User:Traveler7

[[File:070501 Ilz Kalteneck-Fuersteneck 2.jpg|thumb|right|"Nobody has time to fish.

We make time."   --Traveler7]]

Greetings fellow travelers,
I specialize in the local histories of small towns and villages in Southwest Missouri and Northwest Arkansas. My contributions are usually with articles that contain historical data highly specific to the communities or areas, but sometimes you may find me editing almost anything. I have recently started contributing to fishing articles, and have recruited my wife Lilithmoon1 into the Wiki-World as well. I always welcome any input - good, bad or ugly - concerning the articles I have edited or created. Please address them on my talk page. Local history can especially be subjective and often bias, and we need all of the information available to paint a true picture of the events. Neutrality and accuracy are my primary goals, and I will gladly discuss any aspect of the article(s) so we can improve them to the highest level.

--Traveler7 (talk)



☻ Why I support Wikipedia   ☮
Growing up in a tiny SW Missouri village myself, I feel that these histories are valuable to preserve. Much of the early events of my small town had been forgotten by the time I was an adolescent. The internet did not exist, of course, and I had been collecting books and studying about my local history. By the time I was in middle school I was educating my teachers about our home town. This distressing trend continues across America today, as small town histories become consigned to oblivion, sadly lost to time itself. This is simply no longer acceptable in the information age in which we live today. Additionally, I believe that we should not have to buy rare and expensive books simply for research about our little home towns. Our history belongs to all of us, and it is our right to have it available free of charge. Such is the power of Wiki, and I am proud to have been an intermittent Wikipedia contributor since 12 August 2009.

If not for any other reason, imagine that one interested school kid who Googles their small town on the internet and brings up a Wikipedia article. The child reads it and exclaims, "Wow! I had no idea that happened right here where I live." Just thinking of this makes every moment reading, recording and referencing interesting local history worth it. These are amazing times! What treasures now await us, with only the click of a mouse or poke of a finger!

Safe travels, --Traveler7 (talk)

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