User talk:Ragesoss/Archive24

Page contents not supported in other languages.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


The Signpost: 01 January 2014[edit]

The Signpost: 08 January 2014[edit]

Nnkapoor and Voxcanis[edit]

Ragesoss, I am the TA for Voxcanis. I was just setting up the page. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Nnkapoor (talk • contribs) 21:31, 15 January 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks User:Nnkapoor! I thought that was probably the case, but wanted to double check. A few quick tips:
  • You should sign your posts to talk page, by adding four tildes (~) at the end. That will automatically add your username and the time of the post.
  • When you start a new thread on someone's talk page, you should create a new section for it. (If you use the "new section" tab, just be sure to include a subject line, which will turn into a header like the one I'm adding now.)
  • It's good practice to keep discussions in one place, and simply ping other participants by linking to their usernames. So for example, on User:Voxcanis's talk page, you could have replied there and added "User:Ragesoss" somewhere in your post, and as long as you signed it (with four tildes), I would get the same type of Notification that you got.

--ragesoss (talk) 21:44, 15 January 2014 (UTC)[reply]

I will work on that. I am still getting used to all of this. Thank you so much for your help. (~) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Nnkapoor (talk • contribs) 21:46, 15 January 2014 (UTC)[reply]

No problem, Nnkapoor. It can be scary at first, all this wiki markup. Four tildes in a row to sign your post (which can be inserted automatically using the little signature icon in the toolbar at the top of the edit window.) You can also indent a post (to create a threaded conversation, with visible breaks between one person's comment and the next) by adding one or more colons to the beginning of the line.--ragesoss (talk) 21:51, 15 January 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Meetups coming up in DC![edit]

Hey!

You are invited to two upcoming events in DC:

  • Meetup at Capitol City Brewery on Saturday, January 25 at 6 PM. Please join us for dinner, drinks, socializing, and discussing Wikimedia DC activities and events. All are welcome! RSVP on the linked page or through Meetup.
  • Art and Feminism Edit-a-Thon on Saturday, February 1 from Noon – 5 PM. Join us as we improve articles on notable women in history! All are welcome, regardless of age or level of editing experience. RSVP on the linked page or through Meetup.

I hope to see you there!

(Note: If you do not wish to receive talk page messages for DC meetups, you are welcome to remove your username from this page.)

Harej (talk) 00:07, 16 January 2014 (UTC)[reply]

The Signpost: 15 January 2014[edit]

MfD nomination of Wikipedia:Soft deletion/Proposed deletion[edit]

Wikipedia:Soft deletion/Proposed deletion, a page you substantially contributed to, has been nominated for deletion. Your opinions on the matter are welcome; please participate in the discussion by adding your comments at Wikipedia:Miscellany for deletion/Wikipedia:Soft deletion/Proposed deletion and please be sure to sign your comments with four tildes (~~~~). You are free to edit the content of Wikipedia:Soft deletion/Proposed deletion during the discussion but should not remove the miscellany for deletion template from the top of the page; such a removal will not end the deletion discussion. Thank you. Ten Pound Hammer • (What did I screw up now?) 16:30, 24 January 2014 (UTC)[reply]

The Signpost: 22 January 2014[edit]

Hello[edit]

Hello! I don't really have much to say, and I'm not trying to bother you, but you are a volunteer for HSCI3013 at OU and part of our first Wikipedia assignment is to talk to someone helping with the class on Wikipedia. They didn't really tell us we were required to say anything in particular, so I hope you have a nice day.Leav5419 (talk) 01:02, 27 January 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Hello and thanks![edit]

Hello, I'm also a student in HSCI3013 at OU. Just created an account on Wikipedia and I'm very thankful to you for offering to help us if needed.

Jomoakin (talk) 05:03, 27 January 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Bonus credit for HSCI 3013[edit]

I was thinking of allowing bonus credit for students who either earned barnstars or participated in projects like the Tyop Contest. Do you think this would be a good idea work, or would it be closer to releasing untrained rookie editors to run rough-shod with little guidance? Kirwanfan (talk) 16:03, 27 January 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Kirwanfan: the Tyop Content is a good idea for extra credit. Barnstars don't make an ideal goal for earning bonus points, because it's pretty stochastic; you can do a lot of great work and not get any barnstars, or you could do one little thing that someone notices and get a barnstar for it. (It's also potentially more subject to gaming, although that's a relatively minor issue.) But if you throw in bonus points for barnstars without framing it as a goal to shoot for (rather than a mostly random bit of recognition that sometimes happens), it'd be fine. Another more involved possibility would be extra credit for giving feedback on articles that have been put up for peer review or Good article nominations. Those are cases where other editors are specifically looking for ways the articles can be improved, and just being willing to read through and think about the text with a critical eye goes a long way. (I don't suggest that the students do formal Good article reviews, which have some specific conventions around the details of Wikipedia policy and style guidelines, but rather just post their suggestions for improvement on the article talk pages.)--ragesoss (talk) 16:20, 27 January 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Just Wanted to Say Thanks![edit]

I'm a student in the course HSCI 3013 at OU and just wanted to say thanks for being a Wikipedia Ambassador for us! Lind6710 (talk) 19:49, 28 January 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Greetings from Another Student[edit]

Just stopping by to introduce myself... I'm Jeanette, and I'm looking forward to being in this class and receiving much Wikipedia guidance from you. Thanks. :3 Tran3105 (talk) 22:31, 28 January 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Hello[edit]

Just here to say thanks in advance for helping out with HSCI 3013. I'm sure I'll have a large number of questions later. SeanMcMahon (talk) 00:07, 29 January 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Hi and thank you![edit]

Hey Ragesoss, thank you for helping our HSCI class, I look forward to learning a lot from you during the course!Petejhua (talk) 01:20, 29 January 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Greetings from yet another student[edit]

Hi Ragesoss! Thanks for helping out our class. I look forward to working with you this semester! Vu1708 (talk) 05:52, 29 January 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Regards[edit]

Hello. I am a student enrolled in the University of Oklahoma's HSCI 3013 class. Soon enough we will all be caught up in a foray of editing and reviewing, so thank you in advance for lending us your support in this task. We have a sizable class, so it is very much appreciated to have you as a guide. Axbaksh (talk) 06:00, 29 January 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Hello[edit]

Hi Ragesoss. Thank you for supporting HSCI 3013 course. I'm look forward to learning from you during the semester. Duythai25 (talk) 07:37, 29 January 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Hello[edit]

Hello, my name is Brittany Dennis. I am a student at the University of Oklahoma and is currently enrolled in the History of Science before Newton. For an assignment, we are to talk to two people and you are one of the online volunteers for our class.

Denn4657 (talk) 17:36, 29 January 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Saturday: NYC Art And Feminism Wikipedia Editathon[edit]

Jefferson Market Public Library
 Please join Wikipedia "Art and Feminism Editathon" @ Eyebeam on Saturday February 1, 2014,
an event aimed at collaboratively expanding Wikipedia articles covering Art and Feminism, and the biographies of women artists!

There are also regional events that day in Brooklyn, Westchester County, and the Hudson Valley.
--Pharos (talk)

Greeting Ragesoss[edit]

Hello I am student at Bucknell University. You are one of the online volunteers for our class and we must greet you as an assignment. I look forward to contributing to wikipedia. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Rory.Bonner (talk • contribs) 04:26, 1 February 2014 (UTC)[reply]

The Signpost: 29 January 2014[edit]

The Signpost: 29 January 2014[edit]

History of Ecology[edit]

Hello Ragesoss! I am a student at Bucknell enrolled in the History of Ecology course. I am so excited to begin working on our Wikipedia page and am so grateful that you will be helping us improve our page! Thanks for your help! Dcbru (talk) 12:31, 4 February 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Coming up in February![edit]

Hello there!

Our February WikiSalon is coming up on Sunday, February 23. Join us at our gathering of Wikipedia enthusiasts at the Kogod Courtyard of the National Portrait Gallery with an optional dinner after. As usual, all are welcome. Care to join us?

Also, if you are available, there is an American Art Edit-a-thon being held at the Smithsonian American Art Museum with Professor Andrew Lih's COMM-535 class at American University on Tuesday, February 11 from 2 to 5 PM. Please RSVP on the linked page if you are interested.

If you have any ideas or preferences for meetups, please let us know at Wikipedia talk:Meetup/DC.

Thank you, and hope to see you at our upcoming events! Harej (talk) 18:42, 4 February 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Upcoming Edit-a-Thon[edit]

Hi. I am organizing an Edit-a-thon on women in science for March 28th. It's going to be cosponsored by the OU HSCI department, the Library, and hopefully several other departments around campus. I'd be interested in any advice as far as set-up, advertising, where to advertise within Wikipedia, or anything else. If there's any way to bring you down for the event, I would be interested in that as well. Hunter Heyck expressed interest in the idea, so we might be able to arrange travel if you'd be willing to give a talk. Anyway, let me know if you're interested. The initial meetup page is in my sandbox if you want further details. Thanks, Kirwanfan (talk) 20:42, 11 February 2014 (UTC)[reply]

I've moved the meetup page from my sandbox to it's actual page. Kirwanfan (talk) 16:56, 12 February 2014 (UTC)[reply]
Kirwanfan: It's looking good! I can't come in person (I'm flying to Chicago the next day for the HSS strategic planning meeting) but I can try to set aside a few hours to participate remotely. The page says Thursday, March 28, but according to my calculations that's a Friday. There are a few things you can do to advertise within Wikipedia:
Maybe User:Keilana or User:Mary Mark Ockerbloom have other ideas? I don't actually have much experience organizing edit-a-thons.--ragesoss (talk) 17:18, 12 February 2014 (UTC)[reply]
Hi Kirwanfan, I'm happy to discuss and share ideas with you anytime! A couple of things I've found useful for advertising in a university are emailing relevant departments (history, science departments) and asking them to distribute a notice to their students. You can also engage with relevant student groups, especially those with a heavy social media presence. At Loyola, we've gotten at least half of all our participants via Facebook advertising and feminist groups. Also, flyers in a high-traffic area don't necessarily get participants directly but they do get the word out about your event and that will help with word-of-mouth advertising. I hope this helps! Best, Keilana|Parlez ici 22:03, 12 February 2014 (UTC)[reply]

The Signpost: 12 February 2014[edit]

Upcoming Saturday events - March 1: Harlem History Editathon and March 8: NYU Law Editathon[edit]

Upcoming Saturday events - March 1: Harlem History Editathon and March 8: NYU Law Editathon

You are invited to join upcoming Wikipedia "Editathons", where both experienced and new Wikipedia editors will collaboratively improve articles on a selected theme, on the following two Saturdays in March:

I hope to see you there! Pharos (talk)

(You can unsubscribe from future notifications for NYC-area events by removing your name from this list.)

Hello[edit]

Hello! I'm in the HSCI 3013 class. I realize I'm doing this a bit late, but I suppose it's better late than never. I've never really used Wikipedia before for anything more than cursory searches, so I kept putting off doing anything with it. Of course, now that I'm here, it doesn't seem that bad... Anyway, thanks

Rochelle Lunsford (talk) 05:04, 19 February 2014 (UTC)[reply]

The Signpost: 19 February 2014[edit]

You're invited: Women's History Edit-a-thons in Massachusetts this March[edit]

Women's History Edit-a-thons in Massachusetts this March - You are invited!
New England Wikimedians is excited to announce a series of Wikipedia edit-a-thons that will be taking place at colleges and universities throughout Massachusetts as part of Wikiwomen's History Month from March 1 - March 31. We encourage you to join in an edit-a-thon near you, or to participate remotely if you are unable to attend in person (for the full list of articles, click here). Events are currently planned for the cities/towns of Boston, Northampton, South Hadley, and Cambridge. Further information on dates and locations can be found on our user group page.
Questions? Contact Girona7 (talk)

The Signpost: 26 February 2014[edit]

DC Meetups in March[edit]

Happy March!

Though we have a massive snowstorm coming up, spring is just around the corner! Personally, I am looking forward to warmer weather.

Wikimedia DC is looking forward to a spring full of cool and exciting activities. In March, we have coming up:

  • Evening WikiSalon on Wednesday, March 12 from 7 PM – 9 PM. Meet up with Wikipedians for coffee at the Cove co-working space in Dupont Circle! If you cannot make it in the evening, join us at our...
  • March Meetup on Sunday, March 23 from 3 PM – 6 PM. Our monthly weekend meetup, same place as last month. Meet really cool and interesting people!
  • Women in the Arts 2014 meetup and edit-a-thon on Sunday, March 30 from 10 AM – 5 PM. Our second annual Women in the Arts edit-a-thon, held at the National Museum of Women in the Arts. Free lunch will be served!

We hope to see you at our upcoming events! If you have any questions, feel free to ask on my talk page.

— Harej (talk) 05:11, 3 March 2014 (UTC)[reply]

New article on Science Hill[edit]

Hi Ragesoss, I just completed a draft article on Science Hill and used many of your building photos in the article. I'd be delighted if you looked it over and offered feedback or edits. Many thanks, Nickknack00 (talk) 00:38, 4 March 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Nickknack00, that looks fantastic! I put some of the headers into more standand style, but overall it's really excellent! I'll look through my archives, because I think I have some other photos of buildings from the list that don't have pics yet. Be sure to nominate this for "Did You Know" as soon as you publish it, so it can get a spot on the Main Page for a little while.--ragesoss (talk) 14:12, 4 March 2014 (UTC)[reply]
ragesoss Thanks for the feedback and edits. Please upload any photos you have! There's a repository on I'll try and capture more photos in the early spring, once the snow has melted in New Haven, and I'll take your nomination advice once I've done that. Nickknack00 (talk) 02:05, 6 March 2014 (UTC)[reply]

(test) The Signpost: 05 March 2014[edit]

Signpost interview[edit]

I noticed you're on the membership list for WikiProject History. The Signpost is looking to feature WP History in an upcoming issue. You might consider answering some of their interview questions. Thanks. Chris Troutman (talk) 06:06, 12 March 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Chris: I don't think I'm active enough with the WikiProject to make a good interviewee for it.--ragesoss (talk) 19:48, 12 March 2014 (UTC)[reply]

The Signpost: 12 March 2014[edit]

Silent Spring[edit]

You're one of the major contributors to the well written Rachel Carson article. I noticed that the Silent Spring article has been neglected. As a starting point I've taken a lot of material from the Rachel Carson article and placed it in the Silent Spring article. Do you have time to look at the Silent Spring article or have ideas on how to improve it? --Harizotoh9 (talk) 02:27, 17 March 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Harizotoh9! I know there are several sources specifically about Silent Spring and its influence that are cited in the Rachel Carson article, so those would be good places to start. What a Book Can Do by Priscilla Coit Murphy, in particular, probably has a lot of good info that should make its way into the article. In many ways, Silent Spring is actually a bigger and more complex topic than Carson's article, so you may want zero in on a particular aspect (such as expanding on its reception, and separating that out into its reception in the years following its publication and its reception later on in retrospect). Just a simple search for Silent Spring on Google Scholar brings up a bunch of relevant articles. My method to get started on something like this is just to start reading whatever seems the most interesting, until you start to get a feel for the overall topic.--ragesoss (talk) 12:43, 21 March 2014 (UTC)[reply]

This Month in Education: March 2014[edit]



Headlines

To assist with preparing the newsletter, please visit the newsroom. Past editions may be viewed here.

If this message is not on your home wiki's talk page, update your subscription.

natural theology[edit]

When writing the article for my topic on Natural Theology, How can I expand the knowledge that was already put out there by other authors on Wikipedia?

We are also doing an outline for our course, I would like to know if you had any ideas on how I could approach the assignment

RyH11 (talk) 00:36, 21 March 2014 (UTC)Ryan[reply]

RyH11: natural theology is a very big topic, but also one that has not been covered very systematically on Wikipedia. My recommendation would be to start with a close reading of a good short overview of the topic. The "Natural Theology" chapter by John Hedley Brooke in Science & Religion: A Historical Introduction (2002, edited by Gary B. Ferngren) might be a good one. After you think you have an understanding of the topic in broad strokes, make an outline based on that. Then, see how the existing content in the article would fit into that outline, and rework the existing content into the new outline and fill in the missing parts using the sources in Brooke's bibliography (and whatever else you come across in your research that is helpful). Hope that helps.--ragesoss (talk) 12:54, 21 March 2014 (UTC)[reply]

The Signpost: 19 March 2014[edit]

David Ehrenfeld[edit]

Hello RageSoss,

My name is Eric and I am a part of the History of Ecology class at Bucknell. I am currently working on an outline for my Wikipedia article on David Ehrenfeld. I was just wondering if there is a certain protocol for writing about individual people rather than more broad topics. When writing my outline should I focus more on his personal life or his work? Your help would be greatly appreciated.

Emm031 (talk) 16:28, 23 March 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Emm031: Hi! It's really up to you, as different writers like to organize biographies in different ways. The way I like to do for most scientific biographies is to organize it cronologically, grouped into phases of the subject's career/work, but combining relevant details from personal life and work as it goes. So typically, I'd start with early life (including family background) and education, then go on through several sections that cover the main things the person was working on in each period, and any significant developments in their personal life that happened in the same period. As for whether to focus more on personal life or work, I'd recommend that you just follow your sources; if you have a lot more material about one than the other, let that be a guide to how you balance the coverage. Hope that helps.--ragesoss (talk) 18:01, 24 March 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you RageSoss!Your advice will definitely help in writing my outline! Emm031 (talk) 02:50, 25 March 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Biogeography[edit]

Hi RageSoss, My name is Carly and I am working on contributing to the Biogeography page with two classmates from my History of Ecology class. We were wondering if we should focus on only adding information to the history section of the article, or if we should contribute to the other sections that seem to also need expansion. We believe that we could provide the most information to the history section by adding details of specific contributors to the study of biogeography as a science, in addition to it's progression. Please let us know what else you would recommend adding to either just the history section, or overall. Thank you very much. Ced015 (talk) 17:49, 23 March 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Ced015: I'm not sure whether Professor Stuhl wants you to focus on the history or not, but the article certainly has room for improvement throughout, so from my perspective I'd suggest going for whatever improvements you have good sources for. In terms of the history section, I'd caution you to avoid to much focus on individuals in an article like this, as this can often lead to a great man history that obscures the overall development of the field. (Of course, you probably can't avoid some of that, but it's something to watch out for.) If you don't have it already, you should definitely make plenty of use of Janet Browne's The Secular Ark: Studies in the History of Biogeography to cover early developments in biogeography. I don't know off the top of my head where to point you for the later history, but I think there's an okay overview in Peter J. Bowler's The Earth Encompassed. Good luck!--ragesoss (talk) 18:14, 24 March 2014 (UTC)[reply]

United States Atomic Energy Commission[edit]

Good morning RageSoss, My name is Shane and I am working on the Wikipedia page for the United States Atomic Energy Commission for the history of ecology class. I am looking to add a section/sections about the relationship between the Commission and the discipline of ecology (e.g. how Ecology got more funding for projects because of it, etc.). I think this is a fairly important section when discussing the overall page but I was wondering, how much do you think I should focus on incorporating this into the lead section? Also, are there any other sections that you think the page is most lacking or that could be improved at all? I don't want to focus completely on the relationship with ecology and then have the article become unbalanced since other sections may then be underdeveloped because of my work. Thanks! Srk017 (talk) 13:58, 24 March 2014 (UTC)[reply]

That's tricky, because the article as a whole is not very well developed, and the lead is correspondingly pretty slim. I'm not well versed in the history of the AEC (and it's a big, complex topic), but if you start researching the connection between AEC and ecology, you'll probably come across material on the affects it had on other disciplines as well, so that might be a good place to start. I know there are some specific ecology projects (tracing radioactive isotopes through ecosystems) that have been written about in depth, but [[United States Atomic Energy Commission is probably not the place to go into detail about that (one or more of those projects probably have articles of their own, or if not, they should). A good rule of thumb is to whatever is in the lead be roughly proportional to its overall representation in the body of the article.--ragesoss (talk) 18:20, 24 March 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Article editing[edit]

Hello I have a question. I am editing the physics in medieval Islam, but when I was moving my article out of my sandbox, it created a new article. Can you help me understand how to fix this or why it happened? Denn4657 (talk) 17:40, 24 March 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Denn4657. What happened was that you moved your sandbox page to Physics in Medieval Islam, but the existing page that you wanted to expand is capitalized differently: Physics in medieval Islam. Since you were drafting content to expand an existing article, you don't actually need to use the "move" function at all, but simply copy the wiki text that you drafted and add it in to the existing article. After you've done that, leave me another message and I will take care of the page you accidentally created by moving your sandbox.--ragesoss (talk) 17:48, 24 March 2014 (UTC)[reply]
Hello again. I managed to copy what I wrote and got rid of most of the article that I was editing. Thank you for helping me.

Denn4657 (talk) 18:16, 24 March 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Denn4657: It looks like you've overwritten what was already in the article, instead of combining your work with it. You may want to return to the history of the article and make sure that you're keeping the best of both. In particular, the lead section that was there before gave a nice little intro to the topic, and the list of sources is probably work keeping as well (even if they aren't actually being used in the article).--ragesoss (talk) 18:24, 24 March 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Environmental Impact of War[edit]

Hey Ragesoss, I am working on an outline for my History of Ecology class at Bucknell University with Professor Stuhl. I decided to focus on the Environmental impact of war. The introduction to the article is well written, but leaves out Vietnam, WWII, Mao Zedong's great leap forward, and the Rwandan Genocide. Should I focus more on the progression of the impact of war on the environment by highlighting historical events? Should I add a new section for each topic mentioned above? Or should I take a more modern approach and create a new section that incorporates the research I have done (found on my user page)? Is my focus too broad or should I focus merely on one section since I only have a few weeks of school left. Thank you Mrjohnson007 (talk) 18:38, 24 March 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Adding sections on specific topics would be an easy way to fit with the current structure of the article. But I would say it's not that great of a structure overall... just a list of "issues", primarily. However, it's a structure that will make it easier later on to refactor the article thematically and/or into broader historical periods. Maybe you could start by adding some new sections about specific key topics that are missing, and then start refactoring both the new and existing content into more useful sections based on the broader issues that your sources cover.--ragesoss (talk) 18:46, 24 March 2014 (UTC)[reply]
Mrjohnson007 ping.--ragesoss (talk) 18:46, 24 March 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Genetics and the Origin of Species[edit]

Hi Ragesoss,

My name is Jorie and I am in Professor Stuhl's History of Ecology class. I am reaching out to you to ask you a question about my outline for my article, Genetics and the Origin of Species. I wanted to talk about the public reaction to Dobzhansky's book and his theory of modern evolutionary synthesis. This could get to be somewhat controversial, so I was wondering if you had any advice for how I should go about this.

Thanks so much, and I look forward to hearing from you soon!

Jorie

Jcf028 (talk) 18:58, 24 March 2014 (UTC)jcf028[reply]

Hi Jorie. For this article, I wouldn't worry to much about getting embroiled in wiki controversy yourself. There is a great, thoughtful group of editors who like to work on the history of evolution, and and long as you stick with fairly representing what your sources say -- and attribute anything controversial to the source that claims it, instead of simply stating it as fact -- you'll be find. Good luck! Were you able get get the Smocovitis and Provine sources I suggested beneath your initial bibliography?--ragesoss (talk) 19:04, 24 March 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Ragesoss,

Thanks so much for you response! I will attribute the controversial portions to their assigned sources. Yes, I did receive the Smocovitis and Provine sources! I have only briefly looked them over but they look great! I will definitely use them in my article.

Thanks again for all your help!

Jorie

Jcf028 (talk) 02:07, 25 March 2014 (UTC)jcf028[reply]

Devleloping outline[edit]

Hey ragesoss I plan on editing an existing article that is already pretty well developed. I'd like to provide a little more specific information and stronger explanations for certain sections. any suggestions on developing an outline for this? Rory.Bonner (talk) 00:45, 25 March 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Rory.Bonner: Because the article is so well developed already, I would start by doing a close reading of the current article from beginning to end, and then think about what major problems (if any) you see with the way it's organized. Then, write several paragraphs that essentially summarize the whole article -- either in its current organization, or with whatever significant changes to the organization you think should be made. The idea with the lead section is that it should be capsule summary of the whole article, but that's definitely not the case with the current lead section. And if you can put the overall summary into your own words in a few paragraphs, you'll be a good position to start improving on the body of the article without either duplicating what's already there or unbalancing the coverage to focus too heavily on any one aspect. Hope that helps! --ragesoss (talk) 13:24, 25 March 2014 (UTC)[reply]

History of Ecology: Outline[edit]

Ragesoss -

I am currently working in a group for a course with the goal to improve the "history of ecology" Wikipedia page. We hope not only to add more information, but to reorganize the page as well. Our currently outline is a redeveloped lead section which we will use to edit the rest of the document. Do you think we have added relevant information to the lead section and what are you opinions on the organization of the section?

Section:

Ecology is generally spoken of as a new science, having only become prominent in the second half of the 20th century. Its history stems all the way back to the 4th century. One of the first ecologists whose writings survive may have been Aristotle or perhaps his student, Theophrastus, both of whom had interest in many species of animals. Theophrastus described interrelationships between animals and their environment as early as the 4th century BC. Ecology developed substantially in the 18th and 19th century. It began with Linnaeus and his work with the economy of nature. Soon after cam Humboldt and his work with botanical geography. Wallace and Mobius then contributed with the notion of biocoenosis. Warming’s work with ecological plant geography led to the founding of ecology as a discipline. Darwin’s work also contributed to the science of ecology. Ecological thought expanded even more in the early 20th century. Major contributions included: Suess’ and Verndasky’s work with the biosphere, Arthur Tansley’s ecosystem, and Cowles ecological succession. Ecology influenced the social sciences and humanities. Human ecology began in the early 20th century and it recognized humans as an ecological factor. Later Lovelock advanced views on earth as a macro-organism with the Gaia hypothesis. Conservation stemmed from the science of ecology. Important figures and movements include Shelford and the ESA, National Environmental Policy act, Marsh, Roosevelt, Forbes, and post-dustbowl conservation. Later in the 20th century world governments collaborated on man’s effect on the biosphere and earth’s environment. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Andrewscutt (talk • contribs) 15:27, 25 March 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Andrewscutt: Without knowing enough about the history of ecology myself to judge the balance of content, I'd say this is along the lines of what an appropriate overview of the article should look like. I look forward to seeing what you and your classmates do with this article.--ragesoss (talk) 15:51, 25 March 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Humboldtian Science[edit]

Hi Ragesoss,

My name is Ali and I am currently taking Professor Stuhl's History of Ecology course at Bucknell University.

I am sure you have know a lot about our semester long project with Wikipedia, for which I have been assigned to work on and develop the Humboldtian Science page.

Through my research I can see that this article is well established and does a pretty good job of outlining and defining Humboldtian Science.

However there are a few questions I have that I would like to get your opinion on...

1) The article currently offers a pretty bulky "Biography" section about Humboldt. I was wondering how important you think this is for this particular page considering is there is already a pretty lengthy page dedicated personally to the history of Alexander von Humboldt? I think it is important to mention a few historical event in relation to the development of Humboldtian Science specifically and have chose to include those in the outline I have constructed for this article.

2) I think one of the most important aspects of Humboltian science is that it takes a holistic approach to studying science, it is both empirical and pays tribute to the aesthetics of nature, since this is such an important part of this science I was wondering if you thought it would be appropriate to write an entire section about this (there is enough research to support it) or to work in the most crucial details to some of the existing sections?

Thank you for all of your help! Alilafferty (talk) 16:17, 25 March 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Alilafferty: Your suggestions on both points sound right on to me: carving down the biographical elements to ones that are directly relevant to the idea of Humboldtian science, and expanding on the key aspects that are underdeveloped. (This article is actually one that one of my students did when I was a teaching assistant.) Good luck!--ragesoss (talk) 16:25, 25 March 2014 (UTC)[reply]

History of Marine Biology[edit]

Hello Ragesoss! My name is Sara Palombo and I am a student in the History of Ecology class working on Wikipedia articles. I have chosen to focus on the Marine Biology page and will be adding to the History section of that page. As I looked over the current age and began gathering information for my outline/article, I began to worry that I am going to overwhelm the page with History. I don't know if I should perhaps condense the amount of information I am collecting to make sure the History section of the pace is not too long as many of the other sections on the page are rather short. I want to be thorough in my work on the history of marine biology but I am worried about making the page too much about the history. I was just wondering if you had any suggestions on how to go about this issue I am facing. Should I condense the information I have or should I include lots of information and hope others follow and add more on to the other sections? Thank you so much for all your help!

Sarakpal (talk) 16:38, 25 March 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Sara. I wouldn't worry about overwhelming the article, since the history of marine biology is clearly an important topic in its own right that deserves to be covered in detail. What you might consider instead is just starting a new history of marine biology article to give a longer overview, and then use a short version of that (such as just the lead section, if it's written in good summary style to give a quick overview of the topic) for the marine biology article's History section. Although it's grown in the meantime to be a little too big, that's the approach that was previously used for the History section of the Biology article. And if you start a new article, you might be ablew to get it onto the main page for a "Did You Know" entry. Good luck!--ragesoss (talk) 16:55, 25 March 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Kosmos (Humboldt) Outline Help[edit]

Hi Sage! My name is Ashley and I'm in Professor Stuhl's History of Ecology class at Bucknell. I'm working on the Kosmos (Humboldt) page and was hoping for some guidance as I try to compose an outline. Since the page is about the book rather than Humboldt himself, I was worried about making the page too focused on Humboldt and not enough about Kosmos specifically. I was wondering if you have any advice as to what information I should or shouldn't include about the book or about Humboldt? Thank you for your time! Ashleyweir (talk) 19:53, 25 March 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Ashley. Similar advice to what I gave above about Genetics and the Origin of Species probably applies here as well... the things I'd look for in a solid article about an historically important book would be:
  • Relevant background and context, helping the reader understand the world that Kosmos came into
  • Information about the writing and publication of the book
  • An overview of the contents of the book itself
  • An in-depth discussion of its reception and influence
Hope that helps!--ragesoss (talk) 19:57, 25 March 2014 (UTC)[reply]

An exciting month of wiki events![edit]

Hello there,

I am pleased to say that April will be a very exciting month for Wikipedia in Washington, DC. We have a lot of different events coming up, so you will have a lot to choose from.

First, a reminder that our second annual Women in the Arts Edit-a-Thon will take place on Sunday, March 30 at the National Museum of Women in the Arts.

Coming up in April, we have our first-ever Open Government WikiHack with the Sunlight Foundation on April 5–6! We are working together to use open government data to improve the Wikimedia projects, and we would love your help. All are welcome, regardless of coding or editing experience. We will also be having a happy hour the day before, with refreshments courtesy of the Sunlight Foundation.

On Friday, April 11 we are having our first edit-a-thon ever with the Library of Congress. The Africa Collection Edit-a-Thon will focus on the Library's African and Middle East Reading Room. It'll be early in the morning, but it's especially worth it if you're interested in improving Wikipedia's coverage of African topics.

The following day, we are having our second annual Wiki Loves Capitol Hill training. We will discuss policy issues relevant to Wikimedia and plan for our day of outreach to Congressional staffers that will take place during the following week.

There are other meetups in the works, so be sure to check our meetup page with the latest. I hope to see you at some of these events!

All the best,
James Hare

(To unsubscribe, remove your username here.) 01:29, 26 March 2014 (UTC)

The Signpost: 26 March 2014[edit]

DYK nomination of Sofia Simmonds[edit]

Hello! Your submission of Sofia Simmonds at the Did You Know nominations page has been reviewed, and some issues with it may need to be clarified. Please review the comment(s) underneath your nomination's entry and respond there as soon as possible. Thank you for contributing to Did You Know! BlueMoonset (talk) 15:52, 30 March 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Definitely something shiny owed...[edit]

The Helping Hand Barnstar
Huge amounts of thanks for picking up the slack on my talkpage and helping out the WEP students there while I was away. Yunshui 雲‍水 07:50, 31 March 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Outline for History of Ecology[edit]

Hello Ragesoss, my name is Octavio and I am currently in professor Stuhl's history of ecology course. I am working on the article the Kaibab Plateau and this is the outline I composed for it. I was wondering if you could give me some advice as to what aspect of the outline I should focus on so that I can write on it for the Kaibab Plateau article. Thank you so much.

One possible addition to this article would be to talk about how the Kaibab Deer affected students and professors studying conservation. After scientists conducted studies and came up with a solution to what had caused the fluctuations among the deer population, these results were able to be used in classrooms in order to learn what had happened to the Kaibab deer. This was important and controversial because there was still a debate as to what had actually happened to the Kaibab deer. The Kaibab deer are a great example of how human intervention most likely caused the anomalies in the deer population and ultimately led to their extinction.

Another possible addition to this article would be to provide the different alternatives that people believed were the cause of the abnormal changes in deer population. There were different theories which were all plausible at the time. Some people believe that the growth and decline of the deer population was due to restrictions made on hunters so that the Kaibab deer could live freely and increase their population. Others believed that the cause was due to the killing of the predators that were causing the deer population to go extinct. Others believe that the decline of the deer population was due because there were so many deer that they ended up over browsing the area of the Kaibab Plateau. In this section I could also explain what was the actual reason that the deer population fluctuated, most likely due to human intervention.

Finally another possible addition to this article would be to add a small amount of background information about this area. In this section I could talk about how the Kaibab Plateau formed and how it became an important area of preservation. In this section I could also explain the different ways in which the natives to this area treated the land also how hunters and travelers treated the land and how that may have affected the fluctuations in deer population. Aoc001 (talk) 14:23, 1 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Octavio! All three of those topics sound like good things to be covered in the article. If it's not feasible for you to balance your expansion of the article across all of those topics, then I personally would find the first one the most interesting to see covered in detail. Good luck!--ragesoss (talk) 16:53, 1 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]

History of Saint Helena[edit]

Hey Ragesoss, I'm Wade, a student in History of Ecology and Bucknell, and I'm doing my project on the History of Saint Helena Island. I noticed that most of the information on the page is the social history of the island and that isn't important for my focus. I am hoping to add more depth to the history with my ecological sources. I hope you can look at my bibliography and outline to let me know if the information i'm adding is pertinent and appropriate for wikipedia. I'm looking forward to your input. --User:Baldwinwt — Preceding undated comment added 18:50, 1 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Wade. Your bibliography and outline look good to me; it seems like you're headed in the right direction. Good luck!--ragesoss (talk) 19:06, 1 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]

DYK for Sofia Simmonds[edit]

The DYK project (nominate) 16:02, 4 April 2014 (UTC)

The Signpost: 02 April 2014[edit]

You're invited![edit]

NE Meetup #5: April 19th at Clover Food Lab in Kendall Square

Dear Fellow Wikimedian,

New England Wikimedians would like to invite you to the April 2014 meeting, which will be a small-scale meetup of all interested Wikimedians from the New England area. We will socialize, review regional events from the beginning of the year, look ahead to regional events of 2014, and discuss other things of interest to the group. Be sure to RSVP here if you're interested.

Also, if you haven't done so already, please consider signing up for our mailing list and connect with us on Facebook and Twitter.

We hope to see you there!

Kevin Rutherford (talk) and Maia Weinstock (talk)

(You can unsubscribe from future notifications for Boston-area events by removing your name from this list.)

The Signpost: 09 April 2014[edit]

This Month in Education: April 2014[edit]



Headlines

To assist with preparing the newsletter, please visit the newsroom. Past editions may be viewed here.

Anna Koval (WMF) (talk) 21:45, 15 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]

If this message is not on your home wiki's talk page, update your subscription.

Precious[edit]

art forms
Thank you, Sage, for quality articles for project history of science such as Johannes Kepler, for images and references and "Learn to see the beauty in the redlink", for the beauty of Kunstformen der Natur and memories, - repeating: you are an awesome Wikipedian (9 December 2009)!

--Gerda Arendt (talk) 08:04, 22 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks![edit]

Hi Sage. Just wanted to drop by and say thanks for taking the time to read over and express your support for our Reimagining Wikipedia Mentorship grant proposal that we put together! I, JethroBT drop me a line 18:05, 22 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]

The Signpost: 23 April 2014[edit]

Discerning pages that link to others?[edit]

Hi there! I was chatting with Ced015 Lgn006 and Eak016 earlier today about their work on the page Biogeography. They are interested in soliciting more feedback from editors outside of our course. They were wondering if there is a mechanism in place by which one can detect the set of Wikipedia pages that offer internal links to Biogeography? They thought that might be a smart way to target particular pages and thus groups of editors with interests in the subject area. Is such a thing possible? If not, do you recommend other means of inviting editors to give comment on this page? Thanks for your thoughts! --Enstandrew (talk) 16:03, 23 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Ced015, Lgn006, Eak016 and Enstandrew: To answer the technical question first, in the left-hand sidebar there's a Tools section that includes "What links here", which shows all the pages linking to that page: Special:WhatLinksHere/Biogeography. However, there are so many such pages that you probably want to narrow it down. One good way to do so is to focus on the pages listed in navigation templates that include Biogeography, which you can find by limiting the search to the "Template" namespace, like this. The particularly relevant templates are {{Biogeography}}, {{Modelling ecosystems}} and {{Biodiversity}}.
That said, I don't think posting to other article talk pages is a particularly good way to seek feedback. I would instead recommend one or more of these routes:
Hope that helps.--ragesoss (talk) 16:41, 23 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you very much, Ragesoss. We appreciate your advice and will be reaching out to active editors working on related articles to get some feedback on our contributions to the Biogeography page. Ced015 (talk) 01:55, 24 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]

OER inquiry[edit]

Hi Ragesoss, I'm sending you this message because you're one of about 300 users who have recently edited an article in the umbrella category of open educational resources (OER) (or open education). In evaluating several projects we've been working on (e.g. the WIKISOO course and WikiProject Open), my colleague Pete Forsyth and I have wondered who chooses to edit OER-related articles and why. Regardless of whether you've taken the WIKISOO course yourself - and/or never even heard the term OER before - we'd be extremely grateful for your participation in this brief, anonymous survey before 27 April. No personal data is being collected. If you have any ideas or questions, please get in touch. My talk page awaits. Thanks for your support! - Sara FB (talk) 20:47, 23 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]

David Ehrenfeld Article[edit]

Hi ragesoss, My name is Eric and I am a member of the history of ecology class at Bucknell University. I am currently in the process of creating a new page on David Ehrenfeld, a prominent figure in conservation biology. Would you be able to review my article as it is still in the creation process for becoming a live article? It still says that the review could take up to a month and my final article is due next week. If you could help me it would be greatly appreciated! Thanks.Emm031 (talk) 02:29, 24 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Emm031 (and Enstandrew and Yunshui): I've gone ahead and made the draft live. There's suprisingly little directly biographical information available, but Ehrenfeld definitely exceeds the requirements of Wikipedia:Notability (academics), and the article is well-sourced enough to make that clear. (As a side note: we generally recommend the grades be based only the work students do, not on whether or not it ends up sticking around as a live article. I think this is the way Enstandrew is doing it, but I'm noting this for other readers.)--ragesoss (talk) 14:03, 24 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you for your help on making the draft live! I really appreciate it. I am also looking to add a few pictures to the page, but due to the lack of material out there on Ehrenfeld, there doesn't seem to be many photos on the internet that meet Wikipedia standards. Any suggestions? Lastly, I have fixed the bare citation issue. Is there any way to remove the tag at the top of the page that denotes that I still need to fix it? Thanks again for all of your help RageSoss. Emm031 (talk) 02:35, 29 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Emm031: It looks like you've figured out how to remove that tag, and you've also found a freely-licensed photo of Ehrenfeld. Well done!--ragesoss (talk) 13:42, 29 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Edit-a-thon invite[edit]

You're invited to the Peabody Essex Museum Edit-a-thon Spring 2014

On May 3rd, the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts will be hosting a Native American and Chinese Art edit-a-thon from 9:00-5:00 pm. You are more than welcome to attend, as there will be free food and drink, and an outing afterwards. If you are interested, please sign up here, as we would love to see you there!

If you have any questions, please leave a message at Ed Rodley's talk page. You can unsubscribe from future notifications for Boston-area events by removing your name from this list.

Two edit-a-thons coming up![edit]

Hello there!

I'm pleased to tell you about two upcoming edit-a-thons:

  • This Tuesday, April 29, from 2:30 to 5:30 PM, we have the Freer and Sackler edit-a-thon. (Sorry for the short notice!)
  • On Saturday, May 10 we have the Wikipedia APA edit-a-thon, in partnership with the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center, from 10 AM to 5 PM.

We have more stuff coming up in May and June, so make sure to keep a watch on the DC meetup page. As always, if you have any recommendations or requests, please leave a note on the talk page.


Best,

James Hare

(To unsubscribe, remove your username here.) 20:38, 25 April 2014 (UTC)

Videos for Wikimania 2014[edit]

Hi

We’re searching peoples how help us making videos at the wikimania in London. Victor Grigas has written that you have some skills in video production. If you’re interested please check this 2 wikimania-submissions:

For further information please contact .js. I’m only the bearer. --Bjferstern (talk) 13:31, 29 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]

.js and Bjferstern: Thanks. I would be interested in helping out, but unfortunately I don't anticipate getting the chance to come to Wikimania this year.--ragesoss (talk) 13:39, 29 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]
I can't be there too. I will help from home as Cutter. --Bjferstern (talk) 16:22, 29 April 2014 (UTC)[reply]

The Signpost: 30 April 2014[edit]

Skepchickal[edit]

I nominated a photograph you uploaded, for Featured Picture consideration, at Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates/Skepchickal.

Thank you for your contributions to Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons,

— Cirt (talk) 19:55, 8 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Cirt: Thank you. I'm touched that you nominated this. Her loss is still a heavy weight on my heart.--ragesoss (talk) 20:02, 9 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]
You're welcome, and agreed. However, it looks like it won't pass. Oh well, was worth a try. I wonder if you have any ideas on how to modify it, and perhaps I could nominate an alternate version? — Cirt (talk) 20:05, 9 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

The Signpost: 07 May 2014[edit]

BAGBot: Your bot request RagesossBot[edit]

Someone has marked Wikipedia:Bots/Requests for approval/RagesossBot as needing your input. Please visit that page to reply to the requests. Thanks! AnomieBOT⚡ 18:34, 10 May 2014 (UTC) To opt out of these notifications, place {{bots|optout=operatorassistanceneeded}} anywhere on this page.[reply]

Meet up with us[edit]

Happy May!

There are a few meetups in DC this month, including an edit-a-thon later this month. Check it out:

  • On Thursday, May 15 come to our evening WikiSalon at the Cove co-working space in Dupont Circle. If you're available Thursday evening, feel free to join us!
  • Or if you prefer a Saturday night dinner gathering, we also have our May Meetup at Capitol City Brewing Company. (Beer! Non-beer things too!)
  • You are also invited to the Federal Register edit-a-thon at the National Archives later this month.

Come one, come all!

Best,

James Hare

(To unsubscribe, remove your username here.) 20:20, 10 May 2014 (UTC)

Summer class[edit]

I'm teaching another course this summer. If you're around, I'd love to have you as a volunteer. Also, if you have any suggestions for articles relating to pre-1700 HSCI that need work, we would lie happy for suggestions. Thanks, Kirwanfan (talk) 03:55, 14 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Kirwanfan: Sure, happy to. I'll look into articles... or better yet, a more systematic way of coming up with good student topics for history of science classes.--ragesoss (talk) 12:56, 15 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

This Month in Education: May 2014[edit]



Headlines

To assist with preparing the newsletter, please visit the newsroom. Past editions may be viewed here.

MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 20:09, 15 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

If this message is not on your home wiki's talk page, update your subscription.

The Signpost: 14 May 2014[edit]

Adrianne Wadewitz Memorial edit-a-thons[edit]

Adrianne Wadewitz edit-a-thons in Southern New England

As you may have already heard, the Wikipedia community lost an invaluable member of the community last month. Adrianne Wadewitz was a feminist scholar of 18th-Century British literature, and a prolific editor of the site. As part of a worldwide series of tributes, New England Wikimedians, in conjunction with local institutions of higher learning, have created three edit-a-thons that will be occurring in May and June. The events are as follows:

We hope that you will be able to join us, whether you are an experienced editor or are using Wikipedia for the first time.

If you have any questions, please leave a message at Kevin Rutherford's talk page. You can unsubscribe from future notifications for Boston-area events by removing your name from this list.

The Signpost: 21 May 2014[edit]

Survey for editors who mentor newcomer[edit]

Dear Wikipedia Ambassador,

I am seeking input on your experience as a mentor to new Wikipedians. This survey is designed to provide insight for the development of a new mentorship support tool on Wikipedia. If you have a moment, please take this survey, it should not take more than 10 minutes of your time to complete.

https://syracuseuniversity.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_4V2SSrhU2NFOVAV

Also, if you are able to, I would greatly appreciate it if you would send the following survey to the mentee you worked with:

https://syracuseuniversity.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_4V1quUdMZ1By3Ah

Thank you in advance for your participation, Gabriel Mugar 13:33, 25 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Request for comment[edit]

Hello there, a proposal regarding pre-adminship review has been raised at Village pump by Anna Frodesiak. Your comments here is very much appreciated. Many thanks. Jim Carter through MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 06:46, 28 May 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Washington, DC meetups in June[edit]

Greetings!

Wikimedia DC has yet another busy month in June. Whether you're a newcomer to Wikipedia or have years of experience, we're happy to see you come. Here's what's coming up:

  • On Wednesday, June 11 from 7 to 9 PM come to the WikiSalon at the Cove co-working space. Hang out with Wikipedia enthusiasts!
  • Saturday, June 14 is the Frederick County History Edit-a-Thon from 11 AM to 4 PM. Help improve local history on Wikipedia.
  • The following Saturday, June 21, is the June Meetup. Dinner and drinks with Wikipedians!
  • Come on Tuesday, June 24 for the Wikipedia in Your Library edit-a-thon at GWU on local and LGBT history.
  • Last but not least, on Sunday, June 29 we have the Phillips Collection Edit-a-Thon in honor of the Made in America exhibit.

Wikipedia is better with friends, so why not come out to an event?

Best,

James Hare

(To unsubscribe, remove your username here.) 01:41, 31 May 2014 (UTC)

The Signpost: 28 May 2014[edit]

New England Wikimedians summer events![edit]

Upcoming events hosted by New England Wikimedians!

After many months of doubt, nature has finally warmed up and summer is almost here! The New England Wikimedians user group have planned some upcoming events. This includes some unique and interesting events to those who are interested:

Although we also aren't hosting this year's Wikimania, we would like to let you know that Wikimania this year will be occurring in London in August:

If you have any questions, please leave a message at Kevin Rutherford's talk page. You can unsubscribe from future notifications for Boston-area events by removing your name from this list.

New England Wikimedians summer events![edit]

Upcoming events hosted by New England Wikimedians!

After many months of doubt, nature has finally warmed up and summer is almost here! The New England Wikimedians user group have planned some upcoming events. This includes some unique and interesting events to those who are interested:

Although we also aren't hosting this year's Wikimania, we would like to let you know that Wikimania this year will be occurring in London in August:

If you have any questions, please leave a message at Kevin Rutherford's talk page. You can unsubscribe from future notifications for Boston-area events by removing your name from this list.

The Signpost: 04 June 2014[edit]

The Signpost: 11 June 2014[edit]

This Month in Education: June 2014[edit]



Headlines
Highlights  · Single page edition

To assist with preparing the newsletter, please visit the newsroom. Past editions may be viewed here.

MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 05:12, 16 June 2014 (UTC)[reply]

If this message is not on your home wiki's talk page, please update your subscription.

Saturday June 21: Wiki Loves Pride[edit]

Upcoming Saturday event - June 21: Wiki Loves Pride NYC

You are invited to join us at Jefferson Market Library for "Wiki Loves Pride", hosted by New York Public Library, Metropolitan New York Library Council, Wikimedia LGBT and Wikimedia New York City, where both experienced and new Wikipedia editors will collaboratively improve articles on this theme:

11am–4pm at Jefferson Market Library.

We hope to see you there! Pharos (talk)

(You can unsubscribe from future notifications for NYC-area events by removing your name from this list.)

The Signpost: 18 June 2014[edit]

Cascadia[edit]

We look forward to your arrival in the Pacific Northwest! Hope you like trees, coffee and microbrews! :) --Another Believer (Talk) 20:50, 26 June 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks Another Believer! I rather love all three of those!--ragesoss (talk) 20:55, 26 June 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Sunday July 6: WikNYC Picnic[edit]

Sunday July 6: WikNYC Picnic

You are invited to join us the "picnic anyone can edit" in Central Park, as part of the Great American Wiknic celebrations being held across the USA. Remember it's a wiki-picnic, which means potluck.

1pm–8pm at southwest section of the Great Lawn, north of the Delacorte Theater.

Also, before the picnic, you can join in the Wikimedia NYC chapter's annual meeting.

11:30am-12:30pm at Yeoryia Studios, 2067 Broadway.

We hope to see you there!--Pharos (talk) 16:51, 28 June 2014 (UTC)[reply]

(You can unsubscribe from future notifications for NYC-area events by removing your name from this list.)

The Signpost: 25 June 2014[edit]

The Great American Wiknic and other events in July[edit]

I am pleased to announce our fourth annual picnic, the Great American Wiknic, will take place at Meridian Hill Park in Washington, D.C. on Sunday, July 13 from 1 to 5 PM (rain date: July 20). We will be hanging out by the statue of Dante Alighieri, a statue that was donated to the park in 1921 as a tribute to Italian Americans. Read more about the statue on Wikipedia. If you would like to sign up for the picnic, you can do so here. When signing up, say what you’re going to bring!

July will also feature the second annual Great American Wiknic in Frederick, Maryland. This year’s Frederick picnic will take place on Sunday, July 6 at Baker Park. Sign up here for the Frederick picnic.

What else is going on in July? We have the American Chemical Society Edit-a-Thon on Saturday, July 12, dedicated to notable chemists, and our monthly WikiSalon on Wednesday, July 16.

We hope to see you at our upcoming events!

Best,

James Hare

(To unsubscribe, remove your username here.) 21:22, 30 June 2014 (UTC)

The Signpost: 02 July 2014[edit]

The Signpost: 09 July 2014[edit]

This Month in Education: July 2014[edit]



To assist with preparing the newsletter, please visit the newsroom. Past editions may be viewed in the archives.

14:07, 15 July 2014 (UTC)

If this message is not on your home wiki's talk page, update your subscription.

The Signpost: 16 July 2014[edit]

Delayed reply from voxcanis[edit]

Dear Sage: I am sorry that I did not see your kind message from last Spring. Nathan was doing all the Wikipedia side of the class. I would like to catch up now, including doing the tutorials that students are expected to complete. Are you still available for consultation? Yrs, Peter

Battle of Fort Stevens Edit-a-Thon![edit]

Greetings!

Sorry for the last minute update, but our friends at the DC Historical Society have scheduled a Battle of Fort Stevens Edit-a-Thon to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Civil War battle fought in the District. The event will last from noon to 2 PM on Wednesday, July 30. Hope you can make it!

Best,

James Hare

(To unsubscribe, remove your username here.) 21:17, 23 July 2014 (UTC)

The Signpost: 23 July 2014[edit]

Mark project defunct?[edit]

Ragesoss, I see that you have been a contributor to WikiProject Citizendium Porting. I am inclined to mark it as defunct, as there has been no work on it in a couple of years and it seems unlikely that Citizendium will be a useful source of content for Wikipedia articles in the future. Is that o.k. with you? RockMagnetist (talk) 18:00, 28 July 2014 (UTC)[reply]

RockMagnetist: Yes, that seems like the right move at this point. Thanks!--ragesoss (talk) 23:32, 7 August 2014 (UTC)[reply]

The Signpost: 30 July 2014[edit]

Sunday August 17: NYC Wiki-Salon and Skill Share[edit]

Sunday August 17: NYC Wiki-Salon and Skill Share

You are invited to join the the Wikimedia NYC community for our upcoming wiki-salon and knowledge-sharing workshop on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.

2pm–5pm at Yeoryia Studios at Epic Security Building, 2067 Broadway (5th floor).

Afterwards at 5pm, we'll walk to a social wiki-dinner together at a neighborhood restaurant (to be decided).

We hope to see you there!--Pharos (talk) 15:58, 4 August 2014 (UTC)[reply]

(You can unsubscribe from future notifications for NYC-area events by removing your name from this list.)

canvassing[edit]

Hi Sage, I am a bit confused at what happened at Talk:Intelligent design. I thought canvassing was out of bounds. Can you help me understand how your responding to it was OK? (or maybe you interpret the guideline differently than I do). Thanks. Jytdog (talk) 14:13, 7 August 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Jytdog: Here's my take on it. The guideline describes a spectrum from completely okay to completely not okay in terms of asking for input. (If it addresses responding to requests for input, I haven't reviewed that lately.) User:Samsara pinged me with a neutral message (and without knowing me to have a particular bias about the topic) asking for a second opinion, since he knows I'm familiar with the topic area. That would have been totally fine with an on-wiki talk page message. Since it was done privately, it's a message that goes slightly afoul of the guideline — a minor faux pas — but that's why I made sure to note explicitly in my reply that he'd asked me to take a look: to ensure the type of transparency that is the main purpose of the canvassing guideline.--ragesoss (talk) 16:15, 7 August 2014 (UTC)[reply]
Reading the full WP:CANVAS guideline now, I see there's a section about responding to canvassing, but it doesn't really address minor cases like this where the only problem is the transparency issue. Given that this wasn't disruptive canvassing, I'd say simply fixing the transparency (as here) would be the best approach.--ragesoss (talk) 17:52, 7 August 2014 (UTC)[reply]
thanks for responding! Jytdog (talk) 18:22, 7 August 2014 (UTC)[reply]

The Signpost: 06 August 2014[edit]

The Signpost: 13 August 2014[edit]

This Month in Education: August 2014[edit]

Updates, reports, news, and stories about how Wikipedia and Wikimedia projects are used in education around the world.

The Signpost: 20 August 2014[edit]

Thanks for updating schedule[edit]

Thank you for updating Education Program:Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai/Expanding Wikiproject Medicine (2014 Spring) from fall to spring. I had tried to do this earlier but was unable to do so.

Also, we plan on using this course page continually, because this is a student club and not actually a class. Are you aware of other instances of the education program software being used in this way? It has been useful for what it is. Blue Rasberry (talk) 20:36, 25 August 2014 (UTC)[reply]

User:Bluerasberry: I didn't update anything; I actually just made a null edit to make sure I hadn't broken anything with a template I changed. Changing the names of courses was really buggy — and often resulted in people losing track of their course pages because they accidentally changed the name and didn't know where it went — so it was disabled a while back. It's currently not possible to update the term after a course has been created.
I think this is the only course being used precisely this way, but there are others that have been used for non-standard classes without a clearcut start and end date. It's certainly fine to do that. And if you have any feedback about the features and user experience that are particular to this scenario, feel free to ping me about them.--ragesoss (talk) 21:02, 25 August 2014 (UTC)[reply]
How could I have changed the name? The class asked me to change this some time ago and I did not know that it was possible. It is not possible for me to look at the history and see what you did. What is a null edit in this case? Just click edit, save, and nothing else? Blue Rasberry (talk) 21:05, 25 August 2014 (UTC)[reply]
User:Bluerasberry: Yes, I just clicked save with a null edit. There used to be additional fields for page name and term, so that you could change those at any point. But the interface didn't make very clear that changing those would immediately move the page (with no redirect, and without moving any associated pages like talk pages or the transcluded pages built by the course page wizard), and it there were also database problems related to page moves. I'm hoping to reimplement page moves in a more standard way (with a Move tab) at some point, but for now, the only option is to create a new course and re-add the students and their articles.--ragesoss (talk) 13:56, 26 August 2014 (UTC)[reply]

The Signpost: 27 August 2014[edit]

Wikipedia and YOUR History: Taking Control of the Internet[edit]

Come one and come all. To a presentation at the Laurel Historical Society about how you can help verify, validate, and edit the information that is on the front line of local history.

Picture your self leading the masses to improve Wikimedia one article at a time.
  • Show the Internet who is the better editor.
  • Be the creator of culture that you know you are.
  • Spread the knowledge of noteworthy people who no one but you cares about.
  • Lead the charge to a better Wikipedia --- eventually.


Geraldshields11 (talk) 02:08, 6 September 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Wikipedia and YOUR History: Taking Control of the Internet[edit]

See you at the Laurel Pool Room, 9th and Main Street, Laurel, MD on Thursday, September 11, 2014 at 7:00 PM EST. See http://www.meetup.com/Wikimedia-DC/events/205494212/ for more information. Geraldshields11 (talk) 02:13, 6 September 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Wikimedia DC invites revolutionaries, free thinkers, and other sundry editors to a DC WikiSalon[edit]

The WikiSalon is a special meetup usually held during the first and third full weeks of every month, from 7 PM to 9 PM. It's an informal gathering of Wikimedia enthusiasts, who come together to discuss Wikimedia wikis and collaboratively edit. There's no set agenda, and guests are welcome to recommend articles for the group to edit or edit on their own.

If you're coming by Metro, the closest station is Dupont Circle (on the Red Line). If you're driving, a lot of parking opens up downtown after 6:30 PM, so finding a parking space (even a free one) should be easy. Once you've found the building, go to Cove on the second floor. We will be in the conference room.

When: Wednesday, September 17, 2014 at 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM

Where: The Cove, Dupont Circle, 1730 Connecticut Avenue NW, 2nd floor, 20009, DC


For more information, see http://www.meetup.com/Wikimedia-DC/events/205500822/


My best regards, Geraldshields11 (talk) 02:25, 6 September 2014 (UTC)[reply]

The Signpost: 03 September 2014[edit]

Wikimedia DC's Wonderful meetups[edit]

Wikimedia DC's Upcoming meetups

  • Thursday, September 11: “Wikipedia and YOUR History: Taking Control of the Internet, One Article at a Time!”
    A presentation at the Laurel Historical Society about how you can help verify, validate, and edit the information that is on the front line of local history. Laurel Pool Room, 9th and Main Street in Laurel, MD. 7 PM.
  • Wednesday, September 17: WikiSalon
    Come for the pizza, stay for the conversation. 7 PM – 9 PM
  • Saturday, September 20: September Meetup
    Get dinner and drinks with fellow Wikipedians! 6 PM
  • Sunday, September 21: Laurel History Edit-a-Thon
    Local history for Wikipedia! 10:15 AM – 4 PM
  • Saturday, September 27 – Sunday, September 28: Please RSVP for the Open Government WikiHack at Eventbrite by clicking on the link. The National Archives and Records Administration and Wikimedia DC are teaming up to come up with solutions that help integrate government data into Wikipedia. 10:30 AM – 5 PM each day

My best regards, Geraldshields11 (talk) 22:50, 6 September 2014 (UTC)[reply]

The Signpost: 10 September 2014[edit]

This Month in Education: September 2014[edit]

Updates, reports, news, and stories about how Wikipedia and Wikimedia projects are used in education around the world.

Headlines · Highlights · Single page · Newsroom · Archives · Unsubscribe · MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 15:19, 17 September 2014 (UTC)[reply]

The Signpost: 17 September 2014[edit]

Hello, and thank you for the help...[edit]

Hello Sage...Thank you in advance for chatting with me about what I'm trying to do with my students on WP. I definitely have some ideas / questions to run by someone with your experience and expertise. Let me know if you'd like to chat via IRC or talk page (or email, or phone). Whatever works best for you. I'm in EST. Thanks again ! UOJComm (talk) 16:24, 18 September 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Request for help with your photo of Adrianne Wadewitz[edit]

Thank you for taking this photo of Adrianne Wadewitz: File:Wikimania 2012 portrait 102 by ragesoss, 2012-07-13.JPG.

  1. I've nominated a text she wrote for consideration as a Featured Text at Wikisource. Text = s:Wikipedia is pushing the boundaries of scholarly practice but the gender gap must be addressed.
  2. Nomination = s:Wikisource:Featured_text_candidates#Wikipedia_is_pushing_the_boundaries_of_scholarly_practice_but_the_gender_gap_must_be_addressed.
  3. There is confusion at s:User_talk:Erasmo_Barresi#Thanks_much about the status of the photo and whether it can be used on that document page on Wikisource.
  4. Can you please make a statement at s:Talk:Wikipedia is pushing the boundaries of scholarly practice but the gender gap must be addressed that it is alright with you, the photographer and copyright holder, to use that image at that document page on Wikisource ?

Thank you for your time,

— Cirt (talk) 19:58, 18 September 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks very much, — Cirt (talk) 20:40, 18 September 2014 (UTC)[reply]
I've uploaded the cropped version on Commons: c:File:Cropped portrait of Adrianne Wadewitz.jpg. Thanks for your help.--Erasmo Barresi (talk) 14:21, 20 September 2014 (UTC)[reply]

The Signpost: 24 September 2014[edit]

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:Ragesoss/Archive24&oldid=1080048869"