User:Ivanvector
This is not an encyclopedia article or the talk page for an encyclopedia article. If you find this page on any site other than Wikipedia, you are viewing a mirror site. Be aware that the page may be outdated and that the user whom this page is about may have no personal affiliation with any site other than Wikipedia. The original page is located at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Ivanvector.
Welcome to my user page! I am a long-time contributor to Wikipedia, first registering my account on 8 October 2009. I'm proudly Canadian and an accountant by profession, but my interests on Wikipedia cover a very wide range of topics. I am originally from London, Ontario and spent much of the 2010s in Toronto, although I now live in Prince Edward Island, on the traditional lands of Mi'kma'ki.
Off-wiki, I can be found on a number of websites such as my cat's blog, usually using the name "ivanvector". Chances are good that if you're interacting with "ivanvector" on another site, you're interacting with me, but that is not guaranteed. There are certainly websites where others have taken the name "ivanvector", and some of them are attempts to impersonate me. If you need to confirm that an off-wiki ivanvector is actually me, please post a note on my talk page and await a response from my main account. I am no longer active on Twitter and will not respond to messages there; the only social media I'm regularly active on is my Mastodon account, @ivanvector@oceanplayground.social. Note that I do not deal with Wikipedia matters through social media, I have a talk page for that. If you try to contact me via social media to discuss anything to do with Wikipedia, you will receive no response at all.
Wikipedia administration
Trout this user Were this admin to act in a foolish, trollish, or dickish way, he is open to being slapped with a large trout . This user desires open communication and respect from the Wikimedia Foundation for the English Wikipedia's dispute resolution processes. |
I have been an administrator on English Wikipedia since 27 December 2016 (RfA) and a CheckUser since 9 October 2018 (CUOS 2018, global rights log). You can see stats on my administrative actions here, or browse logs of things I commonly do such as blocks, deletions, and page protection. Ever since a security incident in January 2021 I am more active with my non-privileged account, PEIsquirrel (talk · contribs). I am notified and respond just as quickly to messages left for either account, however pings are inconsistent.
You can email me using the form at Special:EmailUser/Ivanvector, or the "Email this user" link in the sidebar (desktop only). I am a human resources professional and experienced in private communications, and I will try to keep your email communication private, however I cannot and do not guarantee that any information sent this way will not be seen by others. I may share limited information with other privileged users for administrative purposes, unless you ask me not to in which case I may not be able to help.
I also have a personal policy of transparency: if you email me to request administrative action which does not need to be kept private, I will ask you to make the request at the appropriate Wikipedia noticeboard. You will get a faster response by posting at a noticeboard in the first place. Noticeboards are continuously monitored by several hundred administrators and thousands of other users who may be able to handle your request or answer your question, while my email is only monitored by one person (me) and only when I happen to have it open. For truly private matters, or if you're not sure, please email and I will advise.
If you have received a message that a block prevents you from editing, then you have also received instructions to have the block lifted. You should also read the guide to appealing blocks. If you have read them and you still think you should email me, read the instructions again. If you have exhausted all other options and still think you need to email me, please explain why in your message. If you have obviously emailed me without reading the instructions I will delete your email without responding.
All Wikimedia Foundation websites are separate projects with separate governance and administration. I am an administrator on English Wikipedia only, and do not have a privileged account on any other project. If you need an administrator's assistance on another project you must ask an administrator on that project. If you leave me a message on another website I will not respond; most likely I won't see your message at all. Abuse of cross-wiki messaging may result in your account being blocked on all Wikimedia Foundation websites.
As of May 2021, due to the Freenode/Libera Chat controversy, I am not monitoring IRC channels and cannot be contacted through any IRC network.
Names and pronouns
My real name is not Ivan Vector, which many people find confusing. My real name is Greg, but I don't take offense in being referred to by my pseudonym, nor by Ives, Ivan, Vector, or other variations. I'm also not Russian, as some users think this name implies. For what it's worth I am primarily English with an odd mix of French, Irish, Scottish, Dutch, Slovak and Jewish heritage, and my username is a reference to an inside joke from when I was in engineering school.
There have been many disputes on Wikipedia about the use of gender-neutral pronouns. I try to assume gender neutrality if a user has not stated their pronouns, and refer to most users using singular they. I do my best to respect all users' wishes in this regard, and if I have misgendered you it is not out of malice but out of cluelessness. I identify as male, and you can use the male gendered pronouns (he/him/his, etc.) to refer to me, but I won't take offense to any particular set of pronouns.
What I do around here
My core editing philosophy is to not give a fuck. You shouldn't either. I don't do things that I expect to get credit for, or to rack up my edit counter, or to please or anger anyone. I do things because they are the right things to do. I certainly make mistakes; if you disagree with something I've done, I absolutely welcome you to inform me and we can discuss a solution.
I spend a significant portion of my Wikipedia time contributing to discussions about content. You will see me in places like redirects for discussion, sockpuppet investigations, move discussions and reviews, as well as patrolling pending changes and reverting vandalism. I sometimes dabble in the disambiguation challenge, and quite often I'm just around doing my own thing.
Languages
I am fluent in my native language, English, and read and write at a professional level. I speak with what has been called a southern Ontario urban accent.[1] I have also studied French academically and Spanish for travelling, which has come in handy in evaluating foreign-language redirects, for example. I have a handful of edits on the Spanish and French Wikipedias, and have done some work on Simple English Wikipedia, Wiktionary, and Wikimedia Commons. On this Wikipedia I write in Canadian English unless there is a good reason to use a different local variation. On the other Wikipedias I just write poorly.
Submitted articles
The vast majority of my article-space edits are minor things like spelling and grammar corrections, general copy-editing, navigation templates and vandalism patrol. I've also ended up being credited as the creator of a few pages where all of the older revisions were deleted, due to copyright violations I worked on repairing. The pages I list here I feel are my most significant real content contributions.
Selection of content highlights
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- Canada jay: candidate for Canada's National Bird. My first attempt at promoting a good article; subsequently my first featured article co-nomination and first DYK credit. Was promoted as today's featured article on 2 July 2017, the day after Canada's sesquicentennial.
- List of national parks of Canada: a detailed listing of protected properties in Canada's national parks system. Today's featured list, 18 May 2018
- Ashbridge Estate: a pioneer home in eastern Toronto.
- Poutine: a Quebecois dish popular throughout Canada.
- ... that the grey jay builds its nests in late winter, while the forest is still deep in snow? 22 February 2017
- ... that descendants of the family who settled Toronto's Ashbridge Estate were still living on the same property over 200 years later? 7 March 2017
- ... that the Canadian province of Prince Edward Island banned automobiles for more than a decade starting in 1908? 20 May 2019
- ... that Canadian politician Above Znoneofthe chose his name so as to be placed last on alphabetical ballots? 8 November 2021
- ... that railway engineer Henry Ketchum earned the first diploma in civil engineering granted by the University of New Brunswick? 13 February 2023
- ... that Pituamkek National Park Reserve , Canada's newest national park, protects a chain of barrier islands that have been used for fishing and hunting by the Mi'kmaq for 4,000 years? 17 October 2024
- New articles
- 1999 Ontario Highway 401 crash: a multiple vehicle collision which occurred near Windsor, Ontario. One of Canada's worst road disasters; seven people were killed.
- Above Znoneofthe: Canadian political candidate who legally changed his name so that there would be a "Znoneofthe, Above" option on Canada's alphabetical electoral ballots.
- Canada Highways Act: Canada's first federal funding for highway construction, led to development of the Trans-Canada Highway.
- Henry Ketchum: prominent railway engineer involved in many early colonial railroads in eastern Canada.
- Old Princetown Road: an historic colonial road in PEI.
- Pituamkek National Park Reserve: PEI's second national park, established 2024.
- Prince Edward Island automobile ban: that time PEI banned cars, but later changed its mind.
- The Bog, Charlottetown: an historic African-Canadian community in PEI.
- Woodbine Building Supply fire: a significant arson that occurred in Toronto in 2001. One of the largest fires in Toronto's history.
- Brian Francis (Canadian senator): Mi'kmaq leader from PEI.
- Significant contributions
- Debits and credits: fundamental accounting principles. Article has always been a mess, but I tried to help. Very surprised this is rated B-class.
- University of Chicago Law School: top-tier American law school. Contributed as part of attempting to mediate a dispute.
- R v Elliott: Canada's first trial for harassment over Twitter.
- Toronto mayoral election, 2014: Toronto's mayoral election in 2014.
- Double-entry bookkeeping system: the fundamental system underlying all modern accounting.
- James Sears: Toronto pick-up artist and neo-Nazi[2] organizer.
- Jian Ghomeshi: former CBC Radio personality.
- List of Prince Edward Island provincial highways: does what it says on the tin.
- Expanded redirects
- Emu and the Jabiru: an Australian Aboriginal Dreamtime myth.
- Mitch Martin: an Australian race driver; redirect previously pointed to Old School (film) as one of the main characters' names.
- Translations
- Consumer Protection Act (Quebec): created as a result of a redirect discussion I think for the sole purpose of demonstrating some obscure point, probably about interlanguage links.
- Saltes Island: translated primarily from Spanish with help from other language wikis as a test of whether it was possible for wikidata's interlanguage feature to point to a redlink. Article was selected randomly.
- Non-mainspace encyclopedia content
- Template:Prince Edward Island provincial highways, and many of the articles linked from it.
- File:Point Prim Light.jpg: photo of Point Prim Light Station, but the one in the article is better
- Works in progress
Pages listed above are more or less stable and I'm not actively working on them, but of course improvements are welcome and the encyclopedia is never finished. These are articles and other content that I have ideas in my head for specific improvements and expansion, if I ever have the time.
- Cannabis in Prince Edward Island: development of the province's legal framework for the upcoming legalization of marijuana throughout Canada in 2018.
- Chignecto Marine Transport Railway: one of Canada's first megaprojects: a "ship railway" designed to transport marine vessels over 17 miles of the Isthmus of Chignecto; financing failed and the railway never operated. (c.f. Henry Ketchum, above)
- Miyata: a Japanese bicycle and motorcycle manufacturer.
- Victoria Hospital (London, Ontario): historic but now demolished hospital in my home town.
- Draft:St. Joseph's Health Care London: another hospital network in London.
- List of National Historic Sites of Canada: create a companion list for National Historic Sites of Canada, based on work on the national parks featured list.
- Userspace essays
- Don't abuse the no personal attacks policy: explains itself.
- Drafts are cheap: based on Wikipedia:Redirects are cheap, a counterargument to the push to delete stale drafts.
Projects and interests
I add userboxen to this section to give a little more detail about me as a person, identify projects I regularly or occasionally participate in, and to make myself available for connections to other users with similar interests. For example, the userbox with "gtr-2" indicates that I am a novice guitarist, and adds my user page to the category Wikipedian guitarists, a list of all of the Wikipedia users who play guitar. If you were looking for help from an editor who plays guitar for some reason, that would be a good place to start looking.
I've added and removed a lot of userboxen over the years, eventually settling on this collapsed-box format which may be less-than-ideal on narrow monitors (and probably awful on mobile). If you have a userbox you think I should add, you should tell me about it.
Interests and WikiProjects
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This user is signed up for the Feedback Request Service. | |||
This user is an accountant . |
This user is a proud cyclist. |
gtr-2 This user is an intermediate guitarist . |
This user supports sustainable living . |
* This user's garden is full of as many useful plants as possible. |
TOR This user is a fan of the Toronto Blue Jays |
NW This user plays NumberWang . |
ZAP! No user serviceable parts inside. | ||
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According to the political compass this user is Economic Left (-8.38) and Social Libertarian (-8.26). |
"No smoking" sign with text
This user supports the ban on smoking in public places.
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This user believes science , practiced through the scientific method , is the most reliable way of determining the nature of reality . |
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Recognition from fellow editors
Barnstars and WikiFun are interesting and creative ways for Wikipedians to show appreciation for one another. This is a selection of appreciation notices and templates that fellow editors have left for me over the years.
Barnstars and recognitions
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Thanks for your support in my recent unsuccessful RfA. Your words were much appreciated. I fear my timing was indeed bad, but we're already working on preparations for Tokyo. Hawkeye7 (discuss) 21:09, 25 August 2019 (UTC)
Keep up the great work! I appreciate your efforts on the project! User:Lightburst 19:56, 21 June 2019 (UTC)
I had once been your critic and we even shared brickbats. That did not stop you from doing the right thing whenever needed. Your suggestions related to ARBIPA were excellent and I am glad that you proposed them. My Wikilife has become peaceful and you deserve a biggest chunk of its credit for the work you have done in your admin capacity. Thanks again. DBig Xrayᗙ 13:34, 8 June 2019 (UTC)
Thank you for always doing the right thing as an administrator. At many occasions I have found your comments to be the most balanced, thoughtful, and within reason whether they involved incidents related to me or someone else or whether the comments were against me or in my favor. You definitely stand out from the crowd. Sheriff | ☎ 911 | 02:05, 5 April 2019 (UTC)
Thank you so much for helping out with the checkuser queue of the account creation process. We've got a pretty severe backlog in this rather obscure area of Wikipedia, and since it seems like a pretty thankless job with minimal positive feedback, I figure I ought to give you this token of appreciation. Mz7 (talk) 09:02, 27 February 2019 (UTC)
Thanks for unblocking all of us who were blocked by the compromised admin. startTerminal {haha wow talk page | waste_of_space#4023 on discord} 19:57, 23 November 2018 (UTC)
This maple leaf is awarded to Ivanvector for writing two new Canada-related articles during the second year of The 10,000 Challenge of WikiProject Canada. Congratulations, and thank you for your contributions! Reidgreg (talk) 23:09, 2 November 2018 (UTC)
Being an administrator is difficult at times, and requires much time, attention, due diligence and patience. While we sometimes tend to overlook this, I'd like to take a moment and appreciate your positive work, efforts and role in this community. Kind regards and all the best, Mar4d (talk) 12:02, 17 August 2018 (UTC)
This maple leaf is awarded to Ivanvector for quality article improvements including the promotion of good and featured content during The 10,000 Challenge of WikiProject Canada. Congratulations, and thank you for your contributions! Reidgreg (talk) 15:23, 6 November 2017 (UTC)
Thank you for your steadfast work untangling, tagging and reorganising the writhing nests of socks at Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/OfficialPankajPatidar and the three or four related cases today. That can't have been an enjoyable way to spend your afternoon. Yunshui 雲 水 15:57, 15 March 2017 (UTC)
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- Well thank you! I should point out that the article was already 40k before I ever touched it. What I've done is mostly just clean-up of what many other users contributed in the past, and plenty of others have helped. Ivanvector (Talk /Edits ) 14:33, 31 January 2017 (UTC)
- Thank you! ツ
Thank you for taking the time to offer advice and assistance to your fellow editors via the Help desk. I remain most grateful to you for the clear and helpful guidance you gave me recently; thank you, Greg!
With kind regards;
Patrick. ツ Pdebee. (talk) (guestbook) 20:54, 12 January 2017 (UTC)
- A red-billed francolin for you!
For helping unscrew the mess I created in trying to bring a debate to its conclusion, and getting everything settled with a minimum of rancor, I present you this Peace Barnstar. I've probably done this wrong too.
- I'll second that. Articles should be neutral, but ~I think a bit of humo(u)r at editor-side pages greases the wheels. Si Trew (talk) 14:24, 14 August 2015 (UTC)
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To give a Dobos Torte and spread the WikiLove, just place {{subst:Dobos Torte}} on someone else's talkpage, whether it be someone you have had disagreements with in the past or a good friend.
You've been whacked with a wet trout.
Don't take this too seriously. Someone just wants to let you know you did something silly.
For calling for the deletion of Fox News Channel I present to the editor this WP:TROUT. That was just silly.--RightCowLeftCoast (talk) 22:20, 4 May 2015 (UTC)
Lenticel (talk) has given you a Cheeseburger! Cheeseburgers promote WikiLove and hopefully this one has made your day better. Spread the WikiLove by giving someone else a Cheeseburger, whether it be someone you've had disagreements with in the past or a good friend. Happy eating!
Spread the goodness of Cheeseburgers by adding {{subst:Cheeseburger}} to their talk page with a friendly message, or eat this cheeseburger on the giver's talk page with {{subst:burger-munch}}!
Enjoy your wiki-burger! :) --Lenticel (talk) 00:18, 18 February 2015 (UTC)
- Heh :) Thanks! Ivanvector (talk) 16:55, 24 November 2014 (UTC)
To give a Dobos Torte and spread the WikiLove, just place {{subst:Dobos Torte}} on someone else's talkpage, whether it be someone you have had disagreements with in the past or a good friend.
Whack!
You've been whacked with a wet trout.
Don't take this too seriously. Someone just wants to let you know that you did something silly.You have been trouted for: You asked for it :P
- Ha! I still don't know much of anything about deleting images though. :( Ivanvector (talk) 17:09, 20 June 2014 (UTC)
- Thank you! But this beer should definitely go to Neonchameleon, for actually fixing the article. Ivanvector (talk) 21:25, 13 December 2013 (UTC)
The Maple Leaf
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To my knowledge, I am the first editor to employ the red maple leaf emoji 🍁 in my signature, having started with this edit on 30 June 2015 at 21:58 UTC, and it pleases me greatly that several other users have since followed my lead. If you would like to flaunt your Canadian-ness to the world (or just really (削除) like (削除ここまで) (削除) appreciate (削除ここまで) envy your hoser brethren) visit Special:Preferences and add <span style="color:red">🍁</span> to your signature where you would like the maple leaf to appear. Note that the use of templates in signatures is discouraged, so using {{red }} directly is not possible. Also note that you can't use the proper Canadian spelling of colour in the code, because of systemic bias against us.
I occasionally turn the maple leaf blue when discussing the Toronto Blue Jays, even though the maple leaf in their logo is red. I don't change it when discussing the Toronto Maple Leafs, even though their logo is a blue maple leaf.
I'd also appreciate being corrected if I am in fact not the first to use the maple leaf. Credit where credit's due, eh?
UPDATE: as of some time in late summer 2016, the character set containing the U+1F341 🍁 MAPLE LEAF character was given native colouring; subsequently, at least for me, the icon always appears yellow regardless of the coded colour. Yellow maple leaves don't mean anything to me, so I've removed it from my signature.
Accountability
In the interest of transparency, should there ever be a need to mine my contributions, I am aware of the following edits which were made by other people on my computer while logged in, or edits I made while logged out:
- [1] - an edit actually made by Simonm223 while carelessly using my laptop. After I asked, he admitted the error. For the record I stand by the assertion that Nikola Tesla was a mad scientist.[citation needed]
- [2] - a test of whether anonymous editors could post into active requests for adminship pages. At the time they could, obviously. The IP used here is a WIND Mobile dynamic IP, the other edits from that address are not mine.
I have one alternative account, PEIsquirrel (talk · contribs), confirmed here, which I use for editing in public places or anywhere that I'm not confident that my connection is secure. Since November 2018 I also use PEIsquirrel for semiautomated edits with AutoWikiBrowser (permission confirmed here). Although real squirrels keep finding a way into my basement, PEIsquirrel holds no other privileges.
I have a second reserved account, Sowiejgiowejgoiwjeogjw (talk · contribs), reserved to prevent trolling. As of November 2018 I do not use this account.
I have no other accounts other than these three, and am reasonably certain that I have never edited as an IP other than what is listed here. Any contributions from any other account claiming to be in my name are not me and the user should be blocked immediately.
Favourites
- Favourite sports statistic: the NHL record for most combined points by two brothers is 2,861. It is held by Wayne Gretzky (2,857) and his brother Brent (4).[3]
References, yes, References
- ^ "The Sounds of Southern Urban Ontario English". LanguageGeek.com. 21 August 2008. Retrieved 3 June 2014.
- ^ "Beach residents decry 'offensive' newsletter". Toronto Star. Retrieved May 20, 2015.
- ^ "Brothers: Keith and Brent Gretzky". Greatest Hockey Legends. 25 July 2009. Retrieved 6 December 2017.
- Members of the Fifteen Year Society of Wikipedia editors
- Wikipedia administrators
- Wikipedia checkusers
- Wikipedians in Prince Edward Island
- Wikipedians with alternative accounts
- Wikipedia administrators willing to make range blocks
- Wikipedia administrators willing to make difficult blocks
- Wikipedia administrators willing to provide copies of deleted articles
- Wikipedia administrators open to trout slapping
- Wikipedians who use mass rollback
- User en-N
- User en-CA
- User fr-1
- User es-1
- Wikipedia featured article contributors
- Wikipedia Did you know contributors
- Accounting task force participants
- Wikipedians interested in Prince Edward Island
- WikiProject Redirect participants
- WikiProject Cycling participants
- Wikipedians interested in cycling
- Wikipedians who participate in the Feedback Request Service
- Wikipedian guitarists
- Wikipedian guitarists-2
- Wikipedians interested in gardening
- Wikipedians interested in the Toronto Blue Jays
- Wikipedians in Acadia