Misplaced Pages

Revision as of 02:53, 16 February 2010

Re: Adoption

Feel free to ask questions on my talkpage, and I'll try to answer them when I get around my computer. For me, adoption doesn't need to be really that formal, so I'm quite flexible in terms of how to assist. I'm currently on medical leave, so I may not be able to respond as quickly, hopefully that is okay with you. - Best regards, Mailer Diablo 10:05, 13 July 2009 (UTC)

• You're actually right, we usually don't have latest news section in a biography article. Usually it would be combined together with the overall biography, and it is the result of some recent coverage. And sources have to be reliable lest it violates biographies of living persons policy, where poorly-sourced material demands its immediate removal. You should indicate BLP in the edit summary when removing, and have it discussed on the talk page why or how the sources should be improved (i.e. are there other sources relating to this issue?). If you feel that the other party reverting for this info to stay is violating BLP, try getting attention on the BLP noticeboard and hopefully more editors will look into it. - Best regards, Mailer Diablo 09:52, 15 July 2009 (UTC)
• For awards, it would be good if it is backed by sources, but editors don't usually insist on their removal unless they feel that there are controversies surrounding the person. - Mailer Diablo 09:53, 15 July 2009 (UTC)

• Sorry for the late reply. Well you're right, I don't really think "major asterisk" would improve my understanding in the band either and it sounds like a peacock term. Unless it's an actual citation from a verifiable source, it should be shortened to just disbanded. And yes, there are times where the media are lazy enough to Misplaced Pages as the bulk of the information, even though they should be doing most of the primary research on their own. - Cheers, Mailer Diablo 12:53, 23 August 2009 (UTC)

re:Billy Elliot

Hi!

Thanks for contacting me. To be honest, I'd rather not touch any minor stuffs in the cast list, as it may contradict with the interest of some fans, some of whom I know very well. I will only touch the major casts and some formatting issues. My real opinion is to exclude any minor casts. This was previously deleted by a user, but somebody added it back. w.tanoto-soegiri (talk) 13:08, 6 November 2009 (UTC)

Re: Doing science articles

I hope you've not been discouraged by your recent experience with the Global Warming article. Sussing out legitimate science from questionable science can be a daunting and perplexing task. But, Wikipdeia is full of knowledgeable people and great resources. So, if you have any questions, or need any help, just ask. You can learn about reliable sources for science articles at Misplaced Pages:Reliable source examples#Physical sciences, mathematics and medicine. You can post questions about the reliability of specific sources on Misplaced Pages:Reliable sources/Noticeboard. Good luck.--CurtisSwain (talk) 00:27, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

Rixburg, Idaho

Hi, I noticed this request of yours on Mailer diablo's talk. I find this case interesting and would like to provide some input of my own.

From your description, I don't think this is a bot. This looks like the work of a group of "concerned citizens", or one citizen with lots of time and a dial-up connection. If you want to make sure, try varying the text when reverting, and use a redirector service such as tinyurl. Try putting it in another section, possibly in an inappropriate section. Change the format of the reference, e. g. provide it as obfuscated plaintext, e. g. "http colon slash slash ...". A bot shouldn't be able to spot that. If it still gets reverted, that should be proof enough that this is manual labor.

Either way, that is a minor issue. To prevent further disturbance, you seem to have two modes of attack: Identification and pressure. DNS lookup might reduce the possibilities considerably, and gives you a few ISP email addresses to complain to. Who knows, maybe you get enough specific info to make a block feasible. Failing that, you could try to contact some officials in Rixburg. I'm sure that the press would love to follow up with a report on a case of vigilante censorship.

Regards, Paradoctor (talk) 00:01, 24 November 2009 (UTC)

Aye, per what Paradoctor has said, you might want to try that first. I ran this through Google and it seems that even the Salon article has attracted quite a hot response back in 2006, and is still being talked about. This might have played a part in it. I would want to see more editing record as it goes and see if I can make a pattern out of this. Usually automated reversions would have sort of a formulated timing as well. - Mailer Diablo 06:30, 24 November 2009 (UTC)

meant to

I'm sorry ... I meant to ask you if you wanted to take another look at the revised article at Articles for deletion/Muslim Mafia before the voting closed, to see if you might change your mind. Apologies for not getting to it.--Epeefleche (talk) 01:01, 24 November 2009 (UTC)

Yes, had I seen that revision prior to the AfD close, I have little doubt I would've struck and reverted my original recommendation. Fortunately, such a change wasn't required in ultimately (and justifiably) establishing consensus to keep it. I'm really impressed with your efforts in molding that into what is now a high-quality article. I wonder if the citation concerns raised in AfD had anything to do with that current list of references exemplifying what every Misplaced Pages article should strive to attain.

Regardless, keep up the good work! It can't be too far from GA. Hell, you oughtta find the record time of an article going from AfD to FA and shoot to break it. If you need any help, don't hesitate to ask.  ;-)
--K10wnsta (talk) 05:04, 24 November 2009 (UTC)

Thanks. I think I have other matters to attend to, and I've no need to have that particular article be featured. But thanks for the kind words. The molding was all a group effort. Funny thing is, without the AfD, most of us wouldn' have had much interest in more than a stub, I expect.--Epeefleche (talk) 05:14, 24 November 2009 (UTC)

Global Warming

I just wanted to say that I agree with your assessment that the Global Warming article is not neutral. Several years ago I approached this article with absolutely no agenda in mind except that it should be accurate and neutral. I immediately noticed that the definition found in the article did not match any definition found anywhere else and that it was not sourced. So I did a study. I found multiple sources for definitions of Global Warming and presented them all, and tried to craft a definition from authorized legitimate sources. I found that the protectors of the article would have none of it and wikipedia standards of neutrality be damned. Your concerns are valid but you will not be successful because there is a concerted effort by a group of people to protect the page and its non-neutral slant. --Blue Tie (talk) 02:12, 13 December 2009 (UTC)

Honestly, it was a gruelling two weeks researching something I cared so little about. But I realized that indifference on the matter put me in a unique position to give an objective assessment of the state of the article. Unfortunately, it also exposed me to blatant defiance of wikipedia's core values and dealt a crippling blow to my interest in the project as a whole (ie. If such an important general knowledge article can be held to such a low standard, why should I spend hours improving all the little, unimportant articles?).

It seems like there's quite a few people who are able to see the lack of objectivity in the article, so I'm surprised there's been no recent effort to bring it to arbitration. Although I imagine such an undertaking quickly defines new users as socks and seems too massive an undertaking for those who have already established themselves. But talk of standards and policy is not enough to defend Misplaced Pages's integrity. The countless hours of toil and effort in building this awesome compendium are all for naught if we fail to expect better of what is presented here. It is something I would champion myself, but at the moment, I fear any flaws in the process would be more than my morale could bear witness to.
--K10wnsta (talk) 18:46, 15 December 2009 (UTC)

Of all the articles I've contributed to, it seems the Global Warming related articles draw the most heated and illogical contributors. NPOV is an ideal, a goal. Logical Fallacy and mob "consensus" is a challenge for wiki. In the long run, truth tends to prevail. Thanks for your contributions. -- Knowsetfree (talk) 03:23, 17 December 2009 (UTC)

Your experience and disappointment mirror my own, exactly. I did not care much either way about global warming but when I ventured forward into the article I discovered that wikipedia will NOT live up to its own standards... it has an organizational and institutional bias against... neutrality!!! Even though Jimbo laid that down as the basic doctrine of the land. --Blue Tie (talk) 19:46, 24 December 2009 (UTC)

Mediation of Monty Hall problem

Hi - Your response at Misplaced Pages:Mediation Cabal/Cases/2009-12-06/Monty Hall problem has come after the request was closed with a suggestion to proceed to formal mediation. I'd be personally OK with trying informal mediation first, although there may be an effort underway already to write up a formal mediation request (see talk:Monty Hall problem#Does anyone object to Formal Mediation?). Before you spend much time looking into the issue itself, I think it might be a good idea to drop by and explain what you think you might be able to accomplish as an informal mediator and what the differences might be between informal and formal mediation. Based on the reactions you get you might make a recommendation regarding whether you think it's worth your time to proceed informally. Whether we proceed informally or not, thanks very much for the offer. -- Rick Block (talk) 20:10, 24 December 2009 (UTC)

Hehe. I was in the middle of composing a message for the talk page when I saw your message yesterday. As a result, I scrapped it and began anew (with holiday events slowing me down a good bit). Having skimmed over the discussion, I'd seen the effort to get the go-ahead for moving on to formal mediation, but couldn't find a request posted. Regardless of what you guys end up doing, I hope you can work it out. Merry christmas!
--K10wnsta (talk) 18:25, 25 December 2009 (UTC)

Per User talk:Martin Hogbin#Formal mediation, Martin has not started a formal mediation request. If you're going to try to help, I'd suggest you post a new section to the talk page and say what your intentions are (what you're able or willing to do, what sort of timeframes might be involved, how you would like to proceed, etc.), and then watch the talk page and (well) mediate. -- Rick Block (talk) 19:25, 28 December 2009 (UTC)

Please update the informal mediation status. Are you interested in taking part in the formal mediation? Glkanter (talk) 16:40, 6 January 2010 (UTC)

Re:You Obviously Enjoy Birds

Thanks for the compliments, my grandfather has shared his great interest in birds. And yes, I do prefer skiing over snowboarding, however I'd like to give snowboarding a try. Again, Thanks 1bevingtonco (talk) 03:05, 4 January 2010 (UTC)

Talk:Climatic Research Unit hacking incident

Thank you for your contributions to the encyclopedia! In case you are not already aware, an article to which you have recently contributed, Climatic Research Unit hacking incident, is on article probation. A detailed description of the terms of article probation may be found at Misplaced Pages:General sanctions/Climate change probation. Also note that the terms of some article probations extend to related articles and their associated talk pages.

The above is a templated message. Please accept it as a routine friendly notice, not as a claim that there is any problem with your edits. Thank you. -- TS 02:53, 16 February 2010 (UTC)