User talk:Khazar/Archive 3

Archive 1

Archive 2

Archive 3

talkback

Hello, Khazar. You have new messages at Bgwhite's talk page.
You can remove this notice at any time by removing the {{Talkback}} or {{Tb}} template.

Your DYK nomination

Hello! Your submission of İnan Süver at the Did You Know nominations page has been reviewed, and there still are some issues that may need to be clarified. Please review the comment(s) underneath your nomination's entry and respond there as soon as possible. Thank you for contributing to Did You Know!

Leaving Wikipedia

Hi Khazar. I just read the message at your userpage and I have to say that I'm deeply disappointed by your decision, because I was always impressed by your focus here on Wikipedia. You know, the DYK and personal disagreements over the Wikipedia policies are not so important. What is important? Your good and competent work on human rights articles here on Wikipedia. It is the priority and I believe you are aware of that. You can continue your work without the yellow stripes and pompous 50DYKs barnstars. The articles are more important than any recognition. I hope you'll change your decision ... and I wish you good luck and all the best if you really plan to leave the project. Best regards. --Vejvančický (talk | contribs) 09:26, 30 July 2011 (UTC)

Thanks for the kind note--at least, I assume you mean the "pompous" to refer to the general case and not my specific user page. I agree that article creation is the main goal, and the awards aren't really my concern. It's simply that I've become burnt out by the insulting pushback that work in any area of Wikipedia seems to accrue. As I said above, I was personally chided in a DYK debate last week by a Wikimedia Foundation employee that writing new content was a waste of time and that "new articles are the last thing Wikipedia needs." At some point, the hassle just becomes more than it's worth; if a representative of the WMF is actively and directly discouraging me from writing new content on notable topics, who am I to insist otherwise? -- Khazar (talk) 22:57, 30 July 2011 (UTC)

Yes, I dislike the concept of "awards" generally, it reminds me of some children's game in kindergarten :) The Foundation employee is just one person, and people's opinions may differ. Remember that WMF employees aren't infallible gods. I think you have the competence and experience to recognize what Wikipedia needs, and if you edit in accordance with the basic principles of this encyclopedia, you don't have to care of what people think. Please, continue in your admirable work. It is disappointing to see an intelligent person get insulted by small things. It is important to 'stay above.' Take care :) --Vejvančický (talk | contribs) 08:40, 31 July 2011 (UTC)

Bitterly disappointing that you think DYK is all there is to wikipedia. Who cares what people think? There are hundreds of editors here who've read you've decent articles and acknowledge what you have done to contribute to attempting to address systematic bias by your valued contributions towards the old Soviet bloc. I've contributed 680 DYKs. If you are insulted with 50 how do you think I feel with the general outlook towards its editors? We are not all retarded monkeys who do not care about quality, in fact many of us put articles through DYK first and then develop to GA level. The quality of the front page should be improved, I agree, but the enjoyment that editors get from geneting new content and expanding articles should somehow be kept intact. Whilst GA and FA are most important, it is also of vital importance that wikipedia becomes more resourceful with start class articles. We desperately need you. Doesn't building an encyclopedia the way you want it to be and writing articles on whatever you want mean anything to you? Is DYK really so addictive that you place the entire value of wikipedia upon it? Please do what is right for wikipedia and come back, you are a better person than this. You are also forgetting that articles you write are many hundreds of times more valuable in the long term than they are as a brief front page credit and will gets many times more views over time. Wake up to this man and come back asap. You have duty to yourself to better our coverage of such areas as YOUR encyclopedic even if DYK dies. Just remember one thing; wikipedia is as much YOURS as it is anybody's. You should always feel free to contribute what you want, and I think you'd be surprised how may people respect your work, even if it seems everything is negative. The silent majority I am talking about. Not the bureacrats or admins or most active wikipedias, I'm talking about the people who are merely innocent citizens searching the realms of wikipedia for information. They do not care if you got your DYK credit or if somebody has scoffed at your article, what they want is verifiable information they can trust and use to help them. This is what the site is about.♦ Dr. Blofeld 21:28, 30 July 2011 (UTC)

Hi Dr. B, thanks for the note. I particularly appreciate it as, as you know, I'm a big fan of your terrific content additions. It's not so much that I consider DYK to be all there is to Wikipedia--I have tried to get involved with the project several other ways as well. But I haven't had a lot of luck with these either, and with so many Wikipedia higher-ups insulting the very idea of creating new content, I do think I've at least temporarily reached the point where the hassle outweighs the rewards. I'm a professional writer and editor in my personal life, and every hour I spend here means an hour less on my paying work. At first I thought of this as a good way to volunteer, but so is working at my local soup kitchen, and at the latter, I'm much less often screamed at for being an idiot by my colleagues (even when I deserve it, which is often--I am actually kind of an idiot). The behavior of SandyGeorgia and others at DYK has made it pretty clear to me that civility policies only apply to non-admins, and I feel like that's just not a healthy work environment right now--I can't think of another volunteer project (much less actual workplace) I've ever been involved in where calling all your colleagues shameless idiots with no human decency was considered acceptable. Yet on Wikipedia, this kind of discourse is the norm.
I'll probably end up doing typo work from time to time, but I think I'm going to lay off article writing at least until the dust clears enough that I see a logical Wikipedia project to get re-involved in. -- Khazar (talk) 22:57, 30 July 2011 (UTC)

It looks to me as if the best are leaving, you are the fourth I notice in just a month, it makes it harder for us who want to stay, please consider that also, and the important content you could give us, --Gerda Arendt (talk) 22:17, 30 July 2011 (UTC)

Thanks for the note, Gerda. I've long appreciated you and your work as somebody who's fighting the good fight (that fight being, bizarrely, the right to add new content to Wikipedia) and I'm genuinely sorry to no longer be fighting it with you (at least for a while). But the fact that we have to defend something as simple as writing new articles on clearly notable topics for Wikipedia--and defend it weekly, in the face of extreme vitriol and condescension--is a reason to leave in itself. -- Khazar (talk) 22:57, 30 July 2011 (UTC)

I don't believe we've ever crossed paths, you and I, but all the same I'm sorry to see you go. I, too, have noticed an increase in vitriol from certain quarters of late; it's part of the reason I no longer contribute to DYK myself. (That, coupled with a few other things.) Fortunately, I spend much time as a Wikignome, so I avoid a lot of it, but it's tremendously unpleasant nonetheless. I hope very much you reconsider and decide to stay, or at the very least that we shall see you here again sometime. We need more good, decent, hardworking editors around here.

Nihil bastardi carborundum, as my father's old colleague used to say. --Ser Amantio di Nicolao^{Che dicono a Signa?}_{Lo dicono a Signa.} 07:20, 31 July 2011 (UTC)

I understand that the toxic environment is not for you right now. And we greatly appreciate your edits Khazar given that you could be doing paid work elsewhere but you choose to contribute to wikipedia because you see its overall potential beyond the forum madness and extremes. Take a wikibreak and come back when this issue has blown over. You might be interested to know I have proposed a monthly Best DYK of the month scheme with top prize being a $500 Amazon voucher , second $250 etc. Editors could use vouchers to even buy more books and feed back into wikipedia as sources. Given our $20 mill budget it could be easily achieved. I've been labelled crazy, but I know what it would take to get editors excited about contributing and coming up with the best work. I really hope to pursue something on this.♦ Dr. Blofeld 10:07, 31 July 2011 (UTC)

I just learned about your leaving—I've been staying away from the DYK discussion page and have withdrawn from submitting to DYK anyway. I'd like to add my voice to those above urging you to reconsider. I am also appalled at the casual flouting of the civility policy, and not just by admins, and at the promotion of the viewpoint that all the needed articles have been written. I could keep several work crews going for months filling in needed articles that I personally know of, and then there are all the one- and two-line stubs. And it's asinine to think that anyone only creates new articles and never improves existing ones. I am afraid that the only way to keep the project on track is for those of us who actually do the work to push back. Including against Wikimedia (which seems to think that making the default editing interface harder to use and search a crapshoot, and cluttering up pages with a meaningless rating system, are improvements). Please keep writing here—but not, of course, to the detriment of your paying work. The project is honored to have contributors such as you. Yngvadottir (talk) 22:09, 3 August 2011 (UTC)
I have to add my voice to the lament here. Although we only collaborated three times, it was an enjoyable experience. I sincerely hope you reconsider and come back to the Wiki, even if it is in a less stressful position. The admins certainly aren't kidding about the average burnout time at DYK. Crisco 1492 (talk) 23:57, 3 August 2011 (UTC)

• I too wish you would come back. It would be nice if Wikipedia policies WP:CIVIL and WP:AGF were given the same respect as WP:MOS, but until that happens, unhappy volunteers will act out their discontent and make other volunteers unhappy. If good people quit, the proportion of eejits gets bigger. So please come back. You have done work here to be proud of, and Wikipedia has given you a few pixel-awards for them. You should definitely be proud of having created 50 DYKs -- and if you are, I am sure it is not pride in the pixel-awards but in your own collaborative hard work to make knowledge available in Wikipedia. You rock! Sharktopus ^talk 00:16, 4 August 2011 (UTC)

Thanks all. I'm finishing up a book project for now that's going to demand all of my time for a while anyway, but no doubt sooner or later I'll run across a stub that I can't resist expanding ("How does human rights defender X not have a Wikipedia page???") and be pulled back in... ideally, long after the drama of DYK dies down, and normal encyclopedia expansion can again resume. -- Khazar (talk) 00:28, 6 August 2011 (UTC)

Sorry to see that you have left Wikipedia. Your excellent work on prisoners of conscience was very appreciated! I hope you will return sometimes in the future, Wikipedia needs more people like you! Iusethis (talk) 10:07, 25 August 2011 (UTC)

Giles Muhame

While it appears that you wish to leave, per chance that you change your mind, I will proceed with my message. You recently requested a GA Review of the above referenced article. This review was attempted by a student working with the Campus Ambassador program. While the enthusiasm of this new editor is admirable, the editor does not yet have the knowledge of Wikipedia policies, guidelines, or Manual of Style to assess articles. Accordingly, I recommended that a second request is submitted for GA assessment and review. Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions. And honestly, I hope you reconsider leaving. Thank you, Cind.amuse (Cindy) 19:17, 30 July 2011 (UTC)

Hi Cindy, thanks for the note. It's fine with me for this to go back for second review; given the queue, I was assuming it would be several months before I heard results in any case. I'm still reachable through this page, and if only minor fixes turn out to be required to bring this up for GA status, I'll try to come back to do them as a last project. -- Khazar (talk) 23:01, 30 July 2011 (UTC)

Similarly, I intend to review your GA nomination of Azimzhan Askarov. I hope you'll be around to answer questions or concerns, but if not, I'll understand. – Quadell ^(talk) 00:20, 6 August 2011 (UTC)

Thanks, Quadell. I'll be in and out, but happy to try to finish that one off. Cheers, -- Khazar (talk) 00:29, 6 August 2011 (UTC)

After thinking about this a bit, I've decided to remove my Good Article Nominations. I started in on Askarov, but honestly, I feel like there's no point in me trying to finish these out when the inevitable result of any Wikipedia endeavor is strife, hostility, and insult. Perhaps someday the encyclopedia can develop some sort of civility policy, but until then, having to deal with admins is just too powerful a disincentive. -- 07:18, 7 August 2011 (UTC)

Your GA nomination of Azimzhan Askarov

The article Azimzhan Askarov you nominated as a good article has been placed on hold . The article is close to meeting the good article criteria, but there are some minor changes or clarifications needed to be addressed. If these are fixed within seven days, the article will pass, otherwise it will fail. See Talk:Azimzhan Askarov for things which need to be addressed. – Quadell ^(talk) 13:22, 6 August 2011 (UTC)

A barnstar for you!

	The Editor's Barnstar
	Congratulations! Azimzhan Askarov is now a certified "Good Article"! Thanks for all the work you put into it. It was a pleasure working with you, and I hope you return to editing after a while. – Quadell (talk) 15:43, 7 August 2011 (UTC)

Thanks, Quadell! -- Khazar (talk) 21:36, 7 August 2011 (UTC)

Orphaned non-free image File:Azimzhan Askarov.jpg

⚠

Thanks for uploading File:Azimzhan Askarov.jpg. The image description page currently specifies that the image is non-free and may only be used on Wikipedia under a claim of fair use. However, the image is currently not used in any articles on Wikipedia. If the image was previously in an article, please go to the article and see why it was removed. You may add it back if you think that that will be useful. However, please note that images for which a replacement could be created are not acceptable for use on Wikipedia (see our policy for non-free media).

Note that any non-free images not used in any articles will be deleted after seven days, as described in the criteria for speedy deletion. Thank you. Courcelles 03:21, 8 August 2011 (UTC)

Departure

Hi Khazar, I'm afraid that I may have been one of those admins whose criticism of DYK drove you away from the project. I would like to clarify that my criticism was not directed towards DYK writers, but towards the lax standards of many DYK reviewers. The only reason I was participating in discussions at DYK was due to the large number of embarrassing gaffs that I kept seeing on the main page and in DYK articles, which were not being caught by reviewers. I would love to see DYK improved rather than scrapped, and it looks like things are heading in that direction. I have great respect for DYK authors, which is why I refused to cite any specific examples of bad DYK articles in the discussions (even though I could have cited several).[1] I didn't want to embarrass any authors or discourage them from contributing. I have even contributed a few DYK myself, although I'm not a regular. Anyway, I know that some of the other DYK critics have been more caustic, but hopefully as some of the DYK reforms take effect it will diffuse much of the criticism. Like any evolving project, there are going to be growing pains, and I think the discussions surrounding DYK are a good example of that. I'm sure that things will quiet down eventually and get back to normal. In the meantime, I hope that you'll reconsider your decision to leave, as you seem to be a valuable and productive contributor to the project. If there's anything that I can help address specifically, please let me know. Cheers. Kaldari (talk) 20:56, 18 August 2011 (UTC)

Hi Kaldari, thanks for the kind note. As a new article writer, I did bristle at your telling me that "the last thing Wikipedia needs is new articles" but outside of the (unnecessarily) heated context some admins created through their open, insulting contempt for us all, I'm sure I would have been more willing to agree to disagree. Perhaps someday Wikipedia will begin to apply its personal insult policies at an administrative level as well as for the peons, and it's definitely not out of the question that I'll someday be back. In the meantime, though, I reluctantly have to conclude I'm better off pursuing my writing interests through more professional, functional venues. I do really appreciate your kindness in taking the time to leave this note, though, and should I return I'll look forward to seeing you "around." Cheers, -- Khazar (talk) 16:59, 19 August 2011 (UTC)

Glad to hear you might be back one day. And for the record, I do support new article creation, I just don't think it needs to be our top priority as a project. Kaldari (talk) 21:39, 19 August 2011 (UTC)

A cup of coffee for you!

thanks for fixing my typos on ECYD Yours in Christ, Br Matthew, LC 17:02, 21 August 2011 (UTC)

Thank you

Hello Khazar, Thank you for your kind note, the entry about Kondengui Central Prison, and updating Bibi Ngota's page. By the way, I had already seen your CPJ Awards template. I was quite pleased to discover it recently but now I can associate it with a fellow Wikipedian! Our projects overlap in the Human Rights area, and so I'm sure our paths will cross again soon. You're doing some important work! All the best, Crtew (talk) 07:17, 26 December 2011 (UTC)

สวัสดีปีใหม่

Happy New Year! :D --B20180 (talk) 09:08, 2 January 2012 (UTC)

Thanks...

...for your contribution to the article Fido (dog)! Chrisrus (talk) 05:33, 7 January 2012 (UTC)

My pleasure, though the magic of the AutoWiki Browser did the heavy lifting! -- Khazar (talk) 05:34, 7 January 2012 (UTC)

... for and the improvements to several articles I care about, so pleased to see your name on my watchlist again, --Gerda Arendt (talk) 07:52, 7 January 2012 (UTC)

Good to see you, too! =) Khazar (talk) 07:57, 7 January 2012 (UTC)

Date pages

Hello. Please don't change the format of the date pages as you have done here without first discussing the change to consensus at WT:DAYS. The date articles all have a consistent format and any change should be discussed. Making a random change to one article creates a lot of work for other editors in reverting the change. If you have any questions, please ask. -- Mufka ^{(u) (t) (c)} 01:41, 10 January 2012 (UTC)

Hi Mufka, sorry to have caused any hassle; I didn't mean to reformat the page, and actually can't see any significant difference between the previous page and my revision, save the corrected typo. For my future reference, can you be more specific about what the error was here? Your later edit doesn't seem to have had anything to do with mine, which in any case could have been undone with the click of a button through the history menu, no? Cheers, -- Khazar (talk) 02:15, 10 January 2012 (UTC)

rome sweet rome

You made an amazing amount of changes to only have a 1 char size diff. Just thought it was funny :) Gaijin42 (talk) 19:24, 10 January 2012 (UTC)

Indeed! Thanks for pointing that one out to me. -- Khazar (talk) 19:28, 10 January 2012 (UTC)

CopyEdit

Hello! Thanks for the cleanup of Connor (Angel). I know fictional articles might not be your area of interest nor are you a copyeditor per say, but since you took time to did a [typo fix] of the article, I was wondering if you could maybe do a minor copyedit of the article for prose too? I'm trying to do so myself but since I've worked on the article too closely, its difficult to pinpoints flaws now and it needs a fresh pairs of eyes. I would understand if you decline tho', just thought I'd ask. September88 (talk) 20:14, 11 January 2012 (UTC)

My pleasure! But I'll have to pass on the copyediting--normally that's something I'd be glad to do, but that's actually on my list of shows to watch... I'd hate to spoil it beyond the individual sentences I looked at already. =) -- Khazar (talk) 20:19, 11 January 2012 (UTC)

Aw, but good to know that you plan on watching the show! September88 (talk) 20:22, 11 January 2012 (UTC)

Min Ko Naing

I saw Min Ko Naing's photo is tagged for its replaceability. Indeed, there are some free images here. Perhaps, a screenshot from this photo may be appropriate? SWH ^talk 04:22, 17 January 2012 (UTC)

Hi Soewinhan, you're terrific. I looked at that very photo set before but must have clicked on only the ones without MKN himself--my fault for not being more thorough. I'll try to crop that one and upload it later tonight--right now I'm up into my elbows in sources on Doan Viet Hoat. Cheers! -- Khazar (talk) 04:26, 17 January 2012 (UTC)

UAE Five

Greetings, Khazar! Just wanted to let you know that I've nominated your recent article, UAE Five, for DYK. Cheers! :) Wilhelmina Will (talk) 06:34, 23 January 2012 (UTC)

Thanks, Wilhelmina. I actually used to be quite active on DYK, but backed off when the climate got rather heated for a while. I've no objection to you nominating it, though, and I'll be proud to see it on the front page if it makes it. Cheers, Khazar (talk) 06:49, 23 January 2012 (UTC)

Great! I've also nominated Freedom Neruda, BTW. Let's hope they both get in!!! :P Wilhelmina Will (talk) 03:12, 26 January 2012 (UTC)

Precious

	Rare and enlightening
	Thank you for raising awareness for Human Rights and those who suffer fighting for them, people who deserve attention and serve as models! On the day when you achieved your goal, --Gerda Arendt (talk) 12:18, 25 January 2012 (UTC)

Thanks so much, Gerda, for noticing my minor milestone! -- Khazar (talk) 13:40, 25 January 2012 (UTC)

Debugging Naval Squadron

Hi Khazar,

Thanks for debugging "my" article. As you may have noted, English is not my first language and it is impossible for me to get an idea of my English proficiency. I read the article and perfectly understand all of it, but I guess that (more than) sometimes I don't meet the Wikipedia's lowest standards. On the other hand, I choose the theme of the article because it is very simple: ships sailed bound for, sunk or were captured. In order to improve my English, I would like to ask you some questions about form of the article:

• is it legible?, can you understand the text overall? is it easy to understand?
• did you find repeated or striking grammatical errors in the text?
• can you guess which is my first language from the text (and not from the theme)?, sounds it like Spanglish?
• do the article observes the rules of Wikipedia? neutral? complete? referenced?, at least, does it seem to observe the rules?
• would you say that the vocabulary is appropiated for the theme?

I would appreciate your answers in your talk page. Thanks in advance, --Best regards, Keysanger (what?) 12:52, 25 January 2012 (UTC)

Post Script: Your link To leave me a message click here leads to Anna's talk page.

Ha! You know, I've had that up for more than a year without anyone pointing that out to me... thanks. As for the article, I'd be happy to help, but you'll need to give me a link to the individual article; I often edit several hundred articles a week with the Automated Wiki Browser, including a lot of naval ones. -- Khazar (talk) 13:46, 25 January 2012 (UTC)

The article is First Chilean Navy Squadron. It would be great if you have a little time for. --Best regards, Keysanger (what?) 20:28, 26 January 2012 (UTC)

Hello. You have a new message at User_talk:Keysanger#First Chilean Navy Squadron's talk page.

DYK

Hi Khazar, I think you should nominate the Communist Labour Party (Syria) and the Tuhama Mahmoud Ma’rouf to DYK (maybe in the same hook). They more than fulfill the criteria. Yazan (talk) 17:34, 25 January 2012 (UTC)

I appreciate the thought, but ever since getting caught up in some DYK drama last summer, I've been trying to steer clear and concentrate on pure content creation. If you wanted to nominate them, of course, I'd have no objections; you've written as much of the CLP article at this point as I have, I think, so feel free to list yourself as co-creator. Up to you, but in either case, I've been glad to bump into you while working on these! Cheers, Khazar (talk) 19:37, 25 January 2012 (UTC)

I was off-wiki when the whole bruhaha broke out last summer, and I only read about it last month. It's a shame really, DYK used to be a friendly place, now all I see on the talkpage are people fishing for mistakes to prove a point. At any rate, my main concern has been/is promoting Syria-related articles to main page, because it's a terribly under-covered subject.

The Labour party has been on my to-do list for many years now, so I'm extremely grateful for your creating it. It evokes some terrible memories of the 80s and 90s, but at least it was a time when the left was still a force to be reckoned with in Syria, and they still had the moral clarity to say "no" to an oppressor's face. One member of the CLP was Yasser Makhlouf, he is Assad Sr.'s nephew and Bashar's cousin. He spent twenty years in jail, and refused offers to release him unless all other members were also freed.

Anyway, it's been a pleasure bumping into yourself as well. If you need any help with Arabic sources in the future, drop me a message. Cheers! Yazan (talk) 03:23, 26 January 2012 (UTC)

Thanks, Yazan--I'll be sure to take you up on that! Khazar (talk) 12:06, 26 January 2012 (UTC)

Try DYK now, it's a friendly place again, and - more important - a place to make facts known. I personally collect the ones related Germany, and today see a hymn writer, Bach's cantata on his hymn and the friend to whose memory I dedicated it, again: try it, --Gerda Arendt (talk) 08:00, 26 January 2012 (UTC)

• Yay, you're back! Crisco 1492 (talk) 08:53, 26 January 2012 (UTC)

That's good to hear, Gerda--I'll give a shot again next time I've got an article and maybe just stay clear of T:TDYK. And Crisco, good to see you too! Khazar (talk) 12:06, 26 January 2012 (UTC)

Indusengineer

Copyvio text and images, removing wikilinks, changing 'mean sea level' to 'main sea level', really a large number of problematic edits which all need examining. I may have to take this to ANI. Dougweller (talk) 17:55, 25 January 2012 (UTC)

Your call... I honestly haven't been following his actions since my initial greet/warn. From a glance at his user talk, it does look problematic. -- Khazar (talk) 19:39, 25 January 2012 (UTC)

Ok, thanks. Dougweller (talk) 06:06, 26 January 2012 (UTC)

Indonesia

Well, I did a couple other human rights articles while you were gone... the Tanjung Priok massacre, the 1740 Batavia massacre and whatnot. I can't think of any rights activists off the top of my head though. Crisco 1492 (talk) 14:12, 26 January 2012 (UTC)

Cool, I'll take a glance at some point and see if there's any way I can pitch in... Khazar (talk) 14:13, 26 January 2012 (UTC)

• Alright, let me know. You could need someone to read the Indonesian-language sources. Crisco 1492 (talk) 14:30, 26 January 2012 (UTC)

Thank you

for the sweet compliment at the DYK nomination page for Olaus Verelius. I'm blushing :-) You're really too kind. Yngvadottir (talk) 18:44, 28 January 2012 (UTC)

You deserve it! Everything I can remember seeing from you has been top-quality work. Cheers -- Khazar (talk) 19:22, 28 January 2012 (UTC)

Re:Orphan tagging

Great! The Navbox is a good idea! In the future, I plan on making an index page for the country lists. I have one on userspace, see: User:Ruigeroeland/Sandbox3, but I am holding off moving it live until I have some more lists done. I indeed did most of it single-handedly, but it is less work than you might imagine. There is a database for European and Afrotropical countries which I used and a country list for these is done in about an hour. Sadly, no such databases exist for other parts of the world, although there are monographs containing a checklist for some countries. These take considerably more time to wikify. I am currently working on Russia from a document and it is taking forever to complete.. :( Anyway, thanks for your kind words and helping out with the navigation box. You are more than welcome to make similar boxes for the rest of the world if you feel like it. My sandbox page might be helpful if you do. Cheers! Ruigeroeland (talk) 18:55, 28 January 2012 (UTC)

By the way: I see you also did Europe. I did not make articles for minor territories such as Monaco. I redirected these to the appropriate country list (in this case France). I mentioned this in the lead section. Ruigeroeland (talk) 18:58, 28 January 2012 (UTC)

Good idea. I will try the rest of the world, perhaps even later tonight. This is exactly the kind of task that's up my OCD-alley. Cheers, Khazar (talk) 19:22, 28 January 2012 (UTC)

Great! And thanks for the help. Ruigeroeland (talk) 19:31, 28 January 2012 (UTC)

Okay, filled in Asia, which actually didn't take long. I'm leaving off on N America for now until more of those are complete, I think; it'd still be a mostly red template at this point. (Though I suppose it might encourage others to start lending you a hand!) Cheers --Khazar (talk) 19:37, 28 January 2012 (UTC)

Yeah, leave the Americas for now. I did not encounter any good sources for most of the countries there, so I'm afraid it will not be possible to create these until some researcher makes a checklist to use. Thanks again! Ruigeroeland (talk) 20:44, 28 January 2012 (UTC)

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DYK for UAE Five

Casliber (talk · contribs) 16:03, 30 January 2012 (UTC)

DYK for Ocak Isik Yurtçu

Casliber (talk · contribs) 16:03, 31 January 2012 (UTC)

A barnstar for you!

	The Original Barnstar
	For excellent work on Chechen related topics. ♦ Dr. Blofeld 00:24, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

Cheers, thanks! -- Khazar (talk) 00:24, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

A barnstar for you!

	The Writer's Barnstar
	Thanks for your great work on articles about human rights! KjUaiKlqOpSmq (talk) 12:41, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

Cheers, thanks! -- Khazar (talk) 12:45, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

Mulinia lateralis, a nice bivalve article!

Hello Khazar! I was happy to see that you made this excellent little bivalve article. We just created a WikiProject Bivalves a few weeks ago (January 1st of this year to be exact). Maybe you would be interested in joining the project?

I've noticed your edits on pages relating to Bivalves; perhaps you'd be interested in joining WikiProject Bivalves. If you would like more information, please visit the project page.

All good wishes to you and many thanks for a great little article, Invertzoo (talk) 22:13, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

I'd love to take the credit--I agree it's excellent--but in fact I was only the DYK reviewer. User:Cwmhiraeth is the talented man/woman you're looking for. Cheers! -- Khazar (talk) 22:25, 1 February 2012 (UTC)

Oh! Yes you are right! And he is one of our project members already. But you did fix the article up a bit with your helpful edits, so thank you for that! Invertzoo (talk) 00:00, 2 February 2012 (UTC)

Regular expressions

Hey, Cheers on taking up the regular expressions challenge, especially with AWB. I still have to spend way too long with the documentation when it comes to lookaheads/lookbehinds. If you haven't already found it, this website's a really good reference. The other little quirk I picked up is that there are various regular expression libraries and modes. The old unix/linux grep and sed use the most basic form (there are updated versions in most modern OS's though) and more modern implementations like perl and java's library use the more extended version, that allow things like backtracks and such. Surprisingly, at least according to that website, Microsoft's .NET library of regular expressions is one of the most feature-filled ones, doing things even perl won't do. I think it's that or something close to it (I've been corrected on this before and I can't program well in Windows... so take what I say with a grain of salt) that AWB uses.

Finally, there's an essay floating around out there about how grep and sed's implementation of regular expression matching is order of magnitudes faster than those used by perl and java, etc. It's an interesting read. Good luck. Let me know if you have any questions. Shadowjams (talk) 05:07, 2 February 2012 (UTC)

Thanks, Shadowjams... I'll take a look at those and see if I can pick it up. Cheers, Khazar (talk) 17:01, 2 February 2012 (UTC)

Template:Did you know nominations/Keeley Electronics

Effects unit? Stomp box? I kind of didn't want anything there anyway--success based on low tolerance struck me as funny and cryptic. BTW, Keeley's are highly rated, and quite expensive. Consider one for your Valentine... ;) Drmies (talk) 16:06, 2 February 2012 (UTC)

Ha! The day she pulls down Donald Fagen money for a show, maybe I'll think about it. Cheers, -- Khazar (talk) 16:11, 2 February 2012 (UTC)

Thanks for edits to American Writers

Hey - Thanks for your edits on the American Writers: A Journey Through History page. KConWiki (talk) 00:50, 3 February 2012 (UTC)

My pleasure--thanks for adding it to the wiki! I can tell a lot of work went into it. Cheers, Khazar (talk) 00:51, 3 February 2012 (UTC)

Thanks for your second round of help with this. Also - If you have a few minutes and see any writers on that list who you are interested in, let me suggest you watch a few minutes of the pertinent program. I bet you would find it enjoyable. KConWiki (talk) 03:57, 5 February 2012 (UTC)

I actually used to teach American Lit, so I'm interested in a whole host of those folks--I really should check it out! Cheers Khazar (talk) 03:59, 5 February 2012 (UTC)

Please do, and let me know what you think. You also might be interested in a couple of other articles I have been working on recently, American Presidents: Life Portraits and The Lincoln-Douglas Debates (1994 reenactments). KConWiki (talk) 04:15, 5 February 2012 (UTC)

DYK for Aboubakr Jamaï

Casliber (talk · contribs) 08:03, 5 February 2012 (UTC)

• Structure copied, with a words juggled. SandyGeorgia (Talk) 18:10, 5 February 2012 (UTC)

I'll be happy to look at this again, of course, but the Jamai article is a biographical article that deals with its subject's life in chronological order; logically, it's going to compare to the structure of another biographical article that treats its subject's life in chronological order, no? Jamai's only had a certain number of major news events in his life, which occurred in a particular order. Khazar (talk) 18:21, 5 February 2012 (UTC)

citation for Sabbateans?

Hi Gokhantig, can you please add a mention and citation to Abdi İpekçi's article for Category:Sabbateans? Not that I doubt you, but like any other addition in WP, it needs a reliable source. Cheers, and thanks, Khazar (talk) 12:37, 5 February 2012 (UTC)

Here is the link, and most of people in Turkey know who are sabbateans in Turkey. , Gökhan Tığ (talk) 12:39, 5 February 2012 (UTC)

Thanks! Just make sure you add that to his article somewhere. Cheers, Khazar (talk) 12:44, 5 February 2012 (UTC)

Thanks for advice. Cheers, :) Gökhan Tığ (talk) 12:46, 5 February 2012 (UTC)

DYK for Musa Muradov

The DYK project (nominate) 16:02, 5 February 2012 (UTC)

DYK nomination of Nosa Igiebor (journalist)

Hello! Your submission of Nosa Igiebor (journalist) at the Did You Know nominations page has been reviewed, and there still are some issues that may need to be clarified. Please review the comment(s) underneath your nomination's entry and respond there as soon as possible. Thank you for contributing to Did You Know! Soman (talk) 17:41, 5 February 2012 (UTC)

DYK removed, copyvio

See Template:Did you know nominations/Musa Muradov. SandyGeorgia (Talk) 18:01, 5 February 2012 (UTC)

Replied there. Cheers, Khazar (talk) 18:06, 5 February 2012 (UTC)

...is off the Wiki for the second, and final, time. Best of luck to all! Cheers, Khazar

User:Khazar/DYK

Darn!

Well, if you do need to cut back on the stresses its your prerogative. Shame we don't have (m)any editors working on journalists. WikiProject Journalism looks dead to me... (As an aside, hope you get well enough to leave the house...). Crisco 1492 (talk) 23:21, 5 February 2012 (UTC)

I agree with everything Crisco said. Further, I want to say that these ongoing witchhunts are taking their toll on a lot of people. It's a crying shame to see them discourage a contributor who has been here for all the right reasons and is doing competent work on an important, but underrepresented, subject. --Orlady (talk) 23:31, 5 February 2012 (UTC)

Sad! I was soooo happy to see you return, Khazar, and you noticed. All the best for you personally, for health and well-being. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 23:36, 5 February 2012 (UTC)

Add one more. Do what's best for your health, man, but don't leave thinking you aren't or weren't appreciated. Let me know what you think about the new Gibson book. The Interior (Talk) 23:38, 5 February 2012 (UTC)

Thanks all, for the kind wishes. It's a weird time, for sure, but I'm still blessed to have a wife looking out for me and a Khazar, Jr. on the way in July. So sick or no, I'll be okay. Cheers all around, 184.59.31.77 (talk) 18:55, 6 February 2012 (UTC)

• Congrats!!!!! Crisco 1492 (talk) 23:50, 6 February 2012 (UTC)

Khazar, I'm sorry to hear you've been having health issues, and hope those are behind you soon. I also apologize for not remembering we had interacted previously; that has much to do with the fact that any attempt to get DYK to work on these issues (which have been going on for years) is met with similar responses from most responding, so many individuals run together in my memory. It seems to me remarkably simple and apparent that DYK could solve all of these problems by having some sort of directorate-- a panel responsible for reviewing each review before they go on the mainpage-- but all such suggestions for curbing the problem are rejected there, yet the problem goes on, unabated. It was not my intent to single you out, nor did I recall we had met before. But more importantly, your departure seems at an inopportune time-- Moonriddengirl could come over and say that *I* am totally wrong, and then you will have left the building for nothing :) If Moonriddengirl should come over and say otherwise, we all learn something about how to better paraphrase. I'm sorry for your real-life stresses, but it was not my intent to make this personal, and I'm sorry it hit you so hard. On the other hand, I don't see how characterizing efforts to stem these significant recurring issues at DYK as "witch hunts" is helpful towards resolving the long-standing problem. If DYKers would put their heads together and come up with solutions, I think we'd all end up happier. Regards, SandyGeorgia (Talk) 23:41, 5 February 2012 (UTC)

Hi Sandy, it's kind of you to leave this note, but the fact that it took my leaving Wikipedia to get you to directly engage with me about your accusations speaks for itself. I wish you the best, but I appreciate it if you wouldn't post here again. 184.59.31.77 (talk) 18:55, 6 February 2012 (UTC)

Sorry to hear about your health problem, Khazar. Don't let the Plagiarism Paranoiacs get on your nerves. Let's assume they only want what's best for Wikipedia. But, it's a gray area, it's subjective, and, it's a matter of opinion. Take a break, then come back. Your humility alone makes you unique here! --Kenatipo ^speak! 00:29, 6 February 2012 (UTC)

Ha! It's easy to be humble when you're simply not very smart. =) Unfortunately, my doctor has firmly ordered me to avoid stress; a forum where the admins abruptly denounce users for criminal charges definitely is in the red zone. (To put this in perspective, I even had to give up coffee!) Thanks for the note, and all best in your future editing, 184.59.31.77 (talk) 18:55, 6 February 2012 (UTC)

DYK for María Cristina Caballero

Victuallers (talk) 00:03, 6 February 2012 (UTC)

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I fixed all but Court of cassation, --Gerda Arendt (talk) 11:12, 6 February 2012 (UTC)

Gerda, you're the greatest. 184.59.31.77 (talk) 18:55, 6 February 2012 (UTC)

Incomplete DYK nomination

Hello! Your submission of Template:Did you know nominations/Abdul Samay Hamed at the Did You Know nominations page is not complete; see step 3 of the nomination procedure. If you do not want to continue with the nomination, tag the nomination page with {{db-g7}}, or ask a DYK admin. Thank you. DYKHousekeepingBot (talk) 20:08, 6 February 2012 (UTC)

Heartless bot, I will take care of it, --Gerda Arendt (talk) 21:38, 6 February 2012 (UTC)

DYK for Steven Gan

The DYK project (nominate) 00:03, 7 February 2012 (UTC)

DYK for Naser al-Raas

The DYK project (nominate) 08:02, 7 February 2012 (UTC)

2 Activists released

Naser al-Raas and Fadhila Mubarak were released yesterday, but I think their trials are still on going [2] [3]. By the way, congrats on the DYK nominate Bahraini Activist ^{Talk to me} 08:13, 7 February 2012 (UTC)

DYK for Jineth Bedoya Lima

The DYK project (nominate) 16:03, 7 February 2012 (UTC)

I added him to the statistics! Thanks for struggling also here for Human rights, that for example contributors are treated with the same respect demanded for BLPs, --Gerda Arendt (talk) 10:39, 8 February 2012 (UTC)

DYK for Communist Labour Party (Syria)

The DYK project (nominate) 00:02, 8 February 2012 (UTC)

DYK for Tuhama Mahmoud Ma'rouf

The DYK project (nominate) 00:03, 8 February 2012 (UTC)

DYK for Ignacio Gómez

The DYK project (nominate) 00:03, 8 February 2012 (UTC)

DYK for Shieh Chung-liang

Rschen7754 02:22, 9 February 2012 (UTC)

DYK for Pavel Sheremet

Rschen7754 02:23, 9 February 2012 (UTC)

DYK for Freedom Neruda

Orlady (talk) 10:08, 9 February 2012 (UTC)

Don't forget

	Rare and enlightening
	Thank you for raising awareness for Human Rights and those who suffer fighting for them, people who deserve attention and serve as models! On the day when you achieved your goal, --Gerda Arendt (talk) 12:18, 25 January 2012 (UTC)

Cheers, Gerda! 184.59.31.77 (talk) 17:15, 10 February 2012 (UTC)

Walking the walk?

So, I wrote (maybe stubbed, but it's still something) Grémah Boukar Koura (or Grémah Boucar) per your request on Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Countering systemic bias, and was going to start Nizar Nayouf (or Nizar Nayyouf). Except that I see you've left. :-(. So, you're encouraging other people to write about these heroic journalists who face torture and death from governments or organized crime figures and don't quit. And you yourself are quitting because ... a well meaning volunteer accused you of not paraphrasing enough? Even though numerous other editors defended you, and helped rewrite the article? And now instead of having 58 DYKs to your credit you only have 57? Come on. Sense of proportion. No one is asking you to face torture or death here; and yet I wouldn't be surprised if your writing on Wikipedia reaches as many people as those of some of your subjects. There's a phrase about trying to follow the ideals you respect. Have a nice rest, then come back. There's more good work to be done, don't let Sandy Georgia drive you off, especially when she wasn't even intending to. --GRuban (talk) 15:16, 10 February 2012 (UTC)

Ouch. Well, I'll be the first to admit my going is pretty selfish, even hypocritical. And I appreciate your efforts to shame me into staying. But while I know you mean well by minimizing SG's actions here, I don't take the accusation as lightly as you do. I regularly engage with and learn from people who have concerns about my editing. But that editor didn't talk to me about close paraphrasing, but started posting on article pages, user pages, and project pages that my Wikipedia work consisted entirely of "clear as daylight" serial plagiarism. Coming from an academic background, that's not a charge I shrug off; I've seen it end a friend's career, and if my real name was ever connected to this Wikipedia account, it's possible that SG's accusation would have some minor real-life consequences, assuming I can someday return to work. (Tenure committees screen your web presence pretty ruthlessly at my university for signs of academic misconduct, and I'd at least need to explain myself.)

The much bigger issue here, though, is just my declining health. Two years ago I would have been glad to stay and slug it out with folks, since, after all, it didn't take much effort to disprove that accusation. But in the past year I've lost my ability to exercise, then to work, and recently even to leave the house; I just bought my first wheelchair, and have to spend more time in it than I'd like. Nobody knows for sure what causes myalgic encephalomyelitis, but it's generally agreed that stress of any kind hastens the immune system collapse and worsens the condition. As a result, I'm trying to become a bit like Bruce Banner, ducking stress, frustration, and anger whenever I can. (Some days I'm great at this, others not so much.) It's not really a knock on Wikipedia--obviously, I'm a rare case--but it's just too hostile a climate for somebody like me, compared to other organizations I could do volunteer writing and editing for. (It's not just the SG incident that makes me feel this way, either, though that was the final straw in making me feel I could no longer avoid Wikipedia turf wars no matter how I edited.)

So I'll readily grant you that, say, Ignacio Gomez wouldn't back down under these conditions, but I'm not exposing Pablo Escobar here; I'm just summarizing information that I can find in a few hours of Google searching. Somebody healthier than I am can take on the SGs of the world; I'll probably be reaching out to some groups like Amnesty Internatoinal, HRW, etc., to see if they can use a hand with volunteer writing for their websites.

On a totally different note, cheers for taking on that Gremah Boucar article. It's great to see another link on that list go blue! Keep up the good work, and thanks for taking the time to post, 184.59.31.77 (talk) 18:02, 10 February 2012 (UTC)

A cup of tea for you!

Here's to your health dearest Khazar! We really appreciate the work you do here. Hope you feel better soon. ♦ Dr. Blofeld 12:17, 11 February 2012 (UTC)

Cheers, Dr. B! I'll do my best-- 184.59.31.77 (talk) 22:52, 11 February 2012 (UTC) (formerly Khazar)

New Ginetta Sagan article

		The Biography Barnstar
		Thanks for taking the effort to create the new Ginetta Sagan article. Your efforts to improve Wikipedia is appreciated. Northamerica1000(talk) 03:07, 12 February 2012 (UTC)

Thanks! 184.59.31.77 (talk) 15:34, 12 February 2012 (UTC)

DYK for Yndamiro Restano Díaz

Casliber (talk · contribs) 00:28, 13 February 2012 (UTC)

DYK for Musa Muradov

The DYK project (nominate) 08:03, 16 February 2012 (UTC)

DYK for Pap Saine

Thanks from me and the wiki Victuallers (talk) 16:02, 16 February 2012 (UTC)

DYK for Fadhila Mubarak

The DYK project (nominate) 05:32, 19 February 2012 (UTC)

DYK for Tipu Sultan (journalist)

The DYK project (nominate) 23:32, 21 February 2012 (UTC)

afd Carmel School Giridih

Your comments are needed at Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Carmel School Giridih. Please note that you are being notified as you are one of the editors of this page ÐℬigXЯaɣ 19:07, 25 February 2012 (UTC)

DYK for Svetlana Kalinkina

The DYK project (nominate) 17:08, 29 February 2012 (UTC)

Since you've been gone

I think it's a shame that all your DYK noms have passed (most uneventfully) and you can only sit and watch as an IP. It's not right. Crisco 1492 (talk) 13:13, 4 March 2012 (UTC)

Thanks, man. I really appreciate that everybody saw them through--looking over some the nomination pages today I was sorry to see the amount of work I left behind for others. Anyway, most of my "good focus days" are going into wrapping up my academic work right now, but who knows, I may try to get back on this summer; at the very least I'll probably update a few prisoner of conscience articles from time to time. Thanks as always for the good will, and for your own continued amazing work here! 72.131.118.45 (talk) 00:46, 6 March 2012 (UTC)

Happy to hear that! I just inserted the last one to your DYK and was ready to add an edit notice about it being the last one, - but didn't. Let me know about updates, I am good at it. See also, --Gerda Arendt (talk) 06:18, 6 March 2012 (UTC)

Thanks so much, Gerda, for your continued kindness. I'm touched that you've maintained my list. All the best, 72.131.118.45 (talk) 03:42, 8 March 2012 (UTC)

DYK for Nosa Igiebor (journalist)

Casliber (talk · contribs) 00:02, 6 March 2012 (UTC)

Michael Capponi Article

Hi Khazar, Could you please delete the orphan tag on the Capponi page. This article has been linked to from several other articles now.

Thanks in advance! — Preceding unsigned comment added by Kathrynwinters (talk • contribs) 18:40, 9 March 2012 (UTC)