User talk:Banaticus/archive2011c

This is an archive page of my user talk page. If you wish to reopen an archived discussion or otherwise respond to me, please do so on my user talk page. Thanks! :)

To Banaticus

Thank you!Thank you!Thank you!Thank you! Thank you VERY much! You helped me a lot!!! Lambano Blosko (talk) 21:25, 19 December 2011 (UTC) PS Thank you!

help

Hi, I'm mashar, looking for help — Preceding unsigned comment added by Masharmakuir (talk • contribs) 15:08, 5 April 2011 (UTC)
I will be right back with you in few hours...I need to talk to my professor first. Thanks for waiting — Preceding unsigned comment added by Masharmakuir (talk • contribs) 18:24, 5 April 2011 (UTC)

Sure, how may I help you? Banaticus (talk) 23:34, 5 April 2011 (UTC)

The article that I'm going to edit is Sudan which is lacking NGOs section. Since I'm also from Sudan, I decided to work on that article to improve it. As a result, I will need your help in terms either language or other issues related to improving articles. I will be sending you section to take a look at it before posting....Thanks for your help — Preceding unsigned comment added by Masharmakuir (talk • contribs) 13:54, 11 April 2011 (UTC)

mentoring

Hey Banaticus! If you're ready to jump in with mentoring, I'm looking for someone (or a few someones) to take over mentoring the 5 students User:Dusti was mentoring; Dusti retired recently. If you're up for mentoring some or all of his mentees, please let me know. They are:

Oceanski (talk · contribs)
Fuerstem (talk · contribs)
Wood3cm (talk · contribs)
Joe stelfox (talk · contribs)
Walla2jl (talk · contribs)

--Sage Ross - Online Facilitator, Wikimedia Foundation (talk) 18:23, 11 April 2011 (UTC)

I'm ready and happy to mentor those people -- I'll contact them. Banaticus (talk) 01:08, 13 April 2011 (UTC)

Great, thanks! If you haven't already, please let them know that you'll be their mentor, and don't be afraid to step in any offer any help you think they need (even if they haven't asked directly for it). --Sage Ross - Online Facilitator, Wikimedia Foundation (talk) 14:47, 13 April 2011 (UTC)

Thank you

Hi, Banaticus : ) Thank you for your message and willing to help me : ) Can I ask you how to create a sandbox? I'd like to create a sandbox for a new entry: universal broadband service. However, I created "universal broadband service/sandbox" and it was deleted immediately and I don't know why (maybe because I had a typo?). Please teach me how to create the sandbox. Thank you. Oceanski (talk) 03:16, 13 April 2011 (UTC)

You're welcome. Your page was deleted because only "proper" things can go in the regular Wikipedia area. Wikipedia areas are called Namespaces. However, you can create the article in what's called your userspace. Userspace is any page beginning with "User:". Your userspace is any page beginning with "User:Oceanski". So to create a sandbox, you'd probably want to create User:Oceanski/sandbox. Or you could create User:Oceanski/universal broadband service and just start writing the article there. Either way, when you're ready the article can be moved into the regular Wikipedia area (which is known as "mainspace") and then edited more there if you'd like (or you can keep working on it in your userspace instead of moving). You've met the autoconfirmed requirements, so you can make those pages yourself. If you'd like me to make them for you, just let me know. :)

Oh, just noticed, when you make a reference list for an article, yeah you do want to use the {{reflist}} template to "grab" any <ref> tags that you used in the article, but any further references should be listed as part of a bulleted list -- on their own line with a * at the beginning of the line. Only the <ref> and </ref> tags are official HTML tags so a <references> or <reference> tag will just be ignored no matter where they're used. :) Have fun, let me know if you have any further questions. Banaticus (talk) 03:37, 13 April 2011 (UTC)

Thank you very much, Banaticus : ) Oceanski —Preceding undated comment added 13:07, 22 April 2011 (UTC).

Help

Dear Banaticus, I just created a page "Broadband universal service" and it was proposed to be deleted. The reasons and suggestions shown on that page was not very clear. I don't really understand the reason. Could you help me take a look at my entry and tell me what was wrong with it and gave me some suggestions? Thank you very much. Oceanski (talk)

Re: Abuse Response

Feel free to go ahead and contact them. I've been busy with midterms reports coming up so I didn't want to take on the extra responsibility of email and phone calls. Thanks! Regards, MacMed^talk_stalk 03:49, 13 April 2011 (UTC)

Thanks for letting me know. :) Banaticus (talk) 18:45, 13 April 2011 (UTC)

Help with my page

Good afternoon, Thank you for taking Dusti's place as my mentor. I was wondering if you can help me with my page, Excessive bail. At the bottom of the page it suggests that the format would look better using Prose. How do I change it to Prose? Have a great day and I look forward to hearing from you! — Preceding unsigned comment added by Fuerstem (talk • contribs) 21:28, 13 April 2011 (UTC)

Prose, meaning wikt:prose, is just normal language. Short answer: You need to expand what you say there and tell us more about the bail, how/why it was changed -- use paragraphs, not just one-line repeats of the article headlines.

Longer answer: What you have in the final section of "Excessive bail" is basically of the form: a statement, blank line, a statement blank line, a statement... which is sort of a bulleted list but without the "bullets". Each case mentioned doesn't really have anything in common with the other cases mentioned (other than nominally being about bail and possibly fitting under "Procedure and Consequences"). You might try expanding a bit more and writing the whole thing in paragraphs (finding a way to make them flow together). For instance, you mention that if a motion for reduction of bail is made but not granted that a person can appeal directly to a court of appeals for a reduction (normally a person can't apply to a court of appeals until they're actually appealing a lost case). Can you find any examples of this? Is this something that people do regularly? You state that Michael Jackson argued for lower bail. That's great, but how's it relevant? Just because he argued for lower bail? What happened there, did he get lower bail (sure, he won the overall case, but we're focusing on bail at the moment)? What happened with the high school student, what stunt did they pull, why was the amount deemed excessive? The statements that are there now in the article are great well-referenced examples, but they don't really tell us much about what happened with the bail in those instances (how and why it changed). If you can't find any examples on your own, perhaps if you contacted a trial lawyer or court defense attorney or someone and told them that you're writing a research paper, which will be posted on Wikipedia, for your school assignment, one of them might be able to cite some examples for you which you could then include. I hope that helps. :) Banaticus (talk) 00:20, 14 April 2011 (UTC)

Mentoring

Hi Banaticus!! Thank you for checking in with me and with your mentees from my class. Any help, I mean anything at all, you can help is with is greatly appreciated!! Cindy Allen (talk) 21:22, 15 April 2011 (UTC)

Thanks, I'm happy to help. :) Banaticus (talk) 21:14, 17 April 2011 (UTC)

Wikipedia Ambassador Program Newsletter: 22 April 2011

The newsletter of the Wikipedia Ambassador Program – Volume 4, 22 April 2011 This is the fourth issue of the Wikipedia Ambassador Program Newsletter, with details about what's going on right now and where help is needed. Voting begins for steering committee - The voting phase for the Wikipedia Ambassador Steering Committee election started this week, and will continue through 27 April. Seeking more Regional Ambassadors in the US - We are still looking for Regional Ambassadors for the United States! The deadline has been extended to Friday, April 29th. India pilot being organized now - Plans are currently underway for a pilot expansion of the Wikipedia Ambassador Program – in India! Hisham Mundol and other Wikimedia staff have begun recruiting Campus Ambassador candidates for Pune. Document DYK, peer review and other milestone at the trophy case - If students you are working with (or any others you notice) are doing work that makes to DYK, is nominated for Good Article status, or is just solid content worth marking, then please help us document the students' success at the trophy case. Ambassador program at Wikimania - We're planning a set of Wikipedia Ambassador Program presentations for Wikimania 2011, in Haifa this August. Changes to mailing list - A new low-volume mailing list, [Ambassador-announce-l], is being created. It will be reserved for key announcements and news, which we'd like all ambassadors to be subscribed to.

Delivered by EdwardsBot (talk) 16:31, 22 April 2011 (UTC)

Paolo Soleri Amphitheater, Santa Fe, New Mexico

Banaticus:

I posted the same article this morning on my own website. Can this have anything to do with the problem? Thank you for your attention.

Greg Allegretti — Preceding unsigned comment added by Trout7000 (talk • contribs) 21:18, 22 April 2011 (UTC)

Yes, it would. What you need to do is to send an email from your website address to OTRS, the Wikipedia volunteer response team at permissions-enwikimedia.org. That email must explicitly:

1. Connect to the original publication. Your e-mail address or that of the individual whose permission you are conveying must be clearly connected to the original source.
2. Identify the owner of the copyright material.
3. Indicate what copyright license it is being released under. Whatever license you choose must allow material to be freely copied and modified by anyone (including third parties not affiliated with Wikipedia), for any purpose. This includes using it commercially. (See Licensing/Justifications for a detailed explanation of why.) We recommend using the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 license. For text, if you are the copyright owner, you must co-license under both the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license and the GNU Free Documentation license (unversioned, with no invariant sections, front-cover texts, or back-cover texts).
4. Link to the uploaded media. If the media has already been uploaded, then include a link to the uploaded media.

They cannot process emails offering material without this information. In particular, they will refuse material coming with licensing statements such as "free use on Wikipedia". You will need to send the email as [email protected] to show that it really is your website. I hope that helps -- let me know if there's anything else I can do to help you. Banaticus (talk) 21:26, 22 April 2011 (UTC)

Banticus:

I will do my best to send the e-mail as you suggest. I will simply explain that I wrote all of this content and that I grant to myself permission (under any and all copyright licenses) to freely use all of the material. I further also grant to any and all persons throughout the universe permission to do whatever the heck they please with this text. This has been a difficult process for me. It should not require a copyright attorney, an IT technician, and an editorial consultant to contribute to Wikipedia. thank for your help however.

Also, Banaticus: If this does not work, why don't I just take the artiocle down from my website and re-submit to Wikipedia. Will that work too?

--Greg Allegretti Trout7000 (talk) 21:54, 22 April 2011 (UTC)

That email sounds great -- it might be a little more concise to simply say that you're releasing the material into the public domain, which releases any and all rights that you may have on what you wrote and allows anyone anywhere to do whatever they want with it. I don't know if taking the article down from your website and resubmitting it to Wikipedia instead would work although I don't think it would. OTRS has a fairly swift response time so you probably want to just try them first. The thing is that although you say that you release it into the public domain, without some sort of identification Wikipedia has no way of knowing that you are (as a Wikipedia user) who you say you are (the editor/author of a website). It's not anything personal, that's just the way things are. Nobody likes being sued -- Wikipedia doesn't like it either -- I'm sure you understand that. :) I don't think this requires a copyright attorney, an IT technician, or an editorial consultant. Wikipedia tries to make knowledge freely available and it can't do that if someone else is threatening to sue Wikipedia. Let me know if you'd like any further help. :) Banaticus (talk) 22:51, 22 April 2011 (UTC)

Hey

Hey Banaticus.. No it wasnt discouraging I just havent been on in a while.. Sry. I dont edit alot lately bc of school.. Should have more time after May 10. Thanks Libertarians Will Rule (talk) 18:02, 25 April 2011 (UTC)

Proposed deletion of Rhonda Christie

The article Rhonda Christie has been proposed for deletion because of the following concern:

Seems to fail WP:VICTIM

While all contributions to Wikipedia are appreciated, content or articles may be deleted for any of several reasons.

You may prevent the proposed deletion by removing the {{proposed deletion/dated}} notice, but please explain why in your edit summary or on the article's talk page.

Please consider improving the article to address the issues raised. Removing {{proposed deletion/dated}} will stop the proposed deletion process, but other deletion processes exist. The speedy deletion process can result in deletion without discussion, and articles for deletion allows discussion to reach consensus for deletion. LordVetinari (talk) 05:53, 4 May 2011 (UTC)

Thanks!

I am obviously new to Wikipedia (my prof assigned us to expand a wiki stub as a semester project), and I really appreciate the help =) Gillamonster —Preceding unsigned comment added by Gillamonster (talk • contribs) 05:36, 6 May 2011 (UTC)

No problem. Just to let you know, the usual practice is to keep going downward in a discussion, adding new discussions under old ones -- that's the way people read you know. Anyway, I'll put some helpful links on your talk page, let me know if you'd like help with something else. :) Banaticus (talk) 05:41, 6 May 2011 (UTC)

Please help assess articles for Public Policy Initiative research

Hi Banaticus/archive2011c,

Your work as an Online Ambassador is making a big contribution to Wikipedia. Right now, we're trying to measure just how much student work improves the quality of Wikipedia. If you'd like contribute to this research and get a firsthand look at the quality improvement that is happening through the project, please sign up to assess articles. Assessment is happening now, just use the quantitative metric and start assessing! Your help would be hugely appreciated!

Thank you, ARoth (Public Policy Initiative) (talk) 17:10, 6 May 2011 (UTC)

Response from JMBauer re Oceanski

Hi Banaticus, I agree that there is some overlap between the National Broadband Plan article and the Broadband Universal Service article but the two use very different approaches. The universal service article reports on a long-standing discussion in US communications policy whereas the National Broadband Plan presents information on a particular initiative. Oceanski could focus more specifically on instruments how universal service could be achieved. --JMBauer (talk) 03:24, 7 May 2011 (UTC)

Burson-Marsteller

Thank you so much for your swift response. I expected a much longer process! I am very grateful for your consideration and effort. Flatiron 230 (talk) 14:12, 9 May 2011 (UTC)

No problem :) Banaticus (talk) 22:46, 9 May 2011 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Abuse response/74.39.185.26

Banaticus: Could you please check for contact, and then appropriately close Wikipedia:Abuse response/74.39.185.26? The case has not been updated since April 13, 2011. Thanks! AndrewN ^talk 04:48, 21 May 2011 (UTC)

Please take the Wikipedia Ambassador Program survey

Hi Ambassador,

We are at a pivotal point in the development of the Wikipedia Ambassador Program. Your feedback will help shape the program and role of Ambassadors in the future. Please take this 10 minute survey to help inform and improve the Wikipedia Ambassadors.

WMF will de-identify results and make them available to you. According to KwikSurveys' privacy policy: "Data and email addresses will not be sold, rented, leased or disclosed to 3rd parties." This link takes you to the online survey: http://kwiksurveys.com?u=WPAmbassador_talk

Feel free to contact me with any questions or comments, Thank You!

Amy Roth (Research Analyst, Public Policy Initiative) (talk) 20:36, 24 May 2011 (UTC)

Speedy deletion nomination of Cedar Glen, California (weather)

A tag has been placed on Cedar Glen, California (weather), requesting that it be speedily deleted from Wikipedia for multiple reasons. Please see the page to see the reasons. If the page has since been deleted, you can ask me the reasons by leaving a message on my user talk page.

If you think that this notice was placed here in error, contest the deletion by clicking on the button labelled "Click here to contest this speedy deletion," which appears inside of the speedy deletion ({{db-...}}) tag (if no such tag exists, the page is no longer a speedy delete candidate). Doing so will take you to the talk page where you will find a pre-formatted place for you to explain why you believe the page should not be deleted. You can also visit the the page's talk page directly to give your reasons, but be aware that once tagged for speedy deletion, if the page meets the criterion, it may be deleted without delay. Please do not remove the speedy deletion tag yourself, but don't hesitate to add information to the page that would render it more in conformance with Wikipedia's policies and guidelines. If the page is deleted, you can contact one of these administrators to request that the administrator userfy the page or email a copy to you. Ryan Vesey (talk) 00:52, 2 June 2011 (UTC)

I'm a little puzzled about this article--do we have articles on other radio stations? I was following up the deletion, and I do not understand the basis for having this as a separate article. I was thinking I would just challenge it, but you in general seem to know very well what you're doing. I have generally said Wikipedia should contain most of the content of an almanac so I suppose on that basis it's not terribly inappropriate, but I have seen no other such article & I think its better that we be consistent. And, personally, I think people looking for such material would probably approach from the name of the place the weather station was in, & the content does fit well into a general article about the location. And most of the content of Category:Meteorological stations are very much special cases to a much greater extent than this one. Has there ever been a general discussion that you know of? I see nothing relevant at WP:Weather. DGG ( talk ) 00:37, 4 June 2011 (UTC)

The main reason to have it as a separate article is because the same information is being shown in two different places via transclusion. Lake Arrowhead surrounds roughly 80% of Cedar Glen and while Lake Arrowhead does head out and wrap around the Lake as well, basically whatever the weather is like in Cedar Glen is the same weather in Lake Arrowhead. So the same weather information is shown on the Cedar Glen page and also on the Lake Arrowhead page, so that we only have to change/add information in one place while still having the new information show up in two places. Also, we don't really need the past several years of weather information in a general article about the cities, but it's appropriate to have such in the weather article which is specifically about the past several years of weather information. I used a specific weather station as it's from the Cedar Glen Observatory and generally the highest quality and most reliable weather information available in the area. Banaticus (talk) 04:41, 4 June 2011 (UTC)

I agree it is poor practice to transclude this sort of material, but could it not be included directly in one place -- the one of the same name-- and be linked to from the other, with the text being an explanation such as you have just given? As for past data, it's as relevant as present, just a past population figures or anything else. whether it should be done via a hidden section or a table is another matter--I think hidden sections are considered a problem for user accessibility, as they are not handled well by screen readers. DGG ( talk ) 06:07, 4 June 2011 (UTC)

But then we'd run into the problem of duplication. Each year, in order to show the most current, most relevant weather at a glance, if it wasn't transcluded then it would have to be updated in two places. As it now stands, information only needs to be updated in a single location and both places are immediately up to date. I used a "See also" link to link to the weather article from the two town articles. The past weather data is in ordinary tables. Transclusion is basically a fancy way of saying "template" (that's how templates work) except, since the weather information is longer and of a more encylopedic nature than an ordinary template, it's its own article and is in mainspace instead of template space. Since it's an article instead of a template, noinclude tags are used to demarcate text that shouldn't be transcluded (much like document links are in noinclude tags for most templates). When the page is transcluded, the information in noinclude tags isn't present at all -- it's not that it's hidden, it's actually not there, so there aren't any problems with screen readers reading something that the person reading can't see, as the information isn't there to be read (although it is of course still visible if someone uses the "See also" link to navigate to the weather page and view all of it). I think this is just one of those unique situations -- we have two towns with the larger town basically surrounding the smaller town, but the smaller town has an actual observatory/real weather station and more accurately reflects the weather conditions in the large town. Banaticus (talk) 06:46, 4 June 2011 (UTC)

Orphaned non-free image File:Alt Press logo.png

⚠

Thanks for uploading File:Alt Press logo.png. The image description page currently specifies that the image is non-free and may only be used on Wikipedia under a claim of fair use. However, the image is currently not used in any articles on Wikipedia. If the image was previously in an article, please go to the article and see why it was removed. You may add it back if you think that that will be useful. However, please note that images for which a replacement could be created are not acceptable for use on Wikipedia (see our policy for non-free media).

Note that any non-free images not used in any articles will be deleted after seven days, as described in the criteria for speedy deletion. Thank you. Skier Dude2 (talk) 04:19, 11 June 2011 (UTC)

Feedback on new Michael Hayman article

Hi Banaticus I've been updating the Michael Hayman article to be factual and respond to your comments . I've edited a version in my user space and I wondered if I could get your feedback? This is the original: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_hayman

This is the proposed new version: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Themansaid/Michael_Hayman

Many thanks for your assistance B

Themansaid (talk) 12:20, 20 June 2011 (UTC)

Speedy deletion nomination of Atlanta School of the Performing Arts

If this is the first article that you have created, you may want to read the guide to writing your first article.

You may want to consider using the Article Wizard to help you create articles.

A tag has been placed on Atlanta School of the Performing Arts requesting that it be speedily deleted from Wikipedia. This has been done under section A7 of the criteria for speedy deletion, because the article appears to be about an organization or company, but it does not indicate how or why the subject is important or significant: that is, why an article about that subject should be included in an encyclopedia. Under the criteria for speedy deletion, such articles may be deleted at any time. Please see the guidelines for what is generally accepted as notable.

If you think that this notice was placed here in error, contest the deletion by clicking on the button labelled "Click here to contest this speedy deletion," which appears inside of the speedy deletion ({{db-...}}) tag (if no such tag exists, the page is no longer a speedy delete candidate). Doing so will take you to the talk page where you will find a pre-formatted place for you to explain why you believe the page should not be deleted. You can also visit the the page's talk page directly to give your reasons, but be aware that once tagged for speedy deletion, if the page meets the criterion, it may be deleted without delay. Please do not remove the speedy deletion tag yourself, but don't hesitate to add information to the page that would render it more in conformance with Wikipedia's policies and guidelines. If the page is deleted, you can contact one of these administrators to request that the administrator userfy the page or email a copy to you. MikeWazowski (talk) 04:36, 22 June 2011 (UTC)

Just a note, I've contested this speedy since A7 cannot be applied to schools. Regards, MacMed^talk_stalk 19:59, 22 June 2011 (UTC)

Ambassador Program: assessment drive

Even though it's been quiet on-wiki, the Wikipedia Ambassador Program has been busy over the last few months getting ready for the next term. We're heading toward over 80 classes in the US, across all disciplines. You'll see courses start popping up here, and this time we want to match one or more Online Ambassadors to each class based on interest or expertise in the subject matter. If you see a class that you're interested, please contact the professor and/or me; the sooner the Ambassadors and professors get in communication, the better things go. Look for more in the coming weeks about next term.

In the meantime, with a little help I've identified all the articles students did significant work on in the last term. Many of the articles have never been assessed, or have ratings that are out of date from before the students improved them. Please help assess them! Pick a class, or just a few articles, and give them a rating (and add a relevant WikiProject banner if there isn't one), and then update the list of articles.

Once we have updated assessments for all these articles, we can get a better idea of how quality varied from course to course, and which approaches to running Wikipedia assignments and managing courses are most effective.

--Sage Ross - Online Facilitator, Wikimedia Foundation (talk) 17:21, 27 July 2011 (UTC)

Image:1937 to 1943 vs 2008 to 2011.png

Hello, my name is James. Your DJIA comparison graph is amazing. Do you have an updated graph? I'm curious to see if the recent turmoil is following the drop in 1940. Thanks!! — Preceding unsigned comment added by 207.71.217.2 (talk) 18:40, 12 August 2011 (UTC)

I don't, but the second drop now has me really curious. It kind of seems like if I don't run a strict month-month comparison (Jan to Jan, Feb to Feb, etc.) but instead shift it by one month (Jan 1937 to Feb 2008) then the correlation becomes really close. I'll put a graph together. Banaticus (talk) 21:30, 12 August 2011 (UTC)

Help with long term sockpupetry

Hi Banaticus, I'm contacting you as you are listed at Wikipedia:Abuse response/Volunteers and I'm hoping someone can help with a long term abuse problem but it doesn't quite fit the criteria for reporting on Wikipedia:Abuse_response. It falls outside the criteria because it relates to both a sockpuppet investigation and Long-Term Abuse Case. However, if there was ever a case for contacting an ISP about a problem user I believe this is one; so I though I'd contact someone who might have some experience in this area. The problem is with User:Scibaby a sockpuppeteer who has been going since 2007. As far as I can ascertain he is (along with User:Runtshit) one of the most prolific sockpupeteers with nearly 1,000 accounts blocked. Details can be found at Wikipedia:Long-term_abuse/Scibaby and Wikipedia:Sockpuppet_investigations/Scibaby. Are there any precedents for contacting ISPs to prevent vandalism working or have legal avenues ever been pursued? Scibaby's edits in themselves are only a nuisance but they spread distrust and disharmony and I believe have had a very negative influence on the atmosphere surrounding the Climate Change articles on which focuses. Any ideas what can be done. Thanks.--IanOfNorwich (talk) 11:05, 15 August 2011 (UTC)

Online Ambassadors: Time to join pods

Hello! If you're planning to be an active Online Ambassador for the upcoming academic term, now is the time to join one or more pods. (A pod consists of the instructor, the Campus Ambassadors, and the Online Ambassadors for single class.) The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) explains the expectations for being part of a pod as an Online Ambassador. (The MOU for pods in Canada is essentially the same.) In short, the role of Online Ambassadors this term consists of:

• Working closely with the instructor and Campus Ambassadors, providing advice and perspective as an experienced Wikipedian
• Helping students who ask for it (or helping them to find the help they need)
• Watching out for the class as a whole
• Helping students to get community feedback on their work

This replaces the 1-on-1 mentoring role for Online Ambassadors that we had in previous terms; rather than being responsible for individual students (some of whom don't want or help or are unresponsive), Online Ambassadors will be there to help whichever students in their class(es) ask for help.

You can browse the upcoming courses here: United States; Canada. More are being added as new pods become active and create their course pages.

Once you've found a class that you want to work with—especially if you some interest or expertise in the topic area—you should sign the MOU listing for that class and get in touch with the instructor. We're hoping to have at least two Online Ambassadors per pod, and more for the larger classes.

If you're up for supporting any kind of class and would like me to assign you to a pod in need of more Online Ambassadors, just let me know.

--Sage Ross - Online Facilitator, Wikimedia Foundation (talk) 16:30, 19 August 2011 (UTC)

PS: There are still a lot of student articles from the last term that haven't been rated. Please rate a few and update the list!

ready to join a pod?

Hi Banaticus! I'm in the process of trying to find Online Ambassadors to support each of the classes for this coming term, and I want to recommend one to you: Wikipedia:United States Education Program/Courses/Communication Theory and Frameworks (Jeanine Turner). If you're up for it, please check out the Memorandum of Understanding (linked above) which sketches the expectations for Online Ambassadors this term, and then you can sign on to class and get in touch with the professor.

If there's another class you'd rather support (or if you're up for joining more than one pod), feel free! We're shooting for at least about 2 Online Ambassadors for each class.--Sage Ross - Online Facilitator, Wikimedia Foundation (talk) 15:34, 8 September 2011 (UTC)

Update on courses and ambassador needs

Hello, Ambassadors!

I wanted to give you one last update on where we are this term, before my role as Online Facilitator wraps up at the end of this week. Already, there are over 800 students in U.S. classes who have signed up on course pages this term. About 40 classes are active, and we're expecting that many more again once all the classes are up and running.

On a personal note, it's been a huge honor to work with so many great Wikipedians over the last 15 months. Thanks so much to everyone who jumped in and decided to give the ambassador concept a try, and double thanks those of you who were involved early on. Your ideas and insights and enthusiasm have been the foundation of the program, and they will be the keys the future of the program.

Courses looking for Online Ambassadors

Still waiting to get involved with a class this term, or ready to take on more? We have seven classes that are already active and need OA support, and eleven more that have course pages started but don't have active students yet. Please consider joining one or more of these pods!

Active courses that really need Online Ambassadors:

• Sociology of Poverty
• Architectural Design
• Introduction to Educational Psychology
• Intro to Mass Communication
• Psychology Seminar
• Theories of the State
• Advanced Media Studies

Courses that may be active soon that need Online Ambassadors:

• Housing and Social Policy
• Anthropology, Wikipedia, and the Media
• History & Systems
• Horror Cinema
• Digital Media... just bits in a box
• Composition I
• Telecommunications Management
• Training Systems
• Stigma: Culture, Deviance, Identity
• Art and Terrorism
• Political Violence and Insurgency

--Sage Ross - Online Facilitator, Wikimedia Foundation (talk) 23:10, 27 September 2011 (UTC)

Survey for new page patrollers

New page patrol – Survey Invitation Hello Banaticus/archive2011c! The WMF is currently developing new tools to make new page patrolling much easier. Whether you have patrolled many pages or only a few, we now need to know about your experience. The survey takes only 6 minutes, and the information you provide will not be shared with third parties other than to assist us in analyzing the results of the survey; the WMF will not use the information to identify you. If this invitation also appears on other accounts you may have, please complete the survey once only. If this has been sent to you in error and you have never patrolled new pages, please ignore it. Please click HERE to take part. Many thanks in advance for providing this essential feedback. You are receiving this invitation because you have patrolled new pages. For more information, please see NPP Survey

Delivered by MessageDeliveryBot on behalf of Wiki Media Foundation at 11:30, 25 October 2011 (UTC).

Hedge fund introduction

Hello, Banaticus. Several months ago you helped me out with the Hedge fund article, including adding a new introduction. Recently, someone has changed this introduction and now it contains several inaccuracies, and is out-of-date. My full explanation is on the Hedge fund discussion page, I have asked the editor to talk it over, and my current solution is to simply go back to what we agreed on earlier this year. If you are able to contribute your thoughts, I would appreciate it very much. Thank you. --Bryant Park Fifth (talk) 14:00, 31 October 2011 (UTC)

Adoption

Hi Banaticuse,

I was wondering if you will mentor me?

--Bakerboy454 (talk) 13:18, 9 November 2011 (UTC)

Certainly! You now have an adoption userpage at User:Banaticus/Adoption/Bakerboy454. Banaticus (talk) 16:30, 9 November 2011 (UTC)

Need your help with cleanup

Hi Banaticus! Per request, I'm leaving this message on your talk page. Thank you so much for all the cleanup work you've already done for the India students in the Pune education pilot. If you have the capacity to clean up some more student articles, that would be much, much appreciated ("cleanup" in this case means removing copyright violations, unsourced content, very bad English grammar, and other poor content)! I have taken the liberty of assigning you to specific students on this list (look under the "Corporate Social Responsibility" class). If you'd prefer to take on more students, fewer students, or different students, just let me know. In general we need Ambassadors to clean up all of the articles on that list that say "IN NEED" too, so if you have the capacity, those really need help too. Thank you so much - you're awesome! Annie Lin (Wikimedia Foundation) (talk) 21:45, 9 November 2011 (UTC)

Proposed deletion of Boy Scouts of America religious distribution

Hello, Banaticus, and thanks for your contributions to Wikipedia!

I wanted to let you know that I’m proposing an article that you worked on, Boy Scouts of America religious distribution, for deletion because I don't think it meets our criteria for inclusion. If you don't want the article deleted:

1. edit the page
2. remove the text that looks like this: {{proposed deletion/dated...}}
3. save the page

It helps to explain why in your edit summary or on the article's talk page. If you have any questions, feel free to ask on the Help Desk. Thanks again for contributing! -— Gadget850 (Ed) ^talk 13:28, 15 November 2011 (UTC)

Just a note for my own benefit, the article was merged with Boy Scouts of America#Chartered organizations and units and the sub article Chartered organizations of the Boy Scouts of America. Banaticus (talk) 00:06, 18 February 2012 (UTC)

NorthernPashtun is the sockpuppet of Lagoo sab

Why don't you conduct the investigation? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.27.248.223 (talk) 13:39, 16 November 2011 (UTC)

Are you asking me why I haven't conducted the investigation myself or are you asking me to confirm your investigation? Banaticus (talk) 13:47, 16 November 2011 (UTC)

Exactly. Why haven't you conducted the investigation? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.27.248.223 (talk) 13:48, 16 November 2011 (UTC)

Feel free to file a request for an investigation at Wikipedia:Sockpuppet_investigations. Why would you think that the user is a sockpuppet, what edits or editing patterns do you not like? Banaticus (talk) 13:57, 16 November 2011 (UTC)

Indeed, you are a lunatic and an egoistic freak. I came to you for help and you have turned out and accused of being a sock-puppet. "Editors" like you are the very reason that people like me don't like to sign-up. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 184.228.190.83 (talk) 19:20, 16 November 2011 (UTC)

You've hopped to yet another IP? Isn't someone who IP hops without announcing that different IPs are being used basically the definition of a sockpuppet? (Since, without checkuser, you appear to the normal person to be a different account who's chiming in for support of the first account.) If you're not going to follow the rules yourself, why shouldn't I report you? You initially came after I reverted your act of vandalism when you tagged NorthernPashtun as a sockpuppet. Banaticus (talk) 19:56, 16 November 2011 (UTC)

You ignorant retard! there are tons of users out there who use Mobile Broadband like me. That means that all of them are "hopping" IP addresses and are being sock-puppets. Go on and shove your reporting up your ass. Apparently, you have no REAL job that's why you are here on Wikipedia acting like you are something. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 184.228.190.83 (talk) 20:50, 16 November 2011 (UTC)

Mr. IP who are you? Why don't you use your user name? Are you someone who was in war with Lagoo sab? I work at the Afghan Embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan, and in the past there were a few of the staff here doing editing in Wikipedia. One was NisarKand, he got transferred to Moscow, Russia, and is working at the Afghan Embassy there. He got married and I have his phone number if you want me to tell him so he can come and verify this. But I'm a new person from Canada.--NorthernPashtun (talk) 21:20, 16 November 2011 (UTC)

Thanks for the comments, NorthernPashtun. IP, thanks for your comments as well. I quite enjoy my job. :) If you're worried about hopping IP addresses because of your mobile device... create a user account. You won't have to worry about any sockpuppet accusations and you can have your device save your log in information so that you don't have to type it in every time. Banaticus (talk) 23:12, 16 November 2011 (UTC)

Future of the US Education Program and the Ambassador Project

There is a discussion about the future and the growth of the US education program along with the future of the Wikipedia Ambassador Project here. Voceditenore (talk) 18:14, 17 November 2011 (UTC)

Five Pillars

Wikipedia is written from a neutral point of view. We strive for articles that document and explain the major points of view in a balanced impartial manner.

Wikipedia is free content that anyone can edit, use, modify, and distribute.

Apply Wikipedia etiquette, and avoid personal attacks. Find consensus, avoid edit wars, and remember that there are 3,805,190 articles on the English Wikipedia to work on and discuss. Act in good faith, and never disrupt Wikipedia to illustrate a point. Wikipedia does not have firm rules. The principles and spirit of Wikipedia's rules matter more than their literal wording, and sometimes improving Wikipedia requires making an exception to a rule.

--Bakerboy454 (talk) 15:43, 23 November 2011 (UTC)

Excellent work, Bakerboy454. That was very nicely put. Feel free to pick an available "class" from User:Banaticus/Adoption/Bakerboy454. If you have any comments/suggestions about how the "classes" (more like worksheets) could be improved, please feel free to speak up. :) Banaticus (talk) 18:29, 23 November 2011 (UTC)

Cedar Glen, California (weather)

Hello, I undeleted the article Cedar Glen, California (weather) as you requested, but I still fail to see the significance of weather in one particular place. Could you please explain why it is significant? JIP | Talk 20:38, 23 November 2011 (UTC)

I was writing a reply when I realized that information like that really would be better served as a template. I moved the 2010 information to a template, then added more information and started the move to change the article into more of a real article. Banaticus (talk) 21:30, 23 November 2011 (UTC)

Why not just merge the weather data directly into the article Cedar Glen, California? I don't understand why it would be relevant in any other article. JIP | Talk 21:35, 23 November 2011 (UTC)

It's sort of like weather for Vatican City and Rome. Two different places and some people get upset if someone mixes them up, but it's the same weather. Speaking of which, perhaps I should make the Rome weather a template then put that template on the Vatican City page, which doesn't have a weather section. Also, the fact that Rome has a weather box for the center of the city and the bit by the sea seems sort of overkill, although I'm astounded to hear that the center and the side of the city had a 5.5 inch difference in yearly precipitation -- that sounds incredible. Anyway, Lake Arrowhead and Cedar Glen both basically have the same weather. Banaticus (talk) 22:01, 23 November 2011 (UTC)

Disambiguation link notification

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It's OK to remove this message. Also, to stop receiving these messages, follow these opt-out instructions. Thanks, DPL bot (talk) 10:37, 18 December 2011 (UTC)

Sorry you got the message - I usually filter out these WP:INTDABLINK cases due to the confusion around them, but I don't have a filter for the hatnote you used. I went ahead and took care of the INTDABLINK issue. --JaGa^talk 13:24, 18 December 2011 (UTC)

Thanks for the prompt response, I appreciate your work. :) Banaticus (talk) 20:50, 18 December 2011 (UTC)

Lambano Blosko

Hi, thanks for creating a page for. I write my new article, Help publish it please. It looks like it fine, but can you check it? Lambano Blosko (talk) 06:29, 19 December 2011 (UTC)

Sure. I'm about to go into work, but I'll check it once I come back home tonight. :) Banaticus (talk) 15:29, 19 December 2011 (UTC)

Nomination of Cynthia Basinet for deletion

A discussion is taking place as to whether the article Cynthia Basinet is suitable for inclusion in Wikipedia according to Wikipedia's policies and guidelines or whether it should be deleted.

The article will be discussed at Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Cynthia Basinet until a consensus is reached, and anyone is welcome to contribute to the discussion. The nomination will explain the policies and guidelines which are of concern. The discussion focuses on good quality evidence, and our policies and guidelines.

Users may edit the article during the discussion, including to improve the article to address concerns raised in the discussion. However, do not remove the article-for-deletion template from the top of the article. Delicious carbuncle (talk) 03:36, 20 December 2011 (UTC)

Responded at that link -- I think she's notable (if but barely). The brunt of objections seems to come from sock-puppetry and prior apparently bad faith edits -- I think the article as it is now could use work, but there are enough secondary sources to support notability. Banaticus (talk) 02:58, 21 December 2011 (UTC)

Who are you?

Why did you send me a message? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Halyjebus (talk • contribs) 03:49, 21 December 2011 (UTC)

To welcome you to Wikipedia. :) Banaticus (talk) 03:51, 21 December 2011 (UTC)

Re: TheCheesyKid (from november)

Hey Banaticus. Thanks for the comment about the thing with that IP. I just signed on. Am I still doing the classes? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Libertarianrule (talk • contribs) 03:38, 23 December 2011 (UTC)

Sure, go to User:Banaticus/Adoption/Libertarianrule and pick one of the required classes (other than Vandalism101). :) Banaticus (talk) 18:40, 23 December 2011 (UTC)

Weather in Cedar Glen

Because you've been around for so long, and seem to know what you're doing, I'm going to give you a week to convince me that Cedar Glen, California (weather) should exist as an article. If you haven't convinced me by the time the week is up, I'm deleting it as "notability not asserted".

Got that? DS (talk) 15:18, 23 December 2011 (UTC)

I don't believe you've posted on my talk page before, at least not in the past several months. Have we had a conversation before? Why are you walking in and suddenly posting ultimatums and timelines? Edit: Whoops, forgot to log in. I blame it on moving around to visit family down here in So Cal for Christmas. :) Banaticus (talk) 18:32, 23 December 2011 (UTC)

removed 'non-valid' citation templates on Slavic Neopaganism?

I am wondering why you removed my tags for incorrectly sourced information. I explained why they are incorrect on the talk page. Did you even read the sources, or is there some other guideline here about using tags that I do not know?--Dchmelik (talk) 05:07, 27 December 2011 (UTC)

Moving the discussion to Talk:Slavic Neopaganism#credible references?, but basically the references themselves are credible, so the template isn't appropriate, even though the statements that the references are next to may not be supported by the references. :) Banaticus (talk) 05:17, 27 December 2011 (UTC)