User:Nicknack009
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- "The fact that we live at the bottom of a deep gravity well, on the surface of a gas covered planet going around a nuclear fireball 90 million miles away and think this to be normal is obviously some indication of how skewed our perspective tends to be."
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Hi, I'm Patrick Brown from Belfast, Northern Ireland, and despite my best efforts I'm still here.
I had a period of severe disillusionment earlier this year after being driven off the site by what I now believe was a deliberate campaign to wind me up - once I was gone the editor in question stopped editing the article. But I'm back now, and wasting as much time as ever.
I still have some problems with Wikipedia. I think the Wiki format is a fantastic way of organising information, but the lack of editorial oversight is a problem, and will get worse now that Wikipedia is more widely publicised. There's no way of evaluating sources. If you've got a book which backs up your position then it's valid, even if that book is demonstrably wrong, because demonstrating it's wrong is "original research" - any crackpot can write a book, but apparently only a recognised scholar can debunk it, even if all it takes to debunk it is a link to the relevant passage of Tacitus. It all leads to arguing from authority, not evidence, to "debate" and demands for "equal time" between fact and error. Perfect for that peculiar mix of credulity and dishonesty, the creationist and his ilk.
I'm pleased with one or two things I've done here. I've drawn some little attention to the unheralded genius of Charles Keeping, brought a little accuracy to some of the articles on Celtic mythology, Irish traditional history, and pre-Roman and early Roman Britain. I read brief profile of Niall of the Nine Hostages in the Guardian which seems to owe quite a bit to the Wikipedia article, mostly written by me and Fergananim, and I was pleased to see it's pretty accurate, but I worry someone might try to base a piece on the article on Caratacus, espicially if they access it during one of its periodic assaults by British Israelites. Then again, there's an article on the BBC's website on Roman Britain by Dr Mike Ibeji that's so embarrassingly wrong you wonder if there's any quality control anywhere on the web.
One thing I intend to do, time permitting, is to reference as many classical historical articles as I can, with links where possible - sites like Perseus, Lacus Curtius and Attalus.org, not to mention Wikisource, have put so many translated ancient texts online that are linkable chapter and verse that readers can be easily directed to what the sources actually say, no matter what rubbish gets added to the article.
Another pet hate - historical fiction being used as a source for history. Graves's I, Claudius and Claudius the God, no matter how well researched, are made up, so the discrepancy between Claudius's reaction to Messalina's death in history and Graves's novels is not relevant. I'm sure the paragraph about Boudica's childhood is cribbed from novels, and the bit about Cerialis's legion being "cleverly ambushed" on its way to relive Camulodunum, which I've just removed, comes from the ITV TV-movie Boudica, not the actual historical sources. All the sources for Boudica, in particular, are on the web and linked to in the article. I don't care how many specials you've seen on the History Channel, if you can't be bothered to read the relevant passages of Tacitus and Dio you have no business editing the article.
Contents |
[edit] Edits
[edit] Pages I started
Victor Ambrus - Axel Pressbutton - John Bauer - The Bogie Man - Braughing - Claudia Rufina - Joe Colquhoun - Commius - D'Israeli - The Drama of the Lost Disciples - Geoffrey Keating - Charles Keeping - Mandubracius - Mike McMahon - Ness - Mug Ruith - Sicilian Briton
[edit] Pages I have made significant contributions to
2000 AD - Age of Bronze - Gnaeus Julius Agricola - Ancient Rome - Arvirargus - Asclepiodotus - Atrebates - Belgae - Boudica - Brehon Laws - Eddie Campbell - Caratacus - Cassivellaunus - Catuvellauni - Celtic mythology - Tiberius Claudius Cogidubnus - Conall Cernach - Conchobar mac Nessa - Constantius Chlorus - Cormac mac Airt - Cúchulainn - Cunobelinus Dumnonii - Fomorians - Grendel - Hill of Tara - Irish mythology - Lebor Gabála Érenn - List of High Kings of Ireland and related pages - Lug - Lugus - Martial - Dave McKean - Medb - Alan Moore - Mórrígan - Niall of the Nine Hostages - Partholón - Aulus Plautius - Roman Britain and related pages - The Sandman and related pages - Sláine - Táin Bó Cúailnge - Tincomarus - Tuathal Teachtmhar - Ulster Cycle - Venutius - John Wagner - Warrior - Welsh mythology
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| Idea and layout stolen from User:Budgiekiller via User:Punkmorten via User:Sebastiankessel via User:Guettarda via User:Coolcat |
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