User talk:Alexandermcnabb

A page you started (Al Heera) has been reviewed!

Thanks for creating Al Heera, Alexandermcnabb!

Wikipedia editor Upjav just reviewed your page, and wrote this note for you:

Thanks for your article creation! Keep up the good work!

To reply, leave a comment on Upjav's talk page.

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Redirect

Hi Alexandermcnabb, You can create a redirect by typing (ignoring quotes) "#REDIRECT [[article you want to direct to]]" on the page. If you'd like to give it a shot, just delete what you have on there, and then create the redirect using the above markup to redirect to the proper page. You can also consult Help:Redirect if you need to. If you have any other Wikipedia questions, general life questions, or whatever, feel free to shoot me a message. Upjav (talk) 06:25, 4 September 2014 (UTC)

Oh, I misread what you had left on my talk page. (I also don't know why all my posts are in such a small font.) I think this merits a merge, which you can propose here: Wikipedia:Proposed_mergers#NEW_REQUESTS. The resulting merger should create a redirect from the "wrong" page to your new page.

I'd say this is the best way to do it, because there could be some controversy over what is deemed the "proper" name. (On Google, for example, Al Hayrah has 15x more results than Al Heera). I hope this suffices for you. Upjav (talk) 06:43, 4 September 2014 (UTC)

Hello Alexandermcnabb. I declined your technical move request for Al Hayrah, because that would have overwritten the version of the article that has the most content. Few people will object if you just carry out a merge. Consider copying the new text you wrote from Al Heera to Al Hayrah. Per Upjav (above) it is likely that Al Hayrah is the WP:COMMONNAME in English. Then replace Al Heera with a redirect to Al Hayrah. If you don't agree with the name, you have the option of a formal move discussion. Ask anyone how to do that. Thanks, EdJohnston (talk) 14:41, 4 September 2014 (UTC)

Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum

The way I would move forward is to ask Jimofbleak what sections seem to promotional and why. Once he outlines specific problems the article can be worked on in that way. WhisperToMe (talk) 10:52, 5 November 2014 (UTC)

Given the history of this and previous versions of this article, I don't think it's a failure of good faith to be wary with this one. The version I saw was hagiographic in tone, as you appear to accept, with not a hint of criticism, and there had been at least two moves to page names which added honorifics and titles in breech of our guidelines (both, of course rolled back). I accepted WhisperToMe's advice, and I look forward to further progress to neutrality. One sentence that caught my eye was Sheikh Mohammed has been responsible for the creation and rapid growth of a number of businesses and key economic assets..., which seems both promotional and unsourced Jimfbleak - talk to me? 16:30, 5 November 2014 (UTC)

Articles don't have to be critical, and it's not your responsibility to add criticism. The point I'm making is that there have been attempts by others to make this a fan page, and while it's reasonable for you to tone that down, I don't expect you to do more. I watch this page because it, and others with different versions of the name, have been a persistent problem because of the adulatory tone they use. UAE leaders are not without their critics, and I wonder what would happen if properly referenced criticism was added. Still, that's my problem Jimfbleak - talk to me? 17:31, 5 November 2014 (UTC)

You can remove tags yourself if you are happy that the issues have been resolved, cheers Jimfbleak - talk to me? 07:38, 6 November 2014 (UTC)

Sharjah Fort

Hello there, thank you for creating the article Sharjah Fort. You chose however an incorrect format for naming the article by including the Arabic name to it. Since this is the English Wikipedia, it's not quite correct. See Nizwa Fort as example as a correct article name format. It's better to just use the English form, and the shorter the better. Article names with brackets are only used to disambiguate if another place exists with exactly the same name. I hope this helps clear some confusion? Gryffindor (talk) 08:51, 25 January 2015 (UTC)

Proposed deletion of Pedrino

The article Pedrino has been proposed for deletion because of the following concern:

No evidence of notability.

While all constructive contributions to Wikipedia are appreciated, content or articles may be deleted for any of several reasons.

You may prevent the proposed deletion by removing the {{proposed deletion/dated}} notice, but please explain why in your edit summary or on the article's talk page.

Please consider improving the article to address the issues raised. Removing {{proposed deletion/dated}} will stop the proposed deletion process, but other deletion processes exist. In particular, the speedy deletion process can result in deletion without discussion, and articles for deletion allows discussion to reach consensus for deletion. PamD 20:22, 20 February 2015 (UTC)

Timeline of Dubai

Hello. Many thanks for your great additions to the Timeline of Dubai. Very helpful. However a few events seem perhaps not precisely relevant to the history of the city of Dubai. I have indicated this in the article not to discourage your contribution but to ensure clarity and focus. Explanation justifying inclusion of each event would be most welcome. Again, thank you for your work. -- M2545 (talk) 11:59, 20 May 2015 (UTC)

May 2015

Hello, I'm Epeefleche. I noticed that you made a change to an article, but you didn't provide a reliable source. It's been removed and archived in the page history for now, but if you'd like to include a citation and re-add it, please do so! If you need guidance on referencing, please see the referencing for beginners tutorial, or if you think I made a mistake, you can leave me a message on my talk page. Thank you. Epeefleche (talk) 08:46, 21 May 2015 (UTC)

While an editor can opt to either delete or flag an item as needing a cite, it is the reviewing editor's option. It is the burden of the editor seeking to restore the item to provide an inline RS ref. See wp:burden. --Epeefleche (talk) 08:59, 21 May 2015 (UTC)

FWIW, the addition was supported by a link to a page. I later added a cite (IMHO redundant) from the linked page to make this go away. Alexandermcnabb (talk) 06:26, 23 July 2018 (UTC)

Hello, Alexandermcnabb. You have new messages at Talk:Timeline_of_Dubai#Announcements.
You can remove this notice at any time by removing the {{Talkback}} or {{Tb}} template.

Manama, Ajman

Why is a picture of a Manama stamp a "meaningless addition"? Manama's stamps are what makes it notable, so adding a picture of a stamp is (in my opinion) meaningful. Xwejnusgozo (talk) 09:40, 30 May 2015 (UTC)

Changed it. Your edit broke the heading 'Philately', which is the main reason I reverted it. Sorry, the stamp is perfectly valid and a nice addition! Fixed the heading now, so all well... Alexandermcnabb (talk) 09:52, 30 May 2015 (UTC)

Sorry, I didn't realize about the mistake at the heading. Thanks for fixing the problem. Best regards, Xwejnusgozo (talk) 10:03, 30 May 2015 (UTC)

Possibly unfree File:Drones for Good Award Logo.png

A file that you uploaded or altered, File:Drones for Good Award Logo.png, has been listed at Wikipedia:Possibly unfree files because its copyright status is unclear or disputed. If the file's copyright status cannot be verified, it may be deleted. You may find more information on the file description page. You are welcome to add comments to its entry at the discussion if you object to the listing for any reason. Thank you. Stefan2 (talk) 21:05, 13 November 2015 (UTC)

Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum C-Class

I requested a copyedit for the article Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, and was wondering you could check it against the C-Class criteria please? Emir of Wikipedia (talk) 11:32, 14 November 2016 (UTC)

December 2017

Please stop adding unsourced content, as you did to Meluhha. This contravenes Wikipedia's policy on verifiability. If you continue to do so, you may be blocked from editing Wikipedia. Doug Weller talk 19:10, 17 December 2017 (UTC)

You've been warned about unsourced material before, I don't know why you are so surprised - I read the messages above before adding the warning. WP:VERIFY is policy and WP:BURDEN, which is part of that, states that "ll content must be verifiable. The burden to demonstrate verifiability lies with the editor who adds or restores material, and is satisfied by providing a citation to a reliable source that directly supports the contribution." Of course once that's done I wouldn't revert without specific reasons to do with the source. You added about 8 statements or changes that weren't sourced. One addition is "the Mleiha period (300 BC onward), which in the context means until the advent of Islam, yet the source in your sandbox clearly says 300 BC-0.

I'm really pleased to see you working on these articles and creating new ones, but they must be sourced accurately. And according to our manual of style. This include page numbers for books. Google links aren't sufficient as they can't be read in all countries. A lot of editors don't seem to know how to source, but I've found a good set of instructional videos which you can see at Wikipedia:Meetup/UMassAmherst/Intro to Wikipedia.

There's another problem. You've used two government sources for archaeological claims. They fail WP:RS. Sadly governments aren't to be trusted for such things. The worst example is the Indian government now which is backing some preposterous claims, but you really need more respected sources. There must be academic reports for this material somewhere. Doug Weller talk 08:56, 18 December 2017 (UTC)

FWIW I violently disagree with the point being made here and particularly with the arrogant, overbearing tone of this intervention. But that's Wikipedia, I guess. Alexandermcnabb (talk) 09:41, 11 July 2018 (UTC)

Ras Al Khaimah was historically called Julfar

Dear respected editor, RAk was historically known as Julfar. No, it wasn't a port which was called Julfar.

Ras Al Khaimah is in fact the new name of the emirate — it used to be known as Julfar over the ages. https://gulfnews.com/history-speaks-for-ras-al-khaimah-1.711326

Known through the ages as Julfar, Majan or Al Seer, Ras Al Khaimah has stood throughout antiquity as one of the most important trade centres and markets in the region. https://en.rasalkhaimah.ae/ras-al-khaimah/history-of-ras-al-khaimah

Originally known as Julfar, Ras Al Khaimah’s history dates back several millennia with it being inhabited for as long https://www.rak.ae/wps/portal/rak/about/ras-al-khaimah/general-information — Preceding unsigned comment added by Abcserendipity (talk • contribs) 05:19, 29 June 2018 (UTC)

Talkback

Hello, Alexandermcnabb. You have new messages at Emir of Wikipedia's talk page.
Message added 17:34, 24 July 2018 (UTC). You can remove this notice at any time by removing the {{Talkback}} or {{Tb}} template.

Emir of Wikipedia (talk) 17:34, 24 July 2018 (UTC)

Speedy deletion nomination of Mohammed bin Rashid Global Initiatives

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A tag has been placed on Mohammed bin Rashid Global Initiatives, requesting that it be speedily deleted from Wikipedia. This has been done under section G11 of the criteria for speedy deletion, because the page seems to be unambiguous advertising which only promotes a company, group, product, service, person, or point of view and would need to be fundamentally rewritten in order to become encyclopedic. Please read the guidelines on spam and Wikipedia:FAQ/Organizations for more information.

If you think this page should not be deleted for this reason, you may contest the nomination by visiting the page and clicking the button labelled "Contest this speedy deletion". This will give you the opportunity to explain why you believe the page should not be deleted. However, be aware that once a page is tagged for speedy deletion, it may be deleted without delay. Please do not remove the speedy deletion tag from the page yourself, but do not hesitate to add information in line with Wikipedia's policies and guidelines. If the page is deleted, and you wish to retrieve the deleted material for future reference or improvement, then please contact the deleting administrator. Hitro talk 12:14, 3 August 2018 (UTC)

The page was restored by the deleting admin and is being worked on. Speedy deleting a $450 million charity because of some flowery language is, well, just wow... Alexandermcnabb (talk) 14:49, 6 August 2018 (UTC)

Your submission at Articles for creation: Mohammed bin Rashid Global Initiatives has been accepted

Mohammed bin Rashid Global Initiatives, which you submitted to Articles for creation, has been created.
The article has been assessed as Start-Class, which is recorded on the article's talk page. You may like to take a look at the grading scheme to see how you can improve the article.

You are more than welcome to continue making quality contributions to Wikipedia. If your account is more than four days old and you have made at least 10 edits you can create articles yourself without posting a request. However, you may continue submitting work to Articles for Creation if you prefer.

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Snowycats (talk) 07:11, 7 August 2018 (UTC)

Copyright infringement

You are not a new editor and you should by now know that Wikipedia takes copyright violations very seriously. You must not copy and paste text from sources you find on the web into articles as you did in the article Pink Caravan. I have removed the infringing text, but the material you copied is subject to copyright, as is almost everything on the web, and when creating or expanding articles, you should completely rewrite the information from the source using your own words. Cwmhiraeth (talk) 10:22, 17 August 2018 (UTC)

What an amazing overreaction... Alexandermcnabb (talk) 12:58, 17 August 2018 (UTC)

Oh, and BTW, it would have taken way less effort and drama to cleanse/rewrite the apparently calamitous four/five lines of text yourself than it did to send me a condescending warning, flag up the article for review, get an Admin (who I am sure had better things to do) to nix the edits and generally run around screaming about how awful the whole thing is. A sense of perspective is a fine, fine thing... Alexandermcnabb (talk) 15:57, 2 September 2018 (UTC)

Reversion of edits to the Trucial States page

Why did you revert my edits to the Trucial States page? They were merely corrections of two typos -- one in Arabic and one in English -- but they were indeed correct, not "nonsense". Yavapai Democrat (talk) 04:35, 8 September 2018 (UTC)

Yavapai Democrat - Coast of Oman changed to Coast ofkoi Oman? Makes no sense! Alexandermcnabb (talk) 06:02, 8 September 2018 (UTC)

oman

I had a few items on my watch, and was fascinated by the huge range of john carter's creations being up for deletion - I dont think you will hear from him as he is both blocked and he was pulling back from earlier stoushes. What interests me is the best source for correct place names in the whole region - I have maps of some parts with arabic script for locations - but am intrigued as to what you might consider the most appropriate source for oman locations - as transcribed into english... no big deal if it isnt necessarily easy to establish a particular source - but interested if there are any preferred authorities at all. JarrahTree 13:51, 9 September 2018 (UTC)

Hiya JarrahTree. I can't really speak for Oman as I focus pretty hard on the UAE. There are a wide range of sources for notable places, histories of the region etc. as well as Google which is usually quite sensible and tends to stick to the modern place names decided on by municipalities. Police and municipal websites are often a good guide, although spellings can get random. Chances are, for instance, if it's got a cop shop it's a notable settlement. Road signs are a great help and I once won a minor Wiki punch up over the spelling of 'Al Heera' where I live by photographing a police station! I was amazed at the number of place names John had added in Sharjah and Dubai (and also Ajman) which simply made no sense when put up against the context of the modern UAE - for instance, the many names in the Masfut/Hatta exclave which are identified as cities and which are - when you can track them down at all - little clumps of houses which may once have been villages or family compounds but have now been subsumed by the conurbation. With Wadi Al Helou, for instance, John had put the entry as a city called Minazif but it's a tiny village and known today as Wadi Al Helou (street signs as well as municipality website and Google - but Google also retains the old Minazif name) - so I moved it rather than put it up for deletion. One huge and constant problem is the transliteration of Arabic place names - is it Rashidiya or Rashidia or Rashidiyah or Al Rashideya and so on and so on. I've tended to stick with Google simply because it's a standard - although have also looked at media coverage (and tried to sift OUT the false positives which Wikipedia spellings often create). The Dubai government population figures are a boon (and include every settlement in the Emirate) but the list also includes some of the strangest spellings...

https://www.dsc.gov.ae/Publication/Population%20Bulletin%20Emirate%20of%20Dubai%202015.pdf

If that's an answer? :) Best Alexandermcnabb (talk) 14:24, 9 September 2018 (UTC)

Oh, to clear up, by Google I mean maps. And the odd thing about every single one of John's place names is that they were all unsourced...

Yup a good answer and it resonates (sic) with a place wife and I stayed in on a visit to Isle of Mull - a solitary building on an ocean loch edge - one structure - apparently before the clearances there were named and populated communities on either side, today not a visual trace left.... As for transliteration - dont let me start - arabic, and a few other languages - the issues and I'd be here till the.... Ta.

and my possible postscript would be the usages of specifically redundant names of places that historically may have been used but are no longer used - nah - the - old names for places in a number of countries intrigue me - but I dont think the average google catch is either correct or anywhere near some of them... which is why I was curious... thanks for your reply JarrahTree 14:51, 9 September 2018 (UTC)

I agree JarrahTree that Google's no grail - but the UAE has moved in 20 years to eclipse most of these old family communities - even where they can be said to have existed as identifiable or notable locations in the first place. But without sources, they're just random names and listing them as cities really wasn't helpful! Alexandermcnabb (talk) 14:59, 9 September 2018 (UTC)

the wikipedia level technicality I agree with - but it would be very interesting to have in hand english language annotated historically annotated gazetters for some places that I am thinking of in parts of the world - probably impossible though... JarrahTree 15:05, 9 September 2018 (UTC)

have a column - they are probably all gone and dropped by now...

JarrahTree 15:18, 9 September 2018 (UTC)

There's a project to preserve them as 3D printable files... JarrahTree Lorimer's a good UAE gazetteer from 1908 - all good fun. The 1820 treaty is also fun - places like Khatt were signatory. But the 1960s survey by the Brits was best. We asked tribes which Sheikh they recognise, then assigned them to emirates, which is why the UAE map today looks like a mad giraffe... Alexandermcnabb (talk) 15:23, 9 September 2018 (UTC)

Yup the project is brilliant I saw some of the work at Montreal - a retired anthrop prof whom I know had done fieldwork in region and developed understanding of things doing something similar - whodo you recognise - also the well death scene in loa - ethnographically outsiders often fail to get the connections or understand how they work JarrahTree 15:30, 9 September 2018 (UTC)

Sayh Mudayrah moved to draftspace

An article you recently created, Sayh Mudayrah, does not have enough sources and citations as written to remain published. It needs more citations from reliable, independent sources. (?) Information that can't be referenced should be removed (verifiability is of central importance on Wikipedia). I've moved your draft to draftspace (with a prefix of "Draft:" before the article title) where you can incubate the article with minimal disruption. When you feel the article meets Wikipedia's general notability guideline and thus is ready for mainspace, please click on the "Submit your draft for review!" button at the top of the page. Hitro talk 08:35, 10 September 2018 (UTC)

This is funny. I'm currently removing or repurposing/editing tens of unsourced, unverified UAE articles in the format X is a city in Y in the UAE where there are no sources, no citations, no nothing and UAE and Y are both untrue and/or X unfindable. And at the same time, I can't create an article for a valid community in the same format. Oh, the insanity of it all! Alexandermcnabb (talk) 15:39, 12 September 2018 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/'Uraybi

FYI, it looks like Twinkle hiccuped on creating this discussion page. --Finngall ^talk 15:22, 12 September 2018 (UTC)

Oh, wow. Wonder how that happened? Will try again. Thanks for the heads up! :) Best Alexandermcnabb (talk) 15:35, 12 September 2018 (UTC)

Another one: Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Al Quwayz. --Finngall ^talk 17:25, 13 September 2018 (UTC)

You'll need to add the {{afd2}} template by hand. See WP:AFDHOWTO. --Finngall ^talk 20:29, 14 September 2018 (UTC)

Note

Regarding this edit: [1]: The article is indeed sourced, so your rationale is wrong. The source is unlinked, so you don't know if it fails WP:V or not, unless you have that print source. Softlavender (talk) 10:25, 13 September 2018 (UTC)

Hiya. The 'Amqah article is the same as all the rest of 'em except it has a 'source' cited which is, as you point out, unlinked. And it's from 1987 which is a million years away when you consider UAE recent history and development. Whole cities have sprung up in that time - and many two-hut desert and/or nomadic'communities' have gone without a trace. Those I have found still remaining or of demonstrable historical value I have linked and at least carried out basic improvements to the pages. I suspect it's something the creating admin trotted out when these pages were challenged. The document cited is not available to verify the claim - and I did find a previous version which was based on the British survey of 1959. Which is just nuts to justify asserting the existence of a community in the UAE today. IMHO! Best Alexandermcnabb (talk) 10:52, 13 September 2018 (UTC)

The beginning to your rationale ("Unsourced. Fails WP:V") is going to torpedo that AfD. Because the article is indeed sourced. And because you haven't checked that actual publication from that actual date. Disagreeing with a source (which you don't have and therefore can't see) is fine -- which is why I put a "disputed" tag on the article. However claiming or implying (by "Fails WP:V") that the source (which you don't have and can't see) does not say what the Wikipedia article states that it says is not going to fly, since in all probability the source does say what the Wikipedia article states it does. Just letting you know. AfD !voters don't like innaccurate rationales. That's also why I'm not !voting on that particular AfD, although I would if you changed the rationale and removed those two statements. Softlavender (talk) 11:02, 13 September 2018 (UTC)

That's too logical for this bear. However, I changed the rationale as I suspect you are correct! :) Alexandermcnabb (talk) 11:17, 13 September 2018 (UTC)

• You've done it again on Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Bayadir. It doesn't fail WP:V because the source probably does say that. You can disagree with the source or say the source is outdated or inaccurate, but you can't claim it fails WP:V. I won't be !voting on that one because of the inaccurate nomination rationale, but if you remove that part of the rationale I will. Softlavender (talk) 05:50, 16 September 2018 (UTC)

I changed it. It's not even claimed as a settlement, but a 'tribal area'. It's wearying clearing this all up. There's tonnes of it... Alexandermcnabb (talk) 06:10, 16 September 2018 (UTC)

You've changed it to "Not verifiable", which is the same thing as "Fails WP:V". It is verifiable, from the source provided, which you do not have. You can disagree with the source, or say the source is inaccurate or outdated, but you cannot claim it is not verifiable. Softlavender (talk) 06:49, 16 September 2018 (UTC)

Changed again. Best. Alexandermcnabb (talk) 06:56, 16 September 2018 (UTC)

Barnstar

I have noticed your good intentions and quality edits on topics regarding United Arab Emirates on Wikipedia, I believe you deserve this barn-star.

		The United Arab Emirates Barnstar of National Merit
		Your work on expanding the scope and coverage of UAE-related articles is valued and acknowledged. I know how hard it is to challenge biased and misinterpreted information originating from outside the region regarding the United Arab Emirates on Wikipedia . Please continue your superb work. Best regards, Wikiemirati (talk) 15:34, 15 September 2018 (UTC)

Why, thank you! Alexandermcnabb (talk) 03:35, 16 September 2018 (UTC)

"Pin points to last AfD; Jeer."

WP:Articles for deletion/Qaf'ah. Unclear what "last AFD" means. Unclear what "Jeer" means or refers to. Softlavender (talk) 08:07, 16 September 2018 (UTC)

Sorry, could have been clearer. They're all becoming something of a blur, TBH. The pin was to the same place as the last page I recommended for deletion, the seaside town of Al Jeer. Alexandermcnabb (talk) 08:11, 16 September 2018 (UTC)

Can you please link the "Jeer", and remove mention of any AfD (which is both confusing and irrelevant)? Also, if the map or pin indicates Jeer is a place that exists, that article shouldn't be AfDed, right? Softlavender (talk) 08:23, 16 September 2018 (UTC)

Sure. Done. Alexandermcnabb (talk) 08:29, 16 September 2018 (UTC)

• This rationale also needs to be changed: Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Algida. No one cares about other AfDs. You need to make a plausible deletion rationale independent of any other Wikipedia article. Softlavender (talk) 12:42, 16 September 2018 (UTC)

Changed it. By that stage, it was lucky I wasn't raving and screaming abuse, TBH... Bestest Alexandermcnabb (talk) 14:36, 16 September 2018 (UTC)

What does "wrong location" mean? If the settlement exists, but the pin is simply wrongly placed, then that's not a valid reason to delete an article. Softlavender (talk) 15:29, 16 September 2018 (UTC)

Changed it. It's just wrong, wrong. Yes, I know. More logic. Bestest Alexandermcnabb (talk) 16:20, 16 September 2018 (UTC)

• WP:Articles for deletion/Lakayym. "Pin points to former settlement but located in Musandam, Oman." What does that mean? What is the name of the former settlement the pin points to? Is there a settlement named Lakayym in Oman? Softlavender (talk) 07:22, 17 September 2018 (UTC)

• • No, sorry, there's no settlement of that name I found in Oman. The pin points to an area of land that looks like it was once farmed, but remote in the mountains of Oman. It could point to New York for all the use it is in establishing the existence or location of Lakayym. Bestest Alexandermcnabb (talk) 07:24, 17 September 2018 (UTC)

A cup of coffee for you!

Thanks for nominating those crappy geographic articles for deletion. It was very tiring (for me) to update the nomination pages with notices. —AE (talk • contributions) 09:16, 16 September 2018 (UTC)

Thanks! Sorry for the workload but the good news is the cleanup's over! Well, apart from Fujairah... but that's for another time. :) Best Alexandermcnabb (talk) 09:29, 16 September 2018 (UTC)

It's fine for me to do all that stuff since I enjoy doing it. —AE (talk • contributions) 09:32, 16 September 2018 (UTC)

• One consolation for me at least is that these nearly 100 AfDs are going to really help my AfD stats. LOL. Softlavender (talk) 09:56, 16 September 2018 (UTC)

I'm probably too late with this question A. Since all of these were created by the now blocked editor John Carter I am wondering if they are outright bad faith hoaxes. Back when the WikiCup was a thing the occasional editor would create articles like this just to improve their stats. It probably does not matter now but it has piqued my curiosity. Many thanks for all the work you did to get them to AFD and I hope you have a pleasant week. MarnetteD|Talk 04:41, 17 September 2018 (UTC)

Not wanting to jump up and down on the grave of John Carters time here, I would caution such a conclusion as to the nature of the items - and suggest a close read of the conversation higher up this talk page - it is possible from wrong sources to assume those places exist. One very high edit person also long gone created rivers for Java in Indonesia from what appeared to be school atlas from the 1970s whenever - and for the untrained eye there were many such items that simply didnt have any clues as to where or what the articles were referring to. As a Indonesian/Malay speaker I was stumped (some still remain unsolved despite the help of an astute expat who could guess items after close checking) - in the case of Johns' items it is very easy to have good faith edits that on further examination cannot be clarified. If only it was as simply as you allude. JarrahTree 04:51, 17 September 2018 (UTC)

Hiya. I think they're good faith additions but from a hopelessly outdated source, likely dating back to the 1959 survey carried out by the Trucial Oman Scouts. They wouldn't pass review now, of course. Best Alexandermcnabb (talk) 04:58, 17 September 2018 (UTC)

exactly (shukran) - it is always too easy to judge eds by their sources - In some cases there are some articles that I created 9 years ago I would completely go and re-write due to what I thought were good sources then, but now, I know there are better... JarrahTree 05:02, 17 September 2018 (UTC)

Thanks to you both for the explanations here (and on Softlavender's talk page.) They are interesting and informative. I do appreciate your expertise in the matter as well as the time you took in explaining things. Thanks again. MarnetteD|Talk 07:19, 17 September 2018 (UTC)

I think it's just a GeoNames database dump, which are frequently correct and incorrect, especially if they were created from 30 or 40 year old sources. No bad faith, just a bad dump from a generally reliable database. SportingFlyer talk 07:29, 17 September 2018 (UTC)

Any chance of a respite?

I appreciate the work you're doing on the UAE articles and I'm doing my best to verify them as while some of them are just plain wrong and deserve to be deleted, some others are based in reality/are misspelled due to outdated sources/actually exist. Would you mind waiting a few days before making any more nominations? There are a lot of AfDs open right now and they're a bit daunting to review. SportingFlyer talk 07:15, 17 September 2018 (UTC)

Not as daunting as they've been to work on. I'm reviewing each one in Google, maps, books and testing near spellings for 'Arabic issues', so each AfD is itself a lot of work. Where I find a good one, I'm sourcing cites to fill out the entry. Where I can, I'm saving or moving pages. So it's a huge task - but the UAE on Wikipedia is mostly cruft and that has generated a huge amount of bogus search and geolocation data that simply makes no sense. Another 15 names in Fujairah and I'm done, BTW. That's it, task over, Northern Emirates all cleaned up. Bear with me for 15 more reviews? Maybe another 8-10 AfDs based on current run rate? Best Alexandermcnabb (talk) 07:20, 17 September 2018 (UTC)

You seem to be nominating them very quickly, and some of them are clearly verifiable current settlements with a little bit of review. I don't mind if you AfD ones that are clearly non-verifiable, but there's a lot at the moment, and I keep finding reasons to keep random ones. Also most of the geolocation cruft comes from other geographic databases - Wikipedia simply reflects those. All of these articles are in the GeoNames database, which comes up when you search on OpenStreetMap, which I've found helpful for identifying the specific place, as Wikipedia coordinates are often rounded and too imprecise. SportingFlyer talk 07:28, 17 September 2018 (UTC)

As far as I can tell - and most certainly from my experience creating new articles - finding a place on a map doesn't make it notable enough for a WP page. I had Saih Al Mudayrah moved to Draft because it didn't have sources. This I think is especially true if it is a former settlement no longer in existence as a 'legally recognised place' - for instance, a suburb of RAK that used to be a village but no longer is but lives on through a supermarket name. The issue of spellings is going to plague UAE Wikipedia because so many names (places, tribes, people) are transliterations from Arabic. Even now, place names on signposts don't agree with government lists of places. I think the best route is to delete unless we're sure we've got the right name (Look at Al Badiyah!) I have generally followed a guide of notability - is there some third party source that mentions these villages that's not a map, which is likely derived from the same borked data source John used - a 50-year-old survey carried out by a bunch of British soldiers in a country that has been utterly transformed in that time... Best Alexandermcnabb (talk) 07:42, 17 September 2018 (UTC)

A page you started (List of Ancient Settlements in the UAE) has been reviewed!

Thanks for creating List of Ancient Settlements in the UAE, Alexandermcnabb!

Wikipedia editor Sam Sailor just reviewed your page, and wrote this note for you:

Great to see all the good work on UAE, Alex. Have a nice weekend.

To reply, leave a comment on Sam Sailor's talk page.

Learn more about page curation.

Sam Sailor 17:05, 5 October 2018 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Hafarah

Hi Alexandermcnabb. Would you please explain why you reverted my closure of this AFD? I only noticed because SportingFlyer pinged me when asking you and me the same question at the AFD, but you don't seem to have noticed. Regards, AGK ■ 20:01, 12 October 2018 (UTC)

Hiya. I didn't knowingly revert any closure of the Hafarah - or any other - AfD. Sorry if that has happened somehow - an edit conflict perhaps? Close away, please do! Best Alexandermcnabb (talk) 05:48, 13 October 2018 (UTC)

Carter AfDs

Hi, I have no problem with you nominating the geographic stubs for discussion at AfD but would it be better to group them as one discussion or, alternatively, slow down a little? You're swamping John Carter's talk page with notices that he cannot respond to and I suspect you are creating a multitude of discussions that will result in fundamentally the same input from the same people because they are so similar in purpose. It is thus probably creating a lot more work than is necessary and the sheer volume will likely reduce participation. - Sitush (talk) 07:23, 13 October 2018 (UTC)

I notice that someone else said the same thing here about a month ago when you did another large batch. I really do think you should take it onboard. - Sitush (talk) 07:30, 13 October 2018 (UTC)

Ok, you are still doing it. Do one more and I think I will take it to WP:ANI. You're not breaking any policy but you are showing what seems to me like a lack of common sense. - Sitush (talk) 07:36, 13 October 2018 (UTC)

Actually, I'm trying to do my first bulk nomination, having taken your comment on board. And I'm not finding it particularly easy, so how about you just bear with me. I wasn't the fool who created hundreds of baseless, useless stubs here. Alexandermcnabb (talk) 07:40, 13 October 2018 (UTC)

Ok, thanks, although if you had replied slightly earlier then I might not have said what I did. Please note that John Carter may have been misguided but he was no fool here. Also, there is no deadline and those stubs are already mirrored all over the place, so it isn't worth busting a blood vessel over the things. Slow down and work it through. Thanks again. - Sitush (talk) 07:51, 13 October 2018 (UTC)

Look, I got my head buried in stubs and templates I can't make work so I'm not necessarily looking at my talk page every minute - you gave me 13 minutes to respond to you before getting all ansty. I don't care what JC was or wasn't, these stubs are a massive work of what I can only characterise as vandalism. Alexandermcnabb (talk) 07:55, 13 October 2018 (UTC)

Yes, sorting it out is a pain. But they do not constitute vandalism and it is not life-threateningly urgent etc. You're getting too wound up about the issue and, from my own experience here, that won't make working things out any easier. If you get stuck then perhaps make a list of the ones you want to nominate and seek help with actually doing so? - Sitush (talk) 08:10, 13 October 2018 (UTC)

Which is, as it happens, precisely what I have done. Best Alexandermcnabb (talk) 08:12, 13 October 2018 (UTC)

• Sitush, Alexandermcnabb is trying to do due diligence on each item, rather than batch nominate. I can't fault him for that. Who cares how many notices John Carter has on his talkpage? In addition to being indeffed, he hasn't been active on Wikipedia articlespace for three years [2], and he already had 140+ threads on his talkpage. The problem is not that Alexandermcnabb is doing a thankless but imperative cleanup; the problem is that John Carter created hundreds and hundreds of inaccurate stubs, which has caused massive amounts of misinformation to be spread all over the internet. This is a Neelix-level cleanup, and unlike the issue with Neelix (who was at the time of discovery an active admin in good standing), the Neelix creations did not cause massive amounts of misinformation to be spread all over the internet, since they were only redirects. If anyone is "reported" to a noticeboard, it should certainly not be Alexandermcnabb; it should be John Carter, and all of his UAE creations should just be mass nuked. Softlavender (talk) 04:03, 15 October 2018 (UTC)

• I am not bothered about John Carter. I am bothered about the amount of work it creates for everyone else when so many articles are nominated individually. It may actually lead to some not being deleted due to low participation. There are at least two other people who have said the same thing and Alexandermcnabb has now asked them for help. That's good. They had already done the due diligence, hence being able to nominate at the rate of one article every 2 or 3 minutes, and I had already mentioned that the stuff is already mirrored, so time is not necessarily of the essence.

I, too, would favour a mass nuke and then let anyone recreate when there is in fact something worthy. It has been done before - PMDrive1061 nuked hundreds of articles about police stations in India maybe 7 or 8 years ago after a discussion at ANI. Hence, my suggestion of ANI was not unreasonable, especially since I also went out of my way to point out that Alexandermcnabb is not working outside policy and that this would make a trip to ANI somewhat unusual. It may actually have saved everyone an awful lot of time.

It may surprise you to know that I am not an idiot. Hopefully the above explanation confirms it. - Sitush (talk) 05:08, 15 October 2018 (UTC)

My man, you wanted to go to ANI to have me spanked... I get the point on low participation and agree that's bad. I didn't know how to do a bulk nomination and have asked for help on that, although I'm also scared of a WP:Trainwreck. I'm doing the best I can to BEFORE and fairly and reasonably judge what's salvageable and what's just sheer bunkum (we're at around 98% bunkum so far). The sheer volume is unfortunate, but not my fault. I do think if you'd spent the energy you did on writing all of the above to reviewing and voting on the nominations, we'd be halfway there, though... Best Alexandermcnabb (talk) 05:25, 15 October 2018 (UTC)

Sitush, on all of the John Carter UAE AfD nominations, there has never been an issue where "low participation" led to any of them "not being deleted". AfDs get relisted when participation is too low. Softlavender (talk) 06:01, 15 October 2018 (UTC)

Well, if the pair of you cannot understand my point, I give up. Softlavender, you know that I know stuff gets relisted. You also should know that if something is relisted a couple of times and still has low participation, it defaults to being kept as "no consensus".

Alexandermcnabb, it take me two minutes to write something here. It takes me well over an hour to research a deletion nomination, sometimes days. This is all sorted, or was until Softlavender decided to get involved and basically just confirmed what I havd already been saying. - Sitush (talk) 06:08, 15 October 2018 (UTC)

Every single article that was not deleted was either withdrawn by the nominator or had at least 4 to 7 participants and plenty of discussion; that's not "low participation", and there was no prejudice against any re-noms. Nowhere have I "confirmed what [you] have already been saying". If you are implying that Alexandermcnabb has not done due diligence on each and every AfD nom, then you are sorely mistaken. In many cases he has actually driven to the putative location for inspection. Softlavender (talk) 06:21, 15 October 2018 (UTC)

Your submission at Articles for creation: Sayh Mudayrah has been accepted

Sayh Mudayrah, which you submitted to Articles for creation, has been created.
The article has been assessed as Stub-Class, which is recorded on the article's talk page. You may like to take a look at the grading scheme to see how you can improve the article.

You are more than welcome to continue making quality contributions to Wikipedia. If your account is more than four days old and you have made at least 10 edits you can create articles yourself without posting a request. However, you may continue submitting work to Articles for Creation if you prefer.

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Thank you for helping improve Wikipedia!

Arthistorian1977 (talk) 08:44, 15 October 2018 (UTC)

Autopatrolled granted

Hi Alexandermcnabb, I just wanted to let you know that I have added the "autopatrolled" permission to your account, as you have created numerous, valid articles. This feature will have no effect on your editing, and is simply intended to reduce the workload on new page patrollers. For more information on the autopatrolled right, see Wikipedia:Autopatrolled. Feel free to leave me a message if you have any questions. Happy editing! TonyBallioni (talk) 22:58, 15 October 2018 (UTC)

AfDs

SportingFlyer, Softlavender, Sitush, ‎Szzuk Hey! I did my first bulk AfD. NOBODY MENTIONED YOU HAVE TO USE THE SOURCE EDITOR. I've been wrangling away with the visual editor, breaking things and generally falling over. Anyway, the result's over here at AfD if you wouldn't mind taking a look and telling me what I've done wrong or if it's good? Thanks a million for your help, chaps! Best Alexandermcnabb (talk) 04:48, 17 October 2018 (UTC)

I've not used the Visual Editor in a while and didn't like it when I did, in part because of its limitations. I'm no expert but the nomination seems ok to me and, like most things, it probably becomes easier with practice. Thanks for having a go. - Sitush (talk) 05:36, 17 October 2018 (UTC)

I've never used the visual editor. I recommend always using the source editor for every single Wikipedia edit. It has a lot more functionality, and there's less chance of screw-ups. Softlavender (talk) 06:16, 17 October 2018 (UTC)

It looks like this sort of format would work for further bulk afd's. I took out of your nomination mention of the article creator, it is generally better to stick to policies rather than mentioning personalities. Your before was thorough and I was being a bit lazy not mentioning the individual failings of the articles, you may want to add that info next time. You can push the number of articles you put in the bulk nomination up, how high you can go is a judgement call, I can't remember the last time I saw 20+ articles so unless you are feeling very adventurous that could be a good limit. I got chastised some time ago for suggesting the many fake Somali articles were bundled together, so you may get chastised for bundling them too, life is full of ironies! Keep up the good work. Szzuk (talk) 20:23, 17 October 2018 (UTC)

Okay, I can do bulk AfDs with confidence now. Yay me. The Visual Editor is perfect for me, actually, folks. It eases the task of creating pages or editing content which is pretty much what I do here on WP. I don't really go under the bonnet much, engines scare me. Best Alexandermcnabb (talk) 15:11, 18 October 2018 (UTC)

Just for you

		The Cleanup Barnstar
		Hi A. You deserve this for all the time you've spent cleaning up the UAE articles. Your efforts are much appreciated. MarnetteD|Talk 15:02, 18 October 2018 (UTC)

*blushing furiously*

• I was here for the same. Also, if you havent done so already: kindly stop going through the articles/creations of John Carter for a while. You deserve a good break (brake?) from that mess. Lets see how that discussion pans out at ANI. See you around :) —usernamekiran(talk) 01:40, 21 October 2018 (UTC)

Hi usernamekiran I'm done, as I noted over at ANI. As far as I know, they're all cleaned up now. Whatever other mess is still there, IDK. But the UAE stuff is done and dusted now. Best Alexandermcnabb (talk) 10:25, 22 October 2018 (UTC) 02:47, 21 October 2018 (UTC)

Khawr al Baydah

I found Khawr al Baydah which has the same problem as the other AfDs and an incorrect pin into the water. However, I found some hits for this place on Google. Could it be improved or should I take it to AfD? Pkbwcgs (talk) 08:25, 22 October 2018 (UTC)

Oh *groans*... Okay, Pkbwcgs. That's Khor Al Baida, which is home to the infamous Barracuda Beach Resort, the Home of Hooch. I reckon you could save it with a move on that basis - there isn't actually a settlement there as such but there is UAQ Airport (disused now), the resort/shop itself and Dreamland Aqua Park... Best Alexandermcnabb (talk) 08:38, 22 October 2018 (UTC)

I also found Dahaminah which I don't know what to do with it. Pkbwcgs (talk) 08:40, 22 October 2018 (UTC)

That was the cite I added to try and save it from AfD fever, Pkbwcgs! :) They ARE a thing, they ARE barely (not?) notable. They do exist. But even in that very methodically researched book of mine, they only merit a single line... Your call! Best Alexandermcnabb (talk) 09:45, 22 October 2018 (UTC)

PkbwcgsDid that fix it enough? :) Best Alexandermcnabb (talk) 09:55, 22 October 2018 (UTC)

A barnstar for you!

	The Writer's Barnstar
	Thank you for your many well-researched article creations; much-needed information on the Arab world and its history! Softlavender (talk) 06:31, 25 October 2018 (UTC)

November 2018

Please do not attack other editors, as you did at Talk:Emirati passport‎. Comment on content, not on contributors. Personal attacks damage the community and deter users. Please stay cool and keep this in mind while editing. Read more on Wikipedia:How to be civil DBigXrayᗙ 14:53, 13 November 2018 (UTC)