User talk:SMasters/Archives/2011/April

Good riddance
Glad to see you finally quit editing. It was well overdue. Torchiest talkedits 05:26, 1 April 2011 (UTC)
 * Yeah, the old man (woman?) retired...am I correct in assuming that it is for one day only? Bronsonboy (talk) 16:37, 1 April 2011 (UTC)
 * Haha, thanks for all the kind words! Yes, the old man enjoyed it when he retired for the day. – SMasters (talk) 02:24, 2 April 2011 (UTC)

Welcome back!
Man, we really missed you around here! That day seemed like an eternity lost in the desert. ;-) Torchiest talkedits 19:27, 1 April 2011 (UTC)
 * Aww, nice to be back! – SMasters (talk) 02:28, 2 April 2011 (UTC)

GOCE drive newsletter
Sent on behalf of the Guild of Copy Editors using AWB on 14:39, 2 April 2011 (UTC)

Kitty Kat
Hey thank you so much. I sincerely did not expect it to pass so quickly. Thanks once again. Are you a Beyonce fan? Jivesh   &bull;  Talk2Me  16:51, 22 March 2011 (UTC)
 * No problems. As you can see from this talk page above, I don't normally pass articles on the first read, but this article checked out on my checklist, so there was nothing I could pick on. Well done! I don't mind her music and I do like some of her songs, but no, I wouldn't really call myself a fan. – SMasters (talk) 17:05, 22 March 2011 (UTC)
 * Okay. Sorry for late reply. I did not know you would reply her. Thank you once again. Actually i created the article about 10 days ago. Would you like to join her Wiki-project? Jivesh    &bull;  Talk2Me  08:37, 23 March 2011 (UTC)
 * Thanks for the invitation, but I am too busy with many other things here to have the time to help with your project. Maybe another time. – SMasters (talk) 09:05, 23 March 2011 (UTC)
 * Okay. It does not matter. Jivesh    &bull;  Talk2Me  18:47, 2 April 2011 (UTC)

Help with barnstars
I was wondering if you would have time to help hand out the barnstars from the March drive? with five people potentially able to help, we could have them all handed out really quickly! If you are interested, your task would be to send to people with usernames starting with the letters D through J (about ten persons). The document that gives barnstar results is here. Please let me know if you will not have time, and I will make other arrangements. Thanks. -- Diannaa (Talk) 03:50, 3 April 2011 (UTC)
 * Sure, I'll do this by tomorrow. Thanks for organizing. – SMasters (talk) 12:32, 3 April 2011 (UTC)
 * Thanks! -- Diannaa (Talk) 17:32, 3 April 2011 (UTC)
 * Thanks for doing that. I am still having problems with my browesers and wikipedia. Even trying to add two barnstars to your page crashes my browsers. It seems there is an ongoing problem with the servers and it is only affecting a few editors, just my luck to be one of them :¬(
 * I can add simple text, but adding pictures and Wikimarkup just freezes my browsers or causes them to dissapear and crash. Thanks again, and hopefully the situation will be resoved soon as I am sitting here twiddling my thumbs dying to get on with some real work lol :¬) I will ask Diannaa to add your awards. Chaosdruid (talk) 10:29, 4 April 2011 (UTC)
 * I'm not really worried about my own awards, but it does sound like you have a serious problem. Try switching browsers and see if that helps. Good luck with sorting that out. :) – SMasters (talk) 13:20, 4 April 2011 (UTC)
 * IE9 started working properly again yesterday, but as it is so fiddly to use and I never really use it as I don't have any links, cookies, passwords etc in there and I have to disable so many add-ons to get it to work and it is so slow it is a bit of a nightmare.
 * Luckily all is fixed ! WOohoo! Apparently there is a problem with the resource loader version of the Navigation popups in FireFox4 that causes the other scripts to halt. It was fine on Saturday morning so I suppose they are "fiddling" with it again lol.
 * I have to get some RL things done now and will get on to wikiwork in a couple of hours later tonight now everything is fixed :¬)
 * Sorry, I thought I had read somewhere that your first initial stood for Steve...apologies and I have trouted myself :¬) Chaosdruid (talk) 19:41, 4 April 2011 (UTC)

Thanks for giving the awards out for me, I am a little annoyed that I couldn't get to do it myself but am grateful for yours and the others' work in my absence. Chaosdruid (talk) 19:49, 4 April 2011 (UTC)
 * No problems! Download the new Firefox, it's free and very fast. – SMasters (talk) 21:35, 4 April 2011 (UTC)

Inline attribution in paraphrasing and quoting
Your advice, if you will, with your GOCE hat on. When writing/editing an article, is there a Wikipedia preference, as there is in other encyclopaedia, not to mention the names of sources preceding or following a paraphrase or quote, relying instead solely on the presence of a reference? Or do we directly refer to the author of a quote or paraphrase? Or is this a matter for individual judgement (ie, according to controversy or length of quote)? I have done my best to distil the MOS and Missing Manual wisdom on this, but I am still in doubt. I don't have an exact example in mind, but consider the following -


 * Professor X proposed that the properties of confabulation are febrile [1] (leading to full citation)


 * The properties of confabulation may be considered febrile [1] (leading to full citation)


 * The properties of confabulation "are considered febrile" [1] (leading to full citation)


 * Professor X says that the properties of confabulation "are considered febrile" [1] leading to full citation

Your thoughts on this would be much appreciated. Regards — Peter S Strempel  &#124;  Talk   10:01, 4 April 2011 (UTC)
 * Hi Peter, I would go with (4) "Professor X says that the properties of confabulation "are considered febrile" [1] leading to full citation." I want to add, that copy editing generally does not involve checking citations or references. People might expect us to, but it is not our job. I have worked in newspapers and I do not question reporters, etc. My job is not to check the facts. My job is to make sure that the writing is grammatically correct; factually correct (assuming good faith – assuming that the quotes are correct), and that it reads well. However, if you wish to go further, then by all means investigate and correct or fix any other issues. That is great, but it is beyond the scope of copy editing. – SMasters (talk) 13:36, 4 April 2011 (UTC)


 * Sure thing. I was just curious about the house style here.  About copy editing: I understand that job doesn't include getting involved, but I do a bit more than just copy edit at Wikipedia.  Thanks for your time.  —  Peter S Strempel  &#124;  Talk   23:07, 4 April 2011 (UTC)
 * No problems. I do build articles besides copy editing, I have worked on GAs from scratch. However, you asked me to put my GOCE hat on. I think the reason why I chose 4 was because it would be the most WP:NPOV of the options given. – SMasters (talk) 23:12, 4 April 2011 (UTC)


 * Right you are. Thanks again.  Regards —  Peter S Strempel  &#124;  Talk   08:26, 5 April 2011 (UTC)

March barnstars

 * Thank you! – SMasters (talk) 21:28, 4 April 2011 (UTC)

The Signpost: 4 April 2011
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Milhist March 2011 backlog reduction drive

 * Thank you very much! – SMasters (talk) 01:54, 6 April 2011 (UTC)

Thank you for your participation in the March 2011 GAN backlog elimination drive


On behalf of User:Wizardman and myself, we would like to take the time and thank you for your contributions made as part of the March 2011 Good articles backlog elimination drive. Awards and barnstars will go out shortly for those who have reviewed a certain number of articles.

During the backlog drive, in the month of March 2011,
 * 522 GA nominations were undertaken.
 * 423 GA nominations passed.
 * 72 GA nominations failed.
 * 27 GA nominations were on hold.

We started the GA backlog elimination drive with 378 GA nominations remaining, with 291 that were not reviewed at all. By 2:00, April 1, 2011, the backlog was at 171 GA nominations, with 100 that were left unreviewed.

At the start of the drive, the oldest unreviewed GA nomination was 101 days (Andrei Kirilenko (politician), at 20 November 2010, reviewed and passed 1 March 2011); at the end of the drive the oldest unreviewed GA nomination was 39 days (Gery Chico, at 24 February 2011, still yet to be reviewed as of this posting).

While we did not achieve the objective of getting the backlog of outstanding GA nominations down to below 50, we reduced the GA backlog by over half. The GA reviews also seemed to be of a higher quality and have consistently led, to say the least, to marginal improvements to those articles (although there were significant improvements to many, even on the some of the nominations that were failed).

If you would like to comment on the drive itself and maybe even make suggestions on how to improve the next one, please make a comment at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Good articles/GAN backlog elimination drives/March 2011. Another GA backlog elimination drive is being planned for later this year, tentatively for September or October 2011. Also, if you have any comments or remarks on how to improve the Good article process in general, WikiProject Good articles can always use some feedback at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Good articles.

Again, on behalf of User:Wizardman and myself, thank you for making the March 2011 GA backlog elimination drive a success.

MuZemike delivered by MuZebot 21:51, 6 April 2011 (UTC)

WP Japan
I've had a busy week, but I haven't forgotten the Japan report. Thanks for checking on me. -Mabeenot (talk) 04:32, 9 April 2011 (UTC)
 * OK, great. Give me a shout if you need any help. – SMasters (talk) 05:34, 9 April 2011 (UTC)

Just a query
was nominated for a regular Triple Crown as well as an addition to the USRD list. Should I have separated the nomination and duplicated it? (I don't think I did that when was nominated for both at once.) Either way, thank you for approving the addition to the USRD list.  Imzadi 1979  →   15:18, 9 April 2011 (UTC)
 * Yes, please. I need it there for transparency, in case anyone wants to check. Or put a note for any new noms. I assume they already have a TC unless I'm told otherwise. Cheers. – SMasters (talk) 15:25, 9 April 2011 (UTC)

The Signpost: 11 April 2011
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May drive
Hey, I started a rough draft for the next drive page. I made some changes with regard to 2009 article awards, but I figure we should all discuss it a little more to make sure the changes are okay. Let me know what you think. Thanks. —Torchiest talkedits 20:25, 12 April 2011 (UTC)
 * Thank for your help, but I do wish we had discussed this before we set up the page! We cannot be seen to be changing the rules once people start signing up as it's not fair. I have started a discussion on the coordinators talk page regarding this. In future, it would be good to have all our background stuff sorted out before we go public on any changes. – SMasters (talk) 01:16, 13 April 2011 (UTC)

Mentorship program
Hi SMasters, My name is Bronsonboy and I am a relatively new user to Wikipedia. I am currently a Freshman in HS taking English I Honors. I consider myself a capable editor in terms of grammar, spelling, and usage, but need a little help learning the ropes as far as stylistic polices/guidelines of Wikipedia. I am eager to help improve Wikipedia by doing this kind of touch-up work, but get the feeling that I am remarkably inefficient and could really learn from someone with more experience. I am willing to copy-edit a wide variety of articles, with the stipulation that they are not so in need of copy editing as to be illegible-If I cannot figure out what word someone is trying to spell, I can't correct their spelling. Other than that, I am willing to take a shot at nearly anything. My biggest struggle will probably be with the formatting/stylistic aspects of editing. Would you be willing to point me in the right direction and steer me through my first couple of weeks? Bronsonboy (talk) 20:14, 27 March 2011 (UTC)


 * -I also took a stab at this article; could you let me know if I did okay? Here is my revision. I couldn't figure out how to make it an internal link. Bronsonboy (talk) 20:24, 27 March 2011 (UTC)
 * OK, I will have a look and get back to you later as I'm about to go to work. Cheers. – SMasters (talk) 02:18, 28 March 2011 (UTC)
 * OK, thanks. Bronsonboy (talk) 04:46, 29 March 2011 (UTC)
 * Another article I edited: Şahika_Ercümen. I'm supposed to place on the talk page, not the actual page, right? I also didn't know how to handle place of birth. You'll note I added several tags on things, could you let me know whether these were the right ones? Some of them are confusing (e.g.  vs.  ). Bronsonboy (talk) 04:46, 29 March 2011 (UTC)


 * Here is another article: Timestorm 2009-2099. I did my best on this, but could you check it for tense and stuff? It was written in half-and-half tense, so I stuck with the present tense used in the first part of it. Is this acceptable for synopses? Bronsonboy (talk) 01:25, 31 March 2011 (UTC)
 * I'm really tied up at the moment as we are finishing our March drive (I'm in the middle of copyediting a 16,000 word article. I'll have a look at it on the weekend when the drive has ended, and things associated with the closing of a drive (e.g. newsletters, etc.) are completed. Thanks for understanding. Cheers. – SMasters (talk) 05:47, 30 March 2011 (UTC)
 * Of course. It makes sense that you have a lot on the table at this point of the drive. You run the Guild, right? As a matter of fact, I have no idea how you keep up with it at all. You seem to have a hand, a foot, or sometimes your head in almost every circle that Wikipedia has–you must end up doing the Hokey Pokey on a daily basis;). Bronsonboy (talk) 01:25, 31 March 2011 (UTC)
 * I try. – SMasters (talk) 02:18, 31 March 2011 (UTC)
 * So, with Utahraptor resigning, will you, Diannaa, and Tea with toast have to take on more responsibilities? If I am correct (which I am probably not) in assuming that you shared the workload evenly before, that is 25% of the work apiece. If there are only three of you, that number jumps to roughly 33.3%. That's an increase of 8.3% of the total workload for each of you. In the more rational world where SMasters did 40% and the other three did 20% apiece, SMasters now has to do 50%, while the others do 25%. Still a pretty hefty increase, if percentage-wise equivalent between everyone (+25% of previous work amount, e.g. 40*125%=50; 20*125%=25). I'm not sure you can handle the sudden jump, no matter how efficient you all are. Do you have a candidate in mind to replace Utahraptor? Perhaps an experienced guild-member with several FA's and at least half-a-dozen GA's under his/her belt? Bronsonboy (talk) 15:43, 31 March 2011 (UTC)
 * I took the opportunity to appoint 2 new coordinators, so there's actually 5 of us now. – SMasters (talk) 04:58, 5 April 2011 (UTC)


 * A stub I took on, Mendel Grossman (Revision). Bronsonboy (talk) 01:52, 31 March 2011 (UTC)
 * Overall, a good job. Just a few minor things... Unless you know that Nahman Zonabend and Kibbutz Lohamei Hagetaot are particularly prominent, I would not have wikified them. We do not create new articles just because people or places exist unless they are notable. Having the red links there probably do more harm than good. The other thing is, I would not normally tag articles with when?, whom? etc., unless they are absolutely critical. Again, it is probably doing more harm than good. Otherwise, a good job here. Well done! – SMasters (talk) 05:09, 5 April 2011 (UTC)
 * Thank you. I will try to refrain from tagging things (I have been doing it as a way of requesting additions—is there a better way to request specific information?) Bronsonboy (talk) 00:47, 7 April 2011 (UTC)

I see that the March 2011 drive is ending. I didn't sign up (officially), and I am not going to count it as an achievement, as I've had your help all the way through. Do you think you can get me on my own feet by the May 2011 drive so that I can participate and record a word count/article count? It would give me a great sense of achievement to participate in that drive, and I could start counting them like you do. Bronsonboy (talk) 16:04, 31 March 2011 (UTC)
 * PS: Can you teach me how to count those numbers? Do I use the prose with wikimarkup or the plain text for word count? And can you teach me how to make those nifty custom userboxes you guys are so fond of? Bronsonboy (talk) 16:04, 31 March 2011 (UTC)
 * PPS: Do I count the size of articles I put on or just those that I am actually able to complete a copyedit on? Bronsonboy (talk) 17:26, 3 April 2011 (UTC)
 * Yes, there is no reason why you can't participate in May. Watch out for the announcement. There are plenty of short articles that you can work on. We count words read for the drive. It is done using a script. Instructions can be found here. For userboxes, a list of the most commonly used can be found here. – SMasters (talk) 05:16, 5 April 2011 (UTC)
 * Articles tagged with GOCEreviewed do not count for the drives, as we assume that no work was done on the article. Therefore, you should quickly determine first if you can work on the article, and if it has too many problems, then quickly tag it and move on. I would not spend too much time on it. I do have to say that I rarely tag articles with the reviewed tag. It is an exception rather than the norm. For the drives, you get credit if you have done enough work to remove the copyedit tag from the article. – SMasters (talk) 05:23, 5 April 2011 (UTC)
 * Thanks, SMasters. What issues are considered too much to do? Also, what do we do in the following instances?
 * 1) The article is composed of word salad... <See if you can make sense of it and rewrite so that it makes sense.
 * a)and has a meaning. (I'm guessing we rewrite it?) <Same as above.
 * b)and has a meaning, but I'm worried I'll misinterpret it (e.g. direct objects ambiguous or absent, pronoun phrases without clear antecedent). <Same as above. If needed, add tags for clarification, so skip completely and put a note on the talk page.
 * c)but omitting a certain sentence (which can't be rewritten without knowledge of the topic) would delete information. <Tag with expert.
 * 2) The article is in need of...
 * a) Rewording for weasel words, bias, et cetera. <Remove weasel words and peacock terms.
 * b) A complete rewrite. <Do the rewrite.
 * c) Attention from a more experienced copy-editor like the Supreme Overlord of the Most High Grammaritarian Regime, guiding light of the High Council, he who holds back the raging tides of the most dastardly usurpers, Upholder of The Sacred Covenant, who completed and made done with his own hands many of the Most Glorious Works that were brought to The Great Forum, he who hath fulfilled the visions of our Most Honored Forefather. <Tag with copyedit and skip the article.
 * Bronsonboy (talk) 00:47, 7 April 2011 (UTC)
 * Replies in bold. – SMasters (talk) 13:42, 9 April 2011 (UTC)
 * Thanks. I'll let you know if I need more specific advice on a case-by-case basis. Bronsonboy (talk) 20:18, 13 April 2011 (UTC)
 * Sure. Signup for the May copyedit drive has started. Hope you can participate. :-) SMasters (talk) 22:53, 13 April 2011 (UTC)


 * Kensri School
 * You didn't do too badly with this. I would also remove all the "Mr", "Mrs", etc. as Wikipedia does not use them.
 * √Done. Bronsonboy (talk) 01:45, 30 March 2011 (UTC)


 * "...and flyover. it is..." - Cap. "I".
 * √Done. Bronsonboy (talk) 01:45, 30 March 2011 (UTC)


 * "...Nursery to 12th grade..." - Lower case "n".
 * √Done. Bronsonboy (talk) 01:45, 30 March 2011 (UTC)


 * The current arts and sports sections are too short. I would combine them both together and write it in prose, under a proper sub-heading, e.g. "Arts and sports programme". (I'm assuming UK spelling because it is an article about India).
 * √Done. No heading because there is a natural transition. Bronsonboy (talk) 01:45, 30 March 2011 (UTC)


 * "The staff inspire the students to achieve a high level of performance. The quality of education is never compromised..." - The two sentences are full of peacock terms, I would re-write them or remove them altogether.
 * √Done. Bronsonboy (talk) 01:45, 30 March 2011 (UTC)


 * You did the right thing with the ref link, you cannot link it internally. The way you did it is correct.
 * √Confirmed. Actually, I meant the link I included to my revision (the page where it shows the differences). I know the reference is an external link. Bronsonboy (talk) 01:45, 30 March 2011 (UTC)
 * Sorry, I meant to type rev link. Typo. – SMasters (talk) 05:44, 30 March 2011 (UTC)


 * I have not made any changes to the article - I feel that it is better if you do them so that you can remember any lessons.


 * Şahika Ercümen
 * GOCEreviewed and for longer articles, GOCE, are always put on the talk page. If you accidentally put it on the article, another warning banner will appear, asking you to move it.
 * Why is it for longer articles? I thought was for articles with other problems. How exactly do these two work? When should I use each of them?


 * I don't think the when? tag is necessary, but the others are OK.
 * √Removed. Bronsonboy (talk) 01:45, 30 March 2011 (UTC)


 * "She educated at the" - She was educated...
 * √Changed. Bronsonboy (talk) 01:45, 30 March 2011 (UTC)

The Cheatsheet may be useful for you in terms of formatting, you should also take a look at the Manual of Style, which provides guidance on style issues. Cheers. – SMasters (talk) 06:54, 29 March 2011 (UTC)

March 2010 GAN backlog elimination drive award

 * Thank you! – SMasters (talk) 22:50, 13 April 2011 (UTC)

Thanks
Gosh -- that's very nice of you. Many thanks. I would hope that a bot could do that work at some point! Best.--Epeefleche (talk) 00:13, 14 April 2011 (UTC)
 * You're welcome. I was doing a bit of reverts on that page but have been too busy lately, so I'm glad you're doing it. Those that are constantly adding to the page are certainly persistent. :-) – SMasters (talk) 00:28, 14 April 2011 (UTC)

Copy Edit of GOCE Page
Please go check the GOCE requests—I just made one I really shouldn't have had to...perhaps you could see to it personally? Bronsonboy (talk) 20:40, 15 April 2011 (UTC)
 * Saw that you moved my request. Sorry about putting it in the wrong place, but I didn't know what else to do...I sort of had an identity-crisis about our own pages having errors on them that seemed pretty obvious.

P.S.: I changed the name of this as urgent does tend to get old after a while. As long as you guys are aware of it, I know it will be taken care of. Bronsonboy (talk) 00:21, 17 April 2011 (UTC)

Signpost interview
Hi SMasters,

It looked like no one else wanted to be the third interviewee for the WP:COUNCIL interview, so I have belatedly added my responses. I apologize for waiting until so close to your deadline; it had slipped my mind. WhatamIdoing (talk) 22:14, 14 April 2011 (UTC)
 * Actually, I have already finished the article. I'm away for work until Saturday or Sunday. I'll see if I can fit your responses in sometime before publication on Monday, but I don't want to make any promises that I can't keep. Thanks for participating. Cheers. — Preceding unsigned comment added by SMasters (talk • contribs)


 * Don't worry about it, then; I don't mind being omitted at all. I had put it off initially because I was just in last month's Signpost for WPMED, and I had hoped that someone else would take you up on your interview offer instead.  I only responded when it was apparent that no one else would, in case you really wanted a third response (and then I unfortunately forgot about it for a week).  John and Kirill are definitely the key figures.  Feel free to completely ignore it.  WhatamIdoing (talk) 23:45, 14 April 2011 (UTC)


 * Sorry for the late reply. I have been away for work all weekend and am up to my neck in work in RL. I have managed to squeeze you in! The article is already considered long, so I couldn't use everything. But I wanted to get some main points across. Hope that's OK and thanks again for making the effort. Cheers. – SMasters (talk) 05:09, 18 April 2011 (UTC)


 * Thank you for the update. I'm glad that some of the material was helpful to you, and I apologize again for the last-minute nature.  I know that you're busy, and am glad that you are so dedicated to Wikipedia.  I'm off to read your story now!  WhatamIdoing (talk) 16:33, 18 April 2011 (UTC)

The Signpost: 18 April 2011
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Wikipedia Ambassador Program Newsletter: 22 April 2011
Delivered by EdwardsBot (talk) 16:36, 22 April 2011 (UTC)

Update
Hi

Sorry I have not been around, conjunctivitis and a blown graphics card have made me fairly useless for the past two weeks. Am back to healthy now, well at least I can focus again and I can look at my PC screen for a good hour without my eyes watering constantly :¬)

Sorry not been around but should be ok again, although a little intermittently for this week due to work commitments.

Anything exciting happened? Chaosdruid (talk) 20:40, 24 April 2011 (UTC)

The Signpost: 25 April 2011
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