User:Redmarkviolinist/Coaching

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Hello
Thank you for choosing me as your coach.

For now, I think it is best that you keep your focus on encyclopedia content (articles, lists, and portals).

What tools do you use?

 Th e Tr ans hu man ist   05:05, 28 December 2007 (UTC)


 * Right now I use Lupin's anti-vandal tool, but I hope to receive VandalProof. Redmarkviolinist Drop me a line 00:07, 29 December 2007 (UTC)


 * Read The Rambling Man's lesson on VandalProof and get WP:AWB.  Th e Tr ans hu man ist   10:03, 30 December 2007 (UTC)


 * Okay, got AWB, and I also use Twinkle. Hope to get VandalProof soon. Redmarkviolinist Drop me a line 23:40, 30 December 2007 (UTC)

Email...
You should add an email account to your my preferences settings.

Then drop me an email.

 Th e Tr ans hu man ist    19:35, 4 January 2008 (UTC)

Wikiquette, and your talk page

 * Main articles: Etiquette and Talk page guidelines''

It's hard to follow conversations when they are split up all over the place. I recommend that you answer messages that are posted on your talk page on your talk page.

You should restore any messages you've blanked from your talk page (and don't blank any more in the future). There's no policy against removal, but it is heavily frowned upon and is considered inappropriate (except for removing vandalism, personal attacks with real life information about you, etc.).

You should answer any unanswered requests/complaints/critiques etc.  Th e Tr ans hu man ist    19:35, 4 January 2008 (UTC)

Talk page archiving

 * Main article: Help:Archiving a talk page

The method of talk page archiving I use is: when my talk page grows long (100K+), I move it to the appropriate archive page name, and then restart my talk page over the redirect just created.

Always provide links to your discussion archives on your talk page. (I keep a link to my archive menu on both my talk page and user page).

Concerning archiving bots, I recommend not using them. They usually archive messages too early, sometimes they archive live discussion threads, and they make unnecessary copies of messages. The moving method is better.

 Th e Tr ans hu man ist    19:35, 4 January 2008 (UTC)

Do you have VandalProof yet?
When you do, be sure to read The Rambling Man, on vandalism - his method is to use VP and AWB at the same time.

 Th e Tr ans hu man ist    19:35, 4 January 2008 (UTC)


 * Yes, I got VandalProof about one week ago. Redmarkviolinist Drop me a line 13:49, 7 January 2008 (UTC)


 * Have you read The Rambling Man's lesson on vandalism yet?  Th e Tr ans hu man ist   21:12, 8 January 2008 (UTC)


 * Yes, I read it. Is that what you recommend that I start doing? Redmarkviolinist Drop me a line 21:00, 9 January 2008 (UTC)


 * However much you feel like doing. It's part of editing.   Th e Tr ans hu man ist    00:04, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

Bunched up edits
I noticed there are bunched up edit links in Battle of Saint-Mihiel.

See How to fix bunched-up edit links.

 Th e Tr ans hu man ist   11:44, 12 January 2008 (UTC)

VandalProof
Let me know how it's working for you, if you are having any problems with it, etc.

 Th e Tr ans hu man ist   07:56, 29 January 2008 (UTC)

What subjects do you like?
What non-academic subjects do you like? Anything that comes up on Requests for New Pages.

What academic subjects do you like? History.

I am a very big with history, I usually don't edit anything aside from history. I like all different types of History, as you can see in my Contribs. Redmarkviolinist Drop me a line 15:26, 29 January 2008 (UTC)

 Th e Tr ans hu man ist   07:58, 29 January 2008 (UTC)

Cool. In that case...

Collaboration
I'm pushing a collaboration to complete the list of basic space exploration topics.

Should be fun. Drop on by. ;) You can focus on the history section!

Also, see my post to User talk:Quiddity if you want to delve in deeper.

 Th e Tr ans hu man ist   08:52, 6 February 2008 (UTC)

History assignment
With Firefox, install Linky.

Then go to WikiProject Lists of basic topics and highlight (select) a range of lists in the list there (up to 99).

Right click, then click "Linky", then click "load into tabs".

Click on the first tab with a list in it.

Scroll down to the history section and finish it. After saving the page...

Press Ctrl-W, then scroll down to the history section and finish it, repeat until all the tabs are gone.

Have fun.

 Th e Tr ans hu man ist   10:08, 6 February 2008 (UTC)

FYI
I resign.

I've moved this page to your userspace for safekeeping.

 Th e Tr ans hu man ist   03:43, 14 February 2008 (UTC)

RfA talk
I think we need to discuss RfA a bit, given your recent poorly-thought out RfA. I won't go over the nomination, since I expect to nominate you, but the other parts I found a bit lacking in your own RfA. For one, it's the convention not to bold your answers. Additionally, it's best not to transclude it onto the RfA page until you've answered all the questions.

People on RfA, as you can see, don't like fancy user pages like yours with the fanciness fringing on the readability. I'd recommend you change your design.

One last thing, on passing RfA: A very high edit count is no guarantee of passing RfA. In fact, it paradoxically decreases chances. The reason is that very experienced, high-edit-count users often get in things I like to call "controversies". Take User:Dihydrogen Monoxide. A very good user, suited (well, in my opinion) for adminship, but he hasn't passed yet (though the last one came close). Why? Because of a certain controversy a while ago when he posted private chatlogs in his userspace, as well as some more minor incidents recently. In fact, your old coach (The Transhumanist) is another example of an user with a high edit count not passing RfA, due to certain controversial actions that the RfA voters disliked.

RfA voters do not like "ZOMG DRAMA" users (well, I don't, and I often find many in agreement), which is ironic given the amount of drama that has happened there in the past. Nousernamesleft copper, not wood 01:24, 22 February 2008 (UTC)


 * Ok. Thanks for all the information. Redmarkviolinist Drop me a line 16:20, 22 February 2008 (UTC)


 * Do you have any questions about RfA? Nousernamesleft copper, not wood 02:47, 23 February 2008 (UTC)

Wikibreak
I'll be back quite soon, definitely by April, and probably by mid-March. Nousernamesleft copper, not wood 20:12, 23 February 2008 (UTC)
 * Meh, on second thought, I have enough time to coach you. I'll just coach you for the next month; I'll be back full-time on Wikipedia by April. Nousernamesleft copper, not wood 21:23, 24 February 2008 (UTC)

Assignment
I have an assignment for you: Get Battle of Marion through the Military History WikiProject's A-class review. There's no real deadline, but I suggest you try to finish within a month. The recent peer review should help you along. Nousernamesleft copper, not wood 02:06, 1 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Got it. Redmarkviolinist Drop me a line 21:08, 3 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Try to address all concerns as promptly as possible. A good example of how I did it was here. I did a quick automated MOS fix-up of the article, which should help some. Here's an updated auto-generated peer review:

Nousernamesleft copper, not wood 00:57, 6 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Per Wikipedia:Context and Wikipedia:Manual of Style (dates), months and days of the week generally should not be linked. Years, decades, and centuries can be linked if they provide context for the article.[?]
 * Watch for redundancies that make the article too wordy instead of being crisp and concise. (You may wish to try Tony1's redundancy exercises.)
 * Vague terms of size often are unnecessary and redundant - “some”, “a variety/number/majority of”, “several”, “a few”, “many”, “any”, and “all”. For example, “ All pigs are pink, so we thought of a number of ways to turn them green.”
 * Address all the concerns, then try again, I wouldn't have suggested going for it immediately, but since you did, go ahead and use the suggestions in preparation for your second. Nousernamesleft copper, not wood 01:41, 10 March 2008 (UTC)
 * I'm actually, this time, going on Wikibreak until April. When I'm back, hopefully you'll have this done. Nousernamesleft copper, not wood 21:19, 10 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Back early. I suggest you continue working on the article. Nousernamesleft copper, not wood 21:53, 16 March 2008 (UTC)
 * I've had midterms, and I have been really busy lately. I haven't had any time for a while. Redmarkviolinist Drop me a line 16:51, 20 March 2008 (UTC)
 * Okay, feel free to take time, then. I might work on the article a while in my spare time. Nousernamesleft copper, not wood 01:43, 21 March 2008 (UTC)