User:Sebwite

On building Wikipedia

 * Wikipedia is a volunteer service. No one has any obligation to complete any articles or other jobs by any deadlines. No articles should be considered for deletion just because they are not completed, updated, or otherwise improved by a deadline.
 * All good-faith contributions are extremely valuable, even when they are rejected by others. It is important to respect the good-faith contributions of others, and only remove them when absolutely warranted.
 * I personally try to be as inclusive as possible of the good-faith edits of others. If someone adds something to an article that I initially wrote or have made major contributions to, if it is not written well, I try to improved upon it rather than removing it. If I merge two articles, I try to include as much unique information of what both contain as possible.
 * All articles created in good faith should be given a chance before they are considered for deletion. If one feels deletion may be necessary, it is better to have a discussion with the creator prior to the proposal.
 * I oppose overzealous deletion proposals, and feel that deletion should be a last resort except when content is obviously inappropriate.
 * Speedy deletion should be limited to gross violation of policy and other serious abuses, and for technical deletions (such as author's request or page moves).
 * Other forms of deletion should be avoided if at all possible. Alteratives should always be considered, such as merging, in order to preserve the edit histories.
 * Previously deleted material can be recreated and improved, and if so, should be given a chance, and not speedy deleted
 * Editors should think for themselves, and not let others have too much of an influence, especially in deletion discussions
 * There is no shame in having views that differ from other Wikipedians, even the majority
 * There should be a navbox in every article and in most project pages so that fewer pages are orphaned.

In all, I very seldom propose an article for deletion. I have started only a small number of AfDs, and when I do New Page Patrol, I prefer to PROD as opposed to AfD in order to give the creator a chance to independently improve the page as need be to avert its deletion. I mark pages for speedy deletion only if they are in gross violation of Wikipedia policy.

On notability

 * Notability is not a status assigned to an elite group of subjects. All it means is that it is possible to write a neutral, factually accurate article about the subject given the available sources.
 * Not everything is notable, but quite a lot of stuff is. Many subjects have offline sources only that are difficult to find.
 * For certain subjects, it is obviously not practical to write an article on every single one of them (see WP:MILL). These include people, small businesses, and streets, just to name a few.

Articles
I have created more than 250 articles, far too many to list. For a list, click here.

Essays and similar

 * 1) A navbox on every page (WP:NBFILL)
 * 2) Arguments to avoid in edit wars (WP:ATAEW)
 * 3) Arguments to make in deletion discussions (WP:GOODARG)
 * 4) Award barnstars (WP:AWARDBARN)
 * 5) Bare notability (WP:BARE)
 * 6) Before commenting in a deletion discussion (WP:BCD) (not completed)
 * 7) Bombardment (WP:BOMBARD)
 * 8) Businesses with a single location (WP:ONELOC)
 * 9) Circumventing policy (WP:TRICK) (not completed)
 * 10) Content removal (WP:REMOVAL)
 * 11) Dealing with dictionary definitions (not completed)
 * 12) Deletion of newly created pages (WP:NEWP)
 * 13) Don't be ashamed (WP:NOSHAME)
 * 14) Existence ≠ Notability (WP:ENN)
 * 15) Geographic imbalance (WP:IMBALANCE)
 * 16) Go ahead, vandalize (WP:GAV) - humor
 * 17) Follow the leader (WP:LEADER)
 * 18) How to save an article proposed for deletion (WP:SAVE)
 * 19) Issues with an article are not a reason for deletion (not completed)
 * 20) Lamest edit war topics (WP:LEWT)
 * 21) List of policies and guidelines to cite in deletion debates (WP:PGL)
 * 22) Make protection requests sparingly (WP:SPARE)
 * 23) Masking the lack of notability (WP:MASK)
 * 24) No-edit orders (WP:NOEDIT)
 * 25) Nothing is in stone (WP:STONE)
 * 26) Overzealous deletion (WP:ZEAL)
 * 27) List of policies and guidelines to cite in deletion debates (WP:PGL)
 * 28) Run-of-the-mill (WP:MILL)
 * 29) The value of essays (WP:VALUE)
 * 30) WikiBullying (WP:BULLY)
 * 31) Wikipedia clones (WP:CLONE)
 * 32) Wikipedia is a volunteer service (WP:VOLUNTEER)
 * 33) Wikipedia is not guess, guess, guess (WP:GUESS) (not completed)
 * 34) Wikipedia is not being written in an organized fashion (WP:ORGANIZE)

I also originally wrote the proposal Notability (events) that ultimately became a guideline.

Help pages

 * 1) Help:Drawing attention to new pages (WP:ANP)
 * 2) Help:Hidden text (WP:HIDDEN)
 * 3) Help:Pageview stats (WP:PVS)
 * 4) Help:Whitespace (WP:WHITE)

Navboxes

 * 1) Template:Baltimore neighborhoods
 * 2) Template:Civility
 * 3) Template:Commercial air travel
 * 4) Template:Hospitals in Maryland
 * 5) Template:Museums in Maryland
 * 6) Template:Public transport
 * 7) Template:Roads in Baltimore area
 * 8) Template:Roads in Montgomery County, Maryland
 * 9) Template:Roads in Prince Georges County, Maryland
 * 10) Template:Shopping malls in Maryland
 * 11) Template:Essays on building Wikipedia

Infoboxes
Template:Infobox nature center

Other
Template:Gsvlink for listing the link to the site on Google Street View

Template:newpage for newly constructed articles

Some of my plans

 * Creating articles on Washington, D.C. area buses. For a list of my plan, click here.
 * Work on de-orphaning as many essays as possible. Many essays have been written and forgotten.
 * Become an administrator. I have tried once and failed, and I am ready for this to take several tries. After a year that personally kept me away from Wikipedia for some time, I plan to get back to that.

Barnstars
The name Sebwite is a spoonerism of the word website.