This is an archive of past discussions with User:RexxS. Do not edit the contents of this page. If you wish to start a new discussion or revive an old one, please do so on the current talk page.
Talk:Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold/GA2 was done in less than 30 minutes (see edit history. Doesn't seem like the GA status should stand but I am unsure on how to proceed. I did leave a note on the editor's talk page - here. The reason I am asking you is that you posted on this editor's talk page earlier this month... I've never seen such a short review of such a long/detailed article. The editor seems like they mean well but they also seem somewhat inexperienced... Advice, how to proceed, etc. appreciated. Thanks - Shearonink (talk) 15:43, 29 October 2020 (UTC)
Omg, nevermind - I will go elsewhere. I had forgotten you were in the throes of COVID. Apologies & best wishes for a speedy recovery, Shearonink (talk) 15:45, 29 October 2020 (UTC)
Thank you for good comments eight years ago! Best wishes for more to come, health permitting! Do you want the protective anklebiter over here, as on my talk and behind the apples? --Gerda Arendt (talk) 21:35, 18 October 2020 (UTC)
Greetings. This month marks the return of the project's long-dormant collaboration of the month! With some luck and effort, perhaps we can keep it going. I hope you're all finding ways to remain sane during another tumultuous month. Ready or not, here is what's happening around the project:
An open contributor copyright investigation involves edits to ~50 medicine pages that need to be checked for copyright infringement. I've left some short instructions here for the uninitiated. Every little bit helps.
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Hi Ammarpad. Thanks for the heads-up. I'm very sorry I misread your note as part of the opening comment and then though you were the poster of the RM. I hope I've now corrected my mistake to your satisfaction. Please let me know if there's anything else I should do. --RexxS (talk) 20:32, 11 November 2020 (UTC)
Just a quick note to confirm that my COVID-19 test result came back positive. I'm feeling better than yesterday, but I'm getting a lot of sleep and I may be very slow to answer any messages for me. --RexxS (talk) 14:36, 8 October 2020 (UTC)
Thank you for sharing this, RexxS. I do hope you'll recover and will do so without any of the long-term effects associated with COVID-19. Best wishes to you. Acalamari19:29, 8 October 2020 (UTC)
Oh dear, this is very concerning. Try to remember that most people shake it off and it’s important not to get too stressed as that can make the symptoms worse. Try to think of this as an opportunity to do do nothing, stay in bed and catch up on all the good books you’ve not had time to read. Whisky will probably help too - it cures most things. I’m sure you’ll be fine, but I’ll send up some prayers just to be on the safe side. God currently owes me a big favour so they ought to work. Giano(talk)21:32, 8 October 2020 (UTC)
Sorry to hear that, hope you get well soon. Best wishes to you, to yours and to the NHS peeps looking after you. ϢereSpielChequers21:56, 8 October 2020 (UTC)
Awful news, best wishes. Don't worry about being slow answering messages—we'll set up a random answer generator. Johnuniq (talk) 22:06, 8 October 2020 (UTC)
Count me in with the well-wishers. I've been missing your edits for a while, now I see this. Me, I'm only coughing a bit. But I feel for you! Good luck, hope to see you healthy and active here again soon! — JohnFromPinckney (talk)22:31, 8 October 2020 (UTC)
I can only echo the sentiments of others who have expressed hopes that you recover quickly without being very badly affected. Very sincere best wishes. JBW (talk) 08:31, 9 October 2020 (UTC)
Really sorry to hear this. I guess this is where we were first warned. Of course it means that Oxford meetups are postponed for even longer and I do want to get those going again - I believe that I owe you a glass of a well-known brown drink with bubbles. And ice. --Redrose64 🌹 (talk) 19:17, 9 October 2020 (UTC)
All the best, RexxS and wishing you a very speedy recovery with hopefully no other ill effects from the disease. — Amakuru (talk) 22:58, 10 October 2020 (UTC)
I'm not overly nervous, since I know too well how relatively low risks your taking. But here I am, wishing you the best anyway. Iluvalar (talk) 20:02, 11 October 2020 (UTC)
Get well soon - sending a positive thought your way: I decided to quit Wikipedia spamming thanks to you. And become a testee as well, a "guinea pig". Vanished user 6292789 (talk) 07:27, 12 October 2020 (UTC) (former Uchyotka).
I only just found out about this. I hope you have a speedy recovery and no long-lasting effects, and hopefully we'll be back in a pub reminiscing about Wikipedians soon enough... Ritchie333(talk)(cont)10:39, 14 October 2020 (UTC)
You've been off wiki for a week. I hope that means you are resting comfortably and on a recovery path. I hope that we'll hear from you before long. WhatamIdoing (talk) 15:56, 22 October 2020 (UTC)
Hey Doug, I've just seen this; I haven't been about much lately (ironically, Covid has made work very very busy) but I just wanted to wish you well and hope you make a speedy recovery. Hopefully I'll get up to the Midlands in the nearish future and we'll be able to meet up. It's been a while! Best, HJ Mitchell | Penny for your thoughts?17:26, 29 October 2020 (UTC)
Thank you all
I want to express my thanks for all of my wiki-friends who have left so many kind messages. I'm now recovering very slowly: I have good days when I can do something for an hour or so, and bad days when I'm so tired I just want to sleep all of the time. I'm looking forward to getting back to editing regularly again at some point, but I have no idea how long that will take. Keep safe, everyone. --RexxS (talk) 12:16, 23 October 2020 (UTC)
Great to know you are getting better, even though it's evidently a slow process, and it must be extremely exhausting and frustrating. JBW (talk) 21:32, 31 October 2020 (UTC)
I apologize for the misinformation that presented in that edit, however, please do understand that I wasn't trying to 'War Edit'. I honestly thought I that my edit wasnt saved and thus I tried editing it again, sorry for the misunderstanding — Preceding unsigned comment added by Dont Askz (talk • contribs) 20:01, 12 November 2020 (UTC)
@Dont Askz: that's okay. I can see you haven't made many edits yet, and I'm sorry if you've been discouraged by my warning: it's not intended to do that, but only to alert you to the problems that can arise. It's a common mistake to think an edit didn't save, and I'd recommend always checking the article history to be sure before reinstating your edit. I'm always happy to help editors, so if you have any questions or are unsure, please feel free to drop a note here and I'll do my best to help you. Cheers --RexxS (talk) 20:24, 12 November 2020 (UTC)
Help with RFC to make dab link highlighting default
In the wiki meetup you suggested creatung an RFC to get the input of others on changing the default setting for highlighting of dab pages (which is in preferences -> Gadgets -> "Display links to disambiguation pages in orange") from off to on. I have looked at Wikipedia:Requests for comment and Wikipedia:Village pump (technical) but I am still lost as to what I should put in the RFC and where I should put it when I have written it - any advice appreciated.— Rodtalk16:37, 22 November 2020 (UTC)
Hey Atsme, I'm feeling a little better each day, although I'm still a long way from 100%. I used to be able to concentrate for hours – sometimes days – on end, but at present I still need to take regular breaks, and some days I'm sleeping 10 to 12 hours. But apart from the fatigue, I have no other symptoms, so I'm hopeful that I'll be back in action fully soon. Thanks for checking in on me --RexxS (talk) 22:41, 12 November 2020 (UTC)
Sleep is a good thing, RexxS. Your body needs to mend. I am relieved to learn that you're gaining ground, and from what I understand, you will now be immune - so maybe catching the virus was kinda like ODing on the vaccine. Atsme💬📧22:47, 12 November 2020 (UTC)
Well, the best sources tell me I'm not guaranteed to be immune from reinfection, but with 40 million confirmed cases worldwide, and only a handful of reports of reinfection, I think the odds are very much on my side (far better than the ~90% effectiveness of the Pfizer vaccine). I still wouldn't recommend catching it as strategy for beating the pandemic. Cheers --RexxS (talk) 23:06, 12 November 2020 (UTC)
Continued good wishes from me too. I think it's encouraging that fatigue is the only remaining issue. (At this point in time, I'm skeptical of anyone who can look around the world and not feel fatigued!) --Tryptofish (talk) 23:24, 12 November 2020 (UTC)
This got me to google the Flu vaccine. I'm shocked to see that it's only 10%-60% effective. And yet I go get it every year - I honestly thought it was a guaranteed thing. In any case, I hope you're feeling better soon! SQLQuery me!23:45, 12 November 2020 (UTC)
@SQL: Each year the NHS here makes a guess at what are the likeliest strains of flu that will circulate in the coming winter and orders vaccines against those three or four strains. If they guess right, we get a decent amount of protection; if not, it doesn't do as well. Last year, I only got a two-strain vaccine because I'm old, while the youngsters got three-strain vaccines as they were felt less likely to suffer from the side-effects of the third vaccine! I got the flu, of course. Mass vaccination is a long way from an exact science. --RexxS (talk) 00:22, 13 November 2020 (UTC)
That sounds way different from here (US). I'm pretty sure I'm not young, but haven't officially become old yet. I don't think I ever got a choice which shot I get. Been fascinating reading about something I thought was straightforward, and very mundane! SQLQuery me!00:27, 13 November 2020 (UTC)
It's actually pretty similar in the US. I think the formulation with respect to flu strains is the same, or at least very similar. In the US, there's a standard adult dose (with, I think, something different for pregnant women), and a stronger dose for people 65 and older. (Disclaimer: I'm saying all that from memory, without checking RS.) --Tryptofish (talk) 21:58, 13 November 2020 (UTC)
PS: But one thing I'm very sure of is that, regardless of whether or not there is complete protection, one is definitely better off getting the vaccine than not getting it. Even a partial reduction in the severity of an infection can be a big deal. --Tryptofish (talk) 22:00, 13 November 2020 (UTC)
That's exactly right, Tryptofish. The benefits of vaccines are almost always orders of magnitude greater than any conceivable disadvantage, particularly to society as a whole, and it's important that nobody gets fooled by the nonsense spread by anti-vaxxers. In the case of COVID-19, we only need an effectiveness greater than around 60% in order to eventually achieve herd immunity through vaccination and I predict that we'll end up with several vaccines capable of better than that. Light at the end of the tunnel, at last. --RexxS (talk) 23:10, 13 November 2020 (UTC)
The US is mostly doing quadrivalent flu vaccines, but it's still an evidence-based estimate of which ones will matter the most.
Anyone with grandkids will please note that the evidence from Japan (which used to require flu shots for all school-aged kids, but no longer does) suggests that getting your grandkids vaccinated may be even more effective than getting it yourself. (I have wondered whether this is due to so many families' backup childcare arrangements being asking the grandparents to watch the sick kids, but I don't know. I just know that the influenza death rate for seniors goes up when the schoolkids' immunization rate goes down.) WhatamIdoing (talk) 03:42, 14 November 2020 (UTC)
That makes sense to me, WAID. You have to have transmission to get infected, and I'm pretty sure that in general kids come into contact with far more other people than retired folks do. Consequently, immunising the kids ought to have a bigger impact on the R number than immunising the elderly. An interesting consideration for the present proposed vaccination strategy. Cheers. --RexxS (talk) 15:28, 14 November 2020 (UTC)
At the moment (in UK anyway) there doesn't seem to be any thought of fast-track approvals for kids at all, & no testing done anywhere of the Pfizer one. Given they hardly ever have a serious illness themselves, there are obvious ethical problems, even with testing. Plus vaccine refusal (by parents) would no doubt be far higher. Good to hear your recovery continues - all the best. Johnbod (talk) 15:45, 14 November 2020 (UTC)
I wonder how much the refusal is about the contents and how much is about the kids' fear and pain. If vaccines came in the form of a lollipop, would we have so much refusal? WhatamIdoing (talk) 18:32, 14 November 2020 (UTC)
The polio vaccine was famously available on a lump of sugar from 1962 in the UK, and it is a hugely successful vaccine. You may well be on to something there, WAID --RexxS (talk) 18:39, 14 November 2020 (UTC)
Engineers of the world, please note that I'd like all of my annual flu jab to come in the form of chocolate. If you aim for a dark chocolate ganache, around 60% cacao solids, then you can't go far wrong. WhatamIdoing (talk) 01:02, 24 November 2020 (UTC)
Probably not much less - the whole anti-vax thing got off the ground with kids, & many parents combine extreme paranoia about health risks to young children with various sorts of recklessness about their own health. The polio vaccine did its work before the internet. Johnbod (talk) 18:40, 14 November 2020 (UTC)
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Hello. I hope this newsletter finds you well. For those struggling to focus on writing articles during these tumultuous times, you are not alone. For those stuck at home with more time and energy to dedicate to the encyclopedia, all the more power to you. There is – as always – lots to do. Here is what's happening around the project:
As you can see, the medicine GA queue is full-to-bursting, with the oldest medicine nomination waiting over three months for review. Please help review when you have time, so your colleagues can move on to their next projects.
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Backlog of the month
This month I'm trying out a new element of the newsletter – a backlog of the month. The WikiProject Medicine template is on the talk page of 44,944 articles, of which 18,111 have some kind of maintenance tag on them, indicating problems large or small. Each month, I'll highlight some small task to get you out of your normal editing focus and chip away at the project's massive maintenance backlogs. I'll aim for tasks that can be worked on in small chunks, perhaps on days when you can't focus on big problems, or have 15 minutes to burn at your computer.
The first backlog of the month will be the 410 medicine articles that cite no sources. These tend to be lower-traffic topics. Some just need verification that the topic actually exists, along with a quick reference. Others are best redirected to more substantial pages, or even brought to AfD. Feel free to scroll through the list for topics that interest you, or just start at the top. This feature will last as long as folks are interested enough to engage with it. If you see backlogs that would be a good fit, post them here. Thanks all, and happy referencing!
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Hello RexxS. Last year you created Category:Infobox person using residence. As the work removing that field has been completed I am ready to get to work on the home town field per Template talk:Infobox person#Home town field. Since I am not well versed in all things wikimarkup I am wondering of the category name should be "Category:Infobox person using home town" or should the underscore that is/was used in the infobox be included "Category:Infobox person using home_town"? If you aren't sure no worries I can always ask at the WP:VPT. Best regards. MarnetteD|Talk17:51, 3 December 2020 (UTC)
@MarnetteD: it really doesn't matter, because whatever title you choose for the category, you just have to use it both as the title of the category page (like Category:Infobox person using residence) and also as the category that is rendered by Template:Infobox person The code there currently looks like this:
-->{{Main other|
{{#if:{{{1|}}}{{{2|}}}{{{3|}}}{{{4|}}}{{{5|}}}|[[Category:Infobox person using numbered parameter]]}}<!--
-->{{#if:{{{box_width|}}}|[[Category:Infobox person using boxwidth parameter]]}}<!--
-->{{#if:{{{death_date|}}}{{{death_place|}}}|{{#if:{{{net worth|{{{net_worth|{{{networth|}}}}}}}}}|[[Category:Infobox person using certain parameters when dead]]}}}}<!--
-->{{#if:{{{influences|}}}{{{influenced|}}}|[[Category:Infobox person using influence]]}}<!--
-->{{#if:{{{ethnicity|}}}|[[Category:Infobox person using ethnicity]]}}<!--
-->{{#if:{{{religion|}}}|[[Category:Infobox person using religion]]}}<!--
-->{{#if:{{{denomination|}}}|[[Category:Infobox person using denomination]]}}<!--
-->{{#if:{{{residence|}}}|[[Category:Infobox person using residence]]}}<!--
-->{{#if:{{{pronunciation|}}}|[[Category:Biography template using pronunciation]]}}<!--
-->{{#if:{{{signature|}}}|[[Category:Biography with signature]]}}<!--
-->[[Category:Articles with hCards]]
}}<!--
If you add a line in the middle something like this:
-->{{#if:{{{home_town|}}}|[[Category:Infobox person using home town]]}}<!--
you'll call the category Category:Infobox person using home town. Note that the parameter that the #if statement looks for must have the same spelling as is used in the infobox (i.e. home_town in this case), but the category can be named in any way that makes sense to an editor. Let me know if that doesn't solve it for you. --RexxS (talk) 18:22, 3 December 2020 (UTC)
Thanks so much for taking the time to explain all of this! It has helped me to learn about the specifics. I had a feeling that there would be more to it than just copy pasting these templates into the new category page but I would never have known what else needing doing. Since I am not an admin I can't add the necessary line to the Template:Infobox person so if you would do the honors it would be appreciated. If you wouldn't mind getting the new category going at the same time that would be great as well. Cheers. MarnetteD|Talk20:06, 3 December 2020 (UTC)
@MarnetteD: Done. I've searched for hastemplate:"infobox person" insource:/\| *home_town *=/ and I get 21,879 articles. The category will update itself when the article caches are refreshed, so make take a day or two. I've tested it with Jesus and Justin Bieber by previewing an edit. They show up in the hidden category on their own page, but not yet on the category page itself. Cheers --RexxS (talk) 20:36, 3 December 2020 (UTC)
Hi! you have placed six-month page-specific sanction on the Vanniyar article. What does this mean? Where did you get the rights to do this? Quote corresponding Wikipedia policies or guidelines from where did you get this right. You have mentioned "Any edit that has been challenged by reversion may not be reinstated, either wholly or substantially in part, without first gaining clear consensus on the talk page". If i am not wrong this is the normal practice already existing in Wikipedia editing process. For example BRD cycle. What is the need for your new restriction? And I hope this restriction is applied only for disputable edits and this does not affect editing undisputed edits. Hope your warning does not affect normal editorial process.Thanking you.--Universalrahu (talk) 13:54, 8 December 2020 (UTC)
What does this mean? ... Quote corresponding Wikipedia policies or guidelines from where did you get this right.: Please read carefully through Wikipedia:Arbitration Committee/Discretionary sanctions. The topic areas covered by discretionary sanctions are listed at Wikipedia:Arbitration Committee/Discretionary sanctions #Current areas of conflict, and they include "Pages relating to India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan (India-Pakistan, motion)]". The first link is the ArbCom case that examined editor behaviour in the India-Pakistan area. The second link is the ArbCom motion that authorises standard discretionary sanctions for all pages related to India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan, broadly construed.
If i am not wrong this is the normal practice already existing in Wikipedia editing process: It is, but the difference is that any uninvolved administrator may now apply sanctions without any further warning on any editor who does not comply with the expected standards of behaviour.
What is the need for your new restriction?: Take a look at the page history of Vanniyar. The amount of edit-warring on an article subject to discretionary sanctions is unacceptable. The choice was between sanctioning you and enforcing a strict "no reinstatement without consensus" restriction. As I thought that the latter would be as effective as the former, I thought it would be kinder.
Now, a question for you: considering that there was very clear notice about discretionary sanctions at the top of the Talk:Vanniyar, and that an uninvolved admin had given the warning "Rv to 13 October, before the battle between two users to glorify/demean the caste. Stop it, now, or there will be sanctions", what made you think that it was a sensible idea to reinsert your challenged text the next day? You are incredibly lucky that your editing privileges were not withdrawn. Your lack of understanding about discretionary sanctions and your failure to adhere to them make me increasingly concerned. All edits are disputable and you will have to accept that. My warning will not affect the normal editorial process, but the moment you breach the discretionary sanctions again, you can count on sanctions being applied to you without further warning. I hope you take this seriously, and that the situation is clear enough for you now. --RexxS (talk) 16:26, 8 December 2020 (UTC)
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Just saw your note at the top of this page and hope you are doing better now. If you're up to it, could you look at [2]? It seems to me that the three redlinked users are all socks of Indopedia. Hiranyabaahu, for example, uploaded an image today and that image was added to the article by Quixoticbird who is interested in the same subset of articles that Indopedia was. Let me know what you think (and take care of yourself!). --RegentsPark (comment) 22:47, 9 December 2020 (UTC)
Hi, RegentsPark. I'm improving steadily, but still well short of 100%. Looking at the diffs, I'm not seeing as much similarity in style as I might expect from socks. For example, if I'm reading it right, one of them has removed the "little kingdom" epithet, another added it. My problem is that I'm not sufficiently familiar with the sources to judge which edits are viable. Perhaps somebody like User:Kautilya3 might find a chance to scan over what sources were improperly removed, which were good sources added and which are junk. Of course, starting an SPI would be a sensible move on behavioural grounds, as any positive matches would make it far easier to untangle the edits. Cheers --RexxS (talk) 23:17, 9 December 2020 (UTC)
Thanks for the ping RexxS. I have watch-listed the page. But, offhand, I agree with you that there isn't clear-cut evidence of socking yet. A CU check should work. -- Kautilya3 (talk) 10:32, 10 December 2020 (UTC)
It has been a productive year for New Page Patrol as we've roughly cut the size of the New Page Patrol queue in half this year. We have been fortunate to have a lot of great work done by Rosguill who was the reviewer of the most pages and redirects this past year. Thanks and credit go to JTtheOG and Onel5969 who join Rosguill in repeating in the top 10 from last year. Thanks to John B123, Hughesdarren, and Mccapra who all got the NPR permission this year and joined the top 10. Also new to the top ten is DannyS712 bot III, programmed by DannyS712 which has helped to dramatically reduce the number of redirects that have needed human patrolling by patrolling certain types of redirects (e.g. for differences in accents) and by also patrolling editors who are on on the redirect whitelist.
John B123 has been named reviewer of the year for 2020. John has held the permission for just over 6 months and in that time has helped cut into the queue by reviewing more than 18,000 articles. His talk page shows his efforts to communicate with users, upholding NPP's goal of nurturing new users and quality over quantity.
NPP Technical Achievement Award
As a special recognition and thank you DannyS712 has been awarded the first NPP Technical Achievement Award. His work programming the bot has helped us patrol redirects tremendously - more than 60,000 redirects this past year. This has been a large contribution to New Page Patrol and definitely is worthy of recognition.
Six Month Queue Data: Today – 2262 Low – 2232 High – 10271
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