User:PantheonRadiance
| — Wikipedian — | |
| Born | September 10, 2001 |
|---|---|
| Country |  United States |
| Current location | California |
| Time zone | Pacific Time Zone |
| Current time | Current time for UTC-8 is 11:07 |
| Ethnicity | African-American/Sierra Leonean |
| Interests | |
Video games, Music, Literature, Internet culture, Computer science | |
| Account statistics | |
| Joined | June 26, 2019 |
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Hello, I'm PantheonRadiance, a Wikipedia editor who's been contributing to the site since 2021. I originally created my account in 2019 solely to add a minor edit to the late YouTuber Etika's article. However, in 2021 I decided to become more involved in the Wikipedia community by adding valuable knowledge that others can one day use (granted, one actually checks the sources). My interests include video games, music, literature, the internet and computer science; I'm admittedly still new to the nuances surrounding Wikipedia's policies but hopefully I'll become accustomed to them as time goes on.
I decided to add a bit more info about me and what led to me deciding to join Wikipedia as an editor, so here goes.
A Little Info About Me
[edit]I was born on September 10th, 2001 (exactly 8 hours before the events of 9/11) in California to my Sierra Leonean mom and dad; I consider myself African-American. I tend not to share a lot about my personal life online unless I feel it’s necessary, and this isn’t a blog post either, so for now I’ll only talk about my experiences with Wikipedia.
Wikipedia History (2006-ish?–present)
[edit]Growing up, I used the internet a lot. Like a WHOLE LOT. Almost every day after school or during the weekends and holidays I would just browse the internet mainly to play flash games, watch YouTube videos consisting of Nintendo gameplay, or read any articles I could about video games. This is what led me to browse Wikipedia back when I was a child in the late 2000s. I still remember a funny memory of me reading about the SNES during a summer day as a child while my sibling vacuumed the house, and I sat criss-cross applesauce on the computer chair still trying to read the section on the system’s launch titles like Super Mario World while hoping my toes didn't get sucked into the vacuum bag.
For well over a decade I’ve used Wikipedia mainly for any source of information I could find, even going as far as to write an essay in the 6th grade comparing the American school system with other nations to find out why America ranked so low in education lists… using mostly Wikipedia articles as citations for my essay. Needless to say, I got a C on it. But at least I kind of figured out why America’s school system is so ineffective, heh heh. Seriously though, PLEASE CHECK THE SOURCES!!!! WIKIPEDIA IN AND OF ITSELF IS NOT A RELIABLE SOURCE!!!
Although I used Wikipedia extensively as a kid, the thought of me actually editing on the website never really crossed my mind. In fact, it wasn’t until June 2019 where I found out about the tragic demise of YouTube gamer Desmond "Etika" Amofah, that I decided to become a Wikipedia editor. At first I started off quite simple. I made basic minor edits to Etika’s YouTube statistics as I felt I wasn’t confident enough to actually write in prose that thousands of people would read, especially in fear that I would accidentally write something completely inaccurate that would lead to extreme embarrassment and regret. I knew that someday I would want to contribute to Wikipedia fully, but I didn’t know when that day would come.
What later got me to take Wikipedia seriously and decide to pursue it as a hobby was when another YouTuber, Emile "Chuggaaconroy" Rosales, had his article deleted despite receiving coverage in both Wired magazine and The New York Times - at least enough coverage for a decent length article on him. This led me to try and restore the page by finding as many sources as I could on him, along with using those aforementioned sources. During that experience, I read well over dozens of Wikipedia’s articles going over their policies and guidelines, including pages I never even knew existed and other valuable resources for me as an editor. Using my newfound knowledge of Wikipedia's guidelines and policies, I worked on the Alpharad draft by adding new reliable sources to it - the article became my first to get accepted at AFC on April 25th, 2021. After finishing up the Chuggaaconroy article during my summer break, I decided to become a full-time Wikipedia editor. Through these past few years, I created several articles and worked to improve various others, including bringing Etika to featured article status for the 5th-year anniversary of his passing.
Other Info About Me
[edit]I’m an amateur writer, digital artist and occasionally dabble in video editing and coding/programming. Right now I’m a Computer Science graduate who has worked with Java, C++, CSS, JavaScript, Node.js and React among other languages. In Spring 2021, I created my first website called "The Wizard’s Abode" for my Web Development class while simultaneously contributing to Wikipedia (during the time I wrote the Alpharad article). I've also worked on websites for other class projects while editing on Wikipedia the past three years.
The origin of my name "PantheonRadiance" was admittedly just a combination of two words that didn’t really have an intended connection, but I thought sounded interesting. I wanted to make a nickname that sounded sophisticated enough for an encyclopedia editor, yet elusive enough that it would raise questions upon thinking of it.
Contribution Style and Editing Process
[edit]As aforementioned, my interests involve video games, music, literature, Internet culture and computer science. Recently I’ve been mainly editing articles on various YouTubers as I feel that’s an area of expertise I’m comfortable with, and I genuinely find the world of YouTube to be quite fascinating. I also sometimes edit any random articles I may find, whenever I’m bored and decide to read anything I’m interested in. However, I do plan on editing other topics more frequently. I plan on extending myself at any literature topics I find that need editing. Once I conduct more in-depth research on various scientific topics (whether Physics, Biology, Chemistry or Computer Science), I’ll try my hand at editing science articles. Ultimately, I want to make sure I actually do have some semblance of comprehending a particular subject of an article or topic before I edit. This way my contributions will truly improve the encyclopedia… and so I don’t make a cringeworthy edit or mistake later down the road.
I generally refrain from editing extensively unless I first carefully ponder and consider what changes I want to make first, then make sure that I’m 100% certain that the change I want to make will improve an article in any way, shape, or form. I’m pretty cautious in this regard, and while it has led to other editors surpassing me in contribution count, I mostly focus more on quality over quantity. That’s why on quite a bit of my contributions I’ve added well over a thousand bytes of info on articles I’m interested in, mainly because I tend to write in a style of depth instead of breadth. However, when I do see articles with certain mistakes on them, such as a grammatical error, a poorly-written sentence or an unreliable source used, I may occasionally make minor edits in that case. In general, I do try to make at least one edit per day. As of this entry I’m in my third fourth year of university (time goes by fast), so I may take Wikibreaks every now and then to catch up on my coursework.
I primarily use Google Docs to create outlines and write notes for articles. Although I use a Windows computer, I honestly prefer editing on Docs instead of Microsoft Word because just like Wikipedia it saves every version of a specific document from when I first created it to the present time, meaning if I ever need to quickly retrieve an old revision of my drafts, I can easily do so. But enough shameless advertising, this is an encyclopedia, not some press release; I’ll save the plugs for the outlets on my wall (lol). Whenever I have an idea for an article I want to make, I first create a rough outline including the main points of information I want to include about the subject (basically my background info), then look up multiple sources about the subject which covers them. I then proceed to merge the main points with the information from the various sources and subsequently write in paragraphs of prose about the subject. This is how I edited the Alpharad, Chuggaaconroy and TeamFourStar articles, and how I plan on creating new articles going forward for the foreseeable future. I might share a link to them someday, but not anytime soon. Maybe when I become more comfortable with editing on Wikipedia, I may collaborate with other fellow Wikipedians in the future. In that case, I may share my Google Docs with others in case they want to help as well.
And finally, I do consider myself a bit of an inclusionist. While I still believe obviously non-notable articles (i.e. articles with literally no good sources) should definitely get deleted per Wikipedia’s policies, I’m genuinely open to any subject getting an article just so long as they have decent enough coverage in multiple reliable sources. Since Wikipedia doesn’t really have an exact measure of what counts as significant coverage or a trivial mention, I follow the essay of at least 100 words. Even though others might argue that it’s too trivial or short, in my eyes, so long as a subject in an article is covered in about 100 words on multiple reliable sources, I believe the subject is notable.
I also adhere to WP:BASIC in that "if the depth of coverage in any given source is not substantial, then multiple independent sources may be combined to demonstrate notability" - so if any subject gets at least one good article written about them in detail but moderate to small coverage in other sources, I’m fine with the subject attaining its own article.
Wikipedia Goals and Achievements
[edit]Open Pandora's Box
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Articles I've Created (▲) or Significantly Edited (△)[edit]*Note: I do not claim ownership of any of the articles I edit.
A List of Articles I Frequently Glance At (and May or May Not Edit)[edit]
Projects/Ideas for Wikipedia I Want to Do (For the Foreseeable Future)[edit]*Updated 9/30/2024 PST
Awards[edit]
Etika  Thank you for quality articles such as Etika (from deletion to highest quality), Alpharad, Chuggaaconroy, The Creative Gene in your pandora box, for "adding valuable knowledge that others can one day use", for "I genuinely appreciate all the advice you've given me throughout this review!" - you are an awesome Wikipedian! You are recipient no. 2940 of Precious, a prize of QAI. I meant to say so yesterday, but the day was too short ;) --Gerda Arendt (talk) 12:17, 25 June 2024 (UTC) |
