User:Wasted Time R

So named after the Eagles' striking "Wasted Time" and "Wasted Time (Reprise)" from Hotel California. And a metaphor for WP editing?

That was then, this is now ...
Still active, but not at the levels of before and with a focus shifted onto different goals.

Advice for new editors
Look before you leap. Really. Study the subculture here until you have a feel for what works and what doesn't.

Advice for editing history articles
Read books. And not just the random pages you find online in Amazon or Google; whole books, or at least whole chapters thereof, in a library.

Advice for editing political articles
Don't.

A's and faves

 * Not that I'm not still minding all of these ...

5 FA articles: I've been the main writer of:


 * Hillary Rodham Clinton (delisted 8 years later)
 * John McCain (co-lead)
 * Early life and military career of John McCain


 * George W. Romney
 * Mitt Romney


 * 3 I've made a significant contribution (#2 editor) to: Nancy Reagan (delisted 15 years later) • Saxbe fix • Zoo TV Tour


 * I've made fewer but important contributions to: Pat Nixon • City of Blinding Lights • Temple Israel (Memphis, Tennessee) • maybe others?

1 MILHIST A-class articles I've been the main writer of: John S. McCain, Jr.

48 GA articles I've been the main writer of:


 * Travelgate
 * Filegate
 * United States Senate election in New York, 2000
 * Mike Gravel
 * House and Senate career of John McCain, until 2000
 * John McCain presidential campaign, 2000
 * Cindy McCain
 * Jim Hensley
 * Hensley & Co.
 * Keating Five
 * Charles Keating
 * Joe Biden (delisted 12 years later)
 * Early life and career of Joe Biden (co-lead)
 * Joe Biden presidential campaign, 1988
 * Jill Biden
 * Geraldine Ferraro *
 * Hilda Solis
 * Sonia Sotomayor
 * Carol Browner
 * Nannygate

* Tried and failed FAC

~ gap ~
 * George McGovern
 * Ted Kennedy (in lieu of GAR)
 * Ann Romney
 * Lenore Romney
 * Harold A. Lafount
 * Charles B. Rangel
 * Shirley Chisholm (not nom)
 * LatinoJustice PRLDEF
 * Lauryn Hill (co-lead)
 * Tony Bennett
 * Carolina in My Mind
 * Good Shepherd (song)
 * Max Weinberg
 * Working on a Dream Tour
 * War Tour
 * Running to Stand Still
 * Ultraviolet (Light My Way)‎
 * Ali Hewson *
 * Morleigh Steinberg (co-lead)
 * President Casino Broadwater Resort
 * The American Israelite‎
 * Comverse Technology
 * Lewis Strauss
 * Priscilla Johnson McMillan
 * Dansk Datamatik Center
 * HCR Corporation
 * Systime Computers
 * William A. Robson




 * 3 I've been a significant contributor (#2 editor) towards: Cornell Plantations • Cynthia Lennon • Vaillancourt Fountain


 * Also 4 GA that are now FA and thus off this list.

163 DYK appearances related to new or 5x expanded articles: 4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy) • Why Baby Why • U2 360° Tour‎ • Tony Sings the Great Hits of Today! • World Conference on Human Rights • Carolina in My Mind • I'm Your Captain (Closer to Home) • Jay Weinberg • LatinoJustice PRLDEF • United States House Permanent Select Committee on Aging‎ • Hematological Cancer Research Investment and Education Act • Queens Borough Hall • Racing in the Street • Good Shepherd (song) • Citizen Action • Billboard Touring Awards • Assumption Preparatory School • Automobile Manufacturers Association • United States Senate Select Committee on Nutrition and Human Needs • Running to Stand Still • Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review • Ultraviolet (Light My Way)‎ • Stranded (Haiti Mon Amour)‎ • Sweet Thursday (album)‎ • Arizona SB1070 (failed GAN) • Border Governors Conference • The American Israelite • Waitin' on a Sunny Day • Youngstown (song) • Nannygate  • Enough Is Enough (organization)‎ • United States Ambassador to the United Nations Agencies for Food and Agriculture • United States Ambassador to the United Nations Human Rights Council • Spying on United Nations leaders by United States diplomats • Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010 • Chiang Ching-kuo Foundation • Main Street Connect • Auditorio Monte do Gozo • Monte do Gozo • Mitt Romney presidential campaign, 2012 • Heather Zichal • Baby Don't Go • Budget Control Act of 2011‎ • Jerome J. Shestack‎ • Alabama HB 56 • New World Center • 1111 Lincoln Road • American Laboratory Theatre • David J. Lane (ambassador) • Harold A. Lafount • Hurricane Sandy: Coming Together • God Bless America (charity album) • American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 • My Beloved World • Go East, Young Man • International Conference on Hollywoodism • Morleigh Steinberg • Vaillancourt Fountain • Michelle Nunn •  Secondary School Mathematics Curriculum Improvement Study • Continuing Appropriations Act, 2014 • Arnold A. Saltzman Institute of War and Peace Studies • Arnold A. Saltzman • Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013 • Icy Strait Point • Huna Totem Corporation • Center of International Studies • United States House Select Committee on Events Surrounding the 2012 Terrorist Attack in Benghazi • Keith Harper (lawyer) • Hard Choices • Kiswe Mobile • Advanced Computer Techniques • Association of British Secretaries in America • Netsmart Technologies • Marvin Kitman • Neil W. Chamberlain • E. Wight Bakke • Yale Labor and Management Center • Hillary Clinton presidential campaign, 2016 • Dear Socks, Dear Buddy • An Invitation to the White House • Dansk Datamatik Center • DDC-I • Tartan Laboratories • Azraq refugee camp • Mitt Romney's March 3 speech • Dwight L. Bush, Sr. • Makila James • Yale Institute of International Studies • Frederick Sherwood Dunn • Tony Bennett at the Talk of the Town • Electrada • Hughes Dynamics • Informatics General • Trapped (Jimmy Cliff song) • Bob Wills Is Still the King • Los Angeles Times–Washington Post News Service • Bartell Group • Paul Y. Hammond • First Day Hikes • Unix System Laboratories • Novell BrainShare • Wisconsin School (diplomatic history) • Walter LaFeber • Gustavus Myers Center for the Study of Bigotry and Human Rights • Greater London Group • William A. Robson • Princeton Shopping Center • The Book of Gutsy Women • Caldera International • SCO Forum • MerchantBridge • Xinuos • Visionware • IXI Limited • HCR Corporation • Systime Computers Ltd • Parallel Computers, Inc. • Unix Expo  • State Department Panel of Consultants on Disarmament • William L. Borden • Priscilla Johnson McMillan • James R. Shepley • Church Center for the United Nations • Arnold Wolfers • Lewis Strauss (due to GA) • Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 • Mahanoy Area School District v. B.L. • Canopy Group • Santa Cruz Operation • TRW Vidar • Chorus Systèmes SA • Day-Timer • National War Fund • New York City Tribune • 1978 New York City newspaper strike • Third session of the United Nations General Assembly • Indigo Swing • Joining Forces • Concurrent Computer Corporation • Brassey's • Helen Hadsell • Biden Foundation • Betts, Hall, Leavell and Trucks • Werner J. Dannhauser • Harris Computer Systems • Mike Goodman • Columbia Lectures in International Studies • Univel • PL/C • Richard W. Conway • Walter Hines Page School of International Relations • Done Somebody Wrong • Achievement Test in English Composition • Capex Corporation • Computer Applications, Inc. • Pansophic Systems • The Librarian (version control system) • United States Conciliation Service • National War Labor Board (1942–1945) • Walker Interactive Products • Leonia Alternative High School • Englewood Golf Club

Beyond these, I've created and/or been the major author of literally hundreds and hundreds of Wikipedia articles. Some of my (once, sometimes still, sometimes lost) favorites:

GA reviews I've done
 * Carol McCain
 * Regina Peruggi
 * Judith Giuliani
 * Hugh Rodham and Tony Rodham
 * Hillary Rodham cattle futures controversy
 * White House Visitors Office


 * Suki Lahav
 * Scott Muni
 * Superstar (The Carpenters song)
 * In Memory of Elizabeth Reed and Whipping Post (song) (must restore)
 * These Days (Jackson Browne song)
 * Top of the World (Dixie Chicks song) and Up to the Mountain (MLK Song)
 * Full Frontal Fashion
 * Refuge island
 * We Gotta Get Out of This Place and People Got To Be Free
 * The pre-2010 Category:Bruce Springsteen concert tours (one failed GAN)
 * I Am...I Said

Started towards GA-level quality but really need completion/returning to: Rod Stewart • James Taylor • She Loves You

Articles that look good in parts but I don't think I've fully captured the subject on: Legal Services Corporation

Articles that I think I'm still #1 editor on by frequency that I was not very (or at all) happy with state of (and in most cases have long since stopped looking at): The Animals • The Rascals • Bruce Springsteen • Whitewater controversy • John S. McCain, Sr. • Rudy Giuliani • Victoria Reggie Kennedy • Dixie Chicks • The Allman Brothers Band • Bob Seger • Elton John • and others I'm no doubt forgetting

Advice for self
''Awake, you sleepers, from your sleep! Rouse yourselves, you slumberers ... who are wasting your years in vain pursuits that neither profit nor save.''

Ten Years On, two different perspectives
Yikes. My first edit on WP (as an IP, this account came a few months later) was ten years ago today. What to say? Came across a Chinese fortune cookie paper I had saved the other day: "If you put up with small annoyances, you will gain great results." Decent advice in general. And, allowing for sometimes larger values of 'small' and lesser values of 'great', a pretty good description of writing WP articles.

Not a waste if I'm an 'influencer' or 'protector'?

 * March 2007 interview by TechPresident.com
 * January 2008 (anonymous) mention in PARC Augmented Social Cognition blog
 * March 2008 story by Eve Fairbanks in The New Republic
 * long Slashdot thread in reaction – lots of flames! hey, it's Slashdot ...
 * reaction in Jonathan Martin's Politico.com blog
 * reaction in The Economist's Democracy in America blog
 * reaction in Institute for Politics Democracy & The Internet blog
 * reaction in Matthew Sheffield's NewsBusters.org blog
 * and also mentions and links in various blogwatchers such as tailrank.com, roundups such as TechPresident.com's Daily Digest and signandsight.com, etc.
 * and discussion by Fairbanks herself on NPR's On the Media show
 * referenced later by Matthew Sheffield in this August 2008 Washington Times column
 * April 2008 appearance on NPR Bryant Park Project show
 * April 2008 appearance on BBC World Service radio program The World Today
 * April 2008 appearance on CBC Radio One Search Engine show
 * May 2008 front-page story by Kelly Heyboer in The Star-Ledger (page 1/3)
 * same version with photo posted in Star-Ledger Digital Life blog
 * carried by Newhouse News Service
 * versions of that ran in the Houston Chronicle, ran in the Sun Journal of Lewiston, Maine, and ran in The Age in Melbourne, Australia
 * May 2008 appearance on WCBS 880 radio
 * December 2008 interviewed by BBC World Service producer about Scorpions album/Internet Watch Foundation/ISP blocking episode, might have been an unnamed referent in this BBC story
 * May, October 2012 – interviewed at length by one major news organization about WP and ongoing presidential campaign, contacted by another, but neither story ran. Once your 15 minutes are up, they are up!
 * March 2015 mention in TruthRevolt piece by Bradford Thomas
 * May 2015 story by Maxwell Tani of Business Insider
 * Contacted by news organizations in November 2015 and October 2016, but both times not in a position to discuss what they wanted to discuss. I ended up doing what I said I couldn't do at the end of the Tani piece.

Barnstars
Initially was not sure I really believed in this metaphor, but ... some years later and after 43 of them, it's nice to feel appreciated ...

Keep up the good job with the many concert [tour] articles. I'd award one of those stars, but there's some silly administrative debate on the appropriate star to hand out for WP:MUSIC contributions. --Madchester 21:20, 7 August 2006 (UTC)

Early history
Starting in January 2005 I made around 1,000 edits as anons User: 68.197.107.71 and User: 67.108.122.62, never feeling committed to the idea that WP converges to quality or that anyone reads these articles. I'm still not sure on either account ... a page view count mechanism would be really helpful. In May 2005 I began using this account; within a little more than a month I had another 1,000 edits. Too much!?


 * 2008 update ... a page count tool is finally here!!

Why it's a waste, Part 1
Well, with even more time in the past, this below is an example of how WP has improved. All of the problems mentioned here can and do exist, and can sometimes drive editors crazy, but over time it is also possible to maintain stable, high-quality articles, even on (some) political subjects. And the best-selling music artists article mentioned below has gotten a lot better.

The biggest problems in WP articles, especially those dealing with popular culture:
 * 1) Excessive detail in the wrong places, such as an article's intro
 * 2) Inconsistent levels of detail within an article or across a set of articles
 * 3) Just plain too much detail

&lt;time passes>

Regarding convergence to quality, I think it can happen for articles on subjects important enough to warrant attention but obscure enough to not get too much attention. Political subjects or contentious history, forget it. Popular culture that attracts a lot of people, forget it. Even if you get these kinds of articles right, someone else will come along and mess it up. Even if you and a bunch of other editors hammer out differences and get it right, in a short while other people will come, ignore your agreements, and mess it all up. Even if you watchlist these articles and fix the mess ups as they happen, eventually you'll get tired, the hordes won't, and down it will all go.

Regarding if anyone is reading, one sanity check is to Google a subject and to see how high the WP article shows up. If it's not in the first two pages of results, chances are good no one's going to find it. I have a feeling a large subset of WP articles are only read by editors, not by "real" readers looking for information.

&lt;time passes>

The first article I ever edited is also just about the worst article in Wikipedia, List of best-selling music artists. Missing or bogus data, pov agendas, pure vandalism, heavy churn, perpetually under VfD. The edit was this:. I picked this article because I could tell it was pretty worthless, so if I blundered it totally, no harm done. The same still applies.

&lt;time passes>

Quotes and italics
Popular music article writers, please memorize Music. Albums go in italics, songs go in double quotes, bands are just proper nouns, and only the first reference to the title subject of an article (and any alternate names of it) go in bold. How hard is this to understand? Yet there are jillions of music articles that get this wrong in every which way.

Tour names
As specified in Manual of Style/Music, concert tour names are being done throughout Wikipedia as regular proper nouns, not italics or quotes. See Talk:Zoo TV Tour for the original rationale.

Punctuation
Another common fault is placing punctuation inside the double quotes used for song titles, such as:
 * Her biggest hits were "Fool to Love," "Cry Every Day," and "Tears for Years."

Take a look at Manual of Style. Song titles are clearly the case where the punctuation is not "part of the sense" of the thing being quoted, and therefore should be outside the double quotes. Thus the above should be:
 * Her biggest hits were "Fool to Love", "Cry Every Day", and "Tears for Years".

I've seen more than a few cases where people make the same mistake in their coding with italics:
 * Her most popular albums included No Love Supreme, Sorrow Tomorrow, and Love is Pain.

which is really ridiculous – do the titles on the real album covers include commas and periods?

It is true that other publications (New York Times, Rolling Stone) put punctuation inside the double quotes in the first case, but Wikipedia standards are clear that you don't; see WP:MOSLQ for another statement to this effect.

Why it's a waste, Part 2
From December 2006. Didn't work.

Why Trivia sections are bad
Here's another example of where WP works – back in 2005–06 trivia sections drove me nuts, but standards were drawn up, editors imitated one another in getting rid of them, and now it's rare to see any.

All sorts of articles, mostly popular culture ones but some other kinds as well, have picked up sections named Trivia. This is not a good idea!

Wikipedia is an encyclopedia, not a catchbin for every factoid about a subject, as some non-Wikipedia popular culture web pages are. Wikipedia articles should have a cohesiveness of content. If a "Trivia" item is really important, it should be put into one of the mainline sections of text in the appropriate spot. If a "Trivia" item is somewhat important, it can often be pushed down into a subordinate article (such as an album or song article for a musical artist, rather than the main article). If a "Trivia" item isn't important, it should be left out of any article! It's that simple.

Trivia sections are the lazy way out; they represent no organisation, no structure, no cohesion. They should all be gotten rid of, something I've tried to do when I've encountered them in articles I've worked on.

See Wikipedia:WikiProject Music/MUSTARD#Trivia for a guideline against Trivia sections in music articles.

And Wikipedia:Avoid trivia sections in articles for a guideline against Trivia sections in all articles.

Why it's mostly a waste, Part 4
Well, this is a bit harsh, but you get the idea.

/trackarea sandboxgateway

Notice of FAR
An article which you have contributed to, Hillary Clinton, has been nominated for a featured article review here. Please join the discussion on whether this article meets featured article criteria. Articles are typically reviewed for two weeks. If substantial concerns are not addressed during the review period, the article will be moved to the Featured Article Removal Candidates list for a further period, where editors may declare "Keep" or "Delist" the article's featured status. The instructions for the review process are here. –– FormalDude   talk   06:37, 27 August 2022 (UTC)