User talk:CactusMccoy

Welcome!

Hello, CactusMccoy, and welcome to Wikipedia! Thank you for your contributions. I hope you like the place and decide to stay. Here are a few links to pages you might find helpful:

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Please remember to sign your messages on talk pages by typing 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 for help on your talk page, and a volunteer should respond shortly. Again, welcome! L293D (✉) 15:36, 7 February 2018 (UTC)[reply]

February 2018

Hello, I'm Plantsurfer. An edit that you recently made to Taraxacum seemed to be a test and has been removed. If you want more practice editing, please use the sandbox. If you think a mistake was made, or if you have any questions, you can leave me a message on my talk page. Thanks! Plantsurfer 17:03, 7 February 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Please do not introduce incorrect information into articles, as you did to Elaeagnus umbellata. Your edits could be interpreted as vandalism and have been reverted. If you believe the information you added was correct, please cite references or sources or discuss the changes on the article's talk page before making them again. If you would like to experiment, use the sandbox. Please pay attention to reliable sources. Your blog website is not a reliable secondary source. Zefr (talk) 17:11, 10 February 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Autumn olives

Hello CactusMccoy. Moving the discussion here to your page. On my Talk page, you said:

Hello, I am sorry if I did something wrong, I would like you to know that I was not trying to vandalize the article Elaeagnus umbellata. I was trying to add constructive criticism to the commonplace idea that the plant is just a nuisance to be eradicated. I understand about the blog, but the other articles I posted were legitimate sources of information. I am confused as to why they they were removed, along with the ones on the article elaeagnus. Autumn olives are often treated as highly invasive, though labelled as such they don't always do damage to their habitat, they fix the soil, clean the water and provide food and cover to native birds, pollinators and wildlife, these are facts that should be presented to the public as well, to give both sides of the story. Many people grow this plant for food and medicine, should their rights to own this plant be removed just because the plant has a tendency to escape? no one harps on the invasive honeybees, or blackberries. the methods of control for this species are often far more destructive than the plant itself, the most common being the use of toxic herbicides, which kills thousands of other native species in the process. A process I do not condone for its wide reaching destruction of our forests. I would like for the page on autumn olives to show the public both sides of this story, instead of garnering unnecessary hatred for this plant by only telling its faults and invasiveness, we should also explain its benefits to the environment and to us, along with the dangers of removing it chemically and destructively. many people would be less apt to kill something if they knew its benefits, and the environmental harm that comes from using herbicides and bulldozers against them. Thank you for reading my thoughts, and concerns. I would like to work with you to make this article as factual and informative as possible. CactusMccoy (talk) 21:40, 10 February 2018 (UTC)CactusMccoy[reply]

I appreciate your collaborative tone and the chance to improve the Elaeagnus articles. You added this USDA source, which certainly is a good reference and could be added back, but it seems redundant and not unique or general to the global nature of the plant's distribution. The Edible Vineyard and One Acre Farm sources are not strong or sufficiently reliable. Regarding the article's balance, the lede has neutral content that it grows vigorously and yet is invasive in many countries. The value of the berries as food needs a strong WP:SCIRS source; there is no good reliable review that it has medicinal properties (no food does); for that, you need strong WP:MEDASSESS source(s) - I've looked, and found none. If we can discuss here, and you can show convincing secondary sources supporting the more favorable aspects you mention, then we can work on a constructive revision. Thanks. --Zefr (talk) 00:25, 11 February 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Edit summaries, multiple consecutive edits

Hello, and welcome to Wikipedia. I reverted your edit to Helianthus because I was not sure it was helpful, and you left no reason for removing that sentence. I'd like to make a couple editing suggestions for you to consider:

Please make a habit of providing an edit summary when you make a change to an article. Doing so makes it easier for your colleagues here to understand the intention of your edit.
Plus, it will be easier for you and your co-editors to collaborate on articles if, instead of making multiple consecutive edits in rapid succession on an article, you use the "Show preview" button to view your changes incrementally before finally saving the page once you're satisfied with your edits. This keeps the page history of the article less cluttered. Thanks in advance for considering these suggestions. Eric ^talk 21:23, 12 February 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you for your suggestions and tips, I will try my best (CactusMccoy)

Glad to help. A couple more tips: We generally indent talkpage posts incrementally as a given discussion progresses. This is done using colons at the beginning of the post, immediately before the first character. You'll see if you open this discussion to edit it -- I added a single colon before your above post, and two before this one; I also added your username after your post. It is generally accepted practice to sign and date your talkpage posts. To make the wiki software do this automatically for you, simply type four tildes (~~~~) at the end of your talkpage post. This will generate a signature and date stamp when you save the edit. You can customize your signature in Preferences if you like. Eric ^talk 21:12, 13 February 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Disambiguation link notification for February 14

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