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בס"ד
[edit] Who is this then...?
I am an undergraduate student reading Physics and Philosophy at Oxford University. At A-level I studied Physics, Chemistry, Maths, Further Maths, French and General Studies. I studied Classical Greek and Latin to GCSE level, though I am now somewhat rusty with respect to them without looking things up. Ever since I stumbled across wikipedia a long time ago, I have found it to be a great idea, and an invaluable resource. It is a shame that such a resource is often shunned by academics, although nowadays most of the open-minded seem to accept it as an informal resource. However, wikipedia has the potential to become so much more. With thorough scolarship, as is evident in parts, it can become a font of knowledge for all levels of study. Obviously I learned early on in my internet use that one must take everything one sees with a pinch of salt and investigate the motivations and sources of each resource, this is why meticulous citations are so vital to the success of wikipedia — they are one of those things that can set it apart from any other web resource. Another important issue is redirection — for those users who want to find their resource quickly, or for newer users, repeated searching can be unattractive or off-putting and can give a bad impression when there are no alternative meanings of the search terms. As a Hebrew scholar I am particularly aware of this issue with regards to transliteration — for instance, I had to apply a redirect from Y'did Nefesh to the main article Yedid Nefesh. These are another vital part of making wikipedia a reliable and easy-to-use resource.
[edit] Nurtured Stubs
I quite like nurturing poor little bereft looking stub articles, although I am something of a newcomer to editting wikipedia articles and so have only had success with one so far...
I would be glad to discuss any issues arising in any of these articles, and am open to suggestions.
[edit] Currently on my mind...
Lots of work!