Don't Bite the Newcomers

I noticed that you made some edits to some anonymous user's talk pages suggesting they were trolls. I wanted to direct you to Wikipedia's policy of Wikipedia:Please do not bite the newcomers. It says "Remember Hanlon's Razor. Behavior that appears malicious to experienced Wikipedians is more likely due to ignorance of our expectations and rules. Even if you're 100% sure that someone is a worthless, no-good, low-down scum-sucking Internet troll, vandal, or worse, conduct yourself as if they're not. By being calm, interested, and respectful, your dignity is uplifted, and you further our project." I would suggest looking at Wikipedia:Vandalism for more information about dealing with vandalism (This section has some templates that you can use for users' talk pages when you have reverted/removed their vandalism). I just wanted to point this out to you, and thank you for your contributions. --Kewp (t) 10:36, 19 October 2005 (UTC)

yes, sorry, I think I looked at your earlier comments on users' talk pages. best, Kewp (t) 11:48, 19 October 2005 (UTC)

New users

There are logs of new user creations. I use these to identify people that have recently created accounts. Fawcett5 12:52, 19 October 2005 (UTC)

205.235.35.52

Thanks for your own vigilance. They were persistent, weren't they? - they vandalised their talk page (the only page they could edit) several times after I'd blocked them?!  :-) --RobertGtalk 14:41, 19 October 2005 (UTC)

He doesn't appear to be doing anything at the moment. If the vandalism continues I'll give a final warning and then block. - ulayiti (talk) 16:34, 19 October 2005 (UTC)

Thanks

Thanks for your understanding - I actually created that article in the first place to keep material like that from being posted in the main Hurricane Katrina article, and it has done that job quite effectively. Happy editing!  BD2412 talk 20:02, 19 October 2005 (UTC)

Questions

Hi. I guess my first advice to you would be to begin editing articles. It's not important that you know everything at first, other people will be along to help you fix your mistakes (if you make any!). See Wikipedia:Be bold in updating pages! I certainly don't know everything, but I learn as I go along. One of the best ways to figure out how to do something new is to look at an article that has done something that you would like to do, and click on the "edit this page" tab. Then you can see how the editors of that article made it look the way it does.

  • As for categories, check out Wikipedia:Categorization. Sometimes I have a difficult time deciding which categories a page belongs in, so I look at an article that covers a similar subject matter to see what categories that article is in. Generally, to add a category to a page, just add [[Category:Fluffy creatures]] to the bottom of the article when you are editing it. (Don't put your article in the "Fluffy Creatures" category, though, just put the name of the category that you want to put your article in).
  • As for tables, I have never made a table, so I won't be much help there. But again, look at the pages that already have tables to see how they are done. You might also look at help:table and Wikipedia:How to use tables.
  • Templates--there are many kinds of templates on Wikipedia which have many different uses. You should look at Wikipedia:Template messages for a list of Templates. (Warning there are lots of template). If you have a specific question about one of these templates, look on the template's talk page,ask about it on Wikipedia:Help desk, where someone knowledgeable might be able to point you in the right direction.

Okay, hope this helps for now! --Kewp (t) 17:36, 20 October 2005 (UTC)

yeah, you're right, those pages are incomprehensible! Well, generally you would find instructions on how to add a template on the related page. For example, if you wanted to put a tag on a page that needed to be cleaned up, you would go to Wikipedia:Cleanup and follow the instructions there on how to put a template on the page (In this case, {{cleanup-date|October 2005}}) which would give you this: cleanup template removed 4/07 --killing sparrows 22:48, 18 April 2007 (UTC).
I'm not sure what kind of templates you want to use; different templates are used different ways. You would not put template:xxx on a page, most of the time, as you said, you use the template's format, for example, if you look at the aforementioned template's page: Template:Cleanup-date, you would find out how to use the template on the talk page: Template talk:Cleanup-date. But the better place to find instructions on how to use a template would always be on the related Wikipedia namespace help article, in this case Wikipedia:Cleanup. Oh yeah, and Wikipedia is not perfect, it needs lots of help...--Kewp (t) 18:47, 20 October 2005 (UTC)

Fixing your signature

To personalize your signature, go to preferences (at the top of the screen) - there's a field for your sig that has the default (the program automatically supplies the [[User:Prodego|????]] part (with the question marks representing the part that you can change. For example, if you replace those question marks with <font style="background: blue" color=#FFFFFF>''Prodego''</font>]] [[User talk:Prodego|<sup>talk</sup>, it will come out looking like:

Prodego talk (note that the "talk" link does not work here because this is your talk page, and there's nowhere for it to link to). Cheers!  BD2412 talk 18:15, 20 October 2005 (UTC)

  • Oops - it's the box that says "Nickname".  BD2412 talk 18:35, 20 October 2005 (UTC)
    • Have a look at my signature collection - it basically compiles a number of different techniques for changing your signature to suit your mood. ;-)  BD2412 talk 18:57, 20 October 2005 (UTC)
      • There's an easier way - you can just put <font color=orange>'''This text is orange'''</font>, and it will say This text is orange.  BD2412 talk 19:10, 20 October 2005 (UTC)
        • Glad to help - and glad to be on your friends list! :-D  BD2412 talk 19:49, 20 October 2005 (UTC)

Hmmm - how about something like this: Prodego talk 19:23, 20 October 2005 (UTC)

Sandbox

hey, i just wanted to let you know that you don't need to use the main wikipedia sandbox. You can have your very own sandbox, here: User:Prodego/sandbox. Then, no one will bother you. best, Kewp (t) 19:20, 20 October 2005 (UTC)

F/A-22

Hey Prodego, I noticed that you made an addition to the F/A-22 page. You added some pretty interesting information and I was wondering if you could quote a source. I'd be interested in reading the relevant news stories / articles / whatever. TomTheHand 20:34, 20 October 2005 (UTC)

Thanks! I looked on History.com and it seems they'll be re-airing that episode in a couple of days. Also, in reference to the "yOUR tARAEW-aLLA??" bit, I've left it there for a very special reason. If I ever feel that I'm too close to spiritual enlightenment, I look at it and I'm suddenly confused as to the nature of the universe again. Thanks for the offer to remove it, though! TomTheHand 20:45, 20 October 2005 (UTC)

Adminship track

A good place to start is to look at Wikipedia:Requests for adminship/Standards to get a sense of what editors are looking for in an admin. It's also helpful to contribute to a variety of Wikiprojects and participate in discussions relating to both the content of articles and proposed deletions. Start by working on articles covering subjects with which you are familiar. Check out Wikipedia:List of WikiProjects, and you'll find tons of projects in many areas for which there is work to be done, with each project's members outlining the particular goals to be served therein. My personal favorite is Wikipedia:Disambiguation pages with links, where we try to point as many links as possible to actual articles instead of disambiguation pages (also a good way to see a lot of Wikipedia). Keep an eye on recent edits, and you'll inevitably get involved in fighting vandals as well. So, that's a good set of things to start with. Eventually, you'll find yourself participating in AfD, RfA, and FAC, and you'll know when you're really ready to seek the nod.  BD2412 talk 21:23, 20 October 2005 (UTC)

Okay

...here you go...

 

Just for asking kindly

Take care, Molotov (talk)  
22:07, 20 October 2005 (UTC)

That's fine. I say as long as a Wikipedian is working hard, they should a least have something to make them feel better. Molotov (talk)  
22:21, 20 October 2005 (UTC)

"Feinds list"

If I may make a suggestion - it's a bad idea to keep a list of users you don't like. For one thing, it's exceedingly rude; furthermore, calling someone a "fiend" (which is presumably what you intended to write), which the OED defines as "the arch-enemy of mankind", is almost certainly a personal attack. These are prohibited. Regards — Dan | Talk 23:06, 20 October 2005 (UTC)

Fiend, you mean? ;-)

And bear in mind that Purplefeltangel is just fourteen, so better to try to make a friend of her.  BD2412 talk 23:07, 20 October 2005 (UTC)

Warnings

Prodego, I've spoken to purplefeltangel on IRC and she seems genuinely unaware of what you're trying to warn her of. Your tone has also not been particularly civil, and I really suggest you apologize or at least try to explain what you're accusing her of. Please avoid comments like this, please. It amounts to a pretty obvious incivility. If you've made a mistake and don't want to discuss this any more, just ignore this post. Don't threaten people with bans without explaining what you think they're guilty of, though.

Peter Isotalo 23:10, 20 October 2005 (UTC)

Well I'm glad I don't normally do this

Well that was fast, I was actually reverting my Fiend list and comment, (I tried to remove my message from purplefelt's page to signify nevermind, I didn't understand all the details, but that spun a very short fight over the control of my talk page ect. Anyway, it took 4 minutes to have four messages about purplefeltangel and I want to say that this was a huge misunderstanding, purplefelt and I misinterpted each others comments and I would up being rude anyway there si now a this page needs cleaning message below so I will delete lots of these messages to clear up space.

thanks

Prodego talk 23:32, 20 October 2005 (UTC)