User talk:Naive cynic

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Welcome. I'll be happy to hear your comments. :)

Contents

[edit] Greetings

Hello Naive cynic and welcome to Wikipedia! Hope you like it here, and stick around.

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[edit] Miscellanea

Hi, I have replied to your messages on my talk page. Sorry it took me so long to get back to you.

Pasquale 18:02, 11 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Thank you, Pasquale. It's a pleasure to talk with someone versed in linguistics and etymology. :)
Naive cynic 22:42, Aug 14, 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Block of Lady Tara

Yes, reviewing the blocking policy, you appear to be correct - my block was, indeed, unjustified under current policy. Apparently trolling personal attacks on users' talk pages are not cause for blocking. That said, I don't feel particularly bad about it. Aside from some very minor edits, Lady Tara's entire purpose on wikipedia seems to be to harass CheeseDreams. I'm no fan of CheeseDreams, but this seems to me to be pretty out of line, especially when it crosses over into personal attacks. It's one thing to make a personal attack in the context of a dispute over content. I would never even consider blocking someone for that. It's quite another to do it in the context of a troll. john k 16:52, 13 Dec 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Ashgabat???

Hi. I don't know how often you visit the List of European cities with alternative names these days, but there has been a controversy on its talk page for the past ten days or so, and I was wondering if you would care to review it and possibly intervene. Thank you. Pasquale 18:09, 17 Dec 2004 (UTC)

[edit] "Problematic"?

Greetings, Michael. If you need a disambiguation notice to link to some other place, you can use {{otheruses2|foo}}, which results in:

For other uses, see foo (disambiguation).

Naive cynic 13:26, 19 Dec 2004 (UTC)

I prefer not to use that template. It is not adaptable, and in some cases, it requires a capital initial letter when I would rather use lower case. Also, it is simply not the case that disambiguation pages always have the word "disambiguation" in parentheses in their names, nor ought it always to be the case. Michael Hardy 21:57, 19 Dec 2004 (UTC)
Out of curiosity, could you give an example of such problematic case? -- Naive cynic 01:43, 20 Dec 2004 (UTC)

There's nothing "problematic" about such cases at all. Why would you call them "problematic"? One such case is spectrum. Other cases are commonplace words that rather obviously have different meanings in different fields. Field is one such word; take a look at it. There is no one meaning that can be singled out as the primary one, which would be the topic of that article. Therefore, one should not create one article dealing with the primary referent, and another called field (disambiguation). There are many such words; I'll list some others here as I think of them. Michael Hardy 23:11, 20 Dec 2004 (UTC)

See User talk:Michael Hardy#Template:otheruses. -- Naive cynic 23:10, 21 Dec 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Chef's Salty Chocolate Balls

The official south park website may say that that the correct title is "Chef's Chocolate Salty Balls", but the episode is called "Chef's Salty Chocolate Balls" everywhere else I've looked, like tvtome and a dvdshop. Perhaps we should look at a retail DVD box to find out the correct title?

Foolip 02:23, 21 Dec 2004 (UTC)

In the second season DVD intro to this episode (Bakin' Bacon with Macon). Matt Stone and Trey Parker call it Chef's Chocolate Salty Balls, too. -- Naive cynic 23:07, 21 Dec 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Krakow

I guess you didn't notice that the diacritized version of the name is already present as the Polish language version. Please do not diacritize the other verison. Mikkalai 18:31, 27 Dec 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Sanskrit

I was not aware of the mention in the naming conventions, and I think it was a bad example for the proposed practice: the reason is explaind in the Sanskrit article: "sanskrita" is not the name of the language, but an adjective meaning "refined". Pedantic people are careful to say "in the Sanskrit language" also in English. I know of course that it is common to just say "in Sanskrit", and there is nothing wrong with that, but I do think we should opt for the technically more correct version for the article title. dab () 14:55, 28 Dec 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Filatova

Some of my comments are in the talk page. However I must admit that the current version of her tale changed considerably, to remove some most evident falsehoods. In particular, in earlies version she wrote simply "alone", without any "pillions" metnioned. So in a way you are right now. Also, the way she is seen in prots preculudes the idea of photo timer. Anyway, I am changing the phrase in the article to a varsion that will stand correct. Mikkalai 22:27, 30 Jan 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Latinization of Belarusian

Creating an article like this is a very good idea - but the problem is that I am not really familiar with the different Romanization systems, except for Lacinka and the Official system. Maybe it would be best if you'd make a draft and I would then check the article for correctness?--Czalex 12:06, 20 July 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Hey

Maybe you can get some administrators to review what user Theathenae have been doing? Many thanks in advance! Albanau 21:22, 21 July 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Slovakia-geo-stub

Hi - I'm a little confused about what has been going on with regard to Slovakia-geo-stub. Firstly, the idea of having a separate slovakia-geo-stub wasn't proposed at the stub sorting project (all new stubs should be proposed a week before creation, to debate their worth and make sure that they fit in with the stub hierarchy), and secondly, discussion about such a stub in the past has indicated that such a stub should not be created until the criteria (60-100 stubs) had been reached. I've listed the new stub at Wikipedia:WikiProject Stub sorting/Criteria#Newly discovered, July 2005. The really strange thing is that you seem to have created it as a redirect, and then User:Juro activated it as a separate category a few days later. It'd be really nice to know what's been going on - so please can you comment at WP:WSS/C? Grutness...wha? 10:09, 23 July 2005 (UTC)

[edit] RE: Moving articles

Thank you for your message on my talk page. I apologise for those edits and will be more careful to mark them appropriately in future. I will also move pages by either using the "Move" button or by requesting one. --Peter McGinley 13:51, 30 July 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Good job

Good job on wikifying the article on Largest cities in Europe. It was nice to see someone doing edits for the purpose of making the article look good. We certainly need more people doing that. --Gaurav Arora Talk 19:13, August 9, 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Waldorf Astoria

Begging your pardon, but why did you write "no, it's a double hyphen" while replacing my equal sign (a perfectly good approximation) with a single hyphen (which is entirely incorrect)? I'm a bit confused. — Dan | Talk 00:05, 16 August 2005 (UTC)

But why did you replace it with a single hyphen and not a double one? What's the HTML entity for a double hyphen? — Dan | Talk 01:36, 16 August 2005 (UTC)

[edit] OCS

I think you are right. It seems that my memory is not good enough... --millosh (talk (sr:)) 19:45, 16 August 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Přemysl

You had removed valid interwiki links to 4 or 5 Wikipedias by some accident. I put them back. Pavel Vozenilek 03:53, 19 August 2005 (UTC)

Hmm, in this case many of links currently pointing to Přemysl should be rerouted to Přemyslid dynasty. Woul you take care of these please? Pavel Vozenilek 00:17, 20 August 2005 (UTC)
Thanks. Pavel Vozenilek 17:02, 20 August 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Macedonia(ns)/disclaimer poll

As you already know, there is an ongoing poll here about the use of a Disclaimer stating that "Wikipedia has no official position concerning the use of the name Republic of Macedonia etc.". As in previous cases (most notably the Macedonians/Macedonian Slavs poll) this poll would be decided by grossly nationalistic voting.

The author of the poll told me this:

You are right that the poll was not a good idea, since the NPOV is not subject to negotiations, but I have no way to remove those disclaimers: the Greeks keep reverting them and the rest of world avoids entering in the negotiations of Balkan issues like the plague. I was hoping that the poll would attract some people, but instead it attracted the same old Greeks vs. non-Greeks. bogdan | Talk 19:10, 20 August 2005 (UTC)

As a fellow Wikipedian, I can not be more than terrified by this statement. Not surprisingly, the "For the disclaimer" vote is 100% composed of ethnic Greek votes, and currently it is in the lead. It is in my deepest belief that Wikipedia should not mould under the pressure of nationalism (from neither side). That is precisely why I am abstaining of the poll, stating my reasons here.

Please, your possible avoidance of entering in the negotiations of Balkan issues like the plague is causing Balkan disputes to conform to nationalist narratives (logically, to the narrative of the biggest nationality), and this is something that is done in direct opposition to NPOV policy. It is mostly up to neutrals to decide on the issue, and it is only up to them to stop nationalism. So, please, participate in the discussion. --FlavrSavr 15:09, 21 August 2005 (UTC)

[edit] N-Bot

Your bot seems to have problems with quoting. See this edit. -- Naive cynic 01:18, 28 August 2005 (UTC)

Oh crap. Terribly sorry. Thank you for bringing that to my attention. ~~ N (t/c) 01:32, 28 August 2005 (UTC)

[edit] "fictional plant"

Please consider removing this misinformation from your user page, or at least explicitly mark it as a hyperbole. Some gullible people actually believe it. -- Naive cynic 21:37, 28 August 2005 (UTC)

What are you objecting to? Are you claiming that Ents are not fictional? -- Jmabel | Talk 21:42, August 28, 2005 (UTC)
I see. Yes, I will edit accordingly. -- Jmabel | Talk 21:55, August 28, 2005 (UTC)
Actually, I had adapted it from a remark of Xed's without fact-checking… or even stopping to think about it, because I should have known better. -- Jmabel | Talk 22:06, August 28, 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Zero-width spaces

Yes, Naive, the reason why I removed those "zero-width space" characters is that, on a normal laptop PC such as mine, which includes lots of character sets needed to display plenty of exotic languages (but not all), those characters are displayed as boxes (i.e. unrecognizable characters) after the hyphens. In my very standard, very run-of-the-mill display, those long hyphenated words are divided anyway, without needing those special characters. Since my PC is quite an average one, I have to assume lots of users will be experiencing the same problem, i.e. displaying those boxes after the hyphens, so it seemed practical to remove them. I hope you will agree. Pasquale 21:25, 29 August 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Janusz Radziwiłł

You're right, it shouldn't have done that, and I noticed it and fixed the code. I thought I found the pages where it did that and fixed them, but I guess I missed a few. Let me know if you find any other examples. -- Curps 10:10, 30 August 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Don Quijote

I think I've managed to deconstruct the Macedonian/Macedonian Slavs naming issue here from a strict NPOV aspect, and all I managed to receive was 1. defending the claim that "Macedonians Slavs" was a ambiguity term, with the very same arguments that actually make it a POV term (from DBachmann) 2. standard ridicule from Chronographos (rather pathetic, I might add).

More importantly, I've analyzed the problem in even greater detail and clarity here. For the arguments of both POVs, PLEASE see that debate. I realize that I am a partisan in the debate, however, that doesn't mean I can skip argumentation as Chronographos does. So, again, as a neutral, please see and/or engage in that debate. --FlavrSavr 22:26, 30 August 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Moving pages

Santiago de Chile is the local name in Spanish. The English name is Santiago, Chile. And this is the English Wikipedia. It's as simple as that. —Cantus 02:29, September 5, 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Uncle Joe's Mint Balls <--> Chocolate Salty Balls

I'm just curious - why did you link these two seemingly unrelated articles together? Ppe42 11:37, 16 October 2005 (UTC)

[edit] List of country names in various languages under attack !!!

Dear Naive cynic,

The List of country names in various languages, List of European regions with alternative names, List of European cities with alternative names, List of European rivers with alternative names, and others, have come under attack by a certain Mikka, who, having just stumbled into all these lists, having found them of little use to himself, and having repeatedly ridiculed them and their users, has then promptly filed a petition to delete the lists in question.

Please cast your vote to keep these valuable, informative, and indeed fascinating lists at Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/List of country names in various languages.

Thanks! Pasquale 16:12, 2 November 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Wikipedia:Babel

Could you consider adding this template to your userpage? It is very helpful in case translators are needed and such.--Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus Talk 15:40, 9 December 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Pechera Optymistychna

Hi, I wrote an article that has been proposed for merger with one of yours. Mostly the facts seem consistent. But what is the source of your 230-km estimate for length? Do you have recent information or personal knowledge? My information is third hand---I based the 214-km estimate in the related article on a table of cave lengths that is sourced and appears to be frequently updated. The difference is currently significant because 214 km would tie it with Jewel Cave for second place worldwide; 230 km would put it alone in second after Mammoth. Paul Stokstad 01:38, 15 December 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Le Roy Lancelot

In one of your edits you make mention of Le Roy Lancelot or Wladislaus the White. Who was he, and when did he live? Thanks

[edit] Wikipedia survey

Hi. I'm doing a survey of Wikipedia editors as part of a class research project. It's quick, anonymous, and the data will be made available to the Wikipedia community later this month. Would you like to take part? More info here. Thanks! Nonplus 23:53, 1 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Great link

That is pretty funny. Λυδαcιτγ(TheJabberwock) 21:04, 31 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Icchak Cukierman

The article's history shows an edit of yours in August 2005, performing a Move from Yitzhak Zuckerman to the Polish spelling of his name. What I didn't see was any explanation. What was the justification? -- Thanks, Deborahjay 13:04, 29 June 2006 (UTC)

I appreciate your reply -- please see my response on my User Talk page. -- Deborahjay 11:03, 30 June 2006 (UTC)

Further thanks for your remarks in response. I will certainly include the Polish spelling, indicated as such, in the usual location, i.e. directly after the parenthetical Hebrew spelling that follows the initial mention of the name in boldface. As for the English-language form: in concordance with information retrieval considerations, I'm conforming with the very widely used and published spelling per English-language sources, rather than introducing yet another. Note that even within Israel, where English may be regarded as the most prevalent lingua franca while not an official language of the state, a single, uniform transliteration key to Latin letters has yet to be adopted. -- Deborahjay 23:14, 1 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Proposed Georgia Move

As a past participant in the discussion on how to handle the Georgia pages, I thought you might be interested to know that there's a new attempt to reach consensus on the matter being addressed at Talk:Georgia (country)#Requested_Move_-_July_2006. Please come by and share your thoughts to help form a consensus. --Vengeful Cynic 03:29, 8 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] "Other uses" discussion

You were previously involved in discussions relating to whether the wording of templates such as {{otheruses}} should simply say "For other uses" as it currently does or should read differently. I've started a discussion on the issue at Wikipedia talk:Disambiguation#"Other uses" of what? and thought you might be interested. —Simetrical (talk • contribs) 03:01, 8 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Maximilian Kolbe

Although at Auschwitz carbolic acid has been injected directly in the heart, in the case of Maximilian Kolbe it has been administered in the left arm, as can be seen for example here.m In fact a simple google search for "auschwitz carbolic injection" (without quotes) will lead to many pages documenting the same fact. My anon edit on the 6th october was not a subtle vandalism. I was just shocked by the absurdity of such a mean of execution and did some (quick) research.


[edit] Thank you for your Poland-related contributions

Hello Naive cynic! Thank you for your contributions related to Poland. You may be interested in visiting Portal:Poland/Poland-related Wikipedia notice board, joining our discussions and sharing your creations with us.

-- Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus | talk  17:15, 31 October 2006 (UTC)