User:Essjay

Wikipedia

Every user has a WikiPhilosophy, even if they haven't written it down. We all have our thoughts about the site and its contributors, and our policies about our contributions. I've chosen to write mine down.

Wikipedia in General

I believe Wikipedia is an amazing project. I also believe that far too few individuals recognize and respect the need to work collaboratively on such a project. I support a policy of neutrality, community building, and mutual respect with the aim of making Wikipedia a better encyclopedia and a stronger community. My Wikipedia motto is "Lux et Veritas" (Light and Truth) and I believe more individuals should contribute with an intention to bring light to the community and truth to the encyclopedia.

Community

I believe the Wikipedia community is essential to the encyclopedia. While Wikipedia is first and foremost an encyclopedia, it is only via the community of dedicated users that choose to be associated with the project that the encyclopedia is improved. When the Wikipedia community is downplayed, degraded, or ignored, it is both an attack on the credibility of the encyclopedia and an attack on the value of its contributors. Were it not for the dedication of the community, the encyclopedia would not exist, and it is important to recognize and respect this truth. Any action that strengthens the community strengthens the encyclopedia, and anyone who does not acknowledge the importance of community building does not understand the essential nature of the community to the encyclopedia. To deprive the community is to destroy the encyclopedia.

Controversy

I avoid controversy onsite whenever possible. I do not contribute to controversial articles, and I do not involve myself in content disputes between users. I maintain a neutrality policy to set out my general approach to remaining neutral.

Contributing

I contribute to Wikipedia because it is enjoyable, and because I believe it is a worthwhile project. If contributing here stops being fun at any point, I will stop contributing.

Deletion:

I do not ascribe to any of the deletion philosophies. I believe that every article (except those that fit WP:CSD) is entitled to be discussed and that the decision of the community should be respected. I have rarely voted at AfD, although in the early days of my adminship, I closed a large number of VfD's. (I was the 14th most prolific closer at one time.) As a closing admin, I always ignore my own feelings about the article in question in order to render impartial service to Wikipedia. I believe that the will of the community, as established in the consensus developed at AfD, is paramount.

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Other Wikimedia Projects

Meta

I make edits to Meta when I see something that needs to be done, and I try to run through Recent Changes looking for vandalism/newbie mistakes when I can. For the most part, there isn't a lot of Meta vandalism, so most of my tasks are either cleanup-related, or transwiki and speedy tagging misplaced Wikipedia entries. I am also a Meta administrator.

This user is an Administrator on the English Wikipedia.

This user is an Administrator on the English Wikiquote.

This user is an Administrator on the Meta-Wiki.

This user is an Administrator on Wikimedia Commons.

This user has a userpage on English Wikisource.

Wikiquote

When I first joined Wikiquote, I was only slightly active, mainly doing formatting tasks. Since taking a major break from Wikipedia and returning there, I have become more active on other Wikimedia projects. After a routine question on the Village Pump led to a discussion of the incomplete nature of Wikiquote's policy base.

I have founded WikiProject Policy Revision and am spearheading the revision and adoption of existing and new Wikiquote policies. All interested Wikiquote users are invited to join us!

I also serve as a Wikiquote administrator.

Commons

I upload images to Commons frequently, and often tag images and add interwiki links when I am doing Wikiquote formatting. As an amateur graphic designer, I often find myself creating new images or derivatives of existing ones, and I always try to put those on Commons. I strongly support moving all image hosting to Commons, and abolishing local uploads.

I also serve as a Commons administrator.

Wikisource

I have joined Wikisource to help remedy the incomplete nature of Wikisource's policy base. Because of my work with WikiProject Policy Revision, I am helping to do similar work on Wikisource. All interested Wikisource users are invited to join us!

Smaller Wikis

I have worked on several smaller wikis that have been the victims of spammers or vandalbots. I have accounts on chr.wikipedia, ks.wikiquote, nv.wikipedia, and es.wikiquote. I was temporarily sysopped on nv.wikipedia and es.wikiquote to help with cleanup efforts. I am willing to do cleanup on any small project that is attacked, just leave me a note on my en talk page or find me in IRC.

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Contacting Me

I am an Administrator here on the English Wikipedia, on the English Wikiquote, on Meta, and on Commons; if you need my help, please let me know. Note the indicator to the side; if you see "I'm Out", then I am not currently online; if you leave a message, your request will not be answered until I return. Before leaving me a request, please read my administrator action policy. If you are requesting an action regarding a specific user, please use the {{vandal|Username}} template.

• Leave a message on my talk page.
• Send me an email.
• MSN Messenger: my screenname is essjay-wiki (Hotmail).
• AOL Instant Messenger (AIM); my screenname is Essjay Wiki.
  

I generally watch about a dozen IRC channels; (My screenname is Essjay.) I can grant operator status in most channels, find me in one if you're interested.

This user is a native speaker of American English.

Hic usuarius simplice Latina Ecclesiastica contribuere potest.

Cette personne peut contribuer avec un niveau élémentaire de français.

Wikimedia Channels

• #wikimedia (Channel Op)
• #wikipedia (Channel Op)
• #wikipedia-en (Channel Op)
• #wikiquote
• #wikisource (Channel Op)
• #wikimedia-commons
• #wikimedia-stewards
• #wikimedia-tech
• #wikipedia-mediation (Channel Op)
• #wikipedia-esperanza (Channel Op)

Counter Vandalism Unit Channels

• #wikipedia-en-vandalism (Channel Owner)
• #wikipedia-en-newusers (Channel Owner)
• #wikipedia-cvu-request (Channel Owner)
• #wikiquote-en-vandalism(Channel Owner)

Personal Channels

• #Essjay is also available for non-Wikipedia chat.

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Administrator Logs

I stand behind all of my administrator actions (as I do for all my contributions) and I encourage others to review my logs and bring any questionable actions to my attention. I strongly encourage other administrators who feel I have made an action inappropriately to take the appropriate action to rectify it and follow up with a note to me.

All Logs

Users Blocked

Pages Deleted

Pages Moved

Pages Protected

Uploads

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Mediator & Mentor

I am a member of the Mediation Committee; I currently serve as the chairman. In order to focus on my duties as the chairman, I am not currently taking on mediations. My general mediation philosophy includes a willingness to mediate any dispute where all the parties are open to good faith mediation. I will not mediate a highly technical dispute if I do not understand the content behind it (for example, I won't mediate between two doctors on a highly-specialized medicine article) because I feel a knowledge of the subject matter is important to a mediator's efforts.

I am also willing to mentor any editor who is looking for a mentor. This applies to behavior-related mentoring as well as general making-yourself-a-better-editor mentoring. New users are welcome to stop by my talk page to ask questions, and I'm happy to help any new administrator that would like help learning the ropes. I also have a fold for interested sheep.

Mediation

Requests

Committee

Open Tasks

Current Cases

Pending Cases

Archives

Arbitration

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Images

I'm a bit of an amateur graphic designer; my local upload gallery and Commons upload gallery are full of images I have created for various causes.

I'm responsible for quite a few of the derivative Wikimedia Foundation logos; recent statements against "unsanctioned" derivatives have moved me to adopt a personal policy against using derivatives. As such, I've created freely licensed non-derivative replacements for all the derivatives I have previously used, and I am willing to create similar non-derivative logos for other groups who are currently using derivatives.

Also, I'm willing to photoshop images (I use GIMP 2.0 primarily) for others upon request, and always license my creations under the GFDL, unless there is reason to use another license. Interested parties should leave me a message, either on my talk page here or on Commons. I only use freely-licensed images, and prefer that individuals have in mind the images they would like for me to use.

I support the adoption of specific guidelines on derivative Wikimedia logos by the Foundation Board, and encourage them to do so as quickly as possible. I also support creating a committee to review derivatives in line with such a policy, and have volunteered to serve on such a committee.

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Awards, Honors, Etc.

During my time on Wikipedia, I've collected a number of awards and other items from friends and fellow contributors. If you'd like to see what I've received, I keep them all in my gallery. More important to me than any awards, however, are the many friends I've made.

My Gallery.

A little statistical information:

• My edit count has broken 9600;

• I celebrated my one year anniversary as a Wikipedian on February 8, 2006;

• My Wikipediholism level is 1317.5, which is apparently the second highest.

• I'm 653rd on the Overall Top 1000;

• I'm 330 on the List of Admins by Edit Count

• At the time I was promoted, my RfA was the 8th Most Supported RfA.

• I was once the 14th Most Prolific VfD closer.

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Also...

The Trollslayer

• El C described me to the Arbitration Committee (in a case unrelated to me) as "one of Wikipedia's foremost experts on Catholicism," and I am honored to be thought of so highly.
• For my RC patrol work, Lucky 6.9 has branded me a trollslayer, and I wear that title with pride. The trolls shall not prevail! I shall not be moved!
• I'm honored to have two entries on Raul's Laws of Wikipedia;
• I have a silly little page called User:Essjay/Wiki. It isn't a church, it's just a funny little page.
• I've been attacked by Willy, six times.
• I've also been impersonated: User:Ëssjay.
• I also have my own personal vandal, Mickey. If you see him, put him back in his cage.
• I have been accused of having a lackey who does my dirtywork. I've also been accused of being in several cabals.
• In reality, I have many, many lackeys who do my dirtywork, as well as an army of sockpuppets with admin, b-crat, steward, and dev powers across every Wikimedia project. Also, I have sockpuppets with seats on the MedCom, ArbCom, and the Board of Trustees. Oh, and Jimbo is definitely my sockpuppet. Finally, I am the cabal.
• I have a terrible habit of vandalizing User:Mindspillage, particularly with images like this one. If you see me doing it, slap my hand.
• Esperanza awarded me the very first Esperanza User Page Award.

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Theology & Religious Life

I am an extremely liberal Christian theologian and Christian existentialist; a self-professed heretic and schismatic. I am a member of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).

When considering my contributions on theology, it is important to remember that I am a Catholic scholar, not a Catholic. I rarely if ever contribute anything to an article without a definite source, and I research my contributions extensively before I submit them. I am always willing to provide my sources to anyone who would like verification of my contributions or more information.

I have been asked in the past if I am a priest or a Jesuit, and although I am neither, I did belong to a monastic community before I began my graduate studies. For now, I have no plans to become a cleric. I am, however, a Disciples of Christ Elder, and could be ordained as a Disciples minister if I desired.

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Personal

My Mia.

I've gotten a lot of requests for information about me personally, and while my anonymity is important to me, I'm willing to oblige where I can. First let me say, I won't reveal my real name or where I teach. With that said, I offer the following:

• Gender: Male
• Age: Older than 30, Younger than 45
• Orientation: Gayer than Christmas
• Status: In a Relationship
• Location: Northeastern United States
• Occupation: Theology Professor
• Politics: Couldn't care less about most issues, but tend to be liberal.

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Preceded by:	Esperanza Association Administrator General	Succeeded by:
Redwolf24		Celestianpower

Preceded by:	Counter Vandalism Unit Director	Succeeded by:
Cool Cat		Position Discontinued

Preceded by:	Mediation Committee Chair	Succeeded by:
Redwolf24		Incumbent

Licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License, and nothing else
I am content with licensing my contributions only under the GFDL. I believe that introducing other incompatible licenses complicates the legal situation of Wikipedia, so I choose not to do it.

This is a Wikipedia user page. If you find this page on any site other than Wikipedia, you are viewing a mirror site. Be aware that the page may be outdated, and that the user this page belongs to may have no personal affiliation with any site other than Wikipedia itself. The original page is located at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Essjay.