User:Xiong

My name is Xiong Changnian. This is actually my pen-name or online handle: the pinyin representation of my Chinese name. I'm not Chinese!

I have experience in writing, often of a technical kind; and in graphic design and general websmithing. Otherwise, my experience is embarassingly diverse; I don't know how to do anything very well. I should be the ideal 21st Century worker.

I'm new to Wikipedia editing and open to criticism about anything unrelated to China.

I declare the "What To Call China" emergency over. I have not seen anything related to it flooding the Pump or invading the eternal debate over hyphenation. I still do not want to participate in any such discussion. If you must talk about the matter, please do so here or here.

Contents

1 Lunacy

2 Down with all censorship

3 Gratuitous Pome

4 Wikipedian hierarchy

5 Xiong's last word (v3)

6 Directory

6.1 Subpages
6.2 Watchlist

6.2.1 Netoholic's Vendetta

6.3 Templates
6.4 Quicklinks
6.5 Image gallery
6.6 To Do

7 Contact Me

Lunacy

I have the power above God with which Cubic wisdom has energised me. Talk:Gene Ray#It's hopeless, Time Cube

Down with all censorship

Gratuitous Pome

Life; 
So astringent at first draft, 
Gulped like medicine 
Grimaced.

Ah, 
But sweeter as emptied, 
This rare bottle is 
Relished even to the dregs.

--(2005)

Wikipedian hierarchy

Some will find this excessively trivial, but it took me weeks to figure it out. This is the hierarchy of those who edit Wikipedia, from top to bottom. Note that the reader is not part of this hierarchy; perhaps he should be placed at the very top.

Jimbo Wales
- Wikimedia Foundation Board of Directors
  - Developers
    - Stewards
      - Bureaucrats
        Admins (=Sysops)
        Older registered users (can use the page move function)
        Newer registered users (cannot use the page move function)
        "bare" IP users

Other community members, though unwelcome, are:

Vandals -- those deliberately wreaking direct havoc
Trolls -- those deliberately provoking disruptive argument
Sock puppets -- users who are mere alteregos for other users

Anyone with more information about this than I have is welcome to edit this section.

Xiong's last word (v3)

I do not understand Chinese people, not after living entirely among them for years. They are often such fine folk, but when they war, they do it with such a terrifying combination of utter ruthlessness and perfect calm. When the Earth perishes in a swollen, crimson Sun, I am sure the last two humans left standing on it will be Chinese, pointedly not staring at each other across some contested rock.

I confess I am mad; hopelessly in love with all things Chinese; mesmerized by Chinese people -- even when they are most ornery. But I am weary indeed. Living in China, a well-used man on the wrong side of 40, I cried night after night. My entire family today is Chinese, mother and daughter both, and I often feel like a man who has forgotten not merely his hat, but his head.

I ask -- no, beg -- that fine Chinese gentlemen and ladies close the door to fight over purely Chinese matters about which stupid gweilo ought never hear. Thank You!

Contact Me

I'm not unreachable nor unwilling to talk with almost anybody about almost anything. If there's something you don't want to bring up on my Talk page, by all means email me at:

xiong@mochamail.com

-- or just click the Chinese character in my sig.

You may also chat me on Yahoo IM with Yahoo ID of:

xiongchangnian

I'm usually on, though not always glued to the keyboard, and I never bother to sign out.

I would like to hear from you. — Xiong熊 talk