User:SB Johnny/Me and the BLP
For several months now, I've been fascinated by the intricacies and controversies surrounding "BLPs" on Wikipedia. They came to my attention when people who are interested in articles about people arrived on Wikiversity, and created all sorts of havoc for us "small town" folks. While it's not exactly a "new year's resolution" (because I'm not committing myself to do it if I find it stressful or otherwise un-hobby-like), I've decided to take the plunge and offer my time and effort to help people reach consensus on BLP articles.
Why do I bother?
[edit]- It's been made clear to me that this is very stressful, and there's a lack of admins willing to stick their necks out when it comes to serving BLP editors. I'm a fairly mellow fellow with a thick(ish) skin, so I might be the right guy for this sort of thing.
- I'm interested in how good articles are written, so helping others to help make controversial articles into good articles will (I hope) help me to better understand how collaboratively created content becomes excellent content.
My "ground rules"
[edit]- I'm (thankfully) busy doing other things most of the time, so if there's something that I (as admin) should be doing, I'll rely on the many other hands to make the work light for me and just point that out in an easily understandable manner.
- If I get to the point where I find myself having a strong opinion about a content issue, I reserve the right to bow out.
- While I'm generally not easily baited, I've found through experience that as much as I wish I was, I'm not entirely immune to drama, and I reserve the right to bow out if I'm getting annoyed.
- While we're at it, I reserve the right to remove myself from a discussion whenever I feel like it, and without apology :-).
My "resume"
[edit]- I've been editing Wikipedia since late 2005.
- I'm a Bureaucrat on Wikibooks and Wikiversity (I'm trusted and experienced when it comes to weighing consensus)
- I'm a Checkuser on Wikibooks and Commons (I'm just plain trusted)
- I'm fairly sure that I've never edited a BLP before (I'm more interested in bugs and plants than I am in people, to be honest), so I'm comfortable being a neutral voice.