Aranel, also known as Sarah, has been an editor of the English Wikipedia since August 2, 2004 and an administrator since November 4, 2004. She has made a ridiculous number of edits, mostly because of her category and other housekeeping work. She also dislikes talking about herself in the third person and is going to stop now.

I am actually named Sarah, but so is your little sister, your great-aunt, your second-grade teacher, and at least three people in your graduating class, the result of which is that the user name Sarah has been one of the first ones taken on every place requiring a user name since the dawn of time¹. Fortunately, it's an extremely durable name with eminently respectable origins. One hundred years from now, I predict that it will still seem like every third of fourth girl is named Sarah.

Sarah means princess and comes from Hebrew שרה. The Quenya word with the same meaning is Aranel, conveniently already appearing in a form that is appropriate for a feminine name.

My current signature contains my name in red because red is the coolest color ever.

¹And usually it was registered and promptly abandoned. See User:Sarah.

Having apparently abandoned my degree in physics, I've been nitpicking and expanding Middle-earth and Tolkien-related articles. I was initially quite delighted to have finally found an outlet for my vast stores of completely useless Tolkien knowledge, but then I discovered the joys of working on categories, which is endless entertaining for someone with my organization tendencies.

I don't just work on categories and Tolkien articles. I have also contributed to such subjects as French science fiction (I don't know much, but I can translate) and looms.

Current hobby: Wikipedia:Copyright problems and the backlog of DOOM.

Pages I want to keep handy. :)

• Manual of Style
• Special Characters
• List of Middle-earth articles
• Categories for deletion
• Vandalism in progress

• Hobbit, Dwarf, Man, Elf - not hobbit, dwarf, man, elf. (Unless referring to a generic male of any species.)
• Link dates to Second Age, Third Age, or Fourth Age (when appropriate, Shire Calendar for explanation of Shire Reckoning). Generally use dating systems of Númenor, Gondor and the New Reckoning at the beginning of the Fourth Age. Format: T.A. 3019, S.R. 1419, etc. as used by Tolkien in LotR. Linking avoids ambiguity of reference to "F.A.". Don't need to include this once time frame has been established.
• User:Aranel/WelcomeME - I need to update this.

• User:Aranel/unresolved - to label archive pages for unresolved CfD entries
• User:Aranel/resolved

I seem to have disappeared for a few months. Er...oops? Life happens, I guess. I had no idea it had been so long!

I do have a habit of occasionally disappearing for no apparent reason. Usually I will reappear after a few days or weeks at the most. (This has to do with being a perpetual student and having a wildly erratic schedule.) For the purposes of explaing the most recent (and excessively long) disappearance, I offer you your choice of the following explanations:

• I was abducted by aliens.
• I blame end-of-semester stress followed by summer internship.
• I moved to Antarctica.

If I should happen to disappear again, this list should be handy. (If you have any other ideas that might explain it, please share them on my talk page! I can always use more excuses explanations.)