User talk:RJBaran

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Thank you for the extensive work you have done on bonsai history. It is well-written and deeply researched - better than any single source I have read up to now. Sahara110 (talk) 18:20, 19 April 2010 (UTC)

Kervran's work
I saw that you were trying to add some work to Biological transmutation. You created a lot of cited material which looks good, but I am not convinced how much of it ought to go in the article where you started, and already I see that someone has objected to your addition.

I encourage you to put your case on the talk page of the article when you are doing a large revision. Have fun on Wikipedia!  Blue Rasberry  18:36, 15 June 2010 (UTC)

Contents of Bonsai article
Thank you for your extensive contributions on the history of bonsai. I have a couple of questions about the overall contents of the article and would be interested to hear your comments or suggestions. For background, I would like to quote an earlier version of my questions. A few days back, I posted the following on User talk:TheRedPenOfDoom:


 * I note that you have kept a close eye on the Bonsai article in the past and would like to ask for advice. There's a request on the Bonsai talk page to merge the Wikipedia (EN) articles on Bonsai and Penjing. I've already given my response, but when I was drafting it I began to wonder whether in fact the historical and cultural material for Bonsai constitutes a focused, Japan-oriented article (which would remain under Bonsai), while the relatively culture-free information on cultivation, care, tools, and perhaps display (each of which has a section in the current Bonsai article) might best be split out into one or more separate articles, which could be referenced by the Penjing article and by other articles about similar practices or art forms (e.g. Hòn Non Bô).


 * The reason for doing so is that there seems to be a continuing confusion over whether the Bonsai article refers specifically to the Japanese tradition in artful cultivation of trees in containers, or whether it is a generic term for potted plants that can be expanded to cover other similar practices. It's clear that the Japanese history of bonsai is unique to Japan, as is the Japanese tradition in bonsai aesthetics (already split into its own article). The Japanese terms for bonsai styles and sizes would also belong in a Japan-oriented Bonsai article, even though they are used by a wide range of non-Japanese practitioners. But cultivation practices, the unique care requirements for potted trees, display techniques, and probably the tools used by bonsai practitioners are likely to appear the same for a penjing enthusiast - hence the potential for confusion in the aim of the Bonsai article.


 * Unfortunately there is no other encyclopedic term in English for "the artful cultivation of small trees in containers", so labeling new articles without using the word "bonsai" could be problematic. It would be a shame to move material out of the Bonsai article only to render it difficult to find because of neologisms or other forms of unclear titling.


 * I do believe that the current care, cultivation, tools, and display sections are encyclopedic and should remain in Wikipedia. But I am not sure whether they should continue in the Bonsai article itself now. If these topics are to be moved out, I am not sure what the new articles would best be called.


 * If you have time to look into this dilemma, I would appreciate your comments.

To summarize, I wonder if one or more articles should be split out, leaving primarily the Japanese history, Japanese descriptive terms for styles and sizes, and links to the new articles under the current Bonsai article. The dilemma is whether this would create a confusing path for users, many of whom are interested in the non-culture-bound information as well as the Japanese culture-related material. If you have any thoughts on this topic, I look forward to hearing them. Sahara110 (talk) 21:08, 30 August 2010 (UTC)

Hey good job on Shelf
I had tried hard to expand it a while back but couldn't think what else possibly to write -- you're taking this article to new heights. Impressive.--Tomwsulcer (talk) 23:34, 27 August 2011 (UTC)

Proposed deletion of William N. Valavanis


The article William N. Valavanis has been proposed for deletion&#32; because of the following concern:
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Talkback
~ Matthewrbowker  Talk to me 04:07, 19 March 2012 (UTC)

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January 2013
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Minor edits
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This was definitely not a minor edit. I would assume the box may have been ticked by accident, but then this one, this one, this one and this one (and possibly others) are likewise not minor edits. Continuing to mark edits like these as "minor" could look like a pattern of abuse of the feature. Wilhelm Meis (&#9742; Diskuss &#124; &#x270D; Beiträge) 03:46, 23 June 2013 (UTC)

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Quote attributed to bonsai master Masahiko Kimura
Greetings! Based on its edit history, I see that you've been a major contributor of content to the article "Masahiko Kimura (bonsai artist)". Therefore I'm hoping you might be able to help me authenticate a quote I found attributed to Mr. Kimura. Please see the discussion I've opened on the Talk page of the article about Mr. Kimura (here) for details. Thank you! — Jaydiem (talk) 05:20, 17 July 2014 (UTC)

February 2016
Hello, I'm Doug Weller. I wanted to let you know that I removed one or more external links you added, because they seemed to be inappropriate for an encyclopedia. If you think I made a mistake, or if you have any questions, you can leave me a message on my talk page, or take a look at our guidelines about links. ''Your recent edits look like spam. You've got a conflict of interest posting them and in any case it fails WP:EL. ''  Doug Weller  talk 21:57, 6 February 2016 (UTC)

Tackling some of the Bonsai page GA (Good Article) review comments
I'd like to deal with some of the items mentioned in the Good Article review that concluded Bonsai was not a Good Article (Talk:Bonsai/GA1). One of the areas the reviewer identified was the need for a "copy-edit" in the history section:

The prose needs some work for GA standard. The history sections use a lot of short, stubby paragraphs - often only one sentence apiece - which don't flow together. I'd strongly recommend a heavy copy-edit.

Would you have any interest in making changes in the history sections to address those comments? If not, would you object if I attempted some changes? Thanks for your consideration. Sahara110 (talk) 17:23, 10 August 2016 (UTC)


 * My schedule right now is not conducive to sitting and making the necessary edits. Please feel free to do so.  I thought I had changed all the phoenixbonsai.com references to my new site magiminiland.org but it appears I didn't a few months ago.  Some of the historical and documented research on phoenixbonsai.com was up to 17 years old on the WWW.  It has all been moved over to the dedicated website www.magiminiland.org with few additions so far, so I felt that just switching the reference from the old site to the new would allow interested readers in still tracking down the original source material for what I added to the bonsai article over the years.  RJBaran (talk) 01:02, 17 August 2016 (UTC)


 * Thanks for your reply. I will take a careful look at the History section when I finish some of the more mechanical cleanup items raised by the Good Article review. I should note that I'm considering implementing a (much) earlier suggested change to compress the Bonsai main article, which has grown above 70,000 characters again. That suggestion was to create a new WP article on Bonsai History, and move the current full history presentation there, leaving a summary and link in the main article as we've done with "bonsai cultivation" and "bonsai aesthetics" in previous years. This change would shorten the main article somewhat, provide a dedicated page for bonsai history (I hope growing more detailed over time), and coincidentally address some of the Good Article reviewer concerns. Sahara110 (talk) 22:21, 1 September 2016 (UTC)

Bonsai
In April 2010, you made this edit. My question is: How precise does the information stated in the wiki article Bonsai match the given references (per text–source integrity)?

And as example, the first paragraph at the section Bonsai doesn't seem to match at least two of the references. The first and last one. --Cold Season (talk) 04:38, 19 June 2018 (UTC)

The terms "bunjin ueki", "bunjin hachiue" are apparently from Naka, John  "Bunjin-Gi or Bunjin Bonsai," Bonsai in California, 1989, Vol. 23, pg. 48, but I can't place my hands on a copy of it at the moment, so I modified this to be only "hachiue" which is on pg. 8 of Koreshoff. Covello and Yoshimura, pg. 25. and Dalby, pg. 44 do not support this particular paragraph. I've added another reference to "Hachi-No-Ki". Magical Miniature Landscapes. Retrieved 2018-07-01. for the shallower container info. RJBaran (talk) 01:21, 2 July 2018 (UTC)

Minor edits
I noticed you have marked quite a few edits on the William N. Valavanis page as minor, despite some of these edits being material additions to the article. Please do not mark edits as minor if you are adding content to an article. You can read more on the information page Help:Minor edit. Also thanks for creating that article, it is really interesting to learn about bonsai. JohnmgKing (talk) 19:57, 28 May 2020 (UTC)

Speedy deletion nomination of Bonsai Empire


A tag has been placed on Bonsai Empire, requesting that it be speedily deleted from Wikipedia. This has been done under section G11 of the criteria for speedy deletion, because the page seems to be unambiguous advertising which only promotes a company, group, product, service, person, or point of view and would need to be fundamentally rewritten in order to become encyclopedic. Please read the guidelines on spam and FAQ/Organizations for more information.

If you think this page should not be deleted for this reason, you may contest the nomination by visiting the page and clicking the button labelled "Contest this speedy deletion". This will give you the opportunity to explain why you believe the page should not be deleted. However, be aware that once a page is tagged for speedy deletion, it may be deleted without delay. Please do not remove the speedy deletion tag from the page yourself, but do not hesitate to add information in line with Wikipedia's policies and guidelines. If the page is deleted, and you wish to retrieve the deleted material for future reference or improvement, then please contact the.  Onel 5969  TT me 10:17, 3 February 2021 (UTC)

Hello, I'm Deb. I wanted to let you know that one or more of your recent contributions have been undone because they appeared to be promotional. Advertising and using Wikipedia as a "soapbox" are against Wikipedia policy and not permitted; Wikipedia articles should be written objectively, using independent sources, and from a neutral perspective. Take a look at the welcome page to learn more about Wikipedia. Thank you. Hello, RJBaran. 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 conflict of interest 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:


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In addition, you are required by the Wikimedia Foundation's terms of use to 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 Paid-contribution disclosure.

Also, editing for the purpose of advertising, publicising, or promoting anyone or anything is not permitted. Thank you.Deb (talk) 14:29, 3 February 2021 (UTC)

Your request
I make a point of not restoring articles that have been deleted as advertising. However, there are some other administrators who are willing to do that - see Category:Wikipedia administrators willing to provide copies of deleted articles. Deb (talk) 09:48, 4 February 2021 (UTC)

Speedy deletion nomination of Bonsai Empire


A tag has been placed on Bonsai Empire, requesting that it be speedily deleted from Wikipedia. This has been done under section G11 of the criteria for speedy deletion, because the page seems to be unambiguous advertising which only promotes a company, group, product, service, person, or point of view and would need to be fundamentally rewritten in order to become encyclopedic. Please read the guidelines on spam and FAQ/Organizations for more information.

If you think this page should not be deleted for this reason, you may contest the nomination by visiting the page and clicking the button labelled "Contest this speedy deletion". This will give you the opportunity to explain why you believe the page should not be deleted. However, be aware that once a page is tagged for speedy deletion, it may be deleted without delay. Please do not remove the speedy deletion tag from the page yourself, but do not hesitate to add information in line with Wikipedia's policies and guidelines. If the page is deleted, and you wish to retrieve the deleted material for future reference or improvement, then please contact the. Blablubbs | talk 00:25, 7 February 2021 (UTC)

Question about first World Bonsai Convention date(s)
This question appeared in the Talk page for Bonsai and the answer may affect the related paragraph in the History of bonsai page:


 * These sentences that start the third paragraph under HISTORY, Modern Bonsai do not make sense: "The First World Bonsai Convention was held in Osaka during the World Bonsai and Suiseki Exhibition in 1980. Nine years later, the first World Bonsai Convention was held in Omiya...." How can the first World Bonsai Convention take place nine years after the first World Bonsai Convention? Also, in the first sentence "First" is capitalized, which it should not be. Dkelber (talk) 18:45, 23 November 2020 (UTC)

Do you have any suggestions on the best way to answer the main question about the accepted date for the first World Bonsai Convention? If there's a recommended change, I would like to apply it to the main Bonsai article. Thanks!

Sahara110 (talk) 19:21, 18 April 2022 (UTC)


 * Phrasing has, hopefully, been improved: "The first World Bonsai Convention was held in Osaka during the World Bonsai and Suiseki Exhibition in 1980. Nine years later, a series of World Bonsai Conventions was launched by the newly-formed World Bonsai Friendship Federation (WBFF) in Omiya." RJBaran (talk) 01:57, 15 January 2023 (UTC)
 * Updates made both in History of Bonsai and Bonsai articles. RJBaran (talk) 02:15, 15 January 2023 (UTC)


 * Magic managed. Thank you for the updates. Sahara110 (talk) 16:04, 2 January 2024 (UTC)