so on another website, and that's why this issue also raises a big red flag for me.
   
   I would like to stress that I have no gripes with you as an admin, or as a user on SmashWiki, and I am completely over our clashes in the past, but I just can't ignore what appears to be a pretty clear example that you have not, in fact, gotten your temper under control, nor do I feel that you, or the Wiki, would benefit from your promotion, and that is why I am opposing your RfB. Alex the Weeb 18:36, July 8, 2020 (EDT)

   I'd like to reiterate the fact that while part of this is due to SK stepping down, it was also due to me reconsidering my own abilities. Yes, I am unsure, and, should this pass and it proves to be too much for me, then I may step down, but I am willing to be proven wrong, as, again, I have poor judgement skills, not just in regards to making calls for other people, but for myself as well. I've noticed a big rise in self-deprecation for a long period of time, and am working on dealing with it as time progresses. My goal was also to more emphasize the fact that I didn't think I was ready for the individual responsibilities, since, as I mentioned, I am a big fan of communication rather than "hey, can you handle this on your own?"; it wasn't really to imply that I would not "make particularly good use of the additional tools provided to [me]," and I apologize if it came off that way. (Edit to make things more clear: my point is that I would be able to handle these powers, but I would not be able to handle them alone, if that makes more sense.)
   
   This may surprise you, but I did actually mention that particular "outburst" (as you have described) in the server itself, albeit in a separate administrator-only channel, and it was, in fact, not met with backlash from neither chat ops nor admins. Even disregarding the large divide between Wikia and the NIWA, I definitely would not call my argument against removing a perfectly valid edit more of an outburst than I would the comment that immediately followed my own, not to mention the fact that neither are more of an outburst than a literal virtual shouting match (which has happened on this wiki before).
   
   I appreciate the concerns, and, regardless of whether this RfB passes or fails, I will keep it in mind for the future. Aidan, the Rurouni 19:09, July 8, 2020 (EDT)

   The main thing that concerns me about the Wikia incident is how you responded to a calm and respectful explanation of why your edit was undone with aggression. The way the other admin responded after that was a result of the tone you established in your response (and honestly, still isn't as aggressive as your post was). But I'm also concerned about how that incident may have reflected on this Wiki, since in what appeared to be a power move, you brought attention both to this Wiki, and the fact that you are an admin on it, in a post which had an aggressive and kinda disrespectful undertone to it. Regarding my first point, I think it still stands, and the way your RfB is written in general does not exude confidence of any sort, nor does it do much to convince me that you even require bureaucratship. Alex the Weeb 19:20, July 8, 2020 (EDT)

Neutral

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