User:Impaciente
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I'm a frequent user of Wikipedia, but not one of the hardcore fellows. I am a resident of Los Angeles and a student at UCLA, majoring in political science with a minor in public affairs.
[edit] What I Do Here
I'd call myself a WikiGnome. Most of my edits are minor, usually corrections to grammar or rephrasing existing material.
However, I do go after certain things with some zeal. I hate weasel words; I feel they are evasive and misleading. If you can't provide sources for claims beginning with "some claim so-and-so is the best/foremost/leading..." or something like that, it doesn't belong on Wikipedia. The same goes for peacock words: "John Doe is usually considered to be the most famous..." is just as bad as the previous example. In short, if it's not cited and makes a significant claim, I'll delete it.
Another concern I have is with the term "War on Terror." It shouldn't be in quotation marks, it shouldn't be prefaced by "so-called," and it deserves the same treatment as any other significant war in history. The fact that it's unconventional and its prosecution highly unpopular with some folks does not somehow reduce its stature as a real, armed conflict of considerable reach and effect. Therefore, when I see any other form of the term, I'll be correcting it.
You'll also see me at the Reference Desk a lot, both asking and aswering, but mostly asking. I love to learn new things and wholeheartedly believe that curiosity is a basic human impulse, but occasionally gets smothered in this society of ours. Wikipedia seems like a suitable antidote to that condition.
[edit] My WikiPhilosophy
As you might have guessed from the picture up at the top, I believe in deleting a lot of articles. But alas, the consensus seems to be drifting towards inclusionism. I'm getting more used to that with time, although I still believe elementary schools and small towns in Uzbekistan (or the U.S., for that matter) don't deserve separate entries.
[edit] Political Leanings
I harbor an intense, burning hatred for anything smacking of leftism, socialism, communism, or, to use a horribly inapt term, "progressivism." What passes for the left nowadays is mostly Jacobin propaganda stemming from a childish dislike of hierarchy and a ironically self-hating attitude toward Western civilization's accomplishments. I find Americans who side with our country's enemies particularly loathsome and incomprehensible.
