Bosnia and Herzegovina

About your deleting of the nomination: can you please quote a rule that supports what you've just said, namely "it's been standard practice for years...". If unable to produce such a rule, please undo deletion without delay. Thanks. Sevvyan (talk) 15:06, 27 February 2015 (UTC)

I didn't delete it, and I won't undelete it. I'm not an FAC coordinator - the person who deleted it was. You won't get very far at FAC with this sort of attitude. BencherliteTalk 15:38, 27 February 2015 (UTC)
Nothing personal... just about a speedy-deletion decision meeting none of the criteria for speedy deletion. Thanks. Sevvyan (talk) 16:03, 27 February 2015 (UTC)
The FA coordinator agreed with me and a former FAC coordinator that the nomination was too flawed to be worth saving so deleted it as general housekeeping. This is perfectly normal and proper, and if you had any experience at FAC you would know and accept this. BencherliteTalk 17:19, 27 February 2015 (UTC)

Only Fools and Horses

Hi, thanks for the heads up. It has been obvious the article has needed work for some time, I just haven't had the time or inclination recently. I'll try to get round to it at a later point, but it won't be before the FAR ends. Best. SteveO (talk) 12:56, 3 March 2015 (UTC)

Opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway

At Iridescent's request I have deferred this article's scheduled TFA appearance on 19 March until September, and replaced it with Brill railway station. Could I ask you, please, to remove the protection from the former? Thanks. Brianboulton (talk) 19:27, 4 March 2015 (UTC)

Done, and Brill move-protected for good measure. BencherliteTalk 19:47, 4 March 2015 (UTC)
Thanks, and also for your spirited defence of the indefensible on the main page talk. Brianboulton (talk) 10:05, 5 March 2015 (UTC)
Every so often I took a chance and got away with it; sometimes I didn't, so I feel your pain as it were! But unless one always sticks to the newest and shiniest FAs (which leads to gluts of certain topics) then digging out older FAs that may need some TLC is inevitable. Sometimes it will get it, sometimes it will not but there's a limit to what you as a TFA coordinator can do. Sandy et al are steadily working through the oldest unreviewed FAs at FAR, which will occasionally take away one from your menu (e.g. Only Fools and Horses is an unused FA, but is heading for demotion without ever having been TFA) and that will help too. But there are people around who will look over and copyedit older stuff if something needs a polish rather than a rewrite. BencherliteTalk 12:22, 5 March 2015 (UTC)

Parrot of Doom

The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.


PoD has directly called me a liar, a fool and stupid on that particular page. These are not merely unhelpful remarks, but are personal attacks. I suggest that you take PoD to task for his rampant incivility before even considering intervening on his behalf. Urselius (talk) 20:18, 8 March 2015 (UTC)

I think it's time for you to put up or shut up. Start that FA review, and see how that pans out. Eric Corbett 20:51, 8 March 2015 (UTC)
I don't believe I was addressing you. It is impolite to trespass uninvited on the conversations of others. Urselius (talk) 21:29, 8 March 2015 (UTC)
Talk pages, like almost all pages on Wikipedia, are open to edits by all. The one difference with TP's is if the user requests that you stay off them. I'm not sure that's the case here. - SchroCat (talk) 21:35, 8 March 2015 (UTC)
You're right, SchroCat. There is no rule that conversations on user talk pages cannot be joined by others. BencherliteTalk 21:46, 8 March 2015 (UTC)

Please address my initial point. WIki-legalism is neither here nor there, when I write on a user's talkpage I expect to be addressing that user. Urselius (talk) 21:53, 8 March 2015 (UTC)

If I was giving out prizes for behaviour on that talk page, I wouldn't be giving out too many, and you probably wouldn't be on the list. That's as much as I care to say on the point. BencherliteTalk 21:56, 8 March 2015 (UTC)
So you perceive no distinction between argument and personal attacks, fair enough. I have wasted my time contacting you - duly noted. Urselius (talk) 22:00, 8 March 2015 (UTC)
There's more than one way of helping a conversation go downhill, as you've been demonstrating. BencherliteTalk 22:05, 8 March 2015 (UTC)
Urselius, this is not the place to discuss this. Go back to the talk page and stop trying to drag others into your problems. CassiantoTalk 22:22, 8 March 2015 (UTC)
Managed to drag yourself in, though - Cass old boy. I didn't try at all! I give you joy of your auto-dragging. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Urselius (talkcontribs) 22:56, 8 March 2015‎
The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

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User:WackyPhysicist

Hi Bencherlite, you blocked the above editor as a vandal a little over a year ago. They've written to UTRS (UTRS appeal #13263) claiming they've seen the error of their ways. Do you have any objection to an unblock per WP:ROPE? Best, HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 17:28, 12 March 2015 (UTC)

Fine by me, Harry. BencherliteTalk 17:31, 12 March 2015 (UTC)

Mercury (planet)

Thank you for your revert, having a little ms-understanding with an editor, if you could check Earth my same kind of edit has been reverted and I don't want to get anywhere near wp:3rr :P. Thanx, Mlpearc (open channel) 01:03, 13 March 2015 (UTC)

And now Jupiter. Mlpearc (open channel) 01:12, 13 March 2015 (UTC)
Thanx for your help :) Mlpearc (open channel) 01:45, 13 March 2015 (UTC)

Portal

Hi, can you please tell me how will I change the article which appears in the portal in the Selected Article section? RRD13 দেবজ্যোতি (talk) 12:37, 20 March 2015 (UTC)

@Royroydeb: Click "show new selections below" or whatever the wording is below the introduction and the page will reload. BencherliteTalk 19:21, 30 March 2015 (UTC)

April 1

Can't help feeling it's a bit lame, but never mind. Just think of all the outrage we could have had if someone had nominated Fanny Bullock Workman to be that date instead of a few days later. --Dweller (talk) 17:09, 30 March 2015 (UTC)

(watching) I had nominated her for women's history month. We had to have a bird etc. instead, she was postponed to 8 April, marking the death a year ago of a Main editor of the article. I would have preferred on 8 March next year. The lady has a great name ;) --Gerda Arendt (talk) 17:37, 30 March 2015 (UTC)
If I could nominate days to lose from the TFA calendar, one of them would be 1st April - proof that you can't please all of the people some of the time, let alone all of the people all of the time. I'm just glad that I don't do this anymore. BencherliteTalk 19:20, 30 March 2015 (UTC)
Heck yes. The community has such a divergence of views. Am I wrong or did we used to pick a small group to organise April 1? If not, it's a good idea. Doing things like that as a mass committee inevitably ends in beige output as we go centre to cover all opinions, which is a shame. (the continuum being from doing jokey misleading blurbs through to not treating April 1 any differently) --Dweller (talk) 20:50, 30 March 2015 (UTC)
Wikipedia:April Fool's Main Page/Featured Article is all I know about, but I'm not sure whether that was where (e.g.) George Washington and Ima Hogg were planned. BencherliteTalk 21:43, 30 March 2015 (UTC)

Maindate note

I've been looking at the discussions on the FAC talkpage concerning main page date notification on the chosen article's talkpage. I'm not quite clear whether the system has changed in this respect from the instructions you provided at the start of the year, and I'd like to know, if possible, before I resume scheduling in a week or so's time. Brianboulton (talk) 09:11, 4 April 2015 (UTC)

Brianboulton – apologies for the delay, see the above note. Until 31st March, the bot was adding "maindate=" completely unnecessarily on TFA day, when (a) it should be added when the TFA is selected, not as late as TFA day, and (b) because there has been no bot doing this (as there used to be) you/others have been adding "maindate=" on selection, so that the bot has been creating template errors by adding it again (needing another bot to fix it). I raised this once again at WT:FAC (here) and now the bot is no longer creating work for other bots, I'm pleased to say. The TFA coordinators will have to liaise with Hawkeye7 about the issue of the bot adding "maindate=" on the day that the TFA is selected - whether you want this to happen, whether this is possible, and if the answer to both is yes, agreeing when this will start. A bot always used to do it, so it is technically possible and it is certainly less work for a bot to check for new TFA selections and add "maindate=" to the talk page than it is for the TFA coordinators to do it. BencherliteTalk 21:20, 14 April 2015 (UTC)
Thanks for the reply. The work involved in adding "maindate=" manually is pretty minimal, and not I think worth negotiating a bot for. I happy to carry on without it. Brianboulton (talk) 21:34, 14 April 2015 (UTC)
The Bot adds the "maindate=" to Today's Featured Article at the same time that it updates the FA and FANMP pages (at around 0105Z), but only if it is not already there. It is technically possible for it to add it when the article is added to the upcoming TFA queue. The messiness occurs if the TFA coordinators subsequently remove it from the queue for some reason. Hawkeye7 (talk) 21:46, 14 April 2015 (UTC)

May be a silly question, but...

Why don't more editors strive for FA? I may be reaching, but I also strongly believe at least 2 accredited FA collaborations should be among the standard criteria for RfA. Thank you for all you do!! AtsmeConsult 00:11, 10 April 2015 (UTC)

  • (talk page stalker) A lot of times people edit in other, equally important areas. Although content is the main public part of the encyclopedia, there are numerous administrative tasks that need to be done (AFD logging, template coding, etc.) and other content areas (writing lists, creating images, etc.). By instating such a requirement, we'd essentially be saying to all of these people "You're not good enough, so why bother?" Furthermore, FA can be downright terrifying if you're not used to it. Once you understand the system, it's more or less fine and dandy... but when you're first starting out, it can be a nightmare. — Crisco 1492 (talk) 00:14, 10 April 2015 (UTC)
  • Another (talk page stalker). 1FA used to be a standard for RFA. But that was before we tightened up on our criteria for a Featured Article. I think it's not just the FA process that has matured, but Wikipedia. We much better value our Wikipedia:Wikignomes and other contributors who would struggle to do much in the way of content contribution, but help the place work much better. --Dweller (talk) 11:20, 13 April 2015 (UTC)
    • @Atsme, Crisco 1492, and Dweller: Apologies for the delay, see the above note. RFA standards are not really something I want to join a discussion about, nor is FAC a place I'm rushing back to, as having been through it a few times I know what is required and I simply have no time at present for that. BencherliteTalk 21:20, 14 April 2015 (UTC)
      • No worries and understood respectively! --Dweller (talk) 08:34, 15 April 2015 (UTC)
  • Another (talk page stalker). The Wikipedia:Wikignomes represent an untapped reservoir of talent. They already know how to edit articles, but do not. We need to find ways to get them working on content. Hawkeye7 (talk) 21:55, 14 April 2015 (UTC)
    • I think we need to appreciate them more for what they already do. --Dweller (talk) 08:34, 15 April 2015 (UTC)

Bodleian Library Record

Hi, just to let you know that I am still following up your request about this source, amongst the many other things that I'm working on here, and I hope I can dig out the article next week. I doubt I can make the article public, but I can share it with you. Are you happy to share an email address with me, or a similar way to get a copy to you? My email is martin.poulter bodleian.ox.ac.uk . MartinPoulter (talk) 15:33, 16 April 2015 (UTC)

@MartinPoulter: in fact someone else has already found it for me, but I may have other Oxford-related queries for you in due course as and when I return to more active editing. Many thanks for your offer. BencherliteTalk 12:12, 17 April 2015 (UTC)

Old FAs that haven't been on MP - by date

How did you do this? I'm trying to get the current 2008 list to add to my page. Thanks. --Dweller (talk) 13:47, 8 April 2015 (UTC)

Dweller – sorry for the delay, see the above note. I used a combination of AutoWikiBrowser and Excel, if memory serves me right.
  1. Perform "links on page" for Wikipedia:Featured articles promoted in 2008
  2. Right click and remove non-mainspace links (that gets rid of the project links, the user names etc). You're left with 719 articles.
  3. Click on Tools > List comparer and answer "yes" to the question about using your list in the comparison.
  4. In List 2, make a list of pages in the category Featured articles that have not appeared on the main page.
  5. Right click list 2, select "convert from talk pages"
  6. Go compare
  7. That gives you 148 articles (at the time of writing). You can now save the file in the format of your choice, open it e.g. in a wordprocessor and add * [[ ]] around every entry (or whatever you want).
HTH. BencherliteTalk 21:20, 14 April 2015 (UTC)
Thanks. I'll have a stab at that. Or ask someone more technical than me to do it. --Dweller (talk) 08:35, 15 April 2015 (UTC)

"HTH"? --Dweller (talk) 08:35, 15 April 2015 (UTC)

Hope That Helps. But YMMV ..... The Rambling Man (talk) 22:45, 16 April 2015 (UTC)
Stop it, you're teasing me! --Dweller (talk) 09:15, 17 April 2015 (UTC)
Or as Tommy Handley used to advise, NWAWWASBE. Tim riley talk 13:00, 20 April 2015 (UTC)

WP:TFAR page

Would you mind looking at the "currently accepting" dates on this page which appear to be a day out, as I have scheduled up to and including May 14. I must have made an error on one of the recent schedulings – can you put it right? Brianboulton (talk) 23:33, 23 April 2015 (UTC)

Brianboulton, all looks fine to me, so if there was a glitch it has gone (perhaps purge your cache if you still get the wrong date). Cheers, BencherliteTalk 08:16, 24 April 2015 (UTC)
It's fine on my screen too, now. Sorry to have troubled you.

Boat Race review

  The Running Man Barnstar
Hey old Dark Blue fiend, just a quick barnstar to say thanks for the review of one of Boat Race articles you conducted over the past year. As of this morning, I completed my (initial) goal of ensuing that every Boat Race had, not only its own article, but one that was either of GA or FA status: we now have 158 GAs and 3 FAs that we can all be proud of! It doesn't stop here, for me at least, I'm going to keep up with improving the quality of the GAs and look for more FA opportunities. Plus, there's the small matter of 70 Women's Boat Race articles to get up and running! But thanks again, I couldn't have done it without your help. The Rambling Man (talk) 15:50, 16 April 2015 (UTC)

The Rambling Man, you deserve the barnstar not me, mate. Congratulations on a towering body of work. BencherliteTalk 08:22, 24 April 2015 (UTC)

Tagers

The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.


Both Osias Tager and Romie Tager (barrister) came to my attention when they were linked by their creator (Philafrenzy) to the bio I created for an autism researcher at Helen Tager-Flusberg. I was hoping you could glance at them to see if there is undue emphasis on the business of the father's will. Best, SandyGeorgia (Talk) 23:55, 15 April 2015 (UTC)

The matter received wide coverage in the British press. Philafrenzy (talk) 00:04, 16 April 2015 (UTC)
But if that is all Romie is known for, it may be a WP:BLP1E issue. SandyGeorgia (Talk) 00:37, 16 April 2015 (UTC)
It's not. He is a well known Q.C. and his cases have been widely reported. I have added a few. He also appears in the independent Debrett's People of Today. There is more than enough to satisfy general notability I would think. Philafrenzy (talk) 00:57, 16 April 2015 (UTC)
I see now that Bencherlite isn't actively editing, so I'm sorry for bringing this to his page. There are what looks like one-sided claims that require high quality sources in both articles, but they are sourced to tabloid style sources, not in accordance with WP:BLP. I've searched google news and find nothing of quality. Both articles read like political hit jobs; perhaps Eric Corbett is familiar with the case and can help me out, since I have no sense of the relevance of this in the UK. Otherwise, next stop is the BLP noticeboard for outside input (have you no better sources?), if not AFD on the son at least. SandyGeorgia (Talk) 22:38, 16 April 2015 (UTC)
I've never heard of either, and I can't say I'm much interested in either. Eric Corbett 22:47, 16 April 2015 (UTC)
Thanks, Eric Corbett; that you have never heard of them confirms what I found on Google-- nothing. I removed the text as a BLP vio, sourced to generally primary sources and tabloids. Thx for looking, SandyGeorgia (Talk) 22:53, 16 April 2015 (UTC)
What? This article has fifteen sources. ALL from Google. Philafrenzy (talk) 00:02, 17 April 2015 (UTC)
I have reverted your changes. You seem to think that the article is some sort of attack page. It isn't. You are also very wrong about the quality of the sources. They are neither tabloid nor low quality. I think you have got a bit carried away. Please start a discussion on the talk page. Philafrenzy (talk) 23:19, 16 April 2015 (UTC)
SandyGeorgia, the name Romie Tager rings a vague bell in my professional capacity, although we don't work in the same area of law. But I doubt that he passes WP:BIO on the current version of the article - the meat of the article is about the will, which is a bit too BLP1E / coatracky for my liking. The rest is trivial mention and fluff. BencherliteTalk 08:26, 24 April 2015 (UTC)
Even if that were so, he would still pass WP:BASIC. Philafrenzy (talk) 08:50, 24 April 2015 (UTC)
Well if that's what you think, we'll see what AFD decides. I know that SandyGeorgia may have held off from nominating it but I have no such restraint. BencherliteTalk 09:18, 24 April 2015 (UTC)
Yes, I see that Bencherlite ... but since then i have discovered that Philafrenzy has written scores of similar, is active at DYK, and that this kind of work is promoted via the culture of DYK troubles me so much -- and there is so much of this Philafrenzy's work -- that I decided to ignore it in the interest of mental health. Every time I try to deal with something like this, all of DYK goes wild ... SandyGeorgia (Talk) 12:10, 24 April 2015 (UTC)
Like what Sandy? What exactly is it that you object to about my work? Most people seem to appreciate it. And what is wrong with DYK? Philafrenzy (talk) 12:18, 24 April 2015 (UTC)
The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

Change of TFR dates

I have swopped the articles scheduled for 1 and 13 May, so that 1 May is now The Tower House and 13 May is Blackrock (film). The protection arrangements may need sorting out – could you do this? Thanks. Brianboulton (talk) 10:50, 27 April 2015 (UTC)

No problem. I have shortened the protection on The Tower House; the bot had already extended protection on the film. BencherliteTalk 13:06, 27 April 2015 (UTC)

Dr Lee's Professor of Experimental Philosophy

If you are around to answer this (it's not urgent), I have been putting together a list of the Professors of Experimental Philosophy at Oxford University (see draft here). There is the already existing Category:Dr Lee's Professors of Experimental Philosophy, and I noticed that John Alexander Smith had been placed in it by this edit you made. I just removed it, as I don't think he ever held that chair. Carcharoth (talk) 23:04, 22 April 2015 (UTC)

Carcharoth, my apologies - obviously getting my experimental philosophy chairs muddled! BencherliteTalk 08:21, 24 April 2015 (UTC)
No problem. I in turn may have gone too far back with the 'Dr Lee' bit. As far as I can tell, according to this page, which is from 2004 and based on a booklet by one of the former Dr Lee's Readers in Chemistry, the professorship only goes back to 1922. There are lists of the Readers at the bottom, and a section on the Lee Professorships (initiated in 1922, it seems, though the Professorship of Experimental Philosophy [without the Lee endowment] seems to date from 1860 when Walker was promoted from Reader to Professor). We don't have much on readers (the academic rank), probably because drawing the line at professors is sensible. The line of those formally required to teach 'experimental philosophy' at Oxford (even if only part-time) goes back into the 18th century, when it appears to have been part of the duties of the Savilian Professor of Astronomy. That is a featured list you did. Three of the notes mention 'experimental philosophy': John Keill, Thomas Hornsby and Stephen Peter Rigaud, and the notes for Rigaud say that he succeeded Abraham Robertson "in the astronomy and experimental philosophy positions". At the very least, I think the Dr Lee's Professorships should be added to List of professorships at the University of Oxford, which currently only has the Chemistry one. Would you have any more sources on the 'experimental philosophy' one and its early history with the astronomy professors? Carcharoth (talk) 06:47, 25 April 2015 (UTC)

Heh. I just clicked on 'what links here' for various professorships, and you might be interested to know that it picked up the 'ifexist' conditionals that you put here and here and here. Though now I have to try and work out whether the redlink for Dr Lee's Professor of Physical Chemistry should have 'Physical' in there or not... (it looks like the sources use the terms interchangeably, though the distinction might have emerged at some point as physical chemistry became a distinct discipline?). Dr Lee's Professor of Chemistry is the alternative (and maybe formal) title, I think. Carcharoth (talk) 07:02, 25 April 2015 (UTC)

I would entitle the page whatever it's called these days (which is "Dr Lee's Professor of Chemistry"), and add redirects from old/alternative names. If the university regards the history of a particular chair as encompassing people who held it before it was a formal chair (eg readers) or before it was endowed and named, then I would tend to lump them together but explain that until year X it was known as position Y. Is this page of any use? BencherliteTalk 07:43, 25 April 2015 (UTC)
That page is perfect, thanks! The other professorships there look interesting as well... The bit (at the top of the facing page) about the records for the Lord Almoner's Professor of Arabic is classic (lost in a fire). Though is is disconcerting how the names there are completely different from the ones in our article. Bizarre. Anyway, I'll get back to the science professors. Carcharoth (talk) 07:58, 25 April 2015 (UTC)
Writing a list of the Oxford Lord Almoner's Professors is on my to-do list (our current article is about the Cambridge equivalent)... BencherliteTalk 13:10, 27 April 2015 (UTC)
Oops! That was silly of me, not looking to see whether I had the right university... Fascinating history for the Lord High Almoner, an office I'd not heard of before. Carcharoth (talk) 22:39, 29 April 2015 (UTC)

More changes

I'd be pleased if you'd handle this. Brianboulton (talk) 23:27, 10 May 2015 (UTC)

Brianboulton, the bot had picked up the changes to the ship and the starling and I've unprotected the song. BencherliteTalk 17:43, 11 May 2015 (UTC)

Thanks!

  Wikilove from the Bodleian
Just wanted to say thanks from us here at the Bodleian Libraries for all the work you've done to improve (and create!) pages related to our history. We really appreciate it! Liz McCarthy (talk) 15:53, 28 May 2015 (UTC)

Happy to get your input

... on TFA prose, any time. Haven't heard from you in a while; just making sure you know. I hear there's life outside Wikipedia, and hope you're enjoying it. - Dank (push to talk) 18:02, 29 May 2015 (UTC)

Talkback

 
Hello, Bencherlite. You have new messages at LFaraone's talk page.
Message added 21:24, 1 July 2015 (UTC). You can remove this notice at any time by removing the {{Talkback}} or {{Tb}} template.

LFaraone 21:24, 1 July 2015 (UTC)

Request for comment

An editor has asked for a discussion on the deprecation of Template:English variant notice. Since you've had some involvement with the English variant notice template, you might want to participate in the discussion if you have not already done so.Godsy(TALKCONT) 07:17, 14 August 2015 (UTC)

Snaresbrook Crown Court

I was there today, on the right side of the dock, of course! I was aghast to find no article on such a magnificent building, [so I started one and is very much a work in progress. I used your picture too, so I thank you for that :) CassiantoTalk 17:15, 5 August 2015 (UTC)

@Cassianto: Was Chillum the Judge presiding the case ;-)♦ Dr. Blofeld 19:37, 5 August 2015 (UTC)

This was a criminal court, and as we know, Chillum only take's part in civil proceddings. CassiantoTalk 19:54, 5 August 2015 (UTC)


Cassianto - it is indeed a building with an interesting history! I can't claim any credit for the photograph, since I was merely the uploader of a Geograph photo. Nice article. BencherliteTalk 13:21, 17 August 2015 (UTC)

The late John Scott

Just a word of thanks for nominating that article for In The News...Dr Scott was a dear friend. JackTheVicar (talk) 20:23, 18 August 2015 (UTC)

@Bencherlite: After today's flurry of support and improved refs, does the auto-archiving of the WITN nomination mean it can no longer be considered? —Patrug (talk) 00:44, 20 August 2015 (UTC)
Yes, {Patrug, unfortunately we missed the boat on it. By the time the supports came through it was no longer news. But good work on improving the article, which is the main thing. BencherliteTalk 12:34, 26 August 2015 (UTC)

Edward Stafford

I recently ran across the wiki for Sir Edward Stafford, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Stafford_%28diplomat%29. Do you know of any images of Sir Edward?

We have a portrait in our museum collection that may be of Sir Edward. The evidence is slim so far (happy to share if you are interested). Another image of Sir Edward would certainly inform our research.

Thanks

Perry Hurt Associate Conservator North Carolina Museum of Art — Preceding unsigned comment added by Perry Hurt (talkcontribs) 17:27, 25 August 2015 (UTC)

Thanks for the message, Perry Hurt. I had completely forgotten I created that article years ago! The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography entry doesn't have an image and I'm not really in a position to judge whether your portrait is of him or not. In any case, I'm not very active here anymore so I'm not sure I can be much help to you. Perhaps try the help desk to see what bright ideas people might have? I suspect that more people see that page than the Stafford article's talk page! Best wishes, BencherliteTalk 12:34, 26 August 2015 (UTC)

ICM

"I notice you've created one further subcategory since this nomination started", I assume it's a mistake of eyesight. Can you recheck? Solomon7968 17:41, 2 September 2015 (UTC)

That's odd, I'm sure the 1897 category wasn't there when I nominated the group earlier, but it was created in 2013 so it must have been. My apologies. Now also nominated for deletion. BencherliteTalk 17:50, 2 September 2015 (UTC)
Thanks for retracting the statement. However I do plan to proceed to more category creations (the categories are significantly likely to be kept, well the trend suggests so) unless you can give me compelling reason to do otherwise. You yourself have created a whole branch of categories related to Oxford named chairs (probably not all of them though). I won't nominate them for deletion as it would be a WP:POINT violation but many of them are indeed undue having as few as 8 entries where many of the professors have holded appointments in other Universities. I don't believe in significantly disrupting other people's work and i believe you should also. Maybe you can think of this in detail and compare the pros and cons of the categories? Best. Solomon7968 19:22, 2 September 2015 (UTC)
Traditionally consensus is assessed at the end of the 7 day period by a neutral closer, so forgive me if I decline to agree with your premature view as to the consensus. You are indeed correct that I didn't create all of the Oxford named chair categories - others started the process and I have continued in a more systematic way. It is absolutely no skin off my nose whether Statutory Professors of the University of Oxford continues to be subdivided or not. But you might want to bear in mind that the presence or absence of a series of categories for holders of named chairs at Oxford has absolutely no bearing on the presence or absence of a series of categories for speakers at a mathematical conference. If we were to categorise by every second-tier honour given even to academics, then articles would groan under the weight of superfluous categories. In Oxford comparisons, I'm sure that to be asked to deliver the Bampton Lectures or the Ford Lectures is or was a significant academic honour, but they don't reach the level of deserving a category. Oh, and nominating a category series for deletion in good faith isn't "significantly disrupting other people's work" - if you think I'm disruptive, take me to WP:ANI and see what response you get. Otherwise stop implying that I'm being disruptive, because that's not very nice. BencherliteTalk 20:47, 2 September 2015 (UTC)

Cadw references

The links to listed buildings in the Cadw website seem to have become dead. This has certainly happened to "my" articles on Welsh listed buildings, and it seems to have happened at least to "your" Anglesey churches. I have tried to use the Cadw website, but find it difficult to search (= impossible for me). Have you any idea where and how we can find the live links? Cheers, --Peter I. Vardy (talk) 18:05, 6 September 2015 (UTC)

Gosh, no. I can't face keeping "my" Anglesey church articles up-to-date, to be honest - the Church in Wales has revamped its website too, so I think I will let the articles rot in peace. I am rarely on Wikipedia these days due largely to increased work commitments, and don't really want to spend the time on this. Hope all's well. BencherliteTalk 21:13, 7 September 2015 (UTC)
I've just checked the website and it now seems impossible to link directly to a listed building's description - you first have to accept the T&Cs (on every visit), then you have to navigate on the map to the area you want, click click and click again to get the detailed description. I can't see a way of extracing a url to use as a reference. It's hopeless. I will not be spending any more time on Anglesey church articles, written or unwritten. BencherliteTalk 21:13, 7 September 2015 (UTC)
That's a great pity, especially as I see "your" articles as models to follow for church articles. The National Heritage List for England is not wonderful, but at least it can be used and cited. I have even made direct contact with two of the people in English Heritage who deal with the website, one for typos and minor errors, and the other for bigger mistakes - markers on the wrong building, demolished buildings still listed, etc - and they are very pleased to receive feedback and make corrections. Perhaps when I have time (and energy), I might try to make some contact with Cadw, although I spend very little time on Welsh articles. Best wishes, --Peter I. Vardy (talk) 08:30, 9 September 2015 (UTC)
You (Bencherlite) may want to ask Jason.nlw and Llywelyn2000 if they have any thoughts on this. If WMUK are going to go to all this trouble to embed Wikipedia contacts into Welsh institutions, you may as well give them something to do. Jason.nlw in particular specifically says on his user page that his main interest is the religious landscape of Wales so ought to know who to talk to about Anglesey churches. ‑ iridescent 09:01, 9 September 2015 (UTC)

TFL notification

Hi, Bencherlite. I'm just posting to let you know that List of mathematicians, physicians, and scientists educated at Jesus College, Oxford – a list that you have been heavily involved with – has been chosen to appear on the Main Page as Today's featured list for October 19. The TFL blurb can be seen here. If you have any thoughts on the selection, please post them on my talk page or at TFL talk. Regards, Giants2008 (Talk) 17:24, 21 September 2015 (UTC)

Your question

You asked me a question whether "being an invited speaker at the ICM conference is the second-highest honour a mathematician can be given" in the ICM category deletion "debate". I failed to answer it but Suslin just added some text to the list which answers it in a round about way. And, oh, it is published in a somewhat reliable source... Solomon7968 12:05, 8 October 2015 (UTC)

  • Not that you've got the sequence correct anyway (you made that claim, I asked for evidence, you retracted it) but actually I'm not interested in revisiting a debate that closed last month. BencherliteTalk 13:11, 8 October 2015 (UTC)

Geoffrey Howe in ITN

Misspelled as "Hume". --George Ho (talk) 10:42, 12 October 2015 (UTC)
You are from the United Kingdom, and you decided to post his name in the RD. I requested pulling his name out in ITN, and I would like to do it again here. If you pull the UK guy out, can you reinsert the Hungarian president? --George Ho (talk) 05:06, 12 October 2015 (UTC)

George Ho are you now suggesting that admins should not post RDs for candidates with whom they share their nationality? The Rambling Man (talk) 10:52, 12 October 2015 (UTC)
I'm not. We must use our senses to decide which one to post. I don't get why we delay posting of other names whose articles are inadequately source, while some names are mentioned in front page despite inadequate sources. Also, this also comes down to how much of a significance a person is in his or her field. I don't mind a UK politician being mentioned honourably; we still need to compromise rather than ignore. George Ho (talk) 11:03, 12 October 2015 (UTC)
I don't follow you at all. I am assuming that, as usual, Bencherlite assessed consensus. That is all. The Rambling Man (talk) 11:38, 12 October 2015 (UTC)
The votes were 50:50 or 55:45. --George Ho (talk) 15:52, 12 October 2015 (UTC)

Thanks for the assumption that I made the decision because of my nationality - that's a really magnificent assumption of good faith there. And thanks for the lesson that assessing consensus is simply head-counting rather than weighing arguments. And to think I've spent all these years as an admin doing it wrong! I see that the referencing has been improved (and I also note that nobody raised any concerns about the quality of the article before posting - actually one person did, then struck it and moved to support) so I think we're done here. Perhaps the time has come to do away with the RD line because it provokes so much unnecessary argument about one link on the main page that is there for just a few days. BencherliteTalk 09:26, 13 October 2015 (UTC)

Many thanks! Hopefully not too many egregious errors or horrible faux pas in my more trenchant work. I was at least able to properly reference an article by our mutual friend in the main CH article — Preceding unsigned comment added by YnadCoch (talkcontribs) 18:57, 16 October 2015 (UTC)

ArbCom elections are now open!

Hi,
You appear to be eligible to vote in the current Arbitration Committee election. The Arbitration Committee is the panel of editors responsible for conducting the Wikipedia arbitration process. It has the authority to enact binding solutions for disputes between editors, primarily related to serious behavioural issues that the community has been unable to resolve. This includes the ability to impose site bans, topic bans, editing restrictions, and other measures needed to maintain our editing environment. The arbitration policy describes the Committee's roles and responsibilities in greater detail. If you wish to participate, you are welcome to review the candidates' statements and submit your choices on the voting page. For the Election committee, MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 16:09, 23 November 2015 (UTC)

Thanks

Thanksgiving
 
Shout for joy

Giving music you may remember, --Gerda Arendt (talk) 15:34, 26 November 2015 (UTC)

Deletion review for Category:High school dropouts

An editor has asked for a deletion review of Category:High school dropouts. Because you closed the deletion discussion for this page, speedily deleted it, or otherwise were interested in the page, you might want to participate in the deletion review. pbp 23:50, 2 December 2015 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Miscellany for deletion/User:ThunderJaemin

Hi. I was interrupted while creating Wikipedia:Miscellany for deletion/User:ThunderJaemin, and did not have the sandbox listed as a link in nomination at the time of your !vote. I have since added the sandbox. I don't believe that should affect your reasoning and position, but I think it best to let you know so you can review. Thanks. -- Whpq (talk) 12:33, 8 December 2015 (UTC)