- Q: A user has just created an article which already exists under another title. What would be the appropriate action? Osiris (talk) 07:11, 26 June 2012 (UTC)
- A: That's a good question. I had this problem before and I wondered whether a guideline or policy concerning it exists. Generally I assume good faith when a page is created, especially if the page was actually not bad. Users sometimes create an article under a title for which we forgot to create a redirect. I would compare the two pages and try to add the content from the new page to the old one and then establish a redirect from the recently created page. In any case I will also notify the user first before doing so.
- Q: Is it ever okay to close an WP:RFD discussion in which you have expressed an opinion? If so, when? Osiris (talk) 07:11, 26 June 2012 (UTC)
- A: One of my principles as an admin would be not to force through my point of view. Closing an RfD in which I participated is only acceptable for me if a clear consensus has been established. Otherwise I would leave it to another (probably uninvolved) admin to close the debate.
- Q: When would you block a registered user without warning? Would you ever block an IP address without warning? Osiris (talk) 07:11, 26 June 2012 (UTC)
- A: I would block a registered user without warning if the user has a username which clearly violated the username policy, if the user is a confirmed sock puppet of an other editor, or especially if the user is obviously aware of policies or if the account was only created for doing vandalism, making personal attacks, et cetera.
- Q: An editor has tagged a new article for quick deletion as a copyright violation, giving a link to a website from where the article has been copied word-for-word. The website, however, is another wiki (e.g., wikia.com). Would you delete the article? Osiris (talk) 07:11, 26 June 2012 (UTC)
- A: In this case, I would first add a {{wait}}-Tag to the article with the comment that I'm checking the issue and ask the author of the article whether he is the author of the article in that wiki as well. We would need to provide rationale for the article if this case is true, otherwise the page may be deleted as an act of copyright violation.
- Can you clarify what you mean by providing rationale? Osiris (talk) 01:43, 13 September 2012 (UTC)
- Even a derivative work requires attribution. Attribution must be done or the article will be deleted as a copyright violation. We usually provide transwiki attribution here, but we can do that for a Wikia too. --@intforce 05:03, 13 September 2012 (UTC)
- Q: How would you respond to this unblock request? Osiris (talk) 07:11, 26 June 2012 (UTC)
- A: Indefinite blocks should only be used in the worst cases and therefore I take unblock requests from indefinite blocked users with a grain of salt. They have been blocked for certain issues and thus they need to indicate that their old issues have been resolved. In this case, I would have acted same as DJSasso, declining the request. But if the user has provided a good rationale, I would open a thread on WP:Simple talk.
- Why is a thread on simple talk necessary? Osiris (talk) 01:43, 13 September 2012 (UTC)
- Requests for unblock is when a blocked user believes that his or her blocking from editing has been unjust and wishes to contest the block. It is often used when administrators make mistakes in policy, or maybe that that editor was involved in a dispute and was unfairly treated. These cases a single administrator (especially if he blocked the user) can not solve alone. He may need to open the thread to see what the opinion of the community is and respond to the request by observing the community consensus. --@intforce 05:03, 13 September 2012 (UTC)
- Q: What is the difference between a policy and a guideline? How much do policies on other wikipedias apply to this wiki? Osiris (talk) 07:11, 26 June 2012 (UTC)
- A: The difference between a guideline and a policiy is not exactly what I thought it was (especially during my first RfA). Quoting from Wikipedia:Policies and guidelines on enwiki, policies have wide acceptance among editors and describe standards that all users should normally , while guidelines are sets of best practices that are supported by consensus.
- What this says to me is that policies are really quite strict and should be always followed, except some very rare appeal to WP:Ignore all rules (however, WP:IAR is really an exception and should not be used as a common rationale). On the contrary, there will be more common-sense exceptions to a guideline but maybe not as many as I thought. I think it depends on the guideline itself. There are some guidelines which importance can nearly be seen as a policy, while guidelines only describe "suggestions".
- Because this wiki is smaller than the main English Wikipedia, there are some cases for which we don't got a specific rule here, though on the main English Wikipedia. In this case, we may use the main English Wikipedia's rule to deal with the problems. However, if a rule exists here locally, we take them priority over the ones from another wiki, even from en.
- Q: In what situations, if any, would it be acceptable for you to use administrative tools to end a revert war between yourself and another user? Osiris (talk) 07:11, 26 June 2012 (UTC)
- A: One of my personal core principles is that with increased power comes increased responsibility. Admins should never use their tools to give themselves an advantage in any situation, even in edit wars. The page where the edit war goes on should be protected, in order to start a discussion about the edit on the talk page. Generally, a page should be protected if the three-revert rule is broken, but I would leave it to another admin to protect the page or to block the user eventually. But I would certainly not use my sysop rights in this case, to be an admin doesn't mean that one stand above someone, only that one got some additional rights to contribute to the project.
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