User talk:MikeVitale/Archive/2007/10

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Archive This is an archive of past discussions. Do not edit the contents of this page. If you wish to start a new discussion or revive an old one, please do so on the current talk page.

Contents

speedies

1. Speedy as A7 non assertion of notability can be used on only the types of subjects specified. see WP:CSD -- "No assertion of importance/significance. An article about a real person, group of people, band, club, company, or web content" 2. Even for these, it just has to indicate or assert importance. it doesn't have to prove it. The place to test dubious assertions of importance is AfD. (or PROD, if you think it will not be contested). DGG (talk) 20:09, 3 October 2007 (UTC)

Alright. Sorry to mis-label it. I thought they fit the criteria, but I suppose I'll go re-familiarize myself with the specifics of the CSD criteria. Aplogies, but I hope nothing was harmed. --MikeVitale 20:40, 3 October 2007 (UTC)

CSD

First one Ariel♥Gold 22:52, 3 October 2007 (UTC)

WikiProject Illinois 2007 Census

The WikiProject Illinois 2007 membership census has concluded. If you did not add your name during the last week, you were declared "inactive" in the project, your name is still listed at The Participants Page. You can change your status by replacing {{member inactive}} with {{active}} in the table. Any members should also feel free to fill in any missing details on the list below.

IvoShandor 11:16, 4 October 2007 (UTC)

I saw that!

Now, go warn me to test that. Note the drop down boxes, there are warning levels 1 through 4, single use notices, and single use warnings. Then the drop down box below that specifies the problem. Remember that not all unconstructive edits are vandalism, so use test, or blanking/removal of contents, when appropriate. Now, go warn me for..... hmmm. Go warn me for using your talk page as a forum! Hee hee. Ariel♥Gold 13:49, 4 October 2007 (UTC)

I didn't get a warning, lol. I did see it is working for reverts though. Just use caution, and be sure to look through all the options for warnings from pull-downs, it is easy to get carried away, lol. Ariel♥Gold 14:01, 4 October 2007 (UTC)

October 2007

Welcome to Wikipedia. Although everyone is welcome to make constructive contributions to Wikipedia, at least one of your recent edits, such as the one you made to User talk:MikeVitale, did not appear to be constructive and has been reverted or removed. Please use the sandbox for any test edits you would like to make, and take a look at the welcome page to learn more about contributing to this encyclopedia. Thank you. More text here! Don't spam my usertalkpage, you vandal!  :) MikeVitale 14:04, 4 October 2007 (UTC)

Hmmm. I've warned myself, not you. Still gotta figure those extra tab thingies out, I suppose.  :) --MikeVitale 14:05, 4 October 2007 (UTC)
LOL! You have to be on my talk page, to warn me. But, okay that's a level one, for vandalism. But if you can call it something else, that's always a better idea, because those warnings give links to the problem, like NPOV, or blanking, or adding factual errors, etc. It's a long list, but if you work vandal patrol long enough you start memorizing where they are in the pulldown menu, lol. Ariel♥Gold 14:06, 4 October 2007 (UTC)

So, hmmmm

You don't have to do this if you don't want to, but could you take a look at the Template:Infobox Scientist, that's used on this page, and as you can see, the top header text is out of the infobox, and interferes with tags or text on the page. It should be inside the box, as seen here (example of what it looks like is down the page in the documentation). I tried messing with it myself, but that is just above what I can do, they use different designs it seems like, so I couldn't just copy/paste and fix it. If you look and it seems easy, it would be great if the name of the person displayed inside the infobox, but if you don't want to deal with it, truly, don't feel bad, it isn't a huge deal. ~*Smile*~ Ariel♥Gold 22:23, 28 September 2007 (UTC)

I'll see what I can do, but it'll probably be Monday before I get to look at it. I took a look at it just now, and it's more than my tired brain can handle at this time. --MikeVitale 06:20, 29 September 2007 (UTC)
Oh, yeah no rush, and I knew it was the weekend, no big deal. You have a spiffy weekend and I'll talk to you Monday! Ariel♥Gold 19:55, 29 September 2007 (UTC)
Ask and ye shall receive, O Great Adopter. --MikeVitale 18:55, 1 October 2007 (UTC)
So after I fixed up that template, I went to the "what links here" link to see which pages used that template, of course. While I was editing the template, I noticed that a few variables were marked as "deprecated," but there didn't seem to be anything stopping them from still being used. So I started editing all those pages. I got through a couple hundred (I was bored at work), and said to myself, "Self, there has to be a better way." After dinner, I went back and changed the template again so that there's no such thing as a "deprecated" variable. Either the old (work_institution) or new (work_institutions) will, er, work. Same thing for botany and zoological abbreviation variables. All fixed, and I spot-checked some pages on the what-links-here link afterwards. All seem to be working -- both those I fixed up earlier, and those I hadn't gotten to yet. Whee. --MikeVitale 01:38, 2 October 2007 (UTC)
Wow, you're impressive! I didn't figure you'd work on this till middle of the week, lol. Awesome! But I promise that I won't push templates your way, if I can help it, (or unless you ask for some, lmao). I'm thinking about a little CSD "camp" with examples, what would you think of something like that? Ariel♥Gold 21:54, 3 October 2007 (UTC)
And awaaaaaaaaaaaay we go. Let's do it. --MikeVitale 21:55, 3 October 2007 (UTC)
LOL I'll need to have some time to make some articles up, so give me a day or so, lol. Also I have to ask, what are you using to do the dablink stuff? It almost looks like AWB? I have AWB but I cannot, for the life of me, get it to work at all. I tried doing dablink stuff with it, and it did nothing. Just sat there like a lump, even though I followed all the instructions. lol. So, how are you doing it? And are you using Twinkle to do your AfDs? (I glanced through some, looks like most of those are good AfDs, with perhaps the AI conference being the one that may be kept, so good job!) Ariel♥Gold 22:19, 3 October 2007 (UTC)

(Resetting indentation)

OK, no problem, take your time.

As far as what I use for DAB...I use Firefox, double-mouse-click all those links to open them up in new tabs, and I make heavy use of cut-and-paste. Otherwise, it's all manual. Same thing for creating AfD's. I read the AfD page and follow the 3-step instructions.

I run Linux as my operating system, so I'm not 100% sure if there are parts of Twinkle that aren't working for me or something. For example, I've never seen a popup with all those checkboxes as shown in the Twinkle doc page. I'm not that concerned, but if there's a better way, I'm all for it. --MikeVitale 22:28, 3 October 2007 (UTC)

Pop-ups is a separate script. I don't use it personally because I hate pop-ups for the most part, but Twinkle adds things like "rollback vandal" or "rollback AGF" when looking at diffs, and then it auto-opens the user's talk page, and adds tabs such as "warn" or "AIV" or "AFD" that you can use to easily submit users to AIV or submit pages to AfD. It may not work with Linux, I don't know for sure. (I've never used Linux, lol) Ariel♥Gold 22:31, 3 October 2007 (UTC)
Hmm. Well, I've "installed" the full set of Twinkle scripts; not each little bit individually. Take a look at my installed scripts. Generally, I dislike pop-ups as well, but when I know what they're used for, I tend to allow them (from specific known sites only, mind you.) Anyway, when I "Rollback AGF" or "Rollback Vandal" using Twinkle, I do get a pop-up window that allows me to edit the given user's talk page, but that window doesn't have tabs for AIV or AfD that I've noticed. --MikeVitale 13:30, 4 October 2007 (UTC)
Double check, the tabs are at the top, right along with the "edit this page" and "+" and those kinds of tabs, they integrate with WP UI. Feel free to look at my .js page, but ignore the big long section in the middle, as that's for my status updater. The ones at the top are what you want, and you can even specify how Twinkle works. But double check your top tabs, those are there, for instance, I have: Userpage, Discussion, Edit, +, History, Move, Unwatch, Warn, ARV, CSD, last, RPP, and XFD. Now granted, I use more than a couple scripts, for a variety of things, but those tabs I think are all with Twinkle. I've installed each element separately because after the last Twinkle update, things weren't working right using just the one js line. Check mine out and see. (And Good Morning, Mike!!! I'm actually off to bed soon, lol.) Ariel♥Gold 13:34, 4 October 2007 (UTC)
Interesting. So that's what those tabs are for. Cool, thanks! --MikeVitale 13:59, 4 October 2007 (UTC)

Infobox

Just ran into a strange problem with the infobox. If you don't specify a size (and if you don't use "px" after the size), it will be huge, depending on the information inside the box. For instance, I had a very long image caption, and without specifying a box size, the box was 80% of the page, lol. If you want to see, go to George Schaller, edit, and remove the size parameter from infobox size, then preview. You'll see what I mean, lol. Not sure why this is, and I've never noticed it on other infoboxes, but if you can force the box to not ever be larger than say, 250px (at most, that's pretty wide compared to some), that would not only fix that issue, but also keep them from being oversized when people try to force oversized images into boxes. (Again, only if you feel like doing this, lol) Ariel♥Gold 11:05, 5 October 2007 (UTC)

Interesting. I'll take a look at it once I've had some coffee and sent the kids off to school. --MikeVitale 12:03, 5 October 2007 (UTC)
Coffee ingested, kids schooled, Infobox width fixed. --MikeVitale 13:43, 5 October 2007 (UTC)
LOL You rock. Hee hee. If you feel like it, want to work your magic on the Template:Infobox Astronaut, moving the name down into the actual box, like the Scientist one? (You don't have to, just noticed that again and it interferes with text displays in some articles). And hey, Happy Friday! Ariel♥Gold 15:07, 5 October 2007 (UTC)
Infobox Astronaut fixed. Et oui, joyeux vendredi! --MikeVitale 16:48, 5 October 2007 (UTC)
Merci, Michael! Vous etes trés formidable! Ariel♥Gold 17:36, 5 October 2007 (UTC)
Doc page created for the template. I'm considering renaming this template to "Infobox astronaut" instead of having the "Astronaut" capitalized. That won't cause any undue harm, will it? --MikeVitale 17:53, 5 October 2007 (UTC)
Hrmm, I don't know. It is transcluded, so it may not be a good idea. Wikipedia auto-capitalizes the first letter, but since it is called "Infobox Astronaut" I think it would break it. Ariel♥Gold 18:02, 5 October 2007 (UTC)
I'm bringing this up because yesterday someone moved...Hmmm, which was it? (switches tabs...)...{{Infobox Scientist}} to {{Infobox scientist}}. Comment was "moved Template:Infobox Scientist to Template:Infobox scientist over redirect: this broke talk archive. neither precedent nor majority are necessarily the same as consensus; if moving back please fix the archives too". A couple days prior, I had created "Template:Infobox scientist" as a redirect page to "Template:Infobox Scientist". I spot-checked a couple scientists after seeing that, and didn't notice any breakage. Of course, if I do this for Astronaut, I might as well for Hospital, Person, etc... *sigh* --MikeVitale 18:13, 5 October 2007 (UTC)
Well, while I'm not a fan of improper capitalization either, I know why it broke the talk archives, and those would simply need to be moved manually to fix them. Not impossible, but depending on how many talk archive pages there are, it could be time consuming. Now, you can create a redirect with no problem, but if you're moving a page to another page that already exists, well, WP:MOVE#Moving_over_a_redirect. I've never done that, though, I leave that stuff to admins lol. I mean, okay technically you can, by copying/pasting, but that is something that shouldn't be done, and there is actually a copy/paste "holding pen" to fix those issues: WP:SPLICE. If the page you want to move to is empty, then yes it is easy to do, but I'm still not sure archives would be moved. (Pretty sure they would not be.) All that being said, even though I agree the cap isn't correct, I'd be more inclined to leave it that way, because it seems to be how everything else is named. Ariel♥Gold 18:23, 5 October 2007 (UTC)

By the way...

Just tell me if you prefer to handle things yourself, with just suggestions, that whole username thing ended up needing more than one outside opinion, but the thought was, since you'd previously had contact with the editor, a third party should probably notify them about the name issue. I hope you understand that, but also with me reverting the disambig page to an earlier (yours) version, if you would prefer that I leave that to you just tell me. Anyway, you're off work today due to holiday? Hope you have a great day, holler at me again if anything pops up! Ariel♥Gold 14:48, 8 October 2007 (UTC)

No, I'm stuck here sitting at my desk, working. Just like normal. Nice thing is that I get to work from home (all the time), so I get all the creature comforts. And no, I don't mind you stepping in. I've been following what you've been up to, so I'm learning that way. It seems like alt of the stuff that gets done around here kinda depends on people knwing other people and what their roles are. Guess I'll have to start learning what other peole do around this place... --MikeVitale 15:09, 8 October 2007 (UTC)

WikiProject Illinois Post Census Report

The WikiProject Illinois Newsletter (Beta)
"Post Census Report"
Vol. I, No. 1, Issue 1, October 2007
If you would like to delete this message, the original is at Wikipedia:WikiProject Illinois/Newsletter/Post Census Report
Census results

On October 4, 2007 WikiProject Illinois embarked on a membership census. The census was the project's first since its establishment on September 24, 2005. Due to the nature of the wiki, and the two years that had passed, it seemed likely that many of the project's older members were no longer active. The project page had grown stagnant and the census provided an opportunity to see who was still around, slaving away in their own corner of the encylopedia, unknown to the rest of the Illinois editing world. Well, now, the tabulation is complete, and after a notice at the Community Portal, we have gained a couple new members amongst the cluster of project veterans who returned to sign up.

Of the 55 members listed on the project membership list on October 4, 26 editors returned to the list to "resign up," thus, confirming their current activity within project areas. If you received this message, you were one of those editors. The List of Participants has now been updated to reflect the results of this membership survey, with members who failed to respond highlighted as "inactive." Now, as a group of editors, we have a core list of individuals, that will hopefully grow in size as the project strives to become a better organized central collaboration space for editors working on Illinois related topics.

What's next?

The big question, where does the project go from here? Well there are a few proposals being floated at this project page. Little discussion has occurred thus far, and participation would be key to all of them. Some ideas include:

  • An A-class review system, under the WP:ILLINOIS banner, to serve the Illinois and Chicago WikiProjects.
  • A project newsletter, of which this is a beta version.
  • Project restructuring, to include regional and specific discipline task forces.
  • A monthly project collaboration to grow out of our currently idle collaboration division.
From the Editors
  • Welcome new members: Laleena, Omnedon and Rickvaughn
  • Interested in helping building and developing a project newsletter? See, start and join in on the proposal discussion.
  • The table is back up at the List of Participants and it has several blanks you can fill in if you have not done so already. They are: where you are originally from, where you live, the project areas you work in, your join date, and now, your status (which has been filled in for you).
News & Notes
  • Don't forget to add the project page to your watchlist so you can monitor the project talk page for relevant discussion.
  • As a note: WP:ILLINOIS is the project page shortcut and WT:ILLINOIS is the project talk page shortcut.
  • Kranar drogin essentially single-handedly cleared out the massive backlog in Category:Unassessed WikiProject Illinois articles, feel free to sprinkle his page with barnstars and thank yous, he deserves it. Everyone can help keep it cleared out by checking it for unassessed articles. For more information see the Assessment division of the project, though it isn't as project specific as it should be, it has enough info to give assessors an idea of what to do. Be aware that classes A, GA and FA can only be imposed by outside review processes.
  • The AlexNewArtBot dumps new Illinois related articles on this page periodically. You can help monitor new material by watchlisting the page, and combing new Illinois articles for clean up, referencing and other needed editing work.
Contributors to this Issue

IvoShandor 06:14, 11 October 2007 (UTC)

Mike!

Thanks for your nice note! How are you doing? I figured you were busy lately, as I hadn't seen you around. Hope everything is going well, and if you can think of anything you want to dig into, let me know, I'm still trying to think of a good CSD to stump you with since you foiled both my attempts already, you're too good for me! ~*Giggle*~ Ariel♥Gold 23:13, 24 October 2007 (UTC)

Ariel!

Hehe. Yeah, I've been busy. Work has been picking up lately, I've been spending more time with my family, and other things. Just...Life in general, ya know? It's not been bad, per se. Just busy. When I'm doing stuff here, I've been DAB'ing the Depression page. That's taking me entirely too long, but sometimes, that's just how it goes...Thanks for the note, and I hope you feel better soon!  :) --MikeVitale 02:03, 25 October 2007 (UTC)

Spending time with family is the most precious thing you can do, and definitely more important than Wiki-ing if at all possible. However, that being said, I'm also glad to see you around, as I do selfishly miss our fun lessons, hee hee. Just know I'm always here if you need anything, or if you want to delve into something new, just holler at me! ~*Hugs*~ Ariel♥Gold 02:06, 25 October 2007 (UTC)
Indeed, it is. Thanks for the support. If I need something, I'll be sure to holler. But you should be resting and getting better, not concocting nefarious CSD's to try to stump me, shouldn't you?  :-D --MikeVitale 12:01, 25 October 2007 (UTC)
You're up early! (Or late?) lol. Ariel♥Gold 04:32, 30 October 2007 (UTC)
Oh, was just watching my beloved Denver Broncos lose on the first play of overtime, then I took the dog out (after watching a bit of post-game SportsCenter), and now I'm just checking in before heading to bed. One must be vigilant that some people haven't gone and defaced pages that one cares about again. --MikeVitale 04:39, 30 October 2007 (UTC)