User talk:Scartol/Archives/2008/September

Podcast

Thanks heaps for recording the podcast last week on a wide range of copy editing / content issues. Awadewit dropped a note on my talk page letting me know that it was 'good to go' - and as I said at WP:AN, I feel smarter already, and I've only heard it once! It's now online at 'NotTheWikipediaWeekly', and hopefully it's only the first in a series!

Once again - thanks :-) Privatemusings (talk) 01:45, 2 September 2008 (UTC)

Skype recording

I listened to almost all of it; I was impressed with the quality of the discussion and your deft chairing. I quail at the thought of participating. Tony (talk) 03:43, 2 September 2008 (UTC)

second Tony! - I think you did a great job, and hope you have the time and interest in maybe doing more! - if you're interested in hearing ideas from leftfield.... I'd love to hear a panel discussion about wikipedia with high school kids talking about their relationship to it - and particularly from any people who have 'edited a bit but not much' about how welcoming / clear some of the site policies and ideals are! :-) either way - great job, and thanks..... Privatemusings (talk) 03:57, 2 September 2008 (UTC)

Emmy on the main page!

If I had known Emmy was going to be on the main page, I would have tried to track down a PD image of her! :( Awadewit (talk) 00:26, 4 September 2008 (UTC)

Orphaned non-free media (Image:Emmy noether at desk.jpg)

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NTWW and Copyediting Podcasts

Hi Scartol,

I just listened to the Copyediting Episode of NTWW, and I must say: good work and kudos to all involved!

Copyediting is one of the scarcest resources on Wikipedia, and one of the hardest skills to learn if you're not already proficient at it. Partly because doing it well requires not only an adherence to a set of fixed rules, but also a certain feel for language. Listening to accomplished copyeditors discuss the topic is a very valuable way to develop that feel.

While listening I had the idea that this would work well as a periodical feature (not necessarily as part of NTWW). The format of the existing NTWW episode worked quite well—though Filll apparently needs a less laggy Internet connection :)—and for a periodical could be narrowed such that you pick one specific issue to discuss in more depth each episode. Another format I would love to hear is to take one specific article and just really deconstruct it: look at its evolution from Stub through FA (or whatever level it is or has potential to achieve), what happened at the various stages, what went wrong, what saved it, what were the mistakes made in its prose, how can it be further improved. All, of course, with a focus on the copyediting process (as opposed to, say, facts, expansion, references, etc.).

Highlight concrete, specific, examples of just terrible prose, or exceptionally elegant solutions to tricky problems; stuff you've encountered and from which hearing the problem and its solution described, less experienced copyeditors would gain inspiration if not improved understanding.

I have a couple of articles (currently GA), for which I've contributed a significant portion of the text, that I would be happy to offer up as victimssubjects for such treatment, and I'm sure finding others would not be a great problem. --Xover (talk) 13:24, 4 September 2008 (UTC)

• I think this is a wonderful idea. I have several suggestions, too. Scartol, when I get back from India, do you want to chat about this? Awadewit (talk) 13:39, 4 September 2008 (UTC)

I usually respond on peoples' talk pages, but since you'll both probably check this, I'll respond here: YES. I really like this idea, although – of course – I'd like to do it with one of my own articles.. =) Maybe we could do both, or all three of us choose one article we've really worked on? (Honoré de Balzac would be interesting, since it's the first time I met Awad, and she really showed me the ropes and helped me become a Napoleonic editor.) Let's definitely sort it out when you get back from India. Cheers to you both! Scartol • Tok 23:52, 4 September 2008 (UTC)

A Direction for Social Activism?

G'day, I'm here to ask you a big favour... but that can wait a few sentences. I'm glad that you've worked with the East Timorese. I helped one refugee who worked there with Fretilin & Xanana Gusmao to gain English comprehension, earn his Masters in Political Science at Notre Dame, and get permanent asylum for his family in Australia. Two of his three children were born in Australia and, because of his connections, his brother died boating to Baucau but the government still only gave us weeks to prepare his case. You'd be surprised how much the Catholic church helped. Anyhow, I am only here to ask you to peer review Wikipedia:Peer_review/United_Nations_list_of_Non-Self-Governing_Territories/archive1 and to help raise awareness of the 32-year hindrance of Western Sahara's self-determination, which is alluded to on that page. :)--Thecurran (talk) 14:12, 5 September 2008 (UTC)

Chinua Achebe on the main page!

It is "Scartol recognition" month! Awadewit (talk) 13:19, 8 September 2008 (UTC)

Peer review of Police state

Hi Scartol,

I am hoping to be able to get the Police state article to featured status. On a personal level, I believe the article is ready for featured status now. However, I am sure others would disagree about this and I feel somewhat that the page is plagued by pushing of systematic bias and information suppression.

As you have a large amount of experience in directing pages towards featured status, I would vastly appreciate it if you may please review the article and let me know your thoughts on my talk page. I hope the article is one of interest to you!

Thanks! Tachyon502 (talk) 22:08, 17 September 2008 (UTC)

Meshuggah copy-edit

Good day Scartol! I really need your help. Could you, please, have a look on Meshuggah and make a copy-edit of the article? It would help me very much!--  LYKANTROP  ✉ 08:24, 20 September 2008 (UTC)