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Spanish proficiency: Juan Carlos Ortiz Escobar.

Ticket:2010042610003878 requires English and Spanish proficiency, can you please have a look? -- Jeandré (talk), 2010-05-02t09:38z

I'll go take a look now and see if it's something I can handle. Shell 12:39, 3 May 2010 (UTC)

Allegations of Putin being a paedophile

As per your request at the case workshop, I have posted Misplaced Pages:Arbitration/Requests/Case/Russavia-Biophys/Workshop#Allegations_of_Putin_being_a_paedophile. It is disappointing that editors present selected diffs to paint a particular picture, when what they should be doing is presenting all the facts. All of the facts are now at that link. Thanks --Russavia 22:48, 7 May 2010 (UTC)

Thanks. It's much better to be able to review the entire situation. Shell 22:52, 7 May 2010 (UTC)

Thanks

Shell -- ArbComs are really difficult for folks who don't know their way around the process of the policies involved. I found that you were uniquely helpful to questions I raised and communicative to points I made. Regardless of what ends are reached, it's most helpful when people actually talk to each other rather than at each other, and for that I am very grateful. All the best.EGMichaels (talk) 01:41, 9 May 2010 (UTC)

Thank you. I'm glad I was at least able to help in that manner. Shell 03:53, 10 May 2010 (UTC)

Misplaced Pages:Possibly unfree files/2010 March 15

Hello. Per Misplaced Pages:Possibly_unfree_files#Holding_cell, there are some decisions on some images which you have been holding for further info. I was just checking in to see if you might be closing these discussions soon or if they will need to stay on hold for a while longer. --After Midnight 13:24, 9 May 2010 (UTC)

Thanks for reminding me; let me get those taken care of. Shell 03:37, 10 May 2010 (UTC)

Hi! OTRS question

Hi, Shell. :) You do a bit of Russian, I see. Can you read enough to tell if Evgenia Antipova is properly cleared? The contributor placed his own OTRS ticket #s at Talk:Evgenia Antipova: Ticket:2010032110008071, Ticket:2010040210038813 . I have no permission to view the latter. --Moonriddengirl 16:17, 10 May 2010 (UTC)

I can't access that second one either, but the first is confirmation the uploader Leningradartist owns the rights to release a number of artist's images under whatever license he chooses. Since that person seems to own the domain that the text was taken from, we could either try to find out if the second ticket gives permission to release the text from his website properly or contact him and see if we can get that permission (if the text hasn't been sufficiently changed since the CorenSearchBot caught it). Unfortunately I can't even tell where that second ticket is located. Shell 17:00, 10 May 2010 (UTC)

Thank you, Shell! :) It's such a small amount of content, I'm tempted to just revise it and move on. How peculiar, though, that we can't figure out the home of the second ticket. I might ask the mailing list if they know. --Moonriddengirl 12:06, 11 May 2010 (UTC)

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Sockpuppetry/vandalism accusations

Hello, Shell. Someone tagged my talk page with a sockpuppetry tag (I removed it) and is making other accusations. Can you help? -- Ssilvers (talk) 05:09, 12 May 2010 (UTC)

Never mind. Someone helped me; thanks anyway. All the best! -- Ssilvers (talk) 05:37, 12 May 2010 (UTC)

BASC

Hi Shell, I want to get Lightmouse back onto WP. He was banned as a result of the date delinking case last year, and just as then, he is rather unwilling to defend himself against accusations or to advocate for himself. Worse, his RL is busy; nevertheless, I think he would like to gradually come back to the project, having worked on it from way back.

Is the BASC the right place to go; and does he have to make the application entirely by himself, via email? I would be willing to act as his advocate in an appeal, but I suspect that would not not be acceptable to the Subcommittee. Tony (talk) 10:31, 14 May 2010 (UTC)

If Lightmouse would like to request that the ban be lifted early, then yes, it's best if he does so himself. Often times we'll need to discuss something directly with the banned user and an appeal by proxy can make that rather difficult. However, given the short period of time left until the ban expires (about a month I believe) and the length of time an appeal can take (usually several weeks) it's probably best just to wait out the last bit and return to editing at whatever pace he feels appropriate after that time. Shell 10:49, 14 May 2010 (UTC)

Shell, ah, I though it was an indefinite ban, but I've checked and you're right. The indefinite ban on automation is an issue for him, and I guess a request for a partial lifting with supervision for a trial period would need to go to the full Committee (Requests for Amendment). I believe Ohconfucius would like to make a similar application. It would be practical to wait until Lightmouse's site ban ends in a month's time. Thanks. Tony (talk) 13:38, 14 May 2010 (UTC)

Translation question

Sorry, but I asked this question only to make sure that you correctly understood the meaning of the text. Do you realize that the same words have completely different and unrelated meanings in "normal" Russian and the slang? For example, word "рулят" does not mean driving the car, word "вставляет" does not mean inserting an object, "Пацан" does not mean "a boy" in this context, "базар" does not mean "street market", and so on. Of course, if you agree with my translation but still insist on your interpretation of the entire text, that's fine. I am asking only because I do not want to be blamed of intentional misinterpretation of the text. As you have seen, I did not suggest any sanctions for Ellol at workshop page. If you decide no sanctions for him, I do not really care.Biophys (talk) 00:11, 16 May 2010 (UTC)

Of course I understand the difference, thus my references to idioms. Your translations leave much to be desired either by directly translating, improperly translating or using old source material that may or may not have anything to do with current usage. While I don't think you are intentionally misrepresenting the material you certainly are going out of your way to cast it in a poor light. Shell 01:11, 16 May 2010 (UTC)

Thank you very much for the answer. It would help if you tell which exactly phrase (or phrases) I translated improperly or using old source material because there are no such phrases according to my knowledge, and I do not need textbooks for translation: the hitting someone with "zatochka" ( a specific variety of knife) between his ribs is something that had actually happened with one of people I knew very well in Moscow, and so on. There are multiple alternative translations, but they do not change the overall meaning of any phrase. That's fine. Let's not make big issue of this.Biophys (talk) 01:37, 16 May 2010 (UTC)

Sure, let's deal with a specific. заточка, as you mentioned, has a wealth of different translations and in this case it's likely referring to the knife or certainly a type of sharp object. With the phrase "всё-таки цивилизованнее, чем заточка в бок" your literal translation was close, but the phrase means something similar to the English idiom "better than a poke in the eye with a burnt stick" - in other words, something is better than nothing. When dealing with idioms, it's more important to understand the meaning than the individual words used. And by the way, I don't need reference manuals either ;) Shell 01:55, 16 May 2010 (UTC)

Here is the difference. What you quoted is a well established English idiom that can be found in a dictionary:. But this particular Russian expression is not an established idiom , and it does not belong to normal Russian language (can you find it in any printed dictionary?). This belongs to gangster's language. "Пацанские распальцовки на стрелках -- всё-таки цивилизованнее, чем заточка в бок". This is a phrase and not an idiom:

1. "пацан" means Russian gangster and only a gangster in this context
2. "распальцовкa" means a specific movement by a hand to hit someone by fingers directly in the eyes and make him blind. This move is used by Russian criminals (allegedly came from the Italian mafia): "Тогда же при "конкретном базаре" стали применять распальцовку - трясти перед носом у собеседника растопыренными пальцами, поджав к ладони средний и безымянный. Эту манеру пацаны переняли у итальянских мафиози..
3. "стрелка" means a "court of honor" of professional Russian criminals, and only this in such context. But they usually come to such "court" with automatic weapons (sorry for quoting the site of Russian extremists)
4. "заточка" means a very specific weapon which is used exclusively by Russian criminals. It is specifically designed to damage certain internal organs of the victim, but still keeping him alive if needed. And so it goes.Biophys (talk) 05:14, 16 May 2010 (UTC)

I have passed this on to several native Russian speakers for their opinions which I hope to have shortly - this may help clear things up. I will have to say I'm confused at how much this current translation differs from the first translation you linked in the evidence you presented. You've given an op-ed piece on mobster fashion as a source for one of your claims; can I ask where you are getting this information or what qualifications you have to translate Russian? Shell 09:33, 16 May 2010 (UTC)

If you think it worth it, I certainly do not mind. I ask however that any expert would provide his phrase by phrase translation of the text, just as I did . Then we could compare (and discuss if needed) my and their versions, phrase by phrase please. We do not need opinions here. As soon as each phrase is translated to English, you and other arbitrators can look and decide yourself. Yes, I am so certain in translation that I asked Vlad_fedorov to do it (but he refused) . As about my qualifications, I am a native speaker of Russian and my knowledge is very much up today, since I always use Russian at home, read a lot of literature, watch Russian TV, and speak with people who came from the country. I am not proficient in the official crypto-language of Russian criminals, but Ellol did not use that language. What he used was a mixture of criminal expressions that already came to colloquial Russian language in 1990s and earlier and the obscene internet-related jargon known as Udaff (yes, I edited this article : "креатив" is certainly "creativity", and the second word can be translated as a "moron", a "fucker" or something like that). Not a big deal for an advanced native speaker. But let's summarize, my reading of this story. We had a content disagreement in human rights in Russia-related articles at that time. He came and asked: "Do you understand the meaning of such expressions as "it's better to came to an agreement at the court of thiefs than to be killed?" and other phrases, like "your creativity is shit" and so on. I asked him never do this again , but he came again and basically said "I know who you are!" using my real life name. And he later stalked my edits in "Bombings" and some other articles, which was brought Russavia in his request. That was the only reason I mentioned the older incidents with Ellol to put the entire story in perspective.Biophys (talk) 15:12, 16 May 2010 (UTC)