User talk:HighKing/Archives/2009/January

Wikipedia:Requests for arbitration/Ireland article names
This arbitration case has been closed and the final decision is available at the link above.

As a result of this case, the community is asked to open a new discussion for the purpose of obtaining agreement on a mechanism for assessing the consensus or majority view on the appropriate names for Ireland and related articles. If the discussion does not result in a reasonable degree of agreement on a procedure within 14 days, then the Arbitration Committee shall designate a panel of three uninvolved administrators to develop and supervise an appropriate procedure. Until such procedures are implemented Ireland and related articles shall remain at their current locations. Once the procedures are implemented, no further page moves discussions related to these articles shall be initiated for a period of 2 years.

For the Arbitration Committee,

Tiptoety talk 04:04, 4 January 2009 (UTC)

Vandalism, maybe not?
Hi HighKing. You recently commented on an IP's talk page suggesting that his edit at British Isles was unconstructive. I'm not sure it was, and it certainly wasn't vandalism. I've put a comment on his Talk page to that effect. MidnightBlue  (Talk)  22:43, 7 January 2009 (UTC)
 * Hiya, the edit looked pretty random with no comment from an IP address with a single edit, plus the fact that it was a reversion of an edit fixing things up with quoted policy. Looks like a pretty classic case of vandalism to me from any angle...but thanks for being a safety net double check in any case.  I've put another comment on the User talk page to clarify.  --HighKing (talk) 00:37, 8 January 2009 (UTC)

Your message re; WQA
I agree completely. I was quite taken aback to see someone state that I had acted "aggressively" and in a "confrontational tone" when in fact I was doing the complete opposite. I'm sure that if you re-read my original statement, you would see that it matches quite clearly my clarification of this morning. To be honest, I was originally going to add "HighKing, if you're not going to hold onto the concepts of WP:AGF while responding in this forum, I would recommend you rethink your participation in attempting to mediate civility disputes", but I deleted after a preview ... I decided not to in order to not attack your work overall. I'm always willing to strike comments when proven wrong :-) ( talk→  Bwilkins / BMW   ←track ) 13:44, 8 January 2009 (UTC)
 * I have struck (because removing is bad) portions of my last post there (see the edit summary). ( talk→  Bwilkins / BMW   ←track ) 16:24, 8 January 2009 (UTC)

Hounding
Could you please stop hounding OrangeMarlin, it is not civil behaviour and unlikely to encourage a collegial environment. Verbal  chat  18:38, 11 January 2009 (UTC)
 * Could you please stop making allegations of hounding or uncivil behaviour where they are completely unfounded - or maybe you can show some diffs? I know he's your buddy, but so far, this dispute does not involve you.  I find it hard to believe that you are trying to excuse his behaviour and language...  --HighKing (talk) 19:05, 11 January 2009 (UTC)

Saw your WQA note ... and your Darwinism note here is obviously appropriate. Recommend WP:IPAT. Best. Gerardw (talk) 19:15, 11 January 2009 (UTC)

Not offended at all

 * High King, I wasn't in the least offended by your comments. I just wanted to explain that while I do understand Irish feelings of having a separate ( and strong) identity as a people who resisted the British national/cultural/social imposition (a result of centuries of occupation by the latter), I have previously mentioned on the British Isles talk pages, my personal experiences in Ireland in regards to the use of the term. I was, to put it mildly, verbally mauled by many editors (not all of them Irish!), one of whom launched an insulting diatribe on my talk page. The upshot of their combined comments was a succint Yankee Go Home. My California birth, notwithstanding my Irish background, residency and close, familial ties with Ireland, was used to proscribe my contribution to the discussion as to whether or not the term British Isles is offensive to the overall Irish population. I had stated my observation, based on my personal experiences in Ireland after having used (out of habit) that term. Only one person, a young man from Donegal, mildly rebuked me for having used it so as to include Ireland. My boyfriend (from Ballymurphy) never so much as blinked, my ex-husband (who comes from a strong Fianna Fail background), friends, even my two sons consider it be merely a geographical term, nothing else. Just as Canada and Mexico are included as part of North America, and Portugal is part of the Iberian Peninsula. High King, I'm sorry if my words indicated that I was offended. Believe me, I wasn't. On a related note, I had a boyfriend from Northern Ireland-a Protestant. When I referred to him as Irish he looked shocked! You could have knocked him over with a feather from a canary. Cheers.--jeanne (talk) 08:39, 12 January 2009 (UTC)
 * Hi - yeah I remember the previous discussion. Sorta reminds me of the stories where a stranger intervenes in a violent argument between a man and a woman only for both protagonists to round on the stranger...  I'd venture an opinion that you are probably more well-read and well-researched than a lot of participants...  Anyway, no offense taken.  Peace.  --HighKing (talk) 11:37, 12 January 2009 (UTC)
 * Thank you for the compliments.--jeanne (talk) 12:20, 12 January 2009 (UTC)

Input on essay requested
I've put together some thoughts on civility at User:Gerardw/Civility and would appreciate your input. Feel free to WP:BOLD and edit if you'd like. Gerardw (talk) 15:52, 19 January 2009 (UTC)

BI
Thanks for the advice, it turned out to be a minefield. Definitely guarded with dear life! Though I'll get back to it a bit later. PurpleA (talk) 01:50, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
 * Feel free to go back through my own edit history on this topic - it is a minefield for many editors. In fairness, a lot of progress has already been made on this topic and most of the editors are very reasonable.  We've agreed to wait for the completion of the task force rather than make changes to articles (resulting in edit wars), and I believe that that's a pretty reasonable request (no insertions of the term, no removal of the term, in existing articles).  Since we're getting to the end of the Ireland task force, I expect we'll be able to spend a little more time on this in the future.  But compromise and discussion is key (as we have learned from the Ireland task force :-).  I'll keep an eye out for you when this topic restarts.  --HighKing (talk) 12:26, 29 January 2009 (UTC)