User:Humphrey Tribble

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Editing preferences (not specific to Wikipedia):

In my first formal computer science class, the second assignment was to write a program to put a list of birthdays in date order. While many of us were manipulating the names of months, the brighter students converted the dates to ISO 8601 format. Then, the sorting is trivial and the dates can be re-converted on output. I have never forgotten that lesson, so I always use ISO 8601 format (YYYY-MM-DD) all-numeric dates. For consistency, I also use the equivalent long form (e.g. 1987 October 10) whenever possible, even to the extent of writing out the name of the month rather than filling someone's little boxes. Done so, the date is completely unambiguous. However, that standard is used by only a few countries, plus me. Since Wikipedia isn't among the few, I opt for the reverse format (e.g. 10 October 1987) which is recognized worldwide except China and the United States. (Apparently, dates makes strange bedfellows.) Thusly, I avoid the use of a comma in the date.

Avoiding unnecessary commas brings me to another preference: thorough and accurate use of punctuation. Punctuation isn't used enough by many editors, possibly because they fear getting it wrong. You will recognize my editing trail by the liberal sprinklings of commas, dashes, and semicolons. These help convey thoughts to the reader. I am not immune to mistakes, so feel free to leave a note if you disagree.

Wikipedia preferences:

I don’t knowingly deviate from the Manual of Style…even if I don’t agree with it!

Zero tolerance for jargon. Articles should be understandable by anyone with basic reading skills. The ubiquitous use of abbreviations on Talk pages deters new editors and sets a very bad example.

Write an informative edit summary. Occasionally—such as when I am engrossed in a series of edits—I forget; feel free to remind me. I also believe in clear and complete discussion on Talk pages. If it has taken me significant time and energy to understand an issue, I document it for editors who may revisit the topic.

—Humphrey Tribble (talk) 03:16, 17 April 2021 (UTC)

Special:Prefixindex/User: Humphrey Tribble

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Subdirectories

 * AWI Sources: User:Humphrey Tribble/AWI Sources
 * Sandbox: User:Humphrey Tribble/sandbox
 * Drafts: User:Humphrey Tribble/drafts
 * /Humpsteria