User talk:Red Slash: Difference between revisions

Template:Myeager3 Do you have problems with my editing, me personally, etc.?

Have a request, RFA thanks, a note to drop, a comment to make on my amazing userpage, or random nonsense to drone on about? Are you a friend of mine from real life who just randomly googled Matt Yeager? Well, come on, leave a note, any note. Silence is not the way... we need to talk about it.

Larrys Creek

Hi Matt, since you promoted Larrys Creek to Good Article status, I thought you might be interested in its Featured Article candidacy, here: Wikipedia:Featured article candidates/Larrys Creek. Thanks, Ruhrfisch 18:21, 25 August 2006 (UTC) P.S. I enjoyed your all wikilink sentence very much. Take care.

• Thanks for your support on Larrys Creek's FAC - I appreciate it very much. Also, please feel free to edit what is overwikified. Take care, Ruhrfisch 02:53, 27 August 2006 (UTC)

	<font=3> Thanks again for your support and comments - Larrys Creek made featured article today! Take care, Ruhrfisch 03:30, 31 August 2006 (UTC)

Wooo-hoo indeed - it is a pretty good feeling to have an article make FA - thanks again for your help and take care, Ruhrfisch 14:11, 2 September 2006 (UTC)

Help us with the Washington template

Hi Matt,

I see that you didn't like some of the changes that I made to the Washington template. May I ask you what you didn't like in particular? Maybe we could come to some sort of a compromise. Along with some other members of U.S. State WikiProjects, I am working on a project to standardize the state templates, and I'd love to have your input. Take a look at the master list of templates at Wikipedia:WikiProject U.S. states/state templates, and if you feel like it, join the discussion at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject U.S. states/state templates. Thanks for your help!

Lovelac7 02:23, 3 September 2006 (UTC)

• Hey Matt, Nice job on the Washington template. I like the subtle reddish tint to the gray shading especially. I might have to use that from now on. Thanks! Lovelac7 02:51, 4 September 2006 (UTC)

September Esperanza Newsletter

Program Feature: Barnstar Brigade Here in Wikipedia there are hundreds of wikipedians whose work and efforts go unappreciated. One occasionally comes across editors who have thousands of good edits, but because they may not get around as much as others, their contributions and hard work often go unnoticed. As Esperanzians we can help to make people feel appreciated, be it by some kind words or the awarding of a Barnstar. This is where the Barnstar Brigade comes in. The object of this program is to seek out the people which deserve a Barnstar, and help them feel appreciated. With your help, we can recognize more dedicated editors! What's New? September elections are upon us! Anyone wishing to be a part of the Advisory Council may list themselves as a candidate from 18 September until 24 September, with the voting taking place from 25 September to 30 September. Those who wish to help with the election staff should also list themselves! Appreciation Week, a program currently in development, now has its own subpage! Share your good ideas on how to make it awesome there! The Esperanza front page has been redesigned! Many thanks to all who worked hard on it. Many thanks to MiszaBot, courtesy of Misza13, for delivering the newsletter.

The last AC meeting (full log) The proposals page has been updated, with some proposals being archived. Since the program in development Appretiaion week is getting lots of good ideas, it now has its own subpage. The September 2006 Council elections will open for nominations on 18 September 2006. The voting will run from 25 September 2006 until 30 September 2006. If you wish to be a candidate or a member of the elections staff, please list yourself! The new Esperanza front page design has but put up - many thanks to all who worked on it! TangoTango has written a script for a bot that will list new members of Esperanza, which will help those who welcome new Esperanzains greatly! Signed... Natalya, Banes, Celestianpower, EWS23, FireFox, Freakofnurture, and Titoxd 04:04, 18 September 2006 (UTC)

Although having the newsletter appear on everyone's userpage is desired, this may not be ideal for everyone. If, in the future, you wish to receive a link to the newsletter, rather than the newsletter itself, you may add yourself to Wikipedia:Esperanza/Newsletter/Opt Out List.

HEHE

HEY, NICE da ORGANIZATION iu've done on iur user page and sub-pages. Sorry but i'll copy your style on mine soon.--Walter Humala 05:16, 12 October 2006 (UTC)

November Esperanza Newsletter

Program Feature: Admin Coaching (needs coaches!) Admin Coaching needs coaches!!! If you are an administrator, or even a generally experienced user, do consider signing up to be a coach. Admin Coaching, now being coordinated by HighwayCello, is a program for people who want help learning some of the more subtle aspects of Wikipedia policy and culture. People are matched with experienced users who are willing to offer coaching. The program is designed for people who have figured out the basics of editing articles; they're not newcomers any more, but they might want some help in learning new roles. In this way, Esperanza would help keep hope alive for Wikipedia because we would always be grooming the next generation of admins. What's New? The Tutorial Drive is a new Esperanza program! In an effort to make complicated processes on Wikipedia easier for everyone, Esperanza working to create and compile a list of tutorials about processes here on Wikipedia. Consider writing one! A discussion on how Esperanza relates to the encyclopedia has been started; please add your thoughts. Many thanks to MiszaBot, courtesy of Misza13, for delivering the newsletter.

The last AC meeting (full log) The list of proposed programs has been updated, with some proposals being archived. There is now a new program: the Tutorial Drive! Consider writing a tutorial on something you are good at doing on Wikipedia. The suggestion of adding a cohesive look to all the Esperanza pages is being considered; join the discussion if you are interested! In order to make a useful interlanguage welcome template, those involved in translation projects will be asked what English Wikipedia policies are most important and confusing to editors coming from other language Wikipedias. A discussion of Esperanza's role in Wikipedia is being held, with all thoughts of all Esperanzians wanted! Shreshth91 informed everyone that he will be leaving the Esperanza council as life is rather busy; his spot will be filled by the runner up from the last election, HighwayCello. Signed... Natalya, Banes, Celestianpower, EWS23, FireFox, The Halo, Shreshth91 and HighwayCello 20:33, 1 November 2006 (UTC)

Although having the newsletter appear on everyone's userpage is desired, this may not be ideal for everyone. If, in the future, you wish to receive a link to the newsletter, rather than the newsletter itself, you may add yourself to Wikipedia:Esperanza/Newsletter/Opt Out List.

Re: Washington State

Washington State was redirecting to Washington for almost two and a half years before you changed it. You didn't have a good reason to change it. When you changed it, one person disagreed with the change and another pointed out that it introduces more confusion. I disagree with your change also. "As for 'Washington State', the phrase does only properly refer to one thing--the university." That is simply wrong. The Washington State Department of Health and the Washington State Department of Revenue aren't departments at Washington State University, for example. Moreover, "Washington State" may be less popular than "Washington state" as a means to differentiate the state from D.C. in prose, but that doesn't mean it's never used in this manner. Some people may even prefer the capitalized version because it constitutes a proper noun. For the broad, international audience we are writing for, "Washington State" most naturally refers to Washington; an abbreviation of a university's name, used primarily in the context of athletics, is subordinate. Punctured Bicycle 07:17, 17 November 2006 (UTC)

If you agree with me that "Washington State Department of Transportation" uses "Washington State" properly to refer to the state, then you are conceding that your original argument is wrong: the university doesn't "only properly refer to one thing--the university". You're right that "'Washington State' is NOT how one refers to the WSDOT, the WSDOJ, etc.", but I never tried to argue that it is.

My main argument depends upon the principle that Wikipedia is written for a general, international audience. Imagine this: You find a person from Australia or India or Canada. You hand them a card that says "Washington State" and nothing else. Their task is to describe what that term refers to. What do you think they will say? It is unlikely they have heard of the university, though they may have heard of the state. It is also unlikely that they know every nuance of capitalization; to them "Washington state" and "Washington State" are the same. This is true even for the general U.S. population. So, the most natural response is to describe a U.S. state. It is unlikely that someone handed this card would describe a university in Pullman. The fact is, "Washington State" refers to WSU only in limited contexts: it is used in this way primarily by U.S. college sports journalists, and by those associated with or geographically close to the university. I repeat that a general, international audience will miss the subtle distinction between "Washington state" and "Washington State"—why confuse the matter for them? For a general, international audience, "Washington State" more properly refers to the U.S. state. Punctured Bicycle 02:19, 18 November 2006 (UTC)

"If the person was typing with capitals, the university-searcher would doubtlessly type 'Washington State'--the state-searcher would most likely put 'Washington state'." It's equally as likely the state-searcher would type "Washington State". This is especially so for a general, international reader who may not know of the nuances that exist between the capitalized and non-capitalized version, as I've already said. I can even imagine someone from Pullman typing in "Washington State" and expecting the state article to come up. If we want to speculate about how people search realistically, this is my guess: a university-searcher who is attentive enough to use proper capitalization is attentive enough to spell out the whole phrase ("Washington State University"), in which case they would arrive at the article they are looking for. A university-searcher who is "lazy" enough to use the abbreviation is lazy enough to not bother holding shift to capitalize ("washington state"), in which case they would not arrive at the article they're looking for. "Washington State University" and "washington state" account for practically all of the university-searchers; "Washington State" should therefore be left for the state-searchers. But this is only my personal speculation; neither of us have access to data that reflects actual search practices for these subjects. So we must appeal to theoretical, common sense principles like the one I gave earlier: in the general, international context we are writing in, "Washington State" most naturally refers to the state. Punctured Bicycle 07:02, 18 November 2006 (UTC)

GWB article

I noticed you just created the article Public perception of George W. Bush. You may not be aware, but the Criticism of George W. Bush article was previously named (up until a couple weeks ago) Public perception and assessments of George W. Bush. I'm afraid this new article is simply a duplicate of the currect criticism article. -- AuburnPilot^talk 06:36, 24 November 2006 (UTC)

"I'm pretty happy about removing that"; as you should be. I actually think it is a great idea to move it to a separate article, but you also removed the main article link to the Criticism of George W. Bush article which has been the main article for that section for as long as I can recall. I believe it should remain the main article with the new one as a see also just below it. The two articles are about the same general information, but the original article still contains more content as a main. I'll blame editing at 2am for my very poor explanation here on your talk page. ;) -- AuburnPilot^talk 06:51, 24 November 2006 (UTC)

Hmmm....scratch that. You did exactly what should have been done...I misread the change you made...-- AuburnPilot^talk 06:53, 24 November 2006 (UTC)

ArbCom questions

Hi. I'm Ral315, editor of the Wikipedia Signpost. We're doing a series on ArbCom candidates, and your response is requested.

1. What positions do you hold (adminship, mediation, etc.)?

2. Why are you running for the Arbitration Committee?

3. Have you been involved in any arbitration cases? In what capacity?

Please respond on my talk page. We'll probably go to press late Monday or early Tuesday (UTC), but late responses will be added as they're submitted. Thanks, Ral315 (talk) 01:59, 27 November 2006 (UTC)

Portfolio for ArbCom

On Wikipedia:Arbitration Committee Elections December 2006/Summary table, I added a column "Examples" with links that exhibit a candidate's arbitration skills. My motivation is that as a voter, I don't want to just rely on a candidate's words, but also see their actions. Moreover, I believe a portfolio of "model cases" to remember in difficult situations can be useful for each candidate, as well.

So far I have entered examples for the candidates who registered first (from their questions page), and I'm not sure if and when I will get to yours, so you may want to enter an example or two yourself. — Sebastian (talk) 00:26, 4 December 2006 (UTC)    (I may not be watching this page anymore. If you would like to continue the conversation, please do so here and let me know.)

Arbcom results

Don't take them personally or even as a judgement on your value as a Wikipedian. People are just looking for a certain type of person for arbcom. You still rock, even if you like Wazzou. youngamerican (ahoy hoy) 01:04, 6 December 2006 (UTC)

OK, I take that back. You think the best pizza comes from Olive Garden. You likely do not rock, then. :) youngamerican (ahoy hoy) 01:06, 6 December 2006 (UTC)

Image:Dobamug.jpg

Hey Matt Yeager. There is a lively debate about use of promo photos on wikipedia. My name is Jeff and I Do not support the interpretation of WP:FU as implemented by user's like User:Chowbok. They believe that Wikipedia should be free of all promotional photos that are "replaceable with an equivalent" (i.e. an amateur photo from flickr). Their rationale is being debated in many places, and take it a step further believing that all promo photos should be deleted and let someone else deal with finding and uploading a free alternative.

• Wikipedia:WikiProject Fair use
• Wikipedia_talk:WikiProject_Fair_use specifically this thread
• Wikipedia:Requests for comment/Chowbok
• Wikipedia_talk:Requests_for_comment/Chowbok
• User:Chowbok/Robth's_RFU_Explanation
• Image_Talk:Jennifer Granholm.jpg

And many other places I've no doubt missed.

I and many others who support use of fair use promotional photos have not been successful in changing the actions of Chowbok and rampant deletion and changing of many hundred's of useful images from Wikipedia articles continues. One good example is the Jennifer Granholm article which had a great promo photo replaced by a terrible photo. I seek to raise the profile of this issue through challenging promotional photos on high profile article's like this one. I'm sorry, really I am, but fair use policy as implemented by Chowbok has left me with few viable options.

I invite you to join the battle for Promotional Photo usage on Wikipedia and the protection of Fair Use concepts. --Jeff 08:10, 9 December 2006 (UTC)

Arby's

Hey Matt, dig your arbcom statement.. don't think I'll vote as any support at this point might look moral, but keep fighting the good fight. Deizio talk 15:43, 12 December 2006 (UTC)