User:Robofish

I've been using Wikipedia for a while, it's about time I created a userpage for myself. I'm not a fan of big userpages, or attracting attention to myself, so I'll keep this one as sparse as possible.

My current activities: adding Unreferenced to all articles of greater than stub length that contain no external links or references whatsoever. (On advice from another user, I now only do this when the article contains unsourced statements that are likely to be challenged.). I've also been removing the template from articles that do have references provided. For articles which do have sources, but inadequate ones, I use Refimprove or Primarysources instead.

I've also been adding Orphan to articles that I think need it. (That is: almost every article with 0-1 incoming links, and some articles with 2 incoming links. 3 incoming links is usually sufficient in my view.) Whenever possible, instead of adding the template, I just add the incoming links myself, but this isn't always easy; adding the Orphan template is the next best thing.

Other activities: adding categories to pages that need them, particularly uncategorised articles, and biographies of living people lacking. Adding WikiProject templates to Talk pages where relevant. Adding stub templates to short articles that obviously need them; a good list can be found at WP:WSS. Correcting links to disambiguation pages. Adding WikiProject templates to articles that should have them. I also remove links from articles that link to deleted articles or back to the article itself.

I probably qualify as a WikiGnome (though WikiSloth also seems an accurate description of my behaviour).

From time to time, I contribute to deletion discussions at Articles for deletion or one of its equivalents. Though I used to describe myself as a deletionist, I no longer do so; I dislike the inclusionist/deletionist dichotomy, and believe the problems with Wikipedia are too complex to be reduced to one or the other. For example, I feel that articles on non-notable subjects tend to stay around rather longer than they should (often simply because no one notices them), yet on the other hand feel that some users and admins are over-zealous in their application of the speedy deletion criteria. However, I would call myself a mergist, as well as an eventualist, which means I believe that, given enough time and attention, the correct decisions will tend to be reached.

I have gained rollback privileges, and try to make as good use of them as I can. (Specifically, I limit my use of rollback to self-reverts and undoing blatant vandalism.)

I am also a Reviewer.

Some words of wisdom from another user: User:Antandrus/observations on Wikipedia behavior

Useful advice: WP:DGAF. Also: Ignore all dramas.

Interesting discussions on changing the government and dispute resolution processes of Wikipedia: Governance reform and Requests for comment/Arbitration Committee.

With regards to adminship, I support something along the lines of this proposal: Removing administrator rights/Proposal. However, I recognise that for any such de-adminship mechanism proposal to achieve consensus, it would need considerably greater detail and enough built-in security measures to convince people it couldn't be used abusively. See Tenofalltrades' excellent De-adminship proposal checklist.

I've installed WP:FRIENDLY and WP:TWINKLE, which have made my editing much quicker and easier. However, at the same time, I selected the option in my preferences to 'mark all edits as minor by default', which caused some of my twinkle-aided edits to be marked as minor when they shouldn't have been. I've disabled this option again after realising the problems it may cause.

Articles created: Ben Smith (journalist), Carlos Álvarez (baritone).

Essays written: User:Robofish/Thoughts on inclusionism and deletionism.

Possibly the funniest page on Wikipedia: WikiSpeak

Another great page, which I fully agree with: User:TParis/My Pride.

Disclaimer: in the course of my editing, I have edited articles on various controversial topics, including (but not limited to) neo-Nazism, racism, Communism, creationism, Scientology, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, terrorism, pornography and paedophilia, and will continue to do so in future. In no event is my editing of an article meant to imply some kind of approval (or disapproval) of the subject of that article. My edits are made for encyclopaedic reasons only.

Note on Personal Identity. I edit Wikipedia under a pseudonym rather than my real identity. However, I have not gone to any particularly strong lengths to conceal my identity, and anyone who wishes to discover it could do so without much difficulty. I understand this and accept the consequences. However, I would nonetheless prefer to remain pseudonymous as long as possible, and therefore ask that anyone reading this please refrain from 'exposing' my real-life identity on Wikipedia. Should someone do so, I reserve the right to change username and exercise my right to vanish, ceasing to edit with this account.