PLEASE NOTE: I no longer edit Wikipedia on a regular basis. I will likely not answer any messages in a timely fashion. I found that I was spending the vast majority of my time reverting vandalism and arguing with rules fetishists. Ultimately, I decided to stop pursuing Wikipedia as a hobby and just use it as a reference work. I do occasionally edit, but generally only to fix glaring errors, add hatnotes, fix redirects, and other simple tasks that make Wikipedia easier for people to use, yet aren't likely to start a protracted argument about some Wikipedia policy that I don't care about.
Lamont A. Cranston is the alter ego of a lawyer who is angry that "Lamont Cranston" was already registered when he signed up for Wikipedia.
My editing philosophy
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My take on editing is pretty simple: everything you do should make Wikipedia better. I think that many people let a formalistic view of Wikipedia's policies interfere with actually doing anything to contribute to Wikipedia. I try to make substantive additions to articles, although I do correct grammar and spelling when I catch it (not that I'm particularly error-free in that regard myself).
My favorite Wikipedia policy is Ignore All Rules: "If the rules prevent you from improving or maintaining Wikipedia's quality, ignore them." Ignore alien orders, while you're at it.
References needed?
editWikipedia has a policy on when to add a references needed tag. I quote:
- If an article needs references but you are unable to find them yourself, you can tag the article with the templates {{Unreferenced}}, {{Not verified}}, or {{Primarysources}}.
That is from Wikipedia:Cite sources (emphasis added). I find it more helpful and enjoyable to add content to Wikipedia than to spend my time looking for authoritative sources for facts that are beyond dispute. I resent overuse of the reference and citation tags, particularly when it appears to be an attack on the article in question.
Handy references
edit- Wikipedia's Reference Desk, better than any library's
- An edit counter
Editing Wikipedia
edit- Illustrated guide to Wikipedia code
- Table formatting
- Hatnotes and otheruse templates
- List of edit summary abbreviations
- Please put something in the edit summary box anytime you edit a non-personal page! It can keep your content from being summarily deleted, and makes life easier for people who have that page on their watchlist.
- Redirect pages
- Whenever you search for a term but don't find it immediately because of spelling or capitalization, please but a redirect page at the incorrect location so that others have a better experience on Wikipedia.
- Templates
Lesser known code
editThe following lesser known codes are very helpful. Replace italicized text with context appropriate text.
- {{TOCright}} and {{TOCleft}} will float the table of contents, but make sure to put the code after the introductory paragraph so that users who are using text readers will have a better experience.
- {{ImageStackLeft|150|[[image1]][[image2]]}} will make images line up properly on one side of the page.
- {{unsigned|username}} will add a signature to unsigned comments.
Personal links
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Wikitainment
editI'm often amused by editors who are very concerned about content being "encyclopedic." I always want to point out that most encyclopedias don't even have an entry for Major events of the Marvel Universe. But I came upon the strangest Wikipedia article of all - The Meaning of Life. Please note, that article is not about the film.
Funniest Wikipedia joke of all time
editThis is from the best of Wikipedia Bad Jokes and other Deleted Nonsense
- From All your base are belong to us
- "It remains to be seen whether any of these phrases will acquire any global meaning at all, but if they do, you will most certainly read about it here first, as wikipedia is the authority on this kind of thing, and is certainly the only encyclopedia in any position to track such absurdity given how fast it grows."