This is a Wikipediauser page. This is not an encyclopedia article or the talk page for an encyclopedia article. If you find this page on any site other than Wikipedia, you are viewing a mirror site. Be aware that the page may be outdated and that the user whom this page is about may have no personal affiliation with any site other than Wikipedia. The original page is located at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Ivanvector.
Welcome to my user page! I am a long-time contributor to Wikipedia, first registering my account on 8 October 2009. I'm proudly Canadian and an accountant by profession, but my interests on Wikipedia cover a very wide range of topics. I am originally from London, Ontario and spent much of the 2010s in Toronto, although I now live on (in?) Prince Edward Island.
Off-wiki, I can be found on a number of websites such as my cat's blog, usually using the name "ivanvector". Chances are good that if you're interacting with "ivanvector" on another site, you're interacting with me, but that is not guaranteed. There are certainly websites where others have taken the name "ivanvector", and some of them are attempts to impersonate me. If you need to confirm that an off-wiki ivanvector is actually me, please post a note on my talk page and await a response from my main account. I am no longer active on Twitter and will not respond to messages there; the only social media I'm regularly active on is my Mastodon account, @ivanvector@oceanplayground.social. Note that I do not deal with Wikipedia matters through social media, I have a talk page for that. If you try to contact me via social media to discuss anything to do with Wikipedia, you will receive no response at all.
I have been an administrator on English Wikipedia since 27 December 2016 (RfA) and a CheckUser since 9 October 2018 (CUOS 2018, global rights log). You can see stats on my administrative actions here, or browse logs of things I commonly do such as blocks, deletions, and page protection. Ever since a security incident in January 2021 I am more active with my non-privileged account, PEIsquirrel (talk·contribs). I am notified and respond just as quickly to messages left for either account, however pings are inconsistent.
You can email me using the form at Special:EmailUser/Ivanvector, or the "Email this user" link in the sidebar (desktop only). I am a human resources professional and experienced in private communications, and I will try to keep your email communication private, however I cannot and do not guarantee that any information sent this way will not be seen by others. I may share limited information with other privileged users for administrative purposes, unless you ask me not to in which case I may not be able to help.
I also have a personal policy of transparency: if you email me to request administrative action which does not need to be kept private, I will ask you to make the request at the appropriate Wikipedia noticeboard. You will get a faster response by posting at a noticeboard in the first place. Noticeboards are continuously monitored by several hundred administrators and thousands of other users who may be able to handle your request or answer your question, while my email is only monitored by one person (me) and only when I happen to have it open. For truly private matters, or if you're not sure, please email and I will advise.
If you have received a message that a block prevents you from editing, then you have also received instructions to have the block lifted. You should also read the guide to appealing blocks. If you have read them and you still think you should email me, read the instructions again. If you have exhausted all other options and still think you need to email me, please explain why in your message. If you have obviously emailed me without reading the instructions I will delete your email without responding.
All Wikimedia Foundation websites are separate projects with separate governance and administration. I am an administrator on English Wikipedia only, and do not have a privileged account on any other project. If you need an administrator's assistance on another project you must ask an administrator on that project. If you leave me a message on another website I will not respond; most likely I won't see your message at all. Abuse of cross-wiki messaging may result in your account being blocked on all Wikimedia Foundation websites.
As of May 2021, due to the Freenode/Libera Chat controversy, I am not monitoring IRC channels and cannot be contacted through any IRC network.
Names and pronouns
My real name is not Ivan Vector, which many people find confusing. My real name is Greg, but I don't take offense in being referred to by my pseudonym, nor by Ives, Ivan, Vector, or other variations. I'm also not Russian, as some users think this name implies. For what it's worth I am primarily English with an odd mix of French, Irish, Scottish, Dutch, Slovak and Jewish heritage, and my username is a reference to an inside joke from when I was in engineering school.
There have been many disputes on Wikipedia about the use of gender-neutral pronouns. I try to assume gender neutrality if a user has not stated their pronouns, and refer to most users using singular they. I do my best to respect all users' wishes in this regard, and if I have misgendered you it is not out of malice but out of cluelessness. I identify as male, and you can use the male gendered pronouns (he/him/his, etc.) to refer to me, but I won't take offense to any particular set of pronouns.
What I do around here
DGAF
This user can't be arsed, and hopes some day you will join them.
Este usuario puede contribuir con un nivel básico de español.
My core editing philosophy is to not give a fuck. You shouldn't either. I don't do things that I expect to get credit for, or to rack up my edit counter, or to please or anger anyone. I do things because they are the right things to do. I certainly make mistakes; if you disagree with something I've done, I absolutely welcome you to inform me and we can discuss a solution.
I am fluent in my native language, English, and read and write at a professional level. I speak with what has been called a southern Ontario urban accent.[1] I have also studied French academically and Spanish for travelling, which has come in handy in evaluating foreign-language redirects, for example. I have a handful of edits on the Spanish and French Wikipedias, and have done some work on Simple English Wikipedia, Wiktionary, and Wikimedia Commons. On this Wikipedia I write in Canadian English unless there is a good reason to use a different local variation. On the other Wikipedias I just write poorly.
Submitted articles
The vast majority of my article-space edits are minor things like spelling and grammar corrections, general copy-editing, navigation templates and vandalism patrol. I've also ended up being credited as the creator of a few pages where all of the older revisions were deleted, due to copyright violations I worked on repairing. The pages I list here I feel are my most significant real content contributions.
Canada jay: candidate for Canada's National Bird. My first attempt at promoting a good article; subsequently my first featured article co-nomination and first DYK credit. Was promoted as today's featured article on 2 July 2017, the day after Canada's sesquicentennial.
1999 Ontario Highway 401 crash: a multiple vehicle collision which occurred near Windsor, Ontario. One of Canada's worst road disasters; seven people were killed.
Above Znoneofthe: Canadian political candidate who legally changed his name so that there would be a "Znoneofthe, Above" option on Canada's alphabetical electoral ballots.
Mitch Martin: an Australian race driver; redirect previously pointed to Old School (film) as one of the main characters' names.
Translations
Consumer Protection Act (Quebec): created as a result of a redirect discussion I think for the sole purpose of demonstrating some obscure point, probably about interlanguage links.
Saltes Island: translated primarily from Spanish with help from other language wikis as a test of whether it was possible for wikidata's interlanguage feature to point to a redlink. Article was selected randomly.
Pages listed above are more or less stable and I'm not actively working on them, but of course improvements are welcome and the encyclopedia is never finished. These are articles and other content that I have ideas in my head for specific improvements and expansion, if I ever have the time.
Cannabis in Prince Edward Island: development of the province's legal framework for the upcoming legalization of marijuana throughout Canada in 2018.
Chignecto Marine Transport Railway: one of Canada's first megaprojects: a "ship railway" designed to transport marine vessels over 17 miles of the Isthmus of Chignecto; financing failed and the railway never operated. (c.f. Henry Ketchum, above)
Miyata: a Japanese bicycle and motorcycle manufacturer.
I add userboxen to this section to give a little more detail about me as a person, identify projects I regularly or occasionally participate in, and to make myself available for connections to other users with similar interests. For example, the userbox with "gtr-2" indicates that I am a novice guitarist, and adds my user page to the category Wikipedian guitarists, a list of all of the Wikipedia users who play guitar. If you were looking for help from an editor who plays guitar for some reason, that would be a good place to start looking.
I've added and removed a lot of userboxen over the years, eventually settling on this collapsed-box format which may be less-than-ideal on narrow monitors (and probably awful on mobile). If you have a userbox you think I should add, you should tell me about it.
Barnstars and WikiFun are interesting and creative ways for Wikipedians to show appreciation for one another. This is a selection of appreciation notices and templates that fellow editors have left for me over the years.
Barnstars and recognitions
Thanks for your support in my recent unsuccessful RfA. Your words were much appreciated. I fear my timing was indeed bad, but we're already working on preparations for Tokyo. Hawkeye7(discuss) 21:09, 25 August 2019 (UTC)
Keep up the great work! I appreciate your efforts on the project! User:Lightburst 19:56, 21 June 2019 (UTC)
The Admin's Barnstar
I had once been your critic and we even shared brickbats. That did not stop you from doing the right thing whenever needed. Your suggestions related to ARBIPA were excellent and I am glad that you proposed them. My Wikilife has become peaceful and you deserve a biggest chunk of its credit for the work you have done in your admin capacity. Thanks again. DBigXrayᗙ 13:34, 8 June 2019 (UTC)
The Admin's Barnstar
Thank you for always doing the right thing as an administrator. At many occasions I have found your comments to be the most balanced, thoughtful, and within reason whether they involved incidents related to me or someone else or whether the comments were against me or in my favor. You definitely stand out from the crowd. Sheriff | ☎ 911 | 02:05, 5 April 2019 (UTC)
The Checkuser's Barnstar
Thank you so much for helping out with the checkuser queue of the account creation process. We've got a pretty severe backlog in this rather obscure area of Wikipedia, and since it seems like a pretty thankless job with minimal positive feedback, I figure I ought to give you this token of appreciation. Mz7 (talk) 09:02, 27 February 2019 (UTC)
The Admin's Barnstar
Thanks for unblocking all of us who were blocked by the compromised admin. startTerminal {haha wow talk page | waste_of_space#4023 on discord} 19:57, 23 November 2018 (UTC)
The Red Maple Leaf Award
This maple leaf is awarded to Ivanvector for writing two new Canada-related articles during the second year of The 10,000 Challenge of WikiProject Canada. Congratulations, and thank you for your contributions! Reidgreg (talk) 23:09, 2 November 2018 (UTC)
The Barnstar of Diplomacy
Being an administrator is difficult at times, and requires much time, attention, due diligence and patience. While we sometimes tend to overlook this, I'd like to take a moment and appreciate your positive work, efforts and role in this community. Kind regards and all the best, Mar4d (talk) 12:02, 17 August 2018 (UTC)
The Brilliant Idea Barnstar
Nice work pushing this RFC through! L293D (☎ • ✎) 22:28, 25 April 2018 (UTC)
The Silver Maple Leaf Award
This maple leaf is awarded to Ivanvector for quality article improvements including the promotion of good and featured content during The 10,000 Challenge of WikiProject Canada. Congratulations, and thank you for your contributions! Reidgreg (talk) 15:23, 6 November 2017 (UTC)
The SPI Barnstar
Thank you for your steadfast work untangling, tagging and reorganising the writhing nests of socks at Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/OfficialPankajPatidar and the three or four related cases today. That can't have been an enjoyable way to spend your afternoon. Yunshui雲水 15:57, 15 March 2017 (UTC)
The Tireless Contributor Barnstar
Amazing job on the gray jay, I can't imagine how long it took to write what you did! RileyBugzYell at me|Edits 23:17, 30 January 2017 (UTC)
Well thank you! I should point out that the article was already 40k before I ever touched it. What I've done is mostly just clean-up of what many other users contributed in the past, and plenty of others have helped. Ivanvector (Talk/Edits) 14:33, 31 January 2017 (UTC)
Thank you! ツ
The Reference Desk Barnstar
Dear Greg, Thank you for taking the time to offer advice and assistance to your fellow editors via the Help desk. I remain most grateful to you for the clear and helpful guidance you gave me recently; thank you, Greg! With kind regards; Patrick. ツ Pdebee.(talk)(guestbook) 20:54, 12 January 2017 (UTC)
Congratulations on your successful RFA! Thank you for offering to serve Wikipedia in such a capacity; the project could not function without editors like you! On the morning of your first day on the job, please have a sip of this coffee. It'll kick you right into gear! —k6ka🍁 (Talk · Contributions) 00:27, 28 December 2016 (UTC)
I would just like to thank you for all the work you put into this edit. I There's no arguing with stats. Kudpung กุดผึ้ง (talk) 04:07, 5 December 2016 (UTC)
The Special Barnstar
I considered awarding the Admin's Barnstar to a non-admin, but this one fits better. Thanks for your tireless work at SPI! ~ RobTalk 23:10, 11 June 2016 (UTC)
A red-billed francolin for you!
You saved me!
Thanks for your help with the Afrikaans bird redirects. I think the nomination is finally correct and I couldn't have done it without you. --Tavix(talk) 03:54, 28 January 2016 (UTC)
The 78.26 RFA Appreciation award
Thank you for the participation and support at my RFA. It is truly appreciated. I hope to be of further help around here, and if you see me doing something dumb, you know where to find me. Again, I thank you. 78.26(spin me / revolutions) 01:08, 24 December 2015 (UTC)
For helping unscrew the mess I created in trying to bring a debate to its conclusion, and getting everything settled with a minimum of rancor, I present you this Peace Barnstar. I've probably done this wrong too.
The Barnstar of Diplomacy
For cleaning up a mess Dkendr (talk) 23:28, 14 December 2015 (UTC)
Here is the drink as promised. Next time I'm in the GTA, I'll look you up. Tiggerjay (talk) 02:14, 21 November 2015 (UTC)
I'll second that. Articles should be neutral, but ~I think a bit of humo(u)r at editor-side pages greases the wheels. Si Trew (talk) 14:24, 14 August 2015 (UTC)
7&6=thirteen (☎) has given you a Dobos Torte to enjoy! Seven layers of fun because you deserve it.
To give a Dobos Torte and spread the WikiLove, just place {{subst:Dobos Torte}} on someone else's talkpage, whether it be someone you have had disagreements with in the past or a good friend.
Lenticel(talk) has given you a Cheeseburger! Cheeseburgers promote WikiLove and hopefully this one has made your day better. Spread the WikiLove by giving someone else a Cheeseburger, whether it be someone you've had disagreements with in the past or a good friend. Happy eating!
Spread the goodness of Cheeseburgers by adding {{subst:Cheeseburger}} to their talk page with a friendly message, or eat this cheeseburger on the giver's talk page with {{subst:burger-munch}}!
Enjoy your wiki-burger! :) --Lenticel(talk) 00:18, 18 February 2015 (UTC)
Heh :) Thanks! Ivanvector (talk) 16:55, 24 November 2014 (UTC)
Thank You
Thank you for participating in my topic ban. This really is a genuine thank you, no sarcasm is intended. I was in the wrong and I accept that. Rottenregard 23:49, 17 November 2014 (UTC)
My thanks for you contribution in the Chione articles for deletion page. You were constructive and civil, enabling the situation to be resolved refreshingly quickly. In the end I think I've come round to your point of view; better to keep the history and redirect then delete. Nyctimene (talk) 21:07, 29 October 2014 (UTC)
7&6=thirteen (☎) has given you a Dobos Torte to enjoy! Seven layers of fun because you deserve it.
To give a Dobos Torte and spread the WikiLove, just place {{subst:Dobos Torte}} on someone else's talkpage, whether it be someone you have had disagreements with in the past or a good friend.
Thank you for your support of me during a recent situation regarding another editor, as well as for your suggestions on afd. I really appreciate it, Daniellagreen(talk)(cont) 00:13, 12 July 2014 (UTC)
To my knowledge, I am the first editor to employ the red maple leaf emoji 🍁 in my signature, having started with this edit on 30 June 2015 at 21:58 UTC, and it pleases me greatly that several other users have since followed my lead. If you would like to flaunt your Canadian-ness to the world (or just really likeappreciate envy your hoser brethren) visit Special:Preferences and add <span style="color:red">🍁</span> to your signature where you would like the maple leaf to appear. Note that the use of templates in signatures is discouraged, so using {{red}} directly is not possible. Also note that you can't use the proper Canadian spelling of colour in the code, because of systemic bias against us.
I occasionally turn the maple leaf blue when discussing the Toronto Blue Jays, even though the maple leaf in their logo is red. I don't change it when discussing the Toronto Maple Leafs, even though their logo is a blue maple leaf.
I'd also appreciate being corrected if I am in fact not the first to use the maple leaf. Credit where credit's due, eh?
UPDATE: as of some time in late summer 2016, the character set containing the U+1F341🍁MAPLE LEAF character was given native colouring; subsequently, at least for me, the icon always appears yellow regardless of the coded colour. Yellow maple leaves don't mean anything to me, so I've removed it from my signature.
Accountability
In the interest of transparency, should there ever be a need to mine my contributions, I am aware of the following edits which were made by other people on my computer while logged in, or edits I made while logged out:
[2] - a test of whether anonymous editors could post into active requests for adminship pages. At the time they could, obviously. The IP used here is a WIND Mobile dynamic IP, the other edits from that address are not mine.
I have one alternative account, PEIsquirrel (talk·contribs), confirmed here, which I use for editing in public places or anywhere that I'm not confident that my connection is secure. Since November 2018 I also use PEIsquirrel for semiautomated edits with AutoWikiBrowser (permission confirmed here). Although real squirrels keep finding a way into my basement, PEIsquirrel holds no other privileges.
I have no other accounts other than these three, and am reasonably certain that I have never edited as an IP other than what is listed here. Any contributions from any other account claiming to be in my name are not me and the user should be blocked immediately.
Favourites
Favourite sports statistic: the NHL record for most combined points by two brothers is 2,861. It is held by Wayne Gretzky (2,857) and his brother Brent (4).[3]
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