This is an archive of past discussions. 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.

Here's a cookie for you. Thanks for your work on the article 2014 Snapchat hack. Ethically ( Yours) 09:44, 3 January 2014 (UTC)

Thanks for the cookie, and you're welcome for the edits. MANdARAX •  XAЯAbИAM 10:16, 3 January 2014 (UTC)

... So I'm not going to call Ghostbusters! Instead I'm just going to annoy the person who I'm confident may know the answers ... Your mission (should you wish to accept it) is to advise what we have done wrong in our futile attempts to set up edit notices. Mine seems to be doing peculiar things and Hafspajen has tried to follow my (poor/inadequate) instructions and got into even more of a pickle. Please can you help save the situation before we manage to completely break the Wikipedia coding? Read more details of the mayhem we're causing on my talk page! SagaciousPhil - Chat 17:11, 3 January 2014 (UTC)

Ah, my favorite kind of problem ... the kind that's already solved before I get to it. If I'm missing some still-existing issue, lemme know. Oh, and you never "annoy" me. MANdARAX •  XAЯAbИAM 20:14, 3 January 2014 (UTC)

Thanks, Mandarax! I have a complete blank spot about the word 'courtesy' and even as I incorrectly typed it I suspected it was wrong. I was just being a bit too lazy to check! Multiplied a million times as I'm the first one to complain about bad spelling in others, which I blame on the abbreviated text frenzy; fiends always laugh if I send them a text message as it is spelt out fully and punctuated. It takes me ages to work out the cryptic text messages they send me. I do now know what "U R Gr8" means. So dear Mandarax and Matty - U R both Gr8 SagaciousPhil - Chat 10:09, 4 January 2014 (UTC)

Well, "courtesy" is kind of a weirdly-spelled word. Just remember that it doesn't matter if fiends laugh. U2 R Gr8 2. MANdARAX •  XAЯAbИAM 11:05, 4 January 2014 (UTC)

Maybe some of them really are fiends? and that was after checking the preview - pride does indeed come before a fall! SagaciousPhil - Chat 11:12, 4 January 2014 (UTC)

Fiends or friends?... Mat ty. 007 11:13, 4 January 2014 (UTC)

I apologize for doing that. I blame Breaking Bad; I never would've done something like that before I watched the show. Teasing someone for a typo is just one step away from cooking meth. MANdARAX •  XAЯAbИAM 11:19, 4 January 2014 (UTC)

I'm afraid I haven't seen Breaking Bad... I do my fair share of teasing though. Mat ty. 007 11:22, 4 January 2014 (UTC)

Hello, Mandarax. You have new messages at Wikipedia_talk:Did_you_know.
Message added 14:38, 5 January 2014 (UTC). You can remove this notice at any time by removing the {{Talkback}} or {{Tb}} template.

Mat ty. 007 14:38, 5 January 2014 (UTC)

Thanks for the help on the Genesis DYK nom, I must not have been paying too much attention.-- Will C 21:21, 6 January 2014 (UTC)

You're welcome. MANdARAX •  XAЯAbИAM 21:44, 6 January 2014 (UTC)

Hey Mandarax, long time no talk! Happy New Year! Anyway, I come with a specific annoyance. I want to add two CfDs to a deletion sorting page, and I can't because of a blacklisted site link. Now, the blacklisted site is already linked on the page, in a section completely other than where I want to edit and in which I have no interest. My questions: (1) If it's not allowed to be linked, how is it already linked on the page? (2) Why can't I even save a d*@! edit to a completely separate section? (3) How can I add these stupid CfDs to the page, given this situation? The page in question is Wikipedia:WikiProject Deletion sorting/Sexuality and gender, and my addition is supposed to be

• Renaming Category:Fictional swordsmen to Category: Fictional swordfighters at Wikipedia:Categories for discussion/Log/2014 January 7#Category:Fictional swordsmen
• Deleting Category:Fictional characters by sexual behavioral attribute at Wikipedia:Categories for discussion/Log/2014 January 7#Category:Fictional characters by sexual behavioral attribute.

Thanks, Ladyof Shalott 03:47, 9 January 2014 (UTC)

Happy new year to you too! But prepare to get even more annoyed; I don't have answers for any of your questions. You can't edit one section on the page because there's a preexisting forbidden link in a different section? I never heard of such a thing. Can you edit the page to remove the link? Or delete the revision which added the link? Or revert to before it was added and restore without the link? But I'm confused because the last edit was the transclusion of a page on which the last edit was not the addition of an external link. Maybe the link was somehow later added to some transcluded page or another after it had previously been transcluded? Sorry I've been no help at all.... MANdARAX •  XAЯAbИAM 06:03, 9 January 2014 (UTC)

LadyofShalott. What a misleading section header. I thought you were annoyed at Mandarax and I wanted to jump on the bandwagon.

I did the renaming one just fine. Why now? I haven't a clue. There haven't been any new additions or deletions to the blacklist the past few days. Bgwhite ( talk) 07:16, 9 January 2014 (UTC)

Well thank you both for looking at it, and BG for adding one of the discussions. I was just now able to add the second one. This is really weird. I tried both editing only the section a couple times last night, and then the whole page, and they refused to work. Bizarro. Ladyof Shalott 15:39, 9 January 2014 (UTC)

Thanks for fixing the DYK nomination for List of sun temples. Green Giant ( talk) 02:25, 12 January 2014 (UTC)

You're welcome. And thanks for the cookie! MANdARAX •  XAЯAbИAM 02:56, 12 January 2014 (UTC)

Hello Mandarax, I saw that you added a conversion template to Isuzu Elf DYK - appreciated, but the original weight is 1250kg and with the conversion it came out to 1300kg so I altered it accordingly. Hopefully it won't change anything, thanks,  Mr.choppers |  ✎  01:59, 13 January 2014 (UTC)

That's much better. Thanks. MANdARAX •  XAЯAbИAM 02:06, 13 January 2014 (UTC)

When you have some time, could you take a look at: Wikipedia talk:Categorization of people#Defaultsort of Irish surnames starting Ó Bgwhite ( talk) 06:00, 13 January 2014 (UTC)

Urgh. I've always avoided those because I suspected that maybe Ó Whatever should be sorted the same as O'Whatever, but I had no idea what was "correct". I'd seen the thread on your talk page, but stopped reading it because sort keys make my brain hurt.

Normally, I would say "Bgwhite has thoroughly and thoughtfully researched this and knows what he's talking about". However it appears that you may have gotten the name of a University wrong, and that obviously invalidates anything you've ever said or ever will say. MANdARAX •  XAЯAbИAM 07:44, 13 January 2014 (UTC)

Next time I have a conversation with my wife, could you stand up to her and say, "Bgwhite has thoroughly and thoughtfully researched...". Bgwhite ( talk) 07:56, 13 January 2014 (UTC)

Ahem... DYK? Best, Mat ty. 007 21:06, 19 January 2014 (UTC)

Hehe, thanks for the nudge. I'm trying to decide from among at least three possible hooks I have in mind, including one where I'm waiting for a response from a museum. Plus I've got too many images to choose from! Hopefully I'll remember to nominate it within the five days.... MANdARAX •  XAЯAbИAM 21:22, 19 January 2014 (UTC)

It is a Rambuteau column, aka a urinal, not a Morris one. Please, do a verification before reverting. Colonne Rambuteau : http://vergue.com/post/174/Urinoir-monoplace-pont-d-Arcole and Colonne Morris http://vergue.com/post/95/Colonne-affiches-Morris-1876 — Preceding unsigned comment added by Cabestan ( talk • contribs) 06:25, 22 January 2014 (UTC)

It appears that you are correct, and I've restored your edit. I had checked the description on the image file, which identifies it as a Morris column, but that seems to be wrong. Thank you for your edit, but please remember to use a descriptive edit summary. When you change a caption to identify a column as a urinal, without leaving an edit summary, it may naturally be perceived as vandalism. MANdARAX •  XAЯAbИAM 07:36, 22 January 2014 (UTC)

		The Guidance Barnstar
		With my 300,000 edit, I want to thank you for helping me reach the dubious plateau. Without your help and guidance, I would never have found my place that keeps me around here. Bgwhite ( talk) 23:12, 22 January 2014 (UTC)

Awwww, thank you for the barnstar and the kind words, as well as for your other 299,999 edits. Congratulations on your milestone! MANdARAX •  XAЯAbИAM 23:44, 22 January 2014 (UTC)

Mandarax, or Bgwhite, or whoever--what did I do wrong at Talk:A Boy Was Born#Should the lead sentence include the phrase .22.28correctly titled A Boy was Born.29.22.3F? My prose is not showing up... Thanks, Drmies ( talk) 04:15, 25 January 2014 (UTC)

 Done. I didn't investigate the template to see if if there's an "official" way to do it, but I just tried the standard trick of adding "1=", and that seemed to fix it. MANdARAX •  XAЯAbИAM 04:40, 25 January 2014 (UTC)

Thanks! I noted that parameter in the documentation when I looked at it a few months ago, but I don't usually seem to need it. Thanks again Mandarax, Drmies ( talk) 15:04, 25 January 2014 (UTC)

You're welcome. I see now that the "official" parameter for {{ Archive top}} is |result=, but I try |1= as a convenient option when I'm too lazy to look things up. MANdARAX •  XAЯAbИAM 20:56, 25 January 2014 (UTC)

Strange how sometimes it works without that parameter--unless I'm even more mistaken than I thought. Drmies ( talk) 18:33, 2 February 2014 (UTC)

You're not mistaken. It usually works, except in this case your text contained equals signs. (What I believe it does is take everything to the left of the "=" as a rather poorly chosen parameter name, and everything after it as its value.) It would have worked if you'd replaced the equals signs with {{=}}. For future reference another character which can also cause problems in templates is "|". This is fine when used in a piped link or template call, but for other purposes, use {{!}}. MANdARAX •  XAЯAbИAM 21:10, 2 February 2014 (UTC)

On 27 January 2014, Did you know? was updated with a fact from the article Albert Dubois-Pillet, which you created or substantially expanded. The fact was ... that Albert Dubois-Pillet added the "Pillet" to his name when signing his paintings (example pictured) in an attempt to hide his art-related activities from the military? The nomination discussion and review may be seen at Template:Did you know nominations/Albert Dubois-Pillet. You are welcome to check how many hits the article got while on the front page ( here's how, quick check) and it will be added to DYKSTATS if it got over 5,000. If you know of another interesting fact from a recently created article, then please suggest it on the Did you know? talk page.

Looks good. Thanks for helping with the DYK project Victuallers ( talk)) 00:42, 27 January 2014 (UTC)

The were really very few major Neo-impressionists, and I've written the articles on four of them: Henri-Edmond Cross, Charles Angrand, Maximilien Luce, and Albert Dubois-Pillet. MANdARAX •  XAЯAbИAM 22:13, 27 January 2014 (UTC)

		The 25 DYK Creation and Expansion Medal
		Welcome to the club of people who not only write brilliant content (and you even won the DYK medal for tireless work around the nominations, correcting countless mistakes), but who also make the extra effort to present facts accessibly and visible for people with broad interests. The beauty and expression of the arts comes across in your articles such as En Canot, and understanding for the creators' background in works such as ‎ John McLaughlin and Albert Dubois-Pillet. We look forward to more of your creations for brain, eye and heart. -- Gerda Arendt ( talk) 19:45, 29 January 2014 (UTC)

Congratulations Mandarax! Mat ty. 007 20:26, 29 January 2014 (UTC)

Thank you very much, to both of you. It sure took me long enough – three and two-thirds years since my first DYK, and almost nine years since I registered. Gerda, I find your 471 DYKs to be very impressive! You're amazing! If I live to be a few hundred years old, I may reach that number, which would complete most of the items on my "wish list". Matty, I only see you on the nominations list. Haven't you created many, many more than twenty five DYKs?

Gerda, thank you so much for your kind words. (However, I didn't write En Canot; I only nominated it.) MANdARAX •  XAЯAbИAM 21:26, 29 January 2014 (UTC)

(blushing again) I didn't find the nude ;) - how about Bahujana sukhaya bahujana hitaya cha (translates to "for the happiness of the many, for the welfare of the many")? - and thank you for the hook mentioning unstimulated sex (still on my user page), and for the pictured Magnificat to appear soon! -- Gerda Arendt ( talk) 22:21, 29 January 2014 (UTC)

I have 22 self noms, 36 non self noms, so I am getting there. However, not only do you nominate lots of articles, you fix just about all the errors in everyone's nominations, once again thank you! Mat ty. 007 17:50, 30 January 2014 (UTC)

Matty, you can enter yourself in the separate nominators' list (at the bottom), 25 is the minimum, -- Gerda Arendt ( talk) 18:37, 30 January 2014 (UTC)

Thanks Gerda, but I am already there. Best, Mat ty. 007 18:38, 30 January 2014 (UTC)

I don't see your award, - leave that open then - or did you hide it in a vault? -- Gerda Arendt ( talk) 18:42, 30 January 2014 (UTC)

It's here. Thanks, Mat ty. 007 18:45, 30 January 2014 (UTC)

• Mandarax, you're the best. If you could, though, consider improving the article on the real John McLaughlin. Thanks, and have a great Superbowl weekend! (I know you're an even bigger sports fan than old Bbb23.) Drmies ( talk) 18:32, 2 February 2014 (UTC)

• Aw, thanks.

  I found your John McLaughlin to be annoying, as he made researching my John McLaughlin much more difficult. I should only work on bios for people with more unique names.

  It's looking bleak for the Broncos but we'll see.... MANdARAX •  XAЯAbИAM 00:16, 3 February 2014 (UTC)

• Note: that "bleak" comment was based on early first quarter events. Little did I know what an understatement it would turn out to be. MANdARAX •  XAЯAbИAM 10:30, 15 February 2014 (UTC)

Thanks for reverting me. I don't know where my brain was when I edited that Prep 4 (now Queue 1) hook—I completely missed the "in" ("that in") at the beginning, which is why the hook hadn't made sense to me as it was. Next time I'll be sure to read the hook out loud first. BlueMoonset ( talk) 04:43, 2 February 2014 (UTC)

No problem. It happens to everyone once in a while. (Although not often to you.) Sometimes I'll write something, proofread it very carefully, and save it. Then the next day I'll look at it and immediately see that I had made an error, and wonder "where did that come from?" MANdARAX •  XAЯAbИAM 07:20, 2 February 2014 (UTC)

BlueMoonset, I was writing the message below when I saw your message. Can I come by and revert you? That is the nicest revert message I've seen in a long time. The ones I get usually are not family friendly. Today, a person thought I was insulting them when I changed india to India and labeled it as a 'typo'. Thank you for uplifting my Wiki spirits today. Bgwhite ( talk) 06:40, 5 February 2014 (UTC)

Yes, that was very gracious. BlueMoonset is great, and an essential part of DYK.

Bgwhite, I had seen the thread on your talk page and thought "this must be a new user; they won't last long with that attitude"; so I was surprised to discover that they'd been around since 2007. MANdARAX •  XAЯAbИAM 07:58, 5 February 2014 (UTC)

The answers to our Grammer Nazi™ internet questions have been answered, The Internet Style Guide. We now know it is spelled side-eye and sideboob. You didn't unfriend me from Facebook, you de-friended me. I will sleep easier tonight. Bgwhite ( talk) 06:36, 5 February 2014 (UTC)

Is spelling "Grammar" "Grammer" part of the Style Guide? My natural tendency is to over-hyphenate, so I sometimes overcompensate by under-hyphenating. I never heard of side-eye. And, I'm sorry, but "de-friend" is just wrong; it's obviously "unfriend". MANdARAX •  XAЯAbИAM 07:37, 5 February 2014 (UTC)

You learn something new everyday. I was sure it was "defriendify", and now I find out it isn't. What other cherished bits of knowledge will turn out completely wrong? I can see I have a sleepless night ahead of me... (Which is not helped by the realization that "sideboob" backwards turns into "boobed is".) BlueMoonset ( talk) 07:51, 5 February 2014 (UTC)

It's nice to know that you see things backwards. As you might have surmised from my signature, I look forward to backwards thinking. MANdARAX •  XAЯAbИAM 08:20, 5 February 2014 (UTC)

BlueMoonset, ah crap. There are now two "backwards" thinking folks around here. "Boobed is" did give me a laugh. I need to befriendify this BlueMoonset person. Double ah crap. I hope he isn't Greek. My WikiWife is Greek. I called him that because he kept asking me to do things. I did spell "Grammer" on purpose. It does fit my spelling aptitude better. Bgwhite ( talk) 07:47, 6 February 2014 (UTC)

I dunno about Greek, but Blue's Gleek! As for your WikiWife.... That's funny – I have a nickname for him too, although I've never told him or anyone else. I think of him as a Langolier ("Langoliers are the timekeepers of eternity; their purpose is to clean up what is left of the past by eating it") because of the way he so quickly archives AWB bug reports and feature requests as soon as they're resolved. MANdARAX •  XAЯAbИAM 08:42, 6 February 2014 (UTC)

Definitely not Greek—no fraternities where I went to college. No chance of me exacerbating Greek OD. BlueMoonset ( talk) 17:09, 6 February 2014 (UTC)

... on bended knee with palms pleadingly outstretched. Would you mind updating the headers of the DYK stats page to include the month of February, pretty please? I've (more or less) managed to work out how to add actual nominations now after watching how you fulfilled my previous grovelling request but I'm sure I would end up breaking something if I try stepping up to the next level! I want to add Inchdrewer Castle/ George Ogilvy as I think it qualifies. My knees are getting sore, so can I get up now, please? SagaciousPhil - Chat 09:10, 6 February 2014 (UTC)

 Done. Congratulations on a very successful DYK!

Oh ... yes, please rise. MANdARAX •  XAЯAbИAM 22:37, 6 February 2014 (UTC)

Thanks, Mandarax, much appreciated. 'Please rise' - wow, now I've got a knighthood/damehood? Who do I approach to update my name to Lady SP? dusts off knees and creakily arises SagaciousPhil - Chat 10:08, 7 February 2014 (UTC)

Hi, thanks for spotting that spelling error. I meant "was giving," and I think that Past Continuous tense would be better here – the 24 hours was a time frame, in which the bank was donating the money. But I'm not a native speaker of English, so I'm not 100% sure which tense should be used here, and would appreciate your opinion. — Mayast ( talk) 09:18, 6 February 2014 (UTC)

Yeah, I figured that "was giving" was intended, but I also figured that while I was fixing it, I might as well shorten the hook a tiny bit too. I think either one works, so I've changed it to your desired wording. MANdARAX •  XAЯAbИAM 22:43, 6 February 2014 (UTC)

This wiki-kitten is here to express my thanks for your help with maintaining the DYK process. Your assistance is highly appreciated!

_{Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| reply here} 16:12, 10 February 2014 (UTC)

Thanks for the kitten, and you're welcome for the assistance. MANdARAX •  XAЯAbИAM 21:14, 10 February 2014 (UTC)

In answer to your now archived query, the post which I mentioned on Drmies's talk page was off-wiki (on Facebook). Sorry for being confusing about what I meant. Ladyof Shalott 18:22, 10 February 2014 (UTC)

Thanks for the reply. Yeah, that Drmies is always archiving his talk page too quickly! No need to apologize; my perusal of your edits led me to discover that interesting tidbit about the classification of giraffe behavior. MANdARAX •  XAЯAbИAM 21:20, 10 February 2014 (UTC)

Don't get euthanized and fed to the lions. Drmies ( talk) 22:59, 10 February 2014 (UTC)

I didn't get the reference until I just read the tragic story of poor Marius. MANdARAX •  XAЯAbИAM 10:40, 15 February 2014 (UTC)

Of course he has an article...did he make it to the front page? Drmies ( talk) 18:45, 25 February 2014 (UTC)

Funny Dutch title among the references: "Lions don't eat spinach." Drmies ( talk) 18:48, 25 February 2014 (UTC)

I hovered between 193cm and 1.93m, so put both. [1]. Thanks, Mat ty. 007 21:13, 16 February 2014 (UTC)

Hehe, I figured that's what had happened. Thanks for the baklava. MANdARAX •  XAЯAbИAM 00:20, 17 February 2014 (UTC)

Way too sugary for someone your age, Mandarax. Drmies ( talk) 18:44, 25 February 2014 (UTC)

Whoops, sorry, I did it again - my Word documents are set up for a standard house style that uses curly quotes. Unbelievably, when I copied the hook over after checking the number of characters I spotted the apostrophe had to be changed in the article title for it to link correctly but then never looked any further. Thank you for catching it - very much appreciated and I will serve a suitable penitence ... SagaciousPhil - Chat 21:10, 18 February 2014 (UTC)

You're welcome. Which quotation mark to use is certainly not important, but I do like to make things MOS-compliant whenever possible. MANdARAX •  XAЯAbИAM 22:06, 18 February 2014 (UTC)

Mandarax, your input is kindly requested at Template:Did you know nominations/Lifeboat Memorial, Southport, Monumental Obelisk, Southport, Lifeboat Monument, St Annes, Lifeboat Memorial, Lytham. Drmies ( talk) 18:43, 25 February 2014 (UTC)

Sadly, the above only generated a single notification, instead of the three that it would have if there were any justice in the universe. MANdARAX •  XAЯAbИAM 22:01, 25 February 2014 (UTC)

I KNOW! It's indeed a sad world. So sad that I'm packing up to go to Savannah tomorrow. Maybe some shrimp and grits will make me feel better. Drmies ( talk) 23:50, 25 February 2014 (UTC)

Thank you for your extremely kind and helpful words. They mean a lot to me. Savart wheel seemed to me a natural candidate for DYK as it contains several genuinely encyclopedic nuggets. In retrospect, if I'd anticipated the hidden tumbles waiting to happen both before the submission and around the time of publication I don't think I would have gone there. However, your offer of technical assistance with possible future nominations is indeed heartening.

Fwiw, I feel this experience may have illustrated to me one aspect of the difficulties a conscientious editor is likely to come up against when engaging with the online community culture, other than the usual pitfalls of forum dialogues: the discrepancy between what's explicitly stated (e.g. in a guideline or a particular template) and what a highly active subset of the community considers "standard practice" (in their view automatically trumping any official editorial indications). I believe this tension is a potentially damaging source of confusion, especially perhaps to contributors whose primary focus is to present content in an editorially appropriate way.

Best wishes, 217.42.178.17 ( talk) 12:18, 2 March 2014 (UTC)

It seems to me that the "rules" were being misinterpreted in an inappropriate manner. Yes, the instructions say "Any autoconfirmed registered user may nominate a DYK suggestion", but this merely indicates the Wikipedia limitation that only an autoconfirmed registered user may create a non-talk page, in this case a template. To interpret it to mean that IPs are not allowed to participate in the DYK process is simply ridiculous. Scolding you for "re-writing DYK policy/guidelines" when all you did was improve the existing text? Also ridiculous, as was subjecting you to an IP witch-hunt. The whole negative, defensive, and accusatory tone of the responses to your query was shameful. And I consider "IP-hopping" to be a derogatory term reserved for vandals who intentionally switch IPs while attempting to evade a block. Also inappropriately applied to you. It's disgusting that prejudice against IPs is so widespread and apparently so accepted. And throughout it all, you remained calm, polite, and rational.

To answer your original question.... I feel that it's not practical to alert users when their hook has been promoted. It's up to the individual to watch as the process proceeds. Unfortunately, that's more difficult for IPs, who don't have a watchlist. You'd have to keep an eye on the nomination template, and when you see that your hook has been promoted, you can discover when it will run by determining where it is in the Queue. It will initially be put into one of four Preps, then moved to one of six Queues, and finally to the Main Page according to the schedule displayed on the Queue page.

Anyways, I'd like to again apologize for the poor treatment which you received, and again thank you for your contributions. MANdARAX •  XAЯAbИAM 22:25, 2 March 2014 (UTC)

• Mandarax, I'll be glad to block someone, even if just out of spite. And while I do that, can you perhaps fix Template:Did you know nominations/Goethe Oak for me? Drmies ( talk) 03:05, 8 March 2014 (UTC)

•  Done. However, the hook's a little too long. Depending on how the rules are applied, I'd say it's about 226 characters, although others may try to insist it's more like 239. It shouldn't be too hard to get it under 200. MANdARAX •  XAЯAbИAM 03:29, 8 March 2014 (UTC)

• Wait--no leeway for a double DYK? Drmies ( talk) 03:31, 8 March 2014 (UTC)

• The 226 figure is the number after applying the standard leeway. Additional leeway is possible, but rarely granted. Maybe your reviewer won't even notice, and you'll get the extra leeway by default. MANdARAX •  XAЯAbИAM 04:06, 8 March 2014 (UTC)

• Oh. Hmm. Well, I cut 15 characters and will see if I can trim more. Drmies ( talk) 04:20, 8 March 2014 (UTC)
• OK, short enough now. There'll always be people who will think that Goethe went around writing plays in concentration camps, but you can't please everyone. Thanks for your help, Mandarax--as usual. Also, I'm reading Patrick Leigh Fermor, and so should you. Drmies ( talk) 04:24, 8 March 2014 (UTC)

On 8 March 2014, Did you know was updated with a fact from the article Glòria Muñoz, which you recently created or substantially expanded. The fact was ... that Spanish artist Glòria Muñoz uses the chapel of an abandoned convent as her studio? The nomination discussion and review may be seen at Template:Did you know nominations/Glòria Muñoz. You are welcome to check how many page hits the article got while on the front page ( here's how, live views, daily totals), and it may be added to the statistics page if the total is over 5,000. Finally, if you know of an interesting fact from another recently created article, then please feel free to suggest it on the Did you know talk page.

The DYK project ( nominate) 00:03, 8 March 2014 (UTC)

On 8 March 2014, Did you know was updated with a fact from the article Lucy Madox Brown, which you recently nominated. The fact was ... that a painting by Lucy Madox Brown (pictured as a child) was described by Dante Gabriel Rossetti as a "perfect picture"? The nomination discussion and review may be seen at Template:Did you know nominations/Lucy Madox Brown. You are welcome to check how many page hits the article got while on the front page ( here's how, live views, daily totals), and it may be added to the statistics page if the total is over 5,000. Finally, if you know of an interesting fact from another recently created article, then please feel free to suggest it on the Did you know talk page.

The DYK project ( nominate) 16:02, 8 March 2014 (UTC)

This article Ravindra Jadeja (actually particularly an edit war) was covered by several news articles (this direct link may not work in Internet Explorer). Could you add relevant press coverage templates? -- Tito☸ Dutta 05:26, 16 March 2014 (UTC)

I've only seen those things used once or twice, and I've never added one myself. I don't know the name of the template(s), or under what circumstances to use them, or how many to add. Since you seem to know more about it than I do, I'll leave it to you to take care of it yourself, or find someone who knows what should be done. Sorry I wasn't of any help. MANdARAX •  XAЯAbИAM 19:44, 16 March 2014 (UTC)

• Okay, thank you for answering. My second question is: as I mentioned, in the article someone/a group of editors w(as/ere) changing "Ravindra Jadeja">>"Sir Ravinda Jadeja". It was a difficult time for us I had go to IIRC channel (after requesting protection at RFPP) to ask for quick protection as spammers were reverting my edit in every 30 seconds or so. Somehow, due to his bad performance at that time, this "Sir Ravindra Jadeja" joke/satire became very famous and covered all over internet. Ravindra Jadeja briefly mentions these events Ravindra_Jadeja#Online_sarcasm_and_Jokes.
  I am thinking of an article Sir Ravindra Jadeja (currently a redirect) on those satires etc and try to get to to DYK keeping the Wikipedia troll edit event in the hook. Is it possible? Could you please comment on notability (reference links in my last post) and possibilities? -- Tito☸ Dutta 10:33, 18 March 2014 (UTC)

• Well, I think it would be better to simply expand the section of the existing article rather than creating a separate article. But that's just my opinion. You should certainly feel free to create the new article; other people would likely agree with you that a standalone article is called for, and, even if not, your new content could always be merged into the existing article if necessary. MANdARAX •  XAЯAbИAM 22:09, 18 March 2014 (UTC)

You polished and scrubbed and generally cleaned up the mess I left all over this new article. Do you do windows? (Me, I'm mostly a Mac guy, but I'm ecumenical.)

Seriously, I appreciate the help.

JohnPomeranz ( talk) 03:41, 18 March 2014 (UTC)

You're welcome, but it certainly wasn't anything close to a "mess". Yes, I use Windows, despite the frustration and problems. MANdARAX •  XAЯAbИAM 06:27, 18 March 2014 (UTC)

Thanks for the heads up, the new version of the hook is exactly 200 characters. Regards, Wee Curry Monster talk 11:17, 23 March 2014 (UTC)

Yeah, the hook length is fine now. As a matter of fact, it's actually under 200, because the (pictured) doesn't count. MANdARAX •  XAЯAbИAM 21:50, 23 March 2014 (UTC)

Thanks for your fix! Andrew Graham-Dixon's work is licensed under Creative Commons, and I've cited his work on the page. [2] Am I using it correctly? Gareth E Kegg ( talk) 00:39, 24 March 2014 (UTC)

You're welcome. I had noticed that when you nominated it for DYK, it was below the minimum length requirement, so I'm glad to see that you've now expanded it sufficiently. As for the citation, I'd be inclined to list the date and the original publication. If you don't change it yourself, I may take care of it sometime when I'm in a more citational mood. MANdARAX •  XAЯAbИAM 01:16, 24 March 2014 (UTC)

I am reminding you that Template:Did you know nominations/Clark (mascot) is an April fools nomination and needs a final review.-- TonyTheTiger ( T / C / WP:FOUR / WP:CHICAGO / WP:WAWARD) 16:10, 28 March 2014 (UTC)

Yeah, I had seen your note there. But I still don't like it as an April Fools' hook (notice that I had said that a hook was "much more acceptable" than others, but never said it was actually acceptable), so, rather than muddle the situation again with my opinion, I decided to stay out of it and let someone else take care of it, which I see has already been done. MANdARAX •  XAЯAbИAM 19:36, 28 March 2014 (UTC)

If you think that the hook idea I posted at Template:Did you know nominations/William Swinden Barber‎ should be treated as an ALT suggestion, please copy it into a new message and format it appropriately.

FTR, I didn't propose it as an ALT hook myself because it isn't currently supported. The article creator needs to figure out whether they can provide support for that hook idea -- or propose some other hook. -- Orlady ( talk) 21:54, 28 March 2014 (UTC)

People are always suggesting ALTs without identifying them as such, making them difficult to locate and discuss. Usually when users are simply suggesting possible potential ideas for hooks without intending to propose a formal ALT, they list it without the standard DYK formatting. But yours was perfectly formatted, including the ellipsis and the bold and the italicized (pictured), and it appeared to me that you were proposing it as an ALT, with the caveat that proper sourcing would have to be handled. I apologize for misinterpreting. I've removed the "ALT1" indication. MANdARAX •  XAЯAbИAM 22:28, 28 March 2014 (UTC)

On 1 April 2014, Did you know was updated with a fact from the article Echo (elephant), which you recently nominated. The fact was ... that scientists observed an echo which lasted 65 years? The nomination discussion and review may be seen at Template:Did you know nominations/Echo (elephant). You are welcome to check how many page hits the article got while on the front page ( here's how, live views, daily totals), and it may be added to the statistics page if the total is over 5,000. Finally, if you know of an interesting fact from another recently created article, then please feel free to suggest it on the Did you know talk page.

Callanecc ( talk • contribs • logs) 00:02, 1 April 2014 (UTC)

Hello, Mandarax. Please check your email; you've got mail! The subject is J. Hendrix.
Message added 01:32, 1 April 2014 (UTC). It may take a few minutes from the time the email is sent for it to show up in your inbox. You can remove this notice at any time by removing the {{ You've got mail}} or {{ ygm}} template.

Drmies ( talk) 01:32, 1 April 2014 (UTC)

So do you! MANdARAX •  XAЯAbИAM 06:59, 2 April 2014 (UTC)

	The savior of lost causes award
	Thank you Mandarax. You are a kind man. Drmies ( talk) 14:11, 2 April 2014 (UTC)

Awww, thanks for the barnstar, although I must say that what I did was karmic necessity, returning a small favor to an even kinder man. Please let me know if it was completely successful.

That's a Hendrix photo I hadn't seen before. I see that it's new to Wikipedia. It's hard for me to imagine him in the army. MANdARAX •  XAЯAbИAM 19:23, 2 April 2014 (UTC)

• It struck me for the same reason. He looks so young. Drmies ( talk) 19:24, 2 April 2014 (UTC)

Hi! Just a quick update that while JSTOR and The Wikipedia Library discuss expanding the partnership, they've gone ahead and extended the pilot access again, until May 31st. Thanks, JSTOR!

It would be really helpful for growing the program if you would fill out this short survey about your usage and experience with JSTOR:

SURVEY

Cheers, Ocaasi via MediaWiki message delivery ( talk) 20:47, 2 April 2014 (UTC)

 *cough* 25th *cough* I remember when some loser was 25th, but that was a long time ago. Bgwhite ( talk) 21:03, 2 April 2014 (UTC)

Yeah, I've been monitoring your meteoric rise. I had planned to congratulate and/or excoriate you when you surpassed my achievement, but now you've gone and ruined it. MANdARAX •  XAЯAbИAM 21:11, 2 April 2014 (UTC)

Hello Mandarax. You recently edited the article St Catherine's Hill, Dorset with the edit summary, "Replace apostrophes per WP:Punc". After reading WP:Punc, I can see what you have done and why you have done it but I can't understand what I can do to avoid future occurences. I only have one apostrophe on my keyboard and I thought the shape was largely determined by the font being used. How are you managing to get a straight apostrophe?-- Ykraps ( talk) 21:03, 7 April 2014 (UTC)

Although having said all that, my apostrophes look straight to me, so perhaps you are talking about something else?-- Ykraps ( talk) 21:29, 7 April 2014 (UTC)

Yes, I see that the apostrophes which you type, such as those above, are "straight" ones. No, I'm not talking about something else; the ones I changed were "curly". I imagine that the curly ones come from something such as copying text from another website or composing your text offline using some word processing program which converts the apostrophes, and then copying it to Wikipedia. In any case, it's not a big deal. MANdARAX •  XAЯAbИAM 21:55, 7 April 2014 (UTC)

(edit conflict) Sorry, I'm not trying to make a big deal out of it, just trying to understand what I did wrong. :) Yes, that's possible; I sometimes compose sentences offline using Microsoft Word, then copy and paste to the article/my userspace and (because my typing is so slow) I sometimes copy and paste phrases such as "St Catherine's Hill" because it's quicker. I looked at a previous version of the page and it looked okay but I expect I wasn't looking at the apostrophes you changed. Thanks for explaining.-- Ykraps ( talk) 22:16, 7 April 2014 (UTC)

I've probably ruined it again, please check Template:Did you know nominations/Child sexual abuse in Australia. OccultZone ( Talk) 18:46, 12 April 2014 (UTC)

 Done. MANdARAX •  XAЯAbИAM 19:04, 12 April 2014 (UTC)

Hi Mandarax, please could you fix Template:Did you know nominations/Charles Joshua Chaplin - I have no idea how to correct it and I will just end up making things worse, I'm afraid as it's way beyond my (limited) ability ... SagaciousPhil - Chat 11:10, 21 April 2014 (UTC)

Thanks Gerda Arendt for mostly taking care of it. Then I did the rest. MANdARAX •  XAЯAbИAM 15:09, 21 April 2014 (UTC)

• Thank you (and Gerda) for coming to the rescue! Fingers crossed that Hafs has an easier ride/nicer experience at DYK this time. SagaciousPhil - Chat 17:28, 21 April 2014 (UTC)

• Well, the refs look like they're formatted okay! The article could possibly have some April Fools' Day potential (... that Charles Chaplin sometimes portrayed young women?) if you're interested in waiting eleven months. MANdARAX •  XAЯAbИAM 17:59, 21 April 2014 (UTC)

Hafs now has a nice little 'monkey' script that gives him the basics of what he has to insert for a ref - nice and simple but what he doesn't know (yet) is that I'm going to gradually build on it once he's got used to it! I don't think he could cope with an 11 month wait (I probably couldn't either). If it doesn't get an image slot then maybe it'll make the 'quirky' and readers may think it's Charlie Chaplin; that was the idea behind the hook (Crisco's brainchild). There are some super images in it though. SagaciousPhil - Chat 18:28, 21 April 2014 (UTC)

Waiting for more than six weeks is breaking teh rulez, and I have seen pictured AND quirky. Help yourself to eggs on my talk as long as they last, and look at the crystal ball ;) -- Gerda Arendt ( talk) 18:49, 21 April 2014 (UTC)

I remember your beautiful Easter egg tree! The Chaplin hook wouldn't really be a spectacularly good April Fools' hook, but better than a lot of the ones that we get. I definitely understand not wanting to wait so long. However, I do hold the record for the longest time a DYK was held: it appeared 363 days after I nominated it. (Unfortunately, that gave the author enough time to get indefinitely blocked before the DYK appearance.) MANdARAX •  XAЯAbИAM 19:23, 21 April 2014 (UTC)

It was not my tree, of course, but PumpkinSky's return to editing in 2012. (Not 2014) - Do I hold the record for the fastest from nomination to queue? ( Cecil Aronowitz, I nominated, ate a roll, and found it in the queue. That was before invention of the nomination template.) - How do you like my 2012 peace DYK? -- Gerda Arendt ( talk) 22:27, 21 April 2014 (UTC)

Wow! That sure sounds like a record – one that's not likely to be broken. That was in the Olden Days, when one person might approve a nomination, move it to Prep, and then move it to a Queue. MANdARAX •  XAЯAbИAM 05:16, 22 April 2014 (UTC)

That was before prep was even invented ;) - How do you like my Bach-Peace-Hook in the same set (below the tree)? -- Gerda Arendt ( talk) 06:11, 22 April 2014 (UTC)

I remember when there were only two Preps. I like your peace hook, but, of course, all of your hooks are good! MANdARAX •  XAЯAbИAM 07:39, 22 April 2014 (UTC)

Can you please help me position the alternative photograph in this DYK nomination to the right? Étienne Dolet ( talk) 02:43, 22 April 2014 (UTC)

I just added a missing </div>. The positioning of the second image in the nomination template doesn't matter, but it will look more natural when more text is added during a review. MANdARAX •  XAЯAbИAM 04:00, 22 April 2014 (UTC)

I am having trouble with this DyK. [3] Article is not very hard, but I still have to find a better hook than the current hook, can you suggest me? Even 1-2? Thanks a lot, I will read. OccultZone ( Talk) 13:28, 24 April 2014 (UTC)

Well, I would suggest:

... that King Herod reportedly killed his wife and had a sexual relationship with her dead body for seven years?

I don't know if the reviewer would have the same objection as they did with the original hook, but I think the "reportedly" should take care of it. The article is filled with facts which are sickly hooky, but I prefer this ancient one because the more recent ones make me more squeamish. MANdARAX •  XAЯAbИAM 18:57, 24 April 2014 (UTC)

So you like to review articles for DYK?(I am not asking for any) Asking because I have mostly seen you helping with the article, than reviewing them. OccultZone ( Talk) 08:47, 11 May 2014 (UTC)

I never liked to do reviews, but I used to do some. I rarely do them anymore. And, judging by the backlog and how long people have to wait for their nominations to be reviewed, not many people are doing them. MANdARAX •  XAЯAbИAM 10:40, 11 May 2014 (UTC)

Yes I really dislike the 'backlog' thing, it can make any common person feel tired. OccultZone ( Talk) 13:03, 11 May 2014 (UTC)

As you are an old fart... Add to your common.css file to change the font/size of the edit window.

/* Change font and font size of the edit window */
form#editform textarea#wpTextbox1 {
  font-size: 100%;
  font-family: DejaVu Sans Mono, monospace;
}

Bgwhite ( talk) 22:31, 24 April 2014 (UTC)

Thanks. I actually prefer the current, more compact font. But I do usually like to customize everything, so I'll file this away. It'll come in handy when I find a font I want to use. MANdARAX •  XAЯAbИAM 02:38, 25 April 2014 (UTC)

I've been using Monospace for 25 years in text windows. Besides being used to it, it helps in reading. Bgwhite ( talk) 05:39, 25 April 2014 (UTC)

Thanks a lot for your kind efforts for my DYK about incidents of necrophilia. That person either knows a lot about few related events, or they have looked a number of sides behind the incident. He don't say that the stories are wrong, but something else may have happened.

Looking at your position, and clean block history, why you have never tried adminship? OccultZone ( Talk) 02:48, 29 April 2014 (UTC)

You're welcome. I think that last hook I proposed was a great one! Sick, but very catchy. I see no problem with that hook. I gave the reviewer an invisible ping when I suggested the hook, but they haven't made any edits since then. Hopefully the reviewer will verify it when they return, or maybe a different person will take over the review.

Thanks for asking about adminship. Mostly I would dread going through the RfA. And I'm not really doing much these days which would require the extra tools. Anyways, thanks again and good luck with that DYK. MANdARAX •  XAЯAbИAM 08:37, 29 April 2014 (UTC)

A kibitzer here (from the section below). Give fairly concise answers to the opening questions, when you don't know the best answer feel free to say so and to add that you'd avoid taking action in the circumstances (there are dozens of other admins around who can act in your place), and promise to attempt to respond to any other question in the RfA, while saying that you won't respond to any comments in the course of the RfA that aren't clearly presented as questions. Then let the RfA take its course. It may take up much of the time of some people who obsess over these things; it needn't take much of yours. There may even be people who think that candidates should abase themselves, responding with limitless humility to every hairsplitting questionlet: avoid the considerable temptation to tell them to go Cheney themselves and instead keep taciturn and don't worry if they "oppose". -- Hoary ( talk) 09:39, 1 May 2014 (UTC)

Thanks for the advice. I'll keep it in mind if I ever decide to go for it. I think a lot of people view adminship as a huge, prestigious, powerful promotion from lowly editor, with a shiny, exclusive title. It's odd how desperately some people seem to want it. I just see it as a position for helping out where needed. I already help out in ways that I can, and for the ways that I can't, there are plenty of other people around. MANdARAX •  XAЯAbИAM 00:33, 2 May 2014 (UTC)

I don't claim to be much cop as an admin; I'd like to think that for me to sporadically take on admin duties is slightly better for WP than for me not to do so. From my own PoV, there are two pluses. First, I can deal with vandalism (or other silliness) faster by dealing with the vandal (or other silly person) directly than if I had to describe the problem at WP:AN/I. Secondly, if I happen to be interested in one of the very numerous WP rows, I can see deleted edits and have a better idea of what row is about. Though in fact I'm seldom interested in WP rows and therefore seldom look. I'm not aware of any prestige that comes with it -- except possibly in the eyes of newbies, who'll occasionally say about an amiable editing disagreement with me something like "but I see that you're an admin, so I bow to your expertise". (I point out that no, being an admin is entirely irrelevant here.) If there's any prestige anywhere, maybe it's with arbitrators or stewards. At least are few examples of each species (unlike the thousands of admins), though I imagine that any arbitrator or steward would see their job as primarily (or exclusively) a succession of thankless chores. -- Hoary ( talk) 08:37, 5 May 2014 (UTC)

When in one article you replaced (my) "{{BLP unreferenced|date=January 2014}}" with "{{No footnotes|BLP=yes|date=January 2014}}" (i.e. This biographical article includes a list of references, related reading or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations), the only putative references, related reading or external links were the top page (which doesn't mention the biographee) of a website, and the biographee's Facebook page. (And so it has remained.) If every factoid in the article were scrupulously linked to either the one page or the other, the resulting article would still be worthless.

The documentation for Template:BLP unreferenced reads: This template is intended to be placed at the top of articles about living persons that don't have any sources.... I take the last part to mean "that don't cite any sources that seem to qualify", not "that don't cite anything (no matter how worthless)". Am I out of line, or missing something here? -- Hoary ( talk) 09:24, 1 May 2014 (UTC)

Well, it's open to interpretation. I interpret "any" to mean any. If the article does not appear to have relevant reliable sources, I would generally add something like a {{ BLP sources}} tag. I neglected to do that in this case. Thank you for pointing it out, and I've now added it. MANdARAX •  XAЯAbИAM 19:56, 1 May 2014 (UTC)

... laziness caused me to try creating a nomination template on my iPad instead of walking through the house to the 'proper' computer. Now I'm having to grovel and ask if you would please fix it? I seem to have lost the space before the ellipsis ... so need you to wave your magic fingers over the keyboard. SagaciousPhil - Chat 06:14, 7 May 2014 (UTC)

Well, first of all, I wouldn't call that laziness. It takes a lot more effort to do any kind of text editing on an iDevice's browser, so the real lazy thing to do would be to walk to the computer. Secondly, there's nothing wrong with the nomination. I added spaces before the ellipses since you mentioned it, but lots of people omit a space there, and it really doesn't matter. I also added a comma; you should absolutely feel free to remove it. I have a tendency to over-comma. But, knowing this, I sometimes overcompensate by under-comma-ing, and I actually think there should be another one after the "that" in ALT1, but I restrained myself. MANdARAX •  XAЯAbИAM 06:38, 7 May 2014 (UTC)

Wow, thank you for such prompt help! I think you must have had the same English Language/Grammar teacher as I did because I was tempted to use two commas around 'according to legend' as well. It always feels as if the rules on comma use have changed since I was at school and I find myself having to think whether I'm right or not, then ultimately arrive at the wrong decision. I am always in total awe of anyone who manages to edit using a mobile phone - how on earth do they manage it? When I had to tweet information at events, I could sense my young colleagues desperately looking around to see if they could ask someone else instead as it took me so long to get information typed in and, of course, I tried to ensure punctuation and spelling was correct as well! SagaciousPhil - Chat 07:32, 7 May 2014 (UTC)

I agree that the comma rules may have changed. Trying to edit in a Safari text box is always frustrating, difficult, maddening, and error-prone. Hmmmmm, I've got Chrome installed, but I never use it. I should see if it makes editing text any easier than Safari. MANdARAX •  XAЯAbИAM 08:54, 7 May 2014 (UTC)

After the font change efforts, which I found a nightmare with Safari, Dr. Blofeld suggested I try FireFox and I'm using that to edit now as I do find it easier, especially after I also downloaded it's spellcheck/dictionary as you have to do that separately. I haven't looked at Chrome for a while either and can't remember why I stopped using it. I do have a very new PC - our business software doesn't come in a Mac version so it's easier to have a separate PC for it - it's Windows 8 running Internet Explorer but I really don't like editing on it. I do sometimes run AWB on it but I'm only just learning how to work out the AWB functions. I had the notion that I might have been able to run the DYK nominations through it (as Khazar2 used to) but can't work out how to get it to load the articles yet. SagaciousPhil - Chat 09:12, 7 May 2014 (UTC)

I was talking about the mobile versions of Safari and Chrome. (I also have the desktop Chrome, which I also never use.) I was immune to the Font Fiasco, as I use MonoBook (never did like Vector). MANdARAX •  XAЯAbИAM 09:47, 7 May 2014 (UTC)

• In standard English grammar those commas (in ALT1) are a package deal: it's two or none. One could quibble here and argue that the verbal (participial) phrase "according to legend" is restrictive, i.e. it's not a parenthetic remark--semantically, on the sentence level, the remark is necessary because it's only according to legend that as long as et cetera. As for Firefox, I've used it for years; since a few months, however, it crashes on me once every few days or so when (as I usually do) I let my netbook go to standby. Very irritating. Firefox just got updated with sexier tabs and more buttons on the top right, buttons I don't need or want. Anyway--Mandarax, nice to see you again. Sorry I've been absent. And you remind me that I have another old friend, one who has a birthday very soon, so I will get on that. Later, Drmies ( talk) 04:49, 14 May 2014 (UTC)

• Well, I thought that both commas should be there, but I just didn't want to be too obtrusive at first. I'm glad I finally added the second one before anyone had a chance to scold me. I don't like the look of the new Firefox. You can install an add-on to restore the old look, but I dislike using browser add-ons. And I wouldn't say you've been absent; I just run into you more often in the bustling Drmiesopolis than in the sleepy little hamlet of Mandaraxville. MANdARAX •  XAЯAbИAM 09:13, 14 May 2014 (UTC)

• Woohoo! Drmies ( talk) 22:37, 14 May 2014 (UTC)

• Congratulations! I've added it to the Stats page. MANdARAX •  XAЯAbИAM 00:54, 15 May 2014 (UTC)

• How about passing Soman a DYK medal? I just repeated his Precious, -- Gerda Arendt ( talk) 06:12, 15 May 2014 (UTC)

• Soman is a badass, and my on-call socialist. That reminds me to drop a barnstar on their page for all the years of good service. Mandarax, can you please have a look at Template:Did you know nominations/Angel Museum? Hafspajen needs a hand with his black angel collection. Thanks! Drmies ( talk) 14:45, 19 May 2014 (UTC)

Oprah black angel collection, to be correct. The picture is in the wrong place I think. Any help will make me happy.Mies, if Soham is what you call a b., how come that you have so much patience with an other one? Not an ex-lover or so? Hafspajen ( talk) 14:51, 19 May 2014 (UTC).

I was told that badass is actually a compliment ;) -- Gerda Arendt ( talk) 14:58, 19 May 2014 (UTC)

OK, confused it with ashole. Still the question is there, why this tolerance with an obviously disruptive editor, all over his talk page. Drmies is not known to be so lame. Hafspajen ( talk) 15:03, 19 May 2014 (UTC)

Yep, "badass" is good--it's someone who's so bad that they're good, perhaps. Writ Keeper, though one might not guess it, is the Macdaddy of US slang. Haf, let it go: it's bad for one's blood pressure. Drmies ( talk) 15:28, 19 May 2014 (UTC)

Why should everybody be so indulgent with obvious bad behaviour? Bad is bad and nothing more or less. [4] Look here. [5] A most Classic Wikipedia:Don't throw your toys out of the pram... Let it go, let it go, are you under a spell or what. Just because heor she posted a sexy picture on her/his talk page? Ok, I delist your talk page from my watchlist so I don't have to deal with this any more. Hafspajen ( talk) 16:19, 19 May 2014 (UTC)

Dearest Drmies? Hafspajen ( talk) 18:37, 19 May 2014 (UTC) Colorless green ideas sleep furiously... WP:Disruptive editing. Hafspajen ( talk) 18:41, 19 May 2014 (UTC)

• If you had email enabled I could tell you a joke which I'm sure you won't find funny, Haffy. Drmies ( talk) 18:43, 19 May 2014 (UTC)

• Hm. Hafspajen ( talk) 18:52, 19 May 2014 (UTC)

• Seriously. Drmies ( talk) 04:04, 20 May 2014 (UTC)

Gosh, Drmies. Hafspajen ( talk) 01:43, 21 May 2014 (UTC)

Well, Drmies make it shorter. I want to know. Hafspajen ( talk) 22:28, 21 May 2014 (UTC)

Well, Drmies, if this is true than she is out of her mind. Or he. If... it is true, this is totally unacceptable from a nice editor as CoM. A real low line. She needs mentoring, really. (Yeah, or he). Hafspajen ( talk) 00:11, 22 May 2014 (UTC)

• That's why I was trying to get you to turn your email on, so I could tell you privately before we put this up. Now, let's let Mandarax have his talk page back... Drmies ( talk) 00:25, 22 May 2014 (UTC)

Drmies, it is same. Hafspajen ( talk) 02:47, 22 July 2014 (UTC)

Drmies, same. Hafspajen ( talk) 02:51, 22 July 2014 (UTC)

? Drmies ( talk)

Oh, man. Same editor same problem. Hafspajen ( talk) 03:10, 22 July 2014 (UTC)

Drmies Hafspajen ( talk) 00:43, 23 July 2014 (UTC)

Drmies, now is chewing on crisc. Oh. Hafspajen ( talk) 18:40, 23 July 2014 (UTC)

SAME thing, Drmies. Hafspajen ( talk) 00:58, 24 July 2014 (UTC)

• Hey, let's keep it off of old Mandarax's talk page. He's busy enough with coming back already. But I don't see what I can or should do here, sorry. Drmies ( talk) 01:02, 24 July 2014 (UTC)

Why not, Drmies? Don't you see I am the target? I was the one writing about celibacy, right. Now I started work with FP, and everybody is going crazy overthere. I have to stop participating there, becuse I am the one who is triggering it with my presence. Hafspajen ( talk) 02:03, 24 July 2014 (UTC)

See the question of 3family6, below, on this page. His question is "when addressing such a huge topic as kidnapping in China, how much is the minimum requirement for a new article DYK submission?" I would like to know what you think. OccultZone ( Talk) 03:40, 20 May 2014 (UTC)

Gone.. But you may answer me anytime whenever you feel free. OccultZone ( Talk) 00:33, 30 May 2014 (UTC)

I'm sort of back after a Wikibreak of a couple of weeks (making an exception for just one short note of condolence). This place is so exhausting, with everybody arguing about everything! Even though I'm not directly involved in any of that, it still takes a toll on me. Plus, it's amazing how much I can get done in the Real World when I'm not on Wikipedia.

Gerda, I see that someone else already presented Soman with a DYK medal. And I also see that you got one of your own! I had mentioned on Drmies's talk page that we should make a fuss when you reached 500 DYKs, but then I wasn't around when you were awarded your medal. So, I'd like to offer belated congratulations! To quote myself, your "numerous DYKs have achieved the noble goal of highlighting culture on the Main Page".

As for the Hafspajen/Drmies interchange above, I have absolutely no idea what that's all about, and please, please, please don't tell me.

The DYK question above is, alas, moot, as I see that the nomination has been rejected. MANdARAX •  XAЯAbИAM 21:07, 29 May 2014 (UTC)

• I'm going to tell you anyway: I was hoping to tell Hafspajen in private that an old friend was still editing, but not under his old name and not in a very friendly manner anymore. That's all. Drmies ( talk) 04:37, 5 June 2014 (UTC)

• Ah, I see. If this is in reference to who I think it is (and even if it isn't, you'll know what I'm talking about), you're to be highly commended for your behavior. It must have been very difficult for you, and you showed great integrity. It can never be said that you blindly defend your friends no matter what they do (which is a criticism I've seen of certain users in relation to someone else, who I think you'll also know who I'm talking about). Whew! That was convoluted. MANdARAX •  XAЯAbИAM 05:36, 5 June 2014 (UTC)

Thank you, take it easy, - no fuss needed for my passion, -- Gerda Arendt ( talk) 21:14, 29 May 2014 (UTC)

You're welcome. Well, when I hit 500, I want a big fuss. Of course, by that time, my current body will have worn out, and my brain will have been transplanted into a new body, but still, whatever body I'm in wants a celebration. MANdARAX •  XAЯAbИAM 00:53, 30 May 2014 (UTC)

Yes I missed you :=) Well, whatever may have been your reason, it is good to have you here. I shall start reviewing DYKs. OccultZone ( Talk) 00:34, 30 May 2014 (UTC)

Thanks. In case you hadn't noticed, I tried to help get your necrophilia article through. MANdARAX •  XAЯAbИAM 00:53, 30 May 2014 (UTC)

Obviously I had noticed it, that's how I got your attention. OccultZone ( Talk) 01:55, 30 May 2014 (UTC)

I've sometimes wondered if anyone besides me was also fixing minor DYK problems. Well, considering that I've just taken care of over fifty issues which cropped up during my two week absence, I'd say that I must be the only one. MANdARAX •  XAЯAbИAM 00:53, 30 May 2014 (UTC)

Yes there's no 2nd opinion on that. OccultZone ( Talk) 01:55, 30 May 2014 (UTC)

I came across Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Primeval: New Dawn, and I suspect it is not listed properly. I don't know to verify or fix it though. Are you - or any TPS - good at that? Ladyof Shalott 02:28, 30 May 2014 (UTC)

I fixed it, then transcluded it to the date the AfD was created; however, after I did so, I noticed that a bot had also transcluded it, but to today's date. I knew one of the transclusions should be deleted, but I wasn't sure which. Although mine seemed to be on the "correct" date, maybe the AfD clock only starts when it's transcluded, so the bot's date would be right. I decided to bow to the all-knowing, all-powerful bot, and I deleted my transclusion.... MANdARAX •  XAЯAbИAM 06:21, 30 May 2014 (UTC)

So, I guess the short answer to your question is "no". The slightly longer answer is "no, but I can hobble my way through". BTW, it's been a while since we've interacted; it's good to see you again. MANdARAX •  XAЯAbИAM 11:33, 30 May 2014 (UTC)

Well, thank you for working on it. I agree, it's good to see you again as well! Ladyof Shalott 19:41, 1 June 2014 (UTC)

Hey friend, you forgot it my DYK template nomination, Template:Did you know nominations/Lágrimas Cálidas. Please help me, thank you for all, greetings from Colombia.

— Luis Nuñez ( talk) 12 June 2014 (UTC)

Well, I didn't forget it; I was never reviewing it. As I'm sure you're aware, I just removed two words from the hook, before the reviewer got an indefinite block, prompting a call for a new review. Someone will come along and take care of it. A lot of patience is required for DYK. I'm currently limiting my activities in the contentious and antagonistic DYK world to gnomish edits, and rarely do reviews anymore unless it's something that really interests me. Good luck. MANdARAX •  XAЯAbИAM 06:07, 13 June 2014 (UTC)

OK, I've shortened it...I hope people review my DYK's. I submitted a few yesterday, for the first time... Zigzig20s ( talk) 02:06, 14 June 2014 (UTC)

Welcome to DYK! Yes, someone will review them (and I have this strange feeling that it'll be someone with a username beginning with "Y"). To quote myself, from just above, "A lot of patience is required for DYK".

If you're wondering why I mentioned it on your talk page rather than on the nomination page, it's because I didn't want to delay it; there's a strange mentality that once anybody writes anything on the nomination page, nobody else will touch it.

Anyways, good luck with your nominations, and I hope to see more to come. MANdARAX •  XAЯAbИAM 04:11, 14 June 2014 (UTC)

Thanks for your helpful advice. Amandajm ( talk) 02:30, 15 June 2014 (UTC)

You're welcome! MANdARAX •  XAЯAbИAM 04:26, 15 June 2014 (UTC)

Hi Mandarax, can you please check my DYKN again? Thanks in advance. Chihciboy ( talk) 01:18, 16 June 2014 (UTC)

Both ALTs are of acceptable length. Someone will be along to review your nomination (hopefully soon, but please be patient). MANdARAX •  XAЯAbИAM 03:45, 16 June 2014 (UTC)

Uhmm, not sure but you may want look at this edit and edit history of the page once more. That last edit of the vandal's may have been legit correction. -- RacerX¹¹ Talk to me ^{Stalk me} 02:27, 18 June 2014 (UTC)

I was surprised to see the result of my revert, noticing that intervening vandalism had already been reverted. I was in the middle of doing a null edit with an explanatory new edit summary when the IP restored their edit, so I abandoned my edit, and undid their edit again with a more appropriate edit summary. I remain very leery of their claim. It doesn't seem very likely that some anonymous user investigated their family history and discovered the birth records of Johannes Vermeer, providing an exact birth date that had somehow eluded scholars for four hundred years. I guess anything's possible, but, as I noted, a reliable source would be required. MANdARAX •  XAЯAbИAM 02:55, 18 June 2014 (UTC)

All sources seem to be in agreement on 31 October as DOB. I was a little puzzled on why on your first revert, you chose to revert all the way back to the June 14 version, the same version I had just reverted to myself on the prev rv. Then I noticed it says "Baptized" in the field value of the born parameter. Still does as I write this. Doesn't seem right. I was just making sure there wasn't some confusion on one of our parts, which could easily happen.-- RacerX¹¹ Talk to me ^{Stalk me} 03:05, 18 June 2014 (UTC)

Yes, I've seen the Baptism date given in other instances where the exact birth date is unknown. Baptism records probably survive in Church archives or family Bibles, while birth records may have been lost. MANdARAX •  XAЯAbИAM 03:23, 18 June 2014 (UTC)

Ok, that explains it. I usually edit mostly geographic articles so I don't run into many uncertain birth dates. Thanks. -- RacerX¹¹ Talk to me ^{Stalk me} 04:19, 18 June 2014 (UTC)

Hi there. You recently formally rejected this DYK nomination after User:Mangoe boldly redirected it to a dab page. For the last four days a debate has been going on on the articles talk page regarding whether this redirect was appropriate, with Mangoe maintaining it was the right thing to do and myself and another user disagreeing. Now a fourth editor has come in and reverted the redirect. Anyway, assuming the article remains how it is, how do I go about renominating it for DYK? Do you re-open the closed nomination? Or do I created "Template:Did you know nominations/Jailbait (2nd nomination)". It is currently 6 days since I expanded it, though I am very much hoping I would be either be given some leeway if it goes over 7 days due to extenuating circumstances, or it would still count as being nominated from June 12. Please advise and thanks for your time. Freikorp ( talk) 23:42, 17 June 2014 (UTC)

I've reopened the nomination. The time goes from when an article is created or expansion begins until it's nominated. (After that, the nomination can drag on for as long as it takes for it to be ultimately passed or rejected.) Since you nominated it on the same day you began expansion, the timing is fine. Good luck. MANdARAX •  XAЯAbИAM 06:38, 18 June 2014 (UTC)

Thanks. Freikorp ( talk) 07:38, 18 June 2014 (UTC)

	The Minor barnstar
	For outstanding patience and for a wonderful page. A barnstar for you! Hafspajen ( talk) 21:37, 18 June 2014 (UTC)

Hafspajen ( talk) 21:06, 18 June 2014 (UTC)

• Very minor, but sure. Drmies ( talk) 21:19, 18 June 2014 (UTC)

Ee. Hafspajen ( talk) 21:24, 18 June 2014 (UTC)

Sigh. Drmies, this is a problem editor. He just went and recreated it. New it he was disrespectful. I am an idiot. I might start a sockpuppet or abandon account. Ok, swich off. Hafspajen ( talk) 22:07, 18 June 2014 (UTC)

• Drmies, he will do that again, you can bet your last shirt on it. If not, I will eat my hat. It is as sure as the moon shines at night and the sun in the daytime. Hafspajen ( talk) 23:45, 18 June 2014 (UTC)

Hm. An attempted outing is grounds for an immediate block... ? Hafspajen ( talk) 06:17, 19 June 2014 (UTC)

Thanks for the barnstar.

For anyone confused by Drmies's comment, he wasn't belittling the "minor barnstar" by saying that it was very minor, but rather replying to a minor request by Hafspajen which is no longer on this page. Any other confusion? Well, I'll have to join you in that. I never know what Drmies and Hafspajen are talking about, or why they're doing it here (is my page more "stealthy"?), but they're certainly welcome to do so. MANdARAX •  XAЯAbИAM 22:25, 18 June 2014 (UTC)

You are the one that rings twice. Hafspajen ( talk) 23:42, 18 June 2014 (UTC)

• Ha, Mandarax, I hadn't even seen the minor barnstar! Hey, it's summer. What are you doing? How's your pool looking? Drmies ( talk) 23:45, 18 June 2014 (UTC)

• Well, if you had seen the barnstar, it would've been a precognitive experience, because it wasn't there when you made that initial comment.

  No pool, which is fine since I don't swim and I'd much rather have the garden space which would be occupied by a pool. However, the neighbors finally took care of their pool pump which had been annoyingly loud. MANdARAX •  XAЯAbИAM 00:07, 19 June 2014 (UTC)

The editor everybody is talking about here on Olympia, happens to be C1497, and it is actually hounding, yes. I stopped discussing it because I don't want to be part of making it any worse, and I tried to deffend him, but it is water off a duck's back, and it can seriously damage C-s reputatiom, and nobody does or say anything, ^{blast it}. And he didn't do anything wrong, to justify this circus, Drmies. He is verdicted as incompetent, doesn't even bother to familiarise with the most basic critical comments about the image, he shouldn't be editing its colour values , the community should be reigning his excesses oh, come on, now. Also, I don't like the talk page of this editor. Editing since last year, november? The comment go away, I know what I am doing... [6], [7], [8], [9]. Hope it is not a new outbreak of whatever. Hafspajen ( talk) 02:07, 25 June 2014 (UTC)

You know what, Drmies. Hafspajen ( talk) 09:25, 25 June 2014 (UTC)

Drmies, I think we got back the same problem again, and it is slowly getting more and more disruptive. I thought - well maybe this time it will work. [10] [11]. Hafspajen ( talk) 22:34, 18 July 2014 (UTC)

Hello! Your submission of The Lost Boys (professional wrestling) at the Did You Know nominations page has been reviewed, and some issues with it may need to be clarified. Please review the comment(s) underneath your nomination's entry and respond there as soon as possible. Thank you for contributing to Did You Know! Storye book ( talk) 12:24, 21 June 2014 (UTC)

Fortunately, this was taken care of by others in my absence, and the hook was promoted lonnnng ago. Just as well, since I never even looked at the article, nor did I have the slightest desire to do so. I'll just mention that, while I was happy to create the nomination as requested by an IP on WT:DYK, it is their responsibility to keep an eye on the nomination and take care of any issues that arise. MANdARAX •  XAЯAbИAM 20:42, 25 July 2014 (UTC)

Hello Mandarax, Here DDupard talking from France, I see that you are interested in arts, could you please have a look at this page in French whith a W.M link: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Yves_Lechevallier and then give me your opinion in regard to a possible submission to the WP in English. I have translated the article already, but would appreciate your opinion. Thank you for your time,-- DDupard ( talk) 19:28, 26 June 2014 (UTC)

Welcome to the English Wikipedia! I see that you asked someone else in my absence, got a reply, and created the article in Draft space. Thanks for your contributions. MANdARAX •  XAЯAbИAM 21:08, 25 July 2014 (UTC)

When I see an interesting phrasing of words, for some idiotic reason, I think of you. A person can now blossom and wilt. Personally, I've been more decomposing rather than wilting. Looking into if I should Prod Winner Twins or not (somebody beat me to it), I found that they started writing because of B5. They weren't born when B5 first aired.... sigh, I decomposed a little more. Bgwhite ( talk) 06:30, 27 June 2014 (UTC)

Thanks for sharing that odd blossomed/wilted usage. You think you've seen it all, then you come across something like that. As for B5, it's good to know that a new generation may be discovering it, but yes, it's sometimes scary to see how the passage of time is accelerating. MANdARAX •  XAЯAbИAM 21:37, 25 July 2014 (UTC)

Shaming people on talk pages for peoples misuse of words is not enough for you. You are now staring to same them on articles in the See Also section.

Seeing your shameful edit put your name in my head and the next article had something I'm not sure about. I keep seeing italics around and not around 'apostrophe s'. Is it world's or world's? Bgwhite ( talk) 06:07, 11 July 2014 (UTC)

For the benefit of people who don't know that you're joking, that IP (which geolocates to Sandy, Oregon, wherever that is) is not me. For the benefit of people who don't look at the wikicode, I was amused by your uses of {{ not a typo}} (but you forgot one on "same"). That IP's edits are atypical in that half of them are vandalism (decrying the use of the word "equidistant") and the others are spam (advertising their RV business). Usually it's one or the other.

As for apostrophes, I'd say that the apostrophe-s should not be included in the italics ( King of the World's release was in 1980) unless, for example, it's part of a title (and I can't even think of a reasonable example). MANdARAX •  XAЯAbИAM 22:19, 25 July 2014 (UTC)

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