User talk:Shyamal/archive21

Re:thanks
No worries, keep 'm commin'! I dont mind adding the taxonomic info at all. Ruigeroeland (talk) 11:11, 27 June 2011 (UTC)

Gray-crowned Rosy Finch
I saw you made a distro map of the Invisible Rail. Thanks and nice job. I'd like to work on this finch now. This link shows where it lives and I was wondering if you could make a map for it that could be used in the wiki article. BarkingMoon (talk) 17:49, 3 July 2011 (UTC)
 * another map sourceBarkingMoon (talk) 19:31, 3 July 2011 (UTC)
 * Added one. I have tried to use the more usual colour codes followed here - note that I know little about the US and its birds. Shyamal (talk) 02:18, 4 July 2011 (UTC)
 * Very nice. Many thanks!BarkingMoon (talk) 02:36, 4 July 2011 (UTC)
 * You are welcome but do examine it carefully and if it needs corrections let me know - as I said my geography of the US is a bit limited and while I tried to follow the state boundaries shown on the source map, I could have erred. Shyamal (talk) 03:58, 4 July 2011 (UTC)
 * It looks good to me. If I work on the other 3 rosy finches, would you mind doing maps for them? BarkingMoon (talk) 10:39, 4 July 2011 (UTC)
 * Not a problem, happy to help other editors. Shyamal (talk) 10:40, 4 July 2011 (UTC)
 * another gray crowned map in case it lends to tweaking the one you made. BarkingMoon (talk) 12:00, 4 July 2011 (UTC)

Black Rosy Finch
If you don't mind, a map for this one please, sample1, sample2. Tks. BarkingMoon (talk) 22:54, 4 July 2011 (UTC)
 * Again, very well done and promptly! Many thanks, very kind of you. BarkingMoon (talk) 09:56, 5 July 2011 (UTC)

Deletion review for Andy Lehrer
I thought you should be aware of this discussion since you made several G4 deletions on this. The last one seems odd as as it was a redirect and G4 is only for articles. An argument could be made that it's a valid search term. --Ron Ritzman (talk) 13:31, 6 July 2011 (UTC)

Tennent's Ceylon
I'll reply to your mail soon. In the meantime hope you will enjoy Ceylon, Physical, Historical and Topographical Tennent was a prominent member of the Belfast Natural History Society, very educated and a very able administrator as this work shows Warm regards Robert Notafly (talk) 20:57, 10 July 2011 (UTC)

Sitta species
Dear Shyamal, Your illustrations of the sitta species Sitta ledanti and Sitta whiteheadi differ in details from the plates in a much used field guide in The Netherlands, orignally Swedish (Mullarny et al., Fagelguiden Europas och Medelhavomradets Fagler i fält). While your Corsican nuthtch hardly has a supercillium and the Algerian a rather broad one, in Mullarny the opposite siuation is the case: the Algerian has a tiny stripe and the Corsican a rather broad one. Also in other field guides I found a rather broad supercillium in the Corsican nuthatch. Maybe these species were mixed up? If I am wrong, please inform me. Friendly greeting, --HWN 09:01, 13 July 2011 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Hwdenie (talk • contribs)
 * Its a while since I made that illustration. It could very well be wrong, time to recheck. I will need to check with User:Jimfbleak who "commissioned" that illustration task. Shyamal (talk) 09:04, 13 July 2011 (UTC)
 * Thanks for your rapid reaction. I am glad to see you will improve these illustrations, after a recheck by Jimfbleak . Friendly greeting, --HWN 09:57, 13 July 2011 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Hwdenie (talk • contribs)
 * Yes, it does look as if the two images have been transposed. It's so long ago I can't remember if I emailed you Harrop & Quinn's plate. If so, maybe mislabelled. The "Algerian" is actually pretty good whiteheadi. The "Corsican" is clearly based on ledanti although the supercilium and the throat should be white in the adult male (checked against Harrop & Quinn and Mullarney). I don't know if you can move images at Commons, if not let me know and I'll do it. In any case I'll wait for your reply before acting  Jimfbleak -  talk to me?  10:11, 13 July 2011 (UTC)
 * Pleas do go ahead and fix any labelling errors on commons. Do mail me the plates again, perhaps I can improve all those illustrations. Shyamal (talk) 10:21, 13 July 2011 (UTC)
 * I've made a bit of a botch on Commons, didn't realise that I couldn't move over redirects. I'll get a Commons admin to sort it out. I'll send the pics, but it may be tomorrow, I'm out this afternoon.  Jimfbleak -  talk to me?  11:49, 13 July 2011 (UTC)
 * OK, moves done, I'll need to replace filenames globally, but that can wait until tomorrow too  Jimfbleak -  talk to me?  15:42, 13 July 2011 (UTC)

Thanks, sorry about delay, I got sidetracked by some urgent work, so I still haven't done anything I said I would — Preceding unsigned comment added by Jimfbleak (talk • contribs)
 * No problem. Shyamal (talk) 01:42, 18 July 2011 (UTC)

Centropsar mirus
While categorising your images and adding them to articles just now, I found this one. It turns out this was a made up specimen, as announced the year after being described: "Mr. Sclater exhibited the typical specimen of his Centropsar mirus (P.Z.S. 1874, p. 175, Pl. xxvi.), and stated that on a more careful examination of it he had come to the conclusion that it was a made-up skin." Not sure what categories this goes under. Might it be of any use for articles on ornithology or science? &mdash;innotata 15:31, 21 July 2011 (UTC)
 * Oh dear, maybe useful for something that covers the family of the Bare-fronted Hoodwink ? Shyamal (talk) 15:33, 21 July 2011 (UTC)
 * Never hear of the Hoodwink before, but some birders I know certainly claim a "single species could easily account for every bird not completely sighted", as the article says. I wonder what the skin's made of: any ideas from what the bird looks like? The skin was from a collection of birds said to be from "western Mexico and Australia" obtained by Edward Bartlett, and assumed to be a Mexican oriole—Sclater thought it was an icterid of most unusual morphology—, but otherwise nothing else is given. &mdash;innotata 15:47, 21 July 2011 (UTC)
 * Not enough knowledge of those areas to suggest look-alikes, but I presume the only real fakery possible to fool someone like Sclater would probably have been to substitute the skull (and beak) to the rest of the skin. On the topic of unidentifiable birds - there is a lovely poem by J. K. Stanford in his "Bewilderment of Birds" - ("...By far the rarest bird of all is the bird on the lawn of my aunt") unfortunately nowhere on the net for me to rediscover. Shyamal (talk) 16:12, 21 July 2011 (UTC)

Thank you for your concern!
Hi Shyamal!

For some reason I can't seem to access the wikipedia e-mail system on Safari, so I'll answer here. Thank you for your e-mail and your concern. My family and me are all well, though my brother lives only about a kilometre away for the blast, and is a bit rattled. No-one saw this coming, not even the secret services. It seems my nation is dead set on making something positive out of this, I hope we can make it so. My heart really go to those that live in places where they experience such death and destruction on a daly basis. Petter Bøckman (talk) 09:27, 26 July 2011 (UTC)
 * Glad to know. Shyamal (talk) 11:46, 26 July 2011 (UTC)

Ambassador Program: assessment drive
Even though it's been quiet on-wiki, the Wikipedia Ambassador Program has been busy over the last few months getting ready for the next term. We're heading toward over 80 classes in the US, across all disciplines. You'll see courses start popping up here, and this time we want to match one or more Online Ambassadors to each class based on interest or expertise in the subject matter. If you see a class that you're interested, please contact the professor and/or me; the sooner the Ambassadors and professors get in communication, the better things go. Look for more in the coming weeks about next term.

In the meantime, with a little help I've identified all the articles students did significant work on in the last term. Many of the articles have never been assessed, or have ratings that are out of date from before the students improved them. Please help assess them! Pick a class, or just a few articles, and give them a rating (and add a relevant WikiProject banner if there isn't one), and then update the list of articles.

Once we have updated assessments for all these articles, we can get a better idea of how quality varied from course to course, and which approaches to running Wikipedia assignments and managing courses are most effective.

--Sage Ross - Online Facilitator, Wikimedia Foundation (talk) 17:30, 27 July 2011 (UTC)

Birdbox
Hey, just a followup to see how things went with the birdbox! Bob the WikipediaN (talk • contribs) 22:35, 31 July 2011 (UTC)
 * Thanks for the reminder. Need to put it to use. Shyamal (talk) 02:19, 1 August 2011 (UTC)

IOC Changes
Thanks Shaymal for the heads up on using the Move function instead of copying and pasting. I'll move articles whenever its appropriate and when I am able. I am beginning to find articles I can't move, and will make Wikiproject birds aware of them. Also, I've been reviewing the IOC main list, and have noticed a number of discrepancies that occur there, not just updates (ie I changed the genus for Piping Guans, and noticed there are 2 species of Ostrich listed where we have one).....I think this is going to take a lot more work than people think. I'll chip away as I have time.....any suggestions would be helpful......Pvmoutside (talk) 04:30, 3 August 2011 (UTC)

Thanks!
...for the culmen pic; it'll work nicely! MeegsC | Talk 02:18, 10 August 2011 (UTC)

Have you seen Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Birds/Archive 56?
? Headbomb {talk / contribs / physics / books} 13:11, 12 August 2011 (UTC)
 * Yes, I did but not sure about what can be done about it as I do not know of any reliable sources for them. Shyamal (talk) 08:42, 13 August 2011 (UTC)
 * The journals' websites are usually enough. Headbomb {talk / contribs / physics / books} 15:12, 13 August 2011 (UTC)
 * Surely there must be sources for and things to write about at Stray Feathers, though it could also go where it is now, at Allan Octavian Hume, so I'll redirect it there (especially seeing there how Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal redirects to James Prinsep). &mdash;innotata 15:54, 13 August 2011 (UTC)
 * Actually, there is precious little written about "Stray Feathers". One of the key Hume scholars, Edward Moulton, has noted the lack of research on his ornithology and in one of his articles wishes that someone would look at Humes works carefully (Moulton having been more interested in his political views). Access to such works have largely been limited to rare book collectors and it is only now that some of these are accessible to scholars, thanks to the Biodiversity Heritage Library. One could piece together various short statements or work directly using notes from the pages themselves but that would be quite unsatisfactory compared to an independent, third-party reliable source. Shyamal (talk) 16:11, 13 August 2011 (UTC)
 * Just so you know, it's actually quite rare that we can get "extra stuff" on journals, so I wouldn't worry too much about it. If you can find this extra stuff, that would be amazing, but "basic description" stubs like Acta Palaeontologica Polonica are fine too, and very helpful despite not containing a whole lot of juicy bits. You'd be surprised as how much you can say about something just from basic sources only by following WP:WikiProject Academic Journals/Writing guide. Headbomb {talk / contribs / physics / books} 17:04, 13 August 2011 (UTC)

Online Ambassadors: Time to join pods
Hello! If you're planning to be an active Online Ambassador for the upcoming academic term, now is the time to join one or more pods. (A pod consists of the instructor, the Campus Ambassadors, and the Online Ambassadors for single class.) The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) explains the expectations for being part of a pod as an Online Ambassador. (The MOU for pods in Canada is essentially the same.) In short, the role of Online Ambassadors this term consists of:
 * Working closely with the instructor and Campus Ambassadors, providing advice and perspective as an experienced Wikipedian
 * Helping students who ask for it (or helping them to find the help they need)
 * Watching out for the class as a whole
 * Helping students to get community feedback on their work

This replaces the 1-on-1 mentoring role for Online Ambassadors that we had in previous terms; rather than being responsible for individual students (some of whom don't want or help or are unresponsive), Online Ambassadors will be there to help whichever students in their class(es) ask for help.

You can browse the upcoming courses here: United States; Canada. More are being added as new pods become active and create their course pages.

Once you've found a class that you want to work with&mdash;especially if you some interest or expertise in the topic area&mdash;you should sign the MOU listing for that class and get in touch with the instructor. We're hoping to have at least two Online Ambassadors per pod, and more for the larger classes.

If you're up for supporting any kind of class and would like me to assign you to a pod in need of more Online Ambassadors, just let me know.

--Sage Ross - Online Facilitator, Wikimedia Foundation (talk) 16:36, 19 August 2011 (UTC)

PS: There are still a lot of student articles from the last term that haven't been rated. Please rate a few and update the list!

A pod suggestion for you: Interdisciplinary Applications of Biology
Hi Shyamal! I'm in the process of trying to find Online Ambassadors to support each of the classes for this coming term, and I thought you'd be a good fit for this one: United States Education Program/Courses/Interdisciplinary Applications of Biology (Candace Timpte). If you're up for it, please check out the Memorandum of Understanding (linked above) which sketches the expectations for Online Ambassadors this term, and then you can sign on to class and get in touch with the professor.

(If you want to support another class too, there's a conservation biology class that VisionHolder is working with, and it could use another Online Ambassador.) --Sage Ross - Online Facilitator, Wikimedia Foundation (talk) 15:28, 24 August 2011 (UTC)
 * Thanks for the suggestions. The conservation biology class certainly looks interesting, although it seems like interactions with a group might work better on shared time zones. Could probably work as a second line of support. Shyamal (talk) 15:43, 24 August 2011 (UTC)
 * It's not likely to involve much interaction with the whole group of students; basically, the Online Ambassadors in a pod are the go-to people when a student has a question or is looking for help. And students may end up in that situation at just about any time of day, but synchronicity isn't critical, as long as someone is there to help them on the scale of about a day or two.--Sage Ross - Online Facilitator, Wikimedia Foundation (talk) 15:46, 24 August 2011 (UTC)
 * Have signed in. Shyamal (talk) 15:56, 24 August 2011 (UTC)
 * :) Thanks! Be sure to get in touch with the professor, and let them know you've volunteered to join their pod.--Sage Ross - Online Facilitator, Wikimedia Foundation (talk) 16:16, 24 August 2011 (UTC)


 * Hi! Replied to you on my talk page, not sure of the etiquitte here! Thanks for your volunteering, I look forward to working with you! Waterbug42 (talk) 13:55, 1 September 2011 (UTC)

Block
Beats me, the contribs are either genuine, or too subtle for me to see what's wrong. The talk page has been blanked a couple of times, but even then it's difficult to see what is amiss.  Jimfbleak -  talk to me?  15:03, 30 August 2011 (UTC)
 * Ah, yes. That does seem a bit out of character to the other edits!  Jimfbleak -  talk to me?  16:59, 30 August 2011 (UTC)

Wrong species Redirect
Hello Shyamal and greetings This page has been misdirected to the Speckled Wood. The Wall (butterfly) is the correct common name for Lassiomata megera.Will you fix this please? My attempts failed. Very best regards Robert P.S. Nice work with the Ibis pics. Superb aren't they? Notafly (talk) 14:22, 31 August 2011 (UTC)
 * Hi Robert, have now redirected it to Wall Brown which deals with Lasiommata megera - not sure if Wall (butterfly) should actually redirect to the genus Lasiommata though. Yes, chromolithgraphs are amazing. Shyamal (talk) 15:09, 1 September 2011 (UTC)

bird photos
I was just going through some of the request for photos in the project. I have a few which could be useful. After uploading, what is the best way to let the people (like you) who may be looking for just that image, know? Do I put some note in that birds wiki page? thanks. Nanda ramesh (talk) 07:54, 13 September 2011 (UTC)

testing from the audience

Interesting Stuff
I like this workshop already. I'm going to upload a more thorough review once it's done.

AkshayRao27 (talk) 11:55, 15 September 2011 (UTC)

Testing for SCCS workshop
Hi Shyamal. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Aathiraperinchery (talk • contribs) 11:54, 15 September 2011 (UTC)

Your contributed article, Asian leaf turtle


Hello, I notice that you recently created a new page, Asian leaf turtle. First, thank you for your contribution; Wikipedia relies solely on the efforts of volunteers such as you. Unfortunately, the page you created covers a topic on which we already have a page - Cyclemys. Because of the duplication, your article has been tagged for speedy deletion. Please note that this is not a comment on you personally and we hope you will continue helping to improve Wikipedia. If the topic of the article you created is one that interests you, then perhaps you would like to help out at Cyclemys - you might like to discuss new information at the article's talk page.

If you think that the article you created should remain separate, contest the deletion by clicking on the button labelled "Click here to contest this speedy deletion". Doing so will take you to the talk page where you will find a pre-formatted place for you to explain why you believe the page should not be deleted. You can also visit the the page's talk page directly to give your reasons, but be aware that once tagged for speedy deletion, if the page meets the criterion, it may be deleted without delay. Please do not remove the speedy deletion tag yourself, but don't hesitate to add information to the page that would render it more in conformance with Wikipedia's policies and guidelines. If the page is deleted, you can contact one of these administrators to request that the administrator userfy the page or email a copy to you. Additionally if you would like to have someone review articles you create before they go live so they are not nominated for deletion shortly after you post them, allow me to suggest the article creation process and using our search feature to find related information we already have in the encyclopedia. Try not to be discouraged. Wikipedia looks forward to your future contributions. Hell In A Bucket (talk) 05:12, 18 September 2011 (UTC)

Removing Speedy at Asian leaf turtle
- SDPatrolBot (talk) 06:23, 18 September 2011 (UTC)

Nomination of Asian leaf turtle for deletion
A discussion is taking place as to whether the article Asian leaf turtle is suitable for inclusion in Wikipedia according to Wikipedia's policies and guidelines or whether it should be deleted.

The article will be discussed at Articles for deletion/Asian leaf turtle until a consensus is reached, and anyone is welcome to contribute to the discussion. The nomination will explain the policies and guidelines which are of concern. The discussion focuses on good quality evidence, and our policies and guidelines.

Users may edit the article during the discussion, including to improve the article to address concerns raised in the discussion. However, do not remove the article-for-deletion template from the top of the article. Hell In A Bucket (talk) 07:17, 18 September 2011 (UTC)

Class help: tracking student contributions
Hi Shyamal! My class is assigned to start their user accounts and talk on someone's talk page by Monday Sept. 26. We found that our college's wiki page is in need of serious cleanup and I imagine they will attempt their starter-editing there as well as on biology pages. Is there an easy way that I can set up to track my student's edits and wiki activities? Thanks in advance for all your help. Waterbug42 (talk) 12:16, 22 September 2011 (UTC)

Hi, my name is Erinah Matovu. I am in Dr. Timpte's Biology class. Introducing myself to you is part of my assignment. How are you doing? — Preceding unsigned comment added by L3asiim3 (talk • contribs) 16:39, 25 September 2011 (UTC)

Student from GGC
My name is Wayne Thompson and I am a student at Georgia Gwinnett College. I just wanted to take a moment to introduce myself and to become more familiar with the wiki editing features. I wanted to also thank you up front for all of your assistance.

Sincerely,

F.wayne.thompson.jr (talk) 19:49, 25 September 2011 (UTC)

Hi! My name is Tookie Stalker and I am also a student at GGC. I also want to thank you for all of the help that I know you will be giving us. Tookie Stalker (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 20:23, 25 September 2011 (UTC).

Update on courses and ambassador needs
Hello, Ambassadors!

I wanted to give you one last update on where we are this term, before my role as Online Facilitator wraps up at the end of this week. Already, there are over 800 students in U.S. classes who have signed up on course pages this term. About 40 classes are active, and we're expecting that many more again once all the classes are up and running.

On a personal note, it's been a huge honor to work with so many great Wikipedians over the last 15 months. Thanks so much to everyone who jumped in and decided to give the ambassador concept a try, and double thanks those of you who were involved early on. Your ideas and insights and enthusiasm have been the foundation of the program, and they will be the keys the future of the program.

Courses looking for Online Ambassadors
Still waiting to get involved with a class this term, or ready to take on more? We have seven classes that are already active and need OA support, and eleven more that have course pages started but don't have active students yet. Please consider joining one or more of these pods!

Active courses that really need Online Ambassadors:
 * Sociology of Poverty
 * Architectural Design
 * Introduction to Educational Psychology
 * Intro to Mass Communication
 * Psychology Seminar
 * Theories of the State
 * Advanced Media Studies

Courses that may be active soon that need Online Ambassadors:


 * Housing and Social Policy
 * Anthropology, Wikipedia, and the Media
 * History & Systems
 * Horror Cinema
 * Digital Media... just bits in a box
 * Composition I
 * Telecommunications Management
 * Training Systems
 * Stigma: Culture, Deviance, Identity
 * Art and Terrorism
 * Political Violence and Insurgency

--Sage Ross - Online Facilitator, Wikimedia Foundation (talk) 23:14, 27 September 2011 (UTC)

Edit of page for Kerguelen Petrel (Lugensa brevirostris)
The image you added to this page (Lugensa brevirostris, Procellariidae) is not correct and I would suggest removing it. The figure depicted is "Prion brevirostris," the name of which has been assigned to the Fairy Prion, Pachyptila turtur (or P. desolata). The Kerguelen Petrel is a uniform, ashy brown. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Mmslouis (talk • contribs) 22:47, 20 September 2011 (UTC)
 * Thanks for pointing that out. Removed the image. Shyamal (talk) 02:07, 21 September 2011 (UTC)

I have the correct image file for Lugensa, as well as examples for species in Pterodroma (brevipes ("torquata"), defilippiana, externa, heraldica {arminjoniana page}, incerta, sandwichensis ("phaeopygia"), phaeopygia, leucoptera), and examples for Thalassoica (Procellariidae) and Nycticryphes (Rostratulidae). However, it is very time consuming for me to upload these with the program that Wiki provides. If there is a way to pass them on to you I would like to. Is this something you would like to do? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Mmslouis (talk • contribs) 20:58, 7 October 2011 (UTC)
 * I see you have uploaded those images. If you can provide the link to the Biodiversity Heritage Library original, I can process the highest resolution JPEG2000 versions from there. Also for the "source" information of the image, the correct option is to indicate the title of the book, publication date and authors. Shyamal (talk) 02:45, 8 October 2011 (UTC)

Kudos
Sorry about the mistake with integrate vs. intergrade: thanks for fixing it. I thought you might want to know that I did discover a wikilink for it (Intergradation) which you may add to the article if you think it's useful. More importantly, I just want to give you some greatly-deserved thanks for all the nice work you've put into the bird articles. They are some of my favorite reading on WP! SteveStrummer (talk) 14:55, 5 October 2011 (UTC)
 * Thanks for the link and the appreciative note :) Shyamal (talk) 03:03, 6 October 2011 (UTC)

Images at India
Hi, Shyamal. Please see User_talk:AshLin. Wondering if you have any suggestions/opinions. Regards. Saravask 06:56, 11 October 2011 (UTC)
 * Environment is a rather large umbrella term, so not sure about what should be covered at the country scale. Perhaps it might help to include maps of protected areas overlaid on the vegetation classification and perhaps another on pollution levels in air, rivers, soil etc (if that data even exists). The text itself seems to be rather loose at the moment and images could be better decided if there was a clear basis for the structure and coverage within that section. Sorry if I am not making any concrete suggestions. Shyamal (talk) 07:30, 11 October 2011 (UTC)
 * I think you are talking about the Environment of India article. No, I am asking about the two "environment" images at India: the Shola pice and the peacock/lotus/brahminy kite rotation. The peafowl image is seemingly from a *German* zoo; the lotus is from a *South Australian* garden.
 * Only the kite image was actually shot *in* India. And there are no plants, butterflies or other insects, trees, etc. And the Shola image, though I (hastily) chose it, strikes me as remarkably unrepresentative of typical Indian nature.
 * So I'm wondering what images you think should be shown on the India page; it is the 15th most viewed page on en-wiki, so it's important to finally get this right. Saravask 14:24, 11 October 2011 (UTC)
 * I did notice Environment of India and that seems to be more placeholders than text. No, I did mean the section in India. Environment refers to both the abiotic and biotic components and given that the section is expected to give a country-wide scale of the topic, it seems like maps would add more value than a few images of what will surely never manage to capture the diversity of the topic. The data-ink ratio of a map would definitely be greater. I think the peacock/lotus/tiger could be included elsewhere in a different section. The charismatic megafauna (tiger,lion, elephant, rhino etc) that a lot of people tend to associate with India could be included as a montage (although again, they could be included in a thematic map of protected areas), but the text I think needs to be expanded to actually accomodate images and place them in context. I notice for instance that there is no climate section and there is merely a mention within the geology section. The current "environment" section seems to cover only biotic elements. Shyamal (talk) 14:45, 11 October 2011 (UTC)
 * Can you fix it? Even if you have to throw out the present images, move climate stuff into it, and expand or rewrite the text from scratch ... I agree it's necessary for you to redo it. Saravask 01:17, 12 October 2011 (UTC)
 * Given my task list, I am afraid not, although I will be happy to comment on the structure and coverage if someone would like to take up the enormous task. Shyamal (talk) 01:29, 12 October 2011 (UTC)
 * Sorry to hear that. The section was modelled on Australia. What is your opinion on the latter? Same issues? Would renaming it back to "Biodiversity" take care of the scope concerns? Saravask 01:35, 12 October 2011 (UTC)
 * The current contents on the India article section would certainly fit better under the heading of biodiversity. The environment section in the Australia article definitely seems more balanced. Shyamal (talk) 01:48, 12 October 2011 (UTC)

Himalayan Snowcock
Your request at WP:RX has received a reply. JanetteDoe (talk) 20:30, 12 October 2011 (UTC)
 * Thanks a lot. I have included some notes from the reference. Shyamal (talk) 01:31, 13 October 2011 (UTC)

You deserve a barnstar!

 * Ahh, thanks but much still needs to be done with commons:category:Lepidoptera Indica! Shyamal (talk) 13:31, 28 October 2011 (UTC)

Petrel
Shyamal, uploaded a few images to commons for Wilson's Storm Petrel. Page now needs to be formatted further. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Nanda ramesh (talk • contribs) 12:23, 29 October 2011 (UTC)

White-necked Rockfowl
Hello. I think I figured out the Latin of Picathartes for the White-necked Rockfowl article. Pied is a word that originated in the 1300s from the word magpie, so the chain of "pica" to magpie to pied seems to somewhat validate my source and clarify the meaning. Could you check in on the article and see if I explained it adequately?

Also, if you still make range maps, would you be interested in making one for the White-necked Rockfowl and Grey-necked Rockfowl? This site seems to have a decently recent map for the species. I'm starting work on the Grey-necked, which oddly seems to be imageless, hopefully tonight. Thank you. Rufous-crowned Sparrow (talk) 17:52, 29 October 2011 (UTC)
 * Looks fine now. The reason for tagging was for the magpie origin due to its corvid like appearance rather than the pied nature. Sure, will try and make a map from that source. Shyamal (talk) 13:38, 30 October 2011 (UTC)
 * Please check the map - the source shows an island for the grey-necked but the base map does not seem to be that detailed. Let me know if you need some alterations to be made. Shyamal (talk) 15:05, 30 October 2011 (UTC)
 * It looks pretty good. I particularly like the dot for Bioko, though it odd that it was left off of the original. I think for the White-necked Rockfowl the BirdLife map shows that the corner of Guinea, Sierra Leone, and the coast is covered by color, while the pink on the map doesn't quite make it. Other than that I think it looks good. Thank you. Rufous-crowned Sparrow (talk) 07:28, 31 October 2011 (UTC)
 * Did you see the high resolution map http://www.iucnredlist.org/apps/redlist/details/147131/0/rangemap ? Shyamal (talk) 07:31, 31 October 2011 (UTC)
 * I had not. That map looks considerably more detailed. Thank you. Rufous-crowned Sparrow (talk) 07:33, 31 October 2011 (UTC)
 * On second thought, going by new map the northeast corner of Liberia and a tiny bit of northwest Sierra Leone should be left colorless. Could you fix that? Rufous-crowned Sparrow (talk) 07:36, 31 October 2011 (UTC)
 * Done, unfortunately the base map does not seem to be too good on country boundaries. Shyamal (talk) 08:10, 31 October 2011 (UTC)
 * Yeah. The map looks good though. Thank you. Rufous-crowned Sparrow (talk) 17:23, 31 October 2011 (UTC)

Thanks
I just wanted to express my thanks for your constructive comments at Talk:Synonym (taxonomy). I have been getting very frustrated by the editors there who are very willing to be negative and remove incorrect edits but not willing to make any positive edits themselves to improve the article. Peter coxhead (talk) 21:51, 6 November 2011 (UTC)
 * You are welcome. I might have done better if I had access to that Dubois paper that I added to the article. Shyamal (talk) 04:14, 7 November 2011 (UTC)
 * Yes, it looks very useful but doesn't seem to be available online or in any library to which I have access. I've found some other papers by him online (via Google Scholar) but these are about a different issue (replacing priority by usage). Peter coxhead (talk) 12:51, 7 November 2011 (UTC)
 * This is interesting as it shows that the journal Dumerilia uses synonym in the broad sense (see e.g.  Leptolalax lateralis). (Link to Google cache because site seemed down when I tried.) Peter coxhead (talk) 13:06, 7 November 2011 (UTC)
 * Have to be careful with the interpretation because all the biodiversity informatics folks seem to prefer the broad definition - I am sure they are the ones who wrote the code to generate that page dynamically. Also there is disagreement between Dubois and Hillis and their approach on bridging Linnean and Phylocode concepts (and Hillis seems to be associated with Frost of AmphibiaWeb). This has been brewing for a while and I suspect there is a lack of clarity in the communities and there may really not be consensus within the taxonomy community itself (I vaguely remember reading in a history of biology that taxonomists have a particularly long history of having bitter and lifelong disputes with others on such matters http://www.slideshare.net/rdmpage/why-arent-we-there-yet (esp from slide 49) http://www.slideshare.net/rdmpage/phyloinformatics-in-the-age-of-wikipedia !) Shyamal (talk) 13:45, 7 November 2011 (UTC)
 * Yes, I think that both statements are clearly true (no consensus and 'strenuous' disputes). So we need to present all sides neutrally. I think there are enough sources to show that some biologists use the broad meaning for animal taxa, but we still need a sourced explanation of the narrow view. I suspect that some of those who criticized at Talk:Synonym (taxonomy) could probably do this... Peter coxhead (talk) 11:53, 8 November 2011 (UTC)
 * More discussions here, here, here, here, here, and here - one of the participants of that discussion seems to be active here as User:G.Hagedorn. There have also been on Wiki (1, 2) discussions on whether the taxobox "synonym" should even be called that. Shyamal (talk) 13:51, 8 November 2011 (UTC)
 * Wow, that's a long list to take in! There's also the discussion at Taxacom. But do any of these count as WP:RS, especially given the level of controversy (not to say aggression) over this topic? Peter coxhead (talk) 21:51, 8 November 2011 (UTC)

Vesuvians
Delighted to hear from you. Here at least is a description   Have you seen this One of many superb images at Warm regards Robert Notafly (talk) 17:23, 13 November 2011 (UTC)
 * Interesting. Thanks, apparently other matches introduced by Messrs. Heurtner were named as "prometheans", "vesuvians" and "euperion" (which was nicknamed Hugh Perry). Seems like yet another a good reason why comparisons with cultural good should be avoided in species descriptions. Shyamal (talk) 02:06, 14 November 2011 (UTC)

Renaming file
Hi,Yes that was very funny.I tried renaming on commons but strangely it did not allow.hence i uploaded another picture :) .It seems that files uploaded cant be renamed.Is there a way to do it ?? Chinmayisk 12:43, 15 November 2011 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Chinmayisk (talk • contribs)

Presentation slides for WikiConference India 2011
Link to slides - Comments welcome. Shyamal (talk) 04:30, 16 November 2011 (UTC)

Future of the US Education Program and the Ambassador Project
You may be interested in a discussion about the future and the growth of the US education program along with the future of the Wikipedia Ambassador Project here. Mike Christie (talk - contribs - library) 04:04, 18 November 2011 (UTC)

Herd of students approaching Wikipedia
HI Shyamal, My students have deadlines approaching and all are starting to edit on Wikipedia in earnest. Many seem to be having difficulties entering references appropriately. If you have time in the next two weeks, would you keep checking in on them? I am too but your experience will be key I think. They have until Dec. 5 to make their 10 paragraph contribution to wikipedia articles. Thanks so much for your volunteer help and dedication! Waterbug42 (talk) 14:52, 21 November 2011 (UTC)

Tamil Wiki Media Contest
 Srikanth (Logic)  18:25, 29 November 2011 (UTC)

Wikimedia Stories Project
Hello,

My name is Victor Grigas, and I'm a storyteller at the Wikimedia foundation. We're telling stories of Wikipedia users, editors, donors, programmers and staff to paint a picture of who uses Wikipedia - for the 2011 fundraiser.

I am in the process of planning a trip to India to gather stories from Indian Wikipedians in face-to-face interviews (possibly on video).

My primary goal is to conduct 15-20 interviews, and hopefully enough of my interviews will make compelling stories that will effectively solicit donations from the public. These stories may also be used for other communication purposes by the foundation.

I found your userpage on a list of prolific Wikipedians and thought I’d reach out to you. Prolific editing is always a good story to tell!

If you are interested in participating, please contact me via my email:

vgrigas@wikimedia.org

Thank you for your time!

Victor

About me: I have been a Wikipedia editor since 2005, and have a background in film, video and audio. My userpage can be found here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Victorgrigas
 * Dummy sign to archive. Shyamal (talk) 13:12, 6 December 2011 (UTC)

Construct a leaderboard for my class
If you have a minute, I would love to put a 'leaderboard' on my course wikipage. I think students are constructing contributions in other programs before putting them on Wikipedia. We're down to the wire and few have contributed much. I would love to put a leaderboard listing each student and their character count on my coursepage to spur them into competing a bit more. I've searched and can't find an example to copy. Please, I am not asking for you to spend lots of time but if you easily know how to do this, would you share? Many many thanks! Waterbug42 (talk) 01:57, 30 November 2011 (UTC)


 * I realize it's going to be a tough job scoring Wikipedia contributions. Shyamal (talk) 13:19, 6 December 2011 (UTC)

White-tailed Rubythroat
My photo of White-tailed Rubythroat was taken above Bolshoi Almaty Lake in the Kazakhstan side of the Tian Shan mountains. --Chuunen Baka (talk  • contribs) 15:15, 30 November 2011 (UTC)
 * Thanks. Have added the details to the image description on Commons. Shyamal (talk) 15:19, 30 November 2011 (UTC)

Can you please help me with posting a picture to my wiki page?
Hi Shyamal,

I recently posted a picture for Huping Ling but it was taken down because I did not insert a correct tag. So I followed the instructions and believe I found the correct tag.

Upon trying to re-upload the pic and insert the tag, I kept getting some error stating the pic was recently deleted (something along those lines).

Can you please help me with this? Alee227 (talk) 23:53, 3 December 2011 (UTC)

I didn't realize adding a picture was so complicated. I was under the impression that I could just use this tag:   because the picture I want to use is from .edu website (http://www2.truman.edu/~hling/). Wouldn't that mean this picture is already in the public domain? i.e. available for use? Please advise. Thank you. Alee227 (talk) 01:46, 4 December 2011 (UTC)
 * A common misunderstanding but being publicly available on the Internet is not the same as public domain. Shyamal (talk) 01:58, 4 December 2011 (UTC)

Thank you so much! Alee227 (talk) 03:38, 5 December 2011 (UTC)

Hi Shyamal,

I cc'd you in an email to permissions-commons@wikimedia.org which contains the reply by Dr. Ling where she gives permission to use the photo.

Will this suffice? can you tell me what I need to do from here?

Please let me know. And thank you for all of your help so far in learning wikimedia. Alee227 (talk) 19:00, 4 December 2011 (UTC)

Hi, I just created a subsection under New York entitled "Sale or Cultivation", but since i am getting all y info from the same website, I decided to just cite the subsection and I bulleted the points. Is kind of citing acceptable by wiki? Thank you. — Preceding unsigned comment added by L3asiim3 (talk • contribs) 00:29, 6 December 2011 (UTC) Thanks for your help; from me and my classmates, and am sure from our teacher too. Our class project is now done and any further edits will not affect our grade but as you can see some of us are almost hooked to this wiki thing (as I started out calling it). I will continue to edit this page and you might still hear from me in the future. Hope thats okay. Until then, thank you very much for all your help...& HAPPY HOLIDAYS.L3asiim3 (talk) 13:00, 6 December 2011 (UTC)
 * Replied on your talk page. Shyamal (talk) 03:47, 6 December 2011 (UTC)

WP Tree of Life in the Signpost
The WikiProject Report would like to focus on WikiProject Tree of Life for a Signpost article. This is an excellent opportunity to draw attention to your efforts and attract new members to the project. Would you be willing to participate in an interview? If so, here are the questions for the interview. Just add your response below each question and feel free to skip any questions that you don't feel comfortable answering. Multiple editors will have an opportunity to respond to the interview questions. If you know anyone else who would like to participate in the interview, please share this with them. Have a great day. -Mabeenot (talk) 03:26, 4 December 2011 (UTC)
 * I noticed you briefly mentioned the concept of a sort of photo id help desk...maybe we could get a page set up for that as a task force, and encourage ToL members to frequent it? Bob the WikipediaN (talk • contribs) 18:48, 4 December 2011 (UTC)
 * Yes, I think it would be nice if it was a kind of transclusion that appeared at both places and then got sorted by taxa. Shyamal (talk) 03:44, 5 December 2011 (UTC)

Acraea
Hi, Shyamal. I have limited time to work with WP articles presently, and only just now logged in to find your note about Acraea. Clearly, there are two problems: (1) there are competing theories, from reputable sources (with no immediate evidence of consensus), and (2) the editor is inserting content that is not properly summarized, formatted, and referenced. If they can be convinced to back off from making their own edits, it should be possible to rewrite the article to reflect the controversy accurately, though it would be helpful to know whether there is any feeling of consensus from those who work on the group. Hopefully, Bernaud can be persuaded that there is too direct a conflict of interest, and will allow a neutral editor to make appropriate changes without contesting or reverting them. I don't have time right now to undertake this myself or help you do it, but maybe a scan through other butterfly-related articles can turn up a cooperative and qualified editor if you aren't able to do it alone. Peace, Dyanega (talk)
 * Not a problem. Thanks, I will try to fix it if I can find those obscure Bernaud papers. Nice to hear about that bumblebee rediscovery. Shyamal (talk) 02:28, 7 December 2011 (UTC)

Re: JBNHS paper
Excellent! Thanks a lot! I will add the info to the article soon. Cheers! Ruigeroeland (talk) 07:36, 16 December 2011 (UTC)

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