User talk:Dspark76

Welcome!
Welcome to Wikipedia, Dspark76! I have been editing Wikipedia for quite some time. I just wanted to say hi and welcome you to Wikipedia! If you have any questions, feel free to leave me a message on or by typing helpme at the bottom of this page. I love to help new users, so don't be afraid to leave a message! I hope you like the place and decide to stay. Here are some pages that you might find helpful: I hope you enjoy editing here and being a Wikipedian! Oh yeah, I almost forgot, when you post on talk pages you should sign your name on talk pages using four tildes ( ~ ); that should automatically produce your username and the date after your post. If you need help, check out Questions, ask me on, or place helpme on your talk page and ask your question there. Again, welcome!  Gl ac ier   Wo lf   03:57, 18 January 2008 (UTC)
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RIT
Hey, thanks for working on the RIT article. Here's a few friendly tips - generally, you shouldn't have external links to websites outside of wikipedia. You can usually add references using the ref tag, or you can add it to the external links section. I'll be trying to remove many of the external links. Also, make sure you use the Preview button instead of Saving the page. You should always try to limit the number of consecutive edits you make. try to combine them into one, that way it doesn't clog the history section with only edits you've made. Let me know if you have any questions :) -- Dan Leveille TALK 20:41, 27 December 2007 (UTC)
 * At the top of every page is an "edit this page" link, just use that to edit the entire page. The only difference when you edit a section is that it adds a little arrow and the section in the edit summary, so people who are looking at the history log know that the only changes you've made was to that section. But it's not a big deal. But be bold and feel free to edit things and add your own content! That's what Wikipedia is about. I'm trying to add reliable references to RIT's article, since a lot of the content is uncited. If something's not obvious fact, then it's good to do a google search to see if you can find a reliable source. -- Dan Leveille TALK 21:11, 27 December 2007 (UTC)

Re: Thanks
Not a problem. I wanted to give you a Garbage Plate, but Wikipedia doesn't have a welcome template for that. :)  Gl ac ier   Wo lf   03:16, 19 January 2008 (UTC)
 * Hehe, my dad lives in the retirement home by the Port of Rochester in Charlotte.  Gl ac ier   Wo lf   03:38, 23 January 2008 (UTC)

Samantha Smith
Good work. Hopefully we can keep it featured. PMA (talk) 14:01, 26 February 2008 (UTC)

Counter-claims that the KGB had killed her were circulating on American newsgroups just weeks after she died - http://groups.google.com.au/group/net.politics/msg/fed3e2a99de79a04?dmode=source&hl=en —Preceding unsigned comment added by PMA (talk • contribs) 03:07, 29 February 2008 (UTC)

No problem - keep up the good work and I'll help anyway i can - I'm sure there are online newspaper and journal archives that we can use too. Many Soviet people did think the CIA killed her. On the American side many people accused the KGB of killing her for their own purposes PMA (talk) 12:38, 29 February 2008 (UTC)

How about "Life before the Letter"? It's interesting how quickly she matured - in '83 she looks so young but just two years later in Lime Street she has really blossomed to "tits and lipstick". PMA (talk) 13:45, 29 February 2008 (UTC)

Do what you feel you should. Keep up the good work - Sam would be happy. PMA (talk) 15:44, 2 March 2008 (UTC)

I'm surprised there isn't a Samantha Smith Elementary in Maine. PMA (talk) 11:47, 9 March 2008 (UTC)

Thera eruption or Minoan eruption
First of all, I'm not a vulcanologist nor do I play one on TV. I forgot how I got involved with that article, but I got it to GA status a few months ago. I still don't know what to name it. It has gone through several titles, not sure which one to choose. Do you have an opinion? BTW, what's this about the garbage plate? Are you from Ra-cha-cha? I lived many years there, doing my internship and residency, along with getting some degree from the U of R. And getting absolutely drunk and having a garbage plate. Orange Marlin Talk• Contributions 23:32, 11 March 2008 (UTC)


 * Hi Marlin. I left some comments about the garbage plate on your page :)
 * With respect to the Minoan eruption, I'll admit I'm not a vulcanologist either, but I'm always happy to toss in my 2¢. I think this one is tricky question though.  I think its important that the name makes sense when shown in a list of similar eruptions.  For example, see Volcanic Explosivity Index List of Eruption. You'll notice that most of the eruptions are described simply by a place name (a mountain, an island, yellow stone park, etc)  In this regard, Thera or Santorini seems to work best.  However, when a volcano has several major eruptions, then you need to name each one something unique.  In this case, Minoan eruption seems to fit.  We know that Thera eruppted multiple times, although I haven't seen any estimates for the magnitude of the earlier erruptions.  Even still, I edited the VEI page to read Thera (Minoan eruption).
 * I came across the Minoan eruption article while working on the Location hypotheses of Atlantis, Crete and Santorini section. While doing this work I came across:
 * "SANTORINI ERUPTION" on http://www.geology.sdsu.edu/how_volcanoes_work/santorini.html
 * "The Minoan eruption of the Santorini volcano" on http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/columnist/vergano/2006-08-27-ancient-volcano_x.htm
 * "Santorini eruption" on http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6568053.stm
 * Digging further to establish the VEI, I found the real volcanologists using:
 * "Santorini eruption" on http://www.uri.edu/news/releases/?id=3654
 * "eruption of Thera (Santorini)" on http://www.agu.org/meetings/cc02babstracts/McCoy.pdf
 * "Minoan eruption" on http://www.uri.edu/endeavor/thera/eruption.html
 * So, I would conclude that there is no consensus in the media/scientific community. Wikipedia doesnt need to do any better than that but does have the advantage of redirect pages.  So, my vote would be to leave it the way it is for now.   Dspark76 (talk) 12:55, 12 March 2008 (UTC)
 * "Minoan eruption" on http://www.uri.edu/endeavor/thera/eruption.html
 * So, I would conclude that there is no consensus in the media/scientific community. Wikipedia doesnt need to do any better than that but does have the advantage of redirect pages.  So, my vote would be to leave it the way it is for now.   Dspark76 (talk) 12:55, 12 March 2008 (UTC)
 * So, I would conclude that there is no consensus in the media/scientific community. Wikipedia doesnt need to do any better than that but does have the advantage of redirect pages.  So, my vote would be to leave it the way it is for now.   Dspark76 (talk) 12:55, 12 March 2008 (UTC)

Garbage plates redux
I once sat across the table at Tahou's Lyell from a skinny friend and watched him eat two garbage plates in succession. Eight minutes for the first and about twenty for the second. Scary. Cxw (talk) 17:59, 12 March 2008 (UTC)

Garbage plate userbox
I'd like a parameter so I could have mine say "This user eats garbage plates sometimes" (or maybe reluctantly) :) . Cxw (talk) 13:31, 13 March 2008 (UTC)

The parameter is nice but there's now spurious whitespace below the userbox. Wrap the examples in and that should take care of it. See e.g. Template:Col-2, which uses noinclude to wrap the documentation. Cxw (talk) 14:01, 24 March 2008 (UTC)

Re: Samantha
we were told by someone that claimed to have visited the plot that her and Arthur's ashes were interred/buried in a cometary but i can't find any reference for what Jane Smith did with the cremated ashes. Paul Melville Austin (talk) 12:33, 17 March 2008 (UTC)

The "Early Years" section has been tagged by an admin - needs verification. Paul Melville Austin (talk) 03:17, 30 March 2008 (UTC)

Moving text between articles and links
Hi, carrying on our earlier discussion if I want to move a chunk of text from one article to another, how do I indicate it? Thanks.--Doug Weller (talk) 13:38, 30 March 2008 (UTC)

US stamp copyright
Hi, you are wrong about the copyright status of US postage stamps. Before the USPS was created, they were creations of the US government, and are as universally PD as any other US govt work. Even after the USPS was formed, stamp copyrights were still given over to the govt, and so still became PD everywhere. USPS didn't get to own stamp copyrights until 1979. If you're going to argue for a change, don't just do a handful of stamps and leave it; we have a page Stamps/Public domain where we document what we know about stamp copyright status, you can bring it up on the talk page there. Stan (talk) 14:56, 16 August 2008 (UTC)


 * PD-Stamp was kind of a stupid idea (check the history to see that I'm allowed to say that :-) ), it doesn't quote a law or any other justification for PDness. So we don't want it on commons, in fact I have in mind to delete it from en: when all the genuinely PD stamps are moved over to commons. Commons' PD-USGov does mention stamps, but it would make sense to have a PD-USGov-POD or some such just as each branch of the military has its own tag these days. The Eisenhower stamp is fine for Commons because it's from 1969 (yes, the info template could say that, feel free to add - for myself, I "just know" that the Eisenhower stamp is pre-1979), while the sunfish stamp got past me, I just deleted it as copyvio. I agree that stamps should have their dates somewhere in their info, as usual there is quite a variety of data quality in image descriptions. In any case, use PD-USGov instead of PD-Old (it being another deprecated tag, actually). Stan (talk) 00:09, 18 August 2008 (UTC)

Dutch baby pancakes
That's a great photo. Maybe it should be the main one. Now I have to go eat something. Thanks a lot! ChildofMidnight (talk) 17:10, 14 April 2009 (UTC)

Thanks. This was the first time I had eaten (or even heard of) a Dutch Baby. It was so impressive, I felt compelled to document the occassion with a cell-cam photo. I'm glad you enjoyed it :) Dspark76 (talk) 13:13, 17 April 2009 (UTC)

New userbox for which prefectures of Japan you've visited
A bit of template and image fun. See example at User:Cxw or User_talk:Nihonjoe Cxw (talk) 15:50, 10 September 2010 (UTC)

Merge discussion for The Mill Yard Tract
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File:TheWonderfulLeapsOfSamPatch Cover.jpg missing description details
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Murder of Kylie Maybury
Hi.

We worked together to keep Samantha Smith a Featured Article, so I'm hoping you'd be willing to do me a big favour and help me in expanding Murder of Kylie Maybury. I'm also contacting other Wikipedians from the old days to try and help us with Kylie's article. Paul Austin (talk) 16:44, 17 December 2014 (UTC)

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