User talk:Pathoschild

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[edit] Editing

[edit] Infobox hider

I like your new template! Those things are getting oppressive on some of the biographies I work on! Jokestress 05:19, 23 February 2007 (UTC)

Thanks; the templates were bugging me too. :) —{admin} Pathoschild 05:33:10, 23 February 2007 (UTC)

For the most part, I like this template, but I'd like to politely request that you not use this anywhere, at least for the time being. The reason I ask is so that we don't end up with "competing standards" - multiple templates that do the same thing. With the discussion going on around the multi-banner template, this is only likely to complicate and confuse matters. Raul654 06:24, 23 February 2007 (UTC)

I'm not sure there would be a conflict; unless the multi-banner template contains information useful for casual readers leaving a quick comment, wouldn't it simply replace some of the templates inside the hidden box? Even with this template, combining some of the largely redundant templates is beneficial. —{admin} Pathoschild 06:33:03, 23 February 2007 (UTC)

Look at Talk:Jane Fonda. If the articlehistory and multi-project templates were used there, there'd be almost as much reduction, but in a much more elegant way. As to the rest of those templates which would not be included - fixing those is the next step. So yes, your template it directly competes with the already-extant ones, but (and I don't mean this as an insult) it doesn't do nearly a nice a job of it. Raul654 06:41, 23 February 2007 (UTC)

Could you link me to the multi-banner template? I haven't seen it yet, so I can't really discuss and compare it. :) —{admin} Pathoschild 06:43:32, 23 February 2007 (UTC)

Template:WikiProjectBanners (currently on TFD, but it's a landslide keep).

In less than two weeks, it's been deployed (by hand, by many different people) on almost 1000 talk pages (strongly suggesting that it's been well received).

If you want to see it in action, take a look at this before and after Raul654 07:26, 23 February 2007 (UTC)

That template uses the same method, but does not affect many other templates and still leaves a large number of templates at the top of the talk page that are very confusing for a new user (I get a headache looking at some pages). I don't see any conflict; see an example (from Talk:Fuzzy Zoeller) of the multi-WikiProject template alone and combined with the hidden infobox template. Whereas the multi-WikiProject template still leaves over a third of my screen filled with bars of orange, combined with the hidden infobox template it reduces that to a single line in the top-right corner. —{admin} Pathoschild 07:43:13, 23 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] re: infoboxes on Talk:Fuzzy Zoeller

Hello! Thanks for asking me this question. My reason was that I didn't think the hidden template was prominent enough due to the size of the box, and the number of people who view the article and do not already edit, or understand Wikipedia. I generally use hidden templates on to-do lists, although yours could probably be made more prominent if it is not as minimal as it was, such as the archive box on Talk:Wal-Mart. As for the high traffic implications, if it's server performace you are concerned about, I am not as per WP:PERF (besides the XHTML gets loaded anyways whether or not JavaScript is hiding it). I believe the off-topic warning is still emphasized because I made all of the others smaller. If you want, do the same to the blp template (but remove the instance of it from the WikiProject Biography one). If you have any questions or ideas, please let me know. Regards, Tuxide 22:27, 23 February 2007 (UTC)

Hello, thanks for your response. I like the bigger box; I would also suggest using a wordage to something more Slashdot/Digg-like to invite the casual reader can overwhelm himself if he wants to. For example:

Cheeers, Tuxide 07:02, 24 February 2007 (UTC)

It's the "for editors" thing that I'm not too big of a fan of, because it's not inviting enough. How about

Tuxide 23:07, 24 February 2007 (UTC)

That version looks good. Do you object to re-adding that to Talk:Fuzzy Zoeller? —{admin} Pathoschild 23:16:28, 24 February 2007 (UTC)

Go ahead. Sorry for the delay, I am busy in college now. If you go ahead and do it, then you will get more feedback from others (if it's needed). Regards, Tuxide 02:03, 28 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Infoboxes again

I noticed you put {{ArticleHistory}} inside this {{hidden infoboxes}} on Talk:Jane Fonda. Since hidden infoboxes uses the display:none code, it makes any info inside inaccessible to non-javascript browsers. Any collapsible box should be uncollapsed by default for non-JS browsers. I also think that the review ratings (GA, FA) should be visible on the page somehow. Gimmetrow 02:20, 26 February 2007 (UTC)

Hello Gimmetrow. It would be relatively simple to make them visible by default, with the JavaScript hiding them immediately in JavaScript-enabled browsers; I'll code that feature as soon as I finish a few other things. This problem is farther-reaching that the template I used, since several recent templates (such as the article review rating template) collapse boxes by default as well.

Regarding the article review ratings, I don't think they are important enough to be displayed so prominently. Such ratings are largely only useful for tracking and editorial purposes. —{admin} Pathoschild 02:28:44, 26 February 2007 (UTC)

A small=yes template running along the side, above the "more information" box, doesn't seem much to me. And yes, there are bigger issues going on here, with multiple movements to simplify talk page template multiplication. Part of the this is multiple layers of collapsing boxes, which comes up at Fonda. Gimmetrow 02:43, 26 February 2007 (UTC)

The right-aligned boxes simply shift the issue vertically; they still attract attention, de-emphasize important information, and overload or confuse users with details. The smaller line-widths have the added disadvantage of reducing legibility and straining readers' eyes. If we can fix the JavaScript accessibility issue, which won't be very difficult, tucking them into an easily-accessible box is a better solution. Actual warnings or useful information can be left outside the box, as is done on Talk:Jane Fonda. —{admin} Pathoschild 02:53:11, 26 February 2007 (UTC)

I would like this movement to end up with a small box that shows an icon for the rating, a list of assosicated wikiprojects (possibly with importance rating codes), and the rest in a collapsible box. The collapsible part could even be hidden to non-JS users as all the important info would be visible. As for the warnings, the talkheader templates make sense on high-traffic articles, but in the last month I've had occasion to view quite a few talk pages, and many of them get little more than a page of discussion per year. They don't really need the talkheaders or warnings. Gimmetrow 03:18, 26 February 2007 (UTC)

An icon for the rating would be useful, but I don't think a list of associated WikiProjects is important enough to be given any mention outside the collapsible box. I agree that the talk page header isn't very important on average-traffic pages, particularly with MediaWiki:Talkpagetext appearing automatically. Most of the information inside the box isn't so important that accessibility is critical, but I still think the accessibility issue should be resolved before we use the collapsible box method widely. —{admin} Pathoschild 03:29:59, 26 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Help with pywikipedia

Hi,

Can I ask you a simple question? (for you, because for me it isn't ;-) )

Well, what is the correct syntax for adding a custom edit summary using category.py (pywikipedia)?

I used category.py move -summary 'replacing [[:Category:Michigan Early Settlers]] with [[:Category:Michigan early settlers]] per [[Wikipedia:Category_for_discussion/Log/2007_February_18]]' but it still use the default summary. BTW, how can I include also a pipe character "|", so I can write category.py move -summary 'replacing [[:Category:Michigan Early Settlers]] with [[:Category:Michigan early settlers]] per [[Wikipedia:Category_for_discussion/Log/2007_February_18|CSD]]'.

Thanks and Happy Editing by Snowolf^(talk)_CON^COI on 09:31, 25 February 2007 (UTC)

Hello Snowolf. Try the following code (with a colon).

category.py move -summary:'replacing [[:Category:Michigan Early Settlers]] with [[:Category:Michigan early settlers]] per [[Wikipedia:Category for discussion/Log/2007 February 18|CSD]]'.

—{admin} Pathoschild 09:43:41, 25 February 2007 (UTC)

Uhm... it seems it doesn't work --> Special:Contributions/Snowbot Happy Editing by Snowolf^(talk)_CON^COI on 09:52, 25 February 2007 (UTC)

If all else fails, you can just edit the summary in category.py (search for "# Summary messages"). It's been a while since I used pywikipedia; I tend to use the AutoWikiBrowser lately for its more advanced regex support. —{admin} Pathoschild 09:57:26, 25 February 2007 (UTC)

All right. Thank you ;-) Happy Editing by Snowolf^(talk)_CON^COI on 10:36, 25 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Re: Block templates deleted

Hello BuickCenturyDriver. I've deleted several templates you recently created in accordance with prior community decisions (templates, categories). We decided that such blocks should be tagged with {{indefblockeduser}}, with any additional information in the block log. I'm sorry for deleting any work you put into them, but please do not recreate them without demonstrating a change in community consensus. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to contact me on my talk page. :) —{admin} Pathoschild 05:48:27, 26 February 2007 (UTC)

That's okay. I didn't know that you that the templated I created were deleted before. I removed them from my front page and if I need to use them, I'll use my subspace if that's okay with you (e.g. User:BuickCentryDriver/abctmplate). BuickCenturyDriver (Honk, odometer) 09:13, 26 February 2007 (UTC)

That's fine. If you do create personal templates, please remember to categorize pages to Category:Temporary Wikipedian userpages (except sockpuppets). :) —{admin} Pathoschild 18:32:03, 26 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Jacking off

What do you jack off to?? --Deanhinnen 10:03, 27 February 2007 (UTC)

Hello Deanhinnen. Can I help you with something? —{admin} Pathoschild 18:08:37, 27 February 2007 (UTC)

Jill, of course.--§hanel 19:03, 27 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] re: IP blocks

Hello NawlinWiki. When indefinitely blocking IP addresses, as you did 131.107.64.93, please remember to place {{indefblockedip}} on the user or user talk page for tracking purposes. Please also see recommendations against indefinitely blocking IP addresses. Thank you. :) —{admin} Pathoschild 07:49:47, 27 February 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for the note on IP blocks. The indef blocks that I gave were for spambots that were creating fake talk pages solely to post spam links. These accounts never have any legitimate edits, and some resumed spamming after prior temporary blocks. What kind of block do you think they should be given? NawlinWiki 13:27, 27 February 2007 (UTC)

Oddly, 131.107.0.0/16 belongs to Microsoft Corporation. It might have been a compromised proxy. If it spams repeatedly, I would suggest blocking for a few weeks or months; particularly with a company like Microsoft, that should be more than long enough to correct any compromise. It did have some legitimate edits just a few days before you blocked it. —{admin} Pathoschild 18:27:24, 27 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] re: Your userpage and talk page

It looks like your pages were deleted on accident [1] because Pathoschild (talk • contribs) thought you were a blocked user. I'd suggest contacting him/her about restoring them (it's an easy process). John Reaves (talk) 23:46, 28 February 2007 (UTC)

Hello, I wanted to ask you, if you could restore my user page, please. If I understood correctly, you mistakingly thought I was a blocked user. But I'm not and never was. It would be nice, if I could get my old page back. Thanks in advance. Neville Longbottom 23:53, 28 February 2007 (UTC)

Hello Neville Longbottom. I noticed the same thing a few days ago and contacted the user who placed {{indefblockeduser}} on your user page about it. I've restored your pages; I apologize for any inconvenience this mistake may have caused. :) —{admin} Pathoschild 00:30:04, 01 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Blanking of Long Island Exchange discussions

I don't see what material needed to be blanked? —Doug Bell ^talk 06:09, 2 March 2007 (UTC)

Hello Doug Bell. The discussions were blanked as a courtesy and act of good faith to a representative of the company in question, who emailed us a related complaint and legal notice (OTRS ticket#2007021810002395). The discussions themselves are rather hurtful to the person in question, with terms like "pure spam" and "blatant advertising". Wikipedia:Courtesy blanking provides some additional information on this practice. —{admin} Pathoschild 06:19:37, 02 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] AWB Bug: %%key%% does nothing in advanced regex - Fixed

Hi, I've fixed this bug in SVN Rev 662. Will be included in the soon to be released 3.1.3.0

Reedy Boy 23:34, 2 March 2007 (UTC)

Thank you. —{admin} Pathoschild 02:25:49, 03 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Happy Spread-the-funny and-slighty-random-love day!

:) pschemp (talk) 00:30, 5 March 2007 (UTC)

Thank you. :) —{admin} Pathoschild 01:03:58, 05 March 2007 (UTC)

lol pschemp | talk 01:05, 5 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Computerbar

Hi! I have noticed that you have blocked Computerbar@***.com and placed a request on WP:CHU. For the sake of archival, would need some kind of log by the user that request a username change. Could you email him to make a request on his take page? We can use the diff provided to rename him. Also, if possible could you alert him that his email id is on the image he has uploaded. Regards, =Nichalp «Talk»= 07:27, 17 March 2007 (UTC)

Hello Nichalp. I've emailed the user. —{admin} Pathoschild 02:24:43, 20 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Running of Pathosbot

Hi, As I am keen to run a bot on Wikipedia (as I used to run HBC AIV helperbot2), I was looking over [[2]] and it seems to say that your bot, Pathosbot, is discontinued. I do reckon its a great idea and was wondering if you wouldn't mind disclosing the source code for it or even set me up with a redundant copy of it if you are definately not running it anymore. Thanks in advance, Extranet ^{(Talk | Contribs)} 07:58, 19 March 2007 (UTC)

Hello Extranet. Pathosbot has not been discontinued; I've corrected that page. Are you referring to the generic tasks that Wikipedia:Registered bots describes, or to indefinitely-blocked user template optimization and cleanup? The latter uses heuristic regular expressions with the AutoWikiBrowser. Unfortunately, its edits need to be monitored for errors and the patterns need regular improvements. I don't mind sharing the regular expressions if you're interested in running a similar bot, but I'd like to make sure you have a working knowledge of regular expressions. —{admin} Pathoschild 02:47:29, 20 March 2007 (UTC)

The part I really liked about the bot is the 'Correct IP address categorization'. If there is a part where I can just run a bot for that purpose only would be great, but I would have to do alot of debating when requesting approval as there is only one use of it. Away from Pathosbot, is there a bot idea that you think would be useful around Wikipedia that I could possibly have a crack at making? I am really wanting to run a bot and I prefer it to be one that is at a 'once daily' running rate rather a 24x7 one. Many thanks, Extranet ^{(Talk | Contribs)} 06:38, 20 March 2007 (UTC)

That's a new task for Pathosbot, so the results are still very prone to error. Wikipedia:Bot requests is useful if you're looking to code a new bot. If you're looking to run an existing bot, you could try asking other users with discontinued bots, or posting on Wikipedia:Bot owners' noticeboard and Wikipedia:Village pump (technical). —{admin} Pathoschild 06:49:38, 20 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Community ban

If you could unblock and reblock User:Roitr and cite community ban in the block log. The discussion can be found here. Thanks, Navou ^banter / _contribs 12:44, 26 March 2007 (UTC)

Hello Navou. I see the relevant user page has been updated accordingly; there is no reason to change the block reason, since it has not been affected by the later community ban. —{admin} Pathoschild 14:42:02, 28 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Spamstar

		The Spamstar of Glory
		Presented to Pathoschild for work both on Wikipedia and on Meta in fighting spam. --A. B. (talk) 14:33, 28 March 2007 (UTC)

Thank you. :) —{admin} Pathoschild 14:38:55, 28 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Semi-protect

Hey -- I tried protecting a page from vandalism earlier and I did it incorrectly, and you later did it for me. 1) Thanks, 2) how do you protect a page from vandalism? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Wcrickards (talk • contribs) 17:29, 29 March 2007 (UTC).

Hello Wcrickards. I did not protect the page, since there was not enough vandalism to need it. Pages can only be protected by administrators, as explained at m:Help:Administration#Protection. —{admin} Pathoschild 17:44:38, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Per {{AOL}}:

Edits are still originating from 64.236.128.27 (talk • contribs • WHOIS • RDNS • RBLs • block user • block log). --  Netsnipe  ►  19:12, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

This IP address seems to be part of AOL's normal dynamic IP address range, so it should not be tagged with {{AOL}}. I've removed it; thanks. —{admin} Pathoschild 19:17:30, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Lyrics on Ertra, Ertra, Ertra

Hello Merhawie. I've removed the lyrics you added to Ertra, Ertra, Ertra because these are available on Wikisource, a sister project run by the Wikimedia Foundation. The link is in the list of external links. —{admin} Pathoschild 06:14:14, 30 March 2007 (UTC)

I actually do not understand why you have removed them. I have done nothing more than what has been done for the French National Anthem. Could you please clarify? Thank you. --Merhawie 07:00, 30 March 2007 (UTC)