This user is not affiliated with the video game Celeste or its director, Maddy Thorson.
This user identifies as queer.
Non-binary pride flag
This user is non-binary.
This user is trans.
Non-binary pride flag
This user's pronouns are
They/She
Sweet mother, this user cannot weave.
AnarchistThis user is an Anarchist. Anarchism
This user is a participant in WikiProject Women in Red (redlinks→blue)
This user is a certified galpal.
This user is L, G, B, and T.
This user is bisexual or pansexual, but calls themself gay or lesbian whenever it may benefit them.
Language stuff
More random userboxes
This editor is a Grognard Extraordinaire and is entitled to display this Wikipedia Vest Pocket Edition.
This user scored 247 on the Wikipediholic test (revision 1096581237).
This user has both Ultraviolet and Twinkle, and may use them together!
This user swings ALL THE WAYS.
This user is a trans woman. She is NOT a "trap", "tranny", or "shemale".
2This user page has been vandalized 2 times.
This user edits using Emacs and Mediawiki.el.
This user thinks Laura Jane Grace is the best.
A drawing of the character Madeline from the video game "Celeste": a white girl with long red hair, dressed in hiking gear, jumping and reaching upwards towards a winged strawberry.
Just keep going.
An 1800s painting of a girl reading a newspaper
Live footage of me reading the latest ANI hellthread

Hi, you can call me Madeline, Maddy, or Laura. I'm mainly interested in trans- and WP:WIRED-related areas, but I also do a lot of non-text-writing work when I'm feeling down, see for example the collapsed list below. I'm active in closing requested moves, having the page mover user right, and currently gaining experience with closing RfCs and other discussions. I'm also trying my hand at GA reviews. I can often be found on Libera Chat with the nickname lav. (I am currently not that much on IRC; check my away status if in doubt.) Download my PGP public key here.

Lists of things

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Articles I did things to
Other pages
Things to do when demotivated
Redlinks for consideration
Drafts
Most of these are in limbo for one reason or another. Feel free to work on them/publish if you feel you can.
Custom user warning templates
Barnstars and other awards :3
  The Original Barnstar
thank you so much for your help Tdshe/her 17:38, 7 October 2022 (UTC)


  The LGBT Barnstar
In recognition of your work generally, but especially helping clean up LGBT articles, including the ones I created/edited but left full of careless errors or formatted poorly (my bad lol). Thank you!
TheTranarchist ⚧ Ⓐ (talk) 23:34, 9 October 2022 (UTC)


  The Teamwork Barnstar
For your continued work on highly visible controversial topics, namely Andrew Tate and Libs of TikTok, and for collaborating with other editors there. Many thanks!     — Askarion 12:41, 7 March 2023 (UTC)


welcoming contentious topics

Thank you for quality articles such as Cisnormativity, Lucile Abreu and Transgender history in Finland, for welcoming new users and dealing with move requests, for not only bravely closing the umptieth Mozart RfC but even following through afterwards, for a clever April Fool and a section "Things to do when demotivated" - Madeline, you are an awesome Wikipedian!

You are recipient no. 2839 of Precious, a prize of QAI. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 22:17, 2 April 2023 (UTC)

  The Original Barnstar
For helping out at RM! CLYDE TALK TO ME/STUFF DONE 00:00, 27 April 2023 (UTC)


  The Defender of the Wiki Barnstar
For gallantry in fighting bigots. Comrade a!rado🇷🇺 (C🪆T) 11:22, 9 June 2023 (UTC)
  The Closer's Barnstar
I remembered the Yasuke RFC was a mess and went to see who closed it out of morbid curiosity. Honestly, congrats for calling it the mess it was and for still being able to summarize some threads despite the absolute trainwreck of an RFC Bluethricecreamman (talk) 06:01, 25 October 2024 (UTC)
  The Closer's Barnstar
Thank you so much for slaying that beast of a discussion! The wiki is better off for it. Sincerely, Dilettante 15:44, 26 October 2024 (UTC)

Thoughts from Celeste Mountain

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Rosa Luxemburg (1871–1919)

Notability

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In the case of marginally notable topics, consider how we best serve the reader – if we cannot say much of substance without becoming a carbon copy of the subject's website or of a tabloid news article, it is kinder to our lectrice to say nothing at all. But if we can tell a little, enough for the future casually interested surfer, who stumbled upon a nomen out of context, to satisfy their curiosity, we must by all means do so. In particular, articles on organizations and contemporary people often fall in the former group, where our writings are not only redundant but may for the lack of a true NPOV pass off promotion as balance, whereas bygone events and persons rarely have promotional materials to plagiarize, and even a short stub may be a helpful summary.

Verifiability is truth

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It is commonly cited that the minimum condition for inclusion is verifiability, not truth. However, for Wikipedia's purposes, verifiability is truth. We can't call something true without evidence, and our standard of evidence is verifiability from reliable, published sources.

When discussing the already painful topic of editor behaviour, the last thing anyone needs is to think of hangings. Please just use WP:LASTCHANCE instead.

AGF and experience

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Occasionally the question comes up, whether experienced editors should be afforded more or less assumption of good faith than newcomers. I think there is a distinction to be drawn between good-faith goals and good-faith methods, and that that distinction is relevant here.

Working towards good-faith goals means wanting to make a better Wikipedia. This encompasses all behaviour that isn't vandalism. A significant proportion of new editors are here to vandalize, while editors who put in any significant amount of effort into Wikipedia rarely vandalize.

Someone who is trying to improve Wikipedia might still resort to methods that consciously contradict the editing policy. An editor might be so convinced they are right on some matter that they resort to domination techniques or sockpuppetry to achieve their goals. Such techniques may be used by editors of any level of experience, but newcomers cannot be assumed to be familiar with our editing procedures; as such, it can be reasonable to allow inexperienced editors some leeway under circumstances where a more experienced editor may be seen as acting unambiguously maliciously, if the situation could instead be explained by a fundamental misunderstanding of how Wikipedia works.

Limited width is good, actually

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Uncontrollably long lines are uncontrollably hard to read. Typographic wisdom has it that 10 to 15 words per line is a good number. I use monobook, but I have amended my CSS to that effect.

Commentary on BADNAC

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TL;DR: If you feel the need to cite WP:BADNAC, don't.

Every now and then, someone will bring a discussion close up for review at the appropriate venue, citing the essay WP:BADNAC. Often these challenges are the ones with the least factual merit to them; while BADNAC may at times be useful for inexperienced editors looking to get started with closing discussions, citing it as a reason to overturn a closure is invariably a fallacious ad hominem and should be met with sanctions for making personal attacks. In fact, each of these criteria for "inappropriate non-admin closures" is complete nonsense.

A non-admin closure may not be appropriate in any of the following situations:

  1. The non-admin has demonstrated a potential conflict of interest, or lack of impartiality, by having expressed an opinion in the discussion or being otherwise involved, with the exception of closing their own withdrawn nomination as a speedy keep when all other viewpoints expressed were for keeping as well.

Irrelevant. Either the closer is involved and should not close the discussion, or they are not. Admin status does not grant exceptions.

  1. The discussion is contentious (especially if it falls within a Contentious Topic), and your close is likely to be controversial.

I could not care less how "contentious" the discussion or topic is. Either the closure is correct or not. Either it is upheld on review, or it is overturned. Nonadmins can make great closures, and admins can make terrible ones.

  1. The non-admin has little or no experience editing Wikipedia generally or has little or no previous participation in discussions.

This in praxis is just used for dismissing closers for editcountitis reasons. Sure, one needs some experience to close, but once a closure is in place, it does not matter who made it. The closure is either correct or not, regardless of the closer's person.

  1. The result will require action by an administrator:
    • Deletion (except for TfD discussions where orphaning is needed)
    • Unprotecting a page
    • Merging page histories
    • Either imposing a ban or block

Yes and no. Requested moves requiring admin action are regularly closed by nonadmins, who will then post at WP:RM/TR for help. CfDs are also often closed by nonadmins, who will post at Wikipedia talk:Categories for discussion/Working. {{db-xfd}} also exists, though it is to my knowledge not really used for AfDs, at least. Thus, there is nothing about a closure requiring admin action that makes it unsuitable for nonadmin closure. Rather, different kinds of discussion have different conventions on this.