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<!--- What I like about the Wikipedia Format:

1) It's fun. =)

2) It's occasionally educational. =)

3) There's a chance I might accidentally educate someone else along the way. =)

My Three Objections to the Wikipedia Format: 1) Articles on Wikipedia do not represent the highest scholarship available, they only represent the most recent edit. This could have been done by a PhD, or a twelve-year-old with a computer.  Errors in articles are rife, there are literally thousands of entirely useless articles (who reading Wikipedia right now DOESN'T know what a Finger is?), and often the data within articles is so bluntly obvious as to be entirely worthless (who reading Wikipedia right now DOESN'T know what their own poop looks like? Unfortunately, even addressing the matter of simple errors (like birthdates) often causes screaming arguments and revert-wars.

2) The stated goal is to collect the sum total of human knowledge. But, Wikipedia articles do not represent the sum of human knowledge, and never really will - instead, it represents the sum of human *interest* in knowledge.  Consider:  At the time of this writing, there are over 160,000 articles on video-games, popular movies and rock musicians, but less than 10,000 articles on science.  Nobody buys an encyclopedia for their kid so the kid can learn about Madonna and Sean Penn, they buy an encyclopedia for their kid hoping to help them with their homework in science and history.  And if any Wikipedia editor thinks that an article on (your favorite TV show here) is more important than an article on history or science in an encyclopedia, you really need to turn off the computer, walk outside your house, and try to interact more with the Big Blue Room.

3) Correcting #1 or #2 is problematic, because the general cultural outlook of Wikipedians is to defend to the death articles that are A) even the tiniest bit offensive by deeming others to be overly interested in censorship, B) even the tiniest bit controversial by digging trenches and fighting it out endlessly with literally thousands of worthless edits every month, or C) obscure to the point of being completely unknown outside of a few thousand people on UseNet.  Once two Wikipedians decide to fight, even the most basic of concepts becomes impossible to work with. I mean, come on, does there REALLY have to be THIS much screaming over a subject that was adequately dealt with by Aristotle over 2300 years ago? =P

How to Fix the Wikipedia Format:

1) If you aren't 100% on board with the idea of creating an encyclopedia full of FACTS, not your OPINION of facts, then go away.

2) Consider that in the long run, nobody gives a damn whether or not you "won" the debate and got your opinion in the article. All that's going to matter in the long run is when someone like Oprah gets on their TV show, shows a page in Wikipedia, shows the same subject in the EB, and says "Look, Wikipedia is wrong."  If that happens, the project fails, and all this work was for *nothing.*  Wikipedia can't afford to include your personal political outlook or your desire to include your personal favorite picture that you know will shock or annoy someone.  It's about facts and truth, not about you making a point, shocking people with an image or a statement, or changing people's opinions.  Nobody CARES about your political opinions, your social opinions, or your personal opinions.  It's about facts and truth. --->

Jim Farris
Jim Farris (full name James Scott Farris, Jr.) (born 7 December 1962) is a science fiction and fantasy author. He has published over twenty books, including a four-book series "The Oerth Cycle." He is also a musical composer of over two hundred works, approximately half of which were composed as the 'soundtrack' for the first e-publication of "The Oerth Cycle", which was originally released as a multimedia HTML e-book. Jim has also done extensive work as a graphic artist, creating over one hundred covers for various authors of fantasy, science fiction and romance. Jim has also worked as a ghostwriter for three major published works.

He lives with his wife in Portales, New Mexico.

Jim was diagnosed with Cholecystitis in December 2001, and underwent laparoscopic cholecystectomy surgery in January 2002. Complications of the disease (including peritonitis) slowed his recovery (and subsequent writing output) for a period of three years.

Pandora's Box Sequence
The Pandora's Box sequence is set in the distant future of human colonization of distant planets. It begins in the late 23rd century, and spans a period of approximately three thousand years.
 * Pandora's Box (1999)
 * Song of the Valkyrie (Book II of Pandora's Box) (2002)
 * Flesh and Steel (Book III of Pandora's Box) (2003)
 * Steel and Dreams (Book IV of Pandora's Box) (2005)
 * Song of the Vanir (Book V of Pandora's Box) (2006)
 * Headborough (Book VI of Pandora's Box) (2007)

Oerth Cycle Sequence
The Oerth Cycle sequence is a science-fantasy series of anthropomorphic characters (similar to Redwall).
 * The Last God (Book I of The Oerth Cycle) (1999)
 * Legacy of the Last God (Book II of The Oerth Cycle) (2000)
 * Ayre of the Last God (Book III of The Oerth Cycle) (2000)
 * Children of The Last God (Book IV of The Oerth Cycle) (2000)
 * Paradox Of The Last God (Book V of the Oerth Cycle) (2007)

Mage Sequence
The Mage sequence is set in a classic fantasy world of swords and sorcery.
 * Mage (2000)
 * Raven of Yorindar (Book II of Mage) (2001)
 * The Arc of Time (Book III of Mage) (2001)
 * The Wench of Woe (Book IV of Mage) (2005)
 * The Mountain, The Raven and The Sea (Book V of Mage) (2006)
 * The Game of the Gods (Book VI of Mage) (2006)

Other Books

 * The Novus Revolt (2002)
 * Third Time's the Charm (2000)
 * Apotheosis (2001)
 * HTML for Ninnyhammers (2001)