User:Fogster

Userboxes

enThis user is a native speaker of the English language.

PHP	This user is a PHP Coder.

mysqlThis user writes programs that access MySQL.

This user contributes using Firefox.

This user contributes using Ubuntu.

This user is an FCC-licensed amateur radio operator, with Technician-class privileges.

This user likes foggy days.

This user is a recent changes patroller.

This user reverts vandalism in the blink of an eye with Twinkle!

PROThis user is a progressive.

This user supports heterosexual and homosexual marriages, and is against any kind of gender restrictions.

This user supported Barack Obama for President in 2008 and 2012.

This user reserves the right to completely screw up their own edits.

About

I often try to take a wikibreak, but then the next day I look something up on Wikipedia... And notice a typo... And fix it... And then look through the article's history... And find vandalism... And look through that user's contributions... And find more vandalism... And revert it... And leave them a message asking them to stop...

These days I spend most of my time patrolling Special:RecentChanges for vandalism. I also get enjoyment out of doing cleanup of articles, spell-checking, Wikifying, and NPOV-ing articles. I periodically contribute content, but 98% of what I do is keeping Wikipedia shiny.

While I absolutely support the deletion of outright garbage, I err on the side of inclusion in the iffy situations. There's a big gray area between what Wikipedia:Notability expressly permits (as well as what common sense dictates) and what Wikipedia:Notability does not permit. We shouldn't have Wikipedia pages about your dog, but if there's a subject that people might Google to find more about, I think Wikipedia should keep the page.

Thoughts

• I've never understood why editors/admins are so incredibly protective of User:Jimmy Wales. (Yes, I know who he is.) If I were him, I'd rather have my user page vandalized all day long than have people vandalizing actual articles on Wikipedia. This isn't to say I condone vandalizing his page, just that I don't see why people consider vandalizing his page much different from the people who keep vandalizing Orange (fruit) or whatnot. Sometimes a WP:RfA entry will say something like, "I don't support 'only warnings' unless they're doing something egregious like vandalizing Jimmy Wales' page" or something. I don't understand the logic.

Rants

• Vandals: Yes, you really can edit almost any page here. That doesn't mean you should. Come help us, rather than screwing up what thousands of us work so hard on.
• Editors: Please use edit summaries!
• RC Patrollers: Please, please, please:
  • Especially in cases of obvious malicious intent (versus what look like well-intentioned, but misguided edits), please take a minute to look through the user's contributions. Oftentimes, they'll vandalize multiple articles before someone reverts one of them.
  • When you revert a change identified as vandalism, leave a note on the user's talk page. This is very important when it comes to trying to get persistent vandals banned on WP:AIV.
  • When someone else reverts a vandal's edit, don't immediately go leave a note on the vandal's talk page. You can wait a few minutes and see if they do, but it's really confusing (and frankly, annoying) to have someone beat me to it. I view the steps as connected: whoever reverts the change should leave the note explaining that they just did it.
• Anyone doing cleanup: When you find a block of text that sounds really awkwardly-phrased, as if it weren't written for Wikipedia, take a sentence and Google it. It's easy to spot Wikipedia:Copyright violations this way.

Useful Links

Counter-Vandalism

WP:AIV - Administrator Intervention against Vandalism | RecentChanges | RecentChanges, IPs only | WP:Vandalism

General

Wikipedia Signpost | The Five Pillars of Wikipedia | Manual of Style | Wikipedia:Featured article criteria | Wikipedia:WikiProject_Schools | The Wikimedia Servers

Rules of Thumb

• Always assume good faith
• Don't contribute anything that can't be verified
• If you're going to be a jerk, be a giant dick (humor)
• Read the guidelines on notability before creating pages about new people...
  • ...and these ones if it's about your band
• Assume good faith (within reason)

My Subpages

Things To Do List | School Pages I Watch | Images I Uploaded | Pages I Started