User talk:Friejose/archive01

This is Friejose's Archive 1, which contains comments from my talk page from August 2005 through August 2007. Please do check my current talk page for up-to-date Wikiediting battles.

Welcome

I've moved the lovely welcome to Wikipedia I received from John Fader on March 3, 2005, to the following welcome page. Now there's plenty of room for people to tell me how they hate my edits! — Friejose 14:23, 12 August 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Ooh ooh! I know!

The word is created from the first four letters of my family name "Frie", the first three letters of my given name "jos", and my middle initial "e". Can you guess my name?

I know ... or at least I think I do. But I shan't blow your cover here. Take a guess on me from my handle and my suggestion that we have this in common. --Jfruh 01:03, 17 August 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Don't we all have a little bit of that to deal with, though? --Jfruh 13:50, 17 August 2005 (UTC)[reply]

St. Chad's

Thanks for the note; I found another, http://birminghamdiocese.org.uk/cathedral/history/index.htm from the Archdiocese of Birmingham. I'm going to copyedit the article and add the history link. Thanks for the help! -- Essjay · Talk 02:56, August 17, 2005 (UTC)

Manny Ramirez

Hello. I saw your note on my talk page regarding the Manny Ramirez article. I've had bad experiences in dealing with Brian Brockmeyer so I'm unwilling to get involved ni an edit war over this. I will however, suggest a comprimise on the talk page or request that the page be protected No Guru 00:19, 18 August 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Red Sox Nation

I'm glad to help. Honestly, "Red Sux"? That's ridiculous. But, how in all hell did you guess I was an Orioles fan? TIM

Thanks on the Template!

I was originally going to make it into a full fledged category/template, but apparently Babel doesn't do regional dialects, so I put the template itself up for speedy and copy and pasted the code directly onto my user page. I like the lighter blue, I was going for a Patriots/Red Sox kind of vibe, but it's definately easier to read without the straight out blue. Oh well, as long as it isn't in pinstripes, eh?

Cool, I just checked it out, and it looked ok for now, but eventually i'd like to add how we whipped them in 1904. ;-)

Oh yeah, I think I've guessed your name from the hints on your user page, and I won't say it here to protect your privacy, i'd like to ask if you're related to the famous New York Times geopolitical columnist? I disagree with him sometimes, but I definately respect the effort he puts into them regardless. Karmafist 18:35, 22 August 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Other than that, being a lawyer must rock, this place feels like a courtroom sometimes, and i'm definately addicted. Anyhow, if there's anything I can do to help in the future, please let me know, us "New Englandahs" have to stick together ;-) Karmafist 18:03, 22 August 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for your support on Wikipedia:Votes for deletion/Anthelia, that guy doesn't seem to understand that the project isn't for self promotion of his little hobbies. I saw your to-do tasks, and i'll see if I can add some meat to them before I head out. No worries on the length of userbox, it was useful to learn how to fix it manually, i'm wondering if I should try to spread the box somehow.

I assume I got the name of the columnist correct from your answer. I was thinking of asking if you were related to the famous novelist, but I figured he's less notable than the other guy.

Also, I was curious from your point of view: what does it take to become a lawyer? Other than several years of law school that is...

Just curious because i'm into politics up here and in the political world one lawyer is worth like 20 non-lawyers it seems. Karmafist 22:22, 24 August 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Template corrections

Sorry for the overdo with the template. NOW I've read the discussion. Markles 20:22, 22 August 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Mass towns

Hey, no problem. Glad I could help. -Harmil 21:23, 22 August 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Oh my... a major award! Thank you again, and happy editing! -Harmil 21:53, 22 August 2005 (UTC)[reply]

hello there

I've read your comment about collusive bad faith. I'm not sure what you meant but you can check my contributions. If I've made a mistake somewhere I'll be glad to try to fix it. Since you are an admin perhaps you could help me with transfering part of the deleted Opa! to Opa. I would also need to point that [1] are candidate to be moved to Wiktionary. We don't have to delete other's people work, when we can move it to the right place. The Wikipedia project has great potentials, and I believe we should try to achieve them. Thanks for being interested. MATIA 18:07, 24 August 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for responding here. I am not an administrator, that is why I reached out to an administrator for assistance in the page you reference above. I didn't suggest opa should be deleted, I simply think it belongs more appropriately in the Wiktionary. The reason I arrived at your user page originally is because of your involvement in some very heated discussions that made me concerned that your entries were not NPOV. Since I don't speak Greek and I was curious about the postings on your talk page, I used the best option I had, which was a machine translator. Obviously, that gave me a garbled translation, but I got the gist of what was said. I'm disappointed that the people posting on your talk page have disparaged my (admittedly awful) translation instead of simply translating it for me to end any confusion. What is more, I am concerned that the latest posting is a personal insult, and, again, as I don't speak Greek, I'm not sure. What does it say? Since this is English Wikipedia, I don't think it's unreasonable to wonder when posts are in another language, especially when that other language has its own Wikipedia (like Greek does). Anyway, thanks for the note, and I look forward to working with you in the future. – Friejose 18:23, 24 August 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Re. your translation request: it was a reprimand of sorts, laced with some double entendre and directed to the people I was conversing with. I see no need to share it with an uninvolved third party. Thanks for your attention, nevertheless. I feel moderately flattered by it. Chronographos 19:11, 24 August 2005 (UTC)[reply]

I try to be WP:COOL and I believe people should talk about their different opinions, cite sources and try to reach Wikipedia:Consensus. If you have a specific disagreement about any of my contributions please let me know.MATIA 19:26, 24 August 2005 (UTC)[reply]

I agree with Friejose. REX 09:38, 25 August 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Republic of Macedonia

Thank you for bringing to my attention the content dispute at Republic of Macedonia. I'm looking into it now. --Ryan Delaney ^talk 20:51, 24 August 2005 (UTC)[reply]

My adminship

I have expanded my comments as per your suggestions and I hope you reconsider your neutral vote to support. Three months is the standard time for adminship candidates and I have been a registered user for almost three and a half now, plus I have over 2750 edits in that time, which is a lot. If you support me it will be very appreciated. NSR (talk) 22:41, 24 August 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Tony Massarotti

Thanks Frij, I added a bit to Tony, and will continue to add some more. We'll get it up to a Featured Article yet.Karmafist 22:47, 24 August 2005 (UTC)[reply]

From 62.162.198.232

I know he has a point, but only when concerning Wikipedia. The problem is that if I make a personal account, I am sure that they will join start attacking me just in order to desciminate me and my edits. They do that with every Macedonian user that includes in the Macedonia issue.

I respect your advice. Your advice is actually a reason why I am considering that now. Just, whatever point I make, I am sure that I will be outnumbered and the page of Macedonia will stay absolutely pro-Greek and pro-Bulgarian. All in favor to deny the existance of separate Macedonian nation.

Again, thank you for advicing me. Take care...

User 62.162.198.232

It is more than sure that someone neutral should involve. You can see by yourself that more than 90% of the people that ever edited Macedonia page are from Greek origin. And just look at their personal pages, they are full of nationalistic things.

Anytime a Macedonian makes any edit, he is always getting reverted.

I even spoted several places on the talk pages through Wikipedia where a Greek administrators, and sometimes Greek and Bulgarian administrators are literally dealing of how to edit the page to support their POV.

On Macedonia talk page there are many, many proposals by Macedonian users, but as soon as that happens, the Greek users organize and constantly atack and deny any proposal which will reveal anything that is against their wishes. Most often they deny the fackts without any proof or by pointing out facts that have no actual support in the world. Most of the pages they use as sources are proven to be of pro-Greek and pro-Bulgarian nationalism.

Involving neutral administrators is the best thing that can happen. But, even then the Macedonian side will be outnumbered. We are just 2,5 million all over the world. On the other hand, Greeks and Bulgarians combined are more than 25 millions. And they will both prefer the Macedonians to disapear, because that way they can share our history and teritory. But, we are reality and we are here. Wikipedia even presents us as artificial product of Tito. That was just 60 years ago, and is non-sence to claim something like that, especially because more than 5% of our population was alive in that time. They can talk and say the truth.

You know alone that you can push any POV on Wikipedia if you manage to outnumber your opponents. And, that is what the Greeks are doing. Wikipedia seems to be just a tool in their hands in their strugle to assimilate the Macedonian population.

Thank you for your interest. Wishing you a nice day

User: 62.162.198.232

Hi again.

I just wanted to point out that protecting the page and advicing to solve the issues on the talk page already happened some 20 days ago. You can check the history of the Macedonia page and see how all that ended.

The Greek administrators removed the "protected" tag and got the previous version back. Actually, they made the new version even more pro-Greek.

Please, do not get me wrong. I really wish that could solve the issue. The problem here is that 3 sides (Bulgarian, Greek and Macedonian) have different POV about this region. And, all of those POVs are (more or less) supported by scientific or historical facts.

In my oppinion, the best solution is if the page explains well all the versions of the "story". But even then, when "no one will be looking", some user will "sneak out" and change the page the way he wants.

Maybe keeping the NPOV tag all the time is the best solution. Because anyone who edits the Macedonia page (including me) is potentionally pushing some POV.

Thanks again. 62.162.198.232 16:24, 25 August 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Exacly my friend, you are completely right. Actually, I haven't noticed some big unhospitality between the sides in real life. We actually work pretty well together in real life.

The real problem here is the constant wish of some Greeks and Bulgarians to deny the ethnicity, the name, the culture and even the existance of the separate Macedonian nation. The text on the Macedonia page constatly is trying to emphasize that our existance, name and origin are contraversial. That is not fair, my friend.

I am completely aware that this "fights" we have with the Greeks and Bulgarians makes us look as we are savages... and that might be right. But, the only identity we have and we know is the Macedonian identity. We can not decide to change our name, culture, history or nationality, because that is something that can not be changed. It takes centuries to be built.

It is not acceptable for us someone constantly to try to take that away from us.

The history we are talking about is far too complicated.

If you want me to personally explain you all the text that I beleive is pro-Greek or pro-Bulgarian, please contact me in person. I can give you my private e-mail. I am not trying to protect my identity, I am just trying to protect myself from the Greek users to descriminate me and my edits. It will be much easier for them if I had an account.

Using the Macedonia talk page to comunicate and present the facts will be a mistake, because I will again get outnumbered by the Greek users. Same as it always happens. And same as it will happen now, until the page gets unblocked and they keep pushing their POV.

I would like to ask you is it possible to put the NPOV tag on the page and block it, so no one can remove it? Because I am aware that the text can not be changed, because the Greek users will again outnumber us and push their POV. With the NPOV tag, the users who read the page will at least know that someone does not agree with the present text. That is the best that I can hope on.

Thanks again for your interest and good wishes. 62.162.198.232 16:57, 25 August 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Please check the talk page, the section that you oppened. Just couple of hours after, all the Greek users are completely denying anything that goes in favour of the Macedonians. You can check the history that this kind of "movement" on the page was not registered for days.

I am planning to turn of my connection soon, so automatically I will get a new IP. Pleas, if you have any comment write it on my discussion page (for user:62.162.198.232 ) in the next few hours.

I beleive you will understand that I am completely disapointed by this what happens on the Macedonia page. But I am very happy that many neutral users are aware of this kind of problems.

I am completely aware that you can not opponent all those denials and attacks from the Greek side. It is much more than enought just by trying, that you already did.

Thank you again for your interest, no matter will you stay neutral or you will decide to accept someones side and POV. 62.162.198.232 19:41, 25 August 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Dear friend. I decided to listen to your advice and open an account: MyNameMacedonia. Yes, I know, the Greeks will see it as little provocative. But there is also a user "Vergina", an association of a symbol that we both (Macedonians and Greeks) see as ours. Please use this account for contacting me. Thank you

Thanks for your support

Thank you for supporting my request for adminship! I will carry the mop with pride! Coffee 14:38, 25 August 2005 (UTC)[reply]

You're welcome

I am satisfied with the compromise. It should work for both. -Decius 16:52, 25 August 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Update from New Hampshire

It depends on what you mean on how things are going, with me they aren't too bad. I'm still in the post-graduate rut, but a few stable career options are beginning to develop. I've got a gig as a sports reporter with the Cabinet Press out of Milford, New Hampshire, I heard today that I might be able to get something with the Lawrence Eagle-Tribune out of Lawrence, Massachusetts, and then there's my training at Century 21 HBS in Londonderry, New Hampshire along with some other possible jobs in Nashua, New Hampshire(radio),Manchester, New Hampshire(the Mayor Baines campaign), Lowell, Massachusetts(some kind of researcher position)and probably a dozen other wild goose chases I could send myself on. All of it for representing Hillsborough 19 as a state rep in Concord.

As for the politics up here, despite the regional similiarities(Massachusetts has more in common with New Hampshire politically than say, Alabama or Hawaii), in alot of ways it's night and day, except for the jerk part.

Down there being a politician is an actual, lucrative job, here costs it money to be a politician in most cases(Legislators get paid $100 per year). This is largely in part because our almost ridiculous legislator to constituent ratio. If Congress had our ratio, there would be 96,901 congressmen if the current US Census stats are accurate. Most of the time, the parties have problems getting enough candidates rather than the extensive primaries that occur down there.

However, down there most social programs are paid for, here we have virtually none due to our lack of a sales tax and comprehensive property tax(our local property taxes are among the highest in the nation.) Down there is probably one of the most solid locks for any party in the US with the Democrats, up here the opposite used to be true, but luckily for me that lock is quickly becoming a thing of the past as we are often a battleground state at all levels from top to bottom.

So, i've got hope that i'll be able to make it in 2006. I've changed around my entire life for it. In 2004 I only got 4,185 votes, and it looks like i'll need around 7,000, but I was distracted and immature compared to now and what I will be next year during campaign time. After that, it's pretty much a blank slate -- I guess that's what being 24 is all about. I don't expect to try for law school anytime soon, but who knows? I'm just 3 classes away from a B.A in Geography, so I would like to try and finish that off first by 2006 or 2007 while i'm working fulltime. Karmafist 03:02, 26 August 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Amazing!

Well I must admit, I didn't know that someone of the neutrals is trying to clean up and NPOV the Macedonia related articles! I've been quite busy these days and I am very sorry that, due to prioitary (yet boring) tasks (college, etc.) I've been unable to engage myself in the corresponding talk pages. This is likely to continue in the following two weeks.

I am quite dissapointed that Wikipedia admins chose a very primitive method to deal with these articles: they either ignore the (Greek, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Albanian) nationalist extravaganza on them or they put a poll to decide who is right, that of course, always being the largest ethnicity. The first such major disaster happened in the Macedonians/Macedonian Slavs poll that actually legitimized the Greek POV despite the obvious lack of arguments. As these, neutrally provided resources (by User:Zocky, though vandalized by Greek nationalists, notice the CAPS LOCKED "arguments") show, there is absolutely no reason why Wikipedia refers to Macedonians as "Macedonian Slavs" (a term that is considered offensive by them). Wikipedia:Naming dispute is a further proof of these considerations. I consider this to be a major violation of the NPOV policy (which needs to be corrected in a definite period of time), and as well a violation of some human rights issues.

Even before the poll actually started, I've made some proposals to avoid any possible confusion between the majority of the Republic of Macedonia and the other inhabitants of the wider region of Macedonia (allthough, IMHO, that "confusion" does not exist in the common language). The ambiguity between Macedonians and Ancient Macedonians can be obviously avoided with the "Ancient" prefix (no, we do not claim direct ancestry from Alexander the Great's people, unlike the Greek Macedonians - that'd be absurd, considering the time span). The "Macedonian Slavs" term, as ChrisO observed, doesn't end the confusion - there are other "Slavs" that inhabit the region of Macedonia, namely the Bulgarians, Serbs, etc.

Despite my efforts, I have received some, rather irrational arguments such as "It's not an insult to be a Slav" ("you Slav"!:-)). Well of course it's not an insult to to be a "Slav" (to belong to a larger group of Slavic speaking peoples) but it is an insult to refer to a modern nation who chose to be identify itself as "Macedonians" (officially they declare themselves as such for 60 years, and no international organization disputes their right to do so), as "Macedonian Slavs", since this term effectively: 1. denies their right to be identified as they want to 2. denies the 14 centuries old process of mixing between original, tribally organized "Slavs" with the other ethnicities that inhabited this region - Ancient Macedonians, Illyrians, Thracians, even Greeks. They do find it insulting. Some of the major media outlets that referred to them as Macedonian Slavs, oficially apologized ([2]), just because they do react to that term as they are insulted.

If you carefully read the posts in Talk:Macedonia and Talk:Macedonian denar, you will basically see who stands for what. I've been seriously insulted several times as a member of a "Slavic crowd" (for claims that I didn't make), and there were some classical examples of racist attitude among those Greeks that effectively pursue their nationalist agenda. I'm a partisan, a POVer in this debate, so I might be exagerrating, but I think it would be a good idea for you to see those talk pages. Today, I didn't find the time to respond to User:Chronographos arguments (I'll do that some other day), but his eloquence, IMHO, doesn't hide his stereotypical view of Macedonians (poor, brainwashed, etc.), in general.

Nationalism should be fought against, not ignored here on the English Wikipedia. I am amazed that you got into this, everybody seems to ignore it. And when they do to that, usually those who are truly Wikipedians, sucha as this Albanian fellow Dori, retreat from the discussions and seem to grow more cynical about Wikipedia being "a free encyclopedia". I'm glad that, at least someone sees that there is a problem here.

I would be happy to know your opinion about the above matters. Yours, --FlavrSavr 04:31, 26 August 2005 (UTC)[reply]

naming disputes

Well, perhaps because those other disputes weren't handled by adding a footnote, but only by more crude methods? I don't know.

Like I said on TFD, yes, this could just be a subtle form of abuse. However, it is the most benevolent of the Macedonia-related abuses that I have witnessed so far.

The issue of whether it's a template or a pasted chunk of text should not be used as a tool for getting rid of it. A reasonable argument could, if it exists.

Note also that in this case we picked "RoM" as the name for the country article after a vote, too. :) --Joy [shallot] 14:53, 26 August 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Actually, those disputes (China, et al.) were handled by discussing the issue in the text and not feeling the need to insert POV into every page, no matter how tangentally related to the dispute, referencing the countries. The only reason there is a template here is because of the intransigance of a coterie of POV pushers. By letting the template exist, Wikipedia legitimizes their POV pushing, IMO. Thanks for the response, Friejose 14:58, 26 August 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you for cleaning up my user page. Obviously, someone's bothered with my recent arguments, so that's the best they can offer. I think I've managed to deconstruct the Macedonian/Macedonian Slavs naming issue here from a strict NPOV aspect, and all I managed to receive was 1. defending the claim that "Macedonians Slavs" was a ambiguity term, with the very same arguments that actually make it a POV term (from DBachmann) 2. standard ridicule from Chronographos (rather pathetic, I might add).

More importantly, I've analyzed the problem in even greater detail and clarity here. For the arguments of both POVs, PLEASE see that debate. I realize that I am a partisan in the debate, however, that doesn't mean I can skip argumentation as Chronographos does. So, again, as a neutral, please see and/or engage in that debate. --FlavrSavr 22:24, 30 August 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you

I would like to thank you for your vote of support on my RFA. It was good to see that someone appreciated my work, and I was glad you didn't take my comment on "making the awful decent" as a pejorative statement. Thank you. Rl 12:24, 4 September 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks

Hi Friejose:
Thanks for support and supporting comments in my recent RFB nomination. I'm now WP's newest bureaucrat. :) Regards, =Nichalp «Talk»= 18:47, September 6, 2005 (UTC)

Baseball on Wikicities

Hello Friejose, Googie Man here and I want to ask you something as a fellow baseball fan on Wikipedia. Jimbo and Angela have made a new webstie called Wikicities. This link in particular will take you to the baseball Wikicity. As you'll see it's similar to Wikipedia, but my hope is this will allow baseball fans to do more and different things, like reporting on games, in depth statistics, create mulitple pages for pictures, and whatever else baseball fans care to create. You've done great work on Wikipedia and I was hoping you could help get this baseball Wikicity off the ground. Please let me know what you think either at my talk page, or you can email me at terry@wikia.com. Thanks! Googie Man^(Talk), 17:55, 5 January 2006 (UTC).[reply]

Your Work on Route 16 Mass. Page

Just wanted to say that I like what you've done to the Route 16 Mass page. I figured since you've done so much work on it I didn't want to make an edit or two. (yes i know i can edit all i want and you can delete it if you want..but im just extra curteous) But was curious if you noticed how slow this road is from Mendon to Wellesley. I travel it regularly, and I thought that would be an interesting addition to the page. Let me know what you think.

Hello: Wickiah Piissaaah

Hi I'm a new Wikipedian from Natick, Mass (A Mile 1/2 From Rt 16)... just popped in to say hello to a neighbor: I'm old enough to remember everything around here being "Wickiah Piissaaah"

This user is a citizen of the United States of America.

This user is from Massachusetts.

File:Peace Sign 2.svg Merlinus (talk)

Hi I Am Marc:
I was recently married to my lovely wife; We have lived together for several years already...

We love cats (3 currently own us)... Jeffy(15), Echo(6) & Gizmo(3). All sleep with us in the big bed and no room to move an inch.

I was Disabled in a 1993 (Coma)/ and am very slowly recovering. It's tough going out sometimes, though with friends I still do. I have a few supportive friends.

I am an "Unenrolled voter." Democrat/ Republicans, I don't care, whoever serves makes my life better in the long run I vote for!

Avid reader. Has collection of many hundreds of rare books. Especially Science Fiction and Fantasy.

Avid Music collector (2,500 albums)...mostly bootlegs...mostly rare bootlegs...Stones, Kinks, Clapton, Beatles. and solos!

I am what I am I'm strongly opinionated about disabled peoples' rights and jobs for American citizens who have trouble finding minimum wage jobs in my state today and support Universal health care, I would be dead if I did not have it. I am an idiot about Internet social skills. I hope that the Immigration Reform bill will protect disabled citizens who wish to work like myself first before considering allowing new people to come here. I was searching for an internet forum to be my outlet to express my needs, but found that Wikipedia is not best suited for that. I'm brushing up on Wikipedia's rules of conduct, and slowly starting to begin contributing again.

Current book and CD I own hundreds of rare books

Current Book Jack Whyte: "Uther"
Current CD Faves:
- Warren Zevon... "Life'll Kill Ya"
- Howlin' Wolf: "Greatest Hits"
Latest Flick: "Charles II: The Last King"