User talk:Adam Bishop/archive7
Archive: June 10-December 30, 2003
Peers
Yeah, people like Bertrand Russell are a bit tough. I think the points in favor of the policy Lord Emsworth and Adam Carr have been tirelessly pushing for are that a) it provides a uniform policy, so that we always know where articles on peers are to go; and b) except in a very small number of cases, it doesn't result in the person going to an article where they're unrecognizable. For instance, I think it'd be fairly clear to anyone that Bertrand Russell, 3rd Earl Russell is the same as the philosopher, especially when Bertrand Russell redirects there. As Lord Emsworth has pointed out, the problem with the commonly used, unambiguous name rule is that the most commonly used name for peers frequently isn't unambiguous (Lord Nelson, Lord Kitchener, all those Canadian Governors-General you were talking about), while the simplest unambiguous name (their proper name) frequently isn't commonly used. And then there's the issue of people who were "commonly" called different things over the course of a career. Given all the intricacy of it, I think setting a simple policy of using the highest peerage title would eliminate all the judgment calls that lead to complete inconsistency in these articles and make for a more professional set-up. john 21:48, 10 Jan 2004 (UTC)
Adam,
I thank you very much for keeping an open mind about the topic of peers.
In general, one may assume that there are three ways of entitling a biographical article on a peer. I am going to use the example of "Lord Nelson" for the purpose of discussion. Now, we could use the following titles: Lord Nelson, Horatio Nelson, or Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson. The first form is entirely ambiguous. The question arises whether one is speaking about Horatio Nelson, or about his brother, William, the first Earl Nelson of Trafalgar. The second format could be used, but the problem is that few would recognize the title. The third is definitely the most useful format. Firstly, it includes the individual's birth name: Horatio Nelson. Secondly, it points out that he was a peer, and gives a clue to his identity as Lord Nelson. Finally, it is complete and accurate.
I am sure that people will argue that, for instance, such "antiquated appendages" are not necessary in cases such as that of Bertrand Russell. But the problem is that for a great portion of his lifetime, Russell was the Earl Russell of Kingston Russell, whether he used such a title or not. I think that the point is that we should think about what is more technically appropriate, not what is merely more common.
It is arguable that the addition of "3rd Earl Russell" will not cause further confusion to Bertrand Russell's article's title. It will, rather, only be more informative. There is, however, such a thing as being too informative. In such cases, the article's title becomes wholly clumsy and messy. See, for example, the present Duke of Hamilton and Brandon. We don't have: [[Angus Alan Douglas Douglas-Hamilton, 15th Duke of Hamilton, 12th Duke of Brandon, 15th Marquess of Douglas, 15th Marquess of Clydesdale, 15th Earl of Angus, 15th Lord Abernathy and Jedburgh Forest, 15th Lord Polmont, 15th Lord Machansyre, 15th Lord Aven and Innerdale, 12th Baron Dutton]], which would be rather exhausting and crude. Simply, rather, we would have Angus Alan Douglas Douglas-Hamilton, 15th Duke of Hamilton, or, better yet, just Angus Douglas-Hamilton, 15th Duke of Hamilton, applying the simple rule that the highest title be used. Thus, you can be rest assured that the matter will not be carried so far as to render article titles extremely awkward. -- Lord Emsworth
Quick Question/Thank You
Adam, thanks for fixing the link to Summa Theologica in 1273...are you sure about that date? I couldn't find anything in Thomas Aquinas or the Summa's article to indicate 1273 for the date (the listing was there before I modified). I almost made the change you did, but then I wondered if this was some other work of Thomas's I didn't know. I'm assuming you're right, in which case thank you, but I'm wondering where you found the info? I appreciate it, Jwrosenzweig 00:05, 14 Jan 2004 (UTC)
- Thanks for your reply! I got so wikipedicentric, I didn't even check google...once I didn't see anything on WP, for some reason I just stopped. I bow to your superior wikiskills. :) Jwrosenzweig 00:20, 14 Jan 2004 (UTC)
PW
Pauly-Wissowa. Presumably the numbers disambiguate multiple people of the same name, but not having seen a PW in real life, it's not clear to me how the numbering part is supposed to work. Stan 03:19, 27 Jan 2004 (UTC)
Popes
Hey, thanks alot for the advice. I have had a couple minor slip ups over the naming conventions of saints and popes and whatnot in the last couple days, and it makes me worry a bit just how many duplicate articles w subtley different names there are.... Is there any way I could look for them, and help merge em, or whatnot? Jack 04:35, 29 Jan 2004 (UTC)
hi Adam, nice serie of battles on P. war battles! TeunSpaans 06:55, 29 Jan 2004 (UTC)
- All the ancient battles is quit a job to do. Ambitious, to say the least. Perhaps the 1911EB has some info that can be used for a start? TeunSpaans
Brianism
Discussion on my talk. - UtherSRG 21:11, 31 Jan 2004 (UTC)
Adam, Are you sure that Stanislaus Leszczynski can be numbered as Stanislaus I?? Since he was more pretender, then real king, I am not sure if he was counted by official history. Could you please souble check. Cautious 01:25, 1 Feb 2004 (UTC)
Adam, Muriel tells me you a Latin scholar, so here is a question: If "Archidioecesis Melburnensis" is Latin for Archdiocese of Melbourne, what would the nominative form be - Melburnium? Melburnia? Should this be described as Modern Latin, pseudo-Latin or what? Would you have any idea why the "o" has been omitted in creating the Latin form? Adam 22:57, 2 Feb 2004 (UTC)
Who is a Greek?
For list of ancient Greeks I was figuring on including both ethnic Greeks and Greek speakers/writers. I don't think there's much harm in being too inclusive rather than less so, among other things the list is an aid to finding missing and duplicate people (list of ancient Romans turned up a bunch of forgotten articles). Stan 06:59, 6 Feb 2004 (UTC)
Excellent work you are doing. Keep up the good work :) 207.44.154.35 06:17, 9 Feb 2004 (UTC)
Thank you for backing me up on Pelasgians. You'd think "Dr" Gamaskhurdia was a dear old professor somewhere eh. What's Step 2 in that reasoning process: that non-Pelasgian "others" have "less" right to participate in modern Georgia? Would that be, um, like Jews and Muslims I wonder? Wetman 08:48, 16 Feb 2004 (UTC)
list of Greeks
A great list! I started comparing against OCD, added more people up to the end of "An". Interesting how many of the articles exist already, also interesting that OCD is missing many rulers. It occurs to me that a separate list for names from mythology, eponyms, etc, would be handy. Also, there are a handful of Greek speakers/writers of late antiquity that would be homeless otherwise, what think you of stretching scope to 500-600 AD? Stan 05:24, 17 Feb 2004 (UTC)
One more thing I forgot to mention; lately I've been leaning towards de-linking terms in the text annotating an article's entry, on the theory that the article will connect to everything, and it keeps the list from pointlessly appearing in the "links here" of every general article. Not critical either way, but something to consider. Stan 05:35, 17 Feb 2004 (UTC)
And something else - how did you make the dashes? I just did hyphens, at some point it should get a mass query-replace to consistentify. Stan 05:52, 17 Feb 2004 (UTC)
In the interest of forestalling messy edit conflicts, do you want to coordinate on list addition somehow? Alternate days, inuse notes, ?? Stan 17:23, 18 Feb 2004 (UTC)
Speedy Deletes
Adam - Could you kill Lemuridae and MediaWiki:Greeting please? - UtherSRG 06:19, 20 Feb 2004 (UTC)
Re: Nicolaus Copernicus: Congratulations. I thought I was going to be first to revert, but you're too quick on the draw. Dandrake 23:53, Feb 21, 2004 (UTC)
His nationality is as bad an issue as what to call the Oder, etc. Since Copernicus is actually pretty important, I've appointed myself guardian of real information about him. Always happy to be beaten to the punch, though, having promised all comers that they'd be reverted ASAP if they muck about. Dandrake 00:22, Feb 22, 2004 (UTC)
invitation
Please see Talk:American twenty dollar bill. You get this invitation because your name appears in Wikipedia talk:Manual of Style (US vs American). Feel free to ignore if you are disinterested. - Optim 05:12, 22 Feb 2004 (UTC)
John Mclane
Looks like my addition of the VfD header to the John McLane article occurred just as you deleted it, and re-created it. RickK 05:14, 27 Feb 2004 (UTC)
Bee
You might also want to look at this: http://www.chebucto.ns.ca/~ag151/bee_tidbits.html - It has a list of references from Ancient Greece, too. Adam Bishop 22:47, 3 Mar 2004 (UTC)
Chariton
"(doesn't anyone ever check for a pulse?)", ah nostalgia - one of my first WP edits, seemed more clever at the time... Stan 03:39, 9 Mar 2004 (UTC)
White Flight
On the talk page for white flight, an anon asked if white flight occurred in Canadian cities, as well as US, saying he wanted to broaden the article to be less America-centric. I thought you might be able to help. Yours, Meelar 01:21, 10 Mar 2004 (UTC)
Necrogeologist
You asked the point of 'unpopulated professions', then signed your comment Hypnoarchaeastrographologer. Looks like you made my point for me. It's called 'having fun', a concept that seems to be increasingly divorced from being a Wikipedian the longer I spend with Wiki. That's very unfortunate; since we do this only for the personal satisfaction it brings, we should not lose the ability to laugh in the process. I knew this article would end up on VfD, and would get there in roughly the time it did. I was hoping it would provoke a chuckle or two before the delete vote was cast. It seems, however, that those who deem things 'patent nonsense' do so with pursed lips and furrowed brow. I have no wish to perpetrate hoaxes; if an article is there only to amuse, then it should clearly be identifiable as such. However, it should not be the trigger for invective either. Should I be allowed to post such material? I think so. I've contributed thousands upon thousands of words of text on a broad variety of topics since I first discovered Wiki, I've edited a large number of existing articles, and I hope to keep doing so (though I'm feeling a little discouraged today). Denni 20:55, 2004 Mar 14 (UTC)
More is coming...
I knew you would like it and i was just about to come here and announce it. I will do the others in the next few days. I am currently bored to death. By the way, what the hell is a necrogeologist?? As a living geologist i would like to know... Cheers, Muriel 00:49, 16 Mar 2004 (UTC)
Deletion
Woah - that was fast on the draw! Thanks! Mark Richards 23:21, 16 Mar 2004 (UTC)
Timeline of Ontario history
Hi, Adam. In case you're interested, I have started a Timeline of Ontario history. I thought from Talk:Timeline of Quebec history that you might be. Trontonian 14:41, 17 Mar 2004 (UTC)
- Thanks for the kind words. As a non-historian, though, I expect the quality to slip at some point. Of course, the quality of my articles about topics I knwo nothing about has been demonstrably higher than the quality of my articles about topics I think I know about. Trontonian 23:38, 18 Mar 2004 (UTC)
Eric Bruno Borgman
Hi. I undeleted Eric Bruno Borgman. It might be vanity, but he DOES have a rather extensive list at imdb. RickK | Talk 03:50, 21 Mar 2004 (UTC)
Gdansk
Are you going to unblock Gdansk? There was clearly no vandalism that would have justified you blocking him in the first place, but you didn't even unblock him after 24 hours. --Wik 03:22, Mar 23, 2004 (UTC)
- I hardly think "being annoying" is sufficient justification for a user to be blocked from contributing to Wikipedia. Also, I wish you had mentioned the block on the mailing list; I don't have Wikipedia:block log on my watchlist, and neither do lots of others. --Uncle Ed 13:37, 23 Mar 2004 (UTC)
Why did you block my account (without discussing it or giving any reason)? Why did you revert my edits (withot discussion) concerning the alternative languages names of the various cities? In my opinion we should accept German names for Polish cities AND Polish names for Polish cities. Preference of one language violates Neutral Point of View Policy Mestwin of Gdansk 23:40, 29 Mar 2004 (UTC)
Classics
Adam, have a look at the mess that has developed at Greek Art. This is too important a topic to be left like this. Perhaps we should form a Wikipedia Classicists Group to write a decent article. See my recent contribution Kouros. Adam 03:29, 23 Mar 2004 (UTC)
Offensive user name
Your user name is offensive: It has the word Bishop in it. Please change it or leave Wikipedia, otherwise I will have to EXCOMMUNICATE you. muahahaha!!! Troll3 02:09, 26 Mar 2004 (UTC)
- Adam, welcome to the offensive usernames havers club! It's gonna be the funnest club ever! I started it and Hephaestos gonna's be in and we're gonna have a clubhouse with a big sign out front: NO TROLZ ALLOWED!!1! jengod 02:12, Mar 26, 2004 (UTC)
- Huzzah! Adam Bishop 02:13, 26 Mar 2004 (UTC)
Redirects
Adam, for organism redirects, please make the article have all caps (such as Great White Shark), with redirects to that article, instead of the otherway around (such as your redirect of Boll Weevil to Boll weevil). See Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Tree of Life/Archive4#Common name about this. Thanks! - UtherSRG 20:27, 26 Mar 2004 (UTC)
- Hi Uther, I'm just making redirects from the Encyclopedia topics page, to pages that already exist...the article is at Boll weevil, so I made a redirect there. Adam Bishop 20:29, 26 Mar 2004 (UTC)
I understand. *grins* In that case, the list page should be editted to reflect the current usage. - UtherSRG 20:31, 26 Mar 2004 (UTC)