User:PedanticallySpeaking

I'm not able to contribute as often as I had been. But I am still around. If you need to reach me in a timely manner, please click on 'e-mail this user' on the left. PedanticallySpeaking (talk) 00:34, 2 January 2010 (UTC)

I am a native Ohioan and fluent only in English, though I can muddle through French and Latin. My interests have been history, especially of my home state; government and politics; the United States Supreme Court, and a heck of a lot of pop culture. I'm also interested in the calendar and timekeeping.

Wikipedia is great because it gives us frustrated writers an outlet for our graphomania, lets the Cliff Clavins show off their erudition, and provides the world with information on topics great and small. Especially the small, for where else can one learn about dord, Marybeth Peil, and the Warren County Canal? There are irritations. Some petty, some serious. In the former are the vandals that like to post graffiti, some of whom are members of the fourth estate trying to show how absurd this project is. In the latter are those who unilaterally discard vast swaths of material, those who remain willfully ignorant of the manual of stylebook, those who eschew comity. Few Wikipedians fall into these ranks, but the irritation they cause is out of proportion with their numbers.

We all need praise, we're only human (except for the bots, of course ;) and need some ego-stroking. How else to explain the numbers of articles submitted at WP:FAC than pride. We're all prideful. WP:FAC is also a source of irritation, for there is so much negativity there. Wikipedians, myself included, are too free to damn and praise faintly, if at all. I've tried when commenting on articles to temper my criticism with observations of what is good. Undoubtedly, I haven't done this as well as I should. Some find fault exclusively and don't try to soften the blow with commendations. I think the entire FAC process needs to be reviewed. Hardly anyone votes and those who do are inevitably naysayers. Rare is the positive comment there. Articles are routinely shot down over trivialities.

Certainly we have some very good apples in our barrel, Vaoverland and User:Niteowlneils to single out two who have worked with me, but the iconoclasts, the naysayers, the carpers, the critics, and the deletionists still weigh on my spirit.

Am I going away? No, at least not now. I am, however, reflecting on whether subjecting myself to these irrirations is necessary. I like writing, even if it's mainly for an audience of one, and will have to decide if I want to continue doing it here.

Any thoughts on this, please leave me a message [1].

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