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User:Daniel Case

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(Born March 10, 1968, in Englewood, New Jersey, USA) Daniel Case lives in the Hudson Valley region of upstate New York with his wife and son. Previously, they lived in the Greater Cleveland area and in Western New York. A 1986 graduate of Newark Academy in Livingston, New Jersey, he received a bachelor's degree in English and geography from Syracuse University in 1990, and a master's degree in English from the State University of New York at Buffalo in 1997.

While living in the Niagara Frontier region and studying for his master's, he sort of backed into a journalism career with a part-time position as an editorial assistant at Night & Day, the weekly entertainment supplement for the Niagara Gazette, the daily newspaper in Niagara Falls, New York. After moving to the Western Reserve, this led to a position, first as a stringer and then as an actual reporter, in the Beachwood office of the Sun Newspapers chain of suburban weeklies. Upon returning to New York State, he covered the city and town of Newburgh for another weekly, the Mid-Hudson Times.

After having gradually discovered Wikipedia and its possibilities late in 2004, he began editing articles, particularly those devoted to the Catskill Mountains, which he has come to love while hiking extensively and having served on the board of the Catskill Mountain 3500 Club, and which he found to be deeply in need of extension and revision.

In 2007, having resisted that fate for some time, he was successfully nominated for adminship. In that position, he gained enough trust and respect from the community to be among the first users elected to the oversight position in February 2009 (He resigned it 11 years later as the oversight team no longer needs to be as large as it was then, it is being pretty well handled by other people, and he had been focusing more on content for a while anyway).

In 2009 he ran unsuccessfully for Montgomery town clerk on the Democratic and Working Families lines. The following year, he wrote AMC's Best Day Hikes Near New York City for the Appalachian Mountain Club.

Barnstars and other awards

Given with respect and admiration to Daniel Case in recognition of your many helpful reviews, especially for your sharp eye on White Deer Hole Creek and Larrys Creek, thanks Ruhrfisch ><>°° 04:14, 27 October 2007 (UTC)
The Original Barnstar
for hard work improving Cory Maye
γκυκλοπαίδεια*(talk) 19:53, 15 December 2005 (UTC)
The Random Acts of Kindness Barnstar
For simultaneously upholding WP:NOT and WP:BITE. Joe 05:48, 22 April 2006 (UTC)
The Photographer's Barnstar
For putting forth the time and effort to take great pictures and improve countless articles on New York towns, roads, and landmarks, I award you the Photographer's Barnstar. Kafziel 13:41, 22 June 2006 (UTC)
The Barnstar of Good Humor
For your humorous entry in this AfD, Ten Pound Hammer and his otters award you the Barnstar of Good Humor. (No ice cream, sorry -- it's not that kind of Good Humor.) Ten Pound Hammer(Broken clamshellsOtter chirpsReview?) 01:13, 5 August 2007 (UTC)
The Oddball Barnstar
For creation of Hunter Mountain Fire Tower, fire towers have to be among the oddest listings on the National Register of Historic Places. I once saw a landfill on there, but that's another story. Good work. IvoShandor 18:50, 10 October 2007 (UTC)
The Article Improvement Drive Barnstar: New York State Route 22
Your contributions to New York State Route 22's route description, has helped get the article to GA status. I thank you and WP:NYSR thanks you.Mitch32contribs 14:43, 22 December 2007 (UTC)
The Barnstar of Fine Arts
Awarded to Daniel Case for fine work at DYK on architectural heritage listed articles. Blnguyen (bananabucket) 06:51, 21 April 2008 (UTC)
The Barnstar of High Culture
As a newpage patroller, Brewcrewer rarely sees any great new articles. So when he happens across one, like Washington Avenue Soldier's Monument and Triangle, he can't help but plaster its creators talkpage with the appropiate barnstar.brewcrewer (yada, yada) 04:58, 29 May 2008 (UTC)
The Tireless Contributor Barnstar
For working hard on New York State related articles. NHRHS2010 23:17, 20 January 2008 (UTC)
The RickK Anti-Vandalism Barnstar
For continuous efforts against vandalism. Dave (talk) 20:50, 19 March 2008 (UTC)
The Fourth of July, or bust, Barnstar
I award you this Barnstar for your solid, witty, creative, supportive, learned, timely, cheerful, eloquent, and/or otherwise generally great contributions on U. S. National Historic Landmarks' articles. Yippee o yay, we pretty much met our goal of a well-started article for each of 2,442 NHLs by today!

Thanks, and have a great Fourth of July! -- Doncram, 4 July 2008

The Content Creativity Barnstar
I've come across quite a few horrendous road articles in AFD lately, so I'm was very pleasantly surprised to find Old Albany Post Road on DYK. Keep up the good work. P.S. I used to be the most prolific editor to DYK, so expect some stiff competition, I want that record back :) Mgm|(talk) 12:10, 23 December 2008 (UTC)
The Original Barnstar
Thank you for your fine work over the years, in blocking vandals and helping new users getting used to Wikipedia. I thank you for your hard work, Daniel! Arbiteroftruth (talk) 20:19, 7 January 2009 (UTC)
The Special Barnstar
Daniel, you really are a great person. Both on and off wiki. A diligent article writer, good friend and great father. I really respect you. :) Sam Blab 23:51, 24 January 2009 (UTC)
The Defender of the Wiki Barnstar
A big thank you for dealing with all those vandals and deleting pages during the time non-admins couldn't edit! :) Versus22 talk 20:43, 9 March 2009 (UTC)
The Admin's Barnstar
I went to WP:UAA, and noticed that you were either discussing with or waiting on four users to edit. I just wanted to give you this barnstar to show you that I appreciate that. You are a diligent and kind admin. I dream of horses (talk) 19:30, 1 July 2009 (UTC)
The Working Man's Barnstar
For an impressive 58x expansion to Clinton Avenue Historic District (Albany, New York). Nice work! — Hunter Kahn (c) 04:37, 11 July 2009 (UTC)
Your Opinion is More Important than You Think Barnstar
Awarded to Daniel Case for suggesting I quit editing for the evening - Editing after a long and tiring day was definitely not one of my best ideas. Thanks! -FASTILY (TALK) 23:42, 1 August 2009 (UTC)
The Original Barnstar
Thanks very much for your peer review and all of your additions to "City of Blinding Lights". The article looks a lot better now and it would definitely be lacking were it not for you. Thank you so much for all of your work! MelicansMatkin (talk, contributions) 07:06, 27 January 2010 (UTC)
The Barnstar of David
For your work in creating fascinating articles on the unusual synagogues of the Catskills. Jayjg (talk) 00:58, 8 March 2010 (UTC)
The Tireless Contributor Barnstar
For being a more common sight at WP:UAA than SoxBot. SGGH ping! 18:18, 26 May 2010 (UTC)
The Anti-Vandalism Barnstar
For blocking User:Super Chris Rock, I hereby give you this Anti-Vandalism barnstar. Also, take one of these, with love from Chile! Diego Grez what's up? 15:40, 1 August 2010 (UTC)
The Photographer's Barnstar
This barnstar is awarded for outstanding contributions in the realm of photography. Photos you have taken are among some of the best illustrations out there. This particular photo of the Central Park West Historic District stands out as a great way to illustrate multiple buildings. It's really an iconic skyline there at CPW and your photo really captures that. Thanks for all you do. IvoShandor (talk) 06:39, 24 November 2010 (UTC)
The Barnstar of Good Humor
For this. I dream of horses If you reply here, please leave me a {{Talkback}} message on my talk page. @ 03:43, 18 August 2011 (UTC)
The Admin's Barnstar
For the tedious work of deciding on IP Block Exemption applications! Gilderien Talk|Contribs 16:03, 16 October 2011 (UTC)
The Writer's Barnstar
For your excellent work on expanding 2011 Halloween nor'easter and improving the coverage of Hurricane Irene's impacts in New York. HurricaneFan25 | talk 18:37, 2 November 2011 (UTC)
The Barnstar of Good Humor
For your humourous approach to the unblocking procedure 1 YuMaNuMa Talk Contributions 11:45, 20 December 2011 (UTC)
The Admin's Barnstar
For your work at the UAA. Keep up the good work and happy holidays! -- Luke (Talk) 22:04, 29 December 2011 (UTC)
The Writer's Barnstar
For your tireless work to improve and write excellent articles on NRHP sites in New York! Pubdog (talk) 01:01, 10 January 2012 (UTC)
The Admin's Barnstar
Excellent work at WP:UAA. You always manage to get through the backlogs! Chip123456 (talk) 13:45, 24 June 2012 (UTC)
The Real Life Barnstar
Just read this email - you have no idea how much it cheered me up after a long flight :). I'm really glad people found the session so productive; I'm thinking of holding a longer one next year as a dedicated thing, since the format seems to work really well. Okeyes (WMF) (talk) 14:43, 17 July 2012 (UTC)
The Rosetta Barnstar
Thank you for your work in translating that Bulgarian document for me! I really appreciate it. Activism1234 19:31, 19 September 2012 (UTC)
The Admin's Barnstar
For responding to an AIV post almost 12 hours after it had been posted (and overlooked for several admins), I hereby award you this barnstar. Congrats! :) NeutralhomerTalk • 21:08, 21 September 2012 (UTC)
The Admin's Barnstar
For all of the great work that you do at UAA! --v/r Electric Catfish (talk) 18:00, 3 October 2012 (UTC)
100000 Edits
Congratulations on reaching 100000 edits. You have achieved a milestone that very few editors have been able to accomplish. The Wikipedia Community thanks you for your continuing efforts. Keep up the good work!
The Barnstar of Diligence
Thank you for your tireless work on many articles, most recently the Cathedral of All Saints, Albany, New York. Bearian (talk) 19:04, 7 February 2013 (UTC)
The Editor's Barnstar
Great work on Cathedral of All Saints, Albany, New York Bearian (talk) 17:10, 14 March 2013 (UTC)
The Barnstar of Good Humor
Because I laughed out loud. Danger High voltage! 21:35, 26 March 2013 (UTC)
The Good Article Barnstar
For your contributions to bring Escape from Tomorrow to Good Article status. Much appreciated--keep up the good work! -- Khazar2 (talk) 16:56, 2 April 2013 (UTC)
The Barnstar of Diligence
For your exceptional thoroughness in GA reviewing the article on Playtex thus far. One of the more detailed GA reviews I've gotten. CorporateM (Talk) 00:42, 1 May 2013 (UTC)
The Original Barnstar
For Tompkins Corners United Methodist Church - a fantastic article :). Ironholds (talk) 16:59, 6 July 2013 (UTC)
The Admin's Barnstar
For your tireless and continuous work at Usernames for administrator attention. teb00007 TalkContributions 03:23, 28 July 2013 (UTC)
The Original Barnstar
Many thanks for your excellent edits to the Hermann Stieve article. Adding the back-stories of the Nazi victims whose deaths Stieve exploited was an excellent idea. Adding their photographs emphasizes their humanity and heroism and contrasts this with Stieve's dehumanization of them. The Anome (talk) 15:41, 9 November 2013 (UTC)
The Admin's Barnstar
You are a very busy admin. Your mop certainly tells the tail - I think you may want to get a new one. You've helped keep Wikipedia clean - sometimes so clean I thought it sparkled! Keep it sparkling and I may need to wear sunglasses from now on - but the good thing is vandals will be blinded as soon as they enter! Hey, not a bad idea! Here's a barnstar for hard-work - and hey, there's a new mop on it! K6ka (talk | contribs) 00:55, 26 February 2014 (UTC)
The Barnstar of Good Humor
For pointing me to Realist2/Genre Warrior. Bearian (talk) 15:37, 8 July 2014 (UTC)
The Content Creativity Barnstar
For Open-crotch pants‎. Each addition you make to that article is more astonishing that the last. I was gobsmacked by the pig-dog-"Quick! To the hospital!" bit. Horrifying!!!! You are amazing! Anna Frodesiak (talk) 01:30, 18 August 2014 (UTC)
The Editor's Barnstar
You're doing really well on the Geographical Name Changes in Turkey. Crossark (talk) 19:12, 24 December 2014 (UTC)
The Copyeditor's Barnstar
Your copyedits on Geographical name changes in Turkey were really well done! Without these edits, it's hard to see how the article would pass GA. Étienne Dolet (talk) 00:15, 25 December 2014 (UTC)
The Original Barnstar
Hey, I just saw Disappearance of Leah Roberts in the queue for DYK and clicked on it because it caught my eye me and I wanted to know more. It's a great and well written article and it was really interesting. I think you should take it to GA. I really enjoyed reading it.  — ₳aron 11:25, 17 March 2015 (UTC)
The Resilient Barnstar
For standing firm and keeping your resolve to fight for something in the face of great resistance and negativity simply because it was the right thing to do. You have my respect. -- WV 03:38, 16 April 2015 (UTC)
The Tireless Contributor Barnstar
I would like to commend you for improving the list of notable crimes at the Crime in New York City page. Keep up the good work! Epic Genius (talk) 21:39, 28 April 2015 (UTC)
The Barnstar of Good Humor
For your ability to maintain a positive attitude throughout the AfD process of Lyle Stevik's third nomination. --GouramiWatcher(?) 15:06, 30 April 2015 (UTC)
The Admin's Barnstar
Thanks For Voting At My FPC! National Names 2000 (talk) 13:15, 13 May 2015 (UTC)
The Original Barnstar
For your excellent work on July 2013 Spuyten Duyvil derailment. Fantastic work!!! oknazevad (talk) 00:32, 28 May 2015 (UTC)
The Writer's Barnstar
Great job bringing Dump months to WP:GA quality !

It's rare to see such high-quality articles on Wikipedia about generalist film and cinematic techniques -- as opposed to the majority of GAs we have related to film about individual films, fictional characters and episodes.

Both are good things to have.

But it's refreshing to see your high-quality contribution in this unique area.

Congratulations ! — Cirt (talk) 22:34, 24 October 2015 (UTC)

The Special Barnstar
Just saw your work on Murder of Sherri Rasmussen through the GA nominations. Great job here! ComputerJA () 14:43, 4 May 2017 (UTC)
The Editor's Barnstar
Good job on ‎Verrückt. 7&6=thirteen () 16:21, 14 March 2019 (UTC)
The Random Acts of Kindness Barnstar
This is for your kindness shown in an Article on Viola Liuzzo. Birdymckee (talk) 00:14, 18 March 2019 (UTC)
The Barnstar of Integrity
Thanks for helping an editor who was in a pickle Lightburst (talk) 03:25, 11 July 2019 (UTC)
The Oversighter's Barnstar
Thank you for all your work as oversighter. The name is still in good memory. ~ ToBeFree (talk) 21:14, 1 April 2020 (UTC)
The Tireless Contributor Barnstar
For your great edits that expanded West Kill and Esopus Creek. 420Traveler (talk) 21:27, 22 July 2020 (UTC)
The Civility Barnstar
For your professional behavior and neutral viewpoint. Bionic (talk) 09:57, 30 July 2020 (UTC)
The Original Barnstar
For your work on Mahanoy Area School District v. B.L. - I really appreciate you expanding the stubby article I created there into something pretty good. (Also, I checked out your userpage and you seem like a really cool person overall!) Elliot321 (talk | contribs) 00:51, 29 January 2021 (UTC)
The Admin's Barnstar
Keep doing your job! Thanks for blocking RakeshPrem001! MarioJump83! 03:39, 4 March 2021 (UTC)
The Admin's Barnstar
Thank you for always monitoring AIV and handing out blocks appropriately! Link20XX (talk) 17:55, 21 April 2021 (UTC)
The Defender of the Wiki Barnstar
Thank you for your continued work towards clearing the wiki of not just the average vandals, but also the conspiracy theorists and climate change deniers. RedPanda25 18:40, 23 May 2021 (UTC)
The Admin's Barnstar
For going the extra mile to make a good call. I was watching that situation unfold and it was nice to see it play out the way it did. Cheers - wolf 11:36, 12 October 2021 (UTC)
The Photographer's Barnstar
Wow for your clicks. Good inspiration. DreamSparrow Chat 18:01, 15 December 2021 (UTC)
The Civility Barnstar
Back in February, you owned up on my talk page to messing up and apologized for doing so. Far too many Wikipedians respond to constructive criticism in no other fashion save to charge the ramparts with cannons blazing, and your courtesy and mindfulness in not being in their ranks was and is appreciated. Ravenswing 18:37, 23 March 2022 (UTC)
The Law Barnstar
Really nice work on Flood v. Kuhn. Watching it develop has been a treat. Urve (talk) 01:11, 29 May 2022 (UTC)
The Anti-Vandalism Barnstar
Nice work! Andrevan@ 00:05, 30 July 2022 (UTC)
The Pop Music Barnstar
For you wonderful work on getting "True" to GA status. Danaphile (talk) 22:52, 23 November 2022 (UTC)
The Writer's Barnstar
I'm just reading through Deaths of Arnold Archambeau and Ruby Bruguier. Excellent work by you yet again! Thank you for all that you do here. Ponyobons mots 17:08, 2 December 2022 (UTC)
The Admin's Barnstar
For protecting the Siege of Boston page when I asked for the protection. You really did a great job at stopping vandals from ruining it. Thanks for your work! Sahas P.
The Admin's Barnstar
For all the good work you do at RFPP and ANEW. -- Prodraxistalkcontribs 02:01, 3 June 2023 (UTC)
The Admin's Barnstar
Thank you for your work at WP:RFPP. You're making Wikipedia a better place :) > Asheiou (they/them • talk) 00:26, 9 June 2023 (UTC)
The Teamwork Barnstar
Iron Gwazi passed its FAC! Although I am a primary contributor to the article, your involvement was just as significant. The road to FA relies on community consensus and voluntary commentary. You dedicated your time and skills to help improve the article to its current condition. Without your input, the article would not have reached its status quo. You are a significant contributor! Whether you are a one-time commenter or contribute to other GA, PR, or FA candidates, I hereby award Daniel Case with the Teamwork Barnstar! Thank you for your efforts to improve the Iron Gwazi article. Adog (TalkCont) 02:44, 19 July 2023 (UTC)
The Padlock Barnstar
For your exemplary work at page protection Joyous! Noise! 18:56, 2 October 2023 (UTC)
The Admin's Barnstar
Thank you for your work on RFPP. Andre🚐 00:45, 9 December 2023 (UTC)
The Barnstar of Diligence
For your continued good work over the years Andre🚐 00:07, 12 December 2023 (UTC)
The Admin's Barnstar
Thank you for your extraordinary work. Every person who voted for Daniel Case as administrator deserves an award.Barjimoa (talk) 23:53, 19 January 2024 (UTC)
The Special Barnstar
Thanks for helping me out with the vandalism case! Myrealnamm (💬talk · ✏️contribs) at 22:27, 13 April 2024 (UTC)
The Admin's Barnstar
Thank you for taking swift action on Page Protections and for the quick response to my request on WP:RFPP tonight. IanDBeacon (talk) 04:52, 19 April 2024 (UTC)
The Admin's Barnstar
Hi Daniel Case, I just wanted to award you this Barnstar for your presence on AIV, ANEW and RPPI, as well as helping out with rangeblocks and LTA cases! — AP 499D25 (talk) 04:36, 6 May 2024 (UTC)
The Padlock Barnstar
Thank you for your excellent work on WP:RPP and CTOPS protections/actions. --Classicwiki (talk) If you reply here, please ping me. 21:07, 23 May 2024 (UTC)
The 25 DYK Medal for Daniel Case
Congratulations! Here's a medal for you in appreciation of your hardwork in creating, expanding (and nominating) 25+ articles for DYK. Keep up the good work as I see you are around fifty now. Well done again, Daniel Case! --Victuallers (talk) 17:51, 11 January 2008 (UTC)
The 50 DYK Medal
Awarded to Daniel Case, congratulations on 50 fine DYK contributions! Keep up your great work with DYK! It is most appreciated. Given with respect and admiration, Ruhrfisch ><>°° 20:30, 14 January 2008 (UTC)
The 100 DYK Medal for Daniel
Thanks for your first hundred. Keep up the good work. I must say that I have admired your contributions both in terms of articles and in verifications and debates. Thanks Victuallers (talk) 21:34, 2 July 2008 (UTC)
The 200 DYK Medal for Daniel
Given to Daniel Case with respect and admiration on the occasion of your 200th DYK contribution. Keep up the amazing good work, Ruhrfisch ><>°° 04:20, 6 May 2009 (UTC)
The DYK Medal
I hereby award you the DYK Medal for becoming only the second person ever (according to the available record) to reach 2,000 edits on the Template talk:Did you know page, where your reviews are invaluable! Congratulations, Gatoclass (talk) 07:36, 3 August 2008 (UTC)
A Barnstar!
I notice you have been doing the grudge work of verifying length and references for potential DYK choices. For that often thankless task I award you this Working Man's Barnstar. -- Boston (talk) 18:04, 13 March 2008 (UTC)
The Original Barnstar
You've been working incredibly hard over at T:TDYK! Thanks for taking on that exhausting task. delldot talk 00:45, 7 July 2008 (UTC)
The Barnstar of Diligence
Is given to Daniel Case because even after over 2,000 edits to T:TDYK, he still checks every hook under the same criteria and is unyielding in the quality and consistency of his reviews, thanks for all of the great work :). Mifter (talk) 02:56, 4 August 2008 (UTC)
The Tireless Contributor Barnstar
Given with respect and admiration to Daniel Case on the occasion of your 350th article to appear in the Did You Know section of the Main Page, and for all your work with that project and on Wikipedia in general. Keep up the good work! Yours, Ruhrfisch ><>°° 15:07, 21 July 2010 (UTC)
The 500 DYK Medal
This medal is given with respect and admiration to Daniel Case on the occasion of your 500th DYK! Keep up the amazing good work, Ruhrfisch ><>°° 15:23, 14 July 2012 (UTC)
The 501 Barnstar
I am happy to award this special barnstar to you on the occasion of your 501st DYK. Your 500th was a wonderful hook, like a visual fugue, and as you embark on your second 500, a barnstar is in order. Of course, in addition to your impressive DYK work, your contributions in many other areas are also greatly appreciated! MANdARAX  XAЯAbИAM 02:28, 17 July 2012 (UTC)
A Helping Hand
I just got a notification that my DYK was approved. Thank you both for proposing a better hook and for continuing to assist with getting it through. I really appreciate the helping hand. — MaxnaCarta  ( 💬 • 📝 ) 01:24, 28 June 2023 (UTC)

Best "Only on Wikipedia" quotation, ever ...

a user contesting their unblock denial

Milestones

  • My 5000th edit. First milestone I've really gotten to notice in time to celebrate. Who could have imagined it would have been something so minor as adding the FA star to any article I otherwise had nothing to do with?
  • 7000th edit. I thought it would come from the highways project, but it was a little interlude on a train station that did the trick this time.
  • 8000th edit. Took some time to find this due to problems with the tool. A message to another user about an edit he made to a Catskill article.
  • 10,000th edit The biggie: Five figures. This was actually something substantive, the addition of a further reading section (i.e., works I came across while researching the subject that I could not physically or virtually get a hold of, so I'm putting them here so the work doesn't go to waste) to an article about a Supreme Court case.
  • 11,000th edit A talk page message to someone else ... first time I've made note of an editing milestone in the edit itself.

After 30,000, these events become meaningless. But this block notice was apparently my 75,000th edit

One that isn't meaningless is your 100,000th edit. This simple act of putting a picture in an article apparently marked that achievement for me.

Stories behind some of the articles

Geography

You'll notice that a great deal of the userboxes at right deal with projects connected to geographical locations: rivers, mountains, lakes, protected areas, roads and hiking trails. Hardly surprising, since it was my "other" major in college. And indeed I see a connection between the two. I've always found writing about places to be the most pleasant writing I do, to convey the essence of a somewhere in words.

This has really come alive in writing the route descriptions for road articles. Roads to me tell a story of the country they pass through, and I try to convey that within the limits of encylopedia style. TwinsMetsFan has chosen many of the articles for which I've written route descriptions as NYSR featured articles and singled out the prose as a reason why. I'm flattered, but of course I understand. To see some of my personal favorites in that department, there's not only the US 9 former good article, there's also US 6, NY 52, NY 55 and NY 208 (Notice that it helps that they are also well illustrated).

The Catskills and hiking

Explained above. I created Category:Catskills and created or added in significant part to almost all of them. And there's a lot more to come. Sometime.

Hiking, too, is another area still not covered very well here. This led to creating Category:Hiking equipment and Category:Hiking organizations, taking the photo of hiking boots. I have worked on, and created, a bit in both. I would start a WikiProject:Hiking for this but I really don't have time, and I tend to range all over the place, anyway. (For one thing, a trail construction and maintenance article could be split from trail, and trail blazing (which I expanded and added a lot of images to, could really do with not only a cleanup (it looks like someone dropped their photos all over it) but perhaps a renaming and expansion to include signage as well.

Trails is probably the best thing we've got going. Check out the project page, which has been established since I first wrote that there wasn't a project. (I like that it uses a picture I took in the userbox)

Probably we'll have to really get far along on WikiProject:Mountains first, though (and speaking of which, I've done and continue to do most of the work on Slide Mountain, which I hope to take to peer review and FA someday.

I'm very proud of Long Path, a creation of mine that is probably the most thorough of any hiking trail article on Wikipedia.

New York state highways

This picture I took of NY 199 is featured!

I've always loved exploring my adopted home state via car. I have seen much of it yet so much more remains. And I've always been fascinated by roads when I would read maps as a child. I liked the shapes they made, and wondered what it was like at particular places I hadn't been to. When I grew up I was able to explore them.

I didn't, however, know that there were others like this, and that there was a word for them until I got to editing Wikipedia. So when I found out about the New York State highways project, I wasted no time signing up. Creating and improving articles about the many roads I was familiar with, and some I wasn't, accounted for much of my editing back in spring 2006. I would bet that of any WikiProject I'm involved with, this would account for the most edits.

A few of the articles for which I have written route descriptions and taken or found photographs have become selected articles of the project, and on May 17, 2007, U.S. Route 9 in New York, an article myself and several other editors had beefed up a couple of months earlier, became the project's first Good Article.

In December 2007, I was asked to rewrite the route description for NY 22, the only north-south route in the state longer than US 9. It, too, has made GA, and I was awarded a barnstar for the rewrite.

While I wasn't looking, User:Mitchazenia developed NY 32, whose route description I had banged out one day at work, and for which I have taken most of the photos, to GA status as well. He went further, and on June 17, 2008, it became the first FA I can legitimately claim part of the credit for. So I did. On July 7, it was on the Main Page, sparking a lively discussion about why some two-lane state road was somehow important enough to be on the Main Page.

Two months later, Mitch got the Route 22 article to FA as well.

As I mentioned on the article's talk page, color me sacrilegious but I finally started drinking soda thanks to New Coke. It still seems, in hindsight, like the perfect medium between the tastes of Pepsi and Coke. I would love just one more can of Coke II.

So I looked this one up in summer 2005, and found it a disparate collection of facts. One of the external links tells the whole story of how Coke made its decision (which you can really understand) and I decided to rewrite the article to tell that story.

That storytelling, which has since been, as I knew it would be, edited down, got a lot of praise, which pleasantly surprised me. Its structure is still intact in the final article, even if the narrative twists have been hammered out. The article got linked from the Main Page on the anniversary of Classic Coke's reintroduction, perhaps because of the work I'd done on it in the weeks before, and still seems to draw a lot of interest (which means vandalism, too ... of all the articles I've put my stamp on, it gets the most).

On September 7, 2006, all the work I've put into it was rewarded when it received good article status. I hope eventually to improve it further, take it to peer review and then FA. Even though it was delisted a year and a half later due to my concentrating on other articles, I still have plenty of research I haven't added to it yet, and I think it could easily be brought back to its former glory. When I have the time.

The Devil Wears Prada

In early 2005, a friend of ours shipped us some books she'd finished with and thought we might be interested in. The only one that struck me that way was The Devil Wears Prada, since I have a bit of a soft spot for popular chick lit, gender notwithstanding. I read it in three days and, still a few months new to Wikipedia, decided immediately to write an article about it.

What emerged, and is still there, reflects that era of Wikipedia and my tendencies as an editor at the time. I borrowed the template that I had sort of created for myself when doing The Lovely Bones a couple of months before. Like that one, it's a fascinating and comprehensive look at the book, but with an overly long plot summary and some critical commentary that borders on (and probably is) original research. At that time we weren't clear about how that applied to articles about literary works; today we wouldn't have it. Eventually I'll sit down and bring it in line with the novels project standards.

Later that year the film version was shot; by early 2006 it was clear that there was enough out there about it to warrant a separate article. I created it, added whatever information was available prerelease and then, when the film came out, saw it and wrote pretty much the entire beginnings of the "differences" section later that night. I also added the reviews and, most importantly, references that same night. Later I rented and watched the extras on the DVD. I probably know more about the novel than anyone except Lauren Weisberger and more about the film than anybody except the people who made it. On May 17, 2008, despite not being as complete and finished as I would have liked, it was listed as a Good Article.

That last decision has made it so much easier to upgrade the article into what it is now, my other current favorite for future featured status. It would have been so much harder if I had written it and then gone back in to put in references (as I did with New Coke and some other articles). The new emphasis on references and citations may be a pain for older articles but, with those started under that system, it is much easier to build it up to a good quality.

It also became necessary to create an article on the soundtrack album in the process, and (while I have nothing to really do with it), someone else did an article on the forthcoming TV show. Could a video game be next?

Anna Wintour

In the course of working on it, I also began expanding the article on the inspiration for Miranda Priestly, Vogue editor Anna Wintour. It grew and grew — I found her a fascinating subject. I had no plans to put it up for recognition until after I had finished with the Devil Wears Prada movie article, but in early March 2007 an assessor from the biography project gave it an A-class rating. So I accelerated my plans for it, putting it first in biography peer review. I was ready to nominate it for GA when another user did (just like New Coke ... always flattering when that happens), and on May 13 it was added to the GA list.

A WPBIO reassessment gave it a more legit A-class later. After waiting to see The September Issue on DVD, I made the additions and finally took it to FAC. It was not promoted, but I feel I can address the reasons for the failure and get it to the gold-star level.

All of them, as luck would have it, in London during Wikimania 2014

Lauderdale Tower at the Barbican Estate near where Wikimania was held, seen from just outside the nearby Tube station
Alpine House at Kew Gardens, London. I took this on the day Wikimania 2014 began. I had high hopes for it when I took it and it has made FP both here and at Commons.
Ceiling bracket at the old Greenwich Naval Hospital chapel. Another one from that same trip to London. This looks like it would make a great cake.