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Long Overdue

The Tireless Contributor Barnstar
For everything you do on the visual arts (including correcting my mistakes), and related. Modernist (talk) 20:57, 3 July 2011 (UTC)
Thank you very much! But you make very, very few mistakes, and virtually everything on my watchlist seems to be on yours too, so I tend to see most everything you do. (Oh, but ironically, I guess I've just gone and sort of corrected you just now....) This barnstar means a lot coming from you – as I've noted several times before, you're the heart and soul of Wikipedia's visual arts project. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 21:11, 3 July 2011 (UTC)

DYK nomination of Sam Tomkins

Hi there. Thanks for clarifying the rules on my nomination. I'm currently readying the article for WP:GAN and with only one section left to do (the lead) I can't see the article breaking the x5 threshold. Feel free to remove the nom at will. GW(talk) 22:41, 4 July 2011 (UTC)

Sorry the DYK didn't work out for you on this one, but GA's so much more prestigious anyways; I hope that goes smoothly for you. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 00:10, 5 July 2011 (UTC)

Boston

Mandarax--I was in the most amazing place today: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. Wish you could have been here. It totally blew my mind. Drmies (talk) 03:20, 9 July 2011 (UTC)

How exciting! Yes, I wish I could've been there too. Had you planned ahead and either gotten a fake ID or legally changed your name to "Isabella", in order to secure free admission?

I hope you'll also have time to see the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, whose collection includes Bal à Bougival, a reproduction of which graced my dorm room walls. They also include work by my DYK artists Orovida Camille Pissarro, Charles Angrand, and Georg Muche. And while you're at it, swing by Harvard's Fogg Museum to catch a Frederick Hammersley.[disclaimer 1] Have a great trip! MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 18:35, 9 July 2011 (UTC)

Sorry Mandarax, there was no time for that. For instance, I only got to see Trinity Church because I asked the cabby on the way back to the airport to make a slight detour. Next time. And no, I didn't weasel in one way or another; I paid my $12. I have a question for you, but it involves an image, so I'll do it in a separate section. Drmies (talk) 18:38, 11 July 2011 (UTC)
It's terrible not to have time for a museum. A friend arrived at the Art Institute of Chicago a few minutes before closing (but they still charged the full admission price) and he took a whirlwind tour of the place. He missed American Gothic! A tragedy indeed; I believe I would rank this as the second most famous painting in the world. Fortunately, though, he did get to see A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 20:28, 11 July 2011 (UTC)
As much as I dislike YouTube links, I'm glad I saw this. Esp. the buckshot is fantastic. Drmies (talk) 20:34, 11 July 2011 (UTC)
  1. ^ While every effort is made to ensure accuracy, I make no guarantees that works by the above-named artists are still in the museum collections or are currently on public view.

Template question

Two beetles fighting over a dung ball.

Can you make a template to warn editors about edit warring using this image? I imagine that in specific cases it may be the most appropriate one, at least allegorically speaking. With regards and friendship, Drmies (talk) 18:39, 11 July 2011 (UTC)

  • Well, the quick and dirty way (aka the Mandarax way) is to just steal the existing Template:Uw-3rr. I would propose a name of Template:uw-ew, serving the dual purposes of standing for edit war, and commenting on the dung (ewwww):
uw-ew
You currently appear to be engaged in an edit war. Users are expected to collaborate with others and avoid editing disruptively. Do not fight over content as beetles fight over dung balls.

In particular, the three-revert rule states that:

  1. Making more than three reversions on a single page within a 24-hour period is almost always grounds for an immediate block.
  2. Do not edit war even if you believe you are right.
If you find yourself in an editing dispute, use the article's talk page to discuss controversial changes; work towards a version that represents consensus among editors. You can post a request for help at an appropriate noticeboard or seek dispute resolution. In some cases it may be appropriate to request temporary page protection. If you continue to edit war, you may be blocked from editing without further notice.
  • Thanks for thinking of me. Wow, I'm famous! It would be nice to be thought of some day as that guy with a huge list of Featured Articles, but for now I'll settle for gnome extraordinaire. It's interesting that you mentioned that painting, as I hadn't seen any Munchs for a long time, until just a few days ago I saw three at a special museum exhibition. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 20:13, 11 July 2011 (UTC)

Since you are good at this formatting stuff...

Any idea (without having to look hard - it's not worth it) what crazy bit of code someone's put on my talk page that is making it not wrap correctly? It's kind of annoying to have to scroll to the right. If it's not obvious right off, I'll just do a manual archive of everything I'm done looking at and hope that gets it. LadyofShalott 03:49, 13 July 2011 (UTC)

<evil laugh>It was me.</evil laugh> I got whacked in the head today because of you, so I left some evil code behind. The page looks fine to me on my browser (firefox). Maybe a browser problem? Bgwhite (talk) 03:59, 13 July 2011 (UTC)
Bgw, didn't you get whacked in the head twice today?
Lady, the page appears fine to me too (also Firefox). But I immediately spotted what looks like a potential source of trouble. Let me know if my "fix" fixed it. BTW, I hope you didn't change your signature just because I preferred the old color scheme. I may have very narrow aesthetic parameters. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 04:15, 13 July 2011 (UTC)
Mandarax, you're a genius! Yes, that fixed it, thank you! As for the signature, I wasn't sure I was entirely thrilled with the new color scheme... so when you said you didn't like it, that was enough to tip the balance. I'll play with it again sometime when I get bored with it again. <shrug> LadyofShalott 04:21, 13 July 2011 (UTC)
You're welcome. Glad I could help. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 06:48, 13 July 2011 (UTC)
Bg, I had a smart reply for you, but edit conflicted with M, and his fix cleared you of your self-confessed crime. Lucky for you! LadyofShalott 04:24, 13 July 2011 (UTC)
Dang. I'll have to find another evil crime to commit. I've gotten whacked in the head so many times today by my wife, I've lost count. Payback Lady, Payback. Bgwhite (talk) 04:59, 13 July 2011 (UTC)

You deserve a barnstar -and you just got one!

The Fearsome Jurassic Thesaurus award
For your tireless copy-editing in DYK! AshLin (talk) 18:25, 16 July 2011 (UTC)
Thank you very much! Also, thanks for your work with scientific articles which help boost the intelligence level of DYK. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 19:08, 16 July 2011 (UTC)

Eh...

The Do-I-Really-Have-To-Explain Award
For their fantabulous gnoming, now over 178,000 times. Drmies (talk) 00:59, 19 July 2011 (UTC)
  • No, I'd never heard of it before, nor do I suffer from it. And I've been to the Uffizi! (Of course, if I were susceptible to this malaise, it would've struck me at the Musée d'Orsay.) MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 05:58, 19 July 2011 (UTC)
  • Unfortunately I didn't get to see it, though I spent an afternoon at the Palazzo Pitti. My dad and I took a motorcycle trip to Italy, and I ditched him for half a day to go art browsing. Today is/would have been his birthday! But you and your "modern" art, pshaw. As for your 'fantabulous' question--is this a Jetson's reference? The only other thing that comes to my mind is "fantabulistic." Enlighten me! Drmies (talk) 05:21, 20 July 2011 (UTC)
  • First my friend goes to the Art Institute of Chicago and doesn't see American Gothic, and then you visit Florence without going to the Uffizi. I'm not sure if their Birth of Venus by Botticelli is in that mythical Ten Most Famous Paintings in the World list that I seem to be compiling, but it's probably at least in the top twenty. While you missed one version of Artemisia Gentileschi's Judith Slaying Holofernes at the Uffizi, at least you (probably) got to see another of her versions of the same subject at Palazzo Pitti. But, most importantly, did you go see David? (Ack! Now I'm thinking about the most famous sculptures in the world.)

    When a word gets inextricably associated with one specific thing in my mind, I wonder if that's the case for others too. So thanks for indulging me. For me, I hear "fantabulous" and I instantly think of Van Morrison's song "Moondance", from the album of the same name, which is one of my favorite albums of all time. Yes, I have a mellower side – it's not all Jimi and Grateful Dead and Pink Floyd. I don't get the Jetson's reference. BTW, there was a Jetson's installation at last year's Burning Man. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 07:13, 20 July 2011 (UTC)

Current members of the United States House of Representatives

Hello, I am the same one who told you about Cathy Hochul and put images. Can you put Janice Hahn?--46.246.177.230 (talk) 17:36, 20 July 2011 (UTC)

Done. But I don't understand why you don't just take care of these yourself. You added all of those pictures to the page, so you certainly know how to edit. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 19:47, 21 July 2011 (UTC)
See, I know how to put a picture or how to correct a letter/word. I don't know all theese codes which are needed for something like this. --46.246.177.230 (talk) 11:06, 22 July 2011 (UTC)

Changes to sorting and WP:MCSTJR

Heya. Looks like you too did not get the word about changes to the default sorting in Wikimedia, it was slipped in quietly months ago and it's taken awhile for the sorting gnomes to notice. The biggest is that sorting is no longer case-sensitive; this means that OBrian and Obrian are equivalent and we no longer have to adjust names with non-standard capitalizations to get the correct results in sorting. WP:MCSTJR has therefore been updated, dropping the case-mangling rule. (Continuing to apply it doesn't hurt sorting, it's just extra work, and confusing to newbies.) I suspect AWB needs to be updated. Studerby (talk) 18:24, 21 July 2011 (UTC)

I was aware of it, and I haven't changed any sort keys according to the old rules since, unless some accidentally slipped by. What I have done is correct sort keys like "O'Brian" to "Obrian" because that's the way my version of AWB still does it and it's functionally equivalent to "OBrian". The next version of AWB has been updated to not add/change sort keys per the old rule, and when it's released I'll check the sort key which is generated in a variable for use by people such as myself. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 19:08, 21 July 2011 (UTC)
Oh. I went back and looked at the diffs that triggered my remark (one such) and realized that in each case, more than the unneeded case change was occurring; something helpful was also being done. In the example diff, the middle initial in the article title is being added to the sort key. So the problem is really that the comment is referring to the no-longer-existent case-problem (that was part of WP:MCSTJR rules) and not the sort key/article title mis-match. In short, the comment misled me, and it's probably AWB that needs some adjustment. My bad, carry on. Studerby (talk) 20:08, 21 July 2011 (UTC)
Well, I'm responsible for the edit summary. I have AWB automatically use that one whenever certain conditions are met, such as the presence of an apostrophe. In cases such as the example listed, I use "Edit sort key per WP:MCSTJR" to mean "Edit sort key, and the final result conforms to WP:MCSTJR" (for people who may be confused that there's no apostrophe). But you're right; it does look like it's saying "Edit sort key which doesn't conform to WP:MCSTJR so that it does". I may or may not change that summary, as in the vast majority of cases, the latter meaning does apply. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 21:06, 21 July 2011 (UTC)
Could you tell me where the discussion took place? This gnome doesn't get out much and I live in the rural area of the mushroom patch. Bgwhite (talk) 18:39, 21 July 2011 (UTC)
I don't know of any discussion; the developers just finally got around to fixing it, without making any big announcement about it. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 19:08, 21 July 2011 (UTC)
There's been a long-standing bug against the base software (bug #164) because sorting has basically been broken since day 1, most especially for non-European languages. They fixed the bug in a way that didn't have much effect except for sorting gnomes (and the biological taxonomy folk who had built on top of the bug howled about the bug being fixed) Studerby (talk) 20:09, 21 July 2011 (UTC)
Thank you Studerby for posting about it. I had no clue the bug was fixed or that it was even a bug. I too will follow what Mandrax stated above that he has been doing. Bgwhite (talk) 20:46, 21 July 2011 (UTC)

Hehe

I know you were using an automated tool at the time but this is quite amusing. Egg Centric 16:08, 22 July 2011 (UTC)

Wow, no one had edited that in the five months since I corrected that typo. Yeah, I'm afraid when using AWB to fix tons of typos, one sometimes just takes the time to see if it's blatant vandalism without fully checking for the proper context. At least it wasn't bad; just someone seeking their father's military buddies. Thanks for finally discovering this seven-month-old plea and removing it, and for telling me, so that I'll try to be more thorough in the future. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 18:52, 22 July 2011 (UTC)

DYK

I'm not sure why my signature said 23:56, as it was actually at 0:56 (I am in the UK). The revision history of the article also says 23 July:

  • (cur | prev) 00:02, 23 July 2011 Number 57 (talk | contribs | block) (4,315 bytes) (Expand, reference) (undo)

I assume my signature is misleading because I have got my time zone wrong in my preferences! Could you add the article back to the 23rd? Cheers, Number 57 00:28, 23 July 2011 (UTC)

DYK uses Wikipedia time (UTC), not your local time. In the UK, the times are the same, except when you're on BST, as you are now. So the correct date to use is 22 July. Besides, there's an advantage to having your nomination listed a day earlier – people preparing sets are encouraged to use those from earlier days first. If you'd like, you can move your nomination to the top of the listings for 22 July; I just left it at the bottom because it was easier to simply move the date heading from above your nomination to below. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 00:57, 23 July 2011 (UTC)
OK, thanks for explaining. I was worried that it would be missed by reviewers if placed in the earlier date (and unfortuntely it still hasn't been reviewd). Cheers, Number 57 15:15, 27 July 2011 (UTC)

Thanks

Thanks for the disambiguation. I kind of thought his name needed more, but was too lazy to check. LadyofShalott 01:13, 25 July 2011 (UTC)

You're welcome. We wouldn't want people to think they were painted by some headmaster or astronomer.... MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 07:01, 25 July 2011 (UTC)

A pie for you!

Thank you for your welcoming message, keep it up! Regards from Argentina Postlunarpaintings (talk) 20:30, 28 July 2011 (UTC)
Thanks for the pie, and thanks again for your contributions. I see that you first registered over two years ago. Sorry it took so long, but I'm glad you finally got a formal welcome! MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 20:53, 28 July 2011 (UTC)

"B&H Listed Buildings: M"

Hi Mandarax. Pls see Wikipedia talk:Did you know#Ineligible article in Prep 2 in relation to Grade II listed buildings in Brighton and Hove: M‎, which I created (well, started in a small way!) I concur with your comments; this should not go forward for DYK. Cheers, Hassocks5489 (tickets please!) 19:17, 29 July 2011 (UTC)

I hadn't noticed it when it was on the nomination page, but checking from the history I see that you said virtually the same thing I did. It's refreshing to see someone who isn't trying to bend every rule to do everything possible to get an article into DYK. I greatly respect that. Thanks for your note. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 20:21, 29 July 2011 (UTC)

Giotto

Well then, if I can't get it right myself, I have no right to whinge in the edit summary, do I? Amandajm (talk) 03:44, 3 August 2011 (UTC)

Hehe. Well, you got it righter than it was, so a gnome like me could then come along and polish it. I've admired your contributions from afar for a long time, and this seems like as good a time as any to congratulate you on your wonderful work here. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 04:28, 3 August 2011 (UTC)
Thank you very much! I in turn love the people who come around tidying-up behind me.
Amandajm (talk) 02:20, 4 August 2011 (UTC)

Sorry, but

I had to undo your recent edit via AWB. The month name in this example is supposed to be in lowercase, as explained in the text that follows the bullet item. Johnson487682 (talk) 13:07, 3 August 2011 (UTC)

Thank you very much for catching that. I've added {{sic}} templates to prevent any more such accidental "corrections". MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 17:36, 3 August 2011 (UTC)
Great solution--thank you! Johnson487682 (talk) 18:55, 4 August 2011 (UTC)

New DYK days

What if, instead of creating new subheads on T:TDYK every day, we just had pages like this:

and every day, transcluded a new one of them? They would show up the same on T:TDYK (see, e.g., [1]), but when someone clicked the "edit" link to nominate something, they would end up transcluding their nom on Template talk:Did you know/Archive/2011 August 4 rather than on T:TDYK directly. Then there would be no need to "archive" that day later (since it would already be in an archive); just remove {{Template talk:Did you know/Archive/2011 August 4}} from T:TDYK and we'd be set. I think this is pretty much what they do at AfD as well. rʨanaɢ (talk) 20:20, 3 August 2011 (UTC)

That seems fine to me, but might some people get confused editing something with "Archive" in the title? They're often cautioned not to edit archives. If it's done, I don't know if we need to add an instructional comment for people who may attempt to add a nomination by editing the full T:TDYK; I know I would never do it that way, but maybe someone would. Did you want to start this right away? I probably won't be around for today's "zero hour". MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 22:58, 3 August 2011 (UTC)
That's a good point. Maybe it would be better to call it "Log" instead of "Archive" (a la AfD) or something like that. rʨanaɢ (talk) 02:20, 4 August 2011 (UTC)

Let's go ahead and try it. I created Template talk:Did you know/Daily log/2011 August 5 up through Template talk:Did you know/Daily log/2011 August 13, so when the next "zero hour" comes soon, instead of adding a new section header we can just add {{Template talk:Did you know/Daily log/2011 August 15}}. I think I'll be online, so if you won't be around to do it I can. After a day or two, if it seems to be confusing people we can go back to the normal way. rʨanaɢ (talk) 20:32, 4 August 2011 (UTC)

Okay, sounds good. Oh, one more thing... the comment said
When this section becomes empty, remove {{Template talk:Did you know/Archive/2011 August 13}} from the nomination page (Template talk:Did you know).
I've corrected the "Archive" part to "Daily log" and also changed "becomes empty" to "is complete", since the section won't really be "empty". Of course, feel free to tweak it as you see fit. I only did August 5 so there won't be duplicated efforts in case you want different wording. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 21:10, 4 August 2011 (UTC)
That sounds good. Thanks for catching that. rʨanaɢ (talk) 21:12, 4 August 2011 (UTC)
Oops. I accidentally pressed Enter while writing the edit summary before I had a chance to complete it or put in the correct date. Thanks for your speedy fix. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 00:08, 5 August 2011 (UTC)

I changed things up a bit because of an issue reported at WT:DYK#Edit notice is not appearing on newer sections of the suggestions page. Now, the pages are named e.g. Template talk:Did you know daily log/2011 August 8 (rather than Template talk:Did you know/Daily log/2011 August 8). I already moved the existing ones, just thought I'd give you a heads-up. Also, at Template talk:Did you know daily log I created some [hopefully] handy links where on any given day you can just click to create today's or tomorrow's archive page; the text isn't actually preloaded, but is created at the top of the editnotice and then you can just paste it in and save it. rʨanaɢ (talk) 21:52, 8 August 2011 (UTC)

Okay, thanks. Two very minor things about the edit notice: • The year shouldn't be in the heading (it currently does, for example "Articles created/expanded on 2011 August 8"). Unless it was your intention to do it that way from now on, which would be fine too. • "Daily" should be lower case. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 22:54, 8 August 2011 (UTC)
Ah, good catch. Thanks. rʨanaɢ (talk) 01:48, 9 August 2011 (UTC)

Liar

I just noticed the big fat lie you have on your user page. You are currently 26th, not 25th, in the list of Wikipedians by the number of edits. Egads, do I trust what you have to say in the future because you obviously lie any chance you get. :) Bgwhite (talk) 07:15, 5 August 2011 (UTC)

Yes, I do. I just corrected it only because I got caught.

I used to update it every week because it kept going up, but then it stabilized at 25 and I stopped checking. Now, thanks to you hogging all of the sort key edits, my contributions have dropped dramatically and I expect to be in a downward spiral. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 08:15, 5 August 2011 (UTC)

Hey, if you want to do some Arabic or Chinese listas, I've got a bunch for you. I know you are really want to do them. Thanks to my "hogging", I should crack the top 500 in the next week or two. So, if I stay off my anti-psychotic drugs, I should catch you in 3-4 years. I got told today to stop sorting Arabic names because no Arabic name has a surname and I'm not a professional indexer. I think you need some of that joy. Bgwhite (talk) 08:44, 5 August 2011 (UTC)
I've always avoided those. I know from watching others who have tried that there is a very vocal contingent with very strong opinions on the subject, and I'd rather just stay out of it. But kudos to you for going for it. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 20:10, 5 August 2011 (UTC)

For some reason, I hear Carol Kane screeching at Billy Crystal, "Liar! Liarrrrrr!" ;) LadyofShalott 11:39, 5 August 2011 (UTC)

Was that from The Princess Bride (which I've never seen)? Whatever it's from, I can easily picture her delivering those lines. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 20:10, 5 August 2011 (UTC)
Yup, it is from the Princess Bride. It's inconceivable that you haven't seen it. It is one of the all-time great books and films. Bgwhite (talk) 20:49, 5 August 2011 (UTC)
Okay, I found it: about three minutes in. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 22:20, 5 August 2011 (UTC)
Mandarax, you've got to see The Princess Bride. It's fantastic. BG, it's one of the only movies I've seen where I actually like the movie better than the book (though I did enjoy that as well). LadyofShalott 22:52, 5 August 2011 (UTC)
Hehe, an edit summary of "watch it!!", especially from an admin, looks like it would be a stern warning. I tend to be a finicky movie viewer, but I've put it on my list of movies to see some day. (No, not Netflix, just a plain old paper list.) MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 04:35, 6 August 2011 (UTC)
Sorry for the ambiguity there. :) I don't do Netflix either, and I have to admit that there are lots of movies that "everyone" has seen which I have not. I do highly recommend TPB though. LadyofShalott 05:37, 6 August 2011 (UTC)

More DYK

Thanks for fixing my almost-successful attempt to grapple with the new DYK instructions, which are even more difficult to follow than the previous ones. Can't somebody (not me!) devise a simple step-by-step questionnaire-type binary flow-charted forking operation to build up the nomination along the lines of:

  • What is the title of your article?
  • What is your hook?
  • Are you the nominator? Y/N
    • If N, who is?

...and so on, with iteration when necessary to get title right, get hook right, get creation date, etc. If anyone has the inclination to set something up along the above lines, I'll be happy to trial it.

Just a thought. --GuillaumeTell 21:27, 6 August 2011 (UTC)

You're welcome for the fixes. Hey, you got it almost right.

The best way to make your suggestion would be posting it to WT:DYK. (Note: the answer to your third question is always "yes"; I assume you meant "article creator or expander" rather than "nominator".) But with the current system being so new, I don't know how receptive people would be to another change. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 23:10, 6 August 2011 (UTC)

You're probably right - looks a bit daunting. I'll sleep on it. (BTW, your backwards .sig reminds me of a sign (Ксерокс) that I had some difficulty decoding when in Saint Petersburg a few years ago.)
P.S. Oh, and I very strongly recommend reading The Princess Bride before watching the film. Best. --GuillaumeTell 23:47, 6 August 2011 (UTC)

Q

Mandarax, I have a question for you. Google Chrome is installed on my brand-new netbook. Should I use it? Or delete it to save space? And don't give me that "well, you know, it's up to you, blah blah"! Also, now that my oldest is asking nicely for an apple, after screaming "I want dessert" for ten minutes, should I give in? I mean, how quickly should one forgive? Or should I be tough and say no, you get another opportunity tomorrow? Tell me! Drmies (talk) 01:04, 11 August 2011 (UTC)

  • I'm sure you'd be shocked by the movies I haven't seen. The first that spring jarringly into my mind are the second two Lord of the Rings films. My taste in films is eclectic. I have strong but flexible opinions about films and those appearing in them; for example, I hate everything Will Ferrell's ever done... except one of my favorite movies of all time: Stranger than Fiction.
  • I only used Chrome for a very brief period a few years ago. There was something I found very irritating about it – something about how text is input? – and that was enough for me to abandon it, and I've never tried it again.

    As for TPB, I notice that Mandy Patinkin portrays Inigo. I know he tries to sing every chance he can get; if he's got a singing part in the film, that's a deal-killer. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 01:23, 11 August 2011 (UTC)

  • No, he has an anaphoric part, so to speak. Very powerful. And Wallace Shawn's scene is fantastic as well--so clever, it kills me. Never go up against a Sicilian when death is on the line! Drmies (talk) 01:41, 11 August 2011 (UTC)
Sounds intriguing. (New word for me too.) MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 06:56, 11 August 2011 (UTC)
Anaphora (rhetoric) - cool new vocabulary word for me. Anaphora (linguistics) seriously needs some work to make it readable for a layman - I am not stupid, but there is no where near enough introduction to the subject LadyofShalott 01:51, 11 August 2011 (UTC)
  • Well, I'm cheating a little bit. Really, Inigo is into literal repetition, with an increasing amplitude. I worked a but on the article you mentioned, but I don't know if I did much good. Drmies (talk) 02:50, 11 August 2011 (UTC)
It's better, thanks. It's still front-loaded with jargon terms, but it can read and digested. The examples there help a lot. LadyofShalott 03:08, 11 August 2011 (UTC)
  • BTW, thanks--I'm going to remove it. I haven't even started the program (ever!) and some notice popped up saying Google Chrome was using a lot of resources. Now that is a deal killer. Now log off and watch the movie. Drmies (talk) 01:44, 11 August 2011 (UTC)
  • Mandarax, what part of the computer business have you been in? I was a Solaris/Linux admin for almost 20 years. I had to look up the articles about TPB. I did not know that William Goldman, the writer of the book and screenplay, won two Academy awards for the screenplays of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and All the President's men. Some of the other screenplays and books he did are legendary. That is one talented person. The upcoming Firefox 7 uses alot less memory than current Firefox. Supposedly they have fixed some of their longstanding memory issues. Firefox 7 should reach the beta stage in a few week and you may want to try it out then. Bgwhite (talk) 05:57, 11 August 2011 (UTC)
  • I'd think an upgrade to atleast 4.5 would be mandatory with all the security updates. I keep running out of memory if I have been running firefox for a few days and then my wife gets on and does some of her school stuff. I tried to do something about the wife to fix the problem, but she won't leave. Bgwhite (talk) 07:12, 11 August 2011 (UTC)
Oh Mandarax, you are still a liar. I saw you changed the number back to 25. The new numbers released yesterday show you are not 27. I guess you are a liar that is slowing down. Bgwhite (talk) 06:02, 11 August 2011 (UTC)
  • Hardly. Sleep is at record low levels. I've been sick for a week now, with no sign of it getting any better (but at least it's not getting any worse).

    I'm afraid I've lost a lot of my enthusiasm for WP. All of the ugliness at DYK has done a great deal towards driving me away. Hi ho. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 19:52, 11 August 2011 (UTC)

Yes, get feeling better. I don't want you to end up like JimCubb (I really hope he is ok). If you want something different to do, I'm in the middle of 800 names starting with Mohammad. Bgwhite (talk) 21:00, 11 August 2011 (UTC)
Thanks, you're very thoughtful too. I'm sure it's nothing serious, just lingering and annoying. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 21:21, 11 August 2011 (UTC)

Are you feeling any better? LadyofShalott 21:34, 14 August 2011 (UTC)

Thanks for asking, but no, no better yet. I'm probably going to the doctor tomorrow. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 23:11, 14 August 2011 (UTC)
Sorry to hear that! I hope the doc. is able to give you something to clear it up quickly. LadyofShalott 01:11, 15 August 2011 (UTC)

No comment on the rest of your long edit summary, but you really need to watch The Princess Bride. You'll enjoy it! LadyofShalott 09:39, 28 September 2011 (UTC)

I can't even remember the last time I saw a movie, either in a theater or at home. So I haven't been specifically avoiding that movie. BTW, when someone tells me that I'll enjoy something, it's usually the kiss of death, but I'll try it anyways (eventually). MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 18:12, 28 September 2011 (UTC)

Current members of the United States House of Representatives

Well, you know who am I, right? David Wu resigned so can you... vacate him?--77.49.154.248 (talk) 16:44, 11 August 2011 (UTC)

  • Well, I've been sick for a week, and I think that gives me the right to be a little crotchety.... I'm glad I was able to help you with your previous requests, but editing that table on that huge unwieldy page is tedious and is something which I'm not going to do any more. I have absolutely no interest in the subject – you found me because I happened to be the last person to edit the page, but that was just a typo fix with AWB, so I never even saw the article. Thank you for your interest in keeping the article up to date. To accomplish this now....
  • Do it yourself
  • Put a note on the article's talk page
  • Put a {{HELPME}} request on your talk page.
  • Find someone less crotchety in the article's history and ask them to do it
  • OK, Mandarax! Beacause I want to stay friends I must say to you that I tried it, done and, in fact it was very easy. I will be doing it myself but I will always ask your help if I need it. Adieu!--77.49.154.248 (talk) 22:00, 11 August 2011 (UTC)

A barnstar for you!

The Graphic Designer's Barnstar
Thanks for always helping me with my formatting problems. LadyofShalott 20:40, 11 August 2011 (UTC)
Thanks, Lady! It's much appreciated! MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 20:53, 11 August 2011 (UTC)

Natti natti

Natti natti
Mandarax, I hope this helps. I wish you well. Drmies (talk) 03:13, 12 August 2011 (UTC)
Thanks. (And thanks to Wiktionary.) Y'know, reading War and Peace (in Russian) just might put me to sleep. Natti natti to you to. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 03:24, 12 August 2011 (UTC)
Hello Mandarax! I hope you enjoy this yummy treat as a friendly greeting from a fellow Wikipedian, SwisterTwister talk 05:46, 12 August 2011 (UTC)
Thanks! MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 05:50, 12 August 2011 (UTC)

help on keep track of everything

Do you guys have any advice on how to keep track of everything as the basic watchlist doesn't cut it. I'm writing notes, but it's starting to get cumbersome. Keeping track of helping users, watching some articles to improve before possible deletion, etc... Bgwhite (talk) 06:27, 12 August 2011 (UTC)

Other than obvious semi-answers such as manually maintaining separate lists of links in your userspace, or using different usernames with different targeted watchlists, I got nuttin'. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 20:44, 12 August 2011 (UTC)
I gave up on keeping track of what I've done and what I should be keeping an eye on. It makes for more cohesive but less stressful editing--and more surprises. Drmies (talk) 03:26, 14 August 2011 (UTC)

List of trials of peers in the House of Lords

Mandarax, my friend! If you remember I told you that I may ask your help if I need it. If you are good with sortable lists you can help me if you are not send me to someone who is! My problem is that I tried to make this list sortable by writing class=sortable wikitable instead of class=wikitable. It became sortable but when I sorted it it became odd. Thanks!--77.49.154.248 (talk) 15:37, 14 August 2011 (UTC)

I've never used sortable tables. I looked over the documentation and tried a few things, but couldn't get it to work properly. And I don't know of anybody who is knowledgeable about such things. Sorry. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 17:56, 14 August 2011 (UTC)

Mind discussing a bot proposal?

Hello there, I initially took this up with Drmies and he redirected me to you. I have an idea for a bot, but I'm really not too sure on quite a few things. Whether it's already been set up, whether it's worth it, if I can script it and how to have it implemented if I can do those things.

The idea is to have a bot that dates and formats {{citation needed}} tags in realtime, because a lot of people neglect to do it and just put {{cn}} (judging by the amount of AWB fixes, it happens quite frequently). Is this a good idea? It might also work on {{who?}} temps and other, but that's the gist of it. Thanks, Atomician (talk) 19:52, 14 August 2011 (UTC)

Hi, there's already a bot which performs that service: Helpful Pixie Bot (previously known as SmackBot). If you're still interested in creating an additional bot to do this, maybe you could coordinate with HPB's owner Rich Farmbrough. (BTW, I've never worked on a bot myself, and don't really know anything about the processes and requirements.) MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 20:44, 14 August 2011 (UTC)
Hmmm, seems a little pointless if there's already a bot that performs the suggested tasks. Thanks very much for your response. Atomician (talk) 20:46, 14 August 2011 (UTC)

Me update

Well, it's pneumonia. Hopefully a few days of these humongous antibiotics will clear it up.

Thanks again to the well-wishers! MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 01:32, 16 August 2011 (UTC)

No wonder you've been feeling puny! I'm glad you've gotten on some antibiotics. Rest up and get well, LadyofShalott 01:47, 16 August 2011 (UTC)
Thanks! MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 05:40, 16 August 2011 (UTC)
Sounds like a good time to forget about wikipedia and read a book or enjoy something else. I've had pneumonia 4 times and it ranged from, "let me die now" to "a cold is worse". I hope you you are closer to a cold. Get feeling better. Bgwhite (talk) 07:54, 16 August 2011 (UTC)
Four times!? Do you live in a microbe!!? Feel better soon, Mandarax. Atomician (talk) 10:07, 16 August 2011 (UTC)
Wow, congratulations on surviving four bouts of this. I'd say my experience is somewhere in the middle. Thanks Bgwhite and Atomician! MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 23:17, 16 August 2011 (UTC)

Have the antibiotics kicked it yet? LadyofShalott 21:45, 18 August 2011 (UTC)

I thought it would be a magic bullet: I take one pill and I'd almost instantly be cured. But now, about halfway through the antibiotics, I feel little to no change. Very discouraging. I've got another appointment tomorrow, so I'll see if any progress has been made. Thanks for asking. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 22:06, 18 August 2011 (UTC)
So... any progress? LadyofShalott 20:31, 22 August 2011 (UTC)
Well, yes and no. I still don't feel any better, but I apparently am much better. There was a dramatic difference in the X-rays, and the antibiotics have done their job. (It's funny – before the appointment, since I didn't feel any better, I thought maybe the pharmacy had given me the wrong pills, so I looked 'em up on the Internet, but discovered that they were correct.) So, although I don't feel better physically yet, psychologically the news was a huge boost. They say I just have to tough it out, maybe for a few more weeks. Thanks for asking. You're very nice, Lady. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 20:42, 22 August 2011 (UTC)
Well I'm glad your lungs are going in the right direction. I hope you'll soon feel better as well! Thank you also for the nice words. LadyofShalott 21:19, 22 August 2011 (UTC)
Thanks again! MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 21:30, 22 August 2011 (UTC)

DYK: no more daily archiving

Hey Mandarax, let's stop the daily log subpages and go back to the way it was before (just adding a new section header every day). I asked for some feedback at WT:DYK#Are daily archives needed? and it seems like most people don't want it. Thanks for your help getting it set up anyway, though. Best, rʨanaɢ (talk) 15:25, 16 August 2011 (UTC)

Okay. You sure work hard trying to keep up with everybody's demands and counter-demands. Thanks for all of your efforts to help DYK! MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 23:08, 16 August 2011 (UTC)

Want some more pain and misery?

A new tracking category came up this month, Category:Persondata templates without name parameter. If they don't have the name parameter, then they most likely won't have DEFAULTSORT. Bgwhite (talk) 22:52, 16 August 2011 (UTC)

Thanks for telling me. Sounds like a useful category to explore. 23:13, 16 August 2011 (UTC)

A barnstar for you!

The Original Barnstar
Awarded because it looks like you did a few hours of very boring looking work today. bodnotbod (talk) 13:38, 22 August 2011 (UTC)
Thank you very much! That was very kind of you. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 20:16, 22 August 2011 (UTC)

Thanks

for your help on the James Craig Anderson DYK nomination. With all my editing I've done here, I've never done one of those. I don't know but I suspect I could use additional help. Toddst1 (talk) 19:21, 23 August 2011 (UTC)

You're welcome. References aren't normally included in nominations, at least not as actual <ref>s, but maybe reviewers will appreciate the extra help in verifying the facts. I'd say that this would generally be done by mentioning which refs in the article are applicable. Also note that your hook is a little long, about 230 characters; the maximum allowed is 200. You may want to edit it down yourself; if not, a reviewer will probably do it for you. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 19:33, 23 August 2011 (UTC)
Thanks. I got it down to 196 characters (without markup). Toddst1 (talk) 19:43, 23 August 2011 (UTC)

A kitten for you!

Thank you for improving page for Christian Boltanski. :)

Best regards.

Jovan Nikolic (talk) 13:10, 26 August 2011 (UTC)

Thanks for the kitten! MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 19:58, 26 August 2011 (UTC)

For a good laugh

If you want a good laugh after your return from the heathen sacrifice to your burning Gods (stupid wife for not letting me go too). Check out Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Julien Modica. So far, my favorite quote is "Some very, very unkind things were said about you at my dinner table this evening. Bgwhite, Shape-up or Ship-out." Pfft, what's new from my regular routine of having dinner with my wife. Bgwhite (talk) 23:25, 2 September 2011 (UTC)

Drmies and Lady...

I'm seeing some very troubling patters by User:Northamerica1000. He has been here only a few months. This past Sept 2nd, he was admonished at ANI to stop de-listing GA articles. Since then, he has been on an AfD kick to keep every article he sees... I lost count at 50 AfDs. He clearly doesn't know what independent, reliable and significant means when it comes to a source. I've made mention of this on several AfDs and twice ([2] [3]) on his talk page. The last message was deleted one minute after I sent it. His actions at the AfDs of 6th KAZENERGY Eurasian Forum and Paul Polansky appears he still hasn't gotten the message. My recent favorite of the quote, "Implementation of most of the current oil and gas projects will bring Kazakhstan into the top five oil producers: Timur Kulibayev" as a reference that establishes nobility of a conference in Kasakhstan. I'm out of ideas. Anything you great and wise Admins can think of?

I've also left a message at User talk:ThatPeskyCommoner for them to stop doing AfDs and Speedies for bit. Saying "Non Notable?" or wanting a speedy delete on a country's provinces is not good. She has heeded my advice in the past, so hopefully this goes good or I'll need help here too. Bgwhite (talk) 07:29, 8 September 2011 (UTC)

So far, I've only looked at what you linked directly above and at the AfD comments in his 100 most recent edits. That being said, I don't think NA1000 is blindly voting keep on everything, even if he is taking a strong inclusionist tack. He is mostly arguing based on policy, and reasonable people disagree all the time at AfDs about how significant coverage is. He also has at least one recent merge vote. Just out of curiosity, why are we having this discussion on Mandarax's talk page? LadyofShalott 12:36, 8 September 2011 (UTC)
I've run into him once or twice, yes. That talk page blanking, that's irritating beyond measure. I'll have to look closer, but so far I'm less cheerful than the Lady. Drmies (talk) 16:32, 8 September 2011 (UTC)
I agree that the talk page blanking is highly irritating. It does not tend to indicate someone who is willing to work collegially. LadyofShalott 16:35, 8 September 2011 (UTC)
Lady, I brought the discussion here because I know you and Drmies have this page bookmarked. Drimies was involved in one of the AfDs that NA1000 is involved with. Besides, isn't this where the worshipers of the Mandarax hang out? The other issue with ThatPeskyCommoner is going to be just fine. She is wonderful to work with. Kudpung gave her a huge congratulations today on a comment she made. Bgwhite (talk) 20:32, 8 September 2011 (UTC)
Voila. Drmies (talk) 21:02, 8 September 2011 (UTC)
Huh? I don't see anything but a pretty, blank page :) Bgwhite (talk) 21:29, 8 September 2011 (UTC)
"Worshipers of the Mandarax"? Hehe, now that's a small club! MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 20:07, 9 September 2011 (UTC)

After the outbursts in Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Repellor vehicle, something has to be done about NA1000. Ooops, I forgot... All hail Mandarax. Bgwhite (talk) 07:32, 10 September 2011 (UTC)

Burn!

Mandarax, I totally forgot to note the dates on my calendar. Did you have a good time? Drmies (talk) 16:32, 8 September 2011 (UTC)

Thanks, yeah, there was the usual assortment of amazing art and bizarre situations and people. It was physically demanding for me, but I managed to survive. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 20:07, 9 September 2011 (UTC)
Glad you had fun. Are you well? LadyofShalott 20:53, 9 September 2011 (UTC)
Thanks. I'd say that I'm over the pneumonia, but as for "well", that remains to be seen.... Oh, and Drmies, hehe, nice category. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 00:57, 10 September 2011 (UTC)
It sure beats this one. Drmies (talk) 01:14, 10 September 2011 (UTC)
I'd almost forgotten I'd left that foreboding "remains to be seen". At the time I wrote that, I was in a period of nervous uncertainty. When I returned from Burning Man, I discovered that they'd gone over my X-rays again and found something suspicious. They ordered a CT scan. The time between hearing that and actually getting the results provided me ample opportunity to concoct all kinds of horrible scenarios. As I'd spent much of my time at Burning Man gasping for breath, it was easy for me to believe that there was something seriously wrong. Well, turns out it was nothing. Although I must say I still feel that my lung capacity isn't what it was before the pneumonia.

BTW, I probably should not have continued editing Wikipedia while all of that was going on. I was working mostly on biographical articles, and I kept coming across people in Category:Deaths from pneumonia. Every time I encountered it, it was quite disconcerting. And now I find it very odd that I did encounter it so often. There are currently just 898 articles in that category, while there are 927,674 in Category:WikiProject Biography articles. Weird. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 07:21, 29 September 2011 (UTC)

Glad you are felling better. My two worst bouts of pneumonia took a few months to get over. I remember having to drop all general ed classes for a quarter in college. I was so worn out as the pneumonia sapped all my strength. The other time I had trouble breathing for a few months, but I had to deal with wet, cool Georgia air. I'd thought for sure the clean, fresh air of Burning Man would have helped... absolutely, positively no elicit smoke wafting thru the air for you to inhale. You should think about getting a pneumonia shot. It is only for bacterial and not viral pneumonia. Oh, you forgot, Category:Deaths from lung cancer. Bgwhite (talk) 07:56, 29 September 2011 (UTC)
Yes, "sapped all my strength", that's what happened to me, and I still feel that way to an extent. It's reassuring to know that you had trouble breathing for months. Sorry, I guess that sounds bad, but it gives me hope that I'll eventually get back to normal (or at least whatever my "normal" is).

Burning Man takes place on a playa – a dry lakebed – and there is always alkaline playa dust in the air. That can't be good for your lungs. Playa dust storms, which can last for hours, create whiteout conditions where you can't see inches in front of you. Thankfully, this year was much better than most.

I don't recall encountering that category, even though it's got many more articles; maybe I just didn't notice. Before I got the good scan results, I thought about the likelihood of someone who never smoked getting lung cancer. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 09:17, 29 September 2011 (UTC)

I'm glad you're better and that the "something suspicious" turned out to be nothing! LadyofShalott 10:10, 29 September 2011 (UTC)
Thanks! Yeah, it was obviously quite a relief to get the good news. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 17:42, 29 September 2011 (UTC)

?

Mandarax, what did I do wrong with Template:Did you know nominations/John Hearne (lawyer)? It's not showing up on Template:Did you know nominations... Thanks, Drmies (talk) 20:36, 10 September 2011 (UTC)

You forgot to add {{Template:Did you know nominations/John Hearne (lawyer)}} to T:TDYK, which I've now done. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 22:10, 10 September 2011 (UTC)
Thank you. I knew there was something like that that I was missing, and I must have missed it in the instructions. I hope you're having a nice weekend, Mandarax. In a week or two, if all goes well, please visit us--you have automatic pool privileges. Drmies (talk) 00:30, 11 September 2011 (UTC)
I had a first today, and manually, since that Mr.Z thing doesn't seem to work for me. Drmies (talk) 02:24, 11 September 2011 (UTC)
Thanks for the invitation! And congratulations on another first! Hope you're having a good weekend too. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 20:43, 11 September 2011 (UTC)

John Hearne (lawyer)

Thanks, as usual; I note that very few editors jumped in to correct my usual typos and errors and infelicities. That can only mean that they weren't looking very closely! Dear Mandarax, I hope you are doing well. All the best to you! Drmies (talk) 00:06, 16 September 2011 (UTC)

You always greatly exaggerate your level of typos, errors, and whatnot. I take this as a sign of modesty. The truth is that I rarely find anything in any of your articles to change. Thanks for the good wishes. I'm doing okay, and I hope all is well with you. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 06:52, 16 September 2011 (UTC)
No, YOU are too kind. Let's have a hugfest! I was rewriting the lead of William March yesterday; it was an article I worked on early in my WP career, on an author I am particularly fond of. In the middle of saving, my netbook decided to reboot itself for some updates. Thanks Windows--*&^%$^&*^%. I should bring March up to GA status. If you ever have some time, and you want to help improve it, I would really appreciate it. Thanks again Mandarax, and see you later, Drmies (talk) 14:29, 16 September 2011 (UTC)
Ever since I lost a particularly long email due to a power outage years ago, I tend to save everything very frequently. (It was so disheartening that I don't think I ever recreated that email.) MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 18:01, 16 September 2011 (UTC)
Some people frown on sequential small edits, but it's for prevention of losses like you had that I tend to work that way. I've lost work when computers decided not to do what I wanted, and it sucks. LadyofShalott 15:17, 16 September 2011 (UTC)
My area seems to be particularly prone to power outages. (When I returned from Burning Man, I discovered that one had occurred. Fortunately, the outage happened after Breaking Bad had been successfully recorded.) Other reasons for sequential small edits include (but are not limited to) inattentiveness (I'll just save after correcting something without noticing other items), laziness (I have standard edit summaries for various edits that the browser supplies when I click in the box, and I don't want to have to deal with typing more in the summary than I have to), and a desire to avoid edit conflicts. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 18:01, 16 September 2011 (UTC)
I wrote up the man without whom I might not be a teacher today: Philip Beidler. Feel free to tag it as COI and NPOV, haha. I'm big fan, and he almost made me an Americanist. Does your library have his Alabama anthologies? I'd like to expand him for DYK, but not this weekend. Drmies (talk) 16:34, 16 September 2011 (UTC)
We apparently own The art of fiction in the heart of Dixie : an anthology of Alabama writers, but it looks like it's one of the things that has been boxed up for storage while we undergo a renovation and expansion program. There are several others that exist within the PINES system. LadyofShalott 17:36, 16 September 2011 (UTC)
There are three library systems that I regularly use. One has none of his work, one has two, and the other has seven, five of which are Vietnam/war-related, but none seem to have the Alabama anthologies. (Oooh, a clever and resourceful detective could pinpoint my location based on this information.) BTW, I dangerously added three replies in this edit, and managed to avoid a power outage, but did get an edit conflict. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 18:01, 16 September 2011 (UTC)
Triangulation based upon library holdings - I love it! LadyofShalott 18:13, 16 September 2011 (UTC)
Yes, all his books are at my University library. I say all because there are 20 book hits and 49 article hits. They have First books : the printed word and cultural formation in early Alabama, The art of fiction in the heart of Dixie : an anthology of Alabama writers and Many voices, many rooms : a new anthology of Alabama writers. Tell me what you need. Bgwhite (talk) 20:01, 16 September 2011 (UTC)

<--Oh, I have em all! And I have been re-reading Late Thoughts on an Old War: it is really, really worth it. Drmies (talk) 20:27, 16 September 2011 (UTC)

Hey Lady, I saw you mention PINES and saw you went to the University of Georgia. I lived in Athens (just off Milledge and Dearing) and just outside in Commerce (before it became the outlet mall capital of the world) for several years before I went to collage. Nothing better than the cheap ice cream cone at the Little Five Points Pharmacy. I heard that the tree that owned itself had died and the Charlie Williams restaurant is no more. Oh I miss Charlie Williams... 500 people packed into one room with folding tables and folding metal chairs. All you can eat crab, steak, quail, ribs, hushpuppies, catfish, oysters, etc. First time I ever tried raw oysters and the first time I ever got food poisoning. Are you still in Athens? Bgwhite (talk) 21:07, 16 September 2011 (UTC)
I am. The Charlie Williams restaurant has been gone for several years. The original Tree that Owns itself did die (in 1942, acc. to our article), but there is a Son of the Tree that Owns Itself in the same spot, grown from an acorn of the original one. Someone "knit-tagged" (I think that's what they call it) recently - there's a green, knit ribbon around it. The Hodgson's Pharmacy moved out of it's original location, but is practically next door in a newer builing now. Nice to know you're a former Athenian. :) LadyofShalott 19:14, 17 September 2011 (UTC)
Are the flags there flying at half-staff for the passing of R.E.M.? MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 19:36, 22 September 2011 (UTC)
I haven't heard a lot of commentary yet, but... I think so. LadyofShalott 19:55, 22 September 2011 (UTC)

listas

I see you playing with Listas...

I've got names starting with Ro already to go with the bot, so no need spending time there. My next task is cleaning out weird ones starting with Ru. Bgwhite (talk) 19:21, 22 September 2011 (UTC)

Yeah, I guess I got nostalgic and decided to do a few. It's been a long time since I've done that. I'd forgotten how quickly it goes; everything else I do here, I plod along so slowly.... MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 19:31, 22 September 2011 (UTC)
One thing about listas, you see actual evidence of work getting done by seeing the number left todo go down. That can be satisfying. However, doing umpteen Arab names or Latin footballers in a row is another matter. Bgwhite (talk) 19:48, 22 September 2011 (UTC)
Seeing the number go down... that's one thing I like about working from CAT:U... until someone runs a bot and it jumps way up again. :) LadyofShalott 20:01, 22 September 2011 (UTC)

Mirabeu

My dearest friend Mandarax, once again I need your help (calm down, it is not about representatives). Can you please go here and here see what I told to those guys and tell me if you can help?

Ahh, by the way can you buy me a beer when you return?Sincerely, your friend.--193.92.219.45 (talk) 20:26, 24 September 2011 (UTC)

Well, I know no German, so I'm no help there. I guess you're saying you're 77.49.177.237 and are referring to this edit (which was August 30, 2011 and not September 4 as you mentioned on the reverter's talk page). That user may be familiar only with the fictional Illuminati. If the subject was truly a member of the Bavarian Illuminati as required by Category:Illuminati members, you should be able to find an English reference to that effect; if so, be sure to include that in your edit summary if you decide to restore the category to the page. Good luck. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 21:11, 24 September 2011 (UTC)

East-space Asian

In this Font diff you added a space after the hyphen, described as “Typo patrol”. Just letting you know in case it was an automated bug or something; anyhow I fixed it. Vadmium (talk) 04:53, 27 September 2011 (UTC).

Thanks. It was due to a bug in one of AWB's typo-fixing rules. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 06:23, 27 September 2011 (UTC)

Thank you

Hi Mandarax. Just saying thanks for all your detailed editing at the DYK nom page of Donzelot. I really appreciate your corrections. In a collaborative editing environment your actions are encouraging to other editors and affirm the principles of this project. Thank you for that. Dr.K. λogosπraxis 21:44, 27 September 2011 (UTC)

You're welcome. And thank you very much for your nice note. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 22:15, 27 September 2011 (UTC)

Request for help with bio page for Charles Recher

Hi Mandarax!

I contacted you ages ago about my intention to edit the bio page for Charles Recher, South Florida video and installation artist, but it's taken me all this time to clear away all the other stuff that was on my plate before I could focus on that task!

When you get a chance, please take a look: [[4]] and see my specific questions on my talk page and let me know what I need to change or suggestions for what to add or revise in order to have at least some of those warning labels on top of his bio page removed.

Thanks for any advice you can give.

"Nmandowa (talk) 23:51, 2 October 2011 (UTC)"

I see you put a {{help me}} on your talk page. I don't have time to properly answer your questions right now, but I'm sure someone will come along and do so. Good luck, and thanks for your contributions. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 06:44, 3 October 2011 (UTC)

Template edit

Hi there. I recently reverted this edit to an infobox in an article; the added "captain" is actually the vice-captain of the team. As you can see the editor has crudely tried to insert information for which there is no slot on the template. I reverted the edit and told the user on his talkpage that I would look into getting the national football team template amended to include a vice-captain slot. I would be bold and make the changes myself, but having no experience in editing templates I don't want to seriously mess things up by screwing up a heavily-used template. A little bird told me you were the go-to guy for these sort of problems... Thanks basalisk (talk) 14:59, 7 October 2011 (UTC)

Hehe, I bet I can guess who that "little bird" is. I actually have very little experience with templates, and looking at all of the "{{{}}}"s gives me a headache. I could probably do it if I persevered, but I took what I figured to be a better option: I made the request at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Football#Infobox assistance. Good luck. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 20:05, 7 October 2011 (UTC)

DYK Question

I saw this change you made and was wondering if having the DYKnom and DYKmake templates is bad, and if so, what I can do to avoid that happening when I fill out the DYK form. I put my name and the other author's name as author and author2 when I filled out the subst template. Thanks. --Odie5533 (talk) 22:01, 10 October 2011 (UTC)

Each person should get only one credit per article nominated, and if you have both a DYKnom and a DYKmake, the bot will give you two credits. So if you're one of the article creators/expanders, you should not have a DYKnom. As for how to avoid it, I'm afraid I don't know. If you didn't do anything unusual, there may be a bug in the nomination creation script. I just tried a few variations and, even specifically trying to reproduce the situation, I was not able to do so. Anyways, if it does happen, you can just remove it yourself if you notice it, or I or someone else will usually spot it and take care of it. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 22:41, 10 October 2011 (UTC)
In case you are interested, I figured out the problem. When I made that DYK I entered |author=odie5533, with a lowercase 'o'. If I enter it exactly as my username is, |author=Odie5533, it does not credit me twice. The template will even capitalize the lowercase for you but will then credit you twice. --Odie5533 (talk) 04:27, 11 October 2011 (UTC)
Ah, that's something I didn't try. Thanks for letting me know. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 05:19, 11 October 2011 (UTC)

Do you remember me?

Hello, Mandarax! I am the guy from the House of Representatives. Well, you must know that I registered but thid does not mean that I will never again ask your help!

--The Theosophist (talk) 05:53, 11 October 2011 (UTC)

I'm glad to see that you registered. You seem pretty proficient at editing, so I doubt you'll need much help. Welcome as a registered user! MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 07:33, 11 October 2011 (UTC)

Thanks! Do you like my userpage?--The Theosophist (talk) 17:38, 11 October 2011 (UTC)

A barnstar for you!

The Original Barnstar
For your efforts at Wikipedia:Contribution Team/Backlogs/Participants and progress. Cloudbound (talk) 21:14, 15 October 2011 (UTC)
Thank you very much for the barnstar! MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 18:44, 17 October 2011 (UTC)

listas.....

Would you do the honors of doing the last few listas and becoming the first person to ever see the category empty. Bgwhite (talk) 21:58, 18 October 2011 (UTC)

That's very kind of you, but you deserve the honor. You've done such spectacular work on it, not just in the incredible volume, but also in the way you've done it so carefully and conscientiously. I've been watching recently, wondering exactly when you'd empty the category. Go for it! MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 23:27, 18 October 2011 (UTC)
Thank you for the barnstar and the very high praise. But, it was a team effort... you, JimCubb, GBfan, and Magdolitis for the bot code and help getting that running. Having toolserver down for a bit sure helped because new biographies are not currently being added to the category. Now the hard part, what to do next? Bgwhite (talk) 18:15, 19 October 2011 (UTC)
Thanks for modestly including the others and myself in recognition of the team effort. As for what's next.... Well, taking the cue from the Sisyphean barnstar which I awarded to you, remember that no matter how many times anybody rolls a boulder up the Wikipedia hill, it's just gonna roll right back down; there's always so much that needs doing around here, and I'm sure you'll find your next "calling". Besides, the alternative is having to spend more time with your wife! MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 18:40, 19 October 2011 (UTC)
P.S. In recognition of accomplishing your difficult goal, you're the only user to ever receive more than one barnstar from me, and that was the first one I awarded which was not a Mandarax Barnstar of Excellence (since you already had one of those). MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 18:51, 19 October 2011 (UTC)
Noooooooooo You have to go and ruin the feeling of accomplishment by mentioning my wife. This category has 720,000 entries that need to be fixed. I'll go thru them manually and spend years doing it. Anything but talk to the wife.
I see you doing typopatrol and a little of everything. Anything special you are doing? When toolserver gets running again, I'll continue doing the new BLPs for listas, persondata, defaultsort, etc. I've got my eye on some other categories to clear. Bgwhite (talk) 23:30, 19 October 2011 (UTC)
Hehe, sorry.

Yes, clearing that category would take years. I must admit that I've never even filled in the Persondata description parameter for any of the articles I've written, let alone any others.

Oh, one potential project just occurred to me.... Something I did earlier in my WikiCareer was adding and/or fixing many, many thousands of "Mc" sort keys using the then-current guideline ("Mac"...); since that's no longer the way it's done, I could go and change all of those! And then when the guideline changes back, I could change 'em again. (And, no, I'm not really gonna do this.)

So, the answer to your question is no, I don't have any special projects going on here. My only AWB edits these days are typo fixing, and otherwise, as you noted, I do a little of this and little of that. I don't even do much vandalism-fighting other than from my watchlist, because ever since I upgraded to a newer version of Firefox, Lupin's anti-vandal tool no longer works. (Oh, I just tried it in Explorer, and it works there, but Twinkle doesn't, and I don't want to warn people manually. I believe Twinkle's supposed to work on a newer version of IE, but I don't want to deal with that.) But then, I wasn't doing much anti-vandalism work lately anyways, as most of the time I went to revert vandalism, I discovered that someone else had already taken care of it, which made me realize that that was one area which others were covering and my efforts were more or less superfluous. (Of course, I still find hours-old obvious vandalism from my watchlist, so how did all of those vandalism-fighters miss those?) If I could just write some of the articles on my wishlist, that's all I would really like to be doing, but the only things I seem capable of writing these days are long, rambling answers on my talk page. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 07:20, 20 October 2011 (UTC)

Sorry it took a bit to respond. I had to take a nap after reading 1/2 of your response in order to regain my strength. On Lupin's tool, have you tried IE Tab V2 for firefox before? It allows you to view pages with IE in a firefox tab. It has worked seamlessly for me in the past. Bgwhite (talk) 08:28, 20 October 2011 (UTC)
Thanks! I'd never heard of that before. If I decide to try doing some anti-vandalism work again, I'll check it out. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 17:53, 20 October 2011 (UTC)

Please forgive me

Please forgive me for the egregious mistake on my part. As a follower of Mandarax, it is horrendous that I would misspell your name. Bgwhite (talk) 08:13, 24 October 2011 (UTC)

Well, okay, but don't let it happen again! MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 08:24, 24 October 2011 (UTC)

New Page Patrol survey

New page patrol – Survey Invitation

Hello Mandarax/Archive 9! The WMF is currently developing new tools to make new page patrolling much easier. Whether you have patrolled many pages or only a few, we now need to know about your experience. The survey takes only 6 minutes, and the information you provide will not be shared with third parties other than to assist us in analyzing the results of the survey; the WMF will not use the information to identify you.

  • If this invitation also appears on other accounts you may have, please complete the survey once only.
  • If this has been sent to you in error and you have never patrolled new pages, please ignore it.

Please click HERE to take part.
Many thanks in advance for providing this essential feedback.

You are receiving this invitation because you have patrolled new pages. For more information, please see NPP Survey

Excuse me while I cry

350 new biographies without listas showed up today. I'll be the one in a fetal position sobbing. Bgwhite (talk) 07:33, 27 October 2011 (UTC)

D'oh! Well, you were wondering "what to do next?" after clearing out the category....

At least remember that, unlike Sisyphus, you were actually able to succeed in rolling that boulder all the way to the top of the hill before it started rolling back down. (BTW, years ago I considered changing my name to "Sisyphus" to reflect the nature of WikiEditing, but it was already taken.[1]) MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 08:25, 27 October 2011 (UTC)


  1. ^ Ironically by someone who's made only two edits.

BWV 5

Thanks for looking at Bach's cantata. Which movement # do you miss, 7? It's in "kept the first and last ...". How should I word it to be clear? --Gerda Arendt (talk) 08:14, 27 October 2011 (UTC)

Unless I'm missing something, it seems to me that the last sentence of that section which begins "In movement..." is missing a word; it seems as though it should be something like "In that movement..." or "In movement 7..." But if it's correct as is, please just ignore my comments. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 08:39, 27 October 2011 (UTC)
You are right! Fixed, --Gerda Arendt (talk) 08:50, 27 October 2011 (UTC)

What?

You don't like the chair? Drmies (talk) 19:45, 27 October 2011 (UTC)

  • Well, you seem to be the one who dislikes the chair, as I left it but you removed it. I noticed shortly after I made my UAA report that it wasn't entirely accurate, as they didn't actually add the link to their site, but merely corrected an existing one. You were too fast and blocked 'em before I could amend my report. Of course, it didn't really matter, as the connection between their username and the company was obvious in any case. That may have been the first time you've acted on one of my noticeboard reports.

    BTW, have you noticed that the Wiki-signal-to-noise-ratio seems to have gone up lately? (If you haven't, it's possible that the phenomenon is localized to the arty articles I patrol.) I issue just about as many welcomes as warnings these days. Good to hear from you. It's been a while and I've been meaning to drop by and say "hi". MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 20:10, 27 October 2011 (UTC)

  • That looks to be one uncomfortable chair... I'll get it for my mother-in-law for Christmas. Egads, the Wiki-signal-to-noise-ratio has gone sky high the past week. The number of PRODs, AfDs and new articles I've processed have gone thru the roof. I wonder if people are moving indoors with colder weather. Bgwhite (talk) 20:45, 27 October 2011 (UTC)
  • Hehe, your wife and her family sound lovely. Well, we're making two very different observations, and I think you meant to say that you've experienced the SNR plummeting rather than skyrocketing. What I've seen is a larger percentage of users, especially IPs, contributing constructively. This does seem unusual for this time of year, as vandalism tends to wane only during the summer and sometimes around holidays. But, again, that may be due to the type of articles I patrol, which obviously attract a more refined and intelligent crowd. (If I were the type to use emoticons, I'd probably use one here.) Oh, BTW, thanks for the kind words on the Dr's talk page. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 21:59, 27 October 2011 (UTC)

A barnstar for you!

The Copyeditor's Barnstar
You're awesome in many ways. Thank you for improving James Kidd (prospector). Means a lot to have someone pay attention to the little details. PanydThe muffin is not subtle 12:33, 28 October 2011 (UTC)

Thank you very much for the barnstar and the kind words! It's much appreciated. And you're very welcome for the edits to your article. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 18:09, 28 October 2011 (UTC)

Neutron Capture

Thanks for help. Speparated written wrong. I`m german changed whole arcticle adding a lot. Some hard mistakes before like splitting of 3He and 10B->Li+? at capture side would be new noble price worth if possible new splittable(fissionable) isotopes and lead as absorber not posibble because scattering changed by another added June 2010 without name long time not corrected nonsense. Nice 10B/11B cross capture chart added much new absorbers from control rod list and 2 new by myself reconfirming his list no nonsense. Now also news for experts. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 87.165.142.113 (talk) 15:42, 28 October 2011 (UTC)

You're welcome, but of course all I did was correct the spelling of one word. Thanks for editing the article with your expert knowledge, but the article could definitely use some copyediting from someone who is both knowledgeable in the subject and very fluent in English, and I certainly am not qualified, since I don't understand any of it. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 17:55, 28 October 2011 (UTC)
Kay's comments

Just looked at History View and article. Belg? changed a litle text to him also explaining about copy right on new design/material must left inside anyway and on new material behavior tests wanted to be asked for for confirmation other source confirming control rod absorber list before to be seen on nature istopes. I see nearly all before looking inside or after recheck cobalt possible adding to only nearly stable position added as word in text also. Same between isotope rows.

At the end saying short also 0 deaths and cancer Fukushima from radiation there. German Wikipedia much more datas and tables also exact comparision table to chornobyl addable englisch sides and information second check workers without clothes alls below values by law for workers before 2 up to 250mSV same +1% cancer risk public values lower 1 died by tsunami 1 by collapsing some injured. About 2% rad. "Inventar" going out about 1/10 chornobyl without full explosion MARK containment just letting overpressure out and no graphite burning. Outlets in sea going "thin?" and in air going to land inside are more problem like after Bikini Atoll H-Bomb fisk eatable not lemons. Good source also "Spektrum Wissenschaften" (Science America) Report on August and Arvea helped a lot also report from Areva at areva sides available. I added before on Fukushima side deleted but I did`t work out just informing but you can do better ? Can someone translate tables from german Wikipedia also subarticles on radiation or temperature/water level inside core actual.

28 000 died by quake 9 14m tsunami english 15m 230 000 on quake 7 Haiti but just door wrong already changed >30m to be asked for also in Wikipedia easy possible closing well and right word "snorkeling". German plants instead 2 4+2-4"diversitär"seperated generators fully bunkerd also tanks own energy reactor mode and at H2 99.9% filtered away aim was security for highest quake 100 000years high water 10 000years so also in Japan secure also EPR with H2 converter... All plants hold quake other higher positions so no real reason for stopping also quake >>10 and tsunami >>10m no danger from THOR stays closed also opend no danger and tsunami cooled air enough for HTR no electricity needed. Can you help and others else much work for german there ?

I`m german so correction help wanted Mandray before very very very less mistakes in article changing to "separated". I see myself also later. Asking for checking content again before wrong also new added wanted.

Absorbers list was before there extended by absorber list from neutron rods confirming myself right and 2 new by myself added Mo and Yb with my email address for reference if another form needed so tell how but don`t delete because new from myself not common knowlegde before so add anyway my name for my rights Kay Uwe Böhm kayuweboehm/at)yahoo.de.

Syrtiss runs behind making problems only from netrion reflector part after delteing my reference by emailadress tried to let tantalum in- side without reference deleted by myself now telling for another reference for tantalum as reflector. Article has to be reworked also showing difference between true reflectors and just reflector if thick normally moderator like graphite and beryll and not only wolfram(tungsten) carbide also W alone works with W classical reflector material but more absorbing than tantal.

Mistake before was from one person without name June 2010 adding lead as absorber deleted right by another one because scattering(spalling) and fission in capture article on absorbing neutrons with 3He->T and 10B->Li+? nonsense not fision material ! Looks like Samarium added from Samarium article but just 149Sm coming less from fission compared to 144Sm nearly all of row absorbing at all not less so rector poison but not like in Sm article to be considered on construction better on driving because nothing posibble against but xenon to be considerd also reactor poison slowing down.

Syrthiss also deleted all at pebble bed reactor also link to new areva design and own Thor desigbn with email reference nether delteted nobody saying any- thinmg against in Ver high temperature reactor article adding also THOR design with new 11BN borone nitride iostope 11B abot same moderation like graphite and only posible reference myself because found just abot 6 months ago working longer time on burning protection with SiC introduced fiorst by myself before only against outgoings also BeO as layer or pebble but looks best 11BN breakthrough material for HTR NOT BURNABLE, melting point 2967° german source, stable and dense up to 2800° in inert gas SiC MP 2300°, not going radioactive, nearly diamond hard, not soluble in water... also only deleted form Neutron Moderator list by Syrthiss instead add contributions. I don´t have anything against recheck of material behavior after tested in wolrd hugest long time test facility nature seeing all absorbers before.

Can you add there again ? moderation also BeO/N2/O2/(H/D/T)2 as gas pressurized and important He at danger away without danger. Before CH4 changing to 14CT4 explosive.

Neutron capture fully reworked adding a lot also capture chart 10B/11B maybe to much at the end but at the end with special use hints for EPR HfC 3890° layer & stoppsand.

Kay — Preceding unsigned comment added by 87.165.132.219 (talk) 15:30, 29 October 2011 (UTC)

Fukushima German Wikipedia Datas for adding in english article on fukushima from germany. http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuklearkatastrophe_von_Fukushima http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strahlungsbelastung_durch_die_Nuklearunf%C3%A4lle_von_Fukushima At the end not so much like in first desinformations with also drinking water canada poisoned. Governemt asked for 3.12m tsunami wall 5.7m build but if understanding asking for >30m because easy just closing (doors exchanged already) at oldest plant of Tepco but oldest germany secured.

THOR <30cm Mo-steal+<1m concrete+<30cm W steal+11BN heat leading connected outside with rips like computer cooler and black(better heat away) working passive 2 times active NaK77 cooling is added. He out water/air inout no problem with 11BN+He+stoppsand inside also water- and fireproof pebbles. FULL ZERO RISK all cases ! Means also A380, tank shooting 50 shoot 3 munitions, quakes, terrorist, tsunmai, expert demons... in combination. Stoppand, turnable stopp rods, middle rods accelerated by spring < 1s by melting switches inside passive or active by temperature/shock sensors and stopping bottom. Also Odin/Idun reach Zero Risk securer EPR better efficiency on lower cost using NaK77 and He-moderator also passive cooled stopping corium catching at 3 steps securer EPR driving&stopping/ corium catching and stopping with cooling after wished break/ less spreading NaK77 securer water !

New more than 2 died also not from radiation. quake injuries 5. 1 - 2 legs broken 2 missed first found 3 days later in in turbine house death. (H2) explosion block 1 4 less injuries one more that day 12 march also heart attack

24 march 3 wokers ignored alarm by dosimeters dosis 170-180mSV by law maximum 250mSV. englisch wikipedia burned feets 2 workers 2-3Sv nut second check nothing from "Nationale Institut für Radiologische Wissenschaften" Japan

Some didn`t take iod but cancer not sure and easy treatable with high success ironically with radioactive iod. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 87.165.132.219 (talk) 18:24, 29 October 2011 (UTC)

As I said above, I don't understand any of this. And I have absolutely no interest in the subject. Please take your concerns to the article's talk page or perhaps to Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Physics. Good luck. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 18:38, 29 October 2011 (UTC)
Wow, that's well above my pay grade also. Drmies (talk) 20:34, 1 November 2011 (UTC)

November 2011

Welcome and thank you for experimenting with Wikipedia. Your test on the page User talk:Drmies worked, and it has been reverted or removed. If you would like to experiment further, please use the sandbox instead. Please take a look at the welcome page to learn more about contributing to this encyclopedia. Thank you. Hehehe. Drmies (talk) 20:32, 1 November 2011 (UTC)

Sorry about that. Does that ever happen to you? I clicked on a "diff" on my watchlist, then the Javascript kicked in and changed some stuff on the page, shifting it, causing my click to click on a "rollback" link for your talk page instead of what I actually clicked on. Then I could only watch in horror as my rollback got executed.

I'm curious... are there single-click Admin tools for actions such as block or delete which could be similarly clicked accidentally? And yes, "in horror" is a bit over-dramatic. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 20:47, 1 November 2011 (UTC)

That shifting happens to me all the time, and I'll tell you, since I got the tools I'm making sure to keep my fingers off the keyboard. I think, though, that all those admin buttons require some extra input; it's not like rollback, which is a really dangerous tool. BTW, on the top of all my pages it still says "Could not parse twinkleoptions.js", and I don't know what it means. Hey Mandarax, not to worry: if you roll me back, I probably did something wrong to begin with, haha. Drmies (talk) 02:27, 3 November 2011 (UTC)
I figure some day I'll accidentally rollback something particularly heinous and not notice what happened, then find myself with my rollback privilege revoked. I try to be careful, but the accidentally shifted rollback click has happened once or twice before. (Hey, after 190 thousand edits, nobody's perfect!) I've only seen the "Could not parse twinkleoptions.js" message a few times, but I do have a major problem with Twinkle: a large percentage of the time, the Twinkle tabs and whatnot don't show up at all. I have to reload the page to get 'em. Very annoying. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 07:42, 3 November 2011 (UTC)
Just when I think my watchlist page has stabilized to its normal state and it's safe to click, some notifications (special invitations, Arbitration Committee elections, etc.) appear at the top and shift the page again. I haven't accidentally rolled back any more pages, but I've gotten in the habit of pressing "Esc" to stop everything before I click, just to be safe. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 04:02, 13 November 2011 (UTC)

thanks for getting back to me

about the Malvina Hoffman's date of birth. Like you, I spend too much energy chasing down this sort of stupid vandalism. Only in this case, and thanks for doing the leg work, well, who knows? When I saw the change I just went to the first reputable site I could find and grabbed the date. When I get home I'll go searching through my library, where most of my edits come from, and probably do, unless you already did, a two birth year thing. So I started that article? well good for me. Now if I can finish it . ...... Einar aka Carptrash (talk) 00:28, 3 November 2011 (UTC)

and as a nod to you, added another artist to Category:Artists from Colorado, Allen Tupper True, an article that i want to add some pictures of murals to, but I hate all the copyright stuff. Carptrash (talk) 00:28, 3 November 2011 (UTC)
The first reliable site I checked happened to agree with the IP, or I'm sure I wouldn't have bothered checking any further. Congratulations on creating so many articles that you don't even remember which ones you've started! I just checked, and it looks like you're at 190 so far.

Yeah, copyright issues can be annoying. That's why I like dealing with artists who died over 70 years ago. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 06:53, 3 November 2011 (UTC)

I found a magazine today, in my library's Dixon Studio Tour book sale with the cover of a Batman figure in the pose of David (Bernini) and would love to add that to that article, but .... stealing from someone who stole from someone else is still stealing. Or something. Carptrash (talk) 00:01, 6 November 2011 (UTC)

Hehe. I may steal that line and use it sometime. I love artist studio tours. I'm fortunate to live in the vicinity of many cities and neighborhoods which have them, and I go whenever possible. BTW, I just had an instance where I reverted an IP who changed a date without source or explanation, and it turns out that sources give conflicting dates. Déjà vu?

I've noticed your interest in American sculpture, and I'd like to point out that, although I've only written one article on a sculptor, Claire Falkenstein was one of my favorite articles. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 00:26, 6 November 2011 (UTC)

Je t'accuse--of being an artistist

Dear Mandarax, poets are artists too, you know. I understand you look down on those verbalists, but there is an art to it, not just a craft. Ha! Drmies (talk) 02:09, 3 November 2011 (UTC)

Yeah, yeah. Feel free to change it back. Oh, I like your word "artistist "; you, sir, are a word artist. BTW, I always mix up Upton Sinclair and Sinclair Lewis. I wonder if she had the same problem.... MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 06:59, 3 November 2011 (UTC)

Left brain interpreter‎

Hi, I saw that you made a fix to Left brain interpreter‎. It has been sitting on DYK. Could I impose on you (ask a favor) to do a review so it moves forward? Thanks in advance. History2007 (talk) 19:54, 4 November 2011 (UTC)

Note that your review of Ashley Adams caused a lot of collateral damage, and then you copied the credits for that article to your nomination page. I fixed both pages. As for reviewing, I try to be very thorough, which takes me a long time, and I don't know if I'll have sufficient focused time and/or feel motivated to review your article. If I don't get around to it, I'm sure someone will. Patience is unfortunately one of the primary requirements for DYK. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 20:42, 4 November 2011 (UTC)
No worries. Thanks. History2007 (talk) 20:52, 4 November 2011 (UTC)

1958

See here Original press release from Robert Simon. Don't be a barbarian. 217.43.43.170 (talk) 22:48, 5 November 2011 (UTC)

I can't reach the source, so I can't comment on it. I did, however, find another one which supports the 1958 date. But – an important issue – in your original edit, why didn't you include an edit summary and/or add the source to the article? Especially since it contradicted the source which was already present in the article. I've spent countless hours looking up dates which users have changed without including any sources or explanations, and almost every time it turns out to be vandalism. And it's the worst kind of insidious vandalism, because, unlike more obvious forms of vandalism, if it's not taken care of right away, it could go years without getting corrected.

Anyways, thanks for your contributions, but please use an edit summary from now on. I'll change the vandalism warning to an edit summary notice. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 23:42, 5 November 2011 (UTC)

Benvenuto Cellini

Sorry about that. I had been going through correcting a lot of links to operas named after people, and I'd forgotten to switch off that regex. Glad it's finally been spotted. Colonies Chris (talk) 09:20, 7 November 2011 (UTC)

I mentioned it because I was surprised to find a nearly two year old mistake finally corrected and thought you might be interested. But I did kinda wonder how it happened, so thanks for explaining. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 09:46, 7 November 2011 (UTC)

Charles Louisson

Thx for fixing my nomination (forgot to add (pictured)). Schwede66 01:51, 8 November 2011 (UTC)

You're welcome. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 02:01, 8 November 2011 (UTC)

A kitten for you!

For your work on DYKs. :D Kitten loves you. :D

LauraHale (talk) 10:48, 13 November 2011 (UTC)

Thanks for the kitten, and for noticing my mostly gnomish DYK contributions. I've sure noticed your name attached to many articles; keep up the good work! MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 11:07, 13 November 2011 (UTC)

DYK Nomination of WikiConference India

Hi Mandarax,

I have done the review of WikiConference India DYK for 17 November. Since I have a COI, I do not want to give the all clear signal. May I request you to review and clear the DYK? AshLin (talk) 11:35, 15 November 2011 (UTC)

I reviewed it, but, sorry, I found some plagiarism problems. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 18:04, 15 November 2011 (UTC)
Thanks, my bad. I will undo it. AshLin (talk) 18:06, 15 November 2011 (UTC)
Plagiarism cases undone. Thanks for pointing out. Any thing more to be done, let me know. AshLin (talk) 18:59, 15 November 2011 (UTC)
I've replied there. Sorry. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 19:56, 15 November 2011 (UTC)
Thank you, that was a real learning experience from me. Since I personally do not write articles in this manner, I was unaware of how difficult it is to detect plagiarism, and rectify it. Obviously, you have developed a very fine eye. I am most grateful to you for acceding to my request for review and also at the outcome. AshLin (talk) 02:42, 16 November 2011 (UTC)
Thank you very much for your note. You're very gracious, after things didn't turn out as you'd expected. I don't know if I particularly have "a very fine eye" for spotting plagiarism. I do try to be very thorough and to my knowledge I've never let any plagiarism through. But I've seen what happens to people who do okay an article in which problems are later found, and that's why I rarely do reviews any more. I certainly don't blame you for initially missing it, as it's very easy to do. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 03:33, 16 November 2011 (UTC)
Hello Mandarax! I hope you enjoy this cookie as an amicable greeting from a fellow Wikipedian, SwisterTwister talk 19:42, 16 November 2011 (UTC)
Thanks! Looks delicious. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 19:49, 16 November 2011 (UTC)

Template:Did you know nominations/Ho v. Taflove

Hi Mandarax--can we please get your advice on a citation template problem? Thank you so much! Drmies (talk) 03:11, 17 November 2011 (UTC)

Answered there.

BTW, as you may recall, I've mentioned to you several times that there was an article which I was having a particularly difficult time writing. Well, after about a (mostly unproductive) year and a half in my user space, I finally got it into shape and put in article space. Frederick Carl Frieseke is the longest article I've ever written, and the first of any size I've written in five months. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 08:02, 17 November 2011 (UTC)

That is very impressive, Mandarax. Maybe you should send it on to GA? I made a bluelink for Giverny in the lead--see what you think. Is there an overall source for the collections? And how did all those painters get all those women to model for them? Why can't we do this in English? Drmies (talk) 14:57, 17 November 2011 (UTC)
Thanks! And thanks for that Giverny link – an excellent idea. I found it surprising that there's no standalone article for the Giverny art colony, and the Giverny article certainly doesn't do it justice. I dunno about GA. There's probably still a lot of work to do on it, but I just got to the point where it was "good enough" and wanted to be done with it for a while. (And someone gave it a "C" on the talk page.)

Drmies, you look smashing today. Have you ever been to Laren? Both Frieseke and Colin Campbell Cooper spent time at the Laren art colony. (They also both studied at Académie Julian and won prizes at the Panama–Pacific International Exposition of 1915. They're basically the same person, except Frieseke painted women and Cooper painted buildings.)

I think you'll find that lots of women would be happy to do some nude modeling for you. You should ask some of your students. (You've got tenure; you can do whatever you want!) MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 20:16, 17 November 2011 (UTC)

Oh, I wrote the above after just checking out the link you added to the lead. Now that I looked at the diff, I see that you said what I said about it needing its own article. It might not be my next article, but I'll put it on my list. Note to anyone who may see this: I am in no way reserving this article. I would be thrilled if someone else wrote it! MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 20:29, 17 November 2011 (UTC)

Left brain interpreter

No problem at all. It gone done at last. Cheers. History2007 (talk) 21:52, 23 November 2011 (UTC)

Userboxen

(Well, actually just one...) Anyway, would you be willing to make a userbox for me? I want it to say, "This user contributes using hardware and software, but has no need to provide free advertising for the manufacturers thereof." If you'd rather not or there's a better person to ask, please point me in the right direction. Thanks, LadyofShalott 03:38, 24 November 2011 (UTC)

How about...
This user contributes using hardware and software, but has no need to provide free advertising for the manufacturers thereof.
Of course, feel free to change it in any way you'd like. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 10:42, 24 November 2011 (UTC)
Thanks, Mandarax!! LadyofShalott 02:14, 26 November 2011 (UTC)
You're welcome! MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 08:13, 26 November 2011 (UTC)

DYK for Frederick Carl Frieseke

—HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 16:02, 24 November 2011 (UTC)

As soon as I saw that quote a year and a half ago, I knew I wanted to use it in a DYK hook. I finally got the article written, and the DYK appears on... d'oh! Thanksgiving, which I imagine is the single day of the year that gets the least amount of American Wikitraffic. But we may never know, as the stats have been missing for a few days. Of course, what's really important is that the article for this major artist is no longer a tiny stub. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 05:18, 25 November 2011 (UTC)
Stats are back, and this got 17,500 hits. Not too bad.... MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 01:36, 26 November 2011 (UTC)
Wow! Congrats--well done, as usual. Your work at DYK as well as your contributions to it are much appreciated, and while there is plenty of criticism of the articles that make it through, none of it can apply to yours. Drmies (talk) 02:07, 26 November 2011 (UTC)
Thank you so much! You're too kind. And, I'd like to say a big "ditto".

Frankly, I find many articles on geographical subjects to be quite boring, but you made Hülfensberg very interesting. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 08:22, 26 November 2011 (UTC)

John Vanderpoel

Seeing his name again in your good new article, I wonder if John Vanderpoel isn't due a Wikipedia article, considering the large number of American artists who studied with him at the Art Institute of Chicago.--Wetman (talk) 18:36, 24 November 2011 (UTC)

Thanks for the "good new article" comment. Yes, Vanderpoel probably deserves an article. However, considering that I already have a long list of articles which I'd like to write, and each one may take me months or more, it could be a while.

I just looked him up. Georgia O'Keeffe said he was "one of the few real teachers I have known." And he won a bronze medal at the 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exposition, the same one at which Frieseke won a silver. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 20:26, 24 November 2011 (UTC)

Though I'm retired from Wiki, I'm also under the weather, completely useless this weekend, and just eavesdropped here. I've begun a page based on this good thread. Cheers and best wishes, JNW (talk) 19:36, 27 November 2011 (UTC)
Wow! Thanks! Although I'm sorry that you're not feeling well, it's great to hear from you.

I was considering starting the article. I had just "finished" the Frieseke article and I felt kind of inundated with information overload. I had too much that I wanted to add, until I finally decided that it was enough and I would just go with what I'd managed to do at that point. I thought it would be a refreshing change to write a small article for which I had relatively little source material, but I'm so glad you did it instead. I know you did a much better job than I would have. Thanks again, and I hope you're feeling better very soon. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 19:59, 27 November 2011 (UTC)

Nonsense on the 'better job' business. Great work on Frieseke. A little while back I started the piece on Louis Ritman, whose work I always thought could pass for Frieseke's....throw in Lawton Parker and to a lesser extent Richard E. Miller, and it gets hard to tell who painted what out of the Chicago/Giverny gang around 1910. When I was a kid we had an original edition of the Vanderpoel book--though my father studied with Bridgman, he spoke of Vanderpoel with no less admiration. Here it's just a doozy of a cold, with all the coughing and congestion and dizziness that one so enjoys. As always, good to see you're at it. Very best, JNW (talk) 20:26, 27 November 2011 (UTC)
Thanks. When I made a few very minor edits to the Ritman article while I was working on Frieseke, I didn't realize it was one of your creations. I'm not too familiar with those other artists. I had been a little confused by Frieseke because I had thought of him of strictly as an Impressionist, but his piece that I see most frequently, at a local museum, uses a color palette which is not compatible with the Impressionists. When I wrote the article I learned of his Post-Impressionist influences. I always like hearing stories about you and your father. I hope my work on the Vanderpoel article didn't clutter it up too much. In case you hadn't noticed, I nominated it for DYK. Even though you did all the work, I took partial credit for my additions and inline citations and whatnot. "Just" a cold can be miserable, so I hope it doesn't last long. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 20:47, 28 November 2011 (UTC)
I just added a link to the Google books version of The Human Figure, and saw that Bridgman wrote the foreword (which, unfortunately, is not included in the preview). Small world. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 21:29, 28 November 2011 (UTC)
Your work on Vanderpoel was great. Thanks for taking the time to match the inline cites, and for adding images. It would be nice to have one of his figure drawings in there, but I think at this point that would clutter the article. Here's another story: when I was starting my studies at the League in NY, I went with my father to visit Edmund Franklin Ward, who was by that time in his mid-eighties, but still painting large canvases. He was complimentary of the figure drawings I showed him, and we made a trade: he picked a 20 minute sketch of mine, and I came away with a figure he'd spent a week on in Bridgman's class, ca. 1911. Though he told the story in a self-effacing way, it was pretty clear that he was the next-best draftsman in that class, after Rockwell. The drawing has traces of corrections drawn off to the side, which would be by Bridgman's hand--my father's drawings from his class ca. 1940 have similar corrections, and this remains a common instructional method in studio classes. Bridgman was known to be less respectful of unsuccessful student productions, erasing days' worth of work with a swipe of his chamois. Another story: about ten years ago Deane G. Keller rescued a bunch of Bridgman drawings from being cut up (mutilated), to presumably be sold in sections, large and powerful charcoals done in front of his class on sheets of paper perhaps 4 by 8 feet or larger. Their scale and force eclipse the drawings we're familiar with from publications. Somewhere in my studio is a folder with the photographs of those drawings, very dynamic in comparison to the ones Robert Beverly Hale made for his classes. Anyway, I miss Deane like hell.
Yeah, this cold is dreadful, but I'm fortunate to be well looked after. JNW (talk) 22:48, 28 November 2011 (UTC)
I agree that a figure drawing would be the most appropriate image to accompany the article, but I just added the only image I could find at the time. Now that I found the online version of the book, there are plenty of drawings available, but I'm a little unsure of copyright issues. Although the book may have had its copyright renewed with a revised edition, I'm pretty sure that the "70 years after death" rule still applies to the drawings. But I'm not 100% certain, and would rather not have to deal with Fair use unless necessary. If you'd like to replace the work currently on the page with a drawing, please do so; viewers can always follow a link to see the painting on Commons. Thanks for the stories! MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 23:31, 28 November 2011 (UTC)
No need to replace the image of the painting, which was a minor revelation to me. Thank you, JNW (talk) 00:36, 29 November 2011 (UTC)
I was ready to nominate for DYK with the same fact you chose! But I would have suggested the other picture (or part of it), to show his work rather than the person, --Gerda Arendt (talk) 11:08, 29 November 2011 (UTC)

← All of my DYKs have been for artists, and this is the first time I've nominated one with a photo of the artist rather than a work by the artist. In this case, I felt it worked more naturally with the hook, and the photo is rather striking. However, I've reconsidered what I wrote above, and decided that, although there may be questions about the copyright status of the book's text in a revised edition, the figure drawings made by an artist who died over 70 years ago should be public domain. So I may (or may not!) upload some of those and write a new hook to be illustrated by one of them. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 20:38, 29 November 2011 (UTC)

Good idea! --Gerda Arendt (talk) 20:58, 29 November 2011 (UTC)
Though I've said in the past that any DYK with a nude will inevitably get more hits, I think the photo of the artist is good. However....if you do consider an alternative hook, one possibility could be along the lines of Did you know that the Vanderpoel Memorial Art Galleries in Chicago are named for John Vanderpoel, artist, teacher, and author of 'The Human Figure', a standard publication for art students? Then you put one of his charcoal figures alongside and voila, 7,500 hits. JNW (talk) 22:55, 29 November 2011 (UTC)
I had actually been thinking about your DYK advice when I checked the stats for the Frieseke hook, which featured a nude and got 17,500 hits.

I've added some drawings to the article, but if you think this clutters up the article too much, please do not hesitate to remove 'em. I wish I had a larger selection to choose from, but I'm limited by what Google provides in their preview of the book (unless, of course, I find some elsewhere). I generally prefer shorter hooks whenever possible (Gerda found that out!), so here's your suggestion which I've butchered trimmed, as well as the hook currently on the nomination page for comparison:

Photograph of artist John Vanderpoel
... that artist John Vanderpoel (pictured) was praised by Georgia O'Keeffe as "one of the few real teachers I have known"?
Drawing from John Vanderpoel's The Human Figure
... that artist John Vanderpoel's book The Human Figure (drawing from book pictured) is a standard reference for art students?
If you'd like your full suggestion used, or have any other changes, go for it, and then it can be put on the nomination page. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 01:13, 30 November 2011 (UTC)
Or, blatantly violating my length preference, but still within DYK limits:
Drawing from John Vanderpoel's The Human Figure
... that artist John Vanderpoel, whose book The Human Figure (drawing from book pictured) is a standard reference for art students, was praised by Georgia O'Keeffe as "one of the few real teachers I have known"? MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 01:30, 30 November 2011 (UTC)
Much as I enjoy trying out variations, I think your O'Keeffe idea is best. And the addition of a drawing gallery to the article is great. I'm so used to trafficking in color images that it's a nice change. This blog has a nice cache of images [5], though I don't know the legalities of lifting from there. Looking at them clarifies Vanderpoel's strengths, as well as his weaknesses (trails off cryptically)..... No issues re: clutter. Very best, JNW (talk) 01:36, 30 November 2011 (UTC)
I like the last suggestion, which runs a bit long, but covers all the bases. It's all good. JNW (talk) 01:37, 30 November 2011 (UTC)
Thanks for that link. My understanding is that it's fine to grab images of two dimensional public domain works from anywhere (as long you don't include anything such as a frame, which isn't applicable here). I got the nude which appears on the cover of the book and shows up much better at DYK-size than that first one. If there are other images that you'd like to see on Commons and possibly in the article, feel free to upload them or tell me which ones you want and I'll do it. As for the DYK, since no one's responded to the original hook, I think I'll just replace it instead of adding an ALT. I do like the photo, but as you say, you can never go wrong with a nude! MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 10:02, 30 November 2011 (UTC)
If I was you, I would leave the nom as it is/was (I like the short ones) and write an extra article on the drawings, showing both - photo and drawing, that way. It IS a strong photo. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 10:06, 30 November 2011 (UTC)
D'oh! I already did it as an expansion of the existing hook. I assume you meant "write an extra hook" rather than article? (While writing an article on the book/drawings might not be a bad idea, since it's been a standard art school text continuously in print for over a hundred years, I know I'm not going to do it.) As for the original hook, I'm getting too tired to do anything more tonight, so I'll see in the morning. Any thoughts, JNW? MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 10:28, 30 November 2011 (UTC)
I got nothing. Whichever hook you opt for is fine, and the cover image is by far the strongest of the drawings. JNW (talk) 13:44, 30 November 2011 (UTC)
I think I'll just leave it as it is now, with the drawing. Lots of hooks have photographs of people, but what makes hooks about artists unique is that we can show their work. (Of course, sometimes you get the best of both, and can use a self-portrait, as I did with Rinaldo Cuneo.) Oh, BTW, although that's the cover of recent editions, I found the full text of a Second Edition which includes the image inside the book, but uses a different cover image. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 22:25, 30 November 2011 (UTC)

A beer for you!

Thanks so much for your help with Hülfensberg--I've given Gerda Arendt one too so you can toast each other. You two have done a great job with the article and the DYK nom. Prosit, Drmies (talk) 20:51, 25 November 2011 (UTC)
You're welcome. I imagine Gerda's ability to read German (or perhaps just a more highly developed intuitive boldness) helped in fixing that sentence which puzzled me a bit. And thanks for the beer; it's a refreshing change after the wine I drank yesterday. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 22:09, 25 November 2011 (UTC)
Hmm, I don't know how that sentence happened. I'm glad I have some good editors. Check your mail, Mandarax, and get ready to redeem your Amazon credit. Drmies (talk) 02:06, 26 November 2011 (UTC)
I seem to be saying "thank you" to you a lot these days, and here I go again. Thank you! And, to be further repetitive, you're too kind! MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 08:27, 26 November 2011 (UTC)

DYK for Hülfensberg

Orlady (talk) 19:17, 26 November 2011 (UTC) 19:22, 26 November 2011 (UTC)

Looks stunning! It's on P:DE, of course. Na, dann Prost. See above. - Is there a way to fix the link to the #2 nom template? --Gerda Arendt (talk) 20:56, 26 November 2011 (UTC)
Prost! I fixed the link. (I had previously requested a fix which would take care of such situations automatically, but I don't know when or if that will be done.)

You should have gotten the nomination credit for this, as you're the one who posted the note about the non-bold link which alerted me to the problem, wrote the final hook, and added the catchier picture. All I did was create the nomination page.

Speaking of P:DE, how German should articles be for inclusion? Even though Frederick Carl Frieseke's father and grandparents were German, I assume that's not enough to justify putting that DYK on the page? MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 21:35, 26 November 2011 (UTC)

Nom credit: I am not counting too much. As for P:DE: that's also generous. You post yourself, and if you see a connection, that's fine, the more variety the better (all these ships and cantatas ...). Father and grandfather is borderline, but I would accept it and nobody else will care. - If you want to do me a favour review BWV 62, composed for the first Sunday of Advent, smile. (Then no more cantata until Christmas, Advent 2-4 were quiet in Leipzig, did you know?) --Gerda Arendt (talk) 21:58, 26 November 2011 (UTC)
I sure wish I was as prolific an article writer in the visual arts as you are in music. I'm going somewhere now, but when I get back I'll take a look (if it hasn't been reviewed already by then). Warning – the last time I reviewed a nomination at someone's request, I ended up almost killing it! But I certainly don't anticipate any problems with yours.

While we're asking favors.... The last article I wrote which was unquestionably German was Georg Muche (you added that DYK to the German portal). Do you have any idea how his name should be pronounced? Thanks, MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 22:45, 26 November 2011 (UTC)

Warning accepted. You find the cantata here (right, bottom, "Schon gewusst?"), first time that de is "faster" than en. - Muche, I have an idea but don't know how to explain. I have a hard time with the pronounciation transcriptios, see the history of Dieterich Buxtehude, back and forth many times until we realized that I was pronouncing German, the other Danish ... now we have both. Do you know how to pronounce Sache/mache? I guess similar, just different vowel, like the composer, probably short as in first syllable, but maybe long as in the third or in Kuchen, - that you never know. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 00:32, 27 November 2011 (UTC)
Thanks for your reply about Muche. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 17:56, 27 November 2011 (UTC)
Thanks for looking at the cantata and catching my typos! I restored the lead, though, because right from the start the reader should know what differentiates this cantata from the others. The reader will typically come from the template which just gives the BWV #, which is in no detectable order, not chronology, not topic. - The lead is a standard lead for the cantatas by now. (There are many older ones left.) The first line in History often says much more, for Weimar his employer, in Leipzig sometimes the location of the first performance. and it has a different link, in the lead to the occasion itself (Advent), in the other line to the occasion within Bach's cantatas (First Sunday of Advent). I responded in the nom about the hook(s), --Gerda Arendt (talk) 09:05, 27 November 2011 (UTC)
I suspected you might object to my snipping of the lead, which is why I asked you to check and make sure I didn't destroy the article. Thanks for changing it somewhat. I would still prefer that either the lead or the next sentence be changed to further reduce the duplication (they both say "in Leipzig for the First Sunday [in/of] Advent and first performed it on 3 December 1724"), but I'll leave that decision to you. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 10:39, 27 November 2011 (UTC)
Done. - Concern though: the lead should summarize the article. If the duplication is avoided, facts are no longer in the article. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 13:38, 27 November 2011 (UTC)

← Well, I didn't care about duplication of facts – I just found it disconcerting to have two sentences with identical phrases right next to each other. I've restored the info, but to the next paragraph. As for the hook, sorry about the problems with length, but you were warned about my reviewing! MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 17:56, 27 November 2011 (UTC)

Thank you! (Did you see that I had put a sentence in between. - Probably a good idea, to first describe the history and then the first performance.) Really no problem with the hook, I said fine and meant it, "yours" is catchier. - I see a problem in a lead hook about a car crash going to the Main page in half an hour and expressed that on WT:DYK, but probably too late, --Gerda Arendt (talk) 18:11, 27 November 2011 (UTC)

Straw poll over at DYK

Hey there, there is a straw poll going on at Wikipedia talk:Did you know about whether or not to enact technical changes to DYK tools. Your input would be much appreciated. P.s. I am sending you this message based on your heavy involvement in DYK, rather than at random. I hope this is ok. PanydThe muffin is not subtle 17:58, 28 November 2011 (UTC)

Sorry!

You keep having to move stuff I wrote below the line that says not to write below it! How embarrassing for me! I'll try to be more careful in future. Harrias talk 20:59, 29 November 2011 (UTC)

No problem. It's easy to do when a previous editor removes the blank line above the "Please do not write below this line" line so it no longer stands out so much. I only recently started checking for this, after one instance caused a problem with another nomination. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 21:16, 29 November 2011 (UTC)
Sorry! (The other editor, trying to avoid whitespace, will try to leave one blank line ...) --Gerda Arendt (talk) 21:23, 29 November 2011 (UTC)
It wasn't you in this case. And in any case, no need for a "sorry", as I've never seen it suggested before that users avoid removing that blank line. Plus, in some instances, people wrote below the line even when the blank line was still there. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 21:46, 29 November 2011 (UTC)



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