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Archive 1Archive 2Archive 3Archive 4Archive 5

Your poem on your userpage

Just wanted to say I really enjoyed it. :) œ 09:01, 13 May 2010 (UTC)

Thanks :) {{Sonia|talk|simple}} 09:03, 13 May 2010 (UTC)

:-)

;-) Anna Lincoln 09:09, 13 May 2010 (UTC)
....*smiles back, then switches back to watchlist, wondering what she did to deserve that lovely smile*... thanks, though. I do love getting new messages :) {{Sonia|talk|simple}} 09:13, 13 May 2010 (UTC)

Thanks

For helping, have a cookie :)

Acather96 (talk) 10:19, 16 May 2010 (UTC)


Regarding Tiggers

Saw this at WT:WPAFC. Technically, there's no real need for dab pages if there's only two articles (usually a hatnote would be used). fetch·comms 20:27, 19 May 2010 (UTC)

Oh, okay. I'll remember that for next time. Thanks, {{Sonia|talk|simple}} 22:39, 19 May 2010 (UTC)

Voting

Why do you have to "know" who I am in order to count the vote? There's no electoral registration to RFAs. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 129.78.64.103 (talk) 05:51, 20 May 2010 (UTC)

No, there isn't. But you could be any one of us logged out, trying to place a double vote. (although, the way this RfA's going, there won't be a need for that.) You could even be the candidate. Wikipedia:RfA states, under "Expressing opinions", that you can by all means talk about how great you think the candidate is or bring up issues, but you just can't have a numbered vote. The closing bureaucrat will still take your points into account, but your vote won't be in the tally. I have not been around Wikipedia for long, so I can't really say where exactly the rule came about, but there are good reasons for it. Regards, {{Sonia|talk|simple}} 05:56, 20 May 2010 (UTC)
Well they could use checkuser to make sure it is not the candidate or any other registered user trying to add multiple votes. There's no reason to exclude IPs... the anonymity remains in both instances. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 129.78.64.103 (talk) 06:02, 20 May 2010 (UTC)
Not all 'crats are checkusers. In fact, afaik there are only a handful of checkusers and they are busy enough as it is, without having to do things like this. Here's the parallel: if the CUs could take the time to checkuser every IP that votes, then you could take the time to create an account. It'll stop any misunderstandings as well, given you're using a shared IP. (Not to mention you would be a great rollbacker, and could probably get it quite quickly considering how well you know the wiki). {{Sonia|talk|simple}} 06:16, 20 May 2010 (UTC)
Per WP:RFA:

Any Wikipedian with an account is welcome to comment in the Support, Oppose, and Neutral sections, but IPs are unable to place a numerical (#) "vote".

If you want to express an opinion which counts at an RFA, you must register an account and place your opinion while logged in. Them's the rules. ···日本穣? · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe · Join WikiProject Japan! 08:26, 20 May 2010 (UTC)

RfA thanks

Thank you for voting in my RfA, which passed at with 99 support, 9 oppose, and 2 neutral. Your support was much appreciated.

Regards -- Александр Дмитрий (Alexandr Dmitri) (talk) 16:03, 20 May 2010 (UTC)

No issues whatsoever. I'm glad I could participate. Example's RfA is suddenly a lot more popular... :) {{Sonia|talk|simple}} 20:10, 20 May 2010 (UTC)


Just Checking

Not sure you got my messages and thought i should see if i could get a hold of you from here. I added the "Adopt me" template, but do not know how to choose you as my adoptee... You really need to read that message i sent. Thanks.Evolutionofmankind 11:31, 26 May 2010 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Evolutionofmankind (talkcontribs)

I got your message, but I am not entirely sure what you are asking. I'm not experienced enough to adopt anyone at this stage, I'm afraid, but I can teach you some of the basics if you like. First lesson: When you post on talk pages like this one, do sign your posts with ~~~~. {{Sonia|talk|simple}} 22:21, 26 May 2010 (UTC)

AWB

Done. Anything else I can do for you this fine morning? [[User:Courcelles|Courcelles] (talk) 12:59, 28 May 2010 (UTC)

Heh, not really, considering it was 1 am here when you posted this message... :P Thanks, anyway :) {{Sonia|talk|simple}} 21:39, 28 May 2010 (UTC)
Oh, it was 9 am here and my day got worse the longer it went on, but, don't hesitate to hit my talk page when you need anything. Courcelles (talk) 22:28, 28 May 2010 (UTC)

Thank you

Thanks for the vandal reversion on my userpage. ;) Much appreciated. HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 13:30, 28 May 2010 (UTC)

No probs. :) {{Sonia|talk|simple}} 21:39, 28 May 2010 (UTC)

Hey Sonia!

I'd just like to say thank you for the late welcome, and for replying to the vandal who left that message on my talk page. There is a few things you should know about me though...

1. I'm not a girl. (Yes, I know, I get this a lot, but Shannon is unisex in case you didn't know.) 2. Yes, I am 15. (Some people just aren't good in math I suppose... hehe) 3. Indeed, I consider myself one of the few teenagers using Wikipedia who are actually ABOVE vandalism. (It's unfortunate that many of our age group are so immature...) Shannon ♫ (talk) 17:32, 30 May 2010 (UTC)

Oh,oops. Misconception, I guess. Now I'm kinda embarrassed... :P Well, see you around! {{Sonia|talk|simple}} 23:18, 30 May 2010 (UTC)

Spelling

Thanks!  7  06:17, 31 May 2010 (UTC)

No problemo. :) {{Sonia|talk|simple}} 06:20, 31 May 2010 (UTC)



Shiny thing...

The Working Wikipedian's Barnstar
For, on an absolutely insane day, doing so much to handle queries on the test wiki, my talk page, and elsewhere to help flagged revisions' birthing pains a little easier. Courcelles (talk) 02:45, 16 June 2010 (UTC)
Thank you! (It's my first barnstar...) {{Sonia|ping|enlist}} 02:51, 16 June 2010 (UTC)
Well, that's a shame... I guess it's true, it is easier to get a barnstar for scrubbing vulgarity off someone's user page than for actually doing hard work; and you were doing hard work today. Courcelles (talk) 02:57, 16 June 2010 (UTC)
It was a rather interesting day. I left about 3am UTC to go to a piano exam, and just got back. Seems the typing did me well- I wasn't nervous, and I did all right. Thanks again, anyway. :) {{Sonia|ping|enlist}} 06:12, 16 June 2010 (UTC)
The Original Barnstar
Well they don't have a youth barnstar so I guess you're getting the generic one for being an awesome youth. Kevin Rutherford (talk) 21:58, 16 June 2010 (UTC)
Wow! Thanks! (I don't know exactly what I did to deserve it, but...) {{Sonia|ping|enlist}} 22:19, 16 June 2010 (UTC)
There's not to reason why... :) Set Sail For The Seven Seas 336° 18' 29" NET 22:25, 16 June 2010 (UTC)
Love good poetry, but that one disturbs me slightly. (Love Tennyson especially but no one seems to anymore...) At the moment, I'm setting a poem called I wish this poem were pixie dust to music, for fun. It's not great but it's quite sweet. {{Sonia|ping|enlist}} 22:32, 16 June 2010 (UTC)
Fair enough, but I meant it more in the sense of "why not?". After all, you've done quite a lot around here recently and not just on this wiki. Come to think of it, I seem to be bumping into you in quite few areas, including the flaggedrevs wiki! Set Sail For The Seven Seas 340° 36' 30" NET 22:42, 16 June 2010 (UTC)
Thanks :) Yeah, yesterday was an interesting day for flaggedrevs. What do you think of it? (I didn't actually get to do any reviewing on this wiki yesterday, though...) {{Sonia|ping|enlist}} 22:45, 16 June 2010 (UTC)
It's good stuff! It's good to be able to try it out before it gets launched, especially after so many have been going on and on about why it's taking so long for it to be activated here. I remember seeing a petition to get it launched sooner since it had already been approved. Set Sail For The Seven Seas 343° 40' 45" NET 22:54, 16 June 2010 (UTC)
Found it Set Sail For The Seven Seas 344° 36' 0" NET 22:58, 16 June 2010 (UTC)
Oh, wow. I saw the mini-poll on AN about delaying the implementation, but not that one. Well, it's up and running, and seems to work, so... I reckon that on Simple English, it would be a good alternative to semi-protection altogether (since IPs are allowed to create articles there, and we need all the edits we can get). I'm just trying to convince the community of that fact, though. Some of them aren't very keen, they say it's another level of bureaucracy. (And the next step-liquidthreads! I'm quite excited about them, but there's still some work to be done on aesthetics and cross-browser uniformity.) {{Sonia|ping|enlist}} 23:01, 16 June 2010 (UTC)
I remember liquidthreads, I came across it a while back. It's a bit like Google Wave in format and much more convenient! Also, there's another one that's even younger called ReaderFeedback, where readers get a review form so they can rate the pages according to: reliability, completeness, neutrality and presentation. It all sounds promising! Set Sail For The Seven Seas 349° 6' 45" NET 23:16, 16 June 2010 (UTC)
I hadn't heard of that. Hmm... must check it out. Thanks for the heads-up, it sounds exciting as well! {{Sonia|ping|enlist}} 05:03, 17 June 2010 (UTC)
You can a list of all these wikis here. This one might be of interest to you. Set Sail For The Seven Seas 253° 21' 30" NET 16:53, 18 June 2010 (UTC)
Eh... It would be, but it's really inactive. Thanks for the linkys, though. {{Sonia|ping|enlist}} 10:16, 19 June 2010 (UTC)

Hi,

I removed the copyright from this image http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Horseriding_desert_maghreb.JPG because I did a wrong move as don't own the copyright of this image. It should be deleted but I don't known how to do this.

thanks. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Trollspirit (talkcontribs) 16:16, 16 June 2010 (UTC)

Generally this can be deleted since there is already a copy on Wikimedia Commons. It should be flagged with {{NowCommons}} to notify this. Hope this helps. Set Sail For The Seven Seas 264° 59' 0" NET 17:39, 16 June 2010 (UTC)

ACC request question

Hi, I was just curious to know why you flagged Hghghghghghghg as a username violation? Which part of WP:USERNAME did that come from? -- PhantomSteve/talk|contribs\ 12:52, 18 June 2010 (UTC)

The "confusing username" bit. Rereading it, it's not in the same section as the rest, so it's probably not part of policy- I'm sorry about that. (Also, ListUser shows another account, identical with one more "h" on the end, but I thought that the requester would probably benefit more from knowing it's a potentially troublesome name than from knowing it's too similar.) I'm really sorry- feel free to reverse anything I do. Regards, {{Sonia|ping|enlist}} 20:40, 18 June 2010 (UTC)
OK, I understand that - but if this username had been reported at WP:UAA, it would probably not have been blocked, per that section: This is often the case with confusing or extremely lengthy usernames, which are highly discouraged but which are not so inappropriate on their own that they require an immediate block.. Incidently, the section is part of the policy - the whole page is! -- PhantomSteve/talk|contribs\ 14:18, 19 June 2010 (UTC)
Right. For future reference, what should I do with usernames like that? {{Sonia|ping|enlist}} 00:50, 20 June 2010 (UTC)
(talk page stalker)(not!) Possibly put this template on the user talkpage,{{subst:usernameconcern|is very similar to an existing username}} -- 220.101 (talk) \Contribs 11:05, 20 June 2010 (UTC)
Hi 220.101. :) No, I meant, if they are requested via the ACC interface. Should I create them or decline them, and with what rationale? {{Sonia|ping|enlist}} 11:06, 20 June 2010 (UTC)
Hi back. ACC? Which I have no idea about as I only look via the wp:User creation log. AGF, but if I saw that sort of username come up it would scream vandal, to me. They have no imagination! But I would suggest they try something different, esp if there are similar names. One that I 'dealt with' was "RIP Gary Coleman" which seemed inappropriate, (they're now "RIPGC"). As for Hghghghghghghg, for one thing that many repeating letters are difficult to type. -- 220.101 (talk) \Contribs 14:10, 20 June 2010 (UTC)
Acc is an external interface, used by the Account Creation team. Which you (obviously) can't have access to, as an IP. (One more reason on top of the growing list...oh, come on.) {{Sonia|ping|enlist}} 02:52, 21 June 2010 (UTC)

Well, what I would do (assuming that all the other checks are clear) would be to create it and keep an eye on the account. I noticed that of all the other "hghg..." accounts, almost none of them had been used, a couple have done 1 or two edits and that's about it. I think it's a stupid name (as are trtrtrtr, lklklklk and fdfdfdfdfd - and the other names formed by repeating two letters next to each other), but they aren't specifically against WP:USERNAME from my reading of the policy. If I had declined it, I would have custom closed the request explaining why it was being declined, and asked the requester to send a new request with a new name -- PhantomSteve/talk|contribs\ 07:08, 21 June 2010 (UTC)

All right, I will remember that. Thanks again. {{Sonia|ping|enlist}} 07:15, 21 June 2010 (UTC)

Response to submission review

Hi Sonia,

Thank you for reviewing the stub so promptly and constructively. I hope the revisions are satisfactory.

Sincerely, FlyPusher (talk) 18:07, 18 June 2010 (UTC)

Feeding trolls

Sonia, this time it looks like you have gotten the shortcut wrong. :) WP:FEED points to requests for feedback; the real shortcut is WP:DENY. :D Kayau Voting IS evil 11:42, 19 June 2010 (UTC)

Oops. Thanks and sorry. :) {{Sonia|ping|enlist}} 11:44, 19 June 2010 (UTC)

Are you...

...an account creator? :| TelCoNaSpVe :| 23:21, 19 June 2010 (UTC)

No. I'm part of the account creation team, but I don't have the account creator flag. {{Sonia|ping|enlist}} 00:43, 20 June 2010 (UTC)

Sonia, thankyou for your recent reverts to Deepwater Horizon oil spill

I am most passionate and dedicated to this article. I'm touched that experienced editors like you are helping to keep the article as provocative and informative as possible. Thankyou kindly dear lady for your support lately :D MichaelWestbrook (talk) 11:11, 21 June 2010 (UTC)

My pleasure. Thank you for watching over it. {{Sonia|ping|enlist}} 20:47, 21 June 2010 (UTC)

RfA

Thank you very much for your contribution to my Rfa. I have made a comment about it at User talk:JamesBWatson#Your Request for Adminship which you are, of course, very welcome to read if you wish to. JamesBWatson (talk) 14:23, 21 June 2010 (UTC)

Again, thank you for stepping up to the mop. {{Sonia|ping|enlist}} 20:47, 21 June 2010 (UTC)

The Wikipedia Signpost: 21 June 2010

Excuse me

But I think you made a mistake in reverting. [[1]]Abce2 (talk) 02:50, 26 June 2010 (UTC)

Agh, I'm sorry. I misclicked, then stopped the page loading, so I didn't know it went through. Thank you for spotting that and my sincere apologies. {{Sonia|ping|enlist}} 02:52, 26 June 2010 (UTC)
You're welcome. It's nice to be back after a break...Abce2 (talk) 02:53, 26 June 2010 (UTC)

Planters

You requested at Wikipedia talk:Articles for creation/Planters, U.S. - slaveowners in the pre Civil War United States that the submitter convert cites to cite book. As he's a new user, I did so instead. I also removed one ref to a book that seems to be of his own authorship. Please let me know if you think it's suitable for merging now. Cheers, LeadSongDog come howl! 02:11, 27 June 2010 (UTC)

It's great, thank you. I'll see how best to merge it. {{Sonia|ping|enlist}} 02:51, 27 June 2010 (UTC)

MotD Script

I would suggest using mine now, at User:Hi878/motdtools.js. I've condensed the different voting tabs into one, and tweaked a few other things. Just thought I'd let you know. :) ~~ Hi878 (Come yell at me!) 04:15, 27 June 2010 (UTC)

Hi Sonia, I just want you to know that we generally don't ask authors at AFC to format and add infoboxes to their submissions. We tend to leave formatting and the miscellaneous features of style to the reviewers, as I did here. Sincerely, Blurpeace 08:52, 28 June 2010 (UTC)

Hi, thanks for letting me know and sorry about that. I didn't know that, but I'll remember it from now. {{Sonia|ping|enlist}} 20:58, 28 June 2010 (UTC)

Stress reliever

Whack!

You've been whacked with a wet trout.

Don't take this too seriously. Someone just wants to let you know that you did something silly.

You know why. Kevin Rutherford (talk) 22:25, 28 June 2010 (UTC)

Squish! Kevin Rutherford (talk) 01:56, 29 June 2010 (UTC)

E-mail

...you have. Very boring stuff, though. What did you do to earn the trout? Courcelles (talk) 07:49, 29 June 2010 (UTC)

I was about to reply, thank you very much for that. Kevin has a habit of gifting me little things (which is nice enough, if baffling), but I'm not sure what I did to deserve the whale :P {{Sonia|ping|enlist}} 07:56, 29 June 2010 (UTC)
Her page needed spicing up. The trout was for some stuff where I got figuratively shot on-wiki. The whale and other things like this tend to happen late at night when the simple things are appreciatable. I am weird though so I guess this fits my personality. Kevin Rutherford (talk) 04:49, 30 June 2010 (UTC)
Hit with a whale c/w ocean? or is it chasing that trout? --220.101 (talk) \Contribs 12:41, 30 June 2010 (UTC)

Attribution

Hi there, Sonia. I just want to let you know that if you used the wikicode for these things on your talkpage (e.g. DISPLAYTITLE and REVISIONUSER) from someone else that you have to cite them (Xeno warned Mono here not too long ago). But if you found them simply while experimenting, then you can ignore me. :| TelCoNaSpVe :| 00:26, 1 July 2010 (UTC)

Magicwords, as far as I know, are not anyone's property. Thank you though, I do understand the point, but I just wanted to point that out. {{Sonia|ping|enlist}} 06:41, 1 July 2010 (UTC)
Indeed. Fetchcomms didn't invent the DISPLAYTITLE trick. It seems to be appearing in a lot of places now. ~NerdyScienceDude () 16:58, 1 July 2010 (UTC)
I'm considering using it too, but it might be too much hassle, citing Sonia here, or WP:MYSPACE violations. :| TelCoNaSpVe :| 17:02, 1 July 2010 (UTC)
The documentation for these magic words can be found here. It's part of the MediaWiki software, so it should be fine to use without attribution. If it wasn't, it would have been disabled for this wiki. Set Sail For The Seven Seas 274° 49' 45" NET 18:19, 1 July 2010 (UTC)
Great! Thanks, Thesevenseas. :| TelCoNaSpVe :| 18:24, 1 July 2010 (UTC)
*shrugs* If using magicwords is a MYSPACE violation, a good number of us are doomed. Well, anyway, I like my userspace the way it is, in general, so it's staying that way. sonia♫♪ 19:36, 1 July 2010 (UTC)


Happy b-day!

:D -- œ 06:33, 5 July 2010 (UTC)

Why, thanks! (I got a guitar irl, so I'm busy trying to figure out the tab for this now. :) sonia♫♪ 06:55, 5 July 2010 (UTC)
Ooh.. you gotta upload a sound clip of you playing it! :) -- œ 10:03, 5 July 2010 (UTC)
What, after having played a guitar for a grand total of about two hours? :P That would fail... I've worked out a good portion of the tab, but being able to play it- there's a completely different story. (That said, when I can play it, I will record it and upload it. It's a nice little acoustic, and I quite like the brighter sound of the steel strings.) sonia♫♪ 10:10, 5 July 2010 (UTC)

Happy Birthday Sonia! Kevin Rutherford (talk) 20:59, 5 July 2010 (UTC)

Help

Hi Max, I learnt it basically the same way I've learnt everything on-wiki– by hitting "edit" on other people's pages, modifying the code, and putting it on my own. The preview button (or a sandbox) is your best friend. (Actually, I've got a tool called "quickpreview" enabled that is really handy- you may like it too. Put importScript('User:CBM/quickpreview.js') in your special:mypage/skin.js to use it.
Back to the title- I used {{DISPLAYTITLE:<span style="color:#C09; font-family:Times New Roman"><span style="display:none">User talk:</span>''Sonia''</span>}}, to change the title just like you would a signature. The catch with this is that you can't insert any symbols or extra words, only what is originally in the title of the page.
If you need any more help, my talk page is always open. Cheers, sonia♫♪ 21:06, 5 July 2010 (UTC)
Hey,Thank you very much.BestMax Viwe | Wanna chat with me? 06:34, 6 July 2010 (UTC)

RFA Thank spam

Thank you for voting in my RfA, which failed with 10 support, 26 oppose, and 13 neutral. Your comments were much appreciated.

--White Shadows There goes another day 17:34, 7 July 2010 (UTC)

User page

Wow, awesome user page! I'd love a userpage like that, mind if I steal the idea? I'll use a different picture and words obviously! -- Jack?! 22:21, 7 July 2010 (UTC)

Sure. Another userpage you might like is User:Thejadefalcon's which includes userboxes. Thanks for asking :) sonia♫♪ 22:24, 7 July 2010 (UTC)

RE:out of curiosity..

Well thankyou very much! It's nice to be welcomed back. I'm already struggling to stay civil, certain rude replies to comments often make it difficult for me to not be rude back, but I'll try! And as for where I came across you, I believe it was on the reference desk somewhere. If not, somewhere very similar. Nowhere external, if that's what you're worried about :). -- Jack?! 01:33, 8 July 2010 (UTC)

Okay, thanks :). I'm afraid it is going to take a bit of adjusting to get used to the way things are now- I've only been active for eight months or so, but the place has changed a great deal since I made my account. I imagine that it would be an exponentially greater change for you. Hmm- me showing up at the refdesk? I don't recall posting there, but I do pop in regularly so it's very likely. Anyway, happy editing and I hope to see you around :) sonia♫♪ 01:50, 8 July 2010 (UTC)

Noah Lott article

Hello! I have re-created the article for Noah Lott that you moved to AFC on 8 April 2010 (which was subsequently deleted). The article has been heavily revised, with references added per the AFC review. If I am missing any other requirements, please let me know and I'll remedy ASAP. I apologize for not contacting you first; the page recreation was a time-sensitive issue. Thanks! Lightforce (talk) 22:40, 10 July 2010 (UTC)

No problem, thank you for doing me the courtesy of informing me. I am not an expert on the subject field, and I see it's been taken to AfD, so I'll leave any suggestions to them. Regards, sonia♫♪ 23:12, 10 July 2010 (UTC)

Barnstar

The Original Barnstar
I see you all the time on wiki! --Extra 999 (Contact me + contribs) 05:06, 11 July 2010 (UTC)
Wow, thanks! I see you around too, but I can't put a finger on exactly where... :P sonia♫♪ 05:46, 11 July 2010 (UTC)

Page title

There is a reason why it doesn't work, Max. You see, it only shows what was the original title of the page. Otherwise, people could put one on Cheese that said Socks or something. So because your username is User:Themaxviwe, that is the only thing that is allowed to show up. I should be sleeping now, I've got a gig tomorrow. If this explanation didn't make any sense, feel free to pop back and I'll fix it for you. Cheers, sonia♫♪ 10:22, 11 July 2010 (UTC)re
Oh,Thank you very much again.I've fixed problem.Max Viwe | Wanna chat with me? 11:22, 11 July 2010 (UTC)

Hey

I noticed you carried out a user review on 1234r00t and was wondering if you could do my user review if you have time. Thanks :) It's Me(Speak to me)What have you done? 10:28, 13 July 2010 (UTC)

Talkback

Hello, Sonia. You have new messages at Wikipedia:Editor review/1234r00t.
Message added 19:22, 13 July 2010 (UTC). You can remove this notice at any time by removing the {{Talkback}} or {{Tb}} template.

Hope you don't mind that I stole your navigation template on the top of the page. Mr. R00t Talk 19:23, 13 July 2010 (UTC)

Just needs attribution, per above. :| TelCoNaSpVe :| 19:26, 13 July 2010 (UTC)


>_> Sorry

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

I deeply apologise for missing those unreliable sources. I can't believe I was that blind... Fridae'§Doom | Talk to me 09:33, 15 July 2010 (UTC) re

No problem, FD. Just keep reviewing, and I'll watch your reviews for the next coupla days. I made a few mistakes when I started off with AfC too. Slow down slightly, and you'll do fine. Just remember that you've got to be prepared to help these submitters if they ask you questions about how to improve. Again, if you're not sure, this page is open. sonia♫♪ 09:52, 15 July 2010 (UTC)

Thank you!

...for the welcome. Made me chuckle a bit to actually get noticed on one of my infrequent WTF-removals as I read through a page. Would be fun to spend more time adding and editing, but this life doesn't seem to be the one holding the time for that, not to mention that policies and procedures vaporize in my head. I work on a wiki as part of my job, and I still have to constantly reload my head as to whether two equals or three is a bold header, and whether I have to revert or undo in order to roll back more than one page. Anyway, nice to meet you as we pass, and I appreciate you taking the time to briefly un-invisible me. :-) VPF - Veryprettyfish (talk) 11:31, 15 July 2010 (UTC)

No problem. I'd suggest going into your preferences and enabling Twinkle under "gadgets"- it will make your life easier by far, when you do spot the vandalism. Hidden vandalism that goes unseen is one of our biggest problems, and people like you are an asset to our community. If you have any questions or comments, this page is always open. Cheers, sonia♫♪ 22:21, 15 July 2010 (UTC)

The Man Who Sold the World

Hi, I just wanted to say thank you for picking up on the mess I made of moving the "Man Who etc." pages, I should've asked for help before I started! Nothing ventured nothing gained, but sorry for the hassle...! Looks like Anthony.bradbury's got it all sewn up now. Truly grateful. Nortonius (talk) 21:46, 15 July 2010 (UTC)

Ah, that's good. I'll remove the {{helpme}} on your page then- even though I didn't really help much... Happy editing! sonia♫♪ 22:21, 15 July 2010 (UTC)

Renaming

Hi, could you please confirm your request at w:nl:WP:HA by leaving a message here and then notifying me at the Dutch Wikipedia. Thanks. -- Taketa (talk) 08:39, 16 July 2010 (UTC)

All right. I confirm that I am trying to unify my account across all Wikimedia projects, and that I am doing this by requesting with my alternate account openstrings. Thank you very much for your trouble. sonia♫♪ 09:07, 16 July 2010 (UTC)

Spell checking

Hi, Thanks for your reply to my help request - please accept my apologies for taking so long to answer, I've been on WP rarely of late, and had forgotten I'd asked the question! I use Opera and the preferences are set to British English, so i'm baffled as to why it checks this in American! I'd assumed that it was the WP editor, but thanks for the info. Having used Opera for longer than i've been a registered user of WP and as I generally don't edit from anywhere but home this had not occurred to me! I certainly haven't got anything installed that is doing this, as I'm very careful about add ons and avoid them whenever possible. I'll look for info in the Opera forums. Thanks again. Bertcocaine (talk) 23:40, 16 July 2010 (UTC)

No problems, I'm still somewhat curious as to how that happened. Do let me know if you get an answer. sonia♫♪ 04:05, 17 July 2010 (UTC)
Sussed it! Opera has built in spell checking from v10 onwards. This has a separate setting for the dictionary from the main language selection in preferences, which is selected within the context menu within the web page. Now I've switched to UK English and it spell checks correctly. Thanks again! Bertcocaine (talk) 10:16, 18 July 2010 (UTC)
Hmm, that's interesting! Thanks for letting me know, and happy editing! sonia♫♪ 20:15, 21 July 2010 (UTC)

ar.wp usurpation request

I have added one for you here, you will need to wait 7 days. --Shipmaster (talk) 07:43, 17 July 2010 (UTC)

Oh, so there was a rename page. I couldn't find it, sorry. Most gratefully, sonia♫♪ 07:54, 17 July 2010 (UTC)

Ping! pong

Hello, Sonia. You have new messages at 220.101.28.25's talk page.
You can remove this notice at any time by removing the {{Talkback}} or {{Tb}} template.
Hello, Sonia. You have new messages at 220.101.28.25's talk page.
Message added 02:44, 19 July 2010 (UTC). You can remove this notice at any time by removing the {{Talkback}} or {{Tb}} template.

9/11 motto controversy

Well, now that Kevin's told you to shut up (seems a bit blunt to me), I would suggest adding it to special nominations and waiting for consensus. Kayau can oppose if he so desires. Personally, I think it's beautiful. Of course, I'm American, so that makes me very POV. PrincessofLlyr royal court 01:39, 18 July 2010 (UTC)

Princess, no harm was meant there. Actually, I am feeling quite blunt tonight. I do agree though that they were getting out of hand there so I decided to tell them both to please stop the drama quite bluntly. Kevin Rutherford (talk) 01:41, 18 July 2010 (UTC)
I didn't think you meant any harm or I would have gently reminded you about WP:CIVIL. I was not nearly as bothered as perhaps my comment sounds. It just shocked me a little. I thought the argument was getting ridiculous (more on Kayau's side, since I happen to agree with Sonia), but I tend to be a little more diplomatic. It's okay though. Your comment was a refreshing halt to the somewhat heated discussion. PrincessofLlyr royal court 01:52, 18 July 2010 (UTC)
True, you're smart in many regards. It's good to know bluntness is considered refreshing nowadays. Kevin Rutherford (talk) 02:03, 18 July 2010 (UTC)
Of course it is. Having to step around being politically correct gets very tiresome. I still do it, of course, but there are times...! And honestly, I'm glad you said it, because there is simply no way I would have said something like that. Anyhow, we'll see where it goes now. Once again, thank you for your addition to the discussion and feel free to contribute to MOTD anytime! PrincessofLlyr royal court 02:13, 18 July 2010 (UTC)
Sure, will do. Princess, if you hang around Sonia enough you will learn to be a lean, mean, wiki-writing machine. Oh wait, you will become lean and mean but the last part is still a work in progress. Kevin Rutherford (talk) 02:18, 18 July 2010 (UTC)
Princess: I second Kevin's statement that you're smart- but I'd phrase it as "wise". I've been consistently impressed with your outlook and reasoning wherever I've seen you around; your voice of reason would be well used around the dramafests like ANI if you could stand going near them. But no, hanging around me won't get you much wiki street-cred, I have half your edits (and less than a quarter your article-writing!), and a good jot less common sense. Kevin's bluntness- well, it's a good thing and a bad thing. As I've come to know all too well :P Would you be interested in collaboration on some article-writing? I can copyedit, if that will be of any help. sonia♫♪ 02:32, 18 July 2010 (UTC)
Wow, thanks! It's funny, because every time people tell me I'm sounding smart it's when I think I was totally rambling. I will definitely give thought to contributing to ANI. Right now I've used common sense most at WP:ER and helping out some new users. Article writing is not my strong point. I prefer rewriting and finding references! (good editor, not author!) However, I have this idea for revamping War and Peace, which I think could be easily GA and with some work maybe even FA. There's certainly enough info about it available. However, I'm still reading the book, and so can't start that project until I finish (end of the month, maybe). I'm also writing an article, but the book with most of the info is from the library and I don't currently have it. But sure, if you have something you want to work on, I would love to collaborate. I honestly had forgotten that you had fewer edits than I. My perceptions of people tend to be less based on their number of edits and more the quality of their work or their personality. Both of those had you pegged as "experienced" in my mind. (Oh, and about bluntness - that's why I didn't reprimand him, but neither do I follow that pattern!) PrincessofLlyr royal court 02:58, 18 July 2010 (UTC)
Hmm. Well, I haven't read War and Peace yet, I probably should- I'll get it out when I can, and I should finish when you do if I don't have too many other things on. Then we can do that together. Is that fine by you? The only other things I have in mind at the moment are expanding Enigma Variations (which you probably aren't interested in) or working on Category:Macbeth. Besides, it gives me a reason to get some reading done- I have only read one book in the last two months (given I'm a librarian that's absolutely pathetic) which is The Kite Runner. Good book. Have you read it? I can think of a couple of articles that I'd love to collaborate on on simple, but that can come later. One thing at a time :) sonia♫♪ 03:12, 18 July 2010 (UTC)

You're a librarian? That's so cool! I was going to volunteer at my library this summer, but had too much going on. You should read War and Peace. There's a reason why it's been called the greatest novel of all time. I would love to work on it with you! Enigma, I would probably only be good for copyediting. Jubileeclipman is the one to talk to about music. I haven't read The Kite Runner. I've heard that it's good, but think I probably won't read it (language, sensuality). During the summer I generally read approximately a book a day. I need a life! PrincessofLlyr royal court 03:21, 18 July 2010 (UTC)

No you don't, silly. Books are a life, and I wish I read as much as you do. I will make an effort to read War and Peace- Lolita and 1984 are also on my reading list. But I bought (from a garage sale for $2!) a very old reprint of the complete First Folio, so Shakespeare's my latest "fad". I would be happy to have you proofread Enigma for me when I'm done with it (in a couple of months, no doubt- because of my schedule editing is restricted to ten-minute bursts so writing content is really hard.) A pair of non-musical eyes is always a good thing to catch obscurities and such-like. Well- I'll get back to you when I've read War and Peace, and I'm looking forward to that! :) Cheers, sonia♫♪ 04:12, 18 July 2010 (UTC)
Read 1984 (good), not Lolita. Shakespeare I prefer watching to reading. Cyrano de Bergerac is my favorite play (not Shakespeare of course). Anyway, the reason I'm back is because I was lurking over at ANI and realised that I'm not sure about commenting there. How does on go about it? I mean, obviously, I pick a thread where I have a reasonable observation, but are the regulars going to be like, "who is this girl and what is she doing here?" I don't really plan to get involved in anything terribly controversial or propose anything novel (yet). In fact, I was going to comment on this thread, mostly agreeing that the unblock should only be considered if he is helpful on other projects or has several proposed edits going through his talk page. Also, it's the administrators' noticeboard. Do they like having normal users around commenting on stuff? Forgive my insecurity and thank you so much for putting up with me! PrincessofLlyr royal court 13:36, 20 July 2010 (UTC)
Don't worry about that. You are definitely allowed to add comments to the administrators' noticeboard. Actually I believe they encourage non-admins to add comments to get better consensus. Come to think of it, the only part of the administrators' noticeboard that makes it administrative is that an admin action is involved. The way I see it is that if it were admin only, it would have been fully protected and you wouldn't be able to edit it. Hope this helps. Set Sail For The Seven Seas 274° 9' 30" NET 18:16, 20 July 2010 (UTC)
The AN closely resembles the simpleWiki version, so there should be no problem with outside feedback. :| TelCoNaSpVe :| 20:20, 20 July 2010 (UTC)
Thanks guys. I did go ahead and post what I was thinking about. For now I'm just going to browse a lot and only post if I have something really interesting to say (i.e. never). PrincessofLlyr royal court 03:07, 23 July 2010 (UTC)
↑↑That's also very wise. I am, however, very glad that you chose to weigh in at simple on the Kennedy fracas, even though you (like me) weren't around for the desysopping. (If you ever want to comment on anything, but don't want to do so on-wiki- or if you just want to chat: email me.) sonia♫♪ 05:07, 23 July 2010 (UTC)
Oh, reading about Kennedy was definitely interesting. My feelings were somewhat mixed on that one - for a (previously) useful editor, my gut would be to extend more chances, especially since his latest sock was productive. However, socking is rather disruptive and in this case, unlike Yottie, I don't even believe that his double vote in the original RfA was an accident. The reason I really took the time to investigate was because the thread seemed very negative, the users previously involved insistent that he should not be given another chance. Although I would not express it quite so strongly, I think they have a point. He was disruptive, breaking basic policy, and did not assume enough GF of the community that we would AGF and let him have a fresh start. Anyway...thanks for the e-mail offer, which I would love, I'm sure, but I don't have e-mail set up for WP and probably won't for a few years. PrincessofLlyr royal court 13:16, 23 July 2010 (UTC)

Just to say something almost (okay, completely) off-topic, PrincessofLyr, thank you for saying that Cyrano is your favorite play. :) I think that it's unbelievable, so much that I even have the Easton Press edition of it. :) Have you seen the movie from... I think it's from the '50s. It's probably the best movie version of it ever... Anyways, I think I'll just stop babbling about Cyrano now. :) By the way, Sonia, if you wouldn't mind popping in to the ACC IRC channel, I have something that I would like to bother you about. ~~ Hi878 (Come shout at me!) 23:23, 28 July 2010 (UTC)

Sorry, you caught me at a bad time. I'll attempt to get online tomorrow. sonia♫♪ 02:48, 29 July 2010 (UTC)


E-mail

Sent you one. Courcelles (talk) 23:36, 21 July 2010 (UTC)

Received. I'm on it :) sonia♫♪ 23:44, 21 July 2010 (UTC)
Replied. You're good :) Courcelles (talk) 05:51, 22 July 2010 (UTC)
Really? Merci! Maybe I should do this more often...sonia♫♪ 06:14, 22 July 2010 (UTC)
LOL. You're right :D Courcelles (talk) 07:20, 22 July 2010 (UTC)
Facepalm Facepalm on your behalf ;) sonia♫♪ 07:36, 22 July 2010 (UTC)
I wear glasses, the facepalm thing doesn't work too well for me! (In all seriousness, I'm ready to be over this summer cold. It's making me not nearly as sharp as I ought to be.) Courcelles (talk) 07:39, 22 July 2010 (UTC)
True- so do I (but the person in the graphic appears to be wearing them too...) Hey! So that's why there's been so much drama of late, all the kids are out on summer break! "Summer cold", though...? Down here, it's actually been a rather pleasant winter. Apart from the fact that it's final semester for me and I've got a composition due tomorrow that's worth 20% of my grade :P sonia♫♪ 07:52, 22 July 2010 (UTC)
Ouch. I haven't worried about grades for a good while, though performance evaluations are just as nervewracking. Maybe more. 1992 Winter Olympics medal table is, I think, ready for FLC. Have another look, when you get in. Courcelles (talk) 04:23, 23 July 2010 (UTC)
It looks fine to my virgin eyes, but you're the expert here :) re grades: I intend to do my postgrad overseas, but I won't be able to afford it unless I get a scholarship- so each paper is handed in with jangling nerves. Though the worst that can happen is that I'll do it here at Auckland Uni- which ain't that bad. I'm not looking forward to having to find a proper job, though. Casual work is fun. sonia♫♪ 05:07, 23 July 2010 (UTC)
Well, stick Wikipedia:Featured list candidates/1992 Winter Olympics medal table/archive1 on your watchlist, because nothing ever gets through FLC without a dozen+ little fixes here and there. Postgrad? Are you thinking of taking a masters in music? Courcelles (talk) 05:19, 23 July 2010 (UTC) (ETA: My nomination statement made me feel old. 18 years ago? Really...?)
Watchlisted, thanks. (Wait, I get joint nom? You did most of it...) Postgrad- I'm not entirely sure. Because I've got a broad course this year, I could go into something else altogether. I'll have to decide when I specialise next year, but for now I have no idea (which is somewhat disconcerting.) I just want to experience different cultures, I guess, and doing that while I'm studying seems ideal. sonia♫♪ 05:36, 23 July 2010 (UTC)
I'd tell you to come to the U.S., except that I often experience the desire to be anywhere else but here. (More because I'm not travelling as much as I used to.) There's a bunch of world-class universities 1,300 miles to your west in New South Wales/Victoria- and I've learned through experience to take seriously anyone that gets out of NUS alive. Hong Kong, though, is an absolutely amazing place to live- expensive as heck- but also a great place to base yourself from and use breaks to explore Asia- an hour to Taipei, four to Tokyo, two to HCMC (give it a miss, though), three to Beijing, etc. (And of course you co-nom it. You did the research, I just organised it and added some pretty pictures.) Courcelles (talk) 09:08, 23 July 2010 (UTC)

Interesting, I think I'm exactly the opposite– being Asian, I don't really want to return there at all. (Especially not to NUS.) Europe or the US is what I'm looking at at the moment. Australia's affordable and close enough by that my parents wouldn't worry themselves sick, which is good, but the culture's pretty similar. Speaking of Australia, Sydney's tentatively putting in a bid for Wikimania 2012. As it's probably about as far as I can afford to travel, I really hope they get it. (You did a lot of work as well- this made it significantly more readable.) sonia♫♪ 09:26, 23 July 2010 (UTC)

Heh! Anywhere but "here". My idea of an exotic destination is Asia, a boring destination would be Europe. But my Kiwi cousins believe the exact opposite. The grass is always greener... When it comes to education or work, however, I reckon anywhere outside your usual comfort-zone is good. Sonia, studying in the US or Europe - even Scotland! - is something I'd recommend. For my part, I thoroughly enjoyed working back home in Auckland - but I suspect if I moved back permanently I'd hate it soon enough ;-) Equally, I spent three years as a child in Singapore, and have been back several times (it's handily situated midway between Glasgow and Auckland!), and I'd love to live there, but I can see why you wouldn't. But even studying in Australia is something I'd recommend, simply because it's outside your usual comfort-zone. TFOWR 09:52, 23 July 2010 (UTC)
Oh dear, I don't mean to sound ungrateful, of course. NZ's fantastic and I've never been happier. The ten years I spent in Singapore left me with a rather acrid taste in my mouth, but it still took me years to stop feeling guilty for leaving my motherland- I suspect it'll take me just as long to anchor to any one place, to feel like I belong. Which is good- I've always been a bit of a wanderer in mindset, personality and choices. One of the issues I have with Asian culture is that sometimes it's so goal-oriented, so black and white. And really, life for me is about the journey and the moments along the way, not the destination. I could not truly understand that before I moved here. </rant>, sorry... sonia♫♪ 10:14, 23 July 2010 (UTC)
You didn't come across as ungrateful at all - apologies if I appeared to suggest that! I know what you mean about belonging, too - I'm not a proper Kiwi (despite what my passport says) and I'm not a proper Scot (despite whit ma accent an' leid might suggest). And that has to be the most Wiktionary links I've ever used! TFOWR 11:22, 23 July 2010 (UTC)

Thanks!

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

Quick question

You so graciously offered a bit of help to a neophyte like myself, and I'm timidly taking you up on it. I created an article outside of Afc, the Pegasus Prize, that seems to be hanging in unreviewed land. In general, who reviews these contributions? Also, I've expanded on other articles such as Cees Nooteboom and Sten Nadolny, but when (and how) are these (where applicable) "upgraded" out of the stub class? Many thanks in advance for your help! Darcykildare (talk) 14:08, 22 July 2010 (UTC)

Hmm. Well, as you've now seen, Wikipedia is volunteer-powered. Articles sometimes never get reviewed because those of us who do New Page Patrol are more concerned with making sure no blatant copyright violations or attack pages or other such rubbish gets through. I've reviewed it now, and it's fine. If you ever need an article reviewed, it would probably be faster to ask me than to wait for the patrollers who help clear the backlog- it's a lot of work. As for stub-class: Well, if you've read it through and it seems like it is no longer a stub (or no longer unreferenced or whatever issue tag has been placed on it), feel free to remove it- it's individual judgement. If you ever want another person to review what you've done, though, I'm always here. (Also: this template has a lot of useful links on it if you want to do some reading.) sonia♫♪ 22:11, 22 July 2010 (UTC)
Many thanks (and for how to use the talk pages). I was unsure of the propriety of making a judgment myself as to the quality of an article I've expanded. Darcykildare (talk) 22:09, 23 July 2010 (UTC)

MOTD Barnstar

The MOTD Barnstar
This award is given to you for helping out Motto of the day. Thanks to your effort, MOTD has brilliantly and successfully passed the most difficult period of the year. In fact, there are mottoes scheduled until the end of the summer. For this reason MOTD would like to express heartfelt thanks to you for your support. We appreciate your efforts in further helping the project! – delivered by Simply south on behalf of Wikipedia:Motto of the day 23:06, 22 July 2010 (UTC)
Thank you! Kudos to Kayau and Hi878 though for being so industrious-- and to pjoef of course. sonia♫♪ 05:07, 23 July 2010 (UTC)
:) Thank you. You should have put this where we could see it; my ego needs regular re-inflating. ~~ Hi878 (Come shout at me!) 02:49, 29 July 2010 (UTC)

Welcome Messages

I like the welcome message you use. Do you use a template? If so what is the template? Mr. R00t Talk 02:15, 24 July 2010 (UTC)

huh? Well, i think the one you're talking about is template:W-FAQ. I'm on a mobile, forgive the Alt account. Openstrings (talk) 03:41, 24 July 2010 (UTC)

Question

I just want to enquire whether User:1234r00t copied the navbar from you or the other way around. I don't want to touch his talk page with a barge pole because I haven't met him, so I'm asking you here. If he copied from you, I strongly recommend you to request an attribution from him. Kayau Voting IS evil 02:52, 26 July 2010 (UTC)

He did, he told me he did, and I have no issues with it. sonia♫♪ 03:54, 26 July 2010 (UTC)
I see, alright then, sorry for bothering you. Kayau Voting IS evil 04:33, 26 July 2010 (UTC)
No probs, and thank you for informing me. (If you look at many of the more fancy userpages, half of them use code scraped from either a) a couple of really well-known userpages or b) the WP:User page design center.) I personally think it's polite for them to ping me on IRC or wherever if they're going to scrape my code, but I wouldn't really want formal attribution. But each to their own, no? sonia♫♪ 04:42, 26 July 2010 (UTC)
Actually, I believe that attribution is required in accordance to the GFDL, which everything in Wikipedia is published under. Hope this helps. Set Sail For The Seven Seas 273° 38' 45" NET 18:14, 28 July 2010 (UTC)
Okay, thanks, and I shall remember that– but what I was attempting (and failing) to say is, if I don't want it attributed to me, do I still have to have it legally attributed to me? sonia♫♪ 19:40, 28 July 2010 (UTC)
I believe so, since the GDFL has strict rules. However, the way I see it, as a rule of thumb if you understand the code behind it and could reproduce it independently then it shouldn't be necessary, otherwise it should be attributed. PS. congrats on adminship at simplewiki. Set Sail For The Seven Seas 333° 31' 0" NET 22:14, 28 July 2010 (UTC)
Thank you; that clears things up significantly. So if I see something I like, learn the concept behind it and create my own version that is significantly different to the original, it is basically my own content, since I wrote it from scratch- despite the fact that I got the idea from someone else, right? (Thanks for the congrats, I'm still very much learning the ropes.) sonia♫♪ 22:26, 28 July 2010 (UTC)
Indeed so, a good example here would be parser functions and magic words. Whether you learn about them on someone's userpage or on MediaWiki shouldn't make a difference. I learnt about the switch function through someone's userpage and have used it countless times. Generally speaking, the attribution is for those who just copy the code without knowing what is going on. PS. I'm sure you'll make a fine administrator and you could definitely be a good bureaucrat as well. Set Sail For The Seven Seas 344° 44' 30" NET 22:58, 28 July 2010 (UTC)
Well, I'm very honoured that you have such confidence in me– I wish I felt the same way. Can I ask what gives you that impression? As I see it, I'm a perfectly ordinary editor, somewhat surprised actually that so many people felt I would make a good admin. It's quite a different kettle of fish suddenly not being able to just say "This is broken, you fix it". sonia♫♪ 06:58, 29 July 2010 (UTC)
The way I see it, every well established editor in good standing has the potential to become an administrator. Also, I doubt you will do anything silly with the tools and that alone and that in itself could be enough to be considered a fine administrator. Most admins are perfectly ordinary editors as well, they just don't show it as much due to admin duties. As a bit of advice, don't delete the main page, ask when you're not sure and you should be fine. Also, as the saying goes,
Ironically, it may indeed be more about not using the tools rather than using the tools. Set Sail For The Seven Seas 344° 14' 30" NET 22:56, 29 July 2010 (UTC)
Aye, that it certainly is. sonia♫♪ 08:22, 30 July 2010 (UTC)
You have no idea just how true that is. —Ed (talkmajestic titan) 08:28, 30 July 2010 (UTC)
I have greatest respect for those admins who get on with building the encyclopedia and don't engage in exchanging pointless invective. In that sense, they use the tools sparingly and get called up on it sparingly, but it is an accomplishment in a way. sonia♫♪ 10:03, 30 July 2010 (UTC)
It can be thought of as, "being there when you need it". So, while you're going about Wikipedia or any other wiki for that matter and come across a task that requires the admin tools, you don't need to ask someone else to do it for you. The way I see it is that if you're spending a lot of time pestering admins to carry out tasks, then it's time you got the admin bit. On the other hand, even if an admin only uses the admin tools only once, it is still worthwhile for them to have the tools. Set Sail For The Seven Seas 9° 14' 15" NET 00:36, 31 July 2010 (UTC)

I never needed it. Whenever I ran into a problem I could easily get a page protected or a vandal blocked. I just made a request at WP:AIV or WP:RFPP and magic pixies fixed the problem. I only took RfA seriously when one of those pixies pointed out that I should "get my own damn mop". And that, I think, is what it boils down to - you don't "need" it: but it helps the community. It saves someone else having to do it for you, it means you can help others even more... but why am I telling you this - you'll know from experience on another wiki! Same applies here. Oh, and congratulations on "Happy Sonia Day"! TFOWR 00:53, 31 July 2010 (UTC)

I'll know from experience? I've been an admin for, like, two weeks! And it feels really weird still, really different. :P My RfA started this whole debate about having too many admins (much the opposite issue here), because there's 45 flagged 'dmins and only an active community of 25-30. I had misgivings about running because of that, but I figured that if I could flag my own bot, delete my own redirects and block users when the UK/US admins are sleeping, then that would be saving other people time. But it turns out most of what I've been doing is fixing MediaWiki pages and fully-protected pages, which is not at all what I expected to be doing. I'm really glad not to have a mop here, though... it means a lot more here. sonia♫♪ 01:11, 31 July 2010 (UTC)
Heh, two weeks is a lifetime! Actually, the past week or so I've been avoiding the admin dashboard, because (a) I've had a lot going on in real-life (dodgy Internet connection, yada yada...) and I didn't want to potentially start something only for real life to get in the way mid-block..., and (b) it's good to get back to the real reason we're all here - I've actually - gasp! - done some of the content work I've been meaning to get around to for forever...! At my RfA I said I intended to have regular wikibreaks. I've not quite got around to that yet, but I can recommend periodic breaks from wielding the mop. I did that to some extent during the recent dramaout. I guess you can take refuge here (though I don't know if en.wiki is really suitable for taking refuse... but that's another matter ;-) Picking up on what you said about community size - are you saying there are more admins at simple.wiki than there are regular contributors? That's very poor (of the admins, I mean). I assume many of the admins aren't really active there? Having said that, I was taking a look at sco.wiki (the Scots language wikipedia) yesterday, and it's quite interesting looking at a small Wikipedia - only seven admins, recent changes are once an hour or so, etc... Even their logo is, ahem, an example of the lack of contributors - it's the en.wiki logo wi' no change fe the Scots' leid.
I know what you mean about the UK/US admins sleeping - the first time I !voted in an RfA (this one) the real reason for my support was that we have far too few admins in the UTC+8 — UTC+13.5 time zones. When I return home that'll be my reason: I'll tell customs at Auckland airport that I'm returning because "Wikipedia has too few admins in the Pacific". TFOWR 07:51, 31 July 2010 (UTC)
Y'know, it's weird. I discovered simplewiki during a javascript-enforced wikibreak, and fell in love with it because of the close-knit community and the vast amount of content work left to do. So in a sense it was my refuge from the drama here, a place where I could ask questions and expect to have them answered. We've got a very low newbie-biting rate. But now I kind of face the new messages bar with a bit of "oh now, what'd I do now?" because I'm still progressing up that learning curve and it's a bit harder to do so as an admin when I feel that I have to, if not know all the answers, at least act sensibly at all times.
Community size- yes, there are less than ten non-admins who are active, and about two-thirds of the admins are. But highly active- I could count off the names I see often on recentchanges with my ten fingers. Many of the admins are admins elsewhere/stewards/ otherwise inactive. The Scots Wikipedia- I was browsing it the other day because one of my friends asked me if it was a joke. They've got one crat, and his talk is RfA and all, isn't it? How refreshing that is for us, steeped in policies! Sometimes it's really good to get back to the IAR spirit of the early Wikipedia, and the best way to do that is at a smaller Wikipedia, get that (semi)anarchy running through your veins again.
Heh- if you're coming back to Auckland, we may have just enough active users to start up Wikimedia NZ proper! Our next meetup is around Christmas, if you're visiting you may want to take note of that so you can assess whether your new Wikiholics Anonymous support group will be enough for you... sonia♫♪ 08:08, 31 July 2010 (UTC)

Short note

This is not important or anything. I just wanted to tell you that when somebody asked a question in april at the HD, he or she asked what the gender set in the preferences for. Your guess was that it helped in templates like Working Man, and an admin said that was wrong. While I was bored today I got to the editing window of Working Man and found that you're actually right, because the template uses to 'gender' magic word. just though you might want to know. Kayau Voting IS evil 05:05, 26 July 2010 (UTC)

Hmm, interesting. I thought it did, but at that point I knew little about magicwords anyway. Thank you for telling me. (Also, forgive me for my lack of clue re interviewing and OR. I'm very noob at actually creating content, as you know.) sonia♫♪ 05:12, 26 July 2010 (UTC)

The Wikipedia Signpost: 26 July 2010

Could you...

I've proposed at WB to include an edit count criterion a while ago. I-20 said this is under discussion in simple, but I know nothing about simple, so I'm wondering if you could link that discussion for me, so that I can read the comments at simple and see if it fits at WB. Thanks a million. Kayau Voting IS evil 02:42, 29 July 2010 (UTC)

And in case I forget...

The MOTD Barnstar
For your long-time contributions to the MOTD. I've been thinking of giving one to you for a long time but I've never remembered :). Kayau Voting IS evil 02:45, 29 July 2010 (UTC)
Wow, how did I miss this? Thank you!
What exactly should there be an editcount criterion for, sorry? I'm not sure what you're asking. But sure, I'll find the discussion for you once I'm aware what it is ;) sonia♫♪ 06:58, 29 July 2010 (UTC)
Oh, you should have trouted me. :) I meant the editcount criterion for autoconfirmation. :P Kayau Voting IS evil 07:01, 29 July 2010 (UTC)
Ah, I see. It wasn't a particularly interesting discussion, but here it is. Background: we had just changed policy so that rollbackers have to be autoconfirmed first, but hadn't realized that autoconfirmed wasn't 4 days+ 10 edits like it is here.sonia♫♪ 07:05, 29 July 2010 (UTC)
Thanks, I'll throw this one up at WB. We've an even smaller community than simple considering the variety of sigs there :) Kayau Voting IS evil 07:23, 29 July 2010 (UTC)
Well, judging by size at simple is always a bit skewed, because we have about 30 active users (i.e. edit at least once a week, I regularly see about 15 on recentchanges), but hundreds who edit every month. As a kind of satellite city of enwiki, we get the brunt of the same vandals but lesser actual contributors, which is sad. It is a very good place to learn policy and editing before moving on to enwiki, because we can be just about 100% sure that new users don't get bitten and get all the help they need. sonia♫♪ 07:34, 29 July 2010 (UTC)

Ping!

Hello, Sonia. You have new messages at 220.101.28.25's talk page.
You can remove this notice at any time by removing the {{Talkback}} or {{Tb}} template.
Ping! Courcelles (talk) 19:26, 29 July 2010 (UTC)

Happy Sonia's Day!

Sonia has been identified as an Awesome Wikipedian,
so I've officially declared today as Sonia's Day!
For being an great person and awesome Wikipedian,
enjoy being the star of the day, Sonia!

Signed, Neutralhomer

A record of your Day will always be kept here.

For a userbox you can add to your userbox page, click here. Have a Great Day...NeutralhomerTalk04:22, 30 July 2010 (UTC)

I just pick people who I think are awesome, who have contributed greatly to the project, and deserve some recognition. That's what you have done. :) Glad to hear I made your week. :) - NeutralhomerTalk05:52, 30 July 2010 (UTC)
Well, thanks again! sonia♫♪ 06:03, 30 July 2010 (UTC)
You're Welcome. :) - NeutralhomerTalk06:07, 30 July 2010 (UTC)
Congrats Sonia! —Ed (talkmajestic titan) 07:00, 30 July 2010 (UTC)
Ed! Fancy seeing you here... fyi, I managed to get John Joseph Woods ready in time for DYK. omgz I actually did some mainspace work! :D sonia♫♪ 07:07, 30 July 2010 (UTC)
Way to go, congrats for that too! Bet you feel all warm and fuzzy inside now... :) —Ed (talkmajestic titan) 07:12, 30 July 2010 (UTC)
Yep. :) Thanks so much for this; trout-worthy on my part! sonia♫♪ 08:22, 30 July 2010 (UTC)
Have to say Yay!, before the day passes! --220.101 (talk) \Contribs 23:54, 30 July 2010 (UTC)
Thanks all! :) sonia♫♪ 01:11, 31 July 2010 (UTC)

DYK for John Joseph Woods

RlevseTalk 18:05, 30 July 2010 (UTC)

Congrats! ;) Glad to see it made it on. And congrats on being awarded your own day- welcome to the club! :) HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 18:22, 30 July 2010 (UTC)
Good work! Now if we could get something besides crickets in our FLC, you might have quite the week. Courcelles (talk) 18:23, 30 July 2010 (UTC)
FLC is always quiet. You have to get down into the backlog before you start attracting reviewers. Ours is the oldest nomination without comments, though, and I've never seen an FLC closed without commentary. Courcelles (talk) 01:18, 31 July 2010 (UTC)
Well, I suppose that like ER, if you want yours to be reviewed it would help to reciprocate... May see what I can do. sonia♫♪ 01:41, 31 July 2010 (UTC)
Yeah, I always try to do a few reviews whenever I'm demanding work out of a certain process. :) Courcelles (talk) 01:56, 31 July 2010 (UTC)

I saw that you helped Spongie555 with formatting the refs; thanks for that. Could you please do a quick read through the Koji Gyotoku article and do some basic copy-editing there? There are still a number of basic English language problems. I'd like to approve the DYK nomination for this article, but the nominating editor is a bit inexperienced and has been having some difficulties in fixing some of the issues with the article. I think a little bit of external help is needed there. I would have done it myself, but then I would not be able to approve the hook. Thanks, Nsk92 (talk) 07:31, 31 July 2010 (UTC)

Sure, I'd be glad to. He deserves a fair go at it. sonia♫♪ 07:32, 31 July 2010 (UTC)
Very good, thanks. Nsk92 (talk) 07:55, 31 July 2010 (UTC)

Hello there. You recently participated in a discussion at WP:ANI regarding the systematic removal of Media Matters for America as a reliable source. I've started an RfC regarding MMfA, MRC, FAIR, Newsbusters etc. Please participate on the Reliable Sources Talk page here. Skoal. Phoenix and Winslow (talk) 12:28, 31 July 2010 (UTC)

Uhm... I'll read it over and see if I can weigh in, but no guarantees– given that all my "participation" in that particular discussion involved was telling people to disengage. sonia♫♪ 20:12, 31 July 2010 (UTC)

Thanks

The Userpage Shield
Please accept this token of recognition for your tireless efforts in protecting the User pages and User talk pages of others. It is much appreciated. Tiderolls 13:43, 31 July 2010 (UTC)


I don't know if you're a barnstar-ish type, so I'll not be offended if you feel the need to delete/archive this post. However, I believe folks should get the recognition they deserve. Thanks for your latest bout of heavy lifting at my user talk. Keep up the good work :) Tiderolls 13:43, 31 July 2010 (UTC)

Thank you. (What was that IP on about?) I do gather the gifts I get here, but it's just for me :) As such, I guess I'm not a barnstarish type in that I'd feel immensely uncomfortable displaying them but I do appreciate them greatly. Cheers, sonia♫♪ 20:12, 31 July 2010 (UTC)