I think it is healthy for all editors, no matter how long they've been clicking away in these virtual halls, to review these links and ruminations concerning what it means to be a Wikipedian.
Being an admin is no big deal. What matters? Will the editor be able to help Wikipedia by having the tools? Will the editor abuse the tools? Will the editor be civil? Utility, responsibility, civility.
The often paraphrased comment about adminship is the following, said by Jimbo Wales in February 2003, referring to administrators as sysops:
I just wanted to say that becoming a sysop is *not a big deal*.
I think perhaps I'll go through semi-willy-nilly and make a bunch of people who have been around for awhile sysops. I want to dispel the aura of "authority" around the position. It's merely a technical matter that the powers given to sysops are not given out to everyone.
I don't like that there's the apparent feeling here that being granted sysop status is a really special thing.
— Jimbo Wales, wikimedia.org archive entry, gmane archive entry
"Do you spend all your time crusading on one bureaucratic tip or another? Factboxes! Notability! Must slap "not good enough" templates on all non-featured articles!!! Do you?! Well, then you're not doing Wikipedia right. Get a life, and contribute something useful, instead of nagging the rest of us who are trying to get some actual work done." - Jengod
"Wikipedia allows anyone to add to the sum total of human knowledge and is also a great outlet for budding writers and editors. I am proud to be associated with Wikipedia and consider it a truly amazing human resource all humanity can be proud of.
"As a child growing up on a farm in the midwest USA, I used to enjoy reading encyclopedias up in the upper reaches of a maple tree. Little could I have imagined at that time, in the mid-20th Century, that one day, I would actually contribute to a encyclopedia of revolutionary scope and import, a truly international project that all editors can be proud to be associated with.
"One of the things I most like about Wikipedia is how research in one area leads to others and one never knows where the trail of information will take the reader. This is way cool, and one of the most mind-expanding aspects of Wikipedia, nes pas?
"Wikipedia is an opportunity to give back something of my life experience and education in history, languages, philosophy, geo-political-military issues, miltary science, history (ancient, military, US and european) and information technology as well as language skills in English, Spanish, French (and occasionally Latin and a little Greek) with a wider audience of fellow info junkies."
The following was taken from Chinese3126's user page on 3 January, 2008:
Wikimedia should just hire a lawyer who never edits to be a full time arbitrator. and nix the arbcom system. That's how arbitration works; not by committee, but by trained single arbitrator.
Wikipedia has two main goals, as far as I can see. One is to provide quality content to readers and the other is to encourage newcomers to participate in the creation of content. Redlinks are an invitation for newcomers to participate. They are also an invitation to people with a particular expertise to dive in.
From Wikipedia:Manual of Style (links): "If a red link is within the context of the article, and it is a topic with the potential to eventually be a neutral, verifiable encyclopedia article, then the link should be kept as an invitation for an editor to begin the appropriate article with this title. Such links do not have an expiration date." Red links "point to "buds" from which Wikipedia will grow in the future." Why is a red link better? From Wikipedia:Red link: "Good red links help Wikipedia — they encourage new contributors in useful directions, and remind us that Wikipedia is far from finished."
From Wikipedia:Manual of Style (links): "You should not add a descriptive title to an embedded HTML link within an article." Embedding external links is meant for citations and references, not for covering up red links or for creating external links. An embedded external link takes the reader away from Wikipedia, and could take that reader on a reading and link-clicking adventure that takes them away from Wikipedia for a long time. We want people to stick around. A red link is an offer to a reader to make an article, to stick around, to help.
I think it is healthy for all editors, no matter how long they've been clicking away in these virtual halls, to review these links and ruminations concerning what it means to be a Wikipedian.
Being an admin is no big deal. What matters? Will the editor be able to help Wikipedia by having the tools? Will the editor abuse the tools? Will the editor be civil? Utility, responsibility, civility.
The often paraphrased comment about adminship is the following, said by Jimbo Wales in February 2003, referring to administrators as sysops:
I just wanted to say that becoming a sysop is *not a big deal*.
I think perhaps I'll go through semi-willy-nilly and make a bunch of people who have been around for awhile sysops. I want to dispel the aura of "authority" around the position. It's merely a technical matter that the powers given to sysops are not given out to everyone.
I don't like that there's the apparent feeling here that being granted sysop status is a really special thing.
— Jimbo Wales, wikimedia.org archive entry, gmane archive entry
"Do you spend all your time crusading on one bureaucratic tip or another? Factboxes! Notability! Must slap "not good enough" templates on all non-featured articles!!! Do you?! Well, then you're not doing Wikipedia right. Get a life, and contribute something useful, instead of nagging the rest of us who are trying to get some actual work done." - Jengod
"Wikipedia allows anyone to add to the sum total of human knowledge and is also a great outlet for budding writers and editors. I am proud to be associated with Wikipedia and consider it a truly amazing human resource all humanity can be proud of.
"As a child growing up on a farm in the midwest USA, I used to enjoy reading encyclopedias up in the upper reaches of a maple tree. Little could I have imagined at that time, in the mid-20th Century, that one day, I would actually contribute to a encyclopedia of revolutionary scope and import, a truly international project that all editors can be proud to be associated with.
"One of the things I most like about Wikipedia is how research in one area leads to others and one never knows where the trail of information will take the reader. This is way cool, and one of the most mind-expanding aspects of Wikipedia, nes pas?
"Wikipedia is an opportunity to give back something of my life experience and education in history, languages, philosophy, geo-political-military issues, miltary science, history (ancient, military, US and european) and information technology as well as language skills in English, Spanish, French (and occasionally Latin and a little Greek) with a wider audience of fellow info junkies."
The following was taken from Chinese3126's user page on 3 January, 2008:
Wikimedia should just hire a lawyer who never edits to be a full time arbitrator. and nix the arbcom system. That's how arbitration works; not by committee, but by trained single arbitrator.
Wikipedia has two main goals, as far as I can see. One is to provide quality content to readers and the other is to encourage newcomers to participate in the creation of content. Redlinks are an invitation for newcomers to participate. They are also an invitation to people with a particular expertise to dive in.
From Wikipedia:Manual of Style (links): "If a red link is within the context of the article, and it is a topic with the potential to eventually be a neutral, verifiable encyclopedia article, then the link should be kept as an invitation for an editor to begin the appropriate article with this title. Such links do not have an expiration date." Red links "point to "buds" from which Wikipedia will grow in the future." Why is a red link better? From Wikipedia:Red link: "Good red links help Wikipedia — they encourage new contributors in useful directions, and remind us that Wikipedia is far from finished."
From Wikipedia:Manual of Style (links): "You should not add a descriptive title to an embedded HTML link within an article." Embedding external links is meant for citations and references, not for covering up red links or for creating external links. An embedded external link takes the reader away from Wikipedia, and could take that reader on a reading and link-clicking adventure that takes them away from Wikipedia for a long time. We want people to stick around. A red link is an offer to a reader to make an article, to stick around, to help.