User talk:Gadfium/archive25

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Archived talk pages
2004 Mar-Dec
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2007 Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
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Contents

[edit] Infoboxes for NZ towns and cities etc

Have raised this on the NZ noticeboard idf you'd like to comment. Cheers Kahuroa 00:18, 2 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Even more repeated vandalism by 121.73.21.22

About 2 weeks ago, on 20 March, you placed a 1 week block on an anon IP for repeated vandalism. On 5 April, the same IP added some minor vandalism to the article Sumo (the text "ccc" at the end of a paragraph). I don't know what the regular procedure is for a situation like this, but I figured you would. Xaxafrad 22:34, 4 April 2007 (UTC)

I'll keep an eye on them. This particular vandalism looks like a newbie test, it showed no indication that the editor has any previous experience with Wiki markup, and there's no indication of malice either, unlike some of the previous edits, so I'm guessing it isn't the same person. Whois says the IP is assigned to a cable customer in the Wellington area, but it still might be a school or library computer.-gadfium 01:21, 5 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] NZ Projects

Thanks for the welcome, so far i've found most people on wikipedia to be quite nice. At the moment i'm trying to gather information for Auckland Secondary School pages, as it seems like half of them are stubs. But apart from that, if you need a hand with any other projects i'm sure I could help. Lannah 05:25, 7 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Are you busy?

Someone needs to guide new contributor User:Hayden5650 but I fear it will take lots of time (which I haven't got) so maybe you might be prepared. I think if you see his latest edits at Weston, New Zealand you will get the idea. I truly haven't the time, otherwise I would.219.89.17.189 06:21, 8 April 2007 (UTC)

Perhaps you could explain your concerns a little bit. The difference I see between your edits and his boils down to whether to use "3" or "three", and I really don't care either way.-gadfium 06:46, 8 April 2007 (UTC)
I would also appreciate knowing what was wrong with my edits to Weston, as while I did indeed change three to 3, that was merely at the beginnig of a long contribution to the article. I would also appreciate messages left to me to be from user names, not IP addresses as this makes me feel that the message was more malicious than an offering of advice. If this is the case, then I apologise to you Gadfium for being brought into it. --Hayden5650 09:26, 8 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] I'm a real person - not a puppet

Please forgive my impertinence for appealing to your sense of fairness and requesting your help.

I am sorry that I am unable to append my signature but I assume that I should not log on because I have been indefinitely banned as puppet.

As an administrator I believe you will be able to e-mail me at the address I registered under my user name W. Frank (which is a truncation of my passport name) and I will be happy to fax you my German Passport, ID Card, Pension Book, etc.

It is hardly surprising that G and I share some interests.

G introduced me to Wikipedia in December 2006.

before that date (when his cancer worsened) he was working for my company. Both g's children were born in Nelson and I naturally visited them when I holidayed in NZ in 2005 and again last year.

When I damaged my leg, G suggested editing Wikipedia in December 2006 but if you examine the articles I have edited and he has edited you will see that, although we have some interests in common, we have edited independently.

All this has blown up in the last few days.

Because he has been having chemotherapy in Glasgow (where I live) I have returned the hospitality offered by his family (both in ireland and NZ) and put him up in between sessions (as a perk, I retain a flat in the same building of my old firm).

A few days ago, before he went in for his latest session, he did show me (on the firm's computers) what had been happening with the IRA articles steadily reducing the prominence given to victims and since I have suffered due to terrorism myself I was also outraged.

In that limited sense he did canvass me but the opinions I expressed have been my own. I would also admit to using cut and paste from time to time from his edit summaries after he left for the hospital but again that is made easier to do because he had been using the same company registered browser (which, for security reasons, keeps the history as an audit trail - both he and I work/worked for a company active in bank security card software).

I would be perfectly happy to operate a self denying ordinance of not editing any irish articles if that were felt appropriate.

As the brief biography on my user page made clear (before someone deleted it yesterday) you will see when you get my passport and birth certificate that the name, date and place of birth all are truthful.

I will not visit G in hospital until later this evening but I assume that he will give me permission to also fax his personal documentation to see that we are not even remotely similar (I am bald, short and German - he is hairy, tall and Irish) and I am also willing to visit anybody you name in Scotland that is on a bus route to establish my bona fides (as a pensioner, I can travel anywhere in Scotland for free on my bus pass).

Please be so kind as to e-mail me (or tell me here that you can not.

I appeal to your sense of fairness in helping me correct this injustice and restore my good name.

I apologise unreservedly for any inappropriate conduct (intentional or in ignorance).

W. Frank (I can not sign because of the editban but you can confirm that this is really me by e-mail, fax, phone, post or personal visit).89.240.90.169 14:39, 11 April 2007 (UTC)

Please make future posts only on your talk page. I will see any posts there, and I'm sure Tyrenius will as well. To post elsewhere is an evasion of your block and will only get you into more trouble. I had already commented in your favour at User talk:Tyrenius before you posted this.-gadfium 19:56, 11 April 2007 (UTC)
I have opened a discussion on User talk:W. Frank. This is of course an "unusual" situation and merits being examined properly. I will try to resolve this with the user, and, if not, give him proper access to appeal. Tyrenius 21:54, 11 April 2007 (UTC)
Thanks. I'll watch proceedings, but I've made my point so probably will not get involved further.-gadfium 22:05, 11 April 2007 (UTC)
At your suggestion, I have unblocked User:W. Frank - conditionally for the time being - and will continue the discussion. Tyrenius 22:25, 11 April 2007 (UTC)
Thank you. However I still can not edit my user page while logged on!?!?!!! Please e-mail me.

[edit] Thank you Gadfium

Thank you from the bottom of my heart for taking the time out of your busy life to give me a chance to prove that I can learn from my ignorant mistakes and make a valuable contribution by continueing to edit English Wikipedia.



Please forgive me for posting again on your user page but
1) I am still blocked on my own user page and
2) I assume that your injunction "Please make future posts only on your talk page. I will see any posts there, and I'm sure Tyrenius will as well. To post elsewhere is an evasion of your block and will only get you into more trouble. I had already commented in your favour at User talk:Tyrenius before you posted this." has now (temporarily?) lapsed after the subsequent temporary (if unsuccessful?) unblocking comment by T.



[edit] proof positive

I continue to believe that, in our case, it should be very easy for me to prove that I am a different person from G, the person I have been accused of being a puppet of (or vice versa).

I would much prefer that this allegation is proved wrong rather than that administrators and others have just to "assume good faith" or "innocent until proved guilty".

In our case we have the physical evidence due to our corporeal existence (passports, birth certificates and, in G's case, marriage certificates and children's birth certificates; fingerprint and retinal recognition logon audit trails on work computers, etc) to establish indubitably that we are two separate real persons

(and, if you did but know it, people with very different Weltanschauungen and political views. After having been friends and colleagues for more than 20 years it is hardly surprising that we share a hatred of terrorism and a mistrust of those apologists who would seek to water down or bowdlerise the historical record of atrocities carried out in the belief that any means justify a sufficiently important end. If Wikipedians will look at the differing cases of how Germany and Japan have written their domestic histories after the Second World War (- sorry, incident) it will not be necessary for me to labour this point. My whole life was ruined by British terrorism and G's whole family have been scarred by Republican violence and sectarian hatred of mixed denominational marriages so it is hardly surprising that we both wish WP to be an honest and balanced record of attributed points of view rather than censored by terrorist spin doctors or their apologists).

However, I do not want to live under a cloud for the rest of my life as if I had only been acquitted with the peculiarly Scots third verdict of Not proven.

I wish my good name to be cleared and the Sockpuppet verdict (or allegation or whatever) to be removed and expunged and then my user page restored to what it looked like before that ugly and defamatory template was placed there without warning.

I will then trust that a note (perhaps scans of the forensic report?) can be placed in whatever forum administrators use before they place these sockpuppet templates so that the same allegation does never re-surface again without sober and considered ( - ie more than a day's pause between allegation and conviction -) deliberation.

[edit] e-mail communication

Since no administrator has had the decency or sense of natural justice to e-mail me so that I can prove my corporeal existence with documentation, medical records, etc, would you be kind enough to ask an administrator (perhaps someone with a police, forensic or investigative background) to e-mail me using the address that I registered when I first signed up to Wikipedia in December 2006?

I do understand that you are very busy and may have an understandable wish to stay out of any crossfire and may therefore not wish to reply either by e-mail or publicly. If this is the case, I will simply have to close by thanking you again for having the decency to ask Tyrenius to assume good faith and not ban people indefinitely without even a warning and without giving them a chance to clear their characters.

Note for onlookers: The last paragraph is my summation of my gratitude to Gadfium and my summation of his actions and I wish to make very clear that, at this point and with the sole exception of G [ - and "G" does not mean gadfium], I have not knowingly either received or sent any e-mails to or from Wikipedians.

And now those fateful four tildes (UNLIKE g I HAVE DOUBLE CHECKED MY wp LOGIN AND CLEARED THE CACHE ON THIS WORKSTATION):W. Frank 10:42, 12 April 2007 (UTC)

I can see no reason why you should not be able to edit your user page. It is not protected, and you are not blocked. Perhaps you saw one of the transient errors which happen from time to time when editing Wikipedia. I see such an error message at least once a day, and retrying after a minute almost always works. If you are consistently getting problems on your user page but not elsewhere, report it to the Village pump (technical), saying what exactly is the error message you get, and do you get it when you press the edit tab, or when you try to save your changes?

My advice to post only on your talk page was intended only while you were blocked. Now that you are unblocked, you can post as normal, except that you have volunteered not to post on articles relating to Irish issues and Tyrenius has taken you up on that offer. You should make it a priority to continue the dialog with Tyrenius on your talk page.

I don't want a faxed copy of your identification. I'm not just assuming good faith here; I genuinely believe that you and G are different people. I doubt that Wikipedia has ever asked anyone to prove their identity in a case like this (they do have to when getting certain very trusted positions within Wikipedia such as checkuser rights or employment; and if you claimed to be a famous person we might want proof of that too). You can email me at any time through Wikipedia, but it is probably better to keep all discussion out in the open here.

Don't regard yourself as having been found "not proven"; rather consider that the charges of sockpuppetry are being investigated by interviewing you, and will probably be dropped. However, the suspicion that you have edited at G's request (or vice versa) continues. You need to discuss this with Tyrenius. If you cannot reach a resolution with him, then there are mediation and appeal processes, but I doubt that they will be necessary. If you've made a mistake in the past, or you've broken policies you weren't aware of, say so. At Wikipedia, we don't punish people for past mistakes, but we do protect ourselves from continuing problems.

In your dialog with Tyrenius, you can ask him to remove the sockpuppet templates from your user and talk pages.-gadfium 20:14, 12 April 2007 (UTC)

I hope that a dialogue will be able to clear this matter up. I will remove banners. Tyrenius 01:22, 13 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Wanganui Collegiate School

Could you explain what would be a more appropriate way to prevent students modifying the school's page? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by BArtManInNZ (talk • contribs) 21:55, 12 April 2007 (UTC).

The {{anonblock}} template is intended to be put on the talk page of an IP address which is shared by many users, some of which are vandals. {{schoolblock}} is a customised version for school IP addresses. In both cases, the templates should only be used on IP addresses which are blocked from editing, and this can only be done by administrators, not by ordinary users.
You placed the template on an article, not on an IP talk page, and I removed it because it was inappropriate there.
The Wanganui Collegiate School article gets occasional vandalism, as do many secondary school articles in New Zealand. There are also constructive edits from IP addresses. The vandalism is nowhere near the level at which we would normally disable anonymous editing. See the semi-protection policy for when we would consider disabling such editing. Vandalism is normally removed fairly quickly.
We can block the school's IP address from editing on request, allowing those students or staff who create accounts at home to edit using those accounts at school. This would prevent editing of any article on the English wikipedia from any computer using that IP address which isn't logged into an account. Such a request would need to come from the school's principal or IT administrator. I'm not sure of the exact procedure for this, but email me through the wiki interface if you want me to find out. I assume 203.97.89.94 (talk · contribs) is one of the school's IP addresses. It has only been blocked once for a short period, although it has received many warnings. With Without a request from the school, we would not normally block this address long-term unless the level of vandalism from it increased considerably.
It would also be possible for the school to prevent its computers from editing Wikipedia by blocking any url with "&action=edit" or "&action=submit" in the title. This should be simple to implement with almost any filtering software, will affect all wikis using the same software as Wikipedia, and will affect logged in and anonymous editors, but will not stop anyone from reading the encyclopedia.-gadfium 22:31, 12 April 2007 (UTC)
Thank you gadfium, we will monitor the situation for now and see what happens. Bart 21:50, 26 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Smith & Caughey's

Could you please remove the speedy tag somebody placed within a MINUTE of my creating this article? I have well-referenced notability now, but if you can add anything... MadMaxDog 02:53, 13 April 2007 (UTC)

Nevermind, somebody else did. Not the original tagger, though, he must have gone on a long coffee break directly after tagging mine. Oh well, maybe I am just getting a bit frsutrated with these people ATM. MadMaxDog 03:10, 13 April 2007 (UTC)

I imagine the original tagger was doing new pages patrol. At that stage the article was a single paragraph, and the single reference was to the company website, which are indications that an article may not be worth keeping. There was no assertion of notability at that point.

If I'd come across it as part of new pages patrol (and assuming it was on a store in a country I knew little about), I would have checked to see who the creator was, and on finding someone with a long track record of contributions to Wikipedia, I'd probably have shrugged and moved on. Had it been created by a newbie, I'd probably have prodded it.

It's difficult to make a note to oneself to come back in five minutes or half an hour when you're processing several articles a minute. Feel free to try new pages patrol yourself sometime. In effect, a speedy delete tag is saying: "this is not currently acceptable and meets this criterion for speedy deletion, could an admin take a look with a view to deleting it", and most of the time it will be much more than five minutes before an admin does come to take a look. In the meantime, you correctly put a hangon tag onto it and improved the article, so when someone else did arrive the article was clearly worthwhile.-gadfium 03:50, 13 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] User:W. Frank (cont)

FYI, just in case you didn't see this edit.[1] Tyrenius 02:40, 15 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] User:Eapos

Hi gadfium, can you have a look at her and at the discussion on Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/The Kilaécŭs and then see if a block is warranted? She asked for it herself, and her behaviour certainly merits it, though I may have been a little guilty of feeding the troll myself. Cheers, MadMaxDog 04:28, 15 April 2007 (UTC)

In addition, the afd (which should have been speedied by now, I guess), when does that conclude? Don't know the process too well, as I rarely nominate articles for deletion. MadMaxDog 04:28, 15 April 2007 (UTC)

Afds take five days (plus whatever backlog may exist in closing them).

I suggest you just ignore Eapos; if she wants to leave, then she might just be making sure she gets the last word in. See also meatball:Goodbye.-gadfium 04:37, 15 April 2007 (UTC)

The link you gave doen't work, but I get the message. Her ranting just had me itching to return a little bit myself. I'll try to refrain now ;-) MadMaxDog 05:01, 15 April 2007 (UTC)
Sorry, try meatball:GoodBye with a capital B.-gadfium 05:07, 15 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] User:Jeffrey Newman

Thanks. NZ is almost as far from UK as it is possible to be (though we shall be there in December!) How do I find out if there is an Administrator in London, to whom I could pay a visit, or send a copy of my passport, or something? 85.210.255.81 04:57, 16 April 2007 (UTC)

Replied at User talk:Jimbo Wales.-gadfium 05:10, 16 April 2007 (UTC)
Thanks for this. I have put a note on the London notice board and will see what happens. I really don't want to change my name! Jeffrey Newman85.210.255.81

Please look at what is happening. I really need help85.210.255.81 02:20, 22 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Sunnyside Hospital, Christchurch

Nice to hear from you - I remember your great photos. It does seem a pity that a country by comparison with Europe and America fairly poor in 19th century architecture can demolish a building like this Image:Sunny Side Asylum.jpg by one of its most eminent architects. One has to though evaluate its possible further use - in London it would be converted into luxury apartments or offices. I agree with you I don't think 19th century mental hospitals were known for their comfort and therapy - more places to tidy these people away off the streets - but that is part of a cultural heritage too - one would knot demolish the Tower of London because some pretty horrible things repeatedly happened in it's basement - or the Alhambra of Caserta because they were built by forced slave labour - all equally horrible if not worse. It seems though most of Mountfort's work is already demolished and what remains in an administrative wing by John Campbell. Here is the official assessment of its architectural worth - if there were ever an appeal a decent planning lawyer could nuke that assessment in five minutes - The Council here saving the admin building "Ensure effective ongoing protection of the Administration Building through the Council purchasing the building," and interestingly "There are a number of potential options for future use of the building, ranging from craft studios to a cafeteria, to accommodation. Certainly, its potential role as an important community facility can be promoted." [2] and yet suddenly here [3] they have given permission for its demolition - if that were my country's heritage I would want to know why - Designed by Mountfort or Campbell, it is immaterial, it is a rare piece of 19th century Gothic and part of NZs very sparse architectural heritage - as I said a decent planning lawyer could save it on those reports alone. Regards Giano 08:19, 17 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] my puffies story

Cannot understand why my entry about Puffies was erased. No desire to dislodge NZers with puffy coats but many seem curious about puffy areolas. Maybe it should be moved and maybe I hadn't figured out how to make links right but I want my story restored and will continue to work on it. Memphis Dan —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Memphisdan (talk • contribs) 22:19, 21 April 2007 (UTC).

Wait for the existing article, which is unrelated to yours, to be deleted. If you think you can write an encyclopaedic article on puffy nipples, then do so. Wikipedia is not censored. However, I'm not sure if you can say more than a dictionary definition, and you might be better adding that to the existing articles nipple or areola, with a redirect from puffies.-gadfium 06:19, 22 April 2007 (UTC)

OK Thanks for that. Will consider those points. Memphisdan

[edit] Podocarpus totara

Your recent edit to Podocarpus totara (diff) was reverted by an automated bot that attempts to recognize and repair vandalism to Wikipedia articles. If the bot reverted a legitimate edit, please accept my humble creator's apologies – if you bring it to the attention of the bot's owner, we may be able to improve its behavior. Click here for frequently asked questions about the bot and this warning. // MartinBot 09:14, 25 April 2007 (UTC)

My edit was to remove numerous duplications of the article text within the infobox. The bot only sees a significant reduction in the article size, and cannot tell this from vandalism.-gadfium 19:32, 25 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Visit

I'm out of hospital now. I'm going to visit my children in Nelson before I die. I shall be passing through Auckland en-route. May I briefly visit?...Gaimhreadhan(kiwiexile at DMOZ) • 02:36, 27 April 2007 (UTC)

Let me know the details of when you're in Auckland (by email if you prefer), and I'll meet with you if I can. I live in the central suburbs of Auckland, but I might be able to come out to the airport if necessary.-gadfium 05:46, 27 April 2007 (UTC)
Thank you, Sir. I will e-mail you my itinerary and NZ mobile number. I could also visit at a time and place of your convenience. Would a Saturday be more convenient? ...Gaimhreadhan(kiwiexile at DMOZ) • 09:25, 27 April 2007 (UTC)
I haven't received your email yet. Saturday would probably be more convenient, but I don't know if we're talking about next week or a few months away as yet. I'm mostly free in the mornings on weekdays.-gadfium 06:22, 28 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Thanks

Thank you for editing the Holden WM Caprice article.SenatorsTalk | Contribs 07:10, 28 April 2007 (UTC)