Help talk:Talk pages

Should "Talk page guidelines" and "Talk page" merge?

See discussion at the talk page for talk page guidelines. —DragonHawk (talk) 03:22, 16 January 2007 (UTC) for more info...

Policy status of this page?

What is the policy status of this project page? Is it a guideline? Just an essay? Simões (^talk/_contribs) 18:29, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

That's actually a good question. This project page (Wikipedia:Talk page) was Help:Talk page not long ago. It was moved to the project namespace recently. I don't know why (my not knowing why is not meant to imply there wasn't a good reason). Right now, it's kind of part-way between a help page and a guideline (which may be why it got moved out of Help). WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOFor these and other reasons, I think it might be a canidate for mering with Wikipedia:Talk page guidelines -- see discussion at the talk page for talk page guidelines for more on that. —DragonHawk (talk) 01:42, 25 January 2007 (UTC)

There are other information pages that aren't help pages - see, for example, Wikipedia:Embedded citations. -- John Broughton | ^(♫♫) 02:06, 26 January 2007 (UTC)

 jake is cool.

Template for talk pages about talk

Hi all. I've noticed that a very few talk pages that themselves are about talk pages (this one, Wikipedia talk:Talk page guidelines, etc.) tend to attract misplaced discussions. I'm thinking it might be good for everyone if these talk pages featured a prominent notice to help send people to the right place. I've got a concept draft at User:DragonHawk/Temp4. I'm somewhat concerned with striking a good balance between being prominent and WP:BITE. Thoughts? —DragonHawk (talk) 17:34, 29 January 2007 (UTC)

Good idea. I strongly recommend removing the symbol of the hand. I also suggest removing the second to last sentence - I think that it's easy to read that as patronizing. -- John Broughton (☎☎) 05:04, 1 February 2007 (UTC)

For the record, this turned into {{metatalk}}. —DragonHawk (talk|hist) 18:23, 31 December 2007 (UTC)

permission

(Davidstw3 16:54, 31 January 2007 (UTC) = davidstw3 1/31/2007 10:52:03 AM (UTC))

I rec'd from publishers permission to re-use for Wikipedia purposes an essay I had written earlier.

Any comments or reflections on how this process can be assured of compliance with Wiki policies?

Thx

First, you should read WP:NOR; in short, Wikipedia isn't the place to put large chunks of your text. Second, you should read WP:RS; citing your published essay may or may not be appropriate, depending on what type of essay it is, where it was published, what your expertise is, and the Wikipedia article. Third, you should consider publishing it at a sister project - specifically, Wikisource. Fourth, if the essay is highly partisan, you should read WP:NPOV. And fifth, you should take further questions to a better page: Wikipedia:Help desk is a much better place than this page to discuss, for example, whether "repurposed" is the same as "copyright free", if you intend to use large chunks of text in an article, something that would normally be a copyright violation. -- John Broughton (☎☎) 05:01, 1 February 2007 (UTC)

Question

This page doesn't cover which talk page additions warrant the minor edit tag, and which do not. Granted, I suppose one can decide what is major and what is not, but it would be very helpful if we had some sort of definition for the record. Kennard2 01:17, 1 February 2007 (UTC)

• Would that be at Wikipedia:Minor edit? And since a minor edit can be on any type of page, I don't think Wikipedia:Talk page is the right place for such a definition. -- John Broughton (☎☎) 04:55, 1 February 2007 (UTC)

Where to place one's comments

On talk pages, it's not clear whether one should type new comments above or below existing talk.

I presume that most everyone reading this will find that remark strange, because you are already familiar with the conventions in this area. However, I believe this ambiguity may be an impediment to meaningful participation by a number of users. Though I have been using and contributing to Wikipedia for at least a couple of years, I have never until now contributed to a Talk page, despite a desire to do so, for fearing of interfering by stepping into conversations in the wrong place.

Similarly, only after completing this entry and pressing the "Save page" button will I find out whether this new section appears above or below the existing sections. What will I find: that Talk pages are like blogs, with newest content appearing (and expected) at the top, or like chat-room text, which read in forward order, much like transcripts of spoken conversation?

I'm surprised that FAQ and how-to pages for Talk don't address this. Clearly I'm not the only one who feels it necessary, because the head of this very talk page bears an instruction to "Put new text under old text." Still, I have yet to find out whether this new section I'm typing will appear above "Should 'Talk page guidelines' and 'Talk page' merge?" or below "Question: This page doesn't cover which talk page additions warrant..."

I think the Talk FAQ should make clearer what will result when one adds a new topic, and I think all Talk pages should bear a bit of instruction on where to insert one's remarks.

fuper 22:55, 4 March 2007 (UTC)

I've been wondering about that, too. The automatic "add to a page" button at the top, "+", appends at the end. I've been doing that, too, but recently saw someone claim that top-inserting is the "right" way, and am now looking for anything like a guideline. One thing to do with existing talk pages is just to check the direction the signature dates run in, and stick with that. Jutta 19:02, 18 March 2007 (UTC)

TPG 2.2 covers this to some extent, with "Start new topics at the bottom of the page". It does not explicitly address adding comments within an existing topic section, though. —DragonHawk (talk) 02:10, 19 March 2007 (UTC)

The indentation that is specified for follow-on comments makes it pretty clear, I think, that new comments within an existing section should go at the bottom. Otherwise you'd have:

        Third comment in section
    Second comment in section
First comment in section

Which I think would look exceedingly odd. In any case, it's not the norm here, and it's not the norm on any talk page I've ever seen. -- John Broughton (♫♫) 01:54, 28 March 2007 (UTC)

I strongly agree with Fuper that clearer instructions need to be provided regarding whether new talk page sections should be placed at the bottom or the top. Some people seem to add to the top and others to the bottom. Frequently people do not attach dates to their comments, so it makes it impossible to determine whether you are reading old comments or new ones. --GFLewis (talk) 12:46, 18 November 2007 (UTC)

Philosophy of user talkpages

Recently, the user Qxz, who has theoretically left Wikipedia (recent edits suggest otherwise), was permitted to blank all comments on his/her talkpage, and the page was protected in this form. After I aked the admin responsible, the response I got was "respect", which makes perfect sense, but only within a certain philosophy, namely that talkpages are not a fundamentaly a public affair, but exist mainly for the benefit of the user in question. Conversely, if talkpages are meant for the general public, the page should instead have been locked in a form preserving all non-vandalism additions, with an explanatory note at the top.

So it appears that Wikipedia needs a philosophy of user talkpages to be expressed on this help page. What, if anything, should it be? $\sim$ Lenoxus " * " 01:21, 28 March 2007 (UTC)

Very generally, the only reason someone would want to use a user talk page would be to communicate with that user. This doesn't seem to be relevant anymore, and Qxz seems adamant about not returning, and if he does, he can always email the protecting admin. If you wish to start a discussion about him, perhaps WP:AN(I) would be the place.

However, I think that it would be appropriate to put Qxz's talk archives at the top of the page. A similar thing was done with Essjay, for example, except with a link to page history. Qxz {{db-author}}'d everything except for those archives, after all. Gracenotes^T § 02:28, 28 March 2007 (UTC)

"Discussion" tab to access a "Talk" page

I'm used to it now, but it has always seemed to me to be rather unintuitive and unhelpful that the way to access a Talk page is via a tab labelled, not "Talk", but "Discussion". Can these tabs be renamed "Talk"? -- JackofOz 01:44, 25 May 2007 (UTC)

The problem is that "Talk" is a bad name; "Discussion" is better. So what really should be done is to change the "Talk" namespace to "Discussion". But that would be a huge change, and of course it's easier to type Talk:XXX than "Discussion:XXX. In short, this is one of those areas where experienced editors don't have any problems, and since there is no clearly superior solution, aren't inclined to worry about the status quo. -- John Broughton (♫♫) 00:07, 4 November 2007 (UTC)

Forking an active discussion

I'm just curious if forking a talk page onto a separate sub-page is okay in the event an active discussion ends up getting too large? --Edward Sandstig 21:42, 25 May 2007 (UTC)

I think it's okay, but should be done rarely. There needs to be prominent notice (of course) and when the discussion is ended, it should be archived as if it were done on the main talk page (that is, archived to a main talk page archive), not to it's own archive, and the subpage probably should be retained with a brief note at the top that points to the talk archive. (If the subpage is deleted, then the record of who said what isn't visible to anyone but an administrator.) -- John Broughton (♫♫) 17:22, 19 June 2007 (UTC)

Talk Page/Forum page for talking about the topic

There are many Talk pages in which people give there opinion this is not what the page is for but it is something that seem to be very desired. The idea of a forum like page would be very useful talk pages offering review on movie pages for example could be something useful for picking a movie to see some times the page are just a spoilers and if there were reviews you could read the review without having the movie spoiled .To offten pages discussing politics or history are told from the POV of those who were in controll.Soldiers who served in Iraq offering stories about thier service would be very insightful all to often the little details are over looked. a simple story of one day in iraq telling what the berics were like how they ate this would never be in a normal encyclopedia but that's what is the benifit of wikipedia offering the most complete view . The incessant unceasing perpetual, continuous, nonstop, around/round-the-clock, uninterrupted, unbroken, unremitting, persistent, relentless, unrelenting, unrelieved, yalk over POV would be solved put the FACTS on the article and the OPINION on the talk/forum pag.If anyone likes my ideas and bad spellin and grammer and has Ideas on how to go about adding a forum tab to the top an eery page email me ==I am Nate Riley== 13:55, 19 June 2007 — Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.67.189.180 (talk • contribs)

This type of proposal should be discussed elsewhere - for example, Wikipedia:Village pump (proposals), and in fact has been, quite recently, so I won't rehash all the reasons why this is a bad idea. Please see WP:NOT - Wikipedia isn't a soapbox. Also, while it's true that article talk pages are often misused as forums to comment on the subject of the article, that is clearly a minority of the talk page postings, and the solution is to gently remind editors about the purpose of talk pages - to improve the articles. -- John Broughton (♫♫) 17:28, 19 June 2007 (UTC)

IP questions

Wikipedia states that if you author something, make changes, add to, etc., without using an ID, information may be acessible through your IP. How is this possible? I've been told by my bank, and also by the state police that tracing an IP is not possible. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.188.208.185 (talk) 17:56, August 28, 2007 (UTC)

Your bank is either wrong, or you totally misinterpreted what they were saying. In order to send and receive information across the internet, your IP is like an address for where the information goes and comes from. Otherwise, you wouldn't be able to see anything or send anything across the internet, and your IP is therefore sent along with everything you do so that you can receive confirmation that it was accepted. Wikipedia servers know your ip when you make changes, and when you make anonymous changes to wikipedia, your IP acts as your username. That way we can block you for a time if you're vandalizing, or discuss stuff with you if you make controversial edits that are in good faith. Understand? Gscshoyru 18:04, 28 August 2007 (UTC)

You can be traced via your IP address. Every internet service provider keeps records of what customer had what IP at what time. Anyone with your IP can find out what ISP you are using, however, they cannot find any personal information about you without cooperation from the ISP. If you were to constantly vandalize this website for instance, wikipedia could send the reports of vandalism to your ISP and they may send a letter issuing a warning for engaging in disruputive/illegal actions on the internet. They can also just cancel your service. The police CAN trace people via IP address. For most minor internet crimes and even some moderate ones, no action is normally taken. The police don't understand the internet as well as most of us, that's why they went to school to learn how to beat people up and handcuff them. Tainted42 18:52, 8 September 2007 (UTC)

--59.95.212.144 17:15, 2 September 2007 (UTC)jay jinendra

Yes, it is possible, though not easy

--Ninja Fabio (talk) 07:19, 20 November 2007 (UTC)

Using talk pages: link to one template?

The "Using talk pages" section says:

More recently, many Wikipedians have begun placing similar templates on their own talk pages with guidelines for posting messages and their reply policies.

But it doesn't give any specifics or starting point about the topic. Maybe it could mention:

[...], such as {{Usertalkback}} and similar.

It's a template that follows Wikipedia:Talk page templates guidelines and has a "See also" listing all similar templates.

There are options to express other forms of notifications, or fragmented discussions. Yes, I just made it ;-) — Komusou ^talk @ 20:05, 17 November 2007 (UTC)

well you realy cant unless you no their user name —Preceding unsigned comment added by Auredope11 (talk • contribs) 01:49, 19 December 2007 (UTC)

Can we ever?

 Done

Can we ever talk freely without having to relate to the article? If you guys that read this know where then tell me atSylvan wu (talk) 06:35, 11 December 2007 (UTC)

Response posted at user's talk page, copied here: Sorry, that's not the purpose of Wikipedia. In general, discussion on Wikipedia is about how to improve articles, or about Wikipedia. You might try searching the Internet for a web forum devoted to your field of interest. 18:16, 31 December 2007 (UTC)

plez help (electronics circuit design)

i need to find an electronic circuit design with the following discription:: it is required that you make an FM modulator and demodulator using PLL. The demodulator must have a PLL for FM demodulation. The modulator may or may not contain the PLL.it is required that you make an FM modulator and demodulator using PLL. The demodulator must have a PLL for FM demodulation. The modulator may or may not contain the PLL.... so anyone could plez replay at "sara.sharaf@hotmail.com" thanx inadvance —Preceding unsigned comment added by 41.235.72.174 (talk) 23:53, 28 January 2008 (UTC)

Please ask such questions at the reference desk. -- John Broughton (♫♫) 14:22, 1 February 2008 (UTC)

Rich desktop Applications

Rich Desktop Applications (RDA) are full-blown internet applications to the desktop. Adobe AIR, Google Gear and Microsoft WPF are the emerging platforms and one step further than Rich Internet Applications by being able to run the applications off-browser and off-line while still leveraging internet syntax. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Wmid (talk • contribs) 21:00, 3 February 2008 (UTC)

testing by xevo

this is xev's test page, can u see this deepu —Preceding unsigned comment added by Xevolutionwiki (talk • contribs) 06:09, 11 February 2008 (UTC)

Structure

Wouldn't it be helpful for a talk page to be structured with the same headings as its article page (with of course a general section somewhere)? I'm a pretty new editor, and it has been difficult and time-consuming to find discussion related to a particular section of an article. Searching for particular words doesn't cut it. Libcub (talk) 03:48, 12 February 2008 (UTC)

Policy for user talk pages

Should there not be a specific policy page regarding user talk pages? The policy on user talk pages seems to be that as a starting point:

• The user can delete anything on their talk page without archiving or answering.

However, this is not clearly stated in written policy. In fact only two pages seems to specify policy:

1. Wikipedia:Talk_page_guidelines#How_to_use_article_talk_pages states: "More latitude is extended for user talk pages. Policy does not prohibit users from removing comments from their own talk pages, though archiving is preferred. For more information, see Wikipedia:User page."
2. Wikipedia:User_page#Removal_of_comments.2C_warnings states: "Policy does not prohibit users from removing comments from their own talk pages, although archiving is preferred. The removal of a warning is taken as evidence that the warning has been read by the user. Deleted warnings can still be found in the page history."

Perhaps this could be cleared with a specific article dealing with user talk page policy? --Law Lord (talk) 16:36, 14 February 2008 (UTC)

Found something that is also relevant:

3. Wikipedia:Harassment#User_space_harassment states: "A user page is for the person to provide some general information about themself and a user talk page is to facilitate communication. Neither is intended as a 'wall of shame' and should not be used to display supposed problems with the user unless the account has been blocked as a result of those issues. Any sort of content which truly needs to be displayed, or removed, should be immediately brought to the attention of admins rather than edit warring to enforce your views on the content of someone else's user space."

Perhaps these could be combined to a policy page? --Law Lord (talk) 18:18, 14 February 2008 (UTC)

You're a bit premature in creating a new guideline without any consensus. I've reverted your change to Wikipedia:User talk page (it's again a redirect).

If you're absolutely dead set on creating a new page, make sure it's marked as a proposal, not as a formal guideline (no editor has the right to create a new guideline without community discussion first); use another name, not an existing redirect (you can change it later); and let other editors know via a village pump posting that you're making a proposal. -- John Broughton (♫♫) —Preceding comment was added at 22:06, 15 February 2008 (UTC)

It was not a new guideline. Instead it was direct quite from 3 guidelines that all have community consensus. --Law Lord (talk) 01:58, 16 February 2008 (UTC)

I've marked Wikipedia:User talk page as a proposal and explained my reasoning at Wikipedia:Village pump (policy)#Wikipedia:User talk page has been marked as a guideline. Darkspots (talk) 14:42, 16 February 2008 (UTC)

What would you like to know about tattoos/piercings?

(~~Kayla~~ Feb. 25, 2008)

 Hello my name is Kayla. 

Im starting this topic and asking all of you to help me out. I am writing a feature article for my school newspaper on tattoos/piercings. I'm wondering what people want to know and what they already know so if any of you could help me out with feedback that would be incrediable. Please recommend to all your friend who visit wikipedia. Thank You!! —Preceding unsigned comment added by Firefighterbabygurl (talk • contribs) 15:31, 25 February 2008 (UTC)

"Tinkerbell being called a pixie"

I have researched some sites on the internet concerning "Tinkerbell" because she has to be my favorite animated character.In my research I found that the official Disney character and also in the 1953 Peter Pan film,that Tinkerbell was indeed referred to as a "Pixie". They used the term "Pixie Dust" to describe the "Fairy Dust" that she used in the original book.In Disney statements and comments she has been said to sprinkle "Pixie Dust" with her wand.She now sprinkles "Fairy Dust" when she flies.Over time she became known as a fairy and it stuck.I hope this helps the person who posted the question earlier.Blueeyes-blue (talk) 18:09, 25 February 2008 (UTC)

hi!..........

hello, hi i am manjurani.m.dyade my one request is there sir, how talk english i don't know sir i am improving the english and i am also speeking english my one request sir tell me sir how to improve this is my question. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 59.99.32.86 (talk) 09:18, 26 February 2008 (UTC)

If you cant find something that your looking for what do you do?

I cant find Important Imports and Exports on Suriname please help me. —Preceding unsigned comment added by CountryGurl4321 (talk • contribs) 00:54, 27 February 2008 (UTC)

06:27, 4 March 2008 (UTC)Kanishk.apiit (talk)

I am writing a white-paper to be published in my University's newsletter on "Parallel Computing". A practical demonstration of the research will also be done.

I need some help regarding how to publish it on this website (here @ http://wikipedia.org/).

Kindly reply at my e-mail address.

Cheers, Kanishk

e-mail: < the.quaker@yahoo.com >

Kanishk.apiit (talk) 06:27, 4 March 2008 (UTC)

The dates are wrong.

I have noticed that the dates displayed on some pages for when they were last edited are a day off. Did someone forget that it is a leap year? So today would really be the 4 March 2008 instead of the third.

Wood Architecture

Wood architecture was a creation of Northern Russia, which was designed with great complexity, height and strength. This wood architecture was done without the use of metal nails or a saw. It was log construction and each log was laid horizontally and the bottom of every log was carved out to fit over the one under it, creating a waterproof seal. All cutting was done with an ax and the interior of the structure was ax hewn to a flat surface. This was all done by skilled but self-taught people and all techniques where passed down through generations. Ashelt21 (talk) 22:41, 10 March 2008 (UTC)ashelt21

I'm sorry lot...

Dear Mr Calton:

I'm sorry lot, I did not know that could not do that. The only reason that I have for redirect to my user page, it is because of the accent that bears my name Díaz. Because my user page was created without the accent, according to British standards, ie, Diaz. So, I thought that it was possible to make a redirection to my user page, which it is my real name of author, and which is not a nickname or alias. Georgeos Diaz-Montexano is the same which Georgeos Díaz-Montexano. If someone had written a page in Wikipedia about myself, studies, CV, investigations and discoveries, etc., and had appointed the page with my real name, Georgeos Díaz-Montexano, then I suppose that this problem would not exist. In any case, if you believe appropriate eliminate the redirect from the page Georgeos Díaz-Montexano to my user page Georgeos Diaz-Montexano, I accept with great respect your decision. My intentions are to collaborate in harmonious manner, peacefully and without conflict of any kind. I do not want to be a nuisance to anybody. I am very grateful for your notice, and suggestions. Kind regards, --Georgeos Díaz-Montexano (talk) 03:50, 11 March 2008 (UTC)

Looking for my Friend Brian

Please help me to find my friend Brian and Karen Hennessy, Last known area to reside is Cork, Cork Ireland. Brian, this is Hoagy Holguin from Anaheim, California USA. I attended your wedding there in Cork Ireland. You may contact me at.... thehoagyco@roadrunner.com """" —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.174.1.208 (talk) 03:49, 16 March 2008 (UTC)

KEITH VODKA

keith vodka is a myspace celebrity famous on myspace he lives in california. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Keithlush (talk • contribs) 05:34, 16 March 2008 (UTC)

MAKE A DIFFERENCE: We are an Organization of young people working amongst orphans and other unprivileged kids in India, to provide them with quality education so that one day it shall empower them to stand on their own feet and when the times comes fly away. We try not to grill into their heads the tedious school syllabus but instead prepare them face life better by improving their communication skills, computer skills and their overall personality. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Globe1012 (talk • contribs) 08:13, 17 March 2008 (UTC)

MAKE A DIFFERENCE: We are an Organization of young people working amongst orphans and other unprivileged kids in India, to provide them with quality education so that one day it shall empower them to stand on their own feet and when the times comes fly away. We try not to grill into their heads the tedious school syllabus but instead prepare them face life better by improving their communication skills, computer skills and their overall personality. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Globe1012 (talk • contribs) 08:14, 17 March 2008 (UTC)