User talk:Arangodurango

Nomination of La Alianza Hispana for deletion
A discussion is taking place as to whether the article La Alianza Hispana is suitable for inclusion in Wikipedia according to Wikipedia's policies and guidelines or whether it should be deleted.

The article will be discussed at Articles for deletion/La Alianza Hispana until a consensus is reached, and anyone is welcome to contribute to the discussion. The nomination will explain the policies and guidelines which are of concern. The discussion focuses on high-quality evidence and our policies and guidelines.

Users may edit the article during the discussion, including to improve the article to address concerns raised in the discussion. However, do not remove the article-for-deletion notice from the top of the article. Hirolovesswords (talk) 03:50, 23 October 2014 (UTC)

Wikipedia Reflection
A Journey Through Wikipedia

I remember when I used Wikipedia for the first time in Elementary School, I was probably in fourth grade searching for a silly topic that I quite don’t remember, but what I do, is that we weren’t allowed to use it. As time passed, and the need for Wikipedia seemed more obvious, students were restricted to use Wikipedia because it was “full of unreliable sources” and such. It is until now, that I truly treasure its influence on an individual and realize it success as an online community.

Wikipedia is a multilingual, free-content encyclopedia, which is part of the world’s largest online community that is based on an openly editable model. It is structure by collaboratively written work by anonymous Internet users who write without pay. Every day, hundreds of thousands of visitors from all over the world collectively make edits and create new articles to support and strengthen the knowledge held by the Wikipedia encyclopedia.

This fiery environment leads to the creation of a collaborative culture, which I am glad to be part of. According to Joseph Regale, “collaborative culture refers to the way of life of a people, the value- laden system of “ meaning making” through which a community understands and acts” (Reagle, “Good faith Collaboration”). I had never associated Wikipedia as a community that would even adopt its own culture, but after I became part of it, I started communicating with other wikipedians on a basis of good faith and respect, which is what the community reflected. It is collaborative because every single person in the community is as important and can contribute by building on the ladder. Regardless of your ethnicity, age and background, you can participate by adding or editing articles, images and references. What is contributed is far more important than the knowledge or skills of the contributor.[1] When I signed in for the first time, I immediately got a message from Wikipedia welcoming me to the community and thanking me for contributing with Wikipedia. Although it is a message that probably everyone gets when they sign in for the first time, it reflected the collective aspect of its culture. As well as the importance of collaboration with one another as it attempts to bring everyone together despite the differences. It is a healthy culture because it does not obligate anyone to be a part of, in fact every member of Wikipedia is a member voluntarily with a high degree of engagement and willingness to improve the encyclopedia web. This culture has created a sense of intrinsic motivation that individuals feel when contributing by “feeling some degree of social connection with one another and believe that their contributions matter”

Like any other community, there are guidelines that members have to follow in order to gain respect and be welcome to the community. Although Wikipedia has developed different policies and guidelines to improve the encyclopedia, it is not a requirement to know them all before contributing. Besides the five pillars, which are the fundamental principles in which Wikipedia operates, the concept of good faith is ingrained behind these principles. Wikipedia’s code of conduct takes for granted the fact that everyone will act upon good faith, which is not necessarily the case in all-online communities. It encourages members to act in good faith by not disrupting Wikipedia to prove a point and expect good faith from others as well. Although these principles are not explicitly stated, I understood the meaning behind the concept based on my own experience.

When my Article was being patrolled and moved to the Articles for deletion, I was afraid at the beginning because I expected to find bombarding negative comments about my article from strangers that were most likely veterans in comparison to me, a newbie. When I read the comments from three or four different Wikipedian’s, I realized that the way they went about it was so formal yet friendly. Each seemed to express their point across whether they were in favor for deletion or not, by providing evidence that supported their opinion. For example, Prokonsul Piotrusl agreed that we should keep the article, but he suggested that I should tag various required copy editing templates and to self- published sources and such. He insisted that the article provided substantial information enough to suggest the topic was notable. Although my article was incomplete and I had forgotten to put it as part of a class project at the beginning, every member of the community that participated in the discussion and voted either to keep it or delete it treated me with respect, transparency and gave me constructive criticism that allowed me to improve my article.

I had finally understood the concept of good faith in this community. It is something hard to teach and explain because it comes from within, it is the result of the intrinsic motivation that I got by being part of this community. I wanted to contribute because I expected others to contribute with me and together improve the community much more than I would do on my own.

Once I established my good faith as an ideology to follow in this online community, the next step was showing it to others by being reciprocal. Online sharing opens the doors for individuals to engage in the social exchange of services and goods. Individuals reciprocate as a response to norms of indirect social exchange and to maintain an active participation. In Wikipedia there are various forms of reciprocation that can take place as either direct exchange or indirect exchange. An indirect exchange or generalized exchange refers to an intermediary involved in the exchange where it doesn’t go directly from one person to the next, but there is a third party too. Few weeks after we had written our first rough draft on the article, I get a notification that people started editing my article. As I observed what people erased and added on my article, I felt it was my turn to give something in return to the community. Since I wasn’t sure what to edit on an experts’ page, I focused on my online community classmates. After Caeseandexist had edited my article I went to Estradanats and edited hers since I expected to give something in return what without any expectancy of getting something back from Estradanats. Direct Exchange in the other hand, involves lower uncertainty between the exchanges but has a higher expectancy of getting something in return since it’s direct. In our first task we had to choose someone from the class and introduce ourselves. I remember Estradanats and I agreed on exchanging a brief, introduction letter which is why I was expecting her to write me back once I had wrote to her. The exchange was faster because it was previously talked and we both expected each other to reciprocate. I thanked her for her contributions to my page throughout the semester and felt and proud at the end of the ride.

However I was thankful for her contributions but where had my gratitude fallen? It is important to distinguish the difference between a thanks and gratitude in order to truly learn the different meanings and how to go about it when you talk to someone.

It is important to distinguish between gratitude from thanks because they might sound the same but they are completely different. Gratitude comes out from an intrinsic feeling of introspection when an individual reflects upon his actions, what he has accomplished and what or who has allowed him to do so. Throughout my journey as a wikipedian, I have gratitude towards having the opportunity to be part of this class since it allowed me to see the world from a different perspective as an active, online community member that I don’t think I would have otherwise. I also have gratitude towards the pattern of kindness of the Wikipedia community, how it has welcomed and treated me, functioning on the basis of good faith.

Thanks in the other hand is directed toward a person and specific acts. It serves as a response that reflects an understanding that two individuals have completed a reciprocal exchange and the door for future exchanges is opened. Throughout my Wikipedia journey I was thankful many times with contributors that edited my article and classmates that orientated me towards a better format when writing my article. Not only was I emotionally aware of my thankfulness towards them, but Wikipedia allowed me to express it. Whenever I revised my article and went to my history, I saw all the different contributions that wikipedians had made on my article. Pleased, I thanked them buy sending them a friendly thankful message by clicking on the thanks bottom. Although I didn’t expect any exchange in return, It was understood that I was pleased by the contribution that they had made.

Overall I am proud of myself that I made it this far in contributing to one of the most important and influenced online community in our world and how my perspective about online communities has changed over the course. I will continue mastering my wikipedian skills and hope to write more articles in the future.

Nomination of La Alianza Hispana for deletion
A discussion is taking place as to whether the article La Alianza Hispana is suitable for inclusion in Wikipedia according to Wikipedia's policies and guidelines or whether it should be deleted.

The article will be discussed at Articles for deletion/La Alianza Hispana (2nd nomination) until a consensus is reached, and anyone is welcome to contribute to the discussion. The nomination will explain the policies and guidelines which are of concern. The discussion focuses on high-quality evidence and our policies and guidelines.

Users may edit the article during the discussion, including to improve the article to address concerns raised in the discussion. However, do not remove the article-for-deletion notice from the top of the article. --Hirolovesswords (talk) 06:34, 9 December 2014 (UTC)