User talk:Requestion

External links

Have you considered writing articles about some of the notable software you have been deleting links to? WP has many gaps and some external links, particularly in lists, are there to temporarily plug these gaps. Stephen B Streater 16:46, 22 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I've reverted a couple of you external link removals. WP:EL is a style guide, not policy, and so is open to reaching a consensus. I feel you haven't considered your removals with sufficient care in the case of some lists. If you would like to discuss any particular link, I (and others) are happy to oblige. Stephen B Streater 17:26, 23 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

That wasn't a list of notable software. It was a link farm. I could go to a software website such as Tucows and add hundreds (if not thousands) of similar and applicable programs to this particular Wikipedia software list. Would Wikipedia benefit from this? No, it would make a horrible mess. My goal is to help keep Wikipedia looking good. (Requestion 15:16, 24 May 2006 (UTC))[reply]

Thank you for your response. I was concerned about the apparent indiscriminate removal of information from WP. Your user page makes it look like you have, in your own mind, raised the WP:EL style guide to the status of policy, which it is not. I also remove a lot of external links from WP, but I always check them for relevance first, and often external links contain good, relevant information. Lists are a good place to highlight the lack of an article in WP for people knowledgable in an area. Clearly, I respect a considered removal of a few links, but often links have been added after a discussion and are deemed relevant. The nature of Wikipedia ensures that there is much notable software which doesn't yet have an article. Perhaps you would be interested in writing an article or stub or two yourself? Stephen B Streater 17:19, 24 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Sorry about that. I'm just trying to clean up the Wikipedia link spam problem. (Requestion 04:21, 27 May 2006 (UTC))[reply]

Removal of links

I undid your removal of links from List of audio players (software). Removing links that don't have articles yet is not a valid reason for removing them. --Mperry 16:43, 23 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I am just trying to clean up the Wikipedia. My logic for removal is that the empty links should never have been created in the first place. If a software program is significant enough then an article should be created first. I am against Wikipedia software lists in general, they are fertile ground for link farming, and categories are better at accomplishing the same thing. (Requestion 15:16, 24 May 2006 (UTC))[reply]

It should be noted that the above audio player list was a thriving link farm and it was deleted by unanimous vote on July 9th 2006. While I did vote for the deletion, it was not my preferred solution. (Requestion 15:38, 20 November 2006 (UTC))[reply]

FORscene

The original FORscene article has been userfied - you can find it now at User:Stephen B Streater/FORscene. Feel free to knock it into shape. If you need help finding verification, please ask and I'll point you in the right direction. Stephen B Streater 06:15, 28 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Oscilloscope link removal

I added a link to TiePie engineering to the oscilloscope page in the list of oscilloscope manufacturers. I think wiki users should be able to find TiePie engineering in this list because it has been manufacturing oscilloscopes for 19 years and is exporting to 80 countries. Therefore it can be considered to be one of the big players. Can you explain to me why you removed the link and not the links to the other companies? Can you please leave the link intact or remove them all? (Marthein 09:17, 22 November 2006 (GMT+1:00))

Is this Marthein of TiePie? The way you added two TiePie external links was very spammy and caused me to take action. And I wasn't the first, a previous editor removed both of your links! I kept the semi-informative link and I removed the blatant spam link. See WP:EL for policy details. The Oscilloscope page was turning into a link farm so I thank you for suggesting that I clean it up. All external oscilloscope links have been removed and turned into internal links. (Requestion 16:55, 22 November 2006 (UTC))[reply]

Dolby Digital page

I have to apologize for my most recent edit -- I thought that I was logged in and clearly was not. My intention certainly was not to be "sneaky" and will be more careful about that in the future.

I am a novice to Wikipedia and perhaps you can help me understand more clearly why you object to the edits of the external links. I've checked with my colleagues here at Dolby and those three codecs are unlicensed and therefore illegal. I'll recommend to my colleagues that they take it up with SourceForge as you suggest. With that said, we don't feel that they should be promoting their unlicensed software on a page that is intended to discuss Dolby Digital. Could you please elaborate on what you mean by "these are valid links"? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Dolby Interactive Marketing (talk • contribs) 22:03, 19 December 2006 (UTC).[reply]

Hello Dolby Interactive Marketing and welcome to the Wikipedia. It is important for you realize that the Dolby wikipedia pages are not an extension of the Dolby.com website. You don't own these pages and you cannot control them. Sometimes truthful but unflattering information will be added. You might not like this but that's how the Wikipedia operates. Aggressively deleting information that you do not like could result in bad PR for your company.

The links you deleted are "valid" because they are both informative and relevant. The projects linked to might be unlicensed but I highly doubt that they are illegal. Here is my logic: those projects are hosted on the SourceForge free software portal which is based in Fremont California, and Dolby is well aware of the existence of these projects, and some projects have been active for 4+ years, and Dolby has an army of IP attorneys, and so far those projects have not been shut down. So the only two conclusions a sensible person can make on the legality of those projects is that Dolby has either failed in legal attempts to shut them down or they have chosen to allow the projects to exist due to the potential PR backlash. The links are legal and the links will stay unless you can source some information that says otherwise. (Requestion 16:22, 20 December 2006 (UTC))[reply]

We're a smaller company than you probably think (my observation is that our army is of engineers, not lawyers), but there just aren't enough hours in the day for the IP team to track down and pursue every licensing violation out there. They were not aware of these projects on SourceForge. With that said, I have to respectfully disagree with your two conclusions.

I've asked the IP team to investigate but this will, of course, take time. While we wait, I did want to point out that our business model is a licensing business based on patented technology, of which, Dolby Digital is probably the best known. An Implementation License is required to license Dolby technologies in software. Would it be satisfactory to show that these software decoders do not have the required Implementation Licenses to remove them from the page? Dolby Interactive Marketing 23:35, 20 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

No, that would not be satisfactory. It is fairly obvious that a free software project could not afford a Dolby Digital license, and if they could I doubt Dolby would sell them one. But in any case that isn't relevant. Just because Dolby licenses it's patented IP does not mean that the free software projects on SourceForge violate those patents. I personally don't know if they do or if they don't, but as an engineer I do know that there are usually numerous methods that can be used to implement technology around a patent. Like the saying goes "there are many ways to skin a cat" and large tech companies do this all the time and there is nothing illegal about it. I also know for a fact that Dolby (the company) has been aware of those SourceForge projects for several years. Please don't use the Wikipedia Dolby Digital page as a marketing extension of your Dolby.com website. (Requestion 16:47, 21 December 2006 (UTC))[reply]

Fair enough. Would you mind sharing who here at Dolby has been aware of those projects? I must be talking to the wrong people here since I'm getting a different answer than you. Your help in getting this sorted out would be greatly appreciated. Rather than posting that info here, please feel free to send that to me privately. Dolby Interactive Marketing 17:46, 21 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Sorry can't help you there, it was some unknown Dolby employee I met at a tech conference a couple years ago. (Requestion 19:11, 21 December 2006 (UTC))[reply]

Wow, you have a really twisted view on external links, removing them when they're intentional yet keeping them when they're unwanted, perhaps you'd be the perfect editor to start this new article: Warez links. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by LinksWant2BeFree (talk • contribs) 20:04, 27 February 2007 (UTC).[reply]

PRISM Business Media Inc.

Re [1]: Thanks! I saw you have no contributions there - may I hereby formally invite you to Wikipedia:WikiProject Spam? You look like you would feel right at home there. (I've opened a case about PRISM at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Spam.) Femto 13:22, 17 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you for the invitation. I've discovered that Prism Business Media through a complicated series of acquisitions is Penton Media. The list of Prism domains, agents, and spamming exploits are now located at Talk:Penton Media. It seemed like a better central location of information to me. (Requestion 20:36, 17 February 2007 (UTC))[reply]

Thanks

Thanks for removing bigbag. Now I see no reason to write the artice since you think it is "irrelevant". Did you ever think about it got delayed in writing for some reason? Do you have any knowledge in industrial packaging? --Boongoman 07:38, 20 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Sorry, but I've never heard of BigBag before. It looked like a nonsense empty junk link to me. Why don't you write a BigBag article stub first then add the links back. Or, if you like, write the BigBag article and then let me know and I'll add the links back. (Requestion 16:09, 20 February 2007 (UTC))[reply]

Then I will put a notice to you. For educational purposes: Bigbags. --Boongoman 16:45, 20 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Wow, those are some big bags. I didn't think Bigbag was for real but I was wrong. I apologize for any harm i may have caused. I have reverted my 3 bad edits. (Requestion 17:22, 21 February 2007 (UTC))[reply]

Screamers (1995 film)

If you have a problem with the VHS & DVD release dates referencing amazon (which you apparently do) then find another source to cite those release dates. I won't let references be removed simply because they link to a commercial entity. Cburnett 17:31, 20 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I changed the DVD release date reference to a less commercial source. I'm still looking for an alternate VHS release data source. (Requestion 17:59, 20 February 2007 (UTC))[reply]

Link vandalism

Please stop removing appropriate external links from wikipedia. It is considered vandalism and strictly prohibited in wikipedia. If you continue vandalism, you will be blocked from editing wikipedia. --Urod 01:34, 25 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I am absolutely sure that a good software listing should contain external links for all pieces of software where internal links are missing. I am not flexible about it. Oh, and there is a consensus supporting my point of view. Unless you believe that mediation may help, I suggest to go to the arbitration commitee. --Urod 01:48, 25 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

The Arbitration Commitee is here. I will obey any ArbCom decision. --Urod 01:51, 25 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Go for it. For reference of what this irate and confused user is talking about see Talk:List_of_screen_capture_software. This dispute revolves around my attempts at cleaning up a link farm. (Requestion 01:59, 25 February 2007 (UTC))[reply]

AfD for List of screen recording software

I have replied at my talk page. By the way, I like your user name--it's a nice portmanteau. Cheers, Black Falcon 21:26, 26 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks. I have to admit that I had to look up portmanteau but it's more than just my name, it is also my personal philosophy. (Requestion 21:36, 26 February 2007 (UTC))[reply]

Special:Contributions/LinksWant2BeFree

Why are you so anal about external links? Wikipedia uses the nofollow tag, so putting an external link in an article does absolutely nothing to increase ranking in search engines. If more information is available off site, then why not link to it? Do you want to make an island out of Wikipedia? (User_talk:LinksWant2BeFree) 19:46, 27 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

LinksWant2BeFree is my first wiki-stalker! I feel so honored, thank you. See Wikipedia:Articles_for_deletion/List_of_screen_capture_software for reference of what this is about. See the contrib log too, this user is running around Wikipedia and randomly reverting my edits, some current and some months old. (Requestion 20:27, 27 February 2007 (UTC))[reply]

Hmmmmm, you have reverted far more of my additions than I have reverted changes by you, so by that definition you are stalking me. I am just returning the favour. You are also not answering any of the questions I posted above. Not that I was expecting an answer, anyone who reads your posts can clearly see that you are more interested in being a pedantic prick rather than having a meaningful discussion. --LinksWant2BeFree 21:08, 27 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]