I spent a bit of time today going over the candidates' statements and answers and the other voting guides. I tried to articulate why I decided the way I did, but in some borderline cases, I ended up going with my gut, so this guide may be of limited use to anyone else.
A couple of things which guided my decisions. I did not rule out any non-admin candidates strictly on the basis of not being admins. That said, becoming an admin means you are vetted by the community in an RfA and have a track record with processes and conflicts related to ArbCom that can be examined. Without those things, in my view a candidate has to make up for it in other areas, like content creation or conflict experience.
Also, my question about the gender gap produced some answers from the candidates ranging from troubling to outright appalling. This question was not intended to serve as a litmus test but as easy way for them to state their views on an important issue that I thought was non-controversial. Apparently, I was wrong, as a number of candidates outright dismissed the issue, complained about straw men like forcing editors to write certain types of articles, or even said that non-white male editors would get along fine here if they just acted like the majority. These are not the attitudes that we need on the Committee.
![]() | These guides represent the thoughts of their authors. All individually written voter guides are eligible for inclusion. |
I spent a bit of time today going over the candidates' statements and answers and the other voting guides. I tried to articulate why I decided the way I did, but in some borderline cases, I ended up going with my gut, so this guide may be of limited use to anyone else.
A couple of things which guided my decisions. I did not rule out any non-admin candidates strictly on the basis of not being admins. That said, becoming an admin means you are vetted by the community in an RfA and have a track record with processes and conflicts related to ArbCom that can be examined. Without those things, in my view a candidate has to make up for it in other areas, like content creation or conflict experience.
Also, my question about the gender gap produced some answers from the candidates ranging from troubling to outright appalling. This question was not intended to serve as a litmus test but as easy way for them to state their views on an important issue that I thought was non-controversial. Apparently, I was wrong, as a number of candidates outright dismissed the issue, complained about straw men like forcing editors to write certain types of articles, or even said that non-white male editors would get along fine here if they just acted like the majority. These are not the attitudes that we need on the Committee.
![]() | These guides represent the thoughts of their authors. All individually written voter guides are eligible for inclusion. |