User talk:RichardF/Archive/Archive 11

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Archives • New quote & pic

New quote & pic

There's always enough time to stop and eat the flowers!

— Jackson the Chocolate Lab

June 2

Broadbarred firefish (Pterois antennata) in Schönbrunn Zoo, Vienna, Austria. Pterois is a genus of marine fish found mostly in the Indo-Pacific. Scorpionfish is another common name of Pterois, as its spines are venomous.

Photo credit: Christian Mehlführer

Recently featured:

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RE:Warnings

Everything looks good, proof and all to alert future admins too. Just one thing, remember to {{subst:}} the warning template. It makes it look less like a boilerplate when there's actual text there instead of a template. If he keeps it up, AIV is a good place to go. -Royalguard11(Talk·Desk·Review Me!) 00:23, 1 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Okay, thanks! By the way, excuse me while I save the smileys for Wikipedia!

Rfrisbie^talk 02:27, 1 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Speedy deletion of Smiley

Just so you know, this template has been in use for quite some time as an effective communication tool. Just because a previous incarnation of it was deleted doesn't mean nothing has changed since then. The attitude you and the others demonstrated by deleting this template has a direct effect on diminishing the quality of the encyclopedia, as far as I'm concerned, if only because I will be spending far less energy serving this project by upgrading who knows how many portals to featured status (e.g., Cats, Chemistry, Dogs, Education, Philosophy of science, Psychology & Science). Thanks for screwing up one of the few enjoyments I got out of this place. Rfrisbie^talk 16:53, 2 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

As far as I can tell, the only thing that has changed since the previous discussion is that a larger segment of our user base is more interested in creating a MySpace-style social community than in building an encyclopedia. (I'm not referring to you.) Such a rationale would surely be discounted by a closing admin, but you're welcome to file a deletion review. Until then, this was an inappropriate re-creation of legitimately deleted material.

I'm truly sorry that your enjoyment of Wikipedia was dependent on the use of resource-draining emoticon icon templates. —David Levy 17:08, 2 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Portal:Current_events/Canada

It's unfortunate that you're taking a WikiBreak now when I have nominated the Portal:Current events/Canada as a featured portal candidate. Now more than ever your help would be needed for all the things coming my way through this FAC. I hope you're enjoying your break and perhaps you'll be back in time for when the FAC gets 'rolling'. Or at least make a visit =) Mkdw ^talk 10:52, 16 February 2007 (UTC) [reply]

All done

OK, all the userboxes and directories have been migrated :-). Special:Prefixindex/User:Rfrisbie/Userbox is completely empty now. —METS501 (talk) 20:47, 26 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks! That was the most quick, efficient and effective userbox migration I have ever seen! :-) Rfrisbie 21:09, 26 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks :-) —METS501 (talk) 12:02, 27 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Survey Invitation

Hi there, I am a research student from the National University of Singapore and I wish to invite you to do an online survey about Wikipedia. To compensate you for your time, I am offering a reward of USD$10, either to you or as a donation to the Wikimedia Foundation. For more information, please go to the research home page. Thank you. --WikiInquirer 18:23, 9 March 2007 (UTC)^{talk to me}[reply]

Portal:Database

Hi RichardF, can you help me with some guidance and advice for putting together a Database Portal for the Wikiproject Database? I'm sort of new to all this, so any help or advice you could give would be appreciated. Thanks. SqlPac 03:54, 16 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Sure. I'll reply in detail on your page. RichardF 23:55, 16 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks RichardF, I'll start getting the items you recommended together and contact you again on your talk page when I have it together. I appreciate the help! SqlPac 00:15, 17 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

International development portal setup

Hello. It looks like you are doing some setup with a new portal. From what I can tell, you are transcluding Portal:International development/Selected article/Layout on a number of new "placeholders" (such as Portal:International development/Selected article/1), which is resulting in the "red" Category:International development portal getting filled up. I just wanted to check with you before I took any action regarding this to see if you would like for the category to be created, or if you are having an unexpected result with the transclusion which you will be changing resulting in these items being categorized to some other location, or not at all. --After Midnight ⁰⁰⁰¹ 15:23, 17 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Hi After Midnight. Yes, the red category is intentional. However, please do not create it at this time. I am working on testing the feasibility between two different portals - "International development" vs. "Sustainable development." I got rid of the "offending code" until I decide which way, if either, to go. Thanks for the heads-up. RichardF 01:25, 18 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

OK. I'm glad I asked before acting. If I can do anything let me know. If you post here and I don't see it within a day, feel free to post on my talk page. --After Midnight ⁰⁰⁰¹ 04:10, 18 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Veterinary med

Howdy :) I was wondering if you'd be interested in fixing up the {{WikiProject Veterinary medicine}} banner to allow the complex categorical rating functionality? I'm only glancingly involved there, but I think they're at a stage where it'd be useful, and I received this note, and I seem to recall you as being more practiced than I at wrangling this particular code ;) (and maybe small-size functionality too?)

Also, I noticed your userpage header links are all redirecting, something needs an update but I got a bit lost when I realized how many pages that might involve! ttfn, --Quiddity 04:06, 4 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Quiddity, I don't know if you've noticed, but I've drastically cut back my Wikipediaing. It's been a few months since I've done any parser functioning and whatever, so I expect it would take me a while to get up to speed on whatever the latest "this is the way we do that around here" is. If no one beats me to it, I'll take a look on a "real soon now" time frame. As far as all the redirects go, I changed my user name and haven't really bothered with many of the redirects yet. As far as I can tell, the pages I still use are working when I look at them. I'll put those on the "real soon now" list too. I hope things are going well for you. :-) Regards, RichardF 15:30, 4 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

No prob :) I took a stab this morning, and delegated the rest to WP:WVWP who finished it up. ttfn. --Quiddity 19:22, 4 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Cool. ;-) RichardF 00:38, 5 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Portal:Environment

Can you give me a hand in creating that portal? OhanaUnited ^{Talk page} 05:43, 24 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I did some cleanup on the copy over from the other portal. I'll help out with the basic framework as I can and have time. I probably won't do too much on adding content. ;-) RichardF 12:37, 24 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Fair use image

Damn, that'll reduce a lot of images and organizations. Can you help me find organization logos at commons? OhanaUnited ^{Talk page} 14:55, 24 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Logos are basically "off limits." It doesn't matter where they're located. That's why it sucks! There's a debate about it somewhere, like at Village pump, but I don't get involved in Wikipolitics anymore. RichardF 15:03, 24 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I tried taking the organizations section out, but then it will screw up the rest because of mis-alignment. Can you take a look and see how to change the codings? OhanaUnited ^{Talk page} 15:46, 24 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I just commented it out for now, so it will be easier to add back in later. :-) RichardF 16:51, 24 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I tried using random portal component on DYK, but failed. Is it a limitation? Because I saw sustainable development portal's DYK also don't randomize. (P.S. When you reply, please reply on my talk page. I don't watch other users' talk page cause otherwise my watchlist will be too long.) OhanaUnited ^{Talk page} 08:36, 25 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Now I'm looking for quotes. I stumbled upon Leave No Trace where they have a slogan "Take only photos, leave only foot prints", which I admit is a good quote, but it doesn't have a slogan originator. Man, I'm going to spend a lot of time looking for these quotes. OhanaUnited ^{Talk page} 17:37, 25 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Nice findings on wikiquotes. I found over 10 useful quotes there. OhanaUnited ^{Talk page} 08:23, 26 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Reba / Task Force invite

Reba is darling! Say, did you get an invitation to join the Environmental Record Task Force? I'm looking at your user page and hoping you might be interested. Check it out!

You are being recruited by the Environmental Record Task Force, a collaborative project committed to accurately and consistently representing the environmental impact of policymakers, corporations, and institutions throughout the encyclopedia. Join us!

cheers, Cyrusc 20:55, 26 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Hi, Cyrusc. Thanks for the invite. However, my current wikiphilsophy is to remain a free agent (too much annoying "history" in my wikipast ;-). RichardF 21:01, 26 June 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Congrats!

Congrats on finding my first secret page! Have you look for the second? hmwith talk 15:14, 1 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Really? It's just your computer, actually. It works fine on IE7 on my laptop and my desktop computers at my house, as well as many other computers I've gotten on, both Windows and Mac. Weird. Do you have a small screen? It's the exact same layout as most of the Portals. Do those show up warped on your computer as well? hmwith talk 20:21, 2 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Yeah, I appreciate it. Weird. Try downloading the new IE7 at work, and you will have less problems with that computer. As for the other one, I'm not sure. My laptop is 1280x800, and I'm not sure what my PC is, but it must be more. I felt like they were standard sizes, but apparently they're big? I wish I had access to a computer where they showed up looking warped. That way, I could make the changes. I'll check it out. Thanks again for bringing this to my attention. P.S. What do you mean by "cropped"? hmwith talk 21:18, 2 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Oh, I was thinking you had your own computer at work and could do whatever. My mistake. I'll try to see it with different resolutions. With the screenshot, can you scroll left/right? hmwith talk 21:45, 2 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Haha, I apologize. I meant is there a scrollbar on the bottom as well, to scroll right and left? Or is the only the vertical scrollbar? hmwith talk 21:54, 2 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Hmm, I'll check that out. Is everything working now (besides the userboxes, that I have yet to fix)? hmwith talk 22:03, 2 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Sustainable development portal

Great work on the Sustainable development portal. I hadn't been to the WikiProject for months (have been caught up at Appropedia). --Chriswaterguy talk 07:23, 31 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

By the way, Category:Appropriate technology is likely to have some relevant content for the portal. --Chriswaterguy talk 07:39, 31 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks Chris. Maybe you can cherry pick some of the best content and add it in. I'll also take tips if you would rather do it that way. Also, if you're into the economic aspects of sustainable development, check out Kivapedia :-) RichardF 13:10, 31 July 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Observations on Kiva

Hi Richard. I dropped in on the Kiva article today and followed some links to the Kiva website on interest rates. They are quite disturbing actually, and I just wanted you to know that. The administrators at Kiva are publicly disclosing the interest rates charged by microcredit institutions they deal with, but the rates cited do not make sense. I would not accuse Kiva of dishonesty, but they should either not cite rates at all, or if they must cite rates, pay more attention to how they are collected. The global microfinance community (including people from CGAP and elsewhere cited in the background information on MF in Kiva's own site) are very carefully shaping the dialogue to ensure that the public understands that rates like 36% per year are not unusual. When Kiva says its rate through CREDIT (a Cambodian MFI) is 11% a year it does nothing to help its on-lenders gain a realistic understanding of the market. And when it uses 'flat' rates to cites the average for all loans through Kiva at 19%, it is weaseling its way out of tough issue by citing technical details no one in the US understands. This is effectively treating on-line lenders like children who have to be 'protected' from the tough world out there. And it makes it far tougher for honest MFIs who quote their rates honestly to get a fair hearing. You may want to raise this over Kiva-way.

By the way, I love your selection of quotations here. You've done a great job with this.Brett epic 18:24, 18 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Hi, Brett! Thanks for your comments! I agree Kiva is a bit weasely on their interest rate disclosures. I believe there was some discussion of that somewhere at KivaFriends.org that didn't get too far. I'll see if I can find it. :-) RichardF 18:36, 18 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Richard ... I'm sorry I can't give you a 'text-book' answer to the question of flat interest rates. I first learned about them in the field years ago, working with the books of an MFI that used them. Since then I have worked with many MFIs, and most have used them or still do. The process is mainly just designed to make the book-keeping easier. You're best to ask Kiva for their working definition: they report their interest rates on a flat, annualized basis, presumably their definition is consistent across countries and systems and they should be able to tell you what it is.Brett epic 03:46, 19 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks, Brett. I've gone the Kiva route here and there. They don't actually answer questions so pointedly asked, at least not in my experience. They recently hired a new finance guy, I believe, so we'll see if that changes things. RichardF 03:52, 19 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Hi again Richard. I looked at the CGAP article you posted on my talk page. You're right; it's there. If you go to page 6, I'm talking about the comparision between the 'base case' and example #4. In the base case, the effective interest rate is 36; in the flat rate case it's 56%. The reason the difference is so small (the declining balance case is over 60% of the flat rate) is that the term is extremely short (4 months). The longer the term becomes, the closer the flat case approaches precisely double the declining balance case.Brett epic 03:59, 19 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

It looks like we're on the "same page" now! :-) RichardF 04:02, 19 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Disappointment DRV

You have many posts at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Psychology, so I think your opinion may be beneficial in the Disappointment DRV. Template:Emotion-footer seems to be a list of topics that may lend themselves with being dictionary definitions rather than articles. Now pending at DRV is the Disappointment DRV. Your comments at that DRV may help in resolving this Psychology(?) issue. Thanks. -- Jreferee ^(Talk) 23:53, 12 September 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Making headings bold links

There is no reason to make portals any harder to use than articles. I can see that some use bold links, others, which are easier to read, don't. 199.125.109.136 04:21, 1 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

The vast majority of featured portals link the title article name. It is the consensus of reviewers. RichardF 12:35, 1 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Portal:Scientology

Thanks so much for the advice on randomizing the Quotes and DYKs. The portal is a lot more dynamic now. Curt Wilhelm VonSavage 07:38, 1 November 2007 (UTC).[reply]

Thanks. It's really coming along! :-) RichardF 12:08, 1 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]