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User:Jax MN

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Introduction

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I have experience in fraternal organizations, including collegiate fraternities and all aspects of Freemasonry. If I can help you in regard to these subjects, please let me know. Jax MN (talk) 19:45, 3 October 2013 (UTC)

Awards, Stats and Barnstars

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This editor is a Veteran Editor IV and is entitled to display this Gold Editor Star.
Currently, this editor has earned the Veteran Editor IV service award.

To get to the next level, Senior Editor, he needs to meet the editing requirement.
Progress towards the next level (by edits): [ 3862 / 4000 ]

96.6% completed

  

23,862+This user has made more than 23,862 contributions to Wikipedia.



Current User stats: Linked here

The Fraternity/Sorority Barnstar
for dedication and endurance building List of fraternities and sororities at Cornell University
 Unician ∇  06:17, 7 June 2014 (UTC)
The Fraternity/Sorority Barnstar
for thankless work creating a number of chapter lists DOCUMENT★|}

ERROR 01:17, 24 December 2014 (UTC)

The Turning Wikipedia Green Barnstar
For your tireless contributions to Fraternity/Sorority articles.

––FormalDude |} talk 22:37, 29 August 2021 (UTC) |}

The Fraternity/Sorority Barnstar
For finding the source for Sigma Mu Delta that we both missed

Rublamb (talk) 08:28, 20 February 2023 (UTC)

Current Wikipedia Projects

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My current project is an expansion of the Fraternities and Sororities Project - view stats. It has led to a flurry of edits, new pages, defense of pages where deletion is requested, and the creation of many redirects. I've added to every one of the pages on the Project's Watchlist:

  • Project Cleanup - Watchlist - view stats, I have adopted this page, long due for an extensive reformat, cleaned-up the Project pages itself, offered structures, and have added approximately 1000 additional Greek Letter Organization pages to the watchlist.
This user is a member of the Association of Inclusionist Wikipedians.

The motto of the AIW is conservata veritate, which translates to "with the preserved truth".
This motto reflects the inclusionist desire to change Wikipedia only when no knowledge would be lost as a result.

AIW

Pages I've made or fixed

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In about 2019 I gave up tracking here all the pages on Wikipedia where I've made major edits. Thus this is an incomplete list. My participation with the F&S Project has led to my editing several thousand pages on the Project Watchlist, whether extensively, or in a minor way. I have created perhaps 50 new pages, offered many hundreds of image posts, mostly for the academic (social), honors, professional, and other fraternities and sororities, along with their founders, chapter lists, notable member lists, and other pages related to these. Jax MN (talk) 01:04, 23 January 2023 (UTC)

General resources;

New honor society house pages:

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New professional society pages:

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New general fraternity pages:

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I'm woefully behind in updating this list, as my attention has turned to the entire Watchlist for the Fraternity and Sorority project. But I will occasionally add the major projects I do:

Yet to do

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Starting with the residential professional houses, and then the honor societies on campus, first cleaning up the existing pages and then starting with the oldest that need pages. For honor societies, use the above or Alpha Pi Mu as template:

I've done a lot of work on the watchlist for the Fraternities and Sororities Project: Wikipedia:WikiProject Fraternities and Sororities/Watchlist
Recent Changes to Fraternities and Sororities Project Pages

References

  1. ^ one likely reference
  2. ^ Another is here, on the Angola lodge website, curiously in the same town as Trine University.
  3. ^ see wikisource listing
  4. ^ See this link for possible book reference. Note it has a errant note about PSE, which should also be investigated. Accessed 29 Oct 2020.
  5. ^ Comment copied from related discussion at c:Commons:Village pump/Copyright:[1] "Getty claims the image is owned by Chicago Sun-Times/Chicago Daily News.[2] A quick check of the Chicago Sun-Times collection at Chicago History Museum finds the image you are describing at https://images.chicagohistory.org/search/?searchQuery=Bronko+Nagurski. This specific image is stated as being created in 1929. We would need to do some further digging to confirm the image was published in 1929 and wasn't just an unused spare. If it was published in 1929, you could upload the image [at Commons] on 1 January 2025."
  6. ^ See national optometry honorary.
  7. ^ national website, accessed 9 December 2021.
  8. ^ See page in the 1927 MIT yearbook, p.285

Redirects I've Made

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Use the Georgia example as a template for linking to sections of university pages that highlight Greeks.

I've also made many redirects from previous names for societies listed above, and many JPG pages. Example:
#REDIRECT [[Cultural_interest_fraternities_and_sororities#Armenian]]
For section redirects, add these three template lines after the #REDIRECT tag. (See Alpha Phi Sigma (medical) for another example):
{{Redirect category shell|
{{R to section}}
}}

Process Steps and Resources

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  1. Add color swatches
  2. Create page for crest, or failing availability, a pin.
  3. Cite effective references: Baird's > University yearbooks > University portals > national media > legitimate company websites > local media > own website
  4. Standard redirects if needed.
  5. Bold titles of new organization names, stemming from a fraternity or spinning off another fraternity.
  6. Add natural categories. (defunct, orgs formed in state, specific year)
  7. Add those who've gone dormant to this list: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Defunct_fraternities_and_sororities
  8. Good source for pin graphics and info: [https://www.fraternityhistory.com/npc-organizations-no-longer-exist-reflection-international-badge-day/ Fran Becque's website], accessed 26 Aug 2020.

Processional Colors

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After the name of the society and the area of profession in parenthesis, add a comma, and insert the following language, updated of course with Wikilinks to your specific colors and correct swatches:
colors: {{color box|#FF0000}} [[Red]] and {{color box|#8F00FF}} [[Violet (color)|Violet]]

would result in this:

Colors:   Red and   Violet

The HEX code after the pipe identifies the color of the colorblock, and the following Wikilink connects to a page for the specific color or color family.

I found these Wikipedia pages particularly helpful in finding good Hex color numbers (# followed by six letters or numbers) that called up a specific color.

Failing those many hundreds of colors, this website appears to provide an exhaustive list.

The ACHS Wikipedia page lists the colors of many of their member organizations. Jax MN (talk) 17:07, 10 June 2014 (UTC)

Helpful hexidecimal converter for determining correct color swatches. --Use Paint program's eyedropper to sample a color, then using the custom color tool, assess its RGB reading. These decimal measurements will convert to a two-digit Hex number at the converter link.

For a single swatch of the Visible spectrum, see Graduate Women in Science. (I created this, and uploaded it to Commons.)

Common references

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Watchlist info: See Help:Watchlist for many other features of the watchlist, including how to watch by a click, and Special:Watchlist/raw where you can insert a list of pages to watch them all. Be careful not to delete the existing entries, then save. The watchlist has no page history. You cannot get notified of changes to a WikiProject watchlist without watching each page but there may be a link you can click to see recent edits like at Wikipedia:WikiProject Fraternities and Sororities/Watchlist#Instructions.

Redirect to section, with possibilities

  • For TALK page: {{WikiProject Fraternities and Sororities|class=redirect}}

Then add

  • #REDIRECT [[Cultural_interest_fraternities_and_sororities#Armenian]]
  • {{Redirect category shell|
  • {{R to section}}
  • {{R with possibilities}}
  • {{R from subtopic}}
  • }}

Talk Page additions

  • {{Talk header}}
  • {{WikiProject Fraternities and Sororities|class=stub|importance=low}}
  • {{to do}}
  • {| class="messagebox standard-talk"
  • |-
  • |This article is part of a [[Wikipedia:WikiProject|WikiProject]] to improve Wikipedia's articles related to [[Fraternities and Sororities]]. For guidelines see *<nowiki>[[Wikipedia:WikiProject Fraternities and Sororities|WikiProject Fraternities and Sororities]] and [[Wikipedia:Contributing FAQ]].
  • |}

To Do page content

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{{tasks
| requests = An additional, freely-licensed graphic would add reader interest.
| assess =
| category =
| citations = Most fraternity articles would benefit from additional citations, especially new or updated references. These could be from the original Greek Letter Organization reference, '''[[Baird's manual]]''' (last edition published in 1991), '''[https://www.library.illinois.edu/slc/welcome/fraternity-sorority-almanac/ or the ''online'' Baird's Manual Archive]''', or a notable publication or book such as a '''[[List of US collegiate yearbooks|university yearbook (please add missing collegiate yearbooks to this source!)]]''', or an official university portal (~website) listing for the group, or where the school comments publicly on that student organization. When citing the online Baird's Manual Archive, look for a society within each of the sections, and check if it is listed on the page for a particular ''institution''. Here is a reference template:

<ref name="Baird's Manual Online">{{cite web|editor1=William Raimond Baird |editor2=Carroll Lurding |title=Almanac of Fraternities and Sororities (Baird's Manual Online Archive) |url= (After searching the link above, use this template reference on the main article to link to a specific archival document you wish to cite) |website=Student Life and Culture Archives |publisher=University of Illinois Archives |access-date= |location=University of Illinois |language=English}} The main archive URL is [https://www.library.illinois.edu/slc/welcome/fraternity-sorority-almanac/ The Baird's Manual Online Archive homepage].</ref>

| cleanup = Examples and templates are available on the '''[[Wikipedia:WikiProject Fraternities and Sororities|Fraternities and Sororities Project]]''' page.
| collaborate =
| copyedit =
| deletion =
| disambiguation =
| expand =
| fac =
| far =
| flc =
| fsc =
| gan =
| gar =
| geocoord =
| infobox = The infobox is incomplete. The template used for this entry, where you can see ''all available fields'' (--these things: <nowiki>"| = text") is the fraternity-specific infobox. This, and other useful items are linked on the Fraternities and Sororities Project page.
| maintain = Set a calendar reminder to update the chapter list and otherwise check the article for necessary updates, annually.
| map =
| merge =
| notability =
| npov =
| orphans =
| photo =
| split =
| stubs =
| translate =
| unreferenced =
| update = If calling out specific chapters in the body text, italicize the name of the chapter. Wikipedia practice within the F&S Project is that the word "chapter" is not capitalized, while the ''name'' of the chapter is. The Controversies section is too detailed for a main article, and unfairly frames the entire national as if the event was systemic; notes about an individual chapter's closure or suspension ought to be rendered as a reference note for that ''particular chapter'' unless the event generated notable, persistent national news.
| verify =
| wikify = Upload and add a crest for the infobox. Add color swatches (Honor and Professional groups: clues for these include cords or stoles if colors are not easily determined). Add relevant, public symbolism to the infobox. List the group's print publication in the infobox, italicized. Occasionally, confirm the physical address (including the ZIP code field) and website. Occasionally, confirm the number of chapters and number of lifetime members. Expand the History section to include milestones. A chapter list is helpful, and should be placed into a table format, like this: '''[[Sigma Delta Rho]]''' as an example of a small page list, or like '''[[List of Delta Kappa Epsilon chapters]]''' when placed on a separate page (--to reference two unrelated examples). We use separate standalone list pages when the list is lengthy (the cutoff point is subjective, perhaps at 30 chapters or more). Some editors have added colors to the lines as a stylistic choice, and is optional. Where Greek letters are expressed, always render them within the GRC language template so that adaptive readers can correctly process them (like "<nowiki>{{lang|grc|ΣΧ}}"). Rather than "just" the year, a chapter list may include specific dates of chartering using the <nowiki>{{dts|yyyy|mm|dd}} template, or {{dts|yyyy}} or {{dts|yyyy|mm}} if the specific day is unknown. Indicate if a chapter is active by '''bolding''' its name, if inactive by using ''italics'', and in plain text if unknown. Notes on each line will allow room where chapter references may point to collegiate portal pages (much preferable to a chapter's own website), with comments on where a chapter may have come from, interesting facts or its outcome. A separate table may also be used to showcase notable members, but to avoid vanity listings be sure to add a list of rules for inclusion, as discussed here: '''[[Wikipedia_talk:WikiProject_Fraternities_and_Sororities/Archive_6#Notable_members_2]]'''. As an example, '''[[Phi_Kappa_Theta#Notable_Phi_Kaps|Phi Kappa Theta]]''' does a nice job with their notable members list.
| other =
| othertext =
}}

  • {{Reflist-talk}}
Test to do
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{{tasks
| requests = An additional, freely-licensed graphic would add reader interest.
| assess =
| category =
| citations = Most fraternity articles would benefit from additional citations, especially new or updated references. These could be from the original Greek Letter Organization reference, Baird's manual (last edition published in 1991), or the online Baird's Manual Archive (now added as a reference), or a notable publication or book such as a university yearbook (please add missing collegiate yearbooks to this source!), or an official university portal (~website) listing for the group, or where the school comments publicly on that student organization.
| cleanup = Examples and templates are available on the Fraternities and Sororities Project page.
| collaborate =
| copyedit =
| deletion =
| disambiguation =
| expand =
| fac =
| far =
| flc =
| fsc =
| gan =
| gar =
| geocoord =
| infobox = The infobox may be incomplete. The template used for this entry, where you can see all available fields (--these things: "| = text") is the fraternity-specific infobox. This, and other useful items are linked on the Fraternities and Sororities Project page.
| maintain = Set a calendar reminder to update the chapter list and otherwise check the article for necessary updates, annually.
| map =
| merge =
| notability =
| npov =
| orphans =
| photo =
| split =
| stubs =
| translate =
| unreferenced =
| update = If calling out specific chapters in the body text, italicize the name of the chapter. Wikipedia practice within the F&S Project is that the word "chapter" is not capitalized, while the name of the chapter is.
| verify =
| wikify = Add relevant, public symbolism to the infobox. List the group's print publication in the infobox, italicized. Occasionally, confirm the physical address (including the ZIP code field) and website. Occasionally, confirm the number of chapters and number of lifetime members. Expand the History section to include milestones. A chapter list is helpful, and is now in a table format following examples such as: Sigma Delta Rho as an example of a small page list, or like List of Delta Kappa Epsilon chapters when placed on a separate page (--to reference two unrelated examples). We use separate standalone list pages when the list is lengthy (the cutoff point is subjective, perhaps at 30 chapters or more). Some editors have added colors to the lines as a stylistic choice, and is optional. Where Greek letters are expressed, always render them within the GRC language template so that adaptive readers can correctly process them (like "{{lang|grc|ΣΧ}})". Rather than "just" the year, a chapter list may include specific dates of chartering using the {{dts|yyyy|mm|dd}} template, or {{dts|yyyy}} or {{dts|yyyy|mm}} if the specific day is unknown. Indicate if a chapter is active by bolding its name, if inactive by using italics, and in plain text if unknown. Notes on each line will allow room where chapter references may point to collegiate portal pages (much preferable to a chapter's own website), with comments on where a chapter may have come from, interesting facts or its outcome. A separate table may also be used to showcase notable members, but to avoid vanity listings be sure to add a list of rules for inclusion, as discussed here: Wikipedia_talk:WikiProject_Fraternities_and_Sororities/Archive_6#Notable_members_2. As an example, Phi Kappa Theta does a nice job with their notable members list.
| other =
| othertext =
}}

Standard sortable chapter list table:
{{FratChapterStart}}
{{FratChapter
| Chapter Name = '''Alpha'''
| Founded = {{dts|1909|5|8}}
| School = [[University of California, Berkeley]]
| Location = [[Berkeley, California|Berkeley, CA]]
| Status = Merged, {{lang|grc|ΦΚΘ}}
| Notes = Became ''Mu chapter'' of ΔΖ
| Reference = <ref>Predecessor groups were clubs; the sorority began operations as a sorority in 1919.</ref>
}}
{{FratChapterEnd}}

Bulleted lists, broken into columns:
{|border="0" cellpadding="5"
|-valign="top"
|
text
|
text
|
Can continue to multiple columns, if needed
|}

Bulleted lists, auto-spread:
{{columns-list|colwidth=15em|
* name
* name
* name...
}}

Other Projects

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List of University of Minnesota fraternities and sororities

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Published. My big project during the early summer months of 2014, this page was designed to be a WP:hatnote off the main University of Minnesota page, to a much larger discussion of these societies at the University, and to provide a comprehensive list. I've finally moved it from one of my sandboxes, creating the List of University of Minnesota fraternities and sororities. It was launched to the world as of Midnight, 29 June 2014, and I am pleased to see the reception. Now that the University main page hatnote is up, a page that itself gets 800 hits a day, it will be interesting to see how traffic continues to ramp up for the List of fraternities and sororities... Now, about 2,000 per month. I promote it on Greek twitter sites regularly.

University of Minnesota- view stats
List of University of Minnesota fraternities and sororities - view stats

List of Cornell University fraternities and sororities

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Published. This page now receives between 30 and 200 views a day, depending on the season. I'd been researching Phi Sigma Kappa chapters across the nation, and our Gamma Chapter at Cornell University especially caught my attention. It's a venerable chapter on a venerable campus. The Greeks had been called out on the main Cornell University page with a WP:hatnote, but this high-potential page merely listed building ownership and current recognition status. I expanded it dramatically, adding professional and honor societies, and set up rules for inclusion in the list of chapters that will make it less volatile. Certainly there are other past and present societies that aren't yet listed on the page, which could be added. As source material, I noted extensive references to the University's website and to Baird's Manual. Placement of the honor and professional societies adjacent to the social and academic houses is justified, historically, and I think in the end will be beneficial to readers and prospective members of all these groups.

This project gave me the idea of drafting a similar page for the University of Minnesota.

List of Cornell University fraternities and sororities - view stats

List of Massachusetts Institute of Technology fraternities and sororities

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I was alerted that an early, small version of this page had been nominated for deletion by someone with an axe to grind. They had a fair point that the page was poorly-referenced, using fluff words, inconsistent writing, and dubious claims. But the solution ought not to be to delete the page, rather to fix it. So I recast it in the "Cornell" format, as opposed to a bad copy of the dreadful Dartmouth list format. About three weeks later, after several relistings to invoke more responses, senior editors agreed that the page would stay. A terrific reference I added to the page had addresses and dates for virtually all the active societies, even many of the predecessor groups. And strangely, the page didn't even mention Baird's before I got to it. It's early summer, so as we get closer to the start of school this page should get 50 hits a day. On 22 Jun 2020 I moved my work from the Talk page and my sandbox to the mainspace. Some of the existing history section is from prior to my writing, but I jazzed it up with graphics I found in the yearbooks and better references. Hopefully some of the MIT community will provide copyright free images, as they add a nice graphical touch - I've communicated with the IFC about this, and they're engaged. Note that this campus has Phi Sigma Kappa's Omicron chapter which further caught my attention. It's a venerable chapter on a venerable campus.

Current stats are 12 hits a day. Importantly, I added two hatnotes from the main MIT page which gets 3,000 hits daily. Let's see if this juices up more support of the Fraternities page.

List of Massachusetts Institute of Technology fraternities and sororities - view stats

List of College of Wooster fraternities and sororities

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Working on the Fraternities and Sororities Project watchlist, I found a Dartmouth-style page for Wooster's Greeks had been deleted. Somewhat poorly referenced, yes, but the solution ought not to be to delete the page, rather to fix it. So I recast it in the "Cornell" format and bumped up to 109 references. On 7 Jan 2021 I moved my work from my sandbox to the mainspace, adding a hatnote from the main College of Wooster page. This is a quirky, historic campus.

Current stats are 12 hits a day. Importantly, I added a hatnote from the main Wooster page which gets 160 hits daily. Let's see if this juices up more support of its Fraternities page.

List of College of Wooster fraternities and sororities - view stats

Phi Sigma Kappa

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Published, 3 October, 2013. Prior to my edits, the Phi Sigma Kappa page was quite short, and biased almost exclusively AGAINST the fraternity, citing a short-lived period of race turmoil that resulted in the lost of three or four chapters. The truth is that Phi Sigma Kappa has an admirable record of progressive race relations - in the best sense of that term - head and shoulders over other collegiate fraternities at the time. The article also had a biased treatment of the 1985 merger, which didn't give a weighted treatment in favor of the Merger, which for most chapters and alumni of both fraternities was strongly positive. Instead, the article showed Phi Sigma Epsilon's leaders as abrupt and cavalier in moving toward the merger, when the fact is that they bent over backwards to use the Merger to improve a bad situation. Their Fraternity was slowly dying. Further, too much emphasis was given to a small schismatic group, Phi Sigma Phi, which has now been more properly treated. I've also filled in the historical record with a summary of other decades which had been ignored or left out in the initial writing of the piece. Along with this, I've added a number of graphics, and extensively updated the list of chapters and List of Phi Sigma Kappa brothers. The main Phi Sigma Kappa page gets 150 views a day now (3,000/mo) even in "the low season," though it occasionally has spikes to 500 or 1,000. It is my fond hope that this effort to paint a more balanced picture of the Fraternity may have had some effect on the Fraternity's sudden increase in recruitment numbers.

Phi Sigma Epsilon

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Published. I revised extensively the list of chapters of this Fraternity, which merged into Phi Sigma Kappa in 1985, and improved the dialog and historical sections extensively. The page now receives about 30 views a day - view stats. My changes make the list more readable. A number of inaccuracies were also addressed, stemming from the complexity of dormancy dates, lack of records, and the circumstances of Phi Sigma Phi's efforts to capture some of the chapters away and thus spurn the merger.

List of Phi Sigma Kappa chapters

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Published. This was revised extensively from the base document, adding webpage links, repairing and adding citations, reformatting, and added a new section on Colonies. This page gets between 20 and 45 hits a day, depending on the season - view stats. Because it is topical, I added information on Expansion and a summary of the complex naming process relating to Phi Sigma Kappa.

List of notable Phi Sigma Kappa brothers

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This page had about 30 names when I started revising it, with several different templates used and no consistency for edits. It was rife with vanity listings. I corrected these problems, added a standard methodology for assessing which names were "notable" and added many famous Phi Sigs from the pages of the Signet over the years. This page now gets about 30 page views a day. The methodology for inclusion has been adopted by several other national fraternities. view stats

Phi Tau

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This schismatic group was formerly the Tau chapter of Phi Sigma Kappa. It broke off in a reactionary pique, just as the short-lived "race issue" was settling down and as Tau members were winning the debate. --Phi Sigma Kappa's record on race admissions is admirable among fraternities, just read the main Phi Sigma Kappa article. The Phi Tau - view stats Wikipedia page had been written to paint that group as progressive angels, in really what can only be described as a twisted revisionism of the facts. I adjusted it to more accurately reflect the truth: they were reactionary, and used this crisis to evade paying their debts. Their principal actor in the mess, Scobie, appeared to me to be a liar. Now their page gets 15 hits a day. Jax MN (talk) 13:14, 17 June 2014 (UTC)

ΦΣΚ Founders

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Published. I wrote Wikipedia articles for all six founders of Phi Sigma Kappa (Brooks was a stub page). These pages now get between 5-10 views a day. One of the pages was already in place (Brooks) and only needed more information about PSK; the rest are new. Completed these in late April, 2014. Jax MN (talk) 03:18, 20 April 2014 (UTC) The list:

Grand Lodge of Cyprus

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Published. The Grand Lodge of Cyprus page is now complete and getting about ten views a day (view stats). Hurrah! Now that it passed review (in early Dec of 2013) I've added a number of graphics and references and continue to mind it. [User:Jax MN|Jax MN]] (talk) 18:42, 4 December 2013 (UTC)

Joined Freemasonry project

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This will be a biggun. The existing Freemasonry group is approximately 50 Wikipedia editors, who have been at this for some time on this complex subject. My interest stems from improving the List of Masonic Grand Lodges, now viewed about 120 times daily (view stats), and in offering this suggestion I've offered my time and experience. Jax MN (talk) 20:32, 28 December 2013 (UTC)

References

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