user:Steve Smith

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{{{text|This user won't retire, but he might retread.}}}'''

My name is Steve Smith, and I'm from Edmonton, where [http://stevesmithlaw.ca I practice law].

I've been on Wikipedia off and on since [https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Igor_Ulanov&diff=prev&oldid=110290648 February 23, 2007]. I am currently an administrator, and have been since January 2008. I have previously been an arbitrator, oversighter, checkuser, and OTRS volunteer. I gave up all of those roles fundamentally because I did not find them rewarding. I don't know that I find administratorship "rewarding" either, per se, but I don't see any harm in leaving my bit idle except for those odd occasions that I don't. If you disagree, I am open to recall.

Over the years, I have expended a great deal of intellectual energy on Wikipedia's processes and implications. I've decided to stop. Wikipedia is a fascinating triumph in some ways, and an irredeemable mess in others, and that's really as far as I care to go. One of Wikipedia's most incisive critics once [http://wikipediareview.com/index.php?s=&showtopic=27646&view=findpost&p=207377 expressed hope] that my [de/a]scent into the bowels of Wikipedia governance might make me a better critic, but all it really did is provoke wiki-nihilism. Sorry, GBG.

I like to write articles when my schedule allows, mostly about the political history of Alberta.