User talk:DuncanHill/Archives/2009/September

David L. Grange article
I added two sources to the David L. Grange article talk page, but I don't have time to improve the article. Even though you are semi-retired, perhaps you might improve this article, especially by adding inline citations.--DThomsen8 (talk) 12:37, 15 September 2009 (UTC)
 * I am sorry, I cannot help you at this time. Best wishes, DuncanHill (talk) 20:37, 16 September 2009 (UTC)

Re: Admin rights
They directly impact the work I do on the project, which is largely administrative/background work. I think you misunderstand my point, which was essentially "adminship is no big deal." Admin tools are important to the operation of the project (I never said they aren't); without them we'd be overrun with vandalism and other abuse. The "no big deal" part comes from the fact that the damage that can be done by an abusive administrator is not terribly harmful in the long-term; any other admin can easily undo any action obviously made in bad faith, and the very nature of this project ensures that such abuse is noticed very quickly.

And incidentally, I was never beating my wife in the first place. ;-) Hers fold  (t/a/c) 18:01, 15 September 2009 (UTC)


 * Replied at yours. DuncanHill (talk) 20:38, 16 September 2009 (UTC)


 * Having people identify to the foundation isn't going to help any of that; unfortunately, I'm not sure what will. Those issues come from what really is only a small handful of admins who do shove their weight around a bit too much; in general, those in that handful also do good content work, which is what makes others reluctant to sanction them. I'm not certain the problem is quite as bad as you seem to be implying (mainly because I'm fairly certain it is limited to a small number of admins), but I would agree that there are problems in those areas. The fact is, though, no matter how many times we tell people that being an admin is no big deal, they're going to treat it like one. Especially new users who don't know better and assume admins are the ones running the servers. Hers fold  (t/a/c) 22:06, 16 September 2009 (UTC)

Daphne du Maurier
I confess that I don't understand your re-addition of Daphne du Maurier to the list of people from Cornwall; I know that she lived in Cornwall, and that she wrote about Cornwall, but the list is of people from Cornwall, so surely she doesn't fit the criteria (on account of her not being, y'know, from Cornwall). Is this another strange Wikipedia convention I'm unaware of? Sbz5809 (talk) 11:57, 16 September 2009 (UTC)
 * I think (speaking as a native English speaker) that it is perfectly proper to say someone is from a place in which they lived and worked for many years. DuncanHill (talk) 14:56, 16 September 2009 (UTC)

Peter Berresford Ellis
Hi Duncan, not sure if you had Peter Berresford Ellis on watch. If so, there's not much left there to watch now anyway. If not, you may want to take a look. Best, Daicaregos (talk) 16:59, 25 September 2009 (UTC)
 * Thank you, unfortunately I am not active at the moment, but I may look at the article in a few months or years. Sorry & best wishes, DuncanHill (talk) 15:33, 29 September 2009 (UTC)
 * Sorry to hear that, Duncan. Losing you will be a huge loss to the project. I sincerely hope that your return will be sooner rather than later, but in the meantime I wish you every success in whatever you choose to do instead. Very best regards, Daicaregos (talk) 16:20, 29 September 2009 (UTC)

Skinner's Brewery
Hi Duncan. If you are unsure why the stub was merged, please let me know and I'll explain it. Reverting the redirect is not helpful, as it is restoring an inaccurate article. Regards  SilkTork  *YES! 11:57, 26 September 2009 (UTC)
 * Since Duncan isn't around so much these days, perhaps you would care to explain the reason for the merge to me - and would point out where the merge discussion was held. In the absence of a discussion or consensus I would comment that per WP:BRD your Bold interpretation of policy was Reverted by Duncan and that the correct response was to Discuss the matter - and not revert again which is in violation of WP:Edit war. Given that you are apparently not as attached to policy as your comment above would appear, I would ask you why a national award winning brewery with a presence throughout Cornwall should be made a subsection of the area it is located and would request what part of the stub article is so inaccurate that an edit could not fix it. LessHeard vanU (talk) 13:59, 26 September 2009 (UTC) (An editor with a fondness for a drop of "sweaty Betty".)


 * There did not appear to be any attempt at discussion by the editor who blanked the article, and I did not see any reason not to restore the article. Certainly, the editor who blanked did not (as far as I recall) bother to mention any alleged inaccuracies, and I do not believe that "containing inaccuracies" is a valid reason for blanking and redirecting. Still, that it was an admin who did this will I hope help other editors understand why I am so fed up with this place. DuncanHill (talk) 15:32, 29 September 2009 (UTC)