User talk:HJ Mitchell/Archive 114

Latest comment: 6 years ago by HJ Mitchell in topic Historic England
Archive 110Archive 112Archive 113Archive 114Archive 115Archive 116Archive 120

Archive photos of WWI war memorials

Royal Fusiliers War Memorial between the wars (left) and after WWII (right)
Rangers' War Memorial on Chenies Street between the wars (left) and after WWII (right)

While looking for some photos of war memorials, I came across a batch that had been uploaded on Commons from the Imperial War Museum archives, do an "exact term" search (using quote marks) for "War Memorials of the First World War" in the image namespace on Commons, and you get all 56 of them. All taken by Horace Nicholls (1867-1941) and the license looks OK for all of them. I don't have time to do much more than dump most of them in commons:Category:World War I memorials in the United Kingdom (some were already in subcategories of that category, so not all of them are there), and to create a gallery of all 56 in a subpage in my userspace on Commons: see here. Maybe you might find some useful images there? Carcharoth (talk) 19:53, 15 November 2017 (UTC)

Interesting, but perhaps more for historical reasons, for the people and the vehicles and the surroundings in the background, than as images of the memorials themselves. Most have not changed very much at all. I've added one to Cavalry of the Empire Memorial showing the memorial in its original position, before it was moved, with the stone backdrop that was omitted when it was reconstructed. And Hyde Park Corner was clearly a much more peaceful location for the Machine Gun Corps Memorial before the gyratory was built. Theramin (talk) 23:27, 15 November 2017 (UTC)
True. I found nine more by the same photographer held by the IWM, uploaded under the titles "War Memorials After the First World War" and "War Memorials in Britain After the First World War". I've added those to the gallery (at the end). Carcharoth (talk) 00:36, 16 November 2017 (UTC)
@Theramin: another example of a war memorial missing bits and pieces is commons:Category:Kennington War Memorial. According to the entry at Historic England: "The front of the memorial formerly bore a brass plaque of a cannon replete with a festoon of flags, as well as another brass plaque running around the bottom of the cenotaph section. These were removed/lost at some point after 1947 (whereabouts unknown)." Whereabouts unknown, indeed! Carcharoth (talk) 14:59, 16 November 2017 (UTC)
How interesting. Thanks for digging those out! Some of them will certainly be useful for the historical context, and even the ones we don't have an immediate use for are nice to have. How different the Royal Fusiliers Memorial looked then compared to its modern setting! HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 12:54, 17 November 2017 (UTC)
Hmm. It is not that different, but comparing two similar images side-by-side, I'm trying to work out which buildings have changed. At first I thought the memorial got moved, but I think it must be a combination of redevelopment of the buildings, either by choice or following wartime bombing damage. Wonder who might know. Hopeful @Iridescent: who might know. @Theramin: mentioned two other examples above, but having read up a bit on the Machine Gun Corps Memorial, the difference in appearance there was because like the Cavalry of the Empire Memorial, it too was moved to a different location. The other then-vs-now image contrast I found very striking was for the Rangers' War Memorial in Bloomsbury (the reason for the change there is an interesting one). I've put that and several other comparisons below. Not sure how to do a better layout, sorry! If I ever get the time, I might try and get some modern photos at nearly exactly the same angle for better comparative purposes (the Edith Cavell Memorial ones show some of the changes to Charing Cross, but none of our modern ones are at the right angles). Carcharoth (talk) 22:29, 17 November 2017 (UTC)

Thanks for reminding me that the Machine Gun Corps Memorial was moved too. Just far enough to get it out of way of the wider carriageway, I think. But now I recall that the Royal Naval Division Memorial was moved too, before being put back where it started. I wonder if we can find an image of it while it was in Greenwich.

Most of the change in the background of the Royal Fusiliers War Memorial is accounted for by three things: the demolition of the buildings around and past Holborn Circus which had suffered bomb damage in the war, revealing the view of St Andrew Holborn; the replacement of the Gamages buildings (which were on the left, with the sun blinds, past the red Prudential Assurance Building aka Holborn Bars; and the replacement of the buildings to the right on either side of New Fetter Lane - the nearer stone one just past the entrance to Barnard's Inn and the next one which is now the Sainsbury's HQ, which was built for Andersen on the former site of the Daily Mirror's print works. Some of the post-war buildings have already been replaced. Theramin (talk) 00:44, 20 November 2017 (UTC)

I think there's a photo of the RND memorial at Greenwich in Skelton and possibly some of the other books. I've definitely seen photos of it there during my research; it was there until early in the Internet era so I'd have thought there would be free photos of it in-situ there somewhere on the Internet. What a state that article is in! It's a shame it's just been neglected and people have just added bits to it over the years and now it's just a mess. Btw, @Theramin: thanks for writing Their name liveth for evermore. I'd been thinking about that for a while. I might expand it with some book sources at some point but I'm trying not to go off on tangents until I've finished the Lutyens memorials, especially now I only have a handful left (at least in England!). HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 09:32, 20 November 2017 (UTC)

New online CWGC archive

Dropping a note here to point out this edit I made regarding the new online CWGC archive, as I thought it might be of interest, particularly the digitised minutes and older annual reports. You can search for all the cemeteries Lutyens worked on, for example, though the actual records are mostly not digitised yet. @Theramin: as well, as might be of interest to them. Carcharoth (talk) 11:33, 21 November 2017 (UTC)

Thanks! I'm sure that'll come in handy! I'm not sure what for yet because I'm trying to stay focused on the memorials so I can get them finished before I move on to anything else, but I'm sure I'll find a use for it at some point. So many potential articles, so little time! HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 12:39, 21 November 2017 (UTC)

Pay Warrant

Hi,

this was archived with no response. Is it something that might interest you? Or one of your contacts? Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 23:27, 21 November 2017 (UTC)

Happy Holiday Greetings

 
Me:I was going to serve yams with Thanksgiving dinner, but I sat on them. Mom: What are you serving now?
Me: Squash.
Wishing You A Happy Turkey Day!
A Thanksgiving tale...

Two pilgrims go out hunting. One has two blunderbusses (guns).
The second pilgrim queries, “Why two blunderbusses?”
The first pilgrim responds, “I usually miss on the first shot; with two I can shoot again”.
The second pilgrim pauses, then asks, “Why not just take the second one, and only shoot once?”

Atsme📞📧 17:05, 22 November 2017 (UTC)

The Signpost: 24 November 2017

Help request

Hello- Dear oversight User:HJ Mitchell, thank you for you email. I know some about this situation. If possible, I'd like to hide my personal information (edits) from others. Life in Iran is so complicated, as you said "it is not a problem living in Iran", I should have said that it is a huge problem for some people. That's just because of its Islamic Republic government's harsh policy against atheists and some non-Muslims, Bahá'ís, LGBTs, irreligious people and etc. As you well know, the safety of editors and their personal life and independence is so important to the foundation. Editions I'd like to hide:

  1. User:TheStrayDog - all edits except the last edit.
  2. User:TheStrayDog/mainpage - all edits except the last edit.
  3. User:TheStrayDog/first - all edits except the last edit.

Sincerely Yours. The Stray Dog Talk Page 16:46, 1 December 2017 (UTC)

I'll email you about this. HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 18:41, 1 December 2017 (UTC)

ArbCom 2017 election voter message

Hello, HJ Mitchell. Voting in the 2017 Arbitration Committee elections is now open until 23.59 on Sunday, 10 December. All users who registered an account before Saturday, 28 October 2017, made at least 150 mainspace edits before Wednesday, 1 November 2017 and are not currently blocked are eligible to vote. Users with alternate accounts may only vote once.

The Arbitration Committee is the panel of editors responsible for conducting the Wikipedia arbitration process. It has the authority to impose binding solutions to disputes between editors, primarily for serious conduct disputes the community has been unable to resolve. This includes the authority 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 in the 2017 election, please review the candidates and submit your choices on the voting page. MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 18:42, 3 December 2017 (UTC)

Possibility of providing your input on a Peer Review for Regine Velasquez's entry

Hi Harry @HJ Mitchell:,

I'm writing to ask whether you would consider having a look at the article. I'm aware that you've been involved with a few PRs before. I've given it a major rewrite and complete overhaul. I began working on the article late October when it looked like this and somehow ended up rewriting the whole thing and aiming for potentially FA. This isn't a process I've been through before, but I have been reading the reviews here in preparation, and am familiar with FAC demands. I would very much appreciate a fresh set of eyes and happily address any concerns you may have.

Thanks! Pseud 14 (talk) 13:09, 3 December 2017 (UTC)

Hi @Pseud 14:. I'm really sorry but I'm not likely to be much use. I don't know much about writing music articles—I mostly write about obscure things like war memorials—and I'm pushed for time up until Christmas. I'm juggling three articles of my own at the moment and I'm behind on reviewing, all of which I have to squeeze in around a full-time job and various personal commitments. The best advice I can offer is to look at featured articles on similar subjects and see how your article compares to them—Taylor Swift is a relatively recent FA on a singer (those who know me well won't be surprised to see me mention Taylor! ;) ), and there are several modern female solo artists at Wikipedia:Featured articles#Music biographies. You might get some good feedback by asking the authors of those articles for advice. Best, HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 09:04, 5 December 2017 (UTC)
Thanks HJ Mitchell, I did have a look at the Wikipedia:Featured articles#Music biographies and Taylor Swift was one of them, along with a few others. I share the same enthusiasm for Taylor as you do, from what I can tell ;). I've reached out to a few Peers who have done PRs for biographies and have listed it for GOCE copy-editing as recommeded by one of them. I'll see how it goes at least until a full review and copy-edit commences. I do appreciate your advise. All the best! Pseud 14 (talk) 10:01, 5 December 2017 (UTC)

Your signature

Please be aware that your signature uses deprecated <font> tags, which are causing Obsolete HTML tags lint errors.

You are encouraged to change

[[User:HJ Mitchell|<font color="Teal" face="Tahoma">'''HJ Mitchell'''</font>]] | [[User talk:HJ Mitchell|<font color="Navy" face= "Times New Roman" Title="(Talk page)">Penny for your thoughts? </font>]]HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts?

to

[[User:HJ Mitchell|<span style="color: Teal; font-family: Tahoma;">'''HJ Mitchell'''</span>]] | [[User talk:HJ Mitchell|<span style="color: Navy; font-family: Times New Roman;" Title="(Talk page)">Penny for your thoughts? </font>]] HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts?

Respectfully, Anomalocaris (talk) 18:45, 26 November 2017 (UTC)

Hi, I'll see to this when I'm back at a proper computer. HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 22:38, 28 November 2017 (UTC)
I should have used escape sequences for the code for the pipe character. Let me try again.
You are encouraged to change
[[User:HJ Mitchell|<font color="Teal" face="Tahoma">'''HJ Mitchell'''</font>]] &#124; [[User talk:HJ Mitchell|<font color="Navy" face= "Times New Roman" Title="(Talk page)">Penny for your thoughts? </font>]]HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts?
to
[[User:HJ Mitchell|<b style="color: teal; font-family: Tahoma">HJ Mitchell</b>]] &#124; [[User talk:HJ Mitchell|<span style="color: navy; font-family: Times New Roman" title="(Talk page)">Penny for your thoughts?</span>]]HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts?
The change is, you're supposed to code the pipe character (|) in your signature with the escape code &#124; so that if you ever use your signature in a template, there won't be a pipe character that the template will treat as a parameter separator.
Respectfully, Anomalocaris (talk) 09:02, 30 November 2017 (UTC)
I have tweaked a few more things since we're looking at this: a font tag was missed, merged a span and a bold, and down-cased title and colors. A small note: "Teal" and "Navy" are not web colors in CSS. That they render correctly is somewhat surprising. --Izno (talk) 13:01, 30 November 2017 (UTC)
Izno:Teal and Navy are listed at HTML Color Codes and HTML Goodies. If you find a font color name on a font color name website, and it works in your browser, you're probably OK, IMHO. —Anomalocaris (talk) 18:27, 30 November 2017 (UTC)
Izno:Teal and Navy are among the 16 HTML color names that have been standard since 1999. —Anomalocaris (talk) 05:51, 5 December 2017 (UTC)
Thank you both for your attentiveness. I should be home tomorrow evening UTC and able to copy and paste reliably. HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 21:13, 30 November 2017 (UTC)
I'm home now and I've updated it! HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 18:40, 1 December 2017 (UTC)
Thank you for your support for de-linting Wikipedia, or at least not spreading any new lint! One thing that got by both Izno and me is that your old signature had a nonbreaking space between "HJ" and "Mitchell", and we left it in, but we didn't escape the ampersand, so in the screen, instead of seeing &nbsp;, you saw a space. So, if you want a nonbreaking space in that location or anywhere else, you know what to do: Change the space to &nbsp;. —Anomalocaris (talk) 05:51, 5 December 2017 (UTC)
Thanks. I missed that. I've re-added the non-breaking space. It just looks ugly if the line breaks there. HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 08:26, 5 December 2017 (UTC)
Great! I agree, that would be a bad line break. Cheers! —Anomalocaris (talk) 23:12, 5 December 2017 (UTC)

2017 Military Historian of the Year and Newcomer of the Year nominations and voting

As we approach the end of the year, the Military History project is looking to recognise editors who have made a real difference. Each year we do this by bestowing two awards: the Military Historian of the Year and the Military History Newcomer of the Year. The co-ordinators invite all project members to get involved by nominating any editor they feel merits recognition for their contributions to the project. Nominations for both awards are open between 00:01 on 2 December 2017 and 23:59 on 15 December 2017. After this, a 14-day voting period will follow commencing at 00:01 on 16 December 2017. Nominations and voting will take place on the main project talkpage: here and here. Thank you for your time. For the co-ordinators, MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 08:35, 8 December 2017 (UTC)

This Month in GLAM: November 2017

 




Headlines
Read this edition in fullSingle-page

To assist with preparing the newsletter, please visit the newsroom. Past editions may be viewed here.

User:Fuck East Asia

Hi, I think you should revoked his talk page access, see this edit what he had make, it properly a LTA. SA 13 Bro (talk) 04:52, 9 December 2017 (UTC)

It seems Boing! took care of this in my absence. HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 04:41, 10 December 2017 (UTC)

Reverted my warning to a new user with a username that was directly insulting to a Wikipedia editor

Regarding the warning that I posted on a new user's talk page - I believe his/her username is a reference to an existing Wikipedia user who is likely an admin as well. Thank you. Beauty School Dropout (talk) 04:24, 10 December 2017 (UTC)

Never mind - I see that you already blocked them.
Hi Beauty School Dropout, accounts with usernames that obviously attack another editor should be immediately and permanently blocked without comment. This one in particular is a long-banned editor, but in general there is no point in assuming good faith with somebody who clearly lacks any. HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 06:16, 10 December 2017 (UTC)

You're right, of course. I posted that template warning on their talk page so that it would alert an admin such as yourself to the situation. You saw it and acted quickly regarding those concerns of mine. Thank you. Beauty School Dropout (talk) 06:24, 10 December 2017 (UTC)

I spotted it because somebody else reported it to WP:AIV. That or WP:UAA is the best place to go in future. Best, HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 06:29, 10 December 2017 (UTC)

The Bugle: Issue CXL, December 2017

 
Your Military History Newsletter

The Bugle is published by the Military history WikiProject. To receive it on your talk page, please join the project or sign up here.
If you are a project member who does not want delivery, please remove your name from this page. Your editors, Ian Rose (talk) and Nick-D (talk) 11:16, 10 December 2017 (UTC)

Administrators' newsletter – December 2017

News and updates for administrators from the past month (November 2017).

 

  Administrator changes

  Joe Roe
  JzG
  EricorbitPercevalThinggTristanbVioletriga

  Guideline and policy news

  • Following a request for comment, a new section has been added to the username policy which disallows usernames containing emoji, emoticons or otherwise "decorative" usernames, and usernames that use any non-language symbols. Administrators should discuss issues related to these types of usernames before blocking.

  Technical news

  Arbitration

  Miscellaneous

  • Over the last few months, several users have reported backlogs that require administrator attention at WP:ANI, with the most common backlogs showing up on WP:SPI, WP:AIV and WP:RFPP. It is requested that all administrators take some time during this month to help clear backlogs wherever possible. It should be noted that AIV reports are not always valid; however, they still need to be cleared, which may include needing to remind users on what qualifies as vandalism.
  • The Wikimedia Foundation Community health initiative is conducting a survey for English Wikipedia contributors on their experience and satisfaction level with Administrator’s Noticeboard/Incidents. This survey will be integral to gathering information about how this noticeboard works (i.e. which problems it deals with well and which problems it struggles with). If you would like to take this survey, please sign up on this page, and a link for the survey will be emailed to you via Special:EmailUser.

Thanks!

Hi Dear admin and fellow User:HJ Mitchell, I'd thank you so much. It was so much nice of you helping me that fast. I was a rather unprofessional to have asked you to help me but you responded professionally enough. Wikipedia is still a good place with people like you. You're wise, always helpful and most importantly, you are a good admin. I don't know how to thank you, but I'm sure it's not enough to say thank you. My best regards. The Stray Dog Talk Page 20:53, 11 December 2017 (UTC)

@TheStrayDog: I'm glad I could help. :) HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 11:42, 12 December 2017 (UTC)

A barnstar for you!

  The Original Barnstar
To User:HJ Mitchell, in recognition of his helpful efforts in Wikipedia. Thank you so much. The Stray Dog Talk Page 20:58, 11 December 2017 (UTC)
That's very kind of you, thanks! HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 11:42, 12 December 2017 (UTC)

Rochdale Cenotaph scheduled for TFA

This is to let you know that the Rochdale Cenotaph article has been scheduled as today's featured article for January 11, 2018. Please check the article needs no amendments. If you're interested in editing the main page text, you're welcome to do so at Wikipedia:Today's featured article/January 11, 2018, but note that a coordinator will trim the lead to around 1100 characters anyway, so you aren't obliged to do so. Thanks! Jimfbleak - talk to me? 10:29, 12 December 2017 (UTC)

Thanks for the heads up. HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 11:42, 12 December 2017 (UTC)

Irish National War Memorial Gardens

You'll know this one, but it was new to me until I can across it in Gardens Of A Golden Afternoon. It could do with some work. The Bookrooms look pretty amazing. All the best. KJP1 (talk) 09:19, 13 December 2017 (UTC)

Are you trying to make me cry? ;) I still haven't finished Lutyens' memorials in England! Dublin is on the list but it's going to be a while before I get to it. Bury is now at FAC, Edward Horner and the Civil Service Rifles are at A-class review, next up is the RND, which leaves Tower Hill, Leicester, Southampton that should be nice and easy, Hchc's already done most of the work!, and the daddy of them all, *the* Cenotaph. Then there might be enough for an FA on Richmond, the OBLI, and Busbridge. Then I want to do an overview. Then I might look at his foreign memorials (if any war memorial deserved an FA, it's Thiepval), but there are also lots of war memorials by other architects I want to look at. I really should have picked a smaller project!

By the way, if you want a cultural juxtaposition, I have plans to visit Dublin in June and I'll make sure I get to the memorial gardens, but the main reason for the visit is to go to a Taylor Swift concert! HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 10:34, 13 December 2017 (UTC)

Sorry! - the aim wasn't to bring on tears! I sometimes feel the same about trying to fill in all of Monmouthshire's Grade I and II* listed buildings. Taylor Swift? Delighted to see she's an FA. More cites than William Burges but not a book to be seen. I'm just too old! KJP1 (talk) 11:19, 13 December 2017 (UTC)
5.5 million articles and even filling in the gaps in small niches feels overwhelming. Wikipedia is a special kind of masochism! I had nothing to do with that FA. Much as I'd love to take credit, I wouldn't know where to begin with digging up all those web cites. Much easier to write about historical subjects with books written about them. And you don't have to update an article about a war memorial or an architect every week. HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 11:33, 13 December 2017 (UTC)

Cragside

Dear Harry, me again, adding to your burdens. The PR for the above, to which you kindly contributed, is now closed and the FAC opened. If you have the time and inclination, in amongst your other commitments, your further comments would be greatly appreciated. Thanks and best regards. KJP1 (talk) 16:28, 13 December 2017 (UTC)

You're always welcome here, I just need more articles to work on like I need a hole in the head! I saw Cragside when DBaK put it up yesterday but it was bedtime. I've added my support at the FAC now; glad you found a use for Greeves (amazing what you can pick up in charity shops!). If you have time, I 'd appreciate fresh eyes on the Lancashire Fusiliers War Memorial (FAC). Not a long read, but an interesting one if you like Lutyens. HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 09:49, 14 December 2017 (UTC)

Bengal famine

Look at WT:FACLingzhi ♦ (talk) 12:40, 16 December 2017 (UTC)

Whoosh went 2017...

 
Christmas tree worm, (Spirobranchus gigantic)

Atsme📞📧 13:17, 17 December 2017 (UTC)
Time To Spread A Little
Happy Holiday Cheer!!
I decorated a special kind of Christmas tree
in the spirit of the season.

What's especially nice about
this digitized version:
*it doesn't need water
*won't catch fire
*and batteries aren't required.
Enjoy the Holidays

and have a prosperous New Year!!

🍸🎁 🎉

Happy Saturnalia!

  Happy Saturnalia
Wishing you and yours a Happy Holiday Season, from the horse and bishop person. May the year ahead be productive and troll-free and you not often get distracted by dice-playing. Ealdgyth - Talk 13:55, 17 December 2017 (UTC)

The Signpost: 18 December 2017

User group for Military Historians

Greetings,

"Military history" is one of the most important subjects when speak of sum of all human knowledge. To support contributors interested in the area over various language Wikipedias, we intend to form a user group. It also provides a platform to share the best practices between military historians, and various military related projects on Wikipedias. An initial discussion was has been done between the coordinators and members of WikiProject Military History on English Wikipedia. Now this discussion has been taken to Meta-Wiki. Contributors intrested in the area of military history are requested to share their feedback and give suggestions at Talk:Discussion to incubate a user group for Wikipedia Military Historians.

MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 11:30, 21 December 2017 (UTC)

Your missing userbox

Is one I found and added to my page almost a decade ago, it's here... I think it's rather appropriate. --kelapstick(bainuu) 22:43, 19 December 2017 (UTC)

@Kelapstick: That's my new favourite userbox! Thanks very much for the tip! HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 16:38, 21 December 2017 (UTC)

WP:Introduction protection

Harry, would you consider reducing the protection level on WP:Introduction? You put it straight up to full protection from pending changes in January 2011, but in fact all the unwanted edits in the month prior to that would have been stopped by semi-. Meanwhile the full protection is obstructing uncontroversial updates like the change from Save to Publish which has just been implemented, and chilling a few improvements proposed on the talk page over the years: Noyster (talk), 14:02, 20 December 2017 (UTC)

@Noyster: I've downgraded it to extended confirmed. That's something we did't have back in 2011. HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 16:40, 21 December 2017 (UTC)

Wishes

It's that time of the year again, Harry. No fancy template, but just wishing you all the best for the holidays and the new year. It's probably a lot warmer where I am than where you are. No single malt, but you can join me by my pool for a G&T or an ice cold Baileys - or a glass of my secret stash of Châteauneuf 😎 Kudpung กุดผึ้ง (talk) 09:02, 21 December 2017 (UTC)

Thanks, Chris. All the best to you and yours as well. Hopefully we'll have a drink soon. HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 16:41, 21 December 2017 (UTC)

Thank you

  The WikiProject Barnstar
For your content work and continued support to Wikipedia as an administrator I am pleased to personally award you with this barnstar and add you to my 2017 New Years Honours List. Thank you for your contributions to WikiProject Military History. Regards, AustralianRupert (talk) 13:11, 21 December 2017 (UTC)
Thank you very much, Rupert, that mean a lot, especially coming from you. And I love the idea of an honours list! So much so I might have to pinch it! HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 16:42, 21 December 2017 (UTC)

Season's Greetings

Spread the WikiLove; use {{subst:Season's Greetings1}} to send this message

Military History A-Class Medal

  The Military history A-Class medal with oak leaves
On behalf of the Wikiproject Military history coordinators, I hereby award you the Military history A-Class Medal with Oak Leaves for your efforts in improving the Mells War Memorial, Lancashire Fusiliers War Memorial and Equestrian statue of Edward Horner articles upto A-Class status. Regards, Parsecboy (talk) 12:31, 19 December 2017 (UTC)
@Parsecboy: Thanks very much, though just for record-keeping ... shouldn't that be an ACM with Oak Leaves and recorded at Wikipedia:WikiProject Military history/Awards/ACM? Thanks, HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 16:35, 21 December 2017 (UTC)
Ah, you're quite right - don't I feel silly! Parsecboy (talk) 17:07, 21 December 2017 (UTC)
Thanks a lot! HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 17:10, 21 December 2017 (UTC)
No problem - I had to fix Peacemaker's too! Parsecboy (talk) 17:25, 21 December 2017 (UTC)

Happy Holidays

  Happy Holidays
From Stave one of Dickens A Christmas Carol

Old Marley was as dead as a door-nail. Mind! I don’t mean to say that I know, of my own knowledge, what there is particularly dead about a door-nail. I might have been inclined, myself, to regard a coffin-nail as the deadest piece of ironmongery in the trade. But the wisdom of our ancestors is in the simile; and my unhallowed hands shall not disturb it, or the Country’s done for. You will therefore permit me to repeat, emphatically, that Marley was as dead as a door-nail.

So you see even Charles was looking for a reliable source :-) Thank you for your contributions to the 'pedia. ~ MarnetteD|Talk 02:41, 24 December 2017 (UTC)

Greetings

Merry Christmas!

Hello, HJ Mitchell! Thank you for your work to maintain and improve Wikipedia! Wishing you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
CAPTAIN RAJU(T) 17:25, 24 December 2017 (UTC)

Spread the WikiLove and leave other users this message by adding {{subst:Multi-language Season's Greetings}}

Happy New Year, HJ Mitchell!

   Send New Year cheer by adding {{subst:Happy New Year fireworks}} to user talk pages.

Unlocked

Hi there! Maybe you still know me from the FAC of the article above some time ago. I would love to see that article reach FA status sometime in the future; would you have time to work with me on Unlocked a bit? Maybe you can list some issues you found on its talk page? Best regards, Cartoon network freak (talk) 17:46, 31 December 2017 (UTC)

FA

Hey, if you've got any time would you be able to look over Monaco: What's Yours Is Mine? I've started a PR for it in an attempt to get it to FA class. Cheers, Anarchyte (work | talk) 04:55, 31 December 2017 (UTC)

Sure. I'l have a look when I get chance. It's unlikely to be this year, given that there's just over an hour and a half left of it. HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 22:19, 31 December 2017 (UTC)

User:Jimbo Wales

Hi HJ Mitchell , I reduced the protection on this page from 25 to 10 days, I expect once the work/school year is back in normal rotation activity will return to normal levels there. Feel free to renew/extend at the end of the period as needed. Best regards, — xaosflux Talk 19:42, 31 December 2017 (UTC)

@Xaosflux: I've always found you a stickler for policy and procedure, so I would have appreciated being consulted before you decided your judgement was better than mine. I'm very well aware that Jimbo Wales prefers to keep his user page open for editing, which is why I went with a short, temporary protection instead of the the permanent protection we would apply to any other page that attracted that rate of unhelpful edits, including serious abuse. I protected it to avoid creating unnecessary work for other editors—not the sort of work I often see you participating in, which only leaves me further wondering what the basis of your action was and why you felt it was so urgent you couldn't have consulted with somebody who is involved in anti-vandalism work first. HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 22:51, 31 December 2017 (UTC)
I was following what I assumed was the spirit of your "I have no objection to my actions being reversed, as long you leave me a polite note explaining what you did and why" statement above, which is why I didn't start a conversation first. While we obviously disagree on the appropriate length, I reverted my change to your protection duration and do not wish to debate it further. Happy editing, — xaosflux Talk 23:17, 31 December 2017 (UTC)
I hoped it went without saying that there should be some sort of policy- or common-sense-based reason, not jut a whim. But regardless, happy new year. HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 02:41, 1 January 2018 (UTC)

Administrators' newsletter – January 2018

News and updates for administrators from the past month (December 2017).

 

  Administrator changes

  Muboshgu
  AnetodeLaser brainWorm That Turned
  None

  Bureaucrat changes

  Worm That Turned

  Guideline and policy news

  • A request for comment is in progress to determine whether the administrator policy should be amended to require disclosure of paid editing activity at WP:RFA and to prohibit the use of administrative tools as part of paid editing activity, with certain exceptions.

  Technical news

  Arbitration


October to December 2017 Milhist article reviewing

  Content Review Medal of Merit (Military history)
On behalf of the Milhist coordinators, you are hereby awarded the WikiChevrons for reviewing a total of 12 Milhist articles at PR, GAN, ACR or FAC during the period October to December 2017. Thank you for supporting Wikipedia's quality content processes. AustralianRupert (talk) 04:29, 3 January 2018 (UTC)

Keep track of upcoming reviews. Just copy and paste {{WPMILHIST Review alerts}} to your user space

War memorials

 

One that might interest you, there is a Crimean War peace memorial in Attleborough, Norfolk. One of a few in the UK. It is a listed building. Mjroots (talk) 12:34, 4 January 2018 (UTC)

How interesting. I don't think I've come across a Crimean War memorial before. And interesting that it should be in a small Norfolk town of all places. I've got my hands full with WWI memorials at the minute, but I'll look into this one when I get chance. HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 12:43, 4 January 2018 (UTC)

Historic England

At Wikipedia:Today's featured article/January 11, 2018, I added "on the recommendation of Historic England"... I'm thinking we should mention whichever organization was most influential in the decision, and I'm not positive who that would be. I took a guess. - Dank (push to talk) 18:54, 2 January 2018 (UTC)

Hi Dan. Happy new year, my friend. You can probably drop the "on the recommendation". Since a 'national collection' doesn't have any legal status, unlike listing itself, it's something HE can just declare itself. It doesn't mean an awful lot, but it shows the relationship between a group of listed buildings (in this case, Lutyens' war memorials). Best, HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 22:54, 3 January 2018 (UTC)
Done (I think). It's a cold new year ... maybe a happier new year next week. - Dank (push to talk) 23:45, 3 January 2018 (UTC)
So I gather. I heard they had snow in Florida! It just rains here! The blurb looks fine to me now. HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts? 12:44, 4 January 2018 (UTC)