User talk:John of Reading/Archive 19

Question about 'List of portals'
Greetings, Today I added Portal Vatican City to both Portal:Contents/Portals and Wikipedia:Portal/Directory because it was missing from both. Next, I updated Template:Number of portals from 1404 to 1405. When I looked on page User:John of Reading/List of portals, I see Vatican City is already listed. Being somewhat new (March 2014) to Wikipedia, I am unsure how to resolve this issue (not knowing which number is correct) and am hoping that you or another editor might be able to solve this one. Regards, JoeHebda (talk) 21:14, 15 June 2015 (UTC)
 * I wouldn't worry about it. Although some editors add one to Template:Number of portals when creating a new portal, many don't, and there's no way to know which new portals have been included in the count. So the template isn't a reliable figure. When I compiled my list of portals I found it was off by over 200! I'll redo my list and put the count right again when I next download a database dump. -- John of Reading (talk) 06:21, 16 June 2015 (UTC)

Bots
You are receiving this message because a technical change may affect a bot, gadget, or user script you have been using. The breaking change involves API calls. This change has been planned for two years. The WMF will start making this change on 30 June 2015. A partial list of affected bots can be seen here: https://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikitech-l/2015-June/081931.html  This includes all bots that are using pywikibot compat. Some of these bots have already been fixed. However, if you write user scripts or operate a bot that uses the API, then you should check your code, to make sure that it will not break.

What, exactly, is breaking? The "default continuation mode" for action=query requests to api.php will be changing to be easier for new coders to use correctly. To find out whether your script or bot may be affected, then search the source code (including any frameworks or libraries) for the string "query-continue". If that is not present, then the script or bot is not affected. In a few cases, the code will be present but not used. In that case, the script or bot will continue working.

This change will be part of 1.26wmf12. It will be deployed to test wikis (including mediawiki.org) on 30 June, to non-Wikipedias (such as Wiktionary) on 1 July, and to all Wikipedias on 2 July 2015.

If your bot or script is receiving the warning about this upcoming change (as seen at https://www.mediawiki.org/w/api.php?action=query&list=allpages ), it's time to fix your code!


 * The simple solution is to simply include the "rawcontinue" parameter with your request to continue receiving the raw continuation data (example ). No other code changes should be necessary.
 * Or you could update your code to use the simplified continuation documented at https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/API:Query#Continuing_queries (example ), which is much easier for clients to implement correctly.

Either of the above solutions may be tested immediately, you'll know it works because you stop seeing the warning.

Do you need help with your own bot or script? Ask questions in e-mail on the mediawiki-api or wikitech-l mailing lists. Volunteers at m:Tech or w:en:WP:Village pump (technical) or w:en:Wikipedia:Bot owners' noticeboard may also be able to help you.

Are you using someone else's gadgets or user scripts? Most scripts are not affected. To find out if a script you use needs to be updated, then post a note at the discussion page for the gadget or the talk page of the user who originally made the script. Whatamidoing (WMF) (talk) 19:03, 17 June 2015 (UTC)


 * Er, yes, right. I've been following this at VPT, but didn't expect a copy here. -- John of Reading (talk) 19:14, 17 June 2015 (UTC)

AWB
Hi! Have question about AWB, and not about enwiki, but that shouldn't matter. I'm really a newbie to regexp, so currently I need some help. Could you help write such find and replace functions? Here x is any 3 symbols
 * -> (for example,  -> )
 * x -> (for example, CAN -> )

And if it differs, also for such one (so, here x, y, and z are unlimited number of symbols)
 * x z -> (or to )

I will most probably also be using other constant parts, but this would be wonderful start.

And one more question. How to do multiline replacing? Lets say I would like to replace this: foo bar with Lorem

As far I understand, there should be some good way other to do such replacements: foo -> Lorem and bar -> (nothing) -- Edgars2007  (talk/contribs) 10:57, 18 June 2015 (UTC)
 * I recommend this Regular Expression Tutorial; I refer to that when I get stuck.


 * For the first one: find  and replace with   - using these ingredients: backslash to turn off the special meaning of the following character; square brackets to define a range of characters; a number in curly brackets to insist on exactly three of them; round brackets to remember what we matched so that we can spit it out again; and in the "replace", $1 to spit out the first remembered text.
 * For the second one: find  and replace   - with the extra ingredient: backslash-b to insist that we're starting and ending at a word break.
 * For the third one: find  and replace with   if you want "x" or   if you want "z" - with the extra ingredient that a "+" matches one or more times.
 * So far I've assumed that "any three symbols" means three uppercase letters, like your example. But if it is really "any three symbols" then instead of  you want something like   - which matches anything except for whitespace (backslash-s), a curly bracket or a pipe character.


 * For the final question: in a find expression, backslash-n matches a newline, so you can search for
 * I tested this lot using AWB's regular expression tester, on the "Tools" menu. -- John of Reading (talk) 15:09, 18 June 2015 (UTC)
 * Thank you very much :) It will save a lot of time, which can be spent in writing articles :) -- Edgars2007  (talk/contribs) 15:21, 18 June 2015 (UTC)

i request you to create or let me create another page of sethi gotra for sikhs independently as the hindu sethis and sikh jatt sethis have no common ancient history.
i request you to create or let me create another page of sethi gotra for sikhs independently as the hindu sethis and sikh jatt sethis have no common ancient history. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Candyclair (talk • contribs) 12:22, 1 July 2015 (UTC) i request you to create or let me create another page of sethi gotra for sikhs independently as the hindu sethis and sikh jatt sethis have no common ancient history. the only problem is that some info. may not be cited due to unavailability — Preceding unsigned comment added by Candyclair (talk • contribs) 12:24, 1 July 2015 (UTC)
 * You are perhaps looking for Your first article? I know nothing about this topic area, so won't be much use to you. You'll need to make sure that everything you write is backed up by solid references to reliable published sources. In your edit at Rai (Punjabi surname) you have tried to use Wikipedia articles as references; as explained at WP:CIRCULAR, those are not good enough. -- John of Reading (talk) 12:43, 1 July 2015 (UTC)

Sorry for Changing Names Frequently
Hi, I am sorry for changing my username because I was going by my real name. Can you tell me when will the bot start archive. There are talks not archived of more than three months and talk page has become too long. Can you help me? 17:24, 4 July 2015 (UTC)
 * The archiving is done by . Looking through its contributions, it seems to fire up at 00:00 (UTC) each day and finishes its work at about 04:00 (UTC). So with any luck it should process your page in about 7 to 11 hours time. Oh - notice that your signature still shows your original name - you need to visit Special:Preferences to change that. -- John of Reading (talk) 17:30, 4 July 2015 (UTC)
 * Thank you mate. But regarding the signature I have worked on it temporarily but will customize in few days. NextGenSam619t@lk 17:34, 4 July 2015 (UTC)

Points deductions in football tables
I see you're replacing the word "deducted" with "docked", but I can't say I understand why. Can you enlighten me? Thanks, Bretonbanquet (talk) 17:01, 4 July 2015 (UTC)
 * I think it's a grammar error; I did a batch of these some months ago, and now it's reached the top of my "to do" list. There are more than I was expecting! Correct uses of "deducted" would be "Four points were deducted from team X" or "The league administrators (or whoever) deducted four points from team X". But if the sentence structure is "Team X was/were (verb) four points" then I think "docked" is the best fit. -- John of Reading (talk) 17:18, 4 July 2015 (UTC)
 * Thanks, I thought it might be something like that, although it's widespread in the media. I've churned out a vast amount of season articles and I now discover I haven't been all that consistent with my wording over the years. I generally use "Team X had two points deducted [for fielding an ineligible player etc]", which I think is OK. Cheers, Bretonbanquet (talk) 17:25, 4 July 2015 (UTC)
 * Yes, your wording sounds fine to me too. -- John of Reading (talk) 18:55, 4 July 2015 (UTC)
 * I'm pretty sure "team was deducted X points" is a very common expression in association football and I think it should've been better to discuss this at WT:FOOTY before proceeding with the task.-BlameRuiner (talk) 09:34, 5 July 2015 (UTC)
 * Never mind, then, I'll turn this grammar rule off and get on with something else. -- John of Reading (talk) 10:37, 5 July 2015 (UTC)

A barnstar for you!

 * Meticulous - yes, that sums up my edits nicely. Thank you! -- John of Reading (talk) 19:03, 8 July 2015 (UTC)

Period start
Hi, there's been recently a significant change to the base of Cryogenian period (it is 130 Ma shorter now, see for yourself) so please update protected Template:Period start. Regards, Szczureq (talk) 15:32, 14 July 2015 (UTC)
 * OK. Would you please edit Template:Period start/sandbox so that I can tell exactly what you need doing to the main template? -- John of Reading (talk) 15:37, 14 July 2015 (UTC)
 * Done. Also fixed several decimals according to earlier (2014/10) updates (check). Szczureq (talk) 15:53, 14 July 2015 (UTC)
 * ✅ -- John of Reading (talk) 16:00, 14 July 2015 (UTC)

Hi John!
I read that you are using AWB to correct typos on an industrial scale. I have made a preparsed list of articles that contain (possible) typos that can be fixed with AWB. Would you like to help fix some of them? If so, please remove the ones you want to do from the list, so that other people don't have to look at them again. In total I have more than 40.000 articles on this list, so I've split it up per 10.000 articles: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. The Quixotic Potato (talk) 12:46, 17 July 2015 (UTC)
 * Many of the latest typo rules just tweak commas or hyphens, so I'm not sure whether I would bother to save such small edits. But I'll grab a few hundred entries from one of your lists when I get to the end of my current list. -- John of Reading (talk) 13:00, 17 July 2015 (UTC)
 * Thanks a lot! I´ve checked the checkbox to skip articles if only cosmetic changes are made, so AFAIK things like commas and hyphens will be skipped if they are not combined with other, more substantial edits. Update: I just checked to confirm this, and unfortunately it isn't true. I am not sure why. The Quixotic Potato (talk) 13:12, 17 July 2015 (UTC)
 * The action of that checkbox is described at AutoWikiBrowser/User manual. -- John of Reading (talk) 13:19, 17 July 2015 (UTC)
 * Thanks again. If I understand the situation correctly I should make a feature request for AWB to have a checkbox to skip edits like changing commas and hyphens. Something like "Skip punctuation-only edits". Would you such a feature be useful to you? There are probably more of this kind of edits that feel like they aren't worth it if they aren't combined with more substantial stuff. The Quixotic Potato (talk) 13:29, 17 July 2015 (UTC)
 * Don't make such a feature request just for me. I have my own list of corrections that I think are worthwhile - several thousand of them - and use the Find+Replace "skip if no replacement" checkbox to skip pages where none of these corrections apply. So I wouldn't usually need to use the extra skip option you propose. I think the regular contributors at WP:AWB/T would argue that the commas and hyphens are important; they wouldn't use this extra skip option either. -- John of Reading (talk) 13:39, 17 July 2015 (UTC)
 * Not just for you, it would be useful to me too, and probably for other people. If I understand you correctly then a "Skip punctuation-only edits"-checkbox would enable you to use not just the Find & Replace functionality, but the RegExp typosearch as well, without having to skip an enormous amount of edits that are just not worth it. Maybe the regular contributors at WP:AWB/T would argue that the commas and hyphens are important; but they would have to admit that importance is subjective. If we, and others who don't like doing punctuation-only edits, would like the ability to skip punctuation edits automagically because it is boring and tedious to skip them manually then it is a good idea to have such an option, even if not everyone is going to use it. Another option is to give us the ability to ignore certain regexps, that would fix the problem too (but we would be forced to continually update the list of typos we don't care about). It would also be nice if we were able to share the list of corrections you've made, so I should probably also do a feature request that enables us to import and export the Find & Replace table as a CSV file. The Quixotic Potato (talk) 14:00, 17 July 2015 (UTC)


 * You could propose these changes at WT:AWB and see how many would use them.
 * One difficulty I can think of is how to identify a punctuation-only edit. An edit that adds or removes a hyphen might be changing hyphenation, or it might be fixing the syntax of a wikitable; an edit that adds or removes an apostrophe might be fixing punctuation, or it might be fixing bold and italic markup.
 * Importing someone else's Find+Replace table is already possible; if you open the XML file in a text editor you will find that its structure is fairly simple, and it is possible to copy the F+R rules from one XML file to another. A version of my settings file is available in sections in [//en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special%3APrefixIndex&prefix=John+of+Reading%2FAWB+settings%2FCommon&namespace=2 these pages], or if you send me an email I could reply and attach the latest version of the whole thing. But please take great care, as the rules are by no means perfect. I've got used to seeing the kinds of false positives that my rules run into, and know which proposed edits need extra checking. -- John of Reading (talk) 14:19, 17 July 2015 (UTC)

Infobox
Over 1,000 gone! Andy Mabbett ( Pigsonthewing ); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 16:13, 20 July 2015 (UTC)
 * Congratulations! -- John of Reading (talk) 16:43, 20 July 2015 (UTC)

talk page archive
Hello, my talk page is not being archived once again. I tried to tweak it to 60 days but its not working could you fix it with the time of archiving in sixty days and one question, if I tweak the days to archive will the archiving process stop working? NextGenSam619t@lk 02:41, 22 July 2015 (UTC)
 * You've got it set to 90 days currently; that's the "algo = old(90d)" line. Only two or three threads at the top of the page are 90 days old. In [//en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:NextGenSam619&diff=prev&oldid=667494490 this edit] you made it harder for the bot to archive old threads. "minthreadstoarchive = 5" tells it not to remove anything until there are five old threads that it can archive all at once - that's way the two or three old threads have not been archived. And "minthreadsleft = 7" tells it to leave at least seven threads on the page, no matter how old they are.
 * I suggest you change these to "algo = old(60d)" if you want 60-day archiving, and to change the other two parameters back to 1 and 1. -- John of Reading (talk) 05:41, 22 July 2015 (UTC)
 * @John of Reading And one more question. How many talks will be archived in a single archive page? NextGenSam619t@lk 05:28, 23 July 2015 (UTC)
 * The size of each archive is set by the "maxarchivesize" parameter. You have this set to "70K", which means each archive will contain about 70,000 characters. Depending on what turns up on your talk page, that could be one long discussion or dozens of small ones. -- John of Reading (talk) 05:31, 23 July 2015 (UTC)
 * Sorry mistakely edited your page. Really sorry. NextGenSam619t@lk 08:11, 23 July 2015 (UTC)
 * Not a problem, easily fixed! -- John of Reading (talk) 08:12, 23 July 2015 (UTC)

Comma-delimited parentheticals
My watchlist says it's time for round two of favor-asking. No rush on this at all, but if you have an hour of CPU time to spare, I'd love to know how many hits you get for this:

Thanks again! —jameslucas (" " / +) 14:03, 27 July 2015 (UTC)


 * I can't easily use the  part of this search string with a database dump. I've run just the "insource" part against the July database dump, and the first ten percent of the search has found 21,000 articles. Would you like me to post that list somewhere? If you'd like the full list, you'll have to send me an email so that I can reply with an attachment, as it would be too big to save as a Wikipedia page. -- John of Reading (talk) 14:46, 27 July 2015 (UTC)
 * Skipping the first term is perfectly fine as it should be entirely redundant (barring any mistakes in my syntax). I'd gladly accept the full list. I'm still trying to figure out how much of a project I want to make out of this, but having the list would certainly be a useful tool for teaching myself more scripting and may lead to good things. An email will be coming your way shortly. With appreciation —jameslucas (" " / +) 15:43, 27 July 2015 (UTC)
 * Email received. I'm compiling the full list now... -- John of Reading (talk) 15:53, 27 July 2015 (UTC)
 * 212,711 articles found. Large email sent. -- John of Reading (talk) 16:47, 27 July 2015 (UTC)
 * Thanks, . —jameslucas (" " / +) 17:01, 27 July 2015 (UTC)

A talk page and a merger
Please, can u make a bot auto-archive this talk page? It's becoming too big to read. Lbertolotti (talk) 14:37, 28 July 2015 (UTC)
 * ✅ using the instructions at Help:Archiving a talk page. I've set it to archive after 365 days. That can easily be reduced if the page is still too cluttered after the bot has archived the oldest threads. -- John of Reading (talk) 15:51, 28 July 2015 (UTC)

Also, I'm inviting you to this merger discussion Lbertolotti (talk) 14:39, 28 July 2015 (UTC)
 * I'll think about it. -- John of Reading (talk) 15:51, 28 July 2015 (UTC)

Added link to orphan page "2015 Ji'an bus accident"
I have added one link. Thanks for the reminder that there was none.--Bonnielou2013 (talk) 19:07, 31 July 2015 (UTC)
 * That's just one of the dozens of checks built in to AutoWikiBrowser. Your link looks fine, so I have removed the orphan tag. -- John of Reading (talk) 19:43, 31 July 2015 (UTC)

Precious again
  reading quality

Thank you, " harmless drudge", for fixing typos such as "the the" and "do do" from the master list , helping reading quality, for assistance at the help desk, for articles such as Castle of Park and cathedral singing, - you are an awesome Wikipedian!

--Gerda Arendt (talk) 07:48, 2 August 2014 (UTC) A year ago, you were the 934th recipient of my Pumpkin Sky Prize, --Gerda Arendt (talk) 19:55, 2 August 2015 (UTC)
 * Thank you! -- John of Reading (talk) 06:14, 3 August 2015 (UTC)

Help linking portal images
Hi John, long time. Would you be so kind and help me link 2 images to 2 different portals? I want to link to the  Serer people portal and  to the Serer religion portal. Would you please show me how to do this? For example when you place Portal|United Kingdom to Wikipedia articles the UK flag appears. I need to know how to link the above images for portals Serer people and religion. Any help would be immensely appreciated. Also if you have time could you checkout the Serer religion portal for me please? In order to edit the portal, I have to go the relevant selected pages which is somewhat strange. If you have a look at the portal you will know what I mean. Thanks as always. Tamsier (talk) 17:13, 8 August 2015 (UTC)
 * I've answered the edit request that was made on your behalf at Template talk:Portal, so the portal images should be working now. I've also edited Portal:Serer religion/box-header and Portal:Serer religion/box-footer so that the portal is made of editable boxes. OK? -- John of Reading (talk) 17:38, 8 August 2015 (UTC)
 * You are a star. Thank you so much John. Have a great weekend. Tamsier (talk) 17:43, 8 August 2015 (UTC)

How to add new religious portals to the ?
Hi John, its me again with another portal related question, I hope you don't mind. I want and  to show up on the  (religious portals). How do I go about doing this? Also, I have submitted a request (as above) for Portal Traditional African religion. Thank you ever so much. Tamsier (talk) 02:32, 10 August 2015 (UTC)
 * Done - I've made edits to Template:Religion portals browsebar and to Module:Portal/images/t. -- John of Reading (talk) 05:21, 10 August 2015 (UTC)
 * Thanks again John. So helpful. Tamsier (talk) 10:04, 10 August 2015 (UTC)

Portal
Hi John, What would you like to discuss about my portal. In fact, I have created this accidentally just to store this information as a back up in case the original draft article gets deleted.

Thanks — Preceding unsigned comment added by Jessicaleung123 (talk • contribs) 06:50, 11 August 2015 (UTC)
 * Your work is currently at World Heritage Chnel. I haven't marked that for deletion. I've only asked for the deletion of Portal:World Heritage Channel - which looks like this - which was left over after you accidentally created the page with a "Portal" prefix. Is that OK? -- John of Reading (talk) 06:57, 11 August 2015 (UTC)

Hi John, Both 'portals' are not needed. I am only currently working on: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Draft:World_Heritage_Channel — Preceding unsigned comment added by Jessicaleung123 (talk • contribs) 07:24, 11 August 2015 (UTC)

AWB regexp - again
Hi! Need some help with regexp, I'm stuck. In short. Want to replace  and   (yes, it's not English) with , but such regexp doesn't work well:   (I replace it with  ). Because for  it returns   (OK), but for   it returns   (not OK). -- Edgars2007  (talk/contribs) 08:49, 6 August 2015 (UTC)
 * Two comments and then my suggestion. (1) In a "Find" string, a dot has a special meaning, "match any character" - so  will match anything up to the next word break, such as  . To match a real dot, you need to stick a backslash in front of it. (2) Having done that, you'll find that   doesn't work properly either. Faced with , the word break is between the "ē" and the dot - the only way to match "zero or more dots and then a word break" is to stop matching before the dot. So my suggestion is to use two separate rules here. First,   to find "pmē" followed by one or more dots, plus a second rule to deal with the other case,  . It might be possible to do it in just one rule, but I don't know how. -- John of Reading (talk) 09:13, 7 August 2015 (UTC)
 * It explains a lot of things :) Thanks for helping me getting Wikipedia (hopefully) better. -- Edgars2007  (talk/contribs) 08:38, 11 August 2015 (UTC)

Thank You
Thanks for the comment on my two signature possibilities. I think youre right about the contrast so Im gonna choose the one you suggested. Wikipenguin 8 (talk) 17:03, 11 August 2015 (UTC)
 * I'll watch out for it! Happy editing. -- John of Reading (talk) 17:04, 11 August 2015 (UTC)

St Patricks College Goulburn and sourcing of court appearances
Hi John. Every court appearance had the court and date of appearance listed. Thus they are referenced to the primary source: you can walk into the courthouse, pay your money and obtain the transcript. What *exact further information* did you require to fully source the material? Thanks, Glen. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Gdt (talk • contribs) 06:36, 13 August 2015 (UTC)
 * I've asked for help at WP:BLP/N. -- John of Reading (talk) 07:29, 13 August 2015 (UTC)

Portal talk:Mathematics
Do you think we should put this talk page on auto-archiving?Lbertolotti (talk) 15:14, 19 August 2015 (UTC)
 * Yes, there are some very old threads there. I've made an edit and will keep an eye on it. -- John of Reading (talk) 15:44, 21 August 2015 (UTC)

I put this on auto-archiving, but it seems to not be working.Lbertolotti (talk) 14:32, 24 August 2015 (UTC)
 * I've made an edit there. -- John of Reading (talk) 14:34, 24 August 2015 (UTC)

Portal:Bristol
Thanks for the barnstar for my efforts on Portal:Bristol. I'd like to get this up to featured portal status and if you had any comments for improvement that would be great.&mdash; Rod talk 20:46, 30 August 2015 (UTC)
 * I've made a couple of comments at the talk page. -- John of Reading (talk) 07:11, 31 August 2015 (UTC)

I know you don't like my portal but i am still editing it
Pakistani technologies — Preceding unsigned comment added by Pakelectrical (talk • contribs) 12:28, 1 September 2015 (UTC)
 * You need to explain at Portal talk:Pakistani Technologies why you think the deletion notice does not apply. The reason "It's a portal" is not enough, because db-spam can be used on any over-promotional pages, not just articles. -- John of Reading (talk) 12:32, 1 September 2015 (UTC)

Okay sir I'll try my best — Preceding unsigned comment added by Pakelectrical (talk • contribs) 12:35, 1 September 2015 (UTC)

Talk:René Descartes
Is there something wrong with the auto-archiving system in this page? Lbertolotti (talk) 17:27, 4 September 2015 (UTC)

Actually, the MiszaBot seems to be not working on the Talk:Calculus of variations page. Lbertolotti (talk) 17:40, 4 September 2015 (UTC)
 * Talk:René Descartes has no auto-archiving set up; the existing archive was created by hand in 2008. I've fixed up my failed edit at Talk:Calculus of variations. -- John of Reading (talk) 21:08, 4 September 2015 (UTC)

Ok, now both pages should be auto-archiving, let's see. Lbertolotti (talk) 21:13, 4 September 2015 (UTC)

Jadu Tona
Dear Jhon, What i wanted to say is that the character name in the movie mentioned in your note is Harilal but in correct logic the name in the film is Pannalal. There are many such mistakes I have come across and want to share but do not know the procedure to do so. Kindly let know. If my e-mail id will be of any assistance to you I am mentioning it :

Regards, Pankaj R. Sharma — Preceding unsigned comment added by 45.112.3.78 (talk) 11:18, 7 September 2015 (UTC)
 * Another editor has removed the entire plot summary as a probable copyright violation, so I'm afraid there's not a lot left of the article. For general advice on editing at Wikipedia, you could try Help:Getting started. I have removed your email address to protect your privacy. -- John of Reading (talk) 12:24, 7 September 2015 (UTC)
 * Another editor has removed the entire plot summary as a probable copyright violation, so I'm afraid there's not a lot left of the article. For general advice on editing at Wikipedia, you could try Help:Getting started. I have removed your email address to protect your privacy. -- John of Reading (talk) 12:24, 7 September 2015 (UTC)

Henry Masta Abenaki
My grandmother was Florence Masta, she was full blooded Abenaki. She had a sister whose last name was Tahamont. I was wondering if you could tell me if she was related to Henry Tahamont. My middle name is Henry. Just curious. Thanks! AbenakiLloyd (talk) 04:12, 7 September 2015 (UTC)
 * I'm afraid I can't help you with this! I don't know anything about the subject myself, as this was just one of the thousands of articles where I've fixed a spelling or grammar mistake. But there are some books listed at the foot of the article - if you have access to a decent library, they might be able to track down a copy of some of them. -- John of Reading (talk) 05:54, 7 September 2015 (UTC)
 * You might want to try WP:Reference desk - they might be able to guide you to an appropriate genealogy tool. Good luck!  GoingBatty (talk) 14:54, 7 September 2015 (UTC)
 * You might want to try WP:Reference desk - they might be able to guide you to an appropriate genealogy tool. Good luck!  GoingBatty (talk) 14:54, 7 September 2015 (UTC)

Thrupp & Maberly
I will revert most of your changes because it is very difficult to have readers comprehend that until WW II many European manufacturers did not provide all the bodies for their cars.

Manufacturers like Rolls-Royce made and sold only a (radiator shell, motor and mudguards and) chassis.

So when illustrating the art of the great coachbuilders the subject is a drophead coupé or whatever. Source of whatever is under the skin and the radiator upfront is a great deal less than secondary.

For this reason I emphasise the subject's product by adding the name of the chassis manufacturer on a second line. Eddaido (talk) 23:38, 7 September 2015 (UTC)
 * I think you have sent this message to the wrong editor? My only change was [//en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Thrupp_%26_Maberly&diff=679935939&oldid=679921990 this], correcting a grammar error. -- John of Reading (talk) 05:52, 8 September 2015 (UTC)
 * John, I apologise. I should read more carefully. Please have a very nice rest of your day! I admire what you do, thanks, Eddaido (talk) 07:22, 8 September 2015 (UTC)

your reply to recently edition by me
Hi Jhon, It seems that i will never try to provide information again because according to your message it states that i will be blocked from editing. I used to give information because it read in your columns that correct information is welcome and now you are only not justifying the statement made. Anyways, I dont find any need to provide information as that i did for no monetary gains and it was just socially. Sorry for the inconvience. I understood wiki is for reading whatever is described in it,, no matter even if it lacks something.

Pankaj — Preceding unsigned comment added by 45.112.3.78 (talk) 12:31, 9 September 2015 (UTC)
 * Your edits at Yaarana (1981 film) both left the article showing a red error message and some nonsense text. You are welcome to continue editing, but I suggest you work through the Tutorial so that you can edit more accurately, or just use the "Show preview" button before saving your edit to see whether your edit is going to work. -- John of Reading (talk) 12:40, 9 September 2015 (UTC)

Review of Portal:Catholic Subpages
As it seems you may have an interest in the subtopics presented on the Portal:Catholic article page, I would like to know if you would be able to visit the DD/MM/YYYY areas and to remove along with report the false Saints listed? Twillisjr (talk) 14:05, 12 September 2015 (UTC)
 * No, not really, as I wouldn't be able to tell a true saint from a false one. I don't have a particular interest in Portal:Catholicism - I merely try to keep an eye on [//en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?namespace=100&days=1&limit=250&associated=1&title=Special%3ARecentChanges recent edits to all portals]. -- John of Reading (talk) 14:20, 12 September 2015 (UTC)
 * (More) If "Saint Guy of Anderlecht" is not suitable for Portal:Catholicism/Patron Archive/September 12, how about featuring Mary on this date? After a bit of searching I find that today is the feast of "The Most Holy Name of the Blessed Virgin Mary". -- John of Reading (talk) 17:52, 12 September 2015 (UTC)

Help us improve wikimeets by filling in the UK Wikimeet survey!
Hello! I'm running a survey to identify the best way to notify Wikimedians about upcoming UK wikimeets (informal, in-person social meetings of Wikimedians), and to see if we can improve UK wikimeets to make them accessible and attractive to more editors and readers. All questions are optional, and it will take about 10 minutes to complete. Please fill it in at:
 * https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/JJMNVVD

Thanks! Mike Peel (talk) 19:31, 21 September 2015 (UTC)
 * Already done! -- John of Reading (talk) 19:32, 21 September 2015 (UTC)
 * Thank you! :-) Mike Peel (talk) 20:05, 21 September 2015 (UTC)

Portal:Capitalism
Do you know why "The Capitalism Portal" box is not displaying correctly? Lbertolotti (talk) 12:00, 22 September 2015 (UTC)
 * The "div" tags in Portal:Capitalism/Intro weren't balanced. -- John of Reading (talk) 12:02, 22 September 2015 (UTC)

Thx.Lbertolotti (talk) 12:03, 22 September 2015 (UTC)

‎Dead links and Special:LinkSearch
Thank you. --CiaPan (talk) 09:14, 2 October 2015 (UTC)
 * https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Help_desk&diff=prev&oldid=683757512

Portal:Communism
Can you do for this quotation page what you did for this page? Lbertolotti (talk) 18:18, 1 October 2015 (UTC)
 * Oh yes, that long "quotes" box make the portal very unbalanced. I'll put this on my "to do" list. -- John of Reading (talk) 19:52, 1 October 2015 (UTC)
 * Done -- John of Reading (talk) 07:03, 2 October 2015 (UTC)

Do you know why this portal is not visualizing correctly on my cellphone? Portal:Business and economics, Portal:Capitalism, Portal:Mathematics, Portal:Engineering are visualizing fine. Lbertolotti (talk) 17:58, 2 October 2015 (UTC)
 * No, but the coding at the top of the portal seems needlessly complex. I'll try to understand it better and make it simpler. -- John of Reading (talk) 05:33, 3 October 2015 (UTC)

Help:Referencing for beginners
I have added a reminder to the talk page- referring to Help:Referencing for beginners/sandbox that you might like to consider. -- Clem Rutter (talk) 21:24, 4 October 2015 (UTC)

A cookie for you!

 * Thank you! Notice that I made an edit to your sandbox, User:Ahm masum/Sandbox, in response to the notification from The Transhumanist. -- John of Reading (talk) 06:40, 5 October 2015 (UTC)
 * He gave me coffee. Wanna trade? The Transhumanist 07:05, 5 October 2015 (UTC)
 * May I dip my cookie in your coffee? -- John of Reading (talk) 07:22, 5 October 2015 (UTC)
 * Cup-o-coffee-simple.svg  This I'd like to see. Here it is! The Transhumanist 20:00, 5 October 2015 (UTC)


 * Dunking a biscuit.jpg That's great, thanks! -- John of Reading (talk) 20:03, 5 October 2015 (UTC)
 * Hey, that's hot chocolate! The Transhumanist 21:21, 5 October 2015 (UTC)

Second attempt. This markup is pretty fragile, but it looks right for me in Firefox. -- John of Reading (talk) 06:04, 6 October 2015 (UTC)
 * Sorry for the delay, I had to bake some cookies. The Transhumanist 08:43, 6 October 2015 (UTC)

OrGins

 * Thanks! -- John of Reading (talk) 12:01, 6 October 2015 (UTC)

orgional → original Spelling/grammar correction
Originally I though Orgin was spelled Origion which would lead to Originally being spelled Orgionally but apparently that aint right! Thanks for the assistance with my poor spellin! I am a product of the Clintion Education System here in Arkansas. Aleutian06 (talk) 13:24, 6 October 2015 (UTC)
 * No problem, you wrote a whole book of interesting articles. -- John of Reading (talk) 14:17, 6 October 2015 (UTC)

Getting better
Six months on, I'm a lot better. Main problem is that writing is hard. I think Wikipedia have to carry on leave without me. Unbuttered parsnip (talk) mytime= Wed 21:09, wikitime=  13:09, 7 October 2015 (UTC)
 * Good to hear from you! I hope you find some enjoyable things to do, at Wikipedia or elsewhere, to help you get properly well. -- John of Reading (talk) 13:20, 7 October 2015 (UTC)

Velaga Venkatappaiah
You are invited to join the discussion at Velaga Venkatappaiah. Participate in AfD Discussion Thanks. KC Velaga ☚╣✉╠☛  15:36, 15 October 2015 (UTC)

You have been randomly selected to take a very short survey by the Wikimedia Foundation Community Tech team!
https://wikimedia.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_9mNQICjn6DibxNr

This survey is intended to gauge community satisfaction with the technical support provided by the Wikimedia Foundation to Wikipedia, especially focusing on the needs of the core community. To learn more about this survey, please visit Research:Tech support satisfaction poll.

To opt-out of further notices concerning this survey, please remove your username from the subscription list.

MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 18:57, 15 October 2015 (UTC)


 * ✅ -- John of Reading (talk) 19:59, 15 October 2015 (UTC)

A bowl of strawberries for you!

 * And thank you for the strawberries! -- John of Reading (talk) 10:15, 16 October 2015 (UTC)

Mary, Princess Royal and Countess of Harewood and also Frances Lupton and Berney baronets
Hi, if you can, please check my latest tricky edits on the above pages. All the best and thanks — Preceding unsigned comment added by 101.189.13.6 (talk) 10:25, 18 October 2015 (UTC)
 * Well, I've had a look. There are some useful comments at Talk:Berney baronets. -- John of Reading (talk) 07:13, 20 October 2015 (UTC)

Inlet Square Mall
Something went wrong with your edit to Inlet Square Mall. The page is now blank, even though everything seems OK in the edit window. --Dalek Supreme X (talk) 07:39, 18 October 2015 (UTC)
 * I have purged the page and it looks OK now. This wasn't my edit, but a wider problem caused by a software glitch: Village pump (technical)/Archive 141 -- John of Reading (talk) 10:03, 18 October 2015 (UTC)
 * Thanks! Looks fine on this end as well. Dalek Supreme X (talk) 15:55, 22 October 2015 (UTC)

உங்களுக்கு ஒரு பதக்கம் அளிக்கப்பட்டுள்ளது!

 * How splendid. -- John of Reading (talk) 06:10, 23 October 2015 (UTC)

Labour theory of value
Do you know what is wrong with the archive section on this talk page? Lbertolotti (talk) 13:32, 25 October 2015 (UTC)
 * I've moved the two oldest archives to the standard names "Archive 1" and "Archive 2", and now the Talk header box is displaying the links to the four archives. -- John of Reading (talk) 14:02, 25 October 2015 (UTC)

?? There's no link to archives whatsoever. Lbertolotti (talk) 10:22, 26 October 2015 (UTC)
 * Odd - I've purged the page and now the links are there. -- John of Reading (talk) 10:24, 26 October 2015 (UTC)

Well, never-mind now it's working. Happy editing and have a nice day. Lbertolotti (talk) 10:26, 26 October 2015 (UTC)

Halloween cheer!


Happy Halloween!

Hello John of Reading: Thanks for all of your contributions to improve Wikipedia, and have a happy and enjoyable Halloween!   –  North America1000 23:39, 31 October 2015 (UTC) Send Halloween cheer by adding {{subst:Happy Halloween}} to user talk pages with a friendly message. Sent to users on my mailing list. To opt-out forever, just remove your name.


 * Thank you! And I wish you a happy All Saints' Day. -- John of Reading (talk) 07:10, 1 November 2015 (UTC)

Greetings

 * Thanks! I had, of course, completely forgotten about the question I left on your talk page. -- John of Reading (talk) 21:52, 2 November 2015 (UTC)

Port Sanilac, Michigan
Your delete as "unsourced and unencyclopedic" of the anonymous reported/rumored Kid Rock sighting made me smile. En passant, FWIW, Elvis sightings has its own article and following. Keep up the good work. 7&amp;6=thirteen (☎) 17:20, 5 November 2015 (UTC)
 * Strange things turn up on my spelling lists from time to time. A "ledgend" indeed! -- John of Reading (talk) 17:24, 5 November 2015 (UTC)

Samuel Joseph
I am a decedent of Samuel Aaron Joseph. He also had a family in New Zealand. His wife was Ngarino and she was from the west coast of Waikato district (she had lots of land), His son was Whitinui Joseph, grandson Te Aupouri Joseph, great grandson Patrick Tana Pukukohatu Joseph, great X2 George Joseph and great x3 Joshua Joseph (me). He left in a hurry our family story goes and know he ended up in Australia. Just wandered if you had any more info? Joshj1142 (talk) 11:58, 7 November 2015 (UTC)
 * No, I'm sorry. I just fixed a spelling mistake in the article. -- John of Reading (talk) 12:17, 7 November 2015 (UTC)
 * No, I'm sorry. I just fixed a spelling mistake in the article. -- John of Reading (talk) 12:17, 7 November 2015 (UTC)

A barnstar for you!

 * ...and thank you for the barnstar. I hope you enjoy editing Wikipedia. -- John of Reading (talk) 15:56, 7 November 2015 (UTC)

Sully Historic Site citations
Wrote a bunch of code to change the citations on the Sully Historic Site article from the current version to the proposed formatting. Cannot implement this without consensus. Would very much appreciate your opinion at the talk page. Abel (talk) 02:09, 12 November 2015 (UTC)
 * ✅ -- John of Reading (talk) 07:07, 12 November 2015 (UTC)

User:Gadget850/HarvErrors.js
That you so much for showing me User:Gadget850/HarvErrors.js ! That is a great tool. Abel (talk) 13:22, 12 November 2015 (UTC)

dude i dont have any opinions
bias has nothing to do with it - if the citation had said it "rained" but it was a hurricaine would you then say "but they said it rained" - fact of the matter is that by definition what the government did is now described as such in my edit - i have no opinions and attempt to make no opinions - that would damage my reputation on wiki and would haunt me with the sock editors who then could endlessly drag the biased edit up ad infinitum--68.231.26.111 (talk) 01:21, 19 November 2015 (UTC)
 * If no source said it was a hurricane then the current events portal should not call it a hurricane. -- John of Reading (talk) 07:19, 19 November 2015 (UTC)
 * if the source that says rain says sustained winds above 85 mph then by definition its a hurricaine no matter what words the source editor chooses--68.231.26.111 (talk) 11:25, 19 November 2015 (UTC)

Virginia Tech Project Invite
Go Hokies (talk) 23:58, 16 November 2015 (UTC)
 * Sorry, I won't be joining the Virginia Tech project - but I promise to fix spellings and grammar errors in these articles whenever they turn up in my work lists! -- John of Reading (talk) 08:46, 23 November 2015 (UTC)

Wikiproject Zoo
Thanks for corrections of Portal:Zoos and aquariums. Im actually alone active member of the Wikiproject Zoo, is there any way I could inspire you to join the project and help me keep it alive?Dan Koehl (talk) 22:35, 21 November 2015 (UTC)
 * No, probably not! I noticed your edit when it turned up in my long-running [//en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?namespace=100&days=1&limit=250&associated=1&title=Special%3ARecentChanges Recent Changes patrol], and added the page to my to-do list since I saw that it could be improved. -- John of Reading (talk) 08:50, 23 November 2015 (UTC)

Disambiguation link notification for November 24
Hi. Thank you for your recent edits. Wikipedia appreciates your help. We noticed though that when you edited Rancho Bernardo High School, you added a link pointing to the disambiguation page Texas rangers. Such links are almost always unintended, since a disambiguation page is merely a list of "Did you mean..." article titles. Read the FAQ* Join us at the DPL WikiProject.

It's OK to remove this message. Also, to stop receiving these messages, follow these opt-out instructions. Thanks, DPL bot (talk) 09:56, 24 November 2015 (UTC)
 * -- John of Reading (talk) 09:58, 24 November 2015 (UTC)

ArbCom elections are now open!
MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 14:15, 24 November 2015 (UTC)

Radio-frequency identification
Is the archiving bot on this page working? Lbertolotti (talk) 19:55, 26 November 2015 (UTC)
 * No, it wasn't. I've made an edit. -- John of Reading (talk) 20:48, 26 November 2015 (UTC)

Hill fort
Now hillfort is under telangana tourism — Preceding unsigned comment added by 27.6.17.150 (talk) 18:13, 27 November 2015 (UTC)
 * Is this about Tourism in Telangana, or some other article? I suggest you post on the article's talk page to explain the problem. -- John of Reading (talk) 18:25, 27 November 2015 (UTC)

American Old West history image files subject to deletion
The file File:WellsSpicer.JPG has been listed at Possibly unfree files because its copyright status is unclear or `disputed. An editor believes that because the photo taken before 1885 does not have an author or an initial publication date, it should be removed. This is true of many, many Old West images about events and individuals. If the file's copyright status cannot be verified, it and many others like it related to Old West history may be deleted. You may find more information on the file description page. If you want to help retain images like this, you are welcome to add comments to its entry at. Thank you. — btphelps (talk to me) (what I've done) 22:55, 28 November 2015 (UTC)

A gentle survey for research purpose
Hello John of Reading,

I am Bowen Yu, a computer science PhD student at the University of Minnesota - Twin Cities. Currently, we are working on a project studying the main article and sub article relationship in a purpose of better serving the Wikipedia article structure. It would be appreciated if you could take 4-5 minutes to finish the survey questions. Thanks in advance! We will not collect any of your personally information.

Thank you for your time to participate this survey. Your response is important for us!

https://umn.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_bvm2A1lvzYfJN9H — Preceding unsigned comment added by Bobo.03 (talk • contribs) 04:58, 1 December 2015 (UTC)
 * ✅ though my answers won't help much. -- John of Reading (talk) 07:21, 1 December 2015 (UTC)


 * Thanks! Really appreciate your help! John of Reading