User:SimpsonDG

Name:     David Simpson

Location: Maryland, United States

 OFFICIALLY RETIRED 

This user is no longer active on Wikipedia.

After six years of editing on Wikipedia, I've decided to quit the project. I am no longer willing to make contributions to Wikipedia articles.

Wikipedia was a nice project when it started, and I enjoyed working with other editors to contribute new material and improve what was already there. But things have changed drastically on Wikipedia in the last few years. The entire project has been taken over by bullies who seem to lack any common sense or interest in improving Wikipedia. Instead, their only goal is the ruthless enforcement of their interpretation of thousands of Wikipedia rules, regulations, and policies by deleting anything they deem non-compliant. This endless wiki-lawyering has created an openly hostile environment, and it has become almost impossible to contribute anything at all without having it immediately deleted, or to participate in a discussion without being threatened. Wikipedia has become "the encyclopedia that no one can edit".

I've been involved in quite a few projects in my life, both paid positions and unpaid volunteer projects. I can say, without hesitation, that Wikipedia is BY FAR the most hostile work environment I've ever been involved with. The Wikipedia "administrators" are the worst of the lot. Many of them seem to be only interested in acquiring power and authority within Wikipedia, and bullying other editors with threats to have them banned or blocked. Anytime you attempt to contribute to an article, your motives and credentials will be questioned, and your edits will be immediately deleted. If you complain about the instant deletions, these administrators will retaliate by searching your edit history and deleting your previous Wikipedia contributions one by one. I have personally gotten caught in some of this crossfire from time to time, and even had one administrator vandalize my user page. I recently caught another administrator rifling through my edit history for the sole purpose of looking for something he could threaten me with. It's no wonder that Wikipedia is hemorrhaging editors.

Consequently, I've decided to quit Wikipedia and devote my energies elsewhere. Also, I've started a Wikipedia alternative called Nanopedia, where I'll be posting new encyclopedia-like articles from now on.

It's a shame it's come to this, but Wikipedia just isn't the same project that it once was. SimpsonDG (talk) 03:18, 18 February 2014 (UTC)