User talk:Cymru.lass

Hi, would you be so kind as to give us support!

Hello, I hope you're doing fine and I sincerely apologize for this intrusion. My name's Claudi Balaguer (User Capsot from the Catalan Wikipedia and Occitan Wikiccionari), and sorry I'm not a Vulcan... I've just read your profile and I wasn't really able to figure out whether you're from Welsh descent or just using this name because you liked it. Well you seem to be a very interesting person (I wish that I could speak all the languages too...), interested in many things so I suppose you know what are a minorized language and culture and maybe I am not bothering you and you will help us... I'm a member of a Catalan association "Amical de la Viquipèdia" which is trying to get some recognition as a Catalan Chapter (an intermediate structure between the Wikipedias and the Wikimedia Foundation) but this hasn't been approved up to this moment because Catalan is not supported by a state even though our Association is working real hard. We would appreciate your support, visible if you stick this on your first page: Wikimedia CAT and/or sign the list of "Members and Supporters" that can be reached through the link inside the template. Thanks again (/diolch if you're from Welsh descent, if not well you will increase your knowledge...) for your attention, I wish you a wonderful, warm and sunny summer, and particularly more quiet and pleasant nights (I know what it is not to sleep enough or fine and well...) take care! Capsot (talk) 17:58, 30 August 2010 (UTC)

Hola, espero que mi inglés no haya sido tan malo... espero que ha sido sólo para que pudieras practicar un poco... Gracias por tu mensaje. Desde luego sí que existe una Viquipèdia y bueno funciona bastante bien. Lo que no tiene en cambio, es lo que se llama Chapter (si quieres más información puedes echar un vistazo a mi página de usuario), es decir una entidad intermedia entre la Viquipèdia i la Wikimedia Foundation. Por ejemplo esta acreditación te permite obtener un aspecto oficial para tractar con autoridades diversas, obtener subvenciones, liberar material en bibliotecas, archivos y realizar proyectos con más apoyo y oficialidad. Evidentemente nuestra asociación ya hace cosas pero nos resulta más difícil y complicado (y algunas no se podrán hacer) que si tuvieramos el sello oficial de la Wikimedia Foundation. Aparentemente sólo se quiere dar el estatuto de Chapter a entidades representativas de un estado (aunque existen un Chapter Nueva York y uno para Hong Kong... y que pasa si de repente el estado vecino te invade, pierdes tu Chapter?), pero si la Wikipedia tiene por base los idiomas dando de manera muy democrática a todos los locutores de cualquier idioma la posibilidad de crear una Wiki, porque a un nivel superior debe ser diferente? Si esto no cambia, además del catalá, muchísimas Wikipedias nunca tendrán un Chapter que les represente (lenguas minorizadas: vasco, bretón, occitano, gallego, retorománico, sardo, piemontés ... y también lenguas sin estado: esperanto, romani, ladino... o klingon!). Si necesitaras más información (o sólo para hablar), me puedes contactar. Gracias por tu atención. Dominas muy bien el español! Que te vaya todo muy bien y tengas mucho éxito en todos tus proyectos y tu vida en general. Fins una altra/Hasta otra, Capsot (talk) 13:08, 31 August 2010 (UTC)

Hi/hola again. Gracias por tu mensaje simpático. No te preocupes, tu español es bueno, sólo se deben mejorar una cosillas pero bueno lo conseguirás sin problemas... Te escribo español también ya que no tengo muchas oportunidades para practicarlo y bueno así voy practicando y además veo que te interesa practica este idioma asíi que: "No problemo!". De hecho todo es una región geográfica... la definición del Chapter es bastante ambigua y su aplicación a⌂n más, lo que entienden por "geographical region" es en realidad un estado soberano como España, Italia, Estados Unidos, México etc... Me alegro que sepas tantas cosas sobre Catalunya y la realidad catalanófona (vivo en la Catalunya del Nord y mis padres son valencianos...) y bueno a mi parecer no importa tanto la realidad estatal, o sea política, sino el hecho que la base de las Wikipedias son las lenguas y no los estados. No me parece mal que una lengua como el francés pueda gozar de diversos Chapters de "estado": Wikimedia France, Quebec... pero que se hará con el tibetano si tiene una Wikipèdia se supone que deberá depender de un Chapter chino? y qué hacer con los esperantistas que no tienen estado? y desde luego los catalanes y otros pueblos de Europa en situaciones similares... No digo que los Chapters de estado tengan malas intenciones hacia las lenguas minorizadas pero bueno en casos equivalentes en que se deba decidir de subvencionar un proyecto siempre se decidirá de ayudar la cosa que pueda alcanzar más gente (la lengua dominante entonces...) y no sé hasta que punto los locutores de un idioma dominante pueden llegar a defender uno de más débil... En todo caso, que te vaya todo muy bien, que tengas mucho éxito para tu regreso a la escuela (yo empecé ayer y vuelvo a ver algunos alumnos conocidos hoy; soy profesor de catalán y de inglés...) y que todo te vaya muy bien en general. Hasta la próxima, saludos Capsot (talk) 10:29, 2 September 2010 (UTC)

GOCE drive has begun

Hello, I just wanted to take a moment and announce that the September 2010 Backlog Elimination Drive has started, and will run for a month. Thanks for signing up. There's a special prize for most edits on the first day, in case you've got high ambitions. --Diannaa (Talk) 02:36, 1 September 2010 (UTC)

Delivered by MessageDeliveryBot on behalf of Diannaa at 03:17, 1 September 2010 (UTC).

October drive

Sorry, guys. The wikification drive has been bumped to October. You might have noticed already, however. I'm amazed how many people came on as soon as I sent out the invite. With a few more, we can easily meet our goal. Just remember. Concentrate your firepower on the 2008 articles, and you should have no problems. Great work! Also, if you have time, please also invite other users to participate. Thanks!

Delivered by MessageDeliveryBot on behalf of WikiProject Wikify at 21:05, 2 September 2010 (UTC).

Thanks for your help!

Thanks for all your helpful tips! I really apprecite it! I thought your tips were very helpful. Take care (Gertie1999 (talk)Gertie1999Gertie1999 (talk))

Monte Abantos

Ciao! Welcome... I am having fun correcting Spanish stuff lately (mostly format, when I feel active I also add history sections in city articles). Just some notes: Spanish kings names' should be in the English form (i.e.: Philip IV of Spain and not Felipe IV), as it's the one used for the articles name here. I also notice that sometimes there's confusion between cities and their provinces (many anglophones don't notice this distnction), and I try to correct this as possible. So, good work and thanks!! --'''Attilios''' (talk) 09:25, 13 September 2010 (UTC)

Clerk elections

Hi, this is just to inform you that elections for Clerkship at WP:UAA have started on the talk page. You have been sent this message because you were recently active in handling submissions or discussions. Discussion is ongoing and you are encouraged to voice your opinion on the candidates.

Delivered by MessageDeliveryBot on behalf of Fridae'sDoom (talk) at 06:44, 14 September 2010 (UTC).

GOCE newsletter

Greetings from the Guild of Copy Editors Backlog Elimination Drive! GOCE September 2010 backlog elimination drive progress graphs Participation report — We have 71 participants in the September drive. 95 people signed up for the July drive, and in May we had 36. Progress report — We have been making solid progress in eliminating the 2008 articles from the backlog so far. If we continue to focus our firepower we can completely wipe out 2008 from the queue. Overall volumes are lower than expected though, with nearly a thousand articles yet to be done if we are to meet our overall target. If you have not yet participated in the drive, we recommend you do so. If each person who signed up edits one article per day from now till the end of the month we can eliminate another 1,065 articles from the backlog. All contributions are appreciated. Announcement: credit for 10k+ articles — Participants editing a 10k word article may claim credit for two 5k+ articles on the leaderboard. Those that edit a 15k word article may claim credit for three. Regardless, the article is still counted as a single article in the tallies. Reminder — Articles from the Requests page can be included in your tally, even if they do not have a copy edit tag. This is a great place to go if you are interested in finding a higher quality article to work on. This newsletter was prepared for the GOCE by Diannaa (Talk), S Masters (talk),  HELLKNOWZ  ▎TALK, and The Raptor Let's talk.

Delivered by MessageDeliveryBot on behalf of The Guild of Copy Editors at 15:04, 15 September 2010 (UTC).

Alexander the Great Marathon

I've gone ahead with the move (no admin was needed as the redirect has only a one-edit history). Seems like a reasonable move to me to match the main article. To be honest, this is more of a translated name than anything else as the race has not received significant exposure in the English language yet. Thanks for the recommendation! SFB 18:48, 20 September 2010 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Pending changes/Straw poll on interim usage

Hi. As you recently commented in the straw poll regarding the ongoing usage and trial of Pending changes, this is to notify you that there is an interim straw poll with regard to keeping the tool switched on or switching it off while improvements are worked on and due for release on November 9, 2010. This new poll is only in regard to this issue and sets no precedent for any future usage. Your input on this issue is greatly appreciated. Off2riorob (talk) 23:31, 20 September 2010 (UTC)

Speedy deletion declined: Outwrite

Hello Cymru.lass. I am just letting you know that I declined the speedy deletion of Outwrite, a page you tagged for speedy deletion, because of the following concern: A7 does not apply to journals or newspapers. Thank you. — Malik Shabazz ^Talk/_Stalk 03:56, 23 September 2010 (UTC)

I took care of notifying the original tagger. Sorry for bothering you. — Malik Shabazz ^Talk/_Stalk 22:38, 23 September 2010 (UTC)

Speedy deletion declined: Screwed Up Click

Hello Cymru.lass. I am just letting you know that I declined the speedy deletion of Screwed Up Click, a page you tagged for speedy deletion, because of the following concern: Lnks to established acts is enough for A7. Take to AfD if required. Thank you. GedUK  09:37, 23 September 2010 (UTC)

Talkback

Hello, Cymru.lass. You have new messages at wikipedia talk:Twinkle.
Message added 00:00, 24 September 2010 (UTC). You can remove this notice at any time by removing the {{Talkback}} or {{Tb}} template.

Another message on the twinkle page. --Alpha Quadrant ^talk 01:27, 24 September 2010 (UTC)

Smile!

Hello Cymru.lass, Thesevenseas has smiled at you! Smiles promote WikiLove and hopefully this one has made your day better. Spread the WikiLove by smiling at someone else, whether it be someone you have had disagreements with in the past or a good friend. Go on, smile! Cheers, and happy editing!
Smile at others by adding {{subst:Smile}} to their talk page with a friendly message.

Set Sail For The Seven Seas 5° 20' 30" NET 00:21, 25 September 2010 (UTC)

Thanks for the simle Not meaning to sound rude, but do I know you? --- cymru lass ^{(hit me up)}⁄_{(background check)} 00:47, 25 September 2010 (UTC)

Possibly, you may have come across me around the place. Anyway, you sure know me now! Set Sail For The Seven Seas 14° 27' 0" NET 00:57, 25 September 2010 (UTC)

Random act of kindness? Nice Whoa--your sig changed color! --- cymru lass ^{(hit me up)}⁄_{(background check)} 00:59, 25 September 2010 (UTC)

Indeed! My chameleonic signature. I use the switch parser function to change the colour each time I sign. It's quite crafty. It's based on various colour changers I've seen on userpages. Come to think of it, you could use in just about anything that uses colour. I can show you how to use it if you want. Set Sail For The Seven Seas 16° 39' 15" NET 01:06, 25 September 2010 (UTC)

Sure, that'd be cool. First of all, what's a switch parser function? My programming experience is limited to TI-84s, anything more complicated and I'm befuddled. --- cymru lass ^{(hit me up)}⁄_{(background check)} 01:08, 25 September 2010 (UTC)

Ah, a graphical calculator, I take it you're a mathematician? Anyway, the parser functions aren't too complicated to use one you get the hang of them. Basically, the parser functions are designed to calculate or check something and the n out put the result. Most of the instructions are here. In particular, the switch function takes an expression that outputs a number, finds the parameter that matches the number and then uses the parameter value as the output. If it doesn't find anything, it outputs the default value. This is what it looks like.

{{#switch: {{#expr:{{NUMBEROFEDITS:R}} mod 10}}|0=|1=|2=|3=|4=|5=|6=|7=|8=|9=|#default=}}

Here it is set with mod 10, so it will values from 0-9, but this can be changed. In my case I use mod 68, giving me 68 different colours for my signature and that's pretty much it. You can use it for just about anything. Have fun! Set Sail For The Seven Seas 20° 39' 45" NET 01:22, 25 September 2010 (UTC)

Wait. What's {{NUMBEROFEDITS:R}} mean? --- cymru lass ^{(hit me up)}⁄_{(background check)} 01:44, 25 September 2010 (UTC)

That's one of the magic words. It gives the total number of edits made to this wiki at any given time. the R parameter means you get a raw number with commas, so it can used in functions. Since this wiki is fast, I can use it a pseudorandom number generator to choose the colour of my sig. Set Sail For The Seven Seas 28° 31' 29" NET 01:54, 25 September 2010 (UTC)

Confusion reigns.... You only have 10 values in the switch and I'm 99% sure there have been more than ten edits to this wiki... --- cymru lass ^{(hit me up)}⁄_{(background check)} 01:56, 25 September 2010 (UTC)

Ah, this is where the mod 10 comes in. The valve that comes out is the remainder when {{NUMBEROFEDITS:R}} is divided by 10. So {{#expr:{{NUMBEROFEDITS:R}} mod 10}} will always give a number between 0 and 9. Set Sail For The Seven Seas 30° 24' 0" NET 02:01, 25 September 2010 (UTC)

This is starting to make a little sense. But what are #switch: and #expr: for? --- cymru lass ^{(hit me up)}⁄_{(background check)} 02:05, 25 September 2010 (UTC)

These are the parser functions. The #expr: function allows maths expressions to be calculated. So 1+1 gives 1+1, but {{#expr:1+1}} gives 2. The #switch: function will take the value and look for a match amongst the given options. When it find a match, it will display the item associated with the option. So in the case above, if {{#expr:{{NUMBEROFEDITS:R}} mod 10}} give out 0, then the item after the 0= will be displayed. There is an example of this here. Set Sail For The Seven Seas 35° 35' 45" NET 02:22, 25 September 2010 (UTC)

I have been trying to figure out stuff like this from reading the appropriate pages, and I have been befuddled. And you manage to explain it in about a paragraph. Amazing! --- cymru lass ^{(hit me up)}⁄_{(background check)} 02:32, 25 September 2010 (UTC)

That's great to hear! They can come in mighty handy at times. I tend to work with the templates here, so I'm very familiar with these functions. If you ever need any help with templates, functions, magic words or even Wikipedia in general, feel free to leave a note on my talk page and I'll gladly be of assistance. Happy editing! Set Sail For The Seven Seas 39° 59' 44" NET 02:39, 25 September 2010 (UTC)

Will do; I've been meaning to get into editing templates, but I don't quite know what I'm doing yet understatement of the year... --- cymru lass ^{(hit me up)}⁄_{(background check)} 02:42, 25 September 2010 (UTC)

They're quite straightforward to edit and use, one you get the hang of it. Not all templates are full of magic words and parser functions, there are some that only have text. It's usually best to make the edit when you see something that needs editing, just like with articles. I noticed that you've created a template. I've made a few additions and changes, mainly code based. Generally, user warning templates are worded in such a way that they don't use pronouns. So instead of:

“ I noticed you reverted vandalism on an article, and I wanted to say thanks for that! However, you forgot to warn the user who vandalized the page. ”

consider:

“ Thank you for reverting vandalism on an article, However, the user who vandalized the page has not been warned. ”

Also, instead of:

“ You can find a list of user talk template messages at Wikipedia:Template messages/User talk namespace. ”

consider:

“ A list of user talk template messages can be found at Wikipedia:Template messages/User talk namespace. ”

All in all, it's quite a good template! I also noticed that you do a good deal of vandalism reverting and article editing. It's always nice to try out something different! Set Sail For The Seven Seas 265° 34' 45" NET 17:42, 25 September 2010 (UTC)

Interesting. Why avoid pronouns? I understand avoiding "he" and "she" so as to be gender neutral, but why avoid "you"?

I'm trying to get more into template editing on this wiki because there are many templates on the simple wiki that need cleaning up for code, etc. My vandalism-reverting talents aren't much use over there, because the small amount of vandalism made to the simple wiki is caught and reverted too quickly for my computer to keep up. I still want to be useful, though, so I'm trying to learn more about templates over here. Once I'm pretty confident that I won't mess up the templates on simple wiki, I'll start helping out there. I figure it's probably better to learn on here, since there's a larger user base to seek help from--and to tell me what I'm doing wrong --- cymru lass ^{(hit me up)}⁄_{(background check)} 18:10, 25 September 2010 (UTC)

I'm not completely sure why, but I believe it's do to with not getting emotionally involved with vandals. Also, using "you" seems to imply pointing the finger at the editor being templated. It probably helps keep things calm here and prevent heated arguements. It seems to be the case on standard templates. It is calmer at SimpleWiki, sometimes I do help out with templates there myself. I suggest being bold when it come to editing templates. If you want, I could watch over your edits to templates just to make sure and correct you if you make a mistake. You may also catch me around SimpleWiki. Set Sail For The Seven Seas 280° 7' 0" NET 18:40, 25 September 2010 (UTC)

That makes sense. Also, I suppose if one were warning a shared IP, users of the IP that didn't vandalize would feel more like they were being blamed for something they didn't do.

I have noticed that it's a lot calmer over at simple. More relaxed, too.

Thanks for the offer of watching over my template edits. I think I'll take you up on that. Thanks! --- cymru lass ^{(hit me up)}⁄_{(background check)} 20:06, 25 September 2010 (UTC)

Oh, I saw that you added some code to Template:Uw-pleasewarn, one of "my" templates. What does the code you added do? --- cymru lass ^{(hit me up)}⁄_{(background check)} 03:30, 26 September 2010 (UTC)

Actually, I did three things. I added safesubst: to the magic words and parser functions, the icon parameter so that a custom icon can be chosen and the substcheck templates. The substcheck templates are equipped with code that will check for substitution and return an error if it hasn't been substituted. So

{{uw-pleasewarn}}

will now give

Hello, Cymru.lass, and thanks for your contributions. I noticed you reverted vandalism on an article, and I wanted to say thanks for that! However, you forgot to warn the user who vandalized the page. In the future, please warn users who vandalize. They may not understand Wikipedia policy on vandalism and test editing, and they need to be informed. Old warnings also help people warning vandals for subsequent vandalism, because they need to know how many times the user has vandalized to give them the right level of warning. You can find a list of user talk template messages at Wikipedia:Template messages/User talk namespace. This list doesn't just include vandalism warnings; it has warnings for other things like copyright infringement and spamming. Thanks again, Cymru.lass!

reminding editors to substitute the template. It's quite a crafty piece of code. The instructions for the two templates can be found here and here. Set Sail For The Seven Seas 170° 50' 0" NET 11:23, 26 September 2010 (UTC)

That's actually quite ingenious. Time for more confused questions, though: What's safesubst? I've tried to read stuff about it, but it all goes waaay over my head... I can program my TI-84 with a sudoku game, but I just can't understand some of this stuff! --- cymru lass ^{(hit me up)}⁄_{(background check)} 16:48, 26 September 2010 (UTC)

Safesubst will only substitute a template when the template above it is substituted. Considering the template above, if Template:uw-pleasewarn is transcluded then all the templates inside it that use safesubst will also be transcluded, but if Template:uw-pleasewarn is substituted then all the templates inside it that use safesubst will also be substituted. Set Sail For The Seven Seas 267° 16' 30" NET 17:49, 26 September 2010 (UTC)

Oh, okay. But how is that useful? Is it because you wouldn't want the templates within the template to subst on saving the template? --- cymru lass ^{(hit me up)}⁄_{(background check)} 17:50, 26 September 2010 (UTC)

Not quite, that's premature substitution. It's the reason why I didn't put the safesubst directly when I added it to Template:uw-pleasewarn. It's actually because you wouldn't want the templates within the template to subst on transcluding the template. If you do, the result can be very messy. Transcluding User:Thesevenseas/Signature is an example of this happening. See User:Thesevenseas/Sandbox for the result. With safesubst you transclude or substitute all at once. Set Sail For The Seven Seas 303° 22' 0" NET 20:13, 26 September 2010 (UTC)

Holy crud, that looks fun. Why does that happen? --- cymru lass ^{(hit me up)}⁄_{(background check)} 05:04, 27 September 2010 (UTC)

It's a feature of the MediaWiki software. Substituting templates within a template is not carried out when the template is transcluded. In fact, it is this very feature that allows us to check whether a template is substituted or not. I have looked over your contributions to the templates namespace and it looks like you've got the hang of things. Keep it up! Set Sail For The Seven Seas 231° 40' 45" NET 15:26, 27 September 2010 (UTC)

Thanks! And thanks for putting up with my incessant questions. I'm inherently curious Is there a Template tutorial? If not, someone should definitely work on starting one. Maybe that's something I'll do when I'm more experienced... --- cymru lass ^{(hit me up)}⁄_{(background check)} 22:11, 27 September 2010 (UTC)

I noticed this while looking through your contributions. It's very honest, since the right is usually only given to those who have created a lot of pages. However, as Geometry guy says, you are definitely trusted enough to have the right. There is a help page, which can be found here. However, you can still ask me questions since sometimes it's easier to have someone explain it that reading it on a help page. You can ask as many as you like, I'm fine with it. However, if it's something non-Wikipedia related, it's better to use email. Set Sail For The Seven Seas 195° 31' 45" NET 13:02, 28 September 2010 (UTC)

All right, thanks for letting me know! This has definitely been a big help to me. Thanks for clearing up my confusion. I actually don't have a confirmed e-mail on here; I never remember to check mine! But I will come to you if I need help with templates, which is guaranteed to happen. --- cymru lass ^{(hit me up)}⁄_{(background check)} 13:54, 28 September 2010 (UTC)

No problem! Just leave a note on my talk page. Good Luck! Feels like you're graduating from my non-existent academy! Set Sail For The Seven Seas 229° 57' 30" NET 15:19, 28 September 2010 (UTC)

Will do. Thanks! True that! --- cymru lass ^{(hit me up)}⁄_{(background check)} 22:14, 28 September 2010 (UTC)

Look forward to hearing from you! Set Sail For The Seven Seas 340° 0' 15" NET 22:40, 13 October 2010 (UTC)

Warning templates

Hello to you Cymru lass. Thanks for the information on warning templates. As you'll no doubt be aware, I am not fully familiar with all aspects of disciplinary procedure and oly recently did I discover those templates. They are useful in that they alert other patrol users or admins that a certain individual has been warned but by nature they do not draw attention to the particular edit or page that has been vandalised. All I know is that whoever is issuing these warnings is doing so very quickly without typing out full passages, and my only method to date has been to copy an example and then paste it on the user's talk page. If you know of the proper manner, I'd be very grateful if youn share it with me. Thanks. Evlekis (Евлекис) 10:44, 30 September 2010 (UTC)

(tps) You can find a list of all these user warning templates here. Those who are issuing these warnings very quickly are usually using semiautomated tools such as huggle or twinkle. Hope this helps. Set Sail For The Seven Seas 169° 1' 45" NET 11:16, 30 September 2010 (UTC)

Like The Seven Seas said, Twinkle is pretty good. Basically, it puts a little menu at the top of the screen (to the right of the read and edit buttons). It will help you automatically add user warnings and a whole bunch of other things.

What I was talking about is substitution. Click that link for more information; I'm running out the door so I don't have time to explain (Sorry!) --- cymru lass ^{(hit me up)}⁄_{(background check)} 13:59, 30 September 2010 (UTC)

@ Evlekis - Basically, substitution copies all of the marked template code onto the page in such a way that it won't update when the template is updated. To substitute a template just use

{{subst:template}}

where template is the name of the template in question.

@ cymru lass - Surprisingly, this link you gave didn't actually exist! I guess everyone uses this link instead. Set Sail For The Seven Seas 243° 14' 45" NET 16:12, 30 September 2010 (UTC)

Thanks both of you for the information. I'm quite interested in this Twinkle arrangement. How do you apply for that status? Evlekis (Евлекис) 16:34, 30 September 2010 (UTC)

I believe you can use it by checking the twinkle box under the gadgets tab in my preferences, see here for more details. Set Sail For The Seven Seas 287° 6' 30" NET 19:08, 30 September 2010 (UTC)

Yep, should be under gadgets in my preferences. If you can't find it, then go to Special:MyPage/skin.js, which is your skin file, and paste this:

importScript('User:AzaToth/twinkle.js');

into the page and save it. --- cymru lass ^{(hit me up)}⁄_{(background check)} 22:26, 30 September 2010 (UTC)

Come to think of it, you'd probably be more in the know about this than me, since I've never actually used twinkle or any of the other anti vandal scripts for that matter! Set Sail For The Seven Seas 342° 56' 30" NET 22:51, 13 October 2010 (UTC)

Really? I'm kind of addicted Actually, I'm addicted to all my tools... One time, my browser stopped working with JavaScript and I couldn't use WikEd... I about died --- cymru lass ^{(hit me up)}⁄_{(background check)} 22:56, 13 October 2010 (UTC)

Indeed so! Mind you, as a templatey person, I find that they don't really come in useful, especially for editing templates and wikicode! Why don't you should become a templatey gal and help out in the template namespace? That'll help cure your addiction to tools! Set Sail For The Seven Seas 346° 34' 45" NET 23:06, 13 October 2010 (UTC)

It's definitely an area of interest! I'm not sure where to begin, though. It's all so big and scary and complicated Deja vu! (I'd type it with proper accent-age, but I'm lazy today.) I love how they have adoption/mentoring for everything but potential templatey people... --- cymru lass ^{(hit me up)}⁄_{(background check)} 23:25, 13 October 2010 (UTC)

Well, you can think of me as an adopter of potential templatey people! I've given some ideas below, so we can carry on this conversation there. Set Sail For The Seven Seas 13° 46' 45" NET 00:55, 14 October 2010 (UTC)

Lydenberg Edits

Hi Cymru.lass! Thank you for your advice and editing of my Harry M. Lydenberg page. I was having a really tough time figuring out the block quote indent. I made it 'go public', and I'm hoping that's all I need to do before tomorrow. If you see any other technical things that need fixing, please feel free. Thanks again...much appreciated! -Anne Anneelias (talk) 00:57, 2 October 2010 (UTC)

September 2010 Backlog Elimination Drive Conclusion

GOCE September 2010 backlog elimination drive progress graphs Greetings from the Guild of Copy Editors September 2010 Backlog Elimination Drive. Thanks to all who participated! Several of our top editors were called away to real life concerns during the month (be careful out there, people!). This meant that once again, we did not meet all our lofty targets, but we did come close. Stats Out of 76 registered editors, 45 actively participated. We nearly wiped out the 2008 articles from the backlog—there were only 13 remaining when the drive closed. We reduced the backlog by 725 articles (11.5%), so it was another successful drive. A total of 59 barnstars will be awarded to 40 editors—well done, and congratulations to all. Barnstars If you copy edited at least 4,000 words, you qualify for a barnstar. If you edited in the July 2010 GOCE Backlog Elimination Drive, you may have earned rollover words, which counted towards this month's barnstars (except for the leaderboard awards). Any unused word credits will be held over for the next drive, as long as you participated in the September drive. Over the course of the next week or two, we will be handing out the barnstars. Click here to see a list of barnstar winners. We will be holding our next drive in November. You can sign up here. A huge "thank you" to all editors who helped clear the backlog and to others who helped out behind-the-scenes. See you at the next drive, and until then, please continue to help us work through the backlog. Happy editing! Coordinator: ɳorɑfʈ Talk! Co-coordinators: Diannaa (Talk) and S Masters (talk). Newsletter by Diannaa (Talk) and The UtahraptorTalk to me/Contributions.

Delivered by MessageDeliveryBot on behalf of WikiProject Guild of Copy Editors at 07:18, 2 October 2010 (UTC).

Talk Page Archiving

I saw you needed help with talk page archiving. The most common 2 bots for this are ClueBot III and MiszaBot III. To use ClueBot III, you need to add the User:ClueBot III/ArchiveThis template with instructions given here. To use MiszaBot III, you need to add the User:MiszaBot/config template with instructions given here. Hope this helps. Set Sail For The Seven Seas 335° 0' 45" NET 22:20, 2 October 2010 (UTC)

Thanks for the advice I ended up going with manual archiving because I want to not only have old discussions stored somewhere, but I also want to bring bits of "fragmented" discussions (i.e., ones that took place on two user talk pages) into my archives. --- cymru lass ^{(hit me up)}⁄_{(background check)} 22:38, 2 October 2010 (UTC)

I see what you mean. I do the same as well. In fact, there are these two templates to help sort out fragmented discussions. I usually tend to defragment conversations while they're still fresh and then let an archiving bot to the rest. It's usually easiest that way. I could set up one of the bots to archive your talk page if you still want a bot to carry out the task and you're having trouble setting it up. I have MiszaBot III set up on my talk page. Just look for the User:MiszaBot/config template near the top of the page. It might help you set up the bot for your talk page. Set Sail For The Seven Seas 342° 56' 15" NET 22:51, 2 October 2010 (UTC)

I'm still not sold on the whole bot-archiving thing... Is there a way I could set it so that each archive is comprised of conversations from only one or two months? --- cymru lass ^{(hit me up)}⁄_{(background check)} 22:54, 2 October 2010 (UTC)

Indeed there is! The archives can be sorted according to the months and years of each archived section. You just need to modify the archive parameter accordingly. For example, setting the archive parameter to User talk:Cymru.lass/%(monthname)s-%(year)d will give this.

class="wikitable "

The sections will then be archived according to the date. Hope this helps. Set Sail For The Seven Seas 350° 5' 15" NET 23:20, 2 October 2010 (UTC)

So how would I go about filling the template out? Would I have to have my archives named /May-2010, etc., or could I just keep the /Archive 1 format I'm using now? --- cymru lass ^{(hit me up)}⁄_{(background check)} 23:27, 2 October 2010 (UTC)

I think you would need to have your archives named /May-2010 if you want dated archives. I don't think you can have dated archives with the /Archive 1 format. Then again, the pages are created automatically by the bot. Set Sail For The Seven Seas 356° 12' 30" NET 23:44, 2 October 2010 (UTC)

True that. I'm still undecided, though. --- cymru lass ^{(hit me up)}⁄_{(background check)} 00:04, 3 October 2010 (UTC)

Once you've figured out what format you want, let me know what archive names you want and what you want at the top of each archive and I'll be able to set up the bot for you. Set Sail For The Seven Seas 2° 47' 15" NET 00:11, 3 October 2010 (UTC)

Great! Thanks. --- cymru lass ^{(hit me up)}⁄_{(background check)} 00:14, 3 October 2010 (UTC)

No problem! Set Sail For The Seven Seas 5° 55' 0" NET 00:23, 3 October 2010 (UTC)

Talkback

Hello, Cymru.lass. You have new messages at Ale jrb's talk page.
Message added 22:22, 3 October 2010 (UTC). You can remove this notice at any time by removing the {{Talkback}} or {{Tb}} template.

~NerdyScienceDude 22:22, 3 October 2010 (UTC)

Quick Bit Of Advice

I noticed that you nominated these two pages for deletion. In these cases, it possible to accelerate the deletion of theses pages via the criteria for speedy deletion rather than sending them to XfD, since this will probably result in a speedy delete anyway. Generally, it's best to use WP:CSD if it's obvious that a page should be deleted and there will be no opposition to its deletion. Hope this helps. Set Sail For The Seven Seas 346° 52' 30" NET 23:07, 3 October 2010 (UTC)

I wasn't sure if they should be speedied or not, so I just decided to play it safe. What criteria would User talk:Vaibhav232323 fit? --- cymru lass ^{(hit me up)}⁄_{(background check)} 23:15, 3 October 2010 (UTC)

I believe it comes under, A10 - Recently created article that duplicates an existing topic. However, I would think that this criteria would be mainly for the article space, but this seems to be the closest criteria. It also violates the user page guidelines, so it can be speedy deleted for that reason. I think it may be time to create U4! Set Sail For The Seven Seas 352° 59' 15" NET 23:31, 3 October 2010 (UTC)

That U4 might be a good idea. Some stuff obviously merits speedying but doesn't exactly fit one category, especially when it comes to the User namespace. --- cymru lass ^{(hit me up)}⁄_{(background check)} 23:36, 3 October 2010 (UTC)

Seems like the community are against U4. Oh well, it was worth a try! Set Sail For The Seven Seas 213° 16' 45" NET 14:13, 13 October 2010 (UTC)

Oh, well. I do see what they mean though. Also, it's a bit of a fuzzy area. For example, User talk:Vaibhav232323 was obviously a deletable one, because it was obviously not a draft of a new article or a work-in-progress. There are also pages which are obviously not deletable, such as an actively edited draft. But then there's a gray area that'd be hard to define. --- cymru lass ^{(hit me up)}⁄_{(background check)} 20:08, 13 October 2010 (UTC)

I guess some of them could qualify under A10 or G12 and the rest can be kept. Set Sail For The Seven Seas 341° 7' 30" NET 22:44, 13 October 2010 (UTC)

Parameter removed

Hi there! This is just a quick note that I have removed the "review-needed" parameter on your editor review notice, as your talk page kept showing up in the backlog. Of course, you can still display that banner to request more reviews. Thanks. Netalarm^talk 22:17, 4 October 2010 (UTC)

Heh, whoops! I forgot to remove it . Thanks for doing it for me! --- cymru lass ^{(hit me up)}⁄_{(background check)} 23:21, 4 October 2010 (UTC)

Hindu terrorism

You're a braver person than I to fix the external links. :-) I started to do it but decided it was too much work to spend on an article that has almost no chance of surviving ('course I could be wrong). Your user page is very amusing!--Bbb23 (talk) 00:03, 6 October 2010 (UTC)

I'm told I have a weird sense of humour, so that explains the user page

I'm one of those people who is a slob in their own home but does peoples' dishes for them because they bother me I'm that way with copyediting, too. If I'm perusing a page and I see improperly formatted anything, I have the uncontrollable urge to edit it. I'm the only person I know who both reads and copyedits the political sections of the newspaper... --- cymru lass ^{(hit me up)}⁄_{(background check)} 00:11, 6 October 2010 (UTC)

Heh. I'm not as nice as you, or at least not as neurotic. I clean my own dishes (very tidy) and leave other people's dishes for them to clean, although I may leave their kitchen if the mess bothers me. If you feel some uncontrollable urge to continue this little chat (not that you have to), you don't have to tag my Talk page. I'm watching you. Thanks for the unintended education on the emoticons - never used them on Wikipedia before.--Bbb23 (talk) 00:27, 6 October 2010 (UTC)

Good to know, Big Brother

Kidding! (Again with the bad humour.) Yeah, a mentor of mine introduced me to smileys... He created a monster; I can't stop using them. Actually, I think I'm addicted to templates in general. I'm also notorious for carrying out random conversations in my edit summaries to peoples' talkpages. Edit summaries on peoples' talk pages are pretty much pointless, but my neuroticism kicks in if I don't use them on every single edit --- cymru lass ^{(hit me up)}⁄_{(background check)} 00:31, 6 October 2010 (UTC)

Help?

{{helpme}} Can't believe I'm actually using this template but... I need help and I can't figure out where to get it. Where do I go to report copyright infringement of the Wikipedia logo on another website? (For example here and here) --- cymru lass ^{(hit me up)}⁄_{(background check)} 03:58, 6 October 2010 (UTC)

I think you need to contact Mike Godwin, but I doubt the Foundation will take action against this petty stuff, so I'd ignore it (unless they are using the WP logo for commercial purposes). It's Uncyclopedia, y'know, making fun of us is their job? /ƒETCHCOMMS/ 04:11, 6 October 2010 (UTC)

True that, I guess. Thanks! --- cymru lass ^{(hit me up)}⁄_{(background check)} 04:12, 6 October 2010 (UTC)

(I wrote this twenty minutes ago and then had all kinds of problems with my internet connection) I think you might have better luck submitting this question to a wider audience at Wikipedia:Media copyright questions. I looked at the first link and I think that it may fall under fair use as a work of satire. I attempted some searches and found some related material but nothing right on point. See e.g., User talk:Jimbo Wales/Archive 43#Improper use of the Wikipedia Logo. I have in the past emailed users who are using our copyrighted material without proper attribution under CC-BY-SA/the GFDL and have had success with getting them to voluntarily take down the material or place proper attribution. You could try asking yourself, though this is a bit different since the Wikimedia Foundation owns the copyright, as opposed to material from articles that is infringed, the copyright of which is owned by Wikipedia contributors. The problem with enforcing offsite copyright violations is that it's easy to ask but, ultimately, the only way to force removal is legal action. I suppose you could send an email to User:Mike Godwin (general counsel for the Wikimedia Foundation).--Fuhghettaboutit (talk) 04:34, 6 October 2010 (UTC)

Thanks for the advice. I agree with what fetchcomms said, though. I don't think Uncyclopedia will really care if Wikipedia just requests that they not use the logo and legal action is probably not worth it. Ah well. --- cymru lass ^{(hit me up)}⁄_{(background check)} 13:52, 6 October 2010 (UTC)

Thank you

Thank you for the welcome; you're very kind. I do in fact have an account, but for various reason I no longer use it except on very rare occasions I'm trying to edit from behind a blocked institutional IP. --81.153.109.200 (talk) 05:30, 6 October 2010 (UTC)

Duly noted. I used to edit from an IP, too, but my IP's dynamic and I have to shut my computer down every few hours to keep it alive and I got more than a little frustrated with the constantly changing IP. But I digress... Happy editing! --- cymru lass ^{(hit me up)}⁄_{(background check)} 13:56, 6 October 2010 (UTC)

… and to think I created an account so I could have a cool username and signature! Set Sail For The Seven Seas 312° 6' 15" NET 20:48, 6 October 2010 (UTC)

Nice! Though a cool sig could be created for an IP thru template subst'ing. There's a long-term IP contributor floating around out there who created the code for a template for his/her sig and just had someone create it as a subpage of the IP's talk page or something I'm just one of those obsessive compulsive people who likes to keep track of things and I couldn't do it from an IP --- cymru lass ^{(hit me up)}⁄_{(background check)} 22:28, 6 October 2010 (UTC)

True, although I wouldn't have been able to include the idiom "Set Sail For The Seven Seas" in my signature on its own. I would have had to put the IP in the signature, which wouldn't have the same effect. I believe the long-term IP contributor is User:220.101.28.25 and they do indeed have a signature page. Also, I do like my current account name and it's nice to be able to get extra user rights to help you out. Set Sail For The Seven Seas 345° 13' 0" NET 23:00, 6 October 2010 (UTC)

True that! How long've you been editing WP? --- cymru lass ^{(hit me up)}⁄_{(background check)} 23:09, 6 October 2010 (UTC)

About 1+1⁄4 years. My first edit was on 24^th June 2009 and it still survives today! Set Sail For The Seven Seas 351° 37' 45" NET 23:26, 6 October 2010 (UTC)

Nice! I joined in May, so it's been.... 5 months on this account. But I'd been an IP for ages before that. --- cymru lass ^{(hit me up)}⁄_{(background check)} 23:30, 6 October 2010 (UTC)

Come to think of it, my first edit was the reason I have an account. I like the idea of keeping my edits together. Otherwise, someone else can take credit for your work! Set Sail For The Seven Seas 214° 16' 15" NET 14:17, 13 October 2010 (UTC)

Same here. If I had had a static IP, I'd always wonder what would happen if it did change, and someone ended up using my old address for vandalism. I think that happened with an IP contributor floating around there somewhere. --- cymru lass ^{(hit me up)}⁄_{(background check)} 20:11, 13 October 2010 (UTC)

Well, I wouldn't affect you, since you would then have a different IP. However, you'd then have to rebuild your edit count from scratch! Set Sail For The Seven Seas 342° 11' 45" NET 22:48, 13 October 2010 (UTC)

Service Awards

I noticed that you have the service awards template on your userpage, but you've commented it out for some reason. Is the problem due to the template itself? If so, I might be able to fix it up. Thanks. Set Sail For The Seven Seas 312° 46' 0" NET 20:51, 6 October 2010 (UTC)

Nah, I just don't really want to display it right now, but I wanted to be able to have the template readily accessible in case I ever wanted it :3 I've actually never looked at it! --- cymru lass ^{(hit me up)}⁄_{(background check)} 22:29, 6 October 2010 (UTC)

Fair enough. I guess as the creator of the template, I like to go round making sure it's working properly. Set Sail For The Seven Seas 345° 51' 0" NET 23:03, 6 October 2010 (UTC)

You made that template? Nice work! --- cymru lass ^{(hit me up)}⁄_{(background check)} 23:08, 6 October 2010 (UTC)

Yep! I made it to go alongside the renovation of the services awards. Set Sail For The Seven Seas 352° 51' 0" NET 23:31, 6 October 2010 (UTC)

That's pretty cool --- cymru lass ^{(hit me up)}⁄_{(background check)} 23:34, 6 October 2010 (UTC)

It seems like quite a good number of editors are usings it now. Although no one seems to use the caption customisation, the pièce de résistance of the service awards template! Set Sail For The Seven Seas 215° 21' 0" NET 14:21, 13 October 2010 (UTC)

Heh. I didn't know about the caption customisation! --- cymru lass ^{(hit me up)}⁄_{(background check)} 20:13, 13 October 2010 (UTC)

Not many people do! It's all documented here under caption customisation. Set Sail For The Seven Seas 343° 51' 45" NET 22:55, 13 October 2010 (UTC)

Nice! I'll take a look when I get the chance. --- cymru lass ^{(hit me up)}⁄_{(background check)} 22:57, 13 October 2010 (UTC)

Sounds good! In fact if you do use the caption customisation you'd be the only one to be using it and the second to have ever used it! Set Sail For The Seven Seas 347° 43' 0" NET 23:10, 13 October 2010 (UTC)

Reply

Hello again Cymru.lass. Thank you for the information on both accounts, informing me about people's behaviour on their own talk pages and the details on Twinkle. Just to clarify: I am British-born to parents who came from pre-1992 Yugoslavia, the Cyrillic script was and continues to be used down the east side of the former territory in the lands akin to where Orthodox Christians form a majority; that is my religion and background. To that end, I can speak, read and write Serbian, Macedonian and Bulgarian, all of which can be written in Cyrillic. I also have a reasonable knowledge of Ukrainian and Russian (and to a lesser extent, Belarussian) that are also Cyrillic script languages. Note one thing however, the term reading Cyrillic is complex. Unlike the Greek alphabet, it not used for one single language, neither is it used for languages of one single family. In fact after the Roman alphabet, Cyrillic is the second most widely used script in the world with regards number of languages (not users). If we are talking users, I think the Chinese script comes first; dominated mainly by the languages of China but also used for languages beyond. My point is that just as every language using the Roman script has its own orthography, so too is this the case with Cyrillic. And if you are familiar with Russian, just looking at some of the scripts used for languages formerly within the Soviet Union and those still spoken in Russia, you can barely recognise the Cyrillic shape of them. Unlike the Roman script which has 26 legal characters and a number of diacritics, there seems to be no restriction to any Cyrillic imports. This is how the South Slavic languages (esp Serbian) came to deploy /J/ directly from Latin; this way we can uphold a phonetical system of one grapheme per phoneme, so Russian/Bulgarian /ю/ became Serbian/Macedonian /ју/. Then there are basic differences, Russian /e/ is either pronounced "ye" (stressed) or "ee" (unstressed). So the pronunciation of my name in Russian would be "Ye-vli-ch'is" (the /i/ softening the /k/ that it follows). To demonstrate a near-correct guide to a Russian, I'd need to write /Євлъєкъис/. So what is your background? I've seen your user page, are you a Welsh girl? Or are you American to Welsh parents? I'm particularly interested in the Cymru forming part of your user name. Evlekis (Евлекис) 00:04, 7 October 2010 (UTC)

I'm what's called a Heinz 57 mutt—I've got a bit of everything in me, including a little Welsh. The cymru part of my username comes with my adoration of the Welsh language, which I desperately wish I spoke. I'll have to wait a while to learn Welsh, though.

Wow. You speak many languages. I tip my hat to you. (I'm a bit of a language nerd) I only speak English and Spanish for now--- cymru lass ^{(hit me up)}⁄_{(background check)} 00:15, 7 October 2010 (UTC)

Cuiously enough, yes I am very enthusiastic about all languages but the few I listed are all closely related and knowledge of one surmises certain knowledge of the others. It is also a coincidence that I happen to be in Wales now as I write this; last night when you posted the above message I was at work - in England - but I have come to Chepstow for the day because I love it here. In this town, you will not hear any Welsh and most of the people tend to have some English connection. So you're of 57 backgrounds and Welsh is one of them. I admit it's an interesting language too, more remote from English than Spanish and the Slavic languages I named that are written in Cyrillic. Seems hard to believe but when you examine the Welsh language, you see how different it is. So how do you come to know Spanish? I'm now trying to learn it and I am very fortunate that this is one language on which you can obtain a Michel Thomas course, I swear by them, as he was the world's finest language teacher. To that end, I am confident I will speak Spanish as well as you! Evlekis (Евлекис) 08:54, 7 October 2010 (UTC)

My mother's been speaking Spanish since she was 17, and I grew up hearing her speak Spanish while talking to patients on the phone (she's a doctor), so I've always had a little basic knowledge of Spanish. I got really serious about learning it once I began high school. I really want to go into linguistics; it's a subject area that fascinates me. By the way, since you're in Wales, you simply must go to the Wales Millennium Centre and Roald Dahl Plass (they're right next to each other). I haven't been to Wales yet, but my favourite TV series was shot around the Millenium Centre and it's pretty awesome. --- cymru lass ^{(hit me up)}⁄_{(background check)} 23:40, 8 October 2010 (UTC)

Well done to you on having picked up the language in your given circumstance. It is far from ideal but you obviously did well. Linguistics is a great interest of mine too, and you're in the right place: Wikipedia is a good starting block for this topic. I'm sorry I didn't go to those places but I was only in Chepstow across the Severn Bridge from where I live. I see more of Cardiff when I look across the Bristol Channel from Weston-Super-Mare. Atleast from there one can see the Millennium Stadium if not the arts place. Still, I'll bare all in mind when next visiting Cardiff!! :) Evlekis (Евлекис) 20:58, 9 October 2010 (UTC)

WikiProject Wikify October 2010 Backlog Elimination Drive

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Archive Notice

I've had a look at User:Cymru.lass/archive notice and added a few tweaks. I noticed that you had a section saying this.

“ In this case, it would be Talk:Insane Clown Posse. ”

This would cause the template to link to Talk:Insane Clown Posse regardless of what the page in question was! :O Set Sail For The Seven Seas 189° 26' 15" NET 12:37, 12 October 2010 (UTC)

Whoops! The text was copy-pasted from a personal note to an IP and then template-ified. I must've forgotten to remove that... Thanks! Other than that, how'd I do? I think I got the coding for parameters right, but I'm not sure. See User:Cymru.lass/lab rat for the tests I've done.

:Oh, I was also wondering how I can get the circly-icon thing to display as part of a paragraph, like in {{uw-vandal}} --- cymru lass ^{(hit me up)}⁄_{(background check)} 14:44, 12 October 2010 (UTC)

Never mind on that second one, I see you've done that. Thanks!! --- cymru lass ^{(hit me up)}⁄_{(background check)} 14:47, 12 October 2010 (UTC)

It seems like I'm one step ahead of you, my friend! It looks like you've done quite well! I'll add the subst check templates to it as well. Loving the sandbox name! Set Sail For The Seven Seas 216° 36' 15" NET 14:26, 13 October 2010 (UTC)

Thanks! As for the name, I already have a sandbox named "Sandbox" (used for working on articles), so I couldn't name it that. I was feeling particularly funky when I was testing out the templates, and "testcases" seemed too stuffy, hence the quirky name --- cymru lass ^{(hit me up)}⁄_{(background check)} 20:16, 13 October 2010 (UTC)

Well it sure put a smile a my face! All, I have is a sandbox and testcases page. However, it's all I need especially since I usually check everything in the preview mode and you don't need a sandbox for that! Set Sail For The Seven Seas 344° 54' 30" NET 22:59, 13 October 2010 (UTC)

I'm a fan of the preview button, too, but up until a week ago, I was on a childish PC. I had to work out some of the more puzzling issues in my sandbox. (I've been notoriously bad with geoboxes and coordinate templates.) --- cymru lass ^{(hit me up)}⁄_{(background check)} 23:01, 13 October 2010 (UTC)

The geoboxes and coordinate templates use really complex code, so you do need to be careful when editing them. If you're having trouble with the more complex templates, let me know and I'll see what I can do. Set Sail For The Seven Seas 349° 23' 30" NET 23:17, 13 October 2010 (UTC)

Actually, my troubles with those templates have been much more embarrassing, involving simply using them. Back then, I wouldn't've edited a template using a nine-foot pole to type out the code --- cymru lass ^{(hit me up)}⁄_{(background check)} 23:21, 13 October 2010 (UTC)

You needn't be embarrassed about using those templates. They can be tricky to use if you don't understand the format. I've done some editing with these templates, so I can help out with that as well. Set Sail For The Seven Seas 352° 33' 0" NET 23:30, 13 October 2010 (UTC)

Good to know! I'll drop you a line if I ever need help in that area. Mark my words, I probably will. --- cymru lass ^{(hit me up)}⁄_{(background check)} 23:41, 13 October 2010 (UTC)

No problem! I'll remember that! Set Sail For The Seven Seas 1° 18' 30" NET 00:05, 14 October 2010 (UTC)

Any ideas on where I should start with template editing? --- cymru lass ^{(hit me up)}⁄_{(background check)} 00:08, 14 October 2010 (UTC)

I'm not too sure. One of the things I do is standardisation of templates and their documentation, like Template:Current daylight saving offset documentation and Template:File deletion template notice, which hold common documentation for several templates. If you find more templates where Template:File deletion template notice can be used, you can transclude it onto the relevant documentation subpages. There are examples under "see also" at Template:File deletion template notice. Something slightly easier you could do is look out for templates with documentation that isn't on a subpage. You can then move the documentation to the subpage. An example of this can be seen at Template:SD warn-needed and Template:SD warn-needed/doc where I moved the documentation from the former to the latter. On another note, I noticed that your edit here caused a template loop! However, it wasn't quite your fault. The Singlenotice template is used instead of the documentation so the documentation subpage is redundant. Good luck! Set Sail For The Seven Seas 12° 29' 45" NET 00:49, 14 October 2010 (UTC)

Whoops! I didn't know that... Should I remove the original documentation then? --- cymru lass ^{(hit me up)}⁄_{(background check)} 01:53, 14 October 2010 (UTC)

I've already sorted it out, it's fine now. You may also want to take a look at Category:Wikipedia template cleanup. Not all templates are full of magic words and parser functions, there are some that only have text! Here are Template:Generic Merit Badge and Template:Fictional animal category, two templates where the documentation is on the template page rather than the documentation subpage. See if you can fix them up as I did with Template:SD warn-needed and Template:SD warn-needed/doc. Good luck! Set Sail For The Seven Seas 299° 2' 30" NET 19:56, 14 October 2010 (UTC)

All right. I'll do those when I get the chance—I'm a little busy with work right now --- cymru lass ^{(hit me up)}⁄_{(background check)} 22:50, 15 October 2010 (UTC)

Good job! The rationale behind moving documentation to subpages is so that it can still be edited when the template itself is protected. One example of this is Template:!, which is fully protected but the documentation can still be edited. Set Sail For The Seven Seas 274° 15' 30" NET 18:17, 16 October 2010 (UTC)

Oh, that reminded me of a question I had. What's cascading protection? --- cymru lass ^{(hit me up)}⁄_{(background check)} 18:20, 16 October 2010 (UTC)

Funny you should ask that! I was just dealing with something to do with cascading protection earlier today! Basically, cascade protecting a page will fully protect the page and extend that full protection to all the templates transcluded on that page. For example, if your user talk page was fully protected with the cascading option then the following templates would also be fully protected: Template:divbox, Template:editor review, Template:archive banner, Template:talkback, Template:talkback, Template:uw-pleasewarn and of course Template:=) . This because they're all transcluded on your talk page. This option is used so that all of the visible content on a page can be restricted from editing. You can read about it here. Set Sail For The Seven Seas 279° 57' 15" NET 18:39, 16 October 2010 (UTC)

Interesting. So I'm guessing the main page is cascade protected? --- cymru lass ^{(hit me up)}⁄_{(background check)} 18:44, 16 October 2010 (UTC)

Definitely! In fact, this is a classic case. It's security is so tight that it is not only protected itself through cascade protection but cascaded protected ten times by having it transcluded onto ten different cascade protected pages! Set Sail For The Seven Seas 282° 12' 44" NET 18:48, 16 October 2010 (UTC)

Nice. I suppose it would be kind of awful if the Main Page got vandalized By the way, I've gone ahead and done the doc pages for those templates! I think. It might have been a dream, though... :P --- cymru lass ^{(hit me up)}⁄_{(background check)} 18:55, 16 October 2010 (UTC)

It has got vandalised in the past, quite badly! I noticed you'd done the doc pages and really well for that matter, well done! I mentioned the rationale for this above. It's more important for semiprotected templates but it's recommended for all. It's even more important for fully protected templates, but we'd need to ask an administrator to deal with the template side of things since we're not administrators yet! Set Sail For The Seven Seas 289° 30' 0" NET 19:18, 16 October 2010 (UTC)

Thanks for helping out with all these template-y questions! --- cymru lass ^{(hit me up)}⁄_{(background check)} 20:32, 16 October 2010 (UTC)

No problem! By the way, are you a mathematician by any chance? Since you mentioned the TI-84, which is a graphical calculator. A good knowledge of mathematics can actually help when using templates here, especially those at Category:Date mathematics templates. Also, how familiar are you with the various magic words and parser functions at the moment? Which ones do you still find confusing? If there are any, let me know and I'll explain how they work. Set Sail For The Seven Seas 326° 17' 45" NET 21:45, 16 October 2010 (UTC)

I'm not a professional mathematician, but I am very mathematically minded—I was doing high-school algebra and geometry in fourth and fifth grade. As far as magic words and parser functions, I'm a bit fuzzy. I know what magic words are, but don't have any memorized, outside of __TOC__ __NOTOC__ __FORCETOC__ __NOINDEX__ {{CURRENTYEAR}} {{CURRENTMONTH}} {{CURRENTTIMESTAMP}} {{REVISIONUSER}} {{NUMBEROFPAGES}} and a couple of pagename ones. As for parser functions, I'm not just fuzzy, I'm trying to see with my contacts out They befuddle me. I understand their purpose, I can just never keep the specific uses in my head. I did do a sort of am-I-likely-online test-thing (checking time and day of the week), which is transcluded at the top of this page from User:Cymru.lass/Sandbox. (I can never remember to update my status otherwise; 99% of the time it's at around.) But that thing took me several hours. Help with understanding parser functions would be appreciated. Thanks! --- cymru lass ^{(hit me up)}⁄_{(background check)} 22:12, 16 October 2010 (UTC)

That's brilliant! If you can do that then you're well on your way to understanding magic words and parser functions. It took me a while to get my head around it! It works well for weekdays, however for the weekend it will report you as online 8:00-15:00 and as at school 0:00-8:00 and 15:00-24:00! . This is because the first value gives 1, the second value gives 0, the ifeq compares the two reporting a mismatch and saying you're at school. Anyway, this is what I gather from what I see. Firstly this is the code used.

{{#ifeq: {{#ifeq: {{#ifexpr: {{#time: H | -8 hours }} > 8 | 1 | 0 }} | {{#ifexpr: {{#time: H | -8 hours }} < 15 | 1 | 0 }} | 0 | 1 }} | {{#ifexpr: {{#time: N | -8 hours }} < 6 | 1 | 0 }} | I'm probably online | I'm probably at school and offline }}

This bit

{{#ifeq: {{#ifexpr: {{#time: H | -8 hours }} > 8 | 1 | 0 }} | {{#ifexpr: {{#time: H | -8 hours }} < 15 | 1 | 0 }} | 0 | 1 }} (1)

appears to give 0 at 8:00-15:00 (school hours) and 1 otherwise (free hours). This bit

{{#ifexpr: {{#time: N | -8 hours }} < 6 | 1 | 0 }} (2)

appears to give 1 on a weekday and 0 on a weekend. This bit

{{#ifeq: (1) | (2) | I'm probably online | I'm probably at school and offline }}

then compares the two. So it will report you as online during free hours on a weekday and during school hours on a weekend and at school during school hours on a weekday and during free hours on a weekend! I also noticed that you've been experimenting with Template:Current daylight saving offset in Western US and Canada. It's quite a useful template and I'm looking to create versions for other countries. Set Sail For The Seven Seas 237° 21' 30" NET 15:49, 17 October 2010 (UTC)

Huh. Maybe I could take out the "weekend test" bit of code and wrap the whole thing in a code that says, if it's the weekend, ignore this. Would {{#ifexpr: {{#time: N | -8 hours }} < 6 | [insert rest of code here] | I might be online }} work?

As for the daylight savings offset thing, I'm willing to help you out if you want; just let me know --- cymru lass ^{(hit me up)}⁄_{(background check)} 16:46, 17 October 2010 (UTC)

That would work, where [insert rest of code here] is

{{#ifeq: {{#ifexpr: {{#time: H | -8 hours }} > 8 | 1 | 0 }} | {{#ifexpr: {{#time: H | -8 hours }} < 15 | 1 | 0 }} | I'm probably at school and offline | I'm probably online }}

and it should give the required results. Thanks for the offer to help out with the daylight savings offset thing, but it's on hold at the moment. However, I'll let you know when I carry on with it again. Set Sail For The Seven Seas 284° 1' 15" NET 18:56, 17 October 2010 (UTC)

Thanks! I'll change that. Could you believe I spent about 2 hours on that? I even drew little logic diagrams and everything --- cymru lass ^{(hit me up)}⁄_{(background check)} 19:00, 17 October 2010 (UTC)

That sounds really sweet! Well, I'm glad I was able to help out. Set Sail For The Seven Seas 302° 8' 45" NET 20:08, 17 October 2010 (UTC)

GOCE copy edit drive

Greetings, the Wikipedia Guild of Copy-Editors invites you to participate in the November 2010 Backlog Elimination Drive, a month-long effort to reduce the backlog of articles that require copy-editing. The drive will begin on 1 November at 00:00 (UTC) and will end on 30 November at 23:59 (UTC). The goal for this drive is to reduce the backlog by 10% (approximately 500 articles). We hope to focus our efforts on the oldest three months (January, February, and March 2009) and the newest three months (September, October, and November 2010) of articles in the queue. Sign-up has already begun at the November drive page, and will be open throughout the drive. If you have any questions or concerns, please leave a message on the drive's talk page. Before you begin copy-editing, please carefully read the instructions on the main drive page. Please make sure that you know how to copy-edit, and be familiar with the Wikipedia Manual of Style. Awards and barnstars A range of barnstars will be awarded to active participants, some of which are exclusive to GOCE drives. More information on awards can be found on the main drive page. Thank you; we look forward to meeting you on the drive! — The UtahraptorTalk to me/Contributions, S Masters (talk), and Diannaa (Talk)

Come back soon!

Don't be away for too long! I hope to see you back sometime soon! Set Sail For The Seven Seas 323° 20' 30" NET 21:33, 19 October 2010 (UTC)

Seconded! I sure hope it's nothing serious and that you'll be back soon! Salvio ^{Let's talk about it!} 16:35, 24 October 2010 (UTC)

I'm back-ish right now but I don't know how much I'll be actually on. Thanks for the well wishes! --- cymru lass ^{(hit me up)}⁄_{(background check)} 17:39, 24 October 2010 (UTC)

Update on Mexico City students

My students are now working a number of different articles in groups. These are Street marketing, PyMEs in Mexico, The Eyes of My Princess, Diagnostic Enterprise Method, El Tepeyac National Park, Alpura (company), Bernardo Quintana Arrioja and User:Oscarbrum/Epitafio De Un Asesino

Any and all help is appreciated.Thelmadatter (talk) 22:19, 21 October 2010 (UTC)

This will bug me forever if I don't ask

Well it certainly wasn't me on Dr Who production, and I was not aware of any one with my name like that. Your name looks like you might be near Cardiff, so perhaps you could pop over and ask! Or may be you were thinking of Claire Bartlett or Bobi Bartlett[1] or even Mike Bartlett. Graeme Bartlett (talk) 10:58, 26 October 2010 (UTC)

Thesevenseas Talkback

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

Set Sail For The Seven Seas 279° 31' 15" NET 18:38, 28 October 2010 (UTC)

Happy Birthday!!

Happy 16^th birthday, cymru lass! Have a great day! Set Sail For The Seven Seas 15° 30' 30" NET 01:02, 1 November 2010 (UTC)

Holy expletive, it's my birthday!

I forgot. Thanks for the birthday wishes! Happy Halloween!! --- cymru lass ^{(hit me up)}⁄_{(background check)} 01:04, 1 November 2010 (UTC)

I happened upon this page and learnt it's your birthday. I don't think we've met before, but just to spread the Wikilove: Happy Birthday! Heimstern Läufer (talk) 07:57, 1 November 2010 (UTC)

Why thank you, kind stranger! Aside from a friend who stayed up 'til midnight for me, no-one off-wiki has mentioned it yet. Then again, it is something like 2 AM.... --- cymru lass ^{(hit me up)}⁄_{(background check)} 08:01, 1 November 2010 (UTC)

Hey yeah - Happy Birthday from another Dr Who fan! Now you need more than a nibble to store your age! Graeme Bartlett (talk) 08:47, 1 November 2010 (UTC)

Thanks, Graeme! This is all very pleasant. This was actually the first thing I saw upon waking up due to forgetting to turn my laptop off! --- 14:02, 1 November 2010 (UTC)

You actually forgot is was your birthday? Might have been due to the concussion! Set Sail For The Seven Seas 213° 33' 0" NET 14:14, 1 November 2010 (UTC)

Penblwydd Hapus! (and that's about as far as my knowledge of Welsh goes I'm afraid) Hope you're having a lovely day. the wub "?!" 21:32, 1 November 2010 (UTC)

Hope I'm not late already ; however, buon compleanno from me too! Salvio ^{Let's talk about it!} 23:47, 1 November 2010 (UTC)

@TheSevenSeas, yes, I managed to forget it was my birthday I'm special like that. But it made it all that much better!

@the wub, thank you! I'd say thanks in Welsh, but I'm afraid I lack any knowledge whatsoever of the language, except "cymru". I won't get the chance to start learning for a few years

@Salvio, HI! Long time no talk! Thanks for the birthday wishes!! I love Italian (don't let my Spanish homies hear me saying that; they'll kill me :P)! You're definitely not too late, at least by my clock! --- cymru lass ^{(hit me up)}⁄_{(background check)} 00:38, 2 November 2010 (UTC)

I believe "thanks" in welsh is "diolch". There's always The Welsh Wikipedia if you're up for learning the language. Spanish and Italian are very similar languages, so it shouldn't be too bad. Forgetting does indeed make it that more special! Suprises are great! Set Sail For The Seven Seas 16° 13' 45" NET 01:04, 2 November 2010 (UTC)

Thanks for the Welsh tip ! Hahaha, the fact that Italian and Spanish makes the playful rivalry between my Spanish and Italian friends all the more "serious". --- cymru lass ^{(hit me up)}⁄_{(background check)} 01:09, 2 November 2010 (UTC)

No problem! I take it you're the inbetween? Someone's got to prevent World War III! Set Sail For The Seven Seas 256° 5' 0" NET 17:04, 2 November 2010 (UTC)

Hahaha yep! I'm the gringa who speaks Spanish better than several of the Latinas and used to speak Italian --- cymru lass ^{(hit me up)}⁄_{(background check)} 02:20, 3 November 2010 (UTC)

All that and to think Italy and Spain don't even share a border! I guess you should learn French then! Set Sail For The Seven Seas 321° 8' 15" NET 21:24, 3 November 2010 (UTC)

Yep, I'm taking it next year—despite the fact that the French accent is the only accent I can't imitate. I can even do accents when reading (Romanized) Arabic and Hindi, but when I try to read French, I sound like a strangled cat --- cymru lass ^{(hit me up)}⁄_{(background check)} 01:03, 4 November 2010 (UTC)

It takes time and practice to develop these things unless you've grown up with it. In that case, it becomes second nature. Can you actually read Arabic and Hindi? That's way better than French! Set Sail For The Seven Seas 325° 37' 15" NET 21:42, 4 November 2010 (UTC)

I can't read or understand Arabic and Hindi, but if I'm given a written-out (i.e., in the Roman alphabet) transliteration, I can do a passable accent. I pick up accents really easily—which isn't always a good thing. I spent 3 weeks in New Zealand almost five years ago, and I still speak with a en-zedder intonation and use their slang—which confuses the heck out of people, especially since I don't speak with an accent --- cymru lass ^{(hit me up)}⁄_{(background check)} 23:54, 4 November 2010 (UTC)

That could come in useful at times! One of my friends is a kiwi, so I sort of know some of the slang. Do you really sound like a strangled cat when you try to read French? It can't be that bad! You know what a strangled cat sounds like? All I've ever heard are cats squealing at one another! Now that's what you call a cat fight! Set Sail For The Seven Seas 3° 31' 30" NET 00:14, 5 November 2010 (UTC)

Well, I don't know what a strangled cat sounds like per se, but I'm guessing it's pretty close to me speaking French. I was in a French opera once (Carmen), and it took me forever to make sure I didn't sound like a fool! --- cymru lass ^{(hit me up)}⁄_{(background check)} 00:36, 5 November 2010 (UTC)

I didn't think so. I would be surprised if you did. Isn't that going round in circles? If you were in a French opera, then you must have a good accent! Set Sail For The Seven Seas 14° 10' 45" NET 00:56, 5 November 2010 (UTC)