User talk:Mailer diablo/Archive σ

Hot from the kitchen!


 Samuel  Tan  has given you large bowl of char kway teow ! You see, these things somehow promote WikiLove and hopefully this has made your day better. Spread the WikiLove by giving someone else large bowl of char kway teow ! Enjoy! '''Hello fellow Singaporean! Nice to meet someone else from our little island.''' *grin*

Spread the goodness of by adding  to their talk page with a friendly message.

MfD nomination of VAIN
VAIN, a page you substantially contributed to, has been nominated for deletion. Your opinions on the matter are welcome; please participate in the discussion by adding your comments at Wikipedia:Miscellany for deletion/Wikipedia:VAIN and please be sure to sign your comments with four tildes ( ~ ). You are free to edit the content of VAIN during the discussion but should not remove the miscellany for deletion template from the top of the page; such removal will not end the deletion discussion. Thank you. frogger3140 (talk) 00:26, 19 August 2008 (UTC)

Deletion review for MyWikiBiz
An editor has asked for a deletion review of MyWikiBiz. Since you closed the deletion discussion for this article, speedy-deleted it, or were otherwise interested in the article, you might want to participate in the deletion review. Neıl   ☄   13:19, 20 August 2008 (UTC)

db-spam tag deleted instead of hold action
Hi there,

I write here because you are one of three admins to have previously enforced a delete on the "bewelcome" article. I flagged it as db-spam -- although db-club seems suiltable as well -- as it's a PR piece and still doesn't meet notability guidelines, and comparing 4,000 members to the 500,000 membership base of the large established sites kind of speaks to itself. Anyway, the page owner has come and deleted that tag instead of using the hold mechanism. I'm not going to engage in an edit war, so I wonder if you could investigate. Appreciated. Here is the diff where he removed the tag: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=BeWelcome&diff=233726299&oldid=233722747 and here is the log of previous deletes: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special:Log&page=BeWelcome --121.44.250.188 (talk) 12:59, 23 August 2008 (UTC)
 * Replied. Currently on AfD. - Best regards, Mailer Diablo 18:31, 23 August 2008 (UTC)
 * thanks for the tip about subst:afd took a long time to find the db ones so I went with that. --121.44.250.188 (talk) 02:22, 24 August 2008 (UTC)

Re: DYK (NY 192)
Thanks! I certainly hope it passes. Thanks for the DYK!Mitch32(UP) 19:29, 23 August 2008 (UTC)

DYK thanks
Thanks for DYK nom congrats. I don't know if I ever told you so, but I have a lot of respect for you. It meant a lot to me that you "approved" of me in my RFA. I then knew I was worthy of adminship. I'm glad to see that you're around here even in a limited capacity.  Royal broil  20:30, 23 August 2008 (UTC)

Good to see you, can you translate?
Can you tell me what this says? Is the redirect appropriate.? Cheers,  Dloh  cierekim  20:35, 23 August 2008 (UTC)
 * Thanks!.  Dloh  cierekim  02:24, 24 August 2008 (UTC)

Re: DYK
Thanks mate! –Juliancolton Tropical Cyclone  21:31, 24 August 2008 (UTC)

Contributing to Infopedia
Hi. A friend of mine who works at the National Reference Library says that NLB does hire graduates and undergraduates to help prepare Infopedia articles for slightly lower rates. However, it doesn't want to publicize this as it cannot cope with a flood of applications. Therefore, if you are interested you should go ahead and get in touch with the NLB. — Cheers, Jack Lee  –talk– 08:57, 26 August 2008 (UTC)

Esperenza 2
Hiya MD. Didn't know if you wanted this explanation on the RfA itself or not - if for some reason you do, let me know and I'll do my best to shove this in somewhere in that spiel. The overly-simplified way of looking at Esperenza 2 (i.e., focusing on the bold, skimming the rest) is to see something like 55% delete, 35% MessedRocker, 10% keep. While this should be (and was) consensus to do something, I have no way of knowing whether Jamie would be able to weigh the arguments and find the right solution. Basically. Badger Drink (talk) 21:25, 26 August 2008 (UTC)
 * Disregard the previous (deleted) message, I can't read. I'll try to spruce it up a bit =) Badger Drink (talk) 21:42, 27 August 2008 (UTC)

Hey what happened
You deleted some expiring DYK hooks today and Albert White had not gotten verified. What happened?--TonyTheTiger (t/c/bio/WP:CHICAGO/WP:LOTM) 13:40, 28 August 2008 (UTC)
 * Just because there's a backlog doesn't mean you should get rid of several perfectly valid hooks. --I'm an Editorofthewiki[citation needed] 14:37, 28 August 2008 (UTC)
 * I think Albert White (basketball) may have been the only article overlooked. If there is a chance to squeeze him in, it would be appreciated.--TonyTheTiger (t/c/bio/WP:CHICAGO/WP:LOTM) 15:21, 28 August 2008 (UTC)
 * Basically, it says he did three different impressive things over the course of one year and no one before him had done those three things in the same year before.--TonyTheTiger (t/c/bio/WP:CHICAGO/WP:LOTM) 15:25, 28 August 2008 (UTC)
 * The 4th of August Party has also been overlloked. However, I do not want to add this to the next update because I don't want to make the DYK section too big on the main page! --I'm an Editorofthewiki[citation needed] 15:39, 28 August 2008 (UTC)
 * I think one more short hook would be O.K. for the current batch.--TonyTheTiger (t/c/bio/WP:CHICAGO/WP:LOTM) 15:46, 28 August 2008 (UTC)
 * Thanks for including the article. Hopefully, a few eyes will help me proofread the article.--TonyTheTiger (t/c/bio/WP:CHICAGO/WP:LOTM) 15:47, 28 August 2008 (UTC)

DYK
Thank you for notifying me that Gold Hill, Grass Valley, California was selected for DYK! --Rosiestep (talk) 14:11, 28 August 2008 (UTC)

Re: An Offer
Hi there Mailer diablo, thanks for leaving me the message! I always appreciate comments and good advice like that. And thanks a lot for the offer – it'd be nice in the meantime of gaining experience to have an administrator (who I've seen around and respect) to talk to for advice and such. :-) I've decided that I'm going let the RfA run its full course, by the way, since it continues to be a good source of for people's supportive opinions and helpful opposition comments – it's all been a good experience that I can take a lot from. And at least most of the drama and arguments have subsided (to my knowledge) on the RFA's talkpage, so letting the process continue won't just be encouraging more issues.

Again, I appreciate the comments and nom offer; over the next few months I plan to spend some time reading and learning stuff like policies, but most of all, simply gain more editing experience in certain areas that folks have mentioned on the RFA pages. Cheers and thanks, Jamie ☆S93  02:18, 29 August 2008 (UTC)

FAC 2/Odexed
Ok, you can go ahead with the FAC. It will have my support and I can help address comments. -maclean 06:26, 29 August 2008 (UTC)

Chika Chukwumerije
Look again: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Template_talk:Did_you_know&diff=prev&oldid=235095832

CBl62 messed up. I didn't nom'ed that. I fixed it on Next Update, but I guess you didn't see it. Pls credit Canadian Paul. Not me. Furthermore, you gave PFHLai credit for the wrong nom. Also, the credit at CBl62's talk page is duplicated.

Sorry, pal, you are not having a good day. Pls see Oceanh's talk page where you posted the DYK credit for a redlinked article. Perhaps you should have a KitKat and rest for a few minutes. Take it easy. --74.13.125.182 (talk) 05:51, 30 August 2008 (UTC)
 * Eh, what was I thinking. You're right. Please accept my apologies for the errors. - Mailer Diablo 05:55, 30 August 2008 (UTC)


 * No need for apologies, pal. You are working too hard!  Go get some snacks and relax, and you'll be fine in no time.  Happy editing! --74.13.125.182 (talk) 05:58, 30 August 2008 (UTC)

Bailin Temple (Beijing) on Did you know?
Thanks for the great news! I'm happy my first article made its way that up :D Hope to keep the standard high, then... --Krsnarupa (talk) 06:06, 30 August 2008 (UTC)

Rose Hill, Manhattan
Thank you for your message & whatever & wherever in DYK you entered. NYCfellow. 30 August 2008 NYCfellow (talk) 02:44, 31 August 2008 (UTC)

room for two?
Are you sure? On my screen it is long enough already. Have you checked the main page balance? --BorgQueen (talk) 11:11, 31 August 2008 (UTC)
 * Adding just one more sounds good. And I was thinking to replace the image with this. What do you think? This would be a rare opportunity to use a Chinese character as a DYK image. --BorgQueen (talk) 11:18, 31 August 2008 (UTC)

Swapping of "Balaji Sadasivan" and "Sadasivan Balaji"
Hi, could you help to swap over "Sadasivan Balaji" (currently the main article) and "Balaji Sadasivan" (a redirect)? The person in question is always referred to as "Balaji Sadasivan" (see, for example, and ), so the Wikipedia article should be under this name. Thanks. — Cheers, Jack Lee  –talk– 05:14, 1 September 2008 (UTC)

My RfA
Thank you for your support in my recent RfA, which was successful with 58 support, 4 oppose and 1 neutral. Kind regards. --Malcolmxl5 (talk) 20:41, 2 September 2008 (UTC)

DYK credit for Bardstown
You did not credit me for Bardstown Historic District when you did the DYK credits; it was a double hook.-- King Bedford I Seek his grace  14:04, 6 September 2008 (UTC)

HI (sorry 'bout the spammy note),
HI (sorry 'bout the spammy note), DYK updates have been a bit slow and there's a bit of a shortage of admins actively involved. We are asking folks who listed themselves on Did you know/Admins to update details on this page - User:Olaf Davis/DYKadmins, so we can grade everyone's involvement (and who, knows, someone may want to get involved more :) ).Cheers, Casliber (talk · contribs) 04:23, 8 September 2008 (UTC)

Odex/FAC
I'm very impressed by your ability to summon copyeditors. They were stepping on each other's toes trying to help. I believe the lead and the first section are done. I'm going to work on the last section and precede upwards. Would you be able to read over an article I'm working on: Tree: A Life Story. At its FAC Graham Colm and jimfbleak are finding errors left and right that I'm just not seeing until they point them out. Could you run through the article and see if you find any errors or where the writing could be better. A fresh pair of eyes can often smooth out the text. --maclean 02:26, 9 September 2008 (UTC)

RE:That IP message
Haha yeah, I thought that was pretty funny, I couldn't resist replying the way I did :P  « Gonzo fan2007 (talk ♦ contribs) @  '' 02:18, 10 September 2008 (UTC)

RE : Kingdom of Drakkar
WHy you delete Kingdom of Drakkar —Preceding unsigned comment added by 65.92.229.143 (talk) 23:45, 11 September 2008 (UTC)
 * It was AFD'ed. Consider finding reliable secondary sources if you would like a fighting chance for the article to meet requirements for inclusion. - Best regards, Mailer Diablo 14:06, 12 September 2008 (UTC)

RE : FAC/Odexed
...I am not inclined to withdraw and send it back to PR. I can do just that, copy to GoCE (which is going to tell me PR is the correct place), cc to all Wikiprojects, and I'm not able to get any more assistance to improve the article to your standards other than messages of "this looks pretty good, please send back to FAC again". PR is broken. I've asked several regulars, copyeditors in particular, of FAC and all I got is only similar messages or well-wishes.

FAC is the only place left where this article can get any gainful criticism, and even so this nomination is getting a lot less feedback/flak than it is supposed to, compared to other nominations. It would be a lot less painful and preferable if you can do a complete appraisal of this article, say how terrible it is, etc. (your user talk says you don't do feedback outside FAC) and get the article fixed once and for you by this or next nomination, rather than repeating this nomination five times and things still don't get done. - Best regards, Mailer Diablo 16:09, 12 September 2008 (UTC)


 * If I were retired, I'd probably do a lot of copy-editing; but in my restricted timeframe I try to have the largest "footprint" on WP by concentrating on the critiquing of others' writing. The negative stance is not something I like, but I hope I can claim to do a little good by encouraging higher standards. Now, what you might do is to gather a list of WPians you can rely on to collaborate with you in copy-editing, since your expertise is in the content rather than the English. I'd say such collaboration is essential for you. Identify likely people through the edit summaries of edit-history lists of other FAs and articles you know are well-written in this general topic area. Wikifriends make the whole thing much more social and interactive, as well as improving your chances at FAC. Have a look at the tutorial exercises in the link above, and see if they help. There's a link from there to a set of exercises in identifying and removing redundant wording. These might help to hone your skills a little. Tony   (talk)  17:03, 12 September 2008 (UTC)


 * I want to respond to some of this too; this will probably be my last comment in FAC until December when we put WP:V0.7 to bed. As Tony says, "sudden and severe" is better than "being sudden and severe".  Reading between the lines of Mailer Diablo's reaction, we hear this a lot at FAC: "Oh come on ... people say 'being' all the time, even in good writing; this shouldn't be a requirement at FAC.  Furthermore, if it is a problem, you could strike the "being" in less time than it takes you to complain.  Furthermore, even if this were an important objection, it needs to be weighed against the downside of discouraging good editors."  (And btw, Mailer Diablo is a fantastic contributor, and I feel his pain.)
 * My response is that I don't know anyone at Wikipedia who could do what Tony does better than he does it. Note that he's effectively acting as a judge here, because Sandy relies on him more than anyone else to step in in situations like this.  Note also that he has to do this without any authority, and think about how hard that is; what would happen in trials if judges had to defend their conduct to every defendant that showed up?  It's not possible for Tony to help out in cases like this, because that would make him judge, jury, and defense attorney; FAC can only work if there are different people for different jobs.
 * People keep on not getting why an article shouldn't pass (per the current FAC standards, about which I'm agnostic) for phrases like "being sudden and severe". It's not that no one would understand that; it's that really good writers constantly think about how to make what they're writing punchier, more forceful, and tighter, and the net effect of many writers and copyeditors thinking this way over many years is that you tend not to see "being" (in this sense) in writing of the caliber we're looking for; that is, it makes the article sound less professional to some people that we are really trying to impress with our FAs.  It's not too much to ask to pick a little over 2000 articles on Wikipedia and hold them to a different standard than the other 2.5M articles, to serve a different purpose.  It doesn't mean your article isn't a great article; it is.
 * I'm sorry I don't have time to copyedit this one; my purpose when I first came to Wikipedia was to collaborate with more technically-minded writers and try to keep them from getting discouraged by the process. I kind of feel like I'm part of the problem, today, and I hate that, but I can't take time away from Version 0.7. - Dan Dank55 (send/receive) 17:57, 12 September 2008 (UTC)

←Most WP articles don't get copyedited. This is my minifesto:
 * All professional publishing uses copyeditors. Publishers and writers are less than honest about this.
 * Copyediting adapts writing to look right to as wide an audience as possible, and it's also about a lot of stupid little things (like punctuation) that trick the reader into thinking that what's being written is good stuff by giving it the same look-and-feel as other good stuff.
 * You're not a good copyeditor until at least 100 people have told you that you're a crappy copyeditor.
 * Copyediting is not optional when you have competitors who are looking for ways to tear you down. Good writers stay positive; good copyeditors think defensively.  - Dan Dank55 (send/receive) 18:21, 12 September 2008 (UTC)
 * I have no intention to see standards being lowered. What is discouraging to see is that after begging so many copy-editors to go over the article, it still reveal new problems, even as the prose is more or less rewritten. I want to be able to put my trust and to tell the copy-editors I have requested that they are doing a wonderful job. I personally would prefer the feedback be a bit more detailed and precise, rather than "please go get an copyeditor", because copyediting to weed out errors isn't a game of treasure hunt. - Mailer Diablo 18:42, 12 September 2008 (UTC)
 * I feel your pain, I really do. I have written a lot about this problem.  When no one is getting paid, fun stuff gets done, boring stuff doesn't.  Giving up time on your own stuff to copyedit someone else's stuff is boring, and people with copyediting skills usually insist on getting paid.  It's amazing we've been able to crank out over 2000 FAs. - Dan Dank55 (send/receive) 18:45, 12 September 2008 (UTC)


 * Try WikiProject Guild of Copy Editors. Tony   (talk)  17:24, 12 September 2008 (UTC)

Hi Mailer, thanks for the note. I've read the FAC page and the concerns people were mentioning, and I'd be glad to lend a hand and look through the article for prose issues. When it comes to copyediting skill, note that I generally still feel at this level, but nonetheless some copyediting help with an FAC is better than none, of course. :-) Thanks, Jamie ☆S93  23:56, 15 September 2008 (UTC)

Hi, I've taken another look at the article but I still don't think it's ready. I suggest you take Tony's advice. Everyone is working under the pressure of FAC and it shows. There is absolutely no shame in withdrawing and re-nominating in a month or two. This will give you time to find other editors who can bring fresh eyes into the project. Graham Colm Talk 15:46, 18 September 2008 (UTC)

project dynamic
Hi there,

In 2005 you deleted project dynamic on the basis that there was no proof that it existed ...

Here is proof from 1999 that the project existed ... in fact the project was GPL licensed and the source code still exists AS WELL AS EXAMPLE OUTPUT FROM THE SYSTEM ... http://www.boutell.com/lsm/lsmbyid.cgi/001426 ftp://sunsite.unc.edu/pub/Linux/apps/sound/cdrom/

That project was older then Wikipedia ... so ... please respect it !

So please put the article back up ...

thanks Matt —Preceding unsigned comment added by Flatmax (talk • contribs) 04:15, 17 September 2008 (UTC)

Harry Cichy
Hi - I was wondering if you could get me a copy of the deleted 'Harry Cichy' article? I don't want to put it back up - I'm just interested in seeing it for research purposes. Please let me know if this would be possible. Thanks Dolphus9091 (talk) 14:24, 19 September 2008 (UTC)

AfD nomination of Amin Asmin Tariq
I have nominated Amin Asmin Tariq, an article you created, for deletion. I do not think that this article satisfies Wikipedia's criteria for inclusion, and have explained why at Articles for deletion/Amin Asmin Tariq. Your opinions on the matter are welcome at that same discussion page; also, you are welcome to edit the article to address these concerns. Thank you for your time. - Icewedge (talk) 06:03, 20 September 2008 (UTC)

Image copyright problem with Image:Mediacorp logo.jpg
Thanks for uploading Image:Mediacorp logo.jpg. You've indicated that the image is being used under a claim of fair use, but you have not provided an adequate explanation for why it meets Wikipedia's requirements for such images. In particular, for each page the image is used on, the image must have an explanation linking to that page which explains why it needs to be used on that page. Can you please check


 * That there is a non-free use rationale on the image's description page for each article the image is used in.
 * That every article it is used on is linked to from its description page.

This is an automated notice by FairuseBot. For assistance on the image use policy, see Media copyright questions. --FairuseBot (talk) 06:12, 20 September 2008 (UTC)

deleted image
Hi, back during my hiatus, one of my fair use images was deleted as unused--Image:ActioncomicsSRsimilar.jpg. Is there any way I can get a copy of that? I don't have a local copy and wanted to see if it was worthwhile for the work on Superman Returns I was lining up... <span style="color:#0D670D; font-family:Georgia, Helvetica;">rootology ( C )( T ) 23:43, 23 September 2008 (UTC)

Thank you, Mailer
Thank you for supporting my RfA nomination, Mailer diablo. I appreciate the confidence. Cbl62 (talk) 06:12, 24 September 2008 (UTC)

prod
Indonesian ad inside a locality template - wasnt sure which - the db spam or the general prod from tw - any advice? cheers SatuSuro 11:51, 26 September 2008 (UTC)
 * Ta for that - trying to cope with some watching some very weird cfd cfr wars where us australians are apparent scapegoats :), watch the indonesian project for idiot stuff (few if any other helping much there at the mo), and trying to defend some stubs from afd all at the same time and the prod button on tw looked more inviting than checking the db spam tag - i think im gonna take a break - thank you for the help and response SatuSuro 12:12, 26 September 2008 (UTC)