User talk:Menchi/Stardate 0.0006

I mostly replied on this page to your comments and inquiries, unless it is a notice for me to participate on another Discussion page.

If I do not reply soon, it is probably because I am in meatspace. Either that or you happen to be a troll, perhaps literally. :-) -- Menchi 11:21 17 Jun 2003 (UTC)

Post a comment

Move page: How?

Question: How do I move a page to one of pages that redirects to it? An earlier attempt to so move a page (not this page) resulted in "page already exists" error. What is needed is a page swap function. This is why I moved the contents. The location of the history is noted in the page talk. By the way, we still need a (Japanese) Kirin image. --Leonard G., June 1, 2004

I've never been to Japan, nor will I visit there any time soon. So, can't help with a photo of kirin.
If you see "Page already exisits", that's not an error. It simply means ...a page already exists there. Don't worry, you simply need to.... (I copy the following direction from pretending to move stone to mineral):
The page could not be moved: a page of that name already exists, or the name you have chosen is not valid. Please choose another name, or contact an Administrator to help you with the move.

Since choosing another name is not an option here, you can contact an administrator by dropping a note on Wikipedia:Speedy deletions, because I may not always be in cyberspace and there are always packs of diligent and gentle admins just loitering 24/7 around places on WP like that.

Then some admin will fix the situation, usually by deleting the target page -- which usually is just a redirect or stub, so nothing to worry about. I believe this is the case with qilin originally -- that it was a redirect. Even though a deletion will usually be involved, it's not a good idea to bring it up on Wikipedia:Votes for deletion, because some people might misunderstand your intention and thinking you want to delete a legitimate article and there will be discussion and explanation (see inclusionism), and it will drag on and on and on in the bureaucracy ...... So, to avoid cut-and-paste when moving articles, Wikipedia:Speedy deletions it is. This kinda situation fits exactly as Candidate for speedy deletion, Type # 7. --Menchi 22:17, 1 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Buttons

Those are the standard Mac OS X style buttons in Camino. Sorry. -- Cyrius|✎ 22:16, 2 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Qilin

I am wondering if the "Chinese unicorn" is a qilin - I am doubting this as I have pictures of both from the same location. See the qilin article and compare the three pictures. Leonard G. 22:40, 2 Jul 2004 (UTC)

There are many mythical beasts in Chinese myths, but the common ones most people familiar with are only 4: dragon, lion, qilin, and phoenix. The other rarely appear as statues in architectures we'd normally see (i.e, temple, old houses). So, my flawed logic is that, if it doesn't look like the other 3 (dragon, lion, phoenix), then it has to be qilin.... >_< I may be wrong. Perhaps some day, somebody will come and confirm or disapprove those photos' accuracy. Until then, I feel those 3 are all qilin. --Menchi 05:37, 3 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Thank you so much for your support

Hi Menchi! Just a short note to thank you warmly for your vote in my favour in last week's sysop poll, and for your your encouraging words of support. Your support meant a lot to me, Menchi. Again, thank you so much. David Cannon 10:49, 3 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Welcome. --Menchi 10:52, 3 Jul 2004 (UTC)

"Chinese" contemptuous?

Hey, i have just read an article written by a Taiwanese (i believe), which says the word "Chinese" is somehow contemptuous in English language. The general idea of that article is the author heard that a Korean was bullied by his classmates, and was called "Chinese" even though his classmates knew he's Korean; when he refused to give money to the beggar, the beggar called him "Your Chinese". Then he concludes that the word "Chinese" is contemptuous in English, and refers to an example in which the Chinese who are living in America for a long time are not willing to be called "Chinese" for this reason. The author points out that the suffix "-ese" is used to insult people (like Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, Portuguese) and "-an" is to promote people (like American, Canadian, Britain, German, Californian, Texan), and at last, he suggests that we should force the English speakers changing the "China" into "Central Kingdom of Sinaian, (C.K.)" and "Chinese" into "Sinaian" just like what Iran did (he also compares the word "Chinese" with "Nigger").I don't know how you feel about this word "Chinese"? Is it offensive? Because i am doubting what the author is talking about. --Yacht (talk) 17:08, Jul 13, 2004 (UTC)

Yes, that's just non-sense. The -ese suffix originates in Latin centuries ago. It was sinesis in Latin, not "Sinaian". See the scientific names of orange (Citrus sinesis) and tea (Camellia sinesis). --Menchi 19:38, 13 Jul 2004 (UTC)

well, the Sinaian is a Greek word, meaning "Chinese" as well as "heaven" according to the author. --Yacht (talk) 02:37, Jul 14, 2004 (UTC)

Neologisms.... --Menchi 02:45, 14 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Thanks very much. --Yacht (talk) 02:48, Jul 14, 2004 (UTC)

Meizhou

Hi, I saw your comment on Meizhou I 'Cleaned Up' that page when it was posted, but have always been unhappy that I may heve distorted the original intentions of the first author, as you have a better knowledge of the subject, could you have a look at the first edition and see if you do a better deciphering job than me. Thank Giano 10:01, 18 Jul 2004 (UTC)

The original version is like a distasteful tourism advert. It should be re-written from scratch because the info it does contain aren't that informative. (Not that I have the energy to do so any time soon.) It has no history at all. And the little bits on Hakka is repetitive of Hakka. This has not much to do with "better knowledge". The article is inadequate in regards to style as well. --Menchi 11:53, 18 Jul 2004 (UTC)

I think the original was probably written by some-one proud of their homeland, they may not have great language or writing skills,but they were trying to put the place on the map, hence they should be helped and encouraged. I, for one, had never before heard of the place. Hence, the article was fulfilling its purpose. Compared to some articles which appear in Wikipedia, written by non-native English speakers, believe me that was OK. Giano 17:22, 18 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Orkut invitation

Would you like give me a Orkut invitation? I'm Mountain in Chinese Wikipedia, and my email address is [email protected]. Thanks. --Mountain 17:17, 18 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Sure. --Menchi 18:45, 18 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Compound verb

Hi, Menchi, I have always felt that all the grammatical articles of compound noun, adjective and verb should belong together and should be merged. After a fortnight's notice on "Duplicate articles" I finally attempted to move your original article "compound verb" into it, but unfortunately received the dreaded notice "unable to move this article", etc. I think the problem was that the main article had been altered slightly in the meantime and the system refused to move it. Do you know a way round this now so that your "compound verb" history can come across into the main article? I am also sorry this looks a bit underhand on my part, I should have been in touch with you before now. Dieter Simon 22:52, 3 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Yeah, merge. I don't really care. Wikipedia taught me that being a pushover is useful in online communities to avoid needless conflicts (half-joking). :-) No, really, it's all good. Separation of topics may be useful for people who are searching specific exact topic, but integration is really handy for people who love just just sit back and browse.

Histories cannot be merged. So just copy-and-paste and forget about it. After all, the history is preserved (in the redirect's History page). Or if you're really bored, you could drop a note in the integrated Talk page, stating simply that article X was integrated into Y. Have fun organizing! (It looks like you already did a good job.) --Menchi 08:05, 4 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Many thanks, Menchi. I appreciate it. Dieter

Dogen

Nitpicky question about Dogen Zenji: a while back you added the translation that appears on the page now, putting Dogen as "Elementary-Way". Isn't that backward? I would render it as "Primordialness of the Way" or "Elementariness of the Way" (I'm trying to think of a way to make that less awkward in English). - Nat Kraus e 18:29, 14 Aug 2004 (UTC)

By all mean, improve upon my awkward English! :-) Your suggestions sound much nicer! --Menchi 20:00, 14 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Administrative divisions of Korea

Hi, Menchi: yes, it's me - I'm back! You may want to update your User:Menchi/Temp page, since I've split up Administrative divisions of Korea into Administrative divisions of North Korea and Administrative divisions of South Korea. Also, please let me know what you think of the info boxes I've added to such articles as Seoul, Pyongyang, South Chungcheong, and Samsung. --Sewing 20:37, 15 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Welcome back! It's really great to see you coming back! :-)

The Temp page is nothing serious. I'm too lazy to change it.. ;-)

The infoboxes are really handy! I can't think of what more could be done to it. For example, German city infoboxes have websites address as one of the rows. I don't think that's necessary, since we have an "External links" section already. So, concise and sufficient! Hope to see more! --Menchi 21:14, 15 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Thanks! --Sewing 02:16, 18 Aug 2004 (UTC)

West Dakota Prize

You did'nt see the humor or get the point, I guess. Try a search for the words "legend states." Twenty entries! All 20 entries got the West Dakota prize. Why? See User:Wetman.

Huh? (Don't get the joke AND don't know what u're talking about). --Menchi 01:27, 18 Aug 2004 (UTC)

When I don't get the point, I don't delete anything. Can you imagine why that might be a good general plan? Wetman 08:49, 20 Aug 2004 (UTC)

I have the ability to imagine, but I cannot imagine why exactly are you so sarcastically angry. What exactly are you referring to? Please clarify. --Menchi 09:18, 20 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Well, you see, I thought you'd deleted my harmless "West Dakota Prize joke" as "vandalism" --but I was mistaken: that was something else you quite correctly removed, and now I see the prize award (for using the phrase "legend states") is still there at Chinese dragon (and 19 other sites) after all, and I'm more confused than you... The original point was simply that the words "legend states..." are usually followed by highly unreliable and often utterly invented legends... Wetman 09:39, 20 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Don't worry about it. We're all a buncha confused netizens roaming around in disarray. --Menchi 01:12, 21 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Sota Korea

(Re a fix you did on Korean reunification): Rearrange the letters, change the "t" to a "d," and sell it as "Korea Soda," the latest soft drink! --Sewing 02:16, 18 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Heheh! :o) --Menchi 02:52, 18 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Nomination for Adminship

Hi, Menchi: thanks for the words of support. I still have to decide whether I want to take on the responsibility! Should I notify the editor most likely to oppose me (you know who I mean) that I have been nominated? --Sewing 02:14, 20 Aug 2004 (UTC)

I see you had already notified Nanshu. It's big of you. :-)

Although some people think that all admins should be "super-administrators" like Angela, etc. But, many believe that it's a mere sign showing that the WP community trust the user with the additional "abilities" (not that there's much...) WP's founder, Jimbo Wales, himself said that adminship "is no big deal."

Also, adminship doesn't mean that you must be on WP 24/7. Admins can take wiki-vacations. Extended vacations! That's a fact nobody dispute. Just take a look at the ever-growing and fast-growing list of admins -- you'd see that most admins are not really active. Many of those are not listed as inactive are not exactly daily-active either. Just help out when you could and want to. Fuzheado puts it well, "you can always hold admin privs in reserve". When in reserve, take a relaxing vacation away from WP! --Menchi 04:52, 20 Aug 2004 (UTC)

All good points. I would want to use my admin privileges conservatively. I do like the idea of being able to run SQL queries, though.... --Sewing 06:36, 20 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Menchi, I've left you a message on Wikipedia:Requests for adminship. Kokiri

You mean the one stating you'd distant yourself from controversial Japanese-Korean topics to ensure your neutrality? Mmmm...isn't that more of a reply to Taku et al than to me? Or are you referring to another message somewhere? I don't doubt that principle of yours. It's not a bad one. One of the WP policy pages -- which I cannot find now, maybe it's a user page -- even recommend that one doesn't edit articles in their areas of expertise to totally prevent "over-passionate involvements" (aka, edit wars). That's a bit extreme, because -- for example -- I don't have an interest in quantum physics or horse veterinary medicine, and I did not come to WP to do research on those topics that'd pain and bore AND confuse me! --Menchi 21:25, 21 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Yes, that would be a bit much. I think it's a question of keeping a level head and resisting the temptation to engage in low-level bickering. BTW, the unsigned comment you responded to is not from me, but from Taku. --Sewing 08:55, 22 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Sorry, Menchi, I've forgotten to sign my post above (re my message to you) and it caused confusion. My apologies. Have a nice day! Kokiri 14:03, 22 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Ah...I see. I thought Sewing wrote that. Kokiri, I realize that Taku tries to use Sewing's past involvement in controversial edits as some sort of excuse for his opposition. However, in my humble opinion, that is barely an excuse. And -- in MHO again -- it's not at all a reason! How is that supposed be a solid reason for opposition? I don't buy it. Lemme explain why I'm unconvinced: It's a widely known fact that there's almost no Wikipedian active who's not been in some heated debates on WP. I have, so have most active admins. Now, officially (according to WP policies and metapages), whether admins are theoretical paragons of perfection and never express any human bias or is that just some saintly ideal -- that doesn't change the human nature that save a few sages (one assume Confucius is among that exclusive posse), we humans have this tendency to disobey this saintly ideal to be non-interfering.

I believe Taku himself realizes this reality clearly, so, I'm compelled to conclude that his opposition is merely an express of his dislike of those who have different viewpoints from him. And so, I asked him that rhetorical question, Kokiri. I feel that I know Sewing's character well enough, so I believe that Taku's remarks are not fully justified. Not to mention that the fact that Sewing has publicly proclaimed -- before Taku's vote/comment -- that he'd try not to get into emotional controversial articles, partly because it's just to darn stressful for him to take! Taku's comment implies that Sewing has a belligerent inclination that makes him interested or even addicted to edit wars or something?! When the truth is clearly the opposite: Sewing stood on -- in occasions -- to what he viewed as Japanese bias over Korean matters, but he is not interested in instigating quarrels or perpetuating fights -- he simply can't stand such unnecessary stress in his life! He's a pacifist with a proper level of righteousness, it seems to me.

To tell the truth, I was not even aware that Sewing and Taku had some run-ins when I read Taku's comment. Sadly to sound ignorant, but I was only aware of Sewing's disagreement with Nanshu. However, even with that ignorance, as I was reading Taku's comment, it just sounds like the reason wasn't so much a reason as an excuse to mask over a negative personal feeling. How's that for clairvoyance? :o)

Now, if the personal dislike arose from an encounter when one discovers that the other party is an uncivilized f!@k, then I could see how that dislike could be used as a valid reason to demonstrate how the other party is unsuitable as an admin because the other party's ass&#@!#5itchiness makes him an unapproachable and unamicable admin (hopefully an oxymoron). BUT, this -- as far as I know -- isn't the case with Sewing. From what I've seen (his dealing with unyielding Nanshu), Sewing deals with insidious and outright bias with patience and never resort to nastiness! (I, on the other hand, am not so virtuous.... ;-) --Menchi 17:46, 22 Aug 2004 (UTC)

I am humbled by your lengthy and well thought-out argument. And it is all true: if for no other reason than personal health and well-being, I just avoid stepping into controversies. I asked Taku to reply because he might have some concern (we never had a full-out disagreement per se, but we do have different opinions), and his response was pretty much as I expected: in a way, it was a backhanded endorsement.... (Although I had secretly been hoping for a Wikilovefest.) --Sewing 19:06, 22 Aug 2004 (UTC)

NPOV Tag

Hi there. I've posted on the pump with no real reaction with regards to the NPOV tag on Division of Korea. Honestly, the tag annoys me, but since I've written I'm quite reluctant to remove the tag. The tag has been added by an anon... I'd really appreciate if you had a look into it. Have a nice day! Kokiri 08:45, 20 Aug 2004 (UTC)

I took the Pump off my Watchlist weeks ago when the topics get more and more ...philosophical. But this topic is un-boring (as IKEA ads say). I've replied on the Pump, saying that the anon should explain that tag, or it's invalid. --Menchi 09:45, 20 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Thanks for that! Have a nice day! Kokiri 10:59, 20 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Actually, don't the IKEA ads say "un-böring"? --Sewing 12:20, 20 Aug 2004 (UTC)

National Revolutionary Army

Hello educated one!

Can you help us almost illiterate people out at Talk:National Revolutionary Army?

Cheers, Jia ng 08:33, 22 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Translated there. --Menchi 21:30, 22 Aug 2004 (UTC)

License ?

Hi, I'd like to know what is the license of Image:Kaliningrad map.PNG. Is it public domain ? Thanks in advance. Tipiac 17:22, 23 Aug 2004 (UTC)

From where I obtained the image and how myself modified it was already specified on the img desc page. I've added some legal rambles on it. The source (CIA Factbook) -- AFAIK -- is in PD, and my touch-up is released to the GNU license. --Menchi 19:16, 23 Aug 2004 (UTC)

It seems like you've been asking people for license info since July in order to complete img desc in French WP. Very gung-ho! --Menchi 19:18, 23 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Article Templates

Hi, Menchi: Thanks for the suggestion. I tried using the pipes a while ago, but I couln't get them to work... :( But I can try again. (Except that then we have to port about 70 articles over to the new table style!) --Sewing 19:37, 23 Aug 2004 (UTC)

I've been thinking more and more about using a bot recently. ~~But I know absolutely nothing about them.... Is all the information somewhere on a Wikipedia page, or should I look somewhere else?~~ ...Or just use a bot operator, like you suggested? --Sewing 19:44, 23 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Okay, dumb question (that I struck out above): I knew about the Wikipedia:Bots page, although that seems to be just about rules and guidelines for using bots, not how they actually work.... --Sewing 19:49, 23 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Well, not using a bot for these edits increases my stats (Almost 4500 now!). I have a Computer Science degree (sorry to brag...), but PERL kind of turned me off.... But I've contacted Kokiri about it, and I'll contact WhisperToMe as well.... --Sewing 20:02, 23 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Heheh! Increase stats, perhaps. But decrease your available waking time! Inversely proportional! :-p --Menchi 20:17, 23 Aug 2004 (UTC)

s = k/w, where:

s = number of free hours

k = some constant

w = number of wikipedia edits

Sewing 21:55, 23 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Sewing's First Law of Wikipedianism. A must-learn golden rule of thumb for any pupils taking WP101. --Menchi 23:57, 23 Aug 2004 (UTC)

LOL --Sewing 00:56, 24 Aug 2004 (UTC)

P.S.: Check out my farewell wish to you on your user page... --Sewing 02:07, 24 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Good-bye? ...Or welcome back?

Hi, Menchi: If you are reading this when you return from your trip, welcome back. I finally adopted a pen name (it was just a matter of time, right?): 山道子, which is explained here. I thought I'd let you know, since you would probably appreciate it! -山道子 (Sewing) - talk 16:27, 24 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Your new apprentice

Hi, Menchi: Your humble Wikipedian has now offically attained the ranks of junior sagehood. Thanks again for your guidance and support, which you have unfailingly provided to me since my very first forays into the wild world of Wikipedia. -山道子 (Sewing) - talk 21:49, 26 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Survey

Hi Menchi,

If you have time, please vote on Wikipedia talk:Naming conventions (Chinese)#Survey. Thanks. -- [[User:Ran|ran (talk)]] 23:35, Sep 5, 2004 (UTC)

Archives