View source for User:JWSchmidt

<div style="background-color:#FFF594; padding:10px; border:1px solid black;"> <big>'''"Openness and inclusiveness are ..... our radical means to our radical ends."'''</big> ''' 
([[m:Translation requests/WQ/3/En|source]])'''</div>


Welcome to '''[[User:JWSchmidt]]'''! Feel free to edit this page, but since it is my user page, I get the last word. '''If you just want to leave me a message use my [[User_talk:JWSchmidt|user talk page]]'''. 
[[Image:Red flour beetle Tribolium castaneum.png|thumb|250px|right|'''[[Metamorphosis (biology)|Change]] is good'''. [[User:JWSchmidt/ethics|Ethics]].]]

==What Wikipedia means to me==
I often wonder what it is like for most people who try to learn [[MediaWiki]] [[Markup language|markup]]. One day I watched a new editor spend several minutes and many edits trying to create a new [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/External_link#How_to_link external link]. I finally stepped in and did it. I'm not sure that most web surfers find it easy to become [[Wikipedia:Wikipedians|Wikipedian]]s. Wikipedia naturally selects for certain types of people and that means as a group Wikipedia editors have [[Systemic bias|biases]].  

When I think about the youngest Wikipedia users, I feel like they and I are from different universes. Some Wikipedians seem to have little interest in making an encyclopedia; they seem to view Wikipedia as a [[MMORPG]] (for example, see: [[Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2007-01-02/Experanza]]). I hate to imagine what might have happened had I been exposed to Wikipedia at a young age. 

Wikipedia user <span style="color:#ff0000;">JWSchmidt</span> has been around the [[sun]] more than 45 times. That means that I am old enough to have lived through the whole personal computer age. I became interested in computers by reading [[Hard science fiction|science fiction]] such as that of [[Isaac Asimov]]. The first electronic [[computer]] I ever used was a [[Wang Laboratories|Wang]] that had no [[CRT]]. Still, I was able to imagine a day when computers would change the world, including the way people learn about the world we find ourselves in. In less than 30 years I've gone from '''wishing''' to be able to get my hands on a computer with a CRT [[Computer display|monitor]] to currently hoping that I never have to buy another CRT for a computer. Some computer technology like CRT monitors come, have their day in the sun and then fade away. The [[Floppy disk#The 3½-inch microfloppy diskette|3½-inch microfloppy diskette]] is another example. '''<div style="background-color: #e9967a">What kind of technology is wiki?<BR></div>'''
[[Image:MediaWiki.svg|thumb|left|Media Wiki logo and motto.]]
I learned [[chemistry]] in the age of the [[slide rule]]. The first [[computer program]] I ever wrote got stored on a [[cassette tape]]. And just to not keep you in suspense, I only had to walk 1 mile through the snow to get to school. I learned to do serious programming on an [[IBM 360]] [[time sharing]] system and fell in love with the [[mathematics|mathematically]] oriented [[APL programming language]]. The first computer I used for [[word processor|word processing]] was a [[NorthStar Horizon|NorthStar]]; absolutely not [[WYSIWYG]]! While I cursed the arcane markup code that I had to use on the NorthStar, little did I know that I was getting training for future technologies like [[MediaWiki]].

The first computer I ever bought was a [[Macintosh Plus]] which provided my entry into the age of the [[GUI|Graphical User Interface]]. The first computer I ever connected to the [[internet]] was a [[Macintosh IIcx]]. As a scientist, access to the internet was as much of a relief as had been graduating from the [[command line]] to GUI. Today, we take for granted online resources such as those provided by the [[United States]] [[National Library of Medicine]] (see [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?DB=pubmed Entrez PubMed]), but when I started using [[Entrez]] it was a gene sequence database that came by [[snail mail]] on [[CD-ROM]]s. When the internet boom started I quickly learned to use the [[World Wide Web]] and [[HTML]], but I also soon discovered the limitations of conventional websites, particularly the constraints imposed on collaboration by the convention that few people are permitted to edit most webpages. Lucky for us all, these sorts of frustrations led to new software technology that allows for a distributed group of online editors to collaborate on the creation of webpages. Wiki technology is not something that will pass from use in one or two decades. I do expect dramatic evolution of wiki technology, but the basic power of distributed online group editing is no flash in the pan. '''<div style="background-color: #C0FFFF">It will be interesting to watch the transformations of human society that are produced by wiki technology.</div>'''
[[Image:Chrysalis5504.jpg|thumb|left|Wikipedia today.]]
It was by way of Wikipedia that I first learned about [[wiki]] as a technology that allows open access to webpages for multiple editors. I've been trying to grow my concepts so as to understand how to build communities in wiki user spaces. Wikipedia grew out of [[Nupedia]], a frustrated effort to make an [[encyclopedia]] using conventional ("first generation") online tools for document construction and peer-review. The main problem with Nupdia was low throughput. Wikipedia used wiki technology to create a community where it was fun for volunteers to supply input and now there is a flood of content. Now we are in the process of harnessing that input and trying to move towards systems that will allow careful [[Wikipedia:Cite sources|citation of sources]] and the production of higher quality articles.
[[Image:Lepidoptera 001.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Wikipedia of the future.]]
Towards that end, Wikipedia continues to evolve and to spin-off sister projects. I am very much concerned with how to promote higher quality in Wikipedia articles, and I am interested in the idea that a [[m:Wikiversity|Wikiversity]] project could help. 

I worry about the fact that [[m:Wikimedia Foundation|WikiMedia]] projects are trying to provide to the world for free what many companies are trying to sell (see: "[http://www.gnu.org/encyclopedia/free-encyclopedia.html The Free Universal Encyclopedia and Learning Resource]" by [[Richard Stallman]]) and, in some cases, what some powerful individuals and organizations would like to hide. How many people come to edit WikiMedia projects like Wikipedia just for the purpose of trying to disrupt them and prevent them from competing with commercial websites? How many [[Wikipedia:Requests for comment/United States Congress|editors]] are here in order to [[Wikipedia:POV pushing|push a particular agenda]]? How many technical articles are edited by well-meaning students (and other amateurs) and how can Wikipedia involve experts in the editing process when [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Talk:Consciousness&diff=prev&oldid=24851650 existing errors] are so off-putting? 

I support the philosophy of "[[User:Ed Poor|gently nudging participants in the direction of more appropriate behavior]]". Sometimes I feel that while I have been busy "gently nudging", I have been trampled by a stampede. I worry that some Wikipedians I respect have left Wikipedia because of this continuing problem. If we view Wikipedia as an experiment, we have to accept the possibility that it contains the seeds of its own ultimate failure. It is possible that Wikipedia will be remembered as an example of how not to run a wiki.....is it possible that the best we can hope for is that other wikis will learn from the failings of Wikipedia and do better? Jimmy Wales [http://wikimania2006.wikimedia.org/wiki/Opening_Plenary_%28transcript%29#Software_changes_for_stable_versions_.2852:30.29 said], "I think we should run small experiments, tests, see what works, what doesn't, and be prepared to be flexible and change, and not be too locked into stone about how things should work." I wonder if this can be applied to Wikipedia? Has Wikipedia become an institution that is not able to examine its own problems and fix them? Does this force those Wikipedians who want to fix things to abandon the project?

Of course, our problems could be even worse than just being unable to improve; the project could attract so many POV pushers that they will take control. In my view [[Wikipedia:Attribution]] as a replacement for [[Wikipedia:Verifiability]] is an example of a downward trend. This policy change was supported by POV pushers who love to cite unverifiable sources such as propaganda web sites and include unverifiable content in Wikipedia because they can attribute it to a source. These people display a concept of "reliable source" that amounts to "it supports my point of view". These folks seem to live on Wikipedia and behave like paid propagandists citing their own websites in order to spread their propaganda on Wikipedia. At one time, there were good examples of reliable and unreliable sources at [[Wikipedia:Reliable sources]]. That has been eliminated now so that mostly bland generalities remain that deter nobody from citing sources that are unreliable because they cannot be verified. It will be interesting to see the response to [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia_talk%3AAttribution&diff=116543054&oldid=116542238 Jimbo's objection]. The policy "wonks" who have nothing better to do have taken policy merging to the logical extreme (see: [[Wikipedia:Overlapping policies and guidelines]]). "Proposals" to merge policies can now be routinely made without there actually being a proposal explaining the benefits. "I have nothing useful to do today so I'll merge some policy pages".
===Dear JWSchmidt,===
"We tried to get in contact with you almost a year ago, detailing our desires to utilise your account to help rid Wikipedia of the corruption and bureaucracy at every level that continues to plague it to this very day. We are hoping that, almost a year on, your circumstances may have changed and you may be more willing to aid us in achieving our goal. At the end of the day we all want the same thing - an encyclopedia that is informative and accurate, but one that is also run in a fair manner so all can contribute on an equitable level."<BR>Kind Regards,<BR>The Wikipedia Freedom Fighters 
'''<div style="background-color: #d8bfd8">We are in for a wild wiki ride and I am glad to be here for it.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; -John Schmidt</div>'''

[[Image:Epithelial-cells.jpg|thumb|left|I founded the Molecular and Cellular Biology WikiProject.]]

==Wikipedia projects I support==
{{WikipediaWeekly-subscription|right}}
See the guide to [[Wikipedia:WikiProject|WikiProjects]].
*[[Wikipedia:WikiProject Molecular and Cellular Biology|Molecular and Cellular Biology WikiProject]] - improvement of [[Molecular biology|molecular]] and [[Cell biology|cell biology]] articles at Wikipedia. 
*[[Wikipedia:WikiProject Cell Signaling|Cell Signaling WikiProject]] - example: [[Cell signaling]]
*[[Wikipedia:WikiProject Neuroscience|Neuroscience WikiProject]] - example: [[Action potential]]
*[[Wikipedia:WikiProject Science pearls|Science pearls WikiProject]] - see: [[Molecular structure of Nucleic Acids]]
*[[Wikipedia:WikiProject History of Biology|History of Biology WikiProject]] - [[Monera]], [[Carl Sagan]], [[Francis Crick]], [[Eric R. Kandel]]
*[[Wikipedia:WikiProject WikipediaWeekly|Wikipedia podcasting project]] - see also: [[v:Introduction to GarageBand|Introduction to GarageBand]]
[[Image:GLO1 Homo sapiens small fast.gif|70px|left]]
*Should work closely with [[m:Wikiversity/Modified project proposal|Wikiversity]]:
**[[Wikipedia:WikiProject Community|Community WikiProject]]
**[[Wikipedia:WikiProject Fact and Reference Check|Fact and Reference Check WikiProject]]
**[[Wikipedia:WikiProject Wikicite|Wikicite WikiProject]] - see [[Wikipedia:Footnotes|Footnotes]] and [[Harvard referencing]]
*[[m:LiquidThreads|LiquidThreads]] - will be useful for Wikiversity - [[m:Wikicite|Wikicite]].
*[[Wikipedia:Science collaboration of the week|Science collaboration of the week]] - example: [[RuBisCO]]
*[[Wikipedia:WikiProject Scientology/History Article Project|Scientology WikiProject]] - I have a general interest in pseudoscience and New Age religions ([http://protoscience.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page see]). Further, I think that the scientology-related articles provide a good example of one of the serious problems facing Wikipedia. It is instructive to look at the earliest [http://nostalgia.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Scientology&oldid=40277 versions] of the [[scientology]] article, the earliest edits of the original version of the article ([http://nostalgia.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Scientology&diff=40278&oldid=40277 such as this]), and how the scientology-related articles have evolved during the past five years. I would love to obtain some information about how the original version of the Wikipedia scientology article was produced.....I'm guessing it may have originated in [[nupedia]]. In any case, it was a fairly scholarly and NPOV article and it is sad to see how the article went down hill when it came under the influence of Wikipedians. It is clear that from its earliest moments scientology came under attack by an army of determined opponents. Some open questions to ponder: which is the more interesting phenomenon, scientology or anti-scientology? Will it ever be possible for Wikipedia to produce scholarly and NPOV articles about topics such as scientology or is Wikipedia perpetually doomed to suffer from its editors' biases?
**[[Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2009-06-01/Scientology arbitration|End of Scientology arbitration brings blocks, media coverage]] June 2009
<span style="color:#ff0000;">"let's leave our political fights at the door to the greatest extent that we can"</span><BR>--[[Jimmy Wales|Jimbo]] in the [http://mail.wikipedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikien-l WikiEN-l] Digest, Vol 30, Issue 96, January 10, 2006.
{{cent}}

==Examples of places I work==
[[File:Adhesion diagram.jpg|thumb|200px|left|[[Cell adhesion]].]]
*My [[:Image:Three cell growth types.png]] illustration got listed as a [[Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates|Featured picture candidate]] by [[User:Finlay McWalter|Finlay McWalter]].
*[[Carl Sagan]] - the [[Wikipedia:Featured articles|featured article]] where I first learned to add [[Wikipedia:Footnotes|Footnotes]] to Wikipedia articles.
*[[Helicobacter pylori]] - It is nice to have articles like this ready for the day when the [[Nobel Prize]] is announced.
* I watch for vandalism to biology-related articles, particularly [[Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Bovasial contex driven neural response|subtle vandalism]]. [[Wikipedia:Requests_for_adminship/JWSchmidt|my request for adminship]]
<span style="color:#ff0000;">"Wikipedia is not a place to assess the morality of a person, their beliefs or their orientation, neither is it the place to advocate for or against a political or religious point of view."</span> -([[Wikipedia:Biographies of living persons#Opinions of critics, opponents, and detractors|source]], [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia%3ABiographies_of_living_persons&diff=32715049&oldid=32713840 origin])
===Other Wiki projects===
*My [[m:User:JWSchmidt|Meta-wiki user page]] - [[m:Wikiversity/Example|About]].
*My [[v:User:JWSchmidt|Wikiversity user page]] - [http://collaboration.wikia.com/wiki/Wikiversity History] and visions
*My [[b:User:JWSchmidt|Wikibooks user page]] 
*My [[n:User:JWSchmidt|Wikinews user page]] - [[n:Interview with Jimbo Wales|Interview with Jimbo Wales]]
*My [http://wiktionary.org/wiki/User:JWSchmidt Wiktionary user page].
*My [http://quote.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:JWSchmidt Wikiquote user page].
*My [http://species.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:JWSchmidt Wikispecies user page] - Placentalia.
*My [http://wikimania2006.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:JWSchmidt Wikimania 2006 user page].
*My [http://www.wikicities.com/wiki/User:JWSchmidt Wikicities user page].

==See also==
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<div style="margin-left: 60px;">[[Wikiversity]] has a page about:<div style="margin-left: 10px;">'''''[[v:User:{{PAGENAME}}|{{PAGENAME}}]]'''''</div>
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</div>
*[[User:JWSchmidt/Neutrino|my old user page]] - pre-2006
*[[User:Memenen]] - One day I found myself on a strange computer without my Wikipedia password. I started a new user account. Sometimes I still use the Memenen account since it has a much leaner [[watch list]] than does my [[User:JWSchmidt]] account.
*In order to see what information is given to new users, I just made [[User:JohnWSchmidt]].
*In order to test single user login I created [[User:JWSurf]].
*As part of a Wikiversity learning project I created [[User:Beetlebaum]].
*[[Template talk:Maintained|maintenance]] - [[Special:Whatlinkshere/User:JWSchmidt/maintenance|my list]]
*[[Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2006-10-09/Eloquence interview]]
*Wikipedia problems: [http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia%3AAdministrators%27_noticeboard%2FIncidents&diff=313338474&oldid=313337274 well said]
===[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/2010-06-07/News_and_notes Pending changes]===
[[Wikipedia:Reviewing]] | 
[[Wikipedia:Pending changes/Queue]] | 
[[Special:OldReviewedPages]] | 
[[Special:StablePages]] | 
([[IRC]] #wikipedia-en-pending) | 
<blockquote>
;What is pending changes? What does it do?
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"Pending changes protection" can ensure the most recent changes to a troubled page are not displayed to the wider (non-editing) readership until checked by a more experienced user for obvious [[WP:VAND|vandalism]] and similar clear issues (although they can see it if they choose). It only affects pending changes and only by holding them back from wider non-editor viewing until checked (can someone check this for full "pending changes protection"?). It doesn't affect logged in users. All autoconfirmed users are automatically reviewed except in some rare cases. Reviewer rights, the ability to review other users' edits, are expected to be widely handed out and require roughly the same trust as [[WP:ROLLBACK|rollback]].

It is useful for persistent vandalism, BLP tabloid news, and other inappropriate edits that cannot easily be prevented from some exposure using existing tools, and on high sensitivity articles and issues. It can be applied to prevent IP/non-autoconfirmed editing or editing by all users (except admins) the same as semi- and full- page protection.
{{Collapse bottom}}

;What is the purpose of the trial?
{{Collapse top}}
One aim of the trial is to test in practice that the delay can be kept short and see what impact it has and how it works in practice.
{{Collapse bottom}}

;When would it be appropriate to use it?
{{Collapse top}}
[[WP:PP#Pending changes protection (trial)|See the page protection policy section]]. Its primary targets are pages with "hard to address" vandalism and inappropriate editing, such as very variable IP vandalism, breaking news with high visibility/high vandalism risk issues, BLPs with persistent rumors or internet gossip, or other activity that has usually needed permanent protection. Pending changes should be used during the trial for pages that have a clear requirement that edits need checking before being readable by the wider world, '''and when normal existing tools cannot resolve the problem, or where the disruption to good faith editing would be severe'''. In terms of policy, use of pending changes protection level 1 is subject to the same conditions as semi protection, and use of pending changes protection level 2 to the same conditions as full protection.

Examples include 
* Persistent ongoing vandalism that cannot be prevented by usual means without much disruption
* Repeated insertions of BLP violation/internet gossip/tabloid news/urban myth insertions, etc
* Edit warring by large groups that cannot be controlled by usual sanctions
* High profile articles with a high risk of inappropriate editing (requiring both editing and an absence of vandalism), especially those on permanent, long term, or very repeated protection.

The trial only allows 2000 pages - use judiciously.
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;How does the tool impact editors and readers?
{{Collapse top}}
[[Help:Pending changes|See the help page]]. '''Editors (logged in)''' are not affected at all. '''Non-editor readers''' are not affected except on "pending changes protected" pages, where they see the latest version that is marked as vandalism/abuse free. In effect "anyone can still edit", but "pending changes protected" pages have a delay before non-editors see the latest versions. 

No material is hidden and non-editors can still see the latest revisions (if any) at the click of a tab. The trial is starting slowly in order to test whether we can in fact do this without significant delay.
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;How are reviewer rights obtained and removed?
{{Collapse top}}
[[Help:Pending changes|See the help page]]. Database reports will be used to automatically generate lists of users likely experienced enough and they will be granted the rights. Administrators can grant the rights, in the same way as rollback (which has a very similar trust level). There's also a page to individually request the right linked from there. 
{{Collapse bottom}}

;What is the policy?
{{Collapse top}}
'''The policy on usage has been largely incorporated into page protection policy and processes'''. 

That's because of a pragmatic point about time (trial rolls out in a few days). More specifically, the reviewing aspect is different but the scope, usage and requests (ie WP:RFPP aspects) are likely to be nearly identical to semi-protection and can usefully go on the same page. It keeps it simple to have all forms of page protection and their requests in one place, and describe it as "pending changes protection" (which is intuitive and fits existing wordings), even if they are in fact 2 tools. Also treating it as "another form of protection" means we don't need to copypaste 2/3 of all PP and RFPP pages, guides and processes, we can just update those pages to include mention and coverage of this new method, and it's a lot less change and disruption, and much more likely to fit into "what people already know".

In other words, current protection policy and requests are close enough to be adopted for a lot of it, and doing so brings this immediately into the "realms of the familiar" for anyone who uses protection already, rather than making entire new processes and pages.

Other aspects of the policy such as granting of rights etc and guidance are still at [[Help:Pending changes]] and [[Help:Pending changes review process]]. The main page [[Wikipedia:Pending changes]] ("[[WP:PEND]]") is outdated and until rewritten, best ignored for a day or two.
{{Collapse bottom}}

;How are requests for "pending changes protection/unprotection" made for a page?
{{Collapse top}}
See [[Wikipedia:Requests for page protection]]. Ie, in the same way as other forms of protection, or by any administrator. A time limit can be defined, as for all other forms of protection.
{{Collapse bottom}}
</blockquote>

Key information:
:* '''[[Help:Pending changes]]''' (and related [[Help:Pending changes review process]] {{dot}} [[Wikipedia:Requests for permissions/Reviewer|Request rights]])
:* '''[[Wikipedia:Protection policy]]''' has a section on "Pending changes protection" now ([[WP:PP#Pending changes protection (trial)|section link]]) covering usage policy.
:* '''[[Wikipedia:Requests for page protection]]''' is being updated to reference requests for pending changes protection and its removal.
:*[[:Category:Wikipedia pending changes protected pages]]
:*June 18 - 92 pages
To do:
:* Mark pages referencing other proposals, possible implementations etc as "historical"
:* Create necessary templates similar to semi-protection
:* Check if "reviewer" and "autoreviewer" need distinguishing anywhere
:* Inform users if needed (non-editor readers will probably rely on templates as for existing protection)([http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Administrators%27_noticeboard&diff=367426051&oldid=367425992 source])
----
*[[Wikipedia:Song|Be the perfect model of a modern Wikipedian]]
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| style="font-size: {{{info-s|8}}}pt; padding: 4pt; line-height: 1.25em; color: {{{info-fc|black}}};" | {{{4|This user '''knows''' that bears are [[The Colbert Report|Godless killing machines]] [[User talk:Stephencolbert|without a soul]].}}}
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{{currently|[[Wikipedia:WikiProject Molecular and Cellular Biology]]}}

==External links==
*Here is an interesting item found in Wikipedia:
**Link to [http://www.bme.jhu.edu/~kjyarema/sia%20enzymes/CMP-SiaHydroxylase.htm brain sugar] at [[Sialic acid]].
*Interesting facts about Wikipedia:
**[http://www.geocities.com/mindbrainsoul/wikiality.jpg Any publicity is good publicity]