User talk:John of Reading/Archive 20

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

Archive 15

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Archive 18

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Talk:Internet protocol suite

Is the auto-archiving bot working on this page?Lbertolotti (talk) 19:23, 5 December 2015 (UTC)

@Lbertolotti: No, the archiving instructions had not been updated after the page was renamed. -- John of Reading (talk) 20:10, 5 December 2015 (UTC)

A cookie for you!

For your help and that you keep an eye on technical things on Portal:Free Software. Thanks! Rezonansowy_akaRezy (talk | contribs) 19:34, 5 December 2015 (UTC)

Thanks! -- John of Reading (talk) 20:11, 5 December 2015 (UTC)

A Dobos torte for you!

7&6=thirteen (☎) has given you a Dobos torte to enjoy! Seven layers of fun because you deserve it.

To give a Dobos torte and spread the WikiLove, just place {{subst:Dobos Torte}} on someone else's talkpage, whether it be someone you have had disagreements with in the past or a good friend.

7&6=thirteen (☎) 20:23, 5 December 2015 (UTC)

Mm, that looks good! -- John of Reading (talk) 20:25, 5 December 2015 (UTC)

Talk:United States Armed Forces

I think the auto-archiving bot in not working. Lbertolotti (talk) 00:45, 14 December 2015 (UTC)

@Lbertolotti: That's right, the archiving instructions weren't updated after a page move long ago. -- John of Reading (talk) 07:06, 14 December 2015 (UTC)

Talk:Incoterms

Looks like this page has the same issue. Lbertolotti (talk) 13:11, 14 December 2015 (UTC)

@Lbertolotti: No, this one is different. The archive period has been set to 26297 hours, which is about three years. All the threads currently on the page contain a post less than three years old. -- John of Reading (talk) 14:08, 14 December 2015 (UTC)

Isn't three years too long? Lbertolotti (talk) 14:09, 14 December 2015 (UTC)

@Lbertolotti: That's much longer than usual, but the talk page isn't huge. Feel free to reduce the "age" parameter if you wish. -- John of Reading (talk) 14:11, 14 December 2015 (UTC)

Requesting to join a debate for James Stunt

@John of Reading: I'm requesting you to join this Afd discussion. Your comment is valuable to us. Please help us reach a consensus. Thanks -Khocon (talk) 19:12, 14 December 2015 (UTC)

Season's Greetings

File:Xmas Ornament.jpg

To You and Yours!

FWiW Bzuk (talk) 15:59, 19 December 2015 (UTC)

@Bzuk: Thank you! -- John of Reading (talk) 16:41, 19 December 2015 (UTC)

Seasons Greetings

Holiday Greetings

Christmas! Christmas, everywhere,
on every talk page, I do dispair
Seasons being greeted and Wikibreaks told,
but still time for a little more editing, for being WP:BOLD!
So go on, go forth and enjoy beyond concern
Your Wiki will be waiting for when you return.

Buster Seven Talk 15:23, 20 December 2015 (UTC)

This card was designed by User:Samtar

Season's Greetings!

Hello John of Reading: Enjoy the holiday season and upcoming winter solstice, and thanks for your work to maintain, improve and expand Wikipedia. Cheers, North America¹⁰⁰⁰ 19:23, 20 December 2015 (UTC)

Use {{subst:Season's Greetings}} to send this message

Events by month

You should use AWB to replace {{Events by month links}} with {{Portal:Current events/Events by month}} at the bottom of the "Portal:Current events/Month Year" pages. GeoffreyT2000 (talk) 15:50, 19 December 2015 (UTC)

@GeoffreyT2000: Good idea! I'm fairly busy this weekend but it's on my to-do list. -- John of Reading (talk) 16:40, 19 December 2015 (UTC)

Done -- John of Reading (talk) 08:02, 21 December 2015 (UTC)

My bad

I should've checked to see if the image was fair use or public domain before adding it. Thanks for catching that. – Muboshgu (talk) 21:16, 21 December 2015 (UTC)

@Muboshgu: That's one of the many things that User:Anomie/linkclassifier is good for - it draws a double red border around any non-free images so that you can spot them without visiting the file page. -- John of Reading (talk) 22:09, 21 December 2015 (UTC)

I did not know that. You learn something new every day. – Muboshgu (talk) 23:03, 21 December 2015 (UTC)

A beer for you!

John of Reading
Wishing you a joyous Christmas and a prosperous new year!
BoringHistoryGuy (talk) 16:32, 23 December 2015 (UTC)

Orphaned non-free image File:CASBAA Logo Low Resolution.jpg

⚠

Thanks for uploading File:CASBAA Logo Low Resolution.jpg. The image description page currently specifies that the image is non-free and may only be used on Wikipedia under a claim of fair use. However, the image is currently not used in any articles on Wikipedia. If the image was previously in an article, please go to the article and see why it was removed. You may add it back if you think that that will be useful. However, please note that images for which a replacement could be created are not acceptable for use on Wikipedia (see our policy for non-free media).

Note that any non-free images not used in any articles will be deleted after seven days, as described in the criteria for speedy deletion. Thank you. --B-bot (talk) 18:30, 23 December 2015 (UTC)

I expect the one on Commons won't last long, then I'll get this low-res version put back... -- John of Reading (talk) 19:06, 23 December 2015 (UTC)

Talk:Hermione Granger: Difference between revisions

Hi, I didn't mean to delete several other posts and am at a loss on how that happened. There was no indication that anything like that happened that I can remember. I just wanted to correct a spelling error in my previous post from with to witch to avoid confusion. I will be on guard for that in the future. If you have any idea how this could happen please let me know. Thanks for reverting this error. (I am actually freaked out by this, flabbergasted even.) William UB65 (talk) 22:09, 23 December 2015 (UTC)

https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Talk:Hermione_Granger&oldid=prev&diff=691597640

@UB65: This is actually fairly easy to do by mistake. If you are looking at an old version of a page, or at an old diff, and then click "Edit", the software loads the old revision into the edit window. There are a couple of warning messages, but if these are overlooked then you'll accidentally make an edit that wipes out all the more recent edits. -- John of Reading (talk) 22:16, 23 December 2015 (UTC)

Merry Christmas!

Rezonansowy_akaRezy (talk | contribs) is wishing you a Merry Christmas! This greeting (and season) promotes WikiLove and hopefully this note has made your day a little better. Spread the WikiLove by wishing another user a Merry Christmas, whether it be someone you have had disagreements with in the past, a good friend, or just some random person. Happy New Year!

Spread the Christmas cheer by adding {{subst:Xmas3}} to their talk page with a friendly message.

--Rezonansowy_akaRezy (talk | contribs) 00:06, 26 December 2015 (UTC)

Speedy deletion nomination of User talk:Sunil Sisodiya

A tag has been placed on User talk:Sunil Sisodiya requesting that it be speedily deleted from Wikipedia. This has been done under section U5 of the criteria for speedy deletion, because the page appears to consist of writings, information, discussions, and/or activities not closely related to Wikipedia's goals. Please note that Wikipedia is not a free Web hosting service. Under the criteria for speedy deletion, such pages may be deleted at any time.

If you think this page should not be deleted for this reason, you may contest the nomination by visiting the page and clicking the button labelled "Contest this speedy deletion". This will give you the opportunity to explain why you believe the page should not be deleted. However, be aware that once a page is tagged for speedy deletion, it may be removed without delay. Please do not remove the speedy deletion tag from the page yourself, but do not hesitate to add information in line with Wikipedia's policies and guidelines. If the page is deleted, and you wish to retrieve the deleted material for future reference or improvement, then please contact the deleting administrator, or if you have already done so, you can place a request here. Melcous (talk) 04:07, 26 December 2015 (UTC)

@Melcous: Er, thank you. -- John of Reading (talk) 07:26, 26 December 2015 (UTC)

Sorry about that John - apparently you automatically got this message viaTwinkle because you created that talk page (with another warning). I will inform the actual spammer :) Cheers, Melcous (talk)

Reference errors on 26 December

Hello, I'm ReferenceBot. I have automatically detected that an edit performed by you may have introduced errors in referencing. It is as follows:

On the Uncover (song) page, your edit caused a broken reference name (help). (Fix | Ask for help)

Please check this page and fix the errors highlighted. If you think this is a false positive, you can report it to my operator. Thanks, ReferenceBot (talk) 00:24, 27 December 2015 (UTC)

Fixed - and very strange references there were, too. -- John of Reading (talk) 07:03, 27 December 2015 (UTC)

AWB on Ubuntu

A discussion is going on at Wikimedia mailing list on using AWB on Ubunutu. Please check the discussion and update documentations. If needed, please send me an email, so that I can forward conversations till now. Please add a {{YGM}} on my talk if you mail me. --Tito Dutta (talk) 12:45, 28 December 2015 (UTC)

Note to self: starting with this message. @Titodutta: Sorry, I can't help with this! I have no experience with Ubuntu and only use AWB under Windows. -- John of Reading (talk) 21:18, 28 December 2015 (UTC)

Happy New Year John of Reading!

Happy New Year!

John of Reading,
Have a prosperous, productive and enjoyable New Year, and thanks for your contributions to Wikipedia. ツ Pdebee.^(talk)^(guestbook) 17:39, 30 December 2015 (UTC)

Send New Year cheer by adding {{subst:Happy New Year 2016}} to user talk pages.

Dear John,
Thank you for your help and for everything else you do in support of our encyclopedia.
I wish you a great New Year in 2016!
With kind regards;
Patrick. ツ Pdebee.^(talk)^(guestbook) 17:39, 30 December 2015 (UTC)

Nomination of Wisconsin Green Party for deletion

A discussion is taking place as to whether the article Wisconsin Green Party is suitable for inclusion in Wikipedia according to Wikipedia's policies and guidelines or whether it should be deleted.

The article will be discussed at Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Wisconsin Green Party until a consensus is reached, and anyone is welcome to contribute to the discussion. The nomination will explain the policies and guidelines which are of concern. The discussion focuses on high-quality evidence and our policies and guidelines.

Users may edit the article during the discussion, including to improve the article to address concerns raised in the discussion. However, do not remove the article-for-deletion notice from the top of the article. Me-123567-Me (talk) 18:24, 2 January 2016 (UTC)

Inactive portal

Oops! What's the correct tag for this? ww2censor (talk) 22:34, 7 January 2016 (UTC)

@Ww2censor: I've added {{Outdated}}, which seems to fit. That portal really does need some loving care and attention... -- John of Reading (talk) 22:40, 7 January 2016 (UTC)

Thanks, I dont' think there is an inactive portal template. I've been watching for years but nothing happens even though some racing pages are edited. Cheers ww2censor (talk) 23:02, 7 January 2016 (UTC)

University of St Andrews

Please check refs, number 20 and 21 - the quotes on 21 should be left in, but is the format OK? Please check 20 as it does not immediately go to the history section Thanks — Preceding unsigned comment added by 101.182.146.167 (talk) 08:32, 9 January 2016 (UTC)

This has already been asked at the Help desk. That should be enough. -- John of Reading (talk) 08:41, 9 January 2016 (UTC)

Help searching for "|?]]" at the end of categories

I'm trying to find Category\:Astronomical objects discovered in \d\d\d\d\|\?\]\], but "incategory:" doesn't have this functionality, and "insource:", it seems, only works inside templates. Do you know if there's a way to find these without a database scan? ~ Tom.Reding (talk ⋅dgaf) 16:39, 14 January 2016 (UTC)

@Tom.Reding: Well, after twenty minutes experimentation I've made it work! It seems that the \d construct is not part of this variant of the regular expression syntax. Recoding the year as [0-9]{4} leads to a search that works: [1]. -- John of Reading (talk) 17:07, 14 January 2016 (UTC)

Good god. You are the man. Yeah, I spent 1.5 hours searching before coming here. But, I'm glad we didn't take the brute-force (database) method, otherwise losing this very practical advice. Thanks! :) ~ Tom.Reding (talk ⋅dgaf) 17:20, 14 January 2016 (UTC)

@Tom.Reding: Though Help:Searching/Regex#Character classes says that [0-9] doesn't work properly either. When I next download a database I'll do a scan anyway to see if we're missing thousands of matches. -- John of Reading (talk) 17:32, 14 January 2016 (UTC)

Luckily, in the meantime, I've made better use of my time by downloading enwiki-20151201, which should contain a few more than the 109 matches you found above, since I've been doing some category maintenance. I've just started unzipping it, which will take a little over an hour. I'll let you know what I find. ~ Tom.Reding (talk ⋅dgaf) 17:43, 14 January 2016 (UTC)

DB Scanner returns 113 matches for Astronomical objects discovered in \d\d\d\d\|\?\]\] for 20151201, a few more than 109, as expected. It also shows that [0-9] indeed processes all 10 digits, instead of the stated first four ([0-3]). ~ Tom.Reding (talk ⋅dgaf) 19:24, 14 January 2016 (UTC)

My archiving hero!!!!

Thanks a gazillion for fixing the Occupation page archiving. I have some serious mindblock going on when it comes to that feature. NewsAndEventsGuy (talk) 15:40, 15 January 2016 (UTC)

Hi

I created an article about singer Carina Jaarnek today. She died yesterday. If you want to, take a look.--BabbaQ (talk) 12:58, 17 January 2016 (UTC)

Hi Wenckzw

WLU is stealing files again. Will you stop him please. See other specified dissociative disorder and Dissociative identity disorder and dissociative identity disorder and OSDD and DDNOS and tylas Okay? Thank you my friend. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 216.241.199.89 (talk) 20:58, 20 January 2016 (UTC)

I'm sorry, I don't understand this message. I'm not an administrator, so I probably can't give you the kinds of help you are looking for, anyway. -- John of Reading (talk) 21:03, 20 January 2016 (UTC)

Just another now-blocked sock of FrankEM. Meters (talk) 02:14, 21 January 2016 (UTC)

Thanks for the quick response to my suggestion/question

Thanks for adding watcher to the glossary so quickly. Now here's a question occasioned by my message: is this the appropriate place to say thanks (it looks like it, from other similar comments left here) or is there some other part of the Wikipedia universe for that? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Summertime4 (talk • contribs) 18:28, 23 January 2016 (UTC)

@Summertime4: Yes, posting a message at another editor's "user talk page" is the best way to grab their attention, and is a good way to leave a thank you message. Other ways are possible: you could have left a message just below mine at Wikipedia talk:Glossary#Suggestion: add "watcher" to the glossary page, or you could have gone to the "View history" tab of the Glossary page and clicked the "thanks" link next to my edit. There's more about these parts of the Wikipedia universe at Help:Using talk pages and at Help:Thanks. -- John of Reading (talk) 18:57, 23 January 2016 (UTC)

I am trying to publish an article

I am trying to publish an article relating to an up-and-coming Democrat named Brett McClafferty that prior to being appointed to the Federal Workforce Investment Board was the Executive Aide for Mayor Don Plusquellic of Akron, Oh -- and you were a contributor to Don Plusquellic's Wikipedia page. What needs done to get this article published?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Draft:Brett_McClafferty_(politician) Diversified interests (talk) 07:15, 28 January 2016 (UTC)

A cookie for you!

Random act of kindness. GAB^Hello! 17:56, 29 January 2016 (UTC)

Any why not? Thanks! -- John of Reading (talk) 17:58, 29 January 2016 (UTC)

hi

hi bshaj PKGarg94 (talk) 12:59, 30 January 2016 (UTC)

Welcome to Wikipedia! I've left some introductory links on your talk page. -- John of Reading (talk) 13:34, 30 January 2016 (UTC)

H AnandrajKeshvi (talk) 21:42, 4 February 2016 (UTC)

I don't understand it

"because it had no Wikiproject" No. How can an experienced editor like you even get the idea? You are aware of the template's documentation detailing the how and when of applying it, you've seen my edit summary, and yet, this. I have a sinking feeling that I'm missing a crucial ingredient and it makes me wonder if I really should be editing Wikipedia, because this is not the first time I see experienced Wikipedians acting in away I simply don't understand, and it's causing me stress. Could you please indulge in me and detail the reasoning that led you to your conclusion? Paradoctor (talk) 18:14, 4 February 2016 (UTC)

@Paradoctor: I'm sorry, since posting that I realise I got it wrong. I do this fairly regularly; I even have a userbox for it. May I try again?

Over the years, the documentation for {{Expert-subject}} has changed. Back in 2011 when I added the tag, it looked like this. There's no "reason" parameter; the concern has to be explained on the talk page. There is a "talk" parameter, but it is listed as optional; "you may link to that discussion with a third parameter". In December 2015, fairly recently, the box was added at the top of the template documentation, "Unexplained expert tags can be and should be removed by any editor". I agree with this change, but it didn't affect Air21, because the expert tag was explained, in my 2011 edit summary and on the talk page. Only today was the template documentation updated to say that instances without either "reason" or "talk" parameters may be removed without further consideration. This seems harsh. I've since fixed Air21 by adding the missing "talk" parameter.

The {{Multiple issues}} template is part of the problem. According to Template:Multiple issues/doc/old, the version used before 2012 did not support expert-subject's "talk" parameter. So if an article was tagged with a expert-subject, it could have been bot-edited to use the pre-2012 Multiple issues, then, years later, bot-edited again to use the post-2012 Multiple issues, and those two edits between them would lose the "talk" parameter. This didn't happen at Air21, but it would be interesting to know how many articles are in Category:Articles needing expert attention with no reason or talk parameter because of this.

I'm very sorry to have caused you stress. My family know I'm prone to stress, though I don't often let it show on-wiki. -- John of Reading (talk) 19:30, 4 February 2016 (UTC)

You seem to have drawn a bunch of short straws here:

Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Airlines/Defunct airlines task force was only given a heads up about Category:Defunct Airlines articles needing expert attention in October 2014, over 3 years after your request.
Nobody's answered a question there since October 2012.

Paradoctor The more I see the more I'm coming to the view that the template and its associated categories are pointless. How do you both feel about it? Bazj (talk) 20:42, 4 February 2016 (UTC)

@Bazj: I'll think about it overnight. I looked at some of Category:Articles needing expert attention from February 2016. Confusingly, some of these articles are in the category because of the {{technical}} template, not because of {{expert-subject}}. My tag at Air21 is obviously not going to attract the help I thought the article needed, back in 2011, and I'm about to remove it. -- John of Reading (talk) 22:24, 4 February 2016 (UTC)

@Bazj and Paradoctor: My opinion, for what it's worth: I wouldn't do away with the template and categories entirely, as some of the uses are correct, and perhaps some editors from active wikiprojects are watching the categories. But I agree that instances with no "reason" and nothing on the talk page are unhelpful. -- John of Reading (talk) 07:34, 5 February 2016 (UTC)

A cup of tea for you!

Thank you for being a good patroller in books! Winterysteppe (talk) 03:13, 22 February 2016 (UTC)

@Winterysteppe: Thank you for the tea! I don't actually patrol the recent changes in the Books namespace. I wonder if anyone does this systematically? -- John of Reading (talk) 06:57, 22 February 2016 (UTC)

Maybe someone else. I do see your contributions and thus had to send Wikilove~ Winterysteppe (talk) 14:24, 22 February 2016 (UTC)

Hi

If you want to, take a look at the article about Molly Sandén. Any improvements are welcomed :)--BabbaQ (talk) 22:56, 26 February 2016 (UTC)

@BabbaQ: The song title "Gabriellas song" seems a curious mixture of languages - is it right? The reference only mentions "Hallelujah". -- John of Reading (talk) 08:17, 27 February 2016 (UTC)

Multiple spurious CSDs

Re Template:Multiple issues/message: the speedy tag should have been bracketed with <noinclude></noinclude> otherwise a number of user pages would have landed up in CAT:CSD. — RHaworth (talk · contribs) 19:40, 27 February 2016 (UTC)

@RHaworth: Oops, sorry about that! If it's still transcluded how did the TFD discussion decide to delete it? -- John of Reading (talk) 20:02, 27 February 2016 (UTC)

Because the only transclusions are from user pages which are discussing it or showing it as an example. — RHaworth (talk · contribs) 21:05, 27 February 2016 (UTC)

@RHaworth: You are right, of course, and I should have checked. Lesson learned, I hope. -- John of Reading (talk) 21:41, 27 February 2016 (UTC)

Thank you for being one of Wikipedia's top medical contributors!

please help translate this message into the local language

The Cure Award

In 2015 you were one of the top 300 medical editors across any language of Wikipedia. Thank you from Wiki Project Med Foundation for helping bring free, complete, accurate, up-to-date health information to the public. We really appreciate you and the vital work you do! Wiki Project Med Foundation is a user group whose mission is to improve our health content. Consider joining here, there are no associated costs, and we would love to collaborate further.

Thanks again :) -- Doc James along with the rest of the team at Wiki Project Med Foundation 03:59, 29 February 2016 (UTC)

"There are many reasons why a total number of edits usually does not indicate quality of work, quality of an editor, or significance of contributions" -- John of Reading (talk) 15:55, 29 February 2016 (UTC)

Disambiguation link notification for March 19

Hi. Thank you for your recent edits. Wikipedia appreciates your help. We noticed though that when you edited Automotive industry in Ukraine, you added a link pointing to the disambiguation page Passenger car. Such links are almost always unintended, since a disambiguation page is merely a list of "Did you mean..." article titles. Read the FAQ • Join us at the DPL WikiProject.

It's OK to remove this message. Also, to stop receiving these messages, follow these opt-out instructions. Thanks, DPL bot (talk) 09:33, 19 March 2016 (UTC)

Fixed -- John of Reading (talk) 10:08, 19 March 2016 (UTC)

WikiLove

Cookies!

67.241.15.174 has given you some cookies! Cookies promote WikiLove and hopefully this one has made your day better. You can spread the "WikiLove" by giving someone else some cookies, whether it be someone you have had disagreements with in the past or a good friend.

However, there are too many for a person on a diet to eat at one sitting, so please share the cookies by placing {{subst:Cookies}} on two other user's talk pages.

To spread the goodness of cookies, you can add {{subst:Cookies}} to someone's talk page with a friendly message, or eat this cookie on the giver's talk page with {{subst:munch}}!

— Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.241.15.174 (talk) 17:07, 3 March 2016 (UTC)

A brownie for you!

I wiki love you! Floyd M. Bunsen (talk) 13:54, 20 March 2016 (UTC)

Thank you, and welcome to Wikipedia! I'll leave you some introductory links on your talk page. -- John of Reading (talk) 14:14, 20 March 2016 (UTC)

Template addition

At the talk page of Template:Infobox officeholder a majority of editors seem in favor of adding a denomination parameter. However I don't know how to do it. Could you add it? Hawaan12 (talk) 03:21, 21 March 2016 (UTC)

@Hawaan12: Since religion/denomination have been extensively discussed at Template talk:Infobox person, I wouldn't be comfortable making any change to {{Infobox officeholder}} except to make its behaviour match that of {{Infobox person}} exactly. I've made a comment at Template talk:Infobox officeholder; I'd like to see if the discussion attracts more comments before wading in to make the change. -- John of Reading (talk) 07:03, 21 March 2016 (UTC)

Are you planning to postpone the change for much longer? Hawaan12 (talk) 06:41, 25 March 2016 (UTC)

@Hawaan12: Thank you for the reminder. I've made edits to the template sandbox, test cases and talk page. -- John of Reading (talk) 09:58, 25 March 2016 (UTC)

Speedy deletion nomination of User talk:RAHUL KUMAR DARIHAT

If this is the first article that you have created, you may want to read the guide to writing your first article.
You may want to consider using the Article Wizard to help you create articles.

A tag has been placed on User talk:RAHUL KUMAR DARIHAT, requesting that it be speedily deleted from Wikipedia. This has been done under section G11 of the criteria for speedy deletion, because the page seems to be unambiguous advertising which only promotes a company, product, group, service or person and would need to be fundamentally rewritten in order to become encyclopedic. Please read the guidelines on spam and Wikipedia:FAQ/Organizations for more information.

If you think this page should not be deleted for this reason, you may contest the nomination by visiting the page and clicking the button labelled "Contest this speedy deletion". This will give you the opportunity to explain why you believe the page should not be deleted. However, be aware that once a page is tagged for speedy deletion, it may be removed without delay. Please do not remove the speedy deletion tag from the page yourself, but do not hesitate to add information in line with Wikipedia's policies and guidelines. If the page is deleted, and you wish to retrieve the deleted material for future reference or improvement, then please contact the deleting administrator. ~Oshwah~^{(talk) (contribs)} 08:25, 5 March 2016 (UTC)

@Oshwah: Perhaps check the page history before ticking the "notify the creator" box?

-- John of Reading (talk) 08:42, 5 March 2016 (UTC)

HA! Sorry, John of Reading. That was my bad. :-) ~Oshwah~^{(talk) (contribs)} 08:44, 5 March 2016 (UTC)

m Rinku d'das (talk) 17:43, 25 March 2016 (UTC)

Merger discussion for Ancestry of Muhammad

An article that you have been involved in editing—Ancestry of Muhammad —has been proposed for merging with another article. If you are interested, please participate in the merger discussion. Thank you. 89.240.87.162 (talk) 20:14, 29 March 2016 (UTC)

Merger discussion for Family tree of Muhammad

An article that you have been involved in editing—Family tree of Muhammad —has been proposed for merging with another article. If you are interested, please participate in the merger discussion. Thank you. 89.240.87.162 (talk) 20:21, 29 March 2016 (UTC)

Requesting icon image for portal

Hello, I want to request an icon image for Portal:A. R. Rahman. Last time also, I had requested an icon image for Portal:Shreya Ghoshal on Template talk:Portal and you had done it in a couple of minutes. Now why haven't you done for Portal:A. R. Rahman. It's been requested on Template talk:Portal. Kindly please do it. And I'm especially requesting you because earlier you had done it in some minutes. Mr. Smart ℒION ⋠☎️✍⋡ 04:20, 31 March 2016 (UTC)

Done -- John of Reading (talk) 06:12, 31 March 2016 (UTC)

About Monroe Monarchs category

You're right. Thanks for correcting for my error. MusiCitizen (talk) 17:26, 5 April 2016 (UTC)

Some dim sum for you!

Thanks for your contributions to Wikipedia. North America¹⁰⁰⁰ 09:09, 7 April 2016 (UTC)

Thank you! I'll save these for lunch. -- John of Reading (talk) 09:11, 7 April 2016 (UTC)

Phrasing

The phrase "was ran aground" implies a deliberate act, whereas "ran aground" does not. Mjroots (talk) 10:16, 11 April 2016 (UTC)

@Mjroots: I think "was ran aground" is a grammar error either way. I tried to judge whether the act was deliberate or not, and corrected to "was run aground" when the act was deliberate (1884), and "ran aground" when it was accidental (1835). Where I couldn't tell whether the act was deliberate, during wartime, I made no edit and left the grammar error in place (September 1942). But I didn't check the sources, so if I've made mistakes please correct my corrections. -- John of Reading (talk) 10:24, 11 April 2016 (UTC)

Portal:Capitalism

Can we resize the portal boxes to fit my cellphone screen? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Lbertolotti (talk • contribs) 04:04, 9 April 2016 (UTC)

@Lbertolotti: I don't have a suitable cellphone to test it on, but I've tried to test it by seeing how Firefox works when I make its window narrow. I think a portal will only work well on narrow screens if all its components behave nicely.

The main culprit at Portal:Capitalism is the 1000-pixel image at the top of the portal - with that in place, as soon as the window is too narrow to display the whole image, I start losing text off the right side of the window.
With that removed (using "Show preview" so that I didn't actually break anything), it shrinks down OK until the "Associated Wikimedia" box doesn't fit. {{Wikimedia for portals}} assumes that all the icons will fit on one line. I'll have a think about that.
With both the wide image atand the "Associated Wikimedia" removed, the rest copes moderately well in a narrow window. The next bottleneck is the hard-coded 300-pixel width of the "Norwich Market" image in Portal:Capitalism/Selected article/3.

-- John of Reading (talk) 08:17, 9 April 2016 (UTC)

(More) The folks at Wikiversity have already rewritten their version of {{Wikimedia for portals}}, so I've been able to adapt their coding. -- John of Reading (talk) 08:46, 9 April 2016 (UTC)

Nice, can you do the same for Portal:Socialism? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Lbertolotti (talk • contribs) 13:14, 9 April 2016 (UTC)

@Lbertolotti: Portal:Socialism seems to display quite nicely in a narrow Firefox window. The change to {{Wikimedia for portals}} will have fixed the "Associated Wikimedia" box in many portals. -- John of Reading (talk) 13:19, 9 April 2016 (UTC)

Cool, on my cellphone (Nexus 5) the portal pages look fine, I'm not sure about other models. Lbertolotti (talk) 19:50, 12 April 2016 (UTC)

Editor of the Week : nominations needed!

The Editor of the Week initiative has been recognizing editors since 2013 for their hard work and dedication. Editing Wikipedia can be disheartening and tedious at times; the weekly Editor of the Week award lets its recipients know that their positive behaviour and collaborative spirit is appreciated. The response from the honorees has been enthusiastic and thankful.

The list of nominees is running short, and so new nominations are needed for consideration. Have you come across someone in your editing circle who deserves a pat on the back for improving article prose regularly, making it easier to understand? Or perhaps someone has stepped in to mediate a contentious dispute, and did an excellent job. Do you know someone who hasn't received many accolades and is deserving of greater renown? Is there an editor who does lots of little tasks well, such as cleaning up citations?

Please help us thank editors who display sustained patterns of excellence, working tirelessly in the background out of the spotlight, by submitting your nomination for Editor of the Week today!

Sent on behalf of Buster Seven Talk for the Editor of the Week initiative by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 06:18, 22 April 2016 (UTC)

A barnstar for you!

	The Teamwork Barnstar
	Thank you on your feedbacks towards Portal:Technology in Pakistan . Pakelectrical (talk) 12:28, 25 April 2016 (UTC)

Art piece

Moved from User:John of Reading

Greetings. I need help classifying an Art piece for public display — Preceding unsigned comment added by Katie Colon (talk • contribs) 14:20, 26 April 2016 (UTC)

@Katie Colon: Hi! I've moved your request from the top of User:John of Reading to here, the bottom of User talk:John of Reading. At Wikipedia we tend to use the "talk" pages for discussion, and new topics go at the bottom. It's just one of those things!

I think your best bet would be to ask at Wikipedia:Reference desk/Humanities. Some of the volunteers there enjoy answering questions about art, and may be able to help you. You will need to give much more detail about the artwork you have in mind, of course. Is a photo of the artwork available anywhere online? -- John of Reading (talk) 14:53, 26 April 2016 (UTC)

Social Work

I would like, if you can add Social Work Article to your watch-list. Any attempts towards article improvement are thwarted and talk page legacy of the editors also doesn't farewell. Checking the current reversions of cited material without edit summaries is proof. I am not going to engage into anymore reversions. But the article calls for sedulous and tough editors attention to stop detrimental actions.117.213.20.27 (talk) 09:59, 27 April 2016 (UTC)

I have added Social work to my watchlist as you request, but am most unlikely to get involved in any editing dispute. I suggest beginning a discussion on the talk page. -- John of Reading (talk) 12:47, 27 April 2016 (UTC)

Mathematics

Wikipedia should include more solved examples especially for calculus so as to help millions of students around the globe. Kunwar Rabindra (talk) 06:29, 29 April 2016 (UTC)

@Kunwar Rabindra: I think those would fit in better at Wikiversity, the Wikimedia Foundation project devoted to learning resources. Wikiversity's page Introduction to differentiation or others in the Wikiversity Calculus category might be what you are looking for. -- John of Reading (talk) 07:31, 29 April 2016 (UTC)

Happy 😊 Birthday!

Hey, John of Reading. Just stopping by to wish you a Happy Birthday from the Wikipedia Birthday Committee!
Have a great day! Wseef (talk) 15:05, 2 May 2016 (UTC)

Wseef (talk) 15:05, 2 May 2016 (UTC)

@Wseef: Thank you! -- John of Reading (talk) 17:13, 2 May 2016 (UTC)

Wikipedia:WikiProject Council/Proposals/Encyclopedias and/or Reference Works

Would you like to support the creation of and/join the proposed Wikiproject for Encyclopedias and/or Reference Works?--Bellerophon5685 (talk) 22:43, 4 May 2016 (UTC)

View Island

Wiki says that there was a boat yard on view island, reading we can find no physical or historical eveidense for this.

We have referenced research in excel spreadsheet form. Reading Hydro (talk) 13:00, 6 May 2016 (UTC)

@Reading Hydro: Has the research been published anywhere? If so, it can be added to the article, with a reference so that readers can judge for themselves how trustworthy it is. -- John of Reading (talk) 13:15, 6 May 2016 (UTC)

A kitten for you!

cute!!! its for you.

Webcamtoy (talk) 16:37, 10 May 2016 (UTC)

Disambiguation link notification for May 13

Hi. Thank you for your recent edits. Wikipedia appreciates your help. We noticed though that when you edited Bassella, you added a link pointing to the disambiguation page Romanesque. Such links are almost always unintended, since a disambiguation page is merely a list of "Did you mean..." article titles. Read the FAQ • Join us at the DPL WikiProject.

It's OK to remove this message. Also, to stop receiving these messages, follow these opt-out instructions. Thanks, DPL bot (talk) 10:42, 13 May 2016 (UTC)

Done -- John of Reading (talk) 11:42, 13 May 2016 (UTC)

A barnstar for you!

	The Technical Barnstar
	Thanks for kindly (and somehow) fixing the template issue [2], I spent around 5 minutes messing around with the article & templates and got no where ... yet you come along - remove a poxy character - and it works! , Just my luck lol, Anyway thanks again for your help - Much appreciated :), –Davey2010^Talk 21:03, 24 May 2016 (UTC)

2016 Wikimedia Foundation Executive Director Search Community Survey

The Board of Trustees of the Wikimedia Foundation has appointed a committee to lead the search for the foundation’s next Executive Director. One of our first tasks is to write the job description of the executive director position, and we are asking for input from the Wikimedia community. Please take a few minutes and complete this survey to help us better understand community and staff expectations for the Wikimedia Foundation Executive Director.

Survey, (hosted by Qualtrics)

Thank you, The Wikimedia Foundation Executive Director Search Steering Committee via MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 21:49, 1 June 2016 (UTC)

"John of Reading, typo-fixer and business consultant" -- John of Reading (talk) 06:16, 2 June 2016 (UTC)

Straffordian. After the Battle of Dunbar, 1650.

I can understand my input being deleted because of lack of references. The problem is that the treatment of the Scots by the English after the Battle of Dunbar is a story that had over 200 years of telling by people who would not have dared say anything about Cromwell. These legends have been told as History. I am the first person to take Sir Arthur Hesilrige's letter to the council of state for Scotland and set it out in time frames that make sense and with a medical diagnosis that makes sense of the speed and quantity of deaths.

If you go onto Wiki Coldi8ngham Priory, you will see that it was destroyed by Cromwell in 1648... Except that there was no military action in that part of Scotland in 1648. The fighting had been in Preston, England and Cromwell's visit to the East was more of a diplomatic mission which resulted in Cromwell wandering up to Edinburgh with the Marquis of Argylle 'on a jolly'. He had troops with him, but was soon assured that the 'Engagers' were no longer in control of Scotland and was asked to leave some troops to help mop up the Engagers. I don't know how many years the story has been on Wiki but it is untrue. In the Lucken Booth at Coldingham, they have a 32 pound cannonball with the sign 'present from Oliver Cromwell' on it. It is a ship's cannonball or from an earlier age. There was no way that Cromwell was dragging a ship's cannon weighing three tons around with him.

Now I am retired, I want to sort out some ot the truths about Cromwell.

In religion, he was an Independent. He did not want State to interfere in people's personal beliefs. The people he fought, generally, were people who insisted that theirs was the right way. So. He fought the King because the King was curtailing religious freedom. He fought the Presbyterians because they wanted to ban all other sects than theirs. He fought the Roman Church because it would not accept people's right to worship God in their own way. History has turned the story on its head. Making out that Cromwell was a religious intolerant when he believed that men should have the freedon to worship God in their own way ...AS LONG.... as they don't use their freedom to rob other people of freedom.

It is evident that I need help to make the Dunbar Story presentable. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Straffordian (talk • contribs) 20:55, 12 June 2016 (UTC)

I found the "1648" date in the Coldingham Priory article and checked one of that article's sources. The source doesn't mention 1648 anywhere but does describe damage in 1650. I've therefore edited the Coldingham Priory article, changing the date and adding a reference so that it is clear to readers where that date has come from. -- John of Reading (talk) 06:49, 13 June 2016 (UTC)

In general, Wikipedia articles aim only to summarise what has already been published elsewhere. Your research and insights may eventually lead to a re-assessment of the Battle of Dunbar. Once your ideas begin to turn up in "reliable sources" such as books, academic journals and such like, then they can be added to the Wikipedia article. But you will have to find other ways to make your ideas known, because Wikipedia does not publish original research.

Disclaimer: I'm not a historian, and only noticed the large additions to the Battle of Dunbar article when it turned up on one of my spelling and grammar lists. -- John of Reading (talk) 06:49, 13 June 2016 (UTC)

Certification Table Entry template help required

Hello John, I'm not sure whether I am asking this in your capacity as a Wikipedia template coder or as a volunteer at the help desk, but either way we need help updating the template {{Certification Table Entry/Sales}} which relates to the levels for music certification (silver, gold and platinum discs) in various countries around the world. The person who originally coded the template has retired from editing, and it doesn't seem like any of the rest of us who are still involved in music articles know how to make the necessary changes, and a backlog is starting to build up. Is this something you would be able to help with, or can you recommend another Wikipedia editor who can? Thanks. Richard3120 (talk) 13:01, 16 June 2016 (UTC)

@Richard3120: I've made one of the changes. Have a look at Template:Certification Table Entry/Sales/testcases, where I coded template calls to test out the Italian part of the template. Before the update, the "Main" and "Sandbox" sections displayed the same, incorrect, figure; while coding the update in the sandbox, I was able to compare the sandbox output with the original; and now both sections show the new figures. Could you see your way to adding relevant test cases for some of the other updates that are pending? -- John of Reading (talk) 15:44, 16 June 2016 (UTC)

I've tried doing the New Zealand one... it's the curly brackets that get me, I get completely lost as to whether I've matched the right number to close off each argument. I looked at the Belgian one but it's baffled me completely. And I don't understand how the testcases work.

I also need to work out how to change the pointers so that the citation links go to the right place... for example, the Swedish certifications used to be on the IFPI Sweden website, but they've been removed from there. You can still find them on the Sverigetopplistan page, but it would need an explanation as to how to search for a particular week's chart to see the awards. Richard3120 (talk) 17:12, 16 June 2016 (UTC)

Update: oh OK, I've found out where the helper template "BelgianPeriod" is that allocates the numbers for each certification period. But I still don't know where the main template gets its pointers to call up the correct website for each country to display the award certification. Richard3120 (talk) 17:45, 16 June 2016 (UTC)

@Richard3120: I'd prefer to think about these updates one at a time! I'll tackle the New Zealand singles periods tomorrow morning (UK time), adapting the coding from one of the other "CountryPeriod" sub-templates. -- John of Reading (talk) 20:17, 16 June 2016 (UTC)

John of Reading, I've tried to change the NZ certifications already in the sandbox, so perhaps you could look at my attempt first and alter anything I've messed up. And yes, one change at a time is better! Richard3120 (talk) 20:28, 16 June 2016 (UTC)

@Richard3120: I've added NZ to the test cases; your code doesn't seem to be working yet. But I won't try coding squiggly brackets until I've had some sleep... -- John of Reading (talk) 20:48, 16 June 2016 (UTC)

Vulcan crash at London airport 1956

Dear John You queried correction to the details relating to the Vulcan Crash at London airport on 1st October 1945. What I entered was not copied information from copy written sources. I stated was the truth from memory as the senior HQBC Flt/Sgt who was in charge of signals and was actually in communication with Sqdn Ldr Gamble the electronics officer of the Vulcan up until the aircraft crashed. I am now 91 but with a perfect memory of what happened during the flight. I don't believe in historians covering up the true facts of what really happened to suit what the Air Ministry would like to hide.

I will be pleased to answer to any questions you may have in regard to the authenticity of my statement. You may see that I am also at odds with the RAF's Historian Mr Sebastian Cox over 'The Hidden Truth@ my autobiography's explanation of the crash and death of my Crew when Neptune C Charlie crashed at the Mull of Kintyre on the 9th October 1956. The authorities I am sure would prefer that I had died with it rather than being a live surviving witness of both incidents.

Ex RAF Wop/AG - Air Signaller 1943 to 1964 Now retired to Spain. I can be contacted by ^{[details removed]}

Regards Maurice — Preceding unsigned comment added by 77.224.201.136 (talk) 11:08, 22 June 2016 (UTC)

Thank you for your message here.

Wikipedia aims to be "the free encyclopedia", not only free to read but also free for re-use. Most text previously published elsewhere cannot be posted at Wikipedia, as it could cause legal problems for others wishing to re-use Wikipedia articles. I found that the text you added in this edit was also published at www.voy.com/130994/948.html with a clear copyright notice at the bottom.

I see that the Wikipedia editor nicknamed "Londonclanger" has found a piece in the Eastbourne Herald covering your career and the publication of your book, and has used it to expand the article. -- John of Reading (talk) 06:57, 23 June 2016 (UTC)