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No hyphen after -ly

A hyphen is not used after a standard -ly adverb (a newly available home, a wholly owned subsidiary).

Merry Christmas

And a Happy New Year. Thanks, Dicklyon, for all you do around Wikipedia. I hope your holiday season is a joyous one and the coming year brings many days of happiness and wonder. _{(By the way, if you don't celebrate Christmas then please take it as a Happy Hanukkah, Merry Makar Sankranti, Enlightening Bodhi Day, Merry Yule, Happy Tenno no tanjobi, or fill in whatever holiday is your preference.)} Zaereth (talk) 00:50, 23 December 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Hello, in caps?

Hi, and Happy New Year. On the upper-case thing, no, I'm not saying 'chess' and others should be capitalized, and have explained on the RfC page. The RfC was started after a closer closed that Morris thing, and SMc didn't like that. SMc has stated that he does want to lower-case chess moves, and things like The Open Championship, and my concern is that the RfC language is so open-ended that it would allow him to change those kind of things. He did, happily, add a section clarifying that it would not change or lower-case chess moves only after I pointed out that his open-ended RfC language would give him that right. So please have another look at my language. Thanks. Randy Kryn (talk) 11:32, 2 January 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Obviously "that Morris thing" should have been relisted, not closed. So he's working on fixing that mess. I found your response confusing. Dicklyon (talk) 07:46, 4 January 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Just got to this. Your reading of it seems fair, I hope I've cleared it up at the RfC and above in this section. I came by now because I noticed your large edit at the Manual, about the s's question. I didn't see the discussion where it was brought up and decided, there are so many nooks and crannies here that things get decided somewhere and suddenly everything's affected. But this one is very humorous to me, and I wanted to see if you find the humor in it as well. It seems, from looking at your edit, that after a long discussion somewhere the consensus was to "wing it". That if you need to write "Jesus's house", instead maybe word it "house of Jesus" or something. So from now instead of reading, say, "Sheri Lewis's aunt attended Jerry Lewis's Vegas show" it will be "the aunt of Sheri Lewis attended the Vegas show of Jerry Lewis." Sounds like a butler announcing guests at a fancy ball. As an uninvolved observer I find that result amusing. Randy Kryn (talk) 03:03, 8 January 2018 (UTC)[reply]

You can find the discussion within WP:VPPOL. I hope people don't fell that "Lewis's" is so hard to pronounce that they'll resort to such machinations. Dicklyon (talk) 03:25, 8 January 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Jeez, I didn't know you put that one up. I don't follow the page close enough to know everything going on at it. So, I guess that answers my question of if you find it humorous (shuffles feet, extends collar). In apology let me suggest you look at the n-grams on the Mid-Atlantic states question, and the other pages mentioned, which should get a lower-cased result. As I looked at a few of them I typed in 'Southern States' and 'Southern states' as well, and got this fascinating result, an interesting historical-tale-performed-in-curved-lines looking at the years when the capitalization began rising, reached its peak, and then declined (although I just checked and it's the same pattern for Northern States, Western States, etc.) Randy Kryn (talk) 03:57, 8 January 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Integrated Circuits

I note your reversion of my edits on this article, and strongly ask you to reconsider. Wikipedia is for general audiences, not only those already familiar with computer design. My edit was to replace not only the IC abbreviations in the article, but as many jargon abbreviations as I thought were necessary, and make other minor copy edits. (I'm on the Wikipedia Typo Team and landed on the page because of a duplicate 'to', and then noticed that AMD appeared without saying that it stood for Advanced Micro Devices.) The article is full of jargon, which like medical and scientific articles, is extremely off-putting to anybody unfamiliar with it, probably more than 99% of potential readers. Although it's not in any of Wikipedia's policies, I feel articles should be understandable and readable to smart 10 year olds and 80 year olds. I concede that it's very difficult to write a good article on this type of subject because of its inherent technical nature, but it's even harder to understand it when not well-written. It's not enough to mention a term once and then keep on using abbreviations. Moreover, some of the abbreviations were used only once, making them unnecessary. Addition of technical abbreviations when words work just ask well makes understanding the article much more difficult. Your comment that IC 'the common term' term is correct only within the world of computer design. The 99% who don't have an education in this area don't know what IC or any of the other abbreviations mean, and I cannot imagine them lasting until the end of the page.

Ira Leviton (talk) 01:53, 7 January 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Ira

Ira, I'm looking at your similar edits at Cogeneration. These initialisms aren't there with the expectation that readers will know what they mean; they are defined and then used as shortcuts, because the full term is no less familiar, and usually no more useful, to the average reader. I doubt that there's anyone who doesn't know the term IC yet can understand what "integrated circuit" means; IC is the better handle for a chip. Anyway, my revert was about the IC; I didn't really notice the other changes. Let me know if you'd like me to put those back, or go ahead yourself. Dicklyon (talk) 03:39, 7 January 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Understood. I'll try to put the other changed back (those besides "integrated circuit" and its variations) in the next day.

Ira

Ira Leviton (talk) 02:01, 9 January 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Please comment on Talk:Elizabeth II

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Hyphen-minus

Regarding this:

It is fine for you to say that it is not generally true (I did, after all, not provide a reference—it was late, and I didn't have the energy to go through a series of books to find one with an appropriate example). I just wanted to provide a short explanation as to why I selected the example I did: I was originally going to do something like 12 January – 23 August 2012, but opted for one with a space on only one side to illustrate that it is not the case that both sides need to be spaced.

Hope this clears things up—I will look for a reference later today, and add this to the page if it seems to support what I added.

Thanks, –Sb 2001 16:16, 12 January 2018 (UTC)[reply]

But your example had just two days within a month (20–23 March or some such), which would definitely not need the spaces, since it's just a number range. Dicklyon (talk) 04:24, 13 January 2018 (UTC)[reply]

River naming convention

OK, thanks, no worries. Now that I think of it, that makes more sense to readers.

Did we keep the rule about multiple streams with the same name feeding the same river using political subdivisions instead? There are a couple of instances of this in the Catskills, I think. Or elsewhere. Daniel Case (talk) 05:01, 13 January 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, that all stayed the same. Dicklyon (talk) 05:09, 13 January 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Please comment on Talk:Racial views of Donald Trump

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Shithole. Dicklyon (talk) 04:26, 20 January 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Recent move of Tacoma Dome Station

The word "Station" is part of the facility's name and is described as such in the System Signage Design Manual. Please do not make such moves without consulting the article's contributors. Sounder Bruce 04:14, 26 January 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for that reference. Interesting that it says Use the reference to “Station” only in Sounder street-level transit beacons, not on the platform or in signage for Link and ST Express facilities. Exceptions are King Street Station, Tacoma Dome Station and Union Station, where “Station” is part of the name of the facility. Dicklyon (talk) 04:33, 26 January 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Note that it only applies to facilities owned or leased by Sound Transit. Facilities owned by other entities can have "Station" in their proper name (e.g. Everett Station), and I expect you to honor that and not move the article. Sounder Bruce 05:24, 26 January 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Ah, yes, the Everett intermodal facility, which Amtrak calls Everett, Washington. I drove by it today. Dicklyon (talk) 05:08, 27 January 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Sorry about my misspelling there yesterday. Thanks for fixing it. Dicklyon (talk) 05:21, 27 January 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Please comment on Wikipedia:Village pump (policy)

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Re.:Possible COI and NPOV issues at Mecca Metro

Hello, Dicklyon. You have new messages at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Rapid transit.
Message added 04:02, 4 February 2018 (UTC). You can remove this notice at any time by removing the {{Talkback}} or {{Tb}} template.

Please comment on Talk:Seth MacFarlane

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Please comment on Talk:Dorothy Tarrant

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Please comment on Talk:Greek royal family

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Discussion about MOS:JOBTITLES

There is a discussion about whether to add clarifying text (shown in boldface ) to MOS:JOBTITLES at Wikipedia talk:Manual of Style/Capital letters#Clarification of "Titles of people" that you may be interested in. Sincerely, HopsonRoad (talk) 15:01, 26 February 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Dicklyon, you may be interested in an evolved suggestion regarding MOS:JOBTITLES that is receiving support/non-support at Wikipedia talk:Manual of Style/Capital letters#Alternative suggestion for comment. Cheers, HopsonRoad (talk) 17:28, 1 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Revert warring over capitalization

Unless you and Coffee are both looking for enforced vacations, I recommend you both knock it off immediately. — Malik Shabazz ^Talk/_Stalk 04:41, 27 February 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Sorry, what are you referring to? I know he reverted some of my case fixes, but I re-do any of them? I don't think so; but let me know if so. Dicklyon (talk) 06:19, 27 February 2018 (UTC)[reply]

You are a major league asshole. — MShabazz ^Talk/_Stalk 18:43, 24 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]

@MShabazz: perhaps an example of an edit you disagree with, followed by a brief and constructive criticism, would be more helpful than an ad hominem attack. Certes (talk) 19:28, 24 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Sorry, Certes, what are you referring to? — Malik Shabazz ^Talk/_Stalk 20:20, 24 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Danish stations

Hello again. Is there a list of station naming conventions by country? I think we've got rid of "Railway Station" but do we know which countries use "railway station", which use "station" and which use "Station"? I ask because I'm fixing redlinks and have reached Special:WhatLinksHere/Padborg station. These should be Padborg Station but, as Denmark has 90 stations and only 11 Stations, would it be better to move the page? If so then I can start a RM but perhaps you'd like to help as you have more experience of the right arguments to use. Other Danish Stations:

If you're happy to join in, I'll probably be back with similar lists for other countries later. Certes (talk) 17:02, 27 February 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, I'll be happy to help later. The first one might be proper name, but the rest (of the ones I've looked at) don't give much hint of that, so should be lowercased to follow MOS:CAPS, as all the station naming conventions that I'm aware of suggest. Dicklyon (talk) 20:39, 27 February 2018 (UTC)[reply]

OK, edited and moved those except the first, and the four for which a technical move request is pending. Dicklyon (talk) 05:35, 28 February 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you. I thought we might need an RM but if you feel they're uncontroversial enough to move without further discussion, that's fine with me. One day I'll get around to compiling a "station naming by country" essay but for now I think my priority is to finish the redlink hunt. Certes (talk) 12:10, 28 February 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Please comment on Talk:List of oldest living people

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SFMOMA Edit-a-Thon in San Francisco, March 8

You're invited to an Art+Feminism Edit-a-Thon at SFMOMA in San Francisco on Thursday March 8, 5-9 pm. It'll be at 151 Third Street, 2nd floor, free to the public. Everyone is welcome to participate in an evening of communal updating of Wikipedia entries on subjects related to gender, art, and feminism. (This message is from User:Dreamyshade. You can subscribe/unsubscribe to San Francisco event talk page notices here.)
MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 12:58, 4 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Please comment on Talk:Alina Zagitova

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Disambiguation link notification for March 11

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Please comment on Talk:Jorge I. Domínguez

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Advertising on userpage

"And now I'm an author; so buy my book if you're interested in Human and Machine Hearing." probably runs afoul of WP:USER#PROMO, and WP:SOAP among other things. Would you consider removing it? SQL ^{Query me!} 03:49, 28 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]

I'd consider it if there was a serious reason. Are you thinking this little line is "excessive" or "extensive" in the sense of WP:USER#PROMO? Dicklyon (talk) 04:23, 28 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]

You are clearly promoting/advertising your book. The "buy my book" line / link is over the top. SQL ^{Query me!} 04:32, 28 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Seems like an odd opinion, but I hear you. Dicklyon (talk) 04:39, 28 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Input from a talk-page stalker here - I don't see a problem with that link. If it was the only thing on the page, or Dicklyon was not a big contributor to the Wikipedia, such that the page was basically just free web hosting for promotional reasons, that would be one thing. But this link is just context for who the Wikipedian is, and their research interests, which is arguably even relevant to their Wikipedia work. — Amakuru (talk) 08:39, 28 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Second stalker here (only when I see an interesting edit summary). I agree with Amakuru, Dicklyon's mention of his off-site work is actually Wikipedia-related In terms of interests and contributions to the project. When he starts loading up youtube vids of his parties, pets, or of himself tearing down upper-case lettering from train stations, then we can worry. Randy Kryn (talk) 08:53, 28 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Third stalker here: it doesn't look excessive and seems free of puffery; I don't see the problem either. ~ Tom.Reding (talk ⋅dgaf) 11:16, 28 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Do you know, personally, the six reviewers? —SmokeyJoe (talk) 11:29, 28 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]

I do know the first three of them, including one I just met last summer and two long-time friends/colleagues. Dicklyon (talk) 15:00, 28 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Probably I should have linked my book blog instead, for more context and to make it apparent that I'm also offering a complete free online version to anyone who wants; and it acknowledges my friends who kindly wrote early reviews on Amazon. Dicklyon (talk) 15:04, 28 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Userpage leeway is in proportion the user's contributions. This book link is well within reasonable leeway. --SmokeyJoe (talk) 22:52, 28 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Please comment on Talk:Bergen County Executive

The feedback request service is asking for participation in this request for comment on Talk:Bergen County Executive. Legobot (talk) 04:23, 29 March 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Your opinion on a move request

Care to weigh in on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Expeditionary_Strike_Group#Requested_move_30_March_2018? You previously made some good comments on it, before the "voting" started. Thanks! Holy (talk) 17:46, 2 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Did that two days ago; my support follows the wolf child's oppose. Dicklyon (talk) 20:32, 2 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Please comment on Talk:Donald Trump

The feedback request service is asking for participation in this request for comment on Talk:Donald Trump. Legobot (talk) 04:23, 6 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]

N-dashes in article titles

I can't find anything in WP:TITLE or MOS:NDASH about spacing an en-dash in titles such as Cedar–University station (or should it be Cedar – University station?) There doesn't seem to be any ambiguity when there are spaces in the name parts (such as East 9th – North Coast station). Since you are well-versed on these minutia, I'd appreciate your input (specifically with regards to Category:RTA Rapid Transit stations). Useddenim (talk) 14:26, 7 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Actually, no, neither should be spaced according to MOS:DASH. See "Use an en dash for the names of two or more entities in an attributive compound." and "Do not use spaces around en dash in any of the compounds above." Dicklyon (talk) 22:47, 7 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Cards84664 has graciously undertaken to revert his spacing moves. Dicklyon (talk) 00:00, 8 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for checking. Useddenim (talk) 02:13, 8 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Please comment on Talk:Mark Weisbrot

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You were wondering why

some material removed, and that you restored, to Sand Creek massacre was "fake news." In the USA these days anything that a person does not wish to acknowledge as being true is, by definition, "fake news." I hope that helps. Einar aka Carptrash (talk) 18:15, 21 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Please comment on Talk:Naomi Wu

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which cite?

Would you clarify which "ridiculously flaky cite" you were referring to in this comment? —Quondum 20:00, 27 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]

I was referring to this master's thesis referenced in Level (logarithmic quantity), which has a footnote that says "The level of a root-power quantity LF is a logarithmic root-power quantity..." and such mealy-mouthed explanation. Dicklyon (talk) 03:11, 28 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Ah, thanks. For a moment, I thought you might be referring to a standard (standards are not infallible). The wording you quote is unfortunate, and yes, this reference is maybe not what to be what we should be using in this context. —Quondum 14:17, 30 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Disambiguation link notification for April 29

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Please comment on Talk:Jacques Goulet

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Proposed capitalization project

OK to contact me via any communication channel on any aspect of such a project. Happy editing! Chris the speller ^yack 21:19, 3 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]

I emailed you before; did you get that? Dicklyon (talk) 00:21, 4 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Yep. Chris the speller ^yack 22:11, 11 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Logarithm article

I apologize for my own unfounded assumption that you were also reverting my edits. I now see that you did not. But the point about careful reverting stands. (Your caption was also a victim of a careless revert!) Alsosaid1987 (talk) 03:41, 5 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Manchester Small-Scale Experimental Machine

Eric's template is up for debate, but I can't see any reason you can't wait for the discussion to conclude before removing the templates. As far as the optional spaces in markup: Why in the world is that worth edit warring over? Further edit warring, especially before the template discussion is closed, will prompt me to file an EW noticeboard report. --Laser brain (talk) 11:25, 8 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]

It's actually explicitly noted that templates are not removed prior to some consensus for such (see WP:TFD#Discussion). You should stop, Dick. --Izno (talk) 12:31, 8 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]

The disagreements there are about Eric trying to have his idiosyncratic way and refusing to discuss sensibly after being reverted. The arguments predate the TFD, and don't depend on whether the template is deleted or kept. But I'll wait. Dicklyon (talk) 13:58, 8 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]

He explained why he did as he did—how is that "refusing to discuss"? Your definition of "sensible" seems to be "aligned with my thinking", which is untenable. You and he have a disagreement and from my perspective, you are needlessly antagonizing him. I advise you to use the appropriate dispute resolution channels. I have no position on the markup quibbles, but I'd like to avoid disruptive edit wars on Featured articles. --Laser brain (talk) 14:22, 8 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Did you read what he said? Mostly just telling me I was pissing him off, that I should write my own article to mess with, that he's not going to discuss anything with me ever again, etc. Not sensible, just wanting to have it in his idiosyncratic way. Very reminiscent is his earlier "discussion" about the title issue. He never did acknowledge the spacing/retain issue either. But I'm holding off for now. Dicklyon (talk) 14:33, 8 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Yes I did read what he said. I'm just saying I'd like to see it worked out through a sane process and not via edit warring. I don't recall any interactions I've had with you in the past but I find your approach to be needlessly confrontational. --Laser brain (talk) 16:08, 8 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]

When the "D" part of WP:BRD starts with edit summaries "I am getting really pissed off with you Dicklyon" and "what on earth do you think you're doing?", you accuse me of being the needlessly confrontational one? I'll have to mull that over... Dicklyon (talk) 20:47, 8 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]

@Laser brain: on the RETAIN dispute, on the spaces he took out here under an unrelated edit summary, can I go ahead and put those back to the longstanding stable version that has spaces between the equals and the text? The MOS says "Spaces around the Title (e.g. == Title ==) are optional and ignored" and discourages changing optional things like Eric has done here. It's in no way related to the pending TFD. Dicklyon (talk) 04:44, 9 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]

A stalker writes: A perfect editor might have left those optional spaces alone but, as Eric was already editing the page already for another reason, removing them was harmless. After the first edit the page is not broken, so reverting doesn't improve it and we shouldn't trouble ourselves and the servers just to undo the change. I agree that it's not worth arguing over when we could be fixing things that everyone agrees are wrong. Certes (talk) 07:29, 9 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Camera (conventional) listed at Redirects for discussion

An editor has asked for a discussion to address the redirect Camera (conventional). Since you had some involvement with the Camera (conventional) redirect, you might want to participate in the redirect discussion if you have not already done so. Steel1943 (talk) 18:55, 9 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Please comment on Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Film

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Task request

Dear Portals Project WikiGnome,

There are a number of portals missing from the main list at Portal:Contents/Portals.

The missing ones are on a list at Portal talk:Contents/Portals#These are not listed yet.

Please place one or as many as you have time for on the main list. Instructions are included with the list of missing entries.

Thank you. — The Transhumanist 08:31, 15 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Portals WikiProject update, 15 May 2018

We are at 74 members. If you know anyone who might find this WikiProject interesting, please invite them.

The RfC has ended

The RfC was closed May 11th, and a closing statement was posted May 12th which says "There exists a strong consensus against deleting or even deprecating portals at this time."

Ongoing tasks

Some major activities that we are in the middle of include:

Adding the missing existing portals to the main portals list at Portal:Contents/Portals. Instructions are on the talk page. There are about 125 portals left to be processed. (There were 400). Keep up the good work!
Development discussions on how to migrate the subpages to the base pages. There are around 150,000 subpages in portal space, associated with the various sections on a typical portal. We are trying to obsolete them section type by section type. Currently, we're working on obsoleting the intro subpages and the "selected articles" subpages. Please join in.

Other tasks

The list of portals not ready to be listed on the main list can be found at Wikipedia:WikiProject Portals#These are not listed yet (scroll down to see them - they are marked Not ready). They are incomplete. If you want a specific portal to work on, please consider choosing one from that list.
Over the years, some incomplete portals (portals under construction) got added to Portal:Contents/Portals. Therefore, every portal listed there needs to be inspected, and any that are incomplete should be removed from that list and added to the not ready list at Wikipedia:WikiProject Portals#These are not listed yet (scroll down to see it). On Portal:Contents/Portals, I'm already almost done inspecting the portals in the culture section, and so you can skip those. The types of things to look for are empty sections (most will have a redlinked subpage), lack of "selected" sections, portal stubs with just an intro and end sections, and very poor layout (like seriously unbalanced columns).

Portal-building resources

During his work on portals, Broter found a quote randomizer. It is {{Random quotation}}.

Trailblazer: approaching the one-page portal

Broter has transformed the Portal:Community of Christ so it is comprised of only 3 pages in portal space: the base page, its box-header subpage, and its box-footer subpage. Its other other subpages are now obsolete and are waiting for deletion. Nice job, Broter!

Well, that's all for now. See ya around the portals. — The Transhumanist 06:38, 16 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Please comment on Talk:Cameron Kasky

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Bay Area WikiSalon invitation!

Please join us in downtown San Francisco!

Periodically, on the last Wednesday evening of the month, wiki enthusiasts gather at Bay Area WikiSalon to munch, mingle, and learn about new projects and ideas.

We allow time for announcements, informal conversation and working on articles. Newcomers and experienced wiki users are encouraged to attend. Bring a friend! Free Wi-Fi is available so bring your editing devices. This months focus is images!

We will have beverages (including beer and wine) plus light snacks (maybe pizza too!).

For further details and to RSVP, please see: Wikipedia:Bay Area WikiSalon, May 2018 (note: we are meeting at the new WMF HQ at 120 Kearny Street!)

See you soon! Ben Creasy, Nikikana, Stephen, and Wayne | (Subscribe/Unsubscribe to this talk page notice here) | MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 19:22, 21 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Portals WikiProject update, 25 May 2018

We have grown to 79 members.

Please provide a warm welcome to our latest additions, Wpgbrown, Cactus.man, JLJ001, and Wumbolo.

A lot is going on, much of it on the WikiProject's talk page, so be sure to go there and join in on any of the many discussions taking place there.

Elsewhere around the portal project, or related to portals, the following is happening...

New news template ready for testing

Evad37 has created a new template, with supporting lua module, to handle news in portals...

{{Transclude selected current events}} is ready to be tested in some actual portals. Let Evad37 know if you need help with the search patterns.

Noyster commented that "This is the best portal innovation since sliced bread!"

See the relevant discussion at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Portals#Alternative to Wikinews.

Thank you, Evad.

Coming soon: Automatic article alerts (but there is a glitch)

Our WikiProject is now subscribed to the bot that makes automatic article alerts, but the subpage where they are posted has not been added to our WikiProject page yet because of a weird problem...

Featured portal nominations from two years ago keep popping up on there.

Please check Wikipedia:WikiProject Portals/Article alerts to see if you can figure out how to fix this.

Once that is remedied, it will be posted on our WikiProject page.

Thank you.

Note that, this will only track base pages, because to track the rest, we'd have to create over 140,000 talk pages for the subpages, and that just isn't worthwhile (as we're trying to remove the subpages anyways). Therefore, any alerts for subpages will still need to be posted manually.

New portal, still needs work

Portal:Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, courtesy of Mozart834428196. See also, the discussion.

Drafting a new portals guideline

Your input/editing is welcome on the draft-in-progress of a new guideline for portals.

See or work on the draft at User:Cesdeva/sandbox11.

See also the discussion at: Wikipedia talk:Portal guidelines#RfC on new portal guidelines

RfC on new TOC layout for main portal list

There is a proposal to change the look of the table of contents at Portal:Contents/Portals.

See: Portal talk:Contents/Portals#RFC on layout update.

Deletion discussion survivors

Thank you to those who have participated in portal deletion discussions. There are still some editors out there who despise portals, and this comes across in their argumentation style. Wow. Such negativity. But, there is some good news...

Portal:Quidditch survived its 2nd deletion nomination
Portal:Prehistory of Antarctica did the same

Current deletion discussions are posted on our WikiProject page.

Portal space clean up

While portal detractors are trying to get rid of portals via MfD, we have deleted many of them via speedy deletion (per {{Db-p1}} or {{Db-p2}}). Essentially, they were bare skeletons, with maybe a little meat on them. The plus here is that speedy deletion is without prejudice to re-creating the portals. They can easily be restarted from scratch without getting approval, or be undeleted by request by someone willing to work on them. We have kept track of these, for when someone wants to rebuild them. They are listed at Portal talk:Contents/Portals#These are not listed yet.

We are also removing subpages, the functions of which have been migrated to portal base pages. To see which ones have been removed, look for the redlinks in our watchlist.

There is also an MfD concerning some of these at Wikipedia:Miscellany for deletion/Redundant subpages of the Cornwall portal.

For subpages that need to be deleted, you can conveniently place this speedy deletion template at the top of each of them:

{{Db-g6|rationale=of subpage clean up – this subpage's function has been migrated to the portal base page and is no longer needed}}

Then an admin will come along and delete them.

Please help list the unlisted portals!

There are still 100 existing portals not yet presented on the main portal list at Portal:Contents/Portals. There were 400, so we've come a long way. Thank you! But we are not done yet...

Please list a couple of them. Every little bit helps. If each member of this project listed one more, it would almost all be done. Many hands make light work.

The list of missings, and instructions, are to be found at Portal talk:Contents/Portals#These are not listed yet.

I hope to see you there!

Wrapping up

These developments make up just the tip of the iceberg. I'll have more to report in the next update, soon. — The Transhumanist 00:31, 25 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Whoa, I missed one...

There's an article about the Portals WikiProject in the new issue of Signpost:

Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/2018-05-24/WikiProject report

Enjoy.

P.S.: We now have 80 members. Evad37 just joined! — The Transhumanist 01:36, 25 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]

UPDATE! Bay Area WikiSalon moved to June 6!

Please join us in downtown San Francisco!

Our apologies, but we are rescheduling to Wednesday, June 6 at 6:00 p.m. due to a WMF host scheduling conflict.

For further details and to RSVP, please see: Wikipedia:Bay Area WikiSalon, June 2018 (note: we are meeting at the new WMF HQ at 120 Kearny Street!)

See you soon! Niki, Ben, Stephen, and Wayne | (Subscribe/Unsubscribe to this talk page notice here) | MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 03:38, 25 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Please comment on Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Sports

The feedback request service is asking for participation in this request for comment on Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Sports. Legobot (talk) 04:23, 26 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Questions at talk:photon

Hello. I note that you've contributed to the photon article: Heisenberg and the quantum. I've posted a couple of questions to talk:photon and I thought you might be help out. Thanks. Attic Salt (talk) 14:50, 26 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]

UK Railways

See a discussion which is developing in User talk:Anthony Appleyard#Recent "uncontroversial" page moves. Anthony Appleyard (talk) 05:52, 27 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]

WikiGnome task...

See Wikipedia:WikiProject Portals#Add a missing Associated Wikimedia section

Even a single edit will help.

Thank you, — The Transhumanist 21:27, 28 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Portals WikiProject update #007, 31 May 2018

We have grown to 89 members.

This is the seventh issue of this newsletter. For previous issues, see our newsletter archive.

Welcome

A warm welcome to our nearly one dozen new members...

Our new members include:

Be sure to say "hi" and welcome them to the team.

The portal set has shrunk

There were 1515 portals, but now we have 1475, because we speedy deleted a bunch of incompleted portals that had been sitting around for ages, that were empty shells or had very little content. Because they were speedied, they can be rebuilt from scratch without acquiring approval from WP:DRV.

Maintenance runs on the portals set have begun

This is what we have been gearing up for: upgrading the portals en masse, using AWB.

More than half of the Associated Wikimedia sections have been converted to no longer use a subpage. This chore will probably be completed over the next week or two. Many thanks to the WikiGnome Squad, who have added an Associated Wikimedia section to the many geography-related portals that lacked one. The rest of the subjects await. :)

The next maintenance drive will be on the intro sections. Notices have gone out to the WikiProjects for which one or more portals fall within their subject scope. Once enough time has elapsed for them to respond (1 week), AWB processing of intro sections will begin.

Thank you, you

I'd like to take this opportunity to thank you all for your part in the RfC. I went back and reread much of it. I believe your enthusiasm played a major part in turning the tide on there. I'm proud of all of you.

Why reread that mess, you ask?

To harvest ideas, and to keep the problems that need to be fixed firmly in mind. But, also to keep in touch. See below...

Thank yous all around

I've contacted all of the other opposers of the RfC proposal to delete portals, to thank them for their support, and to assure them that their decision was not made in vain. I updated them on our activities, provided the link to the interviews about this project in the Signpost, pointed out our newsletter archive so they can keep up-to-date with what we are doing, and I invited them all to come and have a look-see at our operations (on our talk page).

Sockpuppet, and reverting his work

It so happened that one of our members was a sockpuppet: JLJ001. According to the admin who blocked him, he was a particularly tricky long term abuser. This is a weird situation, since the user was quite helpful. He will be missed.

This has been somewhat disruptive, because admins are doing routine deletions of the pages (portals, templates, etc.) he created, and reversion of his edits (I don't know if they will be reverting all of them). Please bear with them, as they are only doing what is best in the long run.

The following pages have been deleted by the admins so far, that I know of:

Automation so far, section by section...

Intro – {{Transclude lead excerpt}}
Selected article – {{Transclude random excerpt}}
In the news – {{Transclude selected current events}}
Associated Wikimedia – {{Wikimedia for portals|species=no|voy=no}}
Categories – {{#tag:categorytree|{{PAGENAME}}}}

Automatic article alerts is up and running

Automatic article alerts are now featured on the project page.

Some super out-of-date entries kept showing up on there, so posting it on the Project page was delayed. Thanks to Evad37 and AfroThundr for providing solutions on this one. Evad37 adjusted the workflow settings per Wikipedia:Article alerts/Subscribing#Choosing workflows, to make sure only the appropriate page types show up. AfroThundr removed the tags from the old entries that caused them to keep showing up in the article alerts.

Other things that could use some automation

Noyster pointed out that it would be nice to automate the updating of the portals section at the Community bulletin board.

Another major component of the portal system is the main list of portals, at Portal:Contents/Portals. How would we go about automating the updating of that?

Please post your ideas on the WikiProject's talk page. Thank you.

Deletion discussion survivors

Keep in mind that we have already speedy deleted almost all of the nearly empty portals, which can be rebuilt without approval whenever it is convenient to do so. Other portals should be completed if at all possible rather than delete them through MfD (which requires approval from Deletion review to rebuild).

Portal:Juanes – see the discussion

(Current deletion discussions are posted on our WikiProject page).

Portals needing repair

Portal:Toys

Wrapping up

There's still more, but it will have to wait until next issue.

Until then, see ya around the project. — The Transhumanist 12:00, 31 May 2018 (UTC)[reply]

“Open world” / “open-world”

Regarding your revision on Open world, both “open world” and “open-world” are used as nouns and adjectives.

“Open world game” and “Open-world game” are both used. The non-hyphenated version is the most common one. Interqwark ^{talk contribs} 03:22, 4 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]

See WP:HYPHEN. In wikipedia we prefer to use standard English punctuation in a way that helps the reader. Many sources don't. Do some really use the hyphen when it's not used as an adjective? Where? Dicklyon (talk) 03:31, 4 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Do some really use the hyphen when it's not used as an adjective?

You mean like “This game has an open-world”? Probably not. Interqwark ^{talk contribs} 03:33, 4 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Good, I would think not. For the adjective form of such compounds, the hyphen is generally treated as optionally, to be used to help the reader if there might be any confusion about how to parse the compound. In "open world game", is this a world game this is open? Or a game with an open world? The hyphen makes it clear. That's why we prefer to include such hyphens in Wikipedia. Dicklyon (talk) 03:50, 4 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]

It should be "This game has an open world" (not that we'd write that in actual encyclopedic prose) and "Morrowind is an open-world game". Most uses of the phrase are adjectival, at least in our prose, so the hyphen is going to be common, as in multi-player and single-player (when the former is not fully compounded as multiplayer). The fact that quasi-pro writers for the gaming press have a shitty grasp of hyphenation and other punctuation norms is not WP's problem, and it certainly doesn't force us to write like they do. @Interqwark: The essay WP:SSF is worth absorbing. The TL;DR version: Everything, pretty much, is subject to one kind of specialization or another (professional, fandom-based, or otherwise). In the vast majority of cases, specialists – when writing to and for other specialists – engage in various stylistic quirks for expediency and insider-signification purposes. The two most common are over-capitalization to emphasize Stuff We Think Is Super-Duper-Important, and dropping of various bits of punctuation they just don't feel like bothering with (i.e., they'll prefer "Super Duper Important" or "SuperDuperImportant"). Both habits wreck the intelligibility of the prose to people who are not deeply embedded in that speciality, which is going to be the vast majority of our readership, regardless what the particular topic is. — SMcCandlish ☏ ¢ 😼 20:34, 17 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Please comment on Wikipedia:Biographies of living persons/Noticeboard

The feedback request service is asking for participation in this request for comment on Wikipedia:Biographies of living persons/Noticeboard. Legobot (talk) 04:23, 4 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]

REMINDER: Bay Area WikiSalon is Wednesday, June 6

Please join us in downtown San Francisco!

When: Wednesday, June 6 at 6:00 p.m.

For details and to RSVP, please see: Wikipedia:Bay Area WikiSalon, June 2018 (note: we are meeting at the new WMF HQ at 120 Kearny Street!)

See you soon! Niki, Lodewijk, Ben, Stephen, and Wayne | (Subscribe/Unsubscribe to this talk page notice here) | MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 00:41, 5 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Portals WikiProject update #008, 7 June 2018

The WikiProject now has 92 participants, including 16 admins.

Welcome

A warm welcome to the newest members of the team:

Be sure to say hi.

Congrats

Pbsouthwood has just gotten through the grueling RfA process to become a Wikipedia administrator. Be sure to congratulate him.

The reason he went for it was: "For some time I expect to be busy with subpage deletion for Wikipedia:WikiProject Portals as mentioned above. The amount of work is expected to keep me busy for some time. I am primarly a content creator and contributor to policy discussions, but would be willing to consider other admin work on request, providing that I feel that my involvement would be appropriate and not too far outside my comfort zone."

New feature: Picture slideshow

Picture slideshow

Image 1State Capitol Building
Image 2US Bank Tower
Image 3Old Town Sacramento, the capital as it looked like in 19th century
Image 4Capitol Mall, seen from the Capitol
Image 5Sacramento Memorial Auditorium
Image 6Tower Bridge
Image 7Sacramento from near the Sacramento River
Image 8Pocket Sacramento Canal

Evad37 has figured out a way to let the user flip through pictures without purging the page. Purging is awkward because there is an intermediary confirmation screen that you have to click on "yes". In the new picture slideshow section, all you have to do is click on the > to go to the next picture or < to instantly show the previous feature. The feature also shuffles the pictures when the page is initiated, so that they are shown in a different order each time the user visits the page (or purges it).

It is featured in Portal:Sacramento, California. Check it out to the right.

Keep in mind that the feature is a beta version. Please share your comments on how to refine this feature, at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Portals#Refining the Picture slideshow.

The one-page portal has been achieved

We now have a one-page portal design. It isn't fully automated, nor is it even fully semi-automated, as there are still some manually filled-in areas. But it no longer requires any subpages in portal space, and that is a huge improvement. For example, Portal:Sacramento, California utilizes the one-page design concept. While is employs heavy use of templates, it does not have any subpages of its own.

I commend you for your teamwork

This is the most cooperative team I've ever seen. With a strong spirit of working together to get an important job done. Kudos to you.

In conclusion...

There's more. A lot more. But it will have to wait until next issue, but you don't have to wait. See what's going on at the WikiProject's talk page. — The Transhumanist 02:08, 7 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Disambiguation link notification for June 10

An automated process has detected that when you recently edited Ring counter, you added a link pointing to the disambiguation page Flip-flop (check to confirm | fix with Dab solver).

(Opt-out instructions.) --DPL bot (talk) 09:04, 10 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Please comment on Talk:InfoWars

The feedback request service is asking for participation in this request for comment on Talk:InfoWars. Legobot (talk) 04:23, 12 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]

WikiGnome task requests, from the Portals WikiProject

Here are some incremental tasks for you to consider. Do one, or many, as time allows. Every little bit helps...

Task #1

We're getting close to having the main portals list up-to-date, but we aren't quite there yet. There are about 75 portals not yet listed there.

Therefore the first task, of course, is to add as many of these as you can. They can be found at Portal talk:Contents/Portals#These are not listed yet. Instructions are there.

Task #2

The second task on this wish list is to convert one selected picture section to a picture slideshow section. The template to use for this is {{Random slideshow}}. Here are some examples of portals with a picture slideshow section: Portal:Bangladesh, Portal:Sacramento, California, Portal:Algae, and Portal:Reference works.

Note that selected picture sections display pictures from subpages (one subpage per pic), and that each picture would need to be listed in the {{Random slideshow}} template.

Tip: Some portals have only a single picture covered in the selected picture section. Replacing their selected picture sections with a slideshow would be easiest. Eight or more pictures make a decent slide show. Search for pictures at Wikimedia Commons.

Have fun! Sincerely, — The Transhumanist 09:52, 13 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Portals WikiProject update #009, 15 June 2018

(Article slideshow prototype)
Selected animals

Image 1
House mouse (Mus musculus)

A mouse (<abbr title="
'"`UNIQ--nowiki-0000000B-QINU`"'
">pl.: mice) is a small rodent. Characteristically, mice are known to have a pointed snout, small rounded ears, a body-length scaly tail, and a high breeding rate. The best known mouse species is the common house mouse (Mus musculus). Mice are also popular as pets. In some places, certain kinds of field mice are locally common. They are known to invade homes for food and shelter.

Mice are typically distinguished from rats by their size. Generally, when a muroid rodent is discovered, its common name includes the term mouse if it is smaller, or rat if it is larger. The common terms rat and mouse are not taxonomically specific. Typical mice are classified in the genus Mus, but the term mouse is not confined to members of Mus and can also apply to species from other genera such as the deer mouse (Peromyscus).

Domestic mice sold as pets often differ substantially in size from the common house mouse. This is attributable to breeding and different conditions in the wild. The best-known strain of mouse is the white lab mouse. It has more uniform traits that are appropriate to its use in research. (Full article...)
Image 2

The dog (Canis familiaris or Canis lupus familiaris) is a domesticated descendant of the wolf. Also called the domestic dog, it is derived from the extinct Pleistocene wolf; the gray wolf is the dog's closest living relative. The dog was the first species to be domesticated by humans. Experts estimate that hunter-gatherers domesticated dogs more than 15,000 years ago, which was before the development of agriculture. Due to their long association with humans, dogs have expanded to a large number of domestic individuals and gained the ability to thrive on a starch-rich diet that would be inadequate for other canids.

The dog has been selectively bred over millennia for various behaviors, sensory capabilities, and physical attributes. Dog breeds vary widely in shape, size, and color. They perform many roles for humans, such as hunting, herding, pulling loads, protection, assisting police and the military, companionship, therapy, and aiding disabled people. Over the millennia, dogs became uniquely adapted to human behavior, and the human–canine bond has been a topic of frequent study. This influence on human society has given them the sobriquet of "man's best friend". (Full article...)
Image 3

The cat (Felis catus), commonly referred to as the domestic cat or house cat, is a small domesticated carnivorous mammal. It is the only domesticated species of the family Felidae. Recent advances in archaeology and genetics have shown that the domestication of the cat occurred in the Near East around 7500 BC. It is commonly kept as a house pet and farm cat, but also ranges freely as a feral cat avoiding human contact. It is valued by humans for companionship and its ability to kill vermin. Its retractable claws are adapted to killing small prey like mice and rats. It has a strong, flexible body, quick reflexes, sharp teeth, and its night vision and sense of smell are well developed. It is a social species, but a solitary hunter and a crepuscular predator. Cat communication includes vocalizations like meowing, purring, trilling, hissing, growling, and grunting as well as cat body language. It can hear sounds too faint or too high in frequency for human ears, such as those made by small mammals. It secretes and perceives pheromones.

Female domestic cats can have kittens from spring to late autumn in temperate zones and throughout the year in equatorial regions, with litter sizes often ranging from two to five kittens. Domestic cats are bred and shown at events as registered pedigreed cats, a hobby known as cat fancy. Animal population control of cats may be achieved by spaying and neutering, but their proliferation and the abandonment of pets has resulted in large numbers of feral cats worldwide, contributing to the extinction of bird, mammal and reptile species.

the domestic cat was the second most popular pet in the United States, with 95.6 million cats owned and around 42 million households owning at least one cat. In the United Kingdom, 26% of adults have a cat, with an estimated population of 10.9 million pet cats there were an estimated 220 million owned and 480 million stray cats in the world. (Full article...)
Image 4

The horse (Equus ferus caballus) is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of Equus ferus. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature, close to Eohippus, into the large, single-toed animal of today. Humans began domesticating horses around 4000 BCE, and their domestication is believed to have been widespread by 3000 BCE. Horses in the subspecies caballus are domesticated, although some domesticated populations live in the wild as feral horses. These feral populations are not true wild horses, which are horses that never have been domesticated and historically linked to the megafauna category of species. There is an extensive, specialized vocabulary used to describe equine-related concepts, covering everything from anatomy to life stages, size, colors, markings, breeds, locomotion, and behavior.

Horses are adapted to run, allowing them to quickly escape predators, and possess a good sense of balance and a strong fight-or-flight response. Related to this need to flee from predators in the wild is an unusual trait: horses are able to sleep both standing up and lying down, with younger horses tending to sleep significantly more than adults. Female horses, called mares, carry their young for approximately 11 months and a young horse, called a foal, can stand and run shortly following birth. Most domesticated horses begin training under a saddle or in a harness between the ages of two and four. They reach full adult development by age five, and have an average lifespan of between 25 and 30 years.

Horse breeds are loosely divided into three categories based on general temperament: spirited "hot bloods" with speed and endurance; "cold bloods", such as draft horses and some ponies, suitable for slow, heavy work; and "warmbloods", developed from crosses between hot bloods and cold bloods, often focusing on creating breeds for specific riding purposes, particularly in Europe. There are more than 300 breeds of horse in the world today, developed for many different uses. (Full article...)

Don't mind that box to the right. We'll be talking about that later, below.

Almost done...

With the portals upgrades?

No. :)

What is almost done is the updating of the main list of portals!

There are 23 portals left to be listed.

Kudos to the WikiGnome Squadron, for spearheading this.

Once it is fully updated, we need to keep it up to date. When you complete a portal, remember to add it to Portal:Contents/Portals.

Concerning portal upgrades, we are working on those section-by-section...

Associated Wikimedia section conversion task complete

The Associated Wikimedia sections of the entire set of portals have been upgraded. These are now handled on each portal base page (bypassing the previously used corresponding subpages), using the {{Wikimedia for portals}} template rather than reiterated copied/pasted code.

So, to be more accurate on reporting upgrade progress, that's one section down (for the whole set of portals), with (about) nine sections to go. (Skipping curated portals, regarding custom content sections, of course).

Further section conversions (using AWB)

Work is underway on converting Portals' introduction sections, and the categories sections.

If you would like to help, see Wikipedia:WikiProject Portals#Upgrade introduction sections and Wikipedia:WikiProject Portals#AWB task: Convert category sections

Further section conversions (by hand)

Work has also started with converting selected picture sections to picture slideshow sections. See Wikipedia:WikiProject Portals#Install picture slideshows.

Quality rating system for portals under development

Currently, there is no quality rating for portals: in the Portals WikiProject box on each portals' talk page, it just says "Portal". But times are a changin'. Quality assessment is on the way, and you can help. See the discussion.

What's coming: excerpt slideshows

Evad37 has figured out a way to apply the picture slideshow feature to displaying article excerpts (now you can check out the provided box above). :) This allows us to bypass page purging to see the next selection, and you can even click through them rather quickly. Currently, the wikicode for doing this for article excerpts is a bit eye-boggling, and so we are looking into simplifying it. A streamlined version may be just around the corner.

Note that this is a prototype, not ready for widespread use. Click on the box in between the lesser than and greater than signs, to see what I mean. It was meant for pictures, and so the thumbnail feature doesn't apply to article prose very well. I've presented it even though it isn't ready, to show the direction portal development is heading. See the discussion.

Wow

I'm amazed at how rapidly portals are evolving. And we're still within a single generation of portal technological evolution. Imagine what they might be in 2 or 3 more generations of developments. Pretty soon, portals will be able to shake your hand. :) — The Transhumanist 11:03, 16 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]

FFT

Hi, Dicklyon. "Here fast modifies Fourier transform, not Mr. Fourier. Not a proper name. Dicklyon (talk) 6:59 pm, 15 June 2018, last Friday (2 days ago) (UTC−4)"

If I parsed this properly, you are stating that Fourier transform is not a proper name. True, but that's not the rule for capitalizing "fast". (In "tall Mr. Fourier", for which the first word does modify a proper name, that doesn't mean tall gets capitalized.)

The proper name here is a particular algorithm (class of them, actually). So it is the name of a particular person, place, or thing. This is the definition of a proper noun. So its entire name should be capitalized. Jmacwiki (talk) 14:32, 17 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]

The algorithm (Fourier transform) isn't a proper name, any more than Manx cat is a proper name. It's a common noun modified by a proper name serving as an adjectival modifier, in both cases. In the case of the longer construction (fast Fourier transform), fast Fourier is not a compound modifier but a chained pair of modifiers, as in "synchretic American cuisine" or "earlier Middle-earth fiction". — SMcCandlish ☏ ¢ 😼 20:26, 17 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]

J, you said in one of your edit summaries that "fast" isn't modifying "Mr. Fourier", so it's part of a proper name. My response was just pointing out the absurdity there. No matter, the real point is that sources use lowercase for fast Fourier transform, which is not an algorithm, but a class of algorithms. Even if it was just one algorithm, that wouldn't make it a proper names. Lots of algorithms are not capped. Dicklyon (talk) 03:56, 18 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Hi, Dicklyon. This algorithm is the name of a particular [person, place, or] thing. Is there any other definition of proper noun? (If people do not consistently capitalize the names of particular persons, places, or things, that is no reason to object when someone does. Of course, I've always felt that e.e.cummings shouldn't have been "allowed" to write his name that way, but that's just me. ;-)

However, I begin to see the confusion. Obviously, I admit that the FFT is actually a class of algorithms -- I'm the one who pointed that out, after all -- but it is nevertheless a very particular class of algorithms, ones that have a certain recursive structure based on trigonometric identities. Not just any algorithm that someone thinks is speedy enough is included in that class, and if someone (SMcC?) believes otherwise, this reflects a deep misunderstanding of what is special about this class.

With all due respect to SMcC, "fast" is not chained, and "Fourier transform" is certainly not an algorithm (though he is quite correct that FT is analogous to "Manx cat", not a proper noun). I have actually had the misfortune to need to code a slow Fourier transform. There are many classes of algorithms for the FT, and the FFT is one particular such class.

[BTW, sorry for the confusion about where to post. For some reason, it didn't occur to me that you would be looking on my talk page for my reply.] Jmacwiki (talk) 04:57, 20 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]

That reasoning just doesn't parse, sorry. "Fourier" is the proper name here. And if you don't understand the difference between a compound adjective and number of separate adjectives in series, then there's no point continuing this discussion. Actually, there isn't anyway. The first rule of MOS:CAPS (and WP:NCCAPS) is to not capitalize something on Wikipedia if the reliable sources do not consistently capitalize it in the real world, and they don't for "fast Fourier transform". — SMcCandlish ☏ ¢ 😼 09:02, 20 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]

You are right that we should go with the MOS. I withdraw the objection.

You are wrong that Fourier, being itself a proper noun, somehow makes this NOT a proper noun. ("New York" can't be a proper noun because "York" is a proper noun? Really??) Specifically, particular recursive algorithms based on wavelets (FWT), delay "z" (FZT), and cosines (FCT) have exactly the same status, and they aren't tied to anybody's name. They are very particular [persons, places, or] things. They are proper nouns, precisely as much as those for Mr. Fourier's transform. Though we won't capitalize them here. Jmacwiki (talk) 23:35, 22 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]

I think you attribute something to SMcCandlish that he didn't say. And fast wavelet transform, fast cosine transform, etc., are certainly not proper names. See usage. Dicklyon (talk) 05:12, 23 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, of course. My point is that "New York residents" isn't a proper noun just because "New York" is. And "FWT", etc. are capitalized as acronyms/initialisms simply by convention (with some exceptions like "laser" and "n/a"), not because "they are proper names". There is no 1:1 ratio between proper names and capitalized strings (this is even more obvious than it sounds; e.g. I live in the United States of America, not the United States Of America). — SMcCandlish ☏ ¢ 😼 09:20, 23 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]

We already agree about capitalization for this algorithm, based on MOS. And indeed it has nothing to do with capitalizing the initialisms I mentioned: They get capitalized, or not, based on different rules. However, being a proper name isn't about capitalization (though that's conventional in some languages, including English). It's about being the name of a particular person, place, or thing. "Fast wavelet transform" is certainly the name of a particular thing. Ergo, that's a proper name. That conclusion is not about usage (though capitalization certainly is), it's just about observing what the definition states. Jmacwiki (talk) 02:36, 24 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]

[sigh] This is the tired old Proper name (philosophy) versus Proper name (linguistics) confusion. The philosophical concept of proper naming has no connection to capitalization; under that definition, pretty much anything specific is a proper name, but that's not what we mean by the term when we're talking about how to style things. For this reason, I tend to use "proper noun (or proper-noun phrase)" for clarity, when I'm keeping in mind that people don't always remember or even know about the phil. vs. ling. distinction. It's a lot like the difference between Logorrhea (psychology) and Logorrhea (rhetoric); there's an old conceptual connection between them, but their meaning is radically different, and a fallacy of equivocation will arise if the distinction isn't maintained. — SMcCandlish ☏ ¢ 😼 03:24, 24 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]

WikiGnome task request, from WikiProject Portals

Hi.

Portal:Tamil civilization could sure use a picture slideshow. See instructions at Wikipedia:WikiProject Portals#Install picture slideshows.

Please add as many pictures as you have time for. Even adding a single picture helps.

Thank you. Cheers, — The Transhumanist 00:05, 18 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Please comment on Talk:Roseanne Barr

The feedback request service is asking for participation in this request for comment on Talk:Roseanne Barr. Legobot (talk) 04:23, 20 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Colossi post-war

I have responded on my talk page. --TedColes (talk) 16:38, 21 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Please comment on Talk:Jordan Peterson

The feedback request service is asking for participation in this request for comment on Talk:Jordan Peterson. Legobot (talk) 04:23, 28 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Portals WikiProject update #010, 30 June 2018

We've grown to 94 participants.

A warm welcome to dcljr and Kpgjhpjm.

Rating system for portals

We are in the process of developing a rating system specifically for portals, as the quality assessment scheme for articles does not apply to portals. It is coming along nicely. Your input would be very helpful. See the discussion at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Portals/General#Proposed new quality class assessments.

Better than a barnstar

One of our participants got involved with this WikiProject through interest in how the new generation of portals would be handled in WP's MOS (Manual of Style). It didn't take long before he got sucked in deeper. This has given him an opportunity to look around, and so, he has made an assessment of this WikiProject's operations:

I'm quite frankly really impressed and inspired by what's happening here. If you'd asked me a year ago if I thought portals should just be scrapped as a failed, dragged-out experiment, I would have said "yes". This planning and the progress toward making it all practical is exemplary of the wiki spirit, in particular of a happy service-to-readers puppy properly wagging its technological and editorial tail instead of the other way around, and without "drama". It's also one of the few examples I've seen in a long time of a new wikiproject actually doing something useful and fomenting constructive activity (instead of acting as a barrier to participation, and a canvassing/ownership farm for PoV pushers). Kudos all around. — SMcCandlish

Congratulations, everyone. Keep up the great work.

Slideshow development

We've run into a glitch with slideshows: they don't work on mobile devices.

Initially, we will need to explore options that allow portals to have slideshows without adversely affecting mobile viewers. See Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Portals/Design#Mobile view support.

Eventually, we may need another way to do slideshows. If we do go this route, and I don't see why we wouldn't, then (user configurable) automatic slideshows also become a possibility.

TemplateStyles RfC passed

Once implemented, this will allow editors to create and edit cascading style sheets for use with templates. This will expand what we can do with portals. For more detail, see mw:Extension:TemplateStyles and Wikipedia:TemplateStyles.

Automation effort

We've run into an obstacle using Lua-based selective transclusion: Lua is incapable (on Wikipedia) of reading in article names from categories. Because of this, we'll need to seek other approaches for fully automating the Selected article section. We are exploring sources other than categories, and other technologies besides Lua.

Speaking of using other sources, the template {{Transclude list item excerpt}} collects list items from a specified page, or from a section of that page, and transcludes the lead from a randomly selected link from that list. Courtesy of Certes. So, if you use this in a portal, and if the template specifies a page or section serviced by JL-Bot, you've now got yourself an automatically updated section in the portal. JL-Bot provides links to featured content and good articles, by subject.

What is "fully automated"? When you create a portal using a creation template, and the portal works thereafter without editor intervention, the portal is fully automated. That is, the portal is supported by features that fetch new content. If you have to add new article names every so often for it to display new content, then it is only semi-automated.

Currently, the Selected article section is semi-automated, because it requires that an editor supplies the names of the various articles for which excerpts are (automatically) displayed. For examples, look at the wikisource code of Portal:Reptiles, Portal:Ancient Tamil civilization, and Portal:Reference works.

So far, 3 sections are fully automatable: the introduction section, the categories section, and the Associated Wikimedia section.

Where is all this heading?

Henry.

Or some other name.

Eventually, the portal department will be a software program. And we won't have to do anything (unless we want to). Not even tell it what portals to create (unless we want to). It will just do it all (plus whatever else we want it to do). And we will of course give it good manners, and a name.

But, that is a few years off.

Until then, building portals is still (partially) up to us. — The Transhumanist 13:30, 30 June 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Please comment on Template talk:Infobox criminal

The feedback request service is asking for participation in this request for comment on Template talk:Infobox criminal. Legobot (talk) 04:23, 6 July 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Portals WikiProject update #011, 10 July 2018

We now have 97 participants.

Be sure to welcome our newest members, BrantleyIzMe, Coffeeandcrumbs, and Nolan Perry, with warm regards.

Work is proceeding apace. We have 2 major thrusts right now: converting the intro sections of portals, and building the components of the one-page automated model...

Converting the intro sections

We need everybody, except those building software components, to work on converting intros. If you have AWB, definitely use that. If not, then work on them manually. Even one a day, or as often as you can muster, will help a lot. There are only about 1,000 of them left to go, so if everyone chips in, it will go pretty quickly. Remember, there are 97 of us!

The intros for most of the portals starting with A through F have already been converted to use the {{Transclude lead excerpt}} template.

The standard wikicode for the automated intro that we want to put into place looks like this:

{{/box-header|Introduction|noedit=yes|}}
{{Transclude lead excerpt | {{PAGENAME}} | paragraphs=1-2 | files=1}}
{{Box-footer|[[{{PAGENAME}}|Read more...]]}}

That works for most portals, but not all. For some portals it requires some tweaking, and for others, we may have to use a different or more customized approach. Remember to visually inspect each portal you work on and make sure that it works before moving on to the next one.

Be sure to skip user-maintained portals. They are listed at Wikipedia:WikiProject_Portals#Specific_portal_maintainers.

AWB tips

I've started an AWB tips page, for those of you feeling a bit overwhelmed by that power user tool. Feel free to add to it and/or improve it.

Portal automation

We have some very talented Lua programmers, who are pushing the limits of what we can do in gathering data from Wikipedia's various namespaces and presenting it in portals. Due to their efforts, Lua is powering the selective transclusion core of our emerging automated portal design, in the form of selected article sections that rotate content, and slideshows.

To go beyond Lua's limits, to take full advantage of Mediawiki's API, we are in the midst of adding another programming language to the resources we shall be making use of: JavaScript. The ways that JavaScript can help us edit portals to boost the power of our Lua solutions, are being explored, which will likely make the two languages synergistic if not symbiotic. Research is under way on how we can use JavaScript to make some of the portal semi-automated features fully automatically self-updating, in ways that Lua cannot. Like gathering random members from a category and inserting them into a portal's templates as parameters. Once the parameters are in place, Lua does the rest.

If you would like to get involved with design efforts, or just keep up on them, see Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Portals/Design.

When should we start building new portals?

Well, not at the present time, because building portals is quite time consuming. The good news is that we are working on a design that will be fully automated, or as close to that as we can get. And the new design is being implemented in the portal department's main portal creation template. This means, that not only will portals update themselves, their creation will be highly automated as well. That's the nature of templates. You put them in place, and they just... work.

What I'm getting at here, is that it would be better to wait to build lots of new portals until after the new design is completed. Because with it, instead of taking hours to create a new portal, it will likely take minutes.

That does not mean we should be idle in the meantime. The main reason most of us are here is because it became apparent that portals were largely unmaintained and had grown out-of-date. This had become so apparent that a proposal was made to delete all the portals and the portal namespace to boot. That makes our main objective in the short term to improve all the existing portals so that the community will want to keep them—forever.

Building lots of new portals comes later. Let's fix up the ones we have first. ;)

And on that note, I bid you adieu. Until next newsletter, see ya 'round the WikiProject. — The Transhumanist 12:30, 10 July 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Chili Line

Hey, I just wanted to give you a heads up about the discussion at Talk:Chili line. Without your further input I'm planning to revert the title change. Best wishes!Synchronism (talk) Synchronism (talk) 14:57, 10 July 2018 (UTC)[reply]

@@ Line 951: / Line 951: @@
 And on that note, I bid you adieu. Until next newsletter, see ya 'round the WikiProject.  <span class="nowrap">&nbsp;&nbsp; &mdash; ''[[User talk:The Transhumanist|The&nbsp;Transhumanist]]''&nbsp;&nbsp; </span> 12:30, 10 July 2018 (UTC)
+== Chili Line ==
+Hey, I just wanted to give you a heads up about the discussion at [[Talk:Chili line]]. Without your further input I'm planning to revert the title change. Best wishes![[User:Synchronism|Synchronism]] ([[User talk:Synchronism|talk]]) [[User:Synchronism|Synchronism]] ([[User talk:Synchronism|talk]]) 14:57, 10 July 2018 (UTC)

		The Photographer's Barnstar
		To Dicklyon on the occasion of your photograph of Ivan Sutherland and his birthday! What a great gift. -User:SusanLesch 04:40, 23 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

		All Around Amazing Barnstar
		For your hard work in improving and watching over the Ohm's law article SpinningSpark 00:59, 18 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

	The Special Barnstar
	I could not find a barnstar for standing up to an outrageously unjust block so you get a special one. Hang in there. В²C ☎ 23:25, 3 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]