User talk:A*star actress

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Welcome!

Hello, A*star actress, and welcome to Wikipedia! Thank you for your contributions. I hope you like the place and decide to stay. Here are some pages that you might find helpful:

I hope you enjoy editing here and being a Wikipedian! Please sign your name on talk pages using four tildes (~~~~); this will automatically produce your name and the date. If you need help, check out Wikipedia:Questions, ask me on my talk page, or place {{helpme}} on your talk page and ask your question there. Again, welcome!  Rklawton 18:13, 23 January 2007 (UTC)

Please also read WP:NOT. Rklawton 18:13, 23 January 2007 (UTC)

Contents

[edit] Completely Useless, Yet Interesting, Facts

Hey this is Anna. Looks cool. Thank you for experimenting with Wikipedia by creating the page Completely Useless, Yet Interesting, Facts. Your test worked, and the page that you created has been or soon will be deleted. Please use the sandbox for any other tests you want to do. Take a look at the welcome page if you would like to learn more about contributing to our encyclopedia. Please see Wikipedia is not an indiscriminate collection of information. NawlinWiki 18:20, 23 January 2007 (UTC)

Please be reminded that Wikipedia is not an indiscriminate collection of information. If you're looking for a place to add these facts, you might wanna try Freewebs or MySpace. However, subjects of Wikipedia articles need to be notable and encyclopedic. The articles need to inform, not entertain. AecisBravado 19:37, 23 January 2007 (UTC)
I won't deny that the article on Completely Useless, Yet Interesting, Facts contained information. That's not the issue. The issue is that it was a random collection of trivia and factoids. And while I probably love those as much as you do, they have no place in an encyclopedia article. That is why it was deleted. You may request a deletion review if you still disagree with the article's deletion, though. AecisBravado 15:23, 25 January 2007 (UTC)
My apologies for my belated reply. I have no problem with putting the factoids on your userpage (knowing myself, I will probably become a reader in no time), but please keep in mind that your user page is not a personal homepage. "Generally, you should avoid substantial content on your user page that is unrelated to Wikipedia." A funny collection of "things you never knew you wanted to know" is fine, as long as it doesn't interfere with your work as a Wikipedian. If you have any more questions, feel free to contact me. AecisBrievenbus 11:40, 9 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] AfD Nomination: The Western Frontier

I've nominated the article The Western Frontier for deletion under the Articles for deletion process. We appreciate your contributions, but in this particular case I do not feel that The Western Frontier satisfies Wikipedia's criteria for inclusion. I have explained why in the nomination space (see What Wikipedia is not and Deletion policy). Your opinions on the matter are welcome; please participate in the discussion by adding your comments at Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/The Western Frontier. Don't forget to add four tildes (~~~~) at the end of each of your comments to sign them. You are free to edit the content of The Western Frontier during the discussion, but please do not remove the "Articles for Deletion" template (the box at the top). Doing so will not end the discussion. AecisBravado 18:57, 23 January 2007 (UTC)

For now, I'm going to change my delete vote to a neutral vote. There are, however, still major problems with the article as it is currently written IMHO. First of all is the rather 'breezy' tone, which reads like a magazine article. The article also needs more details and dates, and more wikilinks (links to existing Wikipedia articles).
The other huge problem is the complete absence of references. You obviously looked up the info someplace because the article has a few dates and one major quote—where did that information come from? For an example of a well-written encyclopedia overview article, take a look at History of the West Coast of North America. BlankVerse 04:52, 25 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] An Automated Message from HagermanBot

Hello. In case you didn't know, when you add content to talk pages and Wikipedia pages that have open discussion, you should sign your posts by typing four tildes ( ~~~~ ) at the end of your comment. You may also click on the signature button Image:Wikisigbutton.png located above the edit window. This will automatically insert a signature with your name and the time you posted the comment. This information is useful because other editors will be able to tell who said what, and when. Thank you! HagermanBot 02:10, 25 January 2007 (UTC)

  • Well, I put my signature at the top, and since I'm the only one who's actually supposed to be writing things on my user page, not the discussion page, I shouldn't have to worry about "typing four tildes (~~~~)" now should I? A*star actress 02:28, 25 January 2007 (UTC)
HagermanBot 'signed' for you after your last message on my talk page (see [1]), and after one of your comments at Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/The Western Frontier (see [2]). BlankVerse 05:00, 25 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Just so you don't feel too overwhelmed and unwelcomed!

First, a warm welcome! Good intentions, hard work, intelligence, and patience will win out. To give you a bit of background, Wikipedia has gone through quite a culture change over the year or so. When it started, it was filled with thoughtful pieces like the one that you carefully wrote, and as time progressed, it has become more "professional" and "scholarly" - mostly because it's gotten so popular and Wikipedia articles now routinely rank in the top five on many Google or Yahoo searches for example.

What all this has meant is that articles such as your posting now really need professional-looking, scholarly tone and content if they are going to remain. That means (1) actually citing those sources you relied upon (using one of a number of different citing methods), (2) cutting down on the some of the chatty informality, and (3) taking a lot of constructive editorial comments with a smile! I just went through an intense editing process with one of my articles, and, honestly, everybody's point of view really improved it!

So, please don't give up, it looks like you could be a solid contributor, it's just that the rules around here have really tightened up, and it's a bit daunting to try to step on the escalator for the first time when it's moving so fast. Welcome aboard! NorCalHistory 05:14, 25 January 2007 (UTC)

FYI: NorCalHistory was the main driving force and editor behind taking the California Gold Rush article from a rather pitiful six paragraph article (see [3]) to its current Featured article status. BlankVerse 10:58, 25 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Adopt-a-User

Despite some of the things I have said above, I do not want to give you a wrong impression. You come across as a solid and good-faith contributor, who has a lot of information to share with Wikipedia. But the impression I also get from you is what every new user is going through, and what I certainly experienced when I justed started here: getting a grip of what Wikipedia is and how it works. What is encyclopedic and what is not, how should something be written, when is someone or something notable, what information is valuable and what is redundant, what edit will bring new information and what edit will simply copy existing information, etcetera. Editing Wikipedia is a process of learning, and everyone here is still learning. The Wikipedia:Adopt-a-User program might be something you could benefit from. There, an experienced Wikipedian who knows the ropes can guide you through the maze. AecisBravado 15:36, 25 January 2007 (UTC)

But wouldn't primary sources, such as a journal or two written at the time, be more reliable that a textbook or video?

If I may give you another piece of advice: don't start off too ambitiously. It's best to start with the basics: the town you live in, the music you like, etc. In the process of those edits, you will learn how to put our guidelines and our manual of style to practice. Those will help you write bigger articles. Give yourself the time to get to know Wikipedia. AecisBravado 18:41, 25 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] AfD of The Indian Wars of the Great Plains

Good morning, A*star. I'm the admin who is closing out the AfD for The Indian Wars of the Great Plains, an article that you are the chief contributor to. The debate over at the article's AfD is a pretty clear consensus to delete it. I don't want you to get discouraged, and I'm sure that no one wants you to stop contributing to the project. What I'm going to do is put the article into a subpage of your userpage right here. I don't think that anyone will have a problem with you inserting good sourced material from that article into other articles. Try using footnotes to make explicit references to your sources. Chin up, and I hope to see you around the Wiki. A Train take the 16:39, 31 January 2007 (UTC)

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