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Archive 5←Archive 8Archive 9Archive 10Archive 11Archive 12→Archive 15

Template:In the news

Sorry about that; that was completely unintentional. Thanks for letting me know and I will go fix that! SpencerT♦C 20:54, 4 December 2012 (UTC)

Ok, I changed it back and I think it works now. Thanks again for pointing that out! SpencerT♦C 21:02, 4 December 2012 (UTC)
Yes, that looks much better. -- John of Reading (talk) 21:05, 4 December 2012 (UTC)

Finished E

I imagine it's rather like painting the Forth Bridge.

What do you do about correctly spelt wrong words, e.g. affect/effect?

John of Cromer in China (talk) mytime= Wed 22:49, wikitime= 14:49, 5 December 2012 (UTC)

That's right - another couple of years, and Wikipedia could be entirely free of spelling mistakes!
Some of the most common affect/effect errors are listed in the Grammar and Misc list. I expect I tackled those sometime during 2011, so they may be listed in my contributions list somewhere. Of course, automated searching only goes so far, and there's no substitute for actually reading the text to see if it makes any sense. -- John of Reading (talk) 15:25, 5 December 2012 (UTC)

Thanks

Just wanted to say thanks with the template/magic words. i would have -never- figured that out on my own! Kevlar (talk) 21:39, 5 December 2012 (UTC)

Me neither! Half the battle is knowing where the problem might have been solved before. -- John of Reading (talk) 21:51, 5 December 2012 (UTC)

Thank's for your notice john

I'am really new And still need help about wikipedia

Hafidz. M 20:53, 6 December 2012 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Apeacekidz (talk • contribs)

Oops, yes, since I posted that message, your talk page has been covered with messages! To judge by your choice of account name, it looks as if you are trying to promote your own website. That's not going to work, I'm afraid, as you'll see if you look through "Wikipedia:Your first article" -- John of Reading (talk) 21:37, 6 December 2012 (UTC)

Bill Lichtenstein

Respectfully, I've undone the reversal of edits done by 198.144.178.163. Those edits seem reasonable and justifiable. If you disagree with the edits, please address them individually. — Preceding unsigned comment added by R5452 (talk • contribs) 02:15, 12 December 2012 (UTC)

Bill Lichtenstein (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views)
I see that another editor has dealt with this already. As long as the article stays out of CAT:REF I won't go anywhere near it! -- John of Reading (talk) 07:23, 12 December 2012 (UTC)

Fair enough. Cheers, R5452 — Preceding unsigned comment added by R5452 (talk • contribs) 15:10, 13 December 2012 (UTC)

Winds

Interested in cleaning up some refs? Check N, S, E, and W wind talk "const". May be easy edits. Ore Knot (sorry, that would be Mackinaw).Sammy D III (talk) 13:50, 12 December 2012 (UTC)

It was only USCGC Westwind (WAGB-281) that was broken, I think, and I have added the missing reference. However, there is some disagreement in the articles and sources about whether the ships were armed. The USCGC History source for USCGC Staten Island (WAGB-278) says it was unarmed, and the picture seems to confirm this; the corresponding source for USCGC Westwind (WAGB-281) says that was unarmed as well, yet includes pictures of a ship with a forward gun mounting of some kind. Over to you! -- John of Reading (talk) 15:19, 12 December 2012 (UTC)
Eastwind Coast Guard link goes to "history" (a big picture which applies to all, but short on details) rather than the individual ship's link, :http://www.uscg.mil/history/webcutters/Eastwind_1944.asp
All five (there were two Northwinds, first launched 28 December 1942, to Russia in 1945 (wrong, Feb '44), came back and renamed Staten Island in 1949-wrong again, 1951) war built sisters had 4 x 5" etc, reference ""U.S. Warships of World War II by Paul H. Silverstone published by Doubleday and Company in 1965(?) pg 378 sources dimensions, armament, launch, and postwar names and operators". Armament drastically reduced after war, generally 1 x 5". Post war Burton Island and Edisto probably completed with reduced armament.
Any picture with red hull is post war, during war they were white w/swoopy camouflage (Eastwind photo Silverstone pg 382), Southwind photo USCG).
Is Silverstone any use?
Thanks for your time.Sammy D III (talk) 16:39, 12 December 2012 (UTC)
Oops, just realized that the first Northwind has an article as Staten Island, which has individual ship link already referenced. Also, post war they were white until mid seventies, when red came. Read before write might work.Sammy D III (talk) 17:55, 12 December 2012 (UTC)
I've just made an edit to USCGC Eastwind (WAGB-279) so that reference 2 works - there was an extra character after the ".asp". That page does cover the hull strength and diesel-electric machinery, so it might as well be used as a reference, and I guess it might be useful to readers to have the references link to both the specific and general USCGC pages.
By all means add facts and references from your copy of Silverstone. -- John of Reading (talk) 08:44, 13 December 2012 (UTC)

Just spent all night trying to get these right, probably took you a minute to find and fix the missed link. USN has pages on ships they used, crappy compared to the USCG. USN ships also have NavSource, good stuff.Sammy D III (talk) 15:17, 13 December 2012 (UTC)

“Wind Class” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_class_icebreaker) refs just dumps you into a USCG Home site, some feel not very intuitive. Can (and should) the individual ship USCG, USN, and NavSource pages be inserted into each “Ships in class” entry, and if so, where? And can NavSource be used at all? The pages for Staten Island are: Xref name="USCG Staten Island">"USCG Staten Island". U.S. Coast Guard Cutter History. United States CoastGuard. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |access date= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)</refXXref name="USN Staten Island">"USN Staten Island". Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. United States Navy. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |access date= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)</refXXref name="NavSource Staten Island">"NavSource Staten Island". Service Ship Photo Archive. NavSource Naval History. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |access date= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)</refX. (X=<>). If they showed up somewhere, her sisters could follow. Thank you for your time on a small matter.Sammy D III (talk) 00:39, 14 December 2012 (UTC)

I've made an edit to Wind class icebreaker so that reference 1 takes you to the Icebreakers.asp page. That article doesn't use {{cite web}}, so the syntax for those links is
[http://somesite/somewhere.html Displayed title]
I see that since posting your message here, you have added a NavSource reference to USCGC Staten Island (WAGB-278) - you seem to have got the hang of things now. -- John of Reading (talk) 13:19, 14 December 2012 (UTC)

Thanks, John

Thanks for your tiny but welcome improvement of the article about European hiking trail E11. It suggests you are hiking the trail in my footsteps. In the meantime, Wikipedia editors complain that the text is not encyclopedic enough and refer it to WikiVoyage, while WikiVoyage don't argue but send it back to Wikipedia. And then there are those who claim that it falls under the scope of WikiProject Hiking Trails. All these people have certain style guidelines in their minds but fail to disclose them to me. My intention is now to rewrite the article in a travel guide style for WikiVoyage and in an encyclopedic style for Wikipedia - but what will the editors of the WikiProject Hiking Trails want? If mindreading is part of your talents, please help me understand what all those wiki-editors, bureaucrats and robots want. 21:25, 12 December 2012 (UTC)DrMennoWolters (talk)

E11 European long distance path (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views)
I'm no mindreader, but I suggest you look at Hudson Valley Rail Trail and Walden–Wallkill Rail Trail. These are both "Featured articles", meaning they have been through a very thorough review and have been declared to be among "the best articles Wikipedia has to offer". Those articles have much more about the history of the trails and only a brief account of the route. -- John of Reading (talk) 08:32, 13 December 2012 (UTC)
Those articles are indeed good examples for an encyclopedic article about E11 in Wikipedia, although there is not that much to tell about its history. Unfortunately, the anglophone rambler who wants to walk E11 needs a detailed description (which is not partly in Dutch, German and Polish and only found in out-of-sale booklets and far-away offices), which s/he would expect in WikiVoyage. It occurs to me that WikiVoyage has not yet thought out its style standards for itineraries, apart from a very general template. DrMennoWolters (talk) 17:43, 13 December 2012 (UTC)
I tracked down your conversation with Globe-trotter and have made a suggestion at voy:User talk:Globe-trotter#Why delete an article without any discussion?. -- John of Reading (talk) 18:20, 13 December 2012 (UTC)
(More) So you should be able to copy text from the Wikipedia article into Wikivoyage provided (1) in the edit summary you say what you are doing; (2) at the bottom of the Wikivoyage article you add {{Wikipedia|E11 European long distance path}} and (3) you modify the text to meet all the other requirements of Wikivoyage, whatever those are. But at least if you do (1) and (2) the text shouldn't be deleted as a copyright violation. -- John of Reading (talk) 18:45, 13 December 2012 (UTC)

More about beguines

I have worked more on my piece about beguines and beguinages. Two things I'd like to do: rename it "Beguines and beguinages" then get it fit to be released. Or at least extensively incorporated into the current "Beguines and beghards".

I added a lot of photos - half or so my own, some already on wiki. I got quite a lot of info and photos from nl.wikpedia but I was surprised that more or less none of them (well, not less than none) had no reference or citation. Is that a Dutch thing?

John of Cromer in China (talk) mytime= Sat 13:07, wikitime= 05:07, 15 December 2012 (UTC)

I think the present organisation of the topic as two articles seems sensible, one on the history of the people, and one on the architecture and remnants of their buildings. So I wouldn't try to move your sandbox to mainspace. If you want to give the page a new title in your user area, see Help:Moving a page.
I get the impression that some of the other-language Wikipedia use fewer inline citations than is customary here; if an article has some books listed in a "References" section then that is enough. This will cause problems for any reader wanting to check something an article says - which of those books is relevant, and what page? It will also cause problems for someone like you, trying to transfer the information to the English-language Wikipedia where referencing standards are higher.
I think your table of beguinages would be a great addition to the Béguinage article, provided each entry can be sourced somehow. The current list, starting with a bare link to Aarschot, provides no detail at all. In the first column I suggest you use the {{ill}} template: something like {{ill|nl|Saint Agnes Begijnhof, Sint-Truiden|Sint-Agnesbegijnhof}}, showing as Saint Agnes Begijnhof, Sint-Truiden [nl], a red link plus an indication that there is an article in Dutch.
The first few sections of your sandbox still look like original research; you need to add enough references so that readers can tell where each sentence, or at least each paragraph, has come from. The same applies to the Beguines and Beghards article, with its {{essay}} tag, so if you have access to the sources I suggest you be bold and attempt a rewrite. -- John of Reading (talk) 12:59, 16 December 2012 (UTC)
I just got off a 28-hour train ride, so no real delay! I'll spend some time incorporating your suggestions. May take some time. John of Cromer in China (talk) mytime= Mon 13:17, wikitime= 05:17, 17 December 2012 (UTC)

A barnstar for you!

The Original Barnstar
Not only for the requested help you provided, but also for all the tedious edits I see you do on a consistent basis. Many thanks! 78.26 (I'm no IP, talk to me!) 15:30, 17 December 2012 (UTC)
Thank you! -- John of Reading (talk) 18:07, 17 December 2012 (UTC)

Userpage vandalism

No problem. CarniCat (meow) 02:44, 18 December 2012 (UTC)

Eureka!

The Guidance Barnstar
You were right, it was the expiration parameter that the template was having trouble processing. Thanks for the help, I appreciate it, and as a token of my appreciation I hereby bestow upon you this Guidance Barnstar. You've earned it :) TomStar81 (Talk) 07:38, 18 December 2012 (UTC)
That was an easy one - when I viewed the template page, there was a message saying "This edit notice has expired". -- John of Reading (talk) 07:45, 18 December 2012 (UTC)

Madhvacharya

Hey John, thank you for the edit on this article, but I just wanted to clarify that I'm rolling back the deletion of the enter space in the section because it's a work in progress and I left it there to demarcate the area that I was done working on from the area I have yet to work on. Please feel free to copy edit further but it'd be really great if you could keep me in the loop until I'm done cleaning that section up. Thanks! --Sreesarmatvmtalkcontribs 16:12, 18 December 2012 (UTC)

Madhvacharya (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views)
OK, sorry to have caused you a problem. -- John of Reading (talk) 16:17, 18 December 2012 (UTC)
No trouble. I appreciate your help! Sreesarmatvmtalkcontribs 17:12, 18 December 2012 (UTC)

The Linguist Magazine (University Of Birmingham)

Dear Mr Reading

I am the editor of The Linguist magazine and author of the Wikipedia page in question. I have been informed that the page is being looked at with view of deleting it. I am wondering what regulations the page is breaching and why it is therefore being queried. I can confirm from my end that all the information regarding the founding of the magazine/society is true. It is also important to point out that I have an agreement with the Chartered Institute of Linguists, who allow us to use the name "The Linguist" for our publication, so long as we include a brief disclaimer establishing that "The attitudes and opinions expressed in this magazine are in no way related to those of the Chartered Institute of Linguists or their publication The Linguist". I would be willing to prove this agreement if necessary.

Many thanks

Madeleine Kilminster

MadeleineJessie (talk) 09:45, 19 December 2012 (UTC)

19/12/2012

The Linguist (University of Birmingham) (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views)
Thank you for getting back to me. The rule at Wikipedia is that the encyclopedia does not aim to have an article on every possible topic, only those which other people have already written about. Wikipedia calls this "notability", and you can read about it at Wikipedia:Notability; there's a handy summary at WP:42. If you can show that other people, independent of the magazine, have thought it worthwhile to write about it, please add these sources to the article, or list them at Talk:The Linguist (University of Birmingham). Without this independent coverage the article is likely to be deleted. -- John of Reading (talk) 11:10, 19 December 2012 (UTC)

8th Arkansas Field Battery‎;

Sir

Would you mind doing a copyedit on 8th Arkansas Field Battery‎, Thanks! Aleutian06 (talk) 03:59, 20 December 2012 (UTC)

Will do! -- John of Reading (talk) 07:21, 20 December 2012 (UTC)
Done. The article mentions the names Parson, Parrson and Parrsons. I assume these are meant to be the same person? -- John of Reading (talk) 08:48, 20 December 2012 (UTC)

Mail

Hello, John of Reading. Please check your email; you've got mail!
It may take a few minutes from the time the email is sent for it to show up in your inbox. You can remove this notice at any time by removing the {{You've got mail}} or {{ygm}} template.

Philippe Beaudette, Wikimedia Foundation (talk) 03:28, 22 December 2012 (UTC)

Replied. -- John of Reading (talk) 10:21, 22 December 2012 (UTC)

Season's tidings!

To you and yours, Have a Merry ______ (fill in the blank) and Happy New Year! FWiW Bzuk (talk) 03:58, 22 December 2012 (UTC)

"Christmas" will do nicely. Thank you! -- John of Reading (talk) 10:22, 22 December 2012 (UTC)

Merry Christmas!


GoingBatty (talk) is wishing you a Merry Christmas! This greeting (and season) promotes WikiLove and hopefully this note has made your day a little better. Spread the WikiLove by wishing another user a Merry Christmas, whether it be someone you have had disagreements with in the past, a good friend, or just some random person. Happy New Year!

Spread the cheer by adding {{subst:Xmas2}} to their talk page with a friendly message.

Thank you! Can you explain the link to Mary Poppins? -- John of Reading (talk) 08:11, 23 December 2012 (UTC)

Hi. Thank you for your recent edits. Wikipedia appreciates your help. We noticed though that when you edited Festival of New Trumpet Music, you added a link pointing to the disambiguation page Dave Douglas (check to confirm | fix with Dab solver). Such links are almost always unintended, since a disambiguation page is merely a list of "Did you mean..." article titles. Read the FAQ • Join us at the DPL WikiProject.

It's OK to remove this message. Also, to stop receiving these messages, follow these opt-out instructions. Thanks, DPL bot (talk) 19:19, 24 December 2012 (UTC)

Fixed. -- John of Reading (talk) 19:23, 24 December 2012 (UTC)

Merry Christmas

I must say, I love your typo fixing. It's amazing the number of errors in articles on my watchlist that you fix, that my spell checker has missed. Keep up the good work! --AussieLegend (✉) 20:48, 24 December 2012 (UTC)

Thank you! And a happy Christmas to you and yours also. I'm just off to the choir practice for the midnight service... -- John of Reading (talk) 22:18, 24 December 2012 (UTC)

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas John! Thanks for the award. I really do appreciate it. And thanks for all you do and your technical wizardry which has saved my bacon a few times now. My best to you and yours--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 08:03, 25 December 2012 (UTC)
Thank you! -- John of Reading (talk) 08:24, 26 December 2012 (UTC)

A brownie for you!

Thank you for fixing my user page topicons! TheOriginalSoni (talk) 19:07, 28 December 2012 (UTC)
Delicious, thanks. -- John of Reading (talk) 22:03, 28 December 2012 (UTC)

Hello John! Merry Christmas

Hi John! I have not seen spoken to you in a long time. I wanted to wish you a merry Christmas! :) Also, I had a question: How do you change the font of wikipedia text?

Thanks!!

184.57.77.157 (talk) 21:40, 23 December 2012 (UTC)

This was Miquaz1 (talk · contribs), I now realise! -- John of Reading (talk) 21:39, 1 January 2013 (UTC)
Thank you!
Fonts: it is possible to force text into a specific font. Here's an example I adapted from the top of User talk:Lova Falk: Example text in an unusual font. If you click "Edit" for this section you will see the coding.
But you might be asking about the font used throughout Wikipedia articles. Wikipedia doesn't specify the exact font, but leaves it to the browser configuration. I'm using Firefox, where the choice is hidden away at Tools > Options > Content > Fonts & Colors > Advanced... > Sans-serif. I hope that helps. -- John of Reading (talk) 21:59, 23 December 2012 (UTC)
My two penn'orth - use {{font}}.
Merry Christmas etc. John of Cromer not in China (talk) mytime= Mon 14:11, wikitime= 06:11, 24 December 2012 (UTC)

Way to go!

The WikiJaguar Award for Excellence
For your overall greatness as a stalker. Specifically observed here Tiggerjay (talk) 22:53, 31 December 2012 (UTC)}}}
Thank you! I'd better keep that page on my watchlist... -- John of Reading (talk) 08:45, 1 January 2013 (UTC)

Hi. Thank you for your recent edits. Wikipedia appreciates your help. We noticed though that when you edited Geronimo Motor Company, you added a link pointing to the disambiguation page Six-cylinder engine (check to confirm | fix with Dab solver). Such links are almost always unintended, since a disambiguation page is merely a list of "Did you mean..." article titles. Read the FAQ • Join us at the DPL WikiProject.

It's OK to remove this message. Also, to stop receiving these messages, follow these opt-out instructions. Thanks, DPL bot (talk) 11:10, 2 January 2013 (UTC)

...and I added a {{disambiguation needed}} template at the same time. -- John of Reading (talk) 11:12, 2 January 2013 (UTC)

A new user asking some questions...

Hi, I'm Beatrix Altava. I'm a user that's really into putting my pictures on my
page, but I'm having a bit of trouble doing so. I've been to Wikipedia
Commons, but pictures that I've taken with my Computer or Camera don't show up there.
Do you know how to insert pictures NOT on the Commons?

Thanks,

Beatrix Altava — Preceding unsigned comment added by Beatrix Altava (talk • contribs) 15:25, 2 January 2013‎

Hi! Pictures do have to be uploaded before they can be displayed here. Someone has left you a welcoming message at your talk page at Commons, and one of the links it mentions is the "Upload a file" form.
Tell me how you get on with that, and hopefully you can get your pictures uploaded and used. If you can't get it to work, post back here with some details of how far you got and what went wrong. -- John of Reading (talk) 16:26, 2 January 2013 (UTC)


Requested edit for http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portal:Current_events

Section for 2 January mentions Jim Davidson but links to the disambiguation page instead of to Jim Davidson (comedian), please could you amend this? Sorry for picking on you, I saw in talk that you had fixed a previous similar error. Thanks. 81.23.54.142 (talk) 06:59, 3 January 2013 (UTC)

 Done with this edit. The coding for this is [[Jim Davidson (comedian)|Jim Davidson]] -- John of Reading (talk) 07:34, 3 January 2013 (UTC)

Rashid Mehmood

Oops. I thought I fixed all those... apparently I missed the important one. There are two people with articles by that name, Rashid Mehmood the hockey player, and Rashid Mehmood (actor) which is where that redirect should have gone. Thanks for catching that - do you see any reason not to put the proper redirect back in? Quantumobserver (talk) 17:07, 6 January 2013 (UTC)

Go ahead, those two articles must be the same person. -- John of Reading (talk) 20:26, 6 January 2013 (UTC)

What to do?

I am now on a winter break in the Philippines, and have to use an internet cafe. I had a problem the other day, because the particular address had been put on a wiki blocklist 15 months ago, and I couldn't change anything, despite using my own logged-in computer in a wifi hotspot. That included not being able to send any messages such as this. What should I have done then? The block was put in place in Nov-2011 for two years, by someone with a name like Vishuttu or some such, with a long message in broken-English. (Quite badly broken). It was very annoying, but fortunately I have a different address today.

John of Cromer in China Philippines (talk) mytime= Mon 11:06, wikitime= 03:06, 7 January 2013 (UTC)

I think the page you need is Wikipedia:IP block exemption. Next time you find you can't edit, try editing your own user talk page. If you can edit there, post an {{unblock}} request explaining the problem and asking for IP block exemption. -- John of Reading (talk) 06:50, 7 January 2013 (UTC)

I think I couldn't even edit my own page. I was hoping to find some sort of contact by email. User was Vituzzu. His page had such terrible English I gave up after a line and a half. Regardless though, I don't think blocking an address for two years is a good thing to do. John of Cromer in China Philippines (talk) mytime= Tue 14:10, wikitime= 06:10, 8 January 2013 (UTC)

Migdia Chinea Varela

Moved from User:John of Reading

Dear John -- Please read -- I forget protocol as I am simply so busy and have many family responsibilities. Thank you -- There's lots of stuff that is backed up by professional information and articles, as I'm an outspoken person. However, because the material is not well-researched, as it should, it appears one-sided and that is NOT fair to me. There's more to my life and my interests -- qualities and ambitions -- than a lawsuit in which I was not the only person involved and which was ignited on principle -- the principle of equal work for equal pay and the notion that setting aside half-pay by virtue of ethnicity is simply wrong. I received nothing as a result -- not a dime. Instead, I was blacklisted. Please, understand that that unless coverage is made fair to me as a human being, what is there appears biased and I can't have it. I work too hard and have sacrificed too much for that -- thank you and kindest regards -- Mig (talk) 16:41, 2 January 2013 Mig (talk) 16:45, 2 January 2013 (UTC)(UTC)

Hello again! I'm not going to undo your edits this time, but I cannot guarantee that other editors won't. Over at WP:AUTOPROB there is an email address and a link to a special noticeboard. If the material is re-instated I suggest you try one or other of those; either will ensure that your concerns are examined by some of the Wikipedia editors most experienced in weighing up these kinds of issues. -- John of Reading (talk) 17:27, 2 January 2013 (UTC)

It's not that important, John, to keep. But I understand. BTW, I finished two movies, KNINTH FLOOR and OLD HAVANA AND THE GREAT PIMP OF SAN ISIDRO -- you may check on IMDb. I'm still working on the "Old Havana..." sound design. It's been a lot of work with no budget. I wish you'd see the clip but if I post info here it'll be part of the record. Is there safer way? Have a Great 2013!!!!!Mig (talk) 17:43, 2 January 2013 (UTC)

You could email me a link via Special:EmailUser/John of Reading - but to use that, you will have to add an email address to your Wikipedia preferences. -- John of Reading (talk) 17:50, 2 January 2013 (UTC)

Tried to email you but not sure if I did it right. Below us the link to the official competition in which "anonymous ( street meat)" was exhibited. Kninth Floor was at the Polish film festival and the Philip k Dick one as well as others. :) http://www.imdb.com/event/ev0000147/Mig (talk) 07:06, 10 January 2013 (UTC)

I received the emails, thank you, and have replied briefly. -- John of Reading (talk) 07:45, 10 January 2013 (UTC)

Help desk

Can you reply at Wikipedia:Help_desk#clearing_cache_for_images.--TonyTheTiger (T/C/BIO/WP:CHICAGO/WP:FOUR) 18:22, 11 January 2013 (UTC)

Sorry, I missed your post there. -- John of Reading (talk) 18:32, 11 January 2013 (UTC)

Welcome!

Hello, John of Reading, and welcome to Wikipedia! Thank you for your contributions. I hope you like the place and decide to stay. Here are some pages that you might find helpful:

Please remember to sign your messages on talk pages by typing four tildes (~~~~); this will automatically insert your username and the date. If you need help, check out Wikipedia:Questions, ask me on my talk page, or ask your question on this page and then place {{help me}} before the question. Again, welcome! — Preceding unsigned comment added by 13Jan13 (talk • contribs) 20:44, 13 January 2013‎

I've left at message at User talk:13Jan13 -- John of Reading (talk) 20:58, 13 January 2013 (UTC)
HAHAHAHAHA. Yeah.... good times... :) See ya in a couple of days, thank you for not being rude like so many people on here!

Weird reference errors?

Here are a few examples of some articles that I can't seem to figure out what's exactly the matter. Football_records_in_Spain has some problems in it after the section entitled "Individual", and Night_&_Day_(album) has some problems after the section entitled "Track listing". They might not be all errors associated with reference links though...they might be formatting errors, which I'm not expert at at all. Thanx. Guy1890 (talk) 07:58, 14 January 2013 (UTC)

I enjoy this kind of challenge! I've fixed both, so you can check the page histories to see what I did. Three general points:
  • If an article has a {{Reflist}} template there's no point replacing it with a <references /> tag, as Reflist does the same job - the error must be more subtle than that.
  • If the displayed article breaks off abruptly, the error is probably caused by the markup just after the last visible text.
  • You can use the "Show preview" button to test whether a proposed fix has worked. This avoids cluttering the article history with extra revisions. -- John of Reading (talk) 08:15, 14 January 2013 (UTC)
Thanx for the tips. In this Wally_Boag article, someone has apparently added a reference to the (hidden from the article?) "persondata" entry at the very end of the article. I've seen this kind of error before, but I'm not sure of the best way to fix it. Also, there aren't supposed to be any references on any disambiguation pages, are there? I occasionally see those kind of errors as well for some reason. Guy1890 (talk) 20:38, 14 January 2013 (UTC)
Someone has fixed Wally Boag by removing the misplaced reference. And you are right, disambiguation pages aren't supposed to have references - Wikipedia:Disambiguation#References. -- John of Reading (talk) 21:35, 14 January 2013 (UTC)
(talk page stalker) Persondata also shouldn't be referenced: this is because persondata should contain only facts which were previously stated in the main article text - which is where the same facts should be referenced. --Redrose64 (talk) 21:37, 14 January 2013 (UTC)
OK, thanx again for the help. Guy1890 (talk) 21:57, 14 January 2013 (UTC)
There appears to be some kind of formatting error on this page Don_Buchla after the gallery section. Guy1890 (talk) 22:48, 14 January 2013 (UTC)
 Done. I should be in bed, but I'm waiting for a virus scan to finish on my other computer. Zzz. -- John of Reading (talk) 22:55, 14 January 2013 (UTC)

New Editor has Question about InfoBox

Hi John,

Thanks for sending me a message on Jan. 10th. Just read it today. I have used the "InfoBox - Scientist" template you provided a link for within your message to me. But I am having one problem. I don't know how to get the .jpg image that I want to display at the top of my InfoBox, to end up there. I mean, it is in my computer now, so how do I upload it so it will display in the InfoBox I have created in my Sandbox? Sorry to be so dense, but everyone has to start somewhere. Thanks for your help John. Thewritewoman (talk) 19:57, 15 January 2013 (UTC)

Hi! Thanks for getting back to me.
First, have a look at Wikipedia:Notability (academics)#Criteria. Wikipedia doesn't aim to have an article on every academic; this "Criteria" section shows the typical level of achievement that's needed. If you think Chester Whitley meets one or more of these criteria, then you should make sure that the draft article says so clearly, with the statements backed up by independent sources. You could also use the "click here" link in the "This is a user sandbox..." header so that an experienced reviewer will look at it.
For the photograph, the answer depends on who owns its copyright. If you took the photo yourself, then it's fairly easy - go to this form to upload the image to Wikimedia Commons, the shared image repository for all the different-language Wikipedia projects. I see from your sandbox that you've chosen the name "Chester_Whitley_PhD_MD.jpg", which will be fine. Once the image is uploaded, update the line in your sandbox to say just "| image = Chester_Whitley_PhD_MD.jpg", and it should display. I suggest you also delete the "216X302" from the following line so that the template can choose the default size.
If you didn't take the photo yourself, then it's more complicated, as Wikipedia's rules do not allow copyrighted pictures to be used in articles about people who are still alive. The simplest options would be to take a new picture yourself, if you are nearby, or to get the copyright holder to do the upload.
I'll keep an eye on your sandbox to see how you get on. Feel free to ask for more help here. -- John of Reading (talk) 20:31, 15 January 2013 (UTC)

Further question based upon your answer

Hi John, thanks for your detailed answers to my questions and for considering my needs as a newbie here.

When I look at my Sandbox page where I am working on my article, I can't find what you referred to in your answer, thus: "You could also use the "click here" link in the "This is a user sandbox..." header so that an experienced reviewer will look at it."

Please help me find what you are pointing me to with that instruction. Thanks!

the write woman Thewritewoman (talk) 21:34, 16 January 2013 (UTC)

Let's see: your sandbox is User:Thewritewoman/sandbox. Above your first line of text is a full-width box about one inch deep. The last line of text in that box reads "If you are writing an article, and are ready to request its creation, click here". The words "click here" are clickable. -- John of Reading (talk) 21:38, 16 January 2013 (UTC)
Thank you John, I thought you meant something different. I'm not ready to create my new article yet on Wikipedia [for real] so that's why I am holding-off on clicking on that. When I'm finally ready, then I'll click it. Thanks so much for your kindness and patience with me.Thewritewoman (talk) 22:08, 16 January 2013 (UTC)

Running a script

Can you give me a pointer on where to read about this? Is this a reserved function for special editors, or can any ordinary Joe do it? I hate firefox - does it work with MSIE? What can you tell me about user Howard the Duck?

John of Cromer in China Philippines (talk) mytime= Tue 17:08, wikitime= 09:08, 15 January 2013 (UTC)

I can't give you much help with this one. My programming experience was mostly C/C++ and the like, creating old-fashioned executables, and I haven't mastered any scripting languages. So really I can only point you to the help pages:
Wikipedia:Tools has links to all sorts of tools that others have written over the years, and many of these are implemented in JavaScript and enabled by adding them to your own JavaScript file - I have some in User:John of Reading/vector.js and others in User:John of Reading/common.js (for no good reason). Some of these tools and scripts don't work in IE, or in older versions of IE.
Wikipedia:Scripts talks about scripts for use in various environments. If you're planning to use a script to make edits to Wikipedia, then you should definitely read Wikipedia:Bot policy and seek advice from someone who runs a bot - there's a list at Wikipedia:Bots/Status. Automated editing must be approved in advance.
I don't think I've ever interacted with Howard the Duck (talk · contribs). Assume good faith as always, and check over his user page to see his interests. -- John of Reading (talk) 18:19, 15 January 2013 (UTC)

Well I know javascript OK, but I need to go back several steps to find out how to run it in wiki. John of Cromer in China Philippines (talk) mytime= Fri 14:47, wikitime= 06:47, 18 January 2013 (UTC)

I'd like to know too. There's some JavaScript code at User:Wikinews Importer Bot#Source that I'd like to debug, because it's not working properly at the Current events portal. -- John of Reading (talk) 07:19, 18 January 2013 (UTC)

Can't Upload my .jpg File

Hi John,

I filled-in the upload photo form, but there is no 'button' to click on to execute the photo upload. There's no way to proceed to make anything happen. This is the URL of the page the form that I filled-in is on: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Wikipedia:File_Upload_Wizard&?withJS=MediaWiki:FileUploadWizard.js

How can I get my photo uploaded? Thewritewoman (talk) 22:25, 17 January 2013 (UTC)

The "upload" button is only visible and enabled once you've filled in enough of the earlier parts of the form. If you can't make this work I'll need to know exactly which options you've selected and which text fields you've filled in, so that I can try to do the same. -- John of Reading (talk) 07:17, 18 January 2013 (UTC)

Great job!

Great job on the "[Tt]he the > the, to the, etc." changes. 1500! That's a lot of work. Awesome. Jason Quinn (talk) 14:56, 18 January 2013 (UTC)

Thank you! -- John of Reading (talk) 14:58, 18 January 2013 (UTC)

Oxford Meetup 3

Thank you for attending the second Oxford Meetup, and it was a pleasure meeting with you again. We hope to keep this as a regular event, every two months, on the first Sunday of the month (in order not to clash with London [second Sunday] and Reading [third Sunday]). I have created a page about the third Oxford Meetup; please sign up if you think that you are able to attend - if the date or venue are unsuitable, please comment at its discussion page.

Please spread the word to anybody else who you think might be interested. The next UK meetup is Reading, 20 January 2013. --Redrose64 (talk) 19:30, 13 January 2013 (UTC)

Noted, thank you. -- John of Reading (talk) 15:59, 19 January 2013 (UTC)

Mixed Greek Latin again?

If you have a chance could you refresh the data on User:Naraht/Mixed Greek Latin? No rush...

 Done -- John of Reading (talk) 19:07, 18 January 2013 (UTC)

A new user asking some questions... (reply)

Thanks. That worked perfectly. I just had one question . For the picture I posted just now, I new (mostly) about the licensing and stuff, but

what if I don't? Is is acceptable and appropriate to put that I just got it "from google or another random site" ?

Thanks again! Beatrix Altava (talk) 23:27, 3 January 2013 (UTC)

Wikipedia aims to be the "free encyclopedia", not just "free to read" but also "free to re-use, with as few copyright/licensing restrictions as possible" - there's more on this in the essay "Wikipedia:The Free Encyclopedia". Images on the internet are almost certainly under copyright restrictions from the website owner or the original creator of the image, so can only be uploaded here under strict conditions.
Unfortunately the image you uploaded, File:Tumblr mfwe9zPauY1r89a2ho1 250.jpg, doesn't qualify for the "Public domain 70 years" tag that you selected for it, as Hergé died in 1983. So I'm afraid I have tagged it for deletion. -- John of Reading (talk) 07:35, 4 January 2013 (UTC)


That is perfectly fine. I will pay more close attention to those things next time.

Thanks a lot!

I also have managed to get a few userboxes from babel on my page, but I can't figure out how to make others.
Thanks, thank you and thanks again!
Beatrix Altava (talk) 20:46, 12 January 2013 (UTC)
Let's see...you have three {{Babel}} templates. Did you know that you can combine those into one if you like? Something like {{Babel|es-N|vi-3|en-N|fr-2|te}}. Is "te" short for Telegu? I see from Template:User te-N that the "4" template is missing. You can either leave off the "-4", as I've done here, or tell me what a "Telegu 4" userbox should say so that I can create it for you.
For user boxes, the simplest way is to explore the Wikipedia:Userboxes/Gallery and copy the line of code for any userbox that appeals to you, for example {{User:Dr.UserBox/Red}} from Wikipedia:Userboxes/Colour. Mine, at User:John of Reading/Userboxes, are more elaborate, but you are welcome to copy or adapt anything from there. -- John of Reading (talk) 21:11, 12 January 2013 (UTC)
(talk page stalker) The {{babel}} template is in the process of being superseded by the babel extension. The syntax is very similar: {{#babel:es-N|vi-3|en-N|fr-2|te}} --Redrose64 (talk) 21:35, 12 January 2013 (UTC)
Thank you! I will use this information. This helped a ton.
Beatrix Altava (talk) 21:46, 20 January 2013 (UTC)
— Preceding unsigned comment added by Beatrix Altava (talk • contribs) 21:44, 20 January 2013 (UTC)
John - are you coming to Oxford tomorrow, or Reading next week? --Redrose64 (talk) 21:35, 12 January 2013 (UTC)
I had Reading on the calendar with a question mark, but you've twisted my arm - I've just signed up for Oxford tomorrow. See you there. -- John of Reading (talk) 21:54, 12 January 2013 (UTC)

Help desk deleted page

Hi. Following your response you may of course be correct. However, prior to my posting, I did use {{list subpages}} on Toshio Yamaguchi (talk · contribs) and did find user-space pages similar to the one he was looking for such as Template:File page NFCC concerns tag. I reasoned Toshio could not remember what the name of the missing page was and therefore could look for the pages without bothering an admin --Senra (talk) 15:41, 21 January 2013 (UTC)

Ah, I see. You may be right. -- John of Reading (talk) 15:43, 21 January 2013 (UTC)

Deletion User talk:John of Reading/Reusable messages

That seems like spam by a "single female near you", I recommend CSD#G1 unless you've a use for the page. Or I can just do it for you. Or you could just blank it. :) Salvidrim! ✉ 07:57, 22 January 2013 (UTC)

I never noticed that talk page before! Yes, delete it please. -- John of Reading (talk) 08:01, 22 January 2013 (UTC)
I assumed you hadn't noticed it.  Done :) Salvidrim! ✉ 08:03, 22 January 2013 (UTC)

A fine cross-edged line is separating us.

Hello dear John.

It is already 13:20, 22 January 2013 (UTC) and there are absolutelly NO news at Portal Current Events.

Shall or Must I reconsider my attempts? ... — Preceding unsigned comment added by 187.12.26.206 (talk) 13:20, 22 January 2013 (UTC)


Oh Dear John... Please refrain myself from my block... I mean my clock.

It seems that on 13:20, 22 January 2013 (UTC) someone has already crossed it. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 187.12.26.206 (talk)

PS: wiser to say clock ;) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 187.12.26.206 (talk) 13:32, 22 January 2013 (UTC)

I'd rather see an empty news page than one containing hoaxes. -- John of Reading (talk) 13:51, 22 January 2013 (UTC)

187.12.26.206 (talk) 14:07, 22 January 2013 (UTC) has just read John of Reading (talk)'s last reply and agreed with his level of meaningful truthness, also thanking him for his reply here on his talkpage as well.

Your help needed to deal with photo upload etc.

Hi John,

How do I get to the uploaded photo's information form, so I can modify / correct what is wrong there? Thewritewoman (talk) 15:54, 22 January 2013 (UTC)

You do this by going to the file page on commons, commons:File:Chester Whitley Ph.D. M.D..jpg, and clicking the "Edit" link at the top. Then it gets fiddly! I suggest you go back to your own talk page and answer the three questions I posed there, and then I will try to work out what edit needs to be made. I've fixed up the wording of the third question. -- John of Reading (talk) 16:11, 22 January 2013 (UTC)

Thank You John

Thanks John, I don't yet have the answers to the three questions, and it may take some time to get those answers. When I have them, I'll go there and proceed with this. I confess to you that I am profoundly confused at a fundamental level of functioning in this matter. I am a newbie as a Wikipedia author/editor and I definitely don't understand all the 'instruction pages' that I've been reading so far. Many of the instructions presume a level of prior-knowledge that is already above where I am in this journey. Thank you for being there to guide me, John. Thewritewoman (talk) 17:20, 22 January 2013 (UTC)

I agree. Especially for pictures, there's no easy help page for new users to get started at. The trouble is that the very first question has to be "Who holds the copyright?" - and that's complicated. -- John of Reading (talk) 19:30, 22 January 2013 (UTC)
Although, it can be simplified: Q. Did I take the photo myself? A. (i) Yes, I did → I hold the copyright, so I can upload it (ii) No, I didn't → I don't, so I can't. --Redrose64 (talk) 20:09, 22 January 2013 (UTC)
Sadly, no. Over at Help talk:Introduction to referencing/1 I've just tried to answer a query from someone who thinks that because he took the picture, he holds the copyright - but in this case it's a photo of a 2-d object dated c. 1800, so I don't think he does own a copyright. -- John of Reading (talk) 20:18, 22 January 2013 (UTC)

Question on a different matter

Hi John,

Can I open a second Sandbox, and be working on an article-in-progress there, while I await consultations regarding the draft article currently shown in my Sandbox? Thewritewoman (talk) 19:51, 22 January 2013 (UTC)

Certainly! One way to do it is to type the full page name into the search box, say, "User:Thewritewoman/sandbox2", and press "Enter". The software will tell you that the page doesn't exist and will offer the chance to start the page. That will give you a completely blank page.
Another way is to go to Help:Userspace draft and use the "create" button there; that will give you a page with a nice heading box and some other good stuff. -- John of Reading (talk) 19:59, 22 January 2013 (UTC)
I've got twelve, and I've put a banner at the top of them so that I can switch between them quickly. See User:Redrose64/Sandbox12. --Redrose64 (talk) 20:06, 22 January 2013 (UTC)

Thank You!

Thank you John, and thank you RedRose, for giving me guidance today!Thewritewoman (talk) 20:13, 22 January 2013 (UTC)

Get Back to My Second Sandbox

I started a second sandbox using the Wizard, thanks to you John. Once I navigated away from it, however, it doesn't show up at all when I click on 'Sandbox' for me as a user. How can I get back to it, and how can I get it to show up routinely in my user area? Thank you John.Thewritewoman (talk) 22:24, 22 January 2013 (UTC)

Near the upper right of the Wikipedia page, you should see a link titled "Contributions", and your new sandbox should be shown in there. When I check that list, I see that the only page that you have edited today (other than this page) is User:Thewritewoman/Lysosomal Disease Network.
The "Sandbox" link only ever goes directly to one page - in your case it's to User:Thewritewoman/sandbox. Many people find it useful to put links on their main user page to the various pages that they have created in userspace. --Redrose64 (talk) 22:53, 22 January 2013 (UTC)

How do I make a link on my main Userpage to other additional Sandboxes of mine that I am using to work on drafts of articles?Thewritewoman (talk) 15:07, 23 January 2013 (UTC)

Near the top right of the screen is your user name, currently being displayed in red. Click that, and the software will give you the option to create your user page. Use that page as you like! To display a link to your draft, include [[User:Thewritewoman/Lysosomal Disease Network]] - but you knew that already, I think. -- John of Reading (talk) 15:11, 23 January 2013 (UTC)

Answer

Am new to this and to be honest am going round in circles! Simply cannot fathom out how this works (no patience maybe). Any chance you could give some "skiffies"?

Joegush (talk) 15:12, 23 January 2013 (UTC)

Let's see. The first page of the reference desk, here, says that questions about law belong at the "Humanities" page. So go to Wikipedia:Reference desk/Humanities and click the "Ask a new question" button a few inches down the page. -- John of Reading (talk) 15:16, 23 January 2013 (UTC)

Thank you Both!

I did not know how to make that link. Shows you how 'lost' I am here. Thank you so much, I have made it now.Thewritewoman (talk) 15:26, 23 January 2013 (UTC)

Notice also that your user name has turned blue in your signature now. That is another way to get to your user page. -- John of Reading (talk) 15:28, 23 January 2013 (UTC)

I appreciate

your spelling correction at Douglas Tilden. I figured the gaff was mine, but it was compounded by the fact that I had not included the page number in my reference. So in order to fully complete what you had started, I looked it up and . ..... you were right. I did add the page number to the citation, so all is well. Einar aka Carptrash (talk) 15:30, 23 January 2013 (UTC)

Thank you! -- John of Reading (talk) 15:33, 23 January 2013 (UTC)

Thank you

Thank you for the help and link on the info box on the Harry Sibson article. Aaron O'Rourke (Aaron1477) 11:13, 27 January 2013 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Aaron1477 (talk • contribs)

Harry Sibson (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views)
Yes, it's a pity that the info boxes don't all work the same way. One day, perhaps! -- John of Reading (talk) 16:33, 27 January 2013 (UTC)

Elevator

I have taken the liberty of adding a note saying "the elevator vandal" to the latest entry in your CSD log. I hope you don't mind. It helps me to keep track of this vandal if the log entries are tagged. I see that the latest elevator edit was from an IP address that was blocked for the same thing a month ago. I wouldn't attach to much weight to that fact, as it could just be chance, but it does very slightly raise the likelihood that the vandal has a limited number of IP addresses, and has to come back to old ones again, in which case blocking them all for a few months is likely to be more effective than if he/she had a vast range of dynamic IP addresses available. JamesBWatson (talk) 12:34, 27 January 2013 (UTC)

Good idea, thanks for adding that note. -- John of Reading (talk) 16:35, 27 January 2013 (UTC)

I want to complain about another editor

There was a Cfd Freemasonry which closed with the conclusion that there was no consensus to delete. Now I see that user:Blueboar is going through the list and is removing the categorisation. This seems underhand, completely negates the CfD, and is backdoor deletion by another name. I would like something done. John of Cromer in China Philippines (talk) mytime= Mon 19:40, wikitime= 11:40, 4 February 2013 (UTC)

The place to start would be User talk:Blueboar; there's also a relevant discussion at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Freemasonry#The categories survive, where Blueboar has explained his reasoning. As for your reverts at Galicano Apacible and Emilio Aguinaldo, there is no mention of freemasonry in either article. You shouldn't be putting the category back without also adding a reliable source to support it - that's WP:BURDEN. -- John of Reading (talk) 12:35, 4 February 2013 (UTC)
That's all very well, but if you look at his contributions page you will see in the last week he has removed about 200 people from the list. I don't think that's good faith, I think he's on a mission. OK, being a freemason isn't a particularly notable fact either way, however having a list of such enables other lines of research to be considered. John of Cromer in China Philippines (talk) mytime= Wed 20:16, wikitime= 12:16, 6 February 2013 (UTC)
The place to complain would be Wikipedia:Dispute resolution noticeboard. But that's only for disagreements that haven't been resolved on talk pages, so don't go there until you've had a discussion at User talk:Blueboar or Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Freemasonry. Also it's very important that you comment only on the edits and on the policies behind them; mentioning good/bad faith or describing him as "on a mission", as you did in your posts here, will go down very badly. -- John of Reading (talk) 14:59, 6 February 2013 (UTC)

Invitation to WikiProject Hotels

Hello, John of Reading.

You are invited to join WikiProject Hotels, a WikiProject and resource dedicated to improving Wikipedia's coverage of hotels, motels and lodging-related topics.

To join the project, just add your name to the member list. Northamerica1000(talk) 13:36, 6 February 2013 (UTC)
Thank you, but no. I promise, though, to fix typos and grammar errors in hotel articles whenever they turn up in my work lists! -- John of Reading (talk) 15:01, 6 February 2013 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Sandbox

Please stop by above. I may be involved in the beginning of an edit war w/ a vandal. Could use your expertice. ```Buster Seven Talk 21:57, 7 February 2013 (UTC)

Also please advise what to do in these situations. Its obviously either a child or a childish mind. In either case I dont want to spank them but would rather show them the amazing potential Wikipedia can be. Vanadals sadden me with their limited outlook. ```Buster Seven Talk 22:05, 7 February 2013 (UTC)
I get it now. The sandbox is actually a LITTER box. The cat (or the kid in this case) takes a dump in the sandbox and before it can stink up the place the page automaticllay cleans and disinfects itself. genius. I feel better already~1! ```Buster Seven Talk 22:10, 7 February 2013 (UTC)
Yes, the sandbox gets re-used and/or reset so quickly that it's not worth fighting vandalism there. Anything really bad might need to be hidden from the page history (Wikipedia:Requests for oversight), but that step isn't needed for ordinary crude/puerile posts. -- John of Reading (talk) 07:09, 8 February 2013 (UTC)
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