User:Guinnog

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Friday
15
December
01:43 UTC
Welcome to Guinnog's user page

on Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit

This page is best viewed in Mozilla Firefox. Don't forget to maximize!
Travelling
Lived for years:
Visited:
To go some day:
Never to go again:
Idea and layout adapted from User: Punkmorten via User:Coolcat via User:Guettarda via User:Sebastiankessel
Me with the beer I chose my username from
Enlarge
Me with the beer I chose my username from
Apologia

I had been using Wikipedia and following the news stories about it for quite a while when I got into an argument with someone on a newsgroup about Wikipedia's reliability as a source. As I defended the Wiki principle of "anyone can edit", I realised that I could be editing instead of talking about it. That was in late 2005.

I wouldn't spend as much time as I do on it if I didn't still think Wikipedia was a great project. Unlike Usenet, it attracts predominantly the right sort of people, who want to write an on-line encyclopedia of human knowledge.

How cool is that?

I respect the goals of the project, and so I support Wikipedia philosophies and policies, particularly WP:AGF, WP:CIVIL, WP:3RR and WP:VAND, to the hilt. For my favourite policy, see WP:BEANS.

Defend each other!

This is amazing! It sums up how we can use conflicts to build our community instead of letting it tear us apart. I recommend that everyone read it.

My RfA

I became an admin on 30 August 2006 after an RfA that I knew would be stormy, and was. I am proud that overall the community thought I could be trusted with the tools.

User:Gwernol wrote a review of some of my best contributions for my RfA, which I've adapted in highlights. Other detailed statistics are on my tools page.

Main activities


  • Copyediting
  • Disambiguating links
  • Uploading and editing images using the various copyright tags
  • Fixing spelling erors using RETP and AWB. Great fun! I now do this under the account User:Spellmaster, after being criticised for being a bit slapdash with some early edits. I strive very hard for total accuracy, but if I make a mistake, please revert (if you wish), and drop me a message in my talk page so I know you consider it a mistake, and can improve my edits.


My stylistic hates (aka "Wikipedia shoot-on-sight")


  • 'Botswanan': in two years living there, I never heard this variant. The preferred adjective is 'Botswana'.
  • 'absent' as shorthand for 'in the absence of'; I always prefer 'without', 'before', 'prior to' etc.
  • Chemical elements wrongly capitalised; it's "iron", "oxygen" and "boron", not "Iron", "Oxygen" and "Boron". Simple.
  • Stuff like "It should be noted that" and even the word "notable". If it isn't notable, it doesn't belong here.
  • Overlinking in general
  • 'Easter-egg' links like [[1996 in stamp-collecting|1996]]; worthless and confusing.
  • 'Ironically'; who found it ironic?
  • 'Would' wrongly used instead of the past tense. Confusing and ugly.
  • 'actually'; 'in fact'; these are the equivalent of saying 'honestly' and may make a statement less believable, not more.
  • Disambig pages with loads of extra and/or piped links (see Wikipedia:Manual of Style (disambiguation pages))
  • Incomplete dates wrongly linked (there's hardly ever any point in linking years, months or days of the week). Confusingly, Wikipedia:Manual of Style (dates and numbers) has changed to allow some ambiguity here, but I still generally go with the common-sense: Wikipedia:Only make links that are relevant to the context.


Political Compass



Favourite quotation

Allein bleiben! Geschehen lassen! Ernst bleiben! Wild können wir nur in dem Maß sein, wie wir unbedingt ernst bleiben. Nichts weiter tun als anschauen, sammeln, bezeugen, beglaubigen, wahren! Geist bleiben! Im Abstand bleiben! Im Wort bleiben!

Be alone! Let things happen! Be serious! We can be savages, only inasmuch as we keep being serious. But to do no more than look, assemble, testify, preserve. To remain spirit! Keep your distance! Keep your word!

(from Wings of Desire, screenplay by Peter Handke and Wim Wenders)

Words of wisdom
(adapted from User:Cactus.man)
  • "Did not strong connections draw me elsewhere, I believe Scotland would be the country I would choose to end my days in." Benjamin Franklin
  • "We look to Scotland for all our ideas of civilisation." Voltaire
  • "We all know that Prime Ministers are wedded to the truth, but like other wedded couples, they sometimes live apart." Saki
  • "Minds are like parachutes. They only function when they are open." Sir James Dewar
  • "I am not young enough to know everything." J. M. Barrie
  • "An atheist is a man who has no invisible means of support." John Buchan
  • "God help England if she had no Scots to think for her." George Bernard Shaw
US English vs the rest of the world


While I thoroughly understand Wikipedia policy on this matter, I also find this article very funny. The reply, here, is also rather good.

My favourite contributions to Wikipedia
My interests


  • Weapons and war
  • Aviation
  • Southern Africa
  • Scottish football
  • Scottish literature and poetry
  • Punk music
  • Science, especially chemistry


My skills


  • Copyediting
  • Illustration
  • Photography


Links



Awards

For your tireless work creating, editing and improving Wikipedia's coverage of notable Scottish writers Gwernol 18:57, 14 July 2006 (UTC)

I award this Barnstar to Guinnog for being bold in creating the Football (Soccer) Barnstar'.--Ed 18:53, 3 August 2006 (UTC) Seconded by Ian Manka here. 18:19, 9 August 2006 (UTC)

For your wonderful help and guidance with "incidents" relating to my RfA, I hereby award you the Random Acts of Kindness Barnstar. Thanks again. —Mets501 (talk) 16:19, 9 August 2006 (UTC)]]

The Defender of the Wiki Barnstar For fearless maintenance of objective clarity in furthering "free access to the sum of all human knowledge" Tyrenius 03:32, 29 August 2006 (UTC)

I have seen your username around Wikipedia a lot and have noticed your persistence in making sure that a user has been helped as much as possible. This is very nice to see and you should be proud. Keep up your great work! Wikipediarul|es2221Holla 00:00, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

For giving out so many more Barnstars than you have recieved, I, Sharkface217, award you this Barnstar. Keep up the good work! Sharkface217 20:46, 31 October 2006 (UTC)]]

This is awarded to Guinnog for his amazing, prolific copyediting, for being a kind and loyal friend and for helping make the 'pedia that much nicer. Thankyou. Sarah Ewart (Talk) 15:25, 16 November 2006 (UTC)
About Me
en-5 This user is able to contribute with a professional level of English.
fr-2 Cet utilisateur peut contribuer avec un niveau moyen en français.
de-2 Dieser Benutzer hat fortgeschrittene Deutschkenntnisse.
This user [1] an administrator on the English Wikipedia.
UK This user uses British English.
This user does not claim to be of any ancestry at all.
Wikipedian This user is a Wikipedian and seeks to eschew other ideologies while building an encyclopedia.
This user is a Citizen of the World (Terra, ⊕).
This user lives in Scotland.
V This user is a vegetarian.
This user is male.
This user opposes all forms of racism and admires Nelson Mandela.
This user prefers fix attempts over complaints of various sorts.
This user drinks beer.
Firefox This user contributes using Mozilla Firefox.
Image:WikiGnome.png This user is a WikiGnome.
create This user created an account at 08:28:08 8 January 2006
a collection of books This user is a member of the Novels WikiProject.
25170 This user has ~21574 edits as of 23.13, 1 December 2006 (UTC), plus 3596 as Spellmaster, a total of 25170
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../g/u/i/User%7EGuinnog_5d26.html"