Misplaced Pages

Revision as of 09:15, 24 November 2013

slakr's life is currently frolicking with chaos, so his activity and response times to queries will be highly variable. Leave a message and he will respond whenever he gets a chance— that is, assuming he gets a chance. Cheers =) zOMG!!! I need urgent assistance!!!1!! — banana? — kiwi?

Ideally, please use this link to post new messages at the bottom. If you can't find something you recently posted, I might have moved it down there or it could have been archived if you posted it over 7 days ago. Cheers :)

Click here to start a new talk topic

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Regarding slakr: Why did my page get deleted? Please see Misplaced Pages:Why was my page deleted? first. I have no idea what you're talking about. What's vandalism? If you received a warning from me and you're not logged in, you might have gotten an old warning I sent to someone who shares your IP address. On the other hand, if you've made recent edits and received a recent warning message from me and you genuinely believe that it's not vandalism, don't fret-- simply drop me a message below, because I could have simply made a silly mistake. :) Regarding SineBot: Why does SineBot keep signing stuff I've already signed? All comments should have a signature that includes both a link to your user page (slakr) and a datestamp (05:12, 20 August 2007 (UTC)) (per signatures - internal links). This is most easily generated by placing four tildes (~~~~) at the end of your contributions, which makes something like "slakr 05:12, 20 August 2007 (UTC)". If you have an interwiki-linked user page, consider either creating a user page on enwiki that redirects to your preferred home wiki or simply opting out of automatic signing. If you're still having problems after trying that, post a message below. Be sure to include diffs to make sure I can reference the problem. I don't want my comments signed by SineBot. How do I get it to ignore me or my talk page? Please use one of the opt-out methods listed on its user page. SineBot forgot to sign something it should have signed. Usually this happens because the bot isn't sure if it really should sign something, so it defaults to not signing it (e.g., in cases of complex edits). It does this to avoid being annoying. Other times, a comment might be made when the bot is down for maintenance, so the bot simply never sees it. SineBot signed something that it genuinely should not have signed. Please let me know-- especially if you think it's not a one-time thing. Be sure to include diffs to make sure I can reference the problem. Is SineBot's source code available? Not currently. I'm signing with four tildes (~~~~) but it's still saying I didn't! You likely enabled raw signatures. Open your preferences, click the "User profile" tab, make sure that "Treat the above as wiki markup" is NOT checked, and click Save; it should be fixed. If you have an interwiki-linked user page, consider either creating a user page on enwiki that redirects to your preferred home wiki or simply opting out of automatic signing.

Archives

Archive 1 Archive 2 Archive 3 Archive 4 Archive 5 Archive 6 Archive 7 Archive 8 Archive 9 Archive 10 Archive 11 Archive 12 Archive 13 Archive 14 Archive 15 Archive 16 Archive 17 Archive 18 Archive 19 Archive 20 Archive 21 Archive 22 Archive 23 Archive 24 Archive 25 Archive 26

This page has archives. Sections older than 7 days may be automatically archived by Lowercase sigmabot III.

Please do not bite the newcomers says Jimbo Wales. Misplaced Pages and WikiNews Needs to Expand. Thanks :)

Misplaced Pages articles are improved through the hard work of regular editors, but also through numerous contributions made by newcomers. Remember: all of us were new editors at Misplaced Pages once, and in some ways (such as when editing an article on a topic outside our usual scope) even the most experienced among us are still newcomers.

New members are prospective contributors and are therefore Misplaced Pages's most valuable resource. We must treat newcomers with kindness and patience—nothing scares potentially valuable contributors away faster than hostility. It is very unlikely for a newcomer to be completely familiar with all of the policies, guidelines, and community standards of Misplaced Pages when they start editing. Even the most experienced editors may need a gentle reminder from time to time. Many Thanks buddy. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Sou Boyy (talk • contribs) 18:16, 25 August 2013 (UTC)

LOL... not exactly sure where that came from, since I haven't even been active for like a month, but I'll try to keep that in mind—so long as you're ok with not templating the regulars. ;) For what it's worth, you might be interested in a related article that I've incidentally made edits to in the past: Misplaced Pages:Do NOT bite the developers. :P --slakr 22:12, 3 September 2013 (UTC)

Check article

Can you check my article? Article's name is Veron (Software). Is this article satisfy Misplaced Pages's notability guidelines ? Faisal6545 (talk) 18:58, 30 August 2013 (UTC)

(talk page stalker) I've taken care of this (posted on multiple users' talk pages including my own). Jackmcbarn (talk) 19:14, 30 August 2013 (UTC)

Sinebot signed my modification to my comment

Sine bot signed that diff

I don't about your source code, but it seems there is a bug. It seems that Sinebot doesn't care about viewing "Update" on the beginning of a new line with the same number of (":") that the precedent had edited by the same user. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2A02:8422:1191:6E00:56E6:FCFF:FEDB:2BBA (talk) 21:27, 4 September 2013 (UTC) Update: I forget to say I would like to discuss certain points because I have some questions related to Sinebot algorithm. This is for working around some user messages. I would like to see you irc.freenode.net. I use the ytrezq nick and the ytreq nick when it don't work or if you prefer you can +i me on your channel. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2A02:8422:1191:6E00:56E6:FCFF:FEDB:2BBA (talk) 21:47, 4 September 2013 (UTC)

That's working as intended. That comment did need to be signed. Jackmcbarn (talk) 21:48, 4 September 2013 (UTC)

Ok but there are other which I would like to discuss, and I am thinking only Slackr has the answers. 2A02:8422:1191:6E00:56E6:FCFF:FEDB:2BBA (talk) 22:03, 4 September 2013 (UTC)

Jillian Michaels Page

I have tried changing Jillians info before and it would not be accepted. According to wikipedia Jillian was born on Feb 18, 1974 in Califonia to a mother named Joann McKarus. Here is info I found on Ancestry.com. According to ancestry.com California Birth Index, 1905-1995. Jillian L Mckarus was born on 18 Feb 1974 in Los Angeles County to a mother with the maiden name Saldi. On ancestry.com California Divorce Index 1966-1984 Douglas G Mckarus divorced Joann Saldi in March 1977 in Los Angeles County. Also on ancestry.com Nevada Marriage Index, 1956-2005 Jillian Leigh McKarus of California married David William Ross of California on 13 Jul 2002 in Clark County. On ancestry.com Nevada Divorce Index 1968-2005 Jillian L McKarus divorced David W Ross on 5 May 2003 in Clark County. So Jillian Michaels was born as Jillian Leigh McKarus to Douglas G. McKarus and Joann Saldi on Feb 18, 1974 in Los Angeles County, California. She married a man named David William Ross on July 13, 2002 in Clark County, Nevada and divorced him on May 5th, 2003. Can this all please be added to Misplaced Pages now — Preceding unsigned comment added by 97.117.162.101 (talk) 16:00, 13 September 2013 (UTC)

Articles for Deletion: Phil Fischer

According to Special:Log?page=Phil_fischer, you speedy-deleted Phil fischer, so I'm notifying you that Phil Fischer has been nominated for deletion via AfD. Your original deletion reason has been identified as a potential deletion reason for the nominated article. —Zenexer  09:50, 14 September 2013 (UTC)

Open proxy bot

Hi, could you perhaps run your bot on old indef blocked IPs on en.wikipedia? I am curious to see how many would be marked by your bot which can then be perhaps globally blocked. Also please consider participating in the discussion at Misplaced Pages:Administrators' noticeboard/Archive254#Too many indef blocked IPs. -- A Certain White Cat 14:58, 20 September 2013 (UTC)

Satpal Maharaj

Hi your SineBot has undone my modifications around Satpal maharaj article. Don't know who wrote this article in a wave to bring all negatives which is against the NPOV and this article follows an approach of NR around Satpal Maharaj. There is mentioning that he lost election in 2004 whereas he did not fight any election in 2004 it was TPS Rawat who fought election in 2004 from Congress Ticket and Lost to BC Khanduri later on in next elections he(TPS Rawat) joined BJP and defeated Satpal Maharaj. Strange seems people don't study well while contributing to wikipedia or they have some other intentions. I feel this comunity pertains to people with full knowldge and research well but I found it otherwise while going this article.<http://www.rediff.com/election/2004/may/10utt.htm> — Preceding unsigned comment added by Vinay4454 (talk • contribs) 20:53, 20 September 2013 (UTC)

3rr.php script not working because your Toolserver account is expired

http://toolserver.org/~slakr/3rr.php. How can this expire so fast? You fixed it in June already, per a thread above. Thanks, EdJohnston (talk) 02:08, 21 September 2013 (UTC)

Argh. *throws hands up in the air.* I have no idea—especially with someone like me, who has a track record of life tugging on me constantly. I'll mail them presently *sigh*. --slakr 11:11, 19 October 2013 (UTC)

Sinebot works too hard

Why does Sinebot keep sending me messages when I have just signed my comments? I always signed with “--~~~~” on its own line. I tried “ --~~~~” on the last line of the comment. No joy, Sinebot still thinks I did wrong. But my signature is there for all to see! (I don't really want to turn Sinebot off, for the 1 or 2 times a year I might forget to sign.)

Also, why does Sinebot welcome me as a new user? I have been on Misplaced Pages since 2002.

-- Solo Owl 15:27, 24 September 2013 (UTC)

You're signature doesn't link to your userspace. That's why.—cyberpower _Online 16:03, 24 September 2013 (UTC)

sinebot

that thing is so annoying its mother is a dell desktop stupid non human computer sinebot is delete it NOW — Preceding unsigned comment added by Mathgenious989 (talk • contribs) 00:52, 9 October 2013 (UTC)

Tell me about it. I once asked it to open the pod bay doors, and it was all like "I'm afraid I can't do that: you didn't sign your request. HAHAHAHA!" It then proceeded to blast a death-metal cover of "Daisy" through the mic. 6 years old. I think it's hitting bot-puberty or something. --slakr 11:00, 19 October 2013 (UTC)

Thank you for keeping both myself, and wikipedia herself, alive to enjoy yet another daybreak

Dear $DEV(arg=slakr), Welcome To Misplaced Pages! Having carefully perused your well-thought out documentation, I am here to humbly point to a design decision. I am a class-fourteen anon with 407 hitpoints, working my way up the ladder of relevance, may Chuck Norris live ten thousand years. I appeal to your class-six hacker-nature for assistance with a certain class-15 entity. Perhaps it is not worth mentioning, but I am not here for myself... someone else convinced me this issue should be brought to $DEV attention, and said to specifically mention that I have applied for citizenship on Vulcan, so as not to offend your status as a class-six Earthling Of The Terran Federation, virtually a sidekick of Chuck Norris himself, may he live ten thousand years. The case I present to you on behalf of my friend, who strangely claimed they were too busy to speak with you themselves, and also that I should not bother your ears by transmitting their identity, oddly enough, nevertheless I present to you in calm quiet words as follows:

1. SineBot is a useful thing -- thanks
2. SineBot adds reminders to talkpages when users -- especially new inexperienced users -- forget to manually type the four tildes (or just do not know to do so)
3. As various messages above testify, this talkpage-template is perceived as helpful by at least two class-thirteens, but perceived as not-so-helpful by at least four
4. SineBot only applies to users with 800 edits or less... which is to say, specifically to newbies
5. SineBot has always been careful not to impersonate anybody, with the phrase "preceding unsigned comment" typifying the way it works
6. SineBot has a documented design-decision: "...the bot should not be used as an alternative to properly signing posts yourself"

Uhh... perhaps this is intuitively obvious... but why *not* use a bot, to automate this manual step? What does it mean to say automating such manual steps would not be 'proper'?

My humble question is about whether SineBot, designed to train newbies, ought to templatize their talkpages, and n00b-mark their work as "preceding unsigned comment" within 60 seconds of their goof. WP:BITE does not outrank WP:BITED, of course... but it seems like SineBot is doing extra work now, when it could just as easily alter that design decision, and do less work. In particular, instead of this:

— Preceding unsigned comment added by 8.8.8.8 (talk) 01:23, 01 February 2003 (UTC)

Why not simply this, with no talkpage wrist-slap:

—8.8.8.8 (talk) 01:23, 01 February 2003 (UTC) <magic />

People that don't want the 'magic' dust on the end will click the link, and learn what to do. Plus, plenty of human editors are already quick to remind newbies 'remember to sign your posts' if they forget. SineBot need not double-remind them when it auto-signs, and then triple-remind them with a talkpage-template. A magic helper-bot, rather than a wrist-slap bot, might just improve WP:RETENTION. Anyhoo, since my suggestion involves removing features (no more talkpage reminders and no more tilde-output-transformation but rather simply a tilde-output-append), I do not believe it will generate much additional $DEV work, may they live ten thousand years. Less complexity means less testing, so maybe it will even reduce $DEV work, and should also help encourage rather than discourage newbies, some of whom may eventually rise to the exalted status of class-six, thereby reducing $DEV work even further, in the long run.

I'd be happy to perform the necessary effort myself, but as yet am still a class-fourteen entity. But humble $DEV slakr! Please behold! SineBot is class-fifteen in the cabal's caste system!  :-) The abuse of this bot's power to automagically sign without biting is my plea! Should this design decision be changed I will gratefully !vote support in all future class-eleven bot upgrades! May I be permitted to live again tomorrow! Banzai wikipedia! Banzai Chuck Norris!

p.s. I cannot believe the cabal would put a picture of Ballmer on that page, instead of this.

p.p.s. Surprisingly, there actually is somebody editing from google's DNS server, or maybe just spoofing their IP, to comment on the VisualEditor to a $DEV, without fear... foolish of them... so my example above actually ended up with blue-links, unexpectedly. Thanks for your time. Let me know if there's something I missed. — 74.192.84.101 (talk) 06:15, 17 October 2013 (UTC)

I suppose this could be a FAQ entry, but basically the bot ignores WP:DTTR (and, depending on how sensitive you are, WP:BITE) for roughly two reasons: avoiding talk page chaos and avoiding reliance on the bot. The former's a no-brainer, and the latter might not be obvious unless you're the person running the bot, you're taking database dumps, you're someone doing anti-vandalism work, you're looking through talk page archives, or you're adhering to the categorical imperative. In those situations, letting people rely on the the bot to sign every talk page comment becomes a much more obviously problematic situation, not to mention during times when the bot might be down. That said, the great thing about a bot dropping a {{tilde}} on someone's talk page is that it's, well, not a human, so if someone has the type of personality that's not as conducive to constructive criticism, they can rage on the bot and/or my talk page (e.g., "zOMG YR BOT SUCKS!!!!!!11!!") instead of someone else. Neither of our feelings will be hurt. ;)

Incidentally, we tend to hide the proverbial Laws of the Land to avoid making people think they need to read or necessarily abide by them in order to edit, all in an attempt to encourage WP:BOLD-ness. The bot provides one of the first sanity checks to that and can frequently be one of the first introductions to just what a guideline is, how it might differ from a policy, and why guidelines should still be followed most of the time. Incidentally, that's also why the userboxes on its user page include a balance of several key policies, model behaviors, and silliness/humor—all things that, if they were unaware of at first but then mimicked faithfully, would make it difficult for a user to go wrong.

That's just a spillover benefit. At the core of the issue, people just need to be trained to sign their posts, because, well, that's how we do things. I also didn't make the bot for the posters of comments; rather, I made it for the readers of comments. The ratio of posters vs. readers is high (i.e., more people post than read everything that's been posted), while the ratio of time it takes for 1 poster to click the sig button or type out "--~~~~" (1-3 secs) vs. the time it takes for each reader to dive through page history to find the poster (30-300+ seconds * number of readers per unsigned post) is disproportionately high.

We get potty trained when we're life-noobs for the same reason: taking a restroom break uses a lot less time than waiting around for some kind soul to clean up our messes after-the-fact (or worse: assuming someone or something always will).

Cheers =) --slakr 08:55, 19 October 2013 (UTC)

... and if you want to "improve WP:RETENTION," I don't think the problem is as much with the site or its workings as it is with the society in which the site exists. I speak from experience: I'm woefully inactive on here nowadays, but it's definitely not because I've said "zOMG ENOUGH!" or because the learning curve was ever too high (obviously). Rather, it's because my country and most of its corporate culture seems to expect too much from its skilled-labor workforce (and increasingly students) without giving much back (time, money, etc...), leaving them with much less time or safety to do volunteer work or make things better for everyone else in their society. People also have less time to learn new things, less time to be patient with others, less time to explain things, and less time to spend fostering relationships with people from different walks of life to form a cohesive community. Misplaced Pages's learning curve not only demands all of those things from its editors, it can't function without them.

If you're looking for ways to increase retention, the canary in the coal mine isn't as much of the problem as is the coal mine that suffocates it. When we get wind of Wikipedians committing suicide, for example, it's certainly not because a bot posted a message on their talk page or because their article got deleted (lol... "My article on a minor character in an obscure TV series is at AfD and everyone's voting delete... /wrists"). Rather, it's because something horrible happened to them in real life and they're otherwise made to feel cornered and worthless despite their obvious intelligence, worth, and rarity—we should know, too, because we tend to keep an accurate record of their intelligence, worth, and rarity. Death's an extreme example, but I use it here to emphasize the importance of Real Life in an environment where it's easy to forget it exists and that it can (and does) factor in significantly as a confounding variable.

Obviously, I've gotten a bit heavy, long-winded, and rambly on this, in part because I have personal feelings about this, too. The TLDR point is that it's been over a decade since things really took off, and not much has really changed on here (other than volume and ability to cope with it)—at least when you look at the big picture. People have come and gone: some have probably gotten tired of one hobby and moved on to another; some have stormed off...but I'm confident that there are plenty of us out there that, if life weren't already beating us to a pulp, would be sitting on here all day, happily helping to fix things. It's human nature.

--slakr 10:41, 19 October 2013 (UTC)

Hello slakr, thanks for your response. I did not find it rambling, it was just what I was hoping for, and trying to do: start a discussion about the rationale behind sinebot design-decisions. Your first sentence is wrong, though. (Hah! I take my life into my hands and trout the dev! Look at me ma! Top of the worLDDDDDdd....++__-88!!!$^^NOCARRIER — Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.192.84.101 (talk) 16:05, 23 October 2013 (UTC)

(air shimmers) ( flash of light) Wha... ummmm, eh? Where am I? That was strange. What's this about bots... hmmm... ah, I see where we are. Although you claim that SineBot ignores WP:TEMPLAR, in fact anybody with over 800 editors is not subject to SineBot template-spam, or SineBot "preceding unsigned message" sig-spam. So let us divide wikipedia into her unwritten but *very* apparent caste system. Single-digit edit-count: the n00b caste, universally shunned, the untouchables. Double-digit edit-count: the beginner caste, also universally shunned, but sometimes allowed on talkpages, if not in mainspace. Triple-digit edit-count: the brahmin caste, the social priesthood of wikipedia, respected by sinebot, given the time of day by deities. Quadruple-digit edit-count: the warrior caste, spending many hours fighting vandals, reverting spammers, and from time to time accidentally injuring a brahmin, which is rare and usually non-permanent. (They often slay untouchables, who never return to wikipedia -- good riddance, right?) Quintuple-digit edit-count: deity-caste, WP:WikiGiant and dark WP:WikiKnights, crushing anyone in their way, sending forth their bot armies to do their bidding, glorified by all lesser castes. Now, you might say this is harsh... but who brought up Special:Contributions as a direct metric for measuring worth? Burn! Look ma.... Whoa. Never mind. No more lightning bolts needed. These are not the n00bs you're looking for. Whew.

"I also didn't make the bot for the posters of comments; rather, I made it for the readers of comments."

   Basically, your argument is that SineBot is a training-by-shaming tool, and the beginners and the n00bs have to be shamed-n-trained, because "that is how we do things". Meaning, of course, 'we' the wiki-brahmins, wiki-warriors, and wiki-deities... the readers of comments, for the most part... as specifically distinct from 'them' the soiled-diaper too-stupid-to-clean-up-after-themselves beginners and n00bs. Hmmmmmmmm. Let's use a table.

caste	sole measure of worth	sinebot now by slakr	sinebot by 74-whatever
n00b	8	sigSpam + templateSpam	magic (see above for description)
beginner	80	sigSpam + templateSpam	magic (see above for description)
brahmin	800	8/9ths sigSpam + templateSpam, 1/9th respect	8/9ths sigSpam + templateSpam, 1/9th respect
warrior	8000	respect aka WP:TEMPLAR	respect aka WP:TEMPLAR
deity	80000	respect aka WP:TEMPLAR	respect aka WP:TEMPLAR

So what changes? Well, all the people with 99 edits or less depend on SineBot. But how is that 'change' from the current situation? SineBot has millions of edits... those aren't because folks with 8000 edits are forgetful, it's because n00bs simply don't *know* better, shame on baby, potty on the floor, nasty, nasty, momma has to clean it up. Hint: babies under one year old are not potty-trained. Nobody expects them to walk to the bathroom, climb up on the toilet, use it without making a mess, wipe themselves, flush, and wash their hands. Especially when they have not even learned to crawl yet, let alone walk.

   But that's bad for slakr, right? Because if people depend on SineBot for their first 100 edits, then they'll expect sinebot to keep working! Yes they will. Which means, when you start giving them template spam, during their brahmin-phase of growth, it needs to clearly state the reason *why* they are now getting spam: which is quite simply, because they have made 100 edits, and are therefore likely to make 100s or 1000s or tens of thousands of additional edits, and for server-load reasons, plus traditional creaky legacy software that does not automagically add four tildes at the bottom of talkpage posts by default, we'd like them to start manually adding those four tildes, rather than depending on SineBot. Which means the potty-training, as you so bluntly put it, will still happen. But only once we're sure the editor needs to be potty-trained. And only once they can actually walk, and actually know what a tilde is, and so on. Socially speaking, I'm quite sure this will drastically reduce the number of zOMG messages on your talkpage, because sinebot will no longer be spamming the beginners with officious templates. More importantly, statistically speaking, I doubt we'll lose *any* editors, if sinebot stays out of their way and tries to be helpful for their first through 99th edits, and then starts WP:MINNOW annoying them on their 100th through 799th edits... because by the time somebody has made 100 edits, they are addicted.  :-)

p.p.p.s. Kant is, by the way, a very bad man. He thinks it is not merely pragmatic but mandatory to inform the local nazis where Anne Frank is hiding, and furthermore, that for someone in Auschwitz to commit suicide rather than endure is not merely a poor overall outcome but flatly immoral and wrong of them. How dare those prisoners commit suicide? How dare those citizens lie to the authorities? Yikes. — 74.192.84.101 (talk) 01:18, 24 October 2013 (UTC)

Bot: bug?

Hello! Could you explain what happened here? I restored someone else's signed comment (which another user had deleted for - I thought - no good reason), and your bot then proceeded to mark it as having been added by myself. Its edit summary implied that it thought that it was signing a comment which in fact had been my edit summary. Is this supposed to happen, or is it a bug in the bot code? W. P. Uzer (talk) 08:16, 17 October 2013 (UTC)

Hello wpUzer, I'm also waiting for a reply to my comment, so I don't have inside info for you. I'm not sure whether sineBot is able to figure out when you are merely restoring somebody else's comments, without yourself making any additions, as opposed to quoting somebody else for context (and then adding some commentary of your own). Slakr can prolly tell us that answer -- it may depend on how you perform the restore, such as clicking undo/revert instead of using copy-n-paste, for instance.

   That said, in cases where you know in advance you do not want sineBot to add your name&date, there is a manual workaround: put the magic word !nosign! at the end of your edit-summary. The trick does not work if you put !nosign! into the body of the edit, you have to put it into the edit-summary one-liner. HTH. 74.192.84.101 (talk) 13:34, 18 October 2013 (UTC)

74.*'s on the right track. The bot would normally ignore it if you had used the "undo" feature and appended to the auto-generated edit summary or said one of several magic words (e.g., "revert," "undo," etc...) that most people tend to say when doing stuff like that. You're also on the verge of the 800-edit limit (after which it'd start ignoring you anyway, assuming, rightfully so, that you're becoming an advanced user). :D --slakr 10:52, 19 October 2013 (UTC)

I see, thanks. W. P. Uzer (talk) 11:13, 19 October 2013 (UTC)

New REFBot

There is a proposal on Misplaced Pages:Bot requests#New REFBot for a new REFBot working as DPL bot and BracketBot do. I beg politely for consideration. Please leave a comment if you wish. Maybe you could work on it like you did it with other projects? That would be fine. Thanks a lot in anticipation. -- Frze (talk · contribs) 10:30, 22 October 2013 (UTC)

ProcseeBot stopped?

Hi, I've been "mirroring" ProcseeBot's blocks in fi-wiki and I've noticed there are no new blocks since end of August. Is the bot shutdown or will it continue sometimes? --Harriv (talk) 10:58, 23 October 2013 (UTC)

It looks like someone changed the API for grabbing the block token (again). The bot's been trying, but it basically just failed to make the block. I've fixed the issue now, but it'll take some time to catch up. --slakr 14:38, 24 October 2013 (UTC)

Special:Contributions/75.146.129.241

Hi, can you please block Special:Contributions/75.146.129.241 indefinitely, because it seems a permanently user is currently vandalism. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 183.171.178.244 (talk) 11:29, 25 October 2013 (UTC)

Hello slakr, I made a cursory backtrack on this alleged vandalism, and found it unlikely to hold truthiness... instead there was a maze of twisty passages, all alike, over in the pop-music-articles.

1. 75 has quite a lot of messages on their talkpage, mostly from changing Van Morrison, and similar 'touchy' musical subjects, almost entirely template-spam. User_talk:75.146.129.241
2. The problem here seems to be that 75 simply does not understand how talkpages work, at all.
3. But 75 does edit in good faith. Maybe they never read talkpages, because they only receive template-spam there? Or just don't know how stuff works. Or don't care (this last would not be good).
4. Some good work by 75.
5. Some more good work by 75.
6. Some more good work by 75.
7. Here is 75 doing a bunch of work, constructive albeit unsourced.
8. Here is a slightly-different 183_IP, deleting all that work as "useless".
9. Unclear whether the two 183's are the same.
10. Some more good work by 75.
11. This work by 75 was reverted, for no reason I could see, and with no talkpage contact by the deletionist.
12. Adding a genre to B.B.King -- which although unsourced by 75, is in fact correct, see below.
13. The article on the Memphis Blues genre which 75 added to the B.B.King article.
14. Here is something 75 did in good faith which *was* pretty clearly incorrect; adding capitalization, but whacking two links.
15. This is a long-running edit-war that 75 has been involved in, over whether Van Morrison is a soul-singer.

If you *do* decide to block 75, please use it only as a way to get their attention diverted onto a talkpage for once -- so somebody can explain to them why they keep getting templated -- they obviously know how to edit *article* pages so they ought to have the mental capacity to grok talkpages ... but for some reason have never managed to actually edit any talkpages.

On the other hand, my advice about 183 is less kind... someone with a nearby IP seems to be deleting useful information from wikipedia, that 75 was editing constructively (or at least... editing in good faith if failing to seek consensus on talkpages plus cite sources). That may or may not be the 183 that came here to plead for Permanent Ban Hammer favors, although probably some admin-tools could find that answer out. What is clear is that the 183 on this talkpage, regardless of whether they are the same at the other 183, is falsely accusing 75 of vandalism, which is Bad News regardless of the motivation behind the false accusation. Now, from the grammar in the message by the 183 on this talkpage, and from the grammar of the other 183, maybe English is not the native language, so it makes sense to try and explain the policies about WP:NPA and about using talkpages for resolving disputes interpersonally, rather than begging admins to smite your content-dispute-opponent, or whatever turns out to be going on between these two. HTH. 74.192.84.101 (talk) 04:54, 26 October 2013 (UTC)

Conyers Baronets

Could you please check all of the referencing formats for the "Conyers Baronets" page and also the referenceing formatting for the "5th Earl of Orkney" page.

THanks so much Cheers Mike — Preceding unsigned comment added by 121.214.10.139 (talk) 04:33, 27 October 2013 (UTC)

attributed some views roughly in your direction

Hi slakr, I'm having a discussion with somebody about whether insisting that new editors must all learn wikitext, as a means of proving their WP:COMPETENCE and demonstrating WP:CLUE, is a good or bad thing. Since it was along the same sort of lines as our discussion about using the wiki-toolset to train beginning editors to Do The Right Thing with respect to signing their posts, I mentioned your name, and vaguely waved in your direction when referencing some specific views, which I'm not sure are the same as those you actually hold. Feel free to correct any misrepresentation. Thanks, see you around. p.s. The stuff about the baronets was added without a subsection, so I made one for it... not sure it was meant for your talkpage, or for somebody else with a similar username. 74.192.84.101 (talk) 02:13, 28 October 2013 (UTC)

A barnstar for you!

	The Anti-Vandalism Barnstar
	Very impressive use of a bot to help protect wikipedia from vandals. Thanks for your efforts on this!! ♦ Dr. Blofeld 17:04, 29 October 2013 (UTC)

A barnstar for you!

	The Defender of the Wiki Barnstar
	Using a bot to stop the proxies 2Awwsome 09:15, 24 November 2013 (UTC)