User:ASJ

That wacky system seems to have forgotton my existence and my contributions:  18:31, 25 Nov 2001 (hist) West Papua (*) 18:26, 25 Nov 2001 (hist) Talk:Racism (*) 02:26, 17 Nov 2001 (hist) Hydroelectricity (*) 20:33, 16 Nov 2001 (hist) Kangaroo (*) 19:09, 16 Nov 2001 (hist) Australia/People (*) 18:28, 16 Nov 2001 (hist) Snowy Mountains (initial entry; Australian mountain range) 16:56, 16 Nov 2001 (hist) Mountain range (*) 16:24, 16 Nov 2001 (hist) Talk:Vegemite (*) 15:42, 16 Nov 2001 (hist) m New Guinea (*) 15:35, 16 Nov 2001 (hist) Papua (*) 15:15, 16 Nov 2001 (hist) West Papua (West Papua) 14:30, 16 Nov 2001 (hist) New Guinea (*) 

Two and a half years later I've eventually decided to add something to this page. I've been adding and modifying Wikipedia articles on and off since November 2001. Because I've often gone to add information of a controversial nature, information which I felt was factural but not included for political reason; I have been involved in one or two editing conflicts.

In Apr 2004 I have looked at various articles I contributed to some time ago; half expecting my input to have been removed. To my delight I have instead found the core information has been maintained, and almost without exception improved upon and balanced within a greatly improve document. In short, I'm delighted with both the quality of information and the maturing style.

At this time (4/2004) the word count is about the same or just over that of the Delux Britannica, though Wikipedia has about three times the number of articles. It is my hope that this is due in part to greater conciseness in the Wikipedia articles.

What were some of those points of contention? That the Australian government is a form of republic, just not using that American loved word. That the stolen generation system while very destructive and hurtful for all ever involved was not unique to Aboriginal children, was not conceived and initiated by the government but Church and similar groups of the day. That krangaroo is a generic term and a grouping of macropod species, the three main krangaroo species of which are not endangered though several smaller species are. That West Papua is not part of Indonesia but a seperate nation under military occupation by Indonesia at this time, and being subjected to genocide and worse. I also this month found the globalisation article lacking any true content about the negative aspects or abuse of globalisation in evading ethical and legal standards of the companies parent countries.

All up, Wikipedia looks like an excellent production from this point (cross fingers) and I have no problems in recommending it as a quality encyclopedia.