User talk:Randee15/Archive 1

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Archive 2

I dont know if you speak portuguese, but if you do, there is also a portuguese wikipedia needing your useful comments and edits! Cheers, [[User:Muriel Gottrop|muriel@pt]] 10:04, 13 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Yes, I do know of the Portuguese Wikipedia. Unfortunately, I don't speak Portuguese, not even a little. But thank you for enquiring; it's nice to know I'm doing a good enough job editing and contributing to warrant positive recognition. :-) Randee15 10:20, 13 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Tips on expanding an article?

I happen to suffer from Cyclic Vomiting Syndrome, and have it since I was 18 months old. I was actually considering contributing this particular article myself, but I guess I was too slow getting my act together to start it, lol.

I would, however, like to improve this article. Since I've only ever done minor proofreading edits before, I don't know quite how to go about expanding the article substantially like I want to. Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

I figured this belonged more on my Talk page than on the CVS Talk page, since it deals more with generals than the specifics of CVS. If it does belong on the CVS Talk page, I apologise. I'm still sort of new as to Wikipedia's proper protocols in this area. Randee15 03:05, 19 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Unisex name

Welcome to the Wikipedia.

You did some nice work with the Unisex name article. Some of it was stuff that I was planning to add eventually, but hadn't gotten around to, so I'm glad that you did it. Since you apparently are interested in names, you might be interested in knowing that the group of Wikipedia articles about various naming traditions has been nominated at Wikipedia:CSB Collaboration of the Week#Personal name (CSB=Countering Systematic Bias).

I also noticed on your main User page that you like to do spell-checking. especially since I am not a natural editor, I recently installed the SpellBound extension into my Mozilla Firefox browser to help me do some spell-checking on the articles that I work on. It works pretty well, albeit somewhat slowly on my computer on my slow computer (400 mHz), but I do wish the vocabulary was a little larger (it seems to be a little smaller than a standard collegiate dictionary such as the one from Merriam-Webster). [[User:GK|gK ¿?]] 23:10, 25 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Yes, I'm quite interested in names. I plan to go over the name lists on Wikipedia from time to time, but I can be (sometimes very) sporadic in such things. I do feel there is much misinformation about given name etymology, unfortunately; but I'll endeavour to correct such misinformation to the best of my ability when I do work on the name lists.

I don't use Mozilla, and I don't usually go out to find typos on purpose. Rather, I just can't stand seeing typos or grammatical errors in a professional work like Wikipedia, so I correct them immediately as I come across them in my everyday browsing.

Oh, and thanks for the compliments! They're much appreciated, as always. :-) Randee15 23:42, 25 Nov 2004 (UTC)

You're welcome.

As for web browsers, if you are using an IBM PC compatible Microsoft Windows-based computer with Microsoft's Internet Explorer, my personal opinion is it is both unsafe to use ( viruses, trojans, spyware, adware, etc.), slow, and outdated. It lacks such useful features as tabbed browsing. Futhermore, although Microsoft has hinted that they may be changing their mind, their current official position is that they will not be updating the standalone version of Internet Explorer (so if they do change their minds and update MSIE, I doubt that it will be any time soon). My recommendation is to use anything else if you can. The most current Netscape Navigator (or better yet, the regular Mozilla browser, which is just Navigator without all the AOL bloatware added) is the closest to the look and action of MSIE. The newer Mozilla Firefox is smaller and faster, but you will probably want to add extension like the SpellBound spell-checker to get some of the functionality that are in some other browsers. The Opera browser is also very good, but the free version has small ads in the upper right corner, and also has so many options that it can confuse the first-time user.

Just a quick note here, that I probably should've mentioned before. I don't have my own computer. I use a laptop provided to me by a long-distance school so I can homeschool (part of my CVS, but that's another topic). I unfortunately have very little computer priveleges currently--I'm not even allowed to change the date, and the clock's actually one day ahead! My priveleges will be loosened soon, but I doubt I would be allowed to switch browsers on a computer that's actually the school's, even if I wanted to.

If they allow you to add programs, that is all you need to do. You will use the new web browser instead of MSIE. You don't have to delete MSIE--it will still be on the computer. It is similiar to having two or more different word processors on your computer--you can edit documents in MS Word, but you can also edit them in MS Works, WordPerfect, or OpenOffice. Tell the school that it will make the computer safer. You could also test your computer for viruses and spyware--there are some websites that will do that while you are online (but make sure that it is a legitimate website from one of the major virus companies). If you find anything, you can tell the school that using Mozilla or one of the other alternative browsers might have prevented the infection. I've never had a problem with my computer, but you should see all the stuff that ended up on my Dad's computer because he refused to quit using MSIE. [[User:GK|gK ¿?]] 05:35, 26 Nov 2004 (UTC)

In the future, after I graduate (or maybe sooner, if I'm lucky), I'll hopefully get a computer of my own. Then I will consider your points about the browser issue. It does look persuasive. :-) Randee15 04:14, 26 Nov 2004 (UTC)

I've also found some misinformation in some of the name articles (like Given name and Family name, as well as just lots of holes, especially for non-Western cultures, that need to be filled. For example, in the [[Personal name]s article, the information on the compulsory requirement for Family names in Europe was just plain incorrect, so I fixed it.

re: spell-checking: What I have found is that where there is one typo of mispelling, there are usually more, but I'm not a natural editor. Using the spell-check extension after I've found that one typo is easier for me. [[User:GK|gK ¿?]] 03:57, 26 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Tips for the Cyclic Vomiting Syndrome article

1. Be Bold!
2. The Cyclic Vomiting Syndrome article is probably a good place for you to start doing a major edit since you can only make it better, ;-)
3. Try to answer all those questions that friends and relatives have asked you about Cyclic Vomiting Syndrome
4. Here are some topincs that you might consider covering
   1. What are the symptoms?
   2. How is it treated?
   3. What are the problems with having the Syndrome?
   4. How prevalent is it? Is it more common for one gender? Are their differences in the prevalence between different cultures or countries?
   5. The article is currently not in any categories, so make sure it is properly categorized.
5. If you need some help on the topic, check with some of the folks at Wikipedia:WikiProject Clinical medicine

[[User:GK|gK ¿?]] 03:57, 26 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Thank you! :-) I shall take all your advice under consideration and try to get up off my lazy butt soon and actually be bold. The first topic I'll probably do are the symptoms... that'll be pretty easy, and would be good way to "ease me in", so to speak. Randee15 04:14, 26 Nov 2004 (UTC)

The article also probably needs an "External links" section if there are any good online resources, and a "See also" section for Wikipedia articles about similiar Syndromes and diseases, more general articles about stomach problems, etc. Furthermore, if there are any good books on the Syndrome, add a "Resources" section.

If you are going to add a large section, I've found it easier to create the addition offline (I use the free text editor NoteTab Light, but you could use the Notepad program that comes with Windows) and then paste it into the main article already completed, rather than doing the editing online. [[User:GK|gK ¿?]] 05:35, 26 Nov 2004 (UTC)

If you have any more comments on family trees, i'll be happy to help. Best, muriel@pt 13:24, 8 Dec 2004 (UTC)

More Unisex names

I was thinking of adding a separate list at the bottom of some of the names that once were more-or-less exclusively male names, and now are almost exclusively female names, such as Carol (although it is hard to forget that there is one Pope whose name was originally Karol Józef Wojtyła). If you would like to help create that list, that would be great. I was thinking that instead of a long list of bulleted names like the main Unisex list, it would just be a long comma-delimited list. Somewhere I've also got a list of Medieval names that were once Unisex names but then became just male names (I think that James was one of them). If I can find that list, I will probably create a second list at the bottom of the Unisex article. [[User:GK|gK ¿?]] 17:22, 8 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Well, first of all, James wasn't unisex in the Middle Ages; it wasn't very popular with either sex, in fact. But Alexander, Robert, Bennett/Benedict, and Philip were used for girls, in a way. Girls would be baptised Alexandra, Roberta, Benedicta, or Philipa/Philippa, but would be known in everyday life as Alexander, Robert, Bennett, or Philip. I don't know why people did this, but they did.

Now, as for "male names turned female" name category idea, I think it could be a good one. Off the top of my head I can think of these names that could go on such a list:

• Jocelyn/Jocelin/Joscelin — In France, the two latter are still exclusively male. Josceline/Joceline's the female form
• Meredith
• Morgan — But see my notes below
• Aubrey — Ditto
• Florence
• Alexis — Virtually exclusively used for girls only in North America, probably prompted by Dynasty. Elsewhere, Alexis is mainly a male name, with Alexia being the female form
• Mallory — Derives from malheureux, the male form of the French word for "unfortunate"
• Hilary
• Valentine
• Ariel — Although sometimes used for girls in England, it's mainly only a female name in NA, prompted by Disney's The Little Mermaid. Elsewhere, especially in Jewish culture, Ariel's firmly male; Ariela/Ariella/Arielle's the female form
• Possibly the myriad surname names like Ashley, Kelly, Lindsay, Mackenzie, Madison, etc

Now, Morgan when used for a girl may come from a different etymology than Morgan for a boy (Morgan for a boy and Morrigan -> Morgan for a girl). I'm still looking into this, but if the Morrigan -> Morgan theory is correct, then Morgan may not belong on a "male turned female" name list. Similarly, Aubrey may come from either Alberic (male) or Albreda/Aubreda (female), which is a feminine form of Alberic.

Finally, there are many name nerds (that's what we call ourselves :-D) who are of the opinion that surnames, because they are passed to children of either sex, are gender neutral as given names despite any male- or female-exclusive meanings (Mackenzie's "son of Kenneth", for example). I'm not of that opinion, but we must of course conform to the NPOV. So personally I don't think surname names should be on the list.

This site provides a list of names used for both sexes from 1450 to 1650. And this site lists names given to females only, but goes from before 1250 to the 1600s. Neither provides much etymology, but it gives one a good idea about what parents were naming their children in those days. Randee15 21:34, 8 Dec 2004 (UTC)

re:Morgan for girls: I think that it might also be influenced by the Morgan horse (but is that were really true, there should also probably be more girls named Appaloosa) ;-)

re:Surnames as given names: From what I can tell, there is generally a transition from surname, to aristrocratic male given name, (to plebeian male given name), to aristrocratic female given name, to plebeian female given name. The Unisex names are those names still undergoing a transition from mainly male to mainly female use.

I would question some of the names that you have put into the currently almost exclusively female category. Kelly, for example, was still a fairly regular male name when I was growning up (b. 1954), but the two baby name books that I checked that have percentages show conflicting results of 25% male, and 8% male, for recent baby names. Only one book had percentages for Lindsay and Lindsey (25% males), but I've know several male Lindsays. However with the popularity of Lindsay Lohan, it is probably yet another male name that will become exclusively female.

I know that I think of Valentine as a male name, but I am sure that is influenced by the Robert Silverberg series of novels based upon Lord Valentine. I am wondering if it is more common as a male name in England or the rest of Europe.

The 2nd site you gave was a real PITA to browse, but the first one was interesting. Some of the c. 1450-1650 Great Britain Unisex Given Names included: Baptist, Basil, Bennet, Cecil, Christian, Christmas, Clement, Dennis, Douglas, Easter, Ede, Eden, Ellis, Emery, Emlyn, Emmett/Emmott, Em, Everill, Faith, Florence, Frances/Francis, Giles, Grace, Herod, Herodias, Hope, Hosanna, Jacket, Jenkin, Jesmond, Joyce, Julian, Kit, Love, Matthew, Nicol, Nowell, Noel, Osanna, Patience, Pentacost, Philip, Radegund, and Talbot. [[User:GK|gK ¿?]] 11:38, 9 Dec 2004 (UTC)

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