User:Bradv/maintext
Why do I edit Wikipedia?
[edit]We are in the midst of the biggest literary revolution the world has ever seen. Not since the invention of the printing press has there been such a leap forward in humanity's ability to record, share, and transmit information. We read books, newspapers, online news articles, blogs. We write Facebook posts, tweets, emails, and text messages. All that time we spend staring at our phones? We're reading, writing, and sharing information with each other.
As with any new phase in human history, we are having trouble adjusting. We used to get our news and information from sources we implicitly trusted – the bookstore, the newspaper, the government, the church. Now we struggle with knowing who to trust. A flood of information from many different sources can leave us confused just as easily as it can inform us and help us make good decisions.
The struggle to adapt to all this new information is evident throughout our institutions. News articles write clickbaity headlines in order to get more ad revenue. Advertisers make false promises in order to enrich themselves. Politicians spread fake news to prey upon our fears and sow discord, hatred, and confusion.
We are getting used to being lied to. Humanity is together getting better at sorting fact from fiction, and separating those who are seeking to inform from those who are seeking to mislead. And at the forefront of that effort is Wikipedia, a project to document the sum of all human knowledge using the power of the Internet. Never before in the history of the world has such a project been possible, but never before has such a project been so necessary.
Is Wikipedia perfect? No, obviously not, it's a work in progress. Thousands of people come here every day to promote their own products, agendas, and ideas. But thousands of people are also working tirelessly to help improve the encyclopedia and achieve its vision.
This is why I edit Wikipedia. And here are some of the ways I try to do my part:
- I assist new editors in contributing positively to the project, at articles for creation and new page patrol.
- I help with disputes between editors by occasionally providing a third opinion.
- I add sources to unreferenced articles, especially unreferenced biographies of living persons.
- I help check articles for neutrality and accuracy at noticeboards, such as the BLP noticeboard, the fringe theories noticeboard, and the conflict of interest noticeboard.
- I assist at articles for deletion, to help form consensus around our standards for inclusion, and to enforce our current content policies and guidelines.
- I serve as part of the volunteer task force which responds to email requests sent to Wikipedia.
- I serve as a trainee clerk for the Arbitration Committee, which adjudicates more serious disputes between editors.
If you are reading this page we have probably interacted in some way, perhaps at one of the above venues. If you are here in order to promote a particular person, company, or point of view, I hope that this page will somehow help you understand why I do what I do, and maybe even inspire you to join me in building this encyclopedia. The same applies if you are a new editor, or if you haven't yet made your first edit – please join us in our pursuit to document the sum of all human knowledge. After all, it is a revolution.