User:Jack Greenmaven

Editor's index to Wikipedia

My work on Wikipedia
Most of my work has been to maintain or improve articles chosen randomly across the spectrum. I have done a lot of copyediting and vandal fighting. I participate in several projects and discussion forums. I occasionally create an article when I see an opportunity, or make a major contribution to an underdeveloped article. I try to provide comprehensive references to any articles where I have provided most of the content. I am fortunate to live close to an outstanding research library. These are my "Barnstars"

Try to avoid conflict
"A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger." Proverbs 15:1 King James Version

This user seeks the peaceful resolution of disputes.

Personal Details
I retired as a computer programmer in 2001, and as a personal and workplace counsellor in 2007.

After using Wikipedia for several years, I found an article which I thought I could improve, and decided to become an editor.

Natural Languages
I have some knowledge of French, 🇫🇷 and some German, 🇩🇪. I began learning Russian 🇷🇺 in 1992, but have forgotten most of it.

Learning Latin 🇮🇹 and Classical Greek 🇬🇷, helped me to understand etymology and the history and structure of European languages.

Studying these languages improved my understanding of English Grammar, the peculiarities of English, and the difficulty of really mastering one language, let alone several.

Programming Languages
I learned numerous computer programming languages and scripting languages, between 1968 and 2001, beginning with FortranIV and Assembler Language on a Control Data Corporation 3000 series mainframe, ending with 'Avenue' (a GIS scripting language for ArcView 3.x), Perl and HTML. I thought of myself as a technical applications programmer.