User:Dbabbitt
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[edit] Why I Contribute
As of 2003, I am mildly concerned with the representation of the Reformed and Libertarian understanding of things here, but mostly like to just add a contrarion twist to whatever I find of interest. I have an intense curiosity about how things work here and I find it exhilarating to watch some POV "gem" I just added get edited into NPOV "smoky quartz".
[edit] My Observations about Wikipedia
According to the Guide to Writing Better Articles, if rules and guidance make you nervous and depressed, and not desirous of participating in the Wiki, then ignore them and go about your business. But I say if it makes you depressed, you are really looking for a contrarian set of rules, so here goes.
The "game" of Wikipedia is to get your crackpot theories and daring new analyses to survive page edits long enough to become established as part of the conventional wisdom. (This is a lot easier to do with text than it is with images. It takes real work and lots of political maneuvering to get creative images to stick.) Here are some tips:
- Camouflage the visible - replace your arcane terminology with terminology already used on the page.
- Cut and run - sometimes it's important to lose the content battle in order to win the war. If you move a whole section (that contains your stuff) off the main page and onto an auxillary page just before a major rewrite, for example, you will probably be able to expand your explanations and will for a time have saved your section from permanent obliteration.
- It is important to leave a comment in the Edit summary whenever you change the overall presentation (i.e., pedagogy, terminology, flow, spelling, and grammar), not just the content.
[edit] Unfinished Work
I am playing in my Sandbox right now.
[edit] Legal Stuff
I agree to multi-license all my contributions, with the exception of my user pages, as described below:
Multi-licensed with the Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike License versions 1.0 and 2.0 | ||
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 and version 2.0. 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. |