User talk:MacGyverMagic/Archive/January 2007

Angelis
I think I've exhausted LexisNexis. Can you check other sources on them. Any info will do, but I'm particularly interested in finding out if I imagined something or if their debut album really went platinum or gold as I seem to remember. - Mgm|(talk) 11:09, 22 December 2006 (UTC)


 * It definitely went at least platinum. See on LexisNexis:"Singer Amy 'goes platinum' on TV" by Ian Townsend (relevant quote being "With other members of her classic/pop crossover group Angelis she received a platinum disc on GMTV to mark 350,000 copies of the sale of the album called Angelis."). I see it in The Oxford Times, but I guess it was mirrored by some other papers. See also . --Gwern (contribs) 02:56 1 January 2007 (GMT)

Platinum
I didn't think of searching on individual members to get the article. Thanks for being smarter than me... --Mgm|(talk) 11:51, 1 January 2007 (UTC)


 * My secret sauce is first a long specific Google search string like "Angelis chorale Simon Cowell platinum gold", and then once I find something, I narrow it down in LexisNexis with the search string "Angelis platinum". :) --Gwern (contribs) 15:52 1 January 2007 (GMT)

More image stuff
Thanks for the image tip. I'll drop you a note when I've done that later this evening. I have another question. Would you have time to look at Talk:Serge Voronoff and see whether the Library of Congress image I linked to is usable by Wikipedia? (The general guidelines say that many, but not all, images are public domain, so we still need to check individually for each image). Suggestions for the appropriate licence would be good, though I'd like to do the upload myself if possible. Thanks. PS. I want to make sure the image rights are watertight, because when I've finished expanding Serge Voronoff, I want to put it up for a DYK + image. Carcharoth 18:59, 1 January 2007 (UTC)
 * Replied on my talk page. Thanks. BTW, Image:Erdbebenkreuz.JPG is now up (I created a new account, as the single-user log-in doesn't seem to have arrived yet). I had a closer look at the caption, and it simply seems to be an "Erdbebenkreuz" in Reinach. I've left Erdbebenkreuz as it is, as I suspect it is a German name for the memorial, meaning "Earthquake cross", but I linked "Reinach" to Reinach, Basel-Country as the most likely of the Reinachs on Wikipedia. So Basel earthquake now has a picture! Thanks for helping me through that process. Now to find a free picture of the big crack that can still be seen in the wall of Basel Cathedral! Carcharoth 20:21, 1 January 2007 (UTC)
 * PS. Which of "did experiments after which the cocktail called The Monkey Gland is named" and "dodgy HIV origins theory", do you think will fly best on DYK? Carcharoth 21:08, 1 January 2007 (UTC)
 * Thanks for the translation. Re the account on Commons, I tried creating one with the name I use here - but it said that name was taken. I tried logging in with the name and my password, but that failed. So I created a new account with the same password. The impression I got from here is that "Matching accounts that have the same email address or password will be unified automatically." - I used the same e-mail address and password, so hopefully the accounts will be merged. I'm not too bothered, but I would like to know if I missed a way to create an account with the same name. Thanks. Carcharoth 11:33, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

Re; Wikipedia:Miscellany for deletion/Wikipedia:Birthday Committee
Actually, Mgm, I said that the calendar isn't the problem, not the committee.  J o rco g a  Yell!   09:54, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

I also said having a formal committee that we don't need at all is a problem.  J o rco g a  Yell!   10:10, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

ArbCom Clerks
Good evening (GMT time); I am formally expressing my interest in becoming an ArbCom Clerk, and deciding on you as the best option with regards to my previous dealing with you as a honest and civil user. I am currently looking to donate a large portion of my time on Wikipedia to a Dispute Resolution organisation, and I have decided that the Arbitration Committee is the best option. I understand the function of a clerk, and I am one of the current Checkuser standby clerks.

I would appreciate an honest answer apropos of to my ability - in your opinion - to function as a successful and, above all, neutral clerk for the Arbitration Commitee.

Cheers and regards, Anthony cfc  [ T &bull; C] 21:30, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

Re: Compatability Mode
Wow I had a whole long reply typed out and then I found your solution so I'll start all over I guess. Here goes:


 * 1) Right-click My Computer and go to Manage
 * 2) Select "Device Manager" under System Tools on the left pane.
 * 3) In the right pane open up "IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers"
 * 4) Right-click "Primary IDE Channel" and go to Properties
 * 5) On the Advanced Settings tab select "PIO Only" / "No DMA" for Device 0 and 1.

Now try Simcity and see if you still have the problem. If you do, try performing the same operation on other IDE channels if there are more listed.

If you don't have an advanced settings tab at all under your IDE channels then you might have some crapola software that virtualizes the IDE channels.. uninstall it and try again (Intel Application Accelerator, etc).

Good luck. let me know if it works.

--⁪froth T C  09:27, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

If you want to turn it back on just re-enable DMA. Personally I wouldn't disable it just to play sim city; I have a couple of components that depend on it.. however it's the solution that EA suggested. --⁪froth T C  19:53, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

Your Magic
Hey I saw you like to perform magic and I was wondering if you give away secrets and explanations on Wiki. I am a magician to so I was wondering. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by SpiderMonkey625 (talk • contribs) 01:03, 5 January 2007 (UTC).

Him / her
We are both right. It is now hyper-solved, grammar and all. :)  - Kittybrewster 13:23, 10 January 2007 (UTC)

Remove | image_size = from code (copied from Template talk)

 * I think you were supposed to enter px behind the number to indicate it was a size in pixels -otherwise the input is ignored by the template. - Mgm|(talk) 10:16, 12 January 2007 (UTC)
 * I was relatively new to Wikipedia back in October when I made the above post. It looks like the "How to Use" instructions above were clarified.  Thanks for contacting me. -- Jreferee 15:55, 12 January 2007 (UTC)

An article which you started, or significantly expanded, Tombo Ati, was selected for DYK!
Thanks for your contributions!  Nish kid 64  16:13, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

AFD Abuse
Thank you for looking into this. User:PopPop PopMusic originally split the material from Project MKULTRA (reflected in this edit) into the new page (MKULTRA Pop Culture) and then nominated it for AfD (Articles for deletion/MKULTRA Pop Culture). I hope this is the information you requested. Wyatt Riot 15:04, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

MKultra AfD
Wha tI originaly meant in my comment was that it should not have been split in the first place, although I admit that I probably could have done a far better job in both my explanation and double-checkign to make sure the stuff was in the main article. Granted, I've never encountered an AfD like that before, but now I know how to handle it.-- Wizardman 03:53, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

WP:AIV
Did you even look at what was written on the page? –. &mdash; Nearly Headless Nick  13:15, 17 January 2007 (UTC)
 * If you are referring to 217.xxx., yes. I read their talk and they have indeed been warned multiple times. If you mean that AIV was cleared soon after you posted your message there, I can assure you it wasn't me but the bot attending to the page. If you are talking about something else, please be more specific. - Mgm|(talk) 13:22, 17 January 2007 (UTC)
 * The user was not warned for the day. This is a copy of what I said to the non-admin who reported it &mdash; Nearly Headless Nick  13:26, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

nEW mESSAGES
You have new messages at WP:AIV. &mdash; Nearly Headless Nick  13:12, 17 January 2007 (UTC)
 * He had already been warned at least 5 times and Had recieved a last warning. He had not been blocked since that last warning according to the block log and all the other warnings had been placed after the last warning. Correct me if I'm wrong but at that point don't you just go to WP:AIV? Since he has already recieved enough warning.--St.daniel 13:15, 17 January 2007 (UTC)
 * Look, its good that you are reverting vandalism and reporting vandals to WP:AIV. However, in this very case, you did not warn the user a single time this day. The IP might be shared by other users, how would they know that what they are doing is wrong? We need to assume good faith with the vandals and not retaliate with the their kind of retribution. However, I cannot blame you. We have another administrator who blocked him. Reply here if you want to; or read what the top of my page says. ;) &mdash; Nearly Headless Nick  13:19, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

Thank you
For understanding what I mean. I am copying another conversation from another user's talk page, because I can't repeat it again. :P &mdash; Nearly Headless Nick  13:39, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

User talk:Pascal.Tesson
Do you have an explanation for this? –. User does not have a long history of vandalism. You did not use appropriate warning templates on his talk page. How can you term it as ''Return vandal. One of these "blockable immediately IPs.? Incidentally, there was another administrator who did not care to look at the contributions / talk pages of the user and blocked, probably without checking. The top of the page says The vandal is active now, has received a proper set of warnings, and has vandalized after a last warning.''. Please take care in future. &mdash; Nearly Headless Nick  13:51, 16 January 2007 (UTC)
 * The IP's talk page carried Template:Repeat vandal, which tells users that the IP may be blocked without further warning. Pascal followed our instructions here, which happen to be self-contradictory. Kusma (討論) 13:56, 16 January 2007 (UTC)
 * Look, we are human beings here, and we can apply common sense with a few things. Vandalism is not the enemy of Wikipedia, it gets us new editors. The vandals need to be warned and blocks are cast as a preventive measure. We do not apply the same level of retribution as vandals apply for us. &mdash; Nearly Headless Nick  14:01, 16 January 2007 (UTC)
 * I can't tell whether in this case a warning would have had the same (or a better) effect as a block. I would also probably have warned again before blocking. Anyway, I was just pointing out a way in which you can WP:AGF with Pascal's action. Kusma (討論) 14:07, 16 January 2007 (UTC)
 * I never assumed bad faith. Just asking him to be careful. :) &mdash; Nearly Headless Nick  14:17, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

List of media personalities who have vandalised Wikipedia
It looks like the deletion police are trying to circumvent a previous AFD again. See Wikipedia:Miscellany for deletion/Wikipedia:List of media personalities who have vandalised Wikipedia. As you voted keep, could you cast your vote again? - Ta bu shi da yu 23:18, 21 January 2007 (UTC)

GWRsailing
I don't know how to send Emails so: THe actual entry is quite long but is basically says he first crossed the atlantic in 1850, aged 18, and crossed the ocean almost 700 times during his life. His first crossing as a captain was 1856 (aged 24). I hope this helps.
 * )Hidden secret 7 20:09, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

Your advise
Bainer just closed it as to merge. However, I count at least 25 people who wanted it kept, and only about 5 people to merge! Clearly that is wrong. What should I do? I mean, people are pissed off at me as it is, and I doubt any admin will pay attention to me that the AFD was wrongly closed. Could I get your thoughts on what to do? Incidently, it's tough for me to admit that I stuffed up, especially when someone is going for the jugular. I should have also told all the delete people about the new MFD as well, and should I have my time again that is what I would do. - Ta bu shi da yu 12:36, 23 January 2007 (UTC)
 * Because it's quite useful to point out where the media (not your run of the mill vandals) have been vandalising Wikipedia. Also, I realise that a judgement call is needed, but there are 20-25 people who were fairly definitely in the keep it as it was camp, and 15 people who wanted it gone totally, and yet only 5 people who argued for merging. What's the point of an AFD/MFD (or even participating in one) if you believe that consensus is listening to a minority? Besides which, this already went through another AFD, which appears to have been totally ignored. - Ta bu shi da yu 12:52, 23 January 2007 (UTC)
 * All right. Let's say someone goes ahead and vandalises Wikipedia from the media. We then all condemn him/her in unison, and point out that the media is always vandalising us, even though they are meant to be the bastions of objectivity and good sense, and only report on the news, as opposed to create it. A list like List of media personalities who have vandalised Wikipedia would come in quite useful, so we can point out all the times this has happened. It would certainly show how the 4th estate deals with new and emerging media like Wikipedia. - Ta bu shi da yu 13:07, 23 January 2007 (UTC)

Re: Ta bu's edit summaries
While I agree edit summaries are useful, I think you should consider not checking his edits all together. Anti-vandalism tools automatically drop edits by administrators (they're considered trustworthy). Ta bu was an administrator until he took a self-imposed wikibreak. I haven't checked his current status, but even if he's not an admin, I think checking his edits is a waste of time.

I can also see why he tought your message was automated, you generally don't explain what summaries are and where they appear to veteran users.

I think you should alter your checking method regardless. Vandals are getting cleverer and more of them are entering fake summaries to throw you off. Try using antivandal tools that make decisions based on content and unexplained changes of dates rather than relying on the edit summary. - Mgm|(talk) 12:40, 23 January 2007 (UTC)
 * Since I posted the message to Ta Bu, I have changed User:Will Pittenger/SumCO to provide locations. There is a bug causing the URL parameter,, to be ignored.  I don't understand why, but I am able to repair it manually after I post.  If you call it with the preview window, you should be able to test it and force it to display the text you don't see in the template's page.


 * Also, it takes a lot of work to test whether someone is an admin or not. The status doesn't show up in the watchlist, recent changes, or anywhere else.  I do have some JS anti-vandal tools installed.  Client-side tools like Vandal Proof are not an option as I have no control over what is installed on this machine.  (It's not mine.  That machine appears to be down for the foreseeable future.) Will (Talk - contribs) 19:44, 23 January 2007 (UTC)

Actually, I don't see that as fast. It would help if a code appeared next to edits by admins. This would be similar to the N (new), m (minor), and b (bot) codes we have now. If I take time to check every logged in user, I won't get anything done. Will (Talk - contribs) 22:27, 23 January 2007 (UTC)

Re: Graffiti Copyright Tags
Hey, thanks for the quick response. I know now that I can legally photograph them, but I don't live in Melbourne, the image needs to be a Scan or from the internet. What would the Copyright tag be? Cheers, Dfrg.msc 1. 2 . Editor Review 23:54, 23 January 2007 (UTC)

Puzzle (album)
Hello! You may (or may not) remember Puzzle (album). Tim buckley (talk • contribs) has restored it as an article rather than a redirect to Biffy Clyro. I reverted him once, and left a note on his talk page, but he doesn't seem to be inclined to change it back. There does seem to be a bit more info on the album, but still plenty of crystal-ball-gazing too. You mentioned making it a protected redirect. Can you have a look and see what you think? Many thanks! Angus McLellan (Talk) 15:43, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

Mail woes
Thank you for the kind offer. I'm considering my options right now. Or rather, I'm not: the "real world" is going to demand my attention for the next few hours, after which I'll return to considering my options, and I'll then let you know one way or another. -- Hoary 02:22, 25 January 2007 (UTC)
 * My original mail address now works again, so I've no need to make any change here. But thanks again for the offer. -- Hoary 06:18, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

User:Gon4z
It appears that this user has continued to make at the very least questionable articles since you warned him last. Most notably to the Military of Albania article. Spot87 21:28, 26 January 2007 (UTC)

Middle names
I noticed your comment at the help desk. Some months ago there were issues about unsourced middle names at Scarlett Johansson and Natalie Portman. I doubt these are connected to the user you were discussing, but I thought it was worth mentioning. --Cherry blossom tree 23:33, 26 January 2007 (UTC)
 * Do you remember an approximate date or IP/username. If it was some months ago it would be nearly impossible for me to look at it if the article history is long enough. - Mgm|(talk) 14:45, 27 January 2007 (UTC)
 * Sorry - I suppose I should have mentioned that. It was discussed on the talk page in March/April 2006. --Cherry blossom tree 23:13, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

Jimmy Swaggart
Hiya,

I'd appreciate it if you could have another look at the Jimmy Swaggart article, which continues to be disputed, despite a version consisting only of cited, undisputed facts going up. The atcual objections to expanding the article are a little more abstract, and though a lot of policy links are being thrown around a lot of them don't seem to apply at all. Artw 09:04, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

Any template collection icons?
Do you know of an icon that could indicate that a link is a template collection? My navheader, User:Will Pittenger/templates/NavHeader, contains a series of links to my most important pages. Except for my template page, each with an icon. I would prefer SVG and something that fits in with the icons I am already using.

Thanks for your help. I am no artist or even close. Will (Talk - contribs) 09:16, 27 January 2007 (UTC)
 * I had already been to Commons:Category:Icons. Any other ideas?  I was hoping you knew of an icon that someone else was using.  I guess not. Will (Talk - contribs) 02:45, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

Let's try this. What kind of image comes to mind when I ask what the icon for a template collection should look like? If you can tell me what you see, I can look for that. Will (Talk - contribs) 03:10, 28 January 2007 (UTC) I may try the following out. I realized that templates could be thought of as tools. Unfortunately, that label is too broad. (See my tools section from my user page.) If you find these icons useful, great. I am only listing them to give you a feel for what I am looking for. I used a table as I could control the size of the thumb and provide a background that matches the template. Galleries don't offer either from what I could tell.

Will (Talk - contribs) 04:10, 28 January 2007 (UTC)
 * I picked the one I isolated on the right. I hope something better comes along though.  Like I said, the tool icon is too broad. Will (Talk - contribs) 08:37, 29 January 2007 (UTC)

Putting an MP3 file into an Article
Hi! I'm the chap that asked about putting an mp3 file into my Wikipedia article on Lucien Durosoir. The only way I know to do this is to put the file on my university website, and then link to it from within the article. Is there another way? Johnspowell 19:54, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

village pump (technical) / Los Gigantes / Infobox City Dotmap
You asked
 * Why isn't the template I'm using in Los Gigantes displaying as it should according to its example at Infobox City Dotmap? It's got lines in it between the parameter Province and the not used parameters. Including test values doesn't change anything. - Mgm|(talk) 11:55, 26 January 2007 (UTC)

I didn't save any changes, but adding values for area, population, density, etc. made it look fine. I'm puzzled by the null &lt;div> tags in the template, as well as the &lt;includeonly>...&lt;/noincludeonly> around the pipes. Also, the unprotected newlines might be messing things up. Have a look at Infobox_Mountain (and Mount St. Helens) which uses several techniques to avoid these issues. —EncMstr 07:37, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

Benio76
I have recently received a email from User:Benio76, that in which he claims he was unfairly blocked. He has stated that the supposed sock puppets of himself are from an shared IP and not of his making. He says that he has tryed to contact you be he has received no response. Please respond on my talk page. Cheers.  Culv e  rin  ?   Talk  10:58, 28 January 2007 (UTC)


 * Benio has stated that ha lives in an apartment with which is a shared IP address. Who was the administrator that delt mostly with this incident?  Did you ever receive Benios messages?  Benios has also said he would like to take this to arbcom or the medition commitee. If Benio is truly innocent what do you think should happen?  Cheers.   Culv  e  rin  ?   Talk  23:00, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

RfArb regarding
I have completely revised my statement in regards to this RfArb I started regarding administrator User:Lucky 6.9. In particular, given a couple days to reflect on others' comments, I make a substantially different point, completely unrelated to furthering accusations toward the administrator. I would appreciate if you'd take a quick glance. Link Reswobslc 00:27, 29 January 2007 (UTC)

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
This could be an interesting article, but it's in need of sources to back up what you're saying. Could you add some? (websites, books, newspapers) If you contact me afterwards, I'll worry about the formatting. - Mgm|(talk) 10:46, 29 January 2007 (UTC)

All work and no play makes Maurice a dull boy.
I have to play a bit now... sorry... :O)

Template merging
If you objected to the merge then why didn't you say something in the solid month during which I was busily announcing the intended merge everywhere I could think to announce it? I'll see what I can do about the category. ~  ONUnicorn (Talk problem solving 15:19, 29 January 2007 (UTC)
 * I attempted to discuss it at Template talk:Game-cover, since that was the name I wanted for the finished product. I first came up with the idea from this TFD discussion.  Read my comments there.  I also posted about it at Wikipedia_talk:Image_copyright_tags, announced it on Village_pump_%28proposals%29/Archive, asked WikiProject Fair use about it here Wikipedia_talk:WikiProject_Fair_use, and posted a sort of last-warning call at the villiage pump Village_pump_%28assistance%29/Archive.  Finally I went ahead and did it.


 * As for the categories; it looks like the original videogame template had an option to sort the games by platform; I attempted to set up the merged template to sort things into subcategories to separate board, card, and roll-playing games from video games and still allow the video games to be sorted by platform; but I'm not good enough with template code to quite know if it worked and it looked like people weren't using that function much anyway (though I could be wrong). I've been thinking about asking someone who is good with templates to take a look at it and see what can be done.  Do you think that's a good idea? ~  ONUnicorn (Talk problem solving 17:03, 29 January 2007 (UTC)

Re: User:Gardeniagurl
User has tried to change the birth year of Tracie Spencer for a number of times without having any references, for example here or here or here or here – PeaceNT 11:05, 30 January 2007 (UTC)