Whpq (talk·contribs) – Hi folks, I'm very pleased to be nominating Whpq for adminship today. He's had an account on Wikipedia since 2005, been active editor for the entire time (17 years!), and amassed an incredible 129,000 edits. Whpq has created 39 articles, 2 DYKs, and made substantial contributions to dozens more. He's also one of the few editors on Wikipedia who are *very* well versed in copyright and our media file policies, and in fact, I wouldn't be surprised if he knew more than me on many of these concepts! Whpq frequently makes valuable contributions to FfD, has a keen eye for spotting (often subtle) copyright violations, and is an expert at identifying NFCC violations. Plus, we could really use his expertise at FfD, where there are few active admins (we have an effective bus factor of three at the moment). I'm also routinely impressed by Whpq's remarkable degree of patience, calm disposition, and willingness to explain things, especially when it comes to complex copyrights and/or media file policies. The way he adeptly handles such situations, always resolving them in a polite and amicable way, is very commendable. I'm confident that Whpq will be an excellent and much-needed addition to the admin corps. Cheers, FASTILY18:59, 23 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Co-nomination
I'm proud to co-nominate Whpq for adminship. A veteran editor with over 100,000 contributions, Whpq has been a backbone in file deletion areas for several years and is highly active in tagging copyright violating files for speedy deletion. Whpq has demonstrated a high degree of knowledge in a difficult area, and their talk pages archives are filled with calm and collegial interactions with new users. Whpq has also assisted with numerous cleanups over the years, such as the WikiProject Gastropods cleanup and other image based Contributor copyright investigations. A dedicated and thoughtful worker, Whpq will be an excellent admin. Moneytrees🏝️(Talk)02:00, 24 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Candidate, please indicate acceptance of the nomination here:
I am glad to accept the nomination. I have never edited for pay, nor have I edited under any other accounts. Prior to registering an account, I did make some edits as an IP editor. I do not remember what those edits are, but I can assure you that the edits were not vandalism, and alas, not sourced. I've improved on that in the intervening years. -- Whpq (talk) 04:00, 25 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
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. Why are you interested in becoming an administrator?
A: The idea of a free user generated encyclopedia was an enticing idea that prompted me to create an account in 2005. That idea is still enticing to me, and it is obviously enticing to others as we have seen Wikipedia grow enormously over the years. That growth needs to be supported with administrators to ensure policies and procedures are dealt with properly. Two areas that appear to need some more helping hands is dealing with files, and with copyright issues. These are areas I have experience with as an editor, and feel I can help with the administrative load. -- Whpq (talk) 01:44, 24 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
2. What are your best contributions to Wikipedia, and why?
A: Best can be measured or considered in many different ways. For me, working on the Unreferenced BLP Rescue project is a high point. As a bit of background, in 2010, there was a very real possibility that all unreferenced biographies of living people would be deleted as a matter of policy compliance in a mass deletion. This project took on the task of clearing the huge backlog of unreferenced articles. It was personally rewarding as the editing took me across a wide variety of subject areas, working with some very nice editors in a collaborative and fun environment. More importantly, Wikipedia was able retain articles that otherwise would have disappeared. -- Whpq (talk) 01:44, 24 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
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: If I am feeling heated up, or stressed, I step away for a period to clam down. There is rarely any issue in editing that requires it to be dealt with right away, so using a little time to cool off can make a huge difference in stress levels. -- Whpq (talk) 01:44, 24 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
You may ask optional questions below. There is a limitoftwo questions per editor. Multi-part questions disguised as one question, with the intention of evading the limit, are disallowed. Follow-up questions relevant to questions you have already asked are allowed.
4. Will you be open to recall? If so, under what conditions?
A: No, not as such. The addition of more avenues for drama is not a good thing. Having said that, if editors I trust and respect are telling me I should not be an admin, then I would voluntarily resign as an administrator. -- Whpq (talk) 15:09, 25 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
5. As an admin, it's often expected or requested to help other editors especially new users, by dealing with disputes, either resolving them or pointing the participants to proper venues for resolution and also editors who requests some permissions outside RFP(Rollback,IPBE etc). How do you see yourself in these aspect of an Admin's role?
A: As noted in my answer to question 1, my activity is going to be related to dealing with files, and copyright issues. I don't expect to be working in dispute resolution, or or requests for various permissions or protections. If an editor asks me about these, I will, of course, direct them to the appropriate venue for fulfilling the request such as WP:RFP if they are looking for page protection if the request looks reasonable. If the request looks like a complete non-starter, such as page protection for a page that is stable, I would explain why their request is not a good idea, including directing them to the appropriate guidelines or policy. As for new users asking questions in the file or copyright area, I will answer and guide them as best I can. We have venues that can help new editors (and even experienced editors) on media and copyright, so I try to include a link to Wikipedia:Media copyright questions, and Wikipedia:Teahouse when appropriate. -- Whpq (talk) 15:23, 25 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
6. If a file was uploaded appropriately onto enwp, but due to licensing expiration/changes it can be uploaded to Commons, how would you preserve the history of the local enwp file, and under what circumstances would you delete/preserve the file locally?
A: There are two components to copyright on files, the copyright on the file itself, and the copyright on the text description of the file. A log of the users contributing need to be maintained to satisfy any attribution requirements of the licensing. License changes on the file could be due to VRT confirmation of a free license, or a file aging into the public domain on a file that was originally uploaded as non-free content. The tool transferring the file to Commons includes the contrribution log from enwp which is sufficient for attribution, and the local file can be deleted. A local file would be preserved if tagged with {{Keep local}} but that would still be subject to FFD if somebody wanted to delete the file in spite of the keep local request. -- Whpq (talk) 15:51, 25 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
7. First of all, I want to congratulate you for nearly two decades of active editing, especially for your work with file copyright, an important area of the Wiki that I feel is often overlooked. That being said, after 17 years as an editor, what inspired the jump to RfA?
A: Because Fastily and Moneytrees asked me. Honestly, I have no burning desire to be an admin, but I do have a burning desire to ensure Wikipedia remains a great free encyclopedia. Part of ensuring that happens is having admins deal with policies and procedures that keep things running smoothly. In the areas of files, and copyrights, the number of admins that handle this is very small; too small in fact, so I am willing to help on some that administrative load. -- Whpq (talk) 16:01, 25 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
8.User:Whpq, what are some criteria you use when deciding whether to block a user for file copyright violations?
A: Ultimately, blocking is used to prevent further copyright violations, so it really boils down to determining how likely is it that the editor will continue making copyright violations. Do they have a history of copyright violations? Have they been previously blocked for copyright violations? What actions have been taken in communicating to the editor that those types of contributions are not acceptable? Especially for new users, Wikipedia can be confusing, and the standard notices about copyright violations may just look like a lot of "blah, blah blah". {{Uw-copyright-new}} can be helpful to give new editors a more comprehensive notice about copyrights. I've taken to bolding the the particular bullet point that applies to their situation. Sometimes, it needs a simple blunt message to stop copying files from the Internet. Whether it be a standard message, or a more tailored communication, if that stops the copyright violating activity, then no block is needed and would be the best outcome. -- Whpq (talk) 00:37, 26 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
9. Will you be closing FfDs or other XfDs (e.g., AfDs) as "delete" often?
A: I intend to only be closing FFDs. As for closing as "delete" often, that's going to be a yes, because that is the reality of FFD. Even though FFD stands for "Files for discussion", most nominations are for deletion of the files. And these nominations are done after due consideration by the nominators that the file should be deleted. If I didn't close FFDs as "delete" often, there would be huge issue of poor nominations that would need to be addressed. If this question is a feeler about my bias towards deletion, and how it will affect my actions if I were and admin, then I will say that I will try to implement decisions based on relevant policy and guidelines. If you are trying to evaluate my bias, full stop; then perhaps the reason why I created Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children will give you a better idea. The Ransom Riggs article was nominated for deletion. At the time, he had only one notable work, and we didn't even have an article on it. As an author with only one book to his name of any note, I felt there was a real possibility that article would not be kept. The novel was clearly (to me) notable, so I created the article to ensure that there was a valid merge target in case the AFD for the author did not head to a keep. See also my answer to Q2. I am not an inclusionist by any means. There's lots of stuff that doesn't belong and needs to go. But there's also stuff that should be kept, and I will work hard to keep it. -- Whpq (talk) 01:13, 26 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
10. Also, will you ever rename files after becoming an admin? Note that you currently have AP, ECU, NPR, and PCR rights, but not FM (file mover).
A: Maybe? But certainly not right now. Moving files wasn't a reason for stepping up for adminship, but if we ran short of file movers, then I would. -- Whpq (talk) 01:18, 26 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
11. Say a long-time contributor has written hundreds of articles, some of which refer to older sources that are difficult to access but may in some cases be in the public domain in the US. The problem is that someone has discovered that the contributor's articles include widespread blatant copy-pasted text as well as copy-paste-change-some-words-style close paraphrasing of cited sources. There is good reason to suspect that most, if not all, of the contributor's articles contain potential copyvio of this sort, and the sources that can be checked easily have consistently borne out this suspicion. But as a practical matter, it's not possible to check all of the contributor's articles against their cited sources. And again, some sources might be in the public domain. In your opinion, what is the best course of action to move forward with cleaning up the contributor's articles? For example, is something like pre-emptive article deletion a sensible approach in such a case? (I have seen similar scenarios happen multiple times in reality, with responses ranging from "delete everything" to "give the editor a chance to fix their issues" to "leave it there until someone gets around to checking them all", so I am interested in how you think about this scenario from a copyright standpoint.)
A: These types of hypotheticals are really hard to answer because each case of persistent copyright violations is going to be a bit different. Presumptive deletion (or reversion) is really a matter of last resort. Given the conditions you've laid out in your example, I would think that presumptive deletion is on the table. That action shouldn't be take lightly, and as such, I'd look to get opinions from others working in the copyright area to get a consensus. -- Whpq (talk) 01:27, 26 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Support Editor's experience, intentionality, and attested character suggest a suitable candidate for admin rights. Also, any fencer gets my support by default. ~ Pbritti (talk) 04:48, 25 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Support more than happy to vote early. Has written plenty of perfectly clean article to demonstrate he know all about content creation. New Page Patroller since 2016 and thoroughly 'all round', his vast and long experience obviates any further digging into his history (which would be too time consuming anyway) and checking any other criteria on my 'laundry list'. It's about time he was an admin, and who am I to argue with such respected nominators? Kudpung กุดผึ้ง (talk) 05:11, 25 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Support Good-natured, very knowledgeable, and likely to be a huge net positive. I'd normally look more closely at content creation, but I think their work at FfD is so important that a lack of GAs wouldn't change my opinion. Ovinus (talk) 05:24, 25 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Support. I don't know the nominee and I've never written a Good or Featured article in my life, I'm just happy to welcome people aboard who will shoulder a share of the administrative load in good spirits and be happy to serve our encyclopedic purposes. – Athaenara ✉ 06:17, 25 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Support - This user nominated some of the images I uploaded on commons sometime ago for deletion due to copyright issues that I wasn't aware of and I think some of the files I uploaded here on en.wiki too. At first I was so unhappy and felt very bad, but as time goes on, I'm happy they did what they did. I'm sure they'll perform well as an administrator. Goodluck to them. Comr Melody Idoghor(talk)07:56, 25 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Support I'm surprised to realise that i don't recognise the candidate's name or signature at all ~ just shows how gnomic i am, i suppose ~ but a brief investigation, my default, and my respect for the noms leads me here. Plus, i really like the simple answer to Question 3. Happy days ~ LindsayHello08:00, 25 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Support: I really don't see why this person shouldn't be an admin! I'm willing to bet that there are hardly any Wikipedians from 2005 around today, much less someone of this caliber and with this much expertise. A gem we can't afford to lose. I think the "oppose" folks will be hard-pressed to find a reason to do so... That Coptic Guy14:37, 25 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
I have seen this editor around and, at the risk of sounding clichéd, was actually surprised that he wasn't an admin yet. Whpq has a clear need for the tools and has the right temperament for adminship. – Epicgenius (talk) 16:05, 25 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Support, lovely squirrel on user page, has a clue and is friendly, so meets my criteria. did you know the Dutch word for squirrel, eekhoorn, sounds almost exactly like acorn. Femke (alt) (talk) 18:14, 25 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Seems good to me; I also object to question 9 as possibly loaded; how an XfD is to be closed depends on rough consensus, which will likely vary between articles and with a variety of good arguments one way or the other, and does not (at least ideally) depend on the closing admin in question, so "will you close as 'delete' often" strikes me as a rather useless and unduly tricky question. The steelman for it that I can see is that Whpq might be overly aggressive in deletionism, but I feel like better questions could be formulated to address that. – John M Wolfson (talk • contribs) 19:29, 25 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
FfDs don't usually get a lot of participation, so it's standard practice to soft delete problematic files as no quorum. Unless we're talking about something that's truly evil, any editor may request that a soft deleted file be restored at WP:REFUND. So is the question loaded? Sort of. Could it have been phrased better? Absolutely. -FASTILY20:00, 25 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Support, never met the editor during my work in Wikipedia, but becoming an admin should not be a big deal. As no cause of concern is voiced by other editors, I will support it. Furthermore, the editor seems to be VERY experienced in copyright issues, complex issues that is beyond my knowledge right now. ✠ SunDawn ✠(contact)21:41, 25 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Moved from neutral. No opposition for lack of GAs from me, either (hey, I've none) — though, raise the double standard. Anyway, as I noted in my neutral comment (eventually), RfA participants like FASTILY represent the worst of the RfA ecosystem. They provide blasé and aspersion-laden (and heartless) opposes and go on like it's nothing. Zero consequences. No one even questions it. Last week was my first and only RfA nomination, which barely passed, and it'll certainly be my last. The reason it'll be my last are RfA participants like FASTILY, the nominator of this RfA. That said, this candidate seems qualified and I'm sure they'll make a good fit. Though again, I'm puzzled by how many only-two-GAs oppposes there were last week versus zero here (which, again, I hope it stays that way, as it is my view that that criteria is super-dumb). I don't think the candidate is a sock, either. El_C22:34, 25 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
WP:NPA is still a policy, and it applies to admins like yourself too. Furthermore, ranting about editors who view content creation as of central importance to admins isn't likely to convince us that we're wrong. You'll notice that I supported this RFA since Whpq has done a lot in the copyright area despite not meeting my criteria of 1 GA as I've mentioned above. Reaper Eternal (talk) 23:25, 25 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
WP:NPA is still a policy — you don't say. But thanks for calling my statement a rant, I'm sure NPA will be glad (they're really nice). El_C23:45, 25 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Wait, it's about the GA criteria, not FASTILY? Reaper Eternal, if we're doing tautology, you are the person (smart), not the criteria (dumb). Anyway, that was an aside to my point. El_C23:52, 25 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Also, it wasn't about your criteria, specifically (which I haven't read) — it pertains to a broader view which contends that these arcane content processes are not necessarily representative of one's overall content contributions. I've contributed plenty of content, with serviceable and informative articles (I hope), without ever having engaged in the GA/FA.
Likewise, edit count on the main article space isn't necessarily representative of content contributions, either. As I noted in my own RfA (all the way back in 2005), I've made single edits that were hundreds, even thousands of words (proofread locally). I realize folks may find it simpler to just view that linearly by way of raw numbers, but that may well be folly. El_C00:15, 26 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Pointing out that your post is a rant is not a personal attack. It's simply a statement of fact, not an attack on you as a person. Hell, I'm pretty sure all of us have, once properly fired up, posted rants on this site. On the other hand, calling Fastily "the worst of the RFA ecosystem" is a direct attack on them as a person. See the difference? Reaper Eternal (talk) 01:38, 26 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
No, I don't see it. You may think as you will, but when I had said that RfA participants like FASTILY represent the worst of the RfA ecosystem, I meant it and I stand by it. El_C02:04, 26 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
I'd also point out that simply you saying that something is a "statement of fact" does not make it so. In my view, what I said was also a statement of fact. Now, I don't have much to add to this and will happily never comment on this page again. Unless there's more badgering, "fact"-based or otherwise. El_C02:12, 26 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
So now we have one of our most high-profile admins making a blatant personal attack and then complaining about being badgered. Speaking of double standards, you wouldn't see a non-admin get away with this sort of behavior. El C, quit playing the victim when you're the one who disrupted this RfA to make a point because one of the nominators opposed your candidate last week. If you have an actual problem with Fastily's behavior at RfA, go open a thread somewhere. You have enough influence that you might even be able to do something about it. LEPRICAVARK (talk) 16:10, 26 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Support - I don't believe I've ever interacted with Whpq in any capacity, but from what I've looked into I don't see any reason to think that they would be anything short of a good administrator. - Aoidh (talk) 03:46, 26 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Support - Copyright is a highly technical area and, from reviewing their contributions, I believe Whpq has both the expertise and experience to make a positive contribution in that (and other areas) as an administrator. Best wishes, Mifter (talk) 05:16, 26 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Support It will be good to get an additional editor with that experience. The answer to the question by Indignant Flamingo seems reasonable. Gusfriend (talk) 10:04, 26 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Oppose: This candidate has been around longer than I have, yet has never applied for adminship before now. This indicates a lack of desire for power that I would expect to see in any self-respecting admin. Seriously, Support per nom. — VoiceofClam11:16, 26 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Support per Ritchie333 and many others. Some of the articles in user:Whpq#Articles started are a tad stubby (but then so are many of mine), and a couple of entries need updating as the candidate's articles have now moved and the link is now to a dab page. ϢereSpielChequers13:43, 26 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Support I don't believe I have ever interacted with him, but a view through his contribs shows that he is very experienced with copyright cleanup, something that is desperately needed by the community. dudhhrtalkcontribs (he/they) 15:13, 26 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Support I have to see some pretty concerning behavior to oppose in general, but this candidate is quite the opposite. Looks well-rounded and unlikely to cause disruption with the tools. KoA (talk) 15:53, 26 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Support BTW, noting the first opposes, I read the "open to recall" question as "are you willing to be subjected to a particular drama fest just because one person asks for it and because you said "yes" in the RFA"?. And I think that their answer was a fine one. North8000 (talk) 18:33, 26 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Oppose - Not open to recall. Admins should be open to input from the entire community, not just a few people they deem "respected". This response shows me an elitist attitude which is contrary to the needs of the position. OrgoneBox (talk) 16:53, 26 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
Not cool mate, seriously not cool. If you don't trust the nominator's judgment then please review the candidate's edits for the sort of thing that in another case you would take on trust from the nominator. ϢereSpielChequers11:21, 26 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
General comments
For the record, FfDs bus factor of 3 isn't that unusual; TfD has a bus factor of 4, CfD has a bus factor of 1 (!), MfD has a bus factor of 4. It's really only RfD and AfD that have broad bases of closers. * Pppery *it has begun...15:01, 25 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]
The obvious solution is promoting more editors who are willing to work in FfD/TfD/CfD/MfD. A low bus factor for such important processes is unsustainable and a recipe for burnout. -FASTILY18:39, 25 September 2022 (UTC)[reply]