I had been reading Wikipedia for a while, and, knowing my personal and familial propensity towards addiction, always resisted the urge to edit, even though I had already created an account. My first edit was made on a talkpage, July 12, 2005, but I continued to refrain from editing articles until one day in October, when I came across a red link to Nican Mopohua. Since I had just finished reading two books on the subject, I decided to write the article. I have been hooked ever since.
I love Wikipedia and believe in its goals and the process established to reach said goals. But I think it would be much better if editors would follow some guidelines. My goal when writing new articles, (which I do not always reach), is to do exhaustive research and write them so well that there is no need to edit them save for typos, grammatical errors, and new developments. I believe that if everyone did this, there would be fewer articles that are intimidating to edit because of their length and lack of organization. (How many times have you seen an article that required so much work that you refrained from editing it entirely out of despair?) Nonetheless, I welcome edits, additions, and corrections to the articles I have started, and I am open to commentary and criticism.
While I value the positive aspects of collaboration, it seems to me that articles are more coherent when written (or predominantly written) by a sole author.
The weakness of Wikipedia is its dependence on initiative and collaboration. People are hard to motivate, and tend to be reactionary in their thought processes and actions. If you begin an article hoping that someone else will finish it, your hopes are likely to be dashed. Just finish it yourself.
While my current wiki focus is on content generation, (I mostly write about Chicano/a art and culture, but I chime in on other subjects in which I have knowledge), I consider myself an all-around Wikipedian, in that I correct grammar and spelling, disambiguate links, wikify articles, revert vandalism, and welcome new users. I don't do RC patrol or monitor new articles or get too involved in internal Wikipedia issues, although I no longer hesitate to edit articles in the Wikipedia namespace when I feel they need clarification or improvement.
One of these days I'd like to go back and rewrite the Mexican American articles that were already here when I got here, Cesar Chávez being the most notable case. If articles on Mexican Americans and our culture are deficient or inaccurate in any way, I assume full responsibility. Conversely, when they provide relevant information that is communicated in a clear and meaqningful way, it is generally due to the efforts of my co-editors.
Although I always try to write objectively, all my articles need to be checked for bias because of my beliefs. I thank those editors that help to minimize the subjectivity of articles I start.
I think there is an over-concentration of articles on video games, pop culture, and internet culture on Wikipedia, and a dearth of articles on Mexico, Mexican culture, Chicano/Mexican American history and culture, Native American history and culture, and women's movements. Of course, this is better remedied through contribution than complaint or deletion, (fast becoming my wiki-motto) so I have been trying to write those articles that I feel are desperately needed. That said, I am glad that there are deletionists amongst us.
By way of disclosure, I have made unsigned-in edits from my work computer as 128.111.97.196.
I am an administrator, so if you need any help with anything, please leave me a comment on my talkpage.
| ||||
