User talk:Gmaxwell

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I prefer to keep discussions unfragmented.
  • If I post on your talk page, I will notice any replies posted there.
  • Unless you request otherwise, I will reply here to comments made here.
  • I will usually post a brief note on your talk page to let you know that I have replied, unless your talk page instructs me otherwise.
  • If you write a reply to me here, I may decide to move your text back to your talk page in an effort to keep the thread in one place.
  • If you are just pointing out something written to me elsewhere, edit here.
  • Such pointers are useful if you've written to a comment I made many days ago.
  • I refactor my talk page, so
  • To see older messages please view the history.


Contents

[edit] Pings

This is kind of embarassing, but I have to come clean: I thought you were a jerk, once. I said a mean thing, I was kind of clueless... sorry. I think you're pretty cool now. ~MDD4696 04:18, 16 May 2006 (UTC)

Thank you. :) You've really improved my day. :) --Gmaxwell 05:24, 17 May 2006 (UTC)

Hello. I just wanted to point out that I replied to you on commons. Happy editing! -- Where 20:03, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

Oh, indeed! I'm sorry about the confusion and I'm glad you understand it. Since talkpage spamming is only accepted in a few instances I didn't see any reason to be overly cautious, but I was mistaken. I'm curious, however, why did you use an image? --Gmaxwell 20:28, 5 July 2006 (UTC)
No problem :). I used an image because it was the only effective way to convey the parody. -- Where 22:53, 5 July 2006 (UTC)

Dear GMaxwell, I dislike the fact that you and your "people" keep me from putting on my comments for the DISCUSSION OF THE DELETION of the Oolong page. This is hypocritical, I wish that page on Oolong to be removed, I said I wanted it to be removed, but every time I reloaded the page discussion page, my comments have been removed. You are all fascist jerkfaces. Just because a cat ate Oolong doesn't make it vandalism! Go ahead and remove this too, block me you too, Hitler, I don't care anymore because this is a mockery of real encyclopedias and should removed from the internet, this is not factual in anyway.

ping. -- Goldie (tell me) 19:36, 12 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Hi

I saw you uploaded a SVG file. Can you tell me what program you use for exporting SVG? Psychomelodic (people from Alpha Centauri think that I look like Zelig write your own!) 07:22, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

All the SVGs I've done were either created with Inkscape or simply created by hand in a text editor. --Gmaxwell 14:02, 29 July 2006 (UTC)


[edit] Image:V20001.jpg copyright

I notice you had concerns about the copyright of the image on the Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates/Schempp-Hirth Ventus 2B Glider delisting page. I've asked the original uploader of the picture, Jmcc150, to comment on that page so you may wish to discuss the issue with them. If we can get this cleared up once and for all it would be great. Thanks. Raven4x4x 09:40, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Lipman electrometer diagram

Layout of a lipman electrometer
Enlarge
Layout of a lipman electrometer

.]]

Quite a while ago now you created a higher quality version of a crude MS Paint image I created. If I gave you a crude diagram of a simple device consisting of a u-tube and a few wires would you be able to create a higher quality PNG image of it? You’ll notice that it’s a scanned image; even MS Paint doesn’t work on my damned computer now! The u-tube is meant to be fat on the left and thin (a capillary tube) on the right.

The device itself is called a “lipman electrometer” and it’s going to be connected to the article about the device (which doesn’t exist yet) and maybe the article about the ECG machine. Thanks and your input is much appreciated. Miller 18:17, 7 August 2006 (UTC)

Will do. --Gmaxwell 17:42, 12 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Image control list

I don't quite understand your objection, what harm would it be if not used enough? But that aside, I take it from your post that you would interested in creating a bot version? ed g2s • talk 18:53, 11 August 2006 (UTC)

We already have far too many features which aren't used bloating the code. The hard part of control is making the list... so lets make the list. We could require the use of {{fairusein}} for each use, or perhaps something lighter weight. What do you think? --Gmaxwell 18:59, 11 August 2006 (UTC)
Fairusein|foo would work, although it would probaly be better to have the image control list separate from the fairusein template, using a template that explains the system and hand, and what the bot will do.
Would
{{controllist|
* [[This article]]
* [[That article]]
}}
be bot readable? ed g2s • talk 22:41, 11 August 2006 (UTC)
That would be fine. How about {{allowedin}} ? --Gmaxwell 17:41, 12 August 2006 (UTC)
See {{allowedin}} and Image:Arsenal FC.png. Still needs some work. ed g2s • talk 15:47, 13 August 2006 (UTC)

I have put the template on 20 pages (Premiership club logos) for a trial run. I imagine the bot running in the following way:

Iterate what-links-here for allowedin
{
  Open image page, extract whitelist.
  Remove non article namespace links from whitelist.
  Check for redirects in the whitelist. Auto-fix (if possible) or add to to-do list.
  Write cleaned whitelist back to image page.
  Iterate file-links for image.
  {
    If page not in whitelist, load and remove image instances.
  }
}

But I have never written a Wiki-bot, so I leave it in your capable hands. ed g2s • talk 12:21, 30 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] "disillusioned with FPC"

Incidents like the Jtkiefer / Pegasus1138 / Thygard stuff make me glad I'm in a different timezone to everyone else, but I couldn't help noticing your comment about needing to 'fix' FPC. Seeing as how I've been involved in FPC for some time now (although university commitments are eating into my time these days) I'm very interested in knowing what you feel needs fixing. Raven4x4x 00:56, 12 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Reptilian.jpg

Why the delete? -Ste|vertigo 04:59, 12 August 2006 (UTC)

Look in the deletion log, and then ask the actioning admin. ed g2s • talk 12:46, 12 August 2006 (UTC)

The image claimed fair use... even if the claim of fair use was valid (It wouldn't be there), we don't permit fair use images in user space, and even if we did the image was a derrivitive work... which aren't covered by fair use. In short the image was an obvious copyright violation. At least... thats why I tagged it. As for the deletion, you should ask the deleting admin. --Gmaxwell 17:40, 12 August 2006 (UTC)

The image did not claim fair use, it claimed the same copyright as the source image. -Ste|vertigo 23:28, 12 August 2006 (UTC)
Yes, which claims to be fair use. Your earlier edit linked to Boss Hogg from which the image can be reached. Why did you remove this link? --Gmaxwell 01:24, 13 August 2006 (UTC)
Because its immaterial. That link was on the image page, which you flagged. Now that we've established that it wasnt claimed as fair use, and was linked to the source image, why did you flag the image page? -Ste|vertigo 03:42, 13 August 2006 (UTC)
Um. Image A claims to be fair use. Image B claims to be licensed the same as A. Thus it follows that B is also claimed to be fair use. What am I missing? The image is unlicensed content, and we don't permit such images on userpages. Linking the image is helpful because the flagged page has been deleted. --Gmaxwell 03:56, 13 August 2006 (UTC)
I did not know about the fair use userpage policy. Apologies. -Ste|vertigo 19:56, 13 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Blog spam

Good catches on my blog spam. I really shouldn't have put those there. I honestly thought they were useful references, but it's too vanity-oriented, and just not appropriate. -- Thekohser 06:27, 13 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] FFmpeg2theora issues

Ok, to review the stuff we talked about at Wikimania, here's a brief list of things I really want improved with ffmpeg2theora:

  1. I was given bad information; the windows binary on the site appears, in fact, to be up to date. It just plain doesn't work.
  2. It doesn't convert the quicktime movies shot by my camera (A Lumix DMC-FZ3). When I try to encode them (using the latest version, 0.16), it kicks out this error many times "[mjpeg @ 007BCA18]Subsampling in JPEG-LS is not supported." I consulted the documentation [1] which claims that JPEG-LS is, in fact, supported. Go ahead and experiment with the ones I gave you.
  3. I want audio-video sync issues fixed; anytime I try to convert a file (typically already converted from ogg -> uncompressed avi), the audio and video go severely out of sync after a few seconds.
  4. I want the ability to rotate in incriments of 90 degrees (clockwise our counter clockwise).

I'd appreciate it if you could forward these issues to the people who can fix them. Raul654 00:10, 15 August 2006 (UTC)

Any progress? Raul654 01:05, 21 August 2006 (UTC)
I've coded the rotation bit.. but I'm having issues with the ffmpeg windows build. Fking windows compiler crap. In any case, what if I setup a webpage where you can simple upload videos and it will transcode them for you? Web application. Save me the pain of deailing with windows. Thoughts? --Gmaxwell 01:07, 21 August 2006 (UTC)
Well, the problem with that idea is that you yourself become the bottle-neck ;)
In the short term, for a low volume of vidoes, I suppose that would work, but I'd much rather have a functioning toolchain of my own. Raul654 01:13, 21 August 2006 (UTC)
Also, if it would make it easier for you, I can, in the short term, use a linux-only version provided it was statically compiled - I do not want to go through the hell of having to make sure I have 50 other programs already installed. Raul654 05:52, 21 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Congratulations!

The Oddball Barnstar
I hereby award you the Oddball barnstar for creating the redirect for Big tits to Breast fetishism. Woo hoo! Bastique▼parler voir 02:36, 15 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] earwax

Why did you withdraw earwax? I was going to support it...-Ravedave 23:55, 17 August 2006 (UTC)

Three reasons: The first, A significant number of respectable people strongly believe it does not remotely meet our feature picture requirements. I felt it would be disrespectful to their position to allow it to continue. Secondly, My interest in listing the image stemmed from my desire to demonstrate that the FPC process works counter to goal of encouraging the creation of quality media on Wikipedia, and I believe my point was made. And finally, I found the last oppose hurtful and I would rather not see the featured picture process continue if it will result in me being subjected to attacks as I have seen in a number of other FPCs. If you desire you may undue my withdraw, but be aware that I've unwatchlisted the page and will no be responding to any further comments. --Gmaxwell 00:08, 18 August 2006 (UTC)
Sorry about my comment Gmaxwell. Didn't mean it to offend. I'll revise it now that you've put it back. I see what you doing and support you fully in it. Jeeb 01:10, 18 August 2006 (UTC)
Yeah I'd like you do un-withdraw it. #1 everyone has different opinions, there are quite a few supports. #2 I have removed the comment and replaced with a note about WP:CIVIL. -Ravedave 00:28, 18 August 2006 (UTC)
Fair enough. Done. --Gmaxwell 01:02, 18 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Help with svg image

Hi Gregory, I hope you're not too busy and have time to have a look at this request. I have uploaded Image:Metropolitan Areas of Mexico.svg but it does not show up in the description page. The map was created with Inkscape, but I have uploaded as "plain svg". My guess is that the problem lies on the image size itself (in KB), but I have no way to know better. Since you seem to be the SVG expert around here, I was hoping you could have a look and figure out what's wrong. Would be appreciated. Regards -- Rune Welsh | ταλκ 19:31, 20 August 2006 (UTC)

Oh interesting. I see that you have some linked images (such as C:\Documents and Settings\Rune Welsh\Desktop\zonasmet2.png) in the file.. those need to go. I'm not sure yet what is causing us not to render it... but I am actively looking at it now. --Gmaxwell 23:52, 20 August 2006 (UTC)
Yes, I was drawing on top of that image, and some others too. All references to external images should go I guess, since they are not used anymore. Thank you for your help. -- Rune Welsh | ταλκ 10:22, 21 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] video formats

Hello, you removed a link in Apollo 11 because of propriatary video formats (MPEG or Quicktime). Which video formats are proprietary and which aren't? Is there some Wikipedia policy against linking to them? Bubba73 (talk), 22:44, 20 August 2006 (UTC)

Indeed. As documented in WP:EL we avoid external linking to content which should be in Wikipedia itself. Unfortunately most video formats are encoumbered by patents for both encoding and decoding. We accept Ogg/Theora videos on Wikipedia, because Theora is the only current state of the art codec which is substantially free of patent problems. The downside of Theora is that Windows and Mac systems do not support it out of the box (much as was the case for Mpeg4 or other formats just a couple of years ago). Instructions for these formats can be found on our Wikipedia:Media help page. In the next couple of months we will enable an inline player which should greatly increase the accessability of these files. --Gmaxwell 23:52, 20 August 2006 (UTC)
OK. Then will it be possible to take videos that are free of copyright (such as the Apollo 11 videos) and convert them into the proper format, and include them directly in WP? Bubba73 (talk), 00:20, 21 August 2006 (UTC)
Of course, we already have a many such videos. See Transit_of_Venus,_2004#Media for an example. If you'd like you can even send me a list of URLs of videos and I can mass convert them and upload them for you. --Gmaxwell 01:03, 21 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Automated video upload

Please let me know when you have your Java Ogg video/audio players. FORscene is designed to support any number of codecs, and with a Linux distribution of the Wikipedia formats it will be a simple matter to enable re-publishing of existing FORscene videos in these formats.

As you appreciate, FORscene can provide a complete hosting service, which makes using it very simple. I would imagine that FORscene's Wikipedia publishing interface would mirror this by asking for the licensing conditions and associated messages, and then uploading any published videos automatically to the media servers here. Do you know of an automated interface at the Wiki end? Stephen B Streater 23:57, 20 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Possibly dumb question about PDF

I'm trying to understand more about this video linking thing (re Stephen's RFA :-). What is the difference between putting an external link to a PDF on Wikipedia and an external link to a video hosted on a external site in a proprietary format? If I read the article about PDF, it states PDF is a proprietary format, but nobody ever yelled at me about adding PDF links to Wikipedia. Apologies for being a total newbie on this (I would like to learn :-). --Ligulem 10:10, 21 August 2006 (UTC)

Don't ask difficult questions ;-) This whole affair is a storm in a teacup, as will become apparent when things calm down. Stephen B Streater 10:40, 21 August 2006 (UTC)
It is not a difficult question: we routinely remove externals to content which belongs in Wikipedia proper, including content which has been saved into PDFs. PDFs are often provided by the official/authoritative sources (government offices, for example), and we are far more tolerant of such links. When it comes to formats, PDF isn't (usually) in the same group as most video codecs, because most PDFs are not created with any patent encumbered features... Truly free PDF encoding and decoding software exists and ships with Linux distros which include only free software. If we found someone linking to, for example, DRM enabled PDFs we would remove those links. Keep in mind, there is no technical reason that we don't permit the uploading of patented formats, the decision is intentional, and efforts to circumvent our upload restrictions via external linking are not smiled on... --Gmaxwell 04:48, 22 August 2006 (UTC)
Thanks for explaining and thank your for your patience. I was not aware that Wikipedia has such a purist standpoint and as such I apparently didn't understand the Foundation issues as well. As I understand it at the moment, in this special case (videos), freeness of content requires freeness of format and codec software, so that there must be a GPL or similar free licensed codec with the quality and features of Stephen's codec to be able to benefit from Stephen's technology. So Stephen's company in fact would have to release their codec patent under a free license in order for Wikipedia to accept the video links Stephen put on Wikipedia, right? --Ligulem 08:09, 22 August 2006 (UTC)
That's how I see it - except Wikipedia would be happy to host this content too, as internally stored content is always pregerable where attainable. Stephen B Streater 10:58, 22 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Ferrofluid image

Original
Enlarge
Original
Edit 1
Enlarge
Edit 1


Greg -- I was having a hard time trying to choose between a couple of your ferrofluid images to nominate on WP:FPC. In the end I thought the one showing the magnet under glass was the most encyclopedic, but it seemed a little dark on my monitor. I downloaded it and did some selective levels work on it, and cropped it as well. If you'd take a look at it, and tell me if it meets with your approval, I'd appreciate it. Here are thumbnails to the original and the edit: -- Moondigger 03:51, 22 August 2006 (UTC)

The crop is fine, I prefer the one I posted because I think the tighter crop causes both the bottom of the image to dominate and the image to lose its visual center and containment (that is, it becomes somewhat overwhelming and the eye skims over it rather than being captured). That is fairly subjective stuff, and the Wikipedia preference tends towards very tight crops... I think our cropping has ruined a lot of images, but in this case there is no harm caused, it's just not my preference.
Moondigger edit on left, orig on right
Moondigger edit on left, orig on right
However, I'm not quite so sure about the levels adjustments. I see two issues with them. The first of which is somewhat nictpicky, the levels change has caused quantization noise in the dark areas of the image. Of course, this is to be expected working from 8 bit images.. and the image was already close enough to the camera noise floor. Perhaps it's not quite so obvious on your display. This is a crop from the left side, but I especially dislike it from the right side right above the glass. In any case, this only an issue when looking at it at 100% on my display.
Moondigger edit on left, orig on right
Moondigger edit on left, orig on right
The other issue I see with the levels adjustment is, however, more significant. In adjusting the levels you've blown out the highlights on the ferrofluid. This couldn't be avoided without avoiding any levels adjustment on the highlights because in my original image they were riding the rails (and, in fact, were the basis for setting my gain...). I consider this issue problematic not due to any religious distaste for clipped pixels, but rather because it changes the apparent shape of the highlights, taking them from something rounded (as the fluid is) to something more sharply shaped, the result is inaccurate, and to me unappealing. This change is visible on the thumbnails (well, it is obvious on the image page sized thumbnail, I couldn't call it good or bad on the smaller thumbs). If we are to avoid this we could simply adjust the levels on everything but the highlights, but I really prefer the contrast created by the maximum brightness highlights and the medium key background, oh what I would give for displays that go to 11. --Gmaxwell 04:35, 22 August 2006 (UTC)
Good points. My edits were quick attempts to see if I could make it more opposition-resistant, based on what I'd guess people might object to. I'll admit I hadn't noticed the quantization noise until you pointed it out, but it's visible on my monitor as well. I wasn't looking for it previously, and I think it's something the FPC crowd would be less likely to comment on than overall image brightness. (When I've done product photography of dark objects in the past, I have always made a point of overexposing by a stop or more, hoping to avoid problems with lost detail and noise in the darkest areas.) I also agree that the change in the shape of the highlights is a problem. Maybe something could be done with levels that's less drastic than what I did?
The crop was just to make the ferrofluid occupy a bigger percentage of the frame w/r/t the background, again because I'm assuming the FPC crowd would prefer the main subject to dominate. Side by side I think the cropped version would garner less opposition than the uncropped, but I've been wrong about people's preferences before.
I'll nominate the original or a cropped version that hasn't been so drastically levels-adjusted, if you'd like to provide one. Let me know here -- I'll watch your talk page for a reply. -- Moondigger 05:03, 22 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Important

Gmaxwell, I ask you to respond to my latest RfA post here. If I am mistaken, then I apologise for misinterpreting the evidence, but if not then I find this extraordinary. Stephen B Streater 19:04, 23 August 2006 (UTC)

Hmm, you're a respected expert. Could you help Stepen Streater do the right thing right? :-) Kim Bruning 21:10, 23 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] External Links

Please have a look at my response to the removal of all the external video links I've contributed over the past few months over on Mark Kilby's talk page. I would appreciate a response when you have the time. Rgds. mk 01:33, 24 August 2006 (UTC)

Hello Gregory, thanks very much for replying. I have placed some further comments re external video links. Again, I appreciate any time you make available for them. Regards, mk 13:57, 25 August 2006 (UTC).

[edit] Text analysis

Hi there. At Wikimania you suggested I ping you about getting an account on a machine with text dumps of Wikipedia to do some analyses. I'm really eager to run an analysis of the text in the next couple weeks; let me know if this is possible. My email is me@aaronsw.com AaronSw 13:12, 24 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] New anti-Semitism

Gregory Maxwell, just wanted to write you and express my appreciation for your having taken a look at this image question and edited accordingly. Thanks. (→Netscott) 21:41, 24 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] [2]

If the author of the image did not argue that it is new anti-semitism, then why is the image on an article about anti-semitism? --Gmaxwell 02:12, 25 August 2006 (UTC)

How the hell should I know? just kidding...The picture/poster, content aside, is pretty cool, imo. The creator is wasting their time with that garbage...anyways...--Tom 02:17, 25 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Simple request

I usually learn by example here, but I couldn't find an example which does what I want.

Is it possible to have an icon appear in an article which I can click on to play the video (assuming installed plug-in etc)? I'm looking for something lik this (but not necessarily with the first frame graphic - a Commons icon would be OK too). If you have time, I'd appreciate an example as part of your reply. If it's not possible, then this might be a good area for me to fix. Stephen B Streater 10:04, 26 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Pi Unrolled

You commented on this animated GIF's Featured Picture nomination. I'm considering a redesign to incorporate concerns raised but I need more clarity. Please see User talk:John Reid/Pi/Unrolled#FP?. Thank you. John Reid 08:46, 27 August 2006 (UTC)

I recently cranked out a new and greatly improved version of Pi-unrolled.gif and (why not?) nominated it for FP. Since you commented on the nomination of the previous version of the same graphic, I'd like to invite you to comment on the new nomination. Thank you. John Reid 04:26, 6 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] RfA message

My RfA video message
Image:RfA message.ogg
Stephen B Streater 08:40, 28 August 2006 (UTC)


[edit] JOrbisPlayer Beta for Wikimedia

Hi Gregory.

Just been trying out your JOrbis player using the sample from The Ruts page and it doesn't seem to work very well on a dialup connection. The sample comes in a number of short bursts, presumably due to the low bandwidth available. Is there any way you can add an option for dialup users so that the sample is downloaded to a tempory file before the playing starts? I know this will delay hearing the sample but perhaps you can include a progress bar or something. Other than that, the 'play in browser' seems pretty good. Regards, Ian Dunster 13:21, 28 August 2006 (UTC)

LOL! - Just after I wrote the above I got a persistant 'motorbike' sound after using the 'Stop' button. I think this may be a bug in either the Ogg Vorbis plug-ins or one in Firefox, as it stopped when I closed all my browser windows. Ian Dunster 13:30, 28 August 2006 (UTC)
Yes, the stop button is somewhat buggy and on my list to fix. It will download the file in the background and start playing when it has it. I'll see if I can add a progress bar. Thanks for your feedback. --Gmaxwell 13:42, 28 August 2006 (UTC)
It worked on my Mac with Safari - after I had rejected giving trash permissions to the program. The point of Java is that you don't need to trust the other person - and this player doesn't seem to need it, even though it asks. Stephen B Streater 13:36, 28 August 2006 (UTC)
It needs to connect to a third host (upload.wikimedia.org), so it shouldn't have worked after rejecting the permissions. I wanted to get a good handle on usage before setting up a proxy to relay the media through the wikimedia toolserver. Thanks for this datapoint. --Gmaxwell 13:42, 28 August 2006 (UTC)
Interesting. It now gives java.security.AccessControlException: access denied (java.net.SocketPermission upload.wikimedia.org:80 connect,resolve). Either its a question of belief, and you've sidestepped by total belief in your programming abilty by convincing me it shouldn't work, so we've no entered that reality, or I subliminally do trust you and clicked the wrong button by mistake ;-) I'll try again later, perhaps after clearing some cookies out, and let you know. There was definitely a siren in the background earlier. Stephen B Streater 15:04, 28 August 2006 (UTC)
It will now work in an untrusted manner (and won't prompt to be trusted..). I've set up the proxy I mentioned above. --Gmaxwell 02:47, 29 August 2006 (UTC)
Plays now :-) Each time I press start I get this:
Select: http://tools.wikimedia.de/media/wikipedia/en/a/a0/Ruts_-_Babylon's_Burning_excerpt.ogg
Comment: Sony Ogg Vorbis 1.0 Final
Bitstream is 2 channel, 44100Hz
Encoded by: Xiph.Org libVorbis I 20020717
and of course the audio. Stephen B Streater 08:11, 29 August 2006 (UTC)
My windows machines gives (Java 1.4.2):
java.lang.UnsupportedClassVersionError: JOrbisPlayer (Unsupported major.minor version 49.0)
at java.lang.ClassLoader.defineClass0(Native Method)
[... deleted similar lines]
at java.lang.Thread.run(Unknown Source)
Works fine on Debian Linux Java 1.5.0_07. Stephen B Streater 13:16, 29 August 2006 (UTC)
I came to see if there was a timeline for the inline video player but found this instead. It played for me; xp home, ie6, 1mbps broadband, just audio - right? mk 21:00, 28 August 2006 (UTC)
Thanks for the feedback! Yes, it's just audio for now. Although with about 15 minutes work I could provide video as well. There is another project to add full inline able video support through the same underlying java applets. That work is still a couple of months off... I saw no reason why I couldn't toss up a quick hack since the demand is obviously there. Today I resolved the need for trusted java, so now the module should work fully sandboxed. Next I'll rework the player page to make it a little more user friendly, then add some places for users to give feedback. Once audio is nice and stable, I'll make video work the same way. That should hold us over until the real support is done. --Gmaxwell 02:47, 29 August 2006 (UTC)
Video will be great - I look forward to that. Looking at other threads, I wonder what will be the next hill to climb - perhaps it will be infringement - but for that to be a problem of note, WP will have to have moved up a gear in terms of uploaded footage. So if it does become an issue it will also be a blessing. mk 12:39, 29 August 2006 (UTC)

elo, i have no clue how these discussion things work but i've enconterd that little motorbike. annoying, you really should have put up a warning of some sort... also when i play stuff in iTunes it like speeds it up, sounds really wierd... now excuse me while i try to stop this annoying sound...-anonymous

Hello, i have just tried out the JOrbisPlayer with the Colors of noise samples. When one got turned off, it froze-looped in my sound system (the same tiny amount of sound gets played over and over again very fast). I believe it was the pink one, i can't quite remember. Anyway it's nothing a reboot might solve, but still the issue needs signalling so that a solution might be found. For info, I'm running Firefox with cable connection and the latest JVM on WinXP SP2. SmegEd 19:12, 29 September 2006 (UTC)

Hi Gregory, for this one http://tools.wikimedia.de/~gmaxwell/jorbis/JOrbisPlayer.php?path=Pachelbel%27s+Canon+Strings.ogg&wiki=en I get a database error. Warning: mysql_numrows(): supplied argument is not a valid MySQL result resource in /home/gmaxwell/public_html/jorbis/JOrbisPlayer.php on line 66 -- Charles Merriam

[edit] Barnstar

The Technology Barnstar
I award you this barnstar for your work in making media accessible within the constraints of the system. Stephen B Streater 17:21, 28 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Grapefruit Seed Extract - Copyright Violations - Please Investigate.

Please check links for copyright infringement.

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Grapefruit_seed_extract&oldid=72495019 http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Grapefruit_seed_extract&oldid=72467578

Compare the info which Judith Sims wrote and the illegal info Devios and Zoe revert to. Putting or reverting to copyright info on wikipedia's website is considered VANDALISM!!! Read carefully. You will find copyrighted info on wikipedia's website. This is against the law.

http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_g2603/is_0003/ai_2603000396 < Judith Sims

There is still a lot more info that I think may be copyright violations still left in the article. Devios and Zoe have broken wikipedia's rules. Check the history of GSE article. Then you will have to revert way back to BEFORE Devios put copyrighted material on wikipedia's website. This is an ongoing problem with Devios all over wikipedia. This person is taking copyrighted material and dumping it on wikipedia's website without permission from the copyright holder. Thanks again for all your help. And good luck trying to STOP Devios and this user's VANDALISM.

[edit] JOrbisPlayer trouble

  • Hey dude, very nice your player, bug its bugging with me, I started listing a song well, when i hit Back in the browser, 2 seconds of the song keeps repiting... even after i close the tab. (I'm using Opera 9.01 for Windows) --R2cyberpunk 19:03, 31 August 2006 (UTC)
    • I second that problem. I'm using Firefox on WinXP. --Ppk01 08:43, 14 September 2006 (UTC)
    • Yet, it works for me with WinXP Home SP2 and Opera 9.02, "Back" (button or alt-rightarrow) stops "labiodental flap" while it is playing. Sometimes "Stop" doesn't! (I know a negative example proves nothing--just thought you'd like to know.) —Xojo (talk) 19:12, 21 November 2006 (UTC)
  • Some other trouble here too: Clicking "stop" caused a loud buzzing that hasn't stopped even after closing the browser (IE 6.0 / Windows XP Home). I opened another window to play the sound hoping it would stop the buzzing, but the new sound played parallel to the buzz, and when I clicked "stop" it added a new buzz. The two buzzes are buzzing on harmoniously as I type.Dan Pelleg 00:41, 3 September 2006 (UTC)
    • Second the same problem. The buzzing is kind of grating. Wasp2020 17:18, 24 September 2006 (UTC)
Indeed the buzzing sound is a major issue - in Firefox if you play in browser and then click 'back' during play you get a very grating mechanical feedback that won't go away for some time unless you shut down your browser. I'll be happy to provide more detailed reports/testing for you if you like. Richard001 04:08, 18 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Musical examples in tuning articles

It would be appreciated if you took it to an appropriate talk page before making the same major edit to ten different articles. It wasn't urgent for you to make such a change, and there may be some other solution other than simply removing the content. We (the members of the wikiproject to which all of these pages belong) would like to have such a discussion at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Tunings, Temperaments, and Scales. Would you care to join in there? - Rainwarrior 20:39, 3 September 2006 (UTC)

Are you talking about the talk page comments left *after* my changes? The links are, quite simply, not acceptable. If you'd like to submit content to wikipedia, then please submit content under our requirements... please don't circumvent our policy with respect to copyright and formats by external linking. --Gmaxwell 20:43, 3 September 2006 (UTC)

I have some questions about WP:EL with regard these links. It seems to me that the strongest reason for disallowing them is that the authorship and copyright information cannot be determined by the reader. However, this concern doesn't really appear at all in EL, and I'm wondering if it should be added. The wording of EL, specifically "If you do link to such material make a note of what application is required." suggests that these links are occasionally acceptable (as well, there is a distinction made between "guideline" and "policy" which weakens this position as well). At this point I'm not arguing that the links were acceptable (as I think the issue of authorship/copyright is an important one), but the wording of EL doesn't make it clear at all that the links a "not acceptable", and I think some changes should be made. I've seen all sorts of debate about what is acceptable as an external link, and it would really help to have a more strongly worded language (or maybe upgrade it to policy) with better explanation of its reasons.

I'm sorry if my reversion came off as "condescending", but I didn't see justification for it by your edit summary, and it removed material that I actually thought was one of the best things about their articles: being able to hear compositions in such a temperament. It wasn't my material, but I thought it was valuable (and I still think it's valuable), though at this point I can see at least one good reason for disallowing it. Do you have any thoughts about EL with regard my comments above? - Rainwarrior 22:02, 5 September 2006 (UTC)

I have to say that my interpretation of the flexible-sounding phrasing on the WP:EL guideline as advisory rather than compulary got a mauling by a few people at my RfA. When I looked into this, it turns out they were right. The logic behind this is that discouraging external links in random incompatible formats encourages people (at some point) to submit content in the effectively universally usable Wikipedia supported format, and adding free media content in a free format puts it on the same footing as text - ie allowing and enabling its free re-use. So this all makes sense. This information is not yet widely diseminated to the general Wikipedia population, but if interested parties help to spread the word, I think the knowledge will become more widespread. Several people can help with the creation of content in the required format. I think the WP:EL guideline should be amended to make it clear that media can be converted to the free formats available and uploaded instead of being linked to externally, as the correct procedure for getting from external links to supported format is not made clear. Stephen B Streater 23:14, 5 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Ping

Have you had any progress with this image? -- Rune Welsh | ταλκ 14:37, 4 September 2006 (UTC)

After some fiddling I finally managed to make it render. It seems that the calls to the outside images were indeed the problem. Thanks for looking into this anyway. -- Rune Welsh | ταλκ 10:19, 19 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] deleted Image:Friendship_is_a.jpg which seems to criticise EA as a dead end friendship

Hello, I have deleted from the main Esperanza page the image Image:Friendship_is_a.jpg (available from Wikimedia Commons) which in my interpretation seemed to criticise Esperanza as a dead end friendship. If you disagree with this, please discuss the appropriateness of the image on the Esperanza talk page. Thank you. --Tachikoma 02:11, 6 September 2006 (UTC)

After thinking about it, I suppose that you may have intended to suggest that friendship in of itself is the end or destination. I hope you will understand that the image that you had inserted is open to interpretation and may not say to all users what you meant. I also hope you will understand if I suggest that the image not be reinserted on the page, precisely due to this risk of misinterpretation. Please don't feel offended, it's nothing personal. This message will be copied onto the Esperanza talk page as well. Sorry for the trouble. --Tachikoma 02:18, 6 September 2006 (UTC)
I wanted to add that I'm sorry if I misjudged you. To quote from one of my favorite TV shows, "occasionally, I can be callous and strange." Again, sorry. --Tachikoma 02:39, 6 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Tony1

You're good at sorting these things out: this user feels he's justified in placing fair use image Image:White p.jpg on his user page in violation of WP image use policy.

[edit] In-browser link

Do you want to add to {{video}} and {{multi-video item}} the same links you added to {{audio}}? — Omegatron 13:30, 8 September 2006 (UTC)

Current player doesn't support video. I can do video ... but I want to get all the bugs worked out from audio.. I still have several outstanding. --Gmaxwell 18:15, 8 September 2006 (UTC)
Oh. I thought it was the same project as this. See also User:Raul654/archive10#Inline_audio_link_pop-ups. — Omegatron 13:35, 24 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Sampleprocess.png

I created this image for use on the Poisson process page but it seems to have hit the chopping block for lack of specification of ownership. However, I don't believe such specific designation was available at the time I uploaded this image in 2003 and it certainly wasn't required. (I vaguely recall clicking a checkbox with some generic statement.) Given the semi-permanent nature of image deletion, you might consider notifying the image's original uploader (e.g. on their talk pages) before deleting, especially for these older uploads.

[edit] DRV haha

Hi,

So, you want to replace one process with two? People call me a "process-wonk", but it sounds like you've got me beaten by a mile! Have fun with the joke (since I won't be closing it, it could be at DRV for a few weeks, but who knows, really?) Best wishes, Xoloz 14:34, 11 September 2006 (UTC)

  • FYI, I would support a discussion about WP:DRV as long as it is done in the right place. I think that there are many people who have issues with it, and even many of us who think we need to keep it agree that it needs some fixes. DRV is just far too ingrained into current policy for its problems to be solved in an eight-day MfD. You're likely to get more (and better) responses at a place like village pump, which is where policy proposals usually go anyway. —Cswrye 21:29, 11 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] View

I'd be interested in your view on this. I think the format of the media is free, but the media itself is not: [3]. Stephen B Streater 21:51, 14 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Chacor's RFA

Arrgh. I've been Wiki-depressed lately, I guess I snapped a little bit. I just de-watchlisted every Wikipedia namespace page in my watchlist. I'm going to be editing only main space articles for a while, and maintaining TfD like usual. Regardless, it might have been more appropriate to leave a shorter description. Regards, RyanGerbil10(Kick 'em in the dishpan!) 18:05, 18 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] country statistics

I've just found the country statistics page and would like to ask you, whether you could expand those statistics. I'd especially be interested in the 15.8% "others" of enwiki, statistics about trwiki, fawiki, arwiki and idwiki respectively the countries TR, ID, EG, PK, IR and SA. Thank you very much. Raphael1 11:06, 23 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] sound player

Help! every time I try to stop the sound from the experimental sound-thingy, it keeps getting more and more corrupted! (Please respond on my talk page.) tinlv7 00:46, 28 September 2006 (UTC)

I have also noticed this, when playing a vorbis audio file in firefox 1.5.0.7 (haven't tried any other browser yet). When the sound is stoped either by closing the tab or pressing the stop button sound continues to be heard, a very annoying repetitive low-pitch sawtooth like wave sound. Really don't know how to explain it but it is annoying and the only way to stop the sound is to close the browser. 210.49.176.147 11:30, 30 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] POTD

This is to let you know the Featured Picture you uploaded and/or nominated Image:Water drop animation enhanced small.gif is scheduled to be Picture of the day on October 29, 2006, when it will be featured on the Main Page. Congratulations!

FYI, for some reason animations were not being made into POTDs for a while, but that's no longer the case. Otherwise, it would have been a POTD a long time ago. Better late than never, eh? ;) howcheng {chat} 17:12, 29 September 2006 (UTC)

Congrats. The image would have never made it without your help! Many thanks! -- Chris 73 | Talk 20:00, 29 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] JOrbisPlayer Beta for Wikimedia

Just a quick note to let you know that the JOrbis player is working quite well on my Intel Mac running OS X Safari. A suggestion, though: Is it possible to have the player open in a new window rather than going to another page and necessitating hitting the "Back" button after the sample plays to return to the article? That way the reader could listen to the sample while reading the article, which should be providing critical commentary on it. Thanks, — BrianSmithson 02:32, 1 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] About the Music Player Beta for Wikipedia

I began to listen to a song by Micheal Jackson via the Wikipedia Song Player beta. I wasn't too fond of MJ's song, so I clicked backspace. Much to my dismay, my sound was utterly destroyed. I now continually hear a repition of a small part of his song, and I have no way to fix this other than restarting my comptuer. I was told to come here and submit any problems I had with the Beta. I'm pretty sure others have experienced this problem. I'd just like to bring it to your attention if it hasn't already been so.

[edit] images

hi there! in my various travels around wikipedia, i fell into your user page and was particularly impressed by your photography. i've been working on Barbecue sauce via Wikipedia:Spotlight of late and it could really use a pith image. there is a request for image place somewheres around i know, but gosh durn it i like your work a whole lot. think you can scare up a good shot of BBQ sauce? :) JoeSmack Talk(p-review!) 23:29, 17 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Hi

I remember a while ago you removed an image from an ethnicity page saying "the image is not fair use it's a decoration", now there is a similar image on Arab. What do you think about the image on that page? Is that fair use? --ManiF 03:14, 22 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] FPC

Congratulations! A picture you uploaded, Image:Ferrofluid large spikes.jpg, has been nominated for Featured Picture over at Featured Picture Candidates. You can come to participate in the discussion and vote here. --NauticaShades 21:41, 27 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Thanks

Thanks for making the music player. I was hoping someone on wikipedia would get around to making something like this. I really enjoy it and it works great! Remember 21:46, 27 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Fair use images in lists

Hello, I see you have contributed your thoughts to Wikipedia talk:Fair use/Fair use images in lists. It's been dead for a while, but I have archived it and taken a new fresh start. I hope this time we will be able to achieve something as I have summarized the main points of both sides (feel free to improve them) and I call you to express your support or oppose on the concrete proposal that I have formulated. Thanks, Renata 02:16, 28 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] New RFC

You may be interested to know that an RFC has recently been initiated regarding Fair use images of Canadian politicians. Please feel free to participate in what I hope will be a fruitful discussion. - Mcasey666 19:57, 31 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Featured Picture Promotion
An image uploaded by you has been promoted to featured picture status
Your image, Image:Ferrofluid Magnet under glass edit.jpg, was nominated on Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates, gained a consensus of support, and has been promoted. If you would like to nominate an image, please do so at Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates. Thank you for your contribution! -- tariqabjotu 16:34, 11 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Childhood obesity

Please do not represent my opinions in Wikipedia articles. It's wrong on soo many levels. Rklawton 07:07, 15 November 2006 (UTC)

The image is a serious introduction of unsourced POV in the article. You hold the position that the icecream cone is a cause of her obesity. It should be qualified as an opinion proponent of the position or removed entirely. The standing version leave the connection between the icecream cone and her obesity as an implied fact which we can't allow to stand if we are to keep the article neutral.--Gmaxwell 00:23, 16 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Jorbis player in Hungarian

Hi! I am an administrator at huwiki and would be interested in linking to your player in a similar fassion as the Vietnamese wiki does. I'm writing to ask, if translating the "landing page" would be possible? If so please let me know, so I can start working on it. Regards, and thanks for your tool --Dami 18:52, 16 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] your help to Kelly Martin

Hello,

I see that Kelly Martin credited you with help on the page that gives info on what countries edits to various different language wikipedias originated from. Great work! I fear that this work is going to stop or slow down, and find it very valuable. Is there some way that I could help? I've contacted Kelly too, but no answer yet. many thanks,

Prairie Dad 04:57, 22 November 2006 (UTC)


[edit] wikitech/ nofollow

Apparently on wikitech you wrote:

If you go to the old vote and exclude the users who didn't make any substantial contributions to English Wikipedia after the vote you'll find that the results were overwhelmingly in favor of enabling nofollow.

I have just been through the first 14 (of 61) voters to "disable nofollow on en" at the list at meta meta nofollow and 11/14 of them have edited en dozens of times recently (ten in the last week and one other has edited .de recently). I don't need to go through the other 47 who voted "disable nofollow" because only 12 people voted to keep nofollow on en, but I am sure they are around too. The "overwhelmingly in favour" seems well, fallible. I doubt you've got 20%. On the en vote Wikipedia:Nofollow I have just tried a straw sample of 20 people each who voted for and against. Surprisingly a high proportion of both are still active (17 and 16). No way you can fairly call this majority "disable" suddenly an "overwhelming majority enable" it still looks 60% disable.

This trick on wikitech was a bit of a hijack of democracy. By all means open a proper discussion but you should not have gone ahead on the basis of a few people on a tech list when there was a strong majority of the community opposed last time the subject was discussed. In the meantime *please* could I ask you to abide by the last community decision and not that it matters but Jimbo's personal view too Jimmy Wales on nofollow, and disable nofollow throughout en until you have a consensus to overturn the past. Most people haven't even noticed (I only just did) so we could revert and take a proper process without any upset.

Well, I am asking and you can say no!

Cheers

--BozMo talk 17:40, 22 November 2006 (UTC)

I have just seen another survey of a handful of people on a Wikispam site. Perhaps you meant that one... but the other much bigger more public ones were left especially at Meta. --BozMo talk 17:49, 22 November 2006 (UTC)
Anyway I guess there was no deliberate minority conspiracy, just a failure to understand the breath of an issue and failure to engage people as well as all the previous times it had previously gone the other way. My role as democracy policeman is done. --BozMo talk 18:54, 22 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Results of restricting anon experiment

Hey: I heard you were crunching the numbers, and trying to quantify the effect of disabling page creation for anonymous users. Have you gotten anywhere on that (or was I misinformed?)? I ask because Jimbo ordered that done back in January or so of this year, so the first anniversary is coming up soon. It'd be good to know what effect it has - even a null result like "nothing apparently changed" would be useful, since one could then argue it's an unnecessary restriction, for example. Thanks. --Gwern (contribs) 20:10 27 November 2006 (GMT)

[edit] play in browser

Hey! good work making the play music in browser applet... its pretty good stuff

Hello : Yes, when it works, it's fine, but since some days, the "play in browser" seems to be silent ! I have this message : "Warning: mysql_numrows(): supplied argument is not a valid MySQL result resource in /home/gmaxwell/public_html/jorbis/JOrbisPlayer.php on line 66" --Sonusfaber 20:24, 8 December 2006 (UTC)

My first aquaintance playing O_Canada with this java applet brought me the identical message. My environment: Sun Java Version 1.5.0_09-b03, Firefox 2.0, Win XP SP2. --KaPe 14:59, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

From Cazzolla: I love the audio playing in the browser. Is it possible to play Theora video in browser as well?

[edit] Danny

Hey G-Max, what happened to Danny going? ★MESSEDROCKER★ 23:05, 8 December 2006 (UTC)

Never mizzle, G-Money, turns out office stuff came up. No surprises there. ★MESSEDROCKER★ 23:38, 8 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Music

Dear Mr. Maxwell,

I too, am having difficulty with the beta player. While the instructions and stop button appear, but the aforementioned line of code appears as well, and it refuses to make a sound.

Sincerely, 75.34.8.146 00:53, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

  • Hello, I am having the same problem. I get:

Warning: mysql_numrows(): supplied argument is not a valid MySQL result resource in /home/gmaxwell/public_html/jorbis/JOrbisPlayer.php on line 66

... and no sound. I hope that you can fix this problem soon. Many thanks, Madder 17:57, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

Dear Mr. Maxwell,

Would it ba possible to fix it soon?

Sincerely, 75.34.8.146 02:44, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

Same here. Running Java 1.5.0_06 on Mac OS X 10.4.8. Stephen B Streater 18:47, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

I get the same message. Running Firefox 2.0 and Mac OS X 10.3.5 on a PPC machine. Thanks, BanyanTree 18:56, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

Sorry. The Wikimedia server that runs this is currently having problems. I'm going to try to implement a workaround tonight. --Gmaxwell 21:15, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

Not to be a pain, but I'm having exactly the same problem! Running Firefox on Windows XP. Cheers, Moreschi 10:40, 15 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Meetup NYC

Hey, just wanted to say hi and thank you for coming to the WikiMeetup in NYC this past weekend. Thanks also for taking pictures...much appreciated. —ExplorerCDT 04:09, 13 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Mongo

I should point out that I have not analysed the entire MONGO case (yet; it's a long case). Rather, since I was asked, I have analysed the proposed decision. It is my understanding that this page lists the facts and reasonings the arbiters have used to reach their decision. It is my opinion that the finding that MONGO abused his admin tools does not accurately reflect the facts (e.g. it is not abusive to unprotect a page when a dispute there has ended) and omits some relevant facts (e.g. that he protected a page in a version he personally disagreed with). If a finding is incorrect, no motion should be based on this finding.

Do trust me on one thing: if I were truly politically-minded, I would never have involved myself with finding a resolution to the WP:CHILD controversy. (Radiant) 17:55, 13 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] JOrbisPlayer

Hi, it's working fine, but the following keeps appearing before the play/stop button:

"Warning: mysql_numrows(): supplied argument is not a valid MySQL result resource in /home/gmaxwell/public_html/jorbis/JOrbisPlayer.php on line 66"

Since it seems to be functioning I'm not complaining, but you might want to suppress / remove the bit of code that's causing it, since it's presumably non-essential; if nothing else it might reduce the number of messages you get here :) – Gurch 05:36, 15 December 2006 (UTC)

It certainly isn't working for me.

75.34.8.146 22:03, 15 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] 127 RFAs

Um, are you sure I've voted on that many RFAs? Proto::► 22:34, 15 December 2006 (UTC)

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