User talk:SebastianHelm/archive2007

This is the archive for all conversations that didn't fit in any of the Specific discussions and archives.

Help Desk
Hello, Sebastian! I joined WP:UPH nine days ago, and I have the help desk on my watchlist. So I was wondering if I could take your notice off, since I am around to help. Thanks and happy editing! —sd31415  (sign here)  13:02, 2 January 2007 (UTC)
 * Sure! Actually, I'll do it right now, since you asked so nicely. Would you be able to help me with my question there? &mdash; Sebastian 17:07, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

I'll give it my best shot. Fire away at the help desk. —sd31415  (sign here)  17:10, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

Inline frame
Perhaps this is what you are looking for? TEXT is the code that will do the job. See WP:VPT for more details. AZ t 20:39, 27 January 2007 (UTC)
 * That's it! Thanks a lot!

Hi Sebastian
I can't email until tomorrow. Until then, read my essays. They're located in my sandbox, and on my user page. This will explain a lot. :) Nina Odell 01:17, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

Information request: Beer
Hello Sebastian,

I'm a University of Waterloo student, and my assignment is to track down the writers and several other facts from articles on "Beer", in different encyclopedias. I realize that everyone wrote this, but the form I have asks for a single author, so I decided on the person that started the article. I guess the only two facts I can't get from the article are your name (unless SebastianHelm is not a nickname... please excuse me if that is the case), and whether you are an expert on the topic.

I know this is an odd request, but you'll probably be getting it a lot... it might be a good idea to leave this post and your reply up for a few months at least. You see, because of extenuating circumstances, I was given the term's assignments early, but you're going to have at least a thousand other Waterloo students looking for the same information in a month or so. If all the information's there though, they likely won't bug you, we're generally a decent sort.

Thank you for your time, Charles —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 216.106.100.193 (talk) 16:52, 4 January 2007 (UTC).


 * Exceptionally replying on the user's talk page. &mdash; Sebastian 17:29, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

I like you
Consider visiting Santa Cruz, especially if you're interested in nonviolent communication. What can I do to help you? NinaOdell | Talk 15:24, 14 January 2007 (UTC)


 * Have you considered Wikipedia:WikiProject Human rights at all? We could use you. We have a userbox now! NinaOdell | Talk 15:37, 14 January 2007 (UTC)


 * Thank you - I signed up! &mdash; Sebastian 17:55, 16 January 2007 (UTC)


 * On a side note, don't forget User:utcursch. He's great. NinaOdell | Talk 15:36, 14 January 2007 (UTC)


 * Thank you for the recommendation. Do you mean for the Buddhism mediation case? If so, I'd like to ask both parties first. The mediation is going slowly, but steadily, so I don't think it is necessary to add more people. &mdash; Sebastian 17:55, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

Work on new templates
I noticed you were working on new templates, names vand3. I just thought I'd let you know there is currently a WikiProject that is actively trying to create new and updated user warning templates. If you'd like to assist with the Project, please feel free to join. Please visit WikiProject user warnings and view our current progress. Thank you.--NMajdan &bull;talk 17:25, 15 January 2007 (UTC)


 * Thank you for the invitation! I wasn't aware of the project, but it sounds like a very good idea! I'll sign up, although I can't promise to spend much time on it. My heart is more with issues where I feel I can make a difference in the world, and help contribute to peace. &mdash; Sebastian 17:59, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

Grammar1
I've never had occasion to use it. Grammar is a much more "arguable" topic than most, so I think a generic message is less likely to be useful. It doesn't look like other editors are using the template either. 1 Feezo (Talk) 08:59, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

Your "dontremovewarn" template
In case it doesn't show up in your watchlist due to later comments intervening, I replied to your comment at Wikipedia_talk:WikiProject_user_warnings. Essentially, don't-delete-warnings isn't a rule, isn't likely to become one, and is unnecessary if the warning templates are named in the edit summaries when posting them -- because then they will remain visible in the page history. -- Ben 19:46, 18 January 2007 (UTC)

Also, please review User talk:SebastianHelm/Warnings for the latest inclusion. -- Ben 22:37, 18 January 2007 (UTC)


 * Uh oh! One more page to keep on my watchlist! At least I now know where to put it if I ever should get a vandalism warning! [[image:SFriendly.gif|18px]] &mdash; Sebastian 19:23, 21 January 2007 (UTC)

Newyorkbrad's RfA
This is to thank you for your early support on my RfA, which closed favorably this morning. I appreciate the confidence the community has placed in me and am looking forward to my new responsibilities. Please let me know if ever you have any comments or suggestions, especially as I am learning how to use the tools. Best regards, Newyorkbrad 17:48, 21 January 2007 (UTC)

Barnstar

 * I was so happy that I forgot to keep the conversation together and replied here instead. &mdash; Sebastian 07:43, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

Thank you for your help on WP:UW

 * I replied on User talk:Lucasbfr. Somehow it feels inappropriate to not go back to the person who awarded it, even though I prefer to keep conversations together. &mdash; Sebastian 22:15, 1 February 2007 (UTC)

Assistance
Hi there, I followed there but to no avail. I need protection against mkil user, also ready my page, may be you can do something. User_talk: BoxingWear


 * I have no idea what you're talking about, and I don't think I've ever been introduced to you. &mdash; Sebastian 22:40, 31 January 2007 (UTC)

RfC/Yugayuga
This is about a case that has been deletion. I have mixed feelings about the deletion: On one hand, I'm sorry because I would preferred if my statement, especially the one about the desired outcome would have remained. On the other hand, I am confident that both parties learned from it. &mdash; Sebastian 20:24, 4 February 2007 (UTC)

Re:RfC/Yugayuga
Hi Sebastian, I have no argument with what you wrote on this RfC, but should perhaps point out that I was using a standard template to explain the situation re:stub type creation on Yugayuga's talk page. Any excessive wordiness was not of my initial creation. Also, with regards to dedicating some time to improve your understanding of other people, especially of those who may react emotionally, my previous work as a teacher and counsellor did equip me to some extent for that role. If I over-reacted at all, it is because as far as I am concerned, racism is one of the ugliest blights on the human race - one which I have frequently had to deal with in others in the past. Yugayuga would have done me far less injury had he cut off my legs. Grutness...wha?  23:36, 1 February 2007 (UTC)


 * template: Oh, interesting! Since I happen to know how these templates are created and just raised a similar issue I'm wondering if the template could be rewritten?
 * racism: I fully understand how bad you must feel! The race card is a powerful weapon especially against people who hate racism!
 * understanding other people: This is not the first time that I noticed something where I wished you understood others better. But since other people are involved, I don't want to bring it up publicly. &mdash; Sebastian 23:46, 1 February 2007 (UTC)

You misunderstand me (my fault). I wasn't meaning template, I was using it in the sense of a standard wording which I and other stub-sorters use to notify people who create stub types out of process. I can't remember who I got the wording from, but I modified it to tone it down a bit since it sounded overly officious - this was about a year ago. Since then I've used it possibly 100-150 times, and the usual response is along the lines of "oh, sorry - thanks for pointing the process out". This isn't the first time anyone has reacted adversely to it - there have been two or three times when WP:WSS has been accused of being an unneccesary bureaucracy. But no-one has ever assumed that I was making a personal opinion on a stub type - far less expressing a racist opinion on an entire people.

It isn't possible to create an template to deal with these things, since the exact circumstances of the different created stub types varies so much - too much to even make a parametereised template worthwhile. The first paragraph of it is, however, rarely changed; it is the details in the second paragraph which vary from case to case. For some other examples of its use, see these:           ...

As for the racism thing, it's a bit of a bugbear of mine, and one of the things most likely to cause me to blow my tiop. I may have over-reacted to Yugayuga's comments, but it was not the sort of comment I would have expected any wikipedian to have made in good faith, and I was somewhat shocked to have my apology for his misunderstanding of what I wrote regarded as an admission of racism. Grutness...wha?  08:55, 3 February 2007 (UTC)


 * not template: I see - that makes sense!
 * the usual response: How many times out of the 150 did you write such a long list? How many times did it contain a statement that can arguably be seen as racist? How many times did it concern a region that is experiencing a civil war? This is an unusual situation; expect an unusually emotional response. That's what I meant by "learn understand emotional responses". You said you've been a teacher, but were you a teacher in a similar environment as the one Yugayuga is experiencing?
 * overreacting: I'm not saying you were overreacting. The racism accusation really hurts, and I can understand that you wanted to clear that the official way. That's what it's there for. What I meant was that you were overacting in the first place. I think if you had only provided the 60 articles rule it would have been easier to convince Yugayuga.
 * examples of use: I looked at the first reference User talk:Uhanu. Allow me to use this as an example. It could have gone bad, too. It is not as nice as I would hope we treat our newbies. This user hasn't even been welcomed yet! If that is an insecure person, then he/she reads may read it like this (with emotional interpretations in square brackets) "Hi - it has come to our notice that you have [done something bad]. As it clearly states [OMG, the last time somebody said that was my teacher, when I didn't follow the rules. He says I'm so dumb that I don't even understand something that's stated clearly!] at [unintelligible acronym]...". Don't get me wrong, I know you mean well, and not everybody would read it that way, but it is possible. A newbie doesn't have to be ill-willing to react that way.
 * Please don't get me wrong (a.k.a. take it emotionally ;-) I appreciate that you're asking me, and I'm honestly trying to help, not scold you. Usually, I would write something like this by e-mail, because it is just better not to wash someone's dirty laundry in public. But since you prefer it here, I'm fine with that. I'm tired since it's 1:30 am here, I hope I didn't create more misunderstandings. &mdash; Sebastian 09:32, 3 February 2007 (UTC)

Just a couple of minor points: I understand you are trying to help - in fact I am impressed in your work here (if it wasn't for your long gaps of several montsh between bursts of editing, I'm sure you'd be an admin). I too am tired, BTW - I'm only a couple of hours behind you (well, 22 hours ahead :) Grutness...wha?  10:16, 3 February 2007 (UTC)
 * "The usual response" - regions with civil wars or similar? Hmm. TRNC-stub (north Cyprus), Ossetia-stub, Chechnya-stub, NagornoKarabakh-stub and Kashmir-stub are a few examples I can think of where similar wording has been used, with no problem. As to "have I been a teacher in a similar circumstance - not exactly, but I did teach a class with both Iranian and Iraqi students during parts of the 1990s, so I have some idea. As to the length of the list, I'd say about half the time the list would have beenas long as in this case, and it was frequently longer.
 * "One thing that we've discovered in the past at WP:WSS that if there's only one reason given the creator of the template will try to show why their template should be an exception. The more reasons that are given, the les likely it is they will complain if the stub type is deleted.
 * User:Uhanu isn't a newbie, but has been a Wikipedian since August 2006, and is an editor on ten different language wikipedias. (S)he blanks his/her user talk page. I checked before adding the notice that (s)he had enough knowledge of Wikipedia to be able to understand why I wrote what I did.


 * Thank you for your nice and interesting reply. I can imagine your mixed class must have given you some colorful experiences! Thank you also for the compliment.
 * admin: There have been some cases when I wished I had admin privileges - above all when I'm working on templates, because the most interesting ones are protected. But you're right, my gaps are a big handicap, especially since I can't promise any continuous commitment in the future. I have another handicap: I contribute more to Wikipedia and User space than to the article space, which seems to be a reason for many voters to object candidates. I would prefer if the main criterium for admin privileges were the trust in a candidate to use them wisely, but who am I to argue with the majority!
 * length of the list: Good point - I didn't think of that! By how much would you estimate the likelihood to decrease? I guess it's a trade off:


 * Uhanu: I agree. I wasn't aware you were checking people's knowledge before writing such messages. That must take quite some time, too!
 * I have a more general question about stub categories: I remember you and I had a discussion some three years ago about combining stub categories. I think that wasn't possible for technical reasons. But I think since then there was some movement on that front. I would love to be able to combine categories; in my case that would be category:NPOV disputes and areas that I'm interested in. Do you know what the current status is? &mdash; Sebastian 23:12, 3 February 2007 (UTC)

Hi again... you've got a better memory than I have! I think it's still not possible to combine categories, but there may have been some improvement to the way category redirects work. I must admit I honestly don't know just how far any improvements have got though. You're right about the trade-off but - as I said - the number of adverse reactions is very small: a handful of grumbles about over-bureaucratising WP has been the worst up until Yugayuga's response, and quite a number of users actually thank me for explaining things clearly (I suppose it could be sarcastic thanks, but I don't think so). As for Uhanu's case, the talk page was blank but it was a blue-link, which made me suspicious that (s)he wasn't a new user, so I checked. It's pretty unusual for a new user to start making templates and categories without some experience of WP anyway. Grutness...wha?  23:52, 3 February 2007 (UTC)


 * memory: Well, I knew precious little about stubs back then, so there's not much I could have said that you would still remember, while I learned a lot from you!
 * small number of adverse reactions: But when they happen, they get pretty big, don't they? Seriously, do you think such a big reaction would have been as likely if you had limited your message to less emotionally charged reasons? (I would also consider leaving out "As it clearly states", and spelling out "WP:STUB", at least for newbies like Yugayuga.) &mdash; Sebastian 02:58, 4 February 2007 (UTC)

Point taken. I'l try to remember to do that in future! Grutness...wha?  23:00, 4 February 2007 (UTC)


 * Cool! Well then, happy stubbing! [[image:SNive.gif|18px]] &mdash; Sebastian 23:06, 4 February 2007 (UTC)

Thanks
Hi Sebastian! Thank you for your involvement and support at the RfC. It was an unfortunate mess up between me and Grutness. Thanks again. Yugayuga 13:56, 4 February 2007 (UTC)

HeeeeeeeeeeY
Thank you. You have done a great job by fixing the the smiley template. -- ♪♫ ĽąĦĩŘǔ ♫♪  Walkie-talkie |undefined 03:32, 3 February 2007 (UTC)


 * You're welcome! Actually, I use your page myself for reference! &mdash; Sebastian 03:39, 3 February 2007 (UTC)


 * Ah!!! Is that so [[image:SConfident.gif|18px]], I saw you have invite two IP users to the project. So I change the Welcome-lk to the WPSLR format and designed a welcome template for the WP:SLR. Feel free to edit my sandbox, then it will help us to create an unique welcome template for our project. -- ♪♫ ĽąĦĩŘǔ ♫♪  Walkie-talkie |undefined 04:07, 3 February 2007 (UTC)


 * Oh, I wasn't aware there was already a Sri Lanka welcome template. How about if we added SLR to that? &mdash; Sebastian 04:12, 3 February 2007 (UTC)
 * I mean, the blue color looks nice, and we can certainly use it for our project, but I don't think somebody who isn't a member would want to use it. &mdash; Sebastian 04:16, 3 February 2007 (UTC)
 * I continued the template specific talk on User talk:Lahiru k/Sandbox2. &mdash; Sebastian 05:08, 3 February 2007 (UTC)
 * Ok then we'll continue our discussion on there. -- ♪♫ ĽąĦĩŘǔ ♫♪  Walkie-talkie |undefined 16:26, 3 February 2007 (UTC)

Re: Fragen betr. Deiner Nachricht
Hallo Sebastian, die Nachricht zum Bild Image:Cascadia.jpg auf den Commons ist mittels eines scripts eingefügt worden. Den redirect auf deiner Diskussionsseite habe ich dabei wohl übersehen, sorry. Das Bild habe ich jetzt gelöscht. --GeorgHH 21:51, 9 February 2007 (UTC)


 * Danke. Und was ist mit meinen beiden Bitten? Was den irreführenden Text betrifft, so kann ich damit leben. Aber kannst Du bitte in Zukunft den Bot kontrollieren, damit so etwas nicht wieder passiert? &mdash; Sebastian 22:14, 9 February 2007 (UTC)


 * Es handelt sich nicht um einen bot, sondern um . Klar war es mein Fehler, den Eintag nicht zu überprüfen, werde in Zukunft ein Auge darauf haben. --GeorgHH 21:27, 10 February 2007 (UTC)


 * Vielen Dank für die freundliche und hilfreiche Antwort! Dem Code entnehme ich, dass die Nachricht selber von commons:Template:Image source kommt. Ich werde mal darüber nachdenken, ob sich der Text tatsächlich verbessern lässt und es gegebenfalls dort vorschlagen. &mdash; Sebastian 00:17, 11 February 2007 (UTC)

MatheWiki
Hallo Sebastian Helm, vieleicht sind Sie bereit mir aus meiner Verzweifelten Situation zu helfen. Ich heiße Ingo Roseneck, bin Mathe-Lehrer und will an meiner Schule ein MatheWiki einrichten. Ich habe mir alles besorgt was ich so brauche: WinXP TypO3 MediaWiki OCaml ImageMagick Ghostscript MikTeX Nun wollte ich texvc compilieren und bekomme lediglich irgendwelche -Unbound value Lexer.token- Exceptions. Ich komme da nicht weiter. Dann habe ich von einer Manipulation der localSettings.php erfahren, ändert aber auch nichts - sucht trotzdem texvc.exe! Readme, google, foren haben mir bis dato nicht geholfen und dann habe ich Sie im Forum gefunden. Wenn Sie mir weiterhelfen könnten, wäre ich Ihnen wirklich dankbar; denn mir läuft so langsam die Zeit davon und bald kann ich meine Bemühungen begraben. Sonst kennen Sie vieleicht einen, der mir eine step-by-step-Anleitung zukommen lassen kann. Meine email wäre: iroseneck@web.de Ich bedanke mich einfach mal vorab und sende Grüße, Ingo Roseneck


 * Für die Technik, die hinter Wikipedia steht, bin ich leider nicht der richtige Ansprechpartner. Vielleicht hilft hierzu die FAQ. Aber es geht auch einfacher. Sie können einfach ein Wiki von einer vorbereiteten WikiFarm übernehmen. Siehe die Liste auf Comparison of wiki farms. Ich habe vor einiger Zeit zwei dieser Farmen für ähnliche Projekte ausprobiert und war recht zufrieden damit. Beide sind aber nicht mehr auf der Liste; sie war damals wesentlich länger. &mdash; Sebastian 23:11, 9 February 2007 (UTC)

Nina Odell
How about some recognition for her Thanks RaveenS

tltt time again!
Hello again, Sebastian.

It looks as though the kerfluffle surrounding the test template revamp is mostly over, so I've started adding in the tltt codes again. I was hoping you would be willing to help out with that again? So far, I've only covered the "Usual Warnings" box near the top of that page, mainly to test the template out in the new article and make sure it would be acceptable with everyone working on it. There is one difference with how we were arranging the codes before - to avoid changing the appearance of how things currently are, I had to add  tags on either side of the template. If you can and are willing to help out again, please let me know! There's a lot to be done, and it's probably going to take a while. Thanks! Hersfold (talk 04:01, 13 February 2007 (UTC)


 * Oh, yeah! You did a good job so far! I'm thinking we could first try to complete the first column. That suffices probably for 90% of all situations. About the  : We could add that in the template, too. I guess the new name would be "tltttt", then ;-) &mdash; Sebastian 04:13, 13 February 2007 (UTC)


 * Good call, that - it'll probably make things much easier. A column at a time should work fine, and that will make it easier to work with the tip as well (up to level 1, 2, etc.). I'll probably get some time tomorrow to work on things. Thanks! Hersfold (talk 04:19, 13 February 2007 (UTC)

What name would you propose for the new template? Or maybe we can just overwrite "tltt" - afaik it's not used in any other important place. &mdash; Sebastian 04:29, 13 February 2007 (UTC)

I'd just overwrite tltt. There's no real need to make a new template, because like you said, it's not used anywhere else. I'll let you make the edit, since it's your template. :) Hersfold (talk 01:13, 14 February 2007 (UTC)


 * Thank you; I do feel a bit like it's my baby. But of course there's no private ownership in Wikipedia, at least not of templates. ;-) Please don't hesitate to edit that template in the future. &mdash; Sebastian 01:41, 14 February 2007 (UTC)

Alright, I'll keep that in mind. :-) I'll start working on the template conversion again. Hersfold (talk 01:45, 14 February 2007 (UTC)


 * I just changed the template. Actually, I'm just thinking we could globally replace whatever with whatever . I don't want to interfere with your edits; have you already started? &mdash; Sebastian 02:02, 14 February 2007 (UTC)

Yes, Level 1 is now complete. I've also taken out those extra  tags from the first box. I can start editing the bottom portions if you'd like to get to work on level 2 and higher. It's rather odd that the tooltip works on my computer but not yours - do you use Firefox? That probably has something to do with it. Hersfold (talk 03:08, 14 February 2007 (UTC)


 * Thanks a lot! I'm very sorry, I have to bow out for now. I still haven't completed my "homework" for tomorrow. I'll be away tomorrow, but I can continue with it later this week. As for the browser, I'm using IE 6.0. Does it work in all instances for you? &mdash; Sebastian 03:14, 14 February 2007 (UTC)

No problem, I'm signing off for the night myself. The page headers are done, although I had to make up a new template based on your design - tltt2 allows you to add another parameter to demonstrate how the template would be used. As for the tooltips, when I use IE 9 (6 got lost when my computer decided to update), I get the tip when I however over either set of braces, but not the link itself. Rather odd. Not sure about other browsers. Hersfold (talk 03:37, 14 February 2007 (UTC)


 * Nice! Actually, it should be possible to do this with tltt, too. Only problem, as you already realized, is the order of parameters. I recently turned towards using more named parameters - that would be something like . would that work for you? &mdash; Sebastian 04:02, 14 February 2007 (UTC)


 * Done! It even can be used for more than one parameter now. I was thinking of adding individual tooltips for each parameter, but that would make it much more complicated. Would be nifty, though: It could display a compact version of the parameter and explain each individually. Syntax would be . &mdash; Sebastian 04:36, 14 February 2007 (UTC)

Excellent! I'll start removing the tltt2 codes - it'll work better if everything is uniform. There's no need to use both templates when just one will do. Hersfold (talk 15:52, 14 February 2007 (UTC)

Thank you!!
... for the timely 'Humour alert' message. Thanks to your prompt action, I have now ceased from all humourous action and apologise for all disruption. However, your alert message has now caused me to spit Red Bull all over my screen and I can no longer see my edits. Helllp! :) - Alison✍ 18:02, 13 February 2007 (UTC)

Saint Clair High School
Saint Clair High School, is the high school for the city of St. Clair, Michigan. Known single handedly for its highly respected cross country team. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Import600 (talk • contribs) 10:47, 19 February 2007 (UTC).


 * I have no idea why you're writing this to me. &mdash; Sebastian 18:41, 19 February 2007 (UTC)

RFC
Colonel Soosai, Sathasivam Krishnakumar, Captain Miller for RFC. Until that no tagging?SAR23 14:00, 23 February 2007 (UTC)


 * No, Stay on the original version and discuss, as we did on Notable assassinations of the Sri Lankan Civil War. -- ♪♫ ĽąĦĩŘǔ ♫♪  walkie-talkie |undefined 17:04, 23 February 2007 (UTC)

Unique Wiki Labeling on *All* Products and Ads
Newbie Greentopia here.

Just thought you might want to give me your perspective on this idea I posted in the Proposal section of Wikipedia. 

It's kind-of also at www.WikiPPP.org.

Any ideas on this baby?

Looked at some of your contributions, its great. I lived in Tacoma for a spell.

www.WikiPPP.org www.EarthE.org For The Life, Greentopia 07:42, 7 March 2007 (UTC)

Re; Please relax
Conversation moved to User talk:Snowolfd4.

reply to my talk page message
Herr Sebastian, thanks for the lovely detailed message at my talk page..give me a couple of days to reply you, I am kinda busy till Tuesday. Iwazaki  会話. 討論 09:59, 11 March 2007 (UTC)

DRV
[] - Privacy 19:34, 11 March 2007 (UTC)


 * Not sure what you mean - DRV? &mdash; Sebastian 07:59, 15 March 2007 (UTC)

Need your input
I have finnished creating the Notable_assassinations_of_the_Sri_Lankan_Civil_War article per the concensus we reached on the other page. I need your opinion as to proceed further with the re directs to this neutral article. Thanks RaveenS 20:40, 14 March 2007 (UTC)


 * Sorry, I'm a bit confused. Are you referring to the list Shunpiker wrote on Jan 17? Most of the links are redlinks now. Many of the blue links point to Assassinations and murders attributed to the LTTE. Are you considering replacing that article with a redirect? &mdash; Sebastian 05:49, 15 March 2007 (UTC)

Tamilnet as a source
Dear Sebastian,

Could you please take a look at the discussion on Talk:Burning of Jaffna library. This was part of the original dispute and unfortunately it is reappearing and people are rejecting WikiProject Sri Lanka Reconciliation. I think your calm input will be very helpful. Thank you for all the effort you are making here. I wish we could do the same in reality in my country. -- Ponnampalam 23:18, 14 March 2007 (UTC)


 * The discussion has now spread to Wikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard#Edit war on article Bharathanatyam where the validity of Tamilnation as a source is being discussed. I find it slightly saddening that Snowolfd4 and others who I thought had agreed on the old proposal are now changing their minds after Sarvagnya raised the issue again.
 * Also, this will be my last work on Wikipedia for many months. My doctor has ordered me very strictly to cut down on activity.  But there is a lot I can do.  I have bought a German course and plan to fulfil a long-standing dream of reading Heinrich Boll in the original.  Since I fully intend to live to complete 100 years, I have at least 15 years to succeed!
 * If I don't see you on Wikipedia again, thank you again for your wonderful work. -- Ponnampalam 19:09, 15 March 2007 (UTC)

Decline of Buddhism in India
Tigeroo seems to be little active now. Freedom skies seems to interested in closing the case, and plans to take a Wikibreak. I guess the case might be closed now. utcursch | talk 06:03, 15 March 2007 (UTC)


 * Thank you for your quick reply. I just asked the question on the mediation page. It seems at least we got 4 out of 10 items resolved, that's at least a partial success. &mdash; Sebastian 06:24, 15 March 2007 (UTC)


 * Aight, seems the communication got lost somewhere, I kinda got distracted elsewhere after what seemed to me as a no show from the new mediator. No worries, hmm would returning to edit to the page now be ok??--Tigeroo 11:46, 26 March 2007 (UTC)


 * Yes. Since the mediation is closed I have no concerns about interfering with the mediation anymore. &mdash; Sebastian 19:12, 26 March 2007 (UTC)

Minimal pair
Thanks for your improvements to the article on minimal pairs. Adding the small pictures and restructuring into a table made the the explanations much clearer. &minus;Woodstone 06:54, 17 March 2007 (UTC)


 * Thank you for the nice message! That's really encouraging! &mdash; Sebastian 22:51, 17 March 2007 (UTC)

WP:UW future?
Hi, Sorry for the blatant spam, but you have yourself down as active at WikiProject user warnings WP:UW. There is a discussion on going here that might be of interest to you about the future of this project. There are two strawpolls on the talk pages and the second one is about the future of the WP:UW project. Now we have the end in sight we are looking at wrapping up the project and merging it with Template messages/User talk namespace WP:UTM and creating a one stop shop for all userspace template issue. As you are or have been active on this project we feel you may have some input on this issue, and would like you to visit the discussion and give any thoughts you may have on the matter. Cheers Khu  kri  10:07, 19 March 2007 (UTC)


 * Thanks for the invitation. I just looked at it and it's already closed. Sorry for being late! &mdash; Sebastian 07:23, 21 March 2007 (UTC)

Your response required in achieving consensus
Hi please respond here --> Talk:Assassinations_and_murders_attributed_to_the_LTTE  &#327;ë&#359;&#924;&#466;&#324;&#287;ë&#343;  Talk 06:31, 26 March 2007 (UTC)

Regarding the article covering LTTE
Hi, just wanted to draw your attention to the current status of the article regarding the LTTE. I am trying to keep POV tags on it as it contains several statements that I consider poorly documented (LTTE involved in drug smuggling, forced prostitution and cooperation with Al Quaida). To make my position clear (as I also have done on the article's talk page) I am no friend of the LTTE - I consider their organisation in several ways have fascists and anti-democratic sides that I am strongly against. However I do believe that Wikipedia should be based on facts, not "talk on the town". I dont want to waste too much time over that article, but at least I will try to keep the POV tags from what I consider biased edits from sinhala chauvinists. If you could have a look and engage (or critizise me if I am wrong) I would be happy about that. Ulflarsen 05:49, 3 April 2007 (UTC)


 * I would prefer if you could bring this to the attention of WT:SLR. &mdash; Sebastian 07:29, 4 April 2007 (UTC)

Nationalism
hallo Sebastian -- danke für deine Nachricht; im Interesse der Offenheit gegenüber Mitlesern antworte ich in Englisch;

I would prefer to keep the "essay" in my user space as a reflection of my own experience and opinions on the problem. But you are very welcome to take whatever part you like and start a "common" article on the nationalist problem in Wikipedia:-namespace. I confess I have not come across very much Tamil nationalism in the past. This has changed recently with the very beautiful case-study and Devaneya Pavanar. The impact on Indian nationalism so far has been completely dominated by the Hindutva side, but maybe the Dalit-movement people will catch up now. As for Sri Lanka, as I say, it is difficult in cases of armed conflict to distinguish pure ideology and simple outrage over incidents of violence. The "pure" nationalist lives in a world completely removed from reality. Thus, I think the Sri Lanka conflict is rather closer to Israel/Palestine stuff than to the pristine abstract crackpottery of the Hindutva ideologues :) Since my own involvement in all this is motivated by an interest in the mindset of the crank rather than politics, I may have a somewhat skewed impression of what is going on overall. regards, dab (𒁳) 14:58, 6 April 2007 (UTC)

Isn't it wonderful (sarcasm)
Sebastian,

The LTTE article and many such articles look ridiculous now thanks in part to your well intentioned mediation effort. I should say your efforts were well intentioned, but  kumbaya style togetherness has its limits , particularly when trying to stop a horde of bigots, chauvinists and state-terror apologists. ''' Evil triumphs when good people do nothing. ''' You should perhaps take this to heart sometime... The articles are so fantasized that they really sound like SL Govt's propaganda ministry on the web. For all that hard work you put mediating this and setting up all these groups... look where it has come, its gone up in flames... This continues to show, what freedom of speech and democracy means Sinhala style - it means continued whole scale murdering of innocent Tamils (should I suggest genocide ?) and drowning of any semblance of truth, dignity and everything Westerners take for granted. Wonder why there is not much resistance on Eelam conflict related articles from Tamils? Cuz, as Sinhala merry men rampage these articles, we have been busy ridiculing wikipedia and its cult following. Now we have plenty of ammunition. Truth is never meant for the masses, this is the moral of the story... Wikipedia is getting increasingly banned by universities and other scholarly centres...  I would try doing good in the real world rather than having a deck chair on the titanic :) —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 74.112.107.145 (talk) 19:06, 13 April 2007 (UTC).

I understand that you're angry, but I'm not sure what you want: &mdash; Sebastian 22:50, 14 April 2007 (UTC)
 * If you think something in an article should be changed, please feel free to discuss it there. Please make sure that you have reliable sources for what you want there.
 * If there's something you would like to change generally about Wikipedia's coverage of the Sri Lanka conflict, there are three WikiProjects that are trying to do just that - maybe you can help out there:
 * WikiProject NCSLC (talk)
 * WikiProject Sri Lanka Reconciliation (talk)
 * WikiProject Human Rights in Sri Lanka (talk)
 * If you have a concrete request from me, please be specific. I don't have much time for Wikipedia or the Sri Lanka conflict now, but if I like your idea I may do it.

Peer review request
An SLR article TamilNet is getting peer reviewed your input as an SLR member would be welcome to make it eventually into a featured article. Thanks RaveenS 12:31, 16 April 2007 (UTC)

Question about arbitration etiquette
Sebastian, Another user has opened an arbitration request against me, with reference to the article Ann Althouse. This is a new process for me; I've looked over Mediation_Cabal, but I'm not sure I really understand the process - that is, what should I be doing (if anything), and what's the arbitration process. Are there any articles written on this already? I'm not sure that arbitration is the appropriate response here, but assuming it's the road being travelled for now, I'd like to have a clearer idea of what the sights are.Simon Dodd 01:43, 23 April 2007 (UTC)


 * There is no article other than the description on the Cabal page because cases can be quite different. But don't worry. Right now you don't have to do anything; it will take some time till someone signs up as a mediator. I hope you'll get an experienced mediator, but we have no control on who signs up; chances are that you get a newbie, and in any case we're all amateurs here - so be prepared that they make mistakes. A common mistake is putting the cited party in the defensive; our current case page layout encourages this by letting only one side state "what's going on". If that bothers you you can bring it up with your mediator, but you also may consider leaving it as is; if the mediator is fair regarding the changes of the mediated article then you don't lose anything; once the case is closed it doesn't matter what the "what's going on" said - nobody considers these statements as true fact findings. I thought about proposing to change this, but this format has the advantage that it lets one side - usually the one who is more emotionally involved - let out some steam. Most importantly, remember that mediation is voluntary for both sides. If you're unhappy with the process, you can always bow out (in which event the case may go to arbitration - which is a much more involved process). But please consult me before you decide to do so. &mdash; Sebastian 16:14, 23 April 2007 (UTC)


 * Sebastian, thanks for the reply; I'm hoping that this has become a moot point, insofar as I've replaced the entire section with a brief, neutral compromise position and filed for page protection, but two questions arising from your reply.
 * First, when mediation is requested in a situation like this, where the dispute is over whether a particular section or a particular point should or should not appear in the article, and since you note that "it will take some time till someone signs up as a mediator," is there any precedent or common wikiquette for what should happen to the page in the meantime? Should editors continue edit-warring, or should they agree to refrain - and in which case, should the disputed text remain in the article pending mediation, or stay out of the article pending mediation? Needless to say, each side of the edit war has a rather different perspective on this point. Second, is mediation binding? I ask because if it is, it seems to me that I ought to consider challenging MedCab's jurisdiction over this dispute, while if it's non-binding, I can probably just let things take their course.
 * Thanks, Simon Dodd 13:30, 24 April 2007 (UTC)


 * The point about the cabal is that it's very free - it is just an informal place for people who are involved in a conflict to meet others who are willing to help. Every mediator may handle things differently. (My own way is described here.)
 * To answer your specific questions: (1) While there may be precedents, there is no single recommended etiquette for what should happen. Without looking at the actual content, what you did sounds good to me. I am not sure if it is something we could recommend, though, because it would open the door to fake compromises (such as when the "compromising" editor concedes only an irrelevant point). But it sounds like you’re a reasonable person; you seem to be willing to constructively participate in the mediation, in which case there can be no doubt about your sincerity. (2) Generally, mediation is not binding, but I had some success with mediations in which both parties agreed to the compromise, in which case they agreed to not changing it without prior discussion. &mdash; Sebastian 18:05, 24 April 2007 (UTC)


 * "[I]t sounds like you’re a reasonable person"
 * I particularly appreciate your saying so, because it seems today as though you're the only one who thinks so (see ). LOL.Simon Dodd 20:04, 24 April 2007 (UTC)


 * That is funny! And you know why? Because the problem seems to be that the levels for user warnings are not well defined; and you're just writing to someone who brought just that up two months ago: Levels: What do they actually mean? Unfortunately it was not the right moment then because the basic decisions had already been made, and everybody just wanted to see it implemented. I don't have much free time, but maybe now would be a better time to discuss that? &mdash; Sebastian 20:20, 24 April 2007 (UTC)

Request for Mediator
Well... that request is kind of old. Really, no one has made any comments since February, and the case should be nearing closure because of this. However, during Feburary, neither side was willing to compromise on anything, and the case really never got anywhere. That is why I placed it on the case comment, "Needs another mediator." I really don't know what to do with it now... Diez2 15:04, 26 April 2007 (UTC)


 * This is a very typical situation, so don't feel bad about it. As mediators, we can't force people to accept any compromise offers. (BTW, I'd recommend any mediator to enable e-mail. Confidentiality can go a long way if you want work out a possible compromise.) Anyway, I can think of the following options:
 * Just close the case with the remark that neither side was willing to compromise on anything.
 * Do the above plus: Edit the article so it represents a compromise and have it protected.
 * bring it to WP:RFC/USER: this is more involved and has about 50% chance that it ends in both users being put on probation.
 * bring it to WP:RFARB: This is very involved and takes time; I'd only do it if the users are obviously harmful to Wikipedia
 * Ask on the MedCab talk page if other people have better ideas. That's what I'd do, but the parties may not appreciate it.
 * I'm sorry that there is no really satisfying option and I hope it doesn't discourage you from mediation. &mdash; Sebastian 02:53, 27 April 2007 (UTC)

Follow-up
Sebastian, The mediation request I asked you about above,, has subsequently become moot - the disputed section was removed and summarized in a brief paragraph, the page protected, and an admin reviewing the summary removed even that description. The section in dispute thus no longer forms part of the article, by direction of a WP admin, and I consider there to be no further controversy that can be pursued through mediation; if you agree, could you close the mediation request, since it would seem improper for me, as the defendant (so to speak), to do so?Simon Dodd 17:04, 26 April 2007 (UTC)

New conflict resolution action items on SLR
see here Thanks Taprobanus 15:06, 2 May 2007 (UTC)

Issue with Fellowship of Friends page mediation
Hey SebastianHelm, could you take a peek at the Talk page of the FoF? We are having an issue with the mediator (Coren) that has been absent for several days. Thank you. Mario Fantoni 02:02, 9 May 2007 (UTC)


 * Vassyana, on whose page you left the same question, already asked on Coren's user page. Let's see if we get a reply. My impression is that Coren did a great job until a few days ago; it would be a pity if the time invested would be in vain. Therefore, I really hope Coren can stay as a mediator. &mdash; Sebastian 06:20, 9 May 2007 (UTC)

Image:Nonviolent Peaceforce blue bird for userbox.jpg
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Image:Nonviolent Peaceforce blue bird for userbox.jpg
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Image:Nonviolent Peaceforce blue bird for userbox.jpg
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2007 Karachi riots
Sebastian, I was wondering if I could have your opinion as an informal 3rd party. I authored the article about the recent 2007 Karachi riots a few days ago. I realized it was a hot button issue so I was very careful to cite my sources and mantain as objective opinion possible. However, due to the bloodshed and ideologies associated, there are many volunteer editors who have added unsourced and uncited opinions. I want to go in and reverse their edits, but knowing that this is sometimes how bad situations get worse, I wanted a 3rd party to perhaps offer some insight. I am also relatively new to Wikipedia. Any insight/advice would be appreciated. Chantoke 20:58, 14 May 2007 (UTC)


 * If the unsourced statements are about living people then WP:LIVING applies. In other cases you have two options:
 * You can delete and see what happens (per WP:BRD). In that case, be prepared that people may get mad at you.
 * The nicer way is to add "the template for unreferenced text" after the text and wait 4 days before deleting it.
 * Good luck! &mdash; Sebastian 23:54, 14 May 2007 (UTC)

Oma Ziegenfuss/Georg Schaefer
Guten Tag, Sie haben etliche Informationen zu Oma Ziegenfuss/Georg Schaefer in der deutschen Wikipedia zusammengetragen. Woher aben Sie diese Daten bekommen? MfG MarcoBorn


 * Danke für Ihr Interesse! Wie ich unter "Zusammenfassung und Quellen" geschrieben habe, kommen die Informationen: "von Georg Schafer; ich übernehme nur die wesentlichen Daten, da vieles in diesem Artikel nicht belegt ist". &mdash; Sebastian 05:52, 29 May 2007 (UTC)

Tamilnet source issue
You might think I am crazy, but I am taking it all the way. See the first step ANI complaint. I am using the so called conflict with this guy to eventually come to an understaning as to whether Tamilnet is usable or not. Period, I had enough of this cycle of vicious editing including some Indian Tamil politically driven editors who endorse the view that it is not RS. If Wiki community decides that it is not then it is not. If they decide it is RS then everybody has to shut up. Either way I am OK with it. Thanks 14:02, 30 May 2007 (UTC)
 * Now that ANI has ruled that Tamilnet does not violate RS (which was a foregone conclusion the moment AFD was put on the raped and killed women)how can we say it is just QS ? We cant support a contrary position to an ANI finding ? can we ? Thanks Taprobanus 00:06, 4 June 2007 (UTC)

WikiProject user warnings
Re your message: Do not waste your time writing a message to me. I am no longer in support of Wikipedia and have joined the ranks of those who oppose it. -- ElectricEye  ( talk ) 14:25, 30 May 2007 (UTC)

Reply
I replied in my talk.

Minasbeede 01:11, 8 June 2007 (UTC)

WikiHate
I have removed the prod tag from Wikipedia:WikiHate, which you proposed for deletion, because the page you proposed for deletion was not an article, user page, or user talk page. If you still think the page should be deleted, please don't add the prod template back to it, as proposed deletion is only for articles, user pages, and user talk pages. Instead, consider using WP:MfD for this page. In some cases, a speedy deletion criterion may apply. Thanks! Od Mishehu 11:30, 10 June 2007 (UTC)

Stone lamps
Hi, Sebastian. Regarding the mention of stone lamps in the Cave painting article--not sure who added that and not sure that it's relevant to the article. Would welcome your input on that. But I was able to quickly locate one of the mentions in Curtis. On page 117-118 he describes an excavation of Lascaux that took place in 1959. He writes, "A number of tools and blades also appeared, as well as dozens of plain lamps that are little more than stones with a small hollow, and one exquisite lamp carved from pinkish sandstone. It is shaped like a broad spoon and decorated with the same barbed lines found on the spear points and in the painting. The presense of so many lamps in the Shaft adds weight to the theory that things took place at times when the carbon dioxide level was high. Each individual lamp would have burned less brightly in an atmosphere rich in carbon dioxice, so more lamps that usual would have been necessary." TimidGuy 15:45, 11 June 2007 (UTC)


 * Thank you for your message and the link. I don't think it is directly relevant to the topic cave painting. (We don't describe modern lamps in our article painting, either.) But I think this is interesting information, and I'd be fine if it were discussed at Lascaux or oil lamp (presuming it can be called an oil lamp - that article even needs a relevant citation). It would be an excellent addition to an article like life in prehistoric caves or so. &mdash; Sebastian 20:14, 11 June 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for your input, Sebastian. Maybe at some point we can consider adding a section about how they did the paintings. Curtis talks about interesting evidence for the use of scaffolding, so we could mention that and the lamps. But before anything like that or adding any other content, I really do need to go through Curtis and add some specific citations for the content that's already there.

I'll look into adding something to the Lascaux article about the lamps. Interesting suggestion about "life in prehistoric caves" -- though in this case it may not be relevant, because all the evidence suggests that they didn't live in the caves. TimidGuy 16:24, 12 June 2007 (UTC)

Private mediation
Hello, just wondering what is the results of your mediation efforts regarding exposing my real identity in wikipedia in an ANI, so that I can take my case to next logical place. Thanks Taprobanus 15:34, 15 June 2007 (UTC)
 * I got an initial reply to my first mail, but when I asked for clarifications I got no reply anymore. I am sorry that the mediation failed. &mdash; Sebastian 18:09, 15 June 2007 (UTC)

Flywheel Energy Storage
Hi Sebastian

Noted your interest in this subject; could you enlighten me.

I imagine that a low-mass flyheel would take less energy input than a high-mass replicate to attain an optimum rotational velocity.

If the mass could be increased once that velocity was achieved, and without altering the velocity, would this increase the available energy?

I'm imagining a centifugal transfer of water (or heavier iquid - mercury?) through radial channels into sections of a hollow rim.

Applications envisaged include energy storage for intermittent renewable energy sources; solar, wind & tidal.

Cheers, Don


 * Hypothetically, you're right. But there's no way to increase the mass without decreasing the velocity. (As long as you just let the wheel spin. Of course, you can always artificially accellerate the wheel from outside, but that would defeat your point). You can easily see this principle: Sit on a rotating chair, holding two weights in your hands in and keep them in the middle of the rotation axis. Now extend your hands (which is easy, as you noticed, as you're helped by centrifugal forces). You will notice that your speed will decrease. &mdash; Sebastian 02:23, 17 June 2007 (UTC)

Re: Alaibot
Thanks for that - I'll pass a note on to Alai, since he's the one that runs the bot. I've also speedied the page as empty (in future, you might want to put a db-empty template on any pages you find like this). Grutness...wha?  08:01, 20 June 2007 (UTC)

Hi there. I'd echo the suggestion about tagging empty pages: and most especially, don't blank them yourself, tag them for speedy or proposed deletion, or other appropriate disposal and/or cleanup. I completely agree we don't want to stub-sort or categorise any old rubbish, but if it just gets blanked, it'll still show up on shortpages and uncategorisedpages until someone takes a look at it by hand and deals with it accordingly. If it's already in even a maintenance category, my bot will skip it. I could indeed use a different template than stub, but I don't know what difference that'd make in the long run. Ultimately, the solution is perhaps to make it harder to create these articles in the first place, but that'd be something to agitate for on a wider scale. Alai 15:34, 20 June 2007 (UTC)


 * Thank you both for your replies. The whole purpose of my message to Grutness was only to alert him; he knows much better what works for stub sorting. I can imagine it would make a difference, but that's his call. Re deletion: I now know that it's not recommended to blank such pages anymore; I read up on the latest deletion policy after I noticed Alaibot's edit, which is why I used the word "obsolete" in my message and added the prod template to the page. &mdash; Sebastian 15:59, 20 June 2007 (UTC)


 * I think I disagree with Grutness often enough on stub-sorting that I'd have to take issue with the "his call" aspect. :) But I think I we're all more or less on the same page now.  I'll mention the idea of a differently-worded template at WSS, and see if people are on balance positive or negative.  Alai 17:02, 20 June 2007 (UTC)


 * Good! I need to address a possible misunderstanding: I only meant to compare Grutness' competence with mine, not with yours, as I don't know you well enough. &mdash; Sebastian 17:52, 20 June 2007 (UTC)


 * It's just a bit of nitpicking feuding on both our parts as to trivia like stub naming and scope. For the most part we're reading from the same songsheet, as it were :) Grutness...<small style="color:#008822;">wha?  01:25, 22 June 2007 (UTC)

Mediation Cabal
Is there a list of mediators for the Meditation Cabal, or is it like third opinion where you can just grab a case and help out? ~  Wi ki  her mit  00:54, 21 June 2007 (UTC)


 * The latter. &mdash; Sebastian 01:45, 21 June 2007 (UTC)

Schwungradspeicherung
Hallo SebatianHelm, schön dass du dich durch Übersetzung englischsprachiger Artikel auch an der deutschsprachigen WP beteiligst. Ich möchte dich aber höflich darauf hinweisen, dass es besser wäre, wenn du zuerst komplett übersetzen und dann erst in die deutsche Wikipedia einstellen würdest. Ein zu über 90% aus englischem Text bestehender Artikel gehört einfach nicht in den Artikelnamensraum der deutschsprachigen WP, sondern z. B. zunächst einmal zur Übersetzung auf eine Benutzerunterseite ("Werkstattseite"). --87.185.36.122 22:23, 24 June 2007 (UTC) (Benutzer:Dschanz in der de.WP) Nachtrag: Da, nun ists passiert. Benutzer:Gestumblindi hat deinen Text mit gleicher Begründung gekappt. Dschanz

Hallo Sebastian; Du bittest auf de:Benutzer Diskussion:SebastianHelm darum, auch deutsche Nachrichten an dich hier hinzusetzen, dann mach ich das mal. Ich möchte mich dafür entschuldigen, dich offenbar dadurch verärgert zu haben, dass ich den englischen Text aus deiner laufenden Übersetzung de:Schwungradspeicherung entfernte (dein Kommentar: Absolut unnötiger Bearbeitungskonflikt. Dann mach deinen Kram doch alleine. Ich habe besseres zu tun). Aber man kann doch einen Text aus der englischen Wikipedia in aller Ruhe übersetzen und dann in die deutsche hochladen - es besteht kein Grund, zwischendurch den englischen Text hochzuladen. Ich habe selbst schon etliche Artikel aus der englischen in die deutsche Wikipedia übersetzt und wäre nie auf den Gedanken gekommen, das zu machen. Selbst wenn es deine Absicht war, diesen Text sehr schnell durch den deutschen zu ersetzen - es kann immer was dazwischenkommen, und in der deutschen Wikipedia sollten nun mal nur deutschsprachige Artikel stehen. Das Thema ist sicher relevant und interessant (als Schweizer musste ich natürlich gleich an die ungewöhnlichen Gyrobusse, die einst in Yverdon im Einsatz waren, denken) und es würde mich freuen, wenn du mit deiner Übersetzung weiterfahren könntest. Gruss, Gestumblindi 23:00, 24 June 2007 (UTC)


 * Grummel, grummel! Inzwischen habe ich auf de:Wikipedia Diskussion:Übersetzungswünsche darüber geschrieben, vielleicht können wir die Diskussion ja dort fortsetzen. --&mdash; Sebastian 23:06, 24 June 2007 (UTC)

Articles for deletion/Nonviolent Peaceforce
You're probably watching the article, but I just thought I'll bring it to your notice. -- snowolf D4  (  talk  /  @   ) 23:31, 7 August 2007 (UTC)


 * Thanks a lot! I would not have noticed it had it not been for your message! &mdash; Sebastian 23:58, 8 August 2007 (UTC)

Redirect of Principled negotiation
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Rechargeable Batteries

 * Guten Abend, Sebastian! Thanks for the welcome. I'm not sure if this is the right place to reply to you but here goes. I need to check some reference books at work that will help me with the battery table. Could be a few days, but I'm just starting out here and don't weant to rush into anything. - BatteryGuy 03:15, 1 September 2007 (UTC)

Sorry!
Sorry!My English not very well.Can I say Chinese?

對不起！在中文維基百科中的Portal:環境暨生態學中，您邀求的條目「氣候變遷」由於包含了頁面分類中的各個條目所以必須彙整，請加入此主題的專題以幫助彙整，此主題的工作者僅我一人，所以請幫助整理這個主題，對不起！The 73th cat`s sand bowl 11:05, 7 September 2007 (UTC)


 * 当然可以讲中文跟我,不过我不明白几个奇特的词，首先是“彙整”.


 * “Portal:環境暨生態學”是甚么？维基搜索找不到相符的页面. （我要求的地方本来是zh:Wikipedia:專題/環境. ）&mdash; Sebastian 21:01, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

Urgent request-Comment on Article for Deletion
I didn't pique your interest with the template conversation, but perhaps you'd like to comment on the proposed deletion of a proposed "Dubious Sources" category? This isn't discussed as it should be within Wikipedia, in my opinion. Typing Monkey - (type to me) 03:40, 28 September 2007 (UTC)


 * I'm a bit confused: That discussion is about an article, and there is no category mentioned. It seems to me an article is really not appropriate. I could see some use for a category, though. &mdash; Sebastian 05:27, 14 October 2007 (UTC)

Re: Thank you for your help...
I'd wondered where you'd gotten off to. :-) Hello again, and you're welcome! <em style="font-family:Bradley Hand ITC;color:blue">Hers <em style="font-family:Bradley Hand ITC;color:gold">fold  (t/a/c) 13:30, 16 October 2007 (UTC)

RE: Vandalism Fight
Sorry about that. I usually patrol late at night, and with the changes coming so fast I may give the wrong warning trying to keep up. I will work on that. Children.of.the.Kron 15:05, 28 October 2007 (UTC)

TfD nomination of Template:Biased source
Template:Biased source 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. — Sandstein 22:44, 5 November 2007 (UTC)

Thank you
Thanks for the barnstar. Made a great start to my day! -- SiobhanHansa 12:08, 6 November 2007 (UTC)

Beijing National Aquatics Centre
hi sebastian, why do you constantly remove the page, there is nothing wrong with it. it is authentic and important information. best regards shuilifang —Preceding unsigned comment added by 220.233.176.183 (talk) 10:57, 7 November 2007 (UTC)


 * Thank you for asking! If you look at the Revision history of Beijing National Aquatics Centre, you can, in each line, see the edit summary for that edit. The recurring theme in my edit summaries is: "Copyright violation". It appears this text has been copied from http://www.chrisbosse.de/watercube/introduction.txt. Please do not simply revert an edit before you read the edit summary. And please understand that copyright violation is something we can't allow here, so I will have to revert your insertion again. &mdash; Sebastian 18:32, 7 November 2007 (UTC)

Chris Bosse
For some, Wikipedia has become a place for people to try to establish their notability.

If you look at the picture that is on the Beijing National Aquatics Center page, it is uploaded by Chrisbosse; using a tag that he is the copyright holder, but in the text attributes the copyright to someone else.

I think it is worth your while, for the integrity of Wikipedia, to keep the two article under watch. Copyright violations are serious. (I have 1000s on my watchlist.)

&mdash; User: (talk) 11:48, 9 November 2007 (UTC)

What bf means
"\bf" is the TeX code for boldface. —David Eppstein 16:32, 9 November 2007 (UTC)
 * Thank you! I was just teasing you a bit. But now that I am looking at the disambiguation page BF again, I notice that we have "%BF" in there - which I think is less in place than "boldface" would be. Do you think we should remove the former or add the latter? &mdash; Sebastian 18:06, 9 November 2007 (UTC)

Recursive, etc.
Yep, "recursive" is an oddity in AutoWikiBrowser; uses this throughout to refer to what normally would be called dependent/ descendant. Has something to do with the structure/hierarchy of the way the categories are handled. I did add the reference to the class rating for the biography project to the bot message. SkierRMH 18:31, 12 November 2007 (UTC)
 * replied on User talk:SkiersBot. &mdash; Sebastian 18:50, 12 November 2007 (UTC)


 * Check out Talk:Kazuo_Ozaki - It will show in the Bot's user contributions, not mine!SkierRMH 21:11, 12 November 2007 (UTC)


 * Thanks for implementing this. But please keep the thread together as per the box on top of this page, and reply on User talk:SkiersBot. I'm not the only user who has such a request. &mdash; Sebastian 21:19, 12 November 2007 (UTC)

Chris Bosse - Link additions
Hi, I saw your post on WT:WPSPAM. You ask what happens after that. I see that there are no links to the pages on wikipedia anymore, and when there are no new link-additions the items on the project get archived in time. We have several bots watching the link-additions: linkwatcher (invisible), which watches the link-additions to at the moment 722 wikipedia and then the bots like User:AntiSpamBot which reverts link additions on this wikipedia if we can't handle it by hand (very bad cases get blacklisted; here or on meta) and User:COIBot which watches all links which get reported to the wikipedia spam project (and some other wiki pages) on all 722 wikis. When the links get added they get reported to this wiki. E.g.



The link 'COIBot' shows a report created by this bot to show who added the link (while it was on the watchlist, I think it is not on there anymore). In:



and



Here the COIBot reports are still redlinks, so noone is adding the links. Therefore at the moment there is no further action necessary. If we see the link being added again, someone will have a look and see who and what gets added. In many cases reporting to WT:WPSPAM and notifying the editors is enough, and the spamming stops. But when action is necessary, some of the editors in this field will jump in (you can see the regulars in the history of WT:WPSPAM).

Hope this explains. --Dirk Beetstra T C 12:18, 14 November 2007 (UTC)


 * Thank you, that's a great explanation! I think it would be nice if this information were on top of the talk page, but you may have good reasons for not posting it there. &mdash; Sebastian 17:16, 14 November 2007 (UTC)

Thank you for the Barnstar
I don't try to think against the flow; I simply think - and when I am in accordance with the majority there is usually somebody else who articulates it far better than I. Notwithstanding that, thank you for the appreciation. -- LessHeard vanU (talk) 20:14, 16 November 2007 (UTC)


 * I hope this expression doesn't have bad connotations in English. I was originally thinking of the German word "Querdenker", and then of the salmon we here in the Pacific Northwest admire so much for their journey against the flow. &mdash; Sebastian 20:19, 16 November 2007 (UTC)
 * No &mdash; I would suggest "against the flow" is a concept well understood in English and is neutral in application. Like the salmon it is not my choice, but simply a matter of circumstances. -- LessHeard vanU (talk) 20:46, 16 November 2007 (UTC)
 * It may feel natural to you, but I see it as a special aptitude. I believe an important function of barnstars is to make people aware of talents they have. For me, at least, when I received a barnstar for "mediation skills" here a year ago, it was decisive in nudging me towards becoming a mediator. &mdash; Sebastian 20:53, 16 November 2007 (UTC)

Kuebie
Thanks for your help as to. Please see diffs I added on WP:ANI. --Nlu (talk) 14:05, 19 November 2007 (UTC)

Re: No humor, please!
Haha, well, then I must make sure to stick only to encylcopedic-sounding conversation at all times, so as not to let people enjoy themselves. God forbid that happens... the consequences could be monumental.  нмŵוτн τ  01:57, 20 November 2007 (UTC)

*Wieher!*
Mir fehlen die Worte, des isch aber nett! Thank you so much for that lovely

drawing with Schlüssele, Sebastian. It will receive a place of honor in the

gallery, where it will cheer me up whenever the [[de:Äffle_und_Pferdle|Super

-Doppelzentner-Haferblues]] hits me. ;-) And, belatedly but sincerely, good

luck with the buttons and tools! ---Sluzzelin [[User

talk:Sluzzelin| talk ]] 15:10, 28 November 2007 (UTC)

Re RfA/The Transhumanist 3
Hello SebastianHelm. In my oppose vote, I wrote "I also didn't like his answer to question 10 (Question from Pedro)."

If someone creates an article about a totally non notable garage band, use the world 'f***', and these are his only contributions, he is a vandal. He should be blocked. Please correct me if I am wrong. Regards, Masterpiece2000 (talk) 02:35, 5 December 2007 (UTC)


 * Thank you for your explanation. I was asking because I would have acted just as The Transhumanist said. For one, because our policies WP:BLOCK and WP:BITE say so, as pointed out correctly. In addition, I distinguish between vandalism of an article and vandalism of my own page. We are here to create an encyclopedia, and not to create nice user pages. So if someone vandalizes an article,  is directly opposing Wikipedia. When someone vandalizes my page, they only want my attention. It's a clumsy way to get attention, but some people just don't know any better. That's their problem. Their problem is much bigger than mine, which is solved with one click on the revert button.


 * (BTW, I'm not trying to sway your vote - in fact, I opposed, too. I just don't think that's a good reason.) &mdash; Sebastian 08:20, 5 December 2007 (UTC)


 * Thank you for the information. I will remove that line from RfA. Regards, Masterpiece2000 (talk) 10:10, 5 December 2007 (UTC)

= Speedy deletion and new users =

Lapa Church

 * I'm now using sporadically wikipedia, but used more often in the past. It is not just a landmark it is an unique monument in the verge of classification by the national monuments institute. And I guess it has a mention even on Britannica (paper).--Pedro (talk) 11:59, 9 December 2007 (UTC)

Lê Hiền Đức
Thanks for the heads up on speedying. My usual google search criteria turned up this which seemed to confirm a lack of notability. I don't speak vietnamese, but I'd expect "some" english coverage of a notable person. And I didn't know how seriously to treat an award from Transparency International (seemed like a rip from Amnesty International). And the phrase "She has been repeatedly threatened by many involved persons but keeps on her actions" seemed to indicate a poor quality (non-neutral) source. Still, you found the sources, so thank you. Mbisanz (talk) 22:00, 13 December 2007 (UTC)

Outpost For Hope
Thank you for helping!!! Trying to make the entry was like shooting in the dark as the guidelines are somewhat ambiguous and the editors who deleted it never explained what parts looked like advertising or why it was not notable. I've made a few changes and would love some feedback and helful editing :)

User:Inelia/Outpost For Hope --Inelia (talk) 03:34, 14 December 2007 (UTC)


 * OK, I'll do some edits, and I'll discuss anything else on User talk:Inelia/Outpost For Hope. &mdash; Sebastian 03:49, 14 December 2007 (UTC)

Re: New User's Help Desk Questions
I know it is mighty frustrating. New users are hardly going to know to go all the way down there to find the search box are they? Someone might realise one day. You might want to try reopening the discussion. <span style="font-family:Comic Sans MS,sans-serif"> Lra drama 22:08, 18 November 2007 (UTC)


 * I think the Talk:Main page is the best bet. Whenever you are ready, we'll give it a whizz. :-) <span style="font-family:Comic Sans MS,sans-serif"> Lra drama 09:22, 19 November 2007 (UTC)

Deletion protocols
Hello, ... I would appreciate your comments on my four step deletion warning protocols (such as Warn-bio, Warn-fiction, and others listed on my User page), and the templates I created for talk pages ... a few months ago, User:DGG "raised my consciousness" about choosing PRODs over CSDs (which can sometimes be closed Too Quickly), and the latest versions reflect this new POV ... I had placed   tags on the talk pages of some of the articles listed in this AfD for a bunch of fictional soap opera characters.

I know that the template is rather verbose, but it's based on the assumption that it's "new information" to the editor seeing it for the first time, and may change their opinions about the existing procedures and the way they apply them ... besides, if the article is deleted, its size doesn't matter :-) ... Happy Editing! &mdash; 23:13, 14 December 2007 (UTC)


 * This is wonderful! On first glance, this looks like it could become a great guideline! I will take a closer look probably early next week. I have neglected some other important things and need to really take some time off wiki. Maybe, in the meantime, you can also help out on User talk:Inelia/Outpost For Hope - which was just such a case as you're describing, where I saved the article from the garbage can. I think the new editor is really trying to do the right thing, but of course needs some help. I also think that the project she's describing is a very worthy cause, so we can do three good things at once: Help Wikipedia get good editors, help well-intended people achieve their goals, and support a good cause in the real world. &mdash; Sebastian 23:37, 14 December 2007 (UTC)


 * Copy that ... I'll take a look at it over the weekend ... in the middle of a family medical emergency at the moment. &mdash; 01:49, 15 December 2007 (UTC)


 * Sorry, what do you mean by "Copy that"? &mdash; Sebastian 02:01, 15 December 2007 (UTC)


 * My bad ... that's mil-speak (military language) for, "I acknowledge receipt of your message," as in, "Do you copy?" :-) &mdash; 15:05, 15 December 2007 (UTC)

living computers
you deleted my article on the grounds that it was an essay, not an encyclopaedia entry.

this could happen again if i re-attempt to do it. your advice would be appreciated.

"living computers" is an attempt to bring together theories and evidence from various fields. i would like it to be a wiki'd effort so that knowledgeable contributors can help it evolve into something useful.

i have fallen at the first hurdle (yourself). can you pick me up?

i will look here for your reply.

Djhbrown (talk) 04:09, 20 December 2007 (UTC)djhbrown


 * No, I deleted it the grounds that it was copied from the internet, violating our policy WP:COPY. I recommend you to work first with existing articles to learn the ropes before creating a new article. &mdash; Sebastian 04:13, 20 December 2007 (UTC)

Omaliceo/Cuahutemoc Morfin
Hello, I moved this to User:Omaliceo/Cuahutemoc Morfin and deleted the misplaced version in article space. Cheers,  Dloh  cierekim  04:59, 20 December 2007 (UTC)


 * Thanks! I got lost in the jungle of redirects and my own typos there! I was going to fix it, but then I realized that speedy deletion is really a quick area. I guess I'm too old for that. ;-)  &mdash; Sebastian 05:02, 20 December 2007 (UTC)