User:Alex Roggio/Coaching

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Alex Roggio (talk • message • contribs • page moves • deleted contribs • summary • count • total • logs • block log • block • email)


Tutorials
Introduction to Wikipedia
Introduction to editing
Scartol, on template use and design
Dweller, on Featured Article Candidates
Yuser, on fighting linkspam
Learning the ropes
Elaragirl, about deletion and deletionism
The Rambling Man, on vandalism
Grutness's guide to stubbing
External interfaces - let's compare
Internal interfaces - what do you use?
Getting an article to featured article status
Basic dispute resolution
Adding citations
Reporting and dealing with vandals
Fundamentals of editing
WP:AIV
WP:WARN
WP:RCU
WP:RCP
WP:RPP
WP:RFA
WP:AFD
WP:RFD
WP:XFD
CAT:SPEEDY
WP:CSD
WP:RM
WP:FA
WP:RFC
WP:RAA
WP:ER
WP:TM
WP:LOP
WP:PNT
WP:BACK
CAT:HELP
WP:VP
WP:BJAODN
WP:BARN
WP:RD

Hey Alec Roggio, I'm glad to be coaching you. I recommend you watchlist this page for updates from me, I'll do the same. Anyway, to get started with your coaching, I recommend you visit the Community portal daily. Oh yeah, could you tell me what subjects you are interested in? --Phoenix-wiki 20:15, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

What kind of subjects (General, On Wikipedia, Science, etc.)? Lex T/C Guest Book 20:29, 7 January 2008 (UTC)
I mean what kind of articles do you like to edit? I see you're a member of the wrestling project, btw.--Phoenix-wiki 21:19, 7 January 2008 (UTC)
I am a member of WP:PW, WP:SP, WP:PUR and WP:DISAMBIGUATION; so I edit all articles that fall under their scopes. I also like to edit articles based on television shows, biographies of living people, medicine (I am hopefully a future M.D.) and any article that needs some help! Lex T/C Guest Book 19:51, 8 January 2008 (UTC)
Welcome Alex. If you have any questions, regardless of how difficult you think they may be, feel free to ask, and we will try to answer them for you. By the way, I have a question for you: what tools do you use? The Transhumanist 03:27, 8 January 2008 (UTC)
I do not use any scripts or tools other than those that wikipedia.org provides. I do have AWB, but I literally never use it because I have no idea how to use it. (and no idea what it's for). Lex T/C Guest Book 19:51, 8 January 2008 (UTC)
Hi Lexx.  :) TT
Ah, don't know much about scripts, eh? Well, by the time you've finished this coaching you'll be able to use loads of them to do a whole host of things :-). You should create or expand an article related to those interests you just mentioned there and place it on Template:Did you know/Next update (That's a pretty self explainatory page). RFA regulars love candidates who have some DYKs, GAs and FAs, and DYKs are the easiest to get, so we'll start there. ;-) I'd like you to get a DYK, to boost your chance of success in an RFA sometime in the future (and because it's just cool to get stuff on the main page!). After that I'll move on to other stuff.--Phoenix-wiki 20:39, 8 January 2008 (UTC)
I already brought WrestleMania III to GA level, and also have New Year's Revolution (2007) at FAC. (I'm not a newbie; I just don't know Wikipedia's full potential yet). LEX |Talk | Guest Book | Contribs 02:05, 9 January 2008 (UTC)
AWB is a list-maker/page autoloader. First with its list maker you make a list of pages you want to work on, and then it automatically loads the first page on the list, and then when you save that page after you are done working on it, it automatically loads the next page on the list. The listmaker itself has many applications, because it provides so many different ways to create lists of pages. Invaluable for list builders. AWB's developers have added so many features to the program that it is probably the most powerful Wikipedia editor available. It has a powerful search/replace feature, to make it easy to fix spelling or word choice errors. It can append or prepend text to each article (great for placing tags and categories). And it automatically fixes hundreds of common formatting, syntax, and tagging errors, so it cleans up Wikipedia while you use if for other things. Just to name a few. Incredible program. The Transhumanist 20:48, 8 January 2008 (UTC)
Well, what can I say? That's exactly it, though that might not be completely understandable to you yet. I intend to explain it step-by-step later on.--Phoenix-wiki 20:58, 8 January 2008 (UTC)
Some examples of tasks to use AWB for are: make a list with AWB's Google feature to find all the pages with a specific spelling error, and then fix it on all of Wikipedia; linkify terms on many pages, so they lead to a specific page; send a newsletter to all the members of a WikiProject (I think there's a bot available for this too) or notify all the editors who worked on an article that it's up for deletion; add a WikiProject's banner to the top of all the talk pages of the articles in the WikiProject's subject area; tagging many articles, such as with unsourced tags; or just loading a list of tasks (pages to work on) and use AWB to conveniently load the next task (page) when you are done with the previous one. Etc., etc., etc. The Transhumanist 21:03, 8 January 2008 (UTC)
Also, AWB has a users' manual and a discussion page. The Transhumanist 21:04, 8 January 2008 (UTC)
I couldn't find you on AWB's CheckPage. You need to request approval to use AWB, otherwise, only the list maker will work. The Transhumanist 21:54, 8 January 2008 (UTC)
I asked and got it a loooooooong time ago. LEX |Talk | Guest Book | Contribs 02:05, 9 January 2008 (UTC)
I see it's under my old username, Lex94. I shall change that momentarally. Also, I have a question. I was blocked unjustly once [as Lex94], but my block log states I don't have any previous blocks. However, under Lex94's block log, it appears. How can that be corrected?
It just can't be.--Phoenix-wiki 21:14, 9 January 2008 (UTC)
Oh, then I just must make clear that I was blocked during an RFA or something similar... however, I'd have no proof. Lex T/C Guest Book 22:34, 9 January 2008 (UTC)
How was the block resolved? Do the posts clear up the issue and show that you were not at fault? How long ago was it? The Transhumanist 12:15, 12 January 2008 (UTC)
Well, I was blocked for suspected meatpuppetry, which was completely false. I had an article up for AfD and and some editor had created an account the same day (something which happens every day). He was interested in pro wrestling and entered WP:PW, and found out about the discussion and he voted to keep the article. Yamla, with no foundation, said that the user was a meatpuppet and indefinitely blocked us both. The editor has not made an edit since because I bet he is still indefinitely blocked by Yamla. After some other admin listened to reason, he unblocked me. However, the other admin instead stated in the block that "I had promised to not violate WP:SOCK again", something which I had never done. (I didn't even know about such guideline) Lex T/C Guest Book 10:57, 13 January 2008 (UTC)

Oh, don't worry, you're RFA won't fail because of that — it happens more often than you'd think and those people never fail because it. Anyway, I'd like you to get an article to did you know, alowing it to be displayed on the main page (Yes, cool, isn't it :-)). Just write a fairly good article about one of your interests and nominatee it. Everything is explained at WP:DYK. RFA regulars love candidates who have DYKs, GAs and FAs, and DYKs are the easiest to get, so I thought we'd start there.--Phoenix-wiki 13:51, 12 January 2008 (UTC)

I dont see the point in this if I have already made a GA, and have an FAC on the horizon. Lex T/C Guest Book 10:58, 13 January 2008 (UTC)
Yes, but I'd still like you to get a DYK.--Phoenix-wiki 13:47, 13 January 2008 (UTC)

Contents

[edit] Scripts

Now, I think we'll move onto something a little more complicated. You said you don't use many scripts, though scripts can be extremely useful. I'm going to run through some commonly used scripts and you can install them if you'd like, though I'll understabd if you feel uncomfortable with them. Oh yeah, most scripts only work in firefox, so sorry if you're using IE

The must have for anyone is Twinkle. You might have heard about it. It adds extra tabs to the top of pages that allow you to quickly apply the appropriate speedy deletion tag to a page, quickly rollback vandalism that a page has suffered without going to the history, request page protection, quickly nominate a page for deletion, warn vandals using the appropriate template on their talk page and report vandals to WP:AIV. It's great, to install it just put this in User:Alex Roggio/monobook.js

importScript('User:AzaToth/twinkle.js');

Another good script is Lupin's anti vandal tool. It adds links to the toolbox (Beneath the search bar on the left) that lead to page that allow you to filter the recent changes for bad words, show recent ip edits, monitor your watchlist or spellcheck the recent changes. To install it you just put this in your monobook.js

I like this one, it really helps. Thanks, ŁΣҲ T/C Guest Book 18:48, 13 January 2008 (UTC)
importScript('User:Lupin/recent2.js');

Yet another great tool is wikED. It enhances the edit box allowing you to do quite a few cool things, like replace all the occurences of one word in page with another, highlight syntax, fix punctuation and much more — the stuff you'd get in a word processor. To install it just put this in your monobook.js

{{subst:wikEd}}
I added this one, and nothing happened. ŁΣҲ T/C Guest Book 18:48, 13 January 2008 (UTC)
It requires Firefox. When it is loaded, it has a little "pencil in a check box" icon in the upper right hand corner of your screen. If it is black and white, then WikEd is disabled. Click it to enable WikEd, and the icon turns color. The Transhumanist 03:17, 14 January 2008 (UTC)
I'm sorry, but Firefox doesn't work for me. I heavily prefer IE07. Lex T/C Guest Book 03:33, 14 January 2008 (UTC)
Oh, that's a pity, as a genral rule of thumb though, it's FF for wikimedia things and IE for everything else.--Phoenix-wiki 20:28, 14 January 2008 (UTC)
It's just that I rely on Microsoft for all of my software and technological needs. Mostly everything is compatible with IE Explorer (except WikEd of course), but not everything is compatible with FireFox (especially not anything from download.microsoft.com). Lex T/C Guest Book 00:12, 15 January 2008 (UTC)
As a matter of fact, it's only stuff from download.microsoft.com is incompatible, but let's leave the FF vs IE debate for now.--Phoenix-wiki 20:56, 15 January 2008 (UTC)

They can really help.--Phoenix-wiki 13:47, 13 January 2008 (UTC)

Run both. At the same time. And install Linky (while using Firefox). Trust me. Words are insufficient to describe the difference. You must experience it to understand. You will be amazed. The Transhumanist 10:43, 17 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] More

Time to move on from the scripts. You'll find them quite useful while editing here, and you can find more at WP:US. I'd like you to get more involved in WP:XFDs. Looking at your contribs you don't have that many. You might also watchlist WP:AN and WP:ANI and comment there whenever.--Phoenix-wiki 20:56, 15 January 2008 (UTC)

Ok, I'll try and get more involved in XFDs. I just never really have cared for them, as most are 100% sure of winning or 100% sure of losing. Lex T/C Guest Book 11:50, 18 January 2008 (UTC)
See D.M.N.'s coaching page. His current assignment is AfDs.
Proceed with caution. For some discussions on my latest efforts at AfD, see my talk page. It's better to learn from the mistakes of others rather than make those same mistakes yourself.
The Transhumanist 23:31, 18 January 2008 (UTC)
Sorry TT, I've looked at those and that...er...wasn't the most prudent course of action to take :-)--Phoenix-wiki 23:38, 18 January 2008 (UTC)
Yep, like I said: "learn from the mistakes of others" - my mistakes included.  ;) The Transhumanist 11:22, 21 January 2008 (UTC)

Right, well, you seem to be okay at mainspaace improvement, but I'd definitly like that FAC to pass. It'd look great on an RFA (Though any DYKs would be great). There are some policies I'd like you to read over though for any future RFA:

  • WP:BLP
  • WP:BAN and WP:BLOCK — it's essential RFA candidates know the difference between the two
  • WP:NFC — I think you might already have a good understanding of this but if you don't a look can't hurt

I've picked out some optional questions that regularly come up in RFAs, could you answer them? 1. What is your understanding of fair use?

A.

2. What is the difference between a block and a ban?

A.

3. What is the biography of living people policy and why does it exist?

A.

--Phoenix-wiki 12:32, 26 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Collaboration

I'm pushing a collaboration to complete the list of basic space exploration topics.

Should be fun. Drop on by.  ;)

Also, see my post to User talk:Quiddity#Basic topic lists if you want to delve in deeper.

The Transhumanist 09:00, 6 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Page move

I've moved this page to Alex's userspace for safekeeping.

The Transhumanist 03:44, 14 February 2008 (UTC)