User talk:Briangotts/archive 2007

Removing Maimonides from the list
See my responses at Talk:List of Muslim converts. Thanks for your prompts. IZAK 04:21, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

Thank you for your consideration
Thank you for the consideration you gave to my RfA. To be chosen as an administrator requires a high level of confidence by a broad section of the community. Although I received a great deal of support, at this time I do not hold the level of confidence required, and the RfA did not pass. You were one of the oppose votes, and raised concerns. I am more than willing to discuss those concerns with you if you are interested. Please let me know. Sincerely, --BostonMA talk 12:09, 4 January 2007 (UTC)


 * It's nothing personal. But the views you've raised on Muhammad and elsewhere, that amount to censorship to avoid injuring religious sensibilities, are abhorrent to me and counter to the goals of this project. While it's your right to believe and say what you wish, I will continue to strenuously oppose your adminship so long as you profess them. Briangotts (Talk) (Contrib) 14:25, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

Patent nonsense
Dear Brian. User:EMT1871 has kindly warned me that the article Runestone U 29 is patent nonsense and tagged it for speedy deletion. What is your opinion?--Berig 17:44, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

A Norse saga told on runestones
Dear Brian, your article on the raven banner is already very interesting. I have little to add at the moment. If you are interested in a dramatic Norse saga on two women in 11th century Sweden, there is something as unusual as a completely historic one told on a series of runestones: Ekerö Runestone, Färentuna Runestones, Snåttsta Runestones, Broby bro Runestones, Harg Runestones and Uppland Rune Inscriptions 101, 143 and 147. The story has a continuation in the famous Jarlabanke Runestones, but I have not written that article yet ;).--Berig 00:04, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

Raven banner
Hello Brian. It looks good; a major expansion indeed! I knew the Sigurd story, but some of the rest are new, including the fact that it appeared on a coin. I'll have a dig through my stuff and see if there's anything I can add. There may be something in some of my Anglo-Saxon books. I wonder if there's any Irish stuff which is relevant? I'll let you know if I find anything. Happy New Year! Angus McLellan (Talk) 16:00, 5 January 2007 (UTC)


 * I have added a section that I thought should be relevant.--Berig 20:51, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

Your world maps
Following your note on my Talk Page, I have looked at your world maps (e.g. Image:World 200 BCE.PNG. They are a noble undertaking and lots of hard work -- I wish you luck.  I have a particular joy in seeing a series of consistent maps like yours.

I would suggest that you upload them in Commons, but that's not big deal. Keep at 'em, MapMaster 01:22, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

Your GA nomination of Raven_banner
The article Raven_banner you nominated as a good article has been placed on hold. It hasn't failed because it's basically a good article, but there are some minor changes or clarifications needed to be addressed. If these are fixed within seven days, the article will pass, otherwise it will fail. See Talk:Raven_banner for things needed to be addressed.

The article is not bad, but does require some cleaning up and attention to sources and citing. Overall, though, it's off to a good start.

Fenevad 20:14, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

Ha-Redeye: Jewish "Swahilis"?
Hi brian, do you have any idea if this article Ha-Redeye really adds up? Thanks, IZAK 08:48, 11 January 2007 (UTC)

License tagging for Image:Ottoman Jewish.png
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Your thoughts...
A new spelling for BS? Tom e rtalk 06:31, 12 January 2007 (UTC)
 * Surely you tried this gsearch. I don't doubt the existence of Jews or even Jewish communities in Malaysia...my primary objection is to the article name.  Shabath shalom. Tom e rtalk  19:51, 12 January 2007 (UTC)
 * That sounds much better to me...but consider:
 * Jews of Malaysia gsearch returns 1 hit, which is a blog, and the "Jews of Malaysia" are Chinese shopkeepers in Malaysia.
 * Malaysian Jews gsearch returns 24 hits, one of which is a joke.
 * Penang Jews gsearch returns 71 hits, a number of which, at a glance, appear to be WP mirrors.
 * Jews of Penang gsearch returns 2 hits, both of which appear, at first blush (all the time I took to review them) to be potentially useful sources of information.
 * Tom e rtalk 20:26, 12 January 2007 (UTC)

Viking_expansion.png
Hi Brian, Your map at Viking, Section Expansions of the Vikings is really helpful, thank you. However, could it be improved? The projection used exaggerates the distances to Greenland and North America. Also, the eastern side of Greenland shouldn't be shaded, should it, and wasn't there only one settlement in North America? SmokeyJoe 22:47, 12 January 2007 (UTC)
 * I take back the projection point. It's pretty good, especially considering that the focus is Europe. SmokeyJoe 09:46, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

I've made some adjustments and added a few location names and explanatory note about Vinland. Briangotts (Talk) (Contrib) 16:43, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

A debate
Hi Brian! I am having a discussion with an adherent of the Götaland theory who is resorting to personal attacks at Talk:King of the Geats. If you are not too busy, could you please check whether I am not discussing too rashly and if needed mediate?--Berig 22:23, 15 January 2007 (UTC) Merge content and Delete

Ukrainian-German collaboration during World War II
Hi! I saw your interests page, and I wish to explain a bit situation with mentioned history-related article.

In fact, we don't want to erase content of this, it will be merged into more global article like "Occupation of Ukraine".

Also, as you can notice, current version of article contains >50% about Holocaust, it's not the primary goal of it. If it will be merged into Occupation of Ukraine it will be more title-specific. Because at that times, there were Soviet people, not Ukrainians. And article particularly speaks about Jews.

Also, you mentioned, that article is referenced, but I want to tell you that most references are not valid, since citations were misinterpreted by editors. You can see talk page for more info. Briefly, the strongest accusations were provided from some journalist, which has only one article on history, and has no historical background at all.

Thanks for understanding, please provide your arguments. --Galkovsky 06:11, 18 January 2007 (UTC)

Your edits on Islam and antisemitism
Hello. You reverted my edits on Islam and antisemitism, citing "misrepresentations of historical sources". However, I have already cited historical sources, such as Ibn Kathir, as well as modern ones, such as Montgomery Watt. Also, if you think I have misrepresented the sources I have cited, then you can take a look at some Notes I made for the exact quote I have used to justify my edits. I'd appreciate it if you reconsidered the revert. I would much rather have some discussion before proceeding to make changes to the article itself.Bless sins 02:54, 19 January 2007 (UTC)

Requests for comment/Aminz
Please be informed that a request for comments has been started. Beit Or 21:01, 21 January 2007 (UTC)

My RfA
Thanks for your support in my RfA. I've felt it best to withdraw on this occasion and think about the good advice I received. Thanks again, Jakew 19:48, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

WikiProject Atlas
As you are a regular creator and uploader of maps to the commons, you might be interested to join the WikiProject Atlas at commons.wikimedia.org. I would like to invite you to join the project. Electionworld Talk?  08:29, 23 January 2007 (UTC)

The Military history WikiProject Newsletter: Issue XI - January 2007
The January 2007 issue of the Military history WikiProject newsletter has been published. You may read the newsletter, change the format in which future issues will be delivered to you, or unsubscribe from this notification by following the link. Thank you.

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Mel Mermelstein
Please see my comment here. Mhym 20:53, 23 January 2007 (UTC)

Ingjald Helgasson
It would be fair to say I know absolutely nothing about Ingjald Helgasson. But let me ask you one. Is there any sort of a consensus on who the "Halfdan" who was king of Jorvik around 870 was, or his successor "Guthred son of Hardicnut" who had once been a slave? I've been filling in gaps in the last few Northumbrian kings, and now I find we don't really have articles on the kings of York and Kings of Jorvik is pretty much content-free. Cheers! Angus McLellan (Talk) 20:46, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

WikiAtlas
Thanks for joining commons:Commons:WikiProject Atlas. Could you please add your country of origine and add the tasks/responsibilities you want to take up in the atlas. Electionworld Talk?  12:47, 30 January 2007 (UTC)

WP:MILHIST Coordinator Elections
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Petrus Alphonsi
You list article "Petrus Alphonsi" on your user page, so maybe you might have some ideas on merging duplicate articles "Petrus Alphonsi" and Peter Alfonsi into a single article, taking into account the comments on Talk:Petrus Alphonsi? I'm not really sure how to start... AnonMoos 21:03, 1 February 2007 (UTC)


 * Unfortunately Petrus Alphonsi seems to be based on the scholarship of 100 years ago, and contains some incorrect material. See talk page. AnonMoos 01:23, 2 February 2007 (UTC)

Berig
Hello Brian! Still haven't had time to read the stuff you sent, but I'll get round to it soon. Berig seems to have been a bit upset by a page protection see here. Can you maybe have a word with him and smooth things over? Thanks in advance, Angus McLellan (Talk) 18:03, 4 February 2007 (UTC)

Fringe theories?
Based on what do you make this claim ? To call theories offered by people with a knowledge neither of us possess for fringe theories just because you don't agree with them or based on an unsourced sentence given by a proponent of another theory, who himself makes no such claim, is not only unacademic, it's slander. Dusis 18:19, 5 February 2007 (UTC)


 * You apparently are unfamiliar with the definition of slander. Briangotts (Talk) (Contrib) 18:25, 5 February 2007 (UTC)


 * And perhaps you would answer the question? Dusis 18:27, 5 February 2007 (UTC)


 * The issue has been discussed in some detail on the talk page and I have no intention of recovering old ground. Briangotts (Talk) (Contrib) 18:52, 5 February 2007 (UTC)


 * This is the second time you avoid the question. If you don't know, it would make a more honest impression to say so. Nobody taking part in that particular discussion is an expert, so your edit would not be any less worth because of that. This issue has been discussed, but nobody has shown the two theories to be fringe theories, as you claim them to be. If you just wanted to help out a friend, as indicated by the comment by Angus McLellan, you could have said that. And lastly, I join in with Angus McLellan in wishing you manage to convince Berig to stay.Dusis 19:11, 5 February 2007 (UTC)


 * I am done discussing this with you. The discussion on the talk page and my independent research convinced me that the theories you were trying to present as mainstream were in fact fringe and that some of the sources cited did not quite say what you wanted them to say. Your taunting me on my talk page and misrepresenting my position is counter-productive; take your arguments to the article talk page. Briangotts (Talk) (Contrib) 19:28, 5 February 2007 (UTC)

Banu Qurayza
This article will probably never be stable because the facts will always need to be rationalized. Arrow740 22:16, 5 February 2007 (UTC)

Please take a look at that page, this anon is revert-warring. He is undoubtedly a banned user. Arrow740 22:30, 5 February 2007 (UTC)

We've got to do something about that guy. He appears to be the new version of this anon. Arrow740 00:28, 6 February 2007 (UTC)

Raven banner
I'll have a deep think. I checked my Ellis-Davidson books, but they don't really have much to say. Thanks for the heads-ups. Angus McLellan (Talk) 00:22, 6 February 2007 (UTC)

Controversies related to Islam and Muslims
The anon from Banu Qurayza is edit warring there. Beit Or 14:40, 6 February 2007 (UTC)

Abir (martial art) Article
Thanks for posting the photo on the article. Can you also post the picture you have of the Daghastani Jew? I am going to add some additional historical information later tonight.--EhavEliyahu 17:03, 6 February 2007 (UTC)


 * Thanks for adding in the photos.--EhavEliyahu 00:11, 7 February 2007 (UTC)

Nazuraiun
Hi Brian: What do you make of Nazuraiun? Thanks, IZAK 10:26, 7 February 2007 (UTC)

AFD
See Articles for deletion/Nazuraiun. Thank you. IZAK 13:47, 8 February 2007 (UTC)

Mahuza
Do you have sources for the short piece on Mahuza? I'd like to see the sources for the fact that Mahuza straddled the Tigris and that it encompassed Ctesiphon and Seleucia. Thanks --APerlin 15:09, 7 February 2007 (UTC)
 * I thought it was in Jewish Encyclopedia but I can't find it there. I'm sorry, but I don't know what the source was. Briangotts (Talk) (Contrib) 02:55, 9 February 2007 (UTC)

Proposing to merge List of basic classics topics to Classics
Seeking concensus on proposed merger at Talk:Classics. Cheers! Wassupwestcoast 01:27, 8 February 2007 (UTC)

Oberlander Jews
Hi Brian. I hope this finds you well. This article, Oberlander Jews, has been irritating me for quite a while. Is there some way the article can be improved/expanded/cited, or is it just someone's flight of fancy? Also asking Izak... Tom e rtalk 04:00, 12 February 2007 (UTC)
 * Well, according to Moses Sofer, the Chatham Sofer was born in Frankfurt (am Main) but died in Pressburg ( = Bratislava), so that one detail isn't quite enough to declare "hoax". I'm sure there were Jews in the Oberland, but I'm not sure they formed a particularly distinct regional group of Ashkenazim, as the article asserts.  Txírz, Tom e rtalk  04:17, 12 February 2007 (UTC)

Poor eiquette
Your edit here is considered "poor etiqutte", per the following:
 * "Marking a major change as a minor one is considered poor etiquette, especially if the change involves the deletion of some text."Help:Minor_edit

Next time, please maintain a level of accuracy in your edit summaries. ThanksBless sins 16:55, 13 February 2007 (UTC)


 * sigh. This user should note, of course, that rollbacks are automatically tagged as minor edits. There is nothing I could have done to prevent this from being done. Briangotts (Talk) (Contrib) 21:36, 13 February 2007 (UTC)

WikiProject Military History elections
The Military history WikiProject coordinator election has begun. We will be selecting seven coordinators to serve for the next six months from a pool of sixteen candidates. Please vote here by February 25!

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Æthelwald Moll of Northumbria
Hello Brian! Still digesting the stuff you sent. If you have five or ten minutes sometime, could you have a read through Æthelwald Moll of Northumbria (only 250 words or so in the text, excluding markup, boilerplate, and refs) with an eye to the prose? I'm curious as to whether a complete, reasonably written, MoS-conformant, properly referenced short article could possibly get through as a featured article. Thus the interest in "compelling prose"! Hope you're well. Best wishes, Angus McLellan (Talk) 23:03, 19 February 2007 (UTC)

Mediation
Briangotts, as you've commented on this issue at Talk:Muhammad, I direct you to Talk:Muhammad/Mediation where it is being decided.Proabivouac 02:13, 21 February 2007 (UTC)

Jose
I won't argue but it makes more sense to have there same words in the same page. Epson291 23:54, 24 February 2007 (UTC)
 * They are the same word and the same name. It should just be placed on one disamnbiguation page, not everyone has an accent keyboard. Epson291 06:02, 25 February 2007 (UTC)
 * Not going to argue about it. José is Joseph, Jose is the anglicization of Yose which is a different name. Briangotts (Talk) (Contrib) 02:30, 26 February 2007 (UTC)

The Military history WikiProject Newsletter: Issue XII - February 2007
The February 2007 issue of the Military history WikiProject newsletter has been published. You may read the newsletter, change the format in which future issues will be delivered to you, or unsubscribe from this notification by following the link. Thank you.

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Survey Invitation
Hi there, I am a research student from the National University of Singapore and I wish to invite you to do an online survey about Wikipedia. To compensate you for your time, I am offering a reward of USD$10, either to you or as a donation to the Wikimedia Foundation. For more information, please go to the research home page. Thank you. --WikiInquirer 23:55, 3 March 2007 (UTC)talk to me

Help
I believe I qualify as a Wiki Gnome. You are an advanced user. Please help me put a Gnome User Box on my personal page ...

Sincerely, Oemb1905 01:04, 4 March 2007 (UTC)

World Maps: Thanks and Praise
These are AWESOME. Incredibly interesting. It would be appreciated if the colors could represent some kind of scale. Just so you could appreciate the relative "advancement" of each part of the world. And for parts of the world that are all equally as advanced, but have different empires, do some kind of striped pattern. But also appreciated would just be MORE MAPS!


 * Thanks for your praise. I fully intend to add to the world map series when I have a free moment. I think the next one will be 1 CE. Briangotts (Talk) (Contrib) 04:24, 9 March 2007 (UTC)

I agree. More detail would be great. I suggest creating a separate site for these (if possible) and allowing the user to click on different regions (West Asia, South America, Europe, etc.) to view a more detailed separate map. It would take a LOT of time, but it would be an excellent resource. I'm salivating at the thought of it. But hey, I've never actually seen world maps before the late 1800s! Brutannica 20:09, 24 March 2007 (UTC)

Historical world maps
Your maps contain some inaccuracies regarding Ethiopia (here including Eritrea for simplicity). For instance, the 2000 BCE map shows Ethiopia as not having a bronze age culture and having instead hunter-gatherers, whereas the Bronze age begins about 3000 BCE in the region, around the time that complex cultures start to show up (3rd millenium BCE); Ethiopia in fact had two centers of cereal production: teff in the north, and enset in the south, both very early, ca. 13000 BCE, so its inaccurate to portray the region as only inhabited by hunter-gatherers. By 1000 BCE, there's a complex including the Tihama region of Yemen and the area that would be soon controlled by D'mt (which you spelled Damot, which would more correctly be Da`amat/Daamat, and also less confusingly). Also at this time there is Ironworking throughout this entire complex (at least on the African side). Damot doesn't show up on your maps until 323 BCE (right before its nadir when the Late pre-Aksumite period begins and Aksum, its successor kingdom, comes into existence), however, while it properly began ca. 800 BCE, and probably earlier (but the earliest inscriptions mentioning D'mt are from the 8th c. BCE). Going back to the Yemen side, Saba's first inscriptions date to about 800 BCE, too, even if the roots of the kingdom may be earlier, so unless you're going to show D'mt in 1000 BCE, Saba shouldn't show up until your 500 BCE map. You characterize it as a chiefdom (I assume, since farming societies had existed prior to this), however, which is incorrect (the same in the case of D'mt). Both were clearly states and not chiefdoms at this point, encompassing a number of different tribes under the kingdoms. I think you should include all of Yemen (excluding the Tihama, which was associated with Ethiopia at this time) instead of just saying "Saba" and naming it "South Arabian kingdoms," as Ma'in and Hadhramaut also existed at these times and were states. Tihama should probably be associated with Ethiopia in the 2000 BCE and 1000 BCE maps, but should be part of the "South Arabian kingdoms" in the 500 BCE map.

To summarize:
 * 2000 BCE - Add N. Ethiopia within Bronze age line, with agricultural complex/chiefdom coloring and separate Tihama from Saba, perhaps adding it to the Ethiopian group. Make all of Highland Ethiopia (including as far east as Harar, where grass cultivation has been dated to the 13th millenium BC) colored as agricultural (simple farming).
 * 1000 BCE - As above, but with the N. Ethiopia/Tihama complex (this time they should unequivocally be part of the same complex) named as "Tihama Cultural Complex" (TCC), alternatively, you can just name it D'mt, and leave out the Tihama, since the dates are flexible (D'mt starting around the beginning of the 1st millenium BCE, and TCC ending around the end of the 2nd millenium BCE). Also include as part of Iron Age. Instead of "Saba," extend eastward and rename "South Arabian kingdoms" (if you name the complex D'mt), or "South Arabian complexes" (if you use TCC). If you use "kingdoms" and "D'mt," they should be colored blue as states.
 * 500 BCE - As above, Tihama definitely separate or part of "South Arabian kingdoms." D'mt and South Arabian kingdoms should be blue as states by this map or the one before.

Note that you've included Eastern Ethiopia (Harar mountain region, not the Ogaden just south of it) as pastoralist, when it should be agricultural from the earliest times (2000 BCE). The area east, north, and south is correctly labeled as pastoralist, however.

References: For complexes, Rodolfo Fattovich, "Urbanism in the Northern Horn of Africa." Regarding the early association of the Tihama with Ethiopia (i.e. prior to the second millenium, if you want to include it on the 2000 BCE map), Edward J. Keall, "Contact across the Red Sea (between Arabia and Africa) in the 2nd millennium BC: circumstantial evidence from the archaeological site of al-Midamman, Tihama coast of Yemen, and Dahlak Kabir Island, Eritrea." For agriculture, Christopher Ehret, "On the antiquity of Agriculture in Ethiopia."

One more note on the spelling of D'mt. I don't like using "Damot," since Damot was a medieval province in southwestern Ethiopia. It gets even more confusing because there were 2 Damots in history, the first just south of the Nile until the 16th century when the Oromo migrations began, when the entire area was relocated to the area just to the north (by Emperor Susenyos in the early 17th century), to the area just north of the Nile so that Susenyos could better protect the people. I know this sounds like a lot, but the changes wouldn't be that difficult to implement. If you don't have time, I can do it myself. I don't mean to be critical, though. Your map is great and on a huge scale, so it's inevitable that mistakes like these can slip by. &mdash; ዮም  |  (Yom)  |  Talk  • contribs • Ethiopia 01:53, 11 March 2007 (UTC)\


 * I understand your criticisms. However, the map is copied directly from the Cassel's Atlas. Without recourse to the sources you describe, I cannot make the changes you request without it being guesswork and OR on my part.
 * If you wish to make the adjustments yourself, you are more than welcome; the files are .png so you should be able to edit them with most graphic editors. Just please be sure to cite the additional sources on the image description.
 * Thanks for your interest and complementary remarks. Briangotts (Talk) (Contrib) 15:15, 11 March 2007 (UTC)

200 BC map
Hey Brian I was just looking at your series of BCE world maps and I must say I am very impressed. One small thing I have noticed however is the fact that on the 200 BCE map, Australia is shown as uninhabited, while on all previous maps it is correctly shown as a hunter gatherer culture. I figured that this was just a small detail that you may want to be brought to your attention. And once again they're all really cool. I just wish I didn't stay awake until 6 am PST looking at the entire series :) - Moshe Constantine Hassan Al-Silverburg | Talk 13:15, 12 March 2007 (UTC)
 * This has been corrected. Thanks!!! Briangotts (Talk) (Contrib) 03:22, 13 March 2007 (UTC)

Re:Sudais
I'd like it if you refrained from posting hostile comments on my page. My edits are completly justified, as I have shown on the article's talk page. If you really are looking to block someone for blanking sourced content, might I suggest Jayjg .Bless sins 18:35, 24 March 2007 (UTC)


 * That was a boilerplate message asking you to desist from blanking sourced and referenced portions of an article. If you are suggesting that your blanking was in response to another user's actions on another article, that compounds the impropriety of what you did. Briangotts (Talk) (Contrib) 14:41, 26 March 2007 (UTC)

Your uploaded images
I took a look through the images you list on your main page - impressive set of contributions! However, I noticed that several of them are lacking appropriate fair use rationales. I'm sure they were adequate at the time you uploaded them, but it seems that Wikipedia's copyright policies have matured considerably. You might want to review your images for compliance with current policy. Note that Wikipedia has its own fair use policy, which must be satisfied in addition to the fair use defined by federal law, i.e., it's A&B, not A|B. Any image that does not meet those criteria must be deleted.

I thought you would like to have the first crack at it. Cbdorsett 04:19, 27 March 2007 (UTC)


 * You're going to have to be more specific. Briangotts (Talk) (Contrib) 17:42, 27 March 2007 (UTC)
 * The images you got out of the 1906 encyclopedia are fine. You should review all the rest. Some of the tags generated a sort of maybe-copyrighted, maybe-not box. The three Khazar coins are also suspect. I did not go through ALL of the images, just enough to see what needs to be done. Beseder? Cbdorsett 12:33, 28 March 2007 (UTC)


 * Please cite a specific image and point out which policy it violates. We have had an extensive discussion on the Khazar coins in the past and neither my position, nor federal law, nor WP policy have changed appreciably to my knowledge. Briangotts (Talk) (Contrib) 15:49, 28 March 2007 (UTC)

Copyright problems with Image:Khazar coin.jpg
An image that you uploaded, Image:Khazar coin.jpg, has been listed at Copyright problems because it is a suspected copyright violation. Please look there if you know that the image is legally usable on Wikipedia (you may have to search for the title of the image to find its entry), and then provide the necessary information there and on its page, if you are interested in it not being deleted. Thank you. Cbdorsett 05:18, 29 March 2007 (UTC) Cbdorsett 05:18, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

Copyright problems with Image:Khazar coin1.jpg
An image that you uploaded, Image:Khazar coin1.jpg, has been listed at Copyright problems because it is a suspected copyright violation. Please look there if you know that the image is legally usable on Wikipedia (you may have to search for the title of the image to find its entry), and then provide the necessary information there and on its page, if you are interested in it not being deleted. Thank you. Cbdorsett 05:18, 29 March 2007 (UTC) Cbdorsett 05:18, 29 March 2007 (UTC)


 * Check out the Assyria talk page (I've replied.) Chaldean 17:22, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

The Military history WikiProject Newsletter: Issue XIII - March 2007
The March 2007 issue of the Military history WikiProject newsletter has been published. You may read the newsletter, change the format in which future issues will be delivered to you, or unsubscribe from this notification by following the link. Thank you.

This is an automated delivery by grafikbot 18:37, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

Atlas
Could you please add a translation in commons:Atlas of the text into Hebrew and other languages you can write. Electionworld Talk?  21:11, 1 April 2007 (UTC)

history atlas great work
big thanks for the work on the histroy atlas(2000-1000-...). respect! what about horticultural societies? if you choose to include such a category, popua new guinea was horticultural. what u think?Esmehwp 05:46, 2 April 2007 (UTC)


 * Thanks. Not sure what is meant by "horticultural societies". Anyway, as the map indicates, it is copied from Cassell's atlas- trying to make independent judgment on what was or was not a different type of societies without some source would be original research. Briangotts (Talk) (Contrib) 14:13, 2 April 2007 (UTC)

Ahh.. I thought you had made it yourself, my mistake...in that case, "NO RESPECT FOR YOU!" ;)   Esmehwp 04:13, 3 April 2007 (UTC)

Merger Halfdan Ragnarsson and Hvitserk
I noticed a link from you to one of these pages. I have (tried to) propose a merger, could you please check and see if the correct procedures have been applied (or if you share my opinion that the merger is obvious, just perform it - it is not much text to move I'm afraid). Thanks in advance, Finnrind 20:55, 11 April 2007 (UTC)
 * I may have been to quick here, this might be another proof that what everybody knows isn't necessarily true. I've skimmed the Saga of Ragnar and his sons just now, and to my suprise I did not find one instance of Hvítserkr being named Halfdan. The article in norwegian refers to a passage about Ragnar in the fragmentrary annals (but does not say which), and skimming the version from CELT I couldn't find anything there either. This could mean we will have to rewrite the norwegian (and the german) article...


 * Nevertheless, I would still opt for a merge, on the basis that tradition confuses these possibly different character. A joint article, stating that the identity between these two characters is unsure, and further which sources/traditions aplies to which name, would give an easier access to correct information that the present two stubs. You have a similar case here with Olaf the White and Amlaibh Conung. So, sorry that I jumped to conclusion mainly based on norwegian wikipedia, I would appreciate your advice as to whether I should retract this mergingproposal or not. It is not as if I have an agenda here, I just thought these articles had been overlooked. Regards, Finnrind 21:55, 11 April 2007 (UTC)
 * Out of habit from no:wiki, where it is easier to keep track of things and discussionthreads together, I answered you on my own page. The things I proposed there I have already done... Sorry:-)Is it all right with you if we copy our discussion (this entry excluded) from these two pages to one of the discussionpages of the articles concerned. It could be helpful (hopefully...) if someone else comes along and actually decides to improve the article(s). Could be something for the Norse history and culture project I guess ;-) As I wrote on my own page: Apologies for the inconvenience, thanks for your help. Finnrind 12:54, 12 April 2007 (UTC)

Invitation to participate in an A-Class review of Eiríkr Hákonarson
Hello! Based on the areas of interest you indicated when you joined the Military history WikiProject, we believe that you may be interested in participating in the A-Class review of Eiríkr Hákonarson. Comments from reviewers are needed over the next four days to determine whether the article meets the criteria for the A-Class quality level; we would be very grateful if you could spare some of your time to assist! If you would prefer not to receive such invitations in the future, please leave a message on this page, and we won't trouble you again. If you have any questions about the review process, you can ask them here. Thanks! Carom 18:10, 12 April 2007 (UTC)

delete request
Could you please delete Image:Sinai war ribbon.jpg and Image:Six day war ribbon.jpg? I just uploaded better versions under the same name at wikicommons.Ingsoc 13:52, 14 April 2007 (UTC)

Norse projects
Hello Brian, thanks for your note about restarting a project. Having taken up a career in Admin you should know more about this than I do! I have only been making regular contributions to WP since December last and have been out of service since the end of Feb for personal reasons. My contributions, you will note, are almost exclusively about East Anglian Anglo-Saxon history, and not therefore really Norse, in any precise sense. I am not a member of any project though I have originated articles about one or two saints and have developed others. Most of mine are primarily kings, ie vehicles on which to hang a bit of history. The most prolific Norse contributor I came across was User:Berig, who produced some very interesting stuff. Unfortunately he became rather disaffected owing to some editing problems and interventions: this was on Feb 3 2007, but he has occasionally recommunicated with User:Pia? I think, and if you want to reignite a Norse project I think you might approach them if you haven't. I'm not really clever enough to get involved in projects of any sort but will gladly chip in anything useful where I can! You might get more sense out of User:Angusmclellan who is hot on the Mercians, Northumbrians and Picts and has just been elevated to admin status after a career of useful wp work - he's very cooperative. Good luck with it and let me now how you get on. Dr Steven Plunkett 22:42, 14 April 2007 (UTC)


 * I too would like to see a project, and WikiProject Norse history and culture sounds like a good place to start. Its scope is suitably broader than the Sandinavian and Viking projects, covering all Norse military, cultural, commercial, exploratory, mercenary and political activity (etc.) until the end of the Middle Ages. For an actual time frame, I would say everything prior to the Kalmar Union (or alternatively its breakup) would be appropriate.


 * We could start with a small project page (perhaps along the lines of WikiProject_Castles or WikiProject_Iceland) and then branch out with templates, userboxes, and the rest. I would certainly be interested in an umbrella project like this, so tell me when we're ready to start the project page. --Grimhelm 15:55, 15 April 2007 (UTC)


 * An example project template:


 * --Grimhelm 16:12, 15 April 2007 (UTC)

Under development?
Maybe you shoud add a tag that the wikipropject Norse history etc page is under development. Right now the heading says "Jewish history" and that seems rather odd :-) Finnrind 15:28, 16 April 2007 (UTC)

Delete coins images
I do think there was a copyright violation. I don't think those images fall under Bridgeman Art Library v. Corel Corp and it failed our fair use criteria since it would be easy for someone to take a replacement picture. I did asked, to be sure, a second opinion about this one. See Garion96 (talk) 17:56, 16 April 2007 (UTC)

Request For Mediation
A request for mediation has been filed with the Mediation Committee that lists you as a party. The Mediation Committee requires that all parties listed in a mediation must be notified of the mediation. Please review the request at Requests for mediation/David Irving, and indicate whether you agree or refuse to mediate. If you are unfamiliar with mediation, please refer to Mediation. There are only seven days for everyone to agree, so please check as soon as possible.

Norse project
Hallo Brian, I did become interested to join the project until I read the first page containing:

Category:Battles involving the Vikings Category:Viking enemies and allies Category:Norse hundreds Category:Image stones Category:Viking Age monarchs Category:Viking exploration of North America Category:Viking Age people Category:Viking practices

As well as "did you know" section claiming that wikings made the pirues lion.

You know, I do not share the opinion that its wise, logical, correct or scientific, to use the term viking, for anything than vikings. You will get trapped in the same trap as the page vikings where norse people are described, where very few vikings are described, and where documented NOT vikings are described as vikings. And in my experience, for people who apply the term viking as it has been used between 1903 and almost today, there is less ambition to waken up, and study the prime sources, its more fun to play around with the mythology. Still, I see you have very positive ambitions, and this project COULD, be the ice breaker that finally starts to clean up around the different myths.

I guess you are fully aware of that we dont know the profession of the guys who wrote on the pireus lion. But upto a certain degree, we can guess they were Varingians. Now, only in lexicons from 1903, and in peoples imaginations varingians were vikings. No written prime source (of course) confirms that those both terms had the same meaning. (and WHY should 2 different terms have?)


 * 1) Category:Battles involving the Vikings. Among the very few battles were vikings are named, they fought against the norwegian king, when he cleaned out the shores from vikings. But that was not vikings fighting vikings, that was a norwegian king, using his fleet, against vikings. Vikings ws among his most important enemies for some time, and made several outlows, and was not satisfied until they were killed or driven to Iceland.
 * 2) Category:Viking exploration of North America: Reg the ships that went to america, sorry, no evidence what so ever that this was a viking raid. Some of the peoples may have been adventorous farmers, some of them was if I recall correct german and french. No vikings there...but most of them probably scandinavian, a word which for some very pecualir reason is not used between 800-1066 for svandinavians, only before and after.
 * 3) Category:Norse hundreds: The hundreds was a way to aministrate the Ledung fleet, which was among other functions used as defence, against among others, vikings. One runestone in sweden even names a man who was a "viking watcher". (the only time the word viking was used on a runestone in sweden, except for some four known occasions when it was used as a persons name, and another where it was told about men who went ON VIKING. Now, those guys didnt went on that every day thorughout their lifes. Why the stone tells this, is because they were involved, for a certain period of time, in viking activities. before, and after, they were probably just farmers.) This guy, most probably the son of a jarl, the honorable vikingwatcher, was not moving around in the village, looking on nice girls and handsome guys, he had a honorable duty as guard against vikings who could treat the village, he was watching for enemies in ships that could threten his village.

Category:Viking practices. As for their practicies, we know very little. Adam of Bremen, one of the few who gives a description and definition, stated there was a group of men living at the danish coast, he called them pirats, and noted that the local people called them vikings, while Adams own people called them askomans. He also and noted that they actually pay tax to the danish king. Until the icandic sagas, thats about all we know about REAL vikings (and not the late misinterpretation of the word).

On the other hand we know more about norse people. Among other things, their defence against vikings.

Now, when you already, in the beginning of this project call all norse people vikings, you will run into big troubl, describing the norse peoples most important enemies: the vikings! How will you describe the well documented norse defendce against vikings, if you call norse people vikings. The real vikngs Adam met may even have been foreigners. What if they were from england? or northern germany? Pirats may have been from various etnic people?

In order to tell the history about norse people, its important to realize that docuemts only gives evidence for altogether some 2-3 norse people from present sweden that were vikings. The others were just norse.

The page viking does not clearly tell people about vikings, and who they were, since most people wants to belive that all scandinavians died in the year 800, grow beards and became vikings for 200 years, and then became scnadinavian again. Which is not true. The term has been misunderstood and misused.

Its my srongest belief, that you will soon run into logical problems describing norse people if you falsely give them the lable viking between 800 and 1066. Because they were not, they were as much against vikings as people in France, Germany and Britain.

To be clear, we associate Australia with sheep and shepherds. Now if we staumble on a story, telling about an australian man, its still wrong to lable him as shepherd. He may be an wool allergic priest, a fisherman who never saw a sheep, or a carpenter. So, if he is refered to as australian, thats perfecty enough, theres no use to invent his profession out of phantasy?

The same goes for norse people. Please, just cll them norse. Or scandinavian. Do not call christian priests, carpenters, farmers, fishermen, soldiers, vikingwatchers, rune carvers etc for vikings, unless they were described as such: Othervise the whole misunderstanding will just be repeated. let the project deal with norse people, not using other labels, if theres no evidence that the terms really are identical.

Ill wit to join the project, giving you some time to consider what I mean, and evaluating how crazy it sounds. But I can never participate in project where its is actually written "the pirates organized their defence against the pirates in a very effective way, namley..." it will just become un unlogical porridge again, like the page about vikings.

I do hope you may see my logical objection here, and that at least it may we worty to think about it just for 2 seconds. I mean no harm, does not want to argue with you, if you disagree, then its fine for me. I just hope that finally, at least one project risa above the old myths, and tries to give a more scientific insight in the norse culture. Which was for sure, maybe upto 99%, not a viking activity at all. It was more or less similair to more southern nations cultures. And theres need to start to see the norse people and cultures as for what they were, even if its less exciting than the imaginal myths that was developed during the nationanalromancy period from 1903 and onwards, when the word viking started to be used for people who were not vikings.

Vikings were vikings. Sometimes norse, sometimes not.

Norse were norse. very seldom vikings, according to the prime sources.

same goes for tradesmen. Not one single written prime source says that vikings were tradesmen.

Contrary, Snorri Sturlason writes in Egils Skallagrims saga: Björn var farmaður mikill, var stundum í víking, en stundum í kaupferðum; Björn var hinn gervilegasti maður.

english: Björn was a great traveller; sometimes as viking, sometimes as tradesman.

It is not logical to say that the terms are same, if Snorri says there were different. Its not logical to apply a term on people, who were the opposite of the term. Regardless if thousands of peoples believe it was the same. Most people believe Napoleon was short man also, although he had avarege height for french men. Its actually just a misunderstanding, shared by hundreds of thousands of peoples, thats all.

Sorry for putting those thoughts on your page. I mean no harm, just hope youll see the point.

Dan Koehl 00:39, 17 April 2007 (UTC)


 * Dan: Obviously I did not name those categories, they were pre-existing. Your points are all well taken, and most of them I had already thought of myself- note that it's "Norse history and culture" and not "Viking history and culture". Why not join the project and help us sort out this mess? Briangotts (Talk) (Contrib) 02:24, 17 April 2007 (UTC)

Map-related
Could you please make a small change to a map you once made by replacing the Russian principalities with Principalities of Rus’. Your version is not "wrong" but slight modification will not compromise the correctness but would appease some of my nationally conscious compatriots. See. TIA, --Irpen 04:22, 17 April 2007 (UTC)

You might be interested in
this edit which I offer without commentary. Notinasnaid 15:13, 18 April 2007 (UTC)


 * That is not my IP address. What is that guy's problem? Briangotts (Talk) (Contrib) 15:44, 18 April 2007 (UTC)

Shirahadasha RfA thanks
Thanks so much for taking the time to comment on my my RfA, which was successful. I learned a lot from the comments, I appreciate everything that was said, and I'll do my best to deserve the community's trust. Thanks again! And thanks for your kind words and support. --Shirahadasha 04:57, 20 April 2007 (UTC)

"Jewish descent" versus Jew
See the discussion at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Judaism concerning the problems of using the term "Jewish descent" versus "Jew" as well as the related proposal. Thank you, IZAK 10:05, 22 April 2007 (UTC)

Jews and Judaism in Kurdistan category
Is there any reason why you have reverted me? -- Cat chi? 16:08, 23 April 2007 (UTC)


 * Those articles deal with Adiabenean Jewish history. Adiabene was well within the bounds of what is now Kurdistan. Briangotts (Talk) (Contrib) 16:35, 23 April 2007 (UTC)

input request
Please see Image:Jews1490.png. Comments on my talkpage please. Cheers, Tom e rtalk 10:31, 29 April 2007 (UTC)

Page move
Hi Brian. Could you please move Wayland the smith to Wayland Smith? It appears to be by far the most common form of his name.--Berig 17:44, 2 May 2007 (UTC)
 * Thanks!--Berig 18:51, 2 May 2007 (UTC)

No problem. Briangotts (Talk) (Contrib) 19:04, 2 May 2007 (UTC)

I agree
New projects should be set up to deal with Norse and general Scandinavian articles. I think we could perhaps set up a general Germanic one. King Óðinn The Aesir 19:27, 5 May 2007 (UTC)

The Military history WikiProject Newsletter: Issue XIV (April 2007)
The April 2007 issue of the Military history WikiProject newsletter has been published. You may read the newsletter, change the format in which future issues will be delivered to you, or unsubscribe from this notification by following the link. Thank you.

This is an automated delivery by grafikbot 13:35, 6 May 2007 (UTC)

Image:Viking_expansion.png
Hi, regarding image Image:Viking_expansion.png of your creation, could you remove indications that there would have been Viking settlements in south-western Finland, as there was none (only Åland islands were settled by Scandinavians). Also, Finland is not known to have been under "frequent raids" from Vikings, they pretty much ignored Finland as much more lucrative targets were in sight.

Also, the raids in north-westerns Russia were not that wide. The only place they are known to have raided in that direction is the site of today's Arkhangelsk.

I would also be careful using the settlement color so widely in Canada. Only one settlement is known, in Newfoundland. --Drieakko 06:57, 10 May 2007 (UTC)


 * The sagas speak of many raids in Kvenland and in Karelia, and in Bjarmland, which is modern Perm Oblast. I have reduced the area of the Bjarmland raids somewhat. You are correct with respect to settlement in Finland.
 * With respect to Vinland, the map makes clear that the exact location of the areas referred to in the sagas is unknown, which is why the color is so spread out. Briangotts (Talk) (Contrib) 13:57, 10 May 2007 (UTC)


 * I'm not sure that Bjarmland of the sagas is the Perm Krai. They sail there by sea, as far as I remember. --Ghirla-трёп- 17:54, 15 May 2007 (UTC)
 * You are quite right, I was mistaken. Bjarmland is believed to be in the Archangelsk region as Drieakko stated. Only some scholars identify it with Great Perm - but maybe Permians lived in the White Sea at that time? Briangotts (Talk) (Contrib) 19:05, 15 May 2007 (UTC)
 * I fail to see the problem in connecting Bjarmaland with the Permians. There is a natural water route Arkhangelsk-Dvina-Vychegda-Kama(Perm)-Volga, and what is unlikely in stating that the Permians may have had trading stations at the White Sea?--Berig 19:10, 15 May 2007 (UTC)

It's a bit outside my area of expertise. I know that when the sagas speak of Bjarmland they generally refer to long voyages to somewhere north and beyond Finnmark. I think it likely that Bjarma=Permian but I haven't followed the scholarly literature one way or the other. Briangotts (Talk) (Contrib) 20:04, 15 May 2007 (UTC)

If Bjarmland is supposed to be on the White Sea, does that mean that the Norse called that area Bjarmland because Permian traders came there? Or is Bjarmland actually upriver in Perm Oblast and did the Norsemen actually go there? Briangotts (Talk) (Contrib) 20:06, 15 May 2007 (UTC)


 * If you look at a map, there is a river system going from the White Sea down to the Volga Bend. I have no trouble imagining that the dominions of the Permians covered that distance. In Nordisk familjebok in the article about Bjarmaland, it says that the Bjarmians traded between the White Sea and the Volga region. In order to trade that distance, it helps being in control of the portages and the necessary way stations. I don't see why the Permians could not have settlements at the White Sea. For the Scandinavians who met the Bjarmians/Permians in the region of Arkhangelsk, the entire hinterland down to the Urals would have been Bjarmaland.--Berig 20:23, 15 May 2007 (UTC)


 * I see. Do you think the map is accurate in showing Norse raids in the area of Archangelsk, but not further south? Briangotts (Talk) (Contrib) 20:51, 15 May 2007 (UTC)


 * In the article Eric Bloodaxe it says:
 * ''In 920, he undertook a Viking expedition to Bjarmaland, in northern Russia. In 930, be began his conquest by sailing down the Dvina River into Russia. There he sacked the small trading port of Permina.
 * It sounds like an expedition into the Permian hinterland, so the whole Dvina basin could be marked as the object of Norse raids.--Berig 21:03, 15 May 2007 (UTC)

Ashina
I'm not a native speaker of English, and my language skills are limited. Perhaps it's the reason why I can't comprehend the phrase "These stories were at times pieced together to form a chronologically narrates of history, however the probability was large and such sequel could have been one way or the other, as most of the stories happens to be written in the same era without a date attached to it". I tried to comment it out, but another editor started to revert war and added another sentence that I can't parse. I seek your opinion, mediation, and/or advice how to proceed in this case. --Ghirla-трёп- 17:57, 15 May 2007 (UTC)
 * Thanks for your opinion. This latest edit makes me conclude that the only way to proceed is to file WP:RFC concerning Eiorgiomugini's behaviour. The guy is terribly possessive in that he restores his every edit, no matter how you try to process it. This attitude effectively blocks the articles on the Gokturks and Xiongnu from any reasonable editing or improvement. I will probably pen a RfC tonight. Let other wikipedians judge what measures should be taken in this case. --Ghirla-трёп- 18:40, 15 May 2007 (UTC)

That's probably wise. Briangotts (Talk) (Contrib) 18:42, 15 May 2007 (UTC)


 * Which articles are we talking about? Briangotts (Talk) (Contrib) 18:42, 15 May 2007 (UTC)


 * The problem currently revolves around Ashina and Tarim mummies. But it is much wider than that. I think the guy reverted almost every edit I made to Gokturk-related articles today. Since I plan to write more stuff about that part of the world, I don't see how it may be practicable if this pattern of behaviour continues. His current revert-warring does nothing to encourage me (or anyone else) to keep editing those articles. P.S. Check Eiorgiomugini's block log. --Ghirla-трёп- 18:52, 15 May 2007 (UTC)


 * Thanks for all your efforts. You may also want to check the ongoing discussion on Dbachmann's talk page. It concerns the best way to spell the word "khagan". --Ghirla-трёп- 06:18, 16 May 2007 (UTC)
 * Would you certify Requests for comment/Eiorgiomugini? --Ghirla-трёп- 13:32, 18 May 2007 (UTC)

Thank you for Joining the Maltese WikiProject
Dear, I would like to thank you for joining WikiProject Malta, a collaborative effort that aims to improve, write, expand and organise material related to the island nation of Malta. We currently need as many members as we can get, and you are a valued addition to the list of members. Please see our To-Do list if you would like to further contribute to the project, or help construct our project page. If you have any questions, or require assistance, then please contact me at my talk page. Thankyou, Anonymous Dissident  Utter 05:02, 19 May 2007 (UTC) (founder)

Request for Mediation
This message delivered: 08:21, 27 May 2007 (UTC).

Thanks, not going to participate in this user's forum-shopping. Briangotts (Talk) (Contrib) 18:03, 29 May 2007 (UTC)

possible copyright issue
Image:Jewish Encyclopedia Arnon Gorge.jpg has a "© JewishEncyclopedia.com" on the bottom of it. Has this been addressed aforn? Tom e rtalk 23:26, 28 May 2007 (UTC)
 * As you can see, a trollish tag has been added to the image here. Unsurprising.  Tom e rtalk  05:40, 30 May 2007 (UTC)
 * Charge of "trollish" based on this edit, in which the notorious editor in question, instead of crying "copyvio!" is moving the image to the wmedia commons. Sheesh.  Shallower'n a flood.  Tom e rtalk  05:43, 30 May 2007 (UTC)
 * Charge of "Unsurprising" based on a history of unbridled antisemitic trolling. Tom e rtalk  05:44, 30 May 2007 (UTC)

Re: Tong Yabghu
Ok, I will take a look. By the way, check WP:AN3 for some recent updates on Eiorgiomugini. He keeps revert warring even there. --Ghirla-трёп- 15:43, 29 May 2007 (UTC)

Tashtyk
I was prevented from editing the article by my accidental discovery of your old entry about Tashtyk culture. It is a fascinating topic, though very obscure. --Ghirla-трёп- 18:32, 30 May 2007 (UTC)
 * I believe the masks were discovered in the 1960s. I have noticed that our friend Eiorgiomugini is especially fascinated with the blue-eyed and fair-haired Dinglings: he removed from the article every mention of their Europoidness and conflated them with Gokturks, carefully recounting early Turkish history in the article. I was so carried away with it that started template:Siberian Europoids. I wonder how he will react to this. --Ghirla-трёп- 20:03, 30 May 2007 (UTC)

Your revert
I was wondering if you could clarify your revert here. --Aminz 08:24, 30 May 2007 (UTC)

Sargon of Akkad
Just one minor thing for GA status. It needs an infobox like this one Template:Infobox Monarch. It goes at the top of the article just where the first pic is. For an example see the Cyrus the Great or the Hammurabi articles. Also, the infobox you have put in the fiction section should not go there but at the very bottom of the article. --Victor12 04:21, 31 May 2007 (UTC)
 * Wow, congrats! :) Thanks so much for your hard work. Chaldean 21:40, 31 May 2007 (UTC)

Misspelling
Shalom, Brian, On the image you created of the world in 323 B.C.E (http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/06/World_323_BCE.png), there is a typo. In southwestern Canada, just above Washington state, there is a patch of land labeled "Plateau fishers and huter-gatherers"; it should be "Plateau fishers and hunter-gatherers". Just thought you should know - keep up the great contributions! --MosheA 02:10, 1 June 2007 (UTC)

Thanks... I will have to get around to that. Briangotts (Talk) (Contrib) 03:31, 1 June 2007 (UTC)

RfC
Just wanted to let you know that I opened an RfC on myself in response to the concerns raised during my RfA over my actions in the Gary Weiss dispute. The RfC is located here and I welcome any comments or questions you may have. CLA 04:59, 2 June 2007 (UTC)

License tagging for Image:Transhuman Space Earth economic.png
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This is an automated notice by OrphanBot. If you need help on selecting a tag to use, or in adding the tag to the image description, feel free to post a message at Media copyright questions. 16:08, 5 June 2007 (UTC)

Third Perso-Turkic War
As you have seen, I started this page which contains some additional material about Tong Yabghu and Buri-sad. It is late here in Russia, so I have to postpone referencing until tomorrow. It'd be great if you check my English for grammar. You are welcome to import appropriate chunks of text to Tong Yabghu if you think they may be helpful. I will probably add some new details about these guys later this week. --Ghirla-трёп- 21:42, 6 June 2007 (UTC)
 * I was puzzled why you didn't fix those edits. Now I see. Fresh from his four-day block, the guy made a bunch of provocative edits     . His persistent removal of referenced links to work by the preeminent archaeologist in the field cannot be justified by fuzzy appellations to WP:FRINGE. After he moved Syr-Tardush to the Chinese name, I'm seething with rage and thinking of what can be done to keep him at bay. --Ghirla-трёп- 14:15, 7 June 2007 (UTC)
 * Try to search the Vajda book for "Dinglings". Page 159 alludes to a 1961 Russian paper "Chinese Reports on the Peoples of Southern Siberia" with "translations of Chinese documents referring to the northern tribes, including references to the Dinglings, possible ancestors of the Kets". --Ghirla-трёп- 11:37, 8 June 2007 (UTC)

By the way, Gumilev calls this conflict the "first world war", because it was the first war that involved every major state of Eurasia, from China to the Eastern Roman Empire. According to him, the Sassanids closed the Silk Route, and that alarmed both China and Byzantium which engineered this conflict. --Ghirla-трёп- 22:14, 10 June 2007 (UTC)

The Military history WikiProject Newsletter: Issue XV (May 2007)
The May 2007 issue of the Military history WikiProject newsletter has been published. You may read the newsletter, change the format in which future issues will be delivered to you, or unsubscribe from this notification by following the link. Thank you.

This is an automated delivery by grafikbot 14:27, 9 June 2007 (UTC)

Map
What a pity that we don't have a map of the Gokturk empire and their military expeditions. On the other hand, nobody knows the true extent of their state. --Ghirla-трёп- 22:11, 10 June 2007 (UTC)

help
I need help. I want to create an article for elementary school but for some weird reason they won't let me. (MrsMacMan 19:46, 13 June 2007 (UTC))

Your Contributions to Wikipedia
I saw some of your numerous edits. Thanks for your contributions to Wikipedia.
 * Thanks for your kind words. Briangotts (Talk) (Contrib) 04:50, 14 June 2007 (UTC)

Lem vs Ulam in the Orion's Arm Entry
You have reverted my fix from Lem to Ulam back to Lem as someone who proposed a "technological singularity". I wonder what your motivation was, especially in view of the wikipedia article on Stan Ulam where one finds:

In May 1958, while referring to a conversation with von Neumann, Ulam said what would later become a foundation of the technological singularity theory: "One conversation centered on the ever accelerating progress of technology and changes in the mode of human life, which gives the appearance of approaching some essential singularity in the history of the race beyond which human affairs, as we know them, could not continue."

Toda,

RZ


 * Please see the Orion's Arm website. They refer to the works of Stanislaw Lem. Briangotts (Talk) (Contrib) 14:14, 18 June 2007 (UTC)

Holocaust
Thanks for the useful link. I uploaded a couple of images. --Ghirla-трёп- 16:10, 19 June 2007 (UTC)

King Arthur project collaboration
The King Arthur Project has begun a collaboration to bring its main article, King Arthur, to WP:FA status. If you wish to contribute, please review the to-do list on its talk page. Let's make this article an FA! Wrad 03:28, 22 June 2007 (UTC)

Thanks!
Thank you for the invite to WikiProject Norse history and culture. I thought I’d kick start my contributions with a nice map. Max Naylor 20:44, 24 June 2007 (UTC)

List of notable converts to Islam
As you added Allahdad_incident to the lsit, you might want to see this discussion-- Sef rin gle Talk 00:36, 25 June 2007 (UTC)

Possibly unfree Image:Malta anti-EU.JPG
An image that you uploaded or altered, Image:Malta anti-EU.JPG, has been listed at Possibly unfree images because its copyright status is disputed. If the image's copyright status cannot be verified, it may be deleted. You may find more information on the image description page. You are welcome to add comments to its entry at Possibly unfree images if you are interested in it not being deleted. Thank you. —LX (talk, contribs) 13:14, 30 June 2007 (UTC)

Battle of Kazan (1774)
Hi! I'd requested this article to be spoken. So, would you check grammar and spelling? Thanks, --Üñţïf̣ļëŗ ( see also: ә? Ә!) 19:17, 1 July 2007 (UTC)

An article which you started, or significantly expanded, Land of Onias, was selected for DYK!
Thanks for your contributions! Nishkid64 (talk) 17:38, 2 July 2007 (UTC)
 * A fascinating article, by the way. I've never heard about that episode before. --Ghirla-трёп- 22:16, 2 July 2007 (UTC)
 * Thanks! Briangotts (Talk) (Contrib) 00:01, 3 July 2007 (UTC)

Category:Historical maps by User:Briangotts
I came across this category while cleaning up categories beginning with the words "historic" or "historical". As far as I know, images are not categorized according to their uploader. Other people probably would not accept this type of subcategorization. However, people would probably accept having a list on your user page and having you acknowledged on the pages for the images. What do you think? (I may also ask about this at WT:CFD.) Dr. Submillimeter 13:11, 4 July 2007 (UTC)


 * I received no reply, so I nominated this category for deletion at Categories for discussion/Log/2007 July 10. Feel free to comment there.  Dr. Submillimeter 15:55, 10 July 2007 (UTC)

Moving a page
Can you help me move Sargis Bahirâ to Bahira, which is a redirect now? It's unlikely to be disputed and I don't want to waste the time at WP:RM. Thanks. Beit Or 19:07, 4 July 2007 (UTC)

Thanks
Thank you for a star, Brian. Though I am very short of time these days, I do plan to prioritize the Gokturks in the nearest future. Have I told you that I'm impressed by your work on Sargon? --Ghirla-трёп- 13:53, 5 July 2007 (UTC)

Fascinating
Fascinating. Since our mutual friend promised that I "would had get my face smacked" if I "ever come close with anyone", I'm cautious not to edit any article even remotely related to China, so as not to provoke his rage. Let's see whether PHG will be able to figure out some way of dealing with the ongoing disruption. --Ghirla-трёп- 18:12, 5 July 2007 (UTC)

Gunhild
According to Gunhild Kongemor there is more reason to believe Historia Norwegiæs account than Heimskringla regarding who was her father, H.N. apparently states that she was the daughter of Gorm the old... I have no knowledge of this myself, just thought I'd give you a hint in case you had not heard of this. Finnrind 22:17, 6 July 2007 (UTC)

Bahira
Thanks for moving the page, but the talk page should be moved as well. Beit Or 23:03, 7 July 2007 (UTC)
 * Thanks! Beit Or 15:29, 8 July 2007 (UTC)

The Military history WikiProject Newsletter: Issue XVI (June 2007)
The June 2007 issue of the Military history WikiProject newsletter has been published. You may read the newsletter, change the format in which future issues will be delivered to you, or unsubscribe from this notification by following the link. Thank you.

This is an automated delivery by grafikbot 13:26, 8 July 2007 (UTC)

Gunnhild Ozursdattir
Thanks for the notification, although I don't think I have the resources at hand for this one. I'm sure the other project members can cover this, though, and it should make a nice DYK. --Grimhelm 21:05, 8 July 2007 (UTC)
 * Apologize for being so late in responding... I actually had a look at the article yesterday (or the day before that...(?)), but since I could find no reliable sources except no: for who her father might have been I didn't add any references. And now it's far to late to add anything, you've done a brilliant work here [[image:face-smile.svg|20px]] Instead of translating some unreferenced bits and pieces from norwegian to english I'll (if i get aound to it) translate the whole article from english to norwegian! Keep ut the good work, happy editing. Finnrind 19:48, 9 July 2007 (UTC)
 * P.S.If you do need some norwegian-english translation later please feel free to ask me ;-) I'm not always this slow... Finnrind 19:48, 9 July 2007 (UTC)

The witch thing
Hi Brian! I agree with Haukur that it is nice work. There is one thing that struck me, however. You wrote that Gunnhildr was "reputedly a witch" and I would like you to elaborate on this in the text to explain more closely what you mean. Witchcraft was a completely accepted and natural part of women's life in pagan Scandinavia. Unlike men, who were expected to be forthright and solve their problems physically, women were actually expected to manipulate the "other side" of reality. Some elder women who reputedly excelled at witchcraft rose to the dignity of völvas and were a kind of priestesses who were both highly sought after and highly paid. Either Gunhild was a well-paid pagan priestess or she was just reputedly very skilled at witchcraft.--Berig 22:58, 9 July 2007 (UTC)


 * I see. I agree with you wording.--Berig 06:11, 10 July 2007 (UTC)

Image:Spartocids.gif
Could you take a look at what was ? If the information is worthwhile, I will request undeletion. As I infer from this edit, it may have contained vital genealogical information for the stub Spartocids, sourced to a book published in 1884. --Ghirla-трёп- 18:34, 10 July 2007 (UTC)

Map of Egypt restored
11-July-2007: The ID "User:Lanternix" (notified) was logged as overwriting an unsourced map image onto a map of Egypt developed by the American CIA, on 19-May-2007 at 1:09 a.m, which has been restored (after 52 days). Map image: Image:Egypt-region-map-cities.gif (view older versions to compare).

''Received with WikiProject: Ancient Egypt. -Wikid77 07:45, 11 July 2007 (UTC)

User content in category space for articles
Regarding your categories, I currently have no objection to keeping them, as it appears to be acceptable for users to have categories like this. However, it just seems inappropriate to have something with user's name in the same category space for articles; it does not seem right for your categories to appear in Category:History maps and Category:Fictional maps. This is like a user signing his or her contributions to individual articles on the article pages. Although I cannot point to a specific policy that supports this, I am willing to pursue this further.

Please respond to me on my talk page (User talk:Dr. Submillimeter). If I receive no response from you, I will pursue administrator intervention. Dr. Submillimeter 08:42, 11 July 2007 (UTC)


 * I found a guideline that justifies my request at WP:CAT:
 * Categories relating to the User namespace should be added only to Wikipedia-specific categories. Users should not add their user pages to article namespace categories such as Category:People or other subcategories, Category:Biologists etc, which are reserved for pages in the article namespace. However, it is appropriate to add a user page to Wikipedia-specific categories such as the subcategories of Category:Wikipedians (though not directly to Category:Wikipedians itself), e.g. Category:Wikipedian musicians. (See also m:Help:Category for guidelines on category "pollution").
 * I am also posting a note at WP:AN asking for advice and intervention from an administrator. It is clear that moderation is needed at this point.  I would honestly prefer to compromise, but only if you too are willing to compromise.  Dr. Submillimeter 12:28, 11 July 2007 (UTC)


 * Hi Brian. I saw the request from Dr. Submillimeter asking for an administrator to intervene.  The categories Category:Fictional maps by User:Briangotts is a user-related category.  This should not be contained within the mainspace category, Category:Fictional maps (and the same applies for the :Historical ones).  See Avoid self-reference for advice on why.   It is, however, very appropriate for the categories to be in Category:User-created maps.


 * WP:CAT also states Users should not add their user pages to article namespace categories. I consider this to apply to user-related categories, too. Please do not wiki-lawyer and require a definite and specific policy; even if this is not in the letter of WP:ASR or WP:CAT, it is in the spirit and the intent.  I've removed them from the mainspace categories, and don't want to have to protect them; please don't re-add them.  If you have any questions, please let me know via my talk page.  Thanks.  Neil   ╦  12:45, 11 July 2007 (UTC)

DYK for Gunnhild Mother of Kings
When you nominate an article for WP:DYK (as in this diff), please don't forget to sign and mention if it is a self-nom or you are nominating someone else's article. It makes it easier for the DYK people to credit the article properly. Interesting article and hook, btw; I've put it in the next update. Rigadoun (talk) 18:22, 11 July 2007 (UTC)

About Kediri Kingdom in Premongol.png
Hello Briangotts, I am Citra an South-East Asian and would like to give comment on your picture http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Premongol.png There the "Kediri" kingdom is shown in northern Malay peninsula, nowadays a border between Thailand and Malaysia. Based on my knowledge, this kingdom should be "KEDAH", not Kediri. Kediri kingdom is a Hindu kingdom in Java island southward. This Java island is not shown in that map. Both Kediri and Kedah kingdom existed in this pre-Mongol era (1000-1100) but Kediri fell in 1221 and now becomes only a regency in Republic of Indonesia. But Kedah Sultanate exists until now and becomes one of Malaysian states. Thank you very much for your attention.

Best regards, Citra28

You are correct, and the map has been updated. Briangotts (Talk) (Contrib) 13:19, 12 July 2007 (UTC)

Attila (TV miniseries)
According to your deletion policy, I find your reason unacceptable. You said that my entry was an "outdated and meaningless assertion" but 1. It is not an assertion but a 'historical fact' as per common historical convention that we presently have 2. The miniseries does indeed portray the historial Huns inaccurately (unless they actually had Scottish accents and spoke English) 3. This should be the first under the Historical Inaccuracies section because it is that obvious. I ask you to reconsider. Evidence that invalidates my "outdated and meaningless assertion" would suffice in this regard. Hchalice 17:43, 24 July 2007 (UTC)


 * Your statement was that it was inaccurate to portray the Huns as "European", when they were "Mongoloid". The Huns, like most steppe people, were a mix of many different tribes. You provided no source for your assertion, so I removed it. Briangotts (Talk) (Contrib) 18:10, 24 July 2007 (UTC)

As you wish, I will amend my statement accordingly 196.29.95.38 15:18, 25 July 2007 (UTC)

Fine, I will not contest your point though I find your reasons specious and perhaps stemming from a Eurocentric cultural myopia. A thread on the Model Minority forum will be created pertaining to this topic. 196.29.95.38 14:04, 26 July 2007 (UTC)


 * Please review WP:SOURCE and WP:OR. These are Wikipedia policies with which you should familiarize yourself if you are going to press this point. Your accusations of Eurocentricism are laughable. Briangotts (Talk) (Contrib) 14:54, 26 July 2007 (UTC)

It would do you well to recognize the word "perhaps" being used. Thus it is not an accusation but at most an unfounded assertion. I will read your links. 196.29.95.38 18:16, 26 July 2007 (UTC)

BTW, what evidence or source do you have for an European Attila (since Butler is not Eurasian) and where were the Mongoloid Huns in the series? Also what gives movie producers the 'right' to default to an European Attila when (according to articles in Wikipedia) the ancestry of Attila is contentious? You have failed to answer directly any of my previous questions and simply resort to offhand dismissing commentary and hiding behind the screen of Wikipedian policy. What is your answer to: Why is Attila not a Mongoloid or semi-Mongoloid (Eurasian-ish) when the common historical convention would have him as one? I understand that my input might have been framed improperly but if you cannot answer direct questions, what are you doing as an administrator? 196.29.95.38 19:03, 26 July 2007 (UTC)

Please cite a reliable historical source for the proposition that Attila was "Mongoloid" (I assume by this you mean of East Asian appearance). I do not have to provide a source for the proposition that Attila was European-looking because I have not asserted that he was. What I said was that you can't point out a "historical inaccuracy" without being able to demonstrate that it is, in fact, inaccurate. The burden is on the party making the assertion. Your statement on the article was that Attila being portrayed by an actor of European appearance is historically inaccurate. I asked you for a citation demonstrating that. Instead to harass me on my talk page. Unless you have anything constructive to add, I am done with this conversation. Briangotts (Talk) (Contrib) 19:28, 26 July 2007 (UTC)

"He who asserts must prove" is a common phrase which I agree with. However, the explicit and implicit assertion made in the movie was that Attila (not necessarily the Huns) was European and not Central or East Asian. Not everything historical can be properly determined from the nature of archaeological and historical sciences. Thus while Attila could have been European, the Huns by popular notion were East Asian. You do NOT from common historical convention change a person's firstly asserted ethnicity because you want to. Your own page  under 'Appearance, character, and name' lists a historical record that cannot be contested unless someone else has another historical record of better veracity. Thus I do not have to give you any evidence since by the historic method I am correct (plausibly) and you should be the one with some form of evidence that I am incorrect in this regard. For instance: Is Jordanes known to have lied or been incorrect? Why would a Roman claim that another European was Central or East Asian? You have again NOT answered any questions which is common in most cases when ethnicity and its misuse is contested (see Model Minority Forum for instance). You indeed may be "done" with this conversation but your ideology lives in Hollywood ethnic revisionism. 190.6.224.118 12:52, 27 July 2007 (UTC)

"popular notion" is neither encyclopedic nor historical proof. Cite a historical source for your proposition or leave me alone. Briangotts (Talk) (Contrib) 12:59, 27 July 2007 (UTC) Jordanes gives a physical description of Attila of being squat and ugly. While you might reasonably say that Gerard Butler does not match Jordanes' description (which was NOT a primary source) Jordanes does not say that Attila was "Mongoloid", nor can you infer such from his description. Briangotts (Talk) (Contrib) 13:01, 27 July 2007 (UTC)

Gunnhild and a Q
Dear Brian, I will shortly have a look at the article's nomination. I am preparing a large article on rune stones that talk of voyages into modern Russia and Ukraine. It contains information on stones that refer to men who travelled to Austr, Austrvegr, to Garðar and to specific locations such as Novgorod. There is also a stone that mentions one of the Dniepr rapids. However, I don't known what would be the proper name for the article. "Eastern Europe Runestones", "Gardariki Runestones" or "Rus Runestones"? Do you have any suggestion?--Berig 18:29, 18 July 2007 (UTC)

Gallery
PS, why did you remove the gallery?--Berig 18:30, 18 July 2007 (UTC)

Malta related article at Articles for deletion/St John's Square
Dear member of WikiProject Malta, I'd like to invite you to participate in an ongoing Article for Deletion debate about St John's Square in the capital of Malta. We'd like your input about whether the article should stay and go (and if you want to expand the stub, that would be great too!) All the best, Eliz81(talk)(contribs) 21:20, 20 July 2007 (UTC)

Gunnhild
Hey, I hope I haven't been too much of an asshole over this FAC thing. I just wanted to say, because I probably haven't made it clear, that I think you've written quite a nice article even if I think there's still a bit of work to do before FA status. Haukur 23:20, 21 July 2007 (UTC)

Image:Alphonse James de Rothschild.jpg
Hello, this is a message from an automated bot. A tag has been placed on Image:Alphonse James de Rothschild.jpg, by another Wikipedia user, requesting that it be speedily deleted from Wikipedia. The tag claims that it should be speedily deleted because Image:Alphonse James de Rothschild.jpg fits the criteria for speedy deletion for the following reason: it is on commons To contest the tagging and request that administrators wait before possibly deleting Image:Alphonse James de Rothschild.jpg, please affix the template  to the page, and put a note on its talk page. If the article has already been deleted, see the advice and instructions at WP:WMD. Feel free to contact the bot operator if you have any questions about this or any problems with this bot, bearing in mind that this bot is only informing you of the nomination for speedy deletion; it does not perform any nominations or deletions itself. --Android Mouse Bot 2 12:41, 25 July 2007 (UTC)

Varangian Runestones
After having the article as a text file for weeks, I have made it into a WP article now. Any help from you in improving the article would be welcome.--Berig 21:47, 28 July 2007 (UTC)


 * Just checked and Gwyn Jones's book has a large section on Aldeigjuborg and other Varangian stones. I will read up and get cracking on this ASAP. Briangotts (Talk) (Contrib) 02:33, 29 July 2007 (UTC)
 * Great! :).--Berig 05:54, 29 July 2007 (UTC)

Sargon of Akkad
Hey their bud. Just wanted to know what are the chances of the page being in wiki's front page? Chaldean 14:45, 30 July 2007 (UTC)

RFAR
You have been named as a party in an RFAR at Requests for arbitration. --Ideogram 06:12, 2 August 2007 (UTC)
 * I have had a long history of interaction with Ideogram. Brian, I believe you'd be better served by ignoring the baseless attacks, rather than addressing each of them on the RfAr page. --Ghirla-трёп- 23:11, 2 August 2007 (UTC)

Advice about when a disambiguation tag may be warranted
Hi Brian, I am in a disagreement with a new user about when a disambiguation tag may be useful. Pershaps, you have an opinion in the issue.--Berig 17:07, 3 August 2007 (UTC)

Zog Nit Keynmol
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Military history WikiProject coordinator selection
The Military history WikiProject coordinator selection process is starting. We are looking to elect nine coordinators to serve for the next six months; if you are interested in running, please sign up here by August 14! Kirill 02:41, 7 August 2007 (UTC)

Could I use one of your maps?
Hi,

I was searching for a good map to use to show the political situation in Central Asia in the mid-fifteenth century and I came across one of your maps, Image:Hephthalite.png. I tried superimposing what I had already made over the image and it worked out pretty well. Is there any way you could do me a favor and send me a copy of this same map without the country names and Hephthalite borders? I would really appreciate your help in this matter. Thanks,

Ro4444 23:37, 8 August 2007 (UTC)

Cool, that's exactly what I needed. Thanks a lot for your help! Ro4444 22:55, 10 August 2007 (UTC)

Requests for arbitration/Allegations of apartheid
Hello,

An Arbitration case in which you commented has been opened: Requests for arbitration/Allegations of apartheid. Please add any evidence you may wish the Arbitrators to consider to the evidence sub-page, Requests for arbitration/Allegations of apartheid/Evidence. You may also contribute to the case on the workshop sub-page, Requests for arbitration/Allegations of apartheid/Workshop.

On behalf of the Arbitration Committee,Newyorkbrad 18:05, 12 August 2007 (UTC)

Military history WikiProject coordinator election
The Military history WikiProject coordinator election has begun. We will be selecting nine coordinators from a pool of fourteen candidates to serve for the next six months. Please vote here by August 28! Wandalstouring 09:08, 16 August 2007 (UTC)

Skhimar
Hello, I started the page. There is very little information about the place. Perhaps you can expand it from your sources. --Ghirla-трёп- 14:50, 18 August 2007 (UTC)
 * That guy keeps removing links to Rus Khaganate from the article Kievan Rus. --Ghirla-трёп- 16:26, 23 August 2007 (UTC)

Aesir-Asura correspondence
Just so you know, I've replied to your question on the talk page to Aesir-Asura correspondence. --Tlatosmd 08:40, 22 August 2007 (UTC)


 * I'm sorry, I've corrected my mistake. I'd hastily jumped to the conclusion that the bottom entry must have been made by the last edit. --Tlatosmd 13:38, 22 August 2007 (UTC)

Template:Trade route
Greetings, I saw the expansion done on the template and thought I'd offer my compliments. Your additions have made the template much more informative. With Regards, Havelock the Dane  17:38, 29 August 2007 (UTC)


 * Thanks! Briangotts (Talk) (Contrib) 17:50, 29 August 2007 (UTC)

Text of the article
Briangotts, thanks for the encouraging response, I have added the Revision 2 August 2006 text to your new page, it should give you enough food for thought. Barefact 08:21, 1 September 2007 (UTC)
 * The article was deleted because it is OR. You won't find such a thing in google books, JSTOR and etc.  For example, one of the sources [Amanjolov A. "Genesis Of Türkic Runic Alphabet", Almaty, "Mektep", 2003 Elnitskiy ] claims Sumerian is Turkish!  Ossetian today is considered an Iranian language by all academic sources as well.  Basically, the fact that Scythians are considered an Iranian people is attested in any modern academic source today and is not challegened.  It is not a hypothesis, but considered a fact and a major conference in 2007 was conduct recently.  So to create OR and weird hypothesis is not part of Enyclopedia entry.  I have notified user Dbachmann who has overseen this article.  There was a reason the article was deleted in the first place.  It was OR.  You won't find such an OR in any academic western source.  For example, note this piece of original research trying to connect the word "As/Os" with Azeri: "Note Az-eri, whose endoethnonym is Azeri".  Actually Azeri is shortened of Azerbaijani and it is ethnonym that is fairly recent (150) years and takes it from the geographic region of Azerbaijan.  It is not related etymologically with As/OS but with Persian Azar (fire) and ultimately with Atropates.   There are reasons why Wikipedia does not allow original research.  There are too many knowledgeable people about Scythians in Wikipedia, so original research will not fly and the article was deleted precisely because it was OR.  Finally, there is a Scythian article and any psuedo-scientific nationalistic writing that challeges the mainstream should be discussed there. --alidoostzadeh 18:37, 2 September 2007 (UTC)
 * There seem to be quite a few sources cited so much of the article isn't OR per se. It does seem to be a fringe theory; as such it may merit a brief mention in the Scythian article but certainly can't be given undue weight. Briangotts (Talk) (Contrib) 14:17, 5 September 2007 (UTC)
 * Thanks. Actually outside of few scholars from selected countries that speak Altaic languages, all scholars affirm mainstream facts.  So the theory is not even fringe, but it is  non-existant.  --alidoostzadeh 01:59, 6 September 2007 (UTC)


 * My point is to extricate myself from the article, leaving only the historical facts that are referenced, verifiable, and verified. These would remove the objections of the people like Ali doostzadeh who aim to remove the history of the theory from the public scrutiny, and present the current theory as a fact accomply. In the postings and discussions, the most authorative references were removed, presenting a distorted historical picture. I am looking for a good faith neutral editor. Thanks, Barefact 09:54, 9 September 2007 (UTC)
 * The alternative theory of yours does not exist in academic circles. Actually what you wrote was all OR, trying to synthesize statements from different scholars when they blatantly state the fact.  As an example of your OR, the word Azeri was related to As/Os where-as the words have different etymologies all together.  The fact is from the last 30 years all sources explicitly refer to Scythians as Iranians.  There was a conference in europe in 2007 about Scythians with tons of articles.  If your fringe theory had any support, it would have been stated there by someone, but it was not.  Find some academic western scholars in major western universities who specialize on the topic that support your fringe theory.  Such academics do not exist and thus we can not put your theories up.  That is why your article was deleted in the first place.  Just to prove the absurdness of your theory, ,John William Donaldson in 1860 affirms the Iranian origin of Scythians in his "The Ethnography of ancient Italy": The philogical study of latin language.  This is 1860 way before you claim that "Scytho-Iranian" theory was proposed!(many more can be found..).  	--alidoostzadeh 23:19, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

The Military history WikiProject Newsletter : Issue XVIII (August 2007)
The August 2007 issue of the Military history WikiProject newsletter has been published. You may read the newsletter, change the format in which future issues will be delivered to you, or unsubscribe from this notification by following the link. Thank you.

Delivered by grafikbot 09:06, 5 September 2007 (UTC)

Franco-Mongol alliance
Hi, your name was recommended to me as someone who was one of the Mongol experts on Wikipedia? Do you have access to many reliable sources, specifically about their activities in the Middle East around the year 1300? We've run into some conflicting reports in our own sources, but our own books are mostly focused on the Crusades and the Arab caliphates, and none of us seem to have access to Mongol-focused books. And Google searches seem to be drawing up the pseudo-history websites, so we could really use help from reliable sources. Is this something that you might be able to help with? Any help appreciated, Elonka 16:47, 7 September 2007 (UTC)
 * Thanks. :)  Do you yourself have access to any of those books? --Elonka 17:58, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

Dreadstar RfA
  Click there to open your card! → → → Brian, Thank you for your participation in my RFA, which closed successfully with 55 supports, 15 oppose, and 1 neutral. No matter if you !voted support, oppose, neutral, I thank you for taking the time to vote in my nomination. I'm a new admin, so if you have any suggestions feel free to let me know. I would like to give a special shout out to Fang Aili,  Phaedriel , and  Anonymous Dissident , for their co-nominations. Thank you all! Dreadstar

Credits
This RFA thanks was inspired by The Random Editor's modification of Phaedriel's RFA thanks.

Thanks for your support! I took the easy way out of thanking everyone by stealing borrowing someone else's design...but know that I sincerely appreciate your support and confidence in me! Dreadstar †  07:08, 18 September 2007 (UTC)
 * Argh, it was late...and this was my fault..I accidentally copied it with my thank you card...that'll teach me to be spamming everyone when it's past my bedtime..! Sorry about that!  Dreadstar  †  17:21, 18 September 2007 (UTC)

No worries! Briangotts (Talk) (Contrib) 18:31, 18 September 2007 (UTC)

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Request help with article Ancient Egypt
As you are listed as a member of Wikiproject:AncientEgypt, I'd like to recruit your help in reviewing the article Ancient Egypt. The article is listed as top priority in the Wikiproject and as a vital article by the Version 1.0 Editorial Team, but appears to have failed to meet Good Article criteria at its last nomination. The article is in need of some serious attention.

In the past week, I asked for (and got) the article to be semi-protected to protect against the constant barrage of vandalism. This protection lasts for two weeks. I also did a little clean-up, added a map and so on. I would like to see everyone in Wikiproject:AncientEgypt have the chance to add their input to Ancient Egypt, and get the article up to featured status as soon as possible. I believe the article is at least 80% of the way there, and some focused attention will bring it the rest of the way.

The most pressing concerns seem to be the culture/architecture section, and the achievements/unsolved problems sections. Also, the entire article, especially the achievements section, the sources, and external links need to be seriously checked for accuracy. These sections also require a little organization too.

Ancient Egypt ought to be the top priority of Wikiproject:AncientEgypt, and I look forward to working with everyone to get this article cleaned up and hopefully promoted to featured status. Thanks for your help, Jeff Dahl 03:26, 21 September 2007 (UTC)

Ebionites
The article above is currently in featured article review, based on the "quality" of recent additions to it. Your input in how to improve this article, and perhaps keep it at FA level, would be very much appreciated. Thank you for your attention. John Carter 19:18, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

Re: Image:Premongol.png
Hi Brian -- I noticed a small error in this image, & was wondering if it was possible to correct it? In the African portion, you labelled one of the countries "Axum" (apparently the precursor of the modern Ethiopia), which is incorrect: Axum vanished as a political entity centuries before, although the city/town still existed. A better choice for labelling that realm would be Zagwe dynasty -- as that article would show. Thanks, -- llywrch 17:41, 7 October 2007 (UTC)
 * Thanks for performing the correction. For a while, due to the silence on your talk page, I was wondering if you had decided that Wikipedia was no longer fun & had left. :-/ Glad to see you're still around. -- llywrch 16:01, 10 October 2007 (UTC)

The Military history WikiProject Newsletter : Issue XIX (September 2007)
The September 2007 issue of the Military history WikiProject newsletter has been published. You may read the newsletter, change the format in which future issues will be delivered to you, or unsubscribe from this notification by following the link. Thank you.

Delivered by grafikbot 09:05, 8 October 2007 (UTC)

Eastern Hemisphere Maps
Hi Brian, just wanted to let you know that I'm a big fan of the maps you've created; they help readers get a better idea of the world the subject lived in. I've created a series of similar maps, some of them using the maps you've created as sources. The maps I created can be viewed on my user page User:Talessman, and I have several others available on my personal website. If you'd like to use the original (blank) map to build yours, I would be happy to email it to you.

In the meantime, thanks for your work; it's well respected! Thomas Lessman 20:17, 15 October 2007 (UTC)

I appreciate your suggestions in response, and I went to check them out. I see that SVG format is great for maps with text, but it doesn't compress them much at all! My maps are created in PhotoShop, and the PSD files are usually 50mb. I can use PhotoShop to compress them to as little as 500kb in JPG format, without TOO much of a loss in readability for text and borders (though some of the smallest text is difficult to read, most can still be made out). Unfortunately, the SVG format barely compresses them (left me with 42mb, definitely too large to put online!). The PNG format allows some compression (down to 8mb), but that's still too large for me to put online, and I can't read them on my iPod...

Still, it was great to finally get to show you my respect and appreciation for your work. Hopefully we can both help each other in the future. My maps are available on my personal website www.ThomasLessman.com/History/, and you are welcome to use them to help further your own work. As I said, you've definitely helped me finish some of my own maps, and I appreciate it! Thomas Lessman 22:43, 15 October 2007 (UTC)

Brian, since you seem to enjoy the Talessman maps, could we try and find some sane compromise regarding their use? From the 200px thumbnail to the right, it should be obvious that they convey no information whatsoever unless blown up to at least 600px or so. I am not opposed to keeping them on articles with large scopes, such as 600s or 7th century (at least until somebody presents maps with a superior design), but I would argue that it is pointless to keep them on any random article that somehow concerns the time period in question. For Khazars, I am unable to see how Image:East-Hem 600ad.jpg adds any value at all seeing we have Image:Gokturkut.png. --dab (𒁳) 16:20, 19 October 2007 (UTC)

That makes sense to me for the most part. The Eastern hemisphere maps are useful for illustrating some of the larger empires and their places in the geopolitical order, but can be redundant for articles with more limited scopes. Briangotts (Talk) (Contrib) 16:23, 19 October 2007 (UTC)

Maybe the larger maps could be cropped for specific articles? Briangotts (Talk) (Contrib) 16:37, 19 October 2007 (UTC)
 * indeed: if we crop, say, Image:East-Hem 600ad.jpg to western Europe (notably also avoiding the watermark), the result will be a quite useful map that may come handy in various articles on Early Medieval topics. dab (𒁳) 18:00, 19 October 2007 (UTC)


 * I did this for Image:Europe 600ad.jpg, while I was at it also cropping Image:East-Hem 600ad.jpg to something more reasonable. dab (𒁳) 18:12, 19 October 2007 (UTC)
 * I think that is a good compromise. Briangotts (Talk) (Contrib) 18:14, 19 October 2007 (UTC)

I could live with that as a compromise, and thank you Brian for helping. I'm not sure what the problem is with the image's title (or "watermark" as Db calls it); the only reason it's there is for map identification and so that readers know whom to contact regarding any corrections (if necessary). However, as long as the maps aren't cropped TOO much (limiting to only one country, for example), and as long as the new cropped image points to the original map as reference, I can live with that, as long as he's not doing it on every page. It does create more images to upload and store on Wikipedia though. But it's a compromise. Again Brian, thank you for your help, and sorry you got dragged into an otherwise pointless debate. Thomas Lessman 18:40, 19 October 2007 (UTC)
 * Talessman, if you want people to credit you for the maps, you should release them under GFDL, not public domain; your contact information is on the image page, where it belongs, there is no need to grace the image itself with it. dab (𒁳) 21:31, 19 October 2007 (UTC)

Veropedia
Hey, I've enjoyed your work for a long time, ever since I reviewed Sviatoslav I of Kiev (still one of my favourite articles) for GA. I've recently been recruited to judge Wikipedia articles for Veropedia and wondered if you'd be interested in being recruited as well? Adam Cuerden talk 01:16, 25 October 2007 (UTC)

Move suggestion
Hi Brian! This might interest you.--Berig 07:27, 30 October 2007 (UTC)

Serious discussions about using the names Reform vs. Progressive Judaism
Hi Brian: Please see the present discussions at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Countering systemic bias/open tasks. Your input would be greatly appreciated. (They are the result of discussions that unfolded at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Judaism.) Thanks so much, IZAK 09:51, 30 October 2007 (UTC)

Gunnhild Ozursdattir
Hi Brian. I have not been on wikipedia for awhile so I must apologise for missing your message on my discussion page. I will help with the article on Gunnhild Ozursdattir as best I can. King Óðinn The Aesir 14:58, 2 November 2007 (UTC)

The Military history WikiProject Newsletter : Issue XX (October 2007)
The October 2007 issue of the Military history WikiProject newsletter has been published. You may read the newsletter, change the format in which future issues will be delivered to you, or unsubscribe from this notification by following the link. Thank you.

Delivered by grafikbot 13:34, 3 November 2007 (UTC)

Massacre of Uman
Shavua` tov, Brian. Please see my note to IZAK here. Kol tov, Tomertalk 01:15, 4 November 2007 (UTC)

List of massacres during the Second Intifada
Talk:List of massacres during the Second Intifada Looking for outside input into a long-term controversy over the naming and scope of this list. As you participated in the afd, please help us out. Thanks. &lt;&lt;-armon-&gt;&gt; 11:50, 13 November 2007 (UTC)

Mardaites, Marada
Hello Briangotts, there is a discussion of a possible merge. Since you created both articles and familiar with the topic, your input would be appreciated. &mdash; Aššur-bāni-apli (talk · contribs) 18:40, 16 November 2007 (UTC)

Torah judgement reloaded
You were once involved in the discussion about whether the Banu Qurayza were massacred based/in line with/etc. provisions of the Torah. Some editor has reopened that can and I think you may want to comment ar Talk:Banu_Qurayza. Cheers, Str1977 (talk) 19:34, 19 November 2007 (UTC)

The Military history WikiProject Newsletter : Issue XXI (November 2007)
The November 2007 issue of the Military history WikiProject newsletter has been published. You may read the newsletter, change the format in which future issues will be delivered to you, or unsubscribe from this notification by following the link. Thank you. This has been an automated delivery by BrownBot 01:02, 2 December 2007 (UTC)

No content in Category:Scythian and Sarmatian deities
Hello, this is a message from an automated bot. A tag has been placed on Category:Scythian and Sarmatian deities, by another Wikipedia user, requesting that it be speedily deleted from Wikipedia. The tag claims that it should be speedily deleted because Category:Scythian and Sarmatian deities has been empty for at least four days, and its only content has been links to parent categories. (CSD C1). To contest the tagging and request that administrators wait before possibly deleting Category:Scythian and Sarmatian deities, please affix the template to the page, and put a note on its talk page. If the article has already been deleted, see the advice and instructions at WP:WMD. Feel free to contact the bot operator if you have any questions about this or any problems with this bot, bearing in mind that '''this bot is only informing you of the nomination for speedy deletion; it does not perform any nominations or deletions itself. To see the user who deleted the page, click here''' CSDWarnBot 04:30, 2 December 2007 (UTC)

A Canticle for Leibowitz
Briangotts, I see you've shown some interest in the A Canticle for Leibowitz article in the past. I'm interested in bringing it to GA status soon and am soliciting your help. A number of revisions have been made in the past few weeks to position it for a successful nomination process. Would you mind reviewing the article and making suggestions/changes to assist in the process? Any assistance you can provide will be appreciated. Thank you. Jim Dunning | talk  05:00, 13 December 2007 (UTC)

The Tang Dynasty
Dear Mr. Gotts

I am preparing a thesis on foreigners depicted in the tombs of the Tang Dynasty and wondered if there were any citations of

a) The Khazars connection with China b) What influence they might have had on traders from the West visiting China.

There are of course many deptictions of semitic traders in Tang Tombs and I have a reproduction of a 7 stemmed menorah type Buddhist artifact which may or may not have been a copy of an original which is of interest as the Khazars seem to be the only ones of that era using a 7 stemmed Menorah.

Please reply to Mike.Sanders@AncientCultures.net