User talk:Lauraspinney

Welcome!
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Please remember to sign your messages on talk pages by typing 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, and a volunteer should respond shortly. Again, welcome! 2601:188:180:1481:65F5:930C:B0B2:CD63 (talk) 14:38, 13 October 2018 (UTC)

Hello, Lauraspinney. We welcome your contributions, but if you have an external relationship with the people, places or things you have written about on Wikipedia, you may have a conflict of interest (COI). Editors with a COI may be unduly influenced by their connection to the topic. See the conflict of interest guideline and FAQ for organizations for more information. We ask that you:


 * avoid editing or creating articles about yourself, your family, friends, company, organization or competitors;
 * propose changes on the talk pages of affected articles (see the request edit template);
 * disclose your COI when discussing affected articles (see WP:DISCLOSE);
 * avoid linking to your organization's website in other articles (see WP:SPAM);
 * do your best to comply with Wikipedia's content policies.

In addition, you must disclose your employer, client, and affiliation with respect to any contribution which forms all or part of work for which you receive, or expect to receive, compensation (see WP:PAID).

Also please note that editing for the purpose of advertising, publicising, or promoting anyone or anything is not permitted. Thank you. 2601:188:180:1481:65F5:930C:B0B2:CD63 (talk) 14:38, 13 October 2018 (UTC)

October 2018
Please do not add promotional material to Wikipedia. While objective prose about beliefs, organisations, people, products or services is acceptable, Wikipedia is not intended to be a vehicle for soapboxing, advertising or promotion. Thank you. 2601:188:180:1481:65F5:930C:B0B2:CD63 (talk) 14:45, 13 October 2018 (UTC)


 * Please read the COI guidelines above. Really. 2601:188:180:1481:65F5:930C:B0B2:CD63 (talk) 14:45, 13 October 2018 (UTC)

Please stop your disruptive editing. If you continue to add soapboxing, promotional or advertising material to Wikipedia, you may be blocked from editing. 2601:188:180:1481:65F5:930C:B0B2:CD63 (talk) 14:53, 13 October 2018 (UTC)

This account has been blocked indefinitely from editing Wikipedia because the username, Lauraspinney, matches the name of a well-known, living person.

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If you think that you were blocked in error, you may appeal this block by adding the text below this notice, but you should read our guide to appealing blocks first. Jauerbackdude?/dude. 15:03, 13 October 2018 (UTC)

Help me!
lauraspinney is about to edit an article that was written on her (me) by an unknown third party, and that is out-of-date and inaccurate.

Lauraspinney (talk) 19:56, 21 October 2018 (UTC)
 * Good evening, Laura. What can I help you with? Sam Sailor 20:07, 21 October 2018 (UTC)
 * Yes, to explain a little further, you should not edit the article yourself. That may be part of the reason your earlier edits were reverted. You are welcome to post corrections here, or better, on the talk page of the article about you Talk:Laura Spinney and another editor will check things out and make the corrections for you. This is in accordance with our conflict of interest policy.  — jmcgnh (talk) (contribs) 20:14, 21 October 2018 (UTC)

Help me!
Thanks for your comments, Sam et al. I am learning. The following is what I would like to substitute for the current text on the page concerning me. Thanks.
 * ✅ Sam Sailor 21:09, 21 October 2018 (UTC)

Laura Spinney is a British science journalist, novelist and non-fiction writer whose 2017 book Pale Rider (2017), is a non-fiction account of the 1918 influenza pandemic.

Spinney has written on science for Nature, National Geographic, The Economist, New Scientist and The Guardian. She is the author of two novels, The Doctor (Methuen, 2001) and The Quick (Fourth Estate, 2007), and a collection of oral history from a central European city entitled Rue Centrale (Editions L'Age d'Homme, 2013). In 2017 she published Pale Rider, an account of the 1918 flu pandemic,  published by Jonathan Cape who acquired the global rights in an auction in 2015. Spinney's most recent book-length work is an English translation of Swiss writer Charles-Ferdinand Ramuz's best loved novel Derborence (Skomlin, 2018) In the spring of 2019 she will spend two months as a journalist-in-residence at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in Berlin, Germany. She lives in Paris, France.
 * Career


 * Selected works


 * Books
 * Derborence: Where the devils came down. Skomlin, 2018. ISBN 9781789265811
 * Pale Rider: The Spanish Flu of 1918 and How it Changed the World. Jonathan Cape, 2017. ISBN 9781910702376
 * Rue Centrale. Editions L’Age d’Homme, 2013. ISBN 9782825143216
 * The Quick. Fourth Estate, London, 2007. ISBN 9780007240500
 * The Doctor. Methuen, London, 2001. ISBN 0413754707


 * Articles
 * Did human sacrifice help people form complex societies. The Atlantic, 2018.
 * Unearthed: why we've got monuments like Stonehenge all wrong. New Scientist, 2018.
 * Who names diseases? Aeon, 2017.
 * The shared past that wasn't: how Facebook, fake news and friends are warping your memory. Nature, 2017.
 * H.M. The Economist, 2008.


 * References

Lauraspinney (talk) 21:00, 21 October 2018 (UTC)


 * I have removed categories from this user talk page, and I have removed some heading formatting here. Question: What about these two:
 * Biotechnology in Crops: Issues for the Developing World. Oxfam, 1998.
 * Sign On: Genetic Testing for Deafness. Channel Four Television Company, 1999. (With Paula Snyder)
 * Books? Articles? Sam Sailor 21:16, 21 October 2018 (UTC)
 * Doh, Sam! A TV program the last one? Sam Sailor 21:17, 21 October 2018 (UTC)

Help me!
They are just really old, and not illustrative of the work I have done for years (the Oxfam report was a one-off and the first and last time I've worked for an NGO, and I've been almost exclusively a print journalist ie no TV, since I started earning a living).

Lauraspinney (talk) 21:24, 21 October 2018 (UTC)
 * OK, no problem with me. I have updated the article a bit, and I will make a nice Works section with citation templates. I made a few changes to the lead (2x2017 and 2x non-fiction), and suggest we keep your birth year, as it is widely published. The suggested update to the body sounds neutral, and I will update and wikilink. Sam Sailor 21:32, 21 October 2018 (UTC)

Thanks Sam. What about the Max Planck residency?

Lauraspinney (talk) 21:40, 21 October 2018 (UTC)
 * It is in. Since you are fluent in French and an expert, why not translate fr:Derborence (roman) to Derborence (novel)? I will work on the article about you for the next half hour or so. No need to open a new this evening, I will keep an eye on your page. Sam Sailor 21:46, 21 October 2018 (UTC)
 * Oh, forgot: had to prune "his most beloved" ... :) Sam Sailor 21:48, 21 October 2018 (UTC)

Good idea. I will take care of Derborence (roman) when I have a moment.

Lauraspinney (talk) 21:51, 21 October 2018 (UTC)
 * Thank you. Sam Sailor 21:53, 21 October 2018 (UTC)
 * Do we have a URL to a review of Derborence – Where the devils came down? Sam Sailor 22:07, 21 October 2018 (UTC)

Yes, it was reviewed here over the weekend: https://www.rts.ch/play/radio/la-matinale-du-samedi/audio/la-matinale-du-samedi?id=9897645 starting at 1:26:00 (on Swiss radio, in French bizarrely! The reviewer is Jacques Poget) Lauraspinney (talk) 22:10, 21 October 2018 (UTC)
 * Wonderful. Will look into that later, we have a special citation template for that, but I seldom use it and will have to read up on it. I am turning to the works list now, how is the lead and body looking? Sam Sailor 22:14, 21 October 2018 (UTC)

Books
Which layout do you like best?

This:
 * (translator)
 * (translator)
 * (translator)
 * (translator)
 * (translator)

Or this:
 * Derborence: Where the devils came down. Skomlin, 2018. ISBN 9781789265811
 * Pale Rider: The Spanish Flu of 1918 and How it Changed the World. Jonathan Cape, 2017. ISBN 9781910702376
 * Rue Centrale. Editions L’Age d’Homme, 2013. ISBN 9782825143216
 * The Quick. Fourth Estate, London, 2007. ISBN 9780007240500
 * The Doctor. Methuen, London, 2001. ISBN 0413754707

Sam Sailor 22:28, 21 October 2018 (UTC)


 * The second


 * Lauraspinney (talk) 05:15, 22 October 2018 (UTC)
 * Already done. Sam Sailor 07:24, 22 October 2018 (UTC)

Help me!
Please help me with...

I've translated the French Wiki page "Derborence (roman)" into English. As mentioned in the article, I am the author of the most recent English translation of the novel entitled Derborence to which this page refers. Can someone help me put the text in the right format for publication? Here it is:

Derborence (novel)

Derborence is a novel by Swiss writer Charles-Ferdinand Ramuz that was first published in 1934.

Background

Derborence is a novel by Charles-Ferdinand Ramuz, a writer who was born and lived for most of his life in the Swiss canton of Vaud. It was first published in 1934 but several later editions appeared within the author’s lifetime.

Derborence tells the story of a herdsman who is buried alive when a mountain falls on the summer village he temporarily inhabits. The novel was inspired by real events as recounted by a pastor from the Vaud named Philippe Bridel, in 1786. On 23 September 1714, a section of the Diablerets massif, located in the neighbouring canton to the Vaud, the Valais, collapsed following an earthquake two years earlier. The resulting landslide destroyed 50 chalets and killed an estimated 14 people, along with many cattle, goats and sheep. Mountain pastures disappeared under a carpet of boulders, streams and rivers were diverted from their course and new lakes were formed.

Plot

As is the custom in the Swiss Alps around midsummer, Antoine Pont and his uncle by marriage, Séraphin, have taken their cows up into the mountains in search of fresh pasture. It quickly becomes apparent that Antoine is bored and pining for Thérèse, his wife of two months. One night, a landslide crashes down on the summer village, apparently killing Antoine and Séraphin along with many other herdsmen.

When news of the disaster reaches the village from which Antoine and his uncle hail, its inhabitants are plunged into mourning. Thérèse learns of Antoine’s fate just as she discovers that she is pregnant. The thought that her child will be born an orphan fills her with despair. Her mother, Philomena, tries in vain to comfort her, while mourning the loss of her brother Séraphin.

Seven weeks and a day after the landslide, Antoine emerges from the rock that, by a stroke of luck, buried him without killing him. When he tries to return to his village, however, he is mistaken for a ghost. He manages to persuade Thérèse that he is flesh and blood, but when he learns that Séraphin perished in the disaster, he refuses to believe it. Convinced that his uncle is still alive and merely trapped beneath the boulders, as he was, Antoine decides to return to the site of the landslide to rescue Séraphin. When Thérèse discovers that her husband has left the village, she realises what he intends to do and goes after him, hoping to convince him to return to the world of the living. The novel ends with their confrontation in the unrecognisable landscape of the collapsed mountain, during which she wins him round.

Adaptations

Derborence has been adapted for cinema. The eponymous French-Swiss film by Francis Reusser appeared in 1985.

Translations

Two English translations of Derborence have been published, the most recent of which, by Laura Spinney, was published by Skomlin Press (London, Melbourne, New York) in 2018, under the title, Derborence: Where the devils came down.

An earlier English version, translated by Sarah Fisher Scott, was published by Pantheon Books (New York) in 1947, under the title, When the Mountain Fell Down.

Lauraspinney (talk) 23:02, 25 November 2018 (UTC)


 * I'll be happy to help with formatting, but an issue with translations like this is that we'd like to see at least one English language reference that helps establish the topic as notable and you have no references at all (unfortunately page in fr-wiki is not much help because it also shows no references). That the references be in English is not strictly a requirement but it is a requirement that there be notability references.  — jmcgnh (talk) (contribs) 23:24, 25 November 2018 (UTC)

Help me!
Please help me with...

The most obvious recognition of Ramuz's importance as a writer is that his novels have been collected by the Bibliothèque de La Pléiade (there is an English Wiki link to this) which is published by Gallimard in France. It means that he is considered a classic author by the famous French publishing house.

Here is his entry on La Pléiade (in French only): http://www.la-pleiade.fr/Auteur/Charles-Ferdinand-Ramuz

Here are some references in English:

This is the Swiss National Bank's justification for putting his face on the 200 franc note: https://www.snb.ch/en/mmr/reference/banknotes_personalities_CV200/source/banknotes_personalities_CV200.en.pdf

Entry in "Guide to Modern World Literature" (Google Books), p 445, in which "Derborence" is described as "the most fully satisfying of his twenty-two novels": https://books.google.fr/books?id=8FddDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA445&lpg=PA445&dq=guide+to+modern+world+literature+ramuz&source=bl&ots=-aEbAa92Fa&sig=NBfa1mn6L4wr0QJMsLa9BmZ6kyc&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi4sffzwfHeAhUwxoUKHUDcDt4Q6AEwA3oECAkQAQ#v=onepage&q=guide%20to%20modern%20world%20literature%20ramuz&f=false

Here is Ramuz's entry in the Encyclopaedia Britannica, mentioning Derborence: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Charles-Ferdinand-Ramuz

And here is Ramuz's own English Wiki entry: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles-Ferdinand_Ramuz

I hope that helps?

Lauraspinney (talk) 07:34, 26 November 2018 (UTC)
 * ✅. Good morning again, Laura! I have replied to the same question on User talk:2A01:CB04:A9B:4100:F4B1:F189:E66D:B9A5, I guess that was you.   If you have any questions, you are always welcome to ask me on my talk page. Alternatively, you can ask your question at the Teahouse, the help desk, or join Wikipedia's Live Help IRC channel to get real-time assistance. Happy editing, Sam Sailor 07:53, 26 November 2018 (UTC)
 * The paragraph in the Guide to World Literature devoted to Derborence looks like it might be a useful reference. There would not be much of an article, though, if all we did was summarize that one paragraph. Remember, the task is not merely to establish the existence of the novel, but to somehow establish that the novel is notable.  — jmcgnh (talk) (contribs) 18:15, 26 November 2018 (UTC)

Your submission at Articles for creation: Derborence (novel) has been accepted
 Derborence (novel), which you submitted to Articles for creation, has been created. The article has been assessed as Start-Class, which is recorded on the article's talk page. You may like to take a look at the grading scheme to see how you can improve the article. You are more than welcome to continue making quality contributions to Wikipedia. If your account is more than four days old and you have made at least 10 edits you can create articles yourself without posting a request. However, you may continue submitting work to Articles for Creation if you prefer. Thank you for helping improve Wikipedia! Dial911 (talk) 01:49, 1 January 2019 (UTC)
 * If you have any questions, you are welcome to ask at the  [//en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:WikiProject_Articles_for_creation/Help_desk&action=edit&section=new&nosummary=1&preload=Template:AfC_talk/HD_preload&preloadparams%5B%5D=Derborence_(novel) help desk] .
 * If you would like to help us improve this process, please consider.

Help me!
Hi, I received a message that a page I wrote - "Derborence (novel)" - had been created, but I can't find it via Google. Can someone tell me, does it take time to go live, or is there another reason why it isn't publicly searchable? Thanks.

Lauraspinney (talk) 21:55, 1 January 2019 (UTC)


 * The article is live. Google may take some time to index it. Huon (talk) 22:10, 1 January 2019 (UTC)

A page you started (Derborence (novel)) has been reviewed!
Thanks for creating Derborence (novel).

I have just reviewed the page, as a part of our page curation process and note that:

To reply, leave a comment here and prepend it with. And, don't forget to sign your reply with.

Message delivered via the Page Curation tool, on behalf of the reviewer.

signed,Rosguill talk 06:41, 29 January 2019 (UTC)

Help me!
I have added a summary of the plot.

Lauraspinney (talk) 11:16, 3 February 2019 (UTC)

Help me!
Hi I recently added some well-referenced material to the Spanish flu page. My additions were to the section on "Less affected areas" and concerned China and Russia, because the existing material on those countries was out of date. I did so as a science journalist and author of a book on the Spanish flu, "Pale Rider", who has closely researched those countries. I had no objection to the subsequent addition of more material on China (though it's true it was badly written) by another user, but now I notice that both that and my additions have vanished. Plus the user who complained about them, and who suggested we were sockpuppets (Laputa-skye), has since had their account closed on grounds of being a sockpuppet. Can I restore the earlier text? As it stands, the section no longer mentions either China or Russia, and yet there is information on both of these (highly populous, and therefore important) countries. Thank you for your advice.

Lauraspinney (talk) 14:20, 21 December 2019 (UTC)
 * I suspect that your edits were caught up in the collateral of rolling back the sockpuppet, so yes, I think it would be okay to re-add the content. If there are any concerns about the addition, though, you should probably discuss them on the article's talk page. If you want more help, change the help me-helped back into a help me, stop by the Teahouse, or Wikipedia's live help channel, or the help desk to ask someone for assistance. Primefac (talk) 20:46, 21 December 2019 (UTC)
 * On a more general note, using the talk page to propose changes instead of directly editing an article is a good idea in general when you are citing yourself on Wikipedia. Leaving it to uninvolved editors to implement such changes will avoid any appearance of promoting your own work. You can add the code to such a talk page request to increase visibility. See also the policy on editing with a conflict of interest. Huon (talk) 21:22, 21 December 2019 (UTC)

Hi again, I did what you suggested Huon and hope that someone will respond to my request soon. Is there any way I can increase its visibility even more? Thanks Lauraspinney (talk) 17:17, 26 December 2019 (UTC)
 * Hi, the "request edit" template, used correctly by you, is a perfect way of gaining maximal visibility for the request. Such requests are usually answered within 24 hours. Your request, too, has already been answered. ~ ToBeFree (talk) 17:34, 26 December 2019 (UTC)
 * Thanks all for your help

Lauraspinney (talk) 16:44, 29 December 2019 (UTC)