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Welcome

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Welcome!

Hello, Dickjensen, and welcome to Wikipedia! Thank you for your contributions, especially what you did for David J. Dorsett. I hope you like the place and decide to stay. Here are some pages that you might find helpful:

I hope you enjoy editing here and being a Wikipedian! Please sign your messages on discussion pages using four tildes (~~~~); this will automatically insert your username and the date. If you need help, check out Wikipedia:Questions, ask me on my talk page, or ask your question on this page and then place {{help me}} before the question. Again, welcome! CutOffTies (talk) 17:09, 27 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]

January 2011

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Thank you for your contributions to Wikipedia. In the future, it is recommended that you use the preview button before you save; this helps you find any errors you have made, reduces edit conflicts, and prevents clogging up recent changes and the page history. Thank you. CutOffTies (talk) 17:11, 27 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]

February 2011

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I am VADM Dorsett's Flag Aide. I am trying to further edit his wiki page, but can't figure out how to edit the military person infobox to change the template from reading "Commands held" to "Key assignments". Please help me. Dickjensen (talk) 20:38, 4 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

First of all, editing articles on people with whom you have a conflict of interest is strongly discouraged. It's explained well at COI. If you do edit the page, you must do so with caution so as to follow Wikipedia's policies, including the neutral point of view policy. Secondly, infoboxes are comprised of standard sets of parameters that aren't generally changed. Information on key assignments can be included in the article, but should not be included in the infobox. – GorillaWarfare talk • contribs 20:57, 4 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I have been instructed by the VADM to update his page. As such I do not have a choice. I know it is possible to alter the infobox, I just can't figure out how. Any guidance on that would be helpful. I have already read the Help:Infobox, the Template:Infobox military person, and the Template:Infobox articles, but I am at a complete loss. Thank you. Dickjensen (talk) 21:12, 4 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I agree with what GW said, but I'll add a couple points. An infobox is intended to be redundant; in theory, any information in the info box can also be found in the main text. (That's theory, there are a lot of counter-examples but we are working on it.) So, until and unless Key assignments is added as a field to the info box, the short term solution is to add the information into the main article.
Changing fields in infoboxes can be done, but it does require substantial discussion and reaching of a consensus. In this case, the info box is "governor" which is part of the "officeholder" series, so is used in probably tens of thousands of articles. Change is possible, but may take some time.
If you'd like to make a case for a change (or an addition, which is easier), the place to go is Template talk:Infobox officeholder. This is the location where proposed changes to the suite of templates is discussed.
In addition, the people who hang out at the template discussion may or may not be familiar with the nuances of military issues. You might check in at Wikipedia:WikiProject Military history, where you are likely to find some editors who might either persuade you that the change is not warranted, or help you make the case if it is.--SPhilbrickT 21:17, 4 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]
As an aside, one of the reasons for the redundancy in info boxes i that some readers do not render them properly. Thus, we want to make sure no reader is deprived of information which may solely reside in an info box.
Changing a template is not a trivial task. I have over ten thousand edits, and I now feel comfortable changing some templates I know appear in only a dozen or so places. I wouldn't dream of touching this info box.
You can easily accomplish you goal by creating a new section called "Key Assignments" (If you don't know how, ask, and I'll show you) In that section, you could list the summary and detail of each key assignment. (as a suggestion, I would call it "assignment" rather than "Key Assignment" The word "key" is a red flag more appropriate for a cv than a biography.)--SPhilbrickT 21:25, 4 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]
FWIW, I moved the seal for naval intelligence down, please feel free to move it somewhere else, just make sure it's not placed above the infobox. The infobox should always be on the upper right corner of an article. Do note that the current infobox used is {{Template:Infobox officeholder}} as SPhilbrickT said. I have appended blank fields for military service to the bottom of the infobox. These might help you as you can choose what to put as a field header (in |military_blank1 = ) and what info you place afterwards (in |military_data1 = ). Test fill a couple and see if it works for your purpose.--Obsidi♠nSoul 21:29, 4 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I intend to at least double, possibly triple, the content of the page. I am only awaiting VADM Dorsett's final chops on my draft, and figuring out how to get that darn "Key Assignments" label instead of the "Commands held". Thanks for the help and guidance. Dickjensen (talk) 22:32, 4 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Just be careful to maintain WP:NPOV and keep things referenced, considering this is technically WP:COI.--Obsidi♠nSoul 22:34, 4 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Definitely aiming for WP:NPOV. He is the Director of Naval Intelligence, so we aim for just the facts. Most information will come directly from Navy publications, press releases, or other press reports. Dickjensen (talk) 22:57, 4 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

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