User talk:Patroo

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Just a thanks for your assorted wordsmithing in the rodeo articles. Much appreciated. Montanabw^(talk) 05:49, 23 October 2007 (UTC)

Editing is a tricky matter, you will note the hate mail on my talk page (sigh). But hang in there. What I have found is that if you provide enough sources and footnotes to third party sources, that seems to help. Sometimes VERY difficult to do this with things like horses and rodeo, where there is so much knowledge passed word of mouth or from direct observation, but is can be done. Oh, you want a BIG challenge, go check out cattle and beef cattle. But footnoting is my secret peacekeeping weapon. (I had to find about 15 sources before I could convince people that we really DO pronounce "chaps" as "shaps" no matter what dictionary.com says, just as an example...grrr). The other thing that causes problems is when there are significant regional variations and each side insists that their version is the "right" one. Just as an example, we finally had to break out show hunter and show hunter (British) in order to deal with all the differences in that discipline. What I have also found is that sometimes the really snarky editors will come around if you just keep working toward a goal of using the good article criteria. Sometimes I AM one of the snarky editors, but it's just frustration and tiredness, wanting everyone to know the rules and put their own egos on hold. Try not to be too obnoxious,, but some people pull my chain more than others. Sigh... Montanabw^(talk) 18:10, 27 October 2007 (UTC)