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April
19:45 UTC
Welcome to Valjean's user page
My history here
"Yes, I've been around a long, long time.
Yes, I've really, really paid my dues."[1] — B.B. King
I started here as an IP editor in 2003, before we had reached the 200,000 articles milestone on February 2, 2004,[2]
and finally registered an account on December 18, 2005, 18 years, 122 days ago.
Valjean is my third username.
My fingerprints are still in our most important and fundamental policies and guidelines,
so I must have done something right.
Our purpose here is to give free access to "the sum of all human knowledge" that is mentioned in reliable sources.
"Imagine a world in which every single person on the planet is given
free access to the sum of all human knowledge. That's what we're doing."
— Jimmy Wales[3]
"A free encyclopedia encompassing the whole of human knowledge,
written almost entirely by unpaid volunteers: Can you believe that was the one that worked?"
— Richard Cooke[4]
"If I go looking for info, and Wikipedia doesn't have it, then Wikipedia has failed."
— Baseball Bugs[5]
That literally means ALL information, not just facts.
That includes opinions, beliefs, lies, conspiracy theories, pseudoscientific nonsense, etc.
We document the existence of it all.
We are inclusionist by nature.
If it has been said or written in a RS, it becomes potential content here.
That doesn't mean we will include it, just that we should consider its suitability for inclusion.
It might be suitable for one spot, but not another.
Although we don't treat different types of "human knowledge" in the same way,
we still document its existence.
If a topic is never mentioned in any RS,
then it's not notable enough for an article or mention.
Truth versus Verifiability
Many think that Wikipedia only publishes what is true,
or that it publishes all truth. No, not all things that are
true are easily verifiable, and we also document things that are not true.
We must avoid any original research when trying to write what is true
as we need to maintain the distinction between TRUTH and VERIFIABILITY.
We are mostly concerned with the latter as documenting what is true is not always easy,
and people's ideas of what is true are often subjective and conflicting.
Fortunately we can usually verify what is true.
If an important idea is not verifiable, then it is likely not objectively true.
"Neutrality is not the average between bollocks and reality.
In science, any compromise between a correct statement and an incorrect statement is an incorrect statement." JZG 21:25, 14 November 2019
Belief Without Evidence is Wrong
"It is wrong always, everywhere, and for anyone, to believe anything upon insufficient evidence."
— William Kingdon Clifford
"A habit of basing convictions upon evidence,
and of giving to them only that degree of certainty which the evidence warrants,
would, if it became general, cure most of the ills from which this world is suffering."
— Bertrand Russell
About Lunatic Charlatans
"What we won't do is pretend that the work of lunatic charlatans
is the equivalent of 'true scientific discourse.' It isn't."
— Jimbo Wales[6]
Jimmy Wales's opinion of the former president
"If President Trump tweets something that is nonsense, we don't accept him as a source in Wikipedia for random things he says on Twitter.
We have a group of admins who are very strict and firm on what can be entered....
The president's power does not extend to shutting down or threatening social media platforms.
That's illegal. It's not something he can do. We do have the First Amendment in the US....
The worst-case scenario is that they don't have the courage to tell him to go away,
that they begin to adapt their policies to his whims because he's a lunatic."
— Jimmy Wales, May 28, 2020[7]
Trey Gowdy on "Republican kamikazes" and election deniers
In spite of all the shenanigans Gowdy has pulled,
he does have a brilliant legal mind. Here's an example of great reasoning:
"So much for elections having consequences or respecting the will of the people
or whatever platitudes uttered but only when convenient,"
Gowdy continued. "This small band of Republican kamikazes are
convinced Donald Trump won the presidency in 2020 with 47% of the vote
yet somehow Kevin McCarthy lost the speaker's race with 85% of the vote."[8]
Just follow our rules
As long as you follow the rules here, you'll be okay, but if not, you're screwed!
When you find one of my mistakes
I shot an error in the air,
It fell to earth I knew not where,
Until some people wrote to tell
Me where on earth my error fell.
A few of them in rage profound
Berated me on my home ground.
While others of a kinder bent
Politely questioned my intent.
But most were fans who wrote to say
They loved my books, though by the way,
That whizzing error split their clout
And I'd be wise to cut it out.
Proper communication
The importance of proper communication and response to queries for explanations is important.
Refusal to respond and explain can only lead to problems.
In the context of what seemed to be a BLP violation, which requires immediate removal,
I removed text that seemed to violate the BLP policy. The editor who made the content objected,
berated and abused me, accused me of all sorts of evil
but refused to explain what they really meant, to which I
(after long and frustrating attempts to get clarity about the matter) responded: "Let me get this right. You assert I'm guilty of an "incorrect interpretation of what" [you] "write" but won't explain how I have misinterpreted you, and that this refusal by you is somehow my fault. Is that right?"[10]
The point? If you write something, you have the burden of proof to defend it. Silence and stonewalling are not legitimate options.
Wisdom from ScottishFinnishRadish
"At the very least you should try to back off long engagements
with editors that you're not going to convince to your point of view.
The chance of attracting uninvolved input
decreases with every level of indentation in the discussion."[11]
My tenure here
I started editing as an IP in 2003, before the English Wikipedia had 200,000 articles. My fingerprints are still in our most important policies and guidelines.
This user has been editing Wikipedia for more than 15 years.
This editor is a Looshpah Laureate of the Encyclopedia and is entitled to display this Book of All Knowledge with Secret Appendix, Free Errata Sheet, and Author's Signature.
Wikipedia is not a sitting duck for quacks. In recognition of your efforts the sitting duck award. JFW 00:29, 26 December 2005 (UTC).
The Tireless Contributor Barnstar 1
Presented to BullRangifer on September 25, 2006 for your tireless persistence in editing with precision and style and defending the difficult articles while encouraging others to do the same. A true wikipedian! Dematt 21:38, 25 September 2006 (UTC)
The E=MC² Barnstar 1
To BullRangifer, for being a scientist in the very best meaning of the word; been proud to work with you Gleng 16:28, 28 September 2006 (UTC)
I award the Resilient Barnstar to BullRangifer for his continual good nature and his willingness to persist in improving Wikipedia despite continual personal attacks. It's great to have you here. Maustrauser 13:41, 13 January 2007 (UTC)
The Purple Barnstar
For pushing through trials and tribulations to become a better editor Shot info 00:25, 28 March 2007 (UTC)
I'm awarding you this barnstar for your help in rewriting the homeopathy article. It is now implemented and hopefully will improve even further in the near future. Great job! Wikidudeman(talk) 14:48, 1 September 2007 (UTC)
Angel Heart Barnstar
This is for all the kindness and help you have given to me and others. -- CrohnieGalTalk 13:55, 25 September 2007 (UTC)
To BullRangifer: for fairness and knowing your stuff. Sincere thanks for all your contributions here. Jim Butler(talk) 01:06, 27 January 2008 (UTC)
The Copyeditor's Barnstar
For doing some great, painstaking copyediting on several articles. Keep up the good work! Eustress (talk) 01:43, 15 April 2008 (UTC)
The Peace Barnstar
For continued handling of contentious areas in a helpful and civil manner, and especially for the ability to find and encourage solutions to disputes. Shellbabelfish 01:19, 26 October 2008 (UTC)
The Content Creativity Barnstar 1
For everyone here - you've done an incredible job working hard at working together. The section is coming together without any edit wars; there've been no personal remarks and in general, everyone has been incredibly civil and helpful. This is a very impressive way to turn things around - feel free to yank this barnstar and put it in your own user space :) Shellbabelfish 19:21, 22 November 2008 (UTC)
The Defender of the Wiki Barnstar 1
For your contributions to medicine and science articles, and those articles that would otherwise make claim to be such. Verbalchat 09:46, 1 April 2009 (UTC)
Huzzah for edits based entirely on appropriate sourcing! - Eldereft (cont.) 17:17, 1 April 2009 (UTC)
WikiMedal for Janitorial Services
The WikiMedal for Janitorial Services shall be awarded to User:BullRangifer for good janitorial work, shown by adding an appropriate and much-needed image to this article. Mootros (talk) 09:19, 23 October 2009 (UTC)
Thank you for filling me in on the information I was unaware of. It's nice to meet you. Cheers, Riley HuntleytalkNo talkback needed; I'll temporarily watch here. 22:54, 27 May 2012 (UTC)
The Special Barnstar 2
Thank you for your help with the Burzynski issue. Tow Truckertalk 03:01, 29 May 2012 (UTC)
The Resilient Barnstar 3
For your tireless work on articles with WP:FRINGE problems. bobrayner (talk) 20:34, 22 April 2013 (UTC)
The Original Barnstar 3
For doing good work in difficult areas! Alexbrntalk|contribs|COI 11:22, 10 February 2014 (UTC)
The Cure Award
In 2013 you were one of the top 300 medical editors across any language of Wikipedia. Thank you so much for helping bring free, complete, accurate, up-to-date medical information to the public. We really appreciate you and the vital work you do!
Thank you for helping me deal with stalking and harassment. Sagecandor (talk) 16:14, 23 June 2017 (UTC)
The Minor barnstar
Thank you for defending the Timeline. X1\ (talk) 00:37, 9 May 2019 (UTC)
The Special Barnstar 3
For your time, patience and calmness with people, Compared to me atleast you have the patience of a saint and so I wanted to say thank you for always being so patient and calm with everyone :),
Happy editing :),
Thanks, –Davey2010Talk 17:30, 18 June 2019 (UTC)
I've never seen an editor go above and beyond to help another Wikipedian on the topic of fringe personal beliefs like you did for Stiabhna. Great stuff. ––FormalDudetalk 23:00, 28 January 2022 (UTC)
The Content Creativity Barnstar 2
For advancing the state of the art. Andre🚐 01:56, 17 October 2022 (UTC)
The Tireless Contributor Barnstar 2
Never forget you are a valuable editor and human being, and we all would miss you if something were to befall you. so take care of yourself. Andre🚐 02:09, 27 December 2023 (UTC)
My articles, essays, and other creations
Articles and other stuff
A few of the articles I have entirely written, started, or added significant content:
Contents: <ref name="Harding_11/15/2017">{{cite web | last=Harding | first=Luke | author-link=Luke Harding | title=How Trump walked into Putin's web | website=[[The Guardian]] | date=November 15, 2017 | url=http://www.theguardian.com/news/2017/nov/15/how-trump-walked-into-putins-web-luke | access-date=December 24, 2017 | quote=At first, obtaining intelligence from Moscow went well. For around six months—during the first half of the year—Steele was able to make inquiries in Russia with relative ease.}}</ref>[1]
Result: Harding, Luke (November 15, 2017). "How Trump walked into Putin's web". The Guardian. Retrieved December 24, 2017. "At first, obtaining intelligence from Moscow went well. For around six months—during the first half of the year—Steele was able to make inquiries in Russia with relative ease."
Unique ref name that is informative: Use the last name(s) of the author(s) and the publication date. Scientific publications and Yadkard do this. When there are four or more authors, I list the first one in the ref name and then add et_al:
Contents of ref name: <ref name="Shane_et_al_1/10/2017">{{cite news | title=Trump Received Unsubstantiated Report That Russia Had Damaging Information About Him | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/10/us/politics/donald-trump-russia-intelligence.html | date=January 10, 2017 | first1=Scott | last1=Shane | first2=Adam | last2=Goldman | first3=Matthew | last3=Rosenberg | first4=Fake | last4=4thName | newspaper=[[The New York Times]] | access-date=January 11, 2017}}</ref>
Now, look at the product below in the collapsed "Sources" box. You'll see that the ref name has no effect on the actual result. All authors are still listed.
Editors who follow this practice can independently find a source, format the ref, and end up with nearly identically formatted refs, with the same ref name, thus reducing the likelihood of reusing the same source. This is a very common problem. When a source is used in an article, it should only be used with one ref name. The URL should only appear once. When I have time, I will often search the page for that URL and then harmonize the refs so there is only one full ref, and the rest will only use the same and best ref name.
An alternative date format is the ISO format: "Harding_20171115"
This is good practice indeed. I also like that you use some breathing space between parameters, that makes citations much easier to read and update. Let me suggest an improvement: when you cite a newspaper, replace cite web by cite news, and use newspaper=The Guardian instead of website=The Guardian. There are handy substitutes for "newspaper": you may equivalently use "magazine" or the generic "work" (which I tend to use because it's shorter and always valid). It's also nice to link to the article of the cited newspaper, such as [[The Guardian]]. Be careful that piped links in citations need to be made explicit, so that you need to type work=[[Time (magazine)|Time]], not just work=[[Time (magazine)|]]. Finally, ISO date is better practice because of the confusion that often arises between US and British ordering of months and days. Hope this helps; feel free to discard this message. — JFGtalk 06:14, 10 June 2018 (UTC)
Heck no! I'm keeping this great message. Thanks. -- Valjean (talk) PingMe 14:48, 10 June 2018 (UTC)
Sources
^Harding, Luke (November 15, 2017). "How Trump walked into Putin's web". The Guardian. Retrieved December 24, 2017. At first, obtaining intelligence from Moscow went well. For around six months—during the first half of the year—Steele was able to make inquiries in Russia with relative ease.
Beginning in 1815 and culminating in the 1832 June Rebellion in Paris, the novel follows the lives and interactions of several characters, particularly the struggles of ex-convict Jean Valjean and his experience of redemption.
Examining the nature of law and grace, the novel elaborates upon the history of France, the architecture and urban design of Paris, politics, moral philosophy, antimonarchism, justice, religion, and the types and nature of romantic and familial love. Les Misérables has been popularized through numerous adaptations for film, television and the stage, including a musical.
Jean Valjean is the protagonist of Victor Hugo's 1862 novel Les Misérables. Hugo depicts the character's 19-year-long struggle to lead a normal life after serving a prison sentence for stealing bread to feed his sister's children during a time of economic depression and various attempts to escape from prison. Valjean is also known in the novel as Monsieur Madeleine, Ultime Fauchelevent, Monsieur Leblanc, and Urbain Fabre.
Valjean and police Inspector Javert, who repeatedly encounters Valjean and attempts to return him to prison, have become archetypes in literary culture.
On 14:30, March 23, 2020, Turkmen moved User:BullRangifer to User:Valjean.
I have desired a username change for some time, and after some waiting, it has finally happened. Jean Valjean is the hero of Les Misérables, my favorite book, which I have read in several languages. His virtuous character is worthy of much admiration and emulation. He is portrayed as a remarkable man combining incredible physical strength with remarkable virtue. I'm also a fan of the 1980 musical. I also considered a username associated with Atticus Finch, another hero of mine, but Atticus Finch and Jean Valjean were already taken. Valjean was available, so I chose that one.
I know that this is offensive to some very religious people, but if I had to choose a book to give someone, and I had to choose between the Bible and Les Misérables, I'd give them Les Misérables. The principles of honesty, integrity, humility, generosity, kindness, selflessness, simplicity, heroism, and social justice found in the Bible are portrayed in a much clearer manner in Les Misérables. Jean Valjean was completely transformed from a hardened criminal into a virtuous man by the kindness and grace of Bishop Myriel. After his fateful meeting with Myriel, Valjean modeled his own life after the character of Myriel. We all need heroes, and they should be chosen wisely.
I used to own the book, CDs, and DVDs of the movie and musical in several languages. I even found an ancient 12-volume leather-bound set of Les Misérables (De Ulykkelige) and The Hunchback of Notre-Dame in Copenhagen, a great city for old books and cultural events, where we also saw the musical in the round Østre Gasværk Teater, with its revolving stage. A great experience. My wife and I especially loved the 2019, six-part Masterpiece Theatre adaptation:
"Dominic West stars as fugitive Jean Valjean, with David Oyelowo as his pursuer Inspector Javert and Lily Collins as the luckless single mother Fantine. Love, death, and the struggle for social justice in early 19th-century France feature in this beautifully faithful retelling of one of the world's most beloved stories."[12]
A home without any books is a sad place, so that book started my now-limited and budding collection of favorite books. All my medical textbooks, in at least five languages, are gone. I have no plans for resuming any large-scale collecting of books. I used to lug over forty, very heavy, banana boxes of books around the world whenever we moved. No more of that! Now I am picking very carefully, and Amazon, eBay, and local thrift stores and used book stores love me.
My old name
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The following discussion has been closed. Please do not modify it.
A bull reindeer is a truly majestic animal, and reindeer/caribou "may well be the species of single greatest importance in the entire anthropological literature on hunting":
"In North America and Eurasia the species has long been an important resource--in many areas the most important resource--for peoples inhabiting the northern boreal forest and tundra regions. Known human dependence on caribou/wild reindeer has a long history, beginning in the Middle Pleistocene (Banfield 1961:170; Kurtén 1968:170) and continuing to the present....The caribou/wild reindeer is thus an animal that has been a major resource for humans throughout a tremendous geographic area and across a time span of tens of thousands of years.... It may well be the species of single greatest importance in the entire anthropological literature on hunting." Ernest S. Burch, Jr. The Caribou/Wild Reindeer as a Human Resource.American Antiquity, Vol. 37, No. 3 (Jul., 1972), pp. 339-368.
I have personally harvested 16 reindeer. Excellent flavor and very lean.
Firearm: SAKOcal. .30-06. Shortest distance to target: under 7 meters (two deer were curious and approached to stare at me while I gutted another deer). Longest distance: 150+ meters. Most deer in one day: four. I have had the pleasure of having my wife accompany me on one hunt, and sharing in all the details of the hunt, IOW sweat, lots of climbing and hiking, nerves, caution, patience, excitement, blood and guts, carrying, etc..
The Stags Leap district AVA (American Viticultural Area) — so named, Native American legend has it, because a noble stag, pursued by hunters, once leaped to safety across a massive chasm. [14] The "legend" was actually created by a winemaker [15]
Steinsson traces the change in the content of English Wikipedia over time to suggest that the combination of ambiguous institutional rules and certain editors leaving the site helped Wikipedia transition from being a source that hosted pro-fringe discourse to one that gained credibility as an active fact-checker and anti-fringe. A close examination of the content of selected Wikipedia articles, their publicly available editing history, as well as the comments made by the editors, allows Steinsson to show that a change in the interpretation of Wikipedia’s Neutral Point of View (NPOV) guideline affected the nature of content in its articles. As the interpretation favored by anti-fringe editors became popular, pro-fringe editors faced increasing challenges and began to leave Wikipedia. This shift in the balance between pro-fringe and anti-fringe editors, which was a result both of the way editorial disputes were resolved and the exit of pro-fringe editors, made Wikipedia gain credibility as a source that debunked myths and controversies and did not promote pseudoscience.[16]
Wikipedia:Five pillars
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The following discussion has been closed. Please do not modify it.
Wikipedia is an encyclopedia incorporating elements of general encyclopedias, specialized encyclopedias, and almanacs. All articles must follow our no original research policy and strive for accuracy; Wikipedia is not the place to insert personal opinions, experiences, or arguments. Furthermore, Wikipedia is not an indiscriminate collection of information. Wikipedia is not a trivia collection, a soapbox, a vanity publisher, an experiment in anarchy or democracy, or a web directory. Nor is Wikipedia a dictionary, a newspaper, or a collection of source documents; these kinds of content should be contributed to the sister projects, Wiktionary, Wikinews, and Wikisource, respectively.
Wikipedia has a neutral point of view, which means we strive for articles that advocate no single point of view. Sometimes this requires representing multiple points of view; presenting each point of view accurately; providing context for any given point of view, so that readers understand whose view the point represents; and presenting no one point of view as "the truth" or "the best view". It means citing verifiable, authoritative sources whenever possible, especially on controversial topics. When a conflict arises as to which version is the most neutral, declare a cool-down period and tag the article as disputed; hammer out details on the talk page and follow dispute resolution.
Wikipedia is free content that anyone may edit. All text is available under the GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) and may be distributed or linked accordingly. Recognize that articles can be changed by anyone and no individual controls any specific article; therefore, any writing you contribute can be mercilessly edited and redistributed at will by the community. Do not submit copyright infringements or works licensed in a way incompatible with the GFDL.
Wikipedia does not have firm rules besides the five general principles elucidated here. Be bold in editing, moving, and modifying articles, because the joy of editing is that although it should be aimed for, perfection isn't required. And don't worry about messing up. All prior versions of articles are kept, so there is no way that you can accidentally damage Wikipedia or irretrievably destroy content. But remember — whatever you write here will be preserved for posterity.
Note
This page describes Wikipedia's fundamental principles. These principles predate the creation of this page. It is sometimes said that all or most policy is based upon this page, but most policy also predates the creation of this page.
Wikipedia's principles
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The following discussion has been closed. Please do not modify it.
This is a Wikipediauser page. This is not an encyclopedia article or the talk page for an encyclopedia article. If you find this page on any site other than Wikipedia, you are viewing a mirror site. Be aware that the page may be outdated and that the user whom this page is about may have no personal affiliation with any site other than Wikipedia. The original page is located at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Valjean.
