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RfC against 86.105.71.34

Hi Joe,

I'm putting together an RfC against anonymous user 86.105.71.34, who I think has engaged in several types of misconducts on Wikipedia, especially on Transylvania, Romania, Republic of Moldova, Romanian language. I'm writing to you because you attempted to solve one or more of those issues on the user's talk page. If you endorse this RfC, or have anything to add to the statement of dispute, please sign and share your comments at Wikipedia:Requests for comment/86.105.71.34. Thanks, IulianU 00:04, 2 November 2005 (UTC)

Salut

Salut Joe, m-ai dezamagit inca o data, se vede ca esti prea orgolios si nu ti-a priit comentariul meu despre tine, dovada ca era adevarul gol golut. Iti este greu sa recunosti de aceea ai reactionat in felul acesta. Tu modifici dupa bunul tau plac tot ce scrie despre Romania. Te crezi un mare destept si atotcuprinzator, nu ai dat dovada de intelegere, tu nu esti dispus la dialog, accepti doar ce crezi tu si nu poti sa dai dovada de fairplay. Contributiile mele au fost valoroase si au dat o noua imagine Romaniei mai buna decat vrei tu si alti cativa (o minoritate de altfel) sa o prezentati. Realitatea e ca Romania incepe sa deranjeze unele jocuri. Are o influenta tot mai mare. Nu credeam ca te-au deranjat atat de tare adaugarile mele despre economia romaniei. Nu prea am avut altele si nici asa de multe in ultima vreme (cum puteam cu cenzura asta!?). Este inacceptabil ca pentru doua trei cifre sa fiu tratat in felul asta, nu esti corect deloc. De altfel, ma intreb care este scopul Wikipedia? pai ce vrei tu sa faci, adica sa ma blochezi pe mine sau sa imi stergi tot ce scriu eu, este o mare farsa, cine stapaneste informatia stapaneste situatia nu? tu vrei monopol pe imaginea Romaniei, eu vreau sa prezint adevarul. E o mare diferenta aici, am sesizat la tine o anumita FRUSTRARE dar Joe, la tine e cat Himalaya :), suferi de ceva boala Mabel asa ca te sfatuiesc sa o lasi mai moale. De altfel am citit cum ii instigai pe altii sa modifice ce am scris eu. Cum am zis voi urmari in continuare tot ce scrii si iti promit ca ori de cate ori scrii ceva aiurea imi rezerv dreptul sa iau atitudine. Salut si lucreaza mai departe. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.105.71.34 (talk • contribs) 2 Nov 2005

While I have decent foreigner's Romanian, I'm having a great deal of trouble understanding some of this. I will attempt to translate later. -- Jmabel | Talk 20:15, 2 November 2005 (UTC)

Attempted translation, work in progress, I don't have a lot of time for this now, help is welcome. -- Jmabel | Talk 23:41, 2 November 2005 (UTC)

Attempted to complete translation. The original text is quite convoluted and negligently written; so don't be surprised if the English text turns out the same :-) IulianU 00:34, 3 November 2005 (UTC)

Greetings Joe, you've disappointed me once again, it's obvious that you are too haughty and you haven't agreed with(?)/liked my commentary about you, which proves that it was the naked truth. You find it very difficult to admit, this is why you reacted in that manner. You are editing at will everything written on Romania. You think of yourself as a smart, know-it-all guy, you did not show understanding, you are not willing to have a dialogue, you accept only what you believe and you are unable to show fair play. My contributions have been valuable and have given a new image of Romania, a better one than you and some others (a minority, for that matter) want to show. The reality is that Romania is beginning to upset many arrangements/games/???. It has an ever growing influence. I wouldn't have thought that my additions about the Romanian economy would have upset you so much. I didn't make any other (kinds of edits, apart from those), and lately I haven't done so many (how could I have, with this censorship!?). It is unacceptable that because of two or three figures I am treated in this manner, you are not being fair at all. By the way, I'm wondering what is the purpose of Wikipedia? Whatever your intention is, blocking me or erasing everything I write, it's a big farce, whoever controls the information controls the situation, isn't it? You want to monopolize the image of Romania, I want to present the truth. There is a big diference here, I have sensed in you a certain FRUSTRATION, but Joe, yours is as big as Himalaya :), you are suffering of some Mabel disease, so I'm advising you to soften your attitude/stop being so hardline. For that matter I've read how you were instigating others to change what I've written. As I've said, I'll be watching anything you write and I promise you that any time you write anything aiurea (wrong, deviant) I reserve the right to take attitude (step up, speak my mind). Greetings and keep working. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.105.71.34 (talk • contribs) 2 Nov 2005

As far as I know, the only substantive additions on the Romanian economy that I removed were because they were a blatant copyright violation. But if you can point to something substantive that I deleted, and that you think was an inappropriate deletion, please point to the specific edit instead of making a general accusation. And as for "instigating others to change what [you]'ve written": what I did, on the talk page, is called establishing consensus. Of course I could have reverted all of your edits myself. I precisely chose not to, but instead, I raised my objections and asked if others agreed with those objections. That is how this is supposed to work! -- Jmabel | Talk 02:36, 3 November 2005 (UTC)

Gaudí

Hey thanks for the slimming of the Higher Education section in the Gaudí article. I hadn't been satisfied with it but wasn't sure of what to do with that particular part. - ElAmericano 12:31, 2 November 2005 (UTC)

List of country names in various languages under attack !!!

Dear Jmabel,

The List of country names in various languages, List of European regions with alternative names, List of European cities with alternative names, List of European rivers with alternative names, and others, have come under attack by a certain Mikka, who, having just stumbled into all these lists, having found them of little use to himself, and having repeatedly ridiculed them and their users, has then promptly filed a petition to delete the lists in question.

Please cast your vote to keep these valuable, informative, and indeed fascinating lists at Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/List of country names in various languages.

Thanks! 69.25.77.51 16:46, 2 November 2005 (UTC)

I apologize

Joe,

My sincere apologies for hitting you with that IP block. I'm doing my best to prompt someone who appears to be running a bot that is editing date related articles and sometimes causing minor damage to fess up and bring their activities into the open. I'll look into other avenues. I might use short blocks. (Or lots of rollbacks.) Jdavidb (talk • contribs) 17:59, 2 November 2005 (UTC)

RfA

Joe, given the amount of patrolling of history and technology articles I am doing, I am thinking of nominating myself for administrator -- do you think I'd get the required support? --Goodoldpolonius2 03:49, 3 November 2005 (UTC)

I took the plunge, your support appreciated. --Goodoldpolonius2 04:08, 7 November 2005 (UTC)

Online communities at [[African American

Hey, I don't know. You've been here longer than I. I guess it depends. I did a quick search of other articles devoted to various ethnic groups, and I don't see similar links included. But, then again, for Dreadlocks, there are all sorts of links included there that, IMO, are questionable/superfluous/redundant. In checking out the links in "AA," I ended up deleting one, because it directs to a page that will grant access only if one is a member. But one of the links -- the poetry one -- I included in the article on African American literature (I can't believe that made featured article; it has some huge holes!), because I thought it useful. deeceevoice 18:54, 3 November 2005 (UTC)

Could you offer input?

Hi Jmabel, your input at Wikipedia:Requests_for_adminship/Ramallite would be appreciated. You edit some of the Jewish/Arab contentious articles sometimes and Ramallite is an editor who has broad support from across the spectrum of POVs on these topics, though the RFA has encountered some opposition. Please judge for yourself his merits and consider voting. Thanks, --MPerel ^{( talk | contrib)} 00:52, 4 November 2005 (UTC)

Hm... Problem?

Could you take a look at the following; I just found this today:

• Antoni Gaudí - The article when I came
• Antoni Gaudí biography - A highly frustrating read, at least for me...

Do we need to take care of this? (It really ticks me off.) Thanks. - ElAmericano | talk 18:57, Saturday, December 21, 2024 (UTC)

I don't see any problem. It looks like a compliant mirror. It links to Wikipedia, acknowledges as the source of the material, indicates that the content is GFDL, and provides a link to the GFDL license. Am I missing something? -- Jmabel | Talk 06:23, 4 November 2005 (UTC)

Oh, I didn't see that at the bottom and didn't know that was legal, but I'm relieved. I thought our article was going to need revamping or something. - ElAmericano | talk 2:07, 4 November 2005 (UTC)

Interested

Indeed I would be, but perhaps you meant early 2006? I don't have a time machine handy, I'm afraid. --Michael Snow 23:34, 5 November 2005 (UTC)

Oops. -- Jmabel | Talk 23:38, 5 November 2005 (UTC)

Image of Serbs

Hi. Can you please see Talk:Serbs and discussion about image of Serbs. Antidote has put his image on article. Since his image does not have majority, can you go there and tell him that he is wrong. Best regards. --M. Pokrajac 00:30, 6 November 2005 (UTC)

Seattle Meetup

Thanks for the heads-up, but I've actually moved across the country (Washington DC), so I obviously can't make it. Guess I should update my user page... Good luck with everything, though. RadicalSubversiv E 01:37, 6 November 2005 (UTC)

I've been wondering if we'd ever have another one. Count me in! I vote for a Saturday in January or February. -- llywrch 02:35, 6 November 2005 (UTC)

Salut Joe

Salut Joe, am citit ce mi-ai scris pe pagina de user si sincer sa fiu am ramas f. socat, oricum m-ai inteles f. gresit si bineinteles eu nu am nimic cu tine, dar faptul sa-mi pui in carca tot felul de chestii nu a fost frumos din partea ta. Retrage-ti acuzatiile si fii mai prietenos. Stiu ca este bine si imi pare f. bine, ca un tip ca si tine se ocupa cu atata efort de Romania si vreau sa-ti spun ca e f. bun lucrul acesta. Avem nevoie de prieteni. Oricum as vrea sa continui si tu sa ai ceva contributii la ce am propus pe pagina de discutii. Asa cred ca tu poti avea contributii pozitive dar retrage-ti acuzatiile nefondate. Salut si spor la treaba. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.105.71.34 (talk • contribs) 6 Nov 2005

If you want to discuss the matter, respond on the Rfc page. Until then, you are in contempt of Wikipedia's process for resolving disputes, and I see no reason to engage. -- Jmabel | Talk 19:36, 6 November 2005 (UTC)

Translation:

Hello Joe, I read what you wrote me on my use page and, to be honest, I was very shocked; you got me wrong, I don't have anything against you, but the fact that you're blaming on me all sorts of things was not a nice thing for you to do. Withdraw your accusations and be more friendly. I know how good it is, and I'm very glad, that a guy like you is taking so much interest in Romania, and let me tell you that this is very good. We need friends. Anyway I would like you to bring in some contributions to what I put forward on the talk page. So I think you can make positive contributions, but withdraw your unfounded accusations. Greetings and spor la treabă.

Sorry, I can't come up with a colloquial English translation for the last phrase, it translates to something like may your work be prosperous/lucrative?. IulianU 21:30, 6 November 2005 (UTC)

Iulian, thanks very much for the translation.

86.105.71.34, at this point, this is not between two people. An RfC has been filed; about half a dozen people signed on to it, although Ronline later withdrew. The place to settle this now is Wikipedia:Requests_for_comment/86.105.71.34. If you respond there—beyond expressing your incredulousness that we have documented your behavior—we have a chance of resolving the dispute. -- Jmabel | Talk 23:49, 6 November 2005 (UTC)

Reply to message

In reply to:Your user page shows contributions list to many articles that are not on your contributions list. May we presume that you have been contributing anonymously and are only now taking a user name? If so, and if you have been contributing from a fixed IP address, you might want to indicate that IP address so that people can find your past work.

Ive had an account for quite awhile under a different username (Julian Diamond) my last one was under my real name, but I signed my contributions with a nickname that I am now using for my new username, I have changed this because I don't want my real name to be visible so it would kinda defeat the purpose if I showed my old use name on my new user page, follow if you have any solutions to this I would very much appreciate it.?- Moshe Constantine Hassan Al-Silverburg 08:52, 7 November 2005 (UTC)|Talk

RfC against 86.105.71.34

Hi Joe! Thanks for writing me a message. Just a quick note - in the future, could you please write messages at the very bottom of my talk page, even if they're a reply to the same thread, because I only realised your messages now. I understand your concerns, and I must say that the way in which he has acted to you has been disappointing. On the other hand, to me he has been most polite. Anyway - I think the way you are dealing with this is great, and I will talk to him to try and see ways of solving this. I really appreciate your calmness! He said he is shocked by the RfC and it seems that he doesn't want confrontation on this issue. The conflict with Mikkalai is different - I personally have felt that Mikkalai is quite aggressive, and as an ethnic Russian (or Belarusian) I think that he has somewhat of an anti-Romanian POV. Hopefully all this will come to a good resolution. Thanks, Ronline 12:02, 7 November 2005 (UTC)

Question

Hey man! Do you have any problem in telling my opinions? ~~Dacodava~~

Tocmai am citit profilul tau. Esti cumva român?

Poti sa mergi pe wikipedia in limba romana si gasesti la: "Listă domnitori moldoveni", articolele facute de mine. Dacodava from Bacau County

For those who may not follow the second and third line of that he is asking me if I am somehow Romanian and aiming me at an article in the Romanian Wikipedia that now appears to be moved to ro:Listă de domnitori ai Moldovei, oddly without redirect from its old name so it took a bit of looking, as an example of his work. -- Jmabel | Talk 17:38, 7 November 2005 (UTC)

I wrote about UDMR that is a terrorist organization and you placed after my opinion, the word "troll". It was adressed to me? What is your relationship with a terrorist organization like udmr? Why do you take their side? Dacodava | Talk

I consider it trolling to accuse a party that has been a member of most Romanian government coalitions in the last decade of being a terrorist group. I don't like UDMR's politics at all, but there is a long way from "politically reprehensible" to "terrorist". -- Jmabel | Talk 17:27, 8 November 2005 (UTC)

An organization like udmr which said that wants a part of Romania is a terrorist organization!!! If you lived in here you should know that every ethnic minority has at least a member in Parliament and we gave extra rights for ethnic minorities, but to ask for teritorial authonomy, that is a terrorist request. I know that USA does not allow ethnic parties, and USA refused hungarians to have an ethnic party in USA. So do not be an hypocrite and ask us to do what you do not do it! Ethnic minorities have in here, schools, universities, theaters and other institutions but to ask for a territorial authonomy, that is a terrorist request!!! And that is possible because Romanian politicians are corupted , weak and stupid. So take care of your problems and let us alone please! Or do you want to break our country in the name of an hypocrite rule? Other counties like France and Germany do not accept minorities, and they said that are only French and Germans, but they ask like you to do what they do not do it. Maybe you want a piece of Romania too.

Dacodava, you should watch your language, please! You have no right to talk to Jmabel like the way you do! He might know a thing or two about Romanian politics more that you might think. And how come a Moldavian like yourself is more concerned about Hungarians that a (former) Transylvanian like myself is? :) You don't even live in Transylvania, so I'm afraid you don't have a clue about what you're talking. I'm sure that Jmabel is very happy with his piece of USA, he doesn't need not even a tiny little bit of Romania. --Vlad 13:12, 9 November 2005 (UTC)

The only "tiny little bit of Romania" I might want is a small apartment in Bucharest, since I'd love to spend time there again, but I'd pay for it just like anyone else.

Dacodava, I think most of what you are saying is either wrong or silly. Do I understand that you consider all groups that want partial local sovereignty to be "terrorists"? Does that mean that the present governments of Hong Kong in China; Catalonia, the Basque Country, and Navarre in Spain; and Scotland in the UK (to name just a few) are run by terrorists? Wow!

Yes, I know well about the ethnic minority parties in Romania, I'm actually the one who added most of the entries to our list on Romanian political parties past and present.

"I know that USA does not allow ethnic parties, and USA refused hungarians to have an ethnic party in USA." Huh? The U.S. allows ethnic parties, but as far as I know, no overtly ethnic party here has ever had much success. The "nativist" (meaning basically White Anglo-Saxon Protestant) Know-Nothing party had moderate success in the mid-19th century, that's about it. There have been several attempts at African American parties; to the best of my knowledge, none has ever gottent the majority even of the African American vote in any district. I've never heard of an attempt to form a Hungarian party in America: if this really happened I'd be fascinated to hear about it, but it seems rather quixotic, given that ethinc Hungarians are less than 1% of the national population, and I'm unaware of them being the majority even in any urban neighborhood (although they are certainly upwards of 30% in some neighborhoods).

-- Jmabel | Talk 20:15, 9 November 2005 (UTC)

Dear Jmabel, I did not want to up set you and I'm sorry if I did it! Please accept my apology.
And I understand you can not understand the situation in here and I do not ask you to
understand it. But if you want to know more about hungarian authonomy you can find more on
Romanian newspepers on line, because you speak very well Romanian. Asking for territorial authonomy is a terrorist request. -- Dacodava

To: Vlad, locuiesc in judetul Bacau si ma interseaza ce fac fratii mei români din Transilvania
si daca e nevoie pot sa ma duc sa-i apar!!! -- Dacodava See my page.

Thanks for supporting my RfA

I know I've been slow in saying this, but thanks for supporting my request for adminship. It was an honor to be both nominated and approved as an admin. If there is ever any adminish (is that a word :-) things you need help with, please let me know. --Alabamaboy 16:22, 8 November 2005 (UTC)

Dispute at Mizrahi Jews

Would you mind taking a look at a dispute I am having with User:Al-Andalus at Mizrahi Jews? It's regarding various wordings, and I'd appreciate some outside opinions. Thanks, Jayjg ^(talk) 17:32, 8 November 2005 (UTC)

Romanians

Some numbers for the Romanian page are ridiculous and I'm glad you agree, but 300,000 Romanians living in America does not seem farfetched at all. Consider this: only about 300,000 RUSSIANS live in America! The communist regimes prevented mass emigration; I'm certain Romania's and Russia's were among the hardest.

I'm also having trouble with some of the statistics presented on Russians and Bulgarians pages. There seems to be overestimations on both. 72.144.161.156 22:08, 8 November 2005 (UTC)

1. It's 15 years since the fall of Communism, and the influx to America has been enormous.
2. The U.S. census systematically undercounts European ethnicities, because they only count people who overtly state one.
3. Don't forget that the U.S. had a quite detectable Romanian (and also Russian) ethnic population before those countries ever "went Communist". Those populations are now 3rd and 4th generation, and very likely not to report on the census.
4. Again, this is a bit funny because I'm being accused by other people of trying to minimize the number of Romanians in the world.

As late as 1990, one did not hear the Romanian language on the streets of Astoria, Queens (one heard English and Greek); now one hears it quite a bit. In 1990, the only people I'd met in Seattle who were born in Romania were elderly, Jewish, or both. Now I'd hesitate to estimate how many I personally have met, but it is certainly over 25, and most of them I've met independently of one another, and not through anything Romania-related, just in the path of my professional or social life. Admittedly, I'm more likely to recognize a Romanian name or accent than would a random American, but it's not as if I were Romanian myself.

But again, I don't think it is our job to evaluate the estimates: NOR and all that. I think it is our (Wikipedia') role to cite the different estimates accurately.

I wouldn't (at all) mind separating out census numbers and unofficial estimates, but I think they both belong there. I am not at all convinced that the census numbers are the more accurate, despite their apparent precision. -- Jmabel | Talk 22:38, 8 November 2005 (UTC)

Thank you

I just wanted to thank you for your support of my RfA which finally passed! I greatly appreciate it! Ramallite ^(talk) 04:10, 9 November 2005 (UTC)

Your article on systemic bias

Hi Jmabel. This started out as a review, then became a comment on systemic bias in general, and I didn't really know where to put it, so I put it here. It's very probably that most of this has already been said elsewhere. I don't like the term systemic bias, as it infers that people actively ignore areas such as Africa, Asia, non-English literature, etcetera (as you list). This is not the case. People will write about what they know. Is it a bad thing that there is more information on Ents than on the Second Congo War? You would clearly say yes. I would say no. The more information that any subject has, the better.

It's unfair, and inaccurate, to compare articles on areas that more Wikipedians are more conversant with (science fiction, western pop culture, sports) with those that very few - if any - are conversant with. That being said, any push to increase and expand the sketchy areas of Wikipedia is a good thing. Do not, however, fall into the trap of thinking this means areas that Wikipedia is more prolific in are a bad thing.

'We need to deepen our understanding of why women and certain ethnic minorities in the English-speaking world do not find this project as appealing as white men'. I would suggest the answer for this is obvious. There is a certain level of geekiness associated with something like this. It doesn't bother me, nor do I believe it to be true, but there it is. There are far more male geeks than female geeks. The scarcity of non-Western authors may be something to do with the prevalence of computers and regular, stable internet access in the West when compared to Africa and Asia. Additionally, your comments are based on the English wikipedia. Do not forget that Wikipedia exists in many, many languages. I would hazard a guess that the Japanese, Swahili or Thai wikipedias exhibit systemic biases of their own, and quite probably in the opposite direction. The fastest and simplest way to reduce systemic bias would be some mass translation drives, translating everything over from all the non-english wikipedias to the english one, and vice-versa.

I have always wondered why no one has suggested (for all those stubs on African authors, painters, etc) just emailing every person who has a stub about them (and for whom an email address can be found), and asking them to either reply to the email, or consider adding information themselves. Even if only 10% bothered, that would increase the information on Wikipedia. And if 10% of those then decided to fill in a few more blanks, or click on a few redlinks, then Wikipedia would be a whole lot more rounded.

Sorry for the long comment. It's good to see that people are thinking about issues like this. Proto t c 15:32, 9 November 2005 (UTC)

On the whole we seem to be agreeing. "Systemic bias" doesn't mean that the individual authors are biased. It means that the system is biased. In this case, the nature of how we are building Wikipedia biases us (collectively) toward some subjects and away from others. Given that the avowed purpose of the project is to create an encyclopedia, that will be available to everyone, everywhere in the world, in their own language, that is a problem.

Geekiness? Absolutely. Also, though, I would add a sometimes hostile atmosphere. Again, though, given our overall goal, we need to work out how to get around some of this. And, no, my comments are not just based on the English Wikipedia, I read several languages, I've been heavily involved in translation work, and while I don't read Japanese or Chinese, I can tell you that the problems are worse in Spanish, Catalan, Romanian, and Italian; of the ones I've worked in, only German is better, and French is comparable. Yes, mass translation drives are doubtless part of the solution, but there aren't a lot of good translators out there working between Asian and European languages, nor am I aware of even a single good translation software tool between Asian and European languages.

"The scarcity of non-Western authors may be something to do with the prevalence of computers and regular, stable internet access in the West when compared to Africa and Asia." Absolutely. But that doesn't fully explain the paucity of (for example) African American or Native American contributors.

Yes, I think that active contact to liiving people mentioned in articles might be part of a solution. I personally have been more focused on (1) simply writing about relatively neglected subject matter areas (2) recruiting and retaining African Americans, with some success (3) recruiting Native Americans, so far with no success, and I'm not sure exactly why not: several Native American people in my acquaintance who I've approached seemed interested, and think the project is cool, but they haven't taken the plunge. -- Jmabel | Talk 19:58, 9 November 2005 (UTC)

Thanks for your comments, they're interesting. As I nicht sprechen ze deutsche wehr gut (and spell it even worse), I can't tell how the German Wikipedia is better with regards to any regional/race/gender/class/etc bias. How is it better? Is it that it has more articles and coverage on the areas en.wikipedia neglects, or that it has less on the areas en.wikipedia is good in? The first would definitely mean it was better ... the second is a non sequitur. Proto t c 09:29, 10 November 2005 (UTC)

In that its articles in the areas that English tends to neglect are simply deeper, better researched, more scholarly. -- Jmabel | Talk 18:47, 10 November 2005 (UTC)

Then we need more translators! I'm sure, eventually, things will settle out. Wikipedia is not a short-term project, after all. Thanks for providing such good responses. Proto t c 10:14, 11 November 2005 (UTC)

Gaudí revisions

I like the way you changed the endnotes to footnotes in the Gaudí article. Could you explain exactly what you did and what those templates mean? Thanks. - ElAmericano 01:29, 10 November 2005 (UTC)

Hi

I see that you online at the moment, so if you have time, could you please take a look at Talk:History of the United States (1988-present)? I'm dealing with a really tendentious user who is insisting that it is "obvious" that Samuel P. Huntington is "highly critical" of U.S. foreign policy, just as William Blum. (Quite an odd pairing!) I have a lot of experience with him, and he tends to ignore my comments while repeating himself and continuing reversions. So perhaps he might be more reasonable with feedback with some other users. 172 | Talk 09:00, 10 November 2005 (UTC)

Page deletion

I page which is part of the Wikipedia:WikiProject Anti-war (of which you are listed as a member) is up for deletion. It is The Left and Opposition to War, you can see its entry at Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/The Left and Opposition to War. It would be helpfull if you could add your opinion.--JK the unwise 12:48, 10 November 2005 (UTC)

Frederick II

I saw you were watching Frederick II's page. I have added a host of infos in the biography and in the personality section. But I'm of Italian language, so please, if you can, check the grammar and correct my errors in order to clean up the article. The same is for Enzio of Sardinia, Frederick's son's page. Thanks. Attilio, 10-11-2005.

Re: Partisan

I know it probably seems strange, but when I first read it, it seemed to be used in a pejorative and unnecessary way. I didn't know that he described himself as an anarchist; in which book/speech did he mention that? I think its best not to use small descriptive phrases like that anyway, unless they're completely neutral (e.g., if Chomsky was described as a linguist). Maybe it's a good thing that you can't tell where I'm coming from, because I'm definitely biased.

Fuzzform 18:39, 10 November 2005 (UTC)

Lăutari

Lăutari is indeed an umbrella term for Romanian traditional musicians which play string instruments, it being a traditional term for a violonist and other string players. However, most lăutari today are Roma, and for that reason lăutar music has significant Romani influences. The reason is because of Roma peoples' affinity for music, which has resulted in many lăutar tarafs, such as Taraful Haiducilor, to be acclaimed worldwide. Indeed, many lăutari combine elements of Romanian and Roma music.

The taraf band which lăutari group in is today often synonomised with a "gypsy band" (i.e. Roma band), even though the original meaning is a band of traditional lăutari. The Romanian Explicative Dictionary DEX has a definition of lăutari. Personally, I'm not an expert on Romanian traditional customs (I come from the city :) so it would probably be better to ask someone else for a more expert opinion. In fact, I've placed the expert tag on the article. Ronline 04:35, 11 November 2005 (UTC)

I added 7 links to the article about lăutari, some containing what I think is NPOV information, i.e. not wanting to settle the matter of the "origin" of the music Gypsies play in Romania. The only real expert I can think of is the ethnomusicologist who made known their music to the West. Her coordinates (from a French site) are the following:

Speranţa Rădulescu

Musée du Paysan

Fondation Alexandru Tzigara Samurcas

sos Kiseleff 3, sect. 1

71 268 Bucarest

tél. prof.: 00 401 650 5360 ou 5960

fax prof.: 401 312 9875

e-mail: rsperanta@rdslink.ro / rsperanta@go.ro

User:Quatrocentu | Talk Quatrocentu 09:43, 11 November 2005 (UTC)

Yes, and you will notice that is exactly who I cited as a reference for what I wrote in the article. -- Jmabel | Talk 17:22, 11 November 2005 (UTC)

Romania Gallery

Hey Jmabel, when should we expect you?

I noticed your additions to the Romania gallery the other day -- thanks for contributing! Just one question, there are two photos on the Sibiu article, did you have a reason for choosing the one you chose, or was it the only one available at the time? I'm not sarcastic, I could've just switched to the other one without dropping you a line -- I'm honestly consulting with you on this.

Cheers, Gutza ^{T T+} 22:15, 11 November 2005 (UTC)

P.S. Please answer here, not on my talk page, it's way easier to follow the conversation in the future this way.

I'll confess that I chose that one partly because I took the photo; also, though, because the other pictures in the gallery were all architecture, no life.

I have no idea when I'm going to make it to Romania again. Basically, I guess, the answer is "next time that have both time and money in spring or autumn." I had planned to go last month (October), but my current project got extended into mid-December. -- Jmabel | Talk 00:16, 12 November 2005 (UTC)

Full disclosure: I asked the question in the first place because I took the other picture in that article (and, like the idiot that I am, I didn't check who took the featured photo.) Small Wikipedia, eh? :-) Don't sweat over it, I have no personal ambition over this -- and you're also right, none of the other photos show any real sign of life (again, I'm not sarcastic, I really mean it.)

Mid-December, mid-January -- whatever, us Balcanic types don't really care about your Westerner calendar, just let me know in due time, ok? That is, if you want to meet up, of course! —Preceding unsigned comment added by Gutza (talk • contribs) 12 Nov 2005

Absolutely! When I finally get there, I promise to let you all know. -- Jmabel | Talk 00:40, 12 November 2005 (UTC)

Map styles

Southern United States

It has often been proposed that WikiProject U.S. regions use maps that do not include entire states and with colors that bleed into each other rather than have sharp demarcations. With the map at right I have attempted to produce such an image. I have done so before but until this one they were very unaesthetically pleasing. Please let me know your opinion of the map. Thanks. -JCarriker 06:15, 12 November 2005 (UTC)

• Visually, it looks fine to me, but I would have all of Virginia dark red and none of Pennsylvania even pink. -- Jmabel | Talk 06:23, 12 November 2005 (UTC)

May I suggest that...

...sure, no problem. Radiant_>|< 10:35, 12 November 2005 (UTC)

Thanks!

I appreciate your vote of support in my nomination to become an administrator, and the kind words on your user page. I've got at least a few more minstrelsy articles in me, so hopefully I can continue to live up to any expectations I may have built up in that area. Thanks again! —BrianSmithson 16:05, 12 November 2005 (UTC)

Romanian question

Hi Jmabel!

I just wrote a short article on Grigoraş Dinicu and put up a stub on that violin encore he wrote (Hora staccato). What does "hora" mean in Romanian? is it a gypsy dance? If you know, thanks! Antandrus (talk) 03:15, 13 November 2005 (UTC)

Thank you for the translations of Dinicu's titles! And now that you mention it, I do remember what a hora is; I've even danced those myself a thousand years ago when folk dancing was a fad in the U.S.... :-) Antandrus (talk) 19:40, 13 November 2005 (UTC)

Crazy changes by Gilgamesh

Unfortunately, User:Gilgamesh is now imposing his own views by changing the transliterated Hebrew names of articles with redirects to unreadable Hebrew names and fonts, as if his criteria are the only ones to reckon with, when there are in fact several. My computer, as I am sure many others' as well, does not pick up his type of fonts, and thus he is messing up articles such as Safed, Hadera, Holon, Afula, Arad, Israel and many others defacing them and making them unreadable on the web. He is going to DESTROY the normal usage of Wikipedia's Hebrew transliterations to satisfy his own needs without there being any consensus. Common usages are being thrown out in favor of obscure and pedantic academic usages familiar to only a handful of unkown academics. He should be called upon to stop BEFORE he rushes to do further damage without any consensus being reached. All his changes should therefore be reverted. See all his recent contributions via: http://en.wiki.x.io/wiki/Special:Contributions/Gilgamesh I thank you for your interest, and urge all readers here to act. IZAK 03:31, 13 November 2005 (UTC)

Hebrew naming conventions

At the present time there is a serious discussion taking place, aiming at some consensus that will result in "official" Wikipedia guidelines about how Hebrew should be used and written in Wikipedia articles. Because of your past or ongoing interest in these type of articles with Hebrew words in them, your attention is called to Wikipedia:Naming conventions (Hebrew) [1] TO MAKE YOUR VIEWS KNOWN AND TO ADD TO THE DISCUSSION BEFORE THE "DOORS ARE SHUT" PLEASE SEE THE RELATED DISCUSSION PAGE AT Wikipedia talk:Naming conventions (Hebrew) [2] Thank you! IZAK 03:31, 13 November 2005 (UTC)

Gracias

Gracias por tu ayuda, aunque sé que es muy difícil cambiar las cosas. El bloqueo de la IP sólo duró unos días (aunque no sé cuando será el próximo). He preferido en primer lugar ampliar mi página personal, que es la que contiene mi informe sobre la censura, antes que mejorar algún artículo, vayan a censurarme de nuevo. Quizá te interese ver que en en ese informe he añadido unas citas de José Ortega y Gasset que creo convienen al espíritu de wikipedia. Ya nos veremos por aquí cuando me harte de argumentar inutilmente en la wikipedia hispana (aunque me cuesta mucho escribir en inglés). Escribo aquí como Gimferrer.

--Visitante 18:55, 13 November 2005 (UTC)