Wikipedia:Requests for adminship/ToBeFree

ToBeFree

Voice your opinion on this candidate (talk page) (0/0/0); Scheduled to end 18:30, 10 November 2019 (UTC)

Nomination

ToBeFree (talk · contribs) – When it comes to candidates for adminship, there are essentially two types: editors who basically appear to be everywhere and whose names pop up all the time, be it in a positive or negative manner. And editors who quietly do the most important work of keeping the whole thing running behind the scenes, those who eschew the spotlight and internalize the reason why the symbol for adminship is a mop and not a microphone or a quill.

Tobias (ToBeFree) certainly belongs to the latter group. He has been for a long time constantly and tirelessly wikignoming in the background to ensure that readers can find what they need and other editors are free to create without having to deal with those troublemakers this project unfortunately attracts. Work, that has earned him a lot of deserved praise from other editors over the years and has allowed others to concentrate on building an encyclopedia without having to divert time and attention to fighting vandalism.

But Tobias is not only a keen and capable vandal fighter, he also helps out behind the scenes. Whether it’s updating Huggle’s configuration or workshopping ways to make instructions of project pages easier to understand, Tobias is always happy to help out by doing more than just pressing some buttons. He also is willing to help out new and experienced users alike - always in a friendly, clueful and helpful manner.

So if you are interested in adding a new admin into the ranks who embodies the spirit of the role, i.e. that admins are essentially Wikipedia’s custodians and janitors and who has demonstrated that they will do a drama-free job helping the project, I encourage you to support this request. Regards SoWhy 17:57, 2 November 2019 (UTC)

Co-Nomination

I first started noticing ToBeFree after running across his prolific AIV reports. The requests he makes at places like AIV and RfPP are consistently good, and I know that when I see a report from him I can rely on it to be actionable. ToBeFree also has a good sense for what needs revision deletion, and he frequently makes requests for revdel, which are always careful and considered. He seems to have a good eye for the different criteria, and I am always impressed at how thorough he is: more than once he has caught something that has been missed. I've also seen a number of his oversight requests, and he seems to have appreciation for the often-difficult nuance between RD and OS.

At his core, though, Tobias is a fundamentally humble editor with a wonderful temperament. He is upfront about his mistakes and is always trying to learn from them. He is kind and considered when interacting with other editors, and is immensely helpful: his talk page archives make it abundantly clear that he is always gracious, even when dealing with problematic editors. He gives out a lot of of advice on COI work, which is doubly admirable, as it's not only a particularly thorny area of policy, but often attracts a particularly thorny type of editor. ToBeFree groks the complexities involved, and has a real ability for respectful and helpful discussions with editors. SoWhy has already said this better than I could, but these are exactly the traits that make a good sysop. He's got the judgment, he's got the experience, he's got the temperament; if he had the toolset, this place would run that much more smoothly. I hope you'll join me in supporting him here! ~ Amory (u • t • c) 15:58, 3 November 2019 (UTC)

Candidate, please indicate acceptance of the nomination here: I happily accept this nomination. I have never been compensated for my contributions, am not being compensated for my contributions, and will never accept compensation for my contributions. ~ ToBeFree (talk) 18:30, 3 November 2019 (UTC)

Questions for the candidate

Dear candidate, thank you for offering to serve Wikipedia as an administrator. Please answer these questions to provide guidance for participants:

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

A: When patrolling recent changes, I often stumble upon situations that require administrative intervention. I would like to be able to delete clear copyright violations, and help with page protection and blocking when needed. I'd also be willing to offer the same help at CAT:RD1, RFPP and AIV if there is a backlog of requests.

Very rarely, I stumble upon a need for history merging; I may be interested in answering history merge requests as well.

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

A: Of all contributions, having translated Alte Brücke (Frankfurt) and Fortification of Frankfurt from German probably benefits the largest amount of readers, permanently. That said, my second most important contribution to Wikipedia is maintaining the quality of thousands of articles by reverting biased additions, original research and vandalism. Together with other recent changes patrollers, I make sure that Wikipedia can remain an open, freely editable encyclopedia. Most edits are useful, and it would be a shame to prevent mostly good edits from happening. The only alternative to a volunteer clean-up team would be permanent protection of all articles and the end of Wikipedia as we know it.

Behind the scenes, I have renovated Huggle's menus in May 2018, and I will have noticeably reduced the size of instructions at WP:RFPP when the technical process at WT:RFPP#Reduce_size_of_instructions (permanent link) is finally done.

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 had once maintained a log of my worst edits at User:ToBeFree/Controversial edit log, but I have since stopped beating myself up. I frequently interact with other editors; maintaining encyclopedic quality is not a hit-and-run task. The most incivil thing I have ever done is quoting someone else's personal attack in April 2018 (permanent link). I have dealt with it by apologizing to the attacked user and learning from my mistake. In hindsight, regarding all the various mistakes in the log, I believe that having made and learnt from errors is better than never having been in controversial situations.

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Additional question from ToBeFree

4. Will you add yourself to Category:Wikipedia administrators open to recall? If so, under what criteria?

A: I have copied this question by Levivich from GermanJoe's RfA because I'd like to point to my recall page at User:ToBeFree/recall. It is a rough translation of the German Wikipedia's recall criteria, taken from de:Wikipedia:Adminwiederwahl. The procedure exists since 2009, with 227 recalls resulting in 46 voluntary resignations, 48 desysops for not starting an RfA, 55 failed RfAs and 78 successful RfAs.^[p] The amount of users required for a successful recall may seem high, but nothing prevents me from accepting criticism below that threshold, and a link to the recall page will be clearly visible to extendedconfirmed editors on my user page. I also explicitly allow others to link to my recall page during noticeboard discussions.

Adminship is justified by community trust; the community needs to have a way of dealing with a loss of justification.

Discussion

• Links for ToBeFree: ToBeFree (talk · contribs · deleted · count · AfD · logs · block log · lu · rfar · spi)
• Edit summary usage for ToBeFree can be found here.

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