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Wikimedia Foundation

Have you learned the lessons only of those who admired you, and were tender with you, and stood aside for you? Have you not learned great lessons from those who braced themselves against you, and disputed passage with you?

Walt Whitman

We're not going to agree on everything, but we can disagree without being disagreeable.

Rick Warren at the first inauguration of Barack Obama

Please try to understand and follow Wikipedia's BRD cycle to avoid sanctions and wastage.

About Wikimedia and Wikipedia

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Wikimedia Terms of Use

About Wikiville

Wikiderata

This is the real world

What Wikipedia is not

The perfect article

Basic copyediting

Edit summary abbreviations

Wikipedia simple rules

Wikipedia policies and guidelines

How to write good

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My several years in the word game have learnt me several rules:

1. Avoid Alliteration. Always.
2. Prepositions are not words to end sentences with.
3. Avoid cliches like the plague. (They're old hat.)
4. Employ the vernacular.
5. Eschew ampersands & abbreviations, etc.
6. Parenthetical remarks (however relevant) are unnecessary.
7. It is wrong to ever split an infinitive.
8. Contractions aren't necessary.
9. Foreign words and phrases are not apropos.
10. One should never generalize.
11. Eliminate quotations. As Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, "I hate quotations. Tell me what you know."
12. Comparisons are as bad as cliches.
13. Don't be redundant; don't use more words than necessary; it's highly superfluous.
14. Profanity sucks.
15. Be more or less specific.
16. Understatement is always best.
17. Exaggeration is a billion times worse than understatement.
18. One word sentences? Eliminate.
19. Analogies in writing are like feathers on a snake.
20. The passive voice is to be avoided.
21. Go around the barn at high noon to avoid colloquialisms.
22. Even if a mixed metaphor sings, it should be derailed.
23. Who needs rhetorical questions?

— Frank L. Visco, Writer's Digest (June 1986)

Some quotes

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Stephen Wong, a contributor from Hong Kong who has been active on Chinese Wikipedia since 2009, said users across the region have experienced "some form of cultural shock", which triggers arguments. "Users from different areas have received different education, and have been influenced by different political ideologies", Mr. Wong said. "We discovered that the things we learned as a kid were totally different from each other."
"When I first joined the Chinese Wikipedia, I was an 'angry youth'", said Wilson Ye, a 17-year-old Wikipedia editor from Shanghai who started writing entries four years ago. "I was furious when I came across terms like Taiwan and the Republic of China. But after more interactions, I understand how people in Taiwan think, and I become much more tolerant."

Wikipedia China Becomes Front Line for Views on Language and Culture, Grace Tsoi, The New York Times (October 2013)

Writing what to many people will be the definitive text on something is a heady experience.
But more appealing is the grand, utopic vision the founders have for Wikipedia: a vast melting pot of knowledge, contributed to by people from everywhere, accessible to everyone. "We're organization-obsessive, and knowledge-obsessive", says Alex Stinson.

Love and Drama at the Wikipedia Conference, Jessica Pressler, New York Magazine (June 2014)

Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery, none but ourselves can free our minds.

— Bob Marley, "Redemption Song" (1980)

In the age of information, ignorance is a choice.

— Donny Miller, Beautiful People with Beautiful Feelings (2006)

... burning with curiosity, she ran across the field after it, and fortunately was just in time to see it pop down a large rabbit-hole under the hedge.
In another moment down went Alice after it, never once considering how in the world she was to get out again.

— Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland: Down the Rabbit Hole (1865)

Suppose within every book there is another book, and within every letter on every page another volume constantly unfolding; but these volumes take no space on the desk. Suppose knowledge could be reduced to a quintessence, held within a picture, a sign, held within a place which is no place.

— Hilary Mantel, Wolf Hall (2009)

Doveryai, no proveryai
English: Trust, but verify

— Russian proverb

Some firsts

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Badges of honour

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  The South Africa Barnstar of National Merit
For a great deal of work in writing, editing and generally improving articles (and templates) related to South Africa. htonl (talk) 16:37, 13 April 2013 (UTC) Seconded Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 19:17, 13 April 2013 (UTC)
  The Writer's Barnstar
Good job on the Satanic Panic page! Robvanvee 17:26, 13 May 2013 (UTC)
  The Original Barnstar
For Satanic Panic (South Africa) - a brilliant article :). Ironholds (talk) 18:15, 7 September 2013 (UTC)
  The Special Barnstar
Kind regards, Afro-Eurasian (talk) 21:45, 31 January 2014 (UTC)
  The Original Barnstar
For helping combat the Wikipedia:Systemic bias on Wikipedia through creating articles like Thokozile Masipa a topic highlighting underrepresented African communities and prominent women and publicly profiling it via WP:DYK! Great job! Sadads (talk) 16:45, 1 March 2014 (UTC)
  The Photographer's Barnstar
For your fantastic coverage of the South African general election, 2014. Well done. Nathan121212 (talk) 17:29, 11 May 2014 (UTC)
  The Defender of the Wiki Barnstar
For keeping the Trial of Oscar Pistorius article neutral and factual in the face of bullying and harassment, and even managing to remain calm and courteous while doing so! MelanieN (talk) 14:52, 14 August 2014 (UTC) Seconded Roger (Dodger67) (talk) 17:17, 14 August 2014 (UTC)
  The Writer's Barnstar
for your excellent and well researched work on Thuli Madonsela. —Bruce1eetalk 05:34, 3 September 2014 (UTC)

Sugar and spice

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  In recognition of your work on the article about the child of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, I would like you to imagine enjoying the taste of my grandmother's masterpiece dessert. An imaginary glass of pomegranate juice would go perfectly with it! Surtsicna (talk) 13:21, 6 July 2013 (UTC)
  Glass of wine
May you find many more ancestors! Andrew Lancaster (talk) 10:56, 9 July 2013 (UTC)

Thanks so much for your help on my DYK nomination and good collaborations and kindness in general. Nathan121212 (talk) 15:03, 13 October 2014 (UTC)

 
I thought that you deserved something a bit extra for all of the amazing work you've done for the project.
I've nominated you for a gift from the Wikimedia Foundation!

DYK credits

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Rainbow nation

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I live in a country with shocking economic inequality (that’s both third world and first, sometimes within half a kilometre of each other) stricken by AIDS and corruption and crime. At the same time, there’s tremendous hope and optimism and a resilience. South Africa is an incredible place that has spent the last 20 years going through interesting times (as per the Chinese curse). It’s a fascinating place to be.
... I think of myself as South African full stop. Those European ties are so old, so frayed, they’re not even a sepia photograph, they’re a faded oil painting dating back 350 years when my family first came to this country.

— Lauren Beukes, Interview: Lauren Beukes by Charles A. Tan (2009)

en soms vir 'n oomblik
kan ons mekaar se taal
verstaan
English: and sometimes for a moment we can understand each other

— Johannes Kerkorrel, blou aarde, bloudruk