Revision as of 13:38, 9 December 2009

Welcome to 'my' personal user talk page.If you have a query, please leave a message here. If matters are particularly urgent, you can contact me off-wiki at jdforrester@gmail.com, or via (freenode) IRC (as "James_F").

Archives

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 21

Older stuff Initial run 28th Feb 2003 – 13th Feb 2004, 15th Feb 2004 – 05th Aug 2004, 06th Aug 2004 – 15th Sep 2004, 15th Sep 2004 – 23th Nov 2004, 25th Nov 2004 – 10th Mar 2005, 10th Mar 2005 – 11th May 2005, 11th May 2005 – 11th Aug 2005, 11th Aug 2005 – 07th Nov 2005, 07th Nov 2005 – 23rd Feb 2006 Arbitration items 28th Feb 2006 – 10th May 2006, 12th May 2006 – 16th Sep 2006, 05th Nov 2006 – 03rd Mar 2008, 07th Mar 2008 – 18th Jan 2009 IRC items 27th Jul 2006 – 16th Sep 2006, 2nd Jun 2007 – 10th Mar 2009 General items 25th Feb 2006 – 10th May 2006, 12th May 2006 – 24th Jul 2006, 25th Jul 2006 – 16th Dec 2006, 22nd Feb 2007 – 03rd Mar 2008

Note that I am likely to reformat, delete, or otherwise alter what appears here...

Archives

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 21

Older stuff Initial run 28th Feb 2003 – 13th Feb 2004, 15th Feb 2004 – 05th Aug 2004, 06th Aug 2004 – 15th Sep 2004, 15th Sep 2004 – 23th Nov 2004, 25th Nov 2004 – 10th Mar 2005, 10th Mar 2005 – 11th May 2005, 11th May 2005 – 11th Aug 2005, 11th Aug 2005 – 07th Nov 2005, 07th Nov 2005 – 23rd Feb 2006 Arbitration items 28th Feb 2006 – 10th May 2006, 12th May 2006 – 16th Sep 2006, 05th Nov 2006 – 03rd Mar 2008, 07th Mar 2008 – 18th Jan 2009 IRC items 27th Jul 2006 – 16th Sep 2006, 2nd Jun 2007 – 10th Mar 2009 General items 25th Feb 2006 – 10th May 2006, 12th May 2006 – 24th Jul 2006, 25th Jul 2006 – 16th Dec 2006, 22nd Feb 2007 – 03rd Mar 2008

Other matters

Bot activity

I was going over the list of bots and noticed that JdforresterBot (talk · contribs) has not edited in a very long time. Is this bot still active and if not, would you object to it being de-flagged? Please post your comments to Wikipedia_talk:Bots/Requests_for_approval#Dead_bots since this is a rather widely-posted message. MBisanz 06:41, 13 March 2008 (UTC)

Thanks. Have replied there.

James F. (talk) 19:19, 14 March 2008 (UTC)

Username rename

http://wikimania2007.wikimedia.org/User_talk:Jdforrester#Username_rename

Please take a look. Thanks. -- Cat 13:39, 15 March 2008 (UTC)

Done.

James F. (talk) 14:27, 15 March 2008 (UTC)

Nice willow picture

I'm using it on my userpage. I like to cycle my photos around, and my girlfriend saw a weeping willow for the first time recently and I went searching for a nice picture. Good work. Keegan 07:28, 4 April 2008 (UTC)

Thanks, though I'm sure I could take a better one given a push. Maybe I'll pick a nice day and go walkies with my camera & tripod. :-)

James F. (talk) 12:01, 9 April 2008 (UTC)

Category:Misplaced Pages requested photographs in ...

I saw your name at Misplaced Pages:Wikipedians/Photographers. I revised the pages at Category:Misplaced Pages requested photographs in England. Please consider adding your name to the top of the page at Category:Misplaced Pages requested photographs in London and to any of the other subpages for Category:Misplaced Pages requested photographs in England. Thanks. GregManninLB (talk) 01:46, 6 April 2008 (UTC)

Neat idea - thanks, have done.

James F. (talk) 11:59, 9 April 2008 (UTC)

Nice to meet you yesterday

Keep up the good work Bashereyre (talk) 10:18, 14 April 2008 (UTC)

Thanks! And to you. :-)

James F. (talk) 17:56, 14 April 2008 (UTC)

Yeah good to meet you. I mentioned you and your work on my blog actually.

I've taken the plunge and arranged Misplaced Pages:Meetup/London 9 on the date you suggested. Sunday lunchtime again, May 11th! Not sure if there is enough interest to get something happening monthly. But let's see how it goes. Get yourself signed up on that page!

-- Harry Wood (talk) 15:49, 18 April 2008 (UTC)

See you tomorrow lunchtime! (Misplaced Pages:Meetup/London 9) -- Harry Wood (talk) 15:32, 10 May 2008 (UTC)

Attempt to usurp ArbCom's role in appointing checkusers

A discussion is ongoing at Wikipedia_talk:RFA#BAG_requests_process to have checkusers elected to their positions rather than have them appointed. Apparently, none of the proponents of doing this have notified ArbCom of this effort. I am therefore informing you. Thank you, --Hammersoft (talk) 14:32, 25 April 2008 (UTC)

Thanks. We're going to have some "fun" with this, I'd imagine.

James F. (talk) 08:44, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

Could be made to work, but only people with certain competencies can do checkuser in the first place. So that can be interesting. :-) --Kim Bruning (talk) 18:23, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

Questionable redirects of links to Church of St. Margaret, Westminster

I do not understand the reason for these two edits: ; the first one was done by you, and the second one by JdforresterBot. Especially in the first case, it is desirable that the article's title is used in the template, so that its name can appear in bold when that article is viewed. In the second case, the result is merely to use a redirect instead of going straight to the article, even though the appearing text is still different. Am I missing anything? Regards, Waltham, The Duke of 15:02, 5 May 2008 (UTC)

I moved the article to what it would normally be called (per convention on Misplaced Pages and actual usage in the "real world", which are not unrelated); I thought it impolite to assume that the author of the text originally, and so chose not to replace "St. Margaret's Church" and "Saint Margaret's Church" with "St. Margaret's, Westminster". The appropriate name depends on context, and as we have to use the best non-contextual name we can with article titles, it is not always the one one would select to mention in-line within an article.

Note that the link is to the article's title; I always try to correct links before, rather than subsequent to, moving a page, so as to remove any possibility of broken redirects (even for just a few minutes) for our readers. Sorry for the confusion that this has evidently caused.

On a more general point, hello; it saddens me that my article editing of late has been so very slight that it has taken us a year to cross paths despite similar editing interests and your prodigious contributions.

James F. (talk) 15:27, 5 May 2008 (UTC)

P.S.: Bah, edit conflict

All right, the page was moved and I did not bypass my cache. My mistake; perhaps I should have been a little slower in my reactions. Still, the move might not have removed all problems. The name does not have a full stop after St, following British conventions. Why is it still in the title? Waltham, The Duke of 15:16, 5 May 2008 (UTC)

No problem, it happens to me frequently, too.

I have checked all links to the page (this is one thing for which the bot is particularly good), and there should be no problems. If you do find some, I would be grateful (and concerned!) to hear.

As to "The name does not have a full stop after St, following British conventions.", I have to say I'm perplexed; do you mean to say that you do not believe that "Saint" should be written as "St." in British English? If so, I'm afraid that you follow a different strand of British English to that practised here in London. If you wish, I can go out and take some photographs of, for example, the sign above St. Margaret's, or for St. James's Park, etc.. It very much is part of British English in my (quite wide-spread) experience of it :-)

James F. (talk) 15:32, 5 May 2008 (UTC)

Perhaps I have under-estimated the impact of my contributions; I am just a Gnome... I must say that, although your name is not completely unfamiliar to me, I cannot connect it to anything in specific (typical of my memory...), so it must have been some time since the last time I have encountered it.

Now, the article in question is in need of copy-editing (which I intend to do), so it's nice to know the proper name has a full stop, but I recall a previous version not having a full stop in the prose, and I have been, so far, quite confident about abbreviations in British English ending with the word's final letter not using full stops (like Dr for Doctor and Stn for Station). I'll take your word for this case, so you don't need to take any pictures, but from other articles it does seem that St is widely used for other locations with saints in their names.

P.S. I appreciate your cross-posting your reply in my talk page, but you needn't have; I watchlist pages where I leave messages. Waltham, The Duke of 16:34, 5 May 2008 (UTC)

Deserving of a barnstar

If I was still the type of person who gave out barnstars, this would deserve some sort of award for good humour. Guettarda (talk) 21:31, 14 May 2008 (UTC)

Thank you. I suppose it means I'll have to recuse if there's an Arbitration case, though. Oh well.

James F. (talk) 22:22, 14 May 2008 (UTC)

Coyote FP

Hi there
I've nominated for delisting here the Coyote featured picture you originally nominated. Perhaps you'd like to participate in the discussion there?
Cheers, Pstuart84 Talk 21:18, 15 May 2008 (UTC)

Agr "Driving a stake in descriptive policy"

That's not good. This is a pivotal point in time I think. I hope you can spare a few minutes to take a look. --Kim Bruning (talk) 19:04, 19 May 2008 (UTC)

Have done so. You probably won't like my response, however. :-)

James F. (talk) 22:49, 19 May 2008 (UTC)

Yes, but you know what I'm talking about at least :-)

The problem with setting things in stone is that they start showing all kinds of odd and unpredictable behavior (chaos theory). The other problem with setting things in stone is that they become unmediatable (is that a word?). Mediation relevance and success-rate drop considerably when hard rules are involved.

The former is a problem because some of the unpredicted effects are bound to be causes of conflict (murphy's law), and the latter is a problem because most of DR (besides) arbcom is structured around mediation or is mediation-like structures. By altering the rules the way you say you are doing, you are increasing the arbcom workload, reducing mediation efficacy, and incidentally also reducing opportunities for information transfer and leadership (aka acculturation) for reasons that don't quite fit in this margin today, but which I'm willing to expand on.

So a couple of weeks ago, a pair of arbcom members walked in and basically said that the entire system is broken. I wonder why? ;-)

--Kim Bruning (talk) 23:55, 19 May 2008 (UTC) That's a key issue, though there are several others ^^;;

Well, I was commenting on a trend rather than agreeing entirely with it. But yes, there are severe structural issues. :-(

James F. (talk) 13:03, 27 May 2008 (UTC)

Reminder Sunday Lunchtime

Just a reminder about Misplaced Pages:Meetup/London 10 See you Sunday 1p.m.! -- Harry Wood (talk) 00:25, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

Absolutely! Might even get there a tad early, just for fun.

James F. (talk) 11:19, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

Talk:List of countries by GDP (nominal)#Informal mediation

Hi - you're invited to join in a discussion on the inclusion of the EU in the List of countries by GDP (nominal) article. Regards SilkTork * 23:13, 14 June 2008 (UTC)

Thank you for the invite, but I'm not sure I have an opinion either way.

James F. (talk) 18:10, 16 June 2008 (UTC)

Query

cross-posted

I need help renaming about 200 articles. Doing this by hand would take me all day.

Can your bot rename articles, or be adapted to do so?

If so, please contact me.

Thank you.

The Transhumanist    22:41, 16 June 2008 (UTC)

Sure, no problem; what do you want me to do?

James F. (talk) 18:58, 17 June 2008 (UTC)

Two things. Maybe they can be done in the same operation, I don't know.

The Wikipdia:WikiProject Lists of basic topics has been renamed to Misplaced Pages:WikiProject Topical outlines. Unfortunately, "move subpages" only moved 100 of the subpages when the move was done. So 100 of the pages that need to be renamed are subpages of the correctly named WikiProject.

Those need to be renamed from Misplaced Pages:WikiProject Topical outlines/Draft/List of basic foo topics to Misplaced Pages:WikiProject Topical outlines/Draft/Topical outline of foo, where foo is the subject the page is about. Some of the new titles will need the foo, where grammar requires it. For example, Topical outline of the Solomon Islands, and Topical outline of the Central African Republic. A few need the plural tense added, resulting in for example Topical outline of black holes.

The rest are subpages of Misplaced Pages:WikiProject Lists of basic topics/Draft and need to be moved, and renamed as above.

Is this something you can handle?

The Transhumanist    19:57, 17 June 2008 (UTC)

Talk:List_of_countries_by_GDP_(nominal)#Conclusion

The Mediation discussion regarding the inclusion of the EU in List of countries by GDP (nominal) has come to a conclusion with the following result:

• The EU to remain in List of countries by GDP (nominal).
• The EU to be positioned according to GDP rank between World and USA.
• No consensus on the EU appearing in all three charts. By convention this means the situation would remain as current - that is the EU remains on all three charts.
• Data for the EU on each chart to only be given if sourced, otherwise a dash to replace the data.
• Explanation to be placed in the lead section for the appearance of the EU and other non-countries. Possible wording: "Several economies which are not normally considered to be countries are included in the list because they appear in the sources. These economies are not ranked in the charts here, but are listed in sequence by GDP for comparison."
• The List retains the current name.
• A suggestion by Tomeasy that I feel should be carried out is that the sister articles are given the same treatment as agreed above.

Unless there are significant disagreements within the next 48 hours I will be closing the Mediation. Any questions, please get in touch. Regards SilkTork * 10:57, 21 June 2008 (UTC)

Silly two-year-old query

Can you shed any light on the dilemma at Misplaced Pages talk:Naming conventions#Policy.3F? Your name was mentioned in a years-old edit summary, yet for some reason, the page has been marked as policy ever since. Was there an ArbCom case involved? If you don't mind, pls respond over there so we can try to sort this, thanks, SandyGeorgia (Talk) 05:03, 3 July 2008 (UTC)

Done. Sorry for the confusion caused.

James F. (talk) 16:42, 5 July 2008 (UTC)

I request you to be the Honorable Arbitrator to my case Brhmoism

As I feel only a 'rational wise judge' can do justice to my case of deletion. I am not a good writer but my content is crucial and only trapped in sub-communities religious bias which has become a Brhmo-Phobia in wikipedia too . I request your highness to post some urgent translator of Hindi to my references /notability of news/reviews at :

• Brhmaand Pujan Critics’, News-Reviews.

--203.194.98.177 (talk) 21:27, 29 July 2008 (UTC)

Hello,

I'm afraid that I may be too late, but anyway, I'm not involved as an Arbitrator in matters of content disputes. I would suggest that you follow the WP:Dispute resolution process to try to engage with those who disagree with you as to what matters should be documented, and how, on-wiki. If you feel that individuals violate policy regularly, however, you should consider Arbitration, but only as a last step.

If there is anything with which I could help, please do ask.

James F. (talk) 18:37, 3 August 2008 (UTC)

London meet up

Hey! Cheers for the invite to the London meet up. Unfortunately I won't be able to make it because I'm in Manchester that weekend. Take care! Technohead1980 (talk) 12:33, 3 August 2008 (UTC)

Of course. Hopefully you can come to a later one!

James F. (talk) 18:37, 3 August 2008 (UTC)

Don't ever do that again, the 'mass invite', as you put it, is very much unappreciated. I would like to never hear from you again. Thank you for wasting a little bit of my life that I will never get back. !!!!Iammadeofjelly (talk) 19:15, 3 August 2008 (UTC)

I'm sorry that you don't want to participate in the community, and for "wasting" your time.

In future, if you don't want to get such mass-messages, you should put "{{nobots}}" on your talk page.

If there's anything with which I could help, please do ask.

James F. (talk) 22:37, 3 August 2008 (UTC)

I might go - it clashes with the Mela though. DavidFarmbrough (talk) 10:53, 7 August 2008 (UTC)

Please forgive the slightly impersonal mass-invite!

Pah! Gordo (talk) 17:37, 4 August 2008 (UTC)

Yeah, yeah. :-)

See you on Sunday.

James F. (talk) 21:54, 4 August 2008 (UTC)

Abelian group

I want to use an equals sign in the lead summary but it breaks the template. I'm not brilliant with templates. Can that be fixed? Theresa Knott | The otter sank 21:59, 10 August 2008 (UTC)

{{=}}

James F. (talk) 22:05, 10 August 2008 (UTC)

There is a discussion on the talk page. They are against it, I was expecting that. Theresa Knott | The otter sank 06:45, 12 August 2008 (UTC)

I don't know if "they" are against it. I do think further explanation is needed and that the most resistance will come from non-mathematics editors (e.g. those who don't actually edit abelian group). Is this a dead idea then? --C S (talk) 16:09, 24 October 2008 (UTC)

Sunday invite

Hi James, sorry for no reply re: Sunday meeting - I haven't logged on to my account for a fair while, which is something I'm rather guilty about, so I only just picked up your message. Cheers, Parmesan (talk) 22:33, 14 August 2008 (UTC)

No problem. Maybe you can come to the next one?

James F. (talk) 18:49, 18 August 2008 (UTC)

Sadly, I won't be able to join you either. Giano (talk) 19:00, 18 August 2008 (UTC)

Succession template deletions

TfD nomination of Template:Succession box three to three

Template:Succession box three to three has been nominated for deletion. You are invited to comment on the discussion at the template's entry on the Templates for Deletion page. Thank you. Bazj (talk) 11:16, 5 September 2008 (UTC)

TfD nomination of Template:PeerNavbox

Template:PeerNavbox has been nominated for deletion. You are invited to comment on the discussion at the template's entry on the Templates for Deletion page. Thank you. Bazj (talk) 14:27, 5 September 2008 (UTC)

TfD nomination of Template:Succession box three to one

Template:Succession box three to one has been nominated for deletion. You are invited to comment on the discussion at the template's entry on the Templates for Deletion page. Thank you. Bazj (talk) 09:25, 6 September 2008 (UTC)

TfD nomination of Template:Succession box one to one

Template:Succession box one to one has been nominated for deletion. You are invited to comment on the discussion at the template's entry on the Templates for Deletion page. Thank you. Bazj (talk) 11:53, 7 September 2008 (UTC)

TfD nomination of Template:Succession box one to three

Template:Succession box one to three has been nominated for deletion. You are invited to comment on the discussion at the template's entry on the Templates for Deletion page. Thank you. Bazj (talk) 15:01, 13 September 2008 (UTC)

per the meet

I've been unable to find the graphs on the RfA process; i'm sure with sufficient digging through the RfA talk archives they'd be findeable. You might want to look at this, however. Ironholds 21:14, 14 September 2008 (UTC)

Thanks! Forgot to say so on the day.

James F. (talk) 22:27, 23 September 2008 (UTC)

Book review

_Look over at Amazon.uk_ You did actually write that review, LOL. Aren't you a bit bias considering you prove read that book? :D KTC (talk) 11:03, 16 September 2008 (UTC)

I've read the book and advised its authors. Hardly a major conflict of interest. :-)

James F. (talk) 22:27, 23 September 2008 (UTC)

London 14

Hi James, London 14 is up and running. I hope you can be equally as er, persuasive as you were in getting interest for the previous rendezvous. Best, WilliamH (talk) 15:51, 19 September 2008 (UTC)

Well, I'll be there, though if anything that's a disincentive for people to come! :-)

James F. (talk) 22:30, 23 September 2008 (UTC)

Surely not! Well if it's any consolation, you'll be reunited with your sign at least. ;-) WilliamH (talk) 11:10, 25 September 2008 (UTC)

Aha! Excellent. Looking forward to it. May bring a new sign, too. :-)

James F. (talk) 11:15, 28 September 2008 (UTC)

EMail

You have one. — Rlevse • Talk • 09:59, 24 September 2008 (UTC)

Got msg from other arb. Keep me on pls. — Rlevse • Talk • 20:25, 24 September 2008 (UTC)

Barnstar

		The Working Man's Barnstar
		I present this barnstar to you for working to successfully close Misplaced Pages:Requests for arbitration/C68-FM-SV. NE2 06:41, 25 September 2008 (UTC)

Echo NE2. Thank you guys for your efforts. Everyme 15:15, 25 September 2008 (UTC)

Thank you both. I do believe that this is my very first barnstar - and just before my sixth anniversary of editing! :-)

James F. (talk) 11:13, 28 September 2008 (UTC)

That Checkuser discussion

Hi James, At last weekend's meetup, you suggested I contact you with the suspected sockpuppet I mentioned. It is NoCal100 (talk · contribs · count). If you look at the user talk page, e.g. this diff , you will see that it was pretty obvious that this was a sockpuppet from the start. However, this account is being used to accuse other sock puppet accounts , other forms of misconduct and to criticise editors in other ways . The sheer hypocrisy of this is getting to me. I think the most likely candidate for puppetteer is MegaMom (talk · contribs · count), who was active at various pages on the same side of edit wars at Nocal100's first appearance and early in his/her career . I haven't identified non-edit war articles where both have been active, but notice a shared interest in Jewish matters and the Holocaust. The Nocal account has become more active as the Megamom has quietened. Cheers. --Peter cohen (talk) 12:17, 18 October 2008 (UTC)

Thank you; will look into it this evening after the meetup.

James F. (talk) 15:01, 18 October 2008 (UTC)

Thanks.--Peter cohen (talk) 17:56, 18 October 2008 (UTC)

Are you well? Things have gone very quiet on your contributions page. I'm progressing things somewhat. See Wikipedia_talk:Requests_for_checkuser#Possible socks on either side of the Israel/Palestine debate. Anyway, hope things are okay.--Peter cohen (talk) 19:13, 31 October 2008 (UTC)

Argh, yes, just very away. :-(

Thanks for the prod!

James F. (talk) 14:21, 1 November 2008 (UTC)

Glad things are okay. If you're dealing with this, then if you can combine what I've said here with what I've said on the checkuser talk page. It would be pleasingly symmetrical if We can nail sockpuppets on bothe sides of the I/P row.--Peter cohen (talk) 22:16, 1 November 2008 (UTC)

Replied at WT:RFCU. In short, can't find anything.

James F. (talk) 00:03, 4 November 2008 (UTC)

Thanks, James. I felt sure something was goign on, but evidently not.--Peter cohen (talk) 15:04, 5 November 2008 (UTC)

You have a doppelgänger

Jdforrest (talk · contribs · deleted contribs · logs · filter log · block user · block log).
Anthøny (talk) 13:20, 18 October 2008 (UTC)

Gosh, how... intriguing. Not sure whether I should drop them a note. :-)

James F. (talk) 14:59, 18 October 2008 (UTC)

CB2 backwash

Hi, the scripts we (I ;-) talked about: To try out, add

importScript('User:Magnus Manske/less edit clutter.js');

to your monobook.js subpage.

Also, for section edit highlighting, try:

importScript('User:Magnus Manske/HighlightEditSections.js');

No warranty for either... --Magnus Manske (talk) 18:02, 18 October 2008 (UTC)

Happy Jdforrester's Day!

User:Jdforrester has been identified as an Awesome Wikipedian, and therefore, I've officially declared today as Jdforrester's day! For being such a beautiful person and great Wikipedian, enjoy being the Star of the day, dear Jdforrester! Peace, Rlevse ~ A record of your Day will always be kept here.

For a userbox you can add to your userbox page, see User:EVula/Userboxes/Happy Me Day! and my own userpage for a sample of how to use it. — Rlevse • Talk • 00:18, 8 November 2008 (UTC)

Gosh. Err. Thanks. I think. :-)

James F. (talk) 13:31, 9 November 2008 (UTC)

ArbCom Candidate Template

Hello, fellow candidate! Just so you know, in an effort to announce our candidacies and raise further awareness of the election, I have created the template {{ACE2008Candidate}}, which I would invite you to place on your user and user talk pages. The template is designed to direct users to your Questions and Discussion pages, as well as to further information about the election. Best of luck in the election! Hersfold 16:38, 12 November 2008 (UTC)

Thank you, though I won't choose to use it, as I boycott non-lingual userboxes.

James F. (talk) 13:22, 15 November 2008 (UTC)

Point of note: it's not so much a userbox as a messagebox, by the traditional definition of the former. Obviously it's your choice, but I do observe that it's a template but not a userbox. AGK 17:45, 17 November 2008 (UTC)

Arbcom Election - Questions List

Hi. I've posted the remaining General Questions to your Questions for the Candidate page, and formatted the headers to match what you had already posted. With these and the existing questions, you now have the complete list. Good luck, UltraExactZZ ~ Evidence 14:53, 17 November 2008 (UTC)

Thank you.

James F. (talk) 21:47, 19 November 2008 (UTC)

ArbCom questions

cross-posted as requested

Hi. I'm Ral315, editor of the Misplaced Pages Signpost. We're interviewing all ArbCom candidates for an article this week, and your response is requested.

1. What positions do you hold (adminship, mediation, etc.), on this or other wikis?

2. Have you been involved in any arbitration cases? In what capacity?

3. Why are you running for the Arbitration Committee?

4. How do you feel the Arbitration Committee has handled cases and other situations over the last year? Can you provide an examples of situations where you feel the Committee handled a situation exceptionally well, and why? Any you feel they handled poorly, and why?

5. What is your opinion on confidentiality? If evidence is submitted privately to the Committee, would you share it with other parties in the case? Would you make a decision based on confidential information without making it public?

6. Why do you think users should vote for you?

Please respond on my talk page. We'll probably go to press on Tuesday, but late responses will be added as they're submitted. Thanks, Ral315 (talk) 10:25, 23 November 2008 (UTC)

My responses:

1. User privs on public wikis:

   enwiki

   Sysop/Arbitrator/CheckUser/OverSight

   metawiki

   Sysop/Bureaucrat

   commonswiki

   Sysop

   Also a few other things like OTRS, WMF CommsCom, IRC GC, Foundationwiki access, Wikimania team, etc.

2. Obviously, lots of cases as an Arbitrator. Also, I was mentioned in a case in 2006, reminding me of my own policy about appropriate decorum.
3. From , "I've decided to stand again because I believe it is what I am best at providing to the enwiki community, and, more importantly, that this is of value over and above that which some/many others would provide."
4. I'm not sure it's appropriate for me to comment on my and my fellow Arbitrators' actions; that's for the community to decide.
5. I think confidentiality is a matter of great importance to the community, and something that we should all expect of the Committee; only with permission (though I would expect us to continue with our policy of outlining to the parties concerns expressed; and yes, but only if I strongly felt there was a good reason so to do, and that it was for the project's benefit.
6. From my answer to a question, "I think that the community is best served by a Committee with a spectrum of experiences and points of view on the various topics that surround our community, so that the widest range of responses is considered appropriately. Having helped to create Arbitration, I suppose I offer more of a reflective position to the discussions, both around individual cases and also on meta-issues like evolving and reforming the Committee to better serve the community. I do not see the inputs of "new" and "old" ("seasoned"?) in competition at all, but instead as each complementing the other."

Curious as to why this wasn't asked on the (and why at such short notice :-)), but hope this helps.

James F. (talk) 12:10, 23 November 2008 (UTC)

Less obvious place because my questions tend to be duplicative of questions already asked, so that way they don't clog up the questions page. Short notice because I've been busy :) Ral315 (talk) 08:37, 26 November 2008 (UTC)

Semi-protection of Saab Lofton

Yo Jd, you semi-protected this article for IP vandalism and BLP issues last June. It seems relatively placid at this point; would you consider unprotecting? Regards, the skomorokh 16:44, 26 November 2008 (UTC)

Have unprotected. Thanks for point this out.

James F. (talk) 19:02, 29 November 2008 (UTC)

Thank you, I appreciate it. Regards, the skomorokh 22:12, 29 November 2008 (UTC)

Arbcom election note

Not that my single "vote" may matter, considering the current trend, but I'm on the fence.

One thing in your favour, as far as I'm concerned is that your answer to my question was not what one would presume was what I may have wanted to hear. Being able to give thoughtful opinions (presumably to the greater benefit of Misplaced Pages) despite what may be popular at the current moment, is a trait that I value.

And your current experience (institutional memory) is something worth retaining as well.

And I haven't been thrilled at how you've been attacked during some Arbcom proceedings.

That said, there are some things which you've said recently and not-so-recently (not what you've directly said, but what some things seem to indicate indirectly) which lead me to be unsure. If this was an RfA I would be "voting" Neutral.

I'd ask you some questions or list some things for you to clarify, but I'm not sure how to phrase what I'm receiving by semi-osmosis.

My apologies if this doesn't make sense. I'm finding it difficult to put into words. (Which would seem to be a definite indication to me that perhaps I shouldn't be "voting" concerning something which may seem to require further thought.)

Anyway, I just wanted to try to express to you why I struck my "vote" (for now at least). - jc37 22:16, 4 December 2008 (UTC)

Thank you. Happy to answer questions, but the community and its faith in the Committee is more important than me getting on, or being off, it!

James F. (talk) 16:35, 6 December 2008 (UTC)

Fair answer.

I asked User:Mackensen for their thoughts, since they also supported you, and is someone whose opinion I greatly respect.

Based upon his response, and just me trying to untangle my feeling and thoughts, led me to revert myself, and restore the support "vote".

If the current trend continues, it likely won't mean anything in terms of the election, but "voting" to entrust added responsibilities is something important to me here, and something I don't take lightly.

I had planned to support you (as one of 4 - half the seats available, rounding up) from the start. And at this moment, that initial decision still feels justified.

Anyway, if I somehow miss it (due to Wikibreak, or whatever) please drop me a note next year, should you decide to run again.

And I do hope (the election aside) that you're having a great day : ) - jc37 21:25, 9 December 2008 (UTC)

little note

Just a quick thing, first you've been working hard with wikipedia and as you said above you havent recieved many so let me be another who gives you a pat on the back for past efforst to make wikipedia better and to put you in better spirits on the arb com vote;

		The Barnstar of Diligence
		For sticking with it through everything and contributing to the wiki project in a commited and respected fashion Ottawa4ever (talk) 00:09, 5 December 2008 (UTC)

Hey! Thank you. That's very kind of you.

James F. (talk) 16:36, 6 December 2008 (UTC)

Wikimeet

Looking forward to the December wikimeet! Gordo (talk) 22:49, 9 December 2008 (UTC)

File:London Mansion House Corp of London.jpg listed for deletion

An image or media file that you uploaded or altered, File:London Mansion House Corp of London.jpg, has been listed at Misplaced Pages:Images and media for deletion. Please see the discussion to see why this is (you may have to search for the title of the image to find its entry), if you are interested in it not being deleted. Thank you. — Moe ε 12:45, 17 December 2008 (UTC)

Greetings

ϢereSpellCheckers is wishing you Seasons Greetings! Whether you celebrate the Winter or Summer Solstice, Xmas, Eid, Diwali, Hogmanay, Hannukah or even the Saturnalia this is a special time of year for almost everyone!

Spread the holiday cheer by adding {{subst:User:WereSpielChequers/Dec08}} to your friends' talk pages.

Hi, sorry about the election, and for missing the December meetup, hope to see you in January. PS List of theological demons and List of fictional demons have been attracting very different patterns of edits since the rename! ϢereSpellCheckers 00:20, 21 December 2008 (UTC)

Thank you! And my best wishes to you, too. :-)

Excellent to hear about the articles becoming more useful. That's what we're here for, after all!

James F. (talk) 11:27, 22 December 2008 (UTC)

Seasons Greetings

Thank you.

James F. (talk) 11:38, 29 December 2008 (UTC)

Merry Christmas from Promethean

Jdforrester,
I wish you and your family all the best this Christmas and that you also have a Happy and safe new year.
Thankyou for all your contributions to Misplaced Pages this year and I look forward to seeing many more from you in the future.
Your work around Misplaced Pages has not gone un-noticed, this notice is testimony to that
Please feel free to drop by my talkpage any time to say Hi, as I will probably say Hi back :)

All the Best.   «l| Ψrometheăn ™|l»  (talk)

Thank you.

James F. (talk) 11:39, 29 December 2008 (UTC)

Happy New Year

Thank you, Flo. :-)

James F. (talk) 22:04, 10 January 2009 (UTC)

Happy New Year!

Dear Jdforrester,

Wishing you a happy new year, and very best wishes for 2009. Whether we were friends or not in the past year, I hope 2009 will be better for us both.

Kind regards,

Majorly talk 21:14, 1 January 2009 (UTC)

Thanks, Alex. Looking forward to seeing you at a meetup soon! :-)

James F. (talk) 22:06, 10 January 2009 (UTC)

OSM Tube Network Map

Good to see you today. Was it this OSM Tube Network Map you were thinking of? This would've been created by an installation of the 'Mapnik' rendering system, with a stylesheet set-up to achieve the pale map in the background and the dotty tube lines. Fairly tricky to set-up, but the various rendering tools are improving and getting easier all the time. -- Harry Wood (talk) 22:34, 11 January 2009 (UTC)

A handy link

Hi James, further to today's chat, this http://stats.grok.se/en/200812/User_talk%3AJdforrester nifty link looks to me like it counts actual hits not a sample. ϢereSpielChequers 22:50, 11 January 2009 (UTC)

TfD nomination of Template:Lead summary

Template:Lead summary has been nominated for deletion. You are invited to comment on the discussion at the template's entry on the Templates for Deletion page. Thank you. Fram (talk) 11:14, 22 January 2009 (UTC)

Agreed, the idea was somewhat still-born. Will see what we can do in a couple of years, perhaps.

James F. (talk) 08:35, 24 January 2009 (UTC)

V&A on the first

Is it at all structured? I can't seem to find any time to kick off, place to meet, so on so forth. Ironholds (talk) 03:46, 25 January 2009 (UTC)

No idea, sorry. Not yet sure when I'll turn up. Probably early, though - 10:30 or so. :-)

James F. (talk) 17:54, 25 January 2009 (UTC)

Bloody hell. Alright, I'll contact the rest then; thanks for your help. Ironholds (talk) 16:38, 27 January 2009 (UTC)

Now I feel guilty. :-)

James F. (talk) 17:10, 27 January 2009 (UTC)

For what? Evidently everyone else is turning up at 1-ish; trying to get a head start on those prizes? I'm bringing the ladyfriend along otherwise I'd be there at 9 just to piss you off (she's never up before eight, and then there is makeup, travel, so on so forth). Ironholds (talk) 04:05, 28 January 2009 (UTC)

Misplaced Pages:Meetup/London 18

The Victoria and Albert Museum Misplaced Pages Loves Art event is February 1 (this Sunday), -not- February 8. Thanks!--Pharos (talk) 02:49, 28 January 2009 (UTC)

No, WLA is February-long; the event on 1st February is merely the launch. The meetup is scheduled to be as normal, but as an activity meet-up, as an experiment. I see WereSpielChequers has corrected your wrongful edit, and added an explanation.

James F. (talk) 16:25, 28 January 2009 (UTC)

Misplaced Pages:Meetup/Cambridge 2

Provisionally scheduled for Feburary 28. Comments welcome. Dsp13 (talk) 18:11, 31 January 2009 (UTC)

Excellent. Thanks!

James F. (talk) 15:41, 1 February 2009 (UTC)

The second Cambridge meetup is utterly confirmed for this Saturday. Hope to see you there. Charles Matthews (talk) 19:18, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

Monsooned Malabar

A tag has been placed on Monsooned Malabar, requesting that it be speedily deleted from Misplaced Pages. This has been done under the criteria for speedy deletion, because the article seems to be blatant advertising that only promotes a company, product, group, service or person and would need to be fundamentally rewritten in order to become an encyclopedia article. Please read the general criteria for speedy deletion, particularly item 11, as well as the guidelines on spam.

If you can indicate why the subject of this article is not blatant advertising, you may contest the tagging. To do this, please add {{hangon}} on the top of Monsooned Malabar and leave a note on the article's talk page explaining your position. Please do not remove the speedy deletion tag yourself, but don't hesitate to add information to the article that would help make it encyclopedic, as well as adding any citations from independent reliable sources to ensure that the article will be verifiable. Feel free to leave a note on my talk page if you have any questions about this. Pisharov (talk) 01:36, 5 February 2009 (UTC)

I don't know what you had to do with it, but anyway, this article you created is a subject for speedy deletion. Thought you should know.Pisharov (talk) 01:36, 5 February 2009 (UTC)

Replied. Really, tsk.

James F. (talk) 16:33, 5 February 2009 (UTC)

That was one of the most shameless examples of blatant spam I've seen in a long time. The pre-spamming version was unsourced and full of advertising-like language; there was nothing to salvage. If you genuinely believe this is a notable product, I certainly wouldn't object to your creating a new article afresh, without so much caffo-porn phrasing (soft, mellow, full bodied character and pleasant spicy flavour. It is also versatile ) and with some reliable sources. --Orange Mike | Talk 18:15, 5 February 2009 (UTC)

List of acts of Parliament in the United Kingdom

I'd appreciate your input regarding whether the above list should be at List of acts of Parliament in the United Kingdom or List of Acts of Parliament in the United Kingdom. See Talk:List of acts of Parliament in the United Kingdom#Move. Hiding T 12:00, 24 February 2009 (UTC)

Misplaced Pages:Meetup/London 19

You aren't on the list, but always attend so are you coming to this one? Theresa Knott | token threats 17:04, 6 March 2009 (UTC)

I did attend, yes. Sorry that you didn't!

James F. (talk) 19:31, 10 March 2009 (UTC)

Misplaced Pages:Meetup/London 20

Hi, good to see you've signed up, but there is a bit of a discussion that started after you left about the date, as the 12th falls on Easter Sunday. The question is, whether the London wikimeetup is a Moveable feast. Perhaps you can check the discussion on the talk page! ThanksHarrypotter (talk) 22:00, 10 March 2009 (UTC)

Manc-meet

Hey James. Discussions have opened up for the fifth Manchester meet to take advantage of various people who were not available last time now being free. If you'd like to stick your oar in, as it were? Ironholds (talk) 15:23, 20 March 2009 (UTC)

Westminster School logo

elements cross-posted

The Westminster School logo, is currently tagged as a fair use image. However, in the under school magazine from last year, it shows that the school was using a form of the logo from 1943 at the latest, with an image similar ,but not the same as this image . The only main difference from the older logo to the current one are the reeds at the side, but the school also uses a logo without one and variants which are similar to the logo used by the abbey (just the coat of arms in this image) concurrently with the logo on the Westminster School artlicle. The question I wanted to ask is the current logo too unoriginal to be a copyrightable original work after 2013(at the latest) or not? If not, would the usage of one of the older, public domain logos be appropriate on the page? Sorry for bothering you. Tmwerty (talk) 16:03, 8 April 2009 (UTC)

Hmm, good question. If the image was as we currently have it depicted in 1943, then it would, yes, be PD in 2013 at the latest - but only if it was a work for hire; if it was created and copyright not assigned to the School, but merely licensed, it could be later. I have no idea how we might find out further information, beyond asking the School (and it's a particularly detailed and specific query, of course).

Certainly, there are a large number of ways of rendering the School's coat of arms. Having said that, there is a difference (beyond the shield shape and decoration) between the 'official' and playing-card versions - the Tudor Roses are on fields of Or in one and Argent in the other. I have no idea which is correct, however. :-) Does our duty to show accuracy trump our need here to be maximally redistributable? Absent further information, it comes down to a judgement to see what added value we give by using a Fair Use image over a PD one. To assume that the School is correct doesn't seem too foolish, but I'm not sure I have a decision.

Sorry that this response gives rise to more questions than it answers. :-)

James F. (talk) 17:18, 11 April 2009 (UTC)

Thanks for answering, I'll try to confirm whether it is licensed or not, (curiously, I have noticed that the school only seems to use a low resolution image for any electronic use ). And as the school's coat of arms is based in the standard of Westminster Abbey, the tudor rose should be in fields of Or, not Argent, shown here and used by the schoolhere (the flag on the boat). Due to this, I think using the playing-card version is not appropriate and for now the fair use image should be kept. However, the 1943 variant is a possibility that can be explored when the time comes in 2013(possibly earlier if the image can be dated - personally I have a hunch that is already in the public domain (as the school would not take the expense of designing a new logo in the cash-strapped times that was WWII - I will check)). Sorry for the slightly rambling answer, thanks again and have a nice easter.Tmwerty (talk) 17:11, 12 April 2009 (UTC)

Meetup 21

Hey James, just dropping you a note to let you know that we're debating whether or not to move the date to the following weekend (shock horror, progress) as it would allow me and User:Werdna (sorry, User:Werdna and I) to attend. The discussion can be found here; feel free to chip in at any point. Ironholds (talk) 22:15, 13 April 2009 (UTC)

Bah, the note on IRC helped prod me. Thanks. :-)

James F. (talk) 18:40, 20 April 2009 (UTC)

Request for help

I thought it might be a good idea to run a contest or two through the Countries WikiProject to attract editors to improve country coverage on Misplaced Pages, especially the country outlines.

I noticed you are a member of the WikiProject, and was wondering if you could help.

I've posted a message at Countries WikiProject talk page to get discussion started on what the awards programs should be and how they should be run.

Your ideas and feedback would be greatly appreciated.

The Transhumanist    23:22, 18 May 2009 (UTC)

Brown Cabinet

Oh, sure. And it was hard to keep up! Therequiembellishere (talk) 22:56, 5 June 2009 (UTC)

Indefblockeduser templates

Is it possible for non administrators to tag {{indefblockeduser}} on user and user talk pages of indefinitely blocked users?

Possible, but generally better to leave it to sysops as they're able to "do something about it", if you follow me. Really, sysops should be doing it themselves when they block users as part of their job.

James F. (talk) 09:04, 12 July 2009 (UTC)

Your user page

Dude, it's time for an update. :-) I was gonna do it myself, but I wasn't sure how much you wanted to keep in there (specifically the IRC bits).... --MZMcBride (talk) 03:39, 22 June 2009 (UTC)

Hmm. Yes. Will do it! :-)

James F. (talk) 09:04, 12 July 2009 (UTC)

Discussing another Cambridge meetup

The fourth Cambridge meet-up is being discussed, so far not with huge success, for July. Charles Matthews (talk) 18:52, 26 June 2009 (UTC)

Pinged an idea there for the first weekend of August.

James F. (talk) 09:04, 12 July 2009 (UTC)

A bit short notice...

...but I'm sure you knew anyway. London 23 is all set for tomorrow. WilliamH (talk) 12:52, 11 July 2009 (UTC)

Yes, but thanks for pointing out that I'd forgotten to put my name up. :-)

James F. (talk) 09:04, 12 July 2009 (UTC)

John Coles (diplomat)

Hi! It seems you recently created an unreferenced biography of a living person: John Coles (diplomat). Our verifiability policy requires that all content be cited to a reliable source. Please add references as soon as possible. Thanks! --LaraBot (talk) 00:45, 13 July 2009 (UTC)

Ahem. Whoops. :-)

James F. (talk) 20:27, 21 July 2009 (UTC)

Cambridge meetup 1 August

FYI, the fourth Cambridge meetup will occur on the afternoon of Saturday 1 August. Charles Matthews (talk) 14:00, 26 July 2009 (UTC)

Excellent, thanks.

James F. (talk) 21:54, 27 July 2009 (UTC)

Meetup

A meetup is taking place in Manchester if you are interested. Majorly talk 18:49, 30 July 2009 (UTC)

Thanks for the heads-up; sadly I can't make it, as I'll still be out of the country on my way home from Wikimania. :-(

James F. (talk) 14:00, 1 August 2009 (UTC)

"I do ... I do ... I do ... I do ..."

elements cross-posted, James F.'s and Hertzsprung's

If that means anything to you, then it was you that I spotted at tonight's show. Hope to see you at another London WP meetup soon. Hertzsprung (talk) 22:16, 13 August 2009 (UTC)

It must have been (or you spotted a similar person, I suppose, but I was there too). Gosh, what a small world. :-)

James F. (talk) 22:37, 13 August 2009 (UTC)

Articles for deletion nomination of Monsooned Malabar

I have nominated Monsooned Malabar, an article that you created, for deletion. I do not think that this article satisfies Misplaced Pages's criteria for inclusion, and have explained why at Misplaced Pages:Articles for deletion/Monsooned Malabar. Your opinions on the matter are welcome at that same discussion page; also, you are welcome to edit the article to address these concerns. Thank you for your time.

Please contact me if you're unsure why you received this message. Orange Mike | Talk 16:39, 29 September 2009 (UTC)

Cambridge meetup 14 November

Another Cambridge meetup is planned for the afternoon of Saturday 14 November. Please contribute to the page and come along if you can. Charles Matthews (talk) 14:38, 16 October 2009 (UTC)

Excellent. Thanks!

10:35, 31 October 2009 (UTC)

hallo from Uwe Kils

can you please vote again on http://en.wikipedia.org/Wikipedia:Articles_for_deletion/Uwe_Kils_(3rd_nomination). Best wishes Uwe Kils 13:38, 9 December 2009 (UTC)