User talk:Firsfron/Archive 7

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[edit] Messages here

[edit] Turquoise

Neat! Thank you! (I'll just have to get hopping and get to 17K. :) --Fang Aili talk 01:53, 2 December 2006 (UTC)

LOL. :) --Fang Aili talk 02:09, 2 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] AWB and talk page tagging

I saw that you're using AWB to tag pages for wikiprojects--I want to do that too, but I can't seem to get AWB to work right. It skips any redlinked talk page (which eliminates most of the tagging). I have the "skip non-existing pages" box unchecked, so.. I don't know what else there is to do. Grr. --Fang Aili talk 15:34, 2 December 2006 (UTC)

Hi, I've been meaning to thank you for your thorough help points! I haven't had a chance to play with AWB yet, but I'll let you know what happens. Thanks again, Fang Aili talk 14:50, 6 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] A few too many welcomes

My apologies for the excess welcome messages you have received. In particular, my own sent yesterday. I noticed that you mentioned how you had left a message on the co-ordinator's talkpage a while back and did not receive a reply. This was due to personal circumstances that meant Steve was required away from Wikipedia for a fair amount of time and was unavoidable but I do apologise that nobody else such as myself in the capacity of deputy co-ordinator did not notice your message. I would like to assure you that the AMA is not disorganised; now that Steve has returned and the meeting has started, things can only improce which in the past few months they most certainly have. Your decision to leave the AMA is up to you and I completely respect that, however, help from people like yourself can improve the AMA; how it operates and deals with cases. We would love to have you back. Wikiwoohoo 22:06, 2 December 2006 (UTC)

I am glad you liked the note. Thank you for your kind words also :). Wikiwoohoo 13:11, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Thanks

Thanks for this. I actually had to take a short time-out and step away from my keyboard because I was starting to lose my cool. Sometimes I'm just at a loss how to respond to certain types of behaviour. I appreciate your intervention, and if we ever meet in RL, I'll buy you a drink (quality stuff mind you, none of that cheap booze). : ) Doc Tropics 02:32, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] what's next Firs?

Heya Firs - glad you like eoraptor.4. I'd like to take a crack at the diplodocus skull diagram, and whatever genus would be the next most helpful, so if you could point me to a source on the skull (I can deal with primary literature too), and either a list or suggestion on the genus, I'll be set for a while. Debivort 06:44, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Dino images

Sure thing! I'm just about done with my big "road trip", so I've got a bucnh of time this weekend to edit, and by next week I'll be a proper wiki addict again ;) Dinoguy2 14:18, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Othnielosaurus

Thanks for the compliment - for some reason I just had an urge to revise a Morrison hypsil.J. Spencer 21:36, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Barnstar

Hey Firs, thanks. I really appreciate it. ArthurWeasley 07:54, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] glad to hear it

if you're in favor of admin review, i'm glad to hear it. obviously admins aren't all of a single mind but its pretty obvious there is a lot of admin abuse going on and it might not be coincidence that admins piled on when kelly made that her cause. but, as i said in my comment, there are other reasons to vote against kelly: she deletes userboxes and pisses people off.

if you're running for arbcom i'll give you a support vote in a heartbeat. if you are opposed to admin abuse i encourage you to vote against user:nandesuka, a very abusive admin.

Justforasecond 00:21, 6 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] 198.166.51.227

A user at this IP address has twice changed information in the introduction of the Chinese Taipei at the 2006 Asian Games page to note that Taiwan is a part of the People's Republic of China. The introduction I put in meets all Wikipedia standards in the naming and explanation of the name for information purposes. This vandalism violates this. Thank you. ludahai 魯大海 04:48, 6 December 2006 (UTC)

He can't be talked to. He simply makes his statements and puts in his information. My content is the approved content based on agreements that have been made. There is no cause to put in that Taiwan is a Province of China in a Chinese Taipei page. It is unwarrented given the nature of this situation. ludahai 魯大海 05:06, 6 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Your input is requested

Your input would be appreciated at this Request for Comments. Kelly Martin (talk) 18:44, 6 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Re: ArbCom vote

Thanks for your message, Firsfron. I perhaps overstated the case a bit when I said "multitudes". Obviously, a lot of people have perfectly valid reasons for opposing KM's election, and in fact I agree with many of those reasons (but I supported in good conscience because I don't believe civility is a crucial issue for a non-admin arbitrator, as long as she can work well with her colleagues; she also acknowledged past mistakes and proved she was capable of civility on her Questions page). My reaction was primarily to those opposing who seemed, to me, to have made a rash decision, such as those asking if her candidacy was a joke and those who simply wrote "No" several different ways, as if the very idea of her candidacy was absurd. I apologize for being unfair to those with reasonable thoughts on the topic. Powers T 23:56, 6 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] re: ANI

Upon further thought, I agree with you. Perhaps I interpret the blocking policy far too literally. While Elaragirl's opinions frequently mirror my own, I have never been accused of incivility, and appreciate how poorly sarcasm translates over the Internet. A short block may help her gain some perspective on her actions. I have also dropped her a note advising her to stay away from XfD/DRV for some time, which I hope wasn't too forward of me. Cheers, riana_dzasta 19:53, 7 December 2006 (UTC)

I largely agree with what you said on my talk, and since community consensus is that the block was proper, I will rethink my thoughts in accordance with that. If I had been in your position - positions fully reversed - I still would not have blocked, but perhaps that it simply a matter of personal preference. I don't bear any ill will towards you for this - it's not in my nature to hold grudges. I also still think it is a slight conflict of interest to tick a user off for incivility and then to block them for the same offence - 2 pairs of eyes are better than one - but again that is not the consensus opinion, and I will respect that. However, should I ever become an administrator, I will act in accordance with my principles outlined here. I do not think that this is, in itself, a bad thing - too much caution is far better than too little. You may have some advice for me on this matter
Perhaps we crossed wires on my last comment at ANI. I merely meant that most people thought that on that occasion Elaragirl had not crossed the line - not that a request for civility is laughable! Best, Moreschi 21:19, 7 December 2006 (UTC)

I also want to just say that while I might have handled it slightly differently, that is more an issue of differences in style than any problem I have with your action. I think I've made this clear through various posts scattered across different discussion threads on this, but I just wanted to communicate my viewpoint on this to you directly. I think your action was well measured and entirely within process. I also think that your previous interaction with Elaragirl regarding the prior civility issue was more about miscommunication and misunderstanding on both sides than any indication of wrong doing or ill intent on either side. You have my complete respect on all accounts as does Elaragirl for the maturity with which she handled your action. This is an example of how it's supposed to work—too bad it's more the exception than the rule. —Doug Bell talk 20:19, 8 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Stego revert

You beat me to the revert by seconds. I get three whole google hits on "Sagisaurus", none of them reliable. Thanks, Firsfron of Ronchester 07:37, 8 December 2006 (UTC)

Yep, this anonymous user 216.159.152.96 continues adding nonsense on different unrelated pages on wiki. Do you want to send him a warning? ArthurWeasley 07:48, 8 December 2006 (UTC)
Just have. You can send warnings too, you know. (Not that you have to, or anything; just some people don't know they can). Thanks for your quick reflexes. Firsfron of Ronchester 07:54, 8 December 2006 (UTC)
P.S. I promise to have a good look and review your wonderful images on the image review page tomorrow, but I am dead tired and need to sleep. I am not intentionally ignoring your work, I swear! Best wishes, Firsfron of Ronchester 08:25, 8 December 2006 (UTC)

Yes I know, but I was too lazy to look for the appropriate message and was just about to go to sleep. Back again on-line now. There is no hurry for the images, take your time. Cheers. ArthurWeasley 18:35, 8 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Mail

I sent you an email, and I'm going on a twoday wikibreak with my daughter. wry grin You could have indef banned, me, you know. I'm glad you didn't. --ElaragirlTalk|Count 20:54, 8 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Administrator help, please?

I'd rather come to you than anyone else because I feel more comfortable corresponding to you than another admin I'd rather not mention. Anyway, RMc is edit-warring at WKBS-TV (Philadelphia) over a line I believed to be trivial to the article. I told him/her this when I deleted the line, but they brought it back. And again, and again, and again. This user claims I have been uncivil with my actions and comments towards him/her, and I haven't -- in fact, it's been the opposite.

The questionable line revolves around the final WKBS broadcast, in August 1983 being the inaugural Kickoff Classic college football game. Rollosmokes 01:47, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for intervening, but RMc has apparently chosen to ignore the admin's decision. He has brought the line back two more times, and I and Mattderojas had to clean it up again. And he continues to be uncivil towards me on my talk page. Rollosmokes 17:10, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] WTVT help needed

The WTVT article is a huge jumbled mess and is in danger of being deleted because it reads like an ad, rather than an encyclopedic article. If it is possible to maybe take a look at the article and recruit other WikiProject Television members to help out with the inprovement of the article, it would be appreciated. Wslupecki 13:37, 9 December 2006 (UTC).

I'll take a crack at cleaning it up. Rollosmokes 17:17, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Dinosaur entry

Dear Firsfron:

(1) As to your only two specific comments, "Pteradactyl" is indeed a SUBCATEGORY of pterosaur. Just check the Wik.

Furthermore, if you had examined my full entry, you would have noted that I had further changed this to "Pteradactylus" (the genus).


(2) As to your second comment, you should read the MANUAL OF STYLE, section 3, entitled "Article titles."

It states that all SYNONYMS are to be boldfaced. And it gives just ONE example, in which MULTIPLE boldfaces are used ...

Incidentally, my interest in bolding stems from my discovery that some articles are IMPOSSIBLE to locate without knowing the particular choice of term the originator has used: For example, the search for "Foraminifera" yielding nothing because the first writer only employed the dig-slang of "Foram." {I got this corrected.}

Furthermore, I have repeatedly encountered REDUNDANT articles in various disciplines (NOT LINKED at all to oneanother) due to this parochialism of vocabulary.


I do appreciate your efforts to promote Wik consistency. But I would appreciate it more if you could reinstate those of my modifications which you feel you could live with.


Feliz navidad,

Prof. Ralph Bastedo, Ph.D. (emeritus)


Post scriptus:

Since I am an old fuddy-duddy who doesn't know how to do such things as "signature" -- and I am no longer interested in adding to my resevoir of memories (!) of Fortran IV, COLBALT, and Wordstar 4.0 -- I can be reached at < Dr.Bastedo@yahoo.com >


—The preceding unsigned comment was added by Dr.Bastedo (talk • contribs) 21:54, 9 December 2006 (UTC).

[edit] Admin coaching

I've taken the liberty of updating your admin coaching status. Bummer that Exir is blocked. Let me know if you'd like a new student, or you could try to figure out if someone here still needs one. --Fang Aili talk 23:13, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

Hi Fang Aili,
Thanks for your note. It is definitely a "bummer" that Exir is unable to edit, through no fault of his own. But I guess that's communism for you. I had intended to wait for Exir, hoping the block would be brief, but it seems it will not be. Therefore, since it appears you're now the one dishing out the trainees, feel free to send another student my way. Best, Firsfron of Ronchester 23:21, 9 December 2006 (UTC)
LOL, "dishing out the trainees". Well I took over coordination because it seemed to be foundering.. HighwayCello left and it was deteriorating rapidly. I don't want the program to die, so I took over. I think I at least have a reliable volunteer list now, but the request list is a mess. I'll let you know when there are students to be had. --Fang Aili talk 23:26, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

Would you like to coach User:Fabrib? He's near the top of the list, and he just said he still wants a coach. Let me know if you'd like a co-coach, and if so, who you'd like to work with. :) --Fang Aili talk 20:49, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Template ... script

Yes, how strange... Rich Farmbrough, 11:28 10 December 2006 (GMT).

Ah User:Portal namespace initialisation script is flagged as a bot, but not User:Template namespace initialisation script. Mystery solved. I have manually changed it. Rich Farmbrough, 11:40 10 December 2006 (GMT).
See also [1] Rich Farmbrough, 11:43 10 December 2006 (GMT).

[edit] Dinosaur project

Yes, I'll look it over this week, or later, depending upon whether the folks doing Expressionist architecture still want a review. For a FA review I will be tough (see my comments on the Sei whale talk page), although I know less about dinosaurs than marine biology. I would like to see Wikipedia excel in this area, though, dinosaur articles, whale articles, organisms in general. KP Botany 18:07, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Brachiosaurus

the change i made on that page is accurate

[edit] The last word on the nine words

Let me see if I have this straight. 1) I add nine words to the WKBS-TV page; 2) Rollosmokes has a hairy conniption fit, insulting me in the process (a common reaction for this guy when someone dares edit "his" pages)); 3) I respond in kind, and 4) I get banned for "personal attacks"!

Boy, that's rich. Are you guys all on the same bowling team or something?

This has gone well beyong the WKBS-TV page; there's principle involved here, which I why I keep pursuing it.

I'm going to edit WKBS-TV one last time. The admins have a choice to make:

1) Leave it alone, or 2) Revert it yet again, which sends the message that if a user jumps up and down and waves his arms (and has the right friends), he can get his way.

Your choice, fellas. RMc 11:31, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Admin coaching request pages

Please comment here. Thanks! --Fang Aili talk 18:25, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Question

I found on one of your pages you made reference to census information. Where would I find population numbers for the 1960 census? Thanks Tonybengston 19:45, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Thanks

Hello Firsfron, Thanks for the info. Tonybengston 20:24, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Littleton

Why does Littleton appear under I? For Iowa? Thanks Tonybengston 20:37, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Chatham

Hi Firsfron, I don't have a problem with combining the two. Although would it still be found if just searching for Littleton, Iowa? I don't know much about how searching on Wikipedia works, but I found if I search for just Littleton or Chatham, only those towns in other states come up. Tonybengston 22:25, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Admin coaching

Yah thanks, Im very interested in becoming an administrator and would be very happy to have such an experienced coach as you. ;-) --Fabio 14:29, 12 December 2006 (UTC)

Great :-) i've created a sub-page as you wanted user:Fabrib/Admin coaching, so we can get started as soon as you wish ;-) oh yah, u can call me Fabio--Fabio 18:22, 12 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Progress

Seriously: It does me no good to let my temper get me in trouble. Trivia: It really does help. Typing all the vitriol and insults out allows me to get rid of the anger. I may have to write about this further. --ElaragirlTalk|Count 22:49, 12 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] re: WP Dinosaurs reorg

Thankd for reorganizing the WP:Dinosaur page. Looks much better. You know, we've been adding and adding to that page for a year, now, and things tend to get disorganized after a while... Firsfron of Ronchester 04:12, 14 December 2006 (UTC)

No problem! If you get a moment, you might want to scan the first 5 bullets of this section. They were sprinkled through the previous version, and I'm not sure they make sense collected as a group now. All the original content is still there by the way, with the exception of the "descendent project" section, which was empty. Debivort 05:13, 14 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Hypsilophodon

yes, by all means go for it. (pushed for time) cheers. Cas Liber 14:02, 14 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Dinosaur wish list

Your list of the most wanted genera illustrations (Wikipedia:WikiProject Dinosaurs/Image review/To Do List) is shrinking at an alarming rate. Only one left! You might want to fill it up pretty soon ;) ArthurWeasley 22:07, 14 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Boxing Association

hi Firs, i'm having this little problem. i just made an article titled: Amateur International Boxing Association (AIBA) because i was under the impression that it was the meaning of the abbreviation. However, i found out that it is actually named International Boxing Association (AIBA). an article titled: International Boxing Association already existed which is not amateur and has nothing to do with the Olympics and the Asiad. Do i need a disambiguation page for this? and how can i rename the articles to International Boxing Association (IBA) and the one i just made International Boxing Association (AIBA). if it's not too much to ask, can you help me with this. thanks a lot! --RebSkii 17:47, 17 December 2006 (UTC)

thanks for your help. i moved the article to International Boxing Association (Amateur). i hope it is right. but when i looked at the AIBA page, i noticed that you made the link to the organization's official website, which is an external link. is that right? --RebSkii 20:07, 18 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Re:Admin coaching

Thanks for kind words. You were a great admin coach too, and you really helped me out with Exir. I now have two students, and I am using many of the things you did with Exir to help me coach those two. Anyway, best of luck in your future endeavors. =) Nishkid64 17:59, 17 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Edit warring: User: William Mauco/User:MariusM

You've blocked both of us in the past, and now we are at it again. Please see Transnistria's edit history, 16:23 thru 17:55, and User_talk:MariusM#Banned_users. A large part of our disagreement boils down to an interpretation of 3RR and WP:BAN and I believe that an admin like you (whove blocked us both in the past) can help us avoid an escalation here, and future run-ins, by setting the record straight and giving us a third party opinion. - Mauco 18:12, 18 December 2006 (UTC)

Obviously, I don't agree with you. WP:BAN is telling about reverting any edit made in defiance of a ban. Banned user Greier didn't edit in defiance of a ban, his edit was previous of the ban and was discussed in talk page. It was a legitimate edit. Fact that Greier was banned afterwards (without any relation about the edit we discuss) does not mean that everything he wrote in Wikipedia in one year should be removed. Also, it doesn't mean that nobody else can share Greier's view about a certain edit. I told that I share his view before his ban and I have the right of editing myself. I was not alone restoring Greier's paragraph. Regarding Greier's ban, I consider an abuse see full story, but Greier himself must protest. There are some double standards in Wikipedia, I already noticed them [2], while William Mauco broke 3RR 6 times, without being blocked, Greier was blocked 2 weeks for one 3RR, he was also accused as being sockpuppet of permabanned user Bonaparte, which was not true (nobody has responsabilities in Wikipedia for fake accusations), and at the end was fakely accused for breaking 3RR (in fact he did 5 reverts in 10! days), blocked one week and afterwards the block was extended to a permanent ban. There are some admins in Wikipedia who want to push pro-Russian expansionism POV through cleaning Wikipedia of users who oppose those views. I saw recently an other opponent of Mauco (EvilAlex) was blocked for 3RR without a 3RR report being made against him. Also, please notice that in Transnistria article Mauco didn't revert only Greier's paragraph, he also reverted other changes which he covered pretending that he is only reverting banned user Greier.--MariusM 23:45, 18 December 2006 (UTC)
You can get blocked for 3RR without a specific report. It is all about the spirit in which you edit. If you show yourself to be an edit warrior, you can get the knife - even though you may think that you get off on technicalities. This is what happened to EvilAlex recently, and what can just as well happen to you and me. Instead of wikilawyering, the best thing to do is really to get a grip on what this is all about. The idea is that this is collaborative editing, and not a pissing contest. - Mauco 23:51, 18 December 2006 (UTC)

Hi Firsfron. I want just to inform you that at least one other admin disagree with your and Mauco's interpretation of WP:BAN [3].--MariusM 10:20, 19 December 2006 (UTC)

The full story here, of course, is that in order to get this favorable-to-him second verdict, MariusM went vote-shopping by actively soliciting the opinions of Romanian admins whom he knew from past interaction would be friendly to his POV.[4] [5] Please compare this to what I did: I solicited only the opinion of admins who had blocked us for past editwarring. - Mauco 14:21, 19 December 2006 (UTC)
Real full story: Mauco told me to ask for other admins' opinion [6], I followed Mauco's advice. The admin who answered is not Romanian, but Jewish.--MariusM 13:31, 20 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] re: barnstar

Thank you for the barnstar and your kind words! :) --Fang Aili talk 14:14, 19 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Calm will prevail

Ah, I'm a hothead, so I always sound like one, but I'm calm, I'm calm.... I don't care if you decide for me or against me, or for the other user or agsinst him/her, but I do get irritated at being ignored, especially after bothering with those diffs (although not as much since I learned to ignore the directions), being told unsupported accusations have no place on Wikipedia, then watching others repeatedly get away with them. Thanks, KP Botany 00:58, 20 December 2006 (UTC)

Yes, I guess I realize it happens to everyone, but it bothers me that it seems to happen so often to anyone who complains about this user--on the other hand, I'm not a neutral party at this point, am I? It is nice to hear that it has happened to others, although it should not be happening to anyone. KP Botany 01:28, 20 December 2006 (UTC)

Hi, re. your block of Tajik: Being the admin most involved with this dispute so far, I had the impression this thing was just now steering towards a somewhat more civilised state. Since we instated the 1RR restriction on Tajik and E104421 the other day, these two users were civilly discussing things for the first time in weeks, just yesterday. So at this moment, the block might be a bit counter-productive. Fut.Perf. ☼ 06:15, 20 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] I would like to know what is the proper procedure to add an article.

To whom it may concern,

I tried to add "Ozura " to Wikipedia again, but i didn't manage save it and there is a "Final warning" message sent to me.

1. I am using "Ozura" instead of "Ozura Mobile" and wikipedia mentioned that i cannot use a broad Google search keyword. So i did not use it. 2. I did not upload any logo/pictures for this time. 3. I did not write a list of the games in the website.

I am just followed what excatly "Gameloft" did, however "Ozura" page keep deleted by Wikipedia.

Could you please explain this to me clearly.

Thanks for your time. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 58.71.154.145 (talk) 00:40, 21 December 2006 (UTC).

[edit] Xiasauridae

I can't find any references to this family in the usual places. The authority listed is Osmond (2006), but I can't find any references to such a paper. Looking at User:Crocodileman's userpage, he has a lot of families listed that he seems to just have "made up" under the notion that plesions need to be placed into a family, and if no family has been named for them it's ok to coin one yourself based on the genus name ("Sigilmassosauridae", "Eotyrannidae", etc.). I suspect Osmond (2006) may even be Crocodileman, and he's just trying to cite his own unpublished 'research'. I think the page should be deleted unless he can provide a full cite for the family having been created. Dinoguy2 14:43, 21 December 2006 (UTC)

I checked Crocman's contribs back until around July (there weren't that many). By that point it looked like any problematic edits had already been fixed. Dinoguy2 19:54, 21 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] The Yellow Brotherhood of Llamas deletion.

I guess there was not enough viable sources or evidence to keep the page posted. I would have to say that how troubling is that when a new "Way of Life" cannot be represented in such a dignified source medium as this. I do thank you for all the work you had to complete in order for this to be deleted.

Sincerely,

DH —Preceding unsigned comment added by 63.64.39.28 (talk • contribs)

[edit] User talk:Thejax

Hey, there! Wondering if you had any thoughts or comment regarding this user's current unblock request -- they seem to be claiming that they left their account open, and someone was abusing it. They do seem to have a prior edit history, at least. Any thoughts? Luna Santin 10:08, 23 December 2006 (UTC)

Gotcha, thanks. Luna Santin 21:47, 23 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] My Request for Adminship

Firsfron/Archive 7

Thanks for your support on my successful Request for Adminship (final result 78 Support /0 Oppose / 1 Neutral) I have now been entrusted with the mop, bucket and keys. I will be slowly acclimating myself to my new tools over the next months. I am humbled by your kind support and would certainly welcome any feedback on my actions. Please do not hesitate to contact me. Once again, many thanks and happy new year! All the best, Asteriontalk 16:12, 27 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] greetings!

hi firs, according to your userpage, your first edit as a registered user was made today, the 27th of December 2004.

 The Wiki Birthday Cake
I hereby give you this Wiki Birthday Cake for your second year edit birthday and wishing you the best for years to come. Cheers! --RebSkii 16:51, 27 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Caught in autoblock

Your request to be unblocked has been granted for the following reason(s):

There has been some very intense abuse originating from this IP range, recently -- you had nothing to do with that, but unfortunately the IP addresses in here are very dynamic, so the only options are "block nothing" and "block everything." I've worked out a trial soft-blocking, provided that I'll be taking care of the damage that this unblock will probably cause. There's no perfect solution, here, but I didn't feel that sitting by and watching so many users blocked for things they had no part in would be appropriate. You should be able to edit, at this moment, but please do be wary of such blocks in the future -- I can't make any absolute promises, except that I'll do my best.

Thank you for your time and patience.

Best regards.

Request handled by: Luna Santin 09:59, 28 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] You blocked too?

Egad. I have just been unblocked. Now to find an admin....Cas Liber 07:02, 28 December 2006 (UTC)

Yes, I'm autoblocked. apparently many people have been caught in this. I'd love to vote on the Diplodocus FAC, but... :) Firsfron of Ronchester 07:44, 28 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Admins open for recall

Since you are a part of that group, I though you may be interested in this. (And oh, an autoblock, that's rough! I hope it is/was short.) --Fang Aili talk 14:48, 29 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Oplosaurus

Thanks! I was really surprised to find out that it was being compared to a mosasaur, and not to an armored dinosaur, like all the old books said. I guess either no one could find the citation, or the authors couldn't read French! J. Spencer 01:43, 30 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Reply

I didn't mean to. I only meant to get rid of one of my comments. I apologize for the problem. Bushcarrot (Talk·Desk) 05:24, 30 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] My page

I updated my page. Mauco didn't ask to remove his name from my page, only to tell the truth, which I did. What I written is not a personal attack, but about one of Wikipedia sources - "Tiraspol Times", and is relevant to disscuss the sources we have in Wikipedia. Fact that Tiraspol Times didn't had a printed edition at the end of October 2006 is correct, even chief editor of Tiraspol Times recognized that they operate on-line, while he was newbie at Wikipedia: [7].--MariusM 20:16, 30 December 2006 (UTC)

Note: User:Jayjg asked and received confirmation that User:MarkStreet is indeed editor of Tiraspol Times.--MariusM 20:19, 30 December 2006 (UTC)

How can this user claim as a fact that "Fact that Tiraspol Times didn't had a printed edition at the end of October 2006 is correct". The editor of the Times said that they operate online "most of the time". You can do both. We had a letter from one of their journalist to another editor where he explained that they did both (and this was in October, or before, if I recall). I feel that MariusM is in contravention of WP:USER and that his actions should be stopped. - Mauco 20:30, 30 December 2006 (UTC)
Regarding personal attack on Mauco, in fact is he the one who made the most personal and unjustified attacks: Here he told that he is "disgusted to his bones" by me, claiming that I want to deny mistreatment of Jews in WW2 (while I didn't edit anything related to Jews). He stopped only when a Jewish editor (admin) told he don't agree with those attacks. I am in fact very moderate about Mauco, who is exhausting the community patience. See for example what other users told about him: Peteris Cedrins (registered Wikipedia 20 June 2005, never received any block)[8], [9], Peters J. Vecrumba (user registered at Wikipedia in 3 December 2005, was never blocked) [10], Greier [11], Ldingley [12], EvilAlex (this one is from Transnistria - comment about Alexander Litvinenko, who was allegedly killed by Russian agents, poisoned at a sushi bar - see Wikipedia article) [13]--MariusM 21:54, 30 December 2006 (UTC)
Can you please tell to Mauco stop deleting other's comments in MY usertalkpage? He deleted your last comment [14], I think he want to create the impression that I agree with the real existence of Tiraspol Times, not that somebody else removed the comments from my userpage. To hide his deletion he added a comment which is not targeted for me, but for somebody else.--MariusM 22:44, 30 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Thanks for the Barnstar

Thank you for the Barnstar! J. Spencer 00:47, 31 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Re: DuMont

Anytime, my friend. Happy New Year, and great job on the DuMont article (and all of your other WP activities). -- Kicking222 21:23, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Optimist

The Barnstar of Good Humor

The Barnstar of Good Humor
...for all round pervasive optimism. cheers Cas Liber 22:04, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

Oh frig, I missed it...Cas Liber 22:22, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Laornis

I don't have it on me, but I should be able to get a hold of it in the next couple of days, no problem. J. Spencer 04:51, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

Have you received my message re:Laornis? The upshot is, I got two articles as PDFs, but neither of them discuss what you wanted to know. J. Spencer 04:35, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Harry Potter

Thank you for welcoming me. Is there something like this made just for Harry Potter? If there is, I will likely be spending much more time there.--MHRTWR 06:27, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Re: admin coaching

I have answered your question on my talk page. --Cyde Weys 16:47, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Intimidation against other Wikipedia editors

Dear Firsfron, as you took the task to mediate the dispute between me and Mauco, I want to bring in your attention a fact that I consider unacceptable: Intimidation of other Wikipedia editors who may be inclined to have same opinions as me. In this edit Mauco warned User:Dl.goe to “watch his steps carefully” and previously he wrote to Dl.goe “Be careful with the company you keep, DI.goe, because in the future, this will reflect badly on you” [15]. All those happened because I asked Dl.goe to share his thoughts about the article History of Transnistria, where I had an edit war with Mauco. Is the same thing Mauco did with User:Pernambuco [16], with the difference that, contrary than Mauco, I didn’t indicate to Dl.goe what position he should take. Pernambuco is an editor which sided with Mauco previously in other disputes, he is part in an open mediation with me and Mauco [17]. I consider this kind of language used by Mauco to intimidate Dl.goe as unacceptable. Dl.goe may or may not have the same opinions like me in the article about which I asked his opinion, but telling him that if he share the same opinions like me “this will reflect badly” on him or “watch your steps carefully” is intimidation and is unacceptable. In Wikipedia we should have the freedom of expressing our opinions in talk pages. Also, I believe that asking opinion from an other editor is normal, Mauco also did it (including with you, this was the way you start being involved in this mess). I believe also that I didn’t became the black sheep of Wikipedia with which other editors should be afraid sharing the same opinions because “this will reflect badly” on them. Please explain those things to User:William Mauco. Thanks.--MariusM 23:30, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

The last user who played along with MariusM on these games got blocked before the day was over. The page that they both "worked on" got full protection as a result.[18] My message to D1.goe, whom I know from lots of other pages, was to make sure that he did not fall into the same trap. We do not want him blocked, and we do not want any more pages locked. Oh, and just so we are clear that this is not an isolated case: MariusM leaves a trail of locked pages everywhere he goes ... Media in Transnistria is currently under full protection, after he started edit warring with me. And less than an hour ago, another admin was forced to put History of Transnistria under full protection. This happened 13 minutes after MariusM showed up and reverted some of my work. The admin restored some of it, then protected the page, and then wrote a message to the effect that these issues should be handled via Talk and not via revert warring. I don't mean to point fingers, but I do see a pattern, and there is nothing wrong with telling others to be careful in such a situation. - Mauco 00:50, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Stethacanthus

Hey Firs, I noticed the image in the taxobox of Stethacanthus is a copyvio with no source and no permission. Since you are an admin you can probably do something about it (like deleting it as a copyright violation or mark it as such). Thanks. ArthurWeasley 00:01, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

How about this one: Image:Janjucetus.jpg used in the article Janjucetus, source is indicated but I do not see any permission from the author ? ArthurWeasley 03:50, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Your FA work on DuMont

I really like what you are doing. I find it very admirable. I've been working on getting WP:TV* out of the slumps since about March this year. (with a rather big wiki break in between :D ) I have made large contributions to the policies of the TV projects, the television infobox, the tv-stubs and the List of Episodes template. Anyways, i think it's great what you are doing, and was wondering if you might be interested in setting up something similar to Wikipedia:WikiProject Books/Assessment, Wikipedia:WikiProject Books/Worklist and similar collaboration projects for the Television articles with me. I hope that having more then one person on such a thing will automatically attract others. There is a lot of work to do, and it seems that with all the fanboy editors, no one is really getting around to the really important stuff. Please drop me a line and tell me what you think. TheDJ (talk • contribs • WikiProject Television) 05:29, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] criteria for deletion

I did recheck the criterion on speedy, and I of course find it as you say, and, in my view, incompatible with every statement about notability everywhere else in WP. And I do check speedies, and for things I recognize as notable and think can be clearly demonstrated as notable I go to the trouble of putting in a appropriate statement in what seems to be the expected language, and often do some editing to the article as well (I make no attempt to do this systematically unless I recognize something & think it can be defended, which is about 1 per day.)

I do not always get all of the proceedure right yet, but I try. I notice some of the others in the debate were also unfamiliar with the provision. Perhaps those who have been editing a very long while learn to accept the odd parts and even the incompatibilities as part of WP life. I hope you're glad that new people are becoming active. If you will look at my edits you will see that they tend to compromise. I dislike the intensity of many quarrels here & have no intention of getting involved in them unless I can help reach a solution.

I recognize the usefulness of speedy in obvious cases, but I see it also being applied to non-obvious cases, and I will perhaps make some comments on that. I also plan to collect & analyze some data about the consistency of deletion practice, but not for a month or two when I'll have the time. I know some others are also looking at how well the various procedures work from a variety of angles. I have some background at that sort of analysis. That will of course be OR, and treated as such.

I intend this as a start of a friendly discussion, and if you have any suggestions I will be interested,and I even hope perhaps that you'd feel like joining the analysis. Two judgments are better than one, especially from people of different backgrounds. I like doing this sort of thing as a group.. which is one reason I'm here. Which talk page should we continue at?DGG 16:08, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for the encouragement. I'd never suggest doing away with speedy, most of it is indeed trash of the hopeless sort, and much of the rest procedural. But perhaps other criteria can be found for getting rid of the trash in a perhaps more objective way. For the examples you give, I would suggest perhaps {{db-nocontext}} or {{db-empty)) , or one might even me crafted to fit the situation, (personal bio less than 25 words?) since it is so common. Let me try two sets of examples:

1A. "The best high school in Mudtown is Central. It was built in 2005." 1B. "The most notable high school in Mudtown is Central. It is notable because it was built as recently as 2005." versus 2A. "INSPEC, prepared by the Institute of Physics together with the American Physical Society, covers in three parts about 250,000 articles a year from the various fields of physics, computer science, and electrical engineering. 2B. "INSPEC, prepared by the Institute of Physics together with the American Physical Society, covers in three parts about 250,000 articles a year from the various fields of physics, computer science, and electrical engineering. It is the most important academic index in these subjects. 2C. "INSPEC, prepared by the Institute of Physics together with the American Physical Society, covers in three parts about 250,000 articles a year from the various fields of physics, computer science, and electrical engineering. It is notable as the most important academic index in these subjects. 1A & 1B are both worth a speedy. They usually get it. (Inspec is a real example of something I need to write the article for) 2A, 2B, and 2C are all equally the stub for an article. I've seen 2A get deleted by someone who doesn't realize the intrinsic importance. Once or twice I've even seen 2B get deleted because of carelessness--or possibly even overliteralness--as well. I don't expect people to always realize, but if it's there for a few days, it can be checked.

I've been commenting, btw, on the CSD proposal for unsourced material; at the latest turn ,it was going to be called something other than speedy, and give people 30 days. DGG 23:24, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Oceans of Kansas

Seeing the AfD on Palaeos led me to the shocking realization that there isn't an article on the Oceans of Kansas website, so I started one.[19] Please add anything if you can, so we can avoid discussing it at all. Also, I'm surprised as all get out that the Smoky Hill Chalk isn't on Wikipedia! But that will take more than a couple of hours to start. KP Botany 19:38, 4 January 2007 (UTC)