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[edit] Hello:
Hi I'm a new Wikipedian from Natick, Mass... just popped in to say hello to my Wiki neighbor:"
Image:Peace Sign 2.svg Merlinus (talk)
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"
Image:Peace Sign 2.svg Merlinus (talk)
Thank you for experimenting with the page National Security Agency on Wikipedia. Your test worked, and it has been reverted or removed. Please use the sandbox for any other tests you may want to do. Take a look at the welcome page to learn more about contributing to our encyclopedia. — RevRagnarok Talk Contrib 11:30, 4 December 2006 (UTC)
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Hi, My little needle, welcome to WikiProject LGBT Studies!
We are a growing community of Wikipedia editors dedicated to identifying, categorizing, and improving articles of interest to the LGBT community. Some points that may be helpful:
- Our main aim is to help improve LGBT-related articles, so if someone asks for help with an article, please try your hardest to help them if you are able.
- Most important discussions take place on the project's main discussion page; it is highly recommended that you watchlist it.
- The project has several ongoing and developing activities, such as article quality assessment, peer review and a project-wide article collaboration, all of which you are welcome to take part in. We also have a unique program to improve our lower quality articles, Jumpaclass, so please consider signing up there.
- If you have another language besides English, please consider adding yourself to our translation section, to help us improve our foreign LGBT topics.
- If you're planning to stay, have a square in our quilt! You can put anything you want in it.
If you have any questions, feel free to ask on the talk page, and we will be happy to help you.
And once again - Welcome!
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[edit] LGBT WikiProject newsletter
| The LGBT studies WikiProject Newsletter |
The LGBT studies WikiProject Newsletter!
Issue IV - March 1, 2007
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Monthly Challenge: Find 5 editors to LGBT articles and invite them to the project! Check out our recruitment tips if you need them. Good luck!
- Project News
- With such rapid development of the project, it was decided that a Coordinator was needed to ensure all the fiddly maintenence was kept up. Elections were held and Dev920 (talk · contribs) has been elected Coordinator for the next three months. She said "I am honoured and proud to be at the helm of such a fantastic WikiProject and look forward to our future". Congratulations Dev!
- The assessment system continues to be a great success, we have tagged over 5200 articles! Please tag any LGBT related articles you come across by adding {{LGBTProject | class=}} to the talkpage. Please see the Assessment Department for how to assess an article according to the grading system.
- Jumpaclass is proving to be quite successful! The winner at the end of the year gets to pick the January collaboration, so sign up and get going! Or challenge another user to see how far you can jump a stub!
- A new Community department has been set up to foster community amongst our members. It mostly acts as other WikiProjects' Outreach department, but also has a Quilt to which every member is entitled to add a square containing anything of their choice.
- The peer review is not getting much custom - please notice you can cross-list other peer reviews from different projects that also fall within our scope.
- Many people still seem to be unaware that the Deletion sorting subpage exists for XfDs to be listed: please use and watch that page instead of issuing "alerts" for ordinary AfDs on the project talkpage.
- WP:FILM has a current drive to give every film article an infobox. WP:LGBT successfully gave all 105 LGBT infoboxless films infoboxes, so a big thank you to everyone who participated.
- A new template, LGBT-footer, has been created for articles which are becoming to cluttered with infoboxes. Thanks to WJBscribe and SatyrTN for creating it.
- A very basic resources page has been started. Please add to it as you come across useful sites.
- A promotional poster for the project has been created: http://wplgbt.tripod.com/Wikipedianeedsyou.doc (you have to directly cut and paste the url, or it won't let you download it). Please distribute anywhere and everywhere you desire, such as gay libraries, cybercafes, community centres and so on. Also, please let Dev920 know where you have put it up, so she can keep track of our coverage.
- An LGBT Publications Taskforce has been proposed. Please sign up here if you are interested in being involved.
- An LGBT WikiProject has been set up on the Spanish Wikipedia! Set up by Raystorm, it has already gained six members and is developing an assessment system. If you speak any Spanish, please consider going up and lending a hand if you can!
- Article News
- Member News
- Our membership continues to expand. 55 new users have joined the Wikiproject: HalJor, Brianna Austin, Kylehamilton , PeaceNT, Paradoxdept, Joie de Vivre, Bearcat, Avazina, Treybien, Xdenizen, Chalyres, Lisapollison, Stitchy CP, Wjhonson, Psicorps, Jliberty, Zuejay, DrGaellon, Mallanox, lwollert, Switchercat, Number301, emerson7, Ebyabe, Ashlux, Larrybob, Eirra, Alcarcalimo2364, DavidShankBone, Cedlaod, Mcguireka, Fireplace, Jacobshaven3, Buddmar, Yksin, Intesvensk, Justin_Eiler, kc12286, Kolindigo, PseudoPhoenix, Samanthabrennan, Anbellofe, roger_jg, Moni3, The Wednesday Island, Carom, Belovedfreak, My little needle, Fenoxielo, Arianna, Philippebeaudette, FrankCostanza, AmberAlert1713, A.Z., Fluffball70, . Please make them feel welcome!
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To stop receiving this newsletter, or to receive it in a different format, please drop me a line.
If you have any news or any announcements to be broadcast, do let Dev920 know.
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| The LGBT studies WikiProject Newsletter |
The LGBT studies WikiProject Newsletter!
Issue V - April 3, 2007
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Monthly Challenge:
- Article News
- Project News
- There is now the beginning of a list of core topics to possibly be included in the Wikipedia 1.0 release. Your suggestions are welcome; there may be many core LGBT topics still missing.
- We have a list of people categorized as LGBT whose articles need to be checked for reliable sourcing. This effort is necessary and urgent, to comply with Wikipedia's policy on living persons. Please take a few moments to source one article; if you've got time, do another.
- SatyrTN identified all the articles that were in subcategories of Category:LGBT but not yet tagged with the project's banner, about 1,400 articles. These have been completed, though SatyrBot will make periodic runs through the cats to find any new entries. Thanks Satyr!
- The number of articles within our project's spectrum (6,667 currently) should now be relatively stable and only grow with article creation. However, if you find a category that should be included, please let SatyrTN know so it can be included in the bots runs.
- Work is underway to improve the LGBT Portal. Please add any good quality (free) photos you come across on LGBT articles to the gallery here. Also if anyone would like to volunteer to help in maintaining the portal, please make yourselves known on the Portal's talkpage.
- If you see any articles for deletion or any other deletion discussions related to LGBT topics, please remember to add them to the deletion sorting board. Thanks!
- Member News
- Our membership continues to expand. 22 new users have joined the WikiProject: Garik, Esrever, mlbedwell, Jet123, Welland R, Auriel, DaliJim, queerpeace, SUIT, Mentality, Nukleoptra, LeaHazel, lindleyle, Justin Eiler, Bylandl, Brent Calderwood, PC78, Gekedo, polymathematics, Coryarlo, Ziji, mcgarymi. Please make them feel welcome!
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To stop receiving this newsletter, or to receive it in a different format, please drop me a line.
If you have any news or any announcements to be broadcast, do let Dev920 know.
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SatyrBot 05:15, 3 April 2007 (UTC)
[edit] LGBT WikiProject newsletter
| The LGBT studies WikiProject Newsletter - SPECIAL ELECTION EDITION |
The LGBT studies WikiProject Newsletter!
Issue VI - May 2, 2007
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Monthly Challenge: Stand for Deputy Coordinator or support some candidates after May 5...
- Article News
- Project News
- A taskforce dealing with LGBT publications has been proposed. If you are interested in getting involved, consider signing up at the projects' page.
- Our core topics list is looking good. It's still a bit slim on LGBT history articles, non-American LGBT media, and important LGBT biographies. Do you have suggestions?
- David Shankbone has done an amazing job taking photographs of LGBT celebrities. Thanks David! People interested in collaborating with him and setting up a photography taskforce should contact him or drop a note at the project's talkpage.
- The LGBT Portal still needs a bit of love and attention :-). Again, any good quality (free) photos you come across on LGBT articles can be added to the gallery here. Volunteers to help out with the Portal are extremely welcome- make yourselves known on the Portal's talkpage. Updates to the current news items are helpful.
- Deputy coordinator elections
- WikiProject LGBT studies is looking for new Deputy Coordinators to help out with various essential tasks in organising the project. To nominate yourself or contribute to the discussion, please go to: Wikipedia:WikiProject LGBT studies/Coordinator/May 2007. The deadline for nominations is May 5 and the elections will last a week after that.
- Candidates so far are: SatyrTN, Raystorm and Fireplace.
- The elections will be pretty simple- everyone just endorses their favourite candidate(s). The three with the most votes at the end of the week are the new deputy coordinators, who will assist Dev920 in keeping the project running.
- Member News
- Our membership continues to expand. 22 new users have joined the WikiProject (bringing our total membership to 182): Zigzig20s, Qxmagazine, TAnthony, Kbolino, Knorpel, Madman bum and angel, Ponyboy, BenjiBoi, Guy M, Pernishus, Rockdozen, RAShippy, Jaibe, Fshepinc, rglong, Boomboomeve, Undertheinfluence, Kyoko, Catsaki, OsteopathicFreak, smccoy12345, and Alexlovesme. Also Rebecca who rejoins us having previously been a member as Ambi. Please make them feel welcome!
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To stop receiving this newsletter, or to receive it in a different format, just ask Dev920.
If you have any news or any announcements to be broadcast, do let her know.
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| The LGBT studies WikiProject Newsletter |
The LGBT studies WikiProject Newsletter!
Issue VII - June 1, 2007
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Monthly Challenge: June Stub Review! Take a moment and sift through the roughly 3,600 Stub-class LGBT articles. Are they still stubs? If not, make an assessment change. Even better, do you see anything you can add/edit to increase the rating? Let's see if the project can lower the number of stubs down below 3,000!
- Project News
- WP:LGBT Exceeds 200 Members!!
- Two editors have been selected by project members as co-coordinators. Their duties are still a bit unclear, but having a few more janitors around the project will help keep us running smoothly. Please feel free to message Fireplace or SatyrTN if you have any project questions or concerns.
- Member News
- 20 new contributors joined the project in the last month (bringing total membership to 201): Illyria05, Brideshead, smartman89, Queerudite, JackFritscher, SeventhHaido, Evolauxia, Bandou, ChrisTW, NickGorton (back from break), Lynnllynn, KaiLeo, Meojive, Whstchy, Ceramykgoddess, Ljpmn79, snoopy753, Aralvarez, Enzedbrit, and Meininger. Please make them feel welcome
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To stop receiving this newsletter, or to receive it in a different format, just ask Dev920.
If you have any news or any announcements to be broadcast, do let her know.
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Delivered on 16:00, 6 June 2007 (UTC). SatyrBot 16:26, 6 June 2007 (UTC)
| The LGBT studies WikiProject Newsletter |
The LGBT studies WikiProject Newsletter!
Issue VIII - July 1, 2007
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Monthly Challenge: Submit an article to our Jumpaclass competition! Languishing unloved, it is a great way to improving that article you always meant to improve but never got round to. Challenge someone else to go head to head and see who can improve their article most!
- Article News
- Project News
- Our Deputy Coordinators have been doing a fabulous job so far. Well done!
- The portal is now looking very snazzy, well done to Fireplace for all his hard work.
- The list of LGBT people to be sorted has now beed reduced by 20%. Please help us with it, all of us adding just one person a day would have a dramatic effect!
- The Core Topics is now largely complete. The original aim of getting some kind of publication out of it is extremely long term - any short term uses we can make of it are welcome on the project talkpage.
- A suggestion was made this month that we start our own wiki. Although the conclusion was that we felt we were a part of Wikipedia rather than a stand alone organisation, it seems there is an LGBT wiki already, at http://lgbt.wikia.com/wiki/Main_page . Members may be interested in getting involved there.
- The Collaboration is now getting rather short on suggestions. Article nominations for August through December would be welcome on the talkpage.
- There is now a list of Missing LGBT Topics. Help is needed to work out which topics can be made redirects or need to be created. Please contribute is you can.
- An LGBT banner that was created for Wikipedia's internal ads system has now been adapted so it can be placed on blogs and websites. The html is <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WP:LGBT"><img src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/76/Qxz-ad48.gif" height="53" width="445"></a> Please credit Miranda and link to her userpage: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Miranda">Miranda</a>. The banner can be seen in action here. If you have a blog or a website, please consider adding the banner, either in a post or as part of your profile.
- Member News
- 11 new contributors joined the project in the last month: Xnuala, Samantha Pignez, Jreferee, BGMurph, jmsast, Kukini, Theinsidellama, Heyfoureyes, Iceflow, NickGorton, Lynnllynn, KaiLeo, Amadscientist, and Mad_Cheese_Eater. Please make them feel welcome
! However, this is a bit low for a project of our standing, so please consider doing a little recruiting if you can.
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To stop receiving this newsletter, or to receive it in a different format, please let us know here.
If you have any news or any announcements to be broadcast, do let Dev920 know.
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Delivered on 16:00, 6 July 2007 (UTC).
[edit] Notice of Inactivity
In trying to deliver the LGBT Project newsletter, SatyrBot detected a period of three months of inactivity from this account. You have been placed in our "Inactive Members" section. If this has been done in error, please let my bot owner know and change your status in he project. Thanks! SatyrBot 14:06, 5 September 2007 (UTC)
[edit] WikiProject roller coasters
Hi there, just to let you know that WP:ROCO has been given an overhaul. As you are listed as a participant, I just thought I'd let you know that there's a new to-do section and much clearer guidelines for roller coaster articles. Hope to see you over there! Seaserpent85Talk 09:47, 8 September 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Disputed fair use rationale for Image:14095.blood.gif
Thanks for uploading Image:14095.blood.gif. However, there is a concern that the rationale you have provided for using this image under "fair use" may be invalid. Please read the instructions at Wikipedia:Non-free content carefully, then go to the image description page and clarify why you think the image qualifies for fair use. Using one of the templates at Wikipedia:Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to ensure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.
If it is determined that the image does not qualify under fair use, it will be deleted within a couple of days according to our criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the media copyright questions page. Thank you.BetacommandBot 06:18, 27 October 2007 (UTC)
[edit] WikiProject Roller Coasters Newsletter, December 2007
| The Roller Coaster WikiProject Newsletter |
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Welcome!
Welcome to the new WikiProject Roller Coasters Newsletter! Until now, in spite of a decent number of members signed up to the WikiProject, we have had no regular progress updates or information as to how much of a difference our contributions are making. This monthly newsletter aims to provide an overview of all the work that is being done behind the scenes and to celebrate the successes that would otherwise pass by unseen. Any suggestions for future additions and general help with the newsletter will be greatly appreciated.
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Articles and Assessment
As can be seen on the assessment page, we are so close to finishing off assessment. If all current members of the WikiProject assessed just 2 articles, the backlog of unassessed-quality articles would be eliminated.
The vast majority of articles are currently assessed as stubs, which is probably to be expected as many contain an infobox and nothing else. Getting these up to start-class is incredibly easy, many simply need references and tidying up. Even if you have very little knowledge on the article subject, this task should be fairly straightforward and is the first step in raising overall article quality.
The following articles reached B-class quality during November:
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Amusement Park Portal
The Amusement Park Portal is now automatically linked to from the roller coaster infoboxes. It's important to remember that we need to integrate our articles with those covered by the Amusement Park WikiProject. When working on a roller coaster article, it's always a good idea to ensure that there is a wikilink from the relevant amusement park article, otherwise no-one will even know the article exists!
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Membership News
During November the WikiProject was joined by 3 new members, bringing the total number up to 49. The to do list continues to serve as a place for flagging up articles in need of attention, review or comments.
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B-class Drive
Just to get the idea out there, I'd like to propose a monthly article drive. With the poor state of most of the articles, it's unreasonable to suggest even a GA-drive, so a B-class drive would be more realistic. Any suggestions for January's article can be brought up on the WikiProject Talk Page. Suggested articles should be presently at start or stub class and have sufficient reliable sources available to work from.
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...and finally...
Thanks for reading, any feedback would be hugely appreciated! Have a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
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Delivered 12th December, 2007 by Seaserpent85. If you would rather not receive this newsletter, please place a * after your username on the members page. Seaserpent85 23:01, 12 December 2007 (UTC)
[edit] WikiProject Roller Coasters Newsletter, January 2008
| The Roller Coaster WikiProject Newsletter |
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Welcome!
Welcome to the second WikiProject Roller Coasters Newsletter! December has seen some real progress in terms of bringing up the quality of roller coaster related articles on Wikipedia. Assessment and tagging of articles is almost completely done and efforts are now being focussed on quality and improving articles. This month also sees the start of the new B-class drive, a brilliant way to get involved with the WikiProject and achieve something together.
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Articles and Assessment
As far as assessment goes, the backlog from last month was cleared almost immediately after the last newsletter went out, almost single-handedly by Alton! A progress chart can be seen on the assessment page that shows we are slowly dragging up the quality of the articles covered by the WikiProject.
The following articles reached B-class quality during December:
Griffon (roller coaster) • Magnum XL-200 • Maverick (roller coaster) • Nemesis (roller coaster) • SheiKra 
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Amusement Parks Portal
The Amusement Parks Portal has been significantly expanded over the past month and is currently a candidate for featured portal. Any suggestions for featured articles and pictures can be put forward on their respective sections.
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Membership News
During December the WikiProject was joined by 2 new members, bringing the total number up to 49 after 2 inactive users were removed from the member list. The to do list continues to serve as a place for flagging up articles in need of attention, review or comments.
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B-class Drive
This month's B-class Drive: Arrow Dynamics
So here is the first article improvement drive for the WikiProject, Arrow Dynamics. There isn't a huge amount that needs doing apart from the addition of references, formatting and a copyedit. For any outstanding contributions there are barnstars available which can be given to and by anyone!
Any suggestions for February's B-class Drive can be brought up on the talk page, so if there's a particular article you feel could benefit from more input then feel free to suggest it.
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...and finally...
Once again, thanks for reading! As always suggestions and offers of help are much appreciated.
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Seaserpent85 14:38, 2 January 2008 (UTC)
[edit] WikiProject Roller Coasters Newsletter, February 2008
| The Roller Coaster WikiProject Newsletter |
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Welcome!
Welcome to the WikiProject Roller Coasters Newsletter! January has seen a number of milestones being passed in the WikiProject. We've achieved our first good article, brought a portal up to featured portal status and successfully collaborated together on the first Article Improvement Drive, amongst other achievements. Let's carry on with the good work and continue bringing up the standard of all articles covered by the WikiProject!
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Articles and Assessment
We hit a milestone in January with our first GA-class article, Speed Monster! This shows just how easy it is improve articles by including references and increasing readability. Collaboration has got off to a good start, with the first chosen article, Arrow Dynamics, improving enough to reach B-class.
The following articles reached GA-class or B-class quality during January:
Speed Monster • Arrow Dynamics • Bolliger & Mabillard 
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Amusement Parks Portal
The Amusement Parks Portal reached featured portal status during January! You can still nominate articles for the selected content sections on the portal.
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Membership News
During January the WikiProject was joined by 6 new members, bringing the total number up to 55. A very warm welcome to Etf, CPGACoast, RickMarkestein, Emackert, Onewayroad2home and Suttna08. The to do list continues to serve as a place for flagging up articles in need of attention, review or comments.
A discussion is taking place regarding the best way to organise information about roller coaster records and the history of roller coasters. All members' opinions are welcomed; the discussion can be found here.
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Article Improvement Drive
This month's Article Improvement Drive: Roller coaster
Why not start at the top?! The main article is already at B class and, with a little help, isn't too far away from GA class. Please see the collaboration page for further information.
Any suggestions for March's Article Improvement Drive can be brought up on the talk page, so if there's a particular article you feel could benefit from more input then feel free to suggest it.
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...and finally...
Once again, thanks for reading! As always suggestions and offers of help are much appreciated.
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Seaserpent85 20:51, 1 February 2008 (UTC)