Wikipedia:Not Now
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This is a Wikipedia essay. It is not a policy or guideline, it's only a few of its creators' opinions. Please update the page as needed, or discuss it on the talk page. |
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This page in a nutshell: Sometimes a Request for adminship stands no chance of succeeding. On these occasions, experienced editors may close it before the scheduled end time. This does not reflect poorly on the candidate, and any comments should not be taken personally. |
Most Requests for adminship run for seven days after being added onto the main RfA page. However, in certain circumstances they are closed early. If you are reading this page it is likely that this has happened to your RfA.
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[change] Reasons for early closure
Although RfA has no specific minimum requirements in general, the community looks for certain basic levels of contributions without which an RfA is certain to fail. When a candidate fails to meet a number of fundamental community-accepted criteria, occasionally a pile-on of oppose comments may occur. This can be demoralizing for the candidate and deter them from further productive contributions. This is clearly not in the best interests of Wikipedia. Furthermore, an RfA that is clearly going to fail will often provoke a number of calls for early closure and associated discussion.
Any editor in good standing may close a clearly failing RfA. However this should be done with caution and good judgment. If there is any doubt, posting to the candidate's talkpage and asking them about their RfA is often a better course of action than abruptly closing their good faith attempt at adminship.
Any candidate who sees that their RfA is failing may make a request for it to be closed early. Simply strike through your acceptance of the RfA and note that you withdraw.
[change] Things to note if your RfA was closed early
- You will be welcome to reapply when you have more experience and have addressed the concerns brought up by opposers.
- Comments made on an RfA are not personal. Other editors are commenting on your suitability to be an administrator today, not on you as a person, or even your general contributions.
- Many experienced and highly respected administrators have failed one or more RfAs before being granted the tools. Do not think that a failed RfA reflects badly on you or prejudices a future RfA. It explicitly doesn't.
[change] What you should do if your RfA gets closed early
- If you think that there was no chance of being made an administrator at that time, then you don't need to do anything. The editor that closed your RfA will have made you aware and probably pointed you at this essay. They will have taken care of the technical aspects of the closure.
- If you do not think that the early closure was a good thing please ask the editor who closed it to reverse their actions. In general, assuming a good faith nomination or self-nomination, if a candidate wishes the RfA to run for the full time then this is acceptable. However, please consider editor review as an alternative method for getting feedback on your contributions.
[change] What you should not do if your RfA was closed early
- Worry about it. Many good administrators had one failed RfA in the past.
- Quit Wikipedia. You would not want to be an administrator if you hated Wikipedia. An early-closed RfA is not a good reason to start hating it. Go back to what you were doing that made you enjoy it, or even take a WP:Wikibreak.
- Refuse help. There are many editors who would be happy to help you learn as a Wikipedian. Asking for help is a good thing.
