Well folks, looks like its election season again. Up for grabs are 11 ArbCom seats (9 two-year terms and two one-year terms vacated by Fritpoll and Vanished 6551232), unless our Dear F(l)ounder changes things to get his favourites on Arbcom.

At this point, NewYorkBrad and SirFozzie are pursuing re-election. The terms of FayssalF, Shell Kinney and Carcharoth are also expiring, but no word yet on what they'll do.

A few non-arbs have declared their candidacy: PhilKnight, Harej, and Chase me Ladies, I'm the Cavalry.


Its very early in the game, but any thoughts on this year's horse race?

Carcharoth has said he won't be a candidate in this election.

Oh, is it time to shuffle the deck chairs again?

You should run. It would be the troll of the century.

I'm sure I'm ineligible; they have been progressively upping the edit count requirements to run and to vote so as to exclude trolls like me from consideration. Several people were very upset that I voted last year.

How about you Doc?

Do you need recent edits to vote, or just lifetime edits? I haven't done much editing lately.

They typically require a hundred or so edits in the past year to vote, and several hundred to a thousand in order to run. Pretty much limits the field to vandalwhackers and other obsessive types.

It requires 1,000 lifetime edits to articlespace, and that you be over 18. You appear to be eligible to run. Personally, I wouldn't mind seeing it happen.

Looks like you are eligible.

I am nowhere near bored enough to do it, though. Perhaps if someone offered to pay me.

Oh, go on. I'll be your campaign manager, and I'm sure we can arrange an endorsement from the proprietors of Wikipedia Review.

That's too bad, it would be fun to see. There aren't expected to be very many candidates this year, so you might even win! No way Jimbo would ever appoint you, but it would expose his hypocracy.

I'm sure if I announced a candidacy people would fall out of the woodwork to run against me. I'm not interested in spurring interest in wikiwanking, though.

Besides, I'd have to come up with a platform. Not to mention answering all those obnoxious candidate questions, although it would be fun to see how many times I can get blocked while doing so. Is "You stupid git!" currently considered incivil?

I can attest that a run for ArbCom can be great fun, but it really does take a lot of time to do it right.

I hereby pledge $100 to your favorite charity.

I don't see any horses. I just see a bunch of slobs with too much time on their hands.

And what's with Chase Me in this pack? Isn't he supposed to be serving Queen and Country?

Oi I thought you disapproved of destroying Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=...oldid=305729709 . And what are you doing in this nest of trolls anyway?

I *do* disapprove of destroying Wikipedia. Sometimes a shock to the system can be theraputic, though.

Yes, trolls come here, but so do other people. It is a place to discuss Wikipedia, and here I can say things that I can't say on-wiki.

No pastors this year either

Yeah, right.

(They have to give that money to Sue and Erik, how dare you ask for some???)

Too bad. He was always one of my favorite admins. But for that reason, probably best not to inflict more ArbCom on him.

Yeah, too much effort for too few giggles.

i have to wonder what will happen if not enough stand for election to fill spots unless low-percentage candidates are accepted...

Nothing of real interest; it doesn't really matter who the arbitrators are, after all.

I'm considering running if there aren't many candidates. I imagine another dozen editors are considering the same.

Sounds like Peter Damian has his answer.

Nah, I'm not here for the WR vote or anything. In fact, if I really, really want to be elected I should be staying as far away from this place as possible. If there aren't enough viable candidates, I may throw my hat in the ring for the hell of it. I'm not going to hit the campaign trail, though. If I don't win, its not a big deal.

Wow, you're really jonesing for it, aren't you?

Participating at Wikipedia Review probably sinks any chance I might have had. Still, I could probably do a good job of it.

Why do you think posting on WR would reduce your chances of being elected?
iirc I didn't post on WR before or during the election in 2008 as I didn't want to be seen to be canvassing for additional support from this motley crew.

Wikipedia's canvassing policy is idiotic, of course.

I'm considering standing, but as I don't have so much time, I'd be applying for a job-share post. Now, all I need is a co-nominee. I asked Giano, but he's not biting.

I have seriously considered loaning out my account to anyone who wants to use it for some Christmas fun. Still on the fence about that too.

Well I'm hoping Fred Bauder runs again, he would certainly get the votes of my 12 enfranchised sockpuppets.

Sure. All you need is 15 minutes a week and a set of D&D dice, right?


He's trying to be aloof. Or maybe a doof.


Oh, same diff.

In my thinking, "Christmas fun" involving Wikipedia would not involve "hijinks" on a WP server.

I daresay that "Christmas fun" would be more along the lines of belting David Gerard or Tony Sidaway in the mouth with a Yule log.
Now, that's entertainment.

What's job sharing? Is there a Wikipedia article about that?

Actually, I might have stood. But a) I'd get hammered again and b) if I did win, I am sure as hell not supplying my passport to the WMF...


...although I did wonder about supplying a photocopy of badly doctored Albanian passport, and seeing if they had a clue

Harej is hare-brained. I met him at Wiki-meetup NYC 2009, and he's just a teenager. Not mature enough for ArbCom duty.

Hey, that's Chris Cunnigham's shtick! What kind of a Scottish comedian are you? Get your own jokes!


Rumor has it that Orlady and Harej are planning to run together:

I met him at a meetup too, and I wasn't exactly blown away by his maturity, either, but his answers to the questions suggest that provided he keeps an even temperament he's got a good head.

If he is immature, then he is unfit for duty regardless of the alleged quality of his head. I'd say that in the absence of a large body of other evidence, anyone under the age of about 35-40 is unfit for this job.

Who cares if he is mature enough for the job? It the WMF cared, they would be paying the Arbcom a salary and interviewing prospective arbitrators. All that matters is that the 18-year-old+ is willing and able to make some tough decisions and back them up with some socratic reasoning. Anyway, I thought MessedRocker had abandoned Wikipedia (based on a post here) and pursued other interests? He's still addicted to Wikipedia drama?

Wikidrama is very addictive, as everyone who reads and posts here well knows.

I'm up for some "xmas fun"...

You really like trolling me, don't you. I get a kick out of trashing decent folks like harej for no reason, but seriously, why do you need to respond with an ad hominem attack against me? Surely you could just as easily pile on harej, or on anyone...it's all the same to you, troll.

Hey, don't you go talkin' to my woman that way!

At least the field's getting more interesting now. Actually have more candidates that slots

EDIT: And Giano's doing his best to make it about him somehow... :\