A blog post I think is important First I appreciate the notes that were left recently and the ones left during the February drama I will probably be back but not like I was before I love Wikimedia and everything it is trying to do I wanted to be a part of it More I wanted to show its potential The worst misconception about me is that I am arrogant about my work I most want people to realize that everything I did they can do too You don t even need to do what I did your own secret hopes and ambitions on here have the potential to succeed It s not self promotion If you are contributing work of such high quality that you could actually make a career for yourself then Wikipedia is damn lucky to have you If what you give is crap face it your stuff will be removed nobody will stick up for you and you ll have zero hopes of ever branching beyond Wikipedia This is important you should strive to contribute material that is of such high quality people actually think you could be a professional but the ridiculous argument that you are using Wikipedia to doing that is stupid beyond belief I outlined on my blog how I went about doing what I did on here how you could replicate it if you wanted and general advice I don t care if anyone follows it But I certainly hope it explains how unexceptional my contributions were that is if only other people attempted what I did I m an artist I wanted to work on here and give something back But I never wish to be a professional photographer or journalist reporter I realize that s a shock for many to believe Wikipedia is a great public space to attempt art whether it be journalism and information as art or photography that is encyclopedic before it is artistic Here s the blog post where I try to explain how I succeeded to gain access improved my photography and made a reputation for myself simply for doing what I believed in on Wikipedia blog shankbone org 2008 07 19 david shankbone finally tells you how to replicate his success aspx If contributing high quality work that is recognized on and off Wikipedia is self promotion then we need more self promoters who try to create such high quality David