User talk:Gidz

Links & Referencing[edit]

You said: "First of all, the site in question is NOT a commercial one - the only advertising on it is that placed there by the host, Geocities, over which the site owner has no control.

"Secondly, the site is NOT mine - So you're dead wrong on two points there. Check the update history of that page, and you'll find the link etc were originally added by another user, NOT by me... (And I don't think it's their site either) I was simply restoring content deleted by someone who's only purpose on Wikipedia seems to be deleting content they personally don't agree with.

"Thirdly, I have now added a correctly-formatted reference to the embedded citation in question, as detailed in the official Wikipedia guidelines (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Embedded_Citations), rather than having the site listed in the external links section as previously. There are currently four embedded citations on this particular page, and only one with a correctly-formatted reference - the one I've just added. Surely, if this gets deleted as well, it's the person doing the deleting who's then in breach of the guidelines, isn't it, for removing correctly-formatted content?"

Thank you, Gidz, you did a good job with that reference. As a general rule, Wikipedia doesn't want external links but we do want references. I apologise for the earlier warning, it was a standard warning template (and I didn't create it) which could perhaps be reworded. --Yamla 14:34, 17 August 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Welcome![edit]

Welcome!

Hello, Gidz, and welcome to Wikipedia! Thank you for your contributions. I hope you like the place and decide to stay. Here are some pages that you might find helpful:

I hope you enjoy editing here and being a Wikipedian! Please sign your messages on discussion pages using four tildes (~~~~); this will automatically insert your username and the date. If you need help, check out Wikipedia:Questions, ask me on my talk page, or ask your question and then place {{helpme}} before the question on your talk page. Again, welcome!

Hi Gidz, please take a look at the links above, as well as WP:V (verifiability) and WP:MOS (Manual of Style), for a bit more about how things are written and sourced. I would also urge you not to mark major edits as "minor". Regards, ProhibitOnions ^(T) 13:32, 12 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Nice compromise phrasing on China Kantner -- looking forward to more info (sourced, of course!). BTW, do you know anything about the JA/JS spin-off band "The Steel Riders", who seem to show up on nearly every unofficial Jefferson Airplane live album? If they're a noteworthy side project, they might be worth yet another band article, though finding info is hard. ProhibitOnions ^(T) 13:26, 13 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks! - I've got loads of China-related stuff, as I've been a fan of hers since 1986 (not an easy thing if you live in the UK), and have stuff like press packs from her sitcoms, 8 x 10 headshots, agency resumes and that kind of stuff. I'm also the guy who wrote her IMDb biography, which I really must revise sometime - I wrote that back in 1996, and a lot has changed since then. When China did the 2001 Vanity Fair interview, which turned out to be her last, she e-mailed me in a bit of a panic because they wanted a picture of her as a little girl with both her parents, which was causing a bit of a problem for her - Grace had lost all that kind of stuff when her house in Mill Valley burned down, and Paul didn't know where his copies were since he'd recently moved out of his house into a smaller place and was still sorting things out. So she ended up having to ask me where the magazine could find pictures like that which they could use for the article, and I had to e-mail the magazine to point them in the right direction! (I've still got all of those e-mails saved for posterity, although I think Wikipedia rules wouldn't recognise them as valid sources - which I always think is a bit daft, as I'm a fully-qualified physicist and historian used to writing papers and stuff like that, and all of the journals like Nature accept "Personal communication with ________" as a valid reference. Oh well - different places, different rules....)

"The Steel Riders" are actually nothing at all to do with JA/JS. Nobody really knows all that much about them, but the tracks started out as fillers on a JA bootleg, which has since been repackaged and re-released under different titles many times over the years. So they're actually totally unconnected with Jefferson Airplane, except by the fact that some of their songs keep appearing on JA bootlegs and are often mistaken for little-known JA songs by those unfamiliar with the detailed history of the band. The only actual true "spin-off" band from JA was Hot Tuna - all the others were basically just Kantner or Slick solo projects.

If I get time, I may see about updating the JA/JS entry, as it seems a bit out of date now - especially concerning the recent history of the band. And I've got loads of stuff there too, as I worked part-time for the current JS very briefly in 2002/3 as the UK & Europe admin for the (now-defunct) official fan club, and have done every UK tour with them since 2002, so I know them all really well now. I've got one hell of a photo archive from the tours - both live on stage and away from the shows - and there's even been moments where I've ended up on stage with them to help sing "Volunteers"...

If you ever need to check any info about either JA or JS, my site is pretty reliable as far as it goes (Paul Kantner actually uses the "Lyrics" section whenever he wants to re-introduce an old song back into the set and can't remember the words - he told me after the 2002 Newcastle-on-Tyne show that a lot of the lyric sheets he uses on stage are direct downloads from my site, which he just reformats to change the font size!). But if you want really good fact-checking, then the A-Deck message board on the official website (http://www.jeffersonstarshipsf.com) is the place to go - Paul Kantner and David Freiberg are both regular posters there, as is the band's manager, Michael Gaiman. I'm usually there every day too, along with plenty of other fans who've been with the band since the 1960s. If there's nobody there who knows the answer to a question, you can be sure that someone knows someone who does!! Gidz (talk) 14:54, 13 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

China Kantner & alcohol addiction[edit]

Hi. All unsourced negative/controversial claims and original research are to be removed from articles per BLP. You've provided a source so that information can now stay, but this does not rule out other unsourced claims being deleted in the future. Please read WP:BLP for more information. Nobody of Consequence (talk) 15:40, 6 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]