Talk:Philip Plait

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An individual covered in this article, Philip Plait, has edited Wikipedia as TheBadAstronomer (talk • contribs).

Contents 1 Real name? 2 External links 3 Watch out for Vandals 4 Small Edit 5 Redirect from Babb

[edit] Real name?

Surely it is preferable to have the article under the guy's real name, and have 'Bad Astronomer' as the redirect, instead of the other way round?--Fangz 20:57, 2 Oct 2004 (UTC)

I reckon you're right, I just turned the Phil Plait one into the redirect because it was the shorter of the two. Because both already exist I reckon we'll need an admin to do the swap-over. Sockatume 12:38, 3 Oct 2004 (UTC)

[edit] External links

User Frecklefoot, in his 13:58, 26 August 2005 revision, said, "extern links, the way they were used are prohibited". What I want to know is, prohibited in what way? The Wikipedia:External links doesn't say that anything is wrong about external links being used like this (the space.com link). The "Bad Astronomy" book link I can understand (1.3, What should not be linked to, #2: Links to a site that is selling products, unless it applies via a "do" above), although in the context of the article I think it'd be alright. If not, linking here would be appropriate, no? WayneC 06:19, 3 September 2005 (UTC)

Edit: On second thought, linking to Bad Astronomy's book page would probably be better, because it contains more information and links to reviews. WayneC 06:23, 3 September 2005 (UTC)

It's not covered in the "Extern links" section of the Manual of Style. But extern links in-line in the article are discouraged (not really prohibited, probably). But including them as cites is allowed, and that's what I changed them to. HTH. — Frecklefoot | Talk 09:33, September 5, 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Watch out for Vandals

I just changed back all the references to "BadAstronomy.com". Some vandal has changed it to BadAstronomer.com. Which is a known woo-woo site run by a banned member of Bad Astronomy.

Be on the lookout for vandals, and make sure the links work, and point to the correct sites. Skyman8081 18:46, 8 September 2005 (UTC)

Edit: Hi! This is the titular Bad Astronomer here. If anyone sees this page as being changed by "vandals", please contact me at badastro @ badastronomy.com. I'd like to know if/when it happens. Thanks! Phil Plait TheBadAstronomer 20:36, 8 September 2005 (UTC)

Well, editors watching this page will revert any vandalism they notice, but don't expect anyone to email you. That is considered very un-wiki. — Frecklefoot | Talk 01:48, September 9, 2005 (UTC)

Edit: Thanks for that. I didn't know. OK, that's cool. But I am familiar with this particular vandal, and he will continue to come back and change this page. I will subscribe to the page (as have others) and correct it whenever he comes back. Is there any other action that can be taken? Thanks. TheBadAstronomer 21:03, 10 September 2005 (UTC)

Kinda doubtful, I'm afraid. If he uses a consistent IP, then we can block these IPs. However, looking at the history page, this guy seems to cycle through IPs, so we may hit innocent people too. Possibly, we can protect the page and prevent it from being edited at all, but that's a very drastic step and I don't think things are that bad yet.

Of course, since we know his IP, we can theoretically track him down and send one of our highly trained wikininjas to teach him a lesson with the wiffle bat...--Fangz 00:14, 18 September 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Small Edit

I added one sentance about the merger of the boards so that other people would not get confused as I did about it. William Stoett

[edit] Redirect from Babb

Umm...why in the world does this page redirect from "babb"? Babb is my last name and it has alot of history dating all the way back to England before William the Conqueror(pre-1000 AD). Im going to change it unless someone could give me a good reason why not too.

BABB used to stand for the Bad Astronomy Bulletin Board, so that's why it redirected to this page. The board is now BAUT (Bad Astronomy and Universe Today), so it's fine by me if you change it. -Phil Plait