User talk:The Utahraptor/Archive 4

Archive 1

Archive 2

Archive 3

Archive 4

Archive 5

Copy Editing

Just wondering if you managed to check the copy editing I did, per your advice, to Timeline of the 2011 Egyptian revolution under Supreme Council of the Armed Forces a while back. I understand you may well be busy, but I was just wondering. Many thanks --22:17, 23 July 2011 (UTC)

Sorry, I haven't had the time; I've been busy doing volunteer work for a museum. I'll have a look at it now. The Utahraptor^Talk/_Contribs 14:23, 24 July 2011 (UTC)

Thank you very much for the barnstar. --Skamecrazy123 (talk) 18:54, 24 July 2011 (UTC)

July 2011 Newsletter for WikiProject United States

The July 2011 issue of the WikiProject United States newsletter has been published. You may read the newsletter, change the format in which future issues will be delivered to you, or unsubscribe from this notification by following the link. Thank you.

 
--Kumioko (talk) 14:06, 24 July 2011 (UTC)

Ambassador Program: assessment drive

Even though it's been quiet on-wiki, the Wikipedia Ambassador Program has been busy over the last few months getting ready for the next term. We're heading toward over 80 classes in the US, across all disciplines. You'll see courses start popping up here, and this time we want to match one or more Online Ambassadors to each class based on interest or expertise in the subject matter. If you see a class that you're interested, please contact the professor and/or me; the sooner the Ambassadors and professors get in communication, the better things go. Look for more in the coming weeks about next term.

In the meantime, with a little help I've identified all the articles students did significant work on in the last term. Many of the articles have never been assessed, or have ratings that are out of date from before the students improved them. Please help assess them! Pick a class, or just a few articles, and give them a rating (and add a relevant WikiProject banner if there isn't one), and then update the list of articles.

Once we have updated assessments for all these articles, we can get a better idea of how quality varied from course to course, and which approaches to running Wikipedia assignments and managing courses are most effective.

--Sage Ross - Online Facilitator, Wikimedia Foundation (talk) 17:30, 27 July 2011 (UTC)

And... done :D

Per your request, I have completed a review of your edits. If you are unsatisfied with my review please do tell me with which element of my review you aren't satisfied with and I will gladly do a re-review. Regards, —James ^{(Talk • Contribs)} • 12:58pm • 02:58, 30 July 2011 (UTC)

GOCE newsletter July 2011 draft

Hi

I have put a comment on the talkpage Chaosdruid (talk) 15:30, 31 July 2011 (UTC)

I realise it might be too late, but is it worth mentioning this in the newsletter - as the requests page is pretty much full again. Something along the lines of:

• "Please remember that the GOCE requests page (is at an all time high/currently in great demand/is receiving a high number of requests), with the number of August requests already above 3 per day. Any assistance to help keep the backlog down would be greatly appreciated."

I didn't quite know if it should be informal or not, so I have suggested three to choose from - though I am sure there is probably a better way of putting it :¬) Chaosdruid (talk) 21:10, 3 August 2011 (UTC)

I'm working on bringing this article up to Featured article status, but I suppose I could take a break and have a look at the Requests page. The Utahraptor^Talk/_Contribs 21:14, 3 August 2011 (UTC)

Sorry, I was not clear - I have amended it. I was talking about putting that sentence into the newsletter, rather than trying to strongarm you into helping :¬) Chaosdruid (talk) 21:26, 3 August 2011 (UTC)

Ah, I apologize for the misunderstanding and I agree completely. I'll get to that immediately. I still do think that the Requests page backlog is an issue that needs to be taken care of, though. The Utahraptor^Talk/_Contribs 21:31, 3 August 2011 (UTC)

Design management

(transposed from Chaosdruids talk) I was looking at this article (as you may recall, it's the one that's been sitting on the Requests page since June that we decided to leave until after the drive) and there is a notice on the talk page that it is being depeloped in tandem with the parallel article on de.wiki. So I am no longer interested in re-vamping the article or treating it as a re-write. I think the best thing to do is treat is as a normal copy edit.

I have copy edited the section titled "Different types". If you would like to have a go next, please find one or two sections of the article that you find manageable and do copy edits. Then, pass it along to another GOCE coordinator for more work. You can post on the Requests page as to which sections you were able to complete. Thanks in advance for any help you can offer on this difficult article. --Dianna (talk) 19:56, 2 August 2011 (UTC)

I have completed the section "History", over to you :¬) Chaosdruid (talk) 23:26, 2 August 2011 (UTC)

Almost did Dianna's, but I completed the section "Definition of related terms," and it's over to Slon now. The Utahraptor^Talk/_Contribs 23:53, 2 August 2011 (UTC)

Just did the education and politics sections. --Slon02 (talk) 23:29, 5 August 2011 (UTC)

GOCE drive report

Guild of Copy Editors July 2011 backlog elimination drive report GOCE July 2011 backlog elimination drive progress graphs Greetings from the Guild of Copy Editors July 2011 Backlog elimination drive. Thank you for participating! Here is your end-of-drive report. Participation 50 people signed up for the drive, of which 39 participated. Thanks to all who copy edited articles and helped us reduce the backlogs in both the total articles and requests. We offered a bonus for copy edits from the Requests page, and have been somewhat successful in reducing that backlog, as a record 89 new requests were received in the month of July. Progress report During the month of July we reduced the backlog by 338 articles, or by about 8.5%. We did not reach our goal of a 10% reduction, but we came close, and did very well considering the small size of the group participating. Since our Backlog elimination drives began in May 2010, we have reduced the backlog by 4,708 articles. End-of-drive results can be found here. We will be handing out barnstars within the next week or two. Requests page Please remember that the GOCE Requests page is receiving a high number of requests, with the number of August requests already above three per day. Any assistance to help keep the backlog down would be greatly appreciated. Our next drive will be in September. We hope to see you there! Your drive coordinators – Diannaa, Chaosdruid, The Utahraptor, Slon02 and SMasters

Sent on behalf of the Guild of Copy Editors using AWB on 16:43, 5 August 2011 (UTC)

Barnstar delivery

Hi, Utahraptor. I was wondering if you would have time to help out with delivery of barnstars for the July drive? If so, your assignment would be to do editors with names starting with A through C (8 users, 17 barnstars). If you don't think you have time please let me know and I will get it covered for you. Any questions or problems please let me know. Thanks. --Dianna (talk) 23:04, 6 August 2011 (UTC)

No problem, I'll get started right away. The Utahraptor^Talk/_Contribs 23:07, 6 August 2011 (UTC)

Just to let you know that I have edited mine, I think the words total was supposed the one off the leaderboard? (rather than the grand total), though I am not exactly sure. Chaosdruid (talk) 02:33, 7 August 2011 (UTC)

Sorry, my mistake. I delivered the barnstars right before dinner, so I wanted to get it done ASAP 'cause I was hungry. ;) The Utahraptor^Talk/_Contribs 02:38, 7 August 2011 (UTC)

GOCE Barnstar July 2011 drive

		The Cleanup Barnstar
		This barnstar is awarded to The Utahraptor for copy editing articles totalling at least 12,000 words in the Guild of Copy Editors July 2011 backlog elimination drive. Thank you for participating! -- Chaosdruid (talk) 01:50, 7 August 2011 (UTC)

GOCE template

Hi

Welcome back, I hope you didn't fall in that big hole?

The template looks fine, though we really could use a system like a subst template for the requests page - adds the info on the req page, starts the entry on the archive list, adds the username to the req page and archive once they start editing, adds the GOCE "copyedit done by" banner to the talk page, updates the archive ... I really wish I could write more code! That way we could just change the bits, say state=1 for the initial req, 2 once an editor accepts it, 3 when they have started, 4 when finished, 5 when on hold, 0 if declined etc.

I am full of good ideas this year lol, I just need to learn how to make them happen :¬)Chaosdruid (talk) 20:59, 11 August 2011 (UTC)

I'm no good with coding, either. SMasters designs some of the Guild's banners that require coding; perhaps he could figure out how to do this? The Utahraptor^Talk/_Contribs 21:45, 11 August 2011 (UTC)

I've left you a note on my talk page about the template- I thought that we already used Template:GOCEtb for that. However, I'm liking Chaosdruid's suggestion..although my problem is the same as his- I have no diea how to make something like that work.--Slon02 (talk) 17:51, 12 August 2011 (UTC)

I saw your response. See here (specifically this). The Utahraptor^Talk/_Contribs 17:53, 12 August 2011 (UTC)

Huggle

Do you think I'm ready to use Huggle again? WayneSlam 01:37, 13 August 2011 (UTC)

You have improved much since your Huggle rights were removed. I see no major problems with any of your recent edits, so yes, I do think you're ready. The Utahraptor^Talk/_Contribs 01:38, 13 August 2011 (UTC)

Could I tell HJ Mitchell or you will tell him? WayneSlam 01:40, 13 August 2011 (UTC)

I'll tell him. The Utahraptor^Talk/_Contribs 01:41, 13 August 2011 (UTC)

Thank you. WayneSlam 01:41, 13 August 2011 (UTC)

No problem, I've contacted him here. The Utahraptor^Talk/_Contribs 01:43, 13 August 2011 (UTC)

Reaper Eternal gave back my Huggle rights so you can undo your edit on HJ's page if you want. WayneSlam 01:49, 13 August 2011 (UTC)

Nah, I just let HJ know that Reaper restored your rights. The Utahraptor^Talk/_Contribs 01:52, 13 August 2011 (UTC)

That's fine. WayneSlam 02:24, 13 August 2011 (UTC)

No objections from me, but, Wayne, for crying out loud take it slow and be careful. HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 08:58, 13 August 2011 (UTC)

Talkback

Hello, The Utahraptor. You have new messages at Metricopolus's talk page.
Message added 04:22, 13 August 2011 (UTC). You can remove this notice at any time by removing the {{Talkback}} or {{Tb}} template.

Metricopolus (talk) 04:22, 13 August 2011 (UTC)

Silver Reef, Utah

On this article, all image captions which form a sentence must have a full stop. Puffin ^{Let's talk!} 20:52, 15 August 2011 (UTC)

What do you mean? Like a period at the end? If so, then generally periods aren't added to the ends of captions when they're incomplete sentences. And if you look again, none of the captions are complete sentences. The Utahraptor^Talk/_Contribs 20:54, 15 August 2011 (UTC)

Yes, a period as you call them, I think that The Pine Valley Mountains as seen from the Red Mountain Wilderness Study Area, The Orson B. Adams home, where John Kemple stayed in 1866 and The grave of Henry Clark, located in the Catholic Cemetery are sentences, also, you have an invalid ref tag (number 45). Puffin ^{Let's talk!} 20:57, 15 August 2011 (UTC)

None of those are complete sentences. The Utahraptor^Talk/_Contribs 21:00, 15 August 2011 (UTC)

Please elaborate. Puffin ^{Let's talk!} 21:01, 15 August 2011 (UTC)

They would be complete sentences if they said These are the Pine Valley Mountains as seen from the Red Mountain Wilderness Study Area, This is the Orson B. Adams home, where John Kemple stayed in 1866, and This is the grave of Henry Clark, located in the Catholic Cemetery. They have to have a couple introductory words at the beginning to make them complete. And incomplete captions are accepted, so there's no need for any changes to the captions (by the way, thanks for pointing out that ref problem; I'll get it fixed as soon as I can). The Utahraptor^Talk/_Contribs 21:03, 15 August 2011 (UTC)

Ok, aren't references such as reference 21 (book references) supposed to have the publisher, author and ISBN? Also, referrences such as number 1 (web reference) supposed to have the publishing date etc.. If I am wrong, sorry. I also looked at the manual of style and in the words to watch section, words such as "several" are vague and shouldn't be included. Puffin ^{Let's talk!} 21:07, 15 August 2011 (UTC)

Reference 21 is the same book, but not the same page, as reference 18. This is acceptable as long as the full information on the source is listed as the lowest number ref (for example, Marriott [reference 18] is also listed as a reference in refs 19 and 21, and the full information on the source is in reference 18). Reference one is a reference to the United States Geological Survey. You can track the last time the site was updated, but not when the information was first published. In general, however, web references should have the publication date, it's just that some, such as USGS, cannot be accessed. Also, yes, several is vague, but in many cases exact numbers are not known, so the word "some" acts as a substitute (that should not be overused, by the way). And yes, there are a couple instances where I used the word "some" when another word would do just fine. I'll get those fixed right away.

I understand that you are new and are trying to help, and I really do appreciate the help. Have you read Wikipedia's introduction? If not, it contains much information about editing, policies, etc. Also, have a look at the first post in my first talk page archive; there are several great links there, too. I look forward to working with you in the future, Puffin. Regards, The Utahraptor^Talk/_Contribs 21:19, 15 August 2011 (UTC)

Thank you, I am not new, I have been editing for over a year now. Puffin ^{Let's talk!} 21:22, 15 August 2011 (UTC)

My mistake, my brain is on slow mode today. ;) The Utahraptor^Talk/_Contribs 21:24, 15 August 2011 (UTC)

Thanks

Thank you for removing the trolling. :) WayneSlam 23:25, 17 August 2011 (UTC)

No problem. The Utahraptor^Talk/_Contribs 23:26, 17 August 2011 (UTC)

GOCE invitation

Hi, Utahraptor. I was wondering if you would have time to start preparing an invitation that we can send out for the September drive? I would really appreciate your help as I will be leaving on my trip on Saturday the 20th. SMasters could send it out using AWB. Thanks. --Dianna (talk) 00:33, 19 August 2011 (UTC)

No problem, I'll get started on it tomorrow. The Utahraptor^Talk/_Contribs 01:15, 19 August 2011 (UTC)

Thank you. I will be around today but will not be available much. --Dianna (talk) 14:06, 19 August 2011 (UTC)

Quick notice here, there's a thunderstorm where I'm living, and since thunderstorms have an over 50% chance of causing a power outage over here, I won't be able to get to making the invite until the storm passes, which could take a while. But I suppose I could write down the invite on a piece of paper and create the template once the storm passes. The Utahraptor^Talk/_Contribs 15:03, 19 August 2011 (UTC)

Online Ambassadors: Time to join pods

Hello! If you're planning to be an active Online Ambassador for the upcoming academic term, now is the time to join one or more pods. (A pod consists of the instructor, the Campus Ambassadors, and the Online Ambassadors for single class.) The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) explains the expectations for being part of a pod as an Online Ambassador. (The MOU for pods in Canada is essentially the same.) In short, the role of Online Ambassadors this term consists of:

• Working closely with the instructor and Campus Ambassadors, providing advice and perspective as an experienced Wikipedian
• Helping students who ask for it (or helping them to find the help they need)
• Watching out for the class as a whole
• Helping students to get community feedback on their work

This replaces the 1-on-1 mentoring role for Online Ambassadors that we had in previous terms; rather than being responsible for individual students (some of whom don't want or help or are unresponsive), Online Ambassadors will be there to help whichever students in their class(es) ask for help.

You can browse the upcoming courses here: United States; Canada. More are being added as new pods become active and create their course pages.

Once you've found a class that you want to work with—especially if you some interest or expertise in the topic area—you should sign the MOU listing for that class and get in touch with the instructor. We're hoping to have at least two Online Ambassadors per pod, and more for the larger classes.

If you're up for supporting any kind of class and would like me to assign you to a pod in need of more Online Ambassadors, just let me know.

--Sage Ross - Online Facilitator, Wikimedia Foundation (talk) 16:36, 19 August 2011 (UTC)

PS: There are still a lot of student articles from the last term that haven't been rated. Please rate a few and update the list!

GOCE drive newsletter

Invitation from the Guild of Copy Editors The Guild of Copy Editors invites you to participate in their September 2011 Backlog elimination drive, a month-long effort to reduce the size of the copy editing backlog. The drive will begin on September 1 at 00:00 (UTC) and will end on September 30 at 23:59 (UTC). We will be tracking the number of 2010 articles in the backlog, as we want to copy edit as many of those as possible. Please consider copy editing an article that was tagged in 2010. Barnstars will be given to anyone who edits more than 4,000 words, with special awards for the top 5 in the categories "Number of articles", "Number of words", and "Number of articles of over 5,000 words". See you at the drive! – Your drive coordinators: Diannaa, Chaosdruid, The Utahraptor, Slon02, and SMasters. >>> Sign up now <<<

Sent on behalf of the Guild of Copy Editors using AWB on 17:10, 21 August 2011 (UTC)

GOCE

Why am I still receiving GOCE newsletters if I removed myself as a member of the GOCE? WayneSlam 18:55, 22 August 2011 (UTC)

I'm not sure. Talk to SMasters; he's the one that sends out the newsletters. The Utahraptor^Talk/_Contribs 19:08, 22 August 2011 (UTC)

Now I got it. WayneSlam 20:12, 22 August 2011 (UTC)

EditorReviewArchiver: Automatic processing of your editor review

This is an automated message. Your editor review is scheduled to be closed on 27 August 2011 because it will have been open for more than 30 days and inactive for more than 7 days. You can keep it open longer by posting a comment to the review page requesting more input. Adding <!--noautoarchive--> to the review page will prevent further automated actions. AnomieBOT⚡ 02:40, 24 August 2011 (UTC)

Talkback

Hello, The Utahraptor. You have new messages at Wikipedia talk:Requests for adminship.
Message added 11:07, 26 August 2011 (UTC). You can remove this notice at any time by removing the {{Talkback}} or {{Tb}} template.

Silver Reef, Utah (2)

I'm going to start (probably slowly) working my way through it. Where would you like to post my comments and queries? The talk page, here, or have you got a PR open or something? HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 16:43, 27 August 2011 (UTC)

I haven't opened a PR yet; I've only been able to work on the article for thirty minutes at a time at most. I'll get to that sometime this or next week, but for now leave the comments on the article's talk page. And thanks for taking a look at it; I really appreciate it. The Utahraptor^Talk/_Contribs 17:22, 27 August 2011 (UTC)

Input needed

Hi

It seems I have caused a problem with an editor and they have posted on the coordinators talk page. I have replied but it has hit me a little personally and I cannot continue discussion. I already had a great feeling of guilt about the mistaken edits on the Ducie article when they were reverted, hence my lol on their talk page (meant as a "wow how could I have done that, must have been an off day"). As something else seems to be driving the editor on to reverse their seemingly cordial discussion and strike out their previous comments I feel others should comment as I am too close to the matter.

The conversations that brought this about are [[1]] User_talk:Stfg/Archive_1#Boldface (used to be one but were later split) and User_talk:Chaosdruid#Boldface. Discussion on coordinators talk - Wikipedia_talk:WikiProject_Guild_of_Copy_Editors/Coordinators#GOCE_culture

(copied to all coordinators pages) Chaosdruid (talk) 18:07, 29 August 2011 (UTC)

NYMets2000

Hi there. Since you expressed an interest in mentoring this editor before he was blocked, would you consider helping him understand where his shortcomings were with the idea being that he would eventually be ready for a return to editing? (Obviously not in the next few weeks, but a few months to a year down the line.) If so, feel free to take over the conversation I'm having with him on his talk page, or engage him directly over e-mail.

There's no reason that he can't be made to better understand the goings-on here even while blocked; indeed, it would be much more favorable to his chances of getting unblocked if he could demonstrate a solid understanding of how things work around here before making the unblock request. He could continue to read Wikipedia, and suggest what edits he would make if he were unblocked, and you could make the edits yourself if they were good suggestions, or explain to him why they would be good edits if they're not.

Anyway, just a thought I figured I would toss out to you. I'd offer to do this myself, but I'm all "mentored out" for the time being. 28bytes (talk) 21:05, 1 September 2011 (UTC)

That sounds like a good idea. I'm in the middle of something in RL at the moment, but I'll do what I can later tonight (between 00:00 UTC and 02:00 UTC). The Utahraptor^Talk/_Contribs 21:15, 1 September 2011 (UTC)

Excellent, I will let him know. 28bytes (talk) 21:16, 1 September 2011 (UTC)

SexyKick

I did read through that article before creating this name. Luigi's move the Sex Kick seems to be more inappropriate, since it can be taken to mean other things easily, and also has reference to a song title, sure...but when something is Sexy, and I didn't include any profane or offensive words, I don't see what the problem is. So as you can see, I did some preventative maintenance before hand. I also think it makes sense that I've been able to go without issue for over a year, dealing with other high level users such as User:J_Milburn who would certainly have the authoritative level to let me know my name was inappropriate, because my name isn't profane or offensive, and to my memory has never came up in conversations here on Wikipedia until now.

I see my name was not reported by users or bots for being inappropriate, and I also do not see the word Sexy listed as offensive...if there is a list of offensive words that are not tolerated in user names, it should certainly be added to the appropriate username article.--SexyKick 02:18, 3 September 2011 (UTC)

Thank you for your response, I understand now. Sorry for any inconvenience I caused you; I just wanted to be sure. I hope you understand. The Utahraptor^Talk/_Contribs 02:23, 3 September 2011 (UTC)

Okay. Thanks for understanding. I was scared for a second there.--SexyKick 02:29, 3 September 2011 (UTC)

No problem. The Utahraptor^Talk/_Contribs 02:30, 3 September 2011 (UTC)

Mentoring, inexperienced editors with difficulties, and policy versus content

Hi. Thanks for taking on mentoring (or giving advice to, whichever it turns out to be) NYMets2000. I thought I'd mention some thoughts that aren't specifically about him, but as much about these sorts of issues in general, and how we handle them.

The first concern you raised was his knowledge of policy. While it's correct his knowledge of policy is lacking in many areas, I don't think this is the main problem. If inexperienced editors work in the right area, they don't need a detailed knowledge of numerous aspects of policy. A basic understanding of WP:V and the barest overview of WP:CONS is more than enough for an editor to get started working on content. (WP:NPOV and WP:EW are relevant but mostly common sense; the essentials of WP:COPYVIO are hinted at every time a user edits, and policy on notability is not relevant if an editor concentrates on adding content to existing articles.) Compared to the mass of policy, and even larger mass of guidelines and essays and generally accepted principles, that's a really very small amount of information that's required.

Where many new editors (some of them young) seem to fall into problems - and why I think recommending an expansion of policy knowledge is not the first priority - is that in fact they seem to spend too much time concerning themselves with matters of policy. By which I mean, tasks that essentially relate to administration rather than to improving content. So for example, whether an inactive administrator should or should not be de-sysopped is really not a good thing for an inexperienced editor to be concerning themselves with - when I was an inexperienced editor I didn't even know what a bureaucrat was, much less that the bureaucrats' noticeboard was the right place to go seeking to deal with such a thing.

I suppose there's some benefit in inexperienced editors watching the new account creation log and flagging up problematic names at UAA. But there's little to no benefit in them watching UAA for the purpose of discussing other editors' submissions there. (Likewise with AIV). Equally, recent change patrol is useful if inexperienced editors can at least keep a basic grasp of WP:BLP, WP:BITE, WP:BLANKING and a few other things, but if they go beyond that to new page patrol, then to avoid problems they will need a very detailed understanding of notability and the finer details of copyright policy and a whole host of other things. In fact, pretty nearly as much knowledge as would be needed in some of those areas for an RfA! Then there's the tendency to request page protection for dozens of pages for little purpose; which, looking at RFPP today, at least one administrator finds problematic.

Getting back to NYMets2000, looking at his edits on Simple English Wikipedia before I made the suggestion of focusing on content, three out of four of them were what I'd describe as administrative related rather than content related. (Since my suggestion, he has no longer made such edits.) Then there's the proximate cause of his block here, which was an ANI report he made - again, an administrative matter that didn't need his attention (or anyone's).

So I think it's the editing approach that both causes problems in itself, and also results in some editors actually needing far more policy knowledge to stay out of trouble, than if they were focusing on content. In a sense, it raises the bar of how much policy knowledge they need, to a level that they don't have time, patience, or (sometimes) capability to gain. And in a lot of cases, this is why they got blocked, and it's what they would need to change to stay unblocked. --Demiurge1000 (talk) 02:28, 5 September 2011 (UTC)

Thanks for the comments. I wasn't listing the concerns by priority, I was just listing them to inform NYMets about the concerns regarding him and his edits that had been raised. You're right that NYMets focuses more on administrative edits than content; that's one of the things I was going to work on with him. That's why I wanted him to consult me before making an edit; if he wanted to focus on administrative areas rather than content contributions, I would've encouraged him to stay away from those areas, at least for the time being, and I would've suggested an alternative to the edit. It looks like NYMets was working to impress potential RfA voters rather than to improve Wikipedia. This kind of reminds me of myself before my second RfA. After my second RfA failed, I realized that I was working to impress voters rather than to improve Wikipedia; that's one of the reasons why I'm trying to stay away from the idea of trying for the admin bit a third time. Having successfully steered myself away from impressing and more towards improving, I feel I can do the same with NYMets. Hopefully you understand why I've decided to take NYMets under my wing a little better. The Utahraptor^Talk/_Contribs 02:51, 5 September 2011 (UTC)

FYI. 28bytes (talk) 04:51, 6 September 2011 (UTC)

Thanks for the diff. I am appalled, although not surprised, that NYMets did something like this. It's obvious that he doesn't know anything about block evasion or sock puppetry (based on this SPI and your diff), and at this point, I'm not sure that even mentorship will help. HJ Mitchell and Fetchcomms were right; it'd probably be best if NYMets took some time off to mature. Until he returns as a more mature editor, I think it would be best if I stepped down as his mentor. The Utahraptor^Talk/_Contribs 14:17, 6 September 2011 (UTC)

Well, thanks for giving it a shot, anyway. I can't fault you for deciding mentorship isn't possible at this stage; I will admit I was not overly optimistic myself. 28bytes (talk) 16:38, 6 September 2011 (UTC)

September 2011 Newsletter for WikiProject United States

The September 2011 issue of the WikiProject United States newsletter has been published. You may read the newsletter, change the format in which future issues will be delivered to you, or unsubscribe from this notification by following the link. Thank you.

 
--Kumioko (talk) 02:35, 7 September 2011 (UTC)

Huggle (2)

Why do I get a bug report from Huggle? WayneSlam 21:40, 10 September 2011 (UTC)

I'm not sure. Could you describe the problem in more detail? What does the bug report say when it comes up? The Utahraptor^Talk/_Contribs 14:30, 11 September 2011 (UTC)

It says that it may need to close. It says other stuff as well. WayneSlam 21:05, 12 September 2011 (UTC)

Try uninstalling and reinstalling it, and if you still have issues let me know. The Utahraptor^Talk/_Contribs 21:23, 12 September 2011 (UTC)

But the problem isn't an every day thing. WayneSlam 21:26, 12 September 2011 (UTC)

How often do you experience this problem? For example, it could be 50% of the time, or it could be more or less. The Utahraptor^Talk/_Contribs 21:28, 12 September 2011 (UTC)

It could be less. Also, am I doing better with Huggle now than before I lost it? WayneSlam 23:09, 12 September 2011 (UTC)

Then I wouldn't worry about it unless it completely prevents you from logging into Huggle. As for how well you're doing, yes, you're doing fine. If you have any questions about any edits you come across using Huggle, let me know. The Utahraptor^Talk/_Contribs 23:15, 12 September 2011 (UTC)

Okay. I would like to use Huggle without this type of revert summary but the old revert summary version like this which was used for reverting anything such as failing to site a verifiable source, removal of content, and more. WayneSlam 23:23, 12 September 2011 (UTC)

Actually, I'd recommend using both edit summaries. The first, "unexplained removal of content", is specific and addresses the problematic edit directly, while the second, which is the general Huggle edit summary, is more general. I'd recommend using the "unexplained removal of content" edit summary when you revert the removal of content, and I'd recommend using the general Huggle edit summary when a specific edit summary cannot be used. The Utahraptor^Talk/_Contribs 23:28, 12 September 2011 (UTC)

The only time I would put choose "unexplained removal of content" when I revert is when the user removes content like this when they just remove content not remove content and add something unconstructive. In those diffs it may look like changed content. Also, do you think I'm the best Huggler right now or this isn't one? WayneSlam 23:49, 12 September 2011 (UTC)

There is not one Huggler who is better than all others; each Huggler is just as good as the other. The Utahraptor^Talk/_Contribs 00:02, 13 September 2011 (UTC)

Okay, speaking of Huggle, when do you want to use it again? WayneSlam 00:05, 13 September 2011 (UTC)

I'm not sure. Right now I'm trying to get Silver Reef, Utah up to Featured article status, but I suppose one of these days I could take a break from my slow-paced editing and fire up ol' Huggle. The Utahraptor^Talk/_Contribs 00:09, 13 September 2011 (UTC)

Good luck with it. WayneSlam 00:11, 13 September 2011 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Requests for adminship/Ks0stm

Hi. I saw that you switched from the support to neutral sections at Ks0stm's RfA, and as the nominator, I feel I might be able to help alleviate some of your concerns. Your main objection seems to be based on the whole "Q3" debacle, and the resounding advice to the candidate that he didn't handle it as well as he could of does seem well-founded. Nonetheless, I'd like to point you to my assessment of the issue here; basically, I think that it simmers down to one momentary lapse in judgement, and probably doesn't indicate an inherent lack of judgement. It's just something to consider, since it would certainly be a personal disappointment for me to see my colleague's request fail over one unfortunate incident. Hope you and yours are well, and I really appreciate in advance you taking the time to consider this. Juliancolton (talk) 20:50, 11 September 2011 (UTC)

I do understand that it was one incident, and that everybody does make mistakes; I mentioned that in my "neutral" rationale. My real problem was with how recent the incident was. If it had been an issue that had taken place six or even three months ago, I probably wouldn't be so hesitant to support. But it was within the past eight weeks, and that is what made me turn away from support and towards neutral. Ks0stm did admit that he would've used less harsh wording, but the fact that he stated it's a good model of how he operates under stress is another concern. However, it was only one incident, and everybody does deserve a second chance, so I'll think on this tonight and possibly switch my vote tomorrow. The Utahraptor^Talk/_Contribs 22:01, 11 September 2011 (UTC)

There is a mop reserved in your name

I have observed some remarkable contributions from this account. I am curious, why are you not an administrator. Pardon that you have struck me as the kind of editor who could be a good one, and that you seem qualified by a cursory review. You exemplify the essence of an Administrator without tools! I hope you will consider serving in the fuller capacity.

My76Strat (talk) 22:53, 11 September 2011 (UTC)

Thanks, My76Strat. Despite my comments above (in the "Mentoring, inexperienced editors with difficulties, and policy versus content" section), I have considered a third RfA recently. My most recent RfA was less than a year ago, so I've considered running after that year passes by. I was advised by an editor to wait until December or January, so if I do try for it a third time, it will be after December of this year. The Utahraptor^Talk/_Contribs 23:24, 11 September 2011 (UTC)

Now I can look forward to December for more reasons than Christmas! Cheers - My76Strat (talk) 23:31, 11 September 2011 (UTC)

Digital journalism

Please see recent edits at Digital journalism; I hope you agree with the revert I made. Drmies (talk) 02:47, 12 September 2011 (UTC)

Don't worry, you're fine. The Utahraptor^Talk/_Contribs 02:52, 12 September 2011 (UTC)

GOCE drive newsletter

Guild of Copy Editors September 2011 backlog elimination drive update GOCE September 2011 backlog elimination drive progress graphs Greetings from the Guild of Copy Editors September 2011 Backlog elimination drive! Here's the mid-drive newsletter. Participation We have had 55 people sign up for this drive so far, and 31 have participated. If you have signed up but have not yet copy edited any articles, please consider doing so. Every bit helps! It's not too late to join the drive if you have not already done so. Another great way to help out is to watch-list the Coordinators talk page and participate in the ongoing development of the Guild. Progress report So far, we have reduced the backlog by 75 articles, or about 19% of our goal. We have also cleared January 2010 off of the queue and are close to clearing off February and March. If each participant were to copy edit two articles from February and March 2010, they would be completely eliminated from the queue. Rollover words Several concerns have been brought up this drive about the usage of rollover words. Rollover words only count if they're from the previous drive. For example, if you received 1,000 rollover words in March and didn't participate in May, your rollover words return to zero. This is to encourage participation in multiple consecutive drives. Your drive coordinators – Diannaa, Chaosdruid, The Utahraptor, Slon02 and SMasters

Sent on behalf of the Guild of Copy Editors using AWB on 05:33, 21 September 2011 (UTC)

Cookie

cimanyD has given you a cookie! Cookies promote WikiLove and hopefully this one has made your day better. You can spread the WikiLove by giving someone else a cookie, whether it be someone you have had disagreements with in the past or a good friend.

It's good to see you're still around after a year! Dynamic|cimanyD contact me ⁞ my edits 17:14, 21 September 2011 (UTC)

To spread the goodness of cookies, you can add {{subst:Cookie}} to someone's talk page with a friendly message, or eat this cookie on the giver's talk page with {{subst:munch}}!

Thanks! The Utahraptor^Talk/_Contribs 20:51, 21 September 2011 (UTC)

WP:NPOV

Could you give me some information about NPOV? WayneSlam 18:10, 24 September 2011 (UTC)

All Wikipedia articles must be written from a neutral point of view, which means articles cannot take sides on matters that are controversial, and the articles must represent every viewpoint fairly and without bias. This is a core policy here on Wikipedia, and violations are not to be taken lightly. From WP:NPOV, to avoid pusing a point-of-view in an article, you must:

• "Avoid stating opinions as facts
• Avoid stating seriously contested assertions as facts
• Avoid presenting uncontested assertions as mere opinion
• Prefer non-judgmental language
• Accurately indicate the relative prominence of opposing views"

Maintaining a neutral point of view goes hand-in-hand with two other core Wiki policies, the verifiability and the no original research policies. If one does not adhere to WP:NPOV, the issue should either be brought to the neutral point-of-view noticeboard or the talk page of the article, depending on how severe the issue is. I hope this was helpful. If you need anything else just let me know. Regards, The Utahraptor^Talk/_Contribs 19:31, 24 September 2011 (UTC)

Could you give me an example? WayneSlam 20:55, 24 September 2011 (UTC)

What do you mean? An example of a violation or an example of adherence to the policy? The Utahraptor^Talk/_Contribs 21:34, 24 September 2011 (UTC)

An example of the violation. WayneSlam 23:39, 25 September 2011 (UTC)

Before I copy edited Digital journalism (revision here) there were many NPOV problems. Dianna and I took care of as many as we could, though we haven't done enough thorough work in that respect to remove the "disputed neutrality" tag. The Utahraptor^Talk/_Contribs 03:12, 26 September 2011 (UTC)

Mentorship

Hey Utahraptor! I was told to choose an online mentor for wikipedia and you seemed the most interesting to me. Im working with Southern Connecticut State University on a Wikipedia project. Our class of "political participation" is picking different organizations to work on that serve as political groups and have an agenda. I chose GOProud as mine because their page needs to be worked on a lot by looking at the header of the article. Thanks again. — Preceding unsigned comment added by MikeySwetz (talk • contribs) 16:23, 26 September 2011 (UTC)

I'd be happy to. Where would you like to start? The Utahraptor^Talk/_Contribs 20:02, 26 September 2011 (UTC)

Copyediting notices

Would it be possible for the Guild to time stamp its elimination drive notices? They tend to be ignored by archive bots since they usually only have a username or three and no time stamp. Thanks for considering it.--~TPW 18:54, 26 September 2011 (UTC)

We took care of this at the beginning of this year; as for the notifications of last year, you'll have to archive them manually. Sorry for any inconvenience. The Utahraptor^Talk/_Contribs 20:01, 26 September 2011 (UTC)

No biggie, particularly since you thought of it before I did. Thank you!--~TPW 20:15, 26 September 2011 (UTC)

You could always use {{subst:unsigned}}... :) Dynamic|cimanyD contact me ⁞ my edits 21:17, 26 September 2011 (UTC)

Oh, the cleverness of you! There's always another trick to learn, isn't there? — Preceding unsigned comment added by True Pagan Warrior (talk • contribs) 21:22, 26 September 2011 (UTC)

You have to put in the information, see the documentation. Dynamic|cimanyD contact me ⁞ my edits 21:44, 26 September 2011 (UTC)

When all else fails, read the instructions.--~TPW 21:50, 26 September 2011 (UTC)

Update on courses and ambassador needs

Hello, Ambassadors!

I wanted to give you one last update on where we are this term, before my role as Online Facilitator wraps up at the end of this week. Already, there are over 800 students in U.S. classes who have signed up on course pages this term. About 40 classes are active, and we're expecting that many more again once all the classes are up and running.

On a personal note, it's been a huge honor to work with so many great Wikipedians over the last 15 months. Thanks so much to everyone who jumped in and decided to give the ambassador concept a try, and double thanks those of you who were involved early on. Your ideas and insights and enthusiasm have been the foundation of the program, and they will be the keys the future of the program.

Courses looking for Online Ambassadors

Still waiting to get involved with a class this term, or ready to take on more? We have seven classes that are already active and need OA support, and eleven more that have course pages started but don't have active students yet. Please consider joining one or more of these pods!

Active courses that really need Online Ambassadors:

• Sociology of Poverty
• Architectural Design
• Introduction to Educational Psychology
• Intro to Mass Communication
• Psychology Seminar
• Theories of the State
• Advanced Media Studies

Courses that may be active soon that need Online Ambassadors:

• Housing and Social Policy
• Anthropology, Wikipedia, and the Media
• History & Systems
• Horror Cinema
• Digital Media... just bits in a box
• Composition I
• Telecommunications Management
• Training Systems
• Stigma: Culture, Deviance, Identity
• Art and Terrorism
• Political Violence and Insurgency

--Sage Ross - Online Facilitator, Wikimedia Foundation (talk) 23:15, 27 September 2011 (UTC)

IRC

Hi Utahraptor, are you on IRC? --SMasters (talk) 02:01, 2 October 2011 (UTC)

I think so, but I'm not entirely sure. Why do you ask? The Utahraptor^Talk/_Contribs 13:33, 2 October 2011 (UTC)

Because of the "It's time" issue. :) Time to start planning. --SMasters (talk) 15:20, 2 October 2011 (UTC)

Email would probably work better than IRC, so shoot me an email. The Utahraptor^Talk/_Contribs 15:42, 2 October 2011 (UTC)

September barnstar

		The Modest Barnstar
		This barnstar is awarded to The Utahraptor for copy editing articles totalling over 4000 words during the GOCE September copy edit drive. Thank you for participating! Dianna (talk) 04:57, 2 October 2011 (UTC)

Wikipedia

Wikipedia isn't really that fun anymore. Should I retire? WayneSlam 23:07, 2 October 2011 (UTC)

Wikipedia is meant to be serious, not fun, but if you've lost interest in Wikipedia, rather than retire, take a break. If, upon your return, you still have no interest, then you may wish to retire. Ultimately, though, the decision to retire should be left up to you. What I have to say doesn't matter, but what you have to say does. The Utahraptor^Talk/_Contribs 23:31, 2 October 2011 (UTC)

You're right. What about you? WayneSlam 23:38, 2 October 2011 (UTC)

I have lost interest in Wikipedia a couple times, but breaks seem to help me and now I'm in a state of incurable Wikipediholism. ;) The Utahraptor^Talk/_Contribs 23:43, 2 October 2011 (UTC)

I remember you semi-retiring a couple of times but you also retired once. I may have wanted to retire when I lost rollback. Since then, I guess Wikipedia hasn't been the same to me. I would like to continue to edit Wikipedia but sometimes I don't feel like using it. Especially Huggle. I would like to stay longer to also be an administrator and have a higher edit count. I do other stuff online besides Wikipedia. Could I tell you? WayneSlam 23:49, 2 October 2011 (UTC)

(talk page stalker) Fun and serious don't necessarily have to be mutually exclusive. WS, I notice you have 50K edits in under a year and a half. Looks like you burned yourself out. Take a break, you're not an admin so you don't have to put a "Taking a break" or "Retired" box. When you come back go slow, you're not in a race. I notice most of your edits are reverting vandalism, me too I find going into RC fun. As you say, variety is good. Often I find articles in RC that arn't vandalized but are a mess and needs work. Sometimes I work it, sometimes a tag it. Variety. Ever go into Category:All articles that need to be wikified? SlightSmile 00:02, 3 October 2011 (UTC)

How long should I take break from Wikipedia? WayneSlam 00:08, 3 October 2011 (UTC)

That would be up to you, Wayne. Only you know how burned out you are, and only you know how long you need to rest so you're not so burned out. The Utahraptor^Talk/_Contribs 00:10, 3 October 2011 (UTC)

Maybe a week or is it too much? WayneSlam 00:11, 3 October 2011 (UTC)

Again, it's entirely up to you. If you think a week off will help, then by all means take a week off. The Utahraptor^Talk/_Contribs 00:12, 3 October 2011 (UTC)

Till you feel like coming back, which I think will be soon. SlightSmile 00:14, 3 October 2011 (UTC)

(edit conflict) I think maybe taking most of the day off and not logging on until a few hours before going to sleep depending on the day of the week and what's on. Would that work? WayneSlam 00:17, 3 October 2011 (UTC)

I'd recommend going cold turkey on Wikipedia for a week or so, then perhaps take it slow once you return. But again, the decision is up to you. The Utahraptor^Talk/_Contribs 00:20, 3 October 2011 (UTC)

Does it matter if you edit every day? WayneSlam 00:23, 3 October 2011 (UTC)

No, you don't have to edit every day. I often take one or two days off to either take care of real life or just to get away from Wikipedia. The Utahraptor^Talk/_Contribs 00:24, 3 October 2011 (UTC)

Would you ever take a week off? WayneSlam 00:27, 3 October 2011 (UTC)

WS. Relax - you're over thinking it. Everybody gets fed up and takes a break. Not a big deal. SlightSmile 00:30, 3 October 2011 (UTC)

Earlier this year I took almost five months off, so I'd definitely take a week off if I felt like taking a week off. Wikipedia is a volunteer site, not a job, so you don't have to be here at a certain time. You can take as many days off as you want. The Utahraptor^Talk/_Contribs 00:33, 3 October 2011 (UTC)

I'll be back next week starting with Huggle. I'm about to log out now. WayneSlam 00:35, 3 October 2011 (UTC)

Silver Reef, Utah (3)

Hi Utahraptor. Honestly, I feel outrageously cheeky copy editing anything you've been near, but I was interested in the article anyway, so I read it and then couldn't resist getting my pen out. I hope what I've done isn't be too bad. A few things arise:

• I think Malleus is mistaken about "platted". This verb is recognised in the 1983 edition of Chambers 20th Century Dictionary and in the Oxford English Dictionary.
• For the spaces before the degree sybols in the "Climate" section, I've posted Template talk:Convert#Degrees (angle/temperature) to ask for the template to be updated.
• I've not done anything about this because I'm still learning about commas <grin> but sentences like "During its first year, Silver Reef did not have a smelter, and as a result, the silver ore mined in Silver Reef was taken to Pioche and Salt Lake City for smelting." are scary. I think that, if there's to be a comma after "result", then there has to be one before "as". Do you have Eats, Shoots & Leaves? There's a discussion of this issue there.

--Stfg (talk) 20:53, 5 October 2011 (UTC)

Thanks for helping out, Stfg. Since I'm planning on bringing the article to FAC, I need all the help I can get. The Utahraptor^Talk/_Contribs 12:55, 6 October 2011 (UTC)

GOCE drive newsletter

Guild of Copy Editors September 2011 backlog elimination drive report GOCE September 2011 Backlog elimination drive progress graphs Greetings from the Guild of Copy Editors September 2011 Backlog elimination drive! We would like to thank all who participated in this drive. Here is the end-of-drive report. Participation There were 58 editors who signed-up for this drive, of which 42 participated. This is a slight increase from the July 2011 drive participation, where 39 out of 50 people that signed up participated. Thank you to everyone! Progress report During the drive, we reduced the backlog by 146 articles, or by about 4%. Overall we did well, especially considering the exceptionally large number of articles that were tagged during September. Thus far we have reduced the copy edit backlog by 4854 articles, or by about 58%. If we keep up our current rate of copy editing, the backlog should be reduced by 65–70% by the end of this year. End-of-drive results and barnstar information can be found here. Barnstars will be handed out this week. Once again, thank you for participating in the Guild's September 2011 Backlog elimination drive! Our next drive will be in November, and we hope to see you there! Your drive coordinators – Diannaa, Chaosdruid, The Utahraptor, Slon02 and SMasters

Sent on behalf of the Guild of Copy Editors using AWB on 04:19, 8 October 2011 (UTC)

Wikipedia 2

I didn't Huggle first but I'm back. I may want to leave Wikipedia indefinitely. What do you say? WayneSlam 20:15, 10 October 2011 (UTC)

What I think doesn't matter, Wayne. Only you know how you're truly feeling. If you truly feel like leaving Wikipedia indefinitely, then leave. But remember, Wikipedia will always be here if you ever wish to return. Regards, The Utahraptor^Talk/_Contribs 23:44, 10 October 2011 (UTC)

I hate to leave. None of my friends edit Wikipedia, so I don't know why I should. Are you leaving any time soon? WayneSlam 20:01, 11 October 2011 (UTC)

Real life has taken up more of my time lately, but I don't see myself permanently leaving Wikipedia at any time in the near future. The Utahraptor^Talk/_Contribs 20:22, 11 October 2011 (UTC)

Why do people edit Wikipedia? Is Wikipedia more than just clicking edit and changing something? WayneSlam 16:23, 12 October 2011 (UTC)

Wikipedia is much more than that. It's about working together with multiple people to build and maintain the Internet's largest online encyclopedia. Wikipedia can be a good stress reliever (at least, it is to me), and it can also be a good hobby to get into (like hiking, bike riding, etc.). There's more to Wikipedia than meets the eye. The Utahraptor^Talk/_Contribs 16:38, 12 October 2011 (UTC)

Would you use Wikipedia while listening to music? WayneSlam 17:29, 12 October 2011 (UTC)

I often find that listening to music while I work helps me focus more. The Utahraptor^Talk/_Contribs 17:59, 12 October 2011 (UTC)

Talkback

Hello, The Utahraptor. You have new messages at GreenGlass1972's talk page.
You can remove this notice at any time by removing the {{Talkback}} or {{Tb}} template.

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Wikipedia 3

I have decided that I'm officially leaving Wikipedia indefinitely. WayneSlam 22:04, 20 October 2011 (UTC)

I'll miss you, Wayne. Adios. The Utahraptor^Talk/_Contribs 23:30, 20 October 2011 (UTC)

Bye, Utahraptor. Good luck. I need a permanent break from editing Wikipedia. Wish you good luck in the future. :)WayneSlam 17:29, 22 October 2011 (UTC)

PS: I'm sorry to make you feel this way. This was not the way I wanted to leave Wikipedia. I wanted to stay longer. WayneSlam 17:36, 22 October 2011 (UTC)

GOCE drive newsletter

Invitation from the Guild of Copy Editors The Guild of Copy Editors invites you to participate in their November 2011 Backlog elimination drive, a month-long effort to reduce the size of the copy edit backlog. The drive begins on November 1 at 00:00 (UTC) and ends on November 30 at 23:59 (UTC). We will be tracking the number of 2010 articles (and specifically will be targeting the oldest three months), as we want to copy edit as many of these as possible. Barnstars will be awarded to anyone who copy edits more than 4,000 words, and special awards will be given to the top 5 in the following categories: "Number of articles", "Number of words", and "Number of articles of over 5,000 words". We hope to see you there! – Your drive coordinators: Diannaa, Chaosdruid, The Utahraptor, Slon02, and SMasters. >>> Sign up now <<<

Sent on behalf of the Guild of Copy Editors using AWB on 02:20, 29 October 2011 (UTC)

Congrats!

Congratulations on two years on Wikipedia! Wait, are those canned peaches on your cake? GreenGlass^(talk) 02:29, 9 November 2011 (UTC)

They look more like mangoes to me; I "borrowed" the image from Cake. ;) The Utahraptor^Talk/_Contribs 03:06, 9 November 2011 (UTC)

Congratulations! Happy editing. --Dianna (talk) 07:47, 9 November 2011 (UTC)

Thanks! The Utahraptor^Talk/_Contribs 13:50, 9 November 2011 (UTC)

What?

what? you sent me a message, i think you got the wrong i.p address — Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.21.92.239 (talk) 22:52, 9 November 2011 (UTC)

Hi

I used to be an mod like you back in '09 , then i retired. I then carried my name to Youtube. (Youtube.com/kuzznshazziie) wikipedia gave me a great start. (1.2 M views). It is now my full-time real profession , youtube , that is my job until further notice.

Kuzim — Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.21.92.239 (talk) 22:58, 9 November 2011 (UTC)

sorry...

sorry , that was me, i wont do it again. Still , check out my youtube and tell me what you think!

(92.21.92.239 (talk) 23:01, 9 November 2011 (UTC))

Mentoring

Oh hello there, I'm new to copyediting and you seem like you would be a good mentor. :3 — Preceding unsigned comment added by Glacialfox (talk • contribs) 02:29, 11 November 2011 (UTC)

Wikipedia talk:Wikipedia Signpost#Removing other people from Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/Tools/Spamlist

Hi Utahraptor, Just a courtesy note that your removal of Mets2000 from Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/Tools/Spamlist is what prompted me to start the discussion at WT:Signpost, but it does not imply I think you did anything wrong, and I'm not singling you out. I see many people do this, and your recent removal just reminded me of something I've been thinking for a while. That's why I didn't come to you first; I don't want you to undo the removal, I want to see if there's consensus to change this common practice. Anyway, if you have some thoughts on why removing them is good, that I haven't thought of, I'd be happy to hear them at that thread. Cheers. --Floquenbeam (talk) 23:50, 14 November 2011 (UTC)

Newsletter draft ready

Hi, Utahraptor. Hope all is well with you. I have started the mid-drive newsletter and placed it here for your review and copy editing pleasure. Thanks. --Dianna (talk) 01:21, 15 November 2011 (UTC)

Thanks Dianna. Out of curiosity, are you thinking about running for coordinator again? The Utahraptor^Talk/_Contribs 01:26, 15 November 2011 (UTC)

I initially thought I would not, but now that I am no longer tending the requests page, I might reconsider. That task was a real drag on my time. --Dianna (talk) 01:29, 15 November 2011 (UTC)

Future of the US Education Program and the Ambassador Project

There is a discussion about the future and the growth of the US education program along with the future of the Wikipedia Ambassador Project here. Voceditenore (talk) 06:40, 18 November 2011 (UTC)

GOCE drive newsletter

Guild of Copy Editors November 2011 backlog elimination drive update Greetings from the Guild of Copy Editors November 2011 Backlog elimination drive! Here's the mid-drive newsletter. Participation: We have had 46 people sign up for this drive so far, and 28 have copy edited at least one article. If you have signed up but have not yet copy edited any articles, please consider doing so. Every bit helps! If you haven't joined, it's not too late. Join us! Progress report: We are making great progress in our goal of clearing out the oldest articles (April, May, and June 2010) from the queue. There are 122 articles left in those categories, which compares very favorably with the 281 that were present at the close of the September drive. We have reduced the 2010 backlog by 184 articles so far. Coordinator elections: The term of our second tranche of coordinators will be running out at the end of the year, and we will be accepting nominations for new coordinators early in December. The election will likely run in the last two weeks of December. Please consider helping out by nominating yourself or someone else in the Guild as one of our coordinators. The commitment is for a six-month term. Thanks. Your drive coordinators – Diannaa, Chaosdruid, The Utahraptor, Slon02 and SMasters

Sent on behalf of the Guild of Copy Editors using AWB on 00:08, 20 November 2011 (UTC)

thinking of participating in the drive

but I think maybe I need a mentor, as I am not as aware as perhaps I should be of all Wikipedia policies. I only recently learned, for instance, that external links are considered a problem. Until rather recently I primarily acted as a kind of punctuation fairy, though, and addressed issues with the article itself on the Discussion page, so it's not as though I have been strewing external links across Wikipedia for all these years.

I have written professionally, including a couple of freelance pieces for the Washington Post back in the day. That's the style manual I memorized. I have looked at the MOS here; it seems pretty self-evident at first glance, but odds are that I missed some points that matter, so I don't think I should just jump in and say I am a member of the Guild of Copy Editors.

I chose to ask you for mentorship rather than the others on the board primarily because of the mention of ghost towns and the Old West; I lived in New Mexico for a long time and would like to work on some articles about it.

I tend to work in spurts, all-nighters and then nothing for a while. I think I edit fairly well -- I have done this professionally also, for a small web developers' journal -- but I'd like to show my work here to someone before calling it *done.* I did a re-write of the Eric S. Raymond page, to the apparent satisfaction of all parties, if you'd like to look at a page I consider essentially finished, or at least as finished as I can make it. More recently I have worked on a couple of pages about pending US legislation, but those are not good examples of my work as they are plagued by a contentious editor who insists on re-inserting bureaucratese and errors of fact.

Let me know what you think? Elinruby (talk) 08:47, 29 November 2011 (UTC)

Thanks for consulting me. I'm already mentoring someone, but I'd be more than happy to mentor you too. I'm a bit low on time at the moment, so we'll get started later today. Sound good? The Utahraptor^Talk/_Contribs 14:24, 29 November 2011 (UTC)

ha, it's already tomorrow, so...

I probably should also have mentioned that I have time available because I am getting radiation therapy, but it does make me quite tired and prone to sleeping for a couple of days at a time, unpredictably. The usual reaction to this is "sorry to hear that", but really, it's ok. I show every sign of getting one of the happy endings, and it's halfway through week four of five and a half weeks. But I may miss a rendez-vous or two.

Meanwhile, lessee, I did a really fast incomplete pass at the article about Es Salt someone asked for help with. Mainly looked at punctuation (author likes semicolons but does not use them well) and strangenesses like "retirement" and "frontier" for "retreat" and "border". Needs more. Could take another look at that? I should be around for a while today, as I've essentially slept since Saturday, with the exception of getting to therapy.

P.S. Thanks!Elinruby (talk) 20:50, 30 November 2011 (UTC)

Sorry for the delayed response, I've been pretty busy lately. I'll have a look at it. The Utahraptor^Talk/_Contribs 14:51, 3 December 2011 (UTC)

Thanks, saw your message. I will try to do that. I have taken another stab at Es Salt but it's slow going because of a complex cast of characters, and the author also seems rather busy elsewhere just now. I'll keep going with that but look for a {{copy edit}} article to knock out. I did get through an almost-complete edit of Congo Free State propaganda war, but that was for point of view issues. Elinruby (talk) 21:24, 7 December 2011 (UTC)

I must apologize for the delay again, I've been preparing for the holiday season. You've done a fair job at copy editing Es Salt. Now, please choose an article with a {{copy edit}} tag, copy edit it, and let me know when you're done.

PS For future reference, when you want to include a link to a template, use the {{tl|TEMPLATE}} tag, replacing TEMPLATE with the name of the template. Regards, The Utahraptor^Talk/_Contribs 14:09, 10 December 2011 (UTC)

Saw your message, thanks. Will probably do that. Very tired right now and am going back to bed. Was not quite as close to done as I thought -- just had last treatment today. Denial is a wonderful thing ;) but it got me through. Energy improves from here. Started on another article, which is also not done. Very obscure topic, so probably not being worked on by anyone else meanwhile. Siege of someplace in Hungary. About 1-3 more hours needed depending on whether I add content. I'll be in touch in a few days. And thanks for the pointer about templates -- that was in fact something I had been been needing to know. as you apparently noticed. Elinruby (talk) 02:49, 23 December 2011 (UTC)

A barnstar for you!

	The Working Wikipedian's Barnstar
	For your eight thousand and something word count in the Guild of Copy editors' November Backlog Elimination Drive. Thank you and happy editing! pluma Ø 02:37, 2 December 2011 (UTC)

GOCE drive newsletter

Guild of Copy Editors November 2011 backlog elimination drive report GOCE November 2011 Backlog elimination drive progress graphs Greetings from the Guild of Copy Editors November 2011 Backlog elimination drive! We would like to thank all who participated in this drive. Here is the end-of-drive report. Participation There were 48 editors who signed-up for this drive, of which 35 participated. Thank you to everyone who helped reduce the size of the backlog! Progress report During the drive, we reduced the backlog by 232 articles, or by about 6%. This is a two percent increase from our September drive, when we copy edited 4% of the backlog. We were successful in our primary goal of clearing the oldest three months—March, April, and May 2010—from the queue. Thanks to all who helped copy edit these difficult articles. Thus far we have reduced the copy edit backlog by 5086 articles, or by about 61%. End-of-drive results and barnstar information can be found here. Coordinator election The term of our second tranche of coordinators has run out, and we will be accepting nominations from December 5, 00:01 UTC to December 15, 23:59 UTC. If you or any other member of the Guild of Copy Editors wishes to be a coordinator, add your name to this page along with a statement describing why you believe you should be a coordinator for the Guild. You must be able to commit to a six month term. Thanks! Once again, thank you for participating in the Guild's November 2011 Backlog elimination drive! Our next drive will be in January, and we hope to see you there! Your drive coordinators – Diannaa, Chaosdruid, The Utahraptor, Slon02 and SMasters

Sent on behalf of the Guild of Copy Editors using AWB on 08:19, 10 December 2011 (UTC)

December 2011 Newsletter for WikiProject United States

The December 2011 issue of the WikiProject United States newsletter has been published. You may read the newsletter, change the format in which future issues will be delivered to you, or unsubscribe from this notification by following the link. Thank you.

 
--Kumioko (talk) 03:51, 13 December 2011 (UTC)

Silver Reef, Utah (4)

Hi. I removed my indented paragraph following your request, because it's beginning to dawn on me that the presence of such paragraphs may sometimes inhibit other editors from diving in. Sorry if it has had such an effect. As you see, I tried another pass just now, and found very little to do. I wonder how much more copy editing it needs before FAC? Best, --Stfg (talk) 17:19, 15 December 2011 (UTC)

Thanks for taking another look at it. I think the copy editing aspect of the pre-FAC process is pretty much done for now, but I still have a few things I need to add to the article before taking it to FAC. Would it be possible for you to have a third look at it once I've added the information? It'd really help. Thanks, The Utahraptor^Talk/_Contribs 21:12, 15 December 2011 (UTC)

Of course! Any time. Thanks for asking. --Stfg (talk) 21:25, 15 December 2011 (UTC)

I think the page where I'm going to be most comfortable "stepping up my game" is WP:GOCE/FA (oddly enough ... but at least at FAC, I know people want me to do everything I can ... with other review processes, I'm not so sure what I'm supposed to be fiddling with.) This article is still up there, so I'm fiddling ... as always, feel free to revert my copyediting. - Dank (push to talk) 22:43, 18 December 2011 (UTC)

Thanks Dank! Everything looks good except one thing. Barbee was sent to the Silver Reef area to stake mining claims. He wasn't sent there to stake specifically 21 claims, as your rewording implies, but just to stake as many as he could. The Utahraptor^Talk/_Contribs 22:49, 18 December 2011 (UTC)

Yeah, that was iffy, thanks. But now we've got "claims" 3 times in quick succession ... if you can figure out how to reduce that to 2, it's less likely to attract attention at FAC. - Dank (push to talk) 22:59, 18 December 2011 (UTC) Maybe "to claim the mineral rights"? That lets you avoid the piping, as well. - Dank (push to talk) 23:03, 18 December 2011 (UTC)

GOCE newsletter

Greetings from the Guild of Copy Editors Elections are currently underway for our third tranche of Guild coordinators. The voting period will run for 14 days: 00:01 UTC, 16 December – 23:59 UTC, 31 December. All GOCE members, as well as past participants of any of the Guild's Backlog elimination drives, are eligible to vote. There are five candidates vying for four positions. Your vote really matters! Cast your vote today.

Sent on behalf of the Guild of Copy Editors using AWB on 11:29, 21 December 2011 (UTC)

What to do with this one?

Hi Utahraptor. I've spotted someone taking on jobs from the Requests page who really hasn't the ability to do it. Subject/verb disagreement, run-on sentences, unnecessary content removal, you name it, they do it. I suspect this editor may be emotionally vulnerable. Has this kind of situation been encountered before, and do we know how to handle it? I'm asking Dianna too. I don't think it's urgent, so please don't interrupt your Christmas for it. Do use email if you like. And have a great Christmas. Cheers, Simon. --Stfg (talk) 22:41, 23 December 2011 (UTC)

Perhaps we could nudge them to participate in the Guild's mentorship program, and to have their copy edits supervised until they graduate from the mentorship program? Happy Holidays to you too! The Utahraptor^Talk/_Contribs 00:37, 24 December 2011 (UTC)

Thanks. As Dianna suggested, I'll re-edit one of the affected articles and give them some advice, including what you've suggested. You mentioned the mentorship program in your pre-election statement, and I've been planning to offer to contribute to that if wanted. --Stfg (talk) 10:31, 24 December 2011 (UTC)

I've already got two mentees under my belt, so if you could mentor this editor that'd be great. The Utahraptor^Talk/_Contribs 14:25, 24 December 2011 (UTC)

Merry Christmas!

	Seasons Greetings
	Have a Merry Christmasand aHappy New Year

Apologies, slight technical problem in the Christmas Cheer Distribution Network Automated Felicitations System (no electricity) meant a small delay in getting my greetings out this year ... Chaosdruid (talk) 16:59, 26 December 2011 (UTC)

Happy Holidays Chaosdruid! The Utahraptor^Talk/_Contribs 18:28, 26 December 2011 (UTC)

GOCE Annual Report

Hi, Utahraptor. I have started an annual report, which we need to sent out soon. As our soon-to-be-elected Lead coordinator, I was hoping you could prepare a paragraph about your plans for new directions in 2012. Any help finishing the report would be appreciated. There is also a covering newsletter at Wikipedia:WikiProject Guild of Copy Editors/Newsletters/December 2011/2, which is almost ready to go as well. Seasons greetings and thanks for your help! --Dianna (talk) 14:41, 27 December 2011 (UTC)

No problem, I'll have a look at it later today. Happy Holidays! The Utahraptor^Talk/_Contribs 14:57, 27 December 2011 (UTC)

Thanks. It also needs a bit more sparkle and polish, as right now it reads like it was written by my accountant. Thanks, and seasons greetings! --Dianna (talk) 18:47, 27 December 2011 (UTC)

Congratulations to the new Lead Coordinator of the Guild of Copy Editors! Happy New Year! I have completed the year-end newsletter and annual report; they are ready for a final look-see and then we can ask SMasters to deliver them using AWB. Thanks so much for all you do for the Guild and for Wikipedia. It is a pleasure to work with you. Cheers, --Dianna (talk) 04:02, 1 January 2012 (UTC)

Thanks Dianna! Happy New Year! The Utahraptor^Talk/_Contribs 05:20, 1 January 2012 (UTC)

Startling by Each Step

Dear The Utahraptor

I sees that you are a member of WikiProject Guild of Copy Editors and a GOCE mentor. The reason I'm writing is because I need help of cleaning up the article of the Chinese TV serial Startling by Each Step. I've been doing proofreading and clean-up from contributions made by other users, but I am not confidant of my ability and hope you can help. PLEASE?! Thank you and have a Happy New Year. --NeoBatfreak (talk) 01:54, 28 December 2011 (UTC)

Alright, I'll have a look at it. You have a Happy New Year as well! Regards, The Utahraptor^Talk/_Contribs 14:22, 28 December 2011 (UTC)

Thank you very much. Do you think I should remove the copy-edit template now?--NeoBatfreak (talk) 18:36, 28 December 2011 (UTC)

Yes, that would be fine. The Utahraptor^Talk/_Contribs 18:38, 28 December 2011 (UTC)

Again, Thank you very much. The article you've helped edit was a TV serial based the debut novel from Tong Hua. She initially posted her story online (similar to people who likes posting Star Trek fanfics) after she moved to the United States, and eventually it got an attentions to some publishers and launched her career as a novelist. Anyway, hope you have a Happy New Year.--NeoBatfreak (talk) 20:17, 28 December 2011 (UTC)

Talkback

Hello. You have a new message at SMasters's talk page.

Ambassador request

Hi Utahraptor,

I'm an instructor of English composition looking for an online ambassador to assist my Writing & Rhetoric II class this coming (Winter quarter). I'm specifically interested in someone who would be willing to respond to short proposals written by students for planned edits/article creations. There's a cap of twenty students in the class, so if I found two willing ambassadors each would be responsible for responding to 10 proposals. Would you be interested?

Thanks,

Matthewvetter (talk) 02:34, 29 December 2011 (UTC)

I'm currently busy with the Guild of Copy Editors WikiProject, but if I get the time to do this, I'll let you know. Regards, The Utahraptor^Talk/_Contribs 15:02, 29 December 2011 (UTC)

GOCE elections

Happy New Year, Utahraptor! Congratulations on becoming our lead, thanks for taking it on, and thanks for encouraging me to become an assistant. Sp33dyphil has been announced as elected, but Dank not so, even though they both received 18 votes. Sp33dyphil has offered to stand aside in Dank's favour, but either way we would lose one. Might you consider coopting? --Stfg (talk) 10:17, 1 January 2012 (UTC)

Yeah I agree, one more (very capable) person would be a plus for the Guild, wouldn't it? --Sp33dyphil ©^hat_ontributions 10:30, 1 January 2012 (UTC)

I just woke up. I haven't looked into your election guidelines, I just assumed when I went to bed that Phil and I would both get in. Simon and Phil, thanks kindly for your support. So ... what's up? - Dank (push to talk) 13:08, 1 January 2012 (UTC)

I noticed that last night, but I didn't have time to do anything. Coopting is probably our best bet in this situation, but we'll need to find a way to break a tie in case this comes up again. The Utahraptor^Talk/_Contribs 14:18, 1 January 2012 (UTC)

I will add Dank to the list as a fifth coordinator. What a dumb mistake. Sorry, Dank. Luckily it was caught before the newsletter went out. --Dianna (talk) 16:10, 1 January 2012 (UTC)

Request pages archives

Hi. You mentioned before Christmas that you wanted to reinstate archiving the request pages, and I'm willing to help with this. You also mentioned that you'd like to have a simplified system. What had you in mind? Is there anything I can do to help? Best, Simon. --Stfg (talk) 17:41, 1 January 2012 (UTC)

Before, we had only a couple editors handling the archives, which is why it became overwhelming. I'm proposing that we simplify this by having the person who fulfilled the request archive it, rather than waiting for coordinator approval and archiving. What do you think? The Utahraptor^Talk/_Contribs 18:02, 1 January 2012 (UTC)

I agree. I always used to archive my own copy edits anyway ;) But I think some editors might feel uncomfortable doing this, especially in their early days. I'm happy to look after this. I've put down some thoughts and suggestions at User:Stfg/Sandbox3. If you like these, let's see what the others think. Then I'm willing to implement them. Cheers, Simon. --Stfg (talk) 22:45, 1 January 2012 (UTC)

I agree; in fact, I was about to say something about assigning a coordinator or two to take care of some of the completed requests before I logged on and saw your message.

In response to the question, I think it'd be best if we had two archives, one for the main Requests page and one for the FAC page. That way, the people who requested a copy edit can find their article in the archives easier and more efficiently.

I've been busy the last several days, but I'm preparing a statement detailing my plans for the Guild, and I plan on putting this statement forward to the Guild by the end of this week. I look forward to working with you this term! Regards, The Utahraptor^Talk/_Contribs 23:23, 1 January 2012 (UTC)

Me too! :) The version linked from the the coords talk page is updated to reflect the 2-archive approach and is more specific about date formats. Best, Simon. --Stfg (talk) 23:44, 1 January 2012 (UTC)

GOCE 2011 Year-End Report

Guild of Copy Editors 2011 Year-End Report We have reached the end of the year, and what a year it has been! The Guild of Copy Editors was full of activity, and we achieved numerous important milestones in 2011. Read all about these in the Guild's 2011 Year-End Report. Highlights Membership grows to 764 editors, an increase of 261 Report on coordinators' elections Around 1,000 articles removed through six Backlog elimination drives Guild Plans for 2012 Requests page report Sign up for the January 2012 Backlog elimination drive! Get your copy of the Guild's 2011 Year-End Report here On behalf of the Guild, we take this opportunity to wish you Season's Greetings and Happy New Year. We look forward to your support in 2012! – Your 2011 Coordinators: Diannaa (lead), The Utahraptor, and Slon02 and SMasters (emeritus).

Sent on behalf of the Guild of Copy Editors using AWB on 06:56, 2 January 2012 (UTC)

Missing drive notices

Hi, is it just me, or has the notices for the Jan. 2012 drive not been distributed? --Sp33dyphil ©^hat_ontributions 09:58, 2 January 2012 (UTC)

I don't even think it's been written yet (so much for making a good first impression). ;) I'll get it written and delivered. Regards, The Utahraptor^Talk/_Contribs 13:48, 2 January 2012 (UTC)

There is a drive invitation on the newsletter that was just delivered, and I thought that would be adequate, so a separate notice was not prepared. Might be a good idea, though, as sign-up has been light so far. --Dianna (talk) 16:05, 2 January 2012 (UTC)

We just sent out a notice. If we send more, it will be borderline spamming. Why not just edit Wikipedia:WikiProject Guild of Copy Editors/Membership/News/2011 Annual Report/Notice and highlight it further there. It is currently on the bottom of around 800 user pages. Just a thought. --SMasters (talk) 16:35, 2 January 2012 (UTC)

I think it's fine as it is. The Utahraptor^Talk/_Contribs 20:46, 2 January 2012 (UTC)

Introduce Myself

Hello Utahraptor! Happy New Year! First, congratulations on being selected as lead and many thanks for agreeing to do so! I am relatively new to Wikipedia (but not Wikis in general) and to the GCE. I teach at the post-secondary level, thus semester start & end months I am very busy, so will not sign-up for January drive. I am currently working on some articles in the Sociology project, though. Just wanted to introduce myself and say I look forward to participating in future drives. Meclee (talk) 16:23, 2 January 2012 (UTC)

Hello Meclee, and thank you for joining the Guild of Copy Editors. Have you taken a look at our mentorship program? Since you're new to the WikiProject, I encourage you to give the mentorship program a try. Regards, The Utahraptor^Talk/_Contribs 20:49, 2 January 2012 (UTC)

January mid-drive newsletter

Hi, Utahraptor. I have prepared an initial draft of our mid-drive newsletter (it's hard to believe the drive is already half over!). It's available for editing here. Regards, --Dianna (talk) 17:08, 14 January 2012 (UTC)

Is it okay to get SMasters to send out the newsletter? I can drop him a note if you think the thing is ready. Thanks. --Dianna (talk) 20:15, 17 January 2012 (UTC)

Yeah, it's ready to go. The Utahraptor^Talk/_Contribs 00:47, 18 January 2012 (UTC)

I am suddenly not keen to ask SMasters to look after the mail-out, as he just received some bad news. Is there any other way to get it done, or should we ask him regardless, or wait till after the blackout? --Dianna (talk) 00:57, 18 January 2012 (UTC)

I think it would be best if we waited until after the blackout. The Utahraptor^Talk/_Contribs 00:58, 18 January 2012 (UTC)

Yes, me too. We will need to get things set up at some point so that other people can look after newsletter mail-outs. We need to have access to a bot, or SMasters could teach one of us how to do it using AWB. Maybe we should think about getting that set up after the blackout. Regards, --Dianna (talk) 01:41, 18 January 2012 (UTC)

I can do this via AWB after the blackout. But moving forward, I would like to use a bot to do this. I will investigate and let you know how we can do this. --SMasters (talk) 01:44, 18 January 2012 (UTC)

We've used MessageDeliveryBot before; do you think we could use it again? The Utahraptor^Talk/_Contribs 02:58, 18 January 2012 (UTC)

I think we could do that. It was out of order for quite a while, and that is why we switched delivery methods. Let's try it for our next delivery --Dianna (talk) 03:49, 18 January 2012 (UTC)

Some of the other projects, as well as the Signpost, use User:EdwardsBot. It might be more stable. But we can explore the pros and cons of both before making a decision. --SMasters (talk) 03:58, 18 January 2012 (UTC)

I'm so very sorry for the delay. I have had some difficult RL issues to deal with and haven't been on Wiki until today. Since it's so close to the end of the drive, do you still want this to go out? On another matter, I really need help with someone doing the graphs as I do not have enough time to do this. I can email all the necessary files to someone who can. I use MS Excel and a photo editing program to do the graphs. Can you help (or do you know of someone who can)? --SMasters (talk) 10:40, 26 January 2012 (UTC)

That's alright, I understand. I think it would be best if we combine the mid-drive report and the end-of-drive report. Put a summary of the mid-drive newsletter at the beginning of the end-of-drive newsletter, as well as a note explaining why there wasn't a mid-drive newsletter (something along the lines of everyone being busy with real life). I have made graphs before, but I didn't use MS Excel. I've used photo editing programs in the past, but I don't have one currently. Hm...I can't think of anyone off the top of my head who could do the graphs. I suppose I could try...what photo editing program do you use? The Utahraptor^Talk/_Contribs 17:58, 26 January 2012 (UTC)

Basically, I enter all the data into MS Excel, and then do a screen capture of the resulting graphs (a bit primitive, I know). Then, I use Fireworks to crop the screen capture and also to reduce the file size. I suppose any old photo editor will do as all you really need to do after that is to crop the image. --SMasters (talk) 00:44, 27 January 2012 (UTC)

I've tried to do screen captures before, but for some reason I can't figure it out. I'll try to think of someone who can do this while I try to learn how to do screen captures. The Utahraptor^Talk/_Contribs 20:33, 27 January 2012 (UTC)

It depends on your computer. On mine, it's a combination of the function key plus the "PRC SC" key. You could probably Google it for your make and model. I happened to have a little bit of time on my hands, so I have done this month's. But we need someone more on the job for the next drive. --SMasters (talk) 07:37, 28 January 2012 (UTC)

Thanks for getting the graphs done! I'll think of someone for next time. Regards, The Utahraptor^Talk/_Contribs 18:00, 28 January 2012 (UTC)

I have gone ahead and modified the mid-drive newsletter and it will only need minor tweeks before it can be sent out when the drive ends. Regards, --Dianna (talk) 20:36, 29 January 2012 (UTC)

I've done all that needs to be done. Again, I must apologize for being only semi-active for the past month; hopefully things will be better this month. Regards, The Utahraptor^Talk/_Contribs 20:25, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

January 2012 Newsletter for WikiProject United States and supported projects

The January 2012 issue of the WikiProject United States newsletter has been published. You may read the newsletter, change the format in which future issues will be delivered to you, or unsubscribe from this notification by following the link. Thank you.

 
--Kumi-Taskbot (talk) 19:48, 16 January 2012 (UTC)

Can archives go live? and other matters

Hi Utahraptor. I was sorry to see that RL had thrown something or other at you, and I hope everything's all right (?)

I've been maintaining a pilot archive for the ordinary (not FAC) requests page at User:Stfg/Sandbox2 since I made the proposal on the coordinators' talk page, and it's proving to be very easy, so I can now commit to maintaining it for as long as I remain a coordinator. I was holding off in case you wanted to say anything in your plans document, but I'm going on holiday next week and am also concerned that, if people don't know otherwise, they may delete completed requests without further ado. Is it all right if I move it into the GOCE space now, and set one up for the FAC requests too?

I'll be dog-sledding in Arctic Finland next week, and completely off-line, but it's not a problem. The archiving is so simple now that I'll be able to pick up a week's backlog in no time on return.

By the way, the FAC requests have been moving very slowly. I wonder why.

I had some contact with a fairly new editor who started taking part in the drive but was frustrated at finding so many rubbish and vanity articles. I fear she may have dropped out now anyway, but it's a problem, isn't it? In February I was thinking of waging a little personal crusade to see how many of the tagged articles can be marked as {{GOCEreviewed}} and de-tagged, so that in March, people may be faced with a bit less of a demoralising wall of such articles.

Cheers, Simon. --Stfg (talk) 12:00, 17 January 2012 (UTC)

Things are starting to clear up, but with my luck something else will come up...regardless, I think setting up the archives at this time is a great idea. I was actually going to suggest immediate setup in my statement, but then I lost my notes for the statement. I figure all of my basic ideas have been outlined in the end-of-year newsletter, so I'm just going to go through with those plans, and if there's anything that needs community approval, then I'll bring it up that way. Bottom line is, I probably won't be able to release the statement.

Yeah, I think we should go through the queue and weed out the rubbish come February. We'll need to recruit a few others to help out.

As for the FAC page, as Dank mentioned earlier, we need to have more people fulfilling the requests; as it now stands, only a couple are taking care of the growing queue. I'd suggest putting some sort of reward for copy editing FAC requests during our Backlog elimination drives, but not everyone who participates in the drives is skilled enough to copy edit articles at that level. I haven't done much for the FAC page yet, so I'll take care of all the requests I can, and I'll see what I can do about recruiting editors to help with the page. The Utahraptor^Talk/_Contribs 00:55, 18 January 2012 (UTC)

It never rains but it pours, heh? I hope your luck turns. I've established archives for the two requests pages now. Stupidly I did it by moving the sandbox, forgetting that this moves the history too, so there are the remnants of an article I was developing a year ago in the history too. Oh well, nothing embarrassing ;) I'll start something on the coordinators' talk page asking for criteria for applying {{GOCEreviewed}}, in case others want to join in. Some of the issues we see in multiple-issues tags aren't reasons to pass over an article - e.g. we can often get rid of weasel words and wikify. I agree with your concern to avoid attracting unready editors to the FAC requests. Perhaps any invitations for this need to be individually targeted? Two or three who frequently work from the general requests page are doing super work there and could certainly handle the FAC ones. I'm sure you know who I mean. --Stfg (talk) 14:26, 19 January 2012 (UTC)

Thanks for getting the archives up! Things are clearing up more, and it looks like I'll be able to return fully tomorrow; however, given my karma, something will go wrong. ;) Yes, individually targeted invitations would probably be most efficient. There are a couple editors (not just ones who handle requests) that I have in mind, so I'll contact them tomorrow. I'll also start to organize a mini-drive of sorts that would target the more problematic articles and remove them from the queue before the start of our March drive. If you have any suggestions for this, let me know. Again, thanks for taking care of the archives! Regards, The Utahraptor^Talk/_Contribs 03:14, 20 January 2012 (UTC)

I'll keep my fingers crossed for you. If we're going to turn the de-queueing exercise into a mini-drive (good idea -- it might contribute to team spirit) then I guess it might need some way for people to take on particular months or part-months (say, an alphabetical range) so that we don't find ourselves all looking at the same range of articles. Do we all understand the criteria to apply? Yesterday I thought I could write down some suggestions and questions, but getting down to the nitty-gritty, it didn't seem so easy. Some tags don't imply not worth copy editing; some untagged conditions (article being heavily edited, outstanding proposal to merge, ...) possibly do. But it's hard to be specific. Is it enough to say "use your judgement", or can some guidance be thought up? Also, I didn't want to run foul of what Dianna was saying with the M*A*S*H analogy. Best, --Stfg (talk) 10:46, 20 January 2012 (UTC)

Copy vios are definitely a no-copy edit, and should have the GOCE reviewed tag put on their talk pages. Other than that, I think it would be somewhat difficult to outline criteria, but if we just let people go off on their own judgment, they might slap a tag on articles that are just difficult, not necessarily impossible, to copy edit. I think outlining criteria, although difficult, is probably our best bet. The Utahraptor^Talk/_Contribs 14:18, 20 January 2012 (UTC)

You're right, of course. I've put down a few thoughts at User:Stfg/Sandbox2. It's as much to help me think as anything else, and I'm not sure yet of any of it, so if you have different views, please go with yours. I'll come online tomorrow for a while, but maybe not a very long while as packing for the Arctic needs care. From Sunday 22 till Saturday 28 I'll be offline. Best, --Stfg (talk) 22:04, 20 January 2012 (UTC)

You've got mail!

Hello, The Utahraptor. Please check your email; you've got mail!
It may take a few minutes from the time the email is sent for it to show up in your inbox. You can at any time by removing the {{You've got mail}} or {{ygm}} template.

SarahStierch (talk) 21:16, 19 January 2012 (UTC)

Online Ambassador, Spring 2012

Hi, The Utahraptor! As you may know, the Wikipedia Education Program has instilled a new set of standards that courses must meet to officially join the program for the semester. As you can see, one of the requirements is that at least one ambassador or professor is a Wikipedian, as this should give students more access to helpful information about contributing to Wikipedia and creating good content. You are listed on the Online Ambassador page; are you still interested in remaining active this semester? Some of these classes will have to remove themselves from the program should they fail to meet these standards, but we would like to ensure that new students are receiving proper support during the editing process. Please let me know if you are still interested in mentoring these students this semester and/or visit the Online Ambassador talk page to select a course that still needs an Online Ambassador. Thank you! JMathewson (WMF) (talk) 00:22, 7 February 2012 (UTC)

GOCE drive wrap-up

Guild of Copy Editors January 2012 backlog elimination drive GOCE January 2012 Backlog Elimination progress graph Greetings from the Guild of Copy Editors January 2012 Backlog elimination drive! Here is your end-of-drive wrap-up newsletter. Participation 45 people signed up for this drive this time; of these, 35 participated. This is similar to the number of editors who helped out in November. Thanks to all who participated! Barnstars will be distributed in the near future. Progress report Recent drives have been focusing on the oldest three months in the backlog. During this drive we were successful in eliminating our target months—July, August, and September 2010—from the queue, and there are less than 300 articles remaining from 2010. End-of-drive results and barnstar information can be found here. When working on the backlog, please keep in mind that there are options other than copy editing available; some articles may be candidates for deletion, or may not be suitable for copy editing at this time for other reasons. The {{GOCEreviewed}} tag can be placed on any article you find to be totally uneditable, and you can nominate for deletion any that you discover to be copyright violations or completely unintelligible. If you need help deciding what to do, please contact any of the coordinators. Thank you for participating in the January 2012 drive! All contributions are appreciated. Our next copy edit drive will be in March. Your drive coordinators – The Utahraptor talk, S Masters (talk), Diannaa (Talk), Stfg (Talk), Sp33dyphil (talk), and Dank (talk)

Guild of Copy Editors

Hi, I am a novice here and now want to be a part of Guild editors. Please help.

I'm afraid I don't have the time. Sorry. You may want to contact another coordinator or GOCE member for assistance. Best, The Utahraptor^Talk/_Contribs 15:22, 17 February 2012 (UTC)

March drive

Hi Utahraptor. I've been really sorry to see you missing for so long, and very much hope you're all right. Dianna and I are setting up the March drive (mostly Dianna, but I'm shadowing and learning). Hope to see you back soon. Best wishes, Simon. --Stfg (talk) 21:56, 13 February 2012 (UTC)

Happy Valentine's Day!

Wilhelmina Will (talk) 10:29, 14 February 2012 (UTC)

YGM

Hello, The Utahraptor. Please check your email; you've got mail!
It may take a few minutes from the time the email is sent for it to show up in your inbox. You can at any time by removing the {{You've got mail}} or {{ygm}} template.

Best wishes

Hi

Hope RL things get better for you soon - take care and best wishes. Don't forget about us, and come back soon! Chaosdruid (talk) 16:00, 17 February 2012 (UTC)

Thank you Chaosdruid. I will certainly return at some point in the future. Regards, The Utahraptor^Talk/_Contribs 16:14, 17 February 2012 (UTC)

A puppy for you!

	A puppy for you!
	Dianna has given you a puppy! This special Internet puppy does not piddle; he does not pout. His smiling face will cheer you whenever and however often you need him. Please take care and come back to us soon! Dianna (talk) 03:37, 18 February 2012 (UTC)

Thanks Dianna! :) The Utahraptor^Talk/_Contribs 14:15, 19 February 2012 (UTC)

File:Dogsculpture 002.jpg listed for deletion

A file that you uploaded or altered, File:Dogsculpture 002.jpg, has been listed at Wikipedia:Files for deletion. Please see the discussion to see why this is (you may have to search for the title of the image to find its entry), if you are interested in it not being deleted. Thank you. Calliopejen1 (talk) 06:44, 19 February 2012 (UTC)

GOCE March copy edit drive

Invitation from the Guild of Copy Editors The Guild of Copy Editors invites you to participate in their March 2012 Backlog elimination drive, a month-long effort to reduce the size of the copy edit backlog. The drive begins on March 1 at 00:00 (UTC) and ends on March 31 at 23:59 (UTC). Our goal for the drive will be to eliminate the remaining 2010 articles from the queue. Barnstars will be awarded to anyone who copy edits more than 4,000 words, and special awards will be given to the top 5 in the following categories: "Number of articles", "Number of words", and "Number of articles of over 5,000 words". We hope to see you there! – Your drive coordinators: Dank, Diannaa, Stfg, and Coordinator emeritus SMasters. 19:55, 20 February 2012 (UTC) >>> Sign up now <<< To discontinue receiving GOCE newsletters, please remove your name from our mailing list.

Mentorship

Hi Utahraptor. I hope things are going OK. Just to let you know that I've marked you as "busy" on the mentors page until you return. Cheers, --Stfg (talk) 10:44, 29 February 2012 (UTC)

Things are starting to pick up, but I'm going to wait for things to stabilize before I return fully. Thanks for doing that, I appreciate it. The Utahraptor^Talk/_Contribs 22:07, 14 March 2012 (UTC)

It's great to see you around again, and I'm glad to learn things are looking up. Looking forward to seeing more of you when things settle down. Best wishes, Simon. --Stfg (talk) 11:15, 15 March 2012 (UTC)

It's great to be back, even if it is only temporarily. The Utahraptor^Talk/_Contribs 02:20, 18 March 2012 (UTC)

GOCE March drive newsletter

Guild of Copy Editors March 2012 backlog elimination drive update GOCE March 2012 Backlog Elimination progress graphs Greetings from the Guild of Copy Editors March 2012 Backlog elimination drive! Here's the mid-drive newsletter. Participation: We have had 58 people sign up for this drive so far, which compares favorably with our last drive, and 27 have copy-edited at least one article. If you have signed up but have not yet copy-edited any articles, please consider doing so. Every bit helps! If you haven't signed up yet, it's not too late. Join us! Progress report: Our target of completing the 2010 articles has almost been reached, with only 56 remaining of the 194 we had at the start of the drive. The last ones are always the most difficult, so thank you if you are able to help copy-edit any of the remaining articles. We have reduced the total backlog by 163 articles so far. Special thanks: Special thanks to Stfg, who has been going through the backlog and doing some preliminary vetting of the articles—removing copyright violations, doing initial clean-up, and nominating some for deletion. This work has helped make the drive a more pleasant experience for all our volunteers. Your drive coordinators – Dianna (talk), Stfg (talk), and Dank (talk) To discontinue receiving GOCE newsletters, please remove your name from our mailing list.

Wikipedia:Requests for adminship/User:Yasht101 Is An ALIEN

This is not showing up in the RfA notice box. Please help me in fixing Yasht101 :) 05:16, 1 April 2012 (UTC)

The box has a slight delay on it. I'm pretty sure it's showing up now though. :) The Utahraptor^Talk/_Contribs 05:18, 1 April 2012 (UTC)

GOCE March drive wrap-up

Guild of Copy Editors March 2012 backlog elimination drive GOCE March 2012 Backlog Elimination progress graph Greetings from the Guild of Copy Editors March 2012 Backlog elimination drive! This is the most successful drive we have had for quite a while. Here is your end-of-drive wrap-up newsletter. Participation Of the 70 people who signed up for this drive, 40 copy-edited at least one article. Thanks to all who participated! Special acknowledgement goes out to Lfstevens, who did over 200 articles, most of them in the last third of the drive, and topped all three leaderboard categories. You're a superstar! Stfg and others have been pre-checking the articles for quality and conformance to Wikipedia guidelines; some have been nominated for deletion or had some preliminary clean-up done to help make the copy-edit process more fun and appealing. Thanks to all who helped get those nasty last few articles out of the target months. Progress report During this drive we were successful in eliminating our target months—October, November, and December 2010—from the queue, and have now eliminated all the 2010 articles from our list. We were able to complete 500 articles this month! End-of-drive results and barnstar information can be found here. When working on the backlog, please keep in mind that there are options other than copy-editing available; some articles may be candidates for deletion, or may not be suitable for copy-editing at this time for other reasons. The {{GOCEreviewed}} tag can be placed on any article you find to be totally uneditable, and you can nominate for deletion any that you discover to be copyright violations or completely unintelligible. If you need help deciding what to do, please contact any of the coordinators. Thank you for participating in the March 2012 drive! All contributions are appreciated. Our next copy-edit drive will be in May. Your drive coordinators – Dianna (Talk), Stfg (Talk), and Dank (talk) To discontinue receiving GOCE newsletters, please remove your name from our mailing list. EdwardsBot (talk) 22:22, 4 April 2012 (UTC)

Thanks

Thank you for your support at my RfA. I will do my best to live up to people's confidence in me. Yngvadottir (talk) 15:04, 9 April 2012 (UTC)

Capitalization query

I have stumbled across these two uses of capital letters ("Bhavnagar City" and "Bhavnagar State") and was wondering whether or not "city" and "state" need to be capitalized. Thanks in advance. --Skamecrazy123 (talk) 17:06, 11 April 2012 (UTC)

I've looked into it. It looks like "Bhavnagar City" and "Bhavnagar State" are official titles, so you should capitalize "city" and "state". Regards, The Utahraptor^Talk/_Contribs 17:09, 11 April 2012 (UTC)

Many thanks. --Skamecrazy123 (talk) 17:16, 11 April 2012 (UTC)

Good to see you

Hi. It's good to see you here again. How's things? Simon --Stfg (talk) 18:05, 11 April 2012 (UTC)

Good to see you too Simon. I'm actually surprised at how fast things are picking up for me; if things keep working out like this, I'll be back here full-swing by mid to late June. In the meantime, I'll be around here off and on for the next couple days. The Utahraptor^Talk/_Contribs 18:09, 11 April 2012 (UTC)

That's great to hear! I hope things do keep on picking up. Simon. --Stfg (talk) 18:45, 11 April 2012 (UTC)

GOCE May copy edit drive

Invitation from the Guild of Copy Editors The Guild of Copy Editors invites you to participate in their May 2012 Backlog elimination drive, a month-long effort to reduce the size of the copy edit backlog. The drive begins on May 1 at 00:00 (UTC) and ends on May 31 at 23:59 (UTC). Our goal for the drive will be to eliminate January, February, and March 2011 from the queue. Barnstars will be awarded to anyone who copy edits more than 4,000 words, and special awards will be given to the top 5 in the following categories: "Number of articles", "Number of words", and "Number of articles of over 5,000 words". We hope to see you there! – Your drive coordinators: Dank, Diannaa, and Stfg. >>> Sign up now <<< To discontinue receiving GOCE newsletters, please remove your name from our mailing list. EdwardsBot (talk) 18:06, 22 April 2012 (UTC)

Request for Copy Edit Guidance

I am Muthusamy.R a Wikipedian joined on 13th Dec 2011. I would like to improve my copy editing skills and contribute. I request your guidance and support for this purpose. Iramuthusamy (talk) 18:31, 24 April 2012 (UTC)

I'm sorry, but I don't have enough time to mentor you right now. Do you think you could ask another member of the Guild of Copy Editors? Regards, The Utahraptor^Talk/_Contribs 12:54, 30 April 2012 (UTC)

GOCE May mid-drive newsletter

Guild of Copy Editors May 2012 backlog elimination drive mid-drive newsletter Participation: Out of 49 people signed up for this drive so far, 26 have copy-edited at least one article. It's a smaller group than last drive, but we're making good progress. If you've signed up but haven't yet copy-edited any articles, please consider doing so. Every bit helps! If you haven't signed up yet, it's not too late. Join us! Progress report: We're on track to meet our targets for the drive, largely due to the efforts of Lfstevens and the others on the leaderboard. Thanks to all. We have reduced our target group of articles—January, February, and March 2011—by over half, and it looks like we will achieve that goal. Good progress is being made on the overall backlog as well, with over 500 articles copy-edited during the drive so far. The total backlog currently sits at around 3200 articles. Hall of Fame: GOCE coordinator Diannaa was awarded a spot in the GOCE Hall of Fame this month! She has copy-edited over 1567 articles during these drives, and surpassed the 1,000,000-word mark on May 5. On to the second million! – Your drive coordinators: Dank, Diannaa and Stfg >>> Sign up now <<< To discontinue receiving GOCE newsletters, please remove your name from our mailing list. Newsletter delivered by EdwardsBot (talk) 14:50, 15 May 2012 (UTC)

Richard Manitoba and helping out with unreferenced articles

Greetings! I noticed that you do anti-vandalism work here and reverted at least once an inappropriate entry by an unregistered editor. Thank you. I have spent the last few years editing musicians' biographies and obtaining photos for those articles, cleaning up all manner of articles poorly written and unreferenced. Please join us! ALSO though, a photographer friend who allowed us many valuable photos emailed me and mentioned continuous problems with the Richard Manitoba article. Would you mind keeping an eye on it? Apparently, someone has vandalized it more than once.. I just don't have the energy and time to spare at the moment. Please answer me on my talk page. Thank you! --Leahtwosaints (talk) 07:50, 30 May 2012 (UTC)

Congratulations

Wishing you the best!

Good to hear you're doing well. I wish you a happy time in your career and in school. ☮Soap☮ 02:03, 2 June 2012 (UTC)

Thanks Soap :) The Utahraptor^Talk/_Contribs 17:36, 3 June 2012 (UTC)

GOCE May drive wrap-up

Guild of Copy Editors May 2012 backlog elimination drive wrap-up Participation: Out of 54 people who signed up this drive, 32 copy-edited at least one article. Last drive's superstar, Lfstevens, again stood out, topping the leader board in all three categories and copy-editing over 700 articles. Thanks to all who participated! Final results, including barnstars awarded, are available here. Progress report: We were once again successful in our primary goal—removing the oldest three months from the backlog—while removing 1166 articles from the queue, the second-most in our history. The total backlog currently sits at around 2600 articles, down from 8323 when we started out just over two years ago. Coodinator election: The six-month term for our third tranche of Guild coordinators will be expiring at the end of June. We will be accepting nominations for the fourth tranche of coordinators, who will also serve a six-month term. Nominations will open starting on June 5. For complete information, please have a look at the election page. – Your drive coordinators: Dank, Diannaa, and Stfg To discontinue receiving GOCE newsletters, please remove your name from our mailing list. Newsletter delivered by EdwardsBot (talk) 16:03, 3 June 2012 (UTC)

GOCE July 2012 Copy Edit Drive

Invitation from the Guild of Copy Editors The Guild of Copy Editors invites you to participate in their July 2012 Backlog elimination drive, a month-long effort to reduce the size of the copy edit backlog. The drive begins on July 1 at 00:00 (UTC) and ends on July 31 at 23:59 (UTC). Our goals are to eliminate the articles tagged in April, May and June 2011 from the queue and to complete all requests placed before the end of June. Barnstars will be awarded to anyone who copy edits more than 4,000 words, and special awards will be given to the top 6 in the following categories: "Number of articles", "Number of words", "Number of articles of over 5,000 words", "Number of articles tagged in April–June 2011", and "Longest article". We hope to see you there! – Your drive coordinators: Dank, Diannaa and Stfg. >>> Sign up now <<< To discontinue receiving GOCE newsletters, please remove your name from our mailing list. Newsletter delivered by EdwardsBot (talk) 19:17, 21 June 2012 (UTC)

GOCE July 2012 mid-drive newsletter

Guild of Copy Editors July 2012 backlog elimination drive mid-drive newsletter Participation: Out of 37 people signed up for this drive so far, 25 have copy-edited at least one article. It's a smaller group than last drive, but we're making good progress. If you've signed up but haven't yet copy-edited any articles, every bit helps; if you haven't signed up yet, it's not too late. Join us! Progress report: We're almost on track to meet our targets for the drive. Great work, guys. We have reduced our target group of articles—May, June, and July 2011—by about 40%, and the overall backlog has been reduced by 264 articles so far, to around 2500 articles. Copy Edit of the Month: Starting in August, your best copy-editing work of the month will be eligible for fabulous prizes! See here for details. – Your drive coordinators: Stfg, Allens, and Torchiest. >>> Sign up now <<< To discontinue receiving GOCE newsletters, please remove your name from our mailing list. Newsletter delivered by EdwardsBot (talk) 16:57, 15 July 2012 (UTC)