User talk:Sharktopus/Archive2011 1

Creating an archive page for inactive talk page messages

I will set this up on automatic some day but I don't know how to do that yet.

In the beginning

I am hoping to overcome my spelling-challenged-status by asking to change my misspelled username to Sharktopus. Sharktapus (talk) 20:47, 14 January 2011 (UTC)

Nope, I got turned down. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Changing_username/Usurpations/Rejected/13

But, if at first you don't succeed, try try again... Sharktapus (talk) 04:58, 24 January 2011 (UTC)

Many thanks to Xeno! And I made a new sig too... Sharktopus^talk 14:30, 24 January 2011 (UTC)

I am requesting a rename on Commons. My current Commons name is Sharktapus. Sharktopus^talk 16:03, 28 January 2011 (UTC)

Never actually photographed in the wild

The dreaded Sharktopus (Grabemum bytum)

:) Anna Frodesiak (talk) 04:55, 25 January 2011 (UTC)

Oh, thank you! Wow, you really must be a marine biologist! Sharktopus^talk 04:57, 25 January 2011 (UTC)

I'm guessing you're an experienced editor, but here it is anyway...

Welcome!

Hello, Sharktopus, and welcome to Wikipedia! I hope you like the place and decide to stay. Here are some pages you might find helpful:

• Introduction
• The five pillars of Wikipedia
• How to edit a page
• How to write a great article
• Manual of Style
• Also feel free to make test edits in the sandbox.

I hope you enjoy editing here and being a Wikipedian! Please sign your name on talk pages using four tildes (~~~~); this will automatically produce your name and the date. If you need help, please see our help pages, and if you can't find what you are looking for there, please feel free to place "{{helpme}}" on your talk page and someone will drop by to help. You can also contact me if you wish by clicking "talk" to the right of my name. Anna Frodesiak (talk) 06:49, 25 January 2011 (UTC)

Mmmmm! Nom nom nom nom nom. Thank you so much, Ms Frodesiak, and I am so sorry I bit off the leg of your friend that other time, if he had mentioned being a friend of yours I would never have done it. Sharktopus^talk 14:52, 25 January 2011 (UTC)

DYK nomination of Saguaro boot

Hello! Your submission of Saguaro boot at the Did You Know nominations page has been reviewed, and there still are some issues that may need to be clarified. Please review the comment(s) underneath your nomination's entry and respond there as soon as possible. Thank you for contributing to Did You Know! Jrcla2 (talk) 02:19, 26 January 2011 (UTC)

Thanks so much for reviewing it, racing over to take a look now. Sharktopus^talk 02:35, 26 January 2011 (UTC)

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SuggestBot picks articles in a number of ways based on other articles you've edited, including straight text similarity, following wikilinks, and matching your editing patterns against those of other Wikipedians. It tries to recommend only articles that other Wikipedians have marked as needing work. Your contributions make Wikipedia better -- thanks for helping.

If you have feedback on how to make SuggestBot better, please tell me on SuggestBot's talk page. Thanks from Nettrom (talk), SuggestBot's caretaker.

P.S. You received these suggestions because your name was listed on the SuggestBot request page. If this was in error, sorry about the confusion. -- SuggestBot (talk) 15:55, 27 January 2011 (UTC)

This is a really good list for me, thank you SuggestBot! Sharktopus^talk 06:36, 28 January 2011 (UTC)

I made a spambot unhappy by creating three stubs about cacti

I am creating a few Mammillaria articles for un-articled species of which I took photos at the Desert Botanical Garden. I just upset the spam-checker bot by adding references that link to a website about Mammillaria. I have no COI about said website or any other, they just turned up useful info pretty high on Google. Sharktopus^talk 04:41, 28 January 2011 (UTC)

Extensive quotations

Hi. The question of the length of quotes in the article Vernalization was brought up at the copyright problems board. I've removed most of them for now as they are lengthy and extensive quotes are not permitted under Wikipedia's non-free content policy and guideline. While it's a good idea to utilize the quote parameter especially when sources are hard to access and content is controversial, we do need to keep quotes concise to comply with our handling of non-free content. Wikipedia tries to stay well within the confines of fair use. --Moonriddengirl ^(talk) 13:18, 28 January 2011 (UTC)

Ohhh, ok, thanks for fixing my mistake -- I was copying and pasting a "citation" template that had a field for "quote" so I filled it up with goodies. Now Smartse pointed me to the citation tools here, which are great. I will bear in mind the reasoning you mention for using quotes from non-free content.

What about quotes from free content though? If something is in the public domain and a longer quote would give context or extra info could I stick [PD] or some other indicator at the end of the quote? Sharktopus^talk 14:37, 28 January 2011 (UTC)

Yes, you can have all the public domain material you want. :) You might want to note that it's public domain, though, to avoid confusion and later problems. You can even incorporate public domain material into articles, but if they're not marked as quotations you do have to note that you're copying to avoid issues with Wikipedia's definition of plagiarism: Wikipedia:Plagiarism. --Moonriddengirl ^(talk) 14:45, 28 January 2011 (UTC)

Thanks, Moonriddengirl, and I really like your username BTW. Does it mean something? I am thinking of making a gallery page in my userspace with interesting usernames and the reason people chose them, would that be within policy if I ask people before putting them in it? May I put you in my hypothetical gallery? (p.s. I am going back to my other edits in article space to clean up my citation-quotes in the light of policy.) Sharktopus^talk 14:52, 28 January 2011 (UTC)

Yes, my name is taken from a poem by Denise Levertov, "In Mind." The poem itself is among my favorites, but it also appeals because of my background which is heavily steeped in mythology. :) (I am particularly fond of the Jade Rabbit.) If people do not object to your including information in your userspace, there should be no problem with that. I'd recommend you let them opt out, though, if they choose. :) --Moonriddengirl ^(talk) 15:27, 28 January 2011 (UTC)

<--What a good poem! Now I am going to try to figure out how to create that userpage... Sharktopus^talk 15:46, 28 January 2011 (UTC)

Government Botanical Gardens, Udagamandalam

Hello, Sharktopus. You have new messages at Talk:Government_Botanical_Gardens,_Udagamandalam.
You can remove this notice at any time by removing the {{Talkback}} or {{Tb}} template.

Suraj (talk) 04:29, 29 January 2011 (UTC)

Hello, Sharktopus. You have new messages at Talk:Government_Botanical_Gardens,_Udagamandalam.
Message added --Suraj T 07:20, 29 January 2011 (UTC). You can remove this notice at any time by removing the {{Talkback}} or {{Tb}} template.

Sorry mate. Saw your puzzlement over change of your sign in Talk:Government Botanical Gardens, Udagamandalam. My bad. Was trying out new designs for my signature and ended up saving it by mistake. Sorry:-( --Suraj T 14:03, 12 February 2011 (UTC)

DYK for Saguaro boot

—HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 00:03, 31 January 2011 (UTC)

And it got 5,100 hits! It will be a long time before I feel laid back about this. Sharktopus^talk 13:01, 3 February 2011 (UTC)

DYK for Gustav Gassner

—HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 00:03, 6 February 2011 (UTC)

Castilleja septentrionalis Lindl. - Labrador Indian paintbrush

Photo: I'm not sure about the copyright stuff, but it's better than the drawing I added: [1]

Here's the copyright info. I have never really figured all that out.

Drawing: Here is a high res version of the drawing presently in the article. You can click the image in the article and select "download newer version" and add this image: http://plants.usda.gov/gallery/pubs/caac7_001_pvd.tif (I can't download it personally because of Great Firewall Of China blocks.) Best, Anna Frodesiak (talk) 05:19, 8 February 2011 (UTC)

Dear Anna, thank you so much! I will definitely add those to the article. I love these flowers and I remember liking the name "Indian paintbrush" so much that I decided I would name my first child "Indian paintbrush." Better yet, give that same name to all my children, so as not to discriminate any of them with a less wonderful name. Later, I devised an even more wonderful name, "Jelly on a Paintbrush." Hmm, perhaps I should stop now and have some coffee. My actual children are quite pleased that I changed my mind before they arrived. Sharktopus^talk 12:40, 8 February 2011 (UTC)

The photos are not, alas, public domain, and require permission from their creators for any kind of reuse. I looked for publicly available photos but have not found any yet. Flickr has some beautiful examples. I downloaded the other drawing and will try to upload it. Thanks again! Sharktopus^talk 02:47, 9 February 2011 (UTC)

Happy to help with the drawing. Pity about the photo. Best, Anna Frodesiak (talk) 03:13, 9 February 2011 (UTC)

DYK for Hubble Bubble (astronomy)

rʨanaɢ (talk) 20:46, 9 February 2011 (UTC) 00:02, 10 February 2011 (UTC)

Wow, it got 11.1k hits! Sharktopus^talk 23:50, 10 February 2011 (UTC)

Very nice!!! Anna Frodesiak (talk) 02:21, 11 February 2011 (UTC)

Hello, Sharktopus. You have new messages at Anna Frodesiak's talk page.
You can remove this notice at any time by removing the {{Talkback}} or {{Tb}} template.

Parasitic castration

I'm going to stub this tomorrow. Do you want to work on it with me? It could be a big hit at DYK? Anna Frodesiak (talk) 14:54, 10 February 2011 (UTC)

Mmm stubbing and parasitic castration? A rather anaphrodisiac combination, but I would be delighted to work with you on it, Anna. :-) Sharktopus^talk 15:00, 10 February 2011 (UTC)

This looks promising: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6W7G-4XBVHT2-1&_user=10&_coverDate=12%2F31%2F2009&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=browse&_origin=browse&_sort=d&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=9c533eed91bbd5f0460c0a7e544a7048 Sharktopus^talk 15:18, 10 February 2011 (UTC)

"Parasitic castration" also used to describe a parasite that de-females the hermaphroditic barnacle and turns it from hermaphrodite into a male: http://isopods.nhm.org/pdfs/11067/11067.pdf Sharktopus^talk 03:35, 11 February 2011 (UTC)

<--Lafferty and Kuris explain: "Formally defined, parasitic castration is an infectious strategy that requires the eventual intensity-independent elimination of host reproduction as the primary means of acquiring energy. In other words, a single individual parasitic castrator will prevent or block host reproduction when the parasite matures. Parasitic castration is not necessarily instantaneous, nor must it be permanent (although it usually is), nor is it merely an ante mortem event for a parasitoid (see below). By defining parasitic castration as a parasite-trophic strategy, we take a parasite-centered view, one that is often ignored in evolutionary theory." I will have to be missing a lot of today, hoping to hop back in later today with more info. Sharktopus's tentacles have been requisitioned for some heavy lifting in RL. You stub and I'll add more later?Sharktopus^talk 12:09, 11 February 2011 (UTC)

Nice. Okay. Sorry for the delay. I'm going to lay down the first sentence. Feel free to hack it to death. If you want to hook up on IRC, I'm around. Otherwise, maybe we can use the article's talk to figure out what sections we want to work on. Best, Anna Frodesiak (talk) 12:34, 11 February 2011 (UTC)

I'm seeing double, so I'll have to pick this up again soon. Anna Frodesiak (talk) 12:58, 11 February 2011 (UTC)

Sorry to continue to avoid adding to the article. I keep reading stuff about it and am baffled. I am having trouble putting what they are saying into words. I will take another crack at it.

I saw you on IRC, but missed you. If you want to chat there, just give me a heads up on my talk. Best, Anna Frodesiak (talk) 16:18, 12 February 2011 (UTC)

Hello, Sharktopus. You have new messages at Anna Frodesiak's talk page.
You can remove this notice at any time by removing the {{Talkback}} or {{Tb}} template.

Excellent work. Congratulations for the DYK hook article. Also adapted for the Portal:Gastropods. Thank you for your cooperation. --Snek01 (talk) 23:07, 18 February 2011 (UTC)

Thank you so much. I feel honored that you like it, considering the high quality of your own articles. 23:29, 18 February 2011 (UTC)

IRC

Sorry I missed ya. I'm on now. Anna Frodesiak (talk) 00:33, 14 February 2011 (UTC)

(Double click my name on IRC and things will flash on my end.) Anna Frodesiak (talk) 00:35, 14 February 2011 (UTC)

I will definitely try it, but my web connection is dodgy at the moment so interruptions are to be expected. Sharktopus^talk 00:50, 14 February 2011 (UTC)

It worked for about 5 minutes, then the train I am riding on lost its connection and I got logged out again. I will try some time when I am stationary! Although sharks must swim constantly, they say, this Sharktopus is not always in motion, though it sometimes feels so.Sharktopus^talk 01:26, 14 February 2011 (UTC)

I saw you, but I was too late. My software didn't flash. I don't know why. Try again anytime. Anna Frodesiak (talk) 02:01, 14 February 2011 (UTC)

Taxoboxes

You mean "unranked"? What should they say instead? Bob the WikipediaN ^{(talk • contribs)} 14:34, 14 February 2011 (UTC)

P.S. Haha, I bet those two iPhones had AT&T coverage...if they'd had Verizon, the reception would have been wonderful! Bob the WikipediaN ^{(talk • contribs)} 14:36, 14 February 2011 (UTC)

DYK nomination for Castilleja septentrionalis

Hello! Your submission of Castilleja septentrionalis at the Did You Know nominations page has been reviewed, and there still are some issues that may need to be clarified. Please review the comment(s) underneath your nomination's entry and respond there as soon as possible. Thank you for contributing to Did You Know! -- Rcej (Robert) - talk 05:45, 16 February 2011 (UTC)

DYK for Castilleja septentrionalis

MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 23:43, 18 February 2011 (UTC)

DYK for Alan B. Slifka

Materialscientist (talk) 00:22, 19 February 2011 (UTC)

DYK for Parasitic castration

Materialscientist (talk) 12:18, 19 February 2011 (UTC)

DYK for Hemioniscus balani

Materialscientist (talk) 12:19, 19 February 2011 (UTC)

Table

Sorry to take so long. Anna Frodesiak (talk) 16:27, 19 February 2011 (UTC)

Thank you so much, Anna. What you did was something I could not do. Sharktopus^talk 19:21, 19 February 2011 (UTC)

DYK for Bucephalus (trematode)

Materialscientist (talk) 06:02, 25 February 2011 (UTC)

Thanks

Thanks for your support regarding the racism accusation and for calling me a good editor.  :). I appreciate it. Happy editing.Griswaldo (talk) 15:19, 26 February 2011 (UTC)

Thanks for your conscientious and intelligent efforts to make Wikipedia a valuable resource, even though you and I might not always agree on every single possible point of debate. Sharktopus^talk 16:01, 26 February 2011 (UTC)

Same to you. In the end we're all just trying to do the best we can, however contentious our disagreements get. Cheers.Griswaldo (talk) 16:37, 26 February 2011 (UTC)

Two lovely old statues growing older and greener, for Viriditas

Lotusland GreenFaun

Lotusland GreenThoughts

The Garden, by Andrew Marvell

How vainly men themselves amaze
To win the palm, the oak, or bays ;
And their uncessant labors see
Crowned from some single herb or tree,
Whose short and narrow-vergèd shade
Does prudently their toils upbraid ;
While all the flowers and trees do close
To weave the garlands of repose.

Fair Quiet, have I found thee here,
And Innocence, thy sister dear!
Mistaken long, I sought you then
In busy companies of men :
Your sacred plants, if here below,
Only among the plants will grow ;
Society is all but rude,
To this delicious solitude.

No white nor red was ever seen
So amorous as this lovely green ;
Fond lovers, cruel as their flame,
Cut in these trees their mistress' name.
Little, alas, they know or heed,
How far these beauties hers exceed!
Fair trees! wheresoe'er your barks I wound
No name shall but your own be found.

When we have run our passion's heat,
Love hither makes his best retreat :
The gods who mortal beauty chase,
Still in a tree did end their race.
Apollo hunted Daphne so,
Only that she might laurel grow,
And Pan did after Syrinx speed,
Not as a nymph, but for a reed.

What wondrous life is this I lead!
Ripe apples drop about my head ;
The luscious clusters of the vine
Upon my mouth do crush their wine ;
The nectarine and curious peach
Into my hands themselves do reach ;
Stumbling on melons as I pass,
Insnared with flowers, I fall on grass.

Meanwhile the mind, from pleasure less,
Withdraws into its happiness :
The mind, that ocean where each kind
Does straight its own resemblance find ;
Yet it creates, transcending these,
Far other worlds, and other seas ;
Annihilating all that's made
To a green thought in a green shade.

Here at the fountain's sliding foot,
Or at some fruit-tree's mossy root,
Casting the body's vest aside,
My soul into the boughs does glide :
There like a bird it sits and sings,
Then whets and combs its silver wings ;
And, till prepared for longer flight,
Waves in its plumes the various light.

Such was that happy garden-state,
While man there walked without a mate :
After a place so pure and sweet,
What other help could yet be meet!
But 'twas beyond a mortal's share
To wander solitary there :
Two paradises 'twere in one
To live in Paradise alone.

How well the skillful gard'ner drew
Of flowers and herbs this dial new ;
Where from above the milder sun
Does through a fragrant zodiac run ;
And, as it works, th' industrious bee
Computes its time as well as we.
How could such sweet and wholesome hours
Be reckoned but with herbs and flowers!

Re: Canticle for Leibowitz

Sorry to reply here, but I wanted to clear out my talk page for March. You are correct; separating the character info from the plot is a good step forward. I'm in the middle of two different things right now; give me a few days to get back into this. Just wanted to give you a heads-up on the peer review. Let me know if you come up with any other ideas. Look forward to working with you... Viriditas (talk) 08:29, 1 March 2011 (UTC)

Norwegian diaspora

You commented at Talk:Norwegian diaspora, but you didn't officially !vote. --Richard Arthur Norton (1958- ) (talk) 19:11, 7 March 2011 (UTC)

Saguaro boot

Hi. You might be interested in my comments at Talk:Saguaro boot. Cordless Larry (talk) 14:35, 10 March 2011 (UTC)

Your recent CfD

Sharktapus, do you actually agree with the suggested move and with the stated rationale. It appears to contradict many, if not most of the arguments you have been making in the related discussions. I'm a bit confused.Griswaldo (talk) 21:13, 10 March 2011 (UTC)

Hi Gris, my goal in posting the CfD was to get wider discussion for the question, as suggested first by you and then by doncram. I have heard good arguments on both sides, and I did my best to give a good presentation of the arguments FOR changing diaspora, since that is apparently how one files a CfD. Please chip in and add your own thoughts, which have been very reasoned and coherent. We do seem to be getting wider discussion, as you see. I would really like to see enough of a tilt to declare consensus, one way or the other. Although "no consensus" defaults to keep, that is NOT the solution I want. Sharktopus^talk 21:48, 10 March 2011 (UTC)

IMO, and don't get me wrong I truly believe you did this in the best of faith, it is not a good idea to start CfDs with a rationale you don't share. If you don't think it should be moved you should not be the one representing the arguments of those who do. More importantly perhaps, in this case, you seem to have misunderstood the positions of those oppose your POV at Norwegian diaspora. I don't support a move of Category:Diasporas at all, nor do most of my compatriots as far as I can tell. We think it is very legitimate category. What we are arguing, when we argue more generally about diaspora articles and categorizations, is that the category and the label is being misapplied often. Some articles do belong in this category (hence it needs to be be kept clearly) but some do not. What is needed to sort this out is a larger RfC on the emigration categories, and not this move request which doesn't actually get at the problem that we see. I can't fault you for this misunderstanding, since you are not in agreement with us, but that's exactly why you shouldn't be starting CfDs for the enemy. Cheers.Griswaldo (talk) 22:07, 10 March 2011 (UTC)

Thanks, Gris, for your kind thoughts and wording. What my rationale was, and what I thought I expressed was, that if a bunch of subordinate "diaspora" articles and categories were to be renamed and pulled out of Category:Diaspora, that would be messy. So what I meant to suggest was, change the name of the overarching category NOW to something that could still by consensus contain all the stuff currently inside it. That way you don't lose information that people meant to put in there by grouping all those articles and categories together. If you instead start expelling some articles and keeping others, the original intended grouping which was really meant I think as "Category: Foo people living in not-foo" is lost. To protect that, I suggest renaming the category to a name we can all agree means what the people who put stuff in there thought it meant. So I really DO want to change the name of the category IF there is consensus we need to use "diaspora" in a different way. I mainly want to keep all those articles together inside a useful category named ... whatever Wikipedians think it should be named. Sharktopus^talk 22:34, 10 March 2011 (UTC)

Diaspora

I see that you are one of the people who is waging a crusade against the scandinavian diaspora articles on Wikipedia and also harrassing contributors to the articles. I will not cave into your threats and rude behavior. I suggest you man up and stop pestering me and other valuable editors to this important field of research. Hielmann (talk) 03:22, 13 March 2011 (UTC)

I suggest you man up and argue intelligently for your side of the argument. Sharktopus^talk 04:25, 13 March 2011 (UTC)

Speedy deletion nomination of Bruce Winstein

If this is the first article that you have created, you may want to read the guide to writing your first article.

You may want to consider using the Article Wizard to help you create articles.

A tag has been placed on Bruce Winstein requesting that it be speedily deleted from Wikipedia. This has been done under section A7 of the criteria for speedy deletion, because the article appears to be about a person or group of people, but it does not indicate how or why the subject is important or significant: that is, why an article about that subject should be included in an encyclopedia. Under the criteria for speedy deletion, such articles may be deleted at any time. Please see the guidelines for what is generally accepted as notable.

If you think that this notice was placed here in error, you may contest the deletion by adding {{hang on}} to the top of the page that has been nominated for deletion (just below the existing speedy deletion, or "db", tag; if no such tag exists, then the page is no longer a speedy delete candidate and adding a hang-on tag is unnecessary), coupled with adding a note on the talk page explaining your position, but be aware that once tagged for speedy deletion, if the page meets the criterion, it may be deleted without delay. Please do not remove the speedy deletion tag yourself, but don't hesitate to add information to the page that would render it more in conformance with Wikipedia's policies and guidelines. If the page is deleted, you can contact one of these administrators to request that the administrator userfy the page or email a copy to you. -- Alan Liefting (talk) - 20:55, 24 March 2011 (UTC)

Proposed deletion of Bruce Winstein

The article Bruce Winstein has been proposed for deletion because of the following concern:

non-notable person

While all contributions to Wikipedia are appreciated, content or articles may be deleted for any of several reasons.

You may prevent the proposed deletion by removing the {{proposed deletion/dated}} notice, but please explain why in your edit summary or on the article's talk page.

Please consider improving the article to address the issues raised. Removing {{proposed deletion/dated}} will stop the proposed deletion process, but other deletion processes exist. The speedy deletion process can result in deletion without discussion, and articles for deletion allows discussion to reach consensus for deletion. -- Alan Liefting (talk) - 04:07, 25 March 2011 (UTC)

24.143.39.73

Actually, Baseball Bugs has already reported him. HalfShadow 00:55, 28 March 2011 (UTC)

Thanks, I did not know that. And I myself removed an obscene PA the same IP left on somebody's userpage. But I still think that the IP's comments are a useful addition to the ANI thread. Sharktopus^talk 00:58, 28 March 2011 (UTC)

Diaspora edit war

It looks like the diaspora edit war has heated up again. Would you look at Swedish diaspora and help decide whether the quote should stay or go. --Richard Arthur Norton (1958- ) (talk) 04:10, 28 March 2011 (UTC)

FWIW, I think that both Swedish diaspora and Norwegian diaspora were "built" at a time of heavy pressure about their right to use "diaspora." Quite understandably, quotes from the multiple WP:RS that backed up the legitimacy of the usage got heavily used, possibly overused in comparison to their value to the article.

Otherwise, my advice is to stay cool, stay constructive, and use the talk page rather than edit summaries to defend any contested edit. I was hoping to cool things down there by pointing out that the usage of "diaspora" was extensively discussed in the CfD. Sharktopus^talk 06:03, 29 March 2011 (UTC)

User:Avanu is back mucking about with the definition of diaspora again at "Swedish diaspora" and he added a "need reference tag". He wrote "making more in line with actual research on diaspora topics". Can you take a look. --Richard Arthur Norton (1958- ) (talk) 04:02, 30 April 2011 (UTC)

Cicadas

My pleasure! Given the quality of your writing on these so far, you might eventually see what would be involved in putting these through Good Article nominations and perhaps even making "Cicadas" a "Good Topic". Cheers, Khazar (talk) 13:27, 12 June 2011 (UTC)

Manda Best

Right, im actaully confused. Manda Best used to be an article, before a new rule was introduced that she could be put in lists. So her article was deleted, but then people moved her back, dleetd, etc. So I created the article Yesterday again, with loads more refs. Does that not count as 'expansion'.MayhemMario 17:52, 17 June 2011 (UTC)

Let's have this discussion at the article's DYK suggestion page instead of here, because then people who might know more than I do can hear what you have to say and maybe give better responses than mine. Sharktopus^talk 16:56, 17 June 2011 (UTC)

DYK for Brood XIX

Calmer Waters 12:02, 20 June 2011 (UTC)

• And while this 3-article hook was on the front page, this particular article got 10.2k hits. The fact that it was at the top of the DYK with a gorgeous image of red-eyed cicada looking at you no doubt helped. And two other articles in the same hook also got many hits, 8.2 k for decim periodical cicadas and 2.0k for Magicicada_neotredecim. I was wondering if I could add them to DYKSTATS but when I went over to check the rules it turned out that User:Bruce1ee had already done it. What a great surprise! Sharktopus ^talk 17:24, 22 June 2011 (UTC)

DYK for Magicicada neotredecim

Calmer Waters 12:02, 20 June 2011 (UTC)

DYK for Decim periodical cicadas

Calmer Waters 12:02, 20 June 2011 (UTC)

DYK

Shark, I don't want to discourage anyone. But it is main-page exposure, and I don't understand why everyone is being so nasty to me on that talk page. No one is being nasty to me on the suggestions page. Are you disregarding the help that I provide to nominators? Tony (talk) 15:47, 20 June 2011 (UTC)

Tony, public criticism is painful. Critics are rarely motivated by a desire to hurt your feelings, they usually have some completely different motivation and see the possibility of hurting your feelings only as an unfortunate, hopefully minor, side-effect of what they are actually trying to achieve. I am sure you did not want to hurt anyone's feelings by singling out Ghana articles and hooks for repeated public denunciation.

In my case, I am trying to motivate you to stop posting public criticisms of other editors at WT:DYK. The help you provide on the suggestions page, the high level of effort you put into DYK, your obviously very great abilities -- these are all wonderful things about Tony1. I still want you to stop posting public criticisms of other editors at WT:DYK. A lot of people besides me are also making that point.

People who follow WT:DYK are different from people who see only their own bit of T:TDYK. We are more invested in DYK and we see your criticisms in their longer-term context as becoming a bit tendentious in their persistence. When you started your campaign for hookier hooks, which has been ongoing at least since Wikipedia_talk:Did_you_know/Archive_66#The_House_of_Lame, people listened to what you had to say, even though you made public and probably embarrassing criticisms of the work of a lot of DYK contributors. Then the pushback began, and it has kept growing as you have kept pointing at others. It feels as if you are trying to prove how right you were by keeping on doing what others have asked you to stop doing.

I urge you to accede to the respectful but increasingly frustrated requests of others to change what you're doing, even if you think what you are doing is useful and what they are asking is silly. Then, I am confident everyone will go right back to saying what a great contributor you are. I know I would be glad to go back to doing that too. Sharktopus ^talk 16:40, 20 June 2011 (UTC)

DYK nomination of Nasothek

Hello! Your submission of Nasothek at the Did You Know nominations page has been reviewed, and there still are some issues that may need to be clarified. Please review the comment(s) underneath your nomination's entry and respond there as soon as possible. Thank you for contributing to Did You Know! Soman (talk) 04:31, 21 June 2011 (UTC)

Cephenemyia ulrichii

Heh. Yes, I can read the 3-page Swedish article, although the summary does provide the graphic details (poor woman). And I found this, this, this, this and this newspaper report on a quick search. However, my scientific training is risible, and we have just been reminded by SandyGeorgia that we need to be very careful on scientific topics. So I hope you know enough about the field to correct any badly worded stuff I may add to the article, and I would be quite content to feed you info and you write it all. I checked no. and sv.wikipedia and they have no articles, just mentions, but they gave me the common Norwegian and Swedish names, which are elgbrems and älgens nässtyngfluga respectively; those may aid in finding more info. I've checked both in addition to the Latin on Commons, no hits. Yngvadottir (talk) 21:26, 21 June 2011 (UTC)

That was already a great help, thanks so much! I am headed to Sweden on Saturday, hence my googling for "Swedish insect." I imagined some northern butterfly to keep an eye out for, but found Cephenemyia ulrichii instead. It makes one think twice about an eye out for insects in Scandinavia. Sharktopus ^talk 21:43, 21 June 2011 (UTC)

Writing articles about insects -- based on WikiProject Insects guidance, the article needs a taxobox (done, for our botfly) plus info sorted out under Description, Habitat, Cultural/Religious/Economic (not always relevant but cool when there is something), and Classification. Sharktopus ^talk 00:19, 22 June 2011 (UTC)

OK what do you think of this hook: that ... The moose botfly Cephenemyia ulrichii squirts its larvae into people's eyes, perhaps because human eyes and moose nostrils both face forward? Let's put it at DYK tomorrow? Sharktopus ^talk 04:02, 22 June 2011 (UTC)

LOL great hook, and I see you've expanded it nicely while I was offline. I can also add some stuff, such as other places it's been found and the earlier human occurrences in Scandinavia. But I'm missing where the source says it's probably because human eyes face forward like moose eyes? Can you point me to where that's from so I can add the quote in a footnote? Yngvadottir (talk) 04:11, 22 June 2011 (UTC)

Absolutely -- in the Google English translation of Jaenson's paper (Ref #1) it says, "When flughonan misinterpret a man as a suitable host animal, she probably misinterpret even the human eye, which is forward looking, as the host animal's nostrils. The "normal" host animals 'nostrils' s forward-looking, like the human eye. Man's nostrils, however, the downside and are therefore hardly visible to flughonan." The Swedish is "När flughonan misstolkar en människa som ett lämpligt värddjur, feltolkar hon troligen även människans ögon, som är framåtriktade, som värddjurets näsborrar. De »normala« värddjurens näsborrar är ju framåtriktade, liksom människans ögon. Människans näsborrar är däremot nedåtriktade och är därför knappast synliga för flughonan." I used a different quote for that reference but feel free to change it. Sharktopus ^talk 04:22, 22 June 2011 (UTC)

Thanks, got it, ready to be suggested at DYK :-) I'll add description of larvae and other places they've been found, either before or after I sleep. The official European species description is probably good to link to, too . . . but it's ready to be suggested, I think. Yngvadottir (talk) 05:53, 22 June 2011 (UTC)

Looks good on DYK page and I see it's already been ticked :-) I have now made 2 edits adding additional info and refs, but am still looking for the size of the 1st instar larvæ. Keep an eye on what I'm doing in case I'm making it unscientific. Yngvadottir (talk) 19:35, 22 June 2011 (UTC)

Already been ticked? Wow! High five! What you are doing looks great. Meanwhile my two-article hook about a guy playing jazz with cicadas languishes on June 18. No more multi-article hooks for the sharkster. Sharktopus ^talk 22:01, 22 June 2011 (UTC)

Yeah, they say they want twofers, but it's double the work for the reviewer. That was undoubtedly one of the problems with my latest twofer - that and the fact Tony and I together produced such a wall of text with his endless suggested changes to the hook (I honestly couldn't see much difference half the time, and tried to work with him, but he evidently finds my writing style too discursive to follow) that I can understand that any potential reviewer thought he was reviewing the articles. I'd say hang on and I'll review your twofer when I next submit an article to DYK, but I work too slowly and with all this politics I'm starting to consider throwing in the towel anyway. So I suggest you holler at that same talk page and ask for someone to review it. Everyone knows we've been having backlog problems at the suggestions page recently. And it's a fun hook. Yngvadottir (talk) 15:30, 23 June 2011 (UTC)

Sadly, I received zero e-mails. My ISP may have eaten it/them and I don't have access to its spam file :-( And I am once more being lectured off-wiki about wasting my time here. Gah. Yngvadottir (talk) 17:02, 23 June 2011 (UTC)

If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. Sharktopus ^talk 17:42, 23 June 2011 (UTC)

Thanks :-) And I hope you got my response. Yngvadottir (talk) 21:06, 23 June 2011 (UTC)

I did, and I hope you got mine. I am writing about zombie ladybirds now; I read about them at BBC News. I wonder if ladybird zombies go staggering around saying "Brains! Brains!" You would have to eat a peck of aphids to get a pinsworth of brains. Sharktopus ^talk 04:14, 24 June 2011 (UTC)

Glas

Thanks for your help. I'm sorry about that mess. For the record: I never thought that you were at fault, and your proposing a hook was considerate and helpful, even if it wasn't the one that won the day. Thanks again, and may we get lots of hits! Drmies (talk) 03:44, 22 June 2011 (UTC)

Hear, hear, and thanks for your understanding. Sharktopus ^talk 03:48, 22 June 2011 (UTC)

Thanks for the feedback

Sharktopus - thank you for the feedback and I will certainly follow up on your recommendations. -Mlane 10:16, 25 June 2011 (UTC)

I enjoyed reading the article you are working on and wish you all the best with Wikiproject:Tourism. Sharktopus ^talk 12:08, 25 June 2011 (UTC)

Not a day too late

		The Bio-star
		Hey Sharktopus, I'm giving you this bio-star to say thanks for creating such bizarre biological articles - you've covered smut, penis fencing, castration, eye-infecting flies and now zombies! I for one am glad you have and am curious as to what will come next! P.S. ever heard of Paracerceis sculpta (my first DYK) It's pretty odd! SmartSE (talk) 18:46, 25 June 2011 (UTC)

Wow, my first-ever barnstar -- thanks so much! And you are right, your first DYK was pretty darn impressively odd. Sharktopus ^talk 19:11, 25 June 2011 (UTC)

No worries! P.P.S do you know about zoologger? Some of the species have article already, but other's like Cacoxenus indagator don't. SmartSE (talk) 19:14, 25 June 2011 (UTC)

DYK for Photinus carolinus

The DYK project (nominate) 06:02, 26 June 2011 (UTC)

This one got 3.9k hits on the main page, no record-breaker but I'm very pleased that so many people were interested in this remarkable little insect. Sharktopus ^talk 07:05, 27 June 2011 (UTC)

DYK for Nasothek

Materialscientist (talk) 00:03, 28 June 2011 (UTC)

And it got 6.6 k hits while on the front page. Sharktopus ^talk 05:01, 29 June 2011 (UTC)

DYK of Baku Museum of Modern Art in Azerbaijan

Hi, I was wondering if you'd be interested in weighing in at the DYK nomination for the Baku Museum of Modern Art. OCNative (talk) 10:05, 28 June 2011 (UTC)

Saw somebody's note on Yngvadottir's talk, so I already did. Sharktopus ^talk 10:12, 28 June 2011 (UTC)

Thx both of you for your work on this review! I could have handled it better, and I feel badly that I was away and unable to continue further into the discussion. Sharktopus, I really appreciated the points you made :) Again, thx! Rcej (Robert) – talk 04:17, 29 June 2011 (UTC)

Thank you to both of you for your firm defense of a legitimate DYK article. What was frustrating is this wasn't a self-nom. Lately, I've been focusing my DYK efforts on nominating other people's articles as an effort to try to encourage new editors (or at least new-to-DYK). It was truly frustrating to have my efforts to encourage others being put through this. This has definitely been the weirdest situations I've ever seen over one of my DYK noms. OCNative (talk) 10:50, 29 June 2011 (UTC)

DYK for Cephenemyia ulrichii

Calmer Waters 12:03, 28 June 2011 (UTC)

This one got 4.3 k hits, not bad considering it did not have a photo. Sharktopus ^talk 05:03, 29 June 2011 (UTC)

DYK for Dinocampus coccinellae

The DYK project (nominate) 12:03, 29 June 2011 (UTC)

• Wow, 14.1k hits -- and it wasn't even the top DYK (no photo, alas!) Sharktopus ^talk 03:48, 30 June 2011 (UTC)

Congratulations!! Very nicely done. :) Anna Frodesiak (talk) 04:15, 30 June 2011 (UTC)

Thanks, Anna! Stemonitis helped with the article and also wrote the (obviously super) hook. Sharktopus ^talk 04:22, 30 June 2011 (UTC)

ULAS J1120+0641

I did not notice that you were making incremental edits to ULAS J1120+0641, and then did lots of rearranging in one long edit. When I got the edit conflict message, I did not merge in the proper way. Instead, I copied my version and tried to incorporate the edits that you made, since it seemed easier that way. If you could take a second look to make sure I didn't lose any of your improvements, that would be great. Thanks! James McBride (talk) 19:19, 30 June 2011 (UTC)

I was wondering what happened there. Thanks for letting me know. I would like to put back the quote from the BBC article, because that breaks up the wall of text. I also think quotes make an article more reader-friendly.

One thing I hadn't started but welcome your help on is trying to get the lead to express just what is so remarkable about this quasar. It's the brightest object anyone has ever seen -- people looked for something like this for years -- and it's even older and further away than they'd been hoping for -- only saying that stuff more encyclopedia-ically. Sharktopus ^talk 19:51, 30 June 2011 (UTC)

Sure, I restored the quote about the energy source. I liked your modification of the quote about hydrogen fraction, so I left that as you wrote it. As for the brightest object claim, I am still not quite sure about that. The Nature article they published did not mention that, nor I have been able to find a news article quoting the authors of the Nature paper as saying anything about it being the brightest. Given the number of errors in news reports on astronomy, I tend to distrust any analysis other than quotes from the people who actually did the work. James McBride (talk) 20:15, 30 June 2011 (UTC)

I hear you about errors in news reports. But being the brightest object certainly meets WP:V by now, so let's leave that claim in there until somebody contradicts it. Sharktopus ^talk 20:36, 30 June 2011 (UTC)

DYK for David Rothenberg

Materialscientist (talk) 08:02, 1 July 2011 (UTC)

1.4 k for this link, and 2.2 k for the link in same hook to cassini periodical cicadas. I'm sorry this didn't get to go to DYK with its image, but it is still an enjoyable result. And the image chosen to head its queue instead was excellent. 07:54, 2 July 2011 (UTC)

DYK for Cassini periodical cicadas

Materialscientist (talk) 08:02, 1 July 2011 (UTC)

Sempervivum tectorum

I just expanded the article 5 times (not counting the block quote), leaving out all the Greek labeled as Latin by Fernie, and I haven't even looked for Scandinavian cites. I hope the referencing passes muster - as so often happens, the best overall treatment is in Pauly-Wissowa, in late 19th-century German, and this time they mucked up some easy Latin (!) I also relied fairly heavily on Cockayne, from the Rolls series, and that is both extremely rare and printed with runic characters up the wazoo and thus I didn't even look for it on GoogleBooks, it would be impossible to pin the reference to the passage for OCR reasons.

Have a look and see what you think. I'll watchlist it. Yngvadottir (talk) 04:07, 6 July 2011 (UTC)

Thank you so much! I just half-woke up and read your message on my iPhone, which decidedly would not let me read the page in comfort. So now I am running off to take a look. Sharktopus ^talk 09:49, 6 July 2011 (UTC)

Aww, thanks for the barnstar :-D I see you have started making the opening more scientific and better referenced - good deal :-) Yngvadottir (talk) 15:27, 6 July 2011 (UTC)

There were so many barnstars for which you qualify; it was hard to pick just one. I hope to add more to your fine work later today but in transit and on iphone at the moment. Sharktopus ^talk 16:11, 6 July 2011 (UTC)

OK I am going to nominate it for DYK unless you already did so. I really enjoyed reading all the colorful parts. I was very sad to discover, by the way, that one naughty-sounding name for the plant has nothing to do with its reputation as "love medicine" but it from French "Trique Madame" which is apparently from the name of some medicine to kill worms or something. Sharktopus ^talk 00:57, 7 July 2011 (UTC)

LOL that turns out to be white stonecrop, sedum album, not sempervivum tectorum. Illustration of the problems of common names. Here's a French page making wink-wink suggestions about its being used as a knock-out drug. That plant, by the way, according to its Académie Française dictionary entry, is eaten in salads - and Fernie says so is s. tectorum. I left that out because I don't thionk he's a good source of culinary recommendations and he only briefly mentions it - and says large doses of the juice are emetic. But if you find other sources saying that, it should go into the article. And his statement that the Romans associated it with love medicine looks lonely in its one-sentence paragraph at the end - any more on that angle to be found? He also asserts it's native to the Greek islands - any RS on its provenance? As to DYK, go ahead, you said you would :-) I'm just staying away from there, for now at least. Yngvadottir (talk) 05:00, 7 July 2011 (UTC)

• You can look now if you want to, it has already been approved. T:TDYK#Sempervivum_tectorum. The hook is "... that many people still plant Sempervivum tectorum (Jove's beard) on the roofs of houses, as Charlemagne recommended? You turned up so much great information, it could have had a lot of different hooks. Do you want to suggest a different one? Sharktopus ^talk 13:20, 7 July 2011 (UTC)

You should definitely give yourself co-credit. You have whacked the scientific description bits into shape and are now about to add lurve stuff :-) Yngvadottir (talk) 15:18, 7 July 2011 (UTC)

This love stuff is not as easy as it looks. See my plea for help on the article talk page? Sharktopus ^talk 15:38, 7 July 2011 (UTC)

Did my best to help and more clarification can maybe be found, but must leave imminently for an appointment. Drop me a line and I'll get back to you. . . . and have you noticed Sugar Museum (Berlin) starting to take shape? Yngvadottir (talk) 18:31, 7 July 2011 (UTC)

Wow, I am glad you pointed me to the Zuckermuseum, because I had forgotten it completely. Thanks for making a great start on it, I will try to add something useful also. Let me finish the popular name stuff at S. tectorum and then think about sugar, always a pleasant prospect. And I have a bit of real life to do today also ... Sharktopus ^talk 18:40, 7 July 2011 (UTC)

I do too, like being nice to my sore foot that necessitated a visit to a pod doc (!) and bedddd. Thanks for finding the history in English, I hadn't thought to look! If I get a chance, this is one I can work on at work. I do hope you've claimed a co-credit at DYK for S. tectorum. At this point the work's at least 50% yours, maybe more. Yngvadottir (talk) 20:44, 7 July 2011 (UTC)

• I am so sorry about your foot and hope that it will be better soon with some doctorial attention and lying down. I would feel awkward adding my name to the joubarbe as a co-author after it has been approved, but I will proudly display it on my trophy wall once it gets through DYK. You really really did most of the work though. Sharktopus ^talk 20:51, 7 July 2011 (UTC)

Thankyou

		The Barnstar of High Culture
		Thankyou for your work on here. You're doing a great job. Thanks in particular for starting an article on Yak butter, can't believe I didn't think of that one!♦ Dr. Blofeld 12:16, 6 July 2011 (UTC)

Wow, thanks, Dr. Blofeld! I have admired your work from afar, and I am glad you enjoyed yak butter, a redlink I came across and could not resist creating. But allow me to mention here something I did not include in yak butter, salving my conscience by saying it would be off-topic, which is that butter tea is often "improved" by adding small amounts of yak dung. Resisting that redlink, resisting, resisting, resisting ... Sharktopus ^talk 13:35, 6 July 2011 (UTC)

Hehe. Nice!♦ Dr. Blofeld 17:00, 6 July 2011 (UTC)

Remember Me?

Hi just asking kind of a major problem. You know I put up the DYK for Manda Best, right, i said it went form x amount to x amount. Well it didnt. I'm sorry to say I made a complete and utter misatke. It went from 160 bytes to 15,290 bytes. Which is a 5 times expansion. Is there anyhting I can do or not? MayhemMario 17:09, 6 July 2011 (UTC)

I raised the issue but the expansion is now too far in the past to meet DYK rules. We also recently had a similar discussion where somebody had created an article from scratch, only later discovering another one about the same person already existed. I thought he should be allowed to go to DYK anyway but the consensus was against me, saying that the earlier text "counted" and he would need to have expanded it by 5x. Good luck on your next effort and sorry about this one. Sharktopus ^talk 01:22, 7 July 2011 (UTC)

Thanks for helping. It's a real shame. :( MayhemMario 07:58, 7 July 2011 (UTC)

DYK for Heydar Aliyev Foundation

Casliber (talk · contribs) 08:02, 8 July 2011 (UTC)

• Well, 2.1 k hits, not bad for a not-lead item. Sharktopus ^talk 11:31, 9 July 2011 (UTC)

DYK for Shammi Narang

Hi! I have seen you in DYK talk page. I have a small query. Should the hook for a DYK entry be fully informative by itself or can it bank on the expectations that the readers might develop? I thought the purpose of a hook is to be catchy, to draw the readers into clicking the link, rather than be a summary of the fact. I am discussing this with an another editor there, under the articles created/ expanded on june 6 section. Could you provide your view on this? Thanks. _morelMW^illiam 14:29, 8 July 2011 (UTC)

I commented there and also raised the issue at WT:DYK. Different people have different ideas about when a hook is deceptive. Sharktopus ^talk 15:42, 8 July 2011 (UTC)

Thanks for taking the initiative to resolve this issue. _morelMW^illiam 18:40, 8 July 2011 (UTC)

DYK for Yak butter

—HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 08:05, 10 July 2011 (UTC)

And it got 5.2k hits – lost of people wanted to find out what was the new use for old rancid yak butter. Who would have guessed so many Wikipedia readers have rancid yak butter as a household problem? Sharktopus ^talk 05:19, 11 July 2011 (UTC)

Annunciation

Thanks for the pic proposal, will insert it in the article, you suggest it for DYK? The article is way from finished, but reached the deadline ... For Part II it's too late, but I hope to expand it enough some day. That 5* is a silly rule in cases for which it isn't meant. - If you want to do me a favour, BWV 135 is waiting for a review (for yesterday, well ...). - Messiah: I still think the other picture is closer to the descriptive sound of wings, especially when disappearing, but you are right that it doesn't look good small size. Let's the one decide who takes it to prep, (btw we will sing Messiah in September, my first!) --Gerda Arendt (talk) 17:50, 11 July 2011 (UTC)

I googled, and got "your pic" no 2, smile, --Gerda Arendt (talk) 21:35, 11 July 2011 (UTC)

Thank you for the funeral! --Gerda Arendt (talk) 05:46, 13 July 2011 (UTC)

DYK nomination of Louis Delaporte

Hello! Your submission of Louis Delaporte at the Did You Know nominations page has been reviewed, and there still are some issues that may need to be clarified. Please review the comment(s) underneath your nomination's entry and respond there as soon as possible. Thank you for contributing to Did You Know! Prioryman (talk) 01:27, 12 July 2011 (UTC)

DYK for Botaniska trädgården (Uppsala)

—HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 08:03, 12 July 2011 (UTC)

• Congrats! Drmies (talk) 15:26, 12 July 2011 (UTC)

• Also from me, excellent article and hook! Next time I will ask you to propose a hook for me. Thank you for the Bach! If you want to do me another favour, create a DYK set with the other chorale and the high breeding bird, I would let go of the Luther pic to make that sense, --Gerda Arendt (talk) 16:26, 12 July 2011 (UTC)

Thanks you Drmies and Gerda! This article was a lot of fun to write and research. Also good practice for my Swedish, which needs much help from Google. My first set I made was too good which turned out to be bad, but I will try again in a little while. Sharktopus ^talk 16:45, 12 July 2011 (UTC)

Stat machine is working again -- and it got 1.8 k hits during its time on the Main Page. Sharktopus ^talk 14:15, 15 July 2011 (UTC)

Unusual unusualness

Thanks for the prize! I have more unusual unusualness planned for the future, so watch this space. :-) Prioryman (talk) 07:19, 13 July 2011 (UTC)

I am looking forward to being amazed. Sharktopus ^talk 22:07, 13 July 2011 (UTC)

Burg Lockenhaus and the Blood Countess

Ask Material scientist about that.♦ Dr. Blofeld 10:22, 13 July 2011 (UTC)

Prep1

I have completed your return of Ikotos County to T:TDYK. Not sure we need so many French hooks in one set of Q5 though. Cheers. Materialscientist (talk) 01:50, 14 July 2011 (UTC)

Oops, I was on the same track but going in the opposite direction. I just put the Ikotos County hook and credit into the now-empty Prep 1. I will take it out of T:TDYK again. We had an edit conflict when you moved Prep 1 to Queue, I was adding yet another French hook to it, since it will by "up" during daylight hours in France on July 14. It is the Picasso hook from the Trocadero Museum; there is already a different Picasso hook in Prep 2. I swapped out the Thomas Thynne hook to make room, and moved the quirky fur teacup to the end of the set. So it looked ike this:

• ... that Jean Thurel (pictured) was a soldier in the French Régiment de Touraine for more than 90 years?
• ... that Picasso said he discovered "what painting was all about" after seeing African art in the Paris Musée d'Ethnographie du Trocadéro?
• ... that detailed drawings by French explorer Louis Delaporte guided the reconstruction of Pha That Luang, a major Buddhist temple in Laos?
• ... that the world has been divided into 11 constituencies for French residents overseas to vote in the 2012 legislative election?
• ... that Sam Stein won his first World Series of Poker bracelet at the 2011 World Series of Poker but his largest single-event prize was a $1 million result at the 2011 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure?
• ... that the vocals in the music of Nier are sung in versions of French, English, and Japanese after 1000 years of language drift?
• ... that conversation in a Paris café inspired the Surrealist sculpture Object (Le Déjeuner en fourrure), consisting of a fur-covered teacup, saucer and spoon?

But I don't think I can edit Queue because I am not an admin. I wish I were one, just so I could do that, but considering I'm not very good at Prep yet it is probably a very good thing I'm not. Sharktopus ^talk 02:01, 14 July 2011 (UTC)

Act of kindness

Thank you for the barnstar! And thank you for placing my scream, about BarkingMoon disappearing, with his last flight here, --Gerda Arendt (talk) 05:12, 14 July 2011 (UTC)

Did you see Messiah Part III after improvement? - I'm almost ready to make a new hook from "The fugue too, on Amen, is entirely absurd, and without reason". Thanks for explaining on DYK what original research is. Don't tell anybody: there is. No source says that there is direct speech of Jesus in Messiah, rather the opposite, but there is, sung by the soprano, #20. - Pic from our hometown inserted. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 13:03, 20 July 2011 (UTC)

DYK for Louis Delaporte

Materialscientist (talk) 08:02, 14 July 2011 (UTC)

• This got 816 hits on the main page (trying to keep my format of talking about DYKs consistent.) It is also one of the articles I worked hardest on, so I got a lot out of working on it and I think Wikipedia benefited from what I put into it. Sharktopus ^talk 14:25, 15 July 2011 (UTC)

DYK for Musée d'Ethnographie du Trocadéro

Materialscientist (talk) 08:04, 14 July 2011 (UTC)

This excellent article was written by Yngvadottir in response to my plea for "French" articles for July 14 -- and got 1.8k hits. I just nominated it--thank you, Yngvadottir, for this and for your major improvements to Louis Delaporte. Sharktopus ^talk 14:25, 15 July 2011 (UTC)

DYK for Sempervivum tectorum

Materialscientist (talk) 16:04, 14 July 2011 (UTC)

• Hurray, 11.2 k hits for this fascinating article! Yngvadottir collected a ton of fascinating folklore on this plant, a rumored aphrodisiac with the longest common name in English of any plant: "Welcome-home-husband-though-never-so-drunk." Charlemagne may or may not have known about that--on a roof, it (maybe) keeps lightning from striking your house. Sharktopus ^talk 14:33, 15 July 2011 (UTC)

Somebody just updated its entries at DYK-STATS: it got another 1.2K next day! Well done the hook writer! Yngvadottir (talk) 15:13, 16 July 2011 (UTC)

Thanks

...for your message re the right place to put general comments on DYKs. I have been here for a few years, but still don't know my way around. I get lost in the supermarket. Amandajm (talk) 02:35, 17 July 2011 (UTC)

Thanks for the kind reply. I see from your talk page that you edit some very interesting articles. Do consider submitting a new or freshly expanded article to DYK -- the rule list is imposing but basically, the article has to be new or 5x expanded in the past 5 days before submission, with some minimum "readable prose size" (i.e. captions, bullet lists, tables, etc. don't count). I just got involved here a few months ago myself and I have found it a very welcoming and interesting place. The page to put new submissions is T:TDYK, as opposed to the confusingly-similarly-named page for discussing improvements to DYK which is WT:DYK. Sharktopus ^talk 02:54, 17 July 2011 (UTC)

Hi again, just guessing that my DYK was a dead end? :) MayhemMario 09:15, 17 July 2011 (UTC)

I did try to get it included on the basis of arguing which "size" it started from, but got no support for the idea.[2] For DYK, it is usually best to expand a small stub or start a non-existing article. The rule rjanac was citing is this one: "Fivefold expansion is calculated from the previously existing article, no matter how bad it was (copyvios are an exception), no matter whether you kept any of it and no matter if it was up for deletion. This may be a bad surprise, but we don't have enough time and volunteers to reach consensus on the quality of each previous article." Sorry that it did not work out. Sharktopus ^talk 11:40, 17 July 2011 (UTC)

DYK for Sugar Museum (Berlin)

The DYK project (nominate) 16:02, 18 July 2011 (UTC)

Congrats to another success! Little language thing: "andere Saiten aufziehen" is not "add", its "use instead", replace old ones by new ones. I don't know the equivalent English term for string instruments. Also it has the second meaning of starting new (mostly tougher) procedures, enforce more discipline ... - btw, the Bach cantata for yesterday (BWV 185) still needs a reviewer on DYK. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 16:31, 18 July 2011 (UTC)

Yes, well done! :) MayhemMario 16:33, 18 July 2011 (UTC)

I forgot to mention that the Sugar Museum is now featured on Portal:Germany, together with another of your productions which I discovered only recently, --Gerda Arendt (talk) 16:58, 18 July 2011 (UTC)

Thanks so much -- and thanks also to MaterialScientist who found and uploaded used with the hook, which he also wrote. Traveling day today but tonight I hope to do a bit more reviewing and maybe even get back to writing an article again. Sharktopus ^talk 17:34, 18 July 2011 (UTC)

Another one? By the time your finished there'll be none left! MayhemMario 17:36, 18 July 2011 (UTC)

Hall of fame for your sweet tooth! --Gerda Arendt (talk) 09:36, 19 July 2011 (UTC)

• Apparently the stats overlap two days, with 5.4 k hits one day and 612 the next. Sweeeeet! Many thanks to Yngvadottir for being inspired by my tales of this fascinating museum, and to Gerda for her many kind and encouraging comments. Sharktopus ^talk 12:01, 24 July 2011 (UTC)

DYK for Snowmastodon site

The DYK project (nominate) 00:02, 19 July 2011 (UTC)

Very impressive, informative, again! - Will look into Messiah next, other topics had priority, thanks for the refs! --Gerda Arendt (talk) 05:50, 19 July 2011 (UTC)

I worked on this with Obsidian Soul (who added a lot of great stuff) and it got 4.1k hits. This is an example of a new article that Wikipedia obviously lacked, the subject of a big article in the NYT plus others elsewhere -- an important paleontological site with an interesting human story. Thanks to DYK, its story got written quickly and collaboratively, then checked and improved by many other editors. Sharktopus ^talk 11:58, 24 July 2011 (UTC)

DYK for Corydalis nobilis

Thanks from me and the wiki Victuallers (talk) 16:02, 19 July 2011 (UTC)

and from me, collecting flowers on my talk. Messiah Part III got some refs and a pic, --Gerda Arendt (talk) 16:06, 19 July 2011 (UTC)

This was fun to work on, and it got 3.5 k hits. I started this article because I was intrigued to learn, from a pamphlet about Linnaeus Hammarby that its seeds are dispersed by ants. But it turned out to have even more interesting stories about it besides being myrmecochorous. Now I am learning/writing about some stick insects (Timema) who use the same strategy to disperse their eggs. Each egg has a little structure (the capitulum) whose only function is to attract and feed ants. The ants carry eggs to their burrow, and discard the "empties" which are still functioning eggs that hatch baby stick insects. Sharktopus ^talk 11:55, 24 July 2011 (UTC)

resource request

Hi Sharktopus,

I've located the three articles you requested at Wikipedia:WikiProject Resource Exchange/Resource Request. You can find links to the articles on that page. Best, GabrielF (talk) 22:49, 19 July 2011 (UTC)

Sorry about that, I copied and pasted the wrong link. Here is the correct link to the Carl Linnaeus article. GabrielF (talk) 23:48, 19 July 2011 (UTC)

Three cheers for GabrielF -- thanks! Sharktopus ^talk 23:50, 19 July 2011 (UTC)

No problem. Glad to help wikipedians access academic sources. GabrielF (talk) 00:28, 20 July 2011 (UTC)

Toad

Sorry about the Ansonia latidisca DYK. If someone else wanted to IAR, I wouldn't have objected. In any case, good job on that and your other articles. I look forward to seeing your upcoming article on yak dung. There's that redlink again, just taunting you, taunting you.... BTW (and yes, I know this is about a month late) I like your "new" signature – kinda aquatic-looking. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 23:40, 20 July 2011 (UTC)

Thanks for the many kind thoughts, O XARAbИAM. When I was working on the article, I thought it would only go up at ITN. It was just for a couple of hours that I hoped it might also be DYK. Now of course my life is an empty husk ... no, not really. You did the right thing. And I know how hard it is to have to say no to somebody's DYK, because I hate having to do it but I've had to, sometimes. Now I'm going to get to work on my article about stick insects that lived without sex for at least a million years. Maybe those lady stick bugs don't mind, because in the sexual species of Timema, males are just halfpints who live riding piggyback up on the back of a female. Sharktopus ^talk 00:10, 21 July 2011 (UTC)

Yeah, it can be difficult. I had a heartbreaking one a few days ago; it was the user's first DYK attempt, so it would've been nice to IAR if possible, but they were 10K characters away and I just couldn't do it. The hook for Timema will practically write itself. I corrected what I'm pretty sure was a typo in that article, but you should probably double check. MANdARAX • XAЯAbИAM 09:11, 21 July 2011 (UTC)

DYK for Je suis né d'une cigogne

Could you have a look-see of this entry under the articles created on july 19 section? A reviewer calls the latest hook submitted by me to be of clunky English while it looks all fine to me. Thanks. _morelMW^illiam 15:35, 21 July 2011 (UTC)

I am sorry I did not have time to help with this, but I see Yngvadottir did, and she is a much better article writer than I am. Sharktopus ^talk 22:57, 23 July 2011 (UTC)

DYK followup

I feel largely vindicated by how Victoria Fyodorova, Zoya Fyodorova, Jackson Tate, and The Admiral's Daughter did at DYK, despite disagreement. Although only two were linked, they got over 13,000 hits between them, and if you add in the other two, it's closer to 16,000. My assertion that "well-known Soviet film actress" would be an appealing part of the hook appears to have been correct, with over 8,000 for her. I know that clicks are just clicks, and the quantity of clicks indicates little about the quality of the articles, but that's another story...DYK is what it is (a meat grinder). Furthermore, it's not a competition, per se...WP:DYKSTATS states it well: Please do not see this list as a competition, but rather a celebration of some of the most effective DYK hooks. I think this was an effective hook and would have been more so with the other two articles featured as well. I remain unconvinced any harm would have come to the project by linking all four. Having said all that, I think none of the four articles is the equal in quality of Holden Thorp - another recent DYK I expanded - and that one got only 1.4K views. Tate got 2.1K despite not being linked in the DYK. Go figure.  Frank  |  talk  21:47, 23 July 2011 (UTC)

Congratulations on your DYK stats--that is a very good feeling, to know that something you created has interested so many people. Please don't be put off by our "disagreement"; I was impressed by your contribution and I'm sure those who read your articles also agreed. Sharktopus ^talk 22:55, 23 July 2011 (UTC)

I hope I didn't convey that I felt the contributions needed to impress anyone; if we do this for such recognition, we are in the wrong line of hobby. Still - I was, quite honestly, a little put off at what I perceived was an arbitrary objection, and I feel a little like the response from the community to the hook vindicated my point of view on the matter. I don't claim that hits from a DYK hook mean the articles are impressive...only that the hook is interesting enough to garner those hits. (I think more hits would have been garnered with all four articles linked, of course.) And, again - having said all that: none of those articles is especially "impressive"...to the degree any are worthy of any recognition, none is the equal of the far-less-well received Holden Thorp article...and he's a regular modern-day Renaissance Man.  Frank  |  talk  23:12, 24 July 2011 (UTC)

Our "disagreement" was as follows. On July 3, you self-nominated 4 articles. On July 16, I became the first person to review your 4 articles. I felt they had too much overlap. You disagreed. I invited others to comment. Not one person supported your claim to 4 DYK articles. One person suggested giving you credit for 2 DYK articles, and that is what you got. Again, congratulations on getting a lot of hits. Surely your time and my time could be more productively spent than discussing this further. Sharktopus ^talk 01:10, 25 July 2011 (UTC)

Looks like I'm starting to appear (or perhaps well into appearing) pedantic; probably a good time for me to step away, so I will do so. Agree we could both be more productive elsewhere.  Frank  |  talk  01:41, 25 July 2011 (UTC)

Heads up on DYK image tagging

is a bit tricky issue. I can explain how all this works, and for now just advise not to tag those images and leave this to the particular admin who implements the protection of a specific image (this reduces confusion, among admins too). Cheers. Materialscientist (talk) 07:53, 27 July 2011 (UTC)

hmm-- I looked at what you did instead and I still didn't understand it. Thanks for fixing my goof. Sharktopus ^talk 16:23, 27 July 2011 (UTC)

Tagging itself doesn't do anything in this case, and some tagging templates are not even displayed until some admin actually protects the page. En.wiki admins can do that on en.wiki, but usually not on Commons (a few of us are admins on both wikis). Thus what we (have to) do is temporarily upload a file from Commons, protect and tag it here, only to be deleted after the main page display. This is a waste of time, but there is no easy way around. Tagging with {{c-uploaded}} is useful because it tells the DYK bot to delete the file later. In my opinion, most other tags are quite futile because they have to be removed manually. Materialscientist (talk) 22:45, 27 July 2011 (UTC)

Unusual unusualness continued

I'd say Icelandic Phallological Museum counts. :-) It's currently up for DYK review at Template talk:Did you know/Icelandic Phallological Museum, if you'd be interested in having a look. Prioryman (talk) 19:42, 27 July 2011 (UTC)

And you thought of me at once – the shark is flattered. My evil-science team and I are always shopping for even more body-part grafts, so this may prove inspiring. Sharktopus ^talk 23:35, 27 July 2011 (UTC)

Lutheran Hymnody

		The Barnstar of Indulgence
		Thank you so much for your article on Paul Speratus. You're right, he does not deserve to be a red link! Thanks for contributing to Wikipedia's coverage of Lutheranism! Cognate247 (talk) 14:54, 28 July 2011 (UTC)

• Thank you for this very surprising and innovative barnstar. I hope somebody with more knowledge of Lutheran hymnody than I have will embrace this article and make it sing. Sharktopus ^talk 15:01, 28 July 2011 (UTC)

Thank you, too. I wonder if I had noticed the change in colour without this beautiful notice, --Gerda Arendt (talk) 15:55, 28 July 2011 (UTC)

If you expand him a bit we can make a double nom for BWV 9 (so far without mentioning his name, but easily changed). --Gerda Arendt (talk) 16:10, 28 July 2011 (UTC)

Gerda, the amount I know about Lutheran hymnody could fill a small,even non-existent hat. I will see if I can expand it a bit. I admit also being tempted to create First Lutheran hymnal (1524), which does have an article Achtliederbuch in the German Wikipedia. But you are probably sleeping now anyway. Sharktopus ^talk 22:12, 28 July 2011 (UTC)

Almost, smile. We could try together, but not today. Did you look at the ext link? The Bach cantatas, as you know, appear no sooner than the Friday after, meaning another week to think about it. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 22:44, 28 July 2011 (UTC)

Thanks, Gerda, now I have to run off for some hours. See you tomorrow! Sharktopus ^talk 23:01, 28 July 2011 (UTC)

(ec) Too early to link the songs, two go to cantatas instead, only one is there, remember? --Gerda Arendt (talk) 23:05, 28 July 2011 (UTC)

Sharktopus, Gerda says I may need to call on you in the future. Please see User_talk:PumpkinSky#DYK_for_White_Goat_Wilderness_Area PumpkinSky talk 19:42, 29 July 2011 (UTC)

"Our hymn" is already on the Main page, smile, thanks to Mathsci, --Gerda Arendt (talk) 11:39, 31 July 2011 (UTC)

You deserve this

	The Original Barnstar
	For your excellent contributions to DYK. Keep up your good work!! Suraj T 06:48, 29 July 2011 (UTC)

Support

continued from above: I came to suggest to nom Speratus separately from Bach, and behold, the cantata is already in prep. (I am talking Messiah language because of this.) What do you think, master of the hooks, of: ... that the chorale Es ist das Heil uns kommen her of Paul Speratus (pictured) was one of eight songs in the 1524 first Lutheran hymnal, called Achtliederbuch (Eightsongsbook)? - notes: let's use the term chorale for hymn every now and then. I created redirects, think there will be no other First ever, we could drop the year in the title, perhaps no translation of the German (?), title of chorale temporarily so, not to hit the redirect it will replace, I'll take care of that part. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 07:44, 29 July 2011 (UTC)

Thank you very much, Suraj! And Gerda, thank you also! I have not yet had enough coffee to be coherent this morning, but I will put Paul Speratus on my to-do-first list. There is quite a lot at http://de.wikisource.org/wiki/Paul_Speratus including wikisource stuff on that chorale, which was apparently based on a 15th c melody. Thanks so much for the hook idea, and I will see if I come up with ideas beyond the need for more coffee in an hour or so. Sharktopus ^talk 11:01, 29 July 2011 (UTC)

No rush at all, I just tried to translate the title of the 8LB, will ask a friend to look over it. He helped already with Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern and many others, --Gerda Arendt (talk) 11:10, 29 July 2011 (UTC) Red to blue, a start, you may want to place things there or also there. I will stop for the moment, have to translate BWV 9 to German, --Gerda Arendt (talk) 11:51, 29 July 2011 (UTC)

OK Gerda, I am finished with 'Paul Speratus for a while. See what you think. Sharktopus ^talk 20:12, 29 July 2011 (UTC)

Oh good, I agree, you very much deserve praise for all you've been doing for DYK. Promoting things to prep, yet. Well done indeed :-) Yngvadottir (talk) 21:55, 29 July 2011 (UTC)

You did see that I just got put in the gunsights for doing just that, didn't you? BTW, Yngvadottir, I thought you were so right to vote Keep in the recent AfD. But article needs some re-weighting. It will be a tough one. Sharktopus ^talk 22:18, 29 July 2011 (UTC)

New day, new idea on Speratus

... something like: ... that Paul Speratus (pictured) wrote the chorale Es ist das Heil uns kommen her, published in 1524 as one of eight songs in the first Lutheran hymnal, in prison when sentenced to death? (mostly off today) --Gerda Arendt (talk) 13:36, 30 July 2011 (UTC)

Waving to Gerda, thanks! Another travel day for me today but I am putting in a bit of time before I take off. Sharktopus ^talk 13:52, 30 July 2011 (UTC)

OK, Gerda, here it is at last: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template_talk:Did_you_know/Paul_Speratus,_First_Lutheran_hymnal,_Es_ist_das_Heil_uns_kommen_her Many thanks for the help and inspiration. Sharktopus ^talk 15:35, 30 July 2011 (UTC)

Thank you, submitted, hope that was ok, --Gerda Arendt (talk) 16:03, 30 July 2011 (UTC)

WTG, Gerda, I somehow missed that step. Thanks for catching it. Sharktopus ^talk 16:08, 30 July 2011 (UTC)

DYK on Dougie dance

FYI, pls see Wikipedia talk:Did you know#Friday.2C July 29.2C spot the issues. SandyGeorgia (Talk)

Mail

Hello, Sharktopus. Please check your email; you've got mail!
It may take a few minutes from the time the email is sent for it to show up in your inbox. You can at any time by removing the {{You've got mail}} or {{ygm}} template.

Filling an old request

Hi Sharktopus, sorry for the very belated reply to your query on my talk. I think the best thing is for writers to learn how to avoid close paraphrasing and to know how to paraphrase properly. This is a useful source with links to more on the left tabs. To me it seems easier to detect close paraphrasing because I know these concepts fairly well. I hope this is helpful and don't hesitate to ask for advice. Truthkeeper88 (talk) 21:25, 30 July 2011 (UTC)

Thanks so much! This is incredibly helpful, and I really appreciate it. Sharktopus ^talk 23:40, 30 July 2011 (UTC)

New request

Could you cast an eye on the issue raised at Nels Running talk? I need to go right now, and am not familiar with the topic anyway, --Gerda Arendt (talk) 14:24, 31 July 2011 (UTC)

DYK issue

Sharktopus, thanks so much for your kindness on this. I really don't want anything to do with DYK anymore. Can you do whatever for that? Please give yourself, Gerda, and Ched credit too. Thank you. I've put a watch on your page. PumpkinSky talk 21:27, 31 July 2011 (UTC)

watching: I just told the noms page that they should check if concerns were addressed. I don't want credit for changing 2 lines, smile, --Gerda Arendt (talk) 21:31, 31 July 2011 (UTC)

Poor Pumpkin, please don't be discouraged and walk away. It is a learning process to write an article and nobody is perfect when they start. Just put what interested you into a shorter form that is in your own words. You have done a lot of work on this already, so why not do the little bit extra that gets you credit on this and good practice for your next one? Then you can leave this experience feeling proud and successful, instead of discouraged and hurt. Sharktopus ^talk 21:39, 31 July 2011 (UTC)

No thanks. Feel free to take it forward. I had a DYK lead with photo taken away a few days ago because MS liked another article better and now this less than 24 hours before hitting main page. I'm not impressed with DYK in the slightest. Thanks much again.PumpkinSky talk 21:42, 31 July 2011 (UTC)...PS I'll do my part to reduce the DYK backlog by not submitting any. PumpkinSky talk 21:46, 31 July 2011 (UTC)

My impression is that about 1/3 of DYK submissions include an image, but only 1 in 7 gets to the the top hook in a set, which is the only one with a photo. Sorry you were disappointed, though, and good luck editing elsewhere in the future. Sharktopus ^talk

By taken away I mean someone had put it in a prep set as the lead and MS went and removed it as lead because he personally didn't like it. That's just wrong.PumpkinSky talk 22:00, 31 July 2011 (UTC)

(edit conclict) still watching: when I nominated my first pic for DYK I had no idea it could possibly not be taken and submitted it with a completely boring hook just to refer to it. You can imagine: it was not taken. - But now, more than a year later, it appeared (the third of the day). I recommend a little patience, --Gerda Arendt (talk) 22:04, 31 July 2011 (UTC)

GTG

Yeah, if you've checked for CP etc, I think it's ready. Tony (talk) 03:55, 1 August 2011 (UTC)

DYK for Timema

Panyd^{The muffin is not subtle} 00:18, 2 August 2011 (UTC)

• Hoo, hitcount 7.8 k. Interesting case where "not having sex" attracts attention often reserved for "having sex." Sharktopus ^talk 03:29, 3 August 2011 (UTC)

Guillaume Rondelet

As a Tree of Lifer I thought you might be interested in taking a look at Guillaume Rondelet, which I've just expanded. It's up for DYK at Template talk:Did you know/Guillaume Rondelet. Prioryman (talk) 18:09, 3 August 2011 (UTC)

Thanks very much for reviewing this DYK! I've added an ALT4 after another editor pointed out an interesting fact: "... that 16th-century zoologist Guillaume Rondelet (pictured) expelled Nostradamus from the University of Montpellier for being an apothecary and slandering doctors?" What do you think? Prioryman (talk) 11:33, 5 August 2011 (UTC)

Hymnal

Thanks for giving the 1st hymnal extra attention! I still think it could do without the 1524 in the title. But if that stays - and perhaps even without - I would like the year mentioned in the hook. Can I interest you in my latest hymn, in progress? --Gerda Arendt (talk) 22:40, 3 August 2011 (UTC)

Dear Gerda, feel free to suggest any alt hooks you want. I see that the hymnal page was moved, and I have no idea why its title still includes the date. Please, make title and/or hook whatever makes you happy! I look forward to seeing your other hymn in the near future. Sharktopus ^talk 22:45, 3 August 2011 (UTC)

I moved it to simple, happy enough (and tired), --Gerda Arendt (talk) 23:32, 3 August 2011 (UTC)

I added one more of the hymns, Ach Gott, vom Himmel sieh darein, would you find something on translations and English hymnals? --Gerda Arendt (talk) 09:17, 7 August 2011 (UTC)

DYK queries

Sorry, I missed your second question on my talk page from three days ago. I've posted a rather lengthy response to Dr. Blofeld's question, on which you and others might be well-positioned to provide feedback. Tony (talk) 12:22, 4 August 2011 (UTC)

Heylo!

Just so you know, that page in my userspace is just a draft. If you disagree with something, please feel free to delete it from the page. I don't mind. It would be awesome if the page was built by consensus. Panyd^{The muffin is not subtle} 18:25, 4 August 2011 (UTC)

That's a very kind invitation, and I appreciate your hosting that draft. I just want my thoughts to be part of the final consensus, so I don't really want to start deleting other people's suggestions because I myself disagree. Sharktopus ^talk 18:33, 4 August 2011 (UTC)

Flagrant Abuse?

While I appreciate your trolling for abuse of Wikipedia, I urge you to more keenly observe the edits you revert, and the ban warnings you so casually dispense. This puerile attitude constitutes abuse of power, and is in violation of the Wikipedia user agreement. Namaste, friend. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.156.74.21 (talk) 19:57, 5 August 2011 (UTC)

I see you think I was too aggressive in my comment on your talk page. Past edits from your IP included a new section at Talk:Mary II of England headed "Nice Tits" and an edit summary elsewhere "deleted the flagrant egostroking megalomania of a faggot on drugs." Yet your talk page was sadly blank; I felt you had not been appropriately welcomed with the relevant warnings. Now you have been. Good luck in your future editing of Wikipedia. Sharktopus ^talk 13:33, 7 August 2011 (UTC)

Regarding adminship

Hi Sharktopus. Sorry it's taken a little while to get here - there's a lot to review and obviously it takes a little while. Firstly, can I congratulate you for your good work, especially at DYK. The whole area is going through quite a process of turmoil though and I think it needs a lot of help, so if you carry on working there it should stand you in good stead. I think this will be definitely true if you focus on one of the large complaints of DYK, the plagiarism/copyright issues.

As for adminship, I'm afraid you're not quite there at the moment. For one thing, you could do with a bit more experience generally - at 2800 edits, you have less than my personal cut off at 3000. You've also been active for only a few months (with a 2 month gap), I generally look for 6 months straight. The majority of your edits are in the article space, which is good. You have very few deleted edits, mostly due to a failed RfC, which was then deleted. You don't appear active at any of the administrative areas at all, in fact.

So, in all, you're not quite ready for adminship at the moment, which I think you knew when you came over to discuss things with me. What should you do to start looking at adminship? Well, I'd suggest working in admin areas for 6 months, whilst trying to keep up your work at DYK. Try to analyse and comment on AfDs [3], maybe learn your way around WP:NPP (it's harder than you think!), have a read of this essay which gives good advice. Remember, you're always welcome to come and chat over any issues you come across (always ask if you're not 100% sure, otherwise you will end up making mistakes), and I'm sure in 6 months you'll be good to go. Worm^TT · (talk) 10:36, 7 August 2011 (UTC)

Thank you very much for your helpful advice. I will make time to do admin-type reading and editing, preferably in that order. Sharktopus ^talk 12:33, 8 August 2011 (UTC)

If you don't mind me butting in... hanging around a noticeboard (not ANI) will help you figure out the nuances of some policies and let people see you can cope with some dramaz - take your pick at Wikipedia:Noticeboards. Something else WTT didn't say is that something which often comes up at RfA is speedy deletion - many people feel uneasy giving someone the tools if they haven't shown they understand the criteria. Some time over at WP:NPP would show you understand them. (I'm assuming from the lack of deleted edits that you haven't done much tagging). That should keep you busy for a while! ;) SmartSE (talk) 15:30, 8 August 2011 (UTC)

Thanks, SmartSE, for some very helpful suggestions. I did recently notice my own ignorance when an article I thought was a stinker and tagged as a Merge got Speedied and even more stomped on to invisibility by Wikid, who obviously knows what he is doing. I will try to learn more of the why and how, then do some NPP to stand guard for incoming. That will have to wait just a bit though, as real life is busy today and tomorrow. Sharktopus ^talk 18:01, 8 August 2011 (UTC)

DYK for First Lutheran hymnal

Calmer Waters 00:02, 9 August 2011 (UTC)

Only 948 hits when on the front page. This is a good article that I'm proud of having created. And DYK was important to helping and motivating it, even though the synergy was not 100% perfect. Sharktopus ^talk 01:26, 10 August 2011 (UTC)

Thanks

Thanks for your encouragement. As you've probably noticed, I've been feeling a little frustrated about the whole DYK situation lately, so it's good to know that some of the stuff I've been spending time on actually is making a difference! Best, rʨanaɢ (talk) 04:27, 9 August 2011 (UTC)

DYK for Nels Running

Casliber (talk · contribs) 08:05, 9 August 2011 (UTC)

I chipped in to help out on this nomination -- my contribution was much less than Pumpkin's or Gerda's. Very nice of them to give me some Make credit too. 4.7k. Sharktopus ^talk 01:21, 10 August 2011 (UTC)

DYK for Paul Speratus

Casliber (talk · contribs) 00:05, 10 August 2011 (UTC)

Only 212 clicks through to the article Paul Speratus-- my lowest ever on any DYK. Sharktopus ^talk 01:13, 11 August 2011 (UTC)

Heh, that was apparently just the first hour. Another 4.1k the next day. Sharktopus ^talk 02:00, 12 August 2011 (UTC)

DYK for Es ist das Heil uns kommen her

Casliber (talk · contribs) 00:05, 10 August 2011 (UTC)

I stand corrected (see previous item regarding Paul Speratus. This one got only 99 hits during its time on the Main Page. Sharktopus ^talk 01:14, 11 August 2011 (UTC)

See this only now. First: it was great fun to do those together! Second: 99 was for the one hour before GT changed, 895 for the "next day", I count that as 1.0k, - not bad for a night shift. Good night, --Gerda Arendt (talk) 23:15, 11 August 2011 (UTC)

In fact, since this was a two-article hook, the combined total for the two articles was over 5k. Thanks, Gerda, for discovering this. But I was actually not discouraged even if the hitcount had been low, because I truly enjoyed working on these with you. Sharktopus ^talk 02:00, 12 August 2011 (UTC)

You made my day, again! I just put 5.3k on P:DE, because there I count by hook. Quite proud that the other hymn got 1.0k by itself, thanks to the Magic Flute, --Gerda Arendt (talk) 07:55, 12 August 2011 (UTC)

DYK for Paederus

Materialscientist (talk) 16:01, 10 August 2011 (UTC)

Another two-day overlapping DYK, with 11.9 k the first day and 1.2 the second. I am delighted these little beetles got so much attention! Sharktopus ^talk 17:18, 18 August 2011 (UTC)

WTDYK

Hi Sharktopus. Could you possibly take a look at this edit you made twice, especially the edit summary, and evaluate it against WP:CIVIL, which is one of our five pillars? Could you also please review the instructions on Template:Hidden archive top, particularly where it says: This template should only be used by uninvolved editors or administrators in conjunction with the talk page guidelines and relevant advice at refactoring. It should not be used by involved parties to end a discussion over the objections of other editors. Thanks, --John (talk) 04:16, 11 August 2011 (UTC)

My edit summary to which you object was "hatting trolling and responses churned up by trolling. DNFTT". I mention that in case somebody reading my talk page might think I used an offensive or threatening edit summary of the kind favored by Malleus Fatuorum such as "you can run, but you can't hide"[4] or "why are you still here Joe?[5].

I was not familiar with the instructions for HAT, having simply copied the template from another page where I'd seen it used. The thread I hatted was completely off-topic for a page whose mission is discussing improvements to WP:DYK. and since uninvolved MaterialScientist reinstated the hat, I hope you will agree that its presence there is now appropriate. Thanks for the link to the page with the policy for it; I will learn more about it before using it again. Sharktopus ^talk 04:57, 11 August 2011 (UTC)

John, there's nothing uncivil about calling trolling trolling. You've been here a while, you know Malleus' game. rʨanaɢ (talk) 22:57, 11 August 2011 (UTC)

Forgive me Sharktopus for replying to Rjanag on your talk page. It is, I would hold, totally uncivil to call even obvious trolling (which this, in my opinion, was not) trolling. See What is a troll?, particularly "Trolling is any deliberate and intentional attempt to disrupt the usability of Wikipedia for its editors, administrators, developers, and other people who work to create content for and help run Wikipedia" and "Dealing with pestering and misplaced criticism: Depending on the location and severity, this is best dealt with by ignoring it or treating it the same way as any other edit war. If it is occurring on your user talk page, ignore it, or revert slowly (once every few days). Don't feed the trolls" Even if Malleus had been trolling, which as I have said I do not think he was, for an involved user to archive the conversation (twice) using a snarky edit-summary is not a good or effective way to deal with it.

Finally, from WP:CIVIL, "An uncivil remark can escalate spirited discussion into a personal argument that no longer focuses objectively on the problem at hand. Such exchanges waste our efforts and undermine a positive, productive working environment. Resolve differences of opinion through civil discussion; disagree without being disagreeable. Discussion of other editors should be limited to polite discourse about their actions." You might note that rather than send templated warnings I reached out to all three editors I saw disagreeing with a personalized note, none of which was a formal warning, but more an invitation to reflect on conduct and interactions. I welcome criticism of my actions, but I think on this one I got it right. --John (talk) 04:02, 12 August 2011 (UTC)

Milk Tooth

What do you think of this? --Gerda Arendt (talk) 13:48, 12 August 2011 (UTC)

Glad to help

hey-- i was the one who edited Paederus, removing the Christian from the Bible, since its not unique to scripture. just could not log in from work. once i got home, i can log in and do stuff...

Jeremys779 (talk) 04:35, 13 August 2011 (UTC)

thanks! Traveling, sorry to be absent except via iphone. Sharktopus ^talk 06:59, 13 August 2011 (UTC)

GA review

Hello there Shark, I've reviewed Timema and placed it on hold for now pending changes. Thanks Atomician (talk) 21:51, 14 August 2011 (UTC)

Thanks so much, Atomician! Just back from heavy travel, I look forward to seeing your suggestions and I really appreciate your taking time to review my first submission to GA (Obsidian Soul also made substantial contributions to the article.) Sharktopus ^talk 19:09, 16 August 2011 (UTC)

A cookie for you!

The sweet pastry of kindness is always the best. Thanks for caring when I was ill. I'll be back to DYK soon! PanydThe muffin is not subtle 23:03, 14 August 2011 (UTC)

Mmmmm ... nom nom nom ... thanks! Sharks love delicious cookies. You will be welcome at DYK any time, but don't let us motivate you to do more than is in your comfort zone. We all want you to stay healthy and happy. Sharktopus ^talk 19:13, 16 August 2011 (UTC)

Collaboration for an expansion on bigfin reef squids

My turn to ask if you'd like to help out. ^-^ I'm currently writing an expansion on the bigfin reef squid article. Planned for DYK and hopefully GA. It's almost complete and comprehensively referenced, but as usual, my main weakness is wordsmithing. Another pair of eyes might help suss out errors I miss or something. Anything you can contribute really. :P

Article is sandboxed here: User:Obsidian Soul/sandbox/Bigfin reef squid. Will eventually request a histmerge after this, then DYK, then GA.-- Obsidi♠n Soul 19:02, 16 August 2011 (UTC)

I would enjoy working on this, and thanks for asking me. Yngvadottir, thanks for adding your awesome skills to the mix! So many tasks to catch up on from my travels, please forgive my delayed start on this project. Sharktopus ^talk 05:45, 17 August 2011 (UTC)

Heh, no problem. Since it's sandboxed, we have all the time in the world. The more GA-suitable it is before we even get it to DYK, the better, even if that takes time. Easier to correct mistakes with more eyes. And welcome back from wherever you were migrating this season. ;) -- Obsidi♠n Soul 06:07, 17 August 2011 (UTC)

A white traffic cone on its side with a starfish clinging to it

		Wikipedia Motivation Award
		For dragging me along into my first GA ever! \:D/ Which might actually make me try for more! Obsidi♠n Soul 18:10, 17 August 2011 (UTC)

Wow, I love white traffic cones and starfish -- how did you know? (nom nom nom) Thanks, O♠S! Sharktopus ^talk 20:46, 17 August 2011 (UTC)

Paederus

Hello. Long time. Sorry. I wasn't paying attention. Maybe I shouldn't have added what I added. I thought I was editing paederus dermatitis. Not all species in the genus are nasty. I'm half asleep. Off to bed. Pls revert what you like. :) Anna Frodesiak (talk) 17:58, 18 August 2011 (UTC)

Dear Anna, how lovely to see you even in passing by--and even when surrounded by tiny beetles. And I should not have called the beetles nasty -- they are innocent; it is the dermatitis caused by some of them that is nasty. Yes, there is a different article for the dermatitis, but feel free to put your changes into that one when you wake up. Sharktopus ^talk 18:05, 18 August 2011 (UTC)

Vietvisiontravel.com page

I'm sorry that it took so long, but yes you can now link to this particular page within vietvisiontravel.com. (Note the final slash: you specified the address without it, but this redirects to the version with it, and I therefore whitelisted the latter.) -- Hoary (talk) 11:05, 19 August 2011 (UTC)

Thanks very much for getting back to me on this. I realize the source is not a great one but it has interesting, detailed info about the monument I have not found elsewhere online. Sharktopus ^talk 18:41, 22 August 2011 (UTC)

Good Article promotion

	Congratulations!
	Thanks for all the work you did in making Timema a certified "Good Article"! Your work is much appreciated. (Pictured: the egg of a typical stick insect.) In the spirit of celebration, you may wish to review one of the Good Article nominees that someone else nominated, as there is currently a backlog, and any help is appreciated. All the best, – Quadell (talk)

29?

Then go and enter yourself here. Congrats already! --Gerda Arendt (talk) 08:27, 20 August 2011 (UTC)

Thanks so much for noticing, Gerda! Is there anybody now who gives people the 25 DYK announcement thingy? OCNative used to do it but seems to have stopped editing in July. I hope OCNative is OK, wherever he is, I miss him. Sharktopus ^talk 14:31, 20 August 2011 (UTC)

I hadn't noticed but oh dear yes, he just suddenly stopped editing a month ago. And doesn't have e-mail enabled. :-( . . . Binksternet gave me my 25-DYK medal, but doesn't seem to have been doing that for a while now. Yngvadottir (talk) 18:05, 21 August 2011 (UTC)

August 2011 Gaza Attack

This is what the Main Page should link to. Without any help, it will be deleted very, very soon. So hereby: some help would be most appreciated. Polozooza (talk) 19:45, 20 August 2011 (UTC)

I wd if I cd but majorly offline & iPhone nottoo good as editing tool. Sharktopus ^talk 21:26, 20 August 2011 (UTC)

I see. Well, never mind. Editing from an iPhone isn't quite as workable as from a pc. :) Polozooza (talk) 21:39, 20 August 2011 (UTC)