User talk:Charlesdrakew/Archives/2013/October

Are you still taking adoptees?

Hi there! I'm a new editor trying to learn my way around and I saw you listed on the Adopt-a-User list of adopters. Are you still looking for adoptees? If so, would you be interested in showing me the ropes? A Mahogany Chair (talk) 22:25, 26 September 2013 (UTC)

Hi A Mahogany Chair. I noticed your edit on Chichester, a page which is on my watchlist. I do not do any formal training programme but I will be pleased to help in any way I can. Are there any subjects you have a particular interest in? You will find a lot of common beginners questions have already been answered at the Teahouse. I hope you enjoy being on Wikipedia.--Charles (talk) 09:42, 27 September 2013 (UTC)

Thameside (bus company)

In your haste to reverse posts at Thameside (bus company), you have managed to reinstate various future tense errors. Please exercise a bit more care before making wholesale reversals. Perhaps you could try and be a bit procative and find a few cites yourself, rather than just adding CN signs? Just a thought.Mo7838 (talk) 09:12, 28 September 2013 (UTC)

People should cite their edits properly in the first instance or else go play somewhere else.--Charles (talk) 13:02, 28 September 2013 (UTC)

A predictably positive response, hope I have the good grace to pull the plug on Wiki if ever get to the stage of having nothing to offer but your level of negativity.Mo7838 (talk) 14:44, 28 September 2013 (UTC)

Revolutions of 1989 online Wikipedia challenge

--Kippelboy (talk) 15:42, 29 September 2013 (UTC)

Hastings Pier

Just not sure why you reverted the piece I put up this morning ref the share issue. It is factual. Cheers — Preceding unsigned comment added by Tim Fordham-Moss (talk • contribs) 13:32, 3 October 2013 (UTC)

No sources and rather promotional.--Charles (talk) 17:12, 3 October 2013 (UTC)

Adopt me maybe?

Hey there. I have had an account for a while but I never really used it. But I've gotten hooked recently. Mostly I'm making corrections to spellings since I know what I'm doing there. I have come across pages I think should be deleted and been wrong (or done it wrongly) and not delete proposed ones that I probably should have. So I thought having someone to talk to and ask questions of might be a good idea. Meanwhile I'll stick with changes I know about..I also work in British English and find it hard not to 'correct' the spellings on that- so I have to be quite careful. I tend to stick my nose in without checking one day and check for too long the next..Anyway..Hello. Antiqueight ^confer 17:45, 7 October 2013 (UTC) PS - would you be willing to mentor me..--Antiqueight ^confer 17:45, 7 October 2013 (UTC)

Hi Antiqueight. I will be pleased to help in any way I can. It has taken me years to learn my way around the Byzantine workings of this wiki and there is still plenty I do not know. Nobody is going to mind you making honest mistakes if it is done in good faith. Page deletions in the AfD process can just depend on who turns up to comment although admins can and should give more weight to policy-based arguments than to those who just like or dislike something. It is worth just watching how discussions go to gain an overview of where consensus tends to lie. As for spelling styles it can often be hard to work out which style the article is meant to be. I wish more of them were tagged with which to use. Any particular ares you are interested or expert in?--Charles (talk) 23:09, 7 October 2013 (UTC)

I have no specialist knowledge that I can use here other than a willingness to research if it interests me and an ability to usually find what I want. I love History, English and Science so anything that hits on those will catch my attention. I know a little about a lot of things but not usually enough to create from scratch. Right now I have been flicking though the new pages trying to work out how to know if I should mark things as patrolled or not.. Mostly I leave them alone..I swing between sticking with typos and wanting to help with the backlog in unpatrolled new pages..

Mostly - I need to be able to point to something and say - see that? Is that good or terrible...and after a while I should get the feel for it. I hope. There are so many places to watch to see what is happening. And editors seem to truly range from the charming to the downright loony...Anyway - I must away to bed. Til tomorrow! Antiqueight ^confer 23:56, 7 October 2013 (UTC)

I was reading somewhere recently, probably in the the newsletter, that when analysed in detail the accuracy of acceptance or rejection of submitted new articles is little better than random chance. There is nothing to stop schoolkids who are bucking up to become admins for their own prestige wading into that sort of work without much idea of what they are doing. For new editors submitting their first article to get such sloppy service must be really bad for the project. I am sure you can do better than that.

I am a generalist too and I actually tend to stay away from the subjects I work in because it is too much like work. It is actually a very good thing to have somebody who is not a specialist looking over articles because articles should be written to appeal to and interest the general reader. I have written a number of articles about buildings I came across while on holiday and it is surprising how much can be found online now without having access to local libraries.--Charles (talk) 09:20, 8 October 2013 (UTC)