From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Contents 1 About CobbSalad 1.1 Wikipedia Discussion 1.1.1 Watched Pages 1.1.2 Mdwyer too quick on the draw to label content as spam 1.1.2.1 Excerpts from the dispute 1.2 Notability of SlimDX

[edit] About CobbSalad

I've been in the tech industry and software development since I first had a Vic-20 in 1981. I've worked for very large companies, very small companies, and companies I've founded, all relating to software.

My hobbies include going to bullfights on acid. Just kidding - can you guess the classic movie where that was said?

Just fyi, the username CobbSalad is from an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm, a series on HBO.

[edit] Wikipedia Discussion

[edit] Watched Pages

I really wish Wikipedia would turn on e-mail notifications for watched pages. The argument against it is that the servers couldn't handle the load. Maybe not, but surely the architecture could be enhanced in a way to make it effcient. I know even mentioning architecture enhancement is a strong statement, but notifications are an important feature that would make it easier to maintain the quality of content.

[edit] Mdwyer too quick on the draw to label content as spam

I added content to the e-card page which Mdwyer marked as spam because he didn't consider 3d animation to be important enough to note in the evolution of e-cards (nor the company linked to).

He seems to be a legitimately concerned Wikipedia user that makes helpful contributions, however we must be careful not to mark everything with a link to a commercial site as spam, if it is significant to the topic.

Rather than escalte the debate further, I have chosen to start by mostly rewriting the e-card page as a whole because it was in need of restructuring.

I plan on eventually re-adding a section on 3d-animated e-cards, as well as video e-cards and scrapbooking e-cards, all of which are expanding the definition of what an e-card is and can be.

[edit] Excerpts from the dispute

A more recent type of e-card uses 3d animation instead of flash, allowing for more cinematic and realistic graphics. The first company to specialize in this type of e-card was LightFactoryCards.com.

May I ask what you thought was "spam" about my e-card post?

The use of 3d-animation is not only a fundamental change in the technology underlying e-cards (not even close to "flash" animation), it is already being experimented with by some of the biggest e-card companies.

Moreover if you thought my post was promoting one company too much why didn't you leave the part about the technology? A more recent type of e-card uses 3d animation instead of flash, allowing for more cinematic and realistic graphics.

Your edit appeared to only exist to promote one company. This goes against the guidelines for external links: WP:EL. I also didn't think the technology was notable. They're still technically delivering a flash movie. Instead of vector art, they're delivering video of CG. It is pretty, I'll admit, but not really notable. In light of that, I reverted the entire edit.

To save you a question, let me say this about Bluemountain.com and uptv.net: They should be removed, too. I just didn't happen to be watching when they appeared. The whole article is a mess and needs to be cleaned up. --Mdwyer 06:33, 15 February 2007 (UTC)

I believe you are incorrect on several points:

1) You anticipated I would protest the inclusion of bluemountainarts.com. On the contrary they should be left in as they were a pioneer and influential in several important ways with respect to e-cards.

2) You say the technology change from Flash Animation to CGI is not notable:

From the user's perspective it will usher a very large change: Children today can not only tell the difference in CGI movies, to my disappointment, some of them don't even like to watch traditionally animated movies.

From the technology perspective, it is fundamentally different. The artist’s skills are not interchangeable. The software is not interchangeable. One uses mathematical modeling to simulate the physics of reality (or altered reality); one is similar to drawing on a flat piece of paper.

Want more evidence? Search for how many news articles were written about movies and the change to CGI from traditional animation. Why should it not also be notable for e-cards? Why are there so many separate articles on Flash animation and CGI that are not related and don’t even link to each other? Because they are very different things.

3) You say the whole article is a mess. This is irrelevant to the point at hand about why you deleted information on CGI. Outside of the scope of this point, I would be glad to help clean up and organize the article, however either way it doesn't justify deleting the CGI reference. --CobbSalad

[edit] Notability of SlimDX

Hello, this is a message from an automated bot. A tag has been placed on SlimDX, by another Wikipedia user, requesting that it be speedily deleted from Wikipedia. The tag claims that it should be speedily deleted because SlimDX is an article about a certain website, blog, forum, or other web content that does not assert the importance or significance of that web location. Please read our criteria for speedy deletion, particularly item 7 under Articles, as well as notability guidelines for websites. Please note that articles must be on notable subjects and should provide references to reliable sources which verify their content.

To contest the tagging and request that administrators wait before possibly deleting SlimDX, please affix the template {{hangon}} to the page, and put a note on its talk page. If the article has already been deleted, see the advice and instructions at WP:WMD. Feel free to contact the bot operator if you have any questions about this or any problems with this bot, bearing in mind that this bot is only informing you of the nomination for speedy deletion; it does not perform any nominations or deletions itself. CSDWarnBot 17:32, 4 September 2007 (UTC)