Who? Is the correct answer. This wasn't as you might have assumed a long forgotten so called "legacy" Administrator only worth of Beeblebrox's utter contempt.Hi all, a busy period in real life has reduced my normal editing, and zeroed out my (already minimal) admin activity. I'd appreciate a desysop to reduce the chance of me accidentally clicking something disruptive. I hope to be back when things stabilize and I can no longer resist closing AfDs or some such nonsense. Thanks. Ajpolino (talk) 21:22, 9 November 2023 (UTC)
Ajpolino is that very rare thing. A relatively recent promotion (September 2020) and someone who was promoted seemingly not because by then Wikipedia was just rushing through anyone half way acceptable to boost the cratering Admin ranks. He seems to have been a genuinely good candidate.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia ... p/Ajpolino
They are by all accounts a very nice person, they clearly didn't covet the advantage that comes with being an Administrator and once they were one they seem to quite correctly approach it is a necessary "nonsense". True to their word, they focused on content even after becoming an Administrator.
Their talk page doesn't feature any warnings. Quite the reverse....
Being nominated by SandyGergia and their chosen content area raised red flags with me that he might have been an unwitting recruit into a looming resurgence of the wars over medical sourcing. But that seems to have been unfounded. You cannot corrupt good people in a volunteer environment. It is as simple as that. Paying $75 an hour for secret advice that is available for free? Corruption of that kind of "volunteer" is inevitable.On behalf of the FAR coordinators, thank you, Ajpolino! Your work on Lung cancer has allowed the article to retain its featured status, recognizing it as one of the best articles on Wikipedia. I hereby award you this Featured Article Save Award, or FASA. You may display this FA star upon your userpage. Keep up the great work! Cheers, Nikkimaria (talk) 02:13, 24 June 2023 (UTC)
The fact they have never blocked anyone might explain the lack of drama. But is that such a bad thing? The theory says that if Administrators were being absolutely perfect in their conduct, blocking should be relatie!y rare. Perhaps only done where there is persistent vandalism and the perpetrator is unresponsive. All other issues would be fixable by talking, and the version of Wikipedia arising from perfect Administration would be entirely unattractive to spammers and POV pushers in the first place, voiding the need for blocks.
Jimmy was absolutely right. A Wikipedia whose Administrators invariably come across as if they are actually spoiling for a fight, who think editing Wikipedia is difficult, something to be earned, if they are wired like a Drmies and lack the intellect to know Wikipedia is not there to give them the thrill of punching a Nazi, then Wikipedia deserves the absolute flood of angry face ripping hoards who need entirely more aggressive measure than mere blocks. And of course, a bazillion blocks a day too. That is the current reality of Wikipedia. Jimmy knows it, hence why he has already given up on it.
So why does any of this show that Wikipedia is doomed? Easy.....
Precisely because he was a nice person focused on content, Ajpolino flew entirely under the radar. He is apparently not a typical Wikipedia editor. He doesn't kiss the asses of the people he needs to make his life easier. He doesn't seek out drama, rather he evidently respects consensus, even if It will have invariably been the case he was treated unfairly in some disputes. He was not seeking power to redress this injustice. He would presumably be as disgusted as I am at seeing Bishonen is considered a good Administrator.
Wikipedia didn't even notice Ajpolino until he had been a hard working editor for several years. He had made ~11,000 edits over ~six years before he was even nominated. That is absolutely fucking ridiculous, far beyond the insane so called "minimum" requirements of the extremely conservative elements of the RfA electorate.
And to their credit, even after becoming an Administrator, they didn't let it change them. They stuck to their promise of not losing sight of his main interest - content. That is how it should be. Wikipedia didn't need and has absolutely suffered from having people like Bishonen seek and doggedly retain power, even though their content contributions are pathetic (possibly even zero if not counting reverts).
And if you are wondering whether Ajpolino fell entirely under the radar because they were an atypical editor, no, he did not. He is nothing like that freak Jess Wade, with 99% content edits and absolutely no interest in collaboration or project matters.
Like a true volunteer, Ajpolino fully embraces the collaborative and community aspects of Wikipedia. They always had a healthy number of edits to talk, user and project space, while never letting those exceed his edits to actual content. He isn't looking for anyone to give him a medal or press coverage for it, and his goals are no more activist in nature than Wikipedia being a thing at all is actually still quite a bold/stupid change in human endeavour.
These are crude measures, edit counts and RfA feedback, but they tell us a lot about what an ideal Wikipedian they are. Indeed, there are signs in these ratios that show Ajpolino was on the right path, his experience in editing was being returned in ever greater contributions to talk, used and project space. And clearly this wasn't because he was becoming a nuisance, a busy body, process wonk, much less a freak like Robert McLennan. A budding Fram, they are not.
I haven't looked at his edits in making these broad observations, but then who on Wikipedia actually does? Lourdes sailed through RfA, even though a close look at individual edits revealed issues that pointed to exactly what she was later revealed to be (and would still be, has she not voluntarily outed herself).
It is worth noting however that, although not a marked reduction, Ajpolino never reached the edit counts as an Administrator that he did as an editor. Nor is he evidently losing interest in Wikipedia after his initial capture, which is atypical.
So it is clear that even for people who do relatively little Admin work, it does have an impact on their content production (their talk, use and project edits largely remained the same). But since It would make absolutely no sense to hand over the Admin areas to disgusting bullies like Bishonen who are only in it for the power, so that these content people could focus on content, it is a necessary evil.
To even have half a chance of being able to say that the experience of being a Wikipedia editor in practice is exactly what the manal says it should be, Wikipedia needs hundreds of these kinds of candidates, and it needs to discover them as soon as they are ready to offer value.
It is not sustainable to hope or rely on the fact that some candidates stay hooked on Wikipedia forever. That only leads to a situation where the likes of Besblebrox and Bishonen really are representative of the Admin corps.
The right candidates are far closer to Ajpolino in terms of evident character. Clearly he has his priorities straight - it goes real life, Wikipedia editing, Wikipedia Admiing. In that order.
Wikipedia has virtually none of these kinds of people in the Admin ranks. And it needs a lot, because quite obviously one of the drawbacks of having good people, is they won't always be available.
Wikipedia could have had Ajpolino as an Administrator for five years rather than three. Arguably that could have even been six, if there was not such a cliff edge of risk and responsibility between being an editor and Administrator.
The suppose hostility of RfA is not the problem. He sailed through, as anyone with the right character does.
In case you're wondering why I as a devotee to the HTD cause would be giving Wikipedia helpful tips on how to become a better community and thus a more useful encyclopedia, it is simple. Wikipedia is irretrievably fucked. Part of the sheer fun of being a Wikipedia critic, is knowing they have already got themselves into a situation where their toxic, bullying, corrupt, sexist, simply fucking awful nature, is entirely unfixable. You can give hints and tips and straight up good advice, it won't be acted upon.
Take a look at Jess Wade, the exemplar of everything that is rotten about Wikipedia. She hasn't inspired ANYONE. At least not in the numbers required to meet her goals. After all these years, she's now crying in the media, unable to fathom why she still finds subjects who you can quite rightly ask, how are these people not already on Wikipedia?
It's because she's a bitch cunt who lives a charmed life on Wikipedia. It's FUCKING EASY to write a biography a day on Wikipedia when absolutely nobody in the Administrator ranks is holding you to the same editorial standards as anyone else.
Why would anyone tolerate such a second class role in a project where you are theoretically equal? There are not enough people like Ajpolino in the world to make that work.
Jess Wade cannot inspire people. She also cannot rescue Lung Cancer to FA status. And she SURE AS SHIT cannot be an Administrator (even though she absolutely wants to be one and thinks it is only Wikipedia's sexism that is stopping that).
HA HA HA HA HA.
There you go Ritchie333, there's a few things you can discuss with your fiance as she fulfils her role of making you breakfast of a weekend.
Ritchie being the man who fancies himself as the man who can turn this crisis around.
No hastening required really....