Wikipedia:Arbitration Committee Elections December 2019/Candidates/Llywrch/Statement

Llywrch

I'm Llywrch, & I've contributed to Wikipedia for slightly more than 17 years. I became an Admin back when it was no big thing, & was elected by three votes. I believe I came up with the No Original Research policy, although someone else has also claimed that achievement & has been more active in its development, so I might be wrong about that. I also believe I came up with the idea of Wikipedian-in-Residence, but again someone else actually put it into practice without knowing I had proposed the idea, so I'm probably wrong about that either. I have made a fair number of edits in several different subject areas, so there's that.

I see the Arbitration Committee as the place where disagreements come to an end. Matters are decided, people have their privileges revoked. That is all it does; it does not set policy or otherwise promulgate rules. I have not been involved with it in recent years because I believe it has functioned satisfactorily in most cases, & the ArbCom can do without free advice. Nonetheless, the ArbCom has come to rely on the same small group of volunteers to donate their time & energy to make it work, & they need reinforcements. It's time for someone else to take his turn in the barrel, & I'm volunteering for that.

I hope that last statement didn't sound flippant. Serving on the ArbCom is a job that can have a serious effect on other people; it can protect people but it can also alienate people. And I believe serving on it now is critical because the Foundation appears to be preparing to arrogate management of our community for themselves, & impose rules that may not necessarily be to the benefit of either the community or the encyclopedia. The projects & the Foundation should be working as partners, each focusing on what we can do best to keep the community & the encyclopedia flourishing. And I'd like to be one of those who can convince them that this is the right approach.

I don't see any problem with meeting the requirements for this position. I am of suitable age, can abide by the rules for handling non-public information, & have no alternative accounts.

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