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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Xeno (talk | contribs) at 03:49, 12 May 2009 (→French communes: ===...aaaand we're done=== with Zœbersdorf completes the task... I'd like to thank User:MZMcBride, User:RCS, and of course, the academy, for their support. ~~~~). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

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French communes

Hello Xeno, i was just wondering if that French communes thing (you know, the task you entitled Xenobot6 with) has been completed now, because i haven't been paying attention to it since you took over. Have a nice day, --RCS (talk) 16:04, 27 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I sought further consensus and it seems that consensus for the edits are on shaky ground (see Wikipedia:Village pump (policy)/Archive 63#Attribution/GDFL_and_translations (and sourcing) and its related subthreads). Need further input for the present case, I requested it at WT:FRCOM#Xenobot6. –xeno talk 16:10, 27 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Hm, looking at it it appears that the other editors don't realize the real nature of the problem. Ksnow has added a sentence "based on the article in French Wikipedia" (something like this) without actually checking if it was actually true. This is what made me doubt of her reliability - she seems to have assumed that any article on a French subject was automatically based on the French version of the article. The point is, she added according to the principle "when in doubt, add", so what i am asking for is "when in doubt, remove". I didn't think it would be so complicated. As far is i know, nobody has yet bothered to check if any of the 21.000 articles was indeed based on French Wikipedia! Cheers, --RCS (talk) 16:28, 27 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Yes, I am cautious about running a bot where human judgment may be required though. But if this is the will of FRCOM (to mass-remove) I will run it. They've also made some suggestion to pull INSEE data from the infobox and put it into the INSEE ref, but that's probably beyond my limited expertise. –xeno talk 16:30, 27 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]
"Human judgment" - would that be to check every article to see if it was based, or not, on French Wikipedia? If you recruit an army of interns, you could manage it :-)--RCS (talk) 16:34, 27 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]
I think the problem here is that (perhaps? I haven't check) some small piece of information was brought over from fr.wiki. If so, this needs to be noted, either in an edit summary of the history (my choice) or in templated form in the reference section (community seems to tolerate these, I don't like 'em, but what can you do?). Please try to rustle the folks at FRCOM to come to a firm consensus that my bot can proceed upon. –xeno talk 16:37, 27 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]
I left a note on FRCOM. --RCS (talk) 18:02, 27 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Hi, i checked your bot's work, everything seems okay. Thanks a million! —Preceding unsigned comment added by RCS (talk • contribs) 08:09, 1 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]
No problem. Credit is due to MZMcBride for writing the script =) –xeno talk 11:46, 1 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

"Based on the article in the French Wikipedia"

Can you clarify here exactly under what circumstance you added this line to the articles you've edited? –xeno talk 22:43, 28 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

(copied from WT:FRCOM)I am no longer adding this sentence. In fact, I am removing it when it appears. Ksnow (talk) 12:30, 29 April 2009 (UTC)Ksnow[reply]
So you agree it needs to be removed entirely, rather than replaced a trans template? I can run my bot to do this en-masse, it's received approval already. –xeno talk 12:55, 29 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Yes. It was pointed on my talk page that it is not really a valid reference. Ksnow (talk) 12:58, 29 April 2009 (UTC)Ksnow[reply]
Thank you. I will proceed on this information. Happy editing, –xeno talk 12:59, 29 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]


Is it possible to pull a value from an infobox field and then chop it up and put it into a different ref?

Moved discussion from WT:AWB. --MZMcBride (talk) 02:48, 30 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Coding discussion

The value would be pulled from an field of Template:French commune infobox called |insee= which gives a 5 digit alphanumeric code. This needs to be chopped into the first two and final three digits and inserted into another ref down in the references section.

Example: Calvi, Haute-Corse, |insee=2B050 <-- pull the value from here

Replace this: 


== References ==

<!-- This hidden comment is to prevent archiving 12:00, 10 May 2009 (UTC) -->
''Based on the article in the French Wikipedia.''
*[http://www.insee.fr/en/home/home_page.asp INSEE]
*[http://www.ign.fr/rubrique.asp?rbr_id=1&lng_id=EN IGN]

with: 

== References ==

<!-- This hidden comment is to prevent archiving 12:00, 10 May 2009 (UTC) -->
*[http://www.insee.fr/fr/methodes/nomenclatures/cog/fichecommunale.asp?codedep=2B&codecom=050 INSEE commune file]
                                                                               ^^         ^^^
Can either AWB or Pywikipedia do this? –xeno talk 14:22, 29 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]
You could certainly write a custom module of a few lines to do it. Rjwilmsi 14:32, 29 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Yes, if I was a wizard with regex and the like, but I'm not =] If anyone has some spare time, it would really help out the WP:FRCOM project and my bot's edit count! ;> –xeno talk 15:13, 29 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Questions:

  1. Do you want to remove the ign.fr links?
  2. What do you want to do when a references section doesn't exist? (Saint-Vincent-Cramesnil)
  3. What do you want to do when a references section exists with only {{reflist}}? (Carentan) Or if the references section just contains a bulleted list? (Corbie)
  4. Do you want a script that's automatic or requires manual confirmation for each edit?

--MZMcBride (talk) 19:29, 29 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

1. Yes, IGN needs to go, they used to be good, now they don't have the helpful info they used to.
2. This will only be run on articles that have the italicized line "Based on the..." and therefore they all have the ref sec (i.e. these edits are icing on the cake to removing the unnecessary line- should've mentioned this)
3. Per #2.
4. Automatic, this is an approved task: User:Xenobot/6 (consensus here). –xeno talk 19:34, 29 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

So, the script is written (it was pretty trivial to write), but it uses wikitools. So in order to run the script, you need to setup wikitools (which is like pywikipedia, except doesn't suck ;-) There are installers for wikitools available here. Once you have it setup, you simply need to go to tools:~mzmcbride/xeno-commune, download the files, modify settings.py, and run the script. If you need help, I may be able to provide some, though it usually requires pig's blood and a full moon for me to get Python working, let alone Windows. IRC may be helpful here; I'm lurking about there. --MZMcBride (talk) 03:52, 30 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Ah, new toys! Don't know what I would do without ya, thanks again =) I'll take a look now, but might not start the run until morning (EST). –xeno talk 03:56, 30 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Okay, Vista is still gross, but I got it working.

First, __init__.py (in the wikitools folder) needs to be overwritten with: 

# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
__all__ = ["wiki", "api", "page", "category", "user"]

from wiki import *
from api import *
from page import *
from category import *
from user import *

Second, you need to ensure that wikitools and simplejson are installed. Control Panel --> System --> Change settings --> Advanced --> Environment Variables

For "User variables," you need to create PYTHONPATH and set it to wherever the wikitools directory is located (for example, if the wikitools folder is on your Desktop, it would be C:\Users\MZMcBride\Desktop

For "System variables," you need to ensure that PATH contains C:\Python25;C:\Python25\Scripts; at the beginning of it.

To test whether or not simplejson and wikitools are properly installed, it's pretty easy. Open cmd.exe and type: 

python

Which opens Python; run these two commands: 

import wikitools
import simplejson

If you get no errors, you're all set. If you do get errors, you gotta figure out what's broken.

If you need to install simplejson, it's really easy—I just did it in a few seconds. You download and run the installer for setuptools, available here for Python 2.5 and here for Python 2.4. (You probably have Python 2.5 installed. To check, just go to cmd.exe and run: 

python --version

Run the setuptools installer for whichever version of Python you have. Then open cmd.exe and do: 

easy_install simplejson

That should install it. If it doesn't recognize the easy_install command, it means your PATH isn't set correctly (make sure it includes C:\Python25\Scripts;).

Let me know if you have any further questions. --MZMcBride (talk) 05:50, 30 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]


Another way to do this might be to split the infobox field in two (parser functions probably can't do it) and generate the reference(s) in the infobox. Afterwards, one just needs to add <references/> (Muro bot). -- User:Docu

That would certainly future-proof things, but I seem to recall some issue with references being generated in templates (Wikipedia:Footnotes#Known bugs: Template parameters do not pass to <ref> tags) . –xeno talk 12:49, 30 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]
If I recall correctly, an earlier version of Template:Cite WSB with named <ref>-tags worked fine. The main reason I removed them was that it appeared too complex to use. To avoid problems with AWB, it wouldn't allow the named reference created in the infobox the reused elsewhere in the article. Anyways, the INSEE link might just as well be displayed in the infobox. -- User:Docu
Might be a good idea, but it would require editing even more articles than is presently planned (every single commune with an INSEE ref). –xeno talk 14:28, 30 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Given the numerous names used for the same or similar fields in the infobox, it might be worth cleaning up all articles anyways. For Template:FraAbbr, I somehow managed to get consistent values for the name of the department. As most infoboxes come from the fr.wp, one would probably need to check first, if it was sorted out there. -- User:Docu
Coding discussion collapsed. Signing so that this section stays up a while longer as the bot is still running. –xeno talk 15:48, 3 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

UTF-8 woes

Make sure you're reading the output file in a text editor that doesn't suck, by the way. I just tested with version 0.5 and in most standard text editors (like the ones that come with the operating system), they don't support UTF-8, so the output looks garbled in them. Or Vista just sucks. --MZMcBride (talk) 02:18, 4 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Wifey just got home with the little rascal so I don't have time to pay attention to it right now, but the logging isn't that important. What's boggling me is why http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User:Xenobot/sandbox&oldid=287753571 isn't properly editing articles such as Baden, Morbihan (and other communes of Morbihan that have that particular ref). –xeno talk 02:24, 4 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Your search is too restrictive (and the error reporting sucks!): 

            new_text = re.compile(r'''
== [ ]*References[ ]* ==

.*based on the article.*
*[http://www.maires56.asso.fr Mayors of Morbihan Association] {{fr icon}}
*[http://www.insee.fr/en/home/home_page.asp INSEE] {{en icon}}
*[http://www.ign.fr/rubrique.asp?rbr_id=1&lng_id=EN IGN] {{en icon}}''', re.I|re.U).sub('''

That snippet isn't matching because most of the character in there are special characters in regular expressions. You need to either escape each special character (?, ., {, }, [, ], etc.) or make the regex less strict. For example: 

            new_text = re.search(r'''
== [ ]*References[ ]* ==

.*based on the article.*
.*asso.fr.*
.*insee.fr.*
.*www.ign.fr.*'''

This regex ensures that the links are on the page in specific lines in relation to each other. (Notice how the first line accounts for things like == References == or ==References==. The other four lines ensure that the text is there, but they have a lot more leeway (.* matching any other characters except newlines) and they avoid nastiness like [ and ].

Isn't code writing fun? --MZMcBride (talk) 02:47, 4 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

It sure is =) Thanks, I'll futz around with this when I get home tonight. –xeno talk 12:33, 4 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Hi again, i see there are still over 13,000 occurences of the sentence as of today, now. I suppose your bot will have finished the job by the end of the week. But look at Elne, for instance, it seems he has completly skipped the "change INSEE, remove IGN" part there. Is this normal? --RCS (talk) 12:10, 4 May 2009 (UTC) And this looks like an error to me. Leaving the link to the INSEE homepage makes no sense, don't you think? Cheers, --RCS (talk) 12:14, 4 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

In the first example, the bot hasn't visited the page yet. In the second example, there was no INSEE numbers to harvest. I figured something was better than nothing. Someone cleverer than I should design a bot to pull infobox data from fr.wiki and import it to en.wiki... =) –xeno talk 12:32, 4 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]
I think you should remove the INSEE homepage link altogether. It doesn't help. People who know how to navigate the INSEE page will go there directly, i think. --RCS (talk) 12:37, 4 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]
The problem with that is that some of the pages have {{reflist}} at the bottom as well , and others don't. The bot would need to figure out whether there are <refs> to go with the reflist and if not strip the reflist (this probably isn't impossible, but it would require me to learn a lot of stuff or bug my friend up there^^^ ;). It seems less painful to just leave the INSEE homepage in there (so the articles are not entirely unreferenced/unreferencible), and perhaps someone will do a search to find the proper INSEE number, no? –xeno talk 12:41, 4 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]
You are the boss, boss. --RCS (talk) 12:45, 4 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Does that make sense though? (Generic ref better than nothing...) –xeno talk 12:50, 4 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]
(EC) Well, i wouldn't count on "someone" to do this kind of search, because it might be very boring. But then you could be right and someone (maybe User:Ksnow?) will want to do it after all. You never know. Cheers, RCS (talk) 12:53, 4 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

May 6 status report

Search engine reports 7,371 as of this writing, however I expect this number to reduce by at least half when the search engine db refreshes itself. –xeno talk 14:20, 6 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I just checked, it reports 11,800 when i enter Based on the article in the French Wikipedia and click on "search", how come? --RCS (talk) 16:27, 6 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Make sure you use quotes around the term (don't worry about the italicization), i.e. [1] Otherwise you'll find articles that have those individual words in them, but not necessarily the phrase. –xeno talk 16:47, 6 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]
I did wrap the term in quotes also, but obviously it was not the right type of font. Thank you! --RCS (talk) 16:49, 6 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Yes you need the actual (double-)quotes and not single quotes/apostrophe that lets us make italics =) An example of what pops up without "'s: Le Train Bleu#Articles from the French Wikipedia (should probably be copy edited =) –xeno talk 16:53, 6 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

May 8 inquiry

Sorry to be a pain in your possibly very cute ar*e, but do you intend to relaunch the bot anytime soon? Tshaw, --RCS (talk) 14:52, 8 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

No worries. I had a "blonde moment" last night,,, (see User talk:MZMcBride#wtf if you're interested). With his kind assistance the bot should go on another run tonight... –xeno talk 14:55, 8 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Wait, you never clarified whether or not you had a cute ass.... --MZMcBride (talk) 04:54, 11 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]
lol, yes, I glossed over that... I'll plead the 5th =0 –xeno talk 04:55, 11 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

May 10

May 11

...aaaand we're done

I do believe that's the last of 'em. Here's the final one to be vanquished, a Z-word with one of those blasted œ's that gave me so much trouble. I'd like to thank MZMcBride, RCS, and of course, the academy, for their support. –xeno talk 03:49, 12 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

XenosLaw

Self-admitted sockpuppet Hammersoft has got his knickers in a twist over your excellent block of waste of space troll DougsTech. See here. It's quite amusing. I'm thinking the last option - ban him :) Can't say he would be missed. Majorly talk 18:07, 6 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for the note... Not sure if I should feel honoured, or...? –xeno talk 18:11, 6 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]
I don't know either. Just Hammersoft having a bit of fun. Anything is better than writing articles, obviously. Majorly talk 18:14, 6 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]
yea, eww, mainspace! (made some comments there) –xeno talk 18:16, 6 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Commenting here to keep with the thread, but I should note that nobody has given any evidence that Hammersoft is a sock, let alone a self admitted sock. —— nixeagleemail me 20:39, 6 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Anyone that agrees with me/supports me must be a troll, sock, or vandal according to Majorly. He just wont give up. --DougsTech (talk) 20:46, 6 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]
  • It's pretty simple Xeno. I'm not having a bit of fun. You owe DougsTech an apology for your gross error in blocking him. I don't expect you will give it to him, but I make the protest anyway. Someone has to stand up to such things. --Hammersoft (talk) 21:36, 6 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]
    • Yes, Xeno, in the future when you run across a disruptive SPA please remember blocking is inappropriate, a barnstar is the right thing to do. The sad part is Xeno is such a nice guy you will probably succeed in harassing him into apologizing to Dougs. Landon1980 (talk) 22:24, 6 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Hammersoft, I've read what you wrote at the various venues and perhaps I may have erred in saying that DougsTech had done nothing at all but to disrupt RFA; you did point out a few diffs that I indeed missed. However, I still believe that at the time, DougsTech was presenting a net negative to the project (nixeagle successfully divined my analysis at your talk page [2]). On the other hand, he's now contributing in a positive way and has taken steps to explain his voting pattern to minimize disruption caused by his templated voting (which has always seemed to cause disruption, irrespective of the message and/or the messenger). I didn't block him to be an abusive or "rouge" admin - my goal the whole time was to further the goals of the encyclopedia. I've already extended an olive branch to him, and he seems to have accepted it. I don't blame you for standing up for him - a good friend of mine is also quite vocal when he feels a wrong has been committed against a fellow editor. And he's not always wrong, either. But his methods often leave something to be desired. I suppose the same could be said here. –xeno talk 00:30, 7 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]
  • I've never claimed that you blocked him to be abusive or to act as a rogue admin. I have and continue to claim that your block was way out of line and DougsTech deserves an apology. The conundrum here is that if you can't see the necessity of that, you should step down as an administrator, but if you can't see the necessity of that, you won't step down. The blocking record is a permanent mark against him. He can't remove it and neither can you. As it stands now, if he is questioned on it in the future he has little to go on to indicate that the block was in error. If instead you made an apology to him indicating the block was in error, he could point to the diff and say "The blocking admin acknowledged it was an error, see diff". You are human, just as all of us are. Being unwilling to acknowledge error makes you less of a good administrator, not more of one. --Hammersoft (talk) 13:30, 7 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Yeah, xeno, let ClueBot and the Terminator have a go at being an admin! (I'd pay to see that, for future reference). --Thejadefalcon (talk) 13:41, 7 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]
  • I would acknowledge an error if I felt I made an error, and have done so in the past. In this case, I don't think the block "was way out of line". It was probably not the brightest idea, given the very recently closed topic-ban discussion and tendency of people to conflate issue of whether we should litigate acceptable RFA votes (which I feel we should not) and whether we should block an account for doing almost nothing but causing disruption (which I feel we should). Even if I were prepared to offer an unconditional apology, at this point it would no doubt seem forced anyway - given your XenosLaw ultimatum. Nonetheless, the fairly swift unblocking with related message shows that the block was debatable, at least. If someone questions DougsTech on the block, he can tell them to come talk to me; I will tell them that at the time I felt the block was appropriate given his lack of recent encyclopedia-building activity but now that he's resumed positive contributions I would oppose blocking (or topic-banning, for that matter). –xeno talk 13:58, 7 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]
  • It's interesting that you maintain this line, that one must edit in article space to be a contributor here. This is why my self prohibition on editing in that space remains. If you truly, actually believe this stance then you must block me too. Maybe not yet, as it's only been 9 days since I last edited article space, but certainly by the time I reach the end of self-imposed lack of editing article space. I'm not saying this to bait you or be a troll. I am saying this (and not editing article space) to highlight that the position is unsupportable. If you can show a policy or guideline that indicates an editor MUST edit in the article space to prevent being blocked, I would rescind my self-imposed lack of editing in article space. --Hammersoft (talk) 13:54, 8 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]
  • You aren't spending months trolling RFA though. Xeno's excellent block (which should have not been overturned) was regarding a particular set of circumstances, not just his total lack of edits to the encyclopedia. If you want to make a point and go on strike from article work (which you did little of anyway), no one is going to mind. If you start disrupting processes, and start soapboxing a ridiculous and contradicted idea, perhaps a block would be a great idea. Majorly talk 14:02, 8 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Hammersoft, one could completely avoid mainspace and still present a net positive to the project (another fact astutely pointed out by nixeagle on your talk page). Obviously a block in this case would be wholly inappropriate. Please do not try to ascribe scientific precision to your so-called "XenosLaw". From WP:BLOCK: "Blocks are used to prevent ... disruption to Wikipedia... Blocks sometimes are used as a deterrent, to discourage whatever behavior led to the block and encourage a productive editing environment." –xeno talk 14:09, 8 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]
  • The requirement that you laid on DougsTech in blocking him was that he had to edit mainspace in order to be considered to be contributing to the project. See for yourself. You've already admitted he wasn't using his account solely to cause disruption, as I pointed out several diffs proving that inaccurate. The only other standing reason on which your block was not in error was that he hadn't edited mainspace in nearly a month. Now you're telling me that's an invalid reason to block. Ok, fair enough. Then your block was fully in error. You can't have it both ways; you can't be fully in error and have made a legitimate block. You seem to admit the block was fully in error. So apologize to him. I'm not going to keep after you about this, as I think the point's been clearly made now. I do hope you have the self responsibility to apologize to him. To have such a glaring error clearly marked out and then not apologize to the person you directly affected by your error is highly reflective on you. --Hammersoft (talk) 14:24, 8 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]
  • I blocked him because he "[didn't] appear [to be] interested in building the encyclopedia" [3]. Not editing the mainspace was simply an example. Please don't miscontrue what I've wrote - I said that someone could not edit the mainspace and still present a net postiive to the project: in my opinion, at the time I blocked DougsTech, this was not the case. I will contemplate further on this. –xeno talk 14:34, 8 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]
  • Unrelated, but taking the opportunity of the same edit to comment...I saw your edit/revert on my talk page. It's a curious point. Should a trophy be copyrightable? Is it a 3D work of art and capable of being protected against derivative works? I actually tend to think yes, but our current practice says no, as the examples I noted show. If they can not be copyrighted, where is the line in the sand? When does a trophy become more than a trophy and capable of being protected? Interesting. --Hammersoft (talk) 14:24, 8 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Copyright isn't my strong suit to be honest. This should be raised somewhere for further comment. –xeno talk 14:34, 8 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Talking about self-refs...

...here is a really nice one. Cheers, --RCS (talk) 09:38, 7 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

dear god ! =) –xeno talk 17:18, 8 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Vandal?

Can you, temporarily at least, block this user? He seems to have it in his head that every unreleased video game ever is appearing on December 31, 2009. --Thejadefalcon (talk) 11:41, 7 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I'd prefer you left a message on his user talk page explaining this rather than going straight to blocking. The user is probably acting in good faith, sites like IGN use "Dec 31, 2009" as a placeholder release date for TBA games. He's only edited three articles, and this was last night. Perhaps extend an initiation to join the WP:VG wikiproject (see User:Xeno/welcome) –xeno talk 11:46, 7 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]
They do? That's just remarkably stupid. Okay, though. I just presumed he was a vandal with nothing better to do. --Thejadefalcon (talk) 12:18, 7 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Done. I suppose what really made me suspicious was that he even changed the website address for one citation which, though I can't check due to Kotaku being blocked, would likely have made the link useless. --Thejadefalcon (talk) 12:30, 7 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Yea, probably just a well-meaning newbie. –xeno talk 12:37, 7 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]
If you say so. I'm keeping an eye on him though. --Thejadefalcon (talk) 13:41, 7 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

rambling man...

Xeno, he wouldn't need a nomination to be reflagged. For that he just needs to make the request. But if time passes and he wants to be a bureaucrat again, simple reflagging might no longer be an option, and a nomination might be the correct route. Kingturtle (talk) 20:46, 7 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Hmm, yes I see your point; i.e. if time passes and community outlook on RFA changes significantly, etc. Thanks for clarifying. –xeno talk 20:48, 7 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

My Sig

Is there anyway you can edit that on my sig page (see here)? I am unsure as to how to make that work with the setup I have on my sig. Thanks and my apologizes for the problems it caused. - Neutralhomer (talk)

No worries. It only occured when you were the only thread participant. {{subst:User:Neutralhomer/Sig}} = NeutralHomer • Talk • 23:39, 7 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]
^^^ All set I believe. –xeno talk 23:39, 7 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]
For some reason it is not coming up with a time code, just 5 tidles. - NeutralHomer • Talk • 23:44, 7 May 2009 (UTC) 23:42, 7 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]
I've botched something then... –xeno talk 23:44, 7 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]
No worries. Does it matter that I only use three tidles ~~~ for my sig? - NeutralHomer • Talk • 23:47, 7 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Using three tildes should work fine now. I've used your method instead. –xeno talk 23:47, 7 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]
...and it is working with the way you showed above :) - NeutralHomer • Talk • 23:49, 7 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Good to go then. =) –xeno talk 23:50, 7 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Sweet! Should we do a quick test with Miszabot to make sure? - NeutralHomer • Talk • 23:51, 7 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]
MiszaBot runs on her own time, but would probably be a good idea to double check. I don't see why it wouldn't, I believe MB ignores everything but the timestamp. –xeno talk 23:52, 7 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]
We could both keep an eye on the WP:TVS thread that goofed it up to begin with, since when you reworked my sig, it reset all the others, it should reset the ones in the WP:TVS thread too. If that works tonight (I think it archives nightly) we will know. Would that work? - NeutralHomer • Talk • 23:56, 7 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

← The trap is set: [4]. –xeno talk 23:59, 7 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Excellent, thanks for your help :) Take Care...NeutralHomer • Talk • 00:07, 8 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Tronji - self promotion?

Xeno - I read Wiki articles regularly but this one seemed to be very self promoting. Just a plug for a new show. Is this what wiki is here for - for companies to sell their stuff and the BBC to get free publicity. Not impressed I am afraid. There are too many companies plugging their products on here these days... WebMonitor77 (talk) 11:38, 8 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

It does appear to be written with a somewhat promotional tone. In cases like this, you could tag it with {{advert}}, you could improve it yourself, or you could nominate it at WP:AFD if you felt the subject was not notable or suffered from a dearth of 3rd party sources (this last point doesn't fit [5] but those need to be used in the article). –xeno talk 12:24, 8 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

RfD nomination of Wikipedia:ABUSELOG

I have nominated Wikipedia:ABUSELOG (edit | talk | history | links | watch | logs) for discussion. Your opinions on the matter are welcome; please participate in the discussion by adding your comments at the discussion page. Thank you. Ten Pound Hammer and his otters • (Many otters • One hammer • HELP) 14:37, 8 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Dashboard it up

Is this fine? 'The Ninjalemming'' 17:15, 8 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Of course... Don't see why not... –xeno talk 17:17, 8 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Ar, you moved it. 'The Ninjalemming'' 17:28, 8 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]
ya, it was hanging off the coattails of a thread about to be archived... –xeno talk 17:29, 8 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Oh...okay then. 'The Ninjalemming'' 17:34, 8 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

AFL user box migration

A) Why did you move all the Arena Football League userboxes to User:UBX? B) I created them. If anything you should have moved them to my user space. Crash Underride 19:04, 9 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

They were moved per WP:UBM; feel free to move them to your userspace if you wish. –xeno talk 19:13, 9 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Newspaper

I tracked you down through user:Prodego, whose name appears in the semi-protection box at the above article (19:06, 6 May 2009 Prodego (talk | contribs) protected Newspaper [edit=autoconfirmed] (expires 19:06, 6 June 2009 (UTC)) [move=autoconfirmed] (expires 19:06, 6 June 2009 (UTC)) ‎ (Excessive vandalism) (hist)). I'm asking to lift the semi-protection at Newspaper, and there is an item on the Talk Page there. Sincerely, GeorgeLouis (talk) 19:39, 9 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

 Done, replied there. –xeno talk 19:52, 9 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Do you use Mozilla Firefox?

Just wondering; if you do, then you might be able to help me with a problem I've been having with it recently. -- Commdor {Talk} 20:29, 9 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, whats up? –xeno talk 20:39, 9 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]
I only moved over to Firefox from IE 8 a few weeks ago, mainly because IE was horribly slow. Things worked out fine until last week. The problem is that whenever I click on a link anywhere on nearly every site I go to (except Wikiedia for some reason, it seems like the only site that works as normal), it always opens in a new tab and redirects me to a random site. For example, when I edit on The Fallout video game wiki, if I try to navigate to a particular article by using the in-article links or even if I click the edit option, a new tab is opened and takes forever to load. This new tab either opens where I wanted it to (inconvenient at worst), or more often opens to something completely unrelated, like an online ad for tires or the search results for a term from the article's title. On the status bar at the browser's bottom, I've consistently seen a url for "google-redirect.com" or "tebe.us" before the tab finishes loading. Anyway, not sure if I outlined it clearly enough, but does this sound like anything you know of? Is there something I can do to stop this unwanted redirecting? -- Commdor {Talk} 21:09, 9 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]
That's peculiar. It sounds to me like you may have a bit of malware, if there's random websites being opened up. SpyBot can usually root out the common ones... ( http://www.safer-networking.org ). –xeno talk 21:12, 9 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]
That's likely, I switched to Firefox right after a bout with a particularly bad virus infection, and while my laptop works fine now, it isn't the same (System Restore is inoperative, MS Paint sometimes doesn't load, little things like that). If it is malware, then it's affecting only Firefox since IE 8 has no problems (aside from the usual sluggishness). I'll check it out. -- Commdor {Talk} 21:20, 9 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Well, that took ages to finish, but finish it did: the program removed a few bits of malware. Unfortunately, the browser problems remain. I'm running a few other anti-malware scans, but I doubt I'll ever have things completely back to normal without resetting my hard drive back to factory defaults (if even that works). If none of these other programs are successful, I'll be back for more suggestions, if you have any. -- Commdor {Talk} 16:10, 10 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Installing the Adblock plugin may help ... –xeno talk 16:37, 10 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Issue resolved. Firefox is working fine again, Adblock seems to have done the trick. Thanks for your help. -- Commdor {Talk} 20:11, 10 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Protection of a user page

A certain user has decided to leave wikipedia but has not stated whether it s for ever or just a long time, due to his absuence some cowardly IP's have decided to put personal attacks on his page, so much so I am now permenantly keeping an eye on the page to make sure it lacks vandalism. Do you think it would be a good idea to protect his page from IP editing (or maybe higher) incase he comes back? 'The Ninjalemming'' 14:28, 10 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, that's probably appropriate. –xeno talk 15:33, 10 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]
But how would I go about doing it? 'The Ninjalemming'' 20
18, 10 May 2009 (UTC)
just tell me the page name and I'll check it out. –xeno talk 21:50, 10 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]
User:Mr T (Based) 'The Ninjalemming'' 08:07, 11 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Hasn't been vandalized since Apr 22, but if they hit it again I'll sprotect. –xeno talk 12:58, 11 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]
'spotect' it ah, well I never expected anything as drastic as a spotect but oh well. If I vandalis it then revert myself, then I report myself could you protect it then? 'The Ninjalemming'' 16:42, 11 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]
er, no =0 –xeno talk 16:43, 11 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Oh well Now to secertly make a sockpuppet then vandalise it, then after that I'll go and find out what the HELL a sockpuppet is hehe =P'The Ninjalemming'' 16:49, 11 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

1 vs. 100

No kidding. But I knew they would be split again at some point. I just wanted them to learn their lession. >:) JAF1970 (talk) 05:08, 11 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Indeed - What a terrible idea! (I wondered why I saw you in there and you hadn't smacked 'em around ;>) Going to try and play the beta on the 12th and then I should be able to beef up the article some more. –xeno talk 05:09, 11 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]
It wasn't worth the trouble. Besides, 1 vs. 100 was delayed. I'll pick my battles. ;) JAF1970 (talk) 16:55, 11 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Hi

I came across the status updates script. i copied it in to My monobook yet the status is not gettin updated.Plz help me —Preceding unsigned comment added by Subash.chandran007 (talk • contribs) 13:08, 11 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Try bypassing your cache and you should see the status changer buttons along the top of your screen. –xeno talk 13:11, 11 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Got it working now ! Thanks Subash.chandran007 (talk) 13:12, 11 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]
No problem. =) –xeno talk 13:17, 11 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

In the Night Garden page

Hi Xeno,

I work for Ragdoll Productions and have been updating the information on the 'In the Night Garden...' page - I noticed that you have reverted my changes and although you have citied a third party resource for the information, the information they have is incorrect.

This information is taken from our website regarding 'In the Night Garden...' which I hope will clear up the matter. http://www.ragdoll.co.uk/html/newsarchive_board.htm http://www.ragdoll.co.uk/html/pressrel_itng.htm

If you have any queries please don't hesitate to contact me and hopefully you will be happy with my changes and revert them. Thanks Rob —Preceding unsigned comment added by RobertPBham (talk • contribs) 15:30, 7 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Hmm... Please keep WP:COI in mind when editing these pages... Also see WP:SELFPUB regarding referencing the company website. That being said, since Anne Wood was the creative director at the time of ITNG's creation, could you not say she was, in effect, a co-creator as reported by the Winnipeg Sun? –xeno talk 15:38, 7 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Xeno,

I perfectly understand your points and obviously don't want to go against any of the standards set out by Wikipedia. I will speak to the relevant people in house and see what other sources we have that are 3rd party references. Please leave as you see fit until I can update and ask your opinion before changing anything on that page. Thanks Rob (RobertPBham (talk) 15:58, 7 May 2009 (UTC))[reply]

Sounds like a plan. In the meantime, I'll try to think of a better way to position the statement on the page in terms of the first party versus the third party sources. –xeno talk 16:02, 7 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Makka Pakka

Hi Xeno, I've just seen your message about Makka Pakka. Makka Pakka was only played by Justyn Towler and nobody else. :-)

Thanks (RobertPBham (talk) 13:59, 11 May 2009 (UTC))[reply]

Thanks muchly. I haven't gotten around to doing what I said I would do above, but it's on my roadmap! =) –xeno talk 14:03, 11 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

compromise suggestion

Does this edit more accurately reflect the landscape? Also, though I've pointed you to WP:COI there is nothing restricting you from editing the page as long as you keep our guidelines regarding neutral point of view in mind. –xeno talk 14:06, 11 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Xeno,

Thanks for the edit. Unfortunately it is still incorrect. Obviously I have read the guidelines and we currently cannot find a 3rd party source with the correct information (we are still looking). As it stands, Ragdoll knows that the information is incorrect on the page and would like to correct but I am now stuck as to what to do for best. I don't want to break any rules and cause conflict, but in the same sense it seems silly to have incorrect information on the page that people would use.

Is there any recommendations for this on how to proceed.

Thanks for all your help. (RobertPBham (talk) 14:24, 11 May 2009 (UTC))[reply]

Could you clarify what's wrong with it still? As I said there's nothing wrong with you editing the page directly but we often favour RS over first party sources. –xeno talk 14:26, 11 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Trun, Orne

Xenobot removed a tail ref there saying translated form french. That ref was EXACTLY what I was told to put. So either your bot is wrong, I am wrong, or MOSxxx is wrong. I don't care quite which at the moment I am just a little peed that a bot comes in and tramples over someone's good faith edits. 03:14, 12 May 2009 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by SimonTrew (talk • contribs)

The line written by Ksnow is being removed at their request... If you are the one who actually incorporates a substantial amount of information from the French Wikipedia, please use the following template:
{{iw-ref|fr|(location of article)|(date of translation)}}

i.e. like here on Trun, Orne. if you want to get really fancy, you can record the oldid of the French page on the date of the translation, i.e. 

{{iw-ref|fr|Alette|April 29, 2009|oldid=38280739}}

would result in: Template:Iw-ref

This is the standard way to actually attribute between language Wikipedias. For more on this bot's task, see User:Xenobot/6 and WT:FRCOM#Xenobot6, and let me know if you have other questions. –xeno talk 03:24, 12 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

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