User:Ground Zero

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A Wikipedia administrator since August 2005.

[edit] Ground Zero

Why "Ground Zero"? I am a child of the 1980s, and grew up with the threat of nuclear holocaust hanging over my head. My favourite movie is Don McKellar's Last Night about how an array of characters spend their last night on earth before the unexplained end of the world. ("It's not the end of the world: there are still six hours left.")

[edit] Bookmarks

Wikipedia:Canadian wikipedians' notice board LGBT VfD parties colours Vandalism...

[edit] Nice things from nice people

>blush<

This Canadian Tireless Contributor Barnstar is presented to User:Ground Zero for his continuous work on Canadian related articles. Presented by Tony the Marine 06:06, August 20, 2005 (UTC)

For your tireless work on all things Canadian, especially the elections tables, I hereby award you the Barnstar of National Merit. --Deathphoenix (KC)

		The Working Man's Barnstar
		For your extensive work across so many articles to ensure quality, from the minor details to the big—all of which provides evidence that there must actually be more than 24 hours in a day. GrantNeufeld 16:54, 29 May 2006 (UTC)

		The Geography Barnstar
		I award you the GEOGRAPHY barnstar, for your excellent contributions in the Malta article Maltesedog 12:46, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

		The Random Acts of Kindness Barnstar
		You're a super-duper editor, and you go that extra mile for the cause! Great work! Ardenn 02:53, 16 May 2006 (UTC)

		The Original Barnstar
		For lack of a better Barnstar, I award this to both Ground Zero and Khoikhoi for their wonderful efforts in introducing me to Wikipedia on both the Western Alienation and the Bergama articles, my first major contributions. I will forever respect both of you for your professionalism and kindness, and will follow your leads in all my Wikipedia edits. Thanks again for showing me that Wikipedia is, in fact, a noble cause. Gregorof.

[edit] Punctuation

• Commas make sentences easier to read by grouping the different parts of the sentence in a logical way. There is no shortage of them, but many writers seem loath to use them. Here is a supply for anyone who is concerned about running short. Please help yourself:

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,     , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

, , , , , , , , , , , , , ,   , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

, , , , , , ,       , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,   , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,   , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,       , ,   , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,   , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Thanks, I took three (so you'll know when to re-order) Bo 17:53, 27 April 2006 (UTC)

– IOU seven commas, BigNate37 06:17, 12 July 2006 (UTC) (here have some links for your trouble)

Thanks, muchly. Ground Zero | t 19:43, 30 September 2006 (UTC)

Furthermore, they make articles easier to read for visually impaired people who use screen readers. See the comment that I received about a particular edit:

"I thought I was the only one who thought that many wikipedia articles lack commas in the appropriate places. I use a screen reader with a speech synthesizer, which will only pause when there is a comma or colon in the text. Usually, if a sentence doesn't sound right when spoken by the synthesizer, it means that it is missing a comma. I've always believed that a comma should separate two clauses, and therefore should naturally break up a sentence into comprehensible parts. I'm just glad someone agrees with me on this point. Graham 9 July 2005 07:40 (UTC)"

[edit] Copyediting

I have done a fair bit of copyediting around here because many articles are not written clearly. When copyediting, I try to keep in mind that many users will come to the English version of Wikipedia because it is the most complete, even though English may not be their first language. Here are some of the things I keep in mind when editing articles:

• Long sentences can prevent these readers from being able to use Wikipedia. Breaking long, run-on sentences up into separate, concise thoughts can make Wikipedia easier to understand. The Wikipedia:Guide to writing better articles says: "Use short sentences does not mean use fewer words. It means don't use unnecessary words, and sometimes using full stops/periods rather than commas."
• Non-English-speaking people can find sentences with complicated structures very difficult to read. It seems that many Wikipedia writers have an aversion to subject-verb-object sentences.
• "Which" and "that" are not interchangeable. Each has its own use and conveys different information to the reader. Please see below for more.
• Initialisms (acronyms) should be spelled in full in the first instance in an article, and not just Wikilinked, i.e., "Member of Parliament (MP)", not "[[MP]]".
• References to places should include the country in which they are located, e.g., "Quebec, Canada", and not just "Quebec" (at least, until such time as Quebec is an independent country.)

I hope that my aggressive copyediting doesn't cause offence. If it does, then you should re-read the warning at the bottom of every Edit page:

If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly and redistributed at will, do not submit it.

Thank you.

[edit] Linking

• The Wikipedia:Guide to writing better articles says: "When you do create links, link only one or a few instances of the same term; don't link all instances of it." Many writers link every instance of an article name, creating an ugly kalaidescope of blue and red in the article. It isn't necessary.
• Wikipedia:Avoiding common mistakes warns against "Over-Wikifying": "Wikipedia thrives on internal links, but keep it within reason."
• Also, links should be made only where they are relevant to the article, and not to every word. See Wikipedia:Make only links relevant to the context. In particular, links to ordinary words are not generally appropriate.
• The Wikipedia Manual of Style advises against linking years, months and days of the week except where the years, months and dates are part of a complete date, i.e., [[February 13]], [[1965]] or [[13 February]] [[1965]], in which case the links allow user-set date-formatting preferences to work. Linking [[1980]], or [[March]] or [[Tuesday]], is unnecessary and adds to the clutter of an article.

[edit] Which or that?

Many Wikipedians use which and that interchangeably. Each of these words has a specific use that conveys different meanings to the reader. Here are a couple of examples to illustrate the difference:

A1. My car that is blue needs painting.

A2. My car, which is blue, needs painting.

Each sentence tells us something about the car, but the choice of which or that changes the meaning of the sentences.

In sentence A1, the use of that suggests that I own more than one car and therefore must specify that I am talking about a particular car—the blue one. If I left out "that is blue", the reader would not know which of my cars I was talking about.

In sentence A2, I am telling you that I own only one car, and that it needs painting. The fact that it is blue is incidental. I am only adding that in as additional information. I could leave out that information and the sentence would still make sense.

B1. The studies that were written by graduate students are well-researched.

B2. The studies, which were written by graduate students, are well-researched.

In sentence B1, the reader understands that only some of the studies were written by graduate students. If I were to omit "that were written by graduates students", the sentence tells the reader, "The studies are well-researched". This would be inaccurate, because not all of the studies were well-researched—only those written by graduates students. "[That] were written by graduate students" is essential to the meaning of the sentence.

On the other hand, in sentence B2, the information that the studies were written by graduates students is not necessary for the sentence to convey the correct meaning; in this case, all of the studies were well-written. The fact that they were written by graduates students may be interesting, but the central point of the sentence, that the studies were well-written, would still be clear even without that additional information.

Summary:

• Use that when the information is essential to the meaning of the sentence.
• Use which when it is not essential.

Also note that because which introduces incidental information, unlike that, it is typically preceded by a comma.

[edit] My work

See: User:Ground Zero/Articles

[edit] Vandalism of this page

This page has been vandalized about a dozen times. I have listed some below, but I've stopped updating the list because the vandalism was generally boring.

1. 15 June 2005 -- an anonymous editor, who did not like the user name I had chosen, wrote: "shut up! it's a disgrace to real american heros who died on that day to have you digrace their fine memory with this kind of liberal bullshit! Find a new name or just move to frace, oh sorry canda, they have socialism there, you'd like it"

As noted above, and in the Ground Zero article, the term pre-dates September 11 and has a much broader usage. The headline on 29 August 2005 edition of the New Orleans Times-Picayune newspaper was "Ground Zero", in reference to the damage wrought by Hurricane Katrina. I think that the vandal must be too young to remember the use of the phrase prior to 2001.

His edit summary went further to call me a "liberal fucktard". I am actually a Red Tory fucktard.

2. 31 August 2005 -- User:BillGates (probably not the real one) edited my page so that it read, "A flaming homosexual since a week ago last Saturday." This is a blatant lie: I have been a flaming homosexual since 1992.

3. 24 February 2006 -- my page was vandalized twice by 209.226.122.156 and 209.226.122.158. The first vandalism was spam, the second was more personal: "Since he likes the internet site http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymond_Samuels We decided to start to gather information for an internet site page for Kevin... another Wikipeda hypocrite that goes by the rather pathetic geekish username GroundZero.. Kevin (we will withold last name for now) is in his mid 20's... about 24, single, who lives in Mississauga, while Tawkerbot is from Vancouver. His hair appears to be black. He is not very tall, and could use some exercise, and he could also some vitamins for his complexion. Yeah Kevin, maybe you should get off of typing all day on your computer keyboard, and get some excerise. It get out a little more also. You would probably have a better social network if you got out a little more also, according to reliable sources."

I'd be quite happy to be 24 again, but not if I had to live in Mississauga. You are free to believe what you want of this. Of course, it doesn't matter what anyone believes about me because I am not a public figure, and have no Wikipedia article, unlike Raymond Samuels, who appears not to be playing with six men on the ice. Ground Zero | t 13:49, 26 February 2006 (UTC)

If you're going to go to the effort of vandalizing my user page, make it worthwhile. Post something funny or creative. Thanks.

[edit] Notability

WP:NOTABLE, an essay on notability, states clearly (in bold text): "There is no official policy on notability."

Further, there is no consensus that "notability" should be a criterion for inclusion. See the grounds for deletion at Wikipedia:Deletion policy, and, for interest, Jimbo Wales' view on notability, as expressed in the poll where notability failed to become an accepted reason for deletion.

Disclosure: I previously wrote using the user name "Kevintoronto".