Wikipedia:Editor review/Sodacan

Sodacan
I have been an editor since December 2008, this is my first Editor review. I would really like to get an opinion on my work and continued role in Wikipedia. Sodacan (talk) 17:02, 10 May 2011 (UTC)

 Questions


 * 1) What are your primary contributions to Wikipedia? Are there any about which you are particularly pleased? Why?
 * I contribute on a few, but quite varied set of subjects; these included: Thailand (politics and history), History and Heraldry. From the beginning of 2010 I voluntarily decided to exclude myself from editing all articles concerning Thai politics. I took this decision because I felt that I could no longer maintain my neutrality on the subject, and that any edit I made would be detrimental to the content of the project. Furthermore I was sure that I would eventually end up being in a conflict with someone from the community, which I would rather avoid. As a result my activities on Wikipedia since has been less varied and mostly surrounds my contribution of media files on Commons, almost all concerning heraldry. However ever since then, I have felt that my self-imposed exile was a mistake, and I could have at least ensured some sort of impartiality in the articles instead of allowing them to be so controlled by few editors with strong views of either side. However by this stage the articles are too big and the task too momentous for me too attempt, all of which have made me lose faith in Wikipedia as a platform for neutral facts. My current concern now, is whether the current path that I have taken, to become a media contributor (all of which I enjoy, don't get me wrong), has been correct. For I now feel that my value as an editor on the English Wikipedia, has been greatly diminished as a result.
 * 1) Have you been in editing disputes or do you feel other users have caused you stress? How have you dealt with it and how will you deal with it in the future? If you have never been in an editing dispute, explain how you would respond to one.
 * As a person who has an aversion to conflicts in general, I sometimes find Wikipedia to be quite a stressful place. I now feel that it is no longer an academic platform for the presentation of facts. But a debating and fighting platform, where the most extreme and diligent users win. Almost always by gaming the system and by being the most aggressive with their prejudices. I find this quite appalling. I can no longer step anywhere on Wikipedia without being on someone's turf. Although I am not completely guiltless of this, I have always feel that I have been fair in my discussions with others and that I have always respected their opinions. In light of these feelings I was wondering whether my continued presence on Wikipedia is needed, or should I just simply give up altogether?
 * As a person who has an aversion to conflicts in general, I sometimes find Wikipedia to be quite a stressful place. I now feel that it is no longer an academic platform for the presentation of facts. But a debating and fighting platform, where the most extreme and diligent users win. Almost always by gaming the system and by being the most aggressive with their prejudices. I find this quite appalling. I can no longer step anywhere on Wikipedia without being on someone's turf. Although I am not completely guiltless of this, I have always feel that I have been fair in my discussions with others and that I have always respected their opinions. In light of these feelings I was wondering whether my continued presence on Wikipedia is needed, or should I just simply give up altogether?

 Reviews 
 * Your not alone, in a number of respects. Like you, I am averse to participating in discussions, as I said in my review of LoveUxoxo, although in my case it is because of memories of how I use to get when involved in them. Also, I find that, as much as Wikipedia is not supposed to be an area of vicious debates, it all too often seems to get like that, and I am rather reluctant to contribute material whenever it seems hard to keep it neutral. For this reason, I stick mostly to clearing backlogs and creating articles on animals or plants, as those subjects are often easy to remain unbiased about. As a media contributor (which I presume includes or consists of image uploading and the like), I don't think your value as an English-Wikipedia editor has been diminished; rather, your role may be even more influential to the entire Wikipedia project, as (assuming you also upload to Wikimedia Commons) your images can be used on multiple variants of Wikipedia.
 * Along the way, the contributions you've made in article-space are very valuable, and you can't go wrong with vandalism reversal, so on the whole, I'd say you're a pretty darn good hand to have around here. Please keep it up! :) Wilhelmina Will (talk) 04:33, 4 November 2011 (UTC)