Hello. I have decided to leave Wikipedia like Terence.
I joined Wikipedia for three main reasons:
I find that I am failing in these goals.
My other reasons for leaving:
I am not permenantly set on leaving. This means that if most of these issues can be addressed, I won't leave. My planned date of departure will be 25 July 2006 (exactly one year after I adopted the online moniker Hildanknight). Until then, I will still occasionally check in to check responses from Terence and the rest of the community, and settle my affairs on Wikipedia. If nothing causes me to change my mind, after 25 July 2006, you will not see any more edits from Hildanknight.
My only dilemma will be whether to delete Google Groups, Homerun and WP:RFF (all created by me). Terence has advised me not to.
Sorry and goodbye, and all the best to Wikipedia.
-- J.L.W.S. The Special One 14:16, 5 July 2006 (UTC)
Retiring???
Wikinews accepts original reporting. Perhaps try there? Anyhow, WP:V and WP:NOR often doesn't come into play that often with Singaporean articles, especially since they can be correlated. And I wouldn't advise suggesting deletion on notable articles you create, since there's no ownership on them. Once an editor, always an editor, so just edit when you can, and don't edit when you need to do other things. ;-) Elle vécut heureuse à jamais ( Be eudaimonic!) 14:31, 6 July 2006 (UTC)
"My idea of a Google group was ridiculed."
Comment Hmmm... too bad it was "ridiculed". Perhaps those making comments on your proposal were too strong in their criticism. Can you provide a link to the place where the discussion took place?
I think I understand your motivation. However, let me explain what I think the pros and cons are for creating a Google group for Wikipedia.
It's not a terrible idea although it doesn't strike me as a wonderful idea. The reason that I might not support creating a Google group is that the Talk Pages constitute a kind of collaborative forum similar to some of the functionality of Google or Yahoo groups. Moreover, there are tens of thousands Wikipedia editors who most likely would interact in one or more Talk Pages. Thus, creating one Google Group would not work well because it either would only get a tiny percentage of Wikipedia editors or would get overwhelmed by having too many.
Now, the best argument FOR creating a Google group is that Wikipedia rules specifically say that "Wikipedia is not a social forum".
I would suggest that you consider creating a Google group for some subset of Wikipedians to join in a social forum about Wikipedia.
If you give the group a focus like "Singaporean teenage Wikipedia editors", you may find some kindred spirits with whom you share similar interests.
Good luck.
-- Richard 13:46, 17 July 2006 (UTC)
Please don't. Blanking an article is considered vandalism unless you are the ONLY editor who has contributed to that article. Just because you were the original editor doesn't mean that you have the right to blank an article that has since been edited by others.
In theory, you don't even own the original text that you contributed (as others have pointed out above). However, even if you have the right to revert your own text, it should be obvious that blanking an article that others have contributed to is a serious act of vandalism. That kind of stuff can get you blocked.
As a general comment about the attitude and motivation that makes you even think about blanking these pages, I will say this as gently as I can but it is something you should think about and take to heart:
Now, let's look at the articles that you mentioned as candidates for blanking:
Google Groups - a great article with lots of contributions from a number of editors. This article should be nominated for GA status and, with a bit of work, could easily reach FA status. Why not help improve it to being a featured article? Wouldn't it feel great to have an article that you created and worked on featured on the front page of Wikipedia?
WP:RFF - another great contribution which has been used by a number of editors. It doesn't seem to be well-advertised, though. This is the first that I've heard of it. Maybe you could investigate how to get it advertised on the Community Portal.
Homerun - This article appears to be the same as Homerun (film). I can't easily determine how much of the article is your work as there have been a bunch of editors recorded in the history of Homerun (film). Regardless, this is a great article that should be nominated for WP:GA. With some work, it could also easily reach FA status. Once again, here's a project for you to take on.
One of the criteria used by some RFA voters for passing an RFA candidate is having worked on a Featured Article. You have two articles that are within striking distance of being FA. Consider taking them the rest of the way.
Why leave now? You've done some great work and have the potential to do more. I would suggest that you are suffering from WikiStress and need the support of some Wikipedians. Consider joining WP:ESPERANZA. You are already listed on the stress alerts page there. I will try to muster some support and encouragement for you there among fellow Esperanza members.
-- Richard 17:43, 17 July 2006 (UTC)
On reviewing the history of the Homerun article, I think you misunderstood what User:Themindset did and therefore misrepresented the situation at Wikipedia:Village pump (assistance) and, as a result of the misrepresentation, got some bad advice from User:Herostratus.
User:Themindset did NOT blank the Homerun article. He/she MOVED it to Homerun(film) and documenting what he/she was doing with this edit comment "(moved Homerun to Homerun (film): Homerun is commonly used in english to refer to a Home run, not this movie.)"
After having done this, he/she redirected Homerun to Home run which covers the most commonly used meaning of the phrase "home run". Note that the Home run article has a disambiguation link at the top which points to the Home run (disambiguation) page which includes a link to Homerun (film) article.
This is a perfectly defensible arrangement and is pretty much in accordance with Wikipedia policy.
None of your work was destroyed, blanked or deleted. It was just moved to a different name in order to comply with the Wikipedia policy that the most common use of a phrase be the one that Wikipedia readers see first.
Now, there is some room for arguing that Homerun should redirect to the Homerun (film) and that the Homerun (film) article should have a disambiguation link at the top. I wouldn't support that argument but it is one that you could make and discuss with other editors if you wished.
The bottom line, though, is that, through your understandable but unfortunate confusion, you have created a mess in that there are now two articles with exactly the same content Homerun and Homerun (film). I have cleaned up this mess by reverting to User:Themindset's redirect of Homerun to Home run. If you do not agree with this arrangement of article titles, feel free to open a discussion on Talk:Home run.
-- Richard 18:06, 17 July 2006 (UTC)
The reason why I want to leave is that I think I am failing as a Wikipedian.
As mentioned, I joined to contribute information to articles on websites and Singapore TV shows. I would revert vandalism occasionally, if I spotted it. Recently, however, most of my edits are reverting vandalism (a couple daily), and this is draining me from contributing information.
In addition, I have failed to make friends here, and am instead getting into stressful conflicts/
I want to continue contributing information to articles on websites and Singapore TV shows. In addition, I want to make friends with similar interests, so we can collaborate on articles on our interests.
I think finding appropriate WikiProjects would help me continue contributing information. In addition, the participants in the WikiProject are potential Wikifriends, as they are likely to be people with common interests, editing the same articles as I do.
Once I join a couple of appropriate WikiProjects, and continue contributing information, and make several Wikifriends, I will definitely decide to stay!
In addition, I hope I can resolve several issues and conflicts that are causing Wikistress, most notably the blocks to User:202.156.6.54 that are locking out me and many legimate Singaporean Wikipedians. Over time, my knowledge of wiki markup and process will improve, and after a successful editor review, I may become an established and respected contributor to the project. There'll be no more reason to lack confidence then! Hopefully we can also do something about my failed attempts to promote Wikipedia as well.
-- J.L.W.S. The Special One 06:56, 7 July 2006 (UTC)
I fell into the same routine as you have a while back.....then I found that I had to work to find something to do here. Wikipedia values all contributors, but it does not nurse them. Join a project or two, help out at the admin noticeboard, join the cleanup taskforce. Welcome some new users, or offer to help out new users. If you show this community that you are better than just vandalism reverting, it will come to you.-- The ikiroid ( talk· desk· Advise me) 20:41, 17 July 2006 (UTC)
Vandalism and trolling are not worth getting worried over. If you see something going bad consider leaving it at the Admin noticeboard for Vandalism stuff and then getting on with wikifying a few articles in the backlog. Try not to take vandalism of your favourite articles seriously, that would be letting them win. We can't have that now can we! Hope we can convince you to stay and contribute some more. Have you joined up with any Wikiprojects you are interested in? They are good places to make friends with like interests who can back you up on issues you run into. BTW, I think your english is very respectable. Have a great day! Ansell 00:30, 18 July 2006 (UTC)
Hey Hildanknight, sorry to hear that the date your planning to leave Wikipedia is fast approaching - I do hope you reconsider! The trolling and vandalism can be kind of depressing sometimes, but when it gets to you, that's a good time to step back and work on those articles that you really want to work on.
Also, you mentioned that your school IP address gets blocked, which hinders your editing. I'm not sure if you know, but the blocking procedure was recently updated so that now when an IP address is blocked, it is able to only affect anonymous users, which should stop you from being blocked as collateral damage! I hope that that, along with other things, helps you to reconsider leaving, and you certainly have a lot to offer to Wikipedia. -- Nataly a 03:10, 18 July 2006 (UTC)
You were blocked by Tawker for the following reason (see our blocking policy): Autoblocked because your IP address has been recently used by "Qasqass". The reason given for Qasqass's block is: "vandalblock".
Your IP address is 202.156.6.54.
P.S. I thought such a thing would never happen again with the changes to the blocking procedure! -- J.L.W.S. The Special One 05:36, 19 July 2006 (UTC)
{{unblock}} You were blocked by JzG for the following reason (see our blocking policy): Autoblocked because your IP address has been recently used by "DangerZoneYes". The reason given for DangerZoneYes's block is: "Pointless troll.".
Your IP address is 202.156.6.54.
The problem was not solved, I'm afraid. -- J.L.W.S. The Special One 12:58, 21 July 2006 (UTC)
SuggestBot predicts that you will enjoy editing some of these articles. Have fun!
SuggestBot picks articles in a number of ways based on other articles you've edited, including straight text similarity, following wikilinks, and matching your editing patterns against those of other Wikipedians. It tries to recommend only articles that other Wikipedians have marked as needing work. Your contributions make Wikipedia better -- thanks for helping.
If you have feedback on how to make SuggestBot better, please tell me on SuggestBot's talk page. Thanks from ForteTuba, SuggestBot's caretaker.
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I noticed you started a list of members on WP:CVG, which I've since reverted. We used to have a list, but it became to large to keep on there so the member list is now at Category:WikiProject Computer and video games members. I'll go and add you in there right now. And thanks for joining ;) -- gakon5 16:30, 22 July 2006 (UTC)
{edit} Oh, you're userpage redirects... eh, I best not screw with that; I'm not even sure if categories work on reidrect pages. Well, you can add yourself somehow by putting [[Category:WikiProject Computer and video games members|{{subst:PAGENAME}}]] on your userpage. Or maybe on this page. -- gakon5
I noticed that you moved one of my comments around on this page. As a rule, refrain from editing others' comments without their permission. Although it may appear helpful to move them into a logical order, they should remain as they are so as not to change their meaning. My comment actually applied to the comment directly above mine, hence the location and indentation. For more details, see Wikipedia:Talk page guidelines. Thanks, Jibbles | Talk 17:32, 22 July 2006 (UTC)
Hello Hildanknight — just a note to thank you for giving me feedback on my article about James Harford; much appreciated. I do think he's notable enough; colonial Governors were virtually Head of State, albeit (in his case) of small territories! I'll give some thought to expanding the list to prose paragraphs; thank you for that good idea.
Sorry to note that you're thinking about leaving Wikipedia — it's clear from your article on Google Groups that you're a good clear editor, but of course you must leave if you really want to; I hope you make the decision that makes you happiest. Best wishes, talk Giler S 11:15, 24 July 2006 (UTC)
25 July 2006 is the day of my decision. My decision is stay on Wikipedia.
Thanks to everyone for your encouragement and advice. I've realized I've done some great work on Wikipedia, and I want to do much more great work.
My task over the next few days will be to establish myself as a Wikipedian, and to sow the seeds of my future as a contributor. I've joined WikiProject Computer and Video Games. I am currently pushing for WikiProject Singapore, for my contributions to articles on Singapore TV shows/movies. And it is likely that I will join WikiProject Chess. I will also be working on my userpage.
Some unsettled issues may cause me to change my decision, and leave, though this is unlikely. The unsettled issues are that the purported solution to collateral damage caused by IP blocks has some problems (and thus I am still occasionally blocked as collateral damage, though not as often as previously), and whether my attempt to push for the creation of WikiProject Singapore succeeds or fails. In addition, User:Tdxiang, one of the few Wikipedians I have befriended in my short span here, has decided to leave Wikipedia.
Nevertheless, I hope these issues can be resolved, and I look forward to making a significant contribution to this great project. Cheers!
Would a kind admin please help me archive my talk page, and restore all the comments prior to the time I wanted to leave?
Hello. I have decided to leave Wikipedia like Terence.
I joined Wikipedia for three main reasons:
I find that I am failing in these goals.
My other reasons for leaving:
I am not permenantly set on leaving. This means that if most of these issues can be addressed, I won't leave. My planned date of departure will be 25 July 2006 (exactly one year after I adopted the online moniker Hildanknight). Until then, I will still occasionally check in to check responses from Terence and the rest of the community, and settle my affairs on Wikipedia. If nothing causes me to change my mind, after 25 July 2006, you will not see any more edits from Hildanknight.
My only dilemma will be whether to delete Google Groups, Homerun and WP:RFF (all created by me). Terence has advised me not to.
Sorry and goodbye, and all the best to Wikipedia.
-- J.L.W.S. The Special One 14:16, 5 July 2006 (UTC)
Retiring???
Wikinews accepts original reporting. Perhaps try there? Anyhow, WP:V and WP:NOR often doesn't come into play that often with Singaporean articles, especially since they can be correlated. And I wouldn't advise suggesting deletion on notable articles you create, since there's no ownership on them. Once an editor, always an editor, so just edit when you can, and don't edit when you need to do other things. ;-) Elle vécut heureuse à jamais ( Be eudaimonic!) 14:31, 6 July 2006 (UTC)
"My idea of a Google group was ridiculed."
Comment Hmmm... too bad it was "ridiculed". Perhaps those making comments on your proposal were too strong in their criticism. Can you provide a link to the place where the discussion took place?
I think I understand your motivation. However, let me explain what I think the pros and cons are for creating a Google group for Wikipedia.
It's not a terrible idea although it doesn't strike me as a wonderful idea. The reason that I might not support creating a Google group is that the Talk Pages constitute a kind of collaborative forum similar to some of the functionality of Google or Yahoo groups. Moreover, there are tens of thousands Wikipedia editors who most likely would interact in one or more Talk Pages. Thus, creating one Google Group would not work well because it either would only get a tiny percentage of Wikipedia editors or would get overwhelmed by having too many.
Now, the best argument FOR creating a Google group is that Wikipedia rules specifically say that "Wikipedia is not a social forum".
I would suggest that you consider creating a Google group for some subset of Wikipedians to join in a social forum about Wikipedia.
If you give the group a focus like "Singaporean teenage Wikipedia editors", you may find some kindred spirits with whom you share similar interests.
Good luck.
-- Richard 13:46, 17 July 2006 (UTC)
Please don't. Blanking an article is considered vandalism unless you are the ONLY editor who has contributed to that article. Just because you were the original editor doesn't mean that you have the right to blank an article that has since been edited by others.
In theory, you don't even own the original text that you contributed (as others have pointed out above). However, even if you have the right to revert your own text, it should be obvious that blanking an article that others have contributed to is a serious act of vandalism. That kind of stuff can get you blocked.
As a general comment about the attitude and motivation that makes you even think about blanking these pages, I will say this as gently as I can but it is something you should think about and take to heart:
Now, let's look at the articles that you mentioned as candidates for blanking:
Google Groups - a great article with lots of contributions from a number of editors. This article should be nominated for GA status and, with a bit of work, could easily reach FA status. Why not help improve it to being a featured article? Wouldn't it feel great to have an article that you created and worked on featured on the front page of Wikipedia?
WP:RFF - another great contribution which has been used by a number of editors. It doesn't seem to be well-advertised, though. This is the first that I've heard of it. Maybe you could investigate how to get it advertised on the Community Portal.
Homerun - This article appears to be the same as Homerun (film). I can't easily determine how much of the article is your work as there have been a bunch of editors recorded in the history of Homerun (film). Regardless, this is a great article that should be nominated for WP:GA. With some work, it could also easily reach FA status. Once again, here's a project for you to take on.
One of the criteria used by some RFA voters for passing an RFA candidate is having worked on a Featured Article. You have two articles that are within striking distance of being FA. Consider taking them the rest of the way.
Why leave now? You've done some great work and have the potential to do more. I would suggest that you are suffering from WikiStress and need the support of some Wikipedians. Consider joining WP:ESPERANZA. You are already listed on the stress alerts page there. I will try to muster some support and encouragement for you there among fellow Esperanza members.
-- Richard 17:43, 17 July 2006 (UTC)
On reviewing the history of the Homerun article, I think you misunderstood what User:Themindset did and therefore misrepresented the situation at Wikipedia:Village pump (assistance) and, as a result of the misrepresentation, got some bad advice from User:Herostratus.
User:Themindset did NOT blank the Homerun article. He/she MOVED it to Homerun(film) and documenting what he/she was doing with this edit comment "(moved Homerun to Homerun (film): Homerun is commonly used in english to refer to a Home run, not this movie.)"
After having done this, he/she redirected Homerun to Home run which covers the most commonly used meaning of the phrase "home run". Note that the Home run article has a disambiguation link at the top which points to the Home run (disambiguation) page which includes a link to Homerun (film) article.
This is a perfectly defensible arrangement and is pretty much in accordance with Wikipedia policy.
None of your work was destroyed, blanked or deleted. It was just moved to a different name in order to comply with the Wikipedia policy that the most common use of a phrase be the one that Wikipedia readers see first.
Now, there is some room for arguing that Homerun should redirect to the Homerun (film) and that the Homerun (film) article should have a disambiguation link at the top. I wouldn't support that argument but it is one that you could make and discuss with other editors if you wished.
The bottom line, though, is that, through your understandable but unfortunate confusion, you have created a mess in that there are now two articles with exactly the same content Homerun and Homerun (film). I have cleaned up this mess by reverting to User:Themindset's redirect of Homerun to Home run. If you do not agree with this arrangement of article titles, feel free to open a discussion on Talk:Home run.
-- Richard 18:06, 17 July 2006 (UTC)
The reason why I want to leave is that I think I am failing as a Wikipedian.
As mentioned, I joined to contribute information to articles on websites and Singapore TV shows. I would revert vandalism occasionally, if I spotted it. Recently, however, most of my edits are reverting vandalism (a couple daily), and this is draining me from contributing information.
In addition, I have failed to make friends here, and am instead getting into stressful conflicts/
I want to continue contributing information to articles on websites and Singapore TV shows. In addition, I want to make friends with similar interests, so we can collaborate on articles on our interests.
I think finding appropriate WikiProjects would help me continue contributing information. In addition, the participants in the WikiProject are potential Wikifriends, as they are likely to be people with common interests, editing the same articles as I do.
Once I join a couple of appropriate WikiProjects, and continue contributing information, and make several Wikifriends, I will definitely decide to stay!
In addition, I hope I can resolve several issues and conflicts that are causing Wikistress, most notably the blocks to User:202.156.6.54 that are locking out me and many legimate Singaporean Wikipedians. Over time, my knowledge of wiki markup and process will improve, and after a successful editor review, I may become an established and respected contributor to the project. There'll be no more reason to lack confidence then! Hopefully we can also do something about my failed attempts to promote Wikipedia as well.
-- J.L.W.S. The Special One 06:56, 7 July 2006 (UTC)
I fell into the same routine as you have a while back.....then I found that I had to work to find something to do here. Wikipedia values all contributors, but it does not nurse them. Join a project or two, help out at the admin noticeboard, join the cleanup taskforce. Welcome some new users, or offer to help out new users. If you show this community that you are better than just vandalism reverting, it will come to you.-- The ikiroid ( talk· desk· Advise me) 20:41, 17 July 2006 (UTC)
Vandalism and trolling are not worth getting worried over. If you see something going bad consider leaving it at the Admin noticeboard for Vandalism stuff and then getting on with wikifying a few articles in the backlog. Try not to take vandalism of your favourite articles seriously, that would be letting them win. We can't have that now can we! Hope we can convince you to stay and contribute some more. Have you joined up with any Wikiprojects you are interested in? They are good places to make friends with like interests who can back you up on issues you run into. BTW, I think your english is very respectable. Have a great day! Ansell 00:30, 18 July 2006 (UTC)
Hey Hildanknight, sorry to hear that the date your planning to leave Wikipedia is fast approaching - I do hope you reconsider! The trolling and vandalism can be kind of depressing sometimes, but when it gets to you, that's a good time to step back and work on those articles that you really want to work on.
Also, you mentioned that your school IP address gets blocked, which hinders your editing. I'm not sure if you know, but the blocking procedure was recently updated so that now when an IP address is blocked, it is able to only affect anonymous users, which should stop you from being blocked as collateral damage! I hope that that, along with other things, helps you to reconsider leaving, and you certainly have a lot to offer to Wikipedia. -- Nataly a 03:10, 18 July 2006 (UTC)
You were blocked by Tawker for the following reason (see our blocking policy): Autoblocked because your IP address has been recently used by "Qasqass". The reason given for Qasqass's block is: "vandalblock".
Your IP address is 202.156.6.54.
P.S. I thought such a thing would never happen again with the changes to the blocking procedure! -- J.L.W.S. The Special One 05:36, 19 July 2006 (UTC)
{{unblock}} You were blocked by JzG for the following reason (see our blocking policy): Autoblocked because your IP address has been recently used by "DangerZoneYes". The reason given for DangerZoneYes's block is: "Pointless troll.".
Your IP address is 202.156.6.54.
The problem was not solved, I'm afraid. -- J.L.W.S. The Special One 12:58, 21 July 2006 (UTC)
SuggestBot predicts that you will enjoy editing some of these articles. Have fun!
SuggestBot picks articles in a number of ways based on other articles you've edited, including straight text similarity, following wikilinks, and matching your editing patterns against those of other Wikipedians. It tries to recommend only articles that other Wikipedians have marked as needing work. Your contributions make Wikipedia better -- thanks for helping.
If you have feedback on how to make SuggestBot better, please tell me on SuggestBot's talk page. Thanks from ForteTuba, SuggestBot's caretaker.
P.S. You received these suggestions because your name was listed on the SuggestBot request page. If this was in error, sorry about the confusion. -- SuggestBot 15:26, 20 July 2006 (UTC)
I noticed you started a list of members on WP:CVG, which I've since reverted. We used to have a list, but it became to large to keep on there so the member list is now at Category:WikiProject Computer and video games members. I'll go and add you in there right now. And thanks for joining ;) -- gakon5 16:30, 22 July 2006 (UTC)
{edit} Oh, you're userpage redirects... eh, I best not screw with that; I'm not even sure if categories work on reidrect pages. Well, you can add yourself somehow by putting [[Category:WikiProject Computer and video games members|{{subst:PAGENAME}}]] on your userpage. Or maybe on this page. -- gakon5
I noticed that you moved one of my comments around on this page. As a rule, refrain from editing others' comments without their permission. Although it may appear helpful to move them into a logical order, they should remain as they are so as not to change their meaning. My comment actually applied to the comment directly above mine, hence the location and indentation. For more details, see Wikipedia:Talk page guidelines. Thanks, Jibbles | Talk 17:32, 22 July 2006 (UTC)
Hello Hildanknight — just a note to thank you for giving me feedback on my article about James Harford; much appreciated. I do think he's notable enough; colonial Governors were virtually Head of State, albeit (in his case) of small territories! I'll give some thought to expanding the list to prose paragraphs; thank you for that good idea.
Sorry to note that you're thinking about leaving Wikipedia — it's clear from your article on Google Groups that you're a good clear editor, but of course you must leave if you really want to; I hope you make the decision that makes you happiest. Best wishes, talk Giler S 11:15, 24 July 2006 (UTC)
25 July 2006 is the day of my decision. My decision is stay on Wikipedia.
Thanks to everyone for your encouragement and advice. I've realized I've done some great work on Wikipedia, and I want to do much more great work.
My task over the next few days will be to establish myself as a Wikipedian, and to sow the seeds of my future as a contributor. I've joined WikiProject Computer and Video Games. I am currently pushing for WikiProject Singapore, for my contributions to articles on Singapore TV shows/movies. And it is likely that I will join WikiProject Chess. I will also be working on my userpage.
Some unsettled issues may cause me to change my decision, and leave, though this is unlikely. The unsettled issues are that the purported solution to collateral damage caused by IP blocks has some problems (and thus I am still occasionally blocked as collateral damage, though not as often as previously), and whether my attempt to push for the creation of WikiProject Singapore succeeds or fails. In addition, User:Tdxiang, one of the few Wikipedians I have befriended in my short span here, has decided to leave Wikipedia.
Nevertheless, I hope these issues can be resolved, and I look forward to making a significant contribution to this great project. Cheers!
Would a kind admin please help me archive my talk page, and restore all the comments prior to the time I wanted to leave?