User:Marshman
I started here on July 25, 2003. Because I'm such a nice guy, I was quickly elevated to admin status. I became a wikiholic almost immediately. I went through an early period of anger and frustration over "others" and their edits, but came out of it a pretty mellow guy with a changed philosophy on what a "commmunity" really means.
This concept (Wikipedia) is one close to my own hopes for the WWW. I am an environmental consultant specializing in ecology, biology, botany, and water quality. In my free time, I maintain several web pages for professional groups to which I belong and pages on general educational themes about the environment in the Hawaiian Islands where I live. Editing is one part of my real job (as a consultant) that I enjoy very much.
I have been rewriting or revising Wikipedia articles on coral reefs and places in the Hawaiian Islands with which I am particularly familiar. My coral reef experience comes from extensive travels to Central Pacific atolls while working on a dissertation as a graduate student at the University of Hawaii. I still travel around the Pacific as part of my work, conducting environmental studies, although in the last decade or so I have shifted my interest from the marine environment to terrestrial plants (vegetation surveys), streams, and wetlands.
Main areas of interest are botany, water quality, geology (especially as relates to aquatic environments), wetlands, and ecology. I also spend a lot of time at Wikibooks where I work on the Ecology, Invert. Zoo., Botany, and German textbooks.
I have lots of digital photos from my trusty Nikon Coolpix 950, which unfortunately is starting to show its age. I like the camera so much, I'm afraid to buy a new one and be disappointed. Nikon no longer makes Cool Pix with the "rotating" body. Camera going fast - need to find a new one ....
Have not edited for awhile (since 2007 according to Wikipedia) but not exactly true. I have made corrections on occasion to pages i follow. I also reqularly make monetary donations as I strongly support Wikipedia as an excellent example of the best the web can be. Hope to get back into editing some day.