User:Grutness/archive09

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This file is an archive - please do not add new discussion here - add it to my Talk page

[edit] Stub talk

[edit] HI for Hawaii

Actually, HI is the postal abbreviation (and thus usual abbreviation) for Hawaii. Aside from that, I do agree that it is otherwise unclear and the HI-stub can safely be deleted.--Mitsukai

OK - didn't know that - thanks. Wonder why HI was chosen... it's hardly the most likely choice for a second letter... Grutness...wha? 01:29, 4 August 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Vote changing

Actually, I didn't change my vote. I began by changing a few exceptions to follow the prevailing X-related pattern. Then it became apparent that X-related is an exception to the general stub pattern (which I had noticed but it was a defacto standard). Nobody else proposed removing "-related", so I made that proposal. The discussion on the proposal was obviously becoming entangled and difficult to judge, so I added Approve/Disapprove subsections and I voted Approve. Someone changed the subsections and my vote ended up under X-related even though the proposal was to remove -related. I put my vote where it belonged...and modified proposal phrasing slightly to avoid further pronoun trouble as to what is proposed. (SEWilco 13:55, 5 August 2005 (UTC))

[edit] {{Radio-stub}}

I edited {{Radio-stub}} to make it more general, while most of the stubs are about programs, I felt the stub should encompass all of radio, as I was also tagging a radio station article with it, and there are a few other radio station articles tagged. Best wishes, Ëvilphoenix ^Burn! 09:45, August 9, 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Re: Somerset-geo-stub

Thanks! I'm currently way too busy for doing much Wikipeding at all, but having an article for every settlement is still somewhere on my low priority to do list! Joe D (t) 17:46, 11 August 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Bearstead

I'm somewhat puzzled as to why this should be have reverted to being a stub. Is there not enough information here now for it not to be so? I would be grateful to have some pointers as to what more can said about what is, after all, a relatively small part of this land of ours. I do know the place quite well, and cannot see the reason for it adding to the already heavy burden on the stub lists ... Peter Shearan 14:45, 13 August 2005 (UTC)

A village should have at least a couple of paragraphs, if not more, before it's no longer a stub. A rule of thumb would probably be one screenfull of text. As for the stub list, it's fairly likely there'll be a separate stub list for Kent soon anyway, so it won't get lost - and in any case the UK and England stub categories are going down in size fast due to subdivision of the larger counties (in terms of the numbers of stubs). As to the article itself, there are quite a few things which could probably be easily added bys omeone in the area (which I guess you probably are) - how big is Bearsted? Population? Area? What's its history? How did it get its name? What age is the church? Is the village connected to Maidstone by public transport? Is it connected to anywhere else (my atlas shows it on the main road to Ashford and close to a major junction of the M20). It lies close to the Downs and the North Downs Way. it's close to a river, a tributary of the Medway. Leeds Castle and Stoneacre National Trust site look to be close to it, too. There's quite a bit more that could be written about it. Grutness...wha?

I am somewhat intrigued by your reply, which worries me not a little! Without meaning to be rude, they remind me of what teaching practice overseers used to do: "it was a good effort but could you not have ....."!!! Of course we could, but time and the enormity of the task (ie teaching 30+ kids!) meant that I didn't!!!! The way I see it in this particular and using your criteria, is that in order to destub such articles as these there is a need for in-depth searching to such a degree that us inputters will get pretty disinterested before too many of the articles are complete. There are some 275 villages in Kent, some very small indeed, and many of them do not have anything like the information available to fill even half a screenful of text. They have no local history society, for example, (a primary source); and, taking your suggestions seriatim:

what does "how big is ...." mean?
population: perhaps demographics would be better, but to what purpose? Historical size is often much more of interest, showing changes over time. And with the threat of more and more house-building in Kent the figure will need amending tomorrow!!!
area: where does that figure come from?
History: the external link I gave had a pretty comprehensive history, and it seems unnecessary to try to reduce what is there. Maybe a few more facts, but otherwise ...
how did it gets its name?: in most libraries there are books purporting to explain placename derivations. Unfortunately many contradict others, so the "correct" meaning is often open to doubt
yes it's on the Maidstone-Ashford main road (A20); and there is junction 7 of the M20 a mile to the west; and the old village site was on the north bank of the River Len
your final questions all relate to things not within Bearsted itself. Of course we can mention "closeness" in the way you suggest, but that looks suspiciously like trying to fill the page quota! I never quite understand the need to put "places nearby" as often happens, when all that is needed is an atlas: sometimes there is no connection with nearby places except for proximity. Leeds Castle for instance, is never mentioned in connection with Bearsted: its postal address is Maidstone; Stoneacre is in Otham to the south.

Excuse the length of this comment: I do feel quite strongly about cutting the cloth to the material and not the other way around just for the sake of it! Sincerely Peter Shearan 15:34, 14 August 2005 (UTC)

Fair enough - I understand your points. But a simple demographic is a useful addition (the main reason for the "how big" comment). If there are several suggestions for how the name came about, then listing the main ones as possible explanations would be useful. As for external links, it's useful to many readers to have at least a summary of what the external link will give (the policies of Wikipedia do say that we shouldn't just use external links and leave it at that). With the ephemeral nature of websites, there is no guarantee that any external page linked to will survive, so a short summary of the history is definitely worth considering. I'd agree that most small English villages wouldn't merit much (I wrote the one on the village where I spent my childhood, Croughton, and couldn't manage more than a couple of paragraphs), but Wikipedia's not paper, so adding more information doesn't cost us anything more. Grutness...wha?

Thankyou - I'm content! Peter Shearan 06:14, 15 August 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Video game musician stub type is not specialized

The stub type {{Video game music composer-stub}} is not specialized. There are many places where the stub can be put in, which are articles about video game musicians. There was not enough time to get it specialized. The scope of the stub type is broad enough. There are very many video game musicians listed in Wikipedia. The stub type can also be used as an update. Decimus Tedius Regio Zanarukando 19:11, 18 August 2005 (UTC)

It's extraordinarily specialised. It would be fine for there to be a category for video game musicians, but as a stub type it's terrible. You do know the difference between stub categories and standard categories, don't you? In any case, it's far better you object at WP:SFD than on someone's user talk page. Grutness...wha?

[edit] fire-alarm-stub

I see that you removed fire-alarm-stub and its associateed category. Can you please respond to the question that I posed on the SFD talk page regarding the stub type. It would be useful to see your reasoning, in case such a situation happens again. --TheParanoidOne 07:00, 23 August 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Crown dependency stub

Thanks for the stub work. I now feel liberated to create a few stubby articles on CI topics without risking having an objectionable (to me) UK-geo-stub slapped on them! BTW in response to your comment on the normannité of the islands, over on fr: we're now using. À bétôt! Man vyi 08:49, 23 August 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Apology about hill stubs

DONT GET ANGRY WITH ME. I went ahead with the stupid thing right after I proposed it because I couldn't find/be bothered to wait for the proposals page again. Kinda thought I was doing everyone a favor sorting out the mess that you guys have got, and it certainly helps some people (see Grinner above). I didn't even put most of the stubs in the stupid category anyway. This was my first attempt at making a category and I sure won't be making any more soon. 'Delete the user'. Huh.
- Good. I was angry with you because you deliberately went against the procedure. If my anger was misplaced, I apologise, but it caused a hell of a lot of extra work and time, which could have been taken up on more productive stub sorting. As for you not populating the category, no-one would have populated it if you hadn't made it in the first place. Grutness...wha? 08:59, 25 August 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Re:Re:Apology

Sorry. I wrote the 'apology' in a tearing hurry. I admit that i did the wrong thing, only trying to help. --Mark J 16:31, 27 August 2005 (UTC)

Fair enough. And I'm sorry that my responses probably just made things worse. Truce? :) Grutness...wha? 23:05, 27 August 2005 (UTC)

[edit] canada-edu-stub

Why was this redirected? --Image:Ottawa flag.png Spinboy 18:26, 31 August 2005 (UTC)

answered on Spinboy's user talk page

[edit] RFA

[edit] Thank you! (Humblefool)

Thank you for your support on my RfA! When I submitted it, I was unsure of how I'd do, but the support was great. I promise that I won't do anything too stupid with the trust you've given me. humblefool ®^{Deletion Reform} 19:35, 2 August 2005 (UTC)

P.S. Stop by Wikipedia:Deletion reform!

[edit] I lied (Zscout370)

I decided that I will accept adminship after all. See Wikipedia:Requests for adminship/Zscout370. Zscout370 (Sound Off) 04:08, 4 August 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Thanks and request

Thanks for supporting my RFA. I think, from many users, that I should have asked for this months ago.

To my request part, can you go to your flag maker and describe to me the flag of Belarus they make? I know what the flag looks like, but I do not know if it looks something like Image:Flag of Belarus.png or it has a red box drawn around the white ornament. Thanks again. Zscout370 (Sound Off) 05:34, 11 August 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Adminship (Darwinek)

Can you nominate me for an admin... ...again? :) - Darwinek 15:57, 6 August 2005 (UTC)

Yeah, 'spose so :) Grutness...wha? 01:08, 7 August 2005 (UTC)

[edit] RfA (Flcelloguy)

Thank you for supporting my RfA. I will do my best to serve the Wikipedia community as an administrator. Flcelloguy | A note? | Desk 20:23, 8 August 2005 (UTC)

[edit] BaronLarf's RFA

Thanks for your support. I'm glad that you came back, and I applaud all of your work on the stub types; as someone who's messed up the WP:WSS/ST listing a few times myself, thank you for your patience with us and your dedication with that project. Please let me know if I can help with any particular administrative responsibilities, or if you have any problems with the way I use the admin tools. Cheers. --Baron Larf 01:06, August 11, 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Func's RfA :)

Grutness, your Hayeuppp on my RfA was music to my ears! Thank you very much. :)

Please never hesitate to let me know if you have concerns with any administrative action I may make.

Func( t, c, e, ) 03:44, 11 August 2005 (UTC)

[edit] admin? (Lectonar)

At the moment, I feel that I must decline respectfully and humbly , but thanks for the offer anyway; as I feel you deserve an explanation....

I'm exclusively working at wiki out of my office, as I don't own a computer myself (can you believe that?), so I've only got access to the english and the german wiki (you might have noticed that I don't contribute to the french wiki, although my french is by far better than my english), and no access at all to the "normal" internet, and even the wiki's are only allowed because it's a information source. That's also the reason why I didn't add the asterisk to RickBlock's list, and the reason why I can't add real "quality" material (apart from the translations, which I do just like that without any dictionary).

If you feel that my nomination for adminship could go ahead with these restrictions, just drop me a message, and I'll think about it...thx again Lectonar 11:53, 16 August 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Administrivia

[edit] What do I do?

Sorry to bother you, but I have a bit of a problem. I found someone with a somewhat inappropriate user page. It's not gruesome or anything, but eh... I don't know. I came to you because I know you are an admin, and I know you are currently on. The user is Someoneinmyheadbutit'snotme. It's probably meant to be a joke, but some people may be offended. I hope I did the correct thing by coming to you. Ryan 04:56, August 1, 2005 (UTC)

Thank you. Ryan 05:16, August 1, 2005 (UTC)

[edit] A favor

I've never asked a personal favor from an admin before, but I've reached the end of my rope trying to appeal to Wikipedia offial procedures. There is a user Ronald20 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · block user · block log), who also edits from a Los Angeles Unified School District computer at 204.108.96.10 (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · block user · block log) who keeps adding nonsense to articles. For example, he add stubs to large articles like the Los Angeles Times, and removes them from small articles. I'm convinced that it's a teenager with some sort of learning disability or behavioral problem such as OCD or Asperger's. You can read some of the gory details at WP:VIP, and WP:AN/3RR where I've made appeals but had no response. There is also more info on Ronald20's talk page, where I show that a couple of the school IPs that he uses have already been blocked for vandalism. I've done everything that I can, including leaving comments for him in the articles that he regularly edits—which I know that he's seen because he's deleted many of them. I would really appreciate it if you would block his User account and the single school IP for 24 hrs. He will still be able to edit as an anon from his home dialup account, but maybe it will show that we are serious. If that doesn't work, I guess the next step will be to protect the couple of dozen pages that he regularly edits for a few days. BlankVerse ∅ 19:03, 3 August 2005 (UTC)

Done. First time I've ever blocked anyone - I hope I did it right. Grutness...wha?

Replied on my talk page.-gadfium 02:37, 4 August 2005 (UTC)

THANK YOU!!!! I am sorry to have laid such a heavy task on you, but out of all the admins that I regularly deal with, you are the one that I trusted the most to do the right thing. I've also left messages at User talk:Gadfium and user talk:Lucky 6.9. BlankVerse ∅ 08:53, 4 August 2005 (UTC)

Thank you very much for that compliment! As far as vandalism patrol and things like that are concerned, they're not areas I deal with regularly - I tend to rely on a few more senior admins like Gadfium in the same way as far as knowing they'll do the right thing. Glad I was able to help! Grutness...wha? 09:00, 4 August 2005 (UTC)

[edit] NZ map scale

I just wanted to thank you very much for taking on the problem of the NZ map scale. Your solution is excellent. There's more discussion of this at : http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image_talk:New_Zealand_map.PNG (from anonymous, grouchy old git)

Thanks. It just seemed logical - the miles looked like the right kilometre numbers. And since I've been doing a lot of NZ maps lately (for locations of NZ geographic features), it was easy enough to crank up the changes. Grutness...wha?

[edit] categorized deletion

Just a few thoughts: I was just a bit, hmm, let's say surprised, about your opinion on categorized deletion at the probably invalid vote (and changed my vote appropriatly) about the vfd....first of all: since the breakup into dayly portions, it isn't in one place any more and second: I see categorized deletion as much as an, ok let's call it an editing tool as stub-sorting; getting the right people to look at the right things Lectonar 12:33, 4 August 2005 (UTC)

I see your point... I guess I think of it as still being in one place because of the way I use it - I go to WP:VFD and click on the latest day, then go back through the previous few days by simply changing the last digit of the page's name. It does have an advantage over a category in that you can see what items are new, though. Grutness...wha?

[edit] New Zealand DYK list

Thanks for restocking this - you have a remarkable ability to phrase an interesting snippet from an article.-gadfium 08:45, 5 August 2005 (UTC)

:) I used to set pub quizzes - you learn quickly there how to word an odd fact in one easy to understand sentence! I'm not totally happy with the "Did you know" facts, but it was a case of finding some quickly since we'd run out. Grutness...wha?

[edit] CFD

Hello. Can you go here and express your opinion about those Ecuadoran volcanoes categories? Your opinion will be appreciated. -- Darwinek 17:55, 8 August 2005 (UTC)

I'll have a look. I'm tempted - in 42 years, no-one has ever asked me to express an opinion on Ecuadorean volcanoes before. Grutness...wha? 00:38, 9 August 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Barnstar, w00t

Happy barnstar. Redwolf24 05:18, 9 August 2005 (UTC)

Thank you! I've moved it to my user page :) Grutness...wha? 05:50, 9 August 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Block

My apologies for blocking you; that IP was listed on AIAV for vandalism, and since there was a history of warnings with no blocks, I blocked. The warnings are at User:202.180.83.6 and User talk:202.180.83.6. The most recent contribution was this one. I had no way of knowing it was your IP address, and given the situation, I think I acted appropriately. I'm sorry that you were affected, but I assure you my actions were in good faith. If you feel otherwise, please feel free to raise it on AN/I. -- Essjay · Talk 11:11, August 11, 2005 (UTC)

That's okay; had I been in the middle of a rewrite (and I usually do my rewrites with the preview button, so I would have been in the same boat) I would have been upset too. Since the IP is obviously dynamic, I'm sure it will come back around to that same vandal again, but I doubt it will be within the block period, so no need to block it again today. What I'll do is leave a note on the IP's user/talk pages that the IP is shared with legit users, and that any block should be only to stop active vandalism, and should only last a few hours. Hope you didn't lose too much, and if there's anything I can do for you, let me know. -- Essjay · Talk 11:24, August 11, 2005 (UTC)

It very well could be! Do you have any neighbors who seem like the Wikipedia vandalizing type? I'm sure there are plenty of other Wikipedians in your area who would glady help you form a torch-weilding mob. ; - )

I tell you, I'm beginnig to think I should stop using my block button: one of my first blocks was of a school IP in the UK that was doing heavy vandalism; the same IP just happened to get assigned to violetriga about an hour after I blocked it! It was rather embarassing for me (as was this incident). I'm sure it happens to plenty of other users (EvilMonkey had it happen to him a couple times, where he blocked a vandal, and then the same address was assigned to a legit user, usually to the same legit user each time!) Anyhow, you can check the IP by searching for it here, although it doesn't usually tell you much more than the ISP. Good luck with getting your work back together, and thanks for being understanding. : - ) -- Essjay · Talk 11:43, August 11, 2005 (UTC)

Just wanted you to see this. Hopefully, that will help keep this from happening again. -- Essjay · Talk 12:23, August 11, 2005 (UTC)

Don't worry about the H-word; I'm not one of those "Oh my God, what did he say? *faints*" Christians. Considering the circumstances, I wouldn't have been offended in the least if you had said quite a bit more! Now, I'm off to do my penance. ; - ) -- Essjay · Talk 02:59, August 12, 2005 (UTC)

[edit] UTF-8

You may be using an editor that doesn't deal well with UTF-8. Unfortunate things can happen if you do. It's fixed now, but I thought you might want to know. Rl 12:48, 16 August 2005 (UTC)

Thanks for that - back then I was having trouble with my browser (see comments here - for some reason my copy of Mozilla was re-setting its preferences every time I started it up). Must've missed that one Grutness...wha?

[edit] FOTW Images

I just read Marcus's email. While I am partially to blame to uploading some of the images problems on here (I created the FOTWpic template), I am willing to help fix the problems. Zscout370 (Sound Off) 07:18, 20 August 2005 (UTC)

Fair enough - I don't know whether Marcus has done anything about it yet (I haven't because very little of what I've been doing on Wikipedia is flag-related). perhapos it's better if you chat with him about it, see and work out what's the best move. Grutness...wha?

[edit] Barnstar

I hereby award you the Barnstar of Diligence for excellent work on Wikipedia. D. J. Bracey (talk) 20:53, 22 August 2005 (UTC)

Many thanks! I've moved it to my user page. Grutness...wha? 00:37, 23 August 2005 (UTC)

I endorse that barnstar. It is well-deserved. Cheers, -Willmcw 00:43, August 23, 2005 (UTC)

:) Thank you, too! Grutness...wha?

[edit] WP:CENT

I think starting that discussion was a good idea, the entire point of WP:CENT is to reduce the need for redundant debates. What next? Ah, give it some time, usually a consensus becomes evident, see the earlier concluded CENTs. We've had some good guidelines (e.g. WP:FICT) created in this manner. R adiant _>|< 12:35, August 23, 2005 (UTC)