User talk:Doctree/Archive01

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Hello, Doctree, and Welcome to Wikipedia! Thank you for your contributions to this free encyclopedia. If you decide that you need help, check out Getting Help below, ask me on my talk page, or place {{Help me}} on your talk page and ask your question there. Please remember to sign your name on talk pages by using four tildes (~~~~) or by clicking if shown; this will automatically produce your username and the date. Also, please do your best to always fill in the edit summary field with your edits. Below are some useful links to facilitate your involvement. Happy editing! (talk→ BWilkins ←track) 11:26, 25 March 2012 (UTC)
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Quite a bit, actually, and possibly over a fairly long period of time. My activity in Wikipedia will be sporadic as I find time.

Background: I edited random pages for years if I saw a problem in a page I found from a Google search. Got an account last year but then got caught with lots of mandatory overtime on graveyard shifts. Now back on days and active here. Due to my RL work, interested in Shooting of Trayvon Martin. I did the copyright/PD work on the police dispatch recordings (producing similar is part of my RL job), downloaded them, converted to .ogg, uploaded the .ogg audio files to Commons and linked them into that article. I stepped back from battles in that article's talk page for now. I will contribute more as the article becomes historical.

My userpage lists my interests: Birds and Citizen science related to them. Right now, Wikipedia covers few well. Although I don't have a degree, I consider myself an expert on swallows and swifts of the Americas and very knowledgeable on Eastern Bluebirds, my wife's favorite bird. I host a large Purple Martin colony and maintain a small Bluebird trail occupied more by Tree Swallows and other cavity-nesting birds than by bluebirds. I participate in several bird-related citizen science projects, have a small library of bird books and subscribe to several magazines and newsletters.

My problem: There's so much to do, where do I start? I chose to learn Wikipedia first, contributing bits here and there, then doing some significant work on Shooting of Trayvon Martin before the wars in talk got heated.

My goal is major re-writes of many articles. I don't want to pick at problems and correct them a few words and sentences plus a source document at a time. For example, the Purple Martin article is incomplete, outdated and in some cases, just wrong. For example, the statement that Barn Swallows are attracted to Purple Martin houses is totally false; just look at the nest each builds. Bluebirds and Great Crested Flycatchers, among others, are attracted by and can usurp houses intended for Purple Martins. The Bird Conservation article skips from threats to birds to captive breeding, reintroduction, translocation and habitat protection without a mention of monitoring bird populations, most of which is done by trained amateur volunteers, i.e., citizen scientists, The Breeding Bird Survey article is horrid. Here's a short sample:

... activity of BBS kept on increasing. In the 1980s, Breeding Bird Survey included areas such as Yukon, Northwest Territories of Canada and Alaska. Moreover, the number of routes placed in a number of states has had increased. Nowadays, BBS counts approximately 3700 active routes in the United States and Canada. From all the BBS routes, approximately 2900 are surveyed on a regular basis, each year.

The article tries to be international but it is confusing. It's written about the North American Breeding Bird Survey with a comment inserted here and there about surveys in other countries. The only section is 'History' without a mention that it's the basis for the summer/breeding range in all current bird range maps included in bird books, research and Wikipedia.

The journal of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Living Bird was red-lined in other Wikipedia articles and missing from the List of ornithology journals so I chose it as my first article. Finding sources was a challenge; Living Bird is oft quoted but seldom written about. I think my first creation is on par with other short articles about ornithology journals and magazines. If Birds & Blooms merits an article in Wikipedia, Living Bird certainly does.

Questions and Requests

  1. Please take a look at Living Bird. Is my article OK? Suggestions?
  2. Many of bird articles need range maps. Those created in books and journals are copyrighted. If I take a PD map outline of a continent or hemisphere and GIMP in the range map in standard colors from data published by the USGS and other sources, does that constitute OR? My opinion is that I'm just converting data from one format to another, like my converting audio .wav files to .ogg. How can/does Wikipedia get range maps? Where can I discuss this?
  3. Can you suggest a strategy for my rewrites? Or is it just fix one article at a time?

I'm certain to have many more questions. Thanks for any help and suggestions. DocTree (talk) 21:05, 2 April 2012 (UTC)

barnstar

Thanks! Gaijin42 (talk) 02:32, 4 April 2012 (UTC)

I took out the plot summary as copyvio. What remains is not blatantly promotional - there is certainly promotional intent in posting an article about so newly-published a book, but WP:CSD#G11 is for "Pages that are exclusively promotional, and would need to be fundamentally rewritten to become encyclopedic." I have PRODded it, citing WP:BK. Regards, JohnCD (talk) 11:41, 4 April 2012 (UTC)

Speedy deletion declined: Jonathan Capehart

Hello Doctree. I am just letting you know that I declined the speedy deletion of Jonathan Capehart, a page you tagged for speedy deletion, because of the following concern: Article content has been added since it was tagged. Thank you. — Malik Shabazz Talk/Stalk 16:45, 4 April 2012 (UTC)

Only two sentences added with a new citation in which Capehart isn't mentioned. I'll tag Jonathan Capehart for multiple problems tonight. It isn't harming WP so Speedy isn't really necessary. Thanks for letting me know.DocTree (talk) 17:52, 4 April 2012 (UTC)

Disambiguation link notification for April 5

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Eegad, I'm replying to a bot! I intended to direct to the Conservation disambiguation page. Links to habitat, wetlands, etc. are all there. Saves me trying to list all the subsets.DocTree (talk) 08:52, 7 April 2012 (UTC)

Hi. You tagged it A7 band, but your edit summary suggested you were concerned about promotion. As it's not overtly promotional (I can't comment about intents...), I'd suggest prod, then AfD - or straight to AfD. Can't use the speedy for records, as both of them have articles. Peridon (talk) 09:08, 7 April 2012 (UTC)

Your visit to the Teahouse

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Hello, Doctree/Archive01. Your question has been answered at the Teahouse Q&A board. Feel free to reply there!
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Hello

See suggestions here ~Eric F 184.76.225.106 (talk) 22:39, 13 April 2012 (UTC)

Thanks and...

Hi Doctree. Thanks for your help. I appreciate it. I am a long time user and supporter of Wikipedia and am astounded at how much it has developed. This stuff is way over my head...It feels like the first time I looked at html or a dos prompt or that I went down the rabbit hole.

I have decided that this project is way above my head and time availability. And it is still thrilling to know how professional it has become.

Thanks again for your help.

Smiles,

--Brooklyntracker (talk) 18:06, 16 April 2012 (UTC)


Thanks so Much

I really appreciate your adding the photo to the Aileen Fisher site. I assume you took care of the copywrite stuff. I had seen it a few places, but I'm still trying to find my way around, and I have a couple of other authors I'm working on, too, and trying to get some photos for them. Among everything else. So I'm happy you took it upon yourself to do that.

I notice you're retired military. My DH was Navy -- we enjoyed living a lot of great places. He's gone now, and I'm filling in some of my spare time with Wikipedia, mostly children's book and authors.

Well, thanks again. I will look at your bird article in the nest few days. I'm not much of a birder any more, but growing up in the farm in CO we studied all the birds and my Mom and Grandma had life lists. So I'll enjoy reading it. Tlqk56 (talk) 18:05, 20 April 2012 (UTC)


Easy for you, perhaps, :). I tried WikiCommons a few days ago and got nothing. If there's a way to mess up I'll find it! So you saved me lots of time and made my day. Tlqk56 (talk) 21:26, 20 April 2012 (UTC)
I award this Random Acts of Kindness Barnstar to Doc Tree for being very helpful to a newcomer wikipedian, without being asked. Not only did he find an image for a page I'm editing, but he christened me a WikiFairy, and showed me where to get more info. Thanks, Doc Tree!User:Tlqk56 19:41, April, 21,1012 (UTC)

Tlqk56 (talk) 21:31, 21 April 2012 (UTC)

You are very welcome! DocTree (talk) 22:34, 21 April 2012 (UTC)

Here's the Photo

[1]

What do you think, a small version of it near the Personal section? Or would it look too crowded and should I just save it? If you like the idea and want to, please feel free to add it. If you think otherwise, I'll wait. I'm getting ready to walk away from the computer for a while, my head is starting to spin. I had no idea there was so much info on her life, I'm having a blast, and trying to just take it a bit at a time. I grew up in CO and went to CU in Boulder. My DH and I drove up the canyon where she lived frequently and I never knew she was there. Small world and all that!

Please feel free to make suggestions, etc. Am I footnoting too much, so you think? I'm still not sure about it, it seems easier to put it in and remove it later than go back and hunt it up again, but I may be overdoing it.

Anyway, thanks for your help, it is so appreciated. Since my computer expert passed, I've felt pretty frustrated sometimes. I couldn't do this without the help from Teahouse and folks like you. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Tlqk56 (talkcontribs) 22:32, 22 April 2012 (UTC)

Childhood photo

Thanks for the help anyway. I'll look the criteria over and learn something new. :) I've wondered how people justify posting images of book covers; now that I know where to look I'll see what they say. Thanks again, and good luck with your birds. Tlqk56 (talk) 20:23, 23 April 2012 (UTC)

A barnstar for you!

The Original Barnstar
I, Sarah, hereby award you, Doctree, with The Original Barnstar for your excellent contributions and all the help you give other editors! We're lucky to have you! Sarah (talk) 16:59, 26 April 2012 (UTC)

Awards question

Doc Tree, I read your question about awards in the Teahouse, and thought I'd take a minute to give you my ideas. As you know I'm no expert, and I'll be interested to see the answers you get, as I run into this in my area of children's books, too. But here's what I've seen so far. The main awards already have pages so I Wikilink to them, of course. Some others are mentioned in articles about the awarding group, so I do a hidden Wikilink that takes people to the article in question. Horn Book Magazine Best Books of 1951 Once I just put a longer explanation of the award in the footnote, because there wasn't an already existing article to link to. I always make sure to include a footnote that links to the official award site if there is one, so folks can go there, too, and verify or read more.

Personally I like the article I'm reading to give me some idea what a smaller award is for and then let me choose to go somewhere else to read about it if I want more info. I don't like getting bogged down in too-long descriptions, though. I moved this one out of a lead paragraph, for instance: "the 1981 National Book Award in category Children's Fiction (paperback)" and shortened it to "the 1981 National Book Award". I copied the longer title into the section on awards.

BTW I've used your instructions to add images to a couple of my pages, and shared them with others. Thanks again! Tlqk56 (talk) 15:48, 27 April 2012 (UTC)

I've been working on a better redirect target at User:MichaelQSchmidt/Aaron Schoenke... where you can see we have more than just a "trilogy" of Batman films. I'd greatly appreciate any assistance. Schmidt, MICHAEL Q. 22:52, 29 April 2012 (UTC)

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Orphaned non-free image File:Cover of the Winter 1999 issue of Living Bird magazine.jpg

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Could please explain your reluctance? Just curious. MrBlondNYC (talk) 20:54, 10 May 2012 (UTC)

Thank you

Thank you, retired MSG! Great advice (and easy to understand) about soliciting review of my proposed change. I will reflect on your suggestions, re-group and research sources before I proceed. I've used WP for years now but this is my first foray into helping improve it. I understand the need for such complexity (templates, conventions, rules, sources, redirects, etc.) but it is a bit overwhelming at first. And the M109 was a great system, and is still in use in its latest configuration known as the M109A6 Paladin. (Did I do this feedback to you correctly? Is this the WP equivalent of sending you a msg?) Atticusfinch80 (talk) 04:44, 21 July 2012 (UTC)

Thank you

I appreciate the courtesy shown by your withdrawal at Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/When the Night. Schmidt, MICHAEL Q. 22:49, 13 May 2012 (UTC)

Orphaned non-free image File:Judy A Smith.jpg

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Thanks for uploading File:Judy A Smith.jpg. The image description page currently specifies that the image is non-free and may only be used on Wikipedia under a claim of fair use. However, the image is currently not used in any articles on Wikipedia. If the image was previously in an article, please go to the article and see why it was removed. You may add it back if you think that that will be useful. However, please note that images for which a replacement could be created are not acceptable for use on Wikipedia (see our policy for non-free media).

Note that any non-free images not used in any articles will be deleted after seven days, as described in the criteria for speedy deletion. Thank you. Sfan00 IMG (talk) 09:47, 14 May 2012 (UTC)

Replaceable fair use File:Judy A Smith.jpg

Thanks for uploading File:Judy A Smith.jpg. I noticed the description page specifies that the media is being used under a claim of fair use, but its use in Wikipedia articles fails our first non-free content criterion in that it illustrates a subject for which a freely licensed media could reasonably be found or created that provides substantially the same information or which could be adequately covered with text alone. If you believe this media is not replaceable, please:

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A cookie for you!

Just saying hi :) we'd love to see you back at the Teahouse, you are a pro at answering questions. heather walls (talk) 01:52, 25 May 2012 (UTC)

Apologies

Mail call! Scartol • Tok 02:12, 30 May 2012 (UTC)

Host

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Review of Moncacht-Apé

Hey there, I responded to your peer review request on my talk page and did a review of the article. I made some suggestions there for pursuing help with content. I'm not in a place where I can help with content expansion but I put in some wikiprojects on the article's talk page where you may find some help. Best of luck to you, thanks for working and expanding the project and congratulations on your impending retirement! H1nkles (talk) citius altius fortius 21:34, 1 June 2012 (UTC)

A barnstar for you!

The Random Acts of Kindness Barnstar
For going out of your way to be kind, welcoming and encouraging to a newby editor ... and not only making me feel my contributions were valued, but further improving the page I'd been working on by adding an infobox to it! With many thanks, and a very big smile :) Loriski (talk) 12:58, 10 June 2012 (UTC)

Talkback

Hello, Doctree. You have new messages at Wikipedia:Teahouse/Questions.
Message added 23:57, 10 June 2012 (UTC). You can remove this notice at any time by removing the {{Talkback}} or {{Tb}} template.

Rosiestep (talk) 23:57, 10 June 2012 (UTC)

Oh Doctree, that is such a nice barnstar! Thank you and I appreciate it. Ask a question ANYTIME; I mean it. Not only do you learn from it, but so do others who are reading the questions page. Rosiestep (talk) 02:14, 11 June 2012 (UTC)

Teahouse talkback: you've got messages!

Hello, Doctree/Archive01. Your question has been answered at the Teahouse Q&A board. Feel free to reply there!
Please note that all old questions are archived after 2-3 days of inactivity. Message added by Sarah (talk) 00:05, 11 June 2012 (UTC). (You can remove this notice at any time by removing the {{teahouse talkback}} template).

Review of Moncacht-Apé

Hey there, I responded to your peer review request on my talk page and did a review of the article. I made some suggestions there for pursuing help with content. I'm not in a place where I can help with content expansion but I put in some wikiprojects on the article's talk page where you may find some help. Best of luck to you, thanks for working and expanding the project and congratulations on your impending retirement! H1nkles (talk) citius altius fortius 21:34, 1 June 2012 (UTC)

A barnstar for you!

The Random Acts of Kindness Barnstar
For going out of your way to be kind, welcoming and encouraging to a newby editor ... and not only making me feel my contributions were valued, but further improving the page I'd been working on by adding an infobox to it! With many thanks, and a very big smile :) Loriski (talk) 12:58, 10 June 2012 (UTC)

Talkback

Hello, Doctree. You have new messages at Wikipedia:Teahouse/Questions.
Message added 23:57, 10 June 2012 (UTC). You can remove this notice at any time by removing the {{Talkback}} or {{Tb}} template.

Rosiestep (talk) 23:57, 10 June 2012 (UTC)

Oh Doctree, that is such a nice barnstar! Thank you and I appreciate it. Ask a question ANYTIME; I mean it. Not only do you learn from it, but so do others who are reading the questions page. Rosiestep (talk) 02:14, 11 June 2012 (UTC)

Teahouse talkback: you've got messages!

Hello, Doctree/Archive01. Your question has been answered at the Teahouse Q&A board. Feel free to reply there!
Please note that all old questions are archived after 2-3 days of inactivity. Message added by Sarah (talk) 00:05, 11 June 2012 (UTC). (You can remove this notice at any time by removing the {{teahouse talkback}} template).

Thank you for a great addition to Wikipedia. I found your list informative and complete, well sourced and encyclopedic. A few editors already took care of minor disambigulation problems. I and others will look for pictures of South American falcons to complete the list. Thanks again, DocTree (talk) 23:58, 10 June 2012 (UTC)

Thanks for your concern. I hope we could find enough interested editors to complete the missing information. Other than that, I think an addition as habitat and maybe a small description of species could be a way to a FL. --Mskyrider (talk) 04:51, 11 June 2012 (UTC)

Your experiment

DocTree -- What a clever idea. Unfortunately you commented on an ordinary talk page, not a sandbox talk page, so I only got a watchlist notification. Would you visit here, perhaps, and leave a comment? User:Tlqk56/sandbox Then we will indeed know what's what. Thanks ! Tlqk56 (talk) 16:43, 11 June 2012 (UTC)

Template:User sandbox

Hi DocTree. How's it going? I saw, and commented on, your reply to TattooedWaitress at the Teahouse. I'm not familiar with the template you mentioned, so I went to it's page, but got lost when it talked about what to do it you have multiple sandboxes. I have ten right now, so I think maybe I should figure this out.LOL Could you explain to me what it means and how to use it in your clear, simple style, please? No rush, of course. Thanks! Tlqk56 (talk) 17:54, 12 June 2012 (UTC)

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Teahouse report

Hi Doctree! Just wanted to let you know we didn't revert your edit. There are two versions of the report. The original on Meta and the more public one on Wikipedia. Cheers! heather walls (talk) 23:16, 14 June 2012 (UTC)

RE: Chimney Swift

Hello, Doctree. You have new messages at Wikipedia:Graphic Lab/Map workshop.
Message added 13:40, 10 July 2012 (UTC). You can remove this notice at any time by removing the {{Talkback}} or {{Tb}} template.

Doin' the Czech Polka

Hey Doc, I appreciated your resolution of that dustup over my identity, so maybe you can help out here. I made what I thought was an uncontroversial edit to the Polka article, providing an updated etymology from the OED, but it was very quickly reverted by "Staszek Lem" with a ridiculous note to the effect that the OED etymology was "probably false"! I reverted his reversion with a note telling him not to revert it again and left a note on his userpage explaining somewhat testily that the OED is the prime source for English etymology. But I suspect from his username that he's some sort of Polish patriot who doesn't want to admit that the word has a Czech etymology, and I further suspect he's going to change it back on some pretext. What can be done about this? I love editing articles but hate edit wars and all the rank-pulling Wikipedian nonsense, so I'm a babe in the woods when it comes to dealing with this stuff. Any suggestions/assistance greatly appreciated. --Steve Languagehat (talk) 23:38, 11 July 2012 (UTC)

Hey, thanks a lot! I added Babel boxes to my userpage, and I'm delighted to know about the Teahouse -- it's just the kind of thing I was wishing existed. Sorry about the testiness, but damn, it gets my dander up when someone just reverts a thoughtfully made change as if it were vandalism. I'll try to rein it in, but at 61 I'm a tad set in my ways. Languagehat (talk) 12:25, 12 July 2012 (UTC)
OK, I've revised my message on the Polka talk page several times to try to eliminate excessive testiness, but I'm sure it still comes across as confrontational. It angers me that nobody understands what linguists and etymologists do, and everyone and his brother thinks they can just decide for themselves where words come from based on their own preconceptions and vague notions. The results of linguistic science (e.g., that Cantonese ng and Mandarin wu are historically the same word) can look just as crazy as the idea that the earth goes around the sun -- hey, we can see the sun going around the earth! -- but we accept the latter because everybody recognizes that physicists and astronomers know more than they do about the universe, whereas (because of the pathetic failure of our educational system, among other things) everybody thinks they know about language because they speak one. Some years ago I discovered that the Marshalsea article stated that the name was marshal + see, a long-exploded idea. I corrected the etymology (again with reference to the OED) only to have an editor, as protective of her wrong idea as Staszek Lem is of his, revert it. Fortunately, I was able to convince her the OED knew more than she did, and she let my correction stand. But that kind of thing takes it out of you. It's like endlessly fixing edits by creationists... except that one gets a lot more support in the latter case. Sorry to vent, but I want you to understand where I'm coming from, and maybe even support me in the Polka Wars. Languagehat (talk) 13:22, 13 July 2012 (UTC)
Just talk-page-stalking here... but Languagehat, I think a good place to bring your dispute would be the dispute resolution noticeboard. Some of the editors there will definitely be able to help in a very substantive way. All the best, Lord Roem (talk) 00:53, 14 July 2012 (UTC)

Thanks

Thanks for pointing out a new WP editor who shares my interest in kids' books. I've been off line a while, but I wrote her today. I appreciate your thinking about me! Tlqk56 (talk) 23:49, 16 July 2012 (UTC)

Talkback

Hello, Doctree. You have new messages at SarahStierch's talk page.
Message added 17:51, 18 July 2012 (UTC). You can remove this notice at any time by removing the {{Talkback}} or {{Tb}} template.

Sarah (talk) 17:51, 18 July 2012 (UTC)

Teahouse invites phase two!

Hey Doctree! I know you signed up to lend a hand with the phase two invitation aspects. It'd be great to have your input as we begin to move onto that aspect - please stop by this page on meta. After you check out that page, we have some questions on meta! Thanks =) Sarah (talk) 23:02, 18 July 2012 (UTC)

Hey Doctree, I responded to your comment on Meta. Ryan Vesey Review me! 05:00, 19 July 2012 (UTC)

Can you help me?

Hi, DocTree. If you have time I could use a bit of help. I know I've had this run by me before, but I find myself unsure again. If a book containing a professional-looking portrait is published in 1909, can one assume the photo is copyright free? (I'm looking at William Bowen here. [[2]]) Thanks in advance. I hope you're keeping cool this summer. I am -- by staying home and writing. Tlqk56 (talk) 21:53, 21 July 2012 (UTC)

Drop by tee house

Hello! (target user name), you're invited to join other new editors and the friendly hosts in the Teahouse – an great place to meet people, ask questions, and learn more about Wikipedia. Please join us! (sign)

This is the format. Sorry if I am wrong, shouldn't we change "an" to "a" in "Teahouse – an great place to meet people,". Thank you. VanischenumTalk 01:37, 28 July 2012 (UTC)

Thank you for the reply. Sorry that I provide insufficient information. But this was not a question I asked you to clear my doubt. Teahouse invitation uses an before the word great. I have explained it in detail on my talk page. Thank you. VanischenumTalk 02:49, 28 July 2012 (UTC)
Since I haven't answered your second question; my native language is Malayalam. I know to read and write Hindi as well but not used to it in real life. And my English?—please rate it.
I like Spanish and I am trying to learn it. I know a little Sanskrit too, but not comparable to Hindi. Well I can understand Tamil very well but not to read and write. So, this is the ratings ml|hi-2|sa-1|en-_ ...but wait, you haven't created a user box for Sanskrit.
I will place a Babel box soon, but needs to create a userpage first, which might take some time.
One question to all of you: How will you recognize a person visiting Teahouse is diabetic or not? :) Thank you. Wish you a great day. Happy editing. Vanischenu『m/Talk』 13:03, 29 July 2012 (UTC)

A cup of tea for you!

This might have a slightly different flavor when compared to the one at Teahouse. Hope you like it. Vanischenu『m/Talk』 13:15, 29 July 2012 (UTC)

Teahouse

Hey Doctree :D You probably should add yourself to the WP:Teahouse/Hosts page, darnit ;) SarahStierch (talk) 17:21, 30 July 2012 (UTC)

I second this notion, you'd make a great host. Tlqk56 (talk) 17:32, 30 July 2012 (UTC)

Doctree! i think you can skip the line and just add yourself here: WP:Teahouse/Hosts :) SarahStierch (talk) 19:49, 30 July 2012 (UTC)

Hooray! Doctree, I can't tell you how happy I was when I saw your host profile up there today. It's about time! Thanks for making the leap :-) Siko (talk) 05:12, 31 July 2012 (UTC)

Talkback

Hello, Doctree. You have new messages at Wikipedia_talk:Teahouse/Host_lounge.
Message added 17:00, 31 July 2012 (UTC). You can remove this notice at any time by removing the {{Talkback}} or {{Tb}} template.

SarahStierch (talk) 17:00, 31 July 2012 (UTC)

Feedback on fellowship proposal

Hi Doctree! At Wikimania I think we talked briefly about badges and other kinds of rewards systems, related to the Teahouse. Well, we've got a fellowship idea proposing to experiment with badges in the Teahouse, which obviously has potential to tie into the Teahouse work being planned now. I wondered if you might have a look and share your thoughts (feedback, concerns, endorsement, suggestions, whatever), to help us evaluate the idea. Thanks! Siko (talk) 01:12, 3 August 2012 (UTC)

The Tea Leaf - Issue Five

Stop by for a tasty glass of wiki-iced tea at the Teahouse, today!

Hi! Welcome to the fifth edition of The Tea Leaf, the official newsletter of the Teahouse!

  • Guest activity increased in July. Questions are up from an average of 36 per week in June to 43 per week in July, and guest profile creation has also increased. This is likely a result of the automatic invite experiments we started near the end of month, which seeks to lessen the burden on hosts and other volunteer who manually invite editors. During the last week of July, questions doubled in the Teahouse! (But don't let that deter you from inviting editors to the Teahouse, please, there are still lots of new editors who haven't found Teahouse yet.)
  • More Teahouse hosts than ever. We had 12 new hosts sign up to participate at the Teahouse! We now have 35 hosts volunteering at the Teahouse. Feel free to stop by and see them all here.
  • Phase two update: Host sprint. In August, the Teahouse team plans to improve the host experience by developing a simpler new-host creation process, a better way of surfacing active hosts, and a host lounge renovation. Take a look at the plan and weigh in here.
  • New Teahouse guest barnstar is awarded to first recipient: Charlie Inks. Using the Teahouse barnstar designed by Heatherawalls, hosts hajatvrc and Ryan Vesey created the new Teahouse Guest Barnstar. The first recipient is Charlie Inks, for her boldness in asking questions at the Teahouse. Check out the award in action here.
  • Teahouse was a hot topic at Wikimania! The Teahouse was a hot topic at Wikimania this past month, where editor retention and interface design was heavily discussed. Sarah and Jonathan presented the Teahouse during the Wikimedia Fellowships panel. Slides can be viewed here. A lunch was also held at Wikimania for Teahouse hosts.

As always, thanks for supporting the Teahouse project! Stop by and visit us today!

You are receiving The Tea Leaf after expressing interest or participating in the Teahouse! To remove yourself from receiving future newsletters, please remove your username here. SarahStierch (talk) 08:25, 4 August 2012 (UTC)

Thank you

Thank you for the Barnstar![3] I appreciate your kind words and am happy to have helped out. -- Uzma Gamal (talk) 11:21, 5 August 2012 (UTC)

A cup of coffee for you! To take to the Tree house!!!

Dear Doctree....Thank you so much for you kind word of encouragement. I am going to get the book, "Wikipedia for Dummies" before I proceed any further with any other editing. I also want to study in more detail the rules and regulations. I don't want to get anymore warnings!!! Thank you for showing me how to create my user page. You can't be that curmudgeonly if you are willing to help a few of "Newbies" like me! Love your user page! Cmurdock1955 (talk) 21:29, 5 August 2012 (UTC)

A little tip for you

Hey, I noticed something about the links you gave at the Teahouse—you capitalized them all, hehe. Internally, all page names start with a capital letter, so you can write using the natural case (e.g. disambiguation pages in the middle of a sentence) rather than capitalizing them all. Oh, and be careful not to overlink; there are three links to each of "hatnote" and "disambiguation page" in that paragraph.

Also, why the hell are there so many people named Alex Wong? If there are four on Wikipedia, there are probably tons more, given how common those names are individually.  dalahäst (let's talk!) 03:43, 7 August 2012 (UTC)

Talkback

Hello, Doctree. You have new messages at Wikipedia_talk:Teahouse/Host_lounge.
Message added 23:36, 7 August 2012 (UTC). You can remove this notice at any time by removing the {{Talkback}} or {{Tb}} template.

SarahStierch (talk) 23:36, 7 August 2012 (UTC)

Thank you

Thank you for the encouragement and offer to review the article I will write. Thinking my tiny contributions were deleted against the policy, without a chance for me to explain beforehand, I lost some confidence in contributing to Wikipedia. The advice and support from you and some of the wikipedians nevertheless helped restore some confidence in Wikipedia. I may contribute to other articles first but I definitely will return to the article on education controversy, perhaps before Hong Kong schools go strike again after protesting against the Tiananmen Square Massacre 23 years ago. Please add that page to your watch list and stay tuned. :)--Jabo-er (talk) 16:06, 10 August 2012 (UTC)

Thanks!

Thank you for your helpful tip. I really appreciated it. CRIPTICFAN (talk) 01:44, 17 August 2012 (UTC)

Your input is requested at Wikipedia:Bots/Requests for approval/HostBot 2

Hello, Doctree. You have new messages at Wikipedia:Bots/Requests_for_approval/HostBot_2.
Message added 21:36, 13 August 2012 (UTC). You can remove this notice at any time by removing the {{Talkback}} or {{Tb}} template.

Thought you might be interested in weighing in on the invites v. welcomes thread?

- J-Mo Talk to Me Email Me 21:36, 13 August 2012 (UTC)

Teahouse barnstar!

File:Teahouse Barnstar Hires.png CC BY-SA 3.0 Heather Walls Teahouse Barnstar
Hey Doctree! This is for your brilliant transition to host in the Teahouse, and your patient and detailed assistance to our guests. You are amazing! heather walls (talk) 20:38, 16 August 2012 (UTC)

dead link

regarding your edit [4].

When I clicked the link, it went to a live EB radio page, but just the general home landing page, not a transcript of the program or media file of the recording. Were you able to verify the article content the source is supposed to support? -- The Red Pen of Doom 17:16, 17 August 2012 (UTC)

nevermind - there is a link to a file. -- The Red Pen of Doom 17:19, 17 August 2012 (UTC)

Ooops

you accidentally recreated Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/SimonKnowsAll, which was moved to Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/Morning277. I've copied your comment over and deleted the old case. Dennis Brown - © Join WER 15:34, 20 August 2012 (UTC)

Talkback

Hello, Doctree. You have new messages at Wikipedia_talk:Teahouse/Host_lounge.
Message added 06:21, 24 August 2012 (UTC). You can remove this notice at any time by removing the {{Talkback}} or {{Tb}} template.

SarahStierch (talk) 06:21, 24 August 2012 (UTC)

"Links to international Wikipedias should explicitly show that the link is not to an English language page"

Are you sure about that? No mention of it at Help:Interlanguage links which even goes as far as putting the pipe trick in to hide the interwiki bit. NtheP (talk) 18:49, 31 August 2012 (UTC)