User:Green-eyed girl: Difference between revisions
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After a few months of dedicating myself to a pet project, I have now reached the point where I am unlikely to return. I will leave my status above as "semi"-retired, since it's possible that the Giro d'Italia, the Tour de France, or perhaps the London Olympics may draw me back, but for all intents and purposes I'm finished. I want to make a few things clear before I go. |
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Am I burned out? Yes, absolutely. But that's not necessarily a bad thing. I'm burned out because I have contributed so much to this project. I don't mean to pat myself on the back unnecessarily, but I have written something like 20 Good Articles essentially solo and been the primary contributor to two Featured Articles, and I am quite sure there are dozens more articles to which I've been a substantial contributor which could pass the criteria. I know that 22 community-vetted articles would hardly put me in the top echelon of most productive content producers, but that's actually my whole point. I've done this with only limited help ("this" meaning prose writing). The good folks at the [[WP:CYC|Cycling WikiProject]] are generally not fond of prose writing, for whatever reason. When I came to the point where I identified myself as a member of the Project, their standard practices resulted in creating an article on the second biggest annual bicycle race that looked like [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=2008_Giro_d%27Italia&oldid=318216899 this]. Ouch. Such an article may be suitable for a dedicated cycling website, but not for a general-interest encyclopedia. Just check out [[2008 Giro d'Italia|the article now]]. Peruse the history and you'll see that I can say without sounding cocky that I was the driving fo`rce behind this metamorphosis, and original author of just about all the prose on that page. |
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I put a similar level of effort into nearly every other article with which I worked. I didn't even like to make a spelling correction or fix a code mistake on an article if I didn't intend to put that much work into it (I am not a WikiElf or WikiGnome or whatever the hell else is on that stupid page). And to do so for nearly three and a half years solid is...well, if it's anything, it's tiring. Burnout-inducing. But the result is a body of work of which I'm immensely proud, and which will live on as long as Wikipedia does. And '''that''' is why my burnout is not a bad thing. I brought several new ideas to the Cycling WikiProject, and can only hope the mantel for them will be taken up after I'm gone. |
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I believe in Wikipedia. I love consensus. I love that process can't be held up by one crackpot with a crazy idea. All right, on the occasions when ''I'm'' that crackpot, I don't especially love it, but it's not long before hindsight can tell me that kowtowing to the will of the majority really was in the best interests of the encyclopedia. So please don't think that, like so many others, I am leaving because of some decision that didn't go my way or some committee sanction against me. I am leaving because in a practical sense, I simply have nothing more to give. But I will continue to use Wikipedia, and who knows, maybe even dive in to make the occasional edit. I just know, for certain, that my time of working at this level has ended. |
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Long live Wikipedia! |
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Revision as of 02:09, 14 December 2011
After a few months of dedicating myself to a pet project, I have now reached the point where I am unlikely to return. I will leave my status above as "semi"-retired, since it's possible that the Giro d'Italia, the Tour de France, or perhaps the London Olympics may draw me back, but for all intents and purposes I'm finished. I want to make a few things clear before I go.
Am I burned out? Yes, absolutely. But that's not necessarily a bad thing. I'm burned out because I have contributed so much to this project. I don't mean to pat myself on the back unnecessarily, but I have written something like 20 Good Articles essentially solo and been the primary contributor to two Featured Articles, and I am quite sure there are dozens more articles to which I've been a substantial contributor which could pass the criteria. I know that 22 community-vetted articles would hardly put me in the top echelon of most productive content producers, but that's actually my whole point. I've done this with only limited help ("this" meaning prose writing). The good folks at the Cycling WikiProject are generally not fond of prose writing, for whatever reason. When I came to the point where I identified myself as a member of the Project, their standard practices resulted in creating an article on the second biggest annual bicycle race that looked like this. Ouch. Such an article may be suitable for a dedicated cycling website, but not for a general-interest encyclopedia. Just check out the article now. Peruse the history and you'll see that I can say without sounding cocky that I was the driving fo`rce behind this metamorphosis, and original author of just about all the prose on that page.
I put a similar level of effort into nearly every other article with which I worked. I didn't even like to make a spelling correction or fix a code mistake on an article if I didn't intend to put that much work into it (I am not a WikiElf or WikiGnome or whatever the hell else is on that stupid page). And to do so for nearly three and a half years solid is...well, if it's anything, it's tiring. Burnout-inducing. But the result is a body of work of which I'm immensely proud, and which will live on as long as Wikipedia does. And that is why my burnout is not a bad thing. I brought several new ideas to the Cycling WikiProject, and can only hope the mantel for them will be taken up after I'm gone.
I believe in Wikipedia. I love consensus. I love that process can't be held up by one crackpot with a crazy idea. All right, on the occasions when I'm that crackpot, I don't especially love it, but it's not long before hindsight can tell me that kowtowing to the will of the majority really was in the best interests of the encyclopedia. So please don't think that, like so many others, I am leaving because of some decision that didn't go my way or some committee sanction against me. I am leaving because in a practical sense, I simply have nothing more to give. But I will continue to use Wikipedia, and who knows, maybe even dive in to make the occasional edit. I just know, for certain, that my time of working at this level has ended.
Long live Wikipedia!
Green-eyed girl (Talk · Contribs) 02:09, 14 December 2011 (UTC)