I have been editing Wikipedia for some time, for those unaware, it is an encyclopedia "anyone can edit", though that is not always the case. My interest in Wikipedia started some time ago, I was just hopping around, and came across numerous arguments on the talk pages, each article has a talk page where people discuss the articles content. Needless to say, for those that know me, I love to argue, especially when I know I am right. So I jumped into Wikipedia finger typing mad, arguing, discussing, and warring. I use the term warring for two reasons. The first, on the wiki there exists a term, "revert warring", in which people revert back and forth between two different versions of the text, often fighting over the inclusion of just a single word. The other reason I use this term is because sides are often drawn based on ideology, discussions often take a civil, yet condescending tone, mastering the passive aggressive is an art form on Wikipedia. Anyway choosing a side is often what will determine your experience, do you want to be an underdog, squashed because of your views, an outsider, which often leaves no one liking you, or with the "in crowd."I chose, well fell into, the underdog category. I wrote positively of socialism, a big no-no, added content to articles critical of the United States, and even defended people who do not believe global warming is a man driven issue. Oddly I did none of these because I believe them, not to say I do not. For instance, I am interested in socialism and communism, and wrote articles on many of the unsung heroes of that political persuasion, however do not believe that in socialism lies the key to good government. I believe global warming is man made, however defended poor Fred Singer who was being accused of believing in Martians because of a 60 year old letter to a magazine.
Needless to say I contributed much to Wikipedia, over 40 articles to be exact:
Isidro Fabela, Valentín Campa, Sergio Mendez Arceo, Revolutionary Committee of Puerto Rico, COCEI, Rodolfo Fierro, Narciso Bassols, Movimiento de Liberation National, Genaro Vázquez Rojas, Elvia Carrillo Puerto, Demetrio Vallejo, Arturo Lona Reyes, Adolfo Christlieb Ibarrola, Andrés Molina Enríquez, Miguel Caro-Quintero, Sonora Cartel, Los Negros, Edgar Valdez Villarreal, Sinaloa Cartel, Agustín Casasola, Heraclio Bernal, Luis Amezcua Contreras, Jesus Amezcua Contreras, Adán Amezcua Contreras, Colima Cartel, Juan José Esparragoza Moreno, Ernesto Fonseca Carrillo, Javier Barba-Hernandez, Héctor Luis Palma Salazar, Mariana Grajales Coello, Ponciano Arriaga, Don Pedro Jaramillo, Salvador Nava Martínez, Jose Antonio Llama, Mario Montoya Uribe, Zapata Swamp, Zapata Wren, BINCI, Harold Bedoya Pizarro, Colombian presidential election, 1998, Zapata Sparrow, Luis Hernando Gómez Bustamante, Polaris (poker bot), Juan Carlos Ramirez-Abadia, Carlos Alberto Rentería Mantilla
I was however banned. My crime was to edit an article, State terrorism and the United States, and also live in New York City. Perhaps that was too simple, the other piece of evidence was that both myself and this other person that was deemed disruptive, also edited a 9/11 article, and edit between 9AM and 10PM. No amount of common sense could have persuaded the horde, who opposed my views, that the fact we both live in NYC would automatically give us similar editing times, similar as in day time. In total I have created tons of accounts, all with the goal of writing articles and contributing content; JessicaRamos, JessicaRamos2, Grimlight, SevenOfDiamonds, SixOfDiamonds, N4GMiraflores and I Write Stuff. So 45 articles later I was determined to be a net negative, no matter how detailed my articles were, no matter how many I wrote, or, even that the people opposing my combined had not written that many articles in their 10 year combined editing time.
So what have I been doing? I still write ... the usefulness of the project is much more important then the ego's within it. Much like the United States, the corrupt politics do not change the fact that the nation, its founding, and the people within it are great.
