User talk:The Duke of Waltham

The Office of The Duke of Waltham

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The Duke of Waltham

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"Auto-formatting is evil" • Westminster Palace workshop and watchlist

His Grace The Duke of Waltham

@This user can be reached by email.

This user contributes using a typewriter, and sends all contributions via snail mail.

Greetings, dear Wikipedian. My name is Harold Cartwright, and I am the Duke of Waltham's private secretary. On behalf of the Duke, I should like to welcome you to His Grace's talk page.

Here you may leave notices, announcements, or any other messages that could interest the Duke, and you may flatter him, request his assistance or advice (if you really think he's able to do anything on his own), discuss his actions on Wikipedia, or talk about matters of mutual interest. As this is a free speech venue, your criticism will be welcome as well. To be honest, I personally enjoy seeing negative comments about my employer, as his arrogance would become even more insufferable if left unchecked.

I probably need to clarify that, even though this page exists to accommodate all kinds of "talk", ranging from professional correspondence (i.e. messages pertaining to Wikipedia and the ongoing struggle for its improvement) to light-hearted conversation, it is not meant for discussion of matters in any way private. Messages of sensitive content ought to be e-mailed to His Grace instead, so that the required level of privacy can be ensured.

Please leave your posts at the bottom of this page and sign them with four tildes (~~~~), so that we shall know who is posting what and when. You are warned that unsigned posts do not merit a reply here and shall be summarily deleted; this is wholly within the poster's responsibility, I'm afraid.

Please note that His Grace follows a policy of keeping conversations unfragmented; in other words, an exchange that begins in one talk page should continue in that same talk page, in order to keep the discussion whole and intelligible. If a conversation has begun in a venue other than this, you need not answer here; you can rest assured that I shall notify the Duke about any new messages (through use of a designated watchlist).

You are requested not to edit anything in this page except for your own posts; any other changes shall be reverted on sight. It is also suggested that, if you must edit your posts, you should do so sparingly, as it is generally considered impolite to alter the content of posts that have already been answered to, or even read.

Old discussions are archived with extreme care, even though half of them do not deserve such treatment in the least. But who am I but a secretary, to be judging my boss's gossip. Well, for those interested, the archives are open to the public from 09:00 to 17:00, Mondays to Fridays.

Please don't leave any litter while you are here. There is a dustbin in the corner.

By the way, thank you for not smoking.

Have a nice day.

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Harry Potter and other (un)related stuff

...like education...

(I couldn't get on Wikipedia for a while, either. Freaked me out a bit.) Anyways, yes, the public education system here is absolutly horrible. I've gone to three different high schools looking for a decent one (and I'm only in my second year of high school), and I never found one. Some were slightly better than the other, but I ended up being homeschooled with an online private school. I have learned more in these past few months of this one school than I have in my entire public school career, believe it or not. I remember being frustrated in 8th grade (the equivalent of grade 9 in the U.K. I think) that our history teacher spent her hour and a half making us listen to her rap music instead of teaching us anything about history. She even looked shocked when we all failed our history exams, too. Lately, on my local news, they have even admited to saying that the public schools these days are nothing but drop out factories. Some schools are so bad with gang related problems, that police are routinely called out to help stop fights and riots. Just a month ago, the school that most of my friends go to, had a major riot. Fifteen kids went to jail, and one to the hospital with head injuries, along with a police officer who got stabbed. At that particular school, it's a daily occurance for fights to break out. I used to joke that the school should charge a cover charge for the fights we got to see, then maybe they'd be able to afford more rent-a-cops to control us. That school also has a day care for the many pregnant teens they have wondering their halls. Not to mention, the school was grossly over crowded. It was meant to hold only 1000 students, but was being forced to contain 1400 kids. Seems the whole world is falling apart, if we can't even keep kids in order, let alone the adults. Did you know that most people in the U.S. believe global warming to be a hoax. The CBS national news reported about a year ago, that it was possible that global warming was just a hoax, and since then, it has been nearly impossible to convince anyone otherwise. It absolutly bewilders me how anyone can say that all the smog around our cities, and the rapidly falling and rising temperatures can be normal. Actually, tomorrow it is supposed to be 70 degrees F, then on Wednesday, it is to be no higher than 50 degrees F. I mean, that's a 20 degree difference in ONE day. Yet no one will believe it. And I can't even imagine what would happen if all the gasoline were to be gone. I remember shortly after September 11, everyone was rushing to get as much food and gasoline as they could. People were stealing gasoline, and ramming cars to get others to move along. And that was just with the possiblity of the price going up. Imagine if it were all gone. I don't remember where I heard it, but sometime shortly after that, they reported that the U.S. oil reserves had just enough to last the country just a few days. But with the way people would be hoarding, it would get to few people in even less time. And I fear the worst has yet to come. kkarma 03:22, 18 March 2008 (UTC)

Sorry for the delay, but I've been quite busy lately, both here (you should see my edit count; I've done more edits this month than in any other month before, and it is still the twenty-first) and in so-called Real Life.

As far as education in Greece is concerned, the system is mediocre: neither especially good nor exceptionally bad. The basic problem is that it encourages pointless memorising, and a lot of the things the students are taught are unlikely to stick in their minds for long. This is why there is such a lacking knowledge of history, geography, elementary physics, and biology, and why proper language skills are hard to find. (Not to speak of anything more advanced...) These are things everybody is supposed to know, yet relatively few do. Unacceptably few. Thankfully, we don't have any major violence problems. Large-scale fighting and shootings are virtually unknown in Greece, as is violent crime in general. Well, sort of. We do have a rise in robberies, and many elderly people get seriously beaten up for their meagre pensions, and we have a major problem with violence in football games, but, although we are not exactly Japan, we are relatively safe. People tired of crime could find some peace here (depending on the locality, of course).

All that said, we have a drug problem in urban areas, although not widespread in the tender ages. Smoking is much more popular, in all areas and in most ages. And our greatest problem is... Obesity. Greek children are the fattest in Europe.

When it comes to the environment, things do look gloomy. The little progress Europe is trying to make is rapidly counter-balanced by the growing economies (and fumes) of developing countries, with China and India as the ringleaders. The United States are no help, with a Texan president at the mercy of oil companies reversing the few green steps Clinton has taken, and various scientists being paid to erode the credibility of global warming amongst the American public; the country is the world's greatest polluter, yet it prefers to ignore an internationally recognised phenomenon in order to maintain its short-term profits. It gives foreigners (especially those in countries suffering the consequences, like poor Tuvalu) yet another reason to hate the United States. It's nothing to wonder about.

Not that Greece is better. People here are insane; while the rest of Europe is planning a green future, here they plan power plants that burn fossil fuel. And it's not even the kind found in Greece, which used to be the main excuse for building more such plants due to its low cost; this one is going to be imported. Madness, I'm telling you. It's only natural that people in all of the areas where such plants are scheduled to be built have risen in protest. Waltham, The Duke of 21:22, 21 March 2008 (UTC)

Drugs are a for-sure problem here. My first day in middle school, (at the tender age of eleven) some guy tried to sell me crack. It's ridiculous. By the next school year, most of my friends were smoking pot and cigarettes, and breaking into the coke and candy machines. Speaking of candy machines, obesity is horrid here, too. I think the US is one of the worst countries in that area, too. There should be some sort of international wall of shame, or something.
As for the world slowly wasting away at the hands of humans, we should run out of fossil fuels and such within the next century, shouldn't we? Maybe the decline in production will scare leaders into making decisions that leave a bigger impact, in a good way. If not, the world's population (that uses cars, anyway) will go bankrupt trying to pay for the gasoline to get to work and such, as the supply drops and the demand gets higher. (Thanks for putting this in sections. Poor Cartwright; you'll probably decide to archive this in the wee hours of the morning (again), and wake his poor blessed soul, yet again. kkarma 04:30, 23 March 2008 (UTC)

Perhaps that fellow was trying to sell you crackers and you didn't hear well. I hope you didn't offend him.

In all seriousness, though, drugs must be the stupidest (for the buyers) and most immoral thing (for the sellers) in the world. I consider starting smoking despite knowing perfectly well its consequences an extremely unintelligent thing to do; imagine what I think about paying huge amounts of money—and doing anything to pay—in order to become a slave to some kind of dust, potentially filling one's body with holes in the process, which can only lead to a miserable life up to an unavoidably premature, ignominious, and highly painful death. And to think of those thousands people who get rich by selling this fate to thousands of poor souls each... It makes you wonder about human nature, really. How important can money be to a person? (And I'm not talking about the small producers who barely make the ends meet; I am referring to the "barons".)

I've heard several things about obesity in the United States. If I remember correctly, I read a few years back that 62% of Americans was obese, and that percentage must be even higher now (but you know what they say about statistics: 96.42% of them are made on the spot). I've also heard that the average width of theatre seats was widened thrice during the last century or so. In any case, a great part of the problem seems to lie with the over-sized portions. The bigger the portions, the more people eat. I can eat a medium-sized pizza on my own here, but I'm not sure I could do that across the "pond". And it is, of course a matter of culture. There are also genetic reasons (obesity in Greece and Finland is, at least partly, based on the fact that these peoples used to be frugal in their eating habits, leading to their bodies conserving more fat, with disastrous consequences for their wealthier and better-fed descendants). This might also be true about some ethnic groups in America, although, honestly, I don't know what common cause could exist in such a complex genetic make-up. But I am no expert.

Big decisions will be taken sooner or later; I am only worried that they might be taken too late, and that the situation with global warming, depletion of fresh water reserves, deforestation, the ozone hole, and various other environmental issues will be irreversible. As far as oil production is concerned, I should suggest Peak oil, Hubbert peak theory, and related articles. They make for an interesting read, save the complex maths part.

I have no pity for Cartwright, and nor should you. He deserves such a fate more than any one else would. However, this does not mean that I shall get out of my way simply to torture him. My convenience is paramount—if I see fit to archive at noon, I shall do so with a passing sigh. Waltham, The Duke of 13:16, 23 March 2008 (UTC)

PS: As it turns out, I have just done so. (Although, technically, it is not noon but afternoon). Waltham, The Duke of 13:27, 23 March 2008 (UTC)

No, I heard well. And I saw well, too. The guy held up a bag full of smaller bags filled with a white clumpy powder. But of course, maybe it was just white rock candy.
As for obesity in the US, I'm sure it is around 70 per cent or higher, but most websites claim that women are 62% obese or overweight, while men are 67% obese or overweight. Kids are around 30%. And you would think with how weight obsessed we are here, (with all the stalking of celebrities and such) that we would all be a bit smaller. But, that's where Anorexia comes in, I suppose. And as for genetic make-ups predisposing people to obesity, it would be really hard to say that, since we are so mixed. But, with the global famine and (as you mentioned) water drought that is probably soon to come, we'd all better fatten up.
I've just heard last night about a seed bank that they built in the arctic. But what I don't understand about it, is if it's so indestructable, how are we to get into it if the world falls apart? And then, if we do get into it, how do we decide who gets what? It was a minor step in the right direction, but I don't think it was thought all the way through. Or, maybe it was, and they're planning on keeping it all to themselves. (I can hear the conspiracy theories now...) kkarma 17:52, 24 March 2008 (UTC)
PS: I shall always feel bad for Cartwright while he is under your rule, Duke. :D kkarma

First of all, you should know that I shall generally answer with a lower-than-before frequency from now on; I am quite busy both on-line and off-line.

About weight, it would seem that the traditional roles have been reversed: a rotund figure used to mean that one had enough money to be able to eat well on a regular basis, with kings in the Middle Ages often required to prove their eating skills on the table. Now the norm is for the poor people to be obese because of fattening fast food, while the rich people have the resources to keep themselves fit. In much the same way, having a tan was once the symbol of manual labour, contrasted with the white skin of the upper classes. Now, of course, the pale complexion shows that one is restricted to working in the office, while the rich enjoy themselves holidaying at warmer climates.

The seed bank (about which I heard three or four weeks ago) is supposed to store samples of seeds, in case these plant varieties become, for some reason, extinct. They will be used for the re-generation of their respective species, not to re-populate the planet themselves. In any case, I don't think these seeds will ever be left unguarded; the facility will probably be manned at all times (it's a bank, after all).

PS: All that said, I have started feeling sorry for you, kkarma. I do pity all people who "feel bad for Cartwright", especially when they know what a nasty piece of work he is.

PPS: What about Earth Hour? Was there any noticeable difference in your vicinity yesterday at 20:00? Waltham, The Duke of 04:42, 30 March 2008 (UTC)

...and the environment

Everyone deserves a little bit of sympathy, even Cartwright.
As for Earth Hour, the only noticable thing was that Google's page was black instead of white, which I only noticed after friends started calling saying how cool it looked. Otherwise, the downtown part of the city was as bright as usual.
And don't worry about rushing to answer my replies. (As if a Duke would worry about answering lowly subjects, anyhow.) I'm sure the less frequent conversation will at least prolong Cartwright's impending late night archiving endeavours. kkarma 19:40, 30 March 2008 (UTC)

Same here—sorry to say, most people are not that eager to do anything to contribute to the environment. I wanted to observe Earth Hour myself, but, as it turns out, I was in a fellow student's flat, working on a team project for school; I returned home at about 20:40, having completely forgotten about the whole thing until I was reminded by the nine o'clock news.

For the record, I did check the Google website, but saw nothing. Perhaps it was too early, and Google only used the darkened background for the American evening.

I do enjoy prolonging Cartwright's agony, having him impatiently waiting for the inevitable next archiving. In any case, I agree that people like you are not worth my time, but should note that this case is different, as I find you useful. For now, that is. Ensure that this state of affairs does not change, or the consequences could be dire (for you). Waltham, The Duke of 23:16, 30 March 2008 (UTC)

I'm sure people would be more eager if we could somehow show them how the world is going to be soon, if they don't do something.
And does everyone else in the world say 'flat' instead of 'apartment' or 'house'? I thought only people in the UK said 'flat'.
I hope to never see the day that I prove to be unuseful (and for that to happen, I need to figure out how I am useful). At least, if I do live to see that day, I have a feeling I won't live to see very much of it. kkarma 01:15, 31 March 2008 (UTC)

Most Europeans seem to be aware of at least many of the aspects of the future, in terms of environmental damage—from what I've seen, many Americans are as well, even if only because it's the new fashion launched by Hollywood. I have watched all sorts of highly interesting documentaries on the subject, actually (I generally watch lots of documentaries, with those by the BBC, the Discovery Channel, and the National Geographic Channel being the best by far). Books are also published—I remember having read a review about a specific one which has disturbing and very realistic images of how familiar cities and landscapes will look in the future because of the effects of global warming—and articles about the environment are included in most newspapers and magazines. You've also seen that symbolic movements like Earth Hour are successful; Earth Hour's impact might not have been great everywhere, but it's only the second year. The world is waking up, kkarma. More governments are starting planning a green future as time passes, and more corporations realise that it is more profitable long-term to be green (and it's good for sales). Even if it is in most of the cases for purely selfish motives, being green is becoming ever more popular. I am optimistic as far as the new green revolution is concerned. I am not very optimistic as far as its eventual success is concerned because of the increasing pollution generated in China and India, and because of how delayed all this progress is. But again, it is our generation that will first see how successful or failed the course humanity has taken truly is. All we have to do is wait. (Sounds easy, doesn't it?)

Notes: I use British English, so I use words like flat and lorry. You are useful because thanks to you I have Cartwright work more. Your feeling is correct; if you stop being useful, you won't live to see the Beijing Olympics. End of message. Waltham, The Duke of 09:46, 1 April 2008 (UTC)

It does sound easy to just sit and wait to see what happens; but scary, too, for what will probably happen. As for hearing about it on the news... I stopped watching the news a lot, because of all the Obama and Clinton fighting. I was about ready to throw my t.v. out into the yard. So, now I just read about stuff that sounds weird on the internet. (As for being useful... I intend to never shut up, now. Unless your royal Dukeness gives me permission, that is.  :]) Sorry, Cartwright! kkarma 21:59, 1 April 2008 (UTC)

The next step for venue succession boxes

I'm sure that Cartwright will be much happier once the earlier thread is archived. My only question is what should the next step be regarding this topic once I am caught up with my weeding and tilling? You had mentioning something about discussion at SBS later this month. Your humble under-gardener, Gwguffey (talk) 18:40, 12 March 2008 (UTC)

He wasn't exactly delighted, but he was certainly more pleasant than usual. He's not a cheerful chap, you know. As far as the template is concerned, it should be introduced to the noble Succession Box Standardization WikiProject as soon as possible. As my March agenda has not yet been implemented, thanks to a drop in activity, I can modify my plans. The problem is that I must muster the members first, so that discussion can happen. I shall notify you when the time is right, so that you can present your template there. Hopefully, this will not take long. In the meanwhile, you can take care of the rose bushes. Waltham, The Duke of 02:20, 13 March 2008 (UTC)

Forgive the long delay, but it seems that most people have been away due to the so-called Spring Break. I am hoping that they shall return soon; when they do, this template shall be the first item of the agenda, I assure you. I wish I could do something more—we have already lost a month in SBS. Waltham, The Duke of 12:57, 27 March 2008 (UTC)

Thank you for the update. I, too, have been following the sbs talk page and your frustration is apparent. Hopefully, folks will wander back soon. Off to finish up my weeding....Gwguffey (talk)

Your reward, Your Grace, The Duke of Waltham

User:ComputerGuy890100/HiddenLinkAward You may put the following code onto your awards area to show you have been on my secret area.

Code:{{User:ComputerGuy890100/HiddenLinkAward|The Duke of Waltham}}

ComputerGuy890100^Talk_Polls 23:37, 12 March 2008 (UTC)

Why, thank you, Computer Guy. Although I do not intend to use it (as I have found scores of such pages and using all the barnstars would be simply unwieldy), I nevertheless appreciate the gesture. Your name has been duly included in the relevant box in my "real user page". Waltham, The Duke of 02:20, 13 March 2008 (UTC)

Thanks, I think!

>If you want us to stop taking you seriously, you're trying too hard. (evil grin) - Dan Dank55 (talk) 14:37, 15 March 2008 (UTC)

Just a bit of evil advice there, Dank. Cheers, Waltham, The Duke of 15:20, 15 March 2008 (UTC)

Re: UK spelling on the main page

On main page errors: "I have noticed the word "centre" in the fifth hook. It seemed strange to me because I am used to seeing American English in the Main Page. Is "centre" an error or is the practice with language variants more complex than I thought?"

Usually DYK hooks reflect the language of the article, so an article about London would usually feature UK spelling. Regards, Espresso Addict (talk) 01:53, 17 March 2008 (UTC)

I was going to reply on WP:ERRORS, but thought it more important to update DYK at your Grace's chiding! I agree with Espresso Addict, and would point out Wikipedia:Manual of Style#National varieties of English. I'd also add that the creator of the article in question is, according to his/her user page, American, so bonus points to him/her for the "correct" usage! Regards, Bencherlite^Talk 02:10, 17 March 2008 (UTC)

Bravo indeed. Now, I am aware of ENGVAR, but I did not know the extent of its application on the Main Page. I suppose the anniversaries are treated similarly? Waltham, The Duke of 02:16, 17 March 2008 (UTC)

I have no idea about anniversaries, as I don't touch that particular minefield, but I can't see why it would differ. AFAICT, the one that generates the most discussion is how to describe the game of 11 per side kicking a medium-sized leather/leather substitute ball towards a goal: is it "soccer", or "Association Football", or "football (soccer)", or "football-and-Americans-just-have-to-get-used-to-the-fact-that-what-they-call-'football'-nobody-else-calls-football-unless-the-word-'American'-precedes-it"? Ugh, no thanks. I'll stick to calmer waters! Bencherlite^Talk 02:20, 17 March 2008 (UTC)

Hehe. I've heard of the conflict, and I'm glad I am not a part of it. (To be honest, though, I don't really like the trailing parenthesis that much.) In any case, thank you both for your prompt and helpful response to my query. Regards, Waltham, The Duke of 02:53, 17 March 2008 (UTC)

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Hidden Page

User:Destructo 087/Userboxes/Hiddenpage--Destructo^{Talk to me} 02:31, 20 March 2008 (UTC)

Dashes in page titles?

I didn't think of that until you mentioned it. I can't think at the moment of a good reason for a dash in a page title, but I can think of bad reasons. Do you know of any pages currently with dashes in the title? - Dan Dank55 (talk) 13:41, 21 March 2008 (UTC)

I shall provide some basic categorisation, so that you can get the bigger picture. Each of the following categories includes from tens to hundreds of articles. Ahem:

• Periods (e.g. Cretaceous–Tertiary extinction event, List of North Carolina hurricanes (1950–1979))
• Bilateral relations (e.g. Canada – United States relations)
• Wars and conflicts (e.g. Franco–Prussian War)
• Compounds used in scientific terminology (e.g. Eye–hand span)
• All sorts of other relations (e.g. Melbourne–Voyager collision, Michelson–Morley experiment)
• Date ranges for disambiguation (e.g. Cretan War (1645–1669))

All of them perfectly legitimate reasons to include dashes, woudln't you agree?

In general, if a dash must be used in a title, then the correct dash must be used; if that would be an en-dash, then there should exist a version with a hyphen as a redirect. Waltham, The Duke of 17:01, 21 March 2008 (UTC)

Well, I'll concede that there are good reasons for a dash in a page title, but ... my god, what a mess. I'll read the relevant style manuals. - Dan Dank55 (talk) 17:26, 21 March 2008 (UTC)

I'm warning you that there is little to read; the Naming Conventions say "use the Manual of Style", and the Manual of Style has this.

Several times you have doubted me so far, and my views have always proven to be undisputably wise and sound. Perhaps you ought to simply stop questioning me? :-D Waltham, The Duke of 19:12, 21 March 2008 (UTC)

Indubitably. - Dan Dank55 (talk) 21:30, 21 March 2008 (UTC)

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Dash question

Hello, I see you are on a mission to standardize dashes/hyphens in Wikipedia... So let me ask you if this guy Vincas Mickevičius-Kapsukas should also use en dash? Renata (talk) 17:06, 30 March 2008 (UTC)

Hello, Renata. I am just embarking on this dash-related journey, but I do hope to make a difference in the long run. In any case, a couple of points regarding the guidelines on dashes are sometimes a little unclear, especially when it comes to some fine differences; these are usually decided on a case-by-case basis.

Surnames can be debatable, and the issue has been recently brought up (here), even though it was not analysed in depth. In general, most surnames are hyphenated, and that is the safe option to take; I think en-dashing in these cases only has to do with titles, but I could be wrong. This looks like a proper surname, so I should say that a hyphen is in order. Besides, even if I were equally split between the two options, the hyphen would be the one least likely to be changed by someone.

I hope I have been of assistance. Waltham, The Duke of 19:22, 30 March 2008 (UTC)

PS: The image at the bottom of your user page is, arguably, self-referential (see "Unfunny memes"). :-D Waltham, The Duke of 23:16, 30 March 2008 (UTC)

Sorry for late reply. So that means he should stay where he is. Ok, fine with me. As for the image, I put it up there as a NPOV balance to rant on Britannica. At the time I believed in it, now I think I changed my mind. Thanks, Renata (talk) 03:17, 4 April 2008 (UTC)

Comment on AN/I

In case you were in any doubt whatsoever, I was joking. Dr. Tim Vickers (talk) 22:32, 1 April 2008 (UTC)

Perhaps you were, perhaps you were not. Who is to decide it? Certainly not you.

(This is my idea of a joke. :-)) Waltham, The Duke of 22:44, 1 April 2008 (UTC)

		The Random Acts of Kindness Barnstar
		A peace offering, to mend any broken fences in your estates. Tim Vickers (talk) 15:33, 2 April 2008 (UTC)

Ah, thank you so much, Dr Vickers, you needn't have. Well, maybe you did. :-D

Peace offer taken. I'll try to return the favour sometime. Waltham, The Duke of 02:25, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

WT:SBS

I recognized your outrageous April Fools' Day Joke and played off of it with all my heart. Perhaps the days of making fun of Infoboxes is over, especially since they really are creeping up and taking over many succession boxes. Perhaps a truce with the infobox team could make some nicer cooperative projects (hmm?). Anyway, I did enjoy your declaration, scanned and all, it reminds me of similar proclamations I made in high school, although I never did have or create a crest quite like yours. I will go to the talk page at once to clarify my position.

Regarding other matters of state, feel free to ask for technical help; I will work where I can in my limited capabilities. I have basically resigned most of my usual functions at Wikipedia due to too many other projects I find more pressing (plus continued graduate school problems that have haunted this whole semester). Oh, and learning French is almost as bad as trying to understand a French person. Right! One editor informed me of a problem with Template:s-ref that makes it so certain websites will not properly load as a note. Still note sure where the problems comes from but I have been selectively working on it in my rare bouts of free time, so if you have any further problems or plans, run them by me.

Alright, that is enough for now. May your excellence continue to grow in excellence. Happy April Fools' Day, may the next be as humiforous as the previous!
–Darius von Whaleyland, Great Khan of the Barbarian Horde 05:56, 2 April 2008 (UTC)

Mostly just to make a point, I went to Napoleon Bonaparte's page and to the ugly pair of infoboxes, went to their source pages, utterly destroyed them and downgraded them to neat, concise, collapsible info boxes, and removed all instances of the previous two ugly ones (as well as the ugly one that was on the Legitimist Pretenders to France pages). In addition, I created a template for Carolingian Kings of the Franks since someone had missed that step when making Merovingian and Capetian collapsible infoboxes. Ha! Take that infobox-happy peoples! I still got it (breathes heavily while the world spins). Wow, is it really 3 AM? I need to go to bed. Toodles! (struts off as if he just had three Red Bulls and too much rum.
–Darius von Whaleyland, Great Khan of the Barbarian Horde 10:03, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

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A Reply and Request

I will quickly reply to just a few of the notes you made and reply in full at a later point in time (soon, though). Some of my editing mishaps is because I am running my Mac in Windows XP mode which limits some of my abilities more than I like to admit. Yes, I know how to use PCs, I just hate doing so. I will systematically replace all dashes with n-dashes from my new templates tomorrow, rest assured. I suppose I can also remove useless year links as well, since they are, well, useless. In fact, I find most year links useless even when not on a succession list.

On other notes, I archived my talk page finally. You were right, I never had archived it and it really need to be cleaned. Fhew! I also reverted my default "skin" to MonoType (default) so when I edit, I actually can see exactly how non-signed in users will view the tables (better for editing I suppose). Finally, and this is the best part, I enabled email receipt so you can email me to your heart's content. Ironically, though, you yourself do not have it enabled. I tried to email you but to no avail. As soon as you enable you email link, we can communicate via that mode. I have used Skype before, and have accounts on Google Talk, AOL Instant Messenger, Yahoo!, and others, but I have really given up on all of them mostly because live talking consumes a lot of time. I think email would be the best and I do check that the most frequently and reply the most eagerly. Plus, I don't have to format as much as I type. Ok, enable your email or contact me and we can chat some more. As for now, I am going to try and ACTUALLY get my personal work done, since today has been somewhat of a Wiki revival day. Cheers!
–Darius von Whaleyland, Great Khan of the Barbarian Horde 06:18, 4 April 2008 (UTC)