User talk:Michael D. Turnbull/Archives/2024

Organophosphate pesticides
Hi Mike, I was wondering if I could pick your brains about organophosphate pesticides. The current organophosphate article is largely devoted to the dangers of thee things, but as far as I can tell most of them seem to have been regulated out of common use. Bensulide and Acephate still seem to be important, but parathion looks to be long gone. Do you still keep track of this area? Does that assessment ring true to you? Project Osprey (talk) 14:49, 1 December 2023 (UTC)


 * I don't follow most pesticides closely, only those where I've created or extensively edited their articles (see my UserPage for many examples). The simplest source of information on actual usage is for the US at this URL, which is a list linking to pesticide usage maps (latest=2018/9), several of which I've placed on Commons and update from time to time. I can see immediately that, for example, tribufos (no WP article) is still used at millions of pounds per year on cotton. In general, I stay clear of upper-level articles like organophosphate or pesticide as I don't want to get into pointless arguments with the anti-pesticide lobby who only see costs and not benefits. I prefer to edit articles on individual chemicals and recently created the list of insecticides and list of herbicides after noting that we have long had one on fungicides but were missing the others. So, yes, I can point you to sources but I don't have current info in my head. Mike Turnbull (talk) 18:33, 1 December 2023 (UTC)


 * That's ok, I only asked because your bio gave me the impression that you might have worked in this area at some point. Thanks for the link, it's a lot of info to try and make sense of but hopefully useful, at list I have a complete list. The whole area is a mess, pesticides seem to stretch the terminology to it's limit - phosphoramidothioates like Acephate are generalised to organophosphate. The page will have to explain that. I edit top level pages with some reluctance, they often have gatekeepers and I tend to burn the pages down and start again, which causes much anxiety. Also, it takes ages to do, I've been working on a rebuild for months, and likely still will be into next year. Hopefully worth it though. --Project Osprey (talk) 11:08, 2 December 2023 (UTC)
 * @Project Osprey To be clear, yes, I did work on agrochemicals for my whole career but never specifically on organophosphates: pyrethroids were the up-and-coming topic when I started out. I think that the reason acephate gets lumped in with organophosphates is owing to its mode-of-action, which is of course cholinesterase inhibition. Mike Turnbull (talk) 11:31, 2 December 2023 (UTC)
 * Well I've redone much of the page, (more to come later). Time will tell if this amounts to kicking over an ant hill... --Project Osprey (talk) 00:52, 8 January 2024 (UTC)

Question from Esthersilburn (18:16, 6 January 2024)
How do i create my own article about a person --Esthersilburn (talk) 18:16, 6 January 2024 (UTC)


 * @Esthersilburn Welcome to Wikipedia! Apologies for the delay in replying: I'm on holiday with limited internet access. You'll get all you need to know by reading the advice at WP:YFA. For biographies of living people you also need to be aware of the policy here. To be honest, I would strongly advise you not to start learning how to edit Wikipedia by drafting a new article: it is much more difficult than it may appear and you would be better to try to improve several existing articles first to get an idea about how things work. If you are determined to try, please read this advice and start looking at the page for the teahouse, where inexperienced editors can quickly get help from others. In a moment, I'll add a message on your Talk Page where I'll place a few more useful links. Mike Turnbull (talk) 12:12, 8 January 2024 (UTC)

Question from Wizardmagic69 (20:11, 11 January 2024)
Hey I don’t need help for now if that’s ok --Wizardmagic69 (talk) 20:11, 11 January 2024 (UTC)


 * @Wizardmagic69 Welcome! Using me as a mentor is entirely optional, so I won't be offended if you ignore me. You'll find that any questions you have will be speedily answered at the Teahouse. Mike Turnbull (talk) 10:02, 12 January 2024 (UTC)

Question from Lotustheblooming (00:20, 13 January 2024)
Hey there! I ran across a article for which the note box on the top no longer seemed relevant, so I removed that box so that future editors wouldn't think their was still work to be done. Are there any particular guidelines on when to remove on of those boxes? when can I consider the issue to be 'fixed?' --Lotustheblooming (talk) 00:20, 13 January 2024 (UTC)
 * Thanks for asking! I reverted your edit to Plastic Disclosure Project (for example) because the article still reads like scummy ad copy. Typically, it's appropriate to remove a maintenance template when the issue has been resolved but the edit you made did not accomplish that. I, more than some, have doubts about environmental extortion rackets and their corporate greenwashing so that particular article needs work, which will be difficult because of the slant of extant source material. Deleting that article might make more sense. Problems like promotional tone are subjective so you might steer clear of those and stick to objective problems like orphaned articles, unsourced articles, etc. I am glad that you came to ask, as we're always glad to help new editors learn the ropes.  Chris Troutman  ( talk )  01:07, 13 January 2024 (UTC)
 * Understood! It seemed like it had improved a lot from when that template was added, but not enough. Thank you for your response! Lotustheblooming (talk) 01:10, 13 January 2024 (UTC)
 * @Lotustheblooming Apologies for the delay: I have been on holiday with limited internet access. I see that your question has been answered by Chris in the meantime. If you need rapid answers in the future, you could try posting at the Teahouse but don't hesitate to add more questions here on my Talk Page if you prefer. I usually reply within a day or so. Good luck with your editing! Mike Turnbull (talk) 13:47, 15 January 2024 (UTC)