Hello Doge1941 and welcome to Wikipedia! We appreciate encyclopedic contributions, but some of your contributions, such as the ones to Hurricane Wilma, do not conform to our policies. For more information on this, see Wikipedia's policies on vandalism and limits on acceptable additions. If you'd like to experiment with the wiki's syntax, please do so in the sandbox (but beware that the contents of the sandbox are deleted frequently) rather than in articles.
If you still have questions, there is a Help desk, or you can click here to ask for help on your talk page, and a volunteer should respond shortly. You may also find the following pages useful for a general introduction to Wikipedia.
I hope you enjoy editing and being a Wikipedian! Please sign your name on talk pages using four tildes (~~~~); this will automatically produce your name and the date. Feel free to write a note on the bottom of my talk page if you want to get in touch with me. Again, welcome! ~Destroyeraa🌀15:49, 9 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Hello, and welcome to Wikipedia. You appear to be repeatedly reverting or undoing other editors' contributions at Hurricane Eta. Although this may seem necessary to protect your preferred version of a page, on Wikipedia this is known as "edit warring" and is usually seen as obstructing the normal editing process, as it often creates animosity between editors. Instead of reverting, please discuss the situation with the editor(s) involved and try to reach a consensus on the talk page.
Please do not attack other editors, as you did at User talk:Destroyeraa. Comment on content, not on contributors. Personal attacks damage the community and deter users. Please stay cool and keep this in mind while editing. Avoid calling other editors "toxic" just because they hold their own opinions. Remember to stay civil.Chlod (say hi!) 19:17, 10 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Doge1941, you are invited to the Teahouse!
Hi Doge1941! Thanks for contributing to Wikipedia. Be our guest at the Teahouse! The Teahouse is a friendly space where new editors can ask questions about contributing to Wikipedia and get help from experienced editors like Lectonar (talk).
Yes, saying that the eye was the smallest, beating Wilma, is original research unless backed by a source. Thanks for removing it. ~Destroyeraa🌀01:12, 19 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]
@HurricaneTracker495: Some IP added it, gave a gentle note about unsourced info. Thanks Doge for removing it, and I hope you continue to edit hurricane articles while not putting any Force Thirteen information in. Cheers. ~Destroyeraa🌀02:07, 19 November 2020 (UTC)[reply]
For further information, you could join the WikiProject Tropical cyclones IRC channel or Discord server.
If you have any comments, suggestions, or would like to talk about the project in general, feel free to leave a message on the talk page.
Happy holidays!
Merry Christmas and a Prosperous 2021!
Hello Doge1941, may you be surrounded by peace, success and happiness on this seasonal occasion. Spread the WikiLove by wishing another user a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, whether it be someone you have had disagreements with in the past, a good friend, or just some random person. Sending you heartfelt and warm greetings for Christmas and New Year 2021. Happy editing, ~Destroyer🌀🌀17:05, 27 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]
The Hurricane Herald is the semi-regular newsletter of WikiProject Tropical Cyclones. The newsletter aims to provide in summary the recent activities and developments of the WikiProject, in addition to global tropical cyclone activity. The Hurricane Herald has been running since its first edition ran on June 4, 2006. If you wish to receive or discontinue subscription to this newsletter, please visit the mailing list. This issue of The Hurricane Herald covers all project related events from December 1, 2020–January 15, 2021. This edition's editors and authors are MarioJump83, Hurricanehink, Destroyeraa, Chicdat, Typhoon2013, CycloneFootball71, Hurricane Noah, LightandDark2000, Cyclone Toby (editor's pick for member of the month), Skarmory, Shift674, and HurricaneCovid. Please visit this page and bookmark any suggestions of interest to you. This will help improve the newsletter and other cyclone-related articles. Past editions can be viewed here.
Typhoon Ike was also promoted from GA to A-class article.
Member of the month (Editor's Pick) – Cyclone Toby
Cyclone Toby first joined Wikipedia in July 2020 as I like hurricanes. Since then, they have become one of the most active editors, taking the initiative of fulfilling article requests, as well as helping us work on finishing many drafts we have. These articles include Hurricanes in Hispaniola, Hurricanes in Nicaragua, and Hurricanes in Honduras, as well as helping out getting Effects of Hurricane Dorian in the Carolinas (a long-standing draft that took many efforts to get it published to mainspace) nominated for GA, as of this writing. There are more articles Cyclone Toby is currently working on other than the ones previously listed. Also, Cyclone Toby is one of the kinder members of WPTC, actively welcoming many new editors that edited articles under WikiProject Tropical cyclones banner, as well as inviting some of these editors to the project, in which their influence ended up bringing more editors to WPTC without any invitation. We thank Cyclone Toby for work they have done in the past year, which was a horrible year for many of us, but Toby is one of many bright spots that helped us get through that year. As we enter the new year, we encourage Cyclone Toby to keep up their work and eventually complete these drafts, which will ultimately lead to the clearing of the backlog of drafts within the project.
Featured Content
From December 1, 2020 to January 15, 2021, there were no articles promoted to Featured Article status. From the Main Page: Documents WikiProject related materials that have appeared on the main page from December 1, 2020–January 15, 2021 in chronological order.
For the next steps of the 2018 Global FT project, we're likely to finish the 2018 Pacific hurricane season FT by the end of the year. Hurricane Bud (2018) is likely to become a Featured Article (FA) around the first anniversary of the 2018 Global FT task force, which will be in June 2021, while Hurricane Olivia (2018) is the most likely FAC next in line. Sooner or later (which might happen before Bud or Olivia is FA), Timeline of the 2018 Pacific hurricane season will be completed, and subsequently nominated for Good Article (GA) status. After that, 2018 Pacific hurricane season might be nominated for Featured Topic (FT) before the timeline or the article is nominated for FA, based on the likely order of completion provided by Hurricane Noah on December 22, 2020 with some changes due to priorities after that time.
In the Western Pacific, the creation of Effects of Typhoon Mangkhut in the Philippines is still being planned out, while Cimaron, Trami, Kong-rey, and Son-Tinh are in line to be nominated for GA later on - and Jebi may well become a FA by the next issue. In the North Indian Ocean, Cyclone Titli was recently created and likely to be expanded later on. In the Southern Hemisphere, Cyclone Owen is currently being worked on to become a GA someday, while Berguitta, Josie, Keni, and Liua are still under construction. For the Mediterranean, Cyclone Zorbas will be expanded upon and nominated for GA, some time after this issue.
We are recruiting
If you are interested in writing new articles, promoting articles to GA, or helping with the FAC review process for the Global 2018 FT project, please reach out to Hurricane Noah or any other member of the 2018 FT task force.
Assessments valid as of this printing. Depending on when you may be viewing this newsletter, the table may be outdated. See here for the latest, most up to date statistics. As of this issue, there are 164 featured articles and 70 featured lists. There are 133 A-class articles, and 1,010 good articles. There are only 71 B-class articles, perhaps because because most articles of that quality already passed a GA review. There are 415 C-class articles, 788 start-class articles, and 182 stub-class articles, with 23 lists, and 9 current articles. These figures mean that slightly more than half of the project is rated a GA or better. Typhoon Warren was the 1,000th GA in the project.
The following is the current progress on the three milestone goals set by the WikiProject as of this publishing. They can be found, updated, at the main WikiProject page.
Storm of the month and other tropical activity for December through January 15, 2021
Storm of the month for December – Cyclone Yasa
Yasa was a powerful and destructive tropical cyclone that struck the island nation of Fiji in December 2020. The second tropical tropical disturbance, and the first and strongest severe tropical cyclone of the season, Yasa originated from a low pressure area on December 10, to the north of Port Vila, in Vanuatu. The storm became a tropical disturbance on the next day and was given the designation 02F by the Fiji Meteorological Service (FMS). The system gradually strengthened over the next couple of days while moving southeastward, reaching tropical storm-equivalent status (Category 1 tropical cyclone on the Australian scale) and receiving the name Yasa on December 13. For the next 3 days, Yasa made a slow clockwise loop, during which time it underwent rapid intensification from December 14 to 16, bombing out from tropical storm-equivalent status to a Category 5-equivalent tropical cyclone on both the Saffir–Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale (SSHWS) and the Australian scale. On December 16, Yasa reached its peak intensity, with maximum 10-minute sustained winds of 250 km/h (155 mph), maximum 1-minute sustained winds of 260 km/h (160 mph), and a minimum central pressure of 899 millibars (26.5 inHg). This made Yasa the fourth-most intense tropical cyclone recorded in the South Pacific basin, as well as the second Category 5 severe tropical cyclone in 2020, after Cyclone Harold.
Afterward, Yasa underwent an eyewall replacement cycle as it neared Fiji, causing the storm to weaken. Early on December 17, Yasa made landfall on Bua Province on Vanua Levu, as a powerful Category 4-equivalent tropical cyclone on the SSHWS (Category 5 severe tropical cyclone on the Australian scale). Following landfall, Yasa quickly weakened, dropping back to tropical storm-equivalent status within two days. Afterward, Yasa moved in a southward direction while continuing its weakening trend, falling below tropical cyclone status on December 19, and dissipating on December 24. Yasa killed 4 people in Fiji and left another person missing. As of this writing, the damage estimates for Yasa are still being calculated, but Yasa had caused extensive damage on Vanua Levu, likely becoming the most destructive tropical cyclone to strike Fiji since Winston in 2016.
North Atlantic – This season, after being the most active on record for its basin, in terms of tropical cyclone formation, officially ended on November 30.
Eastern Pacific – This season, along with the Atlantic hurricane season, ended on November 30.
Western Pacific – Tropical Storm Krovanh (Vicky) developed over the Philippine Sea. The storm is the third tropical cyclone to receive the name Vicky in the year 2020. The storm made landfall on Palawan on December 19, and eventually moved into the South China Sea.
North Indian Ocean – Activity continued into December, with the strengthening of Cyclonic Storm Burevi in the Bay of Bengal. Burevi then made landfall in Sri Lanka a few days later.
South-West Indian Ocean – The third cyclone of the season, Tropical Storm Bongoyo, formed, gradually strengthening over open waters. Within a few weeks, the season began to ramp up, with the formation Tropical Storm Chalane, before it made landfall on Madagascar and in Mozambique. After a tropical depression left the basin, another system would form, becoming Tropical Storm Danilo. On January 14, another Zone of Disturbed Weather developed over the central south Indian Ocean, which became Tropical Depression 07 two days later.
Australian region – A tropical low formed, slowly developing, before gaining tropical-storm strength winds. Soon after, another tropical low formed, this making landfall along the Pilbara Coast of Australia with tropical storm-force winds. Within just a few days, yet another tropical low formed that made landfall along the Kimberly Coast. After a series of two more tropical lows, another system formed. This low would strengthen into Tropical Cyclone Imogen, before making landfall along the Queensland Coast. A seventh tropical low developed on January 5, before dissipating five days later. On January 13, an eighth tropical low, 07U, developed east-northeast of the Cocos Islands.
South Pacific – The first system of the season, 01F, formed on December 11. Within a few days, the season began to ramp up, with the development of Tropical cyclones Yasa and Zazu, with the former rapidly intensifying and becoming a powerful Category 5-equivalent cyclone. Yasa went on to make landfall on the island of Vanua Levu in Fiji on December 17, becoming the most powerful tropical cyclone to strike the island nation since Winston in 2016.
South Atlantic – On December 27, Subtropical Storm Oquira, the second storm of the season, formed in the South Atlantic, off the coast of Brazil. The system lasted for several days as a subtropical storm while moving away from Brazil, before transitioning into an extratropical low on December 31.
Eta was a powerful and long-lived hurricane that devastated Central America in November 2020. The twenty-ninth tropical depression, record-tying twenty-eighth named storm, twelfth hurricane, and fifth major hurricane of the extremely active 2020 Atlantic hurricane season, Eta originated from a vigorous tropical wave in the eastern Caribbean Sea on October 28. On October 30, the system organized into Tropical Depression Twenty-Nine, before becoming a tropical storm on the next day, at which time it was given the name Eta by the National Hurricane Center (NHC). On November 2, Eta became undergoing rapid intensification over the western Caribbean, as it progressed westward, with the cyclone ultimately becoming a Category 4 hurricane on November 3. Later that day, Eta reached its peak intensity, with 1-minute sustained winds of 150 mph (240 km/h) and a minimum central pressure of 922 mbar (hPa; 27.23 inHg), it was the third-most intense November Atlantic hurricane on record, behind the 1932 Cuba hurricane, and Hurricane Iota, which struck the same region just two weeks later. However, satellite data suggests that Eta may have reached Category 5 intensity at the time of its peak intensity, since reconnaissance aircraft failed to sample the hurricane's strongest winds at the time of its peak intensity. Despite this, in their post-storm report, the NHC maintained Eta as a powerful Category 4 hurricane. Six hours after reaching its peak, Eta underwent an eyewall replacement cycle, causing the storm to weaken somewhat. At 21:00 UTC on November 2, Eta made landfall south of Puerto Cabezas, Nicaragua, with maximum sustained winds of 140 mph (225 km/h) and a central pressure of 940 mbar (hPa; 27.76 inHg). Following landfall, Eta rapidly weakened to a tropical depression by 00:00 UTC on November 5.
Despite the mountainous terrain, Eta's low-level circulation survived, and Eta retained tropical depression status for another day, during its two-day trek across Central America, before degenerating into a remnant low overland later on November 5. On November 6, Eta's remnant low moved north over water and regenerated into a tropical depression, before turning towards the northeast. Afterward, Eta reorganized into a tropical storm over the Caribbean on November 7, as it accelerated toward Cuba. On the next day, Eta made landfall on Cuba's Sancti Spíritus Province as a tropical storm, before quickly emerging into the Atlantic and turning westward. Over the next five days, the system moved erratically, making a third landfall on Lower Matecumbe Key in the Florida Keys, on November 9, before slowing down and making a counterclockwise loop in the southern Gulf of Mexico, just off the coast of Cuba, with the storm's intensity fluctuating along the way. Afterward, Eta turned north-northeastward and briefly regained Category 1 hurricane strength on November 11, before weakening back into a tropical storm several hours later. On November 12, Eta made a fourth landfall over Cedar Key, Florida. Eta weakened after making landfall, before eventually re-emerging into the Atlantic later that day. Afterward, Eta became extratropical on November 13, before being absorbed into another frontal system off the coast of the Eastern United States on the next day. In all, Hurricane Eta killed at least 211 people, left 120 people missing, and caused at least $7.9 billion (2020 USD) in damages, with the vast majority of the deaths and damages occurring in Central America. Just two weeks later, Central America was struck by Hurricane Iota as a high-end Category 4 hurricane, making landfall near the same location as Eta, which further exacerbated the disaster in the region.
Jason first created an account on Wikipedia in August 2006, after tracking Hurricane Katrina and countless other storms in 2005. Since then, he has written four featured articles and 21 good articles. Recently, Jason has done great work expanding and cleaning up Cyclone Yasa, one of the strongest storms ever recorded in the South Pacific basin. He is also an active content creator, currently writing Cyclone Meena. Overall, Jason has done an outstanding job expanding the scope of tropical cyclone articles in the Southern Hemisphere basins, such as the South Pacific, where there is, sadly, a shortage of active users. We want to thank him for his wonderful work, and thus award him the Member of the Month award for this edition.
New WikiProject Members since the last newsletter
More information can be found here. This list lists members who have joined/rejoined the WikiProject since the release of the last issue. Sorted chronologically.
To our new members: welcome to the project, and happy editing! Feel free to check the to-do list at the bottom right of the newsletter for things that you might want to work on. To our veteran members: thank you for your edits and your tireless contributions!
A year in review: WPTC's accomplishments in 2020
2020 has been a hard year for many of us. Depending on where you live, the COVID-19 pandemic began as early as January. In most of the world, the pandemic ramped up in February and March, reaching its first peak in April–May. A second wave struck in June–August, which saw cases dramatically increase across the globe, while the third and largest wave began around October. However, during this pandemic, through lock-downs and online learning, as well as the the insanely active 2020 Atlantic hurricane season, our WikiProject saw a huge influx of new editors showing interest in editing tropical cyclone articles. Here, we will take a look at the stats:
Due to recent incidents involving sockpuppetry within WPTC, I invited some editors to address the problem of socking inside the project. MarioJump83!
Sockpuppetry is a serious offense committed by various users on Wikipedia. Our own WPTC is not immune to this travesty. WPTC has seen its fair share of abuse from serial vandals and LTAs throughout the years. From 2013 through 2018, IPhonehurricane95 vandalized dozens of tropical cyclone articles and created more than 200 sock accounts. For several years, mostly spanning a two-year period from 2013 to 2014, IPhonehurricane95 defaced numerous tropical cyclone articles, mostly ones that he had once contributed to, were major storms, or were storms in an active tropical cyclone season. He also attacked essentially every single active editor on WPTC at the time, and he went on to attack every single Admin and CheckUser who had ever blocked him, in addition to making making racist remarks and threats of harassment. He eventually went cross-wiki, forcing the intervention of Stewards. In July 2014, he began including graphic 9/11 images in his vandalism, which further damaged the image of the project. IPhonehurricane95's vandalism inspired several copy-cat vandals, including one who has continued to plague the project to this day. This is a problem with LTAs and serial vandals – those who aren't stopped quickly enough and early on often bring bad publicity to the project, in addition to elevating the risk of copycat inspiring knock-offs. In 2016, IPhonehurricane95's socking spree dramatically decreased, with the LTA disappearing in 2018. Sockpuppetry on WPTC has not been nearly as bad since then, but sockpuppetry persisted on WPTC afterward, even to this day. Recent LTAs that WPTC had to deal with include Fly High in the Sky and Wyatt2049, and possibly Evlekis, with the later two engaging in a campaign of vandalism claiming fake Category 5 upgrades (or Category 0 downgrades) "from God" that attracted a lot of bad publicity. Recently, someusersdabbled with socking, which got them into trouble. With the recent breaches of trust on WPTC and the confirmation of socking by CUs in several of the newer members, some members of WPTC have called for WPTC members to be vetted by CUs. In the past year alone, a few editors who had recently joined the project came out as sockmasters who went on to become LTAs, further adding to the pressure on WPTC. Personally, I feel that the newer users who joined within the past 6 months with a history of disruption should be examined by a CheckUser, but long-standing CU policy is to not investigate anyone unless there are serious allegations of sockpuppetry (with evidence). This policy exists for good reason, and these requests for blanket CUs may very well be turned down, if proposed.
Sockpuppetry is not only bad for the reputation and integrity of the project. It is also harmful to the well-being of editors on the site, especially when they become the targets of attacks. In addition, sockpuppetry breaks the trust of the community when the said offender is a trusted and valued member of the community, no matter the level and duration of the offense. Those editors have to work hard to regain the trust of the community, and in some cases, trust may never be restored. Perhaps equally as bad, sockpuppetry leads to false accusations of the practice and claims of intentional bad faith against both reformed ex-sockpuppeteers and non-socking editors alike. This further damages the reputation of the site, while unnecessarily inflaming tensions between editors on the project and damaging the cohesion between the community. These aspersions also hurt well-meaning editors on the site, and can have the unwanted consequences of embittering them or prompting them to go into retirement. While there are users on WPTC who are dedicated to rooting out and combatting vandals and sockpuppeteers on the site (including some who are a part of the Counter-Vandalism Unit), this is a responsibility that the entire project needs to bear as a whole, since socking is an issue that affects the entire project in one way or another. Editors should be willing and able to investigate potential cases of socking and other types of abusive behavior, while maintaining good faith at the same time. Sockpuppetry is serious issue and an ongoing challenge to the project. Equally as bad are unfounded allegations of the abuse against editors with a long-standing history of being a net-positive. However, together, as a community, we can combat this menace to safeguard the integrity and accuracy of WPTC articles, and make Wikipedia a healthy, productive environment. ~ LightandDark2000 🌀
WPTC had its humble beginnings in the early days of Wikipedia. The WikiProject was founded by Jdorje on October 5, 2005, during the heart of the record-breaking and devastating 2005 Atlantic hurricane season. The founding of WPTC provided a place for editors who had an interest in tropical cyclones to collaborate. Over the next few years, dozens of users flocked to WPTC, growing the ranks to over 60 active members by 2011. This was the first generation of WPTC editors, many of whom had been active on Wikipedia within a few years of its founding in 2001. The first WPTC editors worked hard on improving the quality and quantity of tropical cyclone articles, attaining 100 Good Articles (GAs) and several Featured Articles (FAs) by January 2007. The number of existing TC articles grew each month, with the project boasting 1,000 articles by January 2008. However, as the years passed by, long-time members of the WPTC gradually began dropping out. Reasons included entering college, a busy work schedule, loss of interest in the subject, and retirement from Wikipedia, among other reasons. By January 2011, more than 120 members had either become inactive or had left Wikipedia entirely. By the end of the year, WPTC membership had hemorrhaged to the point where roughly 19 users remained in the WikiProject. As of this writing, the first 13 members on the WPTC roster can be considered the remaining "core" of this first generation that has stayed with the project throughout the years. But the initial WPTC Golden Age was over. The flow of new recruits fell off sharply, and overall interest declined. WPTC would remain at this reduced level of membership and activity for years to come.
More users continued to join the WikiProject over the next several years, albeit on a significantly reduced scale. Even then, the vast majority of the work done on tropical cyclone articles were largely carried out by a "core" of roughly a dozen experienced editors who stayed on with the WikiProject throughout the year, even as tropical cyclone activity shifted between the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. However, this reduction in the numbers of active users meant that many more articles ended up being neglected, or suffered from reduced quality. The flow of new GAs and FAs slowed down, and new FACs almost ground to a halt. Some long-time editors, such as Hurricanehink, continued to hammer out TC articles, while recruiting and mentoring new members. The second generation of WPTC editors began showing up in 2013 through 2016, including Nova Crystallis, Typhoon2013, Master of Time, KN2731, and me. (I had edited on Wikipedia for several years before then, but I wasn't officially a part of WPTC prior to 2014.) While new editors continued to join each year, others kept on leaving, and the size of the roster remained around the same size. On a Featured Article review, one of the reviewers even remarked that WPTC was no longer as lively as it once was, with much of the activity having died down. Working on WPTC grew depressing at times, with some of the active editors moving on to other topics when their basins of interest went inactive (usually when the northern hemisphere seasons came to an end). Articles suffered from quality control and content issues in numerous places, especially articles on storms outside of the North Atlantic and East/Central Pacific hurricane basins, where most of the activity from experienced editors was historically concentrated. Articles for storms in the Southern Hemisphere were the hardest-hit, with only a few editors, such as Jason Rees, continuing to work hard on them year-round. As usual, the vast majority of work fell on a tight-knit group of roughly two dozen editors, most of whom were senior editors who had been present since the early days of WPTC. At times, I wondered whether I would ever see the day in which we would have enough active editors on our roster to bring WPTC back to its former glory.
From 2016 to 2018, more users joined WPTC, including ChocolateTrain, Hurricane Noah, and MarioProtIV, some of whom would later play a key role in revitalizing tropical cyclone articles or WPTC on some level. In 2018, Hurricane Noah helped restructure some of the internal dynamics of WPTC, including the creation of specific task forces for certain topics and also designing a new award system, in order to help motivate WPTC members and also to help coordinate the work between other editors more effectively. That same year, he kicked off a massive campaign to get more articles to GA and FA status, By late 2020, more than two dozen articles had been brought up to GA or FA status, and WPTC saw its first potential Featured Topic Candidate in more than 6 years (the 2018 Pacific hurricane season). After 2019, the number of new members gradually increased, and activity picked up across the WikiProject. A third batch of new editors showed up between 2018 and 2019, tripling the WPTC roster to 60+ active members. These editors included FleurDeOdile, CycloneYoris, EBGamingWiki, Sandy14156, SaiTheCyclone, DavidTheMeteorologist, JavaHurricane, and others. In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic struck. Despite the ensuing lockdowns and other fallouts from the pandemic, WPTC saw an explosion of new editors that same year. This 4th generation of editors was, by far, probably the largest influx of new membership that WPTC had ever seen. By the end of the year, the active membership roster had exploded from 69to 124 active members. Our newer members from 2020 include AC5230, CycloneFootball71, Chicdat, Hurricaneboy23, Chlod, Destroyeraa, MarioJump83, ChessEric, Modokai, CodingCyclone, Cyclone Toby, TornadoLGS, HurricaneCovid, Skarmory, and many, many others. The wait was finally over. New life had been breathed back into WPTC. It was almost as if the good old days of the WikiProject were starting to return. While we've had our ups and downs this year, the influx of new editors infused WPTC with much-needed new blood and also helped relieve the senior editors of some of the burdens they've had to bear for years. Our hope is that the vast majority of these new editors will stay with us going forward, even as tropical cyclone activity cycles on and off across the world. Even after the pandemic-related lockdowns end.
In closing, I want to thank my fellow WPTC editors for my experience. When I first started as an IP editor on Wikipedia more than a decade ago, I never imagined that WikiProjects existed, not to mention one specifically tailored for tropical cyclones. I had a rough start here, with a bitey reception from most of the others who communicated with me, while also struggling to learn some of Wikipedia's fundamental policies (particularly citations). However, I eventually eased into the place and the others warmed to me, and my proficiency in editing improved as I spent more time on Wikipedia. The truth is, whenever I came under pressure in other areas of Wikipedia, whether it is from hounding, witch hunts, attacks, or other hostile behavior, I've always retreated back to WPTC. Why? Because I've always felt much more welcome here. And safe. In some ways, WPTC has become my home on Wikipedia. I've gotten so much more out of here than I had expected to as well. My time on Wikipedia helped sharpen my writing (and typing) skills, which was a rather nice bonus. I've also made a number of new friends here (some of whom I've grown rather close with), all of whom I enjoy working with. Thank you, all of you, for everything. Thank you for showing me what the Wikipedia experience should be like, and thank you for being willing to befriend me. I look forward to continue working with you all and growing with you in the years to come. May you all have a wonderful 2021! ~ LightandDark2000 🌀
Hello, this is my first opinion piece on Hurricane Herald as MarioJump83. In this opinion piece, I want to explain why I'm not as active as I'm hoping for in recent weeks. I do not plan to ever make this opinion piece at all, but I had to speak out about my issue with my activity in order to balance this edition of Hurricane Herald as well as to prevent attempts at adding my work-in-progress opinion piece to this issue because I'm planning to package that opinion piece with a long-finished but unfortunately delayed opinion piece. I want to apologize for delaying my work-in-progress opinion piece numerous times, given there are numerous issues about it, one of which (stress) will be addressed in this opinion piece.
Since last December, I have repeatedly have been on semi-wikibreaks. Wikipedia, as I know it, is a serious business. I was no longer the "nice guy" when I got my MoTM. Stress has been building up as I faced college exams as well as my father's stroke which happened on December 17, 2020. I attempted to break this semi-wikibreak once as I requested to change my name from SMB99thx into MarioJump83 for a breath of a fresh air (some days before that I requested deletion of my userpage for the same reason), and did some AfC reviewing spree in January 2 and 3. But as it turns out, it was quite a failure as three AfC submissions I accepted ended up being in jeopardy, with me trying to save the last one standing. I think these experiences ruined my chance to become a permanent new page reviewer, pushed me back into my semi-wikibreak once more and I had to enroll myself into New Page Patrol School in hopes of getting back into what I wanted. As such, I decided to commit into content creation as I was granted page mover rights (temporary) on January 4. As of now, I'm trying my best to come out on this second semi-wikibreak, bringing myself out of trouble that I didn't intend to participate in and planning to become autopatrolled some day as the college exams are winding over.
Wish me and my family for the best in the coming weeks, anyone! I'm hoping that it will happen after the release of this issue, if not later. By the way - even when I'm still stressed - I am going to wish everybody Happy New Year and Happy 20th Wikipedia anniversary! (Don't forget that we also reached edit number 1,000,000,000!)
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