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User talk:Cicada419
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Hard stuff not first
Hi, Cicada419. Your editing history suggests that you're new to Wikipedia. That might be misleading --- maybe you've been editing for years under another username --- but I'll take it as given until you tell me otherwise. :)
Perhaps you find yourself asking, "Why is it so hard to improve Wikipedia?" I am here to explain.
You've been trying to improve the lede of the article Mathematics. That's a worthy goal, but also a difficult one, for two reasons. First, the ledes of articles are important and therefore contentious. Second, the Mathematics article is particularly contentious, because editors and readers of differing levels of sophistication want different things out of it. We have argued over the opening sentence of Mathematics for literally decades.
I propose that you spend your time editing deeper (meaning: farther down the page), less contentious parts of articles, until you get a firmer grasp of how Wikipedia works. The most valuable thing you can do is add content with citation to reliable sources. How that content fits into articles and is summarized for readers is something that can be cleaned up later.
Of course, I am not your boss, and I am not any more entitled to edit the Mathematics article than you are. I am just trying to help you avoid frustration. Happy editing. :) Mgnbar (talk) 23:39, 18 May 2026 (UTC)
- Hello @Mgnbar, nice to meet you and thanks for stopping by. I am new to editing but not new to Wikipedia, I've known it and had a vague idea of how it works for a while.
- I started editing because I disliked the lead sentence of the Engineering article. I drafted a new one and pushed it and it has survived four days, we will see how long it lasts.
- I also read the lead of the Mathematics article and disliked it even more than the Engineering one. It fails to introduce what Mathematics is, it is circular, and also makes it seem like it has a central dependence on empirical sciences. I think writing a better one is trivial, the hard part is how contentious it is, like you said. I tried to incorporate everyone's feedback to propose new candidates. I received support from two editors on one which is encouraging but we will see if anything comes out of it. What are your thoughts on that situation?
- Regarding editing Wikipedia. I honestly don't have a plan since the only reason I made my account was to edit the lead of the Engineering article but I am thinking of contributing to some topics that I like and are less contentious, like you recommend. Cicada419 (talk) 00:04, 19 May 2026 (UTC)