User talk:G-Man/Archive 4, Feb-June 2005

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[edit] Wigan borough

  • Borough has a capital B not a small b, hence correction... so why do you keep changing it back?
  • The Wigan Metropolitan Borough and The Metropolitan Borough of Wigan are equaly correct, unlike Wigan borough.
  • When you reverted back to your flawed work, you also deleted an updated list of local places!


[edit] Macclesfield_(borough)

Hi. You deleted some pictures because "they did not need to be there". These are useful pictures of Macclesfield which add to the page rather than detract, so why remove them? Especially as I just drove 10 miles to take the pictures for this purpose. Pictures, once stored, do not cost resources to use as thumbs. Can we agree to leave them be?

Also, your list omits the town of Macclesfield and it duplicates the partial list above it. Peter Hitchmough 23:09, 26 Jan 2005 (UTC) (Macc. Borough resident).

You can put them back if you like I just didn't think there was much point in having the images on both pages, the Macclesfield borough includes much more than just Macclesfield itself. G-Man 19:53, 27 Jan 2005 (UTC)


[edit] Image:Lord_Leycester_hospital_Warwick_1.jpg

Kind of you to fix the wiki text formatting. However I was less impressed with the emboldened image. This was January in Warwick and if images are to have my user name against them, I wold prefer they stayed as they were taken, even if freely licensed. Warwick doesn't get much Mediterranean sunshine which it looks as though it is bathing in the latest version. Sorry , but its back to pale and pastel !
Velela 17:00, 30 Jan 2005 (UTC)

I'm sorry if I've caused offence or anything, I was only trying to improve things. Images on wikipedia are freely editable as well as text. I dont think I changed your original very much, just enhanced the colours and contrast a bit, but if you prefer the pale colourless version that's up to you. G-Man 21:45, 30 Jan 2005 (UTC)
No offence caused or taken, there is quite a fundametal issue here. An image contains the information recorded at a moment in time. In my case, all I do is reduce the size to 1/4 (originals are c 5MB) and upload without change. The problems with subsequent amendment is that anything may be added or deleted and more importantly, as JPG is a lossey format, each time any change is made significant information is lost. This presents a paradox between everything is editable philosophy of Wikipedia and the invitability that such change will inevariably degrade the value and integrity of the information conveyed in the image. Hence my personal wish that images that I upload should only be edited if by so doing the information presented is improved - but that is only a preference and ,in the end, I guess anyone can do what they think fit and reasonable.
Velela 09:58, 31 Jan 2005 (UTC)

Mind you, the original version would still be in the edit history, so nothing would be lost really. As for you saying that my version looked like Mediterranean sunshine, I hadn't noticed that, maybe your monitor is set up differently to mine. I might have gone a bit OTT with the enhancements G-Man

[edit] Stuff, response

Hi. Bloody traditional counties! If I happen to be editing an article with one of those things in it I may well remove it, but I've enough on my plate not to go looking for more things to edit!

I would think Crewe to Kidsgrove should be considered part of the WCML, as it's sometimes used as a diversionary route, though there are no scheduled WCML services over that route. Carstairs to Edinburgh I would have had no doubt in saying was part of the WCML in the days when trains from the south split at Carstairs for Glasgow/Edinburgh, but I'm not so sure now. Do any WC trains still run that way? -- Arwel 21:54, 31 Jan 2005 (UTC)

Thanks, maybe I should look up timetables to see. G-Man 22:07, 31 Jan 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Boston

With regard to your revert of my change to the Boston page:

  1. it's not at all clear that the Massachusetts city is the primary meaning;
  2. even if it were, the point of a disambiguation page is to provide a portal for those looking up the term without second-guessing their intentions — even if one meaning were most common (as it probably is on most disambiguation pages), that wouldn't mean that people should be automatically sent to that article.

I'm not sure why you thought this so important that it should be reverted. If you still think that it is, could we dicuss it before you revert it again? Mel Etitis (Μελ Ετητης) 21:53, 13 Feb 2005 (UTC)

Actually there is a clear and long-standing precedent set at Wikipedia, that the primary meaning of a term should, get the namespace to itself, such as London, Paris etc. There have been arguments about this subject before. And seem as Boston in America is by far the largest and most important place in the world called Boston, it is fitting that Boston should re-direct there. Also if you look at the "what links here" thing to Boston You'lle see that the vast majority of them link to the American city. G-Man 22:13, 13 Feb 2005 (UTC)
But Boston, Mass. doesn't have the namespace to itself — the Boston page was already a redirect. Given that people are going to be redirected anyway, it seems much more sensible that they are all directed to a page from which one jump will take them where they want to go. The alternative is that those who want Boston, Mass. will go there automatically, while others will have to go through two moves. Besides, the precedent might be changing; I've seen a few examples of changes recently (for only one of which – Churchill – was I responsible). And besides that besides, the fact that one usage was much better known could be argued to make it more likely that people using an encyclopædia would be lookng up one of the other uses. (I should stress that this has nothing to do with the fact that I'm from the original Boston — that's just why I found the redirect page in the first place.) Mel Etitis (Μελ Ετητης) 22:24, 13 Feb 2005 (UTC)

The fact that Boston was already a redirect is fairly irellevant. You still havn't answered my point that dozens of links are now going to the wrong place. Also there was a link to Boston (disambiguation) in the Boston Mass article, so anyone looking for lesser know Boston's can easilly find them.

I suggest you raise this question at the village pump. But as far as I'm concerned, the case for Boston re-directing to Boston Mass is pretty overwhelming, and I suspect most people will agree with me. G-Man 22:36, 13 Feb 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Northamptonshire

You voted for Northamptonshire, this week's UK Collaboration of the week. Please come and help it become a featured-standard article. -- Francs2000 | Talk [[]] 22:21, 13 Feb 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Vote on Talk:Gdansk/Vote

Hi. Since you have edited on pages with disputes about the names of Polish/German locations, I would invite you to vote on Talk:Gdansk/Vote to settle the multi-year dozens-of-pages dispute about the naming of Gdansk/Danzig and other locations. The vote has two parts, one with questions when to use Gdansk/Danzig, and a second part affecting articles related to locations with Polish/German history in general. An enforcement is also voted on. The vote has a total of 10 questions to vote on, and ends in two weeks on Friday, March 4 0:00. Thank you -- Chris 73 Talk 00:50, Feb 18, 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Hi!

By chance I discovered you modified the article I developed about Benidorm. You improved and reworded it. And I thank you a lot! I'm from Spain and my English isn't as perfect as I would like it to be. If every wikipedian were like you, I'd learn very much English ;) (lol). I'm a 23 years-old student (like you!) and I agree with some things you say in your user page (Stuff about me)... it's curious... perhaps you are my English me... :Þ (just kidding). Thanks for everything and regards from Spain. NOTE: Is the word disgussion, at the top of this page, a portmanteau of disgusting and discussion? --Carlos Quesada 16:45, 18 Feb 2005 (UTC)

[edit] "Republic of China" and "Taiwan"

Hello G-Man. Thanks for joining the discussion over the titles of several China-related articles. You mentioned that " the Republic of China is a highly misleading title as it implies that it covers the whole of China, which it clearly doesn't, it covers a few islands of which Tiawan is the largest. The Tiawanese government may like to pretend that it is the legitimate government of China, but in the real world it clearly isn't. ".

The fact is that the Republic of China was the government of China until the communists took over. After that they retreated to the island of Taiwan, with effectively control over the island of Taiwan and some islands that are not related to Taiwan for more than half a century. Therefore Republic of China = Taiwan + something else. "Taiwan" is not a good and accurate term to represent the Republic of China. — Instantnood 18:29, Feb 19 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Photos of Brum

Hi G-Man,

Just noticed your WP:FPC of the Oxford canal, and figured from your picture gallery that you are within striking distance of Birmingham and Walsall. As such, I thought I should draw your attention to the Requested picture request for Walsall Bus Station. If you are passing it could be a good target for your shiny new camera. Its a pic I've been meaning to get for a while, but I only occaisionally pass Birmingham on my way to Manchester (actually I've only stopped at Walsall once, to take in the Walsall Art Gallery which makes it worth the stop, but I wasn't aware of the interest in the Bus station at the time). -- Solipsist 22:24, 1 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Erm, I was planning to go to Brum at some point, so I'll see. It depends largely on whether I have the time. I would get there by train so it might be a good excuse to take some pics of the Birmingham Cross-City Line (what a geek I am) G-Man 22:54, 1 Mar 2005 (UTC)

IP address 195.93.21.67 Please stop IP blocking me. Six times is too many, three times in three days is a joke. I haven't done any vandalism, the least you can do is help me to sort out how I can avoid this situation.GordyB 23:20, 8 Mar 2005 (UTC)

[edit] rehash of UK CotW

Hiya, I've made a few modifications to the UK Wikipedians' Collaboration of the Week, and I thought you'd be interested in the new page and helping out again with it, as you have contributed in the past! :) Talrias | talk 21:09, Mar 14, 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Template compression

I notice you changed the Template:British heritage railways so that it has small text. Personally, I think it looked better when using the font-size=85% as this reduces the spacing between lines as well, therefore making the whole template smaller (which is the overall aim). By just using small text it doesn reduce the overall size by as much. What do you think? (Our Phellap 00:13, 15 Mar 2005 (UTC))

I've done a little experiment here to compare them, personally I think the small one is better, and more readable. G-Man 00:22, 15 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Yes I agree that the one with small text (as opposed to 85% text) is more readable. I was just pointing out that the main reason the template is up for deletion is its large size. Perhaps try using 90% text as this is easier to read, but still has compression of line spacing? (Our Phellap 00:28, 15 Mar 2005 (UTC))

Tried it, but the < small > version still looks smaller and more readable to me. The 90% one seems to have a big space between the words. G-Man 00:37, 15 Mar 2005 (UTC)
Have a look now. Getting rid of the bold and making the "England", "Wales" etc. non-italic helps. (Our Phellap 00:42, 15 Mar 2005 (UTC))

Hmmm.. It's better but to my eyes the two versions look almost identical now. And I'm not sure that the top version is smaller than the bottom one. You can play around with it for a bit if you like, I'm going to bed now as it's late, I'll come back tommorow evening. G-Man 00:51, 15 Mar 2005 (UTC)


[edit] Hampton-in-Arden and Shakespeare

Hello, could you explain why you believe As You Like It is set in Hampton-in-Arden? I know of no evidence for this and googling brings up only Wikipedia clones. The play is undeniably set in the Forest of Arden, but why specifically Hampton? The Singing Badger 21:00, 2 Apr 2005 (UTC)

I have certainly found reference to it in books, and have found some reference to it here [1]. It seems that Shakespeare was at least influenced by Hampton. G-Man 21:53, 2 Apr 2005 (UTC)
Sorry to be a nuisance, but do you have any specific details about this what this influence involves? I know the play well, and I honestly find the claim rather baffling. But I'll be happy to be proved wrong! The Singing Badger 22:28, 2 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Well I found it originally in an old guide book to Warwickshire, written in the 1960s which says:

"The names of some of the villages still serve as a reminder of the days when the land was covered by forest: Henley-in-Arden, and Tanworth-in-Arden. Shakespeare is believed to have used Hampton-in-Arden as the scene for most of As You Like It"

Apart from that I have no idea where it originally came from or what the influence involves. But it seems like someone or other believes that it was. G-Man 15:27, 3 Apr 2005 (UTC)

[edit] peak oil

No idea, tons of articles online, checkout http://www.peakoil.net/ zen master T 21:22, 8 Apr 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Picture

it's OK with the picture. Ciao ! --Arno Lagrange ✉ 08:11, 12 Apr 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Tram

Page protection is an administrator-only option, that makes the "edit this page" link disappear. The page was unprotected, but the protection template was not removed. The template simply informs people of why the edit link is missing. --SPUI (talk) 23:17, 21 Apr 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Northampton

I don't understand the move you put in from Northampton, Northamptonshire to just Northampton - doesn't this confuse? As there was a redirect from just the town to the more precise location - isn't this going backwards? Brookie 07:11, 28 Apr 2005 (UTC)

It was sitting at 'Northampton' quite happily for over two years and no-one has ever complained about it. So I dont see any obvious reason for a move, besided it merely created dozens of pointless re-directs. Does it not say which Northampton it is refering to in the article?
As to why you decided to move Daventry, Towcester and Thrapston etc, I have no idea, there are no other places with these names, so as far as I can see the moves were entirely pointless. G-Man 22:24, 28 Apr 2005 (UTC)
I guess we'll just have to disagree! Brookie:A glow in the dark 11:40, 29 Apr 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Thrapston

Hi G-Man. I've requested a move back to Thrapston. It would help if you could go to Talk:Thrapston - Northamptonshire and vote. Thanks Chris Jefferies 21:12, 1 May 2005 (UTC)

Hi again, all sorted while you were away from the keyboard :-) The outcome is at Talk:Thrapston. Chris Jefferies 19:53, 4 May 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Metro counties

Sorry this has taken so long. I couldn't see anything to change in your article. Thanks to the boundary commission I have a couple of years resting from the City Council, but I'll be back.

 garryq 09:17, 12 May 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Andy Mabbett

Hi G-man, Just thought I would make you aware of recent edits and many deletions on Brum pages, I listed them on brum talk questioning why all these deletions seem to be by an annonymous user and then are shortly followed by Andy Mabbett, I am sure it's the same person, regardless the annonymous user shouyld be banned or warned or? please respond on the brum talk page if you get a minute, thanks :) Nick Boulevard 17:55, 26 May 2005 (UTC)

G-man, Andy is almost definately operating under several user names now including bumburglar, an an anonymous ip, he has continued deleting Nick Mason again and Celluloid, he has destroyed the Birmingham military history and is pretending to be different people so as to create a case for deleting everything that I have written even after I removed the copy vio bits, please can you help here if you get chance, I think that if this is removed It may be the last straw for my additions here, what will be the point? If someone like Andy can simply delete work just becauase he 'feels like it' and get away with it then Wikipedia is a complete waste of peoples time, I add work here to improve the Brum article, Andy edits sometimes to improve but mainly to be destructive. 195.92.67.65 18:09, 5 Jun 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Image:C5onroad.jpg

Image deletion warning The image Image:C5onroad.jpg has been listed at Wikipedia:Possibly unfree images. If the image's copyright status cannot be verified, it will be deleted. If you have any information on the source or licensing of this image, please go there to provide the necessary information.

Burgundavia (✈ take a flight?) 09:16, May 27, 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Nuneaton train crash

You added this to Nuneaton rather than Nuneaton railway station? --Concrete Cowboy 23:51, 8 Jun 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Concerned?

Hi G-man,

I hope not to bring a dispute here so I won't point any fingers or accuse anyone of any wrong doing here, please could you simply take a look here and add discussion if you feel you would like to.

Cheers, Nick. Nick Boulevard 18:52, 9 Jun 2005 (UTC)

[edit] A poem from Nick

For those that can't sleep at night or feel that they are better off dead, I've left a light on inside this poem that glows, inside your head.

It starts with your hands, then it warms your toes It softens your smile, why?....

Nobody knows?

[edit] Wrote this when I felt a bit down

Smile heavily into the air - Love is lost but forever there, Joyous laughter locked away in time - echoes of the sunset here will shine,

Hills and mountains understand - a pain so deep yet so carefully planned, The summer wind offers up its cure - then consumes all cries and locks the door.


Actually that one is a bit heavy so I will end with a light note.


Monkey Tamarind keep on hammering your nails of a lazy cashew

plenty of cheese melted over my knees and a chicken that can't say moo!

Nick Boulevard 22:51, 13 Jun 2005 (UTC)

[edit] origin of name "Rugby"

The site of Rugby was likeliest occupied by Anglo-Saxons as soon as most of central England, and any Celtic name would have been (1) replaced by an Anglo-Saxon name, or (2) adapted to Anglo-Saxon phonetics. So, if the original form is Celtic Drochebrig, it would have been adapted to an Anglo-Saxon form, presumably Hrōceburh or the like, so the name Rugby came from Celtic Drochebrig, via Anglo-Saxon Hroceburh. So both theories would be right. See York#Etymology for a better-proved example. I was born in Rugby. I lived in Rugby until I was 22. Anthony Appleyard 06:53, 23 Jun 2005 (UTC)