I am a conscientious, fair minded Wikipedian user with some experience in dispute resolution. I am a firm believer in community consensus, and feel that the community is at the heart of Wikipedia's success. What hurts the smooth progress of Wikipedia is any user or group of users (including the Arbitration Committee) who feel they are above or beyond the community, and who wish to assert their own point of view. If everyone abided by community consensus we wouldn't need an Arbitration Committee but reality is that there will always be people who want to do things their way. History has shown that sometimes this can be positive, but - unfortunately - mostly it is negative. ArbCom is here to ensure that the community's views are upheld, and to reduce disruption.
Though I recognise that ArbCom will be a time-consuming task, I am prepared to undertake it because I enjoy and respect this project. I am grateful both for the access to information Wikipedia provides me, and for the fun I have in taking part in building this encyclopedia. My weakness at the moment, and I understand and accept that this is a major problem, is that my Wiki access time can be limited because I have to care for my 2 1/2 year old daughter. What I am able to offer is thoughtful, conscientious and community focused input when I am able, though what I can't offer is that I would be able to offer that 24/7.
I have no alternative accounts, and make myself known on my userpage. I am willing to provide WM or anyone else with full details of who I am.
Added 22nd November: I've been reminded that I created
a SilkTook account in December 2008. That was me trying out the account creation tool. The account has not been used.
28 November & 1 December - some copy-editing for clarity.
