Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Sri Lanka Reconciliation/housekeeping/archive

Hello,

I work at Amsterdam University on a project concerning Sri Lanka Malays. This means that I have some knowledge of Sri Lanka, but am not partisan to either the Sinhala or the Tamil cause. So, I think that makes me a good candidate for joining the SLR. Also, I am of course familiar with scientific methodology, which should be a plus in neutrality discussions. I also have some basic knowledge of Sinhala and some very basic knowledge of Tamil. Jasy jatere (talk) 11:27, 19 November 2007 (UTC)


 * Support &mdash; Sebastian 07:12, 9 December 2007 (UTC)
 * Support -- ♪♫ ĽąĦĩŘǔ ♫♪  walkie-talkie  |  tool box  13:08, 9 December 2007 (UTC)
 * Support Taprobanus (talk) 13:59, 10 December 2007 (UTC)

No opposition within a reasonable time - I'm happy to welcome Jasy jatere as a new member! &mdash; Sebastian 02:19, 11 December 2007 (UTC)

I was already on some group, but not sure which one was it. Anyway, I'm interested in joining this group related to articles on Sri Lanka.


 * Support Signing the SL dipute resolution agreement shows good faith. I have one request, however: Can you please use edit summaries? (I recommend switching your user settings so that you get warned when you forget it, as described here). &mdash; Sebastian 17:29, 14 December 2007 (UTC)
 * Thanks for the suggestion. Changed user preference. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Supermod (talk • contribs) 08:40, 18 December 2007 (UTC)


 * Support -- ♪♫ ĽąĦĩŘǔ ♫♪  walkie-talkie  |  tool box  17:42, 14 December 2007 (UTC)


 * Support Havent had any interactions but support anyone who wants to cease edit warring Taprobanus (talk) 19:41, 14 December 2007 (UTC)

Accepted. I will do the honors and notify the new member! &mdash; Sebastian 04:35, 19 December 2007 (UTC)

Hello, I completed my MA in Post-war Recovery Studies in 2005. My dissertation was on the Tamil Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO) with whom I spent time in Sri Lanka, including the "Tamil Eelam" LTTE controlled areas. My dissertation can be accessed at www.geocities.com/laneender. I have tried to provide some impartial background on the TRO page on Wikipedia. I would be happy to assist with the SLR project.

I am not Sri Lankan and neither Tamil nor Sinhalese and hope I provide impartial knowledge based entirely on my observations as I see them.

pq (talk) 16:02, 11 June 2008 (UTC)


 * Support From what you write, you sound like a precious member for this project. Sebastian (talk) 22:42, 21 June 2008 (UTC)


 * Support A member of this expertise is what might be needed for the betterment of the articles. Watchdogb (talk) 02:28, 22 June 2008 (UTC)

Accepted - there has been ample of time to raise any objections. ;-) I will add quintusboss to our member list and leave a message on the talk page. Seeing that quintusboss has not been active on Wikipedia since, this is rather pro forma, though. &mdash; Sebastian 23:39, 9 January 2009 (UTC)

Honorary memberships
I would like to present honorary memberships to and  for their continued commitment to SLR. Are there any objections? &mdash; Sebastian 04:32, 11 December 2007 (UTC)
 * Support - Taprobanus (talk) 18:42, 11 December 2007 (UTC)
 * Support Watchdogb (talk) 23:58, 11 December 2007 (UTC)

Passed. I will notify the editors and enter them in the members table. &mdash; Sebastian 19:04, 12 December 2007 (UTC)

Pledges
In the pledges column I did the following changes: If any of our members disagrees, please let me know. Please also don't hesitate to change your own entry. &mdash; Sebastian 20:27, 12 December 2007 (UTC)
 * added AOR for myself and Rlevse. It's not exactly a "conflict-reducing principle or practice", but I think it's close enough.
 * removed Cease Edit War and added SLDR for all signatories, since I feel SLDR supersedes the older pledge.

Proposed recipients for barnstars
How about if we gave our nice project barnstar to the admins who helped calm down the edit wars in SL articles and enabled productive discussions? Who should that be: Haemo, FayssalF, Rlevse, ... any others? &mdash; Sebastian 11:11, 11 November 2007 (UTC)
 * aside: What a nice time: 11-11-11-11! &mdash; Sebastian 11:12, 11 November 2007 (UTC)


 * I agree that all of them should get one. Their time to help us is appreciated. Good propose Sebastian Watchdogb 23:03, 11 November 2007 (UTC)


 * The king of barnstars say's let's do it now, Sebastian why dont you do the favor Taprobanus 23:24, 11 November 2007 (UTC)


 * Yeah go ahead :) -- ♪♫ ĽąĦĩŘǔ ♫♪  walkie-talkie  |  tool box  14:46, 12 November 2007 (UTC)


 * Sorry, guys, for keeping you waiting. I just browsed through WT:SLR and it seems to me that User:Jehochman should also be included. The section WT:SLR also mentions two more editors, but I don't see any contributions from them. If I don't hear from you otherwise I will just give it to the four active admins. &mdash; Sebastian 09:37, 15 November 2007 (UTC)


 * Done! &mdash; Sebastian 05:30, 16 November 2007 (UTC)

THANK YOU everyone! — Rlevse  •  Talk  • 11:08, 16 November 2007 (UTC)

Managing our project pages
After all but a couple of issues and other sections have been archived, I will for now remove the distinction between "General", "Issues", "Incidents" and "New sections", which I had introduced over a year ago when the talk page was crowded with posts. Now there is much less traffic. We can always reintroduce the division when traffic on the talk page increases. &mdash; Sebastian 22:09, 1 January 2009 (UTC)

Here's the text I removed: = General = = Issues = = Incidents = This chapter contains temporary issues as opposed to long term issues such as content disputes, which are in the previous chapter. In this chapter, the "resolved" tag means that an incident has been taken care of, not necessarily that we reached unanimous agreement. &mdash; Sebastian 02:46, 12 December 2007 (UTC) = New sections= Since most people (including myself, ahem) simply add new sections at the bottom of this page, regardless of which chapter they fit in, I'm adding this new chapter so it doesn't look like they are all content issues. Of course this raises the question if the distinction is really so helpful, but I think it is because it helps us focus on content. &mdash; Sebastian 17:13, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

Cutting back my involvement
I find myself spending much more time on Wikipedia than I had planned. This is partly because my internet connection is bad, but partly also because I got involved in too many different things here, and partly because I am trying to semi-retire from Wikipedia. I therefore decided to put daily and weekly limits on the time I will spend here. I'm a bit concerned that that may mean chores will not get done.

Please close the applications of quintusboss and Chamal_N (later today/tomorrow, when 48 hours are up) and welcome them to our project. The application of quintusboss has been around for half a year, and nobody bothered to even welcome and include him in our member list. It really makes me angry that, if I don't do these things, nobody does. It's not an excuse that that user was not active; in fact, it might just have been our inactivity that killed his enthusiasm.

In the next week, I will bring those threads which I started to a closure and archive them. I will also be available for administrative tasks such as page protection and blocking disruptive users. but I ask you to lay the groundwork first: Before we resort to page protection, I want to see that a serious effort has been made to enforce the SLDRA. While I see many reversions in the LTTE article, I haven't seen any other project member actually engage with these users on their talk page. Please read my recommendations for that below. &mdash; Sebastian 19:37, 8 January 2009 (UTC)

Nothing has happened since I posted this. Nobody did any chore - to the contrary, I had to clean up after people again. Folks, I don't enjoy that! The more I have to do this, the less you will end up seeing me here. &mdash; Sebastian 00:53, 10 January 2009 (UTC)

Anniversary - let's celebrate!
On January 24, 2007, WikiProject Sri Lanka Reconciliation was founded. I feel this is a reason to celebrate. How should we do this? Here are two proposals:
 * Reconciliation: I want to forgive all editors who made mistakes last year or earlier, and made a number of constructive edits since. This means, we would remove most rows from the warnings table.
 * This is a good suggestion indeed, I suggest that the slate be wiped clean so that everyone can start afresh. It will promote a lot of goodwill.  All of must agree however to not to abuse this amnesty :-) Kerr avon (talk) 13:49, 17 January 2009 (UTC)
 * I agree too, I think we should forgive the so called sock puppets also if they agree to stick to single account and ask for forgiveness. Taprobanus (talk) 04:30, 23 January 2009 (UTC)


 * Recognition: It's time to put our Sri Lanka Reconciliation Award to use again. Any proposals for worthy candidates?
 * I propose the name of &mdash; Kerr avon (talk) 13:56, 17 January 2009 (UTC)
 * Thank you for the proposal. What specifically should we award it for? I used to avoid giving this award to our own members, but now that most people who are active in this area are members, that restriction has become somewhat pointless. I certainly agree that Taprobanus is a worthy recipient, but I would like to hear from you (or other members) what we should write. &mdash; Sebastian 09:29, 18 January 2009 (UTC)
 * For maintaining NPOV very well in several articles of sensitive subjects? For example, 1989 Valvettiturai massacre, 2006 Trincomalee massacre of NGO workers etc.  C h a m a l  talk 10:13, 18 January 2009 (UTC)
 * agree with Chamal. Cool head, civility, NPOV, and overall examplary adherence to the principles of an encyclopedia.Jasy jatere (talk) 15:56, 18 January 2009 (UTC)
 * I would normally propose that Kerr should be the one to present the barnstar to Taprobanus, because he was the one who proposed it. But seeing that it will only be three hours till the 24th ends by UTC time, and that Kerr hasn't been active for some days, would anyone else like to do the honours? &mdash; Sebastian 21:42, 24 January 2009 (UTC)
 * This was a bit too short of a notice, so I went ahead and gave the award now. &mdash; Sebastian 23:36, 24 January 2009 (UTC)

Any other ideas? Sebastian 18:50, 15 January 2009 (UTC)


 * I'm thinking of inviting guests to our party. Who should we invite? I think that some things we did, such as WP:SLR, can be useful for Wikipedia in general. And, after I awarded this barnstar, I realized how scared people in other areas of Wikipedia are about sockpuppets. For us, they are no more than a nuisance, and not a cause for scare, because we have methods to limit the effect of trickery.
 * How about creating a little history of our two years? We should have a success story to show to our guests! &mdash; Sebastian 18:52, 22 January 2009 (UTC)
 * I can not think of anything right now except design a new top award for SLR and give it to Tapro, and then once a year on the anniversary.  — Rlevse • Talk  • 23:13, 22 January 2009 (UTC)


 * I am truly humbled by the all this bi-partisan talk but in reality I am just another Wikipedian driven by personal desires, angers and goals, some very noble others just ordinary and mundane. I am trying my hard to understand all the rules and guidelines and contribute while maintaining a young family a day job that puts food on the table and pays my bills and mortgage.
 * Although I am a product of post 1956 era generation of Sri Lankan’s who had artificially divided themselves from each other yet I spoke Sinhala as my first language not Tamil. This probably is the reason that I was able to reconcile as soon as Sebastian offered it to us. He is the real chef behind this restaurant called SLR. His tireless and selfless effort allows us the breathing room to create higher quality articles, which is why we should be in Wikipedia to begin with.
 * How do we celebrate this achievement that Sri Lankan’s themselves have not shown to be able achieve peacefully? I think it should be by congratulating each other not just one person. Picking up a project such as the article Sri Lanka and make it into an FA quality article. Coming up with metrics such as a goal of 1 article per 6 months to be of FA quality. Any other ideas? Taprobanus (talk) 04:30, 23 January 2009 (UTC)


 * Well thought out reply Taprobanus ! Anyway, I also nominate Sebastian. As mentioned it is because of Sebastian that the Sri Lankan centric editors can even have a place like SLR to discuss many issues. It was only because of SLR that countless issues have been resolved. Watchdogb (talk) 14:13, 23 January 2009 (UTC)


 * Thank you for the nice thought, but I would rather have something else from you. The purpose of a barn star is to show support and encouragement to the recipient. This is very valuable in the case of Taprobanus, since it shows that he enjoys bi-partisan support, which hasn’t always been the case. It shows that people have grown together here, which is very encouraging to me and presumably to Taprobanus.
 * As for me, rather than a barnstar, I wish that everybody treated this project with the same loving care as their treat their home, temple, or church. This includes taking responsibility for the chores, as some of you already have done. If you haven’t, it may be because you find this petty work, given the chaos around us. But that contrast is important. Our home needs to stand out amidst the chaos to attract and “acclimatize” (as Taprobanus wrote) those who seek refuge from the chaos. It needs to be well kept to allow us all to concentrate on the difficult tasks. If everyone lends a hand, it won’t take much to keep this a place we all can be proud of. &mdash; Sebastian 18:47, 23 January 2009 (UTC)


 * What about Black Falcon ?Taprobanus (talk) 15:00, 23 January 2009 (UTC)
 * He already got one: See WP:SLR. &mdash; Sebastian 18:47, 23 January 2009 (UTC)

We could take a collection of the best articles and show them off. How does that sound? Riotrocket8676 (talk) 15:02, 23 January 2009 (UTC)
 * Showing off articles would be the logical thing for an article cooperation WikiProject. Our work affected articles only indirectly in accordance with our Goals. The success of such work is not apparent from the end result. We could, however, try to show edit histories, archives, and conflicts that got resolved. &mdash; Sebastian 18:47, 23 January 2009 (UTC)

Let's keep all politics away for a moment and celebrate. HUGS! HUGS! HUGS! I agree with doggy. I didn't find any SLR awards in his userpage. Well Seb, for the work you have done yet we should spam your talk page with awards. -- ♪♫ ĽąĦĩŘǔ ♫♪  walkie-talkie  |  tool box  12:50, 24 January 2009 (UTC)
 * I agree with that. We don't have a lot of article work to show off anyway; just 5 GAs. Maybe we could do something on how we resolve disputes without flying off the handle here? I'm new here and don't have much experience with that, but the old members will know.  C h a m a l  talk 13:13, 24 January 2009 (UTC)
 * Are you thinking of something like our WP:SLR? This reminds me, I once wrote a bit about my experience at the Working group on ethnic and cultural edit wars. That was in a limited access wiki, but I will copy the part I wrote to WikiProject Sri Lanka Reconciliation/Experience. Please, all members, edit at your heart's content! &mdash; Sebastian 17:24, 24 January 2009 (UTC)