User:Guinnog

Greenland, from the air.

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. 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.

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

• 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. 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.

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

• Copyediting
• Illustration
• Photography

• 'Botswanan': in two years living there, I never heard this variant. The preferred adjective is 'Botswana'. See this discussion.
• '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
• Over-Capitalisation Of Section And Article Titles
• '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. See also the date linking debate.
• The proliferation of flag icons on pages where they add nothing, like biographies or band articles; see this essay for an interesting take on why we should resist this dumbing-down of our encyclopedia.

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

I have had to take a break for most of a month because of real-life activity. I'll be pretty restricted in my activity for at least the next month or so. If you need assistance in a hurry it might often be faster to ask someone else. I will do what I can for the project in the meantime and post any updates here. --Guinnog 22:42, 15 March 2007 (UTC)

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)

(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
• "When I was a boy of 14, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be 21, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years." Mark Twain

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 (Talk) 15:25, 16 November 2006 (UTC)

• Economic Left/Right: -7.88
• Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -3.33
• Political Compass website that this rating came from

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