User:Gianfranco

I would sincerely like to thank the other Users for their help in fixing the English in my text: (with a patience that I deeply appreciate) they make my many mistakes disappear, by some alchemy I don't know, transforming them into something that is finally readable -- Thank you :-)

August 30, 2002:
discussions previously in my talk page are now at User talk:Gianfranco/archive.

After a few months in Wikipedia, it was perhaps correct to add a brief note on myself.

I'm a Roman by birth (a circumstance that here we are somehow proud of - for never cleared reasons indeed), so I ordinarily do enjoy the particular soul, the special spirit, the unrespectful unique humour of this town, and I believe that I was lucky to grow and live here. Yet, I don't properly endorse the typical roman mentality, even if I watch at it respectfully (one of these days I should post the tale of the street-sweeper and the Pope, it might be interesting).

Yes, being a Roman also means that you daily may have to deal with many matters that truly sometimes are better known by foreigners ( :-), like politics, religion, history, architecture, art, music and, of course, latin language (but we don't speak it in the streets). But it's not so heavy, one soon gets used to it.

My principal educational knowledge is in jurisprudence, civil law in particular (in the Italian sense), that helped me to work in consultancy for business (now, with more salt than pepper in my hair, I'm not retiring, but I relevantly decreased it) and in running my own minor business, shared into several different fields (Web too).

Luckily, my professional activities could mostly be oriented toward research on one side, while on the other side I have worked a lot in historical or artistic related business, therefore I often enjoyed the advantage of the many opportunities my country could give me, and the thrill of letting passions enrich the profession.

As for passions, I'm now studying about ancient and medieval Sardinia, a field that I recently found of great interest due to the uncommon evolution of local society, laws, language, habits, after so little contacts with the mainland.

Don't forget to check the Latin version of Wikipedia, now available at

http://la.wikipedia.com/

adde quod sciis...

After a private disaster which in my absence ruined my studio, my books, my pictures and my collections, now terribly under some tons of water and tainting, I will not be able to follow Wikipedia as frequently as I was used to do before.

I certainly have to keep in mind that there are greater problems than mines - I will also have to stay in Florence for a while (...), so I'll have a constant immediate recall to the sense of proportions; but my spirit is not so joyful, as you can imagine, and I have to rebuilt ex novo decades of work and study.

Please consider that I'll consequently be unable to answer you promptly, as I would like to do, but this is a forced situation that I do hope will not last so long.

I also found today another sad surprise in Wiki's community, at this page. I do believe that quality is always from and for minorities, in life and everywhere, and that we always need a hard effort (and to fight, really) for it to resist quantity, for value to prevail on weight; and I believe that sometimes we can even feel it is a battle we do have to fight, beyond our emotions. But I have to respectfully accept a choice that makes me sad and poorer. I am however sure that soon these comments of mine will become useless again... ;-)

I'd then like to invite you, in the meanwhile, to explore one of the most valuable examples (http://www.wikipedia.org/w/wiki.phtml?title=Special:Contributions&target=J_Hofmann_Kemp&days=360&limit=2000) of what Wikipedia is great for (slow page, but interesting).

Please, help to preserve safe, objective, serious and encyclopedic, an article, among the many, for which I was lucky to receive JHK's precious help. But this was a special one: I still consider it symbolic of the spirit of Wikipedia, and a proof that...
it can be done, and in fact it has been done.

Thank you.

Gianfranco

Gianfranco,

I just wanted to say thank you for the kind words. Since going, this comment appeared. It, and the fact that no one has chosen to respond to it, has pretty much confirmed my decision. I decided to break my self-imposed silence (this Elliot person seems to think it was not entirely voluntary, although what else could it be?) because I truly appreciate the time you took to say goodbye in such an eloquent manner. Perhaps the wikipedia will at some point come up with a system that protects proven contributors from unfounded accusations. Again, my address is available if anyone has a question (the wikipedia list people have it). Take care, and I hope you can salvage more from your office than you'd hoped. JHK

Re: LanguageIt.php -- sure, go ahead and send me a current version and make sure it's all up to date, and I'll put it up. --Brion 18:57 Dec 31, 2002 (UTC)

Nice edit of pasta. thanks!