User:Dante~enwiki

Hi, I'm Dante Perrotta.

I've been a Wikipedian since summer of 2005, and have had this account since summer of 2006.

I believe in what Wikipedia does, and I think it is tremendously noble and something the world needs. However, I do not think that enough people take it seriously or use it properly (including some of its own users). I have little tolerance for ignorance and misuse of authority, and while I hope to be the best Wikipedian I can, I hope not to be drawn into any arguments of a trivial nature.

I have little desire to be an administrator, furthermore I see no use for admins in an entity such as Wikipedia. As long as users respect each other and agree to take on threats such as vandalism together, then we don't need an army of admins wielding their collective banhammers and delete-rays whenever they see fit. Having said that, I still believe that Wikipedia is a good example of a Meritocracy, albeit with its shortcomings. But what organization (especially one with, as of this writing, over one-and-a-quarter million articles ( now one-and-a-half million (now two-and-one-half-million))) doesn't have its problems?

I would say that my overall alignment in the Wikipedian philosophy is with the Exopedianists and the Inclusionists. I believe that all information is valuable, no matter how specific or insignificant it is. When I first came to this site I was given the impression that it is a summation of all human knowledge. Well, human knowledge is human knowledge - there's no reason that something shouldn't be included as long as there is some way to prove that it's true.

Oh, and while I think all the rules on Wikipedia are good ones (especially NPOV), the whole "Be Bold" thing could have been thought over much better. All the time I see random Wikipedians doing big edits, merges, and deletions to random pages, and after checking their userpages, I find they're not exactly knowledgeable on the subject they're contributing to (or in the case of deletions, detracting from). For example, if you're editing the Firearms page, I would certainly hope you've held one at some point in your life (and no, the musket your friend's dad has above his fireplace does not count, nor the airsoft gun at the local convenience store), and maybe even fired one. If not, you may want to think twice about clicking "edit this page".

I also believe that too much socializing on Wikipedia can distract users from what they're supposed to be doing, and bias them when discussing matters. This is an encyclopaedia, not a box social.

Anyways, that's my take! If you have anything to discuss, just hop onto my talk page :)

nl:Gebruiker:Dante