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Josiah Rowe was born at a very young age, in Fredericksburg, Virginia. He hasn't died yet.
He currently lives in Cheshire, Connecticut, with one dog, two cats, and one wife, all of which he's quite fond of.
He rarely refers to himself in the third person.
[edit] Josiah on Wikipedia
Josiah is a dilettante at Wikipedia, as he is in many other fields. His work, if you can call it that, can mostly be found in various topics related to Doctor Who (including a fair amount of work on pages such as Police box, Dalek, List of Doctor Who villains, List of Doctor Who monsters and aliens, Compassion (Doctor Who) and Billie Piper); he's created a number of pages about Doctor Who audio dramas such as Blood of the Daleks, Return of the Daleks and Year of the Pig. Josiah also dabbles in pages related to comic books and Greek mythology, as well as other random subjects.
Other articles Josiah has created or contributed substantially to include (in no particular order): Fun Home, Daniel Wakefield Smith, Michelle Paradise, Helen Griffin, Liir, Bernard Krigstein, Serenity (film), Science fiction Western, Lengths of science fiction film and television series, Julie Gardner, James Cobban, The Pirate Queen, John Dempsey (lyricist), Dana P. Rowe (no relation), Winged monkeys, Achilles and Patroclus, Kevin Davies (director), Kate Austin, Nev Fountain, The Sarah Jane Adventures, Yasmin Paige, Gareth David-Lloyd, SantaLand Diaries and A More Perfect Union. Make of that what you will.
And yes, Josiah is his real name (insofar as such a thing exists), and yes, he's aware that by putting his identity on this page he's probably annihilated whatever privacy he might ever have pretended to have. Josiah figures that he doesn't have anything to be ashamed of, and nobody's going to steal an identity as worthless as his anyhow.
[edit] Update, 2007
In the summer of 2007 I took an extended wikibreak, for a couple of reasons. Some of them were due to real-life concerns, but others had to do with Wikipedia, its governance and its future. First, Jimbo's initial response to the Essjay controversy showed a default preference for loyalty over truth which wouldn't have been out of place in the Bush White House. Second, I was unhappy with the way that some users have been enforcing the non-free content policy, and the consequent valuing of "free" over "encyclopedia" in Wikipedia's mission. Examples of this being taken to absurd lengths include the exclusion of the International Symbol of Access from informational articles, and the removal of an image of a painting from the summary of the article about that painting on Today's Featured Article. These incidents were examples of Wikipedia allowing the "free" goal to harm the "encyclopedia" goal, as well as examples of the third problem I've been having with Wikipedia lately: the cancerous growth of the Wikipedia bureaucracy. Actually, Wikipedia currently suffers from nearly all the problems listed under Bureaucracy#Criticism. I'm not a management guru, and I don't have the solution to Wikipedia's organizational sclerosis. But I do have the choice of how much time I want to spend working in a bureaucracy-laden environment, and in the summer of 2007 the choice was "not much, thanks".
However, I still feel that Wikipedia is a worthwhile project, and I have the strongest respect for its values of consensus and civility. I have hope that these values will prove stronger than the forces pushing Wikipedia towards bureaucracy, cronyism and absurdities based on ideological purism. Wikipedia can be seen as a model of human society in general. If we can make this work, there's hope for the world.
[edit] Perspectives and biases
I recognize the dangers of factionalism on Wikipedia, and have therefore removed several userboxes and categories in accordance with the polite request Jimbo made some time ago. However, I also think it can be important for editors to know each other's standpoints and possible biases. And yes, we all do have biases, both conscious and unconscious. I think the goal for a Wikipedian should be to become aware of one's own biases and strive not to let them affect one's contributions to the encyclopedia. However, I recognize my own fallibility and the likelihood that I will not always live up to that ideal. So, in order to help other contributors recognize areas in which I may be biased, I'm listing a few of my most strongly held beliefs and groups I identify with.
I'm politically liberal, and I'm not very fond of George W. Bush or most of his policies. I am also a Christian, albeit not one of the same stripe as the President. I'm a member of the Episcopal Church, and believe that Jesus' teachings don't support preventive warfare or supply-side economics. I strongly support gay rights, including marriage equality. My philosophical views are influenced by Kant, Kierkegaard and Paul Tillich. With Kant, I claim that reason should deal with what can be known, while faith should deal with what cannot be known but must be believed. Therefore, I see no contradiction between Christianity and Darwinian evolution, between the belief that God created the universe and is responsible for everything that exists, and the scientific understanding of how life has developed based on chance and natural selection. (I've actually got both an ΙΧΘΥΣ and a Darwin fish on my car, which I hope makes people think.)
Again, I hope that I don't let these views affect my editing on Wikipedia, but I'm presenting them here in the interest of openness, just in case they do.
[edit] Barnstars and other awards
This barnstar of diligence is awarded to Josiah Rowe for his care in preserving edit histories
presented by Fvw
22 September 2005
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The Original Barnstar
Thanks for all your WikiContributions! presented by FireFox
5 October 2005
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Golden Plunger
In honor of
Josiah's Adminship,
14 February 2006
presented by Leflyman
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Tireless Contributor Barnstar
Thanks for working hard to stop abuses and damaging behavior to wikipedia constantly! presented by Heltec talk
13 May 2006
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I, Smomo hereby award you, Josiah Rowe, the WikiProject Doctor Who Award for your outstanding contributions in the field of Doctor Who. May your good work continue. Smomo 21:07, 1 March 2007 (UTC)
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The Random Acts of Kindness Barnstar
Awarded for Josiah Rowe for being kind. King LopezContribs 08:47, 24 April 2007 (UTC)
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[edit] To-do list
[edit] Useful links
