User talk:InConversationwithAlan

Welcome!


Hello, InConversationwithAlan, and welcome to Wikipedia! Thank you for your contributions. 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! Please sign your messages on talk pages using four tildes ( ~ ); this will automatically insert your username and the date. If you need help, check out Questions, ask me on my talk page, or ask your question on this page and then place  before the question. Again, welcome! We're so glad you're here! DocTree (ʞlɐʇ·ʇuoɔ) Join WER 20:38, 28 April 2014 (UTC)
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Proper use of the talkback template
The proper way to use the talkback template is that if you have left me a message anywhere but on my user talk page, you could then post the talkback template on my user talk page informing me of the message, as I have done above for you. WikiDan61 ChatMe!ReadMe!! 11:10, 27 April 2014 (UTC)

Amanda Harris
Thank you for the talkback template advice, my apologies for the mistake... Regarding the editing of Amanda's page, I understand the verification rules and do not propose an interview style contribution or any additions that would contravene acceptable protocol. I have been asked to add the appropriate citations/footnotes and any verifiable supporting material to the list of work that Amanda entered herself using the email Gayelord Harris, almost two weeks ago. I was searching wikipedia, prior to creating my account, and saw the extensive list of her career with the RSC, film, and TV and her own published works but now cannot locate it to begin work. Would you be able to help and direct me to it? A lot of verifiable published work, catalogues, books, broadsheet theatre reviews etc. already exist and I can cite these for verification purposes. InConversationwithAlan (talk) 12:58, 27 April 2014 (UTC)

Teahouse invitation
Hi Doctree, many thanks for the invitation, I'm very pleased to be here... I have found your personal profile on the Treehouse page and wanted to ask few beginners questions relating to my comments above but my first is this... Am I correct in returning to my talk page to leave this message for you or can we remain on the Teahouse page and conduct our conversation there without having to return here? Many thanks for your help. InConv-onersationwithAlan (talk) 23:53, 27 April 2014 (UTC)


 * Howdy, ICwA. The choice of where to interact is yours.  If you're in a hurry to get an answer, there's almost always some experienced editors hanging around the Teahouse to answer a question.  If you prefer one-on-one help, I'll be watching your talk page for a couple of weeks and you can ask here and I will answer here.


 * Some background-the not so good stuff: I read your post on WikiDan61's talk page.  Right now, you are a single purpose contributer, a WP:SPA or just SPA in wiki-jargon.  It is likely that you have a conflict of interest.  Wikipedia's goal is to create the an encycopedia; your goal seems to be promoting Amanda Harris.  It doesn't matter if you're a family member, friend, agent, publicist or fan or a longstanding Wikipedia editor; the same rules apply to all.


 * More background-the good stuff: You're an insider.  You have knowledge and access to sources that I and most other Wikipedian's don't.  Did Harris (or her parents or even you) keep a scrapbook of clippings of reviews that mention her?  Maybe entire newspaper editions or magazines?  Any feature articles in entertainment or arts sections?  All of those are potential verifiable reliable sources for content.  They don't even have to be in English.  If a Japanese newspaper did a feature when her show toured Japan, that's great.  You can probably get photographs of Harris that can be released under a suitable license (more on that later).  It does appear that Ms. Harris meets Wikipedia's notability standards, WP:GNG, WP:BASIC and WP:NACTOR in our wiki-jargon if you want to look them up.  I didn't need to check because WikiDan61 already did and would have nominated the Amanda Harris article for deletion if she didn't deserve an article here.


 * My background: I'm a bird geek who usually writes about dead ornithologists like Cordelia Stanwood, a current work-in-progress.  I sometimes help newcomers (see a recent example here).  My goal is to make a WP:Wikipedian out of an SPA.  There are lots of active editors working on TV shows, movies and video games but we could use more editors with knowledge about live theater (please excuse my Americanization) theatre.  You will have to do most of the work but I can provide examples and help out a bit.


 * So ask away! DocTree (ʞlɐʇ·ʇuoɔ) Join WER 20:38, 28 April 2014 (UTC)

Hi Doctree, Many thanks for the new information and reading/practice list above, I'll be practicing and learning as much as possible before I begin editing but will post messages here when I get stuck and need help. I am of course, an SPA but even though I've only just arrived I've been interested in the idea of continuing as an editor once Amanda's page is further advanced and I'd welcome any advice or guidance as we go along,or when you feel it might be appropriate.

I did type out a longer response a few minutes prior to writing this but I lost it at some point between preview and save... it may be somewhere I'm unaware of or simply lost to the ether! I just wanted to say that I do not have a conflict of interest, in fact I've never seen Amanda act despite her career spanning thirty years! Amanda asked me to help because she knew I'd be impartial. I met Amanda seven years ago as we both contributed to an event in support of a charity Amanda was patron to, we've collaborated several more times since then on community mental health projects (my field of expertise). I can tell you that there is wealth of potentially verifiable evidence owned by Amanda, I've seen a large chest full of reviews, as well a complimentary mention in Sir Laurence Olivier's autobiography: Confessions of an Actor' among other articles by critics, screenwriters, critics etc.

I look forward to chatting again, I particularly enjoyed the circumstances that led to your nickname(s)!.. I'll visit the tea room for inspiration and the odd emergency question but would prefer to post here for the most part. Many thanks again to all wiki-editors that have helped so far, I hope to advance in my ability and become a useful contributor beyond the editing of Amanda's page. All the best for now, Alan. InConversationwithAlan (talk) 01:12, 29 April 2014 (UTC) P.S. It looks as if I've created a bit of a mess on your talk page in my attempts to post messages, I'm terribly sorry Doc! If you could tell me what actions caused it I promise to try and not repeat them! InConversationwithAlan (talk) 01:32, 29 April 2014 (UTC)

No problem and might as well get started
Hi, Alan. It was my main userpage that you mucked up. Took only seconds and a few clicks to fix it as you can see here. The (undo) after each change helps us start over when we make mistakes and makes it quick and easy to clean up the mischief of cyber-vandals. Click on the upside-down talk in my signature to get to my talk page. No need for talkbacks to me for now; I will watch your talk page and the Amanda Harris talk page for the next few weeks.

I recommend that you draft the revision/expansion of the article in your sandbox. You can either use your main sandbox or create sub-pages like mine. Right-click on Sandbox at the very top of the page and choose to open a new tab or window. Then put Amanda Harris in the search box and click the magnifying glass to get to her article. At this moment, I have five windows and at least 40 tabs open. You can use one to google, another to work in, another to view the last saved version, another to look up templates and rules and another to read my advice in your talk page. Modern browsers (other than Microsoft Internet Explorer) are wonderful things. I recommend Firefox but Opera is also excellent and Chrome is good but doesn't play well with some java-scripts and css.

Go into edit mode and copy everything from the current Amanda Harris edit tab/window, then go to your sandbox tab/window and paste it all in there. Next, put Template:Infobox person in the search box and go there. Highlight the entire Blank template with all parameters and copy/paste it at the very top of your sandbox page for the Amanda Harris revision/expansion. Then fill in the blanks if you know the information. Anything that has no content won't show. You can delete some lines such as native_name and native_language but leave much of it alone. She will eventually die and it is easier for the editor to fill in the blanks than to re-add the elements and then fill in the blanks later.

Even though some editors dislike infoboxes, they ease creating the article on Wikipedias in other languages. Don't worry about mistakes. It's your draft in your space. Better to make mistakes in your space than to have a few hundred readers look at an ugly, malformed page in the mainspace of the encyclopedia. Once it looks good, copy-and-paste it into the real article. Wikipedia readers will never see mistakes that were made in your draft(s).

For now, take care. Be bold. You can't hurt a wiki. DocTree (ʞlɐʇ·ʇuoɔ) Join WER 04:57, 29 April 2014 (UTC)

Editing Amanda Harris

Hi again,

I hope this finds you well,

I've made a tentative start (in my sandbox) on the editing of the Amanda Harris page and wanted to ask your advice at this early stage... I know that the page should be entirely complete before requesting a full transfer but given that there is some information on the page already do you think it would be acceptable for me to update the short introduction already there?

I've made a minor edit that allows for the chronological addition of another Olivier Award, the 1985 Best Newcomer category, which unusually was awarded to a company rather than an individual. Amanda was the leading lady of the company at the time. I've created a link to the relevant wiki page but is this enough or would an external link be required as well?

Many thanks for any advice, InConversationwithAlan (talk) 01:55, 14 May 2014 (UTC)


 * Hi Alan, and thanks for stopping by my talkpage. Good start on the Amanda Harris article. I made a minor edit, fleshing out the "Interview" reference. That reference has a lot of info which could be added to the article. You might also consider adding an External link section where could include Amanda's IMDb and VIAF links (see Essie Davis as an example). If you need assistance with these, or anything else, just let me know. Happy editing! --Rosiestep (talk) 13:39, 19 June 2014 (UTC)