User talk:Doldrums/Archive6

Updates
Hi Again. I was wondering how I do a follow up to the article. Do i add a new section titled update, start a new story or .... Gnangarra 12:07, 5 February 2007 (UTC)
 * Nice title change, do think its ready to be published Gnangarra 13:21, 5 February 2007 (UTC)

Thanks
I was about to put the article up for review, since it's my first one here. Thanks for the cleanup, and the vote of confidence. :-) GreenReaper 05:27, 6 February 2007 (UTC)

Further Confusion 2007 article
Thank you for your help with the recent vandalism on the Furry fans flock to Further Confusion 2007 article. I appreciate your hard work :) -- JaeSharp 06:09, 6 February 2007 (UTC)
 * I would note that all recent vandal IPs appear to be from the Tor network. Not sure how often you get vandals, but we ended up just banning the whole Tor range, and found vandalism from both IPs and manufactured users dropped significantly. GreenReaper 07:34, 6 February 2007 (UTC)
 * I just noticed this, all Tor nodes should be blocked from editing as proxies. --Brian McNeil / talk 10:23, 13 March 2007 (UTC)

Jazz win, maintain Northwest Division lead
Regarding the opening line you deleted - it wasn't an editorial comment, just a lead-in statement...but I'll defer to your more experienced judgment in such matters. Theirishpianist 06:32, 6 February 2007 (UTC)
 * Thanks for the clarification. Should I just eliminate the use of such opening tags altogether or just watch my wording of such things? I prefer for my news write-ups to have a little character but I definitely don't want to tread on policies and procedures in the process. Theirishpianist 15:31, 6 February 2007 (UTC)

Revert
Hi, i see you just reverted the edit mad by me earlier stating that it screwed the look up, however i changed it to make it look better on my screen at home which now, before my edit and after the revert, has a paragraph sized whit space in the middle of the article. I don't know if it looks different on your screen but if it does then something needs to be done so it looks better on both our screens. Thanks--86.136.225.72 09:46, 8 February 2007 (UTC)
 * I have uploaded a picture of the problem and it is shown here--86.136.225.72 10:23, 8 February 2007 (UTC)

Snow
Thanks for helping me with this artilce it is greatly appriciated. It is one of my first articles i have started from scratch (i think it is only the second!). Thanks --Markie 12:25, 8 February 2007 (UTC)

Thanks
thanks much for your help i will contribut as best as i can here as well!!Maverick423 16:44, 9 February 2007 (UTC)

Re: HIV vaccine
I was just passing by on my way to my next holiday, hope I cleared some things out, the article looks excellent now.--Steven Fruitsmaak (Reply) 17:57, 9 February 2007 (UTC)

Lead
Working on it.--Elatanatari 17:19, 10 February 2007 (UTC)

Template:QuoteLeft
Can you take a look at this template, two niggles with it. (a) I want a few pixels space to the right of it, and (b) I want the quote attribution to be inside a bar that is a slightly darker grey. I'm no expert on the code from that and have probably done a terrible job of adapting template:q. --Brian McNeil / talk 18:22, 10 February 2007 (UTC)
 * Thanks for fixing this, looks good on the Putin article. Do you think it would be better with the parameter order changed so attribution is second?  That way you'd not be forced to always specify the quote size.
 * Found solution: . --Brian McNeil / talk 11:21, 11 February 2007 (UTC)

Here is another little template I've created. I stuck it on Wikimedia, but I'm wondering what other places it could be used - and if the date will auto update. --Brian McNeil / talk 10:47, 11 February 2007 (UTC)


 * I see your point about directing traffic to WP. I'd like to think there are places where we could use this, and WP could have a similar template to direct to our features.  --Brian McNeil / talk 19:49, 11 February 2007 (UTC)

Microsoft patent to make ads disable computer
Hi, could you please check the Talk:Microsoft_patent_to_make_ads_disable_computer regarding the removed links? thanks Towsonu2003 07:20, 11 February 2007 (UTC)
 * From reading the Groklaw source I've added to this, advertising to subsidise PCs provided by ISPs and Telcos is only a part of it. --Brian McNeil / talk 10:49, 11 February 2007 (UTC)

tea
cheers for that - really appriciated thanks. nice to know someone notices. --Markie 20:44, 11 February 2007 (UTC)

wikinews:Browse
what do you think of the map. (try clicking on it in various continents). Bawolff ☺☻ 06:31, 12 February 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for the excellent edits
I really appreciate your thoughtful and careful editing of some new articles I have created on Wikinews. As I gain the hang of it, hopefully I wont make some of the same errors. Your style of patient and craftsman-like editing is very encouraging to new editors such as me. Best regards. Anlace 17:26, 12 February 2007 (UTC)

Shorts...
Thanks...

On something else wntiryl WikiCast needs ideas :-) ShakespeareFan00 18:36, 13 February 2007 (UTC)

SSB
Hi there, thank you for explaning. I didn't know that we couldn't write past news ("past" being reasonably short of course) but thank you for acknowledging that I put a lot of work into it, so I am hoping that it could be salvaged somehow? I'll try to look for any recent news but I do hope that it can be saved somehow if you could be kind enough to consider it. Please excuse my ignorance of Wikinews policies. Thanks. IronFist 23:38, 14 February 2007 (UTC)


 * Is anything special required for this development? IronFist 02:50, 20 February 2007 (UTC)

University of Helsinki Hiring Scandal Article
Doldrums,

Please see my recent responses.

Perhaps you would be interested in continuing this or authoring a related article?

All documentation is freely available (though in Swedish).

HANS

Images
Please could adjust the image Image:DSCF3774.JPG to Image:Sparkler.JPG on: Ready for deletion due to duplication off commons. Thanks. Lcarsdata (Talk) 16:43, 21 February 2007 (UTC)
 * 401st Guy Fawkes celebrated in parts of the Commonwealth
 * Record amount of fires during New Zealand Guy Fawkes

Re: Spot of OR
Sorry too busy with other things...--Steven Fruitsmaak (Reply) 16:32, 28 February 2007 (UTC)

Thanks!
Thanks for the welcome. I will do my best to be a good contributor. Kpillai 13:55, 1 March 2007 (UTC)Kpillai

doldrums/tilde
Dear sir, I am not very computer savy. How to sign my messages with tilde? water cooler is not much of help. regarding the iranian border fence with pakistan, i am putting the following article published today in the news. link http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=45611

this is for your kind information. thanks. Dear sir, Thanks for the kind explanation. i got it. keep up the good work. Captainjohann 16:18, 7 March 2007 (UTC)

Thank you for the welcome
I would just like to say thank you for the welcome to Wikinews. I used to work on Wikicast before being hit by throat cancer, which robbed me of most of my voice, so although I can still talk, I sound like a strangled bullfrog. Not good for recording spoken media.

If you have any questions for me, please direct them to my Talk page.

Regards and thank you, Tmalmjursson 17:46, 5 March 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for the kind comments
Thank you, Doldrums, for the encouragement and comments. I am new at this and feeling my way around. I will contribute more articles when I can. Cheers, Jcart1534 17:58, 5 March 2007 (UTC)

deleted article and talk page
Where can I find an archived copy of a news story I was researching that was deleted? Obituary 18:34, 6 March 2007 (UTC)
 * replied on Water cooler. &mdash; Doldrums(talk) 18:36, 6 March 2007 (UTC)

Deletion
Hi, i see you have deleted one of my nominated deletions for redirects and i am going to add many more broken redirect pages to the speedy delete catergory. However they do not show up on the Admin board as the template will not include due to the redirect over ride. Would you like me to keep adding the templates for you to see the pages in the speedy delete category, leave you to find the pages on broken redirects page or leave you alone completely and annoy another admin?? Cheers--MarkieTalk 20:26, 7 March 2007 (UTC)
 * Yup i saw that there were quite a few that were broken and thought they had to be listed for deletion but if there is a bot then i will stop. Thanks anyway--MarkieTalk 20:30, 7 March 2007 (UTC)

Solamia article and colon
Should this page headline end with a colon?
 * Eritrean minister warns of war over Ugandan troops in Somalia:
 * --Wowaconia 17:39, 10 March 2007 (UTC)

Image of missing boy
this image: is copyvio. It is from a source that we compete with and they either contacted the family for the image or they paid for it. Neither of which we have done. i am not aginst the image but it needs to be uploaded from a source that allows their material to be copied.

Here is what they say: ''This Site and all the materials available on the Site are the property of us and/or our affiliates or licensors, and are protected by copyright, trademark, and other intellectual property laws. The Site is provided solely for your personal noncommercial use. You may not use the Site or the materials available on the Site in a manner that constitutes an infringement of our rights or that has not been authorized by us. More specifically, unless explicitly authorized in these Terms of Service or by the owner of the materials, you may not modify, copy, reproduce, republish, upload, post, transmit, translate, sell, create derivative works, exploit, or distribute in any manner or medium (including by email or other electronic means) any material from the Site. You may, however, from time to time, download and/or print one copy of individual pages of the Site for your personal, non-commercial use, provided that you keep intact all copyright and other proprietary notices.'' DragonFire1024 21:27, 10 March 2007 (UTC)

Thank You
Thank you for uploading a non-copyrighted image of Christopher Barrios, Jr. for the page Boy missing in Glynn County, Georgia. At first, I thought the image I had uploaded previously was okay (c'mon...we're talking about a missing child!), but apparently it was not (or at least that's what DragonFire1024 said). Once again, thank you for all of your help.

- First Coast News

OS &CU
After the mild debate on ALERT, I have been bold and proposed this could you please have a look over, and sign if you agree Brian | (Talk) | New Zealand Portal 10:16, 11 March 2007 (UTC)

RE: Spot of OR
My apologies for not getting back to you sooner. I have been busy with other things and dont seem to find the time to contribute here as much as I would like to these days. How did you go with it? Cheers - Cartman02au (Talk)(AU Portal) 10:12, 13 March 2007 (UTC)

Talk:Main Page
Can you take a look at this? There's an edit that loses a lot and the diff is difficult to follow. --Brian McNeil / talk 18:28, 13 March 2007 (UTC)

Bombing article
Hey, thanks for adding the source. Each of the three was slightly different so i put all three, and i wasnt able to find a third, so i didnt put one. Since i couldnt find a third, i didnt publish it at that point and left it for someone (such as yourself) to add. Thanks for finishing it up.—Dark Squall 19:18, 13 March 2007 (UTC)

Redirection
Ahh sorry didn't know it was done like this. Thanks for fixing it.--Markie Talk 22:00, 14 March 2007 (UTC)

Iraq Body Count and Bagdhad casualties
Hi Doldrums. I just wanted to discuss this a bit more. According to data compiled by Iraq Body Count (IBC), a volunteer project that maintains a database of civilian deaths in Iraq from media reports, at least 393 people died in and around Baghdad between February 15 and March 11. How did you come up with that figure? Did you sift through Lily Hamourtziadou's two articles and keep a running tally? Because nowhere in those two sources do I find the number 393. I then went to IBC's database which they maintain for transparency. However, the most recent data there is for March 1. I tallied the numbers from Feb 15 to March 1 and came up with 72. Even doubling that number for the missing days still falls way short of any numbers mentioned.

I think that it is very dangerous to cite a source such as IBC as independent and/or neutral. It is very clear from their rationale and methodology statements that they represent a certain point of view and possibly have an axe to grind. "we want to only record those deaths to which we can unambiguously hold our own leaders to account." Yet the database includes items such as incident k5517: "20 bodies found shot, tortured, gunfire, executed, tortured." The Bush administration (sorry "our leaders") is unambiguously accountable for this?

The body count "also includes excess civilian deaths caused by criminal action resulting from the breakdown in law and order which followed the coalition invasion," but nowhere do I see what allowances they make for regular criminal action. Do they make allowances for regular sectarian violence? I mean, there must have been some, even under Saddam's iron rule.

Co-founder John Sloboda is a psychologist who used to write about music but now preaches non-violence. The other founder Hamit Dardagan seems to have been a computer teacher although IBC calls him a "a freelance researcher currently working in London. He has made an in-depth study of the research methods of Professor Marc Herold, who pioneered a media-based methodology for estimating civilian deaths in the Afghan war." So he read a real professors work? That qualifies him how?

And who is Lily Hamourtziadou? My best guess is she is a volunteer that reads news articles on the web. That sounds a lot like what I do in my spare time.

And their list of Sources looks pretty impressive at first glance but what is Common Dreams? I would not consider them a legitimate news source. Intellnet.org obviously fails IBC's own requirement of regular updates. And nothing against Aviation Week & Space Technology but I don't think they have too many reporters on the ground in Iraq.

Just a few thoughts and observations about Iraq Body Count.--SVTCobra 17:27, 15 March 2007 (UTC)


 * I am so sorry. I did not see you notes. I apologize for this and for my tally above, it was not even close to accurate. I think I must have missed the first several days of the period which included, among other things, the market place bombing that claimed 62 days. Any way, by my corrected tally I got 183 (not the low 72) which is close enough to your 200. Although I included them, they are using codes for sources that are not on their list. For example, k5512 neither source is on the list and I am not sure what VOI and Al-Shar are. --SVTCobra 20:13, 15 March 2007 (UTC)


 * Thanks for the link to the Brookings institution and the sources key. The list on IBC's about-page is out-of-date. I re-tallied again and got 199 this time. So, I must be pretty sloppy. The Brookings report interestingly uses IBC data and talks (page 13) about Iraq Ministry of Interior figures being 75% higher than IBC. The fact that they use that data does speak to IBC credibility. They are certainly more qualified than I to make such judgements. Thanks for all your hard work. --SVTCobra 21:22, 15 March 2007 (UTC)

Thank-you
Thanks for the comment - really appriciate it!--Mark Talk 11:10, 17 March 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for encouragement!
Hey Doldrums, thanks for the newcomer award. Greatly appreciated! Cheers, Jcart1534 14:10, 17 March 2007 (UTC)

Thanks!
Thanks for the additions and clean-up of the Italian_journalist_freed_by_Afghan_captors article. Really improved it! That new map is perfect. Did you find it in WikiCommons? Jcart1534 11:13, 20 March 2007 (UTC)

edits to protected pages
In my opinion, it's not a good idea, because I think sysops have to be fluent in the language used in the wikis where they are active. And I think i'm not fluent in English language. And also because I am not an writer on WN-EN, even if I have no big problems to read. But thanks anyway for having suggested that. Hégésippe &#124; ±Θ± 14:24, 28 March 2007 (UTC)
 * Another thing: I have now seen, in the bottom of archived articles, the template:Archived. Next times I will pay attention and list interwikis to add or to update in the right page: Admin action alerts. [[Image:Smiley.png|15px|smiley]] Hégésippe &#124; ±Θ± 09:55, 31 March 2007 (UTC)

???
Why did you move the discussion back to the mis-spelled version of licensing? --Brian McNeil / talk 16:15, 31 March 2007 (UTC)

Spelling error on Main page
The first allegedly should be spelled "allegedly". Centrx 05:00, 1 April 2007 (UTC)
 * It would also be good to remove the huge and hugely unfunny warning. Centrx 05:01, 1 April 2007 (UTC)

Vandalism
--Enemymain 07:52, 1 April 2007 (UTC)

Don´t add wiki cybersquatting to pages. This is clear vandalism.

relicensing/edp
Please see: User:DragonFire1024/Images to request for EDP DragonFire1024 11:53, 2 April 2007 (UTC)

Johnny the Vandal
I'm formerly him, of the english wikipedia. --Jackjohn Rimbaud 09:54, 3 April 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for the welcome message...
I just wanted to say thanks for the message you left on my talk page welcoming me to Wikinews. I have been an editor on Wikipedia since August 2006 and I'm hoping to contribute to Wikinews regularly as well. Thanks once again. --Jatkins 14:49, 4 April 2007 (UTC)

RE: Fair Use policy
Thanks for the link. I do understand the policy but dont like it being retroactive and discouraging EDP. We are a news service, which is time critical, sometimes it is impossible to get "free" images - Cartman02au (Talk)(AU Portal) 08:13, 5 April 2007 (UTC)
 * How about actually checking the articles they are in doldrums: User:DragonFire1024/Images to request for EDP. Instead of telling me mine are no good actually take a look at them. DragonFire1024 08:21, 5 April 2007 (UTC)
 * I understand that but it says "minimal EDP" - Cartman02au (Talk)(AU Portal) 08:23, 5 April 2007 (UTC)
 * What is Minimal? and what is not? What images ARE allowed and which are not...do we even have that list? DragonFire1024 07:29, 6 April 2007 (UTC)

copyvio
thanks for that advice with the template, will use it in future. re: text blanking :- i thought the text had to be left in place for easy checking of the copyright for deletion?? --Mark Talk 16:24, 5 April 2007 (UTC)

Breaking?
I noticed you put on Cruise ship evacuated off Greek coast. Is this really needed? I feel that we are using the tags way to much. Your opinion? (On another note, the template suggests readers to join the IRC channel, personally I believe the person who added that tag should join as well). terinjokes | Talk 17:20, 5 April 2007 (UTC)
 * I still believe whoever uses that template should at least be in the IRC channel. terinjokes | Talk 17:26, 5 April 2007 (UTC)

Iraq Article
Despite our difference of opinion on that Iraq article, I hope we can still keep civilly working together. Brian | (Talk) | New Zealand Portal 11:45, 6 April 2007 (UTC)

Warning of 'ethnic cleansing' if US pulls out of Iraq
I saw your comments on my comments. I just want to let you know that I am working on a response. I am giving it considerable thought and I hope to convincingly illustrate my point. I agree with your collaboration request, this article ought be able to be published and hopefully through consensus. (BTW, this is delaying Wikinews Shorts for today. lol). --SVTCobra 19:10, 6 April 2007 (UTC)
 * I have finished my response. I posted it on the talk page of the article, but I will include it here, too:

You and I have debated this issue before, most notably in the article Iraqi authorities say Baghdad violence has dropped sharply, where I took issue with you for presenting statistics from Iraq Body Count and New York Times. I felt that in an article that was about what somebody (in that case an Iraqi general) said did not need to be contradicted by statistics from other sources. That time I made my argument by attacking the credibility of those sources and eventually acquiesced, though I remained unconvinced (not about the credibility but the need for that information in the article).

This time it is similar, but also quite different. In retrospect, I think I should have made my argument on these grounds back then. What it all hinges upon is the need to present both sides to maintain a NPOV. WN:NPOV touches on this subject in A consequence: writing for the enemy.

At this point I think it is important to consider what the article is about. If we can agree that all articles about 'events in one shape or another, I think they can be broken down, into two main categories.

An article reporting about an event, such as an incident or action, should present both sides. For example, 15 Royal Navy sailors captured at gunpoint by Iranian guards would be totally POV if it did not present the Iranian view that the sailors were in Iranian waters.

On the other hand, an article reporting about an event such as an announcement, a speech, an interview, or a press conference, should not face the same demands. In these cases, the article is just reporting, what someone said or did, and can do so neutrally without presenting opposing views or refute what they said or did. We, as Wikinews, are just there to bear witness and report what we saw or heard (or read as is mostly the case for an internet based news agency). I call into evidence this article, Security Council recommends Ban Ki-moon for UN Secretary-General. This article reports on the event of the Security Council recommendation of Ban Ki-moon, which basically is an announcement. It would have been totally inappropriate to litter the article with information like so-and-so thought John Doe would be better etc. Likewise, it would have been inappropriate to include any of things that are in this section of Ban Ki-moon's Wikipedia page (Criticism). In fact, if one did so, I think that would be engaging the Security Council in debate.

Therefore, I recommend that the article about Gates (it is currently called Warning of 'ethnic cleansing' if US pulls out of Iraq, a headline that I disagree with) be published without statistics about casualties, death tolls, displaced peoples etc.

If it is published with that information, which I am not saying is inaccurate in any way, it also opens the door for the other side, which is to include the good things that are happening in Iraq. I know, sounds far fetched, but there are many public works projects taking place there. It becomes an open-ended article. We could end up having to include Saddam Husseins final statements or what Rush Limbaugh said last Tuesday (I don't actually know what he said last Tuesday or any day for that matter). Oh and we can't leave out Cindy Sheehan, and OBL himself might want to weigh in on this.

Ok, I got a little silly there at the end. But in conclusion I think this article should stay focused and on point, which is to report on what Gates said. All the other stuff belongs in other articles.

Cheers, --SVTCobra 21:00, 6 April 2007 (UTC)

Re: US Defense Secretary evaluates Iraq and the political climate
Sounds good, Doldrums. I had gone ahead and made some small edits to that effect. If they are not suitable, please feel free to change them back. Cheers, Jcart1534 22:07, 7 April 2007 (UTC)

Info for a story...
I came aross a website that had information about one Republican's campaign falling to the ground.

Link to Info

Is this info good for a story on wikinews or not?

67.36.86.7 05:32, 9 April 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for the Welcome!
Thanks for the welcome message. I've already learned a lot by posting a story I knew of and observing the edits made by more experienced members.--LtlKtytalk 03:59, 10 April 2007 (UTC)

Smile, You're On Prescription-Drugs.com!

 * lol. Bawolff ☺☻ 20:16, 10 April 2007 (UTC)
 * what the... –Doldrums(talk) 17:00, 11 April 2007 (UTC)

User: 86.149.191.23

 * This IP address was blocked for 1 week not only for vandalism begining here but also decided to spam. The block should be indefinite. 24 hours for this kind of vandalism is not sufficient. DragonFire1024 17:27, 13 April 2007 (UTC)