Misplaced Pages

Revision as of 19:50, 2 September 2016

Good luck

Well it seems Arbcom and the lynch mob are hell-bent on getting their pound of flesh. I wish you all the very best during this time. I, for one, will not be cutting off my nose to spite Misplaced Pages's face, and will continue to fight against mediocrity, ignorance and slack-handedness as long as I am able. The Rambling Man (talk) 22:33, 27 August 2016 (UTC)

Don't let it get to you; Arbcom is by no means perfect and your departure would be quite a loss for the site. Snuggums (talk / edits) 00:52, 31 August 2016 (UTC)

No, I'm sticking around. After all there's quite a sweet Catch-22 at play here. I wonder if Arbcom and the circling hawks have worked it out yet? The Rambling Man (talk) 21:15, 1 September 2016 (UTC)

Hard to say if they have. Glad you'll still be here either way. Snuggums (talk / edits) 03:10, 2 September 2016 (UTC)

Non-free pictures

Out of interest (I dont ever deal with images/copyright so am just asking for education) whats the deal with pictures of actors in character? Where a biography subject is notable for a specific role, whats the rationale for not allowing a picture of them in character for illustration? It certainly falls under the legal exemption (not wikipedia's version) for fair-use. It is practically impossible to get a non-free version as all pictures/screenshots will be copyrighted. While it wouldnt pass as a picture to illustrate the actor, it is common enough practice to have pictures of actors in their more famous roles. (Prompted by Steven Hill) Only in death does duty end (talk) 10:27, 26 August 2016 (UTC)

My limited understanding is that somehow, we can use fair use images for actors in their character guise, but we can't then use the same image for the actor. I guess that the rationale of the character image is that it somehow improves our readers' interpretation of the article. The Steven Hill article appears not to be fair use at all so we can use it anywhere... The Rambling Man (talk) 22:27, 27 August 2016 (UTC)

OTD

Three years ago, a majority of arbitrators voted in the infoboxes case to ban an editor, who had contributed to this discussion. Guess whom? (help: not me) --Gerda Arendt (talk) 08:00, 28 August 2016 (UTC)

(talk page watcher)*hand in air* "I know that one miss!!!" ;) _Muffled 08:22, 28 August 2016 (UTC)

Hand in air seen, did you also known that the vote that made majority cited a diff, saying "concerns me deeply"? It was uncollapsing an infobox. I know since what to think of arbcom and "evidence". --Gerda Arendt (talk) 21:28, 28 August 2016 (UTC)

After the last Arbcom debacle I was involved in, I have no faith at all that this will end justly. I see some individuals relentlessly attempting to ban me, some of them hysterically so. Oh well, we have a month of drama-mongering ahead, at the least, and given Arbcom's last shambolic attempt to do anything realistic, you could say we may see something concrete at Christmas. Fascinating to see the worms crawling from the woodwork to try to exempt themselves, e.g. RD users suddenly going cold on the deal. The Rambling Man (talk) 21:33, 28 August 2016 (UTC)

FAC voluntary mentoring scheme

During a recent lengthy discussion on the WP:FAC talkpage, several ideas were put forward as to how this procedure could be improved, particularly in making it more user-friendly towards first-time nominees. The promotion rate for first-timers at FAC is depressingly low – around 16 percent – which is a cause for concern. To help remedy this, Mike Christie and I, with the co-operation of the FAC coordinators, have devised a voluntary mentoring scheme, in which newcomers will guided by more experienced editors through the stages of preparation and submission of their articles. The general format of the scheme is explained in more detail on Misplaced Pages: Mentoring for FAC, which also includes a list of editors who have indicated that they are prepared to act as mentors.

Would you be prepared to take on this role occasionally? If so, please add your name to the list. By doing so you incur no obligation; it will be entirely for you to decide how often and on which articles you want to act in this capacity. We anticipate that the scheme will have a trial run for a few months before we appraise its effectiveness. Your participation will be most welcome. Brianboulton (talk) 21:58, 29 August 2016 (UTC)

Brianboulton thanks but I don't think someone about to face a death by a thousand cuts is the sort of person you would like working in this capacity. I would love nothing more than to continue to be part of improving the fabric of the encyclopedia but we'll have to wait and see what delights the committee of doom conjure up in the next two months. The Rambling Man (talk) 21:19, 30 August 2016 (UTC)

Misplaced Pages:The 10,000 Challenge

Hi there. I've started a new initiative, the Misplaced Pages:The 10,000 Challenge. It's a long term goal to bring about 10,000 article improvements to the UK and Ireland. Through two contests involving just six or seven weeks of editing so far we've produced over 1500 improvements. Long term if we have more people chipping it and adding articles they've edited independently as well from all areas of the UK then reaching that target is all possible. I think it would be an amazing achievement to see 10,000 article improvements by editors chipping in with whatever area of the British Isles or subject that they work on. If you support this and think you might want to contribute towards this long term please sign up in the Contributors section. No obligations, just post work on anything you feel like whenever you want, though try to avoid basic stubs if possible as we're trying to reduce the overall stub count and improve general comprehension and quality. Thanks.♦ Dr. Blofeld 14:01, 30 August 2016 (UTC)

Dr. Blofeld as I said in the previous thread, I'm about to be hung, drawn, quartered and dragged back again through the streets of eleven years of Misplaced Pages history, ably geed up by the masses of individuals I've pissed off in that period. I'd be more than happy to support the initiative, but I suspect, like those gearing up for a full-frontal assault on me, my time will be limited on making Misplaced Pages a better place for our readers. I will try, though. Thanks for your note. The Rambling Man (talk) 21:21, 30 August 2016 (UTC)

Understood. A lot of us content contributors are feeling it right now though. One of the main reasons why I'm trying tyo productive with contests and new projects to try to make editing more enjoyable is that I otherwise have very little reason to want to stay here. Misplaced Pages needs all the positive energy it can get from people like us!♦ Dr. Blofeld 21:33, 30 August 2016 (UTC)

100%. Assuming I'm not martyred, I will certainly help out. The Rambling Man (talk) 21:34, 30 August 2016 (UTC)

ITN recognition for Colombian conflict

On 31 August 2016, In the news was updated with an item that involved the article Colombian conflict, which you nominated. If you know of another recently created or updated article suitable for inclusion in ITN, please suggest it on the candidates page. Stephen 01:00, 31 August 2016 (UTC)

Ping

I answered your posts at Misplaced Pages:Featured list candidates/List of BLM Herd Management Areas/archive1 and had some follow up questions -- I fixed most of what you pointed out (I think) and would value some advice on how to proceed. I've been off-wiki a lot lately, so how is all the stuff you are dealing with above going? I do get very tired of the trolls and bullies that attack good long-term editors. We do get a little irritable at times, but one thing Jimbo said that I wholeheartedly applaud (there aren't a lot of things Jimbo said that I applaud, but this was one...) was, "I generally find myself astounded at how nice we are to complete maniacs, and for how long." Montanabw 19:36, 2 September 2016 (UTC)

I will get back to your FLC in due course, thanks for the nudge. As for the "stuff" above, it's nothing to me. I have only one goal and that's the continued improvement of Misplaced Pages. What's happening reminds me a lot of modern health and safety, that we daren't do anything ever just in case there's an infinitesimal chance someone may get a bruised ego. I look forward to the end of the forthcoming two-plus months of drama, and I won't be taking part, there's little point. Arbcom have their own agenda, regardless of the lynching masses, and the equal number who stand behind me. What I do hope is that it will put more of a spotlight on the pisspoor !voting at ITN, the terrifying ignorance at the ref desks and, well, DYK, where do you begin? If I'm a complete maniac, you can sue me. I just want our encyclopedia to be the best in history. If that means reminding a few people that they're not doing the right thing, haven't been doing the right thing for a while, or have never done the right thing, that's fine too. I'm sure someone will let me know around Christmas that they don't want me continually improving Misplaced Pages. Ho hum. The Rambling Man (talk) 19:50, 2 September 2016 (UTC)