User:Berig

Userboxes This user is an administrator on the English Wikipedia. (verify) This user received the Editor of the Week award. This user is a gentleman who strives to inspire. This user is a Freemason. PhD This user has a Doctor of Philosophy degree. This user is a linguist. This user is a WikiBear. This user has been on Wikipedia for 21 years, 9 months and 4 days. This user has been an admin for 16 years, 3 months and 1 day. This editor thinks Wikipedia should readily allow copyrighted images and supports fair use. We should teach and not let copyright stop learning. Everyone has points of view with inherent cultural biases - recognition is the first step to achieving NPOV. This user is a regular blood donor.

I first started editing on 29 May 2003 (on a dynamic university IP), when most articles were a few unreferenced lines, and most links were red. I was pulled in because I enjoyed adding content and seeing the links turn blue. There were only about 800 active editors on English WP. I remember when it hit mind-boggling 200.000 articles, and I doubted it would get much bigger. I got an account in January 2004 and soon became an admin, due to my prolific article writing and troll-fighting. But I got extremely tired of the trolls (there were more of them back then) and left late 2005.

I could not stay away so in 2006 I started this account and in 2008, I was again made an admin. Wikipedia has changed a lot during these years. In spite of the larger population of trolls back in 2005, I miss how much smaller it was and in retrospect the atmosphere was more relaxed, and ... convivial. Wikipedia has grown bigger than I could ever have imagined, and so important, but we have lost things in the process. Still, I am very fond of Wikipedia, and although I may not log in for long periods, not a day has passed without me browsing it.