 | This is an essay. It contains the advice or opinions of one or more Wikipedia contributors. This page is not an encyclopedia article, nor is it one of Wikipedia's policies or guidelines, as it has not been thoroughly vetted by the community. Some essays represent widespread norms; others only represent minority viewpoints. |
 | This page in a nutshell: This essay is an observation on the different "factions" that can arise in requests for adminship discussions. |
In Requests for adminship discussions, users typically examine a number of different criteria in casting their !vote.[1] Over time, it has become increasingly apparent that most !voters divide into certain "factions", with some prioritising particular factors. Fundamentally, for everyone, the question is whether the candidate can be trusted with the admin tools; however, different users employ a range of different standards in evaluating this.
This is not intended to be an exclusive or definite list; all users are individual, and most take a range of factors into account when making decisions on a request for adminship. As such, most users do not fit into clearly defined "boxes". However, some individual patterns can be identified, as outlined below.
- ^ Note that some users do not believe that RfA is a vote - see Polling is evil.