Misplaced Pages

Revision as of 19:27, 28 November 2006

Photograph Identification

If you recognise any of the plants or animals in the photographs in my Photograph portfolio, please tell me here. Thanx :) DirkvdM 13:37, 13 September 2005 (UTC)

• Hi, Dirk. The rhinoceros beetle on Image:Rhinoceros beetle.jpg is probably Aegopsis curvicornis trinidaensis, in the tribe of Agaocephalini. --ja:利用者:Ons 08:26, 18 October 2005 (UTC)
  • Hi. Yes, according this research, it's A. curvicornis trinidaensis. Beetle on Image:What beetle is this.jpg is dung beetle. --Goliathus 11:26, 18 January 2006 (UTC)

Your hummingbrd photo looks like a Buff-tailed Coronet. Google it with images. Crickie 22:36, 21 October 2005 (UTC)

• The land hermit crab photo (http://en.wikipedia.org/Image:Hermit_crab_corcovado.jpg) looks like its Coenobita compressus to me, take a look at this link: http://www.tonycoenobita.com/species_compressus_eng2.htm . Scroll down to "Body Colour / Spot" and look at the second row, right picture. Looks very similar. I have several C. compressus as pets but your photo looks somewhat different, I still think its a C. compressus though. --Quigabyte 02:09, 11 September 2006 (UTC)

Thanks. The photo is now at Wikimedia commons. I've added the info. DirkvdM 06:06, 11 September 2006 (UTC)

• The photo you posted in the Banana talk section Image:DirkvdM_bananaflower.jpg is Strelitzia reginae, otherwise known as "Bird of Paradise." They grow all around my office here in San Diego, California, USA. That is a nice photo. Cheers! Intelligence3 23:27, 18 October 2006 (UTC)

Don't forget

Talk:A_Turning_Point_in_National_History#Request_for_Comments zo dan

re: Your article

Putting it on that subpage was good. Any work in progress that doesn't qualify as an article should be put elsewhere such as your userspace. What I meant about "you can't put those kind of articles in the article namespace" I meant exactly that. Articles that call for comments, and/or is written from an original research point of view will quickly be either VfD'ed or deleted, as I did in your case. To spare you the process of going through VfD I suggested it be moved to a subpage which you did. I referred to the article itself in the way it was written, not what it was about.

Usually when I (and many others) come across articles like that, they may or may not be deleted or VfD'ed. It depends if the bulk of the article is written informally, ie encyclopædic, or not. take a look at any FA's for example to see how articles should be written. Anything else that doesn't have that formal style should not (and will not) be included in the article namespace. If the bulk of the content is fine, an editor may slap a {{cleanup}} or {{wikify}} tag on the article or clean up the article themselves. Me, being an administrator, I tend to just either delete it or ignore it if it is passable and can be cleaned up by somebody else. This isnt because I am lazy, it is because I see so many articles like this every day and I have a thousand things to do. :>

As for the single sign-on issue. Nothing I can do about that. We do not currently have a shared user-database on all Wikipedias, and hence you have to do that. You can make WP remember you by clicking in the "Remember me" box when you log in. That makes it a whole lot easier, especially for people (like me) who are active on many wikis.

Hope this helps, if there is any confusion, dont hesitate to ask. Inter\ 10:21, 28 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Greetings

Hi Derick, thanks for the hello :) I guess I hadn't gotten around to updating my own drug chart... although it was more designed for the layman to read, hence the use of common names and brand names ;)

I don't have any experience setting up a political party... my activism is mostly confined to my keyboard. I would imagine it would be a great deal of work though.

Living in Amsterdam must be great. Your city (country) is decades ahead of the rest of the world on drug policies. I visited there a few years ago and was amazed at the "coffee shops", and how fresh (or dried) psilocybe mushrooms were available for purchase in several varieties. --Thoric 14:22, 5 May 2005 (UTC)

I'd love to chat, but I know this is not the place for it, so I won't. Still, I wonder how I would have to reply to your above message if I wanted to. I've started a discussion on a subpage of mine, and those who I alerted to it now where to look, but if I want to give you a reply, which I can't expect you to expect, then doing that here will only work if you have me on your watchlist (automatically or set manually). Or should I do that on your talk page, the way you responded to my message? That would have the advantage that you are automatically notified of the message without checking your watchlist. Even if you don't have an answer, drop me a note so I'll know if you got this. Excuse the stupid question, but I'm fairly new to Misplaced Pages and even to participating on the Internet. (I know it's the future, but still I'm not really part of it - how stupid is that?) DirkvdM 17:52, 2005 May 5 (UTC)

Trey Stone

I see you've met Trey Stone; you're not the first. FYI, he hasn't been blocked for being obnoxious in days.

• Misplaced Pages:Requests for comment/Trey Stone
• Misplaced Pages:Requests for arbitration/Trey Stone and Davenbelle

 — Davenbelle July 9, 2005 07:54 (UTC)

...really necessary considering our dispute was about the name of an island. J. Parker Stone 05:27, 12 July 2005 (UTC)

Confussion

I think you don't know who you're talking to pall. You sayd that you would correct me. But all I could find was left-wing propaganda. Next time I will edit with my account. 213.73.149.61 9 July 2005 15:40 (UTC)

Oh by the way. You corrected my at the SGP page.

With all due respect, but what party do you think can measure up to the Anglo-Saxon model? The SGP isn't as radical as you think. They may have hard-christian values, but so does conservatif-Republicans and rightwing-Conservatives in Brittain. I think you're not up to date with you're knowledge of Brittish-American politics. And also with those inside you're own country. Let me guess; you're a PVDA or a SP voter. Greetings bro. Wiki213ip 20:33, 9 July 2005 (UTC)

This belongs on the SGP talkpage, so I've moved it there. DirkvdM 05:25, July 10, 2005 (UTC)

Sorry my fellow wikipedian. I sometimes can't control my angryness. It won't happen again. And no religion hasn't killed peoples life. It has helped people building up a society in the Middle ages and afther WOII. So i conclude it has helped peoples lifes. Wiki213ip 19:21, 11 August 2005 (UTC)

I grant you that religion is a source of solace and an inspiration to do good deeds to many people and it can also bring stability (if everyone in a region folows the same religion!). But loads of people have been killed in the name of religion (I think the balance tips heavily in that direction). The recent Islamic terrorist attacks along with, say, the IRA, are just the tip of an iceberg. What about the Jews in WWII? And you speak of the Middle Ages. What about the crusades? DirkvdM 07:15, 12 August 2005 (UTC)

If there's was no religion there was nothing. I dont't have anything to say about the Islam because it ain't my religion. I don't have anything to say about the IRA because they are catholic and thats not my religion. I don't have anything to say about the crusades because the crusades where from the catholic idea. My religon (i'm a protestant) hasn't anything to do with all those things. Wiki213ip 20:13, 18 August 2005 (UTC)

Yeah, but I was talking about religion in general, I don't care which one (Buddhism might be different, but then that's not really a religion I believe, more of a Philosophy). And you're religious. And a Christian, like the crusaders (Protestantism didn't even exist in those days, so what religion do you think you would have followed if you would have lived then?). If I'd come up with something about protestants (say, staying with a previous example, the orangists in Ireland) you'd probably say that's not your protestantism. And so on, narrowing it down further and further, until you might finally reach something that is specifically you. And that's the way to go. Think for yourself. Don't be a sheep. You've got a mind of your own, haven't you? Believe in a God if you wish, but believe in your God, not some fantasy in a dusty book. And above all don't let others do your thinking for you (when it comes to this sort of thing anyway). Believe in yourself. Think! DirkvdM 16:43, 19 August 2005 (UTC)

Oh yeah, believing in yourself is believing in god because He has created mankind. I am not a sheep because i really believe in God just like you believe in yourself. You can't convince me, not believing in God because I have just like you believe in yourself, such an enormous believe in God that it would be the same that I convince you believing in Him. And that's impossible right? Wiki213ip 17:51, 19 August 2005 (UTC)

That one's right on the nose. I've had too many discussions about religion that after several hours resulted in no-one having changed their mind and thus have been wasted hours, so we'd better stop here. I wanted to state my bit, jut like you. DirkvdM 17:57, 19 August 2005 (UTC)

Glad you see that people with or without religion won't change that fast. Wiki213ip 08:35, 20 August 2005 (UTC)

My point was that, specifically when it comes to religion, people don't seem to be willing to change at all. Concerning other issues people may be headstrong (which often makes sense), but when it comes to religion there's hardly a point in discussing since it doesn't lead anywhere. Unless it's between non-believers, but even then. DirkvdM 09:58, 20 August 2005 (UTC)

Sure and my point was that you won't change either. I've i'm right you are an atheist or non-believer and those people won't change sooner than people with a religion. A good example (which i'm not supporting) is that more and more people become non-believers (in percentage) and that less people become a christian. Who are the real changers here huh. Wiki213ip 14:38, 20 August 2005 (UTC)

I could say reason. But it's really new people. Believers don't become non-believers or vice versa that easily. But they get replaced by other people and religion becomes less of a tradition (it becomes more acceptable), so newcomers in this world have more of an option not to be belivers. Btw, I'm not an atheist, I'm agnostic. DirkvdM 17:56, 22 October 2006 (UTC)

British Spelling in Che Guevara

Hi Dirk. Any reason you insist on BE in the Guevara article (labour, organisation)? There have been some reverts on that in the past, so please consider wether its necessary and or justified. Best user:bastel

It's my spell checker that's set to 'English English' and keeps telling me American English is wrong :) . But seriously, I was only editing the section and just saw one or two 'wrong' spellings and assumed that the rest of the article was in BE. My mistake, it turns out. DirkvdM 19:23, 3 August 2005 (UTC)

Football (soccer) names of the game

Hi Dirk,

I thought I should give you some background regarding the Names of the game section of the Football (soccer) article.

Until a few months ago a large portion of the article was taken up by unwieldy information regarding the names of football; everyone wanted to add their little take on what is the "best" or "correct" name, and we even ended up with a long list of different names for the sport in different parts of the world. The core issues were lost amongst a fairly trivial issue.

In response, initially we moved this to its own section (the Names of the game section), and then spun-off the "debate" to its own page: Football (soccer) names. A similar issue arose on the Football article, and they similar responded by spinning off Football (word).

For Football (soccer), there has been a focussed attempt to keep the whole naming issue as small as possible in the core article and to keep discussions regarding the name in its own article, so that the main article can focus on the major issues. It is for this reason I have reverted your edits. I am sure you will understand where we are coming from.

Regards, --Daveb 03:22, 7 August 2005 (UTC)

Cuba and so forth

Hello. I feel you and I have gotten off on several wrong feet as we have collided on a few articles where my pertinent interests were mainly in rolling back extreme POV inserted by users such as NWOG; however we clearly have editing disputes even beyond this basic point. It has gotten a little heated and I believe this is largely due to collision over other editor's insertions but I think there is a tiny bit of misreading, perhaps a language barrier? I have felt at a few points that some things I attempted to get across were either misread or not understood. I don't mean this as an insult to you but as a means of explaining my frustration, particularly at cult of personality, where I feel I am being unfairly reverted when I am making an extraordinary effort (relative to material gleaned) to make neutrally-worded insertions (which can be built upon and expanded further in other sections); this is compounded by the fact that the other disputing editor has come into conflict with me elsewhere, and that this itself was further compounded by a sockpuppet which went around reverting any contributions I made, no matter how extremely minute or pedantic they could be viewed. I would welcome a fresh start perhaps in attempting to understand and collaborate in material where we naturally and mutually find ourselves editing. Thank you very much. --TJive 08:43, August 12, 2005 (UTC)

I'm not surprised that the edit war over whether to call Cuba a Communist or a Socialist state is continuing. I had but a small hope that pointing out that I was using the same terminology as that used in the People's Republic of China article might calm things down. Anyway, I'll leave you, TJive, and NWOG to continue the good fight over that point. Caerwine 18:10, 16 August 2005 (UTC)

I've put up an rfc to resolve it, but not with much success so far. Any idea how long we should wait until we should call in a mediator? DirkvdM 18:26, 16 August 2005 (UTC)

DYK

Did you know? has been updated. A fact from the article Sociocracy, which you recently created, has been featured in that section on the Main Page. If you know of another interesting fact from a recently-created article, then please suggest it on the "Did you know?" talk page.

Ali's Hitler comment

Muhammad Ali did not make the Hitler comment at World Trade Center. Please visit Muhammad_Ali#Urban_legends for clarification.

Photos

Hi Dirk, you've uploaded some great photos. I was wondering why you have uploaded them as {{fairuse}} given that they are your own images? You may want to consider adding a licence to the image like {{PD-user}} if you want to release them into the public domain, {{CopyrightedFreeUse-User}} if you'd like to maintain copyright, the {{GFDL}} is the licence most used by Misplaced Pages's contributors, and there is a host of Creative Commons Licenses. --nixie 07:24, 13 September 2005 (UTC)

Thanks for the tip. I still needed to look into this, but you've made my job somewhat easier. I've decided for the moment to use the creative commons license. I've found out how to use it with just the 'by' tag, thus: {{cc-by}}. That will do for the moment, but I don't know how to aloso add the 'nc' and 'nd' tags. Could you tell me? DirkvdM 08:53, 13 September 2005 (UTC)

I'm trying to identify your hummingbird image - it would narrow it down a bit if you could say where it was photographed - not in the Netherlands!

Don't bother, it's a Costa's Hummingbird, so probably in [[california

Nope! That's a photograph that was already there. The one I placed is the green flying one next to the text about flying (seemed appropriate). You're half-right in an odd way, though, with the Costa bit, because it was photographed in Costa Rica :) .

By the way, if you know about other animals than butterflies (or plants) you might also take a look at these: User:DirkvdM/Photographs#Plants_and_Animals. Or just enjoy them! I'm quite a bit proud I must say (and this isn't even my best selection). DirkvdM 20:01, 18 September 2005 (UTC)

Hi there. I've identified Image:Butterfly panama.jpg as Heliconius sara, and also wrote an article for it: see Sara Longwing. I would have edited the image description, but you left a note indicating that you'd prefer to do it yourself. Thanks for contributing so many excellent images! -- Hadal 20:17, 26 September 2005 (UTC)

Me again; I've also identified Image:What butterfly is this-2.jpg as Chlosyne janais, and wrote up an article for it too: Crimson Patch. Cheers, -- Hadal 05:20, 27 September 2005 (UTC)

Thanks, Hadal. I've also uploaded a side-view of the Crimson Patch and put it in the article. Not as nice-looking, but scientifically equally interresting, I suppose. DirkvdM 07:32, 27 September 2005 (UTC)

Hi DirkvdM - your pic image:treemoss_panama.jpg is almost certainly a Tillandsia, not Usnea, hope you won't mind that I've moved it out of the Usnea page - MPF 01:04, 5 October 2005 (UTC)

I wanted to put the photo in the Tillandsia article, but I see you've already put it in the Spanish Moss article (which is also a Tillansia although it doesn't look like the other varieties). You might have pointed that out to me (and you might have put it in a bit bigger - sob, sob :( ). At first I thought you were referring to the smaller Tillandsiae (is that a correct plural?), but then I realised that Spanish moss looks like Usnea. DirkvdM 07:11, 5 October 2005 (UTC)

I only added it to the Spanish Moss page after adding my note above - I needed to check that the species occurs in Costa Rica (which it does) before being sure of the ident. The 'beards' are too long, and in too exposed a position for Usnea, but match Tillandsia usneiodes perfectly. Sorry about the size, but it's difficult to fit lots of large pics around the small amount of text! - MPF 10:09, 5 October 2005 (UTC)

Which Castro pic?

I don't care much about the decision, but when every editor changes the lead image on every edit, it just gets silly. Any of the recent pix are better than the old one (just because more recent, the old pic wasn't necessarily bad photographically), but let's just decide on one. Please participate in the informal poll on the Castro talk page. Lulu of the Lotus-Eaters

Re my double-vote on which Castro pic not to use: Apologies for my misunderstanding the poll; I've now removed one of my votes. Thanks for your message!
David Kernow 18:32, 8 October 2005 (UTC)

Image credits

Dirk, on Misplaced Pages, it is customary to give image credits on the image description pages. Credits for article text are not mentioned in the articles themselves, either (unless it's a wholesale copy of some public domain source, then you may find statements like "the original version of this article was based on an entry in the 1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica" or some such). Author credits are in an article's history.

There are several reasons why we generally do not credit photographers in image captions but on the image description pages:

• It's consistent. If done in the caption, and an image is used in several articles, we'd need to make sure that all these captions contained the credit. The image description page gives one central place to do it.
• It avoids "vanity" credits. Yes, there are users here who would just add photographs to "spam" the encyclopedia with links to their home or user page. This is also the reason why we have that "no links from article to user space" policy: you'd be amazed how inventive some people can get to include vanity links to their own pages in articles. Hence we just don't do it, period.
• It clutters articles by making captions unnecessarily long by including information that in general has no relation to the article itself. If someone is interested in the tangential information about the photographer, the image description page is only one click away, just like the license info.

I'm no lawyer, but I do believe that giving credits and license info on the image description pages instead of in the captions is sufficient to be legally compliant with "use with attribution"-licences. If you want to discuss the legal aspect, you should ask User:Jimbo Wales or take it up on the mailing list.

BTW, giving credit is nothing specific about that CC license, it also applies to the GFDL or indeed even public domain images. Where the photographer is known, credit should be given on the image description page.

HTH, Lupo 06:35, 6 October 2005 (UTC)

User:Cool Cat/Wiki-politics

User has agreed to delete objectionable content; it's been speedied now. — Davenbelle 11:36, 8 October 2005 (UTC)

Moved from User page

Hi Dirk. I know this is not the place, but I am very curious. So forgive me the next question:The combination of this discussion about "the Big Bang theory" with your names makes me thinking. Are you the Dirk from Hemelrijken, Eindhoven?

Once upon a time, yes! Now you get me thinking (I love a good puzzle). Who did I know then who only knows me from that period (apparently) and recognises my style in this theory. Also someone who would be nosing around in Misplaced Pages enough to encounter this. Leo? DirkvdM 08:27, 8 October 2005 (UTC)

I probabely would have the same guess, but it's not Leo. If you know the answer, you can mail me:"my complete name without any dots"@planet.nl

Rats! I probably shouldn't have said that I love a good puzzle. So you know Leo too. And well enough to 'would have guessed that too' (if you wouldn't have been you, that is - but then would you then have known Leo - or me for that matter....). And I'm still assuming you didn't know I live in Amsterdam now. It's Rinie with an 'e' at the end, right? DirkvdM 07:21, 9 October 2005 (UTC)

(and I was right....)

Vandalism

Don't do

My apologies. I got linked to there from the science reference desk, which means I was in a certain mood that is not appropriate for Misplaced Pages (the pedia bit, that is). When there I got spurred on by a local resident. I hereby declare myself irresponsible for my actions at the time (which seems an appropriate way of putting it :) ). DirkvdM 07:17, 16 October 2005 (UTC)

Fair enough. We all make mistakes. Things are a fair bit looser at the reference desk than they should be in articles. Let's keep in mind that these are supposed to be encyclopedia articles. Regards, Ground Zero | t 13:38, 18 October 2005 (UTC)

My comment to your Creationism/Evolution Question

I must apologize beforehand. I made a long comment to your statement in the Science Reference Desk called "Darwin and Wythne." I thought what you said was rather arrogant and I've seen people say some pretty stupid things about evolution before. I think I attacked you personally more than I should have. I was very stuck-on the topic and wanted to prove an alternate view that many do not think of: the amount of trust people place in science and texts without the original studies. I also wanted to teach you that no matter how easy or obvious evolution sounds, it was far from an obvious fact and now we can say that we have the evidence to make sense out of our origins, but I take offense at the idea that you can just "look around" and "use your brain" to figure out evolution in your day-to-day life. Look and think closely about what you think is obvious or easy to know.--Screwball23 19:09, 2 November 2005 (UTC)

I was talking about the most basic form of evolution and that is something for which you don't need any physical evidence. Thought suffices. See my answer at the ref desk. DirkvdM 07:22, 4 November 2005 (UTC)

"Mars" answer to the Science Reference Desk Question

Your explanation was way too discordant for me, let alone a little child. The question was simply "where is Mars?", not what is the direction of the sun from Mars or a ridiculously complicated answer about the east and west of the two planets. Come on man, think about what a child would understand. I'm beginning to doubt your skills as a resource on the reference desk.--Screwball23 16:23, 3 November 2005 (UTC)

Specifically the East West thing seemed like a good answer. The answer to the question where is Mars, so right now is that it rises in the East when the Sun sets in the West. How much clearer can one be? Also, I assume that when a child asks such a question on the Internet that is an indication of its intelligence. Don't underestimate kids. But I'm starting to get the idea this is personal. Did I piss you off somewhere? Were you offended by me calling you an ape? :) DirkvdM 07:19, 4 November 2005 (UTC)

Italic font in formulas

As it happens, per the math style manual, one should use italic in formulas. For this reason I reverted your changes to Pascal's triangle. By the way, that must be a bad browser to not show italic properly. Oleg Alexandrov (talk) 17:28, 12 November 2005 (UTC)

It shows the italics correctly, but, strangely, it doesn't superscript italicised text. But I used an old version and this bug has been fixed already. DirkvdM 08:48, 14 November 2005 (UTC)

Marxism and Functionalism

In case you're not watching the page, I think you might be entertained by my reply to the overloaded question of Marxism and Functionalism. :) On an unrelated topic, I really enjoyed going through your photos, they're beautiful. Anyway, keep up the good work. --Avijja 04:52, 18 November 2005 (UTC)

Photos, again

This edit recently removed a photo credit of yours from an article, so I looked at Image:Tipi at night at rainbow gathering.jpg to see if that was OK and found... a license that says we need to conform to your attribution requests, without stating what those are. If the picture needs to be cited at each use, please say so, and restore your credit on the article page. If just the acknowledgment on the image page is enough, please say that. No one can help you enforce your intent unless you state it explicitly. -- Jmabel | Talk 09:09, 20 November 2005 (UTC)

I'm the one who removed the credit because of what Lupo said under 'Image credits' hereabove. I've just been a bit slow in implementing it, removing credits as I pass by them for other reasons, so to say. Are you now telling me that Creative Commons means that the credit should be placed under every use of the image, but that I'd have to specify how exactly on the image page?

I just thought of an alternative. I could also imprint my name in each photo. But would be some extra work (also figuring out how best to do that) and it would mutilate the image somewhat. So I'm not to sure about that. DirkvdM 09:47, 20 November 2005 (UTC)

Phage therapy

We seem to have different opinions on the phage therapy section on the Phage page, which need to be discussed. Also, the article needs to enhanced and streamlined.

As you have been active on the page previously, I would like to find a consensus together rather having us editing this back and forth. I left some notes on the phage talk page.

Best

Spitshine 12:08, 23 November 2005 (UTC)

Wanna join the resistance?

Hi Dirkvdm! I know I have encountered you before, but I don't remember where (probably something about WW2). You are one of the hopelessly few who have edited the article Resistance during World War II. I noticed your post on it's talk page (and gave an answer to why I just had copied my text from the WW2 main page). Now, sadly, the resistance article is still in desperate need of attention. I read your user page and noticed that you are the creator of the article Valkenburg resistance. Now, I don't want to put any pressure on you, but you have certainly more knowledge of the resistance than I have, and I humbly ask you to consider contributing to Resistance during World War II. But don't feel any pressure! It is only a humble request from a fellow wikipedian.

My regards, Dennis Nilsson. Dna-Dennis 11:50, 24 November 2005 (UTC)

Well, I just wrote the Valkenburg resistance article because I was studying my family and an uncle of mine turned out to have been the one to start that resistance movement. Other than that I am really not an expert (ever on anything, for that matter - I just know a bit about almost everything). But you're in luck. That got me interrested and I jotted down some notes from the Dutch Winkler Prins encyclopedia and I've unearthed those notes now and will add them to the article.

What, no article on Winkler Prins yet? An encyclopedia that doesn't cover the publisher of another encyclopedia? Is this envy? :) DirkvdM 18:47, 24 November 2005 (UTC)

Great! I noticed your quick addition, which made me happy and I will now fix some minor issues and try to contribute with something. As you obviously noticed resistance in the general aspect is very poorly covered, as was said in the peer review (although many specific articles exists). Thank you again for your contribution, and, naturally, feel free to contribute further if you feel like it. By the way, a curious notion: I have actually visited Valkenburg (including the mines) when I was small, and I remember being very afraid of those dark mines... My regards, Dennis Nilsson. Dna-Dennis 02:14, 25 November 2005 (UTC)

Image:Mswindows logo.gif has been listed for deletion

The new image is courtesy of User:Wackymacs; see Talk:Microsoft Windows#Windows logo --tyomitch 16:25, 5 December 2005 (UTC)

Crediting photos.: do not link to User:

Articles have to stand alone. They should not point to anything in User: . Should the "photo by" info be in the photo page or in the article caption? I removed the links to User:DirkvdM/Photographs, but left the photo credit it, assuming that it conformed to style.

Fplay 02:01, 12 December 2005 (UTC)

Cheers

Thank you for the contributions to the article, it's always nice to see another fan. However, please do not add parentheticals and sidefacts that belong in sub articles (such as characters' jobs, which are minor plot points is at all), and the Nielsen ratings are US ratings so I thought it was self-explanatory, but I added a United States to make it clear. Staxringold 16:17, 14 December 2005 (UTC)

Cuba

Can you email me re your aversion to pit bull behaviour Cheers 22:03, 3 January 2006 (UTC)

No need (or means...). Just go to my user page and search for 'pitbull'. DirkvdM 08:10, 4 January 2006 (UTC)

Netherlands

Yeah, I thought about removing it myself, but decided to fix it and see what happened.

MSTCrow 19:14, 5 January 2006 (UTC)

Fair use image

Hi, I'm guessing you want Image:Climber natural spiral.jpg under CC, but you have to add the license yourself. Might want to recheck your gallery for other unlicensed images, a bunch of us are furiously scrubbing them out of the system. Stan 16:26, 7 January 2006 (UTC)

Cheers

Hi! I don't mean to intrude, but I noticed you have made some edits to the Cheers article in the past! I've given the article a serious reworking and I hope it can garner your support on it's FAC. Thanks again! Staxringold 01:56, 16 January 2006 (UTC)

AoJatRD

Heyas. Cernen here, creator of offensive reference desk templates. I was thinking, I've noticed that you're one of several people among the "reference desk pseudo-staff" who seem to consider stupidity at the reference desk...abhorrent? I don't know if perhaps you'd be interested in joining the Association of Jerks at the Reference Desk or not, but if you would, that'd be kind of nifty, I suppose? I'm not calling you a jerk...I just don't have the creativitiy skills to come up with something cooler...aaanyways, the association has a page at Meta and if you want to sign up that's fine...not sure if you believe in associations or what not, but...aaaanyway...there you go? AoJatRD Cernen Xanthine Katrena 12:56, 17 January 2006 (UTC)

This is a joke, right? I'm just not sure who the joke is on. On the 'stupid' posters, on me (who suggested a similar template, just not such an agressive one) or on yourself. :)

I was thinking more along the lines of

I didn't read your question because I don't like being shouted at. Please don't use all caps. 

Possibly without the opening space and resulting grey box because that also draws too much attention. Though less than your templates. DirkvdM 13:26, 17 January 2006 (UTC)

Kro => KRO_KRO-2006-01-22T08:25:00.000Z">

I noticed you made an edit on the Kro article to redirect to KRO, which doesn't exist. If you want to move the article, use the "move" option on the top of the page. It also moves the article history as well. --LBMixPro 08:25, 22 January 2006 (UTC)_KRO"> _KRO">

Right, I don't know why I did it that way. I suppose I simply forgot because it's been a long time since I last moved an article. However, now the move doesn't work because there already is an article 'Warlord Kro'. That would have to be deleted first. Which I, humble and plain editor cannot do. You, however, are an admin, so could you do that for me? Thanks. DirkvdM 09:07, 22 January 2006 (UTC)

Well, I just made a redirect to Kro (warlord) for you. --LBMixPro 02:19, 26 January 2006 (UTC)

Name that philosopher

About minds and brains: "Philosophy is a battle against the bewitchment of our intelligence by means of language." --JWSchmidt 23:11, 28 January 2006 (UTC)

The Fourth Wall

I answered your question on Talk:Stand-Up Comedy:

The "fourth wall" is a stage term that refers to the audience (the back and sides of the stage are the other three "walls". "Breaking the fourth wall" essentially means speaking directly to the audience or otherwise reminding the audience that they are watching a scene.

Hope this helps! Rob 18:32, 30 January 2006 (UTC)

Image copyright problem with Image:Granma yacht.jpg

Thanks for uploading Image:Granma yacht.jpg. However, the image may soon be deleted unless we can determine the copyright holder and copyright status. The Wikimedia Foundation is very careful about the images included in Misplaced Pages because of copyright law (see Misplaced Pages's Copyright policy).

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Please signify the copyright information on any other images you have uploaded or will upload. Remember that images without this important information can be deleted by an administrator. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me. Thank you. Longhair 00:12, 2 February 2006 (UTC)

Image copyright problem with Image:Schunck_poster.jpg

Thanks for uploading Image:Schunck_poster.jpg. However, the image may soon be deleted unless we can determine the copyright holder and copyright status. The Wikimedia Foundation is very careful about the images included in Misplaced Pages because of copyright law (see Misplaced Pages's Copyright policy).

The copyright holder is usually the creator, the creator's employer, or the last person who was transferred ownership rights. Copyright information on images on Misplaced Pages is signified using copyright templates. The three basic license types on Misplaced Pages are open content, public domain, and fair use. Find the appropriate template in Misplaced Pages:Image copyright tags and place it on the image page like this: {{TemplateName}}.

Please signify the copyright information on any other images you have uploaded or will upload. Remember that images without this important information can be deleted by an administrator. You can get help on image copyright tagging from Misplaced Pages talk:Image copyright tags. -- Carnildo 08:05, 2 February 2006 (UTC)

How do I make a link to a url that has a space in it?

Use %20 in place of the space, or (maybe) surround the whole URL with quotation marks. LarryMac 16:06, 3 February 2006 (UTC)

Thanks. Geejo already told me about the escape sequence (I was just being lazy I suppose). But the quote thing doesn't seem to work. DirkvdM 19:16, 3 February 2006 (UTC)

AS/400

I posted a reply on the talk page of that article.

Basically the bottom level of AS/400 is affordable to home consumer, but still way above PC Mac etc. Howver, the more important issue is the kind of stuff it supports is aimed at business enterprises and government agencies.

Many year ago, IBM did have other computers that were suitable for the home market, but the problem was that IBM is incapable of supplying low quality crud, but to compete in that home market, that is what the industry has to supply. So while IBM products generally do not have problems with computer security, crashes, malware, etc. and have automated many functions that human beings have to do on other systems, the market has demanded that the only stuff generally on the home consumer market are systems that are forever plagued with spam, viruses, phishing, illegal operations, running out of memory, buffer overflows, you name it.

Linux is available on AS/400. I consider Linux to be a promisting future alternative to the bad reputation that Microsoft has given to computer security state of art. However, I think Linux is still a bit immature for the average computer consumer who is not yet a computer professional, and even me with 40 years experience in like 10 different OS, 25 different programming languages, etc. etc. I have not yet got a round TUIT on learning Linux. I have looked at it several times but fallen back on Windoze because I need interoperability with work place networking. User:AlMac| 09:23, 6 February 2006 (UTC)

Body mass index

In regards to the article, the information you added was already mentioned. It's sole purpose is not just for the overweight. I appreciate your edits, but can you please read the article as to get the idea of context before you remove an already verified definition :-) The magical Spum-dandy 11:36, 9 February 2006 (UTC)

Page name for temperature articles

To avoid flip-flopping between 'degree Fahrenheit' and 'Fahrenheit' or 'degree Celsius' and 'Celsius', I propose that we have a discussion on which we want. I see you have contributed on units of measurement, please express your opinion at Talk:Units of measurement. Thanks. bobblewik 22:09, 12 February 2006 (UTC)

Note on IMDB links

Hi Dirk, I see you "put back" an IMDB link in the article on the film "Hiroshima". Thought I'd point out, for future reference, that the IMDB link appears in the Infobox itself as a standard feature of all film Infoboxes. Not sure we need the link twice on every page. That's why it was originally "removed". Slowmover 17:34, 15 February 2006 (UTC)

I had put it back but then instantly reverted myself when I saw my mistake. But when checking I noticed that cubdriver has put back the POV warning without an explanation. I just reverted that because I thought that had been settled. DirkvdM 07:53, 16 February 2006 (UTC)

Ancient Warfare

Hey Dirk. You gave a good answer to my question concerning the Roman tactics of bringing provinces into the Empire, and I read your similar question, and I may have an answer for you. There are a couple of major reasons as to twhy Alexander was able to take his army so far in so short a time. Alexander had the advantage of inheriting a great army from his father, and the Macedonian Empire saturated with, I believe, silver.

Another major factor was the Persians -- they had a large army of hundreds of thousands, mostly conscripted agaist their will and treated very poorly. When Darius was defeated, he actually was treated like a liberator, and could have easily not only absorbed the remnants of the Persian army, but gained more volunteers.

Anyway, thank you for your response to my question. :) --Demonesque 03:41, 22 February 2006 (UTC)

And thank you for your response to mine. I suppose our backs no longer itch now. :) DirkvdM 05:31, 22 February 2006 (UTC)

War typo

I am sorry, Dirk, if my typo on Talk:World War II confused things. Str1977 10:06, 23 February 2006 (UTC)

Ah, I see, it makes a lot more sense now. A problem with me is that I tend to take things very literally and this typo resulted in a valid English sentence, which, alas, was the opposite of what you meant. DirkvdM 10:17, 23 February 2006 (UTC)

Philosophy

Hi! I liked your response to my question about philosophycal skepticism at the humanities reference desk...thank you. I think it's awesome that you have studied philosophy!, do you know how can I use or join philosophy wikiversity? I don't understand it...maybe you can point me in the right direction, thnx. :).--Cosmic girl 00:19, 24 February 2006 (UTC)

You're welcome. About philosophy wikiversity; I never even heard of it. Thank you for pointing it out to me. Apparently there is a Wikiversity, of which the humanities division has a philosophy school. And a ancient Greek philiosophy course is being set up. Other than that, I don't know, but since it is very new and the courses are set up by the students themselves, I suppose at this stage you'd be more involved with research elsewhere to contribute by writing about what you fond. But, as with Misplaced Pages, that is part of the fun. What's more, it forces you to organise your thoughts, which, especially in the field of philosophy, is one of the better teachers. It's not just the knowledge that counts, it is much more the organisation of that knowledge, sort of like the difference between data and information. A table contains data. Seeing a structure in that data is information.

And if I may point you to a specific field of philosophy; try Logic. I think that should be a compulsory subject at schools. So often I hear people make elementary mistakes with logic. And if anything you say lacks logic there is no point in saying it. In other words, Logic will help you in other studies and in life in general. For example, if A has quality b then that does not mean that everything that has quality b is A. Makes sense right? However (I'm bringing up a favourite subject), even though people may not say it out loud like this, a lot of people will have this idea in their head that since State Socialism in the USSR led to atrocities, that means that atrocities are a part of State Socialism. You might not see the link at first, but what if you take A=atrocities and B=State Socialism. That makes the reasoning sound upside down. But something is not just defined by its qualities, one could also say that a quality is defined by the things that have it. (There is a name for this, but I'm a bit rusty and can't remember it now.) Excuse me for throwing you in the deep. :)

May I add that I'm not a communist and not (particularly) in favour of State Socialism. I just hate bullshit reasonings, so if I detect un unfair attack on anything I will point that out. Here's another one: a protest against the formation of the EU in the form of a poster with the head of Hitler and the text "United Europe? My idea!" Alas, people's unfamiliarity with basic rules of logic often leads them to actually be affected by such reasonings.

End of class. :) DirkvdM 08:12, 24 February 2006 (UTC)

I think you are right...and I use those illogic arguments sometimes...=P, maybe if I study logic I won't anymore. And you are githt about knowledge organization being more important than knowledge accumulation also. Do you know of any easy introduction to logic online?, because I don't think I'll be able to understand anything that isn't meant for beginners. :D and, thnx for the class teacher.--Cosmic girl 18:29, 24 February 2006 (UTC)

Oh, another thing...hehe, I hope this question isn't too stupid, but since you like logic so much,I figured you may be able to answer it...ok, do you think that it's possible that our logic is not the 'real' logic and can be a 'fallacy' or some logic that is 'consistent within itself' but not 'beyond itself' since that logic was created by some 'smarter, truer' logic, but a logic that is totally unlike ours, so different that we can't grasp it, and if we did, it would seem really illogical to us...do you think there is a possibility to this? or is there a logical way to disprove this possibility?.--Cosmic girl 18:58, 24 February 2006 (UTC)

Well, you certainly start with the right questions. I spot a great philosopher in the making. :) Don't take what I say now as official doctrine, but all any Logic can do is try to be internally consistent. What lies outside it, what Kant called 'Die Welt an sich' or 'the world in itself' can not be known. We are born with apriori knowledge, a set of rules, which, through experience, interacts with that world and thus creates our world view. Because we are bound to those rules, we can only know the world as we know it (now there's a nice tautology). We can speculate about the existence of a Welt an sich, but we cannot know it, so there's little point in thinking about it any further. Or so one could say. That would then be one of those things you have to think through as a philosopher and then let go once you realise you cannot know it. Then again, mathematics and formal logic are attempts to describe these rules and knowing the rules might be a way to escape them. I've let go of this a long time ago, but now I'm starting to think about that possibility again. Thanks for giving me another sleepless night. :)

About learning Logic. The book I learned Logic from is in Dutch, so that won't be of any help to you. The standard serious (!) introduction to philosophy in general is History of Western Philosophy (Russell), but that doesn't really deal with Logic. Other than that, from the top of my head, I can't think of anything. Except Logic maybe. Haven't read it, but there are loads of articles on the different types of logic. The most basic form is Propositional calculus and the table in that article looks like a handy reference if anything. But it doesn't look like it's for beginners. And there's no Spanish version (if I remember correctly you are a native Spanish speaker). Checking articles in other languages can give interresting insights, such as language-specific POV, but more in general they provide different angles. Anyway, that was a long way of saying I can't help you there. :( DirkvdM 16:06, 25 February 2006 (UTC)

Ohhh...too bad, nevermind! I'll find a useful intro. Hey I have another silly question for you, I hope I'm not too anoying... ok here it goes. suppose Die Welt an sich is conscious...right? like God for example...then, Die Welt an sich has some sort of logic...maybe like ours, or unlike ours...but then...Die Welt an sich can also fall prey of skepticism and paranoia and believe that 'beyond it' somehow lies another kind of logic of which it has no knowledge and may be 'simulating' him/her/it ... and even if Die Welt an sich is infinite...there can still be some different logic beyond it to 'simulate it'....and so ad infinitum... have you ever thought about this?...this means that even God can fall prey of pyrroism.(I don't think I spelled it right). ok...there's another sleepless night for you! =P . ps. I'm trying to comprehend set theory and cantor's work too so that I can 'get to the bottom of this' LOL... =P.--Cosmic girl 00:30, 26 February 2006 (UTC)

Relax, you're not in the least bit annoying. I now see that your first question could be interpreted as referring to a god. I don't generally think in such terms, so I didn't pick up on that. I don't know much about set theory, but it seems you've got a nice set there (oops, that's not meant in a sexist way :) ). But it's no shocking new theory. That is something you'll have to get used to as a philosopher. Whenever you think you've found some brilliant new insight it turns out someone else has already thought of it. Seeing gods in everyday object is animism, and that has to be very old. Seeing reality as a whole as one entity is holism, I believe, which sounds very new age but is probably very old too. Seeing it as a sentient entity is a 'logical' next step and seeing that as a god is then almost unavoidable. And a god automatically leads to your paradox, although most religious people oddly don't seem to wonder who created the creator (probably because they didn't come to their belief through deep thought but simply by copying their surroundings, which is usually pretty compulsory anyway). This whole idea of yours has even been made into a film, except that it's people simulated in a computer program. I forgot the title, but that's just as well because if you ever get to see it you don't want to know the explanation beforehand - that would be a major spoiler.

You mean pyrrhonism. At first I looked for Pyrrhus, but that's not the guy, it's Pyrrho. I had forgotten what the guy stood for, but then I looked it up in Russell's History and there I see his philosophy explained with "there could never be any rational ground for preferring one course of action to another. In practise that meant that one conformed to the customs of whatever country one inhabited. A modern disciple would go to church on Sundays and perform the correct genuflexions, but without any religious beliefs that are supposed to inspire those actions." That's almost exactly what I said between brackets here-above. But he goes on to say that that was a reason for sceptics to continue their habits. There was no way to prove them wrong, so they might as well continue their religion. Now that's weird. Philosophy can do funny things to your mind, so be warned. DirkvdM 07:19, 26 February 2006 (UTC)

I think Pyrrho ruled!, but only when he said that we have to 'suspend our judgement'...not when he said 'we have to follow the customs of the place we live in'.lol. ok, first I want to clear some things... When I say God... I mean 'truth' actually...God is just a catchy word...I don't mean God like most theists...When I say 'God' I mean a truth that can be accesed by us and be known by us, and to me, if truth is unknowable to us, then there is no 'God'...that's kinda how my reasoning goes...I don't believe in animism...it might be true , who knows, but I don't like it nor believe in it...holism...I don't know, maybe I sort of believe in holism just because reality is a whole, but not the way new agers believe it and say that prayer can heal and stuff like that...not that kind of holism... Hey, what's the name of the movie you said? I wanna watch it. :D --Cosmic girl 02:46, 28 February 2006 (UTC)

I still can't remember the name of the film (I'm very bad at names). But, like I said, with this discussion in mind you'd get the plot way to quickly, so that would be a major spoiler, so that's just as well. About God (as an all-knowing, omnipotent entity this time), if he's so superior we can't know him. Like you said "so different that we can't grasp it, and if we did, it would seem really illogical to us". But I've pretty much given up philosophising about gods, because it has proven highly improductive. People always start thinking about gods with preconceptions and one may argue for ages witout either party having reached any insight. Actually, something similar goes for the whole sceptic thing. It doesn't lead anywhere. But still every philosopher has to 'go through that stage', so to say. DirkvdM 07:42, 28 February 2006 (UTC)

Cool! I see what you mean...seems like I'm still stuck on that stage.LOL!...what would you say is the next step? or the next stage?...like, for example, what is your personal philosophy, and how do you think philosophers 'get over' the skepticism 'stage'?...I mean, for example, how did Russell 'dismiss' or 'get over' Pyrrho?. ( I hope I'm not boring you :( )--Cosmic girl 16:17, 28 February 2006 (UTC)

No worries, I'm not that easily bored, and if I were you'd notice by me not esponding anymore. I don't know how Rusesll got over it and I don't really know how I did. It's a gradual pricess and actually, it isn't over yet. It's a basic thought (or is it a way of thinking?) that is so inescapable I come back to it every now and then. But one has to get on with everyday life. A bit of a boring answer (you're not boring, but my answer is :) ) but there you go. You can't escape the truth of it but you have to because else you're stuck. I suppose that's what made the sceptics accept religion as it is. You can't find the truth so you can't reject anything so you might as well go with the flow. Descartes managed to find one truth, "I think therefore I am", but then got stuck and went on with a lame proof of God. And even that one truth is rather lame if you think about it. It doesn't say anything. By using the words 'I' and 'think' you already assume that such things things exist. And then he goes on to conclude that they exist. But he already assumed that. I've even heard of a proof of God that says the name exists, therefore the entity must also exist. Yeah, right.

Oh, by the way, the Moody Blues came up with a nice variation on Descartes; "I think ... I think I am ... THEREFORE I AM! ... I think ...". DirkvdM 20:10, 28 February 2006 (UTC)

Hahaha! yeah I have to agree, Descartes was lame... I mean, how could he not tell if he was just an illusion? and also, descartes's proof of God is really the same thing as the proof that says the name exists so God must exist...same circular reasoning... So...are you a graduated philosopher?, or did you only study it for a while?, where did you study it?, what's your job?.--Cosmic girl 21:03, 28 February 2006 (UTC)

Ah, so it was Descartes who used that proof of God, I forgot (it's ironic that he used that when it points out the nonsense of his first 'truth'). I studied philosophy for about two years (in Amsterdam), decided that wouldn't get me a job, so I switched to computer science for a while, which I didn't finish either, so I still don't have a job now. Where do you think I find the time to do so much editing on Misplaced Pages? - I wonder how many unemployed people hang around here. At the moment I'm putting together some ideas for a political party. A bit more than just something to keep me busy. I really want to try that, but for that I need to break away from Misplaced Pages because it consumes most of my time. I can't live with it and I can't live without it. Aaaargh! :) DirkvdM 21:16, 28 February 2006 (UTC)

Cool, I don't work either, I just study psychology... I think I also wanna study computer science but I don't know where or what branch exaclty... I wish I could have hacker skills, but not for bad purposes lol, and also know about programing , flash cartoons and stuff like that... I'd loooooooove to learn that!...I think it complements my wish to be a cognitive scientist since that will help me understand AI and stuff like that. How old are you? do you live with your parents? how is amsterdam?...I think we are way off topic but philosophy tends to get borring at times lol.--Cosmic girl 23:05, 28 February 2006 (UTC)

Don't expect too much response from me these days because I'm trying to get a bit organised (so it's nothing to do with being bored, as you might think after the remark two postings back :) ).

I'm 43 and live in a sort of student house; same layout but bigger rooms. With plenty of room for a visitor to sleep (I'm also a member of Servas), so if you ever want to find out for yourself what Amsterdam is like, you'll have a place to stay.

So you study psychology. Some philosophy makes a lot of sense for that. Then again, I think every student should get some philosophy education, even at secondary school. Not in the sense of reading big books by long dead guys with long beards, but in the sense of just thinking about things, learning how to take a step back and come up with some insight (your own, not someone else's for a change).

About flash cartoon, just make sure you don't put them on any webpages, because I hate that. I go to webpages for information and it is very hard to read when there is something flashing in the corner of my eye. Even worse is when you can't access a site without a flash plugin. That has to be one of the top ranking irritations on the Internet. But do dabble in programming, if only to have some notion of what makes a computer (and thus our society) tick. I have done a course in Prolog and that taught me that AI thinking is still largely focused on databases, which is the wrong way. DirkvdM 07:07, 3 March 2006 (UTC)

That's very nice of you, thanx! I'll let you know if I ever travel to Europe and tour Amsterdam. :) hahaa and I hate flash cartoons on webpages also, I wouldn't do it...--Cosmic girl 17:27, 4 March 2006 (UTC)

I have a question for you.lol...do you know what was Russells opinion on Deontology? or what ethical system did he have?.--Cosmic girl 21:34, 4 March 2006 (UTC)

No, I don't know much about the philosophies of specific people. I remember the ideas, not who had them. And I largely only remember those ideas insofar as I managed to integrate them into my own thinking. This fits in with what I said above about how philosophy should be used in education. The main idea is to get people to think for themselves. And that's mostly what I do. Remembering who said what is a form of administration and that's boring. :) I sometimes refer to Kant, but that's because I think the same as he did about the way people build up their world view, using the apriori knowledge (formalised in Logic) to order the data that comes in through the senses. And that was also my main interrest in philosophy. I haven't done much with ethics, esthetics and especially metaphysics. DirkvdM 07:48, 5 March 2006 (UTC)

VWN en WCN

Beste allemaal Al enige tijd is er een Nederlandstalig chapter in oprichting, te vinden op http://nl.wikimedia.org . Dit wordt de Vereniging Wikimedia Nederland (VWN). Je kunt je interesse om lid te worden van deze vereniging hier aangeven.

Deze vereniging gaat eind augustus/begin september een Wikimedia Conferentie in Nederland (WCN) houden, volgend op Wikimania in Boston, gedeeltelijk erop inspelend middels een aantal discussiegroepen. Om iets dergelijks te organiseren is imput erg gewenst. Dus als je wilt meehelpen, of als je interesse hebt om bij een dergelijk evenement aanwezig te zijn, geef dat dan aan op nl.wikimedia. Ik hoop daar snel je imput tegemoet te zien! Met vriendelijke groet, effeietsanders 13:41, 25 February 2006 (UTC)

Body mass index

As a quick answer; the body mass index itself is just a calculation used to obtain a quotient of a person's mass. It is used as a means of correlating people grouped by their body mass index. For example, people with body mass indexes over x are more likely to be affected by y, and soforth. The magical Spum-dandy

Now I still don't get it. I thought it was just a correlation between weight and height as an indication of possible under- or overweight. Of course 'mass' is strictly speaking a more correct term, but since we can assume is was not designed for astronauts 'weight' is clearer. DirkvdM 20:17, 25 February 2006 (UTC)

Two_party System

the following refers to the ref desk thread World peace and US democracy

Hey Dirk, THought it was a good question on American party-politics. I wanted to talk more, but (un)fortunately I am not editing wiki enough to follow the pace of discussions on the RefDesk. Thought I might continue it a bit here, as the discussion there seems dead already.

The 'Pacificatie' in Holland was the beginning of the Verzuiling. In 1917, politicians made a deal with the socialists (SDAP) to 'pacify' the chances for a socialist revolution (which seemed likely at the time). In return, the Socialists unequivocally recognised politics as the only way to achieve a revolution (and really became social-democrats). It was a trade-off in which the political elite was well-known and friendly to each other, but their voters were not. Apparently (judging by the lack of article) it is not a well-known phenomenon, but in Political Science its considered the beginning of the modern Dutch party system. I cant remember why I thought this was relevant in the discussion, but thought youd like to know :-)

Second, on the American party system, there are several other problems (though Americans usually dont really recognise them as they're not in the habit of comparing their system to other peoples' system (with my apologies to those Americans who do!)). For one, the American systems work with primaries, which complicate the position of any candidate. For example, during the United States presidential election, 2000, Al Gore had to run against Bill Bradley. Bradley was much more liberal than Gore, forcing Gore to make a shift to the left to grab the voters from Bradley. But after winning, Gore's main opponent is of course Bush, forcing him to turn to the right. This means that in only a few months time, it is necessary for candidates to cover a wide WIDE spectrum of issues from left to right to appeal to the right voters at the right time - and seem consistent while doing it. This weakens any potential candidate up front, especially if their opponent is the incumbent.

There's a whole lot of things which could/should be changed in the American system. Amusingly (frighteningly) enough, the Dutch are also talking about restructuring their system, and to allow a certain degree of winner-takes-all as well. In fact, Maurice de Hondt proposes to shut down representative democracy altogether and start a direct democracy.

Crazy stuff if you ask me! Cheers, The Minister of War 07:21, 27 February 2006 (UTC)

The main thing I've learned from the original discussion is that US politics revolves more around the individual politicians than about the parties they're associated with. And what you say now fits in with that. This creates a mindset that also makes the idea of a president more logical. Although I still think it's a very bad idea to put too much power in the hands of one person. How much power the Congress has and in how far a combination of a president and a majority in congress of the same party makes all noses point in the same direction is still not clear to me, though. I suppose one has to observe that in practise and I don't have the time for that. Which is another argument for a simpler system like the Dutch one. It makes it easier for people to understand what is going on.

Speaking of which, all that talk about a district system in the Netherlands scares me too (althogh I don't really think it will get off the ground). The idea is to bring politics closer to the people, but I think it will just alienate them if they no longer understand how their vote affects politics. And politicians swaying from side to side in the wind (as in those political cartoons of first VVD and then PvdA :) ) will not help either.

Maurice de Hondt wants direct democracy? The only way that could work is in small communities, with no more than a few hundred people if everyone is to decide on everything (you can only fit so many people in a room :) ). Unless not everyone participates in everything. Sort of like at a rainbow gathering (see sociocracy#in practise - I wrote that). That could stretch it to a few thousand (a small village or a neighbourhood). For larger communities representatives are needed (maybe like in sociocracy). Or does he mean to use electronic voting? People don't have to be in the same room for this to work. We live in an exciting new world now too, with the information technology, another technological revolution that will have strong social and political effects. Except this time it's bound to happen faster because there are hardly any physical limitations and many more people can join in worldwide.

Thanks for bringing 'Pacificatie' up, even though you can't remember now why. :) Recently I've gotten to find that period in history, around that turn of the century, really fascinating in a political sense. Things were really happening then. The social revolution was a logical result of the industrial revolution. The latter brought about capitalism in a big way and as a result socialism just had to happen. In the late 19th century the groundwork had been done (in a rather bloody way, often), but the change really came in a very short period, starting with the Russian revolution. Actually, I wrote most of the section on Troelstra's mistake. Over 20 years ago I came to the conclusion that 'socialism killed the communist revolution'. I realise now that I should have used your terminology and said 'social democracy killed the socialist revolution that might have led to communist Utopia'. But that is not quite as catchy. :) And now I know what to call it too, Pacificatie. Thanks for the education. DirkvdM 08:50, 28 February 2006 (UTC)

Response at Talk:Crystal Palace (disambiguation)

I've responded at Talk:Crystal Palace (disambiguation) Ewlyahoocom 07:49, 2 March 2006 (UTC)

alsjeblieft

		The E=MC² Barnstar
		For your extraordinary contributions to Misplaced Pages reference desks, I award you this EMC² Barnstar. Keep up the good work! deeptrivia (talk) 16:28, 3 March 2006 (UTC)

Thanks, I am honoured. And it's precisely the sort of barnstar that I would wish for (if I were so vain :) ). I will wear it with pride! DirkvdM 17:36, 6 March 2006 (UTC)

Van Dalisme

Ik heb een paar opmerkingen gemaakt op Talk:Van (Dutch). Groet, David Sneek 09:10, 6 March 2006 (UTC)

Leuk! :) DirkvdM 09:16, 6 March 2006 (UTC)

Image copyright problem with Image:Beetle new skin.jpg

Thanks for uploading Image:Beetle new skin.jpg. However, the image may soon be deleted unless we can determine the copyright holder and copyright status. The Wikimedia Foundation is very careful about the images included in Misplaced Pages because of copyright law (see Misplaced Pages's Copyright policy).

The copyright holder is usually the creator, the creator's employer, or the last person who was transferred ownership rights. Copyright information on images is signified using copyright templates. The three basic license types on Misplaced Pages are open content, public domain, and fair use. Find the appropriate template in Misplaced Pages:Image copyright tags and place it on the image page like this: {{TemplateName}}.

Please signify the copyright information on any other images you have uploaded or will upload. Remember that images without this important information can be deleted by an administrator. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me. Thank you. Stan 16:53, 6 March 2006 (UTC)

That's odd, I thought I had changed the copyright of all my photos to cc-by, but I seem to have missed this one. Fixed that now. I had already stated with the upload that the photo was taken by me, but I suppose that doesn't suffice. Thanks for the warning. DirkvdM 17:29, 6 March 2006 (UTC)

Request for peer review on Eva Peron article

Due to your contributions to the Che Guevara page, I thought perhaps you'd be interested in suggesting any improvements that could be made to the Eva Peron article. If not, could you suggest anyone else? Thank you. Misplaced Pages:Peer review/Eva Perón Andrew Parodi 09:44, 4 April 2006 (UTC)

Image Tagging Image:Tweedekamer.jpg

This media may be deleted.

Thanks for uploading Image:Tweedekamer.jpg. I notice the 'image' page currently doesn't specify who created the content, so the copyright status is unclear. If you have not created this media yourself then there needs to be an argument why we have the right to use the media on Misplaced Pages (see copyright tagging below). If you have not created the media yourself then it needs to be specified where it was found, i.e., in most cases link to the website where it was taken from, and the terms of use for content from that page.

If the media also doesn't have a copyright tag then one should be added. If you created/took the picture, audio, or video then the {{GFDL-self}} tag can be used to release it under the GFDL. If you believe the media qualifies as fair use, consider reading fair use, and then use a tag such as {{fairusein|article name}} or one of the other tags listed at Misplaced Pages:Image copyright tags#Fair_use. See Misplaced Pages:Image copyright tags for the full list of copyright tags that you can use.

If you have uploaded other media, consider checking that you have specified their source and copyright tagged them, too. You can find a list of 'image' pages you have edited by clicking on the "my contributions" link (it is located at the very top of any Misplaced Pages page when you are logged in), and then selecting "Image" from the dropdown box. Note that any unsourced and untagged images will be deleted one week after they have been uploaded, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Image legality questions page. Thank you. Shyam 12:05, 8 April 2006 (UTC)

Hmm, kind of funny, you listed the source as the Dutch Misplaced Pages, but the Dutch Misplaced Pages states the image was copied from the English Misplaced Pages. !?! :) jacoplane 13:31, 8 April 2006 (UTC)

That's right. Like I said on the image page I tried to find it on the English Misplaced Pages but couldn't find it. What else could I do? Well, I could go there and take a picture myself to solve the issue. Not too far and might be a nice day out. :) But until then I suppose this pic will have to do. Unless it gets deleted, that is :( . DirkvdM 14:29, 8 April 2006 (UTC)

Image copyright problem with Image:Dirkvdm-old.jpg

Thanks for uploading Image:Dirkvdm-old.jpg. However, the image may soon be deleted unless we can determine the copyright holder and copyright status. The Wikimedia Foundation is very careful about the images included in Misplaced Pages because of copyright law (see Misplaced Pages's Copyright policy).

The copyright holder is usually the creator, the creator's employer, or the last person who was transferred ownership rights. Copyright information on images is signified using copyright templates. The three basic license types on Misplaced Pages are open content, public domain, and fair use. Find the appropriate template in Misplaced Pages:Image copyright tags and place it on the image page like this: {{TemplateName}}.

Please signify the copyright information on any other images you have uploaded or will upload. Remember that images without this important information can be deleted by an administrator. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me, or ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you. Rory096 20:59, 1 May 2006 (UTC)

Does a photo taken in a booth have copyright? DirkvdM 05:17, 3 May 2006 (UTC)

Welcome back

Hey, DirkvdM, welcome back to the Ref Desk. It's been the poorer for your absence. JackofOz 08:40, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

Thanks, but don't expect too much. I don't want to get hooked again because Misplaced Pages took up almost all of my time for about half a year. This morning I just needed a break from what I was doing and I've been almost 'clean' for a few months, so I thought I might have another look at the ref desk. Problem is it's too much fun .... DirkvdM 08:50, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

Yes, I can relate to that entirely. But what the hell ... JackofOz 15:10, 26 June 2006 (UTC)

Medical Advise

Why did you even ask the question if you knew that you were going to get medical disclaimers thrown at you? You even have a barnstar for your work on the reference desk! Next time, to avoid such a conflict, I suggest you use this site. It has a symptom checker, an index of conditions (including one for your condition), and other A-Z guides. That really surprises me that an advanced Wikipedian such as you would even think and/or attempt to ask a question like that on the reference desk. Also, I wasn't "attempting a silly joke," I was actually giving you legitimate medical advice: to see a doctor. schyler 16:14, 3 July 2006 (UTC)

Let me explain again. I was not asking for medical advise. I was just asking for someone with aspirin to look something up in the instructions. That I knew that there would be some idiots who would feel the necessity to start blabbering about medical disclaimers would be a lame excuse to not ask the question. Luckily there are also plenty sensible people on the ref desk, so I did get a sensible answer fairly fast.

How does "10.000 mg of GO SEE A DOCTOR" not constitute a joke? Think about what you did. I was asking for a maximum dosage and you mentioned a dosage in your answer. I misread it, but then I was sick. Next time leave the medical disclaimer and either give a sensible answer or none at all. And if you make a joke think about how it might be interpreted. DirkvdM 17:41, 3 July 2006 (UTC)

van der

You are of the Made. So does this mean that you come from a very well-to-do family and that you get enormous respect wherever you go? Did you get this before you were born or was it conferred to you by Queen Beatrix? Does van rank below van der?

I live in the United States and wish to get some of your thoughts on the current state of aristocracy in the Netherlands. If you don't mind, explain this to me on my talk page. Be as short or long as you please.--Patchouli 09:41, 7 July 2006 (UTC)

The greatness of China - Flamarande

All of this raises the question: Why didn't China conquer and rule the world? They had all the needed resources, a large population, enough brains, and good technology. There is a good answer for this. The Chinese Empire was simply allready overstreched, and the territories near the borders were not worthy of the effort. It was allready a big problem in maintaning the empire and alltoo hard to expand it. They were only interrested in maintaining their status-quo and therefore not ambitious enough for that enterprise and as a whole not interrested in it. They even had gunpowder but did they develop their cannons? Pitefull, and simply decadent.

In comparasion the Western Europeans were highly ambitious, completly ruthless, and very greedy. They were always competing with each other in everything. They were real soldiers who didn't give a damn about any kind of honour but cared only about victories. They had been fighting against each other and the muslims for hundered of years. They knew that what really matered is brute force = military strength. They copied everything from everybody and developed everything into their full potential (like the old Romans). And they discovered and conquered the world (for a time). They were interrested in money and riches and few things else. Deo vult! :) Gotta love these guys.

Now in the opinion of many specialists we are at the brink of a new Chinese century. I can only say the Western Europeans allready changed Chinese culture for good. Lets only hope they are more mercifull than we were. 19:34, 9 July 2006 (UTC)

Pleas join!

I'm currently trying to get a Dutch military task force started, would you join us? From what I've seen on the History of the Netherlands article, you could most certainly provide a (more than) worthy contribution.

If you're interested, and I hope you are, please drop a note at this talk page Cheers,  Rex  16:38, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

I've been active at all sorts of articles, in keeping with my wide interrests. Military stuff is not quite a specific interrest of mine, just the social aspects and political causes and consequences of war. Also, I'm no longer very active as an article editor. Mostly the ref desks these days. But I might drop in once in a while to see what is going on at the 'task force', if you get it off the ground. DirkvdM 06:18, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

Archery

I hadn't thought of that, I used to do archery, but gave it up because where I was learning it the equipment was poor, and the instructors terribly underqualified. It was more like just supervised time with a poor bow. I may purchase my own bow and take it up again, as yes it would be enjoyable and they are both very high concentration, but not brutal arts. However even if I did take up archery again, I would still like to take up a second art from aikido. Especially since aikido was never intended to be the sole art someone learned, and that is why there are no attacking moves, it was intended as a supplement to already qualified students of other martial arts. Well, thank you for your suggestions, and reminding me about that. Philc _TC 13:21, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

"Vandal"

He had a "vandalism counter" at the top of his page with "1" and i took it as a joke so i blanked his page and said "that makes it two" knowing he can revert it no sweat. apparently, wikipedians take offence to easily so i'll be more careful. as for my page, thers usualy not much important on it except for help with wikitext syntax so clear it every couple of days. 02:23, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

Ok, so it was joke. The two things together made me suspicious. Btw, I think 'he' is a 'she'. At least the name Anchoress suggests that. DirkvdM 06:50, 30 July 2006 (UTC)

Vrede

I just thought I should write to you at least once. We obviously got off to a terrible start, but it seems that lately things have been improving quite dramatically.

I suppose the plan to "mutually ignore" each other is off for now. There was obviously a serious communication problem there for a while, and, to a certain extent, there still is. I'm really not sure why that's the case, it just is.

In any case, though I disagree with most of what you say, our interests seem to be very similar, which might explain why we always seem to have been butting heads with each other.

You may have noticed that for the past little while, I've been acting unusually diplomatic, and uncharacteristically polite towards you. Take for example the discussion on Castro, and my remark: "you're too smart...". I was actually cringing when I wrote it, but I felt that it was neccessary in order to develop at least some minimal, workable degree of goodwill. Another example would be when I was so concerned with not offending you when I mentioned my visit to the Netherlands.

In reality though, as I've said to others, I'm no panderer. I despise pandering. I just felt that a tiny bit of it was necessary to establish some goodwill.

But I'd really like to move on now and go back to my more natural, possibly overly harsh, but more natural style of writing. Although I've explained many times on the RefDesk that I'm actually extremely soft-spoken in person, my writing style is admittedly, and rather uncharacteristically quite harsh.

I'm just telling you this with the hope that should I seem to be taking any cheap shots at you, please don't take it too seriously. If my writing may come accross as overly harsh, please don't take that too seriously either.

Nothing of it is meant to be personal, just fun. Wiki is indeed a lot of fun, and I'm really here because I'm an extremely curious person, and satisfying my curiosity is incredibly fun. Debating issues is also a lot of fun. I'm not here to pick fights, and I certainly hope we can manage to press on and argue and debate and kid around, and basically just have a lot of fun debating and learning.

But beware, the gloves are off now, so no more pandering or ridiculously diplomatic behaviour on my part. In short Dirk, Fuck off! :--)

Vrede, Dirk.

Lewis Loomis 01:28, 12 August 2006 (UTC)

I'd fuck of in peace if this weren't my user page. :) About my sense of humour and the use of words like 'fuck' - they're only partly connected. I don't mind your occasional swearword (Im not from North America), but I don't see that in itself as humorous, as you might think (and some lousy comedians indeed do). However, I do use it to spice up a bit of humour occasionally (so it is secondary to the humour itself).

Thank you for cringing for me, but that is really not necessary. You should only say that I'm smart if you really think so. And it's a convenient bit of diplomacy if it's true, which is never bad. And the incident in the Netherlands doesn't reflect on me because those were other people, but I already said that.

How one comes across on an Internet forum is indeed a problem when it is in written form (as is still the case) because facial expressions and such are lacking. That's why emoticons were developed, but they're a poor substitute.

So ok, let's try to stay out of each other's hair and when we do get into a discussion, realise it's all with the best intentions (or something). So I agree to 'agree to disagree' as you put it earlier. As long as you don't land the glove at my feet or in my face. :) DirkvdM 08:35, 12 August 2006 (UTC)

Sunset Panorama on the commons

Hi Dirk,
Sorry for not responding to you earlier, but I didn't notice your comment. The other thing I didn't notice was that stitching fault :-). I honestly don't know how that happened, but here's an edit where I feel I have corrected the issue. Image:Sunset may 2006 panorama edit.jpg. Please comment --Fir0002 00:39, 13 August 2006 (UTC)

Phone Contracts In Holland

I want to change my phone service provider in the Netherlands but I'm confused regarding an offer by Vodaphone (all the websites are in Dutch). I was hoping you could clarify whether the better offer was available from KPN or Vodaphone. http://www.kpn.com/kpn/show/id=1194835 - this one I can get a one year contract for 100 mins per month at 12 euro (easy enough)

http://onlinewinkel.vodafone.nl/vodafone/mcsmambo.p?M5NextUrl=MVOCOPRD&ca_id=avSIM&ad_id=st&art_id=avSIMst&M5PrevUrl=RAPRL&ab_agid=105&act_id= >> click on specificatie where it says 5.95 OR http://onlinewinkel.vodafone.nl/vodafone/RAPRL/105.html > scroll to bottom > meer info >> click on specificatie where it says 5.95 - this one I can get 150 minutes for 5.95 per month? It's quite confusing - it also mentions the number 22.50? Is that a one-off cost of what?

Thanks for any light you can shed. --Username132 (talk) 19:31, 15 August 2006 (UTC)

Those Big Bike Wooden Box Things

Thanks for you help on the phone thing! I was also wondering if it was possible in Holland to hire one of those bikes that have a giant wooden container at the front. I will have to move soon and my friend who helped me move here is too ill to help me move again. I'm only 21 and have held a drivers licence for just one and a half years (havn't driven since I passed my test) ao I don't think I could hire a car. My friend suggested finding if someone is moving house from Delft to wherever and seeing if I could put things in any spare space but I'm not sure that that's a realistic idea. --Username132 (talk) 10:28, 16 August 2006 (UTC)

Could you check my letter?

Oh, I'm sorry, there's more; I was wondering if you would check this letter for me. I'm sending it via kamernet.nl - I think people might be annoyed that I can't speak Dutch. Some people have said that priority goes to Dutch speakers and in the past when I've asked people on the street if they spreekt Engels, they sometimes ask why I don't speak Dutch. Anyway, here's my letter;

Dear Dhr. Sharma,

Please forgive that I am unable to write to you in Dutch. My understanding of the langauge is still at an elementary level.

I'm looking for accommodation in Den Haag whilst I earn money to cover the cost of a Masters course (in molecular biology) that I would like to begin in September 2007. My current housing contract expires at the end of this month, after which the room I am using is required by the student from which I am subletting.

I recently graduated from a BSc. course in Durham, England and am now living in student accommodation in Delft. I have a job in restaurant in Scheveningen but intend to find new work of a more stable nature as the weather gets worse.

How much extra would internet access cost?

If there is any other information that you would like, please get in touch. Thanks,

Sean Smith sean.van.der.smythe@gmail.com Tel. 0618019783

Is there anything lacking or which might be considered offensive to Nederlanders? Thanks again.. :) --Username132 (talk) 10:55, 16 August 2006 (UTC)

Song lyrics at The Lemon Song

I have reverted your addition of song lyrics to The Lemon Song, as the lyrics are definitely under copyright, and I doubt Led Zeppelin has released them under a free license. See Misplaced Pages:Copyrights for a detailed overview of Misplaced Pages's copyright policy. In the event I'm wrong, you are welcome to re-add the lyrics and explain their copyright on the Talk page.

Don't interpret this as a disciplinary action or anything of the sort; we all make mistakes, myself included. Enjoy contributing! --Slowking Man 06:02, 5 September 2006 (UTC)

Baracoa cabin

Hi Dirk, I've added your beautiful photo of a Baracoa cabin to the History of Cuba page, (I'm beginning to lock horns with that most horrible of pages and am trying to sort it out). I've assumed that it is a Taino construction (or at least based on a Taino cabin). Am I correct here?--Zleitzen 05:29, 7 September 2006 (UTC)

That would be a reassonable guess, but I don't know really. A Google image search for taino hut gives different results. They all have palmleaf roofs, but two are square and one is round, whilst one has the roof down to the floor. There must have been some variation. You could say it has a palmleaf roof, as the Taino huts did. I took the photo on a hillridge just south of Baracoa, where there was a little settlement. Most other houses weren't like this one (making more use of modern construction materials). Btw, there is now a version of that picture on Wikimedia Commons, which makes more sense as a source because it is 'universally sourceable' (the one on the English Misplaced Pages may even go).

And while you're doing the Cuban History page, are you going to move some info from the History section of the Cuba article there? That's a bit too long. Some bits, like after the revolution, are even longer there, which doensn't make sense. Success. DirkvdM 06:06, 7 September 2006 (UTC)

Thanks Dirk, I've replaced the picture with the commons version and adjusted the caption slightly to refer to the palmleaf roof - in case Taino scholars (or El Jigue) get mad with me. I'll see how my work on the History of Cuba page goes before I trim anything from the main page. I quite like the version on the Cuba page, it's fairly stable and hasn't been challenged for a long time - but we'll see. I love your photography by the way.--Zleitzen 11:13, 7 September 2006 (UTC)

Image:Africa crowd.jpg

There are several things wrong with this picture:

1. Obsolete tag
2. Lack of source (one of my friends took it is not really a verifyiable source)
3. Not used in articles

Renata 23:04, 10 September 2006 (UTC)

I didn't know it was orphaned. I uploaded it for the Overpopulation article, but it was removed from there a few months ago. As for the source, would including the friend's name do? If so, which tag should I use? DirkvdM 06:15, 11 September 2006 (UTC)

One of those daft barnstars

I checked some of your other photos Dirk and you're a talented photographer.

		The Photographer's Barnstar
		For some beautiful photography of Cuba and Costa Rica Zleitzen 08:02, 12 September 2006 (UTC)

My second barnstar. And again for something I kind of feel I might deserve one for (there is method to this daftness :) ). Thanks! DirkvdM 08:08, 12 September 2006 (UTC)

Marse bars

2 days later & I'm still laughing - thanks for that! Mattopaedia 08:25, 16 September 2006 (UTC)

And thank you for thanking me here in a signed way, thus luring me to your page and making me aware of AWWDMBJAWGCAWAIFDSPBATDMTD. It's also nice to know that some people actually manage to understand me sometimes. DirkvdM 19:28, 16 September 2006 (UTC)

What about this?

Since original work is not allowed, and wikipedia is likely not to be used to publish one's essay's, what about use of wikipedia here: User:Cott12/Notebook? --JohJak2 11:46, 18 September 2006 (UTC)

Spam on Misplaced Pages? Let's see how I should report this. Thanks for pointing out {{TOCright}} to me, though. I'll likely use that somewhere. DirkvdM 13:13, 18 September 2006 (UTC)

You gave the impression that you agreed that this is not an appropriate use of a personal page. Was my impression correct? I also noticed that there is now a Dutch translation: User:Cott12/Sandbox atęcja, placed on the English wiki since it was voted unacceptable on the Dutch wiki. The reason I ask you is that I find the procedures difficult to understand. --JohJak2 11:33, 8 October 2006 (UTC)

Spam is trying to sell something to someone who has not shown any iterrest in it whatsoever. Your message here is rather like spam in that sense (the subject even looks rather despicable to me, but I haven't really bothered to read it). I have not acted on it yet, but another post here will change that. DirkvdM 14:18, 8 October 2006 (UTC)

I do not understand your reply. Why do you call my message spam? Are you under the impression that I want to "sell" you this idea? I assure you that you are wrong there. I did not realise that when I bring something to your attention that I am spamming. To be clear, it was you, not I who called it spam. And the reason I ask your opinion is because I have seen your name frequently on an advisory Reference Desk. I would like this page removed! And now even two pages. Because I call it inappropriate use of personal space. Not only that, it is even "original work", which, AFAIK is not allowed. I am, however, overwhelmed by the procedures about getting articles removed, especially ones that are so craftily hidden in the wikipedia sphere, but may be found by Google. And you do seem to know your way around. If you are unwilling to look into this, please advise me where I can place this for removal. If you rather want me to ask someone else, then I will do so. Furthermore, I also do not understand your last remark: "...another post here will change that." What kind of post, and what will it change? --JohJak2 15:29, 8 October 2006 (UTC)

I'm sorry, I totally misunderstood your intentions. I thought you wanted to spread some idea by linking to it at random user pages (which would constitute a form of spam), but now I understand that you want it removed. Sorry about the misunderstanding and my reaction.

I'm not sure if putting something like that on a user subpage breaks any rules. And if so, I wouldn't have the ability to remove it. You'd need an admistrator for that. I am fairly active at the ref desk, but that doesn't mean I know the ins and outs of Misplaced Pages proper (the encyclopedia bit). Better first ask at the help desk about the rules on this. DirkvdM 18:34, 8 October 2006 (UTC)

photo DirkvdM hairy fly.jpg

Why don't you try to pass it as Featured picture.It's really an ungly little devel.--Pixel ;-) 18:30, 19 September 2006 (UTC)

I've already nominated three photos and am learning from that. I take them one at a time. This one will get it's turn. You could also nominate it, by the way, if you so desire. DirkvdM 18:58, 19 September 2006 (UTC)

Possibly unfree Image:Fidel-recent-bw.jpg

Just in case it gets deleted, for reference here's the source of the photo: http://www.pcc.cu/pccweb/glosario/personalidades/fidel_castro.php (photo location http://www.pcc.cu/pccweb/glosario/personalidades/images/fidel.jpg).

Upon reading above message I added the following to the talk page:

I have noticed with photographs on photostock sites that photographs of people taken in Cuba lack the notice of consent of the people in the photograph. I take this as an indication of usual copyright not being applicable in Cuba, which would indeed be in keeping with the philosophy of a socialist country. However, I do not know Cuban law. Another consideration is that it's a government photograph and those tend to be in the public domain, I believe. DirkvdM 05:42, 24 September 2006 (UTC)

Misandry

I hope my comment didn't come across as a male-bashing. I suppose I meant that, in my experience, many women do seem to be quite knowledgable regarding men and their psychology, and have on many occasions pointed out aspects of male behavior, that I hadn't been aware of. You are, of course, right that the reverse statement would have been offensive; I guess I also tend to show less scruples about making 'sexist', 'racist' etc comments, when the target of ridicule is my own 'group'. But I didn't mean to lump all men together, I know there are plenty of exceptions out there. I guess the only excuse I have for my careless phrasing is the fact that I am male... oops this is getting circular. Cheers! :) ---Sluzzelin 10:52, 24 September 2006 (UTC)

No worries. I just like to give a fresh perspective to set people's minds working, which sometimes comes across as irritation or such, but it's all intended in good taste and all that. No offence was taken or intended. DirkvdM 11:16, 24 September 2006 (UTC)

RD modification

If you haven't been reading the RD talk page, I would appreciate some input on a proposed re-arrangement of the reference desks. I have set up a demo here, and I am coming close to finishing the base code for the entire RD suite. It should be noted that there is no plan to use these pages without the aid of an archiving bot, and by that I mean to imply that they are being to be used with a bit that will be made for them. Once a few more things have been set in stone, I will re-issue the bot request. Thanks.  freshofftheufoΓΛĿЌ  12:01, 24 September 2006 (UTC)

The "Other places to ask" is supposed to be stuck at the bottom of "Topics", they're part of the same table, I just made the "Other places to ask" label eye catching by giving it the same design as the table captions. If it gets all stretchy for very wide screens, I guess I should set a maximum width on the tables, so that it only expands to a certain width. Ideally, the white space on the bottom left will be filled with something. I just haven't figured out what yet.  freshofftheufoΓΛĿЌ  11:52, 13 October 2006 (UTC)

I'm not sure why you tell me this here, but I've replied at User talk:Freshgavin/Sandbox/Reference desk. Btw, I now see that you already gave me the link I asked for at the ref desk here a while ago. DirkvdM 12:14, 13 October 2006 (UTC)

Dirk van der Made, Dirkvdm, DirkvdM

Hi, I tagged the three redirects you made per CSD R2. -- Gogo Dodo 08:53, 15 October 2006 (UTC)

Redirects to your user page

Please do not create redirects to your user page in the main namespace. They fall under speedy criterion R2 and are deleted on sight. Thank you, and happy editing, Kusma (討論) 08:53, 15 October 2006 (UTC)

re: ==Is Flemish Mutually Intelligible With Dutch?== by DirkvdM 06:31, 10 October 2006 (UTC) on Misplaced Pages:Reference desk/Language (section)

Wow, thank you. What do you mean subtleties? Danke.100110100 02:35, 16 October 2006 (UTC)

When you listen to someone, you make guesses at what they mean (meaning is rarely as clear as people seem to think it is) and if you have a good mutual understanding of the words used (ie you're both native pseakers) you may get very close. The less common gound you have, the harder it will be to get the exact meaning. When listening to Frisian or South African, I make loads of educated guesses and will usually get it about right, but I have to keep up with the speed at which they are speaking, so some things will just 'slip'. Those are the subtleties I mean. DirkvdM 03:46, 16 October 2006 (UTC)

American English

I responded to your question at Misplaced Pages:Reference desk archive/Miscellaneous/2006 October 10#lyrics, in case you don't frequently check the entirely of the RD archives for updates (ha). --Tardis 23:00, 17 October 2006 (UTC)

Deleted comments

Not unless you posed as an anon and started calling everying a "fucking pope loving nazi".  freshofftheufoΓΛĿЌ  08:28, 18 October 2006 (UTC)

Hmmm, can't remember having ever done that. :) DirkvdM 08:31, 18 October 2006 (UTC)

Photos Santa Fé

Those are some impressive photos in Santa Fé, Veraguas, but as you note, it urgently needs some encyclopedic content. Since they appear to be on Commons already, perhaps the better use for them would be to choose one or two that are most representative of the area and for the rest put a link to Commons and create a gallery there. Incidentally, I looked, and the Spanish Misplaced Pages doesn't have this article yet, either, or I'd consider translating some content. Perhaps a stub notice is in order. —Dvortygirl 23:38, 24 October 2006 (UTC)

Ah, yes, forgot about that. My idea was to first get the photos uploaded and in place and then later write the articles. But, as things tend to go, I got involved in other stuff and forgot about that last bit. I don't see why some photos should go, though. I could reduce the size of most because they are rather big. I'll work on that later today. Thanks for reminding me. DirkvdM 04:16, 25 October 2006 (UTC)

Trip to Africa

Hello! I'm a bit curious about the flag at the end of your list of places you visited in Africa. Was that another place you visited afterwards? --HappyCamper 09:29, 29 October 2006 (UTC)

No, that was the return trip (aeroflot had the cheapest deal). Like I say above the list, I didn't even leave the airport. So technically speaking I wasn't even in the USSR (an airport is international ground), but I thought it looked cool to add it to the list. :) DirkvdM 09:37, 29 October 2006 (UTC)

History of the automobile

Please refer to Talk:History of the automobile for a discussion about the yank tanks revert. --SFoskett 14:34, 1 November 2006 (UTC)

Barnstar

A bit of an odd barnstar, but you helped me with a question on the HD four days before my subspecialty exams in gastroenterology. Wanted to say thanks so much! -- Samir धर्म 06:45, 4 November 2006 (UTC)

So you tricked me into helping you out with homework? :) Ok, if you won't point out to me that an exam isn't homework, then I won't point out to you that it was on the Reference Desk, not on the Help Desk. :) DirkvdM 03:48, 9 November 2006 (UTC)

About :DirkvdM natural spiral.jpg

Hi,

I just want to know if it's possible to send me by email in hight resolution one of your picture, the Image:DirkvdM natural spiral.jpg.

I've found it absolutly beautiful, and would like expose it in my room.

(Sorry for my English, I'm French)

Best Regards.

mail : dieunexistepas@hotmail.com

Antoine Dubois.

Thanks for the compliment, but I am trying to make money with the high resolution versions of my photographs, so it wouldn't make sense to start giving them away. Sorry. DirkvdM 03:57, 9 November 2006 (UTC)

VERB. ABGEBAUT

I used a belhuis to make a call to England and got a busy signal (fast beep beep beep) and 'VERB. ABGEBAUT' came on the phone screen. The clerk couldn't tell me what it meant. Do you know? It returns four google results but they're foreign. --Username132 (talk) 12:24, 7 November 2006 (UTC)

'Abbauen' is German for 'breaking off' (at least that is one of the meanings), and 'verb' probably means 'verbindung', so the message would mean 'connection broken'. Or it might mean the number you are calling doesn't exist anymore. Not sure. One of those Google hits suggests the telephone company is to blame, but they're just guessing. Another is about internet protocols, saying that after a TCP data exchange, the 'connection is broken'. Not sure what that would mean specifically, though. DirkvdM 04:12, 9 November 2006 (UTC)

Ok, thank you! Now I've checked out skype and wont be using one of those places any time soon! --Username132 (talk) 00:23, 10 November 2006 (UTC)

natural spiral.jpg

Ho, I'm sorry, I haven't see that.

So, how much for this picture ? (natural spiral) (And just one precision, what is the original resolution ?)

Antoine Dubois.

The original pixel size is 2272x1704 (taken with an Ixus400, a 4mp camera). To be honest, I don't yet know what prices I should ask for my photos because this would be my first sale. My idea was to sell the rights to the photos, so in the order of hundreds of euro's, and that would of course be too much for you. But then, maybe I could send you a print. A 30x45 print (larger would not be advisable at this pixel size) would cost just a few euro on photo paper and also less than 10 euro for postage to France. Since this is my first sale and making money is less important to me now than the experience of actually selling a photograph, let's say 25 euro for the whole deal (print, postage plus my fee). Would that be ok with you? DirkvdM 12:07, 10 November 2006 (UTC)

I prefer do it by myself, because a can use Freely a HP Z3100, with that i'm sure to obtaint the best quality, and above all, a special resolution of impression (53.34*40), i think the original resolution would be sufficient. And of course for the price, no shipping cost, no photo paper.

So if your interested, tell me your price.

disambiguation page

You asked if a disambiguation page may link to another disambiguation page. I see no problem with that. However, - and maybe that's just me - I always find it misleading when a disambig page says: "History may also refer to: Natural History". The word "history" never refers to natural history, unless you stretch the meaning of "refers" beyond the meaning of a reference. I would write something like "it also occurs in the following terms:", but this is unfortunately not WP standard. — Sebastian (talk) 09:33, 11 November 2006 (UTC)

Moving articles

Hee, als je een artikel verplaatst zoals One NL is het beter om het te doen met "move" in plaats van te copy/pasten, zodat de edit-geschiedenis niet verdwijnt. Groeten! jaco♫plane 10:00, 14 November 2006 (UTC)

Ja, dat wist ik, maar ik was iet al te wakker toen ik het deed. Foutje, sorry. Ik zie dat je het al verholpen hebt. Bedankt dat je mijn rotzooi achter me opgeruimd hebt. DirkvdM 18:09, 14 November 2006 (UTC)

Ben-Gurione on reference desk

WARNING. 'Ben-Gurione' or '24.177.35.252' sometimes posts a bunch of random question. Not quite trolling, but a nuisance nevertheless. Please ignore him. DirkvdM 09:07, 19 November 2006 (UTC)

I'm not sure what about posting a lot of questions means we should ignore this user. He/She could just be very curious, and if so we should answer all the questions. I am concerned that putting up WARNINGs after every comment would create an atmosphere discouraging both Ben-Gurione and other anonymous users from posting questions—would you consider removing your remarks to the ref desk talk page? -- SCZenz 19:44, 19 November 2006 (UTC)

He's been at the ref desk before, after a while getting on people's nerves because he kept on asking random questions, like this time about the youngest member of the US congress and the average annual sex partners. But I must admit that this time they are not all simple factual questions, so I suppose I overreacted based on previous experience. I will remove the warnings. DirkvdM 06:47, 20 November 2006 (UTC)

However, look at Misplaced Pages:Reference_desk/Humanities#Man and monkey. Shantavira apparently remembers him and has copied my comment. DirkvdM 09:18, 20 November 2006 (UTC)

edit summaries

do you mind using edit summaries? Thank you, --MarSch 16:02, 23 November 2006 (UTC)

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/search/?title=Dutch_general_election%2C_2006&diff=89663954&oldid=89663701
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/search/?title=Dutch_general_election%2C_2006&diff=89662484&oldid=89662237
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/search/?title=Dutch_general_election%2C_2006&diff=89661351&oldid=89660662
4. http://en.wikipedia.org/search/?title=Dutch_general_election%2C_2006&diff=89660662&oldid=89659738

No I don't, I just tend to forget about them. DirkvdM 18:41, 23 November 2006 (UTC)

Reference desk removal

Hi, I wanted to let you know that I thought an off-topic side discussion you started was starting to get out of hand, so I removed it. If you have any concerns, I am more than happy to discuss them. -- SCZenz 07:08, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

Yeah, a concern is that one should never remove anyone's contribution to the ref desk. Off-topicity is both a problem and an incentive. It may disturb some but it is also part of the fun for many editors. If no fun were allowed many would eventually leave, which would be a loss. Most useful editors like these kinds of jokes and that is part of the reason they visit the ref desk in the first place. DirkvdM 07:16, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

I understand it's a concern. But when things go very far off-topic, particularly in a way that may offend our audience to no purpose, then it becomes time to bring things back on track. If the reference desk were a page from which "one should never remove anyone's contribution," then it would be the only such page on Misplaced Pages; however, this is not the case. -- SCZenz 07:24, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

Please don't re-add off-topic discussion

Please to not re-add discussion that does not serve the purpose of the reference desk. I've talked this issue to death already, and I have succinctly described what I am doing and why on this page: User:SCZenz/Reference desk removals. Please read it, and discuss it with me all you want; or you can report me for admin abuse at the appropriate place... but please don't re-add the discussion. -- SCZenz 07:27, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

If you can refer to an actual wikipedia policy I may give. If not, the common sense rule applies that it is rude to remove people's additions to the ref desk. DirkvdM 07:36, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

I refer to talk page policy, and general Misplaced Pages policy, as highly relevant... in the essay I've already linked. Please take the time to read it in discuss; in my role as an administrator, I must insist that you do not re-add off-topic posts. I do not see that you're giving me an alternative, if you won't discuss the issue.

If it helps, I apologize for springing this on you in this manner, rather than discussing the edits in question before removing them; perhaps you've been unaware of the ongoing discussions on this issue on Misplaced Pages talk:Reference desk. -- SCZenz 07:40, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

After edit conflict:

If you want mediation, you ask for it. There is a waiting list for mediation, so asking there will come down to you getting your way by default because ref desk threads are short-lasting. If this is your crusade, you should put effort into getting this to become official policy. If you manage to do that and there are clear rules (as opposed to your whim) then you will have convinced me. (And the ref desk will become a boring and eventually deserted place.) DirkvdM 07:43, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

WP:NOT#Misplaced Pages is not a bureaucracy. Misplaced Pages:Use common sense. We don't need reference desk-specific rules to have the same ideas apply there that do on our talk pages—and our talk pages are required to stay on-topic. Let me allow you to read my explanation page, though, rather than repeating myself. -- SCZenz 07:48, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

What do you mean, not willing to discuss? That's what we are doing here, isn't it? I'll have a look at that discussion now. DirkvdM 07:44, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

I meat, discuss without edit warring at the reference desk. -- SCZenz 07:48, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

Keep in mind that you started this 'war'. The burden of proof lies with you. DirkvdM 07:52, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

After another edit conlict:

I read it. It's an ongoing discussion, nowhere near policy. Once that is estabished, you can point me to it and I will then follow that. Or contest it. But I will follow it until I have successfully contested it. Unlike what you are now doing. It is downright rude to censor people. Who is to decide what is to stay and what is to go? DirkvdM 07:51, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

A very lengthy discussion I had with StuRat on the subject is now in the archives somewhere. But the distilled version of what I concluded from that talk is at User:SCZenz/Reference desk removals, which says basically everything I can say right now. -- SCZenz 07:53, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

That 'stay on topic' policy is about staying the topic of the atrticle on a talk page, not about the ref desk. About your pov on your sub-page, well, it's just that. You're entitled to it, but it gives you no reason to censor people. Also, you have the decency to tell me about the removal, which I appreciate, but removing posts is still a method that is likely to piss people off. You might have more impact if you pointed out your opinions to people and thus managed to convince them. Otherwise you might still get revert wars, which will consume much more of your time. I know, I've been there. DirkvdM 07:59, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

To say that neither article page nor talk page rules apply on the reference desk, so you can do whatever you want, is clear wikilawyering. I have explained myself in great detail. Think for a second... how does it improve Misplaced Pages to revert war over your off-topic penis joke? If there's a revert war here it's of your making; I just tried to remove an off-topic post from project space. -- SCZenz 08:02, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

Who is the one who starts a revert war? Isn't that the first one to do a revert? And keep in mind this is not an article, it's a reference desk, where editing other people's comments is just not done. Also, the rule says something about how one should talk on a talk page. It says nothing about being allowed to remove people's comments. And I didn't make a penis joke. I merely pointed out that I thought the question was about pulling back the foreskin. This made me laugh, so I thought I'd let others in on it. If you had your way the ref desk would be a dull place indeed. And StuRat, one of the most active and useful editors there, would certainly leave. Along with many others. But all that's irrelevant here. You make this wikipolicy and then come back to me. In the meantime, don't censor others. Misplaced Pages is not a dictatorship either. DirkvdM 08:32, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

"it's a reference desk, where editing other people's comments is just not done" That's the problem; it hasn't been done. However, it is being done now, because the reference desk has gotten out of hand. Many users have commented on this problem, and I have discussed the issue at great length with several users in order to find a resolution... But complaints that I'm spoiling your fun, cries of censorship, and threats to leave or edit war no longer impress me. I've taken the time to address them all, as you've seen. You may not agree that my arguments are convincing. But I have taken this action in my capacity as an administrator on English Misplaced Pages. Your recourse now, if you like, is to complain about my heavy-handedness. However, you may not re-add your off-topic comments. I'm happy to discuss these issues, but there's nothing more I can say; for what it's worth, I am personally sorry that this direct use of authority was necessary. -- SCZenz 08:45, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

Threats? Begging your pardon, but if anyone's threatening it's you. I'm just having a discussion and would appreciate it if you'd stop putting your threats into practise. Being an admin gives you more power, not more rights. And please don't shout. I am sometimes tempted to remove edits by people who shout, but I don't because that would be improper behaviour and one should not fight terrorism with terrorism (speaking of off-topicity). :) DirkvdM 09:58, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

I wasn't shouting. I was emphasizing an important point so that you would not ignore it. -- SCZenz 16:23, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

Btw, it was not a discussion (just a short remark and a short reaction) and it was not a penis joke. Don't misname things to get your way. And it was indeed off-topic, but the humour lied in the fact that I misunderstood what was the topic. DirkvdM 10:53, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

A question, if you'd like to discuss this issue further

If the talk page rules do not apply to the reference desk, and the article editing rules don't apply either... what does? We know from item 5 in WP:NOT#Wikipedia_is_not_a_publisher_of_original_thought that Misplaced Pages doesn't do discussion forums. So then, what is the reference desk, and how are the rules at the top of the page to be enforced? -- SCZenz 08:49, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

What do discussion forums have to do with this? If certain rules don't apply, then find others that do. You are the one taking action, so you need to point out tome what I'm doing wrong, not the other way around. DirkvdM 10:04, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

The point is, there aren't any that apply, according to a very narrow reading of the rules. I was hoping you would see that a very narrow reading of the rules isn't productive. -- SCZenz 16:23, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

Block warning

You have re-added inappropriate material (i.e. irrelevant discussion) to the reference desk here after being told very clearly not to do so. At this point, in my judgement you are disrupting Misplaced Pages. If you re-add the material again, you will be blocked without further warning. -- SCZenz 16:27, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

You're the one who is disruptive. DirkvdM 19:27, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

SCZenz's behavior

Dirk, I don't know if you read through our lengthy discussion on the Ref Desk talk page, so I will summarize it here. I showed, using all the applicable policies, that SCZenz should not be removing posts in the way threatened. However, SCZenz then said such posts would be removed anyway, even if that action violates policy. If you want to complain about SCZenz abusing Admin authority, I support that. And I absolutely agree with you that the first person to do a revert is the one who is starting a revert war. StuRat 17:15, 28 November 2006 (UTC)

Well, he isn't abusing admin power because anyone can do what he does. He treatens to use his power, but doesn't say how. He might block me, as he just threatened, but that could cost him his admin status. Whether being admin gives him more authority in this matter, I'm not sure, but that is not how I understand what being an admin is about, so it has nothing to do with that. I suppose the best word is vandalism. To report him we'd have to go through a whole procedure and I first wanted to see if he would let it be. The annoying thing about this is that most of the time I will not notice any removals of my posts unless he tells me, like he did here. But I understand he wants to make it policy to remove posts at his whim and that will certainly not do. Now that he has actually threatened to block me I suppose it's time for action. I'll first put a warning on his user page, to follow procedure. Alas, if he blocks me (I just reverted his deletion again before I read his threat here) I suppose I can't complain about it. I don't really know, and I don't know for how long it will be. Maybe if it's for more than a day you could then take the next step. DirkvdM 19:27, 28 November 2006 (UTC)