User:JonRidinger

I graduated from Theodore Roosevelt High School in Kent, Ohio and hold a BA in Music with a minor in political science and a Master of Arts in Teaching degree both from Kent State University. I also spent three years studying music education at Brigham Young University–Idaho in Rexburg, Idaho before returning to Kent State to finish my bachelor's degree.

I long thought myself a conservative, but feel more and more liberal as I get older and as conservatism in the US drifts further and further to the right and has become the party of Donald Trump, complete with more and more government intrusion into what should be private matters, especially pregnancy, sexual and gender identity, and even what books to read. Basically I believe that the most important role of government is to provide a safe and positive environment so that individuals can achieve their potential at their own choosing; the framework for society to function in a just and fair way. In other words, I definitely believe in the importance of having governments, but also that too much government is a burden and a negative, while too little government allows for minorities and other less powerful groups to be exploited and abused. The purpose of government is to serve its populace, not the other way around, but in the same vein, a government is not a business, so while there are some principles that can be applied from one to the other (and vice versa) they are not interchangeable since the purpose of a business is to make money, while the purpose of a government is to govern and provide a basic framework for society to function. It isn't to make a profit.

In religious matters, I am a lifelong member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (aka Mormons) and served a 2-year mission in the Arizona Tucson Mission, which included stays in southeastern Arizona and southern New Mexico. Even so, I firmly support the separation of church and state and believe in the importance of religious freedom, which includes the right to not believe in or practice any religion.

I love to study history, particularly local history and Mormon history which actually do overlap during the 1830s. I also have an interest in photography, so I do my best to add Creative Commons–licensed photos to the Commons to use in relevant articles. I started out taking pictures using a Kodak EasyShare, followed by a Canon PowerShot A4000, iPhone 5, iPhone 6s, iPhone 11 Pro, and now an iPhone 14 Pro. Along with that, I have added several maps to the Commons related to Kent and Portage County, Ohio. I also have an obvious interest in music, particularly singing, and have done my share of acting as well. I enjoy going to sporting events and enjoy visiting the many stadiums and arenas at every level of sport, which goes along with my interest in architecture.

I have seen my philosophy on Wikipedia evolve as I have edited and interacted with other editors over the years. When I began, I was a typical new editor wanting to add every little detail I knew with little or no source information. I had no real concept of what is notable and what was appropriate in a given Wikipedia article. As a result, I had content removed mostly by editors who had a better understanding of Wikipedia policies and standards than I did at the time, so while it seemed harsh, I look back now and know they did the right thing. I wouldn't call myself an inclusionist because there are certainly limits to what should be here and what shouldn't, and I have nominated articles for deletion because they don't appear to be notable. At the same time I don't think I'm a deletionist either. If notability can be shown—even a small amount—then why not? The key is determining if even that little bit of notability exists and isn't being confused with local significance or routine coverage.

The biggest problem I see here is the lack of reliable sources in articles and the misapplication of sources (i.e. the source doesn't actually say what it's being used to support). Too many articles are written that either completely lack sources or have poor sources that are either unreliable, biased, or misused. Along with that, many good-intentioned editors include or remove material based on personal knowledge but have no way to confirm that what they know is actually true. That was my problem when I first started. I had to learn that just because I knew something didn't necessarily translate into it being important enough to be in an article nor was it able to be validated by other editors. How does anyone else know that what I'm saying is actually true? How can I prove it? Even then just because something can be proven doesn't necessarily mean it should be in an article. As an editor we not only have to determine what is true and what isn't, but also what is important and worthwhile (i.e. encylcopedic) for an article and what isn't

That said, please don't take edits I make personally. When I make an edit, whether it be a revision, a reversion, or a flatout removal, I have reasons for doing so and they are rooted in the various Wikipedia policies and the manual of style. I usually will put those reasons in the edit summary or, if they are significant enough, I will place my reasons in the article's discussion area or the particular user's talk page. If it seems like I'm always on top of your edits, it probably just means I have the page on my watchlist, so every time it gets edited, I notice when I check Wikipedia. I'm by no means perfect and do make mistakes, but am always willing to work with other editors to make articles better. And while I am always open to discuss issues, if you come to my talk page and cite policy or guidelines like I don't know what they are, or come to basically tell me what to do or not to do, we won't get very far. In the end, my goal is to get as many articles as I can to at least "Good" status and eventually to "Featured Article" status, so everything edit I make is related to that. The more we have of those kinds of articles, the more reliable Wikipedia will be for research purposes and education.

From maps and pictures to creating new articles and editing others; here are many of the contributions I've made over the years to Wikipedia.

I have found I enjoy taking pictures, so I find myself always thinking about what articles may need some public domain images whenever I go out with my camera whether it be a vacation or just to something routine. And yes, I have gone out multiple times for the sole purpose of getting photos for articles! See my image gallery to see all of the images I have contributed. Not all are used in articles, but many are and every so often I find another one being used by an outside group including our local newspaper, the local historical society, and even some websites! It's even better when it's properly attributed, but if not most times they will do so if I ask them. I mostly want it attributed on websites so that people don't think my picture on the Commons is a copyright violation.

I really don't create new articles all that often as I'm mostly maintaining, editing, and/or expanding existing articles. When I do start an article, I like to make sure the new article is either already at least in C-class or above shape or at least has one or two reliable sources when initially published. Even with stub articles I have created, I also like to have an actual paragraph instead of just one sentence. Every article should have something in it that isn't simply a duplicate of a larger list or section of another article.

• Template: Kent State Golden Flashes football retired numbers
• Template: Kent State Golden Flashes men's basketball retired numbers
• Template: Kent State University
• Template: Kent State University presidents
• Template: Metro Athletic Conference (Ohio)
• Template: Portage Trail Conference
• Template: Suburban League
• Template: User Kent, Ohio
• Template: User Kent Roosevelt

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I have no idea how many articles I've actually edited, though I used to keep track. The following are some of the articles that I have made the most extensive edits to:

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