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User:Tristessa de St Ange

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Tristessa de St Ange

About me

I'm Tristessa, a Wikipedia mediator and administrator from Brighton, United Kingdom. I first started editing Wikipedia as a registered user in December 2004 in my former incarnation. (In case you were wondering, my pseudonym on Wikipedia is a reference to a character from a Angela Carter novel, The Passion of New Eve.)

My work on Wikipedia predominantly revolves around WP:DR, both practically in helping to resolve disputes and researching improvements to Wikipedia dispute resolution methods:

  • WP:MEDCAB (2005-): I once pretty much was the infamous Wikipedia:Mediation Cabal, being its former Coordinator; if you'd like the former Queen of the MedCab to help mediate somewhere, please do drop me a line.
  • WP:MEDCOM (2011-): I'm a member (as of 2011) of the Wikipedia:Mediation Committee, mediating the official WP:RFM. The culture of the MedCom is very different from the MedCab. Nevertheless, the actual core of mediation does not change, no matter how the organisation conducting it is formed. (Consider a mediation process like a coatrack; it stops the coats falling on the floor, but putting a scruffy coat on a million-dollar coatrack does not make it become cashmere.) I believe that I will have useful skills to offer the MedCom and, whilst I am sure my fellow Committee members knew that my appointment would precede me making annoying suggestions of changes, I will be reasonably careful not to charge in too badly.

A word on personal differences

As a person who is a gender-variant, pacifist, anarchocollectivist Buddhist, I tick many "minority" boxes.

I have noticed on multiple occasions a phenomenon whereby the impending fear of an person's attributes being impugned is enough to create a reaction similar to as though they really had been subject to bigotry, hatred, or some similar fear. This is extremely common on Wikipedia.

There is nothing wrong with wearing what makes us unique "on our sleeves"; as we are all unique, and our uniqueness is what really forms the core of the beauty to find in others. What is wrong is when we take what others wear on their sleeves to be a threat to our wearing of our things on our sleeves. The answer, put simply, is to wear a sleeveless shirt when your sleeve-badges are too precious to take out in public.

Build up your confidence gradually; wear them at home; then with some close friends; then in places you feel comfortable; then throughout your life.

Once you have learned to stop fearing yourself, you will no longer fear the perceptions of you by others.

Wiki-philosophy

Wikipedia 5R

A wiki is designed to be rewritten.

Consequently, some code of behaviour is necessary to ensure that this takes place in a manner that leads to some kind of improvement versus constant argument.

That code of behaviour is extremely simple:-

  1. Respect: Treat both viewpoints and contributors with respect and common sense.
  2. Reserve: Hold a dispassionate view of all subject matter, regardless of your own view on the subject. Reserve strong personal opinion for venues outside Wikipedia.
  3. Resolve: Change anything that you see as being broken around Wikipedia in the most productive way possible - that is, aim to resolve issues rather than continue them.
  4. Respond: Always be responsive and ready to talk to any colleague or interested party.
  5. Relax: It's a wiki. It's designed to be changed, and things will change. It will be alright.

Contacting me

If there's any way you think I might be able to help you, I'm entirely at your service. I don't bite... honest! (well, I try very hard not to)

  • Leave a message on my talk page. I'll respond to you on both your talk page and mine, copying all dialogue.
  • Send me an e-mail. Click here to send me a message
  • Grab me on IRC. I usually use the nick "Tristessa" on Freenode; you can usually find me hanging around #wikipedia, and if you ask about for me someone will know my whereabouts.


Userpage layout modified to death by User:Tristessa de St Ange, who shamelessly nicked it from User:Mindspillage, who'd purloined it from User:Talrias. My, how wiki coding travels...