User talk:Tom (USA) Rolfe

Page contents not supported in other languages.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Although some prefer welcoming newcomers with cookies, I find fruit to be a healthier alternative.

Hello, Tom (USA) Rolfe, and welcome to Wikipedia! Thank you for your contributions. I hope you like this place and decide to stay.

  • If you have a question that is not one of the frequently asked questions below, check out the Teahouse, ask me on my talk page, or click the button below. Happy editing and again, welcome! Rasnaboy (talk) 10:14, 24 August 2023 (UTC)[reply]


Why can't I edit some particular pages?
Some pages that have been vandalized repeatedly are semi-protected, meaning that editing by new or unregistered users is prohibited through technical measures. If you have an account that is four days old and has made at least 10 edits, then you can bypass semi-protection and edit any semi-protected page. Some pages, such as highly visible templates, are fully-protected, meaning that only administrators can edit them. If this is not the case, you may have been blocked or your IP address caught up in a range block.
Where can I experiment with editing Wikipedia?
Use the main sandbox or create your own personal sandbox to experiment.
How do I create an article?
See how to create your first article, then use the Article Wizard to create one, and add references to the article as explained below.
How do I create citations?
  1. Do a search on Google or your preferred search engine for the subject of the Wikipedia article that you want to create a citation for.
  2. Find a website that supports the claim you are trying to find a citation for.
  3. In a new tab/window, go to the citation generator, click on the 'An arbitrary website' bubble, and fill out as many fields as you can about the website you just found.
  4. Click the 'Get reference wiki text' button.
  5. Highlight, and then copy (Ctrl+C or Apple+C), the resulting text (it will be something like <ref> {{cite web | .... }}</ref>, copy the whole thing).
  6. In the Wikipedia article, after the claim you found a citation for, paste (Ctrl+V or Apple+V) the text you copied.
  7. If the article does not have a References or Notes section (or the like), add this to the bottom of the page, but above the External Links section and the categories:
==References==
{{Reflist}}
What is a WikiProject, and how do I join one?
A WikiProject is a group of editors that are interested in improving the coverage of certain topics on Wikipedia. (See this page for a complete list of WikiProjects.) If you would like to help, add your username to the list that is on the bottom of the WikiProject page.

Please stop canvassing racing records on racehorse articles[edit]

Article talk pages are for discussing improvements to articles; dropping in stats to every talk page is disruptive. OhNoitsJamie Talk 22:04, 17 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Perhaps you can help. Wikipedia seems to live in some Orwellian universe where opinion or commentary is more important than fact. Any half decent professional provides advice / commentary based on a factual matrix something which seems to be almost entirely absent from wikipedia articles on horses racing. Merely citing a book or a website without original research will lead to errors and also hide substandard work of which there is much. I note that some contributors use New Zealand Past Papers to report on English horse racing yet my experience is that the NZ papers are riddled with errors. I am not suggesting my work is fool proof but at least it is a starting point for a proper factual matrix for analysis. For example I have heard that almost every Melbourne Cup winner since WWII now has a wikipedia page. A proper factual matrix may reveal some as one trick ponies not worthy of a wikipedia page. Wikipedia horse racing now seems to be based around someone's favourite race or perhaps even a relative or friend's favourite horse. Coverage of world racing is essentially limited to English speaking countries and quite frankly is undesirable. You will find that that I have just published Caravelle's (France) race history just prior to receiving your email. Some more French, German and Italian horses would be a good start. Incidentally Rome's National Library now has digitised copies on line of some early Italian Turf Registers which is a welcome addition to the knowledge base. In my opinion wikipedia needs a full time editor with a world view of horse racing to take charge and needs to bring with it people from South Africa, South America and other non-english speaking countries on board. People connected to the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities might be a useful starting point for gathering information. Ideally we would arrive at the equivalent of an International Horse Racing Hall of Fame, perhaps with an upper limit of 1000 horses, covering the modern racing era from circa 1850 (later in the USA because of the Civil War) with provision for new entrants included in the 1000 up to say year 2100 when I expect horse racing will have almost disappeared from the sporting landscape. Of course I am dreaming. Cheers. 124.148.237.7 (talk) 00:50, 18 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]
A good place for you to start would be Wikipedia:WikiProject Horse racing. The talk page for that WikiProject would be a good place to share your ideas the topic and solicit input from more experienced members. OhNoitsJamie Talk 12:30, 18 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Continuing to misuse article talk pages, not citing sources[edit]

I don't doubt your good intentions, Tom, but you continue to misuse article talk pages and post unsourced content. If you want to propose a new article, you should go through the Articles for creation process. Additionally, even if this contribution had been properly sourced, the formatting was mess. We have standards and guidelines regarding tabular data; you should be able to find examles of that in existing horse articles. OhNoitsJamie Talk 15:12, 19 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I am just a stupid old so and so born long before computers existed so forgive my ignorance regarding computer matters. Your processes are too complicated for me however I found a 'Race Record' table for the horse Archer at 'Archer (horse) - Wikipedia'. I can't see much difference between that table (many more columns than mine) and the ones I have been preparing (in fact I think mine are far better but that is obviously a matter of opnion). Please let me know if the Archer table meets your approval. Cheers Tom (USA) Rolfe (talk) 08:56, 20 January 2024 (UTC)[reply]
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=User_talk:Tom_(USA)_Rolfe&oldid=1197391051"