Kershner

Hawking and Thorne bet

Hawking bet Thorne that black holes don't exist, so at least he'd have something if they don't after having done years of work on them. If Hawking won (ie black holes don't exist), he got two(?) years subscription to Private Eye. If Thorne won, he got a year's(?) subscription to Penthouse (or something vaguely equivalent). There's a paragraph or so on it in A Brief History of Time (which is what I'm paraphrasing here) – I don't know if it's paid our or not yet. Cheers --Pak21 11:02, 6 June 2006 (UTC)

Or in fact, just Stephen Hawking#Losing an old bet. Maybe I should read Wikipedia first :-) Cheers --Pak21 11:04, 6 June 2006 (UTC)

Is WP:BIO Policy?

I don't think WP:BIO is policy.. pretty near the top of that page, it explicitly says that WP:BIO is not policy. I don't accept the criterion of notability. No obvious point of view, verifiability, and absence of copyright are sufficient. I don't trust myself, you, or anyone else to be a fair and accurate judge of notability. Which is not to say I do not see a measure of validity to the notability concept... I just think that the concept is outdated, and appropriate for a paper world. Snugspout 17:55 16 June 2006 (UTC)

• Thanks for your comment about WP:BIO and notability. I think the threshold for notability should be infinitesimal, because a)Wikipedia is not paper b)any judgement made now cannot account for all the new events that will transpire in the next 100 or 1000 years; something that seems trivial today might be viewed as crucial in the future c)judgements made on current information are subject to huge errors of ignorance, absence of availability of info, and bias d)people's time would be better spent researching and bringing in new information, rather than wasting time on debating whether to include or not. Each point could be buttressed with examples, but perhaps I should try to address the `Wikipedia is not the white pages' or `Wikipedia is not a data warehouse' argument. Those are true, but the reason is because very good and careful articles and information are present in Wikipedia, and are never present in the white pages or in a data warehouse. If Wikipedia has arms and branches that resemble white pages and data warehouses, I feel there is no harm done, just as long as there are huge segments of Wikipedia that resemble old paper encyclopedias. I'd argue, `Wikipedia is not just a data warehouse' and `Wikipedia is not just white pages' Actually, I've gotten a huge amount of research benefit out of old telephone book white pages, generally 30 or more years after those white pages were published. Why shouldn't Wikipedia also include such information... think big, there is no horizon with the data storage now available! snug 17:55, 17 June 2006 (UTC)
  • Fundementally, all content in Wikipedia must satisfy the Five Pillars of Wikipedia. This is not just policy, this is the creator's mandate and not open to discussion.

From Pillar 1: Wikipedia is an encyclopedia "Wikipedia is not an indiscriminate collection of information" and not a "vanity publisher".

From Pillar 2: Wikipedia uses the neutral point-of-view "It means citing verifiable, authoritative sources" (Information about non-notable individuals cannot be verified because their lives are not in the public record)

Straight from your oft-cited Wikipedia is not paper page is this text "Biography articles should only be for people with some sort of fame, achievement, or perhaps notoriety."

These issues are settled within the community. Kershner 18:06, 17 June 2006 (UTC)

Your edit to Acamprosate

I cannot thank you enough for the shiny infobox and the addition of information to the Acamprosate article. —THIS IS MESSEDOCKER (TALK) 00:52, 24 June 2006 (UTC)

I've responded to your request for a third opinion

I hope you find my informal and unofficial "resolution" satisfactory. The other involved party seems to find it sufficient and I'm hoping we can agree on a version of the article and take the page off of third opinion. :) I must also commend you for your civility in dealing with the other user (and the other user seems to have been quite civil in return). People tend to get too worked up about little disputes; it's good to see that you're level-headed and stay cool. :) Keep up the great work!! Srose (talk) 14:31, 30 August 2006 (UTC)

• I am generally satisfied with the current state of the article, I appreciate the removal of the childrens' ages, but I still have concerns over both the acceptability and the copyright status of the mug shot. Functionally, a photo of this type casts the subject in a poor light. While factually correct it imposes a negative impression that acts to bias the reader. If there were an additional non-mug-shot photo to counterbalance I would have no pause about the current photo. The mug-shot is representative of the incident, not the person and should not be used for the latter purpose. Kershner 20:53, 30 August 2006 (UTC)

WikiProject Disambiguation Talk Request

This is a form message being sent to all WikiProject Disambiguation participants. I may have found your page based on your contributions or your link repair user box on your user page. If you are not a member, please consider including your name on the project page. I recently left a proposed banner idea on the WikiProject Disambiguation talk page and I would appreciate any input you could provide. Before it can be approved or denied, I would prefer a lot of feedback from multiple participants in the project. So if you have the time please join in the discussion to help improve the WikiProject. Keep up the good work in link repair and thanks for your time. Nehrams2020 23:01, 9 October 2006 (UTC)

"Spam" Label

Can you for one second explain to me how this is labeled spam? I've read the guidelines. The site I linked to is no more commercial than the magazines the article refers to. The site simply has a one-form mechanism for subscribing to multiple magazines and happens to have a good deal of information on the magazines, including advertising information, that is likely of use to the reader.--Tim Raines 16:56, 21 November 2006 (UTC)

• You exclusively edited categories and not articles. External links, and the one you added may be appropriate in that section of an article, belong solely at the end of legitimate articles. Categories are used solely as lists of other articles on Wikipedia. As such, by editing the categories and placing what functionally represented an advertisement of a website, you engaged in behavior classified as spam on Wikipedia. Kershner 19:13, 21 November 2006 (UTC)
  • Thanks for the feedback. From what you're saying, then, this site could be pointed to on individual articles...? --Tim Raines 21:06, 21 November 2006 (UTC)
    • I won't go so far as to say it is appropriate on individual articles, but I will say that it is inappropriate in Categories and Templates. For the official policy on including links in the External Links sections of articles, refer to this policy: WP:EL

The two key points here are the policy in a nutshell:

• Adding external links can be a service to our readers, but they should be kept to a minimum of those that are meritable, accessible and appropriate to the article.

and the primary restriction on including an external link:

• You are restricted from including A website that you own, maintain or are acting as an agent for; even if the guidelines otherwise imply that it should be linked to. This is in line with the conflict of interests guidelines. If it is a relevant and informative link that should otherwise be included, mention it on the talk page and let neutral and independent Wikipedia editors decide whether to add it.

Kershner 21:56, 21 November 2006 (UTC)

Fair use rationale for Image:LivingGreyhawkGazetteer.jpg

Thanks for uploading or contributing to Image:LivingGreyhawkGazetteer.jpg. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in Wikipedia articles constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use. Suggestions on how to do so can be found here.

Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Wikipedia:Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to ensure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.

If you have uploaded other fair use media, consider checking that you have specified the fair use rationale on those pages too. You can find a list of 'image' pages you have edited by clicking on the "my contributions" link (it is located at the very top of any Wikipedia page when you are logged in), and then selecting "Image" from the dropdown box. Note that any non-free media lacking such an explanation will be deleted one week after they have been uploaded, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you. ShakespeareFan00 19:13, 9 July 2007 (UTC)

Disambiguation link fixing one-day contest

I have decided to put on a mini-contest within the November 2013 monthly disambiguation contest, on Saturday, November 23 (UTC). I will personally give a $20 Amazon.com gift card to the disambiguator who fixes the most links on that server-day (see the project page for details on scoring points). Since we are not geared up to do an automated count for that day, at 00:00, 23 November 2013 (UTC) (which is 7:00 PM on November 22, EST), I'll take a screenshot of the project page leaderboard. I will presume that anyone who is not already listed on the leaderboard has precisely nine edits. At 01:00, 24 November 2013 (UTC) (8:00 PM on November 23, EST), I'll take a screenshot of the leaderboard at that time (the extra hour is to give the board time to update), and I will determine from that who our winner is. I will credit links fixed by turning a WP:DABCONCEPT page into an article, but you'll have to let me know me that you did so. Here's to a fun contest. Note that according to the Daily Disambig, we currently have under 256,000 disambiguation links to be fixed. If everyone in the disambiguation link fixers category were to fix 500 links, we would have them all done - so aim high! Cheers! bd2412 T 02:48, 18 November 2013 (UTC)

Notification of automated file description generation

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This notification is placed on your talk page because a bot has identified you either as the uploader of the file, or as a contributor to its metadata. It would be appreciated if you could carefully review the information the bot added. To opt out of these notifications, please follow the instructions here. Thanks! Message delivered by Theo's Little Bot (opt-out) 14:24, 27 February 2014 (UTC)

ArbCom elections are now open!

Hi,
You appear to be eligible to vote in the current Arbitration Committee election. The Arbitration Committee is the panel of editors responsible for conducting the Wikipedia arbitration process. It has the authority to enact binding solutions for disputes between editors, primarily related to serious behavioural issues that the community has been unable to resolve. This includes the ability to impose site bans, topic bans, editing restrictions, and other measures needed to maintain our editing environment. The arbitration policy describes the Committee's roles and responsibilities in greater detail. If you wish to participate, you are welcome to review the candidates' statements and submit your choices on the voting page. For the Election committee, MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 13:57, 23 November 2015 (UTC)

New deal for page patrollers

Hi Kershner,

In order to better control the quality of new pages, keep out the spam, and welcome the genuine newbies, the current system we introduced in 2011 is being updated and improved. The documentation and tutorials have also been revised and given a facelift. Most importantly a new user group New Page Reviewer has been created.

Under the new rule, you may find that you are temporarily unable to mark new pages as reviewed. However, this is nothing to worry about - most current experienced patrollers are being accorded the the new right without the need to apply, and if you have significant previous experience of patrolling new pages, we strongly encourage you to apply for the new right as soon as possible - we need all the help we can get, and we are now providing a dynamic, supportive environment for your work.

Find out more about this exiting new user right now at New Page Reviewers and be sure to read the new tutorial before applying. MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 04:28, 13 November 2016 (UTC)

ArbCom Elections 2016: Voting now open!

Hello, Kershner. Voting in the 2016 Arbitration Committee elections is open from Monday, 00:00, 21 November through Sunday, 23:59, 4 December to all unblocked users who have registered an account before Wednesday, 00:00, 28 October 2016 and have made at least 150 mainspace edits before Sunday, 00:00, 1 November 2016.

The Arbitration Committee is the panel of editors responsible for conducting the Wikipedia arbitration process. It has the authority to impose binding solutions to disputes between editors, primarily for serious conduct disputes the community has been unable to resolve. This includes the authority to impose site bans, topic bans, editing restrictions, and other measures needed to maintain our editing environment. The arbitration policy describes the Committee's roles and responsibilities in greater detail.

If you wish to participate in the 2016 election, please review the candidates' statements and submit your choices on the voting page. MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 22:08, 21 November 2016 (UTC)

ArbCom 2017 election voter message

Hello, Kershner. Voting in the 2017 Arbitration Committee elections is now open until 23.59 on Sunday, 10 December. All users who registered an account before Saturday, 28 October 2017, made at least 150 mainspace edits before Wednesday, 1 November 2017 and are not currently blocked are eligible to vote. Users with alternate accounts may only vote once.

The Arbitration Committee is the panel of editors responsible for conducting the Wikipedia arbitration process. It has the authority to impose binding solutions to disputes between editors, primarily for serious conduct disputes the community has been unable to resolve. This includes the authority to impose site bans, topic bans, editing restrictions, and other measures needed to maintain our editing environment. The arbitration policy describes the Committee's roles and responsibilities in greater detail.

If you wish to participate in the 2017 election, please review the candidates and submit your choices on the voting page. MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 18:42, 3 December 2017 (UTC)

ArbCom 2018 election voter message

Hello, Kershner. Voting in the 2018 Arbitration Committee elections is now open until 23.59 on Sunday, 3 December. All users who registered an account before Sunday, 28 October 2018, made at least 150 mainspace edits before Thursday, 1 November 2018 and are not currently blocked are eligible to vote. Users with alternate accounts may only vote once.

The Arbitration Committee is the panel of editors responsible for conducting the Wikipedia arbitration process. It has the authority to impose binding solutions to disputes between editors, primarily for serious conduct disputes the community has been unable to resolve. This includes the authority to impose site bans, topic bans, editing restrictions, and other measures needed to maintain our editing environment. The arbitration policy describes the Committee's roles and responsibilities in greater detail.

If you wish to participate in the 2018 election, please review the candidates and submit your choices on the voting page. MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 18:42, 19 November 2018 (UTC)