User talk:Herbythyme/Compost2

'''This is my talk page archive - don't edit it. New messages on my talk page, thanks'''

Sorry
Dear Herbythyme,

I was just copying what the other similar pages had in them: links about the source of information where people could find more info if they wanted. I was trying to complete the page as much as I could. Because the other pages had that sort of link, to similar sites I used; I thought it was what Wikibooks wanted. I won't add any kind of links at all in the future. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by World-food-and-wine.com (talk • contribs) 00:42, 1 Dec 2006 (UTC)

Lost?
Hi Herbythyme,

I am new to this. How did you send me a message? How should I reply... I am lost.... —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Brileigh (talk • contribs) 10:02, 1 Dec 2006 (UTC)

Csn we chat on irc?Brileigh 10:36, 1 December 2006 (UTC)

I do not want to get too deeply involved in the machination of Wikibooks, but I think I can contribute to the DataPerfect book. Do you need to work collaboratively, if so how?Brileigh 10:45, 1 December 2006 (UTC)

Sysopbot
Did you notice my votes? :)

I agree with you, not on the IRC thing (that shouldn't be a place for policy debate IMO), but on the need for discussion. It's something we should consider (and the RFA is an interesting way to bring it up), but needs careful consideration. if it works the way it should, it would be a major asset. If it worked in any other way it would be a serious liability. -- SB_Johnny | talk 22:35, 2 December 2006 (UTC)

Tnx
Hi Herby,

Your comments are most appreciated and help me out a lot! Tnx.. Don't go to hard on me though, this wiki-stuff is all new to me :-). Keep posting usefull comments.. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Rikvanvelzen (talk • contribs) 13:42, 3 Dec 2006  (UTC)
 * Maybe you could help me on this one as well (instead of me looking for hours figuring out how to do it): Q. If I type 'Chronic Fatigue Syndrom' in the [search] box (at the left) "my" wikibook doesn't come up. What is the way to let it come up at search results? And is ther a way to enter keywords like for example embodiment, cfs, etc. to the book so when anybody searches on one of them the wikibook will come up at the search results?-- Rik
 * Great!!! Tnx man..?-- Rik

Category Help
Thanks for the tip Herby. I'll go through and do that as soon as I get a chance. Jguk had gone through all of "my" pages three or four months ago and added it that way, so I continued the tradition. I didn't really care for the way it grouped everything under "A" though, so I'm really glad you pointed this out. Thanks again! Jim Thomas 15:48, 3 December 2006 (UTC)


 * If you can do it quickly with software, then by all means, please do. I just wanted to spare you of the drudgery of doing a menial (and somewhat large) task.


 * Hi Herby. Yes, it would probably be wise to include the welcome template when I welcome my contributors.  I'll do that next time.  I have asked WK for his edit bot code - is that the same code your edit bot is based upon?


 * Ugh. I don't do Windows.  WK's bot is perl-based, while AWB is C#-based.  Sounds like they're not the same thing.  Thanks anyway.  Jim Thomas 14:49, 4 December 2006 (UTC)


 * Hi Herby. Two of my contributors have been working very hard this week, and they have outlined the requirements for all the honors that have been officially published by the Pathfinders organization.  The only red links in my book now are for honors that were approved in 2006 but not published.  That means it's time to pull the trigger on the Category editing bot.  Would you?  Basically, I'd like to have  added to the bottom of every honor that doesn't already have it.  Thanks in advance. Jim Thomas 03:19, 7 December 2006 (UTC)


 * Can you run the Category bot on the pages contributed by Rodney East too? There are also a few anonymous contribs from 24.15.132.65. Jim Thomas 18:11, 8 December 2006 (UTC)

Checkuser on you
Herby, would you be offended if a checkuser was run on you and your IPs "just in case"?

I'm only asking because you were around when we had that very strange thing happen on wikipedia's CVU (I'm sure you know what I mean).

Also wondering what you think about making a policy of always running checkuser on RfA nominees... seems to me it's something that's harmless enough, but in the worst case could prevent a major mistake from happening! -- SB_Johnny | talk 18:45, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

Some feedback on the "idea" of communicating
I'm not sure what you mean... you're talking about the use of "the staff account"? I guess I don't really see how you plan on using it :). In some ways I think we might need a "wikiproject" for the active people to talk to each other, but we kinda use the staff lounge for that now. How would it be different if we were doing that in the user space?

Sounds like another "perfectly good half-cocked idea... we do have a lot in common, eh? -- SB_Johnny | talk 18:56, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

RFA
Why did you suspend your RFA? --Derbeth talk 19:39, 3 December 2006 (UTC)


 * Uh, yeah....my question too. Derbeth was going to give you the tools, and then you "suspended" the RFA. Wake up and smell the fucking coffee herby... things don't happen fast on wikibooks, and hopefully never will. Your checkuser went through just fine: no worries (I didn't think there would be worries, but you and I know things that most wikibookians don't).


 * You're wanted, and needed, as an admin. You're a big voice in a small community, and we value what you have to say. We need someone like you to help with the admin tasks, for reasons you of all people know.


 * You're going to be a sysop, as soon as you accept it. When you become a sysop, you should comport youself to be as you think sysops should be. No melodramas, no flights of fancy, no acting against your best instincts. Stop fucking around, stop doubting yourself, and help us make wikibooks the place we want it to be. -- SB_Johnny | talk 22:49, 3 December 2006 (UTC)


 * I didn't even see the "suspended" note, so you are now a sysop anyway. Sorry I was away for so long, I had an emergency this weekend, and was away for several days. Either way, congratulations. --Whiteknight (talk) (projects) 02:08, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

No problem. Good to see you with the sysop rights. --Derbeth talk 14:35, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

Editors/Staff
I've seen that list that you have compiled about active contributors. I think this is a great list, and we should definately send messages to these users. Let's brain storm on precisely what we should say to try and get their interest? If we could just get all new users to watch the bulletin board, and then if we could post important messages there (or ask other users to post messages concerning their own books), that would be a great benefit to us. --Whiteknight (talk) (projects) 03:03, 4 December 2006 (UTC)


 * Also, as an addendum, perhaps we could improve the welcome template to mention the bulletin board, and suggest that all new users add it to their watchlist. Maybe we can ask the developers to add the bulletin board to the watchlist of all new users by default? --Whiteknight (talk) (projects) 03:04, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

Hi
Hi. Are you on IRC? Cheers, Unforgettableid 08:58, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

I liked the changes I made to the main page. Why didn't you? Cheers, Unforgettableid 09:00, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

Revert
As I got no response I am reverting to a midway compromise which is less different but still reads better and smoother than the original. Try reading both the old and the new versions out loud in your head and see. Cheers, Unforgettableid 09:08, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

OK
Makes sense. I'll leave it as the compromise version for now, though feel free to revert again. (It would be nice if you give specific criticism though, e.g. saying what you don't like :-)) If nobody complains, I hope to advance it to my new fully-sloganized version in the future. Cheers, Unforgettableid 09:12, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

Reply

 * Contribution appreciated - don't let me put you off, just urging some caution -- Herby talk thyme 09:13, 4 December 2006 (UTC)
 * Thanks for the warning. :) You're right - a full forwards change would be reverted soon -- if not by you, then by one of the other RC patrollers. Unforgettableid 09:15, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

reply

 * Yes, I'm w:user:unforgettableid Unforgettableid 09:16, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

reply 3
Good joke - other RC patrollers!! -- Herby talk thyme 09:16, 4 December 2006 (UTC)
 * :-) Unforgettableid 09:43, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

My Bot, your bot
I'm sure there are plenty of other bots and programs out there that do what my bot does. I wrote it mostly as an experiment to prove that I can do it, and now that I have it I have grown quite accustomed to the way it works. I Am going to download AWB soonish (probably), and give that a spin to see how it works. Maybe I can increase my productivity a little?

If you want an "Herbybot" account to receive the bot flag, you do have to apply on RFA. As much as I would like to, I can't just hand out the flag to every bot unilaterally, because that would be an abuse of my power. Flooding the RC list isn't really a big problem, necessarily, especially if it is the RC patrollers who are doing it. If you would prefer to have the bot flag anyway, put in a nomination, and you will probably get it. --Whiteknight (talk) (projects) 13:31, 4 December 2006 (UTC)


 * I downloaded AWB, and I played with it a little bit. It is an impressive tool, I will certainly admit that. I'm not sure i'm entirely comfortable with it (it has some "features" that I dont like), and I'm also upset that the IRC patroller can't be set to monitor #en.wikibooks (not yet, anyway). Eventually I will pull out my hex editor and "force it" to look at that channel, but I dont have the time for that kind of nonsense now. --Whiteknight (talk) (projects) 22:37, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

The Sims
I noticed you deleted The Sims. However since its the front page of a book, I noticed you forgot to delete all its subpages and talk pages too. There might even be templates that need to be deleted and associated category. I'd also remove all references to The Sims as well from other pages, like bookshelves and alphabetical listings, etc. So there's actually queit a bit more to do when deleting a book here. --dark lama  13:45, 4 December 2006 (UTC)


 * You can use Special:Prefixindex/The Sims to find what you need for the main pages and switch namespace to Talk for talk pages. I'd also check the What links here links and check "edit this page" if it looks like it might be using a template to see what the name is and check if it can be safely deleted by checking the what links here for it. If its only the book your deleting that uses it, I'd delete it as well. Sometimes books use images too that are only used in that book. I tend to delete them as well, especially for strategy guides, since there no use here. What images to delete is a judgement call though. Its better to keep if your unsure. --dark [[Image:Yin yang.svg|12px]] lama 13:55, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

I hope you haven't forgotten to take care of this. Yes I'm letting you do it, if for no other reasons because you started to and so you can get a feel how to delete an entire book. --dark lama  08:17, 6 December 2006 (UTC)

qr-dup and page duplications
I also just want to mention before you start deleting pages marked with qr-dup or delete because of duplication, that it might be better to check into merging pages rather then deleting them.

Most cases of duplication are probably going to be due to copy+paste jobs because the person didn't know how to move and will be an orphaned page. Check the edit histories to see if at some point they were identical. Only delete the orphaned page if the copy was made by the same person and the orphaned page has no other contributors but this person (other then the adding of a tag to have it deleted). In other words orphaned pages which have more then one contributor or in which the copy was not done by the original author shouldn't be deleted. Instead the orphaned page should be merged into the other page, in order to preserve edit histories as required by the GFDL. If you do this don't forget to follow some good advice in the MediaWiki Administrator's Handbook to make sure you correctly restore the page as it was before the merger. --dark lama  14:41, 4 December 2006 (UTC)


 * I might think of some other things, but thats it for now, other then suggesting you come to our IRC channel to chat and to vent some steam. Which is a good place to do this. :) I'm there right now in fact. --dark [[Image:Yin yang.svg|12px]] lama  15:03, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

Unblocking
Go to Special:Ipblocklist, and you'll see the "unblock" option at the end of each listing. -- SB_Johnny | talk 15:32, 5 December 2006 (UTC)
 * - you can find "exploitable server" in "SORBS-WEB". I am always sceptical with results of this check (see what does this tool say about your own IP, this will make you not trust it completely). I only block for a long time when there are more than 5 serious (red) reports. If the IP is from "strange" country or has a long history of vandalisms with no normal edits, I use longer blocks, and for the US I block rather shortly (two weeks is a maximum), unless it is certain that the host is zombie or something. When the tool shows "open proxy", I always block IP infinitely or for two years if I have any doubts.
 * If you have problems with assessing whether the IP belongs to a vandal/spammer, check Wikipedia page with contributions from it. Wikipedia admins often leave notes on the talk page saying that the IP belongs to a school (schould not be blocked for a long time) or it is an open proxy. --Derbeth talk 15:43, 5 December 2006 (UTC)
 * Oh, and by the way, you could put a notice on your userpage (in form of userbox or just plain text) informing your are an admin. --Derbeth talk 09:33, 6 December 2006 (UTC)
 * Just fine. --Derbeth talk 20:44, 6 December 2006 (UTC)

Regarding the "Unsolved archive" module
Herby, the VfD is on the talk page. Cheers, Iamunknown 16:35, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

Removing Spam
I didn't look at the main page just the talk page. I just thought any external advertising links should be removed regardless of what is on the main page. Maybe I'll take a look now. Xania 20:15, 5 December 2006 (UTC)

When Domains are not Spam
I got the message and read your preamble. YubNub commands are based on web services so it is kind of important to include the domain names. I guess that if spam became a problem in the Wikibook we could truncate the dot com portion of the URI's so that the content could be recognized easily.

-- Paul Boren 23:40, 5 December 2006 (EST)

Vandalism
Hi Herby,

I know you typically hit WB in the wee hours, so maybe you can take a look at the contributions of user Minus. I started to revert his vandalism, but then he started directing his attacks at my user and talk page, etc. Since I cannot block him, and I didn't want to engage in a tit-for-tat war, I gave up.

Jim Thomas 06:55, 6 December 2006 (UTC)


 * Just so you know withinfocus already took care of blocking Minus, and several people took care of reverting the vandalism. --dark [[Image:Yin yang.svg|12px]] lama 08:03, 6 December 2006 (UTC)


 * Thanks to all the people who reverted the "work" of Minus. Herby, I will think about becoming an admin.  The first place I saw what Minus was doing was on one of "my" pages.  I dug a little deeper to see what else he was up to, and was appalled enough that I decided to take action.  That's when he went for my user/talk pages.  I backed off at that point because I think he wanted to engage in a war.  I will think about adminship.  I have thought of it before, but decided not to because I wasn't ready to commit to the responsibilities that entails.  Also, there are a lot of "global issues" of which I am completely ignorant.  Thus far, I have played mostly in my own world.  But people like this guy sure do make you think. Oh - one other thing.  I do use Firefox, so I am indeed interested in the js offer.  Jim Thomas 19:07, 6 December 2006 (UTC) talk

Halo & Halo 2 subpages
Herby, what do you think of all the subpages of the former Halo and Halo 2 (I just created this redirect earlier tonight) Wikibooks. Should they be deleted? Should they all be redirected to Halo? Or should they be left alone? Does it even matter? I'm still in the mindset of Wikipedia, which is much more uppity than the mindset of Wikibooks. Cheers, Iamunknown 08:17, 6 December 2006 (UTC)


 * Halo is part of the WP Esperanza governing body... he probably made these for use on wikipedia. I'll chat with him about it. -- SB_Johnny | talk 13:49, 6 December 2006 (UTC)
 * Oh nevermind, these are something else. If there was a game guide there before, the redirect should be kept, and the page protected against any but sysop edits. -- SB_Johnny | talk 13:51, 6 December 2006 (UTC)


 * The protect thing is sefl-explanatory... just select "sysop only" in the dialog page.
 * Yup, subpages should be deleted, speedily. -- SB_Johnny | talk 13:56, 6 December 2006 (UTC)

Redundant images
Herby, is it appropriate for me to propose images for deletion at VfD? You may have noticed my message at the staff lounge concerning orphaned, redundant flags. I was expecting them to be speedily deleted, probably from my experience as a semi-deletionist-wikipedian. I know that it isn't necessary to delete them, but I like to get things done, so when I noticed them, I intended to promptly trash them. Thanks, Iamunknown 06:15, 6 December 2006 (UTC)

Stuff (cont'd.)
AWB apparently does moves. Go here and search (on the page) for "Move". It's on tab #3 (Start). I didn't know I could use AWB here. At Wikipedia, you had to sign up. I have it on my computer, but I've never used it. I kinda want to, but it seems intimidating. --Iamunknown 09:24, 6 December 2006 (UTC)


 * Popups is great. I've never used it before, but I like it. I'll be going to bed soon. Thx for the help. --Iamunknown 09:37, 6 December 2006 (UTC)


 * I noticed that. =P Only after I installed them though. Oh well, it's an easy fix. --Iamunknown 09:39, 6 December 2006 (UTC)

blocks for proxies
I don't know aboutthe Tor ones... you're better off asking darklama because I don't quite understand what they are.

It's not the default settings. Don't block anonymous users only... all edits from those IPs need to be blocked., including user accounts on those IPs (I might have to go back over darklamas, because I think at least some were blocking anons only, and the "pagemove vandals" might be using those (they/he always use accounts). -- SB_Johnny | talk 13:41, 6 December 2006 (UTC)


 * Yeah, brain not in full gear. :-( -- SB_Johnny | talk 13:52, 6 December 2006 (UTC)


 * There shouldn't be any need to go back over my open proxy blocks. I made sure to block anons and account creation indefinately when we were doing that. However I cannot remember rather I blocked any IPs that was from the Tor list. I may not have done so, I remember having doubts about whether to go ahead with them or not. --dark [[Image:Yin yang.svg|12px]] lama 16:22, 6 December 2006 (UTC)


 * You misunderstand the problem. When you block "anonymous only", that means that named accounts can still edit from that IP. Account creation doesn't prevent editing from accounts that have already been created, and some of our more serious vandals create their accounts long before they use them. -- SB_Johnny | talk 18:01, 6 December 2006 (UTC)


 * In that case all of mine need fixing. As all of them were marked with "anonymous only". I guess our new admin handbook needs to describe what exactly those options mean and do. --dark [[Image:Yin yang.svg|12px]] lama 18:11, 6 December 2006 (UTC)


 * " I guess our new admin handbook needs to describe what exactly those options mean and do." -- you read my mind :). Darklama, could you take some screenshots... one for blocking an IP (000.00.0), and another for blocking a named user (User:Really bad vandal)? I don't know how to take screenshots. -- SB_Johnny | talk 18:16, 6 December 2006 (UTC)


 * Just "caught" this conversation - the few I did will need redoing to - I took the unckecked default as ok like DL - I'll learn -- Herby talk thyme 09:34, 7 December 2006 (UTC)

Flyer, Gazette
A regular newsletter would be a nice idea! It would give us a way to contact the strong editors on a regular basis. All we would need to do really is to maintain a list of active contributors. There are two methods we could try: Once we get a system set up, we would then have to figure out what to include in the messages, and how regularly they would be sent. For instance, each message could include some basic news (Bulletin-Board style), and some "helpful hints" ("add the bulletin board to your watchlist", "how to report vandalism", etc). I think this idea has real potential. Hope to talk to you more about it later. --Whiteknight (talk) (projects) 15:12, 6 December 2006 (UTC)
 * 1) Mailing list. Either we could use the textbook-l list, or we could start our own. Of course, this would require that we get people to sign up for such a list, which many won't do voluntarily.
 * 2) Post messages on user pages. My bot could easily be used to post a message on everybody's userpage simultaneously. All we would need would be a list of recipients, and we could send out messages automatically (and with the bot flag!).

History merge?
One quick thing, then I gotta go to class. I just noticed you were on, and I was wondering if you could merge the history of A-level Mathematics/Discussion to Talk:A-level Mathematics. All edits at the former are at later dates than all edits at the latter. And I figure...discussion pages should go in their proper namespaces. I just don't want to copy-and-paste all the discussion. Thanks. --Iamunknown 16:50, 6 December 2006 (UTC)

Tasks

 * Double redirects, done. Iamunknown 21:40, 6 December 2006 (UTC)

Cheers for the welcome
Thanks :) HK51 22:24, 6 December 2006 (UTC)

Good morning...
A bit better, thanks. I was just going through CSD, no particular mission. I'm hoping to go to work today, but not sure just yet, so I might end up playing here instead. -- SB_Johnny | talk 11:32, 7 December 2006 (UTC)


 * I'm guessing they think next month is January 2006? -- SB_Johnny | talk 11:44, 7 December 2006 (UTC)


 * No, it should be protected... maybe move the new edits to the Jan 07 page. Watch my logs and contribs for the transwiki problem. -- SB_Johnny | talk 11:54, 7 December 2006 (UTC)


 * Now transwikied... see the diff on the wikipedia side as well. -- SB_Johnny | talk 12:00, 7 December 2006 (UTC)
 * Actually, the move/delete wasn't necessary... you can just import over what was there. -- SB_Johnny | talk 12:07, 7 December 2006 (UTC)

A friend just told me that Firefox has an IRC plugin, if you're interested. I mostly communicate through wikis and IRC in any case (you may have noticed I don't even check my email all that often). I'll think about the IM alternatives though... I'm also just worried it will just become one more distraction from writing. -- SB_Johnny | talk 16:35, 7 December 2006 (UTC)

Speedy close
Herby, I appreciate your tenacity on WB:VFD but I think you are at times closing too fast. In the case of Military finance you closed two days after you posted it. WB:DP advises waiting a week which is a good idea as the VfD process is about getting a number of people's opinions on the matter. --Swift 16:00, 7 December 2006 (UTC)


 * The following comment was moved from User talk:Swift --Swift 16:19, 7 December 2006 (UTC)
 * Fair comment - I kind of expected someone to pull me up on it. There was "effectively" no content would be my view and I see a sense in which it could have been speedy'd anyway.  Other side of the coin - I just rescued Arran from speedy.  I'd prefer VfD to focus on ones that are real judgment ones that to have the page cluttered so anyone passing might find it less easy to read.  I'll happily get it out of the bin if you feel strongly about it - let me know -- Herby  talk thyme 16:04, 7 December 2006 (UTC)


 * Yes, I feel very strongly on this. Once a page has been put in VfD it must wait a reasonable time for consensus. Thanks, --Swift 16:19, 7 December 2006 (UTC)


 * The following comment was moved from User talk:Swift --Swift 16:19, 7 December 2006 (UTC)
 * Additionally WB:DP actually states This part of the policy is not clearly defined, and needs to be sorted out. Further that WB:DP is open to interpretation -- Herby  talk thyme 16:19, 7 December 2006 (UTC)


 * There was a discussion about this a while back. I don't think this clause refers to the time before earliest close. The main unclear point was whether a period of inactivity should be required or a simple consensus (after some period of time) was sufficient sufficient. Something like one or two weeks was suggested as the period for comments &mdash; I have heard no arguments why any less would benefit the VfD which is explicitly created to get a broad feedback. --Swift 16:32, 7 December 2006 (UTC)


 * If I may interject here (hopefully not too rudely), The matter has essentially been sorted out on Decision making, and the deletion policy should probably be updated to reflect this. I am going to make this change to the deletion policy (removing the sentence about "needs to be sorted out", and including a reference to the decision-making policy.
 * That part aside, the policy is explicitly clear that a VfD must remain open for at least a week. The part that needed to be sorted out was the exact method and timeframe for obtaining concensus. --Whiteknight (talk) (projects) 18:59, 7 December 2006 (UTC)


 * My issue would have been whether the content could have allowed it to be speedy'd - that has been done by others before - but I accept that I was incorrect as far as existing policy is concerned -- Herby talk thyme 19:12, 7 December 2006 (UTC)

Adventist Temlplates
Hi Herby,

I just got a great note from Swift about the way I was using templates. As it turns out, you were right - that's not the way they're supposed to be used. Since you didn't know a better way, I thought I'd share the "better way" suggested by Swift. It's on my talk page if you want to check it out. Looks like I'll have a bit of clean up to do. Jim Thomas 16:53, 7 December 2006 (UTC)

That was fun
...'nuff said. -- SB_Johnny | talk 18:51, 7 December 2006 (UTC)


 * You said you were going offline, so didn't think you were around :). -- SB_Johnny | talk 18:52, 7 December 2006 (UTC)

Good morning Herby. What the heck are you talking about? :-) -- SB_Johnny | talk 13:20, 8 December 2006 (UTC)


 * I might take a look... trying to get a bit of writing done though, then off to work.
 * When you block one of those vandals, make sure to uncheck "block anonymous only", and make sure the third option (block all IPs used) is checked. This eliminates the need for checkuser, since you're fully blocking the IP anyway. -- SB_Johnny | talk 13:40, 8 December 2006 (UTC)
 * Oh BTW: if you want to make sure everything a vandal did was reverted, just look at their contribs. Any edit they made that wasn't followed by another edit will have "(Rollback)" next to it. If the rollback option doesn't appear, then the page was edited since the vandal's edit (by you or someone else). -- SB_Johnny | talk 13:45, 8 December 2006 (UTC)

AWB question
I can't use this bot (I use a mac), but can this thing categorize by any chance? If so, feel like running down the larger books in Special:Uncategorizedpages? -- SB_Johnny | talk 13:53, 8 December 2006 (UTC)


 * G'mornin. Never heard back from you on this. -- SB_Johnny | talk 09:15, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

RE: VfD Closings
To be fair, I don't think there are particularly any differences between the two VfDs, except perhaps that the page Rob deleted was a valid candidate for speedy deletion, while the page you deleted was not. Even then, I think it would be difficult to prove without a shadow of a doubt that Rob did the right thing. After all, the VfD nomination occured less then 7 days after the page was created (which is against policy in the first place), and then the VfD was not allowed to progress beyond 7 Days. To Rob's possible defense, there were a number of votes for "speedy delete" in the VfD, which perhaps could have indicated a general community desire to take care of the matter in a faster way then is generally recommended. However (and I have many "however"s), WB:DP states quite clearly that the only permissable votes are keep, and delete, and that any calls for speedy delete therefore shouldn't be regarded. Of course, this is an example of the wikibooks community uniformly acting in a way that is against policy, and the typical response to that is to change the wording of the policy to reflect the actual state of the community (instead of trying to force the community to conform to some policy document). I'll make a suggestion on Staff Lounge that the wording of WB:DP be updated to reflect the status quo. Pages that are candidates for speedy deletion can be deleted in a speedy manner, without necessarily having to walk on eggshells about it. Many times a page marked as SD will be kept for a while out of courtesy to the author, but there is nothing in policy that states an SD should not be dealt with all possible haste. In a direct answer to your question (finally), Rob felt the page was a valid candidate for speedy deletion, and took care of that VfD without delay (even though a delay would likely have been preferable). User:Swift thought that the page you closed on VfD was not a speedy delete candidate, and therefore should have been given more time. It's a tricky nuance, and one that shouldn't occur too often. --Whiteknight (talk) (projects) 14:11, 8 December 2006 (UTC)

Can you block 204.8.197.238?
He created an offensive new page directed to 'Wikipedia staff'. I've removed the offensive content and added a delete template. Xania 14:56, 8 December 2006 (UTC)

Forget it already done. Xania 14:57, 8 December 2006 (UTC)

My Main Template?
Hi Herby,

Which template is my main one? I can't find any malicious edits, but I'm sure I'm just not looking in the right place. Thanks for watching my back. Jim Thomas 16:35, 8 December 2006 (UTC)


 * Hey Herby - nevermind about running the bot to fix he category in my book. I found a way to add it to the Honor_header template.  Now it's pretty much everywhere it needs to be with almost no work whatsoever.  Well... I think it's working.  I took the category directive out of Airplane Modeling and noted that it still shows up in the category.  I might fool with a few more honors just to make sure before I start removing the category links.  Jim Thomas 03:14, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

Wikiversity...
I'm on it. If that IP continues to do it (just left him a note), please block him... he can reach me on wikiversity following the note on his talk page. -- SB_Johnny | talk 13:50, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

.js and bot
I really couldn't figure out anything with the mono.js thing. Must have been an Opera issue. I'd seen that other people were reverting, etc, using this feature but for me it made me want to kill it.

I haven't voted for your bot. Are you sure it needs a vote and is it considered to be a bot? When I followed the link you gave, the first words were 'this is not a bot'. Xania 14:41, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

Bot
Don't know anything about that tool unfortunately. Maybe one day I'll want my own tools account and can make something like that myself, especially since I dislike some of its attributes.

I hadn't noticed you doing anything specific with bots, but many users are recently and that really needs to be something separate to keep its logging off certain pages like RC. It gives a gross misrepresentation of a user's edit count as well. If the community as a whole doesn't care too much then I guess I am overridden, but I don't think users should be allowed to run their own personal bots without a prior approval process. -<font color="#000000">within <font color="#7A7A7A">focus 20:19, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

Sysop
Thanks for your message. If I need any help I'll ask. Xania 15:28, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

Re: Hum
Sent via Special:Emailuser. Cheers, Iamunknown 18:05, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

mail
Hasn't come through yet (stupid yahoo server). If it's about what I think it's about, then you really should get on IRC. -- SB_Johnny | talk 18:41, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

Magick
no idea. Looks like some kind of yoga/meditation/humanitist king of thing. I thought it was a bad typo of magic at first. Xania 17:04, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

Re:VIP
I tend not to look at VIP if the last entry on that page was made by an admin. I do not know what User:Derbeth's policy is on the matter, but I know he is a much more proactive vandal fighter then I could ever be. I am certainly willing and able to run checkuser requests, just drop me a note on my talk page about it, and I will try to take care of it quickly. --Whiteknight (talk) (projects) 17:14, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

Re:Checkuser requests
I have run checkuser on the three users you have requested, and i have blocked all the source IP addresses for 1 week. All three of these users have come from separate IP addresses, and only the last one, User:Canadian 153 had any history of vandalism (shared IP with User:Hung Hi, one of the vandals who used the "stretch.jpg" image). If you need anything else, let me know. --Whiteknight (talk) (projects) 18:39, 11 December 2006 (UTC)


 * Also, (and I hope you dont mind) I have taken the liberty of protecting your user and user talk pages from being moved. This should help to prevent page-move vandalism of your user pages. I did this because it's my opinion that an admins user and user-talk pages should be available to users who need help, and if your page has been moved to something obscene, it isn't helpful. If you don't agree with this action, feel free to undo the protection.
 * As an aside, if you see pages that are repeat targets of pagemove vandalism, feel free to semi-protect them against page moves. --Whiteknight (talk) (projects) 18:43, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

Shaving
I thought about reverting the edit on Shaving but decided that it wasn't spam or vandalism. It was in a section on shaving your arse afterall... Xania 19:37, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

You used the word rectum when describing what area to avoid when shaving the buttocks. Actually, the term anus is better since the rectum includes the inside part and you mean the outside part. Also, it is not a problem for some people, I have shaved that area without problem many times. I think it depends on how curly your hair is as to whether or not you get bumps. --Psychofarm 03:31, 12 December 2006 (UTC)

Vandalism in Progress
Yeah, sure, every significant vandal using an account on Wikibooks is worth reporting to VIP, because me or Whiteknight can block the source IP. I wrote about a case when two mumfuns were using the same IP, I blocked it for a week. --Derbeth talk 20:04, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

Vfd-survived
Herby, just to let know, I added a little optional parameter to &#123;{vfd-survived}}. Now if you do &#123;{vfd-survived}}, where PageName is Wikibooks:Votes for Deletion/SubPage (or Wikibooks:Votes for Deletion#Section or Wikibooks:Votes for Deletion/ArhicveN#Section), then it converts the text, its archived entry, into a link to PageName with the same text. Cheers, Iamunknown 22:13, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

I just realised, I should probably add it to the documentation at &#123;{vfd-survived}}. Actually, I just realised that there exists no documentation at vfd-survived. I'll write it up later this week. --Iamunknown 22:15, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

Flyer
I think we should move forward with the newsletter idea soon. If you don't mind, I would like to post a message about it in the staff lounge, asking people to submit names of active contributors, and perhaps give suggestions about what kinds of information would be included in the first newsletter. I have already written up a bot program to deliver the letter to all the people in the list. The bot will check an online list, and send the message to everybody on the list. That way, people can opt out of the newsletter simply by removing their names from the list. Let me know what you think about this, and we can post a message on Staff lounge soon. --Whiteknight (talk) (projects) 02:05, 12 December 2006 (UTC)

the daylilies thing :)
yeah, I wrote the original module there (first thing I wrote on wikibooks, I think), and finally deleted the redirect a week or two ago because I thought it was unneeded. I'll re-make the redirect and leave a not on the IP's talk... hopefully it's not a dynamic IP. -- SB_Johnny | talk 12:20, 12 December 2006 (UTC)

Jersey Cow
Please see the comment I left on Darklama's talk page about user Jersey Cow. The block was because of actual vandalism and not the comments made in the Vandalism in Progress page. Please see Jersey Cow's contributions to see. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Xania (talk • contribs) 10:55, 13 Dec 2006 (UTC)

User:Jmoinian
I've noticed this kind of thing alot, especially with new users. Many of them don't understand that you can't begin a new line with a space, or else the text becomes "preformatted". Simply saying "You aren't using correct formatting" doesnt fix the problem, because these users don't know what they are doing wrong. Also, I've noticed that some new users don't get the hang of checking their talk page for new messages, so don't get discouraged if they don't respond to your message immediately.

As to the content, I think there is some boarderline material here, most of which suffers from the user's lack of knowledge of our policies. Much of this stuff looks like it would do better on wikipedia, or else it should be formatted into a single book (where all the pages he's created appear to be subpages of a single book). One of the best things that we can is to go back and fix the mistakes, send him a message that we did fix the mistakes, explain how we fixed them, and warn him not to do it anymore. Patience is a virtue! --Whiteknight (talk) (projects) 13:53, 13 December 2006 (UTC)


 * Hi herby... I though I had gotten back to you before but probably hit "preview" and forgot to save (happens to me more often than I'd like to admit).
 * There's been some discussion at wikiversity about actually blocking people who do this sort of thing after being informed/warned and without responding to notes on their talk pages. Now that blocked users can edit their talk pages, we might want to consider doing that here as well: not a "punitive" measure, but rather stopping the mess-making while we discuss things with them. -- SB_Johnny | talk 14:41, 13 December 2006 (UTC)

Newsletter, making it happen
I harvested your list of editors to make Active wikibookians. I also (finaly) posted a message about the newsletter on the staff lounge. Let me know what you think! --Whiteknight (talk) (projects) 00:05, 14 December 2006 (UTC)


 * I ran a quick test of my "deliverybot", and everything seems good to go: http://en.wikibooks.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:Whiteknight&diff=685859&oldid=685838 . All we need now is a list and a letter. --Whiteknight (talk) (projects) 00:53, 14 December 2006 (UTC)


 * I have a link for you: Wikibooks Gazette. It's not much yet, but we're working on it! --Whiteknight (talk) (projects) 02:45, 14 December 2006 (UTC)

Military Finance
Damn you beat me to it! Spent ages getting it right and making sure I was deleting the correct page. Then it tells me you've just deleted it! Thanks though. Xania 11:25, 14 December 2006 (UTC)

Friendly query
This query is not 'What are doing to 'my' pages' but 'Thanks for taking an interest in the Applied Science pages - what is the thinking behind your recent changes?'. What's 'alpha'?

8-)

Ewen 14:22, 15 December 2006 (UTC)

hrrm?
Problem? (Link please).

I'm just here a moment... gotta take the goat out. -- SB_Johnny | talk 19:57, 15 December 2006 (UTC)