Misplaced Pages

User talk:Seraphimblade

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Dgray xplane (talk | contribs) at 16:46, 24 November 2011 (→Thanks!). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Revision as of 16:46, 24 November 2011 by Dgray xplane (talk | contribs) (→Thanks!)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)

This is a Misplaced Pages user talk page.
This is not an encyclopedia article or the talk page for an encyclopedia article. If you find this page on any site other than Misplaced Pages, you are viewing a mirror site. Be aware that the page may be outdated and that the user whom this page is about may have no personal affiliation with any site other than Misplaced Pages. The original talk page is located at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Seraphimblade.


  • If you leave me a message here, I will respond to it here, as fragmented discussions are confusing. I may or may not leave you a notice that I've responded on your talk page. If you specifically request that I do (or do not) give you such a notice when I respond, I'll honor that request. If I contact you on your talk page, I will watchlist it so that I can respond there. If you'd like to leave me a notice when you respond, it would be appreciated, and you'll probably receive a faster followup.
  • If you email me a question or request, and do not indicate why the matter is sensitive and must be handled privately (and such is not immediately obvious), I may ignore it or respond on your talk page rather than by return email. Talk pages are open to other editors to read, and so are the preferred method of communication for matters involving Misplaced Pages. If the matter you are speaking to me about is Misplaced Pages-related and would not violate anyone's privacy by being posted publicly, please use my talk page instead of email. This does not, of course, apply to editors who are blocked from editing.
  • If you are here to ask a question regarding deletion of any kind, please read this before asking, and ask only if you need further clarification or still disagree after reading. If you ask a question answered there, I'll just refer you to it anyway.
  • While I will generally leave any personal attacks or uncivil comments you may make about me here, that does not mean that I find them acceptable, nor that I will not seek action against attacks that are severe or persistent.
  • I reserve the right to remove, revert, or immediately archive any material on this page, but will do so only in extreme circumstances, generally that of personal attacks or outing attempts against others.
Archive
Archives

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Please do be nice.

Thanks!

Just a quick note. I had a rough lesson a few years ago when I made the mistake of trying to edit a page that mentioned my company (won't do THAT again :). Anyhow it has been a few years and I have been moved to edit again. This time it's a page on a drug that seemed biased to me compared to the other research I was doing.. Anyway I have summoned up the courage to do some edits (gulp!) and would appreciate any help or guidance you have to offer as I go. I want to be very careful and conscientious. I actually have no real medical expertise but in checking the sources it seems that many of them have been very selective regarding the insights they have decided to bring into the article. Every positive statement about the drug is "balanced" with doubts and concerns, leaving an overall impression about the drug that seems extremely negative compared to descriptions from reputable sources like the NIH and NIMH which feel more balanced to me, especially for a drug that has been approved and actively prescribed for 40 years or so for ADHD. I have no idea of why someone would want to skew the article but I suppose there might be all kinds of possible reasons. Anyhow I am contacting you here for two reasons.

1. I have always remembered your kindness to me when I was new and felt attacked here. I wanted to let you know that this is the primary reason I decided to step up and do some editing when I perceived a bias and had concerns.

2. If you have time I would appreciate some light guidance as I proceed to edit this page. I am still new to editing and don't want to make mistakes, especially since I have zero expertise in this area, although I am not a completely disinterested party (This started because I want to evaluate the drug which was prescribed for my son).

Dgray xplane (talk) 01:15, 24 November 2011 (UTC)

Glad you decided to come around and do a bit of editing! Looking at the sources is, of course, the best way to edit an article. I also see you've been going over it on the talk page, which is generally a good idea as well.
That being said, I'm not sure the sentence the way it's worded is necessarily a good one for the lead paragraph, especially since one of the sources (source 1) explicitly contradicts it, and says users are more prone to cocaine addiction, and that if used in a similar manner to cocaine (snorting/injection) it is indeed just as addictive. Other sources seem to think it is not as much so. When there are conflicting sources like that, it's best to give the issue a more in-depth treatment in the body of the article, where the subject can be given treatment by summarizing either side without taking a particular one. If you can get your hands on the NIMH study that's frequently referenced by other sources, I think that would be very helpful indeed. I don't know offhand how reputable the journals published by source 3 are, but it is a for-profit and explicitly appeals to "marketers" on its website, so I'd tend to take it with a dose of salt. (Luckily, the worst effect of said salt dosage is a healthy sense of skepticism). The article is in pretty poor shape though, and could certainly use some copyediting for flow and tone. As it stands now, it really seems to jump all over the place. I'd work at fixing that first, and once it's in good order as far as its flow and organization goes, you'll often find it's much easier to find a good way to add in additional concepts. That's especially difficult on controversial subjects when you have dueling sources, of course, but since it's a subject that I'm sure you've checked into thoroughly due to your own circumstances, might be worth doing. Seraphimblade 08:17, 24 November 2011 (UTC)
Thanks! What you're suggesting (working on the overall flow) will entail much more significant edits than I was thinking of. Is there a set of guidelines for the general flow of an article about a drug? For example, should it start with a general description of its beneficial effects and possible abuses, or maybe its chemical composition? Or do you know how I might find a "well-written" drug article that I could use as a model? Thanks so much for your help! Dgray xplane (talk) 16:46, 24 November 2011 (UTC)

November copy edit drive

Greetings from the Guild of Copy Editors Backlog Elimination Drive!

The Misplaced Pages Guild of Copy-Editors invites you to participate in the November 2010 Backlog Elimination Drive, a month-long effort to reduce the backlog of articles that require copy-editing. The drive will begin on 1 November at 00:00 (UTC) and will end on 30 November at 23:59 (UTC). The goal for this drive is to reduce the backlog by 10% (approximately 500 articles). We hope to focus our efforts on the oldest three months (January, February, and March 2009) and the newest three months (September, October, and November 2010) of articles in the queue.

Sign-up has already begun at the November drive page, and will be open throughout the drive. If you have any questions or concerns, please leave a message on the drive's talk page.

Before you begin copy-editing, please carefully read the instructions on the main drive page. Please make sure that you know how to copy-edit, and be familiar with the Misplaced Pages Manual of Style.

Awards and barnstars

A range of barnstars will be awarded to active participants, some of which are exclusive to GOCE drives. More information on awards can be found on the main drive page.

Thank you; we look forward to meeting you on the drive!
— The Utahraptor/Contributions, S Masters (talk), and Diannaa

"Having It Almost" The Musical -- thank you for your response

Hello Seraphimblade, I respect the integrity you're enforcing here, and I get it. I'd like to re-edit the article with your feedback in mind. I can assure you that all attributions are genuine, and you'll be able to follow the links to the actual press on the show, should we get that far. Is it possible to have you look at the article and approve it before I post it again? Or is it a case of playing "editor roulette" and you just takes yer chances? I'd be happy to go back and forth with you until I get it right. Thanks again. Davelyrics (talk) 02:37, 30 October 2011 (UTC)

One more question: Does the article I sent exist anywhere that I may edit it? It didn't save to my computer. If it would be possible to retrieve it, that would be extremely helpful. Thanks again. Davelyrics (talk) 06:52, 30 October 2011 (UTC)

For responses to your questions, hopefully in order: I can place a copy of the article into a userspace "sandbox" for you, allowing you to edit it outside of mainspace. You can also start over if you prefer—that article would require a great deal of rewriting to become acceptable. Let me know which you'd prefer. If you'd like to edit it to make a neutral article with content sourced from reliable sources, that might be possible here. Seraphimblade 20:38, 30 October 2011 (UTC)

Yes, please, let me attempt to work on it in the sandbox. That would be enormously helpful. Again, I'm happy to go back and forth as long as it takes. Thank you so much for your guidance. 24.182.36.189 (talk) 13:59, 31 October 2011 (UTC)

The Signpost: 31 October 2011

Read this Signpost in full · Single-page · Unsubscribe · EdwardsBot (talk) 18:10, 1 November 2011 (UTC)

Hi there -- re Having It All the Musical -- could you direct me how to get back to my article to edit it? Where is the sandbox for it? Is there a link? Thank you -- 24.182.36.189 (talk) 20:42, 6 November 2011 (UTC)

The Signpost: 7 November2011

Read this Signpost in full · Single-page · Unsubscribe · EdwardsBot (talk) 13:14, 8 November 2011 (UTC)

The Signpost: 14 November 2011

Read this Signpost in full · Single-page · Unsubscribe · EdwardsBot (talk) 23:20, 14 November 2011 (UTC)

The Signpost: 21 November 2011

Read this Signpost in full · Single-page · Unsubscribe · EdwardsBot (talk) 01:44, 22 November 2011 (UTC)