User talk:Andre Kritzinger/Archive 2014

Cape Town meetup

Hi Andre, I just wanted to let you know about, and invite you to, the 4th Cape Town Wiki-meetup at Truth Coffee on Buitenkant St on Sunday the 2nd of February. Thanks, --Discott (talk) 15:40, 26 January 2014 (UTC)

5th Wiki-meetup 4 May 2014

Hello, Wikimedia ZA would like to invite you to the 5th Cape Town Wiki-meetup for 11am, Sunday the 4th May 2014 at Truth Coffee on 36 Buitenkant Street, Cape Town. It would be great if you could join us. Please invite who ever you think might be interested.--Discott (talk) 14:24, 7 April 2014 (UTC)

Will try to make it, thanks. -- André Kritzinger (talk) 15:08, 7 April 2014 (UTC)

Congrats

23,000+This user has made over 23,000 contributions to Wikimedia projects.

Congratulations on over 10 000 edits on the English Wikipedia! --NJR_ZA (talk) 20:27, 10 February 2014 (UTC)

Never thought it was that many. Thanks. André Kritzinger (talk) 20:54, 10 February 2014 (UTC)

Apology

the cape gauge article issue has always ( 6 years or more) on the close to edit wars with the claims that the gauge is known all around the world by that name, and that the gauge had started there. The general import of the article has been changed by my most recent edit, and the lead i think is more neutral now. I was going to revert my talk page comment, and you have responded. I was going to revert or cross out my comment, but you responsed - I see no reason to further the comment as the lead has changed. any thoughts? satusuro 02:15, 21 February 2014 (UTC)

By any chance are you aware of 'abandoned' https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_African_Railways_NG15_class or Beyer garrats in SA at the moment, there are rumours in Australia that there are some unclaimed unused locos that may effectively be available for prospective buyers.satusuro 02:25, 21 February 2014 (UTC)

Even if it appears to be abandoned (many do) they still belong to Transnet, who holds auctions every now and then. So it's best to direct enquiries to Transnet first. André Kritzinger (talk) 13:49, 22 February 2014 (UTC)

Sorry for delay in reply - there had been a rumour doing the traps in Australia that there were NG's and garratts (similar to the Welsh Highland set) still potentially available in SA. And a larger 3'6" garratt being in some way on the market. satusuro 16:00, 27 February 2014 (UTC)

Can't confirm or deny, sorry. - André Kritzinger (talk) 16:14, 27 February 2014 (UTC)

no problems - very impressed by the south african photos and articles - we also have a few australians who come over for the steam event in march - what photos I have seen it looks quite impressive satusuro 01:26, 28 February 2014 (UTC)

Thanks. The SA loco articles are almost complete now. So I began spreading word about them on Facebook and Yahoogroups, one by one in order of years built, and that resulted in South African locomotive history, an article/list in progress and growing by year year almost daily. André Kritzinger (talk) 12:50, 28 February 2014 (UTC)

In comparison the Australian locomotive articles about classes by states are very varied in content and very short of anything like a comprehensive list or set of articles... satusuro 14:27, 28 February 2014 (UTC)

Hunslet Africa (Pty) Ltd

No. 4268, a 1951 100HP diesel locomotive by Hunslet Africa (Pty) Ltd, a subsidiarity of Hunslet Engine Company of Leeds Photo taken at the Reef Steamers depot in Germiston, South Africa

I visited the Reef Steamers depot at Germiston this morning and took a couple of photos that I am uploading. Not sure what to make of this Hunslet diesel loco. Have just added the photos under Commons:Category:Locomotives of South Africa until it can be better sorted. --NJR_ZA (talk) 10:23, 22 February 2014 (UTC)

Did you ask the Reefsteamers crowd? I'll find a spot for it. John Middleton's book lists virtually every loco in SA.

André Kritzinger (talk) 13:45, 22 February 2014 (UTC)

Did not really have time to chat, they were rather busy preparing a 15F for a run to Magaliesburg. But I will definitely go back there; some really interesting stock they have at the depo.

--NJR_ZA (talk) 21:54, 22 February 2014 (UTC)

Armoured trains

CGR 3rd Class 4-4-0 1889 No. 108 ?

Andre,

I am trying to put some information together on the use of trains and traction engines during the Second Boer War as it seems to be an interesting subject with very little coverage. This photo from the Battle of Kraaipan seems to be two CGR 3rd Class 4-4-0 1898 locomotives (Note the 108 number on the front armoured loco), but I can not be totally sure. Can you have a look and offer your opinion.

Thanks --NJR_ZA (talk) 19:05, 3 March 2014 (UTC)

No, not the 1898 locos. They were the Wynberg Tenders and never left Cape Town as far as I can figure out. And there were only six of them. More likely the CGR 3rd Class 4-4-0 1889 that worked on the Kimberley line to Mafeking and into Bechuanaland, later even Bulawayo. And one was no. 108. - André Kritzinger (talk) 19:53, 3 March 2014 (UTC)

I rotated the picture 5 degrees. Not enough, but that's as far as practical. Feel free to revert. - André Kritzinger (talk) 20:08, 3 March 2014 (UTC)

Took it to 7 degrees and asked the photo lab guys to fill in the corners. - André Kritzinger (talk) 20:25, 3 March 2014 (UTC)

Thanks, you are correct, the 1889. I uploaded the file under that name, but then pasted the wrong link in my message above. Looks better rotated as well. --NJR_ZA (talk) 08:11, 4 March 2014 (UTC)

SAAF Squadrons

Andre - thanks for the good work you are doing on these pages! Bravo Zulu. (PS: Forget the images of loco's - we need more SAAF photos, and I am sure you have many!) Farawayman (talk) 20:25, 27 March 2014 (UTC)

Not nearly as many as I would like - cameras were verboten in the bush. -- André Kritzinger (talk) 20:45, 27 March 2014 (UTC)

Removing references

Hi. Your recent edits to Navy Cross (South Africa) removed a number of references which were in the recipient table. These references were there to confirm the information, as per the normal referencing requirements. I feel its important to keep these references to ensure verifiability. If you feel that we should remove the references or put them somewhere else please start a talk page discussion first. Gbawden (talk) 06:22, 15 April 2014 (UTC)

Look again, I removed nothing. There were ten references before my edit, and there were ten after my edit. I moved them from the recipients' names column in the table to the action cited for column in the same table row, therefore the same entry. Your edit reversion also removed a huge amount of additional information that I added, so I'm reverting the article to the previous version again. -- André Kritzinger (talk) 12:03, 15 April 2014 (UTC)

Decorations articles

Thanks for creating the Army/Air Force Cross articles. Based on your experience in the SAAF, would you know who/where in the Defence Force we could get a list of medal recipients? Thanks. 06:34, 17 April 2014 (UTC)

Not really, very few of my old friends still serve and I've been retired for 15 years. And I don't have much faith in the record-keeping of the past 20 years. Looks like the SAAF also got the precedence screwed up at some point, awarding CAs to the commanders and AADs to the crews, in one instance. I know some of the recipients well, but I'll need the dates and events as well so building the lists may be a gradual process. I do have an idea or two, so we'll have to see how far we get. Thanks for the references, it's a start. -- André Kritzinger (talk) 11:16, 17 April 2014 (UTC)

SAAF ranks

Hi. Do you have any photos of the new SAAF ranks? Or do you know how wide the stripes are etc, so we could have a look at making a SVG image for each rank. South African military ranks could use some help with SAAF ranks. Thanks Gbawden (talk) 08:40, 22 April 2014 (UTC)

I've seen a chart, but I don't think it's full scale. If you're in Cape Town, try the Air Force Museum at Ysterplaat. Chris Teale is the main mackie what counts there. -- André Kritzinger (talk) 14:07, 22 April 2014 (UTC)

Here they are, pp.24-25: SA Soldier March 2014 -- André Kritzinger (talk) 21:23, 1 June 2014 (UTC)

A barnstar for you!

	The Random Acts of Kindness Barnstar
	Hi from Ghana. I salute! . Keep your good works up! →Enock4seth (talk) 16:39, 1 May 2014 (UTC)

Thank you. -- André Kritzinger (talk) 10:51, 2 May 2014 (UTC)

G'day

G'day Andre, this is English WP, not South African WP. We use what is generally acceptable in English across the board, South African, Australian, New Zealand, US, UK, Candian etc. You have moved a unit back to 102 rather than 102nd, which is the English standard. Please move it back. Regards, Peacemaker67 (send... over) 11:48, 3 May 2014 (UTC)

Môre Peacemaker67. Yes, I know. But English WP makes provision for English English, Australian English, South African English, etc. This article is about a South African squadron officially named "102 Squadron SAAF". There is no "102nd Squadron" in the SAAF. See Template:Use South African English. -- André Kritzinger (talk) 12:27, 3 May 2014 (UTC)

Marumo Medal, Class II

This is an automated message from CorenSearchBot. I have performed a search with the contents of Marumo Medal, Class II, and it appears to be very similar to another Wikipedia page: Marumo Medal, Class I. It is possible that you have accidentally duplicated contents, or made an error while creating the page— you might want to look at the pages and see if that is the case. If you are intentionally trying to rename an article, please see Help:Moving a page for instructions on how to do this without copying and pasting. If you are trying to move or copy content from one article to a different one, please see Wikipedia:Copying within Wikipedia and be sure you have acknowledged the duplication of material in an edit summary to preserve attribution history.

It is possible that the bot is confused and found similarity where none actually exists. If that is the case, you can remove the tag from the article. CorenSearchBot (talk) 23:26, 11 June 2014 (UTC)

Fraction in convert

I'm doing some maintenance on {{convert}} and am currently looking at places where unusual fractions are used. I just made this edit at NZASM 19 Tonner 0-4-2T to change the first of the following into the second:

• {{convert|21+10.5/16|in|mm|abbr=on|sigfig=3}} → <!--Actually 21+21/32"-->
• {{convert|21+21/32|in|mm|abbr=on|sigfig=3}} → 21+21⁄32 in (550 mm)

For my interest, can you recall why you entered 10.5/16? Did convert not support 21/32 when you created that article? If you're unsure, don't worry about it, and there's no need to do any investigation. It's just my curiosity. Johnuniq (talk) 06:55, 25 June 2014 (UTC)

I looked at the rest of my list, and it seems these were created by you:

• NZASM 10 Tonner 0-4-0T {{convert|10+4.5/20|LT|abbr=on}} →
• NGR Class N 4-6-2T 1906 {{convert|5+9.25/20|LT|t|1|abbr=on}} →
• CGR NG 4-6-2T 1908 {{convert|7+1.25/20|LT|t|1|abbr=on}} →
• South African Class MD 2-6-6-2 {{convert|100+14.5/20|LT|t|1|abbr=on}} →

Since early 2013, convert has been able to support the following:

• {{convert|10|LT|4|Lcwt|2|qtr|t|1|abbr=on}} → 10 long tons 4 cwt 2 qtr (10.4 t)
• {{convert|5|LT|9|Lcwt|1|qtr|t|1|abbr=on}} → 5 long tons 9 cwt 1 qtr (5.6 t)
• {{convert|7|LT|1|Lcwt|1|qtr|t|1|abbr=on}} → 7 long tons 1 cwt 1 qtr (7.2 t)
• {{convert|100|LT|14|Lcwt|2|qtr|t|1|abbr=on}} → 100 long tons 14 cwt 2 qtr (102.3 t)

That might work better in the articles, although we'd have to see if it fits in the infobox. I suppose something more abbreviated might be wanted. What do you think—are readers likely to make sense of LT–Lcwt–qtr? Would just LT–qtr be wanted? Johnuniq (talk) 09:38, 25 June 2014 (UTC)

Thanks for that! About your questions:

• Yes, 32nds and 64ths didn't work at the time so I opted for eg. 10.5/16 in lieu of 21/32.
• Same with the cwt. Convert didn't recognise it at the time so I opted for fractions. When it got to the quarters, I gave up and in most cases rather inserted a <! > type note to show the actual weights for future correction.
• I'd suggest just LT c q, but that would probably not be recognisable, so LT cwt qr (qt?) it will probably have to be. That's the way it's expressed on the dimensional drawings, so I'd suggest rather stick with all three measures than with LT and qr only. It will probably wrap to two lines in the infobox, but so does a lot of other items so that should be no big issue. -- André Kritzinger (talk) 16:14, 25 June 2014 (UTC)

• By "rather stick with all three measures" do you mean the examples above are ok (10 long tons 4 cwt 2 qtr)? That would be easiest, and is likely to be understood by more readers. Johnuniq (talk) 11:50, 26 June 2014 (UTC)

Yes, but it would help if long tons can also be abbreviated. Is there an "approved" abbreviation for it? -- André Kritzinger (talk) 12:32, 26 June 2014 (UTC)

The unit definitions are a bit messy and it will take me some time to get in the mood to work out should be done. All the "long ton" units have "long ton" as the name; unit LT also uses "long ton" as the symbol, while unit lt has symbol "LT". When I'm inspired I'll be in touch because I would like a bit of discussion before making any changes. Johnuniq (talk) 09:45, 27 June 2014 (UTC)

No rush! Thanks. -- André Kritzinger (talk) 10:53, 27 June 2014 (UTC)

I have updated convert in its sandbox—please see WT:WikiProject Trains#Convert hundredweight changes. Here is an example:

• {{convert/sandbox|10|LT|4|Lcwt|2|qtr|t|1|abbr=on}} → 10 long tons 4 cwt 2 qtr (10.4 t)
• {{convert/sandbox|10|lt|4|Lcwt|2|qtr|t|1|abbr=on}} → 10 LT 4 cwt 2 qtr (10.4 t)

That will be live in a week or two, and I'll probably update the articles mentioned above. Johnuniq (talk) 00:32, 8 July 2014 (UTC)

Looks good. With the "lt" option it will definitely fit on one line in the locomotive infobox. -- André Kritzinger (talk) 00:50, 8 July 2014 (UTC)

The module is now updated and input units LT–Lcwt–qtr display as "long tons, cwt, qtr", while lt–Lcwt–qtr displays as "LT, cwt, qtr". I just edited the following articles, but I did not use the lt unit because "long tons" seems to fit in the infobox, and having "LT" while other items showed "long tons" seemed undesirable. I couldn't decide whether to use fractional hundredweight or to add quarters, so I compromised and used qtr in the first of the following, but not in the rest.

• CGR NG 4-6-2T 1908
• NGR Class N 4-6-2T 1906
• NZASM 10 Tonner 0-4-0T
• NZASM 19 Tonner 0-4-2T
• South African Class MD 2-6-6-2
• WAGR C class (1880)

Please adjust anything you aren't happy with, and let me know if convert has a problem. Johnuniq (talk) 07:18, 16 July 2014 (UTC)

An example of a locomotive where the specifications use quarters is CGR 1st Class 4-4-0T 1875, where I had left hidden notes at "weight on drivers" and "locoweight" to indicate the correct weight for future correction (for example "locoweight = {{convert|22+7/20|LT|t|1|abbr=on}} w/o <!-- Actually 22t 7cwt 1qr -->)". I've just tried the template there, also with the "fuelcap" field, and it's perfect with lt-lcwt-qtr, both with abbr=on and abbr=off. However, hundredweight by itself (Lcwt or lcwt) doesn't seem to want to abbreviate - see "Fuel capacity" in this article. Thanks for all the effort - it's a giant leap! (Now to find all the articles with those notes...) -- André Kritzinger (talk) 19:07, 16 July 2014 (UTC)

I have a script that can search a database dump, and I have a dump from May 2014. At that time, the following articles had comments like "Actually 9t 16 cwt 3q". To be more specific, the search looked for a comment where the first word was "actually" or "Actually", and where "cwt" (not case sensitive) appeared anywhere thereafter.

• CGR 1st Class 2-6-0 1876 BP
• CGR 1st Class 2-6-0 1879
• CGR 1st Class 4-4-0 1879
• CGR 1st Class 4-4-0T 1875
• CGR 1st Class 4-4-0TT 1881
• CGR 2nd Class 2-6-2TT 1875
• CGR 2nd Class 4-4-0T 1882
• CGR 3rd Class 4-4-0 1883
• CGR 3rd Class 4-4-0 1884
• CGR 4th Class 4-6-0TT 1884
• Durban Harbour's Edward Innes
• NGR Class I 2-6-0

Re hundredweight: Unit Lcwt always shows "hundredweight" except when used as a subunit after LT when it shows "cwt" if abbreviated. Unit "long cwt" shows "long cwt" (if abbreviated) or "long hundredweight" (otherwise). Please let me know if there is a problem. Johnuniq (talk) 09:44, 17 July 2014 (UTC)

No problem. Thanks again, and thanks for the list. -- André Kritzinger (talk) 13:08, 17 July 2014 (UTC)

DYK nomination of Independence Medal (Ciskei)

Hello! Your submission of Independence Medal (Ciskei) at the Did You Know nominations page has been reviewed, and some issues with it may need to be clarified. Please review the comment(s) underneath your nomination's entry and respond there as soon as possible. Thank you for contributing to Did You Know! Redtigerxyz ^Talk 13:14, 25 June 2014 (UTC)

Awards navbox

I don't know if one of these already exists. I haven't seen one around so I made one to put in medal/awards articles. {{Template:South African military decorations navbox}} generates:

Any help with the grouping and order of awards would be apreciated, thanks. Nathan121212 (talk) 15:14, 25 June 2014 (UTC)

Thanks. Was planning on creating one once I have all the articles done. Still some 20-odd to do, then I'll expand and update the template and add it in. -- André Kritzinger (talk) 17:43, 25 June 2014 (UTC)

Here's two suggestions:
* Don't list the commemoratives separately. After all, they're smack in the middle of the order of precedence.
* Sort the table at South African military decorations order of precedence according to the OoP 1993 column and build your sections according to the resulting individual orders of precedence. Don't bother with splitting the RSA group between 1950-75 and 1975-2003, they overlap way too much and that just confuses the issue and steals better usable space from the navbox. And leave the two Brit medals mixed in with the RSA ones. So your seven groups will be RSA, T, B, V, C, MK, APLA and FSA. -- André Kritzinger (talk) 14:57, 26 June 2014 (UTC)

Thanks Andre, I'm out of bandwidth for the month though, will sort it out next week or so. Thanks for your suggestions. Nathan121212 (talk) 15:13, 26 June 2014 (UTC)

I've managed to complete the navbox. I'll create separate ones for the homelands and MK decorations. How should we go about adding them to articles? Nathan121212 (talk) 23:31, 29 June 2014 (UTC)

Thanks, looks good. But don't make separate navboxes, put all seven constituent forces in one box. Just add five more sections. They're all South African, after all. I'll add the box into the articles one by one - I always need an excuse to do revision. Only two more articles to create so I'll probably start on it tomorrow. If you do any, add "|state=collapsed" because a huge open navbox make things look cluttered. So {{Template:South African military decorations navbox|state=collapsed}} -- André Kritzinger (talk) 00:08, 30 June 2014 (UTC)

Oops - I see it shows up collapsed already, except while I'm editing here.
About the above comment, leave the box as is for now and don't add the other five groups. Let me sleep on it a little first, I may come up with a better idea. -- André Kritzinger (talk) 01:02, 30 June 2014 (UTC)

Besides, I'm still a couple of ribbons shy. -- André Kritzinger (talk) 01:12, 30 June 2014 (UTC)

Sleeping on it always helps! Here's what I need:

• A single navbox, in eight sections, the first for the FSA from 1994, and seven separate sections for the RSA 1952-1994, T, B, V, C, MK and APLA, in that order.
• List the honours alphabetically, it makes it easier to find an item than when they're in order of precedence, which is already available in a link in the top frame.
• Leave all the "and bar" entries. It's a single medal and the only reason I used the "and bars" in the order of precedence is because its position changes whenever a bar is added. Not needed with an alphabetical list.
  

Now I still need to find out what the BDF SP shooting medal's ribbon looks like...
Have fun! -- André Kritzinger (talk) 10:49, 30 June 2014 (UTC)

I like all your suggestions, I just have one query. Can the awards stay in order of precedence? I think it would help readers to se where their medal fits in in the bigger picture (articles only list one up and one down in the order). If a reader was looking for a specific medal, he could search for it in he search bar. Thanks for your help. Nathan121212 (talk) 11:12, 1 July 2014 (UTC)

No. Remember, you created the navbox, so your eyes know where to look. Most visitors will probably know the medal name but have no idea of precedence, and will have to search through the whole thing to find it. So alphabetically is better. I modified the link to the OoP at the top to take one closer to the table itself. -- André Kritzinger (talk) 11:29, 1 July 2014 (UTC)

Hi Nathan121212, I fiddled a little and got rid of the subgroups since they just take up much needed space. Since you're also busy on the navbox, I'll desist for now before we start getting into edit conflict problems. -- André Kritzinger (talk) 11:47, 4 July 2014 (UTC)

I was just thinking the same thing, please continue your work André Kritzinger, I've got a few things to deal with before I work on the navbox next. Nathan121212 (talk) 12:09, 4 July 2014 (UTC)

Ciskei medal

Sorry about the Ciskei Medal source, I was nominating the article for the main page on "Did You Know?" and the requirements state that the text that appears on the main page must have a supporting citation immediately after it. I'm withdrawing the nomination. Nathan121212 (talk) 15:26, 25 June 2014 (UTC)

No problem - hope the pic survives. Until I can lay my hands on the actual warrants, which is unlikely in the case of the TBVC countries, the definitive reference on these medals is this one: ref name="Gazette 27376">Republic of South Africa Government Gazette Vol. 477, no. 27376, Pretoria, 11 March 2005, OCLC 72827981</ref. The gazette is available in pdf format somewhere on the web, but since I already had a hard copy by the time I stumbled across it, I didn't save the link... -- André Kritzinger (talk) 17:56, 25 June 2014 (UTC)

Try this Republic of South Africa Government Gazette Vol. 477, no. 27376, Pretoria, 11 March 2005, OCLC 72827981 BoonDock (talk) 13:37, 11 December 2014 (UTC)

Replaceable fair use File:CDF Independence Medal.jpg

Thanks for uploading File:CDF Independence Medal.jpg. I noticed that this file is being used under a claim of fair use. However, I think that the way it is being used fails the first non-free content criterion. This criterion states that files used under claims of fair use may have no free equivalent; in other words, if the file could be adequately covered by a freely-licensed file or by text alone, then it may not be used on Wikipedia. If you believe this file is not replaceable, please:

1. Go to the file description page and add the text {{di-replaceable fair use disputed|<your reason>}} below the original replaceable fair use template, replacing <your reason> with a short explanation of why the file is not replaceable.
2. On the file discussion page, write a full explanation of why you believe the file is not replaceable.

Alternatively, you can also choose to replace this non-free media item by finding freely licensed media of the same subject, requesting that the copyright holder release this (or similar) media under a free license, or by creating new media yourself (for example, by taking your own photograph of the subject).

If you have uploaded other non-free media, consider checking that you have specified how these media fully satisfy our non-free content criteria. You can find a list of description pages you have edited by clicking on this link. Note that even if you follow steps 1 and 2 above, non-free media which could be replaced by freely licensed alternatives will be deleted 2 days after this notification (7 days if uploaded before 13 July 2006), per the non-free content policy. If you have any questions, please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you. Eeekster (talk) 20:57, 7 July 2014 (UTC)

"Statement Showing, in Chronological Order, the Date of Opening and the Mileage of Each Section of Railway"

Do you by any chance have an electronic copy of the "Statement Showing, in Chronological Order, the Date of Opening and the Mileage of Each Section of Railway" that you could send me? I'd really like to get hold of it. Thanks! - htonl (talk) 21:18, 20 July 2014 (UTC)

Yes, if I can have an email address. It seems to be part of a SAR annual report, but I don't know what year. Got it from Leith Paxton. -- André Kritzinger (talk) 21:26, 20 July 2014 (UTC)

I've sent you an email with my address, through the Wikipedia "Email this user" interface. Thanks very much. - htonl (talk) 21:40, 20 July 2014 (UTC)

You have incoming... -- André Kritzinger (talk) 21:52, 20 July 2014 (UTC)

Lambert Jackson Woodburne

Hi. The reason I commented out the medals I couldn't find sources for is that I have asked for a B class review - I don't wait it to fail because we don't have sources. Looking at a photo probably counts as Orginal research Gbawden (talk) 13:35, 28 July 2014 (UTC)

No, a picture can be a reference, I'm sure. The last two medals must be Argentinian from his tour there, but what they are I don't know. -- André Kritzinger (talk) 17:05, 28 July 2014 (UTC)

deprecated templates and infobox parameters

Regarding your recent reversion of three edits I made... While I appreciate that additional information does become available over time (I've been editing WP for 10 years as of yesterday, so I know how quickly details can emerge), your reversion put back deprecated parameters and templates that we're trying to move away from. For the deprecated infobox paramaters, see Category:Unusual parameters of Infobox locomotive template, and for the change from {{RailGauge}} to {{track gauge}}, there was extensive discussion on Template talk:track gauge. I'm redoing the deprecation replacements but leaving the empty params. Slambo (Speak) 18:05, 22 September 2014 (UTC)

On a related note, some of the unused infobox parameters will never be applicable for steam locomotives (electricsystem and collectionmethod are specific to electric locomotives while primemover, aspiration, displacement, alternator and generator are specific to diesel locomotives; I have never heard of a steam locomotive with traction motors, so that parameter doesn't apply either). But based on your recent edits, I've left them there. Slambo (Speak) 18:15, 22 September 2014 (UTC)

No problem, and thank you. About the deprecated infobox paramaters, I was aware of the first one (Railroad -> Operator) and I fixed a lot of those while editing, but I've not gone into an exercise to "hunt them down" - too busy with my history project still.

The complete electric-diesel-steam parameters are leftovers from the copy-and-paste editing I did when I created most of these articles some years ago. Yes, I know most are not applicable, but since they don't display when empty I never bothered to delete them. -- André Kritzinger (talk) 18:25, 22 September 2014 (UTC)

support

your concern about south african locos losing cape gauge - and as a-t has indicated it can be easily fixed. The original complaints over years of being not listened to - was that 'cape gauge' was not universally referred to in other countries (like named loco classes in the uk 'pacific' steam locos due to wheel arrangement) and that the whole guage thing was a mess - since the event of having depiep and aaron tripel doing the hard work - the whole wikipedia gauge thing is a lot better, I think.

I can understand the sense of despair in seeing the talk page being littered with my talk items trying to get someone to de-universalise the usage of cape gauge, it is now that gauge names and usages appear to have been through quite an impressive improvement. As for regionalisation or regional variants - the rumour is now that info boxes are under various pressures from the wikidata side of things where flagged variants must be guarded with vigilance lest they drop a line/code, simply for the sake of getting things to work. Take care with that one! I am sorry if you thought the years of complaioning on my part was an intention to eradicate usage - far from it - it was for things to work for regional variation in a 'one size fits all environment' - to try to get people to listen to that. satusuro 23:40, 30 September 2014 (UTC)

Jack the monkey (or baboon)

I was also tempted to move Jack (monkey) to Jack (baboon) but it seems (according to wikipedia) that a baboon is an Old World Monkey, a baboon is not an ape so it must be a money. All the same it's clearer to me having Jack as a baboon than a monkey Wayne Jayes (talk) 12:28, 28 October 2014 (UTC)

Post Nominals and Medal Display

• Andre, it looks as if you are a little confused about the display using the two templates I created. Firstly, you have to change the template itself and not the doc. Secondly, to get the commas, you need to use the Post Nominals not the medal display. The Post-nominals template allows for commas. It makes it a little awkward as you have an all or none solution, so you have to break it up.
• Admiral Xyz Bigshot SD SM MMM SAN (Rtd) JP MP

The problem with that is this.

• Admiral Xyz Bigshot SD, SM, MMM, SAN (Rtd), JP, MP

The correct thing might be to use:

• Admiral Xyz Bigshot SD SM MMM, SAN (Rtd), JP, MP

As far as the Medal Display goes, that doesn't make sense to have commas as far as I can see:

• Southern Cross Decoration (SD)
• Southern Cross Medal (1975) (SM)
• Military Merit Medal (MMM)

Dunno if that helps? BoonDock (talk) 14:32, 11 December 2014 (UTC)

That can do it, but maybe it's better to rather leave the Arms of Service out of the template and use {{Post-nominals | country = ZAR |SSAG|SM52|DSC}}, [[South African Navy|SAN (Rtd)]] to get "SSA SM DSC, SAN (Rtd)", like I just did with Admiral Johnson.

The medal display is just fine as it is. Thanks for all the effort! -- André Kritzinger (talk) 14:47, 11 December 2014 (UTC)

Thanks for the Thanks. I think the post noms works either way but yours is maybe better. BoonDock (talk) 18:34, 11 December 2014 (UTC)

Talk:2014 Sorry about the oil

It's very hard to get my Android phone's cursor to stay at the bottom of a long text window. Also I have Swype where you type without lifting your finger and it usually guesses right (especially if you keep eyes on the keyboard), I must've touched the upper right keys while the cursor wasn't in place yet. I believe the Western media would have less coverage of Ebola if a first world country was not involved (any first world country) but I now recall this might be a page where the anti-systemic bias is strong so I don't feel strongly if this is against consensus. Not that I don't sympathize, no one cared about Darfur or the Congo War like they did Iraq or Libya, except for the people suffering. Sagittarian Milky Way (talk) 20:48, 14 December 2014 (UTC)

In the final analysis, it probably really is about the oil... ^_^ -- André Kritzinger (talk) 21:00, 14 December 2014 (UTC)

Was the post really so evil or obviously bad faith that it needed censorship without the slightest explanation? The word I affixed to a post unaware wasn't even racist or "poop" or anything like that. A rebuttal without deletion would've been nice, too. so, if you edit by phone get an iProduct, their copy/paste and cursors are amazing — they've caught up with the early 80s' cursor buglessness. Sagittarian Milky Way (talk) 23:59, 15 December 2014 (UTC)