Wikinews:Requests for permissions/Administrator/David Vasquez

The following discussion is preserved as an archive of a successful request for adminship. Please do not modify it.

DV

I, ( The bellman ) would like to nominate DV for adminship. He's been around for ages (2000 and something edits), is a generally nice bloke, and seems to have the trust of most of the community. ~The bellman | Smile 13:22, 28 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Strong Support. Just look at his userpage! His commitment to this project is unquestionable. → CGorman (Talk) 16:07, 28 Mar 2005 (UTC)
Support He(and others) made me feel welcome + he seems to be a master computer mason. Paulrevere2005 23:14, 28 Mar 2005 (UTC)
Support I've only known DV's work for a few days, but that's enough for me. Does he realize what a thankless job this is? Heh... --Alan J. Franklin 00:47, 29 Mar 2005 (UTC)
Support ~The bellman | Smile 08:43, 29 Mar 2005 (UTC)
Oppose. DV seems to make great leaps of logic in debates, seems to support some very odd PoV (unless stating that Pr2005 had "opened his eyes" was a joke), and has several times been highly critical of the project. I'd prefer admins to be for the project they might become an admin for! We also have, frankly, plenty of admins. We don't need anymore right now and admin privileges aren't something to be handed out like sweets. Dan100 (Talk) 12:49, 29 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Thanks Dan100. I was waiting for you to post before I said anything. Your opposition provides some important context to my response.

With great respect for The bellman, I concur with Dan100's sentiment that Admin isn't a prize to be handed out for making a lot of edits, or even for being a good reporter!

Also, athough I have been on Wikinews since shortly after it started, I have not yet been prevented from contributing in any way I wanted for lack of Admin privileges.

I agree with Dan100's point that we don't need more Admins. The other Admins, especially the ones who are active these days (you know who you are), have been very responsible about following up on every one of my requests on the Admin request page.

I've been able to contribute to the design of the Main Page even though it is protected, because most of it is in templates, and I have only occasionally had a reason to ask an Admin to change something that is obviously broken and doesn't require building a consensus with the community anyways.

On a personal note, I am more interested in reporting on food safety or the other topics which interest me, than volunteering to help out with Administrative duties.

Sure, I would enjoy volunteering as an Administrator, but there simply aren't enough hours in the day for me to fulfill the responsibilities that come with those privileges, while still contributing in the other ways I find interesting.

As a matter of fact, I am thinking about giving up contributing as a reporter and going back to developing software for Wikinews exclusively, as I think I would be much more valuable in that role. I need to "finish" WeatherChecker. Also, Wikinews needs developers to help add missing features that will make life easier for the reporters.

As for Dan100's other points (which are somewhat moot, but I'll humor him), I believe he is mistaken when he mixes up being highly critical of Wikinews with not being for Wikinews.

Sure, I have a particular fondness for "appallingly bad straw man arguments" and I also exercise my right to be highly critical of this project. I will say something sucks if I see it that way. Perhaps it's not a good idea for me to be an Admin for those reasons.

But I wouldn't be contributing so many stories (or working on WeatherChecker and Wikinews TV) if I was against Wikinews.

Dan100 says I am a POV pusher. Well, I hope I have confined all of my expressions of Point of View to user talk and article discussion pages, and that the stories I have written have been NPOV and well-written. But I freely admit that I have a political agenda as well. If I see the little guy getting screwed, I will select the story that highlights the little guy's plight. Sure, I will include 'the other side' to respect the NPOV rule on this site. But check out the stories I choose to write to see what I mean. I think anyone who won't admit their political biases is fooling themselves. I freely admit mine. That alone could also disqualify me from being an Admin. So be it.

Thanks to The Bellman for the nomination! And thanks to Dan100 for keeping this site interesting!

I respectfully decline the invitation to volunteer to help out with Administrative chores.

I sincerely appreciate the votes of support given above. (Paulrevere2005's vote was especially touching.)

I will repay everyone's compliments in other ways than volunteering as an Admin.

— DV 14:15, 29 Mar 2005 (UTC)

The above discussion is preserved as an archive. Please do not modify it.. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate talk page. No further edits should be made to this page.