Josiah Rowe

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Userboxes

en

This user is a native speaker of the English language.

ru-1

Этот участник владеет русским языком на начальном уровне.

ke-1

Ὁ χρήστης οὗτος δύναται συνεισφέρειν μετὰ μικρὰς γνώσεως τῆς Κοινῆς Ἑλληνικῆς.

LE-0

This individual still maintains a shred of dignity in this insane world by adhering to correct spelling, grammar, punctuation, and capitalisation.

This user is an administrator on the English Wikipedia. (verify)

This user helped promote Fun Home to featured article status.

This user helped promote Fun Home to the main page as Today's Featured Article on September 10 2007.

This user helped promote Doctor Who Prom to good article status.

This user helped promote Fun Home (musical) to good article status.

A fact from the article Michelle Paradise, which this user created or significantly contributed to, has been featured in the Did you know... section on the Main Page.

A fact from the article Daniel Wakefield Smith, which this user created or significantly contributed to, has been featured in the Did you know... section on the Main Page.

A fact from the article Doctor Who Prom, which this user created or significantly contributed to, has been featured in the Did you know... section on the Main Page.

A fact from the article 2009 Christmas specials (Doctor Who), which this user created or significantly contributed to, has been featured in the Did you know... section on the Main Page.

A fact from the article Gallifrey Base, which this user created or significantly contributed to, has been featured in the Did you know... section on the Main Page.

This user has a Triple Crown.

This user runs macOS.

This user contributes using Safari.

This user is an Episcopalian.

This user is a member of
WikiProject Doctor Who.

Dr. Who

"I say...would you like a Jelly Baby?"

LOTR

This user loves The Lord of the Rings, both the books and the films.

LOST

4…8…15…16…23…42…
This user is LOST…

firefly

This user is a Browncoat.

LoM

This user had an accident, and woke up in 1973.

This user is a fan of Gilbert and Sullivan.

SJC

This user is a Johnnie!

vn-44

This user page has been vandalized 44 times.

Josiah Rowe was born at a very young age, in Fredericksburg, Virginia. He hasn't died yet.

He currently lives in North Haven, Connecticut, with three daughters and one wife, all of which he's quite fond of.

He rarely refers to himself in the third person.

Josiah on Wikipedia

Josiah is a dilettante at Wikipedia, as he is in many other fields. His work, if you can call it that, can mostly be found in various topics related to Doctor Who. Josiah also dabbles in pages related to comic books and Greek mythology, as well as other random subjects. His best work is the Featured Article Fun Home.

Other articles Josiah has created or contributed substantially to include (in no particular order): Daniel Wakefield Smith, Michelle Paradise, Helen Griffin, Bernard Krigstein, Serenity (film), Science fiction Western, Julie Gardner, James Cobban, The Pirate Queen, John Dempsey (lyricist), Dana P. Rowe (no relation), Winged monkeys, Achilles and Patroclus, Kevin Davies (director), Kate Austin, Nev Fountain, The Sarah Jane Adventures, Yasmin Paige, Gareth David-Lloyd, SantaLand Diaries and A More Perfect Union (speech). Make of that what you will.

And yes, Josiah is his real name (insofar as such a thing exists), and yes, he's aware that by putting his identity on this page he's probably annihilated whatever privacy he might ever have pretended to have. Josiah figures that he doesn't have anything to be ashamed of, and nobody's going to steal an identity as worthless as his anyhow.

Update, 2007

In the summer of 2007 I took an extended wikibreak, for a couple of reasons. Some of them were due to real-life concerns, but others had to do with Wikipedia, its governance and its future. First, Jimbo's initial response to the Essjay controversy showed a troubling preference for loyalty over truth. Second, I was unhappy with the way that some users have been enforcing the non-free content policy, and the consequent valuing of "free" over "encyclopedia" in Wikipedia's mission. Examples of this being taken to absurd lengths include the exclusion of the International Symbol of Access from informational articles, and the removal of an image of a painting from the summary of the article about that painting on Today's Featured Article. These incidents were examples of Wikipedia allowing the "free" goal to harm the "encyclopedia" goal, as well as examples of the third problem I've been having with Wikipedia lately: the cancerous growth of the Wikipedia bureaucracy. Actually, Wikipedia currently suffers from nearly all the problems listed under Bureaucracy#Criticism. I'm not a management guru, and I don't have the solution to Wikipedia's organizational sclerosis. But I do have the choice of how much time I want to spend working in a bureaucracy-laden environment, and in the summer of 2007 the choice was "not much, thanks".

However, I still feel that Wikipedia is a worthwhile project, and I have the strongest respect for its values of consensus and civility. I have hope that these values will prove stronger than the forces pushing Wikipedia towards bureaucracy, cronyism and absurdities based on ideological purism. Wikipedia can be seen as a model of human society in general. If we can make this work, there's hope for the world.

Update, 2013

I am only occasionally active here. I retain the admin bit, but hardly ever use it.

Perspectives and biases

I recognize the dangers of factionalism on Wikipedia, and have therefore removed several userboxes and categories in accordance with the polite request Jimbo made some time ago. However, I also think it can be important for editors to know each other's standpoints and possible biases. And yes, we all do have biases, both conscious and unconscious. I think the goal for a Wikipedian should be to become aware of one's own biases and strive not to let them affect one's contributions to the encyclopedia. However, I recognize my own fallibility and the likelihood that I will not always live up to that ideal. So, in order to help other contributors recognize areas in which I may be biased, I'm listing a few of my most strongly held beliefs and groups I identify with.

I'm politically liberal. I am also a Christian. I'm a member of the Episcopal Church, and believe that Jesus' teachings don't support preventive warfare or supply-side economics. I strongly support gay rights, including marriage equality. My philosophical views are influenced by Kant, Kierkegaard and Paul Tillich. With Kant, I claim that reason should deal with what can be known, while faith should deal with what cannot be known but must be believed. Therefore, I see no contradiction between Christianity and Darwinian evolution, between the belief that God created the universe and is responsible for everything that exists, and the scientific understanding of how life has developed based on chance and natural selection. (I used to have both an ΙΧΘΥΣ and a Darwin fish on my car, which I hope made people think.)

Again, I hope that I don't let these views affect my editing on Wikipedia, but I'm presenting them here in the interest of openness, just in case they do.

Barnstars and other awards

This barnstar of diligence is awarded to Josiah Rowe for his care in preserving edit histories
presented by Fvw
22 September 2005
LOST barnstar
In recognition of excellence in editing Lost (TV series)
presented by Leflyman
28 September 2005
The Original Barnstar
Thanks for all your WikiContributions! presented by Fir e Fo x
5 October 2005
Golden Plunger
In honor of
Josiah's Adminship,
14 February 2006
presented by Leflyman
This working man's barnstar is for making a table out of lengths of science fiction film and television series and always keeping the shows in it up to date. presented by Arctic Gnome
18 April 2006
Tireless Contributor Barnstar
Thanks for working hard to stop abuses and damaging behavior to wikipedia constantly! presented by Heltec talk
13 May 2006
Barnstar of Good Humor
For a particularly hilarious song parody related to the debate on Wikipedia talk:Naming conventions (television).
presented by BlueSquadronRaven
15 November 2006 (UTC)
I, Smomo hereby award you, Josiah Rowe, the WikiProject Doctor Who Award for your outstanding contributions in the field of Doctor Who. May your good work continue. Smomo 21:07, 1 March 2007 (UTC)
The Random Acts of Kindness Barnstar
Awarded for Josiah Rowe for being kind. King Lopez^Contribs 08:47, 24 April 2007 (UTC)
Your majesty, it gives me great pleasure to bestow the Triple Crown upon Josiah Rowe for your contributions in the areas of WP:DYK, WP:GA, and WP:FA. Thank you for contributions to the project, Great work, especially on Doctor Who Prom - Brilliant!. May you wear the crowns well. Cirt (talk) 09:01, 7 October 2008 (UTC)
I award you this barnstar for work on Kings. Hopefully it survives the first season. Ahodges7 ^talk 02:17, 13 April 2009 (UTC)
This barnstar is awarded to Josiah Rowe, for his tremendous work on the M*A*S*H articles which were batch deleted. You are truly a wonderful asset to wikipedia, please keep up the fabulous job. Ikip (talk) 02:28, 17 May 2009 (UTC)
The Anti-Vandalism Barnstar
For having identified and erased the "Ashlin" vandal that nobody noticed since it was entered on 25 July 2013. Kailash29792 (talk) 10:06, 8 April 2014 (UTC)