Wikipedia:Editor review/Soumyasch

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[edit] Soumyasch

Soumyasch (talk · contribs) I joined Wikipedia In January, 2006. I was searching for some information but the article here was sorely lacking. I took it upon myself to fix it. However, the result was a disaster - almost everything I added was copied from some other article, commentary-ish, PoV, wrongly licensed, copyrighted images and what not. (IP 220.225.53.35, for those edits, was me) My changes were reverted a day later. I was shocked and hurt but resolved to find out why my edits were not accepted, and started going through policies and guidelines. Finally, I realized what should have been done with the article (220.224.84.27 was me). Sure, that has some PoV and other problems, but, hey I was only a few edits old then. But it was the basis of what the article is today. Fast forward to today, I have grown in experience and familiarity with the stuff here. I contribute mainly on programming and computing related (primarily Microsoft technologies) articles. My most significant contributions are to Windows Vista and related articles, WinFS, BitVault, Internet Explorer, Windows Media Player, Reflection (computer science) et al, and of course Alizee. A more comprehansive list is at my userpage - which also shows I am planning a lot more edits in the near future. As you can see, I work on articles that are highly technical, and I tend to make them extremely detailed. I would like to know what I am doing right and what is wrong so my future edits can be of higher quality and help Wikipedia in a better way. In my edit paterns, you can see that I really cooled off half a year (or so) back. I got busy with real life activites temporarily. Prior to that break, I used to be fairly active in RC patrolling and XFDs. But after returning, I am presently focussing on clearing off my backlog. :) --soum (0_o) 20:00, 22 March 2007 (UTC)

Reviews

Here's a short response to a long request. Your user page speaks for itself. You are an extremely intelligent, creative and dedicated contributor. With all the article writing you do, I don't think you need to be involved in XFDs or other processes. I do XFDs, but that's because I generally don't write my own articles. You should focus your time on Wikipedia in the most productive way, and write about what you know well.

I wonder if you participate in any WikiProjects. You seem to be excellent at collaborating with other users, even in difficult situations. You might consider Wikipedia:WikiProject Computers as an example.

It seems to me that your early struggles had a lot to do with your mastery of English, which is your second language (I presume). Clearly you have improved there, and will continue to improve. I wish you good luck. YechielMan 02:36, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for the encouraging words. About participation in Wikiprojects, well, I have not done yet. Long back, I had thought I should join WikiProject Computers, but then decided that since I work significantly on articles that have very little activity sorrounding them, it meant that the WikiProject members may not be interested in them. So, there is no point joining one. However, I kept on following the activities of few WikiProjects like WikiProject Musicians, WikiProject Microsoft Windows, WikiProject .NET among others - following the policy and guideline discussions, articles they were focussing on etc, as an outsider. And only pointing out inconsistencies in case I happened to notice one. Maybe I should no longer stay an outsider but rather join one. --soum (0_o) 13:16, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

Comments

Questions

  1. Of your contributions to Wikipedia, are there any about which you are particularly pleased, and why?
    Ideally, I would like to view all my contributions, over all articles, equally. After all, an article or two does not make Wikipedia, all the articles contribute towards it. But if I have to choose, I would choose Alizée, WinFS, Microsoft Office 2007 and Features new to Windows Vista/Technical features new to Windows Vista/Security and safety features new to Windows Vista (all three articles were initially together), closely followed by Virtual folder and BitVault. Alizée, WinFS, Microsoft Office 2007 were virtually little better than stub when I started working, and I - along with significant help from other editors - took it to a stage where it formed the basis to be gardually morphed into the form it is today. In fact, Alizée is a Good Article. In depth technical information was added by me to the Windows Vista articles. All these articles are very comprehensive sources of information available anywhere on the web. Having said this, I would also like to thank all the editors whose extreme hard work has been immensely important in getting the articles to the level they are tooday and keeping them referenced, neutral and vandalism-free. --soum (0_o) 20:44, 22 March 2007 (UTC)
  2. Have you been in any conflicts over editing in the past or do you feel other users have caused you stress? How have you dealt with it and how will you deal with it in the future?
    Overall, my stay here has been largely peaceful and positive. Sure, I have been in disagreements over some edits (not editors), I tend to resolve the differences through mutual dialogues and not resort to revert warring or other means. I always try to be polite and civil and do not let personal attack get to me (which, fortunately, has been rather insignificant). Almost all the differences that I can remember were resolved amicably. Except for maybe a single instance. Some edits, IMO, were not suited for the article. So, I reverted and left a note on the user's talk page. However, he repeatedly ignored all comments both on the article's talk page as well as on his talk page. This started to reaally stress me out. I realized that I was not in a position to make rational judgements at that moment. So, I asked an administrator (Thank You, Jaap. I never got around to thanking you then :) ) to take a look at both our versions and comment. The dispute was soon resolved with a mediated dialogue and we even collaborated for the betterment of the article. And that continued even months afterward. And that incident happenned almost a year back. Thats the only incident I can remember. --soum (0_o) 20:45, 22 March 2007 (UTC)