Substitute for the Page "User:Gary R Zempel"

Hmm! Even as a Wikimaster, I can't edit my own User page. But I can comment on that fact here.

About Me

My Profile goes into some detail; it's more important here to say that I maintain two accounts, named

Gary R Zempel

and

Gary R. Zempel (as suggester)

The first one named is "this" account, specifically my Wikimaster account, the arrangement that enables me as a non-medical-professional (selected because I'm one of those who've been hanging out on other Wiki sites long enuf to be fluent at some tricks), to act like editors to the extent that the changes we make affect the formatting but not the meaning of the articles.

The second -- note that "(as suggester)" is part of the account name, not a commentary I've added here -- is my account as a non-editor member. Like other medical consumers, I also have some ideas about the meanings of article, and can use this account to set up my suggested version of an article. It gets tagged for review by any of the real editors, who can approve it, modify it, or I guess reject it.

Leave Me a Message or Question in the Rest of this Page

To start your communication, click here,

1. BUT FIRST either

   make that click a right-click, and choose something like "open in new tab" or "open in new window, or

   memorize the rest of these directions.

2. When you have an edit pane for this page open, choose a short title for our dialogue (but long enuf to not be confused with previous sections on this talk page -- and not predictably be confused with 2 of the next 5 communications.)
   ("Hi from Jack" is fine if it exhausts the subject. But use "Hi", "A Question", or "Help" only if your main purpose is to stress-test my civility [wink].)
3. In the one-line, upper, edit window, type that title.
4. Move to the multi-line, lower, edit pane, and type until you've said it.
5. Please sign your message:
   --~~~~
   (with four tilde characters) is always fine; I use instead
   --[[User talk:Gary R Zempel|]] ~~~~~
   (with five tildes), because it points conveniently to this page and still includes the time-and-date "stamp".
   I also suggest you precede the signature with <br>, since (unlike Enter!) that puts it on a new line (as you would in closing a letter -- remember letters?), and clearly marks the end of your message after someone else has responded to it.
6. Check "Follow this page", so you are notified when (as I probably will) i reply just below what you wrote in order to keep a coherent dialogue in one place.
7. Don't forget to preview before saving, especially to be sure the wiki-markup you've used works as you hoped.
8. Are you sure you checked "Follow this page"?
9. Don't forget to save once you like what you see.

Alter-ego Response

Well, that "click here" link works. But do I think my colleagues will manage, or even try, to follow those instructions?
--Gary R. Zempel (as suggester) 21:19, 10 May 2009 (UTC)

• I'm grateful to myself for raising that question! Making wiki stuff work is tougher than it looks at second glance, but said colleagues are pretty smart and committed folks. I can't predict the details, but I think we'll make it all work out.
  --Gary R Zempel 21:26, 10 May 2009 (UTC)