User talk:Bmcln1

Welcome

Hello, Bmcln1, and welcome to Wikipedia. Although I see you've been busy here for quite some time, I see no-one has yet "welcomed" you, so I'd like to thank you for your contributions. If you are stuck, and looking for help, you can just type {{helpme}} and your question on this page, and someone will show up shortly to answer. Here are a few links you might find interesting:

I hope you're enjoying editing here and being a Wikipedian! --Technopat (talk) 18:20, 26 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks very much for the welcome. I'm a bit uncertain if this is how to answer it. I'm busy on the List of English Writers and I hope others will chip in as time goes on. I also have a lengthening list of English writers who haven't got a page, so I hope at least to write stubs for them in the future. I'll be sure to read the pages you recommend before doing so. I also hope to get back to things Hungarian, perhaps translating in some of the literary material on Hungarian Wikipedia, if it's relevant to us. Best wishes. 18:28, 26 February 2010 (UTC)

Greetings again, Bmcln1. I'll pop in occasionally at some of your articles to see how you're doing and do any necessary tweaking. In the meantime, if you have any immediate doubts that you think I might be able to help out with, drop me a line on my User talk:Technopat. Cheers!--Technopat (talk) 00:33, 27 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]

That's reassuring to know, Technopat, and thanks in advance. - Bmcln1

Barnstar

	The Working Wikipedian's Barnstar
	Thanks for your tireless work on expanding List of English writers! Keep it up, Airplaneman ^talk 18:31, 18 March 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for your tweaks too, Airplaneman. I'm not sure what a Barnstar is but it looks a neat thing to have! - Bmcln1

Formatting Wikipedia

Thankyou for your work expanding Anne Wharton's article. Wikipedia has lots of templates to standardise formating and make things easier, including Template:Infobox writer, Template:Cite book and Template:Cite web. There are also ways of formatting successive inline citations of the same work so that they all lead to the same footnote. I have formatted Anne Wharton accordingly.

The way to sign a message on a talkpage is by typing four tildes (~). Wikipedia automatically converts them into your signature with a time and date stamp.

Wikipedia's ways of doing things can be idiosyncratic, arcane or puzzling. I don't understand all of it, I just pick it up as I go along. However if you have a question about Wikipedia's workings please feel welcome to leave a message on my talk page. If I know the answer I will be happy to try to help.

Best wishes Motacilla (talk) 00:30, 21 May 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Boyle's national affiliation

Hello, Bmcln1. I don't think that it is fact necessary to state that Robert Boyle was Irish-born (Michael Gough is not described as Malaysian-born), but Boyle was in fact born in Ireland, so I guess that it wouldn't hurt. Unfortunately, some people are still going to insist on him being described as simply Irish, so I don’t know what good it will do. Cheers. --John of Lancaster (talk) 19:47, 7 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Birtwhistle

Thanks for kind message, which explains a lot! Please can we continue this by regular e-mail, because it's likely to be piecemeal as and when I can find the time? John Birtwhistle (talk) 17:48, 6 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Speedy deletion nomination of Ellen Marriage

You may also wish to consider using a Wizard to help you create articles. See the Article Wizard.

Thank you.

A tag has been placed on Ellen Marriage, requesting that it be speedily deleted from Wikipedia. This has been done under the criteria for speedy deletion, because it is a very short article that does not provide sufficient context to identify its subject. Please see Wikipedia:Stub for our minimum information standards for short articles. 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 article 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. -- Ice (talk) 07:02, 23 August 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Ellen Marriage

Please use my talk page instead of my user page for discussions. -- Ice (talk) 07:19, 23 August 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Why did you put it up for speedy deletion? -- Ice (talk) 08:08, 23 August 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I didn't put it up for speedy deletion. Somebody else (or a bot?) did while I was working on it. As it stands at the moment I think it's undeleted. Bmcln1 (talk) 08:22, 23 August 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Sedgebrook

Hi there. The link you just put on the Sedgebrook page to Amazon isn't working for me. (Sorry to be the bearer of bad news ;-)) DancingGerbil (talk) 10:26, 7 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks DG, it was a fairly dodgy source in any case. I now see that the Wikipedia List of closed railway stations in Britain gives 1956, though unreferenced, but that's more what I remember---I would have been 12 at the time and interested in these matters, and living at Elton, so frightened that Elton and Orston railway station might be next! Bmcln1 (talk) 10:33, 7 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I think I fixed it (I don't know why I didn't do that first, I'm a bit of a noob here!). I thought you must be close, I noticed you've done a lot of work on Bottesford. I just moved to Sedgebrook but my family ties are with Granby. My uncle and auntie (Barnes) used to live at Elton. —Preceding unsigned comment added by DancingGerbil (talk • contribs) 10:35, 7 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Old Mrs Barnes was a sweetheart. I spoke to her son Maxwell about ten years ago when I was clipping my stepmother's hedge next to the church. She died I should think 30 years go, and Maxwell must be a hundred if he's still around. My stepmother died four years ago so I have no reason to go back. I live in Budapest. Granby: I rather liked Parson Marson, but he was certainly a bit odd. It took him 20 seconds to deliver the parish newsletter. He had a special way of mounting his bicycle with both feet off the ground at once that I could never imitate! Is it true that the Halfnights lived next to the Doubledays, or was my stepmother kidding? I did a bit on Elton then got sidetracked onto Bottesford, really. My real interest is 18th and 19th century English writers who don't have pages, and I've done about 15. I hope you enjoy yourself on here, it's remarkable what you can track down on the net these days. Keep in touch on email if you like: bmcln1 (squiggle) gmail.com. Bmcln1 (talk) 10:46, 7 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Email sent ... I just read what you've written on Elton, it reads really well. I've added quite a bit to Sedgebrook but it's just a series of sentences, not good reading at all :-( I need more practice! —Preceding unsigned comment added by DancingGerbil (talk • contribs) 11:33, 7 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I've added to Sedgebrook with some info on the hall, I'd really appreciate your thoughts DancingGerbil (talk) 14:10, 7 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, I like that. Very good list, to which other information can be added if it emerges. I think the first sentence of the page is fine. Then I think it needs a subtitle and some gathering up a bit. Public transport and governance are still missing, for instance. I singularly failed to find any famous sons for Elton. The list of incumbents and their patrons may yield somebody. I thought I saw out of one eye as I was doing Bottesford that one of the Sedgebrook vicars had written a novel and advertised in The Times for a typist. The Bottesford history site, by the way, is brilliant, and may have some Sedgebrook stuff on it. Bmcln1 (talk) 15:24, 7 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks very much Brian. I'll see what I can find on public transport and governance (and look what other people have done). If you get the urge to tidy up my simplistic attempts at English I wouldn't be at all insulted ;-) Is there a reason you haven't used the infobox for Elton? DancingGerbil (talk) 11:15, 8 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Pure ignorance is the reason, John! Usually somebody or some bot comes along and does it eventually. Please see the Sedgebrook discussion. Unfortunately we were both working on the page at the same time, so I have stored my version on the Discussion page there, for you splice in if and where you like. I'm dead impressed by the way you handled the references and I must make efforts to follow your example.

Brian, what you wrote is a vast improvement, thanks very much, I simply overwrote what was there with yours. I'm working my way through the census data (from the Elizabeth Hampson site) to get some summary information and will publish it at some point. It's a bit addictive this Wikipedia isn't it? ;-) DancingGerbil (talk) 19:07, 8 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, very addictive. What I'm doing is sleeping less, eating faster, and not returning calls. That frees more time for Wiki! I look forward to seeing what you trawl out of the census data. Bmcln1 (talk) 19:18, 8 October 2010 (UTC))[reply]

Eleanor Hibbert

Hi Brian Thanks for you message. The issue here is that as I understand it, the Wikipedia guidelines regarding language, publications etc is to use the language/title relevant to the subject's nationality. In this case Hibbert is English and as such her biography should adhere to English language and grammar rules and also her body of work should list her novels by the title used in the UK. It would become messy and confusing if every single American title was listed, and where do we stop? Do we list every title by the name it is known in France, Germany and Spain? There is already a sentence that explains many of her novels had different names in the USA. Secondly, many of the American names were listed incorrectly - the editor had stated that they were "republished as XXXX in 2010". This was incorrect, it was simply the American name and not a re-naming. I also greatly dispute your suggestion that two-thirds of her readers are American. Hibbert is one of the "most-borrowed" authors from libraries in the UK - her popularity stretches from Europe to Australia, as evidenced by the recent serial re-publishing of her Plaidy works in the UK and Australia. America does not have any special ownership of her.

Thanks Paul75 (talk) 10:52, 25 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Paul I've moved this (and my original question) to Talk:Eleanor_Hibbert so that others can comment as well. Cheers, Brian Bmcln1 (talk) 12:01, 25 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Frances Jacson

No problem. While you're at it, could you take a whack at her Tory nephew's article? It's rather embarassing that except for the successor boxes, the article never mentions that he served three spans of time as an M.P., over several decades! (Why do I keep editing articles on Tories? Ah, well, NPOV, toujour NPOV!) --Orange Mike | Talk 17:01, 19 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]

OK, I'll look at him next week. I also want to do her gardening sister. I prefer gardeners to Tories, but bow to your request! ;) Bmcln1 (talk) 17:04, 19 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Perchance do you know U.K. science fiction fan Joseph Nicholas, editor of the science fiction fanzines International Revolutionary Gardener and FTT! - Fuck The Tories? --Orange Mike | Talk 17:23, 19 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Sorry not. I live in Budapest so I'm a bit on a limb. I usually do or expand the pages of less well-known late 18th, early 19th century writers, but also Quakers, and also villages in the Vale of Belvoir, if you know where that is. Full of Tories, of course. Bmcln1 (talk) 17:31, 19 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Are thee a Friend? --Orange Mike | Talk 17:53, 19 November 2010 (UTC) convinced, not birthright[reply]

No, just admire them from a distance of a couple of centuries! You? Bmcln1 (talk) 17:59, 19 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Oh, yeah; Milwaukee Friends Meeting, to be specific. I'm what we call a "convinced" (i.e., came to Quakerism from another faith) rather than "birthright" Friend (born into the tradition), having arrived there from being Southern Baptist by upbringing. --Orange Mike | Talk 18:11, 19 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Great to know, Mike. I may call on your expertise when I do my next Quaker. I belong to the Penn Club in London, which is a wonderfully Quakery place to stay about five minutes from the British Museum. Wonderful breakfast conversations, we have. Quite a few Americans and Japanese stay there too. Bmcln1 (talk) 18:16, 19 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Sure thing - happy to be of help. I love doing categories, actually, so it works out. :-)

Excellent article - keep up the good work, and happy editing! --Ser Amantio di Nicolao^{Che dicono a Signa?}_{Lo dicono a Signa.} 18:06, 19 November 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Talkback

Hello, Bmcln1. You have new messages at Talk:Malvern, Worcestershire.
Message added 15:42, 12 February 2011 (UTC). You can remove this notice at any time by removing the {{Talkback}} or {{Tb}} template.

FYI Kudpung (talk) 15:42, 12 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Eleanor Bron

I occasionally delete infoboxes from articles I have edited if the infobox in question is almost empty and thus of no utility; see the following from WP:MOS (Wikipedia:Manual of Style (infoboxes)): "The most important group to consider are the casual readers of Wikipedia, who will never do any significant editing. Infobox templates that contain many blank fields, question marks, or "Unknown"s present an unprofessional appearance, diminishing Wikipedia's reputation as a high-quality encyclopedia." I mistakenly cited WP:BLP. Thanks for pointing it out. Yours, Rms125a@hotmail.com (talk) 16:59, 23 February 2011 (UTC) Right, I see. Makes sense. Thanks. Bmcln1 (talk) 21:54, 23 February 2011 (UTC) ==Tables Brian, have you thought about using tables for your (many) contributions? You could do something like this ...[reply]

New Pages
Page	Date
Elizabeth Benger	10/03/11
James Hanley (painter)	11/02/11
Julia Maitland	7/12/10
Frances Jacson	19/11/10

It could be made sortable too if you wanted.