User talk:Spatch

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Regarding Image:Spatch Wiki Portrait.jpg
Hi, I came across this picture while working my way though this list. It's a nice picture, unfortunately having it on your userpage is strictly speaking against Wikipedia fair use policy, wich explicitly does not allow "fair use images" on userpages. Not that I think this one is likely to cause any trouble compared to the people who splash DVD covers and what not all over theyr userpage, but still. Have you asked the photograper if he is willing to release the picture under GFDL (or a compatable creative commons licence)? That would have been the ideal solution. I've left a notice on the image page for people speedy deleting orphanded fair use images to give it a pass for a while, but I suggest not delaying for too long. Thanks. --Sherool (talk) 00:25, 26 November 2005 (UTC)
 * Go go copyleft zealots! 24.80.179.111 03:42, 28 February 2006 (UTC)

Re: Webcomics barnstar
Hi there. I'm R. Noyes, the creator of Cat Town, a website whose Wikipedia entry was deleted a few weeks back in a CfD you spearheaded. I'm not mad that the article was deleted. I took no part in its creation or maintenance, I kept out of the initial VfD to avoid a conflict of interest, and I haven't been active in Wikipedia for so long that I hadn't even known there was a second, much less third call for deletion of the article.

Frankly, I was initially flattered that someone took the time to write an article about a silly little thing I had done primarily to amuse myself and some friends, and I gave the author permission to include the logo picture in the article, but I really didn't feel it important enough for me to leap in and boldly defend should it come under fire (and besides, on Wikipedia, an author who boldly leaps in to defend something of hir own has pretty much lost the fight right there.) The project wasn't mainstream, I didn't advertise it, and honestly it's been inactive in over 7 months so techically it's not current anymore. I didn't feel offended by the first VfD, and when I read over the other two this evening, I didn't feel offended by them, either. I know Wikipedia policy is all bureaucracy and a squeakiest wheel competition besides, so why waste time and energy being a blowhard about it?

I am offended, however, in the barnstar you received from hahnch in honor of the article's deletion. How something can be deemed so insignificant yet garner Wikipedia's high accolade with an extremely POV and mean-spirited explanation upon its deletion is beyond me, but that's not the point. I'd probably have to take that up with hahnch. You seem to be a good and vigilant editor, you're doing your part to help make Wikipedia into what you think is a better place, and that's great, but displaying such an insulting note betrays your good faith and good intentions as an editor. I've received my fair share of angry email from people who didn't think Cat Town was funny, and I was never bothered by them -- to each his own, really. But for some reason, that barnstar hurt. It felt like I was watching two 5th graders gleefully gloating over a frog they'd just stomped on for no other reason than to stomp on a frog. Surely Wikipedia isn't helped by such mean-spirited jubilation, but again, perhaps that's something that's all hahnch's doing in the first place.

I'm not asking you to remove the barnstar, though I guess technically I could edit it out if I wanted to and you could put it back in and then we'd have a revert war and accomplish absolutely nothing except for hilariously snarky insults in our edit summary fields. It's your call, really. Please just keep in mind that on the Internet, especially on a public web site such as Wikipedia, your words and actions and the reactions to them can be seen by anybody and everybody. And that often there can be another person behind another monitor who, whether you know it or not, is directly affected by such actions. I just wanted to point that out and to, uh, thank you for ruining my dinner tonight.

Take care, and keep up the good fight, whatever you perceive it to be. Spatch 02:28, 15 December 2006 (UTC)


 * Hey there. I'd like to apologize for the barnstar that was previously displayed on my user page. I had a habit of displaying any recognition that people presented me with there, but have since revised that policy. You are very much correct in that it wasn't charitable of Hahnchen to single out your comic and say such harsh things nor should I have blindly displayed the barnstar. It has been removed from my user page and will remain so.


 * In all truth, the nomination of Cat Town's article for deletion had no value judgement associated with it. I was looking through the web comics category looking to see if anything met the speedy deletion criteria "web content that does not assert the importance or significance of its subject." I'm sorry that the end result of that effort conveyed a sense of mean-spiritedness; that was never my intention. --Brad Beattie (talk) 15:43, 15 December 2006 (UTC)

ArbCom elections are now open!
Hi, You appear to be eligible to vote in the current Arbitration Committee election. The Arbitration Committee is the panel of editors responsible for conducting the Wikipedia arbitration process. It has the authority to enact binding solutions for disputes between editors, primarily related to serious behavioural issues that the community has been unable to resolve. This includes the ability to impose site bans, topic bans, editing restrictions, and other measures needed to maintain our editing environment. The arbitration policy describes the Committee's roles and responsibilities in greater detail. If you wish to participate, you are welcome to review the candidates' statements and submit your choices on the voting page. For the Election committee, MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 22:12, 30 November 2015 (UTC)