User talk:Colonies Chris/Archive/2017/Apr

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Thank you! --EGalvez (WMF) (talk) 19:25, 13 January 2017 (UTC)

List of wars involving Bulgaria
Hi Chris, with this edit you've broken 11 images. Cheers KylieTastic (talk) 18:29, 18 January 2017 (UTC)


 * Fixed. Once again I see that my positive contributions go unacknowledged but my errors are picked up on immediately. I've learned my lesson, and will return to retirement. Colonies Chris (talk) 23:24, 18 January 2017 (UTC)
 * Hey Chris, I just saw errors pop up in Category:Articles with missing files that I patrol daily (ish) and let you know - that is all. Would you rather that errors go unnoticed? I would rather any I make be picked up 'immediately' as you say. Sorry that you appear to have taken this as a negative but I said 'Hi' and 'Cheers' and was just trying to be polite while just pointing out the errors - nothing more or less. Errors are errors, and we all make them, and the more edits we do the more likely we miss a couple, but they still need to be addressed. Sounds like stuff on and/or off Wiki is getting to you and I can certainly sympathise - the work we do here as individuals is hardly ever noticed just the anonymised overall result, unfortunately the opposite is true for errors that are personalised. I've been considering trying to retire as well as although I know I make a positive contribution all you see is the endless work to do and the negative responses :/ So please do just take this as it was meant as just pointing out the errors, nothing more. You have already given more to the project with 300K+ edits than most so if you stay or retire never forget what you done. In the end do what makes you happiest. All the best KylieTastic (talk) 00:30, 19 January 2017 (UTC)

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Disambiguation link notification for March 17
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Opera DYK archive
I wonder if it's a good idea to change the archive, even if it is "wrong". --Gerda Arendt (talk) 22:58, 4 April 2017 (UTC)

author names
Hello,

Thanks for your work editing Wikipedia. Sorry to have had to revert your edit to List of Melaleuca species. A quick check here will show that there are no spaces in author names. The reason some of the author names on the list page were red-linked is that nobody has written about them. Your edit created red-links because the author name was then incorrect - "C. A. Gardner" instead of "C.A.Gardner" for example. The author of Melaleuca agathosmoides was C.A.Gardner. Please check the M. agathosmoides page. It would be great if someone would write pages about the others - Kirsten Jane Cowley (K.J.Cowley), Bryan Alwyn Barlow (Barlow) and John Wyndham Dawson (J.W.Dawson) for example.) The only reason your change from "F.Muell." to "F. Muell." is not now red-linked is that someone created a redirect in case of an incorrect spelling. Mueller's abbreviation is "F.Muell.".

I see you have now undone my reversion. Please read the above carefully, check the pages I've linked (above) and replace the original version of the list. And have a very nice day! Gderrin (talk) 23:30, 5 April 2017 (UTC)

By the way, the author of Melaleuca brevisepala was John Wyndham Dawson, not John William Dawson. No page on J.W.Dawson yet. Gderrin (talk) 23:40, 5 April 2017 (UTC)

The other author names you have changed and created a red-link when the originals were correct (and correctly linked) are A.S.George (for Alex George), the author of Melaleuca coccinea and R.D.Spencer (for Roger David Spencer) the author of Melaleuca pearsonii and Melaleuca recurva. There is one mistake in the original version - I spelled Lyndley Craven's name incorrectly at Melaleuca sphaerodendra (not Lindley Craven). Gderrin (talk) 00:59, 6 April 2017 (UTC)

Hi Gderrin - some points:
 * 1) I did not change F.Muell to F. Muell. I simply removed the pointless piping, which was itself a redirect - this exposed the fact that the abbreviation already in place was non-standard.
 * And it's confusing to other editors to sometimes use the standard abbreviation and yet pipe it to the article name even when the abbreviation is unambiguous (e.g. S.T.Blake )


 * 1) If you want authors' names given here to be recognised as standard abbreviations by other editors, I suggest that you add them to the relevant lists, even if there isn't an article for them yet. I checked the lists in Category:Botanists with author abbreviations before making my changes.
 * 2) In the case of B.A.Barlow, it makes no sense to disambiguate the standard abbreviation (Barlow) by piping it to another abbreviation that looks like a standard botanical abbreviation but isn't (see List_of_botanists_by_author_abbreviation_(B)). It should be piped to the person's name. even though there isn't yet an article for him.
 * 3) I only later found a reference to John William Dawson and wrongly assumed that he was the man referred to.
 * 4) I'm sorry about the C.A.Gardner and R.D.Spencer and A.S.George changes - these were a late-night mistake on my part. However, I suggest that redirects from the conventionally abbreviated names (as well as from the botanical abbreviations) would surely be useful to readers looking for information on these people.

I will revert my changes and leave any further improvements up to you.

Colonies Chris (talk) 08:41, 6 April 2017 (UTC)


 * Thanks mate. I'll check all the author names and take your advice about adding names to the "list of botanists' names". Gderrin (talk) 09:37, 6 April 2017 (UTC)

Disambiguation link notification for April 9
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