User talk:DXproton

The most important thing about being thirteen is that you have a long time to learn from your mistakes. Welcome to Wikipedia.

Your recent edits
Hello. In case you didn't know, when you add content to talk pages and Wikipedia pages that have open discussion, you should sign your posts by typing four tildes ( &#126;&#126;&#126;&#126; ) at the end of your comment. You could also click on the signature button or  located above the edit window. This will automatically insert a signature with your username or IP address and the time you posted the comment. This information is useful because other editors will be able to tell who said what, and when they said it. Thank you. --SineBot (talk) 12:50, 23 December 2011 (UTC)


 * The first problem I see is the leading spaces being added to the beginning of the first sentence, I fixed one here

Adding a leading space does this....not good... :)


 * Are you signing with four tildes?, if so, then there's a problem with your signature preferences, if so, what is in your signature box and is the "Treat the above as wiki markup. If unchecked, the contents of the box above will be treated as your nickname and link automatically to your user page. If checked, the above markup will be used for your name when you sign with or ~; including any Wiki markup, links, or other valid formatting that it includes." box checked or unchecked?  There's more information on signatures here: Signatures Dreadstar  ☥   03:31, 24 December 2011 (UTC)
 * Thanks for the barnstar, that's the peak of my personal gain desires on WP! Your signature looks great!!  Good job!  I didn't realize I left a bare URL above and a "nowiki" in place, so I fixed them with a Link and a /nowiki end.  Happy editing!  Dreadstar  ☥   03:31, 24 December 2011 (UTC)

Some advice
Hey there DXproton! Interesting to see someone so young editing Wikipedia. You're here participating in a global project with volunteers of all ages. I think that's pretty neat myself. As implied on my userpage and the links from it, I'm 19 and attending college at Utah State University. I'm impressed that you've taken a lot of time in making edits on Wikipedia, and I'm sure you have a lot to learn still. One thing that I would definitely advise you is to put a space after commas and sentences. Usually one space is sufficient, but it makes you're writing as readable as possible, which is very key here. Also, be sure that your contributions are cited of course, because otherwise we have no idea if the statement is true or not, and readers might think it's not. Citations can get complex, but the very minimum is to put then an open bracket, the link to the source, a space, the name of the source, a closing bracket, and then < /ref >. Someone else will come along eventually and will fix it up proper, (as I did on one occasion) though of course going directly to the proper way is preferable. But there are my thoughts. I'll be watchlisting this page, so feel free to reply back with questions or such and I'll see what I can do. I don't have the time to be a "tutor" but perhaps I'll be able to answer some questions you have. I'm sure there are Wikipedia pages you can read on on how to become a good editor, but it's been my experience that having someone else to help here and there is pretty handy. Again, just reply back here (the use of a colon will indent your post and make it look like a reply) and if I have time I'll see what I can do. Happy editing! Jessemv (talk) 08:13, 25 December 2011 (UTC)
 * Thanks for all the awesome advice! They really came in handy. I still have the burning desire to create user boxes on my user page, so maybe you could help me on that. I've visited a page on Wikipedia which covers this, but the procedure is so complicated anyone my age would have had foam coming out of their nostrils if they tried to decipher what the heck it meant. Simplify it for me, please.
 * Userboxes are pretty neat I think. I've seen users with WAY too many, and then there are those (like you) who want more. You're welcome to steal the userboxes off of my page. Use the Preview to figure out how things line up, and feel free to swap the userboxes for ones that are applicable to you. I understand that it's complicated, and I find that I learn pretty fast if I copy it off someone and then figure it out from there. Normally userboxes are arranged in a long column on the right hand side, but you'll see that I figured a way to arrange some of mine into a centered grid. You're welcome to use that as well. If you don't want your grid to be as wide, just make sure there are only three userboxes in between the |- marks. At the bottom of my page, I've centered two userboxes side-by-side; that's in its own grid unique from the others, and I think you'll see how it works. So feel free to steal what I've got and make it work the way you want it. If you can't figure something out I'll see what I can do to help. Merry Christmas, Jessemv (talk) 17:52, 25 December 2011 (UTC)
 * What is 'the Preview'? And how do I steal your user boxes? How to swap? Is it possible to teach me using step-by-step instructions? Thank you! And don't be single, Marry Christmas.
 * Sorry. I'm not sure what your screen looks like, but mine has a "Save Page", "Show Preview", and "Show Changes" near the bottom of the screen when I edit something. Using the "Show Preview" button (which I referred to as "the Preview") to see how your changes look. That way you can make sure you're userboxes are just the way you want them when you hit "Save Page". If you've visited my userpage (not my Talk) then you'll see that I have a variety of userboxes there. Hit the Edit tab at the top of the screen to see the wiki-code that makes my page's text and layout, and copy and paste on to your page (which you'll be editing in another browser tab or something) all my userboxes. The code for them begins with "{|" and ends with "|}" and has a bit of fancy HTML stuff in between. I have three sets of userboxes. The first set is right at the very top of the Edit window. The second set and the third set don't have a blank space in between, but they are at the very bottom of the Edit window. So copy and paste all of those onto your userpage, and put your current text right after the first set but before the second/third set just as I do. Then hit Show Preview to see how things look. It should look very similar to what I have. Notice in the Edit window that each userbox is between two pairs of angled brackets, like "{ {" and "} }". From their text in the Edit window, it's not really obvious what text they display. But by removing one, or by substituting it (deleting the one you don't want, and paste in another from Userboxes/Gallery) for another, and by using the Show Preview button every time you change something, you can understand what each one is and which ones you want. Getting the alignment right on the userboxes can be a bit tricky. My first set of userboxes just is a big vertical stack on the right hand side of the page. Pretty straightforward to see how that works in the wiki-code in the Edit window, it's also just a list of userboxes, one on every line like I have. But my second set is more complex, because it's a grid. It has a "|-" and then a list of userboxes on a row, and then "| -" and then the userbox list for the next row, and so on until the grid ends with "|}" My last set is just two userboxes set in a single row. Notice how in the wiki-code in the Edit window I put them side-by-side like that. Along with the "|-", this makes the two of them centered and nice on my userpage. Sorry for the long reply here, but I hope I've given you enough information so that you can better figure this out. Detailed instructions I think would be difficult because it's completely your choice how you want your userboxes arranged and which ones you want to use. If you run into difficulties, let me know. I can also see if I can fix it for you if you want me to. Trying not to be single and Merry Christmas to you too, Jessemv (talk) 06:08, 26 December 2011 (UTC)
 * User boxes, yeah!!! I didn't steal any from you though :). Thanks a lot dude! And in case you did't notice,I didn't EXACTLY wish you a 'M e rry Christmas...' Merry Christmas by the way, if your Christmas at America isn't over yet.
 * Well done. As they said in Portal 2, "Clever. Verrrry clever..." :D For the record, it's the 9:27am on the 26th. I'm on vacation in Hawaii at the moment. :) Jessemv (talk) 19:27, 26 December 2011 (UTC)
 * Wow. Happy holidays! Say hi to the dolphins for me if you see any. It's 10am here and I calculated our time difference is approximately 10 hours.I have to pack my bag up for school on January 3rd. I'm going to St Andrew's Secondary School. A friend from my previous primary school, Northland Primary School, is coming to Andrew's too. We got assigned to the same class too. I checked out the school and yeah it's big. Okay it's more than big. It's about the size of the apartment of Godzilla. My father is down with pnumonia by the way, all because he ate a rotten apple or two. Now he sounds like my grandfather, though he's barely 43 (he got throat infection too). And I'm 10 kg underweight. If this goes on, I'll never join the school rugby team...§ÆŒǑÑĎÁŘŶ school life!!ỿỿỿỿỿỿỿỿẟ
 * Well on our second scuba dive of the day my family and I swam through a small lava tube, which was pretty amazing. But no dolphins. We saw a whale yesterday, but not while we were diving. But I'm on Christmas break, and I'll be going back to school on the 8th and launch straightaway into linear algebra which shouldn't be all that bad considering that I have the same professor who taught me discrete mathematics last year, so I'm kind of looking forward to it a bit. Anyway, Wasilla High School is just about the same size, but I wish you the best of luck there. Hope your father gets better. Remember, as Leeroy Jenkins said, "At least I have chicken." Have fun being in the future, I'm still floundering around 10 hours in the past... Jessemv (talk) 04:59, 27 December 2011 (UTC)
 * You go scuba diving while I study biology. How fair. Anyway...can you tell me customize my signature (if you know how to,that is) ?
 * Ha I took Biology 1610 last year! As for the signature, if you click My Preferences in the top right of your screen you'll get to the place where you can customize your signature. Now I obviously haven't, so I have no experience there. I'd say to look at this page as that seems to have some short but useful info. Sorry I just don't know how to do that kind of thing. If you can't figure it out from that page, it might be helpful to find someone who's signature looks nice (or similar to the way you might want yours) and ask them for the code that makes their signature like that. Of course don't copy their signature, but I'm sure they can provide more advice than I can. Most people don't customize it, and I personally don't care either way. Best of luck. And by the way, here's a game that might interest you: Minecraft. Jessemv (talk) 05:59, 27 December 2011 (UTC)
 * After a tough decision I've decided I don't need a fancy signature. And thanks for the game suggestion. I've seen my friend play Minecraft but I've never really played it myself. I know it's fun, but I don't play computer games anymore. In fact I don't play any type of game that's not physical. I do play chess though. I was even in the SJS (Singapore Junior Squad) for chess two years ago. 70% of all the stuff I won was related to chess. I'm joining the chess club at St Andrew's. Why don't you create an account at 'Chess.com' ? Wait...do you know how to play chess in the first place?
 * Minecraft is pretty fun. I have a couple servers I play on myself. A very creative game, but it is also adventurous and can be at times quite scary. Overall, it's pretty versatile, although it's received criticism for lacking an in-game tutorial, but that's what minecraftwiki.net is for! Congratulations on the chess accomplishments there. I know how to play chess, but I haven't played in a number of years so I'm not very good. I play real chess, like with wood pieces, none of this "chess.com" business. :) JK. Actually, I find computer-related things very fascinating, even Deep Blue versus Garry Kasparov and Watson (computer). Several weeks ago my Computer Science homework involved writing a Connect4 AI that was difficult to beat. My program looked about 11 moves ahead and it won 10/10 rounds against me. Jessemv (talk) 07:17, 27 December 2011 (UTC)
 * Gary actually won a computer...and yeah I play real life chess too. How can you write a Connect4? And do you know how to inflate a ball with a needle? Can you fix up my user page for me? Thanks!!!
 * My Connect4 program looks at where the game currently is, figures out all possible moves it could make, then from each of those it figures out all possible moves I could make, and so on like 11 moves deep. As it's doing this, it tries to figure out if it can reach a game where it won. If it found such a winning game state, then it takes the move that leads to that state. In that sense, it always tries to make a good move. This is easier with Tic-Tak-Toe, where in 9 moves the game is over. But in Connect4, when the game starts the computer will look 11 moves ahead, not see any "end game" states so it just moves randomly. I've inflated basketballs with needles and things like that. And what's wrong with your userpage? What do you want it to look like? Because I could try to "fix" it, but I'd probably make it worse because I don't know what you exactly want. Jessemv (talk) 17:31, 27 December 2011 (UTC)
 * As you can see I put in the headings "About me" and "As a Wikipedian". But I also put "What I want to be when I grow up", "Books I read" and "School life" sandwiched between four equal signs (=) with two on either side. Somehow the last four headings don't come out the same as the first two. I don't know how this happens. I'm sure I did everything right. Is there anything I didn't do? And yeah I see you can make a programme to play a perfect game. Your programme can tell the future by ten moves. Is it the same as playing a perfect game?
 * Putting spaces before the section title causes formatting problems, I fixed it to see if that's what you intended. Dreadstar  ☥   03:05, 28 December 2011 (UTC)
 * Here's some more formatting tips here and here. Dreadstar  ☥   03:10, 28 December 2011 (UTC)
 * Yeah thanks DreadStar! And why didn't anyone remind me that I didn't sign my posts!!?? And is it possible to inflate a ball with a needle using your mouth?--Rabidretardedolphinz (talk) 04:14, 28 December 2011 (UTC)
 * I ALMOST did. But then I realized that a bot wouldn't sign your posts for you and thus remind you because it's your own Talk page. Also, it says "Sign your posts on Talk pages" right below the "Save Page", "Show Preview", and "Show Changes" buttons, so I thought you saw those. Anyway, if you remember to sign your posts it adds a bit of credibility to you since it's one more Wikiquette (Wikipedia Etiquette) thing that you demonstrate that you know. And no seeing 10 moves ahead isn't the same as playing perfectly. In order to play perfectly, the computer would always play optimally. In order to do that, it would have to be able to simulate enough moves until it got to one where it won. Then it would make a move in that direction, thus moving optimally. If the opponent made a move that wasn't along the play path that would allow the computer to win, then the program(me) would have to figure it out again and move in a direction where it knew it would win. This is exceedingly difficult to do for chess, and still challenging for Connect4. For tic-tak-toe, it's relatively easy to figure out all possible game states and make the optimal move. That would be playing perfectly, and if both players do it you always end in a tie. People discover this over time, and that's why tic-tak-toe becomes less popular as you get older. :D As for the needle question, I think it would depend on the ball. Beachball yes, basketball/football/soccerball probably not, due to the air pressures required. Try it. Annnnd I just looked at your userpage on my smartphone. Your userbox made the browser app freak out. Thanks... :) Jessemv (talk) 04:28, 28 December 2011 (UTC)
 * So I have to buy a pump for my football? And you use American English while I use British English. No big deal. English is English. Just stick to your version of the language. So you want me to delete my two gigantic user boxes?
 * Did you try this Google search: link? And there's no need to delete your userboxes because of me. The largest one does warn the viewer that it might overload things, so I just wanted to test it. :) And by the way, when you make an edit on Wikipedia, it's generally a good idea to write an short and simple edit summary. You don't have to, and it's not a big deal on your own talk page, but it's generally recommended. That way people have a rough idea of what changes you made. Whenever I see an edit on a Wikipedia article that doesn't have edit summary, and especially when it's from an IP, most of the time I check the changes for spam/vandalism. So yeah it's a good idea. Just saying. Jessemv (talk) 17:45, 28 December 2011 (UTC)
 * I just reread your userpage text again. I edit Wikipedia like that sometimes as well, only over the last several months I've been concentrating on Folding@home, but the same pattern applies: I run across something, and then add it in. However, I make sure to always cite my sources and I recommend that you do the same as often as you can. If you are reading a book and find useful material for Wikipedia, did you know that there is a Cite Book template? See Template:Cite book. Just place it between ref tags, and then someone else won't have to hunt down the material since you did that for them. And trust me, it's far easier to put in a citation the first time, rather than try to hunt down the source for some uncited statement! So go ahead and use the Cite Book citation template, your fellow editors will thank you! :) Jessemv (talk) 21:50, 28 December 2011 (UTC)
 * I bought a foot pump for my bicycle. If I attach the needle, I could pump the ball too! And thanks for the advice. But seriously, why did you link "reading a book" to a really badly named song?
 * Yeah that's probably the easiest way to inflate the ball. I just linked it because it reminded me of that Julian Smith video. He's a pretty popular YouTuber, he makes all sorts of unique videos and things. Jessemv (talk) 06:57, 29 December 2011 (UTC)
 * Riiiiiiiiiiiiight...--Rabidretardedolphinz (talk) 07:53, 29 December 2011 (UTC)
 * Are citations the same thing as references?Rabidretardedolphinz (talk) 13:06, 30 December 2011 (UTC)
 * For Wikipedia's purposes, they are pretty much the same. You need to provide citations for statements in articles by including references to the source material. Jessemv (talk) 06:41, 31 December 2011 (UTC)
 * Kay, so a 'citation' is a synonym of 'reference'--Rabidretardedolphinz (talk) 06:43, 31 December 2011 (UTC)
 * Well I've used them as such, but I just did a Google search and found this. I think it explains it pretty well. Jessemv (talk) 07:00, 31 December 2011 (UTC)

I found this page: Guidance for younger editors, which you might find useful, and to a lesser degree this A Primer for newcomers. Just some good info for you so you can be a good editor and really impress your friends! :) Jessemv (talk) 02:34, 5 January 2012 (UTC)
 * Gee thanks, but unfortunately I can't spend much time of Wikipedia cos my school started, so don't expect an immediate response. And more thanks fo dah cell wall permiability thingy--Rabidretardedolphinz (talk) 08:54, 6 January 2012 (UTC)

Cell wall permeability
Saw your question on Talk:Cell wall but thought I'd give you a simplified explanation here. As the article says, the cell wall is outside the cellular membrane. They hold the cell's contents together and hold it against the environment, more so than just the membrane. Think of a pillowcase. Water can go through it, but paperclips can't. This is a good analogy to a cell. There are certain proteins (special molecules that do a specific job) embedded in the cell wall that can move specific kinds of molecules in and out of the cell. For example, the cell may receive a molecule that tells it to do a specific thing, like commit suicide or to change a gene. Only certain things can go in and out of the cell membrane, but not everything. ASAIK, water can go in and out as it pleases, but certain cells may actually use energy to get rid of the water if it has too much. I may be mixing up the cell wall with the cell membrane on this permeability explanation, but I believe it's correct. Jessemv (talk) 00:48, 3 January 2012 (UTC)