Wikipedia talk:Request an RfA nomination

Anything to report?

So has anyone from the list received any requests yet? -- œ^™ 20:33, 18 August 2011 (UTC)

I've had 3 so far ;) Worm^TT · (talk) 20:58, 18 August 2011 (UTC)

That's great, so it is working. :) -- œ^™ 14:48, 19 August 2011 (UTC)

I expect that it'll have a small positive effect. But that's better than no effect. Worm^TT · (talk) 14:50, 19 August 2011 (UTC)

I'm not sure that it will stop most NOTNOW's, but I do think it will result in a higher passing rate. It appears that if an editor is on the borderline and they self-nom they have a much lower chance of succeeding than if they are nominated. I also think it will stop many editors who just haven't waited enough. Ryan Vesey Review me! 14:54, 19 August 2011 (UTC)

The main people I'm aiming at are the really good editors that would happily do admin work, but lacks the self confidence to do it. The ones you mention are a happy byproduct. Worm^TT · (talk) 14:58, 19 August 2011 (UTC)

Lack the confidence to be an admin, or refuse to allow themselves to be humiliated by the present process? --Kudpung กุดผึ้ง (talk) 13:14, 20 August 2011 (UTC)

I see there's another one on the list with only 222 edits. Oh well... --Kudpung กุดผึ้ง (talk) 09:17, 6 December 2011 (UTC)

Another category: "Might be willing to admin, if asked"

I notice you have a section Editors willing to be asked to nominate a user. I get that, and can see where such an option might be very useful for some editors. I imagine there are a lot of reasons one wouldn't directly nominate themselves—for example: "Lack the confidence to be an admin, or refuse to allow themselves to be humiliated by the present process" as User:Kudpung mentioned in the section above—so an alternative for someone to ask someone else (an admin) to consider nominating them is a very useful process. Good on you for adding that technique to the tool chest!

However, I have another category you might want to consider: "Might be willing to admin, if asked." I imagine there are a large number of really solid Wikipedia editors out there—quite dedicated to improving the encyclopedia, clean multi-year record with thousands of edits, who could definitely be "trusted with the tools"—but have no deep drive to get access to those tools and become an admin. While these editors might benefit Wikipedia, as their long-term reputation and record demonstrates, they will never nominate themselves, nor even ask another editor to nominate them. But they might, if such a list existed, put their name on a list to say "call me" if you ever want more admin help.

So if such a process option existed, there might be more qualified editors becoming admins, and a larger "qualified" pool to choose from, to obtain the volunteer labor necessary to keep the Wikipedia emerging. Just my two cents. N2e (talk) 18:52, 19 December 2011 (UTC)

We already have that. Over 1500 of them. I expect that if someone were to go through and check all those users, they'd find quite a few decent people. I might even do that next year :) Worm^TT · (talk) 20:02, 19 December 2011 (UTC)

Some of us do that occasionally and I would assume the category to have been well scoured. Without doing intensive research, such as for example creating a table of !username!First edit!Edit count!Mainspace edits!Page patrols!AIV!AN/I!etc., from my experience it seems that most editors in that category are new users or otherwise admin 'wannabes'. I'd be more than happy to be proven wrong. --Kudpung กุดผึ้ง (talk) 04:26, 20 December 2011 (UTC)

Hmmm. Didn't know that that box existed. Thanks for the info. Having said that, even the most subtle of the userboxes available there ({{User wikipedia/Administrator maybe}}) is beyond what I would willingly put on my personal user page. I cannot truthfully say "This user is not a Wikipedia administrator, but might like to be one someday..."——I don't know that I ever might "like" to be one. But if there were a process by which a set of sensible, long-term, stable administrators were to ask..., well that is a very different situation. My guess is that there are others in that (much more reserved) category.

All this is just fine; it appears that with 1500+ admins today, and 1500 wanabees, there is not a shortage of admins for the English Wikipedia, of which I'm glad to know. Cheers. N2e (talk) 19:45, 20 December 2011 (UTC)

You can always create a category, such as Category:Wikipedians willing to be admins if asked, and add it to your userpage, without the need of putting any userbox at all on your page. Of course at first you'll be the only one in the category (which may or may not improve your chances! haha) but I'm sure if adequately advertised somewhere it would fill up soon. -- œ^™ 15:39, 30 June 2012 (UTC)

Just getting back up to speed

- on reviewing the history, it's positively amazing how many newbs, socks, VOA, and blocked editors have attempted to put themselves on the list. --Kudpung กุดผึ้ง (talk) 05:40, 1 July 2012 (UTC)

Maybe, but I see that as a good thing. If an editor cannot tell a good nominated from a bad one, then it will affect that RfA. It might be worth stating how many nominations that editor has made and how many were successful to help the candidate out. Might even add some competition to the page... Worm^TT(talk) 08:17, 1 July 2012 (UTC)

I've added how many I've done. :) ⇒TAP 08:33, 1 July 2012 (UTC)

In my opinion, one of the reasons for the lack of RfAs in recent years is that it has unfairly become shameful to be a nominator of a failed candidate, and therefore most people are only willing to nominate near-perfect candidates. Turning nominating into a competition would make things worse. We need more nominators willing to take risks. Epbr123 (talk) 08:42, 1 July 2012 (UTC)

Sounds logical - the climate has scared off the nominators too. I feel sorry for the nominator of a current RfA - an admin whose work I appreciate enormously, but I just couldn't support. Notwithstanding, many great admins have nominated people who failed; I think as admins we can take a few knocks without getting depressed about it. Must admit that for all my work (and big mouth) on RfA stuff, I've never actually nominated anyone - but that's mostly because all those I proposed declined the offer. Those who asked me through this page just weren't ready for the bit at all. --Kudpung กุดผึ้ง (talk) 11:22, 1 July 2012 (UTC)

And that situation is just as true today two-and-a-half years later in spite of the RfA process not being such an ordeal as it was 2 - 3 years ago, unless of course the candidates are totally wasting the voters' time... --Kudpung กุดผึ้ง (talk) 06:46, 1 January 2015 (UTC)

How to pick a nominator?

I've taken a look at the list of admins willing to nominate, but as I have not had significant interaction with any of them, how do I pick one? Is the role of nominator such that an established "working relationship" is necessary or advantageous or is it ok to ask a "complete stranger"? Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 14:39, 3 June 2013 (UTC)

It's perfectly acceptable to ask anyone on this list. I would recommend that you chose someone you have interacted with or have seen around. If you don't feel comfortable chosing that way, just read their user pages and chose who you think would help your nomination most (someone who holds qualities you respect). Worm^TT(talk) 14:50, 3 June 2013 (UTC)

Trim

I've trimmed out the names of editors who are inactive, and two that are just completely inappropriate, such as one with 170 edits behind them. Ping me if you think I've screwed up. I just would hate for an editor to contact one or two or three people and get no reply because they are inactive, then give up, so clean up seemed necessary. Dennis Brown | 2¢ | WER 12:21, 20 July 2014 (UTC)

No concerns. I've just qualified my entry because 9 out of 10 requests I get just don't stand a chance. --Kudpung กุดผึ้ง (talk) 12:54, 20 July 2014 (UTC)

Just qualified it again in the hope that candidates really will read the advice pages first. --Kudpung กุดผึ้ง (talk) 06:42, 1 January 2015 (UTC)

Optional RfA candidate poll

I'd like to link to the optional opinion poll somewhere in the text. Thoughts? Anna Frodesiak (talk) 03:02, 15 October 2015 (UTC)

Can IP users be admins?

Just a quick question- can IP users like me become admins? Just asking. 31.53.237.179 (talk) 17:13, 15 July 2017 (UTC)

Hi 31. - no, non-registered editors cannot become administrators -- There'sNoTime ^{(to explain)} 17:39, 15 July 2017 (UTC)

Nominating

Is there a requirement to be a nominator? WarriorFISH (talk) 09:37, 10 October 2017 (UTC)

WarriorFISH, the short answer is no, provided of course the nominator has obtained the agreement of the person they are nominating. The slightly longer answer is that nominations normally come from editors who are themselves admins already, or at any rate are well-established and respected editors. A nomination from a new user, even if the candidate accepts it, would be unlikely to be of much benefit for the candidate, especially if that new user has recently received warnings for vandalism. My advice to you would be don't concern yourself with internal processes like adminship for a while, until you have done quite a lot of good editing work and built up the right sort of reputation here: Noyster (talk), 09:56, 10 October 2017 (UTC)

• Note; this user has been blocked with his sock: VOA. Kudpung กุดผึ้ง (talk) 18:00, 7 June 2018 (UTC)

Updating

Dave, I know you wrote this, but I've made a few minor changes so I hope I'm not treading on your toes. The fact is, I've been wondering of and on for a while if our various essays aren't painting too black a picture of RfA and that they may be contributing to putting people off rather than encouraging them to step forward. Of course, RfA is still quite a nasty place but perhaps we don't have to keep telling them just how bad. Feel free to revert if you don't agree. Kudpung กุดผึ้ง (talk) 19:03, 7 June 2018 (UTC)

Page performance

Simple question: How often have you been asked in the past 6 months, i.e. since around 1 January this year?
If you like you can add a brief comment, but don't feel obliged to do so.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not seeking to deprecate this page. Quite to the contrary, I'm wondering how we can encourage more users to request nominations. I will also be mentioning this page (not its members) in a forthcoming Signpost article.

• Casliber - in all I have nominated 7 people for RfA for 7/7 pass rate (most recent was September 2016. I think 4 I approached and 3 approached me). Due to the challenging nature of the process, I'll only nominate someone if I think they have a very good chance of passing. A couple of other people have approached me, but I declined to nominate if I felt there was a chance numbers of people would oppose on an issue I could see and advised them to preempt the problem in advance. Some listened, some didn't. Cas Liber (talk · contribs) 00:30, 5 July 2018 (UTC)
• CatcherStorm
• Ceranthor - Twice since January. ceranthor 20:14, 5 July 2018 (UTC)
• Esquivalience - 0 times, and I have only nominated one candidate before, which failed (but has since passed).
• HJ Mitchell
• Juliancolton
• KrakatoaKatie - not in the last six months, I don't think. I might have had a drive-by talk page question from someone with one or two edits, but that might not have been this year. Two of my last three nominees have approached me (and two other successful candidates approached me but I was unable to help because of timing/health issues on my part). My next nomination will probably be one of the SPI clerks who desperately needs the mop. Katie^talk 22:44, 5 July 2018 (UTC)
• Kudpung Twice. Both times by raw newbies.

I don't think those two include this somehow, however I have it on good authority that that potential candidate asked again about 18 months later to a more favourable response ;-) Ritchie333 ^{(talk) (cont)} 23:08, 4 July 2018 (UTC)

That was November 19, 2013 - nearly five years ago Ritchie333 ! Kudpung กุดผึ้ง (talk) 10:44, 5 July 2018 (UTC)

• Mailer diablo

• I was asked a few times, though I thought the editors who requested could use more experience. - Mailer Diablo 02:23, 7 July 2018 (UTC)

• Omni Flames
• QEDK

I have been asked twice (in total, but I'd say since January of 2017, I don't remember dates), while both had decent experience, I doubted the community would pass them and hence advised otherwise. --QEDK (後 ☕ 桜) 08:14, 5 July 2018 (UTC)

And one more with nil experience, just remembered. --QEDK (後 ☕ 桜) 08:15, 5 July 2018 (UTC)

• Ritchie333

Generally, RfA nominations have been me approaching the candidate, rather than the other way round. Some candidates like 331dot have contacted me after I've done an initial assessment to see if things have improved and they're ready to run, but pretty much all suggestions I give to people to give RfA a go are unsolicited from me. Ritchie333 ^{(talk) (cont)} 18:51, 4 July 2018 (UTC)

• Rschen7754

I'm probably the wrong person to ask as I've been mostly inactive for the last few months. Someone asked me about Wikidata though. --Rschen7754 18:03, 7 July 2018 (UTC)

• SoWhy

I have been approached by multiple users but I'm pretty sure none came from this page but from previous interactions although I cannot be sure. Regards SoWhy 19:25, 4 July 2018 (UTC)

• The Blade of the Northern Lights

Not in years, though I remain open to requests. The Blade of the Northern Lights (話して下さい) 19:52, 4 July 2018 (UTC)

• WereSpielChequers

I have had a number of RFA related discussions in the last year, not all initiated by me. I don't know how many, if any, came via this page. I'm somewhat busy in real life but hope to be more available in August if anyone watching this is looking for a nominator. ϢereSpielChequers 21:45, 4 July 2018 (UTC)

Thanks. Kudpung กุดผึ้ง (talk) 18:47, 4 July 2018 (UTC)

Question

Hi, I am new here, I am planning to request administrator privileges after I get a bit of experience. Can anyone please tell me what is the step-by-step process?

Thanks! Thetigerz420 (talk) 07:00, 10 February 2024 (UTC)

Thetigerz420. Hey there. Welcome to Wikipedia. You can just post on the user talk page or Special:EmailUser anyone on the Wikipedia:Request an RfA nomination list. However as a brand new user, it will be a very long time before you stand a chance of passing RFA. You'll probably want to amass at least a year of experience and at least 8,000 edits first. Hope this helps. Good luck on your journey. –Novem Linguae (talk) 15:43, 10 February 2024 (UTC)

Thank you so much! Thetigerz420 (talk) 18:14, 10 February 2024 (UTC)