User talk:Alai/Archive 7

Archive 1 - Archive 2 - Archive 3 - Archive 4 - Archive 5 - Archive 6

Stub sorting

As struct stubs generally seem to be treated as subcats of geo stubs, should I be double-stubbing all the Scotland struct stubs (and the new Scotland castle stubs) with the new local geo stubs, eg. as I have done here at Elsie Inglis Memorial Hospital? (If we do that it will assist with any future split of that growing cat, but even if we never split, it could still be useful for people interested in their own local area.) I ask because I was wondering if I start someone may object. What do you think? --Mais oui! 19:14, 26 April 2006 (UTC)

Re the whole de-bureaucrating thing

Hi, I never came to thank you for the message you left for me a month ago when I stepped down from being a bureaucrat. Thank you for the things you said, it's good to know there are still plenty of good people about in this project. I do not see myself standing for bureaucrat again anytime soon though who knows what the future may bring! Thank you once again. -- Francs2000 09:57, 29 April 2006 (UTC)

Maybe you can help

I asked a question about a problem I had on the metastub template talk page. You seem knowledgable about this kind, of stuff so I thought maybe you could take a look. J. Finkelstein 20:01, 29 April 2006 (UTC)

You said: Replied here. Alai 07:03, 1 May 2006 (UTC)

Well here's another question for you then. :) J. Finkelstein 18:06, 1 May 2006 (UTC)

Frances Oldham Kelsey

Well, it has been over a year and I finally did a complete rewrite of an article I knew nothing about before I looked her up on Wikipedia. Can you review this Frances Oldham Kelsey article - here is my changes. I also had to start a brand new article (so I wouldn't have an ugly red link in the rewritten one) - see President's Award for Distinguished Federal Civilian Service. I also added everything after the first paragraph to Distinguished Civilian Service Awards Board. Do you mind reviewing these - I am really not happy with the flow - it is too choppy on Frances Oldham Kelsey. Thx in adv - Trödel 06:51, 1 May 2006 (UTC)

Thx for reviewing - I don't like the short choppy sentences in the sections: "Birth and education" and "Early career and marriage." I was thinking of trying to get this up to FA quality but I never tried anything like that before. Any advice? Trödel 00:59, 2 May 2006 (UTC)

Good suggestions - I will try them first - I couldn't find a wikiproject last night that seemed to fit ... Trödel 01:15, 2 May 2006 (UTC)

Stub counts update

Yes, this works pretty well without any modifications. Conscious 05:17, 3 May 2006 (UTC)

Re: Removing "too many stub tags"

I've seen a few people "pruning" articles of multiple stub tags; off the top of my head, Llywrch and Bryan Derksen come to mind. SPUI hasn't necessarily removed extra ones, but he's done interesting things with stub tags at various points as well. Kirill Lokshin 00:44, 10 May 2006 (UTC)

sf-novel-stub

Hi Alai, Saw that you were the one to generate this notice template, do you know what the rationale was behind it becoming a redirect. I want to start populating this but don't want to waste my time or step on anyones toes. Is it a redirect with a view to becoming a full seperate stub notice at some stage once fully populated? Which is not going to be too hard, I don't think. :: Kevinalewis : ^{(Talk Page)}/_(Desk) 09:20, 10 May 2006 (UTC)

Template code

Panama-stub uses my standard code. The short answer to the noinclude bit is that I'm just a bit allergic to them (at least after the category). What's the advantage on including them within category brackets? Valentinian ^(talk) 02:13, 11 May 2006 (UTC)

Ok. I don't normally use it because I simply didn't notice any actual effect. I'll think about it. Valentinian ^(talk) 02:20, 11 May 2006 (UTC)

Stub types not listed at /ST

Yes, I think I can code it. Conscious 12:11, 12 May 2006 (UTC)

Are dumps somehow related to the updates of special pages? Special:Uncategorizedcategories updated yesterday. Conscious 12:52, 12 May 2006 (UTC)

I've done a comparison with the old dump, it's here. Conscious 17:55, 12 May 2006 (UTC)

Questionًًً

Hello! I have a question: "Can anybody give the Barnstar award to somebody else???" Thanks a lot!

--MehranVB 13:13, 12 May 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for answering! --MehranVB 13:22, 12 May 2006 (UTC)

My RFA

Hi Alai/Archive 7,

Thank you for any constructive criticism you may have given in my recent unsuccesful RFA. I will strive to overcome any shortcomings you may have mentioned & will try & prove myself worthy of your vote in the future.

Cheers

Srikeit^{(talk ¦ ✉)} 09:59, 13 May 2006 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Requests for arbitration/KDRGibby

I've had a change of opinion on this. Because of Gibby's relentless incivility and personal attacks on other editors, and his edit warring, but in particular because of the unbending nature of his approach to subjects on which he has strong feelings, I think it may (either now or soon) be time to consider invoking the General Probation in his case to ban him from Wikipedia completely. I don't think he's shown any sign of trying to work with other Wikipedians, and instead he's treating Wikipedia like a corner of Usenet. I no longer cling on to the hope that he has both the capacity and the will to reform.

KDRGibby is placed on general probation. Any three administrators, in the exercise of their judgement for reasonable cause, may ban him from Wikipedia if his general pattern of activity is unacceptably disruptive. Such a ban and the basis for it shall logged at Wikipedia:Requests for arbitration/KDRGibby#Log of blocks and bans.

I'd be interested in your opinion on this. --Tony Sidaway 12:13, 16 May 2006 (UTC)

I've opened a discussion on this on WP:AN. I'd like to see if there are reasonable objections before pressing ahead. --Tony Sidaway 14:37, 16 May 2006 (UTC)

Proposed action on Instantnood

Hi Alai The correct usage of country, nation, sate, nation state, sovereign state, sovereign nation etc is difficult to come to grips with. If you'd like to give me a single diff where you feel Instantnood may have used a term incorrectly, I'd be happy to give an opinion. I'm not sure the admin notice board is the place for such a discussion. Cheers, Kevin Mccready 05:42, 17 May 2006 (UTC)

Category:West Virginia school stubs

We discussed the deletion of the above cat a couple months back. It now appears that there are 17 stubs[1] that could fit into the cat. If I hack out three more decent stubs, would you support recreating it over at stubsorting? Cheers. youngamerican (talk) 15:22, 17 May 2006 (UTC)

Thats odd. At the deletion discussion, the threshold was 20 (hence your remeoval of Delaware). When did things change? youngamerican (talk) 15:58, 17 May 2006 (UTC)

NM, I saw the 60 threshold. You might want to go back and kill off the Delaware cat, then. I won't oppose this time. youngamerican (talk) 16:01, 17 May 2006 (UTC)

Template:Kurdistan-bio-stub

[2] you may want to review my response, I believe the debate can be concluded now. --Cat out 14:00, 18 May 2006 (UTC)

I've replied there, as you seem to feel the need. If you were prompting me to either vote (either way), or to close the SFD nom, I can't say I'm inclined to do either, for the reasons I've already mentioned. Doubtless one of the other SFD regulars will take care of it in due course. Alai 18:01, 18 May 2006 (UTC)

Oh I just wanted to get over with it :) Sorry for the bother. Alright, I'll let SFD regulars take care of it. Sorry for the torbble. --Cat out 18:11, 18 May 2006 (UTC)

It's no bother; sorry if I sounded peevish on the topic. It's just one of those cases where I find both alternatives sufficiently unattractive, not to say divisive, that I want as little as possible to do with the resolution either way. Not that that stops me from chiming in with my 2c... (Mind you, if it's stays there too much longer and no-one else closes it, it'll probably annoy me sufficiently that I will.) Alai 18:19, 18 May 2006 (UTC)

Ya. I can understand that. Contraversial cases are hard to deal with... especialy when one is divided in the middle. --Cat out 18:25, 18 May 2006 (UTC)

Kosovo again

Please keep an eye on the reverts by 158.143.162.111 and 172.177.218.36. I will automatically revert —to whatever the previous signed version is— any unsigned edits due to the latest batch of sockpuppetry incidents in the article. This whole situation is unbearable. For once we managed to get a stable, consensuated, article for almost two weeks and now we are back to square one. I may have to request semiprotection again. Regards, Asterion ^{talk to me} 09:02, 20 May 2006 (UTC)

I think it is clear who brought the situation to "square one" Asterion. It is disappointing to see that you tend to revert the changes to some of those who re-started the revert war. Alai, I congratulate you on your efforts. Thanks in advance for trying to bring order in that mess. ilir_pz 10:32, 20 May 2006 (UTC)

As I said, I would revert to whatever previous signed edit exists. And as for my position on the map, refer to this, as I already said I was against bringing up the map issue again (and this was just childish trolling by Bormalagurski). If you ask me, the whole situation blew up because people hiding behind unsigned edits and sockpuppets to go against a consensus already established on most issues.Asterion ^{talk to me} 11:14, 20 May 2006 (UTC)

Instantnood

Hi Alai, I've responded on this issue on my talkpage. You may or may not wish to check it out. Mccready 11:11, 20 May 2006 (UTC)

Re:GP on WSS

I'm hoping I didn't overdo it. It's always difficult to know what to say (or whether to say anything) when someone reacts like that. I made sure I took a couple of deep breaths and counted to tem a few times before replying. Grutness...wha? 02:59, 28 May 2006 (UTC)

Question

I needed to ask for some assistance, Alai, care to check this comment in my talk page? Is it a personal attack? I had a suspicion about a bunch of users being sockpuppets or meatpuppets, and wrote a report, is that considered a provocation from my side? Anyone has the right to be suspicious, according to activities of editors, right? any help would be appreciated. I also asked InShanneee, and got wiki-stalked by one of the offenders, additionally. Can you help? ilir_pz 00:43, 30 May 2006 (UTC)

Thanks, Alai. I hope your remark works, but seems like so far it only made that user copy his attack in his own talk page for some reason. :-). Anyways, thanks again. ilir_pz 01:25, 30 May 2006 (UTC)

I hope...

...you're happy for supporting a disruptive user, who goes by the name of Ilir. This is a sad day for Wikipedia. -- serbiana - talk 04:01, 30 May 2006 (UTC)

"Odd, George seems to disappear at exactly 25px..."

See bug 5463. --SPUI (T - C) 23:51, 30 May 2006 (UTC)

Barnstar

		The Working Man's Barnstar
		Awarded to Alai for endless pedantry-at-large, through which Wikipedia is largely better off. - CrazyRussian talk/contribs/email 04:03, 31 May 2006 (UTC)

NHS stub

Alai, I have reopened discussion here because this stub is an imoprtant tool for Wikipedia:WikiProject National Health Service (apart from its other virtues). Regards, --Smerus 08:32, 7 June 2006 (UTC)

Trigger Happy

Dear Administrator: I, like you, am an editor; I create articles and make edits. But, many, I am sure many other people out there, are tired, frustrated and angry with the behavior of many Administrators. I am certain that it is appallingly easy to revert and article, that someone has undoubtedly spent allot of time and effort writing. I have, in the past spent hours, researching, planning, writing, checking and revising an addition to an article only to have the whole lot deleted forever three minutes afterwards.

I know that deletion of material is essential in a free-to-edit encyclopedia, but if you see an article that someone has anonymously devoted their time to writing, why could you not revise it, change it or give a reason for you action? They deserve one.

I know all Administrators are not all Drunk-With- Power-Trigger-Happy-Nazis, many of you do an excellent job and you know who you are. The world owes you. I owe You.

In closing: Create, don’t Destroy. Make a distinction between “what is right, and what is easy”. Be enriched and enrich others with the knowledge of other people.

And keep that finger off the trigger.

Dfrg.msc 01:44, 6 June 2006 (UTC)

CrazyRussian's RfA

File:Motherussia.jpg

Hello Alai, and thank you for your support at my request for adminship, which ended with an awe-inspiring 86/1/2 result. I plan to do much with my shiny new tools - but I'll start slow and learn the ropes at first. Please deluge me with assignments and requests - I enjoy helping out. For Mother Russia!! - CrazyRussian talk/contribs/email 05:35, 13 June 2006 (UTC)

Creating a stub

Okay, so now that we've agreed that {{vegetable-oil-stub}} is a reasonable idea... what do I do next? Waitak 13:09, 15 June 2006 (UTC)

Arena stubs

Out of curiosity, when was your proposal made? I'd be interested in reading the discussion to see what all the fuss was about, because I personally don't think there's much of an alternative to what you're proposing to split that monster of a category. --fuzzy510 05:30, 16 June 2006 (UTC)

Re: Spamming talk pages

What is wrong with informing people who're likely to be interested? — Instantnood 17:10, 16 June 2006 (UTC)

Why would this be a minor matter, and did you actually read the way user:SchmuckyTheCat and user:Winhunter argues? How would notification esculate the dispute, given that opinion from the broader community is always preferred on Wikipedia? — Instantnood 17:26, 16 June 2006 (UTC)

The Hong Kong notice board could be an option, but I don't think it should be Hongkongers only to decide. RfC seldom attracts much attention. — Instantnood 17:44, 16 June 2006 (UTC)

I believe I am notifying people who won't be interested at all, and am notifying only those who would cast the same vote as I do. — Instantnood 20:24, 16 June 2006 (UTC)

Re: 0RR motion

I've explicitly spelt out for many times already, in talk pages, and in edit summaries - the status quo ante should be preserved, regardless of whether it reflects whose preference(s). The earlier ArbCom case was opened in my absence, making it impossible for me to submit a statement prior to its opening. — Instantnood 20:24, 16 June 2006 (UTC)

I don't know how much are you familiar with what those reverts were about. The reverts deal with less than a handful matters that have been debated, and is almost always with the same people. I don't go around and revert everything. As for the ArbCom case, I acknowledge that sysops have the power to enforce its rulings, but I consider that they have the obligation to understand its background, particularly the fact that user:SchmuckyTheCat has been taking the case as an advantage to justify his actions, and to insist on implementing his preference. — Instantnood 20:53, 16 June 2006 (UTC)

{{vegetable-oil-stub}}

Thanks for the response. I'm not shy about templates, but I'm on the road at the moment, and both time and Internet access are a lot more challenging than usual. Could I ask a favor, and ask you to put the stub template together for me? I'll owe you one. Waitak 14:04, 17 June 2006 (UTC)

Done. I've picked the most likely-looking upmerge target for now; once it's reached around 60, we can unmerge without much further effort. Alai 00:08, 18 June 2006 (UTC)

Vielen dank! Waitak 13:43, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

Isle of Man stubs

Hi Alai.

I can't help it but the mess with {{IOM-stub}} keeps annoying me. Although people seem to agree that it should be renamed to {{IsleofMan-stub}}, nothing seems to happen. I've created the missing category, but would you do me a favour and rename this template to {{IsleofMan-stub}} ? This thing has been a mess since February and I'm just afraid it'll stay that way. I know it is a trivial matter, but it just annoys me. (Hmm, perhaps I'll apply for the mop one day, so I could fix stuff like that myself.) Best. --Valentinian ^(talk) 20:55, 18 June 2006 (UTC)

Yes I noticed. I could easily have moved the template myself, but I simply figured it was easier to kill the redirect at the same time. If some people love the redirects then I can live with that as well. It just looked to me as if the posts swayed more towards a complete move. As you've already guessed, I'm no big fan of redirects but that's a trivial matter. Valentinian ^(talk) 22:52, 18 June 2006 (UTC)

Multi-stub

Ok. One thing interested me very much: where can I find this 10 stubed article? (Of cores, rest things you sadad are also interesting, and I'm keeping them in mind :) ) Egon 05:24, 21 June 2006 (UTC)

Flags and copyright

Re Wikipedia:Templates_for_deletion/Log/2006_June_20#Template:FOTWpic: in an attempt to clarify and preserve as a reference for future similar cases, I have written Wikipedia:Copyright on emblems. Maybe you'd like to help improve and/or correct it? You seemed to be of the opinion that we should delegate this to the Foundation lawyers, but maybe you are still interested... Lupo 08:47, 27 June 2006 (UTC)

Plant-stub template

Hi, I am trying to edit the plant stub's template to direct users to the WikiProject Plants but the template is protected. How do I go about editing/adding to the template? I don't really want to create a new stub and then have to go into each stub article to add it. Thanks Lynnathon 17:31, 28 June 2006 (UTC)

Thanks, I will put note on the talk page of the template. Lynnathon 12:00, 1 July 2006 (UTC)

Orkney nuts

Hi, can you have a look at the startling career of newbie User:Mallimak. He is on a one man mission to utterly divorce Orkney from Scotland. The plain fact is that Orkney is a council area of Scotland, nothing more nothing less, it has no special status whatsoever compared with Clackmannnanshire, Moray or East Renfrewshire. It does not even have an active autonomist or secessionist political movement (errr... except for User:Mallimak that is).

Eg, have a look at this article, which he just created from a redirect: Orcadian. Now, how NPOV is that little rant? He is going about adding redundant supercats (Category:Orkney people when they are already in Category:Natives of Orkney, removing nationality links (and trying to create a new nationality called "Orcadian": Orkney has never, ever been a state, nor a country, nor a nation), stubbing non-stubs, creating a whole pile of substubs (which should all be redirects).

I'm getting sick of the wee [insert expletive of choice], and would appreciate admin intervention. Have a thorough look through his entire Wikipedia career here.

Cheers. --Mais oui! 05:56, 8 July 2006 (UTC)

Please see Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Orcadian. --Mais oui! 09:14, 13 July 2006 (UTC)

MWB edit summaries

Please have a look at this edit summary (click the Ⓣ sign), which is due to this change in code. I believe this resolves your concerns regarding edit summaries of MWB. --Ligulem 22:35, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

Something else for stubsense

Hi Alai,

I've got another thing that you could run stubsense over if you get a chance: Category:Protected area stubs has a load of stubs now, and could probably have the largest few countries split off it - it sound also tie in with the discussion about SSSI-stub at SFD, since the US and UK are almost certainly two places that could be split off. Any thoughts? Grutness...wha? 07:07, 13 July 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for that. They do look mainly US. Perhaps a continental split for Europe, or one for Australia may be worthwhile, but a lot of these will be in the country-geo-stub categories rather than in the protected area one. It's may be more a case of keeping it monitored rather than going for too many immediate splits. Grutness...wha? 03:45, 14 July 2006 (UTC)

Hello

I have been back for a week and you can see who is stalking and making accusations against me. I am a good editor who makes good contributions. These few individuals have sour grapes, nothing more than that. Cordially SirIsaacBrock 20:27, 13 July 2006 (UTC)

Spurious notices and escalation

Mmmmm... message received. --Mais oui! 18:56, 14 July 2006 (UTC)

Mmmmm... again. I've just spotted your comment at ANI. Although I have indicated that I accept your comment on my Talk regarding his spurious "vandalism" notice, I feel that other instances where I used the Edit summary "rvv" are fully justified. Systematically removing articles from legitimate cats and stub cats for example is a pretty clear case of vandalism, eg: this edit, where he removed the article from {{UK-newspaper-stub}}, {{Scotland-stub}}, Category:1854 establishments, and Category:Scottish newspapers; buggered up the bog standard "External link" layout; and added in a redundant (and non WP:MOS) dab notice. There are many other examples. Nevertheless, I do appreciate your intervention in this case. --Mais oui! 19:18, 14 July 2006 (UTC)

Mmmmmmmmmm... yet again. As I am sure you will have noticed, my very favourite Wikipedian, User:Astrotrain is doing his very best to (to use your word) escalate an already poor situation, see this edit. I have plenty that I could say about him, but it probably would not be wise to put it into print here, but just use your imagination. He certainly could do with a bit of Admin attention too, in the humble opinion of this particular Wikipedia drone worker. --Mais oui! 19:27, 14 July 2006 (UTC)

Please see: Wikipedia:Administrators'_noticeboard/3RR#User:Astrotrain_reported_by_User:Mais_oui.21_.28Result:.29. --Mais oui! 20:08, 14 July 2006 (UTC)

RE: Little Willy Willy honey, you keep deleting my text, this has only led me to believe that what I asked you has hit a nerve. I will say it again while I am still allowed before the NAzi's delete what freedom people have. I BELIEVE THAT LITTLE WILLY HERE AKA WILLIAMTHWEATT. IS FALSIFYING INFORMATION. I HAVE ASKED HIM ABOUT THE SUBJECT, AND ALSO WHERE I SHOULD ASK HIM ABOUT IT SO AS NOT TO BREAK WIKI RULES. NOT ONLY IS MY QUESTION CENSORED, BUT NO ANSWER FORTHCOMING. I BELIEVE THAT THIS USER IS ABUSING THE SITUATION. I AM NOT AN EXPERIENCED WIKIPEDIA USER AND BELIEVE THAT HE IS USING THIS TO HIS BENEFIT. I AM COPYING AND PASTING THIS TEXT IN AS MANY USER PAGES AS I CAN. PLEASE DO NOT INTERPRET THIS AS VANDALISM, I AM ONLY TRYING TO ROOT OUT HOSE WHO SEEK TO SUPRESS THE TRUTH. I AM NOTHING BUT WITH THE POWER OF INFORMATION WE WILL SUCCEED. PLEASE ASK WILL THE QUESTION ABOUT HIS CLAIMS OF KHMER LANGUAGE ABILITY, THEN YOU WILL SEE THE SMALLEST LIE ON THE PATH TO INJUSTICE AND CORRUPTION. PLEASE RELEASE THE TRUTH AND STOP WIKI-CORRUPTION. [[[User:Theonlyzarni|Theonlyzarni]] 01:44, 15 July 2006 (UTC)]

I am sorry to have 'Spammed' you. I am sure the text was hard for you to understand, I will try to explain it further if you will allow me. I am new to Wikipedia, I was editing a page, where 1 side of the story was being written as 100% the truth, I did not agree.... Anyway, later on, I asked [Williamthweatt] some questions as to his claims of language abilty, he constantly deleted my question and warned me that I would be banned. I was trying to reach others and spread the info about him, before my voice was censored. I understand you are one of his 'pals', but maybe I will find someone who would want to understand the truth. Thank you for your time, I'm sure you're very busy (BTW you were the 1st to respond, congrats for that) [[[User:Theonlyzarni|Theonlyzarni]] 02:10, 15 July 2006 (UTC)]

RE: Theonlyzarni

From one ex-pat Scot to another, I'd like to just give you a "head's up" about this user. His only edit ever to an article was to blank properly sourced and cited material at Ne Win. When reverted, three days ago, he began to launch personal attacks such as this particularly viscious one against another editor and this one against me, which he then proceeded to paste onto every talk page he could find. He also has taken to blanking User Pages (see this dif) and using anonymous IP (not logging in) to vandalize User Pages see here and here and here for just some of the examples. --WilliamThweatt 02:48, 15 July 2006 (UTC)

ICRC move/creation

Hello Alai, for the past few months I've been writing a new International Committee of the Red Cross article. I'm finally satisfied enough to propose its move into the main namespace, though it's far from perfect. That article is at User:Draeco/ICRC, and I've proposed a move here. I hope you can take the time to give your opinion, because I see you've commented on the subject before. - Draeco 18:00, 17 July 2006 (UTC)

Stub sorting

I just had a look at the stub sorting pages, proposals and saw that you do a fantastic job. Congratulations! :) NCurse _work 18:08, 17 July 2006 (UTC)