User:SquisherDa

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Watchlist[edit]

Snapshot July_'12 

Alfred Thayer Mahan (talk | History)
Cytokine (talk | History)
Fluctuation-dissipation theorem (talk | History)
French intervention in Mexico (talk | History)
George Callaghan (talk | History)
Hepatitis B (talk | History)
Judicial notice (talk | History)
King's College School, Cambridge (talk | History)
Laura Thompson (talk | History)
Nancy Mitford (talk | History)
Peptide (talk | History)
Protein homology (talk | History)
Streptokinase (talk | History)
U and non-U English (talk | History)
United Submitters International (talk | History)
Waldseemüller map (talk | History)



Sandbox[edit]

My sandbox



(As recommended)


Me[edit]

Male, WASP; liberal/radical
Born: mid-century (last: not the one before)
Feminist: more liberal than marxist; more radical than liberal


Interests[edit]

Everything, except sport.
(For a watchlist-snapshot see above)


Activities / pursuits / hobbies[edit]

Attempting the impossible: especially where failure should provide thought-provoking results or process.


Career[edit]

(so to say)

Stage 0
Education:
  • English private-school system
Schools a bit behind-the-curve as regards science-teaching
Unfortunately studying science was my aim in attending school
  • University: Oxford (Maths & Philosophy)
I seem (in hindsight) to have been accepted under an unannounced wider-access policy
- to which the College's maths tutors were not subscribers!!
- I wound up studying more law than maths!
Stage 1
"First career":
IT, initially in the National Health Service; then in Expert Systems and as a man+dog consultancy
Unusual motivation, in that I wanted to release workers from drudgery
- fun with the toys was secondary
Stage 2
Temporary retirement, as a single parent
This I loved, though there were difficulties
Stage 3
"Second career":
More directly people-oriented
  • Education etc in a Prison for c.15-18-yr-olds
  • Homelessness / hostel work









"Noob's progress"[edit]

The following is a sort of log of my efforts as a newcomer
I see it as possibly helpful to, eg, the help project (and as a structured notebook for myself)

It's been a shock how long it has been taking to become aware of issues - as well as to learn how to deal with them. At the outset (2009) I held off from the recommended WP:BOLD approach - if only because the system of "Wikiprinciples" was itself of interest to me. That may be fortunate. With this more cautious line, it's taken me just under three years, from first interest, to even become aware of interactive-support / "help-desk" arrangements (23 months from first contributing).

Perhaps worse, it was only in process of backtracking / review, as part of compiling this log, that I ever did find out about it. Clues and links to support etc have recently become plain, even prominent, to my more practiced eye. But to the newcomer they were evidently drowned among all else that was new.

Milestones so far, with time-to-reach, from first interest, as apparent from the log below, are as follows.

(a) first contribution 25-June-'10 c.12mths


(b) first welcome 9-Feb-'12 c.31mths


(c) awareness of WP:OR / WP:RS 15-Apr-'12 c.33mths


(d)


awareness of

responsive help/support

1-June-'12 c.35mths
/ July_'12



Entries in [square brackets] are references to Wikipedia for independent purpose - rather than familiarisation / browsing, or learning about Wikipedia techniques and policies etc
Dates: NB overnight sessions appear here with the date of the night's start: they will often clash with page-history records


Aims-&-stages Observations

2009[edit]

^ .. .. 2009 .. 2010 >
mid-2009



  • check out documentation of Wikiprinciples


why are journalists rude about Wikipedia?
- this is gold!


San Seriffe is great
- creative social behavior on the internet!
documentation codifies a basis for collegial teamwork!
- WP:DNB, WP:AGF, 3 strikes . .
- unBite, unRules, WP:BEANS, WP:BIKE . .
- ? usable for workplace team-building etc!!

2010[edit]

< 2009 .. 2010 .. 2011 >
JUNE_2010

Fri-25

  • contribs:
  • pronunciation?
  • links in lede?
  • existing query re typology
  • Peptide: request for clarity


  • translation of Greek?
  • peptides as an emerging specialism?
"From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia"??
- makes it sound like an excerpt or something!?!
- "The Wikipedia article on .. as it stands on .."?
pronunciation: seen as properly a Wiktionary matter?
startling target-audience problems!
- complaints about a very lucid concise lede
typology query - better place: contributor's talk-page?
- except of course (anonymous user) there isn't one
Cytokine / ? muddle @Peptide / call for clarity:
better placed chez Peptide's Talk?!!
Peptide:
maybe the translation just needs a {cite}
(see 15--23-Apr-'12 below - ?WP:OR!)
emerging-specialism: ask a Project?
JULY_2010

Thu-1

  • suggesting new articles/links
  • editing (rescue-work)
- on another contribution









  • try watchlist
WP:TOPPOST rule:
- baffling clash with . .
.. positioning of page-head items
(warnings, notifications etc)
- (see eg User:Paolo.dL's experiences #4a)
.. Alt-Edit's presentation
- edit starts at the top of the page not the bottom
(see also Wed-9-May-'12)
- (also adds to pause / delay in the Alt-Preview cycle!)
drafting edit-summaries out-of-context feels weird
- (ie without seeing the History page)
- hard to judge abbreviations, dittos etc
Watchlisting:
7 days seems awfully short as a maximum . .
Thu-8
  • update watchlist-checking log
. . but this idea didn't really seem useful / effective
(see Sun-10- + Fri-15-June-'12 below)

2011[edit]

< 2010 .. 2011 .. 2012 >
(?) FEB_2011



comprehensive / credibly authoritative
- (why the "may need to be rewritten entirely" box??!!)
(?) MAY_2011

(for work)

2012[edit]

< 2011 .. 2012 .. 2016 >
JAN_2012

c.18-Jan












this is excellent
- hard-news handling
- encyclopaedia-quality!!
- timely & comprehensive
- analysis / specialist knowledge
- seafaring, ships, maritime industry
- commercial / financial
- source-handling
- translation aspects
- (inter-)cultural aspects
FEB_2012

Sun-5

  • talk-page contribs:
  • misunderstanding between editors?







WP:BOLD . .
without access to sources already cited??
Thu-9
from User:Protein_Chemist!!
  • check out . .
. . β-haemolytic strep
. . Lancefield
"Please sign your messages" reads a bit harsh
- am I being told I've failed to?
- ? more encouraging:
"When you add to talk pages . . "
(NB nowt said re WP:New contributors' help page!)
Welcome itself is a bit shoot-first
ie Wikipedia:Introduction
- at 2 it starts offering menus of targets
- before advising on target-selection!
- 5 pillars seems strategic not tactical!
Wikipedia:Tutorial recommends a path OK
β-strep: very useful search / result
- unique authority of Wikipedia as a source
- article's talk-page
- supporting critical use-of-sources
Fri-10
Editing/Formatting/Links > contribs cont
United Submitters:
plenty of little [## & boxes] but no References section!
WP:NPOV:
- knowledgeable contributor unable to deliver
- squalls of squawks from other potential contributors
- no-one attempting to rework content constructively
(cf Mon-9-Apr below?)
Talk-pages issues . .
. . when they're "over" / disposed of / now-just-history
. . how best convey this to newcomers??
Wed-22



Wikipedia:Tutorial/Citing_sources . .
. . strong on editing to cite a source
. . but what's the citation actually meant to look like?
Judicial notice: concept worth grasping re WP:OR etc
- clearly hasn't been grasped!!
APR_2012

Sun-8

  • get into discussion(s)
  • contribs:
contribs
- Talk:Waldseemüller map







- Talk:Fluctuation-dissipation theorem











Usual problems contributing:
- what page to contribute on?
- (is the key recency / activity?
- rather than etiquette / expectation?)
- onscreen timelines of edits would be really helpful!!
- what if no access to sources already cited??
List of common misconceptions!
(re putative flow of glass)
Mon-9












informed committed contributor lacking NPOV
- (cf United Submitters, Fri-10-Feb above)
Wikipedia edit-wars cited in the outside world!
- (see posted comments on source websites)
? Edit-war vandalism response deploying
- against victim of WP:CoI (marketing) vandal!
Difficulties citing (UK) public-agency reports
- WP:COPYOTHERS etc
(UK) contributor struggling to attribute key points
- ?WP:OR because media sources inexplicit
- impact of UK anti-defamation culture
Sun-15, Mon-16, Fri-20, Mon-23




translating a Latin title . . WP:OR!
how to decide what to put on what talk-page?
- User's vs. article's
Sat-28, Mon-30





























Titanic lede clashes with body
re why not more lifeboats
- outdated regs? vs design-basis + reasons!
- lifeboats piece is unnecessarily indecisive!
- scaling-effects / nautical design . .
how convey centrality? within the article??
- naval architecture?
- Fisher re battlecruisers??
nowt said re noise from vented boilers
affecting command/control functions
- eg lifeboats!!!
- cf Lightoller's later testimony
re shouting into Captain's ear
- (BBC R4, Apr-'12)
- source or WP:SYNTH presumably!
RMS = "Royal Mail Ship"
- case study in sourcing!
- unlikely to be challenged so . .
- need to know of a confirming source
(though not to cite it)?
- or enough to be sure that a WP:RS must exist??!
MAY_2012

Thu-3

  • contrib: Cosmographia[e Introductio
  • plan!
  • sandbox:
  • check out #-lists
  • blank-line xpts
Fri-4
  • check out citation-needed tag
  • contrib: citation needed
  • contrib: "Flag" officer?






should I have put owt on the Talk-p too?
should disambiguator-pp address likely misspellings?
- searching for "Mahon" didn't work too well!!
- is searching via Google/Bing suitable? desirable?
Wed-9
  • check out [talk-p] history cur / prev etc


connotations of "minor" seem to muddle some folks
- would "sub-edit" be better??
history-p layout takes a little getting used to
(cf Fri-15-June below)
- especially as it opposes WP:TOPPOST!
(cf Thu-1-July-'10)
Thu-10
  • minor edits cont
  • check out in-use tag
  • check out zazzy signatures
(@My preferences)

Wikipedia:Help Project:
would a "noob's progress" be useful??
(try out "[Press to] Talk"?!)
(see Thu-31 below)



Fri-11
  • build "noob's progress" log
  • sandbox: layout xpts (tables) / log-building
  • recent stuff . .
— (NB log is wholly retrospective to here!) —
(from here it's a mix - till Sun-1-July, qv)


c.Thu-17




target-readership concept is essential to WP:CALC!
- issues of identifying key/modality from score:
cf above (15-Apr), reading Latin!
c.Fri-18






  • lot of impressive scholarship hereabouts
  • WP:CALC / Latin again!
- Ecclesia semper reformanda est
- reformanda/reformata
Tue-22, Sun-27–Wed-30


  • log >> recent cont
paint:
- learned a lot that's useful
- hoped to learn more re paint systems
- functions/roles of primer, undercoat etc
- application section / WP:NOTMANUAL
- section noticeably skirts around policy!
Thu-31
  • log >> recent cont
  • try out Press To Talk idea (Thu-10 above)
  • correct erroneous m-flag (ie reundo edit)


how about SquisherDa Press To
Talk?
- hmmm, maybe examine other folks' signatures!!
- (eg in discussion-votes)
JUNE_2012

Fri-1

  • sharpen (links etc) earlier contrib[1]:
Lacrimosus talk-p
  • check out warning-triangle
on talk-p link popup
  • log >> recent cont






  • strange that diff links are such a struggle / barrier
- cf no-diff-no-dice culture
(+ &diffonly=1 is neat!)
(but see also Sat-7-Jan-'17 below)
  • a lot of WikiHelp stuff is buried pretty deep
(see Wikipedia:Help_Project/Community_fellowship)
- pretty hard to find!
- you have to be around a while to find it!
- eg to find Wikipedia:Teahouse again . .
searched on [Sarah] Stierch!
  • using 4-wibbles to update a signature
(but see also 7-July below)
Mon-4
  • log > sandbox cont
  • recent cont
  • revisit pages visited
  • contribs:
Thu-7
Sat-9




re WP:SYN
which page to contribute on?
(later response, Mon-11, hints I'm still struggling!)
Sun-10









  • tune watchlist



Essjay (2005-7):
Wikipedia as victim of fantasist?
alleged fantasist as victim?
- of entrapment by Wikipedia process(es)!
Wikipedia model as a mental-health risk??
- to fantasy-prone personalities??
Jimmy Wales - strategy of resolute delegation
- to Wikommunity
- to identify and articulate its own ethical principles
- cf later handling of the 2010 child-porn flare-up
Watchlist isn't an alert facility
- but 7 days is not a maximum
- all option is available!
Thu-14
  • log >> recent + revisits cont
  • work up layout
hard vertical space in tables . .
- sometimes respected?
- sometimes overridden?
- copy centered vertically in cell!
Fri-15
  • log
  • revisits cont
  • add early (pre-contributing) stuff
  • check Watchlist



"watchlist" means two things!!:
- (a) the list of changes on pages included in ..
- (b) the user's schedule of pages-for-watching!!
- excellent layout! (cf Wed-9-May above)
- (& I clearly had only 1 brain-cell deployed at first try!)
- (see Thu-1-July-'10 above)
Mon-18
  • log >> early + revisits cont



disambiguation pages for acronyms?
- Googling CRM didn't work
- gave me Customer Relationship Management!!
Tue-19

valuable pointer to WP:DE from ‎Lo2u
Thu-21, Fri-22
  • log >> early + revisits cont
a lot of policy stuff is much clearer at revisit
- non-biting policy has some excellent detail
- and User_talk:Paolo.dL has a powerful horror story!
- and Ignorantia juris has excellent read-on links
- how come no other admin(s) intervened??!
- to urge colleague to "quit digging"!
- clearly unBite no longer safeguards WP:BOLD
- "as I said .., you needed to slow down"
- (is this Admininstrator still active?)
- "the Main Page has a 'help' link on it"
- Gee, thanks!
- does anyone ever see the Main Page?
- know there is one, even?
- cf the remark about sheep
- the silliest thing I can remember reading!
(see Dec_'16)
Sat-23






  • log >> early + revisits cont
case-study of policy in operation
- successful operation? or unsuccessful?
- three, maybe four areas
- unBite
- WP:NPOV / WP:CoI etc
- WP:RS
? intercultural (US/UK) differences
- affecting WP:RS, WP:COPYOTHERS etc
Sun-24






  • log >> early + revisits cont
Watchlist is a virtual page (ie generated when accessed)
- (available only) for user currently logged in
- so not available via signature to indicate interests!
Endemic is noted as needing sources
- maybe carry some through from Epidemic?
Wed-27, Thu-28
  • log >> early + revisits cont
(File:Lines_plan_en.svg)
Wikipedia:Citing_sources has quite a lot of duplication
- and resulting loss of clarity!
checking the drawing's talk-p is mighty confusing!!
- contradictory screen
- in phrasing
- box: "Wikipedia does not have [such] a talk page"
- next box: "This is a talk page . ."
- much better: offer the user a click-button
- explicit prompt:
"Do you want to create a page?
(see draft below)"
- (maybe with the draft greyed-out?!)
- in intent
- mighty list of "things this page is NOT for"
- is there anything such a page would be for??
- if not, why present a draft?
- (of a purposeless page?!)
- rephrase positively?
- offer the list as a table
- col.1: "what you might be attempting"
- (eg Test edits)
- col.2: "what to do"
- (eg Please go to Wikipedia:Sandbox)
- final row:
- "alternatively"
- "click here to create a page"
Shortcuts don't work altogether smoothly
- WP:SHE4SHIPS presents as an unrelated screen
- titled "Section length"
- relating to WP:MILMOS#SECTLEN
- better to list s/cuts in a right-justified crosshead?
- on the line above the relevant section-title?
- rather than a (multiline) box?
Sat-30
  • log >> early + revisits cont
Callaghan's not Alt-Findable via "Callaghan" as a search-key!!!
Help:Userspace draft looks good!!
unexpected tag to delete userspace page
- //db-userreq//
- ("Delete Because - USER REQuest")
- "etiquette ambush"! (= unforeseeable "etipoint"!!!!)
NB also Help:Talkspace draft
and other space-navaids
Wikipedia:Rouge admin!
- (? misspelling (? intended) of Rogue admin!)
JULY_2012

Sun-1

  • log
  • check WP:UP for etiquette ambushes
  • set up sections
  • copy(-and-delete) from s/box
  • include watchlist?
— (near(!)-contemporaneous from here) —
(see above, Fri-11-May)







Mon-2





- Search: "containing": where??
- in the title only? or within the article itself??
- Help:Searching needs some sub-editing
- "Wikilawyering" really isn't a very edifying term
- encyclopedia useful on Muscular Christianity!
- pretty impressive!!
Wed-4, Thu-5, Sat-7, Sun-8
  • log: links (& layout tweaks)
amending an existing talk-contribution:
difficult to add a further date to the signature
(but see Sat-14 below)
(? within a table) (?eg) /br// works within link-|glosses
- but (?eg) line-prefix : (for indent) doesn't
Wed-11
  • logging / revisiting
Sat-14
  • linking / logging
adding dates to an existing signature: ~x5 does it
(contra Wed-4 etc above)
odd that default signatures have no prefixed dash
Sun-15
Gastroesophageal reflux disease ]
very useful - esp re LPR / EERD
some sub-eds (+ a broken-link fix) would be good
section showing odd time-viewpoint path
- (?) due to (?) keyhole edit
- following product withdrawal
- edit also lacks citations
- text suggests (falsely) that it's been split by an edit
- affects context-nuances
- and thus authority / credibility
interesting hints of US/UK differences of practice
- any chance of saying so? WP:RS likely?
- else WP:OR??!
article history is also interesting
- + content now missing looks valuable
- (esp re ARB = GEV + LES)
Sun-29

extremely helpful
Tue-31
  • [ Agatha Christie / archaeology ]
successful Alt-Find via "containing"
- though Agatha's Passage seems not mentioned!
AUG_2012

Sun-5




(slightly pointless as the ToC provides this!)


2013-15 [edit]

2016[edit]

< 2012 .. 2016 .. 2017 >
DEC_2016
  • [various aviation mishaps]
inc Concorde





  • tried out Preferences



  • tables: puzzled re ; / accessibility
- @Manual of Style



  • log: set up year-headings in ToC
- as subsections





(see 21--22-June-'12)

  • very interesting external links
  • awkward article title
- impedes fluency in lede
- (noun not adjective)
- (?) unfortunate policy requirement
  • awkward saving etc (not per tab)
  • serriffed font for editing is better re layout widths
  • (?) syntax-marking gadget causes lumpy scrolling
  • see also 8-Jan-'17 re notification system
  • help stuff seems better since I last looked
- (also Rouge admin!)
- (eg) WPp:OR,RS,SYNTH have a crisper feel
- + portals & projects seem to be helping quality
  • great for per-year read-access
(placing of strikeout markup toggles ToC render!)
- still have to scroll right through for edits
editing is per section not subsection
(but see below 3-Jan-'17)
  • still not impressed!
- break since 2012-16 above . .
. . obvious reason: Night-shifts ended
. . real reason: how this guy was treated?
- do I want . .
. . to risk being treated like this?
. . to be part of a 'community' that does this?
- is this type of thing why the project lacks friends?
& the Foundation has to appeal for money??

2017[edit]

< 2016 .. 2017 .. >|
JAN_2017

Mon-2--Tue-3

  • updated log
- set up recent year headings

  • noticed subsection edits are possible
- but within a table ..
.. (sub)sections don't render in-table
.. cross-referencing edits get split (of course)
- so split log into a sequence of tables?
(but column-widths would straggle)
Wed-4--Thu-5
- did he settle in as a contributor?
or was that it for him??


- did he ever receive an apology?


- did the admin involved continue
- to be active?
- to do damage?
- victim's proposals ever acted on?
(ie mends to the user interface?)

  • evidently not!!
(discovered Edit count, on Contributions!)
- but apparently nothing direct or formal
. . the first rank!!
. . and the highest reputation!
  • unclear
Sat-7
- fixing links
  • very interesting perspective [2] on WP:OR!
  • much improved 3-tier help for diffs-&-links
- (Simplest ~ Simple ~ Complete)
- except .. this structure was all in-place June_'12
(ie back when I was grumbling about it, 1-June!)
- box clearly lost in screen-clutter at that time
- now discernible - to a more-experienced eye!
Sun-8


















  • flagged up doubtful edits
- talk pages:
- Despotism
- copyediting student
- mentor
- half-promised to fix the article later
  • substitution-edit to lede
  • dropped duff link (+ reliant copy)
  • proposed (Talk) narrower focus for article
  • Wikipedia notification system!!
- per Preferences
- + another Contributor's edit
- points Help:Contents
- very useful
- + (as ever) far too hard to find
Sat-14
  • log
>> recent
+ internal links
Sun-15



  • col1 of this table is slowly spreading
- so col2 is wrapping
(eg 21-June-'12 above)
  • there's also a "Chirality" article on chemistry
- on the Simple English side [3]




Mon-16--Sat-28
  • log:
- reviewing
- fix table-width ..
for device-independence
.. + col-widths
to avoid creep & linewraps
Sun-29
  • log review: fixed red link
- broken by retitling / reorganisation
FEB_2017

Wed-8--Sun-12

  • linking Talk contribs to revisions
- experimenting (sandbox copy) first!
























- checking Talk page guidelines
- inc re archiving

  • contrib-to-article links make the Talk much clearer
- sometimes make it read very differently
- odd that this is not done routinely / automatically
- as with History-page revision links
- pretty essential if past comments have any value?
- and we wouldn't keep them if they didn't!!
(presumably!??)
- even copying the contrib date details is awkward!
(ie to the History page's search-spec)
  • analysing history & talk:
- interesting bunch of tools
- not exactly a suite!!
- eg Article Blamer
- good for finding who wrote insightful phrases etc
- regrettable name
- negative / censorious mindset??
  • startling change of link format
- per slight change of date format
- in the label text!!
- 19:16, Dec 2, 2003 ][ 19:16, 2 Dec 2003
- parsing bug?
- where should I report it? / who to?
  • found out re oldid[2]!
- Complete diff-&-link guide is not complete re links!
- and is not meant to be
- I had misinterpreted the title
  • also found out a lot re templates generally
- troutwhacking may have potential! . .
Sat-25
  • Browsing, fixing links on occasion
MRCH_2017

Wed-15--Mon-20


















  • reverted!
- with good reason!
- letterbox approach
- not discernible by examining the text!
- also probs with scope of a reference
- my para-break split off the first part
- scope not discernible by examining the text!
- productive dialog with a specialist contributor
- {cn} template
  • more evidence of people struggling with dialog-sites
- talks split between users and articles
- found { talkback }
- + @-notifications !
Wed-22--Thu-23













  • material worth adding:
- detail of the action
(see draft in Andreas's sandbox)
- points of international law
  • added title to source-citation
  • tried for clearer layout re criticism of source
- didn't know of the {better source} template!
  • snag: clicking on [better source] misdirects the reader
- to WP:NOTRS
- the source meets reliability requirements ..
- .. but is out-of-date / superceded
- different issue!!
—[edit]
|< .. < 2017


Next: set up links to log per s/box table

SquisherDa (talk) 06:04, 12 July 2012 (UTC)


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