User:Sommers

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Hi, I'm Ryan Sommers, and welcome to my user page!

I've been a proud Wikipedian since 2005 and a Wikipedia reader since long before that. I've just (as of February 2007) come back from a long and unannounced wikibreak; I profusely apologize if I failed to reply to anyone's messages or emails during that time, or otherwise inadvertantly caused you to feel snubbed or ignored in any way. (I promise to put up the appropriate banner next time.)

Jump to my licensing information and other user namespace templates

Contents

[edit] About me

My name
"Ryan Sommers" is a pseudonym that I use. (As would be the case with any relatively common-sounding name, I can see on the Web that there are several real people in the world named Ryan Sommers. I am none of them. I apologize for any potential confusion; my intention is not to impersonate anyone.)
Vital information
I am a 23-year-old American male. I grew up in Antioch, California and currently reside in Walnut Creek, California.
Academic background and expertise
I'm a student of computer science and mathematics, with an educational background in physics and comparative literature. I also have dabbling interests (mostly self-taught) in psychology, philosophy, cognitive science, economics, world history (especially classical antiquity), politics, chemistry, and astronomy. I am a budding C++ programmer and I also have some knowledge of Scheme.
Recreational interests
I am an avid game-player: computer and video games, card games (including Magic: The Gathering), chess, and so on. (I also have an intellectual interest in tabletop RPGs, but don't really play them myself.) I am a fencer, golfer, and target-shooter.
Beliefs
I am an atheist, libertarian, and South Park Republican.

[edit] My desk

[edit] Internal bookmarks

[edit] To-do list

[edit] Articles of questionable notability, veracity, or verifiability

[edit] Articles of questionable neutrality

[edit] Articles for cleanup, copy-editing, or wikification

[edit] Articles to be expanded or written

  • MagicTheGathering.com

[edit] Awards

Image:Barnstar.pngIn recognition of your exemplary suggestions, problem-solving, and dedicated work on the DSM cautionary statement discussion page. Cheers. Davemcarlson 09:05, 9 April 2006 (UTC)

(Moved from User talk:Sommers#Well Done.) Thank you, Dave! The matter about the DSM cautionary statement was complex and trying; I am very happy that my work made a difference and quite grateful for the recognition.

[edit] Contact me

Everyone is welcome to contact me by leaving a message on my user talk page or by emailing me through Wikipedia.

If you use PGP or GPG software, you are welcome to encrypt any email that you send to me. My public key follows. (Incidentally, you can obtain my email address by importing this key into your PGP/GPG software. If you do so, you're welcome to use it directly; you don't need to go through Wikipedia.)

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[edit] My thoughts on Wikipedia

Here are some of my opinions on Wikipedia, in brief:

  • Wikipedia is great.
  • I believe the threshold of notability for a subject to be included in Wikipedia should be very low, so in theory I am an inclusionist. But I also believe that we should have a threshold, so in practice I am often a deletionist.
  • While the GFDL represents a brilliant idea and is fine for its original purpose (and licensors), it is not at all suitable for Wikipedia. I think Wikipedia's biggest weakness is the difficulty in obeying all the conditions for reproducing its material (especially for derivative/modified versions), not to mention the difficulty in knowing whether one has actually done so successfully. Hopefully the upcoming GNU Wiki License will provide some relief. In the meantime, I encourage everyone to consult Wikipedia:Multi-licensing and to consider adding {{DualLicenseWithCC-BySA-2.5}} to your user page.

[edit] Recommended open-source software

This is a list of open-source software titles (each of which can be downloaded free of charge) that I think other users might find useful in editing Wikipedia, especially if they don't already have access to an equivalent software title.

  • Mozilla Firefox – Besides its great design and vast collection of plugins, this web browser has a tabbed browsing feature that's extremely useful for viewing multiple pages at once without opening a lot of windows. This is often useful in Wikipedia for viewing or comparing multiple pages (for example, comparing a page to its "Edit this page" and "History" pages simultaneously, while also checking someone's "user contributions" list). (Download)
  • GIMP – This photo editor can be used to crop, resize, and re-format raw photographs for submission to Wikipedia or the Wikimedia Commons. Because it's a full-featured image-manipulator (like Adobe Photoshop), GIMP can also be used to alter and even create other kinds of images, such as icons or logos, but a proper SVG drawing tool would be better.. (Download. For an easy installation, scroll down to the "Binaries for various platforms" section.)
  • A text editor – It is often useful to useful to copy page source text from the "Edit this page" screen into a text editor, edit it, and then paste it back. This allows you to save local copies and use advanced features such as text-searching, spell-checking, and "Replace all" (as long as this is done carefully to avoid unintended consequences!). There are many good open-source text editors (I currently use jEdit); you can find a list of ones with Wikipedia-friendly features at Wikipedia:Text editor support.
    • Word processors will often work as well, but they often introduce formatting and other details that are irrelevant to editing MediaWiki page source. For anyone looking for an office suite (which includes a word processor) that's open-source and/or free to download, I endorse OpenOffice.org (Download).
  • Audacity – As with GIMP, this software may be useful if you plan to submit a sound file to Wikipedia or the Wikimedia Commons. Audacity can cut, paste, and mix sound files, and can convert MP3 and WAV files into the required Ogg Vorbis (.ogg) format. (Download)

[edit] Internal pages not to be missed

Informative:

Useful:

Entertaining:

[edit] My user templates

This is a Wikipedia user page.

This is not an encyclopedia article. If you find this page on any site other than Wikipedia, you are viewing a mirror site. Be aware that the page may be outdated and that the user this page belongs to may have no personal affiliation with any site other than Wikipedia itself. The original page is located at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Sommers.

[edit] Licensing

Multi-licensed with the Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike License versions 1.0, 2.0, and 2.5
I agree to multi-license my text contributions, unless otherwise stated, under the GFDL and the Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike license version 1.0, version 2.0, and version 2.5. Please be aware that other contributors might not do the same, so if you want to use my contributions under the Creative Commons terms, please check the CC dual-license and Multi-licensing guides.
Licensing rights granted to Wikimedia Foundation
I grant non-exclusive permission for the Wikimedia Foundation Inc. to relicense my text contributions under any copyleft license that it chooses, provided it maintains the free and open spirit of the GFDL. This permission acknowledges that future licensing needs of the Wikimedia projects may need adapting in unforeseen fashions to facilitate other uses, formats, and locations. It is given for as long as this banner remains.
Please note that the foregoing two boxes apply only to my original contributions. Before reusing my work under a Creative Commons license, please take reasonable steps (such as checking page history) to ensure that text appearing in my edits was not originally contributed by another user. For example, I might have moved it from another page or restored it from a previous version of a page.

[edit] Currently in Wikipedia

Main Page

WikiDefcon
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WikiDefcon 4: Low to normal levels of vandalism from shared IPs and experimenting users.
[[edit]]

Vandalism levels back to normal. CAT:CSD still backlogged. -- Hdt83 Chat 06:24, 8 April 2007 (UTC)
The English Wikipedia has 1,728,978 articles and 753,369 files.
The current time in UTC is
14:04 on April 9, 2007.





Picture of the day
Saffron

A pile of saffron threads (each about 20 mm in length) from Iran. Saffron is a spice derived from the flower of the saffron crocus and is among the world's costliest spices by weight. In Western countries, the average retail price is $2200/€1550/£1100 per kilogram ($1,000/€700/£500 per pound). Besides its use as a seasoning, it has also used in its history as fragrance, dye, and medicine.

Photo credit: Rainer Zenz
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