User talk:Finnaboing

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Happy editing! Kind regards, Justarandomamerican (talk) Also, have a nice day! 21:50, 26 December 2020 (UTC)

COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand
Hi Finnaboing, You didnt do the edit here by hand did you? I can see that you're 'scrunching things' in and removing unused 'code', but is it really worthwhile to remove spaces between cite parameters? ie "|url=" instead of " |url=" times x 3,000 plus? I believe that that is the way the 'standard' cite tool enters it. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I only noticed it because you didn't leave an edit summary, which I know you usually do. Regards, 220  of  ßorg 05:21, 8 January 2021 (UTC)
 * Hello ,
 * No, of course I didn't do it by hand. Find and Replace is a very useful tool. Finnaboing (talk) 13:59, 8 January 2021 (UTC)

January 2021
Hello, I'm Materialscientist. I wanted to let you know that I reverted one of your recent contributions—specifically this edit to List of Hillary Clinton 2016 presidential campaign non-political endorsements—because it did not appear constructive. If you would like to experiment, please use the sandbox. If you have any questions, you can ask for assistance at the Help desk. Thanks. Materialscientist (talk) 19:27, 8 January 2021 (UTC)

Timeline of the COVID-19 pandemic in Ghana
Hi Finnaboing, please I would like to know what you mean by 'space minimization'? I realized you do not add information to articles but rather remove information. Thanks DaSupremo (talk) 00:00, 20 January 2021 (UTC)


 * Hello DaSupremo, that's a perfectly valid question. Basically, when I say "space minimization," I'm simply trying to lower the amount of bytes the page takes up by removing unnecessary text in the code. This includes, but is not limited to, removing unnecessary comments, removing language parameters that are set to "English" (since the parameter isn't necessary when the source in question is in English), and converting dates from word format (ex: June 9, 2019) to number format (ex: 2019-06-09) if the page has a template that automatically converts dates into a specific format. Usually I'll do this if a page takes up a ridiculous amount of space or if templates aren't loading properly. Hope this answered your question! Finnaboing (talk) 00:19, 20 January 2021 (UTC)

Hello Finnaboing, thanks for the swift response. I understand perfectly. Yes, it answers my question. DaSupremo (talk) 11:14, 20 January 2021 (UTC)

Space minimisation
Hey, I've noticed on the Donald Trump article that there are thousands of instances where there are spaces before pipes in templates. Are you aware if these spaces are necessary or not? Cheers. Onetwothreeip (talk) 08:45, 24 January 2021 (UTC)


 * Hello Onetwothreeip. Those spaces aren't actually necessary. I believe they're there for the sake of readability. Finnaboing (talk) 15:18, 24 January 2021 (UTC)

Space minimisation on COVID in South Africa
Hi, in this edit you broke the page by replacing Module:Cite web with Template:Cite web. Look at the citations from number 338 onwards in your version. The module is specifically optimised for pages such as COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa which would otherwise exceed the post-expand include size limit. I have reversed that part of your edit; please be careful when refactoring code as it can break in ways you did not expect! Thanks, User:GKFXtalk 19:06, 24 May 2021 (UTC)

Community Sanctions Alert
— Mikehawk10 (talk) 22:55, 12 June 2021 (UTC)

Reference names
Why are you removing reference names from the List of shipwrecks in May 1917? There is a good reason why references are given names, but I can't see one for removing them. Mjroots (talk) 05:34, 22 June 2021 (UTC)
 * Reference names are typically used when there are multiple of the same reference, in order to conserve space. Some of the refs in List of shipwrecks in May 1917 are only used once, and yet they have names. I only removed the ref names that were only used once in order to reduce the overall size of the article. Hope this explanation suffices! Finnaboing (talk) 18:18, 22 June 2021 (UTC)
 * That a reference is only used once doesn't mean it can't be named. Doing so makes it easier for a situation where new material needs to be inserted, meaning that the original reference needs to be reused. Wikipedia is not short of server space, so there is no need to reduce article size in this way. Mjroots (talk) 03:03, 23 June 2021 (UTC)
 * I've started an RFC at WT:CS re this issue. Whilst consensus is being formed, would you please not remove any further reference names from articles? I'm not looking for any sanctions to be applied for past behaviour re this issue, but to establish consensus on whether or not the practice should be allowed in future. Please feel free to comment at the RFC. Mjroots (talk) 12:26, 26 June 2021 (UTC)

Removing duplicate references...
Do you use a particular tool for this?Naraht (talk) 01:15, 9 October 2021 (UTC)
 * Nope, I do this all by hand. Finnaboing (talk) 14:47, 9 October 2021 (UTC)
 * Wow, I was hoping...Naraht (talk) 17:07, 9 October 2021 (UTC)

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Refs fixing
Thanks for the cite cleanup at Tartan. Is there some particular tool you're using for this? I had my nose buried in that article for a very long time and didn't catch those. — SMcCandlish ☏ ¢ 😼  08:04, 4 November 2023 (UTC)


 * Nope, did it all by hand. If I notice either two identical references being used without having them refer to the same reference with the "name" tag thing (like on List of apple cultivars, good lord that article is a mess) or if I catch some other error (like if "pp" is being used for a single-page reference or vice-versa in the "sfn" template, which was the case on Tartan), then I edit it manually. As a consequence, that means this stuff takes FOREVER and can be exhausting. It's mainly just that I'm an absolute database standards gremlin so I have the urge to fix these things whenever I can (see also: how active I am with release corrections on RateYourMusic).
 * I'm sure there's a much better and far less time-consuming way of doing it, probably through the use of a bot, but I'm not aware of it and I like my process enough that I don't really feel like looking for it (I know, great mindset to have, lol). You'd be better off asking elsewhere for tools, I'm sure they're out there somewhere. Finnaboing (talk) 14:23, 5 November 2023 (UTC)