User:Soni/U4C 2024 Special Elections guide

This is my analysis of all the candidates standing for the U4C 2024 Special Elections. This is based on my personal evaluation and not any numbers. If you'd like impartial but unchanging numeric guide to the candidates, I recommend checking out the other candidate guides, especially the one by Giraffer.

My evaluation will be based on the following metrics, in order -

Answering questions. I will Oppose all candidates who answer no "Open" questions by July 27 (when voting begins). I expect U4C members to be accountable to the community.
Coherent and clear answers. I prefer U4C candidates who have clear takes I can understand (instead of political-speak). I do not care about their English proficiency.
Diversity of opinion and expertise. I believe the 7 already-seated U4C candidates are solid but quite similar. I value differing experiences or diverging but solid takes.
Experience. All else being equal, I value candidates who have held higher positions onWiki or had significant offwiki organising.

U4C elections are a complicated mess of "Who gets seated" so I will not be voting strategically. My plan is to vote Support for between 1 (minimum required for a quorum) - 9 (number of seats available) candidates in the election. For a single page containing all info and answers from all candidates, see this page.

Overview

Candidates are ordered by my preference order (the voting table is sortable).


My vote # ordering	Candidate (Page with Questions)	Homewiki	Seat(s)	My vote	Notes
1	1233 (Candidate page)	Chinese Wikipedia	CAL	Support	I supported 1233 in the 2024 elections, and plan to support them again. Their takes are reasoned and they bring a new insight from the Chinese projects.
2	Waltercolor (Candidate page)	French Wikipedia	CAL	Support	They have the most detailed and frank answers of any candidate. There are too many candidates from Western Europe, but more women and more French representation is a strong positive. I value some non admin opinions on the committee.
3	Leaderboard (Candidate page)	English Wikibooks	CAL	Support	I supported Leaderboard in the 2024 elections, and plan to support them again. Their answer to Q1 and the first personal question is exactly what I expect from a U4C candidate.
4	Aishik Rehman (Candidate page)	Bengali Wikipedia	SA, CAL	Support	They are standing for an under-represented community, their introduction seems solid, and they seem to have prior credentials locally. Their initial answers to open questions were reasonable.
5	Krd (Candidate page)	Commons	CAL	Support	Their answer to "What you have done" was refreshing. I really like their answer to Q2.
6	Ajraddatz (Candidate page)	Wikidata	NA, CAL	Support	Their answers are nuanced, and I agree with them. Their answers to Q2 and Q5 were very solid. I have also seen Ajraddatz elsewhere onWiki and have a solid impression of them.
7	~aanzx (Candidate page)	Kannada Wikipedia	SA, CAL	Neutral	They are standing for an under-represented community. There were some concerns raised, which I think were indirectly caused by English proficiency. Ultimately I not care about the English proficiency and find enough specifics in their answers.
8	Dera xoxo (Candidate page)	Igbo Wikipedia	SSA, CAL	Neutral	From the introductory statement, candidate has no clear onWiki experience, additional userrights, or offwiki experience. Their answers seem simple and clear-cut enough, so they are my preferred choice from this under-represented community.
9	Iwuala Lucy (Candidate page)	Igbo Wikipedia	SSA, CAL	Oppose	I found their answer to Q1 lacking. On asking for clarification, they continued to answer in a roundabout fashion or give no specifics.
10	C.Suthorn (Candidate page)	Commons	CEE, CAL	Strong oppose	They changed regional seats to CEE despite having no connection to the region. After being questioned on it, their response was an unimpressive "But history could have gone differently".
11	NANöR (Candidate page)	Arabic Wikipedia	CAL	Strong oppose	Candidate has not answered any at-large questions by the time voting began. I do not trust them to be accountable to the community.
12	Faendalimas (Candidate page)	Wikispecies	LAC, CAL	Strong oppose	Candidate has not answered any at-large questions by the time voting began. I do not trust them to be accountable to the community.
13	ProtoplasmaKid (Candidate page)	Spanish Wikipedia	LAC	Strong oppose	Candidate has not answered any at-large questions by the time voting began. I do not trust them to be accountable to the community.
14	Ybsen lucero (Candidate page)	Spanish Wikipedia	LAC	Strong oppose	Candidate has not answered any at-large questions by the time voting began. I do not trust them to be accountable to the community.
15	Azogbonon (Candidate page)	French Wikipedia	SSA	Strong oppose	Candidate has not answered any at-large questions by the time voting began. I do not trust them to be accountable to the community.
16	787IYO (Candidate page)	Hausa Wikipedia	SSA, CAL	Strong oppose	Candidate has not answered any at-large questions by the time voting began. I do not trust them to be accountable to the community.
17	Taoheedah (Candidate page)	English Wikiquote	SSA, CAL	Strong oppose	Candidate has not answered any at-large questions by the time voting began. I do not trust them to be accountable to the community.
18	Боки (Candidate page)	Serbian Wikipedia	CEE	Strong oppose	Candidate has not answered any at-large questions by the time voting began. I do not trust them to be accountable to the community. There have been other concerns raised about them in questions.


Abbreviation	Seat
NA	North America (US & Canada)
NWE	Northwestern Europe
LAC	Latin America and Caribbean
CEE	Central and Eastern Europe
SSA	Sub-Saharan Africa
MENA	Middle East and Northern Africa
ESEAP	East, South East Asia and Pacific
SA	South Asia
CAL	Community-at-large