Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2008 October 16

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October 16

Change of name

Hello. I have two questions: 1.) is there a place I can change my name to User: Archaeopteryx (the real name of the dinosaur bird I wanted to name myself after but got misspelled) and 2.) once this happens, will the edits I previously have done appear under the new name too? As always, I would like to be contacted on my talk page, and as always, thank you for answering.--Archeopteryx (talk) 00:20, 16 October 2008 (UTC)

Replied on user talk. PrimeHunter (talk) 00:28, 16 October 2008 (UTC)

Yeah, another question

Sorry for another question. Is it possible to add "skins" to your user page so the text is in front of the picture?--Archeopteryx (talk) 00:37, 16 October 2008 (UTC)

Do you mean only for you to see, or for everybody to see? I don't know either way, but if nobody else gives you a compact answer, read the links under WP:EIW#Custom. If the answer exists, it's probably in there. --Teratornis (talk) 00:44, 16 October 2008 (UTC)

I mean for everybody to see.--Archeopteryx (talk) 00:46, 16 October 2008 (UTC)

Well this is just me, I do not think it is possible for a couple of reasons. Because of the difference of formats between browser's eg, IE,FF,Oprea etc it might not work work correctly universally. And I have not seen it done before. So may I suggest to add text to an image before uploading using ms paint or paint.net or anything else. Like I said this is just my thoughts for your question, Does anyone agree or have any other suggestions?.--intraining ^{Jack In} 00:50, 16 October 2008 (UTC)

A skin is only for you to see. If you want to make something for everybody to see, you might be able to put text in front of a picture with a <div> tag, but I've never tried that. See Help:HTML in wikitext for clues about what might be possible. --Teratornis (talk) 01:02, 16 October 2008 (UTC)

How to do a reverse dictionary lookup?

what do i do if i know the meaning of the word but i dont know what word it means????? thanks :] —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.14.51.12 (talk) 00:54, 16 October 2008 (UTC)

You can try {{Google}}-ing for the meaning that you know, and maybe the word will come up. You could also type the meaning you know in a question on Wikipedia:Reference desk/Language and ask people to tell you some words that have that meaning. (Time to go watch a Presidential debate now.) --Teratornis (talk) 01:02, 16 October 2008 (UTC)

Any good thesaurus should help you out such as this one.--intraining ^{Jack In} 01:10, 16 October 2008 (UTC)

i just posted my first creation on wikipedia and...

The persons name is "Don Blum", but for some reason it's listed as Don blum? Can anyone tell me how to fix this? Adamandsuzie (talk) 11:25, 15 October 2008 (UTC)

Answered on user's talk page regarding what moving is. « Gonzo fan2007 (talk) @ 03:36, 16 October 2008 (UTC)

Infobox State_Senator parameter

At Richard Cordray I am having trouble with a governor3 parameter in {{Infobox State_Senator}}. What is going on?--TonyTheTiger (t/c/bio/WP:CHICAGO/WP:LOTM) 03:55, 16 October 2008 (UTC)

I think I fixed it ([1]); the parameter governor3 was being set twice, once to blank, I am not exactly sure how MediaWiki processes such instances but it was causing it to behave as if governor3 was not set. Icewedge (talk) 04:12, 16 October 2008 (UTC)

It honors only the last instance of a parameter. --—— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk - 09:44, 16 October 2008 (UTC)

Keeping my Biography accurate or 'locking' a biography.

Hello!

My question is this: Is there a way to 'Lock' a biography? I spent hours last night putting a new one together, only to have someone re-post old news.

Thanks! —Preceding unsigned comment added by AceySlade (talk • contribs) 05:09, 16 October 2008 (UTC)

No. You can't just turn up as User:AceySlade, edit an article about (allegedly) yourself and expect it to stick. You need independant third-party reliable published sources and verifiability. You need to read WP:COI. Discuss changes on the talk page. Kittybrewster ☎ 05:24, 16 October 2008 (UTC)

Also see WP:OWN. You do not own the articles at Wikipedia, even those about yourself. If information about you is publicly availible in reliable sources, it can be part of an article about you. If you are not notable, then there shouldn't be one... --Jayron32.talk.contribs 13:10, 16 October 2008 (UTC)

Keep in mind WP:BLP as well. That policy imposes strict limits on what we can include in articles about living persons. --Tkynerd (talk) 13:38, 16 October 2008 (UTC)

Cathal Crowe

Is this properly listed for deletion? If not what is missing? Kittybrewster ☎ 05:16, 16 October 2008 (UTC)

I went ahead and did the final step: listing it at Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Log/2008 October 16. Grsz^X 05:21, 16 October 2008 (UTC)

How do I make an SVG?

So, several of the images I've made ought to be SVGs. How on earth do I make one? WP:USOP says it's easy, WP:SVG Help says what to do if you're having troubles uploading one, but I can't find anywhere that says HOW to make one. Do I need a special program? What? — The Man in Question (gesprec) · (forðung) 06:13, 16 October 2008 (UTC)

The article on SVG has a section which lists some applications which can be used to edit, create, and save files in SVG format: Scalable Vector Graphics#Support in applications -=# Amos E Wolfe ^talk #=- 07:40, 16 October 2008 (UTC)

If you are dedicated you can create them by hand using notepad or some other text output editor. SVG definition is a available at w3. Simple svg files can be easily created by hand, for example , or Peet Ern (talk) 01:48, 17 October 2008 (UTC)

Download an opensource graphics editor program that can create SVG files. For example, I use Inkscape.-Arch dude (talk) 22:37, 17 October 2008 (UTC)

How do I contact a user concerning a SUL account?

Firstly: Sorry for posting my question here. - I don't know where else to place it. I hope you can help me.
Secondly: I wanna make a SUL account for the user "sokai". I "own" (have created) this account for de.wikipedia.org and meta.wikimedia.org projects. Because it already exists at en.wikipedia.org I can't create the wanted SUL account. So I contacted Sokai at her/his talk page but I don't think s/he will answer my request because of her/his inactivity since 2006. So my question is: What do you think will be the best way to get that SUL account?
Thanks & bye -- --Sokai-new (talk) 12:54, 16 October 2008 (UTC)

Follow this link [2]. It gives the instructions for how to usurp a username in order to create a global log-in. Cheers! TN‑X-Man 12:59, 16 October 2008 (UTC)

lost

looking for information on how to report some severe problems with a site on the net —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.11.77.48 (talk) 13:57, 16 October 2008 (UTC)

Have you tried Wikipedia's Reference Desk? They specialize in knowledge questions and will try to answer just about any question in the universe (except how to use Wikipedia, since that is what this Help Desk is for). Just follow the link, select the relevant section, and ask away. I hope this helps. --Orange Mike | Talk 14:23, 16 October 2008 (UTC)

If the problem is on Wikipedia we might be able to help. If you saw an error or problem on another web site you should try and contact their webmaster. Sometimes there is a link to a webmaster's email on the "contact" page of a website or perhaps at the bottom of the homepage. Scottydude _talk 14:25, 16 October 2008 (UTC)

Incorporating information from official government sources

I would like to greatly expand and improve the article on the French King Bridge. The Massachusetts Highway Department has a superb article about it on their website. The most useful thing to do would be to incorporate the entire text of the MHD article in the Wikipedia entry -- with appropriate credit, of course. However, I cannot find any information about copyright policies or the GFDL on their website. What should I do? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Paul Abrahams (talk • contribs) 13:59, 16 October 2008 (UTC)

Do not copy the web page or any part of it as it is. Take the necessary information from it and write the article yourself, providing the website as a reference. Please see WP:COPY for Wikipedia's copyright policy. Cheers. Chamal ^talk _work 14:04, 16 October 2008 (UTC)

The text will be in the public domain as a work of the US Federal Government, but you should only quote it - we write our own articles here, rather than copying other people's. Dendodge|Talk^Contribs 15:13, 16 October 2008 (UTC)

The Massachusetts Highway Department is a U.S. state agency rather than an agency of the U.S. Federal Government. As such, it may have a different copyright policy. The Massachusetts Highway Department site displays this copyright notice in the footer of every page in the small sample I just looked at. Welcome to the dark side of Federalism. --Teratornis (talk) 16:14, 16 October 2008 (UTC)

Also, it should be noted that not EVERY part of the U.S. Federal Gov't releases its work into the public domain. NASA, for example, retains the copyright on some of its work. Always read the fine print carefully, and when in doubt, don't copy it. Personally, I find the blind copying of large chunks of text, especially in the context of Wikipedia, to be intellectually lazy. For one, it probably violates WP:NPOV, since it doesn't provide a balance of information from availible mainstream sources. It is providing the text of a single source as the sole text. --Jayron32.talk.contribs 16:34, 16 October 2008 (UTC)

No NASA cannot create copyrights either. They can inherit them or host copyrighted material as other fed branches do, though, so caution is indeed warranted. Rmhermen (talk) 00:59, 17 October 2008 (UTC)

Connecting to Adobe Reader

Have a Gateway Computer (1999),using Windows 98.Can I update my Adobe Reader,as cannot read some messages?Grateful for reply.Thanks Peter Lane. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.189.148.133 (talk) 15:29, 16 October 2008 (UTC)

Have you tried the computing section of Wikipedia's Reference Desk? They specialize in answering knowledge questions there; this help desk is only for questions about using Wikipedia. For your convenience, here is the link to post a question there: click here. I hope this helps. TN‑X-Man 15:36, 16 October 2008 (UTC)

Microsoft discontinued support for Windows 98 on 11 July 2006. Most Windows software vendors have stopped supporting their products on Windows 98. That means new versions of Windows software often do not run on Windows 98. If you want to run old computers as long as possible, you might consider using non-proprietary Linux as your operating system, because all the proprietary software vendors follow a strategy of obsoleting their products routinely to force customers to purchase upgrades. Newer versions of Windows probably won't install on hardware from 1999, so the software upgrades force customers to buy new hardware too. In contrast, Linux tends to be more tolerant of old hardware. Of course switching from Windows to Linux is far from trivial. Perhaps the simplest way to upgrade your computer is to buy a new system unit. You can get a new low-end system unit for as little as $200-$300 today which will run rings around any personal computer from 1999. --Teratornis (talk) 18:40, 16 October 2008 (UTC)

Font is messed up on Wikipedia only

So I must have hit some key combination on my machine while viewing wikipedia (I am using windows xp, and browsing using firefox 3.0.1), and now the font on wikipedia is screwy. I don't know if it is just bigger (ctrl- doesn't make it look right), or if it is a different font altogether, but I find it really distracting. I took a screenshot, and posted it here: http://img201.imageshack.us/my.php?image=wikifontkn1.jpg

Your help in fixing this is greatly appreciated. Man It's So Loud In Here (talk) 15:34, 16 October 2008 (UTC)

Try Tools → Options → Content → Fonts & Colors → Advanced → Allow pages to choose their own fonts. Maybe post a pic of what the font should look like as well.Louis Waweru  Talk  00:26, 21 October 2008 (UTC)

Changing default location of User

I've moved from the UK to the US, but my wikipedia seems to still have a UK bias and to be going via a UK server. I thought it would automatically update with my new IP address from my US ISP. Is this not the case? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Exchaoordo (talk • contribs) 16:14, 16 October 2008 (UTC)

How do you mean? While different articles are written by people from different English speaking parts of the world, there aren't different "versions" of Wikipedia published. There's just the English Wikipedia. --Jayron32.talk.contribs 16:31, 16 October 2008 (UTC)

If you are referring to the interface language then it can be set at Special:Preferences. Options include "English" and "British English". Click Save after choosing. I don't know how large the difference is. You can choose time zone under the "Date and time" tab in preferences. PrimeHunter (talk) 21:08, 16 October 2008 (UTC)

Image Question

I hope that someone can help with an image difficulty. There is an image of Richard Marx that he finds to be inappropriate for posting on Wikipedia. Is it possible to find a way to remove the photograph? It was posted by Itsmyright, but Richard really would like it removed. How would I go about removing the image if the editor decides not to comply? Thank you in advance for your help. --Candy156sweet (talk) 17:53, 16 October 2008 (UTC)

It appears the photo has been replaced by another version that was uploaded yesterday. Is the version to which you object, or the earlier version? TN‑X-Man 18:21, 16 October 2008 (UTC)

It's the earlier version that needs to be removed. The current photo on the article is just fine. Richard would like the grainy photo used previously on the article removed as soon as possible. --Candy156sweet (talk) 18:35, 16 October 2008 (UTC)

Replied on my talk page, per user note there as well. TN‑X-Man 19:53, 16 October 2008 (UTC)

Radio stations that trade frequencies

In Myrtle Beach, SC, WSYN essentially traded frequencies with WYAK, which became WLFF. I thought continuing the history of WSYN in a new article would be a good idea, since it would be pointless to have WYAK's history just stop. But WYAK didn't just become WLFF. There was a frequency change, and I believed that the old history of WSYN belonged in the article with WLFF. WSYN seemed to have changed format; I know now that's wrong, since just dropping local DJs does not constitute a format change and people exaggerated about the difference in the music. Add to that the fact that someone wrote after the switch about the old WSYN in the WSYN article, which seems logical if you think about it.

When I asked for comments on another site, one person supported keeping the history with the frequency. He said that's how he handled WLXC and WOMG. I took a look and those articles don't make sense. In fact, looking at the hisotries, it appears someone just copied and pasted the history of each station without acknowledgement of the contributions in each station's history. For those articles, it seems obvious: restore those articles to the way they were, and replace the contributions made by others since the trade.

For WSYN and WLFF, it appears name changes are in order. The current information for each station should go with the appropriate station. I have seen one version of the history of one article (or perhaps both) which described the change as WYAK trading places with WSYN and becoming WLFF. What is the proper way to handle the situation?Vchimpanzee · talk · contributions · 18:28, 16 October 2008 (UTC)

I have no idea. If nobody else answers here, you could try at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Radio. For information on fixing improper moves, see the links under WP:EIW#Moving, for example Wikipedia:How to fix cut-and-paste moves. --Teratornis (talk) 22:12, 16 October 2008 (UTC)

If a business moves their headquarters, and a new business takes over the old headquarters, then you don't start new articles, and you don't change the focus of the article to be about the new tenants. Thus, you keep each radio station covered by their call letters, and note the change of frequencies in those articles. --Jayron32.talk.contribs 16:11, 17 October 2008 (UTC)

Wikipedia

How do I get all of this stuff on here —Preceding unsigned comment added by Charlesedward (talk • contribs) 19:05, 16 October 2008 (UTC)

Before creating an article, please search Wikipedia first to make sure that an article does not already exist on the subject. Please also review a few of our relevant policies and guidelines which all articles should comport with. As Wikipedia is an encyclopedia, articles must not contain original research, must be written from a neutral point of view, should cite to reliable sources which verify their content and must not contain unsourced, negative content about living people.

Articles must also demonstrate the notability of the subject. Please see our subject specific guidelines for people, bands and musicians, companies and organizations and web content and note that if you are closely associated with the subject, our conflict of interest guideline strongly recommends against you creating the article. Please read over that guideline carefully if you do decide to create the article, as you will want to pay particular attention to neutrality and impeccable sourcing.

If you still think an article is appropriate, see Help:Starting a new page. You might also look at Wikipedia:Your first article and Wikipedia:How to write a great article for guidance, and please consider taking a tour through the Wikipedia:Tutorial so that you know how to properly format the article before creation.

GFDL is a license by which copyrighted material is freed for modification and reuse, commercially or otherwise. Anything you put on Wikipedia may be published in any other format, and the only right you retain to it is the right to credit. Because our content is licensed under GFDL, we cannot accept text copied from other sources, even if permission is given to Wikipedia to publish it. All material that is submitted here must be freely available under those terms.

As you are new to Wikipedia, please let me note that there are policies and guidelines tucked behind the colored text. I hope that this information will prove helpful to you.Vchimpanzee · talk · contributions · 19:50, 16 October 2008 (UTC)

The question is ambiguous. At least these two quite different interpretations are plausible:

• How do I put (some unspecified) stuff on Wikipedia?
• How do I get the stuff that is already on Wikipedia?

The first response answers the first interpretation when "stuff" means new articles. If the questioner meant the second interpretation, the answer would depend on what the user means by "get." For some general answers to possible meanings of the second interpretation, see WP:EIW#Download. --Teratornis (talk) 22:06, 16 October 2008 (UTC)

Article section under discussion template

I vaguely recall a template that will mark a section of an article as under discussion on the article's talk page. I failed to find the template. Guidance? Thanks. -- davidz (talk) 20:43, 16 October 2008 (UTC)

Why is it need to be discussed? (Many can be found at Wikipedia:Template messages/Cleanup.) Gtstricky^{Talk or C} 20:52, 16 October 2008 (UTC)

Error on SanDisk page

Hello I recently discovered a significant error on the SanDisk page. It says, inaccurately: "Sandisk was aquired by Sony Corporation as an extension of it's media arm in 2007."

This is not true. SanDisk is an independent, publicly traded company and we are not a part of Sony.

My name is Ryan Donovan and I look after corporate communications here at SanDisk. My contact details:

(contact info removed for privacy) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 63.163.107.100 (talk) 20:56, 16 October 2008 (UTC)

Thanks for reporting this. The claim was added 3 days ago with no source. I am unable to find any support for it so I have reverted it. PrimeHunter (talk) 21:13, 16 October 2008 (UTC)

Template help

How do i get rid of the "V D E" links on a template that has been set in an article so it doesn't update? Grsz^X 21:10, 16 October 2008 (UTC)

I'm not sure what the perceived problem is. Which article and template is it and why don't you want the links? They usually seem practical to me. PrimeHunter (talk) 21:17, 16 October 2008 (UTC)

2007-08 Pittsburgh Penguins season#Personnel. It was previously just transcluded while the season was in progress as Template:Pittsburgh Penguins roster. However, now that it's in the past, the roster on the last day was copy and pasted to the article because the template would continue to be updated and would not reflect the actual roster for that season. The links are no longer needed. Grsz^X 21:24, 16 October 2008 (UTC)

OK. It seems [3] fixed it. The edit summary assumes the template was substituted. PrimeHunter (talk) 23:06, 16 October 2008 (UTC)

That's something I dislike about template substitution - it doesn't always leave an audit trail. Audit trails matter on Wikipedia because we constantly have newer users who learn how to edit on Wikipedia by studying the edits that other users make. It may not be obvious, from looking at a mess of wikitext, that it resulted from a template substitution. --Teratornis (talk) 23:13, 16 October 2008 (UTC)

Blocking

Is there a specific policy on Wikipedia that states if a user has been editing for a certain period of time, and has more talk page/user page edits than mainspace, they can be blocked with no warning? ~ Bella Swan^? 21:22, 16 October 2008 (UTC)

Short answer, no. Would you like the long answer as well? _Gb^T/c 21:24, 16 October 2008 (UTC)

Well, yes. Specifically, I would like to know if there is any way an admin could do this and not go against policy. ~ Bella Swan^? 21:26, 16 October 2008 (UTC)

Depends. The over-riding principle is that blocks are preventative (that's to say, to prevent damage to the encyclopaedia) and not punitive (that's to say to punish the user for transgressions). What it therefore depends on is what the person is using their userspace for - and so I'm minded to ask if you have a particular user in mind? If, for example, they're consistently using their userspace to create spam articles that are then rapidly deleted, then they should be warned and, if appropriate, blocked if they continue to do so in defiance of those warnings. If, however, what they're doing is spending most of the time tweaking a userpage that isn't strictly a breach of any other policy, but showing overall that they're not really here to contribute constructively to the project, then they should be encourage, very gently at first, to contribute. If they don't, then they should be encouraged more - blocking that sort of user, one who isn't here to be disruptive, but who doesn't appear to be overtly constructive - should be a last resort. _Gb^T/c 21:38, 16 October 2008 (UTC)

The user I had in mind was User:HJH Lady Renegade (previously named User:Rebel Queen Pokeynut). She was blocked for "not treating website as a encyclopedia", and blocking her was a very ineffective thing to do, so I decided to look into it. The admin, User:Ryulong, blocked her with no warning, and when I read the blocking policy, it said nothing about allowing someone to block another user for having more talk page/user page edits than mainspace edits. To be honest, the only realistic thing that could be expected from the user is indignation and resentment for being blocked and their user page deleted for a reason unkown to them. A warning first would have made it more acceptable, but it just seemed ridiculous. Apparently he had a policy to back it up, but I couldn't find one that supported what he did. It really did more damage than good in this case, and I'm sure it will if used in other cases. I forget to mention: she did have significantly more talk/user space edits than mainspace, but didn't show that she was on Wikipedia only for the talk, she asked me to be her adopter, and I was for time, and she did contribute mostly during that time, but then started contributing more so to talk pages and such, in which she should have recieved a warning. Her block was lifted, but the fact remains of whether or not the original block was justified. ~ Bella Swan^? 21:59, 16 October 2008 (UTC)

Well, these things are all subjective to a degree (and they have to be). Potentially she should have received a warning - in any event, it's all somewhat academic - she was unblocked, and chose then to retire, according to the note here. Should she have been blocked in the first place? It's as impossible to say "yes, for sure" as it is to say "no, absolutely not", because blocking is, ultimately, subjective. Did the blocking admin do anything wrong, or abuse the tools in any way? Nope. Could things have been done differently? Of course, but then they always could be. _Gb^T/c 22:03, 16 October 2008 (UTC)

I get it. In this sort-of-unique case, the only thing that could be used was the admin's opinon. Do you know of the proper place for me to suggest it to be policy that a warning should be issued before blocking so that this sort of mess doesn't happen again? ~ Bella Swan^? 22:14, 16 October 2008 (UTC)

The proper place would be WP:VPR, but I can almost guarantee it will get shot down as instruction creep. Mr.Z-man 22:17, 16 October 2008 (UTC)

What about broadening the "suggested" rule of having to warn an user of their vandalism several times before blocking them to this situation? ~ Bella Swan^? 22:25, 16 October 2008 (UTC)

It is already part of policy. See Wikipedia:Blocking policy#Education and warnings. Without having reviewed her edits exhaustively, this user did seem to be treating Wikipedia like Myspace, and causing minor disruption because of that, but as persons to be blocked go, she is (was) about as close to a low priority as you could get. Most out-and-out vandals receive two or three warnings before they're blocked. The tacit rule of the culture is only block without warning for obvious vandalism-only accounts, or for instances of highly disruptive or extreme edits (move vandalism to high profile pages; racist edits; vicious attack pages; etc.) As such, if she was really blocked with no prior warnings followed by a failure to heed them (as I said I didn't look very deeply), I would say this was extremely poorly handled and the potential for damage from such a block far outweighs any prevention. This user was thirteen. In three or four years she might have become a really great user. Now she's probably gone forever. If you look at her unblock request, she certainly seemed to have potential. It was the opposite response of most vandals.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 22:37, 16 October 2008 (UTC)

(undent) In my opinion, Wikipedia should encourage young people to learn wikitext editing, even if it means they make some frivolous MySpace-type user page edits. Userspace edits don't get in the way much, and as kids grow up, eventually some will develop serious interests and write encyclopedically about them. In that case, the newly-serious young person would already understand wiki editing basics, so their article space edits would at least look good. Instead we have lots of people attempting to learn how to edit by starting off in article space, which just wastes more time for the editors who clean up or remove the trial and error learning projects. If user pages are the sugar that lures more free labor to Wikipedia, that's incredibly cheap for us. Kids have a burning need to socialize online, so they might as well do it on a site where they also learn lots of useful things. Contrast the socially redeeming value of Wikipedia with that of, say, MySpace or Friendster. Besides, Wikipedia has a history of rehabilitating (some) vandals - surely we could "rehabilitate" someone whose chief transgression is being sociable. --Teratornis (talk) 23:31, 16 October 2008 (UTC)

I whole-heartedly agree with both of you, but the question is, how can we prevent an editior with a lot of potential to go through something like this and quit because of it? ~ Bella Swan^? 00:13, 17 October 2008 (UTC)

In general? I think you have to think about this as what it is: an exception to the rule, which is a class of problem that we see all over the place, not just in block application, and which is inevitable when you throw together a few tens of thousands of regular editors and 1,600 administrators. Most people who are indefinitely blocked have warranted that treatment, and most users whose edits are of similar character to this user, and get noticed, get warned repeatedly before a block is imposed. As I noted above, warning first is strongly recommended in policy, especially when the character of the edits are not extreme and I do think this is a rarity. Thus, I don't think there's anything more to be done in general. In the specific, well, you can take this specific situation further; make your feelings known on the admin's talk page; post at WP:AN/I, or not. I can tell you that this is very unlikely to result in any broad action unless you could identify a clear and deep pattern of abuse by the specific admin, which I have no idea whether or not is the case. This may be the exception to the rule for him or her. Administrators do make mistakes, overreact, are subject to having bad days. I know I've made a few in my time.--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 00:43, 17 October 2008 (UTC)

Teratornis, very good answer. I feel like you were talking about me in 2006 (=]) and I totally agree with what you said. —Ed 17 for President _{Vote for Ed} 03:33, 17 October 2008 (UTC)

I was talking about me ... but that was before computers were invented. And surprisingly, I also agree with what I said, but not totally. I do agree with you agreeing with me, however. All seriousness aside, if smiling is going to be frowned upon here, maybe the Wikimedia Foundation could think about starting a wiki specifically for kids - Wikidpedia. (Unfortunately, someone is already using the name.) A place where kids can be (wi-)kids, but we use all our high-powered MediaWiki technology and the highly-evolved Wikipedia social order stuff to gradually assimilate them into the Borg i.e. Wikipedia proper. I'm just kind of throwing this suggestion out there, not that I would be volunteering to do anything resembling actual work, although I could answer questions on their Help desk now and then, teach them about the harmful effects of growing up, so hopefully they won't repeat my mistakes. --Teratornis (talk) 05:33, 17 October 2008 (UTC)