View source for User:Dtobias

{| border="1" cellpadding="8" cellspacing="0" align="center"
|<big><big>'''Dan T.'s User Page... Now with ''more'' [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:JzG&diff=next&oldid=205867347 obsessive trolling idiocy] from the [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia_talk:Requests_for_arbitration&diff=285340108&oldid=285024500 gadfly sucking the joy out of Wikipedia]!'''</big></big>
|}

{| style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; width: 242px; border: #99B3FF solid 1px"
|
<center>'''Ewwww!  [[Wikipedia:Userboxes||Userboxes]]!!!!'''</center>
<center>(or is that ''userboxen'''?)</center>
|-
|
<center>'''[[Wikipedia:Babel]]'''</center>
|-
| {{User en}}
|-
| style="text-align: center" | [[:Category:User languages|Search user languages]]
|-
| {{User Wikipedian For|year=2004|month=12|day=17}}
|-
| {{User unified login/userbox}}
|-
| {{user current age|day=04|month=07|year=1963}}
|-
| {{User:UBX/INTJ2}}
|-
| {{User Florida}}
|-
| {{User:UBX/Mensa}}
|-
| {{User browser:Other}}
|-
| {{User:Mms/Userboxes/WR}}
|-
| {{User difficultedits}}
|-
| {{User WikiProject Geographical_coordinates}}
|-
| {{sa-veteran-ubx}}
|-
| {{User:UBX/Freedom to offend}}
|-
| {{User pro free speech}}
|-
| {{User:The Ministry of Truth/Userboxes/Politically Incorrect}}
|}

:'''[[User:Dtobias/Why BADSITES is bad policy|Essay: Why BADSITES is bad policy... or link bans considered harmful]]'''
:'''[[Wikipedia:Sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander|Essay: Sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander]]'''

I'm a bit like [[Adrian Monk]]; I've got a strong [[obsessive-compulsive]] streak to my personality, and have lots of "pet peeves" about stuff that others don't seem to care about.  Some of the things that bug me:

#[[Posting styles|Top-posting]] in e-mail
#Other non-standards-compliant or inelegant formatting of e-mail
#Invalid HTML in Web sites
#Misconfigured Web servers sending incorrect [[Internet media type|MIME type]]s for documents
#Any use of proprietary coding or data formats where a nonproprietary open standard exists; examples include MSIE-specific Web sites and MS Word or Excel e-mail attachments
#Misuse of [[domain name]] structure, such as putting noncommercial sites in [[.com]] domains and using Stupid Unnecessary Domain Names™ where logical [[subdomain]]s would make more sense.  The ".com" address of Wikipedia Weekly particularly bugged me for a long time, but they've finally begun using the more logical [http://www.wikipediaweekly.org/ wikipediaweekly.org] address... congrats to them!

Wikipedia has a surprisingly good record of ''not'' triggering my pet peeves very often... for instance, it uses lots of logical subdomains within a [[.org]] domain, almost always has HTML and CSS code that validates, and so on.  (See [http://www.dan.info/ my own Web sites] for more notes on these and other subjects.)

However, I ''have'' at times gotten distracted from the task of improving the encyclopedia by getting myself into the middle of a whole heap of silly "wikidramas", where I felt strongly about some issue (like heavyhanded censorship of criticism) that ran against the pet issue of others on the opposite side, leading to big fights that really had nothing to do with anything encyclopedic.  Then I sometimes try to get out of that rut by doing something useful again... hearing about various sites and programs that show Wikipedia articles geographically spurred me to get active in trying to add geographical coordinates to all articles that relate to a particular location, so that such things will be even more useful. That in turn brought me out of the wikidrama doldrums for a time and led me to start making useful mainspace edits again! But my interests seem to have mostly gone elsewhere; I'm not too active on Wikipedia any more.

I also run [http://mpedia.dan.info/ Mpedia], the wiki-based encyclopedia of [[Mensa International|Mensa]] (not affiliated with Wikipedia, Wikimedia, Wikia, or any related entity, or for that matter Mensa or any related entity). And I'm an administrator on the [http://fileformats.archiveteam.org/wiki/Main_Page Just Solve the File Format Problem wiki], which documents file formats of all sorts (without the "notability" criteria Wikipedia has; it'll take any file format, no matter how obscure).

At any rate, while I've edited stuff all over the place, here are some of the major things I've been doing:

* I created the [[Template:Infobox Top level domain]] to standardize the info on [[top-level domain]]s, and worked over the next couple of years to get it into all the TLDs (you know how many ''hundreds'' of country code TLDs there are?).

* I was also involved in getting the [[Template:Infobox Pope]] into all the [[pope]]s' articles; I ''didn't'' create that one, but others seemed to have mostly lost interest in adding it after working their way back to around the [[15th century]] or so; I took it up myself and finally completed the task.  I'm not even [[Catholic]] (or any sort of [[Christian]], for that matter), but I still found it to be a worthy goal to present that 2000-year succession of popes in a consistent manner.

* I've created or improved some music-related entries (the selection of which undoubtedly show off my complete lack of taste thereof):
**[[Tiffany (singer)]]
***[[Tiffany (album)]]
***[[Hold an Old Friend's Hand]]
***[[New Inside]]
***[[Dreams Never Die]]
***[[The Color of Silence]]
***[[Dust Off and Dance]]
**[[Suzi Quatro]]
***[[If You Knew Suzi]]
**[[Katrina and the Waves]]
***[[Katrina and the Waves (album)]]
**[[Kim Carnes]]
***[[Romance Dance]]

I've also worked on pages related to magazines (especially computer magazines, disk magazines, and children's magazines):
* [[Disk magazine]]
** [[Softdisk]] (company)
** [[Softdisk (disk magazine)]]
** [[Loadstar]]
** [[Big Blue Disk]]
** [[Diskworld]]
* Computer magazines:
** [[Creative Computing]]
** [[Softalk]]
* Children's magazines:
** [[Children's Digest]]
** [[Kids (1970s magazine)]]
** [[Kids (2000s magazine)]]

* Comics-related stuff:
** [[Angel Love]]
** [[Hayfoot Henry]] (unfortunately deleted by the deletionists...)

Some other articles I started or worked on:
* [[Carnelli]]
* [[Nomic]]
* [[Leo Stoller]]
* [[Extended Copy Protection]]
* [[Roystonea]] (Royal palm) (I took a picture on that page too, though it's no longer the main image at the top)
* [[The Running Grave]]

* And, as I mentioned above, I'm concentrating especially these days on adding geographical coordinates to every article that needs them, as well as touching up other things like categories in those articles as I find them.

I try to concentrate on places where I can do productive stuff without getting into an edit war, but I haven't always succeeded in staying out of conflict and controversy; like, I've jumped into the snake pit of the [[Anarchism]] article a few times.

Speaking of controversy, I was (unjustly) included in ''two'' people's lists of "cyberstalkers" and online evildoers:
* [[Jeffrey Vernon Merkey]]'s list of "Internet Stalkers" (no longer online)
* [[Daniel Brandt]]'s "Hive Mind" list (which for a while used referer-checking to redirect links from Wikipedia, which in turn added the site to its "spam-filtered" list so I couldn't link to it)
This inclusion says more about ''them'' than about me.  Some of the stuff they say about me is downright libelous, which is funny given how prone to threats of litigation ''they'' are.

I think I was reasonably on the "good side" of the (supposedly nonexistent) "Wikipedia Cabal" as long as I was just attracting the ire of outside nutters, but once I started taking issue with the cliquishness of some of the personalities and factions here, I started being disliked by some powerful people on Wikipedia (but fortunately still not blocked or banned as of now).

Getting back to more productive and less contentious things, I've also contributed [http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:Contributions/Dtobias a few images of my own creation] to commons.

{| border="1" cellpadding="8" cellspacing="0" align="center"
|<big><big>'''"There's drama and inspiration everywhere I look!" &mdash; ''Lisa Simpson'''''</big></big>
|}

{| class="messagebox plainlinks" style="width: 100%;"
|-
| [[Image:Crystal_kate_green.png|50px]]
|
|
<div align="center">[[Image:Troll Warning.jpg|350px]]</div><br>'''{{PAGENAME}} is the operator of one or more abusive harassment accounts at the internet hackers den and troll emporium Wikipedia Review.''' This is contrary to several Wikipedian policies, however, all participants there are actively or tacitly guilty of fostering harrassment.[http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:Privatemusings&diff=203220506&oldid=202778080] This user's edits should be watched closely for stalking, harassing, outing, trolling, swear words, sexual innuendo, using a salad fork to eat their meal, putting their elbows on the table during dinner, [[User:Lar|using legos in an immoral way]], [[User:Danny|unrepentant and disgruntled flatulence]], [[User:Viridae|snake handling]], and [[User:Giano II|extraneous hoopla]].

Be on the lookout for pranks such as placing a whoopee cushion in your chair at work which causes Becky in accounting to think you are an unrepentant flatulator, beating you with a [[rubber chicken]], and hiding all your underwear so that you walk around in the morning and say "Where is my underwear?"

Care must be taken when engaging these egregious editors in conversation.  If you should see one of these editors conversing with one or more banned trolls, please notify the [http://lists.wikia.com/mailman/listinfo/wpcyberstalking appropriate] private [http://lists.wikia.com/mailman/listinfo/wpinvestigations-l mailing list] or [http://wikidefender.blogspot.com/ wikidefending] [http://intelligentdesigns.net/blog/?p=86 blog] so that we can discuss their apathetic and trollish natures.  
----
{{#ifexist:Wikipedia:Requests for checkuser/Case/{{{2}}}|The sock puppetry in question has been confirmed by [[Help:CheckUser|CheckUser]]; please see the [[Wikipedia:Requests for checkuser/Case/{{{2}}}|relevant request page]].<br>|}}<small>(Links for this account: [{{SERVER}}{{localurl:Special:Log/block|page=User:{{PAGENAMEE}}}} block log] &bull; [[:Category:Wikipedia sockpuppets of {{PAGENAME}}|{{#ifexist:Category:Wikipedia review stalker proven of {{PAGENAME}}|confirmed sock puppets|{{grey|confirmed sock puppets}}}}]] &bull; [[:Category:Suspected Wikipedia sockpuppets of {{PAGENAME}}|{{#ifexist:Category:Suspected Wikipedia sockpuppets of {{PAGENAME}}|suspected socks|{{grey|suspected socks}}}}]]).</small>
|}<includeonly>[[Category:Wikipedia review stalker proven|{{PAGENAME}}]]</includeonly>

 I am the very model of a modern [[Wikipedia]]n,
 My knowledge of things [[trivia]]l is way above the [[median]],
 I know, and care, what [[Kelly Clarkson]]'s next CD might just be called,
 And all the insults [[Hilary Duff|Hilary]] and [[Lindsay Lohan|Lindsay]] to each other bawled.
 I'm very well acquainted, too, with [[List of Internet phenomena|memes upon the Internet]],
 I think the [[The Hampster Dance|dancing hamster]]'d really be fantastic as a pet.
 About the [[Pseudophysics|crackpots' physics]] I am teeming with a lot o' news,
 The [[Time Cube]] has but four sides and it's not got a [[hypotenuse]].

 I'm very good at [[grammar]], and I [[orthography|spell all words right]] to a "T",
 Even when they're [[American and British English spelling differences|done all weirdly from the far side of the sea]].
 In short, in matters big and small, minute or sesquipedelian,
 I am the very model of a modern Wikipedian.

 I know how to "[[Wikipedia:Ignore all rules|Ignore All Rules]]", except when I'm enforcing 'em,
 I know [[m:The Wrong Version|which version's wrong]] to be protected by those bossing 'em.
 I show respect for all [[Wikipedia:Administrators|admins]], except the ones who have gone "[[Wikipedia:Rouge admin|rouge]]",
 But I still wish they'd let us keep the [[Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2006-09-05/Publicgirluk|U.K. girl whose face has spooge]].
 [[User:Jimbo Wales|Jimbo]] is our own God-King; the things he says are always right,
 But I still think that [[Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Brian Peppers|Brian Peppers]] should be listed in our site.
 The distinction 'tween [[GNU Free Documentation License|GFDL]], [[Creative Commons|CC]], and [[Public domain|PD]] I understand,
 But still I don't think [[fair use|fair-use]] celeb photos all need to be banned.

 I'm good at [[Wikipedia:Edit war|edit-warring]], and I stay within the [[Wikipedia:Three-revert rule|3RR]],
 I know just how to make you show just what a [[Wikipedia:What is a troll|troll]] you really are,
 In short, in matters big and small, minute or sesquipedelian,
 I am the very model of a modern Wikipedian.

 In fact, when I know [[The Colbert Report|why the elephant count changes really fast]],
 Why [[anarchism|anarchists]] are [[socialism|socialists]]... or [[Anarcho-capitalism|not]], based on whose edit's last,
 Is [[Oscar Gutierrez]] 5'2", 5'3", 5'5", or maybe 5'4"?
 I need to know so I can win that [[Wikipedia:Lamest edit wars|very lamest edit war]]!
 But when I know at least as much on [[Peloponnesian War|conflicts Peloponnesian]],
 as I do about characters in [[Battlestar Galactica|Galactica]]'s latest season,
 When I finally learn something that matters in [[academia]]
 You'll say a better Wikipedian has never came by here.

 For my formal [[education]], though I'm certainly no fool,
 Has not yet been advanced anywhere further than [[high school]];
 But still, in matters big and small, minute or sesquipedelian,
 I am the very model of a modern Wikipedian.

(Note that the above song is purely satirical, and doesn't actually describe me; for one thing, I'm fully college educated!  Opinions expressed therein do not necessarily represent my own true beliefs.)

[[eo:User:Dtobias]]
[[es:User:Dtobias]]