User talk:Arminden

Dan Bahat

See Dan Bahat, feel free to join in.. Zero^talk 02:03, 8 February 2015 (UTC)

in israel

If the category was "Archaeological museums run by Israel" or "Archaeological museums featuring Israeli history", you might have a point. But it isn't, so you don't. "In Israel" has a specific meaning that is only true here according to a minority political viewpoint. We'd like to stay away from political viewpoints altogether, but when that isn't possible we go with the mainstream. Zero^talk 06:55, 16 February 2015 (UTC)

Incidentally, you are a good editor so I hope you continue. Zero^talk 06:56, 16 February 2015 (UTC)

Thanks Z. Still, I've been working for travel guide publishers for so many years and know to appreciate complete info. Check Buq'ata, Mas'ada etc. for a very practicable compromise for Golan issues. There are no categories "Archaeological museums run by Israel" or "Archaeological museums featuring Israeli history" and it makes no sense to create them. Btw, this museum has a large focus on prehistory, another one on Byzantine period synagogues plus a bit on Roman-period Gamla, and I think nothing more recent than that, so nothing on Israel as such. Israel is "de facto" where, once you're on the ground, everything around you is Israeli - laws, currency, access (visa, entry points), language, people (yes, Jews aside, all Golan Druze have Israeli permanent residency and ID cards and some even adopted IL citizenship, all speak at least some Hebrew, use the Israeli health system, job market etc., etc.), so what the international law says is utterly irrelevant on the ground. Not what the Druze feel and think, but that's a different topic altogether and is more differentiated than one might think. There are (a few) tourists who refuse to visit the Golan along with all occupied territories, and that's why indicating the int'l legal status is for sure of some significance, but for smb. who's planning his trip or researching the topic and using the categories, the 2/3 of the Golan now controlled by Israel are in Israel for all intents and purposes. Belfast is in the UK, contested or not, I hate the fact that Putin got Crimea, but I won't try to visit it via Kiev, similarly with Abkhasia and Georgia, or the territories Romania lost to the Soviets through the Molotov-Ribbentrop treaty and never got back from the Ukraine even if the treaty has been declared nil and void, etc, etc, etc. I see WP as a source of practical info, not a manual of political correctness. The UN actually very much acknowledges de facto realities, while fighting for correct resolution of conflicts. I wouldn't be surprised or object if a Syrian Golan refugee would make it his goal to "fix" this issue, but you don't strike me as being Ahmad az-Zero Saif ad-Din al-Golani. Ma'assalama habibi and have a great day, Arminden (talk) 10:50, 16 February 2015 (UTC)Arminden

Seaman article

Hi, because I edit in the Israel-Palestine area of Wikipedia, I'm only allowed to use my administrator powers there in the most no-brain cases. Such as squashing vandals, which is not a description fitting this case. Blocking the recent IPs won't make a difference either, as whoever it is will just return with different IPs. The only way to slow down disruption is semi-protection, which again I am not allowed to impose myself. You should make a case for semi-protection at WP:RFP. Zero^talk 14:19, 17 March 2015 (UTC)

Thanks, I'll try!Arminden (talk) 14:27, 17 March 2015 (UTC)Arminden

Edit to Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Hi there. I've been monitoring (not stalking!) your edits to the Middle East on and off since your constructive edits on the Acre article. You're clearly knowledgable in Middle East geography and affairs and I was prepared to swoop in and back you up if you made any constructive edits to articles that upset the pushy nationalist-political types that dominate parts of that topic area.

I'll briefly explain why I have effectively reverted your changes on the Ayaan Hirsi Ali article. It's important that the prose of the article flow well, and the statements in brackets disrupted that flow. There is also no need to use prose to negate any dubious statement or apologise for anything. If a statement is wrong or irrelevant, feel free to be WP:BOLD and just remove it, as I have done! AnotherNewAccount (talk) 13:33, 30 April 2015 (UTC)

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Hi back, ANA. I'm really happy that you found some gain in following my WP editing. It sometimes seems to me that editors are the only ones who read what other editors contribute :) and it's usually with scorn, while the common users couldn't care less - so every good encounter is encouraging. For your backing I really do feel grateful and I thank you very much for your kind words about my efforts, knowledgeable or otherwise as thy might be.

I see you did anything but undo my edit, you actually removed the older bit I felt urged to set right. Thanks! I fear though that smb. might put it back in. If that happens, I'll happily leave it up to you to find a better-flowing sentence as a means of countering the wrong impression left on the cursory reader by that non-statement. Cheeres, Arminden (talk) 13:52, 30 April 2015 (UTC)Arminden

Your hostility and bigotry are showing, Arminden

When you change the spelling of a word from "Ava" to "Ave" on Wikipedia and in the comment section, instead of writing "correct spelling," you write "that's Ava Gardner you meant; this on the other hand, is Latin or something like that, pre-Jahiliya in any case and infidels stuff)" it demonstrates rude and bigoted behavior. Not that you didn't already know that..VanEman (talk) 23:01, 1 May 2015 (UTC)

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Wow, it worked better than I could have hoped for! You really did guess it's meant for you! I'm honoured. You did indeed go through all of my dozens of edits of yesterday till you found my "message in a bottle". You're a thorough man, Van. Put it to good use.Arminden (talk) 05:05, 2 May 2015 (UTC)Arminden

PS: Yes, I am hostile to people with more stubbornness than knowledge. No, bigoted I'm not, I'm very open to well-founded opinions different from mine. I hold knowledge to be important, comprehension even more so, and consider true intellectuals to have a heavier word to say than others. I don't count myself to be a scholar or an intellectual other than in attitude and striving. Political correctness is a substitute for civility and politeness which disregards the authority conferred by knowledge. Big words, simple truths. [Arminden]

Jerusalem/Holy Land Fifth Crusade

I can't believe I never noticed it said Jerusalem instead Holy Land. Nicely done. I can't believe I missed that. MontChevalier (talk) 21:29, 12 May 2015 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 174.74.82.26 (talk)

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Thank you for the flowers, i.e. merci mon chevalier! :) Don't get too wound up, neither did Guy notice the trap at Hattin, and that was more serious. Deus lo vult.Arminden (talk) 03:03, 13 May 2015 (UTC)Arminden

Re: Hazorim

If you mean HaZor'im, it was established by olim from Germany and the Netherlands from the Union of Religious Pioneers (ברית חלוצים דתיים), Ezra and the Mizrahi Youth. —Ynhockey ^(Talk) 14:00, 14 May 2015 (UTC)

Thanks. Why don't you write so? :) I'll put it in, but quoting your talk page might not be enough for everybody.
PS: Hazorim - HaZor'im: the Yekke movement alive & kicking? "Bei uns sagt man richtig..." Can afford joking about it, just got an unneeded 100-point test certificate for German from Berlitz; some need it black on white. About the apostrophes etc.: I use them when I must, otherwise I go with Lawrence (of Arabia) who made fun of transliteration pundits--it's all a convention, some like some of it, some none of it, some swear by it. Cheers, Arminden (talk) 14:42, 14 May 2015 (UTC)Arminden

June 2015

Please refrain from making unconstructive edits to Wikipedia, as you did at User:Makedonija. Your edits appear to constitute vandalism and have been reverted or removed. If you would like to experiment, please use the sandbox. Repeated vandalism can result in the loss of editing privileges. Thank you. Macedonia (talk) 10:54, 4 June 2015 (UTC)

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don't know who you are, don't know what you're talking about, and seemingly you don't either. ignored. ps: i'm pretty much out of this wp BS altogether, so don't bother anymore with threatening, blocking, cursing in polit. correct ways, etc. [Arminden]

Boris Yefimovich Nemtsov

http://www.jta.org/1976/03/11/archive/davidovich-suffers-heart-attack

so here's an article with a Jewish Russian with the same name as Boris's father you're telling me he's not Jewish too ?

Whats your obsession with going around covering up Jewish people's names ? You some sort of Zionist history revisionist ?

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Go to vodka detox, them read again, then talk. [Arminden]

Barid (caliphate)

Hello Arminden,

A while ago you made an expansion to the article Barid (caliphate). In regards to this statement:

"The etymology of the Arabic word "barid" is considered by P. K. Hitti in his History of the Arabs to be "unclear". He takes issue with two of the proposed origins, writing that "Babylonian buridu is just as unsatisfactory as Latin veredus.""

This had no direct citation, and when I went to go and find the quote I was unable to do so within Hitti's work. Instead, Hitti's explanation of the etymology of the word barid reads as follows (p. 322, n. 5): "Ar barid is probably a Semitic word, not related to Latin veredus, Pers birdan, a swift horse, Ar birdhawn, horse of burden." I did however find the quote, not in Hitti's book, but in a review of the book written by Richard N. Frye (here, page 585), in which he makes the quoted statement as an addendum to Hitti's p. 322 footnote. Would it therefore be more appropriate to change the citation from Hitti to Frye? Thanks, Ro4444 (talk) 18:42, 3 August 2015 (UTC)

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Ro4444, hi. On the contrary, I must thank you. Please do go ahead and correct my mistake. I remember that I tried to figure out the etymology, was unsatisfied with the WP article as it was, and drowned in all kind of books and papers, one older than the other, which I found online. Please excuse me for leaving it up to you to fix the issue. Keep up the good work, Arminden (talk) 21:27, 3 August 2015 (UTC)Arminden

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Great, glad to get that solved. I made the change and added a citation, so we should be good there. As for the etymology, most of the recent sources I used believed in either the Latin or the Persian origin; the Babylonian/Semitic theory doesn't seem to have been popular since the early 20th century (though my view may be colored by using predominantly English-language texts only). Even still, it was a good expansion for the article, for elaborating on the development of modern theories for the origin of the word. Thanks again for your help on this. Ro4444 (talk) 21:46, 5 August 2015 (UTC)

Jewish articles

Hello Arminden. I noticed that you are very sure of yourself and the truth of your edits. Nevertheless, there are certain community established conventions and editing rules on Wikipedia, of which you might not always be aware. I would urge you to take any potentially controversial edit to the talkpage for discussion and consensus establishing prior to making such edits.

Relevant policies and guidelines: WP:CONSENSUS, WP:TRUTH, WP:BRD and many others regarding specific issues. Debresser (talk) 08:57, 21 September 2015 (UTC)

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Hi @Debresser:. Thanks for your message. Honestly, WP is more of a "bad habit" of mine, I have no intention of spending any more time on doing additional studies of WP lingo and insider procedures beyond what accords with the real world, major encyclopedias and lexicons (Britannica, Larousse, Duden, etc.), common sense, and WP's usefulness for the common user.

The habit of using transliterated Hebrew terms as part of articles written in English is specific to religious Jewish circles. Not outside them. Check in the real world, google for terms, whatever. I will not fight anyone who has the time and hobby to deny reality on WP, of which there are many and who enjoy slugging it out on "talk pages" full of endless monologues. This is my own monologue :-) and all I have to say. Cheers, Arminden (talk) 10:31, 21 September 2015 (UTC)Arminden

Speedy deletion nomination of File:Joseph Zaritsky at kandinof yard,.jpg

A tag has been placed on File:Joseph Zaritsky at kandinof yard,.jpg requesting that it be speedily deleted from Wikipedia. This has been done under section F2 of the criteria for speedy deletion, because it is an image page for a missing or corrupt image or an empty image description page for a Commons-hosted image.

If you think this page should not be deleted for this reason, you may contest the nomination by visiting the page and clicking the button labelled "Contest this speedy deletion". This will give you the opportunity to explain why you believe the page should not be deleted. However, be aware that once a page is tagged for speedy deletion, it may be removed without delay. Please do not remove the speedy deletion tag from the page yourself, but do not hesitate to add information in line with Wikipedia's policies and guidelines. Sfan00 IMG (talk) 10:44, 12 November 2015 (UTC)

Just a note on BAS

Heya, so just letting you know, there are actually two similar publications run by BAS, one is Biblical Archaeology Review, which is their lovely print publication, and the other is their online Bible History Daily publication which I occasionally write for—although I was on the cover of BAR two years back. Easy mistake to make when citing, of course. I made the correction in the mikvah article footnote. Thank you though, it sure is nice to see my name cited on Wikipedia! Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie | ^{Say Shalom!} 9 Tevet 5776 21:13, 21 December 2015 (UTC)

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Sir William - or shall I say Sir Henry? -, I'm most honoured. I do get the daily newsletter,but didn't quite realise that it's fully independent of the print publication. Nice place to meet. Only in the field could be nicer. Keep up the good work! Happy holidays, Arminden (talk) 21:23, 21 December 2015 (UTC)ArmindenArminden (talk) 21:23, 21 December 2015 (UTC)

Haha, just Henry. I'm not a knight nor am I eligible for such fancy things. The name is just very popular as you can imagine—though some fellow did accuse me of masquerading as him! I think a lot of the same people write for the print publication as the online one, but the online also has guest writers such as moi. Like I said, easy mistake especially because a lot more people think of BAR than BAS. And thanks! My days in the field might be done, but if they aren't, hopefully meet you there one day as well! Sir William Matthew Flinders Petrie | ^{Say Shalom!} 9 Tevet 5776 22:50, 21 December 2015 (UTC)

'See also' in desert castles

I don't think it makes sense to include a list of all desert castles as a "see also" in each desert castle article:

• A "see also" to desert castle gets to the full list.
• The articles generally already include a link to desert castle, and the manual of style says "As a general rule, the "See also" section should not repeat links that appear in the article's body or its navigation boxes."

Thanks, --Macrakis (talk) 21:43, 22 December 2015 (UTC)

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Hi @Macrakis:. I am sure you are right, and I think with time most of these "See also" links will be deleted. But please, not yet though. The term "desert castles" has been wrongly limited to the Jordanian ones. My point is to inform people about the wider CONTEXT. The Middle East is a horribly tribal place, helping people see the wider picture, in whatever area, is a gain. Thank you and happy holidays! Arminden (talk) 22:02, 22 December 2015 (UTC)ArmindenArminden (talk) 22:02, 22 December 2015 (UTC) @Macrakis: PS: I think NONE of the pages relating to non-Jordanian desert castles did link to the term, and I'm not sure even the Jord. ones all did. Or used the term "qasr" as universally accepted terminology. The topic got far too little exposure, and it shows in the WP articles. Besides, it was me, today, who added the examples from Syria, Israel and Palestine to the list on the Desert castles page, so I went on to connect a bit farther, as part of the same "widening of the horizons". The term is extremely vague as it is, giving it at least geographically a clearer shape can only help.Arminden (talk) 22:08, 22 December 2015 (UTC)ArmindenArminden (talk) 22:08, 22 December 2015 (UTC)

spring-flow tunnels

Hi @Zero0000: Would you consider starting a page on spring-flow tunnels? I'm still not capable of that feat.
Zvi Y. D. Ron is/was THE specialist, he published apparently mainly between 1967-1992, but TAU still has him on its website [1]. There is even a mention of a Zvi Ron publishing on the topic in 2013 [2].
There is a lot on this at [3].
It's a technology DIFFERENT from the better known qanat (see below), it has apparently first been developed in the time of Herod the Great (didn't see enough proof to fully accept that), the Judean Mountains have the most examples. At Abu Ghosh and Battir Roman inscriptions were found at apparently pre-existing spring-flow tunnels, with the names of the 10th Legion Fretensis and 5th Macedonian Legion, the first from the time of the first revolt, the second connected with the Bar Kochba revolt. So the systems were there in the 60s CE/130s CE. I am not sure if I understood it correctly, that there is no proper aquiclude in the Judean Mountains, just some type of aquitard (marl or similar), which lets some of the water through, in any case, for catching more water, the idea was of digging tunnels until they reached - where? the wettest spot?-, building there a collection pool which gathered the entire flow from the exposed ceiling, and taking the water out via channels in the tunnel floor, to be then distributed to terraces. But this is what I gathered from less than academical sources. Ron has a publication which might contain his main results, Zvi Y. D. Ron, Agricultural terraces in the Judean Mountains, appeared in: Israel Exploration Journal 16 (1966) 33-49, 111-122, but I didn't find it online. There is only one useful quote I could find:

By terracing the hills, plots of agricultural land became available that did not take away from the land needed to harvest grains in the valleys. Several archaeologists maintain that terracing was the major technological innovation of the Iron Age.290 [Footnote 290: See, for example, Zvi Ron, “Agricultural Terraces in the Judean Mountains,” IEJ 16 (1966): 33–49, 111–22. Joseph A. Callaway, “A Visit with Ahilud. A Revealing Look at Village Life When Israel First Settled the Promised Land,” BAR 9 (1983): 42–53. Lawrence E. Stager, “The Archaeology of the Family in Ancient Israel,” BASOR 260 (1985): 1–35.]

Qanat vs. spring-flow tunnel: Although there are similarities in the construction techniques (both are excavated tunnels designed to extract water by gravity flow), there are crucial differences between the two. Firstly, the origin of the qanat was a well that was turned into an artificial spring. In contrast, the origin of the spring flow tunnel was the development of a ‘real’ spring to renew or increase flow, following an episode of the water table receding. Secondly shafts, which are essential to qanats, are not essential to spring flow tunnels.
That's about it. Interested? Cheers, Arminden (talk) 01:13, 29 December 2015 (UTC)ArmindenArminden (talk) 01:13, 29 December 2015 (UTC)

Yavne-Yibna merger

@Zero0000: Hi Zero. I hope I'm not pinging you too often? Please tell me if I am. Now I stumbled upon this typical potayto-potahto double, Yavne and Yibna. I worked on the history part so as to help somebody access the info quickly and efficiently: all Muslim periods under Yibna, the rest under Yavne, with "main" tags and repetitions on both pages if interest overlaps. I think it's in every WP reader's interest to keep things simple & logical, but by now I know what will follow. Problem is that I only noticed afterwards that there's been a merger attempt, closed by a very IT-minded arbiter with a negative decision. Negative is OK, but his logic I cannot fully follow. I will NOT go into stuff like this, but I see you have, so - isn't there some logical guideline saying, for instance, that a defunct village gets its own history, while the still existing town that took its place gets all the rest? Especially parts which it claims a connection to? Or any other rational principle. Ideally such which are, look & smell neutral. My main issue is: you got bits of info here, bits there, some overlapped, some were in the wrong place (more on Yibna aspects at Yavne & viceversa). Endless mess. Doesn't serve anyone. Except that people don't act according to ration, robots do, I know. Suggestions? Thanks & cheers, Arminden (talk) 19:16, 24 January 2016 (UTC)ArmindenArminden (talk) 19:16, 24 January 2016 (UTC)

Hi, the overlap between the two articles looks pretty silly. There are still problems with the content, especially with the 1948-ish history. To summarise, Arab Yibna was on the site of ancient Yavne but was depopulated in 1948. As for modern Yavne, it was not founded on the same site and only in recent decades has it expanded enough that the ancient site is on its outskirts. Because of this I can understand the point of view that the ancient history belongs with Yibna and not with Yavne. Now, one important piece of history is missing: the founding of modern Yavne. It was not a case of resettling Yibna! I have a 1956 Israel map that shows Yibna as "abandoned" and יבנה (Yavne) as a new establishment about 1km north. Similarly, there is no "Yavne" in the complete list of recognised settlements which appeared in the 1952 Israeli Yearbook. I didn't find out what the full story is; do you have anything? Zero^talk 08:28, 25 January 2016 (UTC)

@Zero0000: Hi. You're giving me too much credit, I don't have much of anything in terms of non-archaeological data. But I know a bit about history and settlement, Zionist or otherwise. The tell has not been even excavated although it is located very conveniently because it has a lot of Ottoman village remains and Crusader walls at the top, and getting to what the Israeli archaeologists are most interested in, post-70 Yavne and maybe Israelite & Philistine Yavne, would mean destroying that first (see quoted book by Raz Kletter [4]). The mukhtar's house looked very much inhabited some 10 years ago, and the mausoleum of Abu Huraira is surrounded by city fabric. 1 km is nothing, sometimes the same population moves by even more after a major event. The name was preserved, and the location of a settlement is decided and defined by its convenient position on major trade roads, other site-specific sources of livelihood, source of water, important landmarks (mausoleum!), and in the past yes, defensive features (hill, tell) - so the latter one is the only unchecked box, but it is quite anachronistic. Nobody argued with topography against the merger. Plus self-definition is quite important, and they did call it Yavne. Kvutzat Yavne and Gan Yavne took those names rather than simply Yavne because they knew they're not *at* Yavne. Building next to, and not on top of former Arab villages, occurred in other places too. As a possible indicator to how "availavble" the tell and its surroundings was in 1948: the mosque/Crusader church was blown up only in 1950 (see Kletter), maybe together with other houses, maybe not - Kletter doesn't specify and Yeivin who protested with the IDF was always just interested in archaeology, not in modern residential buildings.
Another argument: if continuity comes up, which is ridiculous but likely to happen, the favissa was Philistine, Israelites and post-Exilic Jews didn't hold the coast for long periods. Byzantine Iamnia was much larger, they had a "large Samaritan population" (Negev & Gibson), so people came when times were good and left when they turned bad. There is no population continuity here any more than in any eastern Mediterranean town. An adversary of the merger made what I consider to be the best (if not fully accurate) point in the discussion: there was an Arab Yibna from C7 till 1948, and a Jewish Israeli town after that. Right. Except, who were the inhabitants in the first century or two after the Muslim conquest? I didn't find data on that, normally people stayed put for a while and either left later on, or converted, with or w/o new Arab settlers moving in right away - some Arabs came with Umar, some with Saladin, some with Baibars etc. Btw, Abu Huraira is buried in Medina, I would guess the mausoleum is probably Mamluk rather than 12th c. as the article claims, and the Mamluks had this policy of "inventing" holy tombs along the postal roads which were their only interest in Palestine (link betw. Cairo and Damascus), building makams there, and maybe attracting some settlers along with the pilgrims (see Sidna Ali, Nabi Musa). Also ironic: Abu Huraira was a Yemenite, so not much of a Palestinian/Philistine.
I see zero reason why Philistine, Israelite, Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine Yavne/Iamnia should be one topic, Yibna another, and Israeli Yavne a third, or some other combination leaving us with the HISTORY being split on two pages. There was no perfect continuity between any of those periods, and nobody normally asks for that. We can have 3 pages - History on one, with all periods, Yibna and Yavne each separate with their own period plus a "main" tag to the rest -, or 2 pages, giving primary focus to one of the two places who still do have "advocates" (unlike the long-gone ones), which is a matter of decision from above :-)
Going to eat, cheers Arminden (talk) 11:57, 25 January 2016 (UTC)ArmidenArminden (talk) 11:57, 25 January 2016 (UTC) PS: Somebody made a farfetched comparison to Constantinople vs. Istanbul. By far closer to the topic: City of David and Jerusalem. Nobody would argue that the C.o.D. belongs on the Silwan page rather than the Jerusalem one, although the CoD lay outside the city confines for endless centuries (70 - ?4th c.?, 1033-19th/20th c.). Why? Because the city moved, but kept some of its identity BEYOND its physical existence. This very much also applies to Yavne. (It's also true that Silwan did not extend onto the CoD ridge until the 19th c. No comparison is perfect.)Arminden (talk) 15:48, 25 January 2016 (UTC)ArmindenArminden (talk) 15:48, 25 January 2016 (UTC)

Chalcolithic

Hi, the latest discussion on Talk:Chalcolithic might benefit from your attention. Zero^talk 08:31, 2 February 2016 (UTC)

@Zero0000:: Zero, hi. Thank you for inviting me to the discussion. I will need to take a 2-week break from WP and do some paid work, which is very good news. From what I have studied, the Middle Eastern Chalcolithic is considered by some heavy-weights as a period in its own right (i.e. Avraham Negev & Shimon Gibson, Gabriel Barkay). See the bronze hoard from the Cave of the Treasure in Wadi/Nahal Mishmar, possibly originating in the Chalcolithic temple from Ein Gedi. They did use copper, bronze was rare and primitive, alloyed with arsenic (possibly based on naturally occurring mixed ore, if I remember right), which meant: you didn't live to see your grandchildren grow as a Chalcolithic-era bronze metallurgist. There were areas where the transition from Neolithic to Ch. and from Ch. to Early Bronze happened gradually, but in general it was a sudden apparition, and then disappearance, of a very specific population and its culture. Sorry, but I need to go. Till next time, Arminden (talk) 00:29, 4 February 2016 (UTC)ArmindenArminden (talk) 00:29, 4 February 2016 (UTC)

@Zero0000:: Hi Zero. Did some restructuring, nothing much in terms of content, but now I hope it starts making more sense once the reader understands the different approaches from region to region. ArmindenArminden (talk) 19:08, 14 March 2016 (UTC)

Is Tzurim the border Scopus-Olivet?

Mormon University is on the Mount of Olives !!!. 5.29.119.219 (talk) 05:13, 18 March 2016 (UTC)

@5.29.119.219: Thanks, but that's a statement, not a geographical definition or an argument :-)

Does anyone KNOW if the boundary Olivet-Scopus is defined as "along the Tzurim Valley" or not? Thanks, ArmindenArminden (talk) 09:57, 18 March 2016 (UTC)

TZURIM VALLEY is the border between Mount Scopus and Mount of Olives. 5.29.119.219 (talk) 11:49, 18 March 2016 (UTC)

@5.29.119.219: OK, I understand it's most likely true (and logical), and that you know this, but for WP it's useful to have a quotable source. There are two separating landmarks there, the Tzurim V. and the At-Tur road slightly S of it; unless one can quote some reliable source, it's hearsay. Frustrating, I agree. PS: having a WP identity helps with gaining credibility. Thanks, ArmindenArminden (talk) 12:00, 18 March 2016 (UTC)

Ghassulian

About the revert in Ghassulian, both the text and the map say it is in modern Jordan. Marcocapelle (talk) 08:15, 20 March 2016 (UTC)

@Marcocapelle:: I put the map there! But read the name of the page: GHASSULIAN (culture, phase), and NOT Teleilat Ghassul! Then go on and read the lead: it says it's a culture stretching over western parts of Jordan, and southern Israel & Pal. Please go beyond the "first impression" when editing, you need to really know the topic first. Btw, T. Ghassul was excavated by Franciscan archaeologists when there was no Jordan, just a Trans-Jordan and a Palestine under the same British mandate regime, and the findings were brought to Jerusalem, where they still are on display. So yes, things are seldom linear. ArmindenArminden (talk) 08:23, 20 March 2016 (UTC)

There are two different trees relevant here, the history tree (for the "ancient" culture) and the archaeology tree (for the "modern" archaeological site). The latter tree is subcategorized by modern country. In this case the categories should presumably become Category:Ancient Levant and Category:Archaeological sites in Jordan. Marcocapelle (talk) 08:32, 20 March 2016 (UTC)

Sounds good to me! As long as we keep them apart, I am happy for the added info. Thanks! ArmindenArminden (talk) 08:59, 20 March 2016 (UTC)

German

Regarding this edit summary,[5] I am not German, even though I know the language. Debresser (talk) 23:05, 2 July 2016 (UTC)

@Debresser: Dovid, I'm aware of that. I had hoped you'd get the point. Never mind. I have done some good work on that lead, eliminated a big logical mistake and made it much clearer. You came and removed some supporting elements. Whatever. It is not an easy topic, with a cloud of misconceptions flying around it, and for anyone who didn't study Judaism it's hard to understand. I haven't studied Judaism, but did learn about the 3 main monotheistic religions, what's essential in their understanding, some comparison, and how to put it across in a simple manner to others. Using layout (separate symmetrical paragraphs for opposed terms), bold letters, etc. helps clarify things, period. Contracting too much and eliminating such helpful elements is counterproductive and, after the effort I've put into explaining the logic of using them I find it, honestly, silly. The irony is that for the public at large "Talmud" is a synonym for "splitting hairs". If there is a topic where one should insist on a clear, didactic explanation, then this is IT. But I don't have the energy or intention to fight editors who doggedly refuse to see the light. (Arrogant? OK, but not the point.) Cheers, ArmindenArminden (talk) 06:36, 3 July 2016 (UTC)

Yes, you did good work there. There is some instruction in WP:MOS not to use bold unnecessarily, and this was such a case IMHO. I am fine with not seeing the light, and with you not having the energy or intention to fight about it. That makes life so much easier and more pleasant. :) Debresser (talk) 08:16, 3 July 2016 (UTC)

To you all: what is the purpose of WP?

I know the temptation of falling back on regulations and set rules & habits. And I know the risk of stopping to think and relying strictly on those. If WP serves any purpose, it's of offering the user/reader easy access to good information. That is the raison d'etre or "fundamental law" of WP. Period. All the WP rules are made to serve that purpose. When rules and logic come into conflict with each other, it's like a law being contested in front of the constitutional court. There, as here, the question asked is: does it serve the purpose, as stated by the "fundamental law"? The spirit of the law takes precedence over the letter of the law. So, when something helps the user/reader without harming the page, it's good and it should stay. Robotically removing good info based on some WP regulation, which is anyhow subject to constant improvement, is not constructive, meaning: harms the value of WP to the reader. Please consider this. Thank you. ArmindenArminden (talk) 07:25, 3 July 2016 (UTC)

Maps

Click on the image, follow the "more information" link to Commons, and there you will see the information provided by the uploader. In this case, the book the map is from. Zero^talk 02:29, 25 July 2016 (UTC)

@Zero0000: Hi, and thanks. I have, of course, but I am aware of no such book ("Palestine", 1889) by Conder. If you have it, or inf. about it, would you please upload it onto Conder's page? Thanks! ArmindenArminden (talk) 02:42, 25 July 2016 (UTC)

See here. It is one of many books derived from Conder's more extensive scientific books. Zero^talk 03:07, 25 July 2016 (UTC)

@Zero0000: Thank you! ArmindenArminden (talk) 04:33, 25 July 2016 (UTC)

Eudoxia (name)

Do not insult people in your edit summaries WP:Portal isn't some obscure guideline. It is THE guideline that covers portals. It's also found in other MOS pages, such as Wikipedia:Manual of Style/Layout. I also gave other template that are usually used in sections. Bgwhite (talk) 20:05, 1 August 2016 (UTC)

We're following a pattern. I am offering smth. useful to the user, the only guideline worth following, and you come and take it out quoting formal WP rules. I'm not even going into how you happen to edit topics which are of direct importance to my work, but don't seem to interest you in any way until I touch them. I can pretend to be a (ro)bot and write like one, or I can speak up my mind, w/o calling names, but being frank. If this insults you, well, sometimes there are ways to insult logic and common sense, and that might be slightly more offensive. I won't take it any further. As you probably noticed, I attempted to deter a bot (Yobot) from making that same unfortunate revert once again, and it seemed as if it had worked; but I really didn't try to argue with you, because I frankly don't think I can reach you with my arguments. In radio terms, we don't seem to have a common frequency, none. So let's try and stay out of each other's way and leave things at this. Anything else would be a waste of time and nervous energy for both, and life is too short and the internet to huge to go into this. Thank you for your understanding. Adios, ArmindenArminden (talk) 21:00, 1 August 2016 (UTC)

The most reasonable rule here: "Wikipedia: Ignore all rules"

For anyone who's wasting their & my time on WP: please read Wikipedia:Ignore all rules first, before insisting on endless going-by-the-letter reverts, mono- or dialogues and the like. Thanks. ArmindenArminden (talk) 19:57, 9 August 2016 (UTC)

Umm Junieh

In British maps of the mandate period, the site is called "Kh. Umm Jūna". I don't know a source calling it that while it was still a living village. Zero^talk 00:36, 18 August 2016 (UTC)

Armenian Quarter

Hello Arminden, I noticed you have a running threat with Yerevantsi on Armenian Quarter. I wondered if I could help but I had a bit of trouble following the discussion. What was the original problem? You can respond on my talk page if you want. Thanks. Foreignshore (talk) 16:47, 24 August 2016 (UTC)

Running thread, not threat. Sorry! Foreignshore (talk) 16:49, 24 August 2016 (UTC)

@Foreignshore: Hi, and thanks! Yereveantsi seemed to be the "representative" of all things Armenian in Jerusalem, but maybe it's only the name that made me think that. I tried to figure out what actually IS the Armenian Quarter (AQ), since when is it there and how did the boundaries vary in time, how is it defined etc. I have formulated it as briefly and well as I could on the talk page under "Boundaries...?". If you want, please take a look. I always try to define the topic as precisely as possible before starting to deal with it, and the AQ is not so well defined, the "ideal" map is a perfect rectangle, but some bits in the east are now counted as part of the Jewish Quarter, which brings in the propagandists who spoil every discussion concerning Israel/Palestine. So facts first :-) That brings us to the next talk page topic: "Encroachment of Jewish Qtr: demography & history, or political pressure?". The maps differ, by choosing one over another one takes position in a dispute.

Then I tried to research smth. online, with little success. Is Thoros an Armenian version of Theodore? Is there a saint by that name? I'll copy here my question from the AQ talk page: St. T(h)oros Church is puzzling me. Hethum I built it in memory of his son killed in battle by the Mamluks, but Prince T(h)oros was not a saint, so the St. T(h)oros Church must have been dedicated to/named for a Saint T(h)oros. Who would that be? If you can find out, please add him, even as a "red link", to the respective disambiguation page (Thoros, Toros, Theodore?), and please link the name on the St. Toros Church page to that saint.

That's that. Thank you for offering to help out, no matter if you do or don't have any answers. Cheers, ArmindenArminden (talk) 20:37, 24 August 2016 (UTC)

Community editing

Please read my latest post at Talk:Kadesh_(Israel)#Propose_deletion_:-.29_.2F_RENAMING. Please also review WP:SHOUT. Debresser (talk) 11:17, 14 September 2016 (UTC)

Palestine Department of Antiquities

Hi, I'm preparing an article: see here. I'm not sure about the title, since there is a similarly named modern body that shouldn't be confused with it. If you know of any good sources or have suggestions for improvement, please let me know. Something missing is the way in which it interacted with the archaeological bodies like ASOR, PEF, FrenchOne, etc.. Zero^talk 04:33, 3 October 2016 (UTC)

Hi Zero. Great idea. I would add "Mandate" to the title, either at the beginning or before the brackets: Mandate Palestine's DoA (...) / DoA, Mandate Palestine (...) "Mandatory" would work as well, but the title is quite long already as it is. If you add "Mandate" or "Mandatory", you might even drop the years from the title. This wording is very explicit and I did come across it, don't think anyone will object or ask for sources. Now I have to run, the real world got me back again. Thank you for calling!

PS: links or cross-reference I can think of

• British Museum -- Department of Antiquities (founded in 1807). After a brief online search, I couldn't find any British state-run institution that existed in 1920 and could have been the inspiration for the ~ and its name, maybe this one was?
• Mandatory Pal. -- Government
• IAA
• Department of Antiquities of Jordan < Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities
• Pal. equivalent
• Rockefeller Museum

Arminden (talk) 07:43, 3 October 2016 (UTC)

New edition at Department of Antiquities of Mandatory Palestine. Zero^talk 12:13, 3 October 2016 (UTC)

Thanks, and congratulations!Arminden (talk) 13:12, 3 October 2016 (UTC)

@Zero0000:"The Palestinian Department of Antiquities and Cultural Heritage has conducted work in the West Bank since 1994."- what about the Gaza Strip? 48-67: the Egyptians?Arminden (talk) 16:10, 3 October 2016 (UTC)

Good question. I left it out because I'm not sure about it. Zero^talk 01:08, 4 October 2016 (UTC)

Wadi al-Hasa

Now the main article is Wadi al-Hasa. Both Wadi Hasa and Wadi Zered are redirects to it. In the process I lost your talk page comment. I hope it is ok now. Zero^talk 10:37, 14 October 2016 (UTC)

@Zero0000: Thank you so much! One day I'll learn that, too. Probably... :-) Arminden (talk) 10:53, 14 October 2016 (UTC)

You made some little redirect cycles, then I turned it into a big mess of redirect cycles with the page text actually deleted. I needed to use my administrator super-powers to undelete it, move it to a temporary name, delete all of the mess, then rename it back to its proper name. Zero^talk 11:14, 14 October 2016 (UTC)

@Zero0000: I truly apologise. I had no idea. First I renamed it very easily to "Wadi Hasa", which is used quite frequently in English, but then I wanted to add the article al- and the simple option was somehow gone from the menu. I guessed the "Wikipedia" option would do the trick, but it didn't. Two steps of mine, hundred of yours to fix it... Sorry again. There's a Romanian saying, one half-wit throws a stone into the well and hundred smart people work hard to pull it out again.Arminden (talk) 11:22, 14 October 2016 (UTC)

No need to apologise! It only took a minute. Zero^talk 23:47, 14 October 2016 (UTC)

reply

Hi. How did you know that i am a doctor?.i studied medical ethics very well and I am the 8th most editing user at medical context. What i do is according to wp:category it stated that: Names of topic categories should be singular, normally corresponding to the name of a Wikipedia article. Examples: "Law", "France", "George W. Bush". And i think this rule apply here. So i just apply the conventional naming rule. Israel is a occupational entity and palestanian just defence to free their country. Palestine is for palestenian and if someone occupy thier houses they have the right to use any mean to restore their homes and country--مصعب (talk) 14:54, 16 October 2016 (UTC)

CAMERA

Hi, CAMERA is an organization that exists entirely for propaganda purposes. It cannot under any circumstances be used as a source of fact as it is far below the required reliability. Zero^talk 11:42, 4 December 2016 (UTC)

Jerusalem lead

Hi, Please note that any change to the lead of Jerusalem needs to be done with a consensus, you can't just make changes to the article's lead. Sir Joseph ^(talk) 14:30, 4 January 2017 (UTC)

Hi. Just did that a few days ago, only fixing obvious inaccuracies and pious mistakes and, so far, nobody has reverted my changes. The truth is in the pudding, still :) There are no holy cows, boldness (sorry, big word, but promoted as a WP guideline) is better than endless conversations (unless one is already retired and missing virtual company). Edited from my phone. Either me, when I find the time, or any decent editor with a PC, can add dozens of good sources supporting Shalem/Salim over the pretty-sounding "peace city" feel-good propaganda. Cheers, Arminden (talk) 15:10, 5 January 2017 (UTC)

That is true in most cases, but Jerusalem had an RFC and then an ARBCOM decision, so the normal rules don't necessarily apply. You can see the talk page for more info. Sir Joseph ^(talk) 15:17, 5 January 2017 (UTC)

On the other hand, if nobody disagrees with the edit, and it is a minor edit, I wouldn't wake sleeping dogs. Debresser (talk) 19:51, 5 January 2017 (UTC)

I agree, I was just pointing it out, in case he accidentally puts in something pro-Israel and finds himself at AE. Sir Joseph ^(talk) 20:06, 5 January 2017 (UTC)

Me and pro-something? Joking, right?Arminden (talk) 20:09, 5 January 2017 (UTC)

Mess

Arminden, you are making a mess of the two articles Ancient synagogues in Israel and in Palestine. Please refrain from crossing from one to the other. You are practically enforcing some idea of yours about what the scope of these two respective articles should be without any prior discussion. You simply can't do that. Especially on articles where 1. there is prior discussion about this subject 2. WP:ARBPIA might be involved. Debresser (talk) 16:42, 1 March 2017 (UTC)

@Debresser: Hi. I don't get you. The pre-/post- 70 CE distinction is essential. What's the problem? I practically added a paragraph listing the pre-70 CE synagogues, which are of high interest to both Jews (before Yavneh and Yohanan ben Zakkai they only served as place of reading the Bible), and the Christians (Jesus preached in many of them). Also, making distinction between "State of Israel" and "Land of Israel" in the scope of the two pages is more than needed - I looked up smth. on "Israel" page and thought I'm reading a Hamas brochure till I understood that it's an (as such almost useless) sub-page of the larger "Palestine" page, which was only mentioned at "Also see", a category easily missed by most. The other edits are all minor, don't affect the previous structure. Please explain.

"Archaeologists have uncovered many remains of synagogues from over two thousand years ago" - not true. In the Land of Israel there are at the most 4: Umm el-Umdan at Modi'in, Tulul Abu el-Alayik (very uncertain), Gamla (contested by some), Modi'in Illit (little published). Not over 2000 years old, but still 2TP (so pre-70 CE) are a maximum of 7 more: Wadi Hamam (Nahal Arbel), City of David ("Theodotus synagogue"), Magdala, Masada, Herodium, posibly Capernaum, and Tel Rechesh in Nahal Tabor. Basta. Qumran, Jacob Ory's second, ghost synagogue at Chorazin, and Alexander Onn's at Shuafat only deserve a mention if one wants to be over-inclusive.

"Synagogues securely dated to before the destruction of the Temple" do NOT include Capernaum and Qumran. Capernaum (the black structure underneath the "white synagogue" of C4 has not been excavated except for some minor areas, it's no more than conjunction on the base of the principle "once holy, always holy" - plausible YES; "securely dated" - certainly not. Qumran: there is no proof whatsoever that any of the excavated rooms served as a synagogue; there are 2 large rooms which MIGHT have served this purpose, so weak conjecture, nothing else.

Dabura leads to a silly comics figure. The "Golan" addition might wake sleeping dogs (Israel, heh?), but that's not an argument for a wrong wikilink.

Please refrain from reverting en masse, unless you have GOOD arguments for each single element. I do in this case.Arminden (talk) 17:34, 1 March 2017 (UTC)

One more revert, and you'll find yourself reported for violating WP:ARBPIA. In addition, please also review WP:BRD. Pushing that revert button is still a big problem of yours. Debresser (talk) 17:59, 1 March 2017 (UTC)

As usual, we'll talk this over on the talkpage, and we'll come up with something that improves the article. But you have to stop edit warring! Debresser (talk) 18:06, 1 March 2017 (UTC)

Calm down. One (1, like in uno - eins - un) revert is never a "war". Get the facts right, then get back to work. Arminden (talk) 18:10, 1 March 2017 (UTC)

Two reverts, one on two articles. In any case, I think we are already forming some consensus on the talkpages. Debresser (talk) 19:18, 1 March 2017 (UTC)

Dome of the Rock

Hello
I see you added “Dubious-discuss” tags a while ago to a couple of statements here, but hadn't put anything on the talk page (per the relevant guideline) to explain what the problem is. Perhaps you could remedy that, as otherwise there is no obvious reason to keep them. Thanks, Moonraker12 (talk) 16:07, 23 October 2017 (UTC)

Edit summary

Hi. Your edit summary here seemed a bit rude. Thanks. BeenAroundAWhile (talk) 06:10, 1 December 2017 (UTC)

Hi. Killing civilians is a bit rude, too. And quite a bit rude is also sympathysing with it, and hiding a fact - terrorist, murder - behind euphemisms like "militant".Arminden (talk) 11:54, 20 January 2018 (UTC)

"Immovable Ladder", or The Best Joke on This Page

Please stop your disruptive editing. If you continue to vandalize Wikipedia, you may be blocked from editing.

Church of the Holy Sepulchre 13:46, 26 January 2018

quotation from article: "removal of the "Immovable Ladder","

Geographyinitiative (talk) 13:53, 26 January 2018 (UTC)

Please, come to your senses. Check my edits and then start talking of "vandalising". You're so out of control that you can't even get the section title right. The "Immovable Ladder" isn't worth more than a footnote, definitely not a mention in the lead and 4 (!) wikilinks within the Holy Sepulchre article. That's the holiest church in Christianity, and the ladder is just a weird detail. It's still there, with one or two wikilinks, mentioned in a hat tag or whatever it's called, so basically yet another wikilink at the top the "facade" paragraph, and the whole ladder history is widely presented - that's far more space than it actually deserves. So calm down. Have a nice weekend, Arminden (talk) 14:02, 26 January 2018 (UTC)

You vandalized the page, period. If you don't like that being linked there, then actually get rid of it rather than vandalize the page.Link Vandalism That's my opinion. quotation from article: "removal of the "Immovable Ladder"," (I don't care if the ladder is in the article zero times or a thousand times. But what you did is link vandalism. That's all I mean to say.) Geographyinitiative (talk) 14:06, 26 January 2018 (UTC)

Arminden, it looks like you made a typo at 13:46 on 26 January at Church of the Holy Sepulchre, writing Immovable Ladder, leaving the letter 'I' out of the wikilink brackets. See User talk:Geographyinitiative#This could have been a typo on Immovable Ladder?. I removed the word 'Vandalism' from the above header, since it is not vandalism. EdJohnston (talk) 17:22, 26 January 2018 (UTC)

Now I see. EdJohnston, thank you! I thought the angry Geo guy made the typo when he started this nonsense here. Sorry for the typo. There is no way in the world it can be misconstrued as intentional - just follow the logic of my chain of edits. Enough of it, let's go on with our lives. Cheers, Arminden (talk) 17:49, 26 January 2018 (UTC)

As of Church of the Holy Sepulchre at 10:28, 26 January 2018 Arminden, the page was as follows:

quote from page: "of the "Immovable Ladder,""

after the change to Church of the Holy Sepulchre at 13:46, 26 January 2018 Arminden, the page was as follows:

quote from page: "of the "Immovable Ladder","

It is an example of 'changing internal or external links on a page to inappropriate targets'. link vandalism. Geographyinitiative (talk) 01:24, 27 January 2018 (UTC)

"Adding or changing internal or external links on a page to disruptive, irrelevant, or inappropriate targets while disguising them with mislabeling." ∰Bellezzasolo✡ Discuss 14:19, 27 February 2018 (UTC)

1rr vio

You violated 1rr on ARBPIA with this edit, kindly self revert.Icewhiz (talk) 20:19, 27 February 2018 (UTC)

Notice of Edit warring noticeboard discussion

Hello. This message is being sent to inform you that there is currently a discussion involving you at Wikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard/Edit warring regarding a possible violation of Wikipedia's policy on edit warring. Thank you. Jeppiz (talk) 21:28, 27 February 2018 (UTC)

I've closed this report. Please note the result. --NeilN ^{talk to me} 13:57, 28 February 2018 (UTC)

Adding new unsourced material with a citation needed tag

I'm amazed you've done that. It's your job to source material that you want to add. You know about our verifiablity policy I'm sure. Doug Weller talk 10:03, 7 April 2018 (UTC)

Don't be. I have it from Professor Gabriel Barkay. I'll look for a source if I find the time. It's a highly worthy bit of info, and has no bias whatsoever. Such are often incentives for other editors, much like red links. Always with the reader's benefit in mind, first and foremost! Cheers, Arminden (talk) 11:08, 7 April 2018 (UTC)

@Doug Weller:: Thank you Doug. It seems that Prof. Barkay still is close to the mainstream opinion as it flows around the Net, but the scholarly debate has moved on. Cheers, Arminden (talk) 15:41, 7 April 2018 (UTC)

Tel Megiddo dates

I liked your edit at Tel Megiddo. If you don't have other sources ready try this one: Early_Iron_Age_Epigraphy_and_Chronological_Revision_a_summary_article_in_P._James_and_P._van_der_Veen_eds._Solomon_and_Shishak_ trespassers william (talk) 12:27, 7 April 2018 (UTC)

Thanks a lot, Danny. It took a lot of reading, and in the end it seems that Prof. Barkay isn't so up-to-date anymore. Cheers, Arminden (talk) 15:37, 7 April 2018 (UTC)

Monfort

There is not a single sourced statement in the paragraph I edited, so it is fair game for deletion. Instead of deleting, I edited it for poor English and repetition. So much for trying to improve the article...Once you are reverting, by the way, you are welcome to re-add the ugly tag at top citing lack of references.--Geewhiz (talk) 07:51, 25 April 2018 (UTC)

Hi @Gilabrand:. It was a stub, I fleshed it out, added all the sources one can get relevant info from (except Piana), so now it's about slow patient work. There's nothing there I didn't find in Boas & Khamisy, Pringle or Biller, or in other good sources. I see no reason to remove good info at this stage. If you have the time, check out Mathias Piana, Burgen und Städte der Kreuzzugszeit, Michael Imhof Verlag (2008). It's great if you fix the English, but please w/o removing info. Thanks, Arminden (talk) 08:07, 25 April 2018 (UTC)

Restoring Unsourced Material at Zimri (prince)

Hello, Arminden. Your recent edit [6] to Zimri (prince) restored unsourced material in violation of Wikipedia policy. Here's the relevant policy page: WP:V. And here's a relevant quote:

Any material lacking a reliable source directly supporting it may be removed and should not be restored without an inline citation to a reliable source.

If other sections are also in violation of WP:V, then they should be fixed, but the existence of unsourced material in the "Islam" section is not carte blanche to restore unsourced material elsewhere in the article, especially unsourced material that accuses living persons of belonging to a terrorist group. See WP:BLP. Alephb (talk) 10:58, 15 August 2018 (UTC)

Hello, Alephb. We have a misunderstanding. First, I did quote a valid source. Second, I don't think there were any names mentioned there, so no specific person can be affected; and apart from that, the four initial "Priests" have been legally convicted, which eliminates the issue of hearsay/POV or whatever. Cheers,

Tartaria Tablets

Good work but section headings should not be posed as questions, see MOS:HEADINGS. Doug Weller talk 12:04, 26 October 2018 (UTC)

I wish I could find opinions about Haarmann - I'm pretty dubious about him, not that I'm happy with Merlini either. Doug Weller talk 12:09, 26 October 2018 (UTC)

Question marks: shortest way to indicate controversy. Otherwise risk of overly long headings for 2nd- or 3rd-grade paras.

Research: Doug, sorry, no time. Too much spent here as is. About to be killed for it :)

Epiphany (holiday) changes

Your changes were unexplained, and they violated, WP:LANGVAR, MOS:DATEFORMAT and other things. Walter Görlitz (talk) 06:26, 8 January 2019 (UTC)

---

Hi @Walter Görlitz:. If you prefer, we can communicate in German. You reversed wholesale w/o properly looking through the edits.

"Orthodox" requires a capital O, no discussions there.

Spaces: I edit quite a bit on my phone. In citation notes, long words like "accessdate" create awkward blanks; using a (WP allowed) hyphen solves the problem. Similarly, adding spaces between categories has the same result. Try and you'll see. Nobody has ever had an issue with it until now.

Spaces in and under headings: fully unneeded, not required - in ENGLISH Wikipedia, unlike other languages. However, separating picture files from the text by a space helps editors find what they're looking for.

I hope this clarifies my intentions. Cheers, Arminden (talk) 07:48, 8 January 2019 (UTC)

Feel free to apply the capital "o". Walter Görlitz (talk) 15:30, 8 January 2019 (UTC)

How generous. You broke it,you fix it. Had enough of stiff, self-righteous WP patrolmen. Arminden (talk) 16:38, 9 January 2019 (UTC)

Belmont and Belmonte

Hi Arminden, just wanted to let you know that I altered your edits to Belmont. Belmont is already quite long and there is a disambiguation page for Belmonte, so I don't think we need to make Belmont even longer by adding 'Belmonte' items. And if we do decide to add Belmonte, we should add them all. Leschnei (talk) 14:04, 19 January 2019 (UTC)

Copying within Wikipedia requires attribution

Thank you for your contributions to Wikipedia. It appears that you copied or moved text from Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah into Holy Fire. While you are welcome to re-use Wikipedia's content, here or elsewhere, Wikipedia's licensing does require that you provide attribution to the original contributor(s). When copying within Wikipedia, this is supplied at minimum in an edit summary at the page into which you've copied content, disclosing the copying and linking to the copied page, e.g., copied content from [[page name]]; see that page's history for attribution. It is good practice, especially if copying is extensive, to also place a properly formatted {{copied}} template on the talk pages of the source and destination. The attribution has been provided for this situation, but if you have copied material between pages before, even if it was a long time ago, please provide attribution for that duplication. You can read more about the procedure and the reasons at Wikipedia:Copying within Wikipedia. Thank you. If you are the sole author of the prose that was copied, attribution is not required. — Diannaa 🍁 (talk) 16:08, 27 April 2019 (UTC)

I had no idea. Big BS, anyway, none of us is here for the "credit", but donating time for the sake of the user. I did what I could - I'm just using my phone in a hotel room after work. If you have time to spare, pls try to add the 2018 TV interview of the Armenian cleric who witnessed 3 times how the Patriarch lit the candles from a lamp. Cheers,

St Theoctistus

@Zero0000 and Mannanan51: Hi, sorry to bother, I still lack some basic editing skills. Could you please create a page for "Theoctistus of Palestine", using what's already there on the Euthymius page and the disambiguation page? Thank you as always! Cheers, Arminden (talk) 07:53, 8 July 2019 (UTC)

It is created. I leave the copy-editing to you. Zero^talk 09:46, 8 July 2019 (UTC)

@Zero0000 and Mannanan51: "It is created" - the words of a true demiurge! Many thanks, truly grateful. Arminden (talk) 13:36, 8 July 2019 (UTC)

Thanks for your edits

Arminden, I wanted to thank you for your very good and pertinent edits on Mosaic of Rehob. Keep-up the good work!Davidbena (talk) 00:42, 16 July 2019 (UTC)

@Davidbena: David, thank you so much! I really appreciate it.

This is for Your Information

User:Arminden, shalom. As you questioned whether or not there was a synagogue named "Rambam" in Jerusalem, the following link is to allay all doubts: Enjoy! Click here. ---Davidbena (talk) 11:27, 28 July 2019 (UTC)

@Davidbena: David, hi, and thank you! I have searched as much as I could, and have in the end written to the contributor who has taken & posted the picture, and on the Wikimedia page, as well, waiting for answers like yours. Almost all existing "Rambam Synagogue" postings describe or show the Ramban Synagogue, so I thought that it's always a case of typo/mix-up. I will amend my postings. Thanks and cheers, Arminden (talk) 12:50, 28 July 2019 (UTC)

I have already corrected three of them. If there are more that need correcting, you'll be the judge of that.Davidbena (talk) 12:52, 28 July 2019 (UTC)

English Wikipedia

User:Arminden, shalom. I noticed where you were taken aback by the way some of our Wikipedia pages are written in such a way as to place a transliterated foreign word before its actual English meaning. My humble view on this matter is that it depends on what the article actually treats about. In Sefer Torah it seems relatively alright to place the English meaning before its Hebrew transliteration, but I must say that this is not always the case. Take, for example, other foreign words used now in English: Hamantash, or Shofar, or Za'atar, or Genmaicha, or Onsen, or Wampum, or Sushi, or Minyan, or Glasnost, or Perestroika, among an endless host of other foreign loan-words whose names are known as such by most English speakers. The article Tallit, it would seem, falls into this last category, since it is well-known by such name. I see no rule that requires of us to put the English meaning first. Of course, an explanation is almost always given in ordinary English which explains the meanings of these foreign words.Davidbena (talk) 11:59, 28 July 2019 (UTC)

@Davidbena:, Hi David! I think you slightly misunderstood something. I am very much aware that languages have always borrowed words from other languages when needed. What is as well known to me, is that in religious Jewish circles it is very common to mix Yiddish or Hebrew terms into the language spoken in the country of residence, and mainly religious terms. There is nothing new here. The problem is, unlike sushi or pizza, tefillin or tallit are words not understood by probably over 90% of the native speakers of that language (if not more), not to speak of Wikipedia users who look up English Wikipedia, but aren't all that fluent in English. I can assure you that the vast majority of Judaism-related terms are total Chinese to pretty much all of the Gentiles, and to a great many of the secular Jews. The more one is immersed into a certain lifestyle, the harder it becomes to realise how little known that particular lifestyle is to non-members. So, I have zero problem with Torah, bagels, maybe also gefilte fish being used as such: but none of the terms I replaced in the articles are widely known outside religious Jewish circles. Just do a test, and you'll be surprised. Beyond anything I might say here, that could sound subjective, I am sure Wikipedia must have some guidelines regarding non-English terms for which there is a well-established English equivalent (tefillin-phylacteries, tallit-prayer shawl), and the obligation to explain in plain English those which do not have English equivalents. Honestly, I have learned most of these terms in English first, from books and alike, and some I still don't understand unless they're explained in English - and you can see that I'm not an absolute beginner in this field, even though I'm nowhere close to being well-versed, either. Many of these articles I looked up in order to learn something new, and the Hebrew was an obstacle. So I guess I'm a good case of (average?) "Wikipedia user". Thanks for keeping up the dialog, and all the best - Arminden (talk) 13:26, 28 July 2019 (UTC)

The proper English word for Tefillin is "phylacteries." A simple redirect (e.g. Phylacteries) will often correct the problem of unfamiliarity with the Hebrew word, but even here it will take you to a disambiguation page with other relative meanings. Jewish audiences make-up a large percentage of users on the English Wikipedia, and almost all Jewish readers will understand the Hebrew loan-words tallit and tefillin. In fact, many non-Jews already recognise these words for what they are. If in doubt, you should raise the issue on the article's Talk-Page. This will help you reach a larger consensus. The gist of the matter is this: Even where a word such as Onsen is not understood by all English speakers, its specific and prominent use in one language makes it a legal term of use in other languages.Davidbena (talk) 13:49, 28 July 2019 (UTC)

David, I am exposed to many hundreds if not thousands of non-Jews of various origins annually, and I think I know from first-hand experience how well they are accustomed to Jewish terminology when confronted with it: not. Let's not forget the difference between the bunch of people active here as editors, or our friends from a chosen environment, and the vast majority of people who do look up WP every now and then, but aren't studying the topics in depth. As about secular Jews... you'd be surprised. Traditional education isn't what it used to be :) About many Jews using Wikipedia: so what, and then it's fair to leave the rest outside? I won't even start reminding you who's been using that argument against Jews. Cheers, Arminden (talk) 14:32, 28 July 2019 (UTC)

@Arminden:, Even so, a non-Japanese person who is not familiar with the Japanese words Onsen and Genmaicha, or a non-Jew who is not familiar with the Yiddish words Gefilte fish and Hamantash, or one who is not familiar with the Russian or Arabic languages, but who read pages containing other foreign loan-words such as Glasnost, or Perestroika, or Za'atar, that in itself is not enough to diminish from their use on Wikipedia, nor to change the article's format. The criteria, I would think, would be that these foreign words are prominently used in their native country and enjoy some wide-spread popularity within their country so as to warrant its use in the English-language online encyclopedia. If you wish to change Wikipedia's policy regarding this, take the issue to the Wikipedia:Village pump (policy). Be well.Davidbena (talk) 15:25, 28 July 2019 (UTC)

User:Davidbena, David, did you look at my actual edits? I always left the Hebrew term in place AT LEAST once on the page, in the lead or in another prominent place, but replaced it with the well-established English word (where there is one) in the rest of the text. Where the term is very specific and has no popular English equivalent, I added an explanation next to it, because constant clicking is a big nuisance; the user will thank me :) All in all, I am sure no rule needs to be changed: ENGLISH must have priority, and specific Hebrew terms have to be mentioned AND explained. Nothing revolutionary. Whereas the opposite--yes, that does break the rules of any encyclopaedia.
What's with you and Perestroika? I loved Gorbachev for it, but it has nothing to do with this discussion: it's like champagne or Renaissance -- it only covers the entire meaning if you use the original word. In this case it's a Russian, but by now international, word. For tefillin you have phylacteries; for Perestroika you don't have any English word. Comes from the fact that Christian Europe has been dealing with Jews and their religion ever since... forever; the USSR and Japanese food are, in comparison, fast-passing trends. Cheers, Arminden (talk) 16:53, 28 July 2019 (UTC)

Yes, I did look at your edits, and with the exception of Tallit, you are right. Even with "Tallit" it was unnecessary, in my view. I was more concerned about a trend here, where you would go through all the foreign-word pages and preempt a term that is explained later in the page. Perestroika was used here merely as an example of a foreign loan-word, perhaps not readily understood by many who speak English, and yet requires no further explanation before being introduced with the word.Davidbena (talk) 17:00, 28 July 2019 (UTC)

edit summaries

is not appropriate. nableezy - 23:13, 9 August 2019 (UTC)

@Nableezy: you're right, sorry, I apologise. I was getting desperate. The text was so substandard that it was hard to believe it made it in. When it comes to Muslim history, people are so unaware of their own national past, and in turn are so soaked in propaganda that it's painful. The text was mixing up Muslim dynasties centuries apart, but made a point in favourably comparing Ghassanids to Herodians in holding on to a region. Duh... Where's the point, other than "Arabs are better than Jews"? It's schoolyard level. Of course, there was no "Byzantine Rome" when the Herodians were around, and the term itself is a bit of an original invention. Things like Qutuz not being a sultan yet at 'Ain Jalut are small mistakes in comparison. Or "the Heights represented a formidable obstacle the Crusader armies were not able to conquer", when they actually held Banias for decades and had a condominium with Damascus over the Sawad/Suete for quite a while.
Maybe you can help me learn something: who were the Arab geographers of the sixth century describing the Golan as a jebel? I say 6th because that was the topic of the quoted book, but maybe I'm wrong and "Byzantine period" means later here, even though it becomes problematic if that still can be termed Byzantine if it means later than 636. If it's a correct fact though, I'd be truly very happy to learn about it. Cheers, Arminden (talk) 04:59, 10 August 2019 (UTC)

To be totally frank with you, Im not actually Syrian (or Palestinian), so it isnt really my own national past, and my interest in the Golan is mostly confined to the modern politics of it. You'l notice I have not even touched any of your edits on this subject (the only one I reverted was your changing something about the modern political situation into a claimed from said). If I knew the answers to those questions I would certainly try to lend a hand, but to be honest in recognizing my own limitations, I dont know the answer to your question. Just the edit summary read as a bit demeaning, and as the edit itself was fine (as far as I know) I thought it better to nip that in the bud with you here. Take care, nableezy - 12:55, 10 August 2019 (UTC)

Your message

Hello Arminden, I was scrolling at my talk page history and found your message. I remember now that I had removed it without reading. I do apologize for doing so. I know its been a few years already, but it just now dawned at me. I should've replied. — JudeccaXIII (talk) 22:16, 19 August 2019 (UTC)

Nadav Na'aman

Hi, it seems that Nadav Na'aman, one of the most important Israeli archaeologists, doesn't have an article. Could it be? [7] [8] Might you be the one to create it? Hint, hint. Zero^talk 19:48, 31 August 2019 (UTC)

@Zero0000: hi, and thank you for your trust. I'll be working away from home for quite a while, no way I can do it on my phone. Let's see when I'll manage to get to it. Life's getting in the way :) Have a great day.

Plene scriptum

Arminden, thanks for calling my attention to the fact that someone ought to write an article describing the import of the Latin term Plene scriptum. Well, there is now such an article. Thanks for nudging me in this direction.Davidbena (talk) 23:40, 5 September 2019 (UTC)

@Davidbena: - David, thank you, I'm rushing now to read it!

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Sincerely,

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Suggested edit

Arminden, shalom. Please see my response to your constructive edit on the Tarichaea article, which you can see here.Davidbena (talk) 00:52, 25 November 2019 (UTC)

Thanks

Thanks for fixing that silly error on the Lovers of Cluj-Napoca article. Can't believe I didn't catch that. -TrynaMakeADollar (talk) 06:53, 28 November 2019 (UTC)

Bobby Fischer

You may wish to comment on Talk:Bobby Fischer#Ben Klassen. Thanks. Bruce leverett (talk) 03:31, 9 December 2019 (UTC)

Alexander Jannaeus

Hello, I'm Jerm. Although everyone is welcome to contribute to Wikipedia, it's important to be mindful of the feelings of your fellow editors, who may be frustrated by certain types of interaction. While you probably didn't intend any offense, please do remember that Wikipedia strives to be an inclusive atmosphere. In light of that, it would be greatly appreciated if you could moderate yourself so as not to offend. Thank you. Jerm (talk) 21:43, 13 December 2019 (UTC)

@Jerm: Hi Jerm. Sorry, we don't know each other yet. What edit are you referring to please? Arminden (talk) 21:48, 13 December 2019 (UTC)

You know exactly which one. If you can't maintain civility, then you don't need to be editing. You also reverted again and ignored my edit summary concerning WP:BRD. Jerm (talk) 21:53, 13 December 2019 (UTC)

Sorry, I had some 3 reversals lately. Please don't assume, be more specific. Arminden (talk) 21:56, 13 December 2019 (UTC)

Hello. This is a message to let you know that one or more of your recent contributions, such as the edit you made to Alexander Jannaeus, did not appear constructive and has been reverted. Please take some time to familiarise yourself with our policies and guidelines. You can find information about these at our welcome page which also provides further information about contributing constructively to this encyclopedia. If you only meant to make test edits, please use the sandbox for that. If you think I made a mistake, or if you have any questions, you may leave a message on my talk page. Thank you. Jerm (talk) 07:42, 21 December 2019 (UTC)

@Jerm: I must leave the house now, but let's invite some distinguished arbiters later in the day. For now, please refrain from bulk-reversing. If you think you must disagree with one or another of my edits, please discuss them here or there; we can reach agreement, as you have seen these past days. Bulk reversals though and gratuitous accusations of vandalism harm both the quality of the article, and your own reputation, so please hold back with those. Thank you. Arminden (talk) 07:49, 21 December 2019 (UTC)

@Nishidani and Zero0000: I see Jerm won't accept a civilised discussion. Please do take a look at the edits [9] and decide. Thank you very much. Arminden (talk) 07:54, 21 December 2019 (UTC)

When you remove sourced content and manipulate it where it contradicts the source, then I have a right to remove it. Per WP:BRD, you should've been starting discussions at the articles talk page to begin with, but I have do it for you since the only thing you know how to do is revert. Yes, all you do is revert editors who disagree with your changes. Your editing style and the way you interact with other editors who disagree with you hasn't changed since you started editing. And I already know you are familiar with editors @Nishidani and Zero0000:. Per WP:CANVAS, such behavior like pinging other editors is not really acceptable. You could have at least started a discussion, but you want them to establish an argument on your behalf or preserve your new changes. Either way, I am treating your new changes as disruptive and vandal-like. Jerm (talk) 08:24, 21 December 2019 (UTC)

There is currently a discussion at Wikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard/Incidents regarding an issue with which you may have been involved. Jerm (talk) 16:47, 21 December 2019 (UTC)

• I saw the ANI thread and have looked at your recent activity. You really need to take on board MOS:ERA. The project has very little tolerance for people churning stylistic choices like this without consensus. EEng 09:24, 22 December 2019 (UTC)

  Let me add something else. Because of the specialized nature of the material I can't judge a lot of the changes you made; some where clearly improvements, the fixing of a comma splice being one case my eye happened to fall on. In addition, you're right that it's best that other editors selectively review and back out bits and pieces of your changes, leaving other parts they think useful in place, but when you make very large numbers of changes in a single edit that becomes very hard to do. My advice would be edit one section at a time. EEng 20:02, 22 December 2019 (UTC)

Ugh

You just walked into a hornets nest, changing AD to CE. I learned that here: I thought it would be "a cakewalk" to change Siege of Jerusalem (70 AD) to Siege of Jerusalem (70 CE): hah! ...was I ever wrong. If I recall correctly, the WP:ERA rules came out of some of the very first arbcom cases, 10-15+ years ago: that is why they are so cumbersome, (see eg WP:Requests for arbitration/Sortan; WP:Requests for arbitration/jguk 2) Huldra (talk) 23:37, 23 December 2019 (UTC)

What are we actually doing here? How many normal people, who are not themselves editing, do actually use these articles? Arminden (talk) 07:36, 24 December 2019 (UTC)

Self-references

After your revert of my removal of a self-reference on Herodium and your explanation in the edit summary, I had another look at WP:SELFREFERENCE, and decided to open a talkpage discussion. I'd be grateful for your input at Wikipedia_talk:Manual_of_Style/Self-references_to_avoid#Referring_to_other_sections_in_article. Debresser (talk) 10:18, 31 December 2019 (UTC)

I've dealt with it in the article itself. Cheers, Arminden (talk) 17:52, 12 January 2020 (UTC)

You made it better, but see the discussion, and specifically the reference to WP:CLICKHERE, that your edit did not solve all issues. Debresser (talk) 13:46, 13 January 2020 (UTC)

Alexander J.

I would like to apologize for my reaction at Alexander J. When I saw that you were the one who reverted me, all I was thinking was the previous edit war we had at/near Christmas, but you started the discussion this time, and I all I did was contradict WP:CIVIL in hopes that the discussion would end ASAP. Jerm (talk) 01:09, 18 January 2020 (UTC)

In case you haven't noticed

[10] and User talk:Khruner#Land of Punt. Doug Weller talk 14:44, 19 January 2020 (UTC)

@Doug Weller: No, I hadn't detected it. Thank you for your help! (S)he seems a bit over the top in every matter concerning the Horn of Africa. I'll let you police the waves, my WP times will be over for a while, the real world is calling, damn... Till next time, and take care! Arminden (talk) 15:22, 19 January 2020 (UTC)

Haaretz

Hi, You can ask me to send you articles from Haaretz but you will get into trouble if you post them here. I suggest you remove it asap. Zero^talk 05:41, 13 March 2020 (UTC)

@Zero0000: Hi, and thanks, like always :) Arminden (talk) 10:31, 13 March 2020 (UTC)

Hi

@Zero0000: hi! I haven't heard of you in a while. I've probably pinged you a few times to often, too. I hope you're OK and using the Corona break the best way possible. All the best, and take care! Arminden (talk) 20:51, 10 April 2020 (UTC)

Hi Arminden. I'm trying to get some research done but Wikipedia keeps throwing up interesting historical questions that I'm addicted to as you know. Despite being house-bound, I can't keep up. Be safe. Zero^talk 12:54, 12 April 2020 (UTC)

@Zero0000: Thank you and stay well!Arminden (talk) 13:26, 12 April 2020 (UTC)

Collins book

If you want a copy of the book, I'll have one soon in pdf, you can email me. Doug Weller talk 12:13, 3 May 2020 (UTC)

@Doug Weller: sure I do. I vaguely remember Zero sending me a link or smth about how to email via Wikipedia, but I still don't have a clue and I can't find it. If you don't mind... And if you do ("what the heck...!"), thanks anyway, I very much appreciate you offering. Arminden (talk) 20:19, 3 May 2020 (UTC)

It's a link on the side of an editor's talk page, if they have it enabled, and also at the top of mine. Doug Weller talk 18:24, 4 May 2020 (UTC)

Jewish

Hi. Why did you remove the type "Jewish" from the infobox in this edit? On a sidenote, it would be helpful for other editors if you'd use edit summaries. Debresser (talk) 18:23, 12 May 2020 (UTC)

Hi. First, I think "type" refers to smth. more specific, like right of passage, agricultural, spring festival... Second, it says "Observed by: Jews" right above it. Avoiding overkill. Nothing else, I don't have any intention of passing on Lag BaOmer to the Baptists, Hindus or Sunnis :)

I quote from Template:Infobox holiday:

Type (param "type")	Color
islam, islamic	LightGreen
judaism, juda, jewish, jew	LightSkyBlue
buddhism, buddhist, buddha	PaleGoldenRod
christian, christ, christianity	Lavender
asian, asian festival	RosyBrown
secular	DarkGray
national, international, local, group	LightViolet
historical, cultural, patriotic, ethnic	LightSalmon
pagan	DarkKhaki
commercial	Yellow
hindu, hinduism	Orange
shinto, shintoism	Light red
default	LightSteelBlue

Debresser (talk) 23:06, 13 May 2020 (UTC)

Hi. If you really think "Observed by: Jews. Type: Jewish" makes sense, go ahead. I don't.Arminden (talk) 13:44, 14 May 2020 (UTC)

I understand what you are saying. I am talking about something else. Turns out that the "type" parameter is there to change the default color of the infobox. That is all it does. If it were for the informational value, then of course nothing is added by it. Debresser (talk) 12:56, 14 May 2020 (UTC)

@Debresser: Ah, I see. Then it belongs back in, of course, and sorry. Maybe "Observed by: Jews" can then be left out? It just looks silly. But that's the digital form, repetitive, like one-and-zero, little can be done w/o lots of coding. Thank you for your patience. Maybe you can take a quick look at Kohlit and its talk-page? It's more in your domain. Thanks! Arminden (talk) 13:44, 14 May 2020 (UTC)

Propaganda

The edit summary of this edit is not neutral. Historians also talk about "rule". I don't mind the edit itself, since they are basically synonymous, but the edit summary shows hidden intens that are not purely academic. Debresser (talk) 17:42, 23 May 2020 (UTC)

(Test). Dovid, thanks. This damn phone doesn't work properly, it didn't save my longer answer to you twice already. Arminden (talk) 06:22, 24 May 2020 (UTC)

I am watching your talkpage, and will patiently await your longer reply. Debresser (talk) 12:59, 24 May 2020 (UTC)

@Debresser: So, sorry if it upset you. It seems evident that both Jewish-Zionist and Arab-Palestinian nationalists have their favourite historical periods and those they hate, which sometimes even coincide (see Crusader period). "Era" is a grand term, "rule" is suggestive ("it's not their place, but they rule it by force"); "period" is neutral. Zionist historiography used to talk about "Canaanite period" and "Israelite period", terms abandoned in favour of Bronze and Iron Age. The Muslim conquest, Umayyad, Abbasid and Fatimid (sub)periods together form the Early Muslim period, sorry for those allergic to periods in the history of Jerusalem that include "Muslim" in their name. The Crusader period is not much loved by either side. The Mamluk and Ottoman periods are distinct from each other, unless one sees all Muslims as the same old... something. Wherever there still are territories without a universally recognised status, Wiki editors can go by preference or minimal consensus, i.e. try their luck with Jordanian/Israeli rule or period, 'cause neither will make everybody happy. Anyway, historiography is a highly ideological field, and the terminology reflects that. That's what I meant. So yes, sometimes I'm more diplomatic and sometimes less, I apologise if it upset you, and I'll try to hold back a bit more. But what I wrote is pretty much fact - and obvious to anyone. There is a fluid line between hypocrisy and diplomacy. And civility towards intentional reality twisters is sometimes a difficult proposal :) Have a great spring day! Arminden (talk) 13:53, 24 May 2020 (UTC)

I wasn't upset, since I agree that "period" is a great term. At the same time, I often see "rule" used as well in history books. The word "rule" is also a fact, not, as some interpret it, a claim for a lack of legitimacy. Debresser (talk) 18:42, 24 May 2020 (UTC)

Speedy deletion nomination of File:James Robertson (British - Mount Moriah and the Mosk of Omar - Google Art Project.jpg

A tag has been placed on File:James Robertson (British - Mount Moriah and the Mosk of Omar - Google Art Project.jpg requesting that it be speedily deleted from Wikipedia. This has been done under section F2 of the criteria for speedy deletion, because it is a missing or corrupt image or an empty image description page for a Commons-hosted image.

If you think this page should not be deleted for this reason, you may contest the nomination by visiting the page and clicking the button labelled "Contest this speedy deletion". This will give you the opportunity to explain why you believe the page should not be deleted. However, be aware that once a page is tagged for speedy deletion, it may be deleted without delay. Please do not remove the speedy deletion tag from the page yourself, but do not hesitate to add information in line with Wikipedia's policies and guidelines. CptViraj (talk) 17:06, 4 June 2020 (UTC)

Disambiguation link notification for June 7

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Shavuot

Not asking for meatpuppetry! But if you need a strong source for kibbutz Shavuot this is it Shalom Lilker,Kibbutz Judaism: A New Tradition in the Making, Associated University Presses, 1982 ISBN 978-0-845-34740-9 pp.192ff. By all means use it as you see fit, or ignore it.

Being me, I couldn't just source the kibbutz section but would adjust defects in the article itself, which has no historical sense (and be reverted immediately of course!)- with not enough given to what we know of the probable earliest form of the festival before rabbinical usage transformed it into a giving of the Torah focus (Tannaitic sages, perhaps simply because Jews no longer had extensive farming communities. downgraded the agrarian motifs-it is the only festival, is it not, which has no tractate devoted to it in the Mishnah). Ironically, the kibbutz adaptation refurbished, imaginatively, a structure closer to the eartiest agricultural version. Best regards Nishidani (talk) 06:28, 8 June 2020 (UTC)

@Nishidani:, hi. No need for the introduction, other than making me look up what the hell meatpuppetry means. I apologise for not dealing with it yet. Lots of real-life chores have piled up and I'm only editing out of habit, compulsively and with a bad conscience, while the topic you offered me requires a clear head and time. I need to read and research about it. Everything religion-related for me is like a foreign language I need to learn first, driven by curiosity and external circumstances, not passion. But what you suggested is an interesting topic and I'll try to deal with it. Sorry for being so slow. Best regards, Arminden (talk) 09:47, 12 June 2020 (UTC)

My apologies rather. Know what you mean: I've been up since 5 am after a 3 hour nap, and am sitting down now at 2.30 or thereabouts, except for 5 minutes at breakfast, to look into wiki, after fastwalking to a supermarket several kms away to shop for relatives, picking up tax returns, buying fishflakes for my pond's denizens, meeting a dental appointment, rushing home to pick two bags of loquats I'd forgotten to cull and take them back to my dentist friend and his nurse as a gift for their reopening, then to the bank to pay a land tax, and a dozen other things.

Don't worry about the ref. I thought you had requested one on that page, can't remember now except that I regretted posting the one I found here. Improper. Yes, religion is weird, utterly strange. It's strange for a pagan like me who, weaned, just sucked thereafter on the tits of Greek myth. I knew they were just so stories from the start, and what made the bible weird was that the structure of the tales was identically mythological but one was expected to believe it really happened. That is deeply enigmatic, at least in the modern world. Chuck the source into the bin if it doesn't cover what your edit aimed for. Best regards Nishidani (talk) 12:36, 12 June 2020 (UTC)

Burgoyne

Hi, I need your email-address in order to give you info about the Burgoyne-book, cheers, Huldra (talk) 20:26, 14 June 2020 (UTC)

Hi, I haven't done that much if at all. DougWeller has recently written me how it's done - a link on the side of an editor's talk page, he said, but I can't identify it (he has added a plain, visible "invitation" at the top of his talk page, that's a different story). I couldn't find it on either my talk page or yours. I'd be happy to share email addresses with you, but not to make mine public. Sorry, you were kind and offered me something nice and useful, and now I bother you with this. Ignore if you wish. Cheers, Arminden (talk) 12:06, 15 June 2020 (UTC)

Do you still have the email address you had in July 2019? If so, I can give it to Huldra in private if you give me permission. Zero^talk 17:49, 15 June 2020 (UTC)

@Zero0000: hi! Yes, still the same. I'd be very grateful, thanks! Arminden (talk) 18:10, 15 June 2020 (UTC)

Hi, Did you get my email? Huldra (talk) 20:41, 16 June 2020 (UTC)

@Huldra: hi! Yes, thank you very much indeed. I apologise for not reacting faster, I didn't access it yet, busy with other things, but I really appreciate it. Cheers, Arminden (talk) 13:58, 18 June 2020 (UTC)

Discussion at WP:AE#Arminden

 You are invited to join the discussion at WP:AE#Arminden. - Makeandtoss (talk) 10:49, 25 June 2020 (UTC)

AE result

Hello. I have closed the AE report with a warning to both of you. Please review closely and observe the instructions in my closing summary. Thank you. El_C 15:19, 1 July 2020 (UTC)

@El C: hi. Acknowledged, all is good. Thanks and have a nice, quiet day, on- as well as offline. Arminden (talk) 15:25, 1 July 2020 (UTC)

Where are the Yemenite Torah scrolls on gevil from?

Hi Ehav. Thank you for your great work. You have contributed a photo of Yemenite Torah scrolls (Sfarim Torah) on gevil from "my Beth Knesset", but without explicitly indicating what synagogue that is. Several pages are using the picture, most writing that it's from "Rambam Synagogue in Jerusalem". There is no such synagogue in Jerusalem (Rambam = Moshe ben Maimon, Maimonides), only a quite famous Ramban Synagogue (Ramban = Moshe ben Nachman, Nachmanides). I assumed that one is meant, and have modified the caption to Ramban Synagogue, but I need to have your explicit confirmation, otherwise I need to remove this part of the caption altogether. In your place, I would modify the file name to the specific name of the synagogue, so there's no doubt about it anymore. The better and more precise the caption, the more a picture can be used. Thank you! Arminden (talk) 11:45, 28 July 2019 (UTC)

Greetings, this is Ehav Ever. Sorry I didn't notice your post in 2019. I haven't been writing on Wiki for a few years. I also don't remember my original password so I am using this login.

Concerning the Rambam Beith Keneseth. Our Beith Keneseth is in Qatamonim. See pictures below of the location.

בית כנסת רמב"ם בקטמונים

192.56.175.2 :(talk) 06:02, 23 July 2020 (UTC)

Hi. I have learned from a fellow editor, Davidbena, that there is indeed a Yemenite Rambam Synagogue in Jerusalem - in Nahalat Ahim. I am sure that is the one you are going to. Can you please add "Nahalat Ahim" to the caption please? Thank you! The fact is, LOTS of people simply mistake Ramban for Rambam or mistype it, and your synagogue is not very well known, so it can be confusing.
Do you maybe have some details about the age of the scrolls? "200 years old" sounds a bit generic. Thank you! Arminden (talk) 13:00, 28 July 2019 (UTC)

There aren't a lot of details about the scroll. Essentially, it is about 200 years old and was brought from Yemen by Rabbi Mosheh Giyath, probably around 1950's, who was the Rabbi of the Beith Keneseth Rambam until he passed away about 8 years ago. Until he passed away, Rabbi Giyath was one of the last living students of Rabbi Yihhyeh Qafahh. From what I was told by one person was that the sofer of the scroll was from the Sharabi family. That was information I got from the people who were there when I took the picture.192.56.175.2 (talk) 06:02, 23 July 2020 (UTC)

Ehav, thanks a lot! Arminden (talk) 07:58, 23 July 2020 (UTC)

Disambiguation link notification for July 25

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Ramla

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Zoozaz1 (talk) 05:10, 6 August 2020 (UTC)

@Zoozaz1: hi, and thanks again! Sorry to bother, but I'm just a bit confused. Now I want to do a similar action elsewhere, and you wrote that I'm entitled to create a new article without posting a request. That's excellent news, but the link you've kindly indicated is the one I've used already - and the wizard there takes you straight to - applying for a review. So no gain. Or am I missing something? Isn't there a simple link to "create a new article w/o review", I do the work, sign it (4x ~), and it gets published right away? That's how I thought it would go, and that would really be of great help. Thank you! Arminden (talk) 17:00, 8 August 2020 (UTC)
Wait, I think I found something - right underneath the wizard link. I'll try. If it is indeed what I'm looking for, I think it should say explicitly: "for creating a new article without the need for a review". Let's see. Thanks, Arminden (talk) 17:07, 8 August 2020 (UTC)

Arminden, I can see how that would be confusing. The way I usually create articles is to look up the article name you want to create in the search bar and then click to create the article in the results from the search. Zoozaz1 (talk) 19:08, 8 August 2020 (UTC)

Zoozaz1, great, that's the kind of short access I meant. I'll try it out, thanks! Arminden (talk) 19:28, 8 August 2020 (UTC)

A book

This book by Zvi Shilony has a large amount of detail regarding the Kinneret-Degania area. I have it on paper but I don't know of an electronic access better than snippets. Currently I have urgent work to do that doesn't allow me to review all the relevant articles. Zero^talk 02:01, 11 August 2020 (UTC)

Hi, and thank you. No problem, really, sorry for bothering, I'm happy you're busy and not just killing time like some of us. Stay healthy and focus on real life. Arminden (talk) 13:42, 11 August 2020 (UTC)

Warning

Please do not use Paki (slur) anywhere on Wikipedia. That is not acceptable. El_C 16:15, 13 August 2020 (UTC)

I truly apologise. I only have one British-Pakistani friend, and it's from him & other common friends that I picked up the word. I had no idea. Sorry. Arminden (talk) 16:29, 13 August 2020 (UTC) I see I'm in good (??!!) company: George W. Bush and a bunch of other clueless Americans. I was just clueless, I don't have the excuse of being American (whom did I offend now...?). Warning: here I was trying hard to be funny. The first time I just had no idea. Sorry again. Arminden (talk) 16:35, 13 August 2020 (UTC) @El C: I see you're being funny, too. Quoting Lenin on parliamentarism? That might offend a few people, to. A few million people? Anyway, I'm quite likely to still be in the lead, with >200M Pakistanis. I think I'm in trouble... Arminden (talk) 16:45, 13 August 2020 (UTC)

Arminden, I am not interested in engaging in polemics with you at this time. Please stop pinging me. El_C 16:47, 13 August 2020 (UTC)

There's no polemic whatsoever. Allowing myself a joke or two. If not your type of humour, I'll stop. Promise. See, I didn't even ping you this time. Let's stay serious, the world is far too funny a place as it is, let's restore the balance. Arminden (talk) 16:51, 13 August 2020 (UTC)

August 2020

Welcome to Wikipedia, and thank you for your contributions. Although everyone is welcome to contribute constructively to the encyclopedia, please note that there is a Manual of Style that should be followed to maintain a consistent, encyclopedic appearance. Deviating from this style, as you did in David Duke, disturbs uniformity among articles and may cause readability or accessibility problems. Please take a look at the welcome page to learn more about contributing to this encyclopedia. Because the title is modified with the word "former", it's properly set in lowercase per MOS:JOBTITLES. —Eyer (If you reply, add {{reply to|Eyer}} to your message to let me know.) 22:49, 17 August 2020 (UTC)

@Eyer: hi. Go and try to pull the same trick on the Grand Wizard page. Change the formers to lower-case. Good luck. I'm generally against overcapitalisation, but a) I'm not a one-trick dog, and b) I'll always try to help people distinguish between regular common nouns (with or w/o attached adjectives) on one hand, and unusual titles on the other. Your favourite WP rule works well with kings and presidents, but not so much with Grand Wizards. It's too specific, and it consists of a noun and an adjective that can too easily be taken at face value. German has the Duden, French the Academy rules (or laws rather), but English has none of those god-like institutions and guides itself by a certain amount of logic. Not by blindly obeying this or that specific set of more or less arbitrary rules. Bye. Arminden (talk) 23:26, 17 August 2020 (UTC)

PS: go and de-capitalise titles like Shining Star of Paektu Mountain. I hope you know where to look for it. Arminden (talk) 23:47, 17 August 2020 (UTC)

Primary sources

I noticed that you were one of the editors adding links to biblical verses, like at Amorites (Special:Diff/953658303). While these can be helpful, they are primary sources for Wikipedia, where secondary sources should be used for any interpretation or commentary. If you know scholarly secondary sources that could be cited there, those would be most helpful. Thanks, —PaleoNeonate – 05:07, 23 August 2020 (UTC)

@PaleoNeonate: hi. I think you got me wrong. I'm only adding wikilinks to verses already quoted, or move them from footnotes (which are wrong; I've been told it's an outdated practice used many years ago), to inline links. So basically exactly in line with what you are saying. Have a nice Sunday! Arminden (talk) 07:28, 23 August 2020 (UTC)

I don't contest it, the invitation to find/add secondary sources is still on. —PaleoNeonate – 03:54, 24 August 2020 (UTC)

Publisher of Ramla

In Special:Diff/974494694, you put that the publisher of Ramla is both "Carta for the Israel Exploration Society" and "Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA)". Which of these is correct? Currently, only the latter is showing up in the article. Jackmcbarn (talk) 17:19, 23 August 2020 (UTC)

@Jackmcbarn: hi, and thanks! It's a leftover from a previous edit, much of the article didn't have almost any details re. the sources and I tried to add all that's relevant. The IAA website is reproducing the Carta content, so it's Carta via IAA website. It was quite clear from the context & quoted website, but still a mistake. I've fixed it now, thanks for drawing my attention. Arminden (talk) 17:29, 23 August 2020 (UTC)

Note to self

When you see "Supreme Deliciousness" - f...f...f...f...f...f...f oh, no, no Tourette's again, please... - run! Don't try reason, logic, arguments, reference to IQ (I-What?!), common sense, real life... Run! Don't curse, don't exhaust your knowledge of expletives, don't bother to fix the world... run. And don't ever forget again. Arminden (talk) 15:42, 8 September 2020 (UTC)

Or you could ask other editors to help. Debresser (talk) 22:19, 8 September 2020 (UTC)

Wow, here you are! How did you find this? Thanks, much appreciated, but really, it's not worth the hassle. Arminden (talk) 22:08, 9 September 2020 (UTC)

I am your friendly talkpage stalker. Debresser (talk) 01:50, 11 September 2020 (UTC)

@Debresser: hi. If you wish to - go for it. I sure as hell won't. Considering the possible/probable synagogue found there, to mention that the Byzantine period corresponds to the Jewish (maybe give up: Israeli) "Mishnaic and Talmudic periods" is absolutely relevant and legitimate. But don't blame me if... Cheers, Arminden (talk) 21:06, 14 November 2020 (UTC)

I agree with his removal, not his reason. being a bit "Israel-centric", as he calls it, is normal on an article about the Golan Heights and discussing a synagogue. However, the Mishnah was closed around 200 CE and the Gemara around 500 CE, so a synagogue that was build around 500 can not be called Mishnaic and hardly Talmudic. Debresser (talk) 17:59, 15 November 2020 (UTC)

Um

	The 四海之內皆兄弟 Barnstar
	For your trenchantly erudite toponymic tolutiloquence over Silwan/Siloam, making some stillwan greymatter light up with much needed hyperthermic illumination Nishidani (talk) 08:11, 25 August 2020 (UTC)

Anarchism

Hi Arminden,

I saw your work on articles related to anarchism and wanted to say hello, as I work in the topic area too. If you haven't already, you might want to watch our noticeboard for Wikipedia's coverage of anarchism, which is a great place to ask questions, collaborate, discuss style/structure precedent, and stay informed about content related to anarchism. Take a look for yourself!

And if you're looking for other juicy places to edit, consider expanding a stub, adopting a cleanup category, or participating in one of our current formal discussions.

Feel free to say hi on my talk page and let me know if these links were helpful (or at least interesting). Hope to see you around. czar 02:40, 23 September 2020 (UTC)

Dobry den' to the @Czar:! Great sense of humour in choosing the nickname. I truly thank you for your trust, but I'm afraid that my brush with the topic didn't go beyond Sholem Schwarzbard, and a bit on the Spanish Civil War and Emma Goldman. It's an interesting philosophy, of which I should know more, but that's better suited for a very long 'to do' list than for my immediate plans. Sorry, thank you, and keep up the good work. Arminden (talk) 19:10, 27 September 2020 (UTC)

"Gugumani" listed at Redirects for discussion

A discussion is taking place to address the redirect Gugumani. The discussion will occur at Wikipedia:Redirects for discussion/Log/2020 September 23#Gugumani until a consensus is reached, and anyone, including you, is welcome to contribute to the discussion. _signed, Rosguill ^talk 16:31, 23 September 2020 (UTC)

To editor Rosguill: ouch, just wrote a message on your page. It's there. It's getting funny, I had actually forgotten about it, and I never thought it would implicate more than a bot or, at the most, one resourceful editor to bump into it and remove it w/o delay. A bottle that slipped into the ocean, kind of. Cheers, Arminden (talk) 18:17, 23 September 2020 (UTC)

Arminden, gotcha, although you put the message on my user page instead of my user talk page. I'll go through and WP:G7 delete it in a bit. _signed, Rosguill ^talk 18:20, 23 September 2020 (UTC)

Nahala

Hi Arminden, I have removed the references from Nahala because WP:DABREF clearly states that references are not used on DAB pages, and now that there is an article for Nahalat Binyamin, the references can go there. Leschnei (talk) 23:39, 3 October 2020 (UTC) @Leschnei: hi, and thanks! I had parked all these references here while preparing to write the article, and then I forgot about it. Good you saw it. Cheers, Arminden (talk) 02:55, 4 October 2020 (UTC)

Street of the Prophets

Hi, the Bikur Cholim Hospital buildings now have huge lettering identifying them as branches of Shaare Zedek Medical Center. We cannot call the former German Hospital building part of today's Bikur Cholim Hospital. Perhaps this caption can be worded: Nighttime exterior of the former German Hospital, today a branch of Shaare Zedek Medical Center. Yoninah (talk) 16:06, 4 October 2020 (UTC)

I'm updating the picture so you can see the new wording. Yoninah (talk) 16:07, 4 October 2020 (UTC)

@Yoninah:, wait! Bikur Cholim is now part of the Sha'arei Tzedek chain! So no need to change anything. The name Bikur Cholim remains, as do the historical names Deaconesses (Diakonissen) or German Hospital, and Ziv Hospital. Arminden (talk) 16:30, 4 October 2020 (UTC) ::@Yoninah: Or whatever. People and guide books are not running with the official name changes. Gaydamak came and went, now it's Sha'arei Tzedek, but the old names stick. As long as they are both in, everybody's happy. Thanks! Arminden (talk) 16:53, 4 October 2020 (UTC)

OK with me. BTW the Bikur Cholim Hospital article needs some serious updating on the ownership change. Yoninah (talk) 16:58, 4 October 2020 (UTC)

To editor Yoninah: Fine with me. I'm more interested in history :) As I thought, now it's "Eduardo and Jovita Cojab Building" in the "City Center Campus". Names over names nobody ever cares about. American mania. Don't think we should try to keep up with it. With substantial stuff, yes. Did the Cojabs finance a new department? Then yes. Otherwise it's endless. Shame for the much prettier night picture. The reason Santa Claus became so famous is because of the story of how he helped out WITHOUT making a fuss, without letting people know who's been the benefactor. Not quite the Safra, Cojab,... etc. style. But as long as they help, not hinder, let them put their names wherever they please. Arminden (talk) 17:07, 4 October 2020 (UTC)

Really? I never liked the night picture (it was the only time I could take it) and was excited to update it in the daytime. It's still on Wikimedia Commons. Yoninah (talk) 17:08, 4 October 2020 (UTC)

To editor Yoninah: De gustibus :) So both are yours? Congrats! Arminden (talk) 17:25, 4 October 2020 (UTC)

Would you like to offer your knowledge to the Begin Sadat Center for Strategic Studies

User:Arminden Since you were the first to notice the article and offered some objections before , now there is a serious Talk about the article , you can join if you are interested to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Begin%E2%80%93Sadat_Center_for_Strategic_Studies , Thank YouAleviQizilbash (talk) 11:08, 5 October 2020 (UTC)

To editor AleviQizilbash: Hi. Thank you for offering, but I honestly won't have the motivation to deal with it. I'm happy that I've put a discussion in motion, this institution seems quite dangerous to me, as it is using authors with impressive CVs, but with a very clear tendency and is hiding behind two names, Begin and Sadat, of which they are clearly representing only one - Begin. Sadat must be turning in his grave every time they're publishing an article using his name in the letterhead. I find it ugly (disingenuous, manipulative, cowardly, pick your word) to hide behind names misleading the public, so no matter if I do agree with their work or not, I think they should be at least kept in check where we can. But it's one crusade too many for me, sorry. If I come across a concrete article where they intersect with a topic I'm working on, then yes. Thank you very much for your invitation and good luck, Arminden (talk) 15:08, 5 October 2020 (UTC)

Azzopardi

Hello. Your recent edit to Azzopardi appears to have added the name of a non-notable entity to a list that normally includes only notable entries. In general, a person, organization or product added to a list should have a pre-existing article before being added to most lists. If you wish to create such an article, please first confirm that the subject qualifies for a separate, stand-alone article according to Wikipedia's notability guideline. Thank you. - Arjayay (talk) 07:13, 13 October 2020 (UTC)

Astounding (and assumed accidental) alliteration: Arjayay addresses Arminden about Azzopardi. EEng 07:19, 13 October 2020 (UTC)

@Arjayay: hi! Arjayay, I personally don't think P.P. Azzopardi is a remarkable sculptor, but the Maltese seem to take some pride in his work and an editor has added the picture of a statue of his to the John the Baptist article, with a red link for the artist. After seeing that (and moving the picture to a less prominent position on the page, as it was set next to da Vinci and Piero della Francesca), I added him to the list. Which list is a "local patriotism" statement for all intents and purposes, with articles on a football player who "also played 10 times for a Maltese FA XI, a few years before Malta played his first official international game" and alike. Perfectly legitimate, not every nation has a Maradona - or da Vinci, nor should they. If you insist on Wiki rules & regulations about disamb. pages not containing red links - I totally disagree, they help motivate editors to write articles, and offer a more complete picture on the topic for everybody. For me it was extremely interesting to see in how many countries and in how many domains this family or group of families have ended up living and working. You took out a 19th-century Maltese sculptor, a Maltese youth athlete, and a Canadian actress, citing indisputable Wiki rules. I have no intention of fighting over this.

@Arjayay and EEng: As to the alliteration, it's definitely the best thing that came out of this whole matter :)) Arminden (talk) 14:59, 13 October 2020 (UTC)

Apparently Arminden appreciates astounding alliteration. EEng 18:22, 13 October 2020 (UTC)

Look what I found: A famous Maltese sculptor, and it's of course about our friend Pietro Paolo Azzopardo (1791-1875). Full of superlatives and pride. With 400k inhabitants and a diaspora of something over 300k people, I bet they're having a hard time producing sufficient Wiki editors as to write all the articles they consider worthwhile publishing. Arminden (talk) 15:15, 13 October 2020 (UTC)

To editor EEng: Every English ear enjoys extraordinary expressions. Every English ear?! Every ear! Arminden (talk) 17:13, 14 October 2020 (UTC)

Evidently. EEng 20:51, 18 October 2020 (UTC)

TofD

Hello, Arminden. Please check your email; you've got mail!
It may take a few minutes from the time the email is sent for it to show up in your inbox. You can at any time by removing the {{You've got mail}} or {{ygm}} template.

05:26, 14 October 2020 (UTC)

Your question at the Help desk

	Hello Arminden. Replies have been posted to your question at the Help desk. If the problem is solved, please place {{Resolved|1=~~~~}} at the top of the section. Thank you!
	Message added on 15:42, 2 November 2020 (UTC). You can remove this notice at any time by removing the {{helpdeskreply}} template.

the (so-called) Map of the Kingdom of Chalcis

Hi Arminden, I gave a response to your question about the map of the kingdom of chalcis on my user talk page on the Dutch Wikipedia (here). Because your question dates from several months back - I haven't been able to be on much lately - I thought it was a good idea to bring it to your attention here. (Please let us continue the conversation on my talk page on the Dutch Wikipedia.) —Preceding undated comment added 13:26, 5 November 2020 (UTC)

Empty rcat shell note and suggest archiving

{{Redirect category shell}} should only be applied to a redirect empty if "you want to learn how to categorize redirects. For editors who want to learn how to categorize redirects, this template is a learning tool. Only those editors who intend to return to the redirect to learn which rcats to use should apply this template without parameters."

— Godsy ^(TALK_CONT) 17:55, 16 November 2020 (UTC)

@Godsy: hi. I have no idea what you're talking about. What "Redirect category shell"? I'm not technically interested beyond a minimum that allows me to edit, mainly history- and geography-related articles. I don't appreciate receiving automatic bot messages. Have a nice day, Arminden (talk) 13:59, 17 November 2020 (UTC)

You placed an empty {{redirect category shell}} on at least 9 of the redirect pages you recently created, i.e. Abigail, Mount Hebron, Hebron hills, Hever Stream, Khirbet Ma'in, Mount of Olives Jewish cemetery, Nira Stone, Nisan Bak Synagogue, PEF rock, and South Hebron Hills, which together comprise half of the items within the maintenance category CAT:MISCR. When that list potentially gets unintentionally flooded, individuals who actually want to learn about redirect categorization experience much higher wait times before they receive guidance. That aside, I am not a bot and my message was not sent nor compiled by one. Best regards, — Godsy ^(TALK_CONT) 06:49, 18 November 2020 (UTC)

@Godsy: hi, and thank you for your reply. You sound nothing like a bot. The first message kind of did, that's where my first reply came from. I've only started to use redirects and have went to the Teahouse to ask for advice. As I mentioned, I'm not technically ambitious, I wrote that there too, but still, some of the very kind advice I got there, as well as your very nice & personalised reply, went a few leagues above my deeply submersed head. I have piles of things to read in areas I'm really interested in (of which WP is also likely to profit), plus a real-world life, so when it comes to technical advice I'm always asking for pre-chewed, installation wizard-type instructions. After all, WP is a group enterprise: I'm doing my bit, and everyone else is welcome to add nuances and the required fine-tuning. This doesn't mean that I'm OK with making mistakes. And the advice I've got seemed to say that I need to add "Redirect category shell" to the one-liner "#REDIRECT (name of existing article)". (These are my notes I'm reproducing here. I took notes and I'm going back to them when I'm using a piece of code, or template or whatever it's called, that I need). I couldn't figure out why the "shell" thing is needed, so I got suspicious and only used it in the beginning, but then gave up on it. It seems that I should forget about it altogether. Btw, I'm as little familiar with what that means as I'm with the "CAT:MISCR" you're mentioning. So "#REDIRECT (name of existing article)" and finito. Got it, thanks for taking away my last doubt. Do you think you've managed to eliminate all the cases where I've mistakenly used that "shell" thing? Or shall I go and look for more? Sorry for the fully unintended mistake, and thank you for tiding up after me and for your advice. Best regards, Arminden (talk) 07:26, 18 November 2020 (UTC)

The function of the shell template is explained well at WP:REDCAT. Any other cases where the shell was applied empty would show up in CAT:MISCR, thus no further action is needed in that regard and I appreciate what you did already. No worries or apologies necessary, I only started this discussion here to prevent the potential problem from proliferating any further. On an aside, I would be happy to help if you would like assistance setting up an archive system for your talk page (to preserve old discussions on talk subpages and make the page easier to navigate & load) or have any other questions about technical matters. Warmest regards, — Godsy ^(TALK_CONT) 12:34, 19 November 2020 (UTC)

Vandal?

@Zero0000: sorry, I think I found the official page. Have a great day, Arminden (talk) 14:28, 9 December 2020 (UTC)

Antisemitic canard

I know that you were trying to have fun while reverting a pathetic hate-filled person, but don't you think that your edit summary might have been a little excessive, especially when viewed out of context? It's a feature of Wikimedia software that many things can be edited, but the summaries of past edits cannot be, so you'll have to live with them indefinitely... AnonMoos (talk) 12:42, 24 December 2020 (UTC)

AnonMoos, hi and thank you. You have shown to have all the delicacy and diplomacy I have opted out of in that edit summary, by writing to me in the first place, and then by the way you chose your words. I thank you for that. In a less locked-down context I would most likely have done differently, and maybe there's a bit of a hidden wish to be blocked out of what has become a dependance and compulsion. As for the disgusting, anonymous creature behind the edits I have reverted - I only regret maybe giving him the satisfaction of becoming personal. In real life one can hope for enlightenment, reeducation, etc., but in the anonymity of the online world, the trolls & their ilk are Scot-free. I can live with that edit summary. As you might have noticed, I didn't remove a comment on this talk-page called "Your hostility and bigotry are showing, Arminden" (2015) because I still stand behind my answer from back then, although today I would have held back with the comment that provoked it, and altogether with much more than I did back then. Today was out of the ordinary. Anyway, sarcasm is the one thing left before desperation, and it is a form of humour; and humour is the best medicine and last resort when no real remedy is left. Thanks again, and have a great day. Arminden (talk) 13:12, 24 December 2020 (UTC)

Nishi

I've never known my friend Arminden to 'loose the thread'. He's a highly focused guy. So, this seams like needling. I'm sure things can be patched up. Someone needs to make amends. Nishidani (talk) 21:27, 17 February 2021 (UTC)

Haganah

Could you add sources to this content? I'm sure there are plenty of books dealing with this, but I'm not familiar with the topic.--80.246.140.72 (talk) 13:20, 12 March 2021 (UTC)

@80.246.140.72: Hi. Thank you for your confidence, but I don't have any books on the topic, so anyone can do it by researching online. I'll try, but can't promise, sorry. Arminden (talk) 22:27, 12 March 2021 (UTC)

Water castle

Hi Arminden, just to let you know that, although I've reverted your recent edits under the WP:BRD rule, I've reinstated most of them in good faith as they weren't linked to the title issue and I actually agree that they improve the article. Bermicourt (talk) 14:00, 12 March 2021 (UTC)

Yarmuk/Yarmouk River

I declined the speedy deletion of Yarmuk River to make way for the move because both forms are frequently used in English-language sources and so the move is not uncontroversial. Please use WP:RM instead. Fences&Windows 23:33, 13 April 2021 (UTC)

Khan al-Ahmar

We generally don't disambiguate things unless we need to. There is no other target for Khan al-Ahmar so it should not be disambiguated with (village). nableezy - 04:02, 22 April 2021 (UTC)

@Nableezy:, hi. I hope you don't mind if I move this to the actual talk-page for this topic. Thanks and see you there. Arminden (talk) 04:29, 22 April 2021 (UTC)

yeah i saw your comment there, made a brief reply. thanks, nableezy - 04:33, 22 April 2021 (UTC)

Hello, Arminden,

You put a CSD tag on this page stating you had a disambiguation page to move there but you didn't link to the page you wanted to move. Please provide a link to the disambiguation page that you want moved. Thank you. Liz ^{Read! Talk!} 01:43, 27 April 2021 (UTC)

​Liz, hi and thank you! It's all, discussion + material for new disamb. page, at Talk:Khan al-Ahmar (village)#Added "(village)" to the name. I am not well-skilled in background technical issues, did my best, maybe CSD isn't the right tag, but I only know about 2 or 3 options and this one came closest.

The new "Khan al-Ahmar" disambiguation page still needs to be created - as written, it's fully ready to go, but I cannot create it until the redirect (Khan al-Ahmar leading to Khan al-Ahmar (village)), is removed. Can you please help with that? I've tried at Teahouse too (here), with no luck yet. Thank you! Arminden (talk) 03:33, 27 April 2021 (UTC)

Teahouse talkback: you've got messages!

Hello, Arminden. Your question has been answered at the Teahouse Q&A board. Feel free to reply there!
Please note that all old questions are archived after 2-3 days of inactivity. Message added by Lightbluerain❄ (Talk. (You can remove this notice at any time by removing the {{teahouse talkback}} template).

Your Opinion

There is a discussion on Talk:Revelry of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai which I think you may be interested in seeing.Davidbena (talk) 12:11, 3 May 2021 (UTC)

@Davidbena: hi. Thanks, let's see, I wonder if I actually do have an opinion on it :) Arminden (talk) 12:27, 3 May 2021 (UTC)

Rabat (disambiguation)

Hi Armiden, I appreciate all of the hard work that you have put into understanding the etymology and usage of Rabat (and related words), but the fact remains that DAB pages are simply navigation pages for existing information, Like the index of a book, DAB pages shouldn't contain content that isn't first presented in an article. If you're too busy to write articles, you could edit the Rabat/rabat Wiktionary pages and direct readers there until an article is written. In the meantime, I've added a link to Arabat Fortress which includes the word origin. Leschnei (talk) 12:21, 5 May 2021 (UTC)

Hi Leschnei. It might be a good idea, I have never edited on Wiktionary. I'm not so fond of it, maybe that's why. Not sure users like to click around either. Anyway, you hit the nail on its head, but probably not from the direction you intended: "like the index of a book" - well, the book (WP article) isn't there yet, but the DAB page is, and there is no divine law that says ""Thou shall never put information on the DAB page!" So spake He, listened to His own words, and found them good and unshakable." I can't understand for the life of me what bothers you when you see half a line of useful info at the head of the DAB page. It's beyond me. WP isn't an obstacle race where one has to navigate the holy gates, strangled by a straitjacket. It never was intended to work like that, nor does it make any sense to approach it like this. The WP guidelines explicitly stress it: make WP better for the user, and all the rest is secondary. We make the guidelines, not the other way 'round. Rules are something else: don't vandalise, respect your fellow editors, don't be sloppy and disruptive. But that's common sense. An encyclopedia is about offering information in the most useful and user-friendly way possible. That requires study, understanding, synthesis, and bringing it over in a concise & articulate way. The rest is chess, slalom, yo-yo, and other unrelated sports & games. But so what, crusades & Don Quixote are out of fashion. Even in mathematics, one can solve a problem in an elegant way, win the olympiad and be called a mathematician; or learn by heart the algorithm taught by Miss Teacher and pass the test with 100 points, and that's that. We can all learn from each other, mainly how to make the articles better for the user. Respecting every obscure guideline - no, I don't see the benefit. Have a great day, Arminden (talk) 13:15, 5 May 2021 (UTC) PS: I don't know yet how the root r-b-t first gave the meanings "great" (see title of goddess in Ugarit), then the meaning "royal city" or "capital", "fortified city" (see Rabbat Amon/Moab), and later in Arabic "suburb". Or maybe it's r-b-b-t and r-b-t, which fully disconnects the two? I can of course see a possible logical chain of steps, but that's not knowing, and I couldn't find the missing links in online sources. That's something essential and still missing in the article. Popular etymologies are dangerous, as are poor sources. If you found something reliable on that, I would more than welcome it. Don't want to feel like I'm just collecting material, like those poor devils posting thousands of Iranian hamlets and clogging English WP with an avalanche of useless stubs. On the other hand, one learns how many places there are named after ribats and qalats, so maybe it's not totally useless. Cheers, Arminden (talk) 13:26, 5 May 2021 (UTC)

Reality check: de jure vs. de facto

Note to myself: see here for my view on this topic. Arminden (talk) 09:31, 8 May 2021 (UTC)

Edit summaries

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Please use the edit summary to explain your reasoning for the edit, or a summary of what the edit changes. With a Wikipedia account you can give yourself a reminder to add an edit summary by setting Preferences → Editing → Prompt me when entering a blank edit summary. Thanks! EpicPupper (talk) 22:38, 16 May 2021 (UTC)

May 2021

This is a standard message to notify contributors about an administrative ruling in effect. It does not imply that there are any issues with your contributions to date.

You have shown interest in the Arab–Israeli conflict. Due to past disruption in this topic area, a more stringent set of rules called discretionary sanctions is in effect. Any administrator may impose sanctions on editors who do not strictly follow Wikipedia's policies, or the page-specific restrictions, when making edits related to the topic.

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Template:Z33 EpicPupper (talk) 18:02, 20 May 2021 (UTC)

Al-Auja

You got your deletion.©Geni (talk) 22:30, 23 May 2021 (UTC)

Geni, thank you! Arminden (talk) 07:33, 24 May 2021 (UTC)

I'm impressed by your writing. It has this 'ethos', nay 'pathos' to it. It is certainly concise, direct, eloquent.

I agree with many things you write. They bring up strong empathies and sympathies in my mind. I just wanted to say that I completely agreed with you when you wrote "I hated "Schindler's List" because of its shallowness...," and the remainder of your paragraph there. It was all a good read for me. Thanks, warshy ^(¥¥) 18:16, 28 May 2021 (UTC)

warshy, thank you, I'm just conscious that Wikipedia isn't the place to let it out. Nishidani is an exception in several ways, but with others I've lost any semblance of coolness, and probably civility too. I need to move on. There's a way people tend to play and tease with what's not really their right to do so. There is so much to do about tribal blindness among Israelis, Palestinians, and the rest of the Middle East. Pushing the one or the other into the corner, siding with whoever touches the strings of one's soul without understanding that it's not about applauding during a theatre play, but about life and death in the end, that does upset me and I'm letting it out in words, because there are no deeds at my disposal. You can try to educate and open eyes, but fully delegitimising "the other" is both mean – and stupid, because it's counterproductive. Pretending that placing the depopulated former Palestinian village in the lead of every article about any Israeli town or village, and posting an old map with the Arab names more prominently than any picture or information about the Israeli place as such, is the exact mirror image of Israelis obliterating and ignoring any memory of Arab presence. That's not how it's done. Inform and educate, most definitely; but people on all sides need to be allowed to live in a decent way, and you don't ever reach that by calling everybody a thief and erasing their pride in anything they've achieved. I'm wishing everybody well, and while contact is good and a must, as it opens one's eyes, a healthy distance should be possible for those who really don't belong together. But I'm back to writing while I was trying do do something else too. Still, I'm happy you wrote, and your discrete presence in the background has been encouraging and brought up a smile every time you've tapped me. Take care Warshy. Arminden (talk) 19:15, 28 May 2021 (UTC)

I agree. The most baffling part of it for me is that there seems to be no viable solution, no solution at all, actually. But your writing does help make the problem more acute, more sensible, all around. In the absence of better hope, that is at least something... You take care too, and I hope you do get soon to all the other stuff you need to do, besides writing. Thanks, warshy ^(¥¥) 19:31, 28 May 2021 (UTC)

Templates documentation

Regrets for not answering sooner - a few distractions in play the past while. However, in general you can (usually) get some documentation for a template by looking at its template page (usually Template: followed by the template name)- Thus {{COI}} (or Template:COI) includes the description on the purpose and usage of the Conflict of Interest banner. Same goes with other templates you may be interested in e.g. {{No footnotes}}. Some are visible banners, often requests for cleanup or action; others are ongoing markers rather than cleanup, such as {{EngvarB}}. Hope this leads to the info you are interested in. Dl2000 (talk) 20:45, 2 June 2021 (UTC)

@Dl2000: hi. Thank you very much for writing back, but could it be that there's some confusion at play? I had asked about the meaning and benefit of placing "use my dates" above an articleTemplate:use my dates doesn't seem to lead anywhere. . I'm technically not well-versed, nor very interested, but I saw it so many times and don't know anything about it. Sorry... Arminden (talk) 20:58, 2 June 2021 (UTC)

hi

Please see Talk:Kfar Ahim#RfC: Arab vs. Palestinian?, and undo this; thanks, Huldra (talk) 23:02, 3 June 2021 (UTC)

I don't care about those tonnes of blabla. I won't revert whatever you do. Enjoy your crusade. Arminden (talk) 23:15, 3 June 2021 (UTC)