User talk:HJ Mitchell

Hello and welcome to my talk page! If you have a question, ask me. If I know the answer, I'll tell you; if I don't, I'll find out (or one of my talk-page stalkers might know!), then we'll both have learnt something!

Admins: If one of my admin actions is clearly a mistake or is actively harming the encyclopaedia, please reverse it. Don't wait for me if I'm not around or the case is obvious.

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Got a minute?

Hey dude, hope you're well. It's absolutely freezing here in Wales, maybe your part of the UK is warmer haha. Also, thanks for your reply to my RevDel ticket.

I was hoping you could take a look at the recent edits to this page please? I've seen this in the past with Vietnamese-related pages, a newly registered editor comes along and basically removes the entire page over the course of a few hours citing hoax/unsourced. It just doesn't seem quite right to me. Thanks in advance, OXYLYPSE (talk) 12:57, 8 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

@OXYLYPSE it's a but chilly down here on the south coast. I don't normally feel the cold but must admit even I think it's a bit nippy. Vietnam is a lkng way outside my area of expertise. I can have a look but i don't know if I'll be able to tell you anything you don't already know. HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 21:48, 8 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Haha, it really is! Vietnam isn't really my area either, it just seems like a new editor removing ~5.5k bytes from an potentially contentious article deserves a closer look - I just don't know enough about the area to comment further. Either way, have a great weekend :) OXYLYPSE (talk) 23:39, 8 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Happy Monday. I was right! User:Sotrchbook has been blocked as a sock, I knew there was something off about those edits. OXYLYPSE (talk) 08:04, 11 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

TFA - war memorials

Thank you today - well timed - for Mells War Memorial, introduced (in 2017): "Another war memorial. Another Lutyens. But this one's a little different. Lutyens did not just design memorials for major towns and cities like my previous few nominations but also for lots of tiny little places in the middle of nowhere, usually in connection with his pre-war work on country houses. Such was the case with Mells (population ~600 in 2011), where Lutyens' friendship with the owners of the manor resulted in multiple commissions. The story of this tiny village's war memorial is a microcosm of a nation's pain and grief following the slaughter of the First World War."! - Madeleine Riffaud would have been as suitable for the Main page today, but appeared yesterday. Reger composed music as a war memorial in 1915, the (German) text beginning "Soul, forget them not". He called it Requiem, - see my story and music for both. -- Gerda Arendt (talk) 07:17, 11 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Proposed deletion of Old Wolverton Road Bridge

The article Old Wolverton Road Bridge has been proposed for deletion because of the following concern:

Doesn't appear to pass WP:GNG

While all constructive contributions to Wikipedia are appreciated, pages may be deleted for any of several reasons.

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

Please consider improving the page to address the issues raised. Removing {{proposed deletion/dated}} will stop the proposed deletion process, but other deletion processes exist. In particular, the speedy deletion process can result in deletion without discussion, and articles for deletion allows discussion to reach consensus for deletion. Cheerio, Mattdaviesfsic. About me; Talk to me. Farewell fellow editor... 23:39, 12 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Reminder to participate in Wikipedia research

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BGerdemann (WMF) (talk) 00:18, 13 November 2024 (UTC) [reply]

Nomination of Old Wolverton Road Bridge for deletion

A discussion is taking place as to whether the article Old Wolverton Road Bridge 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/Old Wolverton Road Bridge until a consensus is reached, and anyone, including you, 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 until the discussion has finished.

Cheerio, Mattdaviesfsic. About me; Talk to me. Farewell fellow editor... 00:29, 14 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

The 'airport vandal' is back: requesting second rangeblock for 5.55.0.0/16

Hi HJ Mitchell,

Last year in November you blocked the IP range 5.55.0.0/16 for one year, due to persistent disruption mostly on airport-related articles. This IP user is dubbed the 'airport vandal' by an editor that regularly deals with edits from this pest.

Fast forward to today, the one-year-long /16 rangeblock has now expired, and unfortunately it appears this same person is back to making the same kind of disruption to airport-related articles again, right after the block expiration, e.g. diff 1, diff 2, diff 3. I think it needs another rangeblock.

Regards, — AP 499D25 (talk) 06:11, 14 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

@AP 499D25 that's some remarkable persistence! I've put a longer block on the range. HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 12:33, 14 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I've seen worse but yeah, 1 year, that's quite some dedication! Anyways thanks, and I'm sure @The Banner (the user constantly dealing with this LTA's edits) appreciates it too! — AP 499D25 (talk) 13:27, 14 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I appreciate your concern. An AIV-report for this and a second range went stale, so I resubmitted it. To be true, as far as I can see things have quieted down a bit. I guess 5.55 is their home connection so the block has been inconvenient (what we intend). The Banner talk 13:49, 14 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

You've got mail!

Hello, HJ Mitchell. Please check your email; you've got mail!
Message added 15:50, 14 November 2024 (UTC). It may take a few minutes from the time the email is sent for it to show up in your inbox. You can remove this notice at any time by removing the {{You've got mail}} or {{ygm}} template.

v/r - Seawolf35 ^T--C 15:50, 14 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Could you block this sock IP?

Hi HJ Mitchell, I'm posting this here because you came up as a recently active administrator. If you have the time, could you please block the IP range 2405:4803:C7A6:2D20:E862:FF5:0:0/64, as they are an obvious sock of MYSKaoi and 2012An(4thwm1), who was recently blocked here? Happily888 (talk) 12:34, 15 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

@Happily888 Blocked for a week. HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 12:38, 15 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks! Happily888 (talk) 12:43, 15 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Just gotta say

Your byline musing is getting absolutely savaged. I almost feel like that was a plant to give people an easy option and to show they read your musings column. ScottishFinnishRadish (talk) 17:54, 15 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Yeah, I probably should have seen that coming. But the musings aren't there because everyone will agree with them (if that were the case they'd just be policy!) and I'm much more interested in how people make their case and defend it than in whether they agree with me. HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 17:59, 15 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I kind of expected more people to foam at the mouth at the characterisation of ArbCom as a governing body... HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 21:29, 15 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Yeah, maybe people won't consider them a governing body when they can't cut entire topics off from non-EC editors, make new rules out of whole cloth, and place irreversible no-public-reason blocks. ScottishFinnishRadish (talk) 23:48, 15 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I think the irreversible blocks are possibly one of the least controversial things we do—they're rare (I think the number we've done this year can be counted on one hand) and generally people understand that there's a very good reason for it but we can't tell them what it is. And I think most people are glad they don't have to make those sorts of decisions. HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 00:23, 16 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Nominations now open for the WikiProject Military history newcomer of the year and military historian of the year

Nominations now open for the WikiProject Military History newcomer of the year and military historian of the year awards for 2024! The the top editors will be awarded the coveted Gold Wiki. Nominations are open here and here respectively. The nomination period closes at 23:59 on 30 November 2024 when voting begins. On behalf of the coordinators, wishing you the very best for the festive season and the new year. MediaWiki message delivery via MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 04:20, 16 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]