User talk:Sifaka/Archive 1

Welcome to Wikipedia

Welcome!

Hello, Sifaka/Archive 1, and welcome to Wikipedia! Thank you for your contributions. I hope you like the place and decide to stay. Here are a few good links for newcomers:

• The five pillars of Wikipedia
• How to edit a page
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I hope you enjoy editing here and being a Wikipedian! Please sign your name on talk pages using four tildes (~~~~); this will automatically produce your name and the date. If you need help, check out Wikipedia:Where to ask a question, ask me on my talk page, or place {{helpme}} on your talk page and someone will show up shortly to answer your questions. Again, welcome!  Dr Debug (Talk) 00:42, 11 February 2006 (UTC)

A Shout-Out from your friend in Brown

Hi Sifaka, I'm Prionesse. I live on your hall. Guess who.

By the way, your userpage is awesome! ;-)

Help with stopping vandals

I RC patrol and I often catch a lot of sockpuppets being created, usually willy on wheels related, and I want to know how to report their sockpuppets to sysops because I can’t block them myself. Who do I report to? Sifaka 05:56, 11 February 2006 (UTC)

I'm looking into it, you will have an answer soon.--Commander Keane 06:00, 11 February 2006 (UTC)

OK, you can just put the name at Wikipedia:Administrator intervention against vandalism. But Curps runs a bot to find fake user accounts like these, and other admins keep an eye on new user accounts - so don't worry too much about it, an admin will probably block the sockpuppet before you get a chance to list it.--Commander Keane 06:08, 11 February 2006 (UTC)

Thanks

I'm dealing with Wonderware--Commander Keane 06:49, 11 February 2006 (UTC)

More links to help newcomers

I placed a collection of links at User:AlMac/Wiki beginners to help newcomers to Wiki see where there are pages to help them get started. I hope some of them help you out. User:AlMac|^(talk) 05:27, 11 February 2006 (UTC)

Re: Talk page (which was deleted when I tagged an article for speedy)

Oh no, you did absolutely nothing wrong. I deleted the article as fairly obvious vandalism; it's just standard to delete the talk page of an article that gets deleted, to prevent orphaned talk pages from floating around ;-) —Kirill Lokshin 04:12, 14 February 2006 (UTC)

I don't know how to contact you but I have info on one of the pages you are watching. How do I reach you?

User Complaint by 70.29.239.249 on March 1

I don't no how to use usertalk so I am posting here. Please mind your own business and refrain from messaging me again. Thank you kindly. 70.29.239.249 02:37, 2 March 2006 (UTC)

I would post this on your page, however you asked me not to. In general if you want to comment on someone's user talk page, especially if they have a lot of talk, create a new category by making two equals in a row followed by your heading and then two more equals. Then on a new line, write your comment. Then sign your name by making four tildes in a row. If you need to add a comment below someone elses, use the colon in front of your message. You pretty much did it right. Sifaka 02:58, 2 March 2006 (UTC)

How to tag Spam articles

Is there a specific tag for articles that appear to be spam? Under the speedy deletion policy guidelines it says to list an article that may be spam with a typical speedy deletion tag. Specifically I am referring to this article which is quite obviously spam. However in the future I don't want to accidentally tag somebody's article as spam when it is well intentioned. A spam tag might be a good template to create and add to the speedy deletion page because it is more specific. Should I propose its creation on the village pump? Sifaka 21:16, 17 March 2006 (UTC)

If a company does not comply with WP:CORP, you can place it on WP:AFD. The instructions for doing so are on WP:AFD. Pepsidrinka 21:20, 17 March 2006 (UTC)

Response to question about when New User Status ends

There is no official criteria to determine who is and isn't a newcomer. It's all up to individuals, some may still consider you a newcomer, whilst others will not. It's a gradual thing, more and more people will no longer consider you a newcomer as time goes on. - Akamad 23:58, 17 March 2006 (UTC)

User complaints by I forget who and 169.229.89.171

Oh no! don't remove my Wikipedia priviledges! I'm so sorry!

Am I allowed to write on here without your omniscient self coming to devour me? I think I am, but I honestly can't tell on this one. Anyway, is this seriously what you do with your free time? Play evil dictator and squash the fun from life? Shouldn't you be doing schoolwork, or meeting girls, or something? I dunno, just curious, man. 169.229.89.171 05:40, 21 March 2006 (UTC) (4 tildes, you claim? that's intuitive)

Yes you can write here. I RC patrol in my free time... which is non-existent. Mainly I do this to avoid real work. I probably should be doing schoolwork. Adding random stuff is fun for some but not for everyone. The whole point of Wikipedia is to be useful. I use it a lot. If you want to make joke pages go to Uncyclopedia - Wikipedia's evil twin. There you can post all the jokes and stuff you want... Sifaka 05:47, 22 March 2006 (UTC)

Some people do hook up on/through Wikipedia. I mean, what else are meetups for other than to act out what Sean Black says on the irc channel? :)—WAvegetarian•_{CONTRIBUTIONS}^TALK• ^EMAIL• 06:00, 4 May 2006 (UTC)

Periodic table

Ignore my edit -- good or bad timing depending on how you look at it! Dbchip 23:06, 31 March 2006 (UTC)

Helen Keller

Hi there, just a small request; please watch what you revert, as in this edit you mistakenly restored some vandalism. Thanks, MoppEr ^Speak! 00:31, 4 May 2006 (UTC) I was wondering about that. I noticed I did it wrong. You got to it first, thanks. Sifaka ^talk 00:33, 4 May 2006 (UTC)

Sorry about my evil behaviour; I usually hate being a back seat driver. But no need to thank me, give yourself a pat on the back for helping Wikipedia ward off evil trolls. :D MoppEr ^Speak! 00:36, 4 May 2006 (UTC)

2006 Duke University lacrosse team scandal

Wonderful contrib on the timeline. Abe Froman 04:05, 6 May 2006 (UTC)

Thanks. I had been meaning to do it for a while but exams have made me busy. It is such a good article, at least information wise. Sifaka ^talk 04:07, 6 May 2006 (UTC)

Possible solution to your physics problem

Here's an idea, Sifaka. And I think it's correct. Assume an infinite amount of points in the rod and an infinite amount of surfaces of the incline plane. Each member of each set will correspond to a member of the other set. This follows since the rod will contract and force will pass almost instantaneously from point to point. Upon initial contact with the plane, the right-most point on the rod will be forced perpendicular to the plane, resulting in a post-impact trajectory the same angle to the normal of the plane as pre impact trajectory. This force will pass to the next point and the next point and so on, theoretically losing nothing. The rod will therefore remain perpendicular to the ground, with each point of the rod propelling as though it made contact with an indentical plane situated a minute distance to the left of the previous plane. Of course, experimenting won't help you arrive at an answer, since you have to worry about the force of gravity, wind resistance, the imperfection of the initial trajectory, etc. Anyways, as someone who codes in Java, know that all coding programs follow this rule for a rod hitting an incline plane--152.3.247.211 07:50, 6 May 2006 (UTC)

Sifaka

Your taxonomy edit was incorrect. See http://nmnhgoph.si.edu/msw/ - UtherSRG (talk) 16:52, 12 May 2006 (UTC)

Milne-Edwards's Sifaka is the offical name according the MSW3, which is the leading authority. It is no longer considered a subspecies of the Diademed Sifaka. See: Groves, C. P. (2005). Wilson, D. E.; Reeder, D. M. (eds.). Mammal Species of the World: A Taxonomic and Geographic Reference (3rd ed.). Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 120. ISBN 0-801-88221-4. OCLC 62265494. - UtherSRG (talk) 18:56, 1 June 2006 (UTC)

Working on a Duke Community Wiki

• Hey, we are making a Duke Community Wiki at http://www.duiki.com if you want to help out.

"Macedonians"

Please read the featured article Macedonia (terminology) for some insights.   /FunkyFly.talk_ 

Lac Alaotra Gentle Lemur

Both of your citations are years out of date. Mammal Species of the World 3rd ed. (2005) and Conservation International's Lemurs of Madagascar (2006) says full species, as does personal communications with Colin Groves and Russell Mittermeier, the two foremost experts in primates. - UtherSRG (talk) 01:00, 8 April 2007 (UTC)

ADHD Treatments

Hey I added a lot to ADHD treatments, I changed a lot around too, and i'm sure theres some mistakes and such, but I don't mean to offend if I've replaced or covered up any important meaning, and if I have please point it out, on my talk or the talk for that new article you created. Thanks for inviting me to collaborate with you on that article :), I hope we(and others from wiki) can make it a great articleEdward Bower 06:33, 15 April 2007 (UTC)

Kudos to you as well

For being a friendly colleague, and I'm glad we are collaborating. :) Edward Bower 02:51, 23 April 2007 (UTC)

Reply on continued reversion of Johny Hendricks

Hi there, thanks for the information. It does say on the page's talk page "Controversial material of any kind that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous." And saying that 20,000 people were lambasting a person could be considered libelous. Would you be willing to be the third party to look at the article? I am going to put a message up on the anonymous person's page and see if they stop. Cheers! (message by User:Simpleton101111, title also changed for clarity- note added by Sifaka ^talk)

Indri

Thanks for the welcome and help! I'm slowly learning the ropes thanks to those links you provided. I have corrected my formatting for the Indri article and I hope to contribute more to other lemur articles. I do have a lot more information on lemurs; this was just to get started. I have some great references, including Goodman and Benstead's The Natural History of Madagascar. I will be working with primates at the Saint Louis Zoo as an intern this summer (starting next week!!), so I hope to contribute some hands-on research and behavioral information as well. So, you are at Duke? That's awesome. I plan on going to Duke for graduate school (in two years) and studying at the Primate Center--excuse me, the Lemur Center. Haven't been to Madagascar yet, but it's definitely on my to-do list!--Leighmur 17:50, 9 May 2007 (UTC)

Indri

Hi Sifaka, I just added a ton of biology to the Indri article. It's finally not a stub any longer! One thing I don't know how to do, though, is cite one reference multiple times, so the same thing doesn't appear on the reference page more than once (you'll see what I mean). Can you or someone else help with this formatting issue? --Leighmur 22:53, 12 May 2007 (UTC)

Thanks! --Leighmur 03:39, 13 May 2007 (UTC)

ADHD Types & Treatments

Thank you for taking the time to respond to my questions! It is much appreciated MattTheMan 05:50, 28 May 2007 (UTC)

Appreciation for answering a question related to extraterrestrials (June 13, 2007)

Appreciate the answer. 205.240.144.168 00:08, 13 June 2007 (UTC)

Troll (User:88.111.74.167) on the science desk. 6/20/07

100% guaranteed to be a troll. In a few minutes you'll [probably] see him (a) rerevert his question and (b) begin to vandalize my talk and user pages, just like he did last night when I referted his other question about isopropanol versus vodka. —Steve Summit (talk) 03:05, 21 June 2007 (UTC)

• I watched your user pages for you! Sifaka ^talk 03:11, 21 June 2007 (UTC)

Lewis and Clark Expedition

Hello. Thanks for helping to keep the vandals away from the Lewis and Clark Expedition article. I should point out that in reverting one of my edits there you restored a vandalized version where the entire article is repeated twice over. I've fixed it but I don't know what exactly you were attempting to repair with your edit. I'd suggest that you go back and fix it manually. Thanks and happy editing! —Elipongo (Talk contribs) 18:52, 23 July 2007 (UTC)

I realized what happened after you fixed it. Thanks a bunch for fixing that up. I somehow missed that I was restoring a doubled version. Sifaka ^talk 18:55, 23 July 2007 (UTC)

Not a problem, it's one of those vandal tricks that's rather easy to miss. Cheers! —Elipongo (Talk contribs) 18:58, 23 July 2007 (UTC)

Filigree

Dear Sifaka, upon your request, I’ve uploaded two photos out of my silver collection.

Bloger 18:53, 5 August 2007 (UTC)

Myself editing from an IP address

I edited from this IP address in order to ask a question. I want to be able to find and track the pages I asked it on later so I am writing a note to myself. 128.196.125.13 19:12, 17 August 2007 (UTC)

Taxonomic name

Taxonomists are evil and are contantly changing the names of species. Your slide depicts western gall rust, and the species is Endocronartium harknessii. The other names were just old name. I just found out the common name and looked at the most recent journal articles on it to discover the current binomial name of the pathogen. I think that was what you were after, truth be told I don't understand taxonomy either... Million_Moments 21:05, 17 August 2007 (UTC)

Hamid Palo, Prince of Bosnia

Please kindly refrain from doubting the validity of the page concerning Hamid Palo, Prince of Bosnia, until it can be fully edited. The article has just been submitted, and is being edited/corrected for errors as we speak. Also, information concerning Hamid Palo is very sensitive, and information about a possible Bosnian royal family is very new. Finally, most of the information on the subject is written in another language, so it is perfectly understandable that you do not find anything about it on Google. (comment by User:Lounge270)

Your note

Great work Sifaka! I'm really glad you caught this, as this type of thing is a lot more damaging to the project than plain old vandalism (I'll take "BUTT!!!" any day over real-looking false info). I'll keep an eye on this user and block after any further infractions. Didn't notice anything wrong with the AFD itself either, looks fine. Peace, delldot talk 22:29, 22 September 2007 (UTC)

Mycology

Hi,

I saw you posted on the ref' desk RE:Mycology. Is this your biology interest or concentration at Duke? I am currently working on a myco-like project and thought I would say hello. RE: The fungus question- do you know of particular strains of fungi that are resistant to decay by bother other fungi and other vectors?

Cheers,

Ebenbayer 22:38, 3 October 2007 (UTC)

Cyanide Vs. CO

Thanks for your interest in replying,that was definitely informative.One thing i would like to know,when there are multiple pathways how do you conclude the most favourable pathway experimentally?(I am in my 1st year of chemical engineering)

Regards,--Curieous 07:22, 15 October 2007 (UTC)

thanks for the greeting

Yeah we got side tracked on ADHD talk with a fair bit of edit warring also. That looks like it is starting to die down...the blows have been thrown. Thanks again for your advice and greetings.--scuro (talk) 03:10, 23 January 2008 (UTC)

No it doesn't

Your censorship of my insertion in 'Controversy about 'ADHD' article is unacceptable and morally wrong. Please restore it at the first available opportunity. I have no idea why you think you can arrogate the right to remove such things from an entry about controversy. Adding to entries is an honourable activity. Deleting what other people have written, especially where it is a plain statement of the truth, is wholly different. The fact that some people are described as 'individuals' implies nothing clear. Anyone unfamiliar with this controversy, news of which you seem so anxious to suppress or minimise, would not gain this impression from the censored version - which is presumably why you have censored it. The statement that these people are unconnected with Scientology etc is necessary to counteract the powerful insinuation in the article. This is clearly intended to suggest that critics of 'ADHD' are dominated or driven by cultic or other agendas. This is quite simply untrue. Oh, and please assure your friend'Scuro' that those who wish to see the truth told about this matter have not gone away,nor 'died down' but are still working on the matter by other means, having tried very hard but failed to achieve any compromise by discussion with 'Scuro'. Peter Hitchens, signed as Clockback (talk) 15:28, 8 February 2008 (UTC)

Replied on his talk page (If need be please respond on mine so I can get a new message prompt. Otherwise I forget to check my talk page.)Sifaka ^talk 19:18, 8 February 2008 (UTC)

Having waited for some time for you to do as I asked, and replace the censored passage, I have now assumed that you will not do this, and so have restored the censored material myself. Please do not remove it again. If you do, I shall replace it, and deliver another rebuke to you. And I will continue to do this until you recognise that censorship is immoral and cease to practise it. Thank you for your note. Your mention of North Korea is not irrelevant. They do censorship there, too. But, like most censors, they do not believe that what they are doing is censorship. You appear to suffer from this common difficulty. Let me help you over this. The wilful deletion of truthful statements written by other people in public places is censorship. Peter Hitchens, signed in as Clockback (talk) 11:58, 16 February 2008 (UTC)

My reaction to your latest message is as before. You censored my words, a wrong action. You shouldn't have done it in the first place, and you should have put them back when I requested that you do so. You didn't. So I did. That's it. What you detect in my words is not condescension. It is dislike for censorship, and strong disapproval of those who exercise it, not least those who seek to justify such actions and to pretend that the excision of factual statements made by other people from published matter is anything other than censorship. There is nothing else to discuss. Stop censoring other people's true statements, and you won't run into this again. Carry on doing it, and you will. All clear now? Peter Hitchens, logged in as Clockback (talk) 12:16, 18 February 2008 (UTC)

Okay

Hi! I got your message about Save Mary, and I will look into taking a screenie tomorrow. I do in fact own the game, we have an Atari thingy. I hope I can find out how to load stuff up to Wikipedia!Ninteneo1379 (talk) 05:03, 16 February 2008 (UTC)

Martini q

Odd. When I amend the search to look for "martini+wild+mushroom" I still can't find it. Must have my stupid head on. Can you point to one for me - they sound horrible! lol --Dweller (talk) 15:57, 26 February 2008 (UTC)

Eulemur rufus

Hi, The picture has been taken in the Isalo National Park in Madagascar. I went there last year. I am new on Wikipedia and I am going to add many pictures from this country in the next weeks. Bgag (talk) 23:53, 28 February 2008 (UTC)

Congratulations on your attitude

That's all. Nothing wrong, really, except that I think Dr. Sobo gets pretty bollixed up and doesn't know how to deal with situations like that large removal of text from the ADHD controversies article. He's been dealing with some strong push on the articles, over quite a long time -- I had occasion to review the history at one point, its in talk for either the controversies article or the main one -- he's been the target of frequent rudeness, and so I cut him a little slack, I'm trying to encourage him to tone it down. He is an expert, and Wikipedia sometimes treats experts pretty badly. So your comment on his Talk page was excellent. You might also look at my Talk for an interchange with Dr. Sobo. Best wishes. --Abd (talk) 05:53, 4 March 2008 (UTC)

it's a major issue

One contributor teaching another how to be uncivil and that contributor insulting two other contributors? There are at least 4 contributors involved. Why not get it out in the open and let it get sorted out instead of burying it where it will smolder on?--scuro (talk) 06:53, 4 March 2008 (UTC)

It's okay for you to say it might create a lot more controversy then it is worth but it's not you being "restrained" and personally attacked on a constant basis now is it?--scuro (talk) 06:55, 4 March 2008 (UTC)

I have no issue polling frequent editors, but this discussion doesn't belong on the article talk page. It is not related to improving the article quality. Between editor disputes must happen elsewhere. When statements about you were made on the talk page I removed them because they were inappropriate for similar reasons. I am moving all the people's responses and redirecting the links to your talk page. Sifaka ^talk 06:59, 4 March 2008 (UTC)

August 20 and 26

Thanks for deleting the edit by Andyahaziz.

If you check back through the history of August 20 you'll see that I have deleted several attempts by this user to add this birthdate. I now also find he is adding "Freddy Krugerman" to August 26, which I have also deleted. I wrote a note on the user's talk page a week or so back - which was deleted - and I've added a second note today, warning of possible consequences if these edits continue.

I'm away from Wikipedia for the next week (starting tomorrow) and am fairly certain this user will continue adding these spurious entries. Just thought I'd give you a heads-up. If the edits continue through next week I'll escalate. However, if you decide to do this earlier you'll have my support. Perry Middlemiss (talk) 23:03, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

Reference desk puzzle

Thanks for the barnstar! :) I racked my brains for quite a while over that (I must've seen it very soon after you put it up. I tried several different maths equations, then noticed you'd said "features of the numbers" and wondered if there was a trick to that - whether it was physical rather than mathematical features of the numbers and the way they were written. I just about gave up again when i couldn't see anything about them that might rank them like that... and then it clicked that there's more than one way to write a number :) Grutness...wha? 07:52, 6 July 2008 (UTC)