User:C.Fred

 C.Fred



C.Fred, alternately spelled cfred when the namespace does not allow periods, is the online ID I've been using since 1990.

I have been an active user on Wikipedia since 2006 and an administrator since 2007.

My preferred pronouns are he/him/his, but since I do not think gender is relevant to the qualifications of an editor, I will not take offence if you use they/them/their when referring to me in a discussion. (If I am unsure of another user's preferred pronouns, I use they/them/their.)

Wikipedia areas of interest
I have been posting in Wikipedia so far on areas that interest me.
 * Highways, specifically the Interstate Highway System and the U.S. Interstate Highways WikiProject.
 * Sports, particularly football: Canadian football, Comparison of Canadian and American football, and American football rules. Additionally, I'll be looking at things in Template:American football concepts.

I also contribute to Wikipedia by helping to maintain the article space, both in editing articles that I read (especially grammar, referencing and citations, etc.) and patrolling proposed deletions.

In the course of wielding the administrator's mop, I also delete a fair number of articles. Most are about the editor's band, girlfriend, school club, story idea, or MMORPG guild. Some articles have a shred of hope to them, so I leave them around to see if there is future development on them. While I keep them on my watchlist, I've also got a list of articles to revisit to see if progress has been made on them.

Article ideas
Article ideas in various formative states, which may or may not be in my personal sandbox:


 * Comparison of American football rules: There are three major codes for football in the US: NFL, NCAA, and Federation (high school). The rules differ among them, e.g. kickoffs from the 30 35, 35, and 40, respectively. Akin to other comparison articles, I envision two tables: one with general rules differences (goalpost width, hash marks, missed field goals, try-for-point distance, etc.) and one with penalty enforcement differences (pass interference, holding, intentional grounding, encroachment/offside, etc.)

Fifteen minutes of fame
I was mentioned by username in an All Things Considered radio story on 10 January 2011—by the host, in an interview with Jimmy Wales. It's in the audio version of the story only, around the 4:00 mark. This is how my user page appeared at the time of the story.

Disclosures related to paid editing
As of 13 June 2023:


 * I have not been directly remunerated, had placed in my job duties, or through "other duties as assigned" been instructed, to edit the article related to my direct employing agency ("my employer"), nor has my employer directed me to make any edit on Wikipedia.
 * I have edited the article about my employer. The most recent edit was over three years ago, it removed unsourced information from the article, and I believe it passes an "any reasonable editor" litmus test.
 * I have not been employed by any entity other than my employer for the purpose of editing its article on Wikipedia.
 * I have not, as a self-employed individual/independent contractor, been remunerated to make edits to Wikipedia. I have neither offered Wikipedia editing as a paid service nor solicited clients with the intention of entering into a paid editing agreement. I do not intend to offer such services.

Education, background, and writing style
I graduated from North Carolina State University with bachelor's and master's degrees in accounting. I am licensed as a CPA.

I also took a copyediting class in college. I did well in the class and enjoyed it.

Readers paying close attention may also note that I have a tendency to drift into Canadian English, especially with regard to certain spellings (e.g., colour). All my education was in the U.S. However, I've been in 10+ years of relationships with Canadians or daughters of British subjects, and I worked a year at a Big Four accounting firm that used Commonwealth spelling in certain internal documents (e.g., audit programme). As a result, Canadian/Commonwealth spelling has rubbed off on me. I'm aware of it enough to turn back on American English when the article warrants.

Avocational and hobby interests
I am a high-school football official. Hence the interest above in articles about football and sports in general. I have also called varsity contests in volleyball and softball; I have called recreational-league baseball and basketball; and I called intramural soccer in college.

I am a rampant, if sometimes old-school, computer geek. It shows when I get involved with an article headed to AfD here: my Usenet background leads to a discuss-first, vote-later philosophy, from the practice of RFDs and CFVs (Requests for Discussion and Calls for Votes, respectively) on Usenet group creations. This sometimes runs counter to the act-first-and-then-discuss philosophy that gets applied often on Wikipedia. (However, I have no qualms speedily deleting an article if it meets the criteria, and I have been known to practice the BOLD-revert-discuss cycle editing style.)

Speaking of the old-school-ness, I still frequent a few MUSHes, particularly TinyTIM.

I adopted two dogs from shelters/rescue organizations: a black-and-tan short-hair dachshund and a terrier mix who appeared to have a large fraction of Jack Russell in her. The terrier passed away in 2012, and the dachshund in 2016.

Miscellany

 * Edit counter