User talk:D. Matt Innis/Archive 8

Creating an atmosphere that attracts knowledge and encourages it to flourish.

D. Matt Innis

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Archive 1, Archive 2, Archive 3, Archive 4, Archive 5, Archive 6, Archive 7, Archive 8, Archive 9, Archive 10

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Matt: Howard Berkowitz nominated the subject article for approval a few days ago and it is due for approval tomorrow (June 16th). I would like to add the Environmental Engineering subworkgroup into the article's Metadata page. Can I do that without extending the nomination approval date? In other words, if I do it tonight or tomorrow morning, will it still be approved as of tomorrow evening?

Please let me know as soon as you can. Thanks, - Milton Beychok 20:23, 15 June 2008 (CDT)

Yes, Milton, at this point there is nothing that would keep you from adding or changing a workgroup anytime you please. --D. Matt Innis 07:30, 16 June 2008 (CDT)

When I add the subworkgroup, should I at the same time change the url of the nominated page? Or is that not needed?

Yes, I has already seen Larry's comment and I am aware of the discussion on this subject on the Forums. Chris Day will be submitting a proposal or resolution regarding subworkgroups. CZ currently has at least one subworkgroup and perhaps a few others on a test basis to see how they work out. - Milton Beychok 11:37, 16 June 2008 (CDT)

Speedy speedup?

Hi, can you nuke NGC 6694, NGC 6994 and Vicksburg Campaign, please? I stuck a speedy on the first two a couple of days ago so I could fix a naming error, but so far no motion... Thanks! J. Noel Chiappa 07:43, 16 June 2008 (CDT)

Thanks! J. Noel Chiappa 11:38, 16 June 2008 (CDT)

PS: Time to archive your talk page soon... :-)

Thanks to you! Hope you got that pool fixed :-) --D. Matt Innis 12:14, 16 June 2008 (CDT)

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Approval

Hi, Matt: Howard Berkowitz's specified date for approval of the subject article was 08:15 on June 6, 2000 ... in other words, this morning. Can you please let me know when the Approval process will be completed by you? Thanks in advance, - Milton Beychok 22:14, 16 June 2008 (CDT)

Hi

Hi, D. Matt Innis, thanks for offering support. I've written a draft article and would like to know how to have it approved/published. Thanks, -Koen Demol 11:39, 19 June 2008 (CDT)

2

Hi, Matt, I think that the article is sufficiently linked now, but I don't know ho to make these links operative? :) Koen Demol 04:39, 21 June 2008 (CDT)

Martin Truex Jr.

Yes I have been known for getting articles done fast, I'm going to get started back on the Kurt Busch article.(Rocky Zeckoski 20:20, 29 June 2008 (CDT))

Registration Page

I don't know where to bring up this issue... I believe the Account Registration page should be rewritten. As it is written, it will turn away many potential authors rather than encouraging them to register and contribute. I personally decided not to register several months ago when I first investigated Citizendium because I misunderstood the registration process.

I am not saying that any registration procedures should be changed and I am not saying that there is anything on the registration page which is wrong, just that the page gives a first time reader a bad impression. Richard Williams 20:59, 12 July 2008 (CDT)

Richard, thanks for the feedback! Your opinion is very much appreciated. As far as where to bring this up, the forum is probably the best place to start - perhaps this conversation is relevant. Just chime in with your concern and somebody will respond. You might find another good spot as well. D. Matt Innis 09:12, 13 July 2008 (CDT)

The registration page has no history. Who created the page and who is responsible for maintaining it? Any discussion will need to involve the person who created the page. Richard Williams 17:41, 13 July 2008 (CDT)

Well, that would be Larry Sanger himself. You could go there, but I would consider making this a community effort. D. Matt Innis 19:25, 13 July 2008 (CDT)

You're made some very sweeping statements about the page but absolutely no indication about *what* is wrong with it. Could you give us a hint? Hayford Peirce 18:24, 13 July 2008 (CDT)

Hayford, have a look at Richard's talk page for starters. I asked him if he could be more specific about his worries and he replied there. --Joe Quick 18:29, 13 July 2008 (CDT)

okie, thanks! Hayford Peirce 19:03, 13 July 2008 (CDT)

I intentionally did not say what is wrong because neither this page nor my talk page is the appropriate place to have such a discussion. Since the registration page does not have an associated discussion page it is not clear where such a discussion should take place. One suggestion is the forum, but I think CZ:Recruitment may be better. Richard Williams 19:26, 13 July 2008 (CDT)

Richard, almost all of the active Citizens read and participate in the forums. I would speculate that very few people read CZ:Recruitment. The forums would be the best place to air this subject. - Milton Beychok 20:04, 13 July 2008 (CDT)

Discussion opened at: [1]. Please join. I am hoping this will be a general discussion about the registration page rather than just a discussion of my personal opinions. Richard Williams 16:02, 15 July 2008 (CDT)

Publicizing Citizendium

Hi Matt, I am wondering why you can't see the Citizendium articles on Google, why Wikipedia is so easy to find there? Koen Demol 14:45, 13 July 2008 (CDT)

Here is a web page (which I found with a web search!) that describes search engine ranking factors: [2]. For example, I think if there are lots of other web pages (especially respected ones, such as university websites; and web pages that are themselves relevant to the topic) that link to the pages, then I think that raises their profile. So one thing to do is to encourage people to link to Citizendium articles. Catherine Woodgold 20:40, 20 July 2008 (CDT)

Thanks!

So, um ... there's no such thing as barnstars here? Well, anyway, D.Matt, I'd like to thank you for your patient, loyal, tireless work as Constable here. What would Citizendium do without you? Catherine Woodgold 20:36, 20 July 2008 (CDT)

No barnstars, but here's a small gift Matt, as a gesture of my personal appreciation and respect:Federation of Straight Chiropractors and Organizations. I know, it's the sort of gift you'd like to give away fast, but aren't they just the best :-) ?14:07, 29 July 2008 (CDT)

LOL, alright you guys! You got me to talk, and no, I won't be passing that gift on!!! I couldn't have said it better myself - you're getting pretty good at this stuff GARETH! D. Matt Innis 14:59, 29 July 2008 (CDT)

By the way, I prefer chocolate. You can find my address anywhere online :-D D. Matt Innis 19:27, 29 July 2008 (CDT)

Gareth: what a great idea: writing an article as a gift for D.Matt! Now we just have to find an Editor to Approve it. D.Matt: "gimme, gimme" never gets. :-) Catherine Woodgold 10:28, 2 August 2008 (CDT)

Dokdo is go

I approve the latest changes. Richard Jensen 09:54, 22 July 2008 (CDT)

:-) Blackjacks bouncing on the back of my head...

The game, of course, is not upper case. NATO code names are, by convention, all caps -- lots of military things are all caps, for no really obvious reason. I understand that Model 33 Teletypes and below didn't have upper and lower case, but they were a long time ago. Howard C. Berkowitz 21:28, 3 August 2008 (CDT)

I don't see the airplane at the disambiguation page. This is one of those things where specialists might look for it in all caps, but there's no reason for a general user to expect that convention. Howard C. Berkowitz 21:31, 3 August 2008 (CDT)

This probably should go to the Forums, but the convention I've been using, assuming that it's equally likely that someone might search either on the Russian common name or the NATO designation, is to create the article under the most common Russian name, in this cast Tu-160, and then create a redirect of BLACKJACK to it. Do you think I should be combining the two designations in the article name? This can really get complex at times, as the Russians sometimes manage to have several names for the same thing, although I suppose that's a pretty standard convention in Russian novels.

For example, what NATO calls the SA-6 GAINFUL missile is called, in Russia, 2K12 and KUB (which means Cube). Howard C. Berkowitz 21:45, 3 August 2008 (CDT)

This same issue came up on the Biology workgroup with all the different names of plants and animals. Check in there and see where they left off, though I think we lost a lot of good editors while trying to work that one out! D. Matt Innis 22:11, 3 August 2008 (CDT)

Would you please read the thread on the forums about the Global warming article?

Matt, as one of our Constables, would you please read this thread here on the forums about the neutrality of the Global warming external article ported here from Wikipedia? Do you think some action should or should not be taken? I will await your response in that thread on the forums.Thanks in advance. Milton Beychok 15:07, 13 August 2008 (CDT)

Images

Hey, D.Matt – do you know anything about images? Catherine Woodgold 21:43, 14 August 2008 (CDT)

Hi Catherine, I know a little (or can send you where you need to go)... what do you need? D. Matt Innis 20:31, 15 August 2008 (CDT)

What's with calling me "Catherine"? Hey, I can't change my signature to "Cathy", can I? But you know me well enough to not always go around thinking of me as "Catherine", don't you? :-) (Well, it is my name. I don't mind, really.)

Anyway, about those images: well, I was just wondering if there was some way to copy an image over from Wikimedia Commons or something, to go with my Rideau Canal article. Like this one: [3]. It says it's public domain. Catherine Woodgold 21:13, 15 August 2008 (CDT)

Well, Cathy, while I think I might be able to help with the image, I'm afraid I can't read french, which makes it difficult for me to verify where it originated? D. Matt Innis 21:30, 15 August 2008 (CDT)

It says "Provenant du Wikipédia francophone: "Il s'agit d'une vue du canal Rideau, à Ottawa." fr:Utilisateur:Staatenloser originallement 1 août, 2005" which I would translate as "Coming from the French Wikipedia: "It concerns a view of the Rideau Canal, Ottawa". User Staatenloser August 1, 2005." Catherine Woodgold 21:43, 15 August 2008 (CDT)

Oh, we need to have a specific person who releases it to the pubic domain.. I don't think just the French Wikipedia will cut the mustard, though you might be able to track down the users real name somehow and ask permission. D. Matt Innis 22:02, 15 August 2008 (CDT)

Oh, I guess it is a little ambiguous, D.Matt. :-) Maybe Staatenloser is the one who copied it from French Wikipedia. And I guess you don't take pseudonyms. Maybe I'll have to get out my camera and take my own picture, after all. Wait, let me look at the other pictures. What about this one? [4] or this [5] with a historical feel to it. Catherine Woodgold 22:17, 15 August 2008 (CDT)

Yes! the first one is fine! The second one might be as well, but you need to find the actual site that it came from and make sure it is released. Meanwhile, use the upload link in the left hand column and click on the Flickr link in the upload instructions and everything shoul dgo pretty smooth for the first one. D. Matt Innis 22:21, 15 August 2008 (CDT)

Didit!! Rideau Canal now has an image! Thanks for your help. Catherine Woodgold 14:13, 16 August 2008 (CDT)

And it looks great! Thank Stephen and Joe for all the work on the upload template, they made it so much easier than it used to be. D. Matt Innis 15:17, 16 August 2008 (CDT)

Thanks

Hello D. Matt. Thanks for the friendly message on my talk page. I’m still reading the documentation of the project but I already have one question: I am not a native speaker of English, so I would like to know if there are editors (or group of editors) who could revise my texts, just to help me on making them more comprehensible, or to correct any misspelling. My user page, for instance, it is my presentation to the community and should be well written. I don’t know if it is because I read a lot in English but rarely write on it. Marcelo B. Barata Ribeiro 13:33, 16 August 2008 (CDT)

I like doing things like that! I would be happy to help. I'll make some suggestions about your user page later. Catherine Woodgold 14:15, 16 August 2008 (CDT)

Thanks Cathy! And good luck Marcelo, she's a stickler for grammer.. and watch out for those Candian spellings!! D. Matt Innis 15:19, 16 August 2008 (CDT)

She's a good teacher. I think I'll hire her! Marcelo B. Barata Ribeiro 18:39, 17 August 2008 (CDT)

Approval of American Institute of Chemical Engineers

Hi, Matt: Just a gentle reminder that American Institute of Chemical Engineers is due for finalization of approval today. Thanks, Milton Beychok 23:09, 21 September 2008 (CDT)

ooʇ ɯsıןoqɐʇǝɯ. :) Chris Day 23:56, 21 September 2008 (CDT)

Got 'em... even ɯsıןoqɐʇǝɯ! D. Matt Innis 09:07, 22 September 2008 (CDT)

Hello, with a question

Just registered and went over to look at Forums. Logged in with my user name and password -- the new one I created, not the one they sent me -- and it said in bright red that no user of that name exists. Now what? Timothy Perper 19:31, 24 September 2008 (CDT)

As I recall, you need to register separately fot the forums. Milton Beychok 21:35, 24 September 2008 (CDT)

Thanks. I managed to register! Timothy Perper 05:24, 25 September 2008 (CDT)

Hello again, with another question

Sorry to bother you again, Matt, but does Citizendium have the equivalent of the Wikipedia sandbox? A sandbox is a separately editable subpage listed under the user's name on which one places various text, references, and comments about something one is working on. One edits the sandbox copy, and when it's finished, copies and pastes it to the real page. This eliminates the need to work offline and facilitates communication among people who want to comment and make changes without altering the main, publically visible article. Since I work collaboratively, the sandbox is something of a necessity. Can you help? Thanks. Timothy Perper 05:52, 25 September 2008 (CDT)

Oops -- yes, I saw the blue item called "sandbox" on the welcome note. When I clicked on it, the page said "Gone." Which was, alas, something less than useful. Any help appreciated. Timothy Perper 06:00, 25 September 2008 (CDT)

Matt, do you want me to fix Timothy's sandbox? Please let me know. -Milton Beychok 10:32, 25 September 2008 (CDT)

Matt, not having heard from you, I went ahead and placed a link to his sandbox on his user page. - Milton Beychok 12:14, 25 September 2008 (CDT)

Sigh. Another question

Ah, the tribulations of being new to something... Anyway, I've started a revision of the article Gender and have a proposed revision on the discussion page of the article and on User:Timothy_Perper/Sandbox. Question(s): I do not know the social protocols and customs here for adding new material and replacing old material (the mechanics are easy and aren't the problem; the social customs are what's important). Obviously I don't want to annoy whoever it was who wrote the first draft, and would like to contact that person if possible. And I'd also like some advice about how to go about discussing the content of the changes before just pasting and copying. Any words of wisdom? Thanks. Timothy Perper 12:33, 26 September 2008 (CDT)

Yup -- be bold! For minor editing, revisions, additions, just go ahead and do it. Put a brief explanation in the "Summary" box just above the "Save page" button. For non-controversial additions (not revisions), just add them. For major revisions, or controversial editing, start a discussion about them on the talk page first. Remember: no one here owns an article. If Carl Sandburg himself wrote the first draft of an article about Abe Lincoln, that doesn't mean he couldn't be edited, revised, or added to without being consulted beforehand about every single point. And, of course, as you yourself so obviously are, we are at all times (mostly, hehe) "collegial and congenial" in doing our writing, editing, and discussing (arguing, hehe). Hayford Peirce 12:46, 26 September 2008 (CDT)

The Old Be Bold Trick, eh? OK <grin>. I have the working copy of the revision on my sandbox User:Timothy_Perper/Sandbox?, since it's a lot easier to do editing and talking and, um, discussing over there than on the talk page. For example, Hayford, you suggested making the writing more accessible to non-academic readers, and I'm making changes on the sandbox draft but not the talk page draft. Timothy Perper 13:01, 26 September 2008 (CDT)

Sounds fine to me. If I could think of a quick, easy, and correct way to change the "dichotomous" business, I would, but I can't, so I won't. There was a long discussion (argument) about this in a recent Forum that you might be interested in looking at. Larry himself weighed in a couple of times, so I think we can take it as Official Policy. I'll try to track down the exact site and then I'll add it here. Hayford Peirce 13:14, 26 September 2008 (CDT)

There is a 3-page Forum discussion that Larry initiated but the section I'm talking about begins about halfway down page 2, where Nick Gardiner asks a question.... http://forum.citizendium.org/index.php/topic,1846.15.html Hayford Peirce 13:21, 26 September 2008 (CDT)

The following was written during an edit conflict. Yes, please do try to locate the discussion. For "gender," there are two polar viewpoints. One, which is often called "traditional," sees the dichotomy of male and female as natural, evolved or God-given, but basic and unmistakably real. The other, often called "post-modern," sees the male-female distinction as a matter of social construction of a false dichotomy where, in reality, all kinds of intermediates occur among people. I have published in this specific area, and can cite a good number of references to each view. However, dichotomization has been built into the definitions, at least as they are held by some people, and we cannot avoid discussing them. I don't know what "Official Policy" refers to, but whatever it is, it has to take second place to an objective and balanced analysis of these viewpoints. Those viewpoints come with the territory, and can't be erased by policy or by fiat. I would hope that "Official Policy" is to deal even-handedly with these different ideas and visions of what being male and female is all about. If not, then perhaps I am in the wrong place here, since I am a scholar dedicated to precisely such even-handed balance. More later, since I have to leave and run some errands now. I look forward to continuing the discussion tomorrow. Timothy Perper 13:33, 26 September 2008 (CDT)

Tim, your scholarly presentation is exactly what Citizendium is looking for. Please feel free to contribute whatever you feel is important here and if anyone disagrees, they will certainly have their opportunity to discuss it with you and others. I look forward to your input. It is my job to make sure we are following CZ:Professionalism policies while authors and editors work toward the principles in our CZ:Neutrality Policy. If you wish to delete large quantities of information, do make sure and discuss your reason on the talk pages and then feel free to make your appropriate changes. D. Matt Innis 13:42, 26 September 2008 (CDT)

Not another question...

Well, actually, yes. I know a young woman who would be just great as a contributor here, specifically, to the manga revisions that Matt Thorn, Bill Benzon, and I have just begun (with John Stephenson's encouragement). Both Matt and I asked her, but she refused, explaining that she had a seriously nasty experience with an internet stalker and simply will not use her real name. I sympathize, and came to understand from her comments that a young woman might well feel very uncomfortable using her real name. I read somewhere on CZ that you people do sometimes permit editing under a pseudonym. Do you think this might be such a case? Thanks. Timothy Perper 10:59, 27 September 2008 (CDT)

Yes, Tim. Citizendium does offer pseudonyms to people who have legitamate fears about using their real names. She needs to apply to personnel AT citizendium.org. If she is accepted, not even I will know she is a pseudonym. This is obviously reserved for extremely rare cases, but I admit, there could be hundreds here and I wouldn't know it! I guess that is the idea, right. ;-) D. Matt Innis 11:11, 27 September 2008 (CDT)

Thanks. I will convey this to her. Timothy Perper 11:21, 27 September 2008 (CDT)

Also thanks for your comment about editing the gender article. You suggested posting it to the gender talk page -- that's exactly how I started this process, before even creating the sandbox versions. But I can't edit it on the talk page -- it's too clumsy to do (I know this from experience doing this kind of editing on Wikipedia). So I'll do the editing and referencing in User:Timothy Perper/Sandbox and keep people posted on the talk page of the main article. Then -- this is how I did it on Wikipedia and it seemed to work well -- when it's about ready to add to the article, I'll remind people about it on the talk page. That way no one feels left out. Timothy Perper 11:44, 27 September 2008 (CDT)

That sounds like a perfectly reasonable way to work it, Tim. I can't wait to how it all works out! D. Matt Innis 09:51, 28 September 2008 (CDT)

Me too! Timothy Perper 13:19, 28 September 2008 (CDT)

Correction in an approved article

Matt, in the Augustin-Louis Cauchy article, please string search for "did not gave". Can you correct it to "did not give"? Thanks, Peter Lyall Easthope 09:56, 29 September 2008 (CDT)