User:dave souza

What we won't do is pretend that the work of lunatic charlatans is the equivalent of "true scientific discourse." It isn't.

Bio

dave was a fairly upright character, generally well respected as a local authority architect whose designs were well liked and who was tactful with contractors, including the odd one who gave cowboys a bad name. He retired and for diversion bought a laptop to begin browsing the internets. This was kept reasonably in check, but then a friend requested information on kilts and he incautiously looked up the History of Scotland.

He fell prey to the Demon Wikipedia...

cue The Kinks "old demon alcohol"

This user has been editing Wikipedia for more than twenty years.

Irked by a slight to his Votadini nationalism he wrote of them and their other guise as the Gododdin, then put together pages on prehistoric Scotland and related minor articles. Soon he was off on the PS Waverley and other steamboats including the fabled Vital Spark, and dabbling in Jacobitism. Flattered by well meaning compliments on Doune castle and the visit of King George IV to Scotland as well as the buzz of cheap vanity publishing, his condition worsened.

Irritated by something in the Charles Darwin article which didn't fit with his memory of a library book, he borrowed the book and was soon involved in extensive revisions of the page and adding related articles. Nine months later he was still renewing the book and distilling its goodness into offshoots like the "the Devil's Chaplain" while frantically editing related texts like Radicalism. He strayed into the history of creationism leading to an unhealthy fascination with the great intelligent design con. Soon he was spending sunny days when he should have been out mowing the lawn hunched over his laptop, as each edit spawned innumerable corrections to other articles or new red links demanding to be fed.

cue Ry Cooder "I'm drinking again"

Things took a turn for the worse when a "sysop" who had befriended him in the early days offered to nominate him as an admin. Flattered, he acceded to the request, even vowing to spend more time on much needed janny duties. Incautiously, he revived someone's old nomination of Charles Darwin as a featured article candidate, and was shocked to find that his repeated cropping had left a staccato style that was little liked. Fortunately a wizard from Oz began helping to edit Communicative musicality into the blighted text. While many favoured his move to admin, others mercilessly pointed out his flaws.

In the heat of the gruelling RfA process he'd promised to spend more time on fighting back the ravening hordes with nothing better to do than splatter graffiti over articles or try to reinvent history. A wise guru cautioned, assuring him that there was a place for admins as a background resource who didn't get bogged down in doing day to day mopping. So, heeding this, he instead used his experience of contractual hassles to try to calm such ferocious battlegrounds as the British Isles. After indulging in a digital camera he took far too many pics around Gourock, foraying further afield to Mackintosh's Ruchill Church Hall and the redoubtable Kate Cranston's tearooms, as well as Bud Neill's monumental two-legged equestrian statue. The Tiktaalik news spawned the famous fishapods image, and awoke the living fossil Bishapod!!!

Well, after more than a year of dave being made an admin, a couple of kindly souls prodded him to get Charles Darwin up to scratch, and did an enormous amount of work getting everything (and more) fully referenced using an amazing new inline citation standard. Harvard style, which presumably means blazers, baggy trousers and crewcuts. And it worked! Charles Darwin is much improved, and now has a wee gold star!

don't miss the next exciting episode (if dave can find time to edit this)

disclaimer: dave did nothing to edit The Kinks, Ry Cooder or Flying Spaghetti Monsterism, but likes them anyway

Barnstars

		The Editor's Barnstar
		As a regular reader of articles concerning evolution, I'm awarding you this barnstar for your contributions for your proud display! :) Obamafan70 (talk) 06:49, 21 October 2010 (UTC)

The Original Barnstar

For excellent no-nonsense edits to the Evolution article that illuminate the topic and reduce tension among editors, I award you this Original Barnstar. Mikker ^(...) 21:04, 3 April 2006 (UTC)

The Original Barnstar

For superb photography and tireless additions of said images to articles, I award you this Original Barnstar. Nach0king 21:19, 29 September 2006 (UTC)

Nice work! —Pengo 06:39, 12 April 2006 (UTC)

		The Zen Garden Award
		I, Samsara award you, Dave Souza, this Zen Garden Award for very patiently letting u s edit "your" articles on Charles Darwin, and helping plenty on the way. Samsara (talk • contribs) 10:48, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

		The Tireless Contributor Barnstar
		Awarded to Dave Souza for his work in helping increase the number of cites on the darwin article by over 140!! Ye gods! A friend, 18:57, 12 December 2006 (UTC)

		The E=mc² Barnstar
		I herewith award you, Dave Souza, the E=mc² Barnstar for your contribution to On the Origin of Species. It is now officially "On"! Keep up the great work!--Octavian history (talk) 23:33, 8 December 2007 (UTC)

		The Half Barnstar
		For an outstanding collaboration on On the Origin of Species. Rusty Cashman (talk) 20:51, 21 June 2009 (UTC)

		The Barnstar of Diligence
		For so many reasons, over so many years, you have done so much for Wikipedia. KillerChihuahua^?!?Advice 02:26, 25 July 2009 (UTC)

		The Bio-star
		For taking 2 important and complex works to FA, Origin of Species and Fertilisation of Orchids --Philcha (talk) 12:03, 9 August 2009 (UTC)

*The horror. A movie critic airing his own opinions*

Re: this comment - It made me laugh so hard, I'm giving you one of the most sought-after award on Wikipedia - Raul's Brick 'O Common Sense Raul654 (talk) 19:18, 27 February 2008 (UTC)

		The Helping Hand Barnstar
		For helping me get started. Figure this is better than cluttering talk pages with thanks! Shadowy Sorcerer (talk) 21:33, 6 December 2011 (UTC)

	evolution
	Thank you for quality articles on evolution, such as Darwin's Fertilisation of Orchids, for evolution in referencing, and for inviting new articles by red links, - you are an awesome Wikipedian! --Gerda Arendt (talk) 09:31, 6 October 2012 (UTC)