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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by JBW (talk | contribs) at 14:57, 17 January 2012 (The penguin is nice, even if the cabal ahs gone). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.
Some people have been kind enough to express their appreciation of my efforts by giving me barnstars and other tokens. If you are interested you can see some of them here. This is not a complete list, as I can't be bothered updating it.
The Tireless Contributor Barnstar
For that great summary of my acts of Sockpuppetry and for forgiving me after. Thanks Lslavin13 (talk) 17:17, 9 July 2009 (UTC)
The Barnstar of Diligence
Thanks for digging up the editors and contacting them in the clarifications requested at Talk:J-invariant#Confusing article – this level of diligence is above and beyond! —Nils von Barth (nbarth) (talk) 20:08, 10 December 2009 (UTC)
The Guidance Barnstar
I saw this edit and was very impressed. Keep up the good work. ReykYO! 12:07, 17 February 2010 (UTC)
Thanks for helping me with the vandalizme on my user page JDDJS (talk) 20:17, 27 April 2010 (UTC)
Another editor has reviewed this user's barnstar, and endorses both James's good humor and the reason given above. MarcusQwertyus 15:46, 8 July 2010 (UTC)
I, Krashlandon, award you, JamesBWatson, this barnstar for your outstanding diligence, patience, and willingness to write exhaustively long explanations to editors who have made mistakes, as in your dealings with me and especially in the Dukeare1 case. Krashlandon 16:19, 26 February 2011 (UTC)
The Anti-Vandalism Barnstar
You've beat me to reverting vandalism a few times this morning; I think that your anti-vandalism work deserves some recognition! Sophus Bie 15:41, 4 March 2011 (UTC)
The Helping Hand Barnstar
Whether it's new users getting into trouble, or old hands reporting vandalism, or whatever - you always seem to be there helping and supporting people -- Boing! said Zebedee (talk) 11:35, 17 May 2011 (UTC)
For assisting me with all of my questions and always providing excellent information. Thank you for all the thought you have put into your messages for me. Ryan Vesey (talk) 17:06, 29 May 2011 (UTC)
My work for Misplaced Pages
This user has been on Misplaced Pages for 18 years, 4 months and 24 days.
This user has been an admin for 14 years, 6 months and 4 days.
I created this account on 1 August 2006, and made my first edit on 11 August 2006. I created the account because one day I tried to edit at the local library, but found the IP was blocked because of vandalism. I think I had probably made a few edits anonymously, but I don't actually remember.
It is now the 3rd of January 2012, and this is my 67,667th edit.
I started making very small edits, mostly minor corrections when I noticed errors in articles. This has continued to be a significant part of my editing, but I have sometimes made more substantial edits to articles. I have created a few new articles, but this has never been a major part of my editing. As time passed I gradually found that problems I found led me into other areas, including reverting vandalism, discussions on policy and administrative issues. Eventually there came a time when vandalism fighting was the main focus of my work. I was then asked by an administrator who had seen my anti-vandalism work to consider becoming an administrator myself, and, after some consideration, I decided to take up the offer.
Since I have been an administrator I have contributed to a number of admin areas, particularly anti-vandal work, reviewing unblock requests, and clearing up backlogs of speedy-deletion candidates. Other aspects admin work I have sometimes contributed to include closing redirect discussions, Requests for permissions/Rollback, requests for help from an admin, Usernames for administrator attention, Misplaced Pages:Articles for creation/Redirects, Misplaced Pages:Sockpuppet investigations, Miscellany for deletion, Misplaced Pages:Usernames for administrator attention and Requests for page protection.
I try hard to be welcoming to good faith new users, believing it is worth the effort of trying to explain why a contribution is unacceptable, rather than simply throwing a link to a guideline. Unfortunately I do not always succeed in making new users feel welcome, but I get enough thanks to know that I often do succeed. When dealing with new users I am a very strong believer in avoiding the use of opaque acronyms. Yes, it takes longer to type "]" than "]", or "]" than "]", but if the purpose is to help the editor, not simply to dismiss them, it is worth the effort.
Misplaced Pages gets an enormous amount of use. This is not only because there is a lot of stuff here, but also because on the whole most of it is of a fairly good quality. Misplaced Pages would not have the amount of success it has unless most of its material was of a reasonably high quality. Unfortunately, in an encyclopaedia which anyone can edit, a lot of the editing is not of a good quality. Misplaced Pages's success therefore depends to a great extent on a large number of volunteers who give up a large amount of their own time to clean things up, improve the quality of what is there, and remove what is not so good. Some Wikipedians choose not to spend time on that, but to concentrate only on writing new content. That is absolutely fine, but sometimes those who make that choice disparage and vilify the work of others who make a different choice, and that is not absolutely fine. Writing content and cleaning up what is there are both essential and constructive parts of building the encyclopaedia. Some people make balanced contributions to both areas, others choose to concentrate on one area or the other. Whichever choice we make we can all respect others who contribute in different ways.
Me in real life
My name is not James, nor Watson, nor do I have the middle initial "B". Why JamesBWatson then? No special reason. When I first registered on Misplaced Pages I intended to use my real name, or a version of it if someone else had already taken it. However, I found myself reading a message warning me that using your real name on Misplaced Pages might not be a good idea, and, doubtful about it, I picked the first fictitious name I thought of. In one of the Sherlock Holmes stories Dr Watson is referred to as "James" (though elsewhere his name is given as "John"). I think the B was a reference to an old friend whose name really is James (but not Watson). It mildly amuses me when Wikipedians address me, in a friendly manner as "James" or, more rarely, refer to me contemptuously as "Watson". However, feel free to do either or both of these: I am quite happy with it.
I am a graduate mathematician, and some of my editing has been in mathematical articles. However, this is a fairly small proportion of my total work on Misplaced Pages.
I have an alternative account at User:JamesAWatson. It is intended to be used only in insecure environments, such as public computers, where access to an admin account might be problematic. At present I have not used it. I may or may not use it in the future.
