User talk:Skomorokh/अ

Strange, self-reverting changes

Hello Skomorokh. I've taken the liberty to revdel the self-reverting edits made by 80.42.154.103 (talk · contribs · WHOIS) to your user page and one of its subpages, because they contained a phone number. Not entirely sure what's going on and thus haven't swung the ban hammer over the head of the perpetrator — yet. Favonian (talk) 17:53, 5 December 2010 (UTC)[reply]

No idea what that's about, but thanks for keeping an eye on things. Skomorokh 17:59, 5 December 2010 (UTC)[reply]

My pleasure. Thought you were an admin, so I didn't include the text. Just for reference, it was:

Skomorokh/ Moot has provided his contact number of [REDACTED] to "answer questions"

Favonian (talk) 18:02, 5 December 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I/ Moot will await any phonecalls with interest! Cheers, Skomorokh 18:10, 5 December 2010 (UTC)[reply]

arbcom election coordination

Hi, as the elections are almost over I want to thank you for your oversight of and your contributions related to the election. Thanks. Off2riorob (talk) 20:54, 5 December 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks Rob, appreciate it. Hope the coming days won't be too nerve-wracking for you, Skomorokh 00:49, 6 December 2010 (UTC)[reply]

No, I got through the election, the result will be a piece of cake. Off2riorob (talk) 01:44, 6 December 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Too cool! --El on ka 06:37, 6 December 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Cheers, it was the best my limited imagination could craft out of "user talk". Credit to MZM + harej for the trickery. Skomorokh 18:49, 6 December 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Desmond Clarke

Desmond Clarke I saw your comment in the edit history and thought you might wish to take a look at this "unrefed" BLP. Polargeo (talk) 12:02, 8 December 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I learned not too long after that 3 year old comment the futility of trying to contribute anything substantive to the project's coverage of philosophy. Skomorokh 14:25, 8 December 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Fair enough. I just thought that you sounded enthusiastic about the guy and as it is tagged as an unreferenced BLP you would be interested from a biography perspective. I will have a look at getting it properly referenced if I have some time over the weekend. Polargeo (talk) 15:55, 8 December 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Planning for next term in the Wikipedia Ambassador Program

Hi Skomorokh. We're trying to figure out how many students we can mentor next term and how many additional Online Ambassadors will be needed. Based on the revised plan for what participating courses will be like next term, I've sketched out what will be expected of mentors. Please look that over, and then go to the online ambassadors talk page to indicate much mentoring and other ambassador activities you'd like to do next term. Thanks!--Sage Ross - Online Facilitator, Wikimedia Foundation (talk) 18:04, 8 December 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Mentor for team of students

Hi, my name is James Fullerton, and I'm a teacher at Southern Lehigh Middle School in PA. Recently I've created a project that involves Wikipedia (WP) and small groups of students making a contribution to a WP article of their choosing, as long as the topic is related to the content of the course - being American Government, Civics, and Economics. For the past 4 weeks, students have become involved in the culture of WP, with many already narrowing in on a topic for their contribution. Here is the supportive material on Wikispaces (https://wikiedit.wikispaces.com/). Your assistance would be greatly appreciated! Would you be available to act as a mentor to a small group of students as they begin to offer additional content to an article of their interest? The team sizes are numbered between 5-7 students each. I will notify you as to who is in the teams with their WP user names. Jmfullerton (talk) 17:34, 12 December 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Greetings, Jm. I would be glad to help with such an educational project but unless I am mistaken, your students are young teenagers. I personally do not think it appropriate for people of that age to be "mentored" by pseudonymous entities without proper background checks and quite frankly would wonder how such an idea gained the support of the school board or parents. No offence intended, and sorry I cannot assist you, Skomorokh 12:53, 3 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Politics of Piracy, UC Berkeley, WikiProject

Hi, Skomorokh, sorry I hadn't responded in a while. I've been swamped the past couple weeks preparing for finals.

For the WikiProject, we were supposed to raise the quality of a selected article two grade levels, like from a D to a B, for example. The specifications were a little more ambiguous for starting an article from scratch, but I think I have enough for the History of music piracy article now. My partner should upload his half of the article, which concerns the earlier part of the history, in the next couple days. That's okay, though, because he has his own mentor. If you could look over what's there now, I'd appreciate it. I think I'm starting to get the hang of the Wikipedia code--the one thing I wasn't too sure about was what to do with the "ref" reference tags when I cite more than once from the same source, so I left those as paranthetical marks. Thanks, Android the Andrew (talk) 07:40, 18 December 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Yo Andrew, the apologies for lateness in replying are all mine. I gave the article a once-over and have to say it is quite a well-written introduction to the topic, especially compared to the other articles in the topic area. I'm not sure if you're still intending on working on this in the future (I notice your partner does not seem to have contributed their half), or with Wikipedia in general, but some pointers if you do:

Because Wikipedia articles are in a constant state of republication and will likely last for decades if not longer, we tend to try to avoid language that might date badly. Use of the present tense and of terms like "recent" in articles written in 2010 take on quite different meanings when read in 2020.

Unlike academic writing, which tries to be interesting and make powerful points, encyclopedia articles are written in a slightly different formal tone (dispassionate, without value judgements) , and without authorial comment ("interestingly", "in actual fact" and so on). The idea is to be purely informative, rather than convincing.

Don't worry too much about citation formats, as long as it's clear which information comes from where (although it would be best to give a full academic-style bibliography at the end, with coauthors, ISBNs and so forth).

Part of the difference between academic writing and encyclopaedia writing is that you can't get away with the same kind of sweeping statements; all non-obvious factual claims need to be supported by a reliable source, and vague claims like "some people say" and "critics allege" are discouraged in favour of specificity.

I wasn't sure how hands-on you wanted me to be with the article (if it needs to remain "your work" for assessment purposes, I can lay off), or when/by whom you wanted it assessed. I would say that once some of the vaguer sections were cleaned up, the only barrier to B standard would be comprehensiveness – which ought to be sorted once your colleague adds their half. Skomorokh 13:14, 3 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]

The assignment has actually already been assessed. I don't know what happened with Farzad's half of the article--he seemed very enthusiastic about the project until after the last class meeting and before finals, after which point he stopped responding to my emails. I got a good grade in the class, so I guess my purposes for the class are all done. The idea was to be part of the collaborative process at Wikipedia, so you were and are welcome to dig at the article as much as you like, if you're interested, but as mentor in my class project, I guess your obligation is over too. Still, I am interested in writing for Wikipedia, and in the broader free culture and free knowledge movement, so I'll probably pick at this article some more anyway. You make good points: after years of writing persuasive and analytical essays in school, keeping it purely factual is surprisingly difficult. I'll keep that in mind.

Thanks, Android the Andrew (talk) 06:48, 6 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Biased editing of Technological Utopianism by Loremaster.

Due to your past contribution to Technological utopianism, you may currently want to help editing the Technological utopianism article because currently only one editor is contributing to the article. The Singularitarianism Article could also benefit from your help.

I feel Loremaster is editing Singularitarianism and Technological utopianism in a biased manner in accordance with his Save The Earth propaganda. Loremasters's ideology seems to verge towards Neo-Luddism. Here are the damming facts Loremaster has stated in discussion:

Loremaster says he is:

"...critical of techno-utopianism in all its forms."

Loremaster wants people to:

"...stop indulging in techno-utopian fantasies... ...so that we can all focus on energies on saving the planet."

Loremaster sees his editing as a 'fight' and he states:

"Although I am convinced that the world is in fact heading toward an ecological catastrophe, I think it can be averted and my optimism makes me want to fight to do do just that."

81.151.135.248 (talk) 12:25, 18 December 2010 (UTC)JB[reply]

LOL
Despite the fact that I openly admit to being a technorealist who is critical of techno-utopianism in all its forms, I have let never this point of view influence any of my edits or reverts of the Technological utopianism or Singularitarianism articles. On the contrary, I am the person most responsible for expanding the former article with content some would argue is “pro-techno-utopian” (i.e. passages from James Hughes' book Citizen Cyborg).
I find it disgusting that 81.151.135.248 would take comments I made out of context to falsely make it seem I see my editing of any article as part of my fight for the environment.
In light of this outrageous act of bad faith, I will do everything in my power to get this jerk banned from Wikipedia.

--Loremaster (talk) 00:59, 20 December 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I am unfamiliar with the topic area and its disputants; you would likely be best served by pursuing dispute resolution. Regards, Skomorokh 13:20, 3 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Merry Christmas!

May your family have
a joyous holiday season
and a new year blessed
with hope and happiness.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

The Ceremonies for Christmas
Day (Robert Herrick)

Kindle the Christmas brand, and then
   Till sunset let it burn;
Which quench'd, then lay it up again
   Till Christmas next return.

Part must be kept wherewith to teend
   The Christmas log next year,
And where 'tis safely kept, the fiend
   Can do no mischief there.

If you don't celebrate Christmas ...

Happy (belated) Hanukkah! Happy Eid al-Adha! Happy Kwanzaa! And of course, Happy Festivus!

May this holiday season bring you the music of laughter, the warmth of friendship, and the steadying hand of love. ☃

/ƒETCH COMMS / 05:07, 19 December 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Why thank you, fetchworth; hope you had a merry one and will have a happy one also. Skomorokh 13:21, 3 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Merry Christmas, too

I never did thank you for welcoming me to Wikipedia when I started in 2008. I'm a pretty regular contributor now. So thank you! Pumpkin888 (talk) 18:23, 20 December 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Same here, Racconish^Tk 10:18, 23 December 2010 (UTC)[reply]

That just warms the cockles of my dark and shriveled heart. Here's to many years of fulfilling editing for the pair of you in the future! Skomorokh 13:22, 3 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Lincoln Park

Hi, after a number of page moves I have started a requested move to seek consensus regarding the location of the page on the park in Chicago called Lincoln Park. As you have previously moved this page, I thought that you might like to contribute to the discussion at Talk:Lincoln Park (Chicago park). Thanks, —Jeremy (talk) 20:53, 24 December 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Unless there's an issue with my decision or action in moving the page I'm not sure what I would have to contribute exactly. Best, Skomorokh 13:23, 3 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]