User talk:John/Archive 17

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[edit] Admin review/advice

Dear John,

Saw that you are still active on the coaches page; I put my name up there, but would like to ask for an informal "review" and/or advice before making the move.

I'm probably one of the few Wikipedia:List_of_Wikipedians_by_number_of_edits in the top 50 that isn't an admin! :) The more I get involved in various technical issues, the more it would be helpful/utile to have some of the "mop" capabilities. I realize that there's a couple areas that I'm weak in (Xfd being the big one), but would like someone that's assisted others to give me, if you would, an evaluation.

Thanks for any advice that you might have to offer. SkierRMH 05:47, 1 September 2007 (UTC)

Thanks, SkierRMH. I'll try to take a look in the next few days. So long as you aren't in a hurry. --John 05:53, 1 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Pointless redircts, etc

Hi John, similar situation to 202.95.200.12 and aviation articles occurring with Noway419 and The Used articles, including their cover of "Under Pressure", which is where I came in. That is, someone who insists on introducing and reintroducing redirects and non-standard style edits to make a point. As with 202.95.200.12 I've requested on his/her talk page to cease but no response - in fact they've removed that request (left by at 09:47 on 23 August 2007). I'd notified another admin of this who has dealt with related stuff before but I don't think she's in a position to attend right now, so if you could review when you get the chance that'd be great. Tks/cheers, Ian Rose 04:07, 2 September 2007 (UTC)

I'll keep an eye. Users are allowed to blank their talk, although it isn't ideal, all messages are preserved in the history. --John 06:52, 2 September 2007 (UTC)
Hi again, John. Noway419 continues to pointedly reintroduce his/her usual style errors and redirections to Under Pressure, for one. I've fixed it as of now and left what I'd hope is a final message/warning but don't hold out too much hope. FYI... Cheers, Ian Rose 15:11, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Kat Walsh's clarification

Can you point me to where the original clarification by Kat Walsh, recently mentioned by Wikidemo on Wikipedia talk:Non-free content, concerning individual images each having specific "fair-use rationales" is located? Thank you John. ... Kenosis 03:32, 2 September 2007 (UTC)

I see someone else beat me to it there. --John 04:49, 2 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] WPZW September

Hi,

The current Zimbabwe WikiProject Collaboration of the Fortnight is Suburbs of Harare!
Please read the nomination text and help improve the article to featured article standard if you can.

As the number of people taking part in WikiProject Zimbabwe grows, I have more and more people to notify of changes. If you havn't already done so, please could you add the notice board to your watch list so that I can add any changes there and only once not as many times as there are members. Many thanks, Mangwanani 13:12, 2 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] KA77

Hey John,

Thanx for that mate, wasn't actually sure what the guidelines were but I am glad that you sorted it.

Regards

KA77 —Preceding unsigned comment added by KiltedArab77 (talk • contribs) 19:25, 2 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Long time no see, hello, your opinion please

Hello, it's been a while, I hope you are well.

I've run into a sticky wicket, and you were the first person I thought of.It all started when I reverted the removal of a 3RR notice. I decided to see what all the fuss was about and found it had to do with. Of all the things to fight over. Alfred had added a link to GoDaddy's Official Mobile Website.

Alfred politely asked me to butt out. and I replied here. Request for comment by Greeen/ To which I said, "no, there's too many links already." (On and on on that page ad naseum)

My problem is this, Alfred is a new user that has made scads of edits like the one in question to many pages. I'm inclined to just leave them, but I value our opinion. Cheers, :) Dlohcierekim 22:19, 2 September 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for that, I left them a message. --John 00:37, 3 September 2007 (UTC)
Your welcome, and thanks. Cheers, :) Dlohcierekim 00:42, 3 September 2007 (UTC)

Hi John, thanks for your message. I have been contributing to Wikipedia for over a year now which is why I'm generally familiar with how things work around here. Up until now I have always contributed anonymously as I did not need the notoriety or "credit" for my edits (this is after all the "people's encyclopedia"). Recently, one of the things I noticed was missing (and could be improved) in several articles was external links to official mobile pages of the subject matter, which I think is relevant in this day and age where the mobile web is growing exponentially. So I took it upon myself to add the ones I could find to the relevant articles (note that these were all official links from the subject matter). As I'm sure you can appreciate, this was quite a bit of work on my part as I had to manually add one by one. Also, please note that I was aware that this could be seen as spamming, so I made a conscious point of actually creating a username so that all my edits could be found within my Contrib page rather than spread out through different IP's (I have a dynamic IP). I did this on purpose so as to not hide the fact that I was adding these external links to the subject matter. (If I was doing it in bad faith, I could have easily done it anonymously with different IP's. Plus, what would be the motive for me to add so many links in bad faith?). I hope this clarifies my intentions and please let me know if you would like for me to clarify anything else. As for my dispute with Dlohcierekim and GreenJoe, I felt singled-out unfairly by both of them.--AlfredWalsh 01:41, 3 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Theloon

Actually, I would just tend to continue discussion at this point, I don't think it's gotten to the point of fruitless. If you want to report to the 3RR board, I can't stop you, but in cases like this it can inflame the situation and make it more difficult. Do remember, we were pretty slack on nonfree content for quite a long time, and it took a boot in the ass from the Foundation to get to enforcing it. For some people that's a tough transition, so I try to cut a lot of slack. Seraphimblade Talk to me 05:17, 4 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Necessary Evil

I see from his talk page that you have problems with Necessary Evil in the past. I reverted one of his edits a while back as it was pushing a POV, since then despite eventually agreeing on a text he is persisting in being uncivil to me. I don't wish to come across as a cry-baby or a tell-tale but his latest attack accusing me of being prejudiced among other things has really upset me. At the moment I don't plan to respond because it just seems to inflame him further.

I'm still slightly concerned that the edit to the Falklands War page falls foul of WP:SOAP, since it relies heavily on an opinion piece in the Guardian.

I'm not asking you to take any action but I would welcome your advice. Thanks Justin A Kuntz 19:34, 5 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] english language

Is it enwiki policy to use english language characters only when spelling names from other languages, like German? (ie: Dollfuß becomes Dollfuss)? --NEMT 16:02, 6 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] The Novels WikiProject Newsletter: Issue XVI - September 2007

The September 2007 issue of the Novels WikiProject newsletter has been published. You may read the newsletter, change the format in which future issues will be delivered to you, or unsubscribe from this notification by following the link. Thank you.

This is an automated delivery by grafikbot 09:29, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] BAE slogan

Hi John. The change you made is totally understandable - that's what the website says today. However the core slogan is "Real performance. Real Advantage" which BAE then adapts to be specific to products, services etc. In this case the website is showing the Astute submarine and the slogan is adapted to "Real delivery real advantage" which is BAE's assertion that they are steaming ahead with the project. Never mind its years late!!

e.g. Customer Solutions & Support business: "Real Breadth Real Advantage"[1]

If you take a look at all their most recent reports e.g. the most recent [2] (cover page) you will see the slogan is always "Real performance. Real Advantage".

Hope this explains the reversion. Mark83 17:42, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Reagan 'fix'

To begin with, I apologize for not making my edit summary more informative - i usually do better than that. I think your edit might have been undone by me catching other edit errors, such as the 'assumption' which read as condescending (therefore not neutral). As well the use of 'ticket' to describe the nom inees for political office aren't used outside the US; even though we are allowed to use American English for an American topic, it is always better to avoid colloquialisms that can be better explained by more recognizable terms.
Hope that explains matters. - Arcayne (cast a spell) 19:19, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

Please do, and again, my apologies. - Arcayne (cast a spell) 21:52, 12 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Language tags

I find it interesting to see that you are an FR-2 and a DE-2, as I have similar tags, and because I believe that the tags for German are poor and would like to know your opinion.

I am an FR-2 as well, and I agree that the French description of an "intermediate level" is okay. But compare the DE-2 with DE-3: "fortgeschrittene" und "sehr gute" Kenntnisse. These are not clear enough within the context of German to really indicate which of us speaks "okay" German, and which of us speaks really well. For my tastes, the DE-2 tag should be disambiguated, since "fortgeschritten" does not clearly indicate "intermediate". (It's more implicit than explicit, and can only clearly be understood within the context of seeing a DE-3 tag.)

As you are an administrator, I thought I'd bounce this thought off of you. Perhaps you can discuss it with some German colleagues.

Jtnet 10:17, 13 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] I'm back, many thanks!

I also drank a glass of piwo (pronounced: 'pee-vo'; translation: beer) on your behalf, so I hope that you got some vicarious enjoyment! Not much has changed, I see.--Major Bonkers (talk) 10:31, 14 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Desi Arnaz

John, I believe there may have been a misunderstanding regarding my supposed vandalism. I was attempting to undo vandalism to the page. The vandal had made two edits, and when I undid the second one I think I may have redone the vandalism. I am not a vandal. Knowledgesmith 22:15, 15 September 2007 (UTC)

John, ignore the comment. It's based on an IP forging your signature here. CambridgeBayWeather (Talk) 23:16, 15 September 2007 (UTC)
Thanks for that. --John 02:28, 16 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] James Milner Off the pitch section

Over the past few weeks I’ve been researching desperately to try and expand this section. But for the most part I can only find very trivial facts. Another user has told me that off the pitch sections are not mandatory and in this case it would be best to remove it completely. I’m not so sure, however minor his off the pitch activities might be it would be useful to give an idea of what he’s like as a person.

Please give me your views. Should it be expanded, removed completely or charged in some other way. Please give your views in the Milner Off the pitch section on my talk page. Buc 16:42, 16 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Hi John

John, Can you please get the exact source for the Harry Truman eBaum's World thing you deleted? eBaum's World is blocked on my coputer. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Ava321 (talk • contribs) 20:34, 19 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Steve Marriott

Hello John, hows you? I was wondering if you could help me please. It's a sad fact that Marriott is often mispelt as Marriot (with only the one t), I wondered if it is possible the mis-spelt version ie. Steve Marriot could be redirected to the correct page? I've noticed a lot of other pages have this, but I have no idea how they do it. Many thanks in advance. Sue Wallace 03:22, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

Hi Sue. I just created a redirect page at Steve Marriot, you can have a look there and see how I did it. I had a hack at the actual article too, which was extremely interesting. Thanks a lot. --John 05:19, 20 September 2007 (UTC)
Cheers for that and for the edits too. Sue Wallace 13:32, 20 September 2007 (UTC)
Me again, sorry but I still can't figure out how you did it, is there a page where I can link to that explains it? Sue Wallace 17:14, 20 September 2007 (UTC)
Wikipedia:Redirect would be it. --John 17:17, 20 September 2007 (UTC)
ah, I think I got it now anyway, do you just create a page and then put that redirect code in? Sorry I couldn't find it before cos when I put Steve Marriot it just took me to the correct page, tut, I do get there in the end. (doh). Sue Wallace 17:20, 20 September 2007 (UTC)
Yes, that's it, exactly. Don't worry, it took a while for me to figure out too. --John 17:23, 20 September 2007 (UTC)
I'll get there eventually, slowly but surely. btw glad you read the article, still think I need to work on it a lot though, I haven't done him justice, but at least it's not POV (I hope!) All the best. CYL Sue Wallace 17:30, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Starfighter

Hi John, I was just about to "make a hit" on the area you have been working on, so thanks for the note. (Maybe it was I who didn't get in your way!) It's always a challenge (and occasionally fun) to tackle our friend's prolific contributions. --Red Sunset 19:56, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] US / UK spelling

Hi & thanks for your message. I happen to agree with you about consistency, it is annoying to to read odor and odour in the same article (and, by analogy, vapor and vapour). The Threlfall reference was mine, I have the book on my shelf. However, as a Brit it is annoying to read that we had yellow phosphorus in WWII for defense (US spelling) - we had them for defence (UK spelling). Sorry, this does not solve the problem. Regardless of whether we use US or UK spelling one side is going to be unhappy.Pyrotec 20:34, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] The now-traditional RFA thank-spam

Click there to open your card! → → →


[edit] 64.216.155.140

I was not adding inappropriate links. You need to take a look at what I added, match it up to the subject content before you decide (unilaterally) that it was an inappropriate link. I seriously doubt you knew the first thing about what you were doing. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 64.216.155.140 (talk) 21:51, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

John, The external link I added is relevant to the subject matter of the article. It isn't a commercial message or spam. Thanks for your consideration. Christy —Preceding unsigned comment added by 64.216.155.140 (talk) 22:22, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

John, I added nothing further after I read your message. Thanks, Christy —Preceding unsigned comment added by 64.216.155.140 (talk) 22:30, 20 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Holyhell

I thought this was supposed to be the largest Encyclopedia on the web. But yet when i post a article on a band that wasn't on here. That have preformed with many headliners and are on a major record label. You guys delete it. I want contact information for higher ups. I mean I could understand if it was a no name punk band or something. But we're talking about a major power metal band. That plays big stadiums and with big names.

GET BACK TO ME. I want that contact info. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Vampyreinblack777 (talk • contribs) 18:57, 21 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] "It should be noted that"

I see that you hate this useless phrase. It is also my current "two minutes hate" in the war on bad grammar. Good luck on eliminating this unsightly scourge. Coemgenus 15:14, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Edit war at Cademuir International School

Dear John, first of all I want to participate with you and TomPrescott to find a solution on how to fix this article. You've shown confidence in certain sections of the article that you thought were inverifiable, and by copy editing and undoing things done by TomPrescott some parts have been accidentally removed that were written far earlier by former contributors. I did not yet find out whether it was done accidentally or on purpose, as there have been many changes in each of these edits. To prevent further damage being done to the article, I would like to know what has made these changes to happen.

  • Why has the image been removed? Wikipedia states that a fair use includes showing the object in question or a company logo.
  • Why has some trivial information been removed on a stub article? Wikipedia states that information that helps advancing articles or that can be included more beautifully later is better than not including it at all. This relates to some "facts" (or whatever definition is more suitable to your mind^^)
    • The Lakes and Country estate agent managing the property sale
    • Liquidation of the school (something quoted like "His misfortune might be your luck" Why is some trivia related to the Lakes and Country estate agent managing the property sale been removed?
  • TomPrescott may have included doubtful facts. Still, those facts have been cited well from magazines, newspapers, (witness) reports, investigations, statistics, etc. Why was such content subject to deletion?

OT: Why are articles such as Copenhagen International School not marked as a stub?

Thank you very much for taking the time answering my questions. Best regards --Lazer erazer 08:31, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

Lazer erazer, I've done a lot of work for this project and I think I have a good feeling for what our articles should look like. The image was used in breach of copyright, it was neither fair use nor a logo. I know there are those who wish this article about a defunct school to include all sorts of wild accusations like a tabloid news article. Reading WP:BLP should help you to understand why (apart from common sense) this is not viable. If you have specific suggestions for the article I wouldn't rule them out ahead of time, and you could raise these on the article's talk page. --John 14:24, 24 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] 3 reverts on goalkeeper

That's more than 3 in a 24 hour period. 1 person doesn't like the section. The section has been on the page for a long time. 1 person doesn't count as a consensus. Have a lovely day.--Ghostexorcist 18:36, 26 September 2007 (UTC)

Yes it is. --Ghostexorcist 18:42, 26 September 2007 (UTC)
Which edit are we talking about here? Which page are you going to wiki-stalk me to next? --Ghostexorcist 18:48, 26 September 2007 (UTC)
  1. The media section on goalkeeper had been "stable" on the page for a long time before it was deleted. No good reason was given for it's deletion.
  2. No evidence was given on the change on Milarepa.
There is no edit warring here. And, yes, you are wiki-stalking me. --Ghostexorcist 18:54, 26 September 2007 (UTC)
Thanks for the warning, but I've been on wikipedia for a while. --Ghostexorcist 18:56, 26 September 2007 (UTC)
Then tell your friend Glassfet to stop following me then. He is going to some of the articles I initiated and making changes. I'm sure he accessed these via my user page or my contributions page. --Ghostexorcist 19:05, 26 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] flags

Hi John, I have read wp:flags - I will remove the flagicon templates I have used. I was following what looked like good practice on other band/album/artist pages. Personally, I quite like the flag appearing in origin, but I appreciate we must all pull in the same direction. Witchwooder 19:27, 26 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] History of the petroleum industry in Canada (frontier exploration and development)

I have just been marvelling at the work you did on this article, especially in your conversions from metric to US units. Is there a list somewhere of the conversion formulas that I can use as a reference?

Thanks. 02:36, 27 September 2007 (UTC)—Preceding unsigned comment added by Pmbcomm (talk • contribs)

You must be mistaken, all I have done on that article are minor format fixes. --John 16:25, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Ulster-Scot

Sorry, John, looked before I leaped on that one. I only saw the changes in "History" section. I'll put it back to your edit. If you give the OK, can I put back in the uncited stuff in "History"? It's is true, even if uncited. Like I said (or at least meant), give me a week and I'll pull stuff up. --sony-youthpléigh 22:13, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] A non-admin closure

Hello there. Recently I closed a deletion debate as a non-admin, Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Fart. I asked on the talk page if this looked like a clear snowball; someone replied and it was agreed. I closed the debate as a snowball keep, although now the nominator has left a message on my talk page, requesting that it should be re-opened. I believe that I was bold and made the right decision although it is entirely possible that I made the wrong decision; I just wanted to ask your advice, should the debate be re-opened?

Seraphim Whipp 16:17, 28 September 2007 (UTC)

Thank-you. I always like to learn from the decisions I make :-).
Seraphim Whipp 16:24, 28 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Concorde is 'she'

[3] WolfKeeper 19:32, 28 September 2007 (UTC)

[4]WolfKeeper 19:51, 28 September 2007 (UTC)

BA's usage doesn't have to determine ours, however. --John 19:52, 28 September 2007 (UTC)
Fleet air arm: [5]WolfKeeper 19:59, 28 September 2007 (UTC)
You're wrong. Please change it back.WolfKeeper 19:59, 28 September 2007 (UTC)
Neither BA nor the FAA determines our use in Wikipedia though. Unfortunately I am damned if I can find the MoS where (I believe) it points out that ships (but not planes) are called 'she' on Wikipedia. What we cannot have is what we had before I made my edits, with about 75% 'it' and 25% 'she'. That looks poor. My preference is for 'it', but having a mixture of both is unacceptable.
Do you mind if I copy this to Talk:Concorde? Somebody there is likely to know. --John 05:11, 29 September 2007 (UTC)
The thing is the MOS bows to usage in the country for iconic things like Concorde (note: it's not THE Concorde for much the same reason); and pretty much I guess we look to the media and Concorde's owners and the government for guidance on this. I think most of the owners of Concorde and people that work on Concorde reference as her, and BA and the museums seem to also call Concorde her.WolfKeeper 06:01, 29 September 2007 (UTC)
Yes, I know about the 'the' preference and I support that. Do you think it should be 'she' throughout? Or do you think the version you reverted to with a mixture of both pronouns was preferable? Let's continue this on Talk:Concorde and give others the chance to opine. --John 06:05, 29 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] User: 68.244.227.97

John,

I'm not sure why you blocked the above user. I believe that he was making a good faith effort to improve the page in question. To quote a well respected editor:

"FYI, I consider ANY unwanted changes to the userspace with my name (since I can't say "my userspace") to be vandalism. Vandlism is against WIkipedia POLICY - it's not a guideline, so how did I bereka my own rules?? Idiot. I know we didn't start off on the right foot today, but I did aplogize for it. Yet you insisted on redacting my userspace, like I was a common vandal, wtihout even the courtesy to appraoch me first liek a real adult would. If the wiki-break notice is a personal attack on my paer, then I'm sorry your feelings were hurt. I've had it today with people protecting the real vandals and abusers, then going after me like I'm worse than the vandals. Well, I've had it with idoits like you. And you really are stupid for nominating the largest airlines list. THere, now THAT was a REAL personal attack. GO get me blocked if you wish, but I'm gone from WIkipedia anyway. THought I may come back as an IP, since they get more respect than regular users from the likes of morons like you! - BillCJ 03:27, 21 August 2007 (UTC)"

Hopefully you can appreciate the improvements that the IP is trying to make to the project.68.245.84.143 16:58, 29 September 2007 (UTC)

No, I cannot appreciate how this or this could be considered to be good faith efforts. If you want to contribute, I suggest adding references to some articles. Vandalising another user's space is not helpful. --John 17:02, 29 September 2007 (UTC)
I reviewed the 2 items that IP.97 edited. The first edit does not clearly identify the purpose. I would suggest that .97 needs to provide comment as to why the edit was made. As for the 2nd edit, the changes made appear consistant with the users own comments.
I would suggest reverting the 2nd edit back to the way .97 arranged the page. I would also suggest that .97 be unblocked so that he can continue to move the project forward.68.245.84.143 17:56, 29 September 2007 (UTC)
Thank you for your suggestions. I have no intention of following them. --John 18:20, 29 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Re: Flag ban debate

John, please accept my apologises if my remarks offended you. I should not have believed for 1 second that there was any possibility that your edits were meant as intimidation in any way. I should have assumed good faith, and will do so in future. All the best, Sue Sue Wallace 19:58, 29 September 2007 (UTC)

No worries. Glad all is now ok. I would get confused having other id's; like, I've been correcting some rationales today when I noticed an anon editor had also been up-dating the rationales, I was just about to thank them on their talk page when I realised the anon was ME when I wasn't logged in! Sue Wallace 20:39, 29 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Spelling

Ah right. That's definately how I, and other people alike, have been taught to spell it. But now I know, and thanks for not getting mad at me for it; you easily could have warned me back! Continue your great work, as I looked through Spellmasters contributions and they all improve Wikipedia greatly. Thanks, — jacĸrм (talk) 22:06, 29 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] humourous/ humorous

Hi while I appreciate your help, you do know that in Canada and england there is always a "u" between the "o" and"r" in words such as "humour" , "favour" and "colour". Here are two online dictionary links that have this spelling:

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/humourous http://www.thefreedictionary.com/humourous 69.28.232.206 22:36, 29 September 2007 (UTC) samusek2

Odd - here in Australia we have "humour", "honour", "favour" and "favourite" but "humorous" and "honorary". I would be amazed if British English, from which Australian and Canadian English both derive (although there are differences across the three), deviated significantly. Orderinchaos 08:19, 2 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Welcome

Thanks for the welcome John Nimbus227 22:43, 29 September 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Hey John

Just wanted to say I was very impressed with your user page. See you around. A-Whack —Preceding signed but undated comment was added at 09:26, 1 October 2007 (UTC)

Thanks.--John 14:19, 1 October 2007 (UTC)