User talk:John Foster

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John Foster

Current talk page

Archive 1

The CZ approach

John, welcome to CZ! I just made some changes (and comments on the Talk page) for Social movement. Just a couple of things to suggest, as this is not WP and the CZ approach is not so easy to grasp immediately. First, it's better not to delete stuff unless you're really clear that it's wrong or irrelevant. This is not because we want to get stupidly long articles like WP, but we do need to consider alternative views and theories. Second, if you do decide to delete stuff, better to explain it on the Talk page. If you want to delete large amounts of stuff, discuss it first (if anyone is around to talk about it). And third, some articles are rather conceptual and theoretically based (like social movement), really requiring a lot of input and some expert oversight. This type of article is a tough nut to crack. Don't be afraid to start them, but equally don't be shocked if people argue, radically change or (as editors) occasionally over-rule you. We try to interfere politely though :-) Thanks, Martin Baldwin-Edwards 01:21, 15 May 2010 (UTC)

Thanks, Martin. I certainly take your point that the "CZ approach is not so easy to grasp immediately". I've been doing what I consider to be some fairly straightforward editing, but have found that it has generated an incredible amount of Talk page discussion. As you say, everyone is being very polite, but I have been slightly overwhelmed and a bit discouraged at times, and am more reluctant to "be bold" now. John Foster 20:57, 15 May 2010 (UTC)

Added an Archive box to your talk page

Hi John, I noticed that you were cleaning up your talk page and thought I'd make you an archive box. If you ever want to get rid of clutter, just cut, click on the Archive 1, and paste. You can make your own Archive 2, but don't worry about that until your ready and I will help you do it next time.

Thanks for all your doing around here. I see about 4 new articles that look good. Looking forward to more! D. Matt Innis 02:31, 17 May 2010 (UTC)

Thanks, Matt. John Foster 06:17, 17 May 2010 (UTC)

Returning to Citizendium: an update on the project and how to get involved

Hello - some time ago you became part of the Citizendium project, but we haven't seen you around for a while. Perhaps you'd like to update your public biography or check on the progress of any pages you've edited so far.

Citizendium now has over 16,000 articles, with more than 150 approved by specialist Editors such as yourself, but our contributor numbers require a boost. We have an initiative called 'Eduzendium' that brings in students enrolled on university courses to write articles for credit, but we still need more Editors across the community to write, discuss and approve material. There are some developed Geography and Physics articles that could be improved and approved, and some high-priority Natural and Social Sciences articles that we don't have yet. You can also create new articles via this guide, and contribute to some Geography or Physics pages that have been recently edited here and here - or to any others on Citizendium, since you're a general Author as well as a specialist Editor. You may like to contribute to discussions in the forums, and might consider running for an elected position on the Management and Editorial Councils that oversee the project.

If you have any questions, let me know via my Talk page or by leaving a message below this one. Thank you for signing up and reading this update; I hope that you will look in on our community soon. John Stephenson 08:11, 30 October 2011 (UTC)