User:JCarriker

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

You have new messages (last change).

R E T I R E D]

This user left Wikipedia in September 2006.

"But I don't want to go among mad people," Alice remarked.

"Oh you can't help that," said the Cat, "We're all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad."

"How do you know I'm mad?" said Alice.

"You must be," said the Cat, "or you wouldn't have come here."

—An excerpt from Alice in Wonderland

About me

"It must be the end of the world, since you and Merovingian voted against my RFA. You lot will support anyone."

-hate e-mail received by JCarriker

I made my first edit to Wikipedia on June 27, 2003. I tended to contribute to articles about people, places, or buildings. My first edit was an anonymous edit to Marshall, Texas and the first new article I created was Flatiron Building. The most heavily edited article is probably a run off between the Marshall article and Hatshepsut. My best work is the rather short article on Gordon Griffith. I was nominated to be an administrator by Hephaestos, and promoted to that post by Angela in June 2004. I served as an administrator until my departure from the English language Wikipedia in September 2006, where upon I requested that my administrator status be removed. I was a member of the Association of Members' Advocates until I was elevated to the Mediation Committee—technically, I am a still a mediator emeritus. In my last months at Wikipedia, I dedicated about a quarter of my Wikipedia time to mediation through e-mail.

I also was instrumental in the founding of the WikiProjects dedicated to Texas (with Cyrius and Katefan0), Ancient Egypt (with Hajor and Llywrch), and U.S. regions (with Jmabel). As such, my grubby little fingerprints can be seen on those topics in ways such as the deference to the Oxford History of Ancient Egypt on naming conventions in Egypt related articles and the inclusive definitions of US regions. I am the "founder" of the defunct and controversial organization Esperanza—meaning I was the person who thought it up, originally hosted it in my userspace, served as its de facto leader, then first Administrator General. Esperanza grew rapidly, and my idea of what it should be and I were quickly and unintentionally sidelined, which lead to my resignation as its leader. I advised its membership when asked, and remained on good terms with its leaders, but otherwise remained dissociated from Esperanza. I was also involved in a rather unsuccessful project dedicated to the study of wikipedia's internal dynamics, or wikipediology—a term that I coined—and a proposed outreach to Historically Black Colleges and Universities. As of 2007, the Marshall, Texas article is the oldest surviving featured city article and the one that has been featured the longest. The Marshall article is often cited as a model by users wanting to work a city article up to featured status, and thus has influenced many other articles styles; as such, it is probably the my most important work.

In addition to the English wikipedia, I had accounts on the Spanish, French, Portuguese, and Polish language Wikipedias. I also had accounts on Wikibooks, Wikiquote, Wikitravel, and Meta projects.

I am still active on Commons, which occasionally leads me to make a few minor edits here. Occasionally people bring things to my attention that leads me to make an edit or comment; but generally, I am no longer active here.

Post scriptum: I apologize to the many friends and acquaintances not named herein. Your absence is due to a lack neither of affection nor appreciation, but to the necessities of a succinct History. -Jay

Subpages