Misplaced Pages

See in the above image, I have made the background transparent (checkered background) so you can see through the white. Also notice the shadow I added to the car, it is semi-transparent, meaning it partially retains its color and partially lets some in through the background. I could have also made the windows semitransparent, but I didn't. You can also see an example of semitransparency here. The only way to make your images transparent or semitransparent is with an external editor you have to download (there isn't a way to get transparency with Microsoft Paint or any other editor that came with your Windows). An example of some programs you can download for free are image editors like GIMP (free download) or an online application like http://www.splashup.com/ (also free but you don't have to download). If you'd like to know more about transparency in general read the Transparency (graphic) article.

Also, another tip: Always save your file as .PNG not .JPG. .JPG is only for photos whereas .PNG is for anything else (excluding .SVG but I'll explain that later). PNG can be transparent, JPG images cannot and also JPG images use lossy compression (for example, in your car image, if you shrink the size down, you'll see artifacts because it's a JPG) See:

See how the above images looks grainy and how the color has blotches? Here's another example:

see the uneven colors? But if they were saved with .PNG it would have a clean crisp image even when sized down, for example:

When I edited your car, I converted the jpg to a png so it is clean and crisp. Wow, look at that, it almost looks like a real car!
This sums it up.

If you want to find out more about the differences between PNG, JPG, GIF, SVG, and everything else, read their corresponding articles and Image file formats
I hope this helps! Ask me if you have any more questions. -- penubag  (talk) 04:46, 9 December 2008 (UTC)

Thank you! I'm really glad you like my images! Now to answer your questions:

• The reason why the image was blurred was because I shrank it down to a small size and the lines blended together. Also because it's png, it does it losslessly meaning it doesn't loose any data in the process.
• I was able to find your car with Special:Contributions, the wiki way of spying on people!
• If you upload an image Misplaced Pages, as you did here at en.wikipedia.org, your image can only be used on the english wikipedia, but if you uploaded it to Commons, the image could be used on any Wikimedia Foundation page. The only downside is you cannot upload copyrighted images to Commons.
• Yes, I use photoshop for almost all my work. It definatly supports transparency (in fact, that's what I used to make your car have a transparent background.

Thank you again for your compliments! -- penubag  (talk) 05:37, 9 December 2008 (UTC)

Your welcome! Anything relating to transparency on an image editor is referred to as Opacity. If you want a transparent background use the eraser tool (for GIMP and Photoshop) and set the Opacity to 100% and erase the background. If you want it to automatically erase the entire background, use the Magic Eraser (on photoshop) and I think it might be called Intelligent eraser or something else on GIMP and click on the white background, that'll do it. Wikibooks has a GIMP guide if you need further help. See: Wikibooks:The_GIMP/Contents if you read the whole thing from start to finish, you'll be a pro! -- penubag  (talk) 05:59, 9 December 2008 (UTC)

I said above what transparency was. It makes it so the object is transparent (see-through, clear), like here and the white background on the car that I fixed that is transparent (you can see the yellow behind it). Does that help? -- penubag  (talk) 06:51, 9 December 2008 (UTC)

Adoption Accepted

Hi madadude! Thanks for the adoption. I'm chiefly interested in conflict mediation, and help with the rules generally is good. I've read (or skimmed through) some of the rules already, like NPOV and "what wikipedia is not." In the past I have mostly stuck to format/style changes, but I'd like to start contributing content. I was about to start on the List of Heroes graphic novels, but the debate on the list in the talk page was so heated and daunting that I got scared away. Perhaps you have some advice for me (or a better place to start)? I see you're involved in geography and demography, which is cool, 'cause I have some science background and can help with that. Thank you again for the help! - Fishtron (talk) 18:12, 17 December 2008 (UTC)

hi madadude! i'm sorry to say but work has really ramped up over the new year, and I can't really dedicate the time to call myself a wikipedian... Thank you for your first lesson so far and hopefully after the fiscal year has ended I'll be able to get back into it. - Fishtron (talk) 20:08, 8 January 2009 (UTC)

Lesson

Hey I'm ready for my lesson on Wikiholicism. Thanks for adopting me again.--Queenqpawn (talk) 21:30, 21 December 2008 (UTC)

The userbox is fine

Note that userboxes are often used as a way to list the members of a WikiProject (by putting a category in the userbox template, which then is automatically applied to all the userpages the userbox is displayed on).

I find this aspect of userboxes almost useless, because the organizers of a WikiProject can't remove people from the list because doing so would require removing the userbox from their user page, and editing another's user page is a sticky issue.

The volunteer list on the WikiProject page is much more useful than a userbox category, as it can be easily updated. (I routinely remove inactive volunteers from the roster).

The Transhumanist    23:20, 27 December 2008 (UTC)

And the winner is...

Highfields won. He smoked me.

I've posted the award on his talk page. Check it out!

The Transhumanist    03:53, 13 January 2009 (UTC)

When you see this...

Drop me a note.

I've noticed you've been on wiki-break.

Another fellow and I are trying to get the "demographics of" articles into shape, and we could sure use your help. This is definitely a task you could sink your teeth into.

The Transhumanist    20:49, 30 January 2009 (UTC)

Cool. Thank you for contacting me. I'll cover the details in the next section.

The Transhumanist    22:00, 2 February 2009 (UTC)

your signature...

...is confusing because it doesn't match your account name. Why not change over to an account named Madadude?

The Transhumanist    22:36, 2 February 2009 (UTC)

demographics pages

We're dead in the water on the "demographics of" page set, until we get standard headings and section leads put in place for the CIA World Factbook statistics.

Note: Many of the pages have statistics from the CIA World Factbook, but not all. We need to format those statistics - we've done about half - but the lack of a standard heading makes it hard to access just these pages with AWB. Once the standard heading and section lead are in place on the pages with the CIA stats, we'll be able to use them (the heading or lead) as a "skip key" with which to target AWB upon these pages. Once the standard pieces are in place, we'll be able to use AWB to fix the formatting of the statistics via search/replace operations and regex on those pages where they haven't been fixed yet). See the set at User:The Transhumanist/Country demographics articles.

We should just keep picking away at them until we're done. They're done up through Demographics of Rwanda.

As mentioned above, once these elements are in place it will give us something to key onto, and so it will then be an easy matter to break the rest of the chore down into simple AWB search/replace tasks (and some regex).

This is what needs to be added:

== CIA World Factbook demographic statistics == The following demographic statistics are from the ], unless otherwise indicated.

(end of sample - see the wikicode for proper spacing. Leave out the "nowiki" codes.)

Be sure to place the population chart for each country (if there is one) at the top of the section bottom of the lead section, setting it to right alignment and its size to 300px.

For an example, see Demographics of Rwanda.

The Transhumanist    20:42, 30 January 2009 (UTC)

• Please note that, beyond Demographics of Rwanda, I have already worked on Demographics of Tajikistan, Demographics of Turkmenistan, Demographics of Uzbekistan, and Demographics of Ukraine, taking a shot at standardization in line with your general guidelines.
• Another point is the location of the population chart: the chart is not based on CIA World Factbook data, and there is no compelling reason to place it at the top of the CIA statistics section. If possible, it should be placed at the top of the article, within the lead, so that it fills some of the blank space created by the table of contents and is the first thing that readers see.

--Zlerman (talk) 05:01, 31 January 2009 (UTC)

Zlerman is right - the chart should go at the end of the lead (with right-alignment) so it sits next to the TOC. I've changed the instructions above, accordingly. The Transhumanist    21:34, 2 February 2009 (UTC)

Addiction

Addictions are bad. Compulsive behaviors, that cause you to ignore the opportunity cost of your actions, are bad. Addictions are a loss of self-control. Self-control is the ability to apply strategy in your life. Loss of self-control, where outside factors completely control you, is bad. It's like driving a car with the steering wheel locked and the gas pedal stuck to the floor.

Moderation is the key. It is also a key virtue.

The virtue article lists other desirable character traits. Notice that "addiction" isn't on there.

However, remember the saying: "Moderation in all things, including moderation."  :)

The Transhumanist    04:55, 4 February 2009 (UTC)

P.S.: I used to always be addicted to a video game (whatever was the latest and greatest). I quit playing video games altogether because they are so addictive, and broke the chain. Now I see others in addiction and whether or not they'll be able to escape. Good luck. -TT

Name change

I've changed my name many times. See my previous accounts:

24.18.171.99 (through 21:19, 8 April 2006 only)

Go for it!

Go for it

Categorically speaking

The Tipster

Polar Deluge

User:Alpha Beta

True Genius

User:Pythagorus One

User:Good vibrations

Ooga Booga

Nav console

Transhumanist

Nexus Seven

AWB account

I've redirected most of them to lead to my current account.

Edit counts don't really matter, and you could always tally them up manually if you need to.

The Transhumanist    04:55, 4 February 2009 (UTC)

Outline of Knowledge / Geography WikiProject Collaboration: Country outlines

As you probably remember, last spring we started work on the "Geography and places" branch of Misplaced Pages's Outline of knowledge. (WikiProject Lists of basic topics has been renamed to Misplaced Pages:WikiProject Outline of knowledge). The geography branch is in the form of a set of outline pages including one for every present-day nation or state in the world. That's 247 pages! This has been a huge undertaking, involving dozens of editors using advanced wiki-tools.

These pages have come a long way, and it won't be long before the whole set is complete enough to be moved to article space into the encyclopedia for the benefit of all. But there's still a lot of work left, and we could use all the help we can get!

While some editors prefer to work on one country at a time, most of our team members take on a particular entry and complete it across all the pages. This has come to be our standard type of task. To facilitate this process, we apply tools such as AutoWikiBrowser, Linky, and WikEd, all of which can be used to process a large number of pages in various (direct or indirect) ways.

In case you are interested in what we've been up to, here's a progress report:

Lately, development has been slow but continuous:

On our recruiting initiative, Penubag has done a fantastic job on the images for the awards we'll be using for our project's collaborations and contests. We now have 3 awards: a medal, a trophy, and a race ribbon. They all look tight. The trophy needs a small adjustment, but other than that, all 3 award images are complete and ready to use to create awards with.

Spartaz has warned us of (threatened to take) G4 (speedy delete) action if we run a competition that resembles the previously deleted Awards Center page. So whatever we do, any contests we run must differ substantially from the methods used there.

One type of competition I've been exploring is "edit racing". I'm in the process of working the bugs out of this concept - the first race didn't work as expected - you see, because we only had an award for first place, so the opponent didn't think it worthwhile to continue once it was clear who the winner would be. And since editors are in different time zones and usually need to start the race at different times, we need to base winning on personal start times - he who completes his assigned edits in the least time (rather than first), wins. And last but not least is quality control. What good is racing if the participants' edits are ripe with errors? So I'll be exploring possibilities such as using a referee (assigned to oversee a particular race), having participants watching each other for errors to knock them back, etc. I'm not sure yet.

Rich Farmbrough has been applying his bot expertise to filling in blanks in the country outlines (the population and area entries). I'm amazed at the number of edits he pumps out each day on a myriad of projects - ours makes up but a small time slice of his activity, and yet he has saved us many hours of manual work. Perhaps we should look into how he gets so much done.  :)

Zlerman has chosen to work on specific outlines, and has taken on Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. He also has been keen on noticing and reporting design issues pertaining to the whole set of country outlines. Keep up the good work!

Highfields is in charge of capitals, adding them to all the outlines. He is also our first race winner. Check out the award on his user pages.

In case you didn't know, this project has expanded to include work on any and all sets of pages represented on the country outlines. Once the set of country outlines go live (in article space), traffic will likely increase for all the links included on them. The quality and usefulness of those pages will reflect heavily on the country outlines. The outlines, which are essentially lists of links, are only as good as the links they present, and therefore we've branched out to solve the biggest problems with those as well. So far, we've taken on:

• The creation of disambiguation pages for country adjectivals ("German", "French", "Taiwanese", etc.) We're about half done with these.
• Wikifying the CIA World Factbook statistics on the "demographics of" country pages. We've been renaming those sections to provide a key string that AWB can use for targetting (for skipping and filtering). Once that's done, we'll be able to break the clean-up down into simple AWB search/replace tasks, because we'll be able to target just those pages that include the CIA stuff.
• We've also been renaming the "Cuisine of" articles to their adjectival forms ("Chinese cuisine", "Italian cuisine", etc.), for consistency and because the adjective-based terms are generally the most commonly-used names for those cuisine types.

Blackadam2 and Thehelpfulone have been helping out with the "demographics of" pages mentioned above.

And we have a couple speed addicts (addicted to wiki-velocity, not drugs)...

Both Robert Skyhawk and Thehelpfulone prefer (and excel at) simple AWB search/replaces. Robert hasn't actually joined our team yet, but he has been helping out quite a bit from the sidelines (via the WP:AWB/Tasks page. Unfortunately, there has recently been a non-AWB chore that has been holding things up on the AWB front - an edit to all the headings which had to be reverted before too many new edits were made, because any new edits would make the reversion more difficult. The headings have been restored, so now the way is clear for AWB operations, and there are many search/replace tasks in the queue. AWB assignments have started again!

There's a similar bottleneck on the "Demographics of" pages (the "keying" mentioned above), but that's almost cleared too.  :)

With my internet access somewhat crippled as of late, I've been finding it difficult to keep up with you guys. However, I expect to be accessing a Linky-capable workstation on a faster server (I'm on it right now, as you can probably tell from my contributions list for the past couple of days), and so I should really pick up speed. Feels goooooood.  :)

Recruiting has been a bit slow (but steady), due in part to my crippled access, and because we've been waiting for the images for the awards to be completed. I expect the team to grow more rapidly as the bottlenecks are removed.

Well that's what's been happenin', and here's what's in the pipeline...

We've got a long list of entries that need to be completed across all the outlines and related page sets. If you would like to dive in with advanced wiki-tools to process this whole set of pages on one or more tasks, drop me a note!

As for me, I'm about to begin work on a set of lists that corresponds to all the standard links on the country outlines, and these will be presented on the Topic outline of countries which will be organized exactly like the country outlines. Aside from being an extremely useful navigation aid, it will allow editors to easily see the state of country coverage on Misplaced Pages - each list will be one link-set, and each list can be used with our wiki-tools to process the pages listed. I'll provide you with a link once I get up to speed on this.

In the meantime, keep in touch!

Cheers,

The Transhumanist    01:03, 6 February 2009 (UTC)

We've got a new member taking on the demographics pages

See User talk:NuclearWarfare for details.

I can hardly wait for you to jump back into this project. Once the bottleneck that he's working on is cleared up, we'll be able to do most of the rest of the reformatting work to the CIA World Factbook demographics statistics with AWB.

Will you be available for this?!

I look forward to your reply.

The Transhumanist    23:15, 21 February 2009 (UTC)

Country outlines project update

There has been a flurry of activity on the project as of late - so much so that I felt compelled to write another progress report...

More racing award graphics!

Penubag has completed 4 more award graphics for our upcoming edit races. They look great!

New outline developer

Buaidh has joined the effort to develop country outlines. Like Zlerman, he has chosen specific outlines to work on. Which ones? All the countries of the Americas!

Bots!

User talk:Thehelpfulone now has a bot, and User talk:Robert Skyhawk has requested approval for one. Work on the country outlines using these should start soon. I feel the technological singularity approaching.  :)

Regex

Several of us have been trying to figure out how to use regular expressions (regex), in AWB, and once we have done this, we should be able to insert country names into entries for all the outlines using a single search/replace regex.

User talk:Thehelpfulone has successfully used AWB and regex to complete a 2-line search/replace using the \n command.

Regex repository - please add to it!

As a reference aid, I've set up the page User:The Transhumanist/Regexes for reporting the regexes we use. Please post regexes you've used successfully to that page. That way, everyone on the team can learn from each others' successes and we thereby leverage our experience collectively. Thank you.

The Transhumanist    22:41, 9 February 2009 (UTC)

New team member

Be sure to welcome our newest member, User talk:NuclearWarfare, to the team!

See his talk page for the task he's taking on.

The Transhumanist    00:05, 22 February 2009 (UTC)

The project may be catching on. Take a look at this!

Someone not on the team has come along and moved one of the country outline drafts to article space. This is a great sign, as it means the set of pages is attracting attention.

It's Topic outline of Romania.

Please help complete it ASAP. Here's why:

It's got some awkward stuff in there, including blank links, redlinks (that need to be bluelinked by creating redirects), and apparently irrelevant entries (kept for comparison purposes, that need to be filled in with "none"), etc.

Many editors tend to remove awkward stuff instead of complete it.

We should finish up Topic outline of Romania before they remove anything.

Thank you.

Good luck.

Have fun.

The Transhumanist    03:48, 23 February 2009 (UTC)

WikiProject Alternative Music Newsletter for February 2009

The Alternative music WikiProject Newsletter Issue 23 - February 2009

"I want to find the guy that invented compression and tear his liver out. I hate it. It makes everything sound like a beer commercial." - Steve Albini Project news In Utero reached featured article status in the past month! Well done to WesleyDodds. The discographies of Bauhaus and Sigur Rós reached featured list status during the past month. Well done to JD554 and Matthewedwards. Year Zero (album) was featured on the Main Page on February 2. We collaborated on "All Apologies", Shoegazing, The Stone Roses, and The Jesus and Mary Chain during the past month. During the month of February, Augie March, Modern Life Is Rubbish, "Give It Away" (Red Hot Chili Peppers song), and The Get Up Kids were promoted to good article status. This month's "Recommended Alternative Album" is Mudhoney - Superfuzz Bigmuff (1988).

New members MikeGruz and Blackadam2 joined the alternative music fold during February. Editors User:WesleyDodds

SoxBot II (talk) 03:12, 1 March 2009 (UTC)

Country outlines project update - 2009/03/08

Things have been slowing down again, so it's time for a big push...

We've gone live

This project needed a shot in the arm. Also, its draft pages have been littering Misplaced Pages's categories for months. The time seemed right to move all the country outline drafts to article space.

WHAT???

Well, the drafts had been sitting in Misplaced Pages space for a year.

WHAT???

Development has been moving at a snail's pace and we could use the help of the Misplaced Pages community at large (who are more likely to find these if they are in article space).

WHAT???

Yes, we've gone live.  :)

This puts pressure on us to get the blatantly incomplete elements of these outlines done. The only glaring problem is the government branches sections. These need to be corrected ASAP.

I've mentioned THE GOVERNMENT BRANCHES SECTIONS many times to many people over the past year, but the problem just doesn't seem to have been taken seriously. So let me put it another way:

HELP!!! I need your help on this now. Almost all the countries have a government with an executive branch, a legislative branch, and a judicial branch. The links for these branches need to be completed for each country outline:

Here's a convenient list you can use WP:LINKY on to access and edit these quickly. Please copy the list's link to the top of your talk page so that you can access it easily.

If you spot any standardization in links, and ways we can automate parts of this process, or for groups of countries that have links in common, please let me know!

Administrative support for outlines

There has been growing pressure on me to write up the administrative pages for outlines - their instructions, guidelines, etc. Therefore, I'm now in the process of composing these. Fortunately, it is mostly a matter of gathering material from messages I've written to you guys over the past year. Still, this is taking up most of my time, and I will be buried in these for the foreseeable future.

Traffic control

The next big task after the government branches sections are cleaned up is link support for the outlines.

There's quite a list of links and notices that need to be put in place around Misplaced Pages, providing access to them to readers, and alerting editors to the need to develop and maintain these pages. This will keep our bot people very busy (and happy).

But the most important thing right now is to get the government branches sections completed. So please, put your bots aside, roll up your shirt sleeves, and start typing.

Thank you.

The Transhumanist    02:44, 9 March 2009 (UTC)

Geography WikiProject update - 03/15/2009

The award images are complete!

After months of toil and attention to detail, Penubag has completed the set of images for this WikiProject's awards!

There are five race ribbons:

There's an engraved medallion:

And by far the hardest to create, a golden trophy:

If you have any ideas about awards these images can be placed upon, and how to award them (to show appreciation and to attract participants), please let me know.

And be sure to pop by Penubag's talk page to let him know what you think of his graphics artistry.

The Transhumanist    20:57, 15 March 2009 (UTC)

The List

When a plot section is marked as too long and someone makes it shorter and more concise, don't revert it. The current revision describes the episode perfectly fine without the excessive details it had prior. The Clawed One (talk) 15:47, 17 March 2009 (UTC)

Outline of knowledge WikiProject update - 04/02/2009

Hi everyone.

Things are going slow again. Where have you been?!

Maybe what you need to get you going is a little competition...

Who are we competing with?

Encyclopedia Britannica. Specifically, with its Outline of knowledge (presented in its volume called the Propaedia). Currently, they're kicking our asses. You've really got to check out their Outline of Knowledge (available only in the encyclopedia's paper edition - not the online version).

Portals. Informally, of course, just for the fun of it. There are around 600 portals. We're about 100 behind them, with about 500 outlines. Let's blow past them and leave 'em in the dust!

Confusion in editors at large

Now that the country outlines have been moved to the encyclopedia proper (article space), recruiting help on these is of high priority -- it will soon be time to alert all relevant editors to the nature and function of these and how they relate to other country coverage on Misplaced Pages.

However, I've noticed instances in which editors do not understand the nature and function of outline pages, and complain that they are redundant to articles. Well, ya. (That's the point of an outline - to provide the essentials in a structure for greater understanding, for easy viewing and faster reading, and to provide a topical guide).

A few editors over the years have viewed outlines as redundant to portals, not understanding the purpose and scope of outlines, nor the benefits provided by their structure and standardization.

These problems of misunderstanding need to be solved before "going public", to prevent their expansion as the community's awareness of these pages increases. Consider the response we'd get now if we announced these pages on the talk pages of 500 WikiProjects, 500 article talk pages, and placed links in 500 see also sections, etc.

That could be a nightmare.

So...

Encyclopedic and administrative support

I've been working on a couple things that will help alleviate confusion and hopefully reduce the need for editors to ask questions and seek advice. They're drafts, still under construction. Please look these over and jump in and help complete them (directly or by providing feedback):

First is an Outline article draft, intended to replace the current Outline article.

Next is a guideline on the Outline of knowledge and its outline pages.

Let me know what you think. Do they help you understand outlines better and how to develop them on Misplaced Pages? What is missing? How can they be improved?

The Transhumanist    04:55, 3 April 2009 (UTC)

WikiProject Alternative Music Newsletter for March 2009

The Alternative music WikiProject Newsletter Issue 24 - March 2009

"I got a lot of shit for the Rolling Stone review of Reckoning because the guy really likes my guitar style and he wrote, 'on this record, Pete Buck does everything.' We'd stop for gas and it would be, 'Pete Buck does everything. Why don't you go pump the gas, Pete?'" - Peter Buck Project news Yeah Yeah Yeahs discography reached featured list status during the past month. Well done to Drewcifer3000. We collaborated on Liam Gallagher, Riot Act (album), Automatic for the People, Jane's Addiction, and "Give It Away" (Red Hot Chili Peppers song) during the past month. During the month of March, "Lovers in Japan", "Hello Sunshine", Evergreen, Reckoning (R.E.M. album), Love Kraft, "Golden Retriever" (song), and Delorentos were promoted to good article status. This month's "Recommended Alternative Album" is Hüsker Dü - New Day Rising (1985).

New members LizParker and Cavie78 joined the alternative music fold during March. Editors User:WesleyDodds

SoxBot II (talk) 02:15, 6 April 2009 (UTC)

Outline of knowledge WikiProject update - 04/06/2009

As the country outlines have been approaching completion and more attention has been given to the non-country outlines and the Outline of knowledge as a whole, I've run into this...

Topic lists

As you know, we've been cleaning up sets of pages the links of which are displayed on the outlines.

One of the most prominent of the sets presented are the "List of x topics" (including "List of x-related topics) pages, and they are in a sorry state.

There's actually 2 different kinds mixed together in the same set: most of them are alphabetical indexes.

The others are non-alphabetical hierarchical lists. That is...

outlines!

So, I've been renaming the indexes to "Index of x articles" or "Index of x-related articles", and wikifying them (especially their lead sections). So far, all the country-related topics lists that are indexes have been renamed. It appears the new name fits so well that nobody favors the old name over the new. It's been over a week since that was done, with no complaints, so I've started on the rest.

As for the topic lists that are outlines, those can be absorbed or merged into the OOK. Even though this would entail a lot of renaming and reformatting, and cutting and pasting, these pages might still save us some work! I'm not sure how many there are, but that should become clear once the index pages are all renamed.

Feel free to join in and help. It's hog's heaven!

The Transhumanist    04:50, 6 April 2009 (UTC)

Outline of knowledge project summary, and future direction

In response to a friend on Misplaced Pages who was wondering about how I've been and what I've been up to, I got to spewing about our little endeavor, and well, I got so carried away I pretty much told him everything.  :) The message turned out to be a pretty good summary of what we've accomplished so far and the overall plan.

See User talk:The Rambling Man#What's up?

The Transhumanist    23:07, 11 April 2009 (UTC)

Update on the Outline of knowledge WikiProject & Geography WikiProject (Country outlines workgroup) - 04/16/2009

Momentum in the development of the outlines is continuing to build, even though we haven't added any new outlines lately. Plenty of work is being done on the outlines we already have.

Keep up the good work everyone!

Inspiration!

Kudos go to Buaidh, who has dived head first into outline development, continuing improvement of the country outlines, and doing so vigorously. Take a look at his contribs. He has taken the initiative and has been expanding those outlines' design and coverage. Be sure to let him know what you think of his work!

Coming soon: the Super Huge Expansion (it will be really really big)

Excitement (mine at least) is building as we approach the Super Huge Expansion, during which notices will be placed on thousands of subject talk pages and their corresponding WikiProjects (see below concerning which ones). Though not all on the same day! - this will take place over a period of weeks or months, because it's best not to open the flood gates all at once.

The existing outlines should serve as strong examples for editors who wish to develop new outlines, and so we need to complete them as much as we can before we start to take this to the next level (in about 3 months). The rewrite of the outline article (the draft, which explains outlines in detail), and the guideline on outlines and outline development, also need to be completed before the transcendence begins. These will help guide the decisions and actions of editors, and reduce confusion.

Projected outline, at the OOK WikiProject page

What's next? Where is the Outline of knowledge headed?

Well, it will grow, to encompass all of human knowledge.

But, is there a plan?

YES!!!

Currently under construction on the Outline of knowledge WikiProject page is a version of the outline that will display links to all the outline pages currently in the encyclopedia proper, links to all outline drafts, and redlinks to all planned outline drafts.

You can help. Please place links to the remaining drafts in there (with complete pagenames so we can easily tell they are drafts). Once all the draft pages are placed, please look over the overall outline for gaps in coverage, and add missing subjects. I expect there are thousands of missing subjects extensive enough to benefit from being outlined. New subjects should be included as red draft links. Thank you.

But it's not just an editing task list...

During the upcoming "Super Huge Expansion" (mentioned above), the article talk page and WikiProject for each of the subjects listed on the projected outline will receive a notice requesting the creation and development of the outline page for that subject. Each notice will also explain how a subject's outline will integrate into the Outline of knowledge and into Misplaced Pages's navigation system as a whole.

See Misplaced Pages:WikiProject Outline of knowledge#Projected outline.

Topic lists

The nice thing about a reverse outline is that it turns up problems that exist in the publication being outlined, which provides opportunities to fix them. Since we get very little or no opposition to fixing problems even on sets of hundreds of pages, we've been plowing through them.

One of the biggest problems in Misplaced Pages that our work on the Outline of knowledge has uncovered so far is with the set of topics lists. Their titles, in the forms "List of x topics" and "List of x-related topics" are ambiguous, and they are not the most common terms for describing their content. See WP:COMMONNAME. To make matters worse, the set is divided between 2 competing types/sets of pages: alphabetical indexes, and outlines.

In an effort to sort out this mess, the indexes are being renamed, and the outlines are being reformatted and moved, or merged, into the Outline of knowledge.

So far, almost 300 topic lists have been renamed to indexes. Nobody has objected to the names chosen, but one editor has expressed reservation on the approach - he was concerned it would cause confusion by having 2 title standards in place at the same time for these. Though he himself was not confused, nor did he object to the titles. And nobody else has expressed confusion or dissatisfaction with the new titles either. It has been over 2 weeks since the renaming has begun, and since no confusion seems to have been caused, and since there is no opposition to the new names, I plan to continue with the renaming.

Also, one topic list has been merged into its corresponding outline so far: List of transport topics was merged into Outline of transport. It turned out very good. List of cell biology topics is currently being merged into Outline of cell biology (see the link dump in hidden comments at the end of the outline).

I'm not sure how many lists have "topics" in their titles, but Google turned up 788, and these appear to include the ones that have already been renamed to indexes. Subtracting those renamed so far, there are about 500 more to go.

Watching tips

I thought you might want to compare notes on the methods we use to watch over the outlines. Here's how I keep an eye on things...

My watchlist had so many thousands of articles in it that I finally just deleted them all. Now I have it set so that I have to manually add pages to be watched, and I use it only to watch trouble spots and collaborations I'm participating in.

Because I like to watch specific sets of pages at a time, I use "Related changes" on list pages. That way the results are not watered down with edits from pages I'm not immediately concerned with.

I always use WP:POP and Related changes together. With POP installed, you go to a link list, like User:Buaidh/Country outlines of the Americas, then click on "Related changes" in the toolbox menu, and then hover the mouse cursor over the diff and hist links so you can look at those without clicking on them.

It's pretty fast.

The technique turns Misplaced Pages's list system into a crystal ball.

Update Scanner

Penubag recommends Update Scanner, which is a Firefox add-on that periodically scans pages and pings you when a change is detected. You can even set its level of sensitivity for each scanned page (e.g., "ignore changes of 100 words or less").

I'd use it, but I don't have a computer.  :(

See also WP:OTS for more power tools and techniques, and User:Penubag/optimum toolsets for some more nice addons, that do a variety of things.

I'm always looking for new power tools and power skills, so if you know of any, please share (let me know)!

The Transhumanist    04:39, 16 April 2009 (UTC)

Do not read this one - The Hunt - Outline of knowledge WikiProject - 04/17/2009

While surveying libraries, their outline-related resources, and our coverage of them, I came across something funny...

What subclass is the Bible in the Library of Congress Classification?

Do you think they'd like this one at WP:DYK?

(Nope. They didn't.)     :)

Libraries

For months, I've been sitting at a terminal in one of the largest libraries in the country, and I haven't even looked around at the available resources.

Until a few days ago.

I'm overwhelmed.

When compared to libraries, Misplaced Pages is small. (See Digest of Education Statistics 2008, Chapter 7:Libraries and Educational Technology Libraries, and turn to page 617).

But is that a fair comparison?

Yes.

Why?

Because we have growth potential.  :)

And we cover everything, including libraries!

Guess what else I found?

Hunting for outlines

I began to study libraries and librarians, since they are experts in organizing knowledge. And of course I turned to Misplaced Pages to see what we had on the things I came across...

And while doing so I kept running into outlines on Misplaced Pages that are not (yet) part of the Outline of knowledge.

When I come across non-OOK outlines, generally I rename them, and reformat them to our standard outline format. But there is the occasional exception.

Here are some outlines I just added:

1. List of energy topics --> Outline of energy (it converted great)
2. List of Dewey Decimal classes --> Outline of Dewey Decimal classes (no conversion)
3. Library of Congress Classification --> ??? (no rename, no conversion)

The last 2 are outlines by their very nature, and so our standard outline subheadings didn't seem to fit. So I left them as is.

I renamed the first 2, but the last one is the name of the outline, that is, the topic itself is an outline, and that outline is presented as the article's content, so I left the name as is. For now. This needs more thought.

Of course, that's not all. Concerning those last 2 outlines above...

Alternate outlines of knowledge

...not only are they outlines, but they are outlines of knowledge! Well, the top few levels, at least.

Uh, so?

What happens if we linkify them?  :)

That is, what happens if we linkify their classifications to Misplaced Pages's outlines?  :)   :)   :)

They become alternate top ends to the OOK

Yep.

What can you find?

I challenge you to find some "hidden" outlines.

I dare you to take a look around Misplaced Pages for hidden outlines (that is, outlines not yet hooked into the OOK), and add your kills to WP:WPOOK#The hunt for hidden outlines.

My trophies are already there.

May the hunt begin!

The Transhumanist    20:29, 17 April 2009 (UTC)

WikiProject Alternative Music Newsletter for April 2009

The Alternative music WikiProject Newsletter Issue 25 - April 2009

"The other day I had these Jehovah's Witnesses come round to my house, and they tried to convince me that the Pope was the Devil's representative on Earth. So I told them that Jesus was the world's first communist. So they left. They were genuinely enraged.'" - Ian Brown Project news We collaborated on The Stone Roses (album), "Don't Speak", Indie rock, and Eddie Vedder during the past month. During the month of April, Slow Life, "Lost!", and Phantom Phorce were promoted to good article status. This month's "Recommended Alternative Album" is Stereolab - Chemical Chords (2008).

Editors User:WesleyDodds

SoxBot (talk) 10:57, 5 May 2009 (UTC)

A couple questions for you...

What are the benefits of a tree structure?

The article doesn't say.

I'm interested, because I need to explain the benefits in the guideline on outlines I'm writing. (Outlines are a type of tree structure).

I've also asked the question at various reference desks, and these threads may help to jump start your brain on this question.  :)

• Misplaced Pages:Reference desk/Science#What are the benefits of a tree structure?
• Misplaced Pages:Reference desk/Mathematics#What are the benefits to humans of using a tree structure?
• Misplaced Pages:Reference desk/Humanities#In the humanities, what are the applications and benefits of a tree structure?
• Misplaced Pages:Reference desk/Language#What are the benefits of using tree structures in linguistic communications?
• Misplaced Pages:Reference desk/Miscellaneous#With respect to the fields covered by this refdesk, what are the applications and benefits of a tree structure?

What are the benefits of outlines, over and above regular articles?

What benefits have you noticed?

How are Misplaced Pages's outlines useful to you?

I look forward to your answers on my talk page.

The Transhumanist    04:37, 14 May 2009 (UTC)

WPOOK Update - 05/17/2009 - Blockbusting!

This project needs another shot in the arm.

So here it goes...

Countries WikiProject Collaboration - Contests!

I've contacted all 59 members of the Countries WikiProject to help in designing and conducting contests for the further development of the country outlines.

You are invited too.

Houston, we have a problem

The guidelines and outline article still aren't complete.

Which means you will be needed to help explain to the newcomers mentioned above what outlines are and how to develop them.

Please participate in the discussion at Misplaced Pages talk:WikiProject Countries#Hosting country coverage contests.

The Transhumanist    22:23, 17 May 2009 (UTC)

A question for you, concerning a possible contest...

To promote work on the country outlines, maybe a contest between country WikiProjects could be run, to see which WikiProject could develop the best country outline.

What do you think?

(I look forward to your reply on my talk page).

The Transhumanist    23:51, 18 May 2009 (UTC)

Has the shit hit the fan? - WPOOK update, 05/25/2009

Maybe...

We've started the next phase

I was experiencing mental block on the article draft for "outline" and on the outline guideline draft. And this was holding the whole project back. Without these (which are intended to explain the type of lists known as outlines in detail), the danger is higher that a controversy could go the wrong way.

I requested help on them, but there was none forthcoming.

So I went ahead and started us on the next phase of operations without those 2 pages...

Our AWB'ers and I have placed about 1600 notices all over Misplaced Pages. And the plan is to place several thousand more.

This generated only one complaint, but it was a very vocal one, and attracted a few other detractors who seemed unfamiliar with the concept of hierarchical outlines and their benefits. However, just as many or more editors came to the defense of the OOK, and there was no consensus formed. But, dab is still trying to rally opposition to outlines at the Village Pump. See below...

Administrator noticeboard incident and Village Pump policy discussion

It appears that the banner placed on the talk page of the Outline of Switzerland caught the attention of an editor named Dbachmann who posted a rather forceful message on my talk page, another on WT:WPOOK, another at WP:VPP, and still another at WP:AN!

He went well out of his way to use negative hype to cause a stir.

It appears that Mr. Bachmann doesn't understand the nature of hierarchical outlines and their applications. And though he implied that he has never seen an OOK outline before, he was involved with a discussion on these when they were called "lists of basic topics".

His primary argument is that outlines are content forks of articles, and violate WP:CFORK.

But "topic lists", of which outlines are a type, have been around for almost as long as Misplaced Pages, and fall under the WP:LISTS and WP:STAND guidelines. They aren't intended as forks, as they are lists, bringing the benefits of lists to the corresponding subjects, such as grouping and navigation.

Someone suggested an MfD, but lists are articles, and are within the jurisdiction of AfD. Only the portal page, which merely lists the outline articles, falls within the scope of the MfD department.

The administrator's noticeboard was considered the wrong venue for the discussion, and the discussion was closed.

But Dab's discussion at the Village Pump is still active. Hopefully level heads will prevail there too.

Now what?

Am I disheartened or deterred? Hell no. I say "full steam ahead!"

But we really need to finish the article draft and the guideline. Otherwise there will continue to be confusion.

Over the next week or two, we'll be posting another 1600 or so notices. It's a good thing we didn't send out 10,000 of them all at once.  :)

The Transhumanist    23:35, 24 May 2009 (UTC)

P.S.: Another related thread has popped up at WP:VPR#OoK's expediency. --TT   04:29, 25 May 2009 (UTC)

Why do we have outlines in addition to...?

Misplaced Pages:Outlines was growing so large that I split this section off as a separate page.

I look forward to your feedback and improvements.

The Transhumanist    22:42, 29 May 2009 (UTC)

WikiProject Alternative Music Newsletter for May 2009

The Alternative music WikiProject Newsletter Issue 26 - May 2009

"Well, I remember hearing girls behind me in English class talking about turning 18 and being old enough to strip. It wasn't that weird at the time.'" - Brandon Flowers Project news John Frusciante and U2 were featured on the Main Page on May 2 and 26. We collaborated on The Bends, Interpol (band), "How Soon Is Now?", "Hand in Glove", and "I Wanna Be Adored" during the past month. During the month of May, Fantasy Black Channel was promoted to good article status. This month's "Recommended Alternative Album" is Camera Obscura - Let's Get Out of This Country (2006).

Editors User:WesleyDodds

SoxBot (talk) 10:56, 4 June 2009 (UTC)

Outline update - Good news and bad news - 06/08/2009

The big push continues.

And it seems to be working!

The good news is that there's growing support for outlines, and there are more editors than ever editing them!

The bad news is that the complainers are disproportionately represented on the project's various talk pages. While many editors work diligently on the front end, a handful of complainers are trying to tear down the project behind the scenes. Fortunately, barely enough supporters have been watching those pages that no consensus for moving or merging the outlines has succeeded. So far...

Big problem: ignorance of what outlines are for and their benefits

Most of the opposition seems to be unaware of the complete range of what outlines are used for. They just don't get it.

This is why it is important to complete the outline article draft. An article with a comprehensive treatment of outlines would be the perfect place to refer anybody unfamiliar with outlines to.

Opposers also don't seem to understand how outlines differ from some other page type that they prefer. Some think articles are good enough as an overview, others think portals are more in-depth, still others think categories or navigation boxes are the most efficient and useful way to organize and present topical information. Some have simply never seen an "Outline of" page before and think they are a new type of page (they've been around under other names since 2001).

If you run across anyone who doesn't understand the role of outlines on Misplaced Pages, Misplaced Pages:Why do we have outlines in addition to...? might help reduce their misconceptions or uncertainties about outlines.

On the bright side, you've got to see this...

To add the outlines and related support pages to your watchlist (takes less than 30 seconds), cut and paste them from Misplaced Pages:WikiProject Outline of knowledge/Watchlist into your raw watchlist. For a way to improve the display of your watchlist - by namespace (very useful) - see Watchlist sorter, or use the "super fast upgrade" at WP:OTS.

Or go to Misplaced Pages:WikiProject Outline of knowledge/Watchlist using Related changes (currently without the talk pages) and click on "Related changes" in the toolbox menu on the sidebar on the left side of your screen.

The big push

The big push started with about a thousand banners and notices being placed on article talk pages all over Misplaced Pages.

But it didn't stop there...

Welcome our new members...

The following Wikipedians have joined the OOK team.

Be sure to stop by their talk pages and introduce yourselves.

• Tarheel95 - going after the Main Page.
• Vivio Testarossa / Feinoha - here to help.
• Burningview - made a splash at MfD with Misplaced Pages:WikiProject Outline of knowledge/Drafts/Outline of British Columbia (see the talk page for the MfD link - lots of support there).

Enter the mentors!

I asked a bunch of mentors at WP:ADOPT for advice. Several of them answered on my talk page. Most of those who replied were happy to help, and posted some very good ideas. A couple even joined the project.

Here are their ideas, and what is being done about them. A few of the tasks still need volunteers:

• Strdst grl: Create and place project banners - already  Done
• Strdst grl & The Earwig: put an animated ad for the project in WP:BANNER - Our graphics specialist Penubag is looking into it.
• Strdst grl: Create a userbox for the project - assigned to Penubag.
• Garden: Ask to have outlines added to next year's WikiCup competition -  Done (proposal posted)
• Tarheel95: Add a link to Portal:Contents/Outline of knowledge to the Main Page - Tarheel95 is taking on the creation of the proposal
• SriMesh: Create an outreach subpage to WPOOK -  Done (invitation coming soon, see below)
• SriMesh: (Create a newsletter archive subpage) -  Done
• SriMesh: Add a feed to AlexNewArtBot to gather links to new outlines and post them on a page. Then personally invite new creators to the project. - who wants to tackle the feed?
• SriMesh: Assign someone to monitor the outlines via watchlist, and invite new outline editors to the project - any volunteers?
• Related: Create an invitation - Penubag is working on it.
• SriMesh: Create Template:Expand outline similar to Template:Expand list, which adds each outline it is posted on to Category:Incomplete outlines, where editors (who are browsing the categories) can find them and work on them - to be assigned
• SriMesh: Add the above template to incomplete outlines - upcoming AWB task
• The Earwig: "Tell your wikifriends about it" - I've told mine, have you told yours?
• The Earwig: "Collaborate with other WikiProjects" - we've been doing this from the start (each outline is associated with at least one other WikiProject).
• : move the projected outline to a subpage of WP:WPOOK -  Done

Linking to outlines has begun

To the tops of about 30 subject articles, I placed a test batch of hatnotes leading to the corresponding outlines. The hatnotes look like this:

For a topical guide to this subject, see Outline of X.(Hidden: <!- PLEASE LEAVE THIS LINE IN PLACE because it leads to the page that serves as the table of contents for Misplaced Pages's overall coverage of this subject. Thank you.-->

The rationale for the hatnotes is that each outline is a topical guide for its subject, and since tables of contents go at the front of a book, a link to each outline should be placed at the front of its subject.

Unfortunately, not all editors agree. Some of the hatnotes have already disappeared.  :(

Some past discussions pertaining to the existence or location of outlines

Note that the "Lists of topics" are of two types, including outlines and indexes, so discussions to remove, move, or merge those are usually relevant to the OOK. Also, outlines are a type of list, so discussions that affect lists in general also pertain to outlines. We've got to be on our toes!

• Misplaced Pages:Move navigational lists to portal namespace
• Misplaced Pages:Articles for deletion/Outline of Islamic and Muslim related topics
• Misplaced Pages:Articles for deletion/Outline of South Africa
• Misplaced Pages:Articles for deletion/List of basic visual arts and design topics
• Misplaced Pages:Articles for deletion/List of basic mining topics
• Misplaced Pages:Articles for deletion/List of basic management topics
• Misplaced Pages:Articles for deletion/List of basic industrial topics
• Misplaced Pages:Articles for deletion/List of basic computer science topics
• Misplaced Pages:Articles for deletion/List of basic Canada topics
• User talk:The Transhumanist/Archive 21#Question copied from Juliancolton's page
• Misplaced Pages:Miscellany for deletion/Wikipedia:WikiProject Outline of knowledge/Drafts/Outline of British Columbia
• Talk:Switzerland#Orphaned article: Outline of Switzerland
• Outline of science converted to redirect by Dbachmann
• Misplaced Pages:Village pump (policy)/Archive 64#"Outlines"
• Misplaced Pages:Administrators' noticeboard/Archive193#Shadow Misplaced Pages
• Misplaced Pages:Village pump (proposals)/Archive 47#OoK's expediency

I've excluded links to live discussions, out of respect for WP:CANVASS.

Table of contents to OOK-related stuff

Here's a directory of outline support pages:

• Portal:Contents/Outline of knowledge
• Misplaced Pages:Lists
  • WP:CLN
  • Misplaced Pages:Stand-alone lists
    • Misplaced Pages:Outlines
      • Why do we have outlines in addition to...?
      • Comparison of Misplaced Pages's and Britannica's outlines of knowledge
• WP:WPOOK
  • Misplaced Pages:WikiProject Outline of knowledge/Projected outline

Keep up the great work!

The Transhumanist    04:21, 8 June 2009 (UTC)

WPOOK advert banner under development, here's the beta...

Thank you to those who suggested WPOOK have an animated advert banner. Penubag got working on it right away. Here's what he's come up with so far:

Penubag needs feedback.

I've posted a few changes for him to make to it.

Please post additional comments and suggestions for him at User talk:Penubag#Chocolate banner.

Thank you.

The Transhumanist    02:36, 9 June 2009 (UTC)