User talk:Alpheus

Thanx for the kind greeting. Alpheus

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I finally got around to checking back on the IP talk page and found your message. I see you've had an account for awhile. Welcome aboard. SWAdair | Talk 09:32, 26 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Warning: Standard greeting follows.  :-)

Welcome!

Hello, Alpheus, and welcome to Wikipedia! Thank you for your contributions. I hope you like the place and decide to stay. Here are a few good links for newcomers:

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I hope you enjoy editing here and being a Wikipedian! Please sign your name on talk pages using four tildes (~~~~); this will automatically produce your name and the date. If you need help, check out Wikipedia:Where to ask a question, ask me on my talk page, or place {{helpme}} on your talk page and someone will show up shortly to answer your questions. Again, welcome!  SWAdair | Talk 09:32, 26 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Wilson's Almanac

What's up with the links to this website? Your film link was (on first appearance) blatantly irrelevant to what you claimed it was. Turned out there was a section devoted to the person you described, but frankly I would still have removed the link. Apart from the dubious-looking and all-over-the-shop nature of the site, it's unreasonable to expect anyone to wade through so much non-related stuff before finding the (supposedly) linked material.

Frankly, this looks like spam and/or agenda-linking.

Fourohfour 11:14, 6 December 2005 (UTC)

Take it down if you don't like it, I don't care at all. I don't care for your insults either, and certainly not your baseless accusations. I'm not sure which item you are referring to, but the motive would have been other than you so unkindly suggest. Please try to maintain some Wikipedian-style decorum. You have heard of "benefit of the doubt" "civility" and "good manners" I'm sure. Alpheus 23:37, 6 December 2005 (UTC)

United States vs. America

I noticed your comments on Talk:United States and wanted to respond. It's actually more Amerocentric to refer to the US as "America" than the United States, because referring to the country as America disadvantages Latin and South America by marginalizing their existence. It's a more pressing issue in the Spanish language than in English, where a new demonym was created for the United States (estadounidense to replace americano/a). I do personally think that the name of the United States sucks no matter how you look at it, but in my opinion, using United States is far less offensive than America. the iBook of the Revolution 06:49, 10 January 2006 (UTC)

• I take your point, and thank you for it. I'm not very hung up about it.

External links

Please do not add commercial links (or links to your own private websites) to Wikipedia. Wikipedia is not a vehicle for advertising or a mere collection of external links. You are, however, encouraged to add content instead of links to the encyclopedia. See the welcome page to learn more. Thanks. -- Linkspamremover 17:13, 14 April 2006 (UTC)

I have not done so. However important you might think you are, mate, it is very un-Wikiquette of you or anyone to leave unsubstantiated allegations on any Wikipedia page, particularly a user's talk page, and I won't leave it here for long if you don't substantiate your rude assertion. You might try sending a private message, rather than vandalise a talk page next time you want to play bigshot.Alpheus 05:46, 15 April 2006 (UTC)

Yes, you are partly right (except Wikipedia is a public activity). Someone pointed out at WP:SPAM and WP:WPSPAM that you, as "the admin of a new wikia" have been promoting your website here on Wikipedia, by posting the link to many articles, with the tagline "...encourages articles on...". We at Wikipedia prefer content instead of links. Thanks. -- Linkspamremover 09:48, 15 April 2006 (UTC)

Thank you for your courteous response, Linkspamremover. When you say "we at Wikipedia", please bear in mind that I have been actively editing Wikipedia for a long time. I also point out that, yes, we at Wikipedia want content, but we also want 'External links' and always have. Anyway, my adding external links can in no way be called spamming "my website". I don't think that it should be considered wrong to put a link on a wiki to another wiki that covers the very same topic. Please note that I do not own Wikia nor any part of it. I have no financial interest in any wiki. The message that you left referred to "commercial links" and "private websites". Perhaps you did not mean to, but I feel you brought me into disrepute by such phrasing. Surely it would be more gracious to ask a user (especially one such as I who has promoted and contributed to Wikipedia since the early days) by leaving a polite note asking them to contact you to discuss whatever is perceived to be a problem. I have no objection (nor time to argue, nor inclination to escalate into an edit war) if anyone chooses to remove the external links I placed in good faith and with plenty of justification. I placed the links in good faith and altruism, but if they are removed I'm too busy to squeal. By the way, with very great respect, your username makes you sound like some kind of Star Wars bad guy and you can hardly be surprised if people get offended when you leave such blunt and unspecific messages. At the very least, when you leave such messages, you might consider actually referring to the link that you allege to be spam, rather than accusing without presenting evidence. That just gets people's hackles up. However, my colleague, I sign off this message with feelings of goodwill and acknowledgement that you are only trying to improve Wikipedia, as I am, and wish you a good day, and thank you for contributing to Wikipedia. Alpheus 01:43, 16 April 2006 (UTC)

Please note: I have just discovered that my error, interpreted by some as spamming, arose from my mistaken belief that Wikia (formerly Wikicities) is a Wikimedia Foundation project, like Wikipedia or Wikisource. It certainly looks like one, and has many internal links to Wikipedia and uses Wikipedia formatting, templates, etc. Also, I understand that Wikia contributes financially to the Wikimedia Foundation. (Thus I didn't think I was linking outside Wikimedia.) However, I admit my error but wish to make it quite clear that it was an honest mistake. To my detractors on WP:SPAM and WP:WPSPAM: -- wiki work can be very complex sometimes, and life can be too rushed for anyone to know everything, so please go a bit easier. My motives were not as you might have thought. Feel free to remove any links (but I still think they are apposite and very useful to the reader). Alpheus 02:03, 16 April 2006 (UTC)

Sorry, but they are completely unencyclopedic, a violation of the Wikipedia:External links] policy and not at at appropriate. It appears that you have a chip on your shoulder by assuming that people simply enforcing very clear an unambiguous policies are trying to play "bigshots" or have nefarious motives. DreamGuy 03:39, 16 April 2006 (UTC)

DreamGuy, I admitted my error and explained what led to an honest mistake. I humbly beg you to forgive my vile human imperfection, in particular my lack of omniscience. Alpheus 11:00, 16 April 2006 (UTC)

YES Recovery

I have restored the article per your request, and sent the article to WP:AFD. There, the community will decide if the page meets guidelines for inclusion. If you have any questions, please let me know. Cheers... --lightdarkness ^(talk) 11:05, 11 May 2006 (UTC)

Thanks for restoring the page, Lightdarkness -- very good of you. As you are sending it on for second opinions, would you kindly also send those people the reasons I have given for its continuation? Many thanks for the courtesy, and there are people in a lot of countries who will be grateful, not just USA, UK, etc, and Australia where I come from. Alpheus 18:19, 11 May 2006 (UTC)

Counter Culture Wiki

Hey, I just started editing it before realizing no one has been editing it for a while (I should have checked out the recent changes earlier!). Anyways, what is going on with it? Have you given up (you haven't edited for a while)? In fact, in an hour I've made way more edits than were made in the last 30 days. Kinda depressing, since it sounds like a good idea for a wiki. If you have given up, would it be possible for you to perhaps pass the reigns on to me so I can give it a go and try to revitalize it? I know it's pretty weird to be asking for sysop powers after just joining up, but I am an experienced editor here on wikipedia and have two awards, including one from someone who was recently elected to adminship here, and it's not like anyone else is there right now. I will admit that I don't have the best grasp of the technical aspects of running a wiki, but I do have a lot of resources here who can help me, and some who might be interested in contributing there too. And again, it's not like anyone else is there to see me fail miserably if I do. Well, I hope this project can get off the ground because it really is needed. The Ungovernable Force 12:21, 8 August 2006 (UTC)

• Hi, The Ungovernable Force. Thanks a lot for your enthusiasm. I admit I have been very busy lately and haven't put in all the energy I used to. I'm really glad you'd like to help and will join you there soon. I won't hand over sysop now but let's play it by ear. The main thing is to make a great wiki and I would sure appreciate your involvement, as until now it has been mostly yours truly. Alpheus 04:59, 9 August 2006 (UTC)

License tagging for File:Wilson cliff-& barbara.jpg

Thanks for uploading File:Wilson cliff-& barbara.jpg. You don't seem to have indicated the license status of the image. Wikipedia uses a set of image copyright tags to indicate this information; to add a tag to the image, select the appropriate tag from this list, click on this link, then click "Edit this page" and add the tag to the image's description. If there doesn't seem to be a suitable tag, the image is probably not appropriate for use on Wikipedia.

For help in choosing the correct tag, or for any other questions, leave a message on Wikipedia:Media copyright questions. Thank you for your cooperation. --ImageTaggingBot (talk) 03:06, 14 January 2009 (UTC)

Thank you. I believe it is in order now. Alpheus (talk) 06:09, 14 January 2009 (UTC)

License tagging for File:Wilson cliff-& barbara.jpg

Thanks for uploading File:Wilson cliff-& barbara.jpg. You don't seem to have indicated the license status of the image. Wikipedia uses a set of image copyright tags to indicate this information; to add a tag to the image, select the appropriate tag from this list, click on this link, then click "Edit this page" and add the tag to the image's description. If there doesn't seem to be a suitable tag, the image is probably not appropriate for use on Wikipedia.

For help in choosing the correct tag, or for any other questions, leave a message on Wikipedia:Media copyright questions. Thank you for your cooperation. --ImageTaggingBot (talk) 06:13, 14 January 2009 (UTC)

• If it is not in order now, would you kindly advise further? It seems OK to me but, of course, I might be wrong. Alpheus (talk) 07:14, 14 January 2009 (UTC)

Barack Obama

Although your attempt to get a discussion going on Talk:Barack Obama is noble, please don't take any of the negative comments directed toward your proposal too seriously. It has been an ongoing struggle to balance that particular article for a while. Many users have tried before and all have failed. Mostly because a gang of POV protectors patrol the page and its talk page. Your suggestion wasn't the first and it won't be the last. I love your analogy about Jesus Christ not getting as much positive press as Obama. Apparently............they can only POV protect one messiah at a time.--Jojhutton (talk) 23:14, 13 June 2009 (UTC)

Thanks very much, Jojhutton. I don't take it to heart at all, although I admit I'm surprised by the response. It seems really bizarre to an Australian like me. We don't wave flags or genuflect at our leaders very much. Quite the contrary, in fact. There's nothing Australians love more than beer and tearing down their so-called "leaders" (not that, constitutionally, we have leaders -- there are no words at all in the Australian Constitution from the verb 'to lead', but there are 62 words from the verb 'to represent'). I left a note at the Obama discussion page, for whatever it's worth. Alpheus (talk) 00:06, 14 June 2009 (UTC)

The objection is not from a "gang" of "POV proectors" (that characterization in itself is a product of some of the worst battleground mentality on Wikipedia), and it is not that anyone thinks of Obama as a "messiah" (a constant refrain among disgruntled partisans). Please do not go down that Rabbit hole. There is a constant attack on Baraama by those opposed to his policies. For anything to be worth noting in the encyclopedia it has to rise above random political criticism by extremists. Wikidemon (talk) 02:11, 14 June 2009 (UTC)

This comment is probably better directed to Jojhutton's talk page or the pages of those who you think are criticising Obama. The debate is partisan, heated and boring and I don't want any part of it. Nor do I have any particular opinion one way or the other on Obama (except disillusion) nor on his critic, Alex Jones (I pointed that out in the Obama discussion page) or any other person; otherwise I would document some of the widespread criticism of Obama. Still, it is clearly widespread -- certainly in Australia, but also globally, as evidenced by references on the Internet. I know many people disillusioned with Obama, and none of us are extremists or conspiracy nuts. However, as long as the Obama article acknowledges the existence of such criticism and has a link to a criticisms article, I suppose that suffices. Alpheus (talk) 02:16, 15 June 2009 (UTC)

Unreferenced BLPs

Hello Alpheus! Thank you for your contributions. I am a bot alerting you that 2 of the articles that you created are tagged as Unreferenced Biographies of Living Persons. The biographies of living persons policy requires that all personal or potentially controversial information be sourced. In addition, to insure verifiability, all biographies should be based on reliable sources. if you were to bring these articles up to standards, it would greatly help us with the current 942 article backlog. Once the articles are adequately referenced, please remove the {{unreferencedBLP}} tag. Here is the list:

1. Margaret Fink - Find sources: Google (books · news · scholar · free images · WP refs) · FENS · JSTOR · TWL
2. Clifford Wilson - Find sources: Google (books · news · scholar · free images · WP refs) · FENS · JSTOR · TWL

Thanks!--DASHBot (talk) 20:52, 8 January 2010 (UTC)

Speedy deletion nomination of Clifford Wilson

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A tag has been placed on Clifford Wilson requesting that it be speedily deleted from Wikipedia. This has been done under section A7 of the criteria for speedy deletion, because the article appears to be about a person or group of people, but it does not indicate how or why the subject is important or significant: that is, why an article about that subject should be included in an encyclopedia. Under the criteria for speedy deletion, such articles may be deleted at any time. Please see the guidelines for what is generally accepted as notable.

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Wikipedia trainers requested in New South Wales

Wikimedia Australia is looking for experienced Wikipedians to help out at training sessions across New South Wales, in particular in Newcastle, Wollongong, Port Macquarie and in Parkes. If you're interested, the details are at the following link:

• http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/wikimediaau-l/2013-July/003677.html

We'd love to see you there! Lankiveil ^{(speak to me)} 12:58, 2 July 2013 (UTC)

ArbCom elections are now open!

Hi,
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