User talk:John Carter/Archives/2012/September

WikiCup 2012 August newsletter
The final is upon us! We are down to our final 8. A massive 573 was our lowest qualifying score; this is higher than the 150 points needed last year and the 430 needed in 2010. Even in 2009, when points were acquired for mainspace edit count in addition to audited content, 417 points secured a place. That leaves this year's WikiCup, by one measure at least, our most competitive ever. Our finalists, ordered by round 4 score, are:
 * 1) once again finishes the round in first place, leading Pool B. Grapple X writes articles about television, and especially The X-Files and Millenium, with good articles making up the bulk of the score.
 * 2) led Pool A this round. Fourth-place finalist last year, Miyagawa writes on a variety of topics, and has reached the final primarily off the back of his massive number of did you knows.
 * 3) was second in Pool B. Ruby2010 writes primarily on television and film, and scores primarily from good articles.
 * 4) finished third in Pool B. Casliber is something of a WikiCup veteran, having finished sixth in 2011 and fourth in 2010. Casliber writes on the natural sciences, including ornithology, botany and astronomy. Over half of Casliber's points this round were bonus points from the high-importance articles he has worked on.
 * 5) came second in Pool A. Also writing on biology, especially marine biology, Cwmhiraeth received 390 points for one featured article (Bivalvia) and one good article (pelican), topping up with a large number of did you knows.
 * 6) was third in Pool A. Muboshgu writes primarily on baseball, and this round saw Muboshgu's first featured article, Derek Jeter, promoted on its fourth attempt at FAC.
 * 7) was fourth in Pool A. She writes on a variety of topics, including horses, but this round also saw the high-importance lettuce reach featured article status.
 * 8) is another WikiCup veteran, having been a finalist in 2009 and 2010. He writes mostly on mycology.

However, we must also say goodbye to the eight who did not make the final, having fallen at the last hurdle:, , , , , , and. We hope to see you all next year.

On the subject of next year, a discussion has been opened here. Come and have your say about the competition, and how you'd like it to run in the future. This brainstorming will go on for some time before more focused discussions/polls are opened. As ever, if you are concerned that your nomination—whether it is at good article candidates, a featured process, or anywhere else—will not receive the necessary reviews, please list it on WikiCup/Reviews. Questions are welcome on Wikipedia talk:WikiCup, and the judges are reachable on their talk pages or by email. Good luck! If you wish to start or stop receiving this newsletter, please feel free to add or remove yourself from WikiCup/Newsletter/Send. J Milburn (talk • email) and The ed17 (talk • email) 00:17, 1 September 2012 (UTC)

Talkback
Gilderien Chat&#124;List of good deeds 18:16, 1 September 2012 (UTC)

Mixed breed dog
Thank you for your help. You seem to be knowledgable and familiar with the article Mixed breed dog. Are you interested in working with us on improving that article? There are several talk page sections that could be responded to, and, needless to say, feel free to edit. Chrisrus (talk) 04:17, 2 September 2012 (UTC)

Please comment on Talk:Southern Poverty Law Center
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We're all Wikipedians
There seems to be some misconceptions concerning WikiProjects, and that idea of OWN is apparently being reinforced by WikiProject Council/Guide. I'm considering editing it to remove the OWN issues, but I thought I'd run this by you first : )

Please check out Talk:Tom_Cruise to see what I mean.

I look forward to your thoughts on this here : ) - jc37 03:54, 3 September 2012 (UTC)

WP:X
I have compiled a list of the DYK's from 15 August onwards at User:Gilderien/WikiProjects, and will update further as with appearance on main page, sending a reminder to you on the 13th (?) if that would be suitable for the Icthus september issue.-- Gilderien Chat&#124;List of good deeds 13:20, 3 September 2012 (UTC)

Please comment on Talk:Kosovo
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The Olive Branch: A Dispute Resolution Newsletter (Issue #1)
Welcome to the first edition of The Olive Branch. This will be a place to semi-regularly update editors active in dispute resolution (DR) about some of the most important issues, advances, and challenges in the area. You were delivered this update because you are active in DR, but if you would prefer not to receive any future mailing, just add your name to this page. In this issue: Read the entire first edition of The Olive Branch -->
 * Background: A brief overview of the DR ecosystem.
 * Research: The most recent DR data
 * Survey results: Highlights from Steven Zhang's April 2012 survey
 * Activity analysis: Where DR happened, broken down by the top DR forums
 * DR Noticeboard comparison: How the newest DR forum has progressed between May and August
 * Discussion update: Checking up on the Wikiquette Assistance close debate
 * Proposal: It's time to close the Geopolitical, ethnic, and religious conflicts noticeboard. Agree or disagree?

--The Olive Branch 19:10, 4 September 2012 (UTC)

Please comment on Talk:Inter-Services Intelligence
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Invitation to comment at Monty Hall problem RfC
Because of your interest in dispute resolution,, I am inviting you to comment on the following RfC:

Talk:Monty Hall problem

This dispute has been going on for over ten years and there have been over 1,300,000 words posted on the article talk page (by comparison, all of the Harry Potter books together total 1,084,170 words). Over the years the dispute has been through multiple noticeboards, mediators, and even the Arbitration Committee without resolving the conflict, so a lot of wisdom is needed here. --Guy Macon (talk) 00:50, 7 September 2012 (UTC)

Deletion discussion
You may be interested in this discussion. I'm notifying you because you participated in the first deletion discussion and/or the deletion review. Lady of  Shalott  16:38, 7 September 2012 (UTC)

Please comment on Talk:Hafez al-Assad
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Military history coordinator election
The Military history WikiProject has started its 2012 project coordinator election process, where we will select a team of coordinators to organize the project over the coming year. If you would like to be considered as a candidate, please submit your nomination by 14 September. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact one of the current coordinators on their talk page. This message was delivered here because you are a member of the Military history WikiProject. – Military history coordinators (about the project • what coordinators do) 10:07, 10 September 2012 (UTC)

Please comment on Talk:Syrian civil war
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Talkback
Marcus Qwertyus (talk) 01:38, 12 September 2012 (UTC)

Please comment on Talk:Quantum leap
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User:Pass a Method again
John, will you look into Pass a Method's recent edits, especially his ones to religious articles?

This one to the Bible article only seems to be based on his personal bias.

He edited the Usain Bolt article in what I consider to be a biased way,, removing "He has been called the world’s most marketable athlete" and "and the greatest athlete ever" on the grounds that it is POV. Well, yeah...it usually is POV with regards to any text describing an athlete as the greatest, and such POV even extends to the assertion that Michael Jordan is the greatest basketball player ever (although the Jordan assertion is considered fact by most people). What I'm saying is that a lot of articles about athletes include what others' have stated about those athletes and their abilities, because this is a part of what makes those athletes notable. It's not like the text stated "He is the world’s most marketable athlete" and "He is the greatest athlete ever." I believe that Pass a Method has some sort bias against Bolt, which I believe is clear when taking into account this edit as well. And then there are these edits to other religious aricles, such as these: This (the Hell text was moved here, but I don't see how it was inappropriate where it was), this, and this. Most of his edits never seem right, and they usually aren't in the cases of sexuality and religion. My opinion of this user has not changed since last time. I'm still very much for some sort of topic ban against this user or WP:RfC/U to get things started. 176.67.166.218 (talk) 00:15, 2 September 2012 (UTC)
 * The evidence is steadily piling up against this user, although I believe that there's already enough evidence for a case showing problematic edits (ranging from small to major). 176.67.165.198 (talk) 07:39, 6 September 2012 (UTC)
 * And I must state that I don't know how History2007, while criticizing this user, has seen "no terrible edits" from this user, especially since he's acknowledged that he's seen evidence presented here on this talk page and since he has had to combat some of Pass a Method's terrible edits before. 176.67.165.198 (talk) 07:46, 6 September 2012 (UTC)


 * Who are you, and why are you focussed on this editor? IRWolfie- (talk) 16:25, 10 September 2012 (UTC)
 * It's fairly easy to see from the above and from commentary like this why anyone would focus on this editor. 94.76.201.77 (talk) 18:28, 14 September 2012 (UTC)
 * Hi IRWolfe. I think this is User:Flyer22 or her brother. I think this because this IP has previously admitted to being a sock of hers which she was blocked for a few months back. Furthermore Flyer22 seems to stop editing whenever the IP shows up. This IP however claims to be her brother. Pass a Method   talk  19:45, 14 September 2012 (UTC)
 * Hello, everyone. If the IPs above us are my brother, then I apologize. For why I was initially blocked, you can find the reason/details at this portion of my archive. It was not because any IP admitted to being my brother, but rather because my brother, as possibly an unprotected IP, made a comment about Pass a Method having had a previous account that he (Pass a Method) was blocked for; that comment led to a WP:CheckUser tying that IP to my actual IP address and registered account and showing that my brother had recently supported me on a talk page as a registered user. In that archive of mine is also my second block, due to my brother having temporarily used my account. I am not aware of any instance where my brother publicly admitted to being the proxy IPs who stalked Pass a Method, but he did publicly admit to stalking/complaining about editors he viewed as "having caused me trouble" and/or as having problems in their editing. With me, he privately discussed his objection to Pass a Method editing Wikipedia, and with a few people who looked over my original block case. But he has also stated that there were/are IPs who were/are not him complaining about Pass a Method's editing. I am not certain if these are friends of his or unrelated to him in any way, or both. Since my original and second block, efforts have been taken to contain my brother's editing, and his editing in relation to me, on Wikipedia, which is briefly commented on in the following edit summary. Boing! said Zebedee and Dennis Brown are two editors I have privately discussed this matter with.


 * As for editing times, my brother was shown to edit Wikipedia at or around the same time as me as well; when I was blocked the first time, there was a close editing time in addition to spacing of editing times. So it's not just when I'm not at home, such as during my 6-day absence from Wikipedia when I was blocked again. Looking at the 23:33, 10 July 2012 edit and the July 16, 2012 edits I made to my talk page show that 6-day absence. I have a job (my brother does not), a job that I just got home from, and I do not have the time or interest to stalk Pass a Method all day (even though it appears that Pass a Method has been stalking my edits). Furthermore, I would not have asked others to deal with Pass a Method for me. It doesn't appear to have worked out much for these IPs so far; seems 50/50 most of the time. And I would have edited any of these articles attached to these IPs while signed in; they are often not controversial edits. The edits that show vandalism in some of my brother's proxies, I believe to be committed by others who used the proxies days, weeks, or months before he did, since he changes IPs often and is not a vandal. Well, not typically a vandal at least. I stated before that I cannot control my brother's access to Wikipedia (editing or simply reading it). I have made sure that he cannot edit Wikipedia using our IP address, but he never seemed to use it for most of his edits before, and he no longer supports me in disputes. Other than that, what he does here is something I try not to concern myself with if I do spot him. For example, if IP 94.76.201.77 is him, then I am all the more inclined to ignore this request.


 * Via email, I will ask Dennis Brown to weigh in on this. Flyer22 (talk) 23:06, 14 September 2012 (UTC)
 * The other day, I blocked Flyer's IP and gave her IP block exemption. The IPs in question are anonymous proxies.  I'm not sure what Flyer can do about this.  Either you believe Flyer, or you don't, but I can verify that those IPs are not Flyers, based on my previous actions, and a simple geolocations verifies they are proxy servers.  I mean, the IP is already blocked, even if I blocked Flyer thinking Flyer was really this person (and I don't have any evidence to think so) it wouldn't change the fact that these aren't the same IP. Ping me if anyone has questions. Dennis Brown -  2&cent;    &copy;   Join WER 23:37, 14 September 2012 (UTC)

Please comment on Talk:Siege of Shkodra
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Encyclopedias
I have a request. I want you to compile a list of encyclopedias, biographical dictionaries, anything which resembles an A-Z of entries as much as possible in any language or topic. Then I want to sort out which ones are public domain for possible future moving to wikisource. It would be extremely useful for looking at what we could cover and trying to organize work towards covering as much as possible. Credo reference has a good list to start with and other lists already exist on wikipedia which could be used to get it off to a good start. I can help out my browsing google books. I frequently find things like Catalan architect enccylopedias and such in google books which I'd like to gradually add to such a list which would be an ongoing compiling overtime of course.♦ Dr. Blofeld  19:50, 12 September 2012 (UTC)
 * I actually have, to a degree, started doing something like that. I have gone through the book reviews on JSTOR, and I think ProQuest, of all the reviews of books which are called "encyclopedia," "biographical dictionary," and the like. They number to the several thousand reviews, and, I think, several thousand books, unfortunately. I have started, but just started, I think at User:John Carter/Religion reference, a list of those pertient to religion, philosophy, and mythology, which I figure to be about 10% of the total. Those databanks, however, are rather clearly biased toward the English language. But, yeah, as other things get done, I am still, to a degree, working on it. I think the best way to go, personally, would be to find the leading reference books on individual topics, like fields of study, countries, human occupations, etc., and get together the lists of articles in those reference works first, which would presumably be the most significant topics in a given field, and then once they are gotten to go through the more focused, subtopical, works, for the (I hate to say) less important, or at least less overarchingly significant, articles. As I've found with the religion field, which has around 60-100,000 articles, we are still missing quite a few of the "core" articles in the 3,000 article Jones Encyclopedia of Religion. I have a feeling that the same sort of problems would exist elsewhere. But, if there are any particular topics you want to get missing encyclopedic articles lists on, I can try to get together the sources I can and get together lists of articles in print, etc. reference works and ths substantial articles in them. There might be a few, like, for instance, a mayor of a city in Brazil, that might have a line or two in an encyclopedia of Brazil, but probably not material to get an article here. But even without those, such lists of the most apparently notable articles and reference works for a given topic would be useful. John Carter (talk) 15:09, 16 September 2012 (UTC)


 * Any comments to say on my talk page about User talk:Dr. Blofeld?

Icthus
Here are the Christianity-related DYK's from the last month:


 * Church of Saint Benoit, Istanbul, Alessandro57, 21 August 2012


 * All Saints Church, Hollingbourne, DavidCane, 22 August 2012


 * Neustädter Kirche, Hannover, Gerda Arendt, 23 August 2012


 * St Mary's Church, Kirkby Lonsdale, Peter I. Vardy, 24 August 2012


 * Albert Ndongmo, Aymatth2, 26 August 2012


 * If We Are the Body, Toa Nidhiki05, 26 August 2012


 * List of places of worship in Tonbridge and Malling, Hassocks5489, 27 August 2012


 * Kulubnarti church, Rosiestep, 28 August 2012


 * All Saints Church, Ulcombe, DavidCane, 5 September 2012


 * Val-Saint-Lambert Abbey, Rosiestep and Dr. Blofeld, 5 September 2012


 * Igny Abbey, Rosiestep, 6 September 2012


 * Church of the Holy Archangels Michael and Gabriel, Brăila, Biruitorul, 7 September 2012


 * Places of Worship Registration Act 1855, Hassocks5489, 10 September 2012


 * Collegiate Church of San Gimignano, Amandajm, 15 September 2012


 * St Matthew's Church, Burnley, Peter I. Vardy, 15 September 2012

-- Gilderien Chat&#124;List of good deeds 15:51, 16 September 2012 (UTC)


 * Thank you thank you thank you thank you. I'm hoping to get the newsletter out today, but first I want to ensure that the two "challenge" articles of last month actually get made, and I'm going to work on them first. I hope to get the newsletter out sometime this evening, maybe tomorrow morning US time. John Carter (talk) 15:55, 16 September 2012 (UTC)


 * Hey, you're welcome :) I'll continue to deliver them to your page each month, and if you want to check before then I should be keeping User:Gilderien/WikiProjects relatively real-time updated.-- Gilderien Chat&#124;List of good deeds 19:11, 16 September 2012 (UTC)

Please comment on Talk:Louis Barthou
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WP Biography
Since you're an active member of WikiProject Biographies and a WikiProject guru in general, could you suggest some of the most productive contributors at WikiProject Biographies for a Signpost interview? Normally, I'd canvass the project for anyone who wants to participate, but given the sheer size of WikiProject Biography, a broad invitation may leave us with far more responses than we can manage. Anyone come to mind? -Mabeenot (talk) 15:38, 17 September 2012 (UTC)

Talkback
 Toa   Nidhiki05  23:27, 17 September 2012 (UTC)

Please comment on Talk:Logical positivism
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Your free 1-year Questia online library account is approved ready
Good news! You are approved for access to 77,000 full-text books and 4 million journal, magazine, newspaper articles, and encyclopedia entries. Check your Wikipedia email! If you need help, please first ask Ocaasi at wikiocaasi@yahoo.com and, second, email QuestiaHelp@cengage.com along with your Offer ID and Promotional Code (subject: Wikipedia). Thanks for helping make Wikipedia better. Enjoy your research! Cheers, Ocaasi EdwardsBot (talk) 05:07, 19 September 2012 (UTC)
 * 1) Go to https://www.questia.com/specialoffer
 * 2) Input your unique Offer ID and Promotional code.  Click Continue. (Note that the activation codes are one-time use only and are case-sensitive).
 * 3) Create your account by entering the requested information.  (This is private and no one from Wikipedia will see it).
 * 4) You'll then see the welcome page with your Login ID.  (The account is now active for 1 year).
 * A quick reminder about using the account: 1) try it out; 2) provide original citation information, in addition to linking to a Questia article; 3) avoid bare links to non-free Questia pages; 4) note "(subscription required)" in the citation, where appropriate. Examples are at WP:Questia/Citations.
 * Questia would love to hear feedback at WP:Questia/Experiences
 * Show off your Questia access by placing on your userpage
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Your old identity
Hi John,

A quick note to let you know that your old identity is still visible on WikiProject Measurement. Martinvl (talk) 20:06, 19 September 2012 (UTC)

Please comment on Talk:Caste
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Please comment on Talk:Bulgaria
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ICOC articles
Hi John. Given your comment here, you may be interested in the batch of copyrighted ICOC-related articles from major news sources that I recently downloaded to PDF form from Factiva. I have already emailed them to Nietzsche123 at his/her request, and I would be glad to do the same for you. Simply email me so that I have your email address, and I will send them. Cheers, --BlueMoonlet (t/c) 03:20, 23 September 2012 (UTC)

DYK for Nerses IV the Gracious
Casliber (talk · contribs) 08:02, 24 September 2012 (UTC)

WP Biography in the Signpost
The WikiProject Report would like to focus on WikiProject Biography for a Signpost article. This is an excellent opportunity to draw attention to your efforts and attract new members to the project. Would you be willing to participate in an interview? If so, here are the questions for the interview. Just add your response below each question and feel free to skip any questions that you don't feel comfortable answering. Multiple editors will have an opportunity to respond to the interview questions, so be sure to sign your answers. If you know anyone else who would like to participate in the interview, please share this with them. Have a great day. -Mabeenot (talk) 16:49, 24 September 2012 (UTC)

Please comment on Talk:Religion in Brazil
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Please comment on Talk:Chetniks
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Dispute Resolution RFC
Hello.As a member of Wikiproject Dispute Resolution I am just letting you know that there is an RFC discussing changes to dispute resolution on Wikipedia. You can find the RFC on this page. If you have already commented there, please disregard this message. Regards, Steven   Zhang  Help resolve disputes! 08:52, 28 September 2012 (UTC)

Please comment on Talk:Censorship in Islamic societies
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Please comment on Talk:Greek landing at Smyrna
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