Xioa72
Welcome!
editHello, Xioa72, and welcome to Wikipedia! Thank you for your contributions. I hope you like the place and decide to stay. Here are a few links to pages you might find helpful:
You may also want to complete the Wikipedia Adventure, an interactive tour that will help you learn the basics of editing Wikipedia. You can visit the Teahouse to ask questions or seek help.
Please remember to sign your messages on talk pages by typing four tildes (~~~~); this will automatically insert your username and the date. If you need help, check out Wikipedia:Questions, ask me on my talk page, or , and a volunteer should respond shortly. Again, welcome! Bakazaka (talk) 18:48, 21 December 2018 (UTC)
Hello (talk) thanks for the welcoming comments. I'm a long time reader of wikipedia (aren't we all), but have decided to finally contribute something! I'm going to read the links you've provided above. Most grateful. Xioa72 (talk) 13:37, 22 December 2018 (CET)
AfDs
editHi, Xioa72 did you just make a Wikipedia account to criticise the page about Sam Giles? What is it about her research that you don't like? You could try making some articles of your own before criticising other's notability. There are plenty of edit-a-thons you can attend in the UK if you're not sure how. Jesswade88 (talk) 10:20, 30 December 2018 (UTC)
- Hello Jesswade88, I have pasted the below reply from NickCT talk page.
- Hello NickCT, I appreciate your taking the time to reply to me. I would have to say that I agree with everything that you have said above. To answer your question Jesswade88, not at all! Having been a long-time reader of Wikipedia, I felt it important to (finally) contribute something. It just so happens that Dr Giles was the first paleontologist who I came across that I felt did not meet the criteria for notability in this field. Whilst one would probably agree it is not ideal to begin my wikipedian journey by deleting a page, I opted for this suggestion to reduce dilution in a field that I have spent more than three decades. I cannot help but echo what Nick says here, that this individual, who I would agree has published a few good papers, is far from the mark of being a notable academic in this field. If Dr Giles is deserved of a page, then quite literally 100s thousands of scientists deserve to be on here, too. Jesswade88 Please do know that this is nothing against you, or Sam, and having read your profile I can see that you have contributed a significant amount to Wikipedia for which I think is fantastic. I think that perhaps being stuck in my traditional ways, maybe this wiki editing is not for me. Xioa72 (talk) 13:13, 2 January 2019 (CET)
Encouragement
editHallo, Please don't give up on editing Wikipedia just because of one disagreement. If you think the current rules for notability for academics demand a low bar, consider the fact that anyone who has played one professional game of football, or one county cricket match, is "notable". There are undoubtedly many thousands of articles about extremely unencyclopedic people and other topics. But they do no harm, unless they are advertising, personal attacks, just plain incorrect, etc.
Concentrate on adding to the encyclopedia, or correcting mistakes. You said that you want to "create and edit paleontology-related pages, with special emphasis on those individuals whose contribution to the field is of importance, but has yet to be recognized or has been overlooked and their page requires revision"
: go for it. Find someone or something significant whose article is only a minimal stub and use your knowledge to find appropriate sources to expand it. There are 118 articles in Category:Paleontology stubs and many more in its 14 subcategories, all waiting for a paleontological enthusiast to improve them! You possibly can't create a new article from scratch yet, as a very new editor, but you could create one as a draft if you wanted to go down the route of article creation. There's a lot to learn about editing Wikipedia but it's an interesting journey. 2019 is a new start, so put Sam Giles to the back of your mind and have a look at the encyclopedia's other 5,779,931 articles. Happy Editing. PamD 16:27, 2 January 2019 (UTC)
Hello User:PamD, thank you so very much for the words of encouragement. It is most kind of you to take the time and send a message of support. I shall endeavour to make a change. Xioa72 (talk) 10:30, 16 January 2019 (CET)