User talk:Wageless

Welcome!

Hello, Wageless, and welcome to Wikipedia! Thank you for your contributions. I hope you like the place and decide to stay. Here are some pages that you might find helpful:

• The five pillars of Wikipedia
• Tutorial
• How to edit a page
• How to write a great article
• Manual of Style

I hope you enjoy editing here and being a Wikipedian! Please sign your messages on discussion pages using four tildes (~~~~); this will automatically insert your username and the date. If you need help, check out Wikipedia:Questions, ask me on my talk page, or ask your question and then place {{helpme}} before the question on your talk page. Again, welcome! J Milburn (talk) 18:46, 21 January 2008 (UTC)

AfD nomination of Duck Man

An article that you have been involved in editing, Duck Man, has been listed for deletion. If you are interested in the deletion discussion, please participate by adding your comments at Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Duck Man. Thank you. J Milburn (talk) 18:46, 21 January 2008 (UTC)

Card Football

I'm going to re-add some parts of the UK version as i feel the current cut doesn't explain all aspects of the game. Thanks for not taking my edits/Afd nomination as a personal attack on the article, now its survived Afd i hope it grows into an article worthy of the front page :) - Thanks TheProf07 (talk) 21:05, 1 February 2008 (UTC)

Okie doke. Perhaps the article now leaps into notability?

I'll remove the tag, however, its likely that this article will be nominated for AfD again. But theres a chance it'll be ok now. TheProf07 (talk) 00:41, 2 February 2008 (UTC)

Speedy Tags

Do not remove speedy tags. Only admins should do that. Undeath (talk) 03:48, 6 February 2008 (UTC)

• Actually, no, I don't agree. You are only supposed to add the hangon tag to it if you believe that it should not be deleted. Undeath (talk) 13:57, 6 February 2008 (UTC)
  • And if you read the notice inside the speedy, it says do not delete it. Admins are only supposed to delete those tags. That is to cut down on vandalism. Undeath (talk) 14:28, 6 February 2008 (UTC)

Don Edgardo Colona

Great job on that! Thanks for doing it TRAVELLINGCARI^{My story}_{Tell me yours} 15:11, 27 February 2008 (UTC)

Barnstar

		The Original Barnstar
		For a simply lovely article. Good work! -- Quiddity (talk) 19:28, 29 February 2008 (UTC)

Loved your article in the New York Review of Books!

I just loved your article about wikipedia! Most articles about us are written by people who have no clue how wikipedia functions, and even the better ones are rarely written by "insiders". It was fantastic to see one written by an actual contributer, someone who knows what the process is like! Especially in such an austere publication as The New York Review of Books. I hope you keep up your editing. --Oskar 11:33, 29 February 2008 (UTC)

That's both one of the best external reviews of Wikipedia I've seen, and a very passionate, stirring call-to-arms for inclusionism. Thank you. --Anticipation of a New Lover's Arrival, The 14:52, 29 February 2008 (UTC)

Excellent article. By the way, I've asked for a deletion review of Richard Denner. Since you were obviously interested in the outcome, you are welcome to participate in the deletion review. --Michael Snow (talk) 18:20, 29 February 2008 (UTC)

Hear, hear! I agree with the above, perhaps the best account of the project I've yet read. And a galvanizing reminder that even the fringes are worth defending. Bravo! --JayHenry (talk) 19:00, 29 February 2008 (UTC)

I also really enjoyed your article. Good job! JACOPLANE • 2008-02-29 21:28

Gosh, thank you all very much for these ↑ kind comments. This is wonderful.--Wageless (talk) 21:38, 29 February 2008 (UTC)

I generally liked your article -- unlike many others, you actually dove into the site and gained some experience before writing it. I'm one of the more persistent inclusionists on AFD these days (though not to the extent of DGG either in philosophy). Another user you should keep an eye on is Uncle G (talk · contribs), whose essay On notability explains our notability guidelines better than they do themselves, and is in principle inclusionist. As to saving articles, I consider it a noble calling -- see John Washington, Peter Bulkley, and James Smith Bush for three recent examples -- and encourage you to continue your efforts. I do suggest you hang around and watch AFD some to see what arguments work and what arguments don't. I share your frustration when an editor just doesn't seem to get a subject, but I've come to at least respect the process that gets us there in the end, and know the loopholes and lifebuoys that mean deletion isn't always the end of the road, nor a reflection on Wikipedia as an entity. It's too anarchic for me to dismiss deletionism as a trend or an Achilles heel; at least at its base it stems from the same impulse of making a better encyclopedia. --Dhartung | Talk 23:40, 29 February 2008 (UTC)

I'm inspired by your steady keepage in AfDs. Your recent defense of "drip gas" made me curious about the stuff. I still feel, despite WP:NOHARM, that the "What harm does it do?" argument is a powerful one, if it's coupled with a second line of defense specific to the article. Because really there is a second tacit part to asking that question: which is that harm is done when the stub is lost. In other words, "What harm?" is a gentle way of prompting the deleter to consider that a mistaken deletion is a step backward. I got into a tiny tussle about this with Otto4711 a while back.--Wageless (talk) 14:21, 7 March 2008 (UTC)

I suppose that my own edit history makes me come off as a deletionist (though I've saved stuff in my time); yet I greatly enjoyed your article. And I'm very much looking forward to reading Human Smoke. -- Hoary (talk) 01:37, 1 March 2008 (UTC)

Heh, I just came here to say "nice one" too :-) It's nice to know the Missing Manual actually worked in user test ;-) - David Gerard (talk) 02:28, 1 March 2008 (UTC)

Great article, probrably the best I've read about wikipedia so far. Really good indeed.RIP-Acer (talk) 14:53, 1 March 2008 (UTC)

Jumping on the bandwagon here, but that is a very fine article, and your treatment of vandalism made me laugh - it's probably the first article about Wikipedia to do so. Thanks! Sandstein (talk) 18:10, 1 March 2008 (UTC)

Thanks to all--I'm pleased and embarrassed. I admire the careful work that goes on here.--Wageless (talk) 02:54, 2 March 2008 (UTC)

I just read about you and then read your article too. You rock! --Oakshade (talk) 03:59, 2 March 2008 (UTC)

Let me add to the praise. You've beautifully conveyed both how and why Wikipedia is the world's most interesting massively multiplayer game. It was a delight to read, and I will be forwarding it widely. Thanks! William Pietri (talk) 04:26, 2 March 2008 (UTC)

Also came by to thank you. Have sent it to my mother to explain how WP works. Relata refero (talk) 09:56, 2 March 2008 (UTC)

Thanks for eloquently reminding me (and obviously others) of precisely what is worthwhile about WP. I've been contributing (to varying degrees) since 2002 and was recently getting worn down by all the talk, talk, talk but your article recalled to me the reasons why I got involved in the first place. Pinkville (talk) 15:23, 2 March 2008 (UTC)

There's a delicate balance between inclusionism and deletionism; too much of either will ruin the project. On the whole, your article is quite entertainingly written. (Although I have to admit that I loathed Fermata.) DS (talk) 01:19, 3 March 2008 (UTC)

I very much appreciate these ↑ generous comments--thank you. Balance in all things.--Wageless (talk) 02:51, 3 March 2008 (UTC)

You're welcome; you've found good things to edit. If you haven't read Jason Scott's criticisms of Wikipedia (one, two, three, etc.), they're a decent counterpoint to the large body of enthusiasm about this place. And I can't tell you how much I enjoyed The Mezzanine. Dreamyshade (talk) 03:40, 3 March 2008 (UTC)

Thanks. I listened to one of Jason Scott's impressive rants. I wish I'd written about Veropedia, which feeds in and takes out. Just ran out of breath.--Wageless (talk) 16:34, 3 March 2008 (UTC)

Great piece, Wageless - and I'm with you in inclusionism. Always better to have some extra chaff, rather than risk throwing out the wheat. Thanks for writing it! (PS- loved Vox too!) Tvoz |talk 04:23, 3 March 2008 (UTC)

you're very welcome--chaff dust looks great in slanting sunlight.--Wageless (talk) 16:34, 3 March 2008 (UTC)

Thank you, Wageless, for an entertaining and inspiring piece. I was just getting involved in AfDs and notability sorting when the Richard Denner article was up for deletion, and I almost commented there. Alas, I was leaning weak delete, but these days I am moving more towards the inclusionist side of the fence, for many of the reasons you articulated so well. As for balance, I hope you can find one between compulsion and contribution, and continue to lend your words here. Best, Jfire (talk) 04:46, 3 March 2008 (UTC)

I appreciate that. Not sure I can be a longterm contributor because it's way too much fun.--Wageless (talk) 16:34, 3 March 2008 (UTC)

Well, I have to say I admire your heart in the review... Very passionate piece. I am myself more of a deletionists kind because... well, you eventually turn into one when you have two-year backlogs of clean up requests... Who can have a heart to spend an hour trying to fix up something when there are 80,000 other articles waiting? It's so much easier to click delete and forget that it ever happened... Wikipedia's size is its blessing and its curse. In short, I admire your heart that goes for those orphan abandoned stubs because I know I could never be like that... Renata (talk) 04:47, 4 March 2008 (UTC)

Interesting comment, thanks. I guess I just have a user's perspective: I'm always happier to find something--even the tiniest, orphanedest, eighty-thousandthest stub--than nothing at all.--Wageless (talk) 04:57, 5 March 2008 (UTC)

Another compliment: Great article! Keep up the good work. Remember (talk) 15:02, 4 March 2008 (UTC)

Wow you get a lot done in a day! Thanks.--Wageless (talk) 04:57, 5 March 2008 (UTC)

Most definitely a beautiful piece. Well done! – ClockworkSoul 16:22, 5 March 2008 (UTC)

And a well done to you for your exceptionally thorough work on those chemical warfare articles, which were helpful recently when I was working on a book.--Wageless (talk) 12:41, 6 March 2008 (UTC)

Thanks for the best defence of inclusionism I've read. Let's hope it helps to catalyse a return to the leaf collecting culture. Espresso Addict (talk) 16:29, 5 March 2008 (UTC)

Thank you for your prod-watching and your work on scientific biographies!--Wageless (talk) 12:41, 6 March 2008 (UTC)

Great article. I especially enjoyed it because I was surprised to see that one of the articles you tried to save from deletion was about my improv group, Whirled News Tonight. I'm not sure who created the article originally (for all I know it was someone in the group, although it could have been a local fan) but it's odd to watch people debate over whether you're "notable" or not (apparently, we're not). If you're ever in Chicago, we'd love for you to stop by, maybe even read aloud some of the articles we deconstruct as part of the show (we usually do newspaper articles, but a Wikipedia show could be fun too). More importantly, your piece has inspired me to delve deeper into Wikipedia. I use it a lot as a jumping off point for research at work, but now I'm curious to learn more. Then again, some of this stuff is easily scarier than getting up in front of a drunk audience without a script. Arnie Niekamp (talk) 20:26, 5 March 2008 (UTC)

I just couldn't understand the pestering and eventual deletion of Whirled News. There was sufficient press coverage. Quite uncalled for. Anyway, congratulations on having such a long running improv show.--Wageless (talk) 12:41, 6 March 2008 (UTC)

Hi: Richard Denner is a part of Wikipedia's knowledge base again. That was an excellent recent article you wrote at NYRB. Hopefully you stick around and write a little more about Wikipedia. I was intrigued by your archiving of newspaper articles. Did you ever come across New York Press? there's a whole slew of great journalism in that paper that's being lost. I hope the Press is as concerned about old newspapers as you are, or even just others.-A rabid following (talk) 06:50, 6 March 2008 (UTC)

Denner's back already? Hey that's great. Thanks to Richard Snow and others who did the deletion review. Denner's a rescuer himself, turns out--see his recent Berkeley Daze.--Wageless (talk) 21:28, 6 March 2008 (UTC)

Loved the article! Well written and honest. -- Experimental Hobo Infiltration Droid (talk) 15:57, 8 March 2008 (UTC)

Pleasing to hear, thank you.--Wageless (talk) 00:03, 10 March 2008 (UTC)

Beautifully written and widely shared with my family and friends who don't quite get my (now one-year) fascination (not quite addiction) with Wikipedia. You might also be interested to know that your article as well as the one that appeared in the Economist Wednesday have sparked quite a lively discussion on the Wikien-l mailing list. --Sfmammamia (talk) 18:17, 8 March 2008 (UTC)

I'll look those links up--many thanks--Wageless (talk) 00:03, 10 March 2008 (UTC)

I just read your article, and I want to say: great work, and thanks! Leo Johannes (talk) 15:26, 19 March 2008 (UTC)

That's kind of you Leo, thank you.--Wageless (talk) 12:22, 20 March 2008 (UTC)

Just wanted to +1 on the article--very enjoyable. I've created a few Wikipedia articles (no encyclopedia is complete without an entry on cage dancing), and my experience matches your own. I've been a fan of your books since "The Mezzanine", which was a good half-decade before the popularization of the internet. It's odd to cross paths with a favourite author on his WP talk page, but such is the democratization of the web.Dbarefoot (talk) 05:21, 24 March 2008 (UTC)

Photo request

Hi, you may be familiar with the subject of the Wikipedia article Nicholson Baker. The article needs a photo – would you be willing to upload one under a GFDL license? JGHowes ^talk - 14:34, 2 March 2008 (UTC)

Hm, I'll try to upload a photo to the talk page, if that'll work. I haven't read the article about me: feels like I'm eavesdropping or intruding. Or maybe it's just that I don't want to be made unhappy by some misunderstanding.--Wageless (talk) 02:51, 3 March 2008 (UTC)

On any WP page (or almost any), look for the list of links (probably on the left) subtitled "Special pages". Among them is "Upload file". This is how you upload a JPEG or an mp3 file or whatever. Uploading is easy. (You upload it to Wikipedia rather than to a page.) The worry is that you'll then be presented with one or more copyright-related questions that may be rather baffling at first. Various highly annoying (but yes, commendable and much needed) humans and "bots" look through uploads for copyright anomalies and are likely to make angry and minatory announcements about the merest hint of impropriety. But don't worry much about any of these. Instead, announce here that you've uploaded a file named such and such, and somebody here can help tidy up the copyright angle (if needed), and add the photo to the article, which you won't ever need to see. (Although of course you are very welcome to take a look at it. Sorry it's so scrappy.) -- Hoary (talk) 03:47, 3 March 2008 (UTC)

Okay, I'll give it a shot soon. Thanks for the help!--Wageless (talk) 04:13, 3 March 2008 (UTC)

Heh, and here I was about to come and ask you if you had a good pic of yourself for the article ... - David Gerard (talk) 21:13, 6 March 2008 (UTC)

Somewhat relatedly, I smiled when I saw this edit from your mother! (fixed since)

Unrelatedly, you might be interested in this short movie/screencast from 2005: Heavy metal umlaut: the movie. -- Quiddity (talk) 22:27, 2 March 2008 (UTC)

Nice fluent analysis on that screencast--thank you Quiddity.--Wageless (talk) 02:51, 3 March 2008 (UTC)

I uploaded a headshot called Image:Nicholson Baker - headshot.jpg to Wikimedia commons. I hope I did it right. Use in the article if you think it's okay. I can find a better one soon. Sorry for the holdup. Thanks.--Wageless (talk) 21:13, 11 March 2008 (UTC)

Your attitude towards Emma Fordyce MacRae

Yo, I noticed you are of the opinion that my tagging Emma Fordyce MacRae for speedy deletion was unjustified. I was wondering if you could elaborate, as I cannot see any claim to notability in the original version of the article. Regards, скоморохъ 14:43, 3 March 2008 (UTC)

Well, the article was written by somebody quite new to WP. You gave the effort two minutes of breathing time before whomping it. I'm no expert, but WP:Speedy sensibly advises against this because there may be further additions. Also the fact that MacRae's work is held in Boston's Museum of Fine Arts is an implicit claim to notability--it's what caught my eye, anyway. If you wanted it to become a better article, you might have--as the speedy criteria page also reasonably advises--gotten in touch with the article's author and given him/her some words of help about how to satisfy your reading of A7. If on the other hand you were bent on deletion because you felt there was absolutely no valid reason to have an article about this particular painter, I think you should have AfD'd it. A moment's googling shows askart, artcyclopedia, etc, and there are a number of hits at nytimes.com. Regards,--Wageless (talk) 15:54, 3 March 2008 (UTC)

Well said, Wageless. (In pedant mode, I'll point out that "prodding" is a third option aside from "speedying" and ayeffdeeing.) And excellent work on the article, too: it hardly looked ripe for deletion when you first saw it, but it certainly doesn't after your work on it. -- Hoary (talk) 16:03, 3 March 2008 (UTC)

Glad to hear that, Hoary--and I appreciate your fixing the links in the article.--Wageless (talk) 16:34, 3 March 2008 (UTC)

Hello!

Just reading one of your articles (heh) ... and it's a gem. Thanks for it. Thought you might like to check another crazy project, with similar motivation to wp. it's inspired, in name (and spirit in part) by Vox, and we're raking public domain texts into piles of free audio: http://librivox.org Mackinaw (talk) 01:40, 5 March 2008 (UTC)

oops somehow i missed the other comments on this topic, above, sorry!Mackinaw (talk) 02:06, 5 March 2008 (UTC)

Thank you. (I found librivox last year and love it--a beautiful quilt of voices. "All librivox recordings are in the public domain." Been listening to Edgar Rice Burroughs's "A Princess of Mars.")--Wageless (talk) 04:57, 5 March 2008 (UTC)

Ha! wonderful ... if you'd ever like to record something for us, let me know. and on a related note, miette is a friend of LibriVox, one of the best voices in free audio literature, and wonders whether you would let her record one of your stories?Mackinaw (talk) 14:19, 5 March 2008 (UTC)

Sure--I'll get in touch with her on her website when things settle down.--Wageless (talk) 12:41, 6 March 2008 (UTC)

Alenty

Your edit to Alenty, I am sure is done in good intention and you fixed per MOS and improved the grammar, but you modified some meaning a bit too much to detract from the vertical of the industry conserned. So I am reverting your edit to how it was before. Please spend a little bit of time learning abou social media networking so you understand the terminalogy involved. Thank you, Igor Berger (talk) 21:22, 5 March 2008 (UTC)

Igor, if Wageless made improvements but also modified some of the meaning in unfortunate ways, it might have been a good idea to undo some rather than all of his work. (Incidentally, I'm told that an, um, book-length exploration of one form of social media networking by another incarnation of Wageless was regarded so highly that it found its way to the very pinnacle of the Free World. Wageless does I think have some idea about what he edits.) -- Hoary (talk) 07:42, 6 March 2008 (UTC)

Hoary thanks. Wageless no problem, keep editing. I do not really want to pick on every word. Thanks for the help and sorry that I undid your edit. Igor Berger (talk) 07:45, 6 March 2008 (UTC)

Thanks Igor, no need to apologize. I notice that Jfire has already reverted the reversion. I'm glad you changed your delete nomination for Alenty to keep.--Wageless (talk) 12:41, 6 March 2008 (UTC)

When I nominated it did not have references. Now it does! So with a little help the author of the article was able to cement it in Wikipedia. It is better this way, then if he would have created it unproperly, and it would have been deleted later without giving the author a chance to improve the article. All worked out for the best. Igor Berger (talk) 13:22, 6 March 2008 (UTC)

Hello

Thank you for your article about Wikipedia. More importantly, thank you for writing novels with so much humour. I can't understand why "professional" reviews of your work so rarely remark on the many 'laugh out loud' moments you conjur, often in the most unlikely scenarios. Genius. --Dweller (talk) 10:58, 7 March 2008 (UTC)

Thanks man.--Wageless (talk) 14:40, 7 March 2008 (UTC)

I too thoroughly enjoyed the article. I got addicted about two years ago, and while I am now recovering (occasionally falling off the wagon), I guess I was waiting for somebody to write a really good insider article like that. But I never imagined it would appear in the stuffy old New York Review of Books, to which I've been happily subscribed since the early 70s. --Halcatalyst (talk) 19:45, 8 March 2008 (UTC)

Thank you. The idea came from Bob Silvers, the very unstuffy editor. I proposed something else and he said But can you also write about Wikipedia and then things went from there.--Wageless (talk) 00:03, 10 March 2008 (UTC)

My favorite book of yours is U and I, which ought to be required reading, I think, in writing programs. Also, it ought to be required reading in reading programs, but I don't think there are any. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.241.103.122 (talk) 04:09, 9 March 2008 (UTC)

Very glad to hear that about U and I, thanks.--Wageless (talk) 00:03, 10 March 2008 (UTC)

Congratulations on being written up in the Wikipedia:Signpost. I am reading through the Review which was linked and getting quite a few chuckles and insight. Thanks --Newbyguesses - Talk 20:17, 10 March 2008 (UTC)

Thanks for letting me know about the review in WP:signpost.--Wageless (talk) 19:43, 15 March 2008 (UTC)

Interesting article, sir. I first saw the issue cover last night when me and other NYC-area editors were going home from our regular NYC chapter Meetup at Columbia University, and found the online version today. A bit more gushy than the one about WP I read last year in Reason magazine, but since you were describing your own editing experiences, that's to be expected. I copyedited the mention of your piece in your own article and added the source, since the person who first included didn't cite it. I also mentioned that you're a WP editor yourself, and mentioned your username, but if you don't want that mentioned, I can remove it (then again, you can do so yourself as well). Cheers! Nightscream (talk) 22:06, 17 March 2008 (UTC)

Hope the meetup was festive. I have not read the article about me because it feels like overhearing something meant for others--I certainly don't mind your mentioning my username.--Wageless (talk) 12:22, 20 March 2008 (UTC)

Thought you might want to know ...

You can request that a copy of a deleted article be moved to your userspace (where it's still accessible via sitewide search) -- I saved Captain Obvious and List of planets in Futurama that way. Tlogmer ( talk / contributions ) 07:49, 13 March 2008 (UTC)

Most illuminating article on Captain Obvious--long may he obviate. I didn't realize that of course if it's moved into your userspace its accessible. A little absurd that this helpful piece was nominated for deletion three times, eventually with success. It's more than a dictionary definition. Seventeen hits for the phrase "Thank you Captain Obvious" alone now on Google Books!--it's got a secure foothold in YA literature now.--Wageless (talk) 19:43, 15 March 2008 (UTC)

If it's more than a dictionary entry, then it's not by much. It's essentially a nickname of mild invective, like saying, "No shit, Sherlock!". Obviously, there are not articles for every mock nickname you give to people in conversation. I looked through that article, and it's very poorly sourced. It uses an Urban dictionary as the source for the assertion that it's primarily an Internet phenomena, even though that source doesn't support that assertion; it uses a Wiki Star Wars encyclopedia to support the mention of a character from Phantom Menace, even though that other pedia in turn uses a dead link and three group blogs to support its assertion, which is not considered acceptable by Wikipedia. Nightscream (talk) 04:21, 18 March 2008 (UTC)

Yes, but if someone wrote an interesting article about "No shit, Sherlock," I'm embarrassed to say I'd want to keep it. There's plenty in Google books to add sources if someone wants to. Regards,--Wageless (talk) 12:22, 20 March 2008 (UTC)

"Card Football"

If we are going to mention a game, we need a more reliable source than somebody's own website. --Orange Mike | Talk 19:59, 24 March 2008 (UTC)

Deletopedia

Hello - I've just come across your article on Wikipedia, which suggests a site called Deletopedia. From mid-February I've actually been doing something very similar (only an "i" and an "n" different, I guess :-). The results are at http://deletionpedia.dbatley.com/ . --h2g2bob (talk) 17:36, 5 April 2008 (UTC)

That's neat; good going on including all the edit history, and all the cleanup-tags[1]!

There's also wikidumper.blogspot.com, but that's just an infrequently edited blog, and it only lists semi-humourous entries (but since Nov 2006). -- Quiddity (talk) 18:38, 5 April 2008 (UTC)

Aha, Deletionpedia! A great service.--Wageless (talk) 09:57, 10 April 2008 (UTC)

Very nice article BTW (just discovered it in its German translation); thanks for writing it :-) — ^PDD 12:38, 9 April 2008 (UTC)

My pleasure--thank you.--Wageless (talk) 09:57, 10 April 2008 (UTC)

Drat - I should have done more looking round before I started working on Deletopedia.net. First rule of the internet, If you have thought of something, then someone has probably already done it. I have the bot mostly working, just needed to finish off the edit-history and do a logo.

I do plan to make it possible to edit pages on Deletopedia, so that people can work on getting them "Wikipdedia ready" where possible. NoNeeeed (talk) 14:50, 18 April 2008 (UTC)

I like the wastebasket logo. Thanks for keeping Rackonomics, Virginia Towing Laws, and Truck Dismount.--Wageless (talk) 18:44, 28 April 2008 (UTC)

Guardian article: How I fell in love with Wikipedia

I just read your article, and you can see I've mentioned it on the Proposed Deletion talk page. It's so nice to read, because my friends always tease me about doing so much on Wikipedia. It's good to hear someone else who views this as a save-the-world project! Wikidea 23:48, 9 April 2008 (UTC)

Yeah, I enjoyed reading it too, and nice to see that I influenced an article in The Guardian (by nominating the Deletionism and inclusionism in Wikipedia article for deletion, and by moving it to that title after it survived AfD).--h i s ^{s p a c e} _{r e s e a r c h} 06:30, 10 April 2008 (UTC)

Good article; I like the ironic footnotes that make no mention of your rather similar article in the NYRB. But we need to be told what the 'Footnotes' heading on r/h margin of p. 7 is doing. Ericoides (talk) 09:37, 10 April 2008 (UTC)

I appreciate these kind words. The Guardian bought the rights to the original NYRB article and did a deft job, I thought, of shortening it.---Wageless (talk) 09:57, 10 April 2008 (UTC)

Yes, nice article ... no .... not just nice ... away with this British understatement ... absolutely bloody brilliant article ... yes, that's better. Almost all articles I have read about Wikipedia are some variant on "I tried editing a couple of articles, then I got bored, so I looked up what everyone else says about Wikipedia instead". Yours is different. You have been there. Keep up the good work. Now I just have to work out how to hide the article from my wife ... can't let her find out that Wikipedia is fun ... Gandalf61 (talk) 12:30, 10 April 2008 (UTC)

God dog, thanks! Like your link to Mihály Csíkszentmihályi's river.--Wageless (talk) 13:08, 10 April 2008 (UTC)

Yet another Grauniad reader popping by to say - loved the article! Great stuff. Snookerfran (talk) 16:17, 10 April 2008 (UTC)

Liked your article. It might have looked more like a wikipedia page if 'ufhuighgjirtoj JOSH IS A TURD' had been randomnly interspersed with the text, just to get that authentic wikipedia reading experience :) G-Man ^? 19:36, 10 April 2008 (UTC)

You mean, "ERIC IS A FAG"? ¶ Wageless, where have you been? (Oh yes, right, supervising the "redaction" of your splendid article.) You missed this; I'd been looking forward to doing battle with you. ¶ Human Smoke has reached me; magically, Amazon's bizarre approach to packing failed to damage it, even though a monster catalogue of a recent Cranach exhibition arrived with Baggini's Do you think what you think you think? inside it. I'll read Smoke after a few hundred pages more of Binnick's stunning Time and the Verb. -- Hoary (talk) 01:18, 11 April 2008 (UTC)

Yes I've been away, am still away, glad to know about Ealing Platform 9. Very best,--Wageless (talk) 18:44, 28 April 2008 (UTC)

Oh dear, did anyone archive Ealing Broadway Platform 9? The mere thought of it makes me go all misty-eyed and Russell Hoban... And I only dropped in to add my appreciation for the arc from 'Survival of the Fittest' thru Double Fold to yr excellent & gentle wikipedian inclusionist manifesto. Dsp13 (talk) 12:35, 11 April 2008 (UTC)

Grateful to you for that--and yes the Ealing article was at http://deletionpedia.dbatley.com when I last checked. The website isn't working at the moment, though.--Wageless (talk) 18:44, 28 April 2008 (UTC)

I just thought I'd drop in my thanks for a good read as well. It's refreshing to read an article about Wikipedia in the national press that isn't written by some uninformed hack who's just trying to fill up wordspace (I don't read the Guardian by the way--I just saw a link to it on the Media Guardian website). Bradley0110 (talk) 11:51, 11 April 2008 (UTC)

Nice of you to drop them in. Thanks.--Wageless (talk) 18:44, 28 April 2008 (UTC)

I already praised you for your article in the New York Review of Books, but I'm especially glad to see your article in The Guardian, given that they have published articles about Wikipedia by clueless idiots like Andrew Orlowski. Maybe I was wrong in writing them off :) Great job, once again! JACOPLANE • 2008-04-11 12:44

Glad you liked the shortened version. Andrew Orlowski isn't a clueless idiot.--Wageless (talk) 18:44, 28 April 2008 (UTC)

In the Guardian article, footnotes #13 and #14 are missing. (I tried to find an "edit" button...) -- Quiddity (talk) 21:36, 11 April 2008 (UTC)

Hah, hadn't noticed the footnotes--those are from the Guardian editors--good.--Wageless (talk) 18:44, 28 April 2008 (UTC)

I have also just finnished the article. Thanks for giving me something to read on a Saturday whilst eating my Linda McCartney sausages. Very good. Gingerblokey (talk) 13:43, 12 April 2008 (UTC)

Tasty sausages. Thanks.--Wageless (talk) 18:44, 28 April 2008 (UTC)

I just found your article while scouring through Wikipedia's press coverage and thought it was absolutely lovely.--Kerotan^{Leave Me a Message} Have a nice day :) 23:46, 22 April 2008 (UTC)

I'm delighted you thought so--and a nice day to you too.--Wageless (talk) 18:44, 28 April 2008 (UTC)

Hello Wageless

I also read your extract. Quite excellent and an accurate view of wikipedia. We need you to edit more articles!!! Dr. Blofeld 13:12, 28 October 2008 (UTC)

Read your article...

...in on the charms of wikipedia. Delightful article that I think was a perfect balance of informed commentary while still being accessible to the majority of "non-contributor" users of Wikipedia. I am slowly going through and adding:

{{press|author=Nicholson Baker |date=2008-03-20 |url=http://www.nybooks.com/articles/21131 |title="The Charms of Wikipedia" |org=The New York Review of Books |section=}}

to the talk pages of all the articles you mentioned. Did you have to mention so many? :D--Esprit15d • talk • contribs 02:04, 30 January 2009 (UTC)

Lovely article. Totally needs a deletionist's opinion though! I hate being treated like a bad guy for insisting on good sources and notability. WLU (t) (c) Wikipedia's rules:^simple/_complex 14:51, 9 February 2009 (UTC)

You managed to combine my two favorite things, NYRB and Wikipedia. I never found time to thank you -- so, THANK YOU :-) –SJ+ 02:23, 15 March 2010 (UTC)

The Anthologist

Hello Paul, is there any possibility to get some pre-published parts from your anthology? we need it for a discussion in Germany. See N.B. discussion site in german. dermotor 29 March 2009 —Preceding unsigned comment added by 84.143.224.100 (talk) 01:50, 29 March 2009 (UTC)

Hope you're well...

I see you've not edited in about a year... at least, not while logged in. I do hope you're OK. --Dweller (talk) 13:17, 23 June 2009 (UTC)

Perhaps he's moved onto another account?65.51.38.194 (talk) 22:29, 13 August 2009 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Requests for comment/new users

Hello, I figured you might be interested in this. Cheers, Casliber (talk · contribs) 00:02, 6 October 2009 (UTC)

AfD nomination of Whitley Neill Gin

An editor has nominated Whitley Neill Gin, an article which you have created or worked on, for deletion. We appreciate your contributions, but the nominator doesn't believe that the article satisfies Wikipedia's criteria for inclusion and has explained why in his/her nomination (see also "What Wikipedia is not").

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European graduate school and all that

Thank you for the thank-you, Wageless; but my problem is that I'm not really out there but instead out all over the place and thus attending closely to nothing. So it was that I missed this odd assertion about you, and (just as one among many examples I could give) after trying to make the article on Robert Doisneau slightly less awful I lost sight of it and never noticed than an illustration had been added, until this popped up in my "watchlist". I do think that WP would benefit from thousands more active editors; I just hope they're more scrupulous in reading, summarizing and attributing than is the average for graduate students. -- Hoary (talk) 09:34, 2 November 2010 (UTC)

Homage

		Your Opinion is More Important than You Think Barnstar
		I was just rereading your words at The Guardian. They continue to inspire and motivate and it's good to see that you're still lurking here. Note that I wrote American Newspaper Repository as a small tribute to you. Keep up the good work. Colonel Warden (talk) 10:19, 6 November 2010 (UTC)

Very kind of you, Colonel W. Wageless (talk) 13:26, 8 August 2011 (UTC)

How does one contact Wageless?

After reading Paul Chowder (who clearly has never been anywhere near Swarthmore, unless I'm missing something, but I'm only on ch. 3)'s rave about The Sleep Book, I wondered if you were aware that that book was read as part of the Prospero's Books poetry filibuster (the longest continuous poetry reading, ever -- 120 hours, 360 consecutive twenty minute segments) last year. There's a video of it.

That's why I'm looking for an e-mail address for you, to offer to send you a link to the video. Cheers! — Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.70.67.226 (talk) 21:23, 8 June 2011 (UTC)

• actually it was "if I ran the circus" — Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.70.67.226 (talk) 20:03, 20 July 2011 (UTC)

The House of Holes

Í do really wonder if there is some strange censorship on WP site: Nicholson Baker, espacially concerning the latest book which I allowed myself to categorize as "pornovella collection" (PC). My posting, desinged to be a literary praise of porn:

• "Within the House of Holes, 2011, Baker as a sex resort cicerone, no other single narrator is on board, leads us in the big footprints of G. Boccaccio and L. Carrol towards the eternal meadows and pastures of sex and sex phantasies. On the run of epidemics, like in ancient Decamerone, and using hiding techniques or sudden disappears as in Alices wonderland, adults (only) are searching and selling safest and most satisfying sex ever. Reception is controversial: ignorants ignore, some call it ingenious masterpiece, some trivial trash of porn".

- was reverted quite soon without any discussion in the talk section. Disappointed on my excursion to the new world and its language, its online customs, practices and morality, I`m going to return home to native-languaged contemplations. Though like your writing work best. Dermotor (talk) 21:50, 9 February 2012 (UTC)

WikiProject Article Rescue Squadron Newsletter

Article Rescue Squadron Newsletter Volume I, Issue III February 2012 Front cover | Feature | News and announcements | Humor | Want ads To contribute to the next newsletter, please visit the Newsletter draft page. ARS Members automatically receive this newsletter. To opt out, please remove your name from the recipients list.

Invitation

Hello! As there is a Wikipedia article about you, you are cordially invited to contribute a short audio recoding of your spoken voice, so that our readers may know what you sound like and how you pronounce your name. Details of how to do so, and examples, are at Wikipedia:Voice intro project. Please feel free to ask for help or clarification on the project talk page, or my talk page. Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 22:05, 19 August 2013 (UTC)

Library preservation

As a leading figure in library preservation, I thought you should be aware of recent developments at the New York State Library: http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/State-Library-s-tough-calls-on-what-to-save-what-5156008.php Also, I wanted to let you know how meaningful I've found your writings on the dangers of deletionism on Wikipedia; I'm proud to link to them on my userpage. --Albany NY (talk) 04:56, 25 January 2014 (UTC)

File permission problem with File:Nicholson Baker, photographed Fall 2013, South Berwick, Maine.jpg

Thanks for uploading File:Nicholson Baker, photographed Fall 2013, South Berwick, Maine.jpg. I noticed that while you provided a valid copyright licensing tag, there is no proof that the creator of the file has agreed to release it under the given license.

If you are the copyright holder for this media entirely yourself but have previously published it elsewhere (especially online), please either

• make a note permitting reuse under the CC-BY-SA or another acceptable free license (see this list) at the site of the original publication; or
• Send an email from an address associated with the original publication to [email protected], stating your ownership of the material and your intention to publish it under a free license. You can find a sample permission letter here. If you take this step, add {{OTRS pending}} to the file description page to prevent premature deletion.

If you did not create it entirely yourself, please ask the person who created the file to take one of the two steps listed above, or if the owner of the file has already given their permission to you via email, please forward that email to [email protected].

If you believe the media meets the criteria at Wikipedia:Non-free content, use a tag such as {{non-free fair use}} or one of the other tags listed at Wikipedia:File copyright tags#Fair use, and add a rationale justifying the file's use on the article or articles where it is included. See Wikipedia:File copyright tags for the full list of copyright tags that you can use.

If you have uploaded other files, consider checking that you have provided evidence that their copyright owners have agreed to license their works under the tags you supplied, too. You can find a list of files you have created in your upload log. Files lacking evidence of permission may be deleted one week after they have been tagged, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. You may wish to read the Wikipedia's image use policy. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you. Sfan00 IMG (talk) 11:21, 9 March 2014 (UTC)

House of Holes

Dear Wageless, I hope to have this stub (properly expanded) up on the front page very shortly, and on my syllabus next summer. Hope you are well. Drmies (talk) 18:25, 26 July 2015 (UTC)

ArbCom elections are now open!

Hi,
You appear to be eligible to vote in the current Arbitration Committee election. The Arbitration Committee is the panel of editors responsible for conducting the Wikipedia arbitration process. It has the authority to enact binding solutions for disputes between editors, primarily related to serious behavioural issues that the community has been unable to resolve. This includes the ability to impose site bans, topic bans, editing restrictions, and other measures needed to maintain our editing environment. The arbitration policy describes the Committee's roles and responsibilities in greater detail. If you wish to participate, you are welcome to review the candidates' statements and submit your choices on the voting page. For the Election committee, MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 13:45, 24 November 2015 (UTC)

A barnstar for you!

	The Original Barnstar
	Great article on wikipedia, i must admit i didn't read it voluntarily, i have to analyze it for my liberal studies/rhetoric course, thanks for that. What was your main intention for writing this article? was it because Bob silvers ask you if you 'can also write about wikipedia' as you mentioned in comment in your user talk section? Bambampete (talk) 03:58, 10 October 2016 (UTC)

Notice of Conflict of interest noticeboard discussion

There is currently a discussion at Wikipedia:Conflict of interest/Noticeboard regarding a possible conflict of interest incident with which you may be involved. Please see section headed Nicholson Baker. Thank you. NedFausa (talk) 04:07, 9 January 2020 (UTC)