User talk:JRG

This user is no longer active on Wikipedia 
Dear editors,

JRG has decided to retire from Wikipedia. There is one primary reason for this, but I thought I would share some comments on Wikipedia in the hope that some things can be done to improve the encyclopedia. I am sorry if these are generalisations (because there are exceptions to every rule here and I have been editing with some great editors who deserve a lot of credit - and there are lots of good editors) but this is how I feel at the moment:

I am primarily retiring because I am sick of disruptive editors running around destroying the good work that others have done. There seems to be a persistent stream of them - the first couple are thankfully gone but the current one has been left to run free. As an example, some editors spent hours helping Australian political and legal articles by adding images under old guidelines, only for that work to be destroyed by one editor in particular by disruptive IfD nominations for reasons which aren't even valid reasons for deletion. This user persisted in edit warring, and whenever confronted he merely blamed others for his misfortune. The editors was also allowed to persist in abusing other users and getting away with incivility. When I reverted (among other disruptive edits) abuse levelled at another user I was reported. That was the last straw. I cannot participate in a website where this sort of behaviour is tolerated.

Some other comments:

• Subjectivity - I am also disappointed with the subjectivity of deletion debates. There are too many people who expect a Google search to come up with all answers to notability for an article and expect that if so many google sources can't be found that it is sufficient to delete an article. In many cases it is books and library research that would reveal otherwise. (Note I am not talking about obvious cases here or hoax articles). The entire process needs to be overhauled and more editors need to start doing some research on the notability of articles rather than relying on one's own subjective judgment.
• Lack of cooperation - I feel that editors are less cooperative about improving less-notable articles than they used to be. This is disappointing.
• Ownership of articles - there are too many articles "controlled" by one editor that deter other users from editing on particular pages.
• Image policy - Wikipedia's image policy is too harsh to take into account Australian conditions. American users simply do not understand the difficulty of obtaining photos of Australian political figures compared to how easy it is to get one over there. The policies, and overseas editors, need to take into account the regional differences.

I have enjoyed contributing to particular pages but I would prefer a lengthy break from Wikipedia. I will still contribute some photos at Commons and may reregister to add them here. Thank you to those who at least have made this an enjoyable time here and good luck contributing to the Australian encyclopedia. JRG (talk) 02:23, 4 November 2008 (UTC).[reply]