I've enjoyed editing Wikipedia for many years. I've learnt a lot – both factually and about human nature – and it's greatly improved my translation skills! I've enjoyed creating, expanding and improving thousands of articles.
Sadly I've witnessed the steady degradation over time of high quality articles as editors make 'improvements' without understanding the subject or context. The last of many straws has been the enforcement of lower case 'style' (actually spelling) on articles such as card games and wildlife, a form of pedantry that adds no value to the articles whatsoever. This may seem a minor issue, but it is clearly not so in the eyes of the style 'champions', since it is enforced regardless of the fact that the relevant literature overwhelmingly uses title case. House style is a choice, not a law. It can be improved on. If we allow style to triumph over substance Wikipedia will never become great. On the other hand, if Wikipedia can accept diversity as it does with WP:ENGVAR, the problem could be easily resolved.
In the meantime, I feel that if we can't follow the best practice in the relevant, reliable sources, then I am wasting my time creating articles or bringing them up to a high standard.
So it's time for me to retire from Wikipedia and concentrate on researching and writing for journals and professional online sites. I could be persuaded to return if Wikipedia could apply the same inclusive approach to individual topics as it does to versions of English, not based on an editor's whim but on reliable sources.
Germany project templates • Aide Memoire • Borussia • Portals • Card games • terms • V useful geog and architectural dictionary
This editor had made over 152,000 live edits and created over 5,900 articles as at 04 January 2024. Hopefully most of them were worthwhile.☺
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Wikipedia-related interests
- I am a games researcher with an emphasis on historical European card games, especially traditional Austrian and German ones.
- My other interests include the county of Dorset and Germany, especially their geography, history and railways
- My main railway interest is the Bavarian state railways and Deutsche Reichsbahn up to 1948.
- I am a member of WikiProjects for Austria, Dorset, Germany, Geography, Mountains, Rivers and Trains, and also of the Holy Roman Empire and rail transport in Germany task forces.
- My DYK articles are listed at User:Bermicourt/DYK (DYK Tool.)
- Other projects of interest: British and Irish hills - Mountains of the Alps
Languages
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{{R from another language|de|en}}
Barnstars
Coverage of German topics
Thank you for raising the awareness of German geography from coastal regions to the glacier of the highest mountain, - you are an awesome Wikipedian!
--Gerda Arendt (talk) 03:26, 10 March 2012 (UTC)
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The Special Barnstar |
| For your excellent translation of Erkelenz from German wikipedia. You do a magnificent job with translation. Keep it up! ♦ Dr. Blofeld 11:25, 13 September 2011 (UTC) |
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The Special Barnstar |
| I present this Special Barnstar to you for your effort in the Panzerlehrbrigade 9 article Infobox and to show my appreciation for your effort. Adamdaley (talk) 21:44, 17 November 2011 (UTC) |
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The Original Barnstar | |
| This barnstar is awarded to everyone who - whatever their opinion - contributed to the discussion about Wikipedia and SOPA. Thank you. Presented by the Wikimedia Foundation. |
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German Barnstar of National Merit |
| For your superb efforts in translating articles from German into English on wikipedia. ♦ Dr. Blofeld 12:01, 22 July 2012 (UTC) |
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The Tireless Contributor Barnstar |
| For clocking up 50,000 edits and 3000 articles! ♦ Dr. Blofeld 20:21, 21 August 2012 (UTC) |
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Rescue From Deletion Award
Awarded to editors who rescue a stub or an article from deletion with excellent writing; in this case, |
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The Geography Barnstar | |
| For your continued efforts in creating many quality articles on European mountains. RacerX11 Talk to meStalk me 04:11, 17 February 2015 (UTC) |
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The Original Barnstar |
| For your monumental effort in creating articles about the Austrian Alps Huddsblue (talk) 23:01, 1 March 2015 (UTC) |
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The Writer's Barnstar |
| Dear Bermicourt, thank you for your contributions to Wikipedia, especially your recent creation of Limes Britannicus. Keep up the good work! You are making a difference here! With regards, AnupamTalk 21:19, 18 June 2016 (UTC) |
Travel
| Countries I have visited | |
| United Kingdom
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- isn't that sad!