Articles that I've already put considerable work into and I think I have a chance of bringing up to Good Article quality. There are many other articles I've been working on, but I don't always have sufficient sources to give me confidence that I'll get them to GA quality.
I have an enormous interest in the works of Jim Woodring and Dave Sim, and have been frustrated at the lack of sufficient quantity and quality of sources to do justice to their articles and those of their works.
I'm a middle-aged Canadian male and have lived in Shizuoka City in Japan since 1998. My mortgage will likely keep me here, assuming the inevitable and long-overdue Tōkai earthquake doesn't eat it first.
In mid-2011 I dropped the username Acidtoyman I had used since December 2005 so it wouldn't be associated with the "obvious" implications (I don't use drugs, and I don't want people to assume I do). Until shortly before the name change I wasn't very active and usually didn't bother signing in when I did edit. The poor quality of comics articles always got to me, and in early 2011 I got fed up enough to motivate myself to do something about it. Over the winter break of 2011–2012 I rewrote the Canadian comics article from scratch, and on 15 April 2012 it became my first promoted Good Article. During a Peer Review of Louis Riel (comics), Nikkimaria put the idea in my head that the article could become a Featured Article—I didn't understand the selection process, and had assumed the article was too obscure. It was promoted on 26 August 2012 and hit the Main Page on 27 October 2012. This gave me confidence, and I've since worked mainly on articles I intend to submit as Featured Article Candidates. Though I frequently stray, I consider comics my primary editing focus.
Editors tend to shorten my handle to "CT" or "Curly". Not that it matters to me, but the friend who gave me the nickname in real life always shortened it to "Turkey". I swear a lot and will not modify my pottymouth for those who choose to work themselves up over it. Work, school, and family have put a damper on my editing, and when I have been editing, I probably shouldn't've.
Multi-language input setup
I often have to input diacritics and other characters (more off-Wiki than on), so I have my computer set up to handle these things.
I'm a Linux guy; I have Ubuntu on the family desktop and Debian on my laptop. I'm sure there are methods similar to the following for Windows or Mac, but I don't know them. As I live in Japan, I use a Japanese keyboard; most of the keys are the same as on an American keyboard, but some of the puctuation marks are in different places, and there's a button for switching between Roman and Japanese input. For Japanese input I use IBus with mozc.
To input diacritics, I have made my Insert key into a Compose key—the Compose key is common on European keyboards. To do this, I have added the line keysym Insert = Multi_key to my ~/.xmodmap file and run $ xmodmap ~/.xmodmap at startup. Of course, this could be done with any other key on the keyboard I don't use. The Compose key makes input of diacritics a snap—for example:
Compose + ' + e = é (great for French)
Compose + " + o = ö (great for German)
Compose + - + a = ā (great for Japanese)
Compose + a + e = æ (great for words like encyclopædia, though you won't get away with this on Wikipædia)
Compose + - + - + . = – (an endash—used on Wikipædia for date ranges: 1899–1943)
I'm always discovering new uses for the Compose key. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to support IPA, which I use all the time off-Wiki (and sometimes on-Wiki), I don't know an easy method to input IPA characters, so I guess I'm stuck with copy & paste.
the removal of whitespace from articles I tend—to ease navigating the source I leave two spaces between sentences and spaces after headers and images. Removing these visual markers improves nothing as they have no effect on the output markup of the article.
parameters in infoboxes such as Dewey decimal numbers, and especially "Influenced by" and "Influenced".
titling articles in the plural based on vague gut feelings that they somehow, kinda, sorta belong there (English verbs, Chinese characters). Article titles in the singular are predictable and link-friendly; exceptions should be truly exceptional (scissors, the Beatles).
markup that ignores semantics—such as using colons and semicolons to make lists (say, of references) that are not definition lists, or using '''bolding''' to create section "headers".
Wish list
Want to help out a productive editor? Sending money or presents may be frowned upon, but who could object if you bought me an e-book? I'd put it immediately to use in my editing. I have a Kobo, so I'd prefer EPUB files, but I can easily make do with PDFs, and I can read Kindle files on Kindle software on my phone or laptop. Mail me or leave a message on my talk page and we can work out how you can get it to me.
Beaty, Bart. Comics Versus Art. 2013
Bukatman, Scott. The Poetics of Slumberland - Animated Spirits and the Animating Spirit. 2012
Dunn, David (ed.). Harry Partch: An Anthology of Critical Perspectives. 2013
Gabilliet, Jean-Paul (transl. Beaty & Nguyen). Of Comics and Men: A Cultural History of American Comic Books. 2013
Grace, Dominick & Hoffman, Eric (eds.). Chester Brown - Conversations, 2013
Grace, Dominick & Hoffman, Eric (eds.). Seth - Conversations, 2015
Granade, S. Andrew. Harry Partch, Hobo Composer. 2014
Hatfield, Charles. Alternative Comics: An Emerging Literature. 2005
Hoffman, Eric (ed.). Cerebus the Barbarian Messiah - Essays on the Epic Graphic Satire of Dave Sim and Gerhard. 2012
Hoffman, Eric (ed.). Dave Sim: Conversations. 2013
Merkl, Ulrich. Dinomania: The Lost Art of Winsor Mccay, the Secret Origins of King Kong, and the Urge to Destroy New York. 2015
Roeder, Katherine. Wide Awake in Slumberland - Fantasy, Mass Culture, and Modernism in the Art of Winsor McCay. 2013.
Smolderen, Thierry (transl. Beaty & Nguyen). The Origins of Comics. 2014
Wolk, Douglas. Reading Comics - How Graphic Novels Work and What They Mean. 2008
Presents
Comics Award
Great work on comic articles! Regards. Kürbis (✔) 09:09, 3 September 2012 (UTC)
Comics
Thank you for quality articles on comics, such as Louis Riel, and on Canadian-Japanese relations, - you are an awesome Wikipedian! --Gerda Arendt (talk) 23:09, 27 October 2012 (UTC)
The Expert Barnstar
I hereby award you the Expert Barnstar for your outstanding contributions to comics-related topics. This award is given to a few people who are regarded experts in one or several particular fields. Congrats and keep up your excellent work :)!--Tomcat(7) 12:21, 30 October 2012 (UTC)
For the your thorough and engaging review of Manuel Buendía, I hereby award you this Reviewer Barnstar. It was a pleasure to work with you. Best luck in your future projects, and thanks for the review. All the best, ComputerJA (☎ • ✎) 01:12, 13 November 2013 (UTC)
Congratulations on a much-deserved FA star for Gods' Man and for all you do on the subject of graphic novels and wordless novels. It has been an immense pleasure and learning experience reading your work. --ColonelHenry (talk) 00:29, 5 March 2014 (UTC)
The Teamwork Barnstar
With thanks for being an important part of the team at Ezra Pound, especially at peer review, and for helping to make it happen. SlimVirgin(talk) 15:22, 13 March 2014 (UTC)
The Editor's Barnstar
For your great work bringing Goodman Beaver to FA status! GabeMc(talk|contribs) 17:41, 29 March 2014 (UTC)
The Teamwork Barnstar
I wasn't sure whether to award you with this or the copyedtor barnstar, but since your input in Megadeth's FAC has also been really constructive, I'll go with this one. Thanks for all the edits (and time spent) on the topic, and I hope we'll get this to FA some day. One thing I've learnt from you for sure is that the prose in good articles has to be as clearest as possible (previously I though that it should be written in a "sophisticated" way). Good luck with your nominations and if I can help you somehow, don't hesitate to call me. Everything the best. Вик Ретлхед (talk) 11:07, 4 June 2014 (UTC)
Valued Picture Barnstar
Thank you for uploading the Murasaki Shikibu portrait by Kanō Takanobu. Oda Mari (talk) 08:41, 19 June 2014 (UTC)
A Swordsman for You
Thank you, Curly, for bringing Ukiyo-e to FA status. Congratulations! In recognition of this achievement, I grant you a swordsman (slightly worn), who will dice your teacher's answer key next Friday if you feel it necessary.
(BTW, I'm thinking Departures for FAC next week; thoughts?) — Crisco 1492 (talk) 14:08, 30 July 2014 (UTC)
Great work on getting Megadeth to FA status. This is the first heavy metal-related article to be promoted in five years. This accomplishment wouldn't have been possible without your assistance. Retrohead (talk) 08:41, 10 August 2014 (UTC)
The Half Barnstar
I re-read Tintin in Tibet today; I have to admit: It's a great read. That's because everyone who contributed to it did an outstanding job. This includes your contributions, Curly Turkey, together with User:Midnightblueowl! I'm glad to have the advice of both of you (even if you both bail on me sometimes). But what an honour it was to work on this particular article, right? I hope all readers enjoy it. Thanks again for your uniquely direct and experienced contributions; keep them coming. :-) Cheers. Prhartcom (talk) 15:39, 22 September 2014 (UTC)
The Teamwork Barnstar
My heartfelt thanks for your help in improving Bonshō to FA status - your advice and extra sources were invaluable. Yunshui雲水 09:15, 13 October 2014 (UTC)
The Poland Barnstar of National Merit
Please accept this barnstar as a token of my gratitude for your help with the article on Warsaw Uprising (1794). Instead of wasting your time on describing what's wrong with the article, you simply stepped forward and fixed it. Such good work should not go unnoticed. //Halibutt 19:31, 27 October 2014 (UTC)
The Guidance Barnstar
Thanks for your invaluable help with finding and translating sources. Yunshui雲水 09:17, 29 October 2014 (UTC)
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