User talk:WereSpielChequers/Archive 3

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Happy New Year!

A cat to ease all of your troubles		Happy New Year!
		Hey there, WereSpielChequers! Happy new Gregorian year. All the best for the new year, both towards you and your family and friends too. I know that I am the only person lonely enough to be running this thing as the new year is ushered in, but meh, what are you going to do. I like to keep my templated messages in a satisfactorily melancholy tone. ;) Congratulations to Coren, Wizardman, Vassyana, Carcharoth, Jayvdb, Casliber, Risker, Roger Davies, Cool Hand Luke and Rlevse, who were all appointed to the Arbitration Committee after the ArbCom elections. I am sure I am but a voice of many when I say I trust the aforementioned users to improve the committee, each in their own way, as listed within their respective election statements. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to update the 2009 article, heh. Best wishes, neuro(talk) 01:03, 1 January 2009 (UTC)

Thanks Neuro, and a Happy New year to you too. ϢereSpielChequers 11:38, 1 January 2009 (UTC)

Galib is wishing you a Happy New Year. This card promotes WikiLove and hopefully it has made your day much better. Best Wishes and Happy Editing!

Best To Reply At My Talk Page. Thanks.

Just Stopping by. Yours Truly, M.H.^{True Romance iS Dead} 14:58, 1 January 2009 (UTC) .

Thanks Galib, and a happy New year to you too.

DYK for 12"/50 caliber Mark 8 gun

On January 14, 2009, Did you know? was updated with a fact from the article 12"/50 caliber Mark 8 gun, which you created or substantially expanded. If you know of another interesting fact from a recently created article, then please suggest it on the Did you know? talk page.

Gatoclass (talk) 16:17, 14 January 2009 (UTC)

:D —Ed 17 ^{(Talk / Contribs)} 00:49, 17 January 2009 (UTC)

Well I'm not going to claim that one in the Wiki cup, I'll leave those 5 points for you :). WereSpielChequers 07:09, 17 January 2009 (UTC)

Nosey

Please mind your own business and don`t act important by criticizing other people.Hannylim (talk) 11:59, 15 January 2009 (UTC)

History of Easter Island

The sentence you removed addresses the prehistoric eco-disaster and is unrelated to events of the 1800s mentioned in the article later. If you like i can flesh this thread out and source it, but it is probably the most important part of the history of Easter Island when deforestation etc occurred and altered the ecology forever. Umbertoumm (talk) 04:12, 8 February 2009 (UTC)

Yes its another disaster that may have approached two of the events of the 1800s in importance, though I'd jibe at describing it as the "most important". But it is covered in the section History of Easter Island#Pre-European society. specifically "With the island's ecosystem fading, destruction of crops quickly resulted in famine, sickness and death.". This could do with expansion and rewriting but needs to be balanced between war, drought and loss of access to deep water pelagic resources. The section you edited History of Easter Island#First settlers is earlier, and could be much earlier as there is some debate as to how long the island had been inhabited before 1200 CE. Also I would be very cautious about downplaying the Slave-raiding and epidemics which are generally agreed to have seen the death of higher proportions of the Rapanui than the era of internecine warfare. However this discussion really belongs on Talk:History of Easter Island, would you mind if I copy this thread there? WereSpielChequers 11:13, 8 February 2009 (UTC)

No, dont mind at all. That's the appropriate forum. Best regards. Umbertoumm (talk) 04:16, 12 February 2009 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Meetup/London

The Victoria and Albert Museum Wikipedia Loves Art event is February 1 (this Sunday), -not- February 8. Thanks!--Pharos (talk) 02:48, 28 January 2009 (UTC)

replied on both event pages WereSpielChequers 23:12, 28 January 2009 (UTC)

Hey, no problem :). Yeah, I'll be around on Sunday; that reminds me I need to give a couple of users a poke about it. We can discuss such things there, yes; flagged revisions, I think, will probably be a big topic; kudos for supporting the proposal. Ironholds (talk) 21:45, 5 March 2009 (UTC)

Meetup

Oh, it was the last one. I think my perception of it was rather different, but then I had a Oxford mathematics graduate doing a PhD at Cambridge on one side and Geni the Copyright God (tm) on the other. Ironholds (talk) 08:56, 18 March 2009 (UTC)

OK next time that happens lets try and start a discussion as to whether wrestling or anime produces more articles which include posses when they mean possess, and if you can provoke any of those who were present last month into saying Pokemon without doing so yourself I'll stand you a pint. WereSpielChequers 10:55, 19 March 2009 (UTC)

Re: thankspam

Thanks for the message. I'm not actually coming to a London meetup now - too much money involved. I am, however, coming to the Manchester one in March (Ironholds, Majorly and the lot are coming, too), so if you're up for that then that could be good. Thanks again, — neuro^(talk) 23:59, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

Help

Hello WereSpielChequers. I need help. You were the first person I thought to turn to because you were the first one to come to my aid after I began. I am having a major problem right now, and I don't know who to turn to.

I am a very heavy contributor to the Spyro (series) article and all subsequent articles. Today, someone had the bright idea of taking the three Legend of Spyro articles, and merging them. I am opposed to this on a couple of fronts. One is that, going around merging isn't something you can do without a discussion and consensus. Another thing is that the three article were fairly good on there own (well maybe not one of them, but it could have been improved). I have since reverted those edits and started a discussion about the subject. However, during their massive blanking of the three respective articles, instead of just blanking one and giving it a little link to their new article, it was fully deleted. My biggest priority at this point is trying to raise that one article (The Legend of Spyro: The Eternal Night) from the dead. I then would like someway to keep the three indanger articles from being changed.

I understand if you're not the person to help me and if you aren't could you please point me to someone who can help me.

Thank you. Wise dude321 (talk) 17:24, 20 February 2009 (UTC)

Hi Wisedude. I'm actually away from home for a few days and only accessing the Internet occasionally by a notebook with a small screen and a slow connection that is rather limiting me. But here's what I've noticed. Firstly The Legend of Spyro: The Eternal Night has not been deleted it has been redirected. If it was deleted it would become a redlink and only an admin could get its contents back. As it is you can access it by:

• Click on The Legend of Spyro: The Eternal Night
• That takes you to the article it has been redirected to, but also you'll see a note at the very top of the article saying where it has been redirected from, click on that and you should now be able to access the talk page and history of The Legend of Spyro: The Eternal Night, so you can copy text from there into the merged article and also see who did the redirect so you can communicate with them. Undoing the last edit to that artice would undo the redirect, but I would suggest you talk first to avoid any risk of an edit conflict.

Secondly I really have no opinion as to whether the merge makes sense or not as I have had very little involvement in articles about computer games.

thirdly if you expand the section within the article on each of the particular games you can also change the redirect to link to a particular section by adding #section name in the redirect. (you should also leave an invisible comment in the article so that no-one changes the section nane without also changing the redirect).

fourthly As for protecting it, I'm afraid one of the things we have to get used to here is that anything you write can get rewritten by subsequent editors. Usually the result is an improvement but sometimes one has to wonder :-) There are forms of protection available for targets of persistent vandalism, but this sounds to me like a good faith edit.

Hope that helps WereSpielChequers 18:10, 20 February 2009 (UTC)

User:MZMcBride/Sandbox 3

Dude, you realize it's going to reset when the page updates in a few days, right? :-)

While I don't necessarily agree with removing people, seeing admins have to waste time renumbering large tables pains me. Surely there are better uses of time.

I offered a while ago to script an exclusion mechanism if someone made a proper list (well, two lists, really, one of bots to be removed completely and one of people that should be replaced with "Placeholder"). If you're willing to make the two lists (and I think one already exists), I can do the rest.

Just an idea. Cheers. --MZMcBride (talk) 03:57, 28 February 2009 (UTC)

Hi, yes I figured from the refresh rate that I had a couple of days to finish something that would have been quite quick in excel and move it to replace the November list. But automation would make sense. The editors who want to be replaced with placeholder are here. A list of bots is more difficult, Category:Wikipedia bots by name claims to be such but only has 46. I removed all editors with "bot" in their name except for the following who I believe are not bots:

• Botteville
• KP Botany
• Lordkinbote
• Robotman1974

I've now created Wikipedia:List of Wikipedians by number of edits/Not Bots for them.

I suspect you have already removed flagged bots and therefore need Wikipedia:List of Wikipedians by number of edits/unflagged bots, which needs updating, but has most of those I screened out I've just updated. I would think that for a weekly process having those three pages would enable changes to be made quite easily - ie any anomalies will be fixed on the run after they are added to the appropriate list. WereSpielChequers 08:49, 28 February 2009 (UTC)

I've done a one off update to the list as I'd almost finished. But I rather suspect there will be some anomalies due to the manual processing I did; so yes an automated process would be great. WereSpielChequers 14:19, 3 March 2009 (UTC)

Done. I ignored Wikipedia:List of Wikipedians by number of edits/Not Bots. If the bot is listed at /Unflagged_bots, it's removed. If a user is listed at /Anonymous, they're replaced with "Place holder." Cheers. --MZMcBride (talk) 03:55, 7 March 2009 (UTC)

WT:Rfa#Wikipedia:Bots/Requests for approval/NNBot II

It's a proposal for a CSD noticeboard; debate is over what to use it for. (Watchlisting) - Dan Dank55 (push to talk) 20:32, 28 February 2009 (UTC)

Fewer edits?

I noticed that my name disappeared entirely from the "List of Wikipedians by number of edits". It was in a previous version [1]. So, have I travelled backward in time (if, so great!), or are my recent edits counting as negative contributions? Piano non troppo (talk) 12:57, 5 March 2009 (UTC)

Hi Piano, in the version I loaded you were in 757th place with 27,363 edits. However User:Ryoung122 has updated it again today and I can't access the current version of Wikipedia:List_of_Wikipedians_by_number_of_edits/latest without crashing this PC (its >250k as opposed to the 117k file that my PC struggled with) but I don't think either of us are in this version. WereSpielChequers 13:47, 5 March 2009 (UTC)

Hi, I was wondering why the latest edit count update is a version from six months ago. Check the Nov 2008 version, I had 198,000, currently I have 225,000. The same for the others too. Dr. Blofeld ^{White cat} 15:48, 5 March 2009 (UTC)

Hi Dr Blofeld, you had 222290 in the version I loaded, but it has since been replaced using earlier data and with a file size that my PC struggles with. WereSpielChequers 17:19, 5 March 2009 (UTC)

Yeah, the new one has me at 18,720 edits, while November's had me at 28,951. This data is indeed from six months ago, I hit 19,000 edits on July 25th, 2008. Useight (talk) 17:42, 5 March 2009 (UTC)

I've been trying to fix this, but it keeps crashing my browser. Maybe if I wasn't using IE6...Useight (talk) 17:51, 5 March 2009 (UTC)

I've checked in the version I loaded and as at the 25th Feb you were in 360th position with 40,110 edits. I've been trying to undo this mornings edit on my home PC which is Ubuntu - but it just hangs and after twenty minutes an or so I have to reboot. I'm now trying on an IE machine! WereSpielChequers 20:14, 5 March 2009 (UTC)

Now fixed and reverted! WereSpielChequers 20:19, 5 March 2009 (UTC)

Hey buddy, I've just passed 226,000. Thanks for the new additions! Dr. Blofeld ^{White cat} 21:05, 5 March 2009 (UTC)

I wondered if you could generate lists of editors by number of articles created? It would be interesting to see. Dr. Blofeld ^{White cat} 13:00, 13 March 2009 (UTC)

Hi Doc, I don't have the tools to do that, you'd need someone like User:MZMcBride‎ to do that, also I suspect it would overstate some users over others. In particular unless you screen out redirects it would overstate the contributions of users like me who fix redlinks, as it really doesn't take much effort to create a redirect to resolve some redlinks. WereSpielChequers 10:11, 15 March 2009 (UTC)

RE: Ta muchly

No worries, I'm sometimes on IRC at the wikipedia-en and wikipedia-en-accounts, so I might see you on there. As for the Twitter invite, I just invited everyone on my address list and it just so happened you're on it considering our email conversations, so I won't take it personally that you're going to decline haha. Speak soon mate. —Cyclonenim (talk · contribs · email) 16:13, 14 February 2009 (UTC)

WikiCup

Hey, just so you know, you've been knocked out of the ten Wildcards. You're four points behind Neurolysis for that final spot. Useight (talk) 16:36, 4 March 2009 (UTC)

Yup I noticed. A lot of my time on the wiki in the last few days has been at CSD, or elsewhere in Wikispace and while a couple of my rescues are still around, deleting articles doesn't really add to your mainspace edits. But March is yet young and I plan to be at home and online much more than in Feb. WereSpielChequers 16:43, 4 March 2009 (UTC)

WikiCup Newsletter 

17:04, 15 March 2009 (UTC) The Helpful Bot 17:04, 15 March 2009 (UTC)

some words for your bot

Hi, I've been patrolling certain words for some time that could do with being botted. Would your bot be interested in taking them on?

• Webiste - website
• Janaury - January
• Febraury - February
• possesion - possession
• posession - possession
• ablity - ability
• avalaible - available
• sucess - success

I don't think any of them generate many false positives. I've probably patrolled them all quite recently, but new ones come up every month. WereSpielChequers 18:44, 12 January 2009 (UTC)

Hi Spiel, thanks for the suggestions. It turns out my bot checks for some of them already, but there were a few that weren't on the list and I've added them now.

Cheers, CmdrObot (talk) 12:48, 13 January 2009 (UTC)

Thanks, I don't know if you've got epesode - episode? Also what proportion of false positives can you handle , or can you screen them out? For example bieng isn't always a typo for being and thrity isn't always a typo for thirty but "thrity - thirty ignoring all articles containing Umrigar" would be great to bot. WereSpielChequers 14:05, 15 January 2009 (UTC)

I didn't have epesode. Consider it added. As regards false positives, I'm happy to add words with occasional false positives, just as long as I don't start seeing hundreds of the damn things all over the place. I regard it as a matter of throughput: if I find I'm spending a lot of time adding article exceptions for a specific false positive, and I can't find any easy way to filter out most of them (eg don't try to correct 'roman' to 'Roman' if it's followed by 'à clé'), then I tend to remove the rule because it takes time away from fixing other less problematic misspellings.

Cheers, Cmdrjameson (talk) 16:43, 16 January 2009 (UTC)

Hi Commander, would your bot be interested in any of the following:

• retrive - retrieve
• retreive - retrieve
• waining - waning
• comunity - community

Also can it handle something as complex as "discuss throw" - "discus throw' (there are a couple of false positives there)? WereSpielChequers 23:19, 2 February 2009 (UTC)

Hi there. I've added waining and 'discuss throw', I had the others already. I haven't been using the bot very much recently, which is probably why you haven't seen many changes in the last while. Cheers, CmdrObot (talk) 20:41, 7 February 2009 (UTC)

Thanks, you probably have 'mute point' - 'moot point' as all 98 occurrences that I found were on talk pages, but then you might expect it to be more common there. WereSpielChequers 14:08, 11 February 2009 (UTC)

Navigation Box

Hi there, and congrats on your successful RfA.

I enjoyed your user page, which I came across after you edited one of the articles on my watchlist. In particular I admired your navigation box, and shamelessly copied and adapted it for myself. So, thanks ! I also made a couple of minor improvements which I thought worth mentioning:

• Used File:UserIconContributions.svg instead of File:UserIconContributions.png for a higher resolution image.
• Made the Editcount image and label link to <your Edit and action count>. I notice your Editcount image links to User:WereSpielChequers/Cribs (was this intended ?), and the label link seems to be broken, returning an empty page when I click it.
• Used WikiTable syntax instead of html table tags (personal preference).

Cheers ! - Grogan deYobbo (talk) 20:58, 28 February 2009 (UTC)

Thanks for the tips, glad you found it useful, I cribbed various elements from an assortment of other users and its evolved a bit and probably needs a few tweaks. Once I've done new admin school and found which links are I need most as an admin I'll probably do an overhaul. WereSpielChequers 00:06, 1 March 2009 (UTC)

Ignace Peter VII Jarweh

Thank you for copyediting Ignace Peter VII Jarweh. A ntv (talk) 18:40, 26 February 2009 (UTC)

Your welcome, that was an interesting read - feel free to drop a note here when you have other articles you'd like me to look at WereSpielChequers 00:17, 1 March 2009 (UTC)

Thank you also for Apocalypse of Abraham. I appreciate your work. A ntv (talk) 18:09, 3 March 2009 (UTC).

Thank you also for 2 Baruch copyedit. A ntv (talk) 18:08, 4 March 2009 (UTC)

Thank you also for Testament of Abraham copyedit. I appreciate. A ntv (talk) 17:40, 16 March 2009 (UTC)

Your very welcome, though I should warn you that my knowledge of theology is not great. WereSpielChequers 11:13, 17 March 2009 (UTC)

Birkett

Thanks for the commenting and help :). Ironholds (talk) 09:29, 11 March 2009 (UTC)

A pleasure. I'm relying on Wikipedia as my source for the seat he was offered being National Liberal - but I think it makes sense in terms of what was going on then. By 1932 there was a pretty sharp split between the Liberals and National Liberals. WereSpielChequers 09:35, 11 March 2009 (UTC)

It should be fine; as you say, it is fairly obvious which side of the line an MP is on. How do you know so much about this period? Ironholds (talk) 09:42, 11 March 2009 (UTC)

It was the period of British History that I did at A level. WereSpielChequers 09:47, 11 March 2009 (UTC)

Ahh, fair enough. I did the Imperial colonisation/decolonisation bit; as a result I know 10-15 year snippets of certain countries histories and not much else. Ironholds (talk) 09:49, 11 March 2009 (UTC)

I don't suppose you'd be able to check out William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield for spieling errors? Ironholds (talk) 10:04, 11 March 2009 (UTC)

OK I've made a quick first pass, but I'm no expert on that century. However I think the paragraph about the regency needs a revisit - Butcher Cumberland would have been 30 then and not a child and if Frederick was dead he could scarcely become heir. I suspect the intent was to bypass him and appoint the future George III as heir - one f his names being Frederick. Would you mind rereading your sources for that bit? WereSpielChequers 12:23, 11 March 2009 (UTC)

Sorry, I wrote it incorrectly; fixed. Ironholds (talk) 16:46, 20 March 2009 (UTC)

OK now I understand WereSpielChequers 16:57, 20 March 2009 (UTC)

Thanks A Bunch!

La Alquimista haz givn u Cheezburgr! Cheezburgrs promot WikiLovez and hoapfuly thiz one haz made yore day bettr. Spreadd teh WikiLovez by givin sumone else Cheezburgr, whethr it be sumeone youz hav had disagreementz with in teh past or a gud frend. Hapy munchins!

Spredd teh goudnesz of Cheezburgerz to all lolcat buddiez by addin {{subst:Cheezburgr}} to their talk puj with friendly messuj to all.

My exams got over today. Thanks a ton for wishing me luck! La Alquimista 12:16, 19 March 2009 (UTC)

Your welcome, hope the results are good, I'm sure you'll have worked hard for them. WereSpielChequers 17:04, 20 March 2009 (UTC)

- WT:RFA -

I think you've hit on the right approach. Unlikely to work for, say, articles, but pretty good for process pages. Smacks of cabalism though and gives an unfair advantage to people who have severely modified the colours of their interface. Euryalus (talk) 01:31, 22 March 2009 (UTC)

Modified interfaces, hadn't thought of that, better go back to the lemon juice ϢereSpielChequers 01:51, 22 March 2009 (UTC)

Discussion at Wikipedia:Administrator's noticeboard#Incivil personal attacks from Malleus Fatuorum

Hi! You might be interested in the discussion at Wikipedia:Administrator's noticeboard#Incivil personal attacks from Malleus Fatuorum. Thank you. Ipatrol (talk) 21:30, 22 March 2009 (UTC)

this is why you having the tools is a good thing

Thanks for that. He created about 20 attack pages while admins at AIV and on IRC sat there like lemmings :). Ironholds (talk) 10:17, 30 March 2009 (UTC)

Are you sure, at this time of day I wouldn't assume there are any other admins online. ϢereSpielChequers 10:21, 30 March 2009 (UTC)

Well they're on IRC, at least, although that is different from being actually at the keyboard, of course. Ironholds (talk) 10:22, 30 March 2009 (UTC)

Teletubbies

Why did you revert my removal of pure rubbish? And it was all banned users... 68.220.175.82 (talk) 22:44, 6 April 2009 (UTC)

Of the three editors whose edits you blanked, I'm pretty sure that neither Collectonian nor I are banned. ϢereSpielChequers 22:50, 6 April 2009 (UTC)

Found your missing child and mathematician

I left a longer note in the guest book, but thought you might have missed that Alice (talk) 03:46, 8 April 2009 (UTC)

Nope, its watchlisted, nicely done. ϢereSpielChequers 11:26, 8 April 2009 (UTC)

Hello - you are one of the folks that my apology is meant for --- Alice (talk) 00:00, 8 September 2009 (UTC)

Wikipedia:REFLINKS

link to useful tool, Tom B (talk) 19:23, 12 April 2009 (UTC)

Thanks Tom, is it Ubuntu compatible? ϢereSpielChequers 20:05, 12 April 2009 (UTC)

International Monetary Systems

Hi - since we had fun together with Muirhead, I was wondering if you could give me a little help now. While patrolling the old new pages backlog, I ran across this article, International Monetary Systems which shone out as so much better than the backlogged articles and indeed than many articles I get when I go looking for them intentionally that I thought it was worth nominating for a Good Article. It seems to me to have everything - good focused intro, clear organization and writing, inline citations, wiki and outside links, serious references. For goodness sakes it even manages to have good and relevant pictures, which for the topic is quite something. If you don't mind taking a look at it, could you leave your impressions on my talk page? Thanks! Alice (talk) 12:13, 14 April 2009 (UTC)

See my comment. Ceranllama chat post 21:47, 14 April 2009 (UTC)

Cheers mate, there's bound to be some quirks at GA that you can help them with; I know something of FA but only as a reviewer - which I suspect leaves me as qualified to talk others through the FA submission process as a restaurant critic is to teach chefs how to cook.... ϢereSpielChequers 22:36, 14 April 2009 (UTC)

issuing warnings

Thanks for the link to WP:WARN - I knew there must be some useful templates around but couldn't seem to find them. . . Rcawsey (talk) 15:20, 15 April 2009 (UTC)

Your welcome ϢereSpielChequers 15:25, 15 April 2009 (UTC)

Spellcheck tool?

Hello. Thanks for your corrections. Does Wikipedia have a spell check tool that is easy for technophobes to use? Thanks! -- Ssilvers (talk) 00:12, 22 April 2009 (UTC)

Hi Ssilvers. I don't think that Wikipedia has a spellchecker - though I suppose that someday someone could write one using wiktionary. I use Firefox and its been installed on my PC in such a way that a spellchecker has been incorporated and any word it doesn't recognise appears underlined in red. But nowadays most of my spellchecking involves looking at easily confused words that no computer spellchecker can pick up. I recently searched Wikipedia for the word solider, looked at all 148 and changed about three quarters of them to soldier and I've started on solder, searching for articles that contain solder and also army. ϢereSpielChequers 06:56, 22 April 2009 (UTC)

OK, thanks! -- Ssilvers (talk) 14:13, 22 April 2009 (UTC)

Hmmm...

Maybe. But just wait until I get vandalized once more time this month. --Abce2 (talk) 23:35, 22 April 2009 (UTC)

OK just drop me a note - user pages are not like user talk pages; you aren't going to get good edits there by IPs or brand new accounts. ϢereSpielChequers 04:59, 23 April 2009 (UTC)

A Problem I face

Hello WereSpielChequers. I understand from your message that you do not consider Admiral Maxteme's editing as vandalism, but I need to split hairs with you. Maxtreme has been rewriting various dragon ball episode summaries that I had done without my permission. Please understand that I have written these summaries first and I have no desire to waste my work. If you cannot consider this rude editing and overwriting as vandalism, I need your help to settle the matter. Whether Maxtreme is a sole contributer or not, it is simply insulting to act to this overwriting. I certainly don't do that. I give you my best wishes.

Deltasim —Preceding unsigned comment added by Deltasim (talk • contribs) 15:33, 24 April 2009 (UTC)

Hi Deltasim, Wikipedia is a collaborative work - anything you add to an article other editors may edit. If you disagree with a change to an article I suggest you discuss it on the relevant talk page; and may I suggest you read wp:own. 22:52, 24 April 2009 (UTC)

AWARDING OF FAKE BARNSTARS

I have noticed that A number of users such as WikiWizzard123, have added fake barnstars to their own talk page without any justification. I think this is an issue that needs resolving. --Ilovejoy (talk) 15:44, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

Hi IloveJoy, I don't think we have a User:WikiWizzard123, perhaps you were thinking of someone with a similar name? In any event the importance of the Barnstar is as much about who awarded it and what it was awarded for as anything else. If someone awards themselves a barnstar it isn't really going to impress anyone. If they award it to themselves but copy someone else's signature then that is a somewhat different matter. Also is it possible these were wp:service awards? If so those are designed to be taken by editors who have reached the appropriate tenure and edit count. ϢereSpielChequers 15:56, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

Sorry I meant Wikiwizarrd123 —Preceding unsigned comment added by Ilovejoy (talk • contribs) 21:58, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

OK looking at User talk:WikiWizarrd123 it looks like they've gone and the wizard has been warned. ϢereSpielChequers 22:10, 27 April 2009 (UTC)

IP editors

Hiya - just wanted to let you know I wasn't really arguing with you or saying you are wrong; this is clearly an issue where no one is right or wrong, and there will be varying opinions all over the board. Tan | 39 19:06, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

Absolutely, I thought I'd take the opportunity of our discussion there to make the point to RFA !voters that they are voting for administrators to administer current policy, not politicians who will determine changes to that policy. My suspicion with questions like that is that they might lead to some people voting oppose or even support because of the side a candidate took, not because of the clue or lack of clue that their answer showed. ϢereSpellCheckers 17:06, 29 April 2009 (UTC)

69.65.15.61

Re: 69.65.15.61 (talk · contribs · block log). See WP:LTA#Runtshit. Thanks. -- zzuuzz ^(talk) 11:17, 1 May 2009 (UTC)

Thanks, guess at some point I need to read through those wp:LTA reports. Even after reading that report I'm not sure I'd have recognised those two vandalisms as definitely that particular vandal, so thanks for blocking it. In hindsight maybe my level 1 warning was assuming too much good faith. ϢereSpielChequers 11:32, 1 May 2009 (UTC)

Talkback

{{tl:talkback|Pyfan}} — Oli ^OR Pyfan! 12:20, 1 May 2009 (UTC)

Replied on your talk, and I'm sure I don't need to tell you not to answer q5 on an archived page do I? ϢereSpielChequers 12:28, 1 May 2009 (UTC)

Wikiforum

I've just registered at some wiki forum ϢereSpielChequers 13:10, 2 May 2009 (UTC)

Thanks for the confirmation-your account has been confirmed. See you there! dottydotdot (talk) 13:33, 2 May 2009 (UTC)

Edit Count link

I was poking around your (beautiful) user space, and noticed that your graphic for edit count on the nav bar is a link to some other page, whereas the text itself appears to be correct. I almost went and fixed it for you, but was unsure if you wanted it to stay as is, so I figured i'd just drop you a line instead Dougofborg^(talk) 17:43, 5 May 2009 (UTC)

Ok, As I said, I wasn't sure. Just thought I'd check :) Dougofborg^(talk) 11:51, 6 May 2009 (UTC)

The Naked Brothers Band: The Movie

Hi User:WereSpielChequers,
I saw your recent edit to The Naked Brothers Band: The Movie and I am wondering if you help copyedit, from time to time like User:JamieS93 does—just so more get's done.
Thanx!
ATC ^{. Talk} 23:48, 7 May 2009 (UTC)

Hi ATC, happy to help. One question, was it a joke or a typo to call the principal Principle? ϢereSpielChequers 12:51, 8 May 2009 (UTC)

Oh it was a typo... :) ATC ^{. Talk} 20:09, 8 May 2009 (UTC)

Hi

Apart from John Carter (who has suffered a loss in real life, and is taking a break from wikipedia), you are the only admin who has spoke to me, so I'll ask you. If you wanted to use a picture from wikipedia and put it on your userpage, would you be allowed to do this? Or would you not. --Spongefrog (talk) 19:26, 20 May 2009 (UTC)

Hi Spongefrog, good question. The full guidelines are here wp:UP#Images on user pages. Some very rude pictures are only allowed on specific pages where they illustrate the topic in question, (and where you'd expect to see such an image) and a lot of the pictures we use to illustrate albums and so forth are only allowed to illustrate that article. So its always worth clicking on the picture and checking its licencing info. If after reading that policy you are unsure about the picture you were considering, tell me what picture you want to use and how you want to use it. ϢereSpielChequers 19:43, 20 May 2009 (UTC)

I was actually wondering if I could create barnstars using images from wikipedia (not to add them to the main Barnstar list), although not right away, only if a situation arises that I need to. Like this:-

		The Sea Anemone Barnstar
		For users who either a) contribute to sea anemone related articles or b) claim to be sea anemones.

(this is just to illustrate a point, dont consider it a barnstar, unless you really want to). Would this be permissible (if 'permissible' is a real word). Sorry if I've not worded the question well, I'm not a particularly good communicator. --Spongefrog (talk) 20:42, 21 May 2009 (UTC)

Hi Spongefrog, use of that photo is fine, it isn't offensive and if you click on the picture and look at the permission information you will see it is released under GFDL. As for custom picture messages there are times when they are OK to use, but be careful about implying that they are Barnstars as people expect Barnstars to mean something really special. So for example this was a card that I created last December and gave to a number of users with whom I'd had dealings in the previous year. If you click on the link it has two pictures, one released as Public Domain the other is old and deemed out of copyright. By the way it isn't just admins who you can go to with questions, if you want to team up with an experienced user who can help you learn your way round this place you might want to look at the adoption program. ϢereSpielChequers 22:05, 21 May 2009 (UTC)

Thnaks a lot for that. As I said, I would only make a Barnstar if a situation arose in which there is no suitable , or I want to make it more specific to what the user has done (although that will probably never happen). I'll have a look at that adoption programme you suggested. Bye. Spongefrog (talk) 14:59, 22 May 2009 (UTC)

Hey

yea, first day back. Thanks for the cake. So whats been going on recently? looks like they put up these new abuse filters, so less grawp and hagger then? oh, and just found out that one of my friends were accused of sock puppetry

Anyways, just stopping to show some care. Hope your doing well. ^^ M.H.^{True Romance iS Dead} 15:44, 24 May 2009 (UTC)

Hi, well you've missed some very unpleasant RFAs and a few other storms in teacups. It does happen occasionally that people you interact with turn bad or turn out not to be what they seem. I've been focussing in on CSD since I got the mop and seeing wikipedia from a slightly different angle as a result. ϢereSpielChequers 12:21, 25 May 2009 (UTC)

Have a barnstar!

		The Typo Team Barnstar
		I'm giving you this because I cannot believe for the life of me that someone hasn't done this already. Sophus Bie (talk) 11:10, 7 June 2009 (UTC)

Possible forgery

I just got a Barnstar from someone called User:Alaphent, apparently it was awarded for giving him/her a Barnstar. I didn't give it (I'll refer to him/her as it, it saves typing time) a barnstar though. It actually has several barnstars on its page, but the page history doesn't show anyone giving it barnstars. User:John Carter has a Barnstar on its page, which I think was stolen from my barnstar page. It stole a Barnstar from Rkr1991, and they seem to share the same interests, so maybe they're the same person. You might want to check this out, maybe get a checkuser in, but I'm not sure how to go about reporting these things (which is why I'm asking here). (look at my new signature!) Spongefrog, (talk to me, or else) 17:08, 20 June 2009 (UTC)

Hi Spongefrog, nice to hear from you again. Since its a newby account I suspect you are correct and that they have copied those barnstars rather than been awarded them. If so I'll watch and see how they react to your edit, my guess at present is that they are a newby who has started their user page by copying someone else, and is still adapting it. Checkusers would in my view be inappropriate here, not least because the account isn't yet participating in discussions - abusive sockpuppetry involves things like !voting twice in the same discussion by using two accounts. Oh and that's a nice new signature by the way. ϢereSpielChequers 17:29, 20 June 2009 (UTC)

I left a slightly less harsh comment on Alaphent's page. You're probably right. I removed "John Carter"'s and "my" barnstar from the page. I don't know why I though about checkuser's, there was a reason I suspected Alephant of sockpuppetry, but I can't remember what it was. It seems to be constructive, so it wouldn't really matter if it was a sockpuppet anyway. Thanks anyway, for your help. (I took the liberty of removing an apostraphe from the word "discussion's" in your above post, if there was a reason put it back in. In fact don't waste your time, it hardly matters) Spongefrog, (talk to me, or else) 20:12, 20 June 2009 (UTC)

Thanks!

) – (iMatthew • talk) at 12:23, 21 June 2009 (UTC)

Automated tag

Thanks for leaving that comment on my talk page. It was thoughtful of you to leave it for passing RfA reviewers. I had completely forgotten about that until I read Q7 on my RfA. I'm no tech expert, but IMHO, it would be difficult to implement such a change without opening loopholes for potential vandalism. Thanks again, --Patar knight - ^chat/_{contributions} 13:31, 21 June 2009 (UTC)

User: Giano|The future

Hi, your contributions at the above page are very welcome. However, in the interests of clarity countering of the points of others (when agreeing or disagreeing) is making the page unnecessarily long and confusing. One or two points is fine, so is addressing points directly raised to you. Please see comments here [2].The page is purely to assess how many people are interested and to find out the concerns they have. The worthiness of those views can be hotly debated elsewhere at a later date, assuming enough people feel the point is worth debating. Please feel free to agree or disagree with points or raise your own views in a seperate section. Hope you understand, I am trying to be unbiased but keep the page as concise as possible. Thanks. Giano (talk) 07:42, 24 June 2009 (UTC)

Hi Giano, thanks for the welcome. Keeping me and others on topic is fine by me, please keep the page archived/on topic as ruthlessly as you want; not least because with my current kit I will have difficulty participating once it goes over 100k. ~~

Glad you don't mind - say what you like on the talk. I'm worried about keeping the page to a decent size as sub-pages tend to split the subject and editors and make folowing even harder - perhaps the answer is too ruthlesly move prolonged debate to the talk - just have to see how it goes. Giano (talk) 12:20, 24 June 2009 (UTC)

North Sulawesi Babirusa

What up speller. What's with this? Did you want it included in the bacon challenge some how? I'm confused. ChildofMidnight (talk) 00:04, 26 June 2009 (UTC)

Check out North Sulawesi Babirusa#Habitat, some consider that this relative of the pig should be considered kosher. ϢereSpielChequers 00:13, 26 June 2009 (UTC)

The challenge is for DYK hooks though, so unless it can be expanded 5x I don't think it can be used. I had already moved it over to 2010 for you. :) I put it under bacon articles... Have a good one Spell. Thanks for your good works and collegiality here. I'm sorry I wasn't able to support the editor you nominated for RfA this time. I really wanted to and was tempted to swtich, but I still have some concerns. I would like to discuss them with the editor at some point, but I think it's best to give them some space for a while. I'm sure their disappointed and I sympathize. I know they work hard and contribute a lot here. Take care. ChildofMidnight (talk) 05:38, 26 June 2009 (UTC)

Whoops, hadn't noticed that move. I remember the debate being reported over here and suspect that there could be quite a bit that could be expanded by - plus the species itself has potential for expansion. As for Timmeh, well I appreciate your words, and I'm sure he would be reassured to know that one of his opposers was thinking of switching. I think its important that any regular !voter at RFA thinks through their RFA !voting criteria and tries to be fair and consistent in their !voting, and if you couldn't support him at this stage then fair enough. I'm sure he'll be back at RFA later this year with a nominator who carries rather more weight in the community. ϢereSpielChequers 07:09, 26 June 2009 (UTC)

Macedonia request for comment

Since you have in the past taken part in related discussions, this comes as a notification that the Centralized discussion page set up to decide on a comprehensive naming convention about Macedonia-related naming practices is now inviting comments on a number of competing proposals from the community. Please register your opinions on the RfC subpages 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5.

Fut.Perf. ☼ 07:52, 26 June 2009 (UTC)

My deleted contribs

Hi WereSpielChequers. I have a small favor to ask of you. Would you mind sending me a copy of my deleted contribs by email? I would like to look over my CSD tags to see exactly how I messed them up before and how I can improve. Thanks. Timmeh 01:01, 30 June 2009 (UTC)

Hi Timmeh, I'm not sure that would be a good idea, for various reasons including the fact that you have a couple of hundred deleted contributions; but if you intend to get more active at CSD can I instead suggest you read some of the stuff at User:WereSpielChequers#We're Spiel Checkers - thoughts on deletion. Also If you want I can keep an eye on your CSD tagging. ϢereSpielChequers 11:12, 2 July 2009 (UTC)

Hi again. Just reminding you about those deleted contribs. Send them whenever you get the time. Also, I was wondering how you got those instructions to appear on the "Editing..." page. I've been trying to figure that out for a while. Thanks. Timmeh 18:22, 1 July 2009 (UTC)

Check out User talk:WereSpielChequers/Editnotice. ϢereSpielChequers 00:54, 2 July 2009 (UTC)

Preventing school violence

I don't know whether you're interested in this or not but I'm trying to get a few other points of view so I figured I'd ask. After noticing the closest thing to prevention on the school shooting page involved arming teachers and shooting students at the last minute I thought there could be something better so I created the Preventing school violence article to link to it and have had a hard time convincing people not to delete links or the article itself. If it seems like something your interested in anything you put in will be apreciated. I'm just trying to correct something I consider seriously flawed. thanks Zacherystaylor (talk) 19:54, 7 July 2009 (UTC)

Hi Zachery, I live in London, so the idea of the Police carrying guns freaks me out, let alone arming anyone else. I don't think I'm qualified or sufficiently neutral to get involved in a such a US specific subject as school shootings. But if it helps I'll try and steer the conversation round to this at this Sunday's London meetup - we usually have at least one school teacher there and sometimes some editors who are or were very recently school kids. ϢereSpielChequers 12:33, 8 July 2009 (UTC)

Thanks whatever you do will be helpful. BTW I forgot to mention that I have created a seperate unofficial article to work on until this dispute is settled it is here: User:Zacherystaylor/preventing school violence This will help wpeople who are interested know what I'm trying to add and that it is all backed up by sources who have conducted research in the subject. Thanks Zacherystaylor (talk) 17:46, 8 July 2009 (UTC)

Hi Zachery, that's interesting stuff but you might want to check your stat about women being shot in the home - I suspect that's a US statistic, not a global one. As for advice on handling edit wars, well firstly try to talk things over on the talk page of the article. Having a sandbox to marshall your thoughts and hone an argument can be useful; but if people are reverting you try to discuss things on the talkpage. If that doesn't work we have Wikipedia:Mediation Cabal, but you really need to try and talk it out first. ϢereSpielChequers 21:15, 8 July 2009 (UTC)

Thanks for your input and proof reading. I'll check the the stat about woman it came frome deBecker. some of the material is focused primarily on the USA but not all of it, social nature is esentualy the same world wide but different customs bring out different behavior. School shootings and violence isn't limited to the USA it is a problem worldwide althouth I'm not that familar with England. I vaguely recall a couple incidents from England or Scotland. As far as I know noplace is completely immune. I'm going to prepare a little more before I try to put things into the article or restore many links. I don't think any of the links were left to the article. I have tried to discuss things and will do so again after I do a little more on the article but am a little suprised at the respoce I am getting. Thanks Good day Zacherystaylor (talk) 17:20, 9 July 2009 (UTC)

Errh re the stat "Gunshot wounds are the single most common cause of death for women in the home, accounting for nearly half of all homicides and 42% of suicides." It isn't just England where guns are not widely available - Japan and I think China as well. I would be really surprised if that was a global stat as opposed to an American one - but worth checking what is cited. Yes we do have violence over here, but murder rates vary sharply round the world, see: List of countries by intentional homicide rate, and of course violence, murder and suicide are very different things. We in the UK have much lower murder rates than you, but I don't know which is the more violent nation. As for handling your edit war, well I'd suggest sticking close to the sources and trying to make sure that the more controversial something is the better its cited. Also sometimes its good to take a break from your edit war and look at how another controversial subject is being argued over. ϢereSpielChequers 06:30, 10 July 2009 (UTC)

Your probably right about that being a USA stat it is by a USA author. Your criticism is apreciated and helpful. If you think this article should be saved I would apreciate if you put your 2 cents in at Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Preventing school violence. It is now being targeted for deletion again. Thanks Good day Zacherystaylor (talk) 18:35, 10 July 2009 (UTC)

Sig

Just to let you know, your sig comes up like this in Safari on a Mac. Not sure if you care, just thought I'd let you know. Go ahead and delete the image after reading this. wadester16 06:47, 8 July 2009 (UTC)

Hi Wadester, thanks for letting me know, I was aware that special characters may not work across operating systems, and that's why I only use one special character. I currently use Firefox under either Ubuntu or Windows depending on PC, pity it doesn't work under Safari, I don't suppose you know any way of fixing this? Alternatively do you know how I can make a png of how it appears in Firefox? ϢereSpielChequers 14:07, 8 July 2009 (UTC)

No, my days of programming and actually "fixing" things on computers are limited to when I was in high school. :-) As for the png, I made it from a print screen. Ctrl+Print screen on a PC should give you it (tho I don't know if Windows gives you a png or jpeg). wadester16 14:16, 8 July 2009 (UTC)

FAC advice

Hey there. A few months back you gave some excellent advise about an article I created when a new page patroller wanted to put it up for GA review. I didnt do much to progress it as it was more Alice who seemed interested in the process and I thought it could wait for her to get back from her wiki break. One article Ive wanted to be featured on the main page since I first arrived is Keynes. Im kind of hopeing its about ready to be a FA candidate or at least go to peer review, do you please have some time to look it over? Some professional economists have reviewed it, but only one of them is a wikipedian so Im hoping for some general feedback about style and formating, and you seem to have a good feel for finance to so any kind of advise or input would be welcome. FeydHuxtable (talk) 21:57, 12 July 2009 (UTC)

Hi, Happy to help. I've run a quick eye over it but will come back later and link to some other articles. As this is an article with many contributors I would suggest that you start a discussion on the talk page re bringing it to FA standard as there may be other major contributors there who might wish to participate in that. Also I noticed what seems to me a discrepancy between the lead "Shortly before the end of the Great Depression, his ideas were wholeheartedly put into practice by leading Western economies." and "While economists had been increasingly won over to Keynes's way of thinking in the late 1930s , it was only after outbreak of World War II that governments started to borrow money for spending on a scale sufficient to eliminate unemployment." ϢereSpielChequers 09:11, 13 July 2009 (UTC)

Thanks very much. I cant believe how many minor errors you found as Id re-read it at least a dozen times. Yeah I first announced the intention to take the article to FA on the talk page back in November, but there was little interest. I didnt want to approach the economics project as I understand Keynes isnt currently all that well liked by the more academically orientated economists. So I joined the LGBT project but there was little interest there either. I rewrote the entire article in mid June and I guess its about 80% my work now as I had to take quite a lot of the older stuff away as much of it was word for word c&p from other web cites. Although there have been several good contributions only editor Lawrencekhoo has been contributing frequently this past year or so. Im hoping it will be possible to get this article promoted for when Lord Skidelsky releases Keynes: the return of the Master in September, so am really grateful for your help! FeydHuxtable (talk) 11:32, 13 July 2009 (UTC)

You're very welcome re the copyediting - its always interesting to see what fresh eyes can find; and this is an interesting article on a very important subject. I think it couldn't hurt to inform the economics project that you have plans for the article. I've no real experience at GA, being an FA specialist, but it is almost traditional for articles to go through that first. One thing about the GA and FA processes is that there are many specialists who will check for their particular specialisms, be that consistent citing or some other MOS arcana; so it is probably worth going through GA and peer review before FA. I'm not sure about the criticisms section as to whether that is the preferred layout for someone whose ideas have been praised and challenged. ϢereSpielChequers 14:58, 13 July 2009 (UTC)

I’ll go to GA first then, I guess getting the article to FA by Sept is unlikely in that case but tradition is tradition. Hopefully they might accept the non standard layout - as you'll know there's been exception attention on Keynes this past year or so due to the crises, and many take an ad homien approach as the economic case is so hard to analyses on its own merits. If not I dont mind changing it. Let me know once your done editing it and Ill ask Lawrence if he wants to co-nom , and youd be very welcome to as well. Thanks again! FeydHuxtable (talk) 16:43, 13 July 2009 (UTC)

re: your message

Hi WereSpielChequers, I've left a reply to your message on my talk page -- Marek.69 ^talk 16:59, 14 July 2009 (UTC)

Individual Account

Sorry for the slip of the tongue, I updated it to say MY talk page. Only one person has access to this account. Thank you! CMUResearcher (talk) 15:12, 16 July 2009 (UTC)

WikiCup participates in the Wikipedia:The Great Wikipedia Dramaout

Hello all, iMatthew here. I just wanted to let you know about "The Great Wikipedia Dramaout" which starts this Saturday. The goal of the Dramaout is to spend five days working on improving articles and abstaining from any of Wikipedia's drama. I don't think that any of you will have a problem focusing on articles for five days, because of course, any work you get done during the Dramaout will count towards your score in the WikiCup. Details are on the page; hope to see you all signing up! :) iMatthew ^talk at 00:27, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

DYK Hypercompact stellar system

Hello! Your submission of Hypercompact stellar system at the Did You Know nominations page has been reviewed, and there still are some issues that 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! Materialscientist (talk) 09:19, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

Some stuff that I need to ask you

Hello. Remeber me?

I was just here to ask you about this thing. A user who I know called User:SchnitzelMannGreek posted this on my page. Slightly confusing, but I'll tell you the jist of it. The category, [3] includes the sockpuppets that he made, and the bad ones the hacker made. He'd like the category split into bad ones and good ones. That's assuming you believe his excuse. After this incident he's made solely constructive edits and got rollback rights. User:Inferno, Lord of Penguins, who was also a victim (see the category), believes him, and I'm sure many more would. Is there any way the category could be split? Would there need to be a debate of some kind? Thanks a lot. Spongefrog, (talk to me, or else) 17:53, 2 August 2009 (UTC)

P.S. About his archive thing he wants, I think that's being dealt with. Spongefrog, (talk to me, or else) 17:53, 2 August 2009 (UTC)

Hi Spongefrog, nice to hear from you again. I've had very few dealings with sockpuppetry so am probably not best placed to advise on this one. May I suggest that your friend approach user:Tiptoety as the admin most familiar with his case? ϢereSpielChequers 18:35, 2 August 2009 (UTC)

Thankyou very much. I looked through my archives and selected a random admin, that's how I decided to ask you. Thanks anyway. Spongefrog, (talk to me, or else) 18:37, 2 August 2009 (UTC)

No problem, by the way have you had a look at Wikipedia:WikiProject Red Link Recovery? The lists of potential stuff to fix were updated recently and we could really use some help there. ϢereSpielChequers 22:39, 2 August 2009 (UTC)

Nice try. But I will have a look. I could do with some stuff to do. The only method I have for finding stuff to do is searching for "passed away" and changing it to "died". I can usually find some bad articles in the process. I'm talking too much so I'll stop. Spongefrog, (talk to me, or else) 08:28, 3 August 2009 (UTC)

Well have a look at the redlink project and see if you find it, or part of it interesting. If not I'd be happy to make some more suggestions. :) ϢereSpielChequers 12:51, 3 August 2009 (UTC)

London meetup

Hi,

On the strategic planning wiki you mentioned the london meetups. Can you provide me with more info? is there a coordination page?

Thanks! - Philippe 11:32, 9 August 2009 (UTC)

Yes, wp:LONDON25 ϢereSpielChequers 18:22, 9 August 2009 (UTC)

Wikimania 2009 Buenos Aires

As per your post in the Travel coordination page of WM2009's site, I´m assuming you are already here. Please do not hesitate to contact me for anything you may need in my hometown. Just leave a message (or use the e-mail link) in my my es:WP talk page. Have a pleasant stay, take care and enjoy! Cinabrium (talk) 18:55, 14 August 2009 (UTC)

Response to your comment at RfC

I am anti-censorship, and don't think any userboxes should be banned. The choice of userboxes can speak volumes about an RfA candidate, and I appreciate them as evidence that helps show whether a candidate is suitable for adminship or not.

And, my opposes of atheists have nothing to do with any prejudice against atheists, which I do not have, and everything to do with the userboxes that some atheists apparently think are a good idea. How dare you accuse me of bias just because religious people seem to be respectful enough not to display confrontational userboxes? Keepscases (talk) 18:15, 17 August 2009 (UTC)

Hi Keepscases, my comment was "Keepscases' RFA !voting record shows a pattern of him being much more likely to !vote against atheist candidates than against other candidates. Agreed he doesn't oppose every atheist but there is a pattern emerging that is troubling and should not continue." I think you have a point that User:UBX/Userboxes/Religion contains several more contentious atheistic userboxes than it does religious ones. But I disagree with the way you are responding to that, I suspect that if there were equivalent edgy Christian, Jewish or Muslim userboxes there they also would be in use. So I'm sorry if you find that part of my comment in your RFC hard to accept, but IMHO your voing record at RFA "shows a pattern of him being much more likely to !vote against atheist candidates than against other candidates". ϢereSpielChequers 22:38, 18 August 2009 (UTC)

Oh, I agree with that part, but the pattern should and will continue as long as people who display such userboxes keep running for adminship. I assure you that I'd oppose candidates who used hypothetical religious userboxes that were similarly confrontational. Keepscases (talk) 01:54, 19 August 2009 (UTC)

Thanks for that assurance, but I'd still prefer that you tried to get the userboxes deleted. ϢereSpielChequers 23:16, 23 August 2009 (UTC)

Editor review

Hi WereSpielChequers. Since it has been about three months since my last editor review, I've started up another one. You obviously strongly supported my becoming an admin back in June, but maybe you could provide some advice on the main issues that were brought up anyway. You seem to be very good at giving useful advice, so if you have time in the next few weeks, a review of how I've been doing since my RfA would be appreciated. Thanks. Timmeh (review me) 17:59, 19 August 2009 (UTC)

Hi Timmeh, nice to hear from you again. I'm not going to be online much until at least a week after Wikimania, so it could be mid Sept before I get a chance to properly review you. But in the circumstances you might be better off asking some of your opposers for feedback.. If so good luck! ϢereSpielChequers 18:27, 19 August 2009 (UTC)

That's fine. You can just drop me a note on my talk page or an email if my editor review has expired. Also, I've already notified several opposers. I'm still waiting for a review, though. Timmeh (review me) 19:23, 19 August 2009 (UTC)

Very Prestigious Award

		The "'Random idiot user who Spongefrog doesn't hate for some reason' of the 2½-day period" Award
		Congratulations! For your friendliness, usefulness, contributions, existence, tolerance of weird vandals, helping me even when I'm annoying and you're busy, some other stuff, and, finally, not being an idiot, I award you with this, soon to be prestigious, award: The "RIUWSDHFSROT2½DP" Award. Lord Spongefrog, (I am a flesh-eating robot) 18:10, 30 August 2009 (UTC)

That red bit of text in the template is a link, by the way. Just one bit of small print..., Lord Spongefrog, (I am a flesh-eating robot) 18:10, 30 August 2009 (UTC)

Small Print

This is nothing like "WOT..." award system, it is completely different from WOTD, it is in no way affiliated with WOTD, we have never even heard of WOTD. Lord Spongefrog, (I am a flesh-eating robot) 18:10, 30 August 2009 (UTC)

Thanks, and congratulations on your new name m'lud. But if I may make a small comment on your lordship's signature, please don't use it when correcting newbies such as when tagging their articles for deletion (especially if the article pertains to vegetarianism).. ϢereSpielChequers 13:59, 31 August 2009 (UTC)

Oh crap, when did I do that? I'll never pass an RfA now. Damn. Lord Spongefrog, (I am a flesh-eating robot) 14:01, 31 August 2009 (UTC)

You haven't as far as I know m'lud. But I dropped the hint because your lordship now has a signature that means you need to think each time you use it whether it's appropriate for the conversation and the audience. ϢereSpielChequers 14:14, 31 August 2009 (UTC)

Oh, right. I thought you were meaning I had done it in the past. Yeah OK, I'll probably only use it for my talk page, really the only time I ever have to use a signature (except for AfDs). Lord Spongefrog, (I am a flesh-eating robot) 14:19, 31 August 2009 (UTC)

Thanks for your help with BLPs!

		The BLP Barnstar
		Your hard work on BLPs in general, and at User:Lar/Liberal Semi specifically, is much appreciated. That page has now been sunsetted (and I hope never to need to bring it back) but the work you did there (whether by bringing articles forward, reviewing them, or protecting them... or even by questioning or criticizing the process!) was of great help to the project. See you in the trenches! ++Lar: t/c 01:48, 7 September 2009 (UTC)

Happy Labor Day!

Dear colleague, I just want to wish you a happy, hopefully, extended holiday weekend and nice end to summer! Your friend, --A Nobody^{My talk} 04:45, 7 September 2009 (UTC)

Template

Hi WSC i noticed that you on the 20th of August 2009 at 11:22 deleted an attackpage[4] that i had tagged with a template from the 'what-to-do' wiki article. The reason i'm here is because yesterday an administrator warned me for putting a template in the userpage of the person that created the article in question(which is standard proceedure) and claimed i did this in error. Please have a look these two discussions

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Ingoman#Attacks_in_the_article_Somali_clan_nicknames
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Scoobycentric#Talkback

I received a personal attack for putting this template warning in the userpage of the article's creator, as a result i adviced the user Ingoman not to make such personal attacks in the future again or i would report him. The administrator however believes the personal attack was justified because the incorporated template text in his opinion seemed strange. Was i wrong for putting that template in the userpage and is a user obligated to change the words of the incorporated text, even if it's perfectly relevant? I'm very interested in your opinion.--Scoobycentric (talk) 03:52, 27 August 2009 (UTC)

• Thanks for your reply WSC, i do believe it would be wise to atleast point out in the article itself that members interested in using the templates should first reality check them and then tweak them based on the nature of the article--Scoobycentric (talk) 19:39, 1 September 2009 (UTC)
  • you´re welcome, as with a number of parts of the Wiki I fear that the CSD categories, tagging templates and the warning messages that they generate have got a little out of synch over the years and it would be good to fix this - but I´m not sure my template writing is up to the task and I´m certainly not going to try and learn templates from an Internet cafe in Argentina. Will be back at my home PC soon, but doubt I can pick this up for a while. ϢereSpellCheckers 00:39, 3 September 2009 (UTC)
• No problem, enjoy your stay in Argentina!--Scoobycentric (talk) 00:15, 9 September 2009 (UTC)

Just in case you weren't watching...

I've made the edit to {{db-g10}} you asked for. Demo is at WT:CSD. Tim Song (talk) 20:38, 15 December 2009 (UTC)

Welcome!

Thanks for your contributions on the main ARS page. Welcome, I am Ikip, I have been around since October 2005. I found the Rescue squadron only a year ago, and my only regret is that it would have been sooner. I hope you talk to that admin, like I suggested on the ARS talk page. Email me or message me how I can help you in anyway.

Here to help articles tagged for rescue! Articles tagged for deletion and rescue Category Articles tagged for deletion and rescue not found Hi, WereSpielChequers, welcome to the Article Rescue Squadron! We are a growing community of Wikipedia editors dedicated to identifying and rescuing articles that have been tagged for deletion. Every day hundreds of articles are deleted, many rightfully so. But many concern notable subjects and are poorly written, ergo fixable and should not be deleted. We try to help these articles quickly improve and address the concerns of why they are proposed for deletion. This covers a lot of ground and your help is appreciated! Some points that may be helpful: Our main aim is to help improve articles, so if someone seeks help, please try to assist if you are able. Likewise feel free to ask for help, advice and clarification. Many times we are asked to help rescue articles by people new to our notability and sourcing policies. If the article is not fixable we can help explain why and offer alternatives. Many of these editors are also new to Wikipedia so may see deleting "their" article as "bitey". Encourage civility and maybe even {{welcome}} them if they have only been templated with deletion messages. The Articles for deletion (AfD) discussion is where the concerns regarding each article are brought up and addressed. To be an effective member of the project you need to know how AfD works as well as how to improve articles. Introduction to deletion process gives a good overview and some good advice for newcomers to deletion. Our primary work is improving articles tagged for rescue. On this template you can see a drop-down list of current articles tagged. You can install it on your own page by putting {{ARS/Tagged}}. A more dynamic list with article links and description is on our current articles page. It is highly recommended you watchlist it. If you have another language besides English, please consider adding yourself to the list of translators available. Articles and sources that use non-English languages often need translation for those of us who cannot translate for ourselves. Many important discussions take place on the project's main discussion page; it is recommended that you watchlist it. If you have any questions, feel free to ask on the talk page, and we will be happy to help you. And once again - Welcome! Ikip (talk) 23:33, 10 September 2009 (UTC)

I am thrilled to see you are one of the chosen 144,000 1,600. We really need more experienced editors like you! Ikip (talk) 23:36, 10 September 2009 (UTC)

Im very pleased as well, an outstanding day for the squad! FeydHuxtable (talk) 16:45, 11 September 2009 (UTC)

Hullo from Buenos Aires!

First and foremost, thanks for the beer!

I don´t think that tilde issue prevents growth of es-WP. In fact, you've probably been unlucky with the sample: Spanish LatinAmerica keyboards usually have the tilde just right of the "ñ" key (n-tilde). Besides that, below the edition box in es-WP there is a "help box" with accented characters (you can choose from a dropdown menu to use the most common sign in Spanish, or all the Latin alphabets diacritical marks, IPA, German, Arab, etc.).

Yes, they usually charge a little fee for taking photos. If you want to contribute your collection to the sets we took during our "expedition" to the Museum and the Observatory, please find the proper sub-category within commons:Category:Museo de la Plata.

A big hug from the Far South, Cinabrium (talk) 03:04, 11 September 2009 (UTC)

Thanks, that could be commons:Category:Museo de La Plata collection (Zoology) I think I'm about to make a bit of a difference to commons:Category:Museo Etnogáfico Juan B. Ambrosetti as well. ϢereSpielChequers 15:06, 11 September 2009 (UTC)

Chick magnet

Thanks for fixing the typos.--Sky Attacker Here comes the bird! 20:12, 11 September 2009 (UTC)

You're welcome ϢereSpielChequers 20:19, 11 September 2009 (UTC)

The Admin's Barnstar

		The Admin's Barnstar
		For your hard, and amazingly accurate, work with speedy deletion, for your civility and helpfulness when interacting with others, and for the time you put into keeping vandals and vandalism off the 'pedia, I award you this well deserved Admin's Barnstar - Kingpin13 (talk) 14:44, 18 September 2009 (UTC)

Use it wisely ;) - Kingpin¹³ (talk) 14:44, 18 September 2009 (UTC)

Thanks! Wait...I'm not WereSpielChequers, Lord Spongefrog, (I am the Czar of all Russias!) 15:31, 18 September 2009 (UTC)

But I am, and am very grateful for this sharp pointy object. ϢereSpielChequers 15:42, 18 September 2009 (UTC)

Wow! That looks expensive. Kudos. Well deserved. ChildofMidnight (talk) 17:39, 18 September 2009 (UTC)

Cake

That was some nice beer! How would you like a puzzle cake?

— Oli ^OR Pyfan! has given you a WikiCake! WikiCakes promote WikiLove and hopefully this one has made your day a little better. Spread the WikiLove by giving someone else a cake, whether it be someone you have had disagreements with in the past or a good friend. Bon appetit!

Spread the tastiness of cakes by adding {{subst:GiveCake}} to their talk page with a friendly message.

Thanks, — Oli ^OR Pyfan! 20:52, 21 September 2009 (UTC)

New article

Hi, I've finally decided to write an article! Would you mind going to User:Pyfan/Core_Python_Programming and checking it out?
I'm sure I made thousands of mistakes,
Thanks, — Oli ^OR Pyfan! 11:29, 22 September 2009 (UTC)

Hi Pyfan, I've made a few tweaks, hope you like them, if not its a wiki! I'm not familiar with articles on books, but you might want to read Wikipedia:WikiProject Books/Non-fiction article I think they aren't too keen on lists of chapters. And I'd suggest checking for any other books on Python programming and putting them in a see also section. Also the article reads just a tad uncritically - are there any neutral reviews perhaps in the computer press that you could tap into? ϢereSpielChequers 12:21, 22 September 2009 (UTC)

Thanks for your help! — Oli ^OR Pyfan! 12:32, 22 September 2009 (UTC)

Minor tidy-up on Lostock Hall

Thank you for the minor tidy-up operation you've undergone on the Lostock Hall article. This article is very dear to myself, as it also the place where I live. Originally the article was small and a mess. Over the past week or so, I have worked my ass off to get it looking a bit more special and spectacular. Your minor contribution has helped sincerely. Regards, Pr3st0n (talk) 19:31, 22 September 2009 (UTC)

You're very welcome. Unfortunately your RFA ended before I'd finished my review of your contributions, but I do hope you consider running again in a few months. ϢereSpielChequers 21:13, 22 September 2009 (UTC)

The RfA has been re-opened. Pr3st0n (talk) 22:23, 22 September 2009 (UTC)

Hello

Are you in? Please be in. This guy called User talk:ARVN Kid keeps making unsourced edits to Pham Van Dong (ARVN general) like here. I've tried contacting him via talk page, but he won't respond. I might have to just undo all the edits in the morning when he's gone. I'm assuming it's a he, it's actually just faster to type. Help Me! I don't know what to do, Lord Spongefrog, (I am the Czar of all Russias!) 20:44, 23 September 2009 (UTC)

Dear Spongefrog, our policy is wp:verifiability not wp:verified, so if someone adds uncited information that you suspect isn't right the best way to approach things is to put {{fact}}, next to the information you want to dispute. (Policy is somewhat stricter on sourcing biographical information on living people - see wp:BLP). Also try starting a dialogue on the article talk page, and plz - remember not to bite the newbies :) ϢereSpielChequers 21:26, 23 September 2009 (UTC)

Yeah, well, it's hard not to bite when they ignore you three times. I expected you to say the rest, so, well, I'll look around for a few sources. He must have been getting it from somewhere, that's why I was so irritated about the lack of sourcing. Thanks! Lord Spongefrog, (I am the Czar of all Russias!) 12:13, 24 September 2009 (UTC)

I usually give people a bit more time between attempts to talk to them, an alternative is to break off and do something else for a while :) BTW If you fancy making some edits to Featured Articles, I suspect there are a whole bunch of old FA articles whose images don't have alt text... Would you be interested in sorting some of that out? ϢereSpielChequers 12:21, 24 September 2009 (UTC)

In expansion to my last comment, I did overreact a bit yesterday, the sources have since been added. @your comment, Maybe. I'm not quite sure what alt text is etc., but I've only got a couple more minutes to edit, so you can explain later if you like. I know nothing, and thanks for not reprimanding me for overreacting, and the tactful use of emoticons, Lord Spongefrog, (I am the Czar of all Russias!) 12:29, 24 September 2009 (UTC)

Hi SpongeFrog, Alt text is a description of a picture for people who are blind, using text only readers or listening to spoken versions of wikipedia. Wikipedia:Alternative text for images is a good explanation for alt text and Wikipedia:Featured articles contains a list of featured articles. Only the newer ones will have alt text at the moment. I'm glad to see you've made your peace with User:ARVN Kid, for future info Template:Unsigned gives you a handy template for when others fail to sign. ϢereSpielChequers 13:34, 24 September 2009 (UTC)

New Service Award

I saw some discussion on the service award talk page a while back about a need for a new set of service awards so I have come up with this. I am open to just about any suggestion but please do not edit any of the templates themselves without getting permission from me first. Thanks!

Regards, Gaelen S.^{Talk • Contribs} 01:01, 26 September 2009 (UTC)

Thanks, nice work I especially like the secret appendix idea. I've replied on Template talk:Supreme Editor (or Ultimate and Almighty Emendator of the Encyclopedia. but plz have a rethink about "please do not edit any of the templates themselves without getting permission from me first". ϢereSpielChequers 06:32, 26 September 2009 (UTC)

spam

I know that you've been interested in these issues in the past. Wikipedia:WikiProject Administrator — Ched :  ?  03:46, 5 October 2009 (UTC)

Happy WereSpielChequers's Day!

User:WereSpielChequers has been identified as an Awesome Wikipedian, and therefore, I've officially declared today as WereSpielChequers's day! For being such a beautiful person and great Wikipedian, enjoy being the Star of the day, dear WereSpielChequers! Peace, Rlevse 01:50, 14 October 2009 (UTC) A record of your Day will always be kept here.

For a userbox you can add to your userbox page, see User:Rlevse/Today/Happy Me Day! and my own userpage for a sample of how to use it. — Rlevse • Talk • 01:50, 14 October 2009 (UTC)

Congratulations dude! :-) —Ed (talk • contribs) 02:08, 14 October 2009 (UTC)

Did I do something wrong?

I saw that you sent me a message, but I'm not exactly sure why. Did I do something wrong? I hardly understand how fixing the spelling of "September" could be considered anything besides commendable. User:JSteele48 —Preceding undated comment added 23:24, 20 October 2009 (UTC).

What you are doing is fine, I sent you a welcome message because you fixed something in an article I keep an eye on and I noticed that no-one had yet welcomed you to Wikipedia. ϢereSpielChequers 23:28, 20 October 2009 (UTC)

Happy Halloween!

File:Halloween Hush Puppies.jpg

Photograph of my Halloween-themed Hush Puppies plush basset hounds in my bedroom.

As Halloween is my favorite holiday, I just wanted to wish those Wikipedians who have been nice enough to give me a barnstar or smile at me, supportive enough to agree with me, etc., a Happy Halloween! Sincerely, --A Nobody^{My talk} 17:18, 31 October 2009 (UTC)

Invitation

WT:Sock_puppetry#Interview_for_Signpost. - Dank (push to talk) 17:43, 27 October 2009 (UTC)

New Account

Can you go comment on the ANI thread please? Nezzadar ^[SPEAK] 17:03, 2 November 2009 (UTC)

Done ϢereSpielChequers 17:18, 2 November 2009 (UTC)

Again please? Nezzadar ^[SPEAK] 17:19, 2 November 2009 (UTC)

BTW, while "ethics" might prevent you from doing so, you could just give me back Twinkle. Ha ha. Just kidding, I say silly things while drunk on WikiBeer. Nezzadar ^[SPEAK] 19:12, 2 November 2009 (UTC)

Technically yes, but in practice I've never used Twinkle and would be very unlikely to do anything admin related around it. Also I'm unlikely to revert another admins actions without a very good reason. ϢereSpielChequers 19:25, 2 November 2009 (UTC)

WikiCup Awards

		The 2009 WikiCup Participant Award
		This WikiCup Award is presented to WereSpielChequers for their participation in the 2009 WikiCup. Your contributions along the way have greatly improved the quality of many articles, pictures, and sounds on the English Wikipedia.

Congratulations! Hope to see you sign up for the 2010 WikiCup, here, if you haven't already! iMatthew ^talk at 22:51, 3 November 2009 (UTC)

A project you mght be interested in

Hi. I've recently initiated an informal WikiProject which will, in theory, help to support the Wikipedia community and its volunteers. I'm looking for a few people to help me get it off the ground, so feel free to join up! Regards, –Juliancolton | ^Talk 05:01, 4 November 2009 (UTC)

You said you had some ideas, so please do post them if you get the chance. :) –Juliancolton | ^Talk 01:47, 5 November 2009 (UTC)

Hi

Hey WereSpielChequers, I saw your comment at WT:RFA and decided I needed to say hello. How's life been to you lately? ceranthor 14:21, 28 November 2009 (UTC)

Hi Ceranthor, its been pretty good thanks, apart from a ceiling collapse, a bit of flak on a project I started and a whole load of time I spent on the Strategy wiki before I decided it was probably wasting my time there. But I have learned a bit about pre Punic war Carthage, rescued a neighbour's pet rabbit from my pond, and started to appoint Autoreviewers. How about you? ϢereSpielChequers 14:43, 28 November 2009 (UTC)

Haha, I'm fine. Good to hear you're doing well and peachy. :) ceranthor 00:41, 30 November 2009 (UTC)

Why have I been banned?

Why have you banned me? I didn't create an attack page. The only thing I have ever done on Wikipedia is remove some vandalism/false information from the Josh Peck article. That was in March. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Enchantress88 (talk • contribs) 20:41, 6 November 2009 (UTC)

Hi Enchantress88, I haven't blocked or banned your enchantress account - if I had blocked it you wouldn't be able to edit this page. ϢereSpielChequers 21:23, 6 November 2009 (UTC)

OK I think I've worked out what happened. A vandal created your user page User:Enchantress88, and I deleted it as an attack page. ϢereSpielChequers 21:34, 6 November 2009 (UTC)

The abby road article

thanks for your edit to List of recordings made at Abbey Road Studios I wanted to know if you are watching this page or just a drive by editor. I have been looking for someone to help with neatening up the Abby Road Articles and make them B and A class articles!

andyzweb (talk) 19:36, 10 November 2009 (UTC)

Just a drive by I'm afraid. it came up on a redlink project I was working on. However I've run a quick eye over both, I'd suggest going through all the links to make sure they actually link to the right article. Also FA status now requires alt text so the blind know what the pictures are about. I've added a couple which might give you a start. Hope that helps. ϢereSpielChequers 23:26, 10 November 2009 (UTC)

Ok I will add alt text to the pictures and such. andyzweb (talk) 17:37, 11 November 2009 (UTC)

Invitation to participate in SecurePoll feedback and workshop

As you participated in the recent Audit Subcommittee election, or in one of two requests for comment that relate to the use of SecurePoll for elections on this project, you are invited to participate in the SecurePoll feedback and workshop. Your comments, suggestions and observations are welcome.

For the Arbitration Committee,
Risker (talk) 08:37, 12 November 2009 (UTC)

NowCommons: File:London Duck under Lambeth Bridge.jpg

File:London Duck under Lambeth Bridge.jpg is now available on Wikimedia Commons as Commons:File:London Duck under Lambeth Bridge.jpg. This is a repository of free media that can be used on all Wikimedia wikis. The image will be deleted from Wikipedia, but this doesn't mean it can't be used anymore. You can embed an image uploaded to Commons like you would an image uploaded to Wikipedia, in this case: [[File:London Duck under Lambeth Bridge.jpg]]. Note that this is an automated message to inform you about the move. This bot did not copy the image itself. --Erwin85Bot (talk) 23:43, 20 November 2009 (UTC)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I just wanted to wish those Wikipedians who have been nice enough to give me a barnstar or smile at me, supportive enough to agree with me, etc., a Happy Thanksgiving! Sincerely, --A Nobody^{My talk} 06:14, 27 November 2009 (UTC)

Thanks that's very kind of you. ϢereSpielChequers 08:48, 27 November 2009 (UTC)

Wikipedia:WikiCup/2010 Signups‎

Sorry to see you to go- I was one of the few (and the only judge) still in favour of mainspace edits counting for something, but it seems the spirit of the competition has changed. I hope this hasn't bothered you too much. All the best. J Milburn (talk) 20:15, 29 November 2009 (UTC)

No not really bothered, but thanks for checking. I was thinking of volunteering as a judge, but I may have to take a long wiki break in parts of early 2010 anyway. If I'd been paying more attention to the points discussion I'd have suggested that de-orphaning and various other template removal stuff would be a good substitute for giving points for mainspace edits. - Perhaps another year. ϢereSpielChequers 20:24, 29 November 2009 (UTC)

Skeleton Coast

I disagree with you northwest is inland, northeast of Namibia will take you to the coast with the Atlantic Ocean, Standing in Namibia east is botswane and south Africa, west is the coast with the Atlantic. Flagman (talk) 05:46, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

Map of Southern Africa showing Namibia

Hi Vdiest. Well I agree with the second half of your sentence, "Standing in Namibia east is botswane and south Africa, west is the coast with the Atlantic." but it contradicts the first half. If West is the Atlantic, North is Angola and East is Botswana, then North East is the Caprivi strip and North West is the area bounded by Angola and the Atlantic. ϢereSpielChequers 09:02, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

DYK nomination of Silver Reef, Utah

Hello! Your submission of Silver Reef, Utah at the Did You Know nominations page has been reviewed, and there still are some issues that 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! Calmer Waters 03:45, 30 November 2009 (UTC)

John Dickinson Category

Thank you for adding this new page to the English Author category. I notice that "John Dickinson" is now listed under "J" rather than "D". Can this be changed to list him by surname? --Plad2 (talk) 22:11, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

Good point, I've fixed that now. ϢereSpielChequers 22:19, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

Canvassing

Hey WSC, please take a look at the following discussion at the Horn of Africa talkpage, as you can see; the individual by the name of Liban80 was promoting an original research definition, which was quikly corrected by me and several other wikipedians, he then went on to ask for a 'third opinion' (nevermind the fact that those who were against his theory numbered more than two), he received a similar response there, but despite all of this, Liban80 has continued in his canvassing to such an extant that it now resembles a real campaign for his OR material, see here:

• Africa talkpage
• Wikiproject_Council/Directory/Geographical/Africa
• Third opinion Horn of Africa
• Portal_talk Africa
• Requests for comment - Horn of Africa
• etc

It seems Liban80 is shopping for the right opinion, and won't stop until he gets it --Scoobycentric (talk) 18:14, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

Hi, this has obviously been going on for some while, and is taking place at a very slow rate. I've started looking at this but am going to be offline for a while but hope to be able to go through this over the weekend ϢereSpielChequers 13:35, 4 December 2009 (UTC)

No problem take your time, i just thought it would be wise for me to notify an admin since that is advised on WP:Canvassing --Scoobycentric (talk) 14:50, 4 December 2009 (UTC)

Absolutely, I've had a word. ϢereSpielChequers 20:55, 5 December 2009 (UTC)

Thank you! --Scoobycentric (talk) 21:02, 5 December 2009 (UTC)

Great News!!!

Bacon Materializer

Unable to resist bacon's temptations, rogue editors have kicked off the Bacon Challenge 2010 before the New Year even starts! This is a fun and collegial event and all are welcome. There are many non-pork articles for editors who enjoy some sizzle, but object to or don't like messing with pig products. This year's event also includes a Bacon WikiCup 2010 for those who may want to keep score and enjoy engaging in friendly competition. Given the critical importance of this subject matter, I know you will want to participate, so remember to sign up today and get started A.S.A.P. ALL ARE WELCOME!!! The more the merrier.

Cool bug holding up the Wikipedia ball. ChildofMidnight (talk) 03:09, 5 December 2009 (UTC)

Bacon Peak

You're kidding: "Canadian Bacon" is also a mountain?? What, is it unsmoked and sliced differently too? Drmies (talk) 20:34, 8 December 2009 (UTC)

No kidding, but I haven't yet got enough sources to write an article. ϢereSpielChequers 20:37, 8 December 2009 (UTC)

Wow, it's almost impossible with those search terms to find that mountain. Drmies (talk) 21:31, 8 December 2009 (UTC)

Yup I have my doubts about it. But if it does exist we have a possible Canadian Bacon (disambiguation), with a film, a meat and a mountain. ϢereSpielChequers 21:35, 8 December 2009 (UTC)

Well, let us suppose it exists--it does on WP, now. The dab page exists too, but I still have to do cleanup. If you have experience being clever with the redirects and the hatnotes, please go ahead! I would appreciate your help. Drmies (talk) 01:00, 9 December 2009 (UTC)

Thanks, but I'm just a little nervous with only that one source - not only as it is a web generated site; but looking at the height and distance I suspect it could be a secondary peak on the Canadian side of Bacon Peak, and not actually a mountain. For Peak baggers that might still count, but does it for us? ϢereSpielChequers 01:11, 9 December 2009 (UTC)

<--Thanks for the cough--I left that for you, figuring you'd know how USGS maps work. Also, this edit was at almost the same time as my correction of the same error: I say this in my defense. As for Peakbaggers, I have some faith in them, and if it's a geographical feature, it's pretty much automatically notable, no? I'll keep looking. Drmies (talk) 01:24, 9 December 2009 (UTC)

• Hundreds and hundreds of Google hits, and only this to show for. Drmies (talk) 01:33, 9 December 2009 (UTC)

(ec)I'm afraid I don't know how those maps work either. You may be right about secondary peaks, though I'm not sure about their notability as I think we risk being a tad fractal here. Personally I wouldn't bother creating articles for secondary peaks when there are adjacent mountains with redlinks, but I wouldn't get involved in their deletion either. Hope you like the tweaks I made to the dab page, and I think I've now sorted the hatnotes. ϢereSpielChequers 01:43, 9 December 2009 (UTC)

Less of the only please, you've got the first mention I've seen of a Bacon Glacier. Also aren't some Flikr photos free licensed? Alternatively we might be able to drop the photographer a note asking if they'd be willing to post a photo on Wikipedia's Bacon Peak. ϢereSpielChequers 01:47, 9 December 2009 (UTC)

adminhelp

I disagree that it is vandalism, but even if it is, the additional vandal tags on my talk page are not justified. It is not vandalism to question another user's edits on their talk page. I am more concerned about these other, over the top accusations. Next time I make an edit, people are going to look at the talk page and think I am some kind of troublemaker. It is this trashing someone's reputation without cause that I am identifying as the problem. --67.253.153.213 (talk) 14:59, 5 December 2009 (UTC)

Well you and the other user involved are both free to delete messages from your own talkpages, the norm is to archive but if you choose to delete messages is taken as an indication that you have read the message. As for describing someone as a douche, this is normally considered quite a serious insult, and would be considered a departure from Wikipedia's culture of neutrality and civility. May I suggest that you read our policy Wikipedia:Biographies of living persons? ϢereSpielChequers 15:17, 5 December 2009 (UTC)

Admin stats

Hullo there! Why isn't the {{adminstats}} working on my userpage? Help a stupid admin out please! GedUK  15:52, 8 December 2009 (UTC)

Semi-obvious question from a stalker: "Within 24 hours, the bot will create your stats page..." Have you waited that long? --Thejadefalcon^{Sing your song}_{The bird's seeds} 15:56, 8 December 2009 (UTC)

Never mind, looked into your page history. I've tried altering the coding, putting it before the category. (shrugs) Might work... --Thejadefalcon^{Sing your song}_{The bird's seeds} 16:01, 8 December 2009 (UTC)

(EC)He's waited since the 4th. But I think the bot is less active than every 24 hours - my stats are more than a week out of date. As far as I can see the way you have invoked {{adminstats}} is fine, patience is all that is required. ϢereSpielChequers 16:05, 8 December 2009 (UTC)

Righto. I'll look into prodding the bot owner later, if necessary! GedUK  16:07, 8 December 2009 (UTC)

User:John Carter/Gnomelord

I noticed you withdrew from the WikiCup because gnomish edits are no longer counted. I have proposed a few awards which might be appropriate to the kind of edits which aren't credited by the WikiCup at Wikipedia talk:WikiCup#Awards for other types of editors. One of them, for the gnomes, is the redlink above. I figured you, as a self-described gnome, might have some ideas as to how to structure such a contest, and would welcome any input you might have. Thanks. John Carter (talk) 19:37, 7 December 2009 (UTC)

Thanks, happy to make some suggestions ϢereSpielChequers 09:51, 8 December 2009 (UTC)

Dude

thanks very much for card. sorry, i've been meaning to get in touch, yes i think i'm around so should be able to make. from your talk page, you've had a day named after you and been making positive waves, keep it up guv Tom B (talk) 18:59, 20 December 2009 (UTC)

Thanks, BTW it may change to the 17th next month so James F can make it. ϢereSpielChequers 19:02, 20 December 2009 (UTC)

Hey

Hey,

Thanks for the Welcome :) I'll let you know if I need any help... I've been making a few helpful edits myself and will be helping quite a bit with the WikiProject Philosiphy. I've also been patrolling newly created pages and checking them for any errors or improvements that could be made. I've also been reporting vandalism. I one day hope to be a good Wikipedia editor like you and help people myself :D Thanks. James Brian Ellis (talk) 21:08, 20 December 2009 (UTC)

Hi, yes I deleted that hoax you tagged for deletion - good spot. You might want to check out wp:hotcat - I find it a good accompaniment for newpage patrolling. ϢereSpielChequers 22:06, 20 December 2009 (UTC)

Thanks for the welcome

I'd rather not be here, but thanks for the welcome anyway. Do you think that we will ever get to a time when there is a wikipedia without edit wars? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Kathoc (talk • contribs) 04:41, 21 December 2009 (UTC)

Hi Kathoc, probably never as far as Politics and Religion are concerned. At some point I shall gird my loins and return to the Easter Island articles, and the unending battles between Chileano and Rapanui nationalists and against those who've just discovered a "rare" book by Thor Heyerdahl and want to revert the article to a view that was fringe in the fifties. But in the meantime there are approximately 3 million articles out there that are edit war free... ϢereSpielChequers 08:47, 21 December 2009 (UTC)

Help?

Hi. Thanks for replying before..I was wondering, how do we know when an article has passed the "notability guidelines" after being tagged as not notable? Does an admin have to approve it? Thanks again. (Omirocksthisworld (talk) 06:21, 3 October 2009 (UTC))

Thanks for your suggestion

Thanks for your suggestion to check out strategy:Participation/Attracting new participants and retaining existing participants. I agree with your point that my concern is more directed at retaining admins, and the RfA discussion page should be more narrowly focused on the process of creating new admins. I haven't yet decided what to do, that site seems more like an essay than a plan of action, but its a start.--SPhilbrickT 19:25, 12 November 2009 (UTC)

I agree that the strategy wiki can seem more like a thinly populated talking shop than a real project. But for the moment I'm still willing to give it a go and I do think this is an issue for that forum to address. However I suspect it is way too early to fully understand what our longterm retention is. I've heard of a charity which has a volunteer bulge from the 1940s, and I'm part of an organisation which is still dominated by two waves of volunteers who got involved circa 1973 and 1981. We haven't been going for a full decade yet, and are half a century away even from discovering whether the teenage crats and admins of this decade will reactivate their accounts after retirement. But it would be interesting to know if the retention pattern so far is different for admins from other users with similar activity levels. ϢereSpielChequers 09:59, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

User Piper987

Hello WereSpielChequers. Since you obviously have an interest in newby treatment, I'd be interested in your independent opinion of recent actions taken Piper987 (talk · contribs). Thanks. -- Tom N (tcncv) talk/contrib 05:51, 24 November 2009 (UTC)

Hi Tom, I'm afraid piper's edits are so far outside my subject areas that I'm not even sure whether or not some are vandalism. But some seem to be reasonably polite attempts to dispute a deletion, others seem to be attempts to add stuff that doesn't yet meet our inclusion criteria, and therefore unless the information is incorrect (which I haven't checked) they include too many goodfaith edits to count as a vandalism only account. However I'm a relatively new admin, I think I've only unblocked one user, and that was after someone queried a block I'd done which on second thoughts I agreed was overly harsh. I don't currently handle unblock requests against other admins blocks, and if I were to start doing so I'd first refresh myself on current policy and probably watch how a few are handled. I have blocked nearly a hundred accounts, but they have almost all been very straight forward examples of vandalism only accounts and creators of multiple attack pages - I've actually stopped visiting AIV as it seems well supported at the times of day when I'm most busy. I note that Piper987 has not yet filed an unblock request, but if you share my disquiet I'd suggest raising the matter with the blocking admin. Judging from the educational establishment involved I suspect we are dealing with a relatively young editor, who may simply not yet be ready for Wikipedia. In which case a reduction of the block length might well be appropriate. Which is an awfully longwinded way of saying that I'm uncomfortable about that block, but wouldn't want my opinion on that to be counted as an admin's opinion. ϢereSpielChequers 13:32, 24 November 2009 (UTC)

Maurice de Féraudy

Please see the note I've put on Talk:Maurice de Féraudy --ColinFine (talk) 19:24, 9 December 2009 (UTC)

Deletion review for Jay Chapman

An editor has asked for a deletion review of Jay Chapman. Because you closed the deletion discussion for this page, speedily deleted it, or otherwise were interested in the page, you might want to participate in the deletion review. 75.33.217.192 (talk) 22:01, 10 December 2009 (UTC)

Wow after 3,500 deletions my first DRV! Thanks for the note. ϢereSpielChequers 23:04, 10 December 2009 (UTC)

London meetup 29

Hey,

Any chance of moving the meetup to a non-traditional day a week later? Otherwise I'd have to miss this one (I got talked into popping over to DC for DC 9)?

James F. (talk) 18:07, 13 December 2009 (UTC)

Hi James, I'm fairly flexible for Sundays in Jan/Feb. I missed today because I had a clash, and expect to miss three or four a year. But if you want to try for 100% feel free to propose a change on Wikipedia Talk:Meetup/London 29. ϢereSpielChequers 19:01, 13 December 2009 (UTC)

Have done. Thanks.

James F. (talk) 23:10, 13 December 2009 (UTC)

... and I've now made the change. Have a great New Year, and see you in 2010. :-)

James F. (talk) 19:57, 20 December 2009 (UTC)

Seasonal greetings from your local talk page stalker!

Thejadefalcon^{Sing your song}_{The bird's seeds} is wishing you Seasons Greetings! Whether you celebrate your hemisphere's Solstice or Xmas, Eid, Diwali, Hogmanay, Hannukah, Lenaia, Festivus or even the Saturnalia, this is a special time of year for almost everyone!

Spread the holiday cheer by adding {{subst:User:WereSpielChequers/Dec09}} to your friends' talk pages.

Seasonal greetings

File:Father Winter Solstice.jpg

December21st2012Freak (talk) is wishing you Seasons Greetings! Whether you celebrate your hemisphere's Solstice or Xmas, Eid, Diwali, Hogmanay, Hannukah, Lenaia, Festivus or even the Saturnalia, this is a special time of year for almost everyone!

Spread the holiday cheer by adding {{subst:User:WereSpielChequers/Dec09}} to your friends' talk pages.

December21st2012Freak (talk) 20:44, 13 December 2009 (UTC)

Thanks

Thanks for the [period of cold in positive latitudes] message, WSC. As it happens this year I'm spending Christmas with the Dutch and Sinterklaas with the English, which is rather the wrong way round, and thereby missing out on my full dose of [era of most Southerly sun] festivities. I'll treasure your template as an alternative. Happy [secular or otherwise season of mirth] to you too! Olaf Davis (talk) 22:53, 13 December 2009 (UTC)

Thanks. Seasons greetings to you too.--Sky Attacker the legend reborn... 02:23, 14 December 2009 (UTC)

Aye, thanks for the kind message WSC, same to you :) - Kingpin¹³ (talk) 11:12, 14 December 2009 (UTC)

Me too! Have a good one yourself :) GedUK  14:16, 14 December 2009 (UTC)

Same here, thanks for the message and have a great Christmas and New Year! --Scoobycentric (talk) 17:28, 15 December 2009 (UTC)

Sog County

Thanks for your edits here. He means Sog County which already exists but I've merged some info, its actually in Nagqu prefecture. The novelty of having an apparent editor from Tibet is quite something!! Dr. Blofeld ^{White cat} 20:02, 14 December 2009 (UTC)

Yes indeed, I met Wikipedia Bolivia when I was at Wikimania, and I've recently encountered Ethiopian, Kenyan and New Guinea editors but Tibet literally tops them all. ϢereSpielChequers 17:31, 15 December 2009 (UTC)

Thanks for the Cookies!

I would have loved to return the favour by offering you some seasonal Spekulatius, but alas I'm very greedy and have scoffed the lot! Cheers Rootless Juice (talk) 02:19, 16 December 2009 (UTC)

Erik Schmidt

Hello WereSpielChequers, thanks for the welcome and the cookies. Regarding the article on Erik Schmidt i do need help: 1. I am sure that my limited english can be corrected in many ways. 2. I would like to upload a selfportrait of Erik Schmidt, he wants to give the commons-copyright for that. But i am not sure what to do.

Maybe you can help me? Thanks again. --Walter Stephani (talk) 10:39, 16 December 2009 (UTC)

Hi Walter, I've made a few tweaks, hope you like them, if not its a wiki. I've also asked some questions on Talk:Erik Schmidt and put a "when" query in the article. I'm not an admin on Commons but it looks like you are making progress there without me. As this is a Bio on a living person it would be better to have inline citations with key facts cited to the relavant page in the source you use. Also I've expanded the caption, but it would benefit if you knew the age he was when he painted it, as "Erik Schmidt self portrait aged 51" would make for a shorter clearer caption. ϢereSpielChequers 12:10, 16 December 2009 (UTC)

Thank you ...

and happy holidays to you as well WSC! Normally I'd go with Merry Christmas, but given the diversity of our project - I have to applaud your posting. Anyway, I hope you and your family have a great season. All my best :-) — Ched :  ?  13:18, 16 December 2009 (UTC)

Happy Holidays!

MisterWiki is wishing you Happy Holidays! MisterWiki talk contribs wishes you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year with all of your family, spread love during this times!

I (MisterWiki) created a video specially for you, wishing you the best for this christmas time: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxOAvuNbt1o

Spread the holiday cheer by adding {{subst:User:MisterWiki/Happy Holidays}} to your friends' talk pages.

MisterWiki talk contribs 03:06, 17 December 2009 (UTC)

liban 80

Hi you left a message in my talk page you thought i was forum shopping.i am involved in a dispute and simply following the arbitration process step by step. i posted in the africa geographical page becouse i am seeking third opinion which one of the steps one takes in the arbitration process..--Liban80 (talk) 04:49, 17 December 2009 (UTC)

Hi, well there can be a fine line sometimes between forum shopping and seeking a third opinion. Personally I think third opinions are most appropriate when there are two editors in disagreement, and I think you have more than one who disagrees with you re the Horn of Africa. However if you are intending to take this through the arbitration process I would suggest leaving the dispute for a while and editing an unrelated part of Wikipedia, and also seeing what perspectives are brought in by the third opinions that you sought. ϢereSpielChequers 13:39, 20 December 2009 (UTC)

Xmas template

A quick note about User:WereSpielChequers/Dec09. In user talks where content doesn't fill up 100% of the page (ie with a css 'float' sidebar, as on mine), the fact that the images are just regularly Wikicode-assigned to go to the left and right can be problematic. I don't think including them in a div (the Xmas box) really has any impact on where they end up aligned. Play around with my talk page, including the content in a div or adding padding to the sidebar does nothing to fix the problem. Maybe you should use tables (since we can't really use css fully) to align the pictures. —what a crazy random happenstance 07:01, 17 December 2009 (UTC)

Interesting point, {{subst:User:WereSpielChequers/Dec2009}} is an alternate version that fixes that anomaly. ϢereSpielChequers 09:42, 17 December 2009 (UTC)

Cool, I'm glad it's fixed (well, at least in an alternate form). Oh, and:

Merry Xmas and Happy Holidays! —what a crazy random happenstance 10:43, 17 December 2009 (UTC)

Thanks! ϢereSpielChequers 15:07, 19 December 2009 (UTC)

Flagged revisions

Would any of my TPS's care to suggest a userbox for the Wikipedia:Flagged Revision Petition? ϢereSpielChequers 14:59, 17 December 2009 (UTC)

Belay that, tis done {{subst:User:WereSpielChequers/Flagged Revisions Petition}} ϢereSpielChequers 15:30, 17 December 2009 (UTC)

Your comment..

Hello Mr SpielChequers, I'm not sure if this is in your ‘area of expertise’, but you may like to add you opinion on this discussion.

Kindest regards -- Marek.69 ^talk 02:13, 18 December 2009 (UTC)

{{clear}}

Hi

I've (belatedly) added {{clear}} to your end-of-year greetings template, this forces the box to expand to include the images. It was interfering with the layout of subsequent posts, see the difference between this

File:Father Winter Solstice.jpg

text goes here

Next post starts here, (boilerplate Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum./boilerplate)

and this

File:Father Winter Solstice.jpg

text goes here

Next post starts here, (boilerplate Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ... /boilerplate)

I hope this is OK with you.   pablo_hablo. 12:47, 20 December 2009 (UTC)

No objection, and thanks if that has fixed some talkpages I've inadvertently messed up. It didn't seem to cause a problem last year and I've checked a few this time that look OK, but just in case I've added that to my 08 template as well. ϢereSpielChequers 13:40, 20 December 2009 (UTC)

And when you use it don't forget to add a timestamp! Otherwise the archive bots don't work on them... Tim Song (talk) 17:00, 21 December 2009 (UTC)

Happy holidays!

Best wishes for the holiday season and the upcoming new year! –Juliancolton | ^Talk 16:38, 22 December 2009 (UTC)

Enjoy the season!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

May this season bring you joy and cheer WereSpielChequers! --Coffee // have a cup // ark // 18:13, 22 December 2009 (UTC)

New Template

Looks much better and less complicated, well done!--Scoobycentric (talk) 04:25, 23 December 2009 (UTC)

Notification: Proposed 'Motion to Close' at Wikipedia:Community de-adminship/Draft RfC

You are invited to join the discussion at Wikipedia talk:Community de-adminship/Draft RfC re: a 'Motion to close', which would dissolve Cda as a proposal. The motion includes an !vote. You have previously commented at Wikipedia:WikiProject Administrator/Admin Recall. Best Wishes for the Holidays, Jusdafax 05:50, 24 December 2009 (UTC)

Merry Christmas

A Nobody^{My talk} is wishing you a Merry Christmas! This greeting (and season) promotes WikiLove and hopefully this note has made your day a little better. Spread the WikiLove by wishing another user a Merry Christmas, whether it be someone you have had disagreements with in the past, a good friend, or just some random person. Don't eat yellow snow!

Spread the holiday cheer by adding {{subst:User:Flaming/MC2008}} to their talk page with a friendly message.

To those who make Good Arguments, who are appreciative, or supportive. Sincerely, --A Nobody^{My talk} 19:45, 24 December 2009 (UTC)

Merry Christmas!!

Merry Christmas!

Once again it is festive season, a time where festive decorations are displayed and gifts are swapped; but what about the true meaning of christmas? The true meaning of christmas is about the fight for freedom and how in times of hardship and misery, one person leads their people to freedom as a great warrior; for those who fight for a cause are warriors and those who fight for a worthy cause are great warriors. Such an act earns respect and honour; but most importantly, brings happiness to their people. So to achieve this as happiness lies in other people's happiness and greatness lies in how you deal with little people, we selflessly think of others in the hope that they will be happy this christmas.

Hi WereSpielChequers, have a very Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year 2010!
 Set Sail For The Seven Seas 

  Set Sail For The Seven Seas  21° 22' 30" NET   01:25, 25 December 2009 (UTC)

☯ happy christmas WereSpielChequers ☯

File:Wikisanta-no motto.png

delirious & lost ☯ ^~hugs~ is wishing you Happy Christmas! Whether you celebrate Christmas, Yuletide, Litha, Eid, Mōdraniht, Diwali, Hogmanay, Wren's Day, Hannukkah, Kwanzaa, Lenaia, Festivus, Jonkonnu, or even the Saturnalia, this is a special time of year for almost everyone!

"The greatest gift they'll get this year is life." ~ Bob Geldof & Midge Ure

Spread the hugs & cheer by adding {{subst:User:Deliriousandlost/happy christmas}} to your friends' talk pages.

delirious ☯ ^{~ nollaig shona duit~} 04:48, 25 December 2009 (UTC)

Happy New Year!

A noiseless patient spider, I mark'd where on a little promontory it stood isolated, Mark'd how to explore the vacant vast surrounding, It launch'd forth filament, filament, filament, out of itself, Ever unreeling them, ever tirelessly speeding them. And you O my soul where you stand, Surrounded, detached, in measureless oceans of space, Ceaselessly musing, venturing, throwing, seeking the spheres to connect them, Till the bridge you will need be form'd, till the ductile anchor hold, Till the gossamer thread you fling catch somewhere, O my soul." —"A Noiseless Patient Spider" by Walt Whitman Happy New Year Awadewit (talk) 05:53, 31 December 2009 (UTC)