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I made my first edit to Wikipedia on 6 June 2006, a minor copy edit to the Delian League,[2] but I didn't begin to contribute regularly until February 2007. One of the first articles I contributed significantly to was Sale, Greater Manchester, which achieved GA probably despite my efforts. I learnt a good deal about what was expected of a GA/FA in the process though. At about the same time I expanded the stub on Sale Water Park to what I thought was a pretty cool article. I look back on it now with some nostalgia, and tidying it up is on my list of things to do. I still get just as much pleasure from writing about small subjects like the Manchester Mummy as I do from writing about the more obviously important ones like the Peterloo Massacre.
My personal baptism of fire with the GA/FA review processes came with Stretford, now a featured article. The road to FA was tough, but a fantastic learning experience, in all sorts of ways. When Chat Moss was promoted to FA on New Year's Eve 2007, I felt that maybe I was beginning to understand what was expected of a Wikipedia article. Since then I've helped to get Middlewich, Beeston Castle, Chester Cathedral and Ordsall Hall to GA, and the Pendle witch trials to FA. One of the things I've most enjoyed was being part of the Greater Manchester Project team that took the Peterloo Massacre from start to FA in just three weeks, a fantastic collaborative achievement.
As well as those articles to which I've contributed content, I also try to help with copyediting, particularly during the GA/FA review processes, where an objection to the quality of prose can be the difference between a pass and a fail. I flatter myself that I've been able to help at least Walter de Coventre, one of the 2,000th featured articles,[3] Navenby, Shaw and Crompton, and History of timekeeping devices to FA in that way.
In November 2007 I accepted a nomination for administrator,[4] perhaps the biggest mistake I've made on Wikipedia to date. That process coloured my view of the project, and I found its vindictiveness to be quite shocking. As a result I withdrew from it, and almost the entire project. Against my better judgement I was persuaded to once again undergo the ritual humiliation that RfA has become in May 2008.[5] That is not an experience that I would care to repeat, and I would encourage other editors to think carefully before submitting to their own RfA.
In June 2008 I had a slight username change, from Malleus Fatuarum to Malleus Fatuorum.
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