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Another notice-posting AWB task

For all the pages listed at User:The Transhumanist/Sandbox15...

Please append the following:

{{subst:User:The Transhumanist/Sandbox16}}

Please set AWB not to skip non-existing pages. (That is, post to empty pages too).

Thank you.

Good luck.

The Transhumanist 00:42, 19 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Seems that a lot of these WikiProjects either don't exist or have a different name. You have created a lot of inappropriate pages, e.g. Wikipedia talk:WikiProject the United States and Wikipedia talk:WikiProject the Cayman Islands. Would you be willing to clean this up? — Martin (MSGJ · talk) 14:35, 27 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Hi there, regarding this, I was following instructions given to me by another user. I'm not sure about removing the "inappropriate pages" as I don't know what this user, The Transhumanist wants to do with the pages, which is why I have left a message at his talk page, and will be pointing him to this discussion. Hope this helps, The Helpful One 09:48, 29 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]
I didn't catch those on the list. Sorry. You can speedy delete them (they're typos). The Transhumanist 21:59, 30 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Transhumanist, please create a list of those talk pages of non-existant WikiProjects so that they can be deleted in one batch. Amalthea 22:57, 30 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Any progress with this? I see one of the above has disappeared. What about the others? Cheers, — Martin (MSGJ · talk) 17:17, 1 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]
Hi there, yes, this has now been done, please see User_talk:Thehelpfulone#Speedy_delete_request. Thanks, The Helpful One 17:32, 1 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Speedy delete request

Please delete these typo titles:

The Transhumanist 04:59, 1 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Bot issue

It seems Thehelpfulbot left messages with code issues in them. For example, this edit. Please clean up any mess it made (no idea if this mistake was caught early or not). Thanks! --MZMcBride (talk) 05:00, 1 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

The Wikipedia SignpostWikipedia Signpost: 1 June 2009

Delivered by SoxBot (talk) at 23:08, 1 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Outlines at Wikicup?

Mr Helpful,

I've been asking lots of mentors over at WP:ADOPT for advice, and User:Garden replied with this one: "include some kind of reward at next year's WikiCup"

You're in Wikicup, right?

How would we go about what Garden has suggested?

(I've also asked Juliancolton, because I think he's in wikicup too).

The Transhumanist 03:25, 2 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

NoMultiLicense message delivery

Thanks for doing the delivery! However, I noticed you delivered to user talk page subpages in some cases instead of to the actual user talk pages. Will you clean that up, moving the messages to the user talk pages where they're more likely to see them? Thanks. Anomie⚔ 20:31, 2 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Request: here's the other half of the speedy deletes

Here's the rest that need to be speedied (title typos):

Thank you.

Good luck.

Have fun.

The Transhumanist 03:27, 3 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Oops - move request

Someone pointed out that "Category:Articles belonging to WikiProject Outline of knowledge" smacked of ownership.

Ouch.

At least they didn't slap any of us with a trout. (Please don't get any ideas). :)

Please move:

Category:Articles belonging to WikiProject Outline of knowledge

To:

Category:WikiProject Outline of knowledge articles


Thank you.

Good luck.

Have fun.

The Transhumanist 20:05, 3 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Very funny!

If you really want to play a joke on someone, finish NuclearWarfare's task before he even reads it.  :)

The Transhumanist 22:14, 3 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

June 2009 DC meetup notice...?

I received an invitation to this on my talk page, apparently from a bot of yours, but I have indicated in the past that I do not wish to receive these invitations. Is there a way to prevent them from appearing there? Thanks! --Wspencer11 (talk to me...) 18:48, 4 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

RE: Oops - move request

Hi there,

It seems that changing the template did the trick for this? Do you have any other plans for any other category renames, because I put through a bot task approval request to do the task - I've been approved for 30 trial edits, but now there's nothing to edit!

The Helpful One 18:00, 4 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

AWB Task - Category adding task

Category renames, no, but adding categories, yes. But this is a more involved task than you are used to. It's quite a project in its own right...
First, you need to use AWB to make a list from Template:CompactTOC with "What links here", and then save that list to a file and then cut/paste the contents of that file to a sandbox and then edit the list to linkify the entries. Or make a list directly from Template:CompactTOC's "What links here" special page by copying/pasting it to a sandbox and using WP:WikEd's search/replace feature to convert it to links.
Article space links only.
Once you have a list of links. Look it over. They're all alphabetical indexes, but the list is too broad to place them all in Category:Indexes, so you'll need to create subcategories. There are Indexes of people (biographical indexes) in there, and Indexes by region (geographical indexes), and other types. It is best to title the categories as "Indexes of" because then all these categories will turn up together in the "All pages with prefix" special page index.
To split your list of links into lists of specific kinds of indexes, one approach would be to copy the list to another sandbox, then choose a type, and then delete all the links that are not of that type from the list. Then repeat this step (with a new sandbox) for each type of index you've discovered.
But before you do all that splitting, you should choose your index types first, and start a discussion at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Index to get others' opinions. Send a message to each person on our team requesting that they meet you for discussion there (including me).
Once you have split your list into subcategory lists, then you can use each list in AWB to add the appropriate category to the articles listed, using your bot.
If you have any trouble with this task, make a post at WT:WPINDEX and invite your problem solvers to meet you there.
Thank you.
Good luck.
Be patient.
Have fun.
The Transhumanist 19:30, 4 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]
P.S.: Once you are done with this task, you can repeat the process for just the alphabetical article index templates listed at Category:TOC templates.  :) Hint: you can combine all their "What links heres" into one list first.
P.P.S.: I've invited four technical users to comment on this task. (So don't be surprised if people start showing up with advice).  :)
Transhumanist asked me to offer my input, but unfortunately, I don't think I can add much to what's been already said. However, I would point to the HotCat gadget (that can enabled using Special:Preferences) as a tool that could be used in place of a bot for speedily adjusting the categories on a page. AGK 13:04, 5 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

See Portal:Beer/Selected article and others

You were doing this: BOT: Adding Category:Beer Portal to page using AWB -- now the articles contain </noinclude> strings, please fix. Thanks. feydey (talk) 19:59, 4 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

D.C. Meet up notice issue?

Hi! I got a notice on my talk page notifying me of this Wiki meet up because my "user page indicates that [I] live in Maryland, Virginia, or DC.)" I have always lived in Texas, which is what my user page indicates! I thought you should know about this error. :)

Thanks and good luck, --Naha|(talk) 20:52, 4 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Outline update - Good news and bad news - 06/08/2009

The big push continues.

And it seems to be working!

The good news is that there's growing support for outlines, and there are more editors than ever editing them!

The bad news is that the complainers are disproportionately represented on the project's various talk pages. While many editors work diligently on the front end, a handful of complainers are trying to tear down the project behind the scenes. Fortunately, barely enough supporters have been watching those pages that no consensus for moving or merging the outlines has succeeded. So far...

Big problem: ignorance of what outlines are for and their benefits

Most of the opposition seems to be unaware of the complete range of what outlines are used for. They just don't get it.

This is why it is important to complete the outline article draft. An article with a comprehensive treatment of outlines would be the perfect place to refer anybody unfamiliar with outlines to.

Opposers also don't seem to understand how outlines differ from some other page type that they prefer. Some think articles are good enough as an overview, others think portals are more in-depth, still others think categories or navigation boxes are the most efficient and useful way to organize and present topical information. Some have simply never seen an "Outline of" page before and think they are a new type of page (they've been around under other names since 2001).

If you run across anyone who doesn't understand the role of outlines on Wikipedia, Wikipedia:Why do we have outlines in addition to...? might help reduce their misconceptions or uncertainties about outlines.

On the bright side, you've got to see this...

To add the outlines and related support pages to your watchlist (takes less than 30 seconds), cut and paste them from Wikipedia:WikiProject Outline of knowledge/Watchlist into your raw watchlist. For a way to improve the display of your watchlist - by namespace (very useful) - see Watchlist sorter, or use the "super fast upgrade" at WP:OTS.

Or go to Wikipedia:WikiProject Outline of knowledge/Watchlist using Related changes (currently without the talk pages) and click on "Related changes" in the toolbox menu on the sidebar on the left side of your screen.

The big push

The big push started with about a thousand banners and notices being placed on article talk pages all over Wikipedia.

But it didn't stop there...

Welcome our new members...

The following Wikipedians have joined the OOK team.

Be sure to stop by their talk pages and introduce yourselves.

Enter the mentors!

I asked a bunch of mentors at WP:ADOPT for advice. Several of them answered on my talk page. Most of those who replied were happy to help, and posted some very good ideas. A couple even joined the project.

Here are their ideas, and what is being done about them. A few of the tasks still need volunteers:

Linking to outlines has begun

To the tops of about 30 subject articles, I placed a test batch of hatnotes leading to the corresponding outlines. The hatnotes look like this:

For a topical guide to this subject, see Outline of X.(Hidden: <!- PLEASE LEAVE THIS LINE IN PLACE because it leads to the page that serves as the table of contents for Wikipedia's overall coverage of this subject. Thank you.-->

The rationale for the hatnotes is that each outline is a topical guide for its subject, and since tables of contents go at the front of a book, a link to each outline should be placed at the front of its subject.

Unfortunately, not all editors agree. Some of the hatnotes have already disappeared.  :(

Some past discussions pertaining to the existence or location of outlines

Note that the "Lists of topics" are of two types, including outlines and indexes, so discussions to remove, move, or merge those are usually relevant to the OOK. Also, outlines are a type of list, so discussions that affect lists in general also pertain to outlines. We've got to be on our toes!

I've excluded links to live discussions, out of respect for WP:CANVASS.

Here's a directory of outline support pages:

Keep up the great work!

The Transhumanist 03:23, 8 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

WPOOK advert banner under development, here's the beta...

Penubag needs feedback.

I've posted a few changes for him to make to it.

Please post additional comments and suggestions for him at User talk:Penubag#Chocolate banner.

Thank you.

The Transhumanist 02:05, 9 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

WikiCup proposal

Thehelpfulone,

I posted a proposal to add outlines to next year's WikiCup, and nobody there seems to understand outlines.

Help.

The Transhumanist 04:03, 9 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Outline collaboration!

As you know, Penubag is working on a banner to advertise the Outline WikiProject. And he's almost done.

The banner prominently presents the "Outline of chocolate", which of course will become the most widely advertised outline as soon as the banner goes live. The first thing many editors will do after seeing the banner is look for that outline.

The problem is, we don't have one.

So that's our first outline collaboration!

I started a draft this morning.

It needs to be finished and moved to the article namespace before we can start using Penubag's banner ad!

Come join in on the fun. It's chocolate!

The Transhumanist 21:47, 9 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Regex gadget

They've added a gadget tab in "my preferences", and there's a regex menu you can activate.

Let me know if it's any good. )

(several minute delay...)


Wow.

But the documentation is confusing. If you install it via "my preferences", don't install it again via the instructions in the documentation! It will double up the menu on the sidebar. It's double on mine, and I can't get rid of the copy.  :(

The menu shows up when you are in edit mode, but it will not work if you are in WikEd.

Just click on "Custom regex" and an input form will appear above your edit window. I didn't notice the damn thing right away, because you have to scroll up to see it!

Have fun.

The Transhumanist 00:27, 10 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

How goes the category adding task above?

Just curious.  :)

The Transhumanist 01:41, 10 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

The task may be more complex than it looks. Before you apply a bot to it, you should use AWB on it semi-manually, to familiarize yourself with the task. There may be some pages in there that don't belong to the index categories. But you won't know until you get to know them better. Also, you don't even know what subcategories you'll be using yet. I suggest you crank a few hundred of these indexes through AWB yourself, to bet a better feel for the task. The Transhumanist 20:08, 10 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]


When you have your lists ready, let me know. Don't start adding categories to articles until we've discussed it thoroughly. This is going to be a tricky one with a rather involved category tree. I look forward to seeing your tree. The Transhumanist 23:38, 11 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Note

Hello! You said at User_talk:Eusebeus/Archive_6#Incivilty_edits, that "this is your final warning, next time you are incivil, you will be blocked from editing for a period of time." Please note such recent edits as this in which he calls others "Cruftmongering disgruntleds whining". Thus, DGG and then your final warning are still not being heeded. Thank you for your time and help. Sincerely, --A NobodyMy talk 17:57, 11 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

WikiCup Newsletter XIX and XX

Delivered by The Helpful Bot at 22:03, 13 June 2009 (UTC) for the WikiCup. To report errors, please leave a message on the talk page.[reply]


A suggestion and a request (new member task)

We have a new member on the advanced wiki-tools team. Maybe you'd like to welcome User talk:MacMed.

I've given him his first task, but I don't have much online time today (and I'm unsure how much I'll be on over the next couple of days). Would you be so kind as to check in on him from time and see how he's doing?

I'd appreciate it.

Thank you.

The Transhumanist 23:11, 14 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

WPOOK's advert banner is done!

Is it perfect? Can it be improved?

Penubag loves feedback. Please let him know if it can be further improved.

Thank you.

The Transhumanist 22:55, 15 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

The Wikipedia SignpostWikipedia Signpost: 15 June 2009

Delivered by SoxBot (talk) at 12:25, 16 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

duck socks

That socking was so obvious I'm thinking maybe it wasn't even done with malicious intent. –xenotalk 18:14, 17 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

That sounds fine. I'll keep an eye on that page. –xenotalk 18:24, 17 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Your bot request

Hi Thehelpfulone I wanted to let you know that Wikipedia:Bots/Requests for approval/Thehelpfulbot 9 is labeled as needing your comment. Please visit the above link to reply to the requests. Thanks! --BAGBotTalk 13:55, 18 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Regex lesson

I just got a little regex lesson from the guys over at WP:VPT, and I've copied it to User:The Transhumanist/Regexes.

Enjoy.

The Transhumanist 19:12, 18 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Outline update - Full Steam Ahead! - 06/18/2009

Several members of the WikiProject have been hard at work.

Buaidh has been building and refining the outlines on the U.S. States, the states' historical outlines, and the Historical outline of the United States. Lately, his edits have dominated the project's watchlist readout. (I think he's overdue for a barnstar or two. hint hint)

Penubag has been working on medals for all the main branches of the OOK, and has completed the OOK WikiProject's animated advert banner (see below).

Highfields has been filling in the currencies for each country on their respective outlines.

NuclearWarfare and Thehelpfulone have been busy with WP:AWB, posting banners and notices, and helping our sister project, the Index WikiProject, get established. Indexes work hand-in-hand with the outlines and are prominently linked to from the top of most of them. And the outlines, which serve as tables of contents, are only as good as the pages they link to.

Since we started integrating (linking) the OOK and its support pages into the encyclopedia and into the Wikipedia community, activity on outlines has been increasing. Though there's still much left to do.

But I digress. There are a couple more...

Welcome our new members! Stefan and MacMed

Stefan is building the Outline of sharks.

MacMed has joined our advanced wiki-tools team, and is currently adding links to outlines in the corresponding subject articles' see also sections.

Be sure to stop by their talk pages and say "hi".

WPOOK's advert banner has gone live!

Penubag has finished this WikiProject's animated advert banner, and it is now being displayed on the Wikipedia ads template which in turn is displayed on about 2000 user pages. Each time someone access one of those pages, there is a 1 in 184 chance of them viewing this:

Wikipedia ad for Wikipedia:Wikiproject Outlines
Wikipedia adsfile info – #184

If you'd like to display the banner on your userpage locked-on to the ad as above, use the following code:

{{Wikipedia ads|ad=184}}

(By the way, it's been awhile since we've barnstarred Penubag).

Watchers needed!

If you haven't already, please add the entire project's watchlist to your watchlist. Here's how:

From the edit window, copy and paste Wikipedia:WikiProject Outline of knowledge/Watchlist into your raw watchlist.
Or go to Wikipedia:WikiProject Outline of knowledge/Watchlist using Related changes and click on "Related changes" in the toolbox menu in Wikipedia's sidebar on the left hand side of the screen.

Check the watchlist every time you log on!

I forgot to mention this step above.  :)

The OOK is in 5 other Wikipedias?

I can't make heads or tails of 'em, but these links were on Portal:Contents/Outline of knowledge:

Resurrected from the grave yard...

I discovered an AfD discussion on possibly the first article named "Outline of", which was called Outline of Islamic and Muslim related topics, and which was created 4 years ago. Of course they deleted it. But now it has many friends, and so it has risen from the dead.  :)

See the DRV discussion at Wikipedia:Deletion review/Log/2009 June 7#Outline of Islamic and Muslim related topics.

A diamond buried in project space

Recruiting

Recruiters needed. Drop me a note if you are interested.

Advice from the mentors

  • Astatine-210, Strdst grl, and Willscrlt - link to the outlines from the corresponding subject articles' see also sections - this is underway by MacMed (non-country outlines) and User talk:NuclearWarfare (counry outlines).
  • Astatine-210 - add a link to the outlines to the disambiguation pages of the corresponding subjects - good idea. Since "Outline" is just the type of page, not the subject, I think these might qualify for inclusion on disambiguation pages. We need someone to look into the relevant guidelines on this.
  • SimonTrew - provide a badge (userbox) for WPOOK members to add to their user pages - Penubag will have one for us soon.
  • Zachary crimsonwolf - create a card explaining outlines, and send it to everyone you know, and make it viral (by including a request for the recipients to send the card to everyone they know) - this task has been split in three:
  1. Creation of a "thank you for your interest" card which introduces (explains) outlines, to send to queriers, new participants to discussions, those who seem to be confused about outlines, etc.
  2. Creation of a thank you card / invitation to the WPOOK, to send to users we see working on outlines, including a request for them to invite others whom they think might be interested
3. Creation of an invitation to Wikignomes, with a brief rundown on the types of tasks there are for them to do on the outlines. The invitation will include a request for them to invite anyone they think would enjoy working on outlines.
  • weebiloobil - add examples to Wikipedia:Outlines - more examples will be added as suitable outlines are completed
  • weebiloobil - add a picture to Wikipedia:Outlines (it doesn't have to be relevant), to provide atmosphere and to break it up visually and add a splash of color - will do, and we'll add a caption to make it relevant, with a link to the outline on that subject. Thank you for the idea.
  • Zachary crimsonwolf - ask Jimbo Wales to bestow the award(s) for the country outlines contest, once you get it going first - we'll give that a try
  • Zachary crimsonwolf - ask everyone in the project to inform their acquaintances around Wikipedia about the OOK - will do, as soon as the cards
  • UzEE - collaborate with all the WikiProjects you share scope with - we've placed a banner on their talk pages, and have placed task notices on some. We'll be posting more tasks, and plan to create a section on contents system development and maintenance for each WikiProject page itself.
  • SriMesh - if you can't get outlines added to next year's WikiCup, then create your own WikiCup-like contest - there's 6 months left to this year to address reservations and work out the details at WikiCup. In the meantime, there's the 200-WikiProject contest, which needs input.

More outline tasks

New outlines in article space

New outline drafts

Main discussion pages

Keep up the great work

I'm impressed with the level of enthusiasm and work going into the outlines. I'm proud to be working with each of you.

The Transhumanist 21:43, 18 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

WikiCup Newsletter XXI

Delivered by The Helpful Bot at 22:36, 22 June 2009 (UTC) for the WikiCup. To report errors, please leave a message on the talk page.[reply]

Outline collaboration #2: Outline of Gibraltar

This outline is approaching completion.

I added a bunch more links, finding them with the following Google site-specific searches of Wikipedia:

(You can use the wikicode for the links above as the basis for new searches - just replace "Gibraltar" with any other country or region name).

Request: please redirect the redlinks! (bluelinking...)

The redlinks need to be bluelinked where possible. The most useful way is to create redirects leading to the material (which is usually included in a section of an article - see Wikipedia:Redirect#Redirects to page sections. That way, when the redirect pages are replaced by the actual articles, the links will already point to the right places.

Please take a crack at it, and bluelink a few.

Thank you.

Good luck.

Have fun.

The Transhumanist 00:39, 23 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

The Wikipedia SignpostWikipedia Signpost: 22 June 2009

Delivered by SoxBot (talk) at 03:33, 23 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I finally got to whack somebody with a trout!

That was fun.  :)

The Transhumanist 23:28, 23 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Outline update - Push push push - 06/25/2009

Work is proceeding apace...

New members
Hatnotes

The current consensus is that we can't place a hatnote leading to an outline at the top of a subject articles unless the outline being presented is of at least the same quality-level as the article.

What's next...

Improve outline quality by completing them.

Place hatnotes for the outlines of high enough quality.

Guidelines pertaining to outlines need to be updated. Outlines emerged as a class of pages only a few months ago, and most of the relevant guidelines don't cover them specifically. For example, Wikipedia:Stand-alone lists is incredibly out of date.

Invite wikignomes, wikielves, and wikifairies (all 2500+ of them) to help on the outlines .

Identify 600 more subjects with coverage extensive enough to justify outlines, create rudimentary drafts for them, and post notices to the corresponding WikiProjects and subject talk pages to help build them.

Convert outlines titled "List of" to outline articles, and add them to the OOK. There are a few hundred of these. Conversion instructions are needed.

Add a description of outlines to About Wikipedia and Wikipedia:Basic navigation, and add tips about outlines to the WP:TOTD and Tips library.

Keep up the great work!

The Transhumanist 20:27, 25 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Deo Volente

Hi Thehelpfulone, can you help me? — Mikhailov Kusserow

Helpfulone, I've unblocked his main account per our last discussion on this. It seems he was well-meaningly unaware of the sock puppetry guidelines on voting as we suspected. Cheers, –xenotalk 07:02, 28 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

WikiCup Newsletter XXII

Delivered for the WikiCup by  ROBOTIC GARDEN  at 21:58, 28 June 2009 (UTC). To report errors see the talk page.[reply]

Request for feedback

Minnecologies has done an incredible amount of work on Outline of forestry and posted a note to me on my talk page requesting feedback.

I've posted my observations at Talk:Outline of forestry#Finished outline review.

Please take a look at the outline and let Minnecologies know what you think of it on the outline's talk page.

Thank you.

The Transhumanist 19:37, 29 June 2009 (UTC) Delivered by JCbot (talk) at 20:17, 29 June 2009 (UTC).[reply]

Thanks for your help, but I request further clarification.

Please check here. User talk:Yogesh Khandke Yogesh Khandke (talk) 04:02, 30 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

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