Who is AGK?, brand new arbitrator Options

[Peter Damian]

Let's take a look at this new arbitrator. I now know his real name and identity, which are not particularly relevant here.

What is relevant is his age - born November 1990, which means he was 15 when he first joined Wikipedia, and 17 when he became an administrator at his second attempt. An extraordinarily rapid rise to power, now a member of the Arbitration committee having just turned 21.

Joining in early 2006, he showed a desire to become an administrator immediately, saying to Flo Knight "I was brought up in a rough part of Glasgow, Scotland I feel my knowledge of the Scottish delinquent personality would be of use as a 'Hall Monitor' http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=...&oldid=43600120, and then at editor review - "I think I may want Adminship, but I am worried I have been with Wikipedia for too short a time despite the fact that Adminship is the one thing I want most on Wikipedia! Please leave comments or advice about how I am doing, and whether or not I should go for Adminship. Also, if I did go for it would you honestly vote for me or not??? Thank you very much." http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=...&oldid=69211753

Shows commendable dedication to the cause by his 'vandal fighting'. "Your new Wikipediaholic Score First of all, how did your score climb SO QUICKLY? How is it even possible to score that high if you're not Jimbo Wales? By the way, you made some errors in the ranking, like labelling 2nd as 2st, 3rd as 3nd, and 4th as 4rd. I have fixed them. AstroHurricane001 22:11, 18 October 2006 (UTC)"

Also shows commendable ambition in his attempts to climb the ranks.

December 27, 2006: adds himself http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=...&oldid=95877655 to the standby list for CheckUser clerks. Not yet granted.
December 29, 2006: requests http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Med...ons/Anthony_cfc to join the mediation committee. Denied.
December 31, 2006: requests http://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?titl...93&oldid=503873 OTRS access. Not granted.
January 9, 2007: requests http://meta.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?titl...ev&oldid=509373 CheckUser access. Denied.
January 16, 2007: attempts http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_tal...uest_for_Access to gain access to the Bot Approvals Group. Denied.

In February, his first application for RfA was turned down http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Req...hip/Anthony_cfc . The comments are highly intersesting. "An interesting note is that every one of the powers he's applied to is one that Essjay holds; this seems almost like a form of wiki-stalking. In short, I think Anthony cfc just wants any power he can possibly get, and that's never a good trait in administrators. I do not trust him to handle the tools properly. Ral315 (talk) 02:57, 9 February 2007 (UTC)"

Aso, in a bizarre request on another wiki in May 2007 http://wiki.editthis.info/Wiki/Special:Contributions/Shmm, he simultaneously joins and asks for administrator rights. He is turned down flat, although objects that "The fact I'm a Bureaucrat on a Wikimedia Foundation wiki, as well as the Developer for a private Wiki, surely seals the deal? --Shmm 17:26, 1 May 2007 (EDT)", adding "I have a sincere desire to protect this Wiki, as I have being protecting others of the Wikimedia Foundation --Shmm 15:17, 2 May 2007 (EDT)"

Is that true? Since that was before his second successful RfA, on what WMF wiki did he have Bureaucrat rights, in May 2007??

His user page talks about an interest in and knowledge of classical studies, but his main work on Wikipedia seems to have been 'gnoming'. His work on Good Articles is mostly minor changes to grammar (sometimes making it worse), or linking or applying templates or other inconsequential stuff. (I haven't checked that carefully, however, so take that with a grain of salt for now).

Is this the kind of arbitrator Wikipedia needs?

This post has been edited by Peter Damian:

[thekohser]

Is this the kind of arbitrator Wikipedia needs?

Absolutely! It's very fitting.

[melloden]

I think most kids on Wikipedia are like that. Someone point out a fifteen-year-old Wikipediot that wasn't obsessed with being an admin at first.

I think it's interesting he was elected to the mediation committee in 2007. Until recently, I think he was the chair of that, too.

Disproportionate number of Wikipedia-namespace edits, it seems. I couldn't imagine why.

[Kelly Martin]

I think it's interesting he was elected to the mediation committee in 2007. Until recently, I think he was the chair of that, too.

The Mediation Committee does absolutely nothing of any value; the whole point of participating in it is as a stepping stone to the ArbCom.

[that one guy]

I think it's interesting he was elected to the mediation committee in 2007. Until recently, I think he was the chair of that, too.

The Mediation Committee does absolutely nothing of any value; the whole point of participating in it is as a stepping stone to the ArbCom.

Well it's hard to do something when all the results are non-binding.

[melloden]

I think it's interesting he was elected to the mediation committee in 2007. Until recently, I think he was the chair of that, too.

The Mediation Committee does absolutely nothing of any value; the whole point of participating in it is as a stepping stone to the ArbCom.

Steven Zhang is a coordinator of the mediation cabal... and I think he still wants to be an admin, too. Possible parallel?

[carbuncle]

Posted without further comment. From AGK's request for "temporary" adminship on meta:

Apologies for the length of this (feel free to move it to the talk page if necessary), and apologies if some of it sounds choppy. Parts of this summary were cobbled together from other pages and discussions. Below is a list of most of the requests that AGK's made over the course of his time on Wikipedia; I'm sure I've missed a couple (and if I missed any requests where he was granted a right/position, I apologize):

December 27, 2006: adds himself to the standby list for CheckUser clerks. At the time, not granted.
December 29, 2006: requests to join the mediation committee. Denied.
December 31, 2006: requests OTRS access. Not granted.
January 9, 2007: requests CheckUser access. Denied.
January 16, 2007: attempts to gain access to the Bot Approvals Group. Denied.
February 9, 2007: requests adminship on the English Wikipedia. Not granted.
March 3, 2007: requests to join the Mediation Committee again. Denied.
March 6, 2007: requests to become an administrator at the Simple English Wikipedia. Denied, and he leaves that wiki soon afterward, indicating that he was editing there for the sole purpose of gaining adminship (though has since made some edits under his current username, AGK).
March 9, 2007: Adds self as CheckUser clerk, shortly after the process is made more open (previously, checkusers -- primarily Essjay -- added users themselves). I recall a conversation with Essjay before he left the site in which he told me that he did not wish for Anthony to become a clerk; this is of course hearsay, and Essjay can't back this up. However, Essjay privately, and to a lesser extent publicly, complained that many of the positions that Anthony/AGK applied for were positions that Essjay held, or positions under Essjay (i.e. CheckUser clerk), and that the requests seemed to him as a form of stalking.
April 4, 2007: requests OTRS access again; request withdrawn.
April 19, 2007: requests to become a coordinator of the Mediation Cabal via e-mail. Not granted.
April 27, 2007: requests adminship on the English Wikipedia for a second time. Granted this time; I voted Neutral.
May 18, 2007: requests to join the Mediation Committee for a third time. Granted; I was unable to register my opinion on his nomination before it closed.
May 23, 2007: becomes a VandalProof moderator.
May 24, 2007: Just a day later, removed as moderator by AmiDaniel, "due to complaints from a variety of sources".
July 24, 2007: requests OTRS access for a third time. Denied.
December 27, 2007: Named an Arbitration Committee Clerk (at the time, a trainee; since then he's been named a full clerk)
February 6, 2008: Named as an observer to the Working Group on ethnic and cultural edit wars.
February 11, 2008: requests OTRS access for a fourth time. Denied.
March 8, 2008: requests an account on the Foundation wiki. Request not yet acted upon.

AGK even admitted on March 5, 2007 that "I appeared power-hungry, and to an extent I was. Might I here point out that I have since eliminated all nominations from my mind - Adminship, etc.. - to concentrate on being permitted to formally mediate cases alongside a group of Wikipedians who I each hold in the highest respect, for one reason or another." The request to join MedCom was declined just hours later; he applied for adminship on the Simple English Wikipedia just a day afterward. I believe this speaks to AGK's hunger for power.

In response to Majorly and EVula, I have to admit that AGK has not abused these powers, though I feel that in some cases he's made poor judgments. As a fellow mediator (and a fairly unsuccess I don't feel comfortable judging his Mediation Committee actions, as a mediator emeritus, but I think AGK's handled some things rather poorly. For example, he was involved in a minor edit war with Daniel and I, regarding text on his userpage that was unquestionably copyrighted. He took offense that Daniel and I were involved, due to prior disputes we've had with him, and attacked us for that while acknowledging that we were right regarding the copyright status of the text. Moreover, he noted that he didn't have that great a grip on copyright issues, and "[had] not offered [himself] to OTRS for copyright queues". This is absolutely false; in July 2007, AGK's third OTRS request specifically notes that, at least initially "'I only wish to start helping out with permissions".

I feel that while he's a great contributor, he lacks the sensitivity to others to realize that some of his behavior can be extremely irritating, and in some cases can be interpreted as "wikistalking". Throughout Anthony/AGK's time on Wikipedia, he's seemed to follow in the footsteps of Essjay and Daniel. Both Essjay and Daniel have noted that AGK/Anthony has borrowed from their userpage design significantly; while it doesn't seem like the biggest concern, I can see where they could be concerned about confusion, and also how it could "weird them out".

More concerning, as noted above, is that many of the positions he's applied for were originally held by Essjay or Daniel. For example, in one of many coincidences, AGK first inquires about becoming a VandalProof moderator, just two days after Daniel becomes one. In early 2007, his requests to join the Mediation Committee, OTRS, CheckUser group, CheckUser clerk, and Bot Approvals Group were all presumably motivated by the fact that Essjay held each right. I wouldn't be worried about this, since it happened last year, except that it's still happening. Anthony asks for temporary Meta adminship less than four weeks after Daniel receives it for a different purpose -- another coincidence?

I guess to me, it's not a concern that AGK will do it wrong -- though he's had his troubles, I expect temporary adminship, to focus on MediaWiki messages only, is a task that is purely janitorial, and he should run into no trouble there. However, I find it troubling that it seems he treats these positions like trophies. I don't feel that encouraging this would be good for Wikimedia or for AGK, and I don't think that, given these concerns, the task he wishes to accomplish is that important that denying him adminship would adversely affect the Wikimedia mission. Ral315 (talk) 08:31, 14 April 2008 (UTC)

[Peter Damian]

Seemed to have had a love affair with Essjay.

17:16, 2 March 2007 "Essjay works with Jimbo, so I'm sure he was appointed with Jimbo as informed as possible. In all honesty, this has been blown out of all proportion."

14:00, 3 March 2007 "Good evening; I respectfully beg to differ - at the end of the day, we are an encyclopedia: and that means articles. No articles have suffered because Essjay (incorrectly) stated he had a formalised qualification in the areas in question. At the end of the day, he is still very knowledgable in those areas; the edits he made to these articles are not degraded because he doesn't have letters after his name, and that's why this has been blown out of all proportion. The term disallusioned [sic] lynch mob was simply used as a metaphor to show that certain editors who haven't actually been directly affected are calling for him to be stripped of CheckUser, Oversight, Arbitrator, etc.. - from what I've seen, he's doing an excellent job on the ArbCom. Perhaps some should take a leaf out of Essjay's book and refrain from editing here until the room temperature has calmed down. Dixi, Anthonycfc [T • C] 14:00, 3 March 2007 (UTC)"

21:45, 3 March 2007 ""As I've been saying in another discussion, this is an encyclopedia - of articles. Simply because he doesn't have a string of letters after his name, does not mean his edits are of a secondary standard. The fact of the matter is, we cannot prove that had Essjay formalised his knowledge in this area (i.e. was a professer), his edits would have been of a higher standard; and it works the opposite way: claiming he was qualified when he was not, whilst not correct, does not mean his edits are null and void. Kind regards, anthonycfc [talk] 21:45, 3 March 2007 (UTC) Post script: I've renamed the header from "Shut up, you big babies" to "Achievements v. Controversy" because that was the subject of the first section post, for civility and WP:NPA purposes."

03:38, 4 March 2007 "You will be sorely missed my friend. While you probably won't get this, my best wishes go with you wherever you are. Good luck with Wikia, and to Mia (IMG:smilys0b23ax56/default/smile.gif) it is a shame the trolls won the battle..they won't win the war. Aeternum vale anthonycfc [talk] 03:38, 4 March 2007 (UTC)
http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=...oldid=112484352

This post has been edited by Peter Damian:

[Eppur si muove]

Seemed to have had a love affair with Essjay.

21:45, 3 March 2007 The fact of the matter is, we cannot prove that had Essjay formalised his knowledge in this area (i.e. was a professer), his edits would have been of a higher standard;

Just the fine sense of judgment that we need in an Arb.

What puzzles me is that genuine professionals such as Brad and Cas tolerate working with the Ephebocrats. How many of the other Arbs have the professional background or life experience to be able to make complex judgments about people?

[Kelly Martin]

How do we know that AGK isn't, in fact, Essjay?

[TungstenCarbide]

How do we know that AGK isn't, in fact, Essjay?

(IMG:smilys0b23ax56/default/laugh.gif)

[EricBarbour]

How do we know that AGK isn't, in fact, Essjay?

We don't, but it is doubtful. Too much evidence AGK's not an American, for one.

AGK's profile on AN/I is very telling--he's basically a Facebooker who creates virtually no
content, but constantly slimes and backstabs people he wasn't directly in dispute with.
There are almost no direct user complaints about AGK, because he hides behind other
admins when doing his dirty work. He likes to use Sandstein, Postlethwaite, YellowMonkey,
and other "evil patrollers" as his "cover". He lets the loudmouths and ban-freaks
take all the heat. If you want to say this makes a "good administrator", you can, but
I don't think he's a real "asset".

This is typical.
AGK swoops in, makes an offhand comment that matches with "cabal" attitudes, then runs away.
Leaving the others to argue pointlessly. (That's basically what Essjay was like.)

He's also spent a lot of time sucking up to Durova, Daniel, Ironholds, NY Brad, and....Alison.
You might ask her directly, for her impression of the lad.

A good example of a pure suck-up. Wikipedia DOES NOT need this guy, any more than it
needs the evil patrollers--he's helping to enable them.

This post has been edited by EricBarbour:

[A Horse With No Name]

He's also spent a lot of time sucking up to Durova, Daniel, Ironholds, NY Brad...

Ewww...who would want to suck those characters? (IMG:smilys0b23ax56/default/sick.gif)

and....Alison.
You might ask her directly, for her impression of the lad.

Alison does impressions? (IMG:smilys0b23ax56/default/tongue.gif)

I can do a fairly adequate Jimmy Stewart and a better-than-average Bob Hope. (IMG:smilys0b23ax56/default/wink.gif)

[EricBarbour]

Alison does impressions? (IMG:smilys0b23ax56/default/tongue.gif)

I can do a fairly adequate Jimmy Stewart and a better-than-average Bob Hope. (IMG:smilys0b23ax56/default/wink.gif)

Welcome to my headache.

Join me, in the great misery of trying to do "research" on the un-researchable. (IMG:smilys0b23ax56/default/tongue.gif)
(Most of it should be read in Pee-Wee Herman's voice. Seriously.)

[melloden]

A good example of a pure suck-up. Wikipedia DOES NOT need this guy, any more than it
needs the evil patrollers--he's helping to enable them.

Wikipedia can't survive without people like AGK. They need someone who doesn't actually improve the encyclopedia to be in charge of the people that do. Aren't most admins like this, anyway?

[Cla68]

A good example of a pure suck-up. Wikipedia DOES NOT need this guy, any more than it
needs the evil patrollers--he's helping to enable them.

Wikipedia can't survive without people like AGK. They need someone who doesn't actually improve the encyclopedia to be in charge of the people that do. Aren't most admins like this, anyway?

I don't understand how anyone can find WP participation fulfilling if they don't actually complete a few articles. Otherwise, what else is there that shows you have actually done anything that might be of benefit to someone?

[Peter Damian]

I don't understand how anyone can find WP participation fulfilling if they don't actually complete a few articles. Otherwise, what else is there that shows you have actually done anything that might be of benefit to someone?

I think AGK's early comments demonstrate that he imagines Wikipedia is all this knowledge sitting there, a bit like ancient Rome before the Goths and the Vandals, and that his contribution is the heroic fighting of vandals, to prevent the collapse of the empire. The idea that there was nothing worth protecting has not yet occurred to him.

[melloden]

A good example of a pure suck-up. Wikipedia DOES NOT need this guy, any more than it
needs the evil patrollers--he's helping to enable them.

Wikipedia can't survive without people like AGK. They need someone who doesn't actually improve the encyclopedia to be in charge of the people that do. Aren't most admins like this, anyway?

I don't understand how anyone can find WP participation fulfilling if they don't actually complete a few articles. Otherwise, what else is there that shows you have actually done anything that might be of benefit to someone?

Leveling up, perhaps?

If you put something vague like "volunteer response team at Wikimedia Foundation" on your resume, I doubt anyone would be able to verify what you actually do there. Or "steward for Wikimedia," not as if that means anything to anyone else in the world, but it makes people think you're important and have benefited people.

[Fusion]

I don't understand how anyone can find WP participation fulfilling if they don't actually complete a few articles. Otherwise, what else is there that shows you have actually done anything that might be of benefit to someone?

Mr Cla, you are the best sort of WP editor, there to try to benefit mankind and (I imagine) without any great POV to push. Few indeed are as you are. Many are not in it to benefit anyone else. They just seek an ego trip. Or they just like correcting spelling errors.

[Casliber]

......Or they just like correcting spelling errors.

I just had this idea for a competition of sorts....I wonder about the weirdest typo and how many catches it could catch. I've seen loads of folks correcting common ones, but maybe coming up some weird ones like "atnidisestablishmentarianism" or "hexocyannoferrate" and see how many guffs a bot (or person) can catch......has anyone played this game before?
Cas