User talk:2603:6000:F042:5B36:8C52:ADDB:CD25:97C7

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Again, welcome! Fences &amp;  Windows  12:51, 2 August 2021 (UTC)

THE IP REPLIES REVENGE OF THE IP: PARANOIA AND LOSING PASSWORDS
Hello User:Fences and windows! Thank you for the message, and especially the links. I have edited on wikipedia off and on for a few years now, mostly all without an account. Part of my concern about making a new account is I KNOW I have at least two, or three, if not more, but have forgotten them each after getting logged out!! Yes, perhaps my messy days of the past are (or should) be behind me, but it makes me nervous about being accused of deliberately having done that. And more to the point, it really does seem that every time I make an account I get VERY self conscious about my edits and end up losing a will to keep going.

I keep worrying that someone will look at my overall history, make a judgement on the whole, then try to block me from keeping my edits elsewhere or doing better. Paranoia? Maybe. I have seen the guidelines stating it is ok to have more than 1 account for privacy purposes. That would be nice, because I do sometimes want to edit about things to do with subjects I don't want associated with me professionally, meanwhile I have a pipedream about finally contributing what I know about mycology to wikipedia and I would love to have all those edits be something I could link to on a resume. Oddly enough, it is more difficult to get myself to do edits on subjects I know most about. Sounds like quite the complex, right? I'll work on it.

I have noticed my IP address is very unstable, changes almost every 3 days or so, so I never have to worry about any of the above fears as an IP editor. On the downside, I have no hope of editing semiprotected articles or any other locked article. And I suppose it sets back my learning as an editor. I do often feel like I have been a "novice" for over 8 years now, and mostly editing outside of an account contributes to that, I'm sure. That and sometimes lazily engaging in editing practices I KNOW are wrong, like adding my original criticism of something without finding a citation to work with on it and proceeding from there. Just the other day that happened with the Big 5 personality indicator page, where someone has added on some truly horrendous academic research. The paper itself is incredibly flawed. But it is out there, published, and so it is fair game to cite and include. The fact that the resulting picture is very skewed is something I'd have to fix by finding researchers critical of their paper directly, or at least competing findings. But wow is that a lot of work, and I see original thought left with just a warning flag all over Wikipedia, so it is very easy to cave to my desire to put my own mark on things and just point out the flaws in the study myself. However I get it, this is wrong. But sometimes only realizing it is wrong AFTER someone tells me is part of my fear of having an account. What if that keeps happening and then someone decides to punish me? Or I have a reputation as a bad person? Even though I am willing to be told I've crossed a line and undo things any time it happens? Maybe that is an ungrounded fear.

There is also no small part of what I might call "stereotype threat" at work. The classic issue where a person often stereotyped fears falling into that stereotype and then confirming the worst about "their type of person" and so has added anxiety about openly being themselves. I know for a fact I will have a whim and add my biographical information, like my sex and race, to an account. Then I will regret it. Then I will know if someone really wants they can always dig around and find that out about me. Then I feel like anything I do wrong proves "people like me" are stupid or irrational to some. Then I get mad "people like me" aren't visible as Wikipedia editors nearly often enough. Amazing how vicious circles go around like that. Even now I regret, some, talking about this because, does it not look neurotic? Irrational? Perhaps increased neurosis and irrational breaks is "true" about "people like me" because we deal with shit too often. Perhaps I can instead worry less about looking that way and address it head on with confidence, getting involved and presenting what I have to say as of value even if I do stutter (metaphorically or literally). Another good reason to break out of this pattern of hiding in anonymity, I guess.

Anyway if you have any thoughts, suggestions or otherwise, I will consider them. I will also make an effort to go trying old emails and passwords to see if I actually CAN get back into an account I made.

--

additional thoughts: ok I went to your user page and the part about Smoke the Invisible Dragon is HILARIOUS - top quality Wikipedia satire. I see that warning block thrown up all over the place with nothing done for years and years and yeah while it's better than nothing, and often better than forcing a fight about it with a lot more time pressure, it is INTERESTING to see which things get speedy changes and which have to be thrown into warning block limbo. And yet, if enough people believe in Smoke the Invisible dragon... having a page to cover it WITH appropriate neutrality (which must be somewhat skeptical) and an included skeptical perspective, with citations, with reasons why... probably does more good than harm? Right? What "enough people" who believe in Smoke actually is, well that's pretty debatable.