Hello! I am KnightLago. I am third-year law student studying in the United States. I have been an editor since early 2006, an administrator since April 2008, and an Arbitration Committee Clerk since March 2009. I am also a member of the Volunteer Response Team. I have written a number of articles, including a featured article, and have a wide range of experience across the project.
In thinking about running I asked myself the following question: What change and impact would I bring to the committee?
First, and most importantly, I think we have entirely too many users whose sole purpose on, and contribution to Wikipedia is DRAMA. These are the people who appear repeatedly at Arbitration or ANI wasting the community's time and patience. We are here to write an encyclopedia, not to humor people who want attention. These people also drive away constructive editors, who are Wikipedia's most valuable and important assets. This is unacceptable.
Second, cases are taking too long to reach a resolution. An example is the Eastern European mailing list case, which I am clerking. The case has dragged on and a number of target dates have been missed due to the volume of evidence all of the arbitrators have to wade through. In order to solve this, I would advocate for a system like a Court of Appeals, where a small number of judges, in our situation arbitrators, are assigned to each case. SirFozzie is advocating something similar. If this approach were adopted, there would be less people required to go through the evidence, and arbitrators could spend more time on their cases or other matters. If the case was somehow significant, then the committee could sit en banc. This would bring cases to a quicker resolution and allow users to return to editing.
Third, I would continue the reformation process the committee is currently engaged in and seek community input wherever possible. I think all too often we forget that the Arbitration Committee serves at the behest of, and are first and foremost, editors from the community. Therefore, if elected by the community, I promise to give all sides fair consideration in any dispute, promise to work diligently within Wikipedia's policies, and always bear in mind that the primary purpose of Wikipedia is to write an open and accessible encyclopedia.
