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  • 21 Aug, 2019

  • By, Wikipedia

User:Tony Holkham
Tony Holkham is a writer. His contributions to Wikipedia mostly relate to his interests in maritime, local and family history, geography, science, the countryside, music and some sports. He lives in West Sussex.


Places of interest

East Hampshire, south-west Surrey, south and west parts of West Sussex, north Devon and West Wales, particularly Pembrokeshire.

Topics of interest

Principal sources

Since citations are essential when editing, here are some of the sources I use to generate reliable references -

General

Wales

All of these are free to search online

Penbrok comitat 1578 In British Library; no longer available to view online but archived

  1. ^ https://bll01.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/fulldisplay?docid=alma990049098450100000&context=L&vid=44BL_INST:BLL01&lang=en&search_scope=Not_BL_Suppress&adaptor=Local%20Search%20Engine&tab=LibraryCatalog&query=any,contains,Pembrokeshire&sortby=date_a&facet=rtype,include,maps&offset=0
  2. ^ "Penbrok comitat". British Library. Retrieved 22 July 2024.

Useful tags, templates, formats and edit summaries

{{Short description|x}}
{{Commons category|x}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=MY}}
{{Under construction}} (assistance welcome)
{{In use}} (please don't edit for a while)
{{refimprove}} (more refs needed)
{{no footnotes}} (no inline refs)
{{More footnotes}} (insufficient inline refs)
{{unreferenced}}
{{lead too short}} {{done}} {{not done}} {{fixed}}
{{Reflist-talk}} (use on talk page to keep refs in relevant section)
no linked article - see [[WP:DDD]]
deleted social media feed - see [[WP:LINKSTOAVOID]]
deleted unsourced personal info - see [[WP:BLP]]
Too many similar images - see [[WP:NOTREPOSITORY]] (it's what Commons is for)
|static_image_alt = (some infoboxes) or alt = (article images) - alt text for images
|url-access=subscription (subscription required to access online)
RCAHMW Coflein template (Wales), as a reference:
<ref>{{Coflein|num= |desc= |access-date= }}</ref>
Listed building template (Wales), as a reference:
<ref>{{National Historic Assets of Wales|num= |desc= |grade= |access-date= }}</ref>
National Heritage List for England, as a reference:
<ref>{{NHLE|num= |desc= |grade= |access-date= }}</ref>
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography template (adds library/subscription required):
<ref>{{cite odnb|first= |last= |id= |title=}}</ref>

Policies and guidelines

Wikipedia makes a distinction between policy and guideline. Here are some policies I (try to!) follow:

Work in progress

Short descriptions and stubs exercise for English counties

Purpose: to understand geography of English counties better, fix and standardise short descriptions, assess stubs and ultimately de-stub where possible. Done (stubs remaining at December 2024):

East Sussex

  • East Sussex short descriptions checked or corrected: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S  Done
  • East Sussex stubs missing from List of places in East Sussex:
  • East Sussex stubs checked that they are stubs: 0; stubs remaining before checking: 74

Work needed

Articles on Grade I listed buildings in Pembrokeshire

Tower at Eastington Manor House, Hundleton, several buildings at St David's & the Cathedral Close, West Tarr and ruins at Penally, Stable and kitchen court, Ffynone House

Expansion needed

Pembrokeshire geography stubs
Settlements in Pembrokeshire

What's good and not so good about Wikipedia

Good

  • The pleasure of learning something new every day
  • The good-natured and supportive people
  • The almost infinite opportunities to contribute

Not so good

  • Articles with no inline citations - how are you supposed to verify a statement?
  • Edits by unregistered users (with a few exceptions)
  • Vandalism - what's the point?

Hidden agenda

Having used Wikipedia a great deal for some years, and now contributing in a small way, I often see hints of hidden agenda in articles. The resource is edited by human beings and so it is very hard to keep personal views or bias out of it, as I have found when editing myself.

We are most likely to create or edit articles on subjects we are familiar with, and care about, and some sort of stance is inevitable.

Should we avoid editing these topics because we may be biased? That would be self-defeating. Wikipedia needs experts.

What it doesn't need, though, is anonymous (and often unsourced) editing, and it surprises me how much of this there is. I even wonder whether it should be restricted but, as a relative newcomer, that's not for me to judge. I am happy to contribute on the basis that some of my contributions may seem to be biased, but at least readers know who I am and where I stand, that I have the best interests of Wikipedia at heart, and any agenda I may show, intentionally or not, are in plain view.

Added to that, I enjoy the community of Wikipedia, and will continue editing so long as that remains true.

Articles created

Appreciation (scroll)

The Wales Barnstar
For taking the time and care to update articles of Welsh interest - particularly Pembrokeshire - to a high level. Diolch. Hogyn Lleol (talk) 21:03, 29 April 2014 (UTC)
The Barnstar of Diplomacy
Thanks for fixing the article at St Davids Lifeboat Station without rancor. Bearian (talk) 15:34, 5 May 2014 (UTC)
Thanks for creating Aberystwyth Lifeboat Station. Microchip08 (talk) 21:21, 22 October 2014 (UTC)
The Original Barnstar
For all your work on the Digital inheritance article! :D — Jeraphine Gryphon  15:43, 20 March 2015 (UTC)
The Tireless Contributor Barnstar
For your recent efforts with Welsh place infoboxes. They really improve articles! ♦ Diolch am y gwaith caled! ♦ Hogyn Lleol (talk) 10:56, 17 April 2015 (UTC)
The Christianity Barnstar
Dear Tony Holkham, I award you The Christianity Barnstar for all your hard work in WikiProject Christianity-related articles, especially your creation of Old Mortuary Chapel, Carew. Keep up the good work! Your efforts are making a difference here! With regards, Anupam 00:14, 18 November 2018 (UTC)
The Geography Barnstar
Dear Tony,
Thank you for your excellent stewardship of, and insightful contributions to, the article on Pembrokeshire, and for your courtesy towards your editorial colleagues. Your admirable dedication is much appreciated.
With kind regards;
Patrick. ツ Pdebee. 23:53, 7 January 2019 (UTC)
The Citation Barnstar
Thanks for your hard work. Doug Weller talk 20:12, 28 February 2019 (UTC)
The Special Barnstar
Thankyou for your Pembrokeshire-related contributions over the years, if only we had an editor like you for all counties of Wales! † Encyclopædius 14:12, 16 May 2020 (UTC)
7&6=thirteen (☎) has given you a Dobos torte to enjoy! Seven layers of fun because you deserve it.

To give a Dobos torte and spread the WikiLove, just place {{subst:Dobos Torte}} on someone else's talkpage, whether it be someone you have had disagreements with in the past or a good friend.

Aiming for B (or higher)

This list is a useful reminder of the minimum (B-class) to aim for in creating articles -

  • 1.The article is suitably referenced, with inline citations where necessary. It has reliable sources, and any important or controversial material which is likely to be challenged is cited. The use of either ref> tags or citation templates such as cite web}} is required.
  • 2.The article reasonably covers the topic, and does not contain obvious omissions or inaccuracies. It contains a large proportion of the material necessary for an A-Class article, although some sections may need expansion, and some less important topics may be missing.
  • 3.The article has a defined structure. Content should be organized into groups of related material, including a lead section and all the sections that can reasonably be included in an article of its kind.
  • 4.The article is reasonably well-written. The prose contains no major grammatical errors and flows sensibly, but it certainly need not be "brilliant". The Manual of Style need not be followed rigorously.
  • 5.The article contains supporting materials where appropriate. Illustrations are encouraged, though not required. Diagrams and an infobox etc. should be included where they are relevant and useful to the content.
  • 6.The article presents its content in an appropriately understandable way. It is written with as broad an audience in mind as possible. Although Wikipedia is more than just a general encyclopedia, the article should not assume unnecessary technical background and technical terms should be explained or avoided where possible.

Style

Another list to try to follow... Grammar and layout checklist

  • The lead needs to adequately summarize the content of the article.
  • There should not be anything in the lead not mentioned in the rest of the article.
  • Only make wikilinks that are relevant to the context. Common words do not need wikilinking and a word only needs to be wikilinked once within each section.
  • Text should not be sandwiched between two adjacent images. Image captions should not end with a full-stop if the caption does not form a complete sentence.
  • Book references need the author, publisher, publishing date and page number.
  • Web references need the author, publisher, publishing date, access date, language (if not English) and format (if a PDF file).
  • Blogs and personal websites are not reliable sources.
  • Inline citations belong immediately after punctuation marks.
  • Each "notable resident" needs a reference.
  • Include lists only if they cannot be made into prose or their own article. Lists within prose should be avoided.
  • Unspaced en dashes are used for ranges. Unspaced em dashes or spaced en dashes are used for punctuation. The same applies to dashes in the footnotes. See WP:MOS#Dashes.
  • "&nbsp;" (non-breaking space) should be typed between numbers and units.
  • Imperial measurements should be accompanied by the metric equivalent in brackets, and vice versa. If possible, use a conversion template, eg. {{convert|5|mi|km|0}}.
  • Whole numbers under ten should be spelled out as words, except when in lists, tables or infoboxes.
  • Sentences should not start with a numeral. Either recast the sentence or spell the number out.
  • The words "current", "recent" and "to date" should be avoided as they become outdated.
  • Southeast is one word (and may or may not be hyphenated). This does not apply when it is the name of an area, eg. South East England.
  • In longer sentences, a comma may be needed before "and", "due to", "such as", "including", "as", "because" or "but".
  • Full-stops are needed after each initial in someone's name.
  • Avoid weasel words, such as "it is believed that", "is widely regarded as", "some have claimed".
  • Avoid peacock terms, such as "beautiful", "famous", "popular", "well-known", "significant", "important" and "obvious".
  • Avoid vague words, such as "various", "many", "several", "long" and "almost"
  • Avoid phrases with redundant words, such as "is located in", "the two are both", "they brought along", "they have plans to", "they were all part of", "the last ones to form", "both the towns", "outside of the town", "all of the towns", "received some donations", "still exists today", "it also includes others", "many different towns", "available records show" and "in the year 2007".

A Wikipedia article about me? Hmmm...

There was a time when I thought it would be "cool" to see a Wikipedia article about me. Having got to know Wikipedia a little better, I realised it was a double-edged sword; perhaps even a poisoned chalice. Sure, there's the chance to become more widely known as a professional and sell more books. On the other hand, do I want my private life splattered on one of the web's most widely-used sites without any control over the content?

No. My private and working lives have always been separate. While there is inevitably some spill between the two, I currently have control over what leaks in either direction, and I like it that way. I have had a life, and of course there have been positives and negatives in it - things of which I'm proud, and equally things about which I'm not. Everyone's life is like that.

But to have to constantly check whether what is said about me in this marvellous encyclopedia? To wonder whether it is balanced? To wonder whether it is fair? No again. What is important about Wikipedia, I think, is that it grows as a useful, unbiased and trusted non-commercial resource for writers like me to check established facts and glean ideas to use in my creative work. To have an article about me would be rather pointless, wouldn't it?

So I don't think it would be "cool" after all.

(I have, however, added brief biographical details below)

Biography

Tony Holkham was born in a Nissen hut in Mitcham, Surrey in 1948. His parents had married in 1944 while serving in the Royal Navy during World War 2. They moved house quite frequently and Holkham was educated at three different primary schools, then Godalming Grammar School and (for the rest of his secondary education) Churcher's College, Petersfield, Hampshire.

Holkham's father was a civil servant, originally with the Crown Agents and subsequently involved with aviation projects such as BAC TSR-2, Panavia Tornado and Concorde; Holkham's mother was educated at Withington Girls' School and, having trained in librarianship and (until the war intervened) architecture, became what was quaintly known as a housewife, but she found time to raise three children, do part-time secretarial work, organise student exchanges, create gardens, play the piano, write poetry and keep a diary.

Living in the country for most of his life and encouraged by family, friends and school, Holkham developed a love of the natural world, the written word and all things maritime, geographical, historical and musical. After three years working for a bank, then 21 as a technical writer for ICI, Holkham became a consultant in 1990 and, eventually, a full-time writer. Although now drawing a pension, Holkham has no plans to retire.

Published Works

All books are sold through Amazon as e-books and/or printed editions. Other published work includes articles, reviews, stories and letters in a wide range of newspapers, magazines and anthologies, and discussions on radio.

Holkham keeps a large, free to download index here on the name Holcomb/Holcombe and its 100-odd spelling variants (including his own) that have occurred in England and Wales since 1066.

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