I have a special, nerdy little place in my heart for the old Apple II computers of the early 80s, and I've been working to clean up and expand articles about some of the related software. (You remember, the stuff that used to come on those big, 5¼-inch floppy diskettes? Remember? You don't remember at all...) Capturing screenshots to complement the articles has been particularly fun, and has given me an opportunity to dust off some skills that have laid dormant for nearly a quarter of a century — rescuing the little white guys in Choplifter, sailing the solar winds in The Halley Project, doing whatever it is one's meant to be doing in Cavern Creatures. Good times.
Yes BattleTech, the wargame that made donning a 50-foot robotic suit and smashing the ever-loving crap out of your opponents on some battle-scarred world in the 31st century fun! It really is an excellent franchise and I have sheafs of record sheets that attest to the addictiveness of the tabletop game. Most of the articles on the subject, though, are lacking in one way or another, so I and the other members of the BTech project are trying to get 'em in shape.
Right now I'm working on creating and expanding articles for some of the smaller towns and villages in my area, particularly Warren County and Tippecanoe County in Indiana. Many of these hamlets had no entries in Wikipedia, mainly because a lot of town articles seem to have their source in modern census data which recognizes only larger communities. Documenting these small towns is important — after all, many weren't always small. Some which today are only a scattering of houses were in the 19th century burgeoning, platted communities with many residents and much commerce, and which have significance for historians, genealogists, etc. Judyville is particularly interesting...
Researching and documenting ghost towns also appeals to me, and I'm working to expand or (in most cases) create articles for many of my area's extinct, defunct, lost or nearly forgotten communities.
The Epic Barnstar
For your fine work in providing historical information about Warren County, Indiana, I award you this barnstar. Omnedon 16:56, 7 October 2007 (UTC)
The Geography Barnstar
For making decent stubs about various places in Indiana I've never heard of. Kannie | talk 02:10, 12 January 2008 (UTC)
As time permits, I'm taking photos of the towns and other important sites in my area and adding them to Commons as public domain. Below is a sampling of the photos I've uploaded; to see them all, visit my gallery.
The Photographer's Barnstar
For your tireless work to add visual context to articles relating to Indiana, I here award you, Huwmanbeing, The Photographer's Barnstar. youngamerican (ahoy hoy) 02:05, 2 November 2006 (UTC)
