Wikipedia:Simple News/Bluegoblin7/Reserve/QandA-Gwib

This is an "emergency" QandA so that the December 2008 issue isn't without one... sorry those in the queue (i'll forfeit my place if needed!) but Gwib offered to be interviewed and the section is sort of the main part of Simple News at the moment ;)

Thanks,

B G^7even 14:58, 13 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]

This month, User:Gwib is in the spotlight!

So, tell me a little about yourself, where you are from, what do you do?

I've got a mother who has family about as English as can be (5 generations never left Cornwall!) and a father who has family as Jewish as can be (about 18 generations who never left Iraq). They both left their families, met in England, moved to Switzerland and here we are still, 30 years later.
I'm good at biology, and will study it later in university in England or Scotland (depending on who accepts me). Finish school in 5 months.

So, what sort of things are you involved with on-wiki?

As an admin, it's my job to delete, block and protect. I haven't protected any pages in a while, but I constantly delete pages and block users. I also have a running Wikiproject, probably the most controversial (and interesting ;) ) one of the lot. I've also got a list of Blues Musicians to be created at user:Gwib/goals.
Recently, I've been making mistakes. Most notably, the failure of my RfB. However, I still think that my decision-making abilities are intact and hope to soon clear my talk page of accusations.

Could you tell us a bit more about your WikiProject?

After checking the most visited articles on SEWP, I saw that the majority were sexuality-related (penis, sexual intercourse, erection etc). I quickly created a project to improve these articles, some of which were staggeringly bad, so that our most viewed articles would also be our highest quality articles.
I've taken a lot of abuse, good-natured and not so good-natured, for making a Wikiproject dedicated to 'touching the untouchables', but I think it's a necessary course of action. Also it has funny pictures.

How did you first get involved with Wikipedia?

I started by vandalising ... ahem, testing English Wikipedia with my friends. When I saw that it was actually people behind the pages, I had to get involved. Before, I thought it was a sort of mirror of Encyclopedia Britannica, written by professionals!
Can't remember how I found out about Simple though, it was over 1 and 1/2 years ago...

What do you like the most about Wikipedia?

Funny vandalism.
- [1]
- [2]
- [3]

What do you like the least about Wikipedia?

Finding one of these on a page.

We've already spoken briefly about your WikiProject and on-wiki jobs, but is there anything you are proud of doing in Wikipedia? A favourite edit, or something you are glad you got the chance to do?

My most edited article, also my favourite one as it was my first edit to SEWP, was writing Jimi Hendrix. After much simplification and Wikification by me and many others, it's become a VGA.
I'd also like to add that it's thanks to Eptalon that I stayed and editied SEWP. This message was so kind that I wanted to stay around and edit further, as well as meet others like him.

I don't really know what else, so I think that will do nicely. Unless there is some questions you want to ask yourself?

Nope, I'm alright. Feel free to ask me anything else if you think of it. I would just like to "plug" WikiProject Sex and Sexuality and Wikipedia:Special pages, as it can be really useful!