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User talk:MacGyverMagic

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The B-day wishes I received prior to my B-Day on May 16, 2005 are located here
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  • Please report ongoing vandalism at Administrator intervention against vandalism, not to individual administrators like me.
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Welcome

welcome McGyver! I hope you enjoy your stay at wikihotel and decide to stay forever! It's free!!! lol

Anyways, jokes aside, welcome and have a great time here, Im looking forward to reading your articles.

God bless you!

Sincerely yours, Antonio Energy Bunny Martin


Reflecks 18:42, 5 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Hey McGwyver: I found you in the Recent changes page, this page had a question mark, meaning that obviously no one had welcomes you yet. Youre only the second person in two years I get to welcome aboard. I myself was welcomed by Mav.

My main subjects here are boxing and airlines. But everyonce in a while, I wander off, such as when I wrote about Menudo or Arrowhead Water or Grand Theft Auto: Vice City or anything else Im a fan of.

Thanks for your message, and God bless you!

Sincerely yours, Antonio Bolthead Martin

PS: checking your user page, I thought you'd be interested in List of teen idols, I originated the page, feel free to update it as needed.

Archives and links

(If I perform a long archiving session the page will be temporarily protected using this notice)

Longhair

I do not understand what your rationale was for supporting Longhair in 3 entirely different places, and ignoring blatantly obvious references that proved his guilt in the matter. What was your rationale for it? What makes him so special, or alternatively what makes me someone who deserves such attacks? 203.26.206.129 12:32, 24 May 2005 (UTC)

Arbcom submission for Internodeuser

Thank you for your admirable attempts at diplomacy with Internodeuser. I've listed the matter with the ArbCom in the hope they can provide some resolve. Keep up your good work. -- Longhair | Talk 15:08, 24 May 2005 (UTC)

Caulfield Grammar FAC

Hi! You previously voted to object this FAC nomination, but the article has been significantly upgraded and improved since then. I would urge you to have a second look before leaving your final vote. Thanks. Harro5 08:18, May 25, 2005 (UTC)

adam smith picture

I don't know now. It's an ancient picture ..so it's not copyrighted. What do I need to do? Thanks. RJII 15:00, 25 May 2005 (UTC)

CDVF

Hi, MGM. I saw your note on CryptoDerk's talk page, and thought I would reply for you. Having downloaded the Java virtual machine, you simply run vf.jar. The instructions are a bit buried on the page CD made! It's a fantastic program. Smoddy (Rabbit and pork) 16:06, 25 May 2005 (UTC)

Ha, I beat you to it! Nyah na ne nah na! Smoddy (Rabbit and pork) 17:30, 25 May 2005 (UTC)

Deletion

Can you explain why you deleted this? Mgm| 22:08, May 25, 2005 (UTC)

Merged into Egyptian soul

--Ron 22:11, May 25, 2005 (UTC)

On agreement...

"For the second time today, I'll have to agree with Lupo" — now is this a good or a bad thing? :-) Lupo 10:53, 26 May 2005 (UTC)

Advice on Mark Magnus

Earlier today you appropriately moved some content from the article to the talk page of Mark Magnus. An anon user, using three different IPs, keeps moving that content back into the article along with additional content that's not so great... some of it is silly. That particular content has been jumping in and out of the article for several days now. Logged in users keep removing (or reverting) it and the anon user(s) keep restoring it. I've encouraged the anon user to join in a discussion on the talk page but so far that's been ignored. Could use some advice/perspective on this. What's a good next step for dealing with an anon user who won't communicate/collaborate? Tobycat 06:15, 27 May 2005 (UTC)

Question on amino acids

On some talk page in Misplaced Pages, you mentioned you were interested in standardizing information format for amino acids including the three-letter and one-letter codes. Can you please see the question on amino acids cystine and homocysteine in Misplaced Pages talk:WikiProject Chemicals? Thank you.
H Padleckas 09:07, 27 May 2005 (UTC)

uwe kils

hallo Mac - my students exercised as oceanographers, taking code from my space preparing for a German demonstration project on virtual university, the idea of Erik Moeller (user:eloquence) of the Wikiversity for online e-teaching and e-research and I offered my cooperation as teacher and my interactive virtual microscope for a course in Meeresbiologie and Biologie der Antarktis - for that project it is important to have reproducible credentials for the teachers. We also plan to move educational content from expensive university servers to the free project (in Germany we don't even have tuition in the University) - help us - or not - I really don't care if I am sysop or not, I have that all behind me - we try to help the NeXT generation - best greetings - keep up with you fine work Uwe Kils PS we are searching for cooperators with real names 68.46.71.104 17:52, 27 May 2005 (UTC)

Re: Crisscross method

I added the image just after I put in the article. Matjlav 21:53, 27 May 2005 (UTC)

Impostor

Good catch. Since he copied my user page with a bunch of removed vowels, I suspect it's the same guy that did this, which I reverted and warned. Thanks :) CryptoDerk 22:50, May 27, 2005 (UTC)

Administrator intervention against vandalism

The idea is nice, but the title is a bit wordy. Can you think of a shorter title? If, not a shorthand redirect might be handy. Mgm| 10:34, May 28, 2005 (UTC)

Yeah, but it's surprisingly hard to think of a name that both has vandalism in the title (because you know it's going to be filled with POV disputes otherwise) and is short and pithy. There are shorthands, the obvious WP:AIAV and the shorter WP:AIV. But if you can think of a decent title, more power to you; feel free to be bold and move the page. --W(t) 12:14, 2005 May 28 (UTC)

copyvio stuff on jimbo's talk page

I dunno, it seems to me that I wouldn't get much different responses on the help desk than I get at, for example, the copyright problems page, where at least one knowlegable user didn't have a clue about the Iranian site copyvio question (not that I blame him, but someone, somewhere must have a clue). I would assume Jimbo would have a better handle on the legal issues or would know where to find info. I realize he's busy, and may not choose to take the time to respond, but what the hell? Anyway, if you know of a page where legal stuff gets dealt with by people who know their stuff, let me know. Thanks, Mwanner 14:39, May 28, 2005 (UTC)

I'll Be Sure To

Yes, I will take care of that immediately. DrippingInk 21:00, 28 May 2005 (UTC)

Thanks

Thanks! I was getting very frustrated trying to make a table... Flcelloguy 21:17, 28 May 2005 (UTC)

Question

Thanks for the message Mgm. Question for you. How do I make a disambiguation of an article? I am writing an article on person who has the exact name? Thanks. --LibraryLion 00:08, 29 May 2005 (UTC)

Moon of Endor block

Hey, sorry about the confusion there: I blocked them, then discovered you'd already done so, so I cleared my block so as to keep the block list length down (that is an issue, not sure if you knew that), discovered that had cleared your block, went to put the block back on, did it for 24 only by mistake, finally got it sorted! Noel (talk) 14:50, 29 May 2005 (UTC)

PS: I don't usually check other User_talk: pages (so that I don't have to monitor a whole long list of User_Talk: pages - one for each person with whom I am having a "conversation"), so please leave any messages for me on my talk page (above); if you leave a message for me here I probably will not see it. I know not everyone uses this style (they would rather keep all the text of a thread in one place), but I simply can't monitor all the User_talk: pages I leave messages on. Thanks!

PPS: You really ought to archive your talk page; with long pages, ever time it's edited, we used a big chunk of disk space.

Yeah, MoE was blocked when the dust settled. The problem with checking the block log before is that there's a timing window failure mode. I.e. if the following sequence happens: i) A checks the log, ii) B checks the log, sees nothing, iii) A puts on a block, iv) B puts on a block, then you get a double block. That's why I always check after I put the block on, and that's when I noticed you'd beaten me to it by a few seconds. Ideally the MediaWiki software would notice the double block, and say something - if I get time I'll file a bug report. Noel (talk) 01:24, 30 May 2005 (UTC)

Find or fix a stub

The article's contents are not different from those of Misplaced Pages:Stub, they are merely not as clear or simply not as helpful. We have been getting some very good results out of this new page. The amount of uncategorized stubs is reducing greatly and new users are overall learning the process in a much better way. Information is not being lost. It is merely being given in a better, more instructive way. If you find there is something amiss, I encourage you to add it to Misplaced Pages:Stub. I am now reverting the article to the revert state. Cheers. --Sn0wflake 16:19, 29 May 2005 (UTC)

It's ok

We all make mistakes, anyway. :) Wellmann 17:36, 29 May 2005 (UTC)

stubsensor

Are you the anon who deleted this section? If so, please make sure you're logged on, so you don't keep me guessing :) Mgm| 18:25, May 29, 2005 (UTC)

For some reason I got spontaneously logged out and I didn't realize it for a while. That was me. Thanks for keeping an eye out. Triddle 18:56, 29 May 2005 (UTC)

Article

The article will be on the inventor William Bullock. --LibraryLion 21:43, 29 May 2005 (UTC)

Leeroy Jenkins

You redirected Leeroy Jenkins → World of Warcraft, however it's been VfDed and the result was delete. The redirect doesn't make much sense, so I'd suggest replacing it with the page-deleted-and-protected-against-vandalism template (of which I can never remember the name). --W(t) 09:23, 2005 May 30 (UTC)

Purple vs. Violet

Thanks, I just changed my vote. — Phil Welch 10:11, 30 May 2005 (UTC)

Purple vs. violet

Hi MGM - No problem with improving the article, though I'm still not convinced it wouldn't be better merged or at least renamed. The confusion between the two names is one I've run across frequently (I work as an artist, so colours are my "stock-in-trade"), so it should be mentioned somewhere. Grutness...wha? 10:35, 30 May 2005 (UTC)

Signpost

Thanks; Yeah, I think I can take care of it for the next few weeks. It takes more time than one might expect to write these things, but it shouldn't be as bad in the future now that I sort of know what I'm doing. Let me know if/when you want to take over/help out again; I'd be happy to have the help. Have a good one! --Spangineer ∞ 13:23, May 30, 2005 (UTC)

Thanks for the note. Spangineer did a fine job and I'm sure he can keep it up. Writing articles can be time-consuming, and it's for you to determine how you want to spend your time. Also, I very much appreciate your helping to keep The Signpost going during my time off recently. You're welcome to come back and write articles again anytime, and in the meantime feel free to drop in suggestions even if you're not able to write them up fully. --Michael Snow 04:18, 31 May 2005 (UTC)

Re: User:Who is it?

Mine wouldn't display the diff either. This is a somewhat insidious type of vandalism, and it was the first time I've used the rollback button without really being sure that the edit was vandalism. I've been meaning to write something about this on WP:AN/I. Anyway, what he did was copy-and-paste a very large number of the contents of the page (your browser might display the diff of my reversion, since the duplicated text is only in the changes part and not also in the article part). I don't know how familiar you are with this type of vandalism—User:Beagle2 and User:Praetor worked the same way, although User:Who is it? stopped when I asked him to. If you want me to explain more I'd be happy to. — Knowledge Seeker দ 18:05, 30 May 2005 (UTC)

Vandalism by 131.111.8.101

Hi I've been doing some detective work based on a few isolated incidents of vandalism I've seen, and I discovered a vandal who uses User:131.111.8.101 who may have been vandalizing User:Chanting_Fox. I'm not sure how to go about this, but I noticed you commented on this user's behaviour a few times. I also x-posted this to User_Talk:Chanting_Fox.

  • Also note Contributions of User:Darth_Vader. According to his contributions, he modified the Palpatine page to appear like Pope Benedict. (exact opposite of the above)

My suspicion is that all of these people are sockpuppets of User:Chantin'_Fox who is operating from User:131.111.8.101.

Your thoughts? --Robojames 20:20, 30 May 2005 (UTC)

Disambiguation

Thanks for your help on the disambiguation. I should have no trouble. --LibraryLion 22:30, 30 May 2005 (UTC)


Parmesan Cheese

The pictures are pictures I took myself a few years ago. What do I need to do? I believe i hold the copyright to them, but what info do I need to put up? Sputnikcccp

  • O.k., I've added a {GFDL-self} to the parmesan pics. if you want anything else, just drop me a note. Thanks for watching out!

Sputnikcccp

Wikijunior name vote

m:Wikijunior project name Voting will end June 6, 2005 at 11:30 am EST. -- user:Zanimum P.S. I'm sure no one would mind if you moved your Ancient Egyptian outline to Wikibooks, so long as their was a clear disclaimer that nothing except the outline should be worked on, until the first issue is published.

Protecting User pages

You said you could protect my user page. I don't know if that'll block my self for editing it or not. If not, please go ahead, otherwise not. On the other hand, that nasty pic now sticks to my history. I was told that admins can delete images and afterwards they won't show in th page revision. Could you delete that image? I won't wikilink it but it's Image:123987.JPG drini ☎ 18:05, 1 Jun 2005 (UTC)

DYK Bot Ran Today

Hi Mac, Kurando-san ran the update of DYK today. Just thought you should know. -- AllyUnion (talk) 06:22, 2 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Thanks for the welcome

Hi,

Thanks for the welcome. I am presently working on the parameter syntax for the Cleanup user template. Once I've figured that out, my next task is to try the signature with timestamp option. Until I get that done successfully, my sign-off will have to be plain vanilla. I certainly hope this message shows up at the bottom of your page. The preview doesn't give out that sort of information. But, anyway, I think I'm going to like it here. Jekoko

And again thanks for the advice and info. I need to remember that the sig feature only works if you are logged in. :) I've been running between two windows, one logged in, the other not. Parameters all done for the desk. I really appreciate all your help. Jekoko 20:46, 2 Jun 2005 (UTC)

RfA on Argyrosargyrou

I've started a Misplaced Pages:Requests for arbitration on User:Argyrosargyrou. Please take a look and add any evidence you feel is relevant to Misplaced Pages:Requests for arbitration/Argyrosargyrou/Evidence. -- ChrisO 22:20, 2 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Cricket Tables

Thanks for your comment. The thing is, when I go to the pages that are still listed as links, I can't see any links to the old locations to the cricket tables. I suspect there is just a delayed caching issue. I'd be grateful if the redirect pages in the Wikipediaspace were deleting - if a problem is caused by doing this, it will soon show and I'll correct it. Kind regards, jguk 19:11, 3 Jun 2005 (UTC)

You just wait

START
SHIFT:W1RL
BEGIN TRANSMISSION
>>>
excc ïQt, píß (RV-S)rSÁçïbç, (RS)Etbjëït St (RS)rëj äpb këct. (RV-S)o'ß ïWZOríf úüQ. (CC)Mr. Kaschner 21:52, 3 Jun 2005 (UTC)
<<<
END TRANSMISSION

glycosylation vs glycation: a humble request

Do you know we have both articles? I don't quite understand the difference between glycosylation and glycation and have a suspicion that there isn't much and they could probably be usefully combined or at least cross-referenced. If you have some interest and expertise in this relatively narrow topic (not that it isnt just as interesting as HPL and EAP), I-- and perhaps hundreds of others, who knows?-- would be grateful if you could merge the two articles or else write a brief explanation of the difference between glycation and glycosylation and cross-link them appropriately. Chemistry is good. alteripse 15:10, 4 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Cricket pages

There are articles for each team and competition, and also chronological articles covering everything. Therefore the same write-up of a match could appear in 4 different articles - 2 team articles, a competition article and a chronological article. As far as I'm aware transclusion is the most effective way of doing this. Kind regards, jguk 22:06, 4 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Mediation

Hi, Mgm. No problem – do you think I was sufficiently effusive? Cheers, smoddy 22:08, 4 Jun 2005 (UTC)

There was a certain level of irony in the above statement. :p smoddy 22:18, 4 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Register account first

Then i will lose my contributions list and watch list. Kevin Baas 23:56, 2005 Jun 4 (UTC)

Mediation Cabal

Hi! I've been sort of holding the mediation line with a Mediation Cabal for a little while now. People interested in helping out watch the page and swarm to locations where there is possible trouble, supplying immediate first-aid, and trying to solve the situation, should rapid response not be sufficient, then further stages of dispute resolution are tried.

That's the idea anyway. In reality some of our longer standing or open cases are indeed on the mediation cabal page, but often enough we just pick stuff up via irc/watchlist/rc patrol whatever, and solve problems upfront before things get worse. So most of our work never shows up on the wiki.

Anyway, feel free to watch that page, help out, or better yet declare the mediation cabal obsolete so I can go do something else with my life ;-) (I wish! :-P )

Ah well, we'll probably still have to wait a little while before we can declare it obsolete, or convert it into a better organised emergency response team.

Anyway, since you seem to want to try and pick up the original mediation, that's great! Note that Wgfinley and Inter have already been doing some basic groundwork. Listen to them carefully!

Hope to hear from you (and the resurrected mediation committee) soon!

Kim Bruning 00:31, 5 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Mr Tan

I had thought about mediation, but (as the RfC, and the various Talk pages indicate), this is neither just about Mr Tan and me nor about just one article. Moreover, a number of people have tried to reason with Mr Tan, and he refuses to listen to any of them. As I said on the Noticeboard, I'd be grateful for any attempt to get through to him, but I'm now starting on the Arbitration route. Mel Etitis (Μελ Ετητης) 11:32, 5 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Seconded. I have tried mediating between them for the longest time, but Tan just won't accept the fact that (for the 10 3 {\displaystyle 10^{3}} time) his English is far below the level of other, more experienced editors, and that he cannot therefore judge the state of an article. He's been putting a copyedit template on Zanskar because "it doesn't match his style"; his edits on other articles (such as Tsushima Islands, Wee Kim Wee) are quite controversial, and, most importantly, he does not let other editors gauge the quality of his work or correct his mistakes. Nor does he accept any kind of advice, from fellow editors or Singaporeans. JMBell° 11:56, 5 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Yes, I did. But why did I find much more difficulty in associating with him than to others? You are accusing me of me not accepting the fact that my English is poor, but I did many a times, especially in Talk:Lee Kuan Yew.

Mr Tan 12:07, 5 Jun 2005 (UTC)Tan

  • I'll have to stop you all here. If you're willing to go into mediation do so. I have nothing to do with arbitration and as the notice on top of this page says, disputes are to be resolved on the appropriate pages -not here. Mgm| 12:14, Jun 5, 2005 (UTC)

Mediation reforms

If you haven't already done so (and I've not spotted it), would you like to create a page outlining your ideas for reform of the MC? I'd like to join such discussions, but see no central place to do so. Dan100 11:36, Jun 5, 2005 (UTC)

Misplaced Pages:Mediation (2005) Kim Bruning 13:57, 5 Jun 2005 (UTC)

I think the balls in your court now really - your ideas are good, you need to move things on to the next stage now. This is a golden opportunity! Dan100 11:10, Jun 6, 2005 (UTC)

Re: Furry / Furry fandom mediation request

Hi, thanks for the reply, and sorry for my carelessness. I had hoped that by making a request it would ease the tension regarding the issue and that the User:Almafeta would be willing for a third party mediator too, but it looks like the situation (at Talk:Furry) has gone - as I feared - genuinely out of hand. The anonymous user and Contie appear to have calmed down, but Almafeta is now personally attacking the user:Krishva, tracking down her activities, and accusing not only she is trying to "delete every single Furry-related page on wikipedia" and that I, Krishva and user:Stiv are the same user (it's very hard to be in America and Malaysia simultaneously). I've asked for user:Almafeta to agree to the mediation a few minutes ago, and I'm loath to request arbitration as that would be the last resort. What do you advise in this situation? Thanks! -- Grumpyhan 12:52, 5 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Re: Template

For an explanation on how I visioned it, see User:Inter/Mediation policy. See [[Misplaced Pages:Mediation (2005) and Misplaced Pages:Mediation Cabal on how it turned out. :> I am currently on exam leave still, things to sort out and stuff, but when I am fully back I will resume the work to change the medcom into something else (or remove it) as it is currently inactive and inefficient. Hope this answers the question. Inter\ 14:57, 5 Jun 2005 (UTC)

It didn't really fail, it just hasn't been done alot with because of people working on it, like myself, have had our exams. I haven't fully returned to Misplaced Pages after that onslaught so I'm not fully up to speed yet. I saw your proposal at the ArbCom RFC and I will make a comment there probably. Some of us have worked quite hard for something that didn't really come into frutition because we aren't sure if we wanted to throw out the MedCom altogether or restore it. It is a drastic measure, but since you have taken the initiative, I'll be happy to assist as I have talked with many people about a change to MedCom and have come up with some preliminary guidelines. Inter\ 19:34, 6 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Sorry

I posted a message on user's discussion page , so whats wrong with that ? Farhansher 20:41, 5 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Houston Chronicle

Thank you for offering mediation. If you think it can accomplish something then I won't object to your assistance. I remain dubious that Katefan0 will contribute productively to this process, having tried repeatedly to find grounds for agreement with her to little success. I believe I have been reasonably flexible to date in accomodating some of her requests and the requests of others, but the remaining issues that I outlined on the mediation page have seemingly come to a standstill.

If it helps any for background on this dispute, my own perspective is one that is critical of the Houston Chronicle, though I've attempted at all stages to thoroughly source and document the critical material. Katefan by contrast has a very strong POV in favor of the Chronicle - she claims she used to be employed with them even - but unfortunately does not seem to recognize that she writes with a bias of her own. Hence she sees everything I do - no matter how thoroughly sourced it is - as "unfair" or "biased" and POV while everything she adds has the effect of making it "neutral" even though in fact most of her changes insert strong biases in the other direction.

The dispute to date has had a couple other participants as well. Based on his edits and comments on the discussion page, User:Nobs seems to favor my side of the argument over Katefan0's. User:Johntex tends to favor Katefan & was specifically recruited by her to lend favor to her arguments. She also recruited User:Willmcw into the discussion, apparently knowing that I have sparred (albeit on mostly friendly terms) with him in the past on other articles. Given this it is also my belief that Willmcw has little genuine interest in the subject matter of this article (as well as virtually zero familiarity with any of the issues of contention) and is only attracted to it because of me. He has a bad habit of following myself and some other editors around wikipedia trying to cause trouble or undo additions we've made to various articles regardless of the subject. IOW, virtually every single time I've gotten into a conflict with another editor on wikipedia about an article's content on any issue whatsoever Willmcw's shown up in short order to espouse the side of the other guy. Normally he either misreads one of the existing sources on the article and changes the article to reflect his misreading, only to be corrected and concede the error, or he tries to make edits that make for awkward article texts such as removing acknowledged and self-evident facts, e.g. "the sky is blue," for want of a "source" (and then only a source of his liking) specifically stating that the sky is indeed blue. It's largely deconstructive and normally accomplishes nothing for the article that doesn't get restored in short order. In most of his edits on the Houston Chronicle, this seems to be another such case of what I just described. Anyway, that more or less summarizes things to date & if you have any questions or suggestions I'd be happy to hear them. Thanks. Rangerdude 22:25, 5 Jun 2005 (UTC)

  • Mgml, in response to your proposals, I am glad to agree. Here's to an eventual resolution. I do have one concern -- there have been several other editors who have been engaged in the disagreement on various sides, primarily (User:Nobs, User:Johntex and User:Willmcw); would the editing hiatus also apply to them? Happy Friday · Katefan0 18:36, Jun 10, 2005 (UTC)
Don't mind at all if it's a public talk page. Probably easier to keep track of things that way anyway. Thanks again. · Katefan0 18:44, Jun 10, 2005 (UTC)
Please note that Nobs, who I mentioned above, also edits under User:Nobs01, which he's been using today. · Katefan0 20:15, Jun 10, 2005 (UTC)

Re:User:Grutness/Grutness non-article

Thanks for keeping watch for vandalism over my pages, but in this case...

I find it hilarious that I write an article about myself as part of my user pages (not as an article in Misplaced Pages), and it was suggested it lacks sources. Note the edit summary comment that "the quote from my cats needs sourcing"! It's a fun addition, and I don't mind it - punctures any ego build-up nicely too.

FWIW, I only wrote the page there after realising (on vfd) that I met many of the notability standards which are used to judge vfd candidates. I did it as an exercise, and have no intention of putting it in the Misplaced Pages article space. I am mentioned by name in one Misplaced Pages article (University Challenge (New Zealand)), but there's no redlink, nor do I think there should be. Grutness...wha? 01:06, 6 Jun 2005 (UTC)

A few more newbie questions

I've been poking about, learning more, editing here and there, having fun. However, I have three questions that remain unanswered. I'd appreciate any info you can provide.

1) What is the policy for removing a cleanup or other template after you've finished an edit?

2) Aren't the cleanup templates supposed to go on the respective talk pages, not on the article itself?

3) Why are the only dated cleanups for September 2004 and May 2005?

Thanks in advance, Jekoko 20:20, 6 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Whoa, you are one prompt person!

Thanks for clearing up my questions. The search I did for "CleanupDate" only gave me May 2005, not all the rest. I figured I had to be missing the rest of the year somewhere. They are all at the top of the WP:CU page you directed me to. :) Many thanks! Jekoko 20:43, 6 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Mediation

To quote Ed Poor:

If you DON'T leave a message at my talk page or send me an e-mail, Then I am NOT going to take on a Mediation. I want the "chairman" or whatever we call him or her to assign cases. I'm not going to volunteer.

Andre (talk) 00:50, Jun 7, 2005 (UTC)

Mgm, in case you missed my message above (apologies for posting twice if you did not!):

I think the balls in your court now really - your ideas are good, you need to move things on to the next stage now. This is a golden opportunity! Dan100 11:10, Jun 6, 2005 (UTC)

And if you have another look at the MC page, you'll see that your clear to become Chair :-) Dan100 09:23, Jun 8, 2005 (UTC)

My FPC

Thanks for your comments at the FPC page on the Medal of Honor flag. I am writing to you since you provided mostly constructive criticism on my nomination of the image. I asked before if flag images could be nominated, and I got a response saying it could, but it will be tough. The user based it on a coat of arms image that failed to be featured. I thought I give my image a shot, and well, I know that I will lose this one. I will try better next time, unless the main objection is that it is just a drawing. If so, that is what is killing me. The image, though I drew it, technically is PD-USGov, since it is an image of a flag issued by the US Government. It was going to be used at two articles, but the Medal of Honor flag article was merged to the original Medal of Honor article. Plus, the image is at the Commons, so it clears that hurdle. Though I wish to stop ranting now, thanks again for the kind remarks. Zscout370 (Sound Off) 01:54, 7 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Mediation request

Hi Mgm, thanks for your note. I don't believe that mediation would be appropriate in this case (and I also thought there was no mediation committee at present). The editor seeking it is User:Baxter2, also editing as User:Baxter3, and User:68.10.35.153. He's almost certainly Bill White, the subject of the vanity piece he created at Bill White (activist). I haven't looked at the page today, and so I don't know whether he's reverted to his old version, but if you read the introduction of my last version, you'll see who he is. In brief, White is a far-right, anti-Semitic activist, associated with Stormfront and a number of other white-supremacist groups, and he wants to exercise editorial control over his WP entry. In particular, he wants to use the page as a repository for over 100 article titles he says are about him (though many are not); and he's linking to the WP article on his own website, calling the WP article "The Bill White Article Collection". He's being opposed by several editors on the page; the only one supporting him when I last checked was Sam Spade. The aim is to re-write the page so that it's fully sourced, which will take a couple of days. SlimVirgin 21:28, Jun 8, 2005 (UTC)

Sorry, I forgot to address the removal of what he's calling sources. I'm not aware of his having provided sources for anything. When I first looked the article, it was entirely unsourced, except for this very long list of articles at the end, not linked to, and not identified as references or sources; and many of them had nothing to do with him. So either he doesn't understand what a source is, or he's playing games. SlimVirgin 21:30, Jun 8, 2005 (UTC)
I saw this matter on User:SlimVirgin's page. I was the editor who first complained about the lack of sources for this extensive, detailed, and favorable biography. The response was 100 sources, most of which are newspaper mentions that not available via internet. This editor has been aggressive in dealing with editors who do not share his POV. In his short editing career he has issued numerous threats and complaints: on talk pages, VfDs, and on White's website. He has created a number of articles about associates of White's, which were initially unsourced and without indication of notability. When I nominated a few of them for VfD the editor in question responded immediately by attacking my motives. (He later added more information and sources, some of which appear to be unsupportive). All of which is to say that this is not just a two-editor dispute. If there is mediation as well then I would like to be a part of it. However this may be more of an "RfC" situation (which is what we've done for the article). It seems precipitous to call for mediation after only a couple of days of editing, just on the basis of an experienced editor removing an extraordinarily long list of references. Of course your involvement is welcome in any capacity. Cheers, -Willmcw 23:11, Jun 8, 2005 (UTC)

MGM- here are some diffs and a link to a new essay/blog by White. I don't want to overplay these threats - they're certainly mild and/or indirect. My point concerned how rapidly the editor started making threats and complaints. I agree that small-"m" mediation is best as early as possible. Capital-"M" Mediation is different, in my mind. Cheers,

krill

hallo mgm! thank you for your responses and time. Sometimes the art is to make information short, with pointing to larger volumes. Where are the rules how much media should be used in a wikipedia article? Space is on the harddrives enough. "An image says more than a thousand words". The article was once longer - I could have easily dumped text from scripts I still have from the times I lectured at the universities about krill or pasted from the 150 pages from articles with my students given at wikisource, but we wanted to keep it here condensed. The images and animations are considered as additional already, nobody is forced to scroll down on the page - as far as we know, the upper part of the page is formatted ok - otherwise please help us - keep up with your fine work and hallo to the Netherlands (I am from Flensburg) and good luck with your chemistry studies Uwe Kils 15:00, Jun 9, 2005 (UTC)

Guten Tag mgm! Danke für den Kommentar - in Allem ist persönlicher Geschmack - und wir können alles diskutieren, über alle Grenzen und Alter hinweg - ich werde Eure Hinweise hier besprechen. Ich hab schon etwas mehr Text hineingetan. Ist ja auch nur ein Versuch, und Diskussion ist immer gut - viele herzliche Grüsse über den Atlantik Uwe Kils 22:49, Jun 9, 2005 (UTC)
Please note that most Dutchmen don't speak German particularly well. German and Dutch languages are related, but not enough for it to be mutually understandable. Mgm| 04:50, Jun 10, 2005 (UTC)
sorry - but you have on your user page a tab that you do speak German - was not so important anyway, I just tried to be friendly and cooperative - I contribute much more n the Englishserverside than on the German, but I note what you wrote Uwe Kils 12:06, Jun 10, 2005 (UTC)

German

Don't worry about it. I do understand German myself, but I prefer English or Dutch communication. So you don't need to talk German unless it's easier for yourself. Mgm| 12:17, Jun 10, 2005 (UTC)

thank you, I was invited into the USA because our works on the hatching web, so I do speak some English - would you be willing to serve as student on a board for our Virtual_University proposals? We plan it to be within wikipedia (priority if wanted) or as fork in wikinfo or a new wiki forking off Uwe Kils 13:02, Jun 10, 2005 (UTC)
can you protect for us http://en.wikipedia.org/Antarctic_krill/ice for a demo please Uwe Kils 14:50, Jun 10, 2005 (UTC)
thank you, that is ok with us. We changed it to http://en.wikipedia.org/User:Kils/Antarctic_krill/frozen can you protect that please Uwe Kils 18:07, Jun 10, 2005 (UTC)

Houston Chronicle Mediation

I've heard you were involved in a content dispute on this page, so I'm asking you if you'd be willing to talk about your views on the matter to help mediation. Please indicate if you are willing to do so and promise the follow these rules.

  1. You won't edit the article while mediation is ongoing. Suspected sockpuppeting should be reported to me personally for investigation.
  2. No comments aimed at the other party or their edits should contain loaded language that can be construed as offensive or otherwise hurtful.
  3. Mediation should be done in good faith without regard for previous editing behavior.
  4. Comments should be made about the other person's edits and not them as a person. If possible you should try to bring sources to the table which I can review.
  5. If, somewhere along the way, you think there's a possibility to reach an agreement on any of the disputed points, let it be known as soon as you can.

Please respond on my talk page as soon as you can. -- Mgm| 18:49, Jun 10, 2005 (UTC)

I'd be happy to participate in Mediation (capital "M" this time) if the other key editors participate too. Thanks for getting involved. Cheers, -Willmcw 22:44, Jun 10, 2005 (UTC)
I'm somewhat agreeable to mediation with a couple caveats. I do not agree that the article should be closed from edits during mediation 'as long as 3RR violations and other "revert war" situations do not arise. Halting all edits entirely IMO constrains the use of the editing mechanism towards a working solution and restricts the debate to two stagnant previous versions. Furthermore, while I am open to outside or public participation in this dispute, I would prefer that it focus primarily upon the differences between myself and Katefan0 regarding the section in question. As I detailed to you previously, I have strong reasons to doubt the motives of certain participants in this particular dispute and believe that their immediate involvement would be generally deconstructive to any attempt at resolving the primary disputes between myself and Katefan. Thanks again. Rangerdude 02:18, 11 Jun 2005 (UTC)
    • I would prefer to have editors agree not to tinker with disputed sections in question while we work on an agreement in the talk pages. That's the standard way of proceeding with dispute resolution. Otherwise we'll just end up edit warring. · Katefan0 14:02, Jun 11, 2005 (UTC)
      • I disagree. Misplaced Pages already has policies such as 3RR to inhibit edit wars. If these are violated then a basis for halting changes may exist, but so far they have been followed. Furthermore, I am of the belief that halting edits will restrict the discussion to two previous stagnant versions of the text. Since Katefan0 is espousing a fairly absolutist position that her version should be substituted in full, halting the editing process could restrict our options and unduly advantage that substitution. Rangerdude 14:33, 11 Jun 2005 (UTC)
        • That's what mediation is for. We can work toward a resolution in a talk page, modifying text until we both agree. There's no reason to, while we are working on disputed text, simply paste something into the live version that we all perhaps can't agree on. This seems imminently sensible to me. · Katefan0 14:55, Jun 12, 2005 (UTC)
          • I don't object to developing a working version in the mediation page. I simply don't see anything to be gained from restricting the regular page as well beyond what already exists under 3RR and other related "revert war" policies, which have not been an issue despite the dispute. I will voluntarily agree to keep my edits to existing texts to a minimum during mediation excepting extraordinary unforseen circumstances, but I do not believe a bar on edits should be firmly imposed for the reasons mentioned previously. Rangerdude 19:39, 12 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Is this mediation going to happen or have some editors vetoed it? I see that the article is being very actively edited. Thanks, -Willmcw 21:12, Jun 13, 2005 (UTC)

krill

Dear mgm, I addressed the objections that were raised, thank you very much for the advice - it would be nice if you would take another look at Antarctic krill - best greetings Uwe Kils 03:55, Jun 12, 2005 (UTC)

Edit war on Zanskar

Hi Mgm, was wondering if you could do us a favor. Mr Tan is trying to copyedit Zanskar even though there is no problem with the article. I, along with another user, have tried to talk him out of this, showing that Zanskar has no apparent or immediate problems in grammar, spelling, or style, and also that this editing spree of his might only introduce errors into the document, as his previous edits on the article have proven. We suggested that he make a draft of his version, but he refused, saying that he saw the need for a draft unnecessary, and proceeded to put up the cleanup tag on the article. Moreover, he has not listened to our requests, and now is accusing us of not listening to his requests. To give him time to understand the situation, I have broken off communication with him until he can comprehend the situation. Alas, it seems that he is also ready to participate in an edit war:

"You want edit war? Go ahead."; "But if you do not co-operate, I have to indulge in an edit war, ..."

He wants to act like the Godhead here:

"We have already come to a stage where you have to obey me, not the reverse in this article."

We have, however, never forced him to do or not do anything. If you want a small sampling of his edits, I'll refer you here.

For the sake of our poor readers, I'd like this page to be protected. Thanks. JMBell° 15:49, 12 Jun 2005 (UTC)

P.S. Some help with Mr Tan would be appreciated too, if you have the time and patience. :)

User name

Hi Mgm! Thanks for your quick reply at Help desk. I'll really ask a developer if anything can be done as to this unfortunate name (Eleassar). But now I see that different developers have different accesses. Whom do you suggest me asking? If for example I asked Angela, do you think she would be able to help? Thanks and happy wiki-ing! --Eleassar my talk 20:30, 12 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Zanskar

Firstly, I am here to thank you for your page protection. While I am already very angry for Bell treating me like a dirt on his last comment on Talk:Zanskar, I would be very grateful if you can give me your attention to let me elaborate on my reasons:

Although technically there is no problem with the grammar, I am not satisfied with the styling in contrast to average Misplaced Pages articles in retrospect to Misplaced Pages:Guide to writing better articles.

However, to my horror, they told me in "retaliation" by saying that it is perfect; so I ask if it is fit enough for Featured article candidate, but they did not respond. If you notice, much of the facts, didtantly related, are clumped into one, large, single paragraph which wasn't their style on copyediting Kinnaur.

I have also suggested a draft; but on consideration a draft may not work well because I am doing content restructuring. Coming to the reason of why I said that "We have already come to a stage where you have to obey me, not the reverse in this article.", I need their co-opeeration to let me do whatever I like to the article for the time being, because as you can see, both parties; while JMBell has suggested that I should not edit; I objected; and we fought.

So, I came to this conclusion that I need their co-operation for them to listen to me; not the reverse; otherwise everything will get stalled up, and this is what happened.

Also, as you can see, Bell stated that "And if you don't want to start an edit war, don't revise anymore. Fair warning again.". To me, this is a way that Bell is trying to threaten-dictate me, and I do not like that, for I myself already know that we have reached a stage where things can only work where I need their attention. However, I stated "You want edit war? Go ahead."; "But if you do not co-operate, I have to indulge in an edit war, ...", for I do not want the article to be in such a state. I really want things to work as they are, so I have to reassert them mentally, for I realise that have been forced to the only way out.

MGM, I would appreciate that we can go through a person-to-person discussion concerning Zanskar. Thanks.

Mr Tan 05:40, 13 Jun 2005 (UTC)

G'bye, everyone. And for the record, I am very particular about human rights and equal justice so what he's saying is rubbish. JMBell° 06:34, 13 Jun 2005 (UTC)

You better shut up, Bell, for I am not a doll which you can treat me or scold me in anyway you like. I am serious on the article, and I want a civil discussion.

Mr Tan 11:41, 13 Jun 2005 (UTC)

I am very happy and grateful at your attitude in contrast to the article. However, I would like to inquire how should I give you the list of edits that I would like to made, for I apologise I do not know how to do it. Or I suggest a draft which is less troublesome---but I do not trust it for the intereptation level is lower but more convinent, which is the source of our poor misunderstandings--I am sorry for my comprehensive skills are not very good.

Or I directly edit on the page itself, without interruptions within a scheduled period of time and that was what I proposed to do. But Bell and Mel misinterpreted it as me trying to take control of the article, firmly stating that my English skills three months ago proved to be very poor. But a person three months ago need not necessarily be the same as of today!

Also, I would be very happy if you can fix a scheduled dateline somewhere within a week from now, for I really needs this batch of time to sort things out.

Mr Tan 12:00, 13 Jun 2005 (UTC)

JMBell

Now, now, that isn't very nice, you know. You could get banned for such language. And why do you think I'm treating you like a doll? Am I doing anything inconsiderate, because if I am, I am not at all aware of it. In fact, I have always made use of civility and good nature in my dealings with you, and now you're telling me this?
And how did you ever come to the conclusion that I take this matter as a joke? How? I am and have given you perfectly reasonable and civilized answers, unlike you; your statements sometimes come very close to sounding like orders. I, being responsible for the outcome of your (your and Mel Etitis') debate and the article, cannot allow you to carry out so drastic a change without first allowing other editors to view your intentions. Your refusal to make a draft is outright preposterous - you only need to right a draft, which will end this whole war, and not persist in editing something which you cannot edit - yet!
I have always been very level-headed and reasonable with you, but now, my patience is running out. Please do this for all of us so that we can get this over and done with. And please don't say that I should cooperate because I am cooperating. You are, in fact, not.
I will ask for mediation, if you don't mind. Now I must go. JMBell° 12:13, 13 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Can you please look through the last two comments you posted? I have no time to quarell over this trival matter. Also, your hard-headed nature (shown in refusals to edit) the Zanskar page lack co-operation. I apologise if there is a contradicting policy in retrospect to my above statement. Goodbye.

Mr Tan 03:08, 14 Jun 2005 (UTC)

User:Humanbot update 13 June 2005

The spelling2 project (to work on secondary namespaces) was opened and finished. Progress charts will be available soon.

Version six-three tracks who made the edits, and rankings are available. Much of the work was done while I was asleep, explaining my low place ;).

The next project, which may even be released today, will probably fix incorrectly capitalised headings, particularly "See Also" and "External Links".

The mailing list has grown to 24 people and while that is very nice for my ego, it is rather difficult to send out updates. This is why I did not send out a notice that the spelling2 project had opened. From now on, then, you must watch User:Humanbot/announce for updates. r3m0t 12:04, Jun 13, 2005 (UTC)

King Rising Levitation

Hey Mac :)

creative work by an individual, yes, should be protected. if you take a look at the history of the page, you'll see the anon, which I presume is User:Ilovemagic, cited this link as the copyright violation, which is a promotional dvd on sale for the King Rising Levitation trick. It seems to me that the anon is trying to make his sales not suffer. Unless, the anon IS Cory King, which the article cites as the original creator. Furthermore, the copyright law does not apply when someone, who has understood the mechanics of the subject in question, discloses or discusses those mechanics, ie, the copyright law is not a Non-disclosure agreement.

Now, I understand that there's a fair amount of competition between illusionists and each illusionist is trying to keep his or her secrets, well, secret, but this is not a violation of copyright law, mostly because the original author does give credit to the man that created it.

Thanks for replying :)

Project2501a 12:32, 13 Jun 2005 (UTC)

To me it seems unfair, to make a product freely available when people should actually pay for the secret.
Bill agrees with you :) So, let's close down wikipedia and let's all move to Encarta, so we can have the privilledge of paying for editing their articles :D And while we're at it, let's conjure fireballs against the evils of Linux, because, you know, it's Free as in beer and Free as in freedom! you know, there's this commercial operating system called Windows and we should all run it and we should all pay for the priviledge of running it because it's a recent commercial product that does a lot of magic - poorly. :). I'm not trying to be cynical here, I'm just just trying to show you the computer analogy.
I deduct from your username that you are an illusionist yourself, or deal with magic trics one way or the other and trust me, I do sympathise, because I do know what it feels like when someone steals your work and presents it as his/hers. That's why I develop Free software and not Closed source software: No secrets, no worries, no bull like this to work with, open market and meritocracy at its best. If you got the skill to pull of wizardry, go ahead, nobody is going to stop you, but if you try to copy somebody else without giving him proper credit, you're SOL and someone will call you on your bull :)
furthermore, the magician's oath is a guild oath. Much like Masonic oath, it has no binding legal value. Thanks for replying :)
Project2501a 16:17, 13 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Operas by title

Since you participated in discussion on Misplaced Pages talk: WikiProject Opera, I thought I should let you know that the category is now up for deletion on WP:CfD#Category:Operas by title. Cheers. --BaronLarf 12:44, Jun 13, 2005 (UTC)

Sneaky user...

Hi there, I see you're an admin and you're online at the minute, so could you have a look at User:SIimVirgin (note the captial i), I don't know what they're doing, but I don't think it's very good... Anilocra 18:05, 13 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Good stuff. You might also want to look at User:AniIocra :) (I've never been impersonated before). Anilocra 18:15, 13 Jun 2005 (UTC)
Thanks! Anilocra 18:17, 13 Jun 2005 (UTC)
I'm about to call it a night, but thought I should also point out User:MacGvyerMagic...! Anilocra 18:23, 13 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Vanessa Blue

Thanks for the note. I wasn't too concerned about it being speedied -- though I would have voted "expand or delete" instead. I'm not exactly an expert on the subject so I'm not really qualified to write an article. I just wanted to note in the VFD that actors in her profession have articles so I wanted to make sure the speedy didn't occur simply because of the subject matter. Deleting (even speedy) due to lack of content, plus there was POV in what little content there was, is fine by me. Cheers! 23skidoo 23:19, 13 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Zanskar

Having forced to no other way out by time and social circumstances, I think the draft is the most viable solution. Just to inform you about my new plan, please take a look at it again when I finish. I will tell you then and there. Thanks.

Mr Tan 07:19, 14 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Magic trick

I'm no expert at IP law, but here's my best shot:

  • I find it unlikely that you could copyright a magic trick. "Methods" and "procedures" are the sorts of things covered by patents primarily. There are some possible exceptions to this: you can trademark your very-individual personality if you are a celebrity (in a sense), and I bet you can claim copyright on certain types of performance art, but I don't know how strong the claim would be. Or, put more strictly in the way copyrights work: if you performed a trick, and somebody else watched you do it, and then goes on to perform the trick and their own show, could you sue them for infringement? Maybe, but I'm doubting it would hold water. If you wrote it down, and then sued them for following your directions? Most definitely not.
  • Could you patent a magic trick under U.S. IP law? It probably depends on the trick. You can patent business methods, you can even patent general concepts (there is a famous "bad patent" called "Method for swinging on a swing", which is a way to use a swing, a not very original one at that). If you called it, "Method for producing an illusion of X and Y", would it be too different from the fellow who (no doubt) patented the method of producing 3-D comic books by interspersing different layers of red and blue? I doubt it. If you called it, "A wonderful magic trick," I bet it would get rejected. A lot rides on the language.
  • You'd have a much better time if it involved some sort of apparatus, I think. There are patents for magic tricks of this sort, such as this one for some sort of "vanishing effect" trick. Look at the way the "claims" are presented -- I can easily imagine something worded in this fashion for even a card trick. Of course, you'd have to prove that nobody else came up with it first ("prior art"), but assuming you've done your research that shouldn't be hard, if it is truly original and not too similar to other tricks.
  • One could interpret most magic tricks of the past as having fallen under the domain of IP law known as trade secrets -- which is to say, you don't get any monopoly on them, but you also never have to tell anybody how they are done! Filing a patent on a magic trick would require full disclosure of the trick.. and what's the fun in that? ;-)
  • It is worth wondering how many magic tricks would be around today, though, if magicians had to wait 17 years before building on the trick of another -- would we have had Houdini if he had to pay royalties for his escape tricks? I'm not sure I think patenting magic tricks is necessarily the best way to "encourage innovation" in magic, which is the stated purpose of IP law.

Hope that is of some use to you in thinking about this. IP law is a murky area—most of it comes down to "what will hold up in court?" than it does any sort of rule-based ("what is allowed?") system. So I don't have a definite answer. It comes down to whether or not it would hold in court (could go either way, depends on how persuasive your lawyer is!), or whether the USPTO would grant the patent (which again is hard to predict, would depend on how you worded it most likely; they grant patents for some pretty silly things). --Fastfission 21:19, 14 Jun 2005 (UTC)