Thank you! Hello Natalya/Archive2. Thank you for your support in my RfA! It passed with a final tally of 91/3/5. I am quite humbled and pleased by the community's show of confidence in me. If you need help or just want to talk, let me know. Cheers! -- Fang Aili說嗎?
By the way, what kind of exams are you doing? Difficult stuff? I do feel we're kind of in the same pickle here; my MA thesis is due in 6 weeks, and there is still LOADS to do (there always is of course). I'm working my ass off right now, ditching all social events in favour of my thesis. Joy.
You're welcome! You certainly deserve it. :) Gosh - good luck with your thesis! I just took a couple exams today, so it's nice that they're over. Still a few more, but some out of the way is always good. -- Natalya19:44, 12 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]
You don't really have to make userboxes (unless you want to), because there are already a lot that have been created. If you go to WP:Userboxes#Existing_Userboxes, you can browse through all the different categories of userboxes, and use the tags given to put them on your userpage. -- Natalya11:21, 13 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]
I thought about it, but I think I'd like to establish myself a bit more before running. Probably next time 'round. Thanks, though! :) -- Natalya01:00, 16 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Happy Spring celebration / Easter (as your preferences and beliefs dictate)
This Barnstar of Diligence is awarded to Natalya for her tireless work and dedication to disambiguation services in Wikipedia. Kukini20:22, 16 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]
I was the person who made the correction about E.T.A. (Euskadi Ta Askatasuna) adding "terrorist" before the "Basque Separatist Organization". I saw you deleted the entry, and I don't understand why.
Even I agree that it is a "Basque Separatist Organization" the word "terrorist" is the best one that fits in this case. I'm based upon these reasons:
- The methods this organization have ever used are:
Assasination
Kidnapping
Mutilation
Extortion
Violence
Destruction
Fear
Threatening
...and I forget several (no one of them good)
- More than one thousand people were killed by them, using so "honorable" ways as shooting on their backheads, bombs on their car, bombs on commercial places, etc.
- Their favorite targets were policemen, militar forces and mainly politicians. Sometimes they have also chosen prison guards and famous people, not to mention the many people who died for being "in the wrong place at the wrong time" (I think american militar forces calls them collateral damage).
- The only justification they give to their criminal act is "Spanish government is responsible for those deads because of their arrogance and stubbornness. They are the victims of a fight. In the moment they depart from the Basque country the fight will cease.". If I'm not wrong, in a fight there are two sides fighting. In this case there is one shooting and the other "providing" the heads for being shot. Fair fight, isn't it?
- E.T.A. is recognized and declared by many countries and international organizations as a criminal and terrorist organization, and their members are often deported from the countries they hide (after committing any crime) as criminals.
- There are Basque organizations and parties (some of them also separatist) who uses democratic means for trying to reach their goals. E.T.A. never used them.
I'm not talking on my own. You can check all that info in newspapers, web pages, tv. Sadly E.T.A. uses to appear on them, and never for good.
Those are the reasons that led me to change the definition and I'll do it again as many times as necessary: E.T.A. is a Basque separatist organization, but over all, they're terrorists.
Thank you for your comments. I appreciate you taking the time to explain your reasoning to me. I do not disagree with you that E.T.A. is a terrorist organization. The changes I made were for a variety of reasons, which I hope I can explain to you.
Wikipedia operates on a Neutral Point of View (NPOV, sorry for not expanding the acronym) policy. This means that all information provided in Wikipedia articles should be presented without bias. While referring to E.T.A. as a terrorist organization is not necessarily biased, using the term to describe them overall may be seen as such (there has been some discussion about this at Talk:ETA.
More importantly, there are multiple policies on the use of the word "terrorist" in Wikipdia articles. It may seem silly, but lots of thought has gone into the reasoning behind the policy. There is an old discussion regarding the use of the word "terrorist" in articles at Wikipedia:Use of the word terrorism (policy development), which you might find interesting to read. However, Wikipedia:Words_to_avoid#Terrorist.2C_terrorism gives the most convincing (and most important) argument for use of the word "terrorist". Please take a look at that previous link. Although there are arguments before and against, the most important part is "The words terrorism and terrorist may be cited where there is a verifiable and cited indication of who is calling a person or group terrorist." For example, farther down in the first paragraph in the ETA article, the organization is described as a terrorist by saying: "ETA is considered by Spain, France, the European Union, and the United States to be a terrorist organization, with more than 800 killings attributed to it." These are verifiable facts. It is just important not to make a blanket statement, however true it may be.
I hope you understand. Please feel free to ask me anymore questions if you have them. If you would like to discuss more uses of the word "terrorism", you may want to bring them up at Wikipedia talk:Words to avoid. Good luck with your editing around Wikipedia. I hope that you continue to contribute. -- Natalya00:42, 17 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]
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I appreciate your kind words. It was quite a blow to see both of the articles I had featured be nominated one after the other. Fortunately, Crash test dummy passed the vett, though Weather lore lost. Your support helped keep me going - I have written three or four new articles since. Denni☯04:42, 20 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks for the kind comment. I seem to be getting over the bronchitis (but alas, not the A-levels yet!). smurrayinchester(User), (Talk)09:06, 21 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks for your comments. I'm a lot less stressed today than I was last night. Largely thanks to Tijuana Brass, also from Esperanza. I enjoy the civility and kindness I get from everyone in Esperanza. The mission seems to be to bring kindness and peace rather than stir the war pot.
thanks again and peace to you Maggiethewolfstar15:29, 21 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Yeah, let's hope they stay away. ;-) Thanks for the note. Oh, and keep up the good work being all Esperanzial when people add names to the alerts page. See you around. --LV(Dark Mark)20:06, 21 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Hey, just wanted to say that I've noticed how active you've been in monitoring the alerts and dropping messages to users listed there. Although I've just tagged my name onto Esperanza and don't have much experience with it, I'm impressed with the zeal at which you've gone about its goal of uplifting other editors. Great work. Tijuana Brass¡Épa!-E@10:43, 22 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks for your kind words. And welcome to Esperanza! The alerts page is good, it's nice to be able to drop a line to people who are feeling stressed out. -- Natalya16:37, 22 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]
No problem! And if you don't already have a taker for GiantPuffin, I'd be happy to help his/her user page become an even more gigantic puffin. Cheers! _-MoP-_23:50, 22 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]
It all worked out, I just swapped people! Thanks for offering though, that would be a pretty ginormous puffin. -- Natalya05:01, 23 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Its only the darned header keeps on popping into the midst of the peaceful herd of show/hide boxes. I think its just my browser, however. Thanks for checking out though, and if there are any more users in dire need of a renovation, I'm (almost) always here. Cheers! :D_-MoP-_05:12, 23 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]
I was just wondering if there are any more userpages in need of renovation; I've helped a few people and now feed off of coloring HTML tables. Please, you must help me! :P_-MoP-_01:23, 25 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Thank you for supporting me. ^_^ I'm not exactly sure that I knew I was mentoring Lord Dude but I have been helping him (I never want to see traffic lights again ¬_¬) Cheers, HighwayRainbow Sneakers12:04, 23 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Like Ready Salted crisps, the original barnstar is still the most loved. I award Natalya (you :P) this barnstar for her(please god let you be a her) hard work in the Barnstar Brigade program. HighwayRainbow Sneakers
Ok so thanks for your really welcoming message. I've gone to your page to see who you are, and that's great. And I've also read lots of things that you've suggested, but I've got to say, that 'how to edit' page still makes ancient greek seem like a walk in the park. But I'm going to perservere! Also though, can I just ask again, where should I go if I get stuck? E.g. the page on submitting audio of different articles was fascinating, but too technical for me to understand, so where do really slow ones go if they want to know what to do next? Thanks for your patience, Patrick
--Patrickjoel18:28, 23 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Hi Patrick,
I'm glad to see that you've looked into a lot of introductory information, and have started editing more! Nice work with your userpage also. Is there anything in particular that you find confusing about Wikipedia:How to edit a page? Perhaps if you let me know what is causing you problems I will be able to give you a simpler answer.
I've just posted this at the New Contributors' Help Page where you asked the question, but questions regarding Spoken Wikipedia would be best to ask at the Spoken Wikipedia talk page. All pages have a talk page, accessable from the "discussion" tab at the top of the page. These are usually the best places to ask questions about the page/article/whatever the page is about.
Natalya I'd like to say thanks again - I've had the day free to go around Wikipedia and find all of the answers to my original questions clearly available for anyone who wanted to look, so particularly for being patient and for making me feel so welcome, many thanks. I've made some headway today, recording and uploading an article for the first time. I'm not happy with its quality, but I thing with my microphone I probably won't be able to do much better for now, but that fact that I've been able to get so much help from you and other Wikipedians to achieve this inside about twenty four hours is really amazing. Very best regards,
Actually you are quite annoying. It happened twice this night that I answered a question, but when I submitted there was an error conflict. You already answered it. :) Garion96(talk)03:03, 25 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks, Garion! Sorry to cause you all those edit conflicts... they are really annoying. :) I'm sure soon it will be you who is causing them, and then other people will come and barnstar you for it. Your message cracked me up - thanks again! -- Natalya11:28, 25 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]
I was looking around for someone to ask for admin advice and I checked the list to see if you were on it since I know you're friendly (I just passed an article on the Mohammad cartoons in GA Nominations so I may be hiding for a while.) Anyway (I had a point!) I was suprised to find you not on the list, I wasn't sure how long you had been around but you seemed to be well adjusted with everyone else and knowing what were you doing. (Will get there..) I was wondering if you wanted to be nominated, since I think you deserve it and I'd be happy to nominate you (I can see this now - "Highway supports Communism Vandal") and I think you'd pass easily.
Wow, HighwayCello, I really appreciate your confidence! I'd love to eventually become an administrator, but I'm not sure how much now would be the right time. I became an active user in January, so my edit count is still a bit low, hovering a bit less than 2000ish, I believe. Also, though I've recently begun getting more accustomed to fighting vandalism, I'd like to give my vandal whacking stick some more practice before having the possibility of using adminship powers to do so. I really appreciate that you have the confidence to nominate me, though, that means a lot. Tell you what, I'll start reading up the Administrator's reading list, and see how things are in a couple months. Oh, and Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy does look like a good article, so no fear! It's just controversial... hence the title. :) Thanks again! -- Natalya18:57, 25 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Tis okay, I'd be happy to nominate you when you are ready. I think the article keeps being promoted then delisted or reviewed by "significant contributors" so hopefully it's closed. Get reading, HighwayRainbow Sneakers19:21, 25 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Hey Nat, need help. That damn Mohammad article is causing more problems (I told you). As I said, or probably said, the article was failed twice by two major contributors and was renominated afterwards. I later passed it and closed the matter. Now there is a fight at Wikipedia talk:Good articles/Nominations over the fact that people who are major contributors shouldn't be allowed to delist nominations. There was an argument between the main contributors of the Mohammed article about what was fair but I finally boiled it down, found several supports FOR the prohibition of major contributors of nominations and said the matter was finished and reverted the rules to the current form. However one user, Raphael1 doesn't agree with me and generally saw what I had said on the matter, after closing it and left in his edit summary "I don't agree so reverting". I am just about to hurt someone, I had to deal with him through the whole matter and now he's just defying my mediation in the matter. I had a bad day at school (nearly exploded twice in one day) and generally cancelled a concert I was meant to be in because of the rage and Raphael1 is positioning himself at the end of the barrel on my preverbial gun. Can you sort this out before I have to go on sabbatical? :( HighwayRainbow Sneakers22:37, 26 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]
A zen garden to give you some calming thoughts. Hey Highway, first step, close your eyes, and take a deep breath.
*BREATH*
There. I'm sorry to hear that this situation has escalated into such unplesantness. But the most important thing is to not let it get to you! Take some time away from the issue - nothing long, just a few hours, half a day perhaps. Edit something you have fun with, hang out at the Coffee Lounge, or do something completely non-Wikipedia related altogether. When there is a buildup of anger from different parties, it is hard for anything to be accomplished.
You are not alone in your frustration with User:Raphael1. If you take a look at the section User_talk:Raphael1#3RR and the two sections below on his talk page, others share your concern.
Ahhhh you crack me up. I'm just hoping that I can accomplish something. :D Thanks for fixing the misplaced comment on my talk page, by the by. -- Natalya11:04, 28 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Oh it's okay, it would have bugged me all day. :P There's still plenty stuff that bugs me, like the fact you can't link directly to your talk page from your signature or the fact that your Random Act of Kindness barnstar is on another. But that's not the point. ; ) HighwayRainbow Sneakers11:09, 28 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]
See the "Rainbow Sneakers" part of my name? It goes straight to my talk page, yours doesn't have a link to that talk page. And the RAK barnstar is below all your other ones. There should be in a straight line. Cheers, HighwayRainbow Sneakers11:38, 28 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]
I have a minor major fettish with crisps so it does help. I've actually not had ready salted crisps today which is odd, I just had a packet of Salt and Vinegar Pom Bears. Mhhm, health shop. :P Yours has been the only one I was actually thanked for, people are suprisingly ungrateful. I am in the process on nominating Celestianpower for a wikihalo.. which is taking forever. Cheers, HighwayRainbow Sneakers16:29, 28 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Wow I guess you pretty much do everything... Makes me look like crap... I can play the guitar a little —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Furry Roadkill (talk • contribs) .
Guitar is one of the coolest things to play! And you probably play it much better than I do most things (with only four level choices, it is hard to describe one's ability well ;) -- Natalya11:01, 28 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Hi, I never came to thank you for the message you left for me a month ago when I stepped down from being a bureaucrat. Thank you for the things you said, it's good to know there are still plenty of good people about in this project. I do not see myself standing for bureaucrat again anytime soon though who knows what the future may bring! Thank you once again. -- Francs200009:48, 29 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Esperanza elections
Thanks for supporting me in the Esperanza Advisory Council Elections. Although I wasn't elected to the Advisory Council, I am very happy with the response I received from my fellow Wikipedians. I was shocked at the support, and was touched by it. Hopefully I will re-apply in June and try again for the job. Thanks again, HighwayRainbow Sneakers
Hey Nat, just to let you know I've given you the week off and archived all the barnstars, and created the May archive. And I've sent out all my thank you notes. And now I'm bored. :P Cheers, HighwayRainbow Sneakers23:35, 29 April 2006 (UTC)[reply]
The change is really easy to make. The syntax should look like this:
{{ribbon|Diligence Ribbon.png|2= the '''Barnstar of Diligence''' was awarded to [[User:Cowman109]] by [[User:Kukini|Kukin]][[WP:EA|<font color="green">i</font>]] 00:16, 1 May 2006 (UTC)}}
Hey Nat, do you think this is breach of 3RR? Was pretty sure it was, relevant argument on talk page, but didn't want to bother an admin on a wild goose chase. Like I'd get a response from one. Cheers, HighwayRainbow Sneakers15:21, 1 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]
According to the WP:3RR, it does look like it. If you look at the reverts on 29 April, you can count them at 6:49, 11:23, 16:49 (a partial revert), and 17:22. That makes four within less than 24 hours, none of which were simple vandalism or anything else not counting under the rule. I have listed it at the 3RR Administrators' Noticeboard. -- Natalya17:03, 1 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]
"Hello. I noticed you have taken an interest in Power Rangers articles. Most notably, that of the current season Mystic Force. I should point out that whilst you may believe yourself to be helping, a knowledge of super sentai, rumors, a fruity award and a POV don't make a great Wikipedian. Your recent edits these articles have been...inappropriate and I ask that you either cease completely or realize your error. If you'd prefer the latter, I'm sure that you could learn how to make better, more cooperative edits in time, possibly with my help."
While I think it's a conflict of interest, I was unsure of what a "fruity award" was. It's something to do homosexuality, and I'm guessing it's offensive, but I wanted to check before I went harassing with my "genderhater" ductape. Sorry for bothering you (you must be getting sick of it). Cheers, HighwayRainbow Sneakers19:09, 1 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Last time I checked, "fruity" was still a derogatory term referencing homosexuality. That, combined with the less-than-friendly tone of the entire message don't make it very helpful, or appropriate. Just check to make sure that we're not missing out on an actual award (barnstar, etc.) that is called the "Fruity award". I doubt it, though. And there's no need to apologize, I'm always glad to help. :)-- Natalya23:13, 1 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]
I had awarded the user a Sakura Award, which the anime/manga barnstar. That's the only award of any kind there seems to be, but it still doesn't explain the gay reference. Cheers, HighwayRainbow Sneakers07:06, 2 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]
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Thanks for voting on my RFA! I appreciate your faith in me, and was overwhelmed by the positive response to my RFA; for it shows that at least I'm doing something right. :) I've started working to improve myself already, and I hope that next time, things run better, and maybe, just maybe, one day we can bask on the shores of Admintopia together. Thanks and cheers, _-MoP-_21:53, 3 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Automated answers don't work. If you spare a minute of your time reading the user page I deleted, then you'd see that this iser page was spreading political FYROM propaganda. I repeat:
"Deleted, because it's purely propaganda. Administrators should check what pages they revert and rethink about their definition of vandalism. Without even going to political debate, an example: how can you say that the "original macedonian name" of Thessaloniki (mentioned in ancient historians' texts, written in inscriptions for thousands of years now) is "Solun"? Slavs didn't exist back then. You know, freedom of expression goes both ways. You can't deny the facts. If you don't know the facts, just check e.g. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pella_katadesmos and play seek and hide with the Slavic element of the era.
You can't sanctify propaganda in the name of freedom of expression."
Keep propaganda out. If you are an administrator, delete it (or have someone else to do it). — Preceding unsigned comment added by 87.202.74.190 (talk • contribs)
HighwayRainbow Sneakers has smiled at you! Smiles promote WikiLove and many feel they are also contagious! Spread the WikiLove by smiling to two other people, whether it be someone you have had disagreements with in the past or a good friend. Smile to others by adding {{subst:Hcs}} to their talk pages. Happy editing! Note: the template won't work properly without the subst.
At least it pays, I go through the exact same thing but it's called school. It's like my worst nightmare - being trapped somewhere with genetic throwbacks, passing themselves off as pupils. (Le sigh) At least I have plenty material for jokes. I'm getting sick of my talk page, it's either "you suck!!!!!" or "I am right you suck!!!!!". On another note, what colour should I have the box at the top of my talk page? HighwayRainbow Sneakers18:46, 7 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Yes, I changed it the last time I archived. I'm getting sick of the gold, and everything else. It's not that I don't think I'm getting the credit I deserve for anything, it's that I feel like I'm being shat on from a great height for everything. Maybe not brown then, HighwayRainbow Sneakers18:56, 7 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]
I have receding depression, hated and treated like shit at school and have been told by everyone how I'm generally a crap editor. I got juice poured over my head on Friday, and anything I saw gets used against me. Anything else? HighwayRainbow Sneakers15:32, 8 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]
The Administrator Coaching program is a program aimed at preparing Wikipedians for Adminship or helping them understand the intricacies of Wikipedia better. Recently, changes have been made to the requirements of coachees. Please review them before requesting this service.
This would be something like the Welcoming Committee, but for people who have figured out the basics of editing articles; they're not newcomers any more, but they might want some help in learning new roles. Some might like suggestions about how to learn vandal patrol, or mentoring on taking an article to featured status, or guidance with a proposal they plan to make at the Village Pump, for example. In this way, Esperanza would help keep hope alive for Wikipedia because we would always be grooming the next generation of admins.
The Stressbusters are a subset of Esperanza aiming to investigate the causes of stress. New eyes on the situation are always welcome!
Note from the editor
As always, MiszaBot handled this delivery. Thank you! Also, congratulations go to Pschemp, Titoxd and Freakofnurture for being elected in the last elections! An Esperanzial May to all of the readership!
Posting logs of the Esperanza IRC channel are explicitly banned anywhere. Violation of this rule results in deletion and a ban from the channel.
A disclaimer is going to be added to the Esperanza main page. We are humans and, as such, are imperfect.
Various revisions have been made to the Code of Conduct. Please see them, as the proposal is ready to be ratified by the community and enacted. All members will members to have to re-confirm their membership after accepting the Code of Conduct.
Referendums are to be held on whether terms of AC members should be lengthened and whether we should abolish votes full stop.
Thank you very much for your kind wishes, that's really nice. I assume you saw it on Esperanza?-) yes it was really nice, thanks again. with kind regards Gryffindor00:51, 8 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]
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I think I'm misinterpreting your question (it is late and my brain function has severly lessened :), but aren't you already doing renovations? Sorry for not getting the question. -- Natalya04:18, 10 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Ah, I get it. :) Your name is still on the list, I think. I don't see why you can't help - I'm not sure if you can actually add yourself to the renovaters list, but you're welcome to contact anyone looking to have their page renovated and do it! That would be cool (just make sure to take them off the list if you will be renovating). -- Natalya14:09, 10 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]