User talk:David Eppstein/2021d

Mystery comment
How come she's not given credit for engineering if she made astrolobes & hydraulics instruments? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2604:3D08:797D:E800:F965:65A2:9FC4:4499 (talk) 07:44, 3 October 2021 (UTC)
 * Anyone have any idea what the context for this might be? Al-ʻIjliyyah, maybe? Or Hypatia? Those are the only two articles I can remember editing involving a woman who made astrolabes. —David Eppstein (talk) 08:03, 3 October 2021 (UTC)

Derangement
My purpose for adding a reference in the lede of the derangement article was to resist efforts by a determined and eccentric editor to replace this with nonsense. I'd suggest putting in at the very least one of your high-quality cites to support it. The Anome (talk) 16:46, 5 October 2021 (UTC)
 * That editor is too stubborn to be deterred by a footnote. And we should not guide our article content by what cranks think of it. —David Eppstein (talk) 16:48, 5 October 2021 (UTC)
 * True, but having the cite there will help other editors, new to the article, to see that the cite-supported text is valid and the crank text is not, so they can revert it without engaging further with the crank. -- The Anome (talk) 18:47, 5 October 2021 (UTC)

The Tardos function and the status of Clique
The article Tardos function contains the following statement:
 * Later, the same function was used to provide a counterexample to a purported proof of P ≠ NP by Norbert Blum.
 * 

DYK for Constructible number
— Maile (talk) 12:02, 24 November 2021 (UTC)

DYK for Handshaking lemma
Cwmhiraeth (talk) 00:03, 25 November 2021 (UTC)


 * theleekycauldron (talk • contribs) (they/them) 05:24, 26 November 2021 (UTC)

Your GA nomination of No-three-in-line problem
Hi there, I'm pleased to inform you that I've begun reviewing the article No-three-in-line problem you nominated for GA-status according to the criteria. This process may take up to 7 days. Feel free to contact me with any questions or comments you might have during this period. Message delivered by Legobot, on behalf of Eviolite -- Eviolite (talk) 02:00, 25 November 2021 (UTC)

Your GA nomination of No-three-in-line problem
The article No-three-in-line problem you nominated as a good article has been placed on hold. The article is close to meeting the good article criteria, but there are some minor changes or clarifications needing to be addressed. If these are fixed within 7 days, the article will pass; otherwise it may fail. See Talk:No-three-in-line problem for issues which need to be addressed. Message delivered by Legobot, on behalf of Eviolite -- Eviolite (talk) 03:20, 25 November 2021 (UTC)

Your GA nomination of No-three-in-line problem
The article No-three-in-line problem you nominated as a good article has passed ; see Talk:No-three-in-line problem for comments about the article. Well done! If the article has not already appeared on the main page as a "Did you know" item, or as a bold link under "In the News" or in the "On This Day" prose section, you can nominate it within the next seven days to appear in DYK. Bolded names with dates listed at the bottom of the "On This Day" column do not affect DYK eligibility. Message delivered by Legobot, on behalf of Eviolite -- Eviolite (talk) 04:41, 27 November 2021 (UTC)

Your GA nomination of Three utilities problem
The article Three utilities problem you nominated as a good article has been placed on hold. The article is close to meeting the good article criteria, but there are some minor changes or clarifications needing to be addressed. If these are fixed within 7 days, the article will pass; otherwise it may fail. See Talk:Three utilities problem for issues which need to be addressed. Message delivered by Legobot, on behalf of The Most Comfortable Chair -- The Most Comfortable Chair (talk) 17:20, 28 November 2021 (UTC)

EGRS violations
Hello, I was on my way to file an ANI notice when the "skip the drama" suggestion at WP:ANI caught my eye and it occurred to me to post here first. But please let me know if you'd prefer that I just go straight to ANI. You might remember a few months ago when User:ThurstonMitchell was diffusing women out of non-diffusing academic categories, so that they were only classified as (say) "women political scientists" and not as "political scientists". The relevant conversation was here. Similarly, over the last 2 days has been using HotCat to take women out of non-diffusing parent categories so that they are only in subcategories. After their first round of edits I attempted to start a conversation here, but rather than engaging, they just re-did one of the edits I objected to (it violates WP:EGRS point 5, and the category is specifically marked as non-diffusing). I then commented again on their talk page asking them to engage in discussion, and pointed them to the conversation I tried to start with ThurstonMitchell about the same thing at Category talk:American women political scientists. Instead of engaging in either discussion, they resumed today using automated editing tools to remove women from their professional categories because they are in a non-diffusing subcategory: see e.g. 1, 2, 3. Again, let me know if you'd rather I post at ANI instead. - Astrophobe  (talk) 22:10, 28 November 2021 (UTC)
 * I would have responded more quickly, but I happened to be offline all day. It looks like this one may need to go to ANI, unless you think it's the same person as ThurstonMitchell editing under a different name in which case WP:SPI may be a better choice. There are too many more issues than just the use of automated tools to mass-miscategorize, although that's already pretty severe. User:Ser Amantio di Nicolao may also be interested in weighing in, as someone who uses power tools for categorization (I don't), knows how to do it right, and is probably better placed to clean up some of the mess if (as seems likely) BostonMensa is unwilling to clean up their own mess. —David Eppstein (talk) 08:06, 29 November 2021 (UTC)
 * It's way past my bedtime right now, but I did want to leave a note telling you I'll look into this in the morning. Some of it, at least, should be fairly easy to undo with automated tools; some may be a bit trickier. But it can be taken care of with relative ease. Anyhow - if I don't chime in again in a couple of days, just give me a light slap upside the head to remind me. -- Ser Amantio di Nicolao Che dicono a Signa?Lo dicono a Signa. 09:05, 29 November 2021 (UTC)
 * Thanks very much to both of you for the responses (pinging in case you don't see this), and I'm very sorry to raise this issue and then disappear — I submitted my PhD dissertation yesterday so I was a bit preoccupied. All of this makes sense. Looking back through the user's contributions it looks like there were a lot of EGRS violations before I noticed what was happening, so I hope there's an automated solution. But of course I'm more than happy to help with cleanup, whether there's a better way to do it than manually or not, so please let me know if another pair of hands would be be helpful. Anyhow, to ANI it is then. Sigh. -  Astrophobe  (talk) 06:32, 3 December 2021 (UTC)
 * I submitted my PhD dissertation yesterday so I was a bit preoccupied. I'll bet -- congrats! --JBL (talk) 12:11, 3 December 2021 (UTC)
 * First of all: congratulations. Second of all: more congratulations. Third of all: ...you get the idea. :-)


 * Anyhow. I've reviewed the case a bit more, and this doesn't seem to be someone who has been removing articles wholesale from one category. That makes automated repopulation difficult, because any automated category repopulation I perform is going to only dredge up two or three articles, which might just as well be recategorized manually. And for some categories there's the added wrinkle of subcategories. (See, for instance, . I can use Cat-a-lot to copy everyone from into the parent, but that will pick up some articles that belong in the subcats. I can then go through the subcats and clean them out, but that's a sometimes messy business, for a variety of reasons.)


 * Any idea of a particular set of professions that were targeted? That might give me a good jumping-off point to try and fix some of the issue. -- Ser Amantio di Nicolao Che dicono a Signa?Lo dicono a Signa. 17:39, 3 December 2021 (UTC)

Your GA nomination of Three utilities problem
The article Three utilities problem you nominated as a good article has passed ; see Talk:Three utilities problem for comments about the article. Well done! If the article has not already appeared on the main page as a "Did you know" item, or as a bold link under "In the News" or in the "On This Day" prose section, you can nominate it within the next seven days to appear in DYK. Bolded names with dates listed at the bottom of the "On This Day" column do not affect DYK eligibility. Message delivered by Legobot, on behalf of The Most Comfortable Chair -- The Most Comfortable Chair (talk) 05:01, 1 December 2021 (UTC)

A barnstar for you!

 * Thanks! —David Eppstein (talk) 07:43, 1 December 2021 (UTC)

You have been invoked...
...in this discussion, and I thought you'd like to know as you were not pinged. BobFromBrockley (talk) 15:12, 1 December 2021 (UTC)
 * Selfstudier being tendentious again, but this time in some Israel-Palestine related BLP? That sounds like a win-win situation that anyone would rush to participate in. Anyway, thanks for the heads-up. —David Eppstein (talk) 17:14, 1 December 2021 (UTC)

AN notice
Hi David. You should know, has filed a complaint about you at AN: Administrators' noticeboard. –&#8239;Joe (talk) 08:06, 4 December 2021 (UTC)

DYK for Feedback arc set
— Maile (talk) 00:02, 5 December 2021 (UTC)

A barnstar for you!

 * Thanks! —David Eppstein (talk) 18:08, 7 December 2021 (UTC)

Administrators will no longer be autopatrolled
A recently closed Request for Comment (RFC) reached consensus to remove Autopatrolled from the administrator user group. You may, similarly as with Edit Filter Manager, choose to self-assign this permission to yourself. This will be implemented the week of December 13th, but if you wish to self-assign you may do so now. To find out when the change has gone live or if you have any questions please visit the Administrator's Noticeboard. 20:05, 7 December 2021 (UTC)

WP:DISINFOBOX
Thanks for bringing my attention to WP:DISINFOBOX on the Mariolina Padula page, I wasn't aware of the standards surrounding infoboxes. Will keep this in mind going forward! Best, Coolcactus04 (talk) 23:26, 10 December 2021 (UTC)

Alumni categories
Based on your comment in the category talk discussion, I gather that you would have opposed the recent effort to delete the entire category tree of alumni categories. I think this is poised to be a recurring problem, and despite the outcome of that discussion I think we are headed towards an RfC on the question of whether such categories should exist and perhaps how they should be used. This may be something of a pitched battle, so I would certainly appreciate your input on the best solution to the controversy. Cheers! BD2412 T 05:05, 11 December 2021 (UTC)
 * Don't do it. They are clearly defining, at least for some people. I will argue that strenuously on any RFC. This amounts to IDONTLIKEIT and is likely a waste of time. Tell the people pushing for this to find something more useful to do with their and our time. —David Eppstein (talk) 06:15, 11 December 2021 (UTC)
 * I agree with you, and will consult further as things develop (or, at least, if things develop). BD2412  T 06:59, 11 December 2021 (UTC)
 * My hope is that the quick end to Categories for discussion/Log/2021 December 5 may hold any moves in this direction off for a while. —David Eppstein (talk) 07:16, 11 December 2021 (UTC)

Neat new source on the fast inverse square root page
Hi David,

Thank you for working to improve the fast inverse square root article--I don't remember if I ever thanked you for the work on it at any point in the last decade so I figure I should do so now. :)

This blog post was just added to the page. I suppose you'll see it on the watchlist but I felt it might be interesting to you independently as you worked on the article. Protonk (talk) 21:33, 11 December 2021 (UTC)

Thank you (revert of misguided political issue post on unrelated talk page by me)
I sincerely thank you for assisting, and I am totally sorry for the misguided post, which I considered to be uncontroversial and now realize how much it is. I copied the discussion to my talk page and will point to it on the article's talk page.פשוט pashute ♫ (talk) 18:47, 13 December 2021 (UTC)

Binary search tree GA status
I had nominated binary search tree for GA a few weeks ago since I believe it meets the criteria. Would you be willing to give it a review, or any remarks, if you have some free time? Thanks, WikiLinuz  🍁 ( talk ) 10:20, 14 December 2021 (UTC)
 * I put in some significant edits to the "types" section a week ago. Unfortunately I think that disqualifies me as a reviewer. But I can continue looking at it to see what else I think I can improve. —David Eppstein (talk) 18:11, 14 December 2021 (UTC)

DYK for No-three-in-line problem
Cwmhiraeth (talk) 00:02, 15 December 2021 (UTC)


 * theleekycauldron (talk • contribs) (they/she) 06:12, 16 December 2021 (UTC)

Your GA nomination of Square pyramidal number
Hi there, I'm pleased to inform you that I've begun reviewing the article Square pyramidal number you nominated for GA-status according to the criteria. This process may take up to 7 days. Feel free to contact me with any questions or comments you might have during this period. Message delivered by Legobot, on behalf of Olivaw-Daneel -- Olivaw-Daneel (talk) 02:00, 18 December 2021 (UTC)

Your GA nomination of Regular number
Hi there, I'm pleased to inform you that I've begun reviewing the article Regular number you nominated for GA-status according to the criteria. This process may take up to 7 days. Feel free to contact me with any questions or comments you might have during this period. Message delivered by Legobot, on behalf of Shushugah -- Shushugah (talk) 22:00, 18 December 2021 (UTC)

DYK for Three utilities problem
— Maile (talk) 12:02, 20 December 2021 (UTC)


 * theleekycauldron (talk • contribs) (they/she) 01:20, 21 December 2021 (UTC)

Merry Christmas!
 Merry Christmas! ''Joyeux Noël! ~ Buon Natale! ~ Vrolijk Kerstfeest! ~ Frohe Weihnachten! ¡Feliz Navidad! ~ Feliz Natal! ~ Καλά Χριστούγεννα! ~ Hyvää Joulua! God Jul! ~ Glædelig Jul! ~ Linksmų Kalėdų! ~ Priecīgus Ziemassvētkus! Häid Jõule! ~ Wesołych Świąt! ~ Boldog Karácsonyt! ~ Veselé Vánoce! Veselé Vianoce! ~ Crăciun Fericit! ~ Sretan Božić! ~ С Рождеством! শুভ বড়দিন! ~ 圣诞节快乐！~ メリークリスマス！~ 메리 크리스마스! สุขสันต์วันคริสต์มาส!'' ~ Selamat Hari Natal! ~ Giáng sinh an lành! Весела Коледа! Hello, David Eppstein! Thank you for your work to maintain and improve Wikipedia! Wishing you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! CAPTAIN RAJU (T) 09:32, 21 December 2021 (UTC) Spread the WikiLove and leave other users this message by adding {{subst:Multi-language Season's Greetings}}

Your GA nomination of Regular number
The article Regular number you nominated as a good article has passed ; see Talk:Regular number for comments about the article. Well done! If the article has not already appeared on the main page as a "Did you know" item, or as a bold link under "In the News" or in the "On This Day" prose section, you can nominate it within the next seven days to appear in DYK. Bolded names with dates listed at the bottom of the "On This Day" column do not affect DYK eligibility. Message delivered by Legobot, on behalf of Shushugah -- Shushugah (talk) 11:01, 22 December 2021 (UTC)

Your GA nomination of Square pyramidal number
The article Square pyramidal number you nominated as a good article has been placed on hold. The article is close to meeting the good article criteria, but there are some minor changes or clarifications needing to be addressed. If these are fixed within 7 days, the article will pass; otherwise it may fail. See Talk:Square pyramidal number for issues which need to be addressed. Message delivered by Legobot, on behalf of Olivaw-Daneel -- Olivaw-Daneel (talk) 10:00, 24 December 2021 (UTC)

Your GA nomination of Square pyramidal number
The article Square pyramidal number you nominated as a good article has passed ; see Talk:Square pyramidal number for comments about the article. Well done! If the article has not already appeared on the main page as a "Did you know" item, or as a bold link under "In the News" or in the "On This Day" prose section, you can nominate it within the next seven days to appear in DYK. Bolded names with dates listed at the bottom of the "On This Day" column do not affect DYK eligibility. Message delivered by Legobot, on behalf of Olivaw-Daneel -- Olivaw-Daneel (talk) 00:41, 25 December 2021 (UTC)

January 2022 Women in Red
--Megalibrarygirl (talk) 16:02, 28 December 2021 (UTC) via MassMessaging

Your masterstroke
This diff is beautiful. Thanks! jp×g 22:10, 28 December 2021 (UTC)
 * It was a while ago now, but it's still nice for my changes to be appreciated. Thanks! —David Eppstein (talk) 00:46, 30 December 2021 (UTC)

A barnstar for you!

 * You're welcome! —David Eppstein (talk) 00:46, 30 December 2021 (UTC)

Hyperfactorial
I see that you have removed every mention of hyperfactorial from Factorial. Nevertheless still redirects here. IMO, it should be redirected to K-function, but this require some editing of the new target. Thanks in advance for fixing this issue. D.Lazard (talk) 22:03, 30 December 2021 (UTC)
 * Yes, I did notice the issue with the redirect. That article seems like a plausible redirect target, if it is to be a redirect. It's very badly sourced, though, making its notability unconvincing. Adding material on hyperfactorials there would require sourcing, and with sourcing in hand, it might make more sense to turn hyperfactorial into a separate short article. I don't consider the MathWorld page or the two exercises in Concrete Mathematics adequate; A002109, Alabdulmohsin's book, and the Aebi/Cairns Monthly article might make a decent start on sourcing, though. If it becomes an article it might also warrant a line or two in Factorial but I don't want to list things there that don't have separate articles. —David Eppstein (talk) 22:09, 30 December 2021 (UTC)
 * Ok, now at Hyperfactorial. —David Eppstein (talk) 00:02, 31 December 2021 (UTC)
 * Thanks, and happy new year. D.Lazard (talk) 09:16, 31 December 2021 (UTC)

GAN Backlog Drive – January 2022
Sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) on behalf of WikiProject Good articles at 21:18, 31 December 2021 (UTC).