Wikipedia editor
| This is a Wikipedia user page. This is not an encyclopedia article or the talk page for an encyclopedia article. If you find this page on any site other than Wikipedia, you are viewing a mirror site. Be aware that the page may be outdated and that the user whom this page is about may have no personal affiliation with any site other than Wikipedia. The original page is located at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Flamarande. |
|
I would say I'm a cynic but I bet you just wouldn't believe me.
|
| This user is old enough to remember what a typewriter is, and that's all you need to know. |
| This user believes it is every citizen's duty to vote. |
龍 | This user was born in the year of the Dragon. | |
| This user is of German ancestry. |
| This user prefers to play games on a PC. |
| This user is a Stark. Winter is Coming |
| This user is a Martell. Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken |
| This user is a fan of Dune. |
|
Loosely quoting somebody I don't admire: "Let my work speak for myself."
In the interest of accountability, here's my log. You can also see my contributions and some statistics.
Da disclaimer
I'm a human being. Therefore I'm clearly not perfect, and will, without any doubt, make some mistakes. I base my edits upon my personal knowledge, and my knowledge is limited by the information to which I have access. (for the really dumb: I might be wrong/mistaken.)
My completely personal policy in improving any article in Wikipedia.
- "No vandalism", (I really hope that I don´t have to explain the reasons for it).
- "Try to link stuff", link the names, the dates, countries, battles, etc. If you do that, Wikipedia will be much better for it.
- "Show your sources", in others words: put "references" like books (with the ISBN) and other "stuff" in the proper place (usually at the end of the article).
- "Put the complete name", Put the complete name (as "true" as possible) at the first mention of the person, then use the "most commonly" know version of it.
- "Respect the official version", if you read, know, believe and want to present a "correct - alternative" event or reasoning which differs somewhat from the "commonly accepted" one, present it (and show your sources!) as such. My own example: Herleva (I added info from "1066" and although I agree (believe) with it, I wrote the info below the official version).
- "be flexible", nobody is perfect, not even you.
- "Use the preview button" (helped me many times)
Problems I see in Wikipedia (this is only my personal opinion).
- "the "POV-excuse": some users disagree with a part of a article. What do they do? Do they argue their point? No, they say this is POV (a bit like the "Hitler-excuse"). Most of them don´t even bother to explain their reasons in the talkpage.
- "modern scholarship says..." The killer argument (again a bit like the "Hitler-excuse"). If you defend another perspective you are firstly a outdated fool. Secondly, as modern scholarship is not telling what you are defending you must be wrong and they must be right, always. Thirdly, if scholarship says it and you not, you are a defending a POV.
- Basicly, the eager user has read a new book of someone (sometimes it is not even a scholar!) and believes that this scholar is absolutely infallible and has understood everything correctly, this time. We have to rewrite everything, and follow this scholar ad absurdum.
- Look pal, I am willing to bet a very large amount of cash that in a hundred years from now, scholars will teach: "In the early 21st century it was believed that... . Today we know that it is a wrong conclusion."
- "Overeager/self-righteous administrators/vigilantes": Some administrators (and I mean a few) are turning into self-rightous vigilantes, who basicly do what they want. Sometimes, they follow any suggestion of Jimbo to the letter, in a truly Your wish is my command attitude, most of the time they simply follow their own ideas.
- "Jimbo Walles worship": Some ppl simply worship Jimbo, he can never be wrong, he is perfect, and all his views and suggestions are to be followed without any doubts or questions. Praise Jimbo. Look, I like Wikipedia a lot, I think that it is a great idea (or I wouldn't be here, would I?), and I also agree that Jimbo should be respected. But the guy is only human, some of his opinions are debatable and some of his ideas are probably wrong. Some of his attitudes are in fact quite similar to a common politician (and we shouldn't worship politicians).
- "political correctness" leads to plain stupidity, leads to double-standards, leads to censorship, and leads to oppression. 'Nuff said.
The shame of Wikipedia
Despite all its faults I appreciate Wikipedia. However there is one issue which I absolutely despise: namely the handling of the names China and Taiwan. Currently Wikipedia does not follow common sense, and does not use these two names/titles as the whole English-speaking world is doing. "China" does no refer to the current country (officially the People's Republic of China) and "Taiwan" does not refer to the de facto independent country (officially the Republic of China). Under the cover of NPOV a group of users decided to play politics (blatant case of double standards).
In my honest opinion a group of self-righteous (AFAIK Americans and Taiwanese) "anti-communists" and "freedom-fighters" are misusing Wikipedia to bother the Chinese government in a manner and fashion that I can only describe as pitiful.
They are also the most polite group of preachers that I have ever met and hopefully someone with enough authority will do the right thing in the name of common sense and accuracy.
"Stuff" I believe (believe - strange, over-used word these days) in, including a few "loose" quotes (my own stuff is in parentheses)
- Only two things are infinite, the universe and the stupidity of mankind, and I'm not sure about the former. - Albert Einstein
- (Believers) are civil, educated and ignorant. They´re not mad. They´re trained to believe, not to know. Belief can be manipulated. Only knowledge is (truly) dangerous. - Scytale from Dune Messiah written by Frank Herbert
- Civilization: a thin veneer over barbarianism. - John M. Shanahan, The Most Brilliant Thoughts of All Time (In Two Lines or Less)
- Civilization is a movement and not a condition, a voyage and not a harbour. - Arnold Toynbee
- Hypocrisy is the homage that vice pays to virtue. - Francois De La Rochefoucauld
- We are all hypocrites. It is in our very nature to be so. So much so that even our protestation of hypocrisy is, in itself, patently hypocritical. - Claire Worthington
- There is only one rule and law you must truly follow: Don't get caught.
- Great empires are not maintained by timidity. - Tacitus
- A dagger in the dark is worth a thousand swords at dawn.
- By way of deception, thou shalt do war.
- There is no knowledge that is not power. - Mortal Kombat
- Knowledge is power, Guard it well. - motto of the Blood Ravens
- Knowledge is only the first step on the path of power.
- We're drowning in information and starving for knowledge. - Rutherford D. ROGERS, American librarian, Yale University
- May you live in interesting times. - In seems to be a Chinese curse. The reasoning is the following: quiet times are the best, as everything is peaceful and safe. Interesting times are dangerous, stressful, of conflict, and destruction. Still I would like to live in interesting times because truth be told these are also times of change and tremendous progress (technological, political, but also social, etc). As I grow older and wiser (?) I may change my mind.
- Islam is a religion of peace, too bad it has been taken over by way too many hate-filled self-righteous fanatics who preach their own message of terror and medieval xenophobia upon a largely scared and ignorant mob.
- For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world... - Ephesians 6:12 ("and against plain stupidity, blessed ignorance, common incompetence, greedy corruption, self-righteos hypocrisy, and simple lies everyone wants to believe...")
- The greatest pleasure is to vanquish your enemies and chase them before you, to rob them of their wealth and see those dear to them bathed in tears, to ride their horses and clasp to your bosom their wives and daughters - Genghis Khan
- paraphrase: What is best in life?" "Crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and hear the lamentations of their women! from the movie Conan the Barbarian
- All that is necessary for evil to succeed is that good men do nothing. - Edmund Burke
- Variant: The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing. - Edmund Burke (attributed)
- He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And when you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you. - Friedrich Nietzsche
- Namque pauci libertatem, pars magna iustos dominos volunt (iv.69.18)
- Only a few prefer liberty, the majority seek nothing more than fair masters. - Sallust, Histories
- Exitus acta probat. (Latin proverb, coined by Ovid)
- translation: The result justifies the deed.
- variant: The ends justifies the means.
- My personal version: "The end must justify the means. If it doesn't, you simply shoudn't use those means."
- TANSTAAFL - "There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch" - popularized by science fiction writer Robert A. Heinlein
- Доверя́й, но проверя́й. (Russian proverb)
- Translation: Trust, but verify.
- Of two competing theories or explanations, all other things being equal, the simpler one is to be preferred. - Occam's Razor, attributed to William of Ockham, 14th century logician
- Satire: "Of two competing theories or explanations, all other things being equal, the more ridiculous and/or awesomer one is to be preferred." - Hancock's Razor, named for 20th/21st century alternative historian Graham Hancock
- If the Aborigine drafted an I.Q. test, all of Western civilization would presumably flunk it. - Stanley Garn
- In anger we should refrain both from speech and action. - Pythagoras
- In all things be moderate.
- Freedom of Speech not only means that everyone has the freedom to say what we like to hear. It also means that other people have the liberty to say things we despise and hate.
- History is written by victors and by losers, interpreted and sometimes rewritten by intellectuals and fools, manipulated and used by politicians, and simply ignored by rebels and the masses, who always make the same mistakes.
- Power don't come from a badge or a gun. Power comes from lying. Lying big and gettin' the whole damn world to play along with you. Once you've got everybody agreeing with what they know in their hearts ain't true, you've got 'em by the balls. - Senator Roark in Sin City
- Beware the leader who bangs the drums of war in order to whip the citizenry into a patriotic fervor, for patriotism is indeed a double-edged sword. It both emboldens the blood, just as it narrows the mind. And when the drums of war have reached a fever pitch and the blood boils with hate and the mind has closed, the leader will have no need in seizing the rights of the citizenry. Rather, the citizenry, infused with fear and blinded by patriotism, will offer up all of their rights unto the leader and gladly so. How do I know? For this is what I have done. And I am Caesar.
- This statement was not made by Julius Caesar and it has also been wrongly attributed to William Shakespeare, but the actual author is unknown. The article on it at Snopes.com states : "No record of this quote has been found prior to its appearance on the Internet in late 2001." Nevertheless, the rationale is true, and proven throughout history (especially recent one).