User talk:A. B.

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This user is currently temporarily inactive.
This may be due to the user's vacation, lack of an Internet connection, or other reasons. This does not imply the violation of any Wikipedia policies.


A. B. is intermittently taking wikibreak and will be back more predictably often on Wikipedia sometime in the future


I'm intermittently on a Wikibreak and may traveling
e-mail me if I don't respond promptly here



/May-June 2006
/early July 2006
/late July 2006
/August-October 2006
(Periods are approximate. Exchanges have been kept
together across periods to avoid breaking continuity.)




Contents

Universal Powerline Association

Hi A.B. Thanks for the supporting messages on my discussion page. My first page Universal Powerline Association. I am concerned because eliminating this page and not eliminating the alternative page for HomePlug would cause a NPOV problem. I am mystified. Can you advise how to move forward?--Upaplc 10:36, 10 November 2006 (UTC)

Hi -- I've responded at these locations:
I have to hit the road -- I'm sorry I can't help more at this time. --A. B. 13:51, 10 November 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for taking the time to look in to this --Upaplc 15:06, 10 November 2006 (UTC) I noticed your edit, and I just wanted to point out that the edit refers to the Operation section of this article and not the article in general. I just thought that this bit of the article was rather techy... no offense intended. In any case I am following the guideline you pasted on my talk page now and staying hands off.--Upaplc 15:20, 10 November 2006 (UTC)

Roblog

Hi A.B., re your comment on the talk page, FYI, the normal practise if you agree with the prod is to use {{prod-2}}. This helps administrators who ultimately have to decide whether to delete the article, know that at least two people concur. I hope I'm not teaching you to suck eggs or that there may have been another reason you didn't. Regards — Moondyne 02:33, 31 October 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for letting me know. I guess I'll just have to suck eggs for a while -- I never knew this. It would be good if they mentioned this in WP:PROD. --A. B. 07:02, 2 November 2006 (UTC)

NEED SOME HELP

Hello A.B. I need some help dealing with wiki and I am unsure how to proceed, but reading your comments you seem to be a sympathetic type. Could I ask you some questions CONFIDENTIALLY? Anonypig, new Wiki member. --Anonypig 17:36, 1 November 2006 (UTC)

Maybe -- I'm pretty busy, both on and off Wikipedia. I looked at the Jan Cox page and left a comment on the talk page. My main suggestion would be to really get familiar with Wikpedia policies and only add stuff that's totally neutral and verifiable. I also suggest putting your proposed text on the talk page first for a few days for others to look at for discussion first. As for text you want to alter or delete, I suggest posting that on the talk page for a few days first. My experience is that if you're editing a controversial article, you want to have absolutely "clean hands" per Wikipedia policies. You also want to bend over backwards to try for consensus, using the talk page. Even if all your stuff gets reversed, you've laid the ground work for making it stick. The more you stick to the rules, the more it challenges those you disagree with to either put up or shut up. Either they have to play by the same rules or appear biased. The nice thing is that this dynamic, if cultivated, ultimately forces both sides to hammer out a factual, NPOV, encyclopedic article.
So what I've written here and on the article's talk page is probably pretty much what I'd write in private, but feel free to send me an e-mail if you think otherwise. --A. B. 18:14, 1 November 2006 (UTC)

Thank you A.B, I will follow your advice. Anonypig

Thank you for supporting my RfA

 Thank you for your support in my RfA, which passed with a final tally of (56/0/2). It was great to see so much kind support from such competent editors and administrators as commented on my RfA.

I know I have much reading to do before I'll feel comfortable enough to use some of the more powerful admin tools, so I'll get right to it.

Again, thanks; └ OzLawyer / talk ┐ 13:41, 2 November 2006 (UTC)

Herbalife

Thanks for your comments on my page. I understand what you are saying, but I'd just like to make it clear that I was not vandalising or putting unfair POV- I will try to find a citation to back up what I said.

Plooft

I was not trying to pick on you. It's just that article is a lightning rod for pro- and anti-Herbalife warfare. I've tried to get it as neutral as positive, sticking to very mainstream sources for any controversies -- SEC documents filed by the company itself, recent (last 5 years or so) articles from major newspapers, etc.
There's a ton of negative stuff out there from the 1990s but the company has had management changes at the top since then, so I'm not sure it should be included. Alternately, if it is included, it should not take up a large portion of the article and should be prefaced by something like "Under a previous management team, Herbalife was involved in multiple controversies ...."
There are multiple anti-Herbalife websites. They are not appropriate references (unless they are hosting an article from a major newspaper that is otherwise unavailable elsewhere on the web). They do sometimes have links, however, to encyclopedia-quality newspaper articles that can be used. You'll notice that they don't have nearly as much stuff from recent years as from the 1990s.
The same is true of any pro-Herbalife web sites; they may point you to useful stuff, but they're not good sources themselves.
It's reporting on Herbalife controversies, it's also important to be careful about who's engaging in what behaviors: is it Herbalife, a Herbalife distributor, or Herbalife distributors acting in concert with Herbalife? That's an important distinction and is central to Herbalife's West Virginia litigation. (Herbalife says the alleged misbehavior undertaken by its distributors was in violation of Herbalife policies; the state says they were in cahoots.)
Finally, I'd keep the opening paragraph simple as it is now and save any controversies (or awards) for the body of the article.
Ultimately, this is an encyclopedia, not a promote-Herbalife or debunk-Herbalife website.
--A. B. 17:09, 2 November 2006 (UTC)

Thank you...

...for your support of my recent RfA. I know that you are very careful with your support votes, and I am honored that you would consider me worthy of the mop. If I can be of any helo with my new tools or just as a pair of disinterested eyes to review an article, do not hesitate to ask. Cheers. youngamerican (ahoy hoy) 18:58, 3 November 2006 (UTC)

Follow up on User Discussion on Mobile Phone

Hi AB. Please find discussion opened on the source of the reference I used on the discussion page of Mobile Phone. Thanks AntB

AntB, you are probably right about my edit summary for the link reversion but I disagree some of your other comments. To keep all my comments in one place, I have responded to your comments here and elsewhere at Talk:Mobile phone#Removed valid reference link.
I agree with your actions A.B. and have said so on the talkpage as well as re-adding the link to the register. --Charlesknight 11:03, 7 November 2006 (UTC)

RfA thanks

Thank you for participating in my RfA discussion! I appreciate you contributing your voice to the debate and its outcome. I hope how I wield the mop makes you proud. Thanks!


Spamstar!

(Shouldn't that be anti-spamstar? :-) Thanks for the barnstar A.B.!

Hey -- I Photoshopped it myself. Feel free to change the title and pass it on (it's not a template). You earned it. Hopefully I got the licensing on the image I created correct -- otherwise I'll get a user page warning and you'll have a NonStar! --A. B. 19:15, 8 November 2006 (UTC)
Thanks for the spamstar! (It's even fun to say: SPAMSTAR!).
On the issue of licensing I think it might actually be problematic though: the original image contains cans of spam without them being the focus, while the spamstar uses only a can. I'm pretty sure that falls under "unlicensed derivative work" because the part being used is wholly of a copyrighted work, not just an original work that happens to have a minor element that is copyrighted (and this use doesn't fall under "fair use" doctrine). A solution would be, I think, to take those lovely and delicious-looking fanned-out slices of spam from the image and use them in the spamstar instead of the can. (And if you upload it over the current spamstar, it'll Just Work™.)
Thanks again! — Saxifrage ✎ 19:33, 8 November 2006 (UTC)

Obviously, you need one

The Spamstar of Glory
Presented to User:A. B. for diligence in fighting spam on Wikipedia

Obviously, if you give them, you need to receive one, as you are one of the most active in WikiProject Spam. Cheers! -- ReyBrujo 19:25, 8 November 2006 (UTC)

Thanks -- by the way, let's hope I got the licensing right on my Photoshopped image or else we'll both have NonStars. --A. B. 19:29, 8 November 2006 (UTC)

thanks for the barnstar

he he he... spamstar of glory... is that a new barnstar? I don't think I'd ever seen it around. I also see that I arrived too late to give one back! Cheers, Pascal.Tesson 20:11, 8 November 2006 (UTC)

Thats a great star and thanks for giving me one. It means a lot. — Moondyne 22:22, 8 November 2006 (UTC)

And thanks from me too. I appreciate it. I actually do not look for spam, but when it is put on one of my watched articles, I can't help but follow the trail. JonHarder 23:19, 8 November 2006 (UTC)

Many thanks from me as well, that's very kind of you! Sorry to hear you're away from Wikipedia for a while - Wikipedia will surely be hurting until you return. Hope you come back refreshed and ready for action. Cheers --AbsolutDan (talk) 02:47, 10 November 2006 (UTC)

RfA Oppose Changed to Support Thanks!

Thank You Very Much!
 
(Open your card) → → →         

Mobile phone brain damage coverup

Regarding your reverting of sourced material. And then claiming it to be ussual claim.

I have now added source, which is from faily express UK, written by kathy moran, and that is a reliable source. Editing with IP or not, in the future i will look to see if that fact, which is very important still stands there, and thank you for your concern of citing sources to the material in wiki. --213.113.243.140 16:57, 9 November 2006 (UTC)

My RfA

top Hi A.B. I wanted to thank you with flowers (well, flower) taking the time to participate in my RfA, which was successful. I'm very grateful for your kind words in support, and especially for your insightful comment in response to the opposes on ethical grounds. I truly appreciate that. I assure you I'll continue to serve the goals of the project to the best of my ability - irrespective of my personal opinion - and strive to use the tools wisely and fairly. Please do let me know if I can be of assistance and especially if you spot me making an error in future. Many thanks once again and I look forward to working with you on your return for your Wikibreak. Yours, Rockpocket 08:33, 10 November 2006 (UTC)

RfA thanks!

My brand-spankin' new mop!

My RfA done
I hope to wield my mop well
(Her name is Vera)

I appreciate
The support you have shown me
(I hope I don't suck)

Anyway, I just
wanted to drop you a line
(damn, haikus are hard)

EVula // talk // ☯ // 17:08, 11 November 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for the email

Noted and actioned! Cheers. — Moondyne 00:23, 13 November 2006 (UTC)

??? --A. B. 04:14, 19 November 2006 (UTC)
Huh? I have no idea either. — Moondyne 01:29, 20 November 2006 (UTC)

Appalachia

Glad to hear you've been working on the Appalachia page! It's one I've long wanted to see improved, but felt it needed more than just copyediting but some larger structural reworking; thus I never got around to doing anything with it myself. Plus it is a large and sometimes complex topic, and I don't quite feel I understand the region well enough, though I'm getting a better handle on its geography and early history at least. I haven't looked at your edits closely yet, but will when I get the time, and perhaps try my hand at improving the page too. Just wanted to first say thanks for working on it! Pfly 05:13, 15 November 2006 (UTC)

Thanks -- I was happy to finally get (some) time to work on this. I'm always a bit shy about wholesale changes in an article, so I appreciate your looking at it when you get the chance.
Appalachia's about a lot more than coal, so I was sorry to only get as far as a paragraph about coal, then have to put aside more work. Feel free to take on timber, paper, manufacturing or especially tourism and real estate development. Also, while an earlier editor criticized the Appalachian Regional Commission for over-reliance on infrastructure investments, the fact is decent highway access has been an economic godsend to hundreds of formerly isolated communities, so transportation should get an important mention -- at least as big as the paragraph on coal. --A. B. 05:36, 15 November 2006 (UTC)

Harry M. Caudill/Appalachian Regional Commission

Hi A.B. You wrote: "With the Caudill article, I was concerned about NPOV and general structure -- I just haven't seen amazon-style discussions in other authors' articles. Maybe the WikiProject Books folks might have some ideas on this -- I left a note there."

In the Harry M. Caudill article, I had made a "discussion" section, not as a discussion between editors, but trying to move material I had not written into a new section -- the material did not have its own section and was floating around external links. So it really isn't necessary, unless cited by the original contributor. Thanks. Best. --- (Bob) Wikiklrsc 18:24, 15 November 2006 (UTC) (talk)
As far as I can tell, this material was added by User:68.0.240.15 in the revision to the article on Harry M. Caudill: Revision as of 17:46, 15 November 2005. Agreed that it's a bit suspicious and uncited. It should be left out for now. Best. --- (Bob) Wikiklrsc 18:37, 15 November 2006 (UTC) (talk)
Thanks for the explanations. Somehow I incorrectly thought these things were your idea -- they just seemed so out of character for your typical, very encyclopedic work that I was confused.
Also, while we're on an Appalachian riff, can you take a look at the Appalachia article? I made some major changes to clean up longstanding POV issues; I'm always a bit concerned when I go off and make big changes to big articles, so some peer review would be useful. Also the economy section needs further expansion -- I only got as far as cranking out one paragraph about coal after about a lot of research (on top of some pre-existing knowledge of coal mining in Appalachia). --A. B. 18:55, 15 November 2006 (UTC)
Hi A.B. Thanks for your kind response. We've got that bit sorted out now with the Caudill article. A first glance at the Appalachia article shows it reads better. Will have a more serious look later. Hmm. Caudill's book has a section on coal mining in the Cumberlands. Best Wishes and thanks. --- (Bob) Wikiklrsc 20:00, 15 November 2006 (UTC)

Disagreements can be good.

Without disagreement, it's often difficult to critically analyze anything, especially in an atmosphere where groupthinkconsensus is the highest goal. I certainly bear no one any malice. Your anti-vandalism messages page is far funnier than I am, and I may try to think up a box or two. Happy editing, --Elaragirl ||||||Talk|Count 00:17, 16 November 2006 (UTC)

Actually, I just learned that according to Wikipedia Review, I'm not very funny at all -- and a "rogue" editor to boot! I kind of like the rogue editor part. --A. B. 02:19, 16 November 2006 (UTC)


RFA Thanks

Thanks!
Thanks for your input on my (nearly recent) Request for adminship, which regretfully achived no consensus, with votes of 68/28/2. I am grateful for the input received, both positive and in opposition, and I'd like to thank you for your participation.
Georgewilliamherbert 05:32, 16 November 2006 (UTC)

SPAM?

What do you consider spam? I think those links in LAN gaming center are informative, also dmoz is completely unreliable. Freakdomination 04:51, 17 November 2006 (UTC)

You’ve been told multiple times by multiple people that your link additions are inappropriate. Furthermore, you’ve taken to vandalizing articles.
Look at Wikipedia:External links -- this contains Wikipedia's rules. Follow them.
This whole issue has been thoroughly gone over already:
as for your vandalism several hours ago, refer to:
Cheers, --A. B. 06:56, 17 November 2006 (UTC)

Appalachian Mountains

A.B.: Since I agree with your observations that "content contributors are the most valuable members" of Wikipedia and we should take pains to help newcomers who are trying to submit content, I wanted to make you aware that an addition by 74.106.186.175 that you reverted may have been legitimate, even though it was only supported by a link to a spamdexing/Adsense site. Please see my discussion on the Appalachain Mountains Talk Page. Tlmclain | Talk 18:50, 17 November 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for researching this!
For more information on 74.106.186.175, see a discussion of his contributions at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Spam#Busy guy with a passionate interest in medicine and science. He's followed a trajectory very similar to that described by "bill perry" in a comment responding to "Revenue Girl's" blog article, "Wikipedia Links: How to Get Them and How to Keep Them":
"One idea I’ve had, that I’ve yet to try, is to remove all stuff like adsense ads during the time you are trying ot get the link to stay. I use wordpress, so whenever I want to temp disable adsense, I actually put it in a PHP wrapper in my template files, then comment it out with PHP comments. This prevents the ads from serving, but also removes all of the adsense code itself from the source, should the moderators look at that."
Based on our research, this is not the same spammer but he is doing a very good job (better than "bill perry") of getting links into Wikipedia under the radar screen, usually as harder-to-spot footnotes rather than more obvious external links. He's also using other IP addresses, which some of us are still trying to figure out. The specific pages he links to on his "scraper sites" may have no ads, but the other pages may be mostly ads with just a little article text (possibly copyright violations of others' work). He's also doing a good job of search engine postioning. He's registered at least 13 additional domains and built more scraper sites which he's probably holding back in order to establish "Google trust", so I expect more spam. He may possibly be using open proxies to do all this, since that IP address is in Canada, but he's apparently based in Iowa. This has been going on for quite a while, but we only just learned about it in the last 24 hours. I haven't even had time to revert and warn (my day job interferes) --A. B. 21:10, 17 November 2006 (UTC)
If you step through the contributions for the IP address above plus those for 74.106.179.56 (talk • contribs), then look at the linked-to pages, you'll see the pattern. Only Adsense sites owned by one person are getting linked to.--A. B. 21:26, 17 November 2006 (UTC)

Aha - the plot thickens. It does appear that he may be promoting Adsense blogs instead of adding content it good faith. I guess we'll see what happens next. Between my post on the Appalachain Mountains Talk Page and his talk page, he now knows how to post and document the content properly. If he continues to post links to blogs, then we'll know. Tlmclain | Talk 21:29, 17 November 2006 (UTC)

This guy is so slick, I'll bet he never uses that IP address again and moves on to another. Trust me, he understands Wikipedia, the rules, the processes, posting and documenting better than I ever will. The only way we even spotted him is that I (one of the few active WP:SPAM volunteers) am interested in Appalachian geology and was intrigued by his post, which seems to fly in the face of everything heretofore understood about the Appalachians. He's been slipping in spam for many weeks and not getting spotted at all. --A. B. 21:36, 17 November 2006 (UTC)
The theory intrigued me as well, which is why I did the research to try to find the underlying source. I had been aware of the presence of some of the same rock types that are found in the Applachians in Europe and even Africa, but this was a newer twist. I must confess that most of my knowledge of geology is quite stale (I refuse to calculate how many years it has been since I studied geology as an undergraduate). In that regard, since you profess at least a passing passion for Appalachian geology and demonstrate a certain level of expertise, I will leave it to you to determine whether this "revolutionary new theory" should be incorporated in Wikipedia articles. I am unable to tell whether it is a fringe idea or one that is gaining acceptance; however, it does appear that there may have been at least one presentation of papers related to this. Tlmclain | Talk 21:47, 17 November 2006 (UTC)
Uhhh ... you flatter me. Interest yes, but certainly not "more" than a passing knowledge and an equally bygone undergaduate course or two myself. If there has been a peer-reviewed paper published, but that's all so far, then I would say the new theory should be mentioned, but perhaps given only one or two sentences until there is greater acceptance. I've situations sometimes occur, even with non-controversial stuff in Wikipedia, where one idea or one aspect of a topic gets higher coverage in an article not because of POV-pushing but because some editors are especially knowledgeable of or interested in a particular slice of a subject. I've seen the Submarine article veer from one interest to another -- women on subs, deep sea submersibles, pre-1900 subs, etc. Sometimes, you'd almost think the German U-boats were a blip in the history of submarines. So for that reason, I don't think this new theory should get a lot of space ... yet.
I've seen that you have unusually good editorial instincts and I know you'll figure it out even without a brand-new geology degree!
I'd like to research and write more articles, but I get to edit Wikipedia in little bursts. For now, I exercise my research skills mostly by trying to figure out spammers and their patterns. It's interesting. Many are dumb, but the one we found is very smooth. Google ranks Wikipedia highly, so our outward bound links are valuable and trusted. Some links left unreverted in Wikipedia for just a few weeks may be worth hundreds or thousands of dollars in increased site rankings and site traffic. The effect can linger additional weeks after reversion, too. This guy embeds his links in what appears to be useful text and adds just a link or two per week from any one address. He looks like an editor, not a spammer, until you look really closely at one edit's link, then start working backwards.
--A. B. 23:07, 17 November 2006 (UTC)
Now who is flattering whom? It is quite an overstatement to say that I have "unusually good editorial instincts." In reality, my short Wikipedia experience has been more like what you described with respect to the Submarine article – veering from one topic of interest to another. Its amazing how you start one article, then notice related articles that need help or need to be created and, before you know it, find yourself miles away from where you started. In any event, I have enjoyed our dialogue. I may take the weekend off and return to editing next week. Who knows, I may try to get back in touch with my geology roots and edit the Appalachian geology entry to include the “new theory.” Tlmclain | Talk 23:59, 17 November 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for your support!

A week ago I nominated myself, hoping to be able to help Wikipedia as an administrator as much as a WikiGnome. I am very glad many others shared my thoughts, including you. Thank you for your trust! Be sure I will use these tools to protect and prevent and not to harass or punish. Should you feel I am overreacting, pat me so that I can correct myself. I will continue my work trying to free Wikipedia from spammers and copyright violators as I did as a wikignome. If anything, I hope these tools will allow me to be slightly more effective when dealing with them, always trying to be as just and neutral as possible. Thanks again! ReyBrujo 20:48, 18 November 2006 (UTC)

Charles Burlingame

Hey, Thanks for letting me know - I put a comment on the deletion review page. Its funny, I really thought you had the wrong person when you implied that I created that page, but you were right. I had just completely forgotton about it. Fresheneesz 01:09, 19 November 2006 (UTC)

Another well-deserved barnstar

The Working Man's Barnstar
For your ongoing willingness to take on the laborious tasks involved in fighting spam, and for being a driving force at WikiProject Spam, I award you the Working Man's Barnstar. Keep up the excellent work! --AbsolutDan (talk) 17:44, 19 November 2006 (UTC)
Thank you so very much! --A. B. 19:23, 19 November 2006 (UTC)
You're welcome! --AbsolutDan (talk) 20:24, 19 November 2006 (UTC)

WT:WPSPAM

I saw on your comment on my talk page that you read my blogpost :). I can get very annoyed by edits which screw up articles, solely on the basis of wanting to remove spam... I could provide a readinglist, but i think it would be wiser to be more prudent in editing whole articles, and start with removing the linkspam of the external link section of a great lot of those pages... It seems Wikipedia need some SEO's that are white, don't need to spam, and yet write good articles about SEO on wikipedia. IMHO, Jaimie Sirovich did just that... --Jdevalk 13:25, 20 November 2006 (UTC)


When I'm working on spam, it's usually some sort of what I would call campaigned spam -- one person with virtually no edit history except adding links to their web sites.
Some embed their links with some useful text, but the goal remains spam. And they're supporting the assertions with links to their blog, which is a scaper site -- i.e., there was another site (acceptable per WP:EL) they could have linked to, but that wasn't their point. In fact, they were likely violating that other site's copyright. So in those cases, I just delete the link and move on to the next article they spammed. Yes, that leaves an unsupported assertion in the text, but I leave it for someone else to fix.
Again, I'm only doing this when I'm pursuing a campaign of links. When I'm editing an article under other circumstances, I'm usually a bit more circumspect. Also, as a volunteer at WT:WPSPAM, I'm interested in bad faith stuff, not enforcing WP-wide adherence to WP:EL -- see my comments there about religioustolerance do org.
Finally, if I'm pursuing one campaign's spam, I may be deleting that editor's spam links while leaving others on the page -- I'm just going from page to page fairly quickly. If anyone ever complains I'm picking on them, I encourage them to go delete their competitor's links as well, assuming they violate WP:EL.
I don't think I've messed with the SEO articles but I might have.
Anyway, I encourage you to edit away on those. I also suggest you follow WP:EL scrupulously there, which would probably include not linking to some useful blog posts. I'm not saying this as a "link-nazi" but rather because so many people watching those articles are so link-sensitized: either they're ready to post any dubious link they think if they see an opening ... or ... they're annoyed and touchy already that they'd delete a link to even the BBC as spam. I've got to run, but I also have some ideas on how to legitimately include significant blog content in a way that meets the letter and spirit of WP:EL. --A. B. 15:01, 20 November 2006 (UTC)

Your thoughts on those blogs would be appreciated, since the SEO world mainly talks through blogs. I've been going around some of the SEO articles, and could edit even "harder" but I wouldn't want to do that without some backup and regular checks, since these are such sensitive sections... --Jdevalk 17:05, 20 November 2006 (UTC)

University of Mary Washington

A.B.,

If you read the discussion carefully, I have agreed not to add a link to the website I run any longer since I recognize it is a violation of conflict of interest rules. Back off. "It's your call." (A.B.) I don't think threats are a part of a good Wikipedia community? Analyzethis 16:21, 21 November 2006 (UTC)

Oh, and threatening new users like me is pithy and stupid. No one gives a damn, A.B.Analyzethis 17:27, 22 November 2006 (UTC)
Analyzethis , your history here at Wikipedia speaks for itself. Relevant links:
--A. B. 20:23, 22 November 2006 (UTC)
--A. B. 20:39, 22 November 2006 (UTC)
--A. B. 15:28, 24 November 2006 (UTC)
Final observations for Analyzethis:
  • You have said you will encourage others to add Middlesell links [1]
  • You have complained of personal attacks by others when they did no such thing [2]
  • You have deleted others comments from article talk pages [3]
  • You have deleted material from others' talk pages
  • You have altered others' comments, removing inconvenient truths [4]
  • You have accused those who have removed your link of vandalism [5]
  • You added your links repeatedly; example: [6]
--A. B. 20:33, 22 November 2006 (UTC)
Note: I consider this comment a threat. Also, I wish you wouldn't break the rules. Please see the following: Wikipedia:Please do not bite the newcomers, Wikipedia:Etiquette, Wikipedia:Assume good faith. One would think that nice people such as yourselves wouldn't be so harsh to a newcomer like me. Your rudeness is unbecoming.67.131.148.171 01:02, 24 November 2006 (UTC) (Get a life)

195.194.74.26

I reported 195.194.74.26 (talk • contribs) at WP:AIV for continuing to vandalize after still another last warning earlier this week. Since I have found it so hard to get vandals blocked even when they meet all the criteria listed on the WP:AIV page, I went ahead and gave him another "last warning". You then declined to block this vandal with the comment "1 already warned. LIST MT". I have reverted my warning -- can you go ahead and block this person. They will be back again tomorrow, and the day after that and the day after that ad inifitium. It would be nice to get a break of at least a few days from cleaning up after them. --A. B. 16:07, 23 November 2006 (UTC)

I appreciate your frustration. The problem is that the vandalism coming from that IP just isn't that impressive. A single edit a half-hour ago, two edits five hours prior, and only a single edit in the six days prior to that. If you go back much further than that, you actually find some possibly useful edits: [7], [8], and even reverting vandalism xyrself: [9]. Blocking this IP wouldn't do much good and may even do some harm. A better example of chronic vandalism is this contribution list. —Wknight94 (talk) 16:21, 23 November 2006 (UTC)
As for Lanlivery, what in the world is going on? Is any of the recent additions true? Looks like that article needs to be reverted and semi-protected for a short period. Let me know. —Wknight94 (talk) 16:25, 23 November 2006 (UTC)
It's been worked over thoroughly. I'm debating whether to warn any of the vandals or toss it off as a lost cause. I am cleaning up the article, however.
It's so embarrassing for Wikipedia to see articles stay like that for multiple hours or days. It belies the confidence that so many have in recent changes patrols and anti-vandalism bots. You'll see some of them diligently, conscientiously were working to revert vandalism, only they just reverted back to earlier versions of junk. --A. B. 16:30, 23 November 2006 (UTC)
Okay, I see your revert and I've sprotected. That was impressive. You should head right over to WP:RFPP when stuff like that breaks out. —Wknight94 (talk) 16:28, 23 November 2006 (UTC)
Thank you for protecting it. I have had about as much luck with RFPP in the past as with AIV. --A. B. 16:31, 23 November 2006 (UTC)
If you step through the history, it appears to have been a coordinated attack on two, non-notable real people, one named Phillips (linked to the Satan article) and one named Bonney (linked to the Wanker article). --A. B. 16:40, 23 November 2006 (UTC)
I honestly didn't look that close. I just knew it was a bunch of people acting like idiots. When there's one person acting like an idiot, you block them - when it's multiple, protection is the way to go. (Probably short term in this case since it's hard to believe this is a common vandalism target - very odd). —Wknight94 (talk) 16:47, 23 November 2006 (UTC)
I debated whether or not to use the Defwarn template but settled for relatively mild vandalism warnings. I'm not an admin, so I was concerned I might get in trouble myself for perhaps crossing Wikipedia:No legal threats. --A. B. 16:52, 23 November 2006 (UTC)
With IPs you never know if they are shared or dynamically allocated. Last warnings that are more than a few days old are usually considered to have expired, unless it's evident from the edits that there is a pattern. Thus, block requests will likely fail in cases like this. There's not much we can do about these IPs if we want to remain an open wiki.
This address is registered to Truro College, Truro, England. I've tagged it as educational IP, it might belong to a classroom computer or even a school proxy. This means that 1. the IP won't be blocked long-term unless in extreme cases. But also 2. that instead of requiring the full series of warnings and then giving a long block, the focus should shift to more immediate but shorter slap-on-the-wrist type blocks.
Make sure these kiddy IPs got one recent (at least the same day) serious warning. If they continue (the more rapid the better in this case), request a short school block and you should find that admins may be more responsive. But be quick, anything beyond 3 hours drifts into why-bother-that-kid-is-gone land. For the really annoying IPs you can also try WP:ABUSE to get someone contact the school. Femto 19:48, 23 November 2006 (UTC)

...?

So, are you actually taking a break, or just harassing other users? Analyzethis 18:15, 23 November 2006 (UTC)

Hello again. Please see my earlier comments above [10], [11], [12]. --A. B. 18:27, 23 November 2006 (UTC)

Hmm, did you see what just happened with some of the IPs that attacked us yesterday? They were blocked as open proxies. Quite interesting, Metros232 15:38, 24 November 2006 (UTC)

Metros, thank you for your resilience, patience and vigilance!
I finally concluded that, other than referring this person back to the links I posted above, I was not going to respond to him -- it only seemed to feed something unhealthy within him. It seemed better for Wikipedia that I just lay low. Then I noticed that, in the presence of this new silence, he escalated his behavior -- he almost seemed to crave a block by the time he got one. Very strange -- likely a person with a lot of unhappiness in his life going way beyond Wikipedia. --A. B. 15:47, 24 November 2006 (UTC)

Next RfA's

Jahiegel, if he ever agrees to run. Amalas as well. My RfA batting average so far is 1.000. Hope it stays this way after Kafziel is done. - crz crztalk 23:28, 23 November 2006 (UTC)

Suite101.com AfD

A.B.: This is a copy of my reply to your post on my own talk page — feel free to delete it here after you've seen it. Athænara ✉ 01:00, 24 November 2006 (UTC)

Thanks — I have not edited the article except to support its deletion (date:times 2006:UTC):
Hi -- you did not have to go to all that work above -- I was just routinely putting the standard "Adw" notification template on the various editors' pages per the WP:AfD procedure. Looking at the language now, I see the tone almost sounds vaguely like that of an indictment, which I certainly did not intend! (I just wanted to give a friendly notification.) --A. B. 01:40, 24 November 2006 (UTC)
No problem—I like WikiWork, it increases my WikiSkills ;) — Æ. 02:49, 24 November 2006 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Requests for adminship/Kafziel 2

For what it's worth, that's one of the most thoughtful,insightful, well-written AfD comments I've read in a long time. --A. B. 23:12, 23 November 2006 (UTC)

Thank you. I felt he wasn't getting a fair shake from some of the opposers on the RfA. Owen× ☎ 16:49, 24 November 2006 (UTC)

Protected

I've semi protected your user and user talk pages. Let me know if you want me to lift this or not. Metros232 06:10, 25 November 2006 (UTC)

Pete Peters

A longstanding problem. There's been two arbitrations. Please ask sysop Bucketsofg. He's current in all these Canadian politics... Thx - crz crztalk 14:00, 26 November 2006 (UTC)


Wikispam request

I am happy to help clean up but I've tried four or five places in your list and all seem to have been done? I have some time about 1400UTC so tell me if you still need help --BozMo talk 09:52, 29 November 2006 (UTC)

My RfA

Just wanted to say thanks for your support, your email, and your encouragement after the close. It's good to meet you, and I'd be happy to help out at Wikiproject: Spam. It's a great idea. Kafziel Talk 15:40, 29 November 2006 (UTC)

You should be a detective

Thanks for trying to find cases of vote-stacking, but I am sorry to say that, though I am a friend of YouTrue, who happens to be on vacation with me on the same island we came to our concurrent opinion for other reasons. Should have asked me -- Rough 00:30, 30 November 2006 (UTC)

Actually, if I don't even know you're traveling, I would make a very sorry detective. --A. B. 01:18, 30 November 2006 (UTC)
I am watching this thread and have similar concerns to A.B. Unfortunately I'm very busy in the real world at the moment and will be for the next few days, but I am considering sending the Jacobson article to WP:DRV. Even if there isn't strict puppetry going on, that AfD closure needs a second look. — Moondyne 01:58, 30 November 2006 (UTC)

Re: Your welcome template

I like your welcome template the best of all the welcome templates. I use it all the time -- thanks for writing it. --A. B. 13:15, 30 November 2006 (UTC)

Thanks very much! I can't take all the credit for it... much of the content was nicked from Ilyanep and I just gave it its unique aesthetic appeal... but it's always nice to hear good things on the old talk page, rather than "yo, let me vandalise this article, she deserves it". You've put a smile on my face! haz (talk) e 13:55, 30 November 2006 (UTC)

haz (talk) e has smiled at you! Smiles promote WikiLove and hopefully this one has made your day better. Spread the WikiLove by smiling to someone else, whether it be someone you have had disagreements with in the past or a good friend. Smile to others by adding {{subst:smile}}, {{subst:smile2}} or {{subst:smile3}} to their talk page with a friendly message. Happy editing!

FYI -- I like your template so much, but I wanted something a little different for anon IPs, so I tweaked it some; see User:A. B./WelcomeAnon. Thanks again for your great contribution to making Wikipedia a welcome place for newcomers! --A. B. 13:42, 4 December 2006 (UTC)
I'm afraid I beat you to it - User:Haza-w/Anon. I really should link one to the other on the page itself, but never got round to it. Glad to see you're on the ball though! haz (talk) e 19:32, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

Inactive?

You're doing an excellent work with spam fighting. However, I have to say that you've been anything but inactive. You may need a new template for your user page. ScottW 04:53, 2 December 2006 (UTC)

Well, I put that up there because I'm supposed to be inactive and focus on catching up on some work. I suppose it's more a message to me than to the outside world. I actually did a little better (a very relative term in my case) in the last 36 hours.
Besides I find the ways the more competent "black hat" SEO folks work sort of fascinating. Probably we've really not spotted the really good ones yet. I know some balck hats follow this page and all our discussions with a degree of bemusement. If there were 53 weeks in a year, I'd love to spend a week with the anti-spam unit at Google -- they've probably got some good insights.
As for my Wikibreak, maybe I should ask you to watch my contributions page and pester me if I seem to be spending more than 45 minutes a day!! --A. B. 18:22, 2 December 2006 (UTC)
Heh, I'll keep an eye out, but I'm trying to wean myself away from WP too (and somewhat successfully, at that).
I agree that the more complex SEO techniques are interesting. I'm amazed and troubled by some of them all at once. I'm glad you and a few others have the perseverance to deal with them. At your pace, I'd run out of patience right quick. ScottW 03:44, 3 December 2006 (UTC)
To ScottW:
Encouraging Wikipedians to give priority to their outside work is disruptive. Keeping them from editing will be considered vandalism. This is the only warning you'll receive. So don't you even think about it. This message won't self-destruct in 10 seconds. Femto 14:48, 3 December 2006 (UTC)
Heh, I'll see what I can do to get my priorities straight. Must . . . give in . . . to the urge . . . to spend my entire Sunday on Wikipedia . . . But, alas, the dog needs walking. ScottW 15:54, 3 December 2006 (UTC)
Yeah the dog's my only weakness too. No good Wikipedian should be allowed to own a dog. Things that keep you from editing can be a real bitch sometimes. Femto 16:16, 3 December 2006 (UTC)
Wikipedians Against Dogs. We can call it... WAD. --AbsolutDan (talk) 16:22, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

blacklist

This spammer [16], also known as EinsteinEdits, has tried for months to spam his links (www.tmx-elmo.org, www.cocaine-drink.com, www.nitrousdirect.com, www.nascarspace.com) recently targetting these articles with cocaine-drink.com; Cocaine (drink) and Energy drink. unfortunatly when its reverted he vandalizes contribs of any and all involved in its removal. a little history can be found here,[17], [18], [19] and here[20] and the initial threat [21]. EinsteinEdits won't spam or vanalize under his on account so he chooses aol proxies and various IP's for his dirty work. was wondering if its possible to finaly put a stop to this by blacklisting those URL's. Hu12 11:07, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

  • nitrousdirect.com
  • tmx-elmo.org
  • cocaine-drink.com
  • nascarspace.com
  • penny-stock.org
  • house-mortgage.org
  • dieselforums.net
  • DieselSmoke.com
  • dieselwholesale.com
  • donate-eggs.com
  • nitrous-oxide.net

Additional sites he owns and has campaign spammed in the past..Hu12 14:06, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

User:PEAR

Hmmm... that's pretty interesting, thanks for pointing out the connections. I'll certainly be keeping an eye on PEAR when his current block lifts. Thanks, Gwernol 01:04, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

University Stuff

Have you considered reporting him to Wikipedia:Administrator intervention against vandalism for his potential sockpuppets along with his spam? -WarthogDemon 06:48, 6 December 2006 (UTC)

That IP just got blocked, however he just created a user account. This will likely go on and on. --A. B. (talk) 06:50, 6 December 2006 (UTC)
I actually meant reporting to here Wikipedia:Suspected sock puppets or even requesting the page itself be protected. -WarthogDemon 06:51, 6 December 2006 (UTC)

MATSES

I AfD'd MATSES. Thanks for the heads-up on the Peru project page. --Descendall 06:08, 7 December 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for looking into this. I just left a note on the Peru project page about this AfD. I tried to make it as neutral as possible since canvassing AfD votes for one side or another is against the rules. I truly am indifferent one way or the other -- if notability is shown, I'd be happy to keep. So far that hasn't happened.
I'm also not qualified to Google for MATSES, then assess the notability and reliability of the sources found, so I appreciate your help (and that of any other Wikiproject Peru folks). --A. B. (talk) 14:59, 7 December 2006 (UTC)

Re. University of Mary Washington semi-protection request

Thank you for contacting me. I have reviewed the article activity according to your information and semi-protected it for persistent spam. Regards.--Húsönd 00:26, 8 December 2006 (UTC)

Thank you very much! --A. B. (talk) 03:10, 8 December 2006 (UTC)

Re: Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Dan James Pantone

Can you take a look at this? I am very concerned about this AfD -- I think it's a mistake to proceed now and is only going to further aggravate folks after the whole MATSES AfD contretemps. You're a neutral, third party admin -- can you maybe step in as a grown-up and help us squabbling kids out? I'm concerned I'm no longer totally objective and even more concerned that some of the other parties may be even less objective. Thanks! --A. B. (talk) 04:57, 8 December 2006 (UTC)

There doesn't appear to be anything wrong with the AfD nomination. Articles can be proposed for deletion at any time. There is no safe time for an article; it is either about a notable subject and has appropriate reliable sources that conforms to policies and guidelines or it doesn't. There's no requirement for a speedy keep, so the only way to close it early would be to get the nominator to withdraw it. (aeropagitica) 16:48, 8 December 2006 (UTC)
Thanks very much for looking at this and sharing your thoughts, (aeropagitica). Don't you think, however, that the opening language is a bit inflammatory and even bordering on WP:CIVIL concerns? A look at my talk page archives above or at some of the matses.org exchanges on the WikiProject Spam talk page will indicate that I'm not one normally prone to tender sensibilities, but this AfD did concern me.
Having said that, I've spent enough time on matses-related stuff, made my point at the AfD and it's time to move on. I'll leave it for others to sort out and try to get back to my partial Wikibreak.
Thanks again, --A. B. (talk) 17:01, 8 December 2006 (UTC)

Thanks!

Peeking in on my own wikibreak, I noticed the barnstar. Thanks for that! I hope you're enjoying your own break. Best, William Pietri 04:01, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

Thank you

Thank you very much. I will check if there is another reference for MIL standards, but for the moment i'll remove the link. Again thank you. :) Daniele.tampieri 22:55, 12 December 2006 (UTC)

Hey, you already did it! Thanks :) :) Daniele.tampieri 23:06, 12 December 2006 (UTC)

Thank You Image:WikiThanks.png

Hi A.B., I want to thank you so much for the award and your kind words! My life's been a wreck last few weeks, and you've really lifted me up. You do great work around here, and I hope you know that. Hope to see you around more often! —Pilotguy (push to talk) 23:56, 12 December 2006 (UTC)

Texoma spam

These edits are not actually coming from accounts, they are coming from anonymous IPs. Though it is unlikely that these IPs are shared, I feel uncomfortable blocking an IP that has just made 2 edits. But if he comes back, I will definitely block it. Academic Challenger 01:55, 13 December 2006 (UTC)

Try clicking on the Whois link at the bottom of an IP user's talk page -- that tells you the ISP. Then click on the traceroute link. The traceroute results show the route a packet takes to the customer; while you can't decode all the results, you can usually get useful info you can interpret:
  • 24.116.127.234 (talk • contribs • page moves • block user • block log):
    • hop 10 is the last hop with an identifiable location: gbr1-p70.dlstx.ip.att.net. -- I figure that's Dallas, TX. The subsequent hops don't have geographic locations, but you can figure this person is in the Dallas region.
    • hop14 shows: 24-116-127-234.cpe.cableone.net. A quick trip to the cableone.net web site, http://www.cableone.net/about/locations.asp?STATE=TX, shows the company's Texas locations
    • Hop 14 + whois both confirm this is a cable modem customer. Those are not shared IPs (unless a neighbor's surfing on the subscriber's unsecured home Wi-fi!)
  • 71.96.181.77 (talk • contribs • page moves • block user • block log):
    • Traceroute hop 13 was as far as the pings got before hitting a firewall -- probably the user's. "p9-0.dsl-06.dllstx.verizon-gni.net." can be interpreted to mean a DSL user in Verizon's Dallas region
    • Whois confirms it's a Verizon customer.
    • DSL accounts, like cable modem accounts, are almost never shared.
Traceroute and whois data requires some interpretation and common sense. For instance, some Verizon IP addresses are still registered to GTE, Nynex or Bell Atlantic, 3 predecessor companies merged to form Verizon years ago. Another example: frequently the last 5 to 10 traceroute hops for some ISPs pass through hops with gobbledy-gook nomenclature you can't get a location out of. Some companies may mean a very narrow area in Dallas proper when they use dlstx; others may mean Texas + surrounding states. I've never seen that there's any standard nomenclature ISPs use when responding to traceroute pings; one may use dlstx, another rcntx (Richardson, a suburb), another dfw-1, still another wyqz for the same town. Just the same, common sense will get you far enough to figure out what you need to know.
We already know this is almost certainly the webmaster for searchtexoma.com. Since their web site says they're based in Denison, Texas, about 65 miles northeast of Dallas, these results are no surprise. Had you seen, however, that the new IP address was in Singapore, or even just Atlanta, you'd want to check out the possibility it was an open proxy using a tool such as Completewhois. (Neither's an open proxy -- I already checked).
I hope this is helpful. Now that you know these IP addresses are not shared, I hope you will block them. It's what the policy calls for.
Thanks for your help! --A. B. (talk) 02:43, 13 December 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for that information. I have used information from WOIS before, but I am definitely not an expert at IP tracing, and I definitely learned a lot from what you wrote here. I have blocked the IP that you reported to AIV, for 31 hours. Academic Challenger 02:57, 13 December 2006 (UTC)

A little F.Y.I., A. B. [22] not sure what is to be accomplished by this.--Hu12 13:47, 15 December 2006 (UTC)
Thanks for pointing this out. This person is very troubled by my user page (I'm on an intermittent Wikibreak -- I come and go; that user happened to get me in a "here" phase instead of an "away" phase). Perhaps it's just one more way to criticize me. In any event, I appreciate your help in dealing with the person. I'm running out of ways to reword my earlier responses to address his subsequent repetitions of the same complaints and attacks. I find his theft of copyright accusation bizarre; anyone can compare those pages and see there's obviously no violation. Likewise, the furor over as-yet unnamed Texas towns (other than Quanah) I added that are supposed to be hundreds of miles from the Red River. His desperation to get a link searchtexoma.com is a commentary on the value search engines give it.
I actually wouldn't mind the person communicating on my talk page; it's semi-protected for the middlesell.com vandal, however, and I'd prefer to keep it that way for a while. I also think, as you observed, that it helps to keep the conversation centralized. --A. B. (talk) 14:24, 15 December 2006 (UTC)

"Innocent" Vandal

Rofl, guess I missed something along the way. Thanks for the info though. --Urzadek 07:09, 13 December 2006 (UTC)

eply to your query on Appalachian English

I'm not sure if you saw it but I replied to your question on the talk page for Appalachian English.[23] ++ Arx Fortis 05:28, 16 December 2006 (UTC)

Thanks -- I look forward to reading the references you cited. It's an interesting question. --A. B. (talk) 13:08, 16 December 2006 (UTC)
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