User:Auron of Neon

Hey, I'm Auron, an admin on this wiki.

As I contribute here rarely, don't come to me with day-to-day issues; get in touch with a more active admin if you need something done quickly.

Bureaucrats
Are not carebears. I dunno where anyone got that idea, but it's flat wrong. Bureaucrats aren't mommies that tuck you in at night and tell you a bedtime story; that's the sysop. Bureaucrats are the top-level administration. The ones that don't leave the office during the normal course of the day. Very rarely are those people carebears - and the few that are usually don't last very long.

If sysops are having a disagreement, how does the Bureaucrat play into the situation? Does he come in with arms wide open to give them a bear hug? No! He tells them to shape up or ship out. He doesn't need that crap on his admin team. If the admins are absolutely unable to come to a consensus, the bureaucrat will arbitrate; and the situation usually turns out worse for both sysops involved. Most often, the bureaucrat will tell them to work it out themselves... preferably out-of-sight of the customers (in this case, Joe Wiki User). The bureaucrat needs to be fair, but he does not need to be friendly.

If a sysop makes a mistake, how does the bureaucrat respond? Does he pull out his monocle and top hat and all the diplomacy he can manage? No, he runs damage control and discusses the error with the sysop as quickly and thoroughly as possible. The bureaucrat takes the flak from the public for the mistake, as he is ultimately responsible for the admin, but he ensures the mistake won't be made again.

A bureaucrat needs to be fair. A bureaucrat needs to be impartial. A bureaucrat needs to be thrifty, intelligent and independent. Those are all things that directly relate to how well he can do his job. Being kind, courteous and/or friendly might be an added bonus, but they are certainly not required. And seeing as how the more important requirements are so hard to meet, you rarely get a chance to choose between equally qualified candidates based on their level of carebear-ism. Most of the time, if you want a dollop of carebear, you have to give up one of the more important traits.

Respect
If you, for whatever reason, want to know what goes on in my head in a given situation, this gives some useful info. I have high standards (of myself and of others) and very little patience when it comes to incompetence. I generally see outcomes clearly, but can't always communicate my vision to others.

I generally only expend effort communicating with intellectuals, as their interests and ability to understand the abstract mirror my own. Everyone else kind of gets shafted, as the only small talk I really like to engage in would bore them to death (and equally, the kind of small talk they engage in bores me to death - who the fuck cares which girl dumped which guy or which celebrity divorced for the sixteenth time?). If you feel left out, don't take it personally; you aren't alone and you aren't being targeted. I simply don't think we'll get along.

If I see you trying to bridge the gap regardless, I will probably give you the time of day - at least long enough to explain whatever it is you want to know. The amount of attention I give you is based on the amount of respect I have for you; the harder you try, the more I listen. The dumber you act, the less I care.

Auron
I take pride in my logic. A few friends of mine all throughout middle/high school would constantly find logic puzzles and false logic scenarios and we'd test each other nonstop. After years of it, I'm pretty happy with my ability to reason. That's also why I get fed up easily with people who can't. I just sort of expect everyone to have the same years of logic training.

Similarly, I was on the speech and debate team for years as well. People who fail at debating annoy the hell out of me. At least in debate class, when people got their asses handed to them, they didn't blindly restate what I had just shut down... Ah well, life isn't perfect.

I was also a Peer Mediator for a few years as well. That taught me a bunch; how to mediate, how to arbitrate, how to effectively compromise when both parties barely feel like talking to each other, etc. Those skills aren't foreign to me. If you think I don't know how to mediate, you're kidding yourself. If the situation called for it, I'm perfectly capable of fulfilling the task. Fortunately, the situation never has called for it - I've never had to deal with that extra load of work on a wiki.

Lastly, my year plus of being a sysop/bcrat on several wikis has taught me many things. From a rocky beginning in the builds section to serving as Bureaucrat on two wikis, I've seen much of wiki life. I've seen all kinds of editors and all kinds of edrama. Learning the intricacies of the spirit of the wiki was probably the hardest thing I've ever done (outside of possibly Vigil Honor); it takes quite an amount of effort to understand the "point" of a wiki... and the community that drives it.

I'm hard to get along with (for some people), but I'm a wealth of information, and I'm an incredibly competent leader. Take it as you will.