User:Eurosong
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Come on and vandalise me if you think you're hard enough... EuroSong talk 10:49, 6 June 2006 (UTC). test
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Contents |
[edit] Countries Visited
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In order of time spent in them: |
[edit] Useful links
- WP:TEMP - for templates.. tags to put on articles.
- WP:CSD - for speedy deletion criteria (including list of template tags)
- WP:PROD - for "proposed deletions" (not speedy, but not voted either)
- WP:AFD - for guide to nominating for regular (non-speedy) deletion
- WP:VANDAL - for templates to deal with vandalism
- CAT:HELP - list of people currently with helpme template
[edit] Me
I am 27 years old and I live in London. More to follow, maybe. Just a quick edit for now.
[edit] Work on Wikipedia
[edit] Eurovision
Eurovision Song Contest main article - aim is to get it featured on the main page on the day of next year's Contest
[edit] General punctuation & grammar corrections
Many of my edits are minor ones, for things like improperly-used apostrophes. I'm a stickler for sure!
[edit] Janitorial work
I often patrol newly-created pages, to check that they are real articles worthy of being included in an encyclopædia. I have nominated many pages for speedy or normal deletion - with admins or consensus agreeing with my nominations over 90% of the time.
I revert vandalism whenever I see it.
[edit] Countering systematic USA bias
This is the English language Wikipedia. There is only one. Current WP policy states that all varieties of English are acceptable and, as a general rule, people should not go through and "correct" British to American or vice-versa. There are some sub-guidelines to this, for instance if an article's subject has a particular national affiliation, then that nation's English variety should be used. I largely agree with this policy. However, due to the fact that there are more Americans (in terms of population) than any other single mass-internet-using, native-English-speaking nation, the USA-bias is quite overwhelming. We have articles entitled "Cotton candy" and "Popsicle" - even though the USA is the ONLY country to use these terms (other English-speaking countries use other words like candy floss and ice lolly (or even icypole in Australia, which sounds rather rude ;))). However, the other countries' spellings and language use are overridden by the sheer number of American users.
My work on Wikipedia includes attempting to counter this USA bias in non-controversial, non-aggressive, non-nationalist ways. I am very proud to be British, but no... this does not mean that I just go through willy nilly and change "color" to "colour" wherever I see it. Not only would that be fruitless, and reverted again very quickly by Americans, it is also against WP policy. What it does mean, however, is that wherever possible, internationally-acceptable alternatives should be used to replace exclusively American words and usage.
Another type of American bias is that of articles which are not about something exclusively found in the USA - which deal either exclusively, or as good as, with USA-centric viewpoints. A good example is School bus: school buses are found in countries all over the world. However, this article is written from an exclusively American viewpoint, and only deals with school buses in one particular country. This is an example of Wikipedia's very strong USA-centric bias.
Either bias as such should be eliminated from something which is supposed to be an international encyclopædia, or.. the English language Wikipedia should simply be re-labelled as a project written by Americans, for Americans - and then the rest of the English-speaking world can go off and create other varieties as they see fit. I for one would prefer the first option - which is why I try, wherever possible, to counter this bias. Will you join me?
