User:VarunFEB2003/Coast

I began in 2014 as a casual reader of Wikipedia, making occasional minor edits as an IP user. My first registered edit that I'm aware of was made in [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Veerappan_(2016_film)&diff=prev&oldid=721036053 in June 2016]. My addiction grew, and in December 2015 I finally decided I wanted to give something to the community and start making more substantial contributions, and since May 2016 I've been here almost daily

My philosophy as a Wikipedian is pretty straightforward. I try to make it fun and avoid disputes. I am a lot attracted and involved in technical things out here. In general I enjoy improving existing ones. I love sciences and big cities/countries, and tend to focus my editing on these topics. Content creation is important to me, but the bulk of my 6,000+ edits are owed to fighting vandalism, doing technical things and making this page! It keeps me engaged and I get some rewarding feeling. As of late I've also been busy working on scripts and various templates.

As a active vandalism fighter and a responsible Wikipedia user I'm heavily involved with maintenance and sustainability of the project. As always I spend much time in preventing abuse of the wiki, but I try to help out anyone who is looking for help.

I have a lot of faith in new users. Technical mistakes are simple and you should help them, as Wikipedia isn't incredibly user-friendly. On a more social level, it's crucial to give newcomers a good impression of the community. In my early days I was accused of sockpuppetry. Fortunately I was resilient. I believed in Wikipedia and did not want to give up. I feel like many users would have been scared off and abandoned the project altogether. The experience shaped the Wikipedian that I am today. It taught me how important it is to be careful with new users, and always assume good faith. It makes me wonder how many other would-be long-lasting contributors we must have lost.....

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