User talk:Robin Patterson

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I welcome thoughtful campaign messages
December 2004 Election — Candidates — Endorsements

Hi there. Welcome to Wikipedia! Drop us a note at Wikipedia:New user log to introduce yourself.

Thanks for helping add us to zeal.com. If you're looking for articles to feature, I recommend looking at Wikipedia:Featured articles, where we post our best work to be recognized by everyone. Hopefully you'll do some editing while you're here, too. I suggest looking at Politics of New Zealand, for example. You might find the links below useful:

If you need editing help, visit Wikipedia:How does one edit a page. For format questions, visit our manual of style

When you're bored, you can read our policies. If you made any edits before you got an account, you might be interested in assigning those to your username.

If you have any other questions about the project then check out Wikipedia:Help or add a question to the Village pump. You can also drop me a question on my talk page.


Happy editing, Isomorphic 19:34, 19 Feb 2004 (UTC)

Contents

[edit] Zeal.com

This is in regards to the entry for Zeal. Go to Wikipedia:Votes for deletion and scroll down to yesterday's date. The entry is located there and you can vote on it and state your case. Darkcore 20:49, 23 Feb 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Newbie RFP confuses and apologises

Ummm, I don't understand the message you left on my talk page. I think it's possible your are confusing me with someone else. Your message was the first time I had ever heard of this Zeal site. Dori | Talk 21:47, Feb 23, 2004 (UTC)

  • (I apologised for the confusion.) :robinp 05:23, 24 Feb 2004 (UTC)

[edit] What is a stub?

Hi. In general, I think we consider stubs to be anything at about a paragraph or less (depending on format and such.) However, in regards to the zeal article, the issue is not that it's too short. The issue is whether zeal.com is notable enough to warrant its own encyclopedia entry. Isomorphic 01:30, 24 Feb 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Robin's response

  • Thanks for those two guidelines, Isomorphic. I'll keep an eye on the VfD entries. If you're interested, as your first message hinted, you can have a look at the press release about the "250,000 high quality, non-commercial listings" volunteers had contributed by 11 months ago:
  • We "zealots" have contributed thousands more since; I've contributed over 2,000 profiles in my active 19 months, and some volunteers have written over 20,000:
robinp 05:23, 24 Feb 2004 (UTC)

see User_talk:Robin_Patterson/archive2004 for the remainder of the 2004 material

[edit] Equinox and Images

I thought using March equinox removed the ambiguity and meant that noone would get confused.

RE: When I get some time and a faster internet connection in about a month's time I'll look at adding some of the English pics to the Commons for use in the Maori wikipedia. At the moment I'm using dailup and it just makes doing large amounts of uploads and downloads excuruciating slow. Evil Monkey → Talk 00:22, Jan 10, 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Visting Otago

Hi Robin

Thanks for the kind note.Yes - I know I must sound like a visitor but not sure when being a visitor stops. I have family living west of Vauxhall including a grand-son s o my time gets divided between UK and NZ. So expect to see more Otago additions in future !

Velela 12:24, 21 Jan 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Greetings from across the Pacific!

Thanks for the note on my talk page. Turns out I have a brother-in-law who is from the Wellington area. Small world, eh? "North to Alaska" is one of my favorite songs, also--used to hear it every evening on the radio as an intro to some news program or other. Alaska has changed quite a bit since then. With regard to Ester, I figured that I might as well write about something I know about, so I did. Seems like an awful lot of verbage for such a tiny town, but hey, this is an encyclopedia, not limited by the size of the book it's in, so I suppose the entries don't have to be short, just well organized. Deirdre 17:22, 28 Jan 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Saw your comment

Hi, thanks for the comment on my talk page (only just received it, as I am a semi-regular Wikipedia user). Mostly all I do on Wikipedia is translate articles from German to English for translation practice. I haven't done that many so far but I'm hoping to get more finished and online. Anyway, thanks again. Geoffrey Miller

[edit] Um...

Don't know if it's "good form" to campaign for votes, but I'm standing for admin and I'd greatly appreciate your vote :) Grutness|hello? 05:59, 10 Feb 2005 (UTC)

44-0-1! many thanks for the vote! Now to work out how these new admin powers work... Grutness|hello? 06:21, 15 Feb 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Thanks for the message on my user page

Thanks for copying my comment on your talk page on to my user page. I've always meant to put something about who I am! Just got a 1GB memory card for my Palm so most of my Wikipedia reading will be there from now on. Thanks, Geoffrey Miller


[edit] Thanks for the kind words on my user page!

I had no idea it was going to be this involved of a process. I suppose I can cope without having my dozen or so anonymous edits. ;) Why are they so pokey about it, though? Do you have any idea?

Thanks a bunch, though, for taking the time! BenSamples 05:28, 17 Feb 2005 (UTC)

[edit] More Thanks and a Question

Thanks for the Welcome Robin. You're obviously taking your admin role seriously, not ignoring that you were welcoming people before your adminship was granted.

In regard to the changes and additions I made to Great Barrier Island, thanks for the pointers. (Still see typos lurking as well despite my best efforts).

As you suggested, I do have a personal connection to GBI and I think I could contribute interesting information sans POV but how much is too much? (You can see where I am going with that on my L-Bit "User" page). I will resist the temptation until I have a better understanding.

I came to this page rather oddly. To cut a long story, I found (in Google's image search) an image of a coconut crab from one of my webpages. (A photo I had taken and indicated is free to use). When I followed this image into Wiki, I found that the page the image was linked to was expired, so stumbled into Great Barrier Island following other images on mine (the Haratonga photo).

I wonder if you know of a way to search if there are further images through the old-dead links? Obviously I am happy to do the deed of correction myself but (vainly?) want them all correct.

Cheers L-Bit 02:57, 26 Feb 2005 (UTC)

            gadfium has answered this query in part....
            L-Bit 07:04, 27 Feb 2005 (UTC)

[edit] A quick hello

Hi Robin: A quick hello. I noticed the Māori Wikipedia and am impressed. I have been taking Te Reo with Te Wānanga O Aotearoa for a year and just now entering Year 2. My Reo isn't great but it's coming along. Writing in Te Reo is very time-consuming, and time is very short, but I may try to incorporate some of my homeplay (Wānanga-speak for homework) with a contribution at some point. It's difficult because much of what I write is only barely understandable at this point. Is it OK to use the Māori Wikipedia as a language-practice tool? Mona-Lynn 22:08, 5 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Hiya! Thanks for the nice message! You haven't noticed me because I only contribute occasionally, and only here and there on NZ articles. Latin music is my big thing. Wikipedia is a relaxation tool for me but I severely limit my time on it. Oftentimes I just copyedit a paragraph here or there on the collaboration of the week when I can't sleep, or do some stuff with ethnomusicology-related articles, which is what I study. I may post a couple things on the Māori Wikipedia here and there. My lessons restart this week. I'm still very basic but it will start accelerating again. Unfortunately I've had to switch from the Wānanga because their lessons are on the wrong night. I'll be with AUT. Dang! I really wanted to support the Wānanga. Thanks for the welcome and see you around Wikipedia! Mona-Lynn 10:24, 7 Mar 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Flags of the world

Hi Robin - yes, that's me. I've been involved in the FotW website or quite a num ber of years now. Flags of the World is a huge site (though not as big as Wikipedia) - over 30,000 flag images, I think - and it's mirrored at quite a number of locations, which seems to make things easier for both the page editors and the servers. I know of at least one other FOTW regular who's a Wikipedian (User:Zscout370, who contributes to a lot of flag articles).

You're right about the capital D of Delta Crucis, of course, and I remember the Evening Star - must be about 25 years since it closed now! Grutness|hello? 07:28, 24 Mar 2005 (UTC)

I've created a stub for Evening Star (newspaper). Please correct or expand as necessary.-gadfium 09:12, 24 Mar 2005 (UTC)


[edit] German article on Tongariro National Park

Hi Robin, I've extended the de:Tongariro-Nationalpark-article a little bit following the be bold-principle. Can you (as the only fluent German speaking New Zealander in the Wikipedia-community I know) have a quick look on it at any time? I'm especially unsure about the territorial authorities. Cheers, --Alexander Sommer 16:31, 24 Mar 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Maori wiki

Hi Robin - I can't promise I'll do much work on mi.wikipedia - my knowledge of Te Reo is very, very limited - so much so that I spent a bit of time trying to work out why you were talking about a penguin until I realised what "hoiho Uwhingitana" was :) As for the energetic start, much of that flurry of edits was trying to figure out how to edit the macrons correctly! Grutness|hello? 01:09, 5 Apr 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Dn suburbs

Hi Robin. You wrote: Tomahawk, Kew (you shouldn't have missed that one - you pass it often enough), Corstorphine, Concord, Bradford, Brockville, Kaikorai, Balmacewen, Wakari, Glenleith... Did you mention Macandrew Bay, Broad Bay, Portobello...?

Yes, there were quite a few more I could have mentioned (and yes, I drove past the foot of Kew less than an hour ago!). There's also Calton Hill, Ocean View, Tahuna, Tainui... Mac Bay and Broad Bay are in there, but Portobello already has a separate article. It should be linked in like the Green Island one, probably - I'll do that now. The same should happen if Sawyers Bay gets its own article, probably. And you're right, Dalmore is further away from me, but my sister-in-law lives there, so I should have added it in! :) Grutness|hello? 05:15, 8 Apr 2005 (UTC)

  • Good man. I wonder if I should dredge up Bayfield (most of which WAS dredged up, actually, over several decades), Musselburgh, St Clair Park, Burnside, Halfway Bush, Dunottar, City Rise, Forbury, and Hillside among the inner lot and Highcliff[e], Otakou, ... actually, we have the overlap with Dunedin#List_of_Dunedin_suburbs that possibly needs a bit more tweaking. Some of the above may be on one or both already, I haven't checked them all today. Some need disambiguation if they are going to get separate articles. Robin Patterson 06:44, 8 Apr 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Macrons

Grutness, referring to the penultimate heading above - I wonder how you have been accessing macrons on the "mi". A couple that you did looked like what one gets with some fancy fonts - the macron was out to the right (on my screen anyway).

In theory you can click in (or copy and paste from) the first bunch of java characters below the edit box (where I moved them from their "standard" position, which is away down in the pecking order). Some pages, as you may have noticed, have my alternative hidden line within the actual edit box - very useful for editing near the top or bottom of the page. Either way, the edit box may get code rather than a proper-looking macron, but that's easier to check than a rectangle!

If creating new locality articles, please

  • make all possible use of my "User:Robin Patterson/MaoriModelPlacesPages" ("en" subpage - apology if I've already mentioned that), and
  • don't bother to use macrons for the page name initially because we can improve usability and searchability by having the initial article without macrons in its name then create a redirect the easiest way by moving it.

Don't rush into "mi"; the recent changes is looking nicely mixed with our Scandinavian and Taiwanese and Spanish friends busy.

Robin Patterson 06:44, 8 Apr 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Alan Duff

Hi, you added a greeting to my talk page about a year ago. I noticed you are from New Zealand and I thought I would bring this entry - which I added recently - to your attention. I was surprised there was no entry already, but I have a feeling it could be improved quite a bit. If you can take a look that would be great! TIA. --Mista-X 03:15, 25 Apr 2005 (UTC)

[edit] ==the mi:kakahi fella and NZ timeline==

Had a chat to user 164.78.252.56, and he promises not to to it again.

The 2004 in New Zealand page is great. I wonder if there is a way that it can be instantly generated using a year catagory somehow?

I have been thinking that the issue is not specifically the timeline. It is more of a question on how far a click should travel, and indeed in which direction. eg the near 2004 in New Zealand target is 99% clearly a better target then the 2004 target for most NZ pages.

Is User_talk:Dramatic the best place to continue this conversation? I suggest we continue at a water pump somewhere, or in a section of: Talk:Timeline_of_New_Zealand_history?

NevilleDNZ 14:53, 6 May 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Duplication

The bulk of your page was duplicated, as of 10:26 on March 7, 2005. I've taken the liberty of chopping the first half out, but feel free to slap my wrist if I've been presumptious. Noisy | Talk 17:24, May 6, 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Kia ora

Sorry I don't know much TRM other than really basic stuff but I really want to learn, mi Wikipedia is going to rock - I'll ask all my whanau and mates to contribute (maybe my cuzz will translate his Ram Muay article hehehe) :D

[edit] RE: Thanks for all the New Zealand geography additions

Thank you very much for noticing. I wondered if anybody saw those. But, when I went to those pages, New Zealand cities, there was either a map of the entire district, or none at all. There would be a discription of where the city/town was, but that doesn't do someone like me, from "up-over", and other places much good. I would have to open another browser window, find a map, and then I would know. Guess I am more of a visual person. So, I decieded someone else might be like me, and to make it easier, I thought I would add maps pointing to the city's/town's. Well, then I went to Hastings, and there was paltry anything, and it was poorly written, with errors. So, of course the Wiki in me had to write a new history, do some research, and the hunt goes on. "Building a better WikiPedia, one edit at a time". I hope people like them. WikiDon

[edit] Stubs

Don't worry, it's quite a commom mistake. Sorry if I sounded a bit too business-like, it's just that I was cleaning up a couple dozen pages last night. :) I just don't get what you meant by How does this page get away with having one? Cheers. --Sn0wflake 19:10, 24 May 2005 (UTC)

Ah, I see what you mean. Actually, it's just the templates which are being linked, not the categories themselves. Thus, the page doesn't get listed on Category:Stub (which we have been trying to clear for quite a while over at WP:WSS). Cheers. --Sn0wflake 20:12, 24 May 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Green colour

I've given a rough idea on the colour I want the babel green to be switched to. I have no problems if it is lightened or darkened. Its in the babel talk. Regards,  =Nichalp (Talk)= 13:57, Jun 3, 2005 (UTC)


[edit] Roman Empire map

Sorry, but I really have no idea if it was copyrighed. I had dragged that image from the Roman Empire article, but I don't know if it has been removed since. I guess it would be okay to use. Dbraceyrules 19:03, 4 Jun 2005 (UTC)


It is amazing how many languages you speak. Dbraceyrules 19:04, 4 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Thank you, but it shouldn't be amazing. A thousand years of British ancestry. Latin and French at Otago Boys' High School then added German (not very successfully, though eventually passed Stage 3) at University of Otago. And it's easy to learn a bit of mi:te reo maori in New Zealand. I have dabbled in 15 other languages, a couple of which see me helping with their Wikipedias occasionally. Robin Patterson 02:41, 5 Jun 2005 (UTC)
Yeah, but I guess you're a "polyglot," personally I only speak Spanish (but I don't write it perfectly all the time, although I speak it fluently), and I am learning Portuguese, which shouldn't be too hard compared to Spanish. I can read, write and understand it, but pronunciation is a bit harder than Spanish. Other than that, I just speak my favorite: good old English. lol. Take care, - 209.165.13.135 22:44, 5 Jun 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Māori

I've rename the article Maori Wars to New Zealand land wars and set about fixing the double redirects. However, there's one I can't get to: Māori Wars. I also note that articles linking to Māori don't get there; Wikipedia is failing to parse past the M. I think the macron over the a used to be a valid character in article titles. As someone who seems to have used it extensively in the past, do you know what's happened and how we can fix it?-gadfium 09:17, 5 Jun 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Thanks!

Hi Robin!

Yes, I know about the Portuguese Wikipedia... but I believe joining the English one will improve my English. Anyway, I joined the Portuguese and the French ones, too!

-D

Thanks,

--Milena 17:40, Jun 17, 2005 (UTC)



[edit] Important Favor to Ask

Did you see the obscene message that DESpiegel put on my user talk page? If you didn't, I'll spare you and I won't even hint at what it said, but I need to send a "user conduct" RFC and I need at least two people to have contacted my user talk page about the conflict not to have my RFC deleted. Please show a little "cooperative spirit" and send me a message at my user talk if only as a matter of form. I would truly appreciate it. Thank you very much. Felix Frederick Bruyns 04:00, 5 September 2005 (UTC)



[edit] It's won't be vandalism

Hey Robin, to satisfactorily end a dispute, User:Felix Frederick Bruyns and I have agreed to delete any references we have made to each other on our talk pages, and the talk pages of other Wikipedians. So when you see him make changes to your page, it will not be vandalism. Cheers. Moriori 01:19, September 6, 2005 (UTC) ==Sorry== I was mad about other conflicts and I guess I took it out on you. I really am a hothead. Sorry. Felix Frederick Bruyns 02:22, 6 September 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Numbering formats

Thanks for your reply on date formatting. Please check User:Yurik/Formats and correct any mistakes you may find. Thanks! --Yurik 23:27, 19 September 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Science pearls

Hi,

I address you as the ambassador of your wikipedia. Please notice the above project.

This project, more than other projects, will benefit from inter-wiki cooperation. Can you post a message regarding this project at your wikipedia village pump?

Thanks for your help, APH from the English wiki

[edit] Worrying new Wikipedian

Hi Robin - I know I should assume good faith with new editors, but I'm getting a couple of warning bells about one of our newest NZ wikipedians. I've seen two edits by him, and they have both had a fairly strong anti-Maori bias to them. It may be worth keeping an eye on Aidan Work's edits. Grutness...wha? 06:04, 8 November 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Ilva

Hi Robin -- Thanks for your message in my discussion page. My dislike of the Roman Empire is mostly out of dislike for the brutality that it imposed on its conquered peoples. But one has to admit that the Latin heritage survives till today and still commands great respect in the sciences, law and education fields. I was very active in the creation of the la.wikipedia subdomain and in the ia.wikipedia too (Interlingua is like a Latin without flexions, thanks to Giuseppe Peano and Alexander Gode too). The nickname ILVI was originally a latin Ilooy and also a nod to the fact that I loved using the Vi Un*x text editor by that name so my first login name was ilvi... There's no relation to Ilva's slaves... but the name Ilva is Latin for the island of Elba where Napoleon was exiled. Anyway, thanks for visiting my page and I wish you 'happy-wikiing experiences' always, Jay B. ilvi 23:32, 8 November 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Boiler explosion

Any objection for changing over this talk page to the improved version from Wikicities except for small changes suggested?

--Dore chakravarty 20:15, 2 December 2005 (UTC)

[edit] The new New Zealand "wikicities" site

I have gone ahead and made, you an admin (sysop); on the New Zealand Wikicity, hope you don't object (So you can remove spam, vandalism, etc, faster).

To answer your question, yes it is a genuine wikicity, I have just added, it to the central Wikicities list.

Yes I’m guilty, I based the site notice, on the New Zealand wiki; from the one on the you wrote Maori Wikipedia :)  :) Brian | (Talk) 00:15, 12 December 2005 (UTC)

[edit] World Citizen userbox, {{User:1ne/Userboxes/User world}}

Hi, I noticed the message saying you're a World Citizen, I would like to invite you to add {{User:1ne/Userboxes/User world}} to your user page if you wish to proclaim it in a more effective way, and this template will also add you automatically to the Wikipedians with World Citizenship category. :) --Mistress Selina Kyle 23:54, 17 December 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Thanks for the anti-spam patu

Thanks for the feedback and the mi adminship. Unfortunately the spam-bot is getting worse, and is affecting almost all the small wikis. (See meta:SWMT and meta:Special:SiteMatrix.) --Zigger «º» 23:47, 19 December 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Kia ora

... mō ō kupu mō te interwiki. Pai rawa. Kahuroa 06:54, 9 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] New Zealand portal

An article you made a major contribution to, Cabbage tree (Cordyline australis), is currently the selected article on the New Zealand portal. You're welcome to nominate other articles at Portal_talk:New_Zealand#Selected_articles, or to view the archive of selected articles at the article archive.-gadfium 05:46, 6 February 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Main Page redesign

I have on my user page at the Māori wiki a mockup of my proposed new version of the main page. Since I translated some of the text into Māori the page has looked particularly ugly, so I had a go at a redesign. I thought we needed some more colour on the page as well, and to reduce how much space is taken up by the long lists. I have included all the info and links on the current page, plus put some English fairly prominently to acknowledge the input of English speakers so far. Kahuroa 09:34, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Tararua Region

Hi Robin - and thanks for the welcome. I conferred with those in the know, and have updated the info on weather forecasting regions on the Tararua District page. Take a squizz and see if it reads okay. Cheers. --noizyboy 04:06, 23 February 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Hi

I was wondering, if you were interested, in joining WikiProject Middle-earth. We've revamped, and unofficially merged with the rest of the Tolkien-related to WikiProject to start over since the others were inactive. The WikiProject's still in his baby stages, so we've just started officially today.

We need more members and this WikiProject is a good way for all the Tolkien fans to come join together in an organized and efficient way so that maybe one day, one of the Tolkien-related articles may reach to FA status, among other things.

BTW, I know of the two LotR wikicities. The reason why I ask you to join this WikiProject despite the fact that there're two LotR wikicities is because since all the Tolkien fans leave Wikipedia and concentrate on the wikicities, the Tolkien-related articles here in the Mother of all Wikicities are not up to standards and are need of a lot of work.

If you join, my thanks :D. —Mirlen 16:26, 1 March 2006 (UTC)

Ah, okay. Thanks anyway. —Mirlen 15:42, 2 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Kiwi English&Maori

Hi Robin! I am currently working on a project about New Zealand and I would like to have some audio files of how do Kiwi English and Maori sound. Would it be possible to record a 20-30 seconds long track for each of the languages? THank you very much. By the way, it doesn't matter that you are a non-native speaker of Maori, since nobody in Barcelona has a little idea about how it sounds... As I said before, thanks for your time.Adleos 14:09, 18 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Messy cleanup

Good cleanup!! I would never have known that Simon was so messy as the messy editor talking about messy Wellington articles... I am comitted to cleaning them up so he can relax, it would happen faster if we talked more, and I hadnt had such vicuous treatment when i first got here. moza 17:48, 20 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Zeal down. What a pity

Hi Robin, I read your message on the Wikipedia Zeal Talk page. What a pity about Zeal.

If you or others (that like me don't know too much about Wiki) need help, or a place to come together, or ... please drop in at sitelibrary.net

There we have more a forum-style system,

--Norbert

[edit] The Main Page

I think your change to the main page is a bad move, I'm afraid to say. I'd very much appreciate if you added a comment here. Thanks - Drrngrvy 12:48, 6 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Engineering Wiki?

Why no show in the above in spite of my talk page notes??

--Dore chakravarty 05:23, 9 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Suggest You Revert WikP Main Page

  • re: Main page revert of your edit --I think you should revert -- your version is better aesthetically pleasing, and I checked back and forth from several faces typical about 7 Pt up to 16+ Pt (Us oldsters with squint needs <C>). The page was protected, or I would have acted boldly. Best regardsFrankB
btw almost missed your caveat on last talk page, will make a minor visibility change there, so you might consider. FrankB 15:57, 10 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] America's Cup

We weren't just the first to defend it after winning it off the americans, but we should have been the first to outright win it in the first place too... ;p Me!! 22:20, 14 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Robin Forlonge Patterson?

Hi Robin. Is that your middle name? I thought your name looked familiar, and I found it on my family tree. The FORLONGs are my wife's relatives. rossnixon 20:56, 15 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Auckland meetup

Just to let you know that a meetup is planned in Auckland for the 25th of June (see Wikipedia:Meetup/Auckland for more details), and that you are cordially invited. GeorgeStepanek\talk 23:14, 22 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Main Page

See Talk:Main_Page#Reinserting_a_break

Prodego talk 01:57, 3 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] My RfA

Hi, I would like to express my gratitude for your participation at my recent RfA. The final vote was 68/21/3 and resulted in me becoming an admin!

For those of you who supported my RfA, I highly appreciate your kind words and your trust in me. For those who opposed - many of you expressed valid concerns regarding my activity here; I will make an effort in addressing them as time goes on while at the same time using my admin tools appropriately. So, salamat, gracias, merci, ありがとう, спасибо, धन्यवाद, 多謝, agyamanak unay, شكرًا, cảm ơn, 감사합니다, mahalo, ขอบคุณครับ, go raibh maith agat, dziękuję, ευχαριστώ, Danke, תודה, mulţumesc, გმადლობთ, etc.! If you need any help, feel free to contact me.

PS: I took the company car (pictured left) out for a spin, and well... it's not quite how I pictured it. --Chris S. 23:06, 13 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] De Linguis Polynesianis

Mr. Patterson, the subject of Polynesian linguistics has come up a couple times recently on the Latin Wikipedia. Recalling your interest in the subject, I thought I'd point you in particular to la:disputatio:Insulae Vitienses (much of the discussion involves the ridiculous form Fiii Fiiiis invented by a previous editor, and only recently effaced), and la:disputatio:Seru Epenisa Cakobau. Hope you enjoy those, Iustinus 04:08, 19 August 2006 (UTC)

Yes, I once met a Maori named Mr. Whari. Learning abotu my interest in linguistics, he asked me why his name was pronounced Fari. I knew nothign about Maori, and very little about Polynesian languages in general, but that one was easy to guess ;) --Iustinus 15:19, 21 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Genealogy

Robin, I'd like to talk to you about the Genealogy Wiki. I've not been able to reach any of the Admins of that Wiki through their user pages, or the Watercooler, or email. Please leave a message on my Genealogy User Page about how to contact you. User:WMWillis

[edit] German article on New Zealand

Hi Robin, the German article on New Zealand is a candidate for Exzellente Artikel (comparable to featured articles in the English Wikipedia). Even though you (or any other user of the English Wikipedia) might be unfamiliar with the standards for the top articles in the German Wikipedia, I thought it might be a good idea to let a Kiwi have a look at it, before it becomes excellent. As you are still the only German speaking Wikipedian from New Zealand I know, I thought it was as good idea to ask you, but feel free to forward it to anyone who you think might be appropriate. Cheers --Alex 18:42, 24 August 2006 (UTC) P.S.: And so sorry for the bad English, seems like a have forgotten half of my vocabulary.

[edit] Your address

Are you sure you want to put your address online? Just out of concern for a fellow wikipedian! --Merhawie 14:34, 16 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Thanks for welcome

I never really thought about a user page - to me it's more about the info than having a personal presence. Plus I haven't worked out how to do a decent one :-) --Tirana 07:11, 31 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Karamu

Yes I'm from Karamu, and I am also from (originally) Camborne, near you. Yes I would like to speak more languages, especially Cantonese and Malay. Citikiwi 03:25, 16 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Moeraki Boulders

Hello!! Just wondering whether you're familiar with the Moeraki Boulders, because our german article is a little bit short and we could need some help from a really Kiwi! ;) Just if you find some mistakes, please let us know. german article Moeraki Boulders Sorry, that we german crazy people are bothering you all the time, it'd be great if we find some more Kiwis, who are able to write in german.--Kiwi-sonja 20:58, 30 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] My level of work

Yeah I haven't done a major edit in ages. Just haven gotten around to it! Will do one in Jan probs. Suggestions for that edit?--HamedogTalk|@ 20:38, 20 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Meetup

Hi Robin, Looking around the Maori Wikipedia I'm not sure how involved you are these days, but I was wondering if you could suggest the best place to notify participants there about the forthcoming meetup once we have get the time/place sorted? - SimonLyall 04:03, 29 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] genealogy

That actually sounds like a VALID link, if it's the result of the various metawiki debates about how to do it. I'd say add that one, and let's see. I'm just tired of the 500 personal family tree sites built on the wiki engine, which never require citation or evidence, and would essentially be rumormills. any genealogical evidence without full citation found on the web is useless, and even that WITH citation is usually best regarded as a lead, not as truth. Thanks for the heads up, please add it. and while I am fairly rigorous, I'm not totally a blocker of new links. regretably, many I've added have been removed as well, in order to 'make space' for the junk. I actually need to rework the links entirely, I think, to update them. ThuranX 00:42, 25 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Fellow Wellingtonian

Hi Robin

Thanks for the greeting. We might meet up at a meetup if that were ever arranged.

Cheers

Tiles


[edit] Altering user name

Hi Robin, I recently added my name as a fellow wellingtonian. Can you advise me how to change my user name so that it appears in the alphbetic list, not under 'U'? Add a tube? Fred114 01:29, 1 February 2007 (UTC)


[edit] Wellington meet up

I would be interested in meeting other wellingtonions who edit, etc. I see you may not make it to Auckland. I'm not able to attend, but do support the idea. I don't have the skills, or time or patience to create the page space and invite others to attend. Can you help? Fred114 01:29, 1 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Can we cut down on avoidable confusion?

Discussion at Wikipedia:Village pump (policy)#Can we cut down on avoidable confusion?.

OMG, here in Wikipedia there is a Category:Cities by country, a Category:Towns by country and a Category:Municipalities by country. Can't we just get them all put together under Category:Cities and towns by Country? For universities and colleges we already have Category:Universities and colleges by country. It's simple. Cities and towns don't mean the same across the globe, and those complex differences may be good for a lawyer or a diplomat, but NOT FOR AN ENCYCLOPEDIA. Say what? Aditya Kabir 09:54, 17 February 2007 (UTC)

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[edit] hi ya

just checkin in after a few months havin fun and doing real stuff outside of this space. I spotted your note from back in december. I'm into a wellington wikimeet, although could be interesting, hard to say, there is plenty of room for surgery online but not in my personal space, so i would expect a moderator to attend to ensure that things stayed under control somewhat, otherwise what would be the point? I'm into celibrating the differences rather than bashing things into sausages with a heavy handed knife. I prefer to be open and honest, upfront, and thats very hard for people to take. I'm more interested int he dynamics of people than articles, I'm only interested in articles for their information value, esp historical and visual info, and care little for the endless cutting that seems to me to be exceedingly wasteful and slower than just getting on with whats important overall. I'm at the liberal end of the scale and thats not liked much by many wikipedians, who seem to be a long way away from me, and unwilling to give much ground. I'm curious about many aspects still, especially the real meaning of consensus in this space, and will continue to fix stuff as I see fit, and at my own pace. Many articles that i identified as being in need are still just the same as they were a long time ago, and yet much good information has been trashed in the name of good editing, its quite perplexing. I'm going back to the South Island again at easter to Inangahua to PHAT MOON party, we had more than 5000 people there at New Years Eve and thats notable enough for wikipedia, but i dont see anyone rushing to build an article. I have thousands of pics i could make available some but after giving a thousand so far and having them treated like dirt in many cases i'm unwilling to post them up myself until i get a lot more energy for this project back. Ive taken the other path and built galleries locally that load much faster and I have complete control over. same applies to Parihaka International Peace Festival 7000 people, and One Love Waitangi day music festival with 20,000 people. Those events represent a significant percentage of our population. My idea isnt that we need to fight with a hoard of editors to justify the info and to keep it there while its being expanded on, its to collaborate and all of us to find supporting material to solidify any article under attack. Its interesting to note that a whole array of alternative web site networks have sprung up to cater for the diverse needs of people that want an easy way to get stuff 'out there' and myspace seems to be the best. I use it often along with a whole bunch of international musicians, and it works really well. And for my web presence building exercises I have found another great tool, the 'swicki' which is a search engine that is administered by us, the web site owners, and is climbing through the ranks raising all search terms as it climbs. Another excellent kiwi invention!! so anyway, keep up the good work, and i'll check back sometime.. moza//moza 10:44, 17 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Hi

Just saw your note from December, so it's clearly been a while since I logged in! Anyway, thanks for the friendly note. Yeah I'm in Edinburgh now but I was briefly in Wellington around the time you wrote the note. 17:15, 20 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Appropedia

Hi Robin,

I saw some of your activity at Sustainapedia.org, and thought I would invite you to take a look at Appropedia, where the content is being aggregated while we work out the partnership details with Wikia. Have you explored there? Take a look... As your are such an experienced wiki editor, we'd obviously love to be a part of your list of frequented sites! Curtbeckmann 15:29, 26 May 2007 (UTC) (My Appropedia talk page )

Hi again. I dropped a thank you note at your user page at Appropedia, but not sure you saw it. Is this the preferred place for messages, then? Or at Wikia? --Curtbeckmann 02:49, 31 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] e.g. means "for example; "i.e" means "that is"

Those were quoted directly from the standard... — Omegatron 02:03, 30 May 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Re:NZ Wikia

Thankyou very Robin Patterson for your comforting words. I will try and contribute on New Zealand Wikia during the holiday break.

The issue has now been solved. --Jose77 04:00, 13 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Temp sysop request for Tok Pisin Wikipedia and Wiktionary

When I saw your note on my en:Talk page I thought your name was somehow familiar, but didn't recall immediately where I'd seen it before.  Turned out that I'd seen it when I was browsing through and comparing the Maori, Tahitian, and Hawai'ian Wikipedias several weeks ago.  My interest back then was simply to see if the Maori and Tahitian texts were using the relatively 'new' linguistic pronunciation marks (whatever those marks are really called)that Hawai'ian uses now.  The Tahitian and 'new' Hawai'ian Wikipedias use them, but Maori (thankfully) just uses the macron so far. My curiosity was incidental, and before I got more involved with the Tok Pisin Wikipedia and Wiktionary.

I agree with you on useful contributions of non-native speakers.  Since English is the language in which potential Melanesian readers of the Tok Pisin Wikipedia and Wiktionary have been educated (Tok Pisin being their interpersonal, informal language), it seems to me that including English in both documents is a 'no-brainer'.  Your work with and approach to the Maori Wikipedia has been very commendable in my view.

There are two ideas that I'd like to try if I'm granted temp sysop privileges: (1)To keep Tok Pisin articles and orientation focused on Melanesia and the surrounding Pacific regions, and (2) to include as a sub-page of a Tok Pisin article the article's English-language source.  My thinking is that this may be a way to be able to legitimately "bulk up" the Wikipedia and Wiktionary with good Melanesian-related articles (at the start, anyway) instead of unrelated and simple one-liner placeholders.  Placeholder Melanesian-related "articles" would still be used, but behind each one would be an English language sub-page which will be available for translation to Tok Pisin later on by native or learned Tok Pisin speakers, and which would then replace a standard "one-liner" placeholder text (in Tok Pisin).  As deemed necessary or reasonable, the English sub-page(s) can either be kept or deleted.  For example, the TPI article "Madang" would have a subpage "Madang/English" where a more complete English language version would be made available for later translation.

Removing/moving the sub-pages requires administrator or sysop status. So does doing things like inserting the translations in the left frame of the main page, deleting pages, and implementing many of the templates that are not implemented now (e.g., the WikiProject Melanesia template).

Gotta' run now, will talk at you later. Thanks for your note to me, and best regards from Abingdon, Maryland.  K. Kellogg-Smith 13:31, 12 June 2007 (UTC)

[edit] mi:wikt:User:Iarlagab

Hi Robin, I was gathering some info on the word manu for the Dutch wiktionary and saw it was a.o. a Maori word, so I was checking whether there was anything on the maori wikti and found it in a sorry state of delapidation. I have a history of getting stand-still wiki's and wikti's going and decided to do some template stuff and a few words that I gathered from elsewhere (mostly the en wikti). I also tried to create a wikti template on mi.wiki and was rebuffed rather rudely by one of the native speakers there. I was told I was being disrespectful to the Maori people. Well if that is so I would appreciate if someone could delete my edits on the wikti. Do you have sysop status there?

Orginally from the Old Zealand nl:wikt:Gebruiker:Jcwf

Hi Robin, I see you did not consider much that I had offended worthy of the ol' axe. I suppose I should thank you. I have done some thinking about what happened and I have decided that while it is true that I do not know anything about Maori culture the reverse is also true. They don't know mine either, but we are now -whether we like that or not- all part of the global village that is wikiland. And my culture is no less than theirs. And I don't feel I owe them: we left them alone in 1642. And my culture is one of embracing the global village and of unspeakable stubbornness.

So I will continue to do the odd edit on mi.wikti.

As I said I have history of getting wikis/wiktis going. That is true for the nl wiki (it had 400 messy pages), the ru wiki (it had 7 pages and a main page with fascist remarks and swearwords) the af wiki (boy did that take time!), the af wikti (now a one-man show I know). I even dumped a Dutch version of the periodic system on the cs wiki once. And yep sure enough some mothertongue speaker was offended enough to start translating ;-). The only one I never really got going is the xhosa one although there is a mothertongue speaker there occasonally. Ndiyakwazi sithetha kancinci but not enough. As the Maori's go: I hope one day they will embrace the global village with its good and its frustrating sides. They'd better. There is no other future for us non-anglo's than to make sure the anglo's -no offense!- dont take it all and that means we need each other. I said 'no offense' because fortunately there are anglo-allies too. And I think you're one.

I won't be around because I'm off to Holland (my sister died unexpectedly), but after a week or too I'd appreciate if you drop in on the wikti occasionally.

JCwf

[edit] Support Needed

Greetings Robin Patterson,

It would be very gratefully appreciated if you could support the Request for Niuean Wikipedia. Thankyou. --Jose77 23:03, 1 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Carissa Proffit

Hi, this article makes no claim as to the subjects notability. I've found nothing through Google about her. Is there anything you can add?--Ethicoaestheticist 00:31, 12 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Your page helped me

I joined Wikipedia today, and to help me customise my page, as I don't really get the help pages, I searched for User Wikipedia on Google, and your page come up at the bottom. To help me, I searched for what I wanted mine to look like on your page, then pressed edit, and found the same part. I then used yours as a template for mine, so thank you. I have four paws, whiskers, and a tail <^..^> 11:01, 28 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Cat Lover Too Huh?

I think I read that the more links that link back to a page, the higher the rating, but that's not the only reason Google rated you high. Lol so do I. (On the forum I am known as a cat, hence my signature), and I have two sets of paws, tails, and whiskers near me. I get shown respect (sometimes), and heaps of love :D I have four paws, whiskers, and a tail <^..^> 13:04, 29 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Link to NZ go website

Hi Robin,

Thanks for the link! Our website is being migrated to a new server, but I've told our webmaster about the link to the NZ society so that he can put it on our sidebar once the new site is up and running.

Cheers

David --Slashme (talk) 11:00, 28 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Thomson Financial

Another editor has added the {{prod}} template to the article Thomson Financial, suggesting that it be deleted according to the proposed deletion process. All contributions are appreciated, but the editor doesn't believe it satisfies Wikipedia's criteria for inclusion, and has explained why in the article (see also Wikipedia:What Wikipedia is not and Wikipedia:Notability). Please either work to improve the article if the topic is worthy of inclusion in Wikipedia or discuss the relevant issues at its talk page. If you remove the {{prod}} template, the article will not be deleted, but note that it may still be sent to Wikipedia:Articles for deletion, where it may be deleted if consensus to delete is reached. BJBot (talk) 10:59, 6 March 2008 (UTC)

Doesn't worry me. The Thomson Corporation said my work could be done at half the price in Beijing. They did let me take my mouse home as part of the redundancy package. Robin Patterson (talk) 22:27, 6 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Ikariam

Thanks for telling me about the Ikariam wiki - i wouldnt have known about it otherwise, but why was the page deleted? There are many wikipedia pages which also have their own wikis, if you could help that would be great, thanks again.Kcollis (talk) 08:07, 3 April 2008 (UTC)