I'm a former newspaper guy who got into e-mail, bulletin boards and Usenet in the early '80s, wrote a 1983 ethnomusicology master's thesis, becoming somewhat expert at writing with mainframe and personal computers in the process, then wrote a 1988 master's paper about hypertext, then decided to go for a PhD (in "Mass Communication Research") so that I could have a better Internet connection. I taught journalism and website production for a dozen years before retiring to write a radio history blog and play Old Time String Band music in Southwestern Virginia.

Early on, I poked around Wikipedia for a couple of years, logged on or not, creating or contributing to pages about places where I'd worked, including the (Nando (media company) Times, The Hartford Courant and MultiMate) or simply fixing typographical and factual errors.

Because I use several office, home and lab computers, each with multiple browsers, I sometimes made quick Wikipedia edits without logging in. As this user name, anonymously or under an alternate user name (BobStepno), I've edited or added pages about things that happened on various dates, pages about weblogs, RSS (file format), podcasting, journalism, communication history, folk music (songs, instruments like the tiple, and musicians) and other topics I know something about -- or have the resources to look up.

Because my Wikipedia sessions often involve an "I really should be doing something else" guilt factor, I may be in a rush and leave contributions with less than the most Wikisophisticated layout or link structures. However, I do not make any changes without checking my facts. At other times, I may be guilty of trying to say too much in "edit summary" lines or on discussion pages.

I do try to keep learning about Wikipedia's styles and techniques, and I appreciate (gentle) advice and corrections. Thank you to those who clean up my sloppiness instead of simply reverting my changes.