There has been recent discussion on its talk page as to the effectiveness of the WP:ORFA process (see also here]), with at least one administrator suggesting that the optional poll can be damaging for some candidates' chances at WP:RFA. In that discussion I repeated my view that it would be useful for anyone wanting to assess their chances at RfA if some form of self-assessment which could be done without any of the glare and attention of public scrutiny and criticism.
I was challenged to start a discussion on the subject, and so the notes below are an attempt to tease out my ideas, prior to launching that discussion.
Aims:
Objectives:
WikiQuiz
Are you curious about how much you know about Wikipedia? Think you might one day want to help out by becoming an administrator here? If so, this Wiki-quiz will test your knowledge! Although designed to help experienced editors get a feel whether they might be ready to take on the role of Administrator, absolutely any editor can use it to test their knowledge. There is no rush, so there's no time limit to how long you spend doing this quiz. Just answer questions honestly (with/without(?) referring to our guidance pages), and tally up the points to gain an idea of how much you understand about Wikipedia. For complete confidentiality, there's no requirement for you to answer on-wiki. So, you might want a pen and paper to keep track of your score as you work through all (xxx) questions.
But remember: Being given administrator rights is not purely about how much you understand of our policies and guidelines, or how well you can answer a simple quiz. It will depend upon you gaining the trust of the editing community by the quality and depth of your past editing, and by your answers at RFA. It matters not whether you score well in this quiz - but it might help you understand any strengths or weaknesses. Some editors might still want to go for an Optional RFA where experienced editors can give you their own views of your chances of a successful RfA.
PART 1 ABOUT YOU (no. of edits/blocks/warnings/attitude/help & support/paid etc)
PART 2 Topic sections (Multiple choice answers) (don't wikilink to shortcut abbreviations or full names of policy/guideline pages - makes it more of a challenge)
(This section would probably have between 25 and 50 multiple-choice questions)
Special:PrefixIndex/User:MBisanz/Qs/RfACandidate - might be of interest