Misplaced Pages

Revision as of 19:34, 19 November 2007

For discussion prior to 1 August 2006, see the Archives:

• User talk:Briangotts/archive 2005
• User talk:Briangotts/archive 2006
• User talk:Briangotts/archive 2007

I will generally respond to comments on the commentor's talk page.

Gunnhild and a Q

Dear Brian, I will shortly have a look at the article's nomination. I am preparing a large article on rune stones that talk of voyages into modern Russia and Ukraine. It contains information on stones that refer to men who travelled to Austr, Austrvegr, to Garðar and to specific locations such as Novgorod. There is also a stone that mentions one of the Dniepr rapids. However, I don't known what would be the proper name for the article. "Eastern Europe Runestones", "Gardariki Runestones" or "Rus Runestones"? Do you have any suggestion?--Berig 18:29, 18 July 2007 (UTC)

Gallery

PS, why did you remove the gallery?--Berig 18:30, 18 July 2007 (UTC)

Malta related article at Misplaced Pages:Articles for deletion/St John's Square

Dear member of WikiProject Malta, I'd like to invite you to participate in an ongoing Article for Deletion debate about St John's Square in the capital of Malta. We'd like your input about whether the article should stay and go (and if you want to expand the stub, that would be great too!) All the best, Eliz81 21:20, 20 July 2007 (UTC)

Gunnhild

Hey, I hope I haven't been too much of an asshole over this FAC thing. I just wanted to say, because I probably haven't made it clear, that I think you've written quite a nice article even if I think there's still a bit of work to do before FA status. Haukur 23:20, 21 July 2007 (UTC)

Image:Alphonse James de Rothschild.jpg

Hello, this is a message from an automated bot. A tag has been placed on Image:Alphonse James de Rothschild.jpg, by Chesdovi (talk · contribs), another Misplaced Pages user, requesting that it be speedily deleted from Misplaced Pages. The tag claims that it should be speedily deleted because Image:Alphonse James de Rothschild.jpg fits the criteria for speedy deletion for the following reason:

To contest the tagging and request that administrators wait before possibly deleting Image:Alphonse James de Rothschild.jpg, please affix the template {{hangon}} to the page, and put a note on its talk page. If the article has already been deleted, see the advice and instructions at WP:WMD. Feel free to contact the bot operator if you have any questions about this or any problems with this bot, bearing in mind that this bot is only informing you of the nomination for speedy deletion; it does not perform any nominations or deletions itself. --Android Mouse Bot 2 12:41, 25 July 2007 (UTC)

Varangian Runestones

After having the article as a text file for weeks, I have made it into a WP article now. Any help from you in improving the article would be welcome.--Berig 21:47, 28 July 2007 (UTC)

Just checked and Gwyn Jones's book has a large section on Aldeigjuborg and other Varangian stones. I will read up and get cracking on this ASAP. Briangotts (Talk) (Contrib) 02:33, 29 July 2007 (UTC)

Great! :).--Berig 05:54, 29 July 2007 (UTC)

Sargon of Akkad

Hey their bud. Just wanted to know what are the chances of the page being in wiki's front page? Chaldean 14:45, 30 July 2007 (UTC)

RFAR

You have been named as a party in an RFAR at Misplaced Pages:Requests for arbitration#Allegations of apartheid. --Ideogram 06:12, 2 August 2007 (UTC)

I have had a long history of interaction with Ideogram. Brian, I believe you'd be better served by ignoring the baseless attacks, rather than addressing each of them on the RfAr page. --Ghirla 23:11, 2 August 2007 (UTC)

Advice about when a disambiguation tag may be warranted

Hi Brian, I am in a disagreement with a new user about when a disambiguation tag may be useful. Pershaps, you have an opinion in the issue.--Berig 17:07, 3 August 2007 (UTC)

Zog Nit Keynmol

This is an automated message from CorenSearchBot. I have perfomed a web search with the contents of Zog Nit Keynmol, and it appears to be a substantial copy of http://zemerl.com/cgi-bin//show.pl?title=Zog+Nit+Keynmol. For legal reasons, we cannot accept copyrighted text or images borrowed from other web sites or printed material; such additions will be deleted. You may use external websites as a source of information, but not as a source of sentences.

This message was placed automatically, and it is possible that the bot is confused and found similarity where none actually exists. If that is the case, you can remove the tag from the article and it would be appreciated if you could drop a note on the maintainer's talk page. CorenSearchBot 19:00, 6 August 2007 (UTC)

Military history WikiProject coordinator selection

The Military history WikiProject coordinator selection process is starting. We are looking to elect nine coordinators to serve for the next six months; if you are interested in running, please sign up here by August 14! Kirill 02:41, 7 August 2007 (UTC)

Could I use one of your maps?

Hi,

I was searching for a good map to use to show the political situation in Central Asia in the mid-fifteenth century and I came across one of your maps, Image:Hephthalite.png. I tried superimposing what I had already made over the image and it worked out pretty well. Is there any way you could do me a favor and send me a copy of this same map without the country names and Hephthalite borders? I would really appreciate your help in this matter. Thanks,

Ro4444 23:37, 8 August 2007 (UTC)

Cool, that's exactly what I needed. Thanks a lot for your help! Ro4444 22:55, 10 August 2007 (UTC)

Misplaced Pages:Requests for arbitration/Allegations of apartheid

Hello,

An Arbitration case in which you commented has been opened: Misplaced Pages:Requests for arbitration/Allegations of apartheid. Please add any evidence you may wish the Arbitrators to consider to the evidence sub-page, Misplaced Pages:Requests for arbitration/Allegations of apartheid/Evidence. You may also contribute to the case on the workshop sub-page, Misplaced Pages:Requests for arbitration/Allegations of apartheid/Workshop.

On behalf of the Arbitration Committee,Newyorkbrad 18:05, 12 August 2007 (UTC)

Military history WikiProject coordinator election

The Military history WikiProject coordinator election has begun. We will be selecting nine coordinators from a pool of fourteen candidates to serve for the next six months. Please vote here by August 28! Wandalstouring 09:08, 16 August 2007 (UTC)

Skhimar

Hello, I started the page. There is very little information about the place. Perhaps you can expand it from your sources. --Ghirla 14:50, 18 August 2007 (UTC)

That guy keeps removing links to Rus Khaganate from the article Kievan Rus. --Ghirla 16:26, 23 August 2007 (UTC)

Aesir-Asura correspondence

Just so you know, I've replied to your question on the talk page to Aesir-Asura correspondence. --Tlatosmd 08:40, 22 August 2007 (UTC)

I'm sorry, I've corrected my mistake. I'd hastily jumped to the conclusion that the bottom entry must have been made by the last edit. --Tlatosmd 13:38, 22 August 2007 (UTC)

DYK

On 25 August, 2007, Did you know? was updated with a fact from the article Jewish Orphanage in Oslo, which you created or substantially expanded. If you know of another interesting fact from a recently created article, then please suggest it on the Did you know? talk page.

--Carabinieri 16:25, 25 August 2007 (UTC)

Template:Trade route

Greetings,
I saw the expansion done on the template and thought I'd offer my compliments. Your additions have made the template much more informative.
With Regards,
Havelock the Dane 17:38, 29 August 2007 (UTC)

Thanks! Briangotts (Talk) (Contrib) 17:50, 29 August 2007 (UTC)

Text of the article

Briangotts, thanks for the encouraging response, I have added the Revision 2 August 2006 text to your new page, it should give you enough food for thought. Barefact 08:21, 1 September 2007 (UTC)

The article was deleted because it is OR. You won't find such a thing in google books, JSTOR and etc. For example, one of the sources claims Sumerian is Turkish! Ossetian today is considered an Iranian language by all academic sources as well. Basically, the fact that Scythians are considered an Iranian people is attested in any modern academic source today and is not challegened. It is not a hypothesis, but considered a fact and a major conference in 2007 was conduct recently. So to create OR and weird hypothesis is not part of Enyclopedia entry. I have notified user Dbachmann who has overseen this article. There was a reason the article was deleted in the first place. It was OR. You won't find such an OR in any academic western source. For example, note this piece of original research trying to connect the word "As/Os" with Azeri: "Note Az-eri, whose endoethnonym is Azeri". Actually Azeri is shortened of Azerbaijani and it is ethnonym that is fairly recent (150) years and takes it from the geographic region of Azerbaijan. It is not related etymologically with As/OS but with Persian Azar (fire) and ultimately with Atropates. There are reasons why Misplaced Pages does not allow original research. There are too many knowledgeable people about Scythians in Misplaced Pages, so original research will not fly and the article was deleted precisely because it was OR. Finally, there is a Scythian article and any psuedo-scientific nationalistic writing that challeges the mainstream should be discussed there. --alidoostzadeh 18:37, 2 September 2007 (UTC)

There seem to be quite a few sources cited so much of the article isn't OR per se. It does seem to be a fringe theory; as such it may merit a brief mention in the Scythian article but certainly can't be given undue weight. Briangotts (Talk) (Contrib) 14:17, 5 September 2007 (UTC)

Thanks. Actually outside of few scholars from selected countries that speak Altaic languages, all scholars affirm mainstream facts. So the theory is not even fringe, but it is non-existant. --alidoostzadeh 01:59, 6 September 2007 (UTC)

My point is to extricate myself from the article, leaving only the historical facts that are referenced, verifiable, and verified. These would remove the objections of the people like Ali doostzadeh who aim to remove the history of the theory from the public scrutiny, and present the current theory as a fact accomply. In the postings and discussions, the most authorative references were removed, presenting a distorted historical picture. I am looking for a good faith neutral editor. Thanks, Barefact 09:54, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

The alternative theory of yours does not exist in academic circles. Actually what you wrote was all OR, trying to synthesize statements from different scholars when they blatantly state the fact. As an example of your OR, the word Azeri was related to As/Os where-as the words have different etymologies all together. The fact is from the last 30 years all sources explicitly refer to Scythians as Iranians. There was a conference in europe in 2007 about Scythians with tons of articles. If your fringe theory had any support, it would have been stated there by someone, but it was not. Find some academic western scholars in major western universities who specialize on the topic that support your fringe theory. Such academics do not exist and thus we can not put your theories up. That is why your article was deleted in the first place. Just to prove the absurdness of your theory, ,John William Donaldson in 1860 affirms the Iranian origin of Scythians in his "The Ethnography of ancient Italy": The philogical study of latin language. This is 1860 way before you claim that "Scytho-Iranian" theory was proposed!(many more can be found..). --alidoostzadeh 23:19, 9 September 2007 (UTC)

The Military history WikiProject Newsletter : Issue XVIII (August 2007)

The August 2007 issue of the Military history WikiProject newsletter has been published. You may read the newsletter, change the format in which future issues will be delivered to you, or unsubscribe from this notification by following the link. Thank you.

Delivered by grafikbot 09:06, 5 September 2007 (UTC)

Franco-Mongol alliance

Hi, your name was recommended to me as someone who was one of the Mongol experts on Misplaced Pages? Do you have access to many reliable sources, specifically about their activities in the Middle East around the year 1300? We've run into some conflicting reports in our own sources, but our own books are mostly focused on the Crusades and the Arab caliphates, and none of us seem to have access to Mongol-focused books. And Google searches seem to be drawing up the pseudo-history websites, so we could really use help from reliable sources. Is this something that you might be able to help with? Any help appreciated, Elonka 16:47, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

Thanks.  :) Do you yourself have access to any of those books? --Elonka 17:58, 7 September 2007 (UTC)

Dreadstar RfA

Brian,
Thank you for your participation in my RFA, which closed successfully with 55 supports, 15 oppose, and 1 neutral. No matter if you !voted support, oppose, neutral, I thank you for taking the time to vote in my nomination. I'm a new admin, so if you have any suggestions feel free to let me know. I would like to give a special shout out to Fang Aili, Phaedriel, and Anonymous Dissident, for their co-nominations. Thank you all!

Thanks for your support! I took the easy way out of thanking everyone by stealing borrowing someone else's design...but know that I sincerely appreciate your support and confidence in me! Dreadstar † 07:08, 18 September 2007 (UTC)

Argh, it was late...and this was my fault..I accidentally copied it with my thank you card...that'll teach me to be spamming everyone when it's past my bedtime..! Sorry about that! Dreadstar † 17:21, 18 September 2007 (UTC)

No worries! Briangotts (Talk) (Contrib) 18:31, 18 September 2007 (UTC)

The Simpsons WikiProject membership update

The Simpsons WikiProject is performing a membership update to check for currently active and idle members.

Because your username appears on the members list, we kindly ask you visit this page and put your name under the appropriate section, using the code #~~~~, in order to renew or cancel your membership.

If you do not comply with any of the choices, at the end of 1 month after this message was posted, your membership will be canceled and your name removed from the list. If you wish to regain your membership, just sign in again!

The The Simpsons WikiProject team – 11:51, 26 December 2024 UTC

Request help with article Ancient Egypt

As you are listed as a member of Wikiproject:AncientEgypt, I'd like to recruit your help in reviewing the article Ancient Egypt. The article is listed as top priority in the Wikiproject and as a vital article by the Version 1.0 Editorial Team, but appears to have failed to meet Good Article criteria at its last nomination. The article is in need of some serious attention.

In the past week, I asked for (and got) the article to be semi-protected to protect against the constant barrage of vandalism. This protection lasts for two weeks. I also did a little clean-up, added a map and so on. I would like to see everyone in Wikiproject:AncientEgypt have the chance to add their input to Ancient Egypt, and get the article up to featured status as soon as possible. I believe the article is at least 80% of the way there, and some focused attention will bring it the rest of the way.

The most pressing concerns seem to be the culture/architecture section, and the achievements/unsolved problems sections. Also, the entire article, especially the achievements section, the sources, and external links need to be seriously checked for accuracy. These sections also require a little organization too.

Ancient Egypt ought to be the top priority of Wikiproject:AncientEgypt, and I look forward to working with everyone to get this article cleaned up and hopefully promoted to featured status. Thanks for your help, Jeff Dahl 03:26, 21 September 2007 (UTC)

Ebionites

The article above is currently in featured article review, based on the "quality" of recent additions to it. Your input in how to improve this article, and perhaps keep it at FA level, would be very much appreciated. Thank you for your attention. John Carter 19:18, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

Re: Image:Premongol.png

Hi Brian -- I noticed a small error in this image, & was wondering if it was possible to correct it? In the African portion, you labelled one of the countries "Axum" (apparently the precursor of the modern Ethiopia), which is incorrect: Axum vanished as a political entity centuries before, although the city/town still existed. A better choice for labelling that realm would be Zagwe dynasty -- as that article would show. Thanks, -- llywrch 17:41, 7 October 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for performing the correction. For a while, due to the silence on your talk page, I was wondering if you had decided that Misplaced Pages was no longer fun & had left. :-/ Glad to see you're still around. -- llywrch 16:01, 10 October 2007 (UTC)

The Military history WikiProject Newsletter : Issue XIX (September 2007)

The September 2007 issue of the Military history WikiProject newsletter has been published. You may read the newsletter, change the format in which future issues will be delivered to you, or unsubscribe from this notification by following the link. Thank you.

Delivered by grafikbot 09:05, 8 October 2007 (UTC)

Eastern Hemisphere Maps

Hi Brian, just wanted to let you know that I'm a big fan of the maps you've created; they help readers get a better idea of the world the subject lived in. I've created a series of similar maps, some of them using the maps you've created as sources. The maps I created can be viewed on my user page User:Talessman, and I have several others available on my personal website. If you'd like to use the original (blank) map to build yours, I would be happy to email it to you.

In the meantime, thanks for your work; it's well respected! Thomas Lessman 20:17, 15 October 2007 (UTC)

I appreciate your suggestions in response, and I went to check them out. I see that SVG format is great for maps with text, but it doesn't compress them much at all! My maps are created in PhotoShop, and the PSD files are usually 50mb. I can use PhotoShop to compress them to as little as 500kb in JPG format, without TOO much of a loss in readability for text and borders (though some of the smallest text is difficult to read, most can still be made out). Unfortunately, the SVG format barely compresses them (left me with 42mb, definitely too large to put online!). The PNG format allows some compression (down to 8mb), but that's still too large for me to put online, and I can't read them on my iPod...

Still, it was great to finally get to show you my respect and appreciation for your work. Hopefully we can both help each other in the future. My maps are available on my personal website www.ThomasLessman.com/History/, and you are welcome to use them to help further your own work. As I said, you've definitely helped me finish some of my own maps, and I appreciate it! Thomas Lessman 22:43, 15 October 2007 (UTC)

Brian, since you seem to enjoy the Talessman maps, could we try and find some sane compromise regarding their use? From the 200px thumbnail to the right, it should be obvious that they convey no information whatsoever unless blown up to at least 600px or so. I am not opposed to keeping them on articles with large scopes, such as 600s or 7th century (at least until somebody presents maps with a superior design), but I would argue that it is pointless to keep them on any random article that somehow concerns the time period in question. For Khazars, I am unable to see how Image:East-Hem 600ad.jpg adds any value at all seeing we have Image:Gokturkut.png. --dab (𒁳) 16:20, 19 October 2007 (UTC)

That makes sense to me for the most part. The Eastern hemisphere maps are useful for illustrating some of the larger empires and their places in the geopolitical order, but can be redundant for articles with more limited scopes. Briangotts (Talk) (Contrib) 16:23, 19 October 2007 (UTC)

Maybe the larger maps could be cropped for specific articles? Briangotts (Talk) (Contrib) 16:37, 19 October 2007 (UTC)

indeed: if we crop, say, Image:East-Hem 600ad.jpg to western Europe (notably also avoiding the watermark), the result will be a quite useful map that may come handy in various articles on Early Medieval topics. dab (𒁳) 18:00, 19 October 2007 (UTC)

I did this for Image:Europe 600ad.jpg, while I was at it also cropping Image:East-Hem 600ad.jpg to something more reasonable. dab (𒁳) 18:12, 19 October 2007 (UTC)

I think that is a good compromise. Briangotts (Talk) (Contrib) 18:14, 19 October 2007 (UTC)

I could live with that as a compromise, and thank you Brian for helping. I'm not sure what the problem is with the image's title (or "watermark" as Db calls it); the only reason it's there is for map identification and so that readers know whom to contact regarding any corrections (if necessary). However, as long as the maps aren't cropped TOO much (limiting to only one country, for example), and as long as the new cropped image points to the original map as reference, I can live with that, as long as he's not doing it on every page. It does create more images to upload and store on Misplaced Pages though. But it's a compromise. Again Brian, thank you for your help, and sorry you got dragged into an otherwise pointless debate. Thomas Lessman 18:40, 19 October 2007 (UTC)

Talessman, if you want people to credit you for the maps, you should release them under GFDL, not public domain; your contact information is on the image page, where it belongs, there is no need to grace the image itself with it. dab (𒁳) 21:31, 19 October 2007 (UTC)

Veropedia

Hey, I've enjoyed your work for a long time , ever since I reviewed Sviatoslav I of Kiev (still one of my favourite articles) for GA. I've recently been recruited to judge Misplaced Pages articles for Veropedia and wondered if you'd be interested in being recruited as well? Adam Cuerden 01:16, 25 October 2007 (UTC)

Move suggestion

Hi Brian! This might interest you.--Berig 07:27, 30 October 2007 (UTC)

Serious discussions about using the names Reform vs. Progressive Judaism

Hi Brian: Please see the present discussions at Misplaced Pages talk:WikiProject Countering systemic bias/open tasks#WikiProject Judaism needs help - geographical bias concerns. Your input would be greatly appreciated. (They are the result of discussions that unfolded at Misplaced Pages talk:WikiProject Judaism#Concern about duplicating Reform and Progressive labels.) Thanks so much, IZAK 09:51, 30 October 2007 (UTC)

Gunnhild Ozursdattir

Hi Brian. I have not been on wikipedia for awhile so I must apologise for missing your message on my discussion page. I will help with the article on Gunnhild Ozursdattir as best I can. King Óðinn The Aesir 14:58, 2 November 2007 (UTC)

The Military history WikiProject Newsletter : Issue XX (October 2007)

The October 2007 issue of the Military history WikiProject newsletter has been published. You may read the newsletter, change the format in which future issues will be delivered to you, or unsubscribe from this notification by following the link. Thank you.

Delivered by grafikbot 13:34, 3 November 2007 (UTC)

Massacre of Uman

Shavua` tov, Brian. Please see my note to IZAK here. Kol tov, Tomer 01:15, 4 November 2007 (UTC)

List of massacres during the Second Intifada

Talk:List of massacres during the Second Intifada Looking for outside input into a long-term controversy over the naming and scope of this list. As you participated in the afd, please help us out. Thanks. <<-armon->> 11:50, 13 November 2007 (UTC)

Mardaites, Marada

Hello Briangotts, there is a discussion of a possible merge. Since you created both articles and familiar with the topic, your input would be appreciated. — Aššur-bāni-apli (talk · contribs) 18:40, 16 November 2007 (UTC)

Torah judgement reloaded

You were once involved in the discussion about whether the Banu Qurayza were massacred based/in line with/etc. provisions of the Torah. Some editor has reopened that can and I think you may want to comment ar Talk:Banu_Qurayza#Torah_issue_reloaded. Cheers, Str1977 19:34, 19 November 2007 (UTC)