Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Wikipedia Awards/Archive 11

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Service Awards

Wikipedia:Awards has included the service awards on their page. Should we include that an the WikiProject Wikipedia Awards page as well? Kayau |Jane Eyre| PRIDE AND PREJUDICE| les miserables 10:30, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

Wouldn't hurt to throw up a link to it. Nutiketaiel (talk) 11:32, 17 July 2009 (UTC)
  • Sure, I don't see a problem with including it. - Kingpin13 (talk) 11:46, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

Done. Kayau |Jane Eyre| PRIDE AND PREJUDICE| les miserables 04:39, 18 July 2009 (UTC)

I added country awards

I added country awards to the list :

Country awards

Also found:

69.138.243.26 (talk) 20:33, 21 July 2009 (UTC)

Fine. Made the template for the Chinese barnstar: Template:The Chinese Barnstar. Are you, by any chance, a regular editor here forgetting to log in? Happens to me sometimes. Kayau Jane Eyre PRIDE AND PREJUDICE les miserables 03:25, 23 July 2009 (UTC)

Proposed improvement of the History Barnstar

Found these barnstars:

The history barnstar
Message Kayau Jane Eyre PRIDE AND PREJUDICE les miserables 03:30, 23 July 2009 (UTC)
The Epic Barnstar

Category: History (archaeology, history)

The Epic Barnstar may be awarded to an editor who makes particularly fine History-related contributions.

This award was introduced on April 15, 2005 by brian0918 and ClockworkSoul, and was designed by ClockworkSoul.

Don't really like them. Suggest improvement. Perhaps Boudica, Joan of Arc, Elizabeth I and Queen Victoria in the foreground, the Tower of London in the background, and a barnstar in the sky. Kayau Jane Eyre PRIDE AND PREJUDICE les miserables 03:30, 23 July 2009 (UTC)

In the case of the Epic star, I disagree for a number of reasons:

  1. As one of the original core barnstars, it's been in place for nearly four years. In that time, it has been placed on hundreds of user pages on the English WP alone, as well as being adopted on dozens of other language wikis. This star is highly recognizable and carries a considerable degree of currency.
  2. There is an unfortunate tendency towards "creeping flashiness" when it comes to barnstars (which is one of the reasons I stopped working with them: excessive efforts to make them visually complex detracted from their original purpose). The end result of such misguided efforts tends to be visually unappealing and distracting, and rarely more than a caricature of its designer's original vision.
  3. There is value in simplicity.

In essence, you're trying to "improve" something of considerable value, the only flaw of which is that you "don't like it". Cheers. ClockworkSoul 06:09, 23 July 2009 (UTC)

To be honest, Kayau, I don't see a problem with either of those Barnstars. What do you see that is wrong with them to warrant replacement? Nutiketaiel (talk) 11:49, 23 July 2009 (UTC)
Actually ClockworkSoul, I think "not liking" is sort of a valid reason when talking about an image. But I too don't see any reason to change any of these two barnstars. These two are very good images and as ClockworkSoul said they are recognized throughout Wikipedia. Don't really like the suggestion either; this is the History Barnstar, not the History of England and France Barnstar. We don't need to standardize all the barnstars with the same sort of images; variety is good for this project. ≈ Chamal talk 11:59, 23 July 2009 (UTC)

Whatever it is, we sure need to change the template of the second barnstar - you know, it doesn't look like the rest. Kayau Jane Eyre PRIDE AND PREJUDICE les miserables 02:46, 25 July 2009 (UTC)

The actual template for that is Template:The Epic Barnstar. I don't know what it's doing at Template:History Barnstar, particularly as there is also Template:The History barnstar. ≈ Chamal talk 06:16, 25 July 2009 (UTC)

This is what I don't like about the barnstars:

  • The first one is nice, I agree, but this is a history barnstar, not a geography one. It doesn't show the entire world either.
  • The second seems to have little to do with history.

I hope you understand. Kayau Jane Eyre PRIDE AND PREJUDICE les miserables 11:49, 25 July 2009 (UTC)

It is a stone with ivy growing on it. It screams "I Am Historical" whenever I look at it. Nutiketaiel (talk) 19:20, 27 July 2009 (UTC)
Without a suitable suggestion to replace the first image, I don't think there's any point in discussing this. It is quite an excellent image and will need a better replacement. The second image needs no replacing IMO. ≈ Chamal talk 01:47, 28 July 2009 (UTC)
It seems that the first image, despite it's name and the template {{The History barnstar}} (which has never been used), is an award for map making, and not actually a history award. For a map making award it seems quite suitable (although I agree it's not a very good history barstar). And the second image is an okay history award, although I do see where Kayau is coming from. I think that it's obvious the award is old, and that's better (more well rounded) then having a couple of historical figureheads, in my opinion. But I would be happy to listen to other suggestions on changing it, as I think it should be able to be better :) - Kingpin13 (talk) 02:00, 28 July 2009 (UTC)

Does someone want to confirm my insanity?

Ok, first - I'm sure someone, somewhere already did this, however ...

... I have never been totally happy with the use of ribbons, etc in lieu of Barnstars. But I do get a kick out of userboxes. We can celebrate our DYK's, etc with a userbox, so why not our Barnstars that we have been awarded.

So, I got busy as you can see here. Still more to go, but I'm at the halfway point ... rather than continue if I'm being an idiot, I'll throw this open to the floor for comment. Feel free to tell me someone else already had the great idea in the past. (talk→ BWilkins ←track) 12:09, 27 July 2009 (UTC)

Hey nice list. I'm not aware that anyone has created a list of UBX for all the barnstars before, and a quick look through the image links to File:CleanupBarnstar.PNG doesn't reveal anything, but it's still possible that someone has. Regardless, I really like your list so I'd say go ahead if it's not too difficult. - Kingpin13 (talk) 12:27, 27 July 2009 (UTC)
Well, of course, I've been creating the ubx's too ... maybe someone has already done that? (talk→ BWilkins ←track) 12:30, 27 July 2009 (UTC)
I don't follow...? I disregarded your subpage when looking through the image links (i.e. I picked a barnstar image, skimmed through all the links to it, and couldn't find anything that looked like it being used in a userbox, except from yours). - Kingpin13 (talk) 12:34, 27 July 2009 (UTC)
Got it (Monday mornings ... sometimes slow :-) ) I will continue building the UBX's and adding them to my subpage. I'll advise as I go. It you've looked at any of the UBX's themselves, any comments .. changes? (talk→ BWilkins ←track) 13:42, 27 July 2009 (UTC)
I hate to be the party pooper but Bwilkins, you're far from halfway. There's another bunch at the WP:Awards By WikiProject and still more than a handful that haven't been put anywhere in WikiProject Wikipedia Awards. The MOTD barnstar, for instance, isn't anywhere in sight except for its own page -- unless there's somewhere I missed, so feel free to correect me if I'm wrong. Kayau David Copperfield MOBY DICK the great gatsby 02:47, 28 July 2009 (UTC) P.S. The grammar in the section title is incorrect. it should have been 'Does anyone want to confirm my insanity?'. Kayau David Copperfield MOBY DICK the great gatsby 02:48, 28 July 2009 (UTC)
Well, I meant that creating and testing the basic format was actually the majority of the work; that plus being 1/2 way through the first page, all having been tested was really halfway through the process (talk→ BWilkins ←track) 10:18, 30 July 2009 (UTC)

(outdent) Everything from the WP:* page has been turned into a userbox, so far... (talk→ BWilkins ←track) 20:39, 1 August 2009 (UTC)

Is this really necessary?

If one has too many awards, (s)he can:

  • Dump them into the garbage and keep a record of them.
  • Dump them into an award page
  • Dump them into their userpage
  • Shrink them and dump them wherever they like
  • Use a table
  • Use a gallery
  • Use the ribbon alternatives

So why set up an eighth alternative? Kayau Wuthering Heights VANITY FAIR paradise lost 02:44, 6 August 2009 (UTC)

Because people like UBX's ... they're common across Wikipedia; they're easy for even a novice user to use; they fit perfectly into a common size; ribbon alternatives don't seem to have much appeal to many... there's a few for ya. (talk→ BWilkins ←track) 11:17, 6 August 2009 (UTC)
Yes, and I think I should have quite enough userboxes. Unlike Abce2, whom you may have met, I am not particularly fond of 'em. I just like a little humour UBX. Kayau Wuthering Heights VANITY FAIR paradise lost 01:32, 8 August 2009 (UTC)
And besides, do you think you will set up UBXs for hidden page barnstars as well? :) Kayau Wuthering Heights VANITY FAIR paradise lost 01:35, 8 August 2009 (UTC)

Creating new barnstars

I'm going to say something that sounds curmudgeonly. I don't mean it to be, because this page has some of the nicest people on Wikipedia. So please don't take this personally.

I don't think we should be looking for ideas for new Barnstars.

That doesn't mean that I oppose adding new Barnstars; indeed, quite the opposite is true. But I would prefer it if a new Barnstar was created when someone detected an actual, glaring need for one. For example, you come across an editor who has almost singlehandedly improved articles in the category Sumplegums, and you discover that there is no barnstar that can really apply to that topic. So you come here and suggest it.

Look, everyone has the right to be here and participate and make suggestions. And I don't want to ask anyone to not be here. But I also think this: There's a lot of work to be done out there (Word is, Wikipedia is not yet finished.) So if we focus on building and improving articles, I think we won't have to ask if a particular barnstar is missing, I think that it will simply become evident as we go about our work. And then we come here to ask for help.

I sure hope this doesn't make me come across as an asshole, because I say this with great affection for the persons who gather here regularly. And I still keep this page watchlisted. Happy editing, everyone. Unschool 21:29, 31 July 2009 (UTC)

Unschool makes a very good point, and I have to agree with him. We shouldn't be trying to make barnstars for everything to the point that nobody will know which barnstar is for what. Has anyone noticed that a lot of experienced editors (who used to participate) have apparently abandoned the project? Naturally you get fed up with something if you begin to think it's pointless or deviating from its real purpose.
The way I understand it, our objectives are these:
  • Promote the use of barnstars as tokens of appreciation in Wikipedia.
  • Maintaining and creating (if necessary) awards.
  • Helping others in this area (if they need help).
However, making barnstars for each and every wikiproject is not our business. If a wikiproject needs a barnstar, they can make it themselves and if they need help they can ask us. Our main "area of operations" () are the general awards that are awarded for work throughout Wikipedia. Although wikiproject and user awards fall under our scope, they have other people (the people who create them) to maintain and look after them. But getting back to our job of maintaining general awards; we don't have to fill up the place with barnstars. It's not like people will forget us if we don't introduce a new award every week. When we come across something that makes us think that that area needs a barnstar, then we can work on it. ≈ Chamal talk 08:53, 1 August 2009 (UTC)
I agree with both of you, although I don't find Chamal's 'joke' very funny. Kayau David Copperfield MOBY DICK the great gatsby 06:10, 2 August 2009 (UTC)
Joke? Which one? :S≈ Chamal talk 07:37, 2 August 2009 (UTC)

Finding the right barnstar

Well, I desperately need a WikiProject Hong Kong Transport Barnstar -- Cathay Pacific has been promoted and I don't know what other barnstar to give! Kayau David Copperfield MOBY DICK the great gatsby 05:50, 1 August 2009 (UTC)

Kayau, that sounds like an excellent reason to award a barnstar. So let's talk about it, and see if a solution doesn't already exist, okay? Let me ask you some questions. When I get your answer, I'll let you know my opinion about whether or not an appropriate BStar already exists, or whether or not we should create one.
  • Which editor do you think has earned a Barnstar for getting Cathay Pacific to GA status?
  • What exactly did he or she do that made the difference?
  • Is this editor normally a contributor to similar articles? If so, to what other articles has the editor contributed?
I'll look for your responses, Kayau, but please be patient. My home computer has died, and I've come in to the office on Saturday to do some personal tasks, and just happened to look in on this page. So I may take a while to respond. Unschool 14:38, 1 August 2009 (UTC)
Yes, he/she has been an excellent contributor to all the articles about airlines of Hong Kong. See my talk page for what he/she had done. He/she certainly deserves a barnstar. Kayau David Copperfield MOBY DICK the great gatsby 06:05, 2 August 2009 (UTC)
I assume you are talking about User:Aviator006. Yes, he is overdue, given his work, not only on CP, but Oneworld as well. Okay, well there is no Hong Kong Aviation Barnstar, and in my humble opinion, that is not necessary. Barnstars that are too specific will hardly ever be given out. We can personalize more general barnstars with the message we leave in the box. Looking over A006's work, I see the following as suitable barnstars:
  • The Tireless Contributor Barnstar, if you feel that his biggest contribution has been the massive quantity of his edits.
  • The Editor's Barnstar, if you think that what sets him apart is the quality and precision of his writing.
  • The Content Creativity Barnstar, if you think that his work on these articles was particularly original.
  • The Writer's Barnstar, if you feel that he has contributed in a major way to an unusually large number of articles.
  • The Business and Economics Barnstar, if you believe that his edits are dominated by contributions to articles about businesses (in this case, airlines)
  • The Original Barnstar, because it's always appropriate for any situation.
And there are probably others as well that I'm overlooking.
None of these are specific to airlines, but then again, they're not supposed to be. You find the one that fits closest, and all of these, in my opinion, can fit. That's what I think. I also think it's nice that you noticed, because he really, really deserves one. Unschool 07:24, 2 August 2009 (UTC)
You might consider Template:Wikiwings Award if you really want a flying related thingy. ≈ Chamal talk 07:42, 2 August 2009 (UTC)
I'm sorry, everyone, I'm NOT looking for a flight-related award. I mean a WikiProject Hong Kong Transport Barnstar, because he is also part of it and this is what the Cathay Pacific is what he originally promised to do. Yes, he really deserves a barnstar. I'll give him the original for now. Kayau David Copperfield MOBY DICK the great gatsby 06:03, 3 August 2009 (UTC)

Kayau, that was the perfect choice, and there's absolutely no reason that you needed a different B'Star. In my opinion, one of the more general barnstars is actually superior; personally, I question the need for any barnstar that is not awarded at least 10-20 times a year, minimum. In my opinion, creating a barnstar that is likely to be given out once a year, or less, is like giving someone something that is less valued, in a weird sort of way, I guess because it's less widely recognized. I would never look down upon an award that was first given out to me, but it would not mean as much as a more traditional barnstar with years of history behind it. Unschool 04:14, 4 August 2009 (UTC)

Barnstars

How do you create a barnstar. --Pedro J. the rookie 18:55, 11 August 2009 (UTC)

And would a mariene star would be a good idea.--Pedro J. the rookie 18:59, 11 August 2009 (UTC)
Usually, you propose a specific idea here, i.e. what the barnstar should be awarded for and, if you are feeling bold, an image to use. For example, I have no idea what you mean by "marine" star. Is it related to the Marines? Or to sea life? If it's for people working on articles about military forces fighting on sea, Wikipedia:WikiProject Military history/Awards has quite a lot of awards to cover that area. If it's about sea life, Template:Bio-star should cover it. As I said, we cannot help you much without more details on what you are thinking about. Regards SoWhy 06:44, 12 August 2009 (UTC)

Pay it forward barnstar and its template

Hi everybody, your opinion is highly needed!
I designed this award based on Pay it forward philosophy, My first idea was when a user receive this award she/he should give it back to five other Wikipedia users within five days. the five small barnstars are represent five other users. The Pay it forward barnstar was made to promote WikiLove, to make users more friendly with each other, same as all other Wikilove templates, and it fits Kindness Campaign.
But User:M thinks that "This is a bad idea", User:M believes "this causes more people to give barnstars", "Barnstars should not ask more from an editor. They are an award, not an invitation to a game" and "it uses the same mechanism as one of those "paste this to 10 people in 10 minutes or the ghost of christmas past will eat your brains!" messages".
After our discussions we (Me and User:M) decided to change the tepmlate's message to be more appropriate, so I proposed three new messages for the template:


To read our previous discussions please see: User_talk:M#Re:Pay_it_forward_barnstar and Template talk:Pay it forward barnstar
Now, your opinion is needed to decide that: Is this a good idea at all or no? if no why and if yes what should the message be (if it should be changed).
At last, I must say that I think, Barnstars are not just an award, they are for making an stronger and friendlier community, and this one is specially designed for this aim.
Regards.   ■ MMXXtalk  04:39, 5 August 2009 (UTC)

I am not in support of this idea. If we're not a social networking site, we sure shouldn't be in the business of starting chainstars. Besides, it makes me think of Douglas MacArthur, with whom I don't exactly associate with spreading of warm and fuzzy messages. Unschool 05:43, 5 August 2009 (UTC)
I've got to agree with Unschool, not in support of this. If I got this message, I would be very surprised if I found myself passing it one. I can't see what's wrong with a {{smile}} or similar, this seems too... organised, and spammy - Kingpin13 (talk) 05:48, 5 August 2009 (UTC)
Strong oppose. I've seen it before. You can use this pay it foward philosophy to doves, bubble teas, or cookies, but pray don't use it on barnstars. Barnstars are NOT for this purpose. There. Kayau Wuthering Heights VANITY FAIR paradise lost 12:47, 5 August 2009 (UTC)
I was initially pretty hostile to this, but I think that if it's re-worded to say something like "For your hard work in [...]. Take a moment to think of whether another editor has been working hard, and is deserving of recognition". I think there's the general principle that barnstars should not want more from their recipient, though.
An alternative idea is to require that the awarder do something good. So have 5 pieces (or just 2 or 3) of a barnstar, and if you award that barnstar to someone, you have to go out and help people (who want help) or do various community service tasks until others voluntarily (don't go around asking) award you 5 pieces, to complete your own pay it forward barnstar. As for the design, it makes me think of fractals. Maybe it could use a few more stars :)    M   22:58, 5 August 2009 (UTC)
Actually, the pieces thing might be confusing - it might be better to say something like "if you award this barnstar, you have to go around doing community service and helping people until someone awards you this barnstar" (at which point the awarder would now be indebted to community service. Kind of like barnstar tag. I certainly wouldn't mind it if there was actually a way to attach something of genuine value (helping someone, resolving a conflict, vandalism scavenger hunts, whatever) to something that grows exponentially. Perhaps we could try to brainstorm something like this, if these ideas don't work.    M   23:05, 5 August 2009 (UTC)

Strongest possible oppose: We are going to introduce something like this to barnstars now? Barnstars are awarded in recognition of valuable contributions and this is going on a completely different road. This would also be annoying as hell to a lot of people (I mean, you get these damn things in your email inbox everyday, and now it's on Wikipedia too?). If you are looking to promote wikilove, a cookie or smile is what you want. You can do this as a personal award if you wish, but I strongly oppose adding this as a barnstar. ≈ Chamal talk 05:11, 6 August 2009 (UTC)

Alternative?

I think it's clear to everyone that this is a WP:SNOWBALL, I don't really think there's much need to !vote. What about modifying this to require that the awarder of such a barnstar go out and do random acts of kindness until someone thanks them for their hard work, or gives them a barnstar? The barnstar would be something like "I thank you for your hard work with this barnstar, and pledge to follow your example and [fix 20 random pages, work extra hard to earn my own barnstar, etc.]".    M   07:28, 6 August 2009 (UTC)

I strongly oppose both the original idea and this proposed alternative. A Barnstar should be an award for a job well done. We should not be encouraging people to seek awards in this manner. If they want to act kindly, they will do so. If they deserve an award, they will be recognized. This proposal encourages fishing for barnstars, which is the last thing we should want. I am strongly opposed to this idea and any variation of it. Nutiketaiel (talk) 13:31, 6 August 2009 (UTC)
I see, and I think you're right about the fishing. What about an award that simply says that you'll commit to doing some sort of community service to pay back the hard work (and don't expect a barnstar for it)?    M   13:36, 6 August 2009 (UTC)
As someone who does a lot of work on Civility Patrol in WP:WQA, I see something in this original realm as a positive - but not the chain-barnstar as originally proposed. To me, smiles and cookies are kinda not-so-much when two editors have gone through a bitch-fest of sorts. I may work on something that uses some of these concepts that says "Ok, we may disagree on insert topic here but I appreciate your work on insert another topic here. Hopefully we can get along. Click here to respond in kind". It has nothing to do with awards of any type, merely an olive branch with pay-it-forward underpinnings. (talk→ BWilkins ←track) 14:13, 6 August 2009 (UTC)
There already is a barnstar awarders barnstar. And just giving them to users takes the fun out of both getting it and giving it.Abce2|Aww nuts!Wribbit!(Sign here) 14:53, 6 August 2009 (UTC)

Thank you all for takeing a part in this discussion, You are right about Chain letters, but my idea was to force Wikipedians to get know each other and to be more friendly together, I thought that would be a way to making an stronger community. What about if we reduce the third party users from five to one? the Chamal idea is also good, maybe I should redesign another Pay it forward award (not a Barnstar) to be used as personal user awards?   ■ MMXXtalk  04:11, 7 August 2009 (UTC)

  • Barnstars aren't good just because you get them. The pictures and the boxes and the template text is all just decoration, what's important is that someone appreciates the work you've done. So reducing it to even one user misses the point. You should probably discuss what you have in mind.    M   04:40, 7 August 2009 (UTC)
My advice is, change that barnstar into a pay it foward cookie, and I won't mind. Just don't use barnstars. They are too precious. Kayau Wuthering Heights VANITY FAIR paradise lost 01:37, 8 August 2009 (UTC)
Yes, a cookie might be a good idea. On the one hand, if it works it will be good. On the other, if it doesn't we'll have the great satisfaction of puffing nearly all copies of a chain letter (cookie) out of existence.    M   02:13, 8 August 2009 (UTC)
Well, I felt nowadays less people are giving barnstars, and these 150,000* active wikipedians should have a way to get knowing each other better. Anyway, it seems everybody here is oppose this idea, even myself is also thinking if one day I saw this "Pay it forward award" in my talk page, how hard it will be to find five deserved users, I also should think of that will the third users like that award or they will think that I am a spammer!
Just one question, should I request for deletion of template and image? or we can use this five-star general :) somewhere else.   ■ MMXXtalk  02:22, 9 August 2009 (UTC)
I'd get it deleted if I were you. Kayau Wuthering Heights VANITY FAIR paradise lost 01:37, 10 August 2009 (UTC)
Done!   ■ MMXXtalk  14:13, 10 August 2009 (UTC)
What about the image, do you think we can use it somewhere else?   ■ MMXXtalk  14:17, 10 August 2009 (UTC)
As a decoration in your userpage? Kayau Wuthering Heights VANITY FAIR paradise lost 03:21, 11 August 2009 (UTC)
Or in a userbox saying "This editor is a member of the Barnstar Project" :-) (talk→ BWilkins ←track) 16:06, 12 August 2009 (UTC)
I guess I'm not the only reinventor around here, then. 'Cause it already exists. Kayau Wuthering Heights VANITY FAIR paradise lost 03:04, 13 August 2009 (UTC)
Or maybe for users who makes particularly fine Army-related contributions!   ■ MMXXtalk  04:37, 13 August 2009 (UTC)

The Apprentice Barnstar

It would be giving to apprentice who have done a good job sence they where adoptet. --Pedro J.the rookie 18:39, 9 August 2009 (UTC)

I don't like those head things. It's not clear what it's for. Something like this would be more appropriate. It might also end up being given to every single apprentice, just so they don't feel left out. It should be for some specific work done, too. "You are new, but you are active and did a great job with this" might be good.    M   20:26, 9 August 2009 (UTC)


I'm sorry, but this is just too close to this, methinks:


The Exemplary Adoptee Barnstar
To Pedro J, who has come here with a decent idea that unfortunately is too close to an idea already found at WP:Barnstars Unschool 02:25, 10 August 2009 (UTC)

Thank you, i appriciate it. --Pedro J. the rookie 18:28, 10 August 2009 (UTC)

What about this won comment
Note : I removed the link to the "won comment", because the "won comment" image was put over a completely unrelated file (a picture of autumn leaves). Since I reverted to the original file, the link included a pretty big picture in this talk page. The "won comment" image can be seen here. Ksempac (talk) 09:34, 19 August 2009 (UTC)

Two all new Barnstars!

Copyright inspector Barnstar

I made this one for the "Commons", but we can use it also here, The Copyright inspector Barnstar will be awarded to users who help in finding copyright violations and tag images or articles as copyvio.   ■ MMXXtalk  04:32, 13 August 2009 (UTC)

But it will be awarded a million times, since everyone checks for copyvios around here. :P Kayau Wuthering Heights VANITY FAIR paradise lost 02:25, 14 August 2009 (UTC)
I actually like this idea. Yes, many people check for copyvios, but many people also fight vandalism, copyedit, cleanup and fix redlinks, and we have barnstars for all of those. The barnstar would be awarded for people who go above and beyond in this particuliar Wikipedia duty. I offer my support for this barnstar. Nutiketaiel (talk) 11:39, 17 August 2009 (UTC)
In the end, that's what {{The Copyright Cleanup Barnstar}} is for, those who do more than just checking. As Kayau says, checking itself is not really worthy of an award. And those who do so often when new page patrolling can be awarded {{The New Page Patroller's Barnstar}}. There is a reason you can add a message to them after all. Regards SoWhy 08:46, 18 August 2009 (UTC)
Whoops, forgot we had the copyright cleanup barnstar. I withdraw my support. Nutiketaiel (talk) 11:43, 18 August 2009 (UTC)
Oops, I checked the Barnstars page before but I didn't saw that! anyway I think this new design is more related to finding copyright violations and have more meaning.   ■ MMXXtalk  18:55, 20 August 2009 (UTC)

Blank Barnstar

It is an empty place of a Barnstar, I just don't have any idea for this one yet, maybe it could be awarded to users who should received an award but they didn't received any yet!   ■ MMXXtalk  04:32, 13 August 2009 (UTC)

You mean the "What? You haven't got a Barnstar yet Barnstar?"  :-) (talk→ BWilkins ←track) 10:30, 13 August 2009 (UTC)
Forget it. This is the third time this kind of idea and everyone will certainly oppose!
Rejected (Users who didn't receive any award! No way! Not this time! They should receive their respective awards, not some kind of blank barnstar!) Kayau Wuthering Heights VANITY FAIR paradise lost 02:23, 14 August 2009 (UTC)
The blank one could be used for the wildcard star I proposed below. I find it quite reasonable to be used. —Preceding signed comment added by MythSearchertalk 08:20, 18 August 2009 (UTC)
Well, I said "maybe", I just posted it to get some idea from community, as you can see some users already stared proposing new ideas.   ■ MMXXtalk  19:11, 20 August 2009 (UTC)

The Do not know which one to give and Wildcard Barnstars?

I have recently tried to award barnstars and thinks that this one would be quite handy. Do not know which barnstar to give but not the original Barnstar. Since there are a lot of Barnstars, it might be hard for new star givers to find the right one(someone pointed me to the Barnsakura in the WP:ANIME at the end) and this one seems to be a good idea for new and lazy(like me) to give. It has certain humour in it as well.

An alternative I would suggest is a Wildcard Barnstar, where people can fill in the name of it and the code could be like {{Widecard Barnstar|Title of star|message ~~~~}} If it is because of my laziness of not knowing there already are similar ones, forgive my ignorance and please point me to the correct star. Thank you. —Preceding signed comment added by MythSearchertalk 08:16, 18 August 2009 (UTC)

I'm not sure about these kinda ideas. We have loads of barn stars, and it's nice to be awarded a specific one. If there isn't one, then create it (if it has a broad enough scope), or use the original, or random acts of kindness. Or if you really can't think of anything, then {{The Special Barnstar}} is a barnstar designed to be given when the user awarding can't think of anything appropriate - Kingpin13 (talk) 08:24, 18 August 2009 (UTC)
Well, I proposed this since there are already quite a few awards, and it is very hard to find the right one to give. I know there is a special one and an original barnstar, but a wildcard seems to be suitable in all cases, especially with people who are interest in customizing their own star. Maybe my proposal could be changed to having the code of the special barnstar changed a little to coop with a wildcard title? —Preceding signed comment added by MythSearchertalk 08:33, 18 August 2009 (UTC)
Kingpin is right, the Special is already designed as a "I can't think of which one to give". We got so many of them already that I honestly cannot think of a situation where none of the current ones would suffice and where a new specific one shouldn't be created. Regards SoWhy 08:42, 18 August 2009 (UTC)
I am strongly opposed to this idea. Both the Original Barnstar and the Special Barnstar already fill this need. Personally, I don't think we should even have the Special Barnstar, as the original should be enough, but it has been around a long time and is apparently well liked so it really should stay. We definitely don't need two more that are for the exact same thing, though. Nutiketaiel (talk) 11:41, 18 August 2009 (UTC)
So, what about the idea of changing it so that a wildcard title could be made? —Preceding signed comment added by MythSearchertalk 14:13, 18 August 2009 (UTC)
If you want the user to be able to personalise the barnstar manually, then you can use [[tl|barnstar}}, which allows you to choose both the image and text. If you are thinking of something which returns a random barnstar image, then I don't think that would be such a good idea, it's like saying "I don't know what to give you, so I'll choose randomly" and likely award a very inappropriate award. Creating a "proper" ({{barnstar}} as a different format to normal barnstars) barnstar, which allows the awarder to choose both the title and the image isn't a bad idea though. It could also be used by users who are creating a template for a new barnstar. I can create one if you like? - Kingpin13 (talk) 14:25, 18 August 2009 (UTC)

I second the comments of both Nutiketaiel and SoWhy. Unschool 23:51, 18 August 2009 (UTC)

um... The idea sounds a bit weird and offbeat to me. Kayau Wuthering Heights VANITY FAIR paradise lost 06:56, 20 August 2009 (UTC)

Proposed Xbox Barnstar

User:Banej would like to add the Xbox barnstar to the topical barnstars. Submitting here for discussion. Is it needed? Is the design appropriate or desirable? Banej (talk) 03:00, 19 August 2009 (UTC)

The Xbox Barnstar The Xbox Barnstar
Awarded To John Doe, who make outstanding contributions to xbox and xbox 360 related articles and templates. Banej (talk) 03:00, 19 August 2009 (UTC)

First there is a copyright violation for the X logo. The X logo is the official logo for the Xbox 360, and as such is probably copyrighted by Microsoft. That's why project Xbox has it's own logo, which is an X very far from the original one. Ksempac (talk) 06:45, 19 August 2009 (UTC)

I just went to Wikipedia:WikiProject_Xbox and they already have their own barnstar. So this one is redundant. Ksempac (talk) 07:05, 19 August 2009 (UTC)
Well, well. Sorry, that's another one Rejected. Kayau Wuthering Heights VANITY FAIR paradise lost 06:58, 20 August 2009 (UTC)
Image deleted due to the copyright violation. EVula // talk // ☯ // 19:27, 20 August 2009 (UTC)

Barnstar width

I was looking the barnstar templates and noticed that their width is dependent on the amount of text included. So in the first example below, it does not cover the entire width of the page. I am proposing we alter the template so they are 100% the width of the page as shown in the second example. MBisanz talk 05:13, 17 August 2009 (UTC)

Example 1

The Original Barnstar
Test citation. MBisanz talk 05:13, 17 August 2009 (UTC)


Example 2

The Original Barnstar
Test citation. MBisanz talk 05:13, 17 August 2009 (UTC)

Example 3

The Original Barnstar
Test citation. MBisanz talk 05:13, 17 August 2009 (UTC)

Example 4

The Original Barnstar
Your underwater basketweaving skills are unmatched! Keep up the great work. --MZMcBride (talk) 06:03, 17 August 2009 (UTC)

Making it 100% is a good idea I think. The appearance will be better, and it would also look better in those barnstar lists that people use to keep the things they receive. ≈ Chamal talk ¤ 06:41, 17 August 2009 (UTC)

Matt, I've noticed this before myself, and I agree with what you want to do. My question comes as one who is totally ignorant of the technical side of this stuff: Can you force the width on this without messing up some users? I mean, if you mandate a width, is there any chance that some viewers will see a barnstar box that wraps over to another "line", so that they see a "broken" box? Unschool 10:58, 17 August 2009 (UTC)
The "100%" will take it to 100% of whatever space is actually available - or at least it should ... (talk→ BWilkins ←track) 11:53, 19 August 2009 (UTC)
I'm not sure I understand the peoblem with the way things are currently. If there is less text, why shouldn't the barnstar box be smaller? Nutiketaiel (talk) 11:41, 17 August 2009 (UTC)
'Cause sometimes when people stack their barnstars vertically on the page, the boxes are justified on the left, but not the right, and the userpage thus fails to achieve perfection. Unschool 00:02, 19 August 2009 (UTC)
See User:Juliancolton, User:J.delanoy. ≈ Chamal talk ¤ 11:08, 19 August 2009 (UTC)
I concur ... see here where the latest Barnstar doesn't quite match up :-( (talk→ BWilkins ←track) 11:51, 19 August 2009 (UTC)
Oh. Well, I wouldn't want to be responsible for disrupting the flow of chi through hundreds of user pages. If you guys want to take the time, then go for it. Nutiketaiel (talk) 13:44, 19 August 2009 (UTC)
I don't think that Barnstars that already exist on userpages would be changed (they're subst'd, right?) - the template for new instances would. (talk→ BWilkins ←track) 14:45, 19 August 2009 (UTC)

No, since they are substituted, they wouldn't be changed. And changing it wouldn't be too hard, Nutiketaiel. A short run with AWB could do the job. But we need to decide first if we are going to do this, and has anyone noticed that there's a lot of empty space between the image and text in example 2? ≈ Chamal talk ¤ 02:55, 21 August 2009 (UTC)

Barnstar request

The Family Guy Barnstar
{{{1}}}

Dose this look like a good barnstar for family guy. --Pedro J. the rookie 01:38, 20 August 2009 (UTC)

Seems fine to me and the WikiProject (see Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Family Guy#should we make) seems to be fine with it as well. Nice work, I fixed the template for you (it's {{{1}}} not {{1}} you use for the parameters of a template), so the complete usage would be {{The Family Guy Star|Message ~~~~}}. If noone objects here or at the WikiProject, you can add it to Wikipedia:Awards by WikiProject and to Wikipedia:WikiProject Family Guy (in a barnstar section probably). Regards SoWhy 07:13, 20 August 2009 (UTC)
How do I add it to to the proyect. --Pedro J. the rookie 15:07, 20 August 2009 (UTC)
Could you re-save it as a PNG, so that it can have a transparent background? EVula // talk // ☯ // 19:29, 20 August 2009 (UTC)

how so? --Pedro J. the rookie 21:58, 20 August 2009 (UTC)

Done it for you, see File:Family Guy BS.png. See Portable Network Graphics for more info on png. You will also want to change all the usages of the old image to this new one. Cheers - Kingpin13 (talk) 22:11, 20 August 2009 (UTC)

Misnamed barnstar?

I see that a new barnstar got added today. I think it's really neat looking, and I think it covers an area that has not yet been covered. BUT I think that the name needs some work. By calling it the Historical Barnstar, it sounds too much like the purpose of the Epic Barnstar, but the two of them are actually for very different purposes. Does anyone else have any suggestions what to call this new BStar? Unschool 21:42, 11 August 2009 (UTC)

Creator here (thanks for notifying me of this discussion). As I'm not a native-speaker, I had some trouble coming out with the name and the caption. My intention when I made this barnstar was to reward User:Durova and User:Shoemaker's Holiday who both find and/or restore old illustrations, pictures and photographs for WP:FPC. It is the equivalent of the Photographer's barnstar for thoses working on old files. I'm sure it applies to others users in WP:FPC, and it may applies elsewhere such as in Featured sounds (that's why the barnstar's caption mentions more than pictures). I didn't call it "the restorer's barnstar" because sometimes the difficulty isn't to restore a document (it might already be in good shape) but simply to find it. For example finding an old edition of a book (shoe sometimes buy books for scanning pictures in them), or gaining access to a library with an original document. So please, feel free to edit the name and/or the caption while keeping the meaning of this barnstar (and if necessary, pls modify the talk page of users who already received the barnstar). Ksempac (talk) 22:21, 11 August 2009 (UTC)
Why not simply Historical Files Barnstar? That would make the purpose clearer without changing anything much. Regards SoWhy 06:34, 12 August 2009 (UTC)
How about "The Curator Barnstar" or even "The Digital Curator Barnstar" ? Curators are those who expand and help preserving museums collections...Seems like a good description for what theses wikipedian are doing Ksempac (talk) 12:37, 12 August 2009 (UTC)
Hey, SoWhy's idea isn't bad, but I really like the Curator Barnstar. Anyone else? Unschool 03:47, 13 August 2009 (UTC)
I'm on Unschool's side. Kayau Wuthering Heights VANITY FAIR paradise lost 02:26, 14 August 2009 (UTC)
Curator's Barnstar is a perfect name for it.--King Bedford I Seek his grace 04:33, 14 August 2009 (UTC)

I would not be opposed to calling it the "Curator's Barnstar," though to be honest that name doesn't really jump out at me, and the first thing I think of when I hear that name is a barnstar for writing articles about museums. What about the "Archivist Barnstar"? Nutiketaiel (talk) 11:37, 17 August 2009 (UTC)

That sounds like someone doing the archiving, not taking stuff from the archives. I agree with the problem of the "Curator"-suggestion though. While it's more original than my idea, it's also more misleading. Regards SoWhy 08:49, 18 August 2009 (UTC)
Maybe less misleading; File Conservator's Barnstar. Although that's just a suggestion. All of the above names sound good enough - Kingpin13 (talk) 08:56, 18 August 2009 (UTC)
File Conservator sounds a little bland to me. I think Archivist works well- it describes someone saving the old materials for posterity. Nutiketaiel (talk) 11:44, 18 August 2009 (UTC)
Archivist's Barnstar is okay, I guess, except that, as SW says, it sounds like the person storing the stuff, not retrieving it. I have the seed of an idea, but not the knowledge to bring it to fruition. You know, how in TV series involving private investigators or lawyers, the leading character will often have an assistant who, five or six times each season, tracks down information that solves the case at the last possible minute? I'm thinking about a Dr. Watson Barnstar, or something like it, but I'm not really sure that Watson ever helped Sherlock Holmes in this way, so that example may not be appropriate. Am I explaining myself well enough? Unschool 00:18, 19 August 2009 (UTC)
I get the point, however you would have to find a reference to a character known worldwide such as Dr Watson (who didn't help Holmes that way btw). You can't simply put the name of a character of the latest TV show or something too Western-centric. That's gonna be hard to find. I don't like the "File Conservator" suggestion, because I don't like using the term "file" for a barnstar. An article is nothing more than a file or an entry in database, yet we use the paper encyclopedia term. I feel the same way about "file" for refering to images/sounds once uploaded. I'm sure we can find a good metaphor to avoid refering directly to file in the name of the barnstar. I like the Archivist a bit more but, I agree with what SoWhy said : it doesn't represent the work done as much as curator Ksempac (talk) 06:56, 19 August 2009 (UTC)
Yeah, I'm still in the corner for the Curator Barnstar, but I was trying to find something that would grab the eye of others who have not yet been swept up by what will, in the end, be an unstoppable wave of editorial consensus. (That line is supposed to be read with a slowly rising crescendo.) Unschool 07:49, 19 August 2009 (UTC)
I still find the curator barnstar the best, since the archiving sounds like archiving talk pages. Kayau Wuthering Heights VANITY FAIR paradise lost 07:39, 20 August 2009 (UTC)

Last Call for comments. I think I'm seeing a clear (albeit, unexcited) consensus for Curator's Barnstar. Anyone object to the change being made? Unschool 05:45, 24 August 2009 (UTC)

Meh. Whatever. Nutiketaiel (talk) 11:29, 24 August 2009 (UTC)
The deed is done. Unschool 03:44, 25 August 2009 (UTC)

User:Kingpin13/How to create a barnstar

This is a new essay I've just created. Designed to help new users creating barnstars (since I get asked all the time, and a lot of users ask on this page too). Please let me know what you think. And make any changes which you think are suitable. I also created two new templates, one to help with creating the barnstar template (template template), and one to help with adding the barnstar to the WP:BARN page (WP BARN entry). Hope you like :D - Kingpin13 (talk) 20:44, 20 August 2009 (UTC)
P.S. I've added a link to it in the see also section for WP:BARN - Kingpin13 (talk) 20:52, 20 August 2009 (UTC)

Hope my edits are helpful. Wish I'd read this before I joined here! :-P Kayau Wuthering Heights VANITY FAIR paradise lost 13:08, 22 August 2009 (UTC)
Thanks for the edits :). Anything which improves it is good, I'm looking for some images to (hopefully) make it more interesting. If you want to add some please do (some screen shots of the stages of making a barnstar might be good, or some images of barnstars etc. *shrug*) . Cheers - Kingpin13 (talk) 13:18, 22 August 2009 (UTC)
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