User:FT2/Memories

This page keeps a few warm memories alive in more detail - typically projects or areas I worked on extensively at some time, or major project work.

[edit] Articles

The category:zoosexuality series was tough to research, but well worth it.

Zoophilia (before current), a highly controversial subject, which started as a minimally cited "legal/myth/porn" summary, is now highly informative, stable and agreeable (no edit or POV wars for 18 months), and by June 2006 probably the most solidly cited and comprehensive source on the net, and positively viewed for Featured Article by outsiders. I feel this article above all, showcases Wikipedia's ability to take even subjects many would consider controversial at best or a rare pathological or abusive fetish at worst, and turn them into valuable sound encyclopedic sourced information. With the exception of JAQ's refactor in Jan 05, about 90% of the substantive edits (ie those which added cites, information or sections) were my work.
Zoosexuality and the law (new), an example of how to do an article, not just a list.
Bodil Joensen (before after) , a researched biography of the first animal porn star. Very human, and very sad. Well worth a read, even if you hate the subject..... this is one that specially touches me...

These were very rewarding:

Especial "good feelings" about some crippling or lethal animal conditions: Hip dysplasia (before after) ... Hip replacement (animal) (new) ... Pyometra (new) ... and the slightly less crippling (but very common) Otitis externa in animals (before after). Now very fully described.
Emotion in animals (before after), newly written, short but a challenge to be sure different views were balanced in their representation.
Non-human animal sexuality ([ before] [ after]) started as a list of notes and a POV push pro-homosexuality. Most of the present article, and almost all the images, were mine. (Credit to Kc62301 for about 50% of mating systems section)

This was fun. I didn't have much to do with this section, until.....

Along came a sock puppet vandal / POV warrior and by the time he was done, I had ended up writing almost the whole series on it: History of neuro-linguistic programming ... NLP and science (in draft) ... Principles of NLP ... Representational systems (NLP) ... Modeling (NLP) ... Submodality (NLP) ...

I have to say it. My two favorite ones I worked heavily on were

Two articles stand out:

By far the most heavy duty achievement was 2004 U.S. presidential election controversy and irregularities in the immediate aftermath of the 2004 election. Despite numerous "sour grape" and POV attempts to AFD it, the article received resounding support from other Wikipedeans, and was (if a bit long) solidly cited to the hilt. It was later split into about 6 articles on separate themes, but a snapshot of the original as I wrote it on the first day, can be found here. The citing was important since it was a major controversy with accusations in the USA of "poor losership". By Nov 28, just prior to splitting out, it was far longer and more complete, had overwhelmingly survived two rounds at AFD, and was being referenced elsewhere on the web as one of the most solidly cited comprehensive resources for the subject and its background, and why it was taken seriously. At that point the election was only 3 weeks old and the debate would still rage nearly another 2 months.
The other political article I'm specially pleased with is List of war crimes. Although still not neat and often poorly cited, its an important article in terms of the focus it covers -- that there have been many such acts, and many countries have done them, "friends" "strangers" and "enemies". That neutral perspective was missing from Wikipedia, which previously focussed only on the few cases taken to court... invariably by the West.

A large number of smaller articles, expansions, edits. Although hard to choose one over another, I've edited a wide range of articles, from the meaning of the negative theology Hindu term neti neti, as well as a wide range on Judeo-Christianity, from Shema Yisrael to Jewish law, to the biblical meaning of Abomination (Bible), to Josephus on Jesus.