User talk:Giano

Old messages are at:

• User talk:Giano II/archive 1 (From Oct 2004)
• User talk:Giano II/archive 2 (From Jan 2005)
• User talk:Giano II/archive 3 (From July 2005)
• User talk:Giano II/archive 4 (From Jan 2006)
• User talk:Giano II/archive 5 (From July 2006)
• User talk:Giano II/archive 6 (From Jan 2007)
• User talk:Giano II/archive 7 (From July 2007)
• User talk:Giano II/archive 8 (From Jan 2008)
• User talk:Giano II/archive 9 (From July 2008)
• User talk:Giano II/archive 10 (From Jan 2009)
• User talk:Giano II/archive 11 (From July 2009)
• User talk:Giano II/archive 12 (From Jan 2010)
• User talk:Giano II/archive 13 (From July 2010)
• User talk:Giano II/archive 14 (From Jan 2011)
• User talk:Giano II/archive 15 (From July 2011)
• User talk:Giano II/archive 16 (From Jan 2012)
• User talk:Giano II/archive 17 (From Jan 2013)
• User talk:Giano II/archive 18 (From July 2013)
• User talk:Giano/archive 19 (From Jan 2014)
• User talk:Giano/archive 20 (From July 2014)
• User talk:Giano/archive 21 (From Jan 2015)
• User talk:Giano/archive 22 (From July 2015)
• User talk:Giano/archive 23 (From Jan 2016)
• User talk:Giano/archive 24 (From June 2016)
• User talk:Giano/archive 25 (From Jan 2017)
• User talk:Giano/archive 26 (From Jan 2018)
• User talk:Giano/archive 27 (From Jan 2019)
• User talk:Giano/archive 28 (From Jan 2020)

This user has been on Wikipedia for 19 years, 9 months and 28 days.

Centre

Please leave comments below:~

October harvest

thank you --Gerda Arendt (talk) 23:05, 30 October 2020 (UTC)

Thank you too, Gerda Giano (talk) 10:42, 7 November 2020 (UTC)

Did you know that I show my 1500th DYK article today, and - be sheer coincidence - it's related to the first? --Gerda Arendt (talk) 11:01, 7 November 2020 (UTC)

hunting lodge

Hi Giano, Something must be done! Happy lockdown, if you are, Johnbod (talk) 21:41, 6 November 2020 (UTC)

• I dare say you are right. However, I’m busy writing a book in return for hard currency rather than a citation tag from a twit in Oklahoma, so have precious little time. It would be a fun subject though, the English had this lovely word, Hunting box, of which Ascott House is a prime example - one thinks of Merrie England and the squire blessing his relations - which must be nice for the relations, if nobody else. Hunting Lodge, on the other hand, can conjure up the romance and horror of Mayerling, or log fires and sex on a fur rug (my preferred option) or even the horror of some God forsaken Trump supporter exerting his right to the 2nd Amendment. I’ll give it some thought. What about Lodge Park or that very tall house on a hill whose name currently escapes me? Giano (talk) 22:52, 6 November 2020 (UTC)

This is the one I was thinking of Ashdown House, Oxfordshire, a perfect example, unless the National Trust, in its infinite wisdom has scored a treble whammy andrelaunched it as the home of a homosexual, slave keeping suffragette. Giano (talk) 22:59, 6 November 2020 (UTC)

I think of "shooting box" and "hunting lodge" as the usual terms - the former high on a moor somewhere, & the latter perhaps in a forest. This WP search throws up some nice stuff. Of course Versailles is not the only one to have been expanded out of all recognition. I suppose the Château de Chambord is the ultimate example. The last time I was there there was a hunting horn competition somewhere out of sight when I was up on the roof - very evocative. It was this passage about the "secret house" that made me check up what we had. Johnbod (talk) 23:51, 6 November 2020 (UTC)

Irish-born chef from Ireland

Superfluous: where else would an “Irish born” person be from?

As an example, Melania Trump is a Slovenian-born woman from the US. — Alexis Jazz (talk or ping me) 19:40, 23 November 2020 (UTC)

But the poor woman was born in Slovenia (probably wishes she’d stayed there), so is “from Slovenia.” Therefore, saying someone is “Irish-born” and “from Ireland” is rather superfluous. Giano (talk) 20:40, 25 November 2020 (UTC)

ArbCom 2020 Elections voter message

Hello! Voting in the 2020 Arbitration Committee elections is now open until 23:59 (UTC) on Monday, 7 December 2020. All eligible users are allowed to vote. Users with alternate accounts may only vote once. The Arbitration Committee is the panel of editors responsible for conducting the Wikipedia arbitration process. It has the authority to impose binding solutions to disputes between editors, primarily for serious conduct disputes the community has been unable to resolve. This includes the authority to impose site bans, topic bans, editing restrictions, and other measures needed to maintain our editing environment. The arbitration policy describes the Committee's roles and responsibilities in greater detail. If you wish to participate in the 2020 election, please review the candidates and submit your choices on the voting page. If you no longer wish to receive these messages, you may add {{NoACEMM}} to your user talk page. MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 01:18, 24 November 2020 (UTC)

Oh the joy of it all! Everything else in the world is cancelled, but the Arbcom elections continue. A group of second-hand mediocrities and has-beens will parade their limited talents for our approbation. There is indeed a God. Giano (talk) 20:45, 25 November 2020 (UTC)

(talk page stalker) I'm happy to know that my two brain cells and narrow range of skills can bring you joy in this trying time by offering you another reason to vote straight ticket no. --Guerillero | Parlez Moi 22:00, 25 November 2020 (UTC)

@Giano and Guerillero: of course, one might suggest that it's best to vote for anybody other than the current arbs. Even the two brain cell and narrow range of skills candidates are far less likely to cause damage than the current bunch. --RexxS (talk) 23:37, 25 November 2020 (UTC)

I know we're all upset that Lady Catherine isn't a candidate from beyond the grave this year, but that's really not a good reason to support just anybody. Ask me who to avoid and I'll tell you privately, Giano. Bishonen | tålk 12:59, 26 November 2020 (UTC).

• I'm sure Lady C could be persuaded to rise to the occasion, I was speaking to her only this morning as she does have a view on this matter: "The Americans are behaving like some tin-pot guerrilla state with despotic dictators and corrupt elections and bringing democracy into disrepute, although democracy is vastly overrated." She also feels that "Poor little Lady Astor could have been a good politician had she not been American and that Britons (like herself) are born to rule." Should someone wish to nominate her, she may accept. Personally, I, Giano, will not be voting as I've seen too many elections and too little good or change ever coming from them. Giano (talk) 15:39, 27 November 2020 (UTC)

But would she concede at the end of her term; that's my worry. Johnbod (talk) 19:25, 27 November 2020 (UTC)

Of course, I can’t speak on her behalf, but I rather think ‘concede’ is not a word in her vocabulary. Anyway, I do know she took a very dim view of the abdication crisis, feeling he should have married her when he had the chance, I suspect the same train of thought will apply to Mr Trump, who she feels would have been far more successful had he visited a properly trained barber in St James’s. Lady C also feels America is not what it once was; she blames this on those unfortunate white teeth and inflamed lips which they all have these days. Giano (talk) 20:29, 27 November 2020 (UTC)

Giano, I truly take offence. I don't object to being called a mediocre has-been, but second-hand, well that is just too much. Good day sir. --kelapstick^(bainuu) 21:58, 27 November 2020 (UTC)

Never mind! There’s always a silver lining. I see on your user page you say “I live in Nova Scotia, Canada.” Just think, you could be living in the other one, wouldn’t that be terrible? Giano (talk) 22:08, 27 November 2020 (UTC)

Dreary weather, and you can't understand anyone. Well that could be either new or old Scotland I suppose. --kelapstick^(bainuu) 22:57, 27 November 2020 (UTC)

Data leak

just been told on logging in that there’s been a data leak and my account is compromised, is this true? Giano (talk) 20:24, 11 December 2020 (UTC)

Was this message from the Chrome browser? It has a direct interface with Have I Been Pwned?, an online database of several billion compromised login credentials. Jehochman ^Talk 20:53, 11 December 2020 (UTC)

I don't know but the likely explanation is as follows. Let's say your Wikipedia password is 123456. Every now and then, you need to log in at Wikipedia and you enter Giano + 123456. Your browser noted what you entered (Giano + 123456) and queried a database (see Jehochman's reply) to ask if that combination of user name and password has been published on the internet. Apparently the answer was yes. The cause may be that long ago you went to some website where you had to enter a user name and password, and you entered Giano + 123456. Don't do that! It is a bad idea to re-use a password because the other website might have been hacked and Giano + 123456 was one of many credentials stolen and copied onto a hacker's forum. Or, someone else happened to use Giano + 123456 as their user name and password at another website which was later hacked. However it happened, the combination is published and if someone finds it, they could log on as you at Wikipedia. The solution is to visit Special:Preferences and click Change password. Before doing that, make up a good password (8 characters or more, not just one word but with a couple of extra characters) and write it down in a couple of different places. Do not use the Wikipedia password at any other website. What I said about a good password is good enough for here. Anyone interested in more techo stuff could browse User:Johnuniq/Security. Johnuniq (talk) 22:24, 11 December 2020 (UTC)

Let your browser pick and remember a random password, different for each site. Don’t bother trying to remember it. A browser like Chrome or Safari can handle it and sync between your various devices. This is a shoddy patchwork solution but it’s the best currently available. I’m building a better authentication scheme with some of the profits from the last venture we did. Jehochman ^Talk 02:28, 12 December 2020 (UTC)

Yes, that's handy. You would need to very confident of your backup system to avoid losing all passwords. I believe it works well if you have multiple devices set up to share data on the cloud. If someone stole everything in your house, you would need to buy new devices and restore data from the cloud. Johnuniq (talk) 03:03, 12 December 2020 (UTC)

I struggled for years with synchronising passwords between devices and updating to a new PC. Eventually, I gave in and started using Dashlane, but I think any of the major password managers would be an improvement over manual methods. Although, if you sign in to a Google account, you can share data between Chrome browsers anyway these days. My bank doesn't like me using a password manager, so I exclude their website and have the passwords written down on a piece of paper next to the computer. The bank seem to think that's better security. --RexxS (talk) 09:45, 12 December 2020 (UTC)

Thanks for the advice, but that seems all far too stressful, I'll just stick with the easy to remember password and hope for the best. Funnily enough, I did have someone email last year who really knew a very old password (it was the same one for all sites) and claimed to have a video of me watching porn and enjoying myself and unless I gave them thousands of Bitcoins they were going to publicize it. I said let me see the footage first, Id like to see a bit of porn, but sadly they didn't send me any. That was from the Linkedin leak apparently.Giano (talk) 16:20, 13 December 2020 (UTC)

You should change your password because the combination of Giano + your_password have been revealed in a hacker's forum on the internet. In particular, make sure whatever email account you use for Wikipedia has a different password. For Wikipedia, a simple password is all that is required, for example someone's name with two extra characters. Johnuniq (talk) 22:01, 13 December 2020 (UTC)

OK, thank you. I have changed it. I can’t see why anyone would want to log in as me though. If they have, they haven’t been doing anything very exiting, I just checked my contributions hoping for something interesting, but nope, it wasn’t to be. Giano (talk) 22:15, 13 December 2020 (UTC)

If someone can login as you then they can email malicious links to all your friends. Your friend, thinking that it’s you, will trust the message click the link and their computer becomes infected and is added to someone’s bot net, their passwords are stolen, and their bank accounts are drained. An alternate form of the scam is that they email a message to your friends saying that you have been robbed in a foreign country lost all your identification and need some money to get home please wire it to me immediately thank you so much. There are lots of ways that the social network of trust can be exploited to generate cash. Jehochman ^Talk 02:48, 14 December 2020 (UTC)

Thank you, I have heard of these scams, but I do feel if any of my friends had an email stating I was kidnapped and marooned in a foreign country, they would probable be inclined to leave me there. Similarly, I have little time for people who are stupid enough to leave more than they can afford to loose in their everyday bank accounts. In this day and age there are plenty of cash platforms etc with super high security for proper money. Giano (talk) 20:30, 14 December 2020 (UTC)

I shall have to ask Lady Catherine for advice on this topic. As member of the nouveau riche I feel vulnerable with my life savings in a checking account. Maybe I should spend it on a fancy car, or a vacation? Jehochman ^Talk 06:10, 15 December 2020 (UTC)

Dear Mr Hochman, I have no idea what a checking account is, nor a “fancy car”, presumably some sort of decorated conveyance at a carnival. As for “holidays”, presumable something enjoyed by the type of person who has “weekends.” However, here’s an interesting thing, since poor dear Giano changed his pass word, he has been unable to log in, and when he sends a reset request, nothing arrives in his inbox. However, he is getting emails saying there has been multiple attempts to log in, which is most definitely him. Isn’t technology odd. Just give me back the dear old telephone, and I can communicate with the world unimpeded. The Lady Catherine de Burgh (talk) 20:04, 15 December 2020 (UTC)