User:Flamarande

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Wikipedia:Babel
de-4 Dieser Benutzer hat Deutschkenntnisse auf muttersprachlichem Niveau.
pt-4 Este usuário/utilizador tem domínio do português similar ao de um nativo.
en-3 This user is able to contribute with an advanced level of English.
fr-1 Cet utilisateur peut contribuer avec un niveau élémentaire de français.
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PC-0 I am politically incorrect. Hence, I will use common sense and speak plainly rather than trip all over myself trying to be inoffensive.
I would say I'm a cynic but I bet you just wouldn't believe me.
This user is old enough to remember what a typewriter is, and that's all you need to know.
This user remembers using
a rotary dial telephone.
This user supports the United Nations.
This user supports the European Union.


This user believes it is every citizen's duty to vote.
This user supports Amnesty International.
This user is a member of Wikipedians against censorship.
This user is interested in politics.
This user is interested in religion.
This user is a historian.
This user is interested in ancient civilizations.
This user is interested in the military history of ancient Rome.
This user is interested in ancient Rome.
This user is interested in the Byzantine Empire
This user is a Geminian.


龍 This user was born in the year of the Dragon.
This user is of German ancestry.
This user is of Portuguese ancestry.
This user is of Spanish ancestry.
This user prefers to play games on a PC.
This user enjoys playing chess.
ASoIaF
This user is reading A Song of Ice and Fire and considers it a fine example of high fantasy.
Tar
This user is a Targaryen.

Fire and Blood
This user is a fan of Dune.
Ord This user serves House Ordos.

My fellow Wikipediean, loosely quoting somebody I don't admire: "Let my work speak for myself."

In the interest of accountability, here's my log. You can also see my contributions. You can also see some statistics about my edits: edit count

Da disclaimer I am a human being. Therefore I am clearly not perfect, and will without a doubt do some mistakes. I base my edits upon my personal knowledge, which is limited by the available information which I have access to. (for the really dumb: I might be wrong)


My completely personal policy in improving any article in Wikipedia.

  • "No vandalism", (I really hope that I don´t have to explain the reasons for it).
  • "Try to link stuff", link the names, the dates, countries, battles, etc. If you do that, Wikipedia will be much better for it.
  • "Show your sources", in others words: put "references" like books (with the ISBN) and other "stuff" in the proper place (usually at the end of the article).
  • "Put the complete name", Put the complete name (as "true" as possible) at the first mention of the person, then use the "most commonly" know version of it.
  • "Respect the official version", if you read, know, believe and want to present a "correct - alternative" event or reasoning which differs somewhat from the "commonly accepted" one, present it (and show your sources!) as such. My own example: Herleva (I added info from "1066" and all tough I agree (believe) with it, I wrote the info below the official version).
  • "be flexible", nobody is perfect, not even you.
  • "Use the preview button" (helped me many times)


Problems I see in Wikipedia (please notice, that this is only my personal opinion).

  • "the "POV-excuse": some users disagree with a part of a article. What do they do? Do they argue their point? No, they say this is POV (a bit like the "Hitler-excuse"). Most of them don´t even bother to explain their reasons in the talkpage.
  • "modern scholarship says..." The killer argument (again a bit like the "Hitler-excuse"). If you defend another perspective you are firstly a outdated fool. Secondly, as modern scholarship is not telling what you are defending you must be wrong and they must be right, always. Thirdly, if scholarship says it and you not, you are a defending a POV.
Basicly, the eager user has read a new book of someone (sometimes it is not even a scholar!) and believes that this scholar is absolutely infallible and has understood everything correctly, this time. We have to rewrite everything, and follow this scholar ad absurdum.
Look pal, I am willing to bet a very large amount of cash that in a hundred years from now, scholars will teach: "In the early 21st century it was believed that... . Today we know that it is a wrong conclusion."
  • "Overeager/self-righteous administrators/vigilantes": Some administrators (and I mean a few) are turning into self-rightous vigilantes, who basicly do what they want. Sometimes, they follow any suggestion of Jimbo to the letter, in a truly Your wish is my command attitude, most of the time they simply follow their own ideas.
  • "Jimbo Walles worship": Some ppl simply worship Jimbo, he can never be wrong, he is perfect, and all his views and suggestions are to be followed without any doubts or questions. Praise Jimbo. Look, I like Wikipedia a lot, I think that it is a great idea (or I wouldn't be here, would I?), and I also agree that Jimbo should be respected. But the guy is only human, some of his opinions are debatable and some of his ideas are probably wrong. Some of his attitudes are in fact quite similar to a common politician (and we shouldn't worship politicians).
  • "political correctness" leads to plain stupidity, leads to double-standards, leads to censorship, and leads to oppression. 'Nuff said.


[edit] major contributions

Articles I have either started, rewritten or otherwise done major work on (are they really so few?).

ancient history

modern stuff

[edit] "Stuff" I believe (believe - strange, over-used word these days) in, inculding a few "loose" quotes (my own stuff is in paratheses)

  • "Only two things are infinite, the universe and the stupidity of mankind, and I'm not sure about the former." - Albert Einstein



  • "(Believers) are civil, educated and ignorant. They´re not mad. They´re trained to believe, not to know. Belief can be manipulated. Only knowledge is (truly) dangerous." - Scytale from Dune Messiah written by Frank Herbert


  • "Islam is a religion of peace, too bad it has been taken over by way too many hate-filled self-righteos fanatics who preach their own message of terror and medieval xenophobia upon a largely scared and ignorant mob."


  • "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world... - Ephesians 6:12 ("and against plain stupidity, blessed ignorance, common incompetence, greedy corruption, and simple lies everyone wants to believe...")


  • "The greatest pleasure is to vanquish your enemies and chase them before you, to rob them of their wealth and see those dear to them bathed in tears, to ride their horses and clasp to your bosom their wives and daughters" - Genghis Khan
paraphrase: "What is best in life?" "Crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and hear the lamentations of their women!" from the movie Conan the Barbarian


  • "All that is necessary for evil to succeed is that good men do nothing." - Edmund Burke
Variant: "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." - Edmund Burke (attributed)


  • "He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And when you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." - Friedrich Nietzsche


  • "Namque pauci libertatem, pars magna iustos dominos volunt (iv.69.18)
Only a few prefer liberty, the majority seek nothing more than fair masters. - Sallust, Histories


  • "Exitus acta probat." (latin proverb, coined by Ovid)
translation: The result justifies the deed.
variant: The ends justifies the means.
My personal version: "The end must justify the means. If it doesn't, you simply shoudn't use those means."


  • "TANSTAAFL" - "There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch" - popularized by science fiction writer Robert A. Heinlein


  • "easier, simpler, better"


  • "Доверя́й, но проверя́й." (Russian proverb)
Translation: Trust, but verify.


  • "Of two competing theories or explanations, all other things being equal, the simpler one is to be preferred." - Occam's Razor, attributed to William of Ockham, 14th century logician
Satire: "Of two competing theories or explanations, all other things being equal, the more ridiculous and/or awesomer one is to be preferred." - Hancock's Razor, named for 20th/21st century alternative historian Graham Hancock


  • "In anger we should refrain both from speech and action." - Pythagoras



  • "In all things be moderate."


  • "Freedom of Speech not only means that we have the freedom to say what we like to hear. It also means that other people have the liberty to say things we despise and hate."




  • "History is written by victors and by losers, interpreted and sometimes rewritten by intelectuals and fools, manipulated and used by politicians, and simply ignored by rebels and the masses, who always make the same mistakes."


  • "Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun." - chapter 5 of the Little Red Book written by Mao Zedong, aka Mao Tse-Tung


  • "Power don't come from a badge or a gun. Power comes from lying. Lying big and gettin' the whole damn world to play along with you. Once you've got everybody agreeing with what they know in their hearts ain't true, you've got 'em by the balls." - Senator Roark in Sin City


  • "Beware the leader who bangs the drums of war in order to whip the citizenry into a patriotic fervor, for patriotism is indeed a double-edged sword. It both emboldens the blood, just as it narrows the mind. And when the drums of war have reached a fever pitch and the blood boils with hate and the mind has closed, the leader will have no need in seizing the rights of the citizenry. Rather, the citizenry, infused with fear and blinded by patriotism, will offer up all of their rights unto the leader and gladly so. How do I know? For this is what I have done. And I am Caesar."
This statement was not made by Julius Caesar and it has also been wrongly attributed to William Shakespeare, but the actual author is unknown. The article on it at Snopes.com states : "No record of this quote has been found prior to its appearance on the Internet in late 2001." Nevertheless, the rationale is true, and proven throughout history (especially recent one).