I first got started in Wikipedia working on the New York State list of National Historic Landmarks. When I started, this was a good area for a new person in Wikipedia, as the topics are pretty clearly notable and there are good on-line sources available (a nation-wide PDF list that the National Park Service provides, individual NHL webpages at the NPS, and NHL/NRHP nomination documents for each one). By focussing on developing the lists and including sources, I could contribute to Wikipedia without encountering very much of the negativity and tearing down that I'm afraid many newbies encounter.
- It was like this, as of my first edits there in July 2007. User:Ipoellet had split it out from a nation-wide incomplete list, and User:Dmadeo and User:Daniel Case had been developing it.
- We brought it into good shape by the time of Wikipedia:Peer review/List of National Historic Landmarks in New York/archive1 this peer review in March, 2008, my first PR.
- I worked on the nation-wide list of NHLs too, bringing it into table form and completing out our first good count of the NHLs that exist nation-wide. At that point, we had better information than anyone, the National Park Service included, in terms of what sites were NHLs and how many of them existed.
- I began a tracking list on NHL errors
- I worked with many others to develop good tables for each of the state NHLs. Some of the states I did more on include: CT, ___, ___.
- I helped coordinate a big drive to complete out starter articles on each of the 2,400 NHLs nation-wide, a "Fourth of July or Bust" drive ending July 4, 2008.
- I returned to the NYS NHL list hoping to attain Featured List status, although FL status was denied in October 2008
- A new peer review was done
- I contributed to further developing the List of NHLs in AL before and during its FL candidacy.
- I commented in a PR or FL on List of NHLs in IN, and later helped add NHL/NRHP nomination document links to many of the individual IN articles.
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