User:Pwnage8

I used to be a red link, now I'm just a Red Neck.created this page. Anything that isn't covered in the userboxes will be explained here in text. This page is a work in progress, covering the story of how I joined Wikipedia, my biggest contibutions to the project, interesting things I've found here, my personal beliefs and Wikilosophy, and is also the place where I maintain my to-do list. You may edit and/or vandalize it if you wish, however, please be advised that if you do the latter, your contribution will be reverted. You may also sign my guestbook at the bottom of the page. I will be representing my home country of Canada in the 2009 WikiCup. I realize that I have a lot to live up to, since Canada has produced some of the most prolific editors of Wikipedia (Bryan Derksen, SimonP, Bearcat). Rest assured, I will be going all the way in the competition. By the way, I pwn vandals.

Introduction
The first time I stumbled upon Wikipedia had to be during a google search sometime back in 2004. That would be the primary means I would access Wikipedia for the next couple of years. I remember usually being disappointed by the content, for example, finding stub articles that aren't really informative. Thankfully, Wikipedia has been vastly improved in the last four years, so this does not happen as often, nowadays. Although I had been reading Wikipedia a lot, especially since about September 2006, when I began using it as a primary source, and finding typos and factual errors, I never bothered to fix them. One reason was that I had been accustomed to not copyediting what I read online for so long that it didn't seem like a "big deal". Another reason is that I was hesitant to edit with my IP, and finally, I held off on joining, because I knew that it would be taking up my time. What finally motivated me to join was an error that I found on January 13, 2007 in the infobox of the Kenny vs. Spenny article. It said that the premiere was in 2004 and not 2003. I just couldn't let that go. So I fixed it. Since then, I have been a regular contributor to Wikipedia, and in January 2008, debuted on the List of Wikipedians by number of recent edits at #3613. I have been a mainstay on the list ever since, and as of May 2008, I am #1083.

My username comes from the fact that I pwn everyone and everything. Well.. actually, I don't. At the time I made this account, I had been playing a lot of tennis and handball with my friends, and they would often use the word "pwned", or "pwnage", as in "that was pwnage". And so I started using that word on a regular basis, more than I had been before. When it came time to make an account, I just wanted something random and neutral that I was comfortable with. I tried "Pwnage", since that seemed like a logical choice, but it was already taken. So I added the "8" on the end, as a reference to the townhouse I lived in as a kid, which was Unit #8. Thus, my name. I'm quite pleased with how it turned out.

My contributions
Special:Contributions/Pwnage8

Any article on any subject is vulnerable to my edits. That's what's so great about Wikipedia. Below is a taste of what I've done so far:

Templates created

 * Template:Kenny vs. Spenny
 * Template:Royal Canadian Air Farce
 * Template:Hedley
 * Template:Escape the Fate

Interesting things I found on Wikipedia

 * Insertion of disinformation in the Verichip article that took six months to remove.

Funny stuff
Wiki Break with Reality

This psychological condition occurs when someone commits every waking hour to spreading vast amounts of misinformation via Wikipedia. The victim is unable to determine fact from fiction. Victims are also found to commit acts of Idle Worship. This condition is technically an "umbrella syndrome," as it is the result of multiple diseases. Dyslexia, Brackets, Dangling Participle, Autism, Conjunctionitis and drama dependency all are factors that contribute to the overall condition. People suffering from this disease are very difficult to treat as they require that you produce supporting citations for everything that you say. Original research has shown that the only effective way to bring someone back from wikiworld is to perform a Complete Personality Transplant. CPTs are potentially fatal, so it is a win-win situation.

Wikipedian views
I am an Immediatist, and in deletion discussions I lean towards Inclusionism, although I believe there are times that an article just doesn't belong in Wikipedia. However, that does not make me an Incrementalist.

Deletionism vs. Inclusionism
I believe that Deletionism is inherently anti-wiki, detrimental to this project, and that no one who seriously looks out for its well-being, and is commited to building this free encyclopedia would adopt such a position. There seems to be too many of them these days. The worst ones are those who shamelessly prod articles when they don't meet criteria for deletion, and if someone objects they go to a full AfD, when improvements are possible, but they are too lazy to make them. According to Wikipedia's guide to deletion, before nominating an article, one must first try to make improvements. Thus, most AfDs are not properly followed through. However, since deletion discussions are mostly dominated by deletionists, a lot of articles go down without a fight. Sometimes, common sense prevails and the deletionists suffer humiliation as a consequence of their careless actions; sources are available, subject really is notable, etc. and the AfD is swamped by Keeps. Thankfully, most users do not fall into this extreme. I take the view of some Delusionists that labels like "Deletionist" and "Inclusionist" really are delusional, and both extremes are ultimately detrimental to the project.

Notability
Many articles get deleted nowadays because the subject is "non-notable". Although notability is not a core policy of Wikipedia, it has increasingly become the threshold for inclusion. At its core, it is an extension of the verifiability policy (i.e. the content of the article can be verified in reliable sources). However, many deletionists deliberately ignore the notability criteria and pretend that certain articles don't meet it. Interpretation of the notability guideline is intended to be broad. If an article meets just one of the criteria, it should stay. I've used the term "notable" to defend some articles, and help delete others. The latter may seem contradictory to my previous rant about deletionism, but do keep in mind what I said at the top of this section. Sometimes an article just doesn't belong here, such as ones with no meaningful content that can be found on the subject. For example, an elementary school with nothing special about it, and the only information that can be found is on the board website, and would constitute an infobox and nothing more. Pretty much meaningless content. This can also be applied to streets, strip malls, etc.

To-do list

 * fix neutrality issue with Mithraic Mysteries
 * finish "Evolution of Music Management" and "Sex, Drugs and Music in the1960s" and integrate content into mainspace
 * Cleanup lengthy subsections for individual seasons in MLB team articles

Sandboxes

 * User:Pwnage8/Evolution of Music Management
 * User:Pwnage8/Sex, Drugs and Music in the1960s

Guestbook
Sign below everyone else. You don't need to hit 'enter' (there's already a ton of space), and remember the four tildes at the end.
 * 1) Yay! 1st signiture! It's been a pleasure talking to you, hope you have a good collection of signitures (starting with this first one). (By the way, you might want to add this to ).--Sunny910910 (talk 03:21, 13 May 2008 (UTC)
 * 2) Big ups to my main man, MC.Ihaveacomputer (talk) 03:28, 13 May 2008 (UTC)
 * 3) Cheers from another Wikipedian Matt Good fan!  You're   dreaming   eh?   03:42, 13 May 2008 (UTC)
 * 4) Cheers. Slightly  Mad wanna si-ign? 13:22, 17 May 2008 (UTC)
 * 5) Hi! ' Chubb ' enna  itor  13:28, 17 May 2008 (UTC)
 * 6) Yo. This is the youngest person I've ever met.  Shapiros10 Wuz Here    00:46, 13 June 2008 (UTC)
 * 7) I like your style! From Tagi to Bottom, My Survivor Partay (Wobbuffet!. Dats right) 16:16, 16 June 2008 (UTC)
 * 8) Number 8...is just absolute pwnage. Sign me! &mdash; La Pianista!  «talk»  01:21, 7 August 2008 (UTC)
 * 9) Then what about number 9? Sign mine too...! Chamal    Talk / Sign 02:47, 16 August 2008 (UTC)
 * Hey, whats up. Articles getting deleted bumms the crap out of me!! ARR!!! Tezkag72 (talk) 23:54, 1 September 2008 (UTC)
 * 1) Sign mine?-- LAA Fan sign review 01:00, 14 September 2008 (UTC)
 * 2) Hey there! Fancy signing my guestbook? - $\mathfrak{C}\mathfrak{4}\mathfrak{v}\mathfrak{3}\mathfrak{m}\mathfrak{4}\mathfrak{n}$ 10:41, 21 October 2008 (UTC)
 * 3) Hey! Thanks for signing my guestbook! :)   - Jameson L. Tai   talk  ♦  guestbook  ♦  contribs  21:38, 25 October 2008 (UTC)
 * 4) Just because. Live with it!  DiverseMentality  (Boo!)  01:01, 27 October 2008 (UTC)
 * 5) Nice to meet you! Fancy signing my guestbook? - Alistairjh or 2o-DeMoN-o8 (talk) 20:21, 28 October 2008 (UTC)
 * 6) Hey, cheers for the keep on the AfD for MTV Music! Thought I'd drop by and sign this while I was at it [[File:smile.svg]] Feel free to sign mine! -- Cabe  6403  (Talk•Sign!)
 * 7) Thanks for signing mine...I really want more signatures on my GuestBook, hint hint, to the rest of the world... TopGearFreak   Talk  17:08, 5 November 2008 (UTC)
 * 8) --A NobodyMy talk 17:47, 1 December 2008 (UTC)
 * 9) Almost 20! Nice to see you. Feel free to sign my guestbook (if you haven't already)! Then have a beer in Virginia Beach!  --  MISTER ALCOHOL  TC 06:09, 8 December 2008 (UTC)
 * 10) 20th signature! Winstontalk 16:29, 13 December 2008 (UTC)
 * 11) I can't believe I never noticed this. Well, hey. Tez kag 72 17:34, 29 December 2008 (UTC)
 * 12) Good luck in the 2009 WikiCup! From a fellow Canadian. OlEnglish (talk) 21:06, 27 January 2009 (UTC)
 * 13) Hello Filper01  ( Chat,  My contribs ) 16:55, 8 February 2009 (UTC)
 * 14) What is up. -- Wyatt  915  ✍  00:11, 12 February 2009 (UTC)
 * 15) Hi! Please sign mine!! Thanks. La   Al qu im  is ta  12:36, 24 February 2009 (UTC)
 * 16) Hey there! Fancy signing my guestbook?  ISLANDERS 27  ( sign? ) 08:03, 31 October 2009 (UTC)
 * 17) G'Day! Care to sign mine?-- Ezekiel 7:19 †Go Canucks! (sign) 11:45, 5 May 2010 (UTC)
 * 18) Hi! Click the sun to sign mine please! Derild  49  21  ☼  18:01, 30 July 2010 (UTC)