Hi, I'm GeneralNotability. I am a Wikipedia editor, administrator, and CheckUser. I work in a lot of different areas on Wikipedia: the aforementioned sockpuppet investigations, conflict-of-interest discussions, spam removal, proxy detection, and occasionally even content writing. I'll even admit to enjoying content writing, but it's limited to when I have the time to sit down and research. If you want to talk to me, feel free to post on my talk page; I can also be found on IRC (now on libera) as GenNotability (cloaked as wikipedia/GeneralNotability) and on Wikimedia Discord as @GN#6740. At right is a picture of my fluffy co-editor, Oreo (a rescue Border Collie mix).
Articles I'd like to work on eventually[edit]
- Nain Singh
- Shooting of Tony Robinson
- Mayda
- Freeman Field mutiny
- Hobart's Funnies
- Coffey School of Aeronautics
Modifying my administrative actions[edit]
Any admin may modify or reverse any of my administrative actions without asking my approval. There are three cases where I ask that you check with me before making any changes, though:
- Sockpuppetry blocks: there may be behavioral indicators that I'd rather not discuss publicly. Also, sockpuppetry behavioral investigations can sometimes get complicated, and if you do want to unblock I'd like to give you a summary of my findings so that you have the same information I did.
- Proxy blocks: I have access to some data sources that not everyone has access to, and some proxy blocks involve technical checks that not everyone is familiar with. I'm happy to give a summary of the data that led to my block.
- Checkuser blocks: well, if you're not a checkuser, you're not supposed to be touching these anyway without consulting a CU. I basically use these to mean "a significant part of this block was because of something normal admins cannot see." There may be cases where I'm willing to soften these to "use your discretion in unblocking if you believe their explanation," but unless you're a CU, please don't touch these without asking me or another CU, since reversing a CU action is grounds for immediate desysop. And that would be bad.
A thought about adminship[edit]
Back when I prepped for my RfA, one of the questions I prepared for (but wasn't asked) was the traditional "which Wikipedia policy do you think is most important, and why?" My planned answer there might surprise some people: WP:5P4 (particularly its descendants WP:AGF and WP:Civility). Wikipedia could be the most accurate and well-written encyclopedia out there, but if its members are toxic, nobody is going to want to join and contribute. Don't get me wrong - my goal isn't to be the "civility police." Instead, I think that my role as an administrator is to model civil behavior (always engage people respectfully and assume good faith) and hope that that inspires other editors to act similarly. I won't be perfect on this, of course, and if you think I'm being uncivil, please feel free to drop me a note about it.
User scripts[edit]
- User:GeneralNotability/spihelper - helps clerks and checkusers with sockpuppet investigations, forked from User:Timotheus Canens/spihelper.js. Release-grade and actively developed.
- User:GeneralNotability/ip-ext-info.js - shows an icon next to IP addresses with their ISP, country, and netmask. Release-grade.
- Goes with bullseye, a toolforge project I've put together to collect a bunch of sources' data on a given IP.
- User:GeneralNotability/mark-locked.js - marks globally locked users with a dashed red underline. Release-grade.
- User:GeneralNotability/moremenu-proxy.js - extra links for MoreMenu to help with proxy hunting. Release-grade.
- User:GeneralNotability/edit-filter-hit-analyzer.js - when viewing AbuseLog entries (the "details" link next to a filter hit), shows a breakdown of the filter and the variables each rule of the filter references. Rudimentary, since I don't hate myself enough to write a full parser for the edit filter language. Alpha-grade and kind of ugly, but it works more often than not.
Other things[edit]
If you want to organize references while doing article research, I highly recommend Zotero. If you ever want to collaborate with me on a big article expansion, I have a closed public group at [1] - shoot me a note and I can add you.
- Admin recall criteria
- My COI disclosures
- Admin stats
- For checkusers: decoder ring for my CU log entries
Entertaining quotes[edit]
I didn't think I'd ever say to someone "you know, the thing with someone faking his death and then rising from the grave to whitewash his Wikipedia article is the more plausible scenario"
- Blablubbs on the controversy surrounding Nicholas Alahverdian's "death" and Wikipedia articleWe're a bit like ents that talk as fast as alvin and the chipmunks
- CaptainEek on ArbCombranch of science about the natural world and how it relates to statistics, prediction, low-entropy thinking, extra sensory perception (ESP), Prophecising, Apocalyptic Revelations, God, The Trinity, David, Kyle, Alpha, Omega, K, Cabal, cosmos, Wikis
- Suggestededit's idea of a good shortdesc for natural science.I try to approach Wikipedia with roughly the same demeanor as with which I'd approach an office job (in an office that has lots of pornographic images and often has to repel invaders, I guess).
- Tamzin hereAs for Mitrulinia, that is a genus and species of fungi, and unlike "upcoming" podcasters, bloggers, livestreamers, rappers, YouTubers and "influencers" and their multitudes of fans, fungal species do not engage in constant and unrelenting promotional editing.
- Cullen328 heretoday is a bad day to be a random vandal... like shoplifting and bumping into a SWAT team on the way out
- Tamzin on finding a "normal" vandal while a bunch of editors with advanced permissions were watching recent changes while waiting for a botnet attack.
Rejected policy shortcuts[edit]
- WP:ELFCITE - policy on citing works by magical creatures.
- WP:BEITALIC - encouraging editors to write articles like Mario