User:Your Friendly Neighborhood Sociologist

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Hello Wikipedia, I'm Your Friendly Neighborhood Sociologist! YFNS for short, and not to be confused with Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man.

I first joined at 18 about 3 years ago as TheTranarchist before renaming my account. I've lived in NYC most of my life and I'm a computer scientist and sociologist; my academic research tends to involve extensive archival research and applications of technology to sociology/healthcare/history. I'm one of those scary trans youth some of the media tells you don't really exist, having come out at 16 after years of closeting.

I joined Wikipedia as an editor after realizing just how poor our coverage of trans topics has been, with many articles woefully out of date or containing misinformation - specifically, I saw Conversion therapy made no references to transgender people. Hell, I still see editors try and whitewash gender identity change efforts. I ended up writing WP:No queerphobia about that.

It is vital the information we provide is accurate as misinformation can go far and do real-world damage otherwise - especially considering far-right groups have poured millions into anti-trans pseudoscience (The SPLC has a series of introductory articles on the topic if you'd like to learn more [1]). I should know, I literally wrote the article on  Transgender health care misinformation. So, I strive to document our histories and our elders' organized struggle for a better world. And the history and present of the organized hate campaigns operating against us. And, mostly unrelated but my secondary focus, the history of tenant and labor organizing within New York City.

I've always loved Wikipedia; a free global compendium of knowledge built in real-time by and for the people is amazing on so many levels! For the most part, I've loved the community I've found here. I'm thankful to all my friends on and off the project who've supported me, helped me improve as an editor, and kept me going through transphobia and harassment. I'm so proud to collaborate and work with everyone else here!

If you have any questions or need help, please feel free to email me at atranarchist@proton.me or reach out to me on my talk page!

Happy editing comrades, Your Friendly Neighborhood Sociologist ⚧ A (talk)

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Tenant Organizing

• Tenants union: needs serious expansion
• Association for Neighborhood and Housing Development: NYC housing rights org est. 1974
• Bedford Eviction Defense: tenant union
• Ridgewood Tenant Union
• Los Angeles Tenant Union

See also: Abolition Notes has a list of tenant unions in the U.S.

Far-right groups

• Identity Dixie: a neo-confederate org heavily involved with the Unite the Right rally
• Arktos Media: Needs serious expansion

Anti-fascists

• Daryle Lamont Jenkins: Needs expansion
• Bloc by Bloc: Antifascist board game
• Stop Cop City: Needs expansion

Trans history

• Transsexual Action Organization

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edit To be frank, I've spent a lot of my time on Wikipedia writing about groups that insult and call for violence against people like me, or people in general, and read a lot of depressing news to do so. I try and write good articles about them, and generally keep out WP:FRINGE, document, per WP:RS, the past and present, leave every article I can better than when I found it, and improve as an editor with each edit I make. It can be tireless, exhausting, and strenuous, but also joyful, collaborative, engaging, and valuable - certainly paradoxical! While I don't do it for them, a little recognition, wiki-love, good advice, and even constructive criticism go a long way and are greatly appreciated! Love and respect to all my fellow editors here to build the encyclopedia ♥

Full archive of wiki-love here.

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• I am saddened to see you topic-banned; I hope you have fun with other topics, and wish to see you return to GENSEX in an appropriate amount of time. ■しかく ∃ Madeline ⇔ ∃ Part of me ; 21:09, 3 March 2023 (UTC)
  I am saddened to see you topic-banned; I hope you have fun with other topics, and wish to see you return to GENSEX in an appropriate amount of time. ■しかく ∃ Madeline ⇔ ∃ Part of me ; 21:09, 3 March 2023 (UTC)
• Behold! some cool rocks! see you around in the geology topic space then, I guess? It's a shame you got topic banned, but then again, I bet you'll find the rest of wikipedia a lot less likely to crucify you over single sentences. 😁 Anyway... have some cool rocks to get you started! :P --Licks-rocks (talk) 21:59, 3 March 2023 (UTC)
  Behold! some cool rocks! see you around in the geology topic space then, I guess? It's a shame you got topic banned, but then again, I bet you'll find the rest of wikipedia a lot less likely to crucify you over single sentences. 😁 Anyway... have some cool rocks to get you started! :P --Licks-rocks (talk) 21:59, 3 March 2023 (UTC)
• Ppt91 has given you a puppy! Puppies promote WikiLove and hopefully this one has made your day better. Your puppy must be fed three times a day and will be your faithful companion forever! Spread the WikiLove by giving someone else a puppy, whether it be someone you have had disagreements with in the past or a good friend. Spread the goodness of puppies by adding {{subst:Puppy}} to someone's talk page with a friendly message. Three times a day is without treats, I should add. Not to even mention plays and walks. In other words, plenty of work to do here. ps. I know it seems hard now, but keep your chin up and think about all of the good work you have done and will continue do in the future. Ppt91talk 23:39, 5 March 2023 (UTC)
  Ppt91 has given you a puppy!Puppies promote WikiLove and hopefully this one has made your day better. Your puppy must be fed three times a day and will be your faithful companion forever! Spread the WikiLove by giving someone else a puppy, whether it be someone you have had disagreements with in the past or a good friend.Spread the goodness of puppies by adding {{subst:Puppy}} to someone's talk page with a friendly message.

  Three times a day is without treats, I should add. Not to even mention plays and walks. In other words, plenty of work to do here. ^{ps. I know it seems hard now, but keep your chin up and think about all of the good work you have done and will continue do in the future.} Ppt91 ^talk 23:39, 5 March 2023 (UTC)
• I am pretty sure this forward-marching kitty is singing a punk song, and I hope you are, too. Beccaynr (talk) 00:19, 6 March 2023 (UTC)
  I am pretty sure this forward-marching kitty is singing a punk song, and I hope you are, too. Beccaynr (talk) 00:19, 6 March 2023 (UTC)

edit Here, I keep substantial mentions of me off-wiki. This includes both positive coverage (which I hadn't seen coming) and people complaining their articles are so honest it makes them look bad.

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Stella O'Malley complained about the Genspect article, stating: Wikipedia can be gamed and trans activists use Wikipedia as a way to attack Genspect and myself. We are not given the opportunity to argue the points as the moderators always side with trans activists, no matter how many quality references they are supplied with. Consequently, articles by gender extremists such as Lee Leveille, are favoured over the more conventional Sunday Times. - Telling the Truth in a Time of Deceit (Part 1): Stella O’Malley’s Statement on Conversion Therapy - Genspect

Genspect tweeted: Wikipedia co-founder [ Larry Sanger ]: "I no longer trust the website I created"-it’s "increasingly partisan", "propaganda" & "broken beyond repair". Yes! Genspect & many others critical of transactivism face near-constant defamatory campaigns against us on Wikipedia

Which was quoted by Jordan Peterson with the note

The
Woke
Broke
Everything
They touched

edit Complained about me and her article here, stating The defamatory page about me on @Wikipedia @JWalesF has been semi-protected and cannot be edited. All edits in the history have been undone. The sad little incels are ensuring the lies remain. Then she tweeted HINT : the wikipedia entry is made by a rather boastful trancel who enjoys lying about people online.

edit The desire to fix something wrong—in this case, articles that have not kept up with the times—is meant to play out on an article’s "Talk page," a companion page dedicated to discussing edits. Take the debate over Gregory versus Gloria. Last February, Hemingway’s Talk page fielded a proposal on what name to use. There was a week of debate, long discussions in which a dozen or so editors grappled with how Hemingway would have wanted to be perceived. The main advocate for moving the page from Gregory to Gloria was an editor named Friendly Neighborhood Sociologist#Thanks!_(R.E.:_Gloria_Hemingway) TheTranarchist, and the main opponent was an editor named StAnselm, a self-described Calvinist who has created more than 50 articles about biblical characters and scenes. Yet the discussion on the Talk page was about facts and Wikipedia policies and guidance, not politics. "It didn’t seem culture warrior–ish," Reagle said.

The discussion ended with a hung jury: seven editors for Gloria, seven for Gregory. An experienced editor, Sceptre, stepped in and ordered the article to be renamed. The decision was appealed, and an administrator concluded that Sceptre had made a tough call that was ultimately reasonable. On the biggest social-media sites, such a decision might have descended into endless mudslinging. Instead, everyone has respected the outcome and moved on. The article hasn’t been touched in five months.

The Culture Wars Look Different on Wikipedia (available with 12ft.io ;) )

I must confess, it would have been nice if they noted that I was accused of being an WP:SPA whose request to rename the article based on Wikipedia's very clear policy about handling trans people's names should be ignored due to my username, a fact called out in the close.

edit Gays Against Groomers tweeted: Recently, there have been multiple hit-pieces about our organization that are full of lies. This information has now been used to create a Wikipedia page about our organization, which is quite literally entirely false, and we would like to clear some things up.

Then they wrote an article: A few months ago, we noticed that Gays Against Groomers had its own Wikipedia page. It was surprisingly much longer than we predicted it would be. And what we found was very disturbing. It was filled with incoherent conspiracy theories, fabricated stories about non-existent members, fairy tales about how we are secret billionaires who want to take over the world, bigoted slurs, and it even compared us to Adolf Hitler. The author made outrageous accusations that are not backed up by any facts or evidence. The Wikipedia page includes a reference list, indicating where they got their information. It is based on tabloids from vicious publications like Media Matters, random tweets from deranged trans activists, and a podcast episode where Imara Jones lists off some ideas that they outright admit are conspiracy theories. It is odd that someone would go through such great lengths to discredit a nonprofit organization with a noble mission. But after we did some digging, we found that it was created by a user named "TransAnarchist" and was locked for editing. We released a short statement correcting some of the odd claims that were made. Since we had no way to edit and fix this issue, we hoped that it would eventually just go away. It hasn't. - Lies, Fallacies and Fabrications: Addressing Our Wikipedia Page

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• Key ideas: The five pillars of Wikipedia, WP:PRINCIPLE, WP:1Q, WP:PI, and three core content policies: WP:NPOV, WP:NOR, and WP:V
• Problematic content: WP:NOT, WP:FRINGE, WP:NPOVD, WP:PROTECT, WP:REVDELREQUEST
• Problematic editors: WP:POVPUSHING, WP:HATEDISRUPT, WP:0T, WP:DISCUSSFAIL, WP:SIGNS, WP:COI
• Not being a problematic editor: WP:CIVIL, WP:COAL, WP:BRD, WP:1AM, WP:YANI, WP:MASTODONS, WP:SUPERHERO, WP:COPYWITHIN, WP:EIGHT
• Building consensus: WP:CONSENSUS, WP:NOSUMMARIES
• Writing good articles': WP:GNG, WP:AMNESIA, WP:ASSESS, WP:ENDURE, WP:BETTER, WP:HOWEVER, WP:PROSELINE, WP:INSCRUTABLE, WP:EDITFAST
• Avoiding burnout: WP:CGTW, WP:OWB, BMK's Wikipedia survival guide
• Accessibility and tips: WP:COLAS, WP:POPUPS
• Humour: WP:Akin's Laws of Article Writing, WP:Seven ages of editor, WP:SARCASM, WP:ALLMAD, WP:MMORPG, WP:WikiFauna

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• ProveIt: This tool makes citations easy and I can't imagine editing without it. It even automates most of it with only the URL.
• WP:RSP: Allows you to check if a source is considered reliable or not. The source may be listed on the page or you may have to search the archives for past discussions.

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• Sci-hub: Great tool for accessing scientific articles, sadly Wikipedia won't let me link to it directly
• Library Genesis: Great tool for accessing books, also can't link directly
• https://12ft.io, https://archive.is, and https://archive.org allow you to access paywalled magazines and newspapers most of the time

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edit Some good on-wiki guides: How to not get outed on Wikipedia, On privacy, confidentiality and discretion, Personal security practices

Some good off-wiki guides: here, here, and here.

Some quick notes for Wikipedia:

• Create an account. Don't go revealing your IP address for no reason, that's a quick way to get doxxed.
• No personally identifiable information. If you are even somewhat public about your life online, do not mention anything available in other places on Wikipedia. Don't list where you work, your name, anything that can be used to narrow you down or look you up. For the love of god don't use a username you have ever used or will use anywhere else.
• Gauge Your Threat Level. There is a big difference between local fascists and state actors. If you have an account, your IP is only hidden to most. Some administrators can check them, though it will be logged. For an example of what this might mean, see here. Assume that nearly every state actor has a similar program, so a good rule of thumb is to be careful of whether you would face state repression for publicly reporting the same things off Wikipedia.