User:Fearwig

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[edit] Personal nonsense

There's something awfully gratifying about putting work into something from which one should logically receive no gratification. Especially when I'm supposed to be doing something else (and usually being paid for it).

I expect you'll find me writing on historical and political/social/religious topics the most, though I'm far more prone to go around complaining about, commenting upon, or editing other people's work than to start up any new projects, at least for now. I would like to think this is a noble cause too, but I am prone to fits of delusion. If you think I've overstepped my bounds, you may be right, so feel free to complain. I have a tendency to confuse my own idiocy with irreverence, which I guess is a common sort of denial. I also love to argue moot points, and it's probably better that we do it here than fill up the talk pages.

I live in Baltimore at present, and I'm finishing up my studies at UMBC so I can teach history to bored pubescent ingrates, either here in the city or in the B'more/D.C. burbs. History, like literature, tells wonderful and, if properly delivered, educational lies and generalizations about human nature. I don't think there's anything more important than this sort of understanding. I think the "...then we are doomed to repeat it" cliche is a kind of perversion of this philosophy, but the underlying principle is the same: the less we know about ourselves, the less we can make of ourselves, and I mean that in the collective sense. I like to think I have something to offer in this respect, both here and in the classroom, so I imagine that's my motivation for editing. I like to think of it as an acceptable conceit.

If you'd like to reach me directly, I'm usually on AIM under this same handle.


Caveats (growing list as I think of things for which people will berate me):

  • I am an obsessive re-editor, and while I use the preview page I also miss a lot of things, or suddenly think they simply must be constructed differently only a minute or two after I've written them. I may make a flurry of edits in a fairly short while, and I though I try to restrict this habit it's not easy. I'm not always hijacking the article when you see six edits in ten minutes in the history log. I'm probably just having a "stupid" moment.
  • While I do not ever wish to introduce non-NPOV tones or elements to an article, I think it is as important to represent dissenting POVs as it is to stick to what some people might call "established facts" and what others might call traditionalist opinion. As a result, I try to be thorough with citations, but since my opinion sometimes varies from the norm my idea of debatable or controversial (and thus cite-worthy) may differ from your own. I am by education a historian, and as a result I am prone to unconscious analysis. For Wiki, I've got my bias reined in--hopefully. But don't think that will keep me from making sure valid, peer-reviewed "revisionist" history is represented in full.
  • I will edit your clumsy phrasing for aesthetics and intelligibility. Aesthetics are subjective, but I believe it is unencyclopedic to abuse the language. Before reverting, give my version a chance, and proofread your own again, just in case. I don't usually do this without good reason, but I may let my ego take over now and again without realizing it.
  • (And this one is inexcusable:) I will take over a talk thread with semantic discussion, and I am probably going to Wikihell for it.


[edit] Current horses I'm beating (however deceased)

[edit] Works in progress

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