User talk:David Kernow/Archive 9

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My Preferences

David,

I really hope you don't mind my coming to you for technical questions, but I'm still trying to learn these aspects of Wikipedia.

The problem is, my Preferences keep changing on their own. Sometimes, with some Articles, the font will change & the date preference keeps reverting to 'no preference'. Each time I have to go back and save them again. Is it Wikipedia or is it me. I hope you can help.

Thanks,

Michael David 18:02, 9 August 2006 (UTC)
David,
Update. I went to the Pump with this problem, and apparently a great many people are having the same problem right now. The response I got said, essentially, that they are aware of the problem & are working on it.
Thanks,
Michael David 21:45, 9 August 2006 (UTC)
  • Hi Michael,
    I haven't noticed any spontaneous font-changing or date-resetting (yet!) but, as JLaTondre mentions, I am accustomed to logging out then back in to Wikipedia once in a while in order to restore my link-formatting preference. (I guess this is due to Wikipedia's cookies not being retained indefinitely, even if you set them to survive from session to session, or perhaps because they need resetting if/when a developer tweaks the Wikipedia software.) If I begin to notice these other changes, at least I know it's not a local problem – so thanks for the alert!
Something unconnected but coincidental with your message: I recently saw this film by chance rather than design and unexpectedly found it very moving. Have you heard of / seen it and if so counsel/led people such as its protagonists?  If you have and have the time to wax a little about it, I'd be fascinated to know something of your point of view. Best wishes, David Kernow 23:03, 9 August 2006 (UTC)

David,

I just realized the title of the Section I'm leaving this message in.

No I haven't seen the film, Secretary, but I am certainly interested in doing so. I will look for the DVD tomorrow and let you know what I think of it. Thanks for the tip.

Yes I have worked with persons with sexual problems. After hunger & thirst, the sexual drive is the next strongest drive we as humans have. That is why, the society, the culture, the government, and the religions believe they need to control it in us. If you control someone sexually - you control them absolutely.

Be healthy,

Michael David 23:40, 9 August 2006 (UTC)

(Footnotes here)

Hello again Michael,
Thanks for your input at the Footnotes talk page, especially your recent reminder about {{wikicite}} here. It occurred to me that your know-how would probably save me some "search and research" time: on a page where the same footnote is referenced more than once, is there a template-based system that mimics cite.php's ability to return to the correct reference number from which it was invoked?  (Hope that makes sense.)  I suspect the answer is no – hence the implementation of cite.php – but I do believe cite.php really ought to offer the option to store footnotes away from the main body of text. (Trying to use <ref name=N> on a page which (a) uses many footnotes and (b) will need updating seems vulnerable to someone adding a <ref name=N/> before the place in the text where the footnote was defined. Or am I missing something...?)
Thanks, David Kernow 00:24, 7 August 2006 (UTC)
...Maybe {{ref label | ...}} etc is what I'm describing...?  David 01:22, 7 August 2006 (UTC)
Cite.php is the only system I know of that lets you enter the ID only once, and uses it to generate a link to the reference and a corresponding back-link to the citation in the article body.
Personally, I think back-links are overrated. In the normal reading scenario, the browser's back button serves the same function. The back links, placed at the front of the note and appearing as a circumflex accent or superscript letters a and b, make a typographic mess of the list of notes or references. Regards. —Michael Z. 2006-08-07 06:55 Z
Aesthetically, I agree... but what do you make of the demands here...?  Being able to jump back is useful, but I can see the vulnerability noted above may become a problem... Thanks for your advice, David 13:02, 7 August 2006 (UTC)
Wow, stress test. It looks like cite.php must be better than any other method for adding those notes to the table.
The usefulness of the notes format here depends on how you see the table as being read, but I don't see a set of back-links a through bf as being terribly useful to the reader. Auto-highlighting definitely helps me navigate this when I jump to a back-link and there are four or five notes citations on one line (search my monobook.css for "highlight a targeted reference"; works in Firefox or Safari).
But I don't see the disadvantage of doing it more simply, as below. The linked names of subdivisions already serve as notes with much more information about, say, "velayat". —Michael Z. 2006-08-07 16:27 Z
Country
Administrative divisions
 
First-level Second-level Third-level Fourth-level
and smaller
Flag of Afghanistan Afghanistan 34 velayat (provinces) 360+ [districts]
Flag of Albania Albania 12 qarku (counties or prefectures) 36 rrethe (districts) 300+ komuna (communes),
60+ bashkia (municipalities)		 (3000+ lokaliteteve?)
Flag of Algeria Algeria 48 wilayat (provinces) 160 daïrat (circles) 1500+ [communes]
  • Thanks for your feedback, Michael. I too am not enamoured of the back-links, but have found that trying to shoehorn both local and translated names into cells leads to layout problems (especially for anyone using a screen resolution less than 1024 by 768). Although some of those local names with already-existing Wikipedia articles (such as wilayah) are currently linked, I was thinking of linking each and every one to the Wikipedia article about each division in each country, respectively. So, for example, the "velayat" entry under Afghanistan would not link to wilayah as at present, but to Provinces of Afghanistan. (A link to wilayah may then occur within the Provinces article, as it currently does; etc.)  I also think I'll retain the local names in the table rather than replace them with translations, as (a) there are often two or more accepted translations; and (b) not all "Provinces of", "Districts of" etc articles mention the local name (at least, not yet). I suppose my ideal is a bank-linked footnote system that doesn't display all the a...aa...ba superscripts but nonetheless returns the user to the correct reference when the "↑" is clicked!  Thanks again, David Kernow 01:01, 10 August 2006 (UTC)

Spelling

In your table, you could also check the validity of spelling of the Ukrainian "rayoni"... ---Yury Tarasievich 12:46, 15 August 2006 (UTC)

Yes; this is exactly the kind of detail I look forward to folks such as yourself spotting/correcting once the table becomes an article in its own right – but I now see you've already amended the "raion" plural for Belarus; thank you!  Another table which I intend to accompany the above is here; you may spot some other errors or know the singular forms for some of the terms currently given in plural. Thanks again, David Kernow 13:37, 15 August 2006 (UTC)
OK. Why some names are in italics and some not? ---Yury Tarasievich 14:03, 15 August 2006 (UTC)
To quote the note I've just added at the top of the page: "Terms in italics are terms in languages other than English."  Thanks for the prompt, David 14:10, 15 August 2006 (UTC)
PS Would you prefer to continue on my talk page alone?

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Ahhh, Awake here at least!

<g> Read me // FrankB 00:31, 20 August 2006 (UTC)

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Andres Bonifacio

Why do you want diacritics on the name? We don't have diacritics on his name in the Philippines. This is not official. If you have a source or link using his name, at least place then in the links at the bottom of the page. We can put diacritics on the pronounciation guide but this is not part of the official name.--Jondel 13:22, 22 August 2006 (UTC)

Hi Jondel,
Thanks for keeping me informed re the above...
It was my understanding at the time that his name did include an accent on the "e", but if this is not the case, I am happy to let the current name "Andres Bonifacio" stand. Best wishes, David Kernow 14:08, 22 August 2006 (UTC)

Kubrick

Hey, man. I think it's cooler now. I'm photographer and designer and like the way the things look. He's my favourite director. Cheers Machocarioca 17:13, 22 August 2006 (UTC)machocarioca

Categories page

That page is part of a set. If you make a change to one, it might look better if you changed all of them. I've extended your changes to the rest of the pages in the ref bar, and have implemented them in the Template:Reference page header to make it easier to adjust all of the pages at the same time. --The Transhumanist 03:46, 23 August 2006 (UTC)

Thanks!  I'm glad you're happy with my amendment and I think the template is a good idea for the sake of consistency. Best wishes, David Kernow 10:50, 23 August 2006 (UTC)

Regards

The Random Acts of Kindness Barnstar
I award you this barnstar for your outmost courtesy. Húsönd 14:55, 23 August 2006 (UTC)
Thank you!  My first thought was that this kind gesture made you eligible for the same barnstar – except I guess your action isn't random...!  So here is a citation instead...
Best wishes, David 17:47, 23 August 2006 (UTC)

Uhg

I forgot to put the icons in when I installed the templates. I'm in the process of adding them to the ref pages, one icon at a time in spare moments here and there. Three down, 8 more icons left to go. If you read this before I'm done, please chip in and help. You can grab the icons off of Lists of basic topics. --The Transhumanist 03:39, 24 August 2006 (UTC)

Sorry not to've been around to see your message sooner and help. It looks like you've sorted out the relevant pages here, so hopefully that means all is now up-to-date. Yours, David Kernow 11:31, 24 August 2006 (UTC)

Mr Ducky

It's been a while, I know, but this is just a wee note to say thanks for tidying up Mr Ducky's page. It looks a lot better now and the toliet humour was a great addition. Thanks!   Keithology  Talk!  18:23, 26 August 2006 (UTC)

Twas my pleasure – I just happened to be in a certain mood at the moment I found a link to Mr Ducky's page and the rest you know... Best wishes, David Kernow 01:09, 27 August 2006 (UTC)

(Fabartus latest)

...thanks for your suggestions here; they've been absorbed or pruned in the week since you left them, not least the TOC which I've had to remove and create a DIY in its place – see August 23/24 in the edit history for rationale. Apart from finalizing the notes at the top of the page, another issue awaiting resolution is the page's name; specifically, whether to use "divisions" or "subdivisions". If you have a moment, you may wish to add something here. Best wishes, David Kernow 14:23, 28 August 2006 (UTC)
The Barnstar of Diligence
CNASbyC table and LCTNAS table are simply incredible examples of intellegence, dilegence above and beyond, not to mention some great wikimarkup knowledge! HATS OFF TO YOU, David! In humblest awe, I stand in your shadow as a pigmy to a giant! // FrankB 18:16, 31 August 2006 (UTC)
Thank you, with apologies for not acknowledging your gesture more quickly!  "If I have been able to work that little further, it is by leaning on the support of giant hearts" — not Isaac Newton and not about the stature of internal organs. Best wishes, David Kernow 01:56, 2 September 2006 (UTC)
PS Unfortunately I do not sell hats.

Does this match your naming

See this, I just happened across it in an edit conflict. On your last, haven't been back to see. Will as soon as I can finish up all these tabs and back out of the IE6 browser too. Had some parsing bugs in templates keeping me swearing. // FrankB 22:12, 29 August 2006 (UTC)

Cool Click box!

Kudos! re: /List_of_current_terms_for_national_administrative_subdivisions#borough Looks like it would make a useful template properly bent folded spindled and mutilated! Keep up the good work! // FrankB 00:22, 30 August 2006 (UTC)

Thanks!  The list is a natural spin-off from the table – both now use "contemporary" rather than "current" to take the edge off needing to be very up-to-date. Re your email "Magnus Manske's Push for Commons", thanks for forwarding and your glowing first paragraph; that's what means far more to me than barnstars or the like!
Re the map categories at CfD/Speedy, I'm not sure if they qualify as speedy, but I should spot them if they are moved into the main discussion area and vote accordingly. Thanks for the alert. Yours, David 01:00, 31 August 2006 (UTC)

Categories

The categorization system is having growing pains. There seem to be several different view about what our category system should be; a way to browse, an index of articles, a classification system, and/or a database search tool. Each of these views leads editors to different conclusions about how categories should be populated, and many conflicts result. To deal with these problems, Rick Block and I have been working on a proposal to add the ability to create category intersections. We think our proposal will address these problems and add some very useful new features. We are asking editors and developers concerned with categorizaton problems to take a look. We'd appreciate your feedback. Thanks. -- Samuel Wantman 06:27, 30 August 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for your invite – have finally made the time to scan through your and Rick's excellent-looking proposal and left an initial acknowledgement/query on the talk page. Per there, I'll read it more carefully anon and also now have it on my watchlist. Best wishes, David Kernow 01:26, 31 August 2006 (UTC)