User talk:André437

Welcome!

Hello, André437, and welcome to Wikipedia! Thank you for your contributions. I hope you like the place and decide to stay. Here are some pages that you might find helpful:

• The five pillars of Wikipedia
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• How to edit a page and How to develop articles
• How to create your first article (using the Article Wizard if you wish)
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I hope you enjoy editing here and being a Wikipedian! Please sign your messages on talk pages using four tildes (~~~~); this will automatically insert your username and the date. If you need help, check out Wikipedia:Questions, ask me on my talk page, or ask your question on this page and then place {{help me}} before the question. Again, welcome! 78.26 (talk) 15:13, 22 May 2012 (UTC)

History of cities and towns during the Syrian Civil War

Hi, I added {{underconstruction}} to History of cities and towns during the Syrian Civil War. Please remove it, and your own text line which says the same thing, when you have finished splitting the page.

Also, please tag these use pages

• User:André437/Syrian_civil_war_2011_-_cities_and_towns_-_history
• User:André437/Cities_and_Towns

with {{db-author}} if you do not want them any more. – Fayenatic London 11:50, 7 December 2013 (UTC)

I have blanked those for now as you no longer appear to be working on them. – Fayenatic London 18:54, 16 August 2014 (UTC)

Talkback

Jackmcbarn (talk) 18:20, 22 March 2014 (UTC)

Quarter Circle Concentric Circle Icon

Hi Andre, I just wanted to let you know that an idea you raised months ago on the talk page of the Syrian Civil War Map is being discussed. You raised the idea of making quarter concentric circles to better represent locations that were under military pressure from one side, rather than being besieged. Currently the full concentric circle is being used for a location being under pressure from one side, and being besieged. The current system has created much confusion and sometimes acrimonious debate on the talk page of the map. Would you be able and interested in making icons like that? Hulahoop122 (talk) 20:38, 7 July 2014 (UTC)

Module sandboxes

Module sandboxes should always be located at the /sandbox subpage of the main module, never at /test=global. Jackmcbarn (talk) 20:45, 10 August 2014 (UTC)

Thanks for letting me know. I didn't know that applied to modules.

Note that I want a permanent test page, since I often have a few minutes to spare, and spending 15 minutes to set up new test page when I have 10 minutes free isn't very useful. As well, it would be useful for others trying tests. (Another editor has already tried the new test page.)

With the template, I had a permanent test page which worked well, but not called or under "sandbox", since some documentation I read said that such pages can be automatically deleted.

Could you let me know if this test page risks being automatically deleted ? André437 (talk) 01:24, 14 August 2014 (UTC)

Sandboxes are not at risk of being deleted. If you find where you saw that they were, let me know so I can try to figure out why it says that. Jackmcbarn (talk) 01:28, 14 August 2014 (UTC)

Very good to know. It is something I read on WP quite a while back, and put in my notes on WP. It has probably already been corrected.

Thanks for the quick response :) André437 (talk) 01:33, 14 August 2014 (UTC)

New icon for Al-Nusra

I have to ask you? You can make new icon of medium grey color for the Front Al Nusra. For this module Syrian Civil War detailed map Hanibal911 (talk) 12:43, 3 November 2014 (UTC)

Forgive what I may be bothering you but you promised to make a new icon for Front Al Nusra. Hanibal911 (talk) 11:47, 6 November 2014 (UTC)

The original barnstar

	The Original Barnstar
	In thanks for your invaluable icon-creation contributions at Module Cities and towns during the Syrian Civil War Boredwhytekid (talk) 13:49, 19 November 2014 (UTC)

A barnstar for you!

	The Graphic Designer's Barnstar
	This award for your work on the creation of new, more accurate icons for this module Syrian Civil War detailed map. Hanibal911 (talk) 19:16, 29 November 2014 (UTC)

Icon for Qalamoun area.

All of towns and villages in Qalamoun area now under control by army but we now that rebels still present in mountain area near Lebanese border and we put green semicircle near some the villages in this area. But this is not really correct decision and with this decision not agree some of editors. So maybe you can create a icon for that would show that in this region the rebels are still present. Hanibal911 (talk) 19:29, 29 November 2014 (UTC)

Map

Thanks for your note.

I have already pinged Jack for advice, over at WP:VP(T). I realise that a lot of work has gone into this map, but it is not without problems that need to be resolved. You will see a small change I made to the sandbox, which decreased the module size by 16k, and may also speed up the rendering time and improve the size of the rendered page. Please have a look at this and see if it is useful. Please look also at the Village Pump thread I linked to to see how this is causing problems for tablet users, and how the map sometimes crashes.

I really think that this massive map is not the way to go, at least not as it stands. As more and more villages and towns are added the map and article will become larger, and will exceed MediaWiki's various limits.

If the article were divided by governorate, for example, there would be nothing to prevent linking between the articles, and it would pre-empt the point at which the page would again fail to render routinely.

All the best: Rich Farmbrough, 22:20, 9 December 2014 (UTC).

Hi Rich. I'm open to suggestions to improve the map, but please do any changes on the sandbox, preferably with related notes to me. (I'm probably the most technically oriented among the regular editors.) I can implement them if they help.

Some changes I'd like to make are delayed by resistance from other editors, which I respect.

As for dividing by governorate, the only areas where that would not be highly disadvantageous for following the war are areas with relatively little activity and density of points, and thus offering little advantage.

Let's discuss other ideas on the Village pump with Jackmcbarn. Certain technical changes mentioned there would be a big plus, and Jackmcbarn would likely be able to implement them. (With more time and privileges, I might be able to help as well.)

Regards :) André437 (talk) 14:20, 10 December 2014 (UTC)

Conflict Reporter

Source Conflict Reporter this is biased pro opposition source and he is not neutral source. And here confirmation of my words:

• The #Assad #terror regime also killed men,women and children in #Idlib today.Conflict Reporter
• The worst terrorist #Assad keeps on destroying the Syrian capital #DamascusConflict Reporter You of course me sorry but those messages is clearly not from neutral source. Hanibal911 (talk) 10:33, 23 December 2014 (UTC)

@Hanibal911: I was referring to his geolocation maps, which come with link(s) to the justifying video(s). It is fairly easy to verify the concordance between his maps and the original video posted on line. Evidently it is a lot more difficult to do the analysis to arrive at his conclusions, than to simply confirm them.

Note that I have seen mostly his retweeted geolocation maps. But I'm not surprised that he would prefer that the regime loose power. Due largely to its' atrocious human rights record, it has little support internationally. Mainly Iran, Russia, Venezuela, and North Korea. Well known defenders of human rights, don't you think ?

The question should always be : is the specific information posted reliable or not ? And on what basis ?

If we don't approach each report with that in mind, we are missing the point.

BTW, I find it incredible that unannotated maps are readily accepted, but the objectivity of SOHR, which readily reports advances and retreats of all sides, is somehow questioned. All for occasional lapses of neutral language, if not the independence flag posted on his site. Note that the current official Syrian flag is that imposed by the Bathists after they took power by coup d'état. I presume it was to align with the similar Egyptian flag for the union with them, which only lasted a short time. So the regime flag is no more legitimate than the independence flag, which had the merit of being supported by the last democratic government.

We also always ask : is the information sufficient to support the proposed change. On that point, it is easy to see that SOHR reports often don't meet this condition for changing control status, since their focus is on human rights, not control of territory. As well, not being a regime ally, they have less direct information on the regime side. The rebels are so fragmented, with a lot of independent local observers, that it is much easier to have diverse sources from their side.

But remember, this question should be asked for all reports, no matter how reliable the source is considered.

I firmly believe that unannotated maps should never be accepted as a basis for changing our map. They could be used in support of other sources (not other unannotated maps) considered likely to be reliable. But never alone.

Note that I have a preference for closely analyzing every report before changing the map. I realize that you tend to analyze much more than most editors here, which is good. But what I find lacking, generally among editors, is considering the key factor : is the information provided sufficient ? (Tradedia, the creator of our map, recently made a long post on essentially this same point.)

Regards André437 (talk) 19:48, 23 December 2014 (UTC)

Hanibal911 Further thoughts on your remarks about conflict reporter :

If every source that acknowledges the Assad regime's deliberate killing of women and children is considered biased against the regime, then the UN and almost every country is, including Russia (according to their UN security council vote). If every source that acknowledges the terrorist actions of the regime is considered biased, then again this includes the UN, as well as most countries (according to a UN general assembly vote). So the world is "biased" against the regime. Just maybe it has something to do with its' "systematic violation of basic human rights and war crimes" ?

It might be better to consider the objectivity of the reporting, rather than the preferred outcome. (This is the essence of WP policy.)

It is an obvious contradiction to support basic human rights (as most would claim to do) and prefer that the Assad regime stays in power. André437 (talk) 22:18, 27 January 2015 (UTC)

It is biased antigovernment source which clear oppose to Syrian government and on 100% supported of rebels. So dont need that this source is neutral or reliable. So let's no longer going to raise this issue. Also when some sources called rebels as terrorist we say that this sources pro government. But when the source said that the Syrian government it is terrorist regime of Assad or worst terrorist regime we should regard it as neutral and reliable. So let's not talk nonsense because Conflict Reporter it is a pro opposition source and it is long been recognized. Hanibal911 (talk) 22:41, 27 January 2015 (UTC)

Icon

We need a new color for the Al Nusra icon on the Syrian Civil war map, per discussion here, the color should be this one, but I'm not an designer so I can't say how much of a difference would it be on the map, if you think the colors are to similiar, you can make the new color a bit darker or "greenier" whatever, cheers. DuckZz (talk) 09:29, 29 December 2014 (UTC)

@DuckZz: The favorite green colour, a sort of greyish green (or greenish grey, depending on your point of view), sounds pretty good to me. I had already suggested maybe making a greenish grey when I created al-Nusra colours, in response to one objection to pure grey, but no-one supported the idea at the time.

Pure grey does have the disadvantage of being too close to grey border colours, something I hadn't considered.

More on the map discussion page.

BTW, could you sign your messages here, like for the map discussion page ? (~~~~). Thanks André437 (talk) 02:16, 29 December 2014 (UTC)

Editor

André437 Can you give your opinion on this.here.Lindi29 (talk) 15:57, 19 January 2015 (UTC)

Lindi29 Done. Too many kamikaze editors. Hope that helps :) André437 (talk) 17:05, 19 January 2015 (UTC)

Thank you :) André437.That editor acc is reported for breaking many rules.Thanks again if you need anything dont hesitate to ask.Regard :) Lindi29 (talk) 17:16, 19 January 2015 (UTC)

New and modified icons, dec 2014 .. feb 2015

Finished with the JAN icon ? DuckZz (talk) 22:26, 10 February 2015 (UTC)

DuckZz Thanks for the reminder. It is made (actually several options), but I have yet to import it and a lot of other related icons. Will get on it in the next day or so ... André437 (talk) 01:33, 11 February 2015 (UTC)

OK, here are some new icons :
new Nusra icon - various options. These contrast better with the grey borders.
... final name :

stable mixed control icons = could be opposed or allies, as long as each has some control
This avoids using several icons for mixed control (thus easier to maintain and displays faster). It is also less ambiguous.
mixed with regime and one other ... final names :
others mixed with rebels (moderate+islamic) and one other ... final names :
others mixed with one other ... final names :
some mixed 3 way ... final names :

truce icons - 2 examples, others could be made as needed.
This has the same advantages as the mixed control icons above.
(currently uses same 3 icons as for stable mixed control regime-rebels)
usual truce, only rebels inside, regime outside ... final name :
truce where regime controls part (was violet ring, now purple for more contrast) ... final name :

hill control icons - gives cleaner display
a typical mountain peak icon. ... final names :

André437 (talk) 14:27, 15 February 2015 (UTC)

various modifications André437 (talk) 15:03, 15 February 2015 (UTC)

X . X . X . X ... maybe right angle X for checkpoints ? (icons not yet made, yellow would have border)

I'm summarizing feedback with underlined comments above. You can add more feedback below, or on the main talk page. Thanks :) André437 (talk) 11:16, 16 February 2015 (UTC)

A barnstar for you!

	The Graphic Designer's Barnstar
	This gratitude for your contribution for improve of icons for this map Syrian Civil War detailed map Hanibal911 (talk) 18:02, 15 February 2015 (UTC)

Thanks Hanibal911 :)

Do you have a preference for a new Nusra icon ?

Also what do you think of the potential hill icons ?

As for the others, I take it that you appreciate them as they are. André437 (talk) 19:28, 15 February 2015 (UTC)