User talk:Bbik/Archive 4

Archive 1

Archive 2

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Archive 4

(← Smederevo fortress archive | Archive 4 | Archive 5 →)                         

Brilliant prose writer needed

Hi Bbik; can you do me a favor? Belgrade is currently under FA review, and the main concerns were raised on the quality of prose. I'm admittedly less than brilliant prose writer, and my sentences often turn out clumsy (plus, I have an eternal problem with articles), and I can't see the woods from the forest in that article anymore. In sum, the article could use a pair of fresh eyes. Could you do an iteration of copyediting and prose improving? Thanks! Duja► 08:35, 19 July 2007 (UTC)

Er... well, thanks for the compliment on my writing, in any case. It's so long! Ideally (from my view of things), I won't touch it or do anything major here for at least the next week or so, I have to take care of some study abroad applications (writing about myself, blech). Though realistically, I'll probably end up getting annoyed at that and procrastinate more anyhow, so I'll see what I can do. If nothing else, I'll try and go through a section at a time and see how far I get. If I'm going slow enough for it to last beyond the middle/end of August (just copyeditting, so shouldn't, but the next month is promising to be crazy, so I'm not even bothering to make "plans" anymore), I have no idea what my internet situation will be like after that. If there's anything I'm confused on, do you mind if I go back to my previous <!-- --> question method and send you diffs (or do I even need to, since I imagine you're watching it anyhow)? It's easier for me when the relevant text, question, and answer are all together, and I doubt people would be too terribly happy with us adding pretty colors to it in mainspace like with my userspace stuff!

That said, since people are itching to give it some final status for now, should it perhaps just be demoted for the time being, then renominated in a month or so? Or would that just cause even more hassle and make it take multiple times longer? I've done the whole GA thing once, but FA seems considerably more complicated/lengthy in the first place, so I'm not sure how all that would work. -Bbik^★ 15:54, 19 July 2007 (UTC)

Alright Duja, I decided to just keep all the comments in one place, they're at the FAR page. Have fun with it! :p

Oh, and if you've been doing most of the copyeditting, your English is just fine (not that I didn't think so already!). As I said over there, what I've done is just minor little things, despite the mess the diff pages show. I can certainly understand needing new eyes after looking at it too much, though. -Bbik^★ 20:06, 20 July 2007 (UTC)

Forgot to say thanks :-). Your comments on the FAR page are much appreciated, but I don't feel like eliminating the redlinks and refactoring into summary style. Whatever happens, let it be... Besides, I don't like Belgrade too much... :-) too big, crowded and fast-paced for my liking. Duja► 08:05, 31 July 2007 (UTC)

Hehe :) And no problem. Seems people are more or less happy with it now anyhow, so it all works out. -Bbik^★ 16:24, 31 July 2007 (UTC)

DYK

Smederevo fortress DYK. --Carabinieri 22:29, 23 July 2007 (UTC)

WikiThanks

WikiThanks

Thanks for the review of Rachel Hudson! --AnonEMouse ^(squeak) 17:40, 24 July 2007 (UTC)

Thanks

Thanks for catching the vandalism.--Ethicoaestheticist 18:18, 27 July 2007 (UTC)

Thanks again!--Ethicoaestheticist 16:14, 30 July 2007 (UTC)

Kosovo: country debate

Hello. There's a discussion going on Talk:List of countries as to whether or not Kosovo should be included in that list. You have an interest in Serbia-related articles and I thought you might be interested. The articles List of countries and Annex to the list of countries (where the inclusion criteria reside) are both relevant. Cheers. DSuser 14:51, 29 July 2007 (UTC)

Hello. There's a discussion and vote going on at Talk:Kosovo#Kosovo:_terminology as to whether or not it's better to use Kosovo rather than Kosovan or Kosovar in the Wikipedia articles. You've contributed to Balkans articles in the past and I thought you might have an interest. Cheers. DSuser 16:13, 31 July 2007 (UTC)

Neemaz sock

That's definitely Neemaz, and was engaging in the same type of vandalism. Thanks for letting me know. (For obvious socks of blocked vandals, you can go to WP:AIV too, you'll probably get a quicker response that way. Just be sure to note who it's a sock of so that the admin who reviews it can confirm.) Seraphimblade ^{Talk to me} 22:16, 1 August 2007 (UTC)

Re:Template Formating

I like wiki code better than HTML format. The reason I changed it, was I was wandering what would happen if "subst:" was place in front of a Template. I found out it just translated it into HTML code, and I will probably change it back to wiki code. Nocturnal Wanderer ^{Sign here!} 17:14, 4 August 2007 (UTC)

By the way, I have reverted those edits. I like it better in wiki code anyway. :-) Nocturnal Wanderer ^{Sign here!} 18:12, 4 August 2007 (UTC)

Okay, now I get it. I noticed you had already changed them back. I changed them so they would be in the same formatt as {{sco-0}}, and {{cy-0}}. When I changed my userpage into HTML code because I was try ing to figure out what "WP:SUBST" did, I notice that {{sco-0}}, and {{cy-0}}, were the only templates that worked, so I changed the other ones. Also do you think that I should change {{sco-0}} and {{cy-0}}, into wiki code. Nocturnal Wanderer ^{Sign here!} 18:29, 4 August 2007 (UTC)

Yo, Clarence

From "It's a Wonderful Life." Get it? Thanks for the tips. Keep 'em coming. As for the message venue thing, I'll do what I always do, the easy thing. --Milkbreath 01:48, 10 August 2007 (UTC)

Talk:Novak Djokovic

Thanks for the explanation. Sorry -- didn't notice that the article associated with it was actually a redirect, since it redirected to a very similar name. However, rather than being deleted, the Talk page should be turned into a redirect to the new (or in this case original) Talk page, which is what would have happened if the page had been moved normally. (The page move process asks, "Move Talk page as well?", and if yes, which is customary, a redirect will be left.) And it is actually useful here, since people often look for an article or talk page which is a foreign word or name under its equivalent in Roman characters without diacriticals, or a common transliteration. I've turned Talk:Novak Djokovic into a redirect to the new/original Talk page. Best, MCB 06:59, 10 August 2007 (UTC)

A late request?

Hello, Bbik! I'm the writer of Ala (Hala) (assessment request), and am sorry to learn that you are so busy, because fresh eyes are certainly invaluable in spotting where an improvement can be made, and in assessing quality too, and, judging from Golubac fortress, I would like it were your eyes. However, I wish you the best luck in all your plans in real life, and keep up the good work in all worlds! VVVladimir 22:53, 3 September 2007 (UTC)

No problem. Do it when you are restful. VVVladimir 11:28, 4 September 2007 (UTC)

Vampire:

Thanks for your edits to the above article - Although in this case they were helpful, note that the article is undergoing a major reordering and revamp (Excuse the pun), so don't asume that all wrong edits will remain. I'm going through the article slowly, so I'll get to everything eventually. If you have any ideas, please share them on my talk page or the article's talk page. Cheers, Spawn Man 05:26, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

You got mail

...if you're still around. Duja► 15:19, 14 September 2007 (UTC)

Remember ala?

Hi! I see you're back. You said you would like me to remind you to resume your copy-editing. Are you still willing? VVVladimir 12:26, 3 October 2007 (UTC)

Duty first. Our ala won't escape:) VVVladimir 21:56, 3 October 2007 (UTC)

Do what you think is best. As for me, I'm not in a hurry about it. However, thank you for keeping in touch. Vlado^Talk 16:08, 12 October 2007 (UTC)

I'm sorry

I couldn't found the book. :(

I hope I have not failed you (much). --PaxEquilibrium 22:43, 3 October 2007 (UTC)

Ala

No, Bbik, ala should not be turned into a name, add articles. I hope this won't interfere with your homework too much. Vlado^Talk 10:58, 20 October 2007 (UTC)

Congratulations, Bbik! We achieved the goal. Cheers! Vlado 22:27, 27 October 2007 (UTC)

I'm curious about your opinion on weather the explanation of what the mountain means (the current note 13) is obvious enough from the given source, though it doesn't use the word mountain explicitly; pretty sure as I am that it is. I was reading recently Edgar Allan Poe's poetry, and one of his poems, Dreamland, curiously reminded me on that mountain. Vlado 18:21, 10 November 2007 (UTC)

Sorry about that "weather" above. I, of course, meant "whether". —Preceding unsigned comment added by VVVladimir (talk • contribs) 18:28, 10 November 2007 (UTC)

Well, the explanation seems good, in any case. Whether the source is specific enough for the explanation, I'll check in a bit, but judging how insistant you were about having it (and everything else, which is a good thing) citable in the first place, I imagine it's fine. -Bbik^★ 20:09, 12 November 2007 (UTC)

Yup, seems straight forward enough to me. -Bbik^★ 15:45, 15 November 2007 (UTC)

Okay, I just wanted to be quite sure. It is also a good summary of the general concepts of that magic, for the readers who might have an interest for it. Vlado 20:42, 16 November 2007 (UTC)

I believe it's not out of left field (I remember this phrase I've "heard" from you:)) – after all, you've been my guide in the English prose:). How's your Serbian, how do you cope with the aspect, and the aorist? That aorist article isn't very helpful indeed, at least not for Serbian, you're right about it (I was curious and read it). As for our article, do you mean just some additional improvements, or even raising it to a higher status? We unfortunately have no sources about it in English. VVVladimir (talk) 20:25, 22 November 2007 (UTC)

It's nothing difficult (the aspect), it's quite natural, we use it all the time :). To me the absence of it in English is, in fact, sometimes a difficulty when I want to translate something from Serbian. But in English grammar you can find items that express almost the same as what is meant by the aspect in Serbian... Now, the riddle. You study in Germany or Austria (doch kann ich nicht sagen in welchem von diesen Staaten – correct me if I've made a mistake, I haven't used German for long), and have visited Serbia (was it burek with jogurt – that's a perfect combination), maybe even the fortresses you've written about? Most probably, it's been Belgrade, though I'm curious now where you've been in Serbia. As for the home (a sweet little girl has grown there - who could that be:)), though I'm likely to miss by hundreds of miles, let's say, for example, City of Detroit (?). Also, your yoghurt seems to be some more solid substance than ours? VVVladimir (talk) 19:37, 23 November 2007 (UTC)

In Austria, though I originally applied for Germany (I can fake the grammar decently enough, but I'm not so good at correcting anything but glaring errors in other people's writing. That said, it looks fine to me!), was in Belgrade for about a day and a half, and all but refused to use a map, so probably missed half of the must-see's (Duja's already told me I need to visit Zemun when I manage to get back down there), didn't have time to make any detours, so never made it to Smederevo, much less Golubac, though those two are both most definitely on my personal must-see list when I do have the chance. Was more a burek followed by (very little) jogurt followed by more burek and tea... I declared the jogurt had some weird bitter taste and couldn't force myself to finish it. I've found some vanilla jogurt here, though, which covers the bitter mostly so it's ok, if still not my favorite. Definitely better than milk (I used to love milk, not really sure what happened there) and yoghurt (which I've never liked, the texture's just nasty, just barely too thick to drink, so you need a spoon, but only barely thick enough to make a spoon worth it, and sometimes with chunks of soggy fruit. Just all around blech.), though. But orange juice is still my drink of choice. Home... yeah, several hundred. A town in New Hampshire, which actually has an article, if you're curious, though I'm not so inclined to leave specifics like that here for the whole world to see (e-mail! :-p Hmm. Or AIM/MSN/ICQ/Skype/some other one of those programs that I may or may not also have?), though you could probably come close enough searching through my contributions.

For that matter, what part of Serbia are you from? -Bbik^★ 22:58, 24 November 2007 (UTC)

I was in Belgrade several times just for a couple of days at a time, I don't know it very well. Jogurts of different producers have (at least slightly) different flavors, so you may've come across some bitter one. I think jogurt should be pleasantly sour (it's like that to me:)), but your taste may, of course, differ. Sweetened jogurts with fruit chunks appeared relatively recently here, and I fully agree with you about them – blech. State is quite enough, I certainly didn't expect anything more (but it seems that the best viewpoint in your town is on a hill with a number [if it's not wooded, or with the view blocked in some other way, though]); more is, however, enabled (why not). What part of Serbia am I from – that's an interesting question. I am from Republika Srpska. VVVladimir (talk) 22:11, 25 November 2007 (UTC)

Oh, I was told quite vehemently that the jogurt I had was most definitely very good that time, and my taste buds were just wrong. Not that that got me any closer to agreeing! :-p And yeah, I was wondering if that'd end up becoming a silly question... Seems it did. At least I wasn't completely off. Still a mainly Serb area, if not actually part of Serbia. -Bbik^★ 17:25, 29 November 2007 (UTC)

The question is quite okay :)! VVVladimir 22:34, 30 November 2007 (UTC)

Djuradj

By the way, how do like my (final version) of Djuradj II's article. I ask because I know you're interested in these kinds of things. :) --PaxEquilibrium 12:32, 20 October 2007 (UTC)

...well? :( --PaxEquilibrium 10:56, 23 October 2007 (UTC)

I'm not quite sure to what you refer. If you refer to the mix between Balsha II and Komnina - for a short time in 1385 Balsha's wife Comnena governed the lands herself. Technically she preceded George (which is why she's at the bottom) - but she's not the real predecessor, Balsha is. Was this confusing (and Sigismund)? --PaxEquilibrium 13:13, 26 October 2007 (UTC)

If Balsa II died on the same day that Djuradj took over, where does Komnina/Comnena fit in? And anyhow, if we're distinguishing between "technically" and "really", it seems like her role would've been minimal enough that it could be skipped, or at most, get a mention in the article itself, but not in the various summary boxes. If she is going to be included/linked (to Balsa), the very least that needs to be done is to get her name mentioned in Balsa's article, because as it is, I wouldn't have a clue why I ended up at his link by clicking her name, if I didn't know already.

Also, I don't have any idea what to make of this: The brothers Lekë Dukagjini and Pal Dukagjini also separated their own fiefs, with Đurađ losing control over the last remnants of his possessions in Albania. -- They split their land (between who?) which caused Djuradj to lose control of northern Albania? How's that work? Also, should "Arbanas" (in the previous sentence) be changed to "Albanian"? (Or left out entirely, since it says he's from Albania, so the assumption, at least given the time period, is that he's also Albanian?) The page does make note of a similar spelling that used to be used, and still is for those in Italy, but... It seems a bit confusing. Perhaps it's just because I'd never heard it before.

Reigning only Lower Zeta, he had constant conflicts with the opposing ruler of Upper Zeta, Radič Crnojević. -- Were the conflicts with Upper Zeta really only after he'd lost Albania?

It is recorded that in 1386, Đurađ recognized Prince Lazar as his sovereign. Yet in 1387, he married Jelena and became part of the alliance. Dates don't seem to match. Or was Djuradj originally below Lazar, and with the alliance, he rose up to be more on the same level? Or something else? And how/why was Lazar ruling over Djuradj, anyhow?

He succeeded rivalry with the Bosnian-Serbian King Tvrtko I Kotromanic, whose Serbian crown he did not recognize... Huh?

Battle of Amsfeld -- Battle of Kosovo? I wouldn't suggest changing names mid-paragraph. If it's a different battle, when did it take place? Is there a link?

To keep these cities safe, Đurađ relied upon the rivalry between Turkey and Venice. He gave the cities into Venetian administration in 1396 in exchange for 1,000 ducats every year, and promised to give them support in the case of a Turkish attack. -- This sounds more like he allied with the Venetians, than relied on a rivalry. Where's the rivalry come in?

Well, that took a bit longer than I was planning. I blame my roommate, silly her coming home and distracting me! :-p -Bbik^★ 15:22, 26 October 2007 (UTC)

Wow! I cannot believe the amount of work you're willing to dedicate to this matter! After we finish improving the article, remember me to award you another Barnstar. :)

Komnina Asen inherited Balsha's lands in 1385, but in Zeta itself she was the holder of territories for just a short time, before they were transferred to Djuradj's control. She continued to govern the Balsic possessions in southern Albania with her daughter Rudjina, after she married one Serbian nobleman, Mrksa Zarkovic (son of Zarko, once high ranking nobleman of Emperor Dusan) in 1391, transferring southern Albania finally to him. In 1414 Mrksa died of old age, and Rudjina took over the charge of defending southern Albania from the Ottoman Turks - she organized defenses and offered the cities to the Venetians for protection, but all resistance utterly failed and the Ottomans conquered her lands in 1417. On this map you can see the Balsics' domain in the western Balkans. As you know a women couldn't really become a formal ruler - just an acting holder of the domain for some time. The reason why she isn't mentioned at Balsa's article is because I never edited it, but don't worry - will expand it some time in the future.

Yes, that's confusing - Zakarije (a well-known Albanian nobleman, but I have no data of his real full name) separated his fief from Balsic, to whom he was a vassal. Soon most Albanians separated as the mighty local Dukagjin brothers also broke feudal bonds with Djuradj. Thus, the Balsics' lost all territories south of the river Drim. And as for southern Albania (I say "Arbania"), it was already practically a separate fiefdom outside the Balsics' hands (Komnina...). The Balsics only didn't rule Kastrioti's central Albania. The term "Albania" is a recently-adopted practically neologism. "Arbania" and "Arbanas" was the standard term.

The conflicts with the Upper Zetan Crnojevics were ever since he asserted control as the head of Balsics' domain in late 1385. This "Zetan civil war" limited to constant bitter now-and-then fights, until Djuradj finally killed Radich in 1396.

Well dates don't match because high-ranking marriages are often hard arranged. :) In 1386 he recognized Lazar's rule, but the actually marriage was completed in 1387. He didn't rise up - the "Family Confederacy" was never established in the formal sense, but slowly "upgraded" to that level. The recognition of Lazar's reign mostly connects to the fact that he was the Presiding in this broad coalition of Djuradj, Lazar, Vuk, Music and the Hungarian governor of Macva (sometimes the Bulgarian King/Emperor is added, but only as an allied foreign factor). BTW this family alliance became the spine of the forces that would unite under Amsfeld in 1389. Lazar's factual reign over Djuradj was limited to - nothing at all really. :)

The collective feeling of the Serbian Empire was still present amongst all Serbian noblemen even though there was no Tsar (died in 1371) and the sole heir to the regal throne was a (a bit not too loyal but faithful) Ottoman vassal, Marko Mrnjavčević (so celebrated by the South Slavic epic tales). This "collective feeling" meant that rulers often called upon rights of the factually non-existent but oh-so-much-continued through the Serbian Orthodox Church empire. Bosnian Ban Tvrtko claimed the Serb throne in 1377, but Balsics never recognized him. It is well-known that the Balsics made forgeries and spread a fictive family tree explaining their direct descent from the Nemanyiden and claim for the Serbian throne! However reality subsided, and all recognized Lazar Hrebeljanović as the sort-of successor to the throne - which he was recognized/sanctioned by the SOC, much rather than (Roman Catholic?) Tvrtko.

I explained in the previous paragraph the rivalry with the Kotromanics. And the Battle of Amsfeld is the name for the battle until "Battle of Kossovo" was enforced in the 19th century into international usage because of (the renewed) Serbia.

The rivalry bit is just stylist. :) He was an Ottoman ally and then Venetian (aside from Serbian). Anyway we could remove it if you'd like - it's not like Djuradj would've bounded really to a Muslim power, the alleged recognition of Ottoman rule is just an opinion of modern historians, because Djuradj's forces invaded Bosnia with Ottoman - but remember that the Kotromanics and Balsics were eternal rivals, for territorial disputes and claims to the Serbian throne.

Did I help? ;) --PaxEquilibrium 22:34, 26 October 2007 (UTC)

So. I've removed Komnina from the succession box again, but included her, if barely, in the text of the article. Since the whole thing was some degree of unofficial anyhow, it just makes more sense that way, keeping the boxes with the official information, and the text with the more specific explanations.

Why pipe-link Balsa III under children in the infobox? Whether or not the III was actually part of his name at birth, it just seems like it increases the chances of confusion if the specific Balsa is unclear at a glance -- especially if someone looking at it fast notices that Balsa II came first, and Blasa III next -- how would Balsa (I) come after at least one of those two?

When Tvrtko died in early March 1391, the opportunity arose for Đurađ to incorporate Kotor into Zeta. This was done just before Tvrtko's death when Đurađ proclaimed himself as the Lord of Kotor. -- The opportunity for incorporation only came after Tvrtko's death, yet the incorporation happened before his death? Er...

More later. And I hope you don't mind me breaking up/flipping one of your paragraphs, it was easier for me to follow while copyeditting. -Bbik^★ 23:39, 9 November 2007 (UTC)

One side-note - Djuradj II wasn't a Bosnian rival because of anything he did, but because his predecessor/uncle was, who didn't recognize Tvrtko's crown and had claims for the Serbian throne himself. --PaxEquilibrium 10:10, 10 November 2007 (UTC)

There is a little problem in there. There was no quite hereditary law back then, so we cannot assert "officialism". Komnina undoubtedly ruled, with the help of her daughter Rudjina, until Djuradj II succeeded her. Her daughter Rudjina was undoubtedly a ruler in southern Albania, all the way until she married Mrksa, and after his death that followed soon, she vigorously defended the southern Albanian cities from Ottoman conquests, for some time at least. The only problem here is the form of the Balsics' family reign. Their case was something like that of the Habsburgs. All lands held by a member of the Balsics family were a part of one collective demesne, and there was always the Head of the family, who in truth was the ruler of all those lands (despite individual members might've been local administrators - their lands should be differed from vassalage, totally unlike the Albanian lords, who were real vassals of the Balsics). That's how in the first place the Balsics in half a century raised from governors of a village to powerful feudal lords. And the problem comes there - the Head of the family couldn't have been a woman. For example, the reason why southern Albania suddenly stopped being a Balsic domain is I reckon, the marriage of Rudjina to Mrksa.

OK, it just seemed odd to me.

I didn't write that part on Kotor, someone else did. I clean off the dust of my books once more to search for that info, because the online sources may not quite be reliable (it's full of historical fallacies).

Not at all. Cheers. ;) --PaxEquilibrium 10:39, 10 November 2007 (UTC)

Hi Bbik! How're you? I've expanded and am still working to complete Djuradj's article. I'm expanding it, but my writing skills are far from perfect - could you try to "better" it up? Also, I'm having thoughts about the person table. I do not know whether to use the ruler one. Is there an example on Wiki of a regional lord using the ruler-template? Because from 1385 to 1389 he is factually just a nobleman of the Serbian Empire ghost, and afterwards he works strongly at connecting, expanding and gathering quite a notable property for the Balsics, which could be even characterized as a tiny independent estate. --PaxEquilibrium (talk) 18:58, 23 November 2007 (UTC)

P.S. I want to create a House of Balsic template, but don't seem to know how to do it. --PaxEquilibrium (talk) 18:59, 23 November 2007 (UTC)

Hey! I'm good, just busy. I have several major papers due in the next couple weeks, and haven't even started researching for them, much less writing. I'm still plenty willing (and planning to) give you a full copyedit, it just might have to wait a bit longer, unless I'm (somehow!) not feeling completely braindead during breaks from homework.

I'm guessing by ruler-template you mean the infobox? I have no idea whether that one is appropriate for him, though I doubt it's such a big deal either way. If you'd rather not use it, though, there's always just the basic {{Infobox person}} to fall back on. Unless you had something else in mind?

As for how to make a Balsic template... steal the code from another template and substitute the links for the correct Balsic links? That's the secret behind any technical stuff I've ever done! I sure have no idea what I'm doing on my own. Trial and error, eventually giving up and asking someone for help, and then making minor changes usually works pretty well. -Bbik^★ 22:33, 24 November 2007 (UTC)

I don't know any family-template to copy. --PaxEquilibrium (talk) 23:18, 26 November 2007 (UTC)

Ah, now I see the problem! I don't know what sort of format you have in mind, but perhaps something like {{House of York}}/{{British Royal Family}}/{{House of Bourbon(France)}}, or with time periods/dates and varying degrees of complicatedness, {{Legitimist Pretenders since 1792}}/{{British Monarchs}}/{{Monarchs of France}}/{{French Pretenders}}. Or, there's the option of just having a mass of names, if all you wanted was to have them together, but not necessarily clearly sorted: {{English consort}}. On a smaller scale, something like {{s-fam}} could work too, since it (obviously) wouldn't fit the entire family. Along with that last one, I also found {{s-hou}} which seems to be little more than a fancy, big, (overly) colorful succession box, though it has several subheader options. (I don't know how well you know the succession box coding, but that page seems to have a lot of useful variables for them above and beyond the different headers, too.)

So what do you think, can you find something to work with from all that? :-p -Bbik^★ 16:59, 29 November 2007 (UTC)

Milkbreath cat

Thanks. How the heck did you see that? By the way, I can contribute with a professional level of English, but I like to let people find that out themselves. --Milkbreath 20:40, 25 October 2007 (UTC)

Image:Despot Djuradj lik s novca.JPG

Im not a bot, But I do run a bot. I saw that you had reverted the bot and took further investigation I saw that it was a PD-old and PD money and tagged it as so. β^_command 22:06, 31 October 2007 (UTC)

Serbia - transliteration?

Why should it need transliteration? It is already in the first line of the article - the table should contain just official (politically) data. --PaxEquilibrium 23:00, 31 October 2007 (UTC)

Well there is a transliteration - right in the first sentence of the text. The table isn't meant to serve for that - it should contain the official name of the state, with the English version below (the reason why Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina articles have both Latin and Cyrillic is because both are official). And if anyone's interested in reading the country's native name, she/he has IPA right there in the first paragraph.

Anyway I see that that's standard for Wikipedia (Japan and People's Republic of China articles) so I'll leave it be...but that doesn't mean that I will stop in myself opposing it. ;)

Yes, I know - you've told me your busy so you can take your time all the world to discuss/reply, I have all the patience necessary for anything. :D Best regards. --PaxEquilibrium 12:09, 1 November 2007 (UTC)

And Russia and Ukraine and Greece, and a variety of others I double checked before making the consistency comment. But sure, go ahead and continue opposing it, and I'll still think it's a good idea! -Bbik^★ 23:39, 9 November 2007 (UTC)

Lol, are we fighting? :))) --PaxEquilibrium 15:28, 10 November 2007 (UTC)

Heh, if you want. :-p More just me responding now, since I didn't earlier. -Bbik^★ 15:32, 10 November 2007 (UTC)

All the best. --PaxEquilibrium 19:37, 14 November 2007 (UTC)

I just noticed your edits on my page

I didn't know that it could be done the way you did it but I like the way it looks. Thank you. SWik78 17:22, 9 November 2007 (UTC)

Smak

Bbik i have few problems with your editing. Can you answer to me when is Rock=Jazz=Blues ?! Second it's not MihaJlovic it's MihaIlovic. Third Smak's YouTube is the second official site. Tocak is working personal on it. Can you just repair my grammar and some Wiki rules? Thx for understanding. Aquilamon 12.11.2007.

1) I removed the other genres from the infobox because that's just supposed to be an overview, not a comprehensive listing of every last genre ever used. It's in the introduction still, though, if rephrased. 2) Typos happen, and can be fixed, I didn't notice that change in the rest, but it's still there now. All the links do not need to be piped, though -- [[Smak]] gets you there just as well as [[Smak|Smak]]. Better, even, because it takes up less space for eliminating repetition. The only reason the link should be piped is if it were something like [[Smak (band)|Smak]], but it's not, and the people in the band aren't ambiguous either, they're red links even before piping. 3) And when there's an official site, it takes priority over a YouTube page, even if it's run by the band member. I have, however, moved the link to the External links section instead, so it's still available for people.

Your interest in improving the page is great, though -- it needs it desperately. If you could find sources for everything that's in there, and make it a bit more neutral while you're at it, that would be fantastic! -Bbik^★ 16:16, 12 November 2007 (UTC)

Good pointS...Ok, i'll keep the work going. I was just shocked when i saw your in report ,,the same music generes``... I'll try for every member to make a Wiki article. I saw the new repair on article. It has just a slight mistake. Tocak is nickname not middle name X) I'll fix it. Anyways i'm translating my work on Smak. So i'll write part by part. It isn't a problem for Wiki to have so many edits at one article by one person?

Aquilamon 12.11.2007.

When the name in the middle is in quotation marks, that means it's a nickname, not a middle name, don't worry. :) And no, multiple edits by one person isn't a problem at all (Well, unless you decide to start vandalizing, that'd be bad!).

Oh, and to sign your comments? All you need to do is type ~~~~ and it'll automatically sign with your username and the date. Let me know if you have any questions, too. It might take me a little longer to respond from time to time, but I'm more than willing to help where I can. Good luck! -Bbik^★ 20:06, 12 November 2007 (UTC)

Re language learning

The best resources I have found for learning are Pimsleur language tapes/CD/downloads, which sadly don't cover much ground in BHS, and "Colloquial Serbocroat", more recently "Colloquial Croatian" (and also "Colloquial Serbian") by Celia Hawkesworth (though the audio material with them is not so good for learning). [1] The resource that I am really, really lacking is a human to help me, though! SaundersW 17:26, 13 November 2007 (UTC)

I, meanwhile, seem to have somehow found at least a couple humans, but asking for a complete, thorough explanation of the language from the very beginning is a bit much... and it seems most are incapable of explaining at that basic a level anyhow, much like I would be with teaching someone English. Perhaps if I can get those onto the Christmas list, though, I'll be able to make use of these humans I've found! (Woohoo talking about people like objects! :-p) In the meantime, have you come across any decent free beginner resources? Long shot, I know, but at least worth a try. -Bbik^★ 19:46, 13 November 2007 (UTC)

I have had a slightly weird reason for trying to learn. About a year ago an internet friend (whom I'd known for about 2 years: rough timescale so you don't think this is crazily impulsive!) had a breakdown, and then about 6 months ago he began a blog. Up to that point my studies had been very desultory, now they became a lot more focused. Thus the first resource I had was the blog [2] which now comes with an intermittent translation into English.
I have a very small dictionary [3] and also use an online dictionary, which sadly doesn't let you know which is the main meaning for a word. [4] but is quite good with more modern words. I've also downloaded and printed out a BHS glossary and an English-BHS glossary from here: [5] [6] which tell you useful things about how the verbs conjugate and the nouns decline.
The BCS handbook you have seen: informative but very dense. There are some exercises here [7] that I confess I haven't used much, but BYKI [8] allows you to download a vocabulary builder that is quite nice, if limited. EUdict claims to be useful [9] but I have not tried it, and the logos conjugator [10] will conjugate verbs but not tell you what they mean! (Correction: click "prijevod" for translation!)
As far as I can tell, it (in my case Croatian) is a very logical language, with a very simple tense structure, made complicated by the idea of aspect (perfective/imperfective}. The other really mean bit seems to be clitics, which have strict rules about the order they go in, but knowing exactly where to put them in a sentence (they should be the second element, but how to determine where the first one ended?) seems tricky. Anyway, I have done very little writing in Cro, mostly trying to read it.
Thus, a very scattered and disorganised set of resources, with many gaps, and also Croatian biased. I hope some of it helps. And please let me know if you find something good? All the best (also not a man) SaundersW 20:59, 13 November 2007 (UTC)

Evidently I can't format in Wiki. Apologies! SaundersW 21:00, 13 November 2007 (UTC)

Ok, bit more of a response now that I have time and more functional internet. Wow that's a lot of links. And have I found myself a female compatriot amongst all the guys? You're going to have more gender-confusion issues than I have, with your username -- mine's fairly neutral, but yours sounds like nothing, if not a guy's name!

I came across BYKI a while ago, decided it was a decent enough program, but got frustrated that it wouldn't let me make my own cards, or reorder them or anything. Haven't had a chance to look through the rest of the links (and ideally, won't for a while either, I need to stop procrastinating and get stuff done), but it certainly looks like exactly the sort of stuff I need. Aspect and all that stuff (someone sent me to aorist a while ago, I can't even understand what that page is saying, it's in Greek as much as English!) quite simply doesn't make sense, when I get to learning more than present tense, I don't think I'll have so much fun anymore, but hey, grammar's usually boring/confusing anyhow. As for determining ends of sentence elements... I think I'm just going to hope that it's something similar to German, because I can pick the parts out there without a problem, though most everyone else seems to have issues.

And if I find something you haven't already linked, I will definitely pass it on! I was e-mailed a bunch of files yesterday that are apparently with all the classwork, but which we haven't used yet; they seem to have a lot of good information on them, though I didn't honestly notice how much was explained in German versus charts and such. I'll take a look later and pass the more self-explanatory ones on to you, if you want. -Bbik^★ 13:28, 15 November 2007 (UTC)

Here's also a nice "cheatsheet" for quick reference: http://www2.bc.edu/~niebuhro/crogrammar.htm Duja► 09:06, 14 November 2007 (UTC)

Useful! Thanks! SaundersW 10:27, 14 November 2007 (UTC)

Yay cheatsheets! -Bbik^★ 13:28, 15 November 2007 (UTC)

Bbik, do you have icq or AIM? Answer on my page if you like (where nobody goes...) SaundersW 09:56, 15 November 2007 (UTC)

I have both, though I've used them so rarely lately that it'll take a while before I start remembering to log in again. That, and the nonsense of an internet connection I have... Emailed them both, in any case. -Bbik^★ 13:28, 15 November 2007 (UTC)

Replied to your email :) SaundersW 14:53, 15 November 2007 (UTC)

Smederevo

That's a very tough question. But you should know the following: in the Medieval ages there were three types of cities. One were based on military - built around fortresses, be it raised by Despots right now or on Roman settlements. Another were those around Universities, those became truly metropolises but were not present in the Serbian lands. The last were trade centers, they were present only at the coastline. The "mixture" that was constructed around religious centers (<onasteries in Serbia served as those Western Universities) didn't really raise to the prominence of true "cities" in Medieval Serbia.

So practically, those were cities, and so was Smederevo. But if you had something different on your mind, feel free to elaborate and ask me again. Cheers. --PaxEquilibrium (talk) 19:14, 29 November 2007 (UTC)

Aha! Now I see the problem! Well the history of Smederevo should contain history up to prehistory itself. Specifically, since its very first mention as a Bishopric in 1019. And the Fortress article should, yes, contain all info on it from its foundation to present-day. But here: you should use after its fall in 1459. For it is under the Ottoman Empire that it becomes one of the typical cities of the Ottoman Empire by expansion and further construction around the fortress. It received a true "City status" during the short-lived Habsburgs' rule in 1718-1739 and it became a full-fledged city (very much like it remains today) is during the First Serbian Uprising or after 1806. But the Smederevo Fortress itself was manned by the Ottoman Empire until it was handed over to Prince Mihailo Obrenovic's control in 1867. --PaxEquilibrium (talk) 20:56, 29 November 2007 (UTC)

There is a book "Istorija Smedereva u reči i slici" ("History of Smederevo in Word and Picture") of Dr Leontije Pavlović. I believe I could get a hold of it, when I get free time in mid-February. --PaxEquilibrium (talk) 20:59, 29 November 2007 (UTC)

Was this helpful? :S --PaxEquilibrium (talk) 18:36, 10 December 2007 (UTC)

Just to note another book (for me, more than for you ;) on your talk page: "Smederevski Sandžak 1476-1560" by Ema Miljković-Bojanić. --PaxEquilibrium (talk) 09:56, 11 December 2007 (UTC)

AfD nomination of Melon heads

An article that you have been involved in editing, Melon heads, has been listed for deletion. If you are interested in the deletion discussion, please participate by adding your comments at Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Melon heads. Thank you. BJBot (talk) 23:29, 30 December 2007 (UTC)

Happy New Year!!!!

Happy New Year! :) --PaxEquilibrium (talk) 13:38, 4 January 2008 (UTC)

Thanks, you too! And Merry Christmas in a couple days! -Bbik^★ 17:15, 5 January 2008 (UTC)

Thanks

if i i understand u correctly, heres my signature kickenchicken (talk) 23:39, 10 March 2008 (UTC) thanks!

Kosovan Serb Assembly name

Thanks By the way, and this is really foolish, I forgot to link the proper BBC article the second time, which includes a picture from which I transcribed the Cyrillic: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7478865.stm . —Justin (koavf)❤T☮C☺M☯ 00:00, 29 June 2008 (UTC)

Well, I'm doing a bit of guesswork myself, so no guarantees that it's actually any more correct now (aside from the č/u issue), but... little steps, right? As for that picture, it says "ap" rather than "ad", but I'm still lost there, can't find that little word anywhere. So, who knows. I don't particularly feel like making another equally minor edit when it's no more definitely accurate than anything else, either, though, so I think I'm just going to leave it as-is for now, and let a native speaker come along to fix it properly. I'll let you take care of whatever reference-fixing, though. Oh, and the foreign language name shouldn't be bolded, just other equally notable English names. -Bbik^★ 00:10, 29 June 2008 (UTC)

Sure Thanks so much for your assistance. —Justin (koavf)❤T☮C☺M☯ 00:18, 29 June 2008 (UTC)

Re:Russian wiki help

Hello! You are right about the "Bbik" account on ru.wikipedia - it was registered in November 2007, but the user never made a single edit. I left a request on the Requests for Usurpation page there, requesting a rename of that account so you can unify it. I will keep you updated on the status :)  ARTYOM  02:02, 30 June 2008 (UTC)

Woo, I can get about three words in all of that, thanks to the very minimal Serbian I've been able to pick up. Thanks! -Bbik^★ 03:10, 30 June 2008 (UTC)

Alrighty, it's  Done!  ARTYOM  23:10, 30 June 2008 (UTC)

Great, thanks! -Bbik^★ 06:05, 1 July 2008 (UTC)

Voting

Hi. You've participated in the debate about deleting of category:Former Towns of RSK 1991-95 [11]. Now, there's a similar voting on deletion on the article (created, although the results of discussion was delete, not listify). The links to the voting is here merger suggestion?. Since you've participated previously in the discussion, you're invited to participate again. Please, give your opinion. Kubura (talk) 14:28, 28 October 2008 (UTC)

MfD nomination of User:Bbik/Golubac

User:Bbik/Golubac, a page you substantially contributed to, has been nominated for deletion. Your opinions on the matter are welcome; please participate in the discussion by adding your comments at Wikipedia:Miscellany for deletion/User:Bbik/Golubac and please be sure to sign your comments with four tildes (~~~~). You are free to edit the content of User:Bbik/Golubac during the discussion but should not remove the miscellany for deletion template from the top of the page; such a removal will not end the deletion discussion. Thank you. Rockfang (talk) 21:41, 14 February 2009 (UTC)

your account on wp-de

Hi Bbik, you can login now. --Lyzzy (talk) 15:55, 21 February 2009 (UTC)

Copy that

Thanks for the needed advice trough. NIR-Warrior (talk) 03:24, 8 March 2009 (UTC)