User talk:SlimVirgin

RfA candidate S O N S% Ending (UTC) Time left Dups? Report GrooveDog 3 15 8 17 21:46, 20 July 2009 6 days, 7 hours no report Kateshortforbob 52 5 4 91 14:50, 17 July 2009 3 days, 0 hours no report Skomorokh 135 14 1 91 13:57, 14 July 2009 EXPIRED no report RfB candidate S O N S% Ending (UTC) Time left Dups? Report Last updated by SoxBot (talk) at 14:03, 14 July 2009 (UTC)

You have been nominated for membership of the Established Editors Association

The Established editors association will be a kind of union of who have made substantial and enduring contributions to the encyclopedia for a period of time (say, two years or more). The proposed articles of association are here - suggestions welcome.

If you wish to be elected, please notify me here. If you know of someone else who may be eligible, please nominate them here

Please put all discussion here.Peter Damian (talk) 10:22, 13 June 2009 (UTC)

BS

		Home-Made Barnstar
		No comment needed - just see her work on the article around the '48 events in Israel/Palestine. Ceedjee (talk) 17:03, 13 June 2009 (UTC)

In fact, you must be crazy ;-) Thank you !!! Ceedjee (talk) 17:04, 13 June 2009 (UTC)

re FA review

Thanks for the heads up, I shall take another look. Cirt (talk) 01:09, 16 June 2009 (UTC)

Thank you for your positive and collaborative spirit

Thank you for your positive and collaborative spirit during the review process for Bernard Williams, at Wikipedia:Featured article review/Bernard Williams/archive1. It is most appreciated. Also nice work on addressing the concerns raised and improving the article. Yours, Cirt (talk) 01:51, 16 June 2009 (UTC)

No worries. :) Cirt (talk) 01:55, 16 June 2009 (UTC)

Request for your advice

Seeing as you've had a lot of experience in dealing with original research issues, and you're uninvolved in this particular issue, do you suppose you could possibly have a look at Wikipedia:No original research/Noticeboard#Cyrus cylinder and let me know what you think? I'd be very grateful for any advice you can offer. -- ChrisO (talk) 23:43, 16 June 2009 (UTC)

Request for rollback

I would like you to consider granting me the Rollback feature. Up to now I have used the information visible on the screen about who edited a particular old version of an article to compose an appropriate edit summary. (See, for example, this change.) However, with the new copyright license in effect, there is more text on the screen, and I can't see the information about the last good edit and the edit summary line at the same time. This additional annoyance has prompted me to pursue a better method.

Thanks for your consideration.

--Jc3s5h (talk) 17:38, 17 June 2009 (UTC)

Congratulations on Abu Nidal

		The WikiProject Palestine Featured Article Medal
		Awarded for bringing this WikiProject Palestine article to Featured Article status: For your amazing efforts in turning Abu Nidal into a comprehensive and highly readable account of a difficult and controversial subject.
		this WikiAward was given to SlimVirgin by Ian Pitchford (talk) on 21:09, 18 June 2009 (UTC)

Afd

Somone has nominated Alison Green, an article you have worked on, for afd. You might wish to contribute to the debate. Thanks, SqueakBox talk 15:24, 20 June 2009 (UTC)

Google hits on Nakba

Hi. In Wikipedia:Requests for comment/Nakba#Statement by SlimVirgin you've said that Nakba gets over two million Google hits, but when I tried it seems to be about 666000. Perhaps you'd like to try it again. SamuelTheGhost (talk) 23:31, 20 June 2009 (UTC)

That's weird. I still get about 600,000 hits however I try. It must be something to do with the way our respective Googles are set up. In this context I shall cease to worry about it forthwith. In the longer run it may prompt me to investigate Google's options a bit more. SamuelTheGhost (talk) 10:57, 21 June 2009 (UTC)

I've tried imitating your preferences and it makes no difference. I did notice that in your .JPG file it had the option to search "the web" or "pages from Canada" whereas in my case it's "pages from the UK". I did try accessing the Canadian version of Google, but that makes no difference either. Nevertheless if you are connecting to a Canadian server, this might be relevant. SamuelTheGhost (talk) 11:14, 22 June 2009 (UTC)

I was beginning to form what I thought was a coherent theory, when I tried it again and this time got only 17,000 hits! It certainly makes the point that these figures are unreliable. My theory is, first of all, that national versions are not located in the various places concerned, but are merely distinguished by parameter settings on the software. The searches are run, however, on computers located in clusters around the world (see Google#Platform etc.) and your request goes to the nearest convenient cluster, where the actual order of access to data is optimised for local use. So where the number of hits is being extrapolated from the first thousand or so actual hits, as I presume in this case, that estimate can vary very unstably. SamuelTheGhost (talk) 11:52, 22 June 2009 (UTC)

Categorisation

I know you're actually not the most appropriate person to field this query but I see your name all over wikipedia so I thought you may have some thoughts on the matter. I've noticed that people often put categorisations such as 'American Christians' or 'English Expatriates' (stuff like that) which both informs the reader and requires no verification. Problematically, when one tries to put a {{fact}} tag on the category, the tag appears at the botton of the page and not correlated to what the editor attempted to fix. As such, this can easily be a way of allowing less than scrupulous editors to insert false or misleading information without a clear way of addressing the problem other than deletion (which is not always necessary). I hope I've made myself clear; if you know someone else who could address this of course I'd appreciate it. Thanks, TheFireTones 18:41, 22 June 2009 (UTC)

Question

Hey SV: Have you emailed me today? IronDuke 19:15, 22 June 2009 (UTC)

Lydda

I began a discussion in Talk:Lydda, hopefully you will now understand my point of view. DGtal (talk) 19:39, 22 June 2009 (UTC)

Marshalsea map

Don't know if you're still looking for a map, but here's the Marshalsea and surrounding areas in the late 1820s, shortly before closure, from the Greenwood brothers' 1830 map. (The twin London Bridges are correct, as this was published during the construction of Rennie's 1830 bridge.) I've deliberately left the boundaries wide so you can crop it down to whatever you want. I also have the Rocque 1746 map if you want one before the urban sprawl overwhelmed Southwark, although it's not as decorative. The Greenwood map was the most detailed of London until Stanford started publishing in the late 19th century, so you're unlikely to find anything with more detail from the period the prison was operational. – iridescent 23:50, 22 June 2009 (UTC)

Uploaded as File:North Southwark 1746.png; again, I've left a lot of space around the boundaries to let you crop it down as necessary. – iridescent 07:36, 24 June 2009 (UTC)

Joseph Priestley lead image alignment

You previously have commented on the RfC at Talk:Joseph_Priestley#RfC on lead image alignment on whether or not the lead image should be left-aligned. A straw poll is under way to determine what, if any consensus have been developed towards resolving the debate. Go to Talk:Joseph_Priestley#Major_options and indicate your relative levels of support for each option. Thank you. Madcoverboy (talk) 17:54, 23 June 2009 (UTC)

David Icke

Why don't we need two infoboxes? The reason the football infobox is there is that is shows his football statistics, which the other, more generic infobox does not. Mattythewhite (talk) 15:43, 24 June 2009 (UTC)

al-Nakba

Thanks for your e-mail. It is standard practice, in English, to transliterate the definite article -ال as al-, lower case, except when a capital is required, such as at the start of a sentence. Note that Arabic does not have upper or lower case, and that, in writing, the article is always joined to the word it prefixes. Some people might argue that it should be an-Nakba, since ن (n) is a solar letter (see, for instance the debate at WP:AMOS talk page), but I have never seen it written this way. I can also see a case for omitting the article entirely, since we don't usually include the article in page titles, except for books, films and so on. I don't have a strong view on this, except to say that capitalising it is against the standard convention. Transliterating Arabic is tricky, since there are so many possible variations, and I am not an expert on the subject.

--NSH001 (talk) 15:43, 24 June 2009 (UTC)
P.S. See the notice I recently added to the top of my user talk page.

The need for capitalising page titles is only a Wikipedia convention, not a requirement of standard English, and moreover one that can be ignored if necessary. See, for example bell hooks and eBay. The template {{lowercase title}}, which is used to acheive this (it doesn't actually change the title on the server, merely the way it is displayed – which for us humans is much the same thing), gives further examples. I'm inclined to omit the article too, but it's possible someone might come up with a good reason why not. --NSH001 (talk) 16:21, 24 June 2009 (UTC)

The good reason for not omitting it is that the word نكبة (nakba) itself can be used for any generic catastrophe, when preceded by ال (al) it refers to a specific thing. As Arabic has no capitalization either ال or another word, (like نكبة فلسطينيا nakbat filistiniyeh: Palestinian catastrophe) would be needed to make it definite. As much as I dislike comparing things to the Holocaust, it is much the same grammatically if we disregard case; a holocaust can refer to many things, the holocaust refers to something that is definite. Nableezy (talk) 16:47, 24 June 2009 (UTC)

Yes, makes sense. (I'm responding here as there are three correspondents now, by the way.) I've seen it referred to as the Palestinian Nakba (or lower case, nakba) several times, and I wondered why "Palestinian" was being added, given that there only is one well-known nakba, so that must be the reason. I do still wonder why not Al Nakba in a title, though. SlimVirgin ^{talk|contribs} 17:01, 24 June 2009 (UTC)

I'll just add that "Al-" (capitalised) looks and feels wrong. So much so, that if I see it at the start of a sentence, or of a Wikipedia section heading, I will try and recast the sentence or heading in such a way that "al-" doesn't appear first. --NSH001 (talk) 17:44, 24 June 2009 (UTC)

If we do go ahead with a Nakba article (people seem to be agreeing to a second, meta-level one about the concept as a compromise), we'll have to discuss what to call it. I take it the choices are Nakba, al-Nakba, Al-Nakba (which no one wants), The Nakba, or Palestinian Nakba. SlimVirgin ^{talk|contribs} 18:19, 24 June 2009 (UTC)

DYK for Kfar Shaul Mental Health Center

On June 25, 2009, Did you know? was updated with a fact from the article Kfar Shaul Mental Health Center, which you created or substantially expanded. If you know of another interesting fact from a recently created article, then please suggest it on the Did you know? talk page.

Dravecky (talk) 08:35, 25 June 2009 (UTC)

it.wiki

Hello :)

I've seen your request and it seems that the impersonating account was already renamed

• 13:24, 29 lug 2007 Helios (Discussione | contributi | blocca) ha spostato Utente:SlimVirgin a Utente:Impersonator ‎ (Pagina spostata automaticamente cambiando il nome utente di "SlimVirgin" al nuovo nome utente "Impersonator") (ripristina)

Please try to merge your account. Should you have any problem, please leave a message to one of our bureaucrats following these instructions.

Ciao, M/ (talk) 10:37, 25 June 2009 (UTC)

Well, hello stranger!

This whole Michael Jackson thing is pretty surreal, no? My brother flies a business jet for a living and he had to be routed around that mess in LA on his approach to Santa Monica. Weird. In any event, it is a genuine pleasure to see your signature on the new pages log.  :) --PMDrive1061 (talk) 01:40, 27 June 2009 (UTC)

I hear you. Such a strange and sad life mixed with one of the greatest talents of this or any age. Nice guy by all accounts, too. My other brother saw him in Las Vegas with a bodyguard. He said hello as they passed and both cordially returned the hello. I caught a screening of "Thriller" on BET last night as I was spinning the dial. That was truly in a class by itself. PMDrive1061 (talk) 01:46, 27 June 2009 (UTC)

Wow...what a memory that must be after seeing him in action. I will never forget seeing that Motown anniversary special when he cut loose with that moonwalk. I simply couldn't wrap my head around what I'd just seen. What a loss this is even after reflecting on this for the last day. --PMDrive1061 (talk) 01:56, 27 June 2009 (UTC)

Proposed community ban of NYScholar

Hello. You have previously commented on issues related to User:NYScholar. I have just proposed that NYScholar be community banned here. I am contacting you partly because your participation in the discussion would be welcome, but also because I have referred to your past comments, and want to give you the chance to ensure that I am not misconstruing them or using them out of context. Best, Steve Smith (talk) (formerly Sarcasticidealist) 07:08, 27 June 2009 (UTC)

Reaction to the death of Michael Jackson

I disagree with your edit and ask you to revert yourself. The AfD is about this article, so it should not be redirected until that discussion is closed. If people want to discuss Death of Michael Jackson that will need a separate AfD, otherwise things will get terribly confused. What we need is an uninvolved admin to snow close that one, but until that happens, as a matter of procedure, you shouldn't redirect the article. Cheers — Martin (MSGJ · talk) 08:27, 27 June 2009 (UTC)

By the way, did you discuss the creation of Death of Michael Jackson at all prior to creating it through protection? The consensus on ANI yesterday seemed to be that the article was not appropriate. — Martin (MSGJ · talk) 08:33, 27 June 2009 (UTC)

Images in template

Greetings SV! The reason I removed the images is because the template (when it has images) for some reason widens the article page where the template has been put in. A horizontal scroll bar appears and you have to move it or use the right arrow button to see the rest of the page. It's not a huge deal, but why mess up the format of the page. If there is a way for this not to occur, I wouldn't mind having the images in the template. On a slightly separate note, if you don't mind Huldra and I prefer the olive-green color instead of other colors so that it matches the infobox. Olive green is representative of Palestinian villages—at least I think so. --Al Ameer son (talk) 21:40, 27 June 2009 (UTC)

Thanks and best of luck! Cheers, Al Ameer son (talk) 22:01, 27 June 2009 (UTC)

Death of Michael Jackson

Just stopping by to tell you that I think you've done a great job on the article. Keep it up! TheLeftorium 09:24, 28 June 2009 (UTC)

Nice work. :-) AdjustShift (talk) 19:21, 28 June 2009 (UTC)

Proposed deletion of Richard Catling

A proposed deletion template has been added to the article Richard Catling, suggesting that it be deleted according to the proposed deletion process because of the following concern:

Notability not established.

All contributions are appreciated, but this article may not satisfy Wikipedia's criteria for inclusion, and the deletion notice should explain why (see also "What Wikipedia is not" and Wikipedia's deletion policy). You may prevent the proposed deletion by removing the {{dated prod}} notice, but please explain why you disagree with the proposed deletion in your edit summary or on its talk page.

Please consider improving the article to address the issues raised because, even though removing the deletion notice will prevent deletion through the proposed deletion process, the article may still be deleted if it matches any of the speedy deletion criteria or it can be sent to Articles for Deletion, where it may be deleted if consensus to delete is reached. --Lendorien (talk) 21:32, 28 June 2009 (UTC)

My removal of the citation was justified

Please check the diff carefully. I moved "<ref name=Steinhauer>...</ref>" up in the page because it did not apply to the sentence with the AOL quote. The reference and the other two citations for that reference are still intact. The AOL quote does not appear anywhere in that particular source, so I was justified in my edit. --Keith111 (talk) 08:58, 29 June 2009 (UTC)

*sigh* My Apologies...

I may have misspoken a bit over at [1]. I'm just growing weary of people slamming you with trumped-up charges over something as petty as a missed login (and I've no doubt I'll show up on a blacklisted site at some point for supporting you in all this). It's a good thing nobody knows that my real name is Victor Chavez. Oh, darn. ;) Orethrius (talk) 16:11, 29 June 2009 (UTC)

Jackson

You made some great improvements on the Muhammad discussion and context. Dogru144 (talk) 00:07, 30 June 2009 (UTC)

Template:Infobox Prepared Food

Hi, I was wondering if you could try the same color but a little darker shade. The new color seems too light to in the infobox. Thanks! Shinerunner (talk) 01:18, 30 June 2009 (UTC)

Ok, I thought that you were done with the changes. Didn't mean to rush you. :) Thanks again!Shinerunner (talk) 01:23, 30 June 2009 (UTC)

That'll work, nice choice. Shinerunner (talk) 01:29, 30 June 2009 (UTC)

No problem, I think when I orginally created the template I used the godawful orange color (no vision on my part apparently). I really do like the new color. Shinerunner (talk) 01:46, 30 June 2009 (UTC)

 ^Contrib¯  Jonverve  ¯  ^Talk  14:26, 30 June 2009 (UTC)

Nakba dispute

• I seem to be caught in the middle of an acrimonious dispute between you and User:GHcool about whether a particular template should be called Template:Nakba or Template:1948 Palestinian exodus. Please continue this discussion in Template talk:Nakba#Requested move: continued discussion. (See also discussion in User talk:Anthony Appleyard#Nakba, but please do not post there until you two and any other interested parties have come to a decision.) Anthony Appleyard (talk) 18:16, 30 June 2009 (UTC)

Sea Shepherd

Thanks for removing the onesource tag from the Sea Shepherd article. It was probably time to remove it anyway. I added it a while back when a quick count of the article's references showed nearly a quarter of them were from Sea Shepherd themselves. After going through them, it doesn’t seem to be a big problem. They mostly source mundane things like board members’s names and Watson’s rants. Don’t get me wrong; the article definitely has its issues. If you want to give it the same treatment you gave the PETA article, heck, be my guest. — NRen2k5^(TALK), 09:17, 1 July 2009 (UTC)

Disruptive editor

Here, maybe you’ll have a little better luck with Special:Contributions/Fhue this editor, since you seem to have some POV in common. I couldn’t beat a clue into his head with a twenty pound sledge. He’s been edit-warring an old ANI archive to try to make it reflect his POV [2], and he’s been trolling me on his talkpage as well as refactoring and outright deleting my comments there. [3] [4] [5] — NRen2k5^(TALK), 01:25, 2 July 2009 (UTC)

As usual, NRen is grossly overstating the dispute. He does not seem to be able to get along with editors who disagree with him and/or stand up to his bullying. /pity
Fhue (talk) 01:29, 2 July 2009 (UTC)

Oh for the love of God… here we go again.… — NRen2k5^(TALK), 01:31, 2 July 2009 (UTC)

Never mind - he’s been blocked. — NRen2k5^(TALK), 15:41, 2 July 2009 (UTC)

Please do not strikethrough my comments again. I was blocked for edit warring, not for being wrong about you. Fhue (talk) 17:38, 6 July 2009 (UTC)

IDF and T-shirts

Thank you and compliments for improving the IDF-T-shirts page into one more readable & sustainable. -DePiep (talk) 02:45, 2 July 2009 (UTC)

Harold Pinter, etc

The ban was successful. Thanks for your frank discussion. As I said before, I think we should organize a mini-project to review the articles on which NYS was most active to see which ones need style remediation. Would you be willing to help with a few? I'm working on Pinter's main article. All the best, -- Ssilvers (talk) 14:58, 2 July 2009 (UTC)

Jackson image

At least have an image more relevant to the current situation, something from the recent era. A 19-year-old photo stands out like a sore thumb. There must be something more contemporary. It looks like just any old photo was shoved into the text for appearance sake. Rather tabloid-ish. Cheers, WWGB (talk) 11:22, 3 July 2009 (UTC)

Now that I have thought some more, how about using the entire photo [6]? It's perhaps relevant, given that he was taken to the Ronald Reagan Medical Center. WWGB (talk) 11:48, 3 July 2009 (UTC)

OK, I see your point. WWGB (talk) 11:54, 3 July 2009 (UTC)

Debbie Rowe

Hi, Could I ask you to cast an eye on the Debbie Rowe article from time to time? I was tempted to AfD but there is no way it would be deleted in the current climate. We just need to make sure it receives the same attention as more mainstream articles. Best, WWGB (talk) 11:36, 3 July 2009 (UTC)

Rollback

Sorry 'bout that. I swear the cursor has a mind of its own! –Juliancolton | ^Talk 04:21, 4 July 2009 (UTC)

File:Michael Jackson June 23, 2009.JPG

Hey, would it also be OK to stick this image on the tour article? I'm not brilliant with fair use stuff, is there a sufficient rational in your opinion? — Please comment R² 14:16, 4 July 2009 (UTC)

Ping

Dear SlimVirgin. Please see my response at m:Talk:Spam blacklist#Amazon. Best regards, --Kanonkas :  Talk  00:01, 5 July 2009 (UTC)

Wilhelm Reich image

So... What is the problem with this image..?!? it´s possible to reduce the image... and about the copyright, i think the same can be applied to the image of Albert Einstein... How many pictures in Wikipedia we can find without author..?! Lots of then!! If it is the problem the author´s image, i will find out myself, don´t worry... This is an censorship or something...?! In a firstsight, i think this is a little bit rude and disrespect even for those who views the page, take a picture, of nothing ...

Best regards. Lightwarrior2 (talk) 02:15, 5 July 2009 (UTC)

Ok.. i tried to reduce the image and it is not possible... but if it is a problem this image, please, request it for a speedy deletion and i will not do nothing...

Thanks. Lightwarrior2 (talk) 02:25, 5 July 2009 (UTC)

In first of, sorry if i being rude or if i hurt you with my words... It was not my intention, but i was furious when saw that the image it not there in the article... But now, i know the reason and thanks for the information... There is a problem here... I edited in 30 pages/languages around Wikipedia with this image... My work here it was useless...for nothing... :-((( However, i not wise person who some people were trying before… But i´am quite sure, if i put this image as a PD-Old and Public domain license, it would be ok...  :-S

To be honest, i never thought that he could have one hair style so radical... ;-) (just kidding...)

Best regards. Lightwarrior2 (talk) 10:35, 5 July 2009 (UTC)

Loooool...  :-P Could you imagine, as a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, the reaction of his patients when they have consulted with him ...?!?  :-P Lightwarrior2 (talk) 04:33, 8 July 2009 (UTC)

Auckland Animal Action

This article is in serious need of help. Maybe you are in a position to organise that action? (I wouldn't know where to start ... ) Cheers, Pdfpdf (talk) 11:27, 5 July 2009 (UTC)

Hello SlimVirgin

I'm Ahnan. What's up? You can email me: kojakbt at gmail dot com —Preceding unsigned comment added by Ahnan (talk • contribs) 15:24, 5 July 2009 (UTC)

FYI

Thriller album will be appearing on the main page on Tuesday, please watchlist it. — Please comment R² 23:04, 5 July 2009 (UTC)

Hello!

I'm glad to see you're still around! ... I have returned after a year-long hiatus. I just made a major revision on the state article. I will appreciate your expert feedback. Thanks in advance! 172 | Talk 02:13, 6 July 2009 (UTC)

Biography query

Hi SV,

I noticed that you were a Biography admin, and the only one explicitly mentioning NPOV in their description. If you haven't seen it, and have a spare minute or two, I wonder if I could ask you to have a look at a question I posted on the Biography project talk page here. Thanks in advance, and I understand if you're not interested or don't have the time. Cheers, Blippy (talk) 10:48, 6 July 2009 (UTC)

Oh... if you can't help, could you recommend someone else I might best approach? Cheers, Blippy (talk) 06:26, 7 July 2009 (UTC)

Hi again, I just read your post on the Bio project talk page, and also just saw your contribution to the Ian Stevenson article. This is my first involvement with a bio, so thanks for taking the time. Cheers, Blippy (talk) 11:44, 7 July 2009 (UTC)

		The Special Barnstar
		You already have the home-made barnstar which is probably more apt, but this seems just as good! Many thanks for your astonishing efforts with the Ian Stevenson page. Cheers, Blippy (talk) 04:58, 8 July 2009 (UTC)

Rep

Actually, give me more time to think about it, it could work. Something to consider in a month or so. I was in the process of starting a new wikiproject before Jackson died. A Jackson family project that would replace WP:MJJ and WP:JANET. There was strong consensus to do it. — Please comment R² 13:48, 6 July 2009 (UTC)

With regard to this template you made, I like the idea of it a lot, but what is it's general purpose? What articles are you using it in? My point being, the template is disproportionately about his personal life. If it's only being used in article relating to his personal life that if fair enough, but then all mention of his musical career should be removed. — Please comment R² 17:21, 6 July 2009 (UTC)

Help, if you can

As one of the writers who helped create the No original research policy, I'd like to seek your expert advice on some material. To my eyes it is a clear case of OR via misuse of a primary source and an original translation where a published one is available. I realize it is a complicated case and would require some looking into. But if you could help, I'd be much obliged. Thanks for your consideration. ~ Alcmaeonid (talk) 17:16, 6 July 2009 (UTC)

Involved?

Dear SlimVirgin, were you involved in NYScholar's case before? Abd thinks so. See User:Abd/Sandbox. He also argued that since you were involved with NYScholar, I should not have counted your argument while closing the discussion. There is an interesting discussion going on at Wikipedia talk:Banning policy. Would you like to provide your input? AdjustShift (talk) 04:06, 7 July 2009 (UTC)

Agreed. Can you provide your input at Wikipedia talk:Banning policy? There is a discussion going on regarding this issue. AdjustShift (talk) 12:03, 7 July 2009 (UTC)

Paris Jackson image

I don't think any of the available rationales apply to this one. Also it is an image of a minor so probably a WP:BLP violation. I have requested additional views at WP:MCQ. – ukexpat (talk) 21:34, 7 July 2009 (UTC)

The global media circus does a lot of things that we don't do on Wikpedia. – ukexpat (talk) 21:40, 7 July 2009 (UTC)

Funeral of Michael Jackson

I'm honestly alarmed you added that image back. It's clearly in violation of the non-free content criteria, and should be deleted. It's a highly current image from a commercial news website, and adds very little to the article anyway. Is it really acceptable that we decorate our articles on current events with images taken from other news sources? J Milburn (talk) 00:17, 8 July 2009 (UTC)

An answer from the court of law? I'm not a lawyer, and, as a rule, I'm not someone who has great respect for legal systems anyway. I will offer you this. This image belongs to the BBC. It is their image, and they are showing it to the world as a means of attracting people to view their page. Is it then fair that we take their image, without their permission, and use it to attract people to our page? Of course not. It's not up to us to judge whether this will harm the copyright holders (and, for what it's worth, the more harm to them, the better)- the fact that we're using it is harm enough, as we're going against their wishes. If they are happy for other news sources to use their hard earned images, then they would release them. Further, I find your argument about the image being smaller pretty much invalid- is it still an attack if in a smaller font? Is it still unverified if it's more likely to be true? Is it still original research if most would agree? I don't really care about the legalities, this is more an ethical point for me. While our policies are still in place, I will abide by them. If our policies are poor, I will seek to change them. Why do you feel that using this image is acceptable? J Milburn (talk) 00:33, 8 July 2009 (UTC)

I don't think that sort of meta-policy discussion has a place on the article talk page. We should stick to policy there- if we feel policy should be changed, it should be discussed on policy pages. I think it best my reply is removed from that talk page, as I would certainly have said different things if posting there. J Milburn (talk) 00:43, 8 July 2009 (UTC)

State

I really need some help. I am no longer too skilled with the inner politics of Wikipedia. I now find my self overwhelmed trying to turn the article on state into an encyclopedic entry. The editors on that page are clueless yet very opinionated. Yet, I get the impression not one of them has sat in on a single political science course. 172 | Talk 00:55, 8 July 2009 (UTC)

Michael Jackson lead

Hello, I have posted some comments regarding your proposed changes to the lead of the MJ article. Please see the talk page. Thank you.UberCryxic (talk) 18:51, 8 July 2009 (UTC)

Templates for deletion nomination of Template:Jackson timeline

Template:Jackson timeline has been nominated for deletion. You are invited to comment on the discussion at the template's entry on the Templates for Deletion page. Thank you. Solid State Survivor (talk) 03:02, 9 July 2009 (UTC)

Re:Memorial image

It's an orphan because it's continually removed because it doesn't meet policy. If you really want a discussion on that, you're welcome to nominate it yourself, but it would be a bit of a waste of time. J Milburn (talk) 14:22, 9 July 2009 (UTC)

NFCC#2: it's a current press image with high commercial value. Similar pictures are in today's papers. NFCC#8- what's it showing, and why does that need to be shown? Potentially NFCC#1: free images of the funeral may crop up yet, or could be requested. Also, the fact that the family was there can be described in text (if that's what it's meant to show, to be honest, I don't know what it's meant to show). Also, all the subjects are living, and non-free images of living people often make people cringe. Finally, NFCC#10c- the rationale is unilluminating, and does not satisfactorily explain what the image is showing, why that needs to be shown and why a free image is impossible. J Milburn (talk) 14:30, 9 July 2009 (UTC)

Barnstar

		The Defender of the Wiki Barnstar
		For starting the RfC on the advisory council. Good call. Durova275 23:22, 11 July 2009 (UTC)

Paranormal Investigations

Well, do you want the long or short answer :P The short answer is I collect stories and environmental data, and attempt to correlate paranormal happenings with the environmental data.

Long answer: Upon receiving a lead to an investigation, I set up an initial interview with the client, to asses a number of things: 1) Mental health 2) Basic story of what types of things are occurring 3) Exposure to pseudo scientific, occult, and paranormal concepts. Then, about 4-6 weeks is spent researching the history of the area, correlating knowledge of the area + story from the client. Then, the investigation.

Each investigation is anywhere from 4-8 hours long, usually from 7:30PM until 3:00AM. Prior to the start, about 2 hours is spent setting up environmental monitors (air quality, EMF meters, temperature sensors, movement sensors, low-lux/IR cameras, audio recorders, and thermal imaging cameras). During the investigation, time is spent by teams in each room/logical division of the area, getting a feel, taking measurements, and attempting to discovery causation for the phenomena experienced.

After the investigation, usually 60-90 hours is spent reviewing the data collected, correlating events together, and making a determination is there is something occuring not explainable with current scientific knowledge.

Then, the review with the client of what was collected. If the client is still fearful/anxious/etc, we then refer her to either a mental health practioner or clergy member of her choice.

Also, the data is archived, and periodically analyzed attempting to correlate common environmental factors with occurences of events (explained or otherwise). ie Alarm clocks are notorius emitters of electromagentic fields, of very low frequency. This has been known to cause feelings of paranoia, fear, and dread. CO (Carbon Monoxide) is known to cause hallucination at low levels, and the same with CO₂.

I hope I explained it thouroughly enough, and if you have any other questions, feel free to ask. :) Cheers! Paranormal Skeptic (talk) 01:35, 12 July 2009 (UTC)

My team seeks out clients as well as clients seeking us out; as well as investigating the veracity of local rumors, stories, etc. Several times, we've investigated areas where people swear up and down it's haunted, and the owner is fed up with the foot traffic and vandalism. Other times, the client is wondering for themselves, etc.

As for not finding physical causes, there have been two times personally I have yet to find a physical cause of what is found. How it makes me feel:"Well, we have to figure out what it was." It makes me even more interested in the field, because there has to be a way of determination.

However, it is a new field, so it's be expected that we wont know it all. Much like the pioneers in other fields who were grasping at straws for the first discoveries.

For example, there are two things I am personally focusing research into: White Lady stories. You know, the common Woman in White walking down a road, yada yada yada. Why do so many people see the same thing, even if they have no prior knowledge of it.

The other scenario, is why do people get certain sensations from certain places, as a commonality. Example, many people in my area get a feeling of dread when passing by the H.H. Richardson Complex. Why?

But, it's all a matter of time and research, and I'm sure we'll get it figured out eventually :) Paranormal Skeptic (talk) 13:03, 13 July 2009 (UTC)

RFC

I just wanted to let you know that I'm disappointed in how things have gone, here, to say the least.[7] Our site is totally broken, and unless we don't just break but destroy the personal power of people--including you, and my own little bits--we're doomed long term. What are your thoughts? rootology (C)(T) 20:10, 12 July 2009 (UTC)

Yea Rootology! — JoJo • Talk • 22:20, 12 July 2009 (UTC)

Slim - do you really think that a group of editors elected by the community will come up with a radically different view of what is wrong on the 'pedia? Really? can you elaborate what exactly they might differ on? Actually I like this question so much I might put it on the RfC. Casliber (talk · contribs) 03:40, 13 July 2009 (UTC)

That strikes me as an excellent question, actually, and I'm disappointed that you (SV) cast aspersions on the question instead of addressing it. Calls into question your motive for starting the RfC, actually. At least in my mind, anyway. ++Lar: t/c 12:16, 13 July 2009 (UTC)

Correcting an ingenious but - I hope we can agree - mistaken AfD decision

Hi SlimVirgin. I'm back from a WikiBreak and I see that you succeeded narrowly in getting Nicholas Beale deleted. I guess I should congratulate you on your ingenuity, but I hope we can reach a consensus that this was in fact a perverse decision and go together to the DRV to get it reversed.

You ingeniously managed to convince people that "we cannot use" the profile in Debrett's People of Today and the one published by the Faraday Institute on the grounds that they are Primary Sources, quoting (rather out of context IMHO) WP:NOR. But:

1. The idea that we cannot use profiles of people published by major university institutes with which they are associated simply cannot stand. In fact we do this all the time. The fact that this information is often supplied by the person in question is irrelevant.
2. Similarly, Who's Who and Debrett's are reliable 3rd party sources. You say that Debrett's have emailed you that they do not routinely fact-check all entries. But come to that, The Times does not routinely fact-check all articles - and it is certainly considered a Reliable Source. Debrett's has a team of expert advisors in each major area, and (unlike Who's Who) they actually throw people out if they no longer make the cut.
3. As it happens I have recently been sent my proof Debrett's entry and I think I may have inadvertently misled you about how it works. The proof they sent me had an error which I certainly didn't make and I sent them an amendment to which they replied: "Thank you for checking your biographical entry in Debrett's People of Today. You have submitted the amendments listed below. These will be sent to the People of Today editorial team who will make the necessary changes to your entry in advance of the next edition." It is therefore clear, both from the error and their response, that the editorial team writes the entries.

In addition, I see that user sofsonline pointed out that Nobel Laureate Tony Hewish wrote "Nicholas Beale has an outstanding reputation as a management consultant with particular expertise in information technology and was elected Freeman of the City of London in 1996. He is well known for his staunch support of Christianity". I was pretty astonished when Tony (whom I've only met twice) wrote this which was completely unexpected. Is there any precedent for claiming that someone thus described by a Nobel Laureate is "non-notable"?

Best wishes, NBeale (talk) 08:44, 13 July 2009 (UTC)

Shamelessly seeking input at Advisory Council RFC

I've made a proposal on the talk page of the Advisory Council RFC in hopes of finding a constructive way forward. I'm shamelessly asking for input on it from you and others who have taken part in the discussion. Please see this section and contribute as you see fit. Thanks, alanyst ^/talk/ 18:23, 13 July 2009 (UTC)

RPA

Please don't remove comments like this. I agree it was completely inappropriate, and would have removed it myself if I had caught it, but let someone else do it when its directed at you.--Tznkai (talk) 00:18, 14 July 2009 (UTC)

Tagging it as a "minor" edit was also completely inappropriate, something you've been counseled about before. I restored the first paragraph but left the rest out, and it subsequently got comments from others. Eric knows better but gives in to temptation, unfortunately. ++Lar: t/c 12:55, 14 July 2009 (UTC)