User:Ed Poor

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In God’s sight, skin color makes no difference. God does not stand behind the barriers of religion and culture. They are nothing more than the Devil’s tricks. He has used them to rule over humanity as a false parent for tens of thousands of years. [1]

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We're all in this together

On behalf of the Wikipedia Community, I award you this Gold Barnstarwatch in recognition of your many years as a Wikipedia Bureaucrat. -Willmcw 23:56, 16 September 2005 (UTC)

I am a Unificationist, a follower of the Rev. Sun Myung Moon

I believe in being bold yet gracious. Leave me a message. I usually answer pretty quickly - except when I'm on vacation!

I've been here since November 2001, and I can't quit or I get deluged with e-mails begging me to come back.

I helped establish the Mediation and Arbitration committees; I set the precedent that Developers don't grant themselves admin or bureaucrat rights but run for election like anybody else; and I am unquestionably Wikipedia's leading exponent of Wikipedia:NPOV.

Note: this doesn't mean all my contributions are de facto neutral. I'm sloppy and careless just as often as the next man, and I really appreciate your help correcting my errors of neutrality and accuracy.

Over the years, I've collected innumerable messages of thanks and support. I tend to archive these rather than show them off. But I keep them in my heart.

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Why I write

Ed Poor as drawn by Phroziac

I'm a poor student, so I need to refer to my notes frequently. I just can't remember certain details. As a computer programmer, I'm constantly referring to the manual: Read The Fine Manual is my motto (see RTFM).

As I discover things, I want to set them down for future reference. In this I am like Hobbits; they enjoy writing down things that everyone knows perfectly well, like how their calendar works. Wikipedia is like that for me: a place where even the most mundane, everyday information can be found. The difference is that Wikipedia does not have one author, nor is it a collection of articles by individual authors. Rather, the entire body is a collection of collaboratively written texts.

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Communication

William Opdyke wrote:

Ralph Johnson taught me an important lesson about research: if someone (a reviewer of a paper, an attendee at a talk) comments "I don't understand" or just doesn't get it, it's our fault. It is our responsibility to work hard to develop and communicate our ideas.¹

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