User talk:BanyanTree/Archive1

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Welcome!

Hello, 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! By the way, you can sign your name on Talk and vote pages using three tildes, like this: ~~~. Four tildes (~~~~) produces your name and the current date. If you have any questions, see the help pages, add a question to the village pump or ask me on my Talk page. Again, welcome! - Vague | Rant 00:29, Nov 19, 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Uganda piece

Nice work! Just got back from there, have a few Ugandan pieces of my own on my to do list. sunbird 00:43, 19 Nov 2004 (UTC)

[edit] persecution/prosecution/punishment

Unfortunately there is a disorder with categories related to human relations. And unfortunaely I am weak in English. For example, it is naural to have a category for various treatments of people ehich the treated people don't like: punishment, persecution, prosecution, ignoring, inflicting pain, etc.. What will it be? misitreatment? maltreatment? However these words bear a flavor of injustice. But I'd like to put just punishments here as well. Mikkalai 02:54, 20 Nov 2004 (UTC)

I see what you're saying, but I still think that using "punishment" means that somebody has to have done something that needs to be punished. And in an article about refugees, it seems to apply that the refugees did something to deserve being forced from their homes. It sounds like you're looking for something like "War crimes" or "Violations of international law". BanyanTree 03:16, 20 Nov 2004 (UTC)

[edit] CSB

You're welcome. Actually, it drew my attention to how confusing several aspects of that page were; I think I've fixed them now. -- Jmabel | Talk 05:59, Nov 25, 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Rebellion Rebel Insurgent Freedom fighter Mutiny Militia Militant Terrorism

This network of linked terms is a bit of tangle, imo. Rebellion is the umbrella term, but is one of the shortest of the articles, excluding the lists. Rebel states outright that it is someone who uses armed violence, backs away to include kids peeved at their dad, and ends listing rebel groups from science fiction, all within one page, without linking to Rebellion. A number of articles are well written, such as Freedom fighter and Terrorism, but they define each other in various ways. There is also a lack of 'event - participant pairs' besides Rebellion - Rebel, so no Insurgency or Mutineer (the destination of this last is amusing in this context). (Some of the others are hard to pair and Terrorism has its own network.) The Insurgent article links to Subversive, also amusing, and there is no pair. I am willing to put some time into this and would appreciate help, but beforehand I would really like to hear some thoughts on whether to create the pairs and kick Warren Zevon to a new page, meld the pairs that already exist, ignore Subversive or anything else that strikes you. Cheers, BanyanTree 09:49, 25 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Well, I think Rebel should be merged into Rebellion, because at the moment Rebellion just gives us Political rebellion, which won't be what the reader is after in every or even most cases, and also because that seems to be accepted practice--we don't have an article called Terrorist, it just redirects to Terrorism. That said, it may be hard to describe rebellion without it becoming a series of dictionary definitions. Perhaps rebellion could be a few summaries of various types of rebellion, with Main article at Example. under each header. I think all of the 'individual' articles (Insurgent, for example) should go to their event form, although something like Freedom fighter is harder to do that with, given Wikipedia's propensity for the singular. Perhaps Freedom fighter can stay. Militant is well written, but the article's title seems to clash with the usual style, however I don't know where else it could go. I guess that's all I've got on the issue. I hope some of it can be of help. - Vague | Rant 04:06, Nov 26, 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Mai-Mai and LRA

Great work on these articles. - Xed 11:47, 27 Nov 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Partition of India

You voted for Partition of India, this week's Collaboration of the week. Please come and help it become a featured-standard article.

[edit] Wikigremlin, Wikifairy, Housekeeping Zombie

Hi BanyanTree,

So your talk note on Congo Civil War led me to your Housekeeping Zombie article. It seems useful to have such a definition, but unfortunately we should not have encyclopedia articles on invented terms that are used only by ... you. I troubled to do the time tested resort of us all, the google search:

wikignome/s: 1592
wikigremlin/s: 149
wikifairy/ies/wikifaery/ies: 238
housekeeping zombie/s: 12

Most of the latter 3 are of course mirrors or derivatives of the Wikipedia articles themselves.

As a courtesy I wanted to let you know before I listed WikiGremlin, WikiFairy, and Housekeeping Zombie on VFD. Unless you have a great reason to keep them. Tempshill 22:02, 9 Dec 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Congo Civil War split etc

…do you want to be the one to move Congo Civil War? It seems like a significant action given the history of the article and, as someone who is really new, I feel vaguely uneasy about doing it instead of one of the long-time contributors who developed it. Cheers, BanyanTree 17:51, 11 Dec 2004 (UTC)

I'd like it split, and you're welcome to split it, but the reason I haven't gone ahead and split the article is simply that it seems such a huge endeavour. A lot of the text on the page refers to both wars in the same breath - do we just just copy the text to both pages? Ultimately, I'd like the History of the Democratic Republic of the Congo to be similar to History of Sweden, History of Germany etc, with a sidebar which has links to the relevant historical periods (like Second Congo War, or Second Congolese War). I'm not one of the significant contributors of the article - my contributions have mainly been copyedits. I think Users SimonP and DJ Clayworth provided the bulk of the article. I've promised to contribute in the Talk page of Congo Civil War, but again it was too daunting. I even read the only book specifically dedicated to the war (The African Stakes in the Congo War) - unfortunately it's mostly unreadable verbiage more concerned more with dry political theory than what actually happened. How can it be - nearly 4 million dead, and not one proper book on the subject?? Compare it to 9/11 (3000 dead) and the countless books which followed. Because most people know very little about the war, the article has to be much clearer than most. Almost like a childrens encyclopedia, with lots of pictures and illustrations. - Xed 19:39, 11 Dec 2004 (UTC)

The Congo history box looks great! Also, thanks for correcting my misunderstanding on "references". And here I thought those external link numbers were just eye sores. I do have a question though. The one time I tried to move an article to a page that already existed, I had to have the old page deleted in order to retain the edit history. That's not really an issue for First Congo War as I was planning on just a cut and paste, but do we have to delete the blank Second Congo War before moving Congo Civil War in order to keep the history? Let me know, and congrats once again on the box. Cheers, BanyanTree 20:14, 12 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Thanks for the compliment about the box. I'm not sure I've spilt up the periods in the right way. I had to cut a lot of text from Congo Free State and paste it in Colonisation of the Congo, which doesn't quite work yet. Congo Free State really needs a summary of Colonisation of the Congo on it's page to provide context. And the title Precolonial Congo seems to frame the history purely in terms of Congo's subsequent colonisation, if you see what I mean.

In my eagerness to get rid of the red links in the History box, I completely forgot about the issue of moving the edit history to Second Congo War. Personally, it wouldn't bother me if the history goes, though I can understand if all the other contributors felt slighted. So, to play safe, I guess Second Congo War needs to be deleted. - Xed 21:38, 12 Dec 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Mau Mau Uprising

Was wandering through some of "my contributions," and decided to stop by Mau Mau to see what had become of it. Thank God someone with some sense came along, tore it down and rebuilt it from the ground up. What a piece of crap it was! I don't have the time to read the improved article in its entirety, but I've seen enough to know it's far more balanced and factual than that claptrap that formerly passed for an article.

KCA, huh? The local, well-heeled, old-line upper class/yuppie-dominated white-bread civic association in my area goes by the same acronym. I found the juxtaposition of that group and the Mau Mau hilariously incongruous. Thanks for the best laugh I've had in a week. :-D Peace 2 u. deeceevoice 17:12, 13 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Yep. Kalorama. :-p deeceevoice 09:08, 14 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Thanks for the alert - seems like a good idea. -==S V 00:05, 15 Dec 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Wikipedia:Africa-related regional notice board

I see you take an interest in Africa-related topics. Thought I woudl point you to Wikipedia:Africa-related regional notice board if you haven't already seen it.—iFaqeer (Talk to me!) 05:22, Dec 16, 2004 (UTC)

Thank you for mentioning the board on your user page. At this rate, we might really be able to get some momentum going.—iFaqeer (Talk to me!) 21:05, Dec 17, 2004 (UTC)

[edit] overlooking facts; disregarding scientific competence

I guess, you are a little overheated, my dear friend, because of recent ugly real vandalism, which makes me angry, too.

After calming down, I strongly recommend to study the following publication: PLANETARY CONFIGURATION: IMPLICATIONS FOR EARTHQUAKE PREDICTION by N. Venkatanathan et al.

These Indian researchers of the Madras university have predicted the Indian Ocean Earthquake within only 150 km and 29 minutes error (see numerous references on my special page i.a. Telegraph, India of 28.10.2004 and http://www.newstodaynet.com/27DEC/SS6.HTM ).

Perhaps, after really studying the 8 pages and the other references, you finally understand, why I want to place this on Wikipedia article of Indian Ocean Earthquake: because it was predicted and not everybody knows.

e-greetings from --Wikinaut 03:05, 30 Dec 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Should create a new standalone "Lost Citizen" page, and link it from Main 2004 Tsunami Page

In response to your msg in the history page of 2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake:

I think we should separate the "lost citizen" page (Lost Citizen Page) as standalone page, just like the Donation page.

Should start a talk for opinion. --Godric 21:47, Dec 30, 2004 (UTC)

[edit] about my 'snarkines'

...walks up, raises hand, takes a breath to start to talk...

...pauses...

...lowered hand and exhaled. Nevermind. Sorry.^_^

...Turns around and muttered under breath... (I was just trying to be bold..).

...sits down in front of PC. Now lets see what else I can contribute ^_^...

--Lemi4 05:33, 31 Dec 2004 (UTC)[1]

Re sorry: Aw shucks, Sir, it's okay; no offense taken^_^ I personally think you're doing a grrreat job as an Admin, considering the number of edits per minute happening and all that pressure. And I wanna thank you (and all the Admins, and All Wikipedians) for the great service to humanity that you are doing on behalf of all Wikipedians that agree with me (and I am of the oppinion the number would be many, and not just Wikipedians).

So Happy New Year! Lets be glad that we're doing what we can, we're doing the few things that we can do to help, and that we can do good:) --Lemi4 02:50, 1 Jan 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Re:Insanity

Hi BanyanTree, thanks for the concern. Me and my family are fine, thanks! Btw, no offence taken. =P --Andylkl 19:22, Dec 31, 2004 (UTC)

(Barnstar moved to my user page) I just wanted to express my sincerest gratitude for you taking the initiative in creating donations for victims of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake. Thank you. – Clockwork Soul 08:34, 2 Jan 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Featured article?

Would you mind if I nominated Lord's Resistance Army at Featured Article Candidates? I think it is worth it. Articles like this make me proud of Wikipedia. — mark ✎ 14:13, 4 Jan 2005 (UTC)

I'm flattered you'd be willing to nominate Lord's Resistance Army. Please do. It can only get better through the critiquing process. It clearly cries out for a few pictures, and I've been kicking myself since I started editing it for not taking a personal camera along when I was in northern Uganda a few years ago. But, then again, I didn't know about Wikipedia then ... :) Cheers, BanyanTree 19:04, 4 Jan 2005 (UTC)

Okay, I'll bring it to WP:FAC. I've listed it on Peer Review to begin with; maybe other people can provide additional sources or pictures, or suggest other improvements. On a sidenote, asking the owners of pictures you know of to release some of their pictures under GFDL for use on Wikipedia might be a possibility. I'm off now... Wikipedia is unbearably slow these days. Regards, — mark ✎ 21:06, 4 Jan 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Dear BanyanTree

(please refer to delete votes)

- Dear Wiki contributors, admins & sysops. You have been mislead by Curps. Please see that article in question and decide for yourselves if deletion is a correct Wiki thing to do. I have decided not to pursue the re-naming of Curps's article 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and through consultation with other helpful Wikis, I have decided to start a series of Asian Tsunami articles on my own ... there is freedom to initiate such a move right ? The articles in questions is proposed to drill deep in the subject in question. In Asian tsunami : The earthquake I have attempted to focus just on the earthquake that caused the Asian Tsunamis. In Asian tsunami : Time-line (currently vandalised by Curps), I have drilled down to the exact minutes to minutes account of the waves of deadly tsunamis. I will be added other article in the Asian tsunami series like the humanitarian aspects, current news & occurrences etc. because I think it is the right thing to do. kenkam 06:55, 10 Jan 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Comments on Wikipedia:Policies and guidelines

Hi BanyanTree, Thank you for your kind understanding & comments. I have listened to your advised & visited Wikipedia:Policies and guidelines ... found out some interesting pointers to share with you.

[edit] Key policies

1) Avoid bias. Articles should be written from a neutral point of view, representing differing views on a subject fairly and sympathetically.

Was Curps Neutral when he deleted other points of view, even if they were differing. The term "Asian Tsunami" is an accept term or name for the event that happened on the 26th Dec 2004, covered by news media and the net. Blatantly calling 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake is silly because there have been hundreds of earthquakes very week since 26th Dec 2004 but there is only one deadly tsunami that has been named by the media as the "Asian Tsunami".kenkam 08:16, 10 Jan 2005 (UTC)

2) Don't infringe copyrights. Wikipedia is a free encyclopedia licensed under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. Submitting work which infringes copyrights threatens our objective to build a truly free encyclopedia that anyone can redistribute, and could lead to legal problems. See Wikipedia copyrights for more information.

No problems here. kenkam 08:16, 10 Jan 2005 (UTC)

3) Wikipedia is an encyclopedia. Its goals go no further. See What Wikipedia is not for more info.

An 'encyclopedia' by Wiki definition is "containing articles on topics in many different fields ... specialise in a particular field", by branching Asian Tsunami to its categories covering specialised field & topics is my purpose & goal. In fact, I have come to a point to consider creating a "Asian Tsunami" Wiki project on my own ... care to contribute here ;-) kenkam 08:16, 10 Jan 2005 (UTC)

4) Respect other contributors. Wikipedia contributors come from many different countries and cultures, and have widely different views. Treating others with respect is key to collaborating effectively in building an encyclopedia. For some guidelines, see Wikipedia etiquette, Wikipedia:Writers rules of engagement, Wikipedia:Civility, Dispute resolution.

I admit I see thing differently, maybe because I am orient-asian, from a land far away ... in this case at the epicentre of the disaster ... I need some respect & space which Curps has failed big time in rendering to me / others. kenkam 08:16, 10 Jan 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Behaviour guidelines

5) No personal attacks (and move personal debates to email)

I am attacked by Curps ... if this was real-life I would have been murdered by him already !! ... ;-) kenkam 08:16, 10 Jan 2005 (UTC)

6) Please do not bite the newcomers

Not only did Curps bite me, he chew the bits he bit-off from me !! He bit me when I was new, before I had an account, and he is bitting me now too !! kenkam 08:16, 10 Jan 2005 (UTC)

Three revert rule (Revert wars considered harmful)

While I had the courtesy to announce my idea to propose a change of name of 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake, he just went ahead & moved my articles without consultation & consensus ... poor me. kenkam 08:16, 10 Jan 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Role of the international community in the Rwandan Genocide

BanyanTree, just to notify you of this recent page, I believe translated from French wikipedia by User:PZFUN who has made many valuable contributions to South African articles. There seems to be a lot of new material, but maybe suffers from bias ? Wizzy 09:15, Jan 16, 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Sexuality drawings

Greetings ! I have added a few new drawings about sexuality; you can review them at Sexuality. I would have liked to find specifically male homosexual positions, but couldn't really think of any... If you happen to have specific ideas, please do drop me a note. Thank you you for the suggestion, and happy editing ! Rama 11:09, 17 Jan 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Rwanda

Thank you! Yeah, I translated it from French into the English. I will do the other page as soon as I have the motivation to translate it back from French. I would really appreciate it if you would go through and take a look at the pages. I'm not the best editor in the world! :) Thank you! Páll 00:32, 18 Jan 2005 (UTC)

I translated the last article. A couple of sentences don't make very much sense in French, so I did as much as i could in English. Páll 02:32, 18 Jan 2005 (UTC)

[edit] CD cover

Actually, the CD is okay, even with the big copyright notice. It fall under the US fair use laws, and so we can keep it if you like. -- user:zanimum

I went and found another cover that I could use in the lead for Franco Luambo, so WP probably doesn't need the picture with the nasty copyright notice right across it. If someone feels that it might be useful to someone sometime, I have no problem leaving it though. Thanks for asking. Cheers, BanyanTree 05:04, 27 Jan 2005 (UTC)

[edit] LRA on FAC

Hi BanyanTree, I hope I didn't surprise you by placing it on FAC :). I see you're adressing the points raised; just make sure to report it on the request also, I guess the votes turn to support then. I'll look into it also, in a few hours (I'm going to eat with my girlfriend now). Kind regards, — mark ✎ 17:57, 6 Feb 2005 (UTC)

Hi Mark. Your placement wasn't a surprise, but waking up from a night out to see it getting hammered on didn't help my head any. It's always a bit humbling to see something you've worked on go to FAC, isn't it? ;) If you could take a look, in particular, at the comments on language and grammar, it'd be a great help. I have a blindspot for flaws in my own sentences. Cheers, BanyanTree

I'll certainly do my best. However, I'm not a native speaker of English so creating brilliant prose is not my strongest point. I think I'll ask some others to help as well.

As for the reference thing — I must say I don't particularly like the inline external links; I would like them better if they were like the off-line references. Could be a matter of taste though; I don't know how they think about it at FAC. Don't mind me if you don't agree. — mark ✎ 22:47, 6 Feb 2005 (UTC)

The article is really shaping up. I had done a photo search before but couldn't find anything, but delved into the government images after the FAC comment and came up with the IDP photos. I'm really not sure about the Kony picture. I am not familiar with all the different types of copyright and so am pretty conservative about image use.

I don't much like the look of in-line references at all and think small super-script endnotes would be preferably. But there's not really a simple way to do that, and I'm not willing to do such a tedious tweak. - BanyanTree 21:46, 8 Feb 2005 (UTC)

Tedious indeed, because you'd have to renumber all thirty manually every time something is added or removed. That's not an option. As for the Kony picture, I'm not sure about it either. You could take a look here and maybe give it a shot. Or not. Anyway, the article is getting better and better — really cool! BTW, the US Government IDP pictures are a welcome addition. Keep up the good work! — mark ✎ 00:15, 9 Feb 2005 (UTC)

[edit] LRA article

Thanks for the comments, Banyan! I went to Uganda last summer, so I'm quite interested in the LRA. How long before it gets featured, do you reckon?
TreveX 20:42, 9 Feb 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Congratulations!

Lord's Resistance Army is a Featured Article now! — mark ✎ 13:36, 11 Feb 2005 (UTC)

Congratulations to you as well! It wouldn't have been possible without your great maps. - BanyanTree 15:22, 11 Feb 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Thanks!

I don't know if my user page was on your watch list, or if you followed the vandal's trail, but thanks for reverting my page. :) --Golbez 19:40, Feb 11, 2005 (UTC)