User talk:Karen/thanks

Spelling & Grammar
Thanks for all your edits fixing up Spelling & grammar. My spelling is not good at the best of times :) You always seem to catch the little mistake the rest of us miss. Brian | (Talk) | New Zealand Portal 07:34, 29 March 2006 (UTC)
 * Yeah, I want to thank you for that too. I good, no, approaching halfway decent grammar continues to escape my grasp.  Thanks for editing! --Sfullenwider 01:53, 3 April 2006 (UTC)

I've been doing a bit of research about such things, including NY Times, Chicago, and AP style guides - how they compare with each other, and Wikinews and Wikipedia guides. Some of the reasons they choose styles don't apply to us (saving ink by not using apostrophes or commas even when sometimes it makes the meaning clearer). But I borrow other sections (applying to formatting dates and times, for example) from them and have written them into the Wikinews style guide for reference. Proofreading and copy editing here gives me practice so possibly my own writing will be better. It just takes practice. If you question any of my edits, just mention it in the story talk page or here and I'll either explain my judgement or tell you that you were right and I was wrong. Professional reporters, writers, editors, and proofreaders all need another set of eyes to catch mistates that have been overlooked - so even here, the more eyes on the text, the better! I know even readers catch mistakes I've missed and correct them - I've seen the edits in the stories I've corrected, catching what I've missed. Wikinews is a great team! Karen 17:28, 3 April 2006 (UTC)

I wanted to add that often my corrections are not mistakes of grammar, but of style inconsistencies. In one section of the story, a date or spelling will be formatted or regionalised one way, then be different in another. The style guide isn't intended to make one format right and another wrong, but to define which style to use consistently. Local or regional spellings are appropriate when the events of the story take place where such spellings are used - but please be consistent throughout the story, unless the story is about those inconsisencies. Karen 18:20, 3 April 2006 (UTC)

Awesome work
Karen, I just wanted to let you know that I keep seeing you fixing up and helping around Wikinews, and it's really nice. I appreciate what you do. It's kind of funny; the best users are the users you really don't notice. So, for greasing the wheels, thank you. Have a wonderful day, week, month, and year. :) irid:t 19:42, 6 April 2006 (UTC)


 * I still approach edits from the perspective of a reader, which helps. When I see somthing that confuses me (like the recent removal of the "Style guide" link at the top of most pages), I try to fix it or find someone to hear my complaint. There are enough admins taking care of those other things that I haven't really discovered or understood yet - things that most readers never see.  I'll be more active in those things when I get a better handle on the goings-on and the new stuff that admins do that I couldn't do before. Thanks for the note! Karen 19:50, 6 April 2006 (UTC)

Not a problem in the least. Just wanted to let you know that I appreciate all the work you put in here, and how amazingly unobtrusive you tend to be. I have yet to see you get into a conflict with anyone. Unlike many other figures here, including myself... irid:t 19:52, 6 April 2006 (UTC)


 * There are times when I have made a re-write, a headline change, or even a small style change and have someone object for no reason. I hold my breath and reply, but a conflict never develops - either because nobody can keep up with my ranting about why I think it should be the way I edited it and decide it's just too much trouble to fight it, or maybe they decided I was right (or the change was agreeable) after all. So far, so good. To paraphrase a song lyric - "One likes to believe in the freedom of the press. But glittering prizes and endless compromises shatter the illusion of integrity. - that same song contains the word unobtrusive, where I first saw it. "Begin the day with a friendly voice, a companion, unobtrusive…"

Good words to live by. :) irid:t 20:31, 6 April 2006 (UTC)
 * It's probably a requirement of being Canadian. Speaking of The Spirit of Radio, it occurs to me that the spoken Wikinews could be freely broadcast on Internet radio. I have run the control board before and have dropped in Earth & Sky spots.  I don't see why spoken Wikinews couldn't be treated the same. At the very least, we should get an RSS feed and podcast established… Karen 22:10, 6 April 2006 (UTC)

Either you're reading my mind, or you're reading my userpage. That is exactly what I've been saying. ;) More or less, I'd love to set up some sort of podcast, because there'd be much more motivation to stock it full of articles. Just like how there's more motivation to write a story when there's only two or three articles on the main page. I just don't know whether an iPod can play Ogg Vorbis (I don't think it can) and if not, we'd have trouble with doing an actual "podcast". As it is, however, we can "cast" to the home computers of users around the world automatically with some simple application. irid:t 22:19, 6 April 2006 (UTC)

Wikinews interviews Frugalware Linux founder
Thanks for the support on this Karen...Its odd that you posted the note yesterday as that was my birthday. There are some members of the WM community that would rather see me gone, as you may be well aware of. In any case, the article, while seeming newsworthy to some, might or might not be newsworthy to others. Let them delete it if they want... Google's got it cached... I'm laughing out loud.

And blogs, like the one linked to mine, don't erase so easily. And with a few edits, all the links will be in. Thank you again for your time patience and creative guidance, and believe it or not, Google ranks it up there on the first page of Frugalware links. Stay cool, we need more people like you. Chris Bradley 09:46, 7 April 2006 (UTC)


 * Don't let the opinions of one editor stop you - I didn't find anything objectionable after you and other contributors updated it. I encourage you to write more stories and interviews - take what you've learned (good and bad) and apply it next time - the publishing should go much smoother. Karen 07:38, 13 April 2006 (UTC)

Regarding my RfA
Karen, you persist in being awesome and quiet-as-a-mouse. Let's hope I can make some recordings where I'm not. ;) Thank you for your support of my RfA. irid:t 22:34, 10 April 2006 (UTC)
 * I wanted to be sure to vote after you accepted the nomination for adminship, but Neutralizer listed seven links to edits you had made to show why he opposed your nomination. I read them and they weren't very objectionable. One day someone on the fringes is going to be right about something, so I always try to verify what they're saying. Congratulations on your adminship. Karen 16:17, 12 April 2006 (UTC)

You know, for all intents and purposes, I'm not a very good candidate for adminship. The thing is, I'm a human being. I get emotional and perturbed and aggresive and generally irrational. I exhibit all the signs of a 2 year old holding the trigger to a bomb.

Considering this, however, almost every admin (but not all) on any website where ultimately anonymous access is the norm will feel this way. The "screw them all, I'll do what I want" attitude is always chomping at the bit when a dispute arises, and it is a true test of human decency and civility when that attitude is tempered. Given the state of things on a wiki, it's easy to say, then, that hardly anyone would qualify as a good candidate for adminship. Those that would qualify typically have better things to do (like running a household full of children, for example) and don't have the time.

I've thought about this a great deal, and I've come to the conclusion that we must take that risk of furious outbursts and unjustified reverts and blocks, in exchange for the janitorial work performed thanklessly each and every day. The people who are not perfect for the job (myself included) are generally the only ones willing to do it.

So, more or less, Neutralizer is right. It's a lot harder to get them out than it is to let them in. I sometimes react in a not-so-mature way to criticism and attacks. Does that mean I shouldn't be an admin? I don't know.

I'm glad, at least, that others here seem to be pretty sure. :) Thanks again. irid:t 16:39, 12 April 2006 (UTC)


 * I'm finding that as I exert more control, I must rationalize my actions more. At some point, I realise I've made a few mistakes, fortunately small style mistakes that I hope to correct. What my mission is seems to be to make the content more consistent, factual, and clear - which helps me as a writer and editor. I'm still not clear on what content is or isn't allowed here. The whole NPOV issue seems to be thrown around as personal hand grenades, sometimes in defense of someone's point of view instead of presenting a larger picture. I will more quickly object to a story that's poorly written than one that presents a particular point of view, simply because I want to be able to easily read a story and decide for myself if it's balanced. The good news is, in these cases, it's easier to rework and add to a well-written story with a point of view than it is to fix a poorly-written story. So yous-guys (sic) fight those battles and I'll just stay back for awhile proofreading and checking for style and grammar problems. Karen 16:53, 12 April 2006 (UTC)

U.S. claims of Iraqi bioweapons labs contradicted in classified Pentagon report filed on 27 May 2003
Thanks for fixing all my mistakes. I will start to pay more attention to spelling and the like, this is really quite embarrassing... --vonbergm 05:16, 13 April 2006 (UTC)


 * Thanks for the note! It's easy to fix the small mistakes. The story was very informative. Keep up the good work! Karen 05:23, 13 April 2006 (UTC)
 * Karen, you seem to be split on whether the article should see further development (or I can't figure out your comment). Care to be more specific on the type of development it needs or to help out? --vonbergm 16:23, 15 April 2006 (UTC)

I'm perfectly secure in my opinion that it must be published. If there are objectionable reasons, then re-develop the story to address them. If not, publish now. In this example, the story isn't as timely as some others. I'd say give it a week at most, then ignore any baseless objections and publish. But don't let one bad editor stop a good story from being published. Karen 18:00, 15 April 2006 (UTC)
 * Karen, sounds good. That's roughly what I was thinking too. --vonbergm 19:06, 15 April 2006 (UTC)

TEA!

 * I must be doing something right, nobody's been forced to say anything nice about me there until now. Karen 09:04, 22 April 2006 (UTC)

and thanks for cleaning up on Nigeria announces clearing of Paris Club debt. Doldrums 09:36, 22 April 2006 (UTC)


 * You are the most thanked user IMO, Well done :) Brian | (Talk) | New Zealand Portal 09:39, 22 April 2006 (UTC)

What I do is pretty easy. I've tried to write a story from sources, and it doesn't seem to be productive. At the current rate of stories, I can touch each one, and reach a few lingering in development - and even try to rescue a few. Then maybe drop in on some of the discussions here about how things are done (and who shot who while doing it). Hopefully I won't become cynical of the whole process - for now I'll just do the easy stuff, clean the small shiny pieces. Karen 21:01, 22 April 2006 (UTC)

Thank you
for all of your help with "PBS show asserts greenhouse gases, atmospheric pollutants dimming future" I appreciate it. I think this was a wikisuccess the story was not truncated out of existence like sometimes happens and it was brought into the format that is required here. You did a lot to help that to happen. So “Congratulations!” to you also. Isles 19:39, 24 April 2006 (UTC)

P.S. Sorry about my spelling - I know it matters to you.

Re: Great writing!
Thanks for your suggestions. I always seem to think that it's denotes ownership, hence the stuff up. My IT based background with poor english is coming to the fore now LOL. Thanks again - Cartman02au (Talk)(AU Portal) 08:38, 24 May 2006 (UTC)


 * Thank you Karen, for nice welcom Yrtsihpos 12:08, 27 May 2006 (UTC)

Thanks
Thanks for fixing up some of the mistakes in the articles I've been posting (writting good english isn't exactly my strong point). It's quite nice to be able to focus on getting the content out there and a strong idea of the point and not have to worry (much) when I mix up that and which. :-) Watching your edits has taught me a thing or two, but most of the time it's just overlooking what I wrote.  I'm going to have to pass you things from Wikipedia to review for me lol.  Anyhow, ciao! Ashlux 19:08, 11 June 2006 (UTC)
 * Maybe you could just blame it on your Dvorak keyboard. When you feel like using "which", just imagine it's not as important to the sentence and should be seperated from it with a comma. If it doesn't seem right to do so, just change it to "that". The edits I make aren't always because I want to inforce strict English, but more to keep Wikinews stories more standard in style.  If you have content on Wikipedia, just leave a note here and I'll give it a work-over. Or you could just write a script to do all the edits for you - hee~!  Karen 19:15, 11 June 2006 (UTC)
 * lol. Luckily most of what you've changed of my writing I know better, but I need time between writing it and editing it for silliness first. The which/that part I wasn't actually aware of before.  There are things that can do some grammar checking, maybe I should write something to use them? :-) Ashlux 19:44, 11 June 2006 (UTC)

Thank you!
Thank you very much for your grammatical fixes on Wikinews articles. I'd give you a Wikinews Trophy, but I don't feel like looking up the code right now. :) — THIS IS M ESSED OCKER  (TALK) 19:00, 28 June 2006 (UTC)


 * I wouldn't know where to put it, too many words around here to make room for pictures. I've noticed that the grammar fixes that usually are most frequent and typical spelling mistakes (not doubling the final consonant when adding "ed" and "ing" to "occur") have decreased. There's still the occasional repeated word word, but many of the style guide "violations" have decreased, also. Maybe people are starting to get tired of seeing my edits or maybe these things just go in cycles. No matter what the cause, my larger goal is to bring about more consistency across Wikinews stories. Of all the awards, I liked the "Squid in the sink" one best. Karen 19:10, 28 June 2006 (UTC)