User talk:Brian McNeil/Archive 13

Wrong date in today's news

Israel announces settlement expansion plans ‎ has had wrong time - today it is 18th ! --House1630 (talk) 18:08, 18 November 2009 (UTC)

• No. It was published on the 17th. DO NOT mess with dates post-publish. --Brian McNeil / ^talk 18:25, 18 November 2009 (UTC)

But the article appears many hours later on the main page - not in the morning of 18th ! --House1630 (talk) 21:38, 18 November 2009 (UTC)

Articles are dated when they are published UTC. This article was published at 23:37 on 17 November 2009. And it shows up on the main page as soon as it was published. It may not have been made a lead, but that is of no concern. --ShakataGaNai ^{^_^} 21:41, 18 November 2009 (UTC)

• There is a list of articles, as published, most recent at the top, on the main page. It also feeds out to Google News, Twitter, Facebook, and the English Wikinews RSS feed. There should probably be a clear detail about that somewhere — but I've no idea where to fit that in that people will pick it up quickly enough. --Brian McNeil / ^talk 23:06, 18 November 2009 (UTC)

Wikinews interview

More than a year ago, you have indicated that you're willing to conduct an interview for Wikipedia Signpost to promote better understanding and participation of Wikinews. I am wondering if you're still interested in doing the interview. Thanks. OhanaUnited^{Talk page} 03:29, 19 November 2009 (UTC)

Perhaps. It would depend a lot on whether this is related to various Wikinewsies' grumbling on strategy or not. --Brian McNeil / ^talk 08:47, 19 November 2009 (UTC)

It's more about promoting the project to attract more contributors. I'm pretty relaxed on what kinds of questions will be raised in the interview and you can certainly add your own questions to it if you prefer. You can take a look at previous interviews as reference. OhanaUnited^{Talk page} 14:26, 19 November 2009 (UTC)

Ah, okay. Otherwise it was really bad timing. Jimbo recently made a rather dismissive comment about Wikinews in an interview, and someone dug up the tired-old "Wikinews is useless." meme on Strategy.

So, what's the preferred interview method? --Brian McNeil / ^talk 15:16, 19 November 2009 (UTC)

I guess that was bad timing then. I'll come back later on and discuss how the interview will progress. OhanaUnited^{Talk page} 18:55, 25 November 2009 (UTC)

• Meh, blown over now. --Brian McNeil / ^talk 21:46, 25 November 2009 (UTC)

Archive edit needed

Could you please replace the raster map with the vector version here? SkyBon^{Talk/Contributions} 15:27, 19 November 2009 (UTC)

Sure, but one thing first; can you dig up the version as-current when the article was published, make that a separate file on Commons, then request the change using the {{editprotected}} template on the article's talk page. --Brian McNeil / ^talk 15:34, 19 November 2009 (UTC)

Done. SkyBon^{Talk/Contributions} 17:14, 19 November 2009 (UTC)

#fail. Re-read the above very, carefully. That is not what you did; you just asked in the right place. --Brian McNeil / ^talk 17:32, 19 November 2009 (UTC)

But, well, this map is redundant. It is used now nowhere but in this news. Changing map version is not going to affect main news' content. SkyBon^{Talk/Contributions} 19:42, 19 November 2009 (UTC)

Do you understand what I'm asking for? The map, as it was when the article was published. That simple. --Brian McNeil / ^talk 20:13, 19 November 2009 (UTC)

That version of map is long gone. Current raster version of map is not the one when the article was published anyway. SkyBon^{Talk/Contributions} 10:09, 20 November 2009 (UTC)

• This is fixed - from Wikinews' perspective. --Brian McNeil / ^talk 11:27, 20 November 2009 (UTC)

wikilinks

Can you explain me what wiki links are? Does it mean an internal link to a wiki news page? I was expecting a internal link to wikipedia article. Is there any way I could give internal links to wikipedia article? --Pavi (talk) 19:06, 19 November 2009 (UTC)

• Yes. [[w:God|That evil dude that lives in the sky]]. --Brian McNeil / ^talk 11:27, 20 November 2009 (UTC)

I'm accredited

Hey, I'm accredited now, and was told to contact you WRT an @wikinewsie email address. Thanks! Dendodge _T\^C 10:12, 21 November 2009 (UTC)

And you haven't checked your email? I sent the unCABAL™ membership details yesterday. --Brian McNeil / ^talk 10:13, 21 November 2009 (UTC)

Oh, OK, now I feel stupid. :P Dendodge _T\^C 10:48, 21 November 2009 (UTC)

Questioning my motives :(

Thanks for calling for help to clean up the article Brian. I was surprised and discouraged at your questioning my motives though! Please be assured that I would like to be considered a volunteer who would like to make helpful contributions from time to time, and learn a thing or two by doing that. In this instance I very much hope to see Wikinews investigate this story and uncover what I cannot. Leighblackall (talk) 14:06, 21 November 2009 (UTC) PS, same message on the Collab tab of the article

• The concern is you set up on Wikinews very recently, as "credentials" you cite a very new blog, and a Wikipedia account which reveals you pushing a POV on this self-same subject there. You did so here too, and the sources you cite are somewhat suspect themselves. The two projects are different, and do have different criteria as to what is acceptable, but you should expect suspicion in journalism.

So, why are these sources credible? Have they carried out a competent analysis of the allegedly stolen data? Has anyone reported, or acknowledged, theft of data or illegal access to such? And, the place for that discussion is the article's talk page.

Some more established Wikinewsies might can use these sources, and do this sort of story, but they know they will be called on it and challenged to back up their assertions. I am afraid, as a newcomer you have to earn trust. AGF is significantly less-prevalent on Wikinews because people are more aware of motive and bias, and less likely to flog an issue to death over six months like on Wikipedia. --Brian McNeil / ^talk 14:28, 21 November 2009 (UTC)

Thanks for the reply Brian. I took this conversation over to the article's collaboration page, as I think your points will be useful for any other new comers... Leighblackall (talk) 15:04, 21 November 2009 (UTC)

Speedy Deletion

Check recent changes and delete Dalius Aurelius Bio‎ please. I would ask on Admin Help but seeing as your the only admin visibly online, I thought it would be quicker to ask you directly. Cheers, The Flying Spaghetti Monster! 23:06, 23 November 2009 (UTC)

About: Ras Nas release a new music and poetry CD - Double Focus

Kongoi (talk) 23:42, 23 November 2009 (UTC) Dear Brian McNeil,

I submitted an article today “Ras Nas release a new music and poetry CD - Double Focus” at WikiNews but to my dismay, the story was removed with a claim that I have infringed copyright laws. What I do not understand is, I am the owner of Kongoi Productions (where the story originated) and thus I do not need to ask for any permission to reuse the story. In addition, I am also the artist of whose work is being referred to! I really do not see how I could infringe copyright laws here.

I hope this mail will help settle the matter and that the article in question gets reprinted for the good of both parties concerned.

Obs! I have also tried to use the talk page though I am not sure whether I have done it right. I have also sent this mail to the moderator using my Kongoi Production's admin e-mail.

Best regards,

Nasibu Mwanukuzi aka Ras Nas

CEO

Kongoi Productions

E-mail: admin(at)kongoi.com

www.kongoi.com

+47 41 62 89 37

• I passed your email through to the mailing list. Normally the list requires a subscription to post. Really, I cannot see any way for what you want published to ever appear on Wikinews. We do not act as a carrier for promotional or press release distribution. --Brian McNeil / ^talk 23:46, 23 November 2009 (UTC)

Can you help me with the article "British Climatic Research Unit's emails hacked"?

I've not created it, but I hope you can suggest something and/or review it. Q0k (talk)

• As I said on the talk page of the article, I do not wish to do either; the way initially presented biased me against this article. --Brian McNeil / ^talk 10:52, 24 November 2009 (UTC)

I see your comments on Cirt's talk page. I'll see what I can do in terms of a critique once I've had my doctor's appointment later on. Right now I'm just catching up on email &c. --Brian McNeil / ^talk 10:56, 24 November 2009 (UTC)

The article has been published. Thank you for your collaboration! Gryllida (page, talk, contributions) 00:35, 25 November 2009 (UTC)

ezpeerreview gadget

I will make a mental note to use ezpeerreview in the future. However, it is important to note that Wikinews:Reviewing articles lists only two steps for passing/publishing articles. Neither makes any mention of ezpeerreview, sighting, or Google News. If these are policy, it should be made clear. Superm401 | Talk 04:34, 25 November 2009 (UTC)

You're obviously right about me forgetting {{date}}, though I don't think a WTF is warranted. Superm401 | Talk 12:42, 25 November 2009 (UTC)

• On that (WTF), I have to disagree; you've got editor status. A basic mistake like this is a little worrying coming from someone who can review and publish articles. --Brian McNeil / ^talk 16:42, 25 November 2009 (UTC)

Heads up

Talk:British_Climatic_Research_Unit's_emails_hacked#Bias_and_Merging. Seems odd that there are multiple SPAs on that page... Hope you are doing well! Cirt (talk) 07:32, 25 November 2009 (UTC)

• I just reverted significant post-publish changes on this article, and removed a trolling comment from the talk page. Please, at least, semi-protect this as early as possible. --Brian McNeil / ^talk 11:26, 25 November 2009 (UTC)

You actually left some post-publish changes. See the talk page. Superm401 | Talk 12:42, 25 November 2009 (UTC)

Please explain move

Hi Brian McNeil! Regarding this move you made, I believe I was using the singular form, whereas you have changed the verbs to the plural form. The noun "couple" is singular, so I think my version was correct. Do you agree? Benny the mascot (talk) 14:23, 26 November 2009 (UTC)

• crashes was, I'm pretty sure, wrong. Looking again now you ask it might be "couple passes, ... crash dinner'". Ask Amgine (talk · contribs). --Brian McNeil / ^talk 14:54, 26 November 2009 (UTC)

• I agree with Brian for the first move.    Tris   15:20, 26 November 2009 (UTC)

(e/c) This is, i think, one of the differences in British English and American English. If I understand correctly (correct me if i'm wrong): in BrE, collective nouns are sometimes conjugated as plural in the corresponding verb, in order to stress that the noun consists of a group of people (i.e.: "Uruguay qualify to take last spot in 2010 FIFA World Cup" or "Government approve new proposal", etc.). In AmE, they're always conjugated as being in singular. See Wikipedia's article on this. In this instance, depending on which version of English you choose, one will be correct and the other will be wrong (e.g.: "the couple is" vs. "the couple are"). I'd say to use the AmE variant because this article is about the US. To quote WN:SG: "Follow the spelling patterns of the subject of the article or that of the first author of the article to avoid issues". Cheers. Tempodivalse [talk] 15:23, 26 November 2009 (UTC)

I normally use the singular if I'm referring tot he group as a whole, and the plural if I am grouping together people. For example "The team was playing football" but "The team were happy that they won", because the whole team is playing, but happiness is specific to an individual person, even though it is a trait the whole team share. I think that's BrE—it's what I was taught in my (English) school, at least. So, since it's a US-centric article, "couple crashes" seems to be correct. (I would use crashes even if it were a British article, because it better corresponds with how I was taught it). Dendodge _T\^C 17:26, 26 November 2009 (UTC)

I ended up renaming the article back to using the singular form. Benny the mascot (talk) 17:50, 26 November 2009 (UTC)

Thank you for your suggestion! When you feel an article needs improvement, please feel free to make whatever changes you feel are needed. Wikinews is a wiki, so anyone can edit any article by simply following the Edit This Page link at the top. Don't worry too much about making honest mistakes—they're likely to be found and corrected quickly. If you're not sure how editing works, check out how to edit a page, or use the sandbox to try out your editing skills. Александр Дмитрий (Alexandr Dmitri) (talk) 20:05, 26 November 2009 (UTC) Thank you for your suggestion! When you feel an article needs improvement, please feel free to make whatever changes you feel are needed. Wikinews is a wiki, so anyone can edit any article by simply following the Edit This Page link at the top. Don't worry too much about making honest mistakes—they're likely to be found and corrected quickly. If you're not sure how editing works, check out how to edit a page, or use the sandbox to try out your editing skills. Александр Дмитрий (Alexandr Dmitri) (talk) 20:05, 26 November 2009 (UTC)

I agree, but IMO it's sometimes a good idea to consult other editors before you revert their edits. Benny the mascot (talk) 20:19, 26 November 2009 (UTC)

• Aaaaand, I've been told it should be "crash" - for reasons of active voice. --Brian McNeil / ^talk 21:05, 26 November 2009 (UTC)

• I don't think it affects active/passive voice. Active voice is "Couple crashes dinner" or "Couple crash dinner", while passive voice would be "Dinner crashed by couple". That's how I was taught it, and w:Voice (grammar) supports that. Dendodge _T\^C 21:41, 26 November 2009 (UTC)

Agree with Dendodge. This has nothing to do with active/passive voice, it's just a grammar difference between AmE and BrE. Tempodivalse [talk] 21:48, 26 November 2009 (UTC)

Mmm, no. "The couple pass the checkpoint." "The couple crash the party." Compare voice with "The couple passes the checkpoint." "The couple crashes the party." - Amgine | ^t 23:00, 26 November 2009 (UTC)

Which follows from the wikilink posted by Dendodge, this is an instance where couple is singular, thus for the active voice it should be crash. --Brian McNeil / ^talk 23:01, 26 November 2009 (UTC)

Article

Is my article up to standards?Discovery (talk) 13:44, 28 November 2009 (UTC)

• Getting there. If you can find sources to back it up; important for the scores, then there's you being new and needing to build a bit of a reputation before going heavily into original reporting. --Brian McNeil / ^talk 13:45, 28 November 2009 (UTC)

Check user

We've had a lot of usernames recently that are either the name of big corporations or some comment about Faux News - see the blocklist. Disruption is spread over several months; Google (talk • contribs (logs) • block (block log)) and Faux News (talk • contribs (logs) • block (block log)) are recent; while the anti-Fox is a newer innovation the other looks linked to an earlier spate of names such as Nytimes (talk • contribs (logs) • block (block log)). Can we have the underlying IP rooted out, please? Blood Red Sandman ^{(Talk) (Contribs)} 16:02, 29 November 2009 (UTC)

• I already checkusered the last time (~4 days ago); it's a fairly large range (/18); each spate of attack usernames comes on one IP then changes to another well after an auto-block would have expired. Not much we can do without blocking most of a large US ISP. --Brian McNeil / ^talk 16:26, 29 November 2009 (UTC)

Dammit. Okay, thanks. Blood Red Sandman ^{(Talk) (Contribs)} 16:29, 29 November 2009 (UTC)

Tropical and historical

Dear Brian, thanks for your notice on my nl: user talk page. Collaboration between the Dutch en:Tropenmuseum and nl:wikipedia is very much a work in progress. The initiative has been taken by the Tropenmuseum, both by releasing pictures to the open domain twice (in June and November) and by including nl:Wikipedia in their exhibition of Surinam Marroons (not the chapter). It is the first coöperation of an institution like this with Wikipedia that I know of, except that there may have been photographs released for the open domain before. The project will last for some months, at least until May 2010 when the exhibition finishes. For more details, you'll have to email me I'm afraid (go to my nl:user page and click from there). Or you might contact the Tropenmuseum directly and ask for Suzanne Ton or Frank Meijer. Cheers, - Art Unbound (talk) 19:40, 30 November 2009 (UTC)

• Susanne Ton has an email from me, and promised to respond. I'd like to do a good article on this; I believe it is a unique situation, at least so far. --Brian McNeil / ^talk 01:30, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

Dalius Aurelius Bio (from User talk:Brianmc)

Hi Brian! Someone left you a message at your old user talk page, User talk:Brianmc. Thought i'd paste it over here so you'll get the new messages notification in case you didn't notice it in recent changes. Cheers. Tempodivalse [talk] 01:01, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

---

Dear Brian, I have noticed that the page has been deleted by you. It was still work in process. Not sure if somehow it got posted for a review. This was my first article and i was hoping to get an advice from you. Is it possible to have it restored and continue the work?--Xb37a1 (talk) 00:53, 2 December 2009 (UTC)xb37a1 or simply Peter.

• The deletion log is here. I can restore the page in your userspace and, if it was me deleted it, explain why. I don't recognise the name at all so it may have come across as totally non-newsworthy. Remember, biographies belong on Wikipedia; if there's no real news item to it it does not belong on Wikinews. --Brian McNeil / ^talk 01:28, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

Jimbo's welcome

Did you really mean to welcome his user page (as opposed to his talk page)? Bawolff ☺☻ 13:44, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

• No. Damn :P --Brian McNeil / ^talk 13:45, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

Why did you welcome Jimbo in the first place? It's not as if he ever edits here ... Tempodivalse [talk] 14:37, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

• Because he should be doing a WikiVoices session on Wikinews just before Christmas and a part of that would - ideally - be getting him as one of the authors on a Wikinews article. --Brian McNeil / ^talk 14:43, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

Ah, okay. But Jimbo, writing an article for Wikinews? Now that would be something to see. :-P Tempodivalse [talk] 14:46, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

• Durova (The Wiki Witch of the West) will set her cats on him if he doesn't. :-D --Brian McNeil / ^talk 14:49, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

Oxford University category

Hi, thanks. I did wonder about whether categories got added to old articles when I came here a couple of days ago and saw everything was fully protected after a few days. Doesn't it mess up the publication dates, and make it look as though it's a breaking news story rather than something from 2007? Bencherlite (talk) 15:17, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

Fair point. I've taken out three of the requests, to lighten the workload of the hard-working admin corps here... Bencherlite (talk) 15:54, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

• Just put one in the cat anyway. Bhuto one is relevant because mentioned studying there at the time. A student becoming head of a major political party does qualify as newsworthy. We also list in a lot of categories and sub-categories. Figure easier to take out a cat than put in it. --Brian McNeil / ^talk 15:57, 3 December 2009 (UTC)
  • Hmm, Bhuto isn't showing up in the category for me at the moment, nor on the article, nor in your contributions... On the question of why am I here, I've started w:Portal:University of Oxford and portal people seem to like a section of "In the news". So, I popped along to see what I could find, only to find no current stories to which I could add the OU category, no old stories I could edit, and at least one missing newsworthy Oxford story. So, time to contribute, I thought. It's a bit of a culture shock coming from WP to here (and not having the tools, let alone "editor" rights), but hopefully I'll get the swing of things before too long. Thanks, Bencherlite (talk) 16:24, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

Main page leads

Hi Brian! Just a note, please try to be more careful when updating leads, you updated lead four with an article that had not been peer-reviewed and failed on some basic style requirements. Cheers, Tempodivalse [talk] 16:33, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

Re:fr.wikinews and Google News

HI, what is: English Headline ? well I will do what i can for more visibility. Regards, Otourly (talk) 19:15, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

• Replied on your talk. You can also try getting me (brianmc) in #wikinews on Freenode. Amgine can translate if you try that approach. --Brian McNeil / ^talk 20:04, 3 December 2009 (UTC)

Site notice

You left a period in the notice after the exclamation point. See this. --The New Mikemoral ♪♫ 21:22, 5 December 2009 (UTC)

Seems Bawolff got to it first. Regards, The New Mikemoral ♪♫ 21:31, 5 December 2009 (UTC)

Sorta Back.

Hey Brian - good to see you again. Hopefully, school won't be as restricting, and I'll be able to edit more. Is there anything major that's changed? (Besides the great-looking new interface, that is.) --Thunderhead 20:12, 7 December 2009 (UTC)

Copenhagen climate conference opens

Are you sure that you want this article be published without the CO2, mitigation, financing sections, which can be found at User:Mrchris? The page Talk:Copenhagen_climate_conference_opens is a must-see. Q/0/k 04:19, 8 December 2009 (UTC)

• I'd like it reviewed. I've not time to go through all the sources, it's 4:21 am here. --Brian McNeil / ^talk 04:21, 8 December 2009 (UTC)

You do not have the time, then somebody else does, don't you think so? Why omit the valuable information? Q/0/k 04:23, 8 December 2009 (UTC)

I mean, just remove the "review" flag, the user Mrchris will put it when thinks his work finished? Q/0/k 04:24, 8 December 2009 (UTC)

• 14-day conference IIRC, 1st day over, additional details could come in later reports (I hope). --Brian McNeil / ^talk 04:28, 8 December 2009 (UTC)

Then, let's say "breaking review"? Q/0/k 04:30, 8 December 2009 (UTC)

The conference is on for two weeks, If a simple article is published now, maybe more indepth articles about different areas of the conference can be publish late? I feel I've done as much as I can do with it for now and it is realy up to an editor to decide to publish or not. Mrchris (talk) 04:31, 8 December 2009 (UTC)

Wikinews:Writing a Photo essay

Hey, just wanted to let you know that the linked page refers to a Wikinews:Mission Statement, which is a redlink. Calebrw (talk) 14:26, 8 December 2009 (UTC)

RE:Welcome

Spanish: Hola Brian McNeil, gracias por la bienvenida, yo participo en la Wikipedia en español, tienes cuenta ahi. Saludos, cordialmente Globalphilosophy (talk) 03:26, 9 December 2009 (UTC)

Please Re-Add me to WN:CV. Gwyndon

Wettach, Wolfgang G. (Wikinews user Gwyndon)

Location: Tuebingen, Germany
Areas of interest: EU, politics, literature, religion (see user page)
Contact information: AIM: Gwyndon, Skype: PeliCorn, Phone Voicebox: (US) 1-267-316-7537, (DE) 03212-9388224,.
More information: Wikinews user page | Contact reporter via Talk Page | Browse recent activity | Email this user
Accredited User No.: 3900

Received accreditation: 07:16, 27 September 2007 (UTC)

Thanks.

• Done. You forgot to sign. I've also added Alexandr and still have Sjc to add. --Brian McNeil / ^talk 12:26, 8 December 2009 (UTC)
  • All Done. --Brian McNeil / ^talk 07:23, 10 December 2009 (UTC)

Tropical and historical; Amsterdam museum's Wikimedia collaboration

Do you plan on developing this article anytime in the near future? If not, perhaps it should be userified or moved into the story preparation to get it out of the newsroom. Right now it's getting both {{stale}} and {{abandoned}}. Cheers, Tempodivalse [talk] 01:50, 10 December 2009 (UTC)

• I think the woman at the museum is too busy to respond. This is about when I expected it tagged as stale. --Brian McNeil / ^talk 07:23, 10 December 2009 (UTC)

Juleshs31 OR

Hi Brian, Thanks for the help getting temp accreditation for demo Thursday. Have put up article and flagged for review but no peer review has been forthcoming, worried about borderline stale soon if not published. Have tried to get into IRC to bring it up but for having tech problems on my end with that, would you be able to review the article/bring the need for review to attention in IRC etc? Thanks, Jules --Juleshs31 (talk) 11:42, 12 December 2009 (UTC)

Hi, thanks for editing and reviewing. I have since added two images to the page, so it needs approving for the draft to be published. Also, the two images have messed around with the text format at the bottom of the page and i'm not sure how to fix this, if you'd be able to give it a go then it'd be much appreciated. Thanks, --Juleshs31 (talk) 13:49, 12 December 2009 (UTC)

Thanks, unfortunately it needs sighting once more for a small revision. --Juleshs31 (talk) 14:05, 12 December 2009 (UTC)

Benny the mascot

Hi! Thanks for reviewing Benet Academy, Illinois boys basketball team defeats Naperville North after scoring crucial three-pointer. I never even thought it would become a lead article, so thanks for that, too! You left a few comments on the talk page, and I would appreciate it if you could give me some suggestions on how to make my future articles better. When you say "visually dense", for example, are you recommending less pictures on the article? Also, how much detail is ideal for original reporting notes? I was basically working off this example. Benny the mascot (talk) 14:32, 12 December 2009 (UTC)

• I put it on a lead because many of the current ones were rather stale. For that I'm thankful there was a picture. The most important thing for the OR notes is signing them and putting in as much detail as you can. This is substituting for the sources on a synthesis article, so there's a fair bit of trust issues on it. Visually dense was, yes, shorthand for a lot of elements like pictures, infobox, and the pull-quote; it felt like the article was compressed into a rather narrow column. Ironically, my suggested solution involves more pictures ;-) Top-leftish have your main image - ideally of the event. Have an infobox if there's a good appropriate one. Don't use any other visual elements until their well-clear of the lead photo and/or infobox (never have [photo][quoteleft] article text [infobox]). Then a gallery after {{haveyoursay}} and before == Sources ==.

Hope that helps. --Brian McNeil / ^talk 15:20, 12 December 2009 (UTC)

Re:Hawaiian Representative Neil Abercrombie resigns

Thank you for publishing the article. Also thank you for your editing of the article, to get it published. I did review your comments, I'm still kinda new here so i guess there are a few thing to get used to. Cocoaguy (talk) 18:46, 12 December 2009 (UTC)

WikiVoices episode 51

Regarding WikiVoices 51, will 2:30 EST be early enough? Thanks, IShadowed (talk) 23:10, 11 December 2009 (UTC)

So will a half hour before the conversation is scheduled to start be early enough? IShadowed (talk) 21:46, 12 December 2009 (UTC)

I don't see why not. I just need to fiddle getting myself fed so I'm not on-mic with my mouth full. --Brian McNeil / ^talk 21:47, 12 December 2009 (UTC)

Thank you

Hello Brian, just wanted to thank you for your support in my RfA. Your trust means a lot to me, and I hope I can make myself useful with the new tools. the wub "?!" 23:45, 15 December 2009 (UTC)

sneaky edit

I must say, that was pretty sneaky. :) Benny the mascot (talk) 03:19, 16 December 2009 (UTC)

Payment pending article

No hard feelings over our somewhat heated discussion at the Payment Pending article, I hope? Just wanted to say I'm sorry if I appeared too nagging or whining, and I see I was proven to be wrong since several other reviewers disagreed with me on the talk page. Cheers, Tempodivalse [talk] 15:05, 16 December 2009 (UTC)

• Nah! No hard feelings at all. You'll probably understand more where I'm coming from if you dig into doing some OR. --Brian McNeil / ^talk 15:45, 16 December 2009 (UTC)

Concern about a comment you made

Brian, I'm gravely concerned about a comment you made on the watercooler section of this project, in which you said that "some people are only alive because it's illegal to kill them." I worry that it could be construed as creating a hostile environment, but - even worse - that it's (frankly) offensive. I do wish you would remove it. Philippe (talk) 13:32, 20 November 2009 (UTC)

• I struck that. The problem is, many on Wikinews are equally short-fused because of Wikipedian's Cultural Imperialism. And that, quite frankly, is the best description for it. --Brian McNeil / ^talk 12:42, 18 December 2009 (UTC)

Climate contrarians in Copenhagen

Please join the discussion, if you can do it attentively, if you have some free 30 minutes? Q/0/k 11:40, 15 December 2009 (UTC)

• I've responded briefly there with more detail as to the review fail the article got. Not time to go into great detail, it should be obvious from other articles (already-published) where there are critical style errors. --Brian McNeil / ^talk 12:40, 15 December 2009 (UTC)

I'm just afraid that this novice user Wikiwide, the author of the article, being probably a scientist (you just look at the first version of this article), has a very little understanding of what Wikinews is. And probably has lots of other work to do, is not interested, etc. Even the topic of climate contrarians near UNCCC sounds scientific, doesn't it? I think that if you revive this article, it will be very good

• for Wikinews,
• for this user, and
• for the environment
  • (as some of the "skeptics" or
  • just common diesel car drivers can find this article realistic)

Please be informed that only an experienced Wikinews user can manage with such significant and responsible task. Q/0/k 04:08, 16 December 2009 (UTC)

You're probably right, but is after 4am here. I've been badgering people to review my own latest article for the last 9+ hours. I need a cigarette and 6 hours sleep. --Brian McNeil / ^talk 04:12, 16 December 2009 (UTC)

Maybe several hours later you will return to my pledge? Q/0/k 04:18, 16 December 2009 (UTC)

I just do not see any signs of that you are not sleeping, ill, reluctant, etc, and this is why I am asking whether I should have a hope or not of that you remember this task. Q/0/k 05:01, 18 December 2009 (UTC)

• There are many, many things vie for my attention. When I've just put in three days working ~20 hours on one article, and trying to arrange WikiVoices with Jimmy Wales, and manage to get the Writing competition up to speed, and try and revive meta:Wikimedia Radio, and review job vacancy alerts, well.... It is hard to find the three or four hours to try and knock this into shape. --Brian McNeil / ^talk 12:57, 18 December 2009 (UTC)
• I've done some to sort the lede and opening on this. It should summarise the topics of the 'contrarians' meetup more. I tied it into the close of the conference because there's not been a lot of coverage on it. Their website wasn't cloaked so I listed it in the external links along with the owner. He seems to own many domains; if they go after emails (and he probably knows who got them) he may have other interesting domains. --Brian McNeil / ^talk 03:34, 19 December 2009 (UTC)

{{howdy}} looks uncomfortably huge without JavaScript

This template is weak when JavaScript is turned off, with all of the four sections visible and occupying much space, bigger in height than the computer screen. Q/0/k 06:04, 18 December 2009 (UTC)

• The solution to your problem is to turn on javascript. :P Bawolff ☺☻ 06:07, 18 December 2009 (UTC)
  • On a serious note, wouldn't having all the sections visible be the desired behaviour if js was not available to make the tabs go-go? Bawolff ☺☻ 06:07, 18 December 2009 (UTC)

Without JavaScript, I do not see the fund-rising banner, this is why I turned it off. Q/0/k 06:09, 18 December 2009 (UTC)

• Can't say i blame you. Theres an option way deep down in special:preferences (under gadgets) to disable the banner. Bawolff ☺☻ 06:12, 18 December 2009 (UTC)

Unfortunately, it does not work. Where is JS, there is this banner. "Please read: A personal appeal from Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales" at the top! I haven't seen it for a week, and it is here again... Q/0/k 06:15, 18 December 2009 (UTC) To be more precise: this banner does disappear everywhere, but not at the Special:Preferences page. However, better not to see it anywhere. Q/0/k 06:20, 18 December 2009 (UTC)

I do not ask to erase tabs completely, but only to have another layout version for non-JS users. Q/0/k 06:29, 18 December 2009 (UTC)

• Oh, thats because all gadgets are disabled on special:preferences (as a saftey thing in case a gadget does something bad, make it so people can disable it). What type of layout for non-js users do you have in mind? Bawolff ☺☻ 06:35, 18 December 2009 (UTC)

• As for {{howdy}}. For non-js users, the output is just all the tabs. I don't really see what else we can do with it. The other option is to only output one tab, but that seems unfair to non-js users. There's a lot of information contained in that message, hence without a tabbing mechanism, it requires a lot of space. Bawolff ☺☻ 06:46, 18 December 2009 (UTC)

Initially, all gadgets were disabled. Then, I enabled JavaScript, and enabled the " Suppress display of the fundraiser banner." gadget. It worked (and works) everywhere but the Special:Preferences page. As I do not want to see the banner, I've disabled the gadget again, and JS too. For non-JS users, I can offer an idea of increased compactness, without tables, just in paragraphs, so that entire screen width is used. Q/0/k 08:44, 18 December 2009 (UTC)

• As for making them full width paragraph. In my tests, the non-js version has a height of 852px. If i increase the width of the table container to be 100% of the page width (which is roughly what would happen if we removed the table), the template decreases to 774px high, which is still huge and more then one screenful to me. Bawolff ☺☻ 09:05, 18 December 2009 (UTC)

What do you think of this?

---

Welcome to Wikinews!

Getting a head start as a Wikinews contributor. Welcome! Thank you for joining Wikinews; we'd love for you to stick around and get more involved. To help you get started we have a short essay that will guide you through the process of writing your first full article. There are many other things you can do on the project, but its lifeblood is new, current, stories written neutrally. As you get more involved you will want to look into the key policies for the project and other discussions you can participate in, so keep this message on your collaboration page and refer to the other links in it if you have problems or want to learn more. Used to contributing to Wikipedia? See here.

All Wikimedia projects have rules. Here are ours. Listed here are the official policies of the project, you may be referred to some of them if your early attempts at writing articles don't follow them. Don't let this discourage you, we all had to start somewhere.

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The core policies: Neutral point of view, Cite sources, Writing an article, Content guide, Style guide, Reviewing articles

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Write your first article for Wikinews! Use the following box to help you create your first article. Simply type in a title to your story and press "Create page". Then start typing text to your story into the new box that will come up. When you're done, press "save page". That's all there is to it!

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---

How many screenfulls? Q/0/k 09:16, 18 December 2009 (UTC)

Roughly 1 (which is still quite big. In ideal world, non-js would get {{hello}}). Honestly i don't think thats a significant improvement. (Its perhaps a slight improvement though). To justify doing the complicatedness that'd make this all work for both non-js users and js users, I'd want to see a significant improvement. Bawolff ☺☻ 09:28, 18 December 2009 (UTC)

If I may but in, how about showing the firsttab, and making the other tab titles hyperlink to a separate page containing their content (and the tab links, of course)? Dendodge _T\^C 09:34, 18 December 2009 (UTC)

That would be much more logical. The main issue is that that would be hard to generalize (special cases are evil). A second issue is that would only work for those who both have CSS enabled, and JS disabled. (I would imagine a substantial part of our non-js crowd would have css disabled too [aka use lynx]). It should also be noted that this template should (should because i've never actually tested it) print in a way similar to how its currently shown to non-js users. Bawolff ☺☻ 10:19, 18 December 2009 (UTC)

<unindent> Due to other edits here I didn't notice this until some discussion had taken place here. There is a gadget to disable the central notice if you reenable javascript and use a CSS-compliant browser. This isn't the 1990s anymore, Javascript is not as evil or exploitable as it once was. The current fallback for text-only or screen-readers is perfectly fine. There is a lot of information to present; the javascript helps condense and improve the appearance for the vast majority of people who see this template. --Brian McNeil / ^talk 03:38, 19 December 2009 (UTC)

Your withdrawn FA nomination

Regarding your FA nomination, I think you were still violating a policy approved by clearly established consensus. It doesn't matter what your rationale was. Benny the mascot (talk) 07:08, 18 December 2009 (UTC)

• And I think you approached the issue with less tact than a bull in a China shop. That's my job! ;-) I had hoped to get some feedback on any minor issues to improve the article. Will you object in such a coarse and uncouth manner if I put it up again on the 23rd before WikiVoices? --Brian McNeil / ^talk 12:08, 18 December 2009 (UTC)
  • You were trying to circumvent the rules (which you helped pass). I feel that I behaved appropriately in reminding you that you are never above the rules. Benny the mascot (talk) 23:18, 18 December 2009 (UTC)
    • True. But there's a difference between asking to withdraw and slapping an {{oppose}} vote on it. --Brian McNeil / ^talk 23:32, 18 December 2009 (UTC)

Heh heh

Nice to see everybody stealing my talk page design. :-P Tempodivalse [talk] 18:32, 19 December 2009 (UTC)

Barnstar

I hearby award you this barnstar for your "blackmail" and general support of wikinews behind the scenes that no one sees (No one has made a cabal barnstar that I could find)

The Cabal barnstar cannot be awarded publically of course. As officially TINC ;) Brian | (Talk) | ^{New Zealand Portal} 22:45, 19 December 2009 (UTC)

• There is (now) File:That Barnstar.png. ;-) --Brian McNeil / ^talk 01:55, 20 December 2009 (UTC)

Posting dup comments in deletion discussions

[1] and [2] = perhaps this was a mistake, these appear to be verbatim the same comments. It makes the deletion discussion a bit confusing to follow. Perhaps you could pick one place, and remove the other comment - as they are both exactly the same? That will help to foster constructive dialogue in a positive and amicable manner. Thank you, Cirt (talk) 04:48, 26 December 2009 (UTC)

Hey, thanks very much! Much appreciated. :) Cirt (talk) 04:51, 26 December 2009 (UTC)

On policy and guides

I felt that I was able to stumble my way around due to the friendly community and prior knowledge of how to contribute to a wiki. However, I feel that the guides, for a complete new contributor, offer less than desired examples (or maybe formatting). I do like the fact that the guidelines are open to interpretation/loose (much more friendly to learn than those in wikipedia, less legalize as well), so I'm not advocating stricter guidelines. I commented on your proposal on wikipedia villiage pump, and although it was to tell you that I disagreed with two templates, I do agree with the updating of the other templates (I usually forget to post positive things, something I need to work on). Noian (talk) 08:08, 26 December 2009 (UTC)

As for the followup article, when exactly should that be created/started on? Because I'm pretty sure that this issue will be a hot one in the days to come Noian (talk) 08:12, 26 December 2009 (UTC)

• Well, from your point of view is there anything important you'd add to the For Wikipedians section linked-to from the {{Howdy}} template? I've made comments on shortening some of the policy documents at the Water Cooler and writing them "in a news style" so new contributors are reading material in-the-style-of what they're expected to write here; the Wikinews:Writing an article guide is one I'd like to see slashed back radically but supported by an essay or two in the Wikinews namespace (like WN:ARTICLE). Other contributors have commented that it is less about the technical details such as formatting and categories then about the actual style of writing. Right now you're probably in a good position to do something like Wikinews:Common newswriting misconceptions. --Brian McNeil / ^talk 13:23, 26 December 2009 (UTC)
• As to followup, I've seen some people collect new sources on the talk of a recently published article and, when there's enough meat for a start on a followup, start a followup. It might be middle of the coming week authorities give some feedback on the security slip and new processes; the slightly fuzzy details around the time of publication will have cleared a little by then. --Brian McNeil / ^talk 13:26, 26 December 2009 (UTC)

• Sorry to stick my nose into your talk page, Brian, but another idea you may wish to consider for a followup is late today or early tomorrow writing Details emerge on failed jet bombing in Detroit, Michigan. Just pool all the new information that became available in the 24 hours after the explosion. Blood Red Sandman ^{(Talk) (Contribs)} 13:36, 26 December 2009 (UTC)

I think the {{howdy}} template is very informative, although I disagree with writing it in a "news style", perhaps a particular tab of it could have an example article, but not the entire template. I think writing the policies in news style would help tremendously, and that new editors should be encouraged to experiment even if they don't think they have the style down because wikinews has a flagged/sighted revisions system so collaborators can fix style issues. I think formatting is borderline important, while categories aren't so much for a new writer. Categories can always be added in peer review, and formatting fixed. I do wonder if it would be helpful if the Article Wizard on wikipedia was ported over and improved for wikinews. Noian (talk) 18:57, 26 December 2009 (UTC)

Science and theories

A question I have is, what is the policy on science related articles? ex. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8430402.stm. Noian (talk) 19:01, 26 December 2009 (UTC)

• If you mean, as in "write like that BBC article here on Wikinews" then, well, yes. It's the findings of an apparently reputable scientist in the field, working on known and already publicised finds; there is an historical interest and tie-in with Darwin's Origins. The publication of the research, and its conclusions, is a newsworthy event. It is, however, original research – or at the very least, original synthesis from the named authors' published work. Original research is allowed but, I don't think we've any Editors at the moment could out-of-the-blue competently review something like that by going through the original sources. This is where a reputation for doing good work on more general news counts for a lot – if you are a subscriber to the relevant peer-reviewed journal, can justify some significance on the report you wish to summarise and report as newsworthy, then - from my point of view - I'd give that BBC story a passing review here once I'd had private sight of the article, struggled through it, glazed over at the Latin, and verified the journal had a robust review process with respectable reviewers in that scientific field. Then again, I'm one of the Wikinewsies who would send someone out the door at high velocity if they said, "Evolution is just a theory"; I know what, in scientific terms, a theory is. I doubt it has been written into policy in any way at the moment but there is a general consensus that science stories like this can take over a week to draft and deal with, and they can be quite demanding within that development period. It isn't the sort of work I'd suggest starting out on but, ...

This is why we have accredited reporters – there are details you can add to such stories, content initially unique to Wikinews that you might be able to track down. You can, if contact details are available, ask a papers' authors if they might share other unpublished images with Commons, or connect with other notable people in the field who may have read the same paper and be able to give a 'soundbite' on their reaction. It does, as I imply above, come back down to reputation. If you cross into original research and start sending emails or letters part of that will be judged on your prior work; part on the prior work of any publication you say you wish to see a story run in. I don't know how big scientists are on mentions or citations by more "general-audience" press but, I'd love to see the site so significant that we'd get the same sort of 'forced to appear or respond' as Ann Coulter versus Jeremy Paxman. --Brian McNeil / ^talk 00:07, 27 December 2009 (UTC)

I was asking because I do have access to some weekly science journals at home as my parents are scientists, and the journals have discoveries/news/government policy sections (specifically Chemistry, as my stepmom who's a biologist doesn't subscribe to anything atm). If you say the review process is quite hard though, then I probably won't bother starting a this week in science review article until I'm more experienced.Noian (talk) 04:16, 27 December 2009 (UTC)

<unindent> The community is currently small enough that you'd need to find someone committed to attempt a review that you can email a scan of the article for verification. A few more general news articles to get the style then it should not be a problem. --Brian McNeil / ^talk 10:47, 27 December 2009 (UTC)

You can find the article wizard here: [3] (personally I don't use it as I find the article wizard needs improvement, but as of late since the welcome template at wikipedia's been updated with it, the amount of short, terrible newpages at wikipedia have decreased considerably) Noian (talk) 17:12, 27 December 2009 (UTC)

Apologies

I apologize about the "POINT" comments I made in the earlier deletion discussion for the "Terrorism" category. That was a bit out of line and bad faith on my part. I am sorry, Cirt (talk) 19:17, 27 December 2009 (UTC)

• The deletion request was formed in a somewhat POINT-ish manner. It's probably more apparent now I've dug up and you house cleaned the war on terror category. I'd suggest letting the DR run its course now with a rename and keep. People can comment on it and hash out the final resting place for stuff. I think you could class "Global War on Terror" as a US-invented wikt:meme; taking it at face value is tantamount to Wikinews signing up to fight on their side – which the project shouldn't do. Trimming back to origin in the US and official use was a good call. --Brian McNeil / ^talk 19:32, 27 December 2009 (UTC)

I respectfully disagree that category-naming is representative of wholesale support by Wikinews itself, rather it is a classification of things deemed relevant to the term. But I highly respect you and your right to your opinion about that. :) Cirt (talk) 19:33, 27 December 2009 (UTC)

You made the article?

Brain fund? --AtwoodChino20 (talk) 12:38, 28 December 2009 (UTC)

• What? What article? --Brian McNeil / ^talk 18:19, 28 December 2009 (UTC)
  • Ignore, banned trouble maker. --James Pain (talk) 18:19, 28 December 2009 (UTC)

Your support for my RFA

I would like to thank you for supporting my successful RFA and for your confidence in me. I look forward to serving further the English Wikinews community in this new capacity. I shall take the new tasks required of an administrator on board step by step and will make the utmost effort to fulfil the role to the best of my abilities. Kind regards Александр Дмитрий (Alexandr Dmitri) (talk) 12:38, 30 December 2009 (UTC)

If you have the time

Since the article I intended to write, before real life crept up on me, is being marked as "too short" and left as that, I was wondering if you could finish the Violence in Iran article (time permitting), or tag it as missing an author (since I'm unfamiliar with tags), as my request on the newsroom has been ignored (or at least, no one has stepped in to write it instead). Thank you. Noian (talk) 05:31, 31 December 2009 (UTC)

• I'll try and take a look. You posted this request around when I went to bed this morning after finishing the Iceland story. I'm just up again, my net connection is incredibly slow, and I have to go to the bank and do various other things before everything shuts down today. --Brian McNeil / ^talk 11:48, 31 December 2009 (UTC)

Quick query about your userpage photo

Hi Brian. I noticed that the picture that you're using on your user page seems to be copyrighted. According to WN:FU: "The use of non-free images outside of the main article namespace does not constitute fair use, and is not permitted", so is it okay to use the image in userspace? I don't know much about Crown Copyright, so I'm not completely sure. Was just wondering. Cheers and happy New Year, Tempodivalse [talk] 00:59, 1 January 2010 (UTC)

• The image is my passport photo. Do you know what constraints apply to re-use of that image when you surrender it to the government? It was taken by a machine yet I don't feel I can safely claim (c) ownership. --Brian McNeil / ^talk 06:13, 1 January 2010 (UTC)

Heads up

Jules Mattsson's accreditation application is still open. Benny the mascot (talk) 18:01, 3 January 2010 (UTC)

harassment

You have been harassed. Blood Red Sandman ^{(Talk) (Contribs)} 20:02, 3 January 2010 (UTC)

Why not help me?

You tagged my article, but didn't try to improve it. I also contest your "reads to close to the AP article" comment, as I simply read the AP article, and a couple of others, and then wrote out the article as it stands. Again, though, since this is my first foray into WikiNews, help with the article (in lieu of simple tagging) would be really appreciated. Thanks, UnitAnode 23:46, 4 January 2010 (UTC)

• I just copyedited the first paragraph, corrected wikilinks to disambiguation pages therein, and added a missing category. --Brian McNeil / ^talk 00:05, 5 January 2010 (UTC)
  • Thanks! What's the process for getting one of the many photographs of the Salahis added to the article? I think a photograph of those two -- who are mentioned prominently in the article -- would be appropriate. UnitAnode 00:06, 5 January 2010 (UTC)

• It must either be a freely-available image, or one Wikinews can make a legitimate fair use rationale for; the important point there is we absolutely cannot take pictures from any other news source. --Brian McNeil / ^talk 00:09, 5 January 2010 (UTC)

WikiVoices

Any idea when it might be up? Cheers.    Tris   20:45, 5 January 2010 (UTC)

• James is about halfway through trying to make it coherent. --Brian McNeil / ^talk 23:24, 5 January 2010 (UTC)

Perfect, thanks, was just interested. Looking forward to it.    Tris   23:56, 5 January 2010 (UTC)

French Wikimag

Hey, I'm a contributor of the french wikimag (like Wikipedia Sign Post but in french). And I would know if it's possible to have a kind of interview about the 2010 Wikinews contest ? Thank You mik@ni 08:56, 7 January 2010 (UTC)

• Sure! But not in French (you can translate). --Brian McNeil / ^talk 11:21, 7 January 2010 (UTC)

No problem for the translation. mik@ni 14:56, 7 January 2010 (UTC)

With US mid-term elections fast approaching, three prominent Democrats announce their retirement

With regards to this article, feel that your NPOV concerns have been adequately addressed. However, I am certainly open to the fact you do not agree with my opinion. I see what you meant in your earlier NPOV comment on the piece and certainly the article is not 50/50, but I think it's so close that the difference is not a real factor. Calebrw (talk) 17:56, 7 January 2010 (UTC)

Article Generator

Hi Brian, I see you've copied the Wikipedia Article Generator over to enwn.net. Is this just going to be a case of going through it and changing/removing/adding text where neccesary?    Tris   13:08, 9 January 2010 (UTC)

• It's a good general framework - with an obvious need to move away from the encyclopedia entry focus. Feel free to have a hack at the existing wording. From there it should be easier to rename the sub-pages and target news-appropriate issues. Obviously I've been caught up in other wikidrama recently. --Brian McNeil / ^talk 13:24, 9 January 2010 (UTC)

• Cool, thanks, I'll have a look/tinker over the next few days hopefully. Good luck!    Tris   13:51, 9 January 2010 (UTC)

Re:Sighting articles

Oops, I didn't mean to sight the article. Thanks Cocoaguy^talk_contribs‽ 17:15, 10 January 2010 (UTC)

Got a minute?

Hey Brian,

Nice feeding! Do you have a minute to review An interview with Paul Campbell, founder of Amazing Radio UK? Shouldn't take longer than that I hope. Thank you.    Tris   11:29, 14 January 2010 (UTC)

• I'll look once I'm caught op on policing Recent Changes. Couldn't resist that one about the softcore porn pics. --Brian McNeil / ^talk 11:30, 14 January 2010 (UTC)

• Thank you, much appreciated.    Tris   11:52, 14 January 2010 (UTC)

RE:Advertising

Why did you alert me about the advertising? --Rayboy8 (my talk) (my contributions) 16:54, 14 January 2010 (UTC)

I hope Brian doesn't mind me butting in and if I'm wrong, please correct me Brian, but I believe he was referring to your attempt to add the link to donating for the Haiti earthquake.    Tris   16:56, 14 January 2010 (UTC)

• Rayboy8 didn't add it - he corrected the date format instead of removing it. --Brian McNeil / ^talk 17:14, 14 January 2010 (UTC)
  • Aha, apologies Rayboy8, but the point still stands.    Tris   17:17, 14 January 2010 (UTC)

As an expert

Any ideas about this-Wikinews:Water cooler/technical#Problem!!? Sorry for spamming your talk page so much recently!    Tris   17:19, 14 January 2010 (UTC)

• Ask Bawolff. --Brian McNeil / ^talk 17:38, 14 January 2010 (UTC)
  • Roger, will do.    Tris   17:49, 14 January 2010 (UTC)

Eleven year old driver article

Shouldnt there be a hyphen between eleven and year? (Note: I am Soap on English Wikipedia). 65.175.254.105 (talk) 00:22, 15 January 2010 (UTC)

... and "old" ... it ought be "Eleven-year-old driver ..." --SVTCobra 00:31, 15 January 2010 (UTC)

I am sorry I used "11" which seems to have prompted your "WN:SG" extravaganza. --SVTCobra 01:22, 15 January 2010 (UTC)

question of neutrality of "Bangladeshi Student are Cheated, Study in China"

Please see the collaboration section of the Bangladeshi Student are Cheated, Study Medicine in China for neutrality of this article. Because this article is written as same as the daily newspaper of Bangladesh "Prothom Alo"--Kaish (talk) 19:32, 15 January 2010 (UTC)

• It ain't neutral, and if you were misguided enough to think the idiotic article you copied it from then you have a long, long way to go before you'll be doing a service to the public by engaging in citizen journalism. --Brian McNeil / ^talk 23:34, 15 January 2010 (UTC)

#Now I have to depend on your comment which is neutral or which is not neutral rather than depend on the source and original story and statements of the public. you are forcing not showing the guideline--Kaish (talk) 04:34, 17 January 2010 (UTC)

Appropriate

Do you feel it is appropriate to call for someone's assassination? --William Saturn (talk) 23:47, 15 January 2010 (UTC)

• Did I? Go back and read my comment very, very carefully – as you obviously didn't before posting here. If I can't make a comment such as that on our comments space then, why, you should start trying to close down the comments namespace. Free speech is, to me, an absolute. I'll care when I'm arrested for it; and, at that point, you'll find just how many people believe I have the right to speak my mind as I see fit. I called for nobody's assassination; I valued a right-wing cretinous gassbag as equivalent to the price of a bullet to relieve us all of the bile and sewage he spews. --Brian McNeil / ^talk 02:01, 16 January 2010 (UTC)

You just did it again. Perhaps you should look at your own rhetoric. Limbaugh never advocates murder for people he simply disagrees with.--William Saturn (talk) 02:24, 16 January 2010 (UTC)

• You're a fool. You lack reading comprehension skills. --Brian McNeil / ^talk 14:18, 16 January 2010 (UTC)

Yes, an ad hominem response. Very intelligent. Isn't it ironic how you defend your right to free speech but then attack others such as Rush Limbaugh when they express their's (even without being hateful)?--William Saturn (talk) 19:36, 16 January 2010 (UTC)

• Did I advocate murder? No. Your wilful misinterpretation of my remarks, both on the comments page, and here, are the problem. Limbaugh can say whatever the hell he wants as far as I'm concerned; the more outrageous the better, then more people might ceased to be fooled by the moron. The vast majority of people who follow him and do the dumb "Right-on Rush" are being conned into voting against their own best interests.

Had I made a death threat, or canvassed for someone to commit murder, you can be sure I would get a visit from the local police. Now, this is my talk page, you could have responded – far more appropriately – on the comments page where I made my disparaging remarks.

And, for the record, pointing out that you failed to correctly read my comment is not an ad-hominem attack; it's a statement of fact. --Brian McNeil / ^talk 19:49, 16 January 2010 (UTC)

Perhaps if you worded the comment a little more appropriately, there would be no ambiguity. --William Saturn (talk) 20:02, 16 January 2010 (UTC)

1. This is not "nicey-nicey" Wikipedia; this is Wikinews.
2. The whole point of the Comments namespace is to allow people to vent.
3. Leave my talk page alone unless it is something to do with improving Wikinews or a project-related issue. If you've a problem with something in the Comments namespace then you deal with it there. --Brian McNeil / ^talk 21:26, 16 January 2010 (UTC)

Template deletion

Regarding deletion of {{Ready}} redirect to {{Review}} - I agree with this - good move! ;) Cirt (talk) 00:18, 17 January 2010 (UTC)

• I believe Bawolff restored this because it was actually a bug in the EXReview gadget. --Brian McNeil / ^talk 04:40, 17 January 2010 (UTC)

No worries, Cirt (talk) 05:44, 17 January 2010 (UTC)

Inspirational Quote

"If you would create something, you must be something." - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe--Kaish (talk) 04:37, 17 January 2010 (UTC)

• Thank you, it is quite some years since I read any of Goethe's work. --Brian McNeil / ^talk 04:39, 17 January 2010 (UTC)
• Perhaps some Elements of style may improve your writing. This is a relatively short work to read but, densely packed with information. --Brian McNeil / ^talk

A minor headsup...

Hi, just wanted to tell you that there's a minor backlog at WN:CHU. I'm telling you about it because you seem to be the most active admin there and two accounts (including mine, just for disclosure) have been waiting a month at the least. Thanks for any help you might provide! Treelo (talk) 00:45, 18 January 2010 (UTC)

I did it already. Sorry for not getting to it sooner, i checked through that page a few days ago and for some reason though all the requests had been completed. Tempodivalse [talk] 01:08, 18 January 2010 (UTC)

Please Review

Can you please have a look at this. I'd like to see this passed before I go on my enforced holiday--RockerballAustralia (talk) 05:25, 19 January 2010 (UTC)

Re:Hi!

Hi, sir Brian McNeil! In the romanian wikinews, media is small in compare with english wikinews; in this place are statistics of romanian WikiNews; Thanks and Good bye! Mr. man (talk) 14:49, 19 January 2010 (UTC)

He are a baurecrat in romanian wn.; Contacte he; Good bye!

Turkey-related news

Hi, I wonder why you removed the Category:Europe from all Turkey-related news? Turkish Flame (talk) 17:19, 19 January 2010 (UTC)

• I am recategorising articles on Turkey based on geography. Only a very, very small part of the country is within Europe; the majority within Asia. The country is generally accepted as part of the Middle East (another category I am verifying is present). And, where there is a clear link to Europe, I am leaving that catgory in place. When this is recategorised please feel free to point out on the Water Cooler which Turkish articles actually refer to news events clearly within the continental European part of Turkey. --Brian McNeil / ^talk 17:45, 19 January 2010 (UTC)
  • Comment (and I don't have a dog in this race): It raises interesting questions of categorization based upon geography or political affiliation. Turkey is currently a candidate state for the EU, as I understand it. Once that's completed, would they fall under the Europe category? If not, under which category would Alaska fall? At a certain point, common sense figures into the Alaska question, I know, but it's a fun question to consider. Philippe (WMF) (talk) 18:00, 19 January 2010 (UTC)

• Hi Philippe, this is a "thorny" question. The European Union is political, Europe is geographical. The Middle East? That's a minefield.

Interestingly enough, there have been several people from Pakistan who've done a lot of work identifying the regional categorisations for news articles on the country. That, in this case, might be the solution; clearly identify the small region within Turkey which is unambiguously geographically within Europe and apply that category; however, from reviewing the maps, and the use of Europe as a category, it would be more appropriate to start from a base where articles on Turkey are categorised as in Asia and the Middle East. Unless, of course, there is a close link to Europe through some point such as a dispute with a clearly European country or such. --Brian McNeil / ^talk 18:07, 19 January 2010 (UTC)

/me nods. Makes sense. Philippe (WMF) (talk) 18:10, 19 January 2010 (UTC)

If you're recategorising Turkey-related news based on Turkey's geography, you should remove the "Category:Europe" from all Cyprus-related articles. Because Cyprus is 100% in Asia. If you won't, people will think that you edit Wikinews ideologically. But I think we should take the BBC News, CNN, Euronews, etc. as our model which categorise news by countries' political continents. And if we use geographical continents in news articles, we should remove the Category:Middle East. Because the Middle East is a political region which is geographically part of Asia. Turkish Flame (talk) 18:56, 19 January 2010 (UTC)

• An interesting observation about Cyprus; you learn something every day, and I will deal with that having reviewed the maps. If you wish to dispute the other points, please bring them to wider attention on the Water Cooler. --Brian McNeil / ^talk 22:32, 19 January 2010 (UTC)

OK, I'll bring this issue to the Water Cooler. But first, I'll wait for you to recategorise Cyprus-related news like you did to Turkey-related news. Because this double standart should be removed. Then the Wikinews editors can make a decision. Turkish Flame (talk) 06:27, 20 January 2010 (UTC)

• I've gone through the Cyprus articles; there is much less news on them, and a lot more associations with Europe on them so it was less articles came out the category than I expected. --Brian McNeil / ^talk 19:51, 20 January 2010 (UTC)

Re: Chinese Wikinews

Sorry for my late reply, it is more easy to reach via e-mail now :P

anyway, I would like to introduce Alex to you, one of zh.wikinews admin, living in Taipei, helped us in Wikimania 2007, I'm confident about his English. --Yuyu (talk) 07:47, 20 January 2010 (UTC)

Oxford / Spotify

In case you don't notice the talkpage, para 4.10 shows that there is a ban. Regards, Bencherlite (talk) 11:23, 20 January 2010 (UTC)

Many thanks for your help on this one, much appreciated. Bencherlite (talk) 21:52, 20 January 2010 (UTC)

My bot

Could you enable it to use AWB and bot flag it when you need spam reminders delivered? Then I could go ahead and run it and have it add the reminders for the contest. Regards, The New Mikemoral ♪♫ 03:37, 21 January 2010 (UTC)

• It's in the bots list for AWB. First thing needed is one hidden category per competition entrant. I'd suggest [[Category:<username> (WWC2010)]]. The content needs to include the "__ HIDDENCAT __" magic word (without the spaces). --Brian McNeil / ^talk 03:56, 21 January 2010 (UTC)

Something such as [[Category:{{subst:BASEPAGENAME}} (WWC2010)]] [[Category:Brian McNeil (WWC2010)]], then make cats for the users. hmm... I think pywikiedpiabot would work too. I figure it out by tomorrow on how to do this. --The New Mikemoral ♪♫ 04:06, 21 January 2010 (UTC)

George

I know you're busy with more important work, but at some point can we get the underlying IP of George's latest sock and a proxy check? Blood Red Sandman ^{(Talk) (Contribs)} 13:33, 21 January 2010 (UTC)

• I've done a 72-hour rangeblock. No proxies involved. --Brian McNeil / ^talk 14:24, 21 January 2010 (UTC)

Writing Contest 2010

To keyboards!!

Points to remember The competition page is here. Remember, you'll need to move from the newcomers to experienced section as the competition progresses. Everyone who's new to Wikinews remind yourselves of the article guide and style guide. And, use the Enter an article tab in this template to correctly start your competition articles.   Wikipedians! See here.

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Getting Help Possibly the fastest way to get help is to look for the regulars in the #wikinews IRC channel on Freenode. See this page for more details. Remember, many people will lurk, connected long-term, but not regularly checking for messages. Please be patient when looking for answers to queries, it can be annoying to see someone ask a question but leave before you notice it.

The usual places to look The Water Cooler The Latest News The Newsroom Articles for deletion Recent Changes

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Testing this...

• Should this be subst'd? --The New Mikemoral ♪♫ 05:13, 23 January 2010 (UTC)

• That much ugly-ass code? No. Think of the "Talk page changed" diff you'd get. --Brian McNeil / ^talk 10:07, 23 January 2010 (UTC)

Your right. That would pretty ugly looking at the diff. --The New Mikemoral ♪♫ 18:02, 23 January 2010 (UTC)

←Mind if I see if the signature line comes out stupid like on my tp? --The New Mikemoral ♪♫ 21:58, 24 January 2010 (UTC)

• If it needs a test, it needs a test. --Brian McNeil / ^talk 22:30, 24 January 2010 (UTC)

• Nevermind, my tp just had crappy wikicode. The messages got delivered 23 UTC, a time I found reasonable for a reminder, btw. Might as well remind before the actual contest.--The New Mikemoral ♪♫ 23:40, 24 January 2010 (UTC)

Why delete "Cantonment Hill sold to City of Fremantle"?

Hi! I don't quite understand why this article has been marked for possible deletion. I'm a bit new here. I understand that content that has not been edited (and changed to published status) for three days is removed. So can I just change this article to published? Or is it not yet big/good enough? Thank you for any help you can give me, and sorry if I've missed something obvious in the documentation (I have read some of it). — Sam Wilson ( Talk • Contribs ) … 02:57, 26 January 2010 (UTC)

• Today is the 26th, the sources are the 21st. That's {{stale}}. --Brian McNeil / ^talk 10:08, 26 January 2010 (UTC)