User talk:Mandarax/Archive 6

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Commons question

Hey Mandarax, since you know most everything, can you tell me how I can move "Thor's Oak" on Commons ([1]) to "Donar Oak"? That is a much better name, for reasons also explained here. Thanks! Drmies (talk) 01:04, 26 August 2010 (UTC)

You give me much too much credit. I (or should I say my backwards doppelgänger) have done very little on Commons. However, I'll give you my best guess. I would say to create the new category. Then, if there were too many members of the category, I would suggest finding someone with a bot willing to change all of them to the new category. But since there are only ten in this case, I'd just manually switch them to the new category. Then, presumably, the old category could be deleted. Probably not the most helpful of responses and maybe not the easiest solution, but it's best I've got.... MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 01:59, 26 August 2010 (UTC)

Thanks--but I may save that for later! ;) BTW, there was an interesting edit in Donar Oak--by someone who takes their hagiography really seriously. Fun stuff! Drmies (talk) 03:55, 26 August 2010 (UTC)

You doing alright, Mandarax? I'm pleased to tell you that I made all-vegetarian, all-curried food tonight, and even the kids ate it. Cheers, Drmies (talk) 01:42, 14 September 2010 (UTC)

As always, good to hear from you. And I'm especially thrilled to hear about this extraordinary meal which you prepared. I'm so proud of you. I just returned from Burning Man, and among my provisions were some Indian boil-in-the-bag meals. I'm afraid they weren't very good. But I really enjoyed my visits to a vegan theme camp which served up some delicious food. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 02:01, 14 September 2010 (UTC)

Wow, you are kulturny! (I believe that is the term used in From Russia With Love. That's so exciting. Well, welcome back to the grindstone. We should hook up in Amsterdam one of these days for some nice show in the Stedelijk Museum. How's 2010 looking for you? Drmies (talk) 02:13, 14 September 2010 (UTC)

Well, how kulturny can I really be when I didn't even know the word? Yes, Burning Man is quite exciting; it's a whole other world. This was my third one. If you're interested in something similar but a little closer to home, you could check out Transformus. A friend who was originally going to join me at Burning Man this year but couldn't make it did go to Transformus, and enjoyed it very much.

I've only been to Europe once, and one of my great regrets is that I unfortunately couldn't fit in Amsterdam. I must admit that I was unaware of the existence of the Stedelijk Museum, but really wanted to visit the Rijksmuseum and Van Gogh Museum. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 05:31, 14 September 2010 (UTC)

Oh, I love the Stedelijk--especially its light. Hey, I meant to drop by and celebrate edit 50,000 with you and a couple of Warsteiners, but an edit war on Propaganda and other things got in the way. Sorry! Reading about Burning Man was very interesting, and the Asheville variety is interesting too (I lived there for a year; wish I could move back!). That whole area is funky, in many good ways. I miss snow and mountains. Ah well, time for a beer. And you, get back to work: according to Wikipedia:List of Wikipedians by number of edits/latest, I'm breathing down your neck--I'm only 400 places behind you! Drmies (talk) 03:44, 15 September 2010 (UTC)

Being a lover of Impressionism, my favorite museum in the world is Musée d'Orsay. Congratulations on 50,000! Oh, you finally mentioned a beer I've actually heard of. You should know that anything you read about Burning Man is quite inadequate. It's really like being transported to another dimension on another planet. I can identify with missing snow and mountains, as I grew up in Colorado. You're actually closer to me in edit ranking than you thought. For the very most up-to-date Wikipedian rankings, see User:MZMcBride/Sandbox 3, on which you are currently 436 and I'm 74. Your rank is especially impressive since you did it without the benefit of AWB. But I find your place on the list of Wikipedians by number of pages created (although not extremely high) to be even more impressive. Oh, and while I'm congratulating you, congrats on another quintuple DYK upcoming. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 06:04, 15 September 2010 (UTC)

Hi

And thanks for helping out on the Eakins portrait; you encouraged me to be a bit more specific. Please feel free to return and copy edit or add content. Your help is always appreciated....no matter what guise I'm editing under. JNW (talk) 18:34, 19 September 2010 (UTC)

After seeing your correction, I started to leave you a note apologizing for unfairly implying a certain degree of carelessness on your part, but I aborted it when I realized that my edit, although wrong, had prodded you to improve the passage and make it more clear. Always good to hear from you, and I always enjoy seeing your work. And now that vandalism levels have perked up from their summer hiatus, I'm seeing you all over my watchlist reverting vandalism. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 18:56, 19 September 2010 (UTC)

There would have been no need to apologize, but you're always welcome to drop by and say hello. And yeah, school's back in session, and the kids are at it, which is kind of their job description. Can you imagine what fun Bill Watterson would have had with Calvin editing Wikipedia? JNW (talk) 19:11, 19 September 2010 (UTC)

While we're thanking Mandarax: thanks for your helpful edits on Robert Jenkins Onderdonk! Drmies (talk) 22:49, 20 September 2010 (UTC)

No problemo. My last edit to the page, removing Category:Impressionist painters, took a while, as I was searching for evidence that perhaps he had dabbled in Impressionism. Eventually it dawned on me that you probably accidentally copied it along with other categories from his son's page. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 23:28, 20 September 2010 (UTC)

Mandarax! How dare you suggest that I simply copy and paste categories or anything else! And what's more, how dare you suggest that I would even know what impressionism is! Drmies (talk) 23:44, 20 September 2010 (UTC)

And thanks for fixing the Eakins template. I tried, and didn't have a clue. JNW (talk) 23:01, 22 September 2010 (UTC)

You're welcome. Just keep writing the great articles and don't worry about the little gnomy things. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 23:33, 22 September 2010 (UTC)

Thank you! The recipe is easy: pick a great image, line up a few good sources for background and description, add a dash of sexual innuendo, and you've got a candidate for DYK. JNW (talk) 00:31, 23 September 2010 (UTC)

Re: Your edit summary...

...please see Just-in-time (business). I meant to leave an edit summary complaining about your lack of parental oversight. Hey, isn't that a great find? I'm on a Medieval Lit listserv and get to see these cool notices from time to time. Drmies (talk) 04:56, 23 September 2010 (UTC)

I don't think I understand. But maybe I'm just so used to communicating through edit summaries that I'm unable to comprehend messages left in the traditional way on my talk page. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 06:56, 23 September 2010 (UTC)

• Oh, maybe you have something to add to Hugues Merle, by the same editor who started the Onderdonk article? How about turning that into a DYK, by adding "some sexual innuendo"? Drmies (talk) 04:58, 23 September 2010 (UTC)

As usual, I'm too tired to actually research and write that, but I'll see about just fabricating some sexual innuendo to add. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 06:56, 23 September 2010 (UTC)

Haha, you sound like the perfect literature student. Drmies (talk) 19:27, 23 September 2010 (UTC)

DYK for Self-portrait (Thomas Eakins)

— Rlevse • Talk • 00:03, 1 October 2010 (UTC)

Maajid Nawaz

Hello, you once left a welcome note on my page so thought I'd take you up on the offer of asking something. Possibly you can look into this being more experienced. This article is being vandalized by a user who keeps removing a section (with sources) on personal details. I have undone a few times explaining why but in vain. The user is not editing anything else. Do have a look. Have a continued good weekend. Peaceblissharmony (talk) 11:09, 2 October 2010 (UTC)

I've left a warning on their talk page. If they do it again, you can leave stronger warnings (see WP:Template messages/User talk namespace) and if they still continue, you may report them to WP:Administrator intervention against vandalism. Good luck. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 19:03, 2 October 2010 (UTC)

Hello, thanks but they are continuing. I am not sure they should be editing this article seeing as they appear to have a personal interest. Unfortunately I don't have the time to pursue this at the notice board. Any chance you could for me in this case? The vandalism continues on a now daily basis. Peaceblissharmony (talk) 12:08, 4 October 2010 (UTC)

Maud Cook

My apologies for not noticing your last message to me until now--I've responded on my talk page, but to restate: feel free to nominate something for DYK any time. I'm hesitant to nominate several articles in a short period of time, especially when they're all on the same artist. Cheers, JNW (talk) 02:25, 3 October 2010 (UTC)

I feel that there's no reason to be hesitant. I'm sure that the inevitably interesting hooks for your well-written articles are always welcome.

It's just unfortunate that neither image from your articles which I nominated was/will be used. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 03:12, 3 October 2010 (UTC)

DYK for Portrait of Maud Cook

— Rlevse • Talk • 12:04, 3 October 2010 (UTC)

Congrats!

You're really picking up the pace with your DYKs. Good work! I hope you're enjoying that kind of work.

Mandarax, I have a question for you. I took care of some thirty articles listed in Category:Pages with missing references list--all of them (and now I'm tired of it), except for some weird ones, that need reflists with groups. I can go and learn how that works, or I could ask an expert--you. Do you mind having a look? It's only two articles, Adolf Galland and Flint Castle, and maybe you can care of it in seconds. Thanks! Drmies (talk) 02:54, 4 October 2010 (UTC)

Well, those recent DYKs were just nominations. But when I get the time and energy, I do have some articles I want to write and/or expand.

Good work on clearing out that category. As I've told you before, you give me much too much credit. I'm not any kind of expert. Anyways, by the time I got here, Adolf Galland was already done, but I did take care of Flint Castle. Hope you had a good weekend.... MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 05:33, 4 October 2010 (UTC)

Thanks Mandarax! And I don't think you're right: in many things here you are much more knowledgeable than I am. One of these days I'm going to ask you (again...sorry I forgot...) for a link to that interesting citation system you introduced me to; what I did for Abbot of Tivoli works, but it's not very clean I think (BTW, don't judge me on footnote 4 in that article--I need to figure out what those sources say. Do you have La letteratura italiana on your shelf?

Yes, it was fine, thanks--the weather is nice here now, not so hot anymore. Did you enjoy? Drmies (talk) 13:44, 4 October 2010 (UTC)

I'm not going to argue with you, so I'll just say "thanks" for your faith in me. No, I don't have La letteratura italiana, or, as far as I can recall, any non-English book. BTW, I greatly admire your language skills.

It's cooling down a little here too, but it could hardly do otherwise, after our recent record-setting 113°.

No need to wait for "one of these days". For full info on the citation system, see Help:Footnotes#List-defined references or WP:LDR. Here's the CliffsNotes version:

Note that you can also divide the refs into two columns by using:

{{reflist |2|refs=

MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 18:36, 4 October 2010 (UTC)

Thank you so much; I will give it another try next time I'm looking at something interesting. Listen, did you turn your email off? I wanted to canvass you and talk bad about some administrators! (No, I have something for you that you might like--something made of matter.) Drmies (talk) 20:49, 6 October 2010 (UTC)

Ooooh, thanks! Matter is one of my favorite things. I never had my email enabled. I figured it would mostly be used by angry vandals I'd reverted, but I'm doing less vandalism patrolling than I used to, so I've now turned email on. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 21:25, 6 October 2010 (UTC)

thank you

Hi - thank you for making those excellent maps :) Shiva (Visnu) 09:38, 7 October 2010 (UTC)

You're welcome. As indicated by my edit summaries, I initially thought it was inadequate (since Bhutan is so small) and temporary until a better one could be substituted, but now I think it's pretty standard, and will probably suffice. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 09:46, 7 October 2010 (UTC)

Austin Volk

I started an article on Austin Volk and it should be DYK. Users:Marknutley and Scanlan should be given credit for the article. I took at a look at the DYK form and they look confusing. If you could please help this would be appreciated. Thank you-RFD (talk) 19:54, 7 October 2010 (UTC)

Done. Please feel free to suggest an alternate hook. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 21:01, 7 October 2010 (UTC)

Len Garrison

DYK hook - too long, yep, sorry; I've tried to shorten it; DYK for Len Garrison. Cheers,  Chzz  ►  19:55, 7 October 2010 (UTC)

Thanks for taking care of it. I've added a notation that the hook length is fine now. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 20:40, 7 October 2010 (UTC)

Neil McDonald (chess player)

Hi Mandarax - Thanks for the page edits, I didn't realise that McDonald is categorized under MacDonald in persondata, I just saw the mispelling and changed it when I was editing his birthplace (I didn't really know what persondata was to tell you the truth, so at least it's made me go look it up and have a read!).

Cheers, Mark (ZMG)

ZMG (talk) 23:50, 8 October 2010 (UTC)

No problem. Lots of people are unaware of that sorting guideline (and some people seem to get upset about it). (Oh, and it's actually "Macdonald".) Thanks for your work on Wikipedia. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 00:02, 9 October 2010 (UTC)

Thanks

...on the sortkey technical fix! I really didn't see that one coming, and I do appreciate your keeping tabs. It is anti-intuitive that the right way to do it is to misspell the name. Perhaps we should add a commented-out note there to keep anyone else from repeating my mistake. With regards, --Tenebrae (talk) 15:53, 11 October 2010 (UTC)

You're welcome. Some "Mc" articles do have comments about the sort key, but often that still doesn't prevent people from changing it. Thanks for your note. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 19:05, 11 October 2010 (UTC)

DYK for Austin Volk

— Rlevse • Talk • 06:05, 14 October 2010 (UTC)

Had already warned IP

Re: [2], I had already warned for the vandalism, you may wish to self-revert. Best wishes, DuncanHill (talk) 23:24, 14 October 2010 (UTC)

Nope. I knew that you had already issued a level one warning, and I intentionally issued a second, stronger warning. The same article had three minutes earlier been similarly vandalized by a very similar IP. It was obviously the same user switching IPs. But whether it was the same user or not, they are very deserving of at least a level two warning. Note that level one warnings are issued when there is a possible assumption of good faith. Those edits were obvious vandalism, and no reasonable person could possibly AGF on them. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 23:56, 14 October 2010 (UTC)

Obviously I've been doing it wrong all these years. I'll desist from warning vandals or reverting them as you make it so clear that I haven't got a clue how to do it. Good lick at RfAd. DuncanHill (talk) 00:14, 15 October 2010 (UTC)

I see no reason for the attitude. I made no such implication.

Note that my suspicion has been confirmed. The first IP posted a message on the second IP's talk page defending "my addition". It was the same person, and, as I previously said, both IPs are very deserving of their level two warnings. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 00:21, 15 October 2010 (UTC)

I suppose it's impossible for two people to be sitting next to each other on separate terminals but talking, you know, in "real life"? I see you've changed the wording of one of your comments after I replied to it - neither a nice nor an honest thing to do. Still, as you've decided I'm either not a reasonable person, or clueless when it comes to warning vandals, I repeat, I'll not bother in future. I'll certainly not bother making any more good-faith suggestions to you, given your attitude when they are made. You're off my watchlist. DuncanHill (talk) 11:22, 15 October 2010 (UTC)

← Their actions, claiming credit from one IP for the other IP's edits, indicate that it was the same person. But it doesn't matter whether it was the same person or two people sitting next to each other colluding to vandalize in tandem. The two edits were related, obvious vandalism and a level two warning was definitely called for.

Note that I did not intend to issue a second warning for the same edit. I don't do that, even when I feel that a stronger warning should have been issued. I initially thought that both edits were made by exactly the same IP, and I intentionally issued the second, stronger warning for the second edit. I quickly realized that it was two slightly different IPs, but I decided that the second warning was completely justified, as the same unit (be it one or two people) had twice vandalized the article. If I had thought it was two unrelated people, I would have reverted my warning, in spite of the fact that a level two warning would have been appropriate as the first warning.

It's not true that editing my comment was "neither a nice nor an honest thing to do". I merely restored my original wording, without changing any context which you replied to. It originally said "obviously", I had changed it to "seemed very likely", and restored it to "obviously".

I never implied that you were unreasonable or clueless. I merely stated a fact which supported my use of a level two warning: no reasonable person (i.e., non-vandal) could possibly assume that they were good faith edits. You seem to have inferred that I intended to say that you were unreasonable. This is a misinterpretation and was certainly never intended. I was simply explaining my reason for the warning, and the policy which backed it up. My comments about warning usage were just as "good faith" as your suggestion. It's a shame that you apparently misinterpreted my innocent comments and overreacted so much based on that misinterpretation. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 20:58, 15 October 2010 (UTC)

Talkback: Template talk:Did you know

Hello, Mandarax. You have new messages at Template talk:Did you know.
You can remove this notice at any time by removing the {{Talkback}} or {{Tb}} template.

— SpikeToronto 22:17, 16 October 2010 (UTC)

Greetings!

Hello Mandarax, Wilhelmina Will has smiled at you! Smiles promote WikiLove and hopefully this one has made your day better. Spread the WikiLove by smiling at someone else, whether it be someone you have had disagreements with in the past or a good friend. Go on, smile! Cheers, and happy editing!
Smile at others by adding {{subst:Smile}} to their talk page with a friendly message.

Hope you're having a good day! Wilhelmina Will (talk) 02:05, 21 October 2010 (UTC)

Thanks! That's very nice of you. I hope you have a wonderful day also! MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 07:24, 21 October 2010 (UTC)

DYK-Shakespeare

Would it be permissible to change the hook to ". . . that more than 50 different people have been nominated as the true author of the William Shakespeare plays (pictured)? "? There's no ref for 75, although there is one for 58, but Shapiro says "over fifty others have been proposed as well" in that ref I cite.

Tom Reedy (talk) 20:39, 21 October 2010 (UTC)

Ah! Never mind. I found that I can edit it. Tom Reedy (talk) 22:50, 21 October 2010 (UTC)

I'm glad you figured it out yourself, as I wasn't around here to take care of it for you. Good luck with the DYK. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 09:29, 22 October 2010 (UTC)

As per your suggestion, almost everyone knows that those two have been nominated, so it's not all that extraordinary. How about

• ALT1:... that Queen Elizabeth and King James are among the 75 people who have been nominated as the true author of William Shakespeare plays (pictured)?

I think that would be even more provocative. What do you think? Tom Reedy (talk) 03:18, 23 October 2010 (UTC)

Well, the hook I suggested was specifically designed to easily meet the DYK requirements: it was a fact that was mentioned in one sentence of the article including an inline citation immediately following it. This is not the case with your version of the hook. I wish you the best of luck with your DYK, but I've grown weary of the whole thing, and I won't be looking at it any more. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 08:51, 23 October 2010 (UTC)

OK, thanks. I included both versions. Tom Reedy (talk) 14:00, 23 October 2010 (UTC)

File:Orovida Pissarro Self-portrait.jpg

Hi Mandarax, I noticed you uploaded this portrait with a fair use rationale, but I believe it's in the public domain (at least in the US) because it was first published before 1923. Does this sound accurate to you? If so, I have a higher resolution version of the same image that I can upload over it. I'm not sure if it's PD in the UK - if not, we can still upload it locally here at En. Dcoetzee 16:19, 23 October 2010 (UTC)

I've done very little uploading and know very little about the intricate rules. I went the "fair use" route because, although the piece was painted in about 1913, I didn't know if it was published before 1923. In any case, I think a higher resolution version would be great. Thanks. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 19:13, 23 October 2010 (UTC)

DYK tick for cysteine-rich secretory protein

Hi, thanks for having a look at the article and commenting at WT:Did you know#Question / Proposal re Prep 4. In the interests of full disclosure, I feel I should tell you that I have added another section to the article (on the structure of these proteins). I think that this will not change your view of the suitability / approval of the article, but since it is a significant change, I feel I should draw it to your attention in case my change raises any issues. Regards, EdChem (talk) 21:56, 27 October 2010 (UTC)

Thanks for the disclosure, but it certainly doesn't change my approval in any way. (I see that you used the same ref again. After I made my edit which named the ref, I realized that I had chosen a rather poor name for it, as Yamazaki contributed to a bunch of the refs. But, since ref names don't really matter, I didn't bother changing it.) MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 23:54, 27 October 2010 (UTC)

Happy Halloween!

Wilhelmina Will has given you some caramel and a candy apple! Caramel and candy-coated apples are fun Halloween treats, and promote WikiLove on Halloween. Hopefully these have made your Halloween (and the proceeding days) much sweeter. Happy Halloween! If Trick-or-treaters come your way, add {{subst:Halloween apples}} to their talkpage with a spoooooky message!

Cheers! Wilhelmina Will (talk) 04:44, 31 October 2010 (UTC)

Thanks! Happy Halloween to you too! BTW, I used to love caramel apples, but I haven't had one in years. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 06:02, 31 October 2010 (UTC)

August Riedel

My dear Mandarax, I don't think we're going to get a DYK out of this guy--there aren't enough sources. The best I can do is make a list of paintings of his that were noticed by American tourists who later remarked on it--in Rome and Munich, but that's of limited encyclopedic value, and tedious to write. Do you have anything on the shelf, a nice dictionary of realist German painters who liked stout women? (I'm thinking of his Judith). Drmies (talk) 23:45, 19 November 2010 (UTC)

Yeah, the article is a little skimpy for DYK. Riedel is certainly not a household name, at least not in my household. No, sorry. The "realist German painters who liked stout women" section of my library is sadly and surprisingly deficient.

Hehe, even when you apparently don't intend to mention beer, I see it. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 11:49, 20 November 2010 (UTC)

MOIL Limited

Thanks for removing the vision and mission copyvio material from the article. I was under the impression that the mission and vision of an organisation are not to be tinkered with and should be faithfully reproduced. I also saw the same in few articles (Steel Authority of India Limited#Vision, Jackson School of Geosciences#Mission & Vision, Singapore Institute of Management#Vision & Mission). But i am a little confused now. Does the copyrights cover the company's vision and mission statements as well ? --Nayvik (talk) 13:43, 25 November 2010 (UTC)

I would say that the copyright covers everything on the site. If copying anything, it should be explicitly identified as a quote from the site. But I feel that the majority of the text in those statements added very little to the article anyways. As might be expected, a company's vision and mission statements come across as very self-promotional. If any of it is to be included, it would probably be better to have a very short summary of the key points. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 19:25, 25 November 2010 (UTC)

Warning: non-wiki related message, but considering its brevity one might let it slide

I'm reading 2666. It's very good. Hope you are doing well. Drmies (talk) 05:38, 30 November 2010 (UTC)

I think if I ever write a novel, I'll give it a title which has absolutely nothing to do with the book. I'm doing fine (other than the usual fatigue). I hope all is well with you too.

BTW, I was curious how our contributions intersection figure was progressing, and as of now it's up to 1320. Strange... I thought I was cutting down on my Wikitime, but according to my Wikistatistics, this has been my third busiest Wikimonth ever. Hi ho. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 21:06, 30 November 2010 (UTC)

WP:MCSTJR

Hey, regarding your edits on Bill McLennan (rugby league)‎, I have seen similar changes many times before so I don't doubt there validity, I'm just looking for the rationale behind it as WP:MCSTJR doesn't actually cover it. Is Mc an abbreviation of Mac? Mattlore (talk) 03:19, 7 December 2010 (UTC)

The relevant portion of that section was recently removed by someone after a brief discussion with one or two other users who disagreed with the guideline. For that guideline, see the section before the removal, and for discussions of the rationale, see that page's talk page and archives. My edit was made using AWB, which still uses the original guideline. I don't know which will prevail, but the "Mac" standard was in place for many years, and ten of thousands of pages are sorted according to it, while there are only a handful of pages using the "Mc" sort. If you want to change it, go ahead, but don't just revert my edit, as the sort key which was there before (McLennan, Bill) was definitely wrong. If changed, it should be "Mclennan, Bill". Sorry it's all so confusing. Thanks for writing. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 03:58, 7 December 2010 (UTC)

Yeah, I'd picked up on the capitalisation error thanks. I'm not going to revert it because as I said I've seen it before and it's a common change - was just asking the history behind it so thanks for the info. Mattlore (talk) 04:19, 7 December 2010 (UTC)

Thank you

I appreciate the proof-reading and tweaks you made to Walter Keane. Nice job... thank you. Schmidt, ^{MICHAEL Q.} 13:09, 12 December 2010 (UTC)

You're welcome. Thanks for the note. Good job on the expansion. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 17:14, 12 December 2010 (UTC)

List as tagging for WPBIo

I noticed you were tagging some of the WPbiographies with the list as parameter. What kind of logic are you using for that? The reason I ask is because I am also doing some work on talk pages and could add that to the list I am working on and save you a few keystrokes since I am there anyway. --Kumioko (talk) 18:49, 14 December 2010 (UTC)

The sort key which I use is simply the one provided by AWB: %%key%%. But I try to quickly check the article first for any irregular DEFAULTSORT, as well as other potential problems, such as determining if the article's about a fictional character or a musical group whose name looks like a person's. (That's why I submitted a feature request over a year ago for AWB to sort/produce a list such that each article is immediately followed by its talk page.) MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 19:38, 14 December 2010 (UTC)

Thanks, I agree that would be good change --Kumioko (talk) 19:58, 14 December 2010 (UTC)

Paddy the Wanderer

It's not exactly an artist, but at least it's not bacon or beer. And thanks for your spelling correction--I thought I tried to be consistent. If you have anything in your ecclesiastical archives for Thomas Spreiter, that would be appreciated! Drmies (talk) 05:41, 16 December 2010 (UTC)

Well, not everything has to be about art. Thanks for your suggestion on Chantal Joffe (where I similarly spelled things such as "honours"). The "no links in quotations" guideline is one which I don't religiously follow, but since you mentioned it, I fixed it. BTW, I've told you that I had some artist articles which I've been intending to write and/or expand... well, the Joffe article was not among those, and it jumped the queue just because of your Big Red Button. Sorry, I got nuttin' for you on Spreiter. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 08:09, 16 December 2010 (UTC)

Weeeeell, Mandarax, then you must not have looked very hard--look at Spreiter now, and there is plenty more. You got a problem with German missionaries? If I ever assume the habit, I might move to St. Georgenberg-Fiecht Abbey--just look at the view. Drmies (talk) 16:09, 16 December 2010 (UTC)

I noticed this--I didn't know if that was redundant or not, since I'm much more the maker of the dog's article than the nominator. Thanks, Drmies (talk) 18:11, 16 December 2010 (UTC)

Good work, as usual, on the Spreiter article. Yeah, there was no need for a DYKnom since you were already in a DYKmake. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 22:10, 18 December 2010 (UTC)

Thanks Mandarax

Thanks for saving my comments Mandarax. --Kary247 (talk) 12:44, 19 December 2010 (UTC)

First, welcome to Wikipedia! You're welcome for my edit; I just restored your comments after someone altered them. Wikipedia does work by consensus, so if you make strong valid arguments on the articles' talk pages, hopefully they'll be saved. Good luck! MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 19:47, 19 December 2010 (UTC)

• a bit embarrassed - that was actually me deleting my own comments (I forgot to sign in, oops). I was deleting my own comments on the talk page because I was mistaken, new to wiki and not aware of some of the systems on place etc. Sorry to waste time.--Kary247 (talk) 20:21, 31 December 2010 (UTC)

No need to be embarrassed; it takes a while to get used to the way things work around here. Thanks for explaining, and I hope you'll enjoy WikiEditing. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 20:27, 31 December 2010 (UTC)

DYK for Chantal Joffe

Materialscientist (talk) 00:03, 21 December 2010 (UTC)

Happy Holidays

Hi Mandarax, All the best! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! [3]...Modernist (talk) 00:14, 24 December 2010 (UTC)

Thanks! I'd like to wish you very happy holidays too! MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 05:07, 24 December 2010 (UTC)

Francis Wythens and other articles

The manual of style notes that em and endashes are interchangeable in almost any situation as long as one sticks to a consistent style throughout the article. It also notes that, where there are any acceptable stylistic differences, you should use the "original" style unless there is a reason to change it. With that in mind, could you explain the endash/emdash changes you've made to Francis Wythens and similar articles? Is there some guideline I'm missing? Ironholds (talk) 05:53, 25 December 2010 (UTC)

My edit was correct, according to the MOS.

No, the MOS does not say they are interchangeable in almost any situation; in fact, it says that em dashes should only be used in two specific situations. Spaced en dashes may be substituted for unspaced em dashes in situations where unspaced em dashes are appropriate. Em dashes should not be used in place of en dashes in other contexts. According to WP:EMDASH: "Em dashes (—) indicate interruption in a sentence. They are used in two roles." The two correct uses of em dashes ("Parenthetical" and "As a sharp break") are explained there.

Your edit summary when you reverted me ("Spaced en dashes – such as here – can replace unspaced em dashes in all of the ways discussed above.") was a direct quote from WP:EMDASH, and was not applicable in several respects. The usage between dates is not one of "the ways discussed above" in the "Em dashes" section. And your original version which you reverted to does not have unspaced em dashes; it has spaced em dashes. Just above the line you quoted in WP:EMDASH is the following: "Do not space em dashes."

Further up on that MOS page, at WP:ENDASH, the correct use of en dashes in date ranges is discussed. Also see WP:MOSBD, which specifies that en dashes are used between dates. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 09:26, 25 December 2010 (UTC)

Gotcha; my misreading - facepalm (or — facepalm? :p). Feel free to revert, and happy Pagan-originating, Christian-adopted, largely secular festival to you and your loved ones. Ironholds (talk) 14:47, 25 December 2010 (UTC)

Thanks. You have a happy one too! MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 19:54, 25 December 2010 (UTC)

Byzantine silk

I've fixed the incomplete citation in Byzantine silk by finding an even better pair of sources. Good catch. Thanks for the quick DYK review. - PKM (talk) 18:48, 30 December 2010 (UTC)

You're welcome. Thanks for taking care of that very minor issue. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 20:42, 30 December 2010 (UTC)