User:NightHeron

Since most of my editing has been either on abortion-related articles or on pages that grew out of that (related to medicine), I think it makes sense to edit anonymously. In line with WP:OUTING, please do not attempt to determine my true identity. I have a second account under my true name that is compliant with WP:VALIDALT, that is, I use it only to edit articles that are directly related to my profession, and there will never be an overlap with the topics that I edit as User:NightHeron.

In view of the hostility often encountered when editing controversial pages, I think that anonymous editing in these circumstances makes sense. Aside from the expected challenges editing abortion-related articles, as a newcomer I've been surprised by the extent of negative conduct toward newcomers by veteran editors, even administrators. A thick skin is definitely necessary in order to edit Wikipedia. Unfortunately, many newcomers are likely to react to such treatment by just going away and letting their account become inactive. I mentioned this in the comments to a WP:Signpost article (vol. 14, no. 5) on systemic bias. I wrote that perhaps the failure of Wikipedia to control such conduct (often in the form of insults and accusations of bad faith) is partly responsible for the high attrition and underrepresentation of women editors and editors from the Global South.

On the positive side, most veteran editors and administrators are truly helpful to newcomers. In my opinion it would be nice if new editors were given a convenient forum to write reviews or ratings of how veteran editors are treating them. Veteran editors who get a certain number of very positive reviews could then get a ribbon or barnstar, whereas those who get repeated negative reviews could get some kind of sanction.