RickyDeeds

Welcome to my user page. I'm RickyDeeds. I have used wikipedia for years, but I have never edited or contributed before just adding a couple wikilinks to articles through the new user training tutorial. I plan to change that now. Maybe I will make this page prettier at some point. For now, I'm excited to get started here so I'd rather not waste much time on aesthetics.

I resigned from my job as a patent attorney the other day. I'm not sure what I want to do next. I've been trying to put good thought - like real, genuine, 100% effort - into what is important to me to help me decide what my next job should be. My next step is putting the same thought and effort into figuring out what makes me great. I have qualifications in that I have EE and JD degrees, but what I really needed to do was figure out my very best 2-3 raw skills. Those skills are what made me able to be successful in engineering and in law. To identify those skills would mean I could get creative about other industries unrelated to law or engineering that I could perhaps get involved in.

In my search for all of this, as always, I used wikipedia, and I was met with the "donate" banner. So I donated, and I received an automated email from Maryana, the Wikimedia CEO. Although automated and not truly personalized, her message inspired me, so I went down the rabbit hole of learning all about Wikimedia and what they do. Then I started reading about editing, and I was certain this is something I would like to do, and something I think I would be very good at while promoting wikipedia's core values.

I'm very much looking to get adopted and have someone to chat with. My ideal "mentor" would be someone who has been here a long time, who shares my core values (read more below), and who has a genuine understanding and feel of the "big picture". That's probably not even the best term. What I mean is this - someone who has probably been around for a long time, who is unbiased but is also realistic in understanding all opposing and controversial viewpoints, and understand areas that are especially susceptible to bias and COI issues, and knows ways to focus efforts towards making sure those areas are kept in accordance with wikipedia's values, and if there's a way to get something in return (money, credibility, "resume builder" stuff, etc.) while fighting for the truly unbiased and objective cause, then from at least in part a practical standpoint I would be interested in exploring that too. I'm hoping for someone to both answer a few questions I have, but also maybe understand my values and what I can contribute and offer their own thoughts and suggestions based on their better understanding of the world of wikipedia.

I didn't come here for anything in return, and I will contribute and get involved regardless, but one thought I had is making a career out of this in some way. It started as me looking on the Wikimedia site for positions in the legal department, but there were no openings. So then I thought maybe I could somehow leverage being an editor into a career without sacrificing any credibility. I understand the spirit of wikipedia and it aligns with my beliefs. I've looked at a few specific wikipedia policies so far, and I think they are very well-written, with much thought and consideration of what's "right". I'm more wondering if there are ways to make money (or maybe not money - maybe just credibility via the "badge award" system to then make an impact elsewhere?) from people who pay skilled editors to not skirt COI issues to promote a particular view point, but instead fight for the true cause and spirit of wikipedia by asking editors to go correct bias, identify areas where people are skirting COI and maybe go clarify those areas to not promote the opposite side, but to promote fairness and objectivity. What's the best way to do that?