A content creator and a maintenance worker, with prolific content contributions to Nigeria-related articles (9 FLs, 21 GAs and 11 DYKs!) as well as significant contributions to AfC/NPP including participation in backlog drives. Content related to Nigeria needs work on the English Wikipedia due to WP:Systemic bias and Vanderwaalforces puts in the work to improve those articles. He also operates VWF Bot which helps with Wikipedia:WikiProject AI Cleanup/VWF bot log as well as helps maintain RfD pages. His CSD log is impressively full of redlinks, and his AfD !votes have a 93.7%(!) match rate. His contributions are overall a net positive to Wikipedia.
Recognized for
prolific content contributions to Nigeria-related articles
For enriching Wikipedia by creating well-written and well-researched articles on neglected sections of English Wikipedia. Keep the good work! FuzzyMagma (talk) 13:04, 25 September 2023 (UTC)
The Nigeria Barnster of National Merit
For your constructive edits towards Nigeria related article particularly, the Bini people. Thank you for bridging this gap. Reading Beans (talk) 02:02, 26 September 2023 (UTC)
The Editor's Barnstar
As an enjoyer of viewing new Good Articles, I appreciate your work on getting Benin Moat and Edo literature to the prestigious status. Definitely interesting topics to read about, and I wanted to show my admiration. Cheers! Johnson524 01:28, 6 November 2023 (UTC)
The Teamwork Barnstar
You did an excellent job with the AfC drive, and I'm impressed by how quickly you learned from the few mistakes I noticed on your talk page messages. Keep up the great work! – DreamRimmer (talk) 03:11, 10 November 2023 (UTC)
The Tireless Contributor Barnstar
You've only been here for 3 or so months, but you've beat me in terms of edit count and number of articles created (especially kudos for working on African subjects that are often poorly covered on Wikipedia due to systemic bias). Also, I appreciate your work on reducing that NPP/AfC backlog as well. :) #prodraxisconnect 04:40, 20 November 2023 (UTC)
The Cleanup Barnstar
This barnstar is awarded to Vanderwaalforces for copy edits totaling over 12,000 words (including bonus and rollover words) during the GOCE November 2023 Backlog Elimination Drive. Congratulations, and thank you for your contributions! Dhtwiki (talk) 09:01, 7 December 2023 (UTC)
Guild of Copy Editors Leaderboard Award: Long Articles, 3rd Place
This Leaderboard Barnstar is awarded to Vanderwaalforces for copyediting 1 long article during the GOCE November 2023 Backlog Elimination Drive. Congratulations, and thank you for your contributions! Dhtwiki (talk) 09:01, 7 December 2023 (UTC)
Silver Wiki Award
Thank you for your participation in the Articles for Creation's November 2023 Backlog Drive! You made a total of 1509 reviews, for a total of 1796 points, earning the second place in the backlog drive. – robertsky (talk) 06:41, 25 December 2023 (UTC)
The Articles for Creation Barnstar
Dropping in to hand out a belated extra barnstar for the incredible amount of work you put into the AfC backlog drive. Thanks for doing literally hundreds of reviews so the rest of us didn't have to. asilvering (talk) 00:12, 3 January 2024 (UTC)
The Writer's Barnstar
I see your Obas of Benin series, and I see your use of the Benin Bronzes. This is work that is both morally important and qualitatively excellent. Bravo you. jengod (talk) 03:06, 15 February 2024 (UTC)
The Special Barnstar
Congratulations on being among the top three most active pending changes reviewers during the last 30 days. Fantastic job! – DreamRimmer (talk) 06:13, 25 March 2024 (UTC)
The Tireless Contributor Barnstar
My dear Friend Vanderwaalforces, Hello, I happy to see you are helping to clearing WP:NPP backlog time to time, so, I give you to this barnaster.I hope you all clearing WP:NPP backlog time to time at regular basis.😊 ~~ αvírαm|(tαlk) 17:41, 28 March 2024 (UTC)
Congratulations on ranking among the top five most active pending changes reviewers in the last 30 days. Excellent work!
George Santayana once stated, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it". Your work on the history of the kings of Benin (Ẹdo) is quite heartwarming. It's rare to find many Nigerian Wikimedians dedicated to properly documenting our history as a people on Wikipedia, but you are one of the rare few. More strength! Kambai Akau (talk) 07:49, 27 April 2024 (UTC)
The Original Barnstar
Hey! Vanderwaalforces (The Gentleman 😎) Thank you earning more point (2071+) rather than from me, I've really happy to appreciate you hard work or efforts to providing good contributions on Wikipedia;Thank you for joined the May 2024 NPP backlog drive. Good luck and happy editing for positive contributions. ~~ αvírαm|(tαlk) 07:29, 25 May 2024 (UTC)
The Tireless Contributor Barnstar
Thanks for your efforts in reducing the NPP backlog. You deserve this! Maliner (talk) 15:13, 27 May 2024 (UTC)
The Barnstar of Diligence
VF, I wanted to have awarded you before the NPP drive awards. Your edits are one that inspires others. I really don't want to write a full chapter like Achebe's Things Fall Apart, but in recognition for your 'most' tireless work especially diversified and ranging from the project-wide, I hereby award you 'THE BARNSTAR OF DILIGENCE'. Safari ScribeEdits!Talk! 09:52, 2 June 2024 (UTC)
The Content Review Medal of Merit
This award is given in recognition to Vanderwaalforces for collecting the most points during the May 2024 NPP backlog drive. Your staggering 2,264 reviews (2,347 total points) played a huge part in the 14,452 reviews completed during the drive. Thank you so much for taking part and contributing to help reduce the backlog!!! Hey man im josh (talk) 19:06, 6 June 2024 (UTC)
The Order of the Superior Scribe of Wikipedia
This award is given in recognition to Vanderwaalforces for accumulating at least 500 points during the May 2024 NPP backlog drive. Your contributions helped play a part in the 14,452 reviews completed during the drive. Thank you so much for taking part and contributing to help reduce the backlog! Hey man im josh (talk) 19:08, 6 June 2024 (UTC)
Unnecessarily complicated Gears Award
This award is given in recognition to Vanderwaalforces for accumulating at least 150 points during each week of the May 2024 NPP backlog drive. Your contributions played a part in the 14,452 reviews completed during the drive. Thank you so much for taking part and contributing to help reduce the backlog! Hey man im josh (talk) 19:14, 6 June 2024 (UTC)
Thank you for your contributions on Wikipedia. We need hard-working Wikipedians like you! Youknowwhoistheman (talk) 14:22, 17 June 2024 (UTC)
The Working Wikipedian's Barnstar
You caught my eye after I saw your report to UAA just minutes after reviewing the page I created. Your contribs show your dedication to wikipedia, especially in the field of new articles. Keep up the good work! GrayStorm(Complaints Dept.|My Contribs.) 06:42, 2 July 2024 (UTC)
The Original Barnstar
Thank you for your efforts on Wikimedia.🙏💚 Youknow? (talk) 07:00, 2 July 2024 (UTC)
The Nigeria Barnster of National Merit
I award this barnstar to you for your exceptional work on the National symbols of Nigeria page. By achieving Featured List status, you’ve not only elevated the quality of Wikipedia content but have also made a significant contribution to the Nigerian Wikipedia community.
This is a historic milestone, as it marks the first time a Nigerian-related topic has reached Featured List status on English Wikipedia. Your dedication, research, and writing skills have been instrumental in creating a comprehensive, informative, and visually appealing article.
Your achievement serves as an inspiration to other editors and contributors. Thank you for your hard work and commitment to Wikipedia. Best, Reading Beans 21:01, 16 September 2024 (UTC)
The Original Barnstar
Thank you for your contributions to Wikimedia community, you are doing a good job, please keep it up! Youknow? (talk) 14:46, 24 September 2024 (UTC)
The Order of the Superior Scribe of Wikipedia
This award is given in recognition to Vanderwaalforces for accumulating at least 500 points during the September 2024 NPP backlog drive. Your contributions helped play a part in the 19,000+ articles and 35,000+ redirects reviewed (for a total of 26,884.6 points) completed during the drive. Thank you so much for taking part and contributing to help reduce the backlog! Hey man im josh (talk) 15:15, 7 October 2024 (UTC)
Unnecessarily complicated Gears Award
This award is given in recognition to Vanderwaalforces for accumulating at least 150 points during each week of the September 2024 NPP backlog drive. Your contributions played a part in the 19,000+ articles and 35,000+ redirects reviewed (for a total of 26,884.6 points) during the drive. Thank you so much for taking part and contributing to help reduce the backlog! Hey man im josh (talk) 15:37, 7 October 2024 (UTC)
The Content Review Medal of Merit
This award is given in recognition to Vanderwaalforces for collecting the most points during the September 2024 NPP backlog drive. Your staggering 3,214 reviews (3,265.2 total points) played a huge part in the 19,000+ articles and 35,000+ redirects reviewed (for a total of 26,884.6 points) during the drive. Thank you so much for taking part and contributing to help reduce the backlog!!! Hey man im josh (talk) 15:46, 7 October 2024 (UTC)
The Working Wikipedian's Barnstar
This is for your tireless efforts on Wikipedia tasks, assisting others to gain their grounds and for your recently created scripts that is assisting me and other reviewers to identify unattributed translations. Ibjaja055 (talk) 15:43, 16 October 2024 (UTC)
The Original Barnstar
I hope you don't ever think your contributions are not appreciated. Hey man im josh (talk) 15:45, 17 October 2024 (UTC)
The Tireless Contributor Barnstar
Thanks for your tireless contributions to this project. Keep up the good work! Maliner (talk) 16:42, 5 December 2024 (UTC)
The Articles for Creation Barnstar 2024 Top Editor
Thank you for all of your help on the project. Even on the weekends! LizRead!Talk! 19:16, 28 December 2024 (UTC)
The New Page Reviewer's Platinum Award
This award is given in recognition to Vanderwaalforces for conducting 10002 article reviews in 2024. Thank you so much for all your excellent work. Keep it up! Hey man im josh (talk) 17:40, 8 January 2025 (UTC)
The Editor's Barnstar
Hello! I've seen your recent work in AfD discussions, including one I recently proposed. Wanted to drop some love. Enjoy your day. Cheers! Mamani1990 (talk) 13:57, 13 January 2025 (UTC)
A barnstar for you!
You are doing outstanding work on Wikimedia, and I even awarded you a barnstar in the past. I believe it's time for you to be nominated for an admin position—you have my full support. Stay happy! Baqi:) (talk) 13:36, 6 February 2025 (UTC)
The New Page Patroller's Barnstar
This award is given in recognition to Vanderwaalforces for accumulating at least 100 points during the January 2025 NPP backlog drive. Your contributions helped play a part in the 16,000+ articles and 14,000+ redirects reviewed (for a total of 19,791.2 points) completed during the drive. Thank you so much for taking part and contributing to help reduce the backlog! Hey man im josh (talk) 19:32, 6 February 2025 (UTC)
Geneva mechanism Award
This award is given in recognition to Vanderwaalforces for accumulating at least 25 points during each week of the January 2025 NPP backlog drive. Your contributions played a part in the 16,000+ articles and 14,000+ redirects reviewed (for a total of 19,791.2 points) during the drive. Thank you so much for taking part and contributing to help reduce the backlog! Hey man im josh (talk) 19:46, 6 February 2025 (UTC)
The Tireless Contributor Barnstar
Please keep up the good work! Maliner (talk) 13:30, 11 March 2025 (UTC)
The Order of the Superior Scribe of Wikipedia
This award is given in recognition to Vanderwaalforces for accumulating at least 500 points during the May 2025 NPP backlog drive. Your contributions played a part in the 17,000+ articles reviewed during the drive. Thank you so much for taking part and contributing to help reduce the backlog! Hey man im josh (talk) 19:33, 27 June 2025 (UTC)
Unnecessarily complicated Gears Award
This award is given in recognition to Vanderwaalforces for accumulating at least 150 points during each week of the May 2025 NPP backlog drive. Your contributions played a part in the 17,000+ articles reviewed during the drive. Thank you so much for taking part and contributing to help reduce the backlog! Hey man im josh (talk) 19:48, 27 June 2025 (UTC)
You are recipient no. 2993 of Precious, a prize of QAI. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 14:12, 1 October 2025 (UTC)
Editor of the Week
Your ongoing efforts to improve the encyclopedia have not gone unnoticed: You have been selected as Editor of the Week in recognition of your great contributions! (courtesy of the Wikipedia Editor Retention Project)
I would like to nominate Vanderwaalforces for Editor of the Week. He is both a content creator and a maintenance worker, with prolific content contributions to Nigeria-related articles (9 FLs, 21 GAs and 11 DYKs!) as well as significant contributions to AfC/NPP including participation in backlog drives. Content related to Nigeria in general is one area that needs work on the English Wikipedia due to WP:Systemic bias and I appreciate Vanderwaalforces for putting in the work to improve those articles. He also operates VWF Bot which helps with Wikipedia:WikiProject AI Cleanup/VWF bot log as well as helps maintain RfD pages. His CSD log is impressively full of redlinks, and his AfD !votes have a 93.7%(!) match rate. His contributions are overall a net positive to Wikipedia and I won't be opposed to him running for RfA sometime. This nomination was seconded by TechnoSquirrel69, QuicoleJR, HouseBlaster and MPGuy2824.
You can copy the following text to your user page to display a user box proclaiming your selection as Editor of the Week:
{{User:UBX/EoTWBox}}
Thanks again for your efforts! Buster Seven Talk (UTC) 16:46, 10 January 2026 (UTC)
The New Page Reviewer's Silver Award
For over 2,000 article reviews during 2025. Well done! Keep up the good work! -MPGuy2824 (talk) 06:53, 21 January 2026 (UTC)
The Articles for Creation Barnstar 2025 Top Editor
I was going to remove January 9 from WP:RFD, when I found that your bot had already done that! Wasn't expecting that, as all the other recent removals this month were manually removed by other editors. wbm1058 (talk) 16:13, 21 January 2026 (UTC)
The Invisible Barnstar
This award is given in recognition of Vanderwaalforces for accumulating at least 10 points in the January–February 2026 NPP backlog drive. Your contributions helped review 27,750 articles and 7,050 redirects during the drive. Thank you so much for taking part and helping reduce the backlog! – DreamRimmer■ 16:48, 4 April 2026 (UTC)
The Tireless Contributor Barnstar
For all the good work you do overall. :-) Kj cheetham (talk) 13:15, 7 April 2026 (UTC)
DYKs
On 29 October 2023, Did you know was updated with a fact from the article Benin Moat, which you recently created, substantially expanded, or brought to good article status. The fact was ... that the Benin Moat was built by the Edo people over several centuries, starting from around AD 800 and continuing until 1460? The nomination discussion and review may be seen at Template:Did you know nominations/Benin Moat. You are welcome to check how many pageviews the nominated article or articles got while on the front page (here's how, Benin Moat), and the hook may be added to the statistics page after its run on the Main Page has completed. Finally, if you know of an interesting fact from another recently created article, then please feel free to suggest it on the Did you know talk page.
On 10 January 2024, Did you know was updated with a fact from the article Edo literature, which you recently created, substantially expanded, or brought to good article status. The fact was ... that Edo literature was influenced by British colonialism in the late 19th century, which introduced the Roman script and Christianity to the Edo people? The nomination discussion and review may be seen at Template:Did you know nominations/Edo literature. You are welcome to check how many pageviews the nominated article or articles got while on the front page (here's how, Edo literature), and the hook may be added to the statistics page after its run on the Main Page has completed. Finally, if you know of an interesting fact from another recently created article, then please feel free to suggest it on the Did you know talk page.
On 30 January 2024, Did you know was updated with a fact from the article Benin Altar Tusk, which you recently created, substantially expanded, or brought to good article status. The fact was ... that Nigeria seeks the return of the Benin Altar Tusks, ivory artefacts taken by the British in 1897 and dispersed in Europe? The nomination discussion and review may be seen at Template:Did you know nominations/Benin Altar Tusk. You are welcome to check how many pageviews the nominated article or articles got while on the front page (here's how, Benin Altar Tusk), and the hook may be added to the statistics page after its run on the Main Page has completed. Finally, if you know of an interesting fact from another recently created article, then please feel free to suggest it on the Did you know talk page.
On 15 April 2024, Did you know was updated with a fact from the article Muslim–Muslim ticket, which you recently created, substantially expanded, or brought to good article status. The fact was ... that Nigeria's Muslim–Muslim ticket challenges the norm of religious balance in politics? The nomination discussion and review may be seen at Template:Did you know nominations/Muslim–Muslim ticket. You are welcome to check how many pageviews the nominated article or articles got while on the front page (here's how, Muslim–Muslim ticket), and the hook may be added to the statistics page after its run on the Main Page has completed. Finally, if you know of an interesting fact from another recently created article, then please feel free to suggest it on the Did you know talk page.
On 16 March 2025, Did you know was updated with a fact from the article Uwa (Ogiso), which you recently created, substantially expanded, or brought to good article status. The fact was ... that brass casting, which later became a hallmark of Benin art, was first introduced to Igodomigodo during Uwa's reign? The nomination discussion and review may be seen at Template:Did you know nominations/Uwa (Ogiso). You are welcome to check how many pageviews the nominated article or articles got while on the front page (here's how, Uwa (Ogiso)), and the hook may be added to the statistics page after its run on the Main Page has completed. Finally, if you know of an interesting fact from another recently created article, then please feel free to suggest it on the Did you know talk page.
On 25 March 2025, Did you know was updated with a fact from the article Ehenneden, which you recently created, substantially expanded, or brought to good article status. The fact was ... that cowries were increasingly used during the reign of Ehenneden as currency in Igodomigodo's markets? The nomination discussion and review may be seen at Template:Did you know nominations/Ehenneden. You are welcome to check how many pageviews the nominated article or articles got while on the front page (here's how, Ehenneden), and the hook may be added to the statistics page after its run on the Main Page has completed. Finally, if you know of an interesting fact from another recently created article, then please feel free to suggest it on the Did you know talk page.
On 12 July 2025, Did you know was updated with a fact from the article Oduwa, which you recently created, substantially expanded, or brought to good article status. The fact was ... that Oduwa's reign saw cowries becoming so widespread as currency that nobles stitched them into their clothes, causing runaway inflation? The nomination discussion and review may be seen at Template:Did you know nominations/Oduwa. You are welcome to check how many pageviews the nominated article or articles got while on the front page (here's how, Oduwa), and the hook may be added to the statistics page after its run on the Main Page has completed. Finally, if you know of an interesting fact from another recently created article, then please feel free to suggest it on the Did you know talk page.
On 19 July 2025, Did you know was updated with a fact from the article Ohuede, which you recently created, substantially expanded, or brought to good article status. The fact was ... that, in 12th-century Igodomigodo, King Ohuede proposed allowing women to inherit the throne in the absence of male heirs? The nomination discussion and review may be seen at Template:Did you know nominations/Ohuede. You are welcome to check how many pageviews the nominated article or articles got while on the front page (here's how, Ohuede), and the hook may be added to the statistics page after its run on the Main Page has completed. Finally, if you know of an interesting fact from another recently created article, then please feel free to suggest it on the Did you know talk page.
On 2 November 2025, Did you know was updated with a fact from the article Owodo, which you recently created, substantially expanded, or brought to good article status. The fact was ... that King Owodo, the last Ogiso of Igodomigodo, was deposed after killing a pregnant widow, an act punishable by deposition under the kingdom's law? The nomination discussion and review may be seen at Template:Did you know nominations/Owodo. You are welcome to check how many pageviews the nominated article or articles got while on the front page (here's how, Owodo), and the hook may be added to the statistics page after its run on the Main Page has completed. Finally, if you know of an interesting fact from another recently created article, then please feel free to nominate it.
I do not edit or otherwise contribute to any Wikimedia article or project on behalf of any employer, client, or affiliated person, organisation, or other entity; nor do I receive or solicit any compensation for any edits or other contributions.
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