Most of my edits are to articles about South West England, and tend to be about geography, industrial or architectural history and related topics but also relate to other areas of interest and places I've travelled to. I'll edit almost anything as I come across it.
My 10,000th edit was the start of a new article on the Bristol Byzantine architectural style and happened on 19 May 2007, and the 11,000th to update my userbox of Good Articles to 8 following the promotion of Somerset Levels on 6 July 2007. 12,000 – 15,000 went past in a hurry during August (although I was on holiday & at a conference in Brisbane where I edited Queensland Maritime Museum among others). September and October 2007 were mostly related to the creation of Wikipedia:WikiProject Somerset and the initial assessment of approximately 2000 articles. During October 2007 Buildings and architecture of Bristol became the fourth article on which I had done serious editing to become a Featured article.
The start of 2008 saw Exmoor and Somerset achieving FA status and on 3 February I passed 20,000 edits while creating stubs for villages on the Somerset WikiProject "to do" list. Edits around 22,000 and 23,000 were work on the new Wikipedia:WikiProject Museums particularly setting up templates and guidelines for the initial assessment of thousands of articles.
24,000->28,000 edits went past with mostly low level editing, particularly to stubs within Somerset but I did manage to get a few more DYKs & GAs, and maintenance tasks for Wikipedia:WikiProject Somerset and Wikipedia:WikiProject UK geography. One specific achievement during that period was getting Physical geography of Somerset to Featured topic status. 28,000->33,000 included getting all parishes in Somerset to at least start class, and creating new articles (with accompanying DYKs etc which took me past the 50 DYK mark) while working on getting List of Grade I listed buildings in West Somerset to featured list status.
33,000–36,000 continued in much the same way with DYKs going past 60 and with 5 of the lists at List of Grade I listed buildings in Somerset becoming featured. I also joined the new WP:HSITES. Reaching 37,000 edits included completing the creation or improvement of the articles for all Grade I listed buildings in Somerset and getting the lists of them to FL.
The 40,000 edit mark was during December 2009 and included getting Grade I listed buildings in Somerset to GA and getting all of these to Featured Topic, and various other maintenance and development work almost exclusively relates to Somerset articles. Edits 40-45,000 involved a personal challenge to get all settlements in Somerset with over 5,000 population to GA and getting River Parrett to FA along with various other edits to Somerset geography, museum and similar articles, including more DYKs.
Me with Jimmy Wales, Bristol 13 January 2011. Photo by User:Jezhotwells
In January 2011 I got an opportunity to meet Jimmy Wales and local wikipedians in Bristol and attend his public talk at the Victoria Rooms. One of the purposes of the day, apart from celebrating wikipedia's 10th birthday was to encourage outreach and as part of that I was interviewed by BBC Focus and the New Statesman. The city council has webcast the talk - my question is at 53:22. There are also videos of interviews with MartinPoulter, Ghmyrtle and myself on the same day
On March 19th I participated in the first Bristol Wiki Academy. (see my blog post). From October 2011 to June 2012 I took a wikibreak as my wife needed major surgery for a brain tumour and my elderly father had multiple admissions to hospital and then I needed to help him move into a nursing home and sell his house. Editing continued for the rest of 2012 (although at a slower rate) continuing mostly on Somerset related articles, including keeping an eye on the cleanup list and converting lots of stub articles to start class.
Editing continued in much the same vein during 2013 but included participation in the WikiCup for the first time (reaching round 3). I also got quite heavily involved in the UKs first participation in the Wiki Loves Monuments competition, not just uploading several hundred photographs but also helping with the preparation of suitable lists using appropriate templates etc.
Participants in the Train the trainers workshop
I again participated in the Wikicup during 2014. At the beginning of February I attended a weekend workshop organised by Wikimedia UK to "Train the Trainers", as part of an initiative to accredit volunteers to run training for other potential editors across a range of projects. It was held in Cardiff deliberately to enable those living in Wales and the south west of England to participate. Most of 2014 went past with further editing of Somerset articles and in October I passed the landmark of editing wikipedia for more than ten years.
In 2015 I again participated in the wikicup progressing to the final for the first time, but loosing a a (600pt) FAC got bogged down in a complex discussion about copyright/fair use, ownership and legal status between wp and commons. A significant piece of work (larger than I initially thought) was to review all the FAs I have nominated years ago to ensure they still meet current FA criteria and standards. I agreed to do a workshop for Wikimedia UK which was held at the University of Exeter in July. For this purpose I have set up another account at User:Rodw (training) without all the gadgets and changes I have made to this account over the last 10 years. In September I attended the first Wikipedia Science Conference. In October I was nominated as Editor of the Week, an unexpected honour. I agreed to act as trainer for an event at Gloucester Archives in November.
I decided not to enter the wikicup in 2016 and have tackled the cleanup listings for Somerset and Bristol getting them from 400+ tagged articles to less than 100 each. Bristol achieved FA status on 31 December 2015 and appeared as TFA on 7 March 2016 for which I did some promotional press releases and interviews. During the summer I helped to set up and then took part in the The West Country Challenge. In 2017 I continued with articles about the local area and again took part in the WikiCup, withdrawing in the third round after my daughter suffered a spinal injury and my time became more limited. As well as continuing my usual content contributions, I started doing more to resolve the massive disambiguation backlogs. After being used as an example in the debates about vetting and the Optional RfA candidate poll/Poll candidate search, I put myself up in the system and received very positive comments from a range of editors. My 100,000th edit was to create the article for the Church of St Mary, Cheddon Fitzpaine. In November 2017 I was recruited, at short notice, as a stand in judge for The Core Contest. At the end of the year I was also recruited to help out with backlogs at New pages patrol and Articles for creation. By the end of the year my edit count was up to 117,000 as lots of the edits are fairly minor. 2018 continued in much the same way with one or two side projects including leading a workshop for medieval historians at the University of Winchester.
In 2018 and 2019 I got seriously into efforts to reduce the number of disambiguation links putting my edit count over 200,000 by June when I got involved with Wikipedia:Glastonbury 2019, a project trying to get photographs of loads of artists at Glastonbury Festival. I also decided I should stand for the Wikimedia UK Board election at the 2019 AGM, held at the Watershed on 13 July and I am grateful for the votes which got me elected. It will take a while to get "up to speed with this, but if there are issues you want brought to the attention of the board please let me know. In March 2020 I participated in the The Great Britain and Ireland Destubathon. Having moved house in January 2020, I joined WikiProject Gloucestershire and started to expand it by identifying relevant articles which were not included and particularly tackling the county cleanup list. As part of my disambiguation work I was involved in a RFC and a proposal on the community wichlist survey.
In the first part of 2021 I participated in the pilot wikilearn course on partnership building on moodle. The rest of the year mainly consisted of disambiguating. My 500,000th edit was during March 2022 and the 20 year anniversary of my first edit was in October 2024.
I'm a member of Wikimedia UK We are a group of local Wikimedians helping to create "a world in which every single human being can freely share in the sum of all knowledge". Love Wikimedia? Live in the UK? Donate, Volunteer, and Get Involved!
I just wanted to say that I was very proud to see a fellow Wikipedian being so helpful without being asked. A fine example we should all try and emulate. Have an ASCII barnstar! Best, Neil☎ 15:30, 9 November 2007 (UTC)
Special edition triple crown
Congratulations, Rodw is the first winner of the 2008 triple crown race!
Your Fleet-fingered Majesty, thank you very much for disproving the better/cheaper/faster theory by doing superb editing work lickety-split and free licensing it. Now all of Wikipedia's readers will need to take speed reading lessons to catch up with you. ;) DurovaCharge! 23:11, 18 March 2008 (UTC)
I am pleased to present you with this Steeplechase Triple Crown award for your featured contributions to Wikipedia. Well done. Freikorp (talk) 09:19, 10 April 2015 (UTC)
Five or more years have passed since Bath, Somerset, Buildings and architecture of Bristol, and 40 other articles you nominated were promoted, so it's my pleasure to award you this TimelessAlexander the Great Edition Triple Laurel Crown. Well done. Freikorp (talk) 09:35, 10 April 2015 (UTC)
For your efforts in creating or contributing to 50 DYKs, I award you this medal. Wear it with pride. Chris (talk) 02:58, 19 March 2009 (UTC)
The Geography Barnstar
For all your tireless and impeccable work on the geography of Chew Valley, Somerset and the United Kingdom! Keep it up, we need you! – Jza84 · (talk) 16:16, 12 November 2007 (UTC)
The Random Acts of Kindness Barnstar
Thanks for all your work helping me promote my first good article, Worlebury Camp. I'm pretty sure I would not have been able to do it without you. Thanks again! Reaper Eternal (talk) 01:55, 25 December 2010 (UTC)
The Original Barnstar
I can't tell you how impressed I am with your contributions, esp. the recent series on Somerset archeological sites. I wish we had a Thomas Hardy-award for you. Drmies (talk) 19:35, 6 February 2011 (UTC)
The Featured Article Medal
Given the number of FAs you have created, this appears to be long overdue. Very Well done. MrMedal (talk) 15:02, 14 May 2011 (UTC)
The Featured List Medal
Given the number of FLs you have created, this also appears to be long overdue. Very Well done.MrMedal (talk) 15:02, 14 May 2011 (UTC)
The Special Barnstar
For your exceptional efforts to write Somerset and Bristol articles to a high standard and for creating decent articles on missing Somerset villages, geo features and buildings. If only we could clone you for other English counties!! ♦ Dr. Blofeld 17:23, 20 July 2011 (UTC)
Many congratulations are in order, as you have become one of the few Wikipedians to contribute one hundred or more newly created or expanded articles to the Main page in the "Did you know?" section. You have made a huge impact on our coverage of Somerset, in particular, and are a great asset to the encyclopedia. Moonraker (talk) 23:09, 13 October 2011 (UTC)
For your contributions to bring Barrington Court to Good Article status. Thanks, and keep up the good work! -- Khazar2 (talk) 15:10, 1 May 2013 (UTC)
The Teamwork Barnstar
Good on you, Rodw! Amandajm (talk) 10:52, 12 July 2013 (UTC)
The Quarter Million Award
For your contributions to bring Somerset (estimated annual readership: 301,000) to Featured Article status, I hereby present you the Quarter Million Award. Congratulations, and thanks for all you do for Wikipedia's readers! Ritchie333(talk)(cont) 11:35, 15 November 2013 (UTC)
What a wonderful and much needed article. Consider yourself awash with praise! Martinevans123 (talk) 16:57, 1 March 2014 (UTC)
The Writer's Barnstar
Thank you for your quality improvement project on Magna Carta, and for improving Wikipedia's coverage related to WP:Human rights. Much appreciated. — Cirt (talk) 02:23, 22 January 2015 (UTC)
Rod, it is my sincere pleasure to hereby name you a Paladin of Hampshire County Historic Places in recognition of your thoughtful review and appreciated guidance, which resulted in the promotion of Capon Chapel to Featured Article status. This article is the first Hampshire County subject and only the sixth West Virginia-related subject to receive this status. Thank you for helping to bring awareness to Hampshire County's historic landmarks! -- West Virginian (talk) 10:56, 12 July 2015 (UTC)
The Portal Barnstar is awarded to Wikipedians who have made significant contributions to topic portals. For your work on the Bristol Portal, I award you the Portal Barnstar. -- John of Reading (talk) 20:42, 30 August 2015 (UTC)
For almost making 5 millionth article. It shouldn't really matter who "won", but somehow, apparently, it does... Samsara 13:08, 1 November 2015 (UTC)
The Half Million Award
For your contributions to bring Bristol (estimated annual readership: 628,943) to Featured Article status, I hereby present you the Half Million Award. Congratulations on this rare accomplishment, and thanks for all you do for Wikipedia's readers! Yash! 11:18, 25 February 2016 (UTC)
The Special Barnstar
I've been very impressed Rod with the way you've quickly set about the task of setting up this new contest. What would have normally taken weeks has largely been done in a few days. Having this level of energy and input is very promising indeed, we'll need it for running such a contest haha. It's a lot of work but if the results are anywhere near as good it will have been worth it! Drawing up these lists is important anyway, even beyond the contest. So keep up the great work Rod and here's to a productive contest!♦ Dr. Blofeld 19:13, 14 May 2016 (UTC)
The West Country Challenge: Bronze Medal
Congratulations on finishing 3rd place in the West Country Challenge. Great work throughout the whole contest. And you won £30 for the effort too! ♦ Dr. Blofeld 09:40, 5 September 2016 (UTC)
The Special Barnstar
You're an amazing editor Rod, fantastic stuff!! ♦ Dr. Blofeld 17:11, 6 October 2016 (UTC)
The Original Barnstar
Great work on all the de-stubing. Thanks. Philafrenzy (talk) 10:36, 15 October 2016 (UTC)
The Disambiguator's Barnstar is awarded to Wikipedians who are prolific disambiguators. Thanks for resolving all those Isaiah Thomas's—Bagumba (talk) 11:58, 18 February 2018 (UTC)
The 2017 Cure Award
In 2017 you were one of the top ~250 medical editors across any language of Wikipedia. Thank you from Wiki Project Med Foundation for helping bring free, complete, accurate, up-to-date health information to the public. We really appreciate you and the vital work you do! Wiki Project Med Foundation is a user group whose mission is to improve our health content. Consider joining here, there are no associated costs.
The Barnstar of Diligence
Thanks for catching that link issue on the Visakha page Wikiman5676 (talk) 01:25, 12 September 2018 (UTC)
Thanks for your dab work on Battle of Weymouth. Nice to still see your name popping up on my Watchlist after all this time. Looking through your user page, I see that you've been plenty busy! Keep up all the good work, and know that it is always appreciated. Harriastalk 21:27, 25 September 2019 (UTC)
The Original Barnstar
Happy New Year, Rodw! You are receiving this barnstar because, according to this Wikipedia database query, you were the #5 most thanked Wikipedian of 2019, with 1344 entries in Special:Log/thanks during 2019. Congratulations, and, well, thank you for your contributions! Cheers to 2020. Mz7 (talk) 01:17, 1 January 2020 (UTC)
The Original Barnstar
Thanks for the help. Kont Dracula (talk) 23:38, 24 May 2020 (UTC)
The Original Barnstar
Hello, Rodw! You are receiving this barnstar because, according to this database query, you were the #4 most thanked Wikipedian of 2020, with 1716 entries in Special:Log/thanks! Thank you again for your contributions! Mz7 (talk) 21:54, 13 January 2021 (UTC)
The Minor Barnstar
Minor edits are often-overlooked, but essential, contributions to Wikipedia. The Minor Barnstar is awarded for making minor edits of the utmost quality. Thanks Rodw. your awesome. Infinitepeace (talk) 01:48, 25 March 2021 (UTC)
The Tireless Contributor Barnstar
Thanks for disambiguating links, you're making a difference. Ratnahastin(t.c) 03:39, 21 July 2021 (UTC)
The Kind Collaborator Award
I just wanted to say...THANK YOU for your efforts!
Your work is very much appreciated as is your understanding
why I removed the wikilinks. Your thank you to me left a good
impression. It's nice to know that we have collaborators like
you working to improve and help build the encyclopedia.
Happy Editing!! Atsme💬📧 12:58, 7 August 2021 (UTC)
The Original Barnstar
Hey Rod,
Thank you for your time during the AdaLoveLace Edit-A-Thon.
The Disambiguator's Barnstar is awarded to Wikipedians who are prolific disambiguators. I've been thinking of awarding this to you for a little bit. You seem to be the current epitome of "prolific disambiguator;" one day, I hope to be as good as you are. I dream of horses(Contribs)(Talk) 11:33, 9 February 2022 (UTC)
The Tireless Contributor Barnstar
For your significant contributions over the years.... Keep it going! Volten001☎ 02:14, 19 April 2022 (UTC)
Hey thanks for fixing the disambiguation wiki link on my edit on the article Star Trek: Enterprise. You rock! Thank you for your edits! I do similar edits with AWB. Dillard421♂♂(talk to me) 17:52, 21 December 2022 (UTC)
The Original Barnstar
Happy New Year, Rodw! In 2022, other editors thanked you 1,984 times using the thanks tool. This made you the #2 most thanked Wikipedian in 2022. Congratulations and, well, thank you for all that you do for Wikipedia. Here's to 2023! Mz7 (talk) 23:28, 31 December 2022 (UTC)
The Tireless Contributor Barnstar
Thanks for your significant help disambiguating links on Canadian election articles. Very much appreciated. Yamla (talk) 10:11, 29 February 2024 (UTC)
The Disambiguator's Barnstar
altDear Colleague, Thank you so much for your kind assistance in disambiguating some locations in my recently moved articles: Felice Lascelles and its companion List of performances by Felice Lascelles. I am most grateful to you for your help, which is very much appreciated. Thank you also for all your other contributions to our encyclopaedia. With kind regards; Patrick. ツ Pdebee.(talk)(become old-fashioned!) 19:17, 13 June 2024 (UTC)
working towards Genghis Khan Edition Conquest of the Wiki World Triple Crown upgrade from Alexander the Great Edition Triple Laurel Crown (and all previous)
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Cheers to 2020. Mz7 (talk) 01:17, 1 January 2020 (UTC)
