User:Redrose64

Redrose64 is a Wikipedian who has found that whilst there are many excellent articles, there are still some which could do with improvement. Not all are accurate or reliably sourced:. Thus, I decided to become an editor. My primary concerns are coverage of the British railway system, and certain records and their labels; hence the userboxes at right.[bad style - changes from third to first person in same paragraph] Every so often something annoys me and I become something of a gnome. My platypoid tendencies occasionally manifest themselves in other ways (a b c d).

About me
Just so that you know: I do not appreciate being called a racist or a sexist, even to my face. Evidence is required.

What do I do?
I am a computer programmer by profession, with diverse interests in many apparently unrelated areas. I've tried to show that by means of userboxes; unfortunately, if formatted as a single column, it turned out to be rather long but was still not exhaustive. Since it got a bit silly, I've shunted most of them into a siding. A few have been retained, placed alongside relevant paragraphs as illustration.

My programming skills are mainly in DataFlex and PFXplus (also known as Powerflex). I also have experience in HTML.

This page might look messy; just as I worked out how HTML is done, I find Wikipedia with its strange ways of doing lists, tables etc. - and I can't always find the template that I like. However, hopefully my contributions are much neater.

You won't find me on TubeFace or SpaceBook; I don't tweet, blog, share files or anything else like that. I know that some people have great fun doing such things, but it's not my bag.

About my computer
Not so long ago it was state of the art. But no longer. I can't keep on buying new kit just because some silly software salesman in Seattle says that their stuff needs it. So, by doing nothing, I move backwards.



Browsers installed

 * Google Chrome 19.0.1084.52
 * Microsoft Internet Explorer 7.0.5730.13
 * Mozilla Firefox 12.0 (as from 6 May 2012)
 * Opera 11.64 (Build 1403)
 * Safari 5.1 (7534.50)

Why Redrose64?
The red rose is the badge of the Duchy of Lancaster and my family mostly come from Lancashire. My favourite football team has a red rose in its badge; my favourite cricket county has a red rose on their cap; and (coincidentally) I have friends in the Welsh village of Rhos-goch. Sometimes, it's because of Burns Night.

I was born in 1964, and the number 64 seems to come up in my life more often than the law of averages might suggest. It is also an exact power of 2, and therefore significant to a computer programmer.

Where am I?
I have always lived in England, presently in Didcot. Strangely, my IP address always geolocates to a wildly incorrect location: sometimes it's in Olney, Buckinghamshire; maybe in Ruislip; or Cheapside, London - opposite St Mary-le-Bow; the middle of the Thames at 51.4964°N, -0.1224°W; Edgware Road, Kilburn; or even western Sheffield (all being places where I have never lived); but normally it's 51.5°N, -0.13°W, which is the Methodist Central Hall Westminster (work that out if you can) - this is 79.13 km away from the truth (check your own ). My mother has a different broadband supplier and lives 30 miles from me, but when at home, her laptop's IP address also geolocates to 51° 30′ 0″ N, 0° 7′ 48″ W, which is nuts. I have previously lived at Stonehouse, Corby, Telford, Bolton, Blackburn and Barford St. Michael. When living in Bolton, I lived opposite John Marshall (railway historian).


 * Nearest river: River Thames
 * Nearest canal (navigable): Oxford Canal (disused):Wilts & Berks Canal
 * Nearest railway line: Great Western Main Line
 * Nearest main road: A4130 road
 * Nearest secondary road: B4493 road
 * Nearest cycle route: National Cycle Route 5, five minutes ride away. Which (if I follow it for 37 mi) takes me within one minute's ride of my mother's house.
 * Earthquakes felt consciously: 1990 Bishop's Castle earthquake, 2 April 1990, felt at a distance of 133.2 km; also the Warwick Earthquake of 23 September 2000, felt at a distance of 77.81 km.
 * Loudest noise heard: Buncefield explosion, 11 December 2005 (the shockwave woke me up, then I heard it) at a distance of 60.15 km

I have been to other countries (always as a tourist), see box at top of section. It's chronological, so sorry to Scots everywhere. I have visited every traditional county in England, the last to be crossed off being Sussex in about 1999. However, I've not yet been to some of the new-fangled counties/unitary authorities such as Cleveland.

Former colleagues
Well, since most of us edit Wikipedia under pseudonyms, I can't be certain who anybody is, but I'm pretty sure that Mermade worked with me for some 15 years. Hello!

Wikipedians I have met

 * Meetups are great places to meet other Wikipedians. At these, at Wikimania London 2014, and elsewhere, I have met:
 * 9th Coventry Wikimeet 03.jpg; some of these people are named here]] ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·  ·
 * There have been others. Sorry, I can't remember everybody's handles. I may have met but can't be sure. I have met some people who have edited under IP addresses - these have been omitted deliberately.

Awards
by SquidSK by DYKadminBot. Article received 448 hits on 29 January 2010 by Mjroots

by Mjroots by Jaguar

by DYKUpdateBot. Article received 1137 hits on 29 January 2011

by DYKUpdateBot. Article received 1459 hits on 12 February 2011 by MarnetteD by GeorgeLouis.

by DYKUpdateBot. Article received 3596 hits on 23 July 2011

by Bob Castle by Dannymol.

Userboxes
There are several scattered about this page, partly as illustration of the paragraph alongside, but mainly to brighten the place up a bit. There are well over 100 that I wanted to incorporate, but if formatted as a single column they took up too much space, so most of the rest have been moved to a userboxes sub-page. Some were removed because the Great Renaming Plan of April 2015 turned them into redlinks.

Politics
In the UK there are several political parties; I have supported some of them, but not all. In the United States they have two parties, let's hear what one politician from each party has said: "And tonight I have the high privilege and distinct honor of my own as the first president to begin the State of the Union message with these words: Madam Speaker." "Madam Speaker, Madam Vice President. No president has ever said those words from this podium ... And it's about time."

Editing
Virtually all my edits have been on either English Wikipedia or Wikimedia Commons. Whether good or (hopefully not) bad, all edits that I have done are recorded as by Redrose64, with the following exceptions: However, no other edits of any page from those IP addresses or accounts were mine. When editing from home, my normal IP address is dynamic, and begins 87; but the other three groups vary on a daily basis.
 * 1) 82.109.193.99 12:53, 29 April 2009 - Matty Grooves Records ; this was before I registered
 * 213.232.79.146 14:59, 21 October 2009 - c:User talk:Redrose64 ; I didn't realise that the browser I was using didn't pass on all cookies that it should have
 * 1) 87.114.117.131 13:12, 4 March 2010 - Chaucer coming in contact with Petrarch or Boccaccio ; whilst carrying out this edit, I somehow became logged out. No idea why.
 * 2) 194.81.226.131 18:42, 11 November 2016 - Talk:LMS Coronation Class ; in public library, so intentionally not logged in
 * 3) 94.118.5.104 15:29, 21 May 2017 and 15:32, 21 May 2017 - Talk:Senna glycoside ; somebody else's mobile device
 * 4) 94.118.94.134 16:56, 21 May 2017 - User talk:RexxS ; somebody else's mobile device
 * 5) Whispyhistory 14:21, 20 August 2017 - Charles Singer and 14:34, 20 August 2017 - User talk:Redrose64 ; assisting another user at a meetup

For the purposes of testing various features under circumstances of low user permissions, I have created account

Naughtiness
My alleged misdemeanours, such as they are, are recorded. Despite these, I seem to have been given some on 14 June 2010. [//en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special%3ALog&type=thanks&page=User%3ARedrose64 It's not all been bad].

Non-English editing
I have done a few, mainly to fix up mistakes by non-English speakers which a 'bot then propagated back to the English article, also to fix up errors copied verbatim from English Wikipedia. I've also set up a number of interlanguage links. They have all gone on as Redrose64 though; these edits on other Wikipedias were mine: ar:خاص:مساهمات/Redrose64; eu:Berezi:Ekarpenak/Redrose64; be:Адмысловае:Contributions/Redrose64; bs:Posebno:Doprinos/Redrose64; br:Dibar:Degasadennoù/Redrose64; bg:Специални:Приноси/Redrose64; zh-yue:Special:貢獻/Redrose64; ca:Especial:Contribucions/Redrose64; zh:Special:用户贡献/Redrose64; ksh:Extra:Beidräch/Redrose64; hr:Posebno:Doprinosi/Redrose64; cs:Speciální:Příspěvky/Redrose64; da:Speciel:Bidrag/Redrose64; nl:Speciaal:Bijdragen/Redrose64; eo:Specialaĵo:Kontribuoj/Redrose64; et:Eri:Kaastöö/Redrose64; fi:Toiminnot:Muokkaukset/Redrose64; fr:Spécial:Contributions/Redrose64; ka:სპეციალური:წვლილი/Redrose64; de:Spezial:Beiträge/Redrose64; el:Ειδικό:Συνεισφορές/Redrose64; hu:Speciális:Szerkesztő_közreműködései/Redrose64; id:Istimewa:Kontribusi pengguna/Redrose64; it:Speciale:Contributi/Redrose64; ja:特別:投稿記録/Redrose64; ko:특수기능:기여/Redrose64; lv:Special:Contributions/Redrose64; lt:Specialus:Indėlis/Redrose64; lb:Spezial:Kontributiounen/Redrose64; mk:Специјална:Придонеси/Redrose64; ms:Khas:Sumbangan/Redrose64; no:Spesial:Bidrag/Redrose64; or:ବିଶେଷ:ଅବଦାନ/Redrose64; fa:ویژه:مشارکت‌ها/Redrose64; pl:Specjalna:Wkład/Redrose64; pt:Especial:Contribuições/Redrose64; ro:Special:Contribuții/Redrose64; ru:Служебная:Contributions/Redrose64; sh:Posebno:Doprinosi/Redrose64; simple:Special:Contributions/Redrose64; si:විශේෂ:දායකත්ව/Redrose64; sk:Špeciálne:Príspevky/Redrose64; es:Especial:Contribuciones/Redrose64; sv:Special:Bidrag/Redrose64; tl:Natatangi:Mga ambag/Redrose64; th:พิเศษ:เรื่องที่เขียน/Redrose64; tr:Özel:Katkılar/Redrose64; uk:Спеціальна:Contributions/Redrose64; ur:خاص:شراکتیں/Redrose64; vi:Đặc biệt:Đóng góp/Redrose64; vo:Patikos:Keblünots/Redrose64; cy:Arbennig:Contributions/Redrose64. For some reason, the am:ልዩ:Contributions/Redrose64, an:Especial:Contrebucions/Redrose64, bn:বিশেষ:Contributions/Redrose64, bar:Spezial:Beiträge/Redrose64, bh:विशेष:योगदान/Redrose64, ckb:تایبەت:بەشدارییەکان/Redrose64, arz:خاص:مساهمات/Redrose64; eml:Speciale:Contributi/Redrose64; hi:विशेष:Contributions/Redrose64; kk:Арнайы:Үлесі/Redrose64; lij:Speçiale:Contribûti/Redrose64; ml:പ്രത്യേകം:സംഭാവനകൾ/Redrose64; ary:خاص:مساهمات/Redrose64; pa:ਖ਼ਾਸ:ਯੋਗਦਾਨ/Redrose64; tg:Вижа:Contributions/Redrose64 and tcy:ವಿಸೇಸೊ:Contributions/Redrose64 Wikipedias, and Wikisource have noticed me. I had difficulty logging in at ur:Special:Contributions/87.113.74.125 where I could only edit anonymously. See also List of WikiMedia accounts; [//tools.wmflabs.org/quentinv57-tools/tools/sulinfo.php?username=Redrose64&showinactivity=1&showlocked=1 SUL Info] (see bottom for unattached accounts); [//tools.wmflabs.org/guc/index.php?user=Redrose64 Recent contributions on all projects]

Other WikiMedia projects

 * Commons (watchlist) - besides uploading a few dozen images myself, I've categorised over two thousand images uploaded by others
 * Incubator (watchlist) - for some reason, they've noticed me
 * MediaWiki (watchlist)
 * Meta (watchlist) - mainly for Meetups
 * Wikidata (watchlist)
 * Wikinews (watchlist)
 * Wikivoyage (watchlist)
 * Wiktionary (watchlist)

Related

 * Wikimedia UK (watchlist)

Done
Most of my editing has been amendments to existing articles. I also fix vandalism as and when I encounter it. However, I do claim to be the creator of:
 * 1) See here for verification. The list produced by this link shows four pages (LNER electric units, 2 January 2011; Alexandra Park railway station, 12 January 2011; Edmund Ward, 1 August 2011; Mid-Kent Railway, 9 December 2011) in addition to the above. These were created as redirects by me but have been expanded either to full articles (Mid-Kent Railway) or to disambiguation pages (others) by other people.


 * 1) For some reason, in some edit counters, articles which are purely redirects also count towards the total, so to resolve the discrepancy, I admit to being responsible for setting up over 150 redirects, some of which were as a result of page moves. See here for verification.

To find out how many times an article is accessed daily: Wikipedia article traffic statistics - make sure that both date and article are filled in suitably. Thanks to Henrik via Piano non troppo.

Templates

 * Navboxes:
 * Railway stations: ; ; ;
 * Closed stations: ; ; ; ;
 * Succ boxes: ; ; ; ; ;
 * Colours for rail succ boxes: ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;
 * Route Diagrams: ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;
 * Stubs: ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;
 * Books: ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;
 * Editnotices: ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;
 * Meetup months: ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;
 * Other: ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;
 * 1) See [//tools.wmflabs.org/xtools/pages/index.php?user=Redrose64&project=en.wikipedia.org&namespace=10&redirects=noredirects here] for verification, except for those deleted.
 * 2) This list includes deleted templates, but excludes redirects and certain types of subpage such as /doc, /sandbox and /testcases.

Other non-talk namespaces
[//tools.wmflabs.org/xtools/pages/index.php?user=Redrose64&project=en.wikipedia.org&namespace=2&redirects=noredirects User]; [//tools.wmflabs.org/xtools/pages/index.php?user=Redrose64&project=en.wikipedia.org&namespace=4&redirects=noredirects Wikipedia]; [//tools.wmflabs.org/xtools/pages/index.php?user=Redrose64&project=en.wikipedia.org&namespace=6&redirects=noredirects File]; [//tools.wmflabs.org/xtools/pages/index.php?user=Redrose64&project=en.wikipedia.org&namespace=14&redirects=noredirects Category].


 * Longest interval between and its effects being : $5 1/2$ years.
 * I've created several all-capitals shortcots in Project namespace. Here they are: (December 2011);  (May 2016);  (November 2013);  (July 2011);  (August 2021);  (August 2021);  (May 2011);  (November 2013);  (October 2013);  (February 2011);  (March 2018);  (March 2019);  (June 2019); and  (August 2013). I'm rather surprised at just how many I'd forgotten creating, even though I've used most of them several times recently - I'd assumed that they had been created by others. Of those I do recall creating, it's gratifying to see so many in widespread usage.

To do
Go through the whole of Wikipedia and check that it's 100% correct. Failing that, concentrate on improving the stubs.
 * If I get bored of that, here are some hidden categories that ought to be empty, but never are: Category:Articles using citation needed template with unnamed parameter; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; Category:Pages with incorrect ref formatting; ; Category:Pages with missing references list; Category:ParserFunction errors; ; Category:Stub message boxes needing attention; Category:United Kingdom railway station stubs; Category:Unreferenced rail transport articles; Category:Unusual parameters of Infobox locomotive template; Category:Unusual parameters of Infobox train template; Category:Unusual parameters of Infobox station template (from A).
 * Also, some generated lists (which do age) selected from Database reports:
 * Database reports/Articles containing overlapping coordinates - ;
 * Database reports/Broken WikiProject templates - ;
 * Database reports/Categories categorized in red-linked categories - ;
 * Database reports/Deleted red-linked categories - ;
 * Database reports/Dubious stub categories - ;
 * Database reports/Invalid Navbar links - ;
 * Database reports/Self-categorized categories - ;
 * Database reports/Stubs included directly in stub categories -.
 * Admin related - administrators' how-to guide; administrators' reading list; new admin school; ; ; ; ; ; Articles for deletion/Administrator instructions; ; WP:BP; WP:IPB;.

Railway Electrification prior to 1956 - based on notes originally placed in Talk:Sale, Greater Manchester

Rewrite UK-relevant portions of Right- and left-hand traffic to describe gradual change from RHD to LHD, particularly in case of large boiler and left-hand signals. Mention Milton 1955. Mention also that some rlys were RH running, such as M&B. Mention early GWR rule about direction on each line. In Bidirectional traffic, see what can be done for referencing, particularly UK.

Checking/significant expansion req: Ainsworth Road Halt railway station, Baguley railway station, Barton Moss railway station, Cheadle LNWR railway station, Cross Lane railway station, Ellenbrook railway station, Worsley, Maltby railway station, Malvern Link railway station, Pendleton Bridge railway station, Seedley railway station, The Happiness Patrol, Weaste railway station

Railway Stations
Could do with an article Railways in Oxfordshire.

Navboxes for open/closed stations for single county or unitary authority may be found in Category:Rail transport navigational boxes of the United Kingdom or its subcats. Several are categorised as stubs, but in the wrong stub category. Berks, Bucks, Hants and Oxon should be in ; Glos and Wilts in ; Northants in ; Worcs and Warks in.

On the Talk page, use the TWP banner (removing parameter pairs as required): WikiProject banners for counties include ; ; ; ; (see also projects within Category:WikiProject England)

Useful strings to copy&paste
Line and station closed

Line closed, station open

Line open, station closed

Line and station open use final name of station per Butt 1995 p.xxx and WP:NC (UK stations)

To find links to a page that don't go through a navbox, use the query  - of course that fails to find those that go through  and similar.

Barford St. John and St. Michael
Why do these two villages - which have three articles between them - warrant so much less total coverage than neighbouring South Newington? I've nothing against the latter place - I just feel that the Barfords could get a bit more. St. John has more than St. Michael - and it's tiny by comparison.

Idea for that: go to field (the old cricket field) in Barford St. John, stand on N bank of river near the water pipe or the weir, and take photo showing bridge, and if poss, include Woodworm Studios in the shot. Put it on the Barford St. John and St. Michael page. Caption it Bridge over the River Swere connecting Barford St. John to Barford St. Michael. Add comment stating that the bridge is a multiple hazard to motoring; the road narrows at this point, turns through a sharp bend, and the bridge is hump-backed. Both parapets show signs of frequent repair as motorists misjudge the road. In winter, the road often floods across its whole width for some distance either side of the bridge. If poss, also note that the Woodworm Studios is on the left of the picture.

Get something about the river from Peter Sheasby's book. Also on the two churches from that book "Churches of the Banbury Area". Is there something on St. Mary's, Cropredy in that? Is there any "Field Names Survey" stuff left (Bond, J. and others).