Halopedia:Requests for adminship/Dab1001

Nominee, please accept or defer the above nomination below this line.

I gratefully accept the nomination :)

18:34, May 28, 2020 (EDT)

Reason for Nomination
I nominate Dab1001 to be an admin on Halopedia. They have proven himself on numerous occasions that they are able to handle themselves on Halopedia and has stepped up a lot to get a lot of projects completed and started. Their activity on the wiki shows they ready for the next step here. Their work on the Halopedia Twitter has helped it stay active during the last year and a half should not be ignored, and creating the hub site for the Halopedia Site Archive also shows they are willing to go above and beyond for the wiki.

With "Halo Infinite" coming out this year, its important that we have a team that can handle the upcoming storm of content that is sure to come. And I believe Dab1001 is up to that challenge.-CIA391 (talk) 11:50, May 28, 2020 (EDT)

Additional notes
As per the Halo Nation vote and merger. It is important that previous edit history is accounted for. This history is evidence on the Users ability to Administrate a Halo Wiki, and their ability to handle a community.
 * Userpage
 * Talk page
 * Contributions
 * Edit count
 * Halo Nation "Request for Adminship"

Voting
To vote please visit the voting thread here. Voting will end on the June 11, 2020.

Results: In Progress.

Questions
''Nominee, if you accept the nomination, please answer the following questions. It is advised that voters check the nominee's responses before voting.''

1. When did you join Halopedia?

I first joined Halopedia on the 17th of February, 2015. However, I did not become properly active until 2019, because I was primarily an editor of Halo Nation, where I served as an administrator from the 6th of August, 2016 until the wiki merged into Halopedia in early 2019. On Halo Nation, I initially joined on the 20th of February, 2013, but only became properly active on the 18th of March, 2014.

2. What do you believe are your most valued contributions to Halopedia?

It's hard to nail down any particular set of contributions as my most valued. During my time on Halopedia, I have overhauled a number of pages, and made many general edits to a variety of pages - mainspace and otherwise. As well as making my own edits, I also regularly patrol recent changes on the wiki, to help prevent vandalism from slipping through the net. Overall, I don't tend to focus particularly on one aspect or area of the wiki.

That said, one contribution that I am currently in the process of making is Template:Ref. Loosely adapted from a similar initiative of mine back on Halo Nation, the Ref template is intended to significantly streamline the process by which we make citations in the wiki, to make it easier for new users to learn and faster for experienced editors to type, as well as to promote consistency between our articles. Although unfinished, I have begun implementing these templates in articles I edit and write already.

3. What do you believe are your most valued technical contributions to Halopedia?

As it stands, my most valuable technical contribution to the wiki is undoubtedly Onyx. Onyx is an entirely new MediaWiki skin, built from the ground up for Halopedia, and although it is not yet complete, I am pleased with the results so far. More importantly, though, during the creation of Onyx, I have gained a good understanding of how MediaWiki's backend works, and I have a good handle on PHP, JavaScript, CSS and HTML. Consequently, this opens the door for me to make more tailor-made MediaWiki skins and extensions for Halopedia in the future. As well as a few additional skins (and a rewrite of the current default skin, Nimbus, for compliance with modern MediaWiki code standards), I am currently working on an extension to filter and sort search results, to provide users with more pertinent search results until such a time as we're able to use a more effective solution such as CirrusSearch.

Additionally, I also created the landing page for the Halopedia Archives, and I operate a bot - the Superintendent - both here and on the Discord.

4. What do you believe are your most valued contributions to the community?

On the community side of things, I have actively moderated the Discord server for over a year now, and I feel that the community we have fostered there is a friendly, welcoming one. Additionally, I help with the operation of Twitter account. Finally, recently BaconShelf and I have started hosting a Sins of the Prophets: Stellaris game night, and I hope to make official Halopedia game nights (on a variety of games and platforms) a regular occurance in future.

5. If you are administrated, what changes do you propose?

In terms of the general operation of the wiki, I have little to propose, as there is nothing wrong with the way the wiki is running now. Once they are complete, I would like to introduce the Ref templates as standard for all users, but I think that this is the only major change I would propose - at least at this point in time. As previously mentioned, I also intend to replace the current default skin with a rewritten version which is to spec with MediaWiki's more recent standards, but this change would be more-or-less invisible to users - it would only affect the technical side of things.

6. To the best of your understanding, what does administratorship entail?

Although at a fundamental level, administratorship is simply a toolbox given to trusted users to allow them to edit and contribute more easily and effectively, it is percieved as a position of authority and power by many - particularly those who are not active editors of the site. Consequently, in addition to the normal responsibilities of an active user, it is crucial that administrators act with a certain level of decorum and level-headedness at all times, because although they may not always be representing the wiki in an official capacity, their actions could reflect poorly on the wiki. Furthermore, admins should be approachable and friendly, so that users - old and new alike - will feel comfortable coming to them for help or advice regarding the wiki. Personal conflicts should never impact the way an administrator behaves when dealing with issues that arise on the wiki.

Beyond the manner in which admins should act, the tools granted to admins come with a certain level of responsibility. Given that they have the potential to be catastrophic for the wiki if used improperly, or worse, maliciously, it is important that administrators are competent with the tools given to them. Additionally, with these tools comes the responsibility to actually use them. Since regular users do not have access to abilities such as blocking vandals, editing CSS and JS files, locking and unlocking appropriate pages, and so on, it is imperative that the adminstration actually makes sure these tasks get done, as they are all vital to the smooth operation of the wiki.

Naturally, all of these responsibilities come in addition to the normal responsibilities of a Halopedia editor - compliance with the policies of the wiki, a comittment to recording Halo in an accurate and unbiased fashion, etcetera. After all, admins are still editors!

7. To the best of your understanding, when will you be able to check Halopedia after you are administrated, in the event that you are?

I'll probably be able to check Halopedia on the very same day. I log in to the wiki on a daily basis, even on days where I don't end up making any edits.

8. What communities are you associated with online, Halo and otherwise?

I'm not as active in any other communities as I am in Halopedia. However, I am present (with varying degrees of activity) in a number of different circles, including Halo Fanon, SPV3, Sins of the Prophets, r/Halo, Postums' Discord server, a number of miscellaneous Discord servers relating to Halo (though I am not active in many of these - I mainly lurk), and of course, Halo Alpha, where I retain my admin rights from before the Halo Nation-Halopedia merger, though I only remain in a bureaucratic capacity - I'm not longer an active editor there.

9. What is your familiarity with the Halo universe?

I am intimately familiar with the Halo universe, having played every game, watched every film and read every novel, comic and book at least once - more often than not several times. In fact, I make a point of keeping as up to date as it is possible to be with the universe - and Halo in general - so I will usually be aware of new developments in the lore within a week or so of them happening. That said, I do have one major gap in my knowledge: ilovebees. I really should get around to listening to all the Axons at some point...

10. What is your familiarity with Halopedia policies?

I am well versed with Halopedia's policies, and in fact have helped write a few of them. There are a few areas where I feel the policies are a little vague, for instance citation formats and filenames, but as a patroller, I have worked to help standardise these already, and I intend to continue doing so.

11. What is your relationship with the Halopedia community and current administration?

I have good relations with most users in the Halopedia community, and am on good terms with all of the active staff members.

12. How may users contact you?

The easiest way to contact me is probably via our Discord server - I check it daily. However, I will also respond to any messages sent to me here on the wiki, or on my Twitter account Dab1001_.