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When you make comments to a discussion page, sign your comments by using the tilde '~' symbol: add four tildes (~~~~) to the end of a post to leave your username and the timestamp.
Until you write a longer userpage, you might want to consider setting up your userpage as a redirect to your talkpage, by adding #REDIRECT [[User talk:Askari Mark]] to your userpage. It will make things easier for other editors, because they won't have to deal with redlinks to your userpage.
Tejas
The article is very difficult to read. There is a lot of badly organized information, the text flows poorly, and important concepts are lost in a sea of minutia. - Emt147Burninate!00:01, 25 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Hi! Your signature is pointing not to your user page or talk, but to the user page of the user Name, user:Name (by the way, that user has only about 3 edits, and has been blocked indefinetely). Is that your intention?--Laur2ro17:55, 8 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Thank you for the notice. There was a period during August and through most of September where something happened to my talk page link. If you click on it, it still links to "user:Name". Oddly, though, the occasionaly new talk page I've only worked on since then also sometimes gets referenced to "user:Name", even though my user name appears correctly. I have no idea why. I've gone back and tried to eliminate all of the past mentions of "user:Name", replacing it with my proper name. We'll see how that works. (BTW, you should set up your Talk page; right now you're only linked to your personal page.) Thanks again, Mark.
I like the wikitable you have designed for List of air forces, but if you are going to run multiple countries together in a single table, may I suggest a more significant line separator between nations?
I agree and know this is not the only table that could benefit from (say) a slightly thicker border between nations. I reckon the simplest/neatest/most effective method would be to add an appropriate CSS class next to the row dividers (i.e. |- class="rowborderthing") but don't know what "rowborderthing" might be... (...Just tried a quick internet search, but nothing obvious returned...) I guess I could ask one of the HTML/CSS guys I've passed by here, unless you have another idea...? Glad you like the wikitable approach, although a little complicated; I hope Lars (Necessary Evil) does as well. Even if something simpler used, I'd say sorting out some kind of alignment/s for the flags/roundels will be a major improvement. Yours, David Kernow(talk)04:53, 10 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]
I'm afraid I'm among the HTML-challenged; I only know enough to be dangerous. :o I tried to see if I could change the style of the border lines between nations to something like the border="2" formula I've used for List of military aircraft of Japan and List of military aircraft of the Soviet Union and the CIS, but I gave up after an hour of messing around trying to get it to work with the wikitable template. I've browsed around trying to find an example of coding to do that, but without luck. Maybe Lars has an idea??? ... of course, I don't feel so bad since Mets501 also had problems. Askari Mark | Talk21:29, 11 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]
... I see what AzaToth has done ... but I see no change in the border at all...
During spare moments here I'm working on a generic/configurable approach (i.e. intended to be useful beyond List of air forces) that hopefully will work across platforms... Regards, David(talk)03:43, 13 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]
...Decided the above was probably more trouble than it was worth (but spawned {{Trb}} and {{Table}} as a result). Meanwhile, have switched the border colo/urs from silver to darkgrey; how do they look now...? Yours, David(talk)03:07, 16 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]
I do like the slightly darker outer border. However, {{Trb}} appears to have no effect. I ran the width up to 100px and nothing happened. I don't know why this should be so. Is there something about class="wikitable" that locks out subsequent formatting changes? If so, would creating a class="wikitable-trb" work? Askari Mark | Talk22:44, 16 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Damn... looks like this may be a browser problem; {{Trb}} seems to work fine with Firefox, but not with IE (is that what you're using...?) I'll try looking into it a little and/or asking someone more knowledgeable. Sigh, David(talk)06:00, 17 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]
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I've recently experienced an "identity problem" for the second time since joining Wikipedia. Recently, my signature code has somehow changed (not by me) from [[User:Askari Mark|Askari Mark]] to [[User:User|Askari Mark]]...
I finally began a list of helpful technical folk only a day or so ago and I know there are as many missing as I've managed to recall! If memory serves, I'd say User:Mzajac (Michael) seems particularly knowlegeable about the Wikipedia software etc or should know someone to ask. I guess the weird behavior you've described isn't some kind of vandalism, but it's new to me! Hope you find a solution, David(talk)15:31, 30 November 2006 (UTC)[reply]
PS Haven't forgotten about this above; one of the other people on the list will probably be able to advise re {{trb}} and IE.
This is very strange, and I can't think of what is causing it. Perhaps it has something to do with the pipe "|" divider between the two links in your signature.
Mark, have a look at your preferences ("my preferences" link at the top of the page). What exactly is in the signature field, and do you have the "raw signature" box checked?
Can you find an example where your signature changed on the page? It may be helpful to look at the diff where it happened. —MichaelZ. 2006-12-01 18:33 Z
Thanks for taking a look, Michael! The change occurred on Nov. 28th, although it's hard to narrow down the time. My last post on the 27th was timestamped at 19:34. I first noticed it and made my first signature correction at 13:11 on the 28th. My preferences signature field (currently) has "[[User:Askari Mark|Askari Mark]] | [[User talk:Askari Mark|Talk]]" and the "raw signature" box is checked. An example of where I had to correct my sig can be found in the history section of this talk page: "22:56, 29 November 2006 Askari Mark (→List of air forces - Corrected user ID)" — Thanks, Askari Mark | Talk20:33, 1 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]
From the page history, it looks like the link was entered that way, way back on November 11. Is it possible that you were using something like {{username}} in your sig field at the time, or that you simply entered incorrectly and didn't notice until later? I've never seen a change in a Wikipedia page that doesn't show up in the history, although I believe there is a way for an admin to revert a vandal and leave its work hidden. —MichaelZ. 2006-12-01 20:53 Z
No, since I first set it as "User:Askari Mark|Askari Mark", I've only changed it to fix the "User:User" problem. The odd thing to me is that whatever is happening, my signature in old posts gets changed. I would expect the changed signature to start appearing in posts subsequent to whatever caused it. It also appears to take time to propagate. As I began checking my sig in old posts, some that were initially okay I later found to be changed — although none that I had fixed have reverted. My best guess would be that something or someone "resets" my user name code to "user" and the system slowly tries to correct this until I fix my sig. Askari Mark | Talk21:14, 1 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Safiyya bint Huyayy solution
You wrote... Then the best that can be done is probably to describe it as "what would today be called a form of 'concubinage'", and explain the kind of relationship it was then through a brief description in the text or as a footnote or possibly with a link (if there is a suitable article on Muslim marriage customs). I settle for your suggestion and award you a barnstar for the refreshing logic that was lacking from all parties of that discussion.
pleasure, I hope your comment comes to the consensus. I have asked respected admin user:jpgordon to make a decision. you can leave a comment on my comment on his talk. by the way, would you like me to move your barnstar to your userpage? FrummerThanThou20:36, 10 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]
May I second this Barnstar? It's always wonderful, especially with the pathetic excuse for public discourse that exists in the United States, to see anyone respond to a dispute with thorough research instead of just rhetoric. I gave a Barnstar to Jossi for a similar reason, and I would like to quote here what I said there:
I was supremely impressed with the way that you stepped into the talkpage and did a lot of research into the question. I tried to be a voice of reason and moderation, but was simply too lazy/distracted to put in the effort that you did. I don't know you that well, but that one example speaks very highly of your skills as a Wikipedian.
Thank you very much for your kind words, Karl! I am an analyst by profession and much of my job is basically to cut through wrong, contradictory, and incomplete information to determine the "ground truth" (or as near an approach as is possible). I also have a broad interest in world history. I believe I came across the issue on your talk page, as a matter of fact, and thought I might be able to make a useful and neutral contribution since I have no stake in the article or its subject. As it happens, I made an effort some time back to learn about different and unusual (to me) cultural practices of ancient Middle Eastern societies. That coincided with making friends with a nice couple from the UAE who were open to discussing all sorts of things in a "civilized, Western manner" (they were UK-educated). They even gave me a gift of a copy of what they felt was the best annotated English version of the Qur'an, which I read. So I at least have a passing familiarity with it. Unfortunately, as you noted, the quality of public discourse in the US (and in the Middle East) is rather blunt, insipid and uninformed, so it's rare that I get to exercise it. In any case, I've probably exhausted what I can do for the Safiyya article, as what it needs is well beyond my level of experience and interest ... and I have too many projects which are in line with my interests and more expert knowledge on my to-do list as it is. (BTW, I think you should have kept the Ingoolemo handle.) Askari Mark(Talk)00:02, 16 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Well, I guess it's "Dump IE!"... The example on the test page uses HTML tags to specify the internal dividers, so if IE can't parse those...! I think I'll start tabulating the other sections anyway; if a solution arises later, I can't imagine it being difficult to replace the divider code (identical each time) with whatever flatters IE... Thanks for the feedback, David(talk)04:17, 19 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks for all your persistent help, David! Too bad IE is such a poor excuse for a browser. But then, having a near monopoly means you can always just skate by. :( I'll try and help out on the list, but please keep an eye out for any blemishes I might add that I cannot see. Merry Christmas! Askari Mark(Talk)04:23, 19 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]
You added a {{cn}} note, when a photo of the operation was just above, and that photo had an attached caption indicating the circumstances, as well as a link to the original photo. Why? —Joseph/N328KF(Talk)04:32, 19 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]
It was not a matter of whether Iraqi a/c were "discovered buried in the sand", but of how many. The article quotes "several dozen" and I've seen a wide range of numbers for this, quite a few of which were fewer than "several dozen." It would be particularly nice if an authoritative source were found, preferably giving the quantities by type. Askari Mark(Talk)18:18, 19 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Award
Here is an award for you. Do with it what you please! I usually try to put wards ont he main page but you dont have an awards section so I will leave it up to you to decide.
Sorry not to spot your post before; these issues also occurred to me while tabulating the B section. Have added some thoughts (and a link to a page where I've been experimenting) to the thread. Yours, David(talk)08:18, 23 December 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Sorry I haven't been able to respond. Just before Christmas, I began having computer problems which eventually led to my being unable to access the internet or my email. After stumping the 2nd-line support experts at AT&T and Microsoft, I put it in the shop ... where they're still trying to figure it out. (Insert expletive of your choice here.) Askari Mark(Talk)18:55, 2 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]
Sounds as if it's time to bite the bullet and go for an upgrade – unless, I suppose, it's been less than a year since you last did so. I know, though, just how much hassle that can be. I hope by the time you read this the situation has been resolved one way or the other; at least frustration can then be replaced by action.
As you may've seen, the List of air forces has now been "LOAF"ed, but, as and when you're able to devote a little time to it, there're still plenty of gaps and queried dates! Hope all else well for the new year, David(talk)10:55, 3 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]
As best as I was able to discern, the TCP/IP card went bad and a replacement has been ordered by my "mechanic." During all of this, I also confirmed my suspicion that Microsoft's IE7 is evil. Each successive version of Internet Explorer has been buggier than the last, and even with my RAM maxed out and generous virtual memory, response times significantly worsened when I first downloaded it — and greatly improved after I removed it amidst my travails. IE6 is much better, but I plan to download Firefox after I get my 'puter back. I'm hoping to be back online at home by this weekend and I'll take a look at the "LOAF'ed list then. Happy New Year to you! Askari Mark(Talk)18:36, 3 January 2007 (UTC)[reply]
