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Hello, welcome to Wikipedia. You are changing all the plus signs to daggers in the date pages. In fact wikipedia has been trying to move away from both +'s and daggers because of the Christian bias of having little crosses to mark people's deaths. Instead we now usually use "d. XXXX". SimonP 18:29, Jan 15, 2004 (UTC)

Fabiform - I've started helping out with the birth/death year infor on the date pages, starting from the end of the year and moving forwards. I hope to meet you somewhere in the summer! grins - UtherSRG 19:03, 23 Jan 2004 (UTC)

And I've been working on the year pages, starting with 2003 and going down (back). However, I've been using "born" and "died". Rather than change 1970-2003, for now I'll just continue on, but using "b." and "d.". We can go back to 1970-2003 and fix it later. -Anthropos 04:03, 28 Jan 2004 (UTC)

I'm beginning to think I was mad to decide to do this. But I do find a lot of unmarked stubs and the like, so it serves a purpose. I don't think it's crucial to change the "born" and "died" into b. and d., at least they can't be accused of being POV. But I guess you might be a bit of a perfectionist (like me) if you're setting yourself tasks like this, and you won't rest easy until all the pages look the same.  ;) Fabiform 04:08, 28 Jan 2004 (UTC)

Hi, regarding the note that you posted about Robartin on cleanup: since the text is from the U.S. government, it wouldn't be a copyvio, just unformatted. I've already left him a note. Meelar 07:37, 20 Jan 2004 (UTC)

• Oh, cheers. I'm glad he knew what he was doing. That didn't occur to me.  :) Fabiform 13:15, 20 Jan 2004 (UTC)

Hi the user making articles about computer languages! I hope you notice this message. Welcome to wikipedia. :) I was the user who put stub messages on some of articles you created. The stub message isn't a criticism of the articles, but it's a way for other interested users to find your articles and add anything they know about the subject. I have to say I know nothing whatsoever about programming languages, but I imagine there are more things that _could_ be said about some of these languages. For example, regarding Floop programming language another user might add the date of publication of the book, or an example of it in use, or further elaborate on the reason this language was created. Etc. Fabiform 21:25, 20 Jan 2004 (UTC)

Hi. I realised what the stub message was - I didn't take it as a criticism. In fact, I started including it in articles I wrote since I noticed what you'd done (e.g. Chef programming language). However, BlooP and FlooP really don't have anything more to be said about them. Details about the book should be on the book's own page, which I linked to. The languages were never properly defined and certainly not implemented - they really were just quick examples to illustrate a point in the book (the difference between a weak language and a fully powerful Turing-complete one, as I said in the articles). I've removed the stubs again from those two pages, though I'll use them in future articles which should have them. 22:50, 20 Jan 2004 (UTC)

Ok I won't fiddle with them again, although you might find that someone else sticks a stub message on them in the future because they're short (it's a reflex action!). Have you seen the easiest way to include the stub message, by the way? Just type {{msg:stub}}. Other useful tags can be found on Wikipedia:Boilerplate text -- Fabiform

What US POV in the Softball article? It was written by an Australian and revised by a Canadian. You are right, though, that the article is too cursory. I added a definition of underarm today, and may try to define some more terms, but don't have the time to write a complete article at the moment. If there are any further clarifications of what's there that could be made, please let me know on my talk page. I think I'll go back now and have another look at the article and see if I can add anyhing else. Trontonian 14:34, 21 Jan 2004 (UTC)

Hi Trontonian.... sorry, by US POV I meant that the article started by assuming a knowledge of baseball. I didn't realise that baseball was widely played outside of the USA. I still think that the introduction should be more like "softball is a team sport for x players..... the object of the game is.... as such it is similar to the american/whatever sport baseball except for these three things:"  :) I don't know enough (anything) about softball to do this. Don't worry if you don't have the time to edit the article, no doubt other people will read my comments in the future and act on them or not as they see fit. Cheers, Fabiform 15:02, 21 Jan 2004 (UTC)

Hi, Fab. So many people don't realize that baseball is played all over the world. To my mind the best player in baseball these days is Japanese – Ichiro Suzuki. Anyway, I added a brief outline of the game, which I hope helps. I also hope someone else will add to the article but the article had lain there unedited for several months till yesterday. Anyway, i think your comments did result in the article being improved (and reduced my guilt at having left the article so uninformative), so thanks from all us softball fans. Trontonian 15:12, 21 Jan 2004 (UTC)

By doing anything to an article you bring it to the attention of people who watch Recent changes, often a whole load of people will jump on an article that looks interesting to them and start editing it.  :) Fabiform 15:24, 21 Jan 2004 (UTC)

It's got a little convoluted but I think your suggestions have produced a greatly improved article. If you could have a quick look at it and give me any advice you might have about making it less confusing I'd appreciate it. Trontonian

Gosh it's got quite long hasn't it? It's nighttime here, so I'll read through it tomorrow and tweak it a bit if I see anything that needs it, and ask questions on the talk page if I need to (I know nothing about softball, so I'm a good guinea-pig reader!). Cheers, Fabiform 20:31, 21 Jan 2004 (UTC)

Thanks. I'm obsessed with the topic now. Trontonian

Hi again. Finding a diagram of a softball field was more dificult than I expected. Even the International Softball Federation's public domain diagram turned out to be lopsided. So I roughed up a diagram of the infield. I also made a few other changes to answer some of your questions and will be making more. Thanks for your help. Trontonian 23:41, 29 Jan 2004 (UTC)

Ooh, I like the diagram. That helps me a lot. I've never played a game like softball or baseball (the closest I've got is rounders so I was having problems visualising how it all worked.  :) Fabiform 23:54, 29 Jan 2004 (UTC)

The reason I changed the pool link in golf to the ambiguation page is that 8-ball is too specific. 8-ball is pool, but pool is not 8-ball. The disambiguation page seemed like the best compromise. MichaelJHuman

Hello, I put a little precision here : Talk:Islam in France

Anthere

Hi there! Nice work on Les Éditions de Minuit! -- Tarquin 23:03, 26 Jan 2004 (UTC)

Hi Tarquin, thanks! I wimped out slightly after the second world war, but I hope it didn't end too abruptly. I drew mostly on the histoire section from the official site which was very useful. But it all brought back bad memories of having to read Le Silence de la mer in university.  :) Fabiform 23:20, 26 Jan 2004 (UTC)

The reference I found was from a site called "PBS Warrior Challenge", available here. It's the last item on the page. I'm a bit embarassed about the stub; glad to be of help. Yours, Meelar 06:57, 27 Jan 2004 (UTC)

Nicely done! Meelar 05:25, 28 Jan 2004 (UTC)

Cheers.  :) Fabiform 05:53, 28 Jan 2004 (UTC)

Nice! -- Cyan 22:04, 29 Jan 2004 (UTC)

Thank you! But, will I ever learn to spellcheck before I click 'save page'? ;) Fabiform 22:25, 29 Jan 2004 (UTC) opening Word...

I'm sorry. I wasn't sure if such a broad term should've been applied to a certain person, but when I realised it was simply a nickname (not a broad term for certain kinds of poisoners, er...my ignorance I guess) , I said, "oh forget about it" and restored it. I do, however have a qualm with having orphaned redirects, though. (Please respond on my talk page if you wouldn't mind). Ilyanep 02:54, 30 Jan 2004 (UTC)

Done! Fabiform 03:04, 30 Jan 2004 (UTC)

It made sense, but I personally (don't know about the community) don't like orphaned redirects, because you can make them afterwards. Whatever, you can keep them, if anybody else has a qualm, then we'll talk. (again, if you have a reply, please post on my talk page...it's easier for keeping track for me). Ilyanep 21:16, 30 Jan 2004 (UTC)

I was saying that if you ever need the redirects, you can make them afterwards, but on second thought, wikipedia is not paper. You know, I'm really torn between to sides here. Ilyanep 14:10, 1 Feb 2004 (UTC)

There is a reply for you at User talk:Paul A.

Thanks for welcoming me to Wikipedia. I've been reading (lurking) for a while, but felt moved to write. It can be a bit intimidating at first. Thanks for your help. Washington irving 22:35, 1 Feb 2004 (UTC)

Hi. I find the first encyclopedias fascinating as well. It is interesting to see who the people were that contributed to them and their motivations. Also the general acceptance and repression (mostly by the church) of the early encyclopedias is an interesting topic. I do speak French, if badly. But I'd be glad to have a look over your translation (just not today - must sleep ;). Infact, I was somewhat surprised to learn that I had in fact not yet translated the title. :) - snoyes 06:51, 30 Jan 2004 (UTC)

Thanks for informing me, I'll have a closer look tomorrow. - snoyes 07:31, 30 Jan 2004 (UTC)

In order to get a link to my talk page in my signature I have set my nickname preference setting to ]] | [[User talk:Dori|Talk See also m:MediaWiki User's Guide: Setting preferences#Miscellaneous options for a small explanation. Dori | Talk 14:10, Jan 30, 2004 (UTC)

Thank you! I've been wanting to make my name lowercase for ages too fabiform | talk 20:16, 30 Jan 2004 (UTC)

Thanks so much! I had just looked at the pump and thought "argh, that needs serious cleaning, but I don't know if I have the time and definitely don't have the energy", so I chickened out. I feel the proper sense of mixed shame (on my behalf) and admiration (for your industry) now that I see you're moving stuff off the pump. Thanks again, Jwrosenzweig 21:35, 30 Jan 2004 (UTC)

Well it's a little shorter now. It's the first time I've archived the pump so I wasn't quite sure if I was going about it the right way, I probably should have deleted a few more things rather than archiving them, but what the hey! fabiform | talk 22:09, 30 Jan 2004 (UTC)

Re: throwing it in the trash can in Greece. I didn't know Greeks did this, I'll have to remember it if I ever travel there. When I moved from Boston, Mass. to Kentucky in 1974 I was somewhat disgusted to see people throwing used toilet paper in the trash. I think the practice may have originated because people didn't want to clog the septic tank, but I've seen it done where sewers are in use, probably out of habit. Interestingly, I've never noticed a smell from it. I guess it's because the organic matter is fully exposed to the air and dries out quickly. Wake 19:30, 1 Feb 2004 (UTC)

I like your photos of Europe and self-drawn diagrams. The Charlestown Beach photo is just beautiful. I like the super-green mossy grass. Keep it up! --Menchi (Talk)â 06:52, 2 Feb 2004 (UTC)

I've just been sent a wonderful quicktime panorama photograph (.mov format) from the person who gave permission for his two photographs on Tamar Bridge to be used. I really want to upload a flattened-out jpeg of the image. Is there any good way to convert this type of file into a jpg? The only thought I've had is that I could take several screenshots and lace them together. Cheers, fabiform | talk 09:07, 2 Feb 2004 (UTC)

The free program IrfanView allowes you to take a screengrab of any mov file and turn it into a JPEG (not sure what you mean with flattened-out). You may need to have QuickTime proper installed and the IrfanView plug-in pack. [1] Jor 15:47, 2 Feb 2004 (UTC)

I think he means automatically take all constituent images that make up the "moving" image. This is obviously way too much for normal movie, knowing we have like 30 frames per second, so a normal clip would have thousands of image. But 360-degree may have less, 50? That is still a lot, and I think you need the same special program that created that movie to disintegrate the frame. And sometimes, actually, the final product cannot be disintegrated even with the original program. Like pictures have layers merged and stuff. So, no, I am guess it is not gonna be easy..So...screengrab may be the easiest way. --Menchi (Talk)â 05:37, 3 Feb 2004 (UTC)

Hi fabiform, I noticed that you uploaded a couple of GIFs. For diagrams, PNG is the preferred format (lossless compression). If you are under Windows, IrfanView is a great free format for doing conversions. Dori | Talk 14:16, Feb 3, 2004 (UTC)

Well, it would have been better if you had the originals in a format other than GIF (i.e. BMP), but I think it would still be useful to have the PNGs since someone might want to modify the images afterwards. Since you don't have any better versions, anyone could upload the converted images now so it's not as big a deal. However, for any new diagrams it would be something to keep in mind. Dori | Talk 14:30, Feb 3, 2004 (UTC)

GIF is lossless compression. I think you may be confusing it with JPG which is lossy. The point of using PNG rather than GIF is because it is open format. Anyway if you paste a list of the images in question over on my talk page I'll do the conversion for you. theresa knott 15:15, 3 Feb 2004 (UTC)

Ah, I see. Thanks for explaining... I have infraview so I'm converting the images now, thanks for offering though. So, thats more of my pics to go on images for deletion, lol. fabiform | talk 15:21, 3 Feb 2004 (UTC)

I decided to convert my diagram of a softball diamond into one of a rounders pitch, then once I'd put it in the Rounders article I added some description of the game. The descriptions I have and which I found on the web were all contradictory, though, so I'd appreciate it if a rounders veteran took a look at the article and corrected the errors. Thanks. Trontonian 00:39, 4 Feb 2004 (UTC)

On the village pump, you commented on the usefulness of the animated gif formerly found in flag terminology, so I solicit your opinion as to whether my proposed image is a good idea. You can see it on Talk:Central limit theorem. Cheers, Cyan 04:18, 4 Feb 2004 (UTC)

Thanks a bunch, fabiform! -- Cyan 05:11, 4 Feb 2004 (UTC)

Hope this helps explain my comment. At the bottom of the list of nominations with objections there are several that are not nominated by anyone, just objected to. Those pages were put on Wikipedia:Brilliant prose (the forerunner to Featured articles) before we had the current nomination process. As they had never been through the process to be there, Bmills listed all of those articles at wikipedia:Refreshing brilliant prose, were we voted wether to keep or remove those articles. Any article that didn't have a consensus to either keep or remove (ie had votes in each catagory) was relisted on the Wikipedia:Featured article candidates page (we changed names during this whole process) and treated like a new nomination. In mid to late Feb. all those artilces will be either fixed up to the featured article standard, or have been on the list for over a month and can be archived. It's about 40 articles I think, or about what our normal number of nominations is. Right now Featured articles candidates is about twice the size it normally is, so I think we should wait for this temporary, one time stress to be gone before we take on more "extra" articles. Hope this helped, Gentgeen 12:23, 4 Feb 2004 (UTC)

No problem at all! I saw your Menstrual cup diagrams. Very nice. Thanks for the apology, although it wasn't that big of a deal. (i had a lot of sarcasm in my reply, and the link to felching is very funny I think) Sennheiser! 02:33, 5 Feb 2004 (UTC)

I laughed out loud when I saw the link to felching. The article's a bit stubby though, perhaps I'll work on it at some point.  :) fabiform | talk 03:30, 5 Feb 2004 (UTC)

Sorry, but I'm going to have to keep my delete vote. Half the article is half prescriptivist refusal to accept shifts in word meanings, and the other half is just misspellings and admonishments not to forget a comma. The whole correct/incorrect thing is extremely POV, as is the title of the article. I just plain don't think it can be salvaged. Sorry. -Branddobbe 07:51, Feb 5, 2004 (UTC)