Toadspike

Hello, I'm Toadspike!

Communication

Please ping me in conversations on-wiki! I do not always check back on talk pages unless I get a notification. I try to subscribe to Talk page discussions, but I cannot subscribe to some pages (e.g. AfDs, GA reviews, or DYK reviews).

Advice and criticism are always welcome; simply leave a message on my Talk page. You can also contact me by pinging me on the Wikimedia Discord server. Email is less reliable, but I'll probably see the message eventually; leaving a You've got mail message on my talk page is the best way to get a prompt reply.

You may refer to me by he/him or they/them pronouns. I prefer the former, but the latter is generally a safe bet on the Internet. :)

About me

Hello there! I am Toadspike, a reader, editor, and administrator here on the English Wikipedia. I speak English, German, and Chinese, and will gladly do translations or search for obscure sources. I also have limited knowledge of several other languages and scripts, which sometimes comes in handy. My interests vary widely.

I started out making many minor copyedits to fix spelling, grammar, and double spaces, add serial commas, and improving weird formatting, quirks which have been generously distributed throughout Wikipedia by my peers and, occasionally, myself. I moved on to adding lots of short descriptions. Nowadays I even write and review content!

I am variously active at AfD (esp. DSCH and DSZH), RM/TR, NPP, AfC, and pending changes – I will happily answer questions about any, or work on a backlog in an emergency. I occasionally close discussions, though I try to be especially careful when doing so, and I appreciate criticism and advice on my closes. I have written some advice on RM/TR and advice on AfD, which I hope you find helpful.

I have created a few articles, including Anna Pestalozzi-Schulthess, 5 Broadgate, Yunxian Man, and Tuas Lamp Post 1. A more complete list is at User:Toadspike/Articles. I've also done a handful of FLC, FAC, GAN, and DYK reviews. Feel free to ask me for a review in the history or medicine topic areas, especially where my language skills are of use.

I have one alternative account: User:Toad's Pike. ■

Various userboxes

Languages

enThis user is a native speaker of the English language.

deDieser Benutzer spricht Deutsch als Muttersprache.

zh該用戶的母語是中文。
该用户的母语是中文。

gsw-2Dä Benutzer hät fortgschritteni Schwiizerdütschkenntnis.

no-1Denne brukeren/brukaren kan litt norsk.

nl-1Deze gebruiker bezit beginnende kennis van het Nederlands.

fr-1Cet utilisateur peut contribuer avec un niveau élémentaire de français.

lzh-1此士少解文言。

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PY-5This user has a full understanding of Hanyu Pinyin.

Cyrl-4
ДThis user has a near-complete understanding of the Cyrillic script.

Hrkt-4
あThis user has a near-complete understanding of the Katakana or Hiragana.

WG-4This user has a near-complete understanding of Wade–Giles.

한글This user can read Hangul.

Search user languages

#This user chats on the Wikimedia Community Discord server.

This user may sometimes share an IP address with YuniToumei.

This user is a participant in WikiProject Short descriptions.

AfDThis user participates in AfD discussions.

This user is a new page patroller.

This user participates in WikiProject Switzerland.

This user is a participant in
WikiProject China.

This user participates in WikiProject Medicine.

This user is a member of
the Guild of Copy Editors.

This user reviews and improves submissions at Articles for Creation.

This Wikipedian remembers
Vami IV.

This Wikipedian remembers
Nosebagbear.

Useful links

• WP:CENT
• Sfn generator: [1]
• Template:Cite sign seems epic! I have a lot of signs to cite.
• Fill out User:Generalissima/Administration of Cultural Heritage top ten archaeological discoveries with translations from dewiki, zhwiki articles. Perhaps create articles on interesting entries that don't have any yet.
• Check out Wikipedia:Typo Team/moss
• Check Template:Retracted, Category:Articles citing retracted publications, and Category:Articles citing publications with errata
• Category:Disambiguation pages containing one non-primary topic
• Sandals [2]
• Pending AfC search [3]
• AfD close analyzer [4]
• User:Uhai/Pages without short descriptions by view count
• Keep an eye on User:Toadspike/New CJKV disambiguation pages

Messages of appreciation

Congratulations on 501 edits!

A goat for you.

Jjgg713 (talk) 11:54, 22 April 2021 (UTC)

A cup of tea for you, because coffee only smells nice

You make a lot of cool edits, what can I say? Junedaisy (talk) 02:50, 30 January 2022 (UTC)

For sharing knowledge!

		The Original Barnstar
		Thank you for sharing sources at WP:RX, and the effort you put in this. I appreciate it! Dawit S Gondaria (talk) 13:33, 19 August 2022 (UTC)

A barnstar for you!

	The Random Acts of Kindness Barnstar
	Yo thanks for the book with more to come, it is really above and beyond. TheBritinator (talk) 22:00, 11 October 2024 (UTC)

A cookie for you!

Thank you for reaching out to a Vietnamese friend to do a web search for WP:Articles for deletion/Lê Quang Khải. Even though you didn't find anything in this instance, I appreciate the extra effort put in to consult a native speaker. Habst (talk) 20:00, 14 March 2025 (UTC)

Drives, Blitzes, and the rest

		The Minor Barnstar
		This barnstar is awarded to Toadspike for copy edits totaling between 1 and 1,999 words (including rollover words) during the GOCE April 2022 Copy Editing Blitz. Congratulations, and thank you for your contributions! Miniapolis 13:43, 30 April 2022 (UTC)

		The Reviewer Barnstar
		This award is given in recognition to Toadspike for accumulating at least 50 points during the May 2024 NPP backlog drive. Your contributions helped play a part in the 14,452 reviews completed during the drive. Thank you so much for taking part and contributing to help reduce the backlog! Hey man im josh (talk) 18:56, 6 June 2024 (UTC)

		Rack and pinion Award
		This award is given in recognition to Toadspike for accumulating at least 15 points during each week of the May 2024 NPP backlog drive. Your contributions played a part in the 14,452 reviews completed during the drive. Thank you so much for taking part and contributing to help reduce the backlog! Hey man im josh (talk) 19:18, 6 June 2024 (UTC)

		The New Page Reviewer's NPP Barnstar Award
		This award is given in recognition to Toadspike for conducting 141 article reviews in 2024. Thank you so much for all your excellent work. Keep it up! Hey man im josh (talk) 18:30, 8 January 2025 (UTC)

		The Tireless Contributor Barnstar
		This award is given in recognition to Toadspike for accumulating at least 25 points during the January 2025 NPP backlog drive. Your contributions helped play a part in the 16,000+ articles and 14,000+ redirects reviewed (for a total of 19,791.2 points) completed during the drive. Thank you so much for taking part and contributing to help reduce the backlog! Hey man im josh (talk) 19:37, 6 February 2025 (UTC)

		The Minor Barnstar
		Your noteworthy contribution (3 points total) helped reduce the backlog by 185 articles! Here's a token of our appreciation. IntentionallyDense (Contribs) 03:21, 12 March 2025 (UTC)

Things other people have said that I find funny, insightful, or otherwise interesting

• "Wikipedia needs admins, not the other way around" - Chaotic Enby
• An admin, an IP, and a sockpuppet walk into a bar...

...and the bartender says, "what're you having?" The admin says, "I'll have a glass of your finest champagne." The IP says, "Give me your cheapest draft beer." The sockpuppet says, "Just water for me; I can't afford a third drink." – the best thing to come out of the 2024 RfA review? (2025 update: Thankfully, this was not the best thing to come out of the 2024 RfA review.)

• "Maybe we need a new policy, WP:No episcopal threats."

"We can pair that with WP:No threats of divine retribution" – EEng and Rosguill at ANI

• "Yes, we have to rely on WP:YUCKY." Liz at AfD
• "It's not the hookiest hook of all time, but they can't all be category five bangers." PMC, on Organization of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a hook I personally found fairly hooky, if not "category five".
• "You’re not saving anyone here. You are a volunteer Wikipedia editor, not a volunteer firefighter." -HyperAccelerated at ANI
• "Arming individual Wikipedians does not seem like a particularly effective response" – Rosguill, on the Heritage Foundation's plans to mass-dox Wikipedians
• "I can't say I have the emotional bandwidth to do that every day, but fortunately no one can hear me swearing at my computer." – Beland, closing a close review of an RfC trying to overturn a close [5]
• "Contentious topics [...] correlate with a high concentration of either special interests or special interests." – Tamzin on tropical cyclones as a CTOP

Footnotes