User:HJKeats

Hi, I discovered Wikipedia back in 2005 and fell for its vices straight away. How can you go wrong, a medium which covers just about every topic you can think of, nothing to purchase, no fees to pay for just looking and reading and best of all, if you can't find what you're looking for, then write it yourself...Utopia!!! One big difference my Utopia is for real, it's not a fictional island in the Atlantic, it’s an actual island sitting on the edge of the Atlantic. Welcome to my ideal community and paradise Newfoundland. Shucks that's laying it on a bit thick and heavy, but I do love this windswept land.

I contributed my first article on May 16, 2005, an article about Sir Richard Goodwin Keats. I'm no historian and obviously I didn't come up with the original research; I use existing research from many sources. I merely started the article which was embellished and edited by many others. When last I checked the article, it still requires a lot more work to bring it to good article and ultimately feature article status. Such is the way with Wikipedia, no one can claim ownership, simply contribute freely for the benefit of all. Since that first article I have written nearly 350 others of varying topics and subject matter. For the most part they have been about this wonderful corner of the earth, Newfoundland and Labrador, its people, culture, places, history and events.

Hopefully I have stimulated your interest to spend a little time with Wikipedia and add to it, either by generating new articles on topics that interest you or simply editing/fixing existing articles. The information you add or the article you create may qualify the article for front page billing in the Did you know... section. This is where we get a chance to let the whole world know about this wonderful place.

Certainly it's not very difficult to figure out my passion. When I first discovered Wikipedia I found it lacking in the topics I was interested to learn about, everything Newfoundland and Labrador!! So, I set out to help correct that and wherever possible solicit the aid of others in achieving that gold. The articles I write, edit and de-vandalize are for the most part about Newfoundland and Labrador; those who have shaped its history and direction both past and present, its many colourful communities and the events that got us here.

There is a lot of history in this wonderful province of ours yet to be written for Wikipedia, encompassing the many interesting facts that would serve to enlighten, frown and outright make you bust-a-gut. Some of those articles I wrote (seven last count) has made it all the way to the front page of Wikipedia in the "Did You Know" section. There are many more to be included; similar to the one about John Rut, the first European to ever send a letter from the new world, at St. John's, Newfoundland on August 3, 1527. Then there was poor Catherine Snow, the last woman in Newfoundland to be hung for her alleged crime of plotting and killing her abusive husband, John William Snow. Which, brings me to my other passion, genealogy; and low-and-behold wouldn’t you know it, there is Snow in my ancestry. Twenty-three thousand individuals later and I'm still researching!

Presently I monitor 4,100+ articles via my Watchlist. I do not profess to be an expert in any nor all of them, but when I do spot blatant vandalism it gives me a chance correct it. Interestingly, 95% of those 4,100+ articles have a Newfoundland and Labrador connection.