User talk:Drmies

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[edit] Welcome!

Hello, Drmies! Welcome to Wikipedia! Thank you for your contributions to this free encyclopedia. If you decide that you need help, check out Getting Help below, ask me on my talk page, or place {{helpme}} on your talk page and ask your question there. Please remember to sign your name on talk pages by clicking or using four tildes (~~~~); this will automatically produce your name and the date. Finally, please do your best to always fill in the edit summary field. Below are some useful links to facilitate your involvement. Happy editing! Eric Wester 03:39, 27 August 2007 (UTC) Getting started Wikipedia tutorial • The five pillars of Wikipedia • Getting mentored How to: edit a page • upload and use images Getting help Frequently asked questions • Tips Where to ask questions or make comments Request administrator attention Policies and guidelines Neutral point of view • No original research Verifiability • Reliable sources • Citing sources What Wikipedia is not • Biographies of living persons Manual of Style • Three-revert rule • Sock puppetry Copyrights • Policy for non-free content • Image use policy External links • Spam • Vandalism Deletion policy • Conflict of interest • Notability The community Build consensus • Resolve disputes Assume good faith • Civility • Etiquette No personal attacks • No legal threats Community Portal • Village pump Signpost • IRC channels • Mailing lists Writing articles Be bold in editing • Develop an article The perfect article • Manual of style Stubs • Categories • Disambiguation Pages needing attention • Peer review Miscellaneous User name • User pages • Talk pages Clean up: General - Spam - Vandalism Join a WikiProject • Translation Useful templates • Tools • User scripts

[edit] Judgmental comments

Drmies, welcome to Wikipedia. Your edits have been extremely helpful at cleaning up a number of articles. Messy, poorly-edited pieces are a huge problem here, not the the least because of piecemeal changes without an eye for narrative, and simple sloppiness on the part of contributors. Nonetheless, I think you should refrain from making judgments and dismissive comments about articles. Referring to things as "terrible," "messy," "horrible," or any similar terms is really unnecessary, adding a sense of know-it-all-ism and disdain for others that benefits no one. Moreover, it may very well scare away contributors who would benefit from not necessarily a polite correction, but rather a succinct and objective one. Furthermore, it's in no way specific, so really tells other editors only your opinion.

Thank you, Stakhanov 20:29, 4 September 2007 (UTC)

I would like to add that some of your edits:

1. don't work because of properties of the Wiki which you may not be familiar with, or
2. violate Wikipdedia style guidelines, although they undoubtably read better.

See my changes to your edits in Golden ratio for what I see as the problems. — Arthur Rubin | (talk) 19:34, 13 September 2007 (UTC)