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Report request - Possible thumbnail images

I have a request for a new report. (I have no reason to believe that you take requests, but what the heck, it's worth a try.)

Thumbnail images (scaled-down duplicates of existing images) can be speedily deleted. It'd be nice to have a list of "Possible thumbnails". I was thinking something like this:

  • For all images that match the regular expression "^(.*)[0-9]+pix(.*)$", see if there exist any similar images that match "^\1[0-9]+pix\2$". If there are, list them all together.
    • So "Image:fluff-200pix.jpg" and "Image:fluff-9pix.jpg" would match.
  • Similar things could be done for images with "large" and "small" in the names.
    • E.g. "^(.*)large(.*)$" matching "^\1small\2$" or even just "^\1\2$".

Does this make sense? – Quadell (talk) (help)[[]] 18:11, Dec 21, 2004 (UTC)

Wikicite project page

Wikipedia:WikiProject_Wikicite To add a card catalog and citation features. Stirling Newberry 23:51, 28 Jan 2005 (UTC)


I wanted to ask about the feasibility of doing a report that would find current "references" in wikipedia articles to make conversion to a wikicite database smoother, and a report that lists articles by number of citations and number of links to provide candidates for conversion. If you'd be willing to provide other help with the SQL that would be required for such a project it would be very much appreciated. Stirling Newberry 14:51, 31 Jan 2005 (UTC)

User:Topbanana/Reports/This article may contain a badly formed ISBN reference

Could you re-run User:Topbanana/Reports/This article may contain a badly formed ISBN reference? All the listed problems seem to have been dealt with, and it's been more than six months since it ran. Josh Parris ✉ 01:20, 24 May 2005 (UTC)

This report has been updated now - have at it! - TB 17:24, 2005 Jun 23 (UTC)

Danke! Josh Parris ✉ 00:34, 24 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Well, it's been another three months. Disc space, bandwidth and time permitting, could you please run it again, with the revised regex we discussed? We may have to mark the report with a request for false positives to be listed somewhere. Josh Parris # 00:21, 23 September 2005 (UTC)

Hi, I wrote a little script to help with Red link recovery, especially the punctuation ones. It can fix certain types of links, those that begin or end with single or double quotes, or end in a comma etc. It will show up on edit pages as a link (if it can fix something there) or a gray text (if it can't). Click on the link and it will fix what it can. To use, but the following line on your monobook.js subpage: 

importScript('MediaWiki:LinkFixr.js');

After each use, I recommend looking at the diff to make sure it didn't break anything. Cheers, --Magnus Manske 19:06, 20 July 2007 (UTC)

WikiMedal for Janitorial Service

The code for the "WikiMedal for Janitorial Service" is missing from the Other awards page and so it cannot be awarded. Could you put in the code please? --Simpsons fan 66 03:40, 9 August 2007 (UTC)

No code, no template, just Image:WikiMedal for Janitorial Services.png. You're very welcome to create some more sophisticated wrapper if you think one is needed. - TB 08:59, 9 August 2007 (UTC)
OK. After a lot of experimentation I've figured out how to do it. Thanks for your help. Check out the new version! --Simpsons fan 66 05:04, 10 August 2007 (UTC)

Have you worked with de:Benutzer:Flacus/Wikipedia Interwiki-Link-Checker/en? I suspect the goals are pretty similar. --Open2universe 22:46, 15 September 2007 (UTC)

Please give the list of articles missing interlanguage links Wikipedia:WikiProject Interlanguage Links/reciprocal to the user named above, because with his tool you can let the users check it very quickly. This is the second request of it. So maybe nobody is home. If so someone else need to take your project to the next level. Carsrac (talk) 15:01, 19 December 2007 (UTC)

Hi. Since you're an admin and a participant of WP:RLR, I figured I'd ask you this question because you probably know the best thing to do. I'm a volunteer at that Wikiproject too and a few months ago, I fixed all the red links at this page. A few days later, an editor reverted the entire page stating that the links would eventually become a part of WP:FR. Fixing the red links was a bit tedious so, naturally, I'm a bit irritated that the page was reverted. In my opinion, the page would look better without the red links. Is it possible to keep the links (or names..whatever) unwikified until a particular name actually becomes an article? To me, that makes more sense than leaving an entire page full of annoying red links because they'll eventually become valid. Any thoughts or advise would be greatly appreciated. Thanks! Pinkadelica (talk) 03:49, 14 December 2007 (UTC)

Looking at the bigger picture, projects that are adding good new encyclopaedic content like WP:FR are probably of higher priority than folks like us fiddling about with red links. That said, if you feel that someone is being unfairly dismissive of your input then WP:Be bold and pitch your argument to them; no point writing here, I have no particular interest in or knowledge of the Arrondissement of Beauvais or that article's editors plans. - TB (talk) 20:46, 25 December 2007 (UTC)

Redlink recovery - new list?

Hallo, I've just discovered Wikipedia:WikiProject Red Link Recovery/Repeated letters and have spent some pleasantly satisfying time (procrastinating other tasks) sorting some of them out - it's like a giant infinite jigsaw puzzle! But there's a large number of cases where I click on the redlink, click on "What links here", and the project itself is the only one. Any chance of an updated list to work from? I see the last one was generated July 07 from a dump of May 07. PamD (talk) 11:03, 25 February 2008 (UTC)

Yes - I will update the red link lists as son as possible. They do however take a few days for me to recreate and life is busy right now. Hang in there, I'll manage eventually ;) I love the infinite jigsaw simile by the way; I seem to recall a similar quote from a 19th century scientist, possibly Mr Dewey himself - alas, wikiquote doesn't have it. - TB (talk) 17:52, 28 February 2008 (UTC)

Hogenakkal drinking water project

Hogenakkal drinking water project keeps appearing very many times in Red Link Recovery: Capitalisation, linking to just about everything. However, when examining the actual article, I have found no trace of any of the links ever existing. Is this a bug in the list generation? JIP | Talk 11:58, 20 September 2008 (UTC)

Yes, this is a bug in the list generation. I've not tracked it down yet I;m araid, but will get there eventually ;) Red-links attributed to the Hogenakkal drinking water project are real - they're just not red links in that particular aticle. Checking 'what links here' from the red-links should show the corriect originating article. or, if this is too much work just delete 'em - goodness knows we've enough 'real' entries to be working on. - TB (talk) 12:01, 20 September 2008 (UTC)

Loch Leven Castle

This article has been nominated and reviewed for good article status and needs some improvements, as discussed here. Since you authored this article, would you please help improve it? Cheers. Truthanado (talk) 14:38, 7 December 2008 (UTC)

Hello. I sorted out the last few entries in WikiProject Red Link Recovery/Numeric. It has now has been marked as complete but I left one exception. Would you like to move the remaining entry to the exception list? You're more likely to get the syntax right than I am!

Thanks for all your good work. Certes (talk) 11:59, 28 May 2009 (UTC)

Done. Ta for your efforts also ;) - TB (talk) 09:06, 29 May 2009 (UTC)

Teddy zane

Hey, is there a problem with that page because I tagged it earlier and the content disappeared and there was no history. OtisJimmyOne 17:19, 8 June 2009 (UTC)

The page was being repeatedly deleted/recreated (as an advert) and so was protected for 15 mins to discourage the perpetrator. I guess you managed to land and edit during one of the delete/recreate cycles. Sorry 'bout that. The page is definitely empty (and tagless) now - TB (talk) 17:29, 8 June 2009 (UTC)
Just curious. Cheers, OtisJimmyOne 18:11, 8 June 2009 (UTC)

Thanks for checking with me. I don't believe that readers of the article about Wikipedia need to be linked to my user page, as flattering as the idea may be. Yes, please go ahead and remove the link, which I was unaware of. -- John Broughton (♫♫) 21:24, 27 June 2009 (UTC)

can you help me get me off this list (3 times with my new articles). thanks Earlypsychosis (talk) 02:27, 5 July 2009 (UTC)

maybe it was the under contruction tag, now removed? Earlypsychosis (talk) 02:30, 5 July 2009 (UTC)
Almost certainly yes - the odd links report is generated from a slightly out of date version of the wikipedia database. Construction notices are normally filtered out, so goodness knows. A quick check here shows me that there are now no links to your userpage from the main namespace, so I've deleted your entries. - TB (talk) 08:46, 5 July 2009 (UTC)

Toolserveraccount

Hello Topbanana,
please send your real-name, your wikiname, your Freenode-nick (if you have one), your prefered login-name and the public part of your ssh-key to . We plan to create your account soon then. --DaB. 16:05, 5 July 2009 (UTC)

Proposed deletion of Tracey

The article Tracey has been proposed for deletion because of the following concern:

Not notable, pure hoax

While all contributions to Wikipedia are appreciated, content or articles may be deleted for any of several reasons.

You may prevent the proposed deletion by removing the {{dated prod}} notice, but please explain why in your edit summary or on the article's talk page.

Please consider improving the article to address the issues raised. Removing {{dated prod}} will stop the Proposed Deletion process, but other deletion processes exist. The Speedy Deletion process can result in deletion without discussion, and Articles for Deletion allows discussion to reach consensus for deletion. ApprenticeFan talk contribs 21:02, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

I, a WP:TPS, replied at User talk:ApprenticeFan. Plastikspork (talk) 22:34, 17 July 2009 (UTC)
Now reverted back to a redirect, so all is well. Plastikspork (talk) 21:36, 18 July 2009 (UTC)
Good outcome, ta. - TB (talk) 21:41, 18 July 2009 (UTC)

Commons:File:Adriaen Brouwer - Peasants Browling over Cards.jpg

This file was moved to Commons from English Wikipedia, but some description information may have got lost in the process.

As you are noted as the original uploader, or in the history for the file, it would be appreciated if you could help in reconstructing this information.

Please also consider checking Commons for other media that you may have uploaded locally, but which was subsequently transferred.

Special:Log for uploads can help in this.

Thanks for you assistance and keep uploading 'free' media :) Sfan00 IMG (talk) 15:29, 20 July 2009 (UTC)

In particular, it would be appreciated if you could provide information on the gallery or archive from which this was obtained. It isn't so much proving it's status as proving it's not from a gallery that might get upset about it's release under a 'free' licence. Sfan00 IMG (talk) 15:33, 20 July 2009 (UTC)

Original upload was around 5 years ago. I couldn't begin to tell you where I acquired the image from - I was working in Academia at the time and suspect it was from a public domain archive of 14th-18th century art a colleague of mine maintained at the time, but it was quite some time ago. The only definitive record of its provenance would be in the file description page. If this has been lost, we've no way to show the image is free, best delete it. - TB (talk) 15:50, 20 July 2009 (UTC)

Since it seems likely that you'd have an idea of what's up, your input into the discussion at Wikipedia_talk:WikiProject_Red_Link_Recovery#Repeated_Letters_vs._Repeated_letters would be appreciated. —Paul A (talk) 08:10, 9 September 2009 (UTC)

Ray Austin (director)

I added the link when I found all the info on that page which was probably written by Austin himself. I only got to his page to add a Zorro link. I did have reservations about it. Can you explain why it was not relevant?REVUpminster (talk) 21:14, 5 July 2009 (UTC)

'scuse ther tardy reply, I didn't notice this message until I came to archive stuff on this page. Mr Austin is not famous for being a Wikipedia editor; indeed, the fact isn't even mentioned within his article. Therefore, there's no reason at all to link his Wikipedia user page. Perhaps Template:Autobiography is appropriate though. - TB (talk) 22:17, 20 November 2009 (UTC)


I had forgotton all about it but at the time it did seem odd to me. All this information written on a userpage in the third person. Yet very little on the article page because he was prolific on television especially in what's regarded as cult television and as for the Baron de-vere Austin title, I don't know how genuine that is. One day I may look at the IMDB and extract something.REVUpminster (talk) 23:21, 20 November 2009 (UTC)

WPT:MoSDab

Reply at User talk:Jerzy#WPT:MoSDab.
--Jerzy•t 15:38, 9 November 2009 (UTC)

Appreciate your feedback

Hi TB. Yes, you're right, I was confused and created a little mess. Thanks for your kind advice and for following this up. Johnkimparknew (talk) 03:57, 22 November 2009 (UTC)

Reversion of text

I was wondering if you had a reason for the reversion. I know that I am new to editing, and realise now that I should have noted the change as an opinion (after all the original reads better). Coralhue (talk) 04:41, 22 November 2009 (UTC)

Sorry if I got the technicalities wrong. I'm sorry but I don't agree with your comments about irrreverent and conservative, which wis why I made the change. Have you read the book? Coralhue (talk) 13:19, 22 November 2009 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Coralhue (talk • contribs)

It was many years ago when I read it - I might be recalling the wrong book if my comments are way off. It's the one in which Merlin is a prisoner, accused of being a demon. He recounts various tales from his life, though which it is revealed that it's his captors that are evil ? - TB (talk) 15:31, 22 November 2009 (UTC)

Definitely wrong book. I have looked at you contributions and think that with the qualifications you profess, it might be better to do fewer, more considered edits.Coralhue (talk) 12:24, 23 November 2009 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Coralhue (talk • contribs)

Happy to hold my hand up then and say I was wrong - I've reinstated the one-word change to the article (sans signature of course), and even remembered to include an edit summary this time ;) - TB (talk) 23:57, 23 November 2009 (UTC)

Thank you: I was becoming disillusioned with Wikipedia. I do not maintain that anti-Christian is necessarily the right word, but an convinced, that in the context of this novel (which hace happen to have re-read two days before I made the change) irreverant is the wrong word. I apolagise if my comments seemed aggressive, but I was upset ,because your comments seemed dismissive, as I am only a newcomer. --Coralhue (talk) 09:45, 26 November 2009 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Coralhue (talk • contribs)

The real beauty of Wikipedia is that we've millions of editors, with almost as many backgrounds, viewpoints and opinions. It can make for a rocky road, but in the end these differences lead to well-rounded articles - here's hoping you'll continue editing. There's no need to apologize for defending your views - try to remember the Trifecta. - TB (talk) 15:53, 26 November 2009 (UTC)

discussion request

I had created, including an emphatic edit summary; you have deleted. I do need assistance, please; thank you,

hopiakuta Please do sign your communiqué .~~Thank You, DonFphrnqTaub Persina. 10:00, 4 December 2009 (UTC)

Hello hopiakuta, nice to meet you. You moved an article you were working on from the main namespace (Pass Wind Farm) to your user space (User:Hopiakuta/ pass windfarm userfy hopiakuta hopia kuta kutahopia Pass Wind Farm pass wind farm). When you did this, a redirect page was left behind. I deleted this redirect page earlier today, I assume this is what you are contacting me about. Redirects from the main namespace to certain other namespaces are generally not allowed - see Wikipedia:Criteria_for_speedy_deletion#Redirects for more information. - TB (talk) 11:49, 4 December 2009 (UTC)

Thank You for the response; however, my request was not about the policy; but, it certainly was, & yet is, about the summary: "( avoid delete; page has been ignored [for] fourteen days; I would, otherwise, keep it there. )".

Thank You,

hopiakuta Please do sign your communiqué .~~Thank You, DonFphrnqTaub Persina. 14:30, 4 December 2009 (UTC)

One which article and edit might this summary be found please, and what does it mean please ? - TB (talk) 17:51, 4 December 2009 (UTC)

Avoiding delete.

hopiakuta Please do sign your communiqué .~~Thank You, DonFphrnqTaub Persina. 18:00, 4 December 2009 (UTC)

Your edit, comment and article are all at User:Hopiakuta/ pass windfarm userfy hopiakuta hopia kuta kutahopia Pass Wind Farm pass wind farm. Only the redirect from Pass Wind Farm has been deleted. - TB (talk) 18:23, 4 December 2009 (UTC)

Balboa Bay Club

I added some references to Balboa Bay Club and removed some text that might have been considered advertising. -- Eastmain (talk) 05:56, 6 December 2009 (UTC)

I have reinstated the advert and spam tags. I'm sure it's a very nice hotel. but the fact that a US Senator once stayed there over 40 years ago does not make it encyclopedic. - TB (talk) 09:56, 6 December 2009 (UTC)

Cross-namespace redirects

Oops, thanks for cleaning those up for me! FCSundae ∨☃ (talk) 09:53, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

I am new to wikipedia and pretty confused by the new language I have to learn. You edited out all my categories at the bottom of my article saying it was search engine gaming. What is that, and what did I do wrong, and how do I get people looking for information on a muscle injury to link to my page. Please help!Musclemed (talk) 22:43, 10 December 2009 (UTC)

Castle images

If you took the photos, just write that on the image page and remove the deletion tag. I put on the no-source thing because sometimes people put PD tags on things they just find on the internet, and it's good to say that you made them yourself. Calliopejen1 (talk) 13:08, 17 December 2009 (UTC)

Stubs in redirects

Something like Girard's paradox qualifies for categories per "Subtopic categorization" in WP:RCAT. Although WP:RCAT doesn't say anything about stub categories, I would prefer such redirects that are also {{R with possibilities}} to be marked as stubs so they show up in the stub category Category:Type theory stubs rather than the non-stub article Category:Type theory category. It's true that categorized redirects show up in italics in the categories, but it would be easier to find articles needing expansion by perusing just the stub category. This in contrast with, say, Typability which is just a well-know synonym for type inference. Pcap ping 16:31, 30 December 2009 (UTC)

I'd agree that categorizing redirects is a very useful thing. However, marking them up as stubs seems very illogical to me - they're a whole different animal. Of the 130 or so stub-templates-on-redirect pages I've removed, around half redirected to pages that were not themselves stubs, and a further quarter looked like stubs that had been downgraded to redirects. I suppose what you're after is the intersection of the general {{R with possibilities}} class and redirects that lie within the scope of your favorite projects. Tricky. - TB (talk) 16:44, 30 December 2009 (UTC)
Marking as stubs {{R with possibilities}} doesn't seem that illogical: it's just a stub with nothing but the title, but it does qualify as a separate topic. I know there's a MediaWiki extension that allows intersection of categories. That would indeed solve the problem by intersecting the "R with possibilities" cat with the Type theory cat. It would also make "stub sorting" (in general) an entirely automated affair by intersecting a single Stub category with whatever article category one wants. But until that's rolled into this wiki, I don't see a better solution than marking "R with possibilities" as stubs... Pcap ping 17:05, 30 December 2009 (UTC)
I suppose (taking the long view) that redirects are in a way more mature than stubs. Consider the very rough outline below; if its a stub with potential to become an article then that's grand but otherwise it's doomed to end up as a redirect. There's not a lot of scope for transforming redirects into stubs other than as a temporary measure. - TB (talk) 18:15, 30 December 2009 (UTC)
Current page size
nothing redirect stub article
Potential page size nothing Don't create Delete If any worthwhile content, merge it. Delete At the very least AfD it; if someone can write a reasonable article on it, you may be mistaken bout the potential.
redirect Create redirect Fine If any worthwhile content merge it to a real article and redirect to the relevant article/section Seek consensus; either you're mistaken about the potential, or there's a whole lot of reorganizing and merging to be done. Good luck.
stub Creating a temporary stub might be acceptable, but longer term a redirect to a section in a real article is the answer This is closer to the proper solution than a stub This is a temporary solution only. Aim to merge the stub contents into a section in a real article and redirect to it. Trim duplicated material, merge unique content into a real article and redirect to it.
article Create an initial stub Convert to stub and expand Expand Success!!

Unreferenced BLPs

Hello Topbanana! Thank you for your contributions. I am a bot alerting you that 9 of the articles that you created are Unreferenced Biographies of Living Persons. Please note that all biographies of living persons must be sourced. If you were to add reliable, secondary sources to these articles, it would greatly help us with the current 40 article backlog. Once the articles are adequately referenced, please remove the {{unreferencedBLP}} tag. Here is the list:

  1. David Bates (groundsman) - Find sources: Google (books · news · scholar · free images · WP refs) · FENS · JSTOR · TWL
  2. Phil Ramone - Find sources: Google (books · news · scholar · free images · WP refs) · FENS · JSTOR · TWL
  3. Edwin Newman - Find sources: Google (books · news · scholar · free images · WP refs) · FENS · JSTOR · TWL
  4. John Steel (drummer) - Find sources: Google (books · news · scholar · free images · WP refs) · FENS · JSTOR · TWL
  5. John Rea (snooker player) - Find sources: Google (books · news · scholar · free images · WP refs) · FENS · JSTOR · TWL
  6. Adam Hargreaves - Find sources: Google (books · news · scholar · free images · WP refs) · FENS · JSTOR · TWL
  7. George Finkle - Find sources: Google (books · news · scholar · free images · WP refs) · FENS · JSTOR · TWL
  8. Ralph R. Roberts (politician) - Find sources: Google (books · news · scholar · free images · WP refs) · FENS · JSTOR · TWL
  9. John Douglas Smith - Find sources: Google (books · news · scholar · free images · WP refs) · FENS · JSTOR · TWL

Thanks!--DASHBot (talk) 07:27, 2 January 2010 (UTC)

FYI

I nominated a template you created for deletion on Wikipedia:Templates_for_discussion/Log/2010_January_5#January_5.

Also, I noticed you have been doing quite a few redirects of redirect templates. Where was this discussed? Debresser (talk) 23:25, 5 January 2010 (UTC)

Howdy. I've been carrying out an analysis of red links on redirect pages (we have a few thousand of the annoying blighters extant) and created a set of 'redirects to the correct classification template from near misses'. To give an imaginary example, if 20 people had seen fit to add {{R from prior name}} to redirects, I might have redirected "Template:R from prior name" to the correct "Template:R from previous name". Where fewer than 5 instances exist, I've just been fixing the originating redirects, although it's a long and slow job.
In this case I absolutely agree that Template:R to existing article is about as meaningless as a redirfect classification template can be. To what else would one rediect? A disambig page perhaps? Beats me. However, we've over 40 redirects containing {{R to existing article}} (see what links here) from what looks like a wide range of editors and timescales; probably best to at least sent the link *somewhere*.
As for discussion, I'm not sure what you mean. Editors need not seek permission to make changes on Wikipedia. - TB (talk) 21:39, 6 January 2010 (UTC)
I hope you have realised by now that the redirect to {{R}} was a big mistake. And although in general editors do not need to discuss their edits, where these edits are possibly controversial or detrimental, and especially where they tresspass into areas of WikiProjects, that is not true. That is why I was asking whether Wikipedia:WikiProject Redirect was aware of your actions. Debresser (talk) 23:36, 6 January 2010 (UTC)
Aye - Template:R cetainly isn't what I though it to be ("This is a redirect") - I'll need to find a more suitable target for the redirect. All suggestions welcome. I've had a look at Wikipedia:WikiProject Redirect but their section on redirect classification doesn't suggest an obvious answer. Wikipedia:Categorizing redirects seems a little more relevant (basically it suggests leaving them unclassified). WP:RLR (my starting point for this task) not much use either. Ho hum, I'll continue to muddle on ;) - TB (talk) 13:35, 7 January 2010 (UTC)
I just noticed that {{R to existing article with the same content}} also points to {{R}}, and have nominated it for deletion as well. Are there any more? Debresser (talk) 14:07, 7 January 2010 (UTC)

whadu.com

Hey Topbanana, seeing as you're a Wikipedia contributor, I was wondering if you'd like to help with a search engine called "whadu." How it works is that each search phrase leads to a specific page on the internet, for example the search phrase "wikipedia" goes to the page http://wikipedia.org. Check it out at whadu.com (whadu.com/about for more help), and thanks for any contributions you may make. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Whadu (talk • contribs) 10:33, 3 January 2010 (UTC)

It took me a long time to find the info in the Wikipedia on the binaural sound - which is what I had been looking for. So when I found it, I put a clumsy link in Alpha waves, in case anyone else was looking for it. My Internet connection is hopeless, so I haven't been able to learn how to do the editing correctly. Thanks again! (A thought - is there one link to a complete "editing guide" that I could download all at once - maybe in PDF format or something - an peruse off-line?) 62.57.50.138 (talk) 00:25, 13 January 2010 (UTC)

Sadly, I know of nothing like the document you're after, sorry. - TB (talk) 18:57, 14 January 2010 (UTC)

Can you fix the Kevin Donley page?

Thanks for the recent fixes to the navboxes containing Kevin Donley references. Now, I have a related question: In the Kevin Donley article, if you look at the bottom where the navboxes appear, there is a large gap between the first two navboxes and the last two navboxes. Do you know why this happens? I have tried to eliminate the gap, without success. Any help would be appreciated. Jlhcpa (talk) 18:25, 14 January 2010 (UTC)

Fixed. An HTML comment was outside a <noinclude></noinclude> pair instead of inside it. - TB (talk) 18:40, 14 January 2010 (UTC)

Thanks. Jlhcpa (talk) 05:46, 17 January 2010 (UTC)

I was thinking about making a tool to make red link recovery easier. As you're a sysop, and you're fairly active in that area, I wanted to get your valued opinion.=P I'm thinking about making something in which the screen is split in which one side is the article linking to the red link, and the other half of the screen shows the suggested redirect for the red link. You have any thoughts as to whether this would be helpful?Smallman12q (talk) 22:25, 8 January 2010 (UTC)

Sounds great to me. I believe there's a tool that does similar things already, called Auto Wiki Browser. With some fiddling, it could be made to read a suitable formatted list of red links and suggestions, display relevant content from the live wikipedia, and basically allow a user to click 'this is correct, fix as suggested' or 'wrong, mark as a false positive and ignore'. I've been meaning to look into it for a while but just never have had a chance so I'm very glad someone else does :) - TB (talk) 09:03, 9 January 2010 (UTC)
I looked at AWB, but it seems that a custom tool would be best (also based off the .net framework). But it'd be similar. I'll go ahead and write up a beta version=D. As for reading a list I was thinking that itd be formated as such.
articles/sections to red link in csv(in order of most links) || red link ||suggested links in csv

Something like that anyways...Smallman12q (talk) 18:45, 9 January 2010 (UTC)

It shouldn't be a problem to dump links in this format, although enough articles and links contain commas that I'd tend to use a different separator. I'll aim to produce a sample list (perhaps just a few thousand entries) in a week or two to aid testing. I'll be sure to include some nice UTF-8 foreign character examples, these tend to be the tricksiest to deal with. Long term if the tool works, I imagine setting aside some proportion of the suggestions for processing through the tool and keeping some in the current format for the luddites. Issues to consider; handling UTF-8 characters; feeding false positives back into the RLR project; deciding when to create a redirect vs just changing links; dealing with staleness of source lists (pages gone away, links gone away, links turned red); possibly checking for permission to do semi-automayted editing (see what AWB does). Good luck! - TB (talk) 19:37, 9 January 2010 (UTC)
The seperator isn't a big deal (I used csv for simplicity) ...foreign characters may be a pain, but workable(or at worst, avoidable). My main concern lies in how to handle the feed. I may consider a php backend, but I do want to keep as much of it "on wikipedia" as possible. Something like what AWB has for permission checking is certainly doable. Write now I'm writing a fairly simple page creation bot as I remember my coding skills=D.I hope to have a beta some time this week.Smallman12q (talk) 01:42, 10 January 2010 (UTC)

Page Assist

Well I finished my other tool...below is a screenshot, I'll start working on the red link recovery thing now. I also wanted to suggest that that perhaps you could also offer article section links as possible redirects...though it would probably result in a significantly longer database build time.Smallman12q (talk) 14:45, 11 January 2010 (UTC)

A screenshotSmallman12q (talk) 14:45, 11 January 2010 (UTC)
Looks fine. Database build time is around 35 hours in total (it's an horrible process), I'll run it over the next week or so. Article section links are on my todo list, but an initial check showed that there was insufficient information stored in the database to drive the process. Working from the article text feed on the toolserver would increase the run time by couple of orders of magnitude. - TB (talk) 19:43, 11 January 2010 (UTC)
I haven't heard back from you in a bit...Smallman12q (talk) 22:47, 19 January 2010 (UTC)
Still working on it. It's a slow process. Hopefully in the next few days. - TB (talk) 23:05, 19 January 2010 (UTC)

@talk

Not sure why you deleted the redirect @talk.Please get back to me!-- iBendiscuss/contribsReplied here? 23:01, 18 January 2010 (UTC)

@talk is in the main namespace - the place where all the encyclopedia articles are stored. The deleted page was a redirect to your user page User_talk:IBen, which is not an encyclopaedia article. I deleted it per Wikipedia:CSD#R2. Basically, we try to not mix up the real encyclopaedia with the behind the scenes 'plumbing' (like talk and user pages) we use to help build it. - TB (talk) 23:12, 18 January 2010 (UTC)

I see you did the dump at User:Smallman12q/redlink diacritics...but the format isn't what I asked for. The format should be as follows:


titles in "<"|red link|target articles in "<".

Example: title1<title2<title3|red link|target 1<target 2<target3.

So simply rather than using the commas as in csv, use the < character. Also include the | character between the title|redlink|target. Is it possible to do the dump again in that format? I would greatly greatly appreciate it. The tool should be ready to go this weekend, hopefully itll make things a lot easier.Smallman12q (talk) 22:57, 22 January 2010 (UTC)

I'll try and run this report off for you in the next few days. - TB (talk) 23:41, 22 January 2010 (UTC)
Thanks a ton!Smallman12q (talk) 00:37, 23 January 2010 (UTC)
Done @ User:Smallman12q/redlink diacritics. Good luck. - TB (talk) 14:44, 23 January 2010 (UTC)
Thank you -I'm going to do a bit more work on it, I'll have a beta ready for you by the end of this week. Smallman12q (talk) 23:25, 24 January 2010 (UTC)

Progress

 WorkingSmallman12q (talk) 03:28, 25 January 2010 (UTC)

So I did some small work today, parser works fine. Currently loads about 5,700 red links... You can see a screenshot at File:RedLinkRecoveryTool1.png. Currently it only support "create redirect". I'm going to add "relink referer", "relink all referers", "move target page", and a few more. This will make it much much easier for people to help with the red link recovery. Is the list you gave me complete? If not, roughly how many red links are there in total to work with?

The hard part will be keeping track of suggestions that are invalid, "solved", or require attention. I'll probably have it post to a designated userpage, and then have another bot go through and check everybody's userpage.

Just letting you know how its coming along. Cheers, Smallman12q (talk) 03:28, 25 January 2010 (UTC)

Last time I checked (which was a few years ago) there were around 55 million red links, for which around a fifth my tools can suggest an alternate target for with an average success rate of at least 75%. Call it an even 10 million. I typically report the 50K that are 'easiest' to suggest an alternate target for (ie the suggestions are most likely to be correct) every 12 months, that being how many the WP:RLR volunteers can fix per year. You've got roughly a month's work for our small team in that file.
Currently, 'exceptions' (that is, suggestions that have been made that are definitely incorrect) are marked up with <s></s> tags and left in the online lists, sometimes being moved into a new 'exceptions' section (See: Wikipedia:WikiProject_Red_Link_Recovery/Capitalisation/54). I then manually collect them and update Wikipedia:WikiProject_Red_Link_Recovery/Exceptions which feeds into the next suggestion generation cycle.
- TB (talk) 10:17, 25 January 2010 (UTC)
It's going to work something like this...There'll be 5 lists, the "main list", the "done", the "can't do"(bad link), and the "need expert". When a person logs on to use this tool, it will read the main list, then remove those entries in the "done" and "can't do" lists. When an edit is made, it will be recorded to one of these lists either every edit or probably at every 10 or so... A php or database might be better...but that's not area of expertise...any thoughts to this? Smallman12q (talk) 22:22, 27 January 2010 (UTC)

Does your red link builder catch slanted variations of apostrophes and quotes?Smallman12q (talk) 23:00, 1 February 2010 (UTC)

Wikipedia:WikiProject Red Link Recovery/Link matching script/Punctuation says: some, but not all. - TB (talk) 09:45, 2 February 2010 (UTC)

Incorrect comments in redirects.

In Wikipedia:WikiProject Check Wikipedia‎ , they have a new check for comments which are incorrectly closed. Of the five that I have tried to fix, four of them were your edits: Jane & Jane,LasikPlus,Le serment de Kolvillag, and Liber Assisarum. In each of them, the comment was closed, but with a -> rather than -->. You may have other edits like that.Naraht (talk) 18:10, 6 February 2010 (UTC)

Most likely - I converted around 4000 broken 'template links' ( {{Fred was originally named John}} ) into either correct template links or comments ( <!- Fred was originally named John --> ) in December and January. Doesn't surprise me that I flubbed a few. - TB (talk) 18:49, 6 February 2010 (UTC)
OKNaraht (talk) 11:28, 7 February 2010 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Mwangi Mukami

Hi Topbanana

I have replied to your comment at the above-captioned deletion discussion. I think your interpretation of the award is not warranted. I don't know if you're from the United States or not, but state legislatures and governors recognize and comment tons of people and organizations, and even designate numerous days in honor of people and organizations, without those people or organizations being the least bit notable (I have even been a member of such a non-notable organization that had a day designated for it). I'm not trying to teach grandma to suck eggs (for all I know, you're a former staffer to the Georgia Senate!), but in case this is new information, perhaps you might reconsider your views.

Regards, Bongomatic 16:42, 8 February 2010 (UTC)

I quite agree that it's a minor accolade, but retain my opinion that he's notable. Our coverage of things Kenyan is poor; I was surprised how many of the organisations he has had significant memberships of (or founded!) are redlinked :( Of course, English-language web content on things Kenyan is poor also. I wonder if there's more to be found under his taken name of 'Moses Mukami' rather than his birth name ? - TB (talk) 22:32, 8 February 2010 (UTC)
Didn't find anything under the other name. English language web content on things Kenyan may be poor, as may be English language news coverage. However, all major Kenyan newspapers appear to be published in English (see here, here, and even right here), so this does not appear to me to be a linguistic bias.
On the inference of notability from the Georgia legislature, I guess we're just going to have to agree to differ. But I would point you to the previous and next resolutions for why I think this so-called "distinction" doesn't demonstrate much.
It might also interest you that the "Ghandi" award he seems to have received does not appear to be the one linked. Bongomatic 23:20, 8 February 2010 (UTC)

Can you fix the Indiana high school basketball scoring leader navboxes?

You previously helped me with navbox issues for Kevin Donley. I now experience similar space problems whenever I present the two scoring nav boxes. An unwanted space appears between the two boxes. See, for examples, Damon Bailey and Shanna Zolman. Can you review this navbox setup and see if the space between the two navboxes can be eliminated? Thank you. Jlhcpa (talk) 20:49, 12 February 2010 (UTC)

Done. - TB (talk) 22:44, 15 February 2010 (UTC)

Can you fix the Category:McDonald's All-American Game?

You previously helped me with some other construct issues. I now experience a sorting problem for the category referenced above. Is there some special code I need to include so that the sorting of all listed pages is done correctly? In the current example, the years do not appear to sort as I would expect them to . Thank you. Jlhcpa (talk) 18:01, 24 February 2010 (UTC)

See Wikipedia:DEFAULTSORT#Default_sort_key. - TB (talk) 16:27, 25 February 2010 (UTC)
Thanks for the tip. I looked at the default sort keys and indeed one of them was my problem. Jlhcpa (talk) 02:12, 1 March 2010 (UTC)

Question

Per this, why do they not work? Is there something I can type in to get directly to the new pages without having to click on the soft redirect link? CTJF83 chat 20:15, 28 February 2010 (UTC)

Not really; the 'special' pages aren't really wiki pages at all - they are generated as required by a separate mechanism and only pretend to be part of the wiki. Because of this you can't redirect to them directly, any more than you could redirect an article to a website outside of wikipedia. I'm sure it's technically possible with some minor changes the the MediaWiki software; alas, I can't help with that. - TB (talk) 11:02, 3 March 2010 (UTC)
Ok, thanks for the info. CTJF83 chat 21:52, 3 March 2010 (UTC)

Terry Fugate-Wilcox

The external links refer to him as "Tery", so that seems to be the name by which he is best known, and/or is currently known. However, you moved the page to Terry Fugate-Wilcox. Perhaps you could consider moving it back. I can't, as I'm not an admin, Chris the speller (talk) 02:04, 4 April 2010 (UTC)

My only involvement with this article has been correcting a template on the redirect page Tery Fugate-Wilcox that classifies the redirect as an alternate spelling of his name. No idea which is the 'usual' spelling sorry - consult an expert or some primary source to find out. - TB (talk) 13:35, 4 April 2010 (UTC)

Speedy deletion of Template:R to altername name

Hello Topbanana, this is a message from an automated bot to inform you that the page you created, Template:R to altername name, has been marked for speedy deletion by User:Topbanana. This has been done because the page is a recently created redirect from an implausible typo or misnomer (see CSD). If you think the tag was placed in error, please add "{{hangon}}" to the page text, and edit the talk page to explain why the page should not be deleted. If you have a question about this bot, please ask it at User talk:SDPatrolBot II. If you have a question for the user who tagged the article, see User talk:Topbanana. Thanks, - SDPatrolBot II (talk) on behalf of Topbanana (talk · contribs) 00:03, 4 May 2010 (UTC)

Hi there, I've started using your Red Link Recovery Live tool. It is pretty slick. I suspect you are still working on the managing exceptions tab. I am not sure but I think you have the syntax for the columns reversed. Shouldn't the link be red and ready for edit, and the suggestion be a link? Anyway thanks for all your work. --Open2universe (talk) 03:06, 11 May 2010 (UTC)

Hey there O2U. Yes, I've quite a bit of fiddling to do yet, but am glad what's there aleady is of use. I intend to provide a gamut of links (view, edit, history, what links here etc) when time permits. As is, things that exist are blue "view" links and those that don't red "edit" links.
The way exceptions are handled is going to be a bit different - I think what I've come up with is a nice mostly-automated system for detecting them. In essence, a count is kept of the number of times a suggestion has been displayed to a red link fixer. Any suggestion that is displayed many times without being fixed (fixing is detected automatically) is probably an exception - these are what the search for old suggestions highlights. I will of course have to add a "this is an exception" button, but perhaps only to be displayed for suggestions that have been presented more than five times.
All feedback welcome - TB (talk) 12:32, 11 May 2010 (UTC)
Cool Tool! I haven't got the AUTOFIX stuff to work yet; probably something to do with my settings and using the new skin not monobook. However, a possible enhancement: Could you introduce a new link on each suggestion that feeds it into the Check a specific page code? For several pages (eg Lists) there are often >1 link that can be fixed in the same edit. At the moment I am keeping 2 windows open and pasting the page name in to check. Keep up the good work. welsh (talk) 14:11, 4 June 2010 (UTC)
Sure thing, I'll add the links in the next day or two, and will try to test AUTOFIX under your skin (vector?) also (see User:Topbanana/vector.js). Glad you like what's there - lots of potential to improve, just shout wiht ideas. - TB (talk) 16:59, 4 June 2010 (UTC)
I'd like to commend you as well, I'm finding it very useful. Could I ask for a small change. If you could add AUTOFIX so that redirects can be created even if there is only 1 instance of the redlink. That would be useful, for instance when there is no redirect from the article title with no diacritics. Tassedethe (talk) 12:57, 9 June 2010 (UTC)
Thankee kindly. I'll have to confess, the reason only some AUTOFIX links are available for any given red link is that I'm monitoring how people use them for now. Semi-automated editing tools have potential to multiply the effectiveness of good editors, but alas also the impact of less thoughtful ones. Once I'm more confident that the tool's unlikely to be a source of problems, more options (including the extra AUTOFIX you suggest) will be enabled. I'm also hoping to add redirect classification templates (such asTemplate:R from title with diacritics/Template:R from title with diacritics) automagically. Watch this space. - TB (talk) 15:03, 9 June 2010 (UTC)
Never thought of that problem but now you mention it, yes, a less than diligent editor could create a lot of mess very quickly. I look forward to your incremental improvements. Thanks Tassedethe (talk) 15:38, 9 June 2010 (UTC)

Survey

Hi Topbanana,

I am a PhD student at the Open University of Catalonia. I am currently preparing a research project about the governance processes in online collaborative communities, and I would like to kindly ask for your collaboration based on your long experience in Wikipedia. Interested in participating? Please drop me a note in my talk page and download the file with the questions. This would take around 20 of your time. Thanks! Aresj (talk) 16:38, 29 May 2010 (UTC)

I just saw your answer. Thank you very much. Aresj (talk) 18:11, 29 May 2010 (UTC)

Template assistance request: Template:Neighboring hoods

Hello, Topbanana. You have new messages at Lady Aleena's talk page.
You can remove this notice at any time by removing the {{Talkback}} or {{Tb}} template.

LA @ 08:02, 19 June 2010 (UTC)

LA If you reply here, please leave me a {{Talkback}} message on my talk page. @ 20:25, 19 June 2010 (UTC)

Hinstein

Hi There, Topbanana

As you know; I tried to make an Article Called "Hinstein" but has been marked for speedy deletion and it's locked to use the Article. Speedy deletion didn't give me a chance to finish it. So And I would like to kindly ask your help to give me a permission to use the title and to re-write it again. And of-courses i need some time to make it expand, adding some external and internal links. Thanks for your Help!

Hinstein talk page

Thanks once again!! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 46.116.58.74 (talk) 14:55, 11 July 2010 (UTC)
=========================================================================================================================================================================

Ray Mears

Thanks for fixing my oversight. Brutal Deluxe (talk) 16:33, 22 July 2010 (UTC)

RLRL_SR_Utility in Firefox 4 beta

Hi,

Some time ago i tried to play with the User:Topbanana/RLRL_SR_Utility.js tool. Apparently it doesn't work in Firefox 4 beta: If i have it in my vector.js, i can't open en.wikipedia at all in Firefox 4 - i just see a blank page instead. It doesn't happen in earlier Firefox versions and in other browsers. --Amir E. Aharoni (talk) 21:29, 22 July 2010 (UTC)

Will check this ASAP, ta. - TB (talk) 21:32, 22 July 2010 (UTC)
Is a bug in the FF4 first beta as far as I can tell. No fix planned for this problem in the upcoming second beta that I can see, but a general enough problem that I'd expect the third beta (estimated 6th August) to address it. It's not feasible for me to adjust the AUTOFIX code to work with the beta I'm afraid. Revert to 3.6 and re-test with the general release when it happens pls. - TB (talk) 17:21, 26 July 2010 (UTC)
If it's a bug in this particular beta, then you obviously shouldn't bother. Out of curiosity, what is the bug? --Amir E. Aharoni (talk) 16:01, 27 July 2010 (UTC)
Something to do with ordering object objects in the DOM as I understsand it. All above my head, I'm going by what's in Bugzilla. - TB (talk) 17:44, 27 July 2010 (UTC)

A most versatile sportsman

Hi there, you created Miguel Ángel García - who apparently as a 24 year old (verified) was a wrestler, but then 3 years later was a sprinter, but then at age 43 won a medal at a middle distance event - representing Venezuela! Where did you get the info from, was it just from the "what links here" links... and don't you think that they may have been 2 or more likely 3 different people? I don't know of any athletics based references, other than the Olympic one to help work it out... do you? Regards, The-Pope (talk) 15:13, 27 July 2010 (UTC)

I've no special knowledge of Miguel Ángel García I'm afraid. My interest was in disambiguating links to the boxer Miguel Angel Garcia (sans diacritic). It wouldn't surprise me at all if there's a third or even fourth similarly named sportsman out there - it seems to be a popular name. I'd agree that the progression from wrestler to relay-sprinter to long-distance runner is a bit suspicious, although not entirely implausible I suppose. The jump from representing Spain to Venezuala likewise. What I do know is that I've separated out the boxer from the other(s) - he's verifiably a different person.
What's there awaits an editor with more knowledge, patience, and resources than me to do further work - as per all of Wikipedia's articles. If you're not that editor, but want to improve what's there, options are:
  • Weasel-word the stub, ie " ... is Spanish and/or Venezulan sportsman/men ... he/they represented his/their country/ies in ..." etc. Horrible.
  • Make it a disambig page in violation of MOS.
  • Delete what's there, extinguishing what little flicker of light I've been able to cast on the subject.
  • Hunt down an someone who can sort the whole muddle out.
I wish you luck. - TB (talk) 17:35, 27 July 2010 (UTC)

Dralexiades

Dear Topbanana, Thank you for taking the time to make comments on my user page. They were very helpful. You offered to make copyedits. I would be most appreciative. In the meantime, I am adding the citations you requested. The classification scheme of anti-aging may be applied to any treatment including lasers, but was published in the Continuing Medical Education review article in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology, which is the top level publication in the top journal in our field. Please let me know your thoughts on editing this. It was not my intent to have it read like an ad and any advice you can provide would be much appreciated!

Sincerely, DrAlexiades —Preceding unsigned comment added by Dralexiades (talk • contribs) 09:02, 4 August 2010 (UTC)

Robert R. Roberts etc

Hi, I've just come across a couple of stubs you've created (RRR and RRBennett), while stub-sorting. In both cases they should have had a link from the main forename + surname dab page: Robert Roberts and Robert Bennett respectively. I've done them, but if you're working through a lot of similar cases please add the dab links too as you go. Thanks. PamD (talk) 20:59, 22 August 2010 (UTC)

Hi there PamD. My interest right now is in disambiguating red links contsining an initialised middle names - for example Mickey T. Mouse. Where it is possible and useful I'm putting just the very most basic stubs in place - to clarify who is not who, so to speak. I'll certainly try and check that relevant DaB pages link to new stubs I create, but cannot promise to do so diligently. If useful, I can happily generate a report listing likely missing DaB links though. - TB (talk) 23:00, 22 August 2010 (UTC)
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