User:LaughingVulcan

I have a talk page to chat on, too! Amazing stuff, this here MediaWiki technology, ain't it?

Thank you for dropping by my User Page at 08:16, Sunday, November 10, 2024 (UTC). (Actually, the date/time is referenced because I like to know the server date/time, and this is the easiest way.) Anyhow...

LaughingVulcan here. Well, not "here" except in the metaphysical sense of being present in CyberSpace.

I have userboxen at the right! Amazing stuff, this MediaWiki technology, no?

The logical yet humorous interests of LaughingVulcan

I fixed the mis-display of userboxen, though I'm not sure how.

Interests and Hobbies

UFP

This user is a citizen of the United Federation of Planets

This user is a Trekkie.

Good news, everyone! This user is a fan of Futurama!

EC-10

This user has been rated EC-10 for Emotional Content. Summarily execute without process on sight!

This user has an amateur radio license.

This user is a bibliophile.

This user enjoys chess.

This user is a Go player.

This user is an Angler.

This user is interested in astronomy.

This user IS interested in Space.

This user is interested in
coin collecting.

Things About Me

This user lives in Illinois,
the Land of Lincoln.

BBA

This user has a Bachelor of Business Administration degree.

MDiv

This user has a Master of Divinity degree.

XREV

This user has been Ordained. The user is no longer employed as a Pastor, though.

This user contributes using Mozilla Firefox.

This user writes with the OpenOffice.org suite.

W

This user contributes using Microsoft Word.

This user contributes using Apple Newton OS.

This user is a reformed smoker.

This user is owned by a cat.

This editor is a member of
WikiProject Fisheries and Fishing.

This user is one of the 532 left-wing thought police who aggressively force their biased perspective on the rest of the world.

This user participates in
Taskforce Moon.

Jump to Why I Don't Edit Articles All That Much

Other Wikis

My meta Userpage is m:User:LaughingVulcan. Rarely there. My Commons Userpage is c:User:LaughingVulcan. Haven't even really set it up yet. And now I guess with unifications the above might not be all that relevant... But I was on Wikibreak when all that went down.

Not-So-Current Userpages (Editing needed if I want to keep this as an index of sorts.)

Userboxes

Main Userbox Subdir

The angler userbox is my first userbox

This is the current angler userbox, v 2.0

The 'owned by a cat' userbox

User:LaughingVulcan/userbox/xrev

Wikimood

[purge]	[edit]

Quick Guide to Wikimood for Myself

Quick Guide: (-10 Explosive, -09 Violent -08 Enraged, -07 Hostile, -06 Ornery, -05 Frustrated, -04 Distressed, -03 Upset, -02 Depressed, -01 Withdrawn, 00 Neutral, +01 Calm, +02 Receptive, +03 Content, +04 Happy, +05 Cheerful, +06 Enthusiastic, +07 Zealous, +08 Crazy, +09 Wild, +10 Runaway.) And remember that it's "PosN" or "NegN" or "Zero". Yay! I found out how the Wikimood template changed! Now if I can only remember to update date/time when I change it. For example, when this was written it was 01:48, Wednesday, October 5, 2016 (UTC) while is was last edited on

This page was last edited or modified by Hullaballoo Wolfowitz (talk) on 2016-12-10.

.

Sandboxes (Yeah, you should really clean this up too, LV)

user:LaughingVulcan/Current Userbox Images

LV's Sandbox Main

The Ex-Pastors Userification

Every editor needs an essay WIP, no? No? Then what's this doing here? Wait! It's NOT anymore!!! Because it SUCKED!!!! And now I've left the REDLINK HERE AND CAPITALIZE TOO MUCH AND TOO MANY EXCLAMATION POINTS AND!!!!!!!! :D

Sandbox for looking at possibilities of a Split of Striped Bass article into a fishing summary fork.

Fishing Wikiproject Assessment Project Template Sandbox

2nd Essay WIP - Abbreviations have uses

User:LaughingVulcan/sandbox/Closing Out Fishing Assessments

[[WP:REALPROBLEM|My another (4th) Essay WiP, Counterstory to WP:DEMOLISH, became a full essay with my counterstory as the lede, without any further help from me some 8ish years ago.]]

MiszaBot Instructions - Was supposed to be for improvement but I went on my Wikibreak wanderjahr long before I got to actually working on this

The long story about the interactions of Cassianto and I. Both for information and to hold all the evidence diffs if they become necessary.

Placeholder for upcoming short essay draft

My Resources

Article creation / tools

List of color codes

Under construction template: {{construction}} for tagging as under construction.

Used references of mine that may apply to other articles

Astronomy

<ref name="Rukl Atlas 48">{{cite book |last=Rükl |first=Antonín |date= 1996|title=Atlas of the Moon |location=Waukesha, Wi. |publisher=Kalmbach Publishing Co. |page=48 |isbn=0-913135-17-8}}</ref>

<ref name="Rukl Atlas 49">Rükl, 49.</ref>

<ref name="North 291">{{cite book |last=North |first=Gerald |date= 2007|title=Observing the Moon |edition=Second|location=New York |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=291 |isbn=978-0-521-87407-6}}</ref>

<ref name="Rukl Map">{{cite map |author = Antonín Rükl|title = Sky & Telescope's Field Map of the Moon|date = 2012|publisher = Sky & Telescope Media, LLC|isbn = 1931559228}}</ref>

<ref name="Planck 69">{{cite book |last=Planck |first=Andrew |date= 2015|title=What's Hot on the Moon Tonight: The Ultimate Guide to Lunar Observing |publisher=MoonScape Publishing LLC |page=69 |isbn=978-0-9908769-0-8}}</ref>

<ref name="Astronomy Guide ">{{cite book |last=Burnham |first=Robert |title=Astronomy Magazine: Your Guide to the Moon|location=Waukesha, Wi. |publisher=Kalmbach Publishing Co. |page=4}}</ref>

<ref name="SourceBook">{{cite book |last=Heiken |first=Grant |last2=Vaniman |first2=David |last3=French |first3=Bevan |date=1991 |title=Lunar Sourcebook: A User's Guide to the Moon |url=http://www.lpi.usra.edu/lunar_sourcebook/ |location=New York |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=111 |isbn=0-521-33444-6}}</ref>

<ref name="IAU1">{{cite web |url=http://planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov/Feature/6290 |title=Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature, Vallis Alpes |author= |date=October 18, 2010 |publisher=USGS / NASA |access-date=September 19, 2016}}</ref> use Main Link:[1] or Moon Link:[2]

Other

Five Pillars
Admins' Reading List, such that I can go there to pick up other tasty tidbits.

The Broom (and Mop) Closet

Note: No, I've never been able to wield the mop. Thought I'd like to at one time... but I'd rather just maintain and use my collection of brooms at this time.

Unsigned comments template reference

Articles for Deletion

Deletion Review

Deletion Templates

Combined Logs - You'd think I could remember this one...

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=ArticleName&action=history <- to get at history by Browser C/P

Prefix Index

Vandalism - Administrator Intervention Page

Request Page Protection

USER Talk namespace warning templates, policy and reference

Citation cleanups / adds:

|archiveurl= |archivedate= |deadurl=

Fast archive searches

Wayback javascript:void(window.open('https://web.archive.org/web/*/'+location.href))

Wayback machine link right here It is the hard one to remember http://archive.org/web/

WebCite javascript:void(window.open('http://www.webcitation.org/query.php?url='+location.href))
Wikiwix javascript:void(window.open('http://archive.wikiwix.com/cache/?url='+location.href))
Mementos javascript:void(window.open('http://www.webarchive.org.uk/mementos/search/'+encodeURIComponent(location.href)+'?referrer='+encodeURIComponent(document.referrer)))

Example cites:

:*<ref name="Rukl Atlas 48">{{cite book |last=Rükl |first=Antonín |date= 1996|title=Atlas of the Moon |location=Waukesha, Wi. |publisher=Kalmbach Publishing Co. |page=48 |isbn=0-913135-17-8}}</ref>

:*<ref name="Rukl Atlas 49">Rükl, 49.</ref>

:*<ref name="North 291">{{cite book |last=North |first=Gerald |date= 2007|title=Observing the Moon |edition=Second|location=New York |publisher=Cambridge University Press |page=291 |isbn=978-0-521-87407-6}}</ref>

:*<ref name="Rukl Map">{{cite map |author = Antonín Rükl|title = Sky & Telescope's Field Map of the Moon|date = 2012|publisher = Sky & Telescope Media, LLC|isbn = 1931559228}}</ref>

:*<ref name="Planck 69">{{cite book |last=Planck |first=Andrew |date= 2015|title=What's Hot on the Moon Tonight: The Ultimate Guide to Lunar Observing |publisher=MoonScape Publishing LLC |page=69 |isbn=978-0-9908769-0-8}}</ref>

Other

Fishing Project

I've been a past member of the fishing project. Might still be, as I edit angling articles, though I don't check in at the project page. But join us/them/whatever!

WikiProject Fishing and Fisheries (redirects)

The Fishing Portal

Fishing Assessment Drive!

The Fishing Article Assessment Drive ended, and there's still cleanup I have to do from a year ago! Used to be here WP V 1.0 Quality Index WP V 1.0 Fishing Quality

Category:Unassessed Fishing articles

Category:WikiProject Fishing Assessment Drive

Category:WikiProject Fishing Assessed Articles

Fishing articles by quality and importance
Quality	Importance
Quality	Top	High	Mid	Low	NA	???	Total
FA		2	1				3
GA	1	5	13	10		1	30
B	5	66	75	53		11	210
C	11	78	173	199		54	515
Start	3	65	392	537		150	1,147
Stub		7	108	330		103	548
List			12	28		4	44
Category			1		396		397
Disambig					1		1
File					12		12
Project					10		10
Redirect		4	11	18	44		77
Template					45		45
Other					8		8
Assessed	20	227	786	1,175	516	323	3,047
Unassessed				3		43	46
Total	20	227	786	1,178	516	366	3,093
WikiWork factors (?)		ω = 11,773			Ω = 4.80

FA

A

GA

B

Start

Stub

Note: The template that gives us these totals does not correctly link to Unassessed articles. As it is a shared template, we do not wish to change it. The link to find Unassessed articles is: Category:Unassessed Fishing articles

Astronomy linkies

(Will list to astronomy-related editing, my latest area of interest. Am a member now of Wikiproject Moon - see my userboxen for the link there. Will come up with more later.)

Current Articles of Interest for Reading

h2g2
Japan
CIA
Man on Fire (novel)

Current Articles of Interest for Editing

Vallis Alpes and User:LaughingVulcan/sandbox/Vallis Alpes improvements

Toolbox of Lunar Article Lists

List of craters on the Moon
List of lunar features
List of maria on the Moon
List of mountains on the Moon
List of valleys on the Moon

Article Counts

Username:	LaughingVulcan
Member of groups:	Autoconfirmed users, Extended confirmed users, Users
Connected apps:	Manage 0 connected applications
Number of edits:	859
Registration time:	21:51, 30 November 2006

Favorite Contributions

Some pages I've contributed significantly to that I'm proud of: Fishing
Fishing rod
The WP Fishing Project rating template, for which I received my first barnstar for.
The Fishing Assessment Drive template, which Themcman1 and I worked on.

WikiPedia:WikiProject Fishing/Assessment, which I had a hand in creating.
WikiPedia:WikiProject Fishing/Assessment/Drive, which I also had a hand in designing.

Awards, or the "I Love Me! Section"

(Deleted, just because the only Barnstar I've gotten apparently had it's image removed, or relocated, or something. *sniff* Broken Wikipedia, accident, or somebody's bright idea for image policing? Besides, there's no reason that I really need awards here, anymore. Drop them on my Talk page if you feel like giving me some Wikilove. :D )

The Signpost

Why I Don't Edit Articles All That Much

Several reasons, taken all together at once:

"Improvement" and "Detraction" are at best subjective terms. The only objective measure is how others read and respond to the edit. And even then, your standards of what consists as an objective measure may be different from mine to some degree - large or small.
Back when Wikipedia had over 2.5 million articles, looking at one article per minute, eight hours a day would that take you 14.27 years to see them all. As of September 3, 2016, there are now 5,230,092 content articles, per Special:Statistics.

A lot of those are Stubs or Start class articles that could use a lot of attention and love. But first, you've got to find them. (Not hard, actually.) Then you should at minimum do a modicum of research on them. Then improve them, if you can and if you wish. (See point 1 above.)

I think Wikipedia has plenty of Articles, myself. (Though there is always space for one more.) And while many can use improvement, not many of them are in areas that I feel reasonably competent to edit.

Apropos of nothing but recent events: There's a lot to work on around here without being worried about "Good Article" or "Featured Articles" status or insisting articles reach those self-defined standards.

Even then, anything but the most minor edits can readily be reverted by a Recent Changes patroller or someone with the article on their Watchlist. (We need Recent Changes patrollers and people with articles on their watchlists, by the way.) But that certainly limits the amount of time and effort I'll invest in editing an article by being bold.
That isn't to say Editing an Article is wrong at all, by the way. It's a good thing! Just that:
I spend a lot of time reading Wikipedia. A lot. I've learned a lot reading WP articles. Maybe someday I'll get to the last article, and start all over again!
BUT, as I read, I'm looking at the article. Is there anything I can correct? Grammar? Tags? Spelling? Content? If I decide there isn't, I go on to the next Article. In short, I feel like I edit Wikpedia even when I don't hit the "Edit This Page" tab button. And I do much more Article Editing by reading and deciding to make no change, than edits I save. But you never see that work - I think it's being a WikiGnome at its best. You don't even need to be a registered user to be a successful WikiGnome.
And there are those times when I'm looking at an article, and I seriously question its' notability, or see other non-editable issues. I wait as long as I can, thinking about making the decision. But I may Prod it, list it at AfD, or do something else with it.
Finally, I also enjoy improving the whole project by participating at AfD and other areas. I hope my participation in non-mainspace areas also improves the encyclopedia. And I find it easier to contribute my opinion, or contribute facts, in those spaces.

So, there you have why my Edit History looks as it does, mostly. I'll close by also mentioning that I went through a long period where I had forgotten my password, but realized that I could still contribute as an Anon IP. So I did that for awhile, too. So can you!

Thanks for paying attention to this personal-Wikipedia-essay-in-my-user-page!

P.S. "A lot" is a very relative thing. Some people log a hundred contributions a day. Some log one a month. Neither is an indicator of the quality of an editor's work, or how much time they spend on Wikipedia.

Where I've Been

Countries I've been to:

States in the U.S.A. I've lived in:
States and District in the U.S.A. I've visited:
States in the U.S.A. that I want to see before I die:
	And yes I'd love to see all the U.S. Territories. And Europe. And Africa. And South America. And the Arctic. And Antarctica. And Asia. And Oceania. Too much globe. Too little time left.
	Borgified and Adapted from User:TravellingCari who Borrowed from RodW who purloined from Trident13 who shimmied it away from Bucketsofg who plagiarized it from Grutness who lifted idea from Moriori who half-inched from Calton who nicked it from Salsb who stole it from Guettarda who borrowed it from White Cat