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Thanks! I hope you have a great holiday season too. And thanks for the compliment about the Durrell article; it was a pleasure to write about an author I have been reading for so many decades. Mike Christie (talk - contribs - library) 13:11, 24 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I read his books first as a child - and then, as I grew older, learned (as you do with parents) how much more complex the man behind the stories was than the stories themselves, and how much was left out or simply fictionalized for the sake of a good yarn. Oddly, it didn't decrease my enjoyment of his books at all. It made him, with all his flaws, even more admirable for being just another human being, not a fairy child blessed with an enchanted childhood, but someone who set out to reshape the world around him, and succeeded. —Ganesha811 (talk) 13:16, 24 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I'd agree with all of that. For me, one of the best things about writing for Wikipedia is that you learn more, even about topics you thought you knew well. I had read Durrell's biography some time ago, but having to reread it more carefully for the article gave me a more complete picture of him. I read and reread his books when I first encountered them, in the 1970s and 1980s, and I still have some of those paperbacks, now tattered and falling apart. A big influence on me. I hope to bring James Thurber to FAC some time next year -- there's another figure with a larger-than-life reputation who was a flawed human being; I read Thurber when I was young, too, and look forward to integrating the material in the biographies with my own sense of the human being behind the words. Mike Christie (talk - contribs - library) 13:49, 24 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I've never read anything by Thurber - I'll see what the library has in stock! —Ganesha811 (talk) 15:18, 24 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I recommend starting with My Life and Hard Times; it's a short collection of reminiscences, all originally published in The New Yorker, and if you discover you don't laugh at "The Night the Ghost Got In" or "The Night the Bed Fell on Father" you'll know you're not a Thurber fan. He was at one point more famous for his cartoons than his writing; you can get a flavour of his New Yorker cartoons from this, though the writer of that blog is quite wrong about Thurber's drawing ability -- Thurber could draw realistically when he wanted to. Mike Christie (talk - contribs - library) 15:25, 24 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

~ ~ ~ Greetings of the season ~ ~ ~

Hello Mike Christie: Enjoy the holiday season and winter solstice if it's occurring in your area of the world, and thanks for your work to maintain, improve and expand Wikipedia. Cheers, Spread the love; use {{subst:User:Dustfreeworld/Xmas3}} to send this message.

--Dustfreeworld (talk) 07:14, 26 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Merry Christmas and a Prosperous 2025!

Hello Mike Christie, may you be surrounded by peace, success and happiness on this seasonal occasion. Spread the WikiLove by wishing another user a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, whether it be someone you have had disagreements with in the past, a good friend, or just some random person. Sending you heartfelt and warm greetings for Christmas and New Year 2025. Happy editing, Jo-Jo Eumerus (talk) 11:45, 26 December 2024 (UTC)[reply] Spread the love by adding {{subst:Seasonal Greetings}} to other user talk pages.

Also, was wondering if you were interested in giving Licancabur a look-over. I'd like to send it to FAC but SandyGeorgia noted that the prose might need some maintenance first. Jo-Jo Eumerus (talk) 11:45, 26 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Sure. Might be a couple of days before I can get to it, but I'm sure I can do it within a week. Mike Christie (talk - contribs - library) 11:59, 26 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

@Mike Christie Wishing you a Happy New Year in advance and hope that you are enjoying this festive season. Thanks for responding to my queries at FAC. Hopefully I will get an FAC next year (I am still too young for that). Looking forward to any potential collaborations in the future. Regards. MSincccc (talk) 17:58, 26 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks, and I hope you're enjoying the holidays! Mike Christie (talk - contribs - library) 19:00, 26 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

World Chess Championship 1972 has been nominated for a good article reassessment. If you are interested in the discussion, please participate by adding your comments to the reassessment page. If concerns are not addressed during the review period, the good article status may be removed from the article. Z1720 (talk) 22:05, 30 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Mike! I hope you are well - happy new year!

I have a question on if something is technically possible with use of your bot.

I was thinking that we currently have a different list for "Wikipedians by" for GA, FA and FL - WP:WBGAN, WP:WBFAN and WP:WBFLN. Do you think it would be possible to tally these together on a new page?

I was thinking of a portable table matching up users for each bit with links to the lists?

Is this something that would be possible. Lee Vilenski ^{(talk • contribs)} 20:04, 31 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Interesting idea, but there would be quite a bit of work needed. Here are a couple of issues I can think of.

• I don't have any FL data, so I wouldn't be able to include that.
• I don't have FA data before about August 2006. That's a surprisingly large number of FAs, and (more to the point) FACs. So I don't think I could do anything that would match WBFAN.
• For GAN, there's a bot that records all current GAs, no matter how old. ChristieBot only records data for the GAs that were reviewed on subpages -- I think that started in around 2007. Again, lots of data before that. I do have some history in the database of articles that were GA when ChristieBot took over from Legobot but have since been demoted, but I couldn't provide complete data.

Having said that, I could do a couple of things that might be worth it:

• I could create a query for an editor that returns both FA and GA data on the same page.
• I could create a stats page that listed all editors with any FAC reviews or GAN reviews (with the constraints above) and have a column for each, and make it sortable.

-- Mike Christie (talk - contribs - library) 20:16, 31 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Interesting. I think I'd be most interested in a count of promoted articles, the page could simply link to the individual pages that already exist to state what the articles actually are. Reviews would also be cool to include as well, but my initial thoughts was for promoted articles per person. Lee Vilenski ^{(talk • contribs)} 22:32, 31 December 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I'll put the idea on my to-do list. Not likely to be soon, I'm afraid. Mike Christie (talk - contribs - library) 00:19, 1 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

No problem at all. :) Lee Vilenski ^{(talk • contribs)} 08:54, 1 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

story · music · places

Thank you today for Gerald Durrell, "about one of the most influential people in the history of conservation biology. Durrell became famous for his books, and used the money from them to found Jersey Zoo. As recently as the mid-1970s there was still opposition at the highest level of the zoo world to the idea that zoos could help with conservation of endangered species. Durrell's work is one of the main reasons that that's no longer the case. One point that reviewers will notice: the article depends heavily on a single source: the only book-length biography of Durrell, by Douglas Botting. There are other reminiscences, and I've cited some material to them, but they are essentially books of anecdotes rather than of encyclopedic material." - I remember Dada Masilo. - Happy new year! -- Gerda Arendt (talk) 07:22, 7 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

... and today, pictured on the Main page, Tosca, in memory of her first appearance on stage OTD in 1900, and of principal author Brian Boulton. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 18:40, 14 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you today for Freston (causewayed enclosure), "about another Neolithic site in England, this one being investigated by a Canadian research team, for some reason; only one excavation so far, so not a lot of findings to report, which is a pity as there's a possible Neolithic longhouse or Anglo-Saxon hall in part of the site, which I'm sure the team are keen to get to."! - I have an unusual musicologist on the same page, and a conductor waiting. --Gerda Arendt (talk) 06:59, 18 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Today I had a composer (trumpeter, conductor) on the main page who worked closely with another who just became GA, - small world! To celebrate: mostly flowers pics from vacation ;) --Gerda Arendt (talk) 08:40, 21 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Mike. I wanted to invite you to review an FAC for a Taylor Swift article in case you have some free time and interest. The coordinators would like to see a review from an experienced editor whose focus in not on popular music, and your review might just be what is needed to put it over the finish line.--NØ 16:06, 9 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Hi -- it's not really something I have an interest in, but I am due to do a handful more reviews soon so I may take a look. Good luck with it either way. Mike Christie (talk - contribs - library) 19:14, 11 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

The Wikipedia Library: Books & Bytes
Issue 66, November – December 2024

• Les Jours and East View Press join the library
• Tech tip: Newspapers.com

Read the full newsletter

Sent by MediaWiki message delivery on behalf of The Wikipedia Library team --17:33, 10 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Congratulations, Mike Christie! The article you nominated, The All-Story Magazine, has been promoted to featured status, recognizing it as one of the best articles on Wikipedia. The nomination discussion has been archived.

This is a rare accomplishment and you should be proud. If you would like, you may nominate it to appear on the Main page as Today's featured article. Keep up the great work! Cheers, Ian Rose (talk) via FACBot (talk) 12:05, 11 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I've completed the run-through for December at User:Hog Farm/sandbox. Per the original instructions you gave me, I didn't do anything to indicate the support converted to an oppose at Wikipedia:Featured article candidates/Independence Day (Nigeria)/archive1 as anything different than a regular oppose. There were a few edge cases - a support from a sourcing spot-check, etc. so I've ended up with a few supports on source reviews which you may wish to change. Hog Farm _Talk 02:01, 14 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I had a look at a couple of those and I'll leave them as you have them. I have been inconsistent about recording "Support" for source reviews; recently I've tended not to do so, but there others like this in the database so I don't see a reason to change these. Thanks for doing these -- I'll post them on WT:FAC some time today. Mike Christie (talk - contribs - library) 11:28, 14 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Mike, I've been reviewing quite a few articles and have had several of my GANs passed ... but my total seems to have got stuck at 665, whereas by my reckoning at least 7 more have been added since I first reached that total earlier this month. Could there be a bad datum in my data set that is causing a blockage? (The reviews total is ticking upwards normally.) Chiswick Chap (talk) 14:36, 14 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

It's a separate job that keeps track of that, if I recall correctly. I'll have to have a look -- it's been a while since I've looked at that code. Will let you know, probably tonight. Mike Christie (talk - contribs - library) 17:23, 14 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

I notice that only 4 of my GAs this month are logged at User:Novem Linguae/Scripts/GANReviewTool/GANReviewLog, which may explain something, but shouldn't prevent GAs from being counted directly. There's a list at User talk:Chiswick Chap/TalkArchive2025 should you need one for comparison. Chiswick Chap (talk) 22:05, 15 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Sorry, haven't forgotten about this, but have unexpectedly become very busy at work. I'll take a look when I get a chance. Mike Christie (talk - contribs - library) 22:34, 15 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Had a look at this this morning. I'm not sure exactly what happened, but it seems possible that Havana Syndrome was causing the problem -- the bot was trying to parse the talk page history to find the nomination template and kept hitting a size limit. I've manually removed that from the bot run and restarted it and it seems to be catching up now. Let me know if you see a similar problem in the future, or if this doesn't appear to have caught all of them. It might take a little while; it's still running as I type this. Mike Christie (talk - contribs - library) 11:44, 16 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

	The Million Award
	For your contributions to bring Naruto (estimated annual readership: 2,900,000) to featured article status, I hereby present you the Million Award. Congratulations on this rare accomplishment, and thanks for all you do for Wikipedia's readers! —TechnoSquirrel69 (sigh) 21:32, 14 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks! Mike Christie (talk - contribs - library) 21:35, 14 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Tupou VI has been nominated for a good article reassessment. If you are interested in the discussion, please participate by adding your comments to the reassessment page. If concerns are not addressed during the review period, the good article status may be removed from the article. I T B F 📢 16:04, 16 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Just to say congratulations on your Freston article; it was great to see it on the main page - an excellent piece of work! Hchc2009 (talk) 20:27, 18 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks! Mike Christie (talk - contribs - library) 21:18, 18 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]

@Mike Christie The user Tim O'Doherty has transcluded the GA review discussion for the article Premiership of Liz Truss but the bot is yet to notify me on my talk page. Could you please take a look? Regards. MSincccc (talk) 18:58, 24 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]