User talk:Rich Farmbrough/Archive/2008 January

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Bot run request
Hi, Rich! A couple years ago you did a bot run for me to fix Russian Census references. I was wondering if you'd be able to complete a similar but a little bit more challenging task this time.

Currently, we have 2002 and 1989 Census figures in the majority of articles about Russian inhabited localities and administrative divisions. Typically, they are formatted as follows:
 * Population: 1,234 (2002 Census); 1,563 (1989 Census).

This seems to work fine, but note how none of the population figures quoted is referenced. To fix that, I developed a template (ru-census), which pretty much leaves the formatting alone but adds the references. The example above, for example, would look like this:
 * &rarr;

Would it be possible to run the bot replacing the plain formatting with the template instances? Two pesky things to keep in mind are that the population sentence may list more than just the two Censuses (but the template allows for custom punctuation), and that the article should have a "References" section for the actual references to show up (and, of course, there may or may not already be the "References" section in articles being processed by the bot). Is this something your bot can do? If you have any alternative ideas, I'll gladly hear them out. The template is not yet widely deployed, so it can easily be tweaked if necessary. Thanks!—Ëzhiki (Igels Hérissonovich Ïzhakoff-Amursky) • (yo?); 20:35, 13 December 2007 (UTC)


 * No problem in principle. Rich Farmbrough, 15:39 15 December 2007 (GMT).
 * Great! I am ready when you are; just let me know if there is anything I need to do.  Thanks much!—Ëzhiki (Igels Hérissonovich Ïzhakoff-Amursky) • (yo?); 20:00, 17 December 2007 (UTC)
 * I'll have a closer look Rich Farmbrough, 16:58 18 December 2007 (GMT).
 * Rich, I am not really sure that it is time to think that far down the road—the template's capabilities can certainly be extended later, but at this point it is hard to say what kind of extensions may be useful or necessary (I also didn't quite understand your example with the area parameter—could you, please, clarify?). At the same time, there are hundreds of stubs and articles about Russian places that exist now, all of which desperately need their population figures to be referenced (which is the primary goal of the ru-census template).
 * I do, however, agree, that it makes sense to separate the censuses, and not just the Russian/Soviet ones, but all of them. What this means is that we'll have one template for each census (2002, 1989, 1979, etc.), which could be called separately if necessary, but we could also implement a wrapper template which would call those subtemplates based on the submitted parameters.  So, for example, the ru-census template in its current form would be re-written to call ru-census2002 and su-census1989.  That way, once we have a good source for, say, 1979 Census, the su-census1979 could be created and ru-census amended to accept new "p1979" parameter, thus minimizing changes down the road.  Also, as you suggested above, another set of parameters can be added to distinguish between the censuses (which would have references) and the population estimates (which may or may not have them).  What do you think about this approach?—Ëzhiki (Igels Hérissonovich Ïzhakoff-Amursky) • (yo?); 14:40, 19 December 2007 (UTC)
 * Hi, Rich! Please note that edits like this one are insufficient; you also need to add a references section and reflist if it is not present in the article at the time of the edit, and watch the punctuation.  Thanks!—Ëzhiki (Igels Hérissonovich Ïzhakoff-Amursky) • (yo?); 14:02, 24 December 2007 (UTC)
 * OK I've got the code for adding that somewhere, luckily... Rich Farmbrough, 17:43 25 December 2007 (GMT).
 * Just wanted to let you know that both ru-census2002 and su-census1989 are now available. They can be used on their own (please see their documentation), and they are also called by existing instances of ru-census.  Please let me know if you have any questions.—Ëzhiki (Igels Hérissonovich Ïzhakoff-Amursky) • (yo?); 21:43, 26 December 2007 (UTC)

Signpost updated for December 26th, 2007.
You are receiving this message because you have signed up for the Signpost spamlist. If you wish to stop receiving these messages, simply remove your name from the list. Ralbot (talk) 13:49, 27 December 2007 (UTC)

TfD nomination of Template:Slitheen
Template:Slitheen has been nominated for deletion. You are invited to comment on the discussion at the template's entry on the Templates for Deletion page. Thank you. Richard Ω6  12  00:18, 28 December 2007 (UTC)

AfD nomination of Mound, Louisiana
An article that you have been involved in editing, Mound, Louisiana, has been listed for deletion. If you are interested in the deletion discussion, please participate by adding your comments at Articles for deletion/Mound, Louisiana. Thank you. BJBot (talk) 10:59, 29 December 2007 (UTC)

Bibliography talk over at WP:VPT
Hello Rich. New namespaces for URLs and ISBNs are being discussed at this thread on the Village Pump. What will they think of next! EdJohnston (talk) 14:00, 30 December 2007 (UTC)

Merge templates
As a reply to User talk:JTragardh): I tried to use the subst:date-template but it seems like it didn't work as I anticipated. The article Oresund Bridge is now corrected. Thanks. JTragardh (talk) 20:08, 30 December 2007 (UTC)

SmackBot note
Hi. You left me this note on my talk page: Thanks, I'm on it, please leave any-more notes on my talk page. Do you mean please continue to leave or please do NOT leave more notes? (These were my first reports on SmackBot.)

I'm not familiar with how the Bot stopping works. Does leaving a note automatically stop the Bot, or does it notify you and you stop Bot? What initiates a restart of the Bot?

(I do appreciate the automated cleanup work being done, and the easy way to report problems. Thanks.) &mdash; User: (talk) 20:10, 30 December 2007 (UTC)

References/Reference
I've asked this before but didn't seem to get a response, so I'll ask again. Why does Smackbot change Reference to References (and External link to External Links) when there is only one reference? (or external link) Andrew nixon (talk) 21:27, 30 December 2007 (UTC)
 * Sorry if I missed your previous query. There are a number of reasons. (And of course there are a number of reasons that the singular is good too.) External links is the guideline, and the main reason is style. We use plural for both "External Links" and "References" (and I guess "Notes") in the same way that books have a "Contents" page even if there's only one chapter. Subsidiary reasons include that people often add links without updating the headings, and consistency.  If you trawl through the talk page you'll see the various arguments come up on either side.  Rich Farmbrough, 21:35 30 December 2007 (GMT).

SmackBot
Thanks for cleaning up my Reader edits. Can you maybe explain why the link to Jim Holman has been deleted? It was part of the Reader article. nnplt. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Unionpilot (talk • contribs) 10:52, 31 December 2007 (UTC)
 * SmackBot didn't remove them, but I suspect stuff like "When 770,000 adults pick up the Reader at over 400 locations every Wednesday, little do they know that they are supporting the owner, Jim Holman's, political and social agenda." doesn't belong in Wikipedia. Rich Farmbrough, 13:29 31 December 2007 (GMT).

AfD nomination of List of places in Bionicle
An article that you have been involved in editing, List of places in Bionicle, has been listed for deletion. If you are interested in the deletion discussion, please participate by adding your comments at Articles for deletion/List of places in Bionicle. Thank you. BJBot (talk) 16:08, 31 December 2007 (UTC)

SmackBot suggestion
Hi Rich - A suggestion for SmackBot: I don't think it should change anything inside an HTML comment (as it did here). - SCEhard T 16:42, 1 January 2008 (UTC)
 * Yes, it normally doesn't, but I occasionally turn of that restriction to pick up tags in image captions. Rich Farmbrough, 18:12 1 January 2008 (GMT).

SmackBot
Hi. Your SmackBot made a bad edit, see here. It somehow removed the braces from the DEFAULTSORT tag. I haven't found any other instances of that problem, though. --fschoenm (talk) 11:14, 2 January 2008 (UTC)
 * Thanks. Fixed. This was an underused piece of code to fix repeated templates. Rich Farmbrough, 17:09 2 January 2008 (GMT).

0
I've just reverted and reapplied an edit that Smackbot made when dating a fact template transclusion on the article Marcus Hahnemann because it also removed duplicate instances of the 0 template when they're made consecutively. The template is used to align appearance figures, and so it's valid to have more than one next to each other. Could you amend the bot so that it doesn't remove such duplicates in future? Thanks! robwingfield «T•C» 17:54, 2 January 2008 (UTC)
 * Yes, thanks for that. I have changed it so that it only applies to temlpates longer than 9 characters. Rich Farmbrough, 19:47 2 January 2008 (GMT).

Subst on Cleanup Tag
Hi thanks for the info. It took me ten minutes to find a tag i needed and all the ones before said you should subst. New to the game and sorry if it meant more work. If wikipedia was a bit more "user friendly" to new editors who think they know what they want but can't find it and want to help that would be better. thanks though for taking you time Bpeps (talk) 18:39, 2 January 2008 (UTC)

you
Just a quick reminder to reply at Village_pump_(policy) when/if you're back and have time. :-) -- Ddxc (talk) 00:06, 3 January 2008 (UTC)

Meetup
Hi there, I noticed you expressed interest in the Birmingham meetup last October. Just letting you know, another UK meetup is in planning stages, here. We need input on where and when we will meet so comments would be much appreciated. Thanks.  Majorly  (talk) 16:50, 3 January 2008 (UTC)

Help Needed over at Branches of Wing Chun
Would you mind joining in on the discussion at Talk:Branches_of_Wing_Chun? We are in need of more comments... specifically on the Pruning of Lineages. Thanks. 68.5.147.32 (talk) 06:05, 5 January 2008 (UTC)


 * Yes, could use your input and opinion over at the "No Longer Affiliated Students" thread on the talk page. The anonymous IP wants to remove all "no longer affiliated" branch people from a particular branch listing.  He's also contesting the current structure of the family tree and wants to allow more and more depth.  My viewpoint on the depth is I agree with the current standard set up in the opening paragraphs on the article page.  It represents an abridged family three, to a depth of 3.  Any more and it would start turning in to a gigantic list, and violate list policies regarding WP:NOT.  Likewise, my opinion is that while a person may not be affiliated with the current political organization of that branch/linneage/school, that does not strike them from the family tree.  I've seen to many times in other locations (and attempts to repeat it here) where people are stricken from a family tree in a political move to discredit them as if they were never part of that tree.  If we were talking about every day students, I could certainly agree with not including them, since they come and go.  But this tree listing is composed of actual sifu's. --Marty Goldberg (talk) 07:15, 5 January 2008 (UTC)

SmackBot Edit Summary
While using AWB, you may want to consider turning off the "Show :'Using AWB' " check box. Dreamafter ⇔ 23:51, 5 January 2008 (UTC)
 * Strange, the 'suppress "using AWB" in edit summary' is checked. Rich Farmbrough, 01:12 6 January 2008 (GMT).
 * Weird... Try asking a developer, like Reedy Boy. Dreamafter ⇔ 00:47, 6 January 2008 (UTC)
 * A diff for you. Dreamafter ⇔ 02:27, 6 January 2008 (UTC)
 * The bug is already logged and fixed (but not in the binaries, and I don't build my own AWB at the moment). Rich Farmbrough, 13:12 6 January 2008 (GMT).

List of museums in the United States
Hi Rich. Whats your view on the split of List of museums in the United States by state? Personally I think they are quite easily listed on one page and some of the ne wlists such as List of museums in Delaware are redundant. What do you think? ♦ Sir Blofeld ♦     Talk? 15:49, 7 January 2008 (UTC) Also why do many of the new pages still have the contents header for the other states -it makesit pretty awkward ♦ Sir Blofeld ♦     Talk? 15:51, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

I'd back the state split if they were developed into more encyclopedic lists. E.g tables with details -e.g columns on Image -image of the museum, Location -e.g town etc, Founded -date it opened Focus -e.g what is specializes in and Summary a summary of the museum. What do you think? ♦ Sir Blofeld ♦     Talk? 15:58, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

How about something like this and have a table with them in like this?

<font style="color:#fef;background:black;">♦ Sir Blofeld ♦     <font size="-4"><font color="Black">Talk? 16:10, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

etc etc

Of course it would take time but the lists would be far more useful presented this way eventually. Obviously pages like List of museums in Delaware could be done in minutes unlike List of museums in Oklahoma which would take weeks!! I;m afraid I;m too tied at present to think about formatting it. Ah I saw your name in the editing history so thought you were also active with it. Anyway hope you are well. I;m currently trying to sort out the lack of coverage on south-east Asian articles such as Cambodia where entire provinces of hundreds of thousands are still one liners. I spent a good part of yesterday discussing the problem of systematic bias with Jimbo Wales and the others! Let me know if you interested in helping -I;d imagine you;re pretty tied at present but it would be great to have somebody other tha myself working on it. Regards  <font style="color:#fef;background:black;">♦ Sir Blofeld ♦      <font size="-4"><font color="Black">Talk? 16:29, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

Well it would be relatively straightforward to put the titles of the museums into the tables for now. Data can then be filled in gradually and by several different people. This could be done within minutes for each state <font style="color:#fef;background:black;">♦ Sir Blofeld ♦     <font size="-4"><font color="Black">Talk? 16:46, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

There we go like List of museums in Alabama. I've got shot of that huge big index with the unnecessary map and have made a more normal looking Template:Museums in the US‎ for the articles. <font style="color:#fef;background:black;">♦ Sir Blofeld ♦     <font size="-4"><font color="Black">Talk? 18:17, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

Which do you think is the best way to format the articles. Like List of museums in Alabama or List of museums in Kentucky. Personally I think that map navigation plate and symbol box is unnecessary. COuld you give some thoughts on the talk page of the US museum page. I;ve got to go now <font style="color:#fef;background:black;">♦ Sir Blofeld ♦     <font size="-4"><font color="Black">Talk? 19:11, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

List of haunted locations
I see that you removed the 'Citation notice' from List of haunted locations. That page has required constant reverts because of editors not citing sources. It has not been quite as bad with the notice, but more often than not, when an entry is listed it must be removed for lack of a citation. With folklore of this type, one can manufacture the haunting legend quite easily. This is why the notice was there. I feel this is a very big mistake. Without this notice the list should probably be deleted as it becomes a farce and unmanageable. I would like to know your thoughts on this matter. Thanks, --Historian 1000 (talk) 18:33, 7 January 2008 (UTC)
 * I am going to undo your edit. I am doing this because I know that the tag is necessary to maintain the integrity of the page. If you feel that it must be removed please consider placing an AfD tag on the article. Respectfully, --Historian 1000 (talk) 22:09, 7 January 2008 (UTC)
 * Re: "The days of the year pages suffer the same sort of problem, they make do with extensive Html comments and page patrolling." The problem with this is the HTML comment does not show up when editing just a section as is usually the case. Why not keep it obvious? Also, I've been pretty much the only person to regularly patrol this page and to be honest, it's enough of a pain as it is without it getting worse. --Historian 1000 (talk) 23:37, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

SmackBot problem
Your bot seems to have made an error here:. It added a $2 at the end of cleanup-afd, changing it to the nonexistent Cleanup-afd$2. -- King of &hearts;   &diams;   &clubs;  &spades; 00:11, 8 January 2008 (UTC)
 * Thanks, fixed. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Rich Farmbrough (talk • contribs)

What happened here?
--NE2 11:09, 8 January 2008 (UTC)
 * The article was in one of the undated clean-up categories when SB made it's list, then by he time it made the edit it had left that category. (Probably a tag added and removed.) Nonetheless the canonicalisation procedure changed the format of "date=" in two templates. This is not ideal, but is harmless, rare, and hard to avoid.  Rich Farmbrough, 11:54 8 January 2008 (GMT).

SmackBot
ABSD-7

The post says it was at Mare Island until 1946! What time it spent at the Marshall Islands, Eniwetok? Maybe, I have the wrong Auxilary boat but my Dad was in the Navy from 1944-1946 and was on board ABSD-7 Sec. 52 and was at the Marshall Islands!

Is this the same ABSD-7? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.77.197.175 (talk) 21:29, 8 January 2008 (UTC)
 * Really I couldn't say. Suggest you find someone from the apporpriat wiki-project. Rich Farmbrough, 22:32 10 January 2008 (GMT).

You need to get a life. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 90.207.90.183 (talk) 03:10, 18 January 2008 (UTC)

Saint Johns Park West
Another editor has added the "prod" template to the article Saint Johns Park West, suggesting that it be deleted according to the proposed deletion process. All contributions are appreciated, but the editor doesn't believe it satisfies Wikipedia's criteria for inclusion, and has explained why in the article (see also What Wikipedia is not and Notability). Please either work to improve the article if the topic is worthy of inclusion in Wikipedia or discuss the relevant issues at its talk page. If you remove the prod template, the article will not be deleted, but note that it may still be sent to Articles for deletion, where it may be deleted if consensus to delete is reached. BJBot (talk) 02:14, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

Bombing of Dresden
Hi, as one of the editors of Bombing of Dresden in World War II, would you mind commenting here about a possible name change? There is a proposal to call the article simply Bombing of Dresden. Cheers, SlimVirgin  (talk) (contribs) 14:45, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

Including cat in List of monthly maintenance categories
I hope this was ok. You were the only contributor to date, so I thought I'd better notify you. Dorfklatsch 13:59, January 10, 2008
 * Ah, while I'm at it, I do have another question: MonthlyCleanupCat must be included manually to fmt the subcat pages, right? Or is there some automated way (e.g. another bot)? Dorfklatsch 14:15, January 10, 2008
 * Ok, thanks again. (btw: the RealTitle thing on this page is incredible. Didn't know this could be done.) Dorfklatsch 14:34, January 10, 2008

JMonkey Engine
Another editor has added the "prod" template to the article JMonkey Engine, suggesting that it be deleted according to the proposed deletion process. All contributions are appreciated, but the editor doesn't believe it satisfies Wikipedia's criteria for inclusion, and has explained why in the article (see also What Wikipedia is not and Notability). Please either work to improve the article if the topic is worthy of inclusion in Wikipedia or discuss the relevant issues at its talk page. If you remove the prod template, the article will not be deleted, but note that it may still be sent to Articles for deletion, where it may be deleted if consensus to delete is reached. BJBot (talk) 18:15, 10 January 2008 (UTC) Rich Farmbrough, 14:23 11 January 2008 (GMT).

Ibraham Ahmed
I request the deletion of the article of Ibraham Ahmed after this Doonhamer use his user and edit my article without any reason trying to affect the reputation of Ibraham Ahmed. Aparently me and this guy were in a forum discussing about the organization of Ibraham Ahmed and he get mad and came and edit my article. When I see that I get mad because using his user of wiki he edit the article and wiki permit this. Then, I fight back and try to edit the article from the forum that we were talking know like bullshido.net ( I'm guilty of this ) but for my surprise the article of bullshido I can't edit using my wiki user. But he could do it in my article of Ibraham Ahmed. Well, I decide to erase all parts of my articles that can affect my reputation and the reputation of Ibraham Ahmed from user like this using their powers of writing. I will not longer work in wiki for this reason, please continue erasing all the deletions that I have made. —Preceding unsigned comment added by WMACPR (talk • contribs) 18:51, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

Ibraham Ahmed intention of vandalism
This guy intend to vandalims my article of Ibraham Ahmed and put personal words to it to damage their reputation. He is not cualified in the article of Ibraham Ahmed to talk about it, even he do not knows him, he used his wiki user login to do it see the history of the document.

XXX Entire text of some version of the article removed RF. XXX

Thats why I requets the inmediatly deletion from wikipedia.--WMACPR (talk) 19:37, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

Typo redirect U,S,
Hello, this is a message from an automated bot. A tag has been placed on U,S,, by another Wikipedia user, requesting that it be speedily deleted from Wikipedia. The tag claims that it should be speedily deleted because U,S, is a redirect page resulting from an implausible typo (CSD R3). To contest the tagging and request that administrators wait before possibly deleting U,S,, please affix the template to the page, and put a note on its talk page. If the article has already been deleted, see the advice and instructions at WP:WMD. Feel free to contact the bot operator if you have any questions about this or any problems with this bot, bearing in mind that '''this bot is only informing you of the nomination for speedy deletion; it does not perform any nominations or deletions itself. To see the user who deleted the page, click here''' CSDWarnBot (talk) 21:32, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

Ibraham Ahmed
About the acusation of non-notable person of Taekwondo, any KMA expert person in the matter knows that a person that holds a rank of 7th Dan of higher tru an International Federation like the International Taekwondo Federation or like the World Taekwondo Federation it is notable because in a numbers of almost 10 millions of taekwondo practitioners world-wide they have achive a rank that aproximadly maybe just 300 people holds thru this organizations. If you do the numbers the porcentage of people that make this effort to get there are just a few. Thats is why the International Federation give to them the honor of hold the title of Grand Masters. This persons have to dedicate more than 30 years of their life to get to this achievement and have to prove to the International Federation that they have contribute to the grow and expantion of the Taekwondo to get there.

It is this not notable in Taekwondo, then what it is? When I see a 7th Dan or higher person of Taekwondo from the International Taekwondo Federation or from the World Taekwondo Federation inmediatly have my respect even if I do not know him, just because the International Federation (ITF or WTF) have confers in them the honor of be called Grand Masters. The intend of desacredited what these International Federations have honrate and honor it is an Intention also to dishonors the International Federation that granted, because they are saying "" that they have make a mistake when they honor this person and also try to desacreditate and question how the International Federation do it.

Also adding words like he sell ranks tru his school is an intention to dishonor this person, because this also dishonor the International Federations that he represents. The mayority of the time the persons who do this are from others Martial Arts backgroungs that have envy of what the Taekwondo have achieve until to date and also try to dishonor the Taekwondo tru his comments. They do it and then go to their students look "see this you can go there and they are saying that they do this...., that is why you are safe practicing our Martial Art and not that think that they call Taekwondo". this is not something new and still happen since the 1960's when Taekwondo change from Karate to his new name Taekwondo and create the style of Taekwondo that the Japanese and other saids that we are not a Martial Art with their recognition.

If wiki can save the document from any alteration that can damage the reputation of these person and the style or organizations that they represents I think that will be OK with me. They are many world wide people with envy of the Taekwondo there!!! —Preceding unsigned comment added by WMACPR (talk • contribs) 04:18, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

I enter to the document history and see that you have defend the original document very well againts these people!!! Amazing job and my congratulation to you, sorry I wasn't notice this before. I see that I can count with the support of wiki for the protection of the document. If you want you can restore the document like it was and sorry about this.--WMACPR (talk) 04:38, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

'''I just add to the Ibraham Ahmed wiki biography the external links for biography reference. You can compare what you have with those and compare the grammar to see that what you even have in wiki is not writed well. This persons that have edit the biography they do it little by little and at the end of two of three months they got what they want that is make a bad biography making look it bad and making look bad to wiki, Please can you re-edit the biography to make it final forever. And excuse me I know that this will take time from you, but I also need to work and attend my kids and do not have time for re-edit like it was or like it had to be, this little edits had make their purpose, I can compete agains 20 or 20 editors agains my article that do this little by little. They do it because envy or jealous, most of them do not have the expertise in the theme of Ibraham Ahmed, the Ibraham Ahmed email is IbrahamAhmed@aol.com and he is the source, he can provided any evidence of the facts or explain it to you.'''--WMACPR (talk) 11:00, 12 January 2008 (UTC)

SmackBot is a great bot
Just popped in to say that this is a great bot. I try and get the syntax right, but this cleans up goofs nicely and also serves as a tutor on the details. Cheers, Jack Merridew 13:41, 11 January 2008 (UTC)

Thanks for the ride
Thanks for the ride home after the meetup tonight, I was wondering if you built SmackBot from scratch or used a framework. Poeloq (talk) 04:18, 13 January 2008 (UTC)
 * SmackBot uses WP:AWB for alomst all its edits. Rich Farmbrough, 07:05 14 January 2008 (GMT).

Question about Smackbot
Hi, I was wondering why the entry foxsports.com got labeled by smackbot with a "advert" warning and what can be done to eliminate it. Thank you. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.67.7.14 (talk) 09:09, 13 January 2008 (UTC)
 * It didn't, Insanity Inarnate did, here. Rich Farmbrough, 07:06 14 January 2008 (GMT).

Welcome to Wikipedia!
Greetings venerable one, i'm glad you've finally made your way to the repository of human knowledge, I hope you enjoy your stay, but I can see you've already become profilic in your editing, which might indicate that you already are insert smile here. If you need any help, please don't hesitate to contact me. -- Ļıßζېấשּׂ~ۘ Ώƒ ﻚĢęخ (talk) 01:30, 14 January 2008 (UTC)

The Cambells and the King of France
On the chance that you are still "look[ing] forward" since Reference desk/Archives/Language/2007 July 24, i inform you of my two cents being finally put in, "... in a particularly bizarre set of circumstances". --Jerzy•t 07:03, 17 January 2008 (UTC)
 * Thanks... Rich Farmbrough, 08:59 18 January 2008 (GMT).

Signpost updated for January 14th, 2008.
You are receiving this message because you have signed up for the Signpost spamlist. If you wish to stop receiving these messages, simply remove your name from the list. Ralbot (talk) 08:54, 18 January 2008 (UTC)

Dirty laundry showing
Your latest edit to Template:Cleanup-laundry seems to have broken it on some pages. See, for example, the raw wikitext showing at the top of Online music store. I noticed it's the way you're handling the "date" parameter (in particular, when it's missing), but I don't have time to work out a fix myself. - dcljr (talk) 13:13, 18 January 2008 (UTC)
 * Thanks, fixed. Rich Farmbrough, 13:21 18 January 2008 (GMT).

Template:3CC
What happened to 3CC? Wasn't that the one that showed every three-letter-combination? I used to use that template when navigating Wikipedia, and I have used it in articles I created (such as CHW (disambiguation)).

I looked in the TfD to try and figure out why it was deleted, but I cannot seem to find any mention of it anywhere except in your deletion log, which says:


 * 10:11, 9 March 2007 Rich Farmbrough (Talk | contribs) deleted "Template:3CC" ‎ (Obsolete, deprecated and unused template.)

So if it has been deprecated, does that mean there is a replacement?

Thanks, VegKilla (talk) 08:20, 19 January 2008 (UTC)
 * It was repalced with Disambig as were several varieties of dab template - the cats having already gone. The discussion is  here. Rich Farmbrough, 13:45 19 January 2008 (GMT).

changeing template:
Is changing to  really worth an edit ? -Ravedave (talk) 01:34, 20 January 2008 (UTC)
 * Its part of a canonicalisation process, not an end in itself - and if we can discourage non-canonical usage that helps all round. Rich Farmbrough, 14:24 22 January 2008 (GMT).

SmackBot
Please remove this tag from Claudine Rhédey von Kis-Rhéde. “This article does not cite any references or sources. (January 2008) Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed.”

There is an adequate sources listed. In addition, this page is WORK IN PROGRESS. What is your point?

DrewKE - 195.91.54.87

This address -195.91.54.87 – is an address of the internet provider in Slovakia. I am one of many Wireless Users. I have nothing to do with Sala ….

DrewKE —Preceding unsigned comment added by 195.91.54.87 (talk) 08:08, 20 January 2008 (UTC)
 * Hi, thanks for your message, SmackBot does not generally add tags, but merely dates those that are already there. Regards, Rich Farmbrough, 14:22 22 January 2008 (GMT).

Thanks
when you update a lot of those, your fingers sometimes get away from you.--Crossmr (talk) 14:14, 22 January 2008 (UTC)

SmackBot
It would be great if your bot could be trained to respect "inuse" tags, and not to make edits to pages so marked. Verisimilus  T  17:20, 22 January 2008 (UTC)
 * Set to do this now. No guarantees I don't accidentally turn this option off. Rich Farmbrough, 15:36 30 January 2008 (GMT).
 * Brilliant, thank you! Verisimilus  T  17:07, 30 January 2008 (UTC)

Empire of Japan (foreign commerce and shipping)
Just FYI - No personal response required - In this edit SmackBot did a weird thing to the date The original date was June 2006. It looks like SmackBot was trying to clean up the open double pipe when it happened. P.S. Keep up the good work. Jeepday (talk) 03:33, 23 January 2008 (UTC)
 * hmm very odd.  Needs attention... :) Rich Farmbrough, 15:10 23 January 2008 (GMT).

Same thing occurred here a few days ago. —mjb (talk) 02:18, 26 January 2008 (UTC)
 * Thanks I havnet loked at it yet. RF

Bot
Do you know how to write bots? --Jay Lights! Camera! Action! 16:02, 23 January 2008 (UTC)

Signpost updated for January 21st, 2008.
You are receiving this message because you have signed up for the Signpost spamlist. If you wish to stop receiving these messages, simply remove your name from the list. Ralbot (talk) 00:27, 24 January 2008 (UTC)

Vis-à-vis
Another editor has added the "prod" template to the article Vis-à-vis, suggesting that it be deleted according to the proposed deletion process. All contributions are appreciated, but the editor doesn't believe it satisfies Wikipedia's criteria for inclusion, and has explained why in the article (see also What Wikipedia is not and Notability). Please either work to improve the article if the topic is worthy of inclusion in Wikipedia or discuss the relevant issues at its talk page. If you remove the prod template, the article will not be deleted, but note that it may still be sent to Articles for deletion, where it may be deleted if consensus to delete is reached. BJBot (talk) 06:14, 25 January 2008 (UTC) Rich Farmbrough, 13:55 30 January 2008 (GMT).

SmackBot
Hi, The bot is correcting singular nouns in sections like "Source" & "Reference" (see Tonary). I dont suppose it's serious and I usually make allowances for machines anyway, but if I hear the bot has learned to count I might start changing some of them back. ;-) Sparafucil (talk) 05:26, 29 January 2008 (UTC)

AfD nomination of Bango (cannabis)
An editor has nominated Bango (cannabis), an article on which you have worked or that you created, for deletion. We appreciate your contributions, but the nominator doesn't believe that the article satisfies Wikipedia's criteria for inclusion and has explained why in his/her nomination (see also "What Wikipedia is not").

Your opinions on whether the article meets inclusion criteria and what should be done with the article are welcome; please participate in the discussion by adding your comments at and please be sure to sign your comments with four tildes ( ~ ).

You may also edit the article during the discussion to improve it but should not remove the articles for deletion template from the top of the article; such removal will not end the deletion debate. Thank you. BJBot (talk) 09:44, 29 January 2008 (UTC)

Question--- Japanese
Hey, I saw a page you were at least somewhat involved in editing regarding a Japanese singer, and wondered if you know of anyone who can help translate a page-- it's half in English and I don't want to mess it up; for Keisuke Kuwata. Can you help? Thanks. --leahtwosaints (talk) 06:32, 30 January 2008 (UTC)
 * There are


 * 1) Notenglish
 * 2) Cleanup-translation
 * 3) RoughTranslation
 * Which you can use on the page, but I'm afraid I can't think of anyone of the top of my head. Rich Farmbrough, 13:41 30 January 2008 (GMT).

Remove from cleanup categories
Can you please remove User:Rich_Farmbrough/AWB/daitMaintTags from cleanup categories? Thanks! --Gary King (talk) 15:43, 30 January 2008 (UTC)
 * Done. Rich Farmbrough, 16:17 30 January 2008 (GMT).

Dates
Cheers for picking up that wrong date with the Rainbow Drops...editing at 4am is totally not a good idea :) londonsista  | <sup style="color:#ff66cc;">Prod  17:20, 30 January 2008 (UTC)

Signpost updated for January 28th, 2008.
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smackbot removal of line breaks inside succession boxes
Hi, there. Smackbot is removing line breaks from inside of multi-year venue succession boxes. Unfortunately, those need to be there to keep the years aligned horizontally until a new succession box for this type of situation is finalized (it's currently in discussion). See the before and after edit to Camp Randall Stadium and the DCI championships host succession box to see what's going on. Is there anything that can be done to prevent this? Thanks. -Gwguffey (talk) 14:33, 31 January 2008 (UTC)


 * Oh my goodness.... Let me look. Rich Farmbrough, 14:40 31 January 2008 (GMT).
 * OK it's part of WP:AWB genreal fixes. I will do two runs for the time being, one skipping succession box articles, one with "General Fixes" turned off. I will log a tentative bug with AWB, although this is a slightly tricky one, as you imply. Rich Farmbrough, 14:56 31 January 2008 (GMT).


 * Thanks for your quick response and for figuring out the cause. Hopefully, we'll be able to get a succession box coded so that this will not be an issue in the future regardless of AWB.  I've developed a draft, but it's going to be a few more weeks until it gets full consideration.  Best wishes.  -Gwguffey (talk) 15:45, 31 January 2008 (UTC)

SmackBot and links
SmackBot broke some links at Apple TV. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Foobaz (talk • contribs) 16:50, 31 January 2008 (UTC)
 * Thanks, problem should not happen again (from SmackBot) (but let me know if it does): WP:AWB bug logged. Rich Farmbrough, 16:25 5 February 2008 (GMT).

WikiPoints
Would you like to tracked for WikiPoints? I just check your Special:Contributions/Rich Farmbrough. --JayTur1 (Contribs) 17:20, 31 January 2008 (UTC)

citation needed and/ot SmackBot misbehaving ??
The Pomona Metrolink station article has been modified by SmackBot: Replaced: date= → date=January 2008 . But when you read the article, the date=January 2008 bit doesn't show.

I have no idea whether this is a SmackBot's problem, but I've decided to report it just in case.--Jotel (talk) 19:19, 31 January 2008 (UTC)
 * Same problem (or at least symptoms) in Zakopane--Jotel (talk) 19:22, 31 January 2008 (UTC)

Thanks. If you look at the diff you will see, more or less, what it's talking about. The change puts the article into Category:Articles with unsourced statements since January 2008. Rich Farmbrough, 09:51 1 February 2008 (GMT).

sorry, i am a new people who have no idea where is right place to write. hi, rich, thanks for reading. I am a sociological researcher who is really really interested in the form of wikipedia and wikipedians. This amazing result of sharing information around the whole world really have inspirited me a lot. I found you from the list of contributors. would you mind discuss with me about some questions of wikipedia and wikipedians, from which i would like to search on the incentive mechanism about wikipedia and give people the whole view of you and your partners who volunteerly contributed their knowledge and time.

subst/cleanup
I'm still not that used to most of the tags. I tend to just 'preview' and try things and see if they look like something lol, did I leave one looking like code/gibberish?  Merkinsmum  20:34, 31 January 2008 (UTC)
 * The problem was with a merge template - one of the reasons not to "susbt" is that, as you say, the wikicode is harder to read and edit. Another is that a widely used bot function moves  explicit categories to the end of the page - those associated with the templates should go when the template is deleted, and may be conditional.  For me the problem is trying to date these tags with my bot User:SmackBot. I un-subst several of these tags a day (well the bot can now do most of them), so don't worry, lots of people do it. Rich Farmbrough, 09:38 1 February 2008 (GMT).