RuWiki History (Doronina and Pinchuk)/English/Interview with Maximaximax
| RuWiki History (Doronina and Pinchuk)/English bearaucrate | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Name | Maxim Votyakov |
| Location | Tomsk, Russia |
| Languages | Russian, English |
| Number of edits | 98К |
| Contact info | |
| mvv73@mail.ru | |
| ICQ | 14625286 |
| Interests | |
Maximaximax
1. Your handle on Wikipedia?
maximaximax
2. What is your educational background and where do you work?
programmer
3. Where do you live (Moscow, St. Petersburg, a city with a million inhabitants, a small town, etc)?
the city of Tomsk (about 500 thousand residents)
4. How old are you?
37
5. When and how did you first hear about the Russian Wikipedia, and why did you start editing?
I heard about it in 2004 and began participating right away. The reason is that the Russian division was in a sad state back then, and it was pitiful that it was so stagnant.
6. How many years have you participated? If you ever took an extended wiki-vacation, please provide the reason (i.e., too much work offwiki, unpleasant atmosphere/events in the project itself, or something else).
6 years. Recently, I've become fairly inactive - mainly because I have other, more important things to do, and Wikipedia doesn't really need me all that much anymore.
7. What do you like most about participating in the project? Why do you think you and other users participate in this work?
I like the enthusiasm of the users the most. The reasons vary - getting pleasure from creating such an amazing product, the desire to help others, and for some - vanity and the need for self-expression or communication.
8. Which events do you consider to be the most important in the history of ru.wiki?
Having a hard time answering.
9. Do your professional interests overlap with the areas in which you edit on ru.wiki? If not, how do you decide which articles to edit?
In general, they don't overlap. There are different reasons - sometimes, you see a mistake or a typo, sometimes you feel bad that an important topic isn't more fully developed.
10. Do you participate in "metapedian" work, i.e., patrolling, discussions of nomination for deletion or renaming, templates? Do you follow the discussions that take place on the Forum, discussion pages of the ArbCom, etc.? Why/why not?
Earlier I did, but not now. These are definitely important activities, but they require good health.
11. How do you feel about the administration of ru.wiki? (About the system in general, about certain admins, about the ArbCom?)
Does ru.wiki really have an administration? The system is, on the whole, good, the administrators are excellent, and the ArbCom members should practically have monuments erected for them while they are alive.
12. How do you feel about the rules? Which rule (which "pillar") do you consider to be most important? Do you think that the atmosphere of the project is too strict?
I try to follow them, but, of course, I don't know all the rules anymore and go by common sense. All 5 pillars are important, it's because of them that Wikipedia became what it is. No, I don't think the atmosphere is too strict.
13. Do you communicate with other users outside of Wikipedia? If yes, how: at wiki-meetups, by chat, or through other Internet communities (LiveJournal)?
Earlier I did, but now practically not at all.
14. How has working on Wikipedia helped/hindered you in real life?
I spent a lot of time on it earlier, which interfered with work and personal life.
15. Has participating in the project affected you personally? How so?
I acquired a lot of experience participating in a huge project, and I understood my qualities with regard to working with people.
16. Do you participate actively in other projects of the Wikimedia Foundation? If so, what are the main differences (positive or negative) from ru.wiki?
Yes, earlier I worked a bit on en.wiki and commons. Ru.wiki is more familiar, more understandable.
17. What other web projects do you participate in?
Towiki (the regional wiki of Tomsk and the surrounding area): http://towiki.ru/. I'm on habrahabr.ru, on LiveJournal, and odnoklassniki.ru, but I'm not very active.
18. What other hobbies do you have?
As a child I collected stamps.