Misplaced Pages

Revision as of 16:55, 12 October 2024

This is PamD's talk page, where you can send her messages and comments.

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Welcome to the drive!

Welcome, welcome, welcome PamD! I'm glad that you are joining the drive! Please, have a cup of WikiTea, and go cite some articles.

my story

Hi, if you get a chance, could you look at what I wrote on my User Page and tell me if it makes sense, needs more explanation, or is just too corny and needs a serious rewrite? Allthemilescombined1 (talk) 01:48, 20 September 2024 (UTC)

It's an interesting read, but if you're going to list your favourite fun edits, it might be better to link to the "diff" where you made the edit - eg "Added that Akwafina's stage name refers to her self-perception as 'awkwardly fine'."

I'm really glad, myself, that I've kept a log right from the start of all the articles I've created and why - as you can see, it varies from "for WiR editathon..." through "to resolve a red link in ...", to "heard about it on radio, seems notable". Without that list I sometimes wouldn't have a clue why I started a stub 15 years ago for some topic. It needn't be on my user page, but I've always kept it there.

Happy Editing! PamD 20:34, 23 September 2024 (UTC)

Thank you! Allthemilescombined1 (talk) 22:15, 23 September 2024 (UTC)

Speedy deletion nomination of Category:Trinidad and Tobago writers by century

A tag has been placed on Category:Trinidad and Tobago writers by century indicating that it is currently empty, and is not a disambiguation category, a category redirect, a featured topics category, under discussion at Categories for discussion, or a project category that by its nature may become empty on occasion. If it remains empty for seven days or more, it may be deleted under section C1 of the criteria for speedy deletion.

If you think this page should not be deleted for this reason you may contest the nomination by visiting the page and removing the speedy deletion tag. Liz 04:12, 20 September 2024 (UTC)

Short Decent Stubs

Hello @PamDhow are you? I remembered you helped me with my first published page :-) Thank you.

You also said you made short decent stubs of topics and I wondered if there was a video tutorial on how to do this? I get come across lots of useful topics during my writing work but I don't have the time to do full pages.

It is really frustrating! The Nookster (talk) 09:31, 22 September 2024 (UTC)

Hallo again @The Nookster. I can't think of any particular tutorial (there may be good stuff out there but I'm not familiar with it all), but a few key points, apart from the stuff I said before, would be:

• Check thoroughly that there isn't already an article on the topic. Check variant names you find in any sources. Even if you're going to start the article in draft, act as if you're going to start it in mainspace and look to see whether any message pops up about it being deleted in the past - sometimes it'll be because AfD decided it wasn't notable, but other times because the person who started it was then blocked as a sockpuppet, or because it was entirely Copyright theft, leaving it free to be re-created. It can be useful to follow the "What links here" link too, to see if it's been discussed anywhere, or linked from other articles.
• If there is already an article at the title you want to use, work out how to disambiguate the new one, by adding "(writer)" or whatever.
• Be sure that the topic satisfies WP:Notability. Some categories of topics are more-or-less automatically notable, like members of a national parliament etc (SEE WP:NPOL) or legally-recognised populated places; there are special rules for academics at WP:NPROF; and so on.
• Be sure you have at least 2, preferably 3, Reliable independent published sources. These don't have to be online, eg if you have a book in front of you or a newspaper clipping which shows the newspaper, date and page as well as the article title, but online sources are popular as they can be more easily verified.
• If you meet the criteria, use The Misplaced Pages Library for access to all sorts of wonderful online sources.
• Even just for a stub, remember to make clear in the first sentence why we should be interested in the topic: "X (dates) is a Y-ish Z" and their main claim to notability.
• Actually, something you might find helpful is the template I use, at User:PamD/sandbox#Bio stub starter - I use it to remind myself of the basic infrastructure. "In use" stays for the duration of the editing session, and "Under construction" for up to a week if still working on it. Just copy and paste that outline, and it'll be a start.
• And write. Use surname only, after the lead; source everything; tell us why she/he or it is notable. Remember it's an international encyclopedia, so main placenames need initially to specify "England", and terms like "BBC" aren't necessarily obvious to the reader.
• If the article would benefit from an infobox, find a good article on the same sort of topic and see which of the umpteen "Infobox" templates has been used there, then follow.
• Edit carefully, check that all the links go where you expect them to (and not to a disambiguation page, or a footballer where you're expecting a physicist, or whatever), read through for typos, check that punctuation is in front of references, that you haven't used "curly" quotes/apostrophes, etc
• And create a basic talk page with a couple of relevant WikiProject banners, including the appropriate Women in Red one (if nothing specific, then WIR|293 for "#1day1woman".
• Make incoming redirects from all plausible versions of the name (married / middle / versions found in sources), to help readers and to help prevent someone else from creating a duplicate. If at this point you find a duplicate, and it's definitely the same person, then stop. Add your new content, if any, to that article. If you're convinced it's at the wrong title, then suggest a move using the Request Move process. Don't copy and paste anyone else's work to a new title. The first-created article takes precedence, even if it's poorly-written and at the wrong title.
• If your title has a disambiguation, like "(writer)", then be sure that it is listed at the basic title, whether this is by adding or expanding a hatnote, adding an entry on a talk page, or if need be creating a new disambiguation page. By whatever means, you need to make sure that the reader looking for the topic will be able to find it!

Well, I hope some of that lot helps - rather random jottings while listening to the Sunday omnibus of The Archers! Happy Editing! PamD 11:06, 22 September 2024 (UTC)

Looking at your user page : I see you're a professional "content creator", so you need to be familiar with Misplaced Pages's rules about WP:COI and WP:PAID, if you're considering editing for pay.

I see also that you've marked a lot of contributions as "minor", although sometimes they include adding new text as here. Some editors get very upset about that: minor is supposed to be only very, very, minor: slight formatting changes, very obvious typo fix, etc. See Help:Minor for more info. I don't bother marking anything as "minor", myself. PamD 11:16, 22 September 2024 (UTC)

Hello again @PamD yes I know about the paid for content ethics and agree whole-heartedly with them. I've been a sporadic Wikipedian! I love the project so much :-) It makes me really happy being an editor on here too. A real delight to see some little fact appear and help in my own small way to the knowledge bank. I hope to be able to do more when I'm old and stuck in front of the fire! Hope The Archers was good! I'm more of a desert island discs person at the moment. Thanks for the note on minor contributions. Will never mark anything as a minor edit from now... The Nookster (talk) 11:27, 22 September 2024 (UTC)

Hi @PamD thanks for all this. Hopefully I will be able to contribute a bit more in smaller chunks :-) The Nookster (talk) 11:22, 22 September 2024 (UTC)

PS Just having a good look at this and the bio stub starter is really useful, thanks @PamD The Nookster (talk) 18:12, 24 September 2024 (UTC)

Improving user page

Thank you for showing me how to add revision links to my user page! That was fun. Do I need to secure my user page from vandalism? Allthemilescombined1 (talk) 23:01, 23 September 2024 (UTC)

@Allthemilescombined1: No, unless you find it becomes a target for vandalism in which case you could ask for protection. Personally I don't see why unregistered or unconfirmed users are allowed to edit anyone's user page, but it rarely happens. PamD 20:45, 26 September 2024 (UTC)

The Signpost: 26 September 2024

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Women in Red October 2024

Women in Red | October 2024, Volume 10, Issue 10, Numbers 293, 294, 318, 319, 320 Online events: New: Women in STEM | Geofocus: Islands I-P | Women in archaeology Continuing: #1day1woman | Education (year-long initiative) Announcements from other communities October is Women in Green's "Around the World in 31 Days" Good Article Edit-a-thon Tip of the month: Unsure how to expand a stub article? Take a look at this guidance Other ways to participate: Become a member. You can always opt-out of notifications. Join the conversations on our talkpage. Help us plan future events and add any general ideas on developing the project. Follow us on social media: Instagram | Pinterest | Twitter/X

--Lajmmoore (talk 08:07, 29 September 2024 (UTC) via MassMessaging

"The center for teaching and learning" listed at Redirects for discussion

The redirect The center for teaching and learning has been listed at redirects for discussion to determine whether its use and function meets the redirect guidelines. Anyone, including you, is welcome to comment on this redirect at Misplaced Pages:Redirects for discussion/Log/2024 September 30 § The center for teaching and learning until a consensus is reached. Skynxnex (talk) 17:23, 30 September 2024 (UTC)

Zonca

Hello PamD. Would you be happy to give me some assistance here please: Talk:Zonca Thanks, Shhhnotsoloud (talk) 07:53, 6 October 2024 (UTC)

... and see here User talk:Shhhnotsoloud#Zonca for context. Shhhnotsoloud (talk) 07:55, 6 October 2024 (UTC)

I've tried! There seems to be a history of getting things not quite right around Zonca. PamD 11:12, 6 October 2024 (UTC)

Many thanks. Shhhnotsoloud (talk) 12:06, 6 October 2024 (UTC)

Elder Wikipedians

My proposal to make extensive changes to WikiProject Wikipedians aged 70 and older was a bust, primarily because many users felt that the term "Senior Wikipedian" implied a higher ranking Misplaced Pages membership. Therefore, I am making two less ambitious proposals:

Proposal #1. Change the name of "WikiProject Wikipedians aged 70 and older" to "WikiProject Elder Wikipedians".

Proposal #2. Drop the minimum age requirement to 60 years.

Please respond to Elder Wikipedians and let us know what you think of each of these proposals.
Thank you,  Buaidh  talk e-mail

If you don't wish to receive any further information about Elder Wikipedians, please remove your username from our notice list. Thanks.

MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 00:32, 12 October 2024 (UTC)