Wikipedia:Editor review/K. Lastochka

K. Lastochka

K. Lastochka (talk · contribs) ~~I'm toying with the idea of running for admin sometime later this fall, and figured I should get some input before attempting anything like that.~~ Even if I decide not to try for adminship though, I'd still like to hear some feedback about what I'm doing right and what I need to improve at. Please be honest and straightforward in both compliments and criticism. K. Lásztocska 18:40, 23 July 2007 (UTC) Update: I have decided that I will most likely not be running for admin in the near future. I have plenty of other things on my plate and I've been having some nagging doubts about whether I even really want adminship right now in the first place. (and how good of a job could I do if my heart wasn't in it?) :) I probably will try the mop and bucket some time, just not anytime in the next few months. However, I still appreciate comments and input here to help me improve as an editor. K. Lásztocska ^{Review me?} 01:49, 2 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Reviews

Thanks KL for the opportunity to review you. I believe I have a good oversight on your work; we have cooperated on more than one project over the months, sometimes with great success, and our watch lists seem to overlap a bit. So my considered and informed view is that you are certainly one of the handful of editors who not only edit competently, but also bring out the best in others. You edit with both reason and passion, and it is especially the latter that resonates well with others. I saw this long ago (It's even on record, I believe) and am not changing my mind. You are quick to see neglected points of view and urge others to do the same (sometimes to a fault). But most of all, you pour your heart into your work, which sometimes breaks through the screen and grabs you by the lapels. (Edith Piaf did this in her singing; I can't understand much of it, but I love it because she poured 110% of her heart into every song.) People like that; it really warms up the place. Don't stop; every engine needs spark plugs.

In other words, people like you make the Wikipedia not suck (to coin a phrase). This is actually quite important, even in a strictly practical sense; editors must want to work on the wiki if it is to improve. This has to be a place for humans, after all.

Back to the topic of your editing. Criticisms: You are sometimes naive, and certain unscrupulous editors have, in the past, manipulated you. One cure for this would be to live in Bp until you can read Machiavelli in Hungarian, but failing that, remember that you aren't required to bend over backward to find common ground with unreasonable editors, or to jump in to take their side in arguments with other unreasonables, or to put up with to-remain-anonymous editors who can only toss out disjointed bits of trivia like pieces of popcorn that don't sting in real life at all (like the monster under the bed, they often just need ignoring). Remember, sometimes martyrs don't get medals. Also remember, don't loose your poise; if you loose your cool, you loose. Beware the sycophant above all.

Question: do you really want to be an admin? Im sure you CAN do it, but do you WANT to? Should you? You do very well as an editor - why change? A common mistake in business is promoting a star salesman to sales manager - is this something you really want? (if so maybe you can unblock me sometime...) István 04:49, 1 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I admit that I do not know you too well (i.e. not as well as, say, István knows you). However, I know the Romani people page fairly well. Based on what I have seen there, I can honestly say that I have found you to be one of the few editors who has managed to keep a cool head on the discussion page. In my opinion, all admins should (ideally?) be people who are not easy to offend. I don't know whether you "bend over backward" or not, but you are obviously not easy to offend. --Kuaichik 23:46, 1 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Actually, I usually just do a good job of hiding it. ;-) Glad my efforts are appreciated though. K. Lásztocska ^{Review me?} 01:49, 2 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

OK, so maybe you're just not showing a somewhat hotter/warmer head. :-D So what? Many of the editors are not so careful. Heck, I doubt that I typically succeed in hiding my emotions! Anyhow, naj soske (lit. "it is not for what" in Romani) and не за что! (I guess the literal meaning in Russian is similar?). --Kuaichik 23:53, 2 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

It's not how hot your head is, it's how you use it. ;-) Naj soske! (Cool, now I know how to say something in Romani!) K. Lásztocska ^{Review me?} 03:03, 3 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Comments

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OK, great, but how do I comment? I consider Lásztocska K. to have well balanced views and a kind of good scientific approach. Anything else to comment on? --KIDB 15:18, 31 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks KIDB! To comment you just write stuff here, not on the talk page. I appreciate the compliments, do you have any criticisms or things you think I need to improve at? K. Lásztocska ^{Review me?} 18:46, 31 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I think that english wikipedia need somebody like K. Lásztocska for administrator. Reason for that is her knowledge of south and east Europe and her accepting of other side arguments during discussions. --Rjecina 23:39, 31 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you, Rjecina, I'm quite flattered. :) K. Lásztocska ^{Review me?} 00:22, 1 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

K. Lastochka is one of the nicest editors I met here in enwiki. She knows that a few kind words can make wonders. Her enthusiasm brings out the best in other editors, as it can be seen in the case of the 1956 revolution article, of which she was the guardian angel until it succeeded in reaching featured status and being featured on the main page. KL would be a great admin, but she has to promise that she'll still have time for editing, not only for admin duties :) – Alensha ^talk 15:42, 3 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Questions

Of your contributions to Wikipedia, are there any about which you are particularly pleased, and why?

My proudest moment was seeing Hungarian Revolution of 1956 reach Featured Status and get mainpage glory on the anniversary of the revolution--it was the first big project I'd ever been involved in (I was a useless n00b up till that point) and it was immensely satisfying. Aside from that though, I think there are more triumphs in my future than there are in my past: I'm working (slowly!) on getting Joseph Szigeti up to Featured, and then will probably try to get a 56-style drive on Prague Spring going for the anniversary of that next spring. Other than that, I'd say my contributions have been minor but not insignificant--grammar, style, clarity and so forth. K. Lásztocska 18:40, 23 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Have you been in any conflicts over editing in the past or do you feel other users have caused you stress? How have you dealt with it and how will you deal with it in the future?

Definitely. Working as I do primarily in Central- and Eastern Europe-related topics, conflict is simply inevitable. I've had a handful of unpleasant scuffles and been involved in some heated debates with Hungarian, Slovak, Serbian and Romanian editors over issues of language usage in articles about multi-ethnic regions, but nothing too awful on those fronts. The two worst wars that come to mind are: firstly, the argument I got into with an anonymous IP contributor on Talk:Franz Liszt (it's in the archives) over the accursed "Hungarian Question" about Liszt's exact nationality. The topic is close to my heart of course, so that made me a little irritable to begin with, but also the IP contributor knew exactly how to push all my buttons and infuriate me. To be fair to the anonymous scholar, however, it remained a primarily academic dispute and rarely did we outright insult each other. Not so with the outright nuclear war that erupted on Talk:Fântâna Albă massacre. My attention was brought to that dispute by a buddy of mine who was promptly accused of canvassing, but let the record show that I joined the debate of my own free will and felt no pressure from anyone. It was then that I met User:Anonimu, who treated me with more rudeness and disrespect than I have ever experienced in my time on the Wiki...I could go on, but you don't really want to hear about it. That dispute was, I believe, the only instance where I have (after significant provocation) sunk to a trollish level and issued outright personal attacks: I am not proud of that and have no intention of repeating such childish behavior. I've discovered that the best way to deal with such angst-inducing battles is to take a wikibreak for a week and let everything blow over.K. Lásztocska 18:40, 23 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]