User talk:Ral315/Archive 22

edit History Archives: Dec. 04 to Feb. 06 Mar. 06 to Feb. 07 Feb. 07 to May. 08 Jun. 08 to Present 2004-2005: 01 · 02 · 03 · 04 · 05 · 06 · 07 · 08 2006: 09 · 10 · 11 · 12 · 13 · 14 · 15 · 16 · 17 · 18 2007: 19 · 20 · 21 · 22 · 23 · 24 · 25 · 26 · 27 · 28 2008: 29 · 30 · 31 · 32

BRION

I don't think I really have the time to do BRION anymore, at least for now. I've been reviewing what I do every day and BRION (like all my other Wikipedia contributions and almost all my MediaWiki contributions) didn't make the cut. Maybe I'll take it up again sometime if you don't find anyone else.

I suppose I'll do the next three issues to be released, unless you find someone else to do them before that's up. Two weeks' notice is only polite, and it's not like this takes up so much time I can't do it for a bit longer. —Simetrical (talk • contribs) 21:01, 16 March 2007 (UTC)

If you'd like to do the next few issues, that'd be great, but I won't hold you to it. You're volunteering your time, which appears quite stretched already, and by all means, I don't expect you to continue stretching your time, even for just a few weeks. Ral315 » 04:28, 19 March 2007 (UTC)

Heh, seems you have my life priorities straighter than I do.  :) I suppose you're right. I'll finish off this issue, I guess. —Simetrical (talk • contribs) 00:33, 20 March 2007 (UTC)

I could try taking on a smaller version. Are the instructions on how it's done? What takes the longest amount of time? -Ravedave 02:05, 20 March 2007 (UTC)

I just subscribe to Wikibugs-l, MediaWiki-CVS-l, and Wikitech-l, so I wrote up every commit (from MediaWiki-CVS-l) as it happened. Subscription links can be found here. —Simetrical (talk • contribs) 17:03, 21 March 2007 (UTC)

I think we could do this as a joint thing. I'll help out as much as I can, but I can't promise I'll be able to do it every week. —METS501 (talk) 19:10, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

I've created WP:BRION/NEXT as a common working ground for future issues of the Signpost. —METS501 (talk) 19:20, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

Can someone please check over what I've done at WP:BRION/NEXT and let me know if there are any problems? I've never done this before :-). Thanks. —METS501 (talk) 20:42, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

List of premature obituaries

Thanks for your help on looking for these references; I've put the Bumpass entry back into the article as a result. I get the impression it's a moderately popular article, but few people do much work on it! Ben Finn 21:19, 26 March 2007 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Request an account/preload

I've significantly updated the text of this page and ST47 has created a bot to man the archives. I'd be very interested in your comment, as you founded Wikipedia:Request an account. (Since you're not active right now, could you please respond on my talk?) Thanks! alphachimp 23:15, 26 March 2007 (UTC)

Signpost being delivered to article!

The Signpost has been delivered twice to the article Cimon here and here. It's not even going to the Talk page. --Kimon^talk 17:39, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

I figured it out! It was my mistake. I usurped the username Kimon (used to be Kimonandreou) and when I created the redirect on the old user account's talk page, I omitted the "User talk:" part. I have now corrected it. I'm sorry. --Kimon^talk 17:47, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

For some reason I also thought I had caused it somehow. It was really suspicious when the two signposts posted to the article where the exact same ones I was missing from my talk page :)

Would this be a good time to propose some kind of check to see if the page where the bot is writing to is actually a talk page? --Kimon^talk 17:51, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

Let me know if you'd like me to beta-test --Kimon^talk 18:05, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

Signpost help

Note from Ral315: I'm busy and may not be able to respond immediately, but thanks so much for your offers. I'll poke everyone who's interested on their talk pages in the next few days. Thanks again, and if anyone else wishes to add their name, please feel free. Ral315 » 07:53, 28 March 2007 (UTC)

I am able and willing to help out with the Signpost. You said you needed help with the Wikipedia in the News section; what could I help out with there? -- tariqabjotu 14:36, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

Actually, I'm wondering about the same section, but I was going to suggest it be actively edited by multiple editors throughout the week, then posted as part of Signpost, instead of relying on just one single writer. -- Zanimum 20:52, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

I also am able and willing to help out with the Signpost. Let me know what I can do. KnightLago 18:16, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

• I would be willing to work on the special stories section, it looks like you need some help there, or on anything else. KnightLago 15:40, 28 March 2007 (UTC)

Seconded. Just please no technology related stuff, I'm crap at that. Dev920 (Have a nice day!) 22:36, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

Helping out might be fun. WAS 4.250 00:40, 28 March 2007 (UTC)

As I've already mentioned, you can count me in also. --Kimon^talk 00:51, 28 March 2007 (UTC)

Hit me with anything. It will look good on an RfA, kidding! Want to do it for fun, contact me on my Talk Page to let me know. Quatreryukami 01:06, 28 March 2007 (UTC)

I'll volunteer, as well. I have college journalism experience, I'm familiar with AP Style, that sort of thing. I can write, research, interview, copyedit, wiki-format, all that stuff -- just let me know what your needs are. It looks like there's a good crop of volunteers here, and with assignment rotation nobody should be overworked (except maybe the guy who it all falls on, namely you!). --Dhartung | Talk 03:04, 28 March 2007 (UTC)

I am interested in contributing to In the News as keep an eye on and contribute to Wikipedia:Press coverage on a regular basis. Lumos3 09:12, 28 March 2007 (UTC)

I am intrested in contributing to the 'in the news' section and you can rely on me too.User:Maverick thatsme 04:47, 28 March 2007 (UTC)

Signpost email delivery

For some reason, I haven't been receiving any new Signpost digests or reminders on my email (the last one I received was from 2007-03-13). My username is still on the spamlist, so that's not the reason. --cesarb 23:22, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

Qxz's block

Hi Ral. I had unblocked Qxz, but then he told me (on IRC):

<Qxz> btw that unblock was a bad idea
<Qxz> at best, you're tempting me to go mess up something else
<Qxz> at worst, you're wheel warring.

In that case, I realized that Qxz was ever going to edit Wikipedia constructively again; rather (since he has a rather extended knowledge of Wikipedia process), he could mess things up pretty badly, which is why I indefblocked him. --May the Force be with you! Shreshth91 13:54, 28 March 2007 (UTC)

Helping with Signpost

To write special stories for the Signpost, do you need to be an official writer for the Signpost or can you just write when you see a story and submit it? I don't want to commit myself to anything, but I would be interested in periodically helping out with a special story when there is one happening. Thanks! Greeves ^{(talk • contribs)} 22:47, 28 March 2007 (UTC)

Images

Whoops! Thanks, I hadn't considered that aspect of things. Would it be best if I just deleted the page? --Elonka 03:32, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Requests for arbitration/Betacommand

Hello,

An Arbitration case in which you commented has been opened: Wikipedia:Requests for arbitration/Betacommand. Please add any evidence you may wish the arbitrators to consider to the evidence sub-page, Wikipedia:Requests for arbitration/Betacommand/Evidence. You may also contribute to the case on the workshop sub-page, Wikipedia:Requests for arbitration/Betacommand/Workshop.

On behalf of the Arbitration Committee, Newyorkbrad 00:29, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

Signpost article

I started writing an article for the Signpost on the recent nomination of the Association of Members' Advocates for deletion. The article I started is here. I was planning on writing something about this nomination for deletion in light of the recent Esperanza deletion. Let me know if you are interested, and I will work on finishing the article. KnightLago 01:57, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

Signpost subscription

Can you please consider removing User:Punk Boi 8 from the list, as it would be silly to send a banned user (for a year) the Signpost, and have 52 editions all stacked up. Cheers, Daniel Bryant 04:15, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

Signpost

I can write any number of special stories you like. I think you'd better give me the topics though. You after neutral coverage, human interest, relevant quotes, that sort of thing? Dev920 (Have a nice day!) 06:37, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

Though I'm pretty proficient in the technology area (that's the industry I work in), I can't say that I'm very familiar with the inner workings of MediaWiki but, that doesn't mean I can't learn it. As for the "Special Topics", that sounds very interesting and would like to know what topics you have in mind. In any case, I'm willing and able to help! --Kimon^talk 13:02, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

as you offered i can cover tech, although it might be easyer if i do wiki news, but i will need a little help Quatreryukami 15:29, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

Just to let you know that if you ever want someone for Signposting, I'm quite happy to fill in and write some stuff, especially for unique stories. The only thing I'd like to avoid is technology, which is not my thing. Fortunately, I seem to have got better at avoiding labyrinthine subordinate clauses as of late. Cheers, Moreschi ^{Request a recording?} 18:52, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

Oh, and also quite happy to do collaborations. That works very well in the mainspace, better than flying solo: not sure if it's ever been done for Signpost articles, but possibly an idea worth trying. Moreschi ^{Request a recording?} 19:50, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

Re. Signpost Volume 3, Issue 13

Tardiness be damned! I, for one, appreciate your efforts at keeping people informed of Wikipedia goings-on through pithy summaries. -- Macropode 09:54, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

Interesting FA thought

I've had two FACs pass, Trembling before G-d and Andrew Van De Kamp, in the past fifteen days (just squeezed past the fortnight). Has that ever been done before? Dev920 (Have a nice day!) 16:41, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

Article

I added a link to the article I wrote under the special stories section in the newsroom. I would appreciate any thoughts/comments/criticism on the article. Please read through and do a copy-edit for me. I was also wondering if you thought I should inform some of the subjects of the article about what I have written? Is this something you normally do? Again, any and all thoughts are welcome. I enjoyed writing this article, and I would be happy to write more in the future. Feel free at anytime to suggest a special story to write about, or something you need help covering. KnightLago 18:16, 31 March 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for your support.

Dear Ral315,

Thank you very much for your kind words and supportive comments on my recent RfA. I've been shot down again, so it won't be happening this time. I hope, though, that I can hear from you again next time around - and there definitely will be a next time.

Best wishes,

-- Hex [^t/_c] 20:51, 31 March 2007 (UTC)

Something for signpost

Speaking of April's fool, check out this page at NATO web-site. Not only it displays the link to a Wikipedia article, but claims that the said article hosted by WP is a web-site for the Mongolia military (Judging by what's placed to the link field in say Sweden or Finland that you can see if you go one page up.} Perhaps, you can used it in the news section of the next signpost. --Irpen 02:33, 1 April 2007 (UTC)

Raul315

I know, I was just speaking in jest. But yes, that would be better, to avoid any potential GFDL issues that anyone with an narrow view of the GFDL would have. And no, changing things within the user table won't affect GFDL at all. Titoxd^{(?!? - cool stuff)} 08:19, 1 April 2007 (UTC)

Exactly. But in that case, you shouldn't be making edits with these separate accounts, as you're one legal entity... Titoxd^{(?!? - cool stuff)} 08:22, 1 April 2007 (UTC)

I thought you guys were going to go for big fishes, like User:Microsoft... either way, I'm pretty sure the buyout will make the Signpost... Titoxd^{(?!? - cool stuff)} 08:26, 1 April 2007 (UTC)

Perhaps some of this could go into signpost?

http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2007-April/028748.html - WAS 4.250 04:59, 2 April 2007 (UTC)

Subscription to ruWiki

Can the Signpost be delivered to my talk page at Russian Wiki?--Vaya 06:01, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

Asking for help

Hi there

we recently started a project for festivals here on wikipedia. We want to be able to send Newsletters to our members by using a or {{Festival Newsletter}} however we know not how to even start one. can you teach us how to make one and how to have it so that a person (or bot) can send them to our members? what are the commands to make one and so on and so forth would be much appreciated. Maverick423 18:54, 31 March 2007 (UTC)

ok well i tried doing it myself from copy and paste but i still cant get it working please help me out. i dont know where to start here.Maverick423 19:54, 3 April 2007 (UTC)

You're welcome

I haven't done anything for the spamlist yet, so I'll leave that to your bot. --Michael Snow 18:31, 3 April 2007 (UTC)

RE: The Blocking of Fenian Swine

I think that you need to re-read the RFCU, as it clearly shows that the user has used a sockpuppet to participate in the process twice, both times advocating that his blatantly offensive user name be allowed gaillimh^{Conas tá tú?} 21:06, 3 April 2007 (UTC)

Signpost Listing

Hi. While I have not recently edited Wikipedia, I do read it almost daily. As such, I would like to keep up with it. If you could therefore continue to deliver the signpost to me despite my hiatus from editing, I would appreciate it. SorryGuy 03:50, 4 April 2007 (UTC)

Majorly's RfB

Hi Ral, thanks for your kind support in my RfB. Sadly, it didn't pass, but I appreciate the support, and I do intend to run again eventually. Thanks again for switching, it means a lot to me. See you around! Majorly _{(o rly?)} 03:49, 5 April 2007 (UTC)

Ralbot

Hi - just a small note about the bot's spam-disclaimer found at the base of the messages - it doesn't seem to have a closing </small> tag. Of course, it's not a big issue, but may be something worth tightening up on (if possible). Thanks, Martinp23 21:50, 4 April 2007 (UTC)

Yes, it does not have the tag and its not a big issue. However, my other messages for me were in small fonts and I hope you can fix the error. Thanks. Terence 07:39, 6 April 2007 (UTC)

Apparently, Tidy has been upgraded this morning, and it fixes the unclosed tag the other way around now (leaving the small tag open until the end of the page), so if you save a page with a bot message anywhere on it, that invalidates the cached HTML, and lots of text becomes small. --Tgr 10:29, 6 April 2007 (UTC)

I will definitely do so next week. Ral315 » 18:46, 6 April 2007 (UTC)

Ralbot causing HTML errors

Recently when delivering the Signpost, Ralbot has been missing off the final <small> HTML tags, causing talk-page errors. Should this bot be blocked or not?? I'm not certain whether it should or not...

Please look into it, if you can let me know why that would be very helpful as I intend to get involved in some bot-related work here soon. --SunStar Net ^talk 09:49, 7 April 2007 (UTC)

I've seen four or five user talk pages where everything after the signpost is in small tags, and it's very annoying. If this is not fixed by next week, the bot should definitely be blocked. -Wooty Woot? contribs 03:34, 8 April 2007 (UTC)

I'm still at a loss for why anyone would mention blocking, 4 days after the bot's last edit and at least 2 before its next editing. An assumption of good faith would be nice. Ral315 » 03:26, 9 April 2007 (UTC)

I'm not saying it should be blocked now, nor am I questioning your good faith, it's just that an unclosed small tag going to hundreds of talk pages should be prevented if possible. -Wooty Woot? contribs 06:54, 9 April 2007 (UTC)

Wooty - this issue has been brought up three (or four?) time on this talk page, once on WP:BOWN and is been mentioned on WP:VPT. What has caused the problems is the way in which Mediawiki handles bad syntax in wikicode, so where the error was implicitly fixed at the next linebreak before, it is now fixed at the end of the document when the page is first saved (since the upgrade). If Ralbot were to fail to add the closing small tag in future, I suspect that the software would fix it automatically (though I most cerainly cannot be certain). In any case, screaming block everywhere is no help at all, especially when Ral has promised to fix the error in at least two place on Wikipedia. The issue will be easy for him to fix, and Ral is an experienced bot operator :) Thanks, Martinp23 21:11, 9 April 2007 (UTC)

I don't know much about Wikibots but would it be hard to make a bot which would fix previous signposts? Program something like search user talk space for "<small>You are receiving this message because you have signed up for the [[Wikipedia:Wikipedia Signpost/Tools/Spamlist|''Signpost'' spamlist]]." search for next (UTC) and append </small> if it isn't already there. Just asking. And thank you for all the work on Signposts!--Pethr 03:30, 10 April 2007 (UTC)

CVU

Hi Ral, I completely agree with you about the CVU article. I thought my 'solution' might be a compromise of sorts, but your point is very valid, and I think it should stay this way. P.S. Sorry to read your merge didn't work out ;-) Seriously, it was one of the better jokes I've seen last week! --JoanneB 20:45, 7 April 2007 (UTC)

About Wikipedia:Wikipedia_Signpost/Tools/Spamlist

Hi, I was thinking of creating a bot that does something similar - leaves notifications on user talks - but I noticed that when editing a talk page with bot, it doesn't leave the "you have new msgs" msg. Do you have this problem? Yonidebest 00:16, 8 April 2007 (UTC)

n/m - I found how to allow the notice to apear. Yonidebest 00:31, 8 April 2007 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Requests for comment/Gaillimh

You may wish to view and possibly certify this. --Auto^{(talk / contribs)} 05:13, 8 April 2007 (UTC)

Ralbot Signpost message

Hi Ral315. When Ralbot delivers Signpost to my talk page (and thank you very much for that!) he signs off with a signature that has an unclosed <small> tag. So any comment left after Ralbot's doesn't clear the formatting is also small. This isn't a big problem since people rarely leave comments without starting a new section. But if you're ever tinkering with the bot I thought you might want to fix it. Thanks -- Siobhan Hansa 03:07, 9 April 2007 (UTC)

Signpost/T.R.O.L.L.

If User:David.Mestel is still away this week, I'll be glad to look over your draft of T.R.O.L.L. if that would be helpful. Regards, Newyorkbrad 20:10, 9 April 2007 (UTC)

Is there a current draft for me to look at? I'll be glad to edit and augment, but I don't think a Clerk should write it from scratch. Regards, Newyorkbrad 21:27, 9 April 2007 (UTC)

Danny story

I don't know that I'll have time to write it, probably best if you start and I'll work in anything I have to offer. Regarding whether it's worth holding up the issue, you might want to consider Taxman's comment, and maybe check with him about how long the wait might be. --Michael Snow 00:05, 10 April 2007 (UTC)

User:Ral315/Danny

I've personally found that you often have a very "shock"/"tabloid" journalism style in your reporting. I've always thought it best to leave you alone about it, even though I think it is at times a poison to our community. On this most sensitive, and unusual matter of Danny's RFA I think it's import important to respond with calm and rational words. I hope that you coverage of this issue will conform to WP:NPOV more than most of the material I see on signpost. Thanks for your consideration. --Gmaxwell 02:43, 10 April 2007 (UTC) e

Regarding heliping with 'ih the news' section of the Signpost.

Hello Ral315,

            I would really like to be a volunteer for the 'in the news' section of the Signpost.Just wanted to make a mention.

—Preceding unsigned comment added by Maverick thatsme (talk • contribs)