User talk:AlainV
Misc
Hi AlainV, welcome to Wikipedia! :) Hope you like the place and you will stay. You can visit Wikipedia:How does one edit a page for help on creating articles and adding markup to them. If you have any questions check out Wikipedia:Help or add a question to the Village pump.
I noticed your article on Armoire desk you made in the Sandbox and moved it to main namespace. There is no need for creating articles in the sandbox, you can create them in the main name space right from the beginning! Just type the name of the article in the URL line, like this: http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_article_name If you wonder how to title a page, see Wikipedia:Naming conventions. Nikola 09:05, 16 Oct 2003 (UTC)
Hi Alain, concerning the "fancy" language - I don't remember! It was probably just the "long-lost ancestor" and the "atavistic grandchild", especially since they're right at the beginning of the article. The rest seems fine. There's no real reason for the language to be dry and technical in articles on antiques - readers probably would expect a friendlier tone. Marj 19:16, 29 Nov 2003 (UTC)
Thanks Marj! I will try do be a bit more formal on contemporary forms like the Cubicle desk though. Alain V., noticing that the snow has finally stopped on this Saturday 29 afternoon.
Hi. Good work you are doing; I just have some minor style notes. Although =x= style headers are available, we have a convention never to use them; and definitely never as the first thing in the article - can you in future not use them, and make sure that the first use of the article name within the article is boldfaced, (like '''this''')? Thanks, Morwen 07:48, Dec 16, 2003 (UTC)
I had been wondering what that was all about. After I put in a new article sometimes other editors would do this change from the equals x style header to boldface. Some other times the other editors would go through my text very thoroughly, cleaning up all kinds of things (and thus giving a good name to the concept behind Wikipedia) but leaving the equals x style header alone! Not being too sure what was the proper usage (independently of the indications in the text which is titled "How to edit a page") I left everything they changed "as is" and went on creating new pages as before. After reading your comment I went to the "list of desk forms and types" and did the change over to boldface and it seems to work. I also had a slight impediment in that my keyboard does not show the ' symbol properly: It looks just like another comma. The snow is thick outside and shows no sign of disappearing on this 16th of December 2003.
Thanks for your corrections on Jean le Rond d'Alembert and L'Encyclopédie. Much appreciated. (maybe I shouldn't edit with that much alcohol in by blood ;-) --snoyes 05:23, 12 Jan 2004 (UTC)
Thanks for the note, and I always forget to check these things. I have redirected the page, and all you need to in the future is put #REDIRECT [[Wooton desk]] as a single line in the page, and it should work. Thanks! Fuzheado 04:55, 13 Jan 2004 (UTC)
Ah yes, the "pipe trick". A very useful variation of this trick is that you can simply put a "pipe" (|) after something enclosed in parentheses in a link, and the parentheses (along with their content) will disappear, like so: Pound is a quicker form of writing Pound (have a look at the source text). Don't hesitate to ask me if you have any questions. --snoyes 05:21, 13 Jan 2004 (UTC)
Merci Alain for fixing up Jacques de Vaucanson. That sentence in the first section was horrible. I must have been very tired when I wrote it. I hope I have fixed it somewhat. Decumanus 04:51, 20 Jan 2004 (UTC)
Alain, do you know if Alexeieff & Parker were ever considered members of the NFB? my understanding is that they were invited to make one film there.Dhodges 17:12, 25 Jan 2004 (UTC)
They were invited several times over a period of more than 30 years. I have just dug more to find out what exactly was their contractual relationship with the NFB and have found conflicting reports. I am going to remove or change what I put in the pinscreen article to reflect this ambiguity.
I've been enjoying your cabinet-making input! At Arts and crafts movement you might add a note on the distinction between "cabinet-maker" and "furniture designer" after all. In the mid-19th century the big English commercial furniture-makers had designers who weren't trained as cabinet-makers, or as upholders/upholsterers either. The Arts and crafts movement was consciously trying to re-integrate the roles, as part of their reform efforts. Wetman 17:21, 1 Feb 2004 (UTC)
Thanks! I will put this in (somewhere in the A and C mvt article but maybe somewhere else also) given the specific request for it. I had been meaning for months to put the 4-5 cabinet making links I put in yesterday (or was it the day before? Those wikiholic "lost weekends" are addling my brain and making me leave for Montreal later and later)and I am always telling myself I have got to finish those rough sketches for all the desks, and put the bibliographies in, and put more non-Brit craftsmen in the list of furniture designers and... and... Whew, first of all I have to get back from Montreal and take my usual place in front of my home computer, next to my reference works, and then maybe I can take a few minutes to succumb to the temptation of adding a Greene and Greene desk article, since they were part of the Arts and Craft movement in the States and then... Whew! AlainV 00:32, 2004 Feb 2 (UTC)
Ah yes, I almost forgot. Among the things I absolutely just have to do is add a section on the desk as a symbol of power (political, literary or other) in the general desk article. I have been telling myself this nearly every day, since the day you added some fine paragraphs to the "Bureau du Roi" article I had started, thereby making it a real honest to goodness historical article.AlainV 00:50, 2004 Feb 2 (UTC)
Photocopying corrected typewriter pages... Yes, ain't that the truth. I almost thought about mentioning it myself. It of course also solves the problems of the corrections showing through.
I was finishing my degree around 1975, and one of the happiest moments of my graduate-student life was when, just in time, the university library announced that they would accept photocopied thesis submissions as long as the photocopies themselves were made on proper high-rag-content thesis paper. So I was able to prepare my thesis on erasable bond and photocopy it onto thesis paper! Hooray! What a boon to humankind! Dpbsmith 03:26, 11 Feb 2004 (UTC)
US units of measurement
Hi, thanks for telling me about U.S. customary units, although I knew there was a better page than US units of measurement, I'll make it a redirect. --Monsieur Mero 01:35, Mar 14, 2004 (UTC)
hi alain, I'm not sure of the convention, so I answered your query on my talk page where you posted it -- Kwill 14:58, 26 Apr 2004 (UTC)
National library
Hi, thanks very much for your contribution--when I started the article, I hoped it would be expanded, but didn't know enough myself. Anyway, just one question--when you say that a goal is "total bibliographic control of all the books published in that country", what exactly is meant? Thanks very much.
Also, if you know of any other prominent national libraries, those would be useful. My knowledge here is very limited. Thanks, Meelar 03:56, 2 May 2004 (UTC)
Admin
Hi, on reviewing your contributions, I've decided to nominate you for adminship. You can accept or decline at RfA. Good luck! Meelar 04:01, 2 May 2004 (UTC)
- Gahh, my mistake. I thought that RfA would be a link to Wikipedia:Requests for adminship; in fact, rfa was the redirect. I'll move your acceptance. Yours, Meelar 06:51, 2 May 2004 (UTC)
hecklers
Nice addition. Thanks. I might add something about Blair there ;o) --bodnotbod 23:06, May 2, 2004 (UTC)
Thanks for the contribution in Iraqi Most Wanted Playing Cards, I need help keep it coming. :) GrazingshipIV 06:29, May 9, 2004 (UTC)
Thanks
Hey thanks for the copyedit on the Hackers entry. I think most people shy away from my brain dump on that entry :) It doesn't look like a good article even to me, but I have no idea how to fix it. Dori | Talk 07:24, May 9, 2004 (UTC)
Sysop
Congratulations! You are now an administrator. You should read the relevant policies and other pages linked to from the administrators' reading list before carrying out tasks like deletion, protection, banning users, and editing protected pages such as the Main Page. Most of what you do is easily reversible by other sysops, apart from page history merges and image deletion, so please be especially careful with those. Good luck. Angela. 14:52, May 10, 2004 (UTC)
Good morning. I saw your listing of the Chapman Space "Station" on the VfD listing and took a look at the pages. May I recommend in the future using the "move this page" feature when you find a mis-titled article? It automatically cleans up the old page. Note: It will leave a redirect at the old site, but I think that's okay. Obviously at least one person already made this mistake or the page wouldn't have been created with the wrong title in the first place. Redirects take up no space and do no harm. (If it does create a conflict in the future, the redirect can always be cleaned out then.) Thanks. Rossami 13:23, 14 May 2004 (UTC)
Typos
Thanks for following me and cleaning them up. I'm sorry so many slip through. Wetman 03:43, 16 May 2004 (UTC)
Come now, not that many! AlainV 00:33, 2004 May 17 (UTC)
Balinville / Blainville
I've moved Thérèse-de Balinville County Regional Municipality, Quebec. Thanks for the correction. You also said you needed help editing {{msg:______}} boxes. These boxes are controlled by the MediaWiki namespace. --Merovingian ↕ T@Lk 17:57, May 16, 2004 (UTC)
National Libraries!
I will leave Wales and the Faroes and Catalonia and Quebec to your good judgement! As an American it's slightly hard for me to grok national libraries that aren't state libraries, so maybe I should just stay out of it! :) jengod 15:03, May 21, 2004 (UTC)
Military history of Germany during World War II
Hi, i've just seen your edit on Military history of Germany during World War II, good work, really good work. My intention was just to have some kind of a foreword. Do you feel TM is trustworthy when it comes to German organization and tactics in specific? --GeneralPatton 23:16, 12 Jun 2004 (UTC)
I have not read the manual, just your reporting of its summary of the German army in WWII. However, if it is a recently re-edited government publication of the US government I would trust it for reporting the straight facts about the order of battle and other aspects of the organization of the German army. I would be wary of any evaluation of tactics howver. If you want something close to an official US evaluation of WWII German army tactics you might want to look iinstead at some of the writings of colonel Trevor N. Dupuy. AlainV 23:31, 12 Jun 2004 (UTC)
Direct manipulation interface
Hi, I saw the message you posted on my talk page. (Is this where I'm supposed to reply ? I'm not sure.) You would know better than me how often the term "direct manipulation" is used outside of academia, so please feel free to put back material regarding this in the article. The main reason I edited the article so much is I don't think "direct manipulation" and "wimp/gui" are equivalent terms. However, I probably have a biased view of things; I would welcome more editing of the article to achieve a more balanced view. MichaelMcGuffin 12:22, 22 Jun 2004 (UTC)
I was at UIST 2003 as well, but missed Horvitz's talk. I'm not sure what controversy you're referring to with respect to direct manipulation and Shneiderman. There are multiple (possibly complementary) approaches to designing interfaces and interaction styles. An encyclopedia can define each of them; list the generally agreed-upon pros and cons of each approach; and also present more controversial arguments for or against each approach, attributing these arguments to the people or groups who advance them. MichaelMcGuffin 13:00, 23 Jun 2004 (UTC)
Hello...
Have you been working on anything lately? If not I wouldn't mind some help with this list: Noted_translators - suggestions and additions welcome! -- Simonides 03:33, 25 Jun 2004 (UTC)
The Simmons space opera question
Hi Alain. Thanks for your addition to the page on Dan Simmon's Ilium. I did not know that extropianism derived originally from H.G Wells - well done!
One gripe though. You also added this comment which seems to me to have NPOV issues:
> Because of the literary style it can be considered as something more than space opera,
That sounds like your personal opinion. Do you have a source for this?
>though some critics repeatedly pin this label on nearly everything Simmons produces.
I respectfully suggest you remove this para or alternatively write a more neutral version that outlines the views of the 'literary' and 'space opera' camps? You seem to have a chip on your shoulder about people who think Simmons writes space opera? Who thinks this? Why do they think it? And why does a 'literary' style elevate it above space opera? If we're being neutral here, what's wrong with a novel being a space opera, or some people thinking that it is?
I suggest that, if you remove the paragraph altogether, the question about whether or not Ilium is a space opera never arises...perhaps you are the only one worried about whether or not critics think it's a space opera? The page hasn't exactly been inundated with hordes of writers rushing to call the book a space opera....so why mention it at all?
You might as well assert that the literary stlye means it can be considered as something more than a cookbook, or a Volvo maintenance manual.....it just doesn't seem to me a pertinent point.
My $0.02
Thanks for listening. Mercurius 07:40, 27 Jun 2004 (UTC)
Thanks for pointing out that Gary Pullman is unknown -- I've now listed him on wikipedia:votes for deletion. Deb 07:25, 2 Jul 2004 (UTC)
dyslexia
Pas de deux blah, thanks for fixing that, i have dyslexia and just can't see things sometimes. i really should wait to do this at home where i can spell check. Ohka- 14:42, 4 Jul 2004 (UTC)
Palazzo del Te
Palazzo del Te Thank you for doing the typos in Palazzo del Te. User:Wetman and I were working on it yesterday. I have been rereading it for 24 hours, could not believe there were still some there. Thanks Giano 09:10, 19 Jul 2004 (UTC)
Typos #2
Hi Alain, many thanks for watching my stuff. Its good to know somebody out there is reading it! Apwoolrich 10:33, 19 Jul 2004 (UTC)
Hi, I will rename it thanks for correcting me. I am sorry for the goof up.WHEELER 13:48, 27 Jul 2004 (UTC)
Invitation
I fraternally invite you to add your name, to join the new section Wikipedians/Quebec. Thanks!
Je vous invite fraternellement à ajouter votre nom, à vous joindre à la nouvelle section Wikipedians/Quebec. Merci!
--Liberlogos 04:21, 2 Aug 2004 (UTC)
- Merci beaucoup de t'être joint à la communauté. Parle de la nouvelle communauté aux autres Wikipédiens Québécois ou aux personnes avec un lien au Québec que tu connais pour que l'on puisse mieux se connaître, mieux partager et mieux s'aider. À bientôt.
--Liberlogos 14:46, 3 Aug 2004 (UTC)
Tadoussac
for the tip. Tadoussac is now a redirect to Tadoussac, Quebec, and the two have been merged. --Merovingian✍Talk 09:26, Aug 2, 2004 (UTC)
Latécoère 28
Hi Alain - the data table has been a constant headache for WikiProject Aircraft - not only has it been a bear to edit (as you discovered), but when the main skin of Wikipedia changed a few months back, the table that had been painstakingly added to so many pages was rendered very hard to read. There has been a general consensus among Project participants to replace the old blue table with a text section. You can find a full description of the standard here. You can't be blamed for the confusion - the new standard was rolled out only hours before your contribution.
I agree with you that a bit of colour - something to "brand" the articles with would be desirable, but in the end the practicality of the text format has won out. Maybe there's another way of achieving this?
Rest assured though - this can be thought of as "stable". The tables were in use for nearly a year, but it was the fact that any table format we came up with was always going to be vulnerable to skin changes that was really the killing blow.
Sorry for your frustration and disappointment... I fully sympathise and relate! --Rlandmann 22:35, 13 Aug 2004 (UTC)
Linking room
Thanks, Alain, for adding more content to linking room. I thought the linking room meme was more prevalent, but once I had sat down to write the article, I realized most of my memories of examples of linking rooms were half-remembered images from my childhood. After seeing it in The Matrix, I knew I wasn't the only one.
Branding aircraft articles
Thanks for the ideas - most of us try to furnish articles with a picture of the aircraft in question, but finding copyright-free ones is usually the stumbling block, especially for more modern aircraft.
The idea of adding roundels or insignia was kicked around for a while, but this creates all kinds of problems for aircraft that were used notably by a large number of users. I personally like your idea of a placeholder image - I seem to remember seeing something similar around Wikipedia somewhere. WikiProject Aircraft dicussions are currently being held on an external web-board at aeronaut.ca/wikiforum - I'd like to invite you to make a suggestion about the placeholder there so other participants can comment. Cheers --Rlandmann 01:07, 17 Aug 2004 (UTC)
Impoverishing Wikipedia
I can certainly understand your being upset, and I shall briefly explain my reasoning for removing said paragraph from Industrialisation.
"Pre-industrial economies generally rely on sustenance standards of living, whereby the population focuses collective resources on producing only what can be consumed by the population, though there have also been quite a few pre-industrial economies with trade and commerce as a significant factor."
As far as I know it is entirely common for pre-industrial societies to produce far beyond sustenance standard, ie. Italy, Netherlands, Britain, Spain, China, India, +others all knew prosperous pre-industrial periods of great abundance. I did not feel like adding a caveat saying, that pre-industrial economies generally rely on sustenance standards of living, but quite often do not. It seems like we can't make up our mind if we say that. Which is it? Do they or don't they? Seems to me that some do, and some don't, just as some industrialized countries suffer from lack of food (N. Korea?). It doesn't seem to me that living at a sustenance standard is a mark of a pre-industrialized country, but maybe that depends on your definition of industrialisation?
Peregrine981 06:25, Sep 13, 2004 (UTC)
- allright, I shall soon rewrite the paragraph to suit your concerns. Almost all of these societies faced famines periodically, I still do not think that constitutes living at a subsistance level. Perhaps some elements of the society did, but some of these societies as a whole were more than capable of producing more than they needed. Ronald Seavoy's book, Famine in Peasant Societies seems to argue, to me, that pre-industrial societies do not necessarily live at a subsistance, level, rather pre-commercialised societies do. However, his book is far from universally acclaimed, so perhaps we should not base an encyclopedia article on his theory. Still, I will, when I get a moment, soon rewrite the offending paragraph.
- Peregrine981 23:46, Sep 14, 2004 (UTC)
Thank you for your grammatical input. I have to ask: how did you come across this article? It is tucked away into the dusty ol' corners of Wikipedia, and all. EDGE (Concordia student)
Transitway
Thanks for the insights and comentary. I just picked up the project yesterday (and the comments about downtown crowding aren't mine; they're cribbed from Transitway, which I'm merging into the new article). I'll be sure to go on more with the Gatineau dichotomy as well; it looks like the STO might need an article.
Incidentally, I'm no Ottawa native; I was visiting last month, then I noted the poor shape of the OC Transpo articles and dove in yesterday.
Thanks again, Radagast 12:04, Sep 24, 2004 (UTC)
Good additions! You caught precisely the right tone. Wetman 03:00, 30 Sep 2004 (UTC)
A reply from fbd
And the second reply :) (User:Fbd)
BNQ
Merci pour votre pertinent et intéressant ajout à BNQ ! Chaque nouvel article que je crée sur Wikipédia me cause une période de déprime car j'ai toujours l'impression qu'ils n'intéressent personne d'autre que moi. :-\ --[[User:Valmi|Valmi ✒]] 04:30, 20 Oct 2004 (UTC)
from a Yank
Good Morning Alain; Thanks for your insights into what citizens of the US of A should be called. Certainly the old WWI song "Over There" featuring the rousing chorus, "The Yanks are Coming, the Yanks are coming" did not just refer to those from New England. Several years ago, when I still watched TV and lived close enough to Canada to pick up the CBC I was a news special in which a team traveled from the Maritimes to BC asking Canadians the same questions, "What does it mean to be a Canadian?" After the trip was over they did a recap and discovered that it meant a lot of different things in different part of Canada, but there was one element of Canadian self-identification that all Canadians agreed upon, "We are NOT Americans." They were clear about what/who the word "American" referred to, and it was not them. Carptrash 15:31, 2 Nov 2004 (UTC)
Thanks for your cleanup
Hi, I am the translator of Ice sculpture，thanks to clean it up. --202.99.60.155 04:32, 4 Nov 2004 (UTC)
Culture of Quebec
I was only correcting poor grammar. I don't know anything about Quebec culture really, so if you feel that the usage is incorrect, then have at it. Darkcore 05:15, 4 Nov 2004 (UTC)
Hey, AlainV. I only now logged on to Wikipedia, and received a message from you in re the use of the word wake in the Culture of Quebec page, I assume.
I was using the word wake in the following sense: in the wake of 1. close behind [...] 2. as a result of; as a consequence of. (source: Websters New Collegiate Dictionary, p 1308).
See also in the wake of: behind, following after the example of (Concise Oxford Dictionary, p 1463) and in the wake of the storm à la suite de l'orage, après l'orage (Le Robert & Collins Senior, p 915) Grumpy Gus 17:26, Nov 8, 2004 (UTC)
Peter Deutsch
Are you sure Peter Deutsch wrote a PDP-11 typewriter when he was four years old? If not, please link to the correct Peter Deutsch.
I just linked it to the correct one L. Peter Deutsch who was very young at the time, but not that young. --AlainV 17:53, 19 Nov 2004 (UTC)
Tank engine history
Perhaps you're right. I haven't seen the tank history article yet. If someone doesn't beat me to it I'll move my material there. Rsduhamel 03:09, 20 Nov 2004 (UTC)
Hot_Air_Balloon_Festivals
I like your picture: Hot_Air_Balloon_Festivals :) weide 01:03, 6 Dec 2004 (UTC)
Thanks for the fix!
Thanks for the fix on the AT-9 page! Let me know if you see anything I should be doing different. I'm really new at this.
Mikeb 03:42, 8 Dec 2004 (UTC)
Article Licensing
Or if you wanted to place your work into the public domain, you could replace "{{DualLicenseWithCC-BySA-Dual}}" with "{{MultiLicensePD}}". If you only prefer using the GFDL, I would like to know that too. Please let me know what you think at my talk page. It's important to know either way so no one keeps asking. -- Ram-Man (comment| talk)
- Quoth: I prefer using PD because I do not want to place any restrictions on further use.
- Thats great, but you must also explicitly state on your user page (or User:AlainV/Copyrights) what your intentions are (legally speaking) if you'd like to multi-license. Copy and paste into your user page the following: {{MultiLicensePD}} and then you'll be done. – Ram-Man (comment) (talk)[[]] 19:30, Dec 9, 2004 (UTC)
Whenever I am given the choice, I place my contributions in Wikipedia in the public domain --AlainV 19:39, 9 Dec 2004 (UTC)
RFC pages on VfD
Should RFC pages be placed on VfD to be deleted? I'm considering removing Wikipedia:Requests for comment/Slrubenstein, Wikipedia:Requests for comment/Jwrosenzweig and Wikipedia:Requests for comment/John Kenney from WP:VFD. Each of them was listed by CheeseDreams. Your comments on whether I should do this would be appreciated. - Ta bu shi da yu 03:15, 10 Dec 2004 (UTC)
I just looked and there seems to be a consensus for keeping these pages. --AlainV 06:55, 10 Dec 2004 (UTC)
Move History
Hiya, someone recently "moved" the chemistry information from hybridisation to orbital hybridization, which is fine. However, they only "moved" it meaning they copy/pasted and lost all the edit history. Granted there wasn't a significant amount, but is it possible for you to reassociate the history with the correct page or something? Thanks, EagleFalconn 16:29, 10 Dec 2004 (UTC)
... something happened after all.
Hi AlainV, I've responded to your comment on my talk page. By the way, do you have any suggestions for how to improve the pallet picture? For example, I could take one with a pallet jack inserted. Also, do you think the article should have a picture of a wooden pallet, too? --Dbenbenn 03:11, 12 Dec 2004 (UTC)
Anything giving an idea of the scale of the object would be good. For instance, a work glove on the floor next to the pallet if you feel artistic and want to give an effect akin to that of Renaissance artists (who were aware of the symbolism of hands or gloves) or a coffee cup if you want to give an idea of the reality of work. A yardstick or a meter instead would be technical but useful also. A picture of a wooden pallet would be great since they are still in the majority. Most people never see a pallet or else they see it from afar on a pile, in the back of a warehouse, never getting an idea of just how big or small it is. --AlainV 04:05, 12 Dec 2004 (UTC)
Thanks for the suggestions. I like the glove idea. Also, I'll get precise measurements. --Dbenbenn 04:14, 12 Dec 2004 (UTC)
Join RWNB!
Hello, AlainV! Thought you might be interested in the Russian wikipedians' notice board. Come check it out! KNewman 04:37, Dec 14, 2004 (UTC)
The Middle Ages project
A new community group has been created for those working on articles related to the Middle Ages and thought you might be interested. It is a gathering place for those with a common interest in Medieval history. It's a place to announce new articles related to the Middle Ages, general discussions or questions, see who else is out there in Wikispace. Feel free to join or lurk, if you know anyone else that might be interested who is a regular contributor in this area, please pass along the word. The project page is here: Wikipedia:WikiProject_Middle_Ages. Iand pass this on to others, if you like!) --Wetman 21:02, 1 Jan 2005 (UTC)
Old Montreal
Thanks for setting me straight, Alain. Somehow I got it into my head that there were no pre-1760 buildings left, but reading the links you sent me reminded me that there are some. Before my edit, the article seemed to support the common misconception that tourists get: many think all the old buildings in Old Montreal are from the French régime. Your latest edits put the right balance on it. Indefatigable 15:18, 11 Jan 2005 (UTC)
Bombardier/LV Monrail
Hi Alain-
I replaced the information about the LV Monorail project from the Bombardier article that you deleted. I would appreciate it if you'd keep it there. It's a large news story in the area and quite a topic of discussion here in Las Vegas and Western US. Our city was recently denied government funding, and the entire city's mass transit system is now made to suffer because of the mistakes of that company. Additionally, millions of dollars in income were lost due to Bombardier's mistakes, and people could have been injured or killed because of the parts falling off the monorail. What is now apparently going to be the Monorail in it's entirety was supposed to be just the first phase of an ambitious plan to connect many parts of our fast-growing city. My hope is that when the next city is considering Bombardier to build a mass-transit system, some members of the public will be able to hear the whole story about Bombardier before millions of dollars in tax-payer money is wasted.
Thank you, Robert
I put the explanation on the talk page of the Bombardier article --AlainV 21:37, 29 Jan 2005 (UTC)
ReBoot
Nice edit. I find it quite miraculous that I either missed all those typos or made them myself, but at any rate good work.Adam Marx Squared 05:50, 15 Feb 2005 (UTC)
Quebec wikipedians' notice board
You are hereby cordially invited to join the Quebec Wikipedians notice board.
Vous êtes cordialement invité à collaborer au Quebec Wikipedians notice board. Circeus 19:03, Feb 23, 2005 (UTC)
The image you uploaded isn't used in any article, so I marked it for deletion. LeonWhite 15:00, 23 Mar 2005 (UTC)
Active Protection System for tanks
Hi Alain. Some of the material you removed from the tank article wasn't speculative. See Arena (active countermeasures system), and external links there; versions have been in production in Russia since the '80s (but I don't know how widely deployed). Still, I think it could be just mentioned in tank and vehicle armour, and the real description belongs in active protection system, or active armour (dunno if that term is actually used).
But good work, though. The tank articles have needed a lot of baby-sitting lately, and it's good to have as many editors as possible keeping an eye on things. Cheers. —Michael Z. 2005-03-27 06:29 Z
PS: I've nominated T-10 for posting in Template:Did you know, on the main page. Please have a look at this tank page, and contribute anything you can. —MZ
Tonic stress
No, French is not considered a language with tonic stresses, unlike English or Spanish. It is true French words have a slight stress on the last syllable, but this is a regular pattern, unlike in languages with tonic stresses, and it is much lighter than a tonic stress as occurs in languages with tonic stresses. Therefore, it is never indicated in IPA. Now, I don't know if the particular Quebecois French is considered an exception, possessing tonic stresses. If you find a serious linguistic article or book that specifically says that Quebecois French, unlike standard French, has tonic stresses, then we should add the stress in the IPA pronunciation. However, I have never heard that Quebecois French was different from standard French in that respect. I believe even in Quebecois French the slight stress on the last syllable is much lighter than a real tonic stress (compare the Quebecois pronunciation of "sur parole" and the English/American pronunciation of "on paROLE"). Hardouin 18:21, 8 Apr 2005 (UTC)
Pacific lodge
I'm curious to know what a Pacific lodge is. You added it to list of house styles, and it's not something I've heard of, so I'm guessing it's Canadian. You don't happen to know more Canadian styles, do you? I was going to put in something more precise about Quebec styles, but realized I didn't know enough (I had several cottage styles in mind). And there's a style of ranch house I once saw in Calgary that is, I think, purely Canadian, but I don't know what it's called. Mothperson 11:07, 14 Apr 2005 (UTC)
Industrial Revolution
You may or may not have noticed that Industrial Revolution has come under the spotlight of a group of article improvers. My weekday access is very limited at the moment, so can I ask you to keep your eyes open for any bloopers. (My additions aren't exempt of course, because I'm very much the amateur in this field.) Now might be a good time to consider separating the article into two—one for the British Industrial Revolution, and another for 'industrial revolution' as a generic term. Cheers, Noisy | Talk 20:23, Jun 19, 2005 (UTC) (Also posted to User talk:Apwoolrich.)
History articles
Hi, I am in contact with a university researcher who is investigating how historians write for and use Wikipedia. Any objection if I give her your contact details, please? Thanks Apwoolrich 13:24, 22 Jun 2005 (UTC)
- Thanks for your response. Here follows the message I had on my talk page a few weeks back. I have found them to be very professional, and I feel it to be worth while to take part Apwoolrich 17:47, 23 Jun 2005 (UTC)
Hello,
I’m a historian working at the Center for History and New Media at George Mason University (http://chnm.gmu.edu/) and as part of our project on the History of Science, Technology, and Industry we are very interested in digital historical works, including people writing history on Wikipedia. We’d like to talk to people about their experiences working on articles in Wikipedia, in connection with a larger project on the history of the free and open source software movement. Would you be willing to talk with us about your involvement, either by phone, a/v chat, IM, or email? This could be as lengthy or brief a conversation as you wish.
Thanks for your consideration.
Joan Fragaszy
jfragasz at gmu dot edu
Desk sketches
I learned about the PNG file format from other wikipedians, and have been very impressed by it. I tell all my friends...if you haven't tried it already, take some of your wikipedia drawings of desks and, using the original bitmap files, convert them to PNG using Paint or whatever program works for you. You'll see a smaller file with better image quality. I tried to convert one from JPEG, but some of the image quality couldn't be recovered. Nice drawings, by the way!--Joel 18:00, 16 August 2005 (UTC)
User Categorisation
You were listed on the Wikipedia:Wikipedians/Quebec page as living in or being associated with Quebec. As part of the Wikipedia:User categorisation project, these lists are being replaced with user categories. If you would like to add yourself to the category that is replacing the page, please visit Category:Wikipedians in Quebec for instructions.--Rmky87 23:54, 10 October 2005 (UTC)
Bianca Castafiore
I found that you have contributed this line to the Faust (opera) article : Her trademark is the jewel song, which she always belts out at high volume, never saying a word more or a word less than Ah! je ris de me voir si belle en ce miroir within the confines of the strip.
In the English version of the King Ottokar's Sceptre, she goes beyond this and sings a few more lines. Please see Talk:Minor_characters_in_Tintin#Castafiore_and_Jewel.27s_song. Do you know if the same appears in the Franch editions ? thanks, Tintin 19:29, 15 October 2005 (UTC)
Escritoire
Hmm, you suggest a google image search. Many of the writing desks shown there aren't strictly speaking "escritoires". I will source a picture of a "real" escritoire soon. I know my description isn't very clear, but a picture or two might help.
Of course, it might be that my "strict" idea of what an escritoire is and isn't may be a bit more constrictive than current use, in which case I am open to being convinced. --Slashme 05:57, 4 November 2005 (UTC)
Ah, yes. You know, the description of an "escritoire" you give is exactly what I was thinking of when I wrote the stub. My descriptive abilities are not very clear, and I think especially the use of the word "cupboard" was unfortunate. I have asked my mother to take a picture of the escritoire she commissioned for herself some years ago, and I'll put it on the page when I get it. I'll also fix my stub a bit, and you can expand it, as you're clearly much more of an expert than I am! --Slashme 13:08, 4 November 2005 (UTC)
T-34
We're not voting for Featured Article yet, just asking for input in polishing it up, and of course further contribution (but thanks for the vote!). Please see other examples at WP:PR#Requests. —Michael Z. 2005-12-20 07:46 Z
Proposed merge of Spaceman Spiff into Calvin and Hobbes
Hi mate. Just to let you know that I've copied the comment you posted on Talk:Spaceman Spiff to Talk:Calvin and Hobbes. I hope you don't mind.. - N (talk) 18:35, 15 January 2006 (UTC)
Robots
I admired your rebuttle of my opinion in the cyborg page. My main point is that on the talk pages in Terminator, cyborg, and andoid, the issue of what the Terminator is keeps on coming up, read them and you'll. Again, thanks for your comment. It was a pleasure to read. Dessydes
Self-improvement
Holi greetings from an Indian wikipedian. I have been around here for about a year, including being an administrator from 18th September 2006. I request you to kindly do me the favor of providing me your valuable comments and suggestions on my contributions, activities and behavior pattern. I shall be awaiting your free and frank opinion, which you are most welcome to kindly give here. Thanks. --Bhadani 16:11, 6 March 2006 (UTC)
Image copyright problem with Image:Slanttopdeskfront20050409.jpg
Thanks for uploading Image:Slanttopdeskfront20050409.jpg. However, the image may soon be deleted unless we can determine the copyright holder and copyright status. The Wikimedia Foundation is very careful about the images included in Wikipedia because of copyright law (see Wikipedia's Copyright policy).
The copyright holder is usually the creator, the creator's employer, or the last person who was transferred ownership rights. Copyright information on images is signified using copyright templates. The three basic license types on Wikipedia are open content, public domain, and fair use. Find the appropriate template in Wikipedia:Image copyright tags and place it on the image page like this: {{TemplateName}}.
Please signify the copyright information on any other images you have uploaded or will upload. Remember that images without this important information can be deleted by an administrator. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me. Thank you. Stan 14:29, 17 March 2006 (UTC)
Image copyright problem with Image:Slanttopdeskside20050409.jpg
Thanks for uploading Image:Slanttopdeskside20050409.jpg. The image has been identified as not specifying the copyright status of the image, which is required by Wikipedia's policy on images. If you don't indicate the copyright status of the image on the image's description page, using an appropriate copyright tag, it may be deleted some time in the next seven days. If you have uploaded other images, please verify that you have provided copyright information for them as well.
For more information on using images, see the following pages:
This is an automated notice by OrphanBot. For assistance on the image use policy, see User talk:Carnildo/images. 20:03, 17 March 2006 (UTC)
Image Tagging
Greetings. From the description and use of Image:Secretarydeskfront20050410.jpg and Image:Secretarydeskside20050410.jpg, it appears you intended these images to be freely available. I took the liberty of applying a {{GFDL-presumed}} tag to them. Could you confirm this at by replacing my edit withs {{GFDL-self}}?
Regards, Dethomas 03:08, 18 March 2006 (UTC)
Thanks for warning. I'm placing the drawings I've done as well as the photos I've taken in the Public domain --AlainV 13:23, 18 March 2006 (UTC)
Color
When you are editing how do you make it colored? Thanks, Stevietwotwo 20:12, 29 March 2006 (UTC)
no email address?
Hi - I don't know if you realize it, but you can't be contacted by the wikipedia "email this user" link. This might be related to the (relatively recent) email validation feature. Seems to me all admins should have a valid (and validated) email address. Just thought I'd let you know. -- Rick Block (talk) 04:14, 3 April 2006 (UTC)
Anybody who wants to contact me can do so by leaving a message on my user talk page like you just did. I check in at least twice daily. --AlainV 02:54, 4 April 2006 (UTC)
Talk Ex-Yugoslavia
Talk:Kosovo#2 Administrator for Ex-Yugoslavien articels in Wikipedia- The voice of Kosovar
Lea Hernandez sci-fi short stories
Hi, you added information about Hernandez's short fiction. I Just added an example, but if you have a better one and can source it in the references section that would probably be even better. I can't find my book to write a proper reference. -- Dragonfiend 03:19, 6 May 2006 (UTC)
You might be interested
As someone who has edited List of Canadian heroes and heroines you might be interested to see that it has been suggested for deletion (or some other form of bastardization). Care to join in the discussion? Sunray 00:27, 21 May 2006 (UTC)
Desk pictures for allocation to articles
Hi Alain,
As I am no expert in what is or is not a Secretary, an Escritoire, or whatever, I would like to forward the following pictures of desks to you for comment and possible use in the appropriate pages:
-
A small writing desk -
A writing desk
Kind regards
--Slashme 08:35, 25 May 2006 (UTC)
I'm no expert either. I just threw myself on the topic of desk forms during my spare time for about two years. Since then I let my interest simmer.
From the little I know those two pictures represent very original variations of the Slant top desk form, without being slant top desks. It looks as if the two pieces are one of a kind commissions or the fruit of a very dedicated "amateur" woodworker. By amateur I mean somebody who can easily spend thousands of hours a year on this hobby, and an even higher figure in dollars on tools and wood. The first one, with what looks like an icosahedron on top ("a small writing desk") can't be called a slant top desk because there are rows of drawers underneath the slant top "writing and storage" part. And it can't be called a Desk on a frame because that form has nothing underneath. The other desk ("A writing desk") is an extremely interesting combination of the typical slant top desk and the side drawer form of the Davenport desk. Of course, it can't be called a slant top desk, any more than a Davenport desk, because of this unusual mix. So, those two pictures are not useful for illustrating specific desk form.
On the other hand they might have other uses. A great place to put one of them would be to illustrate the Cabinet making article since desks are made (in the case of original items like these) by cabinet makers. I favor the simpler one over the slant top desk- Davenport combination, because it's simpler, more classical to my eyes. Also, I may be influenced by that icosahedron on top, which also looks like a fine piece of woodworking. That choice is personal. --AlainV 05:33, 26 May 2006 (UTC)
Microsoft business culture references
I know this might sound TOTALLY CRAZY since these edits were three (!) years ago. Anyway, I've been continuing to clean the Microsoft article and noticed you wrote a lot of the original stuff for business culture - my question is what reference(s) would you use to back up the first couple of paragraphs? I say this because it seems a bit overkill now, and the books overlap a bit IIRC... RN 10:44, 3 July 2006 (UTC)
- That would be great - thanks for the response :). I'll to try to look into some as well - it seems like an interesting topic too. RN 23:54, 5 July 2006 (UTC)
Montreal-style bagel
Thank you! Wikipeditor 05:44, 19 January 2007 (UTC)
Your removal of the reference to Ashkenaz Jews in this article is vandalism.--Lance talk 04:28, 23 January 2007 (UTC)
The definition over at that link says:
"Vandalism is any addition, removal, or change of content made in a deliberate attempt to compromise the integrity of Wikipedia."
My edit was not a deliberate attempt to compromise the integrity of Wikipedia, therefore it was not vandalism. --AlainV 20:06, 23 January 2007 (UTC)
The article you wrote, Aberwyvern castle, is uncategorized. Please help improve it by adding it to one or more categories, so it may be associated with related articles. A stub marker or other template doesn't count - please put in an actual category in the article. Eli Falk 12:01, 31 January 2007 (UTC)
Done! --AlainV 05:06, 1 February 2007 (UTC)
Trade and militarized society
Personnaly I don't understand where the problem in Punic miliatry forces is that a society with lots of trade shouldn't be militarized. Just look at South Korea (until shortly under a military rule) or the USA (higher proportion of soldiers per civilian than other Western societies) or the deceased German Empire (strong Prussian influence) or Nazi Germany.
Just look at that piece of South Korean history:
In 1960, a student uprising led to the resignation of president Syngman Rhee, whose government had become autocratic and corrupt. Then followed a period of profound civil unrest and general political instability. General Park Chung-hee led a military coup (the "5.16 Revolution") against the weak and ineffectual government the following year. Park took over as president from 1961 until his assassination in 1979, overseeing rapid export-led economic growth as well as severe political repression.
The year following Park's assassination was marked by considerable political turmoil as the previously repressed opposition leaders all clamored to run for the presidential office. In 1980, General Chun Doo-hwan launched a coup d'etat against the transitional government of Choi Gyu Hwa, the former prime minister under Park and interim president, to assume the presidency. Chun's seizure of power triggered particularly violent protests in Gwangju, South Cholla province, where protesters raided police stations and military compounds to seize weapons. Chun sent in the special forces to suppress the uprising, which is now termed the Gwangju Massacre. Chun stated his intent to serve only a single term from the outset and eventually allowed direct presidential elections in 1988 under pressure from widespread popular demonstrations. That year, Seoul hosted the [1988 Summer Olympics]. South Korea's economic development was also largely due to the many large, family owned businesses within the country, which came to be known as Chaebols. Some of the most famous and richest Chaebols include Samsung, LG and Hyundai.
Any questions that military excludes trade and the like? But the theses of the trade "empire" really needs proof. For example nobody would attribute Greece the like, although its pottery was widespread. Wandalstouring 13:57, 3 February 2007 (UTC)
Militarism discourages trade, except when it supports it directly, in some very special circumstances. This went into an extreme with the autarcic nature of the Nazi state, which discouraged normal trade with other countires and encouraged the complete subjugation of the economy of other countries by the German one. At any rate all the examples you give (South Korea, Imperial Germany of the 19th and early 20th century) are all those of complex inditrialized societies and they are absolutely not relevant to the much more simple economis of classical antiquity. Furthermore, what is at stake here is not the exclusion of trade for war or vice versa but the fact that the "Myth" of the commercial nature of the Punic empire is the prevalent one in current historiography, even if the sources for that "myth" turn out to be less numerous than one would like. If you go against all of the scholarly books that repeat that myth then it's up to you to state extremely clearly the sources which supoort that attack to the "Myth" of the punic commercial empire and to sum up the logic of their attack and their concrete foundations. --AlainV 23:57, 3 February 2007 (UTC)
Alain?
You do not seem to understand what a "commercial link" is. You have falsely labled the two links you removed as "commercial" when they certainly are not. They do not charge one dime for services. All items are free, public access. Would you consider Wikipedia's request for donations, commercial? Wikipedia is a commercial site. It both solicits donations and draws in millions of dollars, therefore, according to your own logic Wikipedia itself is commercial. Feel free to see my userpage, why I am in dispute of the revisions, and have no intention to make any further generous contributions as I have in the past, until those two links you've removed without reasonable explanation, are restored.
To better clarify the issue, websites such as the commercial cybersquatter link, http://yoursite.com/favicon.ico which is displayed right in the midst of Favicon. And http://www.match.com/ which charge fees for use of their services, are "commercial" links, but on numerous occasions, certain editors have either overlooked or failed to make such a simple distinction.
As a side note, on driving legitimate editors away from Wikipedia: I've noticed many of the articles I've created, contributed to or checked over, seem to have been vandalised more than I remember occuring in the past. Admins obviously cannot keep up with the problem. One article I repaired, had escaped attention for at least three days. Since some people insist on driving away legitimate contributors, this is to be expected, and should only expect the problem to become worse in the future. This includes the growing sentiment which has been becoming more and more prevalent around the web, e.g., simply Google Wikipedia is not a reliable source.
Posted by Sharon Mooney 18 February 2007, 16:28 Eastern
I've removed the other commercial links you've noted and which I hadn't noticed before. Thanks!. Links leading to pages giving no information and doing nothing but offer services (even when they are free) or doing some form of self-promotion are also routinely removed from Wikipedia. --AlainV 05:03, 19 February 2007 (UTC)
But the links I provided were not commercial, and I would appreciate those restored. I am looking into the growing disillusionment with the notable immaturity of editors on Wikipedia.
This is hilarious.
- launching a more mature community under a new charter
An Alternative to Wikipedia From http://www.webpronews.com/insiderreports/2006/10/20/an-alternative-to-wikipedia
- Larry Sanger, co-founder of Wikipedia... Since his well-publicized departure from the popular wiki project, Sanger has been one of Wikipedia's harshest critics.
I will be departing too.
It's 2:33 a.m., and your essay on European Socialism is due in a little over seven hours.
Running out of time and feeling the tinge of desperation creep up your spine like the first cruel waves of an ether binge, you surf on over to this Wikipedia people keep talking about to gather up more source material.
The heavens open with streams of online content, and the paper practically writes itself.
A week later, your professor hands the essay back to you with a giant "F" plastered across the front. Feverishly scanning the document, you come to a comment in the bibliography
"Wikipedia is not an approved information source for this class."
Shock gives way to acceptance, and despair inevitably ensues.
Does this story sound familiar? It should, because it takes place every day throughout the nation's college campuses. Many students are turning to Wikipedia for reference purposes, and finding out the hard way that academia at large refuses to acknowledge the site as a credible information resource.
Larry Sanger, co-founder of Wikipedia, is looking to change all that.
Since his well-publicized departure from the popular wiki project, Sanger has been one of Wikipedia's harshest critics. In a press release on Tuesday, he announced a new wiki project aimed at providing the online community with a reliable, accredited reference source.
The new project is entitled the Citizen's Compendium, or Citizendium for short.
Citizendium will initially mirror Wikipedia's content, but Sanger plans to build upon that knowledge base by enlisting the services of expert editors and contributors in an effort to surpass Wikipedia in terms of accuracy and reliability of information.
Sanger comments on the endeavor, "By engaging expert editors, eliminating anonymous contribution, and launching a more mature community under a new charter, a much broader and more influential group of people and institutions will be able to improve upon Wikipedia's extremely useful, but often uneven work. The result will be not only enormous and free, but reliable."
Potentially interested contributors can sign up here. More information on testing, content and the project's scope can be found in the press release.
Tags: Citizendium, Wikipedia