User:Dr. Blofeld/January 2017

Happy New Year !
Happy New Year! Hello : Thanks for all of your contributions to improve the encyclopedia for Wikipedia's readers, and have a happy and enjoyable New Year! Cheers, --BabbaQ (talk) 23:55, 31 December 2016 (UTC)

Happy New Year, Dr. Blofeld!


Happy New Year! Dr. Blofeld, Have a prosperous, productive and enjoyable New Year, and thanks for your contributions to Wikipedia.  Philip J Fry   Talk    02:55, 1 January 2017 (UTC)

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Happy New Year, Dr. Blofeld!


Happy New Year! Dr. Blofeld, Have a prosperous, productive and enjoyable New Year, and thanks for your contributions to Wikipedia. MB298 (talk) 05:35, 1 January 2017 (UTC)

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South East England Challenge
Hi Doc, Just wanted to ask is the South East England Challenge starting this month or is it delayed until later?  The C of E God Save the Queen!  ( talk ) 12:33, 1 January 2017 (UTC)

It's delayed, as things currently are it's unlikely going to go ahead. ♦ Dr. Blofeld  13:23, 1 January 2017 (UTC)

Happy New Year, Dr. Blofeld!


Happy New Year! Dr. Blofeld, Have a prosperous, productive and enjoyable New Year, and thanks for your contributions to Wikipedia.

– Davey 2010 Merry Xmas / Happy New Year 12:59, 1 January 2017 (UTC)

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Thankyou everybody, here's to a great 2017!!♦ Dr. Blofeld  13:24, 1 January 2017 (UTC)

Happy New Year, Dr. Blofeld!


Happy New Year! Dr. Blofeld, Have a prosperous, productive and enjoyable New Year, and thanks for your contributions to Wikipedia.

Fitzcarmalan (talk) 18:11, 1 January 2017 (UTC)

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Taking this opportunity to let you know how much I admire what you've been doing lately, and to apologize for not helping out when you contacted me a few months ago (was on a wikibreak). Have a great one. Fitzcarmalan (talk) 18:11, 1 January 2017 (UTC)

You too, I'm on a wikibreak too!♦ Dr. Blofeld  18:32, 1 January 2017 (UTC)

Happy 2017!
Wishing good health and happiness as we start the new year! --Rosiestep (talk) 19:00, 1 January 2017 (UTC)

Aw thanks and you too, good health and happiness are extremely important to productivity!!♦  Dr. Blofeld  19:32, 1 January 2017 (UTC)

Happy New Year 2017!
To you and yours! May you have a happy, prosperous and joyous one! God bless! — Ssven2  Looking at you, kid 12:31, 2 January 2017 (UTC)

You too, may it be full of good eggs ;-)♦ Dr. Blofeld  13:01, 2 January 2017 (UTC)

Help with a challenge ?
Happy New Year and best regards from Finland  ! Finland celebrates 100 years of independence in 2017, and we in fi-wiki participate in the celebration by displaying 100 featured, good or OK articles related to Finland on the front page. We have also thought about an international translation challenge in November. As I am not that familiar with traditions of en-wiki, I could use some mentoring in this. Would you have time and interest to provide some advice ? I already have some questions, but I'm uncertain whether to fire them here, by email or to try to find another "victim". Kind regards, --Tappinen (talk) 16:55, 2 January 2017 (UTC)

Happy New Year. Yes we'll have to do something to commemorate that. A national contest for Finland would be a good idea but depends on support from WM.♦ Dr. Blofeld  17:45, 2 January 2017 (UTC)


 * Can you tell how to ask for support from WM ? I thought about something in line of Translating Ibero-America/list 2016; we have a tentative list fi:Wikipedia:Wikiprojekti Suomi 100/Luettelo and almost all of them have already interwikis in English (fi:Wikipedia:Wikiprojekti Suomi 100/Taulukko). In our own weekly contests we use a bot which is counting points automatically, giving more points for inline citations and body text, less for inboxes etc. and we could use that one here too (putting more emphasis on the quality of the articles). --Tappinen (talk) 18:05, 2 January 2017 (UTC)

A dual language contest to benefit both English and Finnish wiki would be good. Arranging grants through WMF though can be difficult as their staff seem overworked to the point that they don't like you emailing them and they can sometimes take weeks to go through, but I think if somebody from Finland asked them for a rapid grant for around $1500 for a contest though you'd stand a good chance as they like things run by people in their home countries. ♦ Dr. Blofeld  18:59, 2 January 2017 (UTC)


 * If we do not want money, do we still need to ask WM endorsement ? The local chapter (Wikimedia Finland) is very supportive. We thought about multi language contest to benefit several wikis (as they did in the Ibero-America one which I linked above). --Tappinen (talk) 19:06, 2 January 2017 (UTC)

A contest without a proper prize?? Not sure that would really work. If you want to attract more people, a decent prize like Amazon vouchers or subscriptions is a good idea. I think Wikimedia Finland being involved with the central planning and coordination would be vital.♦ Dr. Blofeld  19:09, 2 January 2017 (UTC)


 * We are maybe talking about different things. The 1000 Challenge (Nordic) seems to attract some people... Or what if Wikimedia Finland would sponsor some vouchers. --Tappinen (talk) 19:27, 2 January 2017 (UTC)


 * I think the best thing would be to organize a national contest for Finland, like Awaken the Dragon. Cover all types of articles and translation too with decent prizes. Articles done can feed the Nordic challenge of course.♦ Dr. Blofeld  20:23, 2 January 2017 (UTC)

Two questions
Hello dear Dr. Blofeld, I have two questions pertaining to WikiProject Africa/Contests and I though you might be the one to ask. The first concerns an Africa article which I am trying to get to FA, Nyuserre Ini. The trouble is that before I can propose it at FAC, it needs to get GA status. This however can take over 6 months of waiting as I have experienced in the past, something now impossible for me as I cannot be sure to have Wikipedia time in a few months. Until Tim Riley's retirement, he was kind enough to do the GA reviews of pharaohs in a timely manner, which enabled me to bring five such articles to FA and also on the front page. Now that he is gone, would you know if it is possible to bring the article directly to FAC so as to bypass months of wait, and if not, if there is somebody willing to do Nyuserre Ini's GA review? My second question is about funding: since a couple of years we (that is mostly Khruner and I) have tried to have at least one illustration per pharaoh article for pharaohs known from archaeological evidences, especially during the shadowy Second Intermediate Period. We are now very close to this goal, but there is one pharaoh, Sekheperenre, whose only artefact bearing his name is a scarab housed (but not displayed) in the Ashmolean Museum. The museum accepts to photography it for a fee of c. 50 pounds, would you know if we could get this money from Wikipedia?&#32;Iry-Hor (talk) 09:08, 3 January 2017 (UTC)

Hi. I would normally review your article for GA but I'm not active at the moment. Perhaps could review it? Wikimedia UK are very helpful with things like this Iry-Hor, I would suggest you contact and ask for a grant to cover travel costs and entrance fee/photography fee to the Ashmolean Museum with promise of taking many photographs. That's something they'd happily cover I think.♦ Dr. Blofeld  14:55, 3 January 2017 (UTC)
 * I'll be happy to review Nyuserre Ini. At a first glance the article looks comprehensive and well written. JAG  UAR   14:56, 3 January 2017 (UTC)
 * Impressive, thanks so much for all these informations! And thanks to for agreeing to review the article. As for the Ashmolean photography, I will contact Richard Nevell.&#32;Iry-Hor (talk) 15:47, 3 January 2017 (UTC)

Concerning Stanley Kubrick
Could you explain why you reverted my edits to the page? Thanks, AndrewOne (talk) 15:08, 3 January 2017 (UTC)

Because your editing of the lede wasn't an improvement and you moved material which clearly belongs at the very beginning, mentioning Kubrick's status to a short paragraph at the end. What was your problem with it?♦ Dr. Blofeld  15:20, 3 January 2017 (UTC)


 * There's no problem with that sentence going back into the opening paragraph, but allow me to explain the others. "His films, most of which" is preferable because the director is deceased; the "Creative differences" sentence is moved to start a new paragraph because the previous paragraph was overlong; "skillful use of music" was deleted because it approaches POV and because his "evocative use of music" is already noted; and the final sentence is added to tell readers which works of his are the most renowned. Thanks, AndrewOne (talk) 15:50, 3 January 2017 (UTC)

As will explain, the content in the lede is backed by sourcing in the body.. Five paragraphs, clumsy wording and a stray one liner paragraph is not an improvement.♦ Dr. Blofeld  18:02, 3 January 2017 (UTC)

FYI

 * Interesting question We hope (talk) 16:36, 3 January 2017 (UTC)

Yes, but it's infobox discussion and enforcement rather than warring which is the really time wasting problem.♦ Dr. Blofeld  18:03, 3 January 2017 (UTC)

"... always got the impression she doesn't like me."
Well - duh. You've got "His Evilness" at the top of your user page! Seriously, nope, never disliked you. We just move in utterly different editing circles so we don't interact much. Ealdgyth - Talk 13:20, 4 January 2017 (UTC)

Well, I did approach you in the past on some of your articles or old English-related ones, and always found you a bit cold, like you didn't have much respect for me. I always thought a lot of you and the work you do, and I'm happy to support you for adminship, refreshing actually to have a content-oriented candidate!♦ Dr. Blofeld  13:25, 4 January 2017 (UTC)


 * I've been dealing with an ill mother and taking care of her for the last 11 years, so I can't say that I've always been at my best at times. Sorry if you thought I was cold - it was not you, but probably something going on in my own life. Ealdgyth - Talk 13:30, 4 January 2017 (UTC)


 * I didn't know whether part of it was because a long time ago I used to create a lot of short stubs so probably gave a lot of people the wrong impression in terms of intentions and abilities. At the time it seemed the right thing to do to try to broaden the scope of the site globally as much as possible. I've not edited that way in five years now at least, in fact I'm hoping to run something soon which will try to destub as many of our UK articles as possible, focus purely on quality. Sorry to hear that, I had no idea. I wish you and your mother all the best and good luck for adminship, by the looks of it you're on for 200+ supports!♦ Dr. Blofeld  13:37, 4 January 2017 (UTC)

Orphaned non-free image File:Kahin Pyaar Na Ho Jaaye2000.jpg
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Discussion you may be interested in offering your two cents on
Since Talk:Stanley Kubrick is such a mess with arguments over infoboxes, and has been that way for quite some time, I figured the issue should be taken to a sort of higher court. See Template talk:Infobox person. Hopefully less insults will occur over there. – Matthew  - (talk) 14:45, 6 January 2017 (UTC)

I've been very careful not to insult anybody or get heated myself, I avoided it until the RFC opened. But yes, it's an absolute shambles, this heavy handed approach towards infobox enforcement is a big problem, particularly with certain trolls who obviously enjoy creating a mess.♦ Dr. Blofeld  15:18, 6 January 2017 (UTC)

Less active than previously
I'm really sorry to see that you've been completely inactive over the past week or so. After all the work you've been doing here, you certainly deserve a break if you need one but I hope we'll see you back soon. It would be a pity not to be able to draw on all your expertise.--Ipigott (talk) 12:51, 13 January 2017 (UTC)
 * I second that. Hope that all is well and that you are just off having a bit of R&R to gear up for the next push. SusunW (talk) 17:16, 13 January 2017 (UTC)

African barnstars
I realise you're stepping back from things here, and I hope you have a good break, but I was wondering if you could finalise things from the Africa Destubathon. There were going to be national barnstars for all the country winners - has that been done yet? I haven't received mine. StAnselm (talk) 22:53, 13 January 2017 (UTC)

And here's another African Star, just for you 'Blowers. Martinevans123 (talk) 23:02, 13 January 2017 (UTC)

Five years precious
You are the second to be told that, - remember, ladies first! Enjoy your break, I will add to the balls you got rolling: translating and Europe, trying one article a day. Today's will be a poet, related to Reger's Op. 4. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 08:39, 21 January 2017 (UTC)