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. |
Archive 120 | ← | Archive 123 | Archive 124 | Archive 125 | Archive 126 | Archive 127 | → | Archive 130 |
this discussion passed the "usefulness" stage about three days ago. -- Jayron 32 01:45, 16 October 2016 (UTC) |
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The following discussion has been closed. Please do not modify it. |
Has anyone figured other effective ways to get him/her to walk away from the refdesks forever without having to semiprotect? 71.231.237.213 ( talk) 16:44, 10 October 2016 (UTC)
But how can they possibly find out where to send him such a letter, given that the troll may be using open proxies? 71.231.237.213 ( talk) 19:07, 10 October 2016 (UTC)
Not meaning to be blunt, but does the troll ever get laid? Maybe what he needs is to find himself a girlfriend. It's certainly more pleasurable and exciting than trying to troll the Refdesk. Uncle dan is home ( talk) 16:44, 12 October 2016 (UTC)
No-one else seems to have noticed, or at least mentioned, that I reverted him seven times in the space of four minutes yesterday morning on Humanities. -- Viennese Waltz 07:07, 13 October 2016 (UTC)
Wpheys dto JBrexwitsh bjaudnkiecrs daelny trhee hvolioheciawgu This is going to annoy him more than he annoys us. 79.73.133.142 ( talk) 16:37, 13 October 2016 (UTC)
A potentially resolvable questionAlthough I don't have any hope of our reaching consensus on the wider issue, can I try and get some guidance on one specific point, which I've been getting conflicting messages on? If a banned user's posts have good-faith replies, should the person who deletes the original posting also delete the replies? Tevildo ( talk) 19:31, 14 October 2016 (UTC)
"His Nazi garbage must not be allowed to stand unchallenged"This isn't just feeding the troll. It is feeding the troll lobster tails slowly poached in butter, herb-crusted rack of lamb with rosemary roasted potatoes and a side dish of golden imperial osetra caviar, all topped off with a glass of 1998 veuve clicquot la grande dame Champagne. Until certain editors realize that they created the trolling problem by feeding the trolls, the trolling problem will never be solved. -- Guy Macon ( talk) 16:38, 15 October 2016 (UTC)
A Restatement of the IssueUser:Guy Macon – You ask why Report Delete Revdel Semi isn’t tried here, although it works everywhere else in Wikipedia. I basically agree, and think that is the appropriate answer, but will explain again why some editors disagree. The sticking point is Semi. As I have said previously, there is a school of thought concerning the Reference Desks, which I call idealists, that the Reference Desks are special and that their purpose is outreach to the population of unregistered editors who must be allowed not only to read but to write. Everywhere else, we agree that the primary purpose of Wikipedia is to be read, both by registered and by unregistered editors, and that a secondary purpose is to improve the readable content, which involves the ability of editors to write. Therefore everywhere else, we agree that semi-protection is a small price to pay to stop trolling. However, on the Reference Desks, some editors consider semi-protection to be wrong’ a violation of the special mission of outreach to unregistered editors who wish to post questions. The idea that the Reference Desks should never be semi-protected prevents solving the problem, and the idea that semi-protection of the Reference Desks should be complained about encourages complaining about semi-protection, which is a form of troll-feeding. User:Guy Macon – You asked why RDRS isn’t tried here. The answer because idealists consider Semi-Protection, which is part of the formula, to be wrong. Robert McClenon ( talk) 19:45, 15 October 2016 (UTC)
I happen to agree with the comment that reporting the troll to ANI is a bad idea, but that is because trolls should be reported to AIV. Robert McClenon ( talk) 19:45, 15 October 2016 (UTC)
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@ SemanticMantis: @ Wnt: - A discussion about my recent removal ( diff) of a question which I interpreted as a request for medical advice (indeed, the OP is explicitly asking for a diagnosis and a treatment recommendation) seems indicated. Tevildo ( talk) 18:22, 1 October 2016 (UTC)
Hi Tevildo, Regarding this [1] removal: is there a reason why you are acting against our published guidelines? They clearly state:
“ | Generally speaking, answers are more likely to be sanctioned than questions. The purpose is to minimise disruption: editors disagree over whether a question is seeking medical advice, and removing the whole question is discouraging for new contributors. Therefore, most of the time, the responsibility lies with responders not to give medical advice, regardless of the question. | ” |
[2] emphasis mine.
Is this you being WP:BOLD and applying WP:NORULES? I'm curious, because I have repeatedly pointed out on the talk page that we are encouraged to remove responses that give medical advice, rather than censor questions. I was tempted to revert your removal, but decided to ask about it instead. In my opinion there are many scholary references we could point the OP to, without giving any sort of medical advice, even broadly construed. I think ToE and User:Wnt's responses were perfectly professional and well within our scope. If you feel this needs more input, feel free to copy over to the talk page. Cheers, SemanticMantis ( talk) 16:55, 1 October 2016 (UTC)
“ | Response redacted in accordance with our guidelines against providing medical advice [5]. Responses that contain only references will not be construed as medical advice. If you feel this redaction was made in error, please seek consensus at the talk page before restoring this response. | ” |
When I typed in black magic, I got an error saying that the edit was potentially unconstructive. When I put in dark magic though, everything was okay. Is there some sort word filter? AndrewAngel1024 ( talk) 03:13, 17 October 2016 (UTC)
A post at WP/S [11] amounts to an opinion piece that contradicts the accepted rôle of the electron as the mobile charge carrier in metals. The poster resists my hatting [12] of their claim "the electron does not move" and has deleted links I gave to the articles Electric current and Charge carrier that state our mainstream understanding. The "righting a great misconception" tone and scathing reference to Lie to children is ominous. Following WP:BRD procedure the poster's peculiar claim should be dealt with if possible on this page rather than engaging them in yet another ugly argument on the Ref. Desk. AllBestFaith ( talk) 21:34, 14 October 2016 (UTC)
Electric power can flow through 3 media
What carries electric charge? | |
---|---|
Vacuum | Alternating electric field causes Maxwellian displacement currents. DC cannot flow continuously. |
Insulator | Electrons. Individual electrons have indeterminate locations but are bound to their atoms so there is no nett travel. Alternating electric field causes Maxwellian displacement currents. DC cannot flow continuously. |
Metal | Electrons are found in 2 categories:
1. Inner (filled band) electrons have indeterminate locations but are bound to their atoms so there is no nett travel. 2. Outer conduction electrons are free to move through the metal lattice. DC can flow continuously and corresponds to nett travel of these electrons. |
Power delivery through insulators occurs on a small scale in electronic capacitors. Utility power distribution to homes by AC through insulators is a theoretical exercise but would be very impractical. Metal cables are universally used and giving a lecture about electrons that don't move in insulators is inappropriate for that case.
Fun facts about the electron
If it were not a discrete charged particle, Millikan would not have found its elementary charge difference between oil drops in 1911. But he did.
If the electron were not mobile, Thomson would not have been able to control their trajectories by electric and magnetic fields in his cathode ray tubes. But he did.
If an electron is not a trackable individual particle, Wilson would not have tracked individual electrons from decay events in his Cloud chamber. But he did.
The above short list of scientists who I think are all worthy Nobel laureates will suffice to answer your claim that "all of science of the past century" rejects the model of an electron as a discrete, individually identifiable and trackable particle. In view of the electron's Wave–particle duality I choose not to be drawn into a debate with you about whether the electron can be called solid. They certainly have measurable mass and are in continual random motion and collisions. Anyone who may have rashly sworn never ever ever to find fault with my writing, I do hereby graciously release from that onerous commitment. Pax vobiscum. AllBestFaith ( talk) 16:56, 16 October 2016 (UTC)
"For over 40 years, AskNYPL has been answering people's questions by looking things up in a variety of texts, recordings and other resources. And these people are expert researchers, so they know where to look for information, which is key in providing a really good, quality answer [...] — even if the question has multiple parts, and even if you're missing some key information. That's the benefit of a human over a computer algorithm. Plus, you might learn something unexpected from talking with a researcher — and if you need some recommended reading, they've got that covered too."
Source: [ http://www.mnn.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/blogs/years-before-Google-existed-new-york-public-library-offered-human-google ]. -- Guy Macon ( talk) 19:31, 26 October 2016 (UTC)
What came first? – What do Scientists think, and what do Wikipedians think?
103.230.107.23 ( talk) 19:37, 19 October 2016 (UTC)
Anybody know if there've been any problems with (or changes to) the Wikimedia servers lately? The RD archiving bot has been complaining about strange errors for the past two nights, as if edited pages are coming back empty, or something. I haven't yet dug in to figure out if they're real or spurious.— Steve Summit ( talk) 02:17, 21 October 2016 (UTC)
This
edit request to
Wikipedia:Reference desk/Miscellaneous has been answered. Set the |answered= or |ans= parameter to no to reactivate your request. |
I'm unable to find a wrap speed animated wallpaper that starts from a normal motion to the wrap speed motion.
103.230.105.8 ( talk) 22:24, 1 November 2016 (UTC)
This
edit request to
Wikipedia:Reference desk/Humanities has been answered. Set the |answered= or |ans= parameter to no to reactivate your request. |
During the transatlantic slave trade, were women also shackled and chained during the middle passage? -- Pike-Pilet ( talk) 11:02, 2 November 2016 (UTC)
Pike-Pilet ( talk) 11:02, 2 November 2016 (UTC)
This
edit request to
Wikipedia:Reference desk/Science has been answered. Set the |answered= or |ans= parameter to no to reactivate your request. |
Can someone move the question at Wikipedia:Reference desk/Computing#human to the Science ref desk? Obviously that question is in the wrong place.
47.138.165.200 ( talk) 15:01, 2 November 2016 (UTC)
Sometimes a reader asks a question and we fail to provide an answer; I'd like us to do better. Let me be more precise:
The example that causes me to write this is [Wikipedia:Reference_desk/Humanities#First_US_State_Dinner The first US State Dinner]. It is not the only one.
I'll head off digressions by saying at once that no answer may be better than a wrong one, unsourced speculation to fill a void is not helpful, and there is no obligation on any of us volunteers to research any query that does not pique our interest. However, doesn't the querent deserve better than nothing? Being ignored can be a very odd feeling - exacerbated electronically.
Has anyone previously proposed something along the lines of a response template that could be manually deployed after three or four days of silence? "Thank you for your question. Wikipedia celebrates curiosity. We are sorry that you haven't received a reply, but .... [something about the limitations of volunteer editors]. You may find an answer by ... [something about reference libraries, which not everyone knows about]. Please feel free to ask another question in the future, and again, our apologies for not being able to help you this time."
Thoughts? Carbon Caryatid ( talk) 13:43, 24 October 2016 (UTC)
DFTT — Preceding unsigned comment added by Dodger67 ( talk • contribs) 17:16, 7 November 2016 (UTC) |
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The following discussion has been closed. Please do not modify it. |
Additionally, can Wikipedia suggest me a reasonable way to ask our editors - a question continuously deleted from the Ref desk by two editors - who mistakenly think my question is not genuine? Today, I asked a question at the reference desk (for details about the question, see the last section below, in small letters). Unfortunately, two editors who - instead of assuming a good faith - thought my question was not genuine, deleted it from the Ref desk, while adding a comment - on the summary edit - that there was no way to answer my question. However, I think that - instead of their deleting a (legitimate) question from the Ref desk - they should have written their (unnecessarily correct) comment on the Ref desk, and should have let other editors try to answer my (legitimate) question. Actually, what happened was the following: Today I noticed, that some people had used the connection between the word Trump and the word trumpet, e.g. in this paper, so I wanted to know whether anybody before me has also noticed the connection between Trump's name and Trump's rival's husband's expertise in playing trumpet. I innocently asked about that - at the reference desk, but unfortunately my question was deleted (instead of assuming a good faith). HOTmag ( talk) 22:41, 6 November 2016 (UTC)
RfC closed. The question at issue was flawed for all the multiple reasons given, and was appropriately removed. This matter does not warrant further discussion, and certainly not an RfC. Newyorkbrad ( talk) 02:18, 7 November 2016 (UTC)
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This
edit request to
Wikipedia:Reference desk/Computing has been answered. Set the |answered= or |ans= parameter to no to reactivate your request. |
Which non-free adobe softwares are meant for students. If I am looking for time pass, not professional or business works.
1.39.39.187 ( talk) 14:06, 3 November 2016 (UTC)
Done
I think my "modest proposal" above is about to fall off the edge of this page, so I'll start a new section. I mooted the creation of a form of words to deploy on questions that remain unanswered after a few days. It is now ready for anyone to use, or not. I'm calling it the Sorry template. Carbon Caryatid ( talk) 16:27, 13 November 2016 (UTC)
Sorry! - I don't know what I'm doing. I tried to make this invokable by copying the text to /info/en/?search=Wikipedia_talk:Reference_desk/Template:sorry , but due to namespace precedence or some other reason, {{sorry}} just calls that apology template at the start of this comment. Maybe a rename would work, or it needs to be put in another place? Thanks for any help. SemanticMantis ( talk) 19:18, 15 November 2016 (UTC)
{{
sorry}}
. To call this one, you'd have to type {{Wikipedia talk:Reference desk/Template:sorry}}
(see
WP:TEMPLATE and
WP:TRANS for more info), but it'd probably be easier to move it to the template namespace with a different name, like
Template:refdesk-sorry (so it could be invoked using {{
refdesk-sorry}}
).
clpo13(
talk) 19:24, 15 November 2016 (UTC)
{{
refdesk-sorry}}
, should now work, and look like this:Thank you for your question! Wikipedia celebrates curiosity. We are sorry that you haven't received a reply, but these reference desks are staffed by volunteers. Apparently, none of our current staff feel they have the expertise or knowledge to answer your question.
You may find answers elsewhere. One excellent resource is a real-life reference desk, staffed by professional librarians. There may be one in your area, often at a central branch of a public library system. In addition, your national library (e.g. the British Library) may allow online reference requests. An alternative is the New York Public Library's ASK service, which operates by text-chat and telephone. Here's a news article explaining how they work, which describes them as a "human Google".
Please feel free to ask us another question in the future, or indeed to re-post your original question (perhaps re-wording it) after a week or so, as there may be a different set of volunteer editors reading the page then. We apologize for not being able to help you at this time.
[17] Future Perfect at Sunrise How do we know this is a banned user? Is it Vote X? -- Viennese Waltz 08:40, 23 November 2016 (UTC)
Why was my question deleted as trolling? 24.90.72.195 ( talk) 19:36, 30 November 2016 (UTC)
Have there been any RD regulars that have become employees of the Wikimedia foundation? Uncle dan is home ( talk) 00:54, 30 November 2016 (UTC)
Where do I go if I want to start a debate there? All of the past debates are from years ago. What if I want to start a new one? The Rd guidelines directed me to there if I want to have debates 97.94.201.18 ( talk) 19:42, 6 December 2016 (UTC)
I just "fixed" one of the issues on the page Astronomical Optical Interferometry, and removed the issue saying the lead was too long. Is it okay now to remove it? If so, how do I change the "Multiple issues" to just one issue?
Checks Facts ( Talk) 21:45, 13 December 2016 (UTC)
Never mind about the Multiple issues problem, I found that out.
Checks Facts ( Talk) 22:41, 13 December 2016 (UTC)My question was deleted.
I know it might seem like it, but I'm not trolling.
Perhaps, could I have worded it better?
Please, help me ask my question, don't keep deleting me...
Benjamin ( talk) 20:27, 22 December 2016 (UTC)
Just a reminder that it's a lot harder to revert to a revision after it's been revdelled (and before you argue, remember WP:BEANS). It also seems to discourage a certain someone who has said that he wants page protection and whose edits are valid under WP:RD3. We should probably be going "Block, revert, revdel, ignore" instead of revert, block, ignore. Ian.thomson ( talk) 01:09, 28 December 2016 (UTC)
One thing I've noticed about the Refdesk is that the policy against predictions,opinions,and debate doesn't seem to be applied consistently. Sometimes I see question s which clearly fall into any of those three,yet they never get hatred. Now I admit, some of my questions fall into those three,but at one time I saw someone asking a question at the computing desk about which was the best something to buy. I forget what it was exactly,but the OP said that he had done a Google search,and wanted to know where to find out about buying something. The question was hatted even though he made it clear he was trying to research about buying something, probably because he phrased it as which is the best something to buy. Any thoughts? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Uncle dan is home ( talk • contribs) 21:11, 28 December 2016 (UTC)
Could someone help me out? I'm trying to ask for a list of states where gambling is illegal, but it says that my edit is unconstructive. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.107.79.72 ( talk) 21:14, 29 December 2016 (UTC)
...on the Miscellaneous RD - and in this case, not my own but another User's response appearing under my good-faith one. I know we're not supposed to edit another's comments, but I waited a good half-day and got tired of seeing what I suggest is a form of abuse: of the OP, of the good-faith respondents, and of the countless lurking readers - many of whom may not have a full command of English nor the contributor's cultural matrix - who hope to glean information from the RDs. I don't consider the Miscellaneous desk a playground and think the RD rules should apply here too, one of which is to surround a purely humorous remark with a pair of "small" HTML tags. Kindly clarify this, for me as well. -- Cheers, Deborahjay ( talk) 09:05, 9 January 2017 (UTC)
At the top of each ref-desk is some logic that adds the visible protection tag automatically whenever the page is protected:
{{#ifeq:{{PROTECTIONLEVEL:edit}}|autoconfirmed|{{pp|small=no}}}}
followed by a blank line with the comment "Please do not delete the following blank line, the protection template interferes with the TOC otherwise". Indeed, when protection is on and there is no blank line, the prot box overlaps the "skip to bottom" (upper right) part of the Wikipedia:Reference desk/header boxes. But when protection is off, that blank line leaves whitespace at the top of the page. I can't figure out a way to get the blank line to be part of the #ifeq block:( I assume the browser can't cope with the header using:
position:relative; top:-30px; zoom:1
to move the right part of the headers further up than expected. Not sure a cleaner solution yet. Maybe the right part of the headers should be re-designed not to have a dangling-up item? DMacks ( talk) 22:40, 15 January 2017 (UTC)
At the top of WP:RDH there are two boxes regarding how the page is semi-protected. I looked at the page source, but I couldn't determine why the box is showing twice. Can someone explain why it like that and how to fix it? RudolfRed ( talk) 20:43, 23 January 2017 (UTC)
Although I have found how to access the archives, I fail to see a quick link to the immediately-previous one (once there, they link eachother for convenience). I'm not sure if this is a bug, or intentional. I personally believe that such a link at the top would be very useful, but I understand that it probably cannot be a static link, and may need to automatically be updated by the archiving bot if there is no dynamic template for this... 76.10.128.192 ( talk) 01:15, 4 February 2017 (UTC)
I noticed the page description includes: We'll answer here within a few days -- c'mon, "a few minutes" would be closer ... "a few hours" at the most. -- 2606:a000:4c0c:e200:c03a:9d20:31ef:82f7 ( talk · contribs) 23:14, 14 January 2017 (UTC)
discussion here. Beeblebrox ( talk) 00:30, 10 February 2017 (UTC)
I noticed the page description includes: We'll answer here within a few days -- c'mon, "a few minutes" would be closer ... "a few hours" at the most. -- 2606:a000:4c0c:e200:c03a:9d20:31ef:82f7 ( talk · contribs) 23:14, 14 January 2017 (UTC)
discussion here. Beeblebrox ( talk) 00:30, 10 February 2017 (UTC)
On which desk should I ask general questions about the history and/or operating characteristics of various rapid transit systems (by "general" I mean questions other than ones like "What's the best way to get from Station A to Station B?" or "Would I get a good view of Building X from elevated line Y?")? 2601:646:8E01:7E0B:F88D:DE34:7772:8E5B ( talk) 10:19, 12 February 2017 (UTC)
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. |
Archive 120 | ← | Archive 123 | Archive 124 | Archive 125 | Archive 126 | Archive 127 | → | Archive 130 |
this discussion passed the "usefulness" stage about three days ago. -- Jayron 32 01:45, 16 October 2016 (UTC) |
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The following discussion has been closed. Please do not modify it. |
Has anyone figured other effective ways to get him/her to walk away from the refdesks forever without having to semiprotect? 71.231.237.213 ( talk) 16:44, 10 October 2016 (UTC)
But how can they possibly find out where to send him such a letter, given that the troll may be using open proxies? 71.231.237.213 ( talk) 19:07, 10 October 2016 (UTC)
Not meaning to be blunt, but does the troll ever get laid? Maybe what he needs is to find himself a girlfriend. It's certainly more pleasurable and exciting than trying to troll the Refdesk. Uncle dan is home ( talk) 16:44, 12 October 2016 (UTC)
No-one else seems to have noticed, or at least mentioned, that I reverted him seven times in the space of four minutes yesterday morning on Humanities. -- Viennese Waltz 07:07, 13 October 2016 (UTC)
Wpheys dto JBrexwitsh bjaudnkiecrs daelny trhee hvolioheciawgu This is going to annoy him more than he annoys us. 79.73.133.142 ( talk) 16:37, 13 October 2016 (UTC)
A potentially resolvable questionAlthough I don't have any hope of our reaching consensus on the wider issue, can I try and get some guidance on one specific point, which I've been getting conflicting messages on? If a banned user's posts have good-faith replies, should the person who deletes the original posting also delete the replies? Tevildo ( talk) 19:31, 14 October 2016 (UTC)
"His Nazi garbage must not be allowed to stand unchallenged"This isn't just feeding the troll. It is feeding the troll lobster tails slowly poached in butter, herb-crusted rack of lamb with rosemary roasted potatoes and a side dish of golden imperial osetra caviar, all topped off with a glass of 1998 veuve clicquot la grande dame Champagne. Until certain editors realize that they created the trolling problem by feeding the trolls, the trolling problem will never be solved. -- Guy Macon ( talk) 16:38, 15 October 2016 (UTC)
A Restatement of the IssueUser:Guy Macon – You ask why Report Delete Revdel Semi isn’t tried here, although it works everywhere else in Wikipedia. I basically agree, and think that is the appropriate answer, but will explain again why some editors disagree. The sticking point is Semi. As I have said previously, there is a school of thought concerning the Reference Desks, which I call idealists, that the Reference Desks are special and that their purpose is outreach to the population of unregistered editors who must be allowed not only to read but to write. Everywhere else, we agree that the primary purpose of Wikipedia is to be read, both by registered and by unregistered editors, and that a secondary purpose is to improve the readable content, which involves the ability of editors to write. Therefore everywhere else, we agree that semi-protection is a small price to pay to stop trolling. However, on the Reference Desks, some editors consider semi-protection to be wrong’ a violation of the special mission of outreach to unregistered editors who wish to post questions. The idea that the Reference Desks should never be semi-protected prevents solving the problem, and the idea that semi-protection of the Reference Desks should be complained about encourages complaining about semi-protection, which is a form of troll-feeding. User:Guy Macon – You asked why RDRS isn’t tried here. The answer because idealists consider Semi-Protection, which is part of the formula, to be wrong. Robert McClenon ( talk) 19:45, 15 October 2016 (UTC)
I happen to agree with the comment that reporting the troll to ANI is a bad idea, but that is because trolls should be reported to AIV. Robert McClenon ( talk) 19:45, 15 October 2016 (UTC)
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@ SemanticMantis: @ Wnt: - A discussion about my recent removal ( diff) of a question which I interpreted as a request for medical advice (indeed, the OP is explicitly asking for a diagnosis and a treatment recommendation) seems indicated. Tevildo ( talk) 18:22, 1 October 2016 (UTC)
Hi Tevildo, Regarding this [1] removal: is there a reason why you are acting against our published guidelines? They clearly state:
“ | Generally speaking, answers are more likely to be sanctioned than questions. The purpose is to minimise disruption: editors disagree over whether a question is seeking medical advice, and removing the whole question is discouraging for new contributors. Therefore, most of the time, the responsibility lies with responders not to give medical advice, regardless of the question. | ” |
[2] emphasis mine.
Is this you being WP:BOLD and applying WP:NORULES? I'm curious, because I have repeatedly pointed out on the talk page that we are encouraged to remove responses that give medical advice, rather than censor questions. I was tempted to revert your removal, but decided to ask about it instead. In my opinion there are many scholary references we could point the OP to, without giving any sort of medical advice, even broadly construed. I think ToE and User:Wnt's responses were perfectly professional and well within our scope. If you feel this needs more input, feel free to copy over to the talk page. Cheers, SemanticMantis ( talk) 16:55, 1 October 2016 (UTC)
“ | Response redacted in accordance with our guidelines against providing medical advice [5]. Responses that contain only references will not be construed as medical advice. If you feel this redaction was made in error, please seek consensus at the talk page before restoring this response. | ” |
When I typed in black magic, I got an error saying that the edit was potentially unconstructive. When I put in dark magic though, everything was okay. Is there some sort word filter? AndrewAngel1024 ( talk) 03:13, 17 October 2016 (UTC)
A post at WP/S [11] amounts to an opinion piece that contradicts the accepted rôle of the electron as the mobile charge carrier in metals. The poster resists my hatting [12] of their claim "the electron does not move" and has deleted links I gave to the articles Electric current and Charge carrier that state our mainstream understanding. The "righting a great misconception" tone and scathing reference to Lie to children is ominous. Following WP:BRD procedure the poster's peculiar claim should be dealt with if possible on this page rather than engaging them in yet another ugly argument on the Ref. Desk. AllBestFaith ( talk) 21:34, 14 October 2016 (UTC)
Electric power can flow through 3 media
What carries electric charge? | |
---|---|
Vacuum | Alternating electric field causes Maxwellian displacement currents. DC cannot flow continuously. |
Insulator | Electrons. Individual electrons have indeterminate locations but are bound to their atoms so there is no nett travel. Alternating electric field causes Maxwellian displacement currents. DC cannot flow continuously. |
Metal | Electrons are found in 2 categories:
1. Inner (filled band) electrons have indeterminate locations but are bound to their atoms so there is no nett travel. 2. Outer conduction electrons are free to move through the metal lattice. DC can flow continuously and corresponds to nett travel of these electrons. |
Power delivery through insulators occurs on a small scale in electronic capacitors. Utility power distribution to homes by AC through insulators is a theoretical exercise but would be very impractical. Metal cables are universally used and giving a lecture about electrons that don't move in insulators is inappropriate for that case.
Fun facts about the electron
If it were not a discrete charged particle, Millikan would not have found its elementary charge difference between oil drops in 1911. But he did.
If the electron were not mobile, Thomson would not have been able to control their trajectories by electric and magnetic fields in his cathode ray tubes. But he did.
If an electron is not a trackable individual particle, Wilson would not have tracked individual electrons from decay events in his Cloud chamber. But he did.
The above short list of scientists who I think are all worthy Nobel laureates will suffice to answer your claim that "all of science of the past century" rejects the model of an electron as a discrete, individually identifiable and trackable particle. In view of the electron's Wave–particle duality I choose not to be drawn into a debate with you about whether the electron can be called solid. They certainly have measurable mass and are in continual random motion and collisions. Anyone who may have rashly sworn never ever ever to find fault with my writing, I do hereby graciously release from that onerous commitment. Pax vobiscum. AllBestFaith ( talk) 16:56, 16 October 2016 (UTC)
"For over 40 years, AskNYPL has been answering people's questions by looking things up in a variety of texts, recordings and other resources. And these people are expert researchers, so they know where to look for information, which is key in providing a really good, quality answer [...] — even if the question has multiple parts, and even if you're missing some key information. That's the benefit of a human over a computer algorithm. Plus, you might learn something unexpected from talking with a researcher — and if you need some recommended reading, they've got that covered too."
Source: [ http://www.mnn.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/blogs/years-before-Google-existed-new-york-public-library-offered-human-google ]. -- Guy Macon ( talk) 19:31, 26 October 2016 (UTC)
What came first? – What do Scientists think, and what do Wikipedians think?
103.230.107.23 ( talk) 19:37, 19 October 2016 (UTC)
Anybody know if there've been any problems with (or changes to) the Wikimedia servers lately? The RD archiving bot has been complaining about strange errors for the past two nights, as if edited pages are coming back empty, or something. I haven't yet dug in to figure out if they're real or spurious.— Steve Summit ( talk) 02:17, 21 October 2016 (UTC)
This
edit request to
Wikipedia:Reference desk/Miscellaneous has been answered. Set the |answered= or |ans= parameter to no to reactivate your request. |
I'm unable to find a wrap speed animated wallpaper that starts from a normal motion to the wrap speed motion.
103.230.105.8 ( talk) 22:24, 1 November 2016 (UTC)
This
edit request to
Wikipedia:Reference desk/Humanities has been answered. Set the |answered= or |ans= parameter to no to reactivate your request. |
During the transatlantic slave trade, were women also shackled and chained during the middle passage? -- Pike-Pilet ( talk) 11:02, 2 November 2016 (UTC)
Pike-Pilet ( talk) 11:02, 2 November 2016 (UTC)
This
edit request to
Wikipedia:Reference desk/Science has been answered. Set the |answered= or |ans= parameter to no to reactivate your request. |
Can someone move the question at Wikipedia:Reference desk/Computing#human to the Science ref desk? Obviously that question is in the wrong place.
47.138.165.200 ( talk) 15:01, 2 November 2016 (UTC)
Sometimes a reader asks a question and we fail to provide an answer; I'd like us to do better. Let me be more precise:
The example that causes me to write this is [Wikipedia:Reference_desk/Humanities#First_US_State_Dinner The first US State Dinner]. It is not the only one.
I'll head off digressions by saying at once that no answer may be better than a wrong one, unsourced speculation to fill a void is not helpful, and there is no obligation on any of us volunteers to research any query that does not pique our interest. However, doesn't the querent deserve better than nothing? Being ignored can be a very odd feeling - exacerbated electronically.
Has anyone previously proposed something along the lines of a response template that could be manually deployed after three or four days of silence? "Thank you for your question. Wikipedia celebrates curiosity. We are sorry that you haven't received a reply, but .... [something about the limitations of volunteer editors]. You may find an answer by ... [something about reference libraries, which not everyone knows about]. Please feel free to ask another question in the future, and again, our apologies for not being able to help you this time."
Thoughts? Carbon Caryatid ( talk) 13:43, 24 October 2016 (UTC)
DFTT — Preceding unsigned comment added by Dodger67 ( talk • contribs) 17:16, 7 November 2016 (UTC) |
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The following discussion has been closed. Please do not modify it. |
Additionally, can Wikipedia suggest me a reasonable way to ask our editors - a question continuously deleted from the Ref desk by two editors - who mistakenly think my question is not genuine? Today, I asked a question at the reference desk (for details about the question, see the last section below, in small letters). Unfortunately, two editors who - instead of assuming a good faith - thought my question was not genuine, deleted it from the Ref desk, while adding a comment - on the summary edit - that there was no way to answer my question. However, I think that - instead of their deleting a (legitimate) question from the Ref desk - they should have written their (unnecessarily correct) comment on the Ref desk, and should have let other editors try to answer my (legitimate) question. Actually, what happened was the following: Today I noticed, that some people had used the connection between the word Trump and the word trumpet, e.g. in this paper, so I wanted to know whether anybody before me has also noticed the connection between Trump's name and Trump's rival's husband's expertise in playing trumpet. I innocently asked about that - at the reference desk, but unfortunately my question was deleted (instead of assuming a good faith). HOTmag ( talk) 22:41, 6 November 2016 (UTC)
RfC closed. The question at issue was flawed for all the multiple reasons given, and was appropriately removed. This matter does not warrant further discussion, and certainly not an RfC. Newyorkbrad ( talk) 02:18, 7 November 2016 (UTC)
|
This
edit request to
Wikipedia:Reference desk/Computing has been answered. Set the |answered= or |ans= parameter to no to reactivate your request. |
Which non-free adobe softwares are meant for students. If I am looking for time pass, not professional or business works.
1.39.39.187 ( talk) 14:06, 3 November 2016 (UTC)
Done
I think my "modest proposal" above is about to fall off the edge of this page, so I'll start a new section. I mooted the creation of a form of words to deploy on questions that remain unanswered after a few days. It is now ready for anyone to use, or not. I'm calling it the Sorry template. Carbon Caryatid ( talk) 16:27, 13 November 2016 (UTC)
Sorry! - I don't know what I'm doing. I tried to make this invokable by copying the text to /info/en/?search=Wikipedia_talk:Reference_desk/Template:sorry , but due to namespace precedence or some other reason, {{sorry}} just calls that apology template at the start of this comment. Maybe a rename would work, or it needs to be put in another place? Thanks for any help. SemanticMantis ( talk) 19:18, 15 November 2016 (UTC)
{{
sorry}}
. To call this one, you'd have to type {{Wikipedia talk:Reference desk/Template:sorry}}
(see
WP:TEMPLATE and
WP:TRANS for more info), but it'd probably be easier to move it to the template namespace with a different name, like
Template:refdesk-sorry (so it could be invoked using {{
refdesk-sorry}}
).
clpo13(
talk) 19:24, 15 November 2016 (UTC)
{{
refdesk-sorry}}
, should now work, and look like this:Thank you for your question! Wikipedia celebrates curiosity. We are sorry that you haven't received a reply, but these reference desks are staffed by volunteers. Apparently, none of our current staff feel they have the expertise or knowledge to answer your question.
You may find answers elsewhere. One excellent resource is a real-life reference desk, staffed by professional librarians. There may be one in your area, often at a central branch of a public library system. In addition, your national library (e.g. the British Library) may allow online reference requests. An alternative is the New York Public Library's ASK service, which operates by text-chat and telephone. Here's a news article explaining how they work, which describes them as a "human Google".
Please feel free to ask us another question in the future, or indeed to re-post your original question (perhaps re-wording it) after a week or so, as there may be a different set of volunteer editors reading the page then. We apologize for not being able to help you at this time.
[17] Future Perfect at Sunrise How do we know this is a banned user? Is it Vote X? -- Viennese Waltz 08:40, 23 November 2016 (UTC)
Why was my question deleted as trolling? 24.90.72.195 ( talk) 19:36, 30 November 2016 (UTC)
Have there been any RD regulars that have become employees of the Wikimedia foundation? Uncle dan is home ( talk) 00:54, 30 November 2016 (UTC)
Where do I go if I want to start a debate there? All of the past debates are from years ago. What if I want to start a new one? The Rd guidelines directed me to there if I want to have debates 97.94.201.18 ( talk) 19:42, 6 December 2016 (UTC)
I just "fixed" one of the issues on the page Astronomical Optical Interferometry, and removed the issue saying the lead was too long. Is it okay now to remove it? If so, how do I change the "Multiple issues" to just one issue?
Checks Facts ( Talk) 21:45, 13 December 2016 (UTC)
Never mind about the Multiple issues problem, I found that out.
Checks Facts ( Talk) 22:41, 13 December 2016 (UTC)My question was deleted.
I know it might seem like it, but I'm not trolling.
Perhaps, could I have worded it better?
Please, help me ask my question, don't keep deleting me...
Benjamin ( talk) 20:27, 22 December 2016 (UTC)
Just a reminder that it's a lot harder to revert to a revision after it's been revdelled (and before you argue, remember WP:BEANS). It also seems to discourage a certain someone who has said that he wants page protection and whose edits are valid under WP:RD3. We should probably be going "Block, revert, revdel, ignore" instead of revert, block, ignore. Ian.thomson ( talk) 01:09, 28 December 2016 (UTC)
One thing I've noticed about the Refdesk is that the policy against predictions,opinions,and debate doesn't seem to be applied consistently. Sometimes I see question s which clearly fall into any of those three,yet they never get hatred. Now I admit, some of my questions fall into those three,but at one time I saw someone asking a question at the computing desk about which was the best something to buy. I forget what it was exactly,but the OP said that he had done a Google search,and wanted to know where to find out about buying something. The question was hatted even though he made it clear he was trying to research about buying something, probably because he phrased it as which is the best something to buy. Any thoughts? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Uncle dan is home ( talk • contribs) 21:11, 28 December 2016 (UTC)
Could someone help me out? I'm trying to ask for a list of states where gambling is illegal, but it says that my edit is unconstructive. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.107.79.72 ( talk) 21:14, 29 December 2016 (UTC)
...on the Miscellaneous RD - and in this case, not my own but another User's response appearing under my good-faith one. I know we're not supposed to edit another's comments, but I waited a good half-day and got tired of seeing what I suggest is a form of abuse: of the OP, of the good-faith respondents, and of the countless lurking readers - many of whom may not have a full command of English nor the contributor's cultural matrix - who hope to glean information from the RDs. I don't consider the Miscellaneous desk a playground and think the RD rules should apply here too, one of which is to surround a purely humorous remark with a pair of "small" HTML tags. Kindly clarify this, for me as well. -- Cheers, Deborahjay ( talk) 09:05, 9 January 2017 (UTC)
At the top of each ref-desk is some logic that adds the visible protection tag automatically whenever the page is protected:
{{#ifeq:{{PROTECTIONLEVEL:edit}}|autoconfirmed|{{pp|small=no}}}}
followed by a blank line with the comment "Please do not delete the following blank line, the protection template interferes with the TOC otherwise". Indeed, when protection is on and there is no blank line, the prot box overlaps the "skip to bottom" (upper right) part of the Wikipedia:Reference desk/header boxes. But when protection is off, that blank line leaves whitespace at the top of the page. I can't figure out a way to get the blank line to be part of the #ifeq block:( I assume the browser can't cope with the header using:
position:relative; top:-30px; zoom:1
to move the right part of the headers further up than expected. Not sure a cleaner solution yet. Maybe the right part of the headers should be re-designed not to have a dangling-up item? DMacks ( talk) 22:40, 15 January 2017 (UTC)
At the top of WP:RDH there are two boxes regarding how the page is semi-protected. I looked at the page source, but I couldn't determine why the box is showing twice. Can someone explain why it like that and how to fix it? RudolfRed ( talk) 20:43, 23 January 2017 (UTC)
Although I have found how to access the archives, I fail to see a quick link to the immediately-previous one (once there, they link eachother for convenience). I'm not sure if this is a bug, or intentional. I personally believe that such a link at the top would be very useful, but I understand that it probably cannot be a static link, and may need to automatically be updated by the archiving bot if there is no dynamic template for this... 76.10.128.192 ( talk) 01:15, 4 February 2017 (UTC)
I noticed the page description includes: We'll answer here within a few days -- c'mon, "a few minutes" would be closer ... "a few hours" at the most. -- 2606:a000:4c0c:e200:c03a:9d20:31ef:82f7 ( talk · contribs) 23:14, 14 January 2017 (UTC)
discussion here. Beeblebrox ( talk) 00:30, 10 February 2017 (UTC)
I noticed the page description includes: We'll answer here within a few days -- c'mon, "a few minutes" would be closer ... "a few hours" at the most. -- 2606:a000:4c0c:e200:c03a:9d20:31ef:82f7 ( talk · contribs) 23:14, 14 January 2017 (UTC)
discussion here. Beeblebrox ( talk) 00:30, 10 February 2017 (UTC)
On which desk should I ask general questions about the history and/or operating characteristics of various rapid transit systems (by "general" I mean questions other than ones like "What's the best way to get from Station A to Station B?" or "Would I get a good view of Building X from elevated line Y?")? 2601:646:8E01:7E0B:F88D:DE34:7772:8E5B ( talk) 10:19, 12 February 2017 (UTC)