User:Keitei/Only good edits

This is a personal philosophy. It is not a policy or guideline. It expresses only my opinions and ideas, and does not reflect on the beliefs of other Wikipedians. I respect that others may not agree with me and this is by no means intended to insult those who disagree with me. If you have been pointed here by someone else, I am flattered, but please note the personal quality of this essay.

I ascribe to a belief of making only good edits. I edit pages because I want to build an encyclopedia. I believe that each edit should benefit the project or its contributors in some way that is significant.

I do not personally believe in making automated edits, especially if the value of the edits is low. I disagree with making edits solely to raise one's edit count. I think that automated edits are best done with bot accounts which may reap the benefits of many contributions, while remaining hidden in recent changes, while a user should be more concerned with quality edits that only a human can make. The faculty of reason is something which can never be automated fully, and as such, those who have it should use it instead of removing whitespace and making basic spelling error fixes.

I read Wikipedia for years and never created an account because I didn't think I had anything I could contribute. However, having been here the short while I have, I've found that everyone has something they can contribute, that is unique to them. I think that if users concentrated on things they were interested in and/or wanted to see expanded on Wikipedia, the project would expand in breadth of subjects enormously. It takes users who are committed to innovation and the increase of knowledge to build a good encyclopedia. I just don't think those users should be wasting their time worrying about edit counts.

I think that finding and reverting vandalism is a good thing to do. However, I don't agree with labelling oneself as a "Vandal Fighter." I've done extensive vandalism reversion on several wikis (not so much on English Wikipedia, though) and I have never once thought of what I was doing as fighting vandals. I think that being aware of vandalism is a good thing, recent changes patrolling is a good thing, but I don't think it should be the brunt of one's effort. I personally revert vandalism when I see it. If a bot reports it on IRC and I'm around, I'll look and revert. I do not exist to revert vandalism though. I want a good encyclopedia, and I will revert vandalism, but I am not on the prowl looking for vandals to fight.

I do not believe that voting or expressing opinions on AfD (xfD), RfA, or Wikipedia talk pages is an indicator of a user's interest or involvement in the project. It is very easy to edit/vote without completely reading a policy or article beforehand, and probably quite common to read thoroughly and refrain from editing. I think it is inane that those who throw their opinions everywhere without a thought to the opinions of others could be thought more involved than those who read, understand, and do not feel the need to comment, by virtue of edit count.

I personally do not believe consistent and frequent insertions of one's opinions wherever someone will listen constitutes good edits. I personally refrain from asserting my opinions and potentially creating division unless it is necessary or beneficial. I recognize that many people become very upset over wiki politics as they would in real life and I try to respect that. If I am potentially going to ruin someone's day and I don't have to, I'm not inclined to want to.

I do not oppose the use of userpages or the editing of said pages. I also do not oppose the formatting and coloring of userpages. However, I don't agree with the main use of one's time and energy being directed at one's userpage. There are homepages and free web hosting for that. User pages are, however, a matter of good judgement, and I don't think there should be some threshold of edits for the User namespace which defines a good editor.

I do not believe userboxes are a good use of time or edits. They separate Wikipedians into easily browsed categories and divide the community. They serve networking purposes it would seem, and that is not central, nor relevant, to the purpose of an encyclopedia.

I personally do not think arguments are a good use of my time. I try to stay out of them as much as possible. Likewise, I stay away from revert wars, edit wars, and other such warring. Bickering is not a constructive use of time

I personally put a great deal of effort into each of my edits. I try to preview and do a thorough job when copyediting. I do not aim to do the least amount of work possible, but merely what's needed. If an article needs an extensive rewrite of tone, I won't call fixing spelling errors a copyedit. I think that laziness (and hiding it) only hinders the project. I do procrastinate a lot, and I am lazy, too, but I won't call a half-arsed job a finished one.

In conclusion, I understand that my edit count will be low. I understand by not editing every talk page I visit, by not getting into arguments or disputes, by not vandal fighting, by not welcoming users, my edit count will be low. I understand this means that it will take me longer to attain an edit count that is substantial enough that I will be widely esteemed. However, my duty is to the project and I can live with being a lower class of user in the eyes of some. I do not think it is right that wiki social status is determined this way, but I prefer to make good edits.

If you see me around, do say hi. I don't comment everywhere, but I do care. :]