User talk:Dieter Simon

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/Archive 1

Dieter --

The article you started on "dangling modifier" is interesting (I like that sort of topic too) but it's a bit hard to understand in places and I didn't agree with your use of "linguist". I think it generally means someone who studies language rather than someone who comments on usage. Hopefully... er, I hope you can agree with that. Jacquerie27 21:29 Apr 29, 2003 (UTC)

Hi Jacquerie

Yes, I do take your point about "linguist", we are actually talking about this in two different places, see the "Discus this page" item of the article itself, sorry. I also appreciate your edits, I could have revised this a bit more. Anyway thanks --Dieter

Opps! Looks like I missed your user name in recent changes. Here is a belated welcome;

Welcome! --mav


Hi, Mav, Thank you for your kind words, Am enjoying it, Diet

Hi Diet- welcomed your artice on coppicing, I was thinking about doing that page myself!!! I'm interested in doing a wiki sub-project on Trees in Britain, as well as lots more info on fruit trees, siviculture & trees in general, so maybe we could collaborate to some degree, or at least co-operate in ensuring that we cross link our articles etc???

Cheers quercus robur


Hi, Quercusrobur, Thanks, by all means, sounds a very good idea. Yes, it is perfectly ok by me to redirect "Coppicing" and "Pollarding" into "Pruning Fruit Trees" as separate parts of the whole entry.

I have already mentioned this in another "Talk", either Coppicing or Pollarding. till later, Diet

Unable to open the article "grammatical particle". The following error message appears: "Could not select database wikidb Commands out of sync; You can't run this command now If this error persists after reloading and clearing your browser cache, please notify the Wikipedia developers on e-mail address: Wikitech-l@nupedia.com which then sent this message:

Your mail to 'Wikitech-l' with the subject

Unable to Download "Grammatical Particle"

Is being held until the list moderator can review it for approval. The reason it is being held:

Post by non-member to a members-only list

Either the message will get posted to the list, or you will receive notification of the moderator's decision.

Can anything be done?

We're working on it. Note that if you're continuously getting it on one page only while other pages are find, that's a problem with your browser or your ISP; the error page is stuck in your cache. Clear the cache, try ctrl+reload, etc. --Brion 00:14 Oct 23, 2002 (UTC)


Many thanks, Brion. Have cleared cache, all ok now. --Dieter Simon

Hi, Quercusrobur, how would you feel about doing an article about the (fairly) new policy in woodland management of leaving dead trees standing (or lying where they have fallen) to encourage useful insects used against harmful invaders? Where I walk (in the Sutton and Reigate area} this is definitely being encouraged, and a good idea, too. I know, you don't like being called an expert (as per para above) but am sure you'll know all about this. Hope you don/t mind me asking. --Dieter Simon 20:31 Apr 23, 2003 (UTC)

Hi Dieter- apologies for the delay in replying- I was reading an article by Oliver Rackham recently where he was discussing this subject, and the fact that the policy of clearing toppled trees after the 1987 storms caused more ecological devastation than simply leaving them where they fell. In nature, particularly in the original wild wood, there is nobody to clear the fallen trees, and their death is just part of the overall long term cycle, clearing spaces in the woodland community and creating new niches. He also points out that such storms are not that uncommon when looked at aon a long term historical scale... It was afascinating article, if I can find it again i coukld have a go at paraphrasing parts of it, i think it was in an issue of Tree News quercus robur 21:04 May 10, 2003 (UTC)

Many thanks, Quercus, very interesting. I thought it was quite essential in modern woodland management. Must be worth an article in Wiki you could have a go at? Thanks again --Dieter Simon 23:42 May 10, 2003 (UTC)

Hi Dieter - Your missing contribution to Wikipedia:Avoid weasel terms wasn't deleted, it was just moved (not by me, though it was the right thing to do) to Wikipedia talk:Avoid weasel terms, where the discussion's going on. So don't worry, it's available for discussion (and has already been seconded). Graculus 23:35, 20 Aug 2003 (UTC)

Many thanks, Graculus, yes, I see. The thing that worried me was that some of original remarks remained and looked as though they were not replied to. Uninitiated visitors to these pages - arriving via Google wouldn't see this necessarily, would they? However, your comment is appreciated Dieter Simon

Hi, I've nominated you for Administrator privileges. If you accept, please say so on Wikipedia:Requests for adminship. --snoyes 00:23, 27 Nov 2003 (UTC)

You're now an administrator -- Tim Starling 00:32, Dec 6, 2003 (UTC)

Hi, you said on Anjouli's talk page "Is that me, Angela, who is often at Vfd?". I meant that message to be to Anjouli; it wasn't related to your previous comment, so no, it wasn't you I meant was at VfD. :) Angela. 23:56, Jan 14, 2004 (UTC)

I do not know if you are watching Brianism Talk, but it is fair that you should see this: An Open Letter from Rex Mundi, co-founder of Brianism. In view of this, I have changed my vote to Delete. Link has apparently been "e-mailed to participants in the discussion", but not posted on WP by the writer - which is why I am doing it. I also do not see how the writer would have all the e-mail addresses involved. Kind regards, Anjouli 13:56, 16 Jan 2004 (UTC)

Re Air-raid shelter. There was an existing Anderson Shelter article. I have redirected and incorporated but you should check before starting a new article. Google search with "site:wikipedia.org" for example. Good article. TwoOneTwo 21:58, 27 Jan 2004 (UTC)

On London deep-level shelters - why did you make a "see also" link instead of putting it inline in the article, in the obvious place? And why do you feel so strongly about this that you promptly revert it? - David Gerard 23:57, Feb 16, 2004 (UTC)

Answered this in David Gerard's User: Talk page. Dieter Simon

Page history page in Help:Talk: page
cur) (last) . . M 16:23, 28 Feb 2004 . . Dieter Simon (Reverted edits by Dieter Simon to last version by 195.242.16.69) (cur) (last) . . 23:40, 27 Feb 2004 . . Dieter Simon (Can a developer check if the article "air-raid shelter" is corrupted?) (cur) (last) . . 23:09, 22 Feb 2004 . . 195.242.16.69 (List Of Record Labels)

Hi, why did you rollback edits by Vicki Rosenzweig to that user's own user page? silsor 23:36, Mar 16, 2004 (UTC)


Have replied to Silsor's query on her own user page, have also queried whether there is a page corruption on Vicki Rosenzweig's user page. According to page history I have reverted a para and reverted it back, when in fact I only looked at it. Dieter Simon 00:49, 17 Mar 2004 (UTC)

Dieter, you may have accidentally clicked the 'rollback' link. The diff view now includes a rollback link in the upper-left corner, which it didn't used to, and the feedback when you click it is less than obvious. --Brion 03:34, 2004 Mar 17 (UTC)

Yes, it must be something like that. The only thing is, Brion, I reverted back to Postdlf 's entries, would that not require a conscious effort on my part to do that, would I not have to choose Postdlf? There is no way I remember doing that, I really must have lost it that time. It's really important to watch that. Many thanks, Brion, that's a bit of an eye-opener. --Dieter Simon

Contents

[edit] Margrabova

Please be advised, that Margrabova was the first city located in the Oletzko County and is not identical with Oletzko. Only what happenned, is that the capital of the County was moved to the Margrabova, after renaming it to Treuburg.Cautious 07:11, 6 Apr 2004 (UTC) See http://www.literad.de/regional/treuburg.html Cautious 07:15, 6 Apr 2004 (UTC)

You are partly right. There were 2 cities: Marggrabova and Oleztko, not so far from each other. Marggrabova was renamed Treuburg in 1928. I don't know, when both cities were united. Cautious 07:02, 7 Apr 2004 (UTC)

As I know, there was (and is) only one city. It beared the names Marggrabowa, Treuburg and Olecko over the times. Oletzko was a hunting lodge as well as a castle adjacent to the city, separated only by a tiny river. The name of the castle laterly was extended to the surrounding area, the district and, to complete the confusion, even to Marggrabowa's railway and postal station! It is possible that the City of Marggrabowa and Oletzko-the-castle originally have been administratively separated. But the castle wasn't a city itself. 217.93.94.107 23:53, 12 Feb 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Weasel Words

Very nice expansion of the article. A concept so widely used in modern culture should definitely have a big article in Wikipedia. :) -- Cecropia 01:15, 25 Apr 2004 (UTC)

Don't be silly, Dieter, making articles better is what Wikipedia is all about, and you made what I wrote much better. Cheers! -- Cecropia 16:54, 25 Apr 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Hazel mccallion vs. Hazel McCallion

You could have easily turned the former into a redirect to the latter yourself without listing them on Wikipedia:Duplicate articles. -- Dissident (Talk) 01:18, 21 May 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Chelation Therapy

One thing, is not everything "chemically" toxic? Do we need the word chemically?

It's listed as toxic in the saty sheets I use in labs I'm not sure of the correct terminology.Geni


Feel free to remove itGeni 23:22, 25 May 2004 (UTC)


[edit] Something to read

Please consider reading this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Snowspinner/Avala_Evidence

and then voting here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Requests_for_adminship#User:Snowspinner_.2854.2F6.2F2.29_Ends_17:06.2C_31_July_2004 -- orthogonal 18:10, 29 Jul 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Compounds

Well, the compound noun, etc. page contains both general information on compounds in a few Germanic and Romance languages, and a lot of stuff that is relevant only in English, e.g. the hyphenation issue. The article seems to take left-hand modifiers for granted, although it contains quite a few examples of right-hand modifiers in the Romance languages, e.g. sky-scraper versus gratte-ciel. It hardly pays any attention to case markers in compounds, which are ubiquitous in German, for instance.

I think the article should be split into a general linguistic article on compounds which should be based on a much wider selection of languages, including at the very least Sanskrit (bahuvrihi, etc.), Mandarin (lots of compounds), Latin and Greek, an agglutinative language like Turkish and an incorporating language like Guaraní, and several articles dealing with compounds in individual languages, most obviously English. Burschik 09:38, 4 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Okay, if you want to keep the article the way it is, I think it should be made clear that it refers only to the English language, although most of the information should apply to other Germanic languages as well. With regard to examples from other languages, I think examples from Latin and Greek would be most useful, since English contains quite a few of these. Regards Burschik 09:03, 5 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Have left a note on your talk page, Burschik. Do take over whatever you need for your article, I agree it is best to create a separate article on Romance, etc. compound words. Perhaps if you make reference to your article in relation to the original English version, that would help. Dieter Simon 20:46, 5 Aug 2004 (UTC)

I did not have a burning desire to write articles about compounding, and it was evident that people had already put some work into the subject. Thus, I thought it better to offer a few suggestions rather than start rewriting stuff without warning. Maybe that was contrary to the spirit of Wikipedia? Regards, Burschik 11:31, 12 Aug 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Another substub vote

I just wanted to let people know that there's another vote on substubs going on in Template talk:Substub#Survey. I know that this is a second vote, however, apparently it was originally intended to be only a vote about whether to keep the template message, but somehow evolved into a vote on the existence of substubs themselves. I know that you already voted in favor of substubs, so I wanted to get your support on this poll too. Thanks for your support! [[User:Mike Storm|Mike∞Storm]] 23:33, 9 Aug 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Jettying

Hi Dieter,

I've just renamed the article on Jettied floors in medieval houses to the short title of Jettying, but it is not perfect - see discussion to add any thoughts. I was going to write this article a couple months ago, but got distracted onto other topics. Anyhow its a good start I took a photo for it yesterday although I'm sure it would be possible to find finer examples. -- Solipsist 18:29, 11 Oct 2004 (UTC)

[edit] London Wikimeet Dec 3rd

Hi Dieter, Do you live in London? If so you may be interested in this Wikipedia:Meetup/London Theresa Knott (Tart, knees hot) 09:54, 17 Nov 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Article Licensing

Hi, I've started a drive to get users to multi-license all of their contributions that they've made to either (1) all U.S. state, county, and city articles or (2) all articles, using the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike (CC-by-sa) v1.0 and v2.0 Licenses or into the public domain if they prefer. The CC-by-sa license is a true free documentation license that is similar to Wikipedia's license, the GFDL, but it allows other projects, such as WikiTravel, to use our articles. Since you are among the top 1000 Wikipedians by edits, I was wondering if you would be willing to multi-license all of your contributions or at minimum those on the geographic articles. Over 90% of people asked have agreed. For More Information:

To allow us to track those users who muli-license their contributions, many users copy and paste the "{{DualLicenseWithCC-BySA-Dual}}" template into their user page, but there are other options at Template messages/User namespace. The following examples could also copied and pasted into your user page:

Option 1
I agree to [[Wikipedia:Multi-licensing|multi-license]] all my contributions, with the exception of my user pages, as described below:
{{DualLicenseWithCC-BySA-Dual}}

OR

Option 2
I agree to [[Wikipedia:Multi-licensing|multi-license]] all my contributions to any [[U.S. state]], county, or city article as described below:
{{DualLicenseWithCC-BySA-Dual}}

Or if you wanted to place your work into the public domain, you could replace "{{DualLicenseWithCC-BySA-Dual}}" with "{{MultiLicensePD}}". If you only prefer using the GFDL, I would like to know that too. Please let me know what you think at my talk page. It's important to know either way so no one keeps asking. -- Ram-Man (comment| talk)

Have made my choice: cc-by-sa (v.1.0 and v.2.0). Dieter Simon 00:11, 10 Dec 2004 (UTC)

[edit] RFC pages on VfD

Should RFC pages be placed on VfD to be deleted? I'm considering removing Wikipedia:Requests for comment/Slrubenstein, Wikipedia:Requests for comment/Jwrosenzweig and Wikipedia:Requests for comment/John Kenney from WP:VFD. Each of them was listed by CheeseDreams. Your comments on whether I should do this would be appreciated. - Ta bu shi da yu 03:35, 10 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Sorry, Ta bu shi da yu, I am replying to your request on this page, as you state on your talk page you are not answering anyone there, and I am sorry too, that I have to vote against removing and for keeping the three items. I think it is a matter of archiving cases such as these, despite the ruling on Rfc to have them removed within 48 hours. That ruling should be amended, as I think it important that a record should be kept, even if for no other reason than to show how things can go too far. Dieter Simon 21:52, 11 Dec 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Thanks

Just saw the message on my user page. Mate, I appreciate the encouragement :) your comments mean a lot to me! - Ta bu shi da yu 20:17, 12 Dec 2004 (UTC)

[edit] CheeseDreams and Historicity of Jesus

(I've posted this to WP:AN): Can I please get advise on how to deal with the extensive changes that CheeseDreams is making on this article? She's running roughshod over everyone on an extremely controversial article. It's already been stuffed up due to this user's edits and had to be protected by RickK (in it's highly POV and badly structured form: at one point there were essentially TWO articles on the one page). Now CheeseDreams is making a massive change without using the talk page, and it adding sections that don't even have any content in it! I've reverted back and have requested that she bring her changes to the talk page. I would appreciate advise on how to procede with this, I don't particularly want to engage in an edit war with her. - Ta bu shi da yu 13:47, 14 Dec 2004 (UTC)

[edit] I Shall Be Back

Sorry, I have had to take some time out for one reason or another. Regretfully age is creeping up on me and I have had to sort a few things. However, I shall be back, I have yet a few more plans as far as Wikipedia is concerned. Looking forward to that time. Dieter Simon 00:26, 28 Feb 2005 (UTC)


[edit] Grape Street

Was it renamed after the Great Fire of London? Where did you read that. I read that it was around until Victorian times. Jooler 23:33, 22 Apr 2005 (UTC)

I think that's a different Gropecunt lane. EC2 near Cheapside not WC2 where Grape Street is now. See http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=9293 Jooler 23:40, 22 Apr 2005 (UTC)

[edit] East Dicker

Fair enough — but the anon placed it as "Upper Dicker, Easte England", as I recall, which is why I saw it as dubious. Mel Etitis (Μελ Ετητης) 23:47, 21 Jun 2005 (UTC)


[edit] Removal of

On List of interesting or unusual place names, I do not understand the reasoning behind the removal of this name "Upper Dicker", as there is clearly a place named this.. [1]. I did not enter them, but see reverts for other names anons have added, that were of existant places. There was no discussion on some of these on the talk page, and seems like a very unfair and/or bias rv practice. I would completely understand if the place did not exist, but as far as any of them being offensive, its not like the anon named the location, and its just a name. As far as the name not seemingy to be funny, there are plenty of places that are just closely related to other words and/or meanings, which are included; a few examples of such: (Assawoman, Virginia; Belchertown, Massachusetts; Brest, France; Cattewater, Devon, England) In each of those examples, the names are just close spellings and are just inferred as humorous. To disclude "Upper Dicker" just because you personally do not find it funny, is not a valid reason, and more on the point of discouraging other anons from participating. If at the very least, I think any rv for these reasons should be placed on the talk page of the article, other editors should not have to track down personal reasons on individual talk pages. I do not mean to be offensive or demeaning. Thanks.

cc:User talk:Mel Etitis
<>Who?¿? 01:07, 24 Jun 2005 (UTC)
There is no bias against newbies, by the way, I only feel that a name should catch the eye for an obvious reason in order to be in a list of "unusual" or "interesting" names. Dieter Simon 22:03, 24 Jun 2005 (UTC)
Hi, sorry, didnt mean to imply there was a potential bias against newbies/anons, more of a discouragement of adding if there isnt a clear reason given on the edit summary or talk page. As for an obvious reason, I guess I can agree on that, I just thought "dicker" was an obvious word play on "penis" and/or "dick". I had read your reasons on the user talk pages, just thought it should have been listed on the article talk page for clarification purposes, as some users may not know to check the user talk pages. Thanks for the reply. <>Who?¿? 22:15, 24 Jun 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Category:UK Wikipedians

Hi, just to let you know that the list of UK participants at the UK notice board was getting rather long, so I have replaced it with the above category which I have added to your user page. -- Francs2000 | Talk 30 June 2005 19:16 (UTC)

Many thanks, for letting me know Franks. Sorry I have only just seen this. Things have been a bit hectic. Dieter Simon 23:51, 25 July 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Tudor style

Hi as you have contributed to the above page perhaps you would like to comment on the idea proposed here [2]. Regards Giano | talk 12:21, 23 July 2005 (UTC)

This is the building I have claimed is not a good example of Tudor style Regards Giano
This is the building I have claimed is not a good example of Tudor style Regards Giano

Tudorbethan: Take a look and see what you think. I would be grateful if you would edit and change what you think needs changing. I'm not very good at merging. Regards Giano | talk 13:36, 31 July 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Hearing impairment

Hi Dieter,

Thanks for cleaning up hearing impairment.

It's not just "Pre-lingual deafness" that needs attention, (as an aside i just noticed it's the first article on the topic in google.. probably because everyone else calls it "Prelingual"), there's a lot of articles surrounding it too, such as deaf culture, deaf history (currently a redirect to Deaf) and almost all the people listed on List of deaf people under Important historical figures in Deaf history and culture -- who would largely have been preligually deaf. It's a pretty touchy area for many people and I don't really want to touch it. :) but thanks again for your work --Pengo 00:41, 27 July 2005 (UTC)


[edit] Tudorbethan

You made the great start, so there's no need for thanks, but if there is mine are to Wetman as he understands this particular style far better then I, and has taken out a huge error of mine (the faceted towers etc.) - its easy to forget the irony that Tudorbethan comes after Jacobethan. I'm still a little uncomfortable with Tudorbethan, Tudor-revival, neo-Tudor all being as one, but the difference (if there is one) is so minute, I'm unsure of it, although I can spot it a mile off when I see the buildings in the flesh - I shall have to give it some thought. Perhaps we all ought to formulate some ideas and make it a featured article some day, the Queen Anne will sure make some interesting comments from those who know their chronology but not their architecture! Regards Giano | talk 21:58, 2 August 2005 (UTC)

Hi someone has moved it wrongly to Tudor architecture, I don't suppose you know how to move it back again, it won't when I try, someone will start editing in real Tudor architecture if it's not moved back soon! Giano | talk 06:49, 22 August 2005 (UTC)
No problem - Bishonen knew how to put it back, apparently one has to delete and then re-create!!! user: Neutrality seems to be moving a lot of architectural pages to new homes, I'm not sure that Regency style should be at Regency architecture, but some-one else can worry about that. Regards Giano | talk 13:03, 23 August 2005 (UTC)


[edit] Puzzling comment on Talk:Bishōnen

Do you mean to post on User talk:Bishonen? If that is the case, please remove the comment from Talk:Bishōnen. Thanks. — Ambush Commander(Talk) 00:42, August 23, 2005 (UTC)

Never mind, Dieter, I saw it, I've removed it. I'm quite used to getting messages on Talk:Bishōnen. Thanks for your thanks! :-) Bishonen | talk 23:55, 23 August 2005 (UTC)


[edit] Tudorbethan yet again!

You may be interested to note that User: Neutrality has yet again moved Tudorbethan this time to Tudorbethan architecture. As this was described in the edit summary as a "minor" move you may wish to update your watch list accordingly! Giano | talk 10:23, 24 August 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Rambler

Look this

[edit] masked snuff film killers

In regards to your comments on Plautus Satire's talk page about snuff films, I don't find it a bald claim at all. I for one have clear memories of media coverage of Nick Berg's beheading as well as other beheadings and killings, all done by masked men. I'm not sure what the issue is here regarding masks in snuff films. Why is there such an intense push to remove a picture of an identity mask and remove mention of murder videos? Is this too touchy a subject to be put into an encyclopedia? It obviously does exist.

Then you should be able to substantiate this with either "External links" or "References" and cite them, shouldn't you? Please do so. Dieter Simon 01:39, 26 September 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia

Why did you revert my edits to -phobia? The link was initially added by a newbie that I picked up on Special:Newpages, and I don't add things unless I research them first. It does appear that hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia is a real phobia: see the Wiktionary entry. Note that I didn't add a link to it, seeing as I don't believe individual phobias should have articles, which is why I'm a bit confused that you reverted it? -- Francs2000 01:16, 26 September 2005 (UTC)

Hi, Francs, please see the previous contributions on this subject. As you can see, at one stage I stood up for 'hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia'. Frankly I could see Mikkalai's point of view. But I did mention that at least one website, that of the BBC Radio 1 website, was a valuable citeable reference, however didn't think it worthwile to get into an argument over it. Leave it to you, if you want to put it back in.Dieter Simon 00:46, 27 September 2005 (UTC)
Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia

This may have gone astray, see previous and talk:-phobia. Dieter Simon 01:13, 27 September 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Timber framing

Hi Dieter

You have done a lot of good work on the timber framing. But, I am concerned about your merger of Timber framing with Half-timbered construction, in my view these are related but separate.

The introduction to the Timber framing now reads:

'Timber framing is the modern term for the traditional half-timbered construction in which timber provides a visible skeletal frame that supports the whole building. The terms are in fact interchangeable.'

I don't think that is accurate as it is entirely possible to build a timber frame building with a completely enclosed frame and it would still be a timber frame. I don't think the same can be said for a half-timbered building. I don't feel the terms are directly interchangeable.

Pasd 21:02, 3 November 2005 (UTC)

Hi Pasd, I think it is a matter of whether you use the traditional but now rapidly becoming obsolete terminology of "half-timbered", as opposed to the established "timber-framing", meaning any load-bearing frame, no matter whether it has waddle-and-daub infill panels, or whether it is wholly clad in wood. It is the load-bearing aspect which should define it.
I know, we don't cite other encyclopaedias or dictionaries in the actual articles, but in queries such as this I feel I ought to quote the 'Oxford Dictionary Of Architecture' which says of half-timbering: "Obsolete term for timber-framed building..." As a second instance, however, it does call half-timbering "a building with the lower storey of stone or brick and the upper storeys, or part of them, such as gables, timber-framed, and visible as such." As a third instance it gives "a building constructed of brick, block, etc. with timber applied to it in parts suggesting timber-framing, but in fact false."
I don't think we are really talking about nos 2/3, especially the third example is that often applied to 'Tudorbethan' type Revival housing where a kind of false half-timbering is attached to the outside of a brick or other solid-material structure. The third-edition 'Penguin Dictionary of Architecture' which goes back to 1984, too, says that Timber-framing, '... is called colloquially half-timbering...', but that is under the main article 'Timber-framing'. These examples are only by way of trying to illustrate in short citeable instances how modern architects refer to the 'half-timbering'/timber-framing' concept. I have also placed this reply on your user talk page. Dieter Simon 00:47, 4 November 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Hello

Category:Wikipedians born in the 1930s is up for deletion. I believe on the "by age" metawiki it says you are from the 1930s so I thought I'd mention this to you to get a sense of what, if anything, your view on it would be.--T. Anthony 06:34, 24 December 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Thanks

Thanks for your response regarding the rollback poll. I was just a little confused. Thanks. --LV (Dark Mark) 00:49, 27 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Wikipedia:Deletion review#List of interesting or unusual_place_names

You might be interested in a/m undeletion. -- User:Docu == Closed-class_word == I've added a comment on the talk page. Please tell me of you thoughts on my talk page. User:ZyXoas 01:30, 18 March 2006 (UTC) == Closed class comments == Hey! If I could edit the article I would have, but if you read the other comments on my talk page you'll realise that I'm typing this on a mobile phone and I can't really edit articles. I said what I said on the article's talk page because you were wondering why it was on WP:CSBOT. I was simply demonstrating how much BIAS an article can have although the author is not aware of it. Thanks for your response User:ZyXoas 08:51, 18 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] An apology...

Hello Dieter-

You'll have to excuse this rather late reply: I don't know why I didn't reply in the fist place. Better late than never, I suppose. I'm sorry for so harshly overwriting your edit - I should have created a discussion fist, I guess. And I also quoted the wrong site - I put [3], but the page above it, [4], gives both nouns. (My fault, again.)

I think your comment on real names is absolutely correct: whilst registration, a friend and I were trying to think of a good name - I didn't even consider putting my real name; It's a shame - I know. Perhaps I can change it?

Again, my apologies for this late reply - and I understand your situation which lead to your misunderstanding - in fact, I only put the -n because I saw it in my copy of Hammer. So I suppose it was a sort of fluke. Cheers The Missing Piece 20:27, 1 May 2006 (UTC)

It is appreciated. Thank you. Dieter Simon 00:46, 2 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Backronyms

Thanks for your input on the Backronyms page. The list is completely out-of-hand both there and on List of backronyms. Like you say, if we must have lists, then they should be sourced. As it is, the lists include whatever bad jokes Wikipedia editors can dream up rather than widely used backronyms (which are, I think, fairly few).Phiwum 06:31, 2 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Pike

Chevy20Man is annoyed with me because you reverted his edit to Pike. Please explain to him that you rv'd his edit, not me, and cite the policy in question. I previously rv'd his addition of Vernon Pike because it was unsourced, but I let it stay when he provided a source. Respectfully, Republitarian 17:51, 22 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Wikipedia:Avoid weasel words

This message is to let you know that I took out your addition to the weasel words article. To my understanding that article is a consensus guideline; while you certainly can copyedit and make small rephrasings, adding an entire section that waters down the sense of the guideline without establishing consensus seems to be a little ambitious. I've preserved your prose on the talk page and I certainly welcome you to seek a consensus to put it back in if you wish. Regards, PhilipR 04:23, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

Have replied in PhilipR's User talk page to the effect that I agree. Dieter Simon 01:19, 12 December 2006 (UTC)

hello dieter, why you deleted the ecu-peru war????

mathias

Have moved down Mathias's comment to the bottom of my talk page and replied Matthias on his own talk page. Dieter Simon 02:16, 31 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Question on Zimmermann article

Hi Dieter- Interesting article--I never knew a thing about this. At the end of the section on Edith Cavell's execution, there is a sentence whose meaning I'm not clear on. What are you saying was punishable, "cowardice before the enemy," or shooting someone for that cowardice? Thanks. -Eric (talk) 03:52, 19 January 2007 (UTC)

Hi Eric, "cowardice before the enemy" was the crime so-called, I am afraid, and soldiers were shot by most armies involved during World War I. So it was not the act of shooting the poor beggars that was the crime, but the fact that they might incite or commit mutiny, stand accused of cowardice before the enemy, self-inflicted wounds, disobedience, desertion, throwing away their arms and ammunition, etc. The trouble with all these things is, it is easy for us with hindsight to condemn the authorities for committing these shootings, but at the time often weaknesses on the part of soldiers were somewhat unfathomable and nobody knew just how far this would or could spread in an army, after all it was a relatively new dimension in a war.
An overview of this is http://www.shotatdawn.org.uk, it gives the numbers of soldiers shot by all countries involved in World War I. As far as the British Government is concerned, it agreed only as recently as 7.November 2006, that soldiers executed for 'military offences' should be given a a posthumous conditional pardon. The United States military courts executed ten soldiers but for reasons such as murder or rape. The greater number of the populations at the time probably saw it in a different light than we do now. Dieter Simon 02:17, 20 January 2007 (UTC)
Hi Dieter- Thanks for getting back to me and for the info. So, in that last sentence, can we cut out the words "shooting soldiers for" from that last sentence? -Eric (talk) 04:50, 20 January 2007 (UTC)
Yes, agreed, have changed the wording of the last part of the section. If you think you might have a better idea, why not enter it. At least, you were right, we have to make sure to show as to what the "offence(s)" referred. Dieter 00:46, 21 January 2007
I think it reads well like that. Good topic! -Eric (talk) 05:30, 21 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Article in need of cleanup - please assist if you can

The article Advertising slogan, to which you have helped contribute, has been flagged as requiring cleanup.

If possible, we would appreciate your assistance in cleaning up this article to bring it up to Wikipedia's quality standards. If you are unsure what the nature of the problem is, please discuss this on the article's talk page.
If you do not want to receive bot-generated messages on your talk page, please consider using the nobots template on your user talk page


[edit] Images of the inner ear

Hi, Selket, Your images in the stapes, malleus and incus articles is really excellent. However, the item in the image referring to the labyrinth needs disambiguating as it links to the classical Labyrinth rather than the labyrinth (inner ear) where it should link. Good work however. Dieter Simon 02:15, 15 February 2007 (UTC)

Yes indeed, it's been fixed. Thank you for pointing this out. If you see anything else let me know. --Selket Talk 05:14, 15 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Fractions

Thanks for your help! Somehow I have always missed those until you pointed out where they are. Justin Foote 23:51, 18 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] A WikiProject you may be interested in...

Hi there! I notice you're from Surrey - please take a look at Wikipedia:WikiProject Surrey, which I started earlier this afternoon. Cheers.--Vox Humana 8' 21:40, 20 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Backronym question

I'm puzzled over what to do with this edit (from a copyediting perspective). Would you please comment? Thanks in advanced. --Otheus 15:49, 12 April 2007 (UTC)

(Your comment moved from my talk page; reply here please):

Hi Otheus, sorry I have only just become aware of your message re Twain. Very remiss of me. As to the entry "Technology without an interesting ",the backronym, well when you google "Twain "Technology without an interesting name"", without the outer quotes, you get about 14,400 websites thrown at you, and even the UK version of Yahoo nearly 1,500 websites referring to it. As long as we ignore the Wikipedia mirror sites, I think it seems pretty genuine.
  The last two give you even a number of alternatives to the name Twain. It does make you wonder why we bother. But no, these articles are "ours", Wikipedia's lists and we should be proud of them. For once I'd go along with this. Is that what you meant when you asked me?
  What we should be including is that one of my favourite old authors Mark Twain for Sam Clemens ought to be mentioned, "Life on the Misissippi" and all. Anyway, let me know, if there is anything I can do. Dieter Simon 20:36, 12 April 2007 (UTC)

Yes, this idea of mentioning Mark Twain is a good idea....

Was that what you meant when you asked me? LOL, actually, no, :) I was referring to an editor's interjection of "(i.e., 'two of them')" into the Kipling quote. Is it really necessary to explain "twain" here? To me, it breaks the flow of the quote. I'd prefer to footnote it or something else, rather than have a parenthetical interrupting a famous quote. What do you think? --Otheus 20:58, 12 April 2007 (UTC)

See your point, have cleaned it up. On second thoughts, I think the way it is explained now is probably best as that is what is meant by "Twain" in this para, as Mark Twain's name originated with the Mississippi boatmen's shout "mark one", "mark twain" - one, two fathoms deep, as far as I remember, when they dropped their plumb lines or whatever to fathom the deep, and it isn't reall relevant. Dieter Simon 22:28, 12 April 2007 (UTC)
Thanks --Otheus 05:46, 13 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Selsdon

I see you have writen on Forestdale. Do you have any interest in Selsdon

Hi, Breakfast 100, I have already been involved in the article "Selsdon", if you look in "history" I added new content on 12 June 2005, 14 Feb. 2006, and 11 Apr 2006, which constitutes most of the introductory para, and the "History" para of Selsdon. Dieter Simon 22:27, 19 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Hearing aids and Hearing loss

The link I tried to add was removed because you considered it spam. If you go to the "US and News and World Report" site and do a search on hearing aids, you will find a comprehensive article regarding hearing aids, "Good Vibrations: They're still hearing aids. But they're better--and smaller". In this article the site I tried to add is referenced along with all the other sites that are already in the external link to this article. The following is a quote from the article:

"If Ralph Nader had run a website in the '60s for people with hearing problems, it might have been like Hard of Hearing Advocates. Nothing and no one are beyond criticism on this volunteer-run site. The message board is especially feisty."

I am confused as to how this was perceived as spam as this site does not sell anything and I don't believe there are any advertisements on it either. This is the premier hard of hearing online forum. Also Natalie, an administrator, gave me her blessing for including the link after removing it the other day. Please look at the site and tell me what makes it spam. I will add this to the discussion pages as well. hoha2 19:36 , April 23 2007 (UTC)

Hoha2, nevertheless, you are advertising for your own company, aren't you? Even if you are giving a service, it is still advertising for your own firm. I am sorry that is very much spam, from where I am sitting. Dieter Simon 00:23, 24 April 2007 (UTC)
Dieter, I am not sure what you are talking about. By you argument every external link is a advertisement. Please explain why the other links are not advertisements and this is. I am a hard of hearing member of the forum for the site and have no other affiliation to the site. Where on the site do you see any profiteering occurring? It is an advocacy group for the hard of hearing. "Us News and World Report" acknowledges it's relevancy to the hard of hearing. Please go to the forum and look at its content. It is purely material that all hard of hearing people should read. It has the answers to every question that has ever been asked about hearing problems and how it effects my life and every other hard of hearing person's life. It is run by the hard of hearing for the hard of hearing. It's a world reknown site. Please state what part of the site indicates that :::it is a "company" or a "firm". I am not hyping anything. I am a hard of hearing person who spent decades looking for a resource like this. And that is why I want to put the link up. For myself and for others who are hard of hearing or are geniunely concerned about the cause for the hard of hearing. Next time you respond please provide references to substantiate your argument. hoha2 22:36 , April 23 2007 (UTC)
The first thing I should say in reply to your message is, that you have indeed chosen a rather unfortunate nick in signing off as "hoha2" which obviously refers to the name of the website you are "advocating" ("Hard of Hearing Advocates"). Other editors will connect this with some personal interest. I don't know what your personal involvement in the forum is, you are seemingly more than a mere member of a forum, as you are signing off in this way.
You are also not registered as a "user", you are not a Wikipedia editor as such (hence the red link and on clicking on the user link produces a blank field), but are an editor using Wikipedia for your own purpose (how ever noble). At this stage I should refer you to the guide-lines for WP-users as regards to spam: Wikipedia:Spam, and see "External link spamming" where the first para reads as follows:

Adding external links to an article or user page for the purpose of promoting a website or a product is not allowed, and is considered to be spam. Although the specific links may be allowed under some circumstances, repeatedly adding links will in most cases result in all of them being removed.

The problem is that it is not at all obvious what the website represents, a forum yes, but what else? Is there a hidden meaning? Editors will not get involved in the website if it looks anything like advocating a "cause". So every time you add your external link, it may stay for a while only to be "reverted" at the next opportunity when other editors come across it.
Even if there is no commercial interest involved, it is still promoting a website (and a cause). Perhaps registering as a WP user, and then writing a little para referring to forums which can help those who have hearing difficulties, might alter the perception of what you are trying to do, but don't hold your breath. It will be pounced on for the above reasons, depending on the perception of the editor at the time. There can be no certainty that an external link (or any other content, for that matter) will remain if there is the slightest doubt of "spam", I am sorry, we are an encyclopaedia and not there to promote "causes". However, I wish you luck in your endeavours. Dieter Simon 22:25, 24 April 2007 (UTC)
Once again Dieter your argument is null and void. There is already an advocacy link in the external link for shhh. All the links are either run directly or indirectly by audiologists who obviously make money off the hard of hearing. Are you perhaps associated with the field of audiology? I will add the hoha link. If you or anybody else deletes the link, I will delete every other link. Since aferall no external link meets any of your criteria. Of course I will reference you as the source for the reason why the links were be deleted. hoha2 19:44, 24 April 2007 (UTC)
I am not arguing, hoha, I am just advising you what happens in Wikipedia, nor am I involved to any great extent. You were wondering why and I gave the reason that in Wikipedia anyone can edit an article according to the guidelines. I gave you good advice to register and be an editor on the article and explain what the forums do, rather than just enter an external link which almost certainly would be rmoved. That's all I can do for you. I shall paste this in the two hearing-related articles. Dieter Simon 00:01, 25 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Image:Copy_of_Sweet_chestnut_coppice_DSCF0326.JPG listed for deletion

An image or media file that you uploaded or altered, Image:Copy_of_Sweet_chestnut_coppice_DSCF0326.JPG, has been listed at Wikipedia:Images and media for deletion. Please look there to see why this is (you may have to search for the title of the image to find its entry), if you are interested in it not being deleted. Thank you. User:Gay Cdn (talk) (Contr) 15:16, 13 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Stairway

I removed the steel square because it was just as valid as, say, a welding rig, a paintbrush or a hammer; why are the tools used significant in the context of a stairway? As an architect, I think there are more important aspects of stairs than the tools used to build them, unless it's a how-to article. Lots of things are used to create stairs (although I admit that a square is essential), but do we need to list them all here? Rmasbury 23:22, 6 June 2007 (UTC)

Yes, Rmasbury, I understand, but this is the old problem, as an architect you are totally familiar with the term "steel square" and so find it unimportant. But an encyclopaedia is not meant for the expert/professional of a particular subject or discipline. You as a professional will turn to professional literature, an encyclopaedia however is meant for the person who knows little about the subject but wants to know as much as possible about it. I would have thought it important to impart as much as possible knowledge of the tools used in subject, as well as all the links leading to other articles? If I have never built/designed a staircase/stairway in my life, how would I know there is such a thing as steel square? You admit it is essential. We have probably all decorated our homes before now and therefore know a paintbrush, but a steel square?
Can I ask you to include terms such as these in the article, I know it's boring for you but it's not so for the uninitiated. As one Wikipedian to another I invite you look at it from that person's point of view. I shall put this on your Talk page as well. Thanks Dieter Simon 22:53, 7 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] References in Pollarding

Dieter -

You just tried to do something to the references section I'd added to Pollarding, then undid it again. I'm new to making references work, so I'm not at all sure I'd done it right -- but what were you trying to do, and what didn't work? Richard New Forest 11:24, 21 September 2007 (UTC)

Hi Richard, I was trying to bring your "References" item "Oxford English Dictionary Compact Edition 1971..." up to the first line of the page when you click the ref no. (No 1 in this case) thinking your (although quite correct) way wasn't working, but my shorter method didn't work any better either. The References section is still at the bottom of the page when you click it. I apologise as have already done in the summary. Normally, when you click the link number the reference appears as first line right at the top, so anybody trying to identify what is being linked can see it straight away. See section "Origin and usage of term" in "Pollarding" article.
I am transferring this conversation to your own user talk:page. Dieter Simon 22:26, 21 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Were/was

Coppicing. Quite right! It was what I ought to have written originally, but when someone (75.2.131.200) corrected it I changed it back. Just shows how the memory plays tricks, as I could have sworn it all happened in reverse and it was me who changed it to "were" – I was only convinced after going back through the edit history... Thanks. --Richard New Forest 09:17, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] RE:Good work, Pafcool

I wish to pay tribute to the sterling work Pafcool has contributed to the Croydon articles. Well done.

Thanks for that, praises such as this really make working on Wikipedia the more worth while. And thanks for your hard work on creating and expanding the fantastic Croydon Airport page, which has really helped me on the maiun borough article.

Thanks,

Pafcool2 19:15, 20 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Broadstairs

Dieter, recently an anonymous user has made dozens of edits to Broadstairs, Thanet, Margate and certain other articles that have been full of spelling, punctuation and formatting errors. S/he has ignored the proscription against self-links, and repeatedly linked the same words in violation of WP:CONTEXT. To make matters worse, s/he usually places periods and commas after a space and immediately before the next word, instead of placing them at the end of a word and leaving a space before the next word. Finally, s/he has regularly made edits that reflect personal opinion in violation of WP:NPOV. S/he has ignored all entreaties from other editors to edit properly. I have clean up a lot of her/his messes, and have decided to stop doing so. You fix a few of the errors of her/his last edit, so I fixed the remainder, but in the future, I will go back to reverting. The situation was so bad that these articles were semi-protected against this editor for a while. Ground Zero | t 04:09, 22 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] League of Copyeditors roll call

Greetings from the League of Copyeditors. Your name is listed on our members page, but we are unsure how many of the people listed there are still active contributors to the League's activities. If you are still interested in participating in the work of the League, please follow the instructions at the members page to add your name to the active members list. Once you have done that, you might want to familiarise yourself with the new requests system, which has replaced the old /proofreading subpage. As the old system is now deprecated, the main efforts of the League should be to clear the substantial backlog which still exists there.
The League's services are in as high demand as ever, as evinced by the increasing backlog on our requests pages, both old and new. While FA and GA reviewers regularly praise the League's contributions to reviewed articles, we remain perennially understaffed. Fulfilling requests to polish the prose of Wikipedia's highest-profile articles is a way that editors can make a very noticeable difference to the appearance of the encyclopedia. On behalf of the League, if you do consider yourself to have left, I hope you will consider rejoining; if you consider yourself inactive, I hope you will consider returning to respond to just one request per week, or as many as you can manage. Merry Christmas and happy editing, The League of Copyeditors.

Melon‑Bot (STOP!) 18:37, 28 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] London Meetup - January 12, 2008

Hi! There's going to be a London Wikipedia Meetup coming Saturday January 12, 2008. If you are interested in coming along take part in the discussion over a Wikipedia:Meetup/London7. The discussion is going on until tomorrow evening and the official location and time will be published at the same page late Thursday or early Friday. Hope to see you Saturday, Poeloq (talk) 01:37, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] I am not available

I shall not be available for a week or so, but will answer queries in a fortnight from now. Dieter Simon (talk) 14:47, 2 May 2008 (UTC)