User:JonRidinger

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Associations of JonRidinger

en	This user is a native speaker of English.

This user is proud to be an American.

This user has visited 42 of the 50 United States.

42

	This user is from Ohio.

	This user lives in or comes from Kent, Ohio.

	This user is a member of the Ohio State Highways WikiProject.

This user is a member of WikiProject Ohio.

	This user is a member of the U.S. Roads WikiProject.

	This user is a member of WikiProject Schools.

This user is a member of WikiProject Universities.

	This user is a member of WikiProject College Basketball.

	This user is a member of WikiProject Cities.

	This user is a member of the National Register of Historic Places WikiProject.

	This user has a page on Wikimedia Commons.

This user is a member of
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

RM	This user is a Returned missionary.

ATM	This user is alumni of the Arizona Tucson Mission of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

R	This user is a Rough Rider of Theodore Roosevelt High School in Kent, Ohio.

K	This user is a Golden Flash of Kent State University.

BYU–I	This user attends or attended BYU–Idaho.

CLE

This user is a Cleveland Indians fan.

CLE

This user is a Cleveland Browns fan.

CLE

This user is a Cleveland Cavaliers fan.

GL	This user is a former employee of Geauga Lake & Wildwater Kingdom.

	This user wastes far too much time editing Wikipedia.

	This user loves the history of the United States.

This user loves using Google Earth.

This user does not smoke.

This user supports the ban on smoking in public places.

Welcome to my userpage. As you may have guessed my name is actually Jon Ridinger. I have been editing on Wikipedia since 2005. I'm not sure how long I edited before I finally did register, but it wasn't that long. I am a native of Kent, Ohio and have lived here most of my life, so a lot of the articles I edit extensively and create are related in some way to the area I am from or something I am connected to.

[edit] Education

I graduated from Theodore Roosevelt High School in Kent, Ohio and hold a BA in Music with a minor in political science and a Master of Arts in Teaching degree both from Kent State University. I also spent three years studying music education at Brigham Young University-Idaho in Rexburg, Idaho before returning to Kent State to finish my bachelor's degree.

[edit] Ideology

Ideologically and politically I consider myself a conservative, which translates to being a registered Republican, though by no means am I someone who unilaterally supports a political party. The general philosophy of the Repulican party is closest to my own personal views (though lately that seems to not be so true!), but is hardly a perfect match. I am a lifelong member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (aka Mormons) and served a 2-year mission in the Arizona Tucson Mission, which included stays in southeastern Arizona and southern New Mexico.

[edit] Interests

I love to study history, particularly local history and Mormon history which actually do overlap during the 1830s. I also have an interest in photography, so I do my best with my little Kodak EasyShare camera to add PD photos to the Commons to add into articles. Along with that, I have added several maps to the Commons related to Kent and Portage County, Ohio. I also have an obvious interest in Music, particularly singing, and have done my share of acting as well. I also enjoy going to sporting events and enjoy visiting the many stadiums and arenas at every level of sport, which goes along with my interest in architecture.

[edit] Wikipedia philosophy

I have seen my philosophy on Wikipedia evolve as I have edited and interacted with other editors over the years. When I began, I was a typical new editor wanting to add every little detail I knew with little or no source information. I had no real concept of what is notable and what was appropriate in a given Wikipedia article. As a result, I had content removed mostly by editors who had a better understanding of Wikipedia policies and standards than I did at the time, so while it seemed harsh, I look back now and know they did the right thing. I wouldn't call myself an inclusionist because there are certainly limits to what should be here and what shouldn't, but I don't think I'm a deletionist either. If notability can be shown- even a small amount- then why not?

The biggest problem I see here is the lack of reliable sources in articles. Too many articles are written that either completely lack sources or have poor sources that are either unreliable or biased. Along with that, many good-intentioned editors include or remove material based on personal knowledge but have no way to confirm that what they know is actually true. That was my problem when I first started. I had to learn that just because I knew something didn't necessarily translate into it being important enough to be in an article nor was it able to be validified by other editors. How does anyone else know that what I'm saying is actually true? How can I prove it?

That said, please don't take edits I make personally. When I make an edit, whether it be a revision, a reversion, or a flatout removal, I have reasons for doing so and they are rooted in the various Wikipedia policies and the manual of style. I usually will put those reasons in the edit summary or, if they are significant enough, I will place my reasons in the article's discussion area or the particular user's talk page. If it seems like I'm always on top of your edits, it probably just means I have the page on my watchlist, so every time it gets edited, I notice when I check Wikipedia. I'm by no means perfect and do make mistakes, but am always willing to work with other editors to make articles better. My goal is to get as many articles as I can to at least "Good" status and eventually to "Featured Article" status. The more we have of those kinds of articles, the more reliable Wikipedia will be for research purposes and education.

[edit] Contributions

From maps and pictures to creating new articles and editing others; here are many of the contributions I've made over the years to Wikipedia.

[edit] Images

See my image gallery.

[edit] Articles and templates

[edit] Articles created

[edit] Templates created

[edit] Extensive edits

I have no idea how many articles I've actually edited, though I used to keep track. The following are some of the articles that I have made the most extensive edits to: