User:Meelar

I agree to multi-license all my contributions, with the exception of my user pages, any and all talk pages, and any and all project pages, as described below:

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Frequently Used:

I started here in late November 2003, while searching Google for "campaign finance reform". Full disclosure: I am an admin, both here and on Meta (though that might have been by accident). I'm also semi-active as a member of the Welcoming Committee.

I'm a college student, originally from Chicago but now in Washington, D.C. I'm now pursuing a double major in political science and economics (bonus question: guess from the braglist which is the primary major!). My main interests as far as Wikipedia goes are in politics, especially American, and a smattering of history, economics, and general U.S. culture. However, many of my edits are simply for NPOV or writing; I try to help structure, grammar and readability whenever I can. That said, a list of the articles I've made substantial changes to, or started fresh. If an article appears here, you can assume I'm watching it, so feel free to ask me any questions, comment on my editorial decisions, etc.

The article on Clone High was started by me and made it onto the "Did you know?" section of the main page. I'm famous!
Swing state, which is kind of my baby (though you're encouraged to edit), was favorably mentioned at Swing State Project, a blog.
Swing state (again) was cited in a press release by the National Iranian American Council (read it at [1]).
Jack Ryan (Senate candidate), started by me, made it into In the News
United States Constitution, after I did a good deal of rewriting and polishing, became a featured article
Barack Obama is featured as well. Many kudos to all who worked on it, esp. User:Gerald Farinas for finding the perfect images. The article was featured on the main page on August 18, 2004.

Contract with America - Welfare reform - Campaign finance reform - Steel tariff - Jean Carnahan - school choice - SVEROK - Joe Hoeffel - Richard Armitage - Concerned Women for America - swing state - Andrew Manatos - 72 Hours: True Crime - College of Cardinals - English - Foil - Omnibus spending bill - George W. Bush - History of slavery in the United States - The Wind Done Gone - United Nations Convention Against Torture - realigning election - List of House Committees - U.S. House Committee on Appropriations - U.S. House Committee on Rules - Southern strategy - Mystic River (movie) - U.S. House Committee on Ways and Means - Editorial - Billy Dee Williams - Terry McAuliffe - slam dunk - Almanac of American Politics - Kathleen Kennedy Townsend - William Griffith Wilson - The Beastmaster - College Democrats - U.S. presidential nominating convention - Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Deficit Reduction Act - Warren B. Rudman - D.C. Statehood - Political campaign - fandango (movies) - Dorothy Bush - Jack Ryan (Senate candidate) - Barack Obama - Donatello (Ninja Turtle) - Raphael (Ninja Turtle) - Michaelangelo (Ninja Turtle) - Leonardo (Ninja Turtle) - Casper the Friendly Ghost - Don Imus - Center for Strategic and International Studies - Jolyon Wagg - Metro Center - Foggy Bottom - Red Rackham's Treasure - Tenleytown-AU - The Secret of the Unicorn - Death tax - Billy Blanks - Clone High - sedan - Thomas E. Mann - Battle school - The Media Fund - fandango - William G. Gregory - Stephen Kinzer - Kent Hance - National library - Ben Gibbard - Reflecting Pool - reflecting pool - March for Womens' Lives - Ed Derwinski - The Simpsons Hit & Run - Muzz Skillings - Ninja in western fiction - Aiel - Doink the Clown - David Catania - Credibility gap - The History of the Standard Oil Company - Smarties - Richard Riordan - Chicago Blues Festival - Morgan Spurlock - The Black Cat (nightclub) - Phil Gingrey - Rick Crawford - Judy Baar Topinka - Judith Sheindlin - Greek-American - Eric Schlosser - American University - Daily Southtown - Jim Jordan - Mary Beth Cahill - Pat Toomey - Doomtown - Tax bracket - Gumball machine - NARAL Pro-Choice America - Corinne Boggs - Dan Glickman - Count (baseball) - Your mom - John Boone - Car donation - 2004 Democratic National Convention - Media conglomerate - United States Constitution - Pete Coors - Shotgun wedding - voter registration - voter registration drive - Andy Borowitz - 99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall - Tom DeLay - Gasoline tax - New Democrat Network - Center for Public Integrity - Nick Clooney - Geoff Davis - Thomas L. Friedman - U.S. House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct - Albert White (U.S. Senator) - Stewart McKinney - Steve Symms - James A. McClure

As I said, I'm more of an editor than new-article starter, but I've found that as time goes on, I see more need for articles, and thus do more of them. More updates as events warrant.

Recently, I've also found that pictures are good things. I don't own a digital camera or scanner, so I poach what I can off of public domain resources and other articles (thanks, U.S. government!). There's always more at Wikipedia:Requested pictures, so check it out. (see My contributions at Wikimedia Commons. Go join up yourself!)

Some of the pages I've worked on are things that I need help with. If you know anything about these subjects, please lend a hand. These are generally things I just don't know enough about to edit. If you can fix one up, mention it on my talk page? Pages I've worked on that need help (from someone who's not me):

National Rifle Association needs a rewrite of the "NRA history" section. I have my doubts about neutrality of the current version.

Richard Armitage has good biographical info, but the bio could use more detail and it has no facts on his current activities, policies, etc.

Campaign finance reform needs more, I just don't know what.

Counter-terrorism is an important topic that needs a good deal more info, and a rewrite

Contract with America needs another perspective, more info.

No article on National Industrial Relations Act ? Shame!

More of these will be added, and fixed ones removed, as time goes on.

To Do:

Every article at List of House Committees
Congressional Chief of Staff
Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee
Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee
Expand campaign finance
/random test

feel I'm missing out.  Can anyone recommend a good (free) IRC client so that I can actually access things like #wikipedia? -- Graham  ☺ | Talk 00:28, 17 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Mozilla - here are Anthere's instructions to me, which helped! [2] Mark Richards 02:21, 17 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Can you name your platform (Windows? Mac? Linux? Other?) --Ardonik 03:44, Jul 17, 2004 (UTC)
- Windows (98). I phoned a friend and he gave me a client name which I am currently using: starchat. Wouldn't know if it's the best or pants as I have nothing to compare it with... -- Graham ☺ | Talk 03:47, 17 Jul 2004 (UTC)
  - Here's our list of IRC clients for each platform. I use XChat and Gaim on Linux — highly recommended (all 3.) In particular, Gaim is open source and can access just about every instant messaging network out there. --Ardonik 03:50, Jul 17, 2004 (UTC)

Is there someplace where IRC is explained more fully for those of us who have never done it? Above is still cryptic to me. Alteripse 16:59, 17 Jul 2004 (UTC)

There's our IRC article, but I'll be glad to answer any specific questions you have. --Ardonik 19:15, Jul 17, 2004 (UTC)
- And, please, if this reveals info that should be added to the article, add it! -- Jmabel 22:50, Jul 17, 2004 (UTC)

This is what Ardonik offered and it worked for me. I copied it into the IRC article also.

How to set up IRC:

I'm assuming you have administrative priveleges on your computer; that'll make things easier to install.
1. Go to http://gaim.sourceforge.net, and click on downloads.
2. Get Gaim-0.79.exe and install it. (It's Free Software, so you can copy it anywhere you like.)
3. When it's done installing, it'll ask you to sign in. You'll see an accounts window.
  1. Click "+ Add".
  2. Change the protocol to IRC.
  3. Give yourself a screen name and password.
  4. Make sure the server is irc.freenode.net.
  5. Click save. Gaim will sign you in automatically.
4. In the Buddy List window, do Buddies->Join a Chat.
5. Channel:#Wikipedia.
6. Type stuff. Everyone will see it. :-)

If you have an internet firewall program like Norton Internet Security you may need to confirm that Gaim is in the list of programs permitted to communicate with the internet, or you may need to add the IRC port 6667. Alteripse 01:07, 18 Jul 2004 (UTC)