Wikipedia editor
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Greetings,
My name is Mike. Currently, I'm from metropolitan Cleveland, Ohio; but I've lived in many places in the United States: Chicago, Illinois where I went to university; Detroit, Michigan, where I went to high school; I grew up in Birmingham, Alabama; and was born in Reno, Nevada to expatriate Californians.
Perspective on Wikipedia
- See the main articles: Criticism of Wikipedia, and Wikipedia:General disclaimer for additional details.
Out of the blocks: If you are using this as a reliable source then caveat emptor!
You should be aware that: "The threshold for inclusion in Wikipedia is verifiability, not truth." [Emphasis is Wikipedia's!]
Seriously. There are editors here who are not at all interested in truth. If they can find a citation, in it goes; even if demonstrably false, banal, or represents a perspective shared by 0.1% of the population. Call them Wikisith because they are using the rules to defeat the rules' purpose.
Larry Sanger makes several cogent observations of the project, especially with respect to anything remotely controversial,[1] which are well worth considering.
Pop culture articles are generally good. (Who knew there were seven forms of lightsaber combat?) Militaria, math, science, history, and classical studies are not bad — but be careful in obscure places. And the math and science can be almost impossibly opaque — and that's from an engineer. But pseudoscience, and people grinding axes on even remotely controversial topics, run amok here. Beware of obscure topics.
I have found a consistent anti-expertise, "don't bother me with silly facts", and "how dare you ask me to produce my sources" bias among several editors I've run across. (Take a look at Chiropractic (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs) for a really in-depth example.) The damage that only a few editors can do is astounding, and is totally unseen by the casual reader.
And despite the belief, taken as axiomatic by some, that these contributions will all wash out in the end, I haven't really seen evidence of that. The best I've seen is that one can try to bury these with reliable and verifiable sources. The trouble is, is that I've seen many editors confuse a verifiable source for a reliable one. Some do so deliberately. And that difference means all the world to the veracity of what you'll find here. So don't take a "sourced" statement here as necessarily reliable. Remember, "attributable, not the truth" is the motto.
If you're going to be editing here for any length of time, bear in mind that we are all volunteers and this from Henry Kissinger: "University politics are vicious precisely because the stakes are so small."[2]
Therefore, despite my having edited here since September of 2005, made what I think are good contributions, and seen quite a bit of yeoman's work of others, I would never consider Wikipedia an acceptable source for academic work. (I'm not alone.) In a lot of ways wikipedia is tantamount to a readable Google search. If you are going to use wikipedia for research, try the article's sources and start from there. Better yet, go to the libes and ask your librarian.
These articles on evaluating primary and secondary sources are well worth your time.
- How to Read a Primary Source, Reading, Writing, and Researching for History: A Guide for College Students, Patrick Rael, 2004.
- How to Read a Secondary Source, Reading, Writing, and Researching for History: A Guide for College Students, Patrick Rael, 2004.
So dear reader, like everything you find on the internet, if you don't know the source to be trustworthy, don't trust what you're reading — even if I wrote it.
Background
If you're here you're probably looking to see if you can pick out my point-of-view. In the interest of full-disclosure, and recognizing that the first way to overcome bias is to name it:
- I am a Bahá'í, and have been one since birth. I seem to be following these articles with interest
- I am an Anglo-American, male, middle-aged, family man; and a masters-degreed, licensed civil and structural engineer. My specialties are project management and bridge design, particularly movable bridges.
- Academics run very deep in my family. Both grandfathers, my father and my only aunt hold doctorates. (I have no uncles.) My mother, one grandmother, sister, wife, and I all are underachievers and only hold master's degrees.
- Military service ran in my family. Both Grandfathers were career officers.
- I may have grown up in the American South, but I'm a Union man, and think Robert E. Lee etc. betrayed their country.
- An open dictionary can cost me half-an-hour.
- An open encyclopedia can cost me an entire afternoon.
- I arange visits to the mall to avoid Borders if I'm (or She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed is) in a hurry.
- My family and I are members of:
- Sloppy logic, fuzzy journalism, and innumeracy make my teeth itch.
-
- "I exist,"
- "God exists,"
- "Therefore I am God."
- … it's nonsense.
- If inflation this past quarter rose from 1.0% to 2.0%, this is not a 1% increase — it's a 100% increase, or one percentage point increase.
- On the other hand, elegant logic, clear and well-documented journalism, and precision are things of beauty.
- I claim no expertise other than what I've earned and is recognized by my peers. I generally do not recognize others claims unless they can demonstrate likewise. That doesn't mean I won't listen to a well-researched and cogent argument — in fact I rely on that when I'm outside of my areas of expertise. But please don't stand alone on a claim of expertise. That's argument from authority.
- I have formally, and informally, studied logic and rhetoric; ergo I have a nose for logical fallacies, and have no problem noting them in a discussion.
- I consider chocolate to be a food-group — and the darker the better. White chocolate, on the other hand, is evidence of the existence of evil.
- I am eagerly waiting for Tim Horton's to finally come to northeast Ohio — and wondering why it's taking so long.
Idiosyncracies
Everybody's got them. It's the variety that makes life interesting.
- (Personal Notes: My paternal grandmother was born in Saskatoon; and I spent my high-school years in Detroit — where the prettiest places were in Windsor — that is until the casinos came and ruined both downtowns.)
Quotes and Maxims
I'll leave it to you to figure out what I think are words to live by — or words to laugh by.
- "The unexamined life is not worth living." — Socrates [7] [8]
- "I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. ..." — Frank Herbert's Bene Gesserit littany against fear in Dune
- "Your pretty brave in cyberspace, flameboy!" - Wally
- "To be absolutely certain about something, one must know everything or nothing about it."[9] — Henry Kissinger
- "Morning team. My name is Edmund Blackadder, and I'm the new minister for religious genocide." — Rowan Atkinson as Edmund, Lord Blackadder in Black Adder II
- "I care not what others think of what I do, but I care very much about what I think of what I do. That is character!"[10] — Theodore Roosevelt
- "I have a cunning plan that can get you out of your problem." — Baldrick in various Blackadder episodes.
- "It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt."[11] — Mark Twain
- "Quando omni flunkus moritati" — Possum Lodge motto.
- "The problem is not that we have too many fools, it's that the lightning isn't distributed right."[12] — Mark Twain
- "Live, live, live! Life is a banquet and most poor suckers are starving to death." — Mame Dennis in Auntie Mame
- "I despise people who go to the gutter on either the right or the left and hurl rocks at those in the center."[13] — Dwight Eisenhower
- "I want you to lay down your life, Perkins. We need a futile gesture at this stage. It will raise the whole tone of the war." — British Army Major to soldier in Beyond the Fringe
- "Always do right - this will gratify some and astonish the rest."[14] — Mark Twain
- "I deplore the need or the use of troops anywhere to get American citizens to obey the orders of constituted courts."[15] — Dwight Eisenhower
- The Man's Prayer: "I'm a man. But I can change. If I have to. I guess." The Possum Lodge Benediction.
- The Scout's Prayer: "I'm a scout. But I can lighten up. If I have to. I guess." The Possum Lodge Scout's Benediction.
- The Woman's Prayer: "I'm a woman. Hear me roar. I'm in charge. Get over it." The Possum Lodge Women's Auxiliary Benediction.
- "Good evening godless sodomites. … It (reality television) warps the minds of our children and weakens the resolve of our allies. … Kneel before your god, Babylon! … I lost to Barry Manilow!" — Stephen Colbert at the 2006 Emmys.
Favorite Wikipedia Articles
To get one thinking:
To make one laugh:
Ones that I've made major contributions to, and to which I'm probably ego bound:
"You're pretty brave in cyberspace, flameboy!"
(( Sockpuppet|SecretChiefs3 ))
I Make a Usenet Discussions for This
[16] "The new phone books are here! The new phone books are here! I'm a real person!" - Steve Martin as Navin Johnson in The Jerk
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