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Welcome

Hello, John of Reading, and welcome to Wikipedia! Thank you for your contributions. I hope you like the place and decide to stay. Here are some pages that you might find helpful:

  Introduction
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I hope you enjoy editing here and being a Wikipedian! Please sign your name on talk pages using four tildes (~~~~); this will automatically produce your name and the date. If you need help, check out Wikipedia:Questions, ask me on my talk page, or place {{helpme}} on your talk page and someone will show up shortly to answer your questions. Again, welcome!  Abductive (reasoning) 22:15, 2 January 2010 (UTC)

Have a cookie!

Jason Quinn has given you a cookie! Cookies promote WikiLove and hopefully this one has made your day better. Spread the WikiLove by giving someone else a cookie, whether it be someone you have had disagreements with in the past or a good friend. Happy munching!

Spread the goodness of cookies by adding {{subst:Cookie}} to someone's talk page with a friendly message, or eat this cookie on the giver's talk page with {{subst:munch}}!

I noticed all the hard work you've done. Keep it up. If you have any questions, feel free to ask me. Jason Quinn (talk) 20:38, 25 February 2010 (UTC)

Judika Illes

Thanks for correcting my spelling error on the Judika Illes article. The article has not yet been reviewed. Would you like to review it? (As the article's creator, I'm not allowed to do that.)Folklore1 (talk) 00:37, 15 March 2010 (UTC)

No, I'd prefer to leave that to someone who specialises in unreviewed articles. There seem to be dozens of article tags that I'm not familiar with yet! John of Reading (talk) 08:15, 15 March 2010 (UTC)

PTSD article minor edit

Thanks! Your contribution may be small, but it moves things in the right direction, and is appreciated (it was my error you fixed!!!). Tom Cloyd (talk) 17:34, 21 March 2010 (UTC)

enmascarado

I thought I got it taken care off some months ago, but in these last few days it's popped up again, thank you for sorting it out I appreciate it.  MPJ -DK  18:29, 27 March 2010 (UTC)

Rumspringa (Music Festival)

Hi John, Thanks for nominating this article for deletion - as it's clearly a hoax I've deleted it. In case you're not aware, articles that are probably hoaxes can be nominated for speedy deletion under criterion for speedy deletion G3 which is quicker and saves needing to go through the articles for deletion process. Regards, Nick-D (talk) 01:31, 28 March 2010 (UTC)

Salsburgh Wiki Edit

Thanks for your small typo edit on the Salsburgh wiki, I do however like how you fixed University but totally missed Gobtained lol, no matter I caught that but thanks for your input. --95.146.5.125 (talk) 15:26, 3 April 2010 (UTC)KaraokeMac

I was using the AWB tool to scan and fix all the pages that misspelled University. The tool knows how to fix other common errors at the same time, but I didn't read the whole text. John of Reading (talk) 16:37, 3 April 2010 (UTC)

Thank you

Thank you for catching the typo in the Levett entry. Best, MarmadukePercy (talk) 05:49, 12 April 2010 (UTC)

Barnstar

The Typo Team Barnstar
Congratuations, John of Reading! For your tireless contributions to the Typo Team, I hereby award you our barnstar. You've earned it! Jason Quinn (talk) 16:45, 12 April 2010 (UTC)

Typo fixing with AWB?

You may want to check your edit summaries.--Rockfang (talk) 11:26, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

Thanks for the reminder. I think it's OK in this case. There's my one change of XBOX to Xbox at "Roster updates", and the rest is AWB's automatic cleanup. John of Reading (talk) 13:37, 1 May 2010 (UTC)
I now realise that you are an experienced AWB user. I had to set up my own edit summary in AWB because the usual "Replaced: Old -> New" edit summary was not added for me - perhaps because I was only changing the case of the word. John of Reading (talk) 14:22, 1 May 2010 (UTC)
From here on my edit summaries will link to General fixes - though this uses (wastes?) 25 of the available edit summary characters that AWB would have liked to use for listing the typos themselves John of Reading (talk) 08:42, 6 May 2010 (UTC)

Barnstar

The Typo Team Medal
I think that I need to top Jason :) You've been doing a fantastic job with the Typo Team, keep up the good work. Hi878 (talk) 04:16, 2 May 2010 (UTC)


Thank you! A surprise birthday present for me. John of Reading (talk) 06:57, 2 May 2010 (UTC)
It's your birthday too? Well, I might just have to add this:
Hey, John of Reading. Just stopping by to wish you a Happy Birthday from the Wikipedia Birthday Committee!
Have a great day!-- Hi878 (talk) 18:48, 2 May 2010 (UTC)
Might be off, now, but whatever. :) Hi878 (talk) 18:48, 2 May 2010 (UTC)
There's a template for everything! John of Reading (talk) 20:59, 2 May 2010 (UTC)

&nbsp:

Just out of curiosity, what is the diffrerence between blank and the template  ? Cheers.Nedim Ardoğa (talk) 14:29, 7 May 2010 (UTC)

  is not a template but the HTML code for a non-breaking space. These make sure that something like "56 km" doesn't break across two lines, which would be harder to read. For more detail see Wikipedia:Manual of Style#Non-breaking spaces. The AutoWikiBrowser tool works out where these should go - I don't have the patience to put them in myself. John of Reading (talk) 15:14, 7 May 2010 (UTC)

Your page has been conquered by the Earth Cabal!

Hello. I am here to inform you that your userpage or talk page has been conquered by the Earth Cabal. Please don’t panic; there is nothing you can do about it. You are hereby invited to join the Cabal, and help conquer other pages for our cause. See User:Hi878/Earth Cabal for more information. Thank you, have a nice, irregular weather day, and welcome to Earth. Hi878 (talk) 04:34, 9 May 2010 (UTC)

Bizarre John of Reading (talk) 07:16, 9 May 2010 (UTC)
Oh, come on, put the tag back. :) Hi878 (talk) 17:48, 9 May 2010 (UTC)

Regarding Bagh-e Ferdows

I do not know who has been responsible for bringing the above-mentioned entry into its present form, but since you have been the last editor, hereby I should like to bring the following to your attention: The entry in its present form is nothing short of a most unfortunate Wikipedia entry one can think of! The entry is supposed to be about a historical building complex in Tehran, but starts by examining the notion of Paradise --- the elements that in my original version constituted footnotes, have now been turned into the main part of the entry! It is impossible to even suspect that the entry is supposed to be about a building complex! In all sincerity, I could not believe my eyes when I saw the present version of this entry! I may revert the entry to its original form; the present form is even worse than farcical. --BF 21:33, 12 May 2010 (UTC)

Although I am the most recent editor of the article, I was merely scanning and fixing all the articles which mentioned the dubious phrase "from from", and read only the immediate context of the spelling fixes suggested by the AutoWikiBrowser tool. But looking at the article today, yes, I agree that the "Origins of Paradise" section seems to be too prominent. From the article history I see that the material used to be a footnote, but was re-arranged by Look2See1. I suggest you begin a discussion on the article talk page, or be bold and try a different arrangement yourself. John of Reading (talk) 05:43, 13 May 2010 (UTC)
Thank you for your prompt response. Unfortunately, at present I have no time to spend inside Wikipedia. Incidentally, the shortcomings to which you refer ("from from", etc.), must have been introduced recently. I strongly believe that the entry must be reverted to its original form. The aim of my pertinent footnote was to indicate that literally Bāgh and Ferdows mean exactly the same thing, namely an enclosure containing what gardens normally contain (trees, etc.), however Ferdows, i.e. Pairidāeza (an Old Persian name that ancient Greeks made into παράδεισος, and finally Arabs into Ferdows --- as I had indicated in the original footnote, Ferdows, with its "F", replacing the Persian letter "P", is the Arabicized version of the Persian word Pardis, a variant of Pairidāeza), has evolved to mean something more than what it originally had meant. Thus whereas the literal meaning of Bāgh-e Ferdows is Garden of Garden, in reality it means something altogether different, something comparable with Garden of Eden. I emphasise again, that the entry Bāgh-e Ferdows is about neither Bāgh nor Ferdows (i.e. Paradise); it is about the name of a real historical palace complex in Tehran that at present houses the Film Museum of Iran --- actually, it is more than a museum; it functions as a major cultural centre in Tehran. In its present form, the entry has all the characteristics of an entry on such word as Paradise, and whatnot. With kind regards, BF.
ps. The original footnote of "Bagh-e Ferdows" was meant for the entry Bagh (the idea of creating the Wikipedia entry on Bāgh came about while I was writing the entry on Bāgh-e Ferdows), however due to some conflicts (about which you could read on the talk page of "Bagh"), I abandoned my original plans; not wishing to throw away the outcome of my research work, I accommodated it as a footnote of "Bagh-e Ferdows". --BF 15:38, 13 May 2010 (UTC).
I'm not planning to do anything to this article; it is just one of hundreds that I am scanning for typos with AutoWikiBrowser, and I have no knowledge of the relevant languages or locations. But I'll add a note to the article talk page referring to your comments here. John of Reading (talk) 21:05, 13 May 2010 (UTC)

Thanks!

Thanks for helping iron out the typos on the Elizabeth Scott page. I was told some of the sources used were not entirely reliable, so I'm carefully re-checking them and rebuilding the article one paragraph at a time. Keep it up, and God bless!Wikibojopayne (talk) 00:38, 13 May 2010 (UTC)

Likewise thanks for the skillful corrections at Edward German. Happy editing! -- Ssilvers (talk) 21:21, 15 May 2010 (UTC)

Help?

Hi John. I have a question and I'm not sure where to start. I'm trying to get an article made, and have a draft on my subpage and made a suggestion, but since I have a COI, I don't want to break rank and post it myself. I didn't know who to ask, so I thought I'd just throw the question out there to someone with experience. Any tips? And sorry if this is the wrong place to ask, I'm still new at this. (Jordan.labelle (talk) 20:37, 24 May 2010 (UTC))

I've replied on the talk page of the draft article. -- John of Reading (talk) 21:47, 24 May 2010 (UTC)
And I've asked for more feedback at Requests for feedback. John of Reading (talk) 06:16, 25 May 2010 (UTC)
Thanks a lot, I really appreciate it. I responded to your suggestions and am working on another draft. (Jordan.labelle (talk) 17:51, 27 May 2010 (UTC))

AWB settings

John, I noticed your update of User:John_of_Reading where you give your AWB settings. Do you tick the Unicodify whole page? If not, why not? Regards, SunCreator (talk) 17:41, 26 May 2010 (UTC)

That was quick off the mark! I turned off the "Unicodify" flag when I saw what it did to pages containing many mathematical symbols. I imagine they were created by someone who had a list of "ampersand" HTML codes open in another window, so that he could quickly find and insert the correct symbol. If I'd converted them all to Unicode the page would have been much harder to edit. John of Reading (talk) 17:46, 26 May 2010 (UTC)
Thank you. I'm still undecided if that making it 'harder to edit' means not to do it. I'm somewhat impressed with your Google list of 1000 typos. Your looking only at article that have typos, where I'm looking at more articles but skipping if then don't have a typo. Perhaps there could be a third way...... a page of typos. Then use what links here?(forget that. my thinking doesn't make sense) Regards, SunCreator (talk) 18:39, 26 May 2010 (UTC)
I settled on Google search + "Find and Replace" because RegExpTypoFix doesn't check the whole of the article. It skips any article that contains a "sic", any text that it thinks might be part of a quote, and, I think, any text inside infoboxes or references. But my Googled list of 1000 matches for "the the" actually contained about 700 false positives, articles which did not actually contain that pair of words. So I'm skipping lots of list entries too. John of Reading (talk) 20:08, 26 May 2010 (UTC)
Thank you! Any particular edits, or is this general praise and encouragement? :-) -- John of Reading (talk) 08:27, 29 May 2010 (UTC)
I like the AWB edits you're doing to take out obvious typos that are hard to spot manually. --John (talk) 08:47, 29 May 2010 (UTC)

Accent hats

Thanks you very much John for you response from the helpdesk and the link to the relevant section. After I posted there was some more doubt about the spelling of the name and I found some article with hats in the title so for the time being I though to investigate some more and didn't want as has happened previous that editors sometimes make the desired alterations in the help desk question. Regards. Off2riorob (talk) 11:54, 30 May 2010 (UTC)

Perhaps we can ask this footballer to send his birth certificate in to Wikipedia :-)    -- John of Reading (talk) 11:57, 30 May 2010 (UTC)
Well that would be amusing-there is a issue recently were tweets have been made by celebs trying to correct irregularities on their wikipedia artiicles. He plays for Tottenham and on their website he is listed as the name we have and you would think they would know his name or that would be his common name as per naming convention, I might make a redirect to the other spelling and investigate a bit more. Feel free to have a look at it also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Biographies_of_living_persons/Noticeboard#Heurelho_Gomes. I have to pop out. Off2riorob (talk) 12:04, 30 May 2010 (UTC)

Re: Your signature

Hi John of Reading,

I have now reduced the size of my signature. Is this okay now? Thanks! – Shannon Rose Talk 14:47, 30 May 2010 (UTC)

That looks fine to me, though strictly the guideline says you shouldn't use <font size="3"> "or more". I suggest you leave it at 4 until the next complaint  ;-)  -- John of Reading (talk) 14:53, 30 May 2010 (UTC)

Removing Dead Accounts

I know you're just a random user but do you know how to "Vanish" indefinately blocked accounts? 84.148.145.31 (talk) 20:26, 31 May 2010 (UTC)

No, I don't think blocked accounts can just "vanish" - see WP:VANISH. Is Wikipedia:Appealing a block relevant? -- John of Reading (talk) 06:19, 1 June 2010 (UTC)
I'm not so sure if it is of any relevence. I don't want to return, I just want to vanish the page. Maybe an administrator could put the Vanish tab on my old talk page? 84.148.145.31 (talk) 09:19, 1 June 2010 (UTC)
I think the talk page needs to stay so that the community can see the warnings that lead to the block. There might be an exception if the page contains libel or reveals personal information. You haven't told me the page name. -- John of Reading (talk) 12:43, 1 June 2010 (UTC)

Stonehaven South Parish Church

Hi- I will re- read the guidelines in the next day or so then get back to you. Thanks--Uvghifds (talk) 16:56, 30 May 2010 (UTC)

Live help request

Moved here from my user page...

Oh - also - please please please join/hang out in the live help channel, to help users there.  Chzz  ►  20:21, 30 May 2010 (UTC)
I'll think about that one. John of Reading (talk) 18:36, 31 May 2010 (UTC)
Hiya.
Re. live help - normally, I would certainly recommend hanging out there, watching others give help, and helping whenever you feel able. That is certainly the best approach, and most welcome. However...right now, I am involved in a little bit of a dispute over the way the IRC help service is provided, so it is hard for me to comment; I do not go in for dramatics; so suffice to say that, at the moment, I am not in the channel.
As I am normally the one helping most people, your mileage - for now - may vary, as they say. At other times, I would love to 'show you the ropes' for live help, and would definitely welcome a new helper on the scene.
I hope that this unfortunate business will be resolved in the near future, and that I can continue my efforts there. Of course, do as you like - "other helpers are available" - but given that you seemed in no rush, it might be worth waiting a week, when I would hope all of this has blown over, and I would be very happy to help you get involved in what I truly believe is an extremely valuable asset to the Wikipedia support network.
Apologies if this is unnecessarily obtuse; I see no point in my banging on about my personal issues with the current set-up, and the last thing I want to do is to put you off what I honestly believe is a great system - it's just bad timing. Please do keep in touch, and I will let you know if I can fully resume my helping stuff.  Chzz  ►  11:11, 7 June 2010 (UTC)
OK, I'm not in a hurry. -- John of Reading (talk) 13:39, 7 June 2010 (UTC)

Thank you

Thanks for fixing my silly spelling error in the Andrew Russo article! Hekerui (talk) 16:50, 10 June 2010 (UTC)

I've just started working through a list of several hundred articles with this error. -- John of Reading (talk) 16:52, 10 June 2010 (UTC)

Edit Summaries again

I confess I've made some edits with duff edit summaries this week:

  • About 20 edits: I was configuring AWB on my wife's new laptop, and got it wrong at one point.
  • About 20 edits: I usually tell AWB to add the details of the "find and replace" operation to the edit summary, but hadn't realised that an operation involving pipe characters would lead to an invisible edit summary.
  • About 200 edits: Ditto with square brackets; these edit summaries are badly formatted but readable.

-- John of Reading (talk) 06:14, 11 June 2010 (UTC)

Players

I have seen that you edited some volleyball articles. Some players articles, most of them looks outdated. I would like to improve players by country. Could you please choose a country to contribute with? Please take a look on Yekaterina Gamova, Hélia Souza, Serena Ortolani and Kenia Carcaces for a model to follow. Please can you please improve some volleyball players with infobox and some addons? References are very important. Let me know. Oscar987 23:12, 14 June 2010 (UTC)

No, sorry, I was editing volleyball articles only because they happened to contain the typo that I am currently working on - the grammar error "a American", "a English", "a Iranian" and so on. So far I've fixed a couple of thousand articles with this error. See my user page for a description. -- John of Reading (talk) 06:08, 15 June 2010 (UTC)

Feedback reorganization

Hello! You recently posted a Request for Feedback here. We are currently "remodeling" the Requests for Feedback system and all entries have been archived. They can be found here. Any responses or posts there, however will not be seen. If you need additional feedback or have any questions, feel free to post at my talk page, or, when it is done, the new Feedback page. Also, we encourage you to help provide feedback! - No matter how new you may be, anyone can read an article and provide constructive comments!

If you have any questions or need help, feel free to leave me a message at my talk page. You can also talk to us live, with this or this. Happy editing! Chzz  ►  07:26, 18 June 2010 (UTC)

Donny Long

{{adminhelp}} There's a very upset contributor at Wikipedia:Editor_assistance/Requests#donny_logn_wiki_page, and I am well out of my depth. Since the issue has been to WP:ANI in the past, can I ask an admin to look at it please? See Donny Long, Talk:Donny Long and User talk:Donnylong -- John of Reading (talk) 10:31, 28 June 2010 (UTC)

Thank you for pointing this out. I have replied to them, but I suspect they will not be satisfied. Will keep an eye on it.  7  10:46, 28 June 2010 (UTC)
Thank you. I'm glad I'm not an admin! -- John of Reading (talk) 10:48, 28 June 2010 (UTC)
To be honest, you are right. It really isn't any fun.  7  10:56, 28 June 2010 (UTC)

Grand Unified Theory edit assistance request

Thanks for the note. I had looked at his stuff earlier, in more detail that it probably deserved. I got stuck trying to come up with a polite, within-policy way of saying that it's a bunch of incoherent crackpottery. I suppose if nobody else pops up in the next couple of hours, I'll have to take a shot at it. Anyway, thanks again for the reminder. -- ArglebargleIV (talk) 14:15, 2 July 2010 (UTC)

We could always try passing a law to make pi equal three. -- John of Reading (talk) 14:20, 2 July 2010 (UTC)

My article on Distributed Operating Systems

Hi Initially there was no article on Distributed Operating System. So I took some time to gather information and published my article on Distributed Operating Systems. So heres my article http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Distributed_operating_system . Can you please suggest any further improvements to my page please. Thank you very much in advance. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Ksudhir01 (talk • contribs) 22:26, 4 July 2010 (UTC)

I've replied at Talk:Distributed operating system -- John of Reading (talk) 10:33, 5 July 2010 (UTC)

Helping Out

Thanks for the advice. I'll find a medium/low resolution version of the image and provide an explanation like those other pages did. Also, just let me know if you want me to glance at any articles for proofreading purposes - your articles or people you're helping out. I don't know a whole lot about Wikipedia formats and stuff, but I do know a thing or two about grammar and sentence structure. Cheers. Jordan.labelle (talk) 14:26, 6 July 2010 (UTC)

The Community portal has a whole range of ways for a new volunteer to get involved. If you enjoy proof-reading and copy-editing you could look at the Typo Team or the Guild of Copy Editors. -- John of Reading (talk) 18:46, 6 July 2010 (UTC)

AfD nomination of Metallurgical education

An article that you have been involved in editing, Metallurgical education, has been listed for deletion. If you are interested in the deletion discussion, please participate by adding your comments at Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Metallurgical education. Thank you.

Please contact me if you're unsure why you received this message. Fiddle Faddle (talk) 17:58, 7 July 2010 (UTC)

Consensus discussion on source reliability/notability

Hi. I've started a discussion on the matter here. Would you please participate? Thanks. Nightscream (talk) 02:26, 9 July 2010 (UTC)

Done -- John of Reading (talk) 12:30, 9 July 2010 (UTC)

Fran Merida

What i mean is when i look at the page it says 2 goals for arsenal but when you go on the edit page it say 1.Gobbleswoggler (talk) 12:15, 11 July 2010 (UTC)

I see the confusion now! And so has PrimeHunter - look at his reply at WP:Help desk#Fran Merida. -- John of Reading (talk) 13:46, 11 July 2010 (UTC)

Modifying text in quotes

FYI, I've reverted this edit because it's in a direct quote from a source. Do you know if there's a way for AWB to recognise that text is in quotes and thus avoid modifying it? Nyttend (talk) 22:31, 12 July 2010 (UTC)

AWB does have this option, but when I'm working on a particular typo I force the correction with "Find & Replace" and check the results myself. See my user page. I got this one wrong; thank you for reverting it. -- John of Reading (talk) 05:59, 13 July 2010 (UTC)

Thanks for the inspiration

I do not often raise my head from my passion (obsession?) of Wikipedia correcting to look around WP much, but in response to your recent heads-up I took the time to see what you were doing. I am impressed with your work, particularly the methodical approach to alphabetically checking the frequent typo list. Your user page is very instructive and I found that we have a very similar approach to using AWB.

The inspiration came from my realization that you are probably better versed in the guidelines and framework of WP than I am even though you seem to have been editing for a shorter time. I have resolved to edit a bit less and study a bit more. Thanks.

Keep up the great work. I love barnstars, but have never given one. You should be getting one now, but I hope you will consider this sincere and rare timeout from my typo-correction to be an award. --LilHelpa (talk) 11:09, 15 July 2010 (UTC)

Thank you! It's a long time since I last inspired anyone. -- John of Reading (talk) 07:21, 17 July 2010 (UTC)

Hello!

Hello John of Reading, SisterTwister has smiled at you! Smiles promote WikiLove and hopefully this one has made your day better. Spread the WikiLove by smiling at someone else, whether it be someone you have had disagreements with in the past or a good friend. Go on, smile! Cheers, and happy editing!
Smile at others by adding {{subst:Smile}} to their talk page with a friendly message.

I hope I made your day somewhat better with this WikiCard, SwisterTwister (talk) 19:57, 20 July 2010 (UTC)

That's a big smile! Thank you! -- John of Reading (talk) 07:56, 21 July 2010 (UTC)

Flow

While current flow was induced directly underneath the magnet, the current would circulate backwards in regions outside the influence of the magnetic field. If current can't flow, surely it can't circulate either? Just how far should we go in reforming English usage here on the Wikipedia? --Wtshymanski (talk) 14:07, 9 August 2010 (UTC)

Yes, this entry in the list of grammar fixes is more controversial than most. As always, please fix or revert anything I've got wrong. I've edited about 30 "current flow" articles today and have another 50 pending. I'm hoping that my A-level physics is enough to stop me damaging the meaning of these articles, but I'll stop work for today until I've heard from you. One option is to remove "current flow" from the "grammar fixes" so that the typo team stay clear of it in future. -- John of Reading (talk) 14:35, 9 August 2010 (UTC)
I don't think it's really a typo, and I'm usually comfortable with "current flow" - rivers flow, winds blow, why shouldn't a current flow? This doesn't strike me as being as redundant as "PIN number" or "RCMP police", and so on, even if a physicist has his teeth set on edge when he mentally expands the phrase to "flow of charge flow". Perhaps when the typo team starts running low on work they can revisit this burning issue? --Wtshymanski (talk) 15:14, 9 August 2010 (UTC)
Thanks for this. I've added a comment to the list of grammar fixes and will move on to something else. -- John of Reading (talk) 17:10, 9 August 2010 (UTC)
There's lots to look at on that list. I've done a little campaigning against "It should be noted that" and "Due to the fact that"; the latter usually taking a little more work to fix. --Wtshymanski (talk) 18:11, 9 August 2010 (UTC)

"the the" err

Hi, John, Glad to see you still on the "the the" team. I thought I was correcting my own mistake when I ran across this edit which should have been "the the --> to the", as I fear I do this at times and don't catch it. --LilHelpa (talk) 14:56, 9 August 2010 (UTC)

Thanks for catching that. How did you spot that it needed fixing, may I ask? -- John of Reading (talk) 15:00, 9 August 2010 (UTC)

39th Infantry Brigade Combat Team (United States)

Would you mind doing a more complete Copyedit on 39th Infantry Brigade Combat Team (United States)Damon.cluck (talk) 12:50, 11 August 2010 (UTC)

In progress. -- John of Reading (talk) 13:14, 11 August 2010 (UTC)
Thanks a bunch. I really appreciate the time you put in to this!Damon.cluck (talk) 22:05, 12 August 2010 (UTC)

due to the fact that → because

Hi, John. I noticed you've been busy lately changing occurrences of the awkward phrase "due to the fact that" into the shorter and better "because." Most of these edits are spot on. However, there are a few cases ([1], [2], and [3], for example) in which I think because is grammatically incorrect. These are cases in which because follows is (or another form of the verb to be). The word because is a conjunction, so I don't think it's proper to say, for example, "The high price of platinum is because platinum is a very rare element in the Earth's crust." Since due is an adjective, the alternative sentence "The high price of platinum is due to the fact that platinum is a very rare element in the Earth's crust" is grammatically fine, though it is still quite an awkward sentence. A sentence like this can't be fixed by simply changing "due to the fact that" into "because"; it should be rewritten. In this example, "The high price of platinum is due to its great rarity in the Earth's crust" would be better. Alternatively, "Platinum is expensive because it is a very rare element in the Earth's crust." Do you agree? —Bkell (talk) 05:21, 31 August 2010 (UTC)

Interesting. Yes, your sentence "The high price of platinum is because..." does read oddly, at least after I've looked at it a few times. But "The price of platinum is high. This is because..." seems OK even though it uses "because" in the same way.
I'll press on with the semi-automated edits, but will ask AWB to skip any proposed edit that would result in something like "is because". -- John of Reading (talk) 20:18, 31 August 2010 (UTC)

Thank You

Hi, there. Thank you for fixing my Keith Olbermann citation. I was in a hurry, am on holiday, and hadn't been able to get back to fix it. Cheers. Mrs. Peel (talk) 14:28, 2 September 2010 (UTC)

Emma Watson and File Syntax

Greetings, John. I noticed you fixed the file: syntax by adding double brackets at the beginning. Finally found the WP article that outlines the syntax. What I don't understand is why when I look at a version of the Watson article without the correct syntax, the picture, caption, etc. looks exactly the same to me as it does now. Any ideas or am I missing something?--Bbb23 (talk) 21:44, 2 September 2010 (UTC)

Not quite - I removed one set of [[ brackets. The 15:29 version I stumbled into had wiki markup visible in the article text. What do you see when you try to view the 15:29 version? The current version of the article has two pictures of concrete handprints; is it possible that when you looked at the bad version you saw the one remaining picture and thought it was ok? -- John of Reading (talk) 10:14, 3 September 2010 (UTC)
Stupid, stupid. I was looking at the wrong picture, partly because both pictures have to do with prints, and partly because one is on the left (now that you've fixed it) and the other is on the right. I feel very silly.--Bbb23 (talk) 13:41, 3 September 2010 (UTC)

Nick Lowe

Thanks for the touch up. For reasons I haven't been able to fathom the new-fangled vector theme, while very attractive, screws up the cite javascript for me, so I have to type 'em in by hand. :( Wwwhatsup (talk) 06:40, 8 September 2010 (UTC)

Thanks

Thank you for fixing this error I introduced. Blackworm (talk) 07:24, 8 September 2010 (UTC)

D'you know what....?

D'you know what JoR .... I think, re my edits, that you are GOOD NEWS!Tolesi (talk) 20:52, 9 September 2010 (UTC)

Earl Hines (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views). I made a one-word edit, and AWB did the rest. -- John of Reading (talk) 20:59, 9 September 2010 (UTC)

AfD nominations

Regarding your comment here, I think that you could try one of two options: namely, that you either delete (or merge or whatever) the article, since the nominator would be the only one who !voted with his/her rationale/suggestion in the deletion discussion and there is no opposition toward him/her, or you could {{relist}} the discussion (which is more preferable than deletion by AfD standards) "to generate further consensus" and so on and so forth. :| TelCoNaSpVe :| 22:45, 9 September 2010 (UTC)

I haven't time to look now, but I don't think the Afd was included in its day's list, so no-one even got round to looking at it. With the Afd included in a list there's a chance that someone will look for sources etc -- John of Reading (talk) 06:48, 10 September 2010 (UTC)

Help desk note

Yes, that's better. My redlink could have led someone to re-create the article accidentally. -- John of Reading (talk) 07:14, 12 September 2010 (UTC)

Nomination for deletion of Template:The CW Television Network (The CW)

Template:The CW Television Network (The CW) has been nominated for deletion. You are invited to comment on the discussion at the template's entry on the Templates for discussion page. Thank you. Bisbis (talk) 03:01, 14 September 2010 (UTC)

CAT:AWBC

As a robot is planned for periodically correcting CAT:AWBC, see Wikipedia:Bots/Requests for approval/HersfoldCiteBot, I thought it would be best not to correct those errors for a while so it would have some material to test on. --Muhandes (talk) 16:53, 16 September 2010 (UTC)

Oops, I'll stop before I get all the way back to "A" then! The bot-developer might like to look at my diffs from this afternoon, perhaps. There didn't seem to be many that a bot could fix. -- John of Reading (talk) 17:03, 16 September 2010 (UTC)
My experience when I used to do this as a weekly task was that 90% of them were just missing titles, which is what the bot will try to do. Best regards. --Muhandes (talk) 18:23, 16 September 2010 (UTC)

Rajesh khanna filmoraphy

We need your help in filling up the column of directors - which you can get from http://www.citwf.com/person241842.htm in the article rajesh khanna filmography in wikipedia.As you seen to be interested in working in wikipedia articles we would be gald if you contribute in filling up the DIRECTORS cloumn and in the NOTES column fill up the awards won and nominations won by khanna against a particular film. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Shrik88music (talk • contribs) 14:32, 19 September 2010 (UTC)

Instead of posting this message to a random selection of Wikipedia editors, I suggest you post at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Films/Indian cinema task force where it will be seen by those are most interested in helping you. -- John of Reading (talk) 14:43, 19 September 2010 (UTC)

Stop

It's difficult to fix a page when you keep reverting it. Don't be a nazi. They aren't paying you for this you know. —Preceding (Chadwickschool (talk) 20:46, 20 September 2010 (UTC)) comment added by Chadwickschool (talk • contribs) 20:37, 20 September 2010 (UTC)

It is hard to believe you are interested in improving the Chadwick School article when you make edits such as this and this.
If you are not the same person as the one who made the disruptive edits, please create a new account for yourself. The rule at Wikipedia is that each editor should have his/her own account - see WP:NOSHARE. -- John of Reading (talk) 21:00, 20 September 2010 (UTC)

Thanks

Thanks for the Message on My Talk page ECat200 (talk) 07:35, 22 September 2010 (UTC)

Typo Barnrats

The Typo Team Barnstar
I know you've had these before, but the amount you've done since surely warrants another one -- Boing! said Zebedee (talk) 17:05, 26 September 2010 (UTC)
A barnrat? How thoughtful. Thank you very much! -- John of Reading (talk) 20:49, 26 September 2010 (UTC)

A great thank you...

...for improving Berber calendar by fixing my typos and translation errors. It is much better now! --Gengis Gat (talk) 16:19, 2 October 2010 (UTC)

DYK: Castle of Park

Hello! Your submission of Castle of Park at the Did You Know nominations page has been reviewed, and there still are some issues that may need to be clarified. Please review the comment(s) underneath your nomination's entry and respond there as soon as possible. Thank you for contributing to Did You Know! Miyagawa (talk) 15:39, 4 October 2010 (UTC)

:sl AWB

Thanks for your reply on WP:AWB's talk page. I tried your command (with replacing english words to Slovene: \(\s*\[\[\s*Angleščina\s*\|\s*angleško\s*\]\]\s*\'\'([^\']+)\'\'\s*\)), but with no success. Can I give you example article (like sl:Kraljevi astronom) with "the problem": ([[angleščina|angleško]] ''Astronomer Royal'')? Regards, --Klemen Kocjancic (talk) 16:08, 5 October 2010 (UTC)

This works for me provided I don't tick "CaseSensitive" in the Find+Replace settings. With CaseSensitive ticked, the search for "Angleščina" won't match the "angleščina" in the article. -- John of Reading (talk) 19:19, 5 October 2010 (UTC)

DYK for Castle of Park

— Rlevse • Talk • 12:02, 9 October 2010 (UTC)

Nomination of Clyde Lucas for deletion

A discussion has begun about whether the article Clyde Lucas, which you created or to which you contributed, should be deleted. While contributions are welcome, an article may be deleted if it is inconsistent with Wikipedia policies and guidelines for inclusion, explained in the deletion policy.

The article will be discussed at Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Clyde Lucas (2nd nomination) until a consensus is reached, and you are welcome to contribute to the discussion.

You may edit the article during the discussion, including to address concerns raised in the discussion. However, do not remove the article-for-deletion template from the top of the article.

Just one of the 20,000 articles in which I have fixed typos. -- John of Reading (talk) 06:21, 11 October 2010 (UTC)

Thanks!

Just wanted to thank you for your continued help. Let me know if you want me to look at any articles your working on or if you need help with anything. Cheers! Jordan.labelle (talk) 19:10, 11 October 2010 (UTC)

Thank you for the offer! My user page describes what I've been getting up to here - lots of editing but not many articles. -- John of Reading (talk) 19:15, 11 October 2010 (UTC)

re: Lion-Vallen Industries

thank you for the much needed advice! (Dreher1980 (talk) 19:58, 19 October 2010 (UTC))

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imad_A._Abulaban

Dear John,

as per your conversation of notability, find hereunder the link where his name is mentioned in all the projects and links.

some are press releases, some are official like DIFC, some are joint ventures and some are websites. these links are not helpfull to have notability on Imad Abulaban?

(Samour72 (talk) 07:30, 20 October 2010 (UTC))

I've had another look at these links. I don't think any of them help to establish his notability:
  • 2 is merely a directory entry. I assume that this web site lists a very large number of companies, big and small
  • 5 merely confirms that he went to a particular college. (I went to college too, but that doesn't make me notable)
  • 8 is not an independent source
  • 9 is not an independent source
  • 10 looks as it derives from a press release. It merely quotes something said by IA.
  • 14 is mostly about the company, not the person. The part that I can see does not mention IA.
  • 15 looks like the same content as 10 - though the site only showed me the text for a few seconds because I'm not prepared to register
  • 16 is a press release
  • 17 is a press release
  • 19 is a press release
I'll copy your question any my answer to Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Imad A. Abulaban in case other editors wish to comment. -- John of Reading (talk) 07:50, 20 October 2010 (UTC)
Please can any further discussion take place at Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Imad A. Abulaban so that other editors can comment if they wish. I need to get on with something else now... -- John of Reading (talk) 07:55, 20 October 2010 (UTC)

Dear John,

how can we put up a biography about Imad Abulaban without have it deleted or having notes on it. an example would be good to copy and paste (Samour72 (talk) 08:19, 20 October 2010 (UTC))

Find sources: Google (books · news · scholar · free images · WP refs) · FENS · JSTOR · TWL
Find sources: Google (books · news · scholar · free images · WP refs) · FENS · JSTOR · TWL
Find sources: Google (books · news · scholar · free images · WP refs) · FENS · JSTOR · TWL
As I said on the article talk page, to rescue the article there needs to be "significant coverage in reliable sources that are independent of the subject." If there is no such coverage then the topic fails the notability test and will be deleted. I was not able to find any such coverage with Google Books or Google News; you could explore the "Find sources" links I've just posted here to see if you can find anything. -- John of Reading (talk) 09:29, 20 October 2010 (UTC)


Hi John, After reviewing your notes, i would like to expalin one thing that maybe you didn't consider, which is Imad Abulaban is the owner, cofounder, President and CEO of Polystar, Projacs and CapitalStone. so any conversation that talks about the projects or the companies mentioned above would be giving natability for Imad. is it true or not? as for the links mentioned above also, we would like to aknowldge you the following:

  • 2 DIFC (Dubai International Financial Center) is ranked 7th in the World, when you are registered with them you have to be eligible and have credibility to be registered with them, as well as they are on wikipedia too.
  • 5 National Shcool of Choueifat (SABIS) is No 1 school in Lebanon and one of the best in the region, if you look it up they have branches gloabaly now. As well as Imad is cofounder of the Alumini. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_School_of_Choueifat

http://www.sabis.net/

  • 8(9) as website are not notable can it be replaced with press releases, Zawya, Ameifo, Albawaba, highbeam, arabnews are all known in the region, as they are not in the states but you have to look and consider our region which is the Gulf region too.
  • 10 PolyStar is committed to developing strategies for managing risks and selecting the appropriate method of financing to ensure the maximum return on investment for City Fanar,” said Imad Abulaban, CEO and president, PolyStar Incorporated. “We bring with us our experience of managing complex projects, including the ability to control budgets, schedules, design and construction,” he said.

thats more than 40 words said by Imad Abulaban.how come it dosn't quote what IA said.

  • 14 Polystar is owned by Imad Abulaban, so this is notability on the comapnies preformance which is reflecting on his preformance.
  • 16 (17,19) as per point above *8(9) as well as Mcgovern+Moriarty is owned by CapitalStone by 1/3, so it is owned partialy by Imad Abulaban, while McGover+Moriairty are one of the big corportation in development where they built iconic developments to name few CANARY WHARF in London, EURO DISNEY in Paris as well as the PETRONAS TOWERS in Kuala Lumpur, Atlantic Wharf, Museum of Fine Arts ~ Boston, MA, Harvard Riverside Dormitory, Metro Lofts, • ING ~ Windsor, CT, Manchester Place ~ Manchester, NH, • Lorien Hotel & Spa and so many more. here is a link for their website. http://www.jm-a.com/

and last but not lease Bloomberg is well known internationaly, here is a press release about McGovern+Moriarty and CapitalStone (again is owned by Imad Abulaban) http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=4393659

if there is a way to contact u over the phone as well that would be helpfull to ask for. (Samour72 (talk) 08:01, 21 October 2010 (UTC))

I'm sorry, I'm getting stressed by this. I'm going to copy your comments to Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Imad A. Abulaban so that other editors can comment. In particular, they will be read by whichever experienced admin reviews the deletion discussion, sometime on the 26th/27th October. -- John of Reading (talk) 08:26, 21 October 2010 (UTC)

Note to self

Talk:List of Sonny With a Chance episodes needs a visit after 25th oct. -- John of Reading (talk) 11:20, 22 October 2010 (UTC)

Keep deleting content on Creekland Middle School

Why do you keep deleting most of the material me and my teacher made on the Creekland Middle School article?

I understand now that I can't put the criminal thing on the article, but I don't know why the rest of the stuff had to be removed. You even took off the Creekland logo that my teacher worked HARD to upload. I'm kind of new here, so I need a bit of help.

Please reply back ASAP.

Sincerely, Jaiman1998 —Preceding unsigned comment added by Jaiman1998 (talk • contribs) 12:46, 28 October 2010 (UTC)

Creekland Middle School, Cherokee County, Georgia (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views)
There are two issues, and both are important for legal reasons.
One is that you are copying material directly from the school website, which is contrary to the Wikipedia rules on copyright violation. One way round this is described here, but your school authorities will have to agree to it. A simpler and better way is to re-write the copied text in your own words. This will be better, because what is suitable for a school website may not be best for an encyclopedia - see the guidelines at WP:TONE and WP:NPOV.
The second is that you added text naming two teachers and claiming that they had committed certain criminal acts. The Wikipedia rules for writing about living people say that such text must be backed up with references to reliable sources such as newspaper reports. Without this rule, anyone could post anything about anyone - and this could cause hurt and lead to lawsuits.
I admit that I didn't notice the addition of the logo, and I have restored it. My apologies!
Your teacher might like to look at Wikipedia:School and university projects. -- John of Reading (talk) 14:46, 28 October 2010 (UTC)

Ok, thanks! ;)

Jaiman1998

orphan tag on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darren_LaCroix

Darren LaCroix (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views)

Hi John. I added more links to the page (see subject line). Could you please take a look and let me know if it's enough to remove the tag or how else I can improve the article. Thank you for the feedback! Google Child (talk) 06:50, 3 November 2010 (UTC)

The "orphan" tag refers to links from other Wikipedia articles to this one. This has not been addressed, so the tag will have to stay. I have removed some of the web-page links, since that form of linking is contrary to the guidelines.
Now that I've read the text, I've tagged the article with "peacock" and tagged several statements as needing a source. See reliable sourcing and independing sourcing for more on this. The article currently reads like a CV or an advert for his books and services, not like an encyclopedia article. (I didn't read the whole article before, it was just one of many that I was scanning with a semi-automated tool) -- John of Reading (talk) 08:04, 3 November 2010 (UTC)
No I didn't, I tagged it with "tone". Same idea though. -- John of Reading (talk) 09:08, 3 November 2010 (UTC)

John, thank you for the feedback. I added links where you put citations needed and looked through the style a bit. Could you please take a look and let me know how it looks now. (sorry replying you with new section, couldn't find how to respond on original message) Thank you. Google Child (talk) 05:22, 4 November 2010 (UTC)

Yes, that's an improvement. I suggest you post at Requests for feedback to get an opinion from an experienced reviewer - I mostly fix typos. For example, I'm not convinced that any of the links in the "External links" section pass the guidelines at WP:EL. (To edit a talk page section without adding a section, use the "Edit" link to the right of the section heading). -- John of Reading (talk) 06:57, 4 November 2010 (UTC)

Thank you John! Google Child (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 04:18, 5 November 2010 (UTC).

in in 18*

I see you were working "in in" with dates today. I couldn't figure out how to get AWB to make a list for me. How'd you do that? -- LilHelpa (talk) 02:21, 7 November 2010 (UTC)

Nothing clever, I'm afraid. That was a Google search for "in in 1800" then "in in 1801", all the way up to 1899. Earlier I covered 1900 to 2015. It was only four or five keystrokes to get from one year to the next, so it wasn't too bad.
Here's the main regexp for the false positives, btw:

(batted|brought|called|came|coming|compete|competed|fenced|filled|filling|gave|involved|joined|jumped|lived|marched|move|moved|moving|participated|phased|sent|starred|stepped|swearing|sworn|traded|turned|turning|voted)\s+in\s+in\s+(early|late|Jan|Feb|Mar|Apr|May|Jun|Jul|Aug|Sep|Oct|Nov|Dec|18|19|20|the spring|the summer|the autumn|the winter)

-- John of Reading (talk) 06:17, 7 November 2010 (UTC)
Damn. That's some serious Googling. I am really feeling humbled. And old. I can't seem to grok the "new trick" of using regexp, except in the slightest ways. You use that to exclude those from the Google search? What a great thing.
Back later with the baddest barnstar I can find. --LilHelpa (talk) 11:10, 7 November 2010 (UTC)

Award - my first given

The Typo Team Medal
Whereas you have continued to make steadfast, effective attacks against typos in a thoughtful, thorough way while displaying the finest ideals of Wikipedia in your conduct. I am inspired to raise my head from the battle and yield to you my first graphic award. --LilHelpa (talk) 11:31, 7 November 2010 (UTC)

.

Bless you, that means a lot.
Responding to your previous post: I didn't manage to exclude them from the search, I only managed to skip them efficently. I've stuck a copy of my AWB settings in my Sandbox if you'd like to have a look - to make sense of them, click "Edit" to grab the XML, save in a local file, and tell AWB to open it. -- John of Reading (talk) 11:36, 7 November 2010 (UTC)
Wow. That is really a powerful tool. Thanks! --LilHelpa (talk) 16:15, 7 November 2010 (UTC)

Jackaroo

Thank you for contacting me about this article. Where should we discuss this? On your talk page or mine?

As I am clearly a new editor and you appear to have had a lot of experience, I suggest we use your page, because other visitors to your talk page may find any discussion useful. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Jack Greenmaven (talk • contribs) 21:28, 10 November 2010 (UTC)

OK, let's try here.
On reflection, here's a third option: write your new page as a user-space draft at User:Jack Greenmaven/Jackaroo (trainee). This can be a single-purpose page that doesn't have to mention the vehicles, books and films. When you think it looks ready, post at Requests for feedback to have it reviewed, and then your page could be moved to Jackaroo (trainee), replacing the existing redirect page.
How does that sound? Would you mind if I repaired the Jackaroo page now? -- John of Reading (talk) 21:40, 10 November 2010 (UTC)
OK. Repair the page Greenmaven (talk) 21:52, 10 November 2010 (UTC)
Thank you for this suggestion John of Reading (England?), which I will follow. I was not sure how to handle the disambiguation issue.Greenmaven (talk) 22:13, 10 November 2010 (UTC)
Yes, England - perhaps I should add that to my user page. And it's goodnight from me, UK time! -- John of Reading (talk) 22:21, 10 November 2010 (UTC)
Could we now communicate on my talk pages, please, as your talk page is fairly lengthy?
I have done some work on my proposed article on Jackeroo in my own user space. I assume you (and everyone?) can access this page. /Jackaroo Draft. I got interested in the etymology of the word (still unfinished and clunky), and I now believe this belongs more properly in Wictionary, with a link to it from the Wikipedia article. Please give me your advice, and run your eye over the rest of the article. I have images but I need to explore copyright issues. I have access to a wealth of sources, and I feel quite motivated to write a comprehensive article. Greenmaven (talk) 23:59, 14 November 2010 (UTC)

User:Jack Greenmaven/Jackaroo Draft

the the

I was still puzzled at the size of the discrepancy - and while the main factor is non-mainspace pages, there are about 4,000 that are false positives... due to the last edit summary being "the the -> the using AWB"... Rich Farmbrough, 14:22, 12 November 2010 (UTC).

Tee hee. -- John of Reading (talk) 14:41, 12 November 2010 (UTC)

I'm poaching from your sandbox. It's probably not cool, but at least I decided to tell you :) I'm working downward from TS King Edward. --LilHelpa (talk) 23:46, 15 November 2010 (UTC) Working the sorted list up from Z instead -LilHelpa (talk) 01:15, 16 November 2010 (UTC)

Since I have ticked "skip if there are no changes", it would have been a pleasant surprise to see the last 500 articles disappear without warning! -- John of Reading (talk) 08:48, 16 November 2010 (UTC)

Reduced images

Thanks for your help! Pais (talk) 10:46, 18 November 2010 (UTC)

I've learnt something new today! -- John of Reading (talk) 10:48, 18 November 2010 (UTC)
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