User talk:Amakuru/Archive 1

Rwanda

Hey, Steve. I was just curious: What do you do in Rwanda? There aren't too many Wikipedians with first-hand experience in Africa, so I'm always interested to learn more about them! Be sure to check out Wikipedia:Africa-related regional notice board, which is were a lot of us can be found. — BrianSmithson 17:45, 22 February 2006 (UTC)

Hi Brian. From 2003 to the end of last year I was working as a volunteer mathematics teacher with VSO in a rural school. I guess maybe that would be similar to your Cameroon experience, although Rwanda's strange because it's so small and everyone has easy access to the capital at weekends. I decided to stay on for a while longer after that contract ended so I'm now living in Kigali doing software development for a private firm run by a Rwandan guy who lives half the time here and half in California.

The notice board looks interesting, I'll have to get more involved. I'm slowly trying to improve some of the articles on Rwanda, like the regional pages, transportation and tourism, though Wikipedia is strangely addictive and I'm going to have to make sure I don't get sidetracked from real work too much! I should probably make my own user page a bit more informative some time too... Steverwanda 17:56, 22 February 2006 (UTC)

Ah, okay. I knew a few VSOs in Cameroon, one only about two or three hours south of me. I hear you about the addictiveness of this place. I was so into it that I continued to write articles on my laptop in Abong-Mbang only to upload them to the Wiki weeks later. :) I really do miss Africa (already) and want to go back. Let me know if you need help with anything. — BrianSmithson 18:11, 22 February 2006 (UTC)

Your name

Hi Steve,

I was just dropping by to drop you a good word after seeing all your work on Transport in Rwanda. I had not realized that you had switched your account (to a capital R), and so was quite confused when your contributions history ended abruptly after I knew you had worked on Share taxi. It's certainly not mandatory but, if you wish, a Bureaucrat can move the old edit attributions to your new account with a request at Wikipedia:Changing username. In any case and going back to my original purpose in dropping by, thanks for all your work, especially in our neglected Rwanda articles. Cheers, BanyanTree 17:38, 14 March 2006 (UTC)

OK, thanks. I'm slowly trying to add details on as many different aspects of Rwanda as possible. One problem (in terms of getting the articles up to Wikipedia standards) is references. I imagine this is a problem for Africa related articles in general - there simply aren't officially published books or websites containing all the facts. Most of what I've written comes from direct experience. I notice that there are almost no Featured articles on Africa related topics. I might open a discussion on the Noticeboard later. Do you have any ideas on this?

I miss a posibility to add original research on Wikipedia for exactly this reason. There is a lot of knowledge about Africa that just disappears unrecorded. My idea about this is the following: besides the article, the history and the discussion (and maybe a peer reviewd stabilized version) each article should have a section for original research. I observe that many people acutally do put original reserach on the pages that is not covered by the references. I think this is necessary and there should be a place for it. Wikipedia would then become a two- or three stage "knowledge distillery" In which material can enter as original research or unreferenced material and be moved up when references are found or be moved down if doubtful, while now, such material, although it might contain important information, is sometimes deleted or it ends up in discussion pages which are actually not intended for this purpose. For a severely under-researched and under-documented topic like Africa this could be of great advantage. The good stuff could be kept whithout references and only the trash would be deleted. What do you think? Nannus 22:18, 13 October 2006 (UTC)

I'll investigate getting the name change fully ratified. Probably shouldn't have bothered, but one person did suggest I was trying to call myself Stevie Wonder, which wasn't the point at all! — SteveRwanda 06:41, 15 March 2006 (UTC)

Yeah, the sources thing comes up quite a bit now that citations are being enforced. I've made the point elsewhere that the African topics are probably about the point the American topics were in 2001, where we just hope that the gaps in coverage aren't too embarrassing.

My own personal take is that featured articles tend to be the result of a single editor zeroing in on a topic, and then some eleventh hour collaboration to fine tune it as it goes through Wikipedia:Peer review and WP:FAC. A focused collaboration between a limited number of editors is possible, but even then it's easier to work in sequence or through dividing sub-topics, rather than an actual collaboration. If you look at some of the Africa FAs, SimonP did Economy of Africa and Makuria, TreveX worked his butt off on Yoweri Museveni, Mark Dingemanse wrote Nafaanra language and I wrote most of Lord's Resistance Army. I'm not familiar with the process behind Flag of South Africa, Johannesburg, Zambezi, Congo Free State, etc, but wouldn't doubt that there was a single strong editor directing the writing, with other editors pitching in when needed but otherwise just getting out of the way. (But there do appear to be a fair number of South African Wikipedians, so maybe they can actually pull collaborations off.) I would say that the FAs are pretty proportional to the demographic of Wikipedia, with some notable exceptions like all the British nobility FAs resulting from Lord Emsworth's work.

Sorry to barge in on an old conversation, but I pretty much wrote all of SA's current featured articles, which now include South Africa, Johannesburg, some history articles, and the Schabir Shaik trial. Going to try to get Cape Town up to snuff soon! Páll ^{(Die pienk olifant)} 21:32, 26 May 2006 (UTC)

There is a Wikipedia:African Collaboration of the Week that is meant to get articles to the door of Peer review, but it is struggling. As you can tell, I'm not that big on collaborations. They normally require a critical mass of editors who are at least somewhat familiar with the topic, and there are so many possible topics, more likely that not I will not have the slightest clue about the one selected. If you are seriously interested in getting an article featured, by far the most effective method is to do it yourself. There may be editors that you feel are both knowledgeable in the topic you are eyeing and not likely to move on to other articles after a couple days, and I would encourage you to approach them on their user talk page. A general call for editors at WP:AFR is unlikely to get the response you want. (I just got a bunch of books on the Rwandan Genocide and have half-formed ambitions there, but would like more relevant photos. hint hint nudge nudge) If you are thinking about Rwanda (ambitious!), you should know that Matt Crypto has put a relevant bounty up at Bounty board#An African country. OK, this has been the longest talk posting I've made in ages and will now stop.

P.S. Let me know if you need an admin to delete/merge stuff regarding the move described in the section below. Cheers, BanyanTree 16:48, 15 March 2006 (UTC)

I think any moves to FA status for my articles will necessarily have to be a slow process, and probably one that can't be completed until I'm back in the UK and have access to decent libraries again (a day in the Bodleian might solve all my reference problems as they in theory have copies of all books printed in the UK, which will include all sorts of obscure tomes on African issues!). I'm also reluctant to contribute anything on the politics side while I'm still living here, not because I particularly think that would be dangerous, but it's just force of habit as an outsider here not to get involved.

Re genocide photos, what exactly did you have in mind? I'm happy to photograph anything you may be interested in, but the visible signs are almost all gone now, barring the numerous memorials of various kinds dotted around the country and the parliament building, which is alone in retaining massive holes in the wall dating from its days as the RPF station in Kigali, when it was shelled repeatedly. — SteveRwanda 09:18, 17 March 2006 (UTC)

Subway

Please explain why it makes sense to you that Subway should be a dis-ambiguation page and not a re-direct with Subway (disambiguation) the dis-ambiguation page. And, why did you cut-and-paste?? Georgia guy 00:55, 15 March 2006 (UTC)

I initiated a discussion on this topic at Talk:Rapid_transit#Subway Redirect / Dab with a link from Talk:Subway (disambiguation)#Move to main Subway article?. My intention wasn't to be unilateral, but since there was only one reply in four days (and that was in support of the move), I decided to do it.

The reason it makes sense to me is that the term has completely different meanings in US and British English. Subways (meaning pedestrian underpasses) are found in every town in Britain and are always labelled "Subway", so this is not some fringe term. Plus, if any further doubt existed that this is an ambiguous term, there's the restaurant chain, which is now an enormous international conglomerate and hence worthy of its own Subway page.

Re the cut-and-paste, I apologise - presumably I should have pressed the 'move' button at the top of the page? Apologies for that, but I haven't done much article moving on Wikipedia so far so still need to learn the ropes. — SteveRwanda 06:30, 15 March 2006 (UTC)

Rapid transit cannot be universally substituted for subway, in spite of the fact that they all end up at the same article now. Elevated railways and subways evolved differently, and the comment in electric locomotive about subways is untrue when applied to Els. Mangoe 17:11, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

User Template - United Kingdom

Well done on reverting the UK template. I'm looking for a bit of backup against this Hayter chap who is changing these templates from under our feet, after a "consensus" was reached of four - yes, count them, four - votes! Gsd2000 19:09, 15 March 2006 (UTC)

Looks like we are losing the vote! Gsd2000 01:12, 9 April 2006 (UTC)

Internet in Rwanda

I'm just curious. How do you access the internet in Rwanda, it being a war torn (not much anymore though) place and all? --hello, i'm a member | talk to me! 06:16, 18 March 2006 (UTC)

Well, as you say, it's not war torn any more and hasn't been for about 10 years now. I was going to point you in the direction of a Wikipedia section on Rwanda's recent history, but it seems there isn't one! I'll try to rectify that on Monday. The country now has a full communications infrastructure with mobile phones, internet cafes, WiFi sites and the big internet service provider, Terracom, through which my company LAN connects to the internet. Very few countries in the world have no internet access these days - even Burundi, which is far more war torn than Rwanda these days... — SteveRwanda 11:07, 18 March 2006 (UTC)

Bier, not beer!

Well yes, if that were a pint of Tennants 80, Greenmantle, or even of Smithwick's, I'd send it back (or in extreme instances, maybe over the barkeep). OTOH, as it's German, that's a Feature, not a Bug. (Though truth to tell I do like my froffy German beers a little darker). Alai 16:40, 31 March 2006 (UTC)

Ah, a very valid and frugal point! (As a thrifty and thirsty Scot, I naturally approve of such concerns.) But fortunately, German beer glasses have "dedicated" room for the head. For example, in my office I have a 0.3 weizenglas, where the 0.3 level is marked about 4cm from the top of the glass (which is also the "bulbous" part, so has plenty of room for the head). If the beer didn't reach the level mark, there'd be trouble! :) Alai 17:06, 31 March 2006 (UTC)

Watershed

And on a more serious note, thanks for your support/defence on talk:watershed. I was sufficiently annoyed by the "insular" 'funny comment' that I decided to 'count to ten', and I'm glad I did. Alai 19:27, 31 March 2006 (UTC)

From Talk:Rapid_transit#Subway Redirect / Dab:

"Pointing to a redirect" is in no way "incorrect". Also, you haven't seemed to update any of th links to subway that (correctly) intended this page. Do not fail to update those links! Ewlyahoocom 01:06, 3 April 2006 (UTC)

Fabregas

Thanks for letting me know, that was a mistake on my part. Usually when you move a page it moves the talk page as well, but I guess since a page had to be deleted (the old redirect) it didn't move both. I think I've fixed it now. Makemi 16:01, 3 April 2006 (UTC)

Thank you

Thank you for letting me know about the vote at Watershed. CarolGray 17:23, 3 April 2006 (UTC)

Dear Steve

Hello Steve,

My name is Omer and i need to contact you about few things,

Do you have any instant messenger such as MSN\Yahoo\ICQ\AIM so we can talk?

If you dont have - just give me your email.

Thanks! :Did you try the e-mail this user link to the left? Mak (talk) 23:00, 3 April 2006 (UTC) Nevermind, logged out users don't have it. Mak (talk) 23:01, 3 April 2006 (UTC)

I occasionally use MSN, my address is french_eggs_2@hotmail.com (note, this is not my main e-mail address and I won't generally check e-mails sent to this address). I also use Skype, username steverwanda, which I'm logged onto more often. Otherwise, as Makemi says, you can sign up for a Wikipedia account and send me an e-mail via the "E-mail this user" option in the toolbox on the left of this page (or click here). — SteveRwanda 11:05, 4 April 2006 (UTC)

PS - If you e-mail me at french_eggs_2@hotmail.com within the next few days, then I will check it, so use that one if you want, and I'll root out your mail from amongst the mountains of spam :-) — SteveRwanda 11:09, 4 April 2006 (UTC)

Thanks, i added you to my MSN list and ill be wait until you get online :)

Yo Steve

Hi, I have a friend in secondary school that is doing a presentation about Rwanda, perhaps I could refer them to you for information? :D -- Mac Davis] ⌇☢ ญƛ. 04:31, 13 April 2006 (UTC)

No problem. — SteveRwanda 07:07, 13 April 2006 (UTC)

NATO

Hello, Amakuru/Archive 1. You moved North Atlantic Treaty Organisation to NATO. I know that NATO is better known by the initials, but users who search for it can just be taken through the redirect, because if NATO is at NATO, then "United States" should be at "USA", and "United Nations" should be at "UN." Thanks! / / Brendenhull (talk • contribs) | 11:33, 29 April 2006 (UTC)

Gustav

Damn you. I was just about to add Gustav Adolf von Götzen to the DYK suggestions list, when I saw that you'd done so yourself. Now you can't be pleasantly surprised by it.

Ah well. Nicely done. DS 13:35, 30 April 2006 (UTC)

Mmm, that's a pity - would have been a nice surprise! If you can think of a better DYK from the article than the one I put then let me know... SteveRwanda 15:43, 30 April 2006 (UTC)

DYK

Did you know? has been updated. A fact from the article Gustav Adolf von Götzen, which you recently created, has been featured in that section on the Main Page. If you know of another interesting fact from a recently created article, then please suggest it on the "Did you know?" talk page.

--Cactus.man ✍ 19:11, 1 May 2006 (UTC)

Rwandan franc

Gday mate, I applaud you for helping us understand Rwanda more thanks mate, you would also have valuable information on all topics. I want to ask you if you could help with this article as I know little about Rwanda. Thankyou Enlil Ninlil 05:10, 23 May 2006 (UTC)

Hello, information on what u can by is good and quality of curency in circulation. Pictures of the currency or people using the currency that would help us understand Rwanda more, honestly I thought the country was more backwards than reality and I know where it is where lots of others people dont. Keep up the good work (I'm kind of Jealous) Bye bye

!Enlil Ninlil 21:39, 23 May 2006 (UTC)

Welcome to VandalProof!

Thank you for your interest in VandalProof, SteveRwanda! You have now been added to the list of authorized users, so if you haven't already, simply download and install VandalProof from our main page. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me or any other moderator, or you can post a message on the discussion page. Fetofs ^Hello! 12:57, 24 May 2006 (UTC)

DYK

On June 10, Did you know? was updated with a fact from the article Antony Peebles, which you created. If you know of another interesting fact from a recently created article, then please suggest it on the "Did you know?" talk page.

--Cactus.man ✍ 08:12, 10 June 2006 (UTC)

Your article, Maraba Coffee, was selected for DYK!

On June 11, Did you know? was updated with a fact from the article Maraba Coffee, which you created. If you know of another interesting fact from a recently created article, then please suggest it on the "Did you know?" talk page.

Thanks for your contributions! ++Lar: t/c 02:17, 11 June 2006 (UTC)

Your article, Charlotte Wilson (VSO), was selected for DYK!

On June 28, Did you know? was updated with a fact from the article Charlotte Wilson (VSO), which you created. If you know of another interesting fact from a recently created article, then please suggest it on the "Did you know?" talk page.

Thanks for your contributions! ++Lar: t/c 04:23, 28 June 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for creating this article, I knew Charlotte when we both sang in the choir at Imperial. David Underdown 09:54, 28 June 2006 (UTC)

St. Hilda's

Hi. Thanks for letting me know. I can't see the point of having two disambig. pages for the same subject. That is why I made the changes in the first place. After discussion with other editors, I made one of the disambig. pages a redirect. --WikiCats 05:43, 30 June 2006 (UTC)

St. Hilda's

Very nice job. I love what you've done with St. Hilda's. Thanks for writing to let me know.

-Dan 04:06, 9 July 2006 (UTC)

Main page/user page

Yeah, I got tired of constantly having to look at the main page to see the news and FA and then switch over to my user page to have all my links. Now I have both—a nice looking userpage that has all the information and links I need. I can go for weeks without looking at the main page now. =) --Spangineer^es (háblame) 13:47, 12 July 2006 (UTC)

In the news

Good idea; I just added a comment. --Spangineer^es (háblame) 15:23, 13 July 2006 (UTC)

Balls/Overs bowled

The cricket info template has a line near the top that can swap it between balls and overs being displayed. If balls = true use a balls bowled figure otehrwise use overs.

Libya

Please feel free to evaluate the Libya article which has become a 'Featured Article Candidate' and write you support or opposition on Wikipedia:Featured article candidates. Hopefully Libya will become only the second African country to be featured on Wikipedia. Thanks --User:Jaw101ie 12:28, 16 July 2006 (UTC)

Page moves

Hi Steve! Thanks for the info. I would have moved the page myself, but according to Wikipedia, my account is too new. In a couple of days, I will, of course, take care of such uncontroverial moves myself. Thanks again! Jay Gatsby^(talk) 21:18, 3 August 2006 (UTC)

Karaoke

Well, here's the thing. Karaoke (entertainment) redirects to Karaoke. So there's no point to link to Karaoke (entertainment) at all - it wastes server processing time, and such redirects should be avoided whenever possible. If you see any other pages doing them, please take the time to fix them to point to the destination page directly (because that's not the proper form). Cheers. (|-- UlTiMuS ^{( U • T • C | M • E )} 14:27, 13 August 2006 (UTC)

That passage is correct, but it doesn't apply to how pages should be linked to. It only applies to how they should be named, which isn't what we're discussing. So I really see absolutely no reason why you insist on using something like [[Karaoke (entertainment)|Karaoke]]. Isn't it much simpler to just use [[Karaoke]]? (|-- UlTiMuS ^{( U • T • C | M • E )} 14:51, 13 August 2006 (UTC)

Anyway, I changed it up a bit to be more consormant to other disambigs. How is this? (|-- UlTiMuS ^{( U • T • C | M • E )}

copyvio on Hydra (chess)

Um... no. I wrote quite a lot of the following which has been copied wholesale by them on to their site:

"Hydra currently runs on a 64 node Xeon cluster, with a total of 64 gigabytes of RAM. It evaluates about 200,000,000 chess positions per second, roughly the same as the much older Deep Blue, but with several times more overall computing power. Whilst FPGAs generally have a lower performance level than ASIC chips, Moore's law allows modern-day FPGAs to run about as fast as the older ASICs used for Deep Blue. The engine is on average able to evaluate up to a depth of about 18 ply (9 moves by each player), deeper than Deep Blue, which only evaluated to about 12 ply on average. Hydra's search uses alpha-beta pruning as well as null-move heuristics [1]. The extra search depth over Deep Blue is due to its use of more modern type B forward pruning techniques that are slightly less perfect, but generally play better due to the greater search depth these techniques permit."

Check the history log, it was developed over a period of time. www.hydrachess.com have lifted it wholesale from the wikipedia..WolfKeeper 17:31, 21 August 2006 (UTC)

Kiswahili

Hi Steve!

I did the edit some time ago about Swahili as an official language of Rwanda. I see you changed it. Check our www.gov.rw, the official web-site of the rwandan government for confirmation. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 80.202.135.206 (talk • contribs) 17:51, 21 August 2006

Hi there 80.202.135.206 - I see what you mean, but the page you mention lists Swahili as a language spoken, but not necessarily as an official language. If you check out the http://www.gov.rw/government/tourismp.html page on the same site, you'll see this paragraph:

Language: In addition to the indigenous language, Kinyarwanda, French and English are the official languages. French is widely spoken throughout the country, while many people speak English in Kigali and the main tourist areas. Kiswahili is also widely spoken around the country.

So Kinyarwanda, French and English are the official languages. I think I'm right because I've lived here for several years! Cheers — SteveRwanda 18:00, 21 August 2006 (UTC)

Modern buildings infobox

Thanks for your recent edit to the infobox heading - It's something that had crossed my mind, but hadn't got round to doing - I've now fixed the architect and historic building infoboxes in a similar fashion. Regards --Mcginnly | Natter 08:29, 5 September 2006 (UTC)

OK, good. I'm a little bit confused about the correct usage for these boxes though - it seems that skyscrapers have their own separate info box, as as Petronas Towers. 30 St Mary Axe has no box at all though. Some standardisation may be needed. Cheers — SteveRwanda 08:42, 5 September 2006 (UTC)

Kinyarwanda

Muraho (I hope I've got 'hello' right). Seeing as you've been living in Rwanda for several years, I figured that you might know some amount of Kinyarwanda. Do you know where I can find resources on the language, especially a good dictionary? The best dictionary I've found is a Swedish-Kinyarwanda dictionaary, and I know far more Kinyarwanda than Swedish. I need a lot of information on grammar, too, especially with adjectives which I don't understand at all. Also, I have a few other specific questions. I seem to have come across both 'muraho' and 'makuru' for 'hello'. I think 'makuru' means 'news', so it may be similar to Kiswahili's 'habari (za safari, za asubuhi, etc.)'. Is 'makuru more informal? Thanks for any help you can give me. --Ionius Mundus 22:24, 18 September 2006 (UTC)

Muraho. (Earlier I meant 'makuru', not 'nakuru', a typo.) Sorry my reply came so late: I've been obsessed with the coup d'état currently taking place in Thailand. I don't know much of any Kinyarwanda, as I am struggling to find resources. No, I have never been to Rwanda. For now that is only a dream. The spellings used in Twige Ikinyarwanda are probably the same as those used in Alexadre Kimenyi's A Relational Grammar of Kinyarwanda, one of the few books at my disposal. This orthography would reflect the tonal aspects of the language and the long vowel distinctions made in pronunciation, both not present in the official orthography. How good is your Kinyarwanda? Can you give me some help with verbs and adjectives? I've done most of the recent work on the Kinyarwanda page, so that shows a lot of my understanding of the language, but still need a lot more information. Aslo, I am interested in the VSO. Do you get to specifically choose to be a schoolteacher in Rwanda? And, you were an extra in Shooting Dogs, right? That's amazing. That is a film I really must see, but I have no clue when it is coming out in the US or how to get it at this point. Could you lead me in the right direction? Thanks for any help you can give me. --Ionius Mundus 02:01, 20 September 2006 (UTC)

Maraba Coffee edit

Hey, Steve. I've got a printout of the Maraba Coffee article that I've marked up. I know a lot of people on FAC are demanding a copy edit, so I thought I'd do one. I'll probably get to implementing the changes sometime tomorrow (Saturday), Japan time. Good work on this piece, by the way. — BrianSmithson 22:24, 21 September 2006 (UTC)

The length of the lead seems fine to me -- thought there was lot of "much ado" on that score. I was more concerned about Pet's comments: will have a fresh look now. Regards, Sandy 16:52, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

It's a fine article, and I regret not being able to Support, but my concern stands: we just can't open that door. It looks like it has the votes to go through without me, so best of luck. Sandy 17:25, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

Renaming 1181 Lilith

I agree that the name change for 1181 Lilit is obvious, but Gene Nygaard apparently did not think so. He reverted your name change. (This is why I decided just to go along with the formal requested move rather than renaming the page myself.) You may want to go vote on the name change on the talk page for 1181 Lilit. George J. Bendo 09:05, 4 October 2006 (UTC)

LOL

whatever mate. aLii 13:43, 5 October 2006 (UTC)

Ceres/Eris

Arr, sorry lad, if I was rude, I don't mean to be: I want consistancy in the dwarf planets as well. I just don't want to make it inconsistant with the category the dwarf planets are a subcategory of, minor planets, without making sure that it's discussed a bit. There's only two dwarf planets, but there's four asteroids with former planetary status, far more asteroids, and numerous trans neptunian bodies. Ceres is a dwarf planet, a minor planet, an asteroid, and a former planet.. Eris is a dwarf planet, a minor planet, arguably an asteroid, and a trans-neptunian object.

I want to be sure everything's thought through before we finalise it. That's all. Adam Cuerden ^talk 15:16, 6 October 2006 (UTC)

By the way, as I said, I think you're probably right about the poll. Just figured it'd quickly show if I was strongly disagreed with, at the least, a good sign to shut up about your opinion, no matter how strongly held. Adam Cuerden ^talk 15:41, 6 October 2006 (UTC)

...I got rather awful, didn't I? Ah, well. At least I stepped back. Adam Cuerden ^talk 21:11, 6 October 2006 (UTC)

Hmm

Well, I guess a polarising filter is out of the question. I would suggest having the package lit from the back (e.g. if you have a spotlight or desklamp, point it at a white wall (or cardboard pane) with the package in front -- difficult to explain in text). The problem you are having is generally called "blown highlights" -- caused by direct light, if you search google perhaps you will find some more tips. If you still have trouble, I will think some more. (NB. I am not a photographer and am possibly speaking out my arse! -- But this stuff is worth trying) :) - Francis Tyers · 16:37, 6 October 2006 (UTC)

Congratulations

...and thanks for getting Maraba Coffee featured. It's a great piece of work! — mark ✎ 19:23, 8 October 2006 (UTC)

And from me as well. - BanyanTree 22:54, 8 October 2006 (UTC)

Thanks very much guys, and thanks for all the effort you've put in getting this article up to scratch. I believe this is the first Rwandan article to be featured as well as my first, so there's extra reason to be pleased with the result. Some champagne, or perhaps a glass of coffee beer may be in order! SteveRwanda 08:48, 9 October 2006 (UTC)

0.999...

Thanks for commenting on the 0.999... FAC! It's just been featured. I hope I took care of the concerns you brought up, but please do drop by the talk page if you think of anything else! Melchoir 23:41, 10 October 2006 (UTC)

Your userpage

Hello there! I just stumbled upon your user page and I must say, it is very good. Good job!--Thomas.macmillan 19:56, 12 October 2006 (UTC)

Maraba Coffee

Hi Steve, i have to appologize that I did not respond to your message on the Maraba Coffee article (I would like to drink some but it looks like there is none in germany. Bring me some next time you visit Hamburg :-)). Besides family and job, I am currently involved in starting a social/educational project for African and Afro-German kids in Hamburg. This leaves me nearly no time to do all the things I am planning to do on wikipedia. The only thing I had time to do was to go to a library last week and get some books about African music, especially about amadinda music, to finish the article on baganda music I have started and which is still a torso. I hope I'll have the time to do at least a few small things there, but it could well be another two or three weeks before I can really do something here again. What kind of agricultural methods are used by the Maraba farmers. In Cameroon, I have seen small scale farms where coffee is being mixed with other crops and trees, and the tast is great. I found the idea to combine coffee with beer really surprising. Would like to try that drink. I know the mild chocolate-like flavored arabica varieties from the Bamenda highland area in Cameroon and I would really like to know how such tasts combine with beer. Regards Nannus 22:06, 13 October 2006 (UTC)

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Survey Q

Have you ever been to the southern hemisphere, click here to reply.AstroBoy 01:46, 11 November 2006 (UTC) Deadline for entries is December 15th

hmmm...

I hope that you're somewhere near a computer today as the Main Page bears a striking resemblance to your userpage. :D - BanyanTree 00:29, 31 December 2006 (UTC)

No, I totally missed it! What a shame. I'm on holiday in Australia at the moment and am only occasionally online and even more occasionally contributing to or reading Wikpedia. I assumed I had to add it to a list to get it onto the main page so would have been looking out more for it had that happened. I've also missed all the vandalism and miscellaneous changes (plus talk page arguments over content) so will have to do a more full review on what happened when I have the time. Happy new year, anyway... SteveRwanda 03:56, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

Happy New Year to you as well. Hope you enjoyed the game. I'm afraid that my brain shut down the one time someone tried to explain cricket to me. - BanyanTree 06:03, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

Oh, and if you log in today you can get a glimpse at Main Page alternative (yesterday). - BanyanTree 06:17, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

Hi, me again. You are the only person on the entire Wikipedia who states that they have any Kinyarwanda language skills. I've recently added a cover image of Kangura to the article, but the given translation is just ridiculously long given the size of the phrase being translated. I attempted a synthesis of the two sentence translation given in the description at Image:Kangura 12-1993 cover.gif but would appreciate it if you could take a look and see if my guess is completely off the mark. Thanks, BanyanTree 21:05, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

Hi BT. My Kinyarwanda skills are pretty basic really - enough to order food, and have very simple conversations with people in my village. Reading text and understanding other people's conversations are beyond me. However, I've asked a friend of mine the meaning of that text, and it seems "Which weapons are we going to use to beat the Cockroaches for good?" is correct. I'm not sure where the other sentence, the 1959 ref comes in though - I can't see that on the cover picture.

I won't try to explain cricket to you any further then :) I met an American couple in Sydney today who were trying to come to understand it... I'm no better with baseball so I understand how you feel. Cheers — SteveRwanda 13:05, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

Thanks muchly to you and your friend. I've modified the caption. - BanyanTree 15:20, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

Invitation

You have been invited to join the WikiProject Africa, a collaborative effort focused on improving Wikipedia's coverage of Africa. If you'd like to join, just add your name to the member list. Thanks for reading!

Belovedfreak 20:05, 14 March 2007 (UTC)

PM vs President

Hi there. :-) This is actually a pretty old debate. If you read the lead and the beginning of the first section of Prime Minister of Spain, you can check that the name of the office is President of the Government of Spain. Why some English speaking sources call it PM is beyond me, but I assure you I've heard both ways of referring to it in several sources, and I simply believe that in doubt it is more exact to call it by the name of the office. As SSM in Spain is a Spanish-related article, using the Spanish-related title seemed adequate. Another user seemed to agree with my logic in that regard. Nonetheless, thanks for taking the time to comment the issue on my talk. :-) Cheers Raystorm 12:05, 15 March 2007 (UTC)

MV Liemba

Hi SteveRwanda,

I'm Alexander Bock, a user from the German Wikipedia. I have one question. Is it possible, that you upload (?) the picture Image:Liemba.jpg in the Commons? We would then be able to use it, too. Our article about the Liemba does not have a picture yet.

Thank you very much Alex —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 84.137.235.218 (talk) 13:10, 13 April 2007 (UTC).

Currency articles

Please stop messing up the currency articles without entering into any kind of discussion. Your moves of Turkish lira and East African shilling, followed by your overwrites of the redirect pages have made a mess of things by preventing a straightforward reversion, should your changes prove unacceptable. If you want to make these kinds of changes, you need to discuss things first.
Dove1950 15:00, 25 July 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for the swift reply. You've created a mess in the following ways. First, your changes cannot easily be reverted. Second, all links to Turkish lira and East African shilling which previously reached the correct pages now go to your disambigs. Third, in the case of Turkish new lira, this is a translation of the official name, not a term invented for Wikipedia. I hope you now appreciate the problems caused.
Dove1950 16:04, 25 July 2007 (UTC)

Santos (name)

This is an automated message from CorenSearchBot. I have performed a web search with the contents of Santos (name), and it appears to be very similar to another wikipedia page: Santos. It is possible that you have accidentally duplicated contents, or made an error while creating the page— you might want to look at the pages and see if that is the case.

This message was placed automatically, and it is possible that the bot is confused and found similarity where none actually exists. If that is the case, you can remove the tag from the article and it would be appreciated if you could drop a note on the maintainer's talk page. CorenSearchBot 14:05, 15 November 2007 (UTC)

How to correct double-redirects?

Greetings, SR. Thanks for your note. I'd've been glad to fix these, but was unaware of the need to do so manually. Will you kindly point me towards whatever how-to page might provide me the info I need for next time, I'd appreciate it. Thanks! --Scheinwerfermann (talk) 17:52, 18 December 2007 (UTC)

Request

Hi Steve. Can you please take a look at Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Janvier Kanyamashure, a deletion nomination of Janvier Kanyamashure, the Rwandan ambassador to Burundi? He only gets two two Google hits, so I strongly suspect we have a misspelling. Are you able to offer any help? Thanks in advance, Picaroon (t) 23:58, 28 December 2007 (UTC)

Never mind, Everyking (talk · contribs) came up with the correct spelling: Janvier Kanyamashuli. Picaroon (t) 02:55, 29 December 2007 (UTC)

Vikipedia

Hey there. I noticed that you created the article Vikpedia about a year and a half ago, which redirects to the Wikipedia article. Are there any particular reasons for this? Note: see talk page discussion here. Thanks, Joelster (talk) 04:04, 6 March 2008 (UTC)

That's what I thought. That's fair enough I guess. Thanks for replying anyway. Cheers, Joelster (talk) 22:31, 6 March 2008 (UTC)

RfD nomination of Queen Britney

I have nominated Queen Britney (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views) for discussion. Your opinions on the matter are welcome; please participate in the discussion by adding your comments at the discussion page. Thank you. RichardΩ612 Ɣ |ɸ 18:03, April 24, 2008 (UTC)

A baby!

Hi Steve, It must have been a very long time since I wandered by your page as I just saw that you've had a daughter. Congratulations and many blessings! - BanyanTree 12:55, 11 June 2008 (UTC)

Hi BT... Thanks very much! She's nine months old already, and growing fast. As you can imagine, I have not had very much time for Wikipedia since she was born, hence my dream of promoting Rwanda to featured status will have to wait. I'm living back in the UK at the moment, but I have a permanent connection to Africa now, so will definitely be back!

Hope you're well. SteveRwanda (talk) 19:58, 11 June 2008 (UTC)

Replaceable fair use Image:Liemba.jpg

Replaceable fair use

Thanks for uploading Image:Liemba.jpg. I noticed the description page specifies that the media is being used under a claim of fair use, but its use in Wikipedia articles fails our first non-free content criterion in that it illustrates a subject for which a freely licensed media could reasonably be found or created that provides substantially the same information. If you believe this media is not replaceable, please:

1. Go to the media description page and edit it to add {{di-replaceable fair use disputed}}, without deleting the original replaceable fair use template.
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Alternatively, you can also choose to replace this non-free media by finding freely licensed media of the same subject, requesting that the copyright holder release this (or similar) media under a free license, or by taking a picture of it yourself.

If you have uploaded other non-free media, consider checking that you have specified how these images fully satisfy our non-free content criteria. You can find a list of description pages you have edited by clicking on this link. Note that even if you follow steps 1 and 2 above, non-free media which could be replaced by freely licensed alternatives will be deleted 2 days after this notification (7 days if uploaded before 13 July 2006), per our non-free content policy. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you. Do you want to opt out of receiving this notice? Rettetast (talk) 18:13, 24 July 2008 (UTC)

ITN

On 8 October, 2008, In the news was updated with a news item involving the article(s) Maldivian presidential election, 2008, which you recently nominated. If you know of another interesting news item involving a recently updated or created article, then please suggest it on the In the news candidates page.

--Spencer^T♦C 18:23, 9 October 2008 (UTC)

Happy Holidays

Thanks Steve! Happy holidays to you and your family as well. Your girl must be humongous at this point. Cheers, BanyanTree 01:00, 20 December 2008 (UTC)

Indeed she is... walking, talking and smiling at everyone. Still not leaving me much time for serious wiki editing, but sometimes you have to have a "real life" break! SteveRwanda (talk) 09:32, 22 December 2008 (UTC)

Winehouse name

I actually gave the wrong guideline link in my change to your edit (because my Firefox was bogging down), which actually should have been WP:MOSBIO#Maiden names, which says "But in all cases, a woman should be called by the name she is most widely known under. Elizabeth Taylor, even though she has been married eight times, would not be referred to under those other surnames." There are literally hundreds upon thousands of married females who work under a specific name and I can't recall a single article wherein we start the lead off with a name under which they are not known. Think Julia Roberts, Mary Steenbergen, Rita Wilson, Reese Witherspoon before her divorce, and none of them give their (possibly) legal married name first. I think the Elizabeth Taylor reference covers it fairly well. Wildhartlivie (talk) 19:41, 17 March 2009 (UTC)

Iturufu

Iturufu is a Rwandan card game with interesting rules, e.g., it does not use all 52 cards, and JQK are not counted in the common order of value. I can't find any English information about it other than through word of mouth. Let's get this on Wikipedia :) --Bcjordan (talk) 22:40, 6 June 2009 (UTC)

Orphaned non-free image (File:Oa0408.jpg)

⚠

Thanks for uploading File:Oa0408.jpg. The image description page currently specifies that the image is non-free and may only be used on Wikipedia under a claim of fair use. However, the image is currently orphaned, meaning that it is not used in any articles on Wikipedia. If the image was previously in an article, please go to the article and see why it was removed. You may add it back if you think that that will be useful. However, please note that images for which a replacement could be created are not acceptable for use on Wikipedia (see our policy for non-free media).

If you have uploaded other unlicensed media, please check whether they're used in any articles or not. You can find a list of "file" pages you have edited by clicking on the "my contributions" link (it is located at the very top of any Wikipedia page when you are logged in), and then selecting "File" from the dropdown box. Note that any non-free images not used in any articles will be deleted after seven days, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. Thank you. FileBot (talk) 04:57, 21 August 2009 (UTC)

Speedy deletion nomination of Union Coffee Roasters

A tag has been placed on Union Coffee Roasters, requesting that it be speedily deleted from Wikipedia. This has been done under section G11 of the criteria for speedy deletion, because the page seems to be unambiguous advertising which only promotes a company, product, group, service or person and would need to be fundamentally rewritten in order to become an encyclopedia article. Please read the guidelines on spam as well as Wikipedia:FAQ/Business for more information.

If you think that this notice was placed here in error, you may contest the deletion by adding {{hangon}} to the top of the page that has been nominated for deletion (just below the existing speedy deletion or "db" tag), coupled with adding a note on the talk page explaining your position, but be aware that once tagged for speedy deletion, if the page meets the criterion it may be deleted without delay. Please do not remove the speedy deletion tag yourself, but don't hesitate to add information to the page that would render it more in conformance with Wikipedia's policies and guidelines. Lastly, please note that if the page does get deleted, you can contact one of these admins to request that they userfy the page or have a copy emailed to you. Cnilep (talk) 14:35, 27 August 2009 (UTC)

Stroud population

Hi. Thanks for seeking out those figures I was unable to find. The official town population is very close to the one given here [1] six years ago which I was going to cite, but yours is much better. Cheers ♦ Jongleur¹⁰⁰ ♦ ^talk 12:31, 1 October 2009 (UTC)

Hi there, and thanks - I thought at first it was going to be a message from the ministry of UK infoboxes, informing me that I had misused their facilities! I've often thought that the figure of 12,000 people for Stroud is a bit absurd, as it doesn't even include people at the town end of Bath Rd, who are technically in Rodborough despite being 2 minutes from Stroud town centre. There may be other towns that could benefit from a figure from that urban areas spreadsheet as well. SteveRwanda (talk) 13:26, 1 October 2009 (UTC)

AfD nomination of Association des Veuves du Genocide

An editor has nominated one or more articles which you have created or worked on, for deletion. The nominated article is Association des Veuves du Genocide. We appreciate your contributions, but the nominator doesn't believe that the article satisfies Wikipedia's criteria for inclusion and has explained why in his/her nomination (see also Wikipedia:Notability and "What Wikipedia is not").

Your opinions on whether the article meets inclusion criteria and what should be done with the article are welcome; please participate in the discussion(s) by adding your comments to Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Association des Veuves du Genocide. Please be sure to sign your comments with four tildes (~~~~).

You may also edit the article during the discussion to improve it but should not remove the articles for deletion template from the top of the article; such removal will not end the deletion debate.

Please note: This is an automatic notification by a bot. I have nothing to do with this article or the deletion nomination, and can't do anything about it. --Erwin85Bot (talk) 01:10, 7 November 2009 (UTC)

RfD nomination of Hazza Potter

I have nominated Hazza Potter (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views) for discussion. Your opinions on the matter are welcome; please participate in the discussion by adding your comments at the discussion page. Thank you. — The Man in Question (in question) 18:56, 8 December 2009 (UTC)

Schiff Graf Götzen, Gisenyi

Hello SteveRwanda, I saw your picture of Gisenyi because I do research on an colonial officer named max Knecht which was sttioned there 1906-08. May I ask you if you know, if there are nowadays any signs left of the german colonial period or did you make more fotos there?

Than I saw your article about the vessel "Graf Götzen" and I want to let you know, that there is another book on this story: Alex Capus: Eine Frage der Zeit. Roman. Knaus Verlag, München 2007, 302 Seiten

With best regards, Heiko Wegmann, info@freiburg-postkolonial.de 87.176.201.77 (talk) 16:07, 11 December 2009 (UTC)

Kagera River

Hello Steve, I came across the article Kagera River today and have been trying to expand it a little. Some of the sources I have been looking at say that the river is formed by the confluence of the Ruvuvu River and the Nyabarongo River. Another source described the Ruvuvu meeting the Kagera, which also seems to be he way you have described it in this image: File:KageraRuvubu.jpg. I'm a little confused! Since you took the photo, and seem to be knowledgeable about Rwandan things, I was wondering if you could help me because at the moment my description in the article: "is formed by the confluence of the Ruvuvu and the Nyabarongo" seems to contradict the description on your photo. Hope you can help! Regards, --BelovedFreak 14:38, 26 February 2010 (UTC)

Hello BelovedFreak. I have to admit I don't actually know the answer to your question, off hand. I do know that somewhere along its course the Nyabarongo does become the Kagera - that might be at the confluence you mention, or it might be further upstream at Lake Rweru. I have a reasonably detailed map of Rwanda at home so I will check that out later and see if casts light on the matter.

I'm glad you're working on the article - I would like to see a lot more Rwandan coverage on WP and am very slowly working towards that goal, but generally much too busy. You may be interested in Rusumo Falls, a small article I wrote a few years ago, some material of which could be used in the general Kagera article.

Good luck, anyway! — SteveRwanda (talk) 14:55, 26 February 2010 (UTC)

Thanks for your response, I'll try and look further into sources too to see if I can get my head around it. I'll have a look at the Rusumo Falls article. I'm trying to improve coverage on Rwanda and other under-covered African countries, but there's so much to be done it's hard to know which bit to do first! Anyway, thanks for your help! --BelovedFreak 15:01, 26 February 2010 (UTC)

DYK for Lake Muhazi

On March 15, 2010, Did you know? was updated with a fact from the article Lake Muhazi, which you created or substantially expanded. You are welcome to check how many hits your article got while on the front page (here's how, quick check ) and add it to DYKSTATS if it got over 5,000. If you know of another interesting fact from a recently created article, then please suggest it on the Did you know? talk page.

Materialscientist (talk) 18:02, 15 March 2010 (UTC)

2010 Philadelphia Phillies season

Thanks for your edits to 2010 Philadelphia Phillies season. As a courtesy to other editors, please update the "Record vs. opponents" table when updating the game log, so that the article stays in sync with itself. If you're willing and able, you could also contribute to the monthly summary section. I appreciate your contributions! Thanks! KV5 (Talk • Phils) 11:52, 15 April 2010 (UTC)

Hi KV5, thanks for your message. Apologies for making the article inconsistent... I should probably have left the editing to the experts! (living in the UK I know a lot about cricket and soccer but not much about baseball - I've been following the new season to try and learn). That said, there are 2010 season articles which are far less well updated than the Phillies article - for example 2010 Washington Nationals season, so doubtless there is some work I could do somewhere. Thanks — SteveRwanda (talk) 13:10, 15 April 2010 (UTC)

No problem! I always like to see people outside the U.S. editing baseball articles, because sometimes we get a little niche-y around here. KV5 (Talk • Phils) 13:20, 15 April 2010 (UTC)