This is not a Wikipedia article. It is the personal user page for a Wikipedia editor.
I'm Herostratus, I'm a Wikipedia editor and have been since 2005. If you're a new editor, or any any editor, and have a question or seek guidance about any aspect of Wikipedia, I'll be glad to help you if I can.
If you email me, leave a note on my talk page here. I don't check my Wikipedia email inbox very often unless prompted.
My user name was taken in ironic memorialization of the original Herostratus, the greatest vandal of all time, who destroyed the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
[edit] Editor
[edit] Areas of activity
My main interest right now is translating articles from the Russian Wikipedia. Other than that I have no particular focus and perform a number of random tasks depending on fancy: writing articles, article cleanup, watching pages, participating in discussions, and other stuff. I have no areas of content expertise, and write, translate, and edit articles on a wide variety of subjects.
[edit] Articles
I've written or started about 90 articles.
List of articles written
- People
- Places
- Things
A few of those were just stubs, but on the other hand I greatly expanded or effectively rewrote a few articles, too (Baby Huey (singer), Virginia Eliza Clemm Poe, Bluing, SpinnWebe, Battle of annihilation, Child sexuality, Ansel Franklin Hall, George Frazier, William Turnbull (artist), Kostroma River, Julia Pirie, 2 Rossi Street, List of Katy Perry songs, others).
But then on the other hand, I've never contributed to any Good Articles or Featured Articles. I have eight DYKs: 
[edit] Translations
I've translated 86 articles from the Russian Wikipedia.
List of articles translated
[edit] Graphics
I've drawn or patched together a few article graphics, and graphics for internal use such as vandal-warning templates.
[edit] Service Awards
I created the Wikipedia Service Awards which I conceived, wrote, drew the pictures for, and published. (Other talented editors have since expanded and improved these awards.)
[edit] Pedophilia Watch
I watched and edited articles related to child sexuality and pedophilia for several years, but not anymore.
If you really want to know more...
I founded the Pedophilia Article Watch Wikiproject in 2006 to help publicize problems in this sometimes-troublesome area, with a view to helping mobilize collective action to extirpate poorly sourced slanted material and quash over-emphasis on fringe points of view. The Wikiproject is no longer active, mainly because the need is no longer so pressing (thanks in part to the ArbCom becoming more aware of this issue) and Herostratus gladly retired from this work in 2010 (except for continuing to watch the WP:PAW itself).
It's important to note that many other more talented and erudite editors have been and remain much more active and effective in this important effort than Herostratus, who lacks the intellectual candlepower to be any kind of an expert in this area.
For more on why I edited in this area (2005-2010), and his thoughts on the subject, see the essay Pedophilia and Me.
[edit] Paid Advocacy Watch
Proposed, under construction: User:Herostratus/Wikiproject Paid Advocacy Watch
[edit] AfD Stats
When I stopped keeping count, I had the following AfD contribution stats: of 607 AFD comments, 32% were "Keep" and 68% were "Delete"; but 25% of the articles on which he voted "Keep" were deleted, while only 16% of the articles on which he voted "Delete" were kept. These stats indicate that I'm slightly more inclusionist than the general population.
[edit] Former administrator
I'm a former administrator on the English Wikipedia. I was made an admin in 2006 but my performance was judged lacking and I was recalled in 2010. My admin logs: block, deletion, protection. When I stopped keeping count, I had closed 257 AfD's with a result of 39% Keep or No Consensus to Delete, 38% Delete, and 23% all other outcomes including Merge etc.
[edit] Recognition
[edit] Barnstars
I've had the good fortune to have been awarded 33+3 barnstars (33 before WikiLove, 3 since).
[edit] Not Barnstars
But then, on the other hand...
[edit] Useful Links
To clarify, this is stuff I find useful in my work. I'm not saying that these are necessarily useful to anyone else.
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[edit] Patrol
[edit] Essays
Herostratus writes essays.
Herostratus's essays
[edit] Mainspace essays
[edit] Userspace essays
- WP:HURTS
- WP:NOT EVIL. I wrote this quite a long time ago, as a kind of attempt to deal with some of the issues that were eventually addressed by WP:BLP (which was being created around the same time). I actually proposed it as a policy (rejected), which is why it is bound about with weasely exceptions, in an attempt to be adopted. I wouldn't write it that way now.
[edit] Allegedly "humorous" essays
[edit] Quotes
Some quotes (by other people, not by me) that I find interesting or instructive.
Quotes
- This list is incomplete. That is its nature.
- From the crooked timber of mankind, no straight thing was ever made. Immanuel Kant. The Wikipedia is populated by human beings. If you were expecting to find a place that did not sometimes have politics, unfairness, nice guys and bastards, stars and outcasts, leaders and toadies, cliques and backbiting and all the rest, Nirvana is down the hall to the left. Look: talking monkeys is your basic bad idea. They should have started straight off with the robots. But we have to deal with what we have.
- I am a man. Nothing human is alien to me. Terence. If I object to your editing, that does not mean that I belittle your circumstance. (Only applies to certain editors, you know who you are.)
- To denounce moralizing out of hand is to pronounce a moral judgment. H. L. Mencken said that. You never cease being a moral player on this planet. Never, not for one instant. I said that. Sitting down at a keyboard does not remove you from the moral universe, and "I was only following orders" was ripped to shreds at Nuremburg. Remember that Great Darwin, who lives in the sky, will presently call you to account before His mighty seat of judgment.
- It is incumbent on all ACM members to contribute to society and human well-being, and avoid harm to others. Association for Computing Machinery Code of Ethics.[1]
- Pornographer: Noun. One who is involved in the creation or dissemination of pornography. Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary.[2] If this term applies to you, don't blame the dictionary or the person citing it.
- No man can serve two masters [...] You cannot serve God and mammon. Matthew 6:24. If you're editing the Wikipedia for pay, then either you are subverting the Wikipedia to your client's interest or you are not. If it's the former, you should not be here. If it's the latter, your client should fire you. There is no third path.
- The graveyards are full of indispensable people. Charles de Gaulle. If you have 87 featured articles or whatever but are not willing to abide by the rules, we'll manage without you.
- I will fight it out on this line if it takes all summer. Ulysses S. Grant.
- I don't know. Bob Dylan, on being asked by an interviewer "Are you being deliberately rude, or are you just bored?"
- No. Elvis Presley, on being asked by an interviewer, "Elvis, have you learned anything from all this criticism of you?"
Volume 8, Issue 09 — 2012-02-27
[edit] The Landfill
Old archives, garbage, &c. solely of interest to Herostratus and kept for his personal use.
