User talk:SMSpivey

The Immediate Gratification Players delete
Clearly, I am new here. After seeing why you put this article up for deletion, I have gone back and added several non-Harvard sources for the article. The references section still looks overrun with Harvard sources, however, many of them are secondary citations to one another (in other words, two citations on the same fact). I could cut down the citations so that the article looks less Harvard-y, but I thought it was always better to have a few more citations than not.

Also, while I totally understand that new articles are held to a pretty high standard to prevent ads or vandals or whatnot, there are a number of articles on Wikipedia about collegiate improv troupes that have no citations at all, or are very poorly written (like On thin ice or Farce Side). Honestly, I would like to go through and take care of them all so they are respectable wiki articles, but it'll be a bit disheartening if the citations now provided aren't enough. Improv comedy troupes aren't covered very well in media, and, honestly, no college troupe is going to have more media citations than this one. Given this, many of them are still notable breeding grounds for new crops of comedians.

Anyway, thoughts, etc. SMSpivey (talk) 10:07, 15 December 2008 (UTC)


 * Hi, first of all welcome to wikipedia. Sorry if nominating your article was a bit of a harsh welcome, we get inundated with new pages which means we do have to be selective. Please don't remove any references from the article, there's no need for a certain proportion of them to be third party or anything, it's just that when there aren't any third party information at all, it's impossible to to tell whether a subject is really important or whether it is just self-promotion.
 * Anyway, don't sweat it, though the AfD will probably end up getting relisted for more opinions, it looks like there's a good chance it'll survive that. --fvw *  07:38, 16 December 2008 (UTC)

List of improvisational theatre companies
I'm not sure how you ended up writing the edit summary, but if you need to make any such revision in the future, make sure you either mention others who contributed, like the anon that contributed in this case, or link to your subpage (so editors can peruse the history there). If you're the lone editor of the revision, simply copy-pasting is indeed the best move. - Mgm|(talk) 13:09, 9 January 2009 (UTC)
 * In that case, just ignore my advise for now and just keep it in mind for future reference when someone else does contribute. - Mgm|(talk) 20:01, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

Thanks a bunch!
I'd like to thank you heavily for the work you've done so far to work on this rivalry page! JuliusNero (talk) 20:54, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

An article you created maybe deleted soon: Tools which can help you
The article you created: Madcap Theater may be deleted from Wikipedia.

There is an ongoing debate about whether your article should be deleted here:
 * Articles for deletion/Madcap Theater.

The faster you respond, the better chance the article you created can be saved.

Finding sources which mention the topic of your article is the very best way to avoid an article being deleted Findsources3:
 * Find sources for Madcap Theater: google news recent, google news old, google books, google scholar, NYT recent, NYT old, a9, msbooks, msacademic ...You can then cite these results in the Article for deletion discussion.

Also, there are several tools and helpful editors on Wikipedia who can help you:
 * 1) List the page up for deletion on Article Rescue Squadron. You can get help listing your page on the Article Rescue Squadron talk page.
 * 2) You can request a mentor to help explain all of the complex rules that editors use to get a page deleted: Wikipedia:Adopt-a-User. But don't wait for a mentor to respond to you before responding on the article for deletion page.
 * 3) When trying to delete a page, veteran editors love to use a lot of rule acronyms. Don't let these acronyms intimidate you. Here is a list acronyms you can use yourself: WP:Deletion debate acronyms which may support the page you created being kept.
 * 4) You can vote to merge the article into a larger or better established article on the same topic.

If your page is deleted, you still have many options available. Good luck! travb (talk) 01:32, 13 January 2009 (UTC)
 * I am glad I can help! Ask the WP:Article Rescue Squadron to help you if you think the article can be saved with sources! travb (talk) 04:38, 14 January 2009 (UTC)

Thank you
Thank you so much for the rescue barnstar :) I was waiting for one, and I knew when I got one, this would be a benchmark showing that I had really done some good on wikipedia.  You really made my month with that simple gesture. THANK YOU so much. If you ever need any help again, please don't hesitate to ask. I made a novel, even revolutionary proposal here: Wikipedia_talk:Notability_(fiction) that you may want to look at. travb (talk) 08:51, 16 January 2009 (UTC)
 * You maybe interested in this:
 * Articles_for_deletion/Frasier%27s_Curse
 * Wikipedia_talk:Articles_for_deletion
 * travb (talk) 09:58, 16 January 2009 (UTC)

Holmul
I dug through the archaeology requested articles section and saw you put up Holmul. I know a bit about the site and might be into writing an article about it. Have you, by any chance, done some work in userspace on it? Any thoughts about the article before I really dive into it? SMSpivey (talk) 09:31, 16 January 2009 (UTC)


 * No, I haven't, I just noticed that there's no article on it so I put up the request. I have no knowledge or experience about the subject but I found some good information at this website: http://www.bu.edu/holmul/

Please do go ahead and write the article, I'll help with improvements and any copy-editing or you may need. Be bold! -- OlEnglish (talk) 20:06, 16 January 2009 (UTC)

Culture
Hi, I would really appreciate it if you would look over this article. As of a few days ago, I think it was a trainwreck - tangential material, lots of repetition, no contextualization. I did a major overhaul of it (but my approach was relatively conservative: I deleted fringe material and redundancies, and reorganized what was left according to distinctive points of view or approaches). It still needs work (I describe all this in greater detail on the talk page). One thing I did was provide a very abbreviated summary of how cultural anthropologists talk about culture. One thing that is sorely lacking is a section on material culture and archeology. Off the top of my head I think that something should be said about the first appearance of tools in hominan history, how archeologists study material culture (explaining words like matrix and assemblage), theories of material culture and the relationship between material culture and social organization/social life etc. Right now I am trying to focus on the core concepts/ways of conceptualizing/frameworks for study. But I do not have the knowledge of archeology to do this. So I am hoping that you can help out ... thanks Slrubenstein  |  Talk 19:39, 21 January 2009 (UTC)

Thanks! That is great! You may wish to rename the section I created on American anthropology, or divide it into two sections, one on cultural anthropology and another on archeology and tool use, or archeology and material culture, or whatever you think best. Slrubenstein  |  Talk 20:31, 21 January 2009 (UTC)

thank you
thanks for taking the time to comment on Wikipedia_talk:Notability_(fiction). I am glad you see how important this guideline will be, since it will determine the inclusion or exclusion of television character and television episodes. Have a great week. Ikip (talk) 04:39, 29 January 2009 (UTC)

Thanks
A very big oops - I see the errors of my ways - and need to withdraw the nom - can i do that myself or do I ask someone else to do so? (List of Indonesian rock bands) SatuSuro 22:35, 29 January 2009 (UTC)
 * You deserve a great big huggy love-fest for that. You made my day. I'm pretty sure that if you go to the AfD and say that you Withdraw nom, someone will close it out for you. I think you might be able to do it yourself, but I have no idea how. I hope you have a really awesome day!! SMSpivey (talk) 22:39, 29 January 2009 (UTC)

Well hey - anyone who can populate an orphaned list deserves something too - then the issue with Indonesia project there are many red link lists - and It is very annoying to see what they have lists of/for - and the red links are a festering... well better left unsaid.

I know some uninvolved admins - will ask them later today (my time 8+) to close it for me - better a +ve resolution than a kick in the bum i say SatuSuro 22:43, 29 January 2009 (UTC)

btw i am so old i can remember the electric firesign theatre mob (even tho i am in western australia) i suppose that is archeaology or prehistory for you? - cheers SatuSuro 22:45, 29 January 2009 (UTC)

It all comes back like a flashing light (to keep the puns rolling) - in the various projects I have had the good fortune to pollute with my edits - the list vs category argument comes back clearly - I'll stay with delete for the mo - nothing personal and no offence at your hard work to improve the list, and the lists in indonesia project still need a close review SatuSuro 03:15, 30 January 2009 (UTC)

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:Categories,_lists,_and_navigation_templates&action=watch - have found it but havent read through the current version to keep up with it - but its the subject at least SatuSuro 03:56, 30 January 2009 (UTC)

Problem is that I have been here and there today and havent had a chance to read the policy page to see which way to go - I am definiteily not trying to re-writ anything wp wise - and the jog of memory about the pros and cons of lists vs cats is that when i get some chance later today I will have a closer look and also check with some admin freinds who have better memories of the issues from afds of the past in this area. sorry i have created a bit of a monster so far. cheers SatuSuro 05:26, 30 January 2009 (UTC)

My apologies all round - big problem with parts of wikipedia is that it does not have an effective collective memory - things get recycled too often - and in projects individual eds have no idea what they are doing - a good example was the list and category having no obvious linkage or correlation - as for the resolution of list vs cat - when i have my wits later on ill read it all up and try to make sense of it SatuSuro 05:34, 30 January 2009 (UTC)

Welcome
{| style="border: 4px solid #CC0000; padding: 6px; width: 80%; min-width: 700px; background: #FFFAF0; line-height: 20px; " align=center
 * colspan="2" | Rtwnef Ambulance Rettungsdienst Germany.jpg

Hi,, welcome to the Article Rescue Squadron!

We are a growing community of Wikipedia editors dedicated to identifying and rescuing articles that have been tagged for deletion. Every day hundreds of articles are deleted, many rightfully so. But many concern notable subjects and are poorly written, ergo fixable and should not be deleted. We try to help these articles quickly improve and address the concerns of why they are proposed for deletion. This covers a lot of ground and your help is appreciated!

Transwiki
I guess we could, but I am reluctant with no source. Calliopejen1 (talk) 04:02, 28 February 2009 (UTC)

Best thing on Wikipedia
Chief Mouser to the Cabinet Office

Heh, thanks. I had fun working on this list and I even nominated and had it promoted as a WP:Featured list. Glad you like it! Matthewedwards (talk • contribs • email) 01:41, 10 March 2009 (UTC)

DYK for Nigeria women's national basketball team
--Dravecky (talk) 16:11, 12 March 2009 (UTC)

Suggestion
Hi there, I have a suggestion for adding the surface area and depths for the lakes in List of lakes in Michigan. Why don't we use the convert template, and add all the figures in acres (for area) and feet (for depth). The convert template will automatically display the figure in both the Imperial and metric systems, and if we enter all the figures using the same measurement, then they will be sortable. If we enter some depths in feet and some in meters, for example, then the list would not sort the lakes correctly by depth. If one of the articles only gives the surface area in meters2 or sq. feet, then use Google to convert it to acres first. For example use "195 square feet in acres" to do the conversion. What do you think? &mdash; LinguistAtLarge • Talk  05:46, 13 March 2009 (UTC)
 * For using the convert template, go like this: 4987 acre to produce 4987 acre. likewise for depth in feet: 220 ft to produce 220 ft &mdash; LinguistAtLarge • Talk  05:48, 13 March 2009 (UTC)

I've noticed another thing. Try to sort one of the columns of the table. It doesn't work right for the numerical columns, because it's not sorting on the number as a whole-- it takes the number one place at a time, so 5, 10, and 20 are sorted as 10, 20, 5. I did some research here, and we can fix this by adding a hidden sort key.

Here is what needs to be done, just copy and paste the following and place it right before each convert template. Replace the XXX with the number you're dealing with (the acres or depth in feet). This will output a hidden key that is padded with zeros to the left, which will make the table sort correctly. Now what do you think of that?!

If you want, I can start at the top of the list adding this hidden code and you can continue adding the information. Or I can continue working up from the bottom. Either way is fine by me. &mdash; LinguistAtLarge • Talk  06:34, 13 March 2009 (UTC)

&lt;span style="display:none"&gt;0000000000000XXX&lt;/span&gt;


 * Okay, I will start from the top working down, adding this hidden code. &mdash; LinguistAtLarge • Talk  06:41, 13 March 2009 (UTC)


 * Have a good night, nice working with you. &mdash; LinguistAtLarge • Talk  07:26, 13 March 2009 (UTC)

List of lakes in Michigan
Good job. The version you and Linguist made is infinitely better than the pitifull entry that was nominated. I'm still puzzled though. Why would you include ponds and reservoirs in the list? It's a list of lakes (a lake has a very specific meaning) You'd be surprised as the number of actual lakes in the English Lake District. Conniston is a water, Windemere isn't a lake either. Very confusing, but crucial if you want to give correct information. Either those should be cut from the list or you need to rename it to List of bodies of water in Michigan - Mgm|(talk) 09:40, 13 March 2009 (UTC)


 * Good point Mgm. I have mentioned this on the page's talk here. &mdash; LinguistAtLarge • Talk  15:35, 13 March 2009 (UTC)


 * Yes, my comments about the inclusion of ponds and a possible rename obviously can be done outside of AFD, which is why I changed my vote. As long as the title factually fits the bodies of water included, I don't have a specific preference for listing them all together or splitting them into different lists. If you fix it in any acceptable manner at all, I'd be happy. - Mgm|(talk) 16:40, 13 March 2009 (UTC)

AfD nomination of List of Mega Man cast members
An article that you have been involved in editing, List of Mega Man cast members, 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 Mega Man cast members. Thank you.Please contact me if you're unsure why you received this message. Also note that List of Metal Gear cast members has also been nominated for deletion. The discussion will be on the same page as the Mega Man AFD. MuZemike 16:53, 17 March 2009 (UTC)

An article you created maybe deleted soon: Tools which can help you
The article you created: List of Mega Man cast members may be deleted from Wikipedia.

There is an ongoing debate about whether your article should be deleted here:
 * Articles for deletion/List of Mega Man cast members.

The faster you respond on this page, the better chance the article you created can be saved.

Finding sources which mention the topic of your article is the very best way to avoid an article being deleted Findsources3:
 * Find sources for List of Mega Man cast members: google news recent, google news old, google books, google scholar, NYT recent, NYT old, a9, msbooks, msacademic ...You can then cite these results in the Article for deletion discussion.

Also, there are several tools and helpful editors on Wikipedia who can help you:
 * 1. List the page on Article Rescue Squadron. You can get help listing your page on the Article Rescue Squadron talk page.
 * 2. At any time, you can ask any administrator to move your article to a special page. (Called userfication)


 * 3. You can request a mentor to help you: Wikipedia:Adopt-a-User. But don't wait for a mentor to respond to you before responding on the article for deletion page.
 * 4. When trying to delete a page, veteran editors love to use a lot of rule acronyms. These acronyms don't need to intimidate you. Here is a list of acronyms you can use yourself: Deletion debate acronyms, which will help you argue that the article should be kept.

If your page is deleted, you also have many options available. Good luck! Ikip (talk) 10:09, 18 March 2009 (UTC)

Thanks
Thank you for your comments and continued support on my talk page. I have noticed your impressive work on wikipedia, and I feel so blessed to have you here. Ikip (talk) 10:05, 18 March 2009 (UTC)
 * I would strongly suggest getting email. Ikip (talk) 12:25, 18 March 2009 (UTC)

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list of archaeologists
Hi. I hope you are still active. A while ago You wrote about re-formatting the list of archaeologists. I have gone through the list and given birth and death dates, nationality and some short information on specialty for all the people who are properly blue-linked (one or more are to non-archaeologist with the same name as people who are allegedly archaeologists). I grabbed what seemed prominent, so the information is not exactly consistent in coverage (e.g., for some I put in geographical area but not for others). Where it was easy, I also added the daa for red-linked people (my goal was to clean up rather than judge). A least the categories name, dates, nationality, and specialty are in consistent oder and form. So now You can re-format if You wish.Kdammers (talk) 04:49, 4 September 2010 (UTC)

would appreciate your help
Hi ! I am new to wiki so i hope I'm typing this in the right spot! I'm reaching out to other users for help. As I understand it, I need to track down an established wiki editor to help me rid the first article i've created ("Stone and Stone")of the ugly box that was posted on top "This article has multiple issues....".

I know exactly how these complaints came about. In my ignorance on how wiki works, I gave myself the same nickname as the subject I was writing on and then a whole drama ensued, as it was assumed that I was my subject and that I was writing an autobiography! In truth, I am a huge comedy fan and biographer and was dipping my toes for the first time in wikipedia waters!

Any help or solutions you could provide me when you get the chance would be greatly appreciated! This poor little article certainly doesn't deserve such an ugly heading box because of my wiki-ignorance! Thank you in advance for your time! Comedybiographer (talk) 10:34, 24 February 2011 (UTC)

ArbCom elections are now open!
Hi, You appear to be eligible to vote in the current Arbitration Committee election. The Arbitration Committee is the panel of editors responsible for conducting the Wikipedia arbitration process. It has the authority to enact binding solutions for disputes between editors, primarily related to serious behavioural issues that the community has been unable to resolve. This includes the ability to impose site bans, topic bans, editing restrictions, and other measures needed to maintain our editing environment. The arbitration policy describes the Committee's roles and responsibilities in greater detail. If you wish to participate, you are welcome to review the candidates' statements and submit your choices on the voting page. For the Election committee, MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 13:58, 24 November 2015 (UTC)