View source for User:Quiddity

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<div style="line-height:.7em; font-size: 270%; font-family:'Helvetica Neue', 'Lucida Grande', Tahoma, Verdana, sans-serif;">Quiddity</div>
<div style="font-size: 180%; padding-top: 16px; font-family:'Helvetica Neue', 'Lucida Grande', Tahoma, Verdana, sans-serif; line-height:30px;">Volunteer editor<br />Vigilante librarian <small>(I forcibly loan books to people)</small></div>
<div style="padding-top: 16px; font-family:'Helvetica Neue', 'Lucida Grande', Tahoma, Verdana, sans-serif;">"Information is not knowledge. Knowledge is not wisdom. Wisdom is not truth. Truth is not beauty. Beauty is not love. Love is not music. Music is the best…" – [[Frank Zappa]]<sup>[[wikiquote:Frank_Zappa|[1]]]</sup></div>

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| style="padding:15px; vertical-align:top; width:400px;" | <h2 style="font-family:'Helvetica Neue', 'Lucida Grande', Tahoma, Verdana, sans-serif; border-bottom:0;"> Other project watchlists </h2>
* [[m:Special:Watchlist|meta]] ([[m:Special:RecentChanges|rc]]) · [[mw:Special:Watchlist|mediawiki]] ([[mw:Special:RecentChanges|rc]]) · <span class="plainlinks">[//en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Watchlist&days=0.25 wikipedia 6hr] · [//en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Watchlist&days=0.75 18hr]</span> ([[:Special:RecentChanges|rc]]) · [[wikitech:Special:Watchlist|wikitech]] ([[wikitech:Special:RecentChanges|rc]]) · [[wmania:Special:Watchlist|wikimania]] ([[wmania:Special:RecentChanges|rc]]) · [[outreach:Special:Watchlist|outreach]] ([[outreach:Special:RecentChanges|rc]]) · [[wmf:Special:Watchlist|governance]] ([[wmf:Special:RecentChanges|rc]]) · [[testwiki:Special:Watchlist|test]] ([[testwiki:Special:RecentChanges|rc]]) · [[test2wiki:Special:Watchlist|test2]] ([[test2wiki:Special:RecentChanges|rc]]) · <span class="plainlinks">[https://en.wikipedia.beta.wmflabs.org/wiki/Special:Watchlist beta] ([https://en.wikipedia.beta.wmflabs.org/wiki/Special:RecentChanges rc])</span>
* [[commons:Special:Watchlist|commons]] ([[c:Special:RecentChanges|rc]]) · [[wikidata:Special:Watchlist|data]] ([[d:Special:RecentChanges|rc]]) · [[:simple:Special:Watchlist|simple]] ([[:simple:Special:RecentChanges|rc]]) · [[wikt:Special:Watchlist|wiktionary]] ([[wikt:Special:RecentChanges|rc]]) · [[b:Special:Watchlist|books]] ([[b:Special:RecentChanges|rc]]) · [[q:Special:Watchlist|quote]] ([[q:Special:RecentChanges|rc]]) · [[s:Special:Watchlist|source]] ([[s:Special:RecentChanges|rc]]) · [[wikivoyage:Special:Watchlist|voyage]] ([[wikivoyage:Special:RecentChanges|rc]])
* [[phab:|phabricator]] · [[m:Interwiki map|map]]

<h2 style="font-family:'Helvetica Neue', 'Lucida Grande', Tahoma, Verdana, sans-serif; border-bottom:0;"> Staff </h2>
Since September 2013, I've been doing contract work for the [[Wikimedia Foundation|WMF]] as a Community Liaison for a variety of projects, for which I have a separate account.
* {{user-t2|Quiddity (WMF)|mw|meta}}
Although I work for the Wikimedia Foundation, contributions under this account are exclusively in my individual, personal capacity.

<h2 style="font-family:'Helvetica Neue', 'Lucida Grande', Tahoma, Verdana, sans-serif; border-bottom:0;"> News hubs</h2>
* [[Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost|The Signpost]] · <span class="plainlinks">[https://wikimediafoundation.org/news/ wmfblog] · [http://en.planet.wikimedia.org/ planet.wikimedia]</span>
* [[Wikipedia:Village pump|VP]]: [[Wikipedia:Village pump (policy)|policy]] · [[Wikipedia:Village pump (technical)|technical]] · [[Wikipedia:Village pump (proposals)|proposals]] · [[Wikipedia:Village pump (miscellaneous)|misc]] · [[Wikipedia:Village pump (idea lab)|ideas]]
* [[Template:Dashboard|T:Dashboard]] ([[Template:Admin dashboard|admin]]) · [[Wikipedia:Dashboard|WP:Dashboard]]
* [[WP:News]] · [[WP:Update]] · [[WP:CBB]] · [[Wikipedia talk:User Advocacy|more...]]
* [[m:IRC/Channels|IRC]] · [[meta:Mailing lists/Overview|mailing lists]]


<h2 style="font-family:'Helvetica Neue', 'Lucida Grande', Tahoma, Verdana, sans-serif; border-bottom:0;"> A cluster of obvious distractions </h2>

* [[Wikipedia:Six degrees of Wikipedia#External links|6°]] of [[Wikipedia:Unusual articles|unusual]] [[List of trees|trees]] and [[:Category:Lists of fictional things|fictional]] [[List of cycles|cycles]]
* <span class="plainlinks">[http://tools.wikimedia.de/~dapete/catgraph/ catgraph] · [http://wikidashboard.parc.com/ wikidashboard] · [http://www.wikirage.com/ wikirage] · [[wikiTrust|wikitrust]]</span>
* wisdom: [[User:Raul654/Raul's laws|raul]] · [[User:Antandrus/observations on Wikipedia behavior|antandrus]] · [[User:Kingturtle/WikiPrinciples|kingturtle]] · [[WP:The Zen of Wikipedia|zen]]
* [[translatewiki:|translatewiki]]
* <span class="plainlinks">[http://listen.hatnote.com/ Listen to Wikipedia] · [http://seealso.org/ See, also: Visualizations]</span>
* <span class="plainlinks">[http://tools.wmflabs.org/wikidata-game/ Wikidata Game]</span>


<div style="background-color:#FFFAD2; padding:10px; border:solid 2px #FFD300; margin-bottom:10px; width:90%; text-align:center;">[[User:Quiddity/How it Works|How it Works: My Guide to Wikipedia,<br />Using Annotated Navboxes]]<br />– Read the yellow, skim the blue.</div>

'''If you're not''' [confused / inspired / worried / surprised / outraged / overwhelmed / hopeful] '''then you're not paying attention!'''


<h2 style="font-family:'Helvetica Neue', 'Lucida Grande', Tahoma, Verdana, sans-serif; border-bottom:0;"> Tools, templates, examples, errata</h2>

* Citation: [[Wikipedia:Citation templates|templates]] · [[Help:Citation tools|tools]] · <span class="plainlinks">[http://toolserver.org/~holek/cite-gen/ cite-gen] · [http://toolserver.org/~dispenser/view/Reflinks#tab-0-content reflinks] · [https://reftag.appspot.com/ googlebooks]</span>
* <span class="plainlinks">[//en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User:Quiddity/sandbox&action=edit /sandbox]</span> · [[User:Quiddity/sandbox2|/2]] · [[User:Quiddity/sandbox3|/3]] · [[User:Quiddity/sandbox4|/4]] · [[User:Quiddity/sandbox5|/5]]
* ''[[Wikipedia:Template messages|Templates]]'' 
** [[Wikipedia:Template messages/Cleanup|cleanup]] · [[Wikipedia:Template messages/General|general]] (disambig) · [[Template:Hatnote templates|hatnotes]] · [[Wikipedia:Wikimedia sister projects|sister]] · [[Wikipedia:Template messages/Sources of articles|refs]]
** [[Template:category tree all|category tree]]
** types of: [[Wikipedia:WikiProject Deletion sorting/Compact|delsort]] · [[Wikipedia:Template messages/Redirect pages|redirect]] · [[Wikipedia:WikiProject Stub sorting/Stub types|stub]]
*:<small>{{pipe}}date={{CURRENTMONTHNAME}} {{CURRENTYEAR}}</small>
* user: [[Wikipedia:Welcoming committee/Welcome templates|welcomes]] &nbsp; <small><nowiki>{{subst:</nowiki>[[User:Quiddity/welcome]]<nowiki>}} ~~~~</nowiki></small><br /> user: [[Wikipedia:Template messages/User talk namespace#Warnings and notices|warnings]]
* /vector [[User:Quiddity/vector.css|.css]] [[User:Quiddity/vector.js|.js]] /common [[User:Quiddity/common.js|.js]] /global [[m:User:Quiddity/global.css|.css]] [[m:User:Quiddity/global.js|.js]] <br /><small>[[User:Quiddity/User style customization tutorial|/User style guide]]</small>
* [[User:Quiddity II]] - alt account for testing
* [[Special:Prefixindex/{{#if:{{{page|}}}|{{{page}}}|{{FULLPAGENAME}}}}/|{{{1|subpages}}}]]


* Media portals / projects / examples:
** [[Portal:Literature]] · [[Wikipedia:WikiProject Books|proj Books]] · [[William Gibson]]
** [[Portal:Music]] · [[Wikipedia:WikiProject Musicians|proj Musicians]] ([[Template talk:Allmusic|amg]] [[:Category:Music external link templates|+]]) · [[Stereolab]]
** [[Portal:Film]] · [[Wikipedia:WikiProject Film|proj Films]] ([[Template:IMDb title|imdb]] [[:Category:Film external link templates|+]]) · ''[[Dead Man]]''


* Notes:
** [[Wikipedia:Non-free use rationale guideline|fu.rationale]]: e.g. [[:Image:SurferRosa.jpg|SurferRosa.jpg]]
** [https://blog.wikimedia.org/2016/05/13/gif-horse-ditch-wikipedias-shortest-featured-articles/ Smallest existing FAs]


| style="padding:15px; vertical-align:top;" | <h2 style="font-family:'Helvetica Neue', 'Lucida Grande', Tahoma, Verdana, sans-serif; border-bottom:0;">About me</h2>
Hi, I go by the name [[Quiddity]] in my volunteer work here. I discovered Wikipedia in 2005, via <span class="plainlinks">[http://jonudell.net/udell/gems/umlaut/umlaut.html the screencast]</span> about the article [[metal umlaut]] which demonstrated the power of revisions and history pages. After making a few edits to scattered pages, I was entranced with the possibilities, and made this account. 

~40,000 edits later... I've seen, read, and participated in many areas of this endlessly intriguing group of projects. 
{{collapse top|Further details about me...|bg=#F0F2F5}}

{{User:Quiddity/Wikipedia philosophies}}
My wiki-philosophy leans towards [[m:eventualism|eventualism]], because the pleasure is in watching the [[Wikipedia:Article development|articles develop]] over time; Eventualism is also how most of this project got built. However, I think most of the [[m:conflicting Wikipedia philosophies|conflicting Wikipedia philosophies]] have a strong validity, and they all need to be balanced against each other. Understanding where the philosophies each developed from is insightful (whether on-wiki precedents, or real-world politics and contexts; especially the balance between idealism and pragmatism) - this goes for our policies and guidelines, and world history, too - All rules/laws/instructions are based on someone somewhere taking an action that other people disagreed with. To misquote Santayana,<sup>[[George Santayana|[1]]]</sup> "Those who do not know or understand the past, are doomed to repeat it".

<h3 style="font-family:'Helvetica Neue', 'Lucida Grande', Tahoma, Verdana, sans-serif; border-bottom:0;"> My work </h3>

I tend to focus on organization and research work, but also enjoy helping out as a guide and an informal mediator. When I'm not distracted by the plethora of community hubs and discussions that are broadcasting news and requesting input, I'm fixing citation dead-links, trying to find common ground in subjective disputes, and checking updates to the 9,000+ items in my watchlist. I'm generally interested in anything related to words, felines, connections, and design. Recently, I've been reading everything I can find about Outreach, as the GLAM and EDU projects seem to be amongst the most interesting possibilities for our future growth.

Soon after I first arrived at Wikipedia, I participated in the redesign of the [[Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Usability/Main Page|Main page]], which led to the redesigns of the [[Wikipedia:Community portal/Redesign|Community portal]], [[Help talk:Contents/Draft|Help:Contents]], [[Help:Cheatsheet|Cheatsheet]], [[Portal:Contents]], and [[Wikipedia:Village pump (proposals)/Sidebar redesign|Sidebar]]. That gave me a broad understanding of the scope (and spirit) of the paths that guide Wikipedia. Later on, I contributed small nudges to the [[User talk:Ambuj.Saxena/Wikipedia-logo|logo]] update and the [[Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Article message boxes|article message boxes]] overhaul. 

The redesign of the Portal:Contents and its subpages, led me to assisting with the work on the various subtypes of lists, and I've been organizing and [[User:Quiddity/Navigational pages RfC|trying to explain]] the glossaries, indexes, outlines, and lists of lists, ever since. I also took an interest in our articles about words, and have been discussing the sometimes [[Wikipedia:Wikipedia is not a dictionary/Draft RfC on words|disputed]] nature of their existence (with how we relate to Wiktionary, and various other aspects and precedents) for a few years. 

An interest in concise descriptions, has led me to the disambiguation pages project, and also to the infobox dispute where I'm hoping to bring a broad perspective of understanding to the at-times extreme-oppositional perspectives that often dominate the discussions; I helped create [[Template:Infobox classical composer|Infobox classical composer]] and believe that improving the documentation, and a wide acknowledgement of the validity of the various problems, will help resolve some of the objective and subjective disagreements. Relatedly, Wikidata is a fantastic new project, that might greatly impact both of those areas in the future. 

On the smaller scale, I've tried to bring an outsider's mediating perspective to a number of topical disputes, from [[book design]] to [[tree shaping]] to [[breast cancer awareness]] to others – there have been some successes, and some lessons learned. ("What doesn't kill us, makes us ache in new and interesting places.")

I've always enjoyed the complexities and nuances of language (connotations/ramifications/implications/insinuations), and I collect instructional manuals (guides/primers/tutorials/rulebooks), hence I've followed the development of our Manual of Style since I arrived; I give input on various discussions and changes, but I've only made significant contributions to the [[Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Lists of works|MoS (lists of works)]] page. If I had more time...

<h3 style="font-family:'Helvetica Neue', 'Lucida Grande', Tahoma, Verdana, sans-serif; border-bottom:0;"> Life and events </h3>

I lived in England for 14 years, and have lived on the West coast of Canada for almost 20 years; However, I've also been reading the works of, or corresponding and collaborating with, numerous Americans - and I tend to use the default-US Mozilla/Ubuntu dictionaries - so my [[WP:ENGVAR|spelling]] is somewhat erratic! I try to keep active with kite-flying, DIY projects, travel, and local community involvement, but the lure of the internet and the book-stack is strong. So much to read and learn and comprehend and practice, and only one lifetime to fit it all in.

In 2010 I visited the WMF offices for [[outreach:Screen Sprint|Screen Sprint]], a 2-day group project, to create a [[Wikipedia:WikiProject Screencast|tutorial]] for making screencasts.  This was the first time I'd met any other Wikimedians, and gave many insights into the methods and characters behind the way the systems all work together. 

I took a little over a year off, from early 2011, to work on some personal projects.  I found the break refreshing, and will try to take shorter-but-regular wikibreaks in the future. 

In June 2013, I participated in the first [[meta:Roundtables|Roundtable]], where a group of users from various backgrounds took part in a brainstorming session, to learn about and provide feedback on the [[WP:Notifications|Notifications]] and [[WP:Flow|Flow]] software projects.  Meeting a variety of wiki-newcomers and staff, helped reinforce the notion that we all have a ''lot'' to learn from each other, no matter how experienced we are in Wikipedia or real-life.  Improving the communication between readers, newcomers, regulars, power-users, and the various teams of staff, will be very important for understanding and resolving the problems the projects currently face.

<h3 style="font-family:'Helvetica Neue', 'Lucida Grande', Tahoma, Verdana, sans-serif; border-bottom:0;"> People </h3>

Whilst writing this, I've wanted to name all the fantastic collaborators I've worked with, or the massive efforts towards lucid and referenced writing that I've witnessed, or the inspirational editors in terms of empathy and humour;  I've wanted to comment on the people I worked with but don't see around anymore, whom I miss;  I've wanted to credit the leaders and the learners.<!-- Someone said to me, early on, "''You're not a real Wikipedian until you've made, and learned from, fifty mistakes.''" I like that. -->  However, I don't want to miss anyone out;  and I don't want to name-drop;  and I don't want to name only the heroes, as I can learn almost as much from mistakes as from successes;  plus, I enjoy stumbling across half-forgotten usernames in page-histories or archived-discussions, and teasing the memories out...

{{collapse bottom}}


{{Userboxtop|align=right|toptext=Nutshell}}
{{userbox| border-c= #D6D6D6| id= Can| id-c= blue| id-fc= white| id-s= 14| info= This user resides in [[Canada]],}}
{{userbox| border-c= #D6D6D6| id= Fel| id-c= #0099FF| id-fc= | id-s= 14| info= reveres [[Felidae|cat]]s,}}
{{userbox| border-c= #D6D6D6| id= JLB| id-c= #9BC2E7| id-fc= | id-s= 14| info= fears the infinite [[The Library of Babel|library]],}}
{{userbox| border-c= #D6D6D6| id= 40's| id-c= #D6D6D6| id-fc=| id-s= 14| info= is slowly going grey,}}
{{userbox| border-c= #D6D6D6| id= [[File:Sun symbol.svg|link=User:Quiddity/Human archetype systems|44px]]| id-c= #E5B184| id-fc= | id-s= | info= enjoys [[pattern]]s, [[User:Quiddity/Human archetype systems|archetypes]], [[infographic]]s, and other systems categorical or reductionist,}}
{{userbox| border-c= #D6D6D6| id= LM| id-c= #F48D32| id-fc= white| id-s= 14| info= is often frustrated by [[Linux Mint]],}}
{{userbox| border-c= #D6D6D6| id= Lng| id-c= #CD481E| id-fc= white| id-s= 14| info= thinks kids should study [[linguistics]], as well as a foreign language,}}
{{userbox| border-c= #D6D6D6| id= Tea| id-c= #A52A2A| id-fc= white| id-s= 14| info= is grumpy without [[tea]],}}
{{userbox| border-c= #D6D6D6| id= Re| id-c= #531515| id-fc= white| id-s= 14| info= regularly re-reads ''[[Invisible Cities]]'', ''[[Cryptonomicon]]'', and others,}}
{{userbox| border-c= #D6D6D6| id= DON'T PANIC| id-c= black| id-fc= white| id-s= | info= and attempts to [[The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy|not panic]] with a [[Towel Day|towel]], a [[Lists of books|book]], and a [[umwelt|fish]].}}
{{User Twenty Year Society| (since 2005)}}
{{Userboxbottom}}

Wikiprojects and bookmarks I try to follow:
* [[meta:Wikimedia history|Wikimedia history]]
* [[Wikipedia:WikiProject Libraries|Libraries]]
** [[WP:The Wikipedia Library|The Wikipedia Library]]
* [[Wikipedia:Help Project|Help]]
** [[Wikipedia:WikiProject Usability|Usability]] ([[usability:]])
** [[Wikipedia:WikiProject Accessibility|Accessibility]]
** [[Help:Using colours|WP:Colours]]
** [[Wikipedia:WikiProject Screencast|Screencasts]]
** [[Wikipedia:Catalogue of CSS classes|CSS classes]]
** [[Wikipedia:WikiProject Editor Retention|Editor Retention]]
** [[strategy:Main Page|strategy:]]
** [[mw:Wikimedia Foundation Design|mw:WMF Design]]
** [[WP:The Wikipedia Adventure|The Wikipedia Adventure]]
* [[Wikipedia:WikiProject Policy and Guidelines|Policy and Guidelines]]
** [[Wikipedia:WikiProject Manual of Style|Manual of Style]]
** [[Wikipedia:WikiProject Essays|Essays]]
** [[Wikipedia:WikiProject Infoboxes|Infoboxes]]
** [[Wikipedia:WikiProject Templates|Templates]] ([[Wikipedia:WikiProject Inline Templates|Inline]])
** [[Wikipedia:WikiProject External links|Ext. links]]
** [[Wikipedia:WikiProject Disambiguation|Disambig]] ([[:Category:Disambiguation pages in need of cleanup|cleanup]], [[Template:Dabnav|nav]])
* [[Wikipedia:WikiProject Contents|Contents]]
** [[Wikipedia:WikiProject Categories|Categories]]
** [[Wikipedia:WikiProject Lists|Lists]]
** [[Wikipedia:WikiProject Glossaries|Glossaries]]
** [[Wikipedia:WikiProject Indexes|Indexes]]
** [[Wikipedia:WikiProject Outlines|Outlines]] <br />(old draft RfCs on <s>outlines</s> and [[User:Quiddity/Navigational pages RfC|nav pages]])
** [[Wikipedia:Version 1.0 Editorial Team|Version 1.0]] · ([[Wikipedia:WikiProject Vital Articles|Vital]])
** [[Wikipedia:WikiProject Linguistics|Linguistics]] <br />(old draft RfC on [[Wikipedia:Wikipedia is not a dictionary/Draft RfC on words|words]] and [[Wikipedia:Wikipedia is not a dictionary|WP:NAD]])
** [[Wikipedia:WikiProject Canada|Canada]]
** [[Wikipedia:WikiProject Cats|Cats]]
** [[Wikipedia:WikiProject Color|Color]]

[[File:The source of many disagreements.png|thumb|400px|The source of many disagreements. (a simplification)]]

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<center><div style="background-color:#CEDFF2; text-align:center; padding:10px; border:solid 1px #AAAAAA; margin-bottom:10px; width:90%">"Very few things happen at the right time, and the rest do not happen at all.<br>
The conscientious historian will correct these defects." – [[Mark Twain]] <s>[[Herodotus]]</s><sup>[[wikiquote:Herodotus#Misattributed|[1]]]</sup></div></center>

<center><div style="background-color:#FFFAD2; padding:10px; border:solid 2px #FFD300; margin-bottom:10px; width:90%">See also, [https://www.youtube.com/embed/F9zfCMp99-A?rel=0&start=0&end=217&autoplay=1&modestbranding=1&loop=0&autohide=2 Exformation] as brilliantly explained by [[Ze Frank]]. Our discussions (throughout Wikipedia, and throughout life) are overflowing with exformation; It's a useful thing to understand. The newcomers don't have any, and the regulars have too much!</div></center>