I am throwing my hat in the ring and signing up as a candidate for Arbcom this round. I held off out of concern about time committments, but have decided that it's important.
I've been editing Wikipedia since July 2005, was an early unblock-en-l member (inactive), an administrator for several years, and an OTRS member (inactive). For several years now I've helped at the Wikimedia Foundation booth at the Maker Faire in San Mateo.
In real life: I am an IT consultant in UNIX, Networking, Storage, IT infrastructure such as identity management, and web services; I also conduct interviews and do internal training. I also own a small aerospace business.
I care about content - I've worked on aerospace and engineering articles, military articles, California localities among others. I think I'd be happier if I just focused on that, but there's a reason I don't.
Wikipedia isn't just an encyclopedia anyone can edit; it's an encyclopedia we all edit together. We're all human - "all" and "together" are not a harmonious combination all the time. Which is why Arbcom is here (and Admins, ANI, friendly individual contributors trying to calm disputes down, etc).
I've been called the Civility Police before; but I think that's somewhat of a mistake. I really don't care about rude language (watch me when I hurt myself welding or drop something on my toe in real life). What I care about is that the community balances "all" and "together", and all participants remember both of those words. Disrespect and personal attacks are a real problem.
I may not be able to dedicate several more hours a day to Wikipedia, but hopefully I can put in enough time to help with the above issues.
