User talk:Johncmullen1960

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Welcome!

Welcome to Wikipedia, Johncmullen1960! My name is Kit, aka Todfox. I noticed that you were new and haven't received any messages yet. I just wanted to see how you were doing. Wikipedia can be a little intimidating at first, since it uses different formatting than other sites that use HTML and CSS. In the long run, though, you'll find that the WikiSyntax is a lot easier and faster than those other ways. Here are a few links to get you started:

There are a lot of policies and guides to read, but I highly recommend reading over those first. If you have any questions, feel free to leave me a message on my talk page. Please be sure to sign your name on Talk using four tildes (~~~~) to produce your name and the current date, along with a link to your user page. This way, others know when you left a message and how to find you. It's easier than having to type out your name, right? :)

I hope you enjoy contributing to Wikipedia. We can use all the help we can get! Have a nice day. Sincerely, Kit 20:43, 24 December 2005 (UTC)

Contents

[edit] Revolutionary Communist League

John, your account of the LCR congress seems to fit badly. Firstly, Wikipedia is not a news journal, so really punctual stuff like this doesn't fit. I can see that you've tried to balance your accounts, but it's clearly more partial to the views of some currents than other. Furthermore, it's not really the case that the LCR is simply a Ligue of currents. It's a league of communists, and clearly has a live separate from its tendencies. can I suggest you rework your additions? I have moved them to the LCR talk page with this note. --DuncanBCS 00:05, 2 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Yes, you got it right

Hi John, Thanks for your note. As you guessed, the best way to leave me a message is either on my talk page or on the LCR talk page. --DuncanBCS 17:30, 3 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Ewan MacColl

Hi John, 20 years since Mill Road days doesn't seem to have put many wrinkles on your face! The facts of EM's desertion are from his autobiog (joined army in July) and official reports (deserted Dec) and the comment about the mystery from one of the news reports referenced in the external resources at bottom of page. I'll sort out exact references and replace your excision ASAP. Email me. MichaelW 11:03, 4 November 2006 (UTC)

Hi John - not going to natter in public - use the 'email this user' in my talk page (in the tool box on the left) and send me your email address - Mike W (not Mike T) ex Grapevine Bookshop.

[edit] Harvey Jackins

Hi, I saw your recent edits - unfortunately, the page is now quite chaotic with various broken bits and bad formatting. I think some of the material you deleted is quite interesting and some pieces you did not delete very POVist - I couldn't help wondering if you don't have a particular axe to grind yourself. :-) Given that the page is now a mess I propose to revert it totally to the last good version - then lets discuss changes to it. Some of the things you got rid of are not weasel. Thanks. MarkThomas 17:56, 20 November 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for your comments on my page and the Harvey Jackins page John. Would you be interested in an offline chat? I would like to discuss some aspects of this page and others about RC with you. My email is markthomaswp@yahoo.co.uk - I would be glad to hear from you. Thanks. MarkThomas 09:13, 21 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Socialist Alternative (Australia)

Hi John, I don't quite understand the comment you left on the Lutte Ouviere Talk page about the Talk page on Socialist Alternative (Australia). Is here anything I can help with? --Duncan 09:35, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

Kindly refrain from vandalising the Socialist Alternative (Australia) page. If the content under 'controversy' was libellous, it would not have been publiched by The Age. I understand that you are left wing and may not tolerate criticisms of left wing organisations, but you have to allow for other people's opinion to be represented on wikipedia, not just your own. The content under 'controversy' is notable because it represents the greatest publicity the group has acheived to date. Apollo1986

[edit] Community Portal / Real names

Asssuming you meant to post your notice about real names as a message on the community portal, I think you're meant to put it under "Notices" rather than start an entirely new section. As far as the idea of using real names is concerned, many editors, particularly administrators, have a desire to remain anonymous while on the Internet; considering that administrators frequently recieve death threats, legal threats, threats of violence and various other unpleasantries, this seems entirely rational. A small group of users with Oversight permission frequently have to permanently remove personally identifiable information from the histories of pages where they have been inserted by malicious users. While you may be comfortable revealing your name, others may not, particularly if, when combined with other information available, it allows them to be traced, stalked, harrassed or otherwise have their personal lives interfered with in some way – Gurch 14:56, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

Johncmullen1960 wrote:
Well I think it's worth a debate. People often feel uncomfortable about things which longer discussion allows them to feel comfortable with. If the tens of thousands of wikipedians are mostly worried about death threats, I think there is a real problem. I have personally been involved in antifascist activity in France for twenty years, have regularly put my name and adress on leaflets etc, and I'm fine. I am concerned that a culture of automatic pseudonyms, which exists at present, has more negative effects than positive. We live in a world full of distrust, and I think it's good not to add to it;
I am probably in a minority on this question, but perhaps I could found a category of "wikipedians who woudl prefer almost everyone ot use their real names." cheers Johncmullen1960 18:24, 9 December 2006 (UTC)
Hi John. I just wanted to let you know that you're not alone on this issue. I agree that editors should use their real names (with some exceptions, for instance editors suffering from oppressive regimes like the Burmese). It does cause some problems, as Gurch says and I experienced myself, but I think using real names is important for our credibility. -- Jitse Niesen (talk) 01:51, 10 December 2006 (UTC)
You both have a good point. Certainly the vast majority of Wikipedians aren't concerned by threats or harassment or anything like that; I didn't want to give that impression, just point out that it is a problem for some people. I imagine that after twenty years of real-world experience publicising your details, you're used to it; obviously that's a good thing, and I respect your dedication. I imagine, though, that the number of people who read French antifascist leaflets is relatively small compared to the number of people using the Internet – all of whom potentially have access to your details once you put them there. I understand your concern about the negative impact of the practise of using pseudonyms, though I don't believe the consequences are necessarily a problem, and there are benefits. Nobody else here uses the name "Gurch", for example, whereas there is almost certainly someone who shares my real name. In a community the size of Wikipedia's, the greater potential for uniqueness that pseudonyms offer is useful. As far as the question of identity is concerned, furthermore, I see no need to make a significant distinction between real name and pseudonym anyway. Essentially, I can consider myself to be "Gurch" every bit as much as consider myself to be my real name; one applies while I am online, the other applies when I am not. If I believe something should be done, I will readily assert that "Gurch" believes it should be done and consider that to refer to me just as my real name would. Certainly I will accept personally any consequences of "Gurch"'s actions. As far as the issue of credibiliity is concerned, then, I think the same principle applies; and level of credibility or reputation attached to my pseudonym is inherently attached to me. It is in fact possible to determine my real name from information available on this website, and so identify me individually (my location and date of birth are readily available) – but I have no intention of making it any easier – Gurch 02:03, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

I would not want to use my real name, and probably not for the reasons you imagine. While I do not mind people from the internet figuring out my real name (which can be done), I am more concerned about the opposite direction. Using a real name here place your activies high on a Google search (especially for uncommon names). I can't think of anyone who would be doing a Google search on my name that I would actively want to be handed my contributions. In particular there is family member I am actively avoiding and it is much easier to not answer post letters grasping at straws than to hand over all my interests and activies that are recorded here along with several ways of contacting me. So I do not think anyone should be looked down on or be pressured because they do not attach their real names to large amounts of information about themselves which can be easily found by the least clever person who has access to a computer. --Birgitte§β ʈ Talk 03:31, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

I think you are right that no-one should be looked down on for not wanting to use their real name. (Looking down on people is not in any case something I am very good at. But, in a culture where pseudonyms are almost automatic, I would like to puclicly encourage real names. The Campaign for Real Ale had some success in Britain, and I know that disabled activist groups have run a campaign for real ramps. So perhaps a Campaign for Real Names... Incidentally can someon tell me how to set up a category of "Wikipedians who would prefer that people use their real names and not pseudonyms wherever possible" ? Johncmullen1960 17:58, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Real names

I noticed your comment at User talk:Gurch about using real names and I just wanted to let you know that I agree. While I don't have a problem with people using pseudonyms per se, I personally use my real name and do not see any reason to use pseudonymity to "protect" myself. I've been active in various online communities for almost 10 years and the only negative has been a heap of spam that is not too hard to deal with.

I think it is only a matter of time before the majority of people have their real-world and online identities merged whether they like it or not and being clear about who you are and what your principles are is an asset that spans the gap between real and virtual communication. In the meantime, we get to deal with the consequences of the "Greater Internet Fuckwad Theory" ;) Mike Dillon 03:38, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

P.S. I can help you set up the category if you want. Not sure if I'll actually add myself, since I'm not much of a "joiner". Mike Dillon 03:40, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

The name you want for the category, Category:Wikipedians who use their real name, not a pseudonym, and would like to encourage everyone to do so, is probably too long and would risk being deleted or renamed. How about making it Category:Wikipedians who use their real name and putting the other text on the category description page? Another possibility is to put the extra text in a Userbox, but that should probably be proposed at Wikipedia talk:Userboxes/Ideas since new userboxes can be a touchy issue.

To add any page to a category, including your user page, you place [[Category:Category name]] in the page as if you were linking to it and save the page (typically at the bottom of the source text). To change how an entry in a category sorts, you use [[Category:Category name|Sort Text]]; in the example just given, the sort would be under "S". For the proposed category, you'd probably encourage people to sort as "Last name, First name", given that this is for users who use their real name.

If this category is created, it probably belongs under Category:Wikipedians by Wikipedia philosophy. The category's description text should probably end up reading something like Category:Wikipedians against anonymous editing. If you look at the source of the latter category by clicking "edit this page", you'll see that categories are added as subcategories in the exact same way that an article or user page is added to a category. The userbox, if one were to be created, would end up looking like {{User anti-anon}} (which actually adds users to the anti-anon category automatically).

You can find more information about categories at Wikipedia:Categorization. The "User namespace" section of that page deals with user categories, as does Wikipedia:User categorization. Hope that helps. Mike Dillon 15:44, 11 December 2006 (UTC)


Sil vous plait, arrette de vadaliser le site pour Socialist Alternative (Australia). Je sais que les socialistes n'aimes pas le respect pour les droits des hommes, comme le droit d'expression, mais nous vivons pas dans une societie socialiste. Le Socialisme est mort, il ya a 20 ans.

A la liberte! Et la verite!

Cessse le regime totalitaire ou l'attacke des ide est la prohibition de la verite est loi! Apollo1986 ~ Apollo is not someone to take seriously, though his French is not bad. Johncmullen1960 20:30, 10 February 2007 (UTC) Nevertheless if he would like to join the discussion on the TALK page of Socialist Alternative, that would be a step forward Johncmullen1960 20:30, 10 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Hello M Mullen

Hope all is well. Delete this message after reading it if you wish. Be my guest looking at my user info page and my modifications list. Message me through my email address or through the "discussion" page of Wiki. I'll see you around. --Beforedecay 01:22, 14 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] The Web2.0 Lingo link...

Hello Mullen. Not sure why you removed the Web 2.0 lingo link: http://www.lingospace.com/web20 Please explain. Thanks. Fromm

[edit] Striking your vote

Hello Johncmullen1960,

Thank you for your interest in the Wikimedia Board Election. The Election Committee regretfully informs you that your previous vote was received in error and will be struck according to the election rules, described below.

The Election Committee regretfully announces today that we will have to remove approximately 220 votes submitted. These votes were cast by people not entitled to vote. The election rules state that users must have at least 400 edits by June 1 to be eligible to vote.

The voter lists we sent to Software in the Public Interest (our third party election partner) initially were wrong, and one of your account was eventually included to our initial list. There was a bug in the edit counting program and the sent list contained every account with 201 or more edits, instead of 400 or more edits. So large numbers of people were qualified according to the software who shouldn't be. The bug has been fixed and an amended list was sent to SPI already.

Our first (and wrong) list contains 80,458 accounts as qualified. The proper number of qualified voters in the SPI list is now 52,750. As of the morning of July 4 (UTC), there are 2,773 unique voters and 220 people, including you, have voted who are not qualified based upon this identified error.

In accordance with voting regulations the Election Committee will strike those approximately 220 votes due to lack of voting eligibility. The list of struck votes is available at https://wikimedia.spi-inc.org/index.php/List_of_struck_votes.

We are aware of the possibility that some of the people affected may have other accounts with more than 400 edits, and hence may still be eligible to vote. We encourage you to consider voting again from another account, if you have one. If you have no other account eligible to vote, we hope you reach the criteria in the next Election, and expect to see your participation to the future Elections.

Your comments, questions or messages to the Committee would be appreciated, you can make them at m:Talk:Board elections/2007/en. Other language versions are available at m:Translation requests/Eleccom mail, 07-05.

Again, we would like to deeply apologize for any inconvenience.

Sincerely,
Kizu Naoko
Philippe
Jon Harald Søby
Newyorkbrad
Tim Starling


For Wikimedia Board Election Steering Committee

[edit] HJ

Thanks for your comments John and sorry I've not had time to respond to your email of a few months ago. I think the article is getting better but still has a way to go. In particular, the intro is now too long but I don't have time at the moment to really get into it. The other aspect is confusion over the relationship between Dianetics and RC. I've just completed reading John Atack's excellent book on LRH and there is some useful material there. Lots of points of comparison between the way LRH progressed Scientology post the split with HJ and others. Also lots of room for reflection on how HJ in effect took Dianetics and not only made it work but humanised it. Interesting stuff. MarkThomas 07:09, 13 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Stop the Vandalism

In the name of stopping vandalism, you have once again vandalised Socialist Alternative (Australia). If you continue, you will be reported to the relevant authorities. Apollo1986

Fortunately, this gentleman was persuaded to stop the foolish accusations. Johncmullen1960 (talk) 11:30, 12 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] final warning

If you continue to delete referenced material for Socialist Alternative (Australia), you will be banned from editing. Consider this to be your final warning Apollo1986

I don't know who you are, but the correct way to intervene is on the talk pageJohncmullen1960 05:57, 5 August 2007 (UTC)