Hello, somebody — Preceding unsigned comment added by Mercad (talkcontribs) 23:04, 28 February 2009

adding someone else's signature on talk pages edit

Hi - I saw your question about how to add sigs on unsigned talk page comments. The template is {{unsigned}} and the way you do it is to add a "pipe" followed by the user ID (or IP number). So if I wanted to add your sig I would type {{unsigned|Agnosticaphid}} with the curly braces and it would appear as "— Preceding unsigned comment added by Agnosticaphid (talkcontribs) " Hope this helps. Tvoz/talk 17:10, 15 January 2011 (UTC)Reply

Thanks! That is very helpful. I'd vaguely recalled seeing older and wiser editors add signatures before -- now I can do it myself! Agnosticaphid (talk) 17:37, 15 January 2011 (UTC)Reply

What's in your Name? edit

I can figger out "agnostic" but what about the "-aphid"? Do you mean the little tiny bugs? Cheers Bellagio99 (talk) 20:00, 15 January 2011 (UTC)Reply

UK Supreme Court case drive edit

Hi! Thanks for taking the time to read this message.

As you may know, the United Kingdom Supreme Court has been hearing cases for about 18 months now, taking over from the House of Lords as the Court of Last Resort for most appeals within the United Kingdom.

During that time, the court has handed down 87 judgements (82 of which were on substantive appeals). Wikipedia covers around 11 of these and rarely in any detail. Some very important cases (including Radmacher v Granatino [2010] UKSC 42 (prenups) and Norris v USA [2010] UKSC 9 (extradition)) are not covered at all.

I'm proposing a drive to complete decent quality articles for all, or at least a good proportion of these cases as soon as possible. If we can eliminate the backlog then a small group of editors might want to stick around to ensure articles are created relatively speedily for new cases. Since the Court process, on average, one case a week this shouldn't be too great a task.

I'd like to ask you to help with this drive, and help make Wikipedia a credible source for UKSC case notes.

How you can help

  • Complete that template and add it to existing cases.
  • Improve formatting & prose. Copyediting.
  • Improve the coverage of cases we have articles on, including adding content, sourcing and fact-checking
  • Create new articles for UKSC cases
  • Improve the categorisation and listing of UKSC cases.

Thanks for reading!, Sincerely Bob House 884 (talk) 23:21, 28 March 2011 (UTC)Reply

GOCE drive newsletter edit

 

The Guild of Copy Editors – May 2011 Backlog Elimination Drive


The Guild of Copy Editors invite you to participate in the May 2011 Backlog Elimination Drive, a month-long effort to reduce the backlog of articles that require copy-editing. The drive began on May 1 at 00:00 (UTC) and will end on May 31 at 23:59 (UTC). The goals of this backlog elimination drive are to eliminate as many articles as possible from the 2009 backlog and to reduce the overall backlog by 15%. ! NEW ! In an effort to encourage the final elimination of all 2009 articles, we will be tracking them on the leaderboard for this drive.

Awards and barnstars
A range of barnstars will be awarded to active participants. Some are exclusive to GOCE drives. More information on awards can be found on the main drive page.

We look forward to meeting you on the drive! Your GOCE coordinators: SMasters, Diannaa, Tea with toast, Chaosdruid, and Torchiest

You are receiving a copy of this newsletter as you are a member of the Guild of Copy Editors, or have participated in one of our drives. If you do not wish to receive future newsletters, please add you name here. Sent on behalf of the Guild of Copy Editors using AWB on 07:00, 4 May 2011 (UTC)

GOCE drive newsletter edit

Invitation from the Guild of Copy Editors
 

The Guild of Copy Editors invites you to participate in their September 2011 Backlog elimination drive, a month-long effort to reduce the size of the copy editing backlog. The drive will begin on September 1 at 00:00 (UTC) and will end on September 30 at 23:59 (UTC). We will be tracking the number of 2010 articles in the backlog, as we want to copy edit as many of those as possible. Please consider copy editing an article that was tagged in 2010. Barnstars will be given to anyone who edits more than 4,000 words, with special awards for the top 5 in the categories "Number of articles", "Number of words", and "Number of articles of over 5,000 words". See you at the drive! – Your drive coordinators: Diannaa, Chaosdruid, The Utahraptor, Slon02, and SMasters.

Sent on behalf of the Guild of Copy Editors using AWB on 15:57, 21 August 2011 (UTC)

hello edit

Hi there, thanks for saying that you'd support The Human Centipede (First Sequence) being on the Main Page this year for Halloween. I just thought I'd let you know that I've formally nominated it now, so if you could repeat your support on the nomination page it would be really helpful. The page is at Wikipedia:Today's featured article/requests. Thanks! cya Coolug (talk) 10:27, 25 October 2011 (UTC)Reply

GOCE drive newsletter edit

Invitation from the Guild of Copy Editors
 

The Guild of Copy Editors invites you to participate in their November 2011 Backlog elimination drive, a month-long effort to reduce the size of the copy edit backlog. The drive begins on November 1 at 00:00 (UTC) and ends on November 30 at 23:59 (UTC). We will be tracking the number of 2010 articles (and specifically will be targeting the oldest three months), as we want to copy edit as many of these as possible. Barnstars will be awarded to anyone who copy edits more than 4,000 words, and special awards will be given to the top 5 in the following categories: "Number of articles", "Number of words", and "Number of articles of over 5,000 words". We hope to see you there! – Your drive coordinators: Diannaa, Chaosdruid, The Utahraptor, Slon02, and SMasters.

Sent on behalf of the Guild of Copy Editors using AWB on 00:37, 29 October 2011 (UTC)

Revisit the RfC for Notability (astronomical objects)? edit

Hi Agnosticaphid, you indicated that you were generally supportive of this proposed guideline in a section of its talk page. Would you consider returning to the RfC to leave a vote of support in the comments section of the RfC? Cheers, AstroCog (talk) 18:26, 16 November 2011 (UTC)Reply

Thanks! AstroCog (talk) 15:13, 17 November 2011 (UTC)Reply

GOCE drive newsletter edit

Greetings from the Guild of Copy Editors
 
 

Elections are currently underway for our third tranche of Guild coordinators. The voting period will run for 14 days: 00:01 UTC, 16 December – 23:59 UTC, 31 December. All GOCE members, as well as past participants of any of the Guild's Backlog elimination drives, are eligible to vote. There are five candidates vying for four positions. Your vote really matters! Cast your vote today.

Sent on behalf of the Guild of Copy Editors using AWB on 10:15, 21 December 2011 (UTC)

GOCE 2011 Year-End Report edit

Guild of Copy Editors 2011 Year-End Report
 
 

We have reached the end of the year, and what a year it has been! The Guild of Copy Editors was full of activity, and we achieved numerous important milestones in 2011. Read all about these in the Guild's 2011 Year-End Report.

Highlights
  • Membership grows to 764 editors, an increase of 261
  • Report on coordinators' elections
  • Around 1,000 articles removed through six Backlog elimination drives
  • Guild Plans for 2012
  • Requests page report
  • Sign up for the January 2012 Backlog elimination drive!


Get your copy of the Guild's 2011 Year-End Report here
On behalf of the Guild, we take this opportunity to wish you Season's Greetings and Happy New Year. We look forward to your support in 2012!
– Your 2011 Coordinators: Diannaa (lead), The Utahraptor, and Slon02 and SMasters (emeritus).

Sent on behalf of the Guild of Copy Editors using AWB on 05:48, 2 January 2012 (UTC)

GOCE March copy edit drive edit

Invitation from the Guild of Copy Editors
 

The Guild of Copy Editors invites you to participate in their March 2012 Backlog elimination drive, a month-long effort to reduce the size of the copy edit backlog. The drive begins on March 1 at 00:00 (UTC) and ends on March 31 at 23:59 (UTC). Our goal for the drive will be to eliminate the remaining 2010 articles from the queue. Barnstars will be awarded to anyone who copy edits more than 4,000 words, and special awards will be given to the top 5 in the following categories: "Number of articles", "Number of words", and "Number of articles of over 5,000 words". We hope to see you there! – Your drive coordinators: Dank, Diannaa, Stfg, and Coordinator emeritus SMasters. 19:26, 20 February 2012 (UTC)Reply

>>> Sign up now <<<

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GOCE March drive newsletter edit

Guild of Copy Editors March 2012 backlog elimination drive update
 

 
GOCE March 2012 Backlog Elimination progress graphs

Greetings from the Guild of Copy Editors March 2012 Backlog elimination drive! Here's the mid-drive newsletter.

Participation: We have had 58 people sign up for this drive so far, which compares favorably with our last drive, and 27 have copy-edited at least one article. If you have signed up but have not yet copy-edited any articles, please consider doing so. Every bit helps! If you haven't signed up yet, it's not too late. Join us!

Progress report: Our target of completing the 2010 articles has almost been reached, with only 56 remaining of the 194 we had at the start of the drive. The last ones are always the most difficult, so thank you if you are able to help copy-edit any of the remaining articles. We have reduced the total backlog by 163 articles so far.

Special thanks: Special thanks to Stfg, who has been going through the backlog and doing some preliminary vetting of the articles—removing copyright violations, doing initial clean-up, and nominating some for deletion. This work has helped make the drive a more pleasant experience for all our volunteers.

Your drive coordinators – Dianna (talk), Stfg (talk), and Dank (talk)

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GOCE March drive wrap-up edit

Guild of Copy Editors March 2012 backlog elimination drive
 
 
GOCE March 2012 Backlog Elimination progress graph

Greetings from the Guild of Copy Editors March 2012 Backlog elimination drive! This is the most successful drive we have had for quite a while. Here is your end-of-drive wrap-up newsletter.

Participation

Of the 70 people who signed up for this drive, 40 copy-edited at least one article. Thanks to all who participated! Special acknowledgement goes out to Lfstevens, who did over 200 articles, most of them in the last third of the drive, and topped all three leaderboard categories. You're a superstar! Stfg and others have been pre-checking the articles for quality and conformance to Wikipedia guidelines; some have been nominated for deletion or had some preliminary clean-up done to help make the copy-edit process more fun and appealing. Thanks to all who helped get those nasty last few articles out of the target months.

Progress report

During this drive we were successful in eliminating our target months—October, November, and December 2010—from the queue, and have now eliminated all the 2010 articles from our list. We were able to complete 500 articles this month! End-of-drive results and barnstar information can be found here.

When working on the backlog, please keep in mind that there are options other than copy-editing available; some articles may be candidates for deletion, or may not be suitable for copy-editing at this time for other reasons. The {{GOCEreviewed}} tag can be placed on any article you find to be totally uneditable, and you can nominate for deletion any that you discover to be copyright violations or completely unintelligible. If you need help deciding what to do, please contact any of the coordinators.

Thank you for participating in the March 2012 drive! All contributions are appreciated. Our next copy-edit drive will be in May.

Your drive coordinators – Dianna (Talk), Stfg (Talk), and Dank (talk)

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EdwardsBot (talk) 21:51, 4 April 2012 (UTC)Reply

GOCE May copy edit drive edit

Invitation from the Guild of Copy Editors
 

The Guild of Copy Editors invites you to participate in their May 2012 Backlog elimination drive, a month-long effort to reduce the size of the copy edit backlog. The drive begins on May 1 at 00:00 (UTC) and ends on May 31 at 23:59 (UTC). Our goal for the drive will be to eliminate January, February, and March 2011 from the queue. Barnstars will be awarded to anyone who copy edits more than 4,000 words, and special awards will be given to the top 5 in the following categories: "Number of articles", "Number of words", and "Number of articles of over 5,000 words". We hope to see you there! – Your drive coordinators: Dank, Diannaa, and Stfg.

>>> Sign up now <<<

To discontinue receiving GOCE newsletters, please remove your name from our mailing list. EdwardsBot (talk) 18:12, 22 April 2012 (UTC)Reply

GOCE May mid-drive newsletter edit

Guild of Copy Editors May 2012 backlog elimination drive mid-drive newsletter
 

Participation: Out of 49 people signed up for this drive so far, 26 have copy-edited at least one article. It's a smaller group than last drive, but we're making good progress. If you've signed up but haven't yet copy-edited any articles, please consider doing so. Every bit helps! If you haven't signed up yet, it's not too late. Join us!

Progress report: We're on track to meet our targets for the drive, largely due to the efforts of Lfstevens and the others on the leaderboard. Thanks to all. We have reduced our target group of articles—January, February, and March 2011—by over half, and it looks like we will achieve that goal. Good progress is being made on the overall backlog as well, with over 500 articles copy-edited during the drive so far. The total backlog currently sits at around 3200 articles.

Hall of Fame: GOCE coordinator Diannaa was awarded a spot in the GOCE Hall of Fame this month! She has copy-edited over 1567 articles during these drives, and surpassed the 1,000,000-word mark on May 5. On to the second million! – Your drive coordinators: Dank, Diannaa and Stfg

>>> Sign up now <<<

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GOCE May drive wrap-up edit

Guild of Copy Editors May 2012 backlog elimination drive wrap-up
 

Participation: Out of 54 people who signed up this drive, 32 copy-edited at least one article. Last drive's superstar, Lfstevens, again stood out, topping the leader board in all three categories and copy-editing over 700 articles. Thanks to all who participated! Final results, including barnstars awarded, are available here.

Progress report: We were once again successful in our primary goal—removing the oldest three months from the backlog—while removing 1166 articles from the queue, the second-most in our history. The total backlog currently sits at around 2600 articles, down from 8323 when we started out just over two years ago.

 

Coodinator election: The six-month term for our third tranche of Guild coordinators will be expiring at the end of June. We will be accepting nominations for the fourth tranche of coordinators, who will also serve a six-month term. Nominations will open starting on June 5. For complete information, please have a look at the election page. – Your drive coordinators: Dank, Diannaa, and Stfg

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GOCE July 2012 Copy Edit Drive edit

Invitation from the Guild of Copy Editors
 

The Guild of Copy Editors invites you to participate in their July 2012 Backlog elimination drive, a month-long effort to reduce the size of the copy edit backlog. The drive begins on July 1 at 00:00 (UTC) and ends on July 31 at 23:59 (UTC). Our goals are to eliminate the articles tagged in April, May and June 2011 from the queue and to complete all requests placed before the end of June. Barnstars will be awarded to anyone who copy edits more than 4,000 words, and special awards will be given to the top 6 in the following categories: "Number of articles", "Number of words", "Number of articles of over 5,000 words", "Number of articles tagged in April–June 2011", and "Longest article". We hope to see you there! – Your drive coordinators: Dank, Diannaa and Stfg.

>>> Sign up now <<<

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GOCE July 2012 mid-drive newsletter edit

Guild of Copy Editors July 2012 backlog elimination drive mid-drive newsletter
 

Participation: Out of 37 people signed up for this drive so far, 25 have copy-edited at least one article. It's a smaller group than last drive, but we're making good progress. If you've signed up but haven't yet copy-edited any articles, every bit helps; if you haven't signed up yet, it's not too late. Join us!

Progress report: We're almost on track to meet our targets for the drive. Great work, guys. We have reduced our target group of articles—May, June, and July 2011—by about 40%, and the overall backlog has been reduced by 264 articles so far, to around 2500 articles.

Copy Edit of the Month: Starting in August, your best copy-editing work of the month will be eligible for fabulous prizes! See here for details. – Your drive coordinators: Stfg, Allens, and Torchiest.

>>> Sign up now <<<

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GOCE July drive wrap-up edit

Guild of Copy Editors July 2012 backlog elimination drive wrap-up
 

Participation: Out of 45 people who signed up this drive, 31 have copy-edited at least one article. Lfstevens continues to carry most of the weight, having edited 360 articles and over a quarter of a million words already. Thanks to all who have participated! Final results, including barnstars awarded, will be available early in August here.

Progress report: We are once again very close to achieving in our primary goal—removing the oldest three months from the backlog. Only 35 such articles remain at press time. The total backlog currently sits at under 2400 articles, down from 8323 when we started out over two years ago. We are just two articles away from completing all requests made before July 2012 (both are in progress).

Copy Edit of the Month: Starting in August, you'll be able to submit your best copy-editing work for palaver, praise, and prizes. See here for details. – Your drive coordinators: Stfg, Allens, and Torchiest.

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Stephanie Adams edit

Thank you for your comment at the conflict-of-interest board. This type posting is recommended by Wikipedia policy on dispute resolution to encourage other interested parties to provide opinions. See WP:DR. Pkeets (talk) 05:25, 10 August 2012 (UTC)Reply

GOCE news and September drive invitation edit

Invitation from the Guild of Copy Editors
 

The Guild of Copy Editors invites you to participate in its events:

  • The August 2012 Copy Edit of the Month Contest is currently in the submissions stage. Submit your best August copy edit there before the end of the month. Submissions end, and discussion and voting begin, on September 1 at 00:00 (UTC).
  • September 2012 Backlog elimination drive is a month-long effort to reduce the size of the copy edit backlog. The drive begins on September 1 at 00:00 (UTC) and ends on September 30 at 23:59 (UTC). Our goals are to copy edit the articles tagged longest ago and to complete all requests placed before the end of August. Barnstars will be awarded to anyone who copy edits at least one article, and special awards will be given to the top six in the following categories: "Number of articles", "Number of words", "Number of articles of over 5,000 words", "Number of articles tagged longest ago", and "Longest article". This drive features a much easier signup process. We hope to see you there! – Your drive coordinators: Stfg, Allens, and Torchiest.
>>> Sign up now <<<

To discontinue receiving GOCE newsletters, please remove your name from our mailing list. Delivered by EdwardsBot (talk) 18:41, 21 August 2012 (UTC)Reply

GOCE September activities edit

Reminders from the Guild of Copy Editors
 

A quick reminder of our current events:

  • The August 2012 Copy Edit of the Month Contest is in the discussion and voting stage until midnight September 14 (UTC).
  • The September 2012 Copy Edit of the Month Contest is in the submissions stage until midnight September 30 (UTC), when discussion and voting begin.
  • The September 2012 Backlog elimination drive is now underway! The event runs until midnight September 30 (UTC). The goal is to copy edit articles with the oldest tags and complete all requests placed before September. Barnstars will be awarded to anyone who participates, with special awards given to the top five in the following categories: "Total articles", "Total words", "Total articles over 5,000 words", "Total articles tagged longest ago", and "Longest article". – Your drive coordinators: Stfg, Allens, and Torchiest.

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GOCE mid-drive newsletter edit

Guild of Copy Editors September 2012 backlog elimination drive mid-drive newsletter
 

  • Participation: Out of 37 people signed up for this drive so far, 19 have copy-edited at least one article, about the same as the last drive. If you've signed up but haven't yet copy-edited any articles, every bit helps; if you haven't signed up yet, it's not too late. Join us!
  • Progress report: We're almost on track to meet our targets for the drive. Great work, guys. We have reduced our target group of articles—August, September, and October 2011—by about 44%, and the overall backlog has been reduced by 58 articles so far, to around 2600 articles. The biggest difference between this drive and the previous one is a stronger focus on large articles, so total word counts are still comparable.
  • Don't forget about the Copy Edit of the Month contests! Voting for the August contest has been extended through the end of the month. You don't have to make a submission to vote!
>>> Sign up now <<<

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GOCE September 2012 drive wrap-up edit

Guild of Copy Editors September 2012 backlog elimination drive wrap-up
 

Participation: Out of 41 people who signed up this drive, 28 copy-edited at least one article. Thanks to all who participated! Final results, including barnstars awarded, are available here.

Progress report: We achieved our primary goal of clearing July, August, September and October 2011 from the backlog. This means that, for the first time since the drives began, the backlog is less than a year. At least 677 tagged articles were copy edited, although 365 new ones were added during the month. The total backlog at the end of the month was 2341 articles, down from 8323 when we started out over two years ago. We completed all 54 requests outstanding before September 2012 as well as eight of those made in September.

Copy Edit of the Month: Voting is now over for the August 2012 competition, and prizes will be issued soon. The September 2012 contest is closed for submissions and open for voting. The October 2012 contest is now open for submissions. Everyone is welcome to submit entries and to vote.

– Your drive coordinators: Stfg, Allens, and Torchiest.

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GOCE fall newsletter edit

Fall Events from the Guild of Copy Editors
 

The Guild of Copy Editors invites you to participate in its events:

  • The October 2012 Copy Edit of the Month Contest is currently in the submissions stage. Submit your best October copy edit there before the end of the month. Submissions end, and discussion and voting begin, on November 1 at 00:00 (UTC).
  • Voting is in progress for the September 2012 Copy Edit of the Month Contest. Everyone is welcome to vote, whether they have entered the contest or not.
  • NEW!! In the week from Sunday 21 October to Saturday 27 October, we are holding a Project Blitz, in which we will copy edit articles tagged with {{copyedit}} belonging to selected project(s). For the first blitz, we'll start with WikiProject Olympics and WikiProject Albums and add more Projects to the blitz as we clear them. The blitz works much like our bimonthly drives, but a bit simpler. Everyone is welcome to take part, and barnstars will be awarded.
  • November 2012 Backlog elimination drive is a month-long effort to reduce the size of the copy edit backlog. The drive begins on November 1 at 00:00 (UTC) and ends on November 30 at 23:59 (UTC). Our goals are to copy edit all articles tagged in 2011 and to complete all requests placed before the end of October. Barnstars will be awarded to anyone who copy edits at least one article, and special awards will be given to the top five in the following categories: "Number of articles", "Number of words", "Number of articles of over 5,000 words", "Number of articles tagged in 2011", and "Longest article". We hope to see you there! – Your drive coordinators: Stfg, Allens, and Torchiest.
>>> Blitz sign-up <<<         >>> Drive sign-up <<<

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Capitalization edit

As mentioned on my talk page, when I brought up the issue, there was nothing about MOS at WP:Naming conventions (music)#Bands, albums and songs when the topic was brought up. I would like to remind you that if you think I was skirting my topic ban the places to bring that up are at my talk page or at WP:ANI, and never as a part of an article or guideline discussion. That talk page is solely and only for discussing the guideline, and not editor conduct.

Unless we are actually transcluding a subpage, it is not a good idea to repeat information in more than one place, as it constitutes a content fork. The example of Korn at the top of the section is good, and a section on disambiguation is fine, but not capitalization, which is covered elsewhere. Apteva (talk) 01:05, 21 May 2013 (UTC)Reply

It seems to me that while of course personal attacks are unacceptable, it's not really the same thing for me to point out that you're topic banned from the MOS. The whole point of a ban is that the community thought you were being disruptive in MOS-related matters. So why should I be forbidden from pointing that out when you propose things that clearly implicate the MOS? I don't think it's a personal attack to point out that the proposal sprang from one with a flawed view of the MOS. So please refrain from unilaterally removing my comments. Thanks! Finally, for the record, please also refrain from making edits like this one. Obviously it violated the spirit of you being "banned indefinitely ... from advocating against the MOS being applicable to article titles." You explained your edit on the talk page by saying that we shouldn't "create" a new title by imposing capitalization rules on articles titles involving band or song names. It seems to me that that constitutes "advocating against the MOS being applicable to article titles." AgnosticAphid talk 07:30, 21 May 2013 (UTC)Reply

Talk page guidelines make it clear what talk pages are for and how they are to be used. They are not for bickering about "aren't you supposed to be topic banned from this". They are for discussing the topic. If someone is topic banned from MOS and has a discussion about MOS (that discussion was about titles, not MOS), then the place to bring that up is on their talk page, or at ANI or AE. In consensus decision making comments are only directed to the group, not to another participant. Doing that allows everyone to be involved equally in the decision making process. The same rule applies to the other method of group decision making, parliamentary, which requires that all comments are directed not to other participants, but to the chair/moderator/clerk etc. Both methods prohibit incivility and personal attacks. WP is currently discussing how to "enforce" civility, in an ongoing RfC, per ARB motion February 2012, "The imposition of discretionary sanctions, paroles, and related remedies by the community is done on an ad hoc basis in the absence of clear documented standards. The community is strongly encouraged to review and document standing good practice for such discussions." Current policy is that "Derogatory comments about other contributors may be removed by any editor. Repeated or egregious personal attacks may lead to blocks." Current policy on dealing with incivility states "Ask them to strike out an uncivil comment, or re-word it calmly and neutrally, if they haven't already done so by this point." My experience is that re-wording is not as advisable as simply removing it, using the {{redacted}} template, which replaces it with (Redacted), but that of course is also rewording. In extreme cases, oversighting or WP:Revision deletion is done instead, particularly if personal information is included. In other cases it is sufficient to reword, delete, hat, or archive the inappropriate discussion. It is inexcusable to simply allow such behavior. We are all here to improve the encyclopedia, not to call each other names or bicker with each other. There are plenty of other forums where that is done, but not Wikipedia. Apteva (talk) 17:39, 21 May 2013 (UTC)Reply
You're banned from advocating not to apply the MOS to article titles. You advocated not following the MOS's capitalization rules with regard to music-related article titles. That violates your topic ban. I still think that it is fair for me to point that out. I wasn't making a derogatory comment about you. I said that your edits violated the topic ban. Obviously this is a fine line but I am willing to defend my position on the correct side of it. I don't see the point of having topic bans if we are forbidden from informing other editors about them. And I'm not really interested in undertaking an exciting journey into the waters of ANI. AgnosticAphid talk 18:02, 21 May 2013 (UTC)Reply
No one is prohibited from informing other editors about violations, even when they clearly are not a violation (in this case, for example), but only on their talk page (or at ANI and posting a link on their talk page to the discussion). For example, lets say there is an article about Gaza, and someone who is topic banned from all articles pertaining to Israelis/Palestinians. How does it involve improving the article to point out the ban violation? It is a distraction and prevents discussion about the actual topic. I am not taking any position on how band names are capitalized. I am unequivocally stating that we already have a page for that determination, at WP:NCCAPS, and there is nothing unique about the capitalization of bands that warrants what thus becomes solely a content fork. It is not like, say bird names, which are treated differently. And saying something to the effect of "I am not going to have a conversation with someone who..." is wrong on many levels. Apteva (talk) 18:17, 21 May 2013 (UTC)Reply
I feel like there would be value in informing people that someone who contributed to the Gaza article is banned from Israeli/Palestinian articles because then the rest of the contributors will view the contribution with skepticism, as they should. If comments about bans are limited to user talk pages, that's not possible.
It also seems to me that you were taking a position on how to capitalize the articles. You were not just saying, "oh this section is redundant in light of all of our other rules, so let's delete it." You argued that the section should be removed because if we followed the MOS' rules on capitalization we'd be "making up song titles and band names." While it's true that finding a violation in your edit requires making an inference about your purpose in making the edit (namely, why you think we're currently "making up" the names), I think that in light of your history it is fair to infer that you think the names are being made up because they're wrongly capitalized. For instance, you made very similar arguments about how using the "wrong" type of dash constituted "making up" names of comets. So, I think all things considered that you're in direct violation of your topic ban.
Nonetheless, you're right that it's poor form to dismiss contributors. I was trying to dismiss your contribution, not you. I seem to have given you the opposite impression and for that I apologize. AgnosticAphid talk 18:36, 21 May 2013 (UTC)Reply
Nothing wrong with dismissing contributions, but it is the contribution that needs to be the focus, not who made the contribution, and needs to be done on a contribution by contribution basis on its merits alone, and is not fair to anyone to say "I am not going to pay attention to anything you say only because you said it." To color comments on the basis of them being from a problematic editor is a huge problem, and to notify the group that someone is participating that needs to have their comments dismissed is highly inappropriate. Focus on the merits of the discussion, not on the contributors. We do strike comments of editors not eligible to vote, for example, at RfA, but I am not aware of striking talk page comments made by banned editors. They tend to get blocked quickly, to stop that from continuing. In consensus decision making the premise is made that everyone is equal and is provided the same treatment as everyone else. The original reason (400 years ago) for using consensus decision making was that there was and could be only one correct decision, and the decision making process existed solely to find out what that was. Today as then consensus decision making is used to allow large groups to listen carefully to dissenting views regardless of who held the view. I seem to recall multiple cartoons involving scientists trying to solve a problem on a blackboard and a janitor inadvertently providing the key solution. Apteva (talk) 19:33, 21 May 2013 (UTC)Reply

Precious edit

bold justice
Thank you for dealing with MOS questions, for tireless copy-editing behind the scenes, and for entering a scene with a bold reminder], worded with a sense of justice that even I understand, - you are an awesome Wikipedian!

--Gerda Arendt (talk) 07:54, 30 May 2013 (UTC)Reply

Aw, thanks! AgnosticAphid talk 14:28, 30 May 2013 (UTC)Reply

GOCE May drive wrap-up edit

Guild of Copy Editors May 2013 backlog elimination drive wrap-up newsletter
 

We have completed our May backlog elimination drive.

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GOCE June/July 2013 events edit

Guild of Copy Editors July 2013 backlog elimination drive wrap-up newsletter
 

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ANI (Wagner talk page) edit

  Hello. There is currently a discussion at Wikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard/Incidents regarding an issue with which you may have been involved. Thank you.--Smerus (talk) 16:07, 28 June 2013 (UTC)Reply

GOCE July 2013 news report edit

Guild of Copy Editors July 2013 backlog elimination drive mid-drive newsletter
 
  • Participation: Out of 30 people who have signed up for this drive so far, 18 have participated. If you have signed up for the drive but have not yet participated, it isn't too late. If you haven't signed up for the drive, sign up now!
 
  • Progress report: Thus far we have reduced the number of May/June 2012 articles to just 124 articles, so we're on the right track. Unfortunately, for the first time in GOCE history, the number of articles in the backlog has actually gone up during this drive. While all participants are currently doing a fine job, we just don't have as many of them as we have had in the past. We have over 500 editors on our mailing list, but only 18 editors who have done a copy edit for the drive. If you're receiving this newsletter, it's because you have an interest in copy editing. Join the drive! Even if you only copy edit one article, it helps. Imagine how much progress we could make if everyone chipped in just one article.

– Your drive coordinators: Torchiest, Baffle gab1978, Jonesey95, and The Utahraptor.

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GOCE July 2013 copy edit drive wrap-up edit

Guild of Copy Editors July 2013 backlog elimination drive wrap-up newsletter
 

We have completed our July backlog elimination drive.

The drive wrap-up newsletter is now ready for review.

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GOCE Blitz wrap-up and September 2013 drive invitation edit

Guild of Copy Editors August Blitz wrap-up
 

Participation: Out of sixteen people who signed up for this blitz, nine copy-edited at least one article. Thanks to all who participated! Final results, including barnstars awarded, are available here.

Progress report: During the seven-day blitz, we removed 26 articles from the requests queue. Hope to see you at the September drive in a few days! Cheers from your GOCE coordinators Torchiest, Baffle gab1978, Jonesey95, and The Utahraptor.

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My RfA edit

I should have thanked you for your support sooner. ```Buster Seven Talk 12:54, 27 August 2013 (UTC)Reply

oh, of course. I'm sorry it didn't work out. AgnosticAphid talk 14:28, 27 August 2013 (UTC)Reply

Welcome to The Wikipedia Adventure! edit

 
Hi! We're so happy you wanted to play to learn, as a friendly and fun way to get into our community and mission. I think these links might be helpful to you as you get started.
-- 19:54, 2 August 2013 (UTC)

AP list exempt from the comma convention edit

Hi Agnosticaphid. What do you mean by your name? Do you have a nick name? You Reverted good faith edits by SmokeyJoe (talk): "This is a terrible example because NYC is on the AP list exempt from the comma convention. (TW))" Associated Press? Can you point me to the AP list exempt from the comma convention. I have so far been deliberately avoiding paying attention to comma conventions, but am interested this time. Thanks --SmokeyJoe (talk) 07:40, 29 August 2013 (UTC)Reply

User:SmokeyJoe, the list itself is here. There was a super duper long discussion about USPLACE and the AP list exception recently that you can read here, too. My name's just pretty arbitrary. AgnosticAphid talk 15:00, 29 August 2013 (UTC)Reply
Sorry, there have been so many discussions about this that I actually linked the wrong one. The "original recent" discussion is here; the one I linked is a more brief follow-up. AgnosticAphid talk 15:27, 29 August 2013 (UTC)Reply

California Proposition 8 and commas edit

Thank you for your message on my talk page. Yes, I am totally surprised to learn of the mindless, asinine wikirule at MOS:LQ, which is a prescription for chaos and confusion; and I see now that all the many, many hours of my leisure time I have spent copyediting articles has been a shameful, foolish waste of time. So now that you have enlightened me to this provision of the MOS, I am tossing my blue pencil in the trash can, and I will in future devote my leisure hours to activities that actually serve some good purpose, which copyediting Wikipedia obviously does not.

Thank you again - I am truly grateful that you opened my eyes to this astonishing misperception on my part. I will not copyedit Wikipedia articles again, ever, except perhaps my own - but why bother even doing that, when others will just come along and mess the hell out of whatever I do? Textorus (talk) 17:31, 30 August 2013 (UTC)Reply

Thanks for the link, but I'm not going to read the discussion - long experience has taught me there's no point in going there. There is a wikirule, and you are right and I am wrong, so whatever I think doesn't matter. I know too that all resistance is futile, so while I sit quietly waiting for the assimilation squad to arrive, I will confine my edits to purely factual corrections - at least until I'm informed there's a rule against that. So thanks again for opening my eyes to the futility of what I've been doing, which is quite a relief, actually: no more fretting and fussing over minute punctuation marks, grammar, and spelling, which nobody in their right mind gives a shit about anyway. And by serendipity, today is my seventh wikibirthday, so it's obviously a sign that I need to move on to more constructive, genuinely helpful things, like making pictures of lolcats or something. But I've repented the error of my ways here, and I'm over it. Textorus (talk) 21:18, 30 August 2013 (UTC)Reply

Article Feedback Tool update edit

Hey Agnosticaphid. I'm contacting you because you're involved in the Article Feedback Tool in some way, either as a previous newsletter recipient or as an active user of the system. As you might have heard, a user recently anonymously disabled the feedback tool on 2,000 pages. We were unable to track or prevent this due to the lack of logging feature in AFT5. We're deeply sorry for this, as we know that quite a few users found the software very useful, and were using it on their articles.

We've now re-released the software, with the addition of a logging feature and restrictions on the ability to disable. Obviously, we're not going to automatically re-enable it on each article—we don't want to create a situation where it was enabled by users who have now moved on, and feedback would sit there unattended—but if you're interested in enabling it for your articles, it's pretty simple to do. Just go to the article you want to enable it on, click the "request feedback" link in the toolbox in the sidebar, and AFT5 will be enabled for that article.

Again, we're very sorry about this issue; hopefully it'll be smooth sailing after this :). If you have any questions, just drop them at the talkpage. Thanks! Okeyes (WMF) 21:45, 1 September 2013 (UTC)Reply

Talk:Bradley Manning/October 2013 move request edit

Greetings. Because you participated in the August 2013 move request regarding this subject, you may be interested in participating in the current discussion. This notice is provided pursuant to Wikipedia:Canvassing#Appropriate notification. Cheers! bd2412 T 21:25, 4 October 2013 (UTC)Reply

Talk:Chelsea edit

Thanks for your comment. Everything got closed. Oh well. Regards, --Bob K31416 (talk) 02:21, 12 October 2013 (UTC)Reply

GOCE September 2013 drive wrap-up edit

Guild of Copy Editors September 2013 backlog elimination drive wrap-up newsletter
 

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Discussion of interest edit

A discussion you may be interested in is this RFC, a proposal to make the second comma in a date/place optional. United States Man (talk) 05:28, 27 October 2013 (UTC)Reply

GOCE Blitz wrap-up; join us for the November drive edit

Guild of Copy Editors October Blitz wrap-up
 

Participation: Out of eleven people who signed up for this blitz, eight copy-edited at least one article. Thanks to all who participated! Final results, including barnstars awarded, are available here.

Progress report: During the seven-day blitz, we copy edited 42 articles from WikiProject Film's backlog, reducing it by a net of 34 articles. Hope to see you at the November drive in a few days! Cheers from your GOCE coordinators Torchiest, Baffle gab1978, Jonesey95, and The Utahraptor.

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MOS:COMMA edit

I have opened a new RFC at Wikipedia talk:Manual of Style § RFC: Proposed amendment to MOS:COMMA regarding geographical references and dates. sroc 💬 08:31, 7 November 2013 (UTC)Reply

November 2013 GOCE drive wrap-up edit

Guild of Copy Editors November 2013 backlog elimination drive wrap-up newsletter
 

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Discussion at Wikipedia talk:Naming conventions (geographic names)#En dash vs. "and" for multi-state metro areas edit

  You are invited to join the discussion at Wikipedia talk:Naming conventions (geographic names)#En dash vs. "and" for multi-state metro areas. Herostratus (talk) 18:22, 11 December 2013 (UTC)Reply