Wikipedia:Babel etc

en This user is a native speaker of English.

This user is an Eagle Scout.

This user finds copyright paranoia disruptive.

This user roots for all the bad girls, femmes fatales and antiheroines, and believes the James Bond nemeses are just misunderstood heroes.

This user is a member of one of the 500+ world Scouting/Guiding associations and contributes articles to preserve their history.

This user is a member of one of the 500+ world Scouting or Guiding associations and collects and trades Scout memorabilia.

This user supports the Galactic Empire.

This user is a Japanophile.

This user is a member of WikiProject Central Asia.

This user is a participant in WikiProject Japan.

This user is a member of WikiProject Myanmar (Burma).

This user is interested in Shinto.

徳島 This user lives in Tokushima Prefecture.

香川 This user lives in Kagawa Prefecture.

This user has visited 5 of the 47 prefectures. 5

ru-2 Этот участник неплохо знает русский язык.

ky-1 Бул колдонуучу кыргыз тилин башталгыч деңгээлдe билет.

tyv-1 Бо ажыглакчы эге деңнелге тывалай деткий ал.

uz-1 Bu ishtirokchi O'zbek tilini boshlang'ich darajada biladi.

kk-1 Бұл қатысушы қазақ тілін бастапқы деңгейде меңгереді.

ja-1 この利用者は少しだけ日本語を話すことができます。

... This user would like to be able to speak more languages.

^_^ This user watches anime.

This user eats sushi.

This user is having a shpadoinkle day!

This user is Sancho. Frank Gifford is not Sancho. Neither is Scott Baio Sancho. This user, this user is Sancho!

This user enjoys heavy metal music.

This user is a cat lover.

PC-0 This user is politically incorrect. Hence, he will speak plainly and directly to the point rather than trip all over himself trying to be inoffensive.

This user believes that the Republic of China is a legitimate nation.

This user supports a free Tibet.‡

This user supports a free Burma.

This user strongly advocates freedom and democracy in Turkmenistan.

死神 This user is a Soul Reaper.

This user enjoys reading alternate history fiction.

This user has been on Wikipedia for 4 years and 2 months.

[edit] Japan, ichi-ban!

I am now in Takamatsu, Japan, and thank you to everyone for their help and support!

Any Japanese Wikipedian is always welcome to write me, I would be most honored to hear from you!

[edit] About me

1) I am inordinately interested in all things related to Eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union and Central Asia, having lived there two years.

2) I am a serious scholar of the rebirth of Scouting and Guiding in these countries, and have actively assisted in the creation of some of these movements. I am not a "company man", I do not believe membership in the World Organization of the Scout Movement defines who is a Scout, and I can look critically at the shortcomings where they appear. I am one of the founders of Scouting WikiProject.

3) I question the motivations of _all_ politicians, including ones I favor. The same applies to faith and television and reporting a car accident. As we are in the neverending process of building an encyclopedia, please remember nobody has a monopoly on truth or fact, it's all just a matter of where you're standing at the time. That victors write the history doesn't necessarily make it so. What would the world look like if the Carthaginians had won? Wikipedia itself is kind of a microcosm of civilization itself, built on contributions of those that came earlier.

4) I am a Japanophile, a Germanophile, and an Australophile, and a big fan of the Rhodies and Afrikaners. I had relatives who lived in Venezuela during the good times, so am anti-chavista. My moniker is a now-extinct Japanese baseball team, I believe Americans should examine fights before we pick them, and I think the present success of the countries we fought and 'beat' are the best measures of their own strengths of national character.

5) I believe that removing _any_ valid word from the language in the purported interest of Neutral Point of View is the worst form of bias and is in reality thought control. The reasons words like 'dictator', 'never', 'rarely' are in the language is because there was a need for them. If you target civilians, you are a "terrorist", not a "freedom fighter". Terms like "street-oriented youth" are useless, whereas "gang member" illustrates the situation entirely. Oversanitizing does not add to an article's value or interest. Orwell, anyone?

6) I am a good listener, and I am big enough to concede valid points well-made. My biggest hatred (yes, I can say that, see point 5) is reserved for those who cannot do likewise. I have seen several of my articles tanked by tiny minds who could not understand what the purpose of the article was and ruined it with their own agenda. Such is the price of an open forum uncontrolled by any overseers (and I don't mean the good folk at Wikipedia, in either sense), sometimes the inmates run the asylum. Better than not having such a forum.

6a) ps-and I loathe busybodies with too much time on their hands, who spend more time being critical of the postings of others than they do posting their own knowledge. I am the natural enemy of the protocol deletionist; I hate those who intentionally won't seek a creative way to save something potentially useful.

6b) pps-and those who delete factual or useful contributions to an article, that are not vandalism, because it does not fit their own narrow view of what the article should be. If someone puts something on there that might not belong where it is, find a home for it, don't delete it outright.

7) I start articles on topics I don't know enough about and would like to know more. My philosophy is like stone soup, if I bring the stone, curious others will bring the carrots, onions, water, salt and kettle, and soon we'll all have a good meal.

[edit] Why I do this

[edit] Central Asians and Belarus

The bulk of folks in Central Asia and Belarus still live under controlled governments, and have misplaced the promise they had with the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991. I want to help them regain that, and freely disseminate information to them for their benefit. I have now found articles about three of my friends from the old neighbor-yurt on here, Roza Otunbayeva, Kongar-ool Ondar, and Edil Baisalov!

[edit] Scouting history (and memorabilia needs)

One of the founders of Scouting WikiProject, my original interest is in the rebirth of Scouting in Eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union, Mongolia and Afghanistan, and elsewhere that totalitarian governments forbade or forbid Scouting, like Laos and Cuba. I am always seeking new information and relics on Scouting's history around the world, I have trades and needs of insignia and books. I am always on the lookout for goodies related to Eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union and Central Asia (especially Belarus, Azerbaijan, and the constituent organizations in Ukraine), having lived there two years. And Japan. And colonial Africa. Which in turn, in the spirit of Wikipedia, will help me illustrate more articles. Please ask me, thanks!

[edit] Articles

I started most of the articles on the rebirth of Scouting and Guiding in Eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union and Central Asia, except Junák (Czech Republic) and Związek Harcerstwa Polskiego (Poland), which already existed, plus ones on Japan, Iran, Cuba and the Indochinese Scouting movements; and I contribute to ones about ancestors of note, i.e. Alva R. Fitch; topics Sheri loves, i.e. Charles Kuralt; and ancient history and archaeology.

[edit] To do, 2009 resolutions

• Learn Japanese
• clean up articles I have written above, and expand where I can find information

[edit] Why my own talkpage rules?

I just really don't get worked up if I hit one button or the other to keep my talkpage whine-free. I don't mind if somebody has something valuable or interesting to say, or wants to ask a question, but I feel the same about rules-only commies as I do about copyright-paranoiacs and those who come into a WikiProject, change everything because they think you're an idiot, then move onto someone else's Project. Those who have to be right at the expense of others earn my contempt, and I do remove the "you put this in the wrong place" and the "you shouldn't have done this" diatribes. My talkpage now turns orange several times more than I like recently. I revert just because I don't have to look at someone's verbal refuse every time I go to my page.

I don't want to be an admin and I'm not everybody's buddy. I work well with those actually working, I revert vandals, and I check edits by anonymous users just on general principle. I'm right more often than I am not, and I am a positive force on Wikipedia. I am proud of what I do here, I have learned much along the way, and it's one of the things that have kept me sane.

This page has been cited as a source by a media organization. The citation is in: Perry Swanson (January 21, 2008). "Springs on Wikipedia-Info at Your Fingertips, a Lot of It Probably True". The Gazette (Colorado Springs). http://www.gazette.com/.  (details)