User:John Reid/Brag

Hi, I'm. If you want to know who I am, I think the best way is for you to see what I've done -- not all of it, just the stuff I like.

Article work
I don't know much more than you do about anything important so I've not contributed substantially to very many articles. Mostly, I copyedit, fix grammar and style, check links, and look for other opportunities. There are a lot of other editors doing this, too, so I don't make many mainspace edits.


 * Mille Bornes: This was in a sad state. The article had no images at all; much of the description was self-contradictory or redundant. I researched, created a workpage, spun Touring off (it's now its own stub), and so expanded the Strategy section that there's now a call for it to be transwikied.


 * Compass and straightedge: My big contribution was to move this page from Ruler and compass: a misleading term. There was opposition but consensus emerged to support.

Social work
I'm excessively proud of my work in social fields -- in editing policy, in speaking clearly into the wordsmog generated by warring factions. Generally, both sides hate me equally by the time I'm done, so I figure I'm doing right.


 * Wheel war: I got into this when it was a general definition and guideline and, on another page, a distinct policy proposal, forked 3 times. It went to 7 forks before I took a bold step and merged them all. Surprisingly, this went over very well. Recently, I merged the entire policy proposal back into the guideline from whence it came. So far, no lynching!


 * Centralized discussion: I saw this as a good idea, fallen somewhat into disuse. The only active part of the process was the cent discussion billboard. I reactivated other pages, refreshed the template, created a template log and nagged editors to use it. All usable output from centralized discussions is now recorded at /Conclusions. I'm still around, maintaining.


 * Userbox policy: While half the project was fighting in the streets and a half-dozen partisan proposals had been soundly rejected, I quietly wrote a proposal that threw all factions at least one bone -- and wrote it without an overarching philosophy, in such a way that differing factions could express their concerns directly. This was pretty much ignored by the GUSers but I've not been shy to drag all parties to the table. Too early to call this but at least I've got most factions represented now, even if half of them complain they shouldn't be there. Key to success: I haven't edited the page (much) since I wrote it; I've encouraged all parties to edit this page directly rather than defend arbitrary points; I've discussed my rationale on talk but I haven't tried to own the policy. Nobody is thanking me for this, which I interpret to mean that I've steered right down the middle again and annoyed everyone equally.


 * How many legs does a horse have? Wrote this essay from scratch -- really, a total steal from my crabby, conservative, and cynical uncle. It's picking up citations slowly but steadily.


 * Metastasis and Dig are too new to have been picked up much but I'm very proud of one of them -- I just can't be sure which.


 * The Carnildo affair: I just missed a week's vacation from ArbCom as a reward for getting into the middle of this sprawling disaster and not letting go. In short, Bureaucrats ignored a failed RfA and promoted Carnildo anyway. The actor has so far escaped recall from bureaucratship but they have all gotten the message.


 * Removing warnings: Support for this initiative has failed 4 times to be pushed into policy but a series of templates, wr & company, have been hotly defended and widely used to abuse editors, innocent and guilty alike. I did my best to rewrite them to moderate their confrontational tone, place responsibility for their use firmly in the hands of those who use them, and generally make them more honest. I was not only reverted, but blocked for my trouble. Now the templates have been deleted under CSD T1 and although they've been restored pending discussion at DRV, it seems likely they'll go the way of all flesh.

Image gallery
No brag page is complete without a gallery. Being among other things a graphic designer, I tend to see things visually and often create images even when there's no obvious reason to do so. Here's a few of my favorites: