From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
|
WikiProjects
 |
This user is not a Wikipedia administrator but would like to be one someday. |
|
[edit] About Me
I'm a 23-year-old teacher from Los Angeles, CA.
[edit] A Wikipedian Theology
When Adam and Eve ate of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil in the Garden of Eden they suddenly developed the ability to know things and to be self-aware. This came at the cost of mortality and decay, that humans would have to toil for their natural lives which would be drastically shortened from eternity to much less. Pain, sorrow, and death are introduced into the world, in exchange for the blissful innocent ignorance. I have posed the question to my students, friends, colleagues, and teachers that "if you were in the position of Adam or Eve and given the choice of whether or not to eat from the Tree of Knowledge, knowing the ramifications, would you eat"? Nine times out of ten the answer I have received is "yes".
Increasing knowledge is one of the greatest things given to humanity. I do not believe that there is any sin in what Adam and Eve did. Rather, I believe God placed it in front of them so that they would eat of it. "The sum of human knowledge is the fear of God", writes Ben Sira. It is this for reason that I find Wikipedia so noble a cause and so vital a pursuit. One person cannot know even a small fraction of all knowledge; yet through this collaborative effort, perhaps we can get that much closer to true enlightenment.
And as Rabbi Yehuda ben Teima writes in Pirkei Avot 5:23, "Be bold as the leopard".
[edit] My contribution to Wikipedia
My major contribution to Wikipedia comes in the form of the WikiProjects of which I am a member, especially those relating to Judaism. In these categories I have created and done very major overhauls in a number of articles (which I will enumerate in the future). I also bill myself as a wikignome (or maybe Obsessive-Compulsive, making tiny edits all over the place, whether considered minor or major. I also tend to follow up edits with other edits (usually more minor) including things I have forgotten after clicking the Save page button. This most often happens on talk pages as I tend to forget to sign the articles with the 4 tildes. As you may be able to tell, I do not have the best organization system, but I do get the job done. I need to improve my style, though I have found methods that work other than the proper ways. My goal here on wiki is to improve the technological aspect as my once-glorious programming skills have grown as archaic as Windows 98.
I am quite passionate about issues regarding Judaism and Israel and love to debate topics relating to these, but I also maintain a semblance of unbias as I write or edit articles on these topics. I think one of the most important things to remember is that Wikipedia is first and foremost is to be a verifiable encyclopedic wiki (it says so right above the Save page button) and it is one thing to be passionate about something (this motivates edits on said topics) but it is another to include your bias within the articles. I am a stickler for policy and will not hesitate to bring up questions about the verifiablity, POV, et al. of any article, though I myself am hesitant (to a fault) to tag a page as such, first desiring an preliminary talk opinion of whether or not we should put one up. I know the foremost policy is to "be bold", but I'm too nice. Well, maybe I'll be more bold now that I have actually written this mini wiki-bio. However, I am highly intolerant of vandalism and I will quickly revert any that I see. I am Pro-IP Profiling and look first at changes on my watchlist for anonymous IPs as those tend to contribute more vandalism (A recent study of the WP:Vandalism Studies concluded that about 97% of vandals are IP users). As such I am also in favor of quicker semi-protection for pages that are either vandalized or edit-warred by anonymous IPs. For other me-related things, there are links in some of my userboxes if you decide to stalk me.
I am beginning to expand my horizons within the Wikiworld, particularly within Wikipedia, utilizing a plethora of tools, including Popups, AWB, and my new personal favorite, Twinkle.
Though my main Wikipedia contributions are in the English edition, I am also known to be a contributor to the Hebrew and Yiddish wikipedias. I also maintain a profile on the Spanish and Simple English wikipedias.
[edit] Administrative aspirations
I think that at some point I might want to become an Admin. I am sometimes frustrated at my lack of ability to make simple changes to vandalism and the relatively delayed process of waiting for an administrator to fulfill the many pressing tasks such as protections, reverting undiscussed and controversial renames, reproving blatant and repeat vandals, and various minutae. One of the things I have done the most here is reverting vandalism. I am frustrated, however, that nothing constructive can come of my revision as I cannot perform tochecha, a Hebrew term for "light and constructive admonition" on the wayward or accidental editor who performed these changes. I would certainly not use my tools for controversial purposes and plan on recusing myself from the final decisions of topics relating to Israel. Yes, I admit I have a bias in support of Israel; everyone has biases. Maybe I have been accused of having a POV. Everyone has a POV! I relegate this point of view to the Talk Pages. In fact, I think the whole reason for Talk pages is to talk, to have discussions on pertinent topics to the article. I enjoy a friendly debate on the nitty-gritty on the Talk Page, but I eternally remain civil, cordial, and constructive (the three Cs) in aspects I may disagree with. I have certain expertise, yes, but that should, all the moreso, be a reason for me to edit articles on which I consider myself somewhat of an expert, only including fact (or in the case of religion, religious beliefs that may turn out to be fact) and leaving POV at the door (or the Talk Page). I think the content of Wikipedia encyclopaedic entries should not contain such biases, however, and I do my utmost to make sure that this is not present in mine or other editors contributions. I don't think I will be focused on the technical aspect of Wikipedia (see the end of my first paragraph). I would like to work with vandalism prevention, protection, and enforcement as well as making tedious changes to whatever needs to be done (I don't mind). So I probably would not reject a well-intentioned RfA nomination.
