User:SageRad
THE BEST THING YOU CAN DO: ADD WP:NPOVN TO YOUR WATCHLIST -- and respond when someone is calling for help on NPOV issues. And... when you see an article with NPOV issues, make a call for help on that notice board. it can work if we have a critical mass of conscientious editors who know the policies and guidelines. We can restore some measure of neutrality to this encyclopedia.
There is such a thing as a genuine and ethical skeptic.
On some common tropes used by some authoritarian people here
[edit]WP:IDHT means "I don't hear that". It does not mean "You have to agree with me or else you're being obstructionist," but unfortunately, that is how many people use it when they're trying to force their agenda into an article. If i can hear what someone says and paraphrase it back to them, and explain why i do not agree, and they continue to use "IDHT" against me, then they are probably authoritarians trying to force their way instead of engaging on good dialogue. Often the person using this phrase is the one who really does not listen to others.
WP:DTS or WP:DEADHORSE or "drop the stick" is another phrase used by authoritarians around here. Firstly, it is an essay, not a guideline. Don't be fooled when someone cites an essay as policy. It is not policy. Secondly, this phrase typically means that the person wants you to just shut up and go away, and they're trying to make it seem as if you're beating a dead horse. If you know that there is a real unresolved question in the dialogue, or dialogue is not complete, then there is not dead horse. The other person is probably trying to force their way through rhetoric.
WP:RIGHTGREATWRONGS is another one that's quoted ad nauseum by some authoritarian people who want to make you feel like you're wrong for wanting to make an article follow sources. In fact, this is another section of an essay (not a guideline), and it is written against people who think they know "the truth" and try to insert it in articles contrary to good sourcing. It does not genuinely argue against editors with a reasonable point of view who wish to include content that may be critical of a desired outcome of the person who says in a bellowing step-fatherly tone "Wikipedia is not the place to right great wrongs!" Such people may also admonish you that you're pushing "The Truth (TM)" when in fact you may be pushing only for integrity in representing sources that are not in favor of the person who says this tired phrase to you.
On the other hand, you'll rarely hear people cite WP:POV RAILROAD but this one is actually very useful. SageRad (talk) 21:38, 29 November 2015 (UTC)
Who am i and why am i here?
[edit]I'm here on Wikipedia because it's a worthy project. It defines human knowledge more than any other resource that i know. It's fascinating to work with Wikipedia. I learn so much, on every topic, and i learn about people as well. It's people's go-to source for basic knowledge about the world. I'm a long-time user and sometimes contributor. I used to edit without a username, but in March 2015 i signed up as SageRad.
I've edited pages on electrical engineering, microbial ecology, and solar power, as well as Nepal, among other things. I've had a lot of experience in life, and i use it to improve Wikipedia when i can contribute, which is why Wikipedia is such a miracle, a combined compendium of the best minds in the world editing about what they know best.
I love editing on many topics, like historical figures, towns that i am familiar with in my personal life, rivers, caves, farming and agronomy, and many other things. I love to learn while i also improve the knowledge base of the human species (at least the English-speaking segment of the species). I find it a pleasure and a joy generally, except there are some topics where it feels extremely contentious, and people are calling each other names and making insinuations. There it's not such a joy, but i do it because i must stand for accuracy and for representation of reality in articles around which there seems to be some sort of vested interests pushing in a direction away an unbiased reckoning of reality. It can get tricky, but my compass is to edit for accuracy, and to follow good sourcing. I try to be civil even when people attempt to get my goat. My goat cannot be gotten. My goat is mine.
I've been looking into pollution lately, although i have interests in a wide range of fields. I was born in a place where rivers were polluted by mercury for the hat industry. The two largest rivers near me were polluted by toxic chemicals. I have friends with cancer that may be due to exposure to carcinogenic environmental toxins. I think a lot about sociology of power, and i have observed power struggles in many arenas in life, from international diplomacy to war to organizational dynamics in many settings. I see the way that power corrupts, and i don't want it to corrupt human knowledge. That is why i am wary about how industry with vested interests may try to change the content of human knowledge, to remove inconvenient information. Some on Wikipedia have called this a problem. I think it's the functioning of a healthy immune system. We must be on guard against the actions of some to change the story, the basic knowledge of the human species, for self-interested reasons. This is not tin-foil hat territory. It's basic sociology and history.
I've worked as a microbial ecology researcher in a prestigious university, and i've designed specialized equipment to evolve microbial populations to accept or deposit electrons onto graphite electrodes for their basic metabolism. I've done high-efficiency power converter work for a solar-powered car. I've run experiments in microbial evolution. I practice agronomy. I've also studied the nexus of power and knowledge. I've seen how power sometimes wants to shut down knowledge to extend their dominion. These experiences inform my work in the world. I have observed how the fossil fuel industry has attempted to delay public knowledge about climate change and its importance. Sometimes so-called "controversial" topics are controversial because they are troubled by vested interests who don't want the best unbiased science to become accepted.
I love life, and i love knowledge, and i think Wikipedia is a wonderful creation.
Ideas incubated:
- Started talk about an Anti-Bullying Task Force.
Pages created:
- Sporomusa ovata (species of bacteria)
- Counterwill (psychological concept coined by Otto Rank)
- Chief Squantz (native leader in the time of colonization by Europeans)
- Zadoc Benedict (first hat maker in the "Hat City" town of Danbury, Connecticut)
- Charles Burnham (geneticist) (a noble man who helped develop blight-resistant American chestnut through back-breeding)
- Tory's Cave (Springfield, Vermont) (sources were used in the Tory's Cave (New Milford, Connecticut) article that were misleading as they applied to a different Tory's Cave, this one. I created an article for that Tory's Cave, and transcribed a poem about the cave into the article. I hope that the people in the area pick this up and develop the article more. Rather than throwing away good sources, i preferred to create a new article for the other cave. I wish all editors had a generous attitude in regard to editing -- to build rather than to simply delete. This historical work is fascinating.
- Batcheller's Cave (a cave in Roxbury, New Hampshire where a noted Tory sympathizer hid. Continues my spelunking expedition begun with cleaning up Tory's Cave (New Milford, Connecticut).)
- Breed Batcheller (an early settler of Roxbury, New Hampshire who did not support the American Revolutionary War and ended up run out of town and hiding in Batcheller's Cave)
- Chief Waramaug successor to sachemship after Chief Squantz, lived well, was highly respected.
- Samuel Orcutt Connecticut historian and genealogist of colonial times.
- Coalition for Safe Affordable Food, and industry front group set up by the Biotechnology Industry Organization and the Grocery Manufacturers Association to fight labeling of GMO foods and to generally advocate for the agrochemical industry.
- Safe and Accurate Food Labeling Act of 2015, for which there was surprisingly no page created yet.
- Swann Chemical Company, the first industrial-scale manufacturer of polychlorinated biphenyl.
- Theodore Swann, an American industrialist of the New South.
Categories created:
- Category:American Loyalists from New Hampshire - Through happenstance, i was disambiguating some sources from the Tory's Cave (New Milford, Connecticut) article and created the Tory's Cave (Springfield, Vermont) page, when i inadvertently created the Category:American Loyalists from New Hampshire category. I love how Wikipedia grows.
- Category:Caves used for hiding - Tory's Cave in Connecticut and Tory's Cave in Vermont and Batcheller's Cave in New Hampshire are all examples of caves used for hiding, so i created this category. I hope that other examples will surface. I am sure many caves have been used for hiding historically. Indeed, the City of Caves is an underground of Nottingham, which i only learned about because i created this category. Amazing.
- Category:Schaghticoke tribe - Pages related to this native tribe that lives on land along the Housatonic River.
Conflict of interest declarations:
- I have done work with Sporomusa ovata at Harvard University, and i created the page on Sporomusa ovata. I did not cite any of my own work.
- I have done work with Geobacter spp. at Trophos Inc. and i contributed to the Geobacter page. Again, i did not cite any of my own work.
I have no financial interests bearing upon any work i have ever done at Wikipedia.
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