User:Vox Rationis/Coaching

Vox Rationis (talk • contribs • non-automated contribs • wikichecker • count • total • logs • page moves • block log • email)

WP:AIV WP:WARN WP:ANI WP:SPI WP:RCP WP:RPP WP:RFA WP:AFD WP:XFD WP:DRV CAT:SPEEDY WP:CSD WP:RM WP:FA WP:RFC WP:RAA WP:ER WP:TM WP:LOP WP:PNT WP:BACK CAT:HELP WP:VP WP:HAHA WP:BARN WP:RD

Let's get started...

Welcome, Vox Rationis, we're glad you can join us...

Here are your initial assignments:

1. Help us grill Dweller, in his section below. That is, ask him questions about his Wikipedia skills and experience.

   He's long since become an admin, and these "sections" are now separate pages. There are lots of new students to pick from if you'd like to join in on their discussions.

2. Create a workshop page for yourself, for example User:Vox Rationis/Workshop. After doing so, put the link to it at the top of your user page and talk page so that you can access it easily.
3. Drag this link to your browser toolbar. Then rename it to "EC" (edit counter). In addition to this, copy the link to your workshop.
4. Click on the EC link you just created. It should take you to Interiot's edit counter. Enter your name, and look over your edit analysis. Especially notice your Wikipedia namespace edit count. You need more exposure there - see the next task...
5. Proofread the pages listed at List of policies. Don't worry, you don't have to complete them overnight. But portion a decent percentage of your wiki-time to proofreading them. Fix typos and grammatical errors. (If you want to change the meaning or content of the policies, please make suggestions on their talk pages.) I'll be watching your contribs so I can provide comments, guidance, etc.
6. Sign up at Wikipedia:Editor review.

If you have any questions, well, that's what this section is for. Ask away!

The Transhumanist   21:22, 11 March 2007 (UTC)

Nice job one your user page header. Very useful. By the way, it's a requirement for admins to be accessible by email, so I was very pleased to see that yours is activated. The Transhumanist   21:47, 11 March 2007 (UTC)

Thanks, I've had intentions of improving it (and my whole userpage, now that I am learning tidbits of basic HTML via Wikipedia) with graphics, but haven't really had the need or desire to do it, since the one I now have works fine...I've started reading through policies, most of them I've skimmed or read minor sections of in the past, but I already finished WP:3RR (hopefully my fixes were appropriate, I tried my best to support them by looking in the Manual of Style and various grammar websites). Also, may I ask what my "Workshop" page will be used for?--Vox Rationis (Talk | contribs) 21:55, 11 March 2007 (UTC)

Generally, while a sandbox is for tinkering and draft-writing, a workshop page is for linking. It serves as both a bookmark page and notepad. You can use it to store your task list of articles you want to work on or create, organize the links to the pages in your userspace, jot down ideas on various projects, store your purge buttons and other controls, etc. It is an all-purpose link page that you can use for just about anything. See my workshop as an example. The Transhumanist   18:04, 12 March 2007 (UTC)

And please don't overlook #1 on your task list. Dweller is definitely an advanced user. Analysing experienced Wikipedians will give you lots of insight into your own activities and ways to improve them. I consider #1 the most important task on your list. Use the edit counter on Dweller, go to his user page and look over his contributions (clicking "User contributions" on Wikipedia's toolbox menu), etc. Find something to ask him about. Ask questions about his opinions, his wiki-philosophy, his activities, particular edits, etc. Anything Wikipedia-related. Your questions will also help Dweller practice presenting himself and get used to being scruitinized, which is exactly what happens at RfAs, RfCs, Wikipedia's various reporting boards, etc. The Transhumanist   19:05, 12 March 2007 (UTC)

Your proofread/edit of WP:3RR was excellent. The only thing I need to point out is that we generally don't change acceptable British spellings to American spellings. And they don't change our spellings to theirs. All major varieties of English are acceptable, because the English Wikipedia has English editors, Canadian editors, Australian editors, etc. We peacefully co-exist. See Wikipedia:Manual of Style#National varieties of English and Wikipedia:Manual of Style (spelling). The Transhumanist   08:11, 14 March 2007 (UTC)

My apologies for the long delayed response. I have been on an unofficial wikibreak due to school, vacation, and my recent upgrade to Windows Vista Ultimate. Now I have mostly returned and will pick up where I left off. I understand the British brawling rules from the Manual of style, however, I had a bit of reasoning behind my spelling changes. I changed the word ”behavioural” because the policy was under the " behavior ” policy group, and it was spelled in the American Standard, so I assumed that we would want eight uniforms spelling as mentioned in the Manual of style. Also I change "libelous" to the American spelling because Wiktionary refers to the for spelling as being ” commoner British spelling", so I assumed that it was not a standard for spelling, and should be changed. Also, the article on the libel uses the American spelling, so I figured we want the two to match. I realize that I may have extrapolated some of the guidelines of the Manual of style beyond what they are intended to, but that was my rationale nonetheless. On a different note, now that I received Windows Vista I can use " voice recognition” technologies to better write Wikipedia's articles. We shall see how well it works, because it has been known to create some inaccuracies. (There may be some such inaccuracies in this reply right here, as it is being dictated.) Also on another subject, now that I have a headset for my computer, I was considering volunteering for the "spoken Wikipedia" project. Over the next couple days, I will be catching up on my watch list, and once have completed that I will get back to the tasks that you assigned me.--Vox Rationis (Talk | contribs) 04:04, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

I've not given you any additional tasks, as you've yet to complete the above. --Dweller 11:19, 28 March 2007 (UTC)

Welcome back

I guess you should get back into article writing/editing.

And start using your watchlist religiously. Set it (in "my preferences") to add all the articles you work on. (save, move)

I'll be watching over your shoulder from time to time.

If you have any questions about anything, feel free to ask.

If you'd like suggestions of articles or subject areas to work on, just let me know.  :)

The Transhumanist 02:23, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

Watchlist is already covered. There is a group of articles which always stay on there, as well as ever one of my userpages, every image I upload, and a few other things. Also, when I make certain edits, I will watch the page for a few days, same with some users and IP addresses that I warn (vandalism reversion). AS of right now, I have 56 pages in my watchlist. Now, may I ask why I should watch every page that I edit? It would seem to me that that might expand my watchlist beyond what is manageable, (especially since I have recently squired the use of AutoWikiBrowser).--Vox Rationis (Talk | contribs) 02:42, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

To practice what admins do: watchdog and maintain Wikipedia. What if someone comes along and vandalizes a page you fixed? Don't you feel responsible in maintaining your edits?  :) Someone has to do it. Admins warn a lot of users, and those go right on their watchlists so they can keep track of them; admins also watch pages that are vandalized in case the vandals come back to them, and they watch the noticeboards they participate in. And someone needs to watch policy pages so they don't get out of control. Having thousands of pages on one's watchlist is not uncommon with admins. It's one of the most powerful tools on Wikipedia, and you need to get a feel for it.

See the comments made to D.M.N. at User:The Transhumanist/Virtual classroom/Coaching/D.M.N.#Administration is maintenance.

Once you have enough pages on your watchlist, you can watch changes to them in realtime using Lupin's Vandal Tool and actually expect changes to pop up while you are watching. You can also do that in another window and check it from time to time.

There's a watchlist sorter script on User:The Transhumanist/monobook.js. I swear by it.

The Transhumanist 04:26, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

Your interfaces

Please post to User:The Transhumanist/Virtual classroom/External interfaces and User:The Transhumanist/Virtual classroom/Internal interfaces, so I know what tools (browsers, etc.) you make use of when working on Wikipedia. It'll help me make better suggestions.

Do you have/use a macro program?

The Transhumanist 04:40, 9 January 2008 (UTC)

No, I can't say that I do use a macro program. I have heard of them. Are they free/easy to use/useful for wikipedia?--Vox Rationis (Talk | contribs) 20:20, 13 January 2008 (UTC)

See my tools page. That and many more tools are explained on there. The Transhumanist 22:45, 13 January 2008 (UTC)

I've read over your interface postings. I'm intrigued by your analysis of Linky. I find it has a different dynamic than AWB, and therefore has different uses. It is a more powerful viewing/browsing tool than AWB, and I find it invaluable when I need to look at a bunch of pages (it can open 99 tabs at a time): first I use Linky to load pages into tabs, and then I cycle through the tabs by pressing Ctrl-W (in Firefox), which instantly closes the current tab and instantly displays the next tab which already has another page loaded in it. Tabbing in this way is lightning fast. When it comes to visually inspecting pages, Linky-loaded tabbing leaves AWB in the dust. The Transhumanist

I could see that last bit as being useful for linky. For AWB to show that actual page, you have to click an extra button, and that extra step multiplied 100 times can add up. However, AWB can load thousands of pages, and your description of ctrl-w had me smiling (as its the premise of AWB). However, I do see your point with the instant tab load, as opposed to waiting the second or two for the next diff to load in AWB. Our ancestors would finds us very impatient, since we are fretting over mere seconds of productivity! I think I might give it another try soon.

Village pump is not being helpful

Maybe you can help. On the 7th of January, I posted a non-policy proposal, which can be found here and interlinked it with a relevant discussion here found on WT:BIO. Since then, no one has posted to either discussion. Very dissatisfying. Possibly you could give opinion on the matter?--Vox Rationis (Talk | contribs) 20:20, 13 January 2008 (UTC)

It is very unclear what you are proposing there. It is equally unclear what you want from VP'ers. You should start over and try again. The Transhumanist 22:36, 13 January 2008 (UTC)

I guess I was ambiguous. Basically, there are numerous substandard stubs in Category:Supercentenarians, as well as extensive lists, et cetera. Because it is an obscure area of WP:WPBIO, very few people seem to edit much there, and so the articles are maintained by a small group who consider age to be qualification of notability. Many of them don't even hold a record of age. To make up for this, there are numerous obscure records (oldest living immigrant to America?) to make up for lack of notability. Personally, I have no idea what to make of it all, I nominated one for merge, and have not gotten a second vote in a week, and so I realize that this would take over a year for me to sort out. Hence why I proposed that something be done, for the merges, deletes, et cetera to be streamlined."Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away."--Antoine de Saint Exupéry--Vox Rationis (Talk | contribs) 02:46, 14 January 2008 (UTC)

Have you tried AfD'ing any of the non-notable articles? That's streamlined already, because you can nominate related articles together in the same nomination. See the instructions on the AfD page.

If you received no objections to your merge proposal, then you are free to merge it. When you post merge proposals, consider wording them with something like "if there are no objections within a week, I'll assume it's OK and will make the merge." Keep track of where you leave those notices, so you can go back and check them in a week's time.

If you want better response at VP, rewrite your request so that it is crystal clear (like you did above), and give it a catchy heading. Also, look on the VC lesson template. There's a list of all the VC coaches on there, and they are all either admins or advanced users. Anytime you want their advice, feel free to drop each one a note to request their input on your coaching page. Seven heads are better than one.  :)

Let me know if you find this advice useful.

Good luck.

The Transhumanist 11:53, 15 January 2008 (UTC)

My apologies, when I scanned this response the first time, I must have thought it did not warrant a response. It was probably late (not the best of ideas at times). Yes, I find it helpful, and I think that group AfDs and merges would be the best course of action. I realize now that nothing will happen at VP, simply because it is too minuscule to deem a task force. I have not touched this (or other things) recently due to a major issue which came up in the real world, but I am back. Thanks for the nudge.--Vox Rationis (Talk | contribs) 23:10, 23 January 2008 (UTC)

No problem. I look forward to seeing how the clean up goes. The Transhumanist 09:48, 24 January 2008 (UTC)

Collaboration

I'm pushing a collaboration to complete the list of basic space exploration topics.

Should be fun. Drop on by.  ;)

Also, see my post to User talk:Quiddity#Basic topic lists if you want to delve in deeper.

The Transhumanist 09:06, 6 February 2008 (UTC)

FYI

I resign.

I've moved this page to your userspace for safekeeping.

The Transhumanist 03:46, 14 February 2008 (UTC)