User talk:HJ Mitchell

This page is currently protected due to vandalism. If you cannot edit this page but wish to leave me a message, you may post on this page instead.

Hello and welcome to my talk page! If you have a question, ask me. If I know the answer, I'll tell you; if I don't, I'll find out (or one of my talk-page stalkers might know!), then we'll both have learnt something!

Admins: If one of my admin actions is clearly a mistake or is actively harming the encyclopaedia, please reverse it. Don't wait for me if I'm not around or the case is obvious.

A list of archives of this talk page is here. Those in Roman numerals come first chronologically

This talk page is archived regularly by a bot so I can focus on the freshest discussions. If your thread was archived but you had more to say, feel free to rescue it from the archive.

Would you mind...

...semi-protecting this, this, and this? Once this starts getting used, it would be rather annoying if some vandal decided to mess any of them up. Thanks in advance. ~~ Hi878 ^{(Come shout at me!)} 05:37, 25 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

All semi'd. FWIW, that welcome message seems a bit loud and overwhelming. Sometimes short and simple is best. HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 15:59, 25 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

On a side note, "You are about to request for help" isn't very good grammar. Courcelles (talk) 16:14, 25 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Blame Coffee. :) Most of this, I didn't make, I'm just tweaking it to advertise MotD. ~~ Hi878 ^{(Come shout at me!)} 22:14, 25 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

And now that you did that, would you mind unprotecting them? I thought about it, and came up with an extremely good reason for having them unprotected. :) ~~ Hi878 ^{(Come shout at me!)} 02:57, 26 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

...maybe you'd be interested.

In response to the assassination of Sokratis Giolias, Troktiko has gone offline indefinitely. A sad day for the free world...

Cwill151 (talk) 05:44, 25 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

That is a shame. Ironic since democracy is a word of Greek origin. HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 15:18, 25 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

That's exactly what the editors of Troktiko thought. I've included the final notice they wrote in the article (under "Reactions"). Maybe you'd like to check it out when you have the time.

P.S. I don't normally get attached to these things, real reporters can't afford to; but this... this is just something else entirely. Sorry for taking up space on your talk page... I guess I just thought someone should know. I'll refrain from these sentimental posts in the future. Cheers Cwill151 (talk) 20:09, 25 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Email

You've got mail. Connormah^talk 15:35, 25 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Ditto. Courcelles (talk)

Another request for you :P

Hi, could you please move When I Fall in Love/My Arms Keep Missing You to My Arms Keep Missing You? Thanks. Diego Grez ^{what's up?} 16:27, 25 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Redirect deleted. Do it yourself! ;) HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 16:29, 25 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Cool! Thank you HJ! Diego Grez ^{what's up?} 16:31, 25 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Vandalism?

Is the most recent edit on the page:Molisch's test vandalism?,Gobbleswoggler (talk) 16:54, 25 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Could be a test edit. I've reverted and given them a {{subst:uw-test1}}. If you;re that uncertain of what is and isn't vandalism, perhaps you should do something else? HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 17:09, 25 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I'm just worried that i might getted blocked for reverting something that isnt vandalism?,Gobbleswoggler (talk) 17:12, 25 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

You won't get blocked, but you may end up with rollback taken away from you. We don't block people for good faith mistakes. I hope you take my advice and read WP:VAND so you're clear what is and isn't vandalism. HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 17:15, 25 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

HJ, why are you typing ";" instead of '? /Hey Mid (contributions) 21:29, 25 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

(talk page stalker) He recently ended a typo war so he may be slightly uncontrollable :) Fridae'§Doom | Spare your time? 02:54, 26 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

ITN

I didnt contribute that much to Col-Ven relations did i? Just for the section i think, more busy on the Kosovo ICJ page. Not made it on ITN yet? ;)(Lihaas (talk) 17:46, 25 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

You seem to have added a good chunk of the text for the 2010 section. Btw, can you think of a less boring blurb? HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 17:49, 25 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Reasons for it perhaps. "...over allegations of harbouring FARC and ELN camps."?(Lihaas (talk) 20:26, 25 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Diego Grez and AfC

Hey, just letting you know that I've left Diego Grez some notes about his activity at AfC on his talk page. J Milburn (talk) 19:29, 25 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Wikinews

You have new messages at Wikinews!

<rc> User talk:HJ Mitchell * http://en.wikinews.org/w/index.php?diff=1065554&oldid=1061220&rcid=1077573 * Brian McNeil * (+409) * Venezuelan army on high alert after Chávez cuts diplomatic ties with Colombia */ new section

Diego Grez ^{what's up?} 21:22, 25 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Well if that's what I get for poking my head round the door, it'll be a while before I do so again. What kind of news agency lets its articles go unpublished for so long that they cease to be news then lambasts its editors for publishing them with a few minor issues? It's a joke! HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 21:34, 25 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I'll tell you the answer, no one likes to fact-check them :P Diego Grez ^{what's up?} 21:36, 25 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

HJ: it can be difficult at times, but try not take anything Brianmc says personally — he's a bit rough around the edges at the best of times. But more to the point, don't take criticism of your contributions to be criticism of *you*. News is different than an encyclopedia. Because news needs to be published as quickly as possible, it is not possible to Assume Good Faith of user contributions.

What this ends up boiling down to is that while we should AGF of *users*, we shouldn't assume good faith of their *contributions*. All of us, including Brianmc, have our work scrutinized and occasional rejected. That includes rejected articles that we've written, rejected reviews, and reverted copyedits. It happens. It has nothing to do with your work (or *my* work, for that matter) not being valued, it has to do with the harsh realities of the news cycle.

If you assume good faith of *content* that means you end up leaving incorrect content up for weeks, months, or even years, as we all know from out experiences on Wikipedia. On Wikipedia that's fine, because articles remain open for editing indefinitely. On Wikinews articles can't have substantial changes made to them after publication (for the most part). Because of this, no incorrect content can be allowed to remain in the article during review. One of the policies that Wikinews has to help prevent fallacious content from getting through reviews is requiring that no article can be published with less than 2 completely independent sources. This drastically reduces the number of retractions we have to make.

With that in mind, please understand that while Brian needs to be ~~a little bit~~ ~~slightly~~ ~~substantially~~ ~~incredibly~~ more diplomatic in his "lambasting" of other users, he wasn't wrong to point out to you that single source articles should not be published. On Wikipedia a single sourced article is a truly minor thing, but the "two source rule" is very important on Wikinews.

Thanks for your time:). Gopher65_talk 22:17, 25 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Hey HJ, while what you said on Brian McNeil's talk page is true, take it easy. I would have done these reviews, but no one really likes to fact check the news. Calm down! Diego Grez ^{what's up?} 22:29, 25 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Ding!

You got mail. —MC10 (T•C•GB•L) 23:54, 25 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

(talk page stalker) Ah, a change from the usual "Ping." :) dffgd talk·edits 00:26, 26 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

"Ding" sounds better to me. —MC10 (T•C•GB•L) 00:28, 26 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Seems this talk page always has a section named "Email" or "Ping" (see #Ping above)...guess I'll have to add "Ding" to the list :) dffgd talk·edits 00:37, 26 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

It's 'cos I iz popular. ;) HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 00:40, 26 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Sometimes it's Someones got mail... ....and if you check yours it might be you. Mr. R00t ^Talk 01:40, 26 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Replied. —MC10 (T•C•GB•L) 16:22, 26 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Xoim

This user has a userpage saying they combat vandalism, but these two diffs make me suspicious. Also, for a "vandalism fighter" they aren't even confirmed/autoconfirmed. Where would I report this to? WP:SOCK? Allmightyduck  What did I do wrong? 01:25, 26 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Fixed Blocked for vandalism. Allmightyduck  What did I do wrong? 01:45, 26 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Indeed. Vandalism-only account works for me. Doesn't look like they've done anything of much use and certainly made themselves a pain in the arse, so they can go and bother someone else! ;) HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 01:50, 26 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

May I take down that obnoxious "Spamspotter of Glory"? It's obnoxious and when my mom walked in on my looking at their talk page she thought I was looking at porn sites. So... can I delete that image at least? Mr. R00t ^Talk 02:05, 26 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Meh, the whole thing is a waste of space. Gone! ;) HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 02:17, 26 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

The whole thing was utterly untrue anyways. Mr. R00t ^Talk 02:18, 26 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Just checking

After your last update to "In the News", I would just like to check that you did not miss this candidate I know you're busy, so big thanks if you have a look at adding that one. Gregcaletta (talk) 01:35, 26 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

It's OK, I keep a very close eye on ITN- look at this, I'm the third most prolific updater and I've only been doing it for a couple of months. It's a bit early to post the Wikileaks item, though- with the exception of items on WP:ITNR (like the Tour de France), it's a good idea to wait from more comments. :) HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 01:42, 26 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

OK. Sorry to rush you. I'm just a bit anxious to get it up there as quick as possible. It's the top news item on most news channels and I think its going to be hitting a lot more front pages over then next 24 hours, but I understand that you like to be careful. Gregcaletta (talk) 01:46, 26 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I know it's not what the title says, but ITN isn't just a rolling news ticker. Not everything in the headlines gets on and some stuff that isn't in any headlines does get on. The idea is to showcase quality encyclopaedia content that's been updated to reflect a current event. The best thing you can do for now is make sure the article is of good quality. I'll check on ITN before I go to bed in an hour or two and if I don't post it then, I probably will in the morning (UTC+1) if the consensus holds, but you needn't worry about it being overlooked by admins- I do everything I can to make sure that updated items with good support get up as quickly as possible. :) HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 01:55, 26 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I know one of the criteria is that an article must have been "substantially updated" or an entirely new article has to have been created. I have been working hard on The War Logs, which is an entirely new article and already substantially detailed, but I'll try to improve it some more. Cheers, Gregcaletta (talk) 02:02, 26 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

A Request (Two, actually)

Two things, both involving Motto of the day. First: Put up an MotD template (which can be found on the main page) on your userpage or I'll slap you with a WikiTrout. :) Second: We (I) have just finished setting up our new Motto Shop, and need a first customer. You can find out more about it there. Would you be interested in such a thing? ~~ Hi878 ^{(Come shout at me!)} 02:16, 26 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

1) No, because I'm lazy, but you can do it for me if you want. ;) 2)Could be interesting, can I pay in those Zimbabwean dollars Courelles used to bribe everyone with at his RfA? Oh, and it's currently 03:20 here, can it wait 'til daylight? HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 02:20, 26 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

First, alright. :) Second, it can't, because then it'll be nighttime here. :) ~~ Hi878 ^{(Come shout at me!)} 02:24, 26 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

OK then, I've made my request. Hopefully it'll be something worth getting out of bed for! ;) HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 02:34, 26 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I'll make sure it is. :) ~~ Hi878 ^{(Come shout at me!)} 02:36, 26 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Another Request

I know you are from the UK, but I was wondering if you could read something US-ish for me. I wrote a "Ecomony" section for the Stephens City, Virginia page. I just need someone to look over the facts and information, tinker if needed and let me know if anything needs fixed. It is all done by the US Census (where the "US-ish" part comes in). If you are busy with another project, let me know and I will track down another admin, no worries. Thanks...Neutralhomer • Talk • 02:27, 26 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Would help if I told you it is at User:Neutralhomer/Sandbox3. Duh on me. :) - Neutralhomer • Talk • 02:28, 26 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I'll have a look at a more sensible time of day. :) HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 02:35, 26 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I appreciate that, but I kinda needed eyes now (was going to add it now), but it is cool. I appreciate you wanting to look at the section. I will give another admin a message (this has to do with an ongoing FAC) and might have something for ya tomorrow. :) Thanks though. :) Night dude. - Neutralhomer • Talk • 02:41, 26 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Hi

I requested IP Block Exemption. Fridae'§Doom | Spare your time? 02:52, 26 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Your new motto

My motto to live by on Wikipedia...

We edit, you get the credit.

What do you think? I think it's pretty funny, but I may be a bit biased... :P ~~ Hi878 ^{(Come shout at me!)} 02:52, 26 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for fixing that, White Shadows. :) ~~ Hi878 ^{(Come shout at me!)} 02:54, 26 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

No problem. Goodbye and Goodnight from the East Coast :)--White Shadows ^{It's a wonderful life} 02:55, 26 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

So, Mr. Motto Shop's first ever customer, what do you think of your new motto? Is it good enough? Or shall I have to throw it away and start again? :) ~~ Hi878 ^{(Come shout at me!)} 03:03, 26 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

(talk page stalker) Huh? What's this? dffgd talk·edits 14:08, 26 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Its a motto made by people from the motto shop. Maybe you could make a request? Derild 49 21 ☼ 16:17, 26 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

User space for self-promotion?

Could you take a look at User talk:MatthewG816 and let me know if what he's doing is against WP policy on self-promotion? Since it's his talk page I wasn't sure what (if any) action to take. Thanks. Jrcla2 (talk) 05:09, 26 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks on wheels

for the recent block, when other admins declined it... you really are a fantastic admin! Tommy! [message] 15:56, 26 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I didn't know it had been declined by another admin, but I just glanced at their contribs and saw your point! Banhammer on wheels! HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 15:59, 26 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

=D Tommy! [message]

Email

Again. Airplaneman ✈ 16:57, 26 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Oh, and if you have time, may you please look over User:CHRISTAKIS DEMOSTHENOUS/Sandbox? I know the refs need cleanup and the article could be improved, but I was wondering if you had any specific suggestions on how to improve it to meet the DYK standards. Thanks, Airplaneman ✈ 17:00, 26 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Deleted Edits

I have 3 deleted edits. These edits were deleted today, but I have only been working to repair stub articles. What does this mean?Epicstonemason (talk) 17:26, 26 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]