User:I JethroBT

Restored version of Mice in Council, by Hokusai

This user used to be I Jethrobot, but he never was a bot, nor did he ever own one like Susan Calvin.



Who am I?
I'm just this guy, you know? You can call me Jethro.

Why is my username I JethroBT?
Jethro was a nickname given to me by friends who liked this rock band with a flautist. Jethrobot was inspired by the same friends after watching I, Robot (I haven't seen it). In the weird way that nicknames tend to stick, it did. And so it became I, Jethrobot.

I later changed the ending to -BT because "bot" might cause folks to think I'm not a real boy. The BT doesn't stand for anything in particular (but you can pretend it stands for "Big Time" if you want).

Why Wikipedia? & editing history
I joined Wikipedia on Sunday, August 13th in 2006, making some edits to Dragon Quest Yangus and Game Boy, but I wasn't really active until 2011. I was curious about deletion then; I knew it was easy to add stuff to articles, but didn't know much about how content was removed. So, I started spending my time watching and participating in deletion discussions and letting this sink in. It's been a fun ride since learning how this fantastic project gets built. It's not magic, but it sure feels that way sometimes.

What I do
I do some content work and these activities:
 * help out new users at the Teahouse
 * performing closures of requests for comment over at the appropriate venue,
 * I'm broadly interested in retaining editors, both new and old.

I also have had a major role in these initiatives:
 * Volunteer for the The GLAM program with the Pritzker Military Library
 * Project Manager for the The Reimagining Wikipedia Mentorship Individual Engagement Grant and the Co-op.

It's a good life.

Get to FA

 * Retrieval-induced forgetting, focus on reviews and meta-analyses.
 * Taiko ✅

Get to GA

 * Tsugaru-jamisen
 * John Robinson (aviator)
 * Latke–Hamantash Debate, get working on the table.
 * Miss Major
 * Kodo (taiko group)
 * Edward R. Murphy (military officer)

Clean-up / Content Work

 * Figure out what to do about all the other Taiko articles like shime-daiko and kakko.
 * Better sourcing for Contra dance
 * Content work / reorg on Pritzker Military Museum & Library
 * Fix up old school (tattoo), find good sources or documentary work.

Articles I have created

 * Eitetsu Hayashi - A legendary taiko performer.
 * John Booth (magician) - Famous magic historian and performer; written for the All Things Magic Edit-a-thon 2013
 * Seidō Kobayashi - Leader of Oedo Sukeroku Taiko.
 * William Foley (artist) - Interesting WWII artist; done as a part of the WikiProject GLAM/Pritzker Military Museum & Library.
 * Sidney Riesenberg - Oil painter and illustrator of WWI-era posters, magazine covers, and other artwork; done as a part of the WikiProject GLAM/Pritzker Military Museum & Library.
 * Yashima Gakutei - Japanese poet and artist and pupil of Hokusai.
 * Jason Healey - Cyber security and policy specialist. Written as a part of WikiProject GLAM/Pritzker Military Museum & Library
 * Miss Major Griffin-Gracy - Black transwoman and leader in activism for transgender rights, especially for the imprisoned. Written as a part of The Jane Addams Hull-House Museum edit-a-thon.
 * Stephanie Freid-Perenchio - Documentary photographer of NAVY SEALs among other subjects.
 * Tuterei Karewa - Maori chief and subject of a handful of artistic works.
 * Harriet Babcock - Early American psychologist specializing in intelligence measurements appropriate for individuals with psychological disorders.
 * Judith Chafee
 * Den Tagayasu
 * Aída Fernández Ríos
 * Georgiana Simpson
 * Amy Goodloe (Art+Feminism at SAIC)
 * Akito Tsuda - Japanese Photographer who documented Pilsen in the 1990s


 * Amy's Candy Bar - This place is delicious.
 * TaikOz - Notable taiko group out of Sydney, Australia.
 * Osuwa Daiko - The first taiko group ever!
 * Oedo Sukeroku Taiko - First taiko group to professionally tour-- huge influence on groups in North America.
 * Nippon Taiko Foundation
 * The Sacred Twenty - A batch of the best navy nurses during The Great War; done as a part of the WikiProject GLAM/Pritzker Military Museum & Library.
 * The Free Black Women's Library - A mobile library focused on sharing works written by black women.


 * All Saints Episcopal Church (Chicago, Illinois) - My very first article-- it's the oldest wooden-frame church in Chicago. I am hoping it will get up to a DYK!  :)  Things be praised-- it got a DYK! :D
 * Berlin Wall Monument - Yeah OK, these are pretty common.
 * Davis Theater - Who can resist old theaters that resist becoming obsolete?
 * The Chicago Lincoln - One of them rare beardless Lincolns.
 * Senshin Buddhist Temple - A Buddhist Temple out in Los Angeles that made taiko more visible in the U.S.
 * Magbeni - Village in Sierra Leone involved in a military operation.


 * Ki&Ki (band) - First article I made using the Content Translation tool!
 * Square Roots (music festival) - A cool folks-y and world music festival in my city.
 * Yatai-bayashi - Decided this needed an article because it's well-known in taiko circles.
 * Abraham Lincoln, what would you do? - Patriotic song used to promote U.S. involvement in World War I. Written as a part of WikiProject GLAM/Pritzker Military Museum & Library.
 * E'en So, Lord Jesus, Quickly Come - Fantastic choral piece by Paul Manz
 * List of compositions by Paul Manz
 * Kristallen den Fina
 * Uti vår hage (folk song)
 * "She's My Girl"


 * Retrieval-induced forgetting - An interesting phenomenon in memory that I studied heavily.
 * Happy Wheels! - A fantastic game by Jim Bonacci.
 * Kiki (Kiki's Delivery Service) - She's one tough 13-year old witch! (Merged to Kiki's Delivery Service)
 * New school (tattoo) - Type of tattooing and cultural movement, likely to have emerged in the 1980s.
 * Cognition (journal)‎
 * Fort Lauderdale Agreement
 * Trying to trash Betsy DeVos
 * Spirit of Hope Award

Articles I have worked hard on and made them pretty OK

 * Leon Daniel - Vietnam War and US Civil Rights Movement reporter with UPI. Saved from its AfD.  And have vastly improved.  This page is some of my best work, and I feel very proud of it as an editor.
 * Edward Francis Anhalt - A community organizer in Milwaukee, and probably one of the most challenging articles I've had in the face of an AfD.
 * Saint Maighneann - Initially speedily deleted as a copyvio, but I encouraged and worked with another editor to rewrite it and flesh it out a bit more.
 * John C. McManus - Military historian and author, often writing in a narrative style.
 * John Robinson (aviator) - Black aviator responsible for opening up piloting opportunities for African-Americans in the United States.
 * Mary Ann Bickerdyke


 * Veet - Hair removal product and chemical depilatory. Also has an interesting history.  I even found a few old ads that were pretty funny to read that I've included as sources.  Saved from its AfD.
 * Steaz - Well, it certainly looked like this page was going to get deleted at first, until I stumbled upon some sources. Now, it's looking pretty good!
 * Benjamin Moore & Co. - Kind of looked like a copyvio at first, but wasn't. This isn't a particularly long article, but the company received some coverage and several awards for its paint products, so I added in content to reflect these findings.
 * Merz Apothecary - Started as a stub, and found some decent sources about its history to flesh out the article a bit more.
 * Kodo (taiko group) - Easily the most recognizable taiko group worldwide.
 * Rahmens


 * Latke-Hamantash Debate - What if I told you a bunch of academics get together every year and argue on the merits of a weird pastry and a glorified potato pancake?
 * Chicago Fire of 1874 - The "little" Chicago Fire that was nonetheless a major tragedy and failure of local authorities to properly equip the city to prevent and fight fires.  Work coordinated through the Roosevelt-Northeastern Illinois University edit-a-thon.
 * Shinjō Matsuri


 * Taiko - Just an article that needed lots of improvement, like having nearly zero citations for instance.
 * Contra dance - Folk dancing tradition descended from French/English dances. Easy to learn, and lots of fun (I've been dancing since 2008!)


 * Game Boy - Added a lot of technical information, initial release information, and have just generally cleaned up the page since 2006. I still keep an eye on it.
 * Dog camp - Helped find sources during the AfD to keep this concept afloat that was, at first, considered a hoax. I helped with clean-up, but most of that was done by Tomwsulcer.
 * Heroes in Hell (and other books in the series) - Major clean-up due to some COI- and notability-related issues.
 * Engineering psychology - Mostly got involved in this one during its AfD. I initially thought it should be deleted, but I ended up cleaning it up and making fixes during the AfD and after it was kept.
 * Black-and-gray - Type of tattooing style.
 * Furikake - Makes rice even more delicious, and was kind of a big deal for both Japanese business and cuisine.

An essay I started

 * IMAGINE

Featured Articles and Good Articles I have reviewed

 * Ron Hextall
 * Irving Gottesman
 * Chris Pérez
 * Gemini (2002 Tamil film)
 * Shimna River
 * Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within
 * Sunil Kumar Verma

I like these things that Wikipedians have said (at least in part)

 * - On edit counts and RfAs, from
 * Some words from on a lot of stuff, like curbing your enthusiasm, though I don't care so much for the old vs. young stuff.
 * A new editor has this to say after being feeling pushed away by warnings and incorrect reverts identified as vandalism to her contributions. We all need to be careful of being BITEy.
 * comments on how in their (and definitely my) childhood, Wikipedia is the blow-your-mind kind of futuristic stuff we dreamed about: "the stuff of science fiction", she says.  I definitely agree.
 * This exchange between and  about acknowledging that our community tolerates incivility, and considerations on what we might do about it.

COI declarations
I have recently worked at or been closely affiliated with the following institutions / companies and will never edit these articles for any reason:
 * Wikimedia Foundation

Generous words
You asked for an explanation at the RfA. If you don't mind I will answer here rather than take up room at the RfA. I have 5 adult children and 13 grandchildren. When my second son was 10 years old, he carved his name into a bus stop bench. I saw it and asked if he had done it. He said he did. We went to the bus stop, waited for the next bus, and I had my son apologize to the driver for his act of vandalism. The driver was quiziczl and probably didnt have any idea what was going on. But...my son knew there would be consequences to his actions. I dont know what User:Sigma's act against Conservitopia was. He will not elaborate. But I get the impression that he didnt UN-do it. Even now, a year later he could do something, anything. His regret and apology to wikipedia editors is meaningless. ```Buster Seven   Talk  07:08, 9 October 2012 (UTC)
 * I would argue that a sincere expression of regret of one's poor judgment or an apology is never meaningless, but I can understand that this might not be sufficiently satisfactory for some, and that a clearer undoing of harm would be valuable. I, Jethrobot drop me a line (note: not a bot!) 07:18, 9 October 2012 (UTC)
 * Meaningless in the sense that Wikipedia and its editors were not "the harmed", not the victim of his vandalism. So why apologize to us. He might as well go to Amazon.com and say he regrets his actions. They dont mean anything since they are directed at the wrong party. I accept his expression of regret and don't intend to sound vindictive. From the supports I get that he is a good editor. This little delay in his admin coronation will most likely do him good. Nice to meet you. ```Buster Seven   Talk  07:34, 9 October 2012 (UTC)
 * Likewise. Thanks for your insights. I, Jethrobot  drop me a line (note: not a bot!) 07:36, 9 October 2012 (UTC)


 * {| style="border: 1px solid gray; background-color: #fdffe7;"


 * rowspan="2" valign="middle" | [[Image:Hand.jpg|100px]]
 * rowspan="2" |
 * style="font-size: x-large; padding: 0; vertical-align: middle; height: 1.1em;" | The Friendship Barnstar
 * style="vertical-align: middle; border-top: 1px solid gray;" | Nice to meet you. ```Buster Seven   Talk  07:42, 9 October 2012 (UTC)
 * }
 * }

  imagine others complexly

Thank you, percussionist Jethro, for quality articles such as Taiko, Retrieval-induced forgetting, List of compositions by Paul Manz and John Robinson (aviator), for GA reviews and your essay imagine others complexly, for helping new users, responses to user feedback and for "It's a good life", - you are an awesome Wikipedian!

--Gerda Arendt (talk) 07:15, 14 April 2015 (UTC)

I JethroBT: thank you for noticing where you, and perhaps other administrators, were mistaken in this Administrators Noticeboard discussion. Would you have any objection to my using this as a teaching example for administrators and would-be administrators on the English Wikipedia? One of the problems that we have seen on this wiki is where new editors or unregistered editors perceive that they have been treated badly by more experienced editors. The WMF is currently trying to improve participation on the English Wikipedia. Hopefully if we can make attitudes towards new editors and recently registered editors more welcoming, the overall participation rate will improve. MPS1992 (talk) 00:10, 3 September 2017 (UTC)