User talk:Williamborg/archive3

Svalbard
Hei William! Always a pleasure to visit your talk page. Perhaps as a tit-for-tat for your addition to NVE, I have been working on some of the Svalbard geography articles, many of which you started. Many now look better in en: than in no: - I will try to add the material I've added over to no: too, but I am currently a long distance away from my English-Norwegian dictionary (I am in mid-relocation), so won't attempt it just yet! I also intend to copy a lot of these articles over to fr: which has a "black hole" of Svalbard coverage. What I am trying to add across all relevant languages is the maps I have created for this work. Wahlenbergfjord is a case in point: it looks far better than no:Wahlenbergfjord. (One irritating thing that the interlanguage links have thrown up is that different languages have different opinions about whether Spitsbergen is the name for the island or archipelago... I ought to make a Spitsbergen (terminology) article really, there's enough material from the Norwegian Polar Institute to do so, and I uploaded this lovely map, the earliest one to show Svalbard, that could go with it!) I hope you don't mind but I tended to cull long lists of external links - I was working under the impression that guidelines encourage only links relevant to the individual article, so for example, a link about the whole of Svalbard may not be appropriate to an article about a fjord, unless the fjord is specifically mentioned.

Anyway, if you can spare the time and effort, there are several problems I've encountered, and I'd really appreciate any assistance you can give! Once I have my Norwegian dictionary back, I may go on a "reference hunt" over at no: trying to track down the original authors and asking where they got their facts from! However, given your familiarity with the language and the subject of Norwegian geography, you may find that a lot easier than me. Any assistance you have to offer would be gratefully appreciated :-) Hope life is treating you well, takk, TheGrappler 02:36, 29 July 2006 (UTC)
 * 1) I'm working on obtaining a better quality map to use to check/expand the labelling of the maps I have produced. In the meanwhile, if you see that I have made any glaring errors, I can correct them if you point them out to me!
 * 2) I suspect that we are underreporting the area in square km of Spitsbergen by about 30%, probably because somebody hasn't converted square miles and square km accurately, but I can't find definitive figures to replace these obvious errors with. If you could check that out I'd appreciate it!
 * 3) On a similar theme I am having a real problem with factual sourcing, which is obviously taken less seriously on no: and other language Wikipedias. The NPI Svalbard Names Database gives areas for some islands but not others. The figures for area used on other language Wikipedias are different to those stated in Britannica, but I can't find where they are getting them from. I found a hint that Statistics Norway may be the primary source (another website quoted identical figures for some of the areas and cited them) but can't find a particular webpage. The facts I am really having difficulty sourcing are:
 * 4) *Island areas and coastlines
 * 5) *What area of islands is covered by glaciers (can't find this anywhere! Not sure if Statistics Norway is the source for this information or not)
 * 6) *Lengths of fjords (the NPI Names Database does contain some figures, but not all... is this something done by Statistics Norway? Or maybe even NVE?)
 * 7) There is also clearly some inconsistency about using the -en and -et endings on place-names. I have generally stuck with what I see on maps (which generally lack the definite endings), while the NVE seems to like putting these endings on. Is there a naming convention for this situation?


 * Tysend takk! Patience is not a problem :-) And the Summer is lovely. If you could find time on your to-do list at some point to help me track down the source used at no: for the island areas, perimeters and glaciated areas, I'd appreciate that a lot - I've got a couple of other sources up my sleeve now and the results should hopefully be even more excellent! Enjoy your summer and the mountains, TheGrappler 15:15, 31 July 2006 (UTC)

Otternes
Hi. Would you please check Otternes. It is short.--Frode Inge Helland 15:39, 9 September 2006 (UTC)

re:welcome
thanks for welcoming me! --New York from Flavor of Love 19:03, 9 September 2006 (UTC)

Ilan Manolis
Done. I couldn't do it myself - but an acquaintance helped out. Notability is questionable. - CrazyRussian talk/email 04:53, 10 September 2006 (UTC)
 * Solve one problem; discover another. Ah well, I truly appreciate your resolving the translation issue. It is one less on the never ending list of translation on Pages needing translation into English

Havretunet
Bill, may be the strip farm Havretunet will interest you. And I am working on a translation (the ambitions goes far beyond the abilities) of my article on Aurlandsdalen (see http://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruker:Frode_Inge_Helland/Kladd)


 * I'd suggest a reasonable translation (almost a total transliteration) of fellestunet is collective farm yard. If this translation were used, I'd understand in English that a fellestunet was a collective farmyard where multiple families lived and from which multiple fields were independently tilled. And I presume the fields, in the fashion common in early Denmark and Sweden, were long narrow strips. Is this your understanding? Skål - Williamborg (Bill) 13:38, 10 September 2006 (UTC)


 * Exceptionally fine articles you are preparing. They cover two topics I am very interested in: old farms and old roads.
 * When you get these articles to where you're ready to post them up to the English Wikipedia, let me know. I'll be most happy to give them an English version copy edit.
 * And the photos are exceptional!
 * Skål - Williamborg (Bill) 13:44, 10 September 2006 (UTC)

Aurlandsdalen
Bill, the article has now been transferred to english WP.

Strip farming in Norway
Bill, I have searched for articles about strip farming, teigblanding and jordskiftereform. In the last case I got only two hits and one was my own article about landsby (village). There were many hits on strip farming, so I gather you are familiar with the principle.

So I will try to concentrate on the Norwegian conditions since they are quite different from the rest of Scandinavia.

There have never been villages in Norway in the Europeans sense. But the collective farmyards were numerous all over the country. It is, as far as I understand, a result of the increasing number & people living in the collective farmyards. Some areas were better suited for grain, other for potatoes etc. So, in the expanding of the increasing agriculture areas there was also a fragmenting in smaller units. It was perfect for collective work when different kind of crops were situated together.

But in the landscape in Norway is more difficult to make this economically favourable. And by the time it became more and more difficult to handle. So it became clear that the system had to be reformed to secure further development. So in the great «jordkiftereform» ( redistribution reform) the strips were melded together, redistributed and the farmhouses moved from the collective farmyards to the land belonging to each farm.

But a few collective farmyards avoided this for reasons I do not know: Havretunet at Osterøy, Agatunet in Sørfjorden in Hardanger, Otternes in Songefjorden and possibly a few others like Bleik (Fishing station) in Andøy in North Norway. (I am working on the Bleik article).

WP.no has an article about teigblanding (strip farming in Norway) and one about jordskifterett. I will try to translate both for you.--Frode Inge Helland 18:49, 10 September 2006 (UTC)


 * Very intersting topic. I look forward to reading it. If you require any assistance, please let me know. Tusen takk - Williamborg (Bill) 22:48, 10 September 2006 (UTC)

Bill,

Here is the first article:

Teigblanding – Strip farming Freely translated from nynorsk WP

Strip farming is a concept covering a land distribution in agriculture. In collective farmyards where every single farmer owned or rented a part of the farm, the properties become complicated. The home fields were divided into small strips and each family maintained rights to both the suitable and the  lesser suitable fields. Outlying fields were not divided but kept in common use. .Teigblanding – Strip farmingTeigblanding – Strip farming Strip farming in Norway

In the years after the black death in the 1300 Norway developed, in contrast to most of the European countries, a particular farm structure, with free and partly undependent farmers. Norway differed also in other aspects. The central Europeans lived in villages, while in Norway the settlings gathered i different collective farmyards.

Since the population had a relatively strong growth through the 1700 there was an increasing ing dividing farms between brothers and by division of an inheritance. In the eastern Norway the developement was distinguished by the strong expansion of the cotters system until its culmination about 1850.

A cotters farm often rised in because of the one of the brothers who had «odel» (usually the eldest brothers exclusive rigtht to inherit the whole farm) gave a cotters farm to the other brothers and thus make it possible for them to rise their own families.

In this agrarian society the farm was the source of wealth, prosperity and a good life. Those not having a farm might risk their life as «legdeslem» (legd = a kind of rural, social security. Poor people circulated from farm to farm where the people had an moral obligation to provide food and accomodation, usually in the barn. Lem = member) or to spend the rest of their lives as servants. It was a very strong social fissure process.

I the western Norway the did otherwise. The farm was divided into various farmparts. In many cases several small field of various quality widely spread. And the same applied to the meadows. To secure every one of the part owners a part of the best as well as the poorest land one divided the land into strips. These strips were distrubuted in accordance to how much land each owned of the land that were to be parted. To get maximum justice in the distribution one could could circulate the strips between the owners, called «årsskifte», annual shift. Thus the system got imanent dynamics, where one started with strip farming one had to continue with cultivation of new land. The custom on the western and southern Norway was that the home fields to different pupose consisted of a complicated variety of strips spread between other strips between other strips belonging to the other farms in the collective farmyard. The outlying fields was mor or less used in co-ownership, in the fall and in the sprin used as common grazing. As could be expected in such a complicated collective system, disageemets rose about the management of the farms and the distribution. The growth in population forced an increasin dividing og the land, and the individual houses belonging to each individual farm in the vollective faryard, was more or less placed by incident.

So far back as the «Gulatingslova» (about 900 A.D.) there have been laws about land distrubution, which reflects the problems involved in strip farming and land distribution.

«Jordskifte», redistribution is an attempt to gather the strips and obtain more coherent, larger areas of land.--Frode Inge Helland 07:04, 11 September 2006 (UTC)

here is the other one:

Jordskifteretten is a particular court of justice for handeling redistribution (severance?) of land and properties which are difficult to use in a useful way according to time and circumstances. (Jordskifteloven § 1 – Redistribution law § 1).

The main task for the «Jordskifteretten» is to execute redistribution – redistribute land and rights between the affected land owners and holders of rigths.

Owner of a property or one with permant right of use, is entitled to present his case before «Jordskifteretten» when a problem with property or rights of use can be solved by the use of «Jordskifteloven». «Jordskifteretten» is not supposed to solve cases where properties are situated in densely populated areas until the municipal authorities have had the opportunity to put forward their point of view.

The court of law comprises 34 «Jordskifteretter» and 5 «Jordskifte overretter» (higher courts of law). Appellate court for «Jordskifteretten» is either «Lagmannsretten» or «Jordskifteoverreten».

The «Jordskifteretten» is composed of a judge («Jordskiftedommer, dommer = judge» and two co-judges. In complicated cases the court can be expanded to 4 co-judges. It is common practice that cases in the «Jordskifteretten» is conducted by the two parts without assistance of a lawyer, but laeyer may be made use of.

The court of law's relation to the goverment administration. Some prargraphs in «Jordskifteloven» are granting a certain degree of influence on the work in «Jordskifteretten». § 20 is instructing the «Jordskifteretten» to consult the goverment administration if the severance affects conditions within their field of responsibility.

Until 1999 the law had a regulation § 20, 3. paragraph which stated that the «Landbruksdepartementet» (agriculture office) settled cases when diagreement. § 41 in the «Jordskifteloven» states that the court should consider plans accordin to «Plan- og bygningsloven» Plan and building law. The municpality office may moreover give their opinion if the property lies in densely populated areas, and the «fylkesmannen», the county govenor, make decicions fylkesmannen in case of doubt.

The intention is that the goverment administration may make use of the skills in «Jordskifteretten» and the instruments of the «Jordskifteloven», thus be an executional body for the government adminitration. The has led to reports (see NOU 1999:22 point 5.1.2 NOU, Norges Offentlige Utredninger = Norwegian Governmet Reports (studies)) about to which extent the close relationship  between «Jordskifteretten» and the goverment administration is creating problems for the independence of the «Jordskifteretten», and if it may not be in accordance with the human rigths, about the right for for individuals to be considered by an independent and impartial court of law..

Private interests may in cases e. g. versus a municipality, may feel «Jordskifteretten» and the publicv counterpart at to sides of the same body. --Frode Inge Helland 10:29, 11 September 2006 (UTC)

Dairy farm
In the western Norway the word "støl" is more widely in use than "seter". --Frode Inge Helland 09:23, 11 September 2006 (UTC)


 * Glad the artcles were useful for you. In Vestlandet there is an expression "å støle" which could be translated as working at the støl, and also used in the expression "de støler ennå in Norddal" which could be translated as "the støls (stølene) are still i use" contrary to being shut down and not in use any longer --Frode Inge Helland 14:04, 11 September 2006 (UTC).

Bill, where is your family farm?? --Frode Inge Helland 20:23, 11 September 2006 (UTC)

The Helland Brothers
I would like to know if the building in Chippewa Falls in Wisconsin on the picture from Helland Brothers still do exist and if an image is available somewhere. So if you might give me any hint where to dig, i'd be grateful. --Frode Inge Helland 05:48, 12 September 2006 (UTC)

RfA
Hi Bill, Thanks for your support in the above!
 * ...On to Main'': not one single new article... If you’re going to delete articles, you need to understand how to generate articles...

Hope the (starts of) the histories for items linked via /Archive, most of the italic links on /No longer on watchlist and the subpage links on /To do (in particular those in bold, which are about to debut in the main encyclopedia) haven't gone missing! Thanks again, David Kernow 10:45, 12 September 2006 (UTC)


 * ''You're my RfA hero! Please accept the "most underappreciated award"...

No problem; I did wonder whether something was amiss with the Wikipedia database but wasn't able to check then and there. Such is the background material on Wikipedia, I also periodically miss useful information – with the effect that contributions I make occasionally seem far bolder than I'd've thought! I imagine you know the experience. Thanks for providing such a generous climax to the RfA! David 02:36, 13 September 2006 (UTC) PS As it seems you're Norwegian (hope I'm correct!) I wonder if you might have a few moments to listen to and write down (or immediately recogniz/se and steer me toward) an approximate translation of a Norwegian folksong? (It's Heiemo og Nykkjen ("Heiemo and the Water Sprite"...?) sung by Kirsten Bråten-Berg – this link being to the beginnings of an article I had on my PC and have now uploaded!) If this in any way tricky, worry not; I'm just being opportunistic!


 * ''...Fortunately I do know several Wiki-Norwegians, and given their general Wiki-behavior, it pleases me greatly to be mistaken for one of them. I’ll ask around for an assist.

Glad such a mistake is so pleasing – and grateful for your contacting Frode; not only has he responded, but:
 * ...David, I have just talket to Kirsten [yes, Kirsten Bråten-Berg!]''. She was in Stavanger and busy, but said she would send me the text to Heiemo and the Water Sprite when she gets back tomorrow.

How's that for a result...! Ever the opportunist, I've left a few inquiries in response (see #Re Kirsten Bråten-Berg); hopefully none ask too much or are inappropriate. Meanwhile, I also meant to thank you for uploading Image:1668-Map-of-Norway.JPG to the Commons; I'm one of those folk intrigued by maps and am looking forward to spending some more time aomng them in the Commons again. Best wishes, David 22:35, 13 September 2006 (UTC)


 * ''Very pleased, but not surprised, that this worked out so well for you... And congrats on making Admin. Trust you'll still put in some time being a great editor.

Thanks for both; re the latter, adding less content to the encyclopedia was/is one of my concerns as regards becoming an admin – until Kirsten Bråten-Berg, I hadn't made a significant contribution in months. I suppose, though, it has taken time to start those administrative division-related articles (which still await a final burst of concentrated attention in order to move them into the encyclopedia). There's also much unfinished work on the Commons. So, I'm trying to be wary... Yours, David 10:04, 14 September 2006 (UTC)

מסיבות גל
has been deleted. It was a BS article about raving. - CrazyRussian talk/email 00:13, 13 September 2006 (UTC)

Ward disambiguating
Thanks for taking the effort to disambiguate usage of the term ward, but there are better links in most cases than Ward (subnational entity) -- such as ward (politics) or Wards of the United Kingdom or Wards of the United States. Those are all a bit of a confusing mess at present, but, at least in the U.S., it is very unusual to describe a ward as a subnational entity. older ≠ wiser 17:26, 14 September 2006 (UTC)


 * Excellent catch&mdash;the tag you added on the two (essentially parallel) articles for merger is right on target. I can’t help but wonder if the various subarticles might not also warrant merging into a single article with sub articles. This area is indeed a mess; I’ll wait until you settle the merger nomination before looking into this again.  Skål - Williamborg (Bill) 01:44, 15 September 2006 (UTC)

Agatunet and Ytste Skotet
Bill,

Have just contributed the pictures and map to

http://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agatunet

and written the article

http://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ytste_Skotet

Ill try to translate it later - or may be you can do it?? :o))

May be you will be very busy next time in Norway? --Frode Inge Helland 23:22, 14 September 2006 (UTC)

Go raibh maith agat!
Hi there, Bill!

Thank you so much for supporting my RfA! It ended up passing and I'm rather humbled by the support (and a bit surprised that it was snowballed a day early!). Please let me know if I can help you out and I welcome any comments, questions, or advice you wish to share.

Sláinte!  hoopydink Conas tá tú? 05:29, 15 September 2006 (UTC)

Category:Louis Brandeis
Thank you very much for the compliment you gave me in the CfD thread. --After Midnight 0001 23:38, 16 September 2006 (UTC)

Re: List of Nair Tharavadus
Hi! I'm afraid there has been some mix-up. I'm the one who nominated that article for deletion.-- thund e rboltz(Deepu) 06:18, 17 September 2006 (UTC)


 * I often make sure the various editors of AfD articles know it was up for deletion&mdash;in this case I don't see myself how it can be saved, but I'm always willing to let the editors take a shot at fixing it&mdash;sometimes they pull it out of the RfD by good changes&mdash;got one fixed earlier today. I normally just link to talk pages and drop the same message on each (usually like that above). In the rush to meet some guests tonight I hit talk for your name too (you added the prod so your name was in the list). Apologies for any inconvenience. Williamborg (Bill) 06:38, 17 September 2006 (UTC)


 * Np. :) -- thund e rboltz(Deepu) 06:41, 17 September 2006 (UTC)

Welcome!
 Welcome!

Hi, and welcome to the Biography WikiProject! We're a group of editors working to improve Wikipedia's coverage of biographies.

A few features that you might find helpful:


 * The project has a monthly newsletter; it will normally be delivered as a link, but several other formats are available.

There are a variety of interesting things to do within the project; you're free to participate however much—or little—you like:


 * Starting some new articles? Our article structure tips outlines some things to include.
 * Want to know how good our articles are? The assessment department is working on rating the quality of every biography article in Wikipedia.

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask another fellow member, and we'll be happy to help you. Again, welcome! We look forward to seeing you around! plange 18:39, 17 September 2006 (UTC)

We understand...
This remark of yours: hope you didn't mean to include me in the "we". I've never, to my memory, looked at our article on Vicente Fox or at its talk page. I was being entirely ingenuous in saying I hadn't the slightest idea what Freestylefrappe was talking about. - Jmabel | Talk 04:26, 18 September 2006 (UTC)


 * Most certainly didn't intend to include you. I was just trying to tell Freestylefrappe that I'd read through his and the various other postings on Vicente Fox & its talk page and "got" his concerns. Mostly I thought you were on target&mdash;he was just blowing off steam. But my intent, just in case he was sincere, was to tell him where to take his issues for resolution if he wanted to. Apologize for not making it clear that it was Freestylefrappe’s comments, not yours, I was responding to. Skål - Williamborg (Bill) 04:32, 18 September 2006 (UTC)

Thanks!
It was in fact a slip of the ~ ; second time I've done it in 7000 edits :) Z iggurat 02:03, 19 September 2006 (UTC)


 * Sure 'n begorrah - knew t'was so... I actually looked up your edit line scores; it said edit summary usage for Ziggurat: 100% for major edits and 100% for minor edits. Not the kind of person who routinely forgets to ~ . Cheers - Williamborg (Bill) 02:24, 19 September 2006 (UTC)

Here's the thing
The trouble was that I couldn't find from your reference the verification of what you had added. So I was looking into it. I can find part of the information on the free snippets of Encyclopaedia Britannica and was going to redraft to make a ref to fit that page. You seemed to be linking to the Wikipedia article on Encyclopaedia Britannica, which is not footnoteworthy in that context, in my opinion. However, It is quite possible I have made a mistake, in which case I apologise.

As far as referring me to Citing sources & Reliable sources I know them better than you imagine. But still, there is something odd about this matter, and perhaps I have indeed made a mistake either by misunderstanding what you were up to or by leaving the information in while I sought to reference it. qp10qp 03:41, 20 September 2006 (UTC)


 * Nothing wrong with referencing Encyclopaedia Britannica at all; it was just that the reference you left (Encyclopaedia Britannica Online Edition) only seemed to be a wikilink to an article on the encyclopaedia and didn't take the reader to the reference, which is what's supposed to happen. I've now got round to putting the reference in so that it does link directly (I removed the "two days' bit because it doesn't seem to be mentioned on the encyclopaedia page and is covered in the next footnote anyway}.


 * Humour is fine by me, don't worry. If any article asks for it, it is this one, what with the guy's ridiculous long name, his mysterious and futile end, and the painstaking but charming referencing of one chapter of a single text ad absurdam. One snag with adding a second reference source, is that "ibid" is now blasted out of the water. I was going to replace that with the name of the author, but when I saw that the source is by Stewart, Tabori & Chang, who sound like a San Francisco legal firm, I refrained from trebling the words in the footnotes at one fell stroke and making things even more Monty Python. The lady who with singlehanded diligence gave us this article will probably think we are both nutters. qp10qp 22:54, 20 September 2006 (UTC)

The Halo's RfA


Hi. The reason I removed the content from the History of the Iranian Army article is that the material is spread out in a whole series of stub articles, where a perfectly good single article could be built out of it. See for example British Army or US Army - long solid articles covering most aspects, instead of itsy bitsy ones. Take a look and see what you think. Cheers Buckshot06 05:58, 23 September 2006 (UTC)

Warning?
I added a CSD tag to a nonsense/blank page and you hit me with a VP warning, what gives? Not upset, just confused Wildthing61476 01:18, 24 September 2006 (UTC)


 * Misused the new tool while test driving it. Not quite sure how I did it as I was trying to tag a warning onto the vandals page; please accept my apology. More on your page. Williamborg (Bill) 15:25, 24 September 2006 (UTC)

Thanks Bill
Hey Bill, thank you for supporting my recent RfA. It finished with an amazing final tally of 160/4/1. I really appreciate your support. Cheers, Sarah Ewart (Talk) 11:07, 24 September 2006 (UTC)

Please help
Hi! I got your username from the Association Inclusionist Wikipedians. I'm trying to work against a band of linkocrites (see en:User:cochese8). You look as if you're a valuable editor and I could really use some help [preserving] a great link. I would ask you to review the discussion and vote keep if you agree with the link's value. Thanks for your help! Cochese8 00:34, 25 September 2006 (UTC)

Svalbard again
Sorry for the delayed reply!

I have managed in the intervening time to move house twice and find a new job, while, due to the world-beating customer-driven focus of my internet company, my net connection (which I am still being billed for) has remained resolutely stuck in the first house. Add this to the bill for being left hanging on the customer "service" line and it is rather easy to see why I'm getting "net-frustrated" at the moment, hence the lengthy absence from Wiki. At least I've just discovered that I'm not addicted really! I rather like this new category viewing feature though, when did that come in?

Your reply about Svalbard was extremely helpful. I hope to be able to add more information, especially from the Svalbard Names Database and Statistics Norway figures, and put in several new maps. I may also have some good print sources in the pipeline, with a bit of luck. The Svalbard Environmental Protection Act (about which a large amount of information is available) and various nature reserves and protected areas seem to lack articles at present. Many islands, sounds, fjords, bays, glaciers and mountains do as well - even if these can never grow beyond a small stub, it's worth doing for completeness (I always felt that Wikipedia should be a complete gazetteer for significant geographic features). In time it may be possible to persuade some intrepid traveller to release photographs to illustrate them - if there's a photo and a map then the basics are there! Actually there are a huge numbers of photographs on flickr which have been posted as CC with attribution (fine), non-commercial (doh) and no derivative works (double doh!) but since some of the photographers actually include Wikipedia links in their descriptions I hope that at least some will be amenable to releasing them more widely. Is it possible to encourage these people in some way, I wonder?

Hope life is treating you well; I'm sure the mountains are beautiful as ever. See you about sooner than last time (hopefully!). Ha det bra, TheGrappler 16:25, 29 September 2006 (UTC)

RfA?
Hi,

Sorry for being extremly late in my response regarding your message on my talk page. If I would be nominated, I would be highly flattered. --Soman 15:51, 10 October 2006 (UTC)

Articles for deletion/Ilan Manulis
FYI - CrazyRussian talk/email 05:33, 16 October 2006 (UTC)

My RfA
Thank you for supporting my RfA!


 *  Doubt that we need to brainstorm IAR since the suggestions on how to ignore all rules is already pretty good—especially as guidance for Admins, but…

Hint gladly taken! ;-)

Atlant 16:13, 16 October 2006 (UTC)


 * Well, it's been a week now that I've been an administrator and I'd like to take this moment to once again thank everyone who supported my RfA, and to let you all know that I don't think I've screwed anything up yet so I hope I'm living up to everyone's expectations for me. But if I ever fall short of those expectations, I'd certainly welcome folks telling me about it!


 * Atlant 14:46, 25 October 2006 (UTC)

Thank you
My administratorship candidacy succeeded with a final tally of 81/0/1. I appreciate your irrationally strong support and will try to live up to your trust. Results are at Recently_created_admins. Warmly,  Durova  21:17, 17 October 2006 (UTC)

My RfA
''' Announcement: It's an administrator! '''

Williamborg, thanks for your support on my request for adminship.

The final outcome was a robust 62/1/1, so I am now an administrator. If you ever have any questions about my actions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Thanks again, Chris Griswold

CfD notice
Just thought I'd let you know that I listed Category:Companies based in Orange County, New York, which you created, for deletion. My reasons are there. If you wish to justify its continued existence, please do. Daniel Case 04:49, 19 October 2006 (UTC)
 * Time has obviated the need. I support deletion. Thanks for the courtesy of notification. Williamborg (Bill) 05:00, 19 October 2006 (UTC)

Discussion of name change of Skåneland
Please see Talk:Skåneland to discuss a possible name change. -  AjaxSmack    00:42, 21 October 2006 (UTC)


 * My friends, beware of these things. Of making name changes there is no end, and much disputation is a weariness of the flesh. If you'll forgive my abusing Ecclesiastes 12:9-12.
 * Naming disputes have gone on within Wiki-Sweden for some time. The more pedantic, academic sounding Latinate form for Swedish names once prevailed in English-language Wiki-articles on Sweden. I'm pleased to see that this form (rarely used in English) has almost died out.
 * There once were lovely, vigorous debates in Naming conventions (Swedish) namespace, which I see is now kept only for historic interest. The proposed Naming conventions (geographic names) has replaced it. That proposed policy suggests:
 * "”When a widely accepted English name, in a modern context, exists for a place, we should use it. … If the place does not exist anymore, or the article deals only with a place in a period when it held a different name, the widely accepted historical English name should be used. If neither of these apply, the modern official name or the modern local historical name should be used, respectively.”"
 * I researched my histories of Sweden & Scandinavia for precedents in discussions of the relevant historic period(s) to identify the widely accepted historical English name. Here are the results:
 * {| border="1" cellpadding="5" cellspacing="0"

!Title !Usage
 * Skaane
 * Skåne
 * Skåne
 * Skåne
 * Skäne (yes Skäne)
 * Skåne
 * not found in any form except hyphenated corporate name
 * Skåne
 * Skåne
 * Scania & Skåne (differs from one article to another)
 * Skåne
 * Skåne
 * Skaane
 * Skåne (& uses term Scanian War)
 * Skane
 * Skåne
 * Skåne
 * Skåne
 * Skåne
 * Skåne
 * Skåne
 * Skåne
 * Skane
 * }
 * Since Skaane, Skane & Skåne are essentially equivalent, and since Skåne clearly dominates the common English usage, I believe that a widely accepted English name, in a modern context, exists for the place, and that is Skåne. I would suggest you should use Skåne (historical region) if you think that is relevant&mdash;but recognize that some of the current Skåneland article deals with modern issues.
 * Skål - Williamborg (Bill) 05:05, 21 October 2006 (UTC)
 * Skåne
 * Scania & Skåne (differs from one article to another)
 * Skåne
 * Skåne
 * Skaane
 * Skåne (& uses term Scanian War)
 * Skane
 * Skåne
 * Skåne
 * Skåne
 * Skåne
 * Skåne
 * Skåne
 * Skåne
 * Skane
 * }
 * Since Skaane, Skane & Skåne are essentially equivalent, and since Skåne clearly dominates the common English usage, I believe that a widely accepted English name, in a modern context, exists for the place, and that is Skåne. I would suggest you should use Skåne (historical region) if you think that is relevant&mdash;but recognize that some of the current Skåneland article deals with modern issues.
 * Skål - Williamborg (Bill) 05:05, 21 October 2006 (UTC)
 * Skane
 * Skåne
 * Skåne
 * Skåne
 * Skåne
 * Skåne
 * Skåne
 * Skåne
 * Skane
 * }
 * Since Skaane, Skane & Skåne are essentially equivalent, and since Skåne clearly dominates the common English usage, I believe that a widely accepted English name, in a modern context, exists for the place, and that is Skåne. I would suggest you should use Skåne (historical region) if you think that is relevant&mdash;but recognize that some of the current Skåneland article deals with modern issues.
 * Skål - Williamborg (Bill) 05:05, 21 October 2006 (UTC)
 * Skåne
 * Skåne
 * Skåne
 * Skåne
 * Skane
 * }
 * Since Skaane, Skane & Skåne are essentially equivalent, and since Skåne clearly dominates the common English usage, I believe that a widely accepted English name, in a modern context, exists for the place, and that is Skåne. I would suggest you should use Skåne (historical region) if you think that is relevant&mdash;but recognize that some of the current Skåneland article deals with modern issues.
 * Skål - Williamborg (Bill) 05:05, 21 October 2006 (UTC)
 * Skåne
 * Skane
 * }
 * Since Skaane, Skane & Skåne are essentially equivalent, and since Skåne clearly dominates the common English usage, I believe that a widely accepted English name, in a modern context, exists for the place, and that is Skåne. I would suggest you should use Skåne (historical region) if you think that is relevant&mdash;but recognize that some of the current Skåneland article deals with modern issues.
 * Skål - Williamborg (Bill) 05:05, 21 October 2006 (UTC)
 * }
 * Since Skaane, Skane & Skåne are essentially equivalent, and since Skåne clearly dominates the common English usage, I believe that a widely accepted English name, in a modern context, exists for the place, and that is Skåne. I would suggest you should use Skåne (historical region) if you think that is relevant&mdash;but recognize that some of the current Skåneland article deals with modern issues.
 * Skål - Williamborg (Bill) 05:05, 21 October 2006 (UTC)
 * Skål - Williamborg (Bill) 05:05, 21 October 2006 (UTC)

Should you decide to move the article, and I'm not fully convinced it must be moved, I'd caution you to be careful to retain the history and discussions. Skål - Williamborg (Bill) 05:12, 21 October 2006 (UTC)

My RfA
Hey Bill,

I just wanted to thank you for your support in my recent request for adminship, which passed unanimously with a final tally of 38/0/0. I appreciate your trust, and will do my best to uphold it. Don't hesitate to let me know if you ever need anything. — TKD::Talk 05:45, 21 October 2006 (UTC)

A belated note - Gary Kirk's RfA


Requests for adminship/Elonka
Thank you for expressing an interest in my recent RfA. As a followup, I wanted to let you know that unfortunately consensus was not reached, and the nomination was not successful. However, I do appreciate that you took the time to monitor the discussion, and I paid close attention to your thoughts, as I find it a valuable thing to understand how I am perceived by others in the Wikipedia community. My current plans are to continue contributing in a positive manner to Wikipedia, and if there is anything that I can do in the future to help further address your concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me. --Elonka 10:48, 25 October 2006 (UTC)

The Military history WikiProject Newsletter: Issue VIII - October 2006
The October 2006 issue of the Military history WikiProject newsletter has been published. You may read the newsletter, change the format in which future issues will be delivered to you, or unsubscribe from this notification by following the link. Thank you.

This is an automated delivery by grafikbot 22:39, 25 October 2006 (UTC)

Khazars, the Caspian Sea and mercenaries
Bill

What is the significance of the last sentence in this paragraph in the article:

"Khazar armies were led by the Khagan Bek and commanded by subordinate officers known as tarkhans. A famous tarkhan referred to in Arab sources as Ras or As Tarkhan led an invasion of Armenia in 758. The army included regiments of Muslim auxiliaries known as Arsiyah, of Khwarezmian or Alan extraction, who were quite influential. These regiments were exempt from campaigning against their fellow Muslims. Early Russian sources sometimes referred to the city of Khazaran (across the Volga River from Atil) as Khvalisy and the Khazar (Caspian) sea as Khvaliskoye. According to some scholars such as Omeljan Pritsak, these terms were East Slavic versions of "Khwarezmian" and referred to these mercenaries." --Frode Inge Helland 06:20, 27 October 2006 (UTC)

Relay
Bill, Dave Kernow has asked me to send him the translation of Kirsten Brpten berg's poem. I thought I did so long ago. I have asked for his e-mail address because it is on a .xls file, but have not got any reaction so far. I do not know how to send attachments whirt internal WP e-mail, so i hope you would give me a bit of advise. Frode

fihellan@online.no

It is not easy to post the translations (two) in his discussion page, because theya are in a table in Excel-format. I first have to make a WP-table -which seems (to me) to be tricky. But I am working on it. The problem is that my remaining braincell most of the time has a traffic jam and have to trust my old friend, Mr. Alzheimer - who is, sorry to say, a very busy man. --Frode Inge Helland 13:56, 5 November 2006 (UTC)

To be non exsistant or not, that's ...
Bill, I tried Editcount and got this message "This user does not seem to have any edits, or they don't exist". I nowiki this works perfect. By the way, did you get the translation. When I copied your e-mail addess it seemed to work, but when I removed the spaces, I got a Mailer Demon (???) --Frode Inge Helland 09:49, 8 November 2006 (UTC)

Great Barrier Reef
you reverted, and the vandilism was still there, but i fixed it now :D - stupid vandalists

Cocopopz2005 03:49, 21 November 2006 (UTC)

So you gonna report to the person who made it? Did u get warned by it? Cocopopz2005 04:14, 22 November 2006 (UTC)

Wiki Travel
So u travelled to australia ey :D i live down south :)

so, do u have msn? Cocopopz2005 04:36, 22 November 2006 (UTC)

Re ...Heiemo og nykkjen ( Heiemo and the Water Spirit )
Hi Bill! Thanks for your note:
 * ''For the translation of Heiemo og nykkjen ( Heiemo and the Water Spirit ) see Frode's page...

Frode kindly forwarded me a Word version of this table a few days ago when I suddenly realiz/sed I'd overlooked one of his messages and so re-established contact. (I guess archiving talk pages can be useful after all!) As I commented in my acknowledgement of his mail, "The story is certainly more epic than I'd imagined..." Thanks to you both for allowing me some insight into this intriguing song. Best wishes, David Kernow (talk) 05:58, 22 November 2006 (UTC)

Did you know

 * Congrats on the DYK. I found your page while looking at Special:Newpages.  Bakaman  Bakatalk 15:28, 25 November 2006 (UTC)


 * Umm your msg quoted the user below me. Bakaman  Bakatalk 05:04, 26 November 2006 (UTC)

Crab Creek
congrats on this great new article. very well written with breadth and interest. keep up all the good work. Cdcdoc 15:31, 25 November 2006 (UTC)

The Military history WikiProject Newsletter: Issue IX - November 2006
The November 2006 issue of the Military history WikiProject newsletter has been published. You may read the newsletter, change the format in which future issues will be delivered to you, or unsubscribe from this notification by following the link. Thank you.

This is an automated delivery by grafikbot 23:24, 26 November 2006 (UTC)

Check this
http://www.hordafjell.com/ --Frode Inge Helland 11:54, 30 November 2006 (UTC)

Me-Åkerneset
Bill, please keep an eye on the discussion page at the article about Me-Åkerneset. I have written to Will Pittenger on his dicussion page.--Frode Inge Helland 10:48, 1 December 2006 (UTC)

Amalie Skram Statue
Hi Bill, I uploaded the picture but cannot get it into the Amalie Skram article (not that experienced with picture contribution yet... The file name is Image:P1000829.JPG, maybe you can put it in yourself? Sileas 14:28, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

I see you're relatively new. Welcome!

Great contribution. Thanks for this image. I put it into the Amalie Skram article and it really is a plus.

To see how you can put your photographs into an article, just add new text in the edit mode that looks like:  
 * Image:P1000829.JPG tells the software the picure identification
 * thumb tells the software you want to use the thumbnail format (allows captions and size)
 * 240px tells the software that you want it 240 pixels wide (you can vary the size by varying the number)
 * right tells the software where to put it on the page (you cna do left, center or let it decide)

As you get more familiar you'll find it is a good idea to load photos to Wikipedia Commons. That way the picture can be used on any Wikipedia (Norwegian, Nynorsk, Danish, Swedish, German, French....) without having to reupload it. When you go the the upload page there is a link to the Commons (link). Since you're probably interested in adding this photograph to the German site, you can see the advantage.

Tusen takk (Vielen Dank) - Williamborg (Bill) 18:55, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

tusen takk, det hjelper mye :o) I have been a member of the German Wikipedia for a while but never had anything to do with pictures. It's great to get some support... Sileas 20:26, 4 December 2006 (UTC)


 * You are most welcome&mdash;folks like you who take the trouble to seriously contribute to Wikipedia turn out to be the best kind of people. They (you) should always be encouraged.
 * Any more good pictures you can share (Norway, Germany or anywhere)?
 * Skål - Williamborg (Bill) 02:55, 5 December 2006 (UTC)