User:WillowW
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Hi, I'm Willow, and I'm very happy that you came to my page!
I've been editing since April 2006, so I can't claim to be a newbie, but I'm still incredibly clueless about everything at Wikipedia; I'm sure to astonish on that score. :P Other shortcomings include egregious overuse of emoticons, a maddeningly short attention span, enthusiastic gushing over everything, and an inability to see anything wrong (not helpful for peer reviews). But you'll just have to take me as I am, since it seems there's no hope for a cure. ;) On a happier note, I sometimes grant wishes to friendly, kind and clever Wikipedians, albeit very randomly.
I'm rather fond of people. I love very young people and very old people, and the rest of you inbetween are pretty nice, too! ;) I believe that there is always a peaceful, serene path we can walk, if only we can be clever enough to think of it, and energetic enough to pursue it.
It's nice when people give me barnstars and other prizes — but the gifts I really prize are tranquility and harmony among the people around me; the dance-like intimacy of clever, well-informed conversation; and the chance to learn something new, especially languages and the untraveled oceans of you. If you really want to give me a gift, perhaps you could bring lupus erythematosus to Featured Article status?
- Esce di mano a lui che la vagheggia
- prima che sia, a guisa di fanciulla
- che piangendo e ridendo pargoleggia,
- l'anima semplicetta che sa nulla,
- salvo che, mossa da lieto fattore,
- volontier torna a ciò che la trastulla.
[edit] What I'm working on
| Reminders of things I should do for others... |
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| A menagerie of my own projects... |
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[edit] Sundry sandboxes, drafts and notes |
[edit] Awadewit's checklist for Featured Article preparation
Once an article is basically complete and referenced, the following steps may help it through the Featured Article nomination process, as worked out by our own Queen Mab of the FAe, Awadewit. :)
- Good article nomination
- Copy edit
- Peer review
- Copy edit
- Be sure article adheres to Wikipedia's Manual of Style
- Proofread (read article aloud)
- Check all citations to make sure they are located correctly and formatted correctly (page ranges, commas, etc.)
- Check all links to make sure they go to the right articles
- Read article aloud one last time
- Nominate for FAC!
[edit] Fun articles
I contributed to an article about No Rest for the Wicked, a wonderful webcomic that I read.
Together with old and new friends, we've started new WikiProjects on Textile Arts and Fashion. Fools rush in where angels fear to tread — wait, did I get that backwards? ;)
and helped out with another
I'd also like to add some articles about clothing design. I've begun with
- Neckline
- Waistline (clothing)
- Hemline
- Style line
- Dress size
- US standard clothing size
- Sweater design
I really need to add some pictures/figures to these articles. :( I also added some polishing touches to
A few other random crafty contributions...
I like to do calligraphy with a broad-nib pen, especially when writing thank-you notes. I like very rounded scripts like Uncial, Carolingian minuscule and some forms of bastarda Gothic. Recently, I added a wiki-related pangram for calligraphy practice.
[edit] Poetic articles
I'm crazy about Homer and Sappho, but other poets are pretty good, too. While tending to a sick relative, I recently rediscovered the passionate and wickedly fun poetry of Catullus. On a whim, I've decided to illustrate every poem and to find scholarly references for them, to make them more encyclopedic. The complete list of Catullus' poems still has many missing; any help would be much appreciated! :)
| Catullus poems I've been working on | |||
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[edit] Biographical articles
| I've created mini-biographies of people and places that I admire... |
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[edit] Biochemistry articles
Biochemistry students have it rough - so much to learn! And so few good textbooks - it's a recipe for Confusion Stew.
| Here's my dash of paprika ;) |
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Theoretically, I'm a member of Wikipedia:WikiProject Molecular and Cellular Biology, although I contribute all too fitfully, just like I do to my other WikiProjects. :(
| I did manage to make some linked navigational templates |
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[edit] Protein structure
[edit] Families of biochemicalsunder construction — don't look, please!...unless you want to help out, mwahaha)
They were fun, I've learned a lot making them! :) There's also this, now improved by my favorite pentomphaloid: |
In collaboration with Jennifer, I created roughly a bazillion articles for the RNA WikiProject. Hi, Jen! :)
I've also devoted myself to filling in the gaps of Wikipedia's coverage of enzymes. At last count, there are only 4000 classes of enzymes, so it should be pretty easy... ;)
[edit] Physics articles
Physics is beautiful; I always wish I understood more.
I try to write articles about topics that puzzled me when I was a student, so as to help the next generation. Theoretically, I'm a member of Wikipedia:WikiProject Physics, although I haven't contributed much there.
I also touched up
[edit] Mathematical articles
I love that feeling when you choose just the right coordinates and a big, terrifying problem dissolves into something trivial. It's like throwing water on the Wicked Witch of the West. ;)
| Other mathematical topics are nice, too... |
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Someday, I'll add some stuff about my first love, map projections. Wikipedia's already pretty good, though! Theoretically, I'm a member of Wikipedia:WikiProject Mathematics, although I haven't contributed much there, either.
[edit] Chemistry articles
I've never been good at chemistry - bleh :p So I've only fixed up a few articles
- Equilibrium constant
- Acid dissociation constant
- Dissociation constant
- Mass action
- Chemical equilibrium
- Thiol
[edit] Encyclopedic articles
I'd really like to work on more music articles, especially counterpoint- and dance-related ones but, somehow or other, I seem to be drifting towards library science.
| I've worked on improving these encyclopedia articles |
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The articles have helped me to better understand Wikipedia and the traditional goals of encyclopedias. Encyclopædia Britannica was brought to Featured Article status in April 2007, with many wonderful Wikipedians working shoulder-to-shoulder. I hope they won't mind me mentioning their names, but special kudos should be given to TimVickers, Geometry guy, Awadewit, Stbalbach, Outriggr, SandyGeorgia, Fvasconcellos, Phoebe, Ravedave, JoeSmack, Ssilvers, Tony, CloudNine, Alabamaboy, Bramlet Abercrombie, Garrie, and the world's best pentomphaloid, Opabinia regalis. Dev920 rallied the most experienced FAC reviewers to make the article as good as it could be. I loved being part of such a symphony, each of us contributing a voice to make something beautiful; Wikipedia at its best. :) The candidacy was intense and joyful, and a memory I'll carry for a long time. But our efforts would've been in vain, were it not for all the work of previous generations of editors such as NauticaShades, who brought the Britannica to its first FA candidacy. Thank you! :)
[edit] Missing encyclopedic articles
| As part of a wiki-game, I started creating some missing encyclopedic articles... |
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[edit] Taxonomic articles
| I've made a few taxonomic articles, especially for microbes |
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Since working on the missing encyclopedic articles above, I've become good friends with a headstrong and very vocal nightingale, Daisy. She's determined to produce stubs for the roughly 270,000 taxa missing from Wikipedia. We've begun with two new stubs, {{Archaea-stub}} and {{Taxonomy-stub}}, and an article-assessment banner {{Tree of Life}}. The only help I give to Daisy is that I upload her pages; she's a very smart passerine! :) Daisy began by creating or updating articles for every taxonomic group of the Archaea down to the genus level, for which she created some new categories...
Daisy also made some new lists (good for eliminating important redlinks!)
and all the genera under the bacterial order Rhodobacterales. If you have a favorite taxonomic group for which you'd like Daisy to create pages, please let us know! :) Daisy has begun to make pages for various algae, beginning with the green algae. She's made taxonomic stubs down to the genus level for the Chlorophyta and Desmids. One of these days she'll have a go at Acetabularia. I've also joined Wikipedia:WikiProject Microbiology and Wikipedia:WikiProject Tree of Life, although I can't claim to be an expert. Hopefully, people will be patient with me! |
[edit] Random articles
| Fun random articles :) |
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I don't often read newspapers but these came up thanks to Alfred Harmsworth: |
Ancient Greek is a very beautiful and expressive language, ideal for philosophy and poetry. On a whim, I was going to add some articles about its rhetorical figures, a truly trivial art, but Wikipedia had most of them already — yay! :)
| I've worked on a few rhetorical figures in ancient Greek... | |||
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I also updated the glossary of rhetorical terms slightly. |
I'm not sure where to put an 18th century periodical that reviewed new books
- Analytical Review, brainchild of Joseph Johnson and Thomas Christie
[edit] Categories and user boxes
| I was really timid when I made my first few categories... |
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[edit] Images
[edit] Inter-Wiki stuff
I enjoy reading old texts, especially when they're written with colorful language and feeling. Unfortunately, many original sources (together with their translations) aren't in the public domain or haven't been entered electronically.
| I've begun adding some original texts (along with my translations) to the Wikisources |
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and some brief essays by Kurt Tucholsky, modern, bitter-sweet and beautiful:
Tucholsky's works entered the public domain this year (2006). |
[edit] Other trivia about me
Wikipedia feels like a medieval cathedral of knowledge being built over a century, with a community of wonderful, well-meaning people of gentle strength. If I start feeling low, I go to a bright place to remind myself of where I am and why we're here.
When I was about seven, my grandmother gave me a Children's Book of Knowledge, a fat, yellow book that I read over and over even after the binding had cracked in three places. I loved all the chapters, especially those about different lands and languages. Somehow, my articles now feel like gifts to my younger self.
Every so often, something especially nice happens to me on Wikipedia, which gets remembered in my scrapbook.
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Fun Stuff
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More about me
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| Something embarrassing that I still need to think about... | ||||||
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[edit] Windmills and GiantsOccasionally I try to build more friendly relations with other encyclopedians. We're all struggling with a difficult but good task, distilling the best of the world into few words, and I had imagined that we might all meet in peace and discuss our craft with charming wit and keen insights; shades of Limbo, indeed! :) Unfortunately, I've been a miserable diplomat so far, both with the Encyclopædia Britannica and Citizendium Re-reading my letters, I see so much clumsiness on my part (not gentle enough, too much using myself as an example). But I persist in believing that Wikipedia and other encyclopedias can coexist in mutual respect and even complement one another. If drops of water can wear away a stone, there's a dogged hope that encyclopedians might be reconciled to one another. There's no reason in the world why we should be adversarial, and every reason for us to collaborate. I did receive a gracious letter from Tom Panelas, spokesman for the Britannica, for which I'm very grateful. One gleam of hope is that we may yet earn the friendship and collaboration of some Citizendium editors by bringing the Loop of Henle up to Featured Article status. I'm going to try to do that in good faith, and would appreciate any help that anyone is willing to lend. Thanks! :)
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