Wikipedia editor
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Intro
I'm also active on the Hebrew wikipedia, see here: [1]. If you need help translating / looking for Hebrew language sources - drop a line - I don't promise I will, but I have been known to chip in to requests.
(I have varying degrees of reading/hearing comprehension of other Indo-European and Semitic languages as well - however for the most part these are not at a level useful for really high level contributions, though this is at times useful when sourcing by myself).
On wiki, I mainly deal with finance, business, military, history, politics, though I sometimes do branch out.
New Page Patrol
If you came by here after I reviewed your new page - I am human, you can talk to me, and I'm often willing to help. Getting an article through the seemingly arcane Wikipedia rules and bureaucracy can be difficult. If the subject is notable enough, I will be willing help - and I can be convinced. I am more than willing to discuss and explain Wikipedia policy to the best of my limited ability.
AfD, rescuing articles
I actively patrol some AfD lists. I tend to lean to the inclusionist side, though I will and have voted delete when appropriate: Current Icewhiz AFD stats. Part of my interest is rescuing articles (my criteria for doing so is eclectic and often depends on my degree of interest), by improving content and sourcing in the process (e.g. Joseph Nicholson Barney which I brought from 06:13, 15 August 2017 to 22:43, 17 August 2017, and which closed as a speedy keep - before moving on to Leon Smith (naval commander) - a much more interesting rascal ("Variously described as naval lieutenant, captain, and commodore or army major, and colonel, but not actually commissioned"
) who didn't have an article and with whom I crossed paths while working on Barney (both were my first substantive Civil War contributions)... This led to writing the Wrangell Bombardment (in which Smith was killed), the Kake War and Angoon Bombardment (both similar to the Wrangell affair).
In short - this modus operandi has me patrolling in particular topic lists (AFD lists) with articles needing work - from which I branch out.... I will however vote also on articles in which I don't find great interest if I have given them a once-over coupled with a source check.
Darned politics
I used to say I don't do Israel-Arab/Politics/etc., or don't do much. I guess that has changed a bit, as I have done some, but these tend to be less fulfilling - especially when dealing with edit-warring (or clear outright trolls and vandalism) or itty-bitty bickering over minor points (which lead to 10 foot long talk page discussions over a single sentence - or even a flag or single term). I think I have learned in these areas that it is best to start out with WP:AGF, place polite talk-page self-reverts comments on 1RR (or other issues) before escalating to anything else, stay polite and on-topic, and also to try and work collegially with editors from the "other camp(s)" - with time, I at least have come to respect some of them as editors (even if we disagree on POV). Collaboration can lead to good results, and in some areas that require cross-language (or POV - which in the polarized media landscape is becoming akin to a language (e.g. FOX/WSJ/NR/Telegraph vs. CNN/NYT/Poltico/Guardian) - with many people not only sticking to one language, but also sticking to a few clearly POV-aligned outlets - so we have FOX-editors and CNN-editors viewing the world via a narrow prism(*)) sourcing - this is key to building a good article. In short - if you can reach out across the aisle, then I'll work with you.
(*) - this does not describe me, I actually tend to read more political sources that I disagree with than those that I agree with - and when possible I also try to work across the language barrier. When the War in Donbass was hot I was glued to Russian sources (including various blogs (whom many of us suspect are/were run/collaborated from 55 Savushkina Street.... But these actually tended to more "truthful" in regards to military developments (e.g. Kot Ivanov Live Journal which has been rendered to Youtube (animated maps) - [2] [3]) than the Ukrainian military spokesman (animated map per Ukraine (in real-time - this was "we're winning, winning, winning... BOOM. Not" - and this was the map (and narrative) BBC (and most Western sources) were using (attributed back to Ukraine)) and the Western media that mostly repeated him (however non-traditional sources such as Bellingcat or Julian Röpcke (conflict reporter back in the day, mainstreamed to BILD later) were quite useful) - of course all of these were problematic for Wikipedia (per RS), but I was "on it" for other reasons). In 2006 I was on Israeli media (Hebrew), Western media (mainly in English, mainly useless other than tone), and Al-Manar and the like (Arabic). While I wouldn't view Al-Manar as particularly RSish for Wikipedia purposes - for assessing breaking developments it often reacted faster than Israeli media (that were waiting clearance / IDF spokeperson releases).
My DYKs
Some of my work
Non comprehensive list of articles I contributed to
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Some of the articles I created: Loitering Munition, Amir Bramly, Leon Smith (naval commander), Wrangell Bombardment, Kake War (redirect expanded into proper article), Angoon Bombardment, Body broker, Carlo (submachine gun)
Some of the articles I contributed to significantly: Ahmad Musa Jibril, Finsbury Park Mosque, Gaza electricity crisis
Article rescue following significant rewrite/expansion/sourcing: Joseph Nicholson Barney, Michael Strauss (industrialist), Aleksander Piotr Mohl, Godfrey Lewis Rockefeller, DW Norris, Courtesy call
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Barnstars
list
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In tribute for your willingness to wade in and improve paltry aritcles. E.M.Gregory (talk) 02:48, 24 July 2017 (UTC)
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You probably need one after surviving that POV avalanche. Drink up; almost all of the discussions have been closed. E.M.Gregory (talk) 15:39, 8 September 2017 (UTC)
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The Original Barnstar
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| For creating such a great, missing article at body broker! Sadads (talk) 15:33, 26 November 2017 (UTC)
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Special Edition New Page Patroller's Barnstar
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| For completing over 100 reviews during the 2018 NPP New Year Backlog Drive please accept this Special Edition Barnstar. Thank you for helping out at New Page Patrol! There is still work to do to meet our long term goals, so I hope you will continue your great work. Cheers! — Insertcleverphrasehere (or here) 03:05, 6 February 2018 (UTC)
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Rack and pinion
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| For maintaining a streak of at least 25 reviews per week during the 2018 NPP New Year Backlog drive, you are awarded the rack and pinion. Thanks for your contributions and keep up the good work! — Insertcleverphrasehere (or here) 03:05, 6 February 2018 (UTC)
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The Guidance Barnstar
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| For finding those entries on the Minerva in the first place 💵Money💵emoji💵Talk 15:09, 9 April 2018 (UTC)
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The Civility Barnstar
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| And for then helping my stupid ass out by merging the Minerva information to the list seemingly in a couple of seconds (My mistake was that I missed the two curly brackets at the end) 💵Money💵emoji💵Talk 15:09, 9 April 2018 (UTC)
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