User talk:Chris the speller/Archive 5

Latest comment: 9 years ago by Bzuk in topic Merry Merry

full/part-time

You may like to check Norwegian Chess Championship. Regards, Sun Creator(talk) 16:08, 19 September 2012 (UTC)

Individual rule

Individuallos or individualios? The rule checks for the former but a Google check shows 51 results for the former and 83,228 for the latter. Regards, Sun Creator(talk) 02:53, 22 September 2012 (UTC)

¿Qué? "Individualios" does not appear anywhere in en.wikipedia. Is there a complaint? Chris the speller yack 03:35, 22 September 2012 (UTC)
No complaint. Individuallos does not appear either. I was wondering if the rule was done as intentioned. Regards, Sun Creator(talk) 03:42, 22 September 2012 (UTC)
As a result of a lot of testing, there were some hits on "Individuellos", so I excluded it. If there is ever a WP article that has "individualios", the self-check for (Individual) would match it and exclude it, so no problem. Chris the speller yack 03:50, 22 September 2012 (UTC)
ah! Individuellos, so it was necessary, cool. Thanks for the clarification. Regards, Sun Creator(talk) 04:05, 22 September 2012 (UTC)

A pie for you!

  I see you edited out some of my frequent typos in the article I wrote on the Shorts No. 2 biplane.....I loathe the word successful and am rubbish at getting in both Cs and both Ss.....I think thats the first time I've inserted a triple S! Thanks. TheLongTone (talk) 18:58, 29 September 2012 (UTC)
I'm glad you appreciated it. I had just developed a rule for AutoWikiBrowser that will even fix "succcceesssssfful", and was trying it out. Thanks for the pie, though just a slice would have been plenty. Happy editing! Chris the speller yack 19:26, 29 September 2012 (UTC)

Succumbled

Thanks for the laughs, those three words are fularious (my pathetic attempt). – Kerαunoςcopiagalaxies 07:48, 1 October 2012 (UTC)

Tribute rule

Still these false positives. Regards, Sun Creator(talk) 02:11, 2 October 2012 (UTC)

Got 'em. thanks! Chris the speller yack 02:15, 2 October 2012 (UTC)
More here. Regards, Sun Creator(talk) 02:31, 2 October 2012 (UTC)
Done, thanks. I knew I'd get it right on the second or third try. Or seventh or eighth. Chris the speller yack 02:52, 2 October 2012 (UTC)
Plus and Turbotax (typo of TurboTax) although the latter is only used on none main space. Regards, Sun Creator(talk) 12:04, 2 October 2012 (UTC)
Fixed 'em, and did a lot more testing. Your addition of "Redist~" is doing wonders, as well. Chris the speller yack 13:35, 2 October 2012 (UTC)
'Tarboton' surname i.e. Warwick Tarboton and others, turbotrain, turbots. Turbotville. All these recent ones have 'bot'. 'Tarbatu'. Regards, Sun Creator(talk) 01:55, 6 October 2012 (UTC)
Got that, too. Thanks again. Chris the speller yack 03:38, 6 October 2012 (UTC)

Research fuzzy rule

Research fuzzy rule matches resurce(s/d) - typo for resource(s/d). Found in Socialist Republic of Croatia. Regards, Sun Creator(talk) 21:54, 5 October 2012 (UTC)

Also, resuraced (resurfaced), found in Walrus (locomotive). Regards, Sun Creator(talk) 23:32, 5 October 2012 (UTC)
Thanks. Fixed the rule and the misspellings. Chris the speller yack 01:09, 6 October 2012 (UTC)

poorly written article!

Chris, I came across this page Palmes family and thought you would have a field day of corrections for it!!! (Hancock blogger (talk) 22:49, 6 October 2012 (UTC)).

I gave it a little cleanup; it wasn't all that bad, though. Chris the speller yack 03:40, 7 October 2012 (UTC)

Thanks

Thanks for pulling the extra "m" from my "commmonly" in Dowse Sod House. Your efforts to eliminate spelling errors are making Wikipedia a better place. Ammodramus (talk) 12:02, 17 October 2012 (UTC)

Suggestion

Hello! I noticed you contributed to Middlesex University entry on Wikipedia. If you studied at that University, please consider including this userbox on your userpage. Simply paste {{Template:User Middlesex}} to your userpage. You will be added into this category Thank you. Invest in knowledge (talk) 12:17, 17 October 2012 (UTC)

Another Barnstar for you

  The Minor Barnstar
Thank you so much Chris the speller for spell checking Third Transjordan attack and finding so few errors. It made my day and then I came upon Pyramoid which had me smiling, Fundametal which had me laughing and Succumbled which had me almost rolling round the floor. I can't read them without laughing. :))) So thank you, thank you Rskp (talk) 01:56, 20 October 2012 (UTC)

Article needing your perusal

Hi Chris,
I recently cleaned up Indian Engineering Services, please go through it and remove any spelling, grammatical or factual errors. Thanks in anticipation. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 59.92.114.123 (talk) 19:49, 20 October 2012 (UTC)
  Done. Chris the speller yack 16:01, 21 October 2012 (UTC)
Thanks man! Really appreciate your work. I came across the article's talk page and it's listed in the category of trains (maybe, someone put it in that category because there are several services of Indian Railways), but it has a much broader area of service. I tried to change the same, but my changes were reverted. Could you help with categorizing it correctly and assessing the current version of article as it seems that it hasn't been assessed since ages. Thanks a lot again and in advance! — Preceding unsigned comment added by 59.92.104.49 (talk) 18:11, 21 October 2012 (UTC)
Categorizing and assessing are not really my thing. The categories look OK to me, and I don't think I am the one to mess with them, sorry. Chris the speller yack 18:15, 21 October 2012 (UTC)
Oh that's totally fine and thanks a lot for all your help. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 59.92.104.49 (talk) 18:26, 21 October 2012 (UTC)

Request

Please give a look at the article Rowdy Rathore if you wish or have time .Thanx---zeeyanketu talk to me 20:20, 22 October 2012 (UTC)

  Done. Chris the speller yack 15:44, 24 October 2012 (UTC)


Thanx a lot.:)42.110.154.15 (talk) 12:16, 1 November 2012 (UTC)

Followup RFC to WP:RFC/AAT now in community feedback phase

Hello. As a participant in Wikipedia:Requests for comment/Abortion article titles, you may wish to register an opinion on its followup RFC, Wikipedia:Requests for comment/Abortion advocacy movement coverage, which is now in its community feedback phase. Please note that WP:RFC/AAMC is not simply a repeat of WP:RFC/AAT, and is attempting to achieve better results by asking a more narrowly-focused, policy-based question of the community. Assumptions based on the previous RFC should be discarded before participation, particularly the assumption that Wikipedia has or inherently needs to have articles covering generalized perspective on each side of abortion advocacy, and that what we are trying to do is come up with labels for that. Thanks! —chaos5023 20:26, 24 October 2012 (UTC)

Question

How you kill 2 birds with one stone? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 93.93.218.222 (talk) 11:10, 8 November 2012 (UTC)

Soak the stone in water for 6 hours first. Chris the speller yack 11:56, 8 November 2012 (UTC)

Request

Hi Chris. I'm in need of a spelling/grammar check of MTB 345, which I recently created. Could you do me the favour to have a look at it? As I'm not a native speaker I do miss some things. Manxruler (talk) 22:13, 12 November 2012 (UTC)

  Done. There wasn't much to fix. Nice article! Chris the speller yack 16:12, 13 November 2012 (UTC)
Thanks. As always, I very much appreciate it. Cheers. Manxruler (talk) 17:09, 13 November 2012 (UTC)

Thanks for Parable of the sunfish help/decadal hyphen question

Thanks for taking a look at Parable of the sunfish. I just came across the "ly-" problem today on wavelength's page while trying to resolve a different hyphen-related issue. So while I'm here I'll ask for your opinion as well: "mid-1950s" or "mid 1950s"?

Best,

GaramondLethe 19:59, 22 November 2012 (UTC)

A hyphen after "mid" is not always absolutely needed, but it's usually a good idea. See Macmillan dictionary for their answer to your question. Chris the speller yack 05:01, 23 November 2012 (UTC)
Wavelength also recommends this. See his (very complete) response to my question here. GaramondLethe 06:10, 23 November 2012 (UTC)

Parliament Square, Edinburgh

I have written a new article Parliament Square, Edinburgh, and every time I look at it I see more mistakes. The most resent being I have written "no" when I should have written "not". Please could you take a look at it and fix obvious errors in one go. -- PBS (talk) 12:58, 4 December 2012 (UTC)

  Done. Just caps, punct. Chris the speller yack 23:41, 5 December 2012 (UTC)
Thanks. -- PBS (talk) 11:10, 6 December 2012 (UTC)

Please pay more care

[1] Mayhaps you missed the: "Son Earns Shutout as Halla Blank Korea Univeristy [sic] ". This is the title as it appears in the citation. Consider actually checking these things before running scripts carelessly on citations.--114.205.84.126 (talk) 16:51, 7 December 2012 (UTC)

I chose to follow WP:QUOTE, which says 'Exceptions are trivial spelling or typographical errors that obviously do not affect the intended meaning; these may be silently corrected or may be retained and marked with " [sic]"'. I have since removed the [sic] tag; I don't feel that Wikipedia is improved by preserving careless spelling in an external web site in a case such as this. I also fixed the dead link. You might want to consider the tone of messages you leave on editors' user talk pages; I don't run scripts carelessly. Chris the speller yack 22:25, 7 December 2012 (UTC)

A barnstar for you!

  The Minor barnstar
For unerring dedication in correcting spellings :) WonderBoy1998 (talk) 11:00, 12 December 2012 (UTC)

en-au use of nee vs née

As the articles I write are in Australian English I will continue to use 'nee', the Macquarie Dictionary allows for both with nee being listed first (e.g. Henry James Emmett). Paul foord (talk) 09:31, 20 December 2012 (UTC)

I have brought this up for discussion at WT:AWB/T, but there have been no comments on it so far. Getting me to stop making the change will have little effect on Wikipedia, as there are many users of AWB that run these same Typo-fixing rules. Chris the speller yack 14:15, 22 December 2012 (UTC)
See my comment here. (Nee? Eeeeuw. As an Australian who collects dictionaries and style guides, and who first did research on the Macquarie about thirty years ago, I have no confidence in its deliverances on anything – let alone anything relevant to style choices on the major international encyclopedia of our time. NoeticaTea? 03:59, 30 December 2012 (UTC)

Season's tidings!

 

To you and yours, Have a Merry ______ (fill in the blank) and Happy New Year! FWiW Bzuk (talk) 02:14, 22 December 2012 (UTC)

Barnstar

  The Seasonal Barnstar
In recognition of your dedicated typo fixing and your work at WP:AWB/T throughout the year, I award you this Seasonal Barnstar. -- John of Reading (talk) 18:06, 22 December 2012 (UTC)

At first glance, I thought I was getting a Sensational Barnstar, but this is welcome all the same. ;-) Thanks very much! Chris the speller yack 18:12, 22 December 2012 (UTC)

Tatung Einstein edit

Hi,

In this revision you removed a hyphen from the compound adjective "technically-advanced". I don't believe that's correct, based on #3 in WP:HYPHEN: indeed, "technically advanced" and "technically-advanced" can have quite different meanings. Can you have a look and see if you agree? Cheers. Chris Cunningham (user:thumperward) (talk) 12:14, 4 January 2013 (UTC)

I looked at it again, but I don't agree. WP:HYPHEN is perfectly clear. Chris the speller yack 14:27, 4 January 2013 (UTC)
From that page: "A few words ending in -ly function as both adjectives and adverbs (a kindly-looking teacher; a kindly provided facility). Some such dual-purpose words (like early, only, northerly) are not standard -ly adverbs, since they are not formed by addition of -ly to an independent current-English adjective. These need careful treatment: Early flowering plants appeared around 130 million years ago, but Early-flowering plants risk damage from winter frosts; northerly-situated islands." "Technically" is such a word. "Technically-advanced" means "featuring advanced technological skills". "Technically advanced" means "considered advanced by the letter of the rules". The former is the intended meaning of the phrase in the article. Chris Cunningham (user:thumperward) (talk) 14:41, 4 January 2013 (UTC)
I still don't agree. "Technically" is a standard -ly adverb, created by adding "ly" to "technical", which is an independent adjective. It is not one of the "dual-purpose" words that this paragraph is discussing. Chris the speller yack 14:48, 4 January 2013 (UTC)
Do you agree or disagree that there is a distinction in meaning between "technically advanced" and "technically-advanced"? Chris Cunningham (user:thumperward) (talk) 14:58, 4 January 2013 (UTC)
If that article needed the second sense ("considered advanced by the letter of the rules"), it could use commas, as in "an obvious niche market other than, technically, advanced home programmers,". Without the commas, and using WP's style (no hyphen), the first sense is what readers will understand. Chris the speller yack 15:01, 4 January 2013 (UTC)
Fair enough, though I disagree (especially with the notion our style typically avoids the hyphen; I've had to fight tooth and nail to exclude it in some cases where it certainly doesn't belong IMO). I'll try rewording the sentence to avoid any potential confusion (no matter show slight) on my next pass. Cheers. Chris Cunningham (user:thumperward) (talk) 15:37, 4 January 2013 (UTC)

Barnstar

  The Working Wikipedian's Barnstar
For all of his hyphen-fixing efforts! Bubba73 You talkin' to me? 21:06, 4 January 2013 (UTC)
How do you find so many places where hyphens are needed? Bubba73 You talkin' to me? 21:35, 4 January 2013 (UTC)
Just find a place where there is a useless hyphen. Take it out and put it nearby. See my edit to Smith–Wills Stadium, which had "a 12,000 seat privately-funded arena". Just move the hyphen after the number. Kidding. Sometimes they jump right out, like that. Sometimes I go looking, like "99 year lease" or "a ten year old". Happy editing, and thanks for the barnstar! Chris the speller yack 22:32, 4 January 2013 (UTC)
Do you read tons of articles or do you have some automated process? Bubba73 You talkin' to me? 03:45, 7 January 2013 (UTC)
Most of my damage is inflicted via AutoWikiBrowser, a fiendishly powerful tool that can search for articles to fix, bring them up in edit mode and make programmed changes for my review, and let me approve or adjust things before saving the page. Chris the speller yack 04:54, 7 January 2013 (UTC)
I know AWB can look for specific things that might need a hyphen, such as "ten year", but can it look for more general instances? Bubba73 You talkin' to me? 01:53, 9 January 2013 (UTC)

Major copy editing required

Dear Chris,

An article titled Ordnance Factories Board seriously needs major revamps. Most of the data is in uppercase and not sure about the spellings either. Would you like to help? Thanks in advance. Always appreciated your work. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 59.92.107.133 (talk) 13:30, 7 January 2013 (UTC)
  Done. Chris the speller yack 04:37, 8 January 2013 (UTC)

List of academic journals by preprint policy

Hello. You keep fixing the hyphenation errors at List of academic journals by preprint policy, but they are in direct quotes, so I don't think they should be fixed. Doesn't seem like a [sic] is particularly merited. de Bivort 03:00, 9 January 2013 (UTC)

They sure don't look look quotations (no quotation marks, no "blockquote" HTML), but I have now set up a force field around them to protect them from myself and other editors who might be using powerful tools to adjust hyphenation. Happy editing! Chris the speller yack 04:40, 9 January 2013 (UTC)
I guess the give away is the header "Policy text." Thanks for protecting the bad grammar! de Bivort 05:00, 9 January 2013 (UTC)

Common law

Hello. Please check to be sure you are not adding some mistakes while correcting other as you did in Common law. Also, be careful not to correct the title of references, as they might use hyphens in a way different from whatever standard you are following. Thanks. Enjoy. - Nabla (talk) 22:32, 13 January 2013 (UTC)

I revisited the article; something went wrong with a script I was running. The way it stands now is what I was shooting for, and changing the hyphenation is not what I was attempting. Thanks for the heads-up. Chris the speller yack 22:48, 13 January 2013 (UTC)
Looked like so, yes. Thanks. - Nabla (talk) 23:02, 13 January 2013 (UTC)

A barnstar for you!

  The Copyeditor's Barnstar
Thanks for fixing my ham-handed addition to the spelling correction list! Chase me ladies, I'm the Cavalry (Message me) 10:49, 16 January 2013 (UTC)

AWB, hyphens and images

Just a heads up - this edit broke an image link. Cheers. -- Alan Liefting (talk - contribs) 04:38, 17 January 2013 (UTC)

Thanks. The rule I was running put in an unspaced en dash. I caught that and restored the hyphen, but missed the surrounding spaces. I knew what was going on, but still wasn't smart enough to stay out of trouble! Chris the speller yack 12:00, 17 January 2013 (UTC)

Edit tests on Jellyfish

  Hello, and thank you for your contributions to Wikipedia. I've noticed that you have been adding your signature to some of your edits to articles, such as the edit you made to Jellyfish. This is a common mistake to make and has probably already been corrected. Please do not sign your edits to article content, as the article's edit history serves the function of attributing contributions, so you only need to use your signature to make discussions more readable, such as on article talk pages or project pages such as the Village Pump. If you would like further information about distinguishing types of pages, please see What is an article?. Again, thank you for contributing, and enjoy your Wikipedia experience! This is an automated message from 28bot. False positive? Please report it. 28bot (talk) 01:57, 18 January 2013 (UTC)

Hyphenation edit to Custom Coaster page

Can you please review the edit the AWB keeps making to the Custom Coasters International page? I believe that partially-completed coaster should be hyphenated as partially can serve as both an adverb or adjective and when used with completed is a compound adjective that should e hyphenated per Wikipedia:HYPHEN#Hyphens, sub-subsection 3, point 4. AWB keeps removing the hypen.JlACEer (talk) 16:31, 5 February 2013 (UTC)

No, "partially" is only an adverb, not an adjective. It is a standard "-ly" adverb that is formed by addition of "-ly" to an independent current-English adjective ("partial"). Thus it is exactly what is described by bullet point 4 of the MoS, "A hyphen is not used after a standard -ly adverb". Macmillan.dictionary.com shows "a partially clothed body". Merriam-webster.com shows "The building was partially destroyed". I don't see any potential for further discussion. Chris the speller yack 16:52, 5 February 2013 (UTC)
Thank you for the prompt reply. I will defer to your expertise.JlACEer (talk) 16:59, 5 February 2013 (UTC)

Request

Hi Chris, old friend. Could you take a look at my latest article Carlos Del Castillo and check the spellings and so on? Thanks Tony the Marine (talk) 03:53, 10 February 2013 (UTC)

  Done. As I expected, there was not much to fix. "Program Scientist" could probably be lower-cased if you really want to go by the book (WP:JOBTITLES). It's good to hear from you. Chris the speller yack 05:17, 10 February 2013 (UTC)

Newfound

Hi Chris. I am astonished to find myself disagreeing with you as I usually see you as 100% reliable! However I was a bit unsure about "newfound" in Hoxton. ODWE, my bible, doesn't list it at all but that's not immediately helpful because its omission can either mean that it's so utterly obviously correct that they won't mention it, or that it's so wildly off that it's not worth offering the correction! I had a look at askoxford.com (or wherever it goes nowadays) and it picks it up from their AmE dictionary but not the BrE. New Oxford Spelling Dictionary doesn't have it. I haven't looked at other sources yet... I feel like I am challenging Papal infallibility here or something - but are you sure "newfound" is a real, common, correct BrE thing? I've hyphenated it there for now but am unwilling to go to a fist fight over this! :) With best wishes DBaK (talk) 08:06, 11 February 2013 (UTC)

No fistfight(AmE)/fist-fight(BrE) is necessary. Feel free to change "newfound" (AmE) to "new-found" (BrE) where appropriate. I have been changing the completely wrong, spaced "new found" to remove the space in hundreds of articles (most of them on American comic books and such), and figured that in a few British articles it might result in a ruffled feather or two if I missed it, but it would still be an improvement over the spaced version. You have found one, and I am not surprised. Thanks for the feedback, and happy editing! Chris the speller yack 14:59, 11 February 2013 (UTC)
After more thought, I will set up this AWB run to skip articles that contain a "Use British English" template. That would have avoided this "Hoxton" horror, even if not all British-oriented articles. Chris the speller yack 15:06, 11 February 2013 (UTC)
Thank you very much for the very nice replies and the civili[z/s]ed understanding that they exhibit! I must say that I really like "Hoxton horror" - someone should use it, if they have not already done so. It's a pleasure doing business with you, sir! Cheers DBaK (talk) 16:30, 11 February 2013 (UTC)

List of The Sopranos characters‎‎

Good evening Chris.
I have just followed you to the article, List of The Sopranos characters‎‎ where you correctly changed new found to newfound—although we Brits would prefer new-found—we like our hyphens over here.
I have rewritten the sentence, thus:

"... nevertheless, Tony had recently stepped up his expectations of Bobby, whom he felt was taking their brother-in-law relationship as an excuse not to earn at a competitive level, compared to other members of the family."

Cheers!
 – Gareth Griffith-Jones – The WelshBuzzard – 19:10, 12 February 2013 (UTC)

I don't see anything wrong with that, and you don't need my permission anyway, but I feel honored that you care what I think about it. Chris the speller yack 19:16, 12 February 2013 (UTC)

Wikipedia:VisualEditor

Hey. Would you be able to look at Wikipedia:VisualEditor, please? It looks like it has a few errors. I tried to correct them but my edits were reversed. Thanks! — SomeFreakOnTheInternet (talk) 20:03, 14 February 2013 (UTC)

I came. I saw. I edited. Chris the speller yack 21:08, 14 February 2013 (UTC)
Thanks, Chris. I've made a few further changes. Please tell me if they seem too outrageous. — SomeFreakOnTheInternet (talk) 00:15, 15 February 2013 (UTC)
No, they're only slightly outrageous. Kidding. They look good. I'm embarrassed that I missed the semicolon and comma needed around "however". Chris the speller yack 00:55, 15 February 2013 (UTC)
Thanks very much! — SomeFreakOnTheInternet (talk) 00:58, 15 February 2013 (UTC)



  You have a new message at CsDix's talk page.

A barnstar for you!

  The Copyeditor's Barnstar
Thank you for your corrections to the disastrous PowerGrid Corporation of India article. —rybec 01:10, 28 February 2013 (UTC)

Morval

Thanks for remedying my typo frenzy.;O).Keith-264 (talk) 07:23, 16 March 2013 (UTC)

TRS-80 proposed split

Hi there,

I notice that you recently contributed to the TRS-80 article and wondered if you were interested in adding your opinion to the discussion on the proposed article split. If you have no strong opinion either way, or don't wish to contribute, please feel free to ignore this message. Thank you for your time. Ubcule (talk) 16:08, 17 March 2013 (UTC)

Proposed deletion of Eisenstein (film)

 

The article Eisenstein (film) has been proposed for deletion because of the following concern:

Has no visible verifiable references from reliable sources (only source, IMDB, is not reliable). Does not meet WP:MOVIE or WP:GNG due to that and to prima facie lack of notability.

While all constructive 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. In particular, the speedy deletion process can result in deletion without discussion, and articles for deletion allows discussion to reach consensus for deletion.   — Jeff G. ツ (talk) 14:22, 18 March 2013 (UTC)

Piano Concerto (Delius)

Grateful as always for your laser-eyed spotting of my clangers. I chuckled because I was copy-editing an article written by an editor whose first language is not English. Boy, has he got a dodgy translator! Thank you, Chris! Tim riley (talk) 19:01, 18 March 2013 (UTC)

A barnstar for you!

  The Minor barnstar
To Chris the speller, I award this Minor Edits Barnstar, occasioned by this edit which but symbolizes your many similar minor edits adding up to a major contribution to the Wikipedia. Herostratus (talk) 19:26, 24 March 2013 (UTC)

Harris Beach issues

Hi Chris,

Per your recent suggestion, the Harris Beach article has included more resources and citations. Would you please review it and, if you deem the issue resolved, clear the warning from the page?

Thanks,

Phil Padams73 (talk) 18:44, 1 April 2013 (UTC)

That wasn't my suggestion; it was Mean as custard in October 2012. I only removed a hyphen, and more recently fixed the capitalization. If you think it has sufficient references, go ahead and yank the warning. Chris the speller yack 21:15, 1 April 2013 (UTC)
Great, thanks. Padams73 (talk) 20:51, 2 April 2013 (UTC)

Piulaski Skyway

I wonder if you have time to have a look at Pulaski Skyway as there's been some changes since new sources became available regarding it's history and it's currently undergoing a major rehabilitation. Thanks for your help.Djflem (talk) 04:05, 12 April 2013 (UTC)

Couldn't find anything to fix other than to tweak the format of a couple of page numbers. Chris the speller yack 04:18, 12 April 2013 (UTC)

A cup of coffee for you!

  This is for the spellings you have corrected at Gujarat. Have some Coffee and Thank you Mr. Spell bee!!!!! Vyom25 (talk) 18:05, 20 April 2013 (UTC)

Another cup of coffee!!

Thank you for doing the checking of my first English WP article Jane Seitz. --Wehe (talk) 20:45, 28 April 2013 (UTC)

replaced: Archaologie → Archaeologie

It's German not English. Granted I should have put in the umlauts "Archäologie", but surely you must have noticed you were "correcting" the spelling of a German book title with its English equivalent some time during your edits of 36 different articles?BigEars42 (talk) 15:40, 5 May 2013 (UTC)

I damn well know it is German. In the Ä article, it says 'Ä is frequently replaced with the two-letter combination "Ae".' This is something I have known for decades. My change was an improvement; it replaced incorrect spelling with correct transliteration; I didn't break anything. If you want the umlauts, feel free to pop 'em in there. Chris the speller yack 20:54, 5 May 2013 (UTC)
Done! Let's stick with what the publisher intended (http://www.degruyter.com/view/serial/16013) and not some creative alternative. BigEars42 (talk) 00:18, 6 May 2013 (UTC)

"sovereignist" is not a typo

It is http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sovereignist Walter Görlitz (talk) 03:26, 8 May 2013 (UTC)

AWB calls it a typo; I call it a misspelling. Your suggestion [2] shows the very first use spelled "sovereigntist", not what you expected. If you check [3] there's another one. Wiktionary is not a reliable dictionary; you do know that anybody can edit it, don't you, even second-graders? Try real dictionaries, created by lexicographers: Webster's New World College Dictionary, 4th Ed; Collins English Dictionary; oxforddictionaries.com; they have "sovereigntist". What dictionaries have "sovereignist"? Zippo. The article Quebec sovereignty movement had about 18 occurrences spelled "sovereigntist", and about 15 spelled "sovereignist"; that was a stinking mess, and I cleaned it up. Similar messes were found in dozens of other articles, and I cleaned those up. There were about 200 articles that contained "sovereigntist", and about 100 articles that contained "sovereignist". So much for your claim that "sovereignist" is used predominantly. Please stop reverting my fixes until this is settled. Chris the speller yack 04:55, 8 May 2013 (UTC)
It's not a Canadian dictionary. Please respect the Canadian English variant. Walter Görlitz (talk) 05:12, 8 May 2013 (UTC)
Feel free to take it up on Talk:Quebec sovereignty movement not here. Walter Görlitz (talk) 05:13, 8 May 2013 (UTC)

To answer your question above, I have a Canadian Oxford Dictionary right in front of me and it lists the word at sovereignist. So "zippo" = wrong. I acknowledge that both spellings are used regularly in Canada, but both most certainly do exist and neither one may validly be regarded as a misspelling. Should we pick one spelling and stick with it rather than mixing both within the same article? Absolutely. But it's not appropriate to arbitrarily dictate which spelling should prevail rather than seeking a consensus, because your claim that no dictionary lists the -ist spelling is absolutely wrong. Bearcat (talk) 06:39, 8 May 2013 (UTC)

It was not found in any dictionary that was available to me when I made the changes to the article or when Walter brought this up. Not everybody has a Canadian Oxford Dictionary right in front of them, and those who don't are not obviously brain-damaged, as you seem to feel. Work on your tone. Chris the speller yack 14:01, 8 May 2013 (UTC)
MOS:COMMONALITY opens "Wikipedia tries to find words that are common to all varieties of English". So, if one spelling variant in Canadian English, is common to other types of English, and the other variant in CE is not, the common variant is the one that should be used. This is not an arbitrary decision, nor one that requires consensus, it is the very first subsection of the much misquoted MOS:ENGVAR - Arjayay (talk) 08:08, 8 May 2013 (UTC)
Please keep the discussion on Talk:Quebec sovereignty movement, as requested above. Chris the speller yack 14:02, 8 May 2013 (UTC)

Shilluk Kingdom

Thank you for your corrections on the Shilluk Kingdom page back in April. I would like to remove the article's copy-edit tag now and wanted to get some consensus. Do you think now is the right time to do so? -- Secondat of Orange (talk) 20:47, 16 May 2013 (UTC)

You don't need consensus to remove a copy edit tag, just good intentions and reasonably sound judgment, and I think you have that. It didn't look bad to me, though I gave it just a glance. The worst that could happen is that some editor might think it still needs work; the tag could then be replaced, or that editor could clean up the article. At any rate, you shouldn't feel guilty. Happy editing! Chris the speller yack 02:07, 17 May 2013 (UTC)

A very large THANK YOU

Chris the speller- I have already thanked you over at Wikipedia talk:AutoWikiBrowser but I wanted to thank you personally for the regular expression rules you posted there for me. They worked perfectly exactly as I needed. THANK YOU. Rejectwater (talk) 11:01, 19 May 2013 (UTC)

Barnstar

  The Copyeditor's Barnstar
For spelling and punctuation corrections. Bubba73 You talkin' to me? 05:07, 25 May 2013 (UTC)

John Hamilton (air force pilot)

While I agree that this individual is non-notable, I should point out that during the war it was possible for pilots not to be officers. Many pilots didn't hold commissions. -- Necrothesp (talk) 13:55, 28 May 2013 (UTC)

Thanks for straightening that out. Chris the speller yack 13:58, 28 May 2013 (UTC)

Invitation to a Wicnic in Gainesville on Saturday, June 22nd

Greetings!

Seeing that you've edited the article on Gainesville on Wikipedia, I'm inviting to the North Central Florida 2013 Great American Wiknic that will be on Saturday June 22, 2013, commencing at 1:00 pm, ten blocks north of UF campus in Gainesville,.

If you're able and inclined to come, please RSVP at at this URL.

Type to you later, Vincent J. Lipsio (talk) 20:21, 1 June 2013 (UTC)

Non-commissioned pilots

I have deleted John Hamilton (air force pilot) per your PROD, but FYI though not notable I don't think it was a hoax: in WW II not all service pilots were commissioned officers, see Sergeant Pilot. Nor were non-commissioned pilots confined to unimportant or second-line roles - three of the Dam Buster Lancaster pilots were Flight Sergeants: Brown, Townsend, Anderson. Regards, JohnCD (talk) 21:24, 2 June 2013 (UTC)

Thanks for the info, which backs up what Necrothesp stated above (two sections back). Chris the speller yack 22:01, 2 June 2013 (UTC)

Gwennan Gorn

Can you look over this article I recently created for spelling and copyediting. Thanks.--Doug Coldwell (talk) 10:37, 4 June 2013 (UTC)

  Done. You might want to see what's up with the redirect at Gwennan gorn. Chris the speller yack 00:44, 5 June 2013 (UTC)

AWB Settings File

Where may it be accessed so I do not have to begin from scratch on new machines? BTW I run AWB on a Windows 7. Thanks much, GotR Talk 04:44, 16 June 2013 (UTC)

(talk page stalker) It's at C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Local\AutoWikiBrowser\Default.xml. Alternatively, within AWB you can use "File > Save settings as..." and "File > Open settings..." to choose your own location for the settings file. Sorry for butting in, Chris, but I started to answer the question before I realised this wasn't the AWB talk page -- John of Reading (talk) 07:05, 16 June 2013 (UTC)
Infinite thanks! GotR Talk 17:17, 16 June 2013 (UTC)

Denis Cheryshev - Reply

Hi there CHRIS, AL from Portugal here,

i apologize for my edit and my somewhat evasive summary. Sorry for the inconvenience --AL (talk) 01:34, 18 June 2013 (UTC)

Cool. Happy editing! Chris the speller yack 01:39, 18 June 2013 (UTC)

Activated debates

Hi Chris. I invite you to feedback on my views in Talk:List of names in English with counterintuitive pronunciations, I'm encouraging all involved since January to do so. Adam37 (talk) 10:31, 21 June 2013 (UTC)

PROTEST

On this Wikipedia hard to offend some people and their national languages​​, ignoring the facts and international documents. The fact that the Serbian and Croatian two different standard languages, here it does not matter how big the difference is, it deals with linguistics. Why did you lie about that?

What are these languages: http://hr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pomo%C4%87:Sadr%C5%BEaj http://sr.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9F%D0%BE%D0%BC%D0%BE%D1%9B:%D0%A1%D0%B0%D0%B4%D1%80%D0%B6%D0%B0%D1%98

See official international documents:

  1. https://www.ethnologue.com/subgroups/indo-european
  2. http://www.loc.gov/standards/iso639-2/php/code_changes.php
  3. http://euobserver.com/news/31343
  4. http://hrv.nsk.hr/dokumenti/Sluzbeno-prihvacanje-izmjena-ISO-639-2-Registration-Authority.pdf
  5. http://www.danshort.com/ie/iesatem.htm — Preceding unsigned comment added by 109.227.18.219 (talk) 16:55, 24 June 2013 (UTC)
You appear to be confused. Please help clarify what it is you think I did wrong by pointing to the edit in question, or at least identify the article that you are concerned about. Chris the speller yack 19:43, 24 June 2013 (UTC)

infeasible v. unfeasible

I'd like your opinion. I had always seen "infeasible", but, by chance, I've now seen two editors change "infeasible" to "unfeasible" in articles in my watchlist. Dictionaries seem to say both are used, but with different opinions as to which is preferred. Do you think this falls under WP:ENGVAR? — Arthur Rubin (talk) 01:40, 26 June 2013 (UTC)

This is a borderline ENGVAR case. US slightly prefers "infeasible", Britain slightly prefers "unfeasible", but most dictionaries on both sides of the pond show both. I would reluctantly allow changing "in-" to "un-" in case of strong national ties, or if the article has a mishmash of the two spellings. If it appears that the change was made just for personal comfort, you would be right to tap the editor on the shoulder, I think. Chris the speller yack 02:03, 26 June 2013 (UTC)

GA

Hi Chris, if it's not too much to ask for, maybe you could look over Viktor Kosenko and see if you find something outta place there please. It's just a minute. We're trying to take that to GA status this week. Thanks ! Krenakarore TK 08:21, 2 July 2013 (UTC)

  Done. But the section "Influences ..." seems to be largely a rehash/condensation of material presented earlier. That section needs to be redone and greatly reduced. Chris the speller yack 14:01, 2 July 2013 (UTC)
Yes, it will be... thanks for everything, once more ! Krenakarore TK 14:35, 2 July 2013 (UTC)

Benjamin Britten

Hello, Chris! May I presume on your kindness and ask you to give the Britten article the once-over? I have him up for FA (with his centenary in November in prospect) and it would be a comfort to have your unwinking editorial eye run over my prose, if you have time and inclination. Tim riley (talk) 21:30, 14 July 2013 (UTC)

  Done. I could only find a little punctuation to tweak. It's pretty clean. Congrats. Chris the speller yack 04:04, 15 July 2013 (UTC)
Gosh! I feel rather proud. Thank you very much for your attentions, Chris. No good deed goes unpunished, and I shall no doubt be knocking at your door again. Best wishes, Tim riley (talk) 08:16, 15 July 2013 (UTC)

Port of Paulsboro

Wonder if you'd mind having a look at Port of Paulsboro. Kind of longish and probably could use some tidying if you have time. Much appreciated. Djflem (talk) 07:33, 28 July 2013 (UTC)

  Done. Just a comma and hyphen were needed. Chris the speller yack 17:54, 28 July 2013 (UTC)
And a typo. OK, now I'm really done. Chris the speller yack 17:59, 28 July 2013 (UTC)

Possible Vandalization of Kulothunga Chola III by sock-puppets

Hi Chris, this is N.Srinivasan (wiki i.d. srirangam99). I am a relative newbie to Wiki. If you see the talk page and history of the article Kulothunga Chola III, with the help of authentic sources, I had helped formation of that article. During the process of building up that article a senior editor User: Akerans helped me a lot in appropriately para-phrasing the article and in use of appropriate encyclopedic language, as would be evident from the talk page of this article. Some sock-puppets with just an IP address as their i.ds. and one Mayasandra have repeatedly vandalized that and some other articles to which I contributed material. Despite my telling them to first discuss their objections before resorting to any change, these guys did not bother to reply. Just a day or so back, I restored the article to its original shape. As a senior editor, I request you to kindly keep a watch over it and call upon anyone desiring to change the article to first discuss with reliable sources and then proceed. Looking forward to your guidance and protection of this article. Thank you in advance. You can reply to me on my talk page.Srirangam99 (talk) 11:59, 6 August 2013 (UTC)

I replied on Srirangam99's talk page. Chris the speller yack 23:52, 6 August 2013 (UTC)
Hello Sir, actually users like Mayasandra and another user having just an I.P. address as his i.d. undid my edits and completely changed a para where I had written about Kulothunga's victory over another king (entirely basing my edits on a reliable source, i.e. a book by renowned Indian historian K.A.Nilakanta Sastri. This they did without first resorting to any discussion (neither did they to go to wiki disputes, as you advised me, nor did they base their edit change or revert of my contribution on any reliable source/book by renowned author or neutral source. So I had (first) no other option but to undo what they did and I restored the article back to where it stood after my edit (which itself was construction of the article with absolute and thorough guidance from a wiki senior User: Akerans, whose comments on my talk page and mine on his talk page exist even today (so as to make things clearer to you. I apologize, that in the process I inadvertently (and not with any malafide or prejudice) reverted edits and contributions from other editors like Lugnus and Tamilyomen. I assure you that my intention was only to revert the unauthorized changes made(without any discussion) on 10th December 2012 by Mayasandra and the user with IP address as his i.d., namely 129.42.208.174. Kindly see three more articles (not that I want any help on those, but for your own information) namely Veera Ballala II, Satyasraya and Vikramaditya VI, in which my edits were reverted by these two persons where I had to seek the help of another senior wiki editor for protecting those articles. These i.ds (I call them sock puppets because they simply barge into articles and resort to unauthorized reversion without bothering to reply to messages by senior wiki admins.) had been warned on their talk page and finally even barred before those articles were restored and secured with a padlock. Beyond this, I wholeheartedly and sincerely apologize for any mistake committed by me. Can I seek your help in restoring the additions to the article Kulothunga Chola III by other editors like Lugnus and Tamilyomen?? Thank you very much in advance, Sir.Srirangam99 (talk) 09:25, 7 August 2013 (UTC)
Hi Sir, I have made some attempts to restore changes to the article made by Lugnuts and Tamilyomen. This is for your information.Srirangam99 (talk) 12:00, 7 August 2013 (UTC)

Damon Matthew Wise

Do you mind looking over Damon Matthew Wise? It does need a lot of work, but I was just wondering if you can give it a quick look. --AshFR (talk) 02:34, 23 August 2013 (UTC)

  Done. Chris the speller yack 04:56, 23 August 2013 (UTC)

Great North of Scotland Railway

I peer reviewed this article, which is now up at FAC, and suggested then that it could benefit from a once-over by Chris the speller. Some might think my sticking my oar in is ultra vires, but I think the page would benefit if you were to look in. Best wishes. Tim riley (talk) 15:01, 3 September 2013 (UTC)

  Done. Just a few hyphens and such. Chris the speller yack 04:33, 6 September 2013 (UTC)
Much obliged, sir. (And don't imagine I failed to notice your kind attentions at Benjamin Disraeli, too.) Tim riley (talk) 10:55, 7 September 2013 (UTC)

Honourary

Stop changing the valid Canadian spelling. If you check the Canadian National Exhibition website, for example, you will see that is what the use. Secondarywaltz (talk) 14:32, 18 September 2013 (UTC)

(talk page stalker) I think the main discussion on this point is at User talk:Mogism#Honourary to Honorary. -- John of Reading (talk) 14:40, 18 September 2013 (UTC)
  • On this topic, I reverted your changing of honourary to honorary on the Royal Canadian Sea Cadets article, but then changed it back. Checking the relevant QR&Os shows the spelling to be honorary. I apologize for the notification you would have got over it! Ajraddatz (Talk) 17:06, 21 September 2013 (UTC)
We're cool! Chris the speller yack 17:10, 21 September 2013 (UTC)

Opting in to VisualEditor

As you may know, VisualEditor ("Edit beta") is currently available on the English Wikipedia only for registered editors who choose to enable it. Since you have made 100 or more edits with VisualEditor this year, I want to make sure that you know that you can enable VisualEditor (if you haven't already done so) by going to your preferences and choosing the item, "MediaWiki:Visualeditor-preference-enable". This will give you the option of using VisualEditor on articles and userpages when you want to, and give you the opportunity to spot changes in the interface and suggest improvements. We value your feedback, whether positive or negative, about using VisualEditor, at Wikipedia:VisualEditor/Feedback. Thank you, Whatamidoing (WMF) (talk) 18:20, 11 October 2013 (UTC)

Hyphen corrections

 
WikiThanks

Thank you for the punctuation monitoring, as I have since learned not to do this! Soulparadox.

I myself am surprised at your eliminating hyphens in phrases such as newly-X. I'm curious on what this is based, a consensus or some grammatical rule? Daniel the Monk (talk) 06:35, 8 August 2013 (UTC)
That is presumably a reference to the same type of change that he (Chris the speller) made to the Forensic entomology and the law article, in which he changed “More often than not, this form merely repeats previously-recorded observations” to “More often than not, this form merely repeats previously recorded observations”. I’d have thought that the former was correct.TheTruth-2009 (talk) 14:15, 13 October 2013 (UTC)
The reason is spelled out in the edit summary: "per WP:HYPHEN, sub-subsection 3, points 3,4,5,". If you take a few seconds to read those points, you will see that Wikipedia's Manual of Style says "A hyphen is not used after a standard -ly adverb (a newly available home, a wholly owned subsidiary)". If you search the internet for "hyphen adverb ly" you'll see that a whole lot of style guides drop the hyphen in these cases; it's not just Wikipedia, and it's not just me. Using the hyphen in these cases might seem correct to you if you spend most of your time reading 19th-century texts. Chris the speller yack 14:31, 13 October 2013 (UTC)

Check this out

My friend, I want to share this with you: https://blog.wikimedia.org/2013/10/30/profile-tony-the-marine/ Not bad, right? Tony the Marine (talk) 18:58, 31 October 2013 (UTC)

Thanks, Tony. I enjoyed reading it, and the praise is well deserved. Chris the speller yack 01:25, 1 November 2013 (UTC)

Thanks much

Thank you for your help at Fuck (film), much appreciated, — Cirt (talk) 06:16, 20 November 2013 (UTC)

Disambiguation link fixing one-day contest

I have decided to put on a mini-contest within the November 2013 monthly disambiguation contest, on Saturday, November 23 (UTC). I will personally give a $20 Amazon.com gift card to the disambiguator who fixes the most links on that server-day (see the project page for details on scoring points). Since we are not geared up to do an automated count for that day, at 00:00, 23 November 2013 (UTC) (which is 7:00 PM on November 22, EST), I'll take a screenshot of the project page leaderboard. I will presume that anyone who is not already listed on the leaderboard has precisely nine edits. At 01:00, 24 November 2013 (UTC) (8:00 PM on November 23, EST), I'll take a screenshot of the leaderboard at that time (the extra hour is to give the board time to update), and I will determine from that who our winner is. I will credit links fixed by turning a WP:DABCONCEPT page into an article, but you'll have to let me know me that you did so. Here's to a fun contest. Note that according to the Daily Disambig, we currently have under 256,000 disambiguation links to be fixed. If everyone in the disambiguation link fixers category were to fix 500 links, we would have them all done - so aim high! Cheers! bd2412 T 02:08, 18 November 2013 (UTC)

Baker v. Vermont

You recently made changes to spelling in quotations. 2600:1000:B009:8906:7D0F:4A20:648B:9526 (talk) 21:31, 24 November 2013 (UTC)

Actually, no. I changed the hyphenation to match Wikipedia's style. And WP:QUOTE says "any alterations must be clearly marked ... Exceptions are trivial spelling or typographical errors that obviously do not affect the intended meaning". This is clearly such a case. Chris the speller yack 23:07, 24 November 2013 (UTC)

SpaceX reusable rocket launching system

Hi Chris. I wonder if you would take a look at SpaceX reusable rocket launching system with one of your tools to look for any British-English spellings in the article. I recently solicited, and received, a B class review on that article and one of the review comments, from a very spaceflight-savvy editor who happens to be British, was that the article has a few of these, but should not since it is an American engvar article. See the Talk page for his comment. In any event, I looked around and they weren't immediately apparent to me, and I could not seem to locate a wikispellchecker tool that would do it for me. Thanks for considering this request. Cheers. N2e (talk) 14:44, 25 November 2013 (UTC)

  Done. There is a parameter (sp=us) that has to be added to the "Convert" template to output "meters" and "kilometers" instead of the British spelling. Chris the speller yack 15:08, 25 November 2013 (UTC)
Thanks! N2e (talk) 16:25, 25 November 2013 (UTC)

A kitten for you!

 

KiTTEN

the artist formerly known as eric pickles (talk) 11:51, 4 December 2013 (UTC)

pages= vs. page=

Chris: just to let you know, the edit you did at Hockey stick controversy with AWB, changing "pages=" with a single page number to "page=", wasn't quite the right thing. The real problem is that only the initial page of a page range was included. Your edit not a big problem (as "page=" and "pages=" are synonyms), and perhaps even useful if it attracts some corrective attention. But it did look, well, a little silly. ~ J. Johnson (JJ) (talk) 22:24, 5 December 2013 (UTC)

I am not sure how I would be expected to know that end of a page range was missing. I fix dozens of these every day in various cite templates, and in most cases it does make a difference, rendering as "pp. 758", which should be "p. 758". I don't feel silly. Chris the speller yack 23:20, 5 December 2013 (UTC)
I didn't say you looked silly! It was just having a single page number for what I recognized as multipage articles. Other than that I don't know, either, how anyone could know it was a page range without checking. If you know any programmers with copious free time perhaps they could write a bot?  :-) ~ J. Johnson (JJ) (talk) 23:06, 6 December 2013 (UTC)

Sports in Newark

Recently put up Sports in Newark, New Jersey and wonder if have time to have a look. Appreciated.... Djflem (talk) 07:35, 20 December 2013 (UTC)

  Done. Some light cleanup. Chris the speller yack 15:01, 20 December 2013 (UTC)

Glad Tidings and all that ...

  FWiW Bzuk (talk) 20:11, 26 December 2013 (UTC)

Vandalism in the Kulothunga Chola III article

Hi Chris, I was away for two months owing to my dad's sickness and surgery. As I returned and accessed wiki pages, I observed that a user using only an IP address as his i.d. namely 129.42.208.183 who seems to have the agenda of imposing his POV that too without discussion tried to vandalize the article which I have reversed. You may like to watch the page and protect it if possible. Thanks. Srirangam99 (talk) 07:42, 27 December 2013 (UTC)

John Wayne Gacy

Hi, Chris the speller. I hope you can forgive my contacting you out of the blue like this, but I thought I would search for you to ask your help with the below query:

On the John Wayne Gacy article, there is a sentence in the lede which reads: 'All of Gacy's known murders were committed inside his Norwood Park Township home; his victims would typically be lured to this address by force or deception and all but one victim were murdered by either asphyxiation or strangulation with a tourniquet (his first victim was stabbed to death).'

Basically, my query is with the structure of the part of the overall sentence which reads 'and all but one victim were murdered by either asphyxiation or strangulation'. If you look at the recent edit history on the article, you'll see I cannot determine for myself whether it should read 'and all but one victim were murdered by either asphyxiation or strangulation' or 'and all but one victim was murdered by either asphyxiation or strangulation' given the focus within this section of the sentence as to individual victims and collective victims. My last edit was reverted via a Twinkle edit (which is of course reasonable and understandable to me), but for the life of me I cannot determine which is more grammatically correct.

Thank you.--Kieronoldham (talk) 15:24, 27 December 2013 (UTC)

@Kieronoldham: "All were murdered" or "All victims were murdered" or "All victims but one were murdered" or "All but one victim were murdered" – in all four examples, "All" is the subject, and it requires a plural predicate ("were murdered"). "Victim" is not the subject in any of these examples, but if you only look at part of the last example, "one victim were murdered", it starts to look like it is, and that's what is giving you the willies. Try rearranging to the third example instead, and I think you'll feel better soon. Happy editing! Chris the speller yack 15:36, 27 December 2013 (UTC)
Thanks for your reply and your explanation; you have clarified the issue perfectly to me. :)

I have been an active contributor to the article in question for three or four years and on at least two earlier occasions, the overall structure of this sentence had led to disputes between editors over the inclusion of which of these two words. I think that in order to avoid a repetition of this dispute, the structure of this sentence does need adjusting somewhat. I will get around to resolving this issue soon.

Thanks again. All the best for 2014.--Kieronoldham (talk) 10:24, 28 December 2013 (UTC)

Please consider taking barbituates

Hello. Could you please consider taking barbituates? —BarrelProof (talk) 17:09, 7 December 2013 (UTC)

Is that a roundabout way of asking for an AWB Typo rule to fix that misspelling? Chris the speller yack 18:37, 7 December 2013 (UTC)
Yes, of course. Barbituate has about 50 incoming links, and Barbituates has about 10. As far as I can tell, this is a misspelling rather than an accepted alternative spelling. It seems likely that there are many more instances of these strings outside of links. —BarrelProof (talk) 20:45, 7 December 2013 (UTC)
I just did a bit of searching. There actually doesn't seem to be a huge number of these – fewer than 20 come up in a basic search. Perhaps I can just deal with them myself by hand – I just thought it might be worth bringing this to your attention. It may be that this misspelling is less common than I thought. —BarrelProof (talk) 20:52, 7 December 2013 (UTC)
At this point, I think I've fixed most of them. Several of them were due to a template. I'll try to recheck after waiting for the database indexer to get updated. —BarrelProof (talk) 21:46, 7 December 2013 (UTC)
It took a while for the database index to get refreshed. All of them (in article space) now seem to have been fixed (except possibly one, which is a title of an article or character in Mad Magazine as stated in the Conan (comics) article, and I didn't correct it because I don't know whether the magazine article actually uses the misspelling or not). —BarrelProof (talk) 21:51, 1 January 2014 (UTC)

Greetings

  Happy New Year, 2014
Thanks for your help throughout the year! Many more Happy Collaborations! Amandajm (talk) 05:53, 2 January 2014 (UTC)

The Epiphany window from St Andrew's Cathedral, Sydney, John Hardman and Co. of Birmingham, 1860s

Moving Siege of Middelburg (1572–1574)

Chris, your overnight move of this article from the hyphenated date format to the above version with an en dash had me wondering: why correct for WP:DASH but not for WP:YEAR? According to the latter, A closing CE or AD year is normally written with two digits (1881–86) unless it is in a different century from that of the opening year, in which case the full closing year is given (1881–1986). For clarity, years with fewer than four digits may be written in full (355–372). Therefore, it seems to me that the new title, per MOS, should have been "Siege of Middelburg (1572–74)".

While the date range for the article seems clear, it appears that there are some exceptions to WP:YEAR—the birth and death date ranges are not supposed to be shortened per WP:DATERANGE, and my assumption is that WP:YEAR changes should not be made to the proper title of a referenced book, since the title would no longer be accurate. BlueMoonset (talk) 15:01, 2 January 2014 (UTC)

@BlueMoonset: I have brought this up on WT:WikiProject Military history to see if that project has its own take on this issue; let's see if anyone clarifies this in the next day or two. As for your last point, I agree that changes should not be made to the proper title of a referenced book; I don't change the digits, but I usually change hyphens to en dashes even there, since it is a typographical change. WP:QUOTE says "Exceptions are trivial spelling or typographical errors that obviously do not affect the intended meaning; these may be silently corrected".
Thanks, Chris. Changing hyphens to en dashes on book titles with dates in them is pretty typical in references in my experience. It'll be interesting to see what the wikiproject says about the year date ranges. At the moment, the siege article is awaiting a good article reviewer; if it gets moved again before the review starts, it's not a problem, but if the review has already begun by the time a move is made there will also need to be a manual move of the review page. I'll keep my eye on it. BlueMoonset (talk) 00:06, 3 January 2014 (UTC)

A gong

  The St Michael's and All Angels' Gong
For contributions to articles about architecture! Amandajm (talk) 08:06, 5 January 2014 (UTC)

Care.com article

Hello Chris the speller,

As you recently made some modifications to this page, I'm hoping you can help me. I am trying to add three things to the Care.com infobox: a screenshot of the homepage, the launch date for the page (May 2007), and the company slogan ("There for you"). I added them to the infobox in the Edit mode; however, they are not appearing in Read mode. Can you please let me know what I'm doing wrong?

Thank you!Braedon Farr (talk) 19:39, 6 January 2014 (UTC)

@Braedon Farr: I'm no expert on templates, but if you view the article's revision history, the editor who came along after you nailed it in his edit summary: you can only use parameters that the template supports, and those are listed in the template documentation. Happy editing! Chris the speller yack 01:21, 7 January 2014 (UTC)

Hey Amigo

Happy New Year to you too. I really haven't been doing much in Wiki because of my health. The doctors have me on a "life Vest" because according to them I have only 10% of my heart working. You have always been a good Wiki friend to me. 05:11, 7 January 2014 (UTC)

John Church Company Building

My style guide does not use a period after et al — your use of automation takes this page away from the citation prescribed by the style guide that I'm using. American English commonly uses hyphens in this situation; this is not a mistake. You are not correcting anything, and it would be helpful if you would adjust your AWB code so that it does not make changes that require the discretion of a human mind. Nyttend (talk) 18:06, 8 January 2014 (UTC)

I responded on your talk page; my talk page is not a good venue for overturning a consensus that was reached at WP:AWB\T. Chris the speller yack 18:33, 8 January 2014 (UTC)

Hugh Walpole

Greetings, Chris! I grow more and more shameless in knocking at your door: if you have time and disposition to look in at this article (currently up for FAC) I shall be once more in your debt. Quite understand if not, of course. Tim riley (talk) 21:40, 9 January 2014 (UTC)

  Done. Chris the speller yack 02:44, 10 January 2014 (UTC)
Most grateful, as ever. Thank you very much. Tim riley (talk) 10:07, 10 January 2014 (UTC)

James Bryce, 1st Viscount Bryce

Dear Chris Could you please check spelling and references for page James Bryce, 1st Viscount Bryce. Thanks so much mike

  Done. Chris the speller yack 05:30, 12 January 2014 (UTC)

Thanks Chris Could you please check references and spelling for page - "Liberal Government UK 1905 -1915" and also, again, "James Bryce 1st Viscount Bryce" I had to alter the reference - have I done it correctly? Cheers and thanks M Reed

  Done. I could find no problem with Liberal Government 1905–15. It hasn't been changed in months. Chris the speller yack 15:13, 12 January 2014 (UTC)

Ralph Richardson

You are ahead of me. There would have been a knock on your door soon, and many thanks for getting in first. Grateful as always for your eagle-eyed ministrations. Tim riley (talk) 16:22, 27 January 2014 (UTC)

Vandalism at Sycophant

See this discussion about the repeated deletion, without discussion, of an article you have edited. Talk:Sycophant Banks Irk (talk) 16:48, 28 January 2014 (UTC)

I fixed two hyphens and a misspelling nearly a year ago. That seems to fall far short of having a vested interest in the article. Chris the speller yack 16:58, 28 January 2014 (UTC)
There is now a discussion at AFD Wikipedia:Articles_for_deletion/Sycophant Banks Irk (talk) 17:54, 28 January 2014 (UTC)

Mass Transit Super Bowl

Wonder if you'd have a look. Was a bit of rush job, and think there's likely some stuff that could use your sharp eye. Much appreciation. Djflem (talk) 20:53, 29 January 2014 (UTC)

  Done. Chris the speller yack 23:11, 29 January 2014 (UTC)

Everyone who works hard deserves thanks

I would give you a Barnstar, but you already have at least one of the most important was. So I will simply ask that you continue devoting some of your free time to the site and don't ever forget about Wikipedia...the site needs people like you! MezzoMezzo (talk) 06:53, 10 February 2014 (UTC)

Word World

Greetings and thanks again for blamming my typos. Are you using a specialist tool, because I've tried copying pages into open office and using the spell checker to spot typos (Spelling mistakes? Perish the thought.) but not had much success, because there are so many foreign spellings and wiki artifacts to plough through (Neuville St. Vaast turned into "Neville"). ThanksKeith-264 (talk) 20:04, 12 February 2014 (UTC)

@Keith-264: I was primarily using AutoWikiBrowser with my own "Find & Replace" rules to fix "Word War I", "Second Word War", etc. This is the best and quickest way to fix an error that occurs in dozens or hundreds of articles. For a single article, probably the best help is the Firefox browser, which highlights errors by underlining them in red. You can add dictionaries for other national varieties of English and switch between them, and you can right-click a word to add it to your personal dictionary. Of course, these don't find or fix "Word War I"; those have to be dug up and examined. You can't automatically change "word war" because there are cases where "Fred and Mike had a word war", meaning a shouting match. Hope this helps. Chris the speller yack 22:12, 12 February 2014 (UTC)
I have Seamonkey but the speller works on that too, thanks for the suggestion.Keith-264 (talk) 15:50, 13 February 2014 (UTC)

Thank you

Thank you very much for your recent work on 33rd Regiment Alabama Infantry. I deeply appreciate your help. Cheers! - Ecjmartin (talk) 17:51, 28 March 2014 (UTC)

Dear speller, Thanks for your work Could you please check the refs. for the "Lupton family" page Thanks so much Mike

Sorry, I'm not the best editor to help with refs, more of a spelling/grammar/punctuation/formatting guy. Chris the speller yack 03:41, 29 March 2014 (UTC)

Dear Chris, Could you please check the grammar I mad an ammendment and I hope it is OK in the Darnton section of the lupton family page

I added a comma, and the rest looked OK. Chris the speller yack 13:28, 29 March 2014 (UTC)

Thanks: Counterculture 1960s

Thanks so much for your help! Learner001 (talk) 19:35, 25 April 2014 (UTC)

Hyphens

I suggest that this edit comes under point 2 of Hyphens#3 ("little-celebrated paintings" etc). "Classically" can be used to mean something akin to "Stereotypically", and this sentence, without the hyphen, reads as if it is an inspired building, a stereotypically inspired building, rather than a building inspired by classical influences. Might be worth leaving "Classically" out of your project, or pausing to re-word each example rather than creating ambiguity by removing the hyphen? PamD 17:20, 21 May 2014 (UTC)

I appreciate your concern for proper hyphenation, but "classically inspired" and "classically-inspired" mean exactly the same thing, except that the latter is mispunctuated. Of course there is a huge difference between "little celebrated paintings" and "little-celebrated paintings", where the hyphen shows that "little" is an adverb that modifies "celebrated", and not an adjective that modifies "paintings". This is not the case with "classically inspired Georgian architectural forms", because "classically", being a standard "-ly" adverb, always modifies what immediately follows. Adding a hyphen conveys the same meaning, tipping off the reader that it is a compound modifier, but readers of English are expected to know that "classically inspired" is a compound modifier because of the "-ly" ending. We don't need to "dumb down" the language for imagined readers who lack that skill. Redundancy is not a virtue, unnecessary hyphenation is hyphenation that should be removed, and it is Wikipedia's style not to hyphenate in this case, according to bullet point 4. Feel free to change "classically inspired Georgian architectural forms" to "Georgian architectural forms that are inspired by the classics" or something similar, but the rewording is an entirely separate matter from fixing the punctuation. Happy editing! Chris the speller yack 22:12, 21 May 2014 (UTC)
@PamD: Also, a search of the web for authoritative sources suggesting that "classically inspired" means something different when hyphenated came up empty. Chris the speller yack 15:38, 22 May 2014 (UTC)

The Minor Barnstar

  The Minor Barnstar
For correcting very many minor syntax and spelling errors. B14709 (talk) 23:50, 3 June 2014 (UTC)

Copyedit on Megadeth

Hi Chris. Thanks for correcting the spelling mistakes on Megadeth. I was wondering if you're available to do a round of copyediting to the article? It recently failed FAC because it was insufficiently prepared, so your help will be welcomed. Have a nice day.--Вик Ретлхед (talk) 15:36, 5 June 2014 (UTC)

  Done. I only found one misspelling; everything else looks acceptable. Chris the speller yack 01:07, 6 June 2014 (UTC)

"The non-word 'leafily'"

wikt:leafily

A non-word defined in Wiktionary, apparently. Chiswick Chap (talk) 07:59, 21 June 2014 (UTC)

@Chiswick Chap: You are aware that Wiktionary, far from being an authority on the language, is a place where a 6-year-old kid can add anything he makes up, right? No other dictionary has "leafily", and that should give you pause. The word appears in Wikipedia only in two articles about camouflage; it's pretty much understandable, but awkward, and it can be easily avoided. Chris the speller yack 13:23, 21 June 2014 (UTC)
Yes, that's true. Interesting that you've searched the whole encyclopedia for the term... we are in danger of trying too hard on this trivial matter. I imagine that your point is that 'leafily' is rather too flowery as language and thus unencyclopedic, with which I'd agree.

I do note, however, that "leafily camouflaged" (without the hyphen) looks and sounds extremely awkward to my eyes and ears as a native speaker of English; I imagine it did so to you as well, which may perhaps explain why you felt like replacing it with the current circumlocution. In general I'm in favour of avoiding circum-whatevers, and of following native feelings about language beyond the dictionary (I note that all guides to spelling and punctuation ultimately rely on actual practice, i.e. what people - native speakers - commonly write). In this case you are right, the use of short simple words, even using many where I'd habitually use one, is probably best. Chiswick Chap (talk) 13:32, 21 June 2014 (UTC)

Cool. Chris the speller yack 13:37, 21 June 2014 (UTC)

Muslim conquests

Hey, Chris, I was wondering whether you could possibly offer your input on the recent changes - and reverts of those changes - on the Muslim conquests article. If possible, I would also much appreciate it if you might also offer some advice concerning an escalating dispute involving myself and another editor. Thank you very much for your time. Torontas (talk) 22:46, 26 June 2014 (UTC)

I'm better at spelling and punctuation than I am at dispute resolution and that aspect of history. The differences should be discussed and resolved on the article's talk page. You should take part in that discussion, not drag innocent bystanders into it. Chris the speller yack 03:11, 27 June 2014 (UTC)

Soliciting comment...

Hi! Would you care to review my FA nomination for the article Of Human Feelings? The article is about a jazz album by Ornette Coleman, and the criteria for FA articles is at WP:FACR. If not, feel free to ignore this message. Cheers! Dan56 (talk) 10:02, 6 July 2014 (UTC)

  Done. I didn't find any need for correction. Chris the speller yack 14:50, 6 July 2014 (UTC)

Beware of the hyphen

May I beg advice? I have (in a sandbox) just written, "The Prix brought a well subsidised three year period of study..." And the question before me is how many hyphens to put in. I want to hyphenate "well subsidised" and "three year": would I be right? Grateful for your wisdom, as always. Best wishes. (PS. Is there really no reciprocal help I can ever offer in return for your numerous kindnesses?) Tim riley talk 14:10, 22 July 2014 (UTC)

Right, the two hyphens are required for the two compound modifiers. You don't need to reciprocate the help; just keep telling me I'm wise and kind. Happy editing! Chris the speller yack 15:21, 22 July 2014 (UTC)

I will, because you are! Thank you, as ever, Tim riley talk 15:22, 22 July 2014 (UTC)

Born -> Borne

Thanks. As you have noticed, that is a bland spot of mine. Regards, Acad Ronin (talk) 14:07, 21 July 2014 (UTC)

1) In the above read blind, not bland. :-) 2) Thanks for the clarification re born and borne. Makes me feel better. I don't have a dog in the fight, but suspect that you are in an uphill battle, to mix metaphors. Acad Ronin (talk) 23:20, 22 July 2014 (UTC)

Oh, no – not him again!

I fear so! May I presume on your kindness and eagle eye to give Jules Massenet the once-over? I have him up for PR, with a view to FAC, and your expert touch would help give him a fair wind. Tim riley talk 17:18, 6 August 2014 (UTC)

Yet again, thank you, sir! ("Wordly wise", forsooth!) Tim riley talk 18:06, 8 August 2014 (UTC)

Copy-edit request

Hi Chris, I was wondering if I might bother you with a request for a copy-edit of Hans Aasnæs? It seems to need work before the article can qualify as B-class. Could you find the time to have a look? Cheers. Manxruler (talk) 10:47, 11 August 2014 (UTC)

  Done. Chris the speller yack 17:02, 11 August 2014 (UTC)
  • Thanks. As always, it is highly appreciated. Manxruler (talk) 17:07, 11 August 2014 (UTC)

Laureate --> laureate

I notice that the Nobel Prize website (http://www.nobelprize.org) capitalizes Laureate on the webpage, so I've reverted that change on Doris Lessing. Is there a reason for keeping it lower case? Just checking. Thanks, Aristophanes68 (talk) 15:15, 8 September 2014 (UTC)

@Aristophanes68: No offense to the Swedes, but they read and write Swedish better than they do English. It is Wikipedia's style not to capitalize except at the beginning of a sentence, and proper names. The word laureate is not a proper noun (check any good dictionary), any more than the word salesman, as in "Fred Smirkle is a Chevrolet salesman", just because it follows another proper name. This is different from the handling of Nobel Prize, where "Prize" is part of the proper name. In WP:JOBTITLES it says not to capitalize king ("Louis XVI was the French king"), so laureate shouldn't get better treatment than that. MOS:CAPS says "Pronouns for deities and figures of veneration are not capitalized, even if capitalized in a religion's scriptures", so I don't think we need to take the Nobel Committee's capitalization as gospel. See all the WP articles that begin with "List of Nobel laureates ...". Chris the speller yack 18:20, 8 September 2014 (UTC)
Thanks. I had noticed that some US universities also capitalize the L, but others don't. Apologies for the revert. Aristophanes68 (talk) 19:10, 8 September 2014 (UTC)

Thank you

Thank you for all you do, especially correcting hyphens. I've seen the results of much of your work. Bubba73 You talkin' to me? 02:08, 12 September 2014 (UTC)

  The Tireless Contributor Barnstar
For many, many spelling and punctuation fixes

Bubba73 You talkin' to me? 02:08, 12 September 2014 (UTC)

Search

Chris
I noted your comment at Wikipedia:Village pump (technical). I got so fed up with the old search breaking down, that I switched to the Beta version in early June.
Inevitably, there are aspects I didn't initially like, and I had to check and re-benchmark all 300 of my standard misspelling searches, but there are some things I see as benefits:-

  • Corrected misspellings disappear from the search, and new misspellings are added to the search, within 10-20 seconds of completion of the "save".
  • It ignores (most) misspellings in URLs
  • It allows searches within templates

Others report problems, depending what they have been used to searching for - see this talk page
My only real gripe is that searches including omits seem unpredictable; sometimes they work, and sometimes they don't
Just might be worth giving it a try - Arjayay (talk) 17:47, 18 September 2014 (UTC)

@Arjayay: I have used CirrusSearch quite a bit, and started well before your bailing out in June. The new search has several new and useful features. One of the best is "phrase search and proximity", where you can search for two words in proximity to each other. For example, searching for "ordinance dropped"~7 will return articles where the two words are separated by 7 or fewer intervening words, so cases where "ordnance" was meant can be found, such as "the ordinance had to be dropped before attempting to land". The searching within templates can be useful, but it can also drive you crazy, leaving dozens or hundreds of useless hits even after fixing the template. But CirrusSearch is completely blind to hyphens (see topic "Can't find hyphenated forms" on the talk page you mentioned), and I do a lot of hyphen fixing – well, I used to before they broke the indexing and started pushing CirrusSearch. All the best. Chris the speller yack 00:42, 19 September 2014 (UTC)

Chris, could you step in and give us your opinion please?

This guy red-pen and I have been going round and round in an edit war on the A Course In Miracles page. Could you kindly give us your view of our "discussion" if you have the desire or time? I know this is probably drudgery to you, but a fresh perspective would be most appreciated if you could. You can see our discussions at: the Talk Page. Thaks again, Scott P. (talk) 04:50, 28 September 2014 (UTC)

Request

Hi Chris old buddy. How are you? I was wondering if you could look over a short article that I wrote about a castle in Phoenix and fix anything that needs fixin. The article is El Cid Castle. Thank you, Tony the Marine (talk) 17:29, 1 October 2014 (UTC)

Good to hear from you. I'm doing fine. The article just needed a little touch-up. Happy editing! Chris the speller yack 02:50, 2 October 2014 (UTC)

Knocking on your door once again

Greetings, Chris! If you have time and inclination, can I prevail on you to give the prose at Keswick, Cumbria a once-over? Dr Blofeld and I have it up for FAC, and it would be a comfort to know that it had the Chris the Speller seal of approval. Tim riley talk 17:36, 2 October 2014 (UTC)

@Tim riley:   Done. It was pretty awful clean. Chris the speller yack 04:20, 3 October 2014 (UTC)
Sincere thanks, as always, Tim riley talk 13:41, 3 October 2014 (UTC)

Spell checking filenames

Hi! I like the work you do spell checking but occasionally you modify an image file name, like in [4].  Stepho  talk  22:24, 4 October 2014 (UTC)

It's pretty stinkin' rare. Thanks for catching and fixing it. Chris the speller yack 05:00, 5 October 2014 (UTC)
Okay, no worries.  Stepho  talk  09:38, 5 October 2014 (UTC)

Thanks !

I can see You have corrected my spelling in Sofia Albertina Church. Thanks ! Boeing720 (talk) 04:49, 28 October 2014 (UTC)

Knock, knock

May I trouble you once again? This time it's Francis Poulenc, which I have up for peer review with eventual FAC in mind. Your unwinking eye over my prose would be esteemed a favour. Tim riley talk 11:46, 27 October 2014 (UTC)

@Tim riley:   Done. Just a few punctuation tweaks; great article! Chris the speller yack 13:01, 28 October 2014 (UTC)
As ever, thank you so much, Chris. You are a godsend! Tim riley talk 14:06, 28 October 2014 (UTC)

Proposed deletion of Verny Capital

 

The article Verny Capital has been proposed for deletion because of the following concern:

Article has been tagged for 10 months with few fixes; company has unclear notability

While all constructive 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. In particular, the speedy deletion process can result in deletion without discussion, and articles for deletion allows discussion to reach consensus for deletion. Sorry for the template. Bearian (talk) 17:41, 6 November 2014 (UTC)

Fine with me – blow it away! Chris the speller yack 19:10, 6 November 2014 (UTC)

Need your eyeballs

Hi Chris! You come highly recommended by Tim R. and was wondering if you could spare the time to give the Spokane, Washington FAC a quick read and do what you do best. He was particularly wondering about the use of hyphens in some places. Any help is appreciated. Thank you!G755648 (talk) 04:16, 5 November 2014 (UTC)

@G755648:   Done. Chris the speller yack
Thanks Chris, you're the best!G755648 (talk) 23:35, 6 November 2014 (UTC)

The Wars for Asia 1911–1949 listed at Redirects for discussion

 

An editor has asked for a discussion to address the redirect ''The Wars for Asia 1911–1949''. Since you had some involvement with the 'The Wars for Asia 1911–1949' redirect, you might want to participate in the redirect discussion if you have not already done so. Steel1943 (talk) 06:20, 20 November 2014 (UTC)

Feliz Navidad


  <font=3> Wishing you a
"Feliz Navidad and a Prospero Año Nuevo"
(Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year)
Tony the Marine
 
Thanks. Chris the speller yack 18:03, 30 November 2014 (UTC)

Thank you for being one of Wikipedia's top medical contributors!

please help translate this message into the local language
  The Cure Award
In 2013 you were one of the top 300 medical editors across any language of Wikipedia. Thank you so much for helping bring free, complete, accurate, up-to-date medical information to the public. We really appreciate you and the vital work you do!

We are wondering about the educational background of our top medical editors. Would you please complete a quick 5-question survey? (please only fill this out if you received the award)

Thanks again :) --Ocaasi, Doc James and the team at Wiki Project Med Foundation

I don't do surveys. Cheers! Chris the speller yack 18:04, 30 November 2014 (UTC)

Hi, I am Ian, bureaucrat of the Survivor Wiki (wikia username: IAmNothing712)

I would like to invite you to help out in the Survivor Wiki. It would be an honor to have you as a contributor to one of the most known Survivor-related encyclopedia online. Your quick response will be greatly appreciated. Thank you and good day. Iankevinsevilla (talk) 06:01, 3 December 2014 (UTC)

Wikimedia genealogy project

Just wondering if you have any thoughts re: the idea of WMF hosting a genealogy project. If so, feel free to contribute to this discussion. And apologies if I have made this request before. ---Another Believer (Talk) 18:18, 9 December 2014 (UTC)

Merry Merry

To you and yours

 

FWiW Bzuk (talk) 15:37, 22 December 2014 (UTC)