User:Kafziel

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This was me in 2006. I'm much happier now.
This was me in 2006. I'm much happier now.

Hi, I'm Kafziel. I've been contributing to Wikipedia since June 2005 and I am an administrator. If there's anything I can do to help, please leave me a message.

My time on Wikipedia is somewhat limited these days, so I tend to focus more on the actual articles and less on behind-the-scenes discussions and debates. If there's an important issue you feel I've overlooked, please don't hesitate to bring it to my attention.

Contents

About me

A few userboxes
This user is an administrator on the English Wikipedia. (verify)
This editor is a Veteran Editor II, and is entitled to display this Bronze Editor Star.
Flag of New York
 This user lives in or hails from the state of New York.
OC This user lives in Orange County, California.
@ This user can be reached by email.
This user is a veteran of the United States Marine Corps.
This user has been awarded the Kosovo Campaign Medal.
This user has been awarded the combat action ribbon.
PWN This user pwns vandals all day. View his pwnage here.
Sometimes this user likes to huff kittens.

I served as an Arabic linguist in the United States Marine Corps from 1995 to 1999. I'm a graduate of the Defense Language Institute and I was stationed at 2nd Radio Bn, and aboard the USS Kearsarge with the 26 MEU where I was attached to Lima Company, 3/8 in Kosovo.

I'm originally from Orange County, New York, where I lived for most of my life. In July of 2007 I moved to Orange County, California. As Orange Counties go, the California version is much more fun but of considerably less historical interest. If you need a photo of a strip mall, though, I'm the man to see.

  • My userpage has been vandalized a bunch of times. This one is my favorite.
  • I created the guideline Wikipedia:Notability (royalty), which turned out to be even more embattled than I could have predicted. Because I don't own it, and because I am not an expert on the subject, I got the guideline on its feet and then left its fate in the hands of the community. It is now dead.
Committed identity: a468a5c6bd10773a113587dbb513c1272c822685 is a SHA-512 commitment to this user's real-life identity.

Wikipedia philosophies

  1. Third Opinion, Articles for Deletion, Featured Article Candidates, Good Article Candidates, and Requested Moves, although they are all important to Wikipedia, should each be taken in small doses. Wikipedians who spend all their time lurking around AfD, or just waiting to pounce on the newest FAC, are bound to become embittered by the process, self-important, and uncivil. Everyone needs an outlet for peaceful creativity, not just criticism, destruction, and arguing. Roam Wikipedia. See the sights. There are some cool people and some cool pages out there, and it doesn't always have to be a battle.
  2. There's a difference between assuming good faith and ignoring bad actions. Although I believe in assuming good intentions, it may become clear to me that a user's intentions are not good. As the guideline says, I don't need to "assume" anything if I have facts to the contrary right in front of me. Unlike a lot of vandalism patrollers, though, I always try to take the time to leave warnings on talk pages and/or explain what the issue is. Don't get defensive and don't try to turn it around by calling it uncivil or a personal attack. Those warning templates are there for a reason. If you've received one from me (or any other editor), chances are you deserve it.
  3. There is a cabal. Many of them, in fact, and I myself am a member of several. We call them Wikiprojects, and they mostly serve as central meeting places for like-minded members to violate WP:OWN in a more organized way. From there, those members can be directed to every current deletion discussion, featured article candidate, merge proposal, or move request, and make sure that the will of the Wikiproject is upheld. People have joked about cabals for so long that, now that they exist, anyone who dares to notice them will be automatically written off as paranoid. But they're out there. It's important for cabal members to remember that being part of a WikiProject doesn't impart any special rights, and our guidelines should do more to discourage vote stacking, meatpuppetry, bullying, and article ownership.
  4. Voting is evil but unfortunately, in practice, it's all that seems to matter. "Support per nom" is a vote. It adds nothing new to the discussion except an "aye". So if voting is evil, they shouldn't even count. But get enough "support per nom" votes and your proposal will fly. Three "support" votes (or keep votes, or oppose votes, or what have you) will overrule almost any well-reasoned argument to the contrary when the final determination is made. If you want an article to avoid deletion, just get a couple of friends to say "keep per nom" and harrass any dissention until they either give up and leave or the discussion is closed. You don't need to win; you just need a stalemate to maintain the status quo. If someone opposes your FAC nomination, just keep arguing and arguing and arguing until their objection is assumed to be unreasonable. The "support" votes (maybe from your cabal; see above) will pull you through. If Wikipedia isn't a democracy, one perfectly reasoned argument should be able to counteract 100 pile-ons to the contrary. But it doesn't. Sad but true.
  5. The Featured Article of the Day should be semi-protected. Featured Articles of the Day become Featured Articles of the Day because they are Featured Articles. A brand new editor has never shown up, made a major improvement, cited his sources in the proper format, and made everyone say, "Wow. That contribution was so awesome, it made the past five hundred vandalism reversions worth it." Never happened, never will. The main page links to a lot of articles. New users should be free to edit any of them except the Featured Article of the Day. If not being able to edit one article for one day is enough to discourage a person from ever using Wikipedia again, then chances are they weren't cut out for it anyway. Think about it: when people tell you they don't like Wikipedia, do they say, "There was one time I couldn't edit an article so I never used it again"? Of course not. They say, "Any idiot can edit it so I don't trust it." Because, on their first visit to Wikipedia, they clicked on the featured article and saw nothing but a page full of "suck my dick" or "Jimbo is a pedophile" written a thousand times. We lose more potential editors when that happens than we ever will by semi-protecting an article for a day. No anonymous contribution can ever make up for that. But just like "there is no cabal" and "voting is evil", people will tell you that the Featured Article of the Day should never be protected even though they can't back it up with any concrete reasons. For similar reasons, I would also support any proposal to semi-protect articles on letters of the alphabet, numerals, dates, and first names. Childish vandalism and vanity posts are absolutely out of control on those pages, and I can't remember the last time anything of value was added to them. What new and wonderful thing is going to be added to our article on the letter "E" that isn't there already and can't possibly wait? Nothing.
  6. Deleting Fair Use images has its merits. You know, in a way I kind of like how our Fair Use policy is being interpreted as of late. It's going to force Wikipedians to stalk celebrities, sneak cameras into concerts, and run around like tourists in their own towns, snapping photos of the most inane bits of art and architecture. It's like a worldwide scavenger hunt. (Plus, the publicity will be excellent the first time a Wikipedian kills a celebrity Princess Diana-style. Or the first time one of us is killed trying to take photos of genocide victims in Darfur or something. Don't worry, though: we'll award you a posthumous Photographer's Barnstar. But I digress...) It's a major pain in the ass right now, but I do think this change will, in the long run, be good for Wikipedia. The best articles and projects I've seen are the ones whose editors are dedicated enough to take their own photos. It fosters team work, real-life interaction, creativity, improvisation, and a stronger community spirit. The deletions themselves could be handled with a lot more tact and consideration than they have been, but the end result will be a Wikipedia that is more able to stand on its own.

Things that make me laugh

Articles for deletion This section was nominated (along with other pages like it) for deletion on 14 April 2008. The result of the discussion was keep. So get back to working on the encyclopedia, please.
Penguins swarming to feast on human flesh
Penguins swarming to feast on human flesh
  • The intro sentence from this version of the Stephen Hawking article
  • This question on the Jedi talk page
  • The fact that evil gets its own article while good is a disambiguation page. From the disambiguation page, the only article about "good" only deals with it in juxtaposition with evil. The fact that we are unable to discuss goodness on its own merits just might say something about the world.
  • Listcruft like this, and the people who voted to keep it
  • The extent of the Puritans' devious machinations, as noted here
  • The dark side of Gwyneth Paltrow [1]
  • This all-too-accurate review of one of the worst films of all time
  • Watch out, Morgan Freeman! [2]
  • Standing tall before The Man
  • This bizarre photo of Steve McQueen's right hand. (Sorry, kids - admins only.)

Memorial Wall of Fallen Editors

Maru • Rama's Arrow • Newyorkbrad

You guys are sorely missed.

A few articles I've started

Image:LinkFA-star.png = Featured Article · = Good Article · = Featured on "Did You Know?"

Military culture and history

Rifleman's Creed · Naval Air Station Oceana · Iron Mike · General Orders for Sentries · Tiberius Sempronius Longus (consul 218 BC) · Tiberius Sempronius Longus (consul 194 BC) · Hanno the Elder · First generation warfare · Second generation warfare · Third generation warfare · Spirit of the American Doughboy · Ontario Knife Company · M6 Bayonet · M7 Bayonet · Radio Battalion · William H. Rupertus · Follow Me · John W. O'Daniel · Robert Ingersoll Aitken · Order of Blue Sky and White Sun with Grand Cordon · Society of Red Tape Cutters · Camp Monteith · Gathland State Park · Nagasaki National Peace Memorial Hall for the Atomic Bomb Victims · Fort Clinton

Entertainment

Glory Daze · Cole Hauser · Rebel Yell (whiskey) · Douglas Preston · Zev Braun · Wes Studi · Lines on the Antiquity of Microbes · Strickland Gillilan · Paul Dieter · Groove Masters · Jerusalem's Lot · Crewcut Man · The Diamonds · The Heartbeats · Frank Pentangeli · List of Thief episodes · Tyrannosaur Canyon · Dance of Death · Vincent D'Agosta · Yancey Arias · Atlantis (song) · Joe Gould's Secret · Jimmy D'Aquisto · Bob Seidemann · Jimmy Jean-Louis · The Substitute · Rosie and the Originals · Angel Baby (song) · Highland Records · Zola Taylor · Glossary of cue sports terms · Golden Apple Award · Clash! · Billy Kimball · Afterdrive

New York history and geography

21 Club · 124th New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment · Woodbury Common Premium Outlets · Esopus Meadows Lighthouse · Harness Racing Museum & Hall of Fame · Doodletown, New York · Stony Point Battlefield · Stony Point Lighthouse · Webb Horton House · Sugar Loaf, New York · Popolopen · Esopus Wars · Wappani · Kieft's War · Benjamin Tusten · Iona Island, New York · Winter Garden Atrium

India-related articles

Kallada River · Ithikkara River · Pattazhi · Pattazhi Vadakkekkara · Paravur Kayal · Kesh (Sikhism) · Bhai Taru Singh · Gurmeet Singh Dhinsa

Miscellaneous

Fudgie the Whale · Rent-A-Wreck · Blaschko's lines · Cervical conization · McDonald's Menu Song · Rack (billiards) · Clermont, Kentucky · Super Fantastic Bubble Plastic · Fisherman's Wharf, Monterey, California · American Candy Company · Wax lips · Event Data Recorder · Alternate side parking · John Lim · Swearing on the Horns · Second wind · Rutt's Hut · Riley Ann Sawyers · Nathaniel White

A few of my project articles

Asymmetric warfare · Defense Language Institute · Invasion Image:LinkFA-star.png · Battle of Minisink · Compact Cassette Image:LinkFA-star.png · Roseville pottery

This user is a member of WikiProject New York, a WikiProject dedicated to improving Wikipedia's coverage of topics related to New York State. Please feel free to join us.
This user is a member of WikiProject Hudson Valley, a WikiProject dedicated to improving Wikipedia's coverage of topics related to the history, geography and culture of New York's Hudson River Valley. Please feel free to join us.


This user is a member of WikiProject Indigenous peoples of North America, a WikiProject which aims to expand coverage of the indigenous peoples of North America and related topics on Wikipedia. Please feel free to join us.
This user is a member of WikiProject Military history, a WikiProject dedicated to improving Wikipedia's coverage of topics related to military history. Please feel free to join us.

My awards

It's nice to know there are at least a few people on Wikipedia who don't think I'm a total bastard. Thanks, guys!

No matter what happens with Invasion, featured or not, you have worked so hard improving the article and abiding by everyone's requests. There is no one that deserves this more. RENTAFOR LET? 06:10, 23 February 2006 (UTC)

You have been awarded the Thumbs Up Award for your good work in Wikipedia - Carptrash 15:29, 10 April 2007 (UTC)

Great essay on WP:GRIEF, as someone who deals with counterspam often, that is well written! Congrats! —— Eagle101 Need help? 03:31, 13 April 2007 (UTC)

For the way you blocked this user. - Omega ArchdoomTalk 04:16, 14 May 2007 (UTC)

You've won yourself a barnstar for this edit over here! you can do whatever you want with this barnstar! —BoL 05:14, 23 January 2008 (UTC)

I hereby award this Working Man's Barnstar to Kafziel for his actions as an admin who is both responsible and helpful and for his tireless efforts on Wikipedia. Kuaichik (talk) 04:53, 16 May 2008 (UTC)

This award goes to Kafziel for defending Wikipedia from vandalism from many, many malevolent users and, therefore, probably from all sorts of fraudulent purposes. Kuaichik (talk) 04:53, 16 May 2008 (UTC)

Shouldn't you have tons of these already?! Sure, that "Congradulations" template (to mention just one anti-vandal contribution of yours) is witty, funny, and clever, but it's also effective! Kuaichik (talk) 04:53, 16 May 2008 (UTC)

To Kafziel for resolving many conflicts calmly and with good reason. Kuaichik (talk) 04:53, 16 May 2008 (UTC)

This Random Acts of Kindness Barnstar goes to Kafziel, who actually unprotected his user page just because I gave him a few awards on his talk page ;-) Kuaichik (talk) 21:43, 16 May 2008 (UTC)

For helping others without needing to be asked, for lending an assisting hand to those in need. Coolgamer (talk) 17:46, 27 May 2008 (UTC)

A few reference and editing tools

  • {{subst:Vw-n|TITLE}} (unhelpful edits)
  • {{drmmt}} (removal of maintenance tags)
  • <!--insert hidden text-->
  • {{SUBJECT-stub}} (stub template)
  • {{anonblock}} (for long-term hard blocks of shared IPs)


Username S O N S% Ending Possible duplicate voters
Soxred93 52 3 3 95% 20 June 2008 03:40 None Details
Cenarium 31 2 0 94% 19 June 2008 20:58 None Details
Ali'i 48 33 14 59% 19 June 2008 17:02 None Details
Kevin 36 1 0 97% 19 June 2008 03:00 None Details
Pinkville 37 0 0 100% 18 June 2008 22:52 None Details
Lenticel 38 0 0 100% 18 June 2008 22:08 None Details
Firefoxman 64 1 3 98% 18 June 2008 06:47 None Details
Xavexgoem 44 3 0 94% 18 June 2008 04:16 None Details

Last updated 19:30, 14 June 2008 (UTC) by Tangobot (maintained by Tangotango)

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