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Like children watching adults work, new editors are ever excited to see older editors use tools and rights such as rollback, checkuser, reviewer, etc. And may want to get in on the action. But as with a little boy asking his father to use the Drill, the father may not be so giving as the child does not possess the skills or knowledge to operate it, and may in some cases, abuse it. The new editor may not be given rollback rights for the same reason, until he/she demonstrates some basic skills. For now, the child will use a screwdriver instead of a Drill, and the new editor will use Twinkle instead of Rollback.
How do I prove myself? edit
Well, the obvious would be to get your edit count up. Some examples of editing include:
- Removing malicious edits
- Welcoming New Users
- Reporting Vandals to Administrators
- Adding cited information in articles (make sure it complies with policies!)
- Remove UN-cited information from Articles
...the list could go on, but if you demonstrate basics. It will go a long way. Also, it would be wise to make a few edits everyday so that you will not be scolded for having long gaps of no editing for a certain period of time (Example: You have been gone for three months and then come back and ask to become an administrator). This is also a good idea, because sometimes the project holds votes that have restrictions against editors who don't edit within a certain time frame.
There is more reading, then doing edit
Before making edits to particularly long, controversial, or some type of page undergoing large editing processes. Look at the talk page and see whats going on. And if your not sure about a particular edit, discussing it on the talk page will prevent other editors from flipping out in an all out Edit-war against you (Don't worry! I'm certain this will never happen to you... unless you edit controversial topics in which no one is civil.)
With Great power... edit
...comes great responsibility. But unlike Spider-man, you are not given tools or Adminship by accident - They are earned! With time and patience (and good editing), you will one day be confident enough to join the ever shrinking Admin staff. Then, you can listen to all the nasty complaints about 3RRs, watch long-winded AN/I complaints explode into civil finger pointing, watch vandals and other long term abuse trolls write horrible things about you and cackle as they swiftly evade your bans, etc.
Or maybe, Adminship is not for you. But stick with your tools and use your privileges correctly and you will be a valued editor. Use them incorrectly, and they will be removed from you, and depending on the situation, may never be given back to you.
So, ready to use that screwdriver? I sure am!