User talk:Sunray/Archive05

Oak Ridges Moraine and related articles
Sunray, I'll be making a few changes to these articles starting Monday. I have a few minor edits, plus some significant contributions for the Origin of... article. If you're still interested in this topic, could you copyedit my changes? It has taken longer than expected because of personal issues, and because some of the documents are quite technical - dumbing them down without losing context is difficult.

I also have lots of material that isn't going to find its way into articles, because I don't have enough time to spend doing this (perhaps I should stop nominating articles that become CCOTWs!); I can give you some internet links and book/journal references about a specific sub-project if you have the time and inclination to do this, or know someone that can.

Finally, what do you think of having a separate Research on the Oak Ridges Moraine article. It'd probably be the longest one of the bunch - there is so much to contribute to this article. No, I won't create it until I know I can expand it in reasonable time.

I'll check into Wikipedia again on Monday. Mindmatrix 14:04, 3 September 2005 (UTC)


 * I've updated the article Origin of the Oak Ridges Moraine. Could you give it a read when you have time, and let me know about any confusing bits. The intro is awful, since it was an afterthought, and some sections are weak (I still have to write one section). Copyedit at will, but I'd really like to know if the process of the moraine formation is described adequately and dumbed down sufficiently. Mindmatrix 21:16, 6 September 2005 (UTC)

Yes, (he says cautiously), I would be interested in doing some more work on this worthy topic.

Why cautiously? ;-) OK, I guess some of the sources I've been using are quite technical...I know I've left a few floating tech/jargon terms in the article. I tried explaining them at their first use, but I've shifted content around so often during editing that this is no longer true in the article.

Which ORM article(s) would you prefer to work on? I'll tackle the Origin and Hydrography ones myself (these are a lot of work). I don't have many resources for Politics, but I do have some. The Ecology article needs work, and I know I have a few internet links at a minimum for this.

If you'd prefer, I can give you references for specific sections of an article - I haven't sorted them yet, but this would be a good reason to do it...

Note: these references are in addition to those listed at the ORM talk page.

I'm glad you have decided to pursue this.

I never really abandoned these articles; I've had real life intervene, so I dropped major edits from my Wikipedia plate for a while. (Oddly, most of the Origin additions were written in late June, but edited recently before being merged into WP.) Mindmatrix 20:56, 7 September 2005 (UTC)

Another thought - let's add a quick todo list to the talk page of each ORM article to determine what work needs to be done, and strike each one out upon completion. Mindmatrix 21:00, 7 September 2005 (UTC)

Alright, I'll sort my references and leave a list here on your talk page for those related to Ecology. One thing that needs to be done is the table of provincially-significant ANSI and ESA areas. I've barely done half the list, and can't seem to find any others, especially on the east end of the moraine. Mindmatrix 20:48, 8 September 2005 (UTC)


 * Heh, I decided to create an ORM resources section in my user space: User:Mindmatrix/Oak Ridges Moraine - I'll update it every now and then with a new batch of sorted references. I've got nearly 400 bookmarks/favourites to go through (some are saved google searches, others are useless). Use it as you wish...
 * Aside: Oh, how I wish I had sorted them as I found them. Mindmatrix 17:46, 11 September 2005 (UTC)


 * BTW: I'll update the list once I'm done with National Film Board of Canada and a few other cleanup chores I've assigned myself. Also, my browser crashed and I lost a whole bunch of bookmarks as a result (luckily I had a not-too-recent backup with some, but not all, of them). I just keep dragging this out, don't I? Mindmatrix 18:21, 25 September 2005 (UTC)

Wikimania 2006
In the course of informal discussions at Wikimania in Frankfurt the possibility of having Wikimania 2006 in Vancouver was raised. What makes Canada desirable for such a meeting is the capacity to draw delegates from the United States. For many overseas delegates, however, U.S. visa requirements make that country less attractive. All else being equal, Europeans see Vancouver as a more interesting Canadian city to visit than Toronto, the only other Canadian city to receive significant consideration.

Preliminary bids from various cities need to be made by Sept. 30, 2005. A short list will be drawn from those bids. Is there enough interest and energy to put together such a conference in Vancouver for August 2006? The people in Frankfurt put on a tremendous gathering, with a core organizational group of about a dozen people. Some 400 people attended from 52 different countries.

I expect that a North American Wikimania could be a little smaller, but we would still need a suitable facility. It would be good to know that such a facility is available for a conference; the type of youth hostel facility that was used in Frankfurt does not exist in North America. What would be the cost of hosting such a conference at UBC?

I'm looking for interest and commitment. To that end I am proposing a Vancouver meetup for Saturday, Sept. 24. If someone has a reasonably accesible place for such a meeting please let me know. (I live in Richmond, but something in the city of Vancouver would be more appropriate.)

I am spammiong this to all Vancouver area Wikipedians that I can find. Please reply to my talk page. Eclecticology 21:50:16, 2005-09-03 (UTC)

Just a thought
This may not satisfy all of your needs, but if you don't show some support, we're not likely to get even this much. &mdash; Xiong &#29066; talk * 10:46, 13 September 2005 (UTC)

Columbine massacre
Columbine High School is located closer to the Denver city limits (about 1/2 mile), but uses a little address because of its zip code, which is 80123 and associated with Littleton. Littleton is about 1 and 1/2 miles away in Arapahoe County, Denver is about 1/2 mile away in Jefferson County crossing into Denver County about 1 mile later, so it's closer to Denver but is associated with Littleton. That's why the opening paragraph is written that way. PRueda29 18:37, 19 September 2005 (UTC)

User Categorization
You were listed on the Wikipedia:Wikipedians/Canada page as living in or being associated with Canada. As part of the User categorisation project, these lists are being replaced with user categories. If you would like to add yourself to the category that is replacing the page, please visit Category:Wikipedians of British Columbia for instructions. --Doviende 20:56, 21 September 2005 (UTC)

Location of Columbine
Alright then, let's change it.

I thought I had placed the reply above earlier, but I guess there must've been a problem when I saved it. Either that, or I just put you on my list of things to do in my head and then forgot... sorry. PRueda29 19:26, 23 September 2005 (UTC)

No problem, thank you for pointing it out and helping with the article. PRueda29 08:44, 25 September 2005 (UTC)

William Rees
I nominated this page for deletion. You might want to visit Articles for deletion/William Rees and express your views. DES (talk) 17:55, 24 September 2005 (UTC)

DESiegel's RfA
Hello, Sunray. I posted this here rather than at the RfA as it didn't seem wholly appropriate there.

You seem frustrated that he nominated your article (William Rees) on the day it was posted, but there isn't any time span an article needs to be up before it's AfDd. A lot of articles are nom'd on the day they're created in a perfectly valid and reasonable AfD. I recommend that if you don't want your article to be AfDd while you're still working on it, either use the Preview button, create a sandbox subpage in your userspace (like mine, here), or use a text editor on your computer before uploading it. --Blackcap | talk 02:29, 25 September 2005 (UTC)


 * Hey mate, replied here. --Blackcap | talk 16:34, 25 September 2005 (UTC)

Useful links and stuff
Sunray, did you accidentally misplace this in the article namespace? Did you mean to create User:Sunray/Useful links and stuff or Useful links and stuff? Just curious... Mindmatrix 18:17, 25 September 2005 (UTC)
 * Seems like its in your user space now...there's a stray re-direct that I may nominate for deletion soon (I have a list of redirects to nominate, plus I don't think we should have redirects from the article namespace to the user namespace). BTW: I was going to comment on the William Rees AfD, but it seems my vote would be redundant at this point. Mindmatrix 16:12, 29 September 2005 (UTC)
 * The original redirect is deleted, per CSD-R2. --Interiot 17:57, 27 January 2006 (UTC)

My RfA
Sunray-- Thank you for your comments on my RfA. I have responded to yours and others' comments on the RfA page. You don't have to change your vote, I just want people to hear my side of the story. Thank you for your time. Cheers my friend. -- Lord Vold e  mort  (Dark Mark)  14:42, 28 September 2005 (UTC)

Request for review
I stumbled across this article, John sha ko hen the tha Harding, as being tagged for clean up. It was both POV and badly-written. I know little of the events mentioned, so I am hoping you or others with more background can help improve this article. Harding was a Mohawk leader at Kanestake. Thanks. Ground Zero | t 14:36, 5 October 2005 (UTC)


 * Ground Zero, you really find some lulus! You say you stumbled across this--what substance were you on? :-)  I've taken a quick look at it and am not sure we have a valid article on Harding.  It seems to me to be about an incident in which Harding was one of the players.  I suppose it could be re-written about Harding and his position against Gabriel.  I will look for some additional biographical material on him and perhaps we could discuss it some more on the talk page of the article.  I need to get up to speed on current goings on at Kanesatake. Sunray 16:44, 5 October 2005 (UTC)

Thanks for your comments
Thank you very much for taking the time to commit on my nomination for adminship. Please be assured that I will bear your remarks in mind. I am sorry that you felt unable to support my nomination. Now that I have been made an admin, I will do my best to live up to the trust that the community has placed in me. If you ever see my doing something you think is incorrect or questionable, or does not live up to the standards that should be expected of an admin, please let me know. DES (talk) 20:17, 6 October 2005 (UTC)

Jguk 2 Arbitration request
Since you were involved / gave evidence in the first arbitration case involving User:Jguk and date notation, I thought you would be interested in a new arbitration request that has been lodged, again regarding User:Jguk and date notation. Please see WP:RFAr if you would like to comment. Sortan 19:08, 20 October 2005 (UTC)

Cheese article vandalism
The article has been undergoing vandalism (by different anons) while you have been trying to edit it. You should check it carefully because some of the spurious changes have been missed.--Blainster 17:20, 4 November 2005 (UTC)
 * It looks OK now. I was a half-hour or so behind...  --Blainster 17:27, 4 November 2005 (UTC)

trickster edit
I changed: In many cultures, (as may be seen in Greek, Norse or Slavic folktales in contrast with Native American/First Nations lore), the trickster... Back to its original where 'in contrast with' is not mentioned - the culture hero article that shares this paragraph uses this old meaning; that Native American's often blended culture hero and trickster figures. I am reverting it now, because it seems an inadvertent change of meaning- let me know if you disagree (and one of us will change it back, along with the culture hero article)

Please discontinue your involvement outside of the article namespace
I was quite shocked tonight when I stumbled onto the recent RFA for Rl and saw your vote and its justification. Quite frankly I can see no excuse for the harm caused to our community by your ridiculous imposition of a bureaucratic and arbitrary numerical standard which is neither supported by policy or by community behavior. I find it further unacceptable that you choose to use a helpful user as a pawn in your wiki political battle and as a result alienated him from our project. I have never before been so ashamed to be a Wikipedia editor. After careful consideration I believe that all users who have caused this travesty are a greater harm to our project than an asset. Please confine your activities to the main namespace or discontinue your involvement altogether. Thank you. --Gmaxwell 05:49, 3 December 2005 (UTC)

"Please discontinue..." really?
[cross posted to Gmaxwell's talk page].

Thank you for your note on my talk page. Wikis support a diversity of views and yours is certainly divergent from the ‘’Wikipedia’’ norm. Well, Vive la difference, as the French say.

However, your statement that my comment was a “ridiculous imposition of a bureaucratic and arbitrary numerical standard which is neither supported by policy or by community behavior” is ill informed. I was quoting from the ‘’Wikipedia’’ policy on consensus. As to a “bureaucratic and arbitrary” standard. Well, perhaps, but along with the policy on assuming good faith, to which you happily (and rightly) subscribe, these are beacons to steer us through disagreements and conflict. They work. I’ve devoted much of my time, when not editing, to trying to make these policies work, and have been successful, in the main.

As to a “political battle”: That is not my concern. I try hard not to let my own politics affect my work on ‘’Wikipedia’’. If Rl is devoted to some political cause, and gave up when he wasn’t made an administrator, that’s life. Note that I didn’t say “just too bad,” because I believe that we are a learning community here. When he is ready to learn, he will be back. Sunray 17:45, 3 December 2005 (UTC)

Mindmatrix scam adminship
As fellow residents of this land, I feel it is my duty to employ my newly-granted priviliges to ensure that this politically unstable land may one day achieve a level of stability and functional governance that we all desire. To that end, please use the attached funds with the strictest confidence to accomplish this goal. (Yes, you're right, functional governance and Canadian politics is an oxymoron.) Thank you for your support. Mindmatrix 21:26, 4 December 2005 (UTC)

trolls
I think I was trying to let outside parties know the score. But your point is well-taken. I appreciate your vigilance on this matter, Slrubenstein  |  Talk 03:53, 23 December 2005 (UTC)