User talk:Wyatts

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Goodbye, Wikipedia!

In case anybody wonders, I wanted to leave a note explaining why I left Wikipedia. First, I want to make clear that I didn't get mad or feel mistreated in any way. To the contrary, my experience with other editors has always been positive. I think Wikipedia is a great idea, and I tried to make some positive contributions with a few articles. Wikipedia has already achieved critical mass, and I this its success is assured. Although the Wikipedia community is great, I am the type of person who needs more structure in my activities. The total freedom to edit is a Wikipedia strength, but is not for me personnally.

I wish Wikipedia every success and look forward to seeing the one million article milestone soon.

--Wyatts 18:01, 23 August 2005 (UTC)

Aww... We'll miss you. Send postcards. :-) — Omegatron 19:02, August 23, 2005 (UTC)

Welcome!

Hello, Wyatts, and welcome to Wikipedia! Thank you for your contributions. I hope you like the place and decide to stay. Here are a few good links for newcomers:

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:Where to ask a question, ask me on my talk page, or place {{helpme}} on your talk page and someone will show up shortly to answer your questions. Again, welcome! --Flockmeal 23:03, Dec 5, 2004 (UTC)

1 Exponential distribution
2 Exponential applications
3 Hook echo
4 Tornado blanking
5 Tagline proposal
6 Request for article citations supporting adding disclaimer more prominently
7 PD resources
8 Thank you for your articles!
9 Second tagline poll - please follow this link
10 Wikipedia:Who writes Wikipedia
11 I'm sorry to see that you have left the project!

[edit] Exponential distribution

I wonder if your new "applications" section should be merged with the earlier "occurrence" section? Michael Hardy 03:14, 6 Dec 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Exponential applications

I viewed the "occurence" section as discussing some of its mathematical characteristics,e.g. modeling Poisson processes, and the example variables as interesting mathematical tidbits illustrating the flexibility of the exponential. I intended the "applications" section to show ways in which the exponential is actually used in the real world. Even though the "occurences" section lists "lifetime of an incandescent light bulb", which can certainly be viewed as a reliability application, this list doesn't quite get across what I was trying to convey. I agree, however, that these sections are somewhat related. Perhaps reordering the sections so that "occurences" naturally leads into "applications"? Or "applications" as a subsection of "occurences"? The exponential is used so extensively in reliability engineering that I thought it warranted a mention in this article. Wyatts 05:35, 6 Dec 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Hook echo

Bet you didn't think Image:Tornado radar hook echo.gif was going to get used anywhere else. It now appears on Oklahoma Tornado Outbreak, and the newly-written and completely unverified by anyone but myself hook echo. See what you made me do!? -- Cyrius|✎ 04:15, 22 Dec 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Tornado blanking

To deal with blanking and other forms of vandalism, see Wikipedia:How to revert a page to an earlier version. -- Cyrius|✎ 19:01, 22 Dec 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Tagline proposal

Hi! Should we modify the official proposal to the shorter "... that anyone can edit. See disclaimer details"? -- Sitearm | Talk 21:39, 2005 August 5 (UTC)

That might be a good tagline. I'd give it a while (week or two) to see what else people come up with, and then pick the best one for the official proposal. I haven't noticed any vehement opposition so far, but that may change once we try to actually implement it. --Wyatts 21:53, 5 August 2005 (UTC)

Per your lead, people are proposing specific wordings. I added a section to summarize proposed change versions. There was a 7 hour period on August 2nd when Omegatron did add "...that anyone can edit." to the actual tagline. But Blankfaze reverted it. Obviously, admins disagree too! -- Sitearm | Talk 22:36, 2005 August 5 (UTC)

Probably not so much a disagreement rather than the fact that the change wasn't discussed before it was made and it is so highly visible. We will have to build consensus among the Wikipedia community before making a change to the tag line. --Wyatts 01:38, 6 August 2005 (UTC)

It was discussed on the village pump.
Ignore all rules.

It's not like it was a very controversial change, and I'm not revert warring it or anything. Just a little extra bold. ;-) - Omegatron 17:02, August 8, 2005 (UTC)

You said: There is much opposition to changing tagline. I think the opposition by Jimbo Wales to changing the tagline effectively kills the idea. As the founder of Wikipedia, his opinion carries exceptional weight (and he can probably make unilateral decisions if he really wants to.) I still want to do something to add a disclaimer statement at the top of every article, but I believe we will have to find a way to do it without modifying the tagline itself.

RESPONSE: I was concerned too. But the more I read Omegatron's comments, the more I think there is merit in capturing the back-and-forth in one place to lead to a likely eventual change.

If the text is to be displayed at the top of each page, that is the tagline in the current page template. I see no alternative unless we add another every-page-standard-line entity to the Wikipedia template design, which would be a major structural change. If the text is to be displayed anywhere else but the top, a fair reply is that it is already linked in the footer of every page so why bring up a change at all.

Are you proposing putting disclaimer text in the main body of every article? -- Sitearm | Talk 16:26, 2005 August 8 (UTC)

I'm proposing something like the original suggestion to put something at the top of every article, but not use the tagline, since there is strong opposition from Jimbo and others. I confess I don't know a good way to do this without using the tagline. Maybe (and I'm thinking out loud here) we could format it such that the disclaimer text is obviously separated from the tagline? e.g.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

All articles are user provided

in a collaborative effort.

--Wyatts 17:21, 8 August 2005 (UTC)

RESPONSE: I've 1. Asked Omegatron's input on technicalities at User_talk:Omegatron#Tagline_alternative.3F, and 2. Added version with spacing on the project page. -- Sitearm | Talk 18:04, 2005 August 8 (UTC)

"All articles are user provided in a collaborative effort." is very dry-sounding. Surely we can do better. - Omegatron 18:23, August 8, 2005 (UTC)

RESPONSE: User_talk:Omegatron#Tagline_alternative.3F

I'm not an artist; just a critic. :-)
It should at least say "user-provided".
Hmmm... It sounds like an apology. "Where articles are collaboratively created by our users" sounds more optimistic, but kinda stupid. I'm not really sure... - Omegatron 01:00, August 9, 2005 (UTC)

Ok, "user-provided" is an option. Here also are terms from the article on collaborative writing:

coauthored
collaboratively authored
cooperatively written
group written
jointly authored
team written -- Sitearm | Talk 13:15, 2005 August 9 (UTC)

Has someone mentioned either of these two options yet? Somewhere where it will be obvious yet discrete.

My talk Preferences My watchlist My contributions Log out

My talk Preferences My watchlist My contributions Disclaimer Log out

Another alternative is:

Main Page
Community portal
Current events
Recent changes
Random article
Help
Disclaimer
Contact us
Donations

Either of these two options will be better than the way it is now. What is the big deal with the aesthetics anyway? David D. (Talk) 06:00, 10 August 2005 (UTC)

RESPONSE: Response is here. -- Sitearm | Talk 16:16, 2005 August 10 (UTC)

[edit] Request for article citations supporting adding disclaimer more prominently

Contributers supporting adding the disclaimer more prominently on Wikipedia pages please cite articles and sign at Wikipedia:Proposed_update_of_MediaWiki:Tagline#Contributers_and_articles_that_support_adding_the_disclaimer_more_prominently. Thank you for your help! -- Sitearm | Talk 13:51, 2005 August 8 (UTC)

If no pages are cited, the case for change will be weakly founded. -- Sitearm | Talk 18:18, 2005 August 8 (UTC)

The proposal has been updated:

Leave current top-left text as is ("From WikiPedia the free encyclopedia.")
Add new top-right text ("All articles are user-contributed in a collaborative effort.")

Interested contributors please comment here. Thank you for your help! -- Sitearm | Talk 02:17, 2005 August 12 (UTC)

[edit] PD resources

I added a link to the PD page. That page could do with somework, cleaning up, integrating your input, if you're up for it. Pcb21| Pete 21:28, 11 August 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Thank you for your articles!

Defense standard, Failure rate, Reliability engineering are outstanding! -- Sitearm | Talk 17:07, 2005 August 13 (UTC)

[edit] Second tagline poll - please follow this link

(This is already announced on Pump and Rfc but I'm adding it here because I know you're interested.) -- Sitearm | Talk 04:49, 2005 August 16 (UTC)

[edit] Wikipedia:Who writes Wikipedia

What do you think of this page? Read the talk page to learn more about my plans... it's related to the conversation from a few weeks ago about changing the tagline. Mamawrites 09:21, 23 August 2005 (UTC)