User talk:Randy Johnston/Archive 1

This is an archive of inactive discussions. Please do not edit it. If you wish to revitalize an old topic, bring it up on the current talk page.

Wikipedia Welcome

Hello and welcome to Wikipedia! Hope you like it here, and stick around.

Here are some tips to help you get started:

• To sign your posts (on talk pages, for example) use the '~' symbol. To insert just your name, type ~~~ (3 tildes), or, to insert your name and timestamp, use ~~~~ (4 tildes).
• Try the Tutorial, and feel free to experiment in the test area.
• If you need help, post a question at the Help Desk
• Eventually, you might want to read the Manual of Style and Policies and Guidelines.
• Remember Wikipedia:Neutral point of view
• Explore, be bold in editing pages, and, most importantly, have fun!

Good luck!

[[User:Meelar|Meelar (talk)]] 22:41, Nov 21, 2004 (UTC)

Featured article write ups

Randy - the process for getting an article on the main page is that first, it has to be promoted to featured article (nominate it at Wikipedia:Featured article candidates). If and when it is promoted, it gets added to Wikipedia:Featured articles, and then (at some point) I put it in the queue for the main page (and I'm always happy to take requests). →Raul654 03:57, Nov 27, 2004 (UTC)

Thanks, --User:Randy Johnston 17:32, 27 Nov 2004 (UTC)

One more thing I should mention - make sure to take a look at Wikipedia:What is a featured article before nominating to the featured article candidates (FAC) page. It gives you (more or less) all the criteria on which an nominee will be judged. →Raul654 04:09, Nov 27, 2004 (UTC)

I'll take a look. Thanks for helping me out... A little new here. --User:Randy Johnston 17:32, 27 Nov 2004 (UTC)

That's what I figured. I always like giving new users a helping hand :) -- If you have any questions, feel free to drop me a line on my talk page or ask at the help desk. →Raul654 04:19, Nov 27, 2004 (UTC)

Ammonia article

That article looks pretty good. Somehow the content ended up being duplicated though (scroll to the bottom and you'll see what I mean). Nathanlarson32767 07:17, 20 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Okay, I will try and fix that... it seems to be a problem with Wikipedia because whenever I try to get rid of it and save it, it stays there. Strange. --Randy 12:13, 20 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Version 1.0 Editorial Team

Hi, Randy. Thanks for your interest. I've just started looking at your changes, but I wanted to welcome you to the team. Maurreen 06:11, 21 Dec 2004 (UTC)

You're going in a different direction than we started. That's not necessarily bad; we can all do complementary work. I've made some changes to the main project page. I'm getting tired tonight and can't answer you as fully as I'd like. I do appreciate your enthusiasm. :) Maurreen 07:41, 21 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Main page intro vote

Hi Randy, there's now a vote on the new main page intro text: Talk:Main_Page/intro#Vote_on_Tom.27s_version_until_2300_UTC_Wednesday. Hope you can drop by! Happy Christmas to you. Dan100 12:12, Dec 25, 2004 (UTC)

KnowProSE

You removed KnowProSE from the Tsunami_Help page. If you look at the SEA EAT weblog, you will see one of the contributors is Taran. If you look at KnowProSE, you will see that the owner of the domain is, in fact, Taran. If you look on the left side, you will see a link to SEA EAT.

So please, feel free to put back KnowProSE.com.

I took off KnowProSE.com because the links there are supposed to link directly to the artcle where the SEA-EAT blog and/or Wiki was mentioned. --Randy 20:51, 1 Jan 2005 (UTC)

Randy,

This is Bala (balap on the IRC). I need to get in touch with you to get the latest on the wikinews situation.

Please email me at bala.pitchandi@gmail.com

or send me a IM in yahoo: balapitchandi

Thanks Bala

RE: restoring Tsunami Relief Effort template

Randy, you have removed some of the links from the Tsunami Relief Effort template, because they were considered for removal. Meanwhile, I understand some of these issues have been clarified. I was wondering if it's now ok to revert to the previous version of the template. Thank you.

(for reference: http://en.wikinews.org/enwiki/w/index.php?title=Template:Tsunami_Relief_Effort&curid=2568&action=history)

Proposals for change to the template have been going on in the Wikinews IRC. We have discussed it over and over in there and what you see currently is what we have decided upon. If you would like say in future changes, you are welcome to join discussions in irc.freenode.net #wikinews. --Randy 19:28, 2 Jan 2005 (UTC)

Request for interview

Hi! Do you mind if I ask you a few questions about the Editorial Team for an American newspaper article? I'm at caraannaji@yahoo.com. My deadline is Saturday morning, Eastern time.

Thank you,

Cara Anna

Yes, that is fine. I'm sending you an email now. --Randy 01:06, 9 Apr 2005 (UTC)

American English versus British English spelling

Randy, please stop americanising the spelling on the Pope John Paul II page. Under wikipedia rules articles that are not specifically British or American are all meant to be written in the form of english that was originally used in the original article. You may not have realised it but that article was written in British English and so under the agreed rules everyone lives by it should be left that way. It is annoying a lot of non-Americans that everytime they look at the page someone has gone and americanised everything again. Americanising spellings in a page written in British english is simply going to lead to annoying edit wars, or worse still, British English users then going to pages written in American english and rewriting them. British English users play along with the deal by "writing american" when editing articles written originally in American English, so expect American English users to use BE on BE-written pages.

BTW I actually speak Hiberno-English!!! :-) Slán FearÉIREANN 00:18, 11 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Okay - Thanks for letting me know. I will keep this in mind in the future. I didn't realise that it was that big of an issue until now. Sorry about that. --Randy 00:24, 11 Apr 2005 (UTC)

No problem. I guessed you did not realise it was an issue. It does however bug people if they put a lot of work into starting an article and find all their -izes become -ises, or their colours become colors. BE and AE users can be very territorial! And don't even get started on Canadian English, Hiberno-English, Indian-English, etc etc!!! :-) FearÉIREANN 00:31, 11 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Cleanup Taskforce

Hi, Randy. On WP:TASK you listed "science" as one of your areas of expertise. I was wondering how broad this was or if there were any areas you had special knowledge in. I'm asking because I have an ecology-related article that could use some work once we go live. — Knowledge Seeker দ 06:29, 11 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Yes, Science is a very broad topic. However, I have a broad knowledge of general science related things, as well as many specific science topics. I think I would be able to take your ecology-related article. --Randy 10:54, 11 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Mummy

Hello, I saw you have an interest on the Taskforce page and I wondered if you could have a look at this article and attached peer review and tell me if anything specific should be added. Cheers! Mgm|^(talk) 08:08, Apr 12, 2005 (UTC)

Thanks. I'll take a look at it when I get home later this evening. If you'd like you can add this to my Cleanup Taskforce desk. --Randy 11:15, 12 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Sidebar!

Not at all. Some of the links may need to be updated; I don't use it as much as I used to. And besides, i stole most of it from an earlier version of User:Angela's page, IIRC. :) -- Seth Ilys 04:13, 24 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Old Britannica

Hi Brookie here - thanks for the note - I do have a three volume facsimile edition of the first edition of the Britannica (1771). If you let me know what you want to know I can fax or email something to you. Brookie 07:13, 26 Apr 2005 (UTC)

{{stub}} vs. {{substub}}

Randy, you did not mention the methodology you use to determine if articles such as Basalt fiber are stubs or substubs. The primary method I use is based on the text at Wikipedia:Substub. Using Basalt fiber as an example shows the following:

1. The article contains useful information (The composition and some uses for basalt fiber).
2. There is a viable means to expand upon the subject (This is a subjective call, but I feel that expansion is clearly possible).
3. Created by someone who wishes to see the article expanded (Your note to me seems to indicate there is at least one interested party).

Based on these three items, I feel justified in determining that the article in question is a stub. Please note that there is no mention of byte counts or specific lengths in the criteria for determining the difference between stubs and substubs.

The primary reason for sorting stubs (and substubs) is to make it easier for subject matter experts to locate articles needing assistance in their field of expertise. Within substubs this also has the secondary advantage of making it easier to locate the articles that lie in the grey area between meaningful content and speedy delete canidate. --Allen3 ^talk 14:32, Apr 28, 2005 (UTC)

Wikipedia: Cleanup Taskforce Procedure

I was following the short method. I can't help that it lacks any real instruction. --Spinboy 17:17, 30 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Where is the queue? I couldn't find it, and no where on the page did it tell me where it was. --Spinboy 17:24, 30 Apr 2005 (UTC)

In the edit this page view, it says:

<!-- Place new issues below. -->

===== In queue =====

<!-- Put a link below this message to an article that you think we could help clean up with what you think needs to be done and your signature. For example, if you thought that the article on Wikipedia needed to be rewritten you would add:

That is where you add new issues. --Randy 17:29, 30 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Ah, okay. Gotcha. I'll go find more things to nominate with the short method! --Spinboy 17:42, 30 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Clean-up task force

Hi, don't forget to add the two Aegian articles to the Cleanup Taskforce as work in progress. A simple merge and cleanup will be no problem but its not a thing I know much about to do a major re-write. Apwoolrich 06:52, 1 May 2005 (UTC)

Whoops!

Mea culpa! I've got the proper template in my head now. · Katefan0^(scribble) 20:14, May 2, 2005 (UTC)

Using stubsensor

Hi Randy,

You are welcome to use stubsensor and I'll write up some instructions right above the place where the code is located. Try checking back tomorrow, I'll probably have it done by then. However you will be better off if you wait for the next version of stubsensor; this should be ready in just a couple days and should be much better at detecting stub articles.

Also if you are planning on using stubsensor in the english wikipedia to find stubs I encourage you to work with me so we don't duplicate efforts. If you use stubsensor on a non-english wikipedia I suspect you will run into problems with articles that have section stubs showing up in your output. This kind of stuff has to be adjusted manually inside the code. Stubsensor not really a full application but a quick tool I use and have to frequently adjust (kind of like slapping an old TV to get the color back).

I hope it does what you need it to =) Triddle 18:18, 4 May 2005 (UTC)

Box, Wiltshire

I removed this from my cleanup desk. I've added quite a bit of information but it could probably use some expansion on quarrying. --Tony Sidaway|Talk 18:46, 6 May 2005 (UTC)

Sphinx

Generally the protocol is, if a name has a common use, the article retains the name, and a seperate disambiguation page is created. Before I switch back I wanted to see what your reasoning was for the change. Stbalbach 23:40, 7 May 2005 (UTC)

Whoops... I meant to make Sphinx (iconic image) be at Sphinx and have a seperate disambig page. If you're an admin can you please move Sphinx (iconic image) to Sphinx? Thanks. --Randy 23:50, 7 May 2005 (UTC)

Update: Nevermind... I will take care of it myself.  :-) --Randy 23:52, 7 May 2005 (UTC)

• Since the iconic image link is a redirect I liked to Sphinx directly in the dab page. Thanks for your work. Mgm|^(talk) 09:03, May 8, 2005 (UTC)

Thank you Randy

Thank you very much for your support on my Rfa. :) --a.n.o.n.y.m ^t 20:35, 26 October 2005 (UTC)

Same to you. If you ever need help, just ask me. Thanks, --a.n.o.n.y.m ^t 20:42, 26 October 2005 (UTC)

Edit summaries

• 67% overall, 29% first 500, 94.8% last 500, 96% last 100. Good work improving! I use an MS-Excel spreadsheet to generate the numbers. Once I have a user's edits on a window (for you [1]), I just select and copy all the contributions. Then, I switch to the spreadsheet and click a button. It does the rest, except for tallying the last 100 (which I don't always need). --Durin 21:10, 26 October 2005 (UTC)
• Thanks a lot. Unfortunately I didn't understand the importance of using edit summaries during my early days at Wikipedia and that seems to be hurting my overall average. I guess I have been doing better recently, though. If only I could pretend like those first 500 edits never happened. Anyway, what button do you press to tally the results in MS Excel? Thanks. --Randy 21:20, 26 October 2005 (UTC)
  • A button I created that is linked to a macro that I created that performs all the functions in the spreadsheet that I need to arrive at a number of figures, including summaries. There's nothing built into MS-Excel that does it for you, as there's nothing in MS-Excel explicitly for Wikipedia. Darn :) --Durin 21:26, 26 October 2005 (UTC)
  • Would you mind sending this to me and/or instructing me how to perform this on myself, and possibly others? --Randy 21:32, 26 October 2005 (UTC)

Lord Voldemort really was the founder of Scientology, why do you insist on censoring me you silly goose you. Unsigned by User:216.222.231.238

blantant vandal tags

Hey, don't take this the wrong way (I know bad start off ;) ) I was wondering if you think that the {{bv}} tag was a bit harsh for some edits, recently I have seen you use it twice on two anons doing simple tests with no other edits. Neither one contained any violent or foul language and just seemed innocent to me. I think warning of a block if they do it again it to rash for these types of edits. Just asking that you take a minute to review the other {{test}} templates for some variety. Thanks. «»Who?¿?^meta 01:38, 28 November 2005 (UTC)

No worries, thats understandable, I get that sometimes too. I was mainly concerned about this "vandals" edit diff, seemed silly, but not too bad. Thanks for the reply though, I was hoping I didn't make you upset. Cheers. «»Who?¿?^meta 02:02, 28 November 2005 (UTC)

Chart you requested

I've created the chart at Image:RandyJohnston-edits.png. Your use of edit summaries overall is 72%. Last 500 edits is 96.6%. --Durin 14:09, 28 November 2005 (UTC)

Request for RfC Comment

Having been a past participant in the User:Braaad / User:68.112.201.90 "incident", I was hoping you could take a second and add any input you might have to an RfC I've written at Wikipedia:Requests for comment/Braaad. Thanks. McNeight 05:42, 14 December 2005 (UTC)

Esperanza elections

File:Voting box clipart.gif

Hi Randy Johnston/Archive 1: This is a quick note just to let you know that there's an election under way at Esperanza. If you'd like to become a candidate for Administrator General or the Advisory Council, just add your name here by 15 December 2005.

Voting begins at 12:00UTC on 16 December and all Esperanza members are encouraged to join in.

This message was delivered to all Esperanza members. If you do not wish to receive further messages, please contact Flcelloguy. Thank you.

➨ ❝REDVERS❞ 10:07, 14 December 2005 (UTC)

News from Esperanza

Hello, fellow Esperanzians! This is just a friendly reminder that elections for Administrator General and two advisory council positions have just begun. Voting will last until Friday, December 30, so make sure you exercise your right to vote! Also, I'm pleased to announce the creation of the Esperanza mailing list. I urge all members to join; see Wikipedia:Esperanza/Contact for more information. All you need to do is email me and I will activate your account. This will be a great way to relax, stay in touch, and hear important announcements. Thanks! Flcelloguy (A note?)

This message was delivered to all Esperanza members by our acting messenger, Redvers. If you do not wish to receive further messages, please list yourself at WP:ESP/S. Thanks.

Regarding WP:AMA

Hi, you are recieving this message because you have listed yourself as an active member of WP:AMA. If you aren't currently accepting inquiries for AMA, please de-list yourself from Wikipedia:AMA Advocates accepting inquiries, and consider noting it on the main list of members on WP:AMA. If you are, please consider tending to any new requests that may appear on Wikipedia:AMA_Requests_for_Assistance. We're going to put AMA on wheels. :) (please direct any responses to my talk page) --Phroziac _. o º ^{O (♥♥♥♥ chocolate!)} 22:53, 24 December 2005 (UTC)

subst

When using template tags on talk pages, don't forget to substitute with text by adding subst: to the template tag. For example, use {{subst:test}} instead of {{test}}. This reduces server load and prevents accidental blanking of the template.

I figured you just forgot, it happens to all of us. No worries! --Winter 16:35, 14 January 2006 (UTC)

An Esperanzial note

As I remember, the last spam that was handed out was on the 20th of December last year, so I think it's time for another update. First and foremost, the new Advisory Council and Administrator General have been elected. They consist of myself as Admin General and FireFox, Titoxd, Flcelloguy and Karmafist as the Advisory Council. We as a group met formally for the first time on the 31st of Decembe. The minutes of this meeting can be found at WP:ESP/ACM. The next one is planned for tonight (Sunday 29 January) at 20:30 UTC and the agenda can be found at WP:ESP/ACM2.

In other news, Karmafist has set up a discussion about a new personal attack policy, which it can be found here. Other new pages include an introductory page on what to do when you sign up, So you've joined Esperanza... and a welcome template: {{EA-welcome}} (courtesy of Bratsche). Some of our old hands may like to make sure they do everything on the list as well ;) Additionally, the userpage award program proposal has become official is operational: see Wikipedia:Esperanza/User Page Award to nominate a userpage or volunteer as a judge. Also see the proposed programs page for many new proposals and old ones that need more discussion ;)

Other than that, I hope you all had a lovely Christmas and wish you an Esperanzially good new WikiYear :D Thank you! --Celestianpower ^háblame 16:57, 29 January 2006 (UTC)
Message delivered by Rune.welsh using AWB. If you wish to recieve no further messages of this ilk, please sign your name here.

1.0 Collaboration of the Week

Hi, I noticed you signed up as a member of the Wikipedia:Version_1.0_Editorial_Team, which is looking to identify quality articles in Wikipedia for future publication on CD or paper. Recently, a 1.0 Collaboration of the Week was created to work on essential topics that are in need of improvement, which will ultimately go in a release version of Wikipedia. You can help by voting, contributing to an article, or simply making a comment. Thank you for your support. :) Gflores ^Talk 08:05, 4 February 2006 (UTC)

Regarding Wikiproject on Advertising

The Wikiproject No Ads, created as a backlash against the Answers.com deal, has served an important function in providing a space for users to express their disagreement with the Foundation proposal. While the current controversies about userboxes raise questions about political and social advocacy on Wikipedia, there should be greater flexibility regarding advocacy about Wikipedia in the Wikipedia namespace. Reported and linked by Slashdot and other press sources as a unique and spontaneous occurence in Wikipedia history, it has apparently had some impact as, despite being scheduled to begin in January, not a peep has been heard about the trial and proposed sponsored link since the deal's controversial announcement months ago. Currently, however, there is an attempt to delete the project or move it off Wikipedia altogether. Since the Foundation has provided no additional information and has not attempted to answer the specific questions that participants in the project raised, it is unclear if the Answers.com deal has been abandoned or simply delayed. Until the situation becomes more clear, I believe the group should still have a place in the Wikipedia namespace. Sincerely, Tfine80 00:25, 10 February 2006 (UTC)

Brahma Kumaris Article

Dear Mr. Johnston:

This note is concerning the article about Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University. I wrote an email to WIKIPEDIA last week which I am posting below. The response I received is that "everyone can edit pages." This is unfortunate. The current article about Brahma Kumaris was made by an individual who is trying to hurt the image of the institution to which I belong to. Even though WIKIPEDIA is not a primary source of information, everyday net surfers are not aware of this, and many tend to believe what is written here hoping to find unbiased information.

It is unfortunate that this article is biased. Please note the "discussion tab" in the article ("Beware, this is not an advert for Brahma Kumari Raja Yoga. This is an objective definition of you and your religion.")

Can you resolve this problem? If anyone has a right to write about Brahma Kumaris should be one whose intellect is unbiased, neutral.

Hope WIKIPEDIA realizes this responsibility. See a copy of this article in another web page: http://www.trinitytheology.org/Brethren/Brahmakumaris It is the copy of the one posted here before.

Thank you.

Dear Luis,

Thank you for your mail.

- Show quoted text -

"Luis" wrote:

> Dear Sir/ Madam, > > This note is to bring the following to your attention: > The following article: > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brahma_Kumaris_World_Spiritual_Organisation which > pretends to inform the public about Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual > University, is misrepresenting the institution which I belong to. As you > read the article you will clearly see that it was written without the aim to > informing the public in a dettached manner, but rather it is viciously one > sided. I re-wrote the article on March 26th 2006. since then the article > has been changed. > > Not only that, but the writer also went into this link: > http://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?title=Talk:Brahma_Kumaris_World_Spiritual_Organisation&oldid=32195288 > by > the title "Brahma Kumaris beware!" > > I am writing to you with hope to resolve this problem. Obviously the > individual who wrote the article does not simpathize with Brahma Kumaris > thus, his article should not be considered in a online encyclopedia but > rather in his own web page, where he can write his own views. > Best Wishes, > > Sincerely, > > > > -- > Have a blissful day! > >

Thank you for letting us know.

Wikipedia is a "wiki", which means that everyone can edit pages. You don't need to apply or get special permission to join us. At the top of each page is an "edit" label. Try it for example at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Sandbox

You don't even need to log in to edit, although creating an account gives you more options and helps you keep track of your contributions. You can create an account at: http://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/wiki.phtml?title=Special:Userlogin

Please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Welcome%2C_newcomers for more information.

You may also find the tutorial useful: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Tutorial

If you should have further problems with the content of this article, please see our dispute resolution page at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Dispute_resolution

Thanks for your interest and I hope you join us.

Yours sincerely, Kat Walsh