On Fri, 28 May 2004 Steve.Parsons@inveresk.com wrote:
Steve.Parsons@inveresk.com wrote:
Hi all, new user here. I hope to get the lay of the land here soon and contribute some articles and edits on Egyptology. Particularly I'd like to do write-ups on Sneferu and his pyramids, which often seem to get overlooked in favor of the Giza group. Any thoughts would be most welcome.
Yeah. Just go ahead and write.
Well Ray, not to put too fine a point on it, but screw you.
This is a puzzling exchange.
New user asks for advice. Ray responds to ``just go ahead and write" -- which is how almost all of us here got started. New user replies with an obscenity. Somewhere, there has been a failure to communicate.
First, we need help with Egyptian topics. Based on a figure I read a month ago, there were something over 300 Egyptian kings, & last I counted, probably not more than 10% of them had entries in Wikipedia. The Egyptian Mythology article needs work. And there are probably other gaping holes in that section.
Not knowing anything about you other than these two emails, Steve, I really can't offer any advice than what Ray said: yes, there are some concerns about fair use, copyright, NPOV, & so forth, but if you were able to read enough of the Wikipedia website to understand how to subscribe to this list, is it fair to assume you have at least looked at those sections? You probably currently know more about Wikipedia than I did when I started about a year & ahalf ago -- & I've made a few edits since then.
You will butt heads with other editors. You will have your writing changed, sometimes not for the better. You will discover that someone knows things you don't. You will sometimes feel that Wikipedia's not worth it, & want to abandon it to the trolls, fools & wackos who keep appearing here.
And sometimes you will have an enjoyable exchange with someone, or learn something you want to share. Or maybe you will find reward in the act of sharing something you find important with strangers.
Again, I don't know anything about you, other than these two emails. And the second one didn't show you at your best. Would you like to try again at introducing yourself?
Geoff itself.