User:James470

Wikipedia: Geniuses at work

So it's my fault that I forgot to put in the {{reflist}} in this one article. So another user comes in and puts in what I neglected. He gets reverted (diff) for supposedly being a banned user, the article is effectively without citations. Another user comes along and repeats what the supposedly banned user did, but this time writing {{Reflist}} instead of {{reflist}}. His edit stands to this day. Geniuses!

The parable of Jesus and the three wikis

⁴³And three men were brought before Jesus, and were each given a wiki of his own to manage as each saw fit, ⁴⁴and He spake unto them, "In 144 month's time, I shall return and thou shall report on the progress of your wiki." ⁴⁵And when 144 months had passed, He returned and asked the three men to report on their progress. ⁴⁶"I let anyone whosoever edit it," the first man said. ⁴⁷"Dost thou ever check it?" asked Jesus. ⁴⁸"I check to make sure the article about me is all correct," the first man replied. ⁴⁹"Check other articles, and thou shall see your wiki has become a punchline," said Jesus. ⁵⁰The second man stepped up eagerly, and spake unto Jesus: "After a month, I locked it down so only I and my two most trusted friends could edit it. We reverted almost every edit. Aside from a few updates, the wiki is almost in the same condition which You gave it to me." ⁵¹But at this Jesus was also displeased: "Thy wiki is most stale now." ⁵²The third man stepped forward with reluctance, and spake: "I have tried to have experts guide the content while at the same time not dismissing out-of-hand they whom others would call vandals." ⁵³"Thy work pleases me," said Jesus. ⁵⁴Unto the two other men Jesus spake: "Take heed of thy colleague's example."

About me

Thursday 21/11/2024 23:26 UTC

Just a little bit about me: I sing in an amateur choir (but not the church choir) and I can more or less play guitar and piano. I can't tell you anything about my day job, but if I could, you'd agree it's pretty dull work. Still, in these times I'm blessed to have a job.

If you care to know my interests,

• my favorite classical composer is Ludwig van Beethoven and
• my favorite conductor is Herbert von Karajan,
• my favorite rock band is The Beatles and
• my favorite film is The Empire Strikes Back,
• my favorite philosopher is St. Francis of Assisi,

Articles created and collaborations

These are articles I've created or worked on significantly.

Scroll down to view full list

Contribution Wiki EN: 8+ Interiot Articles I've started

• Sacred music by Anton Bruckner: Te Deum, Mass in F minor, Mass in E minor, Requiem, Psalm 150, Missa Solemnis in B-flat minor, Magnificat in B-flat major
• Sacred music by Joseph Haydn: Missa brevis Sancti Joannis de Deo, Missa sancti Bernardi von Offida, Harmoniemesse, Cäcilienmesse, Stabat Mater
• Sacred music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Missa Brevis No. 9 in B-flat major, Missa Brevis No. 6 in G major, Sparrow Mass
• Sacred music by Michael Haydn: Missa Hispanica, Requiem in C minor, Missa in honorem Sanctae Ursulae
• Instrumental music: Symphony in C major by Paul Dukas, String Quintet in F major and String Quartet in C minor by Bruckner, Symphony No. 2 in F minor by Richard Strauss, Symphony No. 2 in D-flat major by Hanson
• Music catalogues: Werkverzeichnis Anton Bruckner, List of compositions by Anton Bruckner
• Saints: Bernard of Offida
• Clergy: Cornelius Becker, Sigismund von Schrattenbach, Johann Friedrich König
• Help pages: Help:Musical symbols
• Assorted disambiguation pages: Mass No. 3, Romantic Symphony
• Assorted redirects: Hoboken number to Hoboken-Verzeichnis, Werkverzeichnis Anton Bruckners to Werkverzeichnis Anton Bruckner, Kleine Orgelmesse and Little Organ Mass to Missa brevis Sancti Joannis de Deo, Martin Luther Bible to Luther Bible, Heiligmesse to Missa sancti Bernardi von Offida, Wind-Band Mass to Harmoniemesse, Missa Cellensis No. 1 (Haydn) and Cacilienmesse to Cäcilienmesse, K. 275 and K. 272b to Missa Brevis No. 9, Burghauser number to List of compositions by Antonín Dvořák by Burghauser number, Die Entführung to Die Entführung aus dem Serail, K. 140 and K. 235d to Missa Brevis No. 6 (Mozart), Chiemsee Mass to Missa in honorem Sanctae Ursulae, K. 220 to Sparrow Mass, K. 337 to Missa Solemnis (Mozart), Mass No. 13 (Haydn) to Schöpfungsmesse
• Categories: Masses by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
• Templates: Mozart masses

Collaborations

• Ave verum corpus (Mozart), branched off material from Ave verum corpus and added references.

Just because I've created these doesn't mean I own them. Maybe I felt that way at first, only a little, I'd like to think. What cured me of that attitude was not being told some commonsense witticism about Wikipedia's nature, but looking at WP:CM's least admirable members: their years of experience on the project have given them wisdom only in arguing, lawyering, and campaigning. They often throw out entire edits because of small, fixable mistakes, or just for plain not liking someone. There are also the most admirable members, those who can extract something of value even from vandalism.

I can't make promises about anyone else, but if you edit an article I've started, I won't revert the whole edit just because you misspelled one word, made your dashes too long or too short, or even if I hate you. Words can be respelled, dashes can be lengthened, and life is just too short to hate a name on a screen. I do keep an eye on articles I start, but I do so in the hopes that I will see gradual, cumulative improvements. But even if articles I start are gradually ruined by others, that's fine, too, it's all part of the Wikipedia fun. Wikipedia was never meant to be a reliable reference for anything.

Not that it matters for anything. These articles are all doomed either to stagnate or degenerate by mere virtue of being in Wikipedia.

This user is a Lutheran.