User talk:Pdebee/Archive 8 (2020)

Suppressing categories

Dear helpful colleagues,
I wanted to suppress all categories from being displayed at the bottom of my user page, so I coded |nocat=yes in all my userboxes; however, I just noticed that the category for WikiGnomes has now reappeared, even though I have had {{User wikipedia/WikiGnome|nocat=yes}} coded and working fine for quite some time. I tried with |nocat=true but it makes no difference. Any ideas why only this category has now reappeared, and how to suppress it, please?

On a related matter, is there a way of suppressing all categories from being displayed on my user page by using a single template or command somewhere on my user page, so I can remove all these |nocat=yes parameters from my userboxes?

Many thanks in advance for any assistance with this; it’s obviously not urgent.
With kind regards; Patrick. ツ Pdebee.^{(talk)(become old-fashioned!)} 21:56, 13 February 2020 (UTC)

You need to spell the parameter name right on both templates; So you see where you have

{{WikiGnome topicon|nocategory=yes}}

near the top of your user page? That template normally populates the category, too, but you need to spell it as

{{WikiGnome topicon|nocat=yes}}

if it's to prevent enrolling you in the category.

Which brings up an issue. You say you want to suppress display of the categories at the bottom of the page but what these |nocat=yes parameters are doing is preventing the categorization of the page entirely - that is, it prevents you from appearing in the list at Category:Wikipedian WikiGnomes. This pretty much defeats one of the main purposes of having these userboxes on your user page. The |nocat= parameter is provided to avoid miscategorizing pages that should not belong to the category, but nevertheless have some legitimate reason for using the template. But that's not the case that applies to your user page.

I'm sure it would be possible to find or create a user script that would defeat the display of category names on your user page when you are viewing it, but the whole desire needs some more explanation. — jmcgnh^{(talk) (contribs)} 02:38, 14 February 2020 (UTC)

Dear Jim,

Thank you for coming to my rescue, once again; you're a star! I applied the |nocat=yes parameter as you suggested, and it worked a treat! Thank you also for the explanation, which reminded me I must make the effort of trying to understand how categories really work... I don't mind not appearing in the list: users who visit my user page can see the mushroom and the userbox anyway, and anyone interested in my contributions can witness my gnome-ish behaviour, as well as my anti-vandalism and content improvement/creation activities. Besides, what matters is what we do to improve our encyclopedia. As for explaining the desire to suppress categories: it is simply because I have so many userboxes that I prefer not to have their categories cluttering the bottom of my user page, purely for aesthetical reasons. Remember: I am an exopedian after all...

Seriously though, Jim, I remain most grateful to you for your helpful assistance; thanks again!

With kind regards; Patrick. ツ Pdebee.^{(talk)(become old-fashioned!)} 10:14, 14 February 2020 (UTC)

PS: Time for me to go and do some real work now...

Removing Philipp Humm from Surrealism artists

[Message text transferred to Template talk:Surrealism (14:19, 20 February 2020 (UTC))].

Request for your occasional participation.

[Message text transferred to my Places in Finland project talk page. Patrick. ツ Pdebee.^{(talk)(become old-fashioned!)} 13:30, 21 February 2020 (UTC)]

Hello! Can you copy-edit an article for me?

Hi Pdebee. I remembered you from the interactions we had for the Begotten article copyedit and I was wondering if you would like to help me out on another article that I've been working on.

The article, in question, is Roar. I have been working on this article for a long time and I wanted to attempt to bring it to Featured Article status. It has been copyedited two times, but I had made significant changes to the article since then. I'm thinking that it needs one more copyedit to fix syntax, and or misspellings, before I go ahead and submit it. So, would you do me the honor??

Yours truly, -NowIsntItTime^{(chats)(doings)} 19:19, 21 February 2020 (UTC)

Dear NowIsntItTime,

Thank you for inviting me to contribute to your article; I'll be very pleased to assist. If it's OK with you, I'd like to make a start tomorrow, as I have a few things to do in real life today, and also a few tasks to work on here, at the Wiki. You may remember that I always leave an edit summary, often with a link to either the MOS or some other guideline; therefore, you'll always be able to follow the rationale of my editorial changes. I'll set up the {{in use}} & {{under construction}} templates before I start copy editing tomorrow. Thank you again for asking me to participate; I am looking forward to it.

With kind regards for now; Patrick. ツ Pdebee.^{(talk)(become old-fashioned!)} 13:55, 22 February 2020 (UTC)

Thank you very much Patrick! Sounds like a plan! -NowIsntItTime^{(chats)(doings)} 23:53, 22 February 2020 (UTC)

Wikipedia:The Great Britain/Ireland Destubathon

Hi, interested in contributing some Wales articles for this?♦ Dr. Blofeld 16:20, 25 February 2020 (UTC)

A barnstar for you!

	The Copyeditor's Barnstar
	Thank you so much not only for copy-editing Roar, but also for helping me fix up the article. Your work has not gone unnoticed! NowIsntItTime(chats)(doings) 20:03, 26 February 2020 (UTC)

Thank you very much for your kind words, NowIsntItTime! It's been fun and let's repeat it soon.
Good luck and very best wishes with the next steps.

With kind regards for now; Patrick. ツ Pdebee.^{(talk)(become old-fashioned!)} 20:20, 26 February 2020 (UTC)

Sorry for bothering you, but...

New Page Patrol needs experienced volunteers

• New Page Patrol is currently struggling to keep up with the influx of new articles. We could use a few extra hands on deck if you think you can help.
• Reviewing/patrolling a page doesn't take much time but it requires a good understanding of Wikipedia policies and guidelines; Wikipedia needs experienced users to perform this task and there are precious few with the appropriate skills. Even a couple reviews a day can make a huge difference.
• If you would like to join the project and help out, please see the granting conditions and review our instructions page. You can apply for the user-right HERE. — Insertcleverphrasehere ^{(or here)}_{(click me!)} 20:39, 1 March 2020 (UTC)

Precious anniversary

Precious

Four years!

--Gerda Arendt (talk) 09:04, 6 March 2020 (UTC)

Thank you once again, dear Gerda!

Guideline(s) on 'Awards' section?

Dear helpful fellow editors,
I've been searching for: 1) the recommended placement, and 2) formatting, of the Awards section to include in articles on authors and academics, for example. I looked in MOS:LAYOUT for any indication on where to place such a section but no joy there, and I couldn't find a guideline for the recommended formatting anywhere either (there doesn't seem to be a MOS:AWARDS shortcut). So, I found an example in the article on Hilary Mantel (who has received quite a few), although the article on Ernest Hemingway is devoid of such a section altogether, which seems strange to me, as it is a featured article.
So, I will adopt the same format as shown for Mantel, but would appreciate any helpful pointers to such guidelines if they exist. Very many thanks in advance.
With kind regards; Patrick. ツ Pdebee.^{(talk)(become old-fashioned!)} 17:40, 8 March 2020 (UTC)

I'll leave this open for others to chime in. I know some WikiProjects have Article Template subpages, but I think because even the academia and A&E task forces of Wikiproject Biography is large, so they don't. Closest guideline regarding article organization I could find is MOS:BIO#Order of events, which simply states In general, present a biography in chronological order, from birth to death, except where there is good reason to do otherwise. Within a single section, events should almost always be in chronological order. Have you considered opening a discussion on the article talk or the Wikiproject talk page? (A postscript about Hemingway: I know particularly prolific folk sometimes have a separate article, something like "Awards given to [person]". Not sure if Hemingway has such a page, but I thought I'd point out my observations.) Rotideypoc41352 (talk · contribs) 18:32, 8 March 2020 (UTC)

The usual placement is somewhere near the bottom of the article, but I don't think there's a prescribed place for this specific section. And as the Hemingway example shows, it may be best to just incorporate the main awards in the prose, without a separate section, and to ignore the more trivial awards. You could try asking at WT:WikiProject Biography, but I rather don't think you'd get more helpful answers than "use your jusgement". Huon (talk) 21:00, 8 March 2020 (UTC)

Would you like to ask WP:WikiProject Biography that?

They may or may not have a sub-project for authors and academics specifically.

But in any case they are more familiar with such guidelines than a helpme volunteer. Gryllida (talk) 21:13, 8 March 2020 (UTC)

Dear @Rotideypoc41352, Huon, and Svetlana:
Thank you very much for your prompt and helpful comments; as you suggested, I have now posted a request at the WikiProject Biography talk page, and we'll see what happens.
Very many thanks once more for your help to me here, and also for taking the time to volunteer at the Help desk.
With kind regards; Patrick. ツ Pdebee.^{(talk)(become old-fashioned!)} 10:17, 9 March 2020 (UTC)

Rather belatedly: I'd previously stated that we don't have a biography template. Turns out we do. Template:Biography places the Awards section right before the standard appendices and footers. No suggestion on the formatting of such a section, though. Rotideypoc41352 (talk · contribs) 04:16, 2 July 2020 (UTC)

Dear Rotideypoc41352

Thank you so much for following up and letting me know! I had no idea there is actually such a template; how could I have missed it for all these years?! And I find it strange that it provides more detail about section placement than does MOS:LAYOUT, which I tend to consult as a reminder. In any case, very many thanks once again for being so diligent, and for your helpful pointer to this template; your assistance is very much appreciated.
With kind regards;
Patrick. ツ Pdebee.^{(talk)(become old-fashioned!)} 11:31, 2 July 2020 (UTC)

Reply

Thank you for your welcome and suggestions! AnnaMagnani2 (talk) 13:01, 26 March 2020 (UTC)

Dear AnnaMagnani2,

You're most welcome! I realise I was a bit late, since you've been here for nearly three months now, but better late than never... Good luck and very best wishes of success in all your contributions to our encyclopedia.

With kind regards; Patrick. ツ Pdebee.^{(talk)(become old-fashioned!)} 13:47, 26 March 2020 (UTC)

SurVision Books and Magazine

Dear Pdebee,

Can I ask you to take a look at this: [1], please? I noted that you updated many articles on Surrealism. My article about an Irish poetry press and magazine for Surrealist poetry, SurVision Books and Magazine, is currently in danger. This is the only small poetry press on the British Isles that specializes in Surrealist poetry, so I would appreciate it if you could take a look at it and maybe vote. Cheers.--Bonmot (talk) 07:06, 3 May 2020 (UTC)

Dear Bonmot,

Thank you for your message, above, but please beware of canvassing, in future. I did see your post on Sunday but was unable to work on it until this morning; so, I apologise for delay in replying to you. Not being familiar with the specific guidelines on notability as it applies to magazines and book publishers, I wanted to take the time to look at this in as fair a way as possible, and therefore consulted WP:MAGAZINE, where I found the link to Wikipedia:Notability (media) which, in the fifth paragraph of its lead section, states:

Notable means "worthy of being noted" or "attracting notice." It is not synonymous with "fame" or "importance." Please consider notable and demonstrable effects on culture, society, entertainment, athletics, economies, history, literature, science, or education. Large outlets are likely to have more readily available verifiable information from reliable sources that provide evidence of notability; however, smaller ones can be notable, just as individuals can be notable, and arbitrary standards should not be used to create a bias favoring larger organizations, nor should they be used to provide blanket permissions for all articles about a certain subject.

Also, section Wikipedia:Notability (media)#Why separate criteria, adds:

It is not often that one media outlet will give neutral attention to another, as this could be seen as "advertising for the competition." Also, when searching for sources on media outlets, the results are often pages produced by the outlet, making it difficult to find significant coverage in multiple sources.
As media outlets are themselves a significant proportion of our sources for other content, however, it serves an important purpose for Wikipedia to provide neutral and verifiable information about those sources so that readers are able to evaluate their reliability and scope. Accordingly, the notability standards for media organizations and content are designed to be as inclusive, not restrictive, as possible within the bounds of verifiability in reliable sources.

I therefore decided to be inclusive about your article and that, in the absence of a separate guideline for publishers, I would evaluate its adherence to the notability of magazines, which has the following criteria:

Notability is presumed for newspapers, magazines and journals that verifiably meet through reliable sources, one or more of the following criteria:

::#have produced award winning work

1. have served some sort of historic purpose or have a significant history
2. are considered by reliable sources to be authoritative in their subject area
3. are frequently cited by other reliable sources
4. are significant publications in ethnic and other non-trivial niche markets

So, intent on applying criterion #1, I looked at the list of SurVision's published books, to determine whether any of them (per each poet's article) was a prize/award winner:

• George Kalamaras (That Moment of Wept): No;
• Anton G. Leitner (Selected Poems 1981-2015): No;
• Seeds of Gravity: An Anthology of Contemporary Surrealist Poetry from Ireland: No;
• MESSAGE-DOOR: An Anthology of Contemporary Surrealist Poetry from Russia: No;
• Noelle Kocot (Humanity): No;
• Ciaran O'Driscoll (The Speaking Trees): No;
• Elin O'Hara Slavick (Cameramouth): No;
• Anatoly Kudryavitsky (Stowaway): No;
• Helen Ivory (Maps of the Abandoned City): No;
• John W. Sexton (Inverted Night): No.

Therefore, I could not use that criterion to demonstrate notability.

Then, on applying criterion #2, I concluded that there was room to afford some flexibility here, since your article states that: "[t]he Dublin Review of Books has remarked that it is "currently the only international magazine devoted exclusively to surrealist poetry."" which, at an inclusive stretch, also meets criterion #3 and criterion #5, if we consider surrealist poetry a "non-trivial niche market".

Therefore, I was prepared to join the discussion with a suggestion to Keep and improve your article, only to find that it had closed on Monday with a decision not to delete it. In any case, I hope my reply, here, will be helpful to you for future reference, should you decide to continue creating articles about magazines or publishers.

Finally, please note that, on my desktop, your article's link for reference #10 fails with "This site is not secure".

With kind regards; Patrick. ツ Pdebee.^{(talk)(become old-fashioned!)} 10:24, 6 May 2020 (UTC)

Dear Patrick (Pdebee),
Thank you very much for your detailed analysis of this page. As you probably know, not many books get awards, especially poetry books. Still, I think keeping the articles about small poetry presses is important. Many of them are niche publishers, like this particular one... Yes, the article has been kept, and I am delighted with that. I will look into the 'dangerous site' thing. Strangely enough, MEAS gets its funding from the Arts Council of Ireland, so they could/can afford to sort out their website. Hopefully, they will soon, maybe when the lockdown is over.

Regards and thanks, Vince --Bonmot (talk) 16:30, 6 May 2020 (UTC)

References

How to disable the drop-down window under the edit summary field?

Dear helpful colleagues at the Help Desk,
Is there a way to disable the function that displays a drop-down window under the edit summary field, please?
Whenever I position the cursor in the edit summary field, this drop-down window shows me the previous edit summaries in reverse chronological order, and if I work on the same article for a while, the drop-down window grows longer.
I have looked at all the tabs in my Preferences, including Editing and Gadgets, but I can't find the box to check in order to inhibit/disable this function, assuming of course that this is possible.
Very many thanks for any assistance offered.
With kind regards; Patrick. ツ Pdebee.^{(talk)(become old-fashioned!)} 15:55, 13 May 2020 (UTC)

Hi, that's a feature of you web browser and not Wikipedia's. The keyword you're looking for is "form autocompletion". If you're using Firefox, instructions on how to disable are available here, unfortunately I don't know how to disable it on other browsers. If you still need help, just change {{help me-helped}} back to {{help me}}. Regards, – Majavah ^(t/c) 16:18, 13 May 2020 (UTC)

Dear Majavah,

Thank you so much for your prompt and most helpful reply. Since I use Microsoft Edge, I googled "How to disable 'form autocompletion' in Microsoft Edge" and, sure enough, found the instructions and applied them successfully. I am inserting them below, to add to your own collection of helpful tips :

Turn off Autofill in Microsoft Edge

1. Open Microsoft Edge.
2. Select the More actions button (indicated by 3 horizontal dots, at the top right hand corner).
3. Select Settings → View Passwords & autofill.
4. Turn off Save form data (will also turn off Save cards).

Very many thanks once again; you're a star!

With kind regards;
Patrick. ツ Pdebee.^{(talk)(become old-fashioned!)} 16:34, 13 May 2020 (UTC)

Dear Majavah,

I have just switched to Google Chrome because of a security limitation in Microsoft Edge. Just in case you might wish to know how to disable 'form autocompletion' in Google Chrome, here are the appropriate instructions, as a reminder to myself but also for you to add to your own collection of helpful tips :

Turn off Autocomplete in Google Chrome

1. Open Google Chrome.
2. Select the More actions button (indicated by 3 vertical dots, at the top right hand corner).
3. Select Settings → You and Google.
4. Select Sync and Google services → Other Google services.
5. Locate 2nd entry: 'Autocomplete searches and URLs'.
6. Switch the slide button from the right (shown in blue) to the left (shown in white).

Hope this helps; thanks again.

With kind regards;
Patrick. ツ Pdebee.^{(talk)(become old-fashioned!)} 13:10, 14 July 2020 (UTC)

May

May · Mary · Monteverdi

Thank you for article improvements in May, and your flower! - DYK my list of people for whose life I'm thankful enough to improve their articles? - I have a FAC open, one of Monteverdi's exceptional works, in memory of Brian who passed me his collected sources. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 20:51, 17 May 2020 (UTC)

today a composer pictured who wrote a triple concerto for violin, harp and double bass, in honour of the composer who died and my brother who plays double bass. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 15:41, 26 May 2020 (UTC)

Thank you for your part in bringing Australasian Antarctic Expedition to the Main page today, in memory of Brian. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 20:24, 27 May 2020 (UTC)

Dearest Gerda,

You are too kind, as I feel my contribution is extremely limited: a mere suggestion which, most fortunately, our excellent colleague Yomangani took up, and invested a great deal of time and effort to bring the article to FA status. All thanks must therefore go to him, but I am grateful that you feel my tiny involvement warranted appreciation; thank you, Gerda.

With kindest regards;
Patrick. ツ Pdebee.^{(talk)(become old-fashioned!)} 20:40, 27 May 2020 (UTC)

Patrick, I started with Yomangani - the master of edit summaries, and remembered from the days when Great Dismal Swamp maroons was up for GA - in the morning, but WP's greatest feature is that magnificent things can be achieved with some determined minds together, some little, some larger. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 20:54, 27 May 2020 (UTC)

Hiding "Categories: WikiProject Senior Wikipedians members"

Dear helpful colleagues at the Help Desk,
Please would you help me hide the Category: WikiProject Senior Wikipedians members information displayed at the bottom of my user page? Even though I coded the |nocat=yes in the {{Master Editor Userbox}} template, the category is still displayed at the bottom of my user page, which I prefer to have completely devoid of categories.
Very many thanks, in advance, for all your helpful guidance.
With kind regards;
Patrick. ツ Pdebee.^{(talk)(become old-fashioned!)} 21:51, 21 May 2020 (UTC)

Hi Patrick! The issue here was actually with Template:User septuagenarian, which wasn't doing anything with the nocat parameter. I've fixed that up now so it understands that parameter, and your category has duly disappeared :) Hope that's helpful! Naypta ☺ | ✉ talk page | 21:58, 21 May 2020 (UTC)

Dear Speedy Gonzalez Naypta,

How wonderfully responsive and most helpful of you! Thank you so much for applying that fix; you're a real star!
With kind regards;
Patrick. ツ Pdebee.^{(talk)(become old-fashioned!)} 22:08, 21 May 2020 (UTC)

A smile :)

Hello Pdebee, Pupsterlove02 has smiled at you! Smiles promote WikiLove and hopefully this one has made your day better. Spread the WikiLove by smiling at someone else, whether it be someone you have had disagreements with in the past or a good friend. Go on, smile! Cheers, and happy editing!
Smile at others by adding {{subst:Smile}} to their talk page with a friendly message.

Thanks for welcoming me and many other new editors! Just stopping by to let you know that your kindness is appreciated. Pupsterlove02 talk • contribs 14:40, 2 June 2020 (UTC)

Dear Pupsterlove02,

This is so thoughtful of you; thank you for taking the time to smile at me! I have to say: I am so proud of you! You're doing great things here, and I really admire the enthusiasm with which you are embracing the life of a Wikipedia editor, all the way down to organising your user page... Please keep up this most excellent work!

With kindest regards for now; Patrick. ツ Pdebee.^{(talk)(become old-fashioned!)} 15:05, 2 June 2020 (UTC)

Your new article

Perfect. Well done! I have enjoyed listening to this. Cheers! Gareth Griffith-Jones (contribs) (talk) 15:53, 19 June 2020 (UTC)

Dear Gareth,
Thank you for taking the time to read Eddie Butcher, and to offer the above thumbs-up! Glad you enjoyed his singing, too!
With kind regards;
Patrick. ツ Pdebee.^{(talk)(become old-fashioned!)} 16:06, 19 June 2020 (UTC)

William White (New Zealand politician)

Hi Patrick, you will have seen that I have removed the hatnote from William White (New Zealand politician). I’ve had a close look as to whether the title could still be ambiguous but could not see anything. If I have overlooked anything, which is of course possible, please bring it to my attention. Schwede66 18:25, 17 July 2020 (UTC)

Dear Schwede66,

Thank you so much for bringing this to my attention, and please forgive me for causing you unnecessary work. I was going through all the entries in the William White dab page and probably added the hatnote unnecessarily in some of them. But I'll review the guidelines, most likely tomorrow, to remind myself of the preferred approach and will then remove the hatnote in the other entries where it is superfluous. Thank you once again for making contact and for your helpful pointer.

With kind regards;
Patrick. ツ Pdebee.^{(talk)(become old-fashioned!)} 19:09, 17 July 2020 (UTC)

I have sent you a note about a page you started

Hello, Pdebee

Thank you for creating John R. Buckmaster.

User:Buidhe, while examining this page as a part of our page curation process, had the following comments:

Nice article!

To reply, leave a comment here and prepend it with {{Re|Buidhe}}. And, don't forget to sign your reply with ~~~~ .

(Message delivered via the Page Curation tool, on behalf of the reviewer.)

(t · c) buidhe 06:27, 15 August 2020 (UTC)

Dear @Buidhe:,

Thank you very much for reviewing the subject article, and for taking the time to offer such positive feedback; it means a lot to me, especially coming from a self-proclaimed exclusionist!

With kindest regards;

Patrick. ツ Pdebee.^{(talk)(become old-fashioned!)} 09:34, 15 August 2020 (UTC)

Another Possible Collaboration

Hello Pdebee, It has been a while since we last talked. I and still getting the Begotten article up to FA status, but in the meantime, I have another article I am working towards that level also. It is an article on a 19th-century serial killer named Stephen Dee Richards, and I was wondering if you would be interested in doing some copy edits on it so I have it all ready for FA nomination? If not that is fine, feel free to let me know if that interests you or not. Sincerely, --Paleface Jack (talk) 18:05, 15 October 2020 (UTC)

Dear Paleface Jack,

Thank you for making contact again, and for your vote of confidence. I hope you won't mind too much if I pass on this occasion, as I'm quite solicited IRL and busy drafting my own projects off-wiki. Thank you for your understanding, and best wishes & good luck with your latest project, which looks very good at first glance.
With kind regards;
Patrick. ツ Pdebee.^{(talk)(become old-fashioned!)} 17:42, 16 October 2020 (UTC)

That is okay Pdebee, is there anyone you would recommend?--Paleface Jack (talk) 18:18, 16 October 2020 (UTC)

Dear Jack,

Not really, but have you considered approaching a member of the WP:CRIMEBIO WikiProject? I would have thought there is a good chance you’d find an experienced and kindred spirit there. Worth a try, I dare say. Best wishes.
With kind regards;
Patrick. ツ Pdebee.^{(talk)(become old-fashioned!)} 18:43, 16 October 2020 (UTC)

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