User:Rossrs

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

My name is Ross, and I live in Brisbane, Australia.

I'm interested in a lot of things, but my contributions here have been mainly related to cinema and music.

Some of the pages I have started are:
Actors and actresses
Joan Allen, Don Ameche, Dame Judith Anderson, Ralph Bellamy, Joan Bennett, Linda Darnell, Dolores del Río, Deanna Durbin, Frances Farmer, Jake Gyllenhaal, Paul Henreid, Barbara Kent, Carole Landis, Abbe Lane, The Lane Sisters, June Lang, Diana Lewis, Margaret Lockwood, Tina Louise, Ida Lupino, Boots Mallory, Joel McCrea, Mary McDonnell, Butterfly McQueen, Mayo Methot, Toshia Mori, Dita Parlo, George Sanders, Natalie Schafer, Ann Sheridan, Ann Sothern, Gloria Stuart, Thelma Todd, Nancy Walker, Dame May Whitty.
Other film personnel
Edith Head
Films
Earthquake, Frenzy, The Talented Mr. Ripley, Valley of the Dolls, The Women
Singers and musicians
Christie Allen, Captain & Tennille,Cathy Dennis, Yvonne Elliman, Marcia Hines, Vicki Sue Robinson, Pointer Sisters, Steps
Music related
List of number-one singles in Australia during the 1980s, List of number-one singles in Australia during the 1990s
Miscellaneous
Beaumont children disappearance

Contents 1 Featured articles 2 Things that annoy me 3 Barnstars 4 My image gallery 5 Favourite moments 6 To do 7 Life and travels 8 Sandboxes 9 Templates, weblinks and other useful things 10 Sample fair use rationale 11 Fair use

[edit] Featured articles

Featured articles that I have written, or contributed significantly to, and have nominated for FAC in chronological order :
Anne Frank
Kylie Minogue (both with User:Plek)
Sharon Tate
Sunset Boulevard
Vivien Leigh
Bette Davis

I'm proud of all of them. The Anne Frank article gets vandalised about 20 times a day, which makes me wonder how many people are reading it. A lot of the vandalism reflects a very young sense of humour. If students are looking at it as part of their school studies and using information from it, that seems to be exactly what Wikipedia is all about, providing information. It reinforces our responsibility to provide well sourced material written in a neutral style.

I've seen huge chunks of text taken from Kylie Minogue and used in various websites, including news sites. It's kind of odd to be reading an article... and then realising... "hey wait a minute, I wrote that!".... It's great and flattering to think that people who are getting paid to produce these articles, are using work that I contributed free of charge to anyone who wants it, and taking the credit for it. Well, they must have liked what I wrote, but it galls me to see their pages have a copyright warning on the bottom of them. Maybe that's the double-edged sword of Wikipedia's work - unprincipled people can steal what we willingly give away.

I have also noticed that the official website of Australian singer Marcia Hines provides a link to the Wikipedia article I wrote about her. Not that it's a featured article, but I mention it here because I'm talking about how others use our articles. The way Marcia Hines' site has acknowledged our article is a compliment, which particularly pleases me because I like the artist so much.

In the future I would like to see the articles on Myrna Loy, Carole Lombard, All About Eve and Blondie improved and raised to FAC. Maybe even Marcia Hines. Then I may retire.

[edit] Things that annoy me

1. The word "massive" used as an adjective to suggest a high level of success.
2. The word "legendary" used as an adjective to describe any person.
3. The word "megastar" used as an adjective to describe any person, except Dame Edna Everage.
4. The term "passed away" used as a euphemism for death or dying. People may "pass away" in the real world, but in encyclopedias they die.
5. Articles that say so and so passed away, aged X. The dates of birth and death are in the lead section, and having someone work out the age to save the poor, foolish reader from doing a simple mathematical calculation, makes me think of "Wikipedia for Dummies".
6. As above, but with the age preceded by the word "only". Yes it's sad, but if we're going to be touched by the sadness of it, we'll see it and feel sad without someone underlining it and tugging at our heartstrings.
7. Sentences about someone dying that start with the word "unfortunately". Stating the bleeding obvious really.

These are the only things that drive me to apoplexy.

[edit] Barnstars

For this comment (among others), I (Extraordinary Machine) award The Crackpot Mouse to Rossrs for his/her admirable upholding of Wikipedia's neutral point of view policy. 14:37, 27 October 2005 (UTC)

Thank you very much for the sound sample on "We Belong Together" — it was greatly appreciated. Keep up the good work! Orane (t) (c) (e) 04:02, 5 March 2006 (UTC)

I award Rossrs this barnstar for his great contributions to Wikipedia, and as a special "thank you" for the sound samples. Good stuff!! Orane (t) (c) (e) 21:45, 7 May 2006 (UTC)

Well deserved. Thanks. Orane (t) (c) (e) 23:05, 16 July 2006 (UTC)]]

		The Tireless Contributor Barnstar
		Belated barnstar! I, Kilo-Lima (aka Iolakana), hereby award Rossrs for his excellent and tremendous work on Blondie. The cleanup was excellent, and the article actually means something now. I will try to help it too, and try to get it to FA. Belated congratulations! Iolakana•T 19:51, 23 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] My image gallery

These are photographs that I've taken and have added to Wikipedia articles. There are not many - other people have beat me to it, in most cases. I'm putting these here, mainly so I can keep track of them.
Public domain screenshots can be found here

Carole Lombard's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame taken August 1995.	Myrna Loy's contribution to the forecourt of Grauman's Chinese Theatre taken August 1995.	The main facade of the building where Anne Frank and her family hid during the Second World War, in Amsterdam. Photo taken August 2002.	Statue of Anne Frank, near the Westerkerk, which is also near Anne Frank House. Taken in August 2002.
Front entrance to Auschwitz concentration camp, photo taken September 2002.	Ruins at Auschwitz concentration camp, taken on the same day as previous photo.	onto something a bit happier. I love this photo of jacaranda trees in bloom, in Wooroolin, Queensland, Australia. Taken October 22, 2005	more blooming jacarandas in the backyard of some very good friends of mine. October 22, 2005
Peanut silos in Kingaroy, Queensland, love the blue sky of an Australian summer! October 22, 2005	View from a Kingaroy vineyard looking into the Burnett Valley, Kingaroy, Australia. October 22, 2005

[edit] Favourite moments

I think there is nothing less funny than vandalism and nothing sadder than editors who try so soooooooooooooo hard to be funny and clever and come up with.... vandalism. But when someone writes something in good faith that's just not quite right - I love it.

From Sally Rand

Or how one brave girl turned an embarassing personal problem into a career highlight  :

"She also conceived and developed the bubble dance, in part to cope with wind while performing outdoors."

From Kylie Minogue

"She is the more beautiful and more talented older sister of Dannii Minogue".

[edit] To do

Merge trivia sections into the article main body for articles such as

Eric McCormack
Bette Davis done
Rock Hudson done
Sean Hayes
Mel and Kim done
Rick Astley
Audrey Hepburn

[edit] Life and travels

Currently live, and have lived in:
More than a month:
More than a week:
Less than a week:
One day or less:
Would love to visit:
	Idea and layout ripped off from User:A bit iffy, who half-inched from User:Calton, who filched it from User:Salsb, who stole it from User:Guettarda, who borrowed it from User:Coolcat

[edit] Sandboxes

My User:Rossrs/Sandbox and User:Ross/Sandbox2.

[edit] Templates, weblinks and other useful things

• Template:Sample box start variation 1
  
• Template:Sample box start variation 2
  

• {{subst:nsd}} no source
  
• {{subst:nld}} no license
  
• {{subst:rfu}} replaceable fair use image
  

• {{or-fu}} orphaned image, uploaded as fair use
  
• {{Orphaned fairuse not replaced|month=November|day=4|year=2006}} as above with date tag
  

• {{no rationale|month=November|day=10|year=2006}} no rationale, uploaded after May 4, 2006
  
• {{imagevio|URL}} image copyright violation
  
• {{no copyright holder|month=November|day=30|year=2006}} no source, no nothing

• {{imdb title|id=0025878|title=The Thin Man}} = The Thin Man at the Internet Movie Database
• {{imdb name|id=0001485|name=Myrna Loy}} = Myrna Loy at the Internet Movie Database

• Template:Cite book
  
• Template:Cite web
  

• Kate's edit counter
• Hierarchical edit counter

• Public Domain masterlist
• Buyout Films - public domain films
• Desert Island films - public domain
• Internet Archive - Movie Archive
• Clara Bow public domain *Pan American Video - public domain films

[edit] Sample fair use rationale

Image of living celebrity better known when younger. First used on Image:Ursula Thiess.jpeg (Ursula Thiess)

Image of living celebrity as above, but more specific. Image:DEANNA DURBIN.JPG (Deanna Durbin)

Image of dead celebrity. Used on Image:Clarabow0101.jpg - (Clara Bow)

Variation of image of dead celebrity with more specific rationale. Image:Fredginger.jpg (Fred Astaire & Ginger Rogers)

[edit] Fair use

[1]

§ 107. Limitations on exclusive rights: Fair use38 Notwithstanding the provisions of sections 106 and 106A, the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright. In determining whether the use made of a work in any particular case is a fair use the factors to be considered shall include —

(1) the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;

(2) the nature of the copyrighted work;

(3) the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and

(4) the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.

The fact that a work is unpublished shall not itself bar a finding of fair use if such finding is made upon consideration of all the above factors.