James Forrester, I don't know the history- why shouldn't I vote for him? Options

[wikiwhistle]

Please could tell me something about the past of jpgordon on wiki, what has he done over the years which you disapprove of? Anything in particular? I mean in the past. I know what he's been upto in the last couple of weeks, and have found that for an arb, he has personality.

[AGK]

I've been acquainted with James (Jdforrester/JamesF, who is not the same individual as Jpgordon [Josh] whom wikiwhistle seems to have mistakenly interchanged with JamesF) for many months now, in the course of my ArbCom clerk work. As an individual, he's an exceptionally friendly man, and one who takes a great interest in Wikimedia in general. He's also pleasant to converse work and very intelligent.

Despite this, I won't be supporting James this year. He has been coloured very recently a "useless yes-man." Whilst I think that particular description is needlessly gruff, I sadly do agree with the sentiment. I rarely see James "thinking for himself," and, although I have not gathered statistics to exemplify this point, my impression of his voting and opinions are that he "goes with the flow" a substantial proportion of the time.

I don't think the earlier claims by Kelly that he sits on the Committee with nepotistic motives are warranted. I also do not believe James would be the worst Arbitrator we could select, and there are certainly worse candidates running this year. I do, however, think it is time for a change and time for some new energy on the Committee. Undertake your own evaluation of James; you may deduce differently from how I have.