User talk:XVreturns

Talk to me. if you have something bad to say, please do not curse or don't say it at all.

Welcome!

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

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

See also Wikipedia:Username and Wikipedia:Vandalism. —dgies^t_c 19:03, 25 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

name[edit]

Hey man, I don't make the rules, I just enforce 'em ;) I won't mess with XVreturns as long as your only edits are constructive. Ask if you want more info on how to do that. Peace, delldot talk 19:05, 25 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Adopt-a-user[edit]

Hello, XVreturns! I see that you have expressed an interest in being adopted by an experienced editor. I accept your request, being an experienced editor myself. Whether you want to learn about wiki markup, find something to do, or just talk to somebody, I'm the one you can talk to - just leave a message on my talk page. Good luck with Wikipedia! Mr.Z-mantalk¢Review! 19:11, 27 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Any specific questions you need help with I can probably answer. I am involved with many aspects of Wikipedia (Editing, anti-vandalism, templates, policy, projects, etc.) Just drop me a line on my talk page. Just click "talk" in my signature. I'm usually available between 19:00 and 0:00 (24:00) UTC on weekdays, earlier on weekends.

Repairing Vandalism, a guide[edit]

As for spotting vandalism, there is one primary way. Most people look through the Recentchanges page (accessible in the "Interaction" toolbar on the side of the page). There are programs to make this easier like WP:TWINKLE and WP:VPRF. See WP:CVU#Tools for more, depending on what OS you have. Most of the more powerful tools require registration before you can use them which usually requires 250-500 mainspace edits. See this tool to check your edit count. However, Lupin's tool doesn't and is easy to use. When looking at a list of recent changes, click "diff" on the recent changes page to load a "diff" that explains the difference between the current edit and the previous one. It will look like this (this one is vandalism). If the previous editor is different from the current one, click "undo" next to the line "Current revision (edit date)" This will take you to an edit page. Scroll to the bottom, mark the edit as minor and click save. You can use the edit summary provided or change it to something like "rv v" (revert vandalism). If the previous editor is the same as the current editor, go to the history, click on the last revision date by a different editor, scroll through real quick to be sure it isn't vandalism, click edit, and save the page without making any changes with an edit summary like "rv v". This will save the last non-vandalism version over the current version. Then, go back to the history, highlight and copy the page name, and click on "talk" next to the vandal's username. Then give them a warning template. For basic vandalism, I would suggest the {{uw-test}} series. Most templates follow a 4 level pattern. See WP:UTM for details and a full list. After you add the warning, maybe {{subst:uw-test2}}, pipe in the page name (why I suggest copying the page name form the article) snd sign. The page name is optional but recommended. For example (always subst warnings) {{subst:uw-test2|The Door to December}} ~~~~. If you are the first person to warn a vandal, you will probably want to uncheck "watch this page" before saving or else your watchlist will get clogged with a bunch of User talk pages. I would suggest Lupin's tool as it is easy to use, and if you install his popups tool with it, there is a handy javascript rollback tool, similar to, but slower than, what admins use. Mr.Z-mantalk¢Review! 20:59, 27 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Warning[edit]

If you continue to not contribute to the encyclopedia, your account will be blocked and all your subpages deleted. People donate to the Wikimedia Foundation so the encyclopedia can exist, not to fund your fun. Wikipedia is not a social networking site. --Deskana (talk) 00:59, 28 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I was perhaps a bit premature in posting this on your page, but please take heed of my advice. :-) --Deskana (talk) 23:22, 28 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Wikidefcon[edit]

Wikidefcon is, essentially, just a template. It can be changed just like any semi-protected page (only accounts more than 4 days old can edit it). It is designed to give users an idea of how much vandalism is going on at any time. Wikidefcon 5 is almost no vandalism and Wikidefcon 1 is extremely high levels, recommending drastic measures, possibly a database lock. It is updated usually 5-10 times per day, based on any user's estimate of the total amount of vandalism. Vandalism tends to quiet down very late, (24:00 UTC, 8:00 PM Eastern Time) and peaks around 18:00 (2:00 PM Eastern Time) as schools get out. I don't believe its ever gone to level 1, except for jokes. If you want it on your userpage, there are a bunch of different templates listed on Template:Wdefcon. Mr.Z-mantalk¢Review! 23:40, 28 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Deleted pages[edit]

Only administrators can recover deleted pages and restore them on Wikipedia. If a page was up long enough and has been deleted recently, you may be able to find a copy on Answers.com or another Wikipedia mirror. If you believe a page has been improperly deleted, you can request undeletion at deletion review. Mr.Z-mantalk¢Review! 23:58, 28 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Blocking[edit]

Ordinary users, like you and me, can't block other users. This can only be done by admins. If you think a user should be blocked, list them at WP:AIV for vandalism-related blocks, WP:ANI for other reasons, and WP:AN3 for violations of the 3-revert-rule. As for how may instances of vandalism should be required, it varies. Generally, vandalism blocks are only given for vandalism after a final warning. For ordinary "editing test" vandalism, warnings usually start with level 1, so 4 warnings and 5 vandalism instances are given before a block (the last instance of vandalism must be after the final warning). For more serious, disruptive vandalism, blocks may be issued sooner. IP addresses can be reassigned to different people, so if you are warning an IP address that has received warnings in the past, check the dates on the old warnings. Unless it is a registered IP (to a school or organization, there will be a messagebox on the top of the talk page if it is) or there is an obvious pattern (vandalism to same or similar pages), warnings more than 6 months to 1 year old may have been given to a different person and the IP was reassigned so you should start with a lower level warning. Mr.Z-mantalk¢Review! 16:08, 30 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I'd like to note that normally administrators are regarded as normal editors who have extra features of the software available to them due to being trusted to use them appropriately. --Deskana (ya rly) 16:20, 30 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Text size[edit]

Its probably just your computer. If you have Internet Explorer, go to "View", "Text size", and the normal is medium. If you have another browser or that doesn't work, I would ask on the help desk or Village pump (technical). Mr.Z-mantalk¢Review! 19:36, 2 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Vandal whacking[edit]

So I see from a look at your contributions! And you give them proper warnings and everything. Nice work. What made you join the good guys, anyway? ;) (if I may ask) Let me know if you need anything. Peace, delldot talk 21:23, 2 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Cool, glad to hear it. Keep in touch, delldot talk 22:16, 2 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Re: your post on my talk page[edit]

I'm glad you're doing well at vandal reverting. I vandalised Wikipedia once or twice; nothing major, just a nonsense article. The warnings I got are still in my talk page history. Then I went on the "straight and narrow", and now I'm an admin. That's what I love about Wikipedia. Everyone forgives. :-) --Deskana (ya rly) 00:10, 4 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

user page reversion[edit]

No problem - have a great weekend. LeeG 00:25, 5 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Help[edit]

What website? Can you tell me so I can fix it? Tunakdude 00:30, 5 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Sandbox[edit]

I use wikipedia to try to contribute and to look at articles. I never vandalised! ^.^ Tunakdude 22:39, 5 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Conflict[edit]

Hi! I (accidentally) caused the edit conflict. The {{sandbox}} tag wasn't on so I deleted that content. Just letting you know. The Wiki Whippet (deeds)

Sorry![edit]

Sorry for your confusion! My message was unrelated to that user. When I saw "Sandbox" I put a subheading. We edited at the same time, and, I apologized strangely. No worrys, The Wiki Whippet (deeds)

Signatures[edit]

Oh by the way, I signed your sig book. The Wiki Whippet (deeds) 03:10, 6 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Welcome to Wikipedia! Thank you for testing your editing skills at the Wikipedia Sandbox - it is important for new users to learn how to use Wikipedia and its functions; however when editing their please do not remove the Sandbox header because this is vital in letting other users aware that they can freely edit the page and they are at the right place for their editing tests too. Thank you for you understanding and I hope you enjoy contributing constructively to Wikipedia.Telly addict 14:56, 6 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Editing your signature[edit]

You can change you signature through the "My Preferences" link at the top of the page when you are logged in. On the "User Profile" page, there is a box labeled "signature." You can add about any wikimarkup or HTML. The most common things are different colors, fonts, and sizes. This can be done using the HTML tag. Use Your signature. For colors see List of colors but note that many colors don't appear on the white background (avoid yellows and other pale colors). Also see List of typefaces for font names, note that many people don't have all fonts installed on their browsers. If you choose an uncommon font, it may appear to some people as something like ₰₰₰₰₰₰₰₰. Also, instead of using you can also use , <big>, (for superscript), and (for subscript). Just make sure to close them with a respective closing tag (ie. , , etc.) Also, you can use wikimarkup elements like '''Bold Text''' for bold and ''Italic'' for italics. Try to avoid making your signature code too long. Many people see over-extravagant signatures as a sign that the user is here only for fun and not to help create an encyclopedia. Also, if you ever consider running for adminship, some people will oppose based on an overly long signature code. Also note that templates, images, and external links are generally forbidden in signatures. The code for my signature is:

[[User:Mr.Z-man|]]'''[[User talk:Mr.Z-man|talk]]''[[Special:Contributions/Mr.Z-man|¢]]''''' which produces:

Mr.Z-mantalk¢

User:Radiant!'s old signature is:

[[User_talk:Radiant!|>Radiant<]] which produces:

>Radiant<

Some people like to customize their signature a lot, others just add a link to their talk page and some don't do anthing to it. See Wikipedia:Signatures for full details. After you add the code to the signature box in your preferences, check the "raw signature" box and click save. I would suggest "testing" your signature after you change it. Edit your userpage by adding {{lorem}}~~~~{{lorem}} and click show preview (you don't have to save) after you save your preferences to make sure it dispays right and doesn't interfere with surrounding text. Mr.Z-mantalk¢ 18:04, 9 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Alignment[edit]

Do you mean how to align things to different sides of the page? Wdefcon does it with a table. See Help:Table for more information about that (I can never remember how to do tables). To align any text, you can use <div> tags.

For example, to align text to the right, you would use <div align="right"> text </div> which produces:

text

<div align="center"> text </div> gives:

text

It gets more complicated the more things you have on the page and how exactly you want it to look. See for example the wikitext for Portal:Michigan which I'm currently working on. Also see Span and div and HTML element for more details. I've found, when working on templates and things like that, it is often easiest to find something similar and see how it works. Mr.Z-mantalk¢ 20:13, 13 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Okay, for that you just need to put the text and stuff after the userboxes. Also, you need a {{userboxbottom}} at the end of your userboxes, to close the table. Mr.Z-mantalk¢ 20:25, 13 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Image copyright problem with Image:Hula_girl.png[edit]

Thanks for uploading Image:Hula_girl.png. The image has been identified as not specifying the copyright status of the image, which is required by Wikipedia's policy on images. If you don't indicate the copyright status of the image on the image's description page, using an appropriate copyright tag, it may be deleted some time in the next seven days. If you have uploaded other images, please verify that you have provided copyright information for them as well.

For more information on using images, see the following pages:

This is an automated notice by OrphanBot. For assistance on the image use policy, see Wikipedia:Media copyright questions. 07:13, 2 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Happy Birthday[edit]

Just a happy Birthday message to you, XVreturns, from the Wikipedia Birthday Committee! Have a great day!

FROM YOUR FRIEND:

-- ThinkBlue (Hit BLUE) 01:39, 27 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Happy Birthday XVreturns[edit]

Hey, XVreturns. Just stopping by to wish you a Happy Birthday from the Wikipedia Birthday Committee!
Have a great day!-- Vatsan34 (talk) 08:04, 27 November 2009 (UTC)[reply]