Eric S notapenguin's blog: "Wikipedia and related topics"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fubar_%28social_networking_site%29 This wasn't the first attempt (there were several deleted- from what I can tell, deservedly deleted, too promotional, not informational, too biased - first tries) - but as of May there is now an article on Fubar.com on Wikipedia. (While I am an editor and admin there, I tend by personal habit, interests, and expertise to focus on music. I didn't see this until now. Though it can be found by just going to the _main_ article on fubar, and following the links.)

That doesn't happen often. I was wandering around Wikipedia in hopes of being helpful, looking at uncategorized articles - usually easy to find categories to put them in; I used to do that more often... I come across an article that needs a lot of work, and set to improving it a little- and as I suspect, from its tone, it's a copy of someone's promotional material- from the website of the school it describes. The question that immediately arises is with-or-without permission (and for promotional material, this may or may not matter, but I do not know!)... - so I write an e-mail to the address given by the site - which returns, permanently. And go look up the procedures for deleting an article - speedily, for once, since there doesn't seem to be (except maybe the promotional issue) anything to discuss. Suddenly glad I had the hour to waste...

(and the may have speaks wonders for my memory- will check later, anycase; doing a bit of work and then resting now, then checking :) ...) - but finally did create the beginnings of a biography article on Wikipedia about a music critic/musicologist/composer of my acquaintance. (Not just a vanity article, though I should put in more evidence - and that very soon - that he is indeed notable enough to deserve an article on the site. I in fact recall that he's been given an award for services to a country's music, but need to establish that with references, and could not find them; that would generally be sufficient if so :) )

I cannot believe the series of e-mails I'm having right now, between me and someone who on the basis of a claim that "I knew the man" wishes to insert a death date for a composer. He may well. Wikipedia is not an instant news service. If it's not backed up, if there is not a citation it should not be there, really. (Yeah, there's a lot of my stuff that needs work. And will receive it.) Note: not going to continue fruitless conversation until he actually reads the links I placed on his homepage (standard welcome-to-Wikipedia links.) Then he wouldn't accuse me of dictatorially removing material- which anyone can do... just as anyone can restore it (what I can do and not just anyone can do, is temp. block him for abuse.)

This is not a general blog about being an administrator on Wikipedia; it was prompted by a recent incident fresh in the mind. Anyone can edit Wikipedia articles if not specifically banned, it helps of course to learn the (HTML-like) code, but there's information on site if I remember, on how to do that; there's community on site among editors, and editors with a fairly substantial, recognized contribution might pass a voting process and become administrators. (They can be nominated, or nominate themselves. ) The turnout in my election wasn't large but there was still a majority, and I've been an administrator onsite since mid-2005. An administrator is responsible for monitoring the site for vandals, for participating in deletion debates, and several similar tasks. (I have not held up much more than the first of these responsibilities lately, but think I'll return soon and do much more on Wikipedia...) To this end several links- to delete a page or image, to quickly roll back edits by a user, to block a user from editing, ... are available from an admin's screen that aren't from a regular editor's. (More later, I think...)

Spent much of today listening to music, napping- needed that- and translating (and adding to :) ) an article about Wolfgang Fortner from German for the English Wikipedia. (My German isn't good and it will need further work, but I decided that of all the biographies I'd identified as "projects", his was among the more needed, with about a dozen students who already have articles on the site, and some 30,000 google hits.)

and some would be appropriate and some not. Some general considerations about how other Wikipedia editors - I've been volunteering there since late 2004 - can make their articles a bit more helpful (adding categories, learning the manual of style- ok, I need that too... clarity! clarity! location!... ... right. When I'm thinking of writing an article about Wiener Artenschnitzel the pioneering composer of bon-bons for kazoo orchestra (names changed to protect the innocent. Oh, ok. Yes, this is just an example. Fine.), it is good to know that someone's already done so, so I can add to theirs, not start a new one. So I look up 1808 - his birth year, natch - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:1808_births - hrm, nothing there under A. Or under W, either... just to be sure that there isn't an article under a slightly different spelling (happens often... Carl Reinecke, Karl Reinecke, Carl Heinrich Carstens Reinecke... variants, inclusion of middle names, Frantisek Kramar vs. Franz Krommer (Czech/German), DiaCritics vs. Live for the Cri.. hush.) I created-- well, translated, mostly- a page about a rival of Mozart's, a composer of substantial music named Leopold Kozeluch (using the name he has in the Czech republic, since he was born in Velvary- Leopold Anton Kozeluh) - and then found someone else had created a page about him with a name commonly used on his publications in, if I remember, the UK (Kotzeluch, I think...) Ah, confusion. I merged the two articles, used Kozeluch (a much more common spelling and one he used towards the end of his life I think- he was born Jan Antonin Kozeluh but changed his name because a relative of that name was also a famous composer in his time (and his teacher, too). So I could mull over some advice to other editors, if there are some here, and to readers also; for all that two years' use of the site isn't that much, it's something, and I've never had a low opinion of the value of my advice of course ;^). Or I could describe my brush with, erm, Wikifame... but anyone can find that out, and it hurts to think about it. Eh. Other possibilities, of course. (Wikipedia allows you to create a "redirect" page from a variant spelling/name/ to the article under the name that was actually used, but someone actually has to create that redirect page, no guessing games take place.)

This is more of an offshoot of the musicstuffs blog, I suppose, since much of my editing work at Wikipedia has been focused on one or another sort of music article- mostly biography. I started editing there back on October 24 2004, and my most recent contribution was a few hours ago (well, now, seconds ago... The chronological list of contributions for "User" is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Contributions/User, for example...) (Ah. Getting seriously distracted by a desire to fill in someone's birthdate. Pardon.)