User talk:Fetchcomms/Archive 16

h t u s m g

This is an archive of past discussions. 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.

Archive 10

←

→

Userpage redesign

I would like my userpage to be redesigned, so there is a "light red" (not pink) border that fades, File:Red Apple.jpg as the background, a new navbar (current one is at User:Perseus, Son of Zeus/Navigation header), feel free to design the navbar any way you want. Also, the content of the userpage will be four orange boxes, labeled "EDITS", "TALK", "SIGN", and "STARS". The font color will be "#FFFFFF" and make the new userpage a subpage of User:Perseus, Son of Zeus. I will transclude it then. Thanks! --Perseus, Son of Zeus ✉ sign here 16:38, 3 February 2011 (UTC) Thanks for signing my guestbook

How demanding! But I'll return the favor: I'll start redesigning your user page when either a. you have made at least 1,200 edits to articles per X!'s counter; or b. you add references to at least 10 unreferenced BLPs and bring at least two of those to DYK. There are two additional conditions regardless of which choice you make: that this doesn't happen again (playing around on Wikipedia is not a cure for boredom) and that any user page I design will have to stay up for at least one month. Please let me know you decision as soon as possible! Thank you, /ƒETCH COMMS / 16:59, 3 February 2011 (UTC)

Btw, re. Wikipedia:Peer review/The Lightning Thief/archive1, do WP:NV and/or WP:CHL even use the A-class assessment system? /ƒETCH COMMS / 16:59, 3 February 2011 (UTC)

Your GA nomination of Hypsibema missouriensis

The article Hypsibema missouriensis you nominated as a good article has been placed on hold . The article is close to meeting the good article criteria, but there are some minor changes or clarifications needed to be addressed. If these are fixed within seven days, the article will pass, otherwise it will fail. See Talk:Hypsibema missouriensis for things which need to be addressed. I'm mostly concerned about the potential for linkrot and possible consolidation of references. J. Spencer (talk) 02:53, 4 February 2011 (UTC)

I have promoted Hypsibema missouriensis to GA. I don't do a lot of reviews, as my expertise is limited (mostly prehistoric reptiles), but fortunately you made it easy. Congratulations! J. Spencer (talk) 01:32, 6 February 2011 (UTC)

Thank you so much! It's nice to have a reviewer who is familiar with the article's topic :) /ƒETCH COMMS / 03:40, 6 February 2011 (UTC)

DYK for National Terrorism Advisory System

On 4 February 2011, Did you know? was updated with a fact from the article National Terrorism Advisory System, which you created or substantially expanded. The fact was ... that, in April 2011, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's new two-tier National Terrorism Advisory System will replace the current color-coded Homeland Security Advisory System? You are welcome to check how many hits the article got while on the front page (here's how, quick check) and add it to DYKSTATS if it got over 5,000. If you know of another interesting fact from a recently created article, then please suggest it on the Did you know? talk page.

—HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 06:04, 4 February 2011 (UTC)

Orphaned non-free image File:Never Say Never poster.jpg

⚠
Thanks for uploading File:Never Say Never poster.jpg. The image description page currently specifies that the image is non-free and may only be used on Wikipedia under a claim of fair use. However, the image is currently orphaned, meaning that it is not used in any articles on Wikipedia. If the image was previously in an article, please go to the article and see why it was removed. You may add it back if you think that that will be useful. However, please note that images for which a replacement could be created are not acceptable for use on Wikipedia (see our policy for non-free media).

If you have uploaded other unlicensed media, please check whether they're used in any articles or not. You can find a list of "file" pages you have edited by clicking on the "my contributions" link (it is located at the very top of any Wikipedia page when you are logged in), and then selecting "File" from the dropdown box. Note that any non-free images not used in any articles will be deleted after seven days, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. Thank you. Courcelles 06:28, 4 February 2011 (UTC)

Link

I saw the link to your essay, posted on ANI. I've skimmed it now and will read it in more detail over the weekend, as it contains some valuable insights.

If you haven't already seen it, you can take a look at Wikipedia:Guidance for younger editors. I did the first draft of this (there's a link to that version at the top), and it's been edited since then, partly to address the fact that I'm not very good at pitching the reading level to the target audience. Your thoughts would be welcome, here or there or anywhere. Regards, Newyorkbrad (talk) 18:30, 4 February 2011 (UTC)

New WikiProject United States Newsletter: February 2011 edition

Starting with the February 2011 issue WikiProject United States has established a newsletter to inform anyone interested in United States related topics of the latest changes. This newsletter will not only discuss issues relating to WikiProject United States but also:

Portal:United States
the United States Wikipedians Noticeboard
the United States Wikipedians collaboration of the Month - The collaboration article for February is Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
and changes to Wikipolicy, events and other things that may be of interest to you.

You may read or assist in writing the newsletter, subscribe, unsubscribe or change the format in which future issues will be delivered to you by following this link. If you have an idea for improving the newsletter please leave a message on my talk page or the Newsletters talk page. --Kumioko (talk) 20:45, 4 February 2011 (UTC)

Hai!

Hopefully sticking around - I've got a tiny break from real life, so I'll try to help out a bit on the old Wiki. I missed you guys! :) What's new? m.o.p 22:42, 4 February 2011 (UTC)

Aw, man, a lot of those guys have been around for years. I'm of a dying breed! Haha, I guess I keep my sanity by taking breaks. And I've been watching flagged revisions for a while - still unsure what I think of the policy. m.o.p 00:47, 5 February 2011 (UTC)

Dashes edit conflict

Could you restore your fixes in about half an hour, when I am done with the expansion? Sorry about that. --_{Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| talk} 21:56, 5 February 2011 (UTC)

No problem, just tell me when you're done. I use a script anyway: User:GregU/dashes.js, so if you have that installed you can do it yourself later :) /ƒETCH COMMS / 21:58, 5 February 2011 (UTC)

Done. Script wise, I use AutoEd. They should really combine those scripts into one... :) --_{Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| talk} 22:10, 5 February 2011 (UTC)

Dashes fixed again now. Thanks! /ƒETCH COMMS / 22:13, 5 February 2011 (UTC)

East Carolina

I tried accessing the information online with my ECU online id. It doesn't look like it is available in electronic form. I do have access to the libray, but I am very unlikely to ever set foot on campus. I am an online master's program student. I live in Hope Mills, North Carolina and East Carolina University is in Greenville. Thanks for asking, I wish I could've been more helpful. Dincher (talk) 00:29, 6 February 2011 (UTC)

Aww :( Thanks for the response, though, and I've asked a couple others as well. Cheers, /ƒETCH COMMS / 03:38, 6 February 2011 (UTC)

Someone65 thread

While I somewhat understand why you closed the thread, it would have been nice to see the block proposal through. I really believe (and two others agreed) that this user either needs some time off or at the very least some good mentoring (did me wonders). How can we get things to settle down so Someone65 isn't back in another week+ asking for TWINKLE again or he starts two seperate block discussions against people who disagree with him? Another big question, after I struck my accusation that Someone65 was linked to an indef account, there was some question on whether it was ever looked up by CU. What should be done with that? There are too many questions open, to be left without answers. - Neutralhomer • Talk • 20:16, 6 February 2011 (UTC)

Roger wilco on this. We seemed to be typing at the same time. - Neutralhomer • Talk • 20:18, 6 February 2011 (UTC)

I think the best solution is to let another user initiate the discussion. I know what you mean, but if you're involved, he's going to claim that you're pushing an agenda to have him banned, etc. and it'll lead to frivolous counter-proposals that don't help. Re. CU, probably email one privately. /ƒETCH COMMS / 20:20, 6 February 2011 (UTC)

Okie Dokie on both. I know a CU user, hope I can catch them before they head off for Super Bowl celebrations (Go Steelers!). I will keep you in the loop via email as well. Take Care...Neutralhomer • Talk • 20:23, 6 February 2011 (UTC)

AN/I

I'm a little surprised you hatted that. The "pox on both your houses" approach doesn't really seem commensurate with the obvious, repeated disruptive behavior following multiple "final" warnings, but your call, I suppose. 28bytes (talk) 20:18, 6 February 2011 (UTC)

I wasn't trying to blame both of them, but stop an unproductive discussion before it took a nosedive into name-calling. The counter-proposals and blaming of everyone wasn't going to end up with a suitable result other than one of them being blocked, and I'm willing to hope an informal interaction ban will cool things down. /ƒETCH COMMS / 20:22, 6 February 2011 (UTC)

Fair enough. If the disruption stops then that's good enough for me. 28bytes (talk) 20:26, 6 February 2011 (UTC)

Formatting help

Hey, can you help me out with some formatting on my userpage? I recently added a quote, but when I change my window size, the quote is located elsewhere. Is there any way to make it right under the mouth of the kitten? Thanks, Goodvac (talk) 22:10, 6 February 2011 (UTC)

You almost got it working; I moved it inside an earlier <div>, so refresh and see if that's what you wanted? /ƒETCH COMMS / 22:18, 6 February 2011 (UTC)

Yeah, that's it. Thanks, didn't know it was that simple! Goodvac (talk) 22:20, 6 February 2011 (UTC)

My much earlier comment at ANI

Hi. A belated reply to your question about my comment at AN/I a few days ago. I have no hard evidence about how old you are and I should not have speculated about that; I apologise for doing so. After seeing a wide variety of foolish behaviour on Wikipedia, my experience thus far is that people over 20 are just as likely to act foolishly as those under 20, and even that there is such an explosion of WP:IDIDNTHEARTHAT after age 60 or so, that you might be as well served writing an essay about pensioners as about pubescants. There are two big differences. First, the teenage troublemakers are mostly despatched very quickly. Secondly, a teenage troublemaker might be a useful contributor a few years later; but if a pensioner is consistently a raging POV monster at age 65 and age 66, they probably still will be at age 70. There's a lot more to be discussed on this topic. None of this excuses my random throwaway comment at AN/I, so I apologise for it. --Demiurge1000 (talk) 03:50, 7 February 2011 (UTC)

Don't worry about the comment, I already forgot about it :P Your point here is valid, though, and while I might end up writing an essay about the behavior of users of all ages, my intent with the child-focused essay was to highlight specific instances of behavior in child users and how to respond to them (e.g., we usually don't see MySpacing 70-year-olds). /ƒETCH COMMS / 03:59, 7 February 2011 (UTC)

Thanks for the reasonable response

I must thank you for the reasonable response yesterday at the controversy. Despite the tensions you managed to be cool and demonstrate your admin capibilities. I'm still pretty shocked that a simple twinkle request resulted in all that bickering. I guess i'll be avoiding ANI from now on. :) Someone65 (talk) 10:44, 7 February 2011 (UTC)

Request to mentor a student

Hi Fetchcomms, I'm a Campus Ambassador in the Public Policy Initiative and found your name at Wikipedia:WikiProject United States Public Policy/Online Ambassadors and was wondering whether you'd be up for mentoring User:kristal776, one of the students for Prof Gen's Environmental Policy class. I'll watch this page. Thanks! Dcoetzee 22:19, 7 February 2011 (UTC)

Sure, point her here and we can get started soon. /ƒETCH COMMS / 22:24, 7 February 2011 (UTC)

Hi, when I talked to Sage he said I should ask you to introduce yourself to the user on their talk page and add the {{WAP student}} template, something like this: {{WAP student|project=WikiProject United States Public Policy|course=Wikipedia:WikiProject_United_States_Public_Policy/Courses/Environmental_Policy_spring_2011_(Gen)|coursetalk=Wikipedia talk:WikiProject_United_States_Public_Policy/Courses/Environmental_Policy_spring_2011_(Gen)|mentor=kristal776}}. This should be a bit easier since the student doesn't know their way around yet. Please let me know if you want to do anything differently. And thank you for your help! Dcoetzee 00:41, 8 February 2011 (UTC)

Oh, OK, no problem. Just left a message :) /ƒETCH COMMS / 01:30, 8 February 2011 (UTC)

Cool, thanks :-) We'll let students know to check their talk pages, and I'll let you know if there's any other way you can help out. Dcoetzee 02:22, 8 February 2011 (UTC)

So yeah. I found this humorous

After following you on Twitter last night, I went to search for someone else, which resulted in Twitter giving me people who were similar to you. They gave me two people. However....one of them wasn't really similar to you at all. Here's a screencap so you can see what I mean. I sent this to you on Twitter also, but I fear you might think I'm a bot or something, so I decided to do it here, where you can see I'm not a bot, I'm a legitimate contributor.

Fbifriday (talk) 09:38, 8 February 2011 (UTC)

Lol. I think I'm following a bunch of Brazilian people (not trying to be racist) who also tweet about Justin Bieber. Some side effects of follow-back, I guess. Although now I've hit the follow limit and can't really follow everyone back, but I'm too lazy to go back and defriend people. /ƒETCH COMMS / 15:43, 8 February 2011 (UTC)

Mentor Needed

Dear Fetchcomms, I need a mentor. I think you know me from my classes from last year which you so kindly helped with. Your name echoed frequently in our hallowed halls ... with many positive adjectives connected to it. My assignments for my classes are much more difficult for me this semester. I have one class with 8 students and we are going to be editing articles and creating a few as well. I need advice on content, if you can be of assistance in that area. Not so much on the actual content, but in terms of creating new pages vs editing existing ones. And thinking out the assignment. I'll run them by Sage as well. Thanks and no hard feelings if you've had enough of me and my students. Radavis147 (talk) 01:09, 9 February 2011 (UTC)

Question

How did you get "using Friendly" in your edit summary? WayneSlam 01:42, 9 February 2011 (UTC)

Mm, fixed. I was using a custom Friendly script. /ƒETCH COMMS / 01:45, 9 February 2011 (UTC)

Oh, I tried the default version and it did not work. The edit summary still said TW. Nothing happened after I welcomed a user after I changed my monobook page. Do you think it's because you have a Friendly page and I don't? WayneSlam 01:47, 9 February 2011 (UTC)

No, I'm using a slightly customized version of User:Ioeth/friendlywelcome.js. I had previously set the edit summary bit to say Friendly rather than TW. /ƒETCH COMMS / 04:39, 9 February 2011 (UTC)

Deletion of Morris Kessler and other mobsters

I've left a message here regarding the suspicious prods of Jewish American mobsters over the past month. This seems to be an ongoing problem and which I believe involves User:Mynameisstanley. 71.184.53.150 (talk) 17:52, 9 February 2011 (UTC)

Hmm, re-opened Wikipedia:Sockpuppet investigations/Mynameisstanley. /ƒETCH COMMS / 23:14, 9 February 2011 (UTC)

Aron Ralston

Hi, I'm not totally sure how to go about this, but there's been some rather unpleasant vandalism on the BLP Aron Ralston. I think there's a way of removing these edits from general view. Is that appropriate in this case and is that something you're able to do? (I found your name in the category of admins happy to handle Revdels and you seem to be on-line now). Ka Faraq Gatri (talk) 23:08, 9 February 2011 (UTC)

Revision has been deleted. Thanks, /ƒETCH COMMS / 23:10, 9 February 2011 (UTC)

Thanks. There's one more I missed first time round. Ka Faraq Gatri (talk) 23:16, 9 February 2011 (UTC)

Gone as well. /ƒETCH COMMS / 23:27, 9 February 2011 (UTC)

Editing Fridays article for 11 February 2011

The Editing Fridays article for 11 February 2011 is Theatre. The previous article was Tradition. We welcome your help! You can sign up here

--Guerillero | My Talk 01:57, 11 February 2011 (UTC)

Wikipedia Ambassador Program Newsletter: 13 February 2011

The newsletter of the Wikipedia Ambassador Program – Volume 1, 28 January 2011

This is the second issue of the Wikipedia Ambassador Program Newsletter, with details about what's going on right now and where help is needed.

Userboxes and profiles - Add an ambassador userbox to your page, and make sure you've added your mentor profile!
Be a coordinating ambassador - Pick and class and make sure no students fall through the cracks.
New screencasts - Short videos on watchlists and a number of other topics may be useful to students.
Updates from Campus Ambassadors - Ambassadors are starting to report on classroom experiences, both on-wiki and on the Google Group.
Other news - There's a new on-wiki application for being an Online Ambassador, and Editing Friday #2 is today!
Things you can do - This is just a sample; if you're eager for something to do, there's plenty more.

Delivered by EdwardsBot (talk) 18:22, 11 February 2011 (UTC)

RFA

Questions answered :) thanks. The IAR part was a toughie to answer but I gave it my best shot in an answer. --Errant ^(chat!) 23:23, 11 February 2011 (UTC)

ere we go

		The Barnstar of Good Humor
		For making me spit beer all over my screen [1] Egg Centric (talk) 18:57, 13 February 2011 (UTC)

Thanks! Sorry to your screen :) /ƒETCH COMMS / 19:04, 13 February 2011 (UTC)

Greetings

Hi Fetchcomms! I just wanted to say that I responded to your message by editing it and adding to the bottom. I felt I should let you know, because I'm not sure I did it the right way and that you'll see it! If you could let me know, I'd appreciate it. Thanks! Kristal776 (talk) 04:42, 14 February 2011 (UTC)

Request for Rev delete

You seem to be online can you Rev Delete things for WP:BLP violations

Thanx The Resident Anthropologist (talk) 03:39, 15 February 2011 (UTC)

Um, I don't know if that qualifies for RevDel; revert seems good enough for me. For one, the Facebook link requires logging in; for two, the only thing that user alleged onwiki was the existence of a scandal—no details or anything. I'd talk to the user and if they don't stop, I'll block them. /ƒETCH COMMS / 03:44, 15 February 2011 (UTC)

You seem to have gone offline check you page history if you want to know what the note said. Iron Holds has taken care of it. The Resident Anthropologist (talk) 04:13, 15 February 2011 (UTC)

Chattanooga State Community College entry

I see that you edited the Wikipedia article on Chattanooga State Community College on 3 February 2011. The article history shows that the previous edit was done in 2009. Do you know why there are no edits listed for 2010?

Several staff members at Chattanooga State collaborated to add more information to the article in 2010, so there were several edits during that year.

Thanks for looking into this.

Vicky Leather Dean of Library Services Chattanooga State Community College ````

198.146.36.164 (talk) 17:08, 15 February 2011 (UTC)

(Please note: I have removed your contact information so that it is not collected by spammers.)

To answer your question, the edits that were made during 2010 that you are referring to were done improperly. They involved, among other issues, a page re-titling that was in violation of Wikipedia's copyright policy, as well as additions written in a very promotional tone—paragraphs in a non-encyclopedic style. For example, the page in 2010 included sentences such as "Chattanooga State offers a wide array of programs and degrees", "comprehensive one and two-year occupational, college parallel, continuing education, and community service programs", "offer quality technical and scientific occupational programs", "robust music department", "many exciting opportunities for participation, leadership development, and service learning", "a comprehensive Fine Arts program designed to meet students' educational and personal enrichment needs", and "Tiger softball continues to set a high academic standard, while enhancing students’ opportunities to receive athletic scholarships from universities across the country".

If you will read over these sentences, you will see that the wording is biased toward the college; this is wording I expect to find in a brochure or advertisement, not a neutral encyclopedia. How, for instance, is "wide array" defined? It's purely opinion, as is "comprehensive", "quality", "robust", "exciting", "enhancing", etc. Anyone could say that the programs at this college are "of low quality", "poorly taught", "inadequate", or "boring", but these adjectives would not belong in Wikipedia either because they are opinions, not neutral facts. I have, as a result, removed the two most recent changes to the college's Wikipedia page, because they also consisted of opinionated wording and tone.

Please also note two things: one, you have a "conflict of interest" ("COI"), which basically means that because you are affiliated with the college, you or anyone else with a similar relationship shouldn't be writing about the college on Wikipedia. The reason for this can be seen in what I wrote above—the additions to the college's page will inevitably be biased in its favor. Please don't think this is specifically you; the COI guideline applies to anyone writing about their own workplace, relative, product/service, etc.

Two, Wikipedia is based on "verifiability", or the ability for anyone to check where the information on Wikipedia came from. Obviously not all pages are up to this standard yet, but we welcome anyone to help! Verifiability on Wikipedia is achieved through the inclusion of "reliable sources"—books, news articles, magazines, academic journals, etc. Although this doesn't guarantee that all the information is true, it means readers are able to see that a statement originated from an independent, trustworthy source, and not any person's imagination. For this reason, sources such as social networking sites, blogs, etc. should not be used. This last bit should not be an issue for the college's article, which did not and still does not include any such sources (which are also called "references", if you hear someone else say that); however, please also note that often, a "primary source" like the college's own website is not acceptable because it is not independent of the subject being written about. A good Wikipedia article should not rely heavily or rely at all on such primary sources.

So, I apologize if this response was rather long, but Wikipedia is quite complicated :) The short explanation: those changes in 2010 were removed because they were both a violation of copyright law and because they were completely promotional/advertising in tone. You or your colleagues should refrain from changing the college's Wikipedia page in the future due to the conflict of interest guideline and because it is clearly very difficult to stay unbiased while writing about your own employer. (You are, of course, perfectly welcome to write about other subjects with which you have no connection, if you wish.) If you really must write about the college, please review what I just wrote above, as well as the writing-about-organizations-to-which-you-are-related FAQ, and be sure to check that your wording is not opinionated, and that the information is attributed to reliable sources. (A guide to citing sources on Wikipedia can be found at this page.)

If you have any more questions, just ask. Thank you, /ƒETCH COMMS / 23:15, 15 February 2011 (UTC)

Thank you for the guidelines and clarification. I would like to continue adding non-promotional content and appropriate documentation to the Chattanooga State article. Our librarians have digitized (with permission) and organized quite a number of newspaper articles and other documents related to the history and operations of the college. I believe that these would provide objective documentation for the article. I understand that the use of words and phrases such as "wide array," "comprehensive," "quality," "robust," "many exciting," "high," and "enhancing," appear to be promotional in nature and will try to avoid them. I understand that all Wikipedia content must be encyclopedic in form and neutral in point of view. Although I do not qualify as one of your advisees, I would like to consult with you during the editing process to ensure that all article content meets Wikipedia's standards. With those things in mind, do you think it would be appropriate for me to continue editing the article on Chattanooga State Community College? Vicky LeatherVicky102510 (talk) 19:09, 24 February 2011 (UTC)

Yes, of course you may consult with me, and as long as you understand the guidelines I outlined above (as you have just stated), there is no problem with you adding information and changing the page as needed. You mentioned digitized material for use as references/sources—that's great! To cite those documents on the college's page, just follow the short guide at this page; if you don't understand it, don't be afraid to ask me. Thanks, /ƒETCH COMMS / 23:28, 24 February 2011 (UTC)

Thanks so much! This will be a great learning experience and an opportunity to use our digital collection to add value to published content. I appreciate your helping us find direction. Vicky Leather ```` — Preceding unsigned comment added by Vicky102510 (talk • contribs) 21:53, 25 February 2011 (UTC)

"Ten"?

What is the ten your talk page is designed for? I assume I'm missing something really really obvious. Egg Centric (talk) 17:55, 15 February 2011 (UTC)

It was for Wikipedia's tenth birthday, on January 15. I should probably update my user page; it's been more than a month now :P /ƒETCH COMMS / 22:45, 15 February 2011 (UTC)

Talkback

Hello, Fetchcomms. You have new messages at Wikipedia:Village_pump_(technical).
You can remove this notice at any time by removing the {{Talkback}} or {{Tb}} template.

- Kingpin¹³ (talk) 19:42, 16 February 2011 (UTC)

wat. /ƒETCH COMMS / 02:45, 17 February 2011 (UTC)

Talkback

Hello, Fetchcomms. You have new messages at Staffwaterboy's talk page.
Message added 22:16, 18 February 2011 (UTC). You can remove this notice at any time by removing the {{Talkback}} or {{Tb}} template.

pending discussion

Hi, if and when you have time, could you please reply or action this post, ps - your talkpage is not showing up clearly, regards. Off2riorob (talk) 23:28, 18 February 2011 (UTC)

Yeah, I need to fix my talk page soon. Replied there, etc. /ƒETCH COMMS / 03:31, 19 February 2011 (UTC)

No, not that, this edited to this to reflect current working practice. Off2riorob (talk) 15:03, 19 February 2011 (UTC)

Oh, done. /ƒETCH COMMS / 03:51, 20 February 2011 (UTC)

Ah, ok, I see your just aving a larf with my good faith requests, thanks for that. You have written all that and its laughable, you should stop using your imagined authority in situations you have a strong objection to. Off2riorob (talk) 12:33, 20 February 2011 (UTC)

I don't know what you're talking about ... if you feel offended, I'm sorry, but I don't understand what you mean still—is the editnotice text laughable? I'm really trying to help out but I'm not sure where I'm pretending to be an authority.

If you're referring to the editnotice, I wasn't sure about your wording—and I'm certainly not trying to be POV. You suggested, "The community supported the tool in a straw poll although consensus as regards expansion is undecided. Please use sparingly if and when required so as not to greatly increase the current pool of articles under this protection." However, it's not just expansion, but current scope that is unclear and being discussed at the RfC. On MediaWiki:Protect-text, I added a link to the RfC and wrote "refrain from applying it to articles unless absolutely necessary until the RfC concludes." "Sparingly" is like "absolutely necessary" (although if you want to change it to sparingly, I'll do that). Please don't accuse me of having bad intentions because this seems to be a misunderstanding. Again, I'm sorry if I inadvertently did something wrong, but could you please just tell me straight up what the issue is instead of tossing around accusations? /ƒETCH COMMS / 04:09, 21 February 2011 (UTC)

The edit notice should reflect current practice not what you feel or what you want it to be. Your authority is that you are able to edit it and I am not, if I was able to edit it we wouldn't have had to have had this discussion because I would have edited it on sight. We are using it and it is being added and removed from articles without any problems your edit notice attempts to stop usage of the tool and your recent alteration just compounded that. Just forget about it, the sooner the tool is switched off or used freely the better. Off2riorob (talk) 16:55, 21 February 2011 (UTC)

I don't want to forget about it, I want to resolve this in a reasonable manner. How is your suggestion of "sparingly" any better, is my question, and what is current practice? It would be best if there no really no editnotice at all, I'd think. /ƒETCH COMMS / 02:30, 22 February 2011 (UTC)

Well, one way of resolving this was to forget about it and agree to differ. Current practice is that it is being added to and removed from articles without even a glimpse of fighting or any issues at all. Its you that has written the whole content in that ridiculous note so yes if you want to delete it go ahead I don't think there will be any objections. Before you reject the tool out of hand have a look at the four hundred and seven wikipedia editors that supported the tool going forward in one way or another. Off2riorob (talk) 13:39, 22 February 2011 (UTC)

Note that I'm not completely opposed to PC. I mainly dislike the way it's been dealt with here and all this confusion about it. /ƒETCH COMMS / 16:30, 22 February 2011 (UTC)

WP:PCRFC#Do we really need to do this?

Re. two-month trial has turned into a seven-month one [2], actually, it is already over eight months; the first use was 15 June 2010. Chzz ► 06:31, 20 February 2011 (UTC)

Mentoring students: be sure to check in on them

This message is going out to all of the Online Ambassadors who are, or will be, serving as mentors this term.

Hi there! This is just a friendly reminder to check in on what your mentees are doing. If they've started making edits, take a look and help them out or do some example fixes for them, if they need it. And if they are doing good, let them know it!

If you aren't mentoring anyone yet, it looks like you will be soon; at least one large class is asking us to assign mentors for them, and students in a number of others haven't yet gotten to asking ambassadors to be their mentors, but may soon. --Sage Ross - Online Facilitator, Wikimedia Foundation (talk) 20:06, 21 February 2011 (UTC)

Thank You!

The Featured Sound Main Page Proposal Voter Barnstar

I was truly humbled by the overwhelming community support for the recent proposal to place featured sounds on the main page. The proposal closed on Tuesday with 57 people in support and only 2 in opposition.

It should take a few weeks for everything to get coded and tested, and once that is done the community will be presented with a mock up to assess on aesthetic appeal.

Finally, I invite all of you to participate in the featured sounds process itself. Whether you're a performer, an uploader, or just come across a sound file you find top quality, and that meets the featured sound criteria, you can nominate it at Wikipedia:Featured sound candidates. Featured sounds is also looking for people to help assess candidates (also at Wikipedia:Featured sound candidates.)

Thanks again for such a strong showing of support, and I hope to see you at featured sounds in the future.
Sven Manguard Wha?
Adam Cuerden ^(talk)
(X! · talk)

Talkback

Hello, Fetchcomms. You have new messages at Perseus8235's talk page.
You can remove this notice at any time by removing the {{Talkback}} or {{Tb}} template.

--Perseus8235 16:13, 23 February 2011 (UTC)

RfA

I know that you contacted me after my last RfA in August, and that I contacted you in early December about my plans for another RfA. I took your advice, and the advice of a few others, into consideration and did not nominate myself for another RfA in December. However, I am now once again preparing for another one. Since my last RfA, I feel that I have gotten far more experience, and I don't mean edit count. I actually managed to do something lasting that I am rather happy of- some content creation- and currently have a GAN that I think has a good chance of passing. I also took your advice and did some more work on vandalism fighting, making more reports to AIV and tagging more pages for speedy deletion, but also expanding to participating in RFPP and AFD and taking a look at UAA. Now I think that I am ready for a third, and hopefully final, RfA, and has positive results from an editor review. However, I know that you have a history of giving honest advice relating to RfA's, and I would be very grateful if you could give me some advice once again. --Slon02 (talk) 04:20, 24 February 2011 (UTC)

Lessee ... what do you want to work in (CSD, XfD, RfPP, RM, etc.)? A summary glance of everything looks good; I can look more specifically if I know what to look for :). By the way, 1. did you get my email and 2. I'm reviewing your GAN now, so check in at Talk:Renewable energy in Russia/GA1. If you want to wait a week to let that finish before your RfA so you aren't overstressed, that might be good. Cheers, /ƒETCH COMMS / 04:31, 24 February 2011 (UTC)

I want to work primarily in AIV, RfPP and CSD. Also, I did get your e-mail. Thanks for that, and for everything else (including reviewing the GAN). --Slon02 (talk) 22:09, 24 February 2011 (UTC)

Hm, no glaring issues; everything seems fine. I'd be glad to nom/co-nom you if you wanted; otherwise, go for it whenever you want (I suggest some time next week). /ƒETCH COMMS / 23:41, 24 February 2011 (UTC)

I agree with your suggestion of next week, and I would be greatly appreciative if you would nom/co-nom my RfA. --Slon02 (talk) 00:45, 25 February 2011 (UTC)

OK, just tell me when you're ready. /ƒETCH COMMS / 03:35, 25 February 2011 (UTC)

I think that Wednesday would be a good time to start the RfA. --Slon02 (talk) 02:43, 28 February 2011 (UTC)

OK, no problem. /ƒETCH COMMS / 02:45, 28 February 2011 (UTC)

Sorry for the delay in dealing with those two parts of the GAN that I have tagged as being worked on- I've been feeling a bit under the weather lately. I hope to finish article expansion tomorrow and Saturday if necessary. --Slon02 (talk) 01:43, 4 March 2011 (UTC)

Ah, sorry for not writing up a nom statement for you yesterday; life's been way too hectic this week. I'll have it up maybe tonight; otherwise, tomorrow. Does that sound good? /ƒETCH COMMS / 03:42, 4 March 2011 (UTC)

Benjamin Rush

Hello Fetchcomms. My fellow group members and I are doing a social studies project to edit the wiki of Benjamin Rush and were wondering if you could check out our progress. Your criticism is welcomed. Thanks for the help.

Benjamin Rush (January 4, 1746 [O.S. December 24, 1745] – April 19, 1813) was a Founding Father of the United States. Rush lived in the state of Pennsylvania and was a physician, writer, educator, humanitarian and a Universalist.[1] He is well known as the founder of Dickinson College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania and for being a supporter for the scientific education of all people.(www.ushistory.org Benjamin Rush was born in the township of Byberry in Philadelphia County to John Rush and Susanna Hall, which was then about 14 miles outside Philadelphia. (The township was incorporated into Philadelphia in 1854 and now remains one of its neighborhoods). Rush's father died when he was six, leaving him to spend most of his early childhood with his uncle, the Reverend Samuel Finley. He would attended Finley's academy at Nottingham, which would later become West Nottingham Academy. In 1760, at age 15, Benjamin completed the five-year program earning him a Bachelor of Arts degree at the College of New Jersey, which is now known as Princeton University. He then went on to study medicine under Dr. John Redman in Philadelphia, who encouraged him to further his studies at the University of Edinburgh. There, he earned a medical degree. While in the United Kingdom practicing medicine, he learned French, Italian, and Spanish. Returning to the Colonies in 1769 (age 24), Rush opened a medical practice in Philadelphia and became Professor of Chemistry at the College of Philadelphia (now the University of Pennsylvania). In 1777 he became surgeon-general of the middle department of the Continental Army. Conflicts broke out with the Army Medical service, specifically with Dr. William Shippen, Jr., and led to Rush's resignation in 1778.

Spongebob131313 (talk) 14:01, 24 February 2011 (UTC)

How could you not user Userboxes

It is time to fall to peer pressure and accept that the messy over-indulgent process of Userbox-spam is meant for you!!!

(P.S. You lose the game, and Penguins)

Spitfire19 ^T/_C 17:40, 24 February 2011 (UTC)

What on earth are you talking about? /ƒETCH COMMS / 17:42, 24 February 2011 (UTC)

Editing Fridays article for 24 February 2011

The Editing Fridays article for 24 February 2011 is Personal life. The previous article was Theatre. We welcome your help! You can sign up here

--Guerillero | My Talk 00:33, 25 February 2011 (UTC)

Thank you!

Dear Fetchcomms,

I wanted to thank you for taking the time to speak out for me during the unfortunate situation I found myself in here. As a new user and also as someone who's trying to gain more tech knowledge, it meant and means so much to me to have come across so many kind and thoughtful people willing to dedicate their time to help others like myself learn the ropes! Once I become well-versed in all of this, I certainly will look forward to paying it forward! :) Thanks again!

Best Wishes, Comedybiographer (talk) 07:35, 25 February 2011 (UTC)

Email

I have access to Gmail this afternoon, and so I will email you this afternoon. --Perseus8235 15:37, 25 February 2011 (UTC)

I didn't get anything. /ƒETCH COMMS / 21:42, 27 February 2011 (UTC)

I'm somewhat busy in real life, but I will send ASAP. --Highspeedrailguy (talk) 12:54, 28 February 2011 (UTC)

Portmanteaux

I see that on 9 October 2010, you deleted this page. I've no way of telling what the content was, and I would like to make this page a REDIRECT to portmanteau. "Portmanteaux" is a valid plural of that word. I just want to be sure that you have no objections before I reinstate this page as a plural redirect. — Paine Ellsworth ( CLIMAX ) 16:05, 25 February 2011 (UTC)

Go ahead; the original apparently was a redirect but someone turned it into an article about a band and I didn't realize the original, or I would have reverted to the redirect. Thanks for asking, /ƒETCH COMMS / 21:24, 27 February 2011 (UTC)

You're welcome, and thank you very much! — Paine Ellsworth ( CLIMAX ) 06:22, 28 February 2011 (UTC)

Not a Barn...

		The Original Barnstar
		For acting boldly and adding the emergency email address to the page notice on ANI, I hereby award you this barnstar. Well done, Sir. :) - Neutralhomer • Talk • 08:17, 27 February 2011 (UTC)

Thank you! /ƒETCH COMMS / 21:47, 27 February 2011 (UTC)

WikiCup 2011 February newsletter

So begins round two of the WikiCup! We now have eight pools, each with eight random contestants. This round will continue until the end of April, when the top two of each pool, as well as the next 16 highest scorers of those remaining, will make it to round three. Congratulations to The Bushranger (submissions) (first, with 487 points) and Hurricanehink (submissions) (second, with 459), who stormed the first round. Casliber (submissions) finished third with 223. Twelve others finished with over 100 points- well done to all of you! The final standings in round one can be seen here. A mere 8 points were required to reach round two; competition will no doubt be much more fierce this round, so be ready for a challenge! A special thanks goes, again, to Jarry1250 (submissions) for dealing with all bot work. This year's bot, as well as running smoothly, is doing some very helpful things that last year's did not. Also, thanks to Stone (submissions) for some helpful behind-the-scenes updating and number crunching.

Some news for those who are interested- March will see a GAN backlog elimination drive, which you are still free to join. Organised by WikiProject Good articles, the drive aims to minimise the GAN backlog and offers prizes to those who help out. Of course, you may well be able to claim WikiCup points for the articles you review as part of the drive. Also ongoing is the Great Backlog Drive, looking to work on clearing all of the backlogs on Wikipedia; again, incentives are offered, and the spirit of friendly competition is alive, while helping the encyclopedia is the ultimate aim. Though unrelated to the WikiCup, these may well be of interest to some of you.

Just a reminder of the rules; if you have done significant work on content this year and it is promoted in this round, you may claim for it. Also, anything that was promoted after the end of round one but before the beginning of round two may be claimed for in round two. Details of the rules can be found on this page. For those interested in statistics, a running total of claims can be seen here, and a very interesting table of that information (along with the highest scorers in each category) can be seen here. If you are concerned that your nomination will not receive the necessary reviews, and you hope to get it promoted before the end of the round, please list it on Wikipedia:WikiCup/Reviews. However, please remember to continue to offer reviews at GAC, FAC and all the other pages that require them to prevent any backlogs which could otherwise be caused by the Cup. As ever, questions are welcome on Wikipedia talk:WikiCup and the judges are reachable on their talk pages, or by email. Good luck! If you wish to start receiving or stop receiving this newsletter, please feel free to add or remove yourself from Wikipedia:WikiCup/Newsletter/Send. J Milburn and The ed17 23:41, 28 February 2011 (UTC)

Hi Fetch

I have a question, could I borrow your userpage design to use on my userpage and alter it? —Ancient Apparition • Champagne? • 12:35pm • 01:35, 1 March 2011 (UTC)

Legally, yes, provided attribution is given (you don't even have to ask me, although that is nice!); however, I wouldn't recommend copying either my current user page or current user talk page because the code is extremely hacky, non-cross-skin compatible, fails to comply with most accessibility guidelines, and generally of poor form and quality. I really only intended it as a short term design for Wikipedia 10, but never got around to changing it. If you want, I can create a whole new user page for you, although you'll need to personally write/expand five DYKs, one GA, or source 25 BLPs, before I start. /ƒETCH COMMS / 01:56, 1 March 2011 (UTC)

Oh ok then. I'll consider that offer. By writing/expanding 5 DYKs or one GA do you mean work on an existing GA or DYK or write/expand one article for nomination? Does Stephen Colbert count? :P —Ancient Apparition • Champagne? • 1:00pm • 02:00, 1 March 2011 (UTC)

I mean, create new DYKs/GAs. Articles already DYK/GA do not count. /ƒETCH COMMS / 03:12, 1 March 2011 (UTC)

Ok fair enough, at the moment school work is piling on so I won't have much activity out of school time. I think I'll work on another GA. Cheers fetch! —Ancient Apparition • Champagne? • 4:31pm • 05:31, 1 March 2011 (UTC)

Public Policy Initiative Recruiting Assessors for Spring

Hi Fetchcomms, Your work assessing article quality is really valuable and generated some excellent results from fall semester. The assessment process has been streamlined and dates are clearly posted for the upcoming assessment rounds. The Initiative has a lot more classes signed up for spring, so I would like to recruit some more Wikipedian assessors, and I was hoping you could help with that. I think community members would be more likely to participate if they are recruited by Wikipedians like yourself who have a good reputation. The strategy that worked last semester was to leave an individual message on the talk pages of non-adversarial Wikipedians. I looked for people by contributions to public policy related articles and those active on the 1.0 Editorial Team. I usually mentioned in the message what specifically about their work history made me think they would be a good assessment team participant. This is super time consuming to contact like 50 people, but only doing a few is not so bad. Also, I am looking for feedback about assessing with PPI, so please check out the discussion on the assessment tab, and let me know there if you have a chance to recruit some other assessors. I hope you are looking forward to another great semester working on this project. Drop me a line - ARoth (Public Policy Initiative) (talk) 06:53, 1 March 2011 (UTC)

IRC invitation

Because I have noticed you commenting at the current RfC regarding Pending Changes, I wanted to invite you to the IRC channel for pending changes. If you are not customarily logged into the IRC, use this link. This under used resource can allow real time discussion at this particularly timely venture of the trial known as Pending Changes. Even if nothing can come from debating points there, at least this invitation is delivered with the best of intentions and good faith expectations. Kind regards. My76 Strat 08:38, 2 March 2011 (UTC)

iPad 2

I'm okay with you unprotecting the page, because we're going to see a flood of anonymous exuberance in the next few hours. There's always an odd window when the product is being demoed and blogged about live, but before Apple.com updates and we have tangible information. In my experience, it's best to just let it go and clean it up later. This cleanup may or may not involve merging the content back into iPad; it's an editorial judgement we'll have to make over the next few days when we have reliable information, and I want you to be open to having it either way. Cheers, HereToHelp ^{(talk to me)} 15:58, 2 March 2011 (UTC)

I agree; people will be scrambling around Wikipedia trying to get the latest info as well, so might as well provide something. I've set up a very basic stub right now, but don't have time to watch for anyone inserting rumors later—it's a really hectic day today for me. Also, thanks for having iPad 3 salted very early; reports are already coming in about that! /ƒETCH COMMS / 16:34, 2 March 2011 (UTC)

This is an archive of past discussions. 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.

←

→