User talk:XLinkBot/Archive 3

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Sandbox

How do I place a written article in the sandbox? --Jazzitsax (talk) 18:34, 1 July 2009 (UTC) Michael

Not sure what you mean, and why you ask a bot. Edit the page? --Dirk Beetstra T C 18:41, 1 July 2009 (UTC)

Spider loc

I just wanna know why my editing on the spider loc page was taking down all i wrote about were true facts that are on his website spiindastreets.com and interviews i heard. --CrookMusic (talk) 21:27, 30 June 2009 (UTC)CrookMusic

Youtube links often have problems (one of more of: user supplied, non reliable, copyright, indirectly linked, etc. etc.), and therefore generally not suitable as a link. However, if this is an exception, just revert the bot (I would say here that it still needs a better source than the video itself!). I hope this explains. --Dirk Beetstra T C 08:25, 3 July 2009 (UTC)

The bot just reverted my addition of links to the respective articles about these books on a wikia wiki about the universe they are set in. Are wikia links not allowed any more, or what? -- 77.188.222.71 (talk) 12:38, 4 July 2009 (UTC)

Wikia links almost always fail our external links guideline, please see what WP:ELNO has to say about wiki links. --Dirk Beetstra T C 09:43, 7 July 2009 (UTC)

Farrell Spence Wikipedia page

By God this is complicated, I am sitting here with the artist uploading a bio and photo that I have permission to use from Farrell herself yet a WARNING message keeps popping up saying it reads like an advert and needs sourcing? In the photo upload we indicated who the permission was given from. What else do we need to provide?? All this info is also available on all her web sites.

Davidoleary (talk) 19:04, 4 July 2009 (UTC)

Please read the text in the warnings, the messages and the tags. You may be in compliance with our policies and guidelines, amd you may have indicated that, but apparently you have not properly indicated that. Also for the tags, don't remove them yourself, try to improve the article and others will remove them. They are an issue there! --Dirk Beetstra T C 09:49, 7 July 2009 (UTC)

Question

I say this edit. Could you please refer me to the proper guideline? Debresser (talk) 08:52, 5 July 2009 (UTC)

Yes, WP:ELNO #12. Twice added to top of list, this is more important than others? Nah, this might actually be COI-spammy. Please note that the bot is designed and approved to revert additions of external links that almost always fail policies or guidelines. Wikia links almost always do (and when added by unregistered or new users, that increases). --Dirk Beetstra T C 09:47, 7 July 2009 (UTC)
Thanks. Didn't know that #12. Debresser (talk) 12:45, 7 July 2009 (UTC)

example.com is not a spam link

You might want to read example.com —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.167.62.127 (talk) 01:30, 1 July 2009 (UTC)

The bot is not only to combat spam... --Dirk Beetstra T C 18:41, 1 July 2009 (UTC)
Per RFC 2606, www.example.com, www.example.net, and www.example.org are preferred addresses for documentation and testing purposes, and are reserved from being registered. Can you provide some rationale for blacklisting these addresses? Wikipedia is the sort of place for which they were explicitly created. Asmor (talk) 18:39, 8 July 2009 (UTC)
Pardon? Wikipedia is the sort of place for which they were explicitly created? They are very often mistakenly or uselessly inserted, and I think that by far the most of the reverts of example.com are not appropriate additions. Still, there will be some, but that is also true for any other link that is reverted by the bot (even for some of the hardcore porn sites). Please note, that this bot is designed to revert external links which are added inappropriately, which includes spam, but does not exclude other cases where links are added inappropriately. Some examples:

When I have time I will do some statistics, but I think really that the large majority of the reverts is OK as they do include example.com in an inappropriate place. Note that the bot notifies (does not warn) on first revert, and that then the safeguards will not revert again. I hope this explains. --Dirk Beetstra T C 19:08, 8 July 2009 (UTC)

Tipton Wikia link

Hey, you sent me a message saying that you deleted my link. That was not spam, it was a reliable link. I need to keep it there. It aint spam. Thanks, bot. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 58.179.244.115 (talk) 06:11, 10 July 2009 (UTC)

Well, if you read the message, you would have seen "If the external link you inserted or changed was to an external Wiki, then please note that these links should generally not be included (see 'links to avoid' #12).". This is not a stable wiki, and hence is not a suitable external link. I have re-reverted the addition. Thanks. --Dirk Beetstra T C 10:00, 10 July 2009 (UTC)

In Response to Codeblack Entertainment

The external links that reference Codeblack are to reference Codeblack Entertainment. All companies have external links to their official websites. What is wrong with linking to Codeblack.com which is the corporate site for the company. Also while I have your attention I would like to know how to do an info box on the left side of the page which will show the company logo and other facts about the company.

Thank you. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Codeblack (talkcontribs) 23:45, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

I'd suggest you first to read our conflict of interest guideline. I think you are right that the link belongs on Codeblack pages themselves (but don't overdo it), just undo the bot-edit as suggested. I hope this explains. --Dirk Beetstra T C 18:32, 22 July 2009 (UTC)

Help with my page

I have tried to enhance the piece on Greg Mort, living artist, but it seems to keep getting deleted. Can you review it -- I did source it. Susan Fifer Canby—Preceding unsigned comment added by Susan fifer canby (talkcontribs)

I see an editor already offered help on your talkpage, you might want to read through the policies and guidelines as suggested. Thanks. --Dirk Beetstra T C 18:35, 22 July 2009 (UTC)

I added a link of historycal vidoe posted on Youtube. Bot removed it. What should I do?

I added a link of historycal vidoe posted on Youtube. Bot removed it. What should I do? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Contemplor (talkcontribs) 17:08, 12 July 2009 (UTC)

Well, the warning says it all. Check the video thoroughly for copyright problems, and read the external links guideline. This link surely does not belong at the top of the list, so I reverted and suggest you suggest the link on the talkpage, and discuss its addition there first. I hope this explains. --Dirk Beetstra T C 17:51, 12 July 2009 (UTC)

Goapele Wikipedia page

RESPONSE: That's fine if you just reverted one link but were you the one who erased all the revisions and new content I provided for Goapele's page which came from 2 hours of meticulous research? Did you erase all the easily accessible Billboard chart action and corresponding reference links seen on every other musicians Wikipedia page but this one? I would really like to know because now her page is back to a myriad of discrepancies. You see "Chocolate" was never a single and changeitall.org doesn't exist. I thought the purpose of Wikipedia was to keep information as factual and consistent as possible. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Pageofmusic2 (talkcontribs) 04:08, 14 July 2009 (UTC)

Just undo the edit, and remove the link that the bot had a problem with (or leave it if it is OK). It will not revert you again. --Dirk Beetstra T C 18:27, 22 July 2009 (UTC)

The City of London Migraine Clinic

Could you explain why you removed the links and edits made to the The City of London Migraine Clinics page. These links provide access to a website and videos that provide very useful information regarding migraine. It is a non-profit charity and a leading national research and outpatient service. The youtube link is marked as going to youtube and I will now mark as a video external website. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Ssim24 (talkcontribs) 08:00, 21 July 2009 (UTC)

I'll refer you to the external links guideline, youtube video's can be informative, and if you believe that this link is really adding, just undo the bot as suggested. --Dirk Beetstra T C 18:28, 22 July 2009 (UTC)

Wikis

Well this bot removed the link I posted... as links to avoid' #12 says, thats why it got removed. I don't think is fair to not allow external wiki links (lost, heros, pokemon, and otheres have his wikis listed am sure at some point they got 0 articles, but they are listed on the wikipedia pages), if people does not know a wikipedia exist how it is going to grow bigger? If people read the wikipedia article and see that theres a wikipedia with information only related to that article they will go to that wiki and find more information and help it to grow. If its abouth spam...I could remove the link if the wikia site dies after a month or 2 oks?
--200.91.125.234 (talk) 20:38, 21 July 2009 (UTC)

Wikia links are simply very often a problem. Still, as you say, some are OK, and if this is such a case, then please undo the bot's edit as suggested (and I would not even use this wiki as an external link ..). --Dirk Beetstra T C 18:29, 22 July 2009 (UTC)

Changeing links on Queer

Hi, the links to the Queer-videos on youtube are wrong. At least I get an "invalid video ID"-message when clicking the link. Without the '/' at the end the links work fine. However, the bot reverted my edit so now the links are wrong again. -.-
Any way to correct the links permanently without the bot getting upsed? --84.142.240.140 (talk) 16:28, 22 July 2009 (UTC)

Just undo the bot edit, it will not revert you again. Are you sure that these links have to be there at all? Please see our copyright policy and the external links guideline. Thanks! --Dirk Beetstra T C 18:31, 22 July 2009 (UTC)

Re: July 2009 (Sonic X)

That was actually me who added that YouTube video to the Sonic X article. I knew before about YouTube links not being allowed, but I thought it was due to official reasons. That video file was from 4Kids Entertainment's official channel, 4KidsTV. The thing is, 4Kids is adding uncut episodes of the Sonic X anime to their channel, and I needed a link as proof, as many otaku wish of the same thing and would unsurprisingly add things like that with no proof. Is there any alternative to this method? Matty-chan (talk) 19:04, 24 July 2009 (UTC)

Hmm, yes, include it in a proper reference (see the footnotes guideline, not as a plain link (XLinkBot should detect that and refuse to revert). However, the section, and especially the following sentence "...This may imply that 4Kids is planning to upload ..." (bolding added by me, see WP:CRYSTAL) needs a rewrite and WAY better references than a (now deleted) video on YouTube. I hope this explains. --Dirk Beetstra T C 19:12, 24 July 2009 (UTC)

Pocket God

Erm... Pocket God Forums exists, and it is VERY close with Pocket God, and I think you should put things back the way I made them, please. If one of the links breaks a rule, then I have no problem with you deleting it. Deleting the entire section was a little harsh :( —Preceding unsigned comment added by 209.94.138.45 (talk) 23:19, 24 July 2009 (UTC)

Choice of setting, this is generally leaving less problems (as removing specific links is very tricky, if not impossible). Just click undo, repair the edit, and save. Hope this explains. --Dirk Beetstra T C 21:40, 30 July 2009 (UTC)

Edit sections that contain derogatory remarks

Need help. Please explain to me why I can't edit section that contains derogatory remarks about adult children without it reverting to original text. The text is offensive to me and to thousands of others because it has nothing to do with Senator Frist. Any help you can give me in understanding the procedures would be greatly appreciated.

Paradise Daytona Beach (talk) 01:19, 27 July 2009 (UTC)Paradise Daytona Beach

Not sure what you are asking? Are you referring to an XLinkBot revert? In that case you may have inserted an 'questionable' external link. --Dirk Beetstra T C 21:41, 30 July 2009 (UTC)

Secrets of Droon

Please, why, exactly, was the link removed? Is Wikia not based off of Wikipedia? Ralnon (talk) 15:03, 27 July 2009 (UTC)

WP:ELNO #12 (as it says in the warning on the talkpage. I would not use Wikipedia as an external link, and certainly not as a reference, so why use less stable wikis. --Dirk Beetstra T C 21:39, 30 July 2009 (UTC)

AfD nomination of Stacks on Deck Entertainment and others

An editor has nominated one or more articles which you have created or worked on, for deletion. The nominated articles are Stacks on Deck Entertainment, Ramiele Malubay, Syesha Mercado. 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").

Your opinions on whether the article meets inclusion criteria and what should be done with the article are welcome; please participate in the discussion(s) by adding your comments to the relevant discussion pages: Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Stacks on Deck Entertainment for Stacks on Deck Entertainment, Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Ramiele Malubay for Ramiele Malubay, Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Syesha Mercado for Syesha Mercado. Please be sure to sign your comments with four tildes (~~~~).

You may also edit the article during the discussion to improve it but should not remove the articles for deletion template from the top of the article; such removal will not end the deletion debate.

Please note: This is an automatic notification by a bot. I have nothing to do with this article or the deletion nomination, and can't do anything about it. --Erwin85Bot (talk) 01:39, 29 July 2009 (UTC)

XLinkBot can't, either ;-) .. --Dirk Beetstra T C 21:42, 30 July 2009 (UTC)

Link on the Georgia Gwinnett College page

Guys -- I work at GGC and I'm trying to place a link on the page for a video the students made about GGC. Mind leaving the link on the page? It's not spam. Thanks. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.43.124.236 (talk) 22:43, 29 July 2009 (UTC)

Please note what the external links guideline says about YouTube and links. I do certainly not believe it belongs as the FIRST link. --Dirk Beetstra T C 21:43, 30 July 2009 (UTC)

Robert Herridge

Thank you for the notification. The article [{[Robert Herridge]] is about a television producer. The links are to one representative portion of one edition of one show he produced. More significantly, it is one in which he is seen and heard. Having a subject's face and voice seen and heard is relevant to any biographical article of a person.

Even if this were not so, it might be more helpful to simply remove those links, and not revert the entirety of over an hour of hard work that involved much writing and citation-seeking completely unrelated to those two links. -- 207.237.223.118 (talk) 03:44, 31 July 2009 (UTC)

I see you undid, and somebody else cleaned the links for you. It is very difficult, if not impossible, to botwise clean out improper external links, it is more efficient and better to revert and notify the involved editor to check the edit, and ask the editor to again undo (if needed with cleanup) the bot's revert.
You say "The links are to one representative portion of one edition of one show he produced.", that for me sounds like failing 'links to avoid', specifically rule #13. I note that the editor who cleaned up after you also notes that the copyright status of the pages linked to is unclear, see our copyright policy. I hope this explains. --Dirk Beetstra T C 07:57, 31 July 2009 (UTC)

Vedio Hussein Alaa

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=hussein+Alaa+hussain+%D8%AD%D8%B3%D9%8A%D9%86+%D8%B9%D9%84%D8%A7%D8%A1+%D8%AD%D8%B3%D9%8A%D9%86&search_type=&aq=f —Preceding unsigned comment added by Hussein333 (talkcontribs) 06:14, 31 July 2009 (UTC)

So? --Dirk Beetstra T C 07:51, 31 July 2009 (UTC)

Picture Playrt Hussein Alaa HUssein

http://s51.photobucket.com/albums/f357/alaa2010 —Preceding unsigned comment added by Hussein333 (talkcontribs) 06:25, 31 July 2009 (UTC)

And similar, so? --Dirk Beetstra T C 07:52, 31 July 2009 (UTC)

Re: Rachael Stewart Page

I got your message about the links. Sorry, I'm new to this. I treid to correct them today, but another admin delted the whole article last night. So time for a re-post I think. lol. Anyway, thanks x Iamtherealnakedclaire (talk) 10:52, 2 August 2009 (UTC)

Depends, what was the reason for deletion? --Dirk Beetstra T C 12:14, 2 August 2009 (UTC)

Book Link Disappearing????

Why is my book link disappearing on the Olive Borden Wikipedia page? I've added it a half dozen times this weekend and it's deleted whenever I check back. Is there a user that's doing this?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olive_Borden

My book's link:

http://www.mcfarlandpub.com/book-2.php?id=978-0-7864-4795-4

Help! —Preceding unsigned comment added by Mvozus1 (talkcontribs) 06:09, 3 August 2009 (UTC)

Well, it was not XLinkBot who removed it (it is not on his list). But you really should read the external links guideline and the spam and advertising guideline, because this link is totally inappropriate (commercial link, repeated addition, etc. etc.). I hope this explains. --Dirk Beetstra T C 06:45, 3 August 2009 (UTC)

Hero Quest site

Why the site http://heroquestbaker.altervista.org/indexenglish.htm, that has the permission of Hasbro, the publisher of this game, has been removed from the Hero Quest page of Wikipedia while the site http://members.quicknet.nl/lm.broers/download.htm, that is ILLEGAL for Hasbro, remains in Hero Quest page ? I don't understand —Preceding unsigned comment added by 79.5.135.81 (talk) 12:27, 3 August 2009 (UTC)

The first, being legal is not the only issue, does it add, is it stable, etc. etc. (if so, and it does follow the external links guideline, then you can revert). The second is a case of WP:OTHERCRAPEXISTS (in short, there may be other things out there, but we did not come to the point of removing it yet), if it is illegal, I would suggest you help us in removing that site. Thanks. --Dirk Beetstra T C 13:34, 3 August 2009 (UTC)

Photographer & photography

I write a blog mostly about photography & photographers. Sometimes other things as well; food, fashion, you name it. A bit of wandering & a bit of musing.

You can see it at: http://styrous.blogspot.com/

I also have a website: http://styrous.org

Enjoy, Styrous® —Preceding unsigned comment added by Styrous (talkcontribs) 02:05, 4 August 2009 (UTC)

Thanks. We write an encyclopedia here, about everything (practically). You can see it at: http://en.wikipedia.org .. like en.wikipedia.org, I am afraid that your links are also not suitable as external links (per our external links guideline). I hope this explains. --Dirk Beetstra T C 06:20, 4 August 2009 (UTC)

U.S.S. Clamour at Wiki and USS-Clamour.blogspot.com

I am the creator of the weblog: USS-Clamour.blogspot.com.

All the material at that weblog is NOT IN COPYRIGHT and is released into the public domain, in perpetuity.

I'm not good enough at wikipedia work, e.g., entries, links, etc. to keep up with this.

If you don't want my link, you don't have to have it, but why didn't you ask me before you make me do this work OVER?Mark Preston (talk) 20:55, 4 August 2009 (UTC)

But that was done, did you read all the policies and guidelines that are linked when you add a new external link as an IP? --Dirk Beetstra T C 20:48, 5 August 2009 (UTC)

Cal Cunningham page

You were right. I apologize for the unusable external link. I missed that section in the guidelines. Thank you.

Corndogg —Preceding unsigned comment added by Corndogg (talkcontribs) 16:20, 6 August 2009 (UTC)

Thanks! --Dirk Beetstra T C 10:19, 7 August 2009 (UTC)

Video

I fail to see how my link was not complying with the Wikipedia link-posting guidelines. The video it linked to was not offensive, it was simply a video (Which were stills of images) with music attached. (Which could not be offensive seeing as how there are no lyrics to the song.) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.252.205.174 (talk) 08:48, 7 August 2009 (UTC)

Hmm, the external links guideline, text on Youtube therein? --Dirk Beetstra T C 10:19, 7 August 2009 (UTC)

Strange revert

Could you take a look at this edit? Was the removal of every links, including categories and the proper use of Wiki-standard templates for imdb and twitter, appropriate? Who then was a gentleman? (talk) 21:23, 3 August 2009 (UTC)

It is very difficult (if not impossible) to filter out the 'offending' links only. It is generally better to revert the whole edit and notify the editor. It then generally is a matter of undo-ing the bot edit, either in full, or with removal of the 'offending' link. I hope this explains. --Dirk Beetstra T C 21:27, 3 August 2009 (UTC)
OK, I understand, but if the appropriate templates are being used for twitter and imdb, which indicates at least to some members of the community that those links are appropriate, should the bot not remove them, then? Who then was a gentleman? (talk) 21:30, 3 August 2009 (UTC)
OK, never mind, I misread it, he wasn't using the twitter template. Who then was a gentleman? (talk) 21:31, 3 August 2009 (UTC)
Eh, wait, ís there a twitter template? Sigh .. let me put it this way, the existence of a template does not mean that the links are appropriate external links, Twitter/MySpace/BlogSpot are more often unsuitable external links then suitable (per the external links guideline). I hope this explains. --Dirk Beetstra T C 21:34, 3 August 2009 (UTC)
Yeah, there is a Twitter template: Template:Twitter. Who then was a gentleman? (talk) 22:08, 3 August 2009 (UTC)
Dirk cries a little. Oh my, how much would I like a community ruling that external links templates of this type should go. Or maybe I should consider making XLinkBot work on templated additions as well. --Dirk Beetstra T C 07:33, 9 August 2009 (UTC)

Official twitter sites?

This bot seems to be jumping down the throat of a new user for adding external links to the official twitter page of Bob Evans Restaurants. Is adding links to an official twitter/facebook/etc page? I should also note that the bot reverted a bunch of non-link related edits by the new user, too. youngamerican (wtf?) 19:15, 7 August 2009 (UTC)

Hmm, these twitter/facebook links are not appropriate per WP:ELNO #10, and I believe that the removal by the bot is correct. It indeed reverts all edits by an editor, and then asks to repair or undo, it is the way that breaks the fewest things (it is a setting, though, the bot can be told to undo only one edit as well, but that sometimes leaves vandalism/rubbish behind). --Dirk Beetstra T C 19:33, 7 August 2009 (UTC)
Thanks. youngamerican (wtf?) 00:01, 8 August 2009 (UTC)

Including reverted URLs in edit summary

Is there a reason why you include the URLs in the edit summary when the bot reverts their inclusion? When links are added that are inappropriate for the article (e.g. a porn site linked from an article related to naturism) or are spammy, then I think that immortalising the url in the edit summary is often giving unnecessary prominence to the link. If people want to know what the link was, they can look at the diff. Thryduulf (talk) 22:48, 8 August 2009 (UTC)

Hmm, yes, that is a point. They are included for transparency: XLinkBot does not have a bot-flag, so that its edits show up in recent-changes, as, though by far most of the reverts are correct, some are not, and recent-changes-patrollers can then see and repair.
The links do show up, and are 'immortalised', though not clickable, searchable etc, and I doubt that someone would look at the history tab to look for porn links. But as I said, I see your point, if there are more editors around who think that this should not be done, they can be adapted in User:XLinkBot/Settings (the bot loads this page before every single revert it does), the two parameters are 'usernotify_editsummary' and 'revert_editsummary'. I hope this explains. --Dirk Beetstra T C 23:11, 8 August 2009 (UTC)

Carlos Roberto 24 didnt make vandalize

Hello well i want to said u that i have one problem with links in pages so can you help me please thanks for all Thanks. Carlos Roberto 24 (wtf?) 20:43, 8 August 2009 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Carlos Roberto 24 (talkcontribs)

I rest my case. --Dirk Beetstra T C 08:09, 12 August 2009 (UTC)

cardassiaprimera.com.ar

Please meta blacklist this site, many iw spam...

Gonioul (talk) 00:48, 11 August 2009 (UTC)

Could you propose that on the meta blacklist site for us? Thanks. --Dirk Beetstra T C 08:08, 12 August 2009 (UTC)

Upload Pictures

Hi There

Can you perhaps upload images to the wikipedia database, so that I can add them to the page I'm creating. I've made several contributions to pages in Wiki, but I still don't have auto-confirmed status, and thus can't upload the pictures myself. Can you perhaps give me the rights to upload images?

Thanks. Louis Louis.manuel (talk) 18:55, 11 August 2009 (UTC)

Hmm, this bot is not capable of that, and I don't have enough knowledge about that subject. There is a link in the toolbox to the left in the standard wikipedia layout. I hope this helps. --Dirk Beetstra T C 08:07, 12 August 2009 (UTC)

helpme

I was adding some external references on the page about Shiftboard and the bot keeps removing them. These are references to a New York Times article, a PC World article, etc. How are those any different than the Seattle Times article that was allowed earlier? Thanks Q4sales (talk) 21:45, 11 August 2009 (UTC)Q4Sales

Hmm, I see, the problem is the youtube link you add in this edit. I am certainly not sure if that one is appropriate, but you are free to revert the bot (use the undo on the diff of the bot edit, remove the youtube if it does not comply with the external links guideline, and click save. The bot will not revert that (and if it does, I will bash it). I hope this explains. --Dirk Beetstra T C 08:06, 12 August 2009 (UTC)

Don't pick on old ladies who make new careers for themselves

I am irene brodsky, a 62 year old woman who has a new career as a writer and can't imaging why anyone should complain that I am self-published and many of the things I put on my page is missing. have people been removing info from my page? and why? I am a teacher of poetry, graduated from college at age 60, made a new career for myself and never speak badly about anyone else. I have tried to add new things to my page and they disappear after I try. Please explain. I have many sites i would like to enter again. Also i would like to add all the libraries who cataloged my books, and the journal I am in. can you help? no one should pick on a 62 years old lady.

sincerely irene brodsky Socrates 1 x 2 Teacher at Brooklyn College Author of Poetry Unplugged (Outskirts Press)Denver, Colorado and Silly Kitty (Shared-Books Ltd. Press)British Columbia, Canada

member of the united Federation of teachers

             Brooklyn College Alumni
             Writers in the Sky Newspaper
             Institute for Retired Persons in Pursuit of Education
             Teacher Retirement System of n.y.
             Cambridge whos who
             Crisis Chronicles online library
             

My poetry book is listed on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Borders, Abe Books, Doylestown Books, Targets,

                           Flipkart, Ingrams Books, Baker & Taylor, etc.

My Silly Kitty is an e-book published on Sharing-Books Online Library to Promote Literacy for children all over the World. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Socrates1x2 (talkcontribs) 03:10, 12 August 2009 (UTC)

Huh? That first is true, but that does not automatically mean that such links should be included (see the external links guideline). --Dirk Beetstra T C 08:02, 12 August 2009 (UTC)

Consider using tags instead of bot-based reversion

I think XLinkBot pre-dates Wikipedia:Tags but now that Tags are supported, perhaps XLinkBot can retire from the business of looking for YouTube links, and instead introduce a YouTube tag for edits. At a minimum, it should differentiate between their use as references and their use as external links, and only revert the latter. Take a look at this XLinkBot reversion and tell me if you agree that the changes I made to Rerun van Pelt warranted reversion. 72.244.201.210 (talk) 07:51, 12 August 2009 (UTC).

Thank you for the question. Yep, that has been suggested a couple of times, but it is still too heavy on the server. I have, early on, suggested that links like youtube, myspace and similar are included in that and removed from the bot, as the problem is generally not 'spam' (though the bot reverts wider than that, and is allowed to revert wider than that), but that these links generally have a higher error rate than others (most reverts on e.g. youtube are correct, but there are some where it is not. 'Abuse'/wrong use, especially by new and IP editors, is quite widespread and does need resolution in some way. I don't know if warning and tagging would really solve the problem).
I see that this specific revert is one of the problems, detecting properly if a link is used as a reference or a true external link. Your revert of the bot is, and that is what the bot also suggests, truly appropriate. Thanks for the understanding. --Dirk Beetstra T C 08:01, 12 August 2009 (UTC)

Why can't I add a photo??

Hi, I am a new member and I want to add a photo in the documents which doesn't have photos. How can I be an autoconfirmed user?

I need some help - Bsbfan —Preceding unsigned comment added by Bsbfan (talkcontribs) 11:42, 12 August 2009 (UTC)

Autoconfirm takes a couple of days (4?) after account creation. I hope this explains. --Dirk Beetstra T C 11:47, 12 August 2009 (UTC)

August 2009 (Mickey Neher)

Why have you removed links and changed some parts of the article? User:Multi-AC —Preceding undated comment added 05:54, 14 August 2009 (UTC).

Well, that is probably described in the warning on your talkpage. Most probably the links are not allowed per our external links guideline. --Dirk Beetstra T C 06:38, 14 August 2009 (UTC)

XLinkBot removed the link to my Facebook Fanclub Group

I added a link to my Facebook Fanclub Group to the biographical wikipage that is about me, and XLinkBot removed it automatically. Since the Facebook fanclub is acting as my official online fanclub, I need it to stay. Please advise! My name is Basil Shaaban.

Thank you! Basil —Preceding unsigned comment added by Basilshaaban (talkcontribs) 18:50, 12 August 2009 (UTC)

See the conflict of interest guideline ánd the external links guideline. Both suggest that you discuss on the talkpage. I hope this explains. Thanks. --Dirk Beetstra T C 19:07, 12 August 2009 (UTC)

new user

As a new user it's difficult for me to know where to go for help. Wikipedia information pages are so long and complicated. Every page I've ever looked at on Wiki has links and when I read the rules, from what I understood, it said that just about any links could be added including youtube, as long as they were relevant and useful. Although your page says this isn't really a place for complaints, I don't know where to go to get help. I emailed a mediator but received no response. There's no way I will personally communicate with the incredibly rude person who told me to 'stop spamming or you will be banned!!!' I've never spammed in my life. I received no welcome from this person after I added links (I'm a brand new user), just a couple of complicated, long bot messages saying 'don't add this link,' but it removed all of my links. When I tried to add all of my links again, except for the ones mentioned on the complicated bot message, I got a terribly rude warning 'you will be banned' from the person. I feel I've been abused by this person and it is because the way Wiki has been set up, that I've been abused by a total stranger. I wouldn't allow anyone in 'real life' to 'talk' to me that way and this site allows self-important, unfriendly people, so-called 'editors' to talk to others anyway they like. Wiki needs a some basic changes. If a person has a complaint, it should be easy to find out where to go to address the problem. No editor shoud be allowed to be rude, that's incredible. First, as this was my first addition to a page and I was a new user, I should have gotten a message that said thank-you new user for trying to contribute. Then it should have benn explained to me that all of my links were bad, if they were, not just one or two. Then I wouldn't have tried to keep adding the others. That would've kept me from getting warnings (which I didn't even see right away) and a horribly unfriendly message from some person, saying stop spamming and I'm about to be banned! There's no excuse for rudeness on any website. That person shouldn't be editing, no one should be, who's unfriendly! Because I've been so abused, I certainly won't ever try to post ever again to Wiki and when this has been resolved and the editor who was so rude has been told to be very friendly or be banned from editing, I'll remove my account and never visit Wikipedia again. (Wildmint (talk) 06:09, 14 August 2009 (UTC))

Well, the bot left you early on a friendly welcome template, with quite some information, and also a more explicit link why YouTube links are generally not wanted. That message is not that long (the external links guideline is much longer, and talks about much more than only YouTube). However, it appears that you were adding over and over, and then the situation becomes indeed less friendly. In short: YouTube links are not very often appropriate (though they sometimes are), but as they are user submitted content, they often don't add to a page, or there are problems with copyright, etc. etc. I hope this explains, and I would suggest that you do not add the links to mainspace for the moment, but consider discussing the specific link on the talkpage of the page where you want to add the link to. Of course you can make other edits to mainspace if you find them appropriate. Have fun! --Dirk Beetstra T C 06:42, 14 August 2009 (UTC)

fix the bot script for Copyviocore template using link edit.--Rwlofld (talk) 10:18, 15 August 2009 (UTC)

I have adapted the bot. This is indeed an annoying thing. The bot should detect that urls are inside templates, but for some formats it seems to fail that detection. I hope this solution does the trick, waiting for the next revert... (which should not come). --Dirk Beetstra T C 12:03, 15 August 2009 (UTC)

Minor grouse

I have only one issue with the reversion of 15 Aug on “D. C. Stephenson”. Specifically, the edit summary changed all the URL characters to lower-case. Now, we really want the URL accurately reported, so that human editors can follow it. Even when XLinkBot is quite right to delete the link, a human editor following that link might be able to use it to find a “reliable source” (if, for example, the page transcribed the content of a “reliable source”). And XLinkBot might have gone awry, but a human editor might not discover this if the URL is transformed and a 404 error results. —SlamDiego←T 12:01, 16 August 2009 (UTC)

I will fix this, you are right. The code has an conversion to lowercase in it (needed for one part of the bot), but I can split it. Give me a bit of time. --Dirk Beetstra T C 12:28, 16 August 2009 (UTC)
Super. The basic function here of robotically removing this class of links seems very useful. —SlamDiego←T 17:39, 16 August 2009 (UTC)
I removed the lowercase conversion. Bot has been restarted, should be effective now. Thanks for the kind words! (is this finally the end of the bot-problems, quirks and feature requests of today? :-D Don't worry, I like it!) --Dirk Beetstra T C 18:00, 16 August 2009 (UTC)