Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word User talk:Robert Ullmann/2008. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word User talk:Robert Ullmann/2008, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say User talk:Robert Ullmann/2008 in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word User talk:Robert Ullmann/2008 you have here. The definition of the word User talk:Robert Ullmann/2008 will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition ofUser talk:Robert Ullmann/2008, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
Done. No word I know of for the first adjective sense; no slang for buttocks; Swahili doesn't really have slang or euphemisms, people are okay with the everyday words. There is Sheng, but I don't know what to do with that yet ;-) Robert Ullmann14:54, 3 January 2008 (UTC)Reply
Latest comment: 16 years ago2 comments2 people in discussion
Any chance this could be expanded for all namespaces, not just NS:0? Template:, Appendix:, Category:, Index:, MediaWiki: and Wiktionary: seem pretty relevant, but User: and others are useful too, for completeness' sake. --Connel MacKenzie18:29, 2 January 2008 (UTC)Reply
Latest comment: 16 years ago4 comments2 people in discussion
Robert, was it you who proposed something about including or not inclluding gender of adjectives in Translations sections? If so, do you remember where the discussion happened? --EncycloPetey22:18, 2 January 2008 (UTC)Reply
It concerns marking the gender of adjectives in Translations sections. We do it routinely for nouns, but I recall a discussion about whether this should be done for adjectives. --EncycloPetey22:53, 3 January 2008 (UTC)Reply
I think the rationale was along the lines that nouns typically have a single, fixed gender, so including the gender is reasonable, but that adjectives typically alter their gender to match the accompanying (sp?) noun, so any gender given would only apply to the form in the Translations section, and not the adjecitve as a whole. I'm fine with either option, but couldn't remember whether there was a discussion at some point, and whether anything was decided. --EncycloPetey23:34, 3 January 2008 (UTC)Reply
Latest comment: 16 years ago4 comments3 people in discussion
Some commas seem to be out of place (see e.g. etymologies of krava) with regard to usual display logic of {term}. I left a remark on the talk page some time ago.. Could you please fix it? Thanks. --Ivan Štambuk23:02, 3 January 2008 (UTC)Reply
This has not been updated with the format, CSS etc that is used for term, I'll try to get to it. (Lots of stuff right now; but tx for reminder here) does need work. Robert Ullmann23:24, 3 January 2008 (UTC)Reply
Thanks for the heads up. By the way, I've attended to most of the obvious Invalid L2 headers, and created a number of new ISO template yesterday. Thanks for generating the updated list. --EncycloPetey16:30, 4 January 2008 (UTC)Reply
Mazanderani
Latest comment: 16 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion
Thank You for your kind efforts, I don't know why some languages who have less speakers must have 2 letter code but mazanderani hasn't it, Also there is no solution to using a keyboard layout for it, since it has it's own vowels, and can not be used by persian keyboard and even arabic script, It sucks me to using mzn, i would prefer to using mz! But ok. However no principle could make a language to be unappreared since there is a strong nation behind it! --Ali198618:56, 5 January 2008 (UTC)Reply
Funny, you don't look like a bot
Latest comment: 16 years ago2 comments2 people in discussion
Spacebirdy (aka geimfyglid) found me the right doodad to wiggle to make you a bot even though you are already a sysop. We thought perhaps we should tell you. In case I'm not there tomorrow (I won't be) when you want this silly thing undone, please advise Hippietrail that Special:Userrights is the place to go. I'll try to check in online tomorrow morning before heading off to work, just in case, and if you email me I should see it whenever I get up. Good luck, and don't do anything I wouldn't do. --Dvortygirl00:48, 7 January 2008 (UTC)Reply
Hmm, very interesting. Bot deletes do *not* show up in RC. Useful. They still are in the Deletion log as they should be of course. Thanks! Now we can decide if we want a sysop bot. Robert Ullmann08:40, 7 January 2008 (UTC)Reply
I'm curious
Latest comment: 16 years ago2 comments2 people in discussion
Latest comment: 16 years ago2 comments2 people in discussion
Hi Robert
It seems that your interwiki bot Interwicket only updates interwikilinks on the local wiktionary. Can you also add the newly found interwikilinks to other wiktionaries? I am running a comparable tool from the toolserver, but because I only have a botflag on the Dutch and Romanian wiktionary, I only update the links on the Dutch wiktionary.
Is this supposed to work with Wikispecies, too? We have a vast number of redlinks that could probably be blued. Are there issues about this? I have just started inserting {{wikispecies}}, but in-line links are at least as valuable, IMHO. DCDuringTALK16:35, 7 March 2008 (UTC)Reply
Laurent Bouvier
Latest comment: 16 years ago4 comments2 people in discussion
Hi Robert, could you unblock Laurent Bouvier. I know he's not registered as a bot, but what he's doing is very useful. Otherwise I'll have to spend hours doing it myself. I know there's policies about bots, but can you let this one slide? He's done some harmless bot work before, and is very trusted on the French Wiktionary. Please take this into consideration. Thanks. --Keene12:46, 16 January 2008 (UTC)Reply
It needs to be run as a bot; just running a-c flooded RC with 2000+ changes in less than an hour. There should be no trouble getting approval; or it could be run by an existing bot account.
Simply going ahead and running it w/o discussion or announcement on BP/GP is a problem.
I can and will unblock him as soon as I hear from him that he understands this; not a problem. (And I haven't looked at his fr.wikt talk page yet today). I'd suggest he create User:Laurent Bouvier Bot and identify the task if he wants to run this himself. Then if there is something else in the future, it will be easier.
There's an inconsistency here. Connel runs bots here all the time without a flag. What he does is just as relevant as what Laurent Bouvier does. Being an admin shouldn't give you extra priviliges. --Keene01:01, 20 January 2008 (UTC)Reply
Fiji Hindi
Latest comment: 16 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion
On 10 November 2007, after some discussion about the name used for ISO/SIL code (hif), you suggested that it may be better to standardize the name as "Fiji Hindi". After much research and discussions with writers in the language, I have found that the correct name for the language is indeed "Fiji Hindi". (See the Wikipedia article on "Fiji Hindi" for some of these references) As you had offered earlier, can you then please change all occurrence of "Fijian Hindi" within Wiktionary to "Fiji Hindi" Thanks Girmitya01:18, 17 January 2008 (UTC)Reply
Bird
Latest comment: 16 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion
Latest comment: 16 years ago4 comments2 people in discussion
Robert, old buddy, old pal - that magic you did with pulling up the variations of words, could you do that for words of four letters (although not necessarily four-letter words)? By the way, the list you pulled up before seems to be missing words with the character ǐ in them - let me know if you can figure out why. Cheers! bd2412T03:57, 18 January 2008 (UTC)Reply
Pretty much confirms my suspicion - there are no combinations with enough hits to reach the template limit of nine, which is the de facto standard I've adopted for generating an appendix (although I suppose since longer words take up more space atop the page, it might make sense to lower the bar a bit). Even so, I won't even ask for five-letter combos.
Latest comment: 16 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion
As to the substance of the "stupidity" discussion, I had assumed that you (or whoever) were justified. My curiosity got the better of me and I confirmed it.
However, if I understand the situation correctly, I think we need some better boilerplate than "Stupidity" for the edit summary. It seems to inflame some of these would-be "contributors" and may make for a bad appearance in the (probably rare) cases where they make some kind of appeal to higher authority. A wikilink to a (protected?) page explaining WT philosophy, policy for entry inclusion, user accounts, blocking, and whatever else may be appropriate might work. More specific explanations of deletions (citing chapter and verse) might be helpful. The embattled feeling among those on patrol is likely to make for angry, brief edit summaries. Isn't there a way to get a keyboard short-cut to insert some good generic edit summary by default with minimal effort? As a newbie I felt that I had to fight my way onto Wiktionary much more than I had to to get onto WP. There are many differences between WP and WT that account for the differences in new user experience, but it will not help us to have bad cosmetics in our interaction with newbies. DCDuringTALK18:10, 22 January 2008 (UTC)Reply
Kenya
Latest comment: 16 years ago2 comments2 people in discussion
"civil war" is overstating it just a bit; there are a series of demonstrations (peaceful, until the police start lobbing teargas to incite rioting ...) because the outgoing president just faked election results (quickly exposed) and had himself sworn in again in a furtive ceremony. Now we are trying to pry him out so we can have our country back. There were more serious events in the first week; we've had 651 (confirmed) deaths, including 28 shot by police; there was a prayer service for them yesterday that ended when the police tear-gassed it.
but a lot of things are working, the net is okay most of the time; even easier to use, not so much traffic from the cyber cafes that aren't open ;-( ... I was off the net for 24+ hours a few days ago. we're mostly okay Robert Ullmann02:25, 24 January 2008 (UTC)Reply
Leodensian
Latest comment: 16 years ago3 comments2 people in discussion
Hi! I was wondering why you removed my source for Leodensian? The school also publishes a magazine of that name which is no doubt connected, if that is relevant. But the word (in both definitions) is definitely real (hence I wonder why you would delete the source). Thanks, HarrisMorgan23:26, 24 January 2008 (UTC).Reply
You removed the rfv-sense tag out-of-process; supplying a "source" is not sufficient or valid; it requires several independent citations of use. The definition needs work, it is too narrow. Follow the link in the box to the RfV page, and note that it is as yet unresolved. The "Source" header is invalid; and we don't use ref tags. So I cleaned all that up and put the rfv-sense tag back. Robert Ullmann06:12, 25 January 2008 (UTC)Reply
"Missing" pages very long
Latest comment: 16 years ago3 comments3 people in discussion
Hello Robert. The next time that you run your bot to generate these very useful lists, could you consider creating a list for each letter - they are slow to load, even with broadband. Cheers SemperBlotto09:21, 3 February 2008 (UTC)Reply
Latest comment: 16 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion
That's alright. The deletion of that former redirect is not what upset me. It was Connel that upset me by just blocking me for no apparent reason when I didn't do anything wrong. It's as if he just plain decided for himself to just plain block me. I hope someone talks to him. If only there was a rule saying that any user who blocks another user when the blocked user did nothing wrong, that user responsible for blocking the innocent user will be blocked, also.Kitty5322:11, 8 February 2008 (UTC)Reply
Hope you don't mind,
Latest comment: 16 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion
Latest comment: 16 years ago2 comments2 people in discussion
I was combing through your missing section looking for work to do and it seemed that many if not most of those listed have been fixed, any chance that an updated version could be generated and posted? - DaveRoss04:14, 13 February 2008 (UTC)Reply
I've been waiting on the new XML dump, which has now arrived. It will take a bit of time to digest. Also someone requested I divide the list up into more pieces, so I'll be doing that too. Robert Ullmann12:18, 13 February 2008 (UTC)Reply
Addition of Translations section to FL entry
Latest comment: 16 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion
I was curious what you had in mind by adding a Translation section to oblika that points to the FL wiki? I've been generally getting rid of Translation sections in FL entries but this is the first I've seen linking to the FL wiki (just saw mokry now too). Thanks, --Bequw → ¢ • τ17:34, 14 February 2008 (UTC)Reply
Cross-wiki wanted list
Latest comment: 16 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion
With all these wanted and missing reports, do you think it would be much trouble for you to generate a list of words that Interwicket would add (say) 4 or more interwikis to? Or even full diffs, if that wouldn't be overwhelming. Cynewulf05:02, 15 February 2008 (UTC)Reply
extend bot vote
Latest comment: 16 years ago2 comments2 people in discussion
Thanks for your comments on the bot vote. I'm trying to implement the changes you're suggesting. Yes, I assumed AutoFormat would sort out {{see}}, but I was wrong. One problem some users have mentioned is that the bot doesn't add the language section in the right place alphabetically, and so AF has to sort it out. But this could create lots of extra work for AF (will that be a big problem if/when the bot goes into many-pages-created-per-minute bot-flagged stealth mode?). If it's a strain for AF, then maybe you could email me part of a code which alphabetically sorts the language sections? As for the {{see}}, I guess there's a code to put it at the top of a page...but then there may be a problem of having two lots of {{see}} at the top of the page. Regards, --Keene 12:43, 18 February 2008 (UTC) p.s. Maybe the vote should be extended until such a time when these niggly problems are cleared up. --Keene12:44, 18 February 2008 (UTC)Reply
(partial answer) The language sort is part of the AF structure, not a separate piece... don't worry about the "strain" on AF; it's a bot, and it doesn't get tired ;-) do note it adjusts to load, and sometimes munches the category slowly when there is lots else to do. {see} is complicated: it isn't just a matter of moving it to the top, it has to be added to the existing see (as you note), but only if it isn't a duplicate. Could be coded somewhere, but I've never seen the code you are using (except one small part). Robert Ullmann15:22, 24 February 2008 (UTC)Reply
Latest comment: 16 years ago13 comments5 people in discussion
Would it be easy for you to count the number of occurences of the abbreviations "sth." and "sb."? (standing for something and somebody, respectively). They look like some kind of hold over from print dictionaries where space is precious. I just don't think I have the energy to fix them all but I don't actually know how many there are. RJFJR02:45, 20 February 2008 (UTC)Reply
Other relic abbreviations from print dictionaries are "cf.", "q.v."/"qv", "a." (for adjective). All past links have been replaced with full words but they they still appear frequently un-linked. I'm sure there's others we could root out and replace with full words. --Bequw → ¢ • τ14:50, 20 February 2008 (UTC)Reply
List for sth. and sb. is at User:Robert Ullmann/t12. I could turn the replace on, but a number of these could use some help, see korjauttaa for example. Also use of so. and various without the "." And antimony is a false drop, it uses "sb." in an HTTP link.
There are lots more cf.'s (hundreds), and a few q.v.'s; I can also list those if desired.
Since it is showing the details adding those sounds good. abade is apparently using sb. as an abbrev. for subject. Is this the full list or just a sample? If it is full I could probably do it manually. RJFJR17:59, 20 February 2008 (UTC)Reply
I'll go through and do them manually. Of course, it won't show up when you rerun until we get a new dump. Anything else you want to check for before manually expand the abbreviations? RJFJR02:58, 21 February 2008 (UTC)Reply
Re: quote from RJFJR. "'sth.' and 'sb.' ... look like some kind of hold over from print dictionaries where space is precious."
Hi, RJFJR. Those abbreviations aren't merely for saving space. In most paper dictionaries that use them, you will occasionally see the words somebody and something spelled out in definitions. The difference? When spelled out, the word something, or somebody/someone is part of the expression in the text. As in, "hush, there might be somebody in there!" or "would you like something to eat?" When abbreviated, the word is akin to a parameter, it cues the reader that an object-noun or a person-noun can be substituted into the expression, like "to pull sb's leg," or "to take a stand against sth." (Sorry if my butting in's a problem.) Snakesteuben17:35, 21 April 2008 (UTC)Reply
Another notation used to distinguish a placeholder like "one", "something", and "someone" is to put them in parentheses on the inflection line and elsewhere. If our inflection lines don't have the inflecton for verbal phrases, there usually is plenty of room to spell it out instead of using the abbreviations (which should be highlighted if retained). It may be that we should highlight the placeholders and take readers to an appendix mini-article on placeholders and their interpretation. I would hope we could make it more constructive than what we do with plurale tantum, which doesn't have such important information as whether it means the construction refers to a singular or plural (or both) entities or takes a singular or plural verb (or both). DCDuringTALK17:58, 21 April 2008 (UTC)Reply
Thanks much, DCDuring. Those look like excellent points, though I confess I'm too new around here to understand everything you're saying. Robert, whenever you have time to answer, if there's no procedure in place, do you think a general discussion somewhere is warranted? (Note I said if, Sir, that's something else I don't know!) Snakesteuben16:07, 22 April 2008 (UTC)Reply
Entries with non-standard headers
Latest comment: 16 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion
Hi!
One of the users added a plenty of words in the Northern dialect of the Crimean Tatar language. I want to give a correspondence in the standard written Crimean Tatar for each of these words, as I have already done here. But your bot marked the page as an "Entry with non-standard header". So I have a question: how and where should I place literary correspondence for dialectal words? Alessandro10:20, 22 February 2008 (UTC)Reply
Not counted
Latest comment: 16 years ago7 comments3 people in discussion
I have inserted bracketted material (almost always somewhat meaningful) in numerous entries and have noted bracketed material in others. The list is large for making frequent manual updates and I don't have tools to do an automated one. Could you update this at your convenience? Can the list be subdivided readily?
Also, as a student of human motivation I know that rapid feedback and a sense of completion work for many. When doing scut work like this they are potentially valuable. Converting redlinks to blue offers feedback as does a list's disappearing as the work progresses. In this case a speciallized rfc tag in the entries would allow disappearing lists. Because the list is long it would be nice to break it into pieces so that someone could work "until they do all the "M"s, say. Obviously this motivational factor applies to many list-based tasks.
Finally, some of the entries have no English. Either that would be a good heading or we need to actively recruit someone with appropriate language skills and resources to work them. DCDuringTALK10:35, 22 February 2008 (UTC)Reply
Yes, thank you, I'm familiar with all those issues; it was just a quick and dirty list. I'll add some code from other programs I have presently. There is no red-to-blue in this case of course. Robert Ullmann15:25, 24 February 2008 (UTC)Reply
I've been chipping away at this and trying to keep the list updated. There are many entries I am sick of looking at, but don't know what to do with, especially non-English. Perhaps another run would provide some more motivating entries. It might also provide some problem/opportunity statistics for publicizing on BP or info desk or somesuch page. DCDuringTALK16:02, 7 May 2008 (UTC)Reply
I imagine you'll have twenty or so people crawling down your throat to get things done when the dump finally does hit. I'll be one of them. ;-) -Atelaesλάλει ἐμοί19:00, 7 May 2008 (UTC)Reply
Latest comment: 16 years ago3 comments2 people in discussion
Hey Robert, since you can pluck all the variations for a given string of letters, could we get a bot to update the {{see}} templates atop all of the corresponding pages? bd2412T08:45, 27 February 2008 (UTC)Reply
I remember proposing something like this a while ago, which led to a discussion about it. I can't remember where to link to it though. Thryduulf21:12, 2 March 2008 (UTC)Reply
Latest comment: 16 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion
I've tried jiggling the code around a few times to overwrite in case of a redirect, but get different error messages each time I tweak it, leaving me rather clueless! Could you possibly modify the code at User:Keenebot2/code in the right place instead? Thanks, and sorry for being a little pesty with the bot. --Keene18:26, 2 March 2008 (UTC)Reply
L2 Switches
Latest comment: 16 years ago4 comments3 people in discussion
Just reminding you that all the entries marked Slovenian need to be switched to Slovene. Hopefully, there should be another switch coming up soon (Tamazight). Thanks. -Atelaesλάλει ἐμοί07:58, 6 March 2008 (UTC)Reply
Okay, I can just wait a while, and then run program to check that we've got them all. Note that the program also finds all the translation table entries, section links, etc. (It was used for Scots Gaelic a while ago.) Robert Ullmann14:11, 6 March 2008 (UTC)Reply
The Translations table listings will be a definite bot job. I haven't attempted to get all of those, and there are hundreds. For the record, most of our "Slovenian" entries were added by Drago (aka WF). --EncycloPetey14:15, 6 March 2008 (UTC)Reply
Latest comment: 16 years ago3 comments2 people in discussion
Hello Robert, I added auto-categorisation to {{proto}} a while back to categorise articles under Category:xxx:Proto-Language derivations. This is all well and fine but there are many times when categorisation is not desired. Could we add a parameter such as notcat=1 to remove the categorisation? This would be handy when using {{proto}} is stating cognates etc.--Williamsayers7920:01, 6 March 2008 (UTC)Reply
This user has a known sock, with similar edits; and has been warned on both accounts. Permanent ban would be entirely appropriate. It is not your fault, and I do thank you for find it. (We really must go back through all the edits...) Robert Ullmann00:14, 9 March 2008 (UTC)Reply
I think because people ignored the Dutch entries, even though they contained plenty of interesting English text. By the way, my IP is still blocked, although I do have the ability to log in. Could you please unblock me? Jcwf16:28, 9 March 2008 (UTC)Reply
Latest comment: 16 years ago3 comments2 people in discussion
Hi there! I just came to see this category! Just wondered, can I start to check and fix the entries and then remove the tags, or is this being checked in any other way? Norwegian is my mother tounge, so I should be able to see whether it's ok or not. --EivindJ10:15, 10 March 2008 (UTC)Reply
Yes please, that is just what is needed, a native speaker or someone with reasonable fluency. Just make sure it is reasonable and remove the tag. If there is something seriously wrong, then both our English entry (translation table) and the no.wikt entry should be looked at as well. Thanks! Robert Ullmann12:14, 10 March 2008 (UTC)Reply
Latest comment: 16 years ago8 comments3 people in discussion
So, I've been discussing Norwegian language with User:EivindJ, an admin from the Norwegian wikt. Based on our conversation, I've set up {{no}}, {{nno}}, and {{nob}}. The first is the proper L2 for words which are the same in both the Bokmål and Nynorsk dialects, and the second and third are for words which are only in (or have different meanings in) the respective dialects/languages/whatever. I just wanted to double-check on the allowed formatting. Since Norwegian is a commonly known language, I thought it was unnecessary to link it, but many people are unaware of the dialects and figured they should be linked. Is this a problem? Should the whole thing be linked, or not at all? Will your bot accept linked and unlinked L2 variants? Thanks. -Atelaesλάλει ἐμοί22:24, 10 March 2008 (UTC)Reply
No good. The name (for lots of reasons) needs to be linked or unlinked. nn must be = nno, nb = nob
We've used no for Norwegian, and nn for Nynorsk. If we really want nb for "Norwegian Bokmål" that is probably okay, but seriously confusing (a tag of "Bokmål only" would be better), In any case no = nor, nb = nob, and nn = nno is required. (did you know these are 639-1 codes; therefore we don't use the -3 codes? ;-)
I think it's good now, with no, nn and nb (not nob and nno) ... we clearly need to differ between Bokmål and just Norwegian, but today we're far away from doing so. Thanks Atelaes (: --EivindJ23:24, 10 March 2008 (UTC)Reply
no, it is just fine, except for a few stray entries. Understand that 99.9% of Bokmål == Norwegian. The only issue is a few words that can't be in any way considered Nynorsk. We don't need to "differ between Bokmål and just Norwegian".
Norwegian is no, Nynorsk (perfectly good name and used in -1 and -3) is nn. nor must = no and nno must = nn must be the same. nb = nob might be Norwegian Bokmål if you like. No parens in language names here or SIL or ISO. Robert Ullmann23:30, 10 March 2008 (UTC)Reply
I have. And you note that almost everything in the no.wikt is just Norwegian.
Think about it this way, an equivalent situation in American English would be:
English (African American Vernacular)
English (American Book Standard)
(not picking on Af-Amer. or whatever ;-). Do you get that Bokmål means "Book Standard", e.g. the ordinary written and spoken Norwegian, while "Nynorsk" is an encoding of several closely related previously-unwritten dialects? Not of course invalid for that.) Robert Ullmann23:45, 10 March 2008 (UTC)Reply
deleting old redirects
Latest comment: 16 years ago3 comments2 people in discussion
There are bunch of old redirects at special:allpages/Talk:Transwiki:, most of which are remnants of a script's having moved those pages to the appropriate ] page, and therefore have no history (except possibly someone's later snapping a double redirect). In fact, I wuldn't be surprised if all the talk:transwiki: pages had no history. Now, I know you delete redirects form the conversion script. Are these talk:transwiki: pages queued for deletion also? Can they be? (I assume you have some automated or semi-automated means of doing the conversion-script remnants. If you do them by hand, then forgive and forget my request: I can do it myself as well.)—msh210℠21:04, 11 March 2008 (UTC)Reply
You think I am doing the CS ones by hand? Every 20-90 minutes a few 24 by 7? Not likely ;-) Something similar might be useful. Note that it isn't just Talk:Transwiki:, it is a lot of other CS Talk: pages. (A large mess.) Should consider going through them as well. (although the transwiki ones are also mostly broken). And Talk:Appendix: ... etc; several classes that had talk pages created before the namespaces existed, and then were move by the CS script. Robert Ullmann15:28, 12 March 2008 (UTC)Reply
Latest comment: 16 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion
Hi Robert,
I'd like to add romaji examples at Wiktionary:About Japanese/Transliteration for the following rule, but I cannot understand it because I'm poor on Japanese grammars.
The letter を, when used as a particle and pronounced "oh", should be transliterated as o instead of wo.
When used in proper nouns, including person and place names, it should be transliterated as o unless it is customary to transliterate that person's or place's name as wo.
Do the rule mean 'wo' in the next example should be transliterate as 'o'?
Latest comment: 16 years ago4 comments3 people in discussion
Would you be willing to come up with a list of every entry which uses "Slovenian" as an L2 header? Apparently EP's been correcting the ones you link to on the invalid L2 report, but doesn't have the means to find the rest of them (and neither do I). I have high hopes for completing the list this next time around. Many thanks. (Btw, I'm sorry I didn't get to IRC in time to get trouted. :-)) -Atelaesλάλει ἐμοί05:09, 12 March 2008 (UTC)Reply
Yes, thanks. I've taken care now of all the obviously incorrect L2 headers on the latest /invalid list (Slovenian, References, and various typos). You deserve to hear thank yous more often for keeping track of this, so thanks! It makes it very easy to find and to fix problems with L2 headers. --EncycloPetey17:41, 18 March 2008 (UTC)Reply
Autoedit
Latest comment: 16 years ago2 comments1 person in discussion
Oh thanks! I might just do a few more because they are some of the first entries I did and I have noticed some other mistakes as I have been going through them. Pistachio12:32, 17 March 2008 (UTC)Reply
Latest comment: 16 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion
Hello Robert Ullmann. I am User:Sundar in English and Tamil Wikipedias and the Tamil Wiktionary. I saw your message to Ravi concerning the bot-created articles in Tamil Wiktionary. As I wrote up SundarBot that uploaded articles, let me answer your questions:
Firstly, while there could be some unforeseen bugs in transcoding to Unicode, there's no junk uploaded by the bot.
Secondly, we got the glossary from Tamil Virtual University which developed that dictionary from numerous public domain sources, volunteer effort, and fully funded by the Government of Tamil Nadu. Also, we believed that words of a language can't be copyrighted and are naturally in the public domain. The bot took the meanings from www.tamilvu.org, transliterated them to Unicode (from TAB encoding), categorised them, formatted per wiktionary conventions, added pronunciation where one exists in the commons, and uploaded it to Tamil Wiktionary citing TVU and providing a link to their page. Errors from the original source have since been corrected by users too. Being words of a language (actively encouraged by the creator for wide public use) compiled using public funds copied with proper citation, processed and value-added in Wiktionary is fair-use according to Tamil Wiktionary editors. Also, let me state that we didn't use any style or artistic product of TVU. -- 122.167.242.18314:25, 22 March 2008 (UTC)Reply
Silly 3-letter acronyms
Latest comment: 16 years ago2 comments1 person in discussion
Hi, Robert, I was very pleased to hear from you.
I absolutely 100% completely agree with your conclusion.
But basically, you two guys are both right. On our (meaning you and me together) explanation, we just need to swap out the acronym ISO in favour of RFC. Yeah, it's confusing. I'll put some more on the central page.
Latest comment: 16 years ago3 comments3 people in discussion
I hope you realize that there is a problem with the term 'West Frisian'. In the 13th century a big flood separated the most westerly part of Friesland from the rest, allowing the counts of Holland to annex it. In 1928 the two parts got reconnected by the afsluitdijk. In the mean time the dialects west of this dike (on the North Holland peninsula north of Amsterdam) lost most (but not all) of their Frisian character and the region became Dutch speaking. The local dialects (now of nld, not fry) are known as Westfries. fry -by far the biggest surviving part of the macrolanguage is more propery called Westlauwerfries although it is usually just called Fries (in nld) or Frysk (in fry). To call it West Fries is confusing
Jcwf16:53, 27 March 2008 (UTC)Reply
"Fries" and "Frisk" are not English language terms. Wiktionary doesn't deal with problems of naming schemes of other languages. From w:West Frisian language: West Frisian is the name by which this language is usually known outside of the Netherlands, to distinguish it from the closely related Frisian languages of Saterland Frisian and North Frisian, which are spoken in Germany. Within the Netherlands however, the West Frisian language is the language of the province of Fryslân and is virtually always just called Frisian: Fries in Dutch, and Frysk in Frisian. The 'official' name used by linguists in the Netherlands to indicate the West Frisian language is Westerlauwers Fries (West Lauwers Frisian), the Lauwers being a border stream which separates the Dutch provinces of Fryslân and Groningen.. We must use the most traditional/prevalent/non-offensive (whenever there's a conflict) name in English. Read the ethnologue entry: "Westerlauwers Fries" is a dialect of Western Frisian. --Ivan Štambuk17:46, 27 March 2008 (UTC)Reply
Temporary access expired
Latest comment: 16 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion
Latest comment: 16 years ago3 comments2 people in discussion
Hello,
If it goes in Category:Mandarin language, then why do they occupy Category:Chinese language? I would have thought that Chinese language should be dialect neutral, dealing with the written form in traditional, simplified, and archaic. The dialectal forms would be subcategories...
Shouldn't Mandarin language be a subcategory of Chinese language ?
They should go in Mandarin language, not Chinese language. (Although both would probably be fine.) and yes, Mandarin language should be in Chinese language. Robert Ullmann12:46, 30 March 2008 (UTC)Reply
Latest comment: 16 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion
Hi Robert,
I added some stuff on the gender issue to the 'Category: incomplete gender..' whatever page. Maybe it would be useful to make it possible to give a parameter g=f/m to the nl-noun template? (Would you know how?)
I think the compromise that the Taalunie has worked out is about as good as you'll get it and has the force of law for both Flanders and the Netherlands. (That'll shut up extremists from both sides and yep we have them..) Note that the Taalunie has carefully avoided the term common gender because that would have been a strong pro-North bias. This Northerner thinks that is a wise move.
Jcwf03:50, 31 March 2008 (UTC)
It's Category:Dutch nouns with incomplete genderReply
Re: must be substituted
Latest comment: 16 years ago10 comments2 people in discussion
Durnit. Forgot. Feh. I think I had even figured that out.
While I'm here, is ! (that's a bang; hate this font) a special character in wiki markup? A good Samaritan changed the name of one of my templates, and it now includes one. But now I seem to have trouble linking to the template talk page. Is it just me?
Probably. I just pasted that from the wikipedia site. (Honestly, I was annoyed that I couldn't find the same type of thing over here, and just wanted to use it, immediately, rather than frob with it.) Winter13:52, 1 April 2008 (UTC)Reply
(From my talk page) Or is there a reason why the headword shouldn't be exactly = the title?
And a new question. I'm trying to build a regular verb form conjugation chart. It's easy to add letters to the page name. But in a couple cases I need to subtract letters. Like page name/infinitive = "skriuwe," and I want to make "ik skriuw." How would I do that? Thanks again. Winter13:52, 1 April 2008 (UTC)Reply
You can't ... (yes, I know) ... most templates do this by requiring the "stem" as a parameter. (I put "stem" in scare quotes because it isn't necessarily the true stem, but rather the common prefix, or suffix in the case of Bantu languages.) Robert Ullmann15:18, 1 April 2008 (UTC)Reply
There doesn't appear to be an -3 code. -2 puts it in "gem", but that is Germanic NEC, so not useful. I think this is yet another case where we need an extension code. (I wish I could somehow find out who in WMF does this for all the projects, I have been trying, but it is one of those very hard to find things ...) So for example we use fiu-vro, we can code gem-ofr or some such. Robert Ullmann15:18, 1 April 2008 (UTC)Reply
april fools
Latest comment: 16 years ago4 comments3 people in discussion
You defaced a wiki page in the sake of april fools day? This is why people constantly site Wiki as in inaccurate source of information. If I could, i'd revert the page, but it's locked. I don't care how many RFC's you written..this is irresponsible and childish behavior. Dewdude17:18, 1 April 2008 (UTC)Reply
There's some chance you'll wonder about that last WRT me also. I was looking at it because I'm nosy and meddlesome. (Though I'm occasionally mistaken for a troll, sense 2, that's never my intent. Well, almost never, and not here.) And I edited the entry because, as a big fan of the show, I've actually used that term, and the one I've entered as related. I'm pretty sure pop culture terms like that are permitted, right? If not, Sorry! please delete. Winterxx 2008-04-2 T 08:55 UTC.
Well, that would have to be another entry; the definition doesn't go there. And would probably get RFV'd: you'd need to show independent use. See, for example, embiggen, where The Simpsons is not sufficient by itself. Robert Ullmann11:16, 2 April 2008 (UTC)Reply
Pity that some people have to take Wiktionary too seriously, I think we should leave it as you left it - thanks for the chuckle, even if it was belated. Conrad.Irwin11:41, 2 April 2008 (UTC)Reply
Re: signature
Latest comment: 16 years ago14 comments2 people in discussion
Thanks for the info. I don't get your other point. But it doesn't matter. I've said elsewhere that perhaps Karma is telling me to keep on-line life separate from real life.
I've mentioned this elsewhere, but I'll point it out to you as well. Though I hadn't seen the page the recent message pointed me to, I had seen this one, dealing with changing a username.
In general, avoid requesting a change. It is much easier to create a new account, or even easier, change your signature (in your preferences), which will change your "public appearance". Bear in mind that renaming a user is resource-intensive and at all times done with reluctance.
I believe you should change the part in bold. I think it's misleading, since apparently it contradicts your true policies.
Why? I think "chang public appearance" requires more than merely adopting an alias that "bear a clear resemblance" to one's previous "public appearance." Just one woman's opinion, but I certainly find it ambiguous, and, well...
Again one woman's opinion, but I think it's arbitrary and rather stupid. Just put your blasted mouse over the name, and the username pops up right there as a tooltip. Sheesh. As wiki-savvy as you people expect everybody to be around here... Many of you admins simply BLAST people who don't understand the ins and outs of this place. But, no, nobody's expected to be smart enough to read a tooltip.
Sorry to rant in your space like this, but I really want to say, somewhere, that I totally don't get it. And I don't think I ever will. Thus, I'm not entirely sure I'll ever really fit in with wiki-culture. And that's another reason I'm pretty sure this for the best. I should maintain my distance. Snakesteuben16:20, 2 April 2008 (UTC)Reply
Edit:
Many of you admins simply BLAST people who don't understand the ins and outs of this place.
I should make it clear that I have never noticed you personally doing this, Robert. Also, I'm not really upset with any person or persons who are parties to this discussion, or anyone on this project--just the policy and implementation thereof in general.
OK, first. A true or false question. Please answer honestly, and preferably from your gut without thinking/rationalising too much.
True or false: "On en.wikipedia.org, men are usually permitted to substitute their RL names in signatures, even if their user names are dissimilar. By contrast, women, if noticed, generally are not."
I respect you very much, Robert, and if you give an answer, and claim you are confident in that answer, I will take you at your word. And if asked in the future, I will say so. (However, I make no guarantees regarding further inquiry as applied to me in particular, since you yourself, most conveniently, happened to furnish a specific example of disparate treatment on an individual basis. ;-) ) Snakesteuben16:40, 3 April 2008 (UTC)Reply
Note that Ric Opiaterein is very well known here, and it probably didn't occur to anyone to question him using just "Ric". It most definitely does not have anything to do with men and women being treated differently. Robert Ullmann17:30, 3 April 2008 (UTC)Reply
I'm not sure I fully understand what is happening / has happened here. Someone pointed you to a page suggesting that signatures should be identifiable as a username, right? And that page is not a policy page, just a guideline. And you immediately starting removing your pages like you had been bitten? (maybe you misunderstood, maybe someone else; some disconnect there)
Have you been on wikipedia, where there are lots of strict policy rules about user's pages and such that self-appointed enforcers go around checking? We have strict policies too, but pretty much only about main-namespace content, i.e. what we are building.
WT:CHU has been re-written a bit and is better, but also is not policy, just guidelines and a request page to get the attention of our 'crats.
Whichever user name you like is fine, it just would be good it the .sig you write is clearly associated (yes, one can always find out, but I/we want to be able to just read discussion pages, not got poking into .sig attributes ;-)
I thought about that workaround. But you made an excellent point here:
are you using a common username on more than one project?
In fact I am. I have 16 other ids. (I haven't encountered this issue with any others--yet.) It would be a bit of a hassle to keep track of a different username for just this site. And I wouldn't want to change them all because, believe it or not, this account has actually built up a bit of good will on a couple of the 17! Snakesteuben16:40, 3 April 2008 (UTC)Reply
Thanks again for the offer and the explanation. One more thing. A best friend advises me to ask whether you've ever heard of the name Winter/Wynter. If not, how about Autumn or Summer--or Rain/Raine/Rayne or Sunshine/Sunshyn. So I'm asking. (It's not just peer pressure; she's a professional mediator. <shrug>) Myself, I don't see the relevance. And even if it were relevant, I imagine you're old enough to be acquainted with some people born in the 60's besides just me.
I was born in 1960. I've met women (or younger girls) named Autumn, (Winter,) Summer, Rain, and Sunshine ;-) Not sure about the spellings though, they were all introduced in person. (not sure I ever met a Winter in person; but certainly know of the name; as in hearing about a FoF.) Robert Ullmann17:20, 3 April 2008 (UTC)Reply
OK, one last thing. Gheheh. Let me make it clear that I completely understand why you (en.w..org) have to adopt rigid policies. You have tons of users over here, with varying backgrounds--and varying motives (everybody speaks English.) Other projects have the luxury of smaller, more convivial user groups with more in common. You can't relax the way they can. And I know yours is in many ways a thankless job, that sometimes doesn't make you new friends.
Really. I get that; and I admire you and the others for what you do. I just think that policies, guidelines, rules, advisements, regulations, advisory opinions, recommended rulings, pronouncements, edicts, mere dictum, etc., etc., ;-) should be applied equally and consistently to all users. Snakesteuben16:40, 3 April 2008 (UTC)Reply
And something that is a guideline doesn't have to be always followed. There are exceptions when people need them/really want them/have a reason that differs from the rationale for the guideline. You might have just said you wanted to use Winter as your RL name, and maybe put the username in ()'s or something. Or not. Robert Ullmann17:30, 3 April 2008 (UTC)Reply
Hi, Robert. ACK (Both meanings; but the interjection seems to be missing.) Sorry I lost track of this thread. You've been spoiling me with those courtesy pointers. ;-) Thanks for all; I grok the rest of it now. And I'm more sure than ever that much/most of the off-site badmouthing is mere rumour. BTW, I'm sure you've never bothered to look at that silly profile, but I share neither your dignity, nor a such a heavy premium on my time, so I did. I think one of your admirer's jewels, "dump your boyfriend and write RFC's," could be pretty good advice for some. Kindest regards, Snakesteuben09:50, 6 April 2008 (UTC)Reply
Deleting files.
Latest comment: 16 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion
Thanks for the comment. I will be more careful from now on!
Often "Of or pertaining to". Makes it the definition of the adjective. It isn't "travel", it is "of or pertaining to travel". Yes, I know, arcane. Robert Ullmann18:00, 6 April 2008 (UTC)Reply
Not complaining, if it made the def stay in. It just looks odd. (And could somebody please provide a def for "road trip" - though again it is kinda self-defining - and about 99 other terms I don't see here?) I'm writing on Simple English Wikipedia, trying to give Wiktionary links where there are no entries to cross-ref on Simple English, and I keep landing on blank pages when I check the links. The unchanging link color fools you. - I am registered on both English and Simple English Wikipedia, so don't worry about that. I just hesitate to do it here. 70.173.20.11118:44, 6 April 2008 (UTC)Reply
Pronunciation for Mandarin
Latest comment: 16 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion
After consulting A-cai I'm going to add pronunciation to 1500 Chinese Mandarin entries using my bot in the next few days. My bot has been modified to omit any entries, which have multiple etymology sections, multiple pronunciation sections or include other pages. This behaviour has proven to work fine for Icelandic entries, where multiple etymologies can been met. --Derbethtalk23:29, 13 April 2008 (UTC)Reply
Auto link fix
Latest comment: 16 years ago2 comments2 people in discussion
The deletions are automated; the edits (based on things that couldn't be simply deleted on the first pass) are mine. Mind you, set up so I can usually type only a code for the form of the edit ;-) "First person" will show up in the queue soon. Robert Ullmann01:14, 14 April 2008 (UTC)Reply
We need to sort this; give me a bit; I was trying to find the WMF "language committee" but have since learned that they are only concerned with codes needed to create projects. Robert Ullmann18:13, 18 April 2008 (UTC)Reply
Main page
Latest comment: 16 years ago3 comments2 people in discussion
Cascading protecting won't prevent editing of the WOTD will it? We often get more activity on those words as a result of being featured, and it would be sad to lose that. --EncycloPetey21:23, 17 April 2008 (UTC)Reply
Latest comment: 16 years ago3 comments2 people in discussion
Hi, you removed the TOC from the above page- could you please explain to me when a table of contents is needed, and when to leave it out, or at least point me to a policy/guideline page explaining it? Thanks. J Milburn18:05, 18 April 2008 (UTC)Reply
TOCs are automatic; if the entry has more than 3 headers it shows up by default. If you put in in explicitly you prevent user defaults from operating correctly. Robert Ullmann18:10, 18 April 2008 (UTC)Reply
Latest comment: 16 years ago2 comments2 people in discussion
Thanks. The internet filter at work no longer allows me to access the Block screen because the "weighted phrase limit is exceeded" (whatever that means). --EncycloPetey18:11, 18 April 2008 (UTC)Reply
Latest comment: 16 years ago2 comments2 people in discussion
This template seems to be producing odd output - for "language" we get el(el) for Greek, eg: * Greek: θάλασσαf(thálassa) seems to be the same for all languages. Can you help? —SaltmarshTalk09:24, 19 April 2008 (UTC)Reply
On the uh, feature, that some templates, if not substituted, create an "edit this section" link which takes the user to the edit screen for the template... Y'know that thing I forgot to document myself here, so you had to dig me out of (another) hole. <blush>
Just to check my understanding, does this happen every time a template creates a header between equals signs, no matter how it does it? Or is it something else entirely?
I assume there's no slick trick to get around this problem, like making one template substitute another one, or is there?
No one wants confused users ;-), but I'm so tired of NOEDITSECTION, turning off section editing on the entire blasted page. (And the users are attached to these year-old templates that save a few keystrokes -- or cost a few one if you count the shift keys.) I saw a reference in bugzilla to something called "NOEDITTHISSECTION" but I couldn't get it to work, either there, or here where I assume all the latest and greatest code resides. Does it work?
Is there any way to make a template throw an error on the preview screen/in the text if it's not substituted?
one template subst another? only if the first is subst'd (so that doesn't help). You just have to type subst: ...
which is why we absolutely prohibit "NOEDITSECTION". (if you see it anywhere, tell me ;-) We need the headers in the page wikitext anyway for various things that process the wikitext
possibly I could work out some magic, but anyone who knows enough to put the magic in a template knows enough to subst: it. Note that you can use "what links here" to see if the template has been left included somewhere
3. (hope it's OK if I butt in here). I may be misunderstanding the question, but this seems like what the deletion templates on Wikipedia (used to) do. A couple of approaches to the problem are presented at w:User:Pathoschild/Help/Template_special_effects. I just checked the first method given there, and it still seems to work OK. Just replace "subst'd" with null and "not subst'd" with the big angry warning notice of your choice. -- Visviva14:25, 19 April 2008 (UTC)Reply
<sigh> OK, now, Robert, sweetie, put down your tea/coffee/Jolt cola whatever before you click the next link. I don't want you to choke.
Do you think that any of the poor souls conspiring to create this entry might have any concept of "magic" in templates? Well, perhaps if you consider 13 template-included "NOEDITSECTION" directives to be magical. (No kidding. That's the real count in that entry. It's in all the language templates, all the POS templates, and the translation templates.)
The question isn't what links here, but what doesn't link here, and/or to all its brothers and sisters and cousins and aunts.
This is what happens when users are allowed to run wild and unsupervised for a year--which seems to be about how long the current state of affairs has existed.
Annoyance two, parsing last character of stem parameter
I really have made a fairly diligent search, but I can't find any model code where somebody checks for the identity of the last character of a parameter. (I have found one that returns true if a given character occurs anywhere in the string, but that's all.) Could you tell me where to find out how to do that? (I need it for that regular verb conjugation thing, to account for a d/t suffix variation that I, and no one else on this planet, call da fat cheapskate rule.)
*sigh* you simply can't do it. (Yes, I know, it would be very useful). What we end up doing is using the "stem" without the final, and then the final as a separate parameter (which may be null as well). What did you find that tells you if a character is in a string somewhere?
Just to say I'm not ignoring you. I didn't save that darn link unfortunately. I'll have to plough my history. I'll get back to you. Winter Snakesteuben06:10, 20 April 2008 (UTC)Reply
Apparently, it doesn't exist after all. I must be cra Chalk it up to more evidence that I'm crazy. Maybe it was a figment of my imagination. Or perhaps its non-existence is retroactive in a cartoon-laws-of-physics sort of way, for if you can't do it, I now know it never could have been done. Winter (User:Snakesteuben14:51, 21 April 2008 (UTC))Reply
I see that I can't make a simple template by the name of "g" on this site (it's the abbreviation for common gender in West Frisian and some other languages). Is either "o" or "û" contraindicated for any reason?
since this is the English Wiktionary, all our descriptive terms are in English, so this gender is "common", abbreviated with {{c}} ;-) Likewise n, m, and f.
OK, I imagine you get my point. But just making sure, I'll state it explicitly. If I'm on the Dutch site, and I type {{n}}, it gets magically converted to o. If I do the same thing on the fy site, û appears.
Likewise, {{o}} entered on fy becomes {{û}}, and vice versa. Template "Noun" exists on both sites, and the terms "Haadwurd" or "Zelfstandig naamwoord" appear as appropriate. I've noticed similar behaviour on every other site wiktionary where I've edited, except this one. I'm reading your answer to say that that English wikipedia has made (or has effectively made, i.e., the consensus is obvious) an affirmative policy decision on the matter. On this site, any possible benefit from goodwill and/or prevention of stupid single-character hard-to-detect brain-dead errors is outweighed by countervailing considerations. (I feel no need to know what those considerations are. I wish only to confirm that they exist, and I'll drop the matter.) Snakesteuben02:47, 20 April 2008 (UTC)Reply
Yes, and here {{n}} gets magically converted to n. Guess what? lots of wikts have English template names that convert to the local language text. And on the English wikt, guess what? We have English template names that convert to the local language text. English. Robert Ullmann02:54, 20 April 2008 (UTC)Reply
(shall I be less snarky? It is perfectly reasonable for other wikts to have English and their own language names convert to presenting their own language. It is not reasonable for the English wikt to try to convert all the other languages into English. There are 7000+ others, in how many does "o" become "n"? In how many does "o" become "f" or "m" or something else? It may be reasonable for other wikts to consider English as "special" and provide conversions; but what language do we consider "special"? French? Latin? Mandarin?) Robert Ullmann03:00, 20 April 2008 (UTC)Reply
I don't know, shall you. ;-) I quite liked your first answer, to be honest. And of course you're right. FCFS is not an appropriate way to allocate such resources. I guess I touched a nerve, and I'm truly sorry about that. But I really didn't mean to get your shorts in a knot! (This time ;-) ) Snake Stubborn 2008-04-20 T 05:50 UTC
Question two, different spelling, upper vs. lower case
On that fy-NPL template above, you asked me if there was any reason the entry couldn't equal the page name in every case. The one weird thing is that fy words with diacriticals are spelled differently depending on whether they start with an uppercase or lowercase letter. I thought about it. But with full case sensitivity, I couldn't think of any reason there'd be a gotcha lurking there, but I wanted to ask you before I messed something up yet again. ;-)
I don't see any reason why the headword would not = PAGENAME, given, as you say, the case-sensitivity of page names
Latest comment: 16 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion
I went ahead and enabled my email. Though, I fail to see why there'd be any reason to communicate secretly about an inherently open project. What did you want to email me about. Language Lover21:48, 20 April 2008 (UTC)Reply
Content (in part) from honor, which which was then changed to "alternate spelling of honour". Connel would have had conniptions ;-). User would not get that we don't merge those. Robert Ullmann14:42, 23 April 2008 (UTC)Reply
Updates take a new XML dump, which is long overdue, as the dump process is broken in several ways ... :-( you can fix it if you like, as long as the template is correct I wouldn't worry. Robert Ullmann15:02, 26 April 2008 (UTC)Reply
As with language templates (just above), I need a new XML dump. Long overdue, and the process is still broken. Once I get it, it is a one-line shell command and let my box munch it for a little while. Robert Ullmann08:55, 29 April 2008 (UTC)Reply
XML dumps broken
Latest comment: 16 years ago2 comments2 people in discussion
The basic report of status is ; I've tried figure out how I can help Brion Vibber fix something, but to no avail.
The problem is that it works by having several (2-4) threads each pick up the least-recently dumped of the hundreds of wikis (150 languages x several projects) and generate a number of dump files:
various small tables
main space articles and templates
all pages
all pages with the entire edit history
noting the last is not diffs, but an entire copy of each revision! It compresses each with bz2, and the all history again with 7z. The en.wikt only takes a few hours, including about 40 min for the dump we really want (NS:0 + templates). The en.wp takes a month to dump.
You may see the problem here if you've ever been in a queue in a bank waiting for (say) 4 tellers: if there are four people in front of you with longish transactions, they will tie up all the tellers. So at any given time, the current state is most likely all the threads working on humungous 'pedia dumps.
The solution(s) are fairly simple: restrict one or two threads to smaller wikis, separate out the "all history" as a separate task, do only 7z for it and not bz2. (But really, fixing the DB and the dumps to do diffs would be a lot better! I can't figure out why it was ever done this way?) I've tried to get Brion's attention, but he is just (apparently) too swamped to be helped? Robert Ullmann12:26, 29 April 2008 (UTC)Reply
Fan (fe)mail!
Latest comment: 16 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion
To a couple folks who've been especially helpful/nice to me during my first few weeks at en.wikt: Thanks! :-)
Right. Anonymous greeting cards don't work with edit logs, not to mention Sinebots floating around. (Yeah, OK, I forgot to sign ... again!) Snakesteuben13:51, 29 April 2008 (UTC)Reply
Code
Latest comment: 16 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion
Latest comment: 16 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion
I'll take a look through that list first chance I get, but it won't be until tomorrow now. In many cases I suspect that just moving the brackets after the : will work, but I'll note any regular patterns I spot.Thryduulf14:56, 2 May 2008 (UTC)Reply
Mismatched syntax
Latest comment: 16 years ago3 comments2 people in discussion
Whether or not we strike them, I find sections easier to work with. Particularly if there is more than one person on the job, it means people are more likely to work from places other than the top of the list. Thryduulf16:42, 3 May 2008 (UTC)Reply
Latest comment: 16 years ago3 comments2 people in discussion
Hi, Robert. I've been (confusedly) hunting down and destroying entries/additions that look like this:
]: {{t-|fy|lithium|xs=Frisian}} (See, e.g., bottom (labelled line 143) of this page.)
Now that I've figured out where they're coming from ;-), I presume they serve some greater purpose and I should ignore them? Thanks (and sorry if I messed up any statistics or anything) Winter (User:Snakesteuben13:09, 4 May 2008 (UTC))Reply
It is Tbot that is adding the xs= (to generate a section reference); as of the last time it looked at the entry fy was = Frisian. These will all get fixed automatically, don't worry about it. (In the mean time the incorrect section ref just lands someone at the top of the target page, no big deal.) AF is just sorting the language under "W" Robert Ullmann13:26, 4 May 2008 (UTC)Reply
Sure. So look and entry aren't necessarily contemporaneous. Gotcha. And of course, by destroy I meant "replace /xs=Frisian /xs=West Frisian." (With curses of "What's wrong with me? Why in blazes didn't '(?<! )Frisian' hit that three hours ago?!?") Winter (User:Snakesteuben05:49, 5 May 2008 (UTC))Reply
Latest comment: 16 years ago4 comments3 people in discussion
Can I ask why you're dumping a ton of citations from the 'pedia while the vote to decide if that's allowed is going on? Seems like that's going to be a lot of mess if the vote doesn't pass (and it also seems like a lot of the citations you're getting could be gotten from more respectable sources). -Atelaesλάλει ἐμοί18:53, 10 May 2008 (UTC)Reply
There's nothing wrong with Citations from Wikipedia, it's just whether they count towards CFI that we're voting on. Ideally we'd cite every use of every word everywhere - but that's not possible.... Conrad.Irwin19:13, 10 May 2008 (UTC)Reply
Pardon me, but the present vote is about WMF jargon. Nothing whatsoever to do with ordinary everyday words that happen to be used in Wikipedia.
And certainly there are other sources, I am hunting words that we are missing and should have, not adding any that can't meet CFI easily. (albeit a few on the ragged edge, but that is why we want to find citations) Robert Ullmann22:59, 10 May 2008 (UTC)Reply
Latest comment: 16 years ago2 comments2 people in discussion
I've tried one of the customizations you claim IE8 doesn't support, and it works for me. Please see . Do you have any proof it doesn't support generated content? —Ms2ger09:48, 12 May 2008 (UTC)Reply
Take it easy ... we tested the version of IE8 we had a month or so ago, and it did not; reviews I found on the web concurred. We'll keep tracking it; thanks for the specific versiont test. Robert Ullmann15:52, 12 May 2008 (UTC)Reply
Mondo botto!
Latest comment: 16 years ago4 comments2 people in discussion
If you guys want these I can post, oh, 7 or 800 more...
So presumably you would convert that to a similar file with English entries and translations for pagefromfile.py? That seems like a good idea. Perhaps you might try a half-dozen? Robert Ullmann15:52, 12 May 2008 (UTC)Reply
No, I thought someone over here might like to take the en-->fy job that I made and ran on our site, and swap it around into an fy-->en for use on en. And maybe glean info in the process, since many, if not the majority, of the plant entries are missing here altogether.
Latest comment: 16 years ago5 comments2 people in discussion
well that's what it says in one of my dictionaries. I just used a different word. Besides that other definition explains very little and it is not a pejorative which is an abusive insult 143.235.214.22215:49, 13 May 2008 (UTC)Reply
Note this IP editor is on the school network from which we get lots of this disruptive behavior. If you are not the troublemaker, create a login; users on 143.235.x.x are routinely blocked for this junk. Robert Ullmann16:04, 13 May 2008 (UTC)Reply
Latest comment: 16 years ago5 comments2 people in discussion
Hi, Conrad.Bot's current task is for fixing links to the bad Wiktionary namespace pages, I'm currently collecting the list of pages that need fixing so I can do them all in one pass as opposed to coming back round for each redirect. Your page seems to have the same general purpose, so I'll not replace the links on it - though I intend to fix the few links from other pages to the "Wiktionary:Chinese index" pages - is this ok?
Yes, and I've blanked the page so that you won't see the references in any case.
Secondly, once it's finished delinking them, there'll be another couple of hundred pages to be deleted. As I'm assuming that we could do without two automatic deletion processes flooding Wiktionary, would you be able to append them to the list that your current delete bot is doing - or should I just wait until you've finished and delete them then myself? Long time no IRC, yours. Conrad.Irwin23:06, 15 May 2008 (UTC)Reply
I ran the following to get a table of all links to be fixed on all pages (using ReferringPageGenerator(redir_page)), and then saved it to a file, did some grep filtering as on User:Conrad.Bot. It is now running through the list of pages and fixing all the links it found on each page. Conrad.Irwin11:29, 17 May 2008 (UTC)Reply
This list matches the original list (which is formatted ] : ] > ], one link to a redirect from a page per line) filtered with |grep Index: | grep -v Ullmann/Chinese | grep -v Hungarian (though I didn't get Hungarian right the first time). I have another (much shorter list) of pages that got through the filters described on User:Conrad.Bot that are not to the index pages. Conrad.Irwin11:44, 17 May 2008 (UTC)Reply
Good news!
Latest comment: 16 years ago2 comments2 people in discussion
Hi, congratulations with the deletion process, glad to know that it is actually going somewhere (it feels endless!). Just to help spread the joy that we have a new dump for the delectation of any automatons at your disposal. All thanks to brion who (it is rumored) may have fast-tracked enwiktionary. Conrad.Irwin00:30, 20 May 2008 (UTC)Reply
Yes, I was prodding Brion in email; one of the threads was/is stuck on commonswiki, he apparently restarted the other telling it to do task enwiktionary first :-) Robert Ullmann16:53, 20 May 2008 (UTC)Reply
Given name categories
Latest comment: 16 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion
Thank you for your kind message. Changing the names of given name categories isn't really such a catastophe as I made it sound like in Wiktionary:Requests_for_deletion/Others#Category:Armenian names. Contributors who mix up categories will also mix up the language, so those entries will have to be cleaned up anyway. Changing the names would provide a good opportunity to think about the context of the subcategories. I've been planning to take it up in the Beer Parlor for a year already... Please tell me when the names are to be changed. I could help manually with small categories.
I took the liberty of changing "Greek" into "Hebrew" in your template talk examples. "Greek" means "from modern Greek", right? - it's always mistaken for Ancient Greek, and I don't want to remind anybody of the existence of such a category.--Makaokalani09:11, 20 May 2008 (UTC)Reply
Latest comment: 16 years ago4 comments2 people in discussion
All the variant templates (-ar verbs, -er verbs, -çar verbs, -ger verbs and more) are based on Template:pt-conj for basic organization.
...however, the Template:pt-conj was apparently designed to contain just only one form for each conjugation, and to provide an automatic link for each one.
Thus, some verbs (the ones which have more than one form) just can't have their own links.
Here are some examples...
And, some verbs just don't have a certain conjugation at all (colorir and falir don't have a first-person singular present), leaving an ugly blank space with brackets ].
So, I was doing exactly what you said. - using other templates for each reason - but first, I need to delete links on Template:pt-conj and reallocate them in the right places at the other templates... Daniel.01:19, 21 May 2008 (UTC)Reply
The problem is you break all the pages that simply use the basic template. You are making life very hard on yourself, it is much easier than that. First rule: don't break it, fix it. Take me a few minutes. Robert Ullmann11:27, 21 May 2008 (UTC)Reply
Okay, all done. If you want to use more than one linked word in a cell, link them in the calling template (just for that cell). If you want a cell to be blank, use "-" in the calling template. Robert Ullmann11:38, 21 May 2008 (UTC)Reply
The only one case of defective verb by now is abolir (which was on the Category:Portuguese verbs needing conjugation some hours ago). Sorry for the trouble and thanks for your help; I just couldn't rely on variant templates to do this work, and don't knew how to do something like that. By the way, I removed links from abolir - and I'm going to do a few more templates for regular verbs, just following your fixed Template:pt-conj. Daniel.14:05, 21 May 2008 (UTC)Reply
Invalid L2's
Latest comment: 16 years ago2 comments2 people in discussion
Would you mind if I removed invalid L2's that have been dealt with? I ask this because of the lag between the current dump and the last one, and it's much easier to see what's been taken care of and what's left to do if I clear out all the Engish's. Bear in mind that, when I ask if I can do it, I am asking if you'll keep your bot from undoing my clearing. -Atelaesλάλει ἐμοί05:21, 21 May 2008 (UTC)Reply
Latest comment: 16 years ago14 comments2 people in discussion
So, I recently updated the Ancient Greek declension templates (they're now much prettier, and collapsible). While the initial switch was fairly easy, as they're all routed through a few baseline templates, I still have to go through each individually. This is because I decided that I'd put control over what goes in the title in the hands of the higher-level templates. I've been meaning to go through all the templates and write some instructions, cleanup, categorization, etc., so this works out ok. I figured that, since I'm going through them all, I may as well link all the inflected forms while I'm at it. And this is bringing up the problem I need your help with. Ancient Greek sometimes uses macrons and breves to indicate vowel length. However, since these are fairly rare, I decided they shouldn't be included in the entry titles. So, that doesn't seem too hard, right? Just do what Latin does, have two parameters, one with macrons, and one without, link the one without. Easy. However, that makes for a lot of inputs, as Ancient Greek templates often take three parameters without macrons (compare one input for typical Latin), which makes for six parameters with macrons, which is really too many. Add to the fact that most of the time we don't know (or are simply too lazy to enter) the macroned version, it seems like a bad idea to make the macroned version necessary for grc templates. So, what I came up with was to have optional macron parameters. But, I can't figure out the code (and I'm starting to wonder if its even possible). The code as it stands right now is:
{{{NS|{{{1}}}ᾰς}}}. So, {{{1}}} is a necessary input, one of the basic stems for the template. The normal output of this template is to attach ᾰς to the end of that stem. However, if the nom sing is irregular, you can manually specify it by inputting NS=. So, if we add linkedness to the equation, we get {{#if:{{{NSv|}}}|]|]}} (with the v signifying the vowel length marked parameters). However, as you might guess, the pipes within the links are throwing off the if statement. If you have any ideas, I'd love to hear 'em. If you like, I've got a testing setup with {{grc-test}}, {{grc-test2}}, and User:Atelaes/Sandbox, if you care to screw around with ideas. I'm thinking that if we can't get it to work properly, I'll just incorporate the macrons and stuff into the pronunciation section somehow. Sorry about the lengthy post. This would be much easier if you were on IRC. Thanks. -Atelaesλάλει ἐμοί20:39, 22 May 2008 (UTC)Reply
Sorry, I have been sick, with limited time I've wanted to look at things.
Lose template "notred", use class="inflection-table" in the table header
In general do the conditionals either inside the links, or entirely outside. The pipes will only "throw off" the if conditional if something isn't nested properly.
Ok, I see what it does, and I believe I know where to put it, but it doesn't seem to be working for me. I'm thinking I must be doing something wrong, as it works fine for me when it's used in the Latin templates. I've inserted it into {{grc-test}}. Any ideas why it's not working? -Atelaesλάλει ἐμοί03:23, 31 May 2008 (UTC)Reply
Yeah, sorry, I got it working after I left the comment. Sorry. However, I am working on the leftover coding, and am having some difficulties. If I can't manage to pull it off, I'll drop you another note. :-) -Atelaesλάλει ἐμοί05:01, 31 May 2008 (UTC)Reply
Ok, I think I've got everything working ok. Would you be willing to take a look at the code, as I have to imagine you'll see problems that I'll miss, and I'd like to catch any problems before I install this code in the hundred templates used in nearly 3,000 entries. Note that the full code is only in place for the genitive singular position. In the real templates I'll take the time to put it everywhere. -Atelaesλάλει ἐμοί05:15, 31 May 2008 (UTC)Reply
Excellent idea, thank you. It works perfectly. I think I'll start implementing the new code. If you feel like giving the template a final once-over, I wouldn't be offended ;-), but if you think you've done everything you could for it, then let me thank you very much for all your time and effort with this. Also, would it be a huge amount of work for you to get one of your bots to look through the dump for any entries which use the following characters: ᾰ, ᾱ, ῐ, ῑ, ῠ, ῡ, Ᾰ, Ᾱ, Ῐ, Ῑ, Ῠ, Ῡ? Any that do will likely have to be changed for the new template. -Atelaesλάλει ἐμοί03:25, 2 June 2008 (UTC)Reply
I don't see a problem, as it is your "real" name (and therefore not an attempt to troll). (I say "real" because what is a "real" name? If someone styles himself "Mark Twain", is it a "real" name? ;-)
Latest comment: 16 years ago3 comments2 people in discussion
Is it a good idea if I try to add word origins for common words like water, e.g. it being from Greek hudor, Old English waeter etc. Or is that too complex for the reader?? I'd be interested to know, as I'm willing to help out here. AP. --82.42.237.8418:47, 27 May 2008 (UTC)Reply
That word really had excessively detailed etymology...simplified it a bit. Detailed discussions and list of cognates are generally reserved to appendix pages, where there are no space limitations, or the etymology sections of ancient languages. --Ivan Štambuk19:23, 27 May 2008 (UTC)Reply
Thanks, that was just an example, however, it was for any word in general that I was asking about. Thanks anyway, Ivan! AP --82.42.237.8419:38, 27 May 2008 (UTC)Reply
Odd case
Latest comment: 16 years ago3 comments3 people in discussion
Here is a case where a bad edit was made by AutoFormat. It's an unusual case because the header should have said "Conjunction" but had been mistyped as "Conjugation". --EncycloPetey03:06, 28 May 2008 (UTC)Reply
Latest comment: 16 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion
I was sorry to read that you were sick. Glad you're getting back. I've found many ways of amusing myself, but not counted, missing, and wp citations are three of my favorites. Also, I hope that I've been processing the trans table problems correctly. Do the corrected items get processed quickly so that I can interpret their non-return to the queue as an indication of success? DCDuringTALK17:21, 29 May 2008 (UTC)Reply
Sysop right into Wikamusi kwa Kiswahili
Latest comment: 16 years ago9 comments2 people in discussion
I saw you are also request for temporary sysop right. It's quite interesting. Sasa naona Kiingereza basi. Tujitahidi kuiboresha ile Wikamusi. Naona ulifanya mawili matatau, lakini kwa sasa haujashiriki kwa muda mrefu sana na badala yake umeacha Bot ikiendelea na kazi za kutafsiri makala zile. Nahitaji kujua kitu kutoka kwako, unasemaje? Tafadhali jibu hapahapa...--Muddyb Blast Producer09:43, 30 May 2008 (UTC)Reply
(um the difference between TZ Kiswahili and Kenyan is going to be interesting, good to have both working on it). Yes there are a number of things that need to be converted, so they are available in both languages (various documentation). I write things in English because I am not fluent, and the vocabulary for a technical subject eludes me (Kenya does pretty much all University level stuff in English, as with all official business, technical reports etc.) what is "documentation"? (um, makala perhaps, but I wouldn't have recalled that) or "technical" or ... ;-) (Come to think of it, I never read or write Kiswahili, it is all verbal!)
I haven't done very much as I've been trying to get a group set up to work on it; I now have several people at KU who will be adding a lot more words presently. Should be starting from tomorrow or Monday.
Bot? (Kompyuta needs a lot of updating before it is run again.)
Without going through the steps with the titles, yes. It just looks for lc words not in the wikt. In the process, finds spelling errors in the pedia, as it is essentially doing a spellcheck.
But it would take it a very long time to go through any large percentage of the pedia; I do not have a dump. However, given that every other article (non-stub) seems to contain words to look at, there is plenty to keep it busy. I am still playing with how it might work. Robert Ullmann19:27, 13 May 2008 (UTC)Reply
Duesentrieb just suggested to me that you can find phrases such as good fellow by examining links such as ]. While you've probably thought of this already, I thought I'd point it out just in case.—msh210℠20:25, 4 June 2008 (UTC)Reply
Will you be checking from time to time for the addition of these words, and then removing the citation from the "New words from Wikipedia" category? SemperBlotto13:36, 15 May 2008 (UTC)Reply
Yes, they are supposed to disappear automatically, but for a WM bug (which I will add to bugzilla someday ;-) ... the cat is only added when the entry does not exist. So a purge on the Citations: page will remove it. Editing the template will cause the job queue to regenerate all the pages. I did this a little while ago. Robert Ullmann13:43, 15 May 2008 (UTC)Reply
Template documentation
Latest comment: 16 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion
re: the categorization It's certainly significantly more straightforward than having to wade through Category:Context labels and removing the primary category saves from being utterly unable to ever know when new ones are created. If we can't add newly created templates to the category because there's no simple way to tell a new one is uncategorized, it certainly detracts a lot form the point of having subcategories to make the precise template easier to find
re: avalent It wasn't in Category:Grammar templates, so I didn't expect it to be a grammar term; I'm an amateur linguist and that is at best a rare word: I've never seen it used anywhere before. Wouldn't that just be {{impersonal}} for all practical purposes anyway? Circeus15:53, 7 June 2008 (UTC)Reply
Probably the other way around: most uses of impersonal would better be avalant. But as you say, that is a much less familiar term.
I kept {{weather}} as a legitimate template and redirected the two uses of {{avalent}} (sleet and rain) to the widely used {{impersonal}}. Oddly enough, snow addresses the issue in a completely different way.
Regarding that list, what is {{personal}} supposed to be for? It's not used anywhere, and it's hard to tell because it's ambiguous. Is it a variant of {{endearing}}? Nevermind, I was thinking of {{personel}}, a typo. Circeus16:50, 7 June 2008 (UTC)Reply
I was wondering if you could use your list to built a list of context templates where several templates feed into the same category? Or more generally where the label and category are different? Circeus15:57, 9 June 2008 (UTC)Reply
Victrola victrola (not the Julie Andrews movie)
Latest comment: 16 years ago2 comments2 people in discussion
Your "Conversion script" deletion of Victrola seems (tho as non-admin here, i can't view the del'd rev's) to have be based on the fact that it was a mere Rdr. I assume the division of the proper noun and common noun into separate entries that i've effected amounts to correction of the mistaken combination of two words in one entry.
I should probably have written it in lower case, it is usually Incoterms or incoterms. I suppose I just think of it as an acronym rather than a contraction (is a bit of both), and when I was in that business INCOTERM wasn't uncommon. Robert Ullmann11:49, 8 June 2008 (UTC)Reply
Another thing, with regards to capitalisation, I think it would be better is if the incoterms themselves (not the acronyms) were all capitals, i.e. Free On Board instead of free on board, because that is how they're usually written. However, I can't move that page to the desired destination. Is capitalisation that important here? I'll add the full incoterms when I know which spelling is preferred. Thanks Robert. --Jackofclubs12:34, 8 June 2008 (UTC)Reply
The user made a copy and paste redirect and did not even actually redirect the template. Mind fixing it with a proper move-over? Circeus01:22, 9 June 2008 (UTC)Reply
Latest comment: 16 years ago2 comments2 people in discussion
Hi,
Could you maybe try to be a bit kinder in your dealings with DAVilla? He makes valid points, and while you may not always agree with his conclusions, needlessly antagonizing him is probably bad for your blood pressure and his, and makes the discussion awkward for other editors to contribute to. (It can also come off as slightly hypocritical sometimes; for example, with this template thing, I don't have the impression that you tend to wait any longer than he does before making changes. The main difference is that you agree with your changes and don't consider them controversial — you feel that you're fixing things — which is absolutely fine, since other editors are generally very happy with your changes even if we don't agree with every detail of all of them. But when you turn around and get angry at DAVilla for a similar kind of thing, I suddenly find I have a bad taste in my mouth.)
Hi ... I hate to keep bashing DAVilla, but he does not learn. I may seem to make changes rapidly, but they are often (usually) considered for weeks. (I spent many, many, many hours in/about The Nairobi Hospital working on {{context}} before I did *anything*!) In this case, he made a change after ~3 hours that was bad, and ill-considered, and then again when that was undone. If he ever wants to do any serious engineering, he must slow down.
I get angry (although exasperated would be a far better word) because he does not learn. He wanted me to look at some way of handling "class" or whatever for internet slang a few days or so ago; I have been looking at it, but haven't had time because I have spent two days of wikitime cleaning up this crap.
There is a perfectly simple way to do the cats if we want to pay the overhead in every NS:0 entry just to get the temps cattted, but DAVilla will not SLOW DOWN to find it. Even though it is fucking obvious if one slows down and considers how it might be done. Robert Ullmann23:14, 8 June 2008 (UTC)Reply
More template stuff
Latest comment: 16 years ago4 comments3 people in discussion
Bet you're getting really sick of me bugging you about templates, huh? So, I want the templates to have an optional "Notes" section. Basically, an extra row where an editor can stuff notes about the declension, such as "note the irregular dative singular" or "singular declension follows the etymon language pattern, but plural follows standard Ancient Greek declension" or perhaps stick a link to an appendix explaining the declension. My initial instinct was to start the conditional in the last cell which normally occurs, and insert the line break and start of the new row in the positive option, and nothing in the negative option. The idea being that if the editor enters notes, the new row for notes comes into existence, but the default behaviour is for it to not exist. Thus:
|"Content of last cell" {{#if:{{{Notes|}}}|
|Notes:{{{Notes}}}|}}
However, the problem is that the parser interprets the pipe signifying the new row as a conditional pipe, so I get a line break if {{{Notes}}} exists, and "Notes:{{{Notes}}}" if it doesn't. Is there a way around this, or have I simply reached the limits of what the MW software can do? Many thanks in advance (said sarcastically if you don't help me ;)). -Atelaesλάλει ἐμοί07:18, 9 June 2008 (UTC)Reply
If you really want a row in the table, you can use the explicit HTML inside the conditional. But it would probably look better if the notes followed the table, but inside the collapsing box. See {{rel-bottom}} which supports a note= parameter. Is probably best to use note= and have the "Notes: " part of the text given in the parameter as/if desired. Robert Ullmann09:58, 9 June 2008 (UTC)Reply
*sigh* I demand that next time I ask you a question and there's an obvious, simple answer that you make it sound really technical and complicated so I don't feel so stupid. If you like, take a look at the inflection of ἔτος(étos) to see some of the cool things I'm doing with these new spiffy templates (check the code that produced it). :-) Thanks again. -Atelaesλάλει ἐμοί07:26, 10 June 2008 (UTC)Reply
Latest comment: 16 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion
Thanks. I knew about the piped links generally and knew that it automatically truncated content in parens. I just had never had never run into the truncation of content after a comma before. That must have been one of the more recent changes to the MediaWiki software. (Well, recent to me anyway.) Thanks again. Rossami19:19, 20 June 2008 (UTC)Reply
Latest comment: 16 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion
Hallo! It looks like we have a willing suspect onto which we can offload the Interwicket code to share with other Wiktionaries. Is this something you are willing to do (presumably via the pywikipediabot SVN would be the best way to do it in the long run - though maybe just copying the files across manually for now), how much work would need to be done to "translate" it, and is there anything I can do to help? Conrad.Irwin22:57, 21 June 2008 (UTC)Reply
Latest comment: 16 years ago2 comments2 people in discussion
Hi. I notices some editors use the term SoP, which I don't understand. (eg. Wiktionary:Requests_for_verification#traveljunkie. Would you mind letting me know? I can't be the only person this has happened to, so perhaps an entry should be created that explains it or something like that?
Sum Of Parts. Meaning that the term isn't more that the sum of its parts, does not in any way have any idiomatic meaning or paticular meaning not immediately determined by the parts. Robert Ullmann22:40, 23 June 2008 (UTC)Reply
BP Category annoyance
Latest comment: 16 years ago3 comments2 people in discussion
There is a redlinked category to which BP is assigned whose name equals a category name that you refer to in a contribution to the page, about Rhymes. It does not seem to arise from the most obvious source, an in-line neglect of the colon before Category. (It just occurred to me that what looks like a colon might not be a colon.) Is there a template in operation on that page that caused the result? DCDuringTALK15:25, 26 June 2008 (UTC)Reply
You mean GP. Yes, it is a temporary cat to catch the deprecated uses of parameters in {{rhymes}}, since the discussion includes an example, it is showing up. I'll either take it our of the template or add an NS:0 conditional (in a few minutes). Robert Ullmann15:29, 26 June 2008 (UTC)Reply
Latest comment: 16 years ago6 comments3 people in discussion
So I'm writing a template for the inflection line of Ancient Greek numerals, {{grc-num}}. However, I'm having some issues with spacing when the {{{car}}} parameter is used, as you can (hopefully) see at δίς. Any thoughts? -Atelaesλάλει ἐμοί02:43, 28 June 2008 (UTC)Reply
Spaces before and after | in templates and predicates are ignored. You can either use   or the nowiki tag trick shown (see my edit). I also used wlink to make it a bit simpler (is one template call either way, and this way the predicate is inside ;-) Robert Ullmann14:22, 28 June 2008 (UTC)Reply
Is there an advantage to using   over or will these work effectively the same? I've used the latter most of the time. --EncycloPetey02:54, 30 June 2008 (UTC)Reply
Yes, multiple spaces (whether represented as space or the numeric reference) act as one, but sequences or mixtures of and the ordinary spaces will add unwanted space:
* x    y
* x    y
* x y
* x    y
* x y
x y
x y
x y
x y
x y
Use when you want its proper function: a single uncombined space that is not a candidate for a line break. For example, see {{t}} where a break before the FL link is not desireable. Robert Ullmann15:30, 30 June 2008 (UTC)Reply
Yet more template stuff (this time it's not entirely my fault)
Latest comment: 16 years ago4 comments3 people in discussion
As I ponder the issue further, I realize that it won't work anyway, as something would have to give for users without widescreen displays, and many of the numerals use the full adjectival inflection box, which is full screen. So, nevermind. Sorry to have bothered you. -Atelaesλάλει ἐμοί02:51, 30 June 2008 (UTC)Reply
As it says in its doc, it should be placed right under the L2 header ... it should also be changed to use class="floatright", not explicit align, clear, or margins. Robert Ullmann15:37, 30 June 2008 (UTC)Reply
Latest comment: 16 years ago9 comments2 people in discussion
Hi. I was going to ask you before I started running it, but peer pressure and all that means that, after an hour of IRC discussion, sv:User:Conrad.Bot is adding interwikis to the Swedish Wiktionary using the code from User:Interwicket/code. If you want me to stop, I'm happy to do so, but Dodde would like someone to run it, so you might be asked to take over ;).
Summary of changes:
Home = 'sv', also replaced 'en' with home in a few places I noticed it.
Added except wikipedia.NoSuchSite: around pages = pagegenerators.AllpagesPageGenerator(site=wikipedia.getSite(code, 'wiktionary'), start=start, namespace = 0).__iter__(), though I think that the pywikipediabot needs updating to include the right wikts.
used wikipedia.handleArgs() so that I could reduce the throttling.
very good! I am still very frustrated not being on IRC (mibbit just causes the same problem). I am planning on running my own test on the current SVN; this is very helpful. Robert Ullmann23:51, 30 June 2008 (UTC)Reply
Ah, I knew there was something. I just added 'sv': self.alphabetic to wiktionary_family.py. Presumably I can add the other wikts to that file too? Conrad.Irwin00:16, 1 July 2008 (UTC)Reply
you notice it is now re-sorting things added previously; the sv default (like all wikis by default) was to sort on code. You may want to consider whether this is desireable in sv? Robert Ullmann00:26, 1 July 2008 (UTC)Reply
The sort list that it generated was reasonably small, so I assumed that this was how they were sorted before, or am I barking up the wrong tree entirely? Conrad.Irwin00:32, 1 July 2008 (UTC)Reply
by default they were sorted code-alpha, only a few wps/wikts use self(lang)-alpha (and there is no present provision for a wikt to use a different policy than the wp; we got self-alpha becuase the wikipedia decided on it ...) note that you are changing the order added by birdy-bot et-al. Might want to look at this. But I would think self alpha would be preferred? In the meantime, you are adding a lot that the pybot interwiki.py never would ;-) Robert Ullmann00:38, 1 July 2008 (UTC)Reply
Oh dear, that's not good. It's because there is an entry for "Main page" in namespace 0, and AF tried to format it because even though it is a redirect, it is special cased so it doesn't look like one. Combine that with the utterly horrid mis-feature in the pywikipedia framework where it automatically tries the sysop account when a page is locked (protected), and the result is no good.
Ok, I see ... the problem is solved and it wasn't out there for long. Unfortunately I couldn't edit the main page, so I just had to sit and wait for someone else to do it :) --EivindJ13:24, 4 July 2008 (UTC)Reply
Latest comment: 16 years ago13 comments4 people in discussion
From an anon's talk page:
Likewise, removing the quotation from the correct form (as EP) did, is just vandalism. No reason it can't be there, and it should be there. Robert Ullmann06:37, 6 July 2008 (UTC)Reply
Posting derogatory accusations about users on the pages of other users is gossip-mongering and tarnishes the image of Wiktionary. If you have a problem with something I've done, then please say so to me, and not to other people such as anon editors. Please show some maturity, as I know you have been the victim before of similar behind-the-back comments and accusations, and I'm sure you didn't enjoy it any more than I am now. --EncycloPetey06:47, 6 July 2008 (UTC)Reply
Not behind your back, you saw it immediately, as expected.
I'll say it clearly here: It is bad enough that you vandalize what you consider "non-lemma" pages by removing valid content, but trying to push the "lemma" ("base spelling", whatever) form on others is bad news. You want "lemmas" to be "complete", fine. But just because you think having non-lemma entries be useful is "too hard" or some such bilge doesn't license you to vandalize those entries by removing valid content, esp. content that should be there. periphrases And yes, I am using the word vandalize intentionally, there is no other possible description for someone who deletes valid, useful content from the correct entry; whether it appears elsewhere (on a "lemma") or not. I've said this before, and I will say it again. It must stop. Robert Ullmann06:54, 6 July 2008 (UTC)Reply
I just thought I'd chime in here to briefly mention that EP is not the only one who thinks that such duplication is not merely wasted effort, but rather something which should be avoided (and removed). It is unfortunate that the community cannot come to a consensus on the issue, but let's not create a bunch of bad blood over it. While you may disagree with EP (and me) on this issue, I think vandalism is an inappropriate term. -Atelaesλάλει ἐμοί06:58, 6 July 2008 (UTC)Reply
This is a wiki, not a database. Having information appear in the relevant entries, "duplicated" by transclusion, bots, humans, or magic is the entire point. Else we might as well replace every entry with a "soft redirect" to Websters or the OED. Wikipedia could just be a link farm; everything has to be sourced on-line right? So people should go look at the source pages. All forms, whether "lemma" or not, should explain themselves, definition, examples, inflection tables. "Go look at this other entry and try to figure out what it means for this one" is not helpful. If you think that is too hard, fine! Building a wiki with all words in all languages is way harder. Will never be done. (Just ignore that it is being done.) And it isn't even that hard: start giving out class assignments: "Add examples for all tenses and forms of X to the wiktionary, with translations, you will be graded ..." I have a small team of KU students learning how to do entries; they are native speakers of 7 different languages. Robert Ullmann08:33, 6 July 2008 (UTC)Reply
However, I should note that I think having quotations for non-lemmata is a good thing. Non-lemmata should be attested, the same as lemmata. -Atelaesλάλει ἐμοί07:00, 6 July 2008 (UTC)Reply
(edit conflict) Putting a quotation for a specific form on the entry for that form is not "duplication". (Putting it on the "lemma" might be, but is reasonable.) We need quotations and/or examples for all of the entries, and removing correct ones is not moving in the right direction. If it was not EP, and not a "lemma" issue, the IP removing the content from periphrases would be blocked out-of-hand for "removing content" by any of us, eh? Robert Ullmann07:05, 6 July 2008 (UTC)Reply
Robert, I strongly react on the fact that you call another admin's contributions for vandalism; that's a very bad habbit. Vandalism is edits done with the intension to harm Wiktionary, and even though you think these edits did so, I'm sure EP doesn't have any intensions to harm Wiktionary. when you disagree you tell and discuss ... but do not call everything you don't agree with for vandalism. --Eivind (t) 07:49, 6 July 2008 (UTC)Reply
Removing valid content from "non-lemma" entries is harm, and EP intends it, it is not accidental that he is damaging entries by removing content. (And yes, I know the semantic difference between intentionally harming something and intentionally doing something that is in fact harmful ...) Okay, so we can't call it "vandalism" because a respected admin is doing it, while if it was someone else we would. Okay. Removing the valid quote from periphrases was vandalismfooism. The fooism must stop! Robert Ullmann08:33, 6 July 2008 (UTC)Reply
I removed the comment from the IP anon page at the beginning. I am sorry this has been so severely escalated, my position that removing content from pages is harmful/vandalism/whatever you choose to call it is not news to you. I do apologize sincerely for the ranting. Pleas see BP as well. Robert Ullmann16:50, 6 July 2008 (UTC)Reply
Latest comment: 16 years ago2 comments2 people in discussion
I was wondering how you compiled those pages: they contain a number of words that just don't exist. I understand some of them are from various ====Translations==== (such as standplatz heraus, clearly due to an online translation tool) but there are also some with no reference (such as Stasis, which is a technical term not used outside hospitals, thus hard to come across). -- Gauss16:30, 7 July 2008 (UTC)Reply
They are the words referenced from the translations tables, plus synonyms etc from German sections, plus words in the de wiktionary identified as Deutsch, for example de:Stasis. These last are the ones without references. Plus a few parsing errors ... This can be re-run if desired, and if there are specific classes of errors, I can look at fixing them. Robert Ullmann16:51, 7 July 2008 (UTC)Reply
Category:Wikisaurus
Latest comment: 16 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion
Ah, ya know, this is a dictionary? You can look up transcluded ;-) It means the section following is added by transcluding another page. Not usually done for a user talk page, and can be confusing (as you note). Robert Ullmann14:42, 9 July 2008 (UTC)Reply
Latest comment: 16 years ago3 comments2 people in discussion
Hello Robert -- I noticed that you recently changed the "Cosmetics" instructions to simpler "Placement" instructions on the talk page for the wikipedia template. I have been following the old instructions for some time (moving the template above the ==English== header in cases where there are enough headers to generate a contents box). Now, you seem to be saying that placing the wikipedia box to the right of the contents box is wrong. I still think it looks better to do so (see, for example, free will). Should I discontinue placing the wikipedia template to the right of the contents box? -- WikiPedant11:29, 12 July 2008 (UTC)Reply
That was being done to keep the links from getting displaced. Which is now fixed.
The problem with "to the right of the context box" is that assumes the contents box is there. But user preferences can not show it, or show it collapsed, or show it on the right. So there isn't any "to the right of the contents box" ;-). Also it should go inside the language section it belongs to, so it will be picked up anything extracting that language. Robert Ullmann14:01, 13 July 2008 (UTC)Reply
Latest comment: 16 years ago1 comment1 person in discussion
Hi. With the release of MediaWiki 1.13 coming soon, could you please complete the most often used messages group for 'sw'? Thanks! Siebrand20:03, 14 July 2008 (UTC)Reply