User talk:Baffle gab1978/Archives/2016

Thank you

Soaring Stones, which you copy edited, was just promoted to Good status. Thank you for your contributions to this article. Happy New Year! ---Another Believer _(Talk) 18:51, 3 January 2016 (UTC)

No worries; I'm glad it's a GA now, thanks for letting me know. :-) Cheers, Baffle gab1978 (talk) 19:14, 3 January 2016 (UTC)

GOCE finished article template

Baffle gab1978, I thought you said this was the template to leave on the requester's page notifying him/her that I've finished copy-editing the article: {{GOCEtb}}, but when I previewed it, I just got a lot of pairs of curly brackets; I think the article title should go in the template but I don't know how or where. Corinne (talk) 03:38, 8 January 2016 (UTC)

(talk page stalker) - Hey again Corinne! You need to use this format rather than the "bare" template: {{GOCEtb| article = Insert article name without linking| sign = ~~~~}}

Cheers, Doctor Crazy in Room 102 of The Mental Asylum 03:51, 8 January 2016 (UTC)

Hi @Corinne:, complex templates in WP are normally accompanied by documentation pages; just visit the template's page and you'll see detailed instructions on how to use them. Visit {{GOCEtb}} by clicking its name, then you should see its intructions. If you have trouble using templates in the future, it's best to check there first. Cheers, Baffle gab1978 (talk) 04:41, 8 January 2016 (UTC)

Oh. O.K. Thank you Drcrazy102 and Baffle gab1978. Corinne (talk) 16:51, 8 January 2016 (UTC)

Some baklava for you!

Thank you for copy-editing the article on Ericsson! Rohini (talk) 20:31, 11 January 2016 (UTC)

Thank you!

Thank you for copy-editing the article on Holly & Ivy! Aoba47 (talk) 02:54, 14 January 2016 (UTC)

No worries, I'll be finishing it off today (Thurs). Cheers, Baffle gab1978 (talk) 05:27, 14 January 2016 (UTC)

A barnstar for you!

	The Teamwork Barnstar
	Thanks for reviewing and improving Holly & Ivy. You've helped get the article one step closer to Good status. Much appreciated! --Another Believer (Talk) 01:22, 15 January 2016 (UTC)

Thanks, no worries. :-) Cheers, Baffle gab1978 (talk) 01:28, 15 January 2016 (UTC)

Piping and linking

Baffle gab1978, I've been reading a discussion at User talk:Checkingfax#Piping, and while I know very little about scripts, I was considering supporting Checkingfax's edit moving the apostrophe s to inside the wiki-link. It's kind of going back and forth now. I don't see why it is necessary to leave the apostrophe s outside the brackets. Also, I thought I had seen in other articles that the apostrophe s appears within double curly brackets (or is it single curly brackets?). I thought that template was to ensure that the apostrophe s stays with the term that is inside the square brackets; if it isn't, then I don't know the purpose of doing that. If it is the purpose, then why aren't they using that template here? Also, what's so wrong with leaving the possessive apostrophe s inside the brackets as in [[Clement Moore|Clement Moore's]]? I see many other things appearing after a pipe within the square brackets of a link. Whatever we want to appear is placed after the pipe. Why is a possessive form any different? Corinne (talk) 22:07, 15 January 2016 (UTC)

Hi Corinne; technically there's no problem using [[Clement Moore|Clement Moore's]], but it's shorter to use [[Clement Moore]]'s; either will give the same result on the page; "Clement Moore's new car is very smart" is the same as "Clement Moore's new car is very smart".

The wiki software adds anything immediately right of the wikilink to it, making piping in these circumstances redundant in simple plurals and possessives. So if we had something like "On Monday, seven [[bus]]es crashed in thick fog", the result would be "On Monday, seven buses crashed in thick fog". Whereas if we say "Kate had seven [[jell]]ies in her fridge", we get a link to Jell, the incorrect page, so we need a piped link to jelly.

Re: the templates {{'s}} and {{'}}, these are used to isolate the apostrophe and apostrophe+s where they might interfere with wikicode, and to add a small space between the apostrophe or apostrophe+s and the preceding text. Cheers, Baffle gab1978 (talk) 23:01, 15 January 2016 (UTC)

Baffles, you seem to have missed a slight problem with the above Clement Moore example. In the second example the 's is not wikilinked. Wikilinks don't like to include apostrophes that are next to them. So the second example (to be the same output as the first) would need to be "Clement Moore's new car is very smart" which adds the link to the 's. I simply had to correct this since someone was wrong on the internet. Otherwise, full agreement and a pleasure to speak with you again. Cheers, Doctor Crazy in Room 102 of The Mental Asylum 00:43, 16 January 2016 (UTC)

(edit conflict)

Oh. Thank you. Two things:

1) It's not a big deal, but there is a slight difference between your two examples. In the one with Clement Moore and the apostrophe s outside of the double square brackets, the apostrophe s is black following a blue "Clement Moore". In the one with "bus" + es, the entire word "buses" comes out blue. I guess there is not a big difference between Clement Moore with a blue apostrophe s and Clement Moore with a black apostrophe s, but I'm glad to learn that either is acceptable. The editor with whom Checkingfax was arguing discussing the matter felt strongly that including the apostrophe s inside the brackets was simply wrong, and then Tony seemed to agree with him, but I don't agree with them, and you say either is acceptable.

2) When you say that the apostrophe s and apostrophe in curly brackets "are used to isolate the apostrophe and apostrophe+s where they might interfere with wikicode", can you give me an example of the kind of wikicode would be interfered with without using the curly brackets (just so I know what you're talking about)? Is a term in italics one of them? Should the curly brackets be used when the term, name, or title is in italics? Or can the s, es, apostrophe s, or apostrophe just be added right after the square brackets? Corinne (talk) 00:49, 16 January 2016 (UTC)

Drcrazy102 Oh, now I'm getting confused. Are you saying that if the apostrophe s (or, in some cases, just an apostrophe), for possessive forms, comes outside the double square brackets, it should be enclosed in double curly brackets (which is what I've often seen)? If so, would you agree with Baffle gab1978 that it is also acceptable to include the apostrophe s (or just apostrophe) inside the double square brackets if it is after a pipe? Corinne (talk) 00:54, 16 January 2016 (UTC)

Corinne, wikilinks just don't like "outside" apostrophes so while it is a solution to place them inside of the square brackets, it is up to the editor to decide on whether to pipe the link or add the curly brackets. Oftentimes the curlies get used because the link is looooong and would take up a lot of screen-space (relative to the word size), or they pipe because they want to make something clearer or more concise. To be honest, it is typically editor discretion and usage. Baffle gab1978 probably knows examples of malformed coding caused by the various ways of "fixing" apostrophes.
For example though, (curlied) HMAS Sydney's engine, (plain, outside link) HMAS Sydney's engine and (plain inside link) HMAS Sydney's guns ... you can see a slight visual difference between the placement of the apostrophe in the curlied example where the apostrophe is separated from the y but in the second (plain, outside) the apostrophe is touching the y. The third is the best for piped links as the apostrophe is included in the link and not touching the y.

So my ramblings in short; discretion for non-piped links but inside the link if piped ... seems to be the best rule of thumb. I'll let the Copy Chief respond before I make any more observations of trial and error.

Wow, you're right! Thanks for the examples and for pointing that out. It looks like the plain outside link, where the apostrophe touches the "y", is not the best choice. Corinne (talk) 02:14, 16 January 2016 (UTC)

Hi, y'all. For some reason the server gnomes decided the following regarding wikilinking:

astonishs (not a correct word)
astonishes
astonished
astonishing
astonishment
astonish's (if that were a word)

because of magic on the wikignome backend, becomes:

astonishs (not a correct word)
astonishes
astonished
astonishing
astonishment
astonish's (if that were a word)

Which one is an odd duck? Why are the first five examples made user friendly and appealing but not the last one? From a reader's (hah, I slipped in another ugly duckling) perspective I would think that having everything blue and clickable would be more encyclopedic.

Seems like such a simple matter for the code gnomes to pull the genitive s into the fold.

Now, as for the double double curly brackets around the apostrophe that is so the apostrophes do not get confused as being wikimarkup, especially if the word is in italics or bolded. So it looks something like this: '''[[Clement Moore]]'''{{'}}s to avoid any confusion. The other way is to wrap the apostrophe between an opening nowiki and a closing /nowiki. Some of this could be avoided if the genitive was put inside the wikilink. If I take the time to make the genitive s look pretty I do not see any reason for anybody to undo my effort. They do not have to play along, but reverting should only be used as a big stick to prevent things that harm the encyclopedia. Pinging: Corinne and Drcrazy102. PS: Check out how many times in this reply that the Wikipedia backend adjusted the wikilinks to display in one color. There is just one more scenario they need to add to their bag of tricks: the genitive s. Cheers! {{u|Checkingfax}} {Talk} 09:05, 16 January 2016 (UTC)

(←) Well it seems the wiki-software is smarter than it used to be; I sit corrected. Corinne, I can't think of any examples at the moment of where wikicode can be confused with apostrophes; all the ones I tried didn't work. Which is a good thing. :-) Cheers, Baffle gab1978 (talk) 11:09, 16 January 2016 (UTC)

The True Cost

I just finished going through The True Cost. I had to make a lot of changes to make the sentences sound right and correct a lot of spelling errors. There was one sentence I had to ask the requesting editor about; I left a note on the article's talk page. I can't do any more tonight on this article. It took me quite a while, and my eyes are tired. If you have time, would you go through the article and see if there is anything further that needs fixing? Thanks. Corinne (talk) 04:06, 16 January 2016 (UTC) P.S. Do you think the caption for the Rana Plaza building collapse photo is a little long? Corinne (talk) 04:10, 16 January 2016 (UTC)

Hi again; well I haven't gone through the article yet, but I think the caption on the collaped building image is far too long; the commentary belongs in the article (reffed of course) rather than the caption, which should be a simple illustration. I haven't checked WP:IMAGE yet. Cheers, Baffle gab1978 (talk) 10:23, 16 January 2016 (UTC)

(talk page stalker). Hi, Corinne. Since I was up above replying, I shall jump in here. That is a long caption. There is a long one on Caitlyn Jenner regarding the Wheaties box but it was rationalized that was the only way to make the image Fair Use. I noticed you left a pull quote box in but I did not check the body to see if it was a genuine pull quote. Anyway, shaded boxes are deprecated. Here is the way it stands:

{{quote box|quote=This doesn't have to be liberal versus pro-business debate. What it has to become is an honest debate. This isn't about 'Let's throw the system out the window.' I'm not against the idea of competition and profit and businesses. ... Those are really good forces. We can channel those forces in a more humane and more sustainable way. It's very similar to what's happened with the food movement. A lot of it starts with customer demand.|source=Andrew Morgan, director<ref name=MarketW />|width=35%}}

You can change it easily to this:

{{quote|This doesn't have to be liberal versus pro-business debate. What it has to become is an honest debate. This isn't about 'Let's throw the system out the window.' I'm not against the idea of competition and profit and businesses. ... Those are really good forces. We can channel those forces in a more humane and more sustainable way. It's very similar to what's happened with the food movement. A lot of it starts with customer demand.|Andrew Morgan, director<ref name=MarketW />}}

And it will render nicely like this:

This doesn't have to be liberal versus pro-business debate. What it has to become is an honest debate. This isn't about 'Let's throw the system out the window.' I'm not against the idea of competition and profit and businesses. ... Those are really good forces. We can channel those forces in a more humane and more sustainable way. It's very similar to what's happened with the food movement. A lot of it starts with customer demand.

— Andrew Morgan, director

References

Cheers! {{u|Checkingfax}} {Talk} 10:52, 16 January 2016 (UTC)

Checkingfax I just changed your examples to avoid my page horizontally-scrolling for the next week or so; I hope you don't mind! Cheers, Baffle gab1978 (talk) 11:14, 16 January 2016 (UTC)

Looks pretty good, boss. Cheers! {{u|Checkingfax}} {Talk} 12:06, 16 January 2016 (UTC)

Thanks, both. I only edited in edit mode. I didn't go back through and read the article in regular view (as I usually do) or I would have noticed the pull quotes. Thanks for showing me how to change the box to a regular block quote. I'll have to remember that. Corinne (talk) 14:54, 16 January 2016 (UTC)

(←) Corinne, as you asked I went through the article and made some minor fixes. One of them was non-compliance with Words to watch, compliance with which is required for GA status. The jist of this policy is that WP articles don't place value judgements on what people say or write, thus I changed multiple incidents of "commmented (that)", etc, to "said" and "saying". I know it's easy to miss these and they seem quite naturalin speech, but in writing they can lead a reader to think the writer shares or rejects the speaker/writer's statements. It's a good habit IMO to replace these wherever possible. I hope you don't mind the changes I made to the article, and my comments above. I didn't check your work through diffs because I know you to be a good, consistent copy-editor. Cheers, Baffle gab1978 (talk) 01:16, 17 January 2016 (UTC)

I'll have to look at that list of words to watch. If you look at my edits (before yours), you'll see how many things I changed just to get it into standard English. I noticed a lot of verbs like "commented", etc. I didn't know whether I should change all of them. (I don't see, though, how using "commented" makes it sound as if the writer agrees with the person who commented and is being quoted or paraphrased. By "writer", I assume you mean the writer of the WP article.) You made a lot of good edits, I mean, really good, catching things I missed. I hope you don't mind, though, that I put a few of your changes the back to what I had written (but, of course, if you hadn't looked at my edits – and thank you for the confidence you have in me – then you wouldn't know that it was something I had done). If you don't agree with the changes, then I guess we can discuss them. I also rearranged a few things here and there to make the sentence flow better. One last thing: I changed "poor" to "deplorable" to avoid the use of "poor" twice in close proximity, but I realize that perhaps "deplorable" is too negative (not neutral enough); if so, perhaps we can think of another word. Corinne (talk) 01:50, 17 January 2016 (UTC)

No worries; yes I'll review your edits but I won't revert you; it's your c/e after all. ;-) A lot of editors get caught out with WP:SAY and some GA reviewers seem to ignore it judging by the number of GAs I've fixed up.

I did mean WP editors when I said "writer", but unless they check, the reader doesn't know who wrote the article and might assume the article states WP's opinion. "Commented" is fairly mild compared with things like "admitted", "claimed", etc, and fairly neutral but I normally change it anyway.

Yes, "deplorable" isn't neutral but then neither is"poor" really; it's better than "bad" though. Maybe use "dangerous" or "unsuitable" if the source supports it; again it's difficult to select a suitably neutral word. I'm a bit tired right now, so I'll leave this for a while and finish gutting the dreadful grammar in the article I'm working on; that's always a good use of aggression caused by poor writing! :-D Cheers, Baffle gab1978 (talk) 02:31, 17 January 2016 (UTC)

Corinne, I owe you an apology over "commented"; WP:SAY says it's fine to use it. I stand by my replacement though on the grounds that "said" is clearer and two syllables shorter. :-) Cheers, Baffle gab1978 (talk) 23:59, 17 January 2016 (UTC)

Bristol

Baffle gab1978, I just accepted the assignment to copy-edit Bristol. I added the "GOCE in use" template and began to edit. However, I've tried to make an edit three times, and every time, it will not accept the edit. I'm wondering if something is wrong with the infobox templating. I don't recall seeing the lead of an article shaded in gray (in edit mode). Can you take a look at it? Thanks. Corinne (talk) 01:50, 23 January 2016 (UTC)

Corinne, I just tried it with a test edit and had no problems, and I see no grayed-out text in the edit window. The article is not protected or semi-protected so I can't think what might cause that problem for you. Are you using Visual Editor or the regular edit window? Can you try it again? If you can replicate the problem it might be worth reporting it somewhere. Cheers, Baffle gab1978 (talk) 02:17, 23 January 2016 (UTC)

Thanks, Baffle gab1978. I will try it again, but I just looked at the article again in edit mode, and I see that the entire article is shaded in gray. I usually only edit in the regular edit window. Maybe it's shaded in gray because I enabled Visual Editor about a week ago. I haven't edited in it yet, as far as I know. I click on "Edit source" but not "Edit". When I click on "Edit", the edit window looks so different from what I'm used to that I haven't even tried it. I think that's Visual Editor. Before I enabled Visual Editor, with just WikEd enabled, normal text appeared black letters on a white background in edit mode, images were (and still are) shaded in lime green, templates and hidden notes in light salmon, and references and block quotes in gray. Now, all text is gray. I'll try to edit now. I didn't have any trouble editing Murder of Teresa De Simone a little while ago. Corinne (talk) 02:36, 23 January 2016 (UTC)

I just tried the same edit I wanted to make before. I wanted to move "around the beginning of the 11th century" to earlier in the sentence. I highlighted it (like I always do), right-clicked on it, clicked "Cut", put the cursor to the earlier place, right-clicked, clicked "Paste", hit enter, and I got a blank screen with an error message. Corinne (talk) 02:39, 23 January 2016 (UTC)

Yes it does sound as though something odd is occurring. I don't know WikiEd because I've never used it. Can you turn off Visual Editor and try again? If that doesn't work, try turning off javascript in your browser if you can. What error message did you get? Cheers, Baffle gab1978 (talk) 02:44, 23 January 2016 (UTC)

I just left a comment at Wikipedia:Village Pump (technical)#Having trouble making edits. I've been editing all day, the same way I always do. The error message says, "Snap", something is wrong, or something like that. By the way, it's not "WikiEd", it's "WikEd", and I enabled that three years ago. I think I'll wait for a reply before I disable Visual Editor. Thanks. Corinne (talk) 02:52, 23 January 2016 (UTC)

No problems; sometimes my browser (SeaMonkey) does odd things after a while. If you can edit this page normally (and put the GOCEinuse template on Bristol), perhaps your browser is doing odd things too. Perhaps close the browser and re-open it and try again. Well i make typos all the time lol. ;-) Good luck. Cheers, Baffle gab1978 (talk) 03:00, 23 January 2016 (UTC)

I looked at the article Exeter, which if I recall correctly was written by the same editor and which I copy-edited about a year ago. I looked at it in edit mode, and, as I thought, the text of the article is black letters on a white background. I looked carefully at the beginning and the very end of the infobox. What is there at the end is different. I tried to fix it but didn't get it right so reverted my edit. I looked again carefully to see what was different. There are two differences, that I could see. (1) In the Exeter article, the city's website starts with a pair of curly brackets, then says "URL", then there's a pipe, then the blue website, then a pair of closing curly brackets, and on the next line, the pair of closing curly brackets for the entire infobox, which were not there for the Bristol article -- that's what I added, but it wasn't enough to correct it, so I reverted my edit.

(2) When I compared the Exeter and Bristol infoboxes again, I saw that the Bristol article had something after the blue website -- another website perhaps, but it wasn't blue. That might be what is messing things up. Can you look at the two and see if you can figure out what is wrong? Corinne (talk) 03:08, 23 January 2016 (UTC)

I see; I'll take a look at Exeter. on Bristol there seems to be some unsupported parameters in the infobox that are triggering warnings that only appear in preview mode. I'll play and see if i can fix them. Cheers, Baffle gab1978 (talk) 03:19, 23 January 2016 (UTC)

Ok I'm seeing to following warnings in red preview mode:

Warning: Page using Template:Infobox settlement with unknown parameter "Official tourism website" (this message is shown only in preview).

Warning: Page using Template:Infobox settlement with unknown parameter "dot_y" (this message is shown only in preview).

Warning: Page using Template:Infobox settlement with unknown parameter "dot_mapsize" (this message is shown only in preview).

Warning: Page using Template:Infobox settlement with unknown parameter "dot_map_caption" (this message is shown only in preview).

Warning: Page using Template:Infobox settlement with unknown parameter "london_distance" (this message is shown only in preview).

Warning: Page using Template:Infobox settlement with unknown parameter "dot_x" (this message is shown only in preview).

Cheers, Baffle gab1978 (talk) 03:22, 23 January 2016 (UTC)

Corinne try it now, I've removed all of the unkown parameters from the infobox. I still don't understand why you couldn't edit the page. I don't know what else to suggest of that doesn't work, sorry. Cheers, Baffle gab1978 (talk) 04:11, 23 January 2016 (UTC)

Thanks for working on it, Baffle gab1978. I just tried to make the edit that I wanted to make last night. When I tried to do it through cutting the phrase and pasting, I got the blank screen with the error message. When I made the edit manually, by typing in the phrase where I wanted it to be and deleting the phrase in the later location character by character, and saved, it worked. So it's the cutting and pasting that doesn't work. Corinne (talk) 15:37, 23 January 2016 (UTC)

I'm glad you've found a way around the problem, inconvenient though it is. Hopefully, you'll find a way to cut and paste; I'll stick with the basic, no-frills, javascript-disabled edit window. :-) Cheers, Baffle gab1978 (talk) 00:49, 24 January 2016 (UTC)

Badami cave temples

I just put the GOCE template on the talk page of Badami cave temples and put "Done" at the request on the Requests page, but, unlike in most articles, I just don't feel like starting at the beginning and reading it through again. If you have time, would you read through it and see if I missed anything? It was a lot of detail that I just can't face going through again. Thanks. Corinne (talk) 03:17, 29 January 2016 (UTC)

That's how I usually feel after c/e-ing sports articles! Ok I'll check it out tomorrow; I'm a bit tired at the moment. Cheers, Baffle gab1978 (talk) 04:44, 29 January 2016 (UTC)

Same here (re sports articles). I wanted to ask you what you thought of the frequent use of the phrase "well carved" to describe the bas-relief and perhaps other carvings throughout this article. Doesn't it seem rather vague? Corinne (talk) 13:43, 29 January 2016 (UTC)

I had a quick look and could only find one instance of "well-carved" and none of "well carved" (should be the latter since the former means "carved by a well"). Yes it's vague; does it mean "carved with skill", "deeply carved" or something else? If I couldn't check the source and it wasn't obvious from the context I'd remove it. Cheers, Baffle gab1978 (talk) 01:36, 30 January 2016 (UTC)

Maybe it means "intricately carved". I saw your edits. I wondered why you removed the templates I used for spaces and en-dashes. I started using those recently at Checkingfax's suggestion. I've even posted them in a list in the "Templates" section of my "Useful Things" on my talk page. Why write "spacedendash" when you can just write "snds"? Also, you didn't like my no-break space between "6th" and "century". Why? But anyway, thanks for taking over on that article. Corinne (talk) 02:08, 30 January 2016 (UTC) Baffle gab1978? I saw you stopped editing the article; hope I didn't upset you with my questions. Corinne (talk) 02:31, 30 January 2016 (UTC)

That doesn't really need an nbsp; most readers would be pick up "century" after a line break. Not a problem though. I wasn't sure how the templates would subst so I tried them out. No you didn't upset me, I had a break to make some coffee and to turn the record over. :-) Cheers, Baffle gab1978 (talk) 03:21, 30 January 2016 (UTC)

O.K. Good. I see you've done a lot more work on the article. Really good. Corinne (talk) 15:04, 30 January 2016 (UTC)

Mukti Bahni ping

Hey Baffles, thanks again for that pick-up about Miniapolis getting pinged. Just wanted to ask; when you put in the ping template, did you also put in a new signature or timestamp? If you don't do that when adding a ping template, they don't work. I was kinda confused as to why I hadn't been notified by the Wiki-Boxes of Doom at the top, but I looked back through the history and wanted to check. Anyways, thanks again and sorry for the obfustication of the editors' names. Cheers, Doctor Crazy in Room 102 of The Mental Asylum 06:45, 1 February 2016 (UTC)

Erm, no I forgot to re-sign my text, but since you've read the message anyway it's no problem. I'll pick the conversation up there tomorrow (read; after i've slept). Cheers, Baffle gab1978 (talk) 07:14, 1 February 2016 (UTC)

Divisional Cavalry Regiment (New Zealand)

I accepted the assignment to copy-edit Divisional Cavalry Regiment (New Zealand) about a week ago, but then my computer stopped working and I had to get it repaired. I finally got to the article this afternoon. I decided to read it first; as I was reading I got a little side-tracked looking at some of the linked articles. I have made my way through the lead and a little beyond it. I saw no errors. However, the prose is a little choppy, with a lot of short declarative sentences saying "the regiment this" and "the regiment that", so I suppose a little work could be done to make the prose flow a little more smoothly and elegantly. The sentences in the first paragraph could probably be organized a bit better. But overall, even though I have copy-edited one or two other military history articles, I feel I know so little about the subject matter that it will be a challenge to revise sentences while ensuring that the new versions are accurate. I'm wondering whether I could turn this one over to you or another editor. You know I don't usually quit once I've accepted an assignment, but this one is too much for me. Corinne (talk) 01:38, 6 February 2016 (UTC)

No problem, feel free to strike your acceptance on the requests page, or make it otherwise known that you won't be doing the c/e. I'm glad your computer's well again. I'm a bit tied up in important RL matters tonight (read: off to the pub) but I'll be around tomorrow (Sunday). Cheers, Baffle gab1978 (talk) 18:53, 6 February 2016 (UTC)

Ynglingatal

As you may have seen, I accepted the request for a copy-edit to Ynglingatal. Yesterday, I slogged through about half of the article. I've had to leave a lot of "clarification needed" tags and hidden questions for the editor. In the original request on the Requests page, the editor made clear that the article contained a lot of material translated from Norwegian sources. Now, I'm used to making sense of the writing of non-native speakers of English, or poor translations. But I'm wondering if it would be better to have a person who knows Norwegian work on this first before I make a true copy-edit. I've left a note for Yngvadottir at User talk:Yngvadottir/Archive 9#Ynglingatal to see if she can help or knows of an editor who knows Norwegian. Do you want me to continue as I have been doing, or do you think the article deserves a different approach? Corinne (talk) 16:12, 26 January 2016 (UTC)

I must admit i haven't been monitoring REQ too closely recently (RL). First, many thanks for your sterling work there; it's not easy to make sense of nonsense (bt, dt). Copy-editors aren't expected to do translations for non-native speakers/writers. If you find any article hard-going, feel free to place '''Abandoned''' and a brief reason on the request; coords can then review it and place it on hold pending further discussion. Cheers, Baffle gab1978 (talk) 23:53, 26 January 2016 (UTC)

I think User:IdaLandberg may be needed for such consultations, since they "translated the Norwegian article, to wich [sic] [they] have made many contributions, into English"^[1] though they give a caveat of "feel free to correct spelling mistakes etc." and have recently implied objection to the {{CN}} tags.

Sometimes those article talkpages are useful for something besides dispute wars. Who knew? -^(°‿°)^- Cheers, Doctor Crazy in Room 102 of The Mental Asylum 01:53, 27 January 2016 (UTC)

References

Was she objecting to "citation needed" tags or my "clarification needed" tags? If the latter, then she didn't appreciate all the hard work I put into it, and my questions. I am going going to the Requests page to abandon this assignment. It's too much work, and I'm retired. Corinne (talk) 02:02, 27 January 2016 (UTC)

No worries; I might have a go at it but if I find it impossible I'll consider putting it on hold. Thanks again Corinne, cheers, Baffle gab1978 (talk) 02:27, 27 January 2016 (UTC)

(edit conflict) - @Corinne: - Probably both, but who knows considering the Engrish the article was written in? But ... Eh gads, retiring already?! Editor retention must be at an all time low! *starts to rant about WMF, Trustee Board members, and poor translations ruining the retention rates* Cheers, Doctor Crazy in Room 102 of The Mental Asylum 03:28, 27 January 2016 (UTC)

Just to make it clear, I'm not retiring from WP. I only have time to edit on WP because I'm retired. Corinne (talk) 03:38, 27 January 2016 (UTC)

Have you seen Yngvadottir's reply at User talk:Yngvadottir/Archive 9#Ynglingatal? Corinne (talk) 04:14, 27 January 2016 (UTC)

I have now; thanks for pointing me to it. Hopefully she'll do some clarifications in the meantime. Cheers, Baffle gab1978 (talk) 04:34, 27 January 2016 (UTC)

@Corinne: - Oops. Well, at least I got a rant out of me. I (obviously) thought you meant Wiki-retired, so apologies for confusion. Cheers, Doctor Crazy in Room 102 of The Mental Asylum 05:00, 27 January 2016 (UTC)

Doctor Crazy If I were intending to retire from editing because of this, I would have ranted a bit more first. Also, working on an article like this is a low level of frustration, and I always know I can either abandon the article or foist it off on Baffle gab1978. ;) Corinne (talk) 03:21, 29 January 2016 (UTC)

Hopefully you would have ranted in Norwegian then Corinne, just so our friends editing Ynglingatal could understand it perfectly . Alas, I wish Baffles would be able to take on all the half-done copy-edits I have started (so many start because of templates/coding problems I notice and then get sucked into the prose, etc.) but I think they would be too overworked with my last piece of straw being "foisted off on [them]". Ah well, before my edit stats say 50% user talkpage, I should leave and do some article or wikipedia page work with my re-energised administrative/clerical self. Cheers, Doctor Crazy in Room 102 of The Mental Asylum 03:48, 29 January 2016 (UTC)

(←) If you think you're désolé, Baffle, try doing barn work and filling bird feeders in –20 °F wind chill and coming back to an article you've been slaving away at to find out that your copyediting sucks :-). I'm inclined to decline this one, since Corinne was getting pushback from the requester and I don't feel like doing it myself. It seems to be languishing on WP:GOCE/REQ, and we're busy enough as it is. Thoughts, anyone? All the best, Miniapolis 19:47, 13 February 2016 (UTC)

Miniapolis When you say you are "inclined to decline this one", are you referring to Ynglingatal? It looks like another editor clarified some things, but not the rest of the article. I don't think the article is in good enough English to copy-edit. But that's not the main reason I'm writing. I read the discussion regarding your edits to Blair House (at the link you provided above) carefully. I think both of your re-wordings were going in the right direction. The first one was perfect with the exception of an extra word that could easily have been edited out ("with"); I think you would have caught that upon a re-reading. The second one I like, too, but I think instead of parentheses, I would have used a pair of commas for "unlike the latter" (but the editor might have objected to that, too). If your other edits were similar, they just needed minor tweaks, not wholesale reverting. I also like to avoid a lot of choppy sentences, and sometimes it takes time to get the sentences just right. Next time, perhaps leave the "GOCE in use" template (and even say "Not done yet", or "Will continue tomorrow" in your last edit summary) so the editor leaves it alone until you have had a chance to read through the article once more with rested eyes. Don't be discouraged; you're doing a lot of good work. Corinne (talk) 00:20, 14 February 2016 (UTC)

Yes, Corinne, I meant Ynglingatal. WP:GOCE/REQ is getting a bit cluttered, what with Empower Playgrounds (which I sent to AfD because I don't think it meets the GNG and didn't want to waste time copyediting it) and this one and one or two others. A lot of copyediting is judgment calls, and there's often no one "right" way to cast a sentence. I base what I do on the MOS, which discourages excessive commas because they break up the prose flow. I was glad to get out from under President's Guest House; it was an interesting enough article for an American (and two of my kids live in the DC area), but I found myself doing a lot of above-and-beyond stuff which was time-consuming; the rollback threat was the last straw after two days of work :-). All the best, Miniapolis 23:54, 14 February 2016 (UTC)

(edit conflict) Yikes that sucks Mini; being mass-reverted isn't any fun and we've all doing our best here. So -20F is what- −20 °F (−29 °C); all I can say is I'm grateful for the Gulf Stream. :-) Must say I've been a bit RL-centric this week and I'm partway through a sportsperson's article that I find especially boring. I'll standby my comments on Ynglingatal for now and see if I can make some sense of the article but rulez iz rulez and I can't accept it yet. If anyone else feels it should be declined please go ahead and kill it with a sharp thing, I'll be glad to see the back of it. Cheers, Baffle gab1978 (talk) 00:23, 14 February 2016 (UTC)

Thanks, Baffle. I'm not in a hurry to decline it, but I took a look at it after I got fired from Blair House and am unwilling to bang my head against any more walls at the moment. Hope things are settling down your way. Have fun if you can and all the best, Miniapolis 23:54, 14 February 2016 (UTC)

(←) c/e  Done; after Corinne's attempt, several non-GOCE editors did some work to make it easier to understand. Cheers, Baffle gab1978 (talk) 02:21, 18 February 2016 (UTC)

Puritan

Baffle gab1978, I know you're often busy, but if you have time, could you look at Puritans? I just happened to look at this edit, and then I started looking at the article. Besides the fact that the edit summary says it was fixing a grammar problem, and it was changing single quote marks to double quote marks, which is not a grammar problem, the editor broke up the lead and created a new section. Now, I wonder whether the lead is too short. Also, the second paragraph is on the meaning and history of the term "Puritan", and there is another section below Overview on that. I don't normally see details of the history of a term in the lead. You're better at this than I am. What do you think? Feel free to go ahead and make any changes you think need to be made. Corinne (talk) 22:42, 12 February 2016 (UTC)

Hi Corinne, at the first look I think the lead was quite long but the extant lead paragraphs could have been merged. "Overview" is probably fine but I haven't been through the article enough to comment on the content. The header/lead should summarise the article's content; if the previous version did this and the shortened version doesn't it's probably best reverted. Charles Matthews is a new editor but I feel no need to involve myself here; if he does something obviously unnaceptable feel free to inform me. I see Cas Liber has already discussed this with Charles on his talk page. Cheers, Baffle gab1978 (talk) 23:39, 12 February 2016 (UTC)

O.K. Corinne (talk) 23:59, 12 February 2016 (UTC)

I'm puzzled why you say he is a new editor. On his user page it says he's been editing since 2003. Corinne (talk) 00:02, 13 February 2016 (UTC)

I misinterpreted a template as a welcome; I'm a bit tired and you're correct, as usual. :-) Cheers, Baffle gab1978 (talk) 00:14, 13 February 2016 (UTC)

I'm glad I'm not the only one who makes mistakes when tired. ;) Corinne (talk) 03:21, 13 February 2016 (UTC)

Al-Shaykh Al-Mufid

Baffle gab1978 and User:Jonesey95, please see User talk:Mhhossein/Archive 2#Al-Shaykh Al-Mufid. I accepted the copy-editing assignment, spent a lot of time fixing the poor English, left detailed questions and comments on the requester's talk page, and then am told that another editor had been copy-editing the article. I left a comment in response. Corinne (talk) 04:08, 15 February 2016 (UTC)

I went back to look at the request, and I see a request to a particular editor (P-123) which I did not see, and there was no "Working" template. See this. Corinne (talk) 04:14, 15 February 2016 (UTC)

It looks like neither the requester nor you remembered to remove the {{copy edit}} template from the top of the article. It has been there since February 6. The instructions on our Requests page explain that the template should be removed. Doing so can help editors avoid misunderstandings of the type you are experiencing.

I have added the following note to the "Instructions for Copy Editors" on our Requests page. It has always worked well for me, and it helps to build community and avoid misunderstandings. "Once you have accepted a request, it may be helpful to add a section to the article's Talk page explaining that you will be copy-editing the article and that other editors are welcome to post questions and comments for you while you are doing so. Remember to add another note when you are done." – Jonesey95 (talk) 04:23, 15 February 2016 (UTC)

See this note for an example of a fruitful conversation about my copy edits on a busy article with many interested editors. – Jonesey95 (talk) 04:41, 15 February 2016 (UTC)

Mohanlal filmography

Thanks for your edits, awaiting more suggestions from you. --Inside the Valley (talk) 12:53, 15 February 2016 (UTC)

No worries Inside the Valley, I was checking the article and noticed the sizes of the images, so fixed them per WP:MOS, and I haven't accepted the copy-editing request. I generally work at the top of the list so it could be a while befoe it reaches me, unless someone else gets it first... :-) Cheers, Baffle gab1978 (talk) 20:33, 15 February 2016 (UTC)

Russell family

I apologize for the mistake for the image for "Irma Johnson" on the Russell family page. I copied and pasted the image fro another page without thoroughly checking to see if everything was done properly or not. Thank you for resizing all the images as I was having trouble with doing it (I know it is really easy, but I am very new to Wikipedia). Thank you for all your help. The page looks so much better already! Aoba47 (talk) 03:26, 22 February 2016 (UTC)

No problems, are you talking about the edit summary of my final edit? That was a self-deprecating poke at myself for forgetting the wikicode; I apologise for any misuderstanding. :-) Cheers, Baffle gab1978 (talk) 03:33, 22 February 2016 (UTC)

Thank you!

Thanks very much for your excellent copyediting of President's Guest House, it's much appreciated! LavaBaron (talk) 05:07, 22 February 2016 (UTC)

No worries, Cheers, Baffle gab1978 (talk)

New Editor, Ramona and Beezus

Hey Baffle, new editor here trying to jump in and help, still learning WP protocol for everything. I grabbed this article from the requests and I wanted to know whether it is generally acceptable to remove information that repeats, like the long description of this film that recurs in the article twice ("American live action family and children's adventure fantasy comedy film adaptation"). Can this appear just once? And can the release date appear just once? Thanks! 1984&co (talk) 18:59, 22 February 2016 (UTC)

Hi 1984&co, thanks for your work and welcome to the Guild. :-) Yes it's fine to remove redundant text, particularly that mouthful—a few commas wouldn't go amiss there. The film's genre should appear in the lead/header, which should summarise the text of the article's main body (see WP:MOSLEAD), and only once in the body text unless it's relevant to the local text. Cheers, Baffle gab1978 (talk) 19:52, 22 February 2016 (UTC)

Thanks for the info! I finished the article, maybe one of you gurus could sign off on it? Thanks again! 1984&co (talk) 17:14, 23 February 2016 (UTC)

?

Baffle gab1978 - What happened to your user page?  – Corinne (talk) 02:27, 29 February 2016 (UTC)

Hi Corinne, I had it speedily deleted under CSD {{U1}} so its history is no longer publicly visible. I've never been one for vanity pages and I no longer have any use for its former contents, though I might redirect it here again if/when the mood strikes me. Cheers, Baffle gab1978 (talk) 02:56, 29 February 2016 (UTC)

Thanks for your reply. Well, at least I know you'll still be editing. ;)  – Corinne (talk) 03:56, 29 February 2016 (UTC)

Please do redirect it to your talk page. It's disconcerting to type an editor's name (in a ping template, or on the GOCE drive page, for example) and have it come up red, as if it is a typo. Thanks. – Jonesey95 (talk) 07:20, 29 February 2016 (UTC)

Jonesey, I'm not the only editor with a redlinked userpage, and there's no point pinging me because I won't receive the notification—this ain't facebook—but point taken and  Done. Baffle gab1978 (talk) 23:55, 29 February 2016 (UTC)

Thank you

Hello. You have a new message at Paparazzzi's talk page. Paparazzzi (talk) 00:21, 1 March 2016 (UTC)

Déjà vu all over again

Don't beat yourself up; it is hard to tell one from another :-). All the best, Miniapolis 15:15, 6 March 2016 (UTC)

Thanks Miniapolis, I somehow landed on the 2007-8 article. I must have mis-clicked somehing... it happens. ;-) Cheers, Baffle gab1978 (talk) 20:26, 6 March 2016 (UTC)

Thank you (II)

I knew that you had done your best, the first time I filed a request for Assassination of Iranian nuclear scientists at GOCE. As you saw, another editor claimed that it needed further copy edit. So, I had to make another request. Thank you so much. Mhhossein (talk) 03:00, 10 March 2016 (UTC)

No worries, thanks for posting. I was surprised to see it back on the page so soon, and I probably should have investigated further, but at least it got some more c/e attention. :-) Cheers, Baffle gab1978 (talk) 03:07, 10 March 2016 (UTC)

I had to make some changes, as some parts of the lead were not in accordance with the sources. Could I ask you take another look at the article? Mhhossein (talk) 12:56, 10 March 2016 (UTC)

Another thank you

I appreciate greatly that you decided to do the c/e for Lech Wałęsa yourself, after nobody else volunteered to do it. This article is huge and I see that you work very thoroughly, so thank you very much indeed for facing such a challenging task. Daniel (talk) 08:29, 15 March 2016 (UTC)

No problems Daniel, I'll probably take a few days to complete the c/e. Please correct my work if I misinterpret any text, though i've had no problems so far. Cheers, Baffle gab1978 (talk) 04:13, 16 March 2016 (UTC)

I'd like to give you a barnstar for your thorough and fine c/e of this 5600+ words long article, but you don't like them. So thank you very-very much! - Daniel (talk) 05:15, 2 April 2016 (UTC)

No worries; I think it's an interestng article about an important person; I lived through those times so I remember hearing of the events in Eastern Europe in the late '80s to early '90s. I'll accept an honorary, invisible barnstar; thanks and good luck wih the article. :-) cheers, Baffle gab1978 (talk) 00:12, 3 April 2016 (UTC)

Peruchazhi

Hai, can you work on Peruchazhi, which is submitted for GOCE/Request. --Charles Turing (talk) 12:44, 15 March 2016 (UTC)

Hi Charles, I might do it if your request reaches the top before someone takes it, but I don't take direct c/e requests and I'm already working on another request atm (see above). Cheers, Baffle gab1978 (talk) 04:13, 16 March 2016 (UTC)

Thanks for your reply. Charles Turing (talk) 12:47, 16 March 2016 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Featured article candidates/Emily Ratajkowski/archive3

I am taking one last run at getting Emily Ratajkowski promoted to WP:FA in time for a 25th birthday WP:TFA on June 7th. Wikipedia:Featured article candidates/Emily Ratajkowski/archive3 needs discussants. Since you were the WP:GOCE reviewer, I am hoping you might give some comments.--TonyTheTiger (T / C / WP:FOUR / WP:CHICAGO / WP:WAWARD) 01:34, 23 March 2016 (UTC)

Thanks for the notification @TonyTheTiger:, but I don't comment on GA / ACN / FA reviews of articles I've copy-edited or have otherwise been involved with. Good luck with your nomination though, I hope it goes well for you. Cheers, Baffle gab1978 (talk) 01:49, 23 March 2016 (UTC)

Would you be willing to copyedit the vastly changed article. I really need some expert eyes on this article before the clock runs out here.--TonyTheTiger (T / C / WP:FOUR / WP:CHICAGO / WP:WAWARD) 13:02, 7 April 2016 (UTC)

No. As you see from my talk page header, I don't accept drect requests for copy-editing; if I accept one, I'll have to accept them all. I'm also less active now than I previously was, so it wouldn't be fair of me to say 'yes' and not have the time to complete a full c/e. I suggest you list the article at the GOCE Requests Page, where a variety of skilled copy-editors can be found. Cheers, Baffle gab1978 (talk) 21:22, 7 April 2016 (UTC)

Going to Tehran

Thanks for taking on Going to Tehran. I did very little actual work on it, apart from trying to make sense of it, so I will not claim it either. I notice there are two more articles on the Request List from the same contributor that, at a quick glance, look equally daunting! Kind regardsTwofingered Typist (talk) 19:58, 27 March 2016 (UTC)

No worries; thanks for your reply. Thanks for the info about the requester's other requests; I'll review them and see what we're being asked to do. Sometimes I can guess the meaning of confused text by its context, sometimes it takes a bit more than guessing. Cheers, Baffle gab1978 (talk) 23:24, 27 March 2016 (UTC)

GOCE Drive and Astrotrain

With the GOCE drive, could you give me more guidance on what to do with the Astrotrain article (assuming someone hasn't gotten on to it already)? I'm new to copy-editing (at least here), and since you're apparently a hall of fame member, you seem to be the best person to go to for this.

A Sentient Sock 22:58, 28 March 2016 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by A Sentient Sock (talk • contribs)

Hi A Sentient Sock; welcome tio the Guild and thanks for your reply. Taking part in drives and blitzes is a great way to learn the craft of copy-editing. You did a good job of fixing some errors, but copy-editing is usually more involved, for instance fixing poorly-written text, making it conform to the Manual of Style (MOS), removing waffle (over-worded text), etc. I found this article has some quite waffly text, for instance, the section "Transformers: Timelines (Unicron Trilogy)" has:

This Astrotrain is similar to the canceled Transformers: Universe toy Spacewarp although Astrotrain had a different paint job and a new head sculpt. The new head is based on a design by artist Dan Khanna and resembles the head of the original Generation 1 Astrotrain. The character is not related to the original Astrotrain and is based in the Transformers: Cybertron series. Astrotrain's Mini-Con is a repaint of the Mini-Con Comettor named Starcatcher.

This can be condensed to:

This Astrotrain is similar to the canceled Transformers: Universe toy Spacewarp, although Astrotrain had different livery and a new head designed by artist Dan Khanna that resembles the head of the original Generation 1 Astrotrain. The character is not related to the original Astrotrain and is based in the Transformers: Cybertron series. Astrotrain's Mini-Con is a repaint of the Mini-Con Comettor named Starcatcher.

I'm going through the article at the moment; feel free to check the diffs in the article's history. Feel free to ask about copy-editing; I may not be hugely active this week but I'll answer as well as I can. Cheers, Baffle gab1978 (talk) 23:57, 28 March 2016 (UTC)

Nu metal article

First of all, thank you for improving the nu metal article. I added some more info and improvements to the article but there's a few things I need to check before I finish the article. Many of the article's citations don't have the date, accessdate and author fields typed the right way. For example, dates are typed as February 3rd, 2011 instead of February 3, 2011 or access dates are typed as December 15th, 2015 instead of December 15, 2015. I also noticed that I typed in authors' names in citations as something like "Aaron Greenberg" instead of "Greenberg, Aaron" or "Andrew Campbell" instead of "Campbell, Andrew". (It goes like this: "|author=Andrew Campbell" instead of going like this "|last=Campbell |first=Andrew". Some sources (pretty much most are AllMusic sources) have an error where I added <nowiki>|</nowiki> in the title instead of {{!}} (Template:!). Some book sources/magazine sources/Template:Sfn sources might have a long dash (—) in the pages field instead of the correct dash (–). I also found out that when it comes to music bands, "is" and "was" get used in American English but "are" and "were" get used in British English. (American: Korn is/was a band. British: Bring Me the Horizon are/were a band. On Wikipedia, in American English, bands are considered single entities (its instead of theirs, is instead of are, was instead of were). On Wikipedia, in British English, it is the other way around. However, with American bands that uses plural names (eg: Deftones) Wikipedia uses their instead of its and probably even are/were instead of is/was. I found out that these things need to be changed after reading Wikipedia's Manual of Style article. I don't know if you edit citations but are you able to do another improvement on the Nu metal article? Thanks. Statik N (talk) 02:25, 4 April 2016 (UTC)

Hi Statik N, and thanks for your post. As far as I'm aware, "author=" and "first= | last=" are equally acceptable in citations; I prefer the former as it's shorter, and it's acceptable to use the style "author=Smith, Joe" if you wish. I'd recommend standardising on one citation style if you're pushing towards an A-Class or FA rating. it's proably easiest to convert to Style 1 using {{cite}}.

As far as I know it's acceptable to alter dash lengh in citations and quotations; in fact I often do that when doing a c/e.

I'm aware of the distinction between UK and US styles but I wasn't aware that pulralised US band names should use plural pronouns. It's the first I've heard of that one!

Short answer: No. I don't generally do citation-fixing work, and my time and patience are limited atm. Have you looked to see whether any tools are available? I think WikEd might suit your purpose. Good luck with the article. Cheers, Baffle gab1978 (talk) 15:56, 4 April 2016 (UTC)

Disregard the warning. That previous person was an imposter

Hi, early you received a post about being warned from being blocked. That was an imposter who created a similar username, but with only 1 “p” at User:Winterystepe. He's now blocked. im just letting you know that Im the real person and I won't do that. Shoutout to Tassedethe for taking quick action in 6 minutes. Happy Editing Winterysteppe (talk) 00:33, 13 April 2016 (UTC)

Thanks for your comments Winterysteppe, I realised we'd both been trolled after reading your talk page. I first pinged you for an explanation (see my comments there), then saw Tassedethe's postings there. Cheers, Baffle gab1978 (talk) 01:17, 13 April 2016 (UTC)

Also see Wimterysteppe. Baffle gab1978 (talk) 01:18, 13 April 2016 (UTC)

Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Guild of Copy Editors/Backlog elimination drives/May 2016

Please help me with Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Guild of Copy Editors/Backlog elimination drives/May 2016 advice requests.— Preceding unsigned comment added by Dthomsen8 (talk • contribs) 17:42, 1 May 2016‎

@Dthomsen8:Certainly; I'll be going offline soon, but will look into your questions later this evening. Also, please sign your posts per WP:SIGN, thanks. Cheers, Baffle gab1978 (talk) 17:51, 1 May 2016 (UTC)

Dromedary

Many thanks for taking this! Please let me know if you have any doubts about the prose, I will try my best to answer them as soon as possible. Thanks again. Sainsf (talk · contribs) 05:17, 4 May 2016 (UTC)

WP:SAY

Question: If this rule says that "stated, described, wrote, commented, and according to are almost always neutral and accurate", then why do you change everything that's different from "said" to that in your copyedits, even if it's one of these mentioned? The redundancy of "said" was a concern at one of my GANs before, which you had copyedited. Just saying wondering. dannymusiceditor ^{what'd I do now?} 21:53, 4 May 2016 (UTC)

Hi Danny; "said" is clear, concise and unambiguous, and unlike the others it rarely needs to be followed with "that". Compare "Dave said the sky is blue and sometimes grey" with "Dave wrote that the sky is blue and sometimes grey", "Dave commented that the sky is blue and sometimes grey", and "Dave stated that the sky is blue and sometimes grey". Why use two, three or four syllables when you can use one? I frequently use "wrote", "described" and "according to" where I consider them appropriate. If "said" seems redundant, it probably highlights the over-use of quotations, off-topic text or waffle. IMO, some GAN reviewers could benefit from reading GAC 1b before waving through articles that blatantly ignore it, then complaining about my use of "said". Cheers, Baffle gab1978 (talk) 23:14, 4 May 2016 (UTC)

WP:LEAD

Outlines how those should be written. Not sure why you removed the one at ivermectin. Cheers Doc James (talk · contribs · email) 18:28, 7 May 2016 (UTC)

I removed hid the content from the infobox that breaks the page. Clearly you restored it, and the page is once again broken. Please see my comments on the article's talk page, fix the infobox, and don't restore the broken code. Cheers, Baffle gab1978 (talk) 23:29, 7 May 2016 (UTC)

Thanks and replied on the talk page. Doc James (talk · contribs · email) 23:59, 7 May 2016 (UTC)

Thank you

Thanks for copyediting Dromedary, I appreciate your efforts. Sorry I did not notice you were done till now. Sainsf (talk · contribs) 16:03, 18 May 2016 (UTC)

No worries; good luck with your planned FA nomination. Cheers, Baffle gab1978 (talk) 18:06, 18 May 2016 (UTC)

Precious

the soul of articles

Thank you ... nah, that would be too small a word. All I can say is, you will be remembered forever for all you do to kindle the soul of articles – their elegance and presentation. The notice on the top of this page made me think twice before awarding you this, but I feel Precious would never truly achieve its purpose, to recognise talent in the Wikipedia community, if you were not included in it. Today is your day, for you are an awesome Wikipedian!

Sainsf (talk · contribs) 03:09, 19 May 2016 (UTC)

GOCE coordinator election

Sorry you're not standing for reelection (not least because it blocks my path to the exit :-)), but I don't blame you. Have fun and all the best, Miniapolis 17:06, 27 May 2016 (UTC)

Yes I'm not standing at the moment; my level of interest has dropped and RL is quite busy for me now, so a withdrawal from WL is likely. I might be back in January though. I may ask Corring and/or Twofingered Typist (two of our most reliable members) if they'd like to stand; is there anyone else you'd recommend (or advise against)? Cheers, Baffle gab1978 (talk) 01:33, 28 May 2016 (UTC)

Both sound excellent if they'll do it, and thanks for offering to ask them. Think I'll ask Lfstevens and Tdslk as well. Wikibreaks are a good thing :-). All the best, Miniapolis 14:29, 28 May 2016 (UTC)

 Done; hoping for positive responses :-) Cheers, Baffle gab1978 (talk) 19:04, 28 May 2016 (UTC)

GOCE Coodinator Nomination

Hello Baffle gab1978: My sincerest thanks for considering nominating me for the GOCE Coordinator's position. At the moment I wish to continue making only editorial contributions to Wikipedia. Kind regards, Twofingered Typist (talk) 13:02, 29 May 2016 (UTC)

No worries TT, my thanks for replying, for considering the nomination offer, and for all the excellent copy-editing you do. I'm glad you considered it. Cheers, and happy editing, Baffle gab1978 (talk) 22:43, 29 May 2016 (UTC)

Wikipedia:WikiProject Military history/Assessment/J. R. Kealoha

Let me know if you can possibly give this a review. I am trying to get it eventually to feature article status as a very short featured articles. Thank you!--KAVEBEAR (talk) 22:52, 9 June 2016 (UTC)

Hi Kavebear, No; as explained above I don't take direct c/e requests. Cheers, Baffle gab1978 (talk) 22:33, 10 June 2016 (UTC)

DYK for Mahavira

On 15 June 2016, Did you know was updated with a fact from the article Mahavira, which you recently created, substantially expanded, or brought to good article status. The fact was ... that Mahavira (pictured) was the 24th and last tirthankara (teaching god) in Jainism? The nomination discussion and review may be seen at Template:Did you know nominations/Mahavira. You are welcome to check how many page hits the article got while on the front page (here's how, Mahavira), and it may be added to the statistics page if the total is over 5,000. Finally, if you know of an interesting fact from another recently created article, then please feel free to suggest it on the Did you know talk page.

Cas Liber (talk · contribs) 12:02, 15 June 2016 (UTC)

Ration card (India) copyedit

Please look at Ration card (India) for copyediting. Just the lede seems to need more work. I am doing other things right now, so I do not have time to do more on this article, nor do I want to get into reviewing the effort made. --DThomsen8 (talk) 16:34, 15 June 2016 (UTC)

I started to copy-edit and then re-tagged this article. It needs a lot more copyediting work. – Jonesey95 (talk) 17:27, 15 June 2016 (UTC)

Ok, it looks fairly straightforward, I'll do this one for the blitz. Cheers, Baffle gab1978 (talk) 22:15, 15 June 2016 (UTC)

Disambiguation link notification for June 16

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Aw, shucks

Just saw your addendum at the bottom of the GOCE election page; thanks very much! I'm patiently waiting for Jonesey to step down so we can induct him. Enjoy your sabbatical (I will mine) and all the best, Miniapolis 16:47, 17 June 2016 (UTC)

About the above thread, there's a handy script which identifies dablinks and other links (and cuts down on those pesky bot posts) at User:Anomie/linkclassifier. Miniapolis 16:52, 17 June 2016 (UTC)

No worries. Welcome to the Hall, grab yourself a drink, pull up a comfy chair and join me in the sunshine on the beautiful garden patio; I'm sure the electorate will approve the motion. Thanks for your service, and for regularly doing the fiddly, tedious updating work, you're a real asset to the Guild and you've more than earned your membership. :-) I'll most likely be back once winter swings around, and I hope you'll be back too. :-) Cheers, Baffle gab1978 (talk) 22:50, 17 June 2016 (UTC)

Thanks very much for the drink, since we've been in a drought here since last winter; the snowpack was half normal, and we haven't had much rain since. I was looking at the HOF page, and if you need an "accomplishment" I can determine when I hit the million-word mark (think it was a while ago). I didn't do yesterday's update because Jonesey's retagging complicated things and I'm trying to finish my current article before the blitz ends. I'll still be around; WP keeps me out of mischief. Have fun and all the best, Miniapolis 13:42, 18 June 2016 (UTC)

Thank you!

Thank you for the c/e on the Billie Jenkins page. You have helped to make this article a lot better and I appreciate your help as always. Aoba47 (talk) 08:20, 28 June 2016 (UTC)

No worries; best of luck with your planned nomination. Cheers, Baffle gab1978 (talk) 23:10, 28 June 2016 (UTC)

Thank You!

For c/e on Bahubali. It was great help. I hope for its GA soon. Those cn tags were good find. Also can you please clarify that if we use Hindi words should they be in () or their english ones? -- Pankaj Jain Capankajsmilyo (talk · contribs · count) 06:41, 30 June 2016 (UTC)

Hi @Capankajsmilyo: thanks for your comments and I'm glad the c/e is useful. It makes sense to put the Hindi terms in brackets because they have direct English equivalents and this is English Wikipedia. I also refer you to WP's official style guide:

Wikipedia prefers italics for phrases in other languages and for isolated foreign words that do not yet have everyday use in non-specialized English. Use the native spellings if they use the Latin alphabet (with or without diacritics)—otherwise Anglicise their spelling. For example: "Gustav I of Sweden liked to breakfast on crisp bread (knäckebröd) open sandwiches with toppings such as messmör (butter made from goat's milk), ham (skinka), and vegetables (grönsaker) like tomatoes (tomat) or cucumber (gurka)." In accordance with the guide to writing better Wikipedia articles, use foreign words sparingly.

Thanks again, and best wishes for your planned GA nom. Cheers, Baffle gab1978 (talk) 17:17, 30 June 2016 (UTC)

Thanks a lot. That reference cleared a huge doubt. So it means we should use Bahubali (the one with strong arms) but non-violence (Ahimsa). Right? -- Pankaj Jain Capankajsmilyo (talk · contribs · count) 17:47, 30 June 2016 (UTC)

That's correct; he is commonly known as Bahubali, and I don't think the name wants italics since it's a name (proper noun). Cheers, Baffle gab1978 (talk) 21:34, 30 June 2016 (UTC)

Ok -- Pankaj Jain Capankajsmilyo (talk · contribs · count) 02:37, 1 July 2016 (UTC)

Sorry to read this

Hello, Baffle gab1978 -- I was sorry to read your farewell note. I hope you'll return occasionally to edit. It has been nice editing with you. Best regards,  – Corinne (talk) 04:10, 15 November 2016 (UTC)

+1 ---Another Believer _(Talk) 23:55, 30 January 2017 (UTC)

Self-requested block

Indef block please, per WP:NOTHERE. Thanks, Baffle gab1978 (talk) 01:07, 27 November 2016 (UTC)

 Not done Most administrators, myself included, do not issue self-requested blocks. If you're sure you'd like one, see Category:Wikipedia administrators willing to consider placing self-requested blocks. You could also consider the WikiBreak Enforcer. ~ Rob₁₃^Talk 08:29, 27 November 2016 (UTC)

I've blocked you with an explicit note that any request for unblock should be accepted. I have disabled all technical restrictions that would hinder or prevent you from editing anonymously or creating a new account. Nyttend (talk) 19:48, 27 November 2016 (UTC)

Thank you, Nyttend. :) Baffle gab1978 (talk) 23:14, 19 April 2017 (UTC)

Hell, you could've asked me. Hope to see you again here. All the best, Miniapolis 23:11, 27 November 2016 (UTC)

Impact

Baffle gab1978, thanks for your efforts over the years. Your work was great. Please come on back anytime. — Diannaa 🍁 (talk) 02:29, 28 November 2016 (UTC)

You know where to go (me or Diannaa, among others) when it's time to come back. Hope it'll be soon. Happy holidays and all the best, Miniapolis 14:44, 8 December 2016 (UTC)

Thanks both; I'm thinking about returning fairly soon. I hope you're both well. Cheers. Baffle gab1978 (talk) 23:14, 19 April 2017 (UTC)