User:L235

Wikipedia is a marvel of the modern world.

If we lived in a world without it, the suggestion that a crowdsourced project anything like this could exist would be met with incredulous laughter. But it exists, and we today have a sprawling encyclopedia packed full of information about practically every person, place, thing, or idea of some note. And despite increasingly pervasive global distrust towards facts, Wikipedia is relied upon, and grudgingly trusted, across the world. We have given millions—nay, billions—of people free access to high-quality reliable neutral information, the most valuable of all the treasures in this era. What’s more, our project is entirely created, led, maintained, and organized by volunteer editors, a status open to anyone with an internet connection.

The miracle of our project comes with great costs. Wikipedia is held together by equal parts good luck and the dedicated work of thousands of volunteers who dedicate hundreds of hours every year to sustain this project. That time is spent on community governance and decision-making, on pushing to reduce systemic bias within our project, on mediating disputes, addressing bias, and correcting inaccuracies. That time is spent addressing spam, implementing anti-abuse mechanisms, and addressing problem users. That time is spent helping newer editors edit on our unusual project and building tools to make it easier.

Often we will need to spend far more time addressing a particular issue than you might expect, because our community governance model lends itself to slowdowns and backlogs. This is an inefficient allocation problem: no one is compelled to contribute in any particular area, so there are some areas of the project with too many volunteers and many others with far too few. Even when things go perfectly, maintaining the project can be Sisyphusian in nature: tomorrow, there will be just as many new problems as there were today demanding attention.

That is the price we pay for the wonderful project we have built, and it’s a bargain I’ll take every time without hesitation.

When I am asked why I have volunteered my time for so long, my answer is simple: I believe in our project. I believe in our vision, that of a world in which every person has free access to the sum of all human knowledge. I believe that our work makes the world a better place every day, and as long as I believe that I will dedicate my time and energy to this project.

You may be on my userpage trying to get in contact with me now because our project hasn’t lived up to our ideals in some way: perhaps a page was unjustly deleted, or a user unjustly restricted. Perhaps not enough care was taken in a decision, or perhaps we’ve collectively neglected a problem entirely. Whatever it may be, I want to hear it and I am sorry that it happened on our project. Though we strive to be a thoughtful and empathetic community, we inevitably come up a bit short. Get in touch with me, and I will do my best to help in any way I can.

The assembling of the stuffy arbs. Natureium (talk) 20:22, 21 December 2020 (UTC)

Hi, I'm Kevin Li! It's great to meet you!

I'm an administrator on Wikipedia, which just means I have a few extra tools to help out where I can.

If you have any questions or if I can be of any assistance, please leave me a note! The best way to contact me is on my talk page, but for private or sensitive matters, you can email me. I'm also sometimes on IRC as "L235".

I'm a member of the Arbitration Committee. Before I was elected in December 2020, I was an arbitration clerk for nearly six years, since February 2015. I've also been a checkuser and oversighter since October 2019. Before appointment as a checkuser, I was an SPI clerk starting December 2015. I have been a member of the Wikimedia Foundation Conference Support Committee since February 2020.

Any administrator has my permission to reverse any of my (non-CU/OS) actions if I don't respond to a note on my talk page within a day or two.

I have a standing offer for any established Wikipedian who has grievances, questions, or suggestions: in addition to text-based communication on a talk page, upon request, I will work to find a time for us to call. Since nonverbal communication accounts for most of the information that is transmitted in a typical conversation, I've found that a simple video discussion can foster understanding and resolve problems more effectively than pages and pages of text-based discussion.

Other links:

You know that when smallpox was eradicated, it was considered the single greatest humanitarian achievement of this century? Surely we can do it again, as we did in the time when our eyes looked towards the heavens, and with outstretched fingers we touched the face of God. The West Wing, 1999.

Our job, in building today's free Library of Alexandria, is to give everyone free access to the sum of human knowledge, to enable everyone access to the tools that will create the great achievements of the next century. Please join me.