This is an archive of past discussions about User:Leithp. Do not edit the contents of this page. If you wish to start a new discussion or revive an old one, please do so on the current talk page.
This archive page is for messages from 6 May 2008 to 7 March 2009.
Re: Ambiguous image
If I recall correctly, I originally found the image online, where it was labeled as showing a German advance. I'm hardly an expert on WWI, however, so I have no confirmation of the subject matter beyond that; it's perfectly possible that the photo was mislabeled to begin with. Kirill(prof)13:25, 6 May 2008 (UTC)
Horrocks
Hi Leith. I'll see what I can do. I've been aflicted with a cold over the past month, hence the reduced activity. Not that I'm preparing my excuses should the ce not be satisfactory ;-). SoLando (Talk) 12:35, 9 May 2008 (UTC)
Leith, are the following sentences discussing the same subject?:
To carry out this task they had only two battalions of British soldiers and two small administrative missions, one tasked with arming and training the Russian troops and one to assist in administering the lines of communication for the White Army. There were also two British "missions", headquarters which arranged the supply of British equipment and training to White forces.SoLando (Talk) 17:48, 9 May 2008 (UTC)
I'll try to help. Sorry about my absence at the FAC; I've confined most of my editing to a certain footballer's article because of a cold-cum-cough. I've been dreading the prospect of Tony1 reviewing Billy Liddell once it gets to FAC so I'm unsure whether a ce from myself will achieve anything. But let's see :-). SoLando (Talk) 14:58, 4 June 2008 (UTC)
The guy has high standards, which is fair enough. It is frustrating to find an article you've written stalled because of a problem you're blind to, though. I'll give Billy Liddell a read later and see if I can help you out there. My copyediting is pretty poor, though. Is the Wikiproject:Biography review process worth looking into? Leithp15:19, 4 June 2008 (UTC)
Yeah, that's always a problem for articles with one dedicated editor (unless it's a collaboration of the week or involves Tony ;-). Woody (talk·contribs) definitely knows more than myself about the current state of the PR system. Thanks for the ce; some of it seem so obvious in retrospect. Time for inspirational music, methinks. SoLando (Talk) 16:08, 4 June 2008 (UTC)
Hey, Leith, what's your opinion of this revision: The Territorial Army posting, considered by Horrocks to be among his happiest periods, provided experience of dealing with citizen soldiers which would prove invaluable during the war.
Hmmm, I suspect I've reached my limit - whatever that may be :-D. The article was excellent anyway, so it may depend on Tony. Is Roger Davies still unavailable as a copyeditor? Perhaps..........Maralia, I think. Woody? Anyone at MHL. SoLando (Talk) 12:45, 5 June 2008 (UTC)
That's great, thanks. The assistance is much appreciated. Roger Davies has a notice up on his talk page, so I didn't think it would be polite to ask him. The other two I haven't dealt with before, I don't think. Leithp14:48, 5 June 2008 (UTC)
Roger has recommended Maralia to others before....if Tony maintains his oppose, I'm sure they'll be a copyeditor at MHL who will finally be able to resolve whatever issues there are. If not....well, there is no "if not" :-). SoLando (Talk) 15:12, 5 June 2008 (UTC)
I've posted a request at WP:MHL.....quite depressing really. I think I'll put the barbecue on and sit down to Portugal vs Turkey. Leithp17:59, 7 June 2008 (UTC)
That match depressed me! I expected the Swiss-Czech game to be stifled by a virtual trench system but it was surprisingly more engaging. Anyway, I'm sorry the copyedit didn't prove satisfactory for Tony. The primary issue now does appear to be stylistic and possible MoS breaches/inconsistency.... so it's (very) probable Horrocks will get promoted soon. There is no "if not". Succès, française. SoLando (Talk) 22:35, 7 June 2008 (UTC)
Editors needed for Tag & Assess 2008. To coincide with the summer holidays, it will be gearing up from 15 June. As usual, barnstars galore!
Partner peer reviews: for a thirty-day trial period, we'll be running joint peer reviews with Wikiproject Video Games. The idea is simple: we help with their reviews; they help with ours. This way both wikiprojects benefit from new reviewers and new ideas!
We're notable: A new book, Simon Fowler's 2007 Guide to Military History on the Internet (UK:Pen & Sword, ISBN9781844156061) rates Wikipedia as "the best general resource" for military research (p. 7). Of the military pages, he says: "The results are largely accurate and generally free of bias" (he also suggests people join the wikiproject). When rating WP as the No. 1 military site (p. 201) he says "Wikipedia is often criticised for its inaccuracy and bias, but in my experience the military history articles are spot on."
A-Class reviews: the usual four-day review period may now be extended by up to three days (ie seven days in total) in the following circumstances:
the article has no opposes but has insufficient support for promotion or
the article's nominator requests more time to resolve matters arising during the review.
The special projects department has opened. It will focus on specific ad-hoc high-priority tasks and implement them with informal, short-term groups of editors.
The Contest department has completed its fourteenth month of competition, which saw 16 entries. The top scorer this month is Cam with 21 points, followed by Redmarkviolinist with 11 points. Woody, Dreamafter, Kyriakos, Nousernamesleft and Outdawg also fielded entries. Blnguyen remains the overall leader, with 188 points in total. You are encouraged to submit articles you're working on as entries.
A discussion has been opened into the structuring of top level operational categories, starting with Category:World War II. All interested editors are invited to help establish a consensus.
Hello there. I see there are several concerns at the FAC about prose. In order to fix this, I recommend a full copyedit by an editor new to the text. Please see both Peer review/volunteers and LOCE/Members for lists of people who can help. Do not hesitate to contact a few people on their Talk pages! I would hate for it to not be nominated just because effort wasn't put into consulting the help of some other copyeditors. Good luck! — Wackymacs (talk ~ edits)17:24, 9 June 2008 (UTC)
Thanks for the advice, I was a bit dispirited after the comments yesterday but I'll try and give it a last push. I've already left a message at WP:MHL looking for a copyeditor, but I will look into Peer Review and LOCE. Do you have any suggestions for a particular editor I should contact? I'm loathe to "spam" people who may not be interested. Leithp20:47, 9 June 2008 (UTC)
I read the FAC comments and plunged ahead, focusing on concision and some minor c/e. I'm done, and I hope this is enough to break through to Bremen. A very interesting read. Finetooth (talk) 04:48, 10 June 2008 (UTC)
Thanks for cleaning up after me re those comments in the text ;) Hope you don't mind me just diving in with the copyedit - I do normally ask first, but Roger Davies and SandyGeorgia said there was some urgency per the FAC ;) EyeSerenetalk13:23, 15 June 2008 (UTC)
Thanks, very kind of you! I'll be afk for the rest of the day, so I'll have to finish up tomorrow, but Sandy's promised not to close the FAC until we're done. EyeSerenetalk14:27, 15 June 2008 (UTC)
OK, I think that's finished. Hopefully it's been helpful, but please feel free to alter anything you don't like or I've messed up. You've probably noticed, but I footnoted the weapons list for XXX Corps - I do think it's needed to back up the 'massive firepower' assertion, but breaks up the text less this way. Roger's very good at picking stuff up as well, so I'll leave him a note in case he wants to have a look too. All the best, and thank you for the opportunity to work on such an interesting article! EyeSerenetalk17:38, 16 June 2008 (UTC)
The footnote is a good compromise. Thanks for all the work you've done to improve my leaden prose, it's very much appreciated. Leithp18:21, 16 June 2008 (UTC)
You're very welcome, and as I said, it's always a pleasure when the subject is an interesting one. I think after William Slim, Horrocks is one of my favourite commanders. EyeSerenetalk19:39, 16 June 2008 (UTC)
The Military history WikiProject Newsletter : Issue XXVIII (June 2008)
With the holiday season upon us, we're very short of reviewers at A-Class Reviews and are likely to remain so for the next month or so. If just five new reviewers each reviewed one article a week, the problem would be solved! To keep track of Milhist articles for peer and A-Class reviews, simply paste the code – {{WPMILHIST Review alerts}} – onto your talk page.
Similarly, copy-editors are currently in short supply. If you can help out at the Copy-editing section of the Logistics Dept, it would be much appreciated. If you can help with A-Class Reviews and Featured Article Candidates so much the better! To keep up to date with Milhist articles needing copy input, just paste – {{WPMILHIST Copy-editing alerts}} onto your talk page.
The debate on whether Milhist should adopt the new C-Class has been closed, with a strong and clear consensus against adopting. The archived discussion is here.
The Milhist review structure is itself being reviewed. The idea is to see how it can be improved, or whether it needs changing or updating.
The month-long trial of partner peer reviews with Video games is being discussed. All feedback welcome!
Awards and honors
Congratulations to Buckshot06, who has been awarded the WikiChevrons with Oak Leaves in recognition of his consistently excellent edits and his continued commitment and tireless efforts towards improving the quality of articles pertaining to military history.
Congratulations to Piotrus, who has been awarded the WikiChevrons with Oak Leaves in recognition of his outstanding contributions to Polish military history, including the creation of numerous Featured Articles, A-Class articles, and Good Articles on the subject.
The Contest department has completed its fifteenth month of competition, which saw 15 entries. The top scorer this month is JonCatalan with 32 points, followed by Cam with 20 points. Ed!, David Underdown, CyclonicWhirlwind, and Blnguyen also fielded entries. Blnguyen remains the overall leader, with 193 points in total. The Chevrons go to JonCatalan and Cam gets the Writer's Barnstar. The May 2008 winners, Cam and Redmarkviolinist have been belatedly awarded the Chevrons and Writer's Barnstar for coming first and second respectively. You are encouraged to submit any articles you are working on as entries.
Tag & Assess '08 has now closed, with approximately 10,000 articles successfully tagged. Many thanks to all those who participated. The top three scorers were Jim Sweeney (Gold Wiki), Dashiellx (Silver Wiki) and Ejosse1 (Bronze Wiki).
To stop receiving this newsletter, or to receive it in a different format, please list yourself in the appropriate section here.
Not that long! Time in Wikipedia has its own weird pace, after 6 months you're an experienced user and after a year you're a cynical old hand who's seen it all before. It's heartening to see that your RFB is going well so far (knock on wood), you've been doing some sterling work around here. Best of luck! Leithp14:21, 24 July 2008 (UTC)
Thank you for participating in my RfB! I am very grateful for the confidence of the community shown at my RfB, which passed by a count of 154/7/2 (95.65%). I have read every word of the RfB and taken it all to heart. I truly appreciate everyone's input: supports, opposes, neutrals, and comments. Of course, I plan to conduct my cratship in service of the community. If you have any advice, questions, concerns, or need help, please let me know. Again, Thanks! — Rlevse • Talk • 08:48, 29 July 2008 (UTC)
The criteria for Military history A-Class reviews have been overhauled. The new standard is deliberately set higher than before, and is much closer to featured article quality. The new criteria are:
A2. The article is comprehensive, factually accurate, neutral and focused on the main topic; it neglects no major facts or details, presents views fairly and without bias, and does not go into unnecessary detail.
A3. The article has an appropriate structure of hierarchical headings, including a concise lead section that summarizes the topic and prepares the reader for the detail in the subsequent sections, and a substantial but not overwhelming table of contents.
A4. The article is written in concise and articulate English; its prose is clear, is in line with style guidelines, and does not require substantial copy-editing to be fully MoS-compliant.
A5. The article contains supporting visual materials, such as images or diagrams with succinct captions, and other media, where appropriate.
The timescale for A-Class articles has also been changed to give more editors an opportunity to participate.
The six-monthly Coordinators' election has been moved back a month to avoid clashes with the holiday period. The sign-up period will run from 1–15 September and the elections themselves from 16–30 September.
The Contest department has completed its sixteenth month of competition, which saw 22 entries. The top scorer this month is new entrant Bellhalla with 41 points, followed by Blnguyen with 33 points. Cam, Ed!, David Underdown, and Ferbess also fielded entries. Blnguyen remains the overall leader, with 226 points in total. The Chevrons go to Bellhalla and Blnguyen gets the Writer's Barnstar. You are encouraged to submit any articles you are working on as entries.
To stop receiving this newsletter, or to receive it in a different format, please list yourself in the appropriate section here.
Hi there. I know you uphold a high standard on biographical articles, so would you care to have a quick look at an article I'm working on here. See if anything strikes you as "off". I've had a look through WP:OWN and all that and think I'm in the right if I replace the existing article. I'm going to slash the "dismissal" section as it's far too long, though important and I've tons of material to go through still. Cheers, --Harlsbottom (talk | library | book reviews) 23:20, 16 August 2008 (UTC)
Your article is a vast improvement on the mainspace version. Given the lack of recent editing in the mainspace, I agree that you are perfectly entitled to replace that version with yours. Personally, I would leave a talk page note announcing your intention prior to the replacement. I've had a quick read-through and have some minor comments:
The introduction finishes with an incomplete sentence. I take it you are looking for a reference?
Early life- "as parents had to pay fees to the amount of £40 per annum while their children were naval cadets" maybe lose "to the amount" as redundant?
"four days No. 7" I take it that the Navy kept a list of standard punishments, this could perhaps be explained or maybe doesn't need to be mentioned at all.
"After she left he remarked to another lady whose company he was in" maybe "After she left, he remarked:"
16 July 1874- link
"with first-class certificates in each subject for which he gained nine months time of service" maybe "gaining nine months of service for achieving first-class certificates in all subjects".
Link "Duke of Wellington"
"the newcastle and Jellicoe visited". Should the ship name be lower-case?
Director of Naval Ordnance- Perhaps some context for the first quote? This paragraph could be expanded.
Flag Rank- There are some very short sections, could they be merged?
Deployment- the section with an incomplete sentence.
Views on Jellicoe's decisions- Perhaps a reference for the second school of though would be useful. Maybe a section on the public and political reaction to Jutland would also provide some context.
"Combatting the submarine menace"-There is a spelling error in this title, and I also think it doesn't reflect the content. "Eric" needs to be clarified, perhaps the full name in brackets?
"Dismissal"- I thought this section was excellent, it clearly describes a complicated series of events. Perhaps "signers" should be "signatories" or "authors"?
There is at least one stray umlaut and ô on the page.
Sorry for not getting back to you sooner. Many thanks for your comments, I've acted on some of them and will get round to the rest when the article gets nearer to completion. I've taken the step of corresponding with some published naval historians to try and "guide" any analysis (i.e. choice of sources) better, as at the end of the day Jellicoe's actions are controversial and could be spun anyway you see fit. This includes public expectations and the like, which will probably not go down well with some people! Cheers, --Harlsbottom (talk | library | book reviews) 15:15, 30 August 2008 (UTC)
The Military history WikiProject coordinator selection process is underway, to elect nine coordinators to serve for the next six months. If you are interested in running, please sign up here by 23:59 (UTC) on 14 September! Voting starts at 00:01 (UTC) on 15 September and runs until 23:59 (UTC) on 30 September.
A new barnstar specifically encouraging and recognizing excellence in Milhist article creation and development has been introduced. Any editor who has made a significant contribution to three or more Milhist A-Class articles promoted since 1 August 2008 under the new A-Class criteria is eligible. Nominations for the medal should be made here; should list the three A-Class articles for which the medal is sought; and must be subsequently supported by three or more project coordinators, who will be responsible for making the award. Editors may nominate themselves or any other qualifying editor.
A new discussion about whether Milhist should adopt C-Class is underway. All comments are welcome.
The 2008 Tag & Assess Workshop is still open, seeking input on ways to improve the efficiency, user-friendliness and organization of future Milhist drives. All comment is welcome, especially from people who didn't participate in the drive!
Awards and honors
Durova has been awarded the WikiChevrons with Oak Leaves in recognition of her exemplary work on military history featured pictures, sounds, and articles.
The W1.0 Editorial Team have selected 1133 Military history articles for inclusion in the W0.7 test release. For convenience, these are broken by task force and you'll find a list on each task force headed "Wikipedia 0.7 articles have been selected for [task force name]" on the task force talk page. You may nominate extra articles for inclusion or existing ones for removal. If you can improve any of the articles on the list, by adding references, or copy-editing, or cleaning up generally, please do so.
A new discussion has started about naming articles on Soviet WWII operations. All contributions are welcome as we hope to resolve this longstanding issue once and for all.
The debate over whether Milhist should adopt C-Class is continuing. All comments and suggestions are welcome.
User:Leithp/Archive 7 has been identified as an Awesome Wikipedian,
and therefore, I've officially declared today as Leithp/Archive 7's day!
For being such a beautiful person and great Wikipedian,
enjoy being the Star of the day, dear Leithp/Archive 7!
Following a lengthy discussion, three new coordinators – EyeSerene, Maralia and the_ed17 - have been coopted. The purpose of the appointments is partly to fill the place left by the retirement of TomStar81 and partly to provide increased/improved coordinator capacity to cover existing coordinator absences and to help with upcoming major projects. As a reminder, coordinators are merely editors who have committed to go the extra mile for the project and that there are very few processes that require coordinator input. Specifically these are closing A-Class reviews, and endorsing two project award nominations. Any editors who wish to help with the nitty-gritty of this busy project (cross-posting A-Class review, peer review and featured article candidate alerts; responding to member questions and queries, helping with drives) are positively encouraged to do so.
A workshop has been set up to redesign and improve the newsletter. In our recent competition, a new name was chosen – The Bugle. All editors are welcome to participate, especially those with graphic and design skills!
Administrator and Milhist coordinator, Nick Dowling, has changed his user name to Nick-D.
Adoption of C-class remains firmly on the Milhist agenda with discussions approaching their fourth month of debate. More views are sought on this.
Awards and honors
Kyriakos has been awarded the WikiChevrons with Oak Leaves in recognition of his long and distingushed service as a Coordinator of the Military history WikiProject from February 2007 to September 2008.
LordAmeth has been awarded the WikiChevrons with Oak Leaves in recognition of his long and distingushed service as a Coordinator of the Military history WikiProject from August 2006 to September 2008.
EyeSerene has been awarded the WikiChevrons with Oak Leaves in recognition of his diligent and excellent copyediting of vast quantities of Military History articles—notably his work on multiple Featured Article Candidates.
TomStar81 has been awarded the WikiChevrons with Oak Leaves in recognition of both his long and distinguished service as a coordinator of this project from August 2007 to October 2008, and of his exemplary contributions to articles on the vessels of the U.S. Navy.
Following a lengthy discussion, a new section - Personal libraries - has been added to the Logistics Department. The aim is to make sourcing and citation checking easier by sharing information about editors' personal book holdings. If you have half an hour to spare, why add a list of your Milhist reference books?
This month saw 14 military history-related articles promoted to featured status, the highest number for a single month since the project's establishment in October 2002. Congratulations all round!
Design competition Editors with design skills urgently needed to design an eyecatching logo for this newsletter. The logo needs to incorporate a bugle motif as well as the newsletter's title, "The Bugle". Fame and honour (a barnstar) guaranteed for the successful design. Submit entries here please.
Who will be the three "2008 Military historians of the Year"? There are 13 candidates so far and the number is rising rapidly. The winning editors will receive the Gold, Silver and Bronze Wikis; and all other nominees the WikiProject barnstar. To nominate editors you admire, or to cast your votes, please visit here!
A new drive has been started to identify the core topics of World War I with the aim of improving their quality before the centenary of the start of World War I in 2014.
Don't forget the six-monthly Coordinator elections will take place in March for the April-September term. If you want to become more involved in the project, now's the time to start thinking about it!
Following extensive discussion, the structure of the A-Class Medal System has been changed to include three new medals: The A-Class Medal with Oak Leaves, the A-Class Medal with Oakleaves and Swords, and the A-Class Medal with Oakleaves, Swords, and Diamonds, each of which is respectfully awarded after 5, 10, and 20 groups of three A-Class Articles.
The number of our A-Class articles grew by more than 25% during this month, compared to the total number of A-Class articles existent at the end of December.
A drive is underway to identify the core topics of World War I with the aim of improving their quality before the centenary of the start of World War I in 2014.
A Survey is currently underway to determine how MilHist's processes, logistics, and management can be improved.
Abraham, B.S. has been awarded the WikiChevrons with Oak Leaves in recognition of his many valuable contributions to the project as an active reviewer, a thoughtful contributor to military history discussions, a fine content contributor, and a gentleman.
The Contest department has completed its twenty second month of competition, which saw 62 entries. The top scorer this month is Bellhalla with 93 points followed by Abraham, B.S. with 52 points. Cam, Georgejdorner and 11 other editors also fielded entries. Bellhalla remains the overall leader with 687 points in total. The Chevrons go to Bellhalla and Abraham, B.S. gets the Writer's Barnstar. You are encouraged to submit any articles you are working on as entries.
To stop receiving this newsletter, or to receive it in a different format, please list yourself in the appropriate section here.
I apologise for the implication that you made edits or suggestions for the editing of the Slim article "in bad faith". I am sorry that my perhaps intemperate language has upset you. I did in fact try to reflect the suggestions you made as to the prominence that should be given to the allegations and it was my obtuseness which took me so long to arrive at the point which you suggested would be satisfactory quite early on. I do appreciate the sensitivities of the issue in relation to Slim and the high regard he was and is held by those who served under and with him. Thank you for your forbearance. Albatross2147 (talk) 22:24, 13 February 2009 (UTC)
The Military history WikiProject Newsletter : Issue XXXVI (February 2009)
This month has been interesting for MILHIST, as we reorganized a few departments. The Outreach Department has been replaced by the tabs at the top of our totally redesigned project page; thanks to Kirill for the design and Bellhalla for the logo. We also created the Academy, a hub for practical advice about creating, editing, and reviewing quality content. All project members are cordially invited to fill in some of the red links, and new ideas are always welcome.
As you can see on the right, our A-class and featured content is growing quite rapidly; these numbers have now gone up by 45 for the second straight month! Great work! In addition, thanks go out to those who recently helped in reducing the A-class nominations backlog. Reviewers are still needed; if you feel up to it, please stop by and leave comments on an article—every review helps!
Article alerts are now available both for the entire project (on the status page) and for each task force (on the task force page).
The Military history coordinator elections, to appoint coordinators for the period April–October 2009, take place this month. If you are thinking of standing as a candidate, the schedule is as follows:
Nomination period: 00:01 Sat 7 March - 23:59 Fri 13 March
Voting period: 00:01 Sat 14 March - 23:59 Sat 29 March
Awards and honors
Ian Rose has been awarded the WikiChevrons with Oak Leaves in recognition of his outstanding contributions to Australian military history articles (including four Featured Articles, an A-Class article, and four Good Articles), his highly civil and collaborative editing, and his willingness to provide advice and assistance to other editors.
MisterBee1966 has been awarded the WikiChevrons with Oak Leaves in recognition of his contributions to seven featured lists on German military awards during the Second World War, and for contributing to four good articles and being instrumental in promoting three of them to A-Class status.
Raul654 has been awarded the WikiChevrons with Oak Leaves in recognition of his contributions to six current Military History Featured Articles, his flexibility in managing the "Today's featured article" list to accommodate relevant main-page appearances, and his generosity in providing many images for our visual library.
The Land has been awarded the WikiChevrons with Oak Leaves in recognition of his significant contributions to the area of maritime warfare, as he has authored six of the seven articles in the "history of the battleship" series, with four of them now being featured.
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