User talk:Tomr2006

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[edit] Welcome!

Hi Tomr2006, and a warm welcome to Wikipedia! I hope you have enjoyed editing as much as I did so far and decide to stay. Unfamiliar with the features and workings of Wikipedia? Don't fret! Be Bold! Here's some good links for your reference and that'll get you started in no time!

Most Wikipedians would prefer to just work on articles of their own interest. But if you have some free time to spare, here are some open tasks that you may want to help out :

  • RC Patrol - Keeping a lookout for vandalism.
  • Cleanup - Help make unreadable articles readable.
  • Requests - Wanted on WP, but hasn't been created.
  • Merge - Combining duplicate articles into one.
  • Wikiprojects - So many to join, so many to choose from...Take your pick!

Oh yes, don't forget to sign when you write on talk pages, simply type four tildes, like this: ~~~~. This will automatically add your name and the time after your comments. And finally, if you have any questions or doubts, don't hesitate to contact me on my talk page. Once again, welcome! =)

- Mailer Diablo 17:48, 22 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Talk Towers

Most probably [1]. Feel free to add any links to the page if you feel that it will help point readers to useful information, after all that's the concept of Wikipedia - a Wiki Encyclopedia that anyone can edit. =)

Cheers, Mailer Diablo 17:48, 22 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Answers to questions

Hi Tom! Welcome to Wikipedia - it's a great place and you're gonna love it!

To answer your questions:

Where you get your user bars from saying: 'I Use Firefox', 'Happy to help New Users' etc... available on your homepage.

These are called userboxes, and there's an article about them on this page Wikipedia:Userboxes with categorized links to available boxes. If you can't see one you like there that someone else has got, steal it from their user page! It's okay to do that - just don't accidentally save a change to their userpage whilst you're nicking it!

What Barnstar Awards are, and where you can award/receive them and why?

Editing at Wikipedia can be stressful and thankless. You do a great job, but it sometimes seems nobody notices. So we came up with the idea of Barnstars. If you see someone doing a great job, or something useful, or a boring job that has to be done by someone, you can recognise them for their work by putting a Barnstar on their talk page. It's a good idea to give them away freely to anyone doing a good job - it's a nice thing to do and a really nice thing to be given! More information at Wikipedia:Barnstars

What Esperanza is and other groups, how/when/why should i join etc...

Esperanza is an association of Wikipedians dedicated to strengthening Wikipedia's sense of community. It is primarily involved in establishing and maintaining a support network for its members, who want to build a place where Wikipedians can go for hope and reassurance. People do get stressed out, both in real life and whilst editing. We seek to help those people, and to help each other. We're just a bunch of do-gooders, doing good! You can join once you've made 150 edits and been at the Wikipedia for at least two weeks. You join just by adding your name to the list once you have those edits and that time. More information is at Wikipedia:Esperanza
There are other groups of Wikipedians, some built on certain issues (there's a Gay and Lesbian group, for instance) and some built around certain projects (films, tv shows etc). These types of groups are about editing the articles you know about and enjoy and co-ordinating with others who enjoy the same things. Then there are more social-minded groups, like Esperanza and the Kindness Campaign, which are devoted to Wikipedians' health and sanity! Then there's the chore groups, like the Counter Vandalism Unit and the Cleanup Team, which do the jobs everyone hates. Because campaigning is frowned upon on the 'pedia, there tend to be no groups that do so. But there are some groups for deletionists, mergists, keepers etc - people who would like the 'pedia to go in certain directions. Only you can decide if you want to join that type of organisation.

How you can make people alert as to what languages you read/write in etc...

These are the original userboxes, the Babel boxes. They are the only ones not contraversial! You can find the code you need to implement them here Wikipedia:Babel. They allow you to specify all the languages you speak, don't speak well, would like to speak etc. They're very useful if you have a knowledge of a language, as editors who don't speak English but do speak your language can ask you for help and advice in that language.

I hope these tips help! If you've got any more questions, please do ask them, I really am always happy to help new users!

Feel free to click the "edit this page" on my user page to see how the stuff there is laid out if you need tips on Wiki mark-up. If you go to my sandbox you'll find a copy of my user page if you want to make changes to see how things work. I don't mind changes to my Sandbox, but I'd prefer you didn't change my real user page.

Cheers! And happy editing! ➨ ❝REDVERS❞ 17:37, 23 January 2006 (UTC)

  • If you have any further questions, ask away! Both Redvers and myself are more than happy to clarify your doubts. :) - Cheers, Mailer Diablo 17:45, 23 January 2006 (UTC)
  • It means that a page's prose, or/and quality in style/markup isn't in a good shape, and needs help for improvement. In this case, two major problems can be spotted immediately on the page - The characters section is unwikified, and the other references section appear to look rather messy. - Mailer Diablo 19:02, 23 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] More replies!

Hi again Tom!

For counting edits, we used to use Kate's tool. But many people, Kate included, felt that this led to "Editcountitus", where people were being judged on the number of edits they'd done, rather than the quality of their edits. So Kate took the tool away. Other tools have appeared, but all are designed to be a bit complicated so that you have to work for the information! The main replacements - all of them need coding - are listed on the tool's page.

You might like to try Interiot's tool but that has limited bandwidth and is often unavailable.

Of course, you can count it manually! Go to your Special:Contributions page here and count. I make it that, at 19:20, 23 January 2006 (UTC), you have 24 edits in 2 days; 3 are in the article namespace, one is in the article talk namespace, 14 are in the user talk namespace, one is in the Wikipedia talk namespace, and the rest are to your user page.

For groups to join, visit the Community Portal. That's a big centralised list of things to do, tasks, collaborations, on-going projects, community support groups and much more.

Another option is to visit an article on a subject you're interested in, pull up its history and see who made substantial edits there. If you go to their user page, they might list a Wikiproject they're involved in that relates to your shared interest. Or work your way through the big list at Wikipedia:List of WikiProjects and find something.

Hope this helps! ➨ ❝REDVERS❞ 19:20, 23 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] More information!

Hi again Tom!

When I upload an image from the internet to Wikipedia, well, is this allowed?

Not usually. Nearly all images you find on the internet are copyright, so we can't use them. There are some we can use under something called "Fair use". So an image of a book cover, for instance, on a page about that book or the author if it mentions the book, is probably fair use. The same image, on your user page or on an article not about the book would not be allowed. The complex issue is talked about at Wikipedia:Fair use

If 'Yes', what copyright 'template' do i need to assign to the image.

When you upload, there's a drop-down menu that lists the most popular templates that can be added automatically. These are things like "Fair use - book cover" or "Public domain image of the US government". You can visit the upload page and just look at the list without uploading anything. It's here.

Secondly, if i create the image myself, what copyright 'templates' do i need to assign?

From the drop-down list, the preferred option is "GDFL Self Made". But if you want to ensure that you get a personal credit, use Attribution ShareAlike. You can't keep the rights to the image once you've done this, by the way: you are voluntarily giving them up forever. Some of us like this, of course! All of mine are Free Use Public Domain Self Made Rights Released - I've given them away to everyone completely forever.
A scan of something using a scanner is not you making it - the scan is of something copyright, I'm afraid!

Lastly, can i just confirm: can I award Barnstar Prizes quite freely, or do they have to be for a very, very good reason?

The "original barnstar" can be awarded to whoever you like, whenever you like for whatever reason you like. The control is yours and you are encouraged to spread them around! The other barnstars are for specific things (there's a science one, a "working man's" one for people doing boring hard but really needed work and so on) but you can give them to anyone to, if they fit the criteria. If you're not sure, give a person the original. It's a gift you can give and should make you happy as well as the person getting it!

Hope this helps. Please, don't worry about bothering me! Keep asking questions, and I'll keep answering. Happy editing! ➨ ❝REDVERS❞ 22:05, 23 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Re: Computer Science

Hi Tom. Actually, I don't have any formal training in computer science; it's mostly a hobby. I'll probably be going off to college in the fall, though, and I'm pretty sure that's what my major will be.

If you're interested in finding out about what kind of courses you'll need to take, your best bet is to find the website of a university you're looking at and check it out. For example, the University of Texas at Austin has a detailed list of the required coursed for a CS degree, along with a cool flowchart. Hope this helps! —David Wahler (talk) 22:41, 23 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Re

I reckon you have, for the most part. However I would lose the coloured backgrounds, as they arnt usually used. Keep up the good work! Banez 18:31, 24 January 2006 (UTC)

You're most welcome! I would advise you also ask around as I may be wrong...Anyway, nice to meet you! Feel free to ask me about anything, anytime Banez 18:37, 24 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Your "first significant edits"

Hi Tom!

That's a great start! It's an interesting and informative article that taught me something new. I've given it a light polish - I've changed none of your content, just brought the Wikimarkup (the language of the page) up to a better standard. Wikimarkup is both simple and complicated - you've done great with what you had, far better than I managed after a couple of days here! I've just slimmed the page down a bit by using a wikitable to put the excellent examples in. (Less is more!)

I've also found some useful external links, so people reading the article can find out more or follow other paths.

These are just the things I would always do for any article that I passed by.

I'm very impressed with this article. Well done! Spot on! :) ➨ ❝REDVERS❞ 20:00, 24 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Esperanza questions

Hi Tom!

I'm glad you're interested in Esperanza, and we'll really welcome you onboard when you have the 2 weeks and 150+ edits. You join simply by adding your name to the list at Wikipedia:Esperanza/Members when the time is right. No tests, no interviews, no hurdles!

Elections: Whilst Wikipedia is not a democracy, Esperanza is. We have a popularly elected Admin-General, who leads the group and is our "figurehead". At the most recent elections, we elected Celestianpower as Admin-General.

No group can run with just one person doing all the running, so we also elect an Advisory Council to help out. These are currently FireFox, Flcelloguy, Titoxd, and Karmafist.

We have a system where a proportion of the seats in the Advisory Council are up for election every so often, to ensure continuity. The next elections will be at the end of February, when Flcelloguy and Karmafist's terms are up.

Then, we have an election again at the end of April, when FireFox and Titoxd's terms are up.

The elections are done using "approval voting" - that means people vote "Yes" for the candidates they are interested in, but don't vote "No" for candidates they don't want. (Other elections on Wikipedia, for admins for instance, use a voting system where you can vote "Support", "Oppose" or "Neutral". Some people don't like this system). All voting is public - this being a Wiki, we don't generally have private ballots. You vote publically, but can give reasons for your vote. This applies in both systems.

If you're stressed and need to contact a member of Esperanza in private, visit his/her user page (see the members list for people you can contact). If you and they have email enabled, you'll see in the list under the search box on the left of the screen a line reading "E-mail this user". Click that and you can email them. They will be able to see your email address in order to be able to reply. Remember to mention Esperanza as the subject of the email.

Hope this helps! ➨ ❝REDVERS❞ 22:44, 24 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Poetry

Hi Tom!

I have some queries about your idea of a series of articles. Whilst there would be no objection to articles on notable subjects - and set works for a national exam would probably be notable - I'd wonder about the content.

First, to reprint the poems, we'd need to be sure that they're out of copyright. So the author needs to have been dead for 75 years (ie died before 1931).

Second, the analysis of the poems must be suitable for a general reader - an English-speaking person from anywhere in the world with a reasonable education. It can't be written in terms designed for younger people (although such articles could go on the Simple English Wikipedia of course).

Third, your analysis can't copy from published works - they are copyright and cannot be more than sparingly used.

Fourth, you will need to cite your sources for any analysis you do - what you write cannot be original research.

As for the categories, I would be tempted to leave the articles in the existing Category:Poems and leave creating a subcategory until the series is on its way.

Finally, if you're going to slowly write an article, like you're doing with What were they like, you're probably best "userfying" the article. In other words, create it in your userspace, write it slowly there and then ask for it to be moved when you're happy it's ready. Unstarted stubs, even when protected with a notice, are likely to be deleted rapidly as policy is against them existing. Start the article at User:Tomr2006/What were they like and you won't go wrong!

Hope this helps! ➨ ❝REDVERS❞ 20:19, 26 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Re : Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Talk Towers

I remember you had some time back made a request to remove the debate for privacy/search engine reasons. There was recently an allowance given to "hide" (but not delete/remove complete) deletion debates, so I've done that for you for the abovementioned AfD. This is just so that you know, and no further action is required. - Best regards, Mailer Diablo 17:09, 21 February 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Re: Michael Crawford

I've responded at talk:Michael Crawford. Thanks for alerting me to your messages on the talk page - I obviously wasn't checking my watchlist thoroughly enough that day. Graham87 08:25, 20 September 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Image:100x100Heart.png listed for deletion

An image or media file that you uploaded or altered, Image:100x100Heart.png, has been listed at Wikipedia:Images and media for deletion. Please see the discussion to see why this is (you may have to search for the title of the image to find its entry), if you are interested in it not being deleted. Thank you. Kelly hi! 04:03, 2 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Image:100x100Rose.png listed for deletion

An image or media file that you uploaded or altered, Image:100x100Rose.png, has been listed at Wikipedia:Images and media for deletion. Please see the discussion to see why this is (you may have to search for the title of the image to find its entry), if you are interested in it not being deleted. Thank you. Kelly hi! 04:04, 2 April 2008 (UTC)