User talk:Davidbspalding/Archive/2006-Dec

Renaming a page

Okay, I goofed. The American Film Theater page I created should be American Film Theatre. How can I change the title, or resolve this? TIA David Spalding 16:52, 27 October 2006 (UTC)

Hi, simply press the "move" tab at the top of the article, specify the new name, enter a move reason ("correct spelling to official version" or similar will be sufficient) and move the page. Cheers, Tangotango 16:59, 27 October 2006 (UTC)

Ah, thanks! -- David Spalding 20:33, 27 October 2006 (UTC)

Tycho (crater)

Please clean up the 2001 reference as there are now two distinct references in the article. Please make it into one, perhaps just a revert? Thanks. WilliamKF 23:42, 1 November 2006 (UTC)

Whoops, I had completely overlooked the earlier entries, as they were buried in details. Thanks for the edit, I think the page is better now. --David Spalding 18:18, 2 November 2006 (UTC)

Proper formatting of QuoteBox templates, with proper footnote/citations - how to?

I want to put the large quotes in Cyberspace into the "quote box" format, but the help pages on that topic were inscrutable as to what information goes into what field. Any useful examples or suggestions welcome. TIA! David Spalding | Talk 19:36, 12 November 2006 (UTC)

Hi. I may be of help to you, but I did not understand exactly what you need to do. Can you explain what you mean by the "large box" format? Btw, if you need to a quote with the large curly inverted commas like below, Template:Cquote2 has an explanation (or you may simply copy from here):

This is a test for you to check out. I used so many words so there would be multiple lines.

— John Doe, Whatever Journal

Thanks, your template helped me retrace to the format I'd found earlier this week (two actually):

• Template:Quotebox
• Template:Quote box
• Whoops! No, I meant Template:Quotation or Template:Quotation1 I don't see any Usage directions on their pages. <:(

David

Figuring it out ... by interpolating information from other Template Usage Sections.... David Spalding | Talk 22:53, 12 November 2006 (UTC)

Can you describe to me what you would like to do? Because I am still a bit confused. I think I understood. There are instructions which maybe can help you here: Template talk:Quotation#Usage and here: Template talk:Quote box#Instructions. _└ ^VodkaJazz / _talk ^┐ 23:15, 12 November 2006 (UTC)

Figured it out. The pages I was looking at had no Usage sections, and when I opened the pages for editing, the format for the template was unclear. I've edited the pages now (Template:Quotation, Template:Quotation1) after learning proper use (I hope). Appreciate your help, finding [[Category: Quotation Templates]] got me back in track. David Spalding | Talk 23:25, 12 November 2006 (UTC)

Oh, the Talk pages. (smacks forehead as light bulb goes off over head) I never would'a thought to look there. Well, I hope my edits (above) aren't out of line. I rather like finding a clear, concise "Usage" section right there. Helped to see if that was the template I wanted to use.

As long as they're in a noinclude section they can do no harm whatsoever. Indeed, it is helpful to have such instructions on the template itself. Btw, howabout using the Sandbox instead of your talk page for tests? Less clutter. I'm guessing my work's ready here. _└ ^VodkaJazz / _talk ^┐ 00:20, 13 November 2006 (UTC)

Spalding (disambiguation)

From my talk page. Thanks. Each occasion that I venture into editing a new type of page and it gets corrected, I learn more about contributing to WP. I appreciate the tutoring. ,:) David Spalding 17:42, 12 November 2006 (UTC)

No problems - I keep finding disambig pages I edited when I was new, and cringing at how far off the WP:MOSDAB style they are now. --Scott Davis ^Talk 21:54, 12 November 2006 (UTC)

re: Bodhrán edit

• Thanks for the kind words. I am sorry for screwing up the footnotes. They may have been broken when I cut-and-pasted between Wikipedia and WordPerfect in order to spellcheck. I will be very mindful of that in the future. Or better yet, I should take a few minutes and see if there is an easier way to spellcheck. Wik On! -- House of Scandal 18:08, 19 November 2006 (UTC)

• You're most welcome. Me, I use MS Word, and with great trepidation as I know how Word goes "AutoFormat" crazy sometimes. One o' these days, I'll explore these external editors that WikiGurus seem to be using. Or maybe I'll create a Word template for my own use ... in my copious free time. Maybe I'll call it WikiPerfect. – David Spalding ^{Talk, Contribs}
• Ha-ha, your salute makes me think of the painting shanty, e.g. "Wik on, Wik off ... Wik on, Wik off...." :) David Spalding ^{Talk, Contribs}

Gramatical correction

Thanks! Speeeling and Grammar are not my strong suits.. (ironic when editing an encyclopedia, no?) I appreciate any help I can get making me look better than (or then?) reality. EnsRedShirt 18:57, 19 November 2006 (UTC)

Blanking (users who blank their own talk page to clear warnings)

I've replied at WP:ANI and removed the warning you put on the user's talk page. To be honest, I can't say I agree with the current procedure (it makes vandal-fighting that little bit trickier), but consensus is consensus. If you go through the archives of WP:AN you'll see dozens of posts similar to yours, and there was a big discussion a few weeks ago where it was decided to let people do what they want with their talk page. When warning blatant vandals, I use edit summaries such as "TEST1", "SPAM3" or "DEFWARN" so that it's not too hard to see what's going on. Anyway, I hope this doesn't discourage you, and thanks for helping us fight the "axis of vandalism"... yandman 13:47, 22 November 2006 (UTC)

Ohmigod, you're inviting me to swan dive into the dark abyss of a vandalism issue talk page (I only wish I had 36-hour days in which to review all those)! =:o Thanks, the fact that there isn't a template specifically for warning about blanking one's own warnings tells me it's not a hot topic, or not resolved. That user seems young (based on the last 20 pages edited), so I'm confident we're not dealing with a Valdemort editor. ;) And I appreciate the quick response and explanation. Ta, DAVID SPALDING ^Talk/_Contribs

No problem. I've seen users be warned for warning other users about blanking their warnings... yandman 13:56, 22 November 2006 (UTC)

Deletion tagging

Hi - I noticed you tagged an attack page, which I just deleted with the {{db}} tag. Though there's no problem with this, the page will be deleted more quickly if you use {{db-attack}}, as it is paced into a special category. The speedy removal of such pages is, for obvious reasons, quite important Martinp23 20:05, 23 November 2006 (UTC)

The "College of West Anglia IT dept." page? I thought that I did use {{db-attack}} on that. But the user who was editing it (Stuart Corrigan or some such) was editing it rapidly at the same time. Might've been trying to stymie my action. But thanks for the tip, all the same. Everyday I'm learning the ropes a bit more. ^~DBS ^Talk/_Contribs

• Oh, that's right, I did use a more generic tag, as I wasn't 100% sure if we should delete as an attack, or just blank it for not satisfying NPOV. Been a swervy, curvy day. ~Dbs

OK - it said something about the departiment wrecking everything, which I why I deleted as attack, though I suppose it fits CSD A7 too. But, is NPOV a reason do delete/blank - WP:CSD and WP:NPOV make me uncertain? But still, it was POV, as well as A7 and attack! To be honest, if an article doesn't mmet the listed criterion, but does meet another, most admins will delete anyway. Keep up the good work! Martinp23 20:42, 23 November 2006 (UTC)

So it wasn't vandalism?

You said my edits to Wikipedia: Introduction were vandalism, then said it was a mistake. What was it?Ollie the Magic Skater 02:54, 24 November 2006 (UTC)

• Wikipedia:Introduction is designed to be edited, but some text sets off anti-vandal tools. Honest error, please continue learning (as we all are). ^~DBS ^Talk/_Contribs

What's -n "named" template modifier mean, and do?

I can't seem to figure out what the -n suffix on some templates (e.g. {{subst:test2-n|}}, {{subst:blatantvandal-n|}}) does. Doesn't seem to be a functional change. Is it a documentation things, or...? Any clues, explanations, or friendly thumps on the head greatly appreciated. TIA! David Spalding ^Talk/_Contribs

They are just variations on the standard templates to allow the name of the article wich they were "testing" on in the message. So {{subst:test-2|Fred}} comes out as "Please do not add nonsense to Wikipedia, as you did to Fred. It is considered vandalism. If you would like to experiment, use the sandbox. Thank you. " --pgk 17:18, 25 November 2006 (UTC)

Hm. I had used templates like {{subst:test1|Some Page Out There}} without incident, so I didn't realize there were separate ones for "named pages." Perhaps the original templates were updated subsequently.... Thanks again. David Spalding ^Talk/_Contribs

Yes, going back a year or so the functionality for optional parameters and "if then" type constructs didn't exist, so the two separate templates were created, these days they -n variants are just a redirect --pgk 19:47, 25 November 2006 (UTC)

Last Wave Poster

Hope I'm adding this in the appropriate space. I am fairly new to Wikipedia. Thanks for the message regarding "The Last Wave". Took me a while to locate the poster. It's a remarkable film - along with Picnic at Hanging Rock. And Wikipedia is a remarkable place for film fans as well. Philbertgray 17:48, 29 November 2006 (UTC)

• You added in the right place, yes. Welcome to WikiEditing, it's a daunting learning curve, but worth the investment. If you ever need immediate help and can't find the proper help page, put the template {{helpme}} on your own Talk page and a helpful admin will soon show up to answer your query. Has worked for me several times. TTFN, — David Spalding ^Talk/_Contribs