User talk:Hairy Dude/Archive 1

Welcome!

Hello Hairy Dude/Archive 1, and welcome to Wikipedia. Thank you for your contributions. I hope you like the place and decide to stay. Here are a few good links for newcomers:

• The Five Pillars of Wikipedia
• How to edit a page
• Editing, policy, conduct, and structure tutorial
• Picture tutorial
• How to write a great article
• Naming conventions
• Manual of Style
• Merging, redirecting, and renaming pages
• If you're ready for the complete list of Wikipedia documentation, there's also Wikipedia:Topical index.

I hope you enjoy editing here and being a Wikipedian! By the way, please be sure to sign your name on Talk and vote pages using four tildes (~~~~) to produce your name and the current date, or three tildes (~~~) for just your name. If you have any questions, see the help pages, add a question to the village pump or ask me on my Talk page. Again, welcome!

-Poli (talk • contribs) 07:37, 2005 July 25 (UTC)

Thanks. I've taken the liberty of using your list on someone else's user talk page. :) Hairy Dude 12:55, 27 January 2006 (UTC)

games influenced by Lord of the Rings

Hello. I was checking out your draft of the "Lord of the Rings-inspired videogames" article. I thought you might like to know that Castlevania: Symphony of the Night's translation from Japanese to English was heavily influenced by Tolkien's books (even if the game itself wasn't). Many of the items were renamed using nouns lifted directly from the novels, such as a sword called the "crissaegrim" and a ring called "the ring of Varda." The Symphony article has some more info on it. Guermantes 03:08, 13 February 2006 (UTC)

Feel free to add it. The article's in limbo at the moment... Hairy Dude 03:11, 13 February 2006 (UTC)

Afd

Hello. Could you please comment on the proposal at Wikipedia:Articles_for_deletion/M.O.V.E.R? I you have time. Metta Bubble 01:24, 8 March 2006 (UTC)

Image:Lips in photo.jpg

Greetings. I didn't tag that photo as PD-self; I tagged it as PD. This was in 2004. Back then, the tags PD-self and PD-link didn't exist, and neither did the NoRightsReserved tag. Another user incorrectly changed the tag to PD-self, as you can see in the file history.

As to whether NoRightsReserved is the same as PD, this is disputed. See Template talk:No rights reserved for more. All the best, – Quadell ^{(talk) (bounties)} 12:56, 10 March 2006 (UTC)

Transit versus Leave

Hi, I saw your changes on the spacecraft page. I believe they are incorrect. Transit mean pass through, leave means go out or away from. Since "satellites below 2000 kilometers, are actually travelling through the Earth's atmosphere", spacecraft in Earth orbit below 2000 km need to perform drag makeup maneuvers to counteract the effects of atmospheric drag. But you probably didn't know that when you read spacecraft.

• If spacecraft leave Earth's atmosphere, why do they perform drag makeup maneuvers?

• Consider a Mars sample return spacecraft. When it launches from the surface of Mars, does it leave Earth's atmosphere?

I'm not trying to sound 'jargony'. I just want any articles about space I work on to be so correct, they are bulletproof. My friends at Mullard Space Science Laboratory (MSSL) and the University of Leicester wouldn't have any other way, old boy.

And sorry you hate American English. Looks like I need to write a page about MSSL also. Maybe you could do it, and then it will be "English as she is spoke".

I'm an anglophile. Seriously. Rob 06:47, 12 March 2006 (UTC)

Well "transit" does not exist in my vocabulary as a verb, only as a noun (never mind that it exists in Latin as a verb; English isn't Latin). Since this encyclopedia is intended for a general audience who won't know the technical meaning of "transit" and the distinctions it implies, I thought "leave" was less like jargon. If you can think of a non-jargon replacement that retains the distinction, feel free. Maybe "leaves the Earth's lower atmosphere"? Or, given that you could well describe a vehicle built on and designed to lift off from a planet with no atmosphere as a spacecraft, perhaps "atmosphere" is just misplaced.

And don't take the AmE-0 userbox too seriously - I just get annoyed when Americans think their dialect is the only correct one, or even the only one :) (Admittedly it suggests I think British English is the only correct English dialect... though being a linguistics student, I find such an idea faintly ridiculous.) Hairy Dude 19:05, 12 March 2006 (UTC)

Confused

I still do not understand where to find help when you try to create something like a disambiguation page. Perhaps Wikipedia should be more straight-forward. I want to find all the help I need on a page such as Disambiguation including a template [1] for how to do it. --Ghormax 08:09, 16 March 2006 (UTC)

The situation with these templates is horrendous. I'm working on defining a simplified set of them. Hairy Dude 03:46, 17 March 2006 (UTC)

Sabotage?

Somebody has added Wallace and Gromit in front of Sir Alec Issigonis in Mini Moke. Think it's sabotage.--Wilfred Pau 01:59, 18 March 2006 (UTC)

Just revert it next time - I'm not interested in monitoring every page I edit for vandalism, and I edit a lot of them. Hairy Dude 20:31, 19 March 2006 (UTC)

Otheruses templates

I'm fairly sure they were deleted for this reason, I'll have to find the discussion though. ed g2s • talk 21:29, 13 April 2006 (UTC)

Here it is: Wikipedia:Templates_for_deletion/Log/Not_deleted/August_2005#Template:Otherusesabout, it is logged in "not deleted" as I think it was redirected or something, but the consensus was that any special case that required further explanation shouldn't be using a template anyway. ed g2s • talk 21:34, 13 April 2006 (UTC)

Interesting. That might be useful precedent to persuade people to delete those templates. Anyway, if I ever get back round to it, I intend to define a small number of disambig templates to replace all the ones currently in existence. Hairy Dude 21:51, 13 April 2006 (UTC)

As far as I'm concerned a new TFD is not required until those original templates go through an undeletion process, otherwise what's the point of TFD if people just recreate the things a few months later? ed g2s • talk 14:51, 14 April 2006 (UTC)

Please note that I have reverted the change to the otheruses4 template. Please read its talk page. BTW, Hairy, I will be happy at any time to discuss possible changes to the otheruses/otherpeople/otherpersons templates; WP:D might be the best place. Cheers. Chris the speller 02:05, 16 April 2006 (UTC)

D Programming Language

Thanks for cleaning up my sloppy wikified code. I didn't know about the better way of colorizing stuff. DerekP 02:08, 6 May 2006 (UTC)

Happy to help :) Hairy Dude 18:52, 6 May 2006 (UTC)

Category:Dyslexic Wikipedians

Category:Dyslexic Wikipedians which you have included on your user page has been proposed for deletion you can comment at Wikipedia:Categories for deletion#Category:Wikipedians by mental condition. --Salix alba (talk) 16:39, 15 May 2006 (UTC)

Finnish IPA

How did you change the content of the transcriptions substantially while adding IPA notices? Also, double letters are recognized by IPA, so using the triangle-colon is not necessary. That is to say, [raijjaan] and [raijːaːn] are equivalent, but the former has the benefit of being recognizable to Finnish speakers and containing no special codes. Nevertheless, further edits should be based on the edited version, but in the absence of corrections (or actually reverts to correct forms), the displayed page should be the old version. --Vuo 20:14, 16 May 2006 (UTC)

I tried to keep them the same, and I did ask for corrections. I couldn't see how [jj] and [tt] could be valid, since they're an approximant and a plosive (I can imagine a [j] lingering into a [i], but it's really not possible to lengthen [t]), so I changed them to what I thought would be the valid equivalents. Hairy Dude 20:31, 16 May 2006 (UTC)

This way, the edits did more damage than good. But as for the article, gemination involves lenghtening, not doubling, and this needs to be noted in the article, so that no confusion arises. --Vuo 20:36, 16 May 2006 (UTC)

Katakana image

Thanks for the heads-up. I've tagged the Commons image as missing source information too. howcheng {chat} 16:43, 7 June 2006 (UTC)

spelling of interprete/or?

Hi Hairy Dude. I've reverted your edit to British Sign Language, on the spelling of "interprete/or". The Wikipedia:Manual of Style says that if there's an edit over style, "it would only be acceptable to change from American spelling to British spelling if the article concerned a British topic". If I am correct, "interpretOr" is American, "interpretEr" is British - the article is on British Sign Language. Only what confuses me, is that your user page says you prefer British English! If I'm wrong, go ahead and re-revert.martianlostinspace 17:52, 18 June 2006 (UTC)

Nope, you are wrong. "Interpretor" is simply a mistake. Merriam-Webster agrees: http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/interpretor . Hairy Dude 22:26, 18 June 2006 (UTC)

Besides, why did you revert to an apparently American spelling on an article about a British topic? I'm confused. Hairy Dude 22:29, 18 June 2006 (UTC)

OK, HD, I think I'm confused too. I get confused a lot. Hang on, why did "interpreter" look US last night but it looks like it's UK now? I'm very confused. Well on second thoughts, it would appear you're right - even without your reference. Funny how my dialect of spelling would appear to change every other day... martianlostinspace 19:15, 19 June 2006 (UTC)

Also, the anon. edit I reverted at the same time: I don't really dispute that. I just thought it wasn't particularly significant to be worth not reverting (hope they aren't offended!). I mean, it wasn't like a whole paragraph had been written. That said, now it looks as though it was no less significant than your own... martianlostinspace 19:21, 19 June 2006 (UTC)

Immigrant Song

hey, you left a cleanup tag on immigrant song in december 2005 and said that you would get to writing the article after christmas. i was wondering if you could finish that article if you were.

cheers TommyStardust 16:27, 12 July 2006 (UTC)

Hi

Hello "Hairy Dude" I was investigating into how to put userboxes on my page and was looking at putting a dyslexic one on when I stumbled across you and your delightful way of arranging your boxes. So I stole it unashamidley. Sorry and Thanks.

(RuSTy1989 23:35, 4 August 2006 (UTC))

Errm? I didn't create that method. That's just how the userboxes page says to arrange them. Hairy Dude 13:08, 8 August 2006 (UTC)

What about "other" English?

Hey, when you say you don't like American English, do you also have any objections to the Canadian, Australian, Zealander, or South African varieties? Why look all the way across the Atlantic for bad English, what about your "green" next-door neighbours? haha Le Anh-Huy 18:44, 13 August 2006 (UTC)

Zealanders don't speak English, they speak Danish. As for the others, see the notice I just posted at the top of this page. Hairy Dude 19:05, 13 August 2006 (UTC)

Dear Hairy Dude,

I think both of you are somewhat right and wrong altogether:

• On the one hand, Le Anh-Huy has obviously the right to defend his own accent and dialect, but is certainly wrong that the Danish island of Zealand has anything to do with what is known as “New Zealand” nowadays. Anybody interested may read the whole story in New Zealand, which I summarize: Dutch discoverer Tasman named those remote islands Nova Zeelandia in Latin (after Nieuw Zeeland in Dutch); then British Captain Cook called the archipelago New Zealand, a slight corruption, as Zealand is not an alternative spelling of Zeeland, a province in the Netherlands, but of Sjælland, the island in Denmark that includes Copenhagen. Thus, the inhabitants of New Zealand are not just Zealanders, but New Zealanders.
• On the other hand, you are right that you had already stated your “joke” rejecting American English from the very beginning of your otherwise quite interesting work here. But I really cannot get the point that you give such an importance to that mere trifle. Dialectal confront situations are funny resorts when presented in movies like “Crocodile Dundee” or “The Indian in the Cupboard”, but probably less in a supposedly more formal and/or serious environment.

I am sure you have fully understood what I have said, even though mine is American English. Believe me, I do appreciate your contributions.

Kind regards,

Zack Holly Venturi 14:36, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

stub template position

Hi Hairy. I noticed your edit on Tractor unit to move the stub template up with the comment "rm excess vertical space (Stub templates go *before* category links)". In fact, WP:STUB#Categorizing_stubs says However, since the stub category is the least important of the article's categories, some Wikipedians prefer to place the template after the category tags, so that the stub category will appear last. Putting the stub tag at the very end is acceptable so that the category is last. --Scott Davis ^Talk 00:51, 23 August 2006 (UTC)

Ah, fair enough. It does tend to introduce lots of extra whitespace though. Hairy Dude 00:54, 23 August 2006 (UTC)

Re: Revert to {{Infobox actor}}

You may have fixed it before I got there; if so, my apologies. :) RadioKirk (u|t|c) 13:08, 11 September 2006 (UTC)

Hi, please use the sandbox before making changes to that template, both times you have broken it. thanks/Fenton, Matthew Lexic Dark 52278 Alpha 771 13:17, 11 September 2006 (UTC)

I used user subpages to test the change (User:Hairy Dude/Mark Williams (actor) and User:Hairy Dude/Template:Infobox actor), and it looked fine. If there is something else broken, please tell me what so I can fix it!! (Due to WP:3RR, I probably can't now...) Incidentally, your (Matthew's) last edit actually didn't touch the template itself, only stuff inside the noinclude block. Hairy Dude 13:26, 11 September 2006 (UTC)

3RR doesnt apply as youve only made 2 reverts so dont worry, i believe i have fixed the whitespace issue, i've tried about 5 pages and they all seem to of lost there white space. thanks/Fenton, Matthew Lexic Dark 52278 Alpha 771 13:30, 11 September 2006 (UTC)

WikiProject Disambiguation Talk Request

This is a form message being sent to all WikiProject Disambiguation participants. I recently left a proposed banner idea on the WikiProject Disambiguation talk page and I would appreciate any input you could provide. Before it can be approved or denied, I would prefer a lot of feedback from multiple participants in the project. So if you have the time please join in the discussion to help improve the WikiProject. Keep up the good work in link repair and thanks for your time. Nehrams2020 21:28, 9 October 2006 (UTC)

movie -> film per WP:FILM consensus

Regarding the edit at article Deer Fictional deer - movie -> film per WP:FILM consensus):

I couldn't find at WP:FILM where the consensus had been reached. It seems amusing to me that now that digital is being used more and seems to be the new trend in motion pictures someone would decide that the word film should be the standard. It took us long enough to move away from saying records for music after all these years of CDs. Now that people are used to saying CDs things will probably change again.-Crunchy Numbers 15:26, 1 November 2006 (UTC)

See Wikipedia_talk:Naming_conventions_(films)#.22Movie.22_is_a_bad_choice, and the following discussions. The focus is on naming conventions, but indicates a general consensus to call the medium "film", in spite of the anachronism in view of actual celluloid not being used much any more. The feeling is that "movie" is unencyclopaedic in style. Hairy Dude 15:45, 3 November 2006 (UTC)

Literacy and Phonics Edits

Hairy Dude -- I have two items for your attention. First, when you revised the literacy page, you referred to a section of the article as "quite terrible" with regard to globalization because it referred to Kindergarten. Second, you added a note to the phonics page that the pronunciations used there were American.

There are two things I want to discuss in this regard. First, your language was not particularly generous. The word "nuked" sounds dismissive and "quite terrible" is basically pejorative. I am hopeful you meant no offense, but I would like to encourage you to be more thoughtful in your word choice.

Second, I was disappointed in myself that I had not noticed that the IPA was General American only. And I also notice that you're a maven with regard to globalization. I laud your dedication to preventing Americanization of Wikipedia, and I would like to discuss a way to include other pronunciations in the phonics article. Perhaps there is no better option or perhaps a table could be made. I'm a programming moron, so I'd love it it if you had a clever idea for ways to include other pronuncations (British, Canadian, and Australian would be most important, I think) without losing the focus on phonics. Thoughts?

--Kearnsdm 05:17, 14 November 2006 (UTC)

See my comments on Talk:Literacy. Hairy Dude 18:24, 16 November 2006 (UTC)

Revision of 'Barter'

Thanks for picking up the spelling mistake in the misuses section I created, but i still think the term misnomer is appropriate.

Quoting wikipedia A misnomer is the wrong name or term for something; a misleading name, often idiomatic. Some sources of misnomers include A word used in ignorance of the true meaning.

—The preceding unsigned comment was added by 88.110.171.167 (talk • contribs) 12:51, 4 December 2006 (UTC).

Holstein (cattle)

Regarding a citation for stereotypical cow... uh... I'm at a total loss to how I would possibly support that with a citation. I really, really think it is true -- at least in the western world -- but I can't think of a way to support it that would not break WP:OR. Even though it is entirely full of weasel words etc, do you think you could overlook it? A glance at the recently-split Cattle in popular culture article would generally support it. You might also note some of my chatter in the talk pages for these and Cattle. The goal of that was not to crown Holstein's as King of the Cattle Kingdom, but to dispel some commonly held misconceptions. I also wanted to call out that, for instance, bulls aren't cows. I hadn't figured out a way to do that yet, though... --Mdwyer 23:22, 17 December 2006 (UTC)

Probably can be overlooked, it just seemed a bit subjective to me. For the most part it's probably my perception that the stereotypical cow is the Friesian, not the Holstein - though as mentioned on the talk page, it's rather difficult to distinguish between the two. Hairy Dude 03:51, 18 December 2006 (UTC)

It is very subjective. Alas, I don't know a way around that. For what it is worth, Friesian eventually redirects to Holstein (cattle). I have no idea what the difference is, they're both spotted cattle that look similar to a Gateway2000 box. In any case, I appreciate the dicussion! --Mdwyer 06:12, 18 December 2006 (UTC)

''italics''

thanks for the catch! — gogobera (talk) 04:54, 21 December 2006 (UTC)

Bicycles - "Step-Through Frame"

I've added a link to an image as requested. Step-Through Frame I hope that explains it :) Bards 17:20, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

Excellent. Thanks very much for the contribution! :) Hairy Dude 19:17, 2 January 2007 (UTC)