User talk:Boson

Hi Boson, Thanks for the welcome message! As you know, I am inexperienced here and I was pleased and surprised that "someone" stumbled over the article and took the time to proofread it, spiff it up, and get it in conformance with Wikipedia conventions. Thanks also for the links. Mary Masters 16:15, 3 August 2007 (UTC)

WikiProject Europe Proposal

Hi, I was wondering if you would be interested in participating in a new "WikiProject:Europe"? It would cover non-EU pan European elements and more national elements where there isn't a project to cover it (e.g. there is no project for Slovenia). I am just trying to get an idea of numbers before I propose it but if you have comments on the idea please see the Discussion on WPEU. Thanks for your time! - J Logan ^t: 08:36, 18 August 2007 (UTC)

Barnstar

		The Working Man's Barnstar
		You have some how been finding and tagging every EU article with our project banner, how you have managed to keep doing such a repetitive task for so long is beyond me! I award you the Working Man's Barnstar! Your work may not be exciting, but it is essential and hasn't gone unnoticed. - J Logan t: 08:18, 25 August 2007 (UTC)

Thanks!--Boson 19:38, 25 August 2007 (UTC)

EU page

Hi, sorry to bring up the European Union article again, I know it can get tedious. Basically it is about the city table. Small point but we've been wanting to replace it, thus far Lear has been the only one wanting the old and has reverted any changes. A summery of options has been written up, I'd appreciate it if you'd give a comment. Don't mind what you pick as it will either help convince Lear to compromise for once or it will legitimise what he is doing (if he has support I don't mind, so long as it is not him alone). See here for the summery. If you could pop an opinion I'd be grateful before it turns into 3 pages of "standard content" vs "consensus" again. I understand if you don't want to or don't have time to. Thanks! - J Logan ^t: 13:39, 28 August 2007 (UTC)

Hey, good to see you still working around. Sorry to bring this up again again and again, we've got another summery: numbers of cities. If you have time I'd be greatful if you could drop a comment. Thanks. - J Logan ^t: 07:10, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

Ireland / Rep. of Ireland

"attempt to avoid confusion while respecting sensitivities of those on both sides of the border."

There is no consusion. The only official name of the State is 'Ireland' or 'Éire'. 'Rep. of Ireland' is only an official description. If you believe this is causing confusion, perhaps you should change the UK to it's long form name 'United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland'. Wiki01916 08:31, 26 September 2007 (UTC)

I see no need to use the full official names. We don't do that for the other countries. The point (to me) is that people who do not already know the facts might think that "Ireland" actually refers to a single state covering the whole island and that there are therefore no significant differences between northern and southern Ireland. Especially in an EU context this is not the case, for instance: the euro is not legal tender in Northern Ireland, EU labour laws apply differently, and there are potential differences in the free movement of nationals from new members in eastern Europe. The potential for confusion is indicated by another editor's comment to the effect that it doesn't really matter, since both parts of Ireland belong to the EU. This is why -- though I understand the logic behind using "Ireland -- I think it is best to disambiguate in parentheses. It would be possible to use "The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland", but that might be even more confusing, since Northern Ireland would (lingusitically) appear to be part of "Ireland". Personally, I have nothing against "Éire'", but I don't think it would be understood internationally by itself. Would "Ireland (Éire)" "be acceptable?--Boson 18:02, 26 September 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for the reply, Boson.

I believe that it should be left as just 'Ireland'.

'Republic of Ireland' (ROI) is usually used in articles that relate to Ireland / N.Ireland, when one must distinguish between the two political entities. 'Éire' is the official name of the State in Irish, so you wouldn't use it in an English language article, just as you wouldn't use 'España', for example. 'Éire' is also the Irish name for the whole island of Ireland.

The majority of Wiki articles refer to the ROI as just 'Ireland'. Are you suggesting that these should be changed too? I don't see why the EU article should be any different.

I can find countless examples where 'Ireland' is used instead of ROI by doing a quick search on Google for "members of the EU".

• Wiki - EU States
• The European Commission's Delegation - Members of the EU
• Europa - EU Countries
• US Department of State - EU States
• France Diplomatie - EU members
• About.com - EU Members
• Advice Guide - Members of the EU
• CRW Flags - EU States

Conclusion:

"Ireland" is the only offical name of the State and it the name is officially recognised as the sovereign State occupying five-sixths of the island.

Look forward to a response. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Wiki01916 (talk • contribs) 04:55, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

I'm not too worried about leaving "Ireland" in this context, though I would have preferred to add the descriptive phrase "Republic of Ireland" for disambiguation/clarity. The politicians have unfortunately presented us with a problem that is not easily soluble. If we want to use the official names there is a danger of being counterfactual or ambiguous (or at least appearing to express a POV). The same problem existed with West Germany before reunification, but at least it was only the short name (Germany) that was ambiguous. Some would have claimed that "Federal Republic of Germany" was counterfactual; I believe there were diplomatic problems with Spain because the Germans didn't want to accept that one could not distinguish between "Federal Republic of Germany" and "German Federal Republic".--Boson 15:08, 30 September 2007 (UTC)

European Union Emission Trading Scheme

Hi Boson, you added the tag "inline citations needed" to the article European_Union_Emission_Trading_Scheme. Could you please be a little more specific. Which facts are not supported by citations? Maybe we could change the tag for specific hints, using the "Fact-tag". Thanx, --Spitzl 17:08, 12 October 2007 (UTC)

I was attempting to address a couple of minor concerns:

1. there are no full citations (including date of access etc.) in a "References" section. This is not a great problem as long as there are only inline links with no references to print matter, but I'm not sure what happens if such references are added. Personally, I would prefer use of footnotes with ref/reflist and {{Cite web}} but I didn't want to interfere with any differing consensus.
2. I think two statements could do with citations:

• the first sentence ("is the largest . . .")
• the statement about "infringement proceedings against Austria" etc.

The {{Nofootnotes}} template I used was probably not the best choice, so please feel free to alter as you think fit. --Boson 21:24, 12 October 2007 (UTC)

Thanx for your quick answer. I agree with your concern about the references. I would also use "cite web" etc, but there are different styles. The problem is, I'm not sure how specific information about the source is presented using the current style. So I'll leave it the way it is. I will replace your nofootnote-tag and add fact-tags to the statements you are concerned with. --Spitzl 18:48, 13 October 2007 (UTC)

ECTS grading scale

Hi, Boson. I noticed you added a merge tag to the ECTS grading scale article. Well, I've been expanding it and I'd like to know your opinion about how it is now. Do you think the merge tag should still be kept? Waldir 13:24, 21 October 2007 (UTC)

Hi Boson, thanks for your reply I am still not done with that article, but as far as I'm concerned, it wont change much more. I'll wait for some time and if nobody says anything I'll remove the fusion tag. :) Waldir 16:35, 22 October 2007 (UTC)

Well, after a while, nobody pronouciated in favor or against the removal of the tags, so I did it :) Thanks for your help. Waldir 11:45, 10 November 2007 (UTC)

Nürtingen

I removed the tag. At first, I didn't realise that the EU project was only for the broad scope of things, but I will be glad to help any way I can. If there is any special thing I can do to help please let me know. Illinois2011 | Talk 20:24, 9 November 2007 (UTC)

Comment ?

Maybe you want to comment this [1]. Lear 21 01:54, 12 November 2007 (UTC)

Did you ever voted and commented here? : [2], [3], [4]