User talk:Alain08/Archive1

i'm impressed :)
i've been going through the pages u started on the greek agora and ancient greek remains and was really pleasantly surprised, for a new member (31-8-08) u're edits and articles are very well written and referenced, u may want to add more categories to make the articles more accessible. i hv 2 ask are u solely into greek culture cos the phoenicia artiule is an utter mess of unorganized scrap and coffee table infos, i gave up editing it because i donno where to start. i had a new layout done to make it one day a featured article and stopped there for lack of sources, if u happen to have some references plz share.. thx Eli  +  17:01, 9 June 2008 (UTC) oh and check this out, this is how i keep track of my contribs. http://toolserver.org/~interiot/cgi-bin/Tool1/wannabe_kate?username=Alain08&site=en.wikipedia.org

Phoenicia.org
I admire Salim Khalaf but his website is considered by many here a personal website and may lack factual accuracy in addition, some accuse him of over glorifying and writing "claims" since many articles on his website lack references. some even accuse him of being a new age fanatic and an "Atlantis advocate". If only i could find some academic books about the matter (the only ones i have found at virgin are coffee table books and very little yet important infos in one book called "l'univers phenicien" by french and Spanish scholars. And yes i do agree about splitting the article up but i'm afraid little is known about the Phoenicians themselves since they left very little written documents bcs they wrote on papyrus and goat skin which are perishable materials. My aim is to have an article similar to Ancient Egypt it' s very very well written but i will not take part in such an undertaking without proper and sufficient references. I wish there was a historian/archeologist amongst us at WP:LEB; we do need expert help.  Eli  +  19:30, 9 June 2008 (UTC)

nice job
nice job on the tourism article, i wasnt helping out, i was busy on Jeita Grotto, i think both articles are much better now. Eli +  05:02, 14 June 2008 (UTC)

Said Akl
Hey mate, i'm sorry to say much effort is spent by Lebanese wikipedians in monitoring and editing political articles and little is spent to honor literary figures such as Said Akl. You will also find more and more missing articles the more you browse. if you need help, i'm more than willing to do what i can with what i know and please remember to add the article's name you wish to see created on the to do list in WP:LEB and we'll see what we can do. Eli +  05:29, 16 June 2008 (UTC)

jeita made it!!
Jeita Grotto made it to the main page's "did you know" section   Eli  +  10:24, 17 June 2008 (UTC)

Re: Tourism
Hey mate, i agree with you in some points but rural tourism is as big as nightlife, i explain, the wine domains which opened their premises for visitors, like massaya and kefraya are very very big right now (especially massaya) i just need to find some reliable sources to cite and will expand the section, when i have some more spare time..

about nightlife, it ought to be given a level 2 ==headline== of its own. i cant believe i missed that!!!

totally with you on the pic issue, the ship actually speaks better of Lebanese historical identity and personality. in any way, the whole template needs a total makeover

i think we omitted speleology in our "tourism" outdoors section,

thank you for sharing your concerns. Eli +  17:45, 18 June 2008 (UTC)

aywa templates!!!!
Great job on economy template ++++ Eli  +  20:04, 18 June 2008 (UTC)

doha fixed
thank u for your notification, the Doha agreement page was redirected. Alain i call you to be bold and fix POV if you ever see'em in sensitive articles. these examples were actually there once "the pro-western zionist Siniora government" or "the persian terrorist state of Hizballa". terms like these discredit the editor. seek always to convey the truth regardless of your opinion Eli  +  15:35, 26 June 2008 (UTC)
 * btw i avoid these articles myself so i dont blame anyone for not fixing pov's in these .... Eli +  15:36, 26 June 2008 (UTC)

alphabet
Hey Alain, from what I know, the Phoenician alphabet ( which is a product of Byblos) was preceded by a syllabic script which was called the Byblos syllabary, many sources date the syllabary to around 1500 bc and 1400 bc (you'll see this one in the museum's upper floor on a bronze tablet in the bronze age section facing the Jnah pottery stand). Nevertheless this does not rule out the possibility of a dual script usage. I have to note that sources underline that the Phoenician Alphabet and the ugaritic cuneiform alphabet are totally unrelated. Some outdated references place the Phoenician alphabet in the ambiguous period of "end of the second millenium" but another source states that the Phoenician alphabet took its final shape and direction in the late 12 century BC. Another source  states that Gublite pseudo-hieroglyphs (syllabary) was used until the 13 century bc, i.e. until the establishment of the phoenician alphabet. this source also mentions a spear head with both syllabary and phoenician alphabetical writings n the opposite sides. I tend to agree with these since most sources also place this script at around 1100 bc.

As for your dates:
 * the legend of Cadmus, the source is not well cited, Herodotus actually writes: "Now the Dionysus who was called the son of Semele, daughter of Cadmus, was about sixteen hundred years before my time, and Heracles son of Alcmene about nine hundred years..." Dionysus was about 1600 years before Herodotus' time, but this makes no difference anyways. Herodotus is a historian who mixes facts with myths. I wouldn't be bothered in changing the date on that article.


 * 1000BC is too soon, the Ahirom sarcophagus is older than the given date and it's not the oldest support for the phoenician script in any case.


 * 1500 BC is an acceptable approximation given that the Phoenician alphabet must have taken centuries to develop into its final shape around the end of the 12th century as cited earlier.

NB: The Gublite king Ribb-Ada, acknowledges in his letter to the pharaoh in 1370 BC the cultural influence of Egypt in rendering the Phoenician a " written language of inscription". One must understand the diplomatic language of that age to avoid biases. Eli +  21:49, 29 June 2008 (UTC)


 * in two words: around 1200 bc :) BTW WILL BE BACK with major edits to phoenicia when ill hv more time (lots of that)  Eli  +  21:54, 29 June 2008 (UTC)

Lebanese Army Page
Thank you for your contribution on the Lebanese Armed Forces page. Mainly for the units emblems, I had uploaded them before, then they started being marked for deletion, so I fixed only few then got busy and couldn't continue fixing the rest.

Now concerning the history section, I believe we should separate between combat history (which includes recent events) and te formation history, so far there is no text about the formation of the Lebanese army and its early days, but I'm planning to do. I'm always creating new pages that are related to the LAF or expanding some, for example Lebanese Navy SEALs Regiment, Rayak Air Base, Lebanese Special Operations Command, Lebanese Ministry of Defense, Lebanese Air Force, Military of Lebanon navbox template etc... and I'm planning to document even more stuff, I'm already marking them with with links. --Zaher1988 (talk) 10:16, 25 November 2008 (UTC)

Lebanese Army Page (2)
Hello Again thanks for your contribution. When I made that list, all what I was able to locate were those limited number of bases, indeed as you said, nothing much is usually mentioned on the LAF website. I have however added a notice message to expand that part, it's gone now, I didn't check who removed it.

By the way, concerning the list items, I'm only bolding those regiments and brigades that have additional information other than their name, I think it is better this way, and I suggest keeping with this standard.

--Zaher1988 (talk) 10:14, 25 November 2008 (UTC)

Lebanese Army Pages guideline
I have created this guideline, Lebanese Army pages management guideline, it will help contributors finding their way in to expand the LAF pages presence on Wikipedia. As you will see, it has a list of all pages to be added or expanded, it makes making the choice easier for contributors who are willing to do something,but haven't made their mind on what to change or create.

--Zaher1988 (talk) 11:16, 25 November 2008 (UTC)

Brigades
Hey Alain All these are outdated, the army undergo a major restructuring in 1990's some brigades were removed others added, some became regiments etc...

By the way, I have created a task force today WikiProject Military history/Lebanese Armed Forces task force --Zaher1988 (talk) 09:12, 27 November 2008 (UTC)

Orphaned non-free media (Image:LAF Flag.jpg)
Thanks for uploading Image:LAF Flag.jpg. The media description page currently specifies that it is non-free and may only be used on Wikipedia under a claim of fair use. However, it is currently orphaned, meaning that it is not used in any articles on Wikipedia. If the media was previously in an article, please go to the article and see why it was removed. You may add it back if you think that that will be useful. However, please note that media for which a replacement could be created are not acceptable for use on Wikipedia (see our policy for non-free media).

If you have uploaded other unlicensed media, please check whether they're used in any articles or not. You can find a list of 'image' pages you have edited by clicking on the "my contributions" link (it is located at the very top of any Wikipedia page when you are logged in), and then selecting "Image" from the dropdown box. Note that all non-free media not used in any articles will be deleted after seven days, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. Thank you. BJBot (talk) 05:20, 28 November 2008 (UTC)

New template
Nice new template... are you planning to expand it more or keep that for the navigation box??? Btw...check Operation Benin, created today..

--Zaher1988 (talk) 21:56, 29 November 2008 (UTC)
 * yeah i was thinking that, to keep it simple...

I am reporting all new created pages under the discussions of the task force, if you create a page too, please mention that there..

--Zaher1988 (talk) 22:09, 29 November 2008 (UTC)

Aviation School
Good work at the aviation school !! I in order also did Fouad Shehab Command and Staff College today... --Zaher1988 (talk) 21:53, 30 November 2008 (UTC)

Articles
Hello Thank you for contact me.
 * Concerning the Legion of the Orient, basically we can write the part that is concerned with the Lebanese, and in case any other one wants to expand it to include their country they can. What do you think?
 * Nahr el Bared and Nahr al-Bared are basically the same, "al" sounds more like in formal arabic though. The page 2007 Lebanese Conflict speaks about NEB in addition to the security issues that were related to it, this is why i guess they called it conflict rather than specifying a specific battle, basically this is the only page that talks about the details of NEB, and that's why all links go to it.
 * Very nice article, i must work on it once I finish this work that's in my hands, which is keeping me busy...

I have also something to suggest, I was thinking to add the regiment or Brigade of each martyr on their lists. Finally, thank you for your contributions!--Zaher1988 (talk) 10:25, 4 December 2008 (UTC)
 * Yeah, and/or this template:

AfD nomination of List of Lebanese Army Martyrs during War 2006
I have nominated List of Lebanese Army Martyrs during War 2006, an article that you created, for deletion. I do not think that this article satisfies Wikipedia's criteria for inclusion, and have explained why at Articles for deletion/List of Lebanese Army Martyrs during War 2006. Your opinions on the matter are welcome at that same discussion page; also, you are welcome to edit the article to address these concerns. Thank you for your time. Ironholds (talk) 10:54, 5 December 2008 (UTC)

AfD nomination of List of Lebanese Army Martyrs during Nahr el Bared Operation
I have nominated List of Lebanese Army Martyrs during Nahr el Bared Operation, an article that you created, for deletion. I do not think that this article satisfies Wikipedia's criteria for inclusion, and have explained why at Articles for deletion/List of Lebanese Army Martyrs during Nahr el Bared Operation. Your opinions on the matter are welcome at that same discussion page; also, you are welcome to edit the article to address these concerns. Thank you for your time. Ironholds (talk) 10:54, 5 December 2008 (UTC)

Deleted Pages
Weird! I mean what is that reason! we are trying to honor our brave soldiers... Anyway, keep the data of war 2006 list aside, you know there is a page for the attack on the Independent Construction Regiment, part of that list can be added there... Hard luck for you, though your time and effort were lost for a glorious reason... Sorry I'm not contributing much these few days, but work is above my head! --Zaher1988 (talk) 20:27, 5 December 2008 (UTC)
 * Sorry, just saw this (I was the one who nominated it for deletion). Please see WP:NOTMEMORIAL; Wikipedia is not a memorial to remember people who have died. Such people must satisfy Wikipedia's Notability Requirements, and from looking at the page most of them did not. As a word of warning; you may run into the same problem (or really should) if you post it on other pages. In addition please don't use words such as "Martyr"; it introduces bias into the page. Wikipedia is first and foremost a neutral encyclopaedia, and using language like that does more harm than help.Ironholds (talk) 10:06, 6 December 2008 (UTC)
 * Coolies, nice to get that sorted out. No problem; everyone makes mistakes, and as long as they're in good faith I have no problem with that. Ironholds (talk) 13:00, 6 December 2008 (UTC)
 * Never mind all sorted out, it's okay --Zaher1988 (talk) 09:17, 7 December 2008 (UTC)