Wikipedia editor
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My name is Simon, and I live in Nottingham, in the UK. My edits are largely stylistic, and will follow the advice of the Manual of Style. If you notice that I do change something away from the MoS, it will be because I was not aware of the particular guideline; please direct me to the relevant section. On other issues, please let me know if you do not like what I am doing—I will either give you a reason, or listen to what you have to say. You could even change my mind!
I edit using Twinkle and Huggle. If I am on Huggle and an edit appears which seemingly removes a large section for no reason (ie there is no edit summary), I will revert it. Do not expect me to self-revert back to your version if there is a legitimate reason for this edit. It is your own fault if you do not leave a summary. I may undo edits if they seem half-complete: if this happens to you (you saved a version which was not your final edit), let me know and I will self-revert. You should, though, be using the 'preview' function at the bottom of the edit box. This does not apply when editing different sections.
I will try to create a page which is the last in a series to be done if there is sufficient information about it readily available on the internet. I may not know about it myself, so other editors' help is much appreciated.
I do not make a habit of taking editors to ANI. In fact, I have never done so. I seem to have rather a reputation for it, though—bizarrely. I do sometimes use templated warning messages, or 'nastygrams' as an IP address once referred to them. This is to make it easier for other editors who may have a problem with a particular user. If there may be ambiguity to what it is I am referring, I will leave you a note to explain. Generally, I refrain from leaving templated messages, as they are met with a bad reception. Finally, I am on Wikipedia most days.
Send me an email, though, if you want me to do something quickly.
1. 'Compared to' = the same, for example 'he was compared to Henry VIII for his extensive number of female partners'; 'compared with' = different, for example '3.6 per cent of people voted for the Communist candidate in 2005, compared with 4.1 per cent in 2010'.
2. Punctuation separates clauses! One must write, 'Within a month of the raid, construction of the ...', rather than, 'Within a month of the raid construction of the ...'. It is unclear to use the latter. (This example comes from the article 'Gananoque'.)
3. Do not write 'the' before the day: 'On the 1 January' should read, 'On 1 January'. There is no need for the 'the' to be present. Ask yourself: 'Why am I writing 'the' before the day, but not 'of' after it?'
4. Do not use '&'. I very much doubt you would write that in any other sort of formal piece, so why do it here?
5. Do not write 'go and', 'try and' etc instead of 'go to', 'try to' etc. There is no justification behind this.
6. 'I need to talk to you' sounds as if one is about to receive a telling-off. 'I need to talk with you' is far preferable, and suggests a conversation rather than a berating.
7. The only time one is able to say 'I was stood', 'She is sat', etc is when another person has placed you somewhere, for example, 'I was sat next to the window on the plane' could be interpreted as 'The airline gave me a seat next to the window'. 'I am stood here, talking to you' is just wrong. The tense one is trying to form is the continuous tense: this requires 'is', 'was', 'will be' etc and a present participle—sitting, standing. Instead of saying that one 'is sat', it is necessary to say that one 'is standing'. It is unlikely that 'I was jumped' would happen to fall from the mouth of a literate person, but misuse of sitting and standing occurs very often.
8. 'For free' is not grammatically acceptable. Prepositions may only be succeeded by nouns. As 'free' is an adjective, it is wrong. Prepositions are used to provide information about relationships: you cannot have a relationship between something and nothing.
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| UAR | This editor believes that account creation should be required to edit on Wikipedia. |
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 | This user tries to do the right thing. If he makes a mistake, please let him know. |
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| Majority ≠ right
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This user recognizes that even if 300,000,000 people make the same mistake, it's still a mistake.
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| -ly
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This user mourns the apparent death of the adverb, a loss that this user feels most serious.
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try to | This user tries to discourage usage of "try and". |
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| its & it's | This user understands the difference between its and it's. So should you. |
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| much & many | This user understands the difference between much & many. |
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| ; | This user knows how to use a semicolon correctly. |
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