User talk:Softlavender

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Oxford Interview?

Hi Softlavender hope you don't mind me reaching out. I'm a graduate researcher interested in global health and how its represented on Wiki, specifically the Burden of Disease Study and Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME). I noticed you've been involved in a lot of discussions surrounding the 2017 situation of paid editing re Vipul & Riceissa & Ethanbas. I have some outstanding questions about it. Would you be willing to speak with me on a 30-60 minute call?

Thanks for considering!

--Whiskiz (talk) 19:27, 19 April 2021 (UTC)

Hi Whiskiz, all of that activity now seems long ago and far away. The main person involved in bringing the issue to light is no longer on Wikipedia. I really don't have anything to say about it, much less 30-60 minutes' worth. I wish you luck and wish you well, but this is not something that I'm interested in doing. Softlavender (talk) 21:47, 19 April 2021 (UTC)

thanks you for the honest & timely response :D Whiskiz (talk) 09:03, 20 April 2021 (UTC)

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The Signpost: 25 April 2021

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Archiving of WP:AN/I

I have undone your archiving of a thread [1] regarding a WP:CBAN proposal of an editor. This discussion is still open, and needs to be closed by an uninvolved administrator. Please see WP:CBAN for further instructions, and please do not archive this thread again. If you have questions, let me know. Thanks, --Hammersoft (talk) 00:34, 14 May 2021 (UTC)

Thanks for catching that, Hammersoft. My error. Softlavender (talk) 01:17, 14 May 2021 (UTC)

• No worries. It's ok to make mistakes. Just make new ones :) --Hammersoft (talk) 02:34, 14 May 2021 (UTC)

• Ha! I had just looked at the purple box, and didn't really register the rest of the conversation, as for some reason there were so many zillions of old threads to archive. Thanks for alerting me, as I've now !voted in the poll. Softlavender (talk) 03:07, 14 May 2021 (UTC)

• Yeah, there were a large number of old threads that needed to be archived. I thought a bot archived WP:AN/I, or maybe it did and its offline. Thanks for archiving so many other very stale threads! --Hammersoft (talk) 11:18, 14 May 2021 (UTC)

• The bot hit a glitch and was not working correctly on ANI for about a week. I created a thread about it 11 days ago, and it seems to be working now. Softlavender (talk) 22:07, 24 May 2021 (UTC)

translation

Und ich wäre so gern Primadonna gewesen ("And I would have been happy to have been a primadonna") - tough. I didn't do a translation, - was the book translated? No talk about happiness in the original. Deepl offers ""And I would have loved to have been a prima donna." but I feel that "loved" is too strong, also there's this sweet undercurrent of irony that's probably impossible in English. The duplication of "have been" seems not elegant. Just food for thought. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 08:56, 26 May 2021 (UTC)

"I would have been" is correct idiomatic English for the subjunctive; "would have loved to have been" is more idiomatic than "would have been happy to have been". It's a humorously ironic title not meant to be taken seriously, and "Ich wäre so gern _____ gewesen" translates best to "I would have loved to have been ______" in idiomatic English. An alternative I think would be "I would gladly have been a primadonna", since "gern" commonly means "gladly" in most usages. Softlavender (talk) 09:01, 26 May 2021 (UTC)

Thank you, helped. (It keep amazing me how much is "loved" in English, while "lieben" is a quite selective thing in German.) --Gerda Arendt (talk) 09:07, 26 May 2021 (UTC)

Hi again Gerda. In this title, it all depends on the amount of outrageous irony that is intended. If the irony is mild, I think it should be "I would gladly have been a primadonna". I'm going to change it to that, if no objections. Softlavender (talk) 09:13, 26 May 2021 (UTC)

I think there's also another distinction that I'm not clear on. When she says that, does she mean "I would gladly have acted like a primadonna", or "I would have been glad to have been treated like (or been seen as) a primadonna"? I'm not really clear on that or on how "gewesen" is meant here -- did she secretly want to act like a primadonna, or secretly want to be treated like a primadonna? I think the answer to that would affect the English translation. Softlavender (talk) 09:29, 26 May 2021 (UTC)

I'd think she would not have meant only one, just that as a mezzo, you are more often supporting than leading. I think if she had meant only acting, she might have said "Und ich hätte so gerne Primadonna gespielt". I think we should not miss the "so" in the translation which is - at least in German - the key to the irony even in writing. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 09:45, 26 May 2021 (UTC)

Good point about mezzos; I see what you mean. Well, if we want to emphasize the irony (and the "so"), we should restore it to "I would have loved to have been". I'm fine either way. Softlavender (talk) 09:55, 26 May 2021 (UTC)

Feel free, both fine. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 10:33, 26 May 2021 (UTC)

I am with You , Kailas Jhaveri,

Published the Lord's day on Feb 29th 2004 Sri Aurobindo Ashram 605 002 Pondicherry Published on the Occcasion of the Mother 125 Birthday

SO this is not a self published Book ...You want to talk ? your friend Riquix does not SadirahFierg (talk) 04:55, 29 May 2021 (UTC)

Mike Salvino

We disagree on this one, which is fine. Either the sourcing has had a negative improvement since you accepted it, or it was always to PR pieces and press releases. I have not checked the detail. As a courtesy I am letting you know I have sent it to AfD. As a reviewer myself I make no comment at AfD about AfC acceptances, and I remain neutral on any of my own acceptances sent by others for deletion discussion.

I would not have rated it as C Class, had I accepted it. It is full of WP:BOMBARD, and is an obvious paid piece even without the paid declaration by the creating editor. It is, however, easy to be fooled by these allegedly well referenced drafts Fiddle^Timtrent Faddle^{Talk to me} 10:58, 8 June 2021 (UTC)

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Splitting discussion for John Gielgud, roles and awards

An article that you have been involved with (John Gielgud, roles and awards ) has content that is proposed to be removed and moved to another article (List of awards and nominations received by John Gielgud). Notice of this proposal has not been circulated by the nominator to contributors. If you are interested, please visit the discussion.

The article List of awards and nominations received by John Gielgud already exists and has been created duplicating material in the article John Gielgud, roles and awards: it has therefore been nominated for deletion, and the disucssion can be found here. Contributions to either or both discussions are welcomed.

Thank you. Smerus (talk) 15:27, 4 July 2021 (UTC)

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Hey, where have you been?

I realize you haven't been around much. I hope you're OK. EEng 05:43, 1 August 2021 (UTC)

Me, too. Today I was looking over an ANI discussion thinking, "I wonder what Softlavender would say" and realized I hadn't seen you in quite a while. Hope all is well and you're just busy. Liz ^{Read! Talk!} 04:43, 9 August 2021 (UTC)

Hey y'all, I signed up for a handful of classes and got very busy with coursework and homework. I am, however, thankfully well and in good health. I hope to be back on board more now, or quite soon. Thanks for your thoughts and comments, EEng and Liz! Have I missed anything? :) Softlavender (talk) 01:24, 11 August 2021 (UTC)

I don't visit ANI much any more which is strange because I hung out there so much when I was a novice editor. But problems seem more unresolvable than in the past or maybe I've stopped seeing situations in black & white. Because these days I mainly work with expiring drafts and categories, looking at page histories, I see the names of long-time editors who have been blocked over the past 12 months, some of whom are at the top of Wikipedians with Most Edits list. Kind of puts a big hole in the "Unblockables" theory. Having hundreds of thousands (or even millions) of edits doesn't mean you won't get blocked if you consistently flout the rules. Glad you're back! Liz ^{Read! Talk!} 01:42, 3 September 2021 (UTC)

Hi Liz, thanks for your comment. Yes, I had noticed that after you got the mop you focused mainly on mopping instead of ANI. Saw that with Oshwah as well; probably others including I think Johnuniq. Understandable, but too bad as we need thoughtful experienced people at ANI, and sometimes that number dwindles. Also, the threads aren't archiving enough for admins to see things that need attention -- it gets filled with too many threads at a time. I go through periods with ANI; right now it's generally too stressful and overwhelming and I like to focus on things or articles I care about. Wasn't entirely aware about the recent percentage of longterm editors being blocked! But I think everyone has less and less tolerance for bad behavior, and also ever since the FramBan thing the judges and juries have been more in a hanging mood. Anyway, nice to hear from you! I hope you are well. Softlavender (talk) 02:35, 3 September 2021 (UTC)

I still hassle a small number of people at ANI but I stay away from the pointless arguments. For example, there's someone named EEng who is always there after throwing outrageous slings or arrows such as calling an editor a pilgrim. Only those with terminal ennui would join a food fight like that. Johnuniq (talk) 03:32, 3 September 2021 (UTC)

He sounds like a jackass. Softlavender (talk) 03:35, 3 September 2021 (UTC)

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Personal attacks.

Hi Softlavender. You have made a variety of personal attacks against me [2] [3] and I would just like you to know that that is not in the spirit of collaboration and Wikipedia. I ask that you refrain from defiling and personally attacking me because I am trying to build a factual NPOV encyclopedia. We can have discussion on bias instead of throwing insults at each other. Thank you. ButterSlipper (talk) 01:36, 10 September 2021 (UTC)