This barnstar is awarded in recognition of your outstanding contributions to William N. Page and its related rail company and biography articles. - Niteowlneils
My disclaimer: While many users only list articles which they have started, please be aware that my user page is a method of organizing WP articles I have been involved with including current and some pending articles. Listing here does not necessarily mean that I started the article, although it is a pretty good indication I have contributed to it. While I take pride in some articles I started, I firmly believe that the best thing about writing for Wikipedia is collaboration. Of the four featured articles for which I was a major contributor, none were solely a work of mine.
I am a Wikipedia administrator (sysop). I try to be helpful to other contributors, and appreciate comments and communications which should be left on my Talk page (User Talk:Vaoverland).
My name is Mark Fisher, and I live in Richmond, Virginia. My user name is Vaoverland, which derives from a family-owned bus company I managed for about 30 years. I have always loved and been fascinated by trains, streetcars, interurbans, trolley-buses, school buses, motorcoaches and all other types of buses, and automobiles. I retired in 2004 from over 30 years in the bus transportation business here in Virginia. I am currently a caregiver for an elderly parent and another family member with a disability.
I moderate several Yahoo Internet groups for bus and railway enthusiasts, including one which is in the top 5% of Yahoo railway groups with over 500 members. I am also a night owl.
About Writing for Wikipedia
While I do some original writing from my personal knowledge and recollection, most of what I write for Wikipedia is compiled from multiple sources, including other Wikipedia articles, books, magazines and periodicals, special collections, information including some special collections held by organizations such as Virginia Historical Society, Library of Virginia, West Virginia Historical Society, Virginia Tech, University of Virginia, and many others. I also do a lot of web searches looking for specific information. Depending upon my perception of the veracity of the information source, I try to verify something from more than a single source before including it in an article. I also look further when I find conflicting information, which usually amounts to misspelling or incorrect dates, particularly on older subjects and sources. I am grateful for the access I have to the writing of others.
I agree to multi-license all my contributions, with the exception of my user pages, as described below:
Vaoverland 21:48, 9 Dec 2004 (UTC)
My WP Interests and Contributions
For my Wikipedia interests and contributions, I am mostly focused on history and people, places and transportation subjects including buses, streetcars and railroads, and highways, bridges, etc. Geographically, I generally like topics with an orientation fairly close to Richmond, the Historic Triangle, Hampton Roads, and Virginia.
For me writing for Wikipedia provides an opportunity to learn more about subjects which are interesting to me, including a few which have been part of my life. For example, I was in Washington, DC on January 13, 1982 working with a cold weather-related bus transportation problem when Air Florida Flight 90 crashed. I was also a franchised dealer for Wayne Corporation, a now-defunct bus manufacturer. The Virginian Railway has always been my favorite railroad. In the course of writing on subjects such as these, I have learned more and other writers in turn have been stimulated to contributing more, and so forth.
I know that Wikipedia articles are used by teachers as a basis for school projects. When composing, I visualize school children of middle school or high school age, and I try to keep it factual and interesting to read.
It is an exciting and true story, and I would like the reader to be able to relate to some of the emotions the people involved experienced, if that is appropriate in the encyclopedia setting. However, I may have tend to overload articles with adjectives in my enthusiasm. I may need help or suggestions in that area if y'all think it is biased.
I also am more focused on content than format. I'm open to help or suggestions to make it a better article for Wikipedia. That is more important to me than the need to change anything from the way I have done it. In other words, please HELP if you can make it better, or guide me in doing so.
I am still learning how to write for Wikipedia, and appreciate suggestions and/or edits by others.
Red links
Red links of course mean a lack of articles (yet), and if they are on this page, that means that I plan to work on them soon. As WP grows by the minute, I have seen a few of my red links turn blue before I got to them, so I may not show up as a contributor on the page history at all.
Redirects and WP admin and housekeeping
I generally do not list redirects which I may have created, or edits to articles I may do as part of housekeeping for WP outside of my fields of interests. I am very reluctant to edit or delete the work of others, but will revert vandalism whenever I see it, especially on pages on my WP watchlist.
Featured Article Competition
I see the FA competition as sort of WP's Academy Awards. They are something you want to keep in mind in much of your work, and set the standards to measure by, but most good work still won't make it.
To quote from WP, "Wikipedia:Featured articles highlights Wikipedia articles judged to be particularly well-written and complete. They exemplify Wikipedia's very best work and represent what Wikipedia offers that is unique on the Internet. Before making the grade, a nominated article is subjected to a review and usually some enhancements and improvements from more than one writer. There are hundreds of thousands of articles on Wikipedia. Only about 1 in 900 achieves featured article status."
The Wikipedia featured article process is helping me improve my research and writing skills, as well as contributing to articles which I hope others will enjoy and learn from. I try to spend some time each week reviewing and critiquing the work of others, and I share suggestions and words of encouragement when I feel I can and should. I tend to withhold comments or votes unless I feel strongly.
My current score is 4-2 in FAC competition. I have not given up on my failed nominations, but will resubmit them only when I feel they are ready.
Gained status as Featured Articles
The four featured articles I have been involved substantially with were each collaborative efforts. I was the principal writer (but not the only contributor) for three, two of which I started, and I was the secondary writer on a fourth. Each would not have come up to FA standards without the work of multiple writers. They are:
William N. Page became a Wikipedia featured article in October, 2004. I have been working on research on Col. Page for several years. This remarkable man was co founder of the Deepwater Railway and Tidewater Railway, which were combined to form the Virginian Railway (VGN). While Page's partner, millionaire industrialist Henry Huttleston Rogers, has received most of the published attention for building the VGN over the years, and it was he who put up the money and obviously helped determine a winning strategy, I believe that other VGN Enthusiasts and I have come to realize that Page's role was a crucial portion of their partnership. As a featured article candidate, the William N. Page article had lots of help from other WP contributors, including one who went to a local library and got some great information to fill in some gaps, which also led me to new sources, It has been an exceptional pleasure to add this man's story (and that of the building of the Deepwater Railway, Tidewater Railway, and of course, the Virginian Railway) to Wikipedia. User:Niteowlneils contributed significantly.
Battle of Hampton Roads became a Wikipedia featured article in December, 2004. Like most Virginia school children, long ago I learned about the famous American Civil War "Battle of the Monitor and Merrimac" which took place in 1862. However, a number of more recent events and work researching the Virginian Railway (which topped the U.S. Eastern Continental Divide at Merrimac, Virginia) and all the news about the locating and raising portions of the USS Monitor combined to renew my interest. In the article, and the related one about the CSS Virginia, the naming confusion regarding the Confederate ironclad warship has also been discussed. User:Brian0918 did a lot of work on the article, especially the campaign box for the Peninsula Campaign, images, and a much better map than the one I had found earlier. This article is much more about the ships and their innovative equipment than the north vs. south aspects of many Civil War subjects. It a timely Wikipedia article with the preservation efforts and display activity regarding the Monitor very much current events.
Carl G. Fisher became a Wikipedia featured article in March, 2005. This is an article I started when I came across a red link while working on another WP project. Carl Fisher was a child in Indiana with a severe a sight-impairment disability who got into bicycle and auto racing, who helped and promote sealed beam headlights, opened what is believed to be the first automobile dealership, and caused the Indianapolis Motor Speedway to became paved for safety reasons. He was the driving force behind the Lincoln Highway (the first U.S. transcontinental paved roadway), and the north-south Dixie Highway which led to Florida where he became a real estate developer and helped turn a barren and isolated beach area into the resort city of Miami Beach, Florida. Although he lost his fortune in the U.S. Stock Market Crash of 1929, and died in modest conditions while fighting alcoholism, considering himself a failure, he is widely regarded as one of the most influential in Florida history. As I believe seems true with better Wikipedia articles, this article benefited especially well from collaboration, with some good tweaking by User:Niteowlneils, help from User:slambo, and assistance with factual review and additional image sources by User:SPUI. The public domain images are from the U.S. Library of Congress and the Florida Photographic Collection.
Pioneer Zephyr became a Wikipedia featured article in March, 2005. This is an article created by User:Slambo with whom I collaborate on a number of railroad articles. I contributed some content, images, and started articles for some of the red links. However, my role was secondary to his efforts on this one, which also had a minor tune-up from User:Niteowlneils. The story is about the train that was the original "Silver Streak", which was the forerunner of streamlined Burlington Zephyr passengers trains, and the source of the name for two films (1934) and (1976). A fun article to write and read. The PZ and several related historic trains are on display for Wikipedia readers who want to go see them. I've seen the PZ in Chicago, and I really enjoyed the exhibit. Working on the article made me want to visit there again. Hope you also enjoy it!
Featured articles: current candidates
None at this time. Vaoverland 07:20, Mar 24, 2005 (UTC)
Featured Articles (not successful)
I was the principal writer (but not the only contributor) for two featured article candidates which did not achieve that status (yet). They are:
Auto Train which lacked written reference sources (all my research came from Internet sources only).
Virginian Railway article which was too much about building the railroad in comparison with its years of operation and later. The article was also too long as submitted. I am working to follow WP guidelines to break it into a major article with links to sub-articles, thereby making room to expand to cover the whole story of the railroad with better balance. I recently finished the work to create the first new sub-article, Building the Virginian Railway.
Featured Articles (potential)
The following are articles which I had identified as having future potential to be candidates to become Featured Articles. They have not yet been submitted.
Henry H. Rogers I am working on a major expansion of the article on industrialist and millionaire Henry Huttleston Rogers (1840-1909), a working class youth born and raised in Fairhaven, Massachusetts (a whaling town). In the spirit of Horatio Alger, he struck out with a small savings to find his fortune, worked hard and sacrificed, and became one of the principals of Standard Oil. He is considered one of the 30 most wealthy men of all-time in the United States. Much was been written on this fascinating man, who was the Virginian Railway's co founder and financier. The current WP article, mostly written by me, is very insufficient in my opinion. This fellow was very complex, and doing the re-write to a high standard is taking some time. Anyone who can help, please refer to Talk:Henry H. Rogers/Draft for this work-in-progress. While working on his article (in draft), I created a new one on his wife, Abbie G. Rogers, which ended up being more complete than the current on the more famous husband. I learned a lot about the woman behind the man. After Abbie died, he cultivated friendships and financially mentored Mark Twain, Helen Keller, and did tremendous behind-the-scenes work with Dr. Booker T. Washington. The more I learn about Henry Rogers, the more I want to include in the revised article about him.
I have been directly involved in 20 articles to date (18 of which I started) which have been featured on the Wikipedia main page in the Did You Know? section, which presents short blurbs and links to new articles. One of the things I like about the DYK section is that the publicity draws readers and editors to the articles, which stimulates additional content, factual corrections, and sometimes a bit of controversy!
Pioneer Zephyr later became a featured article. It was created by User:Slambo with whom I collaborate on railroad articles. I contributed some content, images, and started articles for some of the red links.
Sears Catalog Homes is an article about 100,000 mail-order houses sold in the United States between 1908 and 1940. Clusters are located in my early childhood home of Downers Grove, Illinois and are a favorite major tourist attraction at Hopewell, Virginia near where I currently reside. User: Brian0918 contributed to the article and the image used.
Carl G. Fisher is an article about a man, who despite a sight-impairment disability, became a notable American entrepreneur, who helped develop sealed beam headlights, the Lincoln Highway (the first U.S. transcontinental paved roadway), the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and the resort city of Miami Beach, Florida. I was surprised to learn Wikipedia didn't already have an article on this remarkable man, who is regarded as one of the most influential in Florida history. Once again, the article benefited from some good tweaking by User:Niteowlneils.
Adult attention-deficit disorder (AADD) affects an estimated 30% of children who had Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), including me. This DYK blurb led many readers to the article and the ADHD article, and there has been healthy new dialog on the Talk pages and new edits with more information from other contributors for both the articles as well.
CSX and Norfolk Southern are the big railroads in Virginia. Therefore, I am organizing these articles by passenger rail (anywhere), CSX and its predecessors, NS and its predecessors, and miscellaneous (anywhere).
Norfolk and Western roots: The earliest portion was the City Point Railroad completed in 1838. It became part of the South Side Railroad, which in 1870, was combined with the Norfolk and Petersburg Railroad and the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad to form the Atlantic, Mississippi and Ohio Railroad (AM&O), a 408-mile long system created by General also see William Mahone across much of southside Virginia. Due largely to the Financial Panic of 1873 , a fourth planned line of the AM&O, the proposed Virginia and Kentucky Railroad was never built. the AM&O went into default and was sold to new owners who renamed it the Norfolk and Western (N&W). The N&W system expanded greatly in the next 100 years to a system of 7,000 miles of track by 1980. Its notable mergers and acquisitions included the Virginian Railway in 1959, and the Nickel Plate Road and Wabash Railway in 1964.
While working on biographies of famous (and not-so-famous) people for Wikipedia, I created an article List of fictional television sitcom characters after realizing how much they have become part of our culture. These fictional characters from television situation comedy shows include persons, as well as animals and inanimate objects. That list includes many (but not all) of the fictional characters I am interested in, which are listed below.
Note: this is an incomplete list, and also includes lost of red links for articles not yet written.
I mostly like to work on articles with which I have some special interest. For example, I was in Washington, DC working with a frozen (literally) motorcoach, and a few hours earlier, had crossed the same bridge that was involved in the terrible crash of Air Florida Flight 90 on January 13, 1982. It makes you think "There but for the grace of God was me..." In Richmond, we endured the Beltway Sniper Attacks terrorism in 2002, and suffered both emotionally and financially, especially after school children and public bus drivers were struck down.
Virginia state & local features, government, and communities
In this section, I intend to only list articles I either started, or was able to contribute significant content. As in other sections, red linked articles named serve as a to/do list.
For a long time, I have had some fascination with the many places which are no longer in Virginia, for whatever reason. The lead article for my WP work on this regard is Lost counties, cities and towns of Virginia. My goal is to capture a comprehensive list and present some interesting factually accurate information about some of these, and I have attempted to include any that might be of interest, including some very obscure ones. Individual articles are listed below, but many I found are only listed in the lead article. I hope that others will find more, and include on my list, as well as add to existing articles and/or correct any incorrect information.
As a general convention, if the subject existed primarily or only before the State of Virginia existed, as in the colonial period, I use a article title that does not include Virginia. If it was later, or if clarity is needed, I use Virginia in the name of the article. (IE New Norfolk County, vs Norfolk County, Virginia.
