User talk:The Evil Spartan

RfA thanks

My RfA

I hope the other kids at school play with me...

Thank you for your participation in my recent RfA, which closed successfully. I felt the process was a thorough review of my contributions and my demeanor, and I was very gratified to see how many editors took the time to really see what I'm about and how I can be of help to the project. As a result, some editors changed their views during the discussion, and most expressed specific, detailed points to indicate their opinion (whether it was , , or ).

A number of editors were concerned about my level of experience. I was purposeful in not waiting until a particular benchmark occurred before requesting adminship, because I feel - as many do - that adminship is not a reward and that each case is individual. It is true that I am not the most experienced editor around here, but I appreciate that people dug into my contributions enough to reach the conclusion that I seem to have a clue. Also, the best thing about this particular concern is that experience is something an editor - or administrator - can always get more of, and I'll continue doing that, just as I've been doing. (If I seem a little slow at it, feel free to slap me.)

I am a strong believer in the concept that this project is all about the content, and I'm looking forward to contributing wherever I can. Please let me know if I can be of any help. In the meantime, I'm off to school...

Thanks again!

—Preceding unsigned comment added by Frank (talk • contribs) 13:39, 3 July 2008 (UTC)

Barack Obama

Having read the link you referred me to, I was struck by the sentence "those who receive a template message should not assume bad faith regarding the user of said template". That said, I meant no bad faith by my use of a template, was indeed being expedient.

I stumbled upon Obama's page was struck with interest that a Minister of Wales had invited Obama for a visit because of his heritage - it highlighted to me the person's diversity of ancestry in a way the rest of the article did not. I agree that it was weighed much too heavily by previous editor, but wholesale deletion seemed to kill an important nugget too. Your deletion of the my compromise edit appeared to be knee-jerked article ownership on your part. Perhaps I was wrong and there is some deeper objection? If so, you haven't communicated it in a way I understand. Best wishes, EBY3221 (talk) 19:23, 5 July 2008 (UTC)

Without knowing what this is all about, this comment[1] seems unduly confrontational and bite-y. Perhaps you can say the same thing in a way that would keep tensions low? Thanks, Wikidemo (talk) 19:41, 5 July 2008 (UTC)

Responded on EBY's talk page. The Evil Spartan (talk) 21:30, 7 July 2008 (UTC)

Thank you for your response. As I explained somewhere else on this whole tempest - I did do the discussion page due diligence (way too much alliteration) before making what I thought was a good compromise edit. Here's where I failed: by not actually starting a discussion topic on the issue before going back to re-make the edit in a leaner way as a response to your RV. It's a high profile article, and as such has special needs. That said, please remember in the future when you load up your flamethrower that some of us are wearing flammable pants, and may get singed. EBY3221 (talk) 02:07, 8 July 2008 (UTC)

Right. As I said, I apologize for my tone, but templating a regular is itself use of the flamethrower, and was a ridiculously unnecessary step, aside from not using the talk page. The Evil Spartan (talk) 07:04, 8 July 2008 (UTC)

Image question

Hi. :) Do you by any chance remember the history of this image? I see that you once listed it at PUI and several months later removed the tag. It is listed now at Wikipedia:Copyright problems/2008 June 29/Images (though the person who listed it didn't tag it), and I'd like to find out what happened then. If you don't remember, no worries: I'll dig through the history of PUI until I figure it out. But I thought if you happened to remember you could save me some time. :) Thanks for any enlightenment you may be able to offer! --Moonriddengirl ^(talk) 22:15, 7 July 2008 (UTC)

I seem to have caught you just as you were out the door. My luck! In any event, I have found the moment they were removed, here. Off to stage 2 of checking into it, which I guess is looking at your edit history and User:Garion96's to see if it was addressed and, if not, to ask Garion96. He recently left a note at my page, so at least my introduction will be easier. :D --Moonriddengirl ^(talk) 01:29, 8 July 2008 (UTC)

You'll want to ask Garion. I was only clearing the backlog of images that had a PUI tag but weren't listed. The Evil Spartan (talk) 07:00, 8 July 2008 (UTC)

I looked through his contributions for the period and didn't see anymore about it. Since a source has been uncovered, I've just gone on ahead and tagged the image. Image work has never been my thing, but I'm picking up a lot of experience lately. :) --Moonriddengirl ^(talk) 12:11, 8 July 2008 (UTC)

Probably not a bad move. Many of the images I came across were quite questionable, and I couldn't ever figure out why they were delised. The Evil Spartan (talk) 21:58, 8 July 2008 (UTC)

More on Image Licenses

Thanks for your help on photo licensing!--and, no: I wouldn't fudge licensing on a pic. Especially not for a mediocre one, like the snaps I've been uploading! (j/k--wouldn't do it for a good one, either. Actually, especially not for a good one, now that I think of it).Scooge (talk) 23:37, 11 July 2008 (UTC)

Jesse Jackson

Thanks for the drive-by tag. I read your little userpage list and agree with certain points. I also kind of wish you'd stuck around to make a comment on the talk page about remedying such situations. Cheers, dfg (talk) 05:40, 13 July 2008 (UTC)

Hmm. Well, it was indeed a "driveby" tagging. I'm not terribly fond of the term, as I don't have always to fix pages I see a problem with (thus the creation of the tag). And it just so happens this page kicked into one of my pet peeves. Surely, I will participate in the discussion here as you've asked. The Evil Spartan (talk) 21:45, 13 July 2008 (UTC)

Re: User talk:Zorakoid

Thanks for the notice Spartan. I unblocked the user. Unfortunately, the more open proxies that are blocked, the more likely there is to be collateral damage. Spellcast (talk) 08:30, 14 July 2008 (UTC)

Userpage

You know, your comments on your (new) userpage reminded me of this odd discussion about Leo Tolstoy's sexuality that I witnessed awhile back. Actually, in keeping with your observation, this appears to be a recurring theme on the talk page. MastCell ^Talk 06:37, 16 July 2008 (UTC)

Yes; you see I am not altogether out of my mind to bring it up. The Evil Spartan (talk) 15:26, 16 July 2008 (UTC)

Well, I think you're right, but you may still be out of your mind to bring it up... :) MastCell ^Talk 18:47, 16 July 2008 (UTC)

I find myself extraordinarily frustrated at the way that Wikipedia confronts many issues. Why do we have to have a controversies section on every page? And the fancruft is unreal. This is only part of the whole "let's bring up the controversial issue which makes me mad at this person" attitude. If people want to call me full of hate for noticing such an obvious structural flaw (seriously), then I'm sorry it's come to that. The Evil Spartan (talk) 21:53, 16 July 2008 (UTC)

I don't think that's going to happen. I agree completely about the "Controversy" sections; they're either attempts to put in every negative item possible, or attempts to segregate every negative item into a "criticism ghetto". It's not like Brittanica does this. MastCell ^Talk 22:24, 16 July 2008 (UTC)

Srbosjek

Vote to keep or delete this article here [2] —Preceding unsigned comment added by 153.39.144.157 (talk) 12:52, 16 July 2008 (UTC)

My Irony Meter Just Exploded

You do realize that you just warned a regular from templating the regulars... using a template? That's actually kind of funny.
Anyway, I wasn't paying attention I was just warning all the various people involved in the edit war. I'll go back and change it to a more friendly sounding warning. L'Aquatique[review] 03:03, 20 July 2008 (UTC)

Yes, I do. In fact, I had to retrieve the template from ciiwiki, because that one was deleted. I just couldn't help myself. The Evil Spartan (talk) 03:04, 20 July 2008 (UTC)

Lol... I wonder why? Here's my apology to the templated user: [3]. Thanks for the notice! L'Aquatique[review] 03:13, 20 July 2008 (UTC)

Aw, that was nice. God for you. We all have WP:MASTADON moments we regret within about 15 seconds (me especially). Good move. The Evil Spartan (talk) 03:16, 20 July 2008 (UTC)

G-d for me? Sweet. :P L'Aquatique[review] 03:17, 20 July 2008 (UTC)

[unindent]Hey, can I ask you for advice? Not only has Merzbow rejected my apology, but he's been pretty uncivil to me. First he deleted the template, including my apology, with the edit summary "removed idiocy" then put a template on his userpage saying that "If you're here to template a regular, then you're not welcome here; your edit will be reverted without comment. If you're here to otherwise be a WP:DICK, then the same applies. If you don't like it, then you can try your luck at WP:ANI." which was obviously aimed at me. When I tried to post a response saying that I think he misunderstood my actions and once again I was sorry, he deleted it with the edit summary "You're not welcome here". Should I just let this be? It's actually really hurt my wiki-feelings- I'm not at all used to non-vandals not liking me, and for g-d's sake, it was a simple mistake. *Sigh*. L'Aquatique[review] 05:18, 21 July 2008 (UTC)

The correct response to the uncivil act of throwing a template on the talk page of an established editor is to revert yourself, not follow up with an "apology" that mostly consists of further lecturing on how the editor you just wronged risks getting blocked for edit-warring. (And to make it even more incredible, it was a gross BLP violation that I was reverting). At this point I suggest that we both mutually decide to refrain from commenting on each other further in any Wikipedia venue. I will reword the disclaimer. - Merzbow (talk) 06:52, 21 July 2008 (UTC)

Hmm, I sort of wrote an essay on something similar a while back: WP:NPANPA. Also might remind all parties that invoking WP:DICK is, of course, often a dick move in and of itself. Try dispute resolution, avoiding each other's talk pages, and, best yet, waiting until 2 hours after reading a post by the other editor before responding. The Evil Spartan (talk) 21:15, 21 July 2008 (UTC)

AN/I report

What's the article, what's the issue? Sorry if I missed this, been away for a few days. The Rambling Man (talk) 19:25, 20 July 2008 (UTC)

If you read the post further, you will see that there is a link to the above, but it is Christianity by country. At the moment, you will see my not so subtle self expression has caused a few more people to watch the page. I encourage you, as an administrator, to participate in discussion on the page; I believe it would really help things. Thanks a million for the concern. The Evil Spartan (talk) 21:12, 21 July 2008 (UTC)

Email

I'm sorry, I was certainly not purposely ignoring you. As you suspected, I've recently changed the email address associated with this account, so if you were responding to older emails they've likely gone astray - in any case, I haven't seen any email from you recently. I hope you don't mind re-sending your email to me using the "Email this user" link from my userpage? Sorry for the inconvenience. MastCell ^Talk 23:38, 22 July 2008 (UTC)

Responded on your talk page and done. The Evil Spartan (talk) 23:44, 22 July 2008 (UTC)

TfD nomination of Template:Authorship claims

Template:Authorship claims has been nominated for deletion. You are invited to comment on the discussion at the template's entry on the Templates for Deletion page. Thank you. MBisanz ^talk 01:57, 23 July 2008 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Rec.music.phish

I think this AfD can be closed. There have been 5 delete recommendations and zero recommendations for anything else. --Metropolitan90 (talk) 05:14, 23 July 2008 (UTC)

Email

Check yours :) MBisanz ^talk 07:35, 24 July 2008 (UTC)

WP:BLP

Per your assertion that an already-upheld block is unwarranted, I would like to point out that WP:BLP explicitly applies to all namespaces on Wikipedia. /Blaxthos ( t / c ) 02:07, 25 July 2008 (UTC)

BLP is not meant to say you can't even bring up controversial material on the talk page to ask if it should be included (I notice you yourself have participated in a similar thread on the talk page). The text was never meant to say that; this case exactly shows the problem of why poor wording in a policy can be used as a battering ram to block an editor in a content dispute. The user, an IP user with scant if any experience, was haphazardly "warned" ("threatened" seems more accurate) and blocked with little explanation other than ("read this 30 page policy"). I still maintain this was an awful block.The Evil Spartan (talk) 21:07, 25 July 2008 (UTC)

CSCWEM

User talk:The Evil Spartan/Can't sleep, clown will eat me. I noticed the talk page is still there, after the userpage was deleted. Enigma ^message 15:30, 25 July 2008 (UTC)