Commons:Administrators

This page explains the role of administrators (sometimes called admins or sysops) on Wikimedia Commons. Note that details of the role, and the way in which administrators are appointed, may differ from other sites.

If you want to request administrator help, please post at Commons:Administrators' noticeboard.

There are currently 262 administrators on Commons.

An admin wielding the mop, a common symbol of administrators

What is an administrator?

Administrators as of February 2012 [+/−]

Listing by language Listing by date

Number of Admins: 262 32X, de, en-2, hsb-1, ru-1 99of9, en (bureaucrat) á, fi, en-2, sv-2 A.Savin, ru, de-4, en-2 ABF, de, en-2, la-1, fr-1 Admrboltz, en, es-1 Adrignola, en AFBorchert, de, en-3 Ahonc, uk, ru-4, en-2, de-1 Aka, de, en-3 Ala z, pl, en-2, ru-1 ALE!, de, en-3, es-3, fr-1, it-1 Alhen, es, en-2 Aliman5040, es, fr-4, de-2, en-1, it-1 Alison, en, ga-3, fr-2, gd-1 Alno, fr, en-3, es-2, pt-1 Alpertron, es, en-3 Amada44, de, en-3, fr-1 AndreasPraefcke, de, en-3, fr-1 Andrew c, en Angr, en, de-4, fr-2, ga-2, la-2, cy-1 AnRo0002, de, en-2, fr-2, es-1 Anthere, fr, en-3 Aude, en, ar-3 Avraham, en, he-2 (oversighter, steward) AVRS, ru, en-2, eo-2 Axpde, de, en-4, es-1, fr-1, it-1, nl-1 (steward) AzaToth, sv, en-4 Badseed, el, en-3, it-1 Bapti, fr, en-3, de-2 Barcex, es, en-2, fr-1 Bastique, en, fr-3, es-2, la-2, ga-1 Bdk, de, en-2 Bencmq, zh, en-3 (steward) Beria, pt, en-2, es-2 Bidgee, en Billinghurst, en Blacklake, ru, en-2 Blurpeace, en, es-1 Butko, ru, uk-2, en-1 Cambalachero, es, en-3 Captain-tucker, en Cbrown1023, en Cecil, de, en-3, fr-2, es-1, fi-1 (bureaucrat) Chatama, ja, en-1 Chris 73, de, en-3, ja-1 ChrisiPK, de, en-3, fr-1 ChristianBier, de, en-3 Ciell, nl, en-2, de-1 Cirt, en, es-2 Common Good, en CommonsDelinkerHelper (bot) Cookie, es, en-2 Courcelles, en, es-2, fr-2 Coyau, fr, en-1 DaB., de, en-1 Dantadd, it, pt, en-3, es-3, fr-3, gl-3, ca-2, ro-1, el-1 Darwinius, pt, en-3, es-2, fr-2, gl-2, ca-1, it-1, oc-1 Davepape, en David Levy, en Dcoetzee, en, fr-2, et-1, af-0 Denniss, de, en-2, fr-1 Dereckson, fr, en-3, de-1, nl-1 DieBuche, de, en-4, la-3, it-1 D-Kuru, de, en-2, it-1 Dodo, es, en-2 Dschwen, de, en-3, fr-1 Ecemaml, es, en-3 Edgar181, en, de-1, fr-1, es-1 Effeietsanders, nl, en-3, de-1, fr-1, la-1 Ejdzej, pl, en-2 Elcobbola en, de Elya, de, en-3, uk-2, ru-1 EPO, da, en-3, de-1 Esby, fr, en-3, de-1 EugeneZelenko, ru, be, en-2, bg-1, pl-1 (bureaucrat) EVula, en Ezarate, es-3, en-1 Fanghong, zh, en-2, fr-1 Fastily, en, fr-2, zh-2 Flominator, de, als, en-3 Foroa, vls, nl, en-3, fr-2 FunkMonk, da, en-4, no-3, fo-2, sv-2, de-1, es-1 Geagea, he, ka-3, en-3, ru-1 Geni, en George Chernilevsky, ru, uk-3, de-2, en-2, bg-1, la-1, be-1, fr-1 GeorgHH, de, en-1 Gestumblindi, als, de, en-3 Gmaxwell, en Gnangarra, en Golbez, en, ja-2 Greudin, fr, en-2, de-1 grin, hu, en-3, de-1 Gruznov, ru, en-1, fr-1 Guandalug, de, en-3 guillom, fr, en-3, de-1 Harej, en, fr-3 Herbythyme, en, fr-2, es-1, it-1 (checkuser) Herr Kriss, pl, en-2 Hesperian, en High Contrast, de, en-3, fr-1 Howcheng, en, ja-2 H-stt, de, en-4, fr-1 Ilmari Karonen, fi, en-3, sv-2, de-1, fr-1 Infrogmation, en, es-1 JDavid, pl, en-2, de-1 J Milburn, en Jafeluv, fi, en-4, fr-3, de-2, ru-2, sv-2 (steward) Jameslwoodward, en, fr-1 Jarekt, pl, en Jastrow, fr, en-3, de-1, it-1 Jcornelius, de, lt-2, la-2, en-2, pt-2, fr-1 Jdforrester, en Jean-Frédéric, fr, en-4, es-1 JeremyA, en JGHowes, en, fr-2, de-1 Jmabel, en, es-3, ro-2, de-1, ca-1, it-1, pt-1, fr-1 Joergens.mi, de, en-3 John Vandenberg, en Juliancolton, en (bureaucrat) Julo, pl, en-2, de-1, ru-1 Jusjih, zh, en-3, fr-1 (bureaucrat, steward) Kaldari, en Kallerna, fi, en-3, sv-2, de-1 Kameraad Pjotr, nl, en-3, de-2, fr-2, la-2, grc-2 Kanonkas, no, en-4, nn-3, da-2, sv-2, de-1 (bureaucrat) Killiondude, en, es-3, ru-1 Kjetil r, no, en-3, eo-2, de-1 Klemen Kocjancic, sl, en-3, de-2, hr-1, bs-1 Krinkle, nl, en-3, de-2 KTo288, en, zh-4 Kved, es, en-3 Kwj2772, ko, en-2 Kyro, fr, de-3, en-2 Leafnode, pl, en-3, ja-2, de-1 Leit, de, en-3, fr-1 LERK, ja, en-2, ko-2, ko-han-3, de-1, es-1, fr-1 Lestath, pl, en-2, la-1 Leyo, gsw, de, en-3, fr-3, es-1, la-1 Logan, en, es-3 Lokal Profil, sv, en-4, pt-2, fr-1 LtPowers, en, es-1 Ludmiła Pilecka, pl, en-2, ru-1 Ludo29, fr, en-2 Lukasz Lukomski, pl, en-4, es-2 Lupo, de, en-3, fr-2, es-1, it-1 Luxo, gsw, de-4, en-1, fr-1 Lymantria, nl, de-2, en-2, fy-2, fr-1, zea-1 Magister Mathematicae, es, en-4, pt-1 (checkuser, steward) Magnus Manske, de, en-2 Maire, pl, en-4, de-2, fr-2, es-1, ru-1 MarcoAurelio, es, en-3, fr-2 (steward) Marcus Cyron, de, en-1 Mardetanha fa, az, en-3, tr-2, ar-1 (checkuser, steward) Martin H., de, en-2 (checkuser) Masur, pl, en-3, de-1 Matanya, en, he (steward) Matt314, de, en-3, fr-2, es-1, zh-1 Mattbuck, en, fr-1, la-1 Maxim, ru, en-3, fr-2 Mbdortmund, de, en-2, fr-2, la-1 MBisanz, en Mentifisto, en (steward) MGA73, da, en-3, de-2, sv-1, no-1 Micheletb, fr, en-3, it-1, es-1 Micki, sr, bs-4, hr-3, en-2 Mitchazenia, en, es-2 Miya, ja, en-2 Mmxx, fa, en-3 Morgankevinj, en, es-1, la-1 Mormegil, cs, en-2, de-1 Morning Sunshine, vi, en-2 MPF, en, da-2, de-1, fr-1 Multichill, nl, en-3, de-1, fr-1 Mys 721tx, zh, en-3 Myself488, de, en-3, la-2 Nagy, de, en-3, fr-2, es-1, sv-1 Neozoon, de, en-4, nl-4, fr-2 NEUROtiker de en-3, fr-1 Nilfanion, en, fr-1 notafish, fr, en-4, de-3, es-2, it-2 NuclearWarfare en, es-2 O, zh, en-4, zh-wuu-2, zh-hu-3, yue-1 fr-1 odder, pl, en-2, de-2 Okki, fr, en-2 Otourly, fr, en-2, it-1 PeterSymonds, en, de-1 (steward) Pharos, en, fr-1 Pitke, fi, en-4, sv-2 Platonides, es, en-2, fr-1 Podzemnik, cs, en-2 Polarlys, de, en-2, fr-1, no-1 Powerek38, pl, en-4, fr-2, es-1, de-1 Pruneau, fr, en-4, de-1 Putnik, ru, en-2 ~Pyb, fr, en-2 Pymouss, fr, en-3, de-2, it-2, he-1 Ragesoss, en, de-1, fr-1 Ra'ike, de, en-2 Rama, fr, en-3, de-2, la-2, es-1, it-1, ja-1 (oversighter) Rastrojo, es, en-3, fr-2, eo-1 Raul654, en, es-1 Raymond, de, en-3, nl-1 (oversighter) Rd232, en, de, es-2, fr-1 Rehman, en, si-1 Reinhard Kraasch, de, en-3 Rillke, de, en-2, fr-1 Rimshot, de, en-4, fr-2, it-1 Rocket000, en, es-1 Romaine, nl, en-3, de-2, af-1, fr-1 Rosenzweig, de, en-3, fr-1, la-1 Royalbroil, en, es-1 Rubin16, ru, tt, en-3 Rüdiger Wölk, de, en-2 Russavia, en, ru-3 (bureaucrat) Saibo, de, en-3, la-1 Sanbec, es, en-1, fr-1 Sandstein, als, de, en-4, fr-3, it-1 SatuSuro, en, id-1 Sfu, pl, en-2 ShakataGaNai, en Shizhao, zh, en-1, ru-1 (steward) Siebrand, nl, en-3, fr-1, de-1 Skeezix1000, en, fr-2 Slomox, de, en-2 Spangineer, en, es-3 Spiritia, bg, en-3, ru-2, mk-2, de-1 Stan Shebs, en, de-1 Steven Walling, en Stifle, en, ga, fr-2, de-1 str4nd, fi, en-2, sv-2 Szczepan1990, pl, en-2 Tabercil, en Tarawneh, en, ar, de-1 TheDJ, nl, en-3, de-1, fr-1 The Evil IP address, de, en-3, fr-2 Thuresson, sv, en-3, no-2 Tiptoety, en (checkuser, oversighter) Tom, en, es-1 Trijnstel, nl, en-4, de-1, fr-1 (steward) Trixt, it, en-2, fr-1 tsca, pl, en, da Túrelio, de, en-3, es-1 VIGNERON, fr, de-2, en-2, zh-1 Waldir, pt, en-3 Wikitanvir, bn, en-3, as-2, bpy-1 (steward) WJBscribe, en, fr-3, de-1 Wknight94, en Wsiegmund, en, fr-1, es-1 Wutsje, fy, nl, en-3, de-2, fr-1 Wuzur, de, en-3 wvk, de, en-4, fa-3, fr-2 Yann, fr, en-3, hi-2, gu-1 Yuval Y, he, en-3 Zirland, cs, pl-3, en-3, sk-2, eo-2 Zolo, fr, en-4, de-2, zh-2 ZooFari, en, es-3 Zscout370, en, be-1, es-1, ja-1, ru-1 Zyephyrus, fr, en-3, la-3, el-2 Zzyzx11, en, es-1, fr-1 Raindrift, Temporary adminship: "As a developer, needs to run tests, delete files, etc." No exact expiry date. KrinkleBot, Bot account; temporary adminship for testing, see also Commons:Bots/Requests/KrinkleBot (2). The system currently recognizes 262 administrators. If that is not the last number in the list above, there is an error in the list.

Technical

Administrators are users with the technical ability on Wikimedia Commons to:

• delete and undelete images and other uploaded files, and to view and restore deleted versions
• delete and undelete pages, and to view and restore deleted revisions
• protect and unprotect pages, and to edit admin-protected pages
• block and unblock users, individual IP addresses and IP address ranges
• edit the MediaWiki namespace
• rename files

These are collectively known as the admin tools.

Community role

Administrators are experienced and trusted members of the Commons community who have taken on additional maintenance work and have been entrusted with the admin tools by public consensus/vote. Different admins have different areas of interest and expertise, but typical admin tasks include determining and closing deletion requests, deleting copyright violations, undeleting files where necessary, protecting Commons against vandalism, and working on templates and other protected pages. Of course, some of these tasks can be done by non-admins as well.

Administrators are expected to understand the goals of this project, and be prepared to work constructively with others towards those ends. Administrators should also understand and follow Commons' policies, and where appropriate respect community consensus.

Apart from roles which require use of the admin tools, administrators have no special editorial authority by virtue of their position, and in discussions and public votes their contributions are treated in the same way as any ordinary editor. Of course, some admins are influential, but that derives not from their position as such but from the personal trust they have gained from the community.

How do I become an administrator?

First, consider whether becoming an administrator is the best way for you to contribute to the project. Experience shows that outstanding contributors of content often reduce their contributions because of the maintenance overhead after they become admins, and this is what we want least. So please contribute your best skills and understand that there are many ways of getting community credit besides being an admin. Admin status on Commons is not an honour for outstanding content contributors, but just provides an additional set of tools for people who show that they want to clean up.

Consider whether you actually need the admin tools for the work you would like to do. The community does not hand out the tools to those who do not need or who are not likely to make use of them. So, if you need the tools only for a limited period, or in order to clean up your own contributions, please simply ask an existing admin to help you out.

Admins are expected to remain reasonably active here, and if after appointment you cease to use the tools for an extended period you will automatically lose them under our de-admin policy. You should expect as an admin to make yourself available on Commons to a reasonable extent (a userpage that asks people to leave messages for you on some other project is not considered acceptable practice for an admin).

More information about the administrators' community roles can be found at Commons:Guide to adminship.

We do not have any hard and fast rules setting out the minimum period you should have been active on Commons in order to apply for adminship, nor any minimum number of edits. However, the requirement that you be an experienced and trusted member of the Commons community typically means that prior to applying you should have had sufficient breadth and depth of experience here to be able to demonstrate that. If you are an admin or an experienced user on another project, by all means mention that, but bear in mind that off-Commons experience is on its own not normally enough.

Although not mandatory, it is often a good idea to talk to existing admins to get feedback about your experience and approach. You may be able to get another admin to nominate you, although self-nominations are also allowed.

When you request adminship, the community will consider your ability to fill the admin role. Individual Commons contributors may have varying expectations of candidates, and you may wish to review some archived applications to get a sense of what people are looking for. As a practical matter, users often want to see a reasonable level of involvement in admin-type activities such as deletion requests, accurately tagging images as copyright violations, new user patrolling, and so on. Users often want to be satisfied that you are an integral member of the Commons community and will look at the way you interact with others, on user talk pages and elsewhere.

The public discussion and vote

Adminship nominations remain open for at least seven days, for votes and comments, unless withdrawn early as unsuccessful. The period starts when you posted your nomination (if a self-nom) or when you posted your acceptance (if somebody else nominated you). At the end of that period the nomination will be closed by a bureaucrat who will either grant or decline promotion. The nomination may be left open for more than seven days, or a longer period specified, should a bureaucrat consider that desirable.

As a guideline, promotion normally requires at least 75% in favour, with a minimum of 8 support votes. Votes from unregistered users are not numerically counted, although such users may still offer their opinions on the candidate. However, the closing bureaucrat has discretion in judging community consensus, and the decision will not necessarily be based on the raw numbers. Among other things, the closing bureaucrat may take into account the strength of any arguments presented and the experience and knowledge of the commenting users. For example, the comments and votes of users who have zero or few contributions on Commons may at the bureaucrat's discretion be discounted.

If the nomination is successful, the closing bureaucrat will grant the applicant admin rights.

The request for adminship

When you are ready, make sure you have a userpage, enable email in your preferences, then apply, or ask your nominator to apply, back on the main Commons:Administrators page.

Suggestions for administrators

Please read Commons:Guide to adminship.

Removal of administrator rights

Under the de-admin policy, administrator rights may be revoked due to inactivity or misuse of sysop tools.

How do I become an administrator?

First, go to Commons:Administrators/Howto and read the information there. Then come back here and make your request in the section below.

• After clicking on the appropriate button and creating the subpage, copy the link to the subpage, e.g. "Commons:Administrators/Requests/Username", edit Commons:Administrators/Requests and paste it in at the top of the section, then put it in double curly brackets (e.g. {{Commons:Administrators/Requests/Username}} ) to transclude it.

• If someone else nominated you, please accept the nomination by stating "I accept" or something similar, and signing below the nomination itself. The subpage will still need to be transcluded by you or your nominator.

Use the box below, replacing Username with your username:

Voting

Any registered user may vote here although those who have few or no previous edits may not be fully counted. It is preferable if you give reasons both for  Support votes or  Oppose ones as this will help the closing bureaucrat in their decision. Greater weight is given to argument, with supporting evidence if needed, than to a simple vote.

Promotion normally requires at least 75% in favour, with a minimum of 8 support votes. Votes from unregistered users are not counted. However, the closing bureaucrat has discretion in judging community consensus, and the decision will not necessarily be based on the raw numbers.

Purge the cache Use the edit link below to edit the transcluded page.

Requests for adminship

Watch

When complete, pages listed here should be archived to Commons:Administrators/Archive.

• Please read Commons:Administrators before voting here. Any logged in user may vote, although those who have few or no previous edits may not be fully counted.

PierreSelim

Vote

PierreSelim (talk · contributions · deleted user contributions · recent activity · logs · block log · SULinfo)

Scheduled to end: 19:36, 9 February 2012(2012-02-09) (UTC)

Hi! I've finally decided to request adminship on Commons after being encouraged to do so by several users. I'm active on Commons since May 2011, I'm autopatrolled and filemover right now. As I'm giving a certain amount of work to the current admins in the DR, I think it's fair to help them with the DRs (obviously not the ones I started).

I would mainly use the tools to delete obvious copyvio instead of only tagging them, and help with the DR backlog. To do so I think I have a good understanding of free licences and the licensing policy (especially the lack of COM:FOP in France), however it doesn't mean I know everything about licenses. In doubt I'd rather ask to someone who knows better. --PierreSelim (talk) 19:36, 2 February 2012 (UTC)

Votes

•  Support Sounds good. Enough experience etc. Trijnstel (talk) 20:40, 2 February 2012 (UTC)
•  Support, No worries, -- Cirt (talk) 22:59, 2 February 2012 (UTC)
•  Support --Katarighe (Talk) 23:12, 2 February 2012 (UTC)
•  Support Sure. PierreSelim is an experienced, trusted and dedicated Commonist, who definitely could use the extra buttons. (In fact I had been thinking of nominating him for adminiship for a long time.) Jean-Fred (talk) 23:47, 2 February 2012 (UTC)
•  Support Yann (talk) 01:56, 3 February 2012 (UTC)
•  Support Dedicated and trustful :) Léna (talk) 07:33, 3 February 2012 (UTC)
•  Support Trusted user. No worries. -- RE rillke questions? 12:05, 3 February 2012 (UTC)
•  Oppose  Neutral Sloppy: People who nominate files like this and this one shouldn't be Commons admins. Multichill (talk) 18:21, 3 February 2012 (UTC)

  True, thoses two files shouldn't have been listed. Do you take into account the fact I sorted the files in the DR after your remark and provided a gallery so people can overlook fastly the DR? (last question: do you still think this DR is sloppy ? if yes please indicate what I can do to improve it.) --PierreSelim (talk) 19:25, 3 February 2012 (UTC)

  Willing to learn and improve, I can't oppose that. Changed to neutral. Multichill (talk) 13:17, 4 February 2012 (UTC)

•  Oppose agree with preceding user --  Docu  at 18:24, 3 February 2012 (UTC)
•  Support. I don't think admins need to be perfect and being able to acknowledge mistakes constructively is a good sign. Looks like a good candidate. WJBscribe (talk) 00:44, 4 February 2012 (UTC)
• Support - Everyone makes mistakes. Overall, this user has many good quality contributions, and that outweighs a couple of bad ones in my mind. Ajraddatz (talk) 01:55, 4 February 2012 (UTC)
•  Support. We can't have enough work willing Admins. Marcus Cyron (talk) 16:43, 4 February 2012 (UTC)
•  Support Knows how to add a RfA with a useful summary, nice, helpful and willing to improve if necessary. Could not find reasons why not. Thank you for your help! --Saibo (Δ) 18:40, 4 February 2012 (UTC)
•  Support. Sound and reliable. Jastrow (Λέγετε) 19:48, 4 February 2012 (UTC)
•  Support I don't see anything wrong that would make me oppose. Techman224^Talk 21:11, 4 February 2012 (UTC)
•  Support--Morning Sunshine (talk) 05:44, 5 February 2012 (UTC)
•  Support thanks for helping out --Herby ^{talk thyme} 18:40, 5 February 2012 (UTC)
•  Support. I'm satisfied. Seems like he'll be a good addition to the team. —Quintucket (talk) 12:55, 7 February 2012 (UTC)

Comments

• You have a babel on your user page with the following text: "This user learnt to know the dark side of the FoP". What does it mean? Thanks. - A.Savin 20:23, 2 February 2012 (UTC)

• It's a joke user box made by JeanFred who is active in Category:France FOP cases. It means we know COM:FOP and we are interested in sorting the files that can stays on commons or not (even if for some people it's not cool to start a deletion request). I hope I was clear. PierreSelim (talk) 20:33, 2 February 2012 (UTC)

• OK. Then, imagine the photographs concerned by this DR are taken in France. How would you decide in this issue? - A.Savin 21:11, 2 February 2012 (UTC)

If it was in France:

• File:Varshavskaya (Moscow Metro).jpg the subject is an artwork, we'd have to check whether it's public domain or not (date of death of the artist is needed).
• File:Varshavskaya station.JPG and File:Varshavskaya3.jpg not sure of what is supposed to be copyrighted here, the column doesn't seems to meet the threshold of originality for me.
• File:Varshavskaya1.jpg less obvious one for me, arguably COM:DM however it could have been croped. In the end I'd keep it (even if i'm not totally convinced) except if someone has a good argument to delete it.
• File:Varshavskaya4.jpg the artwork is hardly shown it's a COM:DM cases.

Of course this answer is written without taking into account argument provided by others during the DR: someone can raise a strong argument for keep or delete that should be taken into account. PierreSelim (talk) 22:34, 2 February 2012 (UTC)

Thanks for the detailed analysis, and good luck. - A.Savin 22:52, 2 February 2012 (UTC)

• What would your comments/vote be if the following two files were put up for DR with the reason "Derivative work" --99of9 (talk) 04:10, 3 February 2012 (UTC)

• File:One_Euro_-_white_bg.jpg
• File:Occupy_Toulouse_2011-11-11_03.JPG

• Ok this one is tricky, so I read again COM:Currency, I thought my upload was good based on France case: case law states that copyright exists, but is paralysed by the ‘allocation to the general interest et character of public service’ of currency, and I was comforted by the fact there was quite many pictures in the categories. However if we read the section dedicated to Euro carefuly, it says the common side (the one we are interested in) is copyrighted and can be reproduced under limitatives restrictions (which are not free). See this Commons:Deletion requests/Template:Euro coin common face 2 DR.
• Probably {{vd}} sadly, the text is copyrighted and I won't ever find the author for a COM:OTRS ticket.

In the end, I'd probably will do like for this one for both of the picture. PierreSelim (talk) 06:50, 3 February 2012 (UTC)

For me "provided they are not detrimental to the image of the euro" is clearly a non-copyright restriction or even no additional restriction. It is a symbol for Europe, a bit like a national anthem, and I am sure it is even prohibited in the United States of America to denigrate such a symbol. Even cc-by-sa requires that if you re-use, you don't do it in a manner that suggests that the author endorse you or your use of the work (limitation of use) and German copyright law permits authors to prohibit disfigurement(§14, Moral rights of authors that aren't covered if you grant the option to use under cc-licenses) of their works and I am sure this is also included in copyright laws or related laws in other countries. -- RE rillke questions? 12:02, 3 February 2012 (UTC)

• Ok, so if you're deleting the sign close-up (correct IMO), how about this one: File:Occupy Toulouse 2011-11-11 02.JPG? Any way to save it? --99of9 (talk) 12:53, 3 February 2012 (UTC)

I think It is possible to save it under COM:DM. The text is accessory (it's the term used in court cases in France) on this picture, the subject is the protest not the text on that sign whereas the sign was the subject of the previous picture we talked about. PierreSelim (talk) 15:38, 3 February 2012 (UTC)

• Please enable Prompt me when entering a blank edit summary in Special:Preferences. --EugeneZelenko (talk) 15:45, 3 February 2012 (UTC)

 Done (and testing if it works) --PierreSelim (talk) 16:24, 3 February 2012 (UTC)

• When dealing with FOP deletion issues, would you delete them on sight, or nominate them at deletion requests? And if the latter, would you close the DRs you opened, were consensus not clear? —Quintucket (talk) 17:55, 5 February 2012 (UTC)

• FOP issues can't be decided on sight (IMO), it has to be done by a deletion request because several questions need answers such as the threshold of originality or whether it is a De minimis or not. As a policy I would not close a DR I have opened (same kind of policy on wikipedia I don't close DR when I have given my opinion), I'd rather work on others DR (the backlog is big enought for that I think). --PierreSelim (talk) 12:24, 7 February 2012 (UTC)

Requests for bureaucratship

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When complete, pages listed here should be archived to Commons:Bureaucrats/Archive.

• Please read Commons:Bureaucrats before voting here. Any logged in user may vote, although those who have few or no previous edits may not be fully counted.

Requests for CheckUser

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When complete, pages listed here should be archived to Commons:Checkusers/Archive.

• Please read Commons:Checkusers before posting or voting here. Any logged in user may vote although those who have few or no previous edits may not be fully counted.

Jameslwoodward

Vote

Links for Jameslwoodward: Jameslwoodward (talk · contributions · deleted user contributions · recent activity · logs · block log · SULinfo)

NOTE: CU requests at Commons run for 2 weeks minimum, this request will end no earlier than 09 February 2012 (UTC)

The rationale - Currently Commons has effectively only two local active CUs. Gmaxwell cannot really be called "active" and the other CUs are all stewards who tend to be busy elsewhere - that they have access is fine - they can deal with cross wiki issues better that way and do so - however it seems appropriate to have another local active CU.

My nominee - Jameslwoodward is one of the most active current admin on Commons dealing with a wide range of issues. I have watched Jim from his start on Commons and found him more than competent and helpful. I do not always agree with him however I have always trusted his opinion and it is trust that is one of the main requirements for CU. He is active placing blocks on users who require that and that is another area where experience is essential for me - CU is frequent about when to place blocks and when not to. His work on copyvios is an area where benefit can be gained - it never ceases to amaze me that, having deleted a file or series from one uploader, a day or so later you seem the same files from someone different - CU removes the element of guesswork in dealing with such issues.

I would stress that anyone nomination of CU (or OS) rights is about trust not popularity. I trust Jameslwoodward and hope that the community will support this nomination. --Herby ^{talk thyme} 09:16, 26 January 2012 (UTC)

Acceptance:

I accept Herby's nomination. He has been a helpful mentor to me many times since my start here around three years ago. He and I have discussed the need for more Bureaucrats and Checkusers on and off for six months or so. We have one new 'crat, and another well on his way, so it seemed to be time to fill the hole in the CU roster.

I try to be helpful and polite to all Users. With that said, however, I have little patience for Users who break Commons rules after they have been carefully explained to them in their language. Working with Herby and Martin will be an extension of the work I have been doing since becoming an Admin 20 months ago.

     Jim . . . . Jameslwoodward (talk to me) 11:37, 26 January 2012 (UTC)

Votes

1.  Support and strongly --Herby ^{talk thyme} 09:16, 26 January 2012 (UTC)
2.  Support, full confidence. --Túrelio (talk) 09:37, 26 January 2012 (UTC)
3.  Support Yann (talk) 10:50, 26 January 2012 (UTC)
4. I have no problems with the nomination--Ymblanter (talk) 12:41, 26 January 2012 (UTC)
5. -jkb- (talk) 13:42, 26 January 2012 (UTC) per Herby
6.  Support. Jafeluv (talk) 13:50, 26 January 2012 (UTC)
7.  Support - I know Jameslwoodward well and he has my full confidence. CT Cooper · talk 14:01, 26 January 2012 (UTC)
8.  Strong support - I like Jameslwoodward doing maintaince work and fighting copyright violations. I support him on becoming a CheckUser. --Katarighe (Talk) 14:02, 26 January 2012 (UTC)
9.  Support trusted. -- RE rillke questions? 14:14, 26 January 2012 (UTC)
10.  Support Trusted and experienced user. mickit 14:38, 26 January 2012 (UTC)
11.  Support. Knowledgeable and practical user. —SpacemanSpiff 15:58, 26 January 2012 (UTC)
12.  Support Rd232 (talk) 16:01, 26 January 2012 (UTC)
13.  Support  ■ MMXX  ^talk 18:14, 26 January 2012 (UTC)
14.  Support Good nomination. --Walter Siegmund (talk) 18:29, 26 January 2012 (UTC)
15.  Support A very welcome nomination. --AFBorchert (talk) 19:28, 26 January 2012 (UTC)
16.  Support --Avenue (talk) 21:27, 26 January 2012 (UTC)
17.  Support--Prosfilaes (talk) 01:15, 27 January 2012 (UTC)
18.  Support Trustworthy for any role. I'm confident that Jim will use the tool with due care. --99of9 (talk) 02:07, 27 January 2012 (UTC)
19.  Support Techman224^Talk 06:47, 27 January 2012 (UTC)
20.  Support Jim is polite and patient and helped me a lot, thus I believe he's a trustworthy user. -- Blackcat (talk) 10:15, 27 January 2012 (UTC)
21.  Support Herby needs more vitamin D & another active CU would be helpful, and Jim is quality and clueful.  — billinghurst sDrewth 13:28, 27 January 2012 (UTC)
22.  Support Sure. --Philosopher ^{Let us reason together.} 14:15, 27 January 2012 (UTC)
23.  Support --EugeneZelenko (talk) 15:43, 27 January 2012 (UTC)
24.  Support Good choice. Trijnstel (talk) 19:45, 27 January 2012 (UTC)
25.  Support per Herbythyme and Billinghurst. --Marco Aurelio (disputatio) 20:06, 27 January 2012 (UTC)
26.  Support Has my full support. He is a good admin and will I am sure make a good CU. --Captain-tucker (talk) 20:20, 27 January 2012 (UTC)
27.  Support I must say that I really appreciate James' dedication to commons, and there is every indication that he will be a good CheckUser. Ajraddatz (talk) 01:05, 28 January 2012 (UTC)
28.  Support Extremely knowledgeable, helpful and productive on Commons. He takes the project seriously and will be a trustworthy CU. --AlphaEta (talk) 01:28, 28 January 2012 (UTC)
29.  Support Courcelles (talk) 06:55, 28 January 2012 (UTC)
30.  Support I know this user and he is an honest and hardworking person who tries his best at tackling DRs. --Leoboudv (talk) 09:55, 28 January 2012 (UTC)
31.  Support --Martin H. (talk) 10:10, 28 January 2012 (UTC)
32.  Support Sure, great trusted user. --WhiteWriter ^speaks 12:24, 28 January 2012 (UTC)
33.  Support per all above--Morning Sunshine (talk) 14:58, 28 January 2012 (UTC)
34.  Support Long time trusted user and admin. Good choice for this user right. --Sreejith K (talk) 18:46, 29 January 2012 (UTC)
35.  Support thanks for your work --Neozoon (talk) 22:51, 29 January 2012 (UTC)
36.  Oppose - no. We already have 6 CUs. This is enough. I don't see any cause to give these critic tools to a 7th person. Before giving the tools to a new CU, we should take them away from inactive others. Marcus Cyron (talk) 09:27, 30 January 2012 (UTC)

    None of the current CUs are inactive (you may have been thinking of User:Gmaxwell; he didn't edit for six months, but has recently). Rd232 (talk) 11:14, 31 January 2012 (UTC)

    I don't think that we should be dismissive of Marcus's commentary. His points about the CU-related activity seems valid, though I believe that it sits separate from this nomination, and I would like to see Marcus's concerns put before the community for an exploratory discussion about our thoughts and expectations, without mention of people specifically.  — billinghurst sDrewth 22:35, 31 January 2012 (UTC)

    Actually the Meta policy referred to below is ambiguous but here is not the place. I started the general topic here though. --Herby ^{talk thyme} 13:59, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

    I wasn't being dismissive, just correcting his premise that there are current CUs who are unambiguously inactive, at least according to the Meta definition of inactive for one year (m:CheckUser_policy#Removal_of_access). Rd232 (talk) 23:37, 31 January 2012 (UTC)

37.  Support - Trusted and experienced user. Angelus ^(talk) 18:10, 30 January 2012 (UTC)
38.  Support - Most trusted user. Lymantria (talk) 07:14, 31 January 2012 (UTC)
39.  Support --Mbdortmund (talk) 11:02, 31 January 2012 (UTC)
40.  Support, looks good, -- Cirt (talk) 04:34, 7 February 2012 (UTC)
41.  Support good user/admin; reliable --High Contrast (talk) 09:56, 7 February 2012 (UTC)
42.  Support feels good and good past experience. Thank you --Saibo (Δ) 13:07, 7 February 2012 (UTC)

Comments

•  Question Can you say something about what you know about the limitations of checkusering (from discussion of actions by other checkusers, etc)? Interpreting checkuser results is not always straightforward. There's an expression sometimes used on en.wp, "Checkuser is not magic pixie dust." ... Rd232 (talk) 13:04, 26 January 2012 (UTC)

I'm not sure what you are specifically addressing, so this may take a couple of iterations.

Finding that User:X and User:Y have the same IP address tells us only that they are connected to the Internet at the same place. They could simply be in the same house, office, or school so that their actions could be entirely unrelated. There can be hundreds of individuals behind a single IP address. Checkusers must always keep that possibility in mind.

Balanced against that is the fact that a checkuser is not permitted to simply go out and troll through Users until he or she finds matching IPs. The uncertainty of "could simply be in the same..." is modified by the fact that before the Users were checked, there must have been a reasonable suspicion that they were the same person. Even given both suspicion and matching IP addresses does not make it certain, but it seems to me beyond a reasonable doubt the two Users doing suspiciously similar things from the same IP address could be completely unrelated.

Another limitation is that most ISPs assign IP addresses dynamically, so that a single computer may be connected to the Internet through different IP addresses during different sessions. Also, of course, many Users connect in different places and from different computers. This means that User:X may show up with multiple IP addresses, none of which match those of User:Y. That uncertainty is mitigated a little by the fact that an IP address can be traced to a fairly small area (try yours at http://www.ipaddresslocation.org/). If X and Y are both in a town of 10,000 people, it seems likely, maybe even beyond a reasonable doubt, that they are the same person, but if they are both in Mumbai, maybe not. That's where judgement comes in -- if they are both uploading images of Lyttelton, New Zealand, I would say they are very likely the same person, but if the images are of Mumbai, it would remain unproven.

     Jim . . . . Jameslwoodward (talk to me) 15:36, 26 January 2012 (UTC)

Just one comment: In Germany, some mobile phone providers even do not assign an external IP to the phones. So many of them may share the same IP. And on meta:Help:CheckUser, you see that also the client is returned. But this extension could be improved in times of en:Zombie cookies and Google Analytics ;-) -- RE rillke questions? 16:00, 26 January 2012 (UTC)

Thanks. I expected you to be aware of these issues :) but I think somebody should ask. Based on years of asking checkusers for support, my impression is that the thing is more of an art than a science... And the hilarious results of http://www.ipaddresslocation.org/ for my IP just now (and no, I'm not monkeying around with proxies or anything, it's just way off, though at least in the right country) confirm it. Anyway, I'm sure you'll exercise appropriate caution in asking for help from experienced checkusers in interpreting tricky cases, while you learn the ropes. Rd232 (talk) 16:01, 26 January 2012 (UTC)

As a general point it is a tool to be used with extreme care and confidently (bear in mind I've had the rights for over 5 years starting elsewhere). No CU should jump to conclusions and results should be examined with care. However often the results are blindingly obvious and should just be dealt with. A current example would be on Meta where there have been pattern account spammers at work (they are starting to spill over here). Almost every day there are 2/3/4 obvious accounts created which I simply block but CU gives me the confidence to ensure I actually get them all (there are often sleepers as far as both vandals and spammers are concerned). It is also worth nothing that I think more than half my CU work relates to vandals and spammers. --Herby ^{talk thyme} 17:34, 26 January 2012 (UTC)

Also to note that the CheckUser community is available and supportive of other users; we have our internal documentation; internal resources; we recommend hasten slowly; there are plenty of experienced people xwiki to support. One of the most important pages to understand is mw:Help:Range blocks.  — billinghurst sDrewth 13:36, 27 January 2012 (UTC) (CU elsewhere)

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