User talk:Elf: Difference between revisions

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snoyes 00:25, 26 Jan 2004 (UTC)

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Howdy. I left a question over at Talk:Dog agility (I wouldn't normally also write here, but I figure you're new, and watchlists aren't super-effective at the moment). Oh, and welcome to wikipedia from me also. -- Finlay McWalter 00:45, 26 Jan 2004 (UTC)

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Hi Elf, I'm one (of many) admins in Wikipedia, and just wanted to let you know I removed a comment on your User page "I have never been in the Marines." If this was indeed something you wanted on your page, please feel free to put it back in. The only reason I removed it was because the change was attributed to "64.173.9.44" and not to you, so I thought it might be vandalism. However, it might have been you were simply logged out and edited your User page. Welcome to Wikipedia, and feel free to ask if there is any confusion. Fuzheado 05:10, 26 Jan 2004 (UTC)

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I'm afraid there really aren't very good tutorials or standards for images, and most wikipedians are relative novices at HTML and particularly Cascading Style Sheets. The whole point of the wiki markup is that folks like this can produce nice pages, but there's a problem when the wikimarkup doesn't adequately capture enough functionality. On a related note, you'll see that almost all tables are implemented as HTML tables (which is an ugly, rather difficult syntax to use), although the latest version of MediaWiki does include some simple table markup. In the absence of decent "floaty thing" markup in wikimarkup, most people seem to copy image code from somewhere they know works (occasionally with ugly results). That's one of the little things I end up fixing whenever I encounter it. There's no substitute for experience, it seems ;( -- Finlay McWalter 22:06, 27 Jan 2004 (UTC)

with regard to formatting the different exercises on dog agility, I think what you have looks fine (better than many pages). Alternatively, you could make each exercise a sub-heading (with three = s instead of two), or you could encode them into some kind of table (the table markup, I've discovered, is described on the "meta" wikipedia at MediaWiki User's Guide: Using tables - but I've never used it). But don't sweat the format too much - information is what people come here for. -- Finlay McWalter 22:11, 27 Jan 2004 (UTC)

There is a stylesheet, but it doesn't seem to be officially documented, so I think one shouldn't make reference to it in an article. Mediawiki (the software that runs wikipedia) does take out several HTML tags (and scripts and stuff) but it leaves in "style" directives. So this means one can use CSS, but one can't really reference a stylesheet (which kind of defeats the purpose of CSS). Thus you'll see only very small uses of CSS, almost entirely to do with floating tables and graphics. -- Finlay McWalter 12:46, 28 Jan 2004 (UTC)

contributions

Hi Elf. One can indeed look at the detailed contributions made by any user. [1] are mine, [2] are yours (for example). The only "problem" is that every edit ever made gets listed there, which is not very good for navigation. And I just sort of started my contribution page to highlight the contributions that I made which I consider "significant". - snoyes 23:22, 29 Jan 2004 (UTC)

mineral wikiproject?

Hi. I saw your experimental mineral taxobox - it looks good. The usual way such cross-page consistency is achieved is by agreement with the appropriate WikiProject - which is a group of wikipedians who care about the subject in question. Doing this means that "all the bases" are covered, and that you can say any decision was arrived at after due consideration and with consensus. The wikiproject page lists all the current wikiprojects (those that I'm aware of, at least), and there doesn't seem to be anything very relevant - there isn't even a geology one, never mind a mineralogy subwikiproject. So you might consider starting one (it's really only a page in the wikipedia namespace, and a discussion page where a few folks get together and chew the relevant fat). I figure the way to do so is something like:

1. have a look at the edit summaries of a bunch of the articles in question, and see if you can figure out which active wikipedians are working in that area - then message them and see if they want to join a wikiproject on the subject
2. failing that (or better, after that) invite more comment/members on Village pump.

The biology dweebs did this a while ago, mostly so they could get their nomenclature consistent and their taxoboxes straight. It's probably also a great way to avoid fights too :) -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 22:09, 1 Feb 2004 (UTC)

Yes, I agree (I'm also one of those biology dweebs ;). Be aware that there is an un-declared WikiProject for compounds. See Inorganic table information and a declared one for elements. See WikiProject Elements. The reason this is important is because there is a fair amount of overlap between compounds, minerals, and elements. So we will have to coordinate between the three. --mav 00:31, 2 Feb 2004 (UTC)

OK, I created WikiProject Rocks and Minerals. Elf 22:21, 6 Feb 2004 (UTC)

Foundation Series edits

Thank you for your good work copyediting the Foundation Series. As you can tell from its edit history, I'm pretty much the proud parent of that article. Every single change you made was for the better. Keep up the good work. →Raul654 23:07, Feb 3, 2004 (UTC)

city stubs

Not sure how to respond, will try this... Yes I do intend to fill in those pages (actually kreise) and many more for the communities downline. As admin for a group that studies this area, I hope to have a lot of help.

Bwood 04:25, 4 Feb 2004 (UTC)~

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Hi! I've noticed your project and i find it in a good way. Count me in, but since i am doing a PhD in (structural) geology i'd rather spend my free time, thinking about other things... :) But i'll be around... Cheers, Muriel 10:29, 5 Feb 2004 (UTC)

dog agility

did you know the pictures in Dog Agilty don't show? Ensiform 04:05, 10 Feb 2004 (UTC) Fixed. Elf 05:48, 17 Feb 2004 (UTC)

Well, I suppose 150 Billion dollars may be more or less correct - but there is limited space there. A line wont hurt. But it does seem odd, doesnt it -- "A million Vietnamese families were killed, and a fortune the size of two Bill Gates bank accounts was spent in doing it." Its "complex territorial socio-economics" and all that... but the two facts side by side make an interesting statement about the source.-戴&#30505sv

Redirects for deletion

Please nominate redirects for deletion at Wikipedia:Redirects for deletion and not at the main vfd page. I will remove your entry shortly. --Jiang 23:34, 14 Feb 2004 (UTC)

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Hi Elf. I filled in the rest of the table on Newfoundland (dog) as you hadn't got round to it :) - hope that's OK with you. I don't know if you saw my reply on my talk page, let me know if you want a copy of my list of breeds. Regards -- sannse 00:33, 17 Feb 2004 (UTC)

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Hi Elf, I saw you changed pictures on Rembrandt page to thumbnail format. Why? They were not too large, not too many. The article is about a painter, so some paintings should fit on the page. I hope you don't feel all images should be converted to the thumbnail format anyhow? Probably not, since you did not convert the picture on your user page yet :) Cheers, Erik Zachte 09:42, 19 Feb 2004 (UTC)

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The (overly) enthusiastic ameritech.net user

I just wanted to thank you for copyediting the flurry of new pages the 6[78].x.y.z user interested in all things Croatian has been creating over the last few days. I wish they responded to my invitation to get a username, but oh well. --Shallot 14:05, 19 Feb 2004 (UTC)

I agree, I noticed how they keep updating it, which is good, though I wish they'd lose more of those English errors as well :) I'm thinking it's a Croatian immigrant that has been in the States for quite a while, because they seem to know various intricate idioms though they're somewhat troubled by punctuation, spelling and similar things. So far I managed to leave one message at User talk:68.252.172.59 while they were editing, but they missed it (hopefully they didn't ignore it). I'm watching a lot of the pages they frequent so I'll try to "catch" them next time on the next random IP. --Shallot 16:34, 19 Feb 2004 (UTC)

Dashes

I've completed my edit of Wikipedia:Manual of Style and the related Dash (punctuation). Feel free to correct my mistakes now ;) Jor 21:35, 19 Feb 2004 (UTC)

And now for real ;) Jor 21:41, 19 Feb 2004 (UTC)

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Elf, thx for the reply. I'll revert the thumbnails then. In fact I spotted your edit only days after the fact as well. Thanks to Wikiholic Watchers, which encourages me to put my monitor upside down at least two hours per day :) Cheers, Erik Zachte 18:05, 25 Feb 2004 (UTC)

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If you fail to capitalize the article's initial word, like democracy, it will autocapitalize to Democracy. But Bill clinton will not autodirect to Bill Clinton. There is a good reason for this, but I have forgotten it. :) Anyway, just trying to answer your question. :) Of course, many redirects have been made, so if you type Wikipedia:Village Pump it redirects to the Wikipedia:Village pump. Jwrosenzweig 22:26, 4 Mar 2004 (UTC)

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History of CA: No problem! And ditto apologies from me! No worries! :) ~j jengod 22:50, Mar 4, 2004 (UTC)

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Thumbnailed images "bugs"

Hi! =) See Wikipedia talk:Extended image syntax for the reply. Take care, --Maio 06:17, Mar 9, 2004 (UTC)

Names of dogs

Hi Elf, I don't think we should have dog's names under their photos. I think it doesn't look as professional. I've tended to keep the dog's names to the image description pages - that way they are still available but not part of the article. What do you think? -- sannse (talk) 16:56, 9 Mar 2004 (UTC)

OK, I can live with that. Elf 17:00, 9 Mar 2004 (UTC)

Dashes

Hi Elf. I don't get time to respond to everything here, alas! I am agnostic with regard to the autoconversion syntax eventually adopted. The key point is that the MoS is our Bible of correct practice. We all know that many, perhaps most, entries do not reach the standards prescribed in the MoS, certainly not in their original draft form, but we all work to improve the entries until they are presented correctly. I (and many other contributors who have commented on this matter in the past) am strongly opposed to dumbing down the manual of style, and thus encouraging poor quality articles. Tannin 20:51, 9 Mar 2004 (UTC)

Image deletion

Hi, Texture mentioned that you had listed Image:Image:PyreneanShepSmooth wb.jpg on Wikipedia:speedy deletions and that he was having trouble deleting it. As far as I can tell, that's because it doesn't exist! For some reason, when you go to that page, it shows an image and pretends that nothing links to it. You're really seeing Image:PyreneanShepSmooth wb.jpg, but with a double "image:" in the filename. This happens on all images by the looks of it. Image:Image:Aster.jpg, for example, does the same thing, as did a few others I tried. Angela. 22:00, Mar 9, 2004 (UTC)

hey!

keep up the awesome work.....but be sure to get some sleep! :) Kingturtle 07:04, 10 Mar 2004 (UTC)

Thumbnails

Did you get your dog thumbnails working? Looks good to me, Mark Richards 05:46, 11 Mar 2004 (UTC)

yey! my photos are being used!

Thanks for all the moves of my photos, I really appreciate your work. It looks like I'm going to be pretty busy with some mediation stuff over the next few days, so won't be doing much in the way of table tidying etc. But I'll be back soon. -- sannse (talk) 22:29, 12 Mar 2004 (UTC)

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Hi, I think it's fine that you replaced my picture of the Borzoi. Maybe you can also help to identify the dog pictures on List_of_dog_breeds so they can be moved to the different articles on those breeds. They really shouldn't be on the main dog breed page. However, since I wasn't a 100% sure that I identified those pictures correctly, I put them on List_of_dog_breeds. Cheers, Jurriaan 07:00, 13 Mar 2004 (UTC)

wikimoney

Cool! ;) WormRunner | Talk 04:19, 14 Mar 2004 (UTC)

Hi - msg tags have two {{ }}. Thanks. I've fixed for the Mac picture. Secretlondon 19:52, 24 Mar 2004 (UTC)

US registries

Hi Elf, was it the United Kennel Club that you thought we should include on the tables? I know little about the US registries so just went for the AKC. I've also found pages for the Continental Kennel Club, the National Kennel Club and the Dog Registry of America. I don't think we should have all of them in the table, but am not sure which are important enough to include. Are there others too? Regards -- sannse (talk) 19:42, 27 Mar 2004 (UTC)

Well, huh, I've never heard of the others you mentioned but UKC is probably 2nd to AKC. Yeah, AKC is the most major one, so I agree let's not add the others to the table after all. I'll see what I can find out about the various ones & maybe come up with some standard verbiage. Elf | Talk 05:06, 28 Mar 2004 (UTC)

So you think we should include just the UKC, leaving out the rest? Or just stick with the AKC? (I'm looking at a breed only recognised by the UKC and I'm not sure which part of the table to add it to yet) -- sannse (talk) 09:47, 28 Mar 2004 (UTC)

What I've found out so far: UKC respected as a registry & definitely a legit organization, although there's some suspicion why people with AKC-recognized breeds would register w/UKC. Some excellent reasons; some bad reasons. National Dog Registry is for tattoos. Continental Kennel Club and National Kennel Club are "for puppy mills". Elf | Talk 20:34, 29 Mar 2004 (UTC)

OK, sounds like we should include the UKC and ignore the others. Thanks Elf -- sannse (talk) 19:50, 30 Mar 2004 (UTC)

Kate Elliot

Hey, no big deal. I'm constantly amazed by the POV that manages to get out in my articles--I think to myself, "that's self evident!". Anyway, somebody else will pick it up. Wiki power! Yours, Meelar 06:20, 30 Mar 2004 (UTC)

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Hi Elf,

Many thanks for your comment welcoming me. I was a bit nervous about making changes at first. Now I think I am addicted. Anyway, I left a question on the talk agility page. You may wish to look at it.

In general I use google to do metric conversions. If you want to try doing some yourself, just type the value into google. For example:
120 ft
10 sq miles in sq km
and press search as you would normally do. It amazes me how easy and powerful it is. If you haven't already, then try it for yourself.

If you are able to provide metric values when you are creating or editing pages, that would be useful. You may also wish to do some conversions on pages discussing topics that you know something about. Thanks again for the kind comments and the useful links.
Bobblewik 19:33, 30 Mar 2004 (UTC)