User talk:Xykon

RC Patrol
The "recent changes patrol" is just the loosely held-together group of Wikipedians who "patrol" the recent changes page. The old-fashioned way of doing it is by just clicking on the "recent changes" button on the left of your screen and scouring through the latest changes to see if they are done by vandals. This is the way I do it because I find it takes me longer to use the programs they have out there to monitor RC, which I believe you can find on the RCP page. As you might be able to imagine, this is a rather impossible task, which makes it fortunate that there are a sizeable amount of people out there who want to do it, like me, for instance, until recently. What you want to look for depends on your level of experience. You could, theoretically, click on every change you see and check to see if it's a vandal (or just poorly done) edit of some sort. This is a bit time-consuming, so what I've done in the past was create a hierarchy of things to look for:
 * 1) Blatant vandal edits are pretty easy to spot. When Wikipedia is "under attack" by a particular vandal (such as the Squidward vandal) using bots and an IP range or five, it's going to be obvious. However, these problems are usually sorted out quickly by admins, so it might just help to not get in their way or to slow them down by eating up the bandwidth. These types of vandals don't come every day.
 * 2) New pages almost always come first in my book. If I see the little "N," and especially if it's done by a new user (see two down), I check it out to see if it's for real or some sort of attack/non-notable page/or any other of the things that fall under WP:AFD or WP:CSD. However, if the page is created by a known user who includes an adequate description in his summary like "redirect page," then I won't worry about it.
 * 3) IP address changes are next for me. These are quite frequent and you'll never be able to get all of them, but the more that are caught, the less vandalism there is on Wikipedia. It might make more sense for you to not focus too much on big articles you see getting vandalized (like if it's an edit to "George Bush" by an IP address with no summary) because most big pages are monitored by veteran vandal fighers and admins. Also, it's important to get properly acquainted with the idea that not all IP users are malicious in nature, so when you revert a page, be sure to do a little bit of research in the page history to find the last good edit. Also, if you find another bit of vandalism, try to be thorough and get personally edit that out.
 * 4) New user changes are not always going to catch vandals, so that's why it shows up here at the bottom of the list, but it might be useful to track these guys too. Not sure how to spot a new user? Nine times out of ten, people unfamiliar with Wikipedia will go a while before they make a user page for themselves, so their name will appear as a red link instead of a blue one on the RC page. As I said above, pages created by new users are a priority over just random changes they've made.
 * 5) Dates are another one I'll throw in here because some of the most vandalized pages on Wikipedia are the ones for years/months/days. Someone will come in and add their name under "Births in 1988" or "June 29 - John met Sarah." These all fail Notability in some way or another, though be careful about notability...it is a very hotly debated issue on this site, and it always will be.

So that's all I can tell you about the RC patrol. To become one, all you have to do is start checking out the RC page. There's no need to sign up for anything, but you can if you want to...I think they've got a "signup sheet" over there somewhere. Remember, though, Wikipedia has very strict guidelines about dealing with new users and the "powers" of a vandal-fighter. We are not to ever bite the newbies, and there is almost always a test template that can be put on a user's talk page instead of a personalized warning. This usually keeps tensions low and gives the vandal more information than you might have remembered. Also, if you attack a user, even if he is a vandal, you are also, in one way, considered a vandal, so it is important to remember to keep your cool and refer to admins if things ever get out of hand. It may help, also, to use the welcome or welcomeip templates along with your vandalism warning to ease any potential tensions. If you have any other questions, I'll be on Wikipedia from time to time, but don't expect an immediate response. Good hunting! JHMM13 (T | C)  14:25, 1 June 2006 (UTC)

invite
Graeme Bartlett 03:26, 15 October 2007 (UTC)

Invite to Canberra Meetup #2
--.../Nemo (talk • Contributions) 16:34, 22 January 2009 (UTC)

Recent Changes Camp Canberra Aug 11, 2010
I saw you're listed in the ACT Wikipedian page and thought, by chance, you might like to come to this: RecentChangesCamp, Canberra is being held at the University of Canberra, Building 7, Room 7XC37 on 11 August 2010. ABOUT | REGISTRATION | SCHEDULE

Hope we'll see you and friends there, but please register so we can prepare lunch. Leighblackall (talk) 07:44, 22 July 2010 (UTC)

Wikipedia 10 - Canberra event
This is your invitation to the 10th anniversary event for Wikipedia, on Saturday 15 January 2011; please see http://ten.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canberra for details, and RSVP if at all possible. (You are listed on WikiProject_Canberra.) Will I see you there? Cheers, - Peter Ellis - Talk 06:41, 31 December 2010 (UTC)

You're invited to the Canberra WikiMeetup on 20 November 2011
Hi! We're having a Canberra Wikimeetup on 20 November 2011 at Siren Bar in Gunghalin from 2pm to 4pm. It's mostly just a chance to chat with other local Wikipedians, get a chance to go a different sort of bar (which is reasonably kid friendly, serves real food, and has non-alcholic options), and, if you're interested, learning more about what Wikimedia Australia and local GLAM projects are that happening. We'd love to see you and any Wikipedia/Wikimedia/wiki loving friends you have there. --LauraHale (talk) 07:25, 31 October 2011 (UTC)

New Tex Murphy Game
Hope you don't mind me messaging you but I noticed your username on the old Tex Murphy forum so I thought I'd let you know theres now a Tex Murphy Kickstarter. If they reach their goal with our support we get a new game by the original team! You can find it at http://www.texmurphy.com — Preceding unsigned comment added by Texmurphy500 (talk • contribs) 17:08, 30 May 2012 (UTC)

Canberra meetup invitation: January 2013
Hi there! You are cordially invited to attend a meetup being held on Wednesday 9 January 2013. Yes, that is tomorrow. Sorry about the short notice.

Details an attendee list are at Meetup/Canberra/January 2013. Hope you can make it! John Vandenberg 09:52, 8 January 2013 (UTC)

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Canberra meetup invitation: February 2013
Hi there! You are cordially invited to attend a meetup being held on Sunday 24 February 2013. Sorry about the short notice.

Details and attendee list are at Meetup/Canberra/February 2013. Hope you can make it! John Vandenberg 08:18, 19 February 2013 (UTC)

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Canberra meetup invitation
Hi, you're invited to the Canberra meetup which will take place at King O'Malley's Irish Pub in Civic on 17 February 2016. Bidgee (talk) 02:24, 5 February 2016 (UTC)

Canberra meetup invitation (August 2016)
I'll be in Canberra from the 29-30 August, there is a planned meet-up at King O'Malley's (though I'm open to suggestions) from 6pm on the 29 August. Sorry for the short noticed, only had the trip confirmed this afternoon. Bidgee (talk) 11:45, 22 August 2016 (UTC)