Stewards/Confirmation

In an attempt to make Orain even more community-ran - the Staff have decided to re-evaluate permissions. In this, we are working on finalizing some drafts to the community with regards to CheckUser and Oversighter access on a local level. These will come in due course.

For now, we have decided to make a clear definition on stewards. As this is a community role - all stewards in future will have to go through a community discussion for one week and a steward will make a call about whether or not the community support this. To start this off - we have decided to put all current stewards through this process.

The discussion below will last until Tuesday 2nd of September (23:59). At which point, an existing steward (most likely myself) will close this and make a call based on the community's decisions. Community users can comment in the usual SON (Support/Oppose/Neutral) format.

Dusti
If the following request results in Dusti's steward access being revoked - he will maintain the rights for legal reasons until a solution is thought out. Dusti is the person responsible for Orain legally and thus might have to make quick calls and adding barriers is not the best here. John (talk) 02:31, 27 August 2014 (BST)
 * Closing comments: Well successful but it should be noted Dusti needs to be more careful with the use of global abuse filters and should not go into immediate 'block and revoke' flags. John (talk) 22:52, 2 September 2014 (BST)


 * Comments
 * 1) Support Dusti does an excellent job. I have no objection to him retaining steward rights. GethN7 (talk) 02:55, 27 August 2014 (BST)
 * 2) Abstain - But it would like to put it out there that it has been an absolute pleasure to work with each and every Steward on this team. Each one of them has given nothing but their best and has always had the best interests of the Orain community at heart. Each and every member of the team has been with Orain since the very beginning (or close to) and put tremendous effort into shaping Orain into what it is today. I hold each and every one of these individuals in extremely high regard, and would hope the community does the same. To my fellow stewards: Thank you for everything you have done, from the bottom of my heart, you are some of the most amazing people I've been privileged to work with. Keep up the excellent work! -- Joe G. (Talk) 03:37, 27 August 2014 (BST)
 * 3) Abstain He is a good steward, but his Special:Abusefilter/3 concerns me. But since it is trivial thing, I'll abstain here. &mdash;  ReviComplaint?  04:29, 27 August 2014 (BST)
 * 4) Support - Southparkfan (talk) 16:14, 27 August 2014 (BST)
 * 5) Support Dragneel (talk) 22:03, 27 August 2014 (BST)
 * 6) Support  Jianhui67 talk 12:05, 28 August 2014 (BST)
 * 7) Neutral per Revi, I cannot fully support.--Jasper Deng (talk) 23:50, 1 September 2014 (BST)
 * 8) Comment: I'd like to respond to the concerns over the Abuse Filter issue. I'd like to point out that I did test it quickly on TestWiki prior bringing it here. I immediately reversed it once it was clear there was an issue. Some were under the impression that it prevented over a thousand edits, which is false. Note the "Action taken: None" on the filter log. I left it tagging edits as I was trying to figure out what was going on. I decided to do this alone, as nobody else seemed to be immediately reachable. The filter blocked four edits, of which I immediately reversed those. I took ownership over the issue and accept the humility, but I wanted to clarify the issue. I apologize for making that mistake. D u s t i *Let's talk!* 01:06, 2 September 2014 (BST)

Kudu
Kudu is also a system administrator. As such, he will lose the steward flag is decided below but will maintain the rights as before just under the system administrator flag. John (talk) 02:31, 27 August 2014 (BST)


 * Closing comments: When gauging community consensus, there's never a clear cut standard as to exactly what consensus may or may not be. When reviewing the below discussion, it's clear that there's no concern of gross negligence, inappropriate behavior, or other items of concern which would cause distrust among the community towards Kudu. If this were an election, it's clear that there isn't consensus for him to obtain a flag; however, that isn't what this is. This is a discussion about whether Kudu should remain a Steward. When taking that into consideration, along with the comments below, I find that those who support him support him based on his past performance and leadership. Those who oppose him are opposing him based on his current activity and leadership, of which he's responded to (an item that those who voiced their opinions didn't have to consider). Those comments not discounted, along with the supports and abstains lead me to the fact that there is no consensus as to whether Kudu should remain a Steward or not remain a steward, which would bring the decision down to me, and I abstained. In reviewing Kudu's history, performance, and contributions to the site, there is nothing of concern which leads me to believe had he been active that the community would have chosen to remove his flags. As such, I'm going to close this as no consensus whereas Kudu's flags will remain intact. Please note that I struggled with this decision and I did not make it lightly. I value the contributions of each and every community member here and had there been concerns which were valid beyond his inactivity, that would have likely swayed the pendulum towards removal of his flags. D u s t i *Let's talk!* 22:14, 3 September 2014 (BST)


 * Comments
 * 1) Abstain As a current Steward, my views are skewed and biased. I will state that all of our current stewards are excellent volunteers who, since the beginning of Orain, have helped it develop and grow to the wonderful state that it is currently in. D u s <font color="#0000ff">t <font color="#6600cc">i *Let's talk!* 02:45, 27 August 2014 (BST)
 * 2) Support Kudu does an excellent job. I have no objection to him retaining steward rights. GethN7 (talk) 02:55, 27 August 2014 (BST)
 * 3) Abstain - With the same comments as above -- Joe G. (Talk) 03:37, 27 August 2014 (BST)
 * 4) Oppose I think he is too inactive... &mdash;  ReviComplaint?  04:29, 27 August 2014 (BST)
 * 5) Weak support - You're a great steward, but your activity levels are low. Please be more active. Southparkfan (talk) 16:14, 27 August 2014 (BST)
 * 6) Abstain Inactive. Per Revi. -Dragneel
 * 7) Weak support  Jianhui67 talk 12:05, 28 August 2014 (BST)
 * 8) Weak oppose Inactive but a sysadmin.--Jasper Deng (talk) 23:52, 1 September 2014 (BST)
 * 9) Oppose being a steward would require more activity. --Stryn (talk) 20:52, 2 September 2014 (BST)
 * 10) Comment: I feel like I owe the Orain community an explanation. This is relevant not only to my inactivity as a steward, but rather to my inactivity as a sysadmin and community member in general. I have already stated that I was "officially" resuming my activity on Orain as of not too long ago (two weeks according to my calendar), which obviously requires a certain transition period after an extended period of inactivity, the reasons for which I won't reiterate here. However, this transition period happens to overlap with an IRL transition period, i.e. returning from my vacation and resuming my everyday occupations. As such, I don't think the current state of affairs is an accurate snapshot of the way my activity on Orain will turn out in the short term. According to the authoritative summary of the page, the Staff has decided to seek a confirmation process for all stewards, but I am most definitely part of the staff and I don't recall being consulted on this despite being present on IRC - if this miscommunication was a mistake on my part, I apologize. As per my discussion in private with another steward, this discussion should be extended for a little while. If the community chooses to strip me of my steward status, I shall accept its decision, but I think I still have a lot to bring to the table and thus advise the community against it. <span style="font-family: Georgia, Garamond, serif;"> Kudu ~I/O~ 22:26, 2 September 2014 (BST)
 * 11) Note: This discussion will remain open until 1800hrs on 3 September 2014 to allow additional time for the community to decide a consensus based on the information just provided by Kudu. <font face="MV Boli"><font color="#ff0000">D <font color="#ff6600">u <font color="#009900">s <font color="#0000ff">t <font color="#6600cc">i *Let's talk!* 22:50, 2 September 2014 (BST)


 * Public note: I am discussing this with Dusti. Consensus for is granting; No consensus and against consensus means revoking. Dusti's decision here is one I disagree with as looking at how supports and oppose are placed; I do not believe there is consensus to keep Kudu as a steward. John (talk) 22:25, 3 September 2014 (BST)
 * For the record, I disagree with John and am in agreement with Dusti's decision to allow Kudu to retain his steward flags. It is not clearly stated what shall happen in the case of no consensus and the wording of the confirmation description offers no assistance or guidance to whether a candidate need to attain an affirmative vote for keeping the flags or just not get a majority negative one. In the case we have here, I agree it is the correct decision to allow Kudu to keep his flags given he has provided an explanation for his activity levels and there are no other reasons brought to suggest the need to remove his steward flags at this time. -- Joe G. (Talk) 01:10, 4 September 2014 (BST)
 * Dusti and I discussed this and he decided when he gets back; he will change to the statement I used. This is an election type thing. There is no consesus here to promote as is the point of a reconfirmation here. I don't get the fuss; Kudu does not use the rights actively at all (3 steward actions this year) thus removing him is not going to invoke hell. It just carries out the consensus. Dusti's original close was discretion based; of which he has a major COI as we all do. John (talk) 01:15, 4 September 2014 (BST)
 * Also I feel I made this case clear that it will be an election as all future users will go through and stewards will decide if there is consensus for supporting the candidate. As such; there is no consensus supporting thus as would happen in an election and VoC, removal follows. John (talk) 01:17, 4 September 2014 (BST)
 * Notwithstanding my original feelings and my statement made when closed, as this became a steward discussion, John did not voice his opinion during the time of the Confirmation. He is now making his stance and his feelings known, and like the rest of the community, he is entitled to a !vote. As such, with his opinion being weighed among the rest of the community, there is now a consensus that Kudu's confirmation was unsuccessful and as such his steward flag has been removed. <font face="MV Boli"><font color="#ff0000">D <font color="#ff6600">u <font color="#009900">s <font color="#0000ff">t <font color="#6600cc">i *Let's talk!* 01:22, 4 September 2014 (BST)
 * I'll accept the result of this discussion, but I take issue with the rationale behind the conclusion. As Dusti pointed out, John did not voice his opinion during the time of the confirmation in the form of a clear support or oppose, and he still hasn't. He merely theorized as to the result that should be implied by a finding of lack of consensus. That may or may not be correct, but if it's taken as such, it should be identified clearly as the reason for stripping me of my steward flag, and not some !vote that was never clearly stated. <span style="font-family: Georgia, Garamond, serif;"> Kudu ~I/O~ 02:46, 4 September 2014 (BST)

Joe G
Joe is just a steward who was chosen by the Council. Should this discussion result in rights being revoked, he will be given GS and GR rights and the community may take revocation further if they feel necessary at SN. John (talk) 02:31, 27 August 2014 (BST)
 * Closing Comments: There is no consensus to remove the Steward flag from Joe's account. As such, this confirmation is Successful. For the staff (and community), <font face="MV Boli"><font color="#ff0000">D <font color="#ff6600">u <font color="#009900">s <font color="#0000ff">t <font color="#6600cc">i *Let's talk!* 22:54, 2 September 2014 (BST)


 * Comments
 * 1) Abstain per above. <font face="MV Boli"><font color="#ff0000">D <font color="#ff6600">u <font color="#009900">s <font color="#0000ff">t <font color="#6600cc">i *Let's talk!* 02:45, 27 August 2014 (BST)
 * 2) Support Joe G does an excellent job. I have no objection to him retaining steward rights. GethN7 (talk) 03:39, 27 August 2014 (BST)
 * 3) Support Per GethN7. &mdash;  ReviComplaint?  04:29, 27 August 2014 (BST)
 * 4) Weak support - Per above. Southparkfan (talk) 16:14, 27 August 2014 (BST)
 * 5) Support Dragneel (talk) 22:03, 27 August 2014 (BST)
 * 6) Support  Jianhui67 talk 12:05, 28 August 2014 (BST)

John
John is also a system administrator. If the discussion ends in steward rights being revoked, the rights given by the flag will still remain in his capacity as a system administrator. John (talk) 02:31, 27 August 2014 (BST)
 * Closing comments: ''It's with great joy that I close this discussion as 'Successful'. John has been nothing but a net asset to Orain since the beginning of his involvement with the project. Thank you John, for the service that you've done for Orain so far, and the services that you'll continue to provide in the future. I am going to go ahead and close this a little short of the deadline due to the overwhelming support and lack of opposes. For the staff (and community), <font face="MV Boli"><font color="#ff0000">D <font color="#ff6600">u <font color="#009900">s <font color="#0000ff">t <font color="#6600cc">i *Let's talk!* 22:42, 2 September 2014 (BST)


 * Comments
 * 1) Abstain per above. <font face="MV Boli"><font color="#ff0000">D <font color="#ff6600">u <font color="#009900">s <font color="#0000ff">t <font color="#6600cc">i *Let's talk!* 02:45, 27 August 2014 (BST)
 * 2) Support John does an excellent job. I have no objection to him retaining steward rights. GethN7 (talk) 02:55, 27 August 2014 (BST)
 * 3) Abstain - With the same comments as above -- Joe G. (Talk) 03:37, 27 August 2014 (BST)
 * 4) Support Per GethN7. &mdash;  ReviComplaint?  04:29, 27 August 2014 (BST)
 * 5) Support - Southparkfan (talk) 16:14, 27 August 2014 (BST)
 * 6) Abstain Per above. Dragneel (talk) 22:03, 27 August 2014 (BST)
 * 7) Support  Jianhui67 talk 12:05, 28 August 2014 (BST)
 * 8) Support I consider him the head of the project anyways.--Jasper Deng (talk) 23:51, 1 September 2014 (BST)
 * 9) Support why not? --Stryn (talk) 20:42, 2 September 2014 (BST)