Misplaced Pages

Revision as of 01:17, 13 December 2006

Achive1 Achive2 Achive3 Achive4

Watchlist

/junk

In case you missed it...

You might be interested to know that Terryeo has now been blocked entirely from Misplaced Pages. See Misplaced Pages:Administrators'_noticeboard/Incidents#User:Terryeo_indefinitely_blocked. BTfromLA 18:53, 12 November 2006 (UTC)

Actually, I think you did influence him toward moderating his behavior but, even then, he was beyond the pale--the final episode had him posting "religiousfreedomwatch" slurs on particular Misplaced Pages editors and pretending that he was just innocently curious about whether the claims were true: as he'd done that sort of thing before, an administrator finally decided to pull the plug. By the way, that religiousfreedomwatch page, which appears to be produced with the full blessing of the CoS, reflects very poorly on the character of Scientology in my view--it strikes me as downright sleazy and creepy. I'd be interested in your perspective on that "dead agenting" side of Scientology, should you care to share it. BTfromLA 16:09, 17 November 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for your reply. I have responded in turn on my talk page. BTfromLA 00:58, 18 November 2006 (UTC)

And again. BTfromLA 18:53, 18 November 2006 (UTC)

Another follow-up, trying to clarify the dead-agent question, awaits. BTfromLA 15:51, 19 November 2006 (UTC)

I've responded to your recent question (though I'm not sure I fully understood what you were asking for) on my talk page. BTfromLA 07:11, 29 November 2006 (UTC)

I appreciate your recent comments on my talk page and would like to continue the discussion, but work demands won't allow me time for a thoughtful reply at this point. Please bear with me, I will pick up the thread within a few days. BTfromLA 17:07, 30 November 2006 (UTC)

Welcome to VandalProof!

Thank you for your interest in VandalProof, Justanother! You have now been added to the list of authorized users, so if you haven't already, simply download and install VandalProof from our main page. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me or any other moderator, or you can post a message on the discussion page. Prodego 15:58, 27 November 2006 (UTC)

Ref desk reminders

In regard to your recent comments on the reference desk, I just want to reiterate that for the moment I'm proposing reminders, as you say, and not removals. In the long term, users who continually don't listen to reminders will have to be dealt with somehow, of course, but as I've said I'm more inclined toward the dispute resolution process.

Your help with reminders, in cases you think they're appropriate, would be greatly appreciated! -- SCZenz 03:58, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

Of course. That's one of the reasons I'm calling for many users to work together on this. -- SCZenz 04:07, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

Comment requested on User:light current's one week block

I, and User:Gandalf61, and others, feel that the action of User:Friday in blocking User:light current for a week was unwarranted and excessive: . We would appreciate your comments in this matter. Thanks. StuRat 10:51, 6 December 2006 (UTC)

Nice Work

Great job on the Lisa McPherson article. It is reasonably neutral and readable now. Well Done. ---Slightlyright 15:53, 6 December 2006 (UTC)

A word to the wise

Just to say not to get too angry with Friday (unless of course youre and admin too)--Light current 01:13, 7 December 2006 (UTC)

Paid in BS?

Hi, I thought I'd reply to your first comment on the "Paid in BS?" section here because the discussion on the page is too complicated to fork...

Listen, we do what we do for the reasons we do it. It is really not up to anyone to judge our reasons, only our output and contributions. I like the BS and consider it part of the recompense for my efforts here; the other parts being satisfaction of "getting it right", the enjoyment of helping another and my "knowledge buff" tendency. No particular order there. So I, for one, get partially paid in BS. You get paid in what you get paid. The BS is normal banter that happens when people get together and have fun doing useful work. It should not be suppressed. If you don't like then don't read it. Or do you think that you should dictate the working conditions here? Is that what this is about? --Justanother 23:44, 6 December 2006 (UTC)

Um... I think Misplaced Pages policy dictates the working conditions here, yes. I don't know of any other page where Wikipedians are required to accept users' unhelpful contributions along with helpful ones, or where there is so much active objection to removal or even criticism of unhelpful content. The reference desk is very public; it should look like it's a place whose primary purpose is the asking of questions and giving of answers. And in fact, usually it does—but if asking it to look like that is "dicatating the working conditions," then yes, that's what I want to do. -- SCZenz 01:40, 7 December 2006 (UTC)

Just that you seem to have objected to the fact that some might enjoy the lighthearted banter. Maybe I misinterpreted your attitude. If so, sorry. I don't think wikipedia policy says anything about that. Other than that a sense of lighthearted irreverance pervades the entire project and I can point you at many many policies and advices that are written in a lighthearted irreverent vein ex. WP:BOLLOCKS, WP:SNOW, many more. Regarding the real issues I think that we have already decided that we agree that abuse of the RD is inappropriate so a lot of this is now starting to seem like redundant. Not you particularly, just this whole intermittable dialogue. All of us, me included but I think I am done now anyway, I've said what I have to say. Last word, if you are trying to make the RD all serious looking, if you are trying to make the RD look like article-space rather than community-space then I think you are fighting a losing battle. I think it is community-space. The best it will be is effective. I think we agree that actions which seriously reduce its effectiveness are inappropriate. --Justanother 01:56, 7 December 2006 (UTC)

It may be community space, but it is not just community space. It's also part of the face we show to the world, in a way that policy pages like WP:SNOW are not. Lighthearted banter is fine if it doesn't interfere with the question... unless it's potentially offensive, at which point it puts off users and is bad. But when I cite banter being offensive as a reason for it being bad, I get accused of censorship and having ulterior motives. So I would genuinely like your input: is the best way to deal with offensive banter to a) reduce all banter, b) disallow banter that can reasonably be expected to offend some uses and doesn't really contribute, or c) something I haven't thought of yet? -- SCZenz 02:12, 7 December 2006 (UTC)

I think you said it yourself "Lighthearted banter is fine if it doesn't interfere with the question". The question is deciding when it interferes with the question. I think a very light touch is called for. I think that if someone makes a non-offensive joke that seems on the "flow of consciousness" then leave it alone, maybe leave two in a row alone. If a thread of jokes or indeed any disruptive off-topic thread starts then just move the thread to the talk page and note the removal in the answer stream. But it needs to be obviously off-topic or obviously jokes that are not addressing the question (i.e. non-offensive joke embedded in valid attempt to contribute is always OK) and it need to be a contiguous thread before I would consider that it is interfering with the question. Hope that helps. --Justanother 02:30, 7 December 2006 (UTC)

StuRat's comment

I believe a new sub page is about to be born on the Purpose of the RDs. Perhaps you both would like to join in the discussion?--Light current 01:49, 7 December 2006 (UTC)

Rules for deletion

Would you care to comment on my proposed Ref Desk Rules for Deletion:  ? I would like to build a consensus on which rules should be followed. StuRat 07:23, 7 December 2006 (UTC)

Rules for Ref Desk opinions ?

Would you care to comment on rules for Ref Desk opinions: Wikipedia_talk:Reference_desk#Next_item_for_consensus_discussion:_Opinion ? StuRat 17:45, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

Opinions on Ref Desk template removal ?

Sorry to bother you again, but would you care to comment on: Wikipedia_talk:Reference_desk#Opinions_on_template_removal ? StuRat 21:43, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

Outlawing responses

Any notion of "outlawing" a certain kind of response misses the point- we have no ability to enforce such a rule. We're all volunteers, and some people do sometimes answer with things like "try google". If you think this is bad, feel free to explain what a better answer would be, but any desire to "outlaw" a certain answer is completely misguided. Friday (talk) 21:15, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

Hi. Hope you are not thinking I am getting personal with you? Because I am not. We are having a lively discussion on policy related to the Ref Desk. --Justanother 21:22, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

Not at all- and don't worry about offending me in any way- I'm usually fairly thick skinned. Friday (talk) 21:23, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

Good deal cause I am way too fat to tiptoe. --Justanother 21:25, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

Again, general comment not very relevant to WT:RD. Use of language like "let's outlaw this!" demonstrates a lack of understanding of Misplaced Pages. I'm really not trying to insult anyone, but I can't get past the thought that almost all the discussion at WT:RD is only happening because people are trying to make policy without a proper understanding of how we do things here. Friday (talk) 21:27, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

Disagree. Many things are "outlawed" at wikipedia. Disruptive sockpuppetry. Original research (in articles). Personal attacks. On this issue, I think that you need to readjust your thinking, not me. It is totally OK for the community to decide that some questions and some answers have no place here, i.e. they are outlawed. We just don't use that term. --Justanother 21:32, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

This isn't because of rules- it's because our goal is the encyclopedia. By simple common sense, behavior that hurts the encyclopedia is severely frowned upon. This point is subtle but vitally important to understanding what we do here. See WP:5P where it says "Misplaced Pages does not have firm rules." Friday (talk) 21:35, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

Right, and saying "Go Google" hurts the RD, IMO. Should be outlawed. Excuse me, should be discouraged. BTW, discussing this on two fronts is giving me headache. --Justanother 21:37, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

Accidental Deletion

Sorry Justanother, the edit look alot like vandalisim, and I appologize for my actions, I still must develop the ability to discern ligitimate edits from vandalisim. Dfrg.msc 03:37, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

Sick Puppy

Hi, and thanks for your "PROD" message.

So you arrived at Sick Puppy because there is a link to aphrodisiac from it. Looking over your contributions, I see that you have never edited a single literature page, your edits mainly concerning matters of Scientology and your own user page.

I suggest you carefully read Misplaced Pages:WikiProject Novels/GeneralForum and the most important pages related to the novels project. There are hundreds if not thousands of similar pages out there which concern a single work of literature: Are you planning to tag them all and subsequently have them all deleted?

We're moving in ridiculous circles here. Anyone can classify any piece of any information as "indiscriminate", especially if they are on unfamiliar ground. I suppose we're trying to build rather than destroy an encyclopaedia here. And I suppose we're working together, not against each other. "Only" a plot summary may mean the article is not finished yet, but is that a reason for deletion? You can't have a stub first begging people to expand it and then, once it has been expanded, want to delete it. I remember that in the old days anyone complaining that an article lacked something was given the advice: Well, go change it!

Please tell me precisely what you want me to add to the plot summary, and I'll try my best. I am usually very reluctant to remove a tag, but in this case I think I'll have to make an exception (and anyway, I'm practically invited to do so in the wording of the tag itself). And the deadlines are getting shorter all the time: now it's only five days.

I'd appreciate a thorough answer from you because to me this process really deviates from the norm. All the best, <KF> 22:19, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

Actually, editor sees article that violates WP:NOT, editor tags for delete, is very "normish". I just don't see every book ever written as notable for this encyclopedia so, IMO, you gotta give more if you want it here. --Justanother 00:48, 12 December 2006 (UTC)

I have been enlightened on the consensus that almost all books belong here (my paraphrase) but have agreement that Sick Puppy, as a bare plot outline, is in violation of policy and needs work if it is to remain so the PROD was fine though another might have handled it elsewise. --Justanother 01:08, 12 December 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for the smile and the laugh! -- Karen | Talk | contribs 03:16, 12 December 2006 (UTC) (who is still not a tengrem)

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In response to your email;

You state my site is "beneath me":

For a start, all my site does it take statements Tom has made himself and put them back to back, and also some satirical material that has been produced by others - all of this already exists on the net and all of it is freely available. Nothing here has been produced by me. Not one single thing.

So, does bringing Tom's own statements and the work of others together make me anti-Cruise? or does it simply mean that there's a lot of people who have a lot to say about him, his actions, and/or his religion and here's a place they can freely and anonymously express them. It's amazing how many emails I get stating that they are so grateful because they have been too scared...

But my reasons were/are as follows: I believe the statement Tom has made recently stating that people should not be using (certain) prescribed medication is not only ignorant but darn right dangerous. Life threatening in fact. Tom states that Brooke Shields and Matt Lauer are ignorant about the history of psychiatry - well he is most certainly ignorant of the circumstances of every medicated individual in the world, and as such his comments were outrageous.

No one could possibly argue that it was not completely irresponsible for Cruise to effectively tell every man, woman and child on prescribed medication for any mental illness (or other 'chemical imbalance' such as depression, bi-polar, schizophrenia, ADD/ADHD...) to suddenly stop their medication and "start exercising and taking vitamins"

Think about how many people his statements could have (and from the dozens of emails I've received HAS HAD) on those who are unwell?

But to be clear I am not "anti-Cruise", and I have at least 6-8 of his films. But, his statements were irresponsible, ignorant and dangerous and if my site pokes a little fun at him for doing that and possibly makes those people think twice before following his advice then I'm happy.

Its had over 10 millions visitors, literally saved one life that I know of, and helped hundreds see the stupidity in his statements - so no, its far from "beneath me"  Glen  18:00, 12 December 2006 (UTC)

Did he really say "I can fly around and move stuff with my mind"? --Justanother 18:09, 12 December 2006 (UTC)

Thats not mine - thats a copycat http://www.scientomogy.info  Glen  18:46, 12 December 2006 (UTC) (for some reason the link isnt working... will fix or see

Oh, then I will not say another word against it until I have a chance to look it over better. On first glance I must say that yours makes more "sense" to me as simply putting Tom's statements and actions up for people to judge as they will. Perhaps you see why I might find the other considerably more objectionable and would wonder whether it was "beneath you". --Justanother 18:52, 12 December 2006 (UTC)

For background, here is my email in full (personal info removed)

Hi Glen

Aren't you the body builder at (removed)?

I would think that someone with as much "on the ball" as you would consider creating a site dedicated to denigrating and mocking two other fellow human beings, Tom and Katie, to be beneath him.

I can respect Operation Clambake and Andreas Heldal-Lund because there I see a forum for presenting what might be legitimate criticism of Scientology and/or the CoS.

Don't you think that your site is beneath you? Aren't you lowering yourself to maybe what you perceive the level of the CoS to be?

Anyway, that is my only point.

Take care.

Justa Notherguy

--Justanother 18:58, 12 December 2006 (UTC)

Please vote on attempt to delete new Ref Desk rules

Vote here: Misplaced Pages:Miscellany for deletion/Wikipedia:Reference desk/rules. StuRat 01:17, 13 December 2006 (UTC)