User talk:Astronaut/Archive 1

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Image BurjDubaiHeight.png

{{helpme}} Help requested: No one answered my question on the help desk. Maybe they'll come to me :-)) Astronaut 17:09, 25 July 2007 (UTC)

I've looked at your question - the answer is you don't need to do anything, at least on the English Wiki. As the image has been tagged as "also on Commons", it will be deleted in due course (possibly a week ot two). As the image has the same name on Commons, any article that has this image will automatically use the Commons image once the local image has been deleted. You will need to check the help desk on the Urdu Wikipedia for details of how and when duplicate images are deleted there, although I imagine it will be a similar process. If you have any further questions, don't hesitate to contact me. Hope this helps!. – Tivedshambo (talk) 18:40, 25 July 2007 (UTC)

Thanks. The image is not flagged in the Urdu copy, so I left a message on the uploader's talk page (in English since I don't know any Urdu). Hopefully, he'll flag it and it too will be "deleted in due course". Astronaut 20:02, 25 July 2007 (UTC)

Seismic shadowing

As posted on User talk:Zaslav#Seismic shadowing:

Hi,

Since you made a wiki-link in the epicenter article, I have created a new article Seismic shadowing. Thank you... my first new article. Feel free to come by and add more to it. Astronaut 20:07, 17 August 2007 (UTC)

Thank you for adding seismic shadowing. You did a good job (and its being short is good). I don't know enough to add science to it, but I did edit the article from the layman's viewpoint to try to make it more widely readable. You may be able to improve on my changes. Thanks again. Zaslav 22:14, 23 August 2007 (UTC)

As posted on User talk:Zaslav#Seismic shadowing:

Thank you for your additions to this article. Yes, it is better from the layman's point of view to say in the first sentence that the phenomenon is caused by earthquakes. However, I have corrected a few small errors in the English grammar and I have changed some of the phrasing so it reads even better. Astronaut 11:28, 24 August 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for the thanks and for improving the article. Some day, someone will write more, but I hope they don't destroy the accessibility of this version. Zaslav 04:41, 25 August 2007 (UTC)

Moved message

As posted on User talk:Mike Rosoft#Moved comment for User:Astronaut:

Hi,

Thanks for moving Zaslsv's comment from my user page to my talk page. I'm curious though why you saw fit to move the comment rather than leave it for me to find it where Zaslav originally put it? Astronaut 02:09, 25 August 2007 (UTC)

Because - as far as I know - a user is not notified when his user page is edited (just his talk page). I have been watching recent edits using the Vandal Fighter, and this is how I found out about the edit. - Mike Rosoft 10:03, 25 August 2007 (UTC)

Burj Dubai (Gallery removal)

As posted on User talk:WoodElf/Archive1#Your recent change to Burj Dubai:

I'm curious why you decided to delete the gallery of pictures showing the progress of construction, leaving only a recent picture. Astronaut 20:24, 1 September 2007 (UTC)

Well, I think my edit summary says it all: there is no pressing need to show a gallery of construction images, only the most recent image is appropriate for the article. Wikicommons holds all other images, to which there is a link in the article. But, its your decision. I thought my edit made the article less cluttered, thats all. --ŴôôDéļf 03:50, 2 September 2007 (UTC)

Commons

I replied to your undeletion request. Cheers, PatríciaR ^msg 20:58, 14 September 2007 (UTC)

Conversion template bloating problem

In reference to the problem you note regarding the transclusion size of 'Convert' and 'ConvertWeight' see Template:Conv. Same syntax, but designed to be substituted... so the end result is the appropriate wikitext without the accompanying template logic used to generate it. You should be able to just change {{convert|<whatever>}} to {{subst:conv|<whatever>}} to get the text desired. --CBD 12:42, 4 November 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for the note. Unfortunately, I think you might have missed the point I was trying to make. The Conv template simply places the final result of the conversion in the markup. That is fine if things never change - the distance between London and New Jersey is always going to be about 3,500 miles and is not really the subject of rumour and speculation from various competing sources. However, I have been doing some work on skyscraper articles. The business of skyscraper development seems to be full of rumour and speculation, questions of interpretation (is that an antenna or a spire?), and in the case of buildings under construction the ongoing changes in height. What I'm looking for is a conversion template which is easy to use and allows me to update just one value when necessary, but doesn't transclude thousands of bytes every time it is used.

I did some tests in my sandbox to convert 1000 m to feet:

• {{convert|1000|m|ft|0}} => transcludes 12,470 bytes (not acceptable for multiple uses in articles)
• {{m to ft|1000|spell=commonwealth}} => transcludes 582 bytes (acceptable for multiple uses in articles)
• {{subst:conv|1000|m|ft|0}} => Only transcludes the result "1,000 metres (3,281 ft)" but leaves a problem for future updates.

It seems to me that the m to ft template offers the best solution, so I proposed using a bot to replace the bloated convert template with a smaller template if one exists. Perhaps an even better solution would be to have {{subst:Conv|...}} transclude an appropriate small conversion template instead of the final result; so for example:

• {{subst:conv|1000|m|ft|0}} => {{m to ft|1000|spell=commonwealth}}

Astronaut 14:27, 5 November 2007 (UTC)

Userbox images

Since fair use ones can't be used, I normally look through Commons for a free use equivalent of something that could work or use some text. Hope that helps. BrokenSphere^{Msg me} 18:29, 8 November 2007 (UTC)

This is another example of free-use policy gone wrong. I don't know why some people are we so scared of corporate lawyers? If you consider the number of companies who try to blatently advertise their products here, I would have thought they would be pleased someone was recognising their product. In the case of this userbox, there are perhaps a dozen who would use it - a dozen fans who watch the show, buy the DVDs etc. Astronaut 18:46, 8 November 2007 (UTC)

I am just following the WP line re. images in userboxes. I also don't understand why your inability to use a fair use image all of a sudden makes that particular userbox no longer viable for you. Sure it would look much much better if we could use screencaps and the like in anime userboxes, but we can't. Yet as you can see from the other examples currently available for use, the inability to do so doesn't seem to be preventing people from being creative and making some viable userboxes, anime and otherwise.

Now I did a quick search for Earth-related pics on Commons and found this; if it were used in your userbox, that would now look like:

This user would love to
collect space debris

If you don't like that one, trying searching in Commons yourself or like I suggested, use text; even the title Planetes would work wouldn't it? BrokenSphere^{Msg me} 18:52, 8 November 2007 (UTC)

This was actually the reason I decided to use the Greek letters in my version. I think it's okay either way. Leebo ^T/C 19:00, 8 November 2007 (UTC)

I just don't like my version of the box without the image. It's not really that different from Leebo's to stand on it's own. Astronaut 19:09, 8 November 2007 (UTC)

It's your userbox, but I personally don't see any problems with using at least this particular image. I've used free use images on a couple of my own userboxes that don't relate as much to the anime/series in question so much as to the theme/statement that the userbox conveys (see here for examples), so I have no problem with this practice. To differentiate, you could for example use a term or phrase other than "collect space debris" in conjunction with the series title. I don't know enough about the series to make a recommendation on what this may be.

Now I am guessing that the reason why fair use images can't be used on userboxes or user pages is to limit their use (this is a starting point) in non-article space. This is starting to go into the issue of limiting the use of copyrighted material in order to avoid copyright violations and as you suspected, limit liability and I don't claim to be an authority on this. --BrokenSphere^{Msg me} 19:24, 8 November 2007 (UTC)

Burj Dubai (Samsung/Besix/Arabtec)

As posted on User talk:Kingj123#Burj Dubai:

Hi, I noticed you recently modified the Burj Dubai article, pointing out that Samsung is the main contractor. Whilst I had never heard of Besix and Arabtec before, when that information was added, I checked out both companies and found they were involved in the Burj Dubai project; but I did not see any information about the relative share of the work between those companies and Samsung. If you know this information, it could be useful to add it to the article. Many thanks. Astronaut (talk) 01:57, 23 November 2007 (UTC)

I got into the main website, and it said that Samsung is the main contractor (in the "Do you know" section). It is hard to prove because, that section changes all the time. However I print screened it off from the monitor and saved as a JPEG image file. Kingj123 (talk) 01:05, 25 November 2007 (UTC)

Great answer!

Though you did give a troll a cookie, I loved your reply to that xenophobic moron on the help page. I often wonder how some people can live such shallow, smug, insulated lives and still consider themselves part of the human race. Jeffpw (talk) 22:56, 25 November 2007 (UTC)

(The Help Desk comment prompting this private note.)

As posted on User talk:Jeffpw (now deleted and not archived):

Yes, intolerant xenophobes should be shown how and why they are wrong, though I'm not sure the help desk is the place to do it. Thanks for the comment. Astronaut (talk) 02:25, 26 November 2007 (UTC)

Helpdesk puzzlement

I've replied to your message about St. Joseph's College, Tweed Heads - the offending edits have been deleted now, not just reverted, and so you can't see them (but they were there!) Regards, Bencherlite^Talk 14:18, 3 December 2007 (UTC)

Arsen Salsa

A tag has been placed on Arsen Salsa, requesting that it be speedily deleted from Wikipedia. This has been done under the criteria for speedy deletion, because it is a redirect to a user page from the main/article space. Also please note that articles must be on notable subjects and should provide references to reliable sources that verify their content.

Please do not remove the speedy deletion tag yourself. If you plan to expand the article, you can request that administrators wait a while for you to add contextual material. To do this, affix the template {{hangon}} to the page and state your intention on the article's talk page. Feel free to leave a note on my talk page if you have any questions about this. --saxsux (talk) 18:36, 9 December 2007 (UTC)

As posted on User talk:Saxsux#Arsensalsa:

I only got involved in an attempt to help out a fellow help desk helper. See the help desk discussion Wikipedia:Help desk/Archives/2007 December 8#User:Arsensalsa.

Apparently, what happened was User:Arsensalsa moved their user page to a main namespace article Arsen Salsa. Later, the help desk helper tried to move it back, but made an error and moved it to User:Arsen Salsa instead (making a double redirect). In response to their help desk question, I tried to fix the problem, but was not aware of the double redirect issue until after it all went wrong. I found I could not move User:Arsen Salsa to User:Arsensalsa because there was already something there. Administrator help would really be appreciated to move the user page content back to where it is supposed to be and to delete the other 2 pages. Many thanks.

Astronaut (talk) 13:28, 10 December 2007 (UTC)

As posted on User talk:Saxsux#Arsensalsa:

Should have looked first. I noticed the main namespace article was deleted just 15 minutes after you left me the message (wow! talk about speedy - didn't give a change to slap a {{hangon}} on it). That's what you get for trying to help other people :-( Astronaut (talk) 13:36, 10 December 2007 (UTC)

As posted on User talk:Saxsux#Arsensalsa:

The admins fixed it. Astronaut (talk) 14:29, 10 December 2007 (UTC)

As posted on User talk:CultureDrone#User:Arsensalsa

Remember this guy whose user page we tried to fix? Anyway, the admin folks fixed it in 4 minutes flat! - see Wikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard/Archive115#User:Arsensalsa. Astronaut (talk) 14:25, 10 December 2007 (UTC)

Hi ! Thanks for your help on this - ok, I know it was 'they who must be obeyed' who actually fixed it, but thanks for escalating the issue to the right place - I must remember to bookmark that page (I have a feeling I'll need it again :-) ! Regards. CultureDrone (talk) 14:30, 10 December 2007 (UTC)

RE:Helpme

It was Gemini 925. I thought I had changed that template, but apparently I didn't. Thanks for the heads up. Master of Puppets ^{Care to share?} 06:01, 21 December 2007 (UTC)

Years with bottom TOC

As posted on User talk:Wikid77#Tables of contents in year articles:

I noticed you modified the format of year articles to use a smaller table of contents (back in May '07 for the years I cared to check). Whilst I think that was a good idea, your edits have caused the full table of contents to appear at the end of the articles and I'm puzzled why you kept the long TOC at all. Should it be removed for all year articles? Astronaut (talk) 01:52, 4 January 2008 (UTC)

04-Jan-2007: The years with bottom Table-of-Contents should have that section collapsed, as hidden, when the year-article is first displayed. However, back in May 2007, the show/hide buttons did not work for TOC boxes (using browser MS Internet Explorer), but they do work now to hide the long TOC box. I agree that they are excessive as displayed and need to be reduced, by making them default as hidden. I will try to change them soon. -Wikid77 (talk) 11:17, 4 January 2008 (UTC)

Burj Dubai (Broken reference)

As posted on User talk:Jpatokal#Burj Dubai:

In the edit summary to your recent edit of Burj Dubai, you claim to have fixed a broken <ref> tag. I'm curious why you made this change, because it worked OK before (and still works OK now). Astronaut (talk) 14:19, 15 January 2008 (UTC)

As posted on User talk:Jpatokal#Burj Dubai:

It's OK with my browser (IE 6, if you're interested). On strange browser related things, your signature on my talk-page came out as four tildes. Maybe I have a browser problem too? Astronaut (talk) 15:31, 15 January 2008 (UTC)

The previous version said <ref name="official site"/>, without the critical / in red. Without it, my browser swallows up the entire next line of the text until the next <ref> tag... Jpatokal (talk) 17:05, 15 January 2008 (UTC)

IE6 closes rogue tags on its own, Firefox doesn't. And I broke my own sig above by missing a / from the closing nowiki tag... oh, the irony... Jpatokal (talk) 17:05, 15 January 2008 (UTC)

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