208.191.215.176

September 2023

Hello, I'm Wesoree. I wanted to let you know that one or more of your recent contributions to Song of Myself have been undone because they did not appear constructive. If you would like to experiment, please use the sandbox. If you have any questions, you can ask for assistance at the Teahouse or the Help desk. Thanks. -- Wesoree ^{(talk·contribs)} 13:36, 20 September 2023 (UTC)

If this response sounds snarky, I promise that isn't the case.

I expect that, with as big a task as you've set yourself, you may use automatic scripts and efficient decision-making such as defaulting to the reverting of changes by people who are new without careful thought.

This is very understandable and efficient, and I appreciate that.

I am grateful to you and people like you for doing what you do, but I ask you to consider again this change.

I ask you to consider this one more time.

I didn't try to update the article for amusement, agenda, or glory. Wikipedia editing is not a hobby of mine and it (and this) is neither fun nor easy. I did this because I considered the benefit to all to outweigh the cost to me.

The most-quoted line in the entire poem (often quoted humorously, in response to accusations of self-contradiction) is

> Do I contradict myself?

> Very well then I contradict myself,

> (I am large, I contain multitudes.)

Many people who use Wikipedia as their first and often last stop for looking up or verifying *anything* would benefit from having the additional six or ten words as part of the article.

That's constructive. A significant percentage of visitors to the page get what they were looking for instead of not getting what they were looking for. At the cost of ten words of brevity.

If, upon consideration, you're confident that I'm wrong and communicate this, I'll defer to your judgement. You're the expert and consistent volunteer, and I'm just a supporter.

I just want you to be sure you actually thought about it, because this took me a lot more work than you'd think and I'd hate to have it dismissed without real consideration. 208.191.215.176 (talk) 12:14, 13 October 2023 (UTC)

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