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The newsletter of the Wikipedia Ambassador Program – Volume 1, 28 January 2011 This is the first issue of the Wikipedia Ambassador Program newsletter. Please read it! It has important information about the the current wave of classes, instructions and advice, and other news about the ambassador program. Classes get active, students requesting mentors First mentor responsibilities Other news Things you can do

Delivered by EdwardsBot (talk) 00:31, 29 January 2011 (UTC) [reply]

Hi Dominic,

I'm not sure if you regularly check the email address you used for the AUSC mailing list, but I emailed you on Jan 23 and don't seem have received a reply.

Can you check and reply? Thanks, –xeno^talk 23:08, 31 January 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Sorry about that. I've gradually stopped paying close attention to non-mailing list personal mail to the Wikipedia email account, since I hardly have any anymore. I'm replying now. Dominic·t

Just in case you aren't watching - i've un-prod-ed it, please AFD it instead. I personally have no particular plan to object there. --Joy [shallot] (talk) 19:53, 5 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Dominic, I am starting to work on my public policy project and was thinking of doing a piece on airport screening and pat downs. There is already information on this subject on Wikipedia. Can I still do a research paper on that topic or maybe you could suggest a subtopic for me. Thanks. DeniseDabenson (talk) 19:45, 8 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I think you are going to have a hard time if you are looking at working specifically on the recent controversy. You might encounter problems in scope (because it is recent and ongoing, the amount of news sources are effectively endless) and stability (because it's a high-profile topic, you might find others editing your article, and it might be a topic more prone to disagreement). What I think you should really look for are concrete topics with a definite scope lacking existing coverage on Wikipedia. And remember, this is a real encyclopedia as well as an assignment, so duplication doesn't help anyone.

You'll probably want to do some general searches for related articles that need improvement; you might also start at some of the more general topic articles like airport security, Transportation Security Administration, and air safety looking for links to other articles that are either red links (non-existent) or short articles. You'll also want to look in categories for more short articles. At the bottom of each article page, you'll see links to various categories which can be used for searching. One good way to use categories is to find the "stub" categories on short articles, which will lead you to related articles of short length (I found Category:United States federal legislation stubs, Category:United States government stubs, and Category:Aviation stubs this way.) When you find an article that looks promising, do a cursory search for sources to see if you will be able to write at length on the topic. To demonstrate, I have listed of the articles I found in a quick search using these techniques below, but you'll have a better idea of what interests you and can probably search better on your own. Dominic·t 23:30, 8 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Dominic, thanks you have been very helpful. I'll look into the information you sent me and hopefully can narrow down a topic for our next meeting.Dabenson (talk) 21:41, 9 February 2011 (UTC)denise[reply]

Can you delete this page as it includes WP:OUTING info? — Timneu22 · talk 19:31, 9 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

It looks like SlimVirgin has already stepped in. :-) Dominic·t 15:02, 11 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

The newsletter of the Wikipedia Ambassador Program – Volume 1, 28 January 2011 This is the second issue of the Wikipedia Ambassador Program Newsletter, with details about what's going on right now and where help is needed. Userboxes and profiles - Add an ambassador userbox to your page, and make sure you've added your mentor profile! Be a coordinating ambassador - Pick and class and make sure no students fall through the cracks. New screencasts - Short videos on watchlists and a number of other topics may be useful to students. Updates from Campus Ambassadors - Ambassadors are starting to report on classroom experiences, both on-wiki and on the Google Group. Other news - There's a new on-wiki application for being an Online Ambassador, and Editing Friday #2 is today! Things you can do - This is just a sample; if you're eager for something to do, there's plenty more.

Delivered by EdwardsBot (talk) 18:22, 11 February 2011 (UTC) [reply]

I've transformed it from the shoddy stub you prodded for "BLP1E". Do have a quick Google before you prod articles! Fences&Windows 00:38, 12 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

thanks for your welcome message Dominic & the links. I found an issue with one of the edits I'd made before reading the tutorial so have fixed it now. thanks again! Kathodonnell (talk) 12:14, 17 February 2011 (UTC)[reply]

You have two unsourced paragraphs in the NAACP section. You will have to fix them before I can approve the article. Gatoclass (talk) 08:51, 2 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Okay, I promoted the hook. It had the advantage of giving me an excuse to get another very ordinary hook out of the update, which I was thinking about removing anyhow :) Gatoclass (talk) 09:26, 2 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Gatoclass (talk) 18:04, 2 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I removed the prod tag you placed on Very Important Person, as per policy an article that has been discussed at AfD is permanently ineligible for deletion via prod. Compliance with policy is the only reason I did this, I have no comment one way or the other on the merits of deletion, and you are welcome to open another AfD. —KuyaBriBri^Talk 16:41, 9 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Same goes for Don't have a cow. —KuyaBriBri^Talk 16:44, 9 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for letting me know. In the case of the second one, you are referring to an AfD without a single keep vote, and which resulted in the article being redirected to a now-deleted article. That seems like a silly basis for not allowing prod, since it was all but deleted in the AfD. Dominic·t 07:50, 10 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

I just posted a note at WP:AN about a rangeblock from back in 2006. Mangojuice changed the block setting shortly after ypou applied the block so I mistakenly thoght Mangojuice was the original Admin. Would you mind commenting on it? Thanks in advance. 64.40.62.149 (talk) 22:31, 19 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you 64.40.62.53 (talk) 04:48, 20 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

thanks again Dominic for checking in on me and the tip about 'minor change'. I'll keep that in mind for future work. I wasn't sure what was classed as a minor change so thanks for clarifying. atm I'm just trying to add more references and tidy the sections to make them look more like the GA ones. hopefully I'm doing the references correctly! I see different versions on different pages. just found out about ref name="" if I want to reuse the same reference for different parts of the article. thanks again Kathodonnell (talk) 10:45, 20 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

woah! thanks for the tip about the cite templates & link. I hadn't noticed that - I'd been manually typing it each time. this is so much better. (must have had blinkers on for that edit bar) thank you! Kathodonnell (talk) 11:46, 20 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

hi Dominic, I've been checking some of the other Australian music articles to see what they need to get rated higher. & I noticed Downsyde is C class. I notice it has more text/explanations. & it has a few references that are gig lineups for festivals. I've mostly been checking more academic references / edited publications. is it ok to include the gig lineups? (I'll still keep looking for the other ones) it seems a bit promotional, but perhaps they're there to reference that the band played at the festivals. I'm looking at the hilltop hoods a class article also for examples on how it's done (both Aus hip hop) Kathodonnell (talk) 05:02, 21 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

This is an interesting question. I don't generally (i.e., ever) write on musicians, or pop culture in general. You might want to check WP:MUSIC, or even ask around over there, for a more coherent answer. However, I can share my thought process on the issue. I think these types of references are problematic for the reasons you suspect. The reason that they seem promotional is because they aren't independent, being published by the festival people themselves. Another reason this isn't ideal is that if a source is not an independent media source, it becomes difficult to gauge the noteworthiness of that performance. Most of our musicians' articles probably mention if they played at Woodstock, but that's because the event is so notable that outside sources on the musicians will mention this.

Obviously, it is less clear-cut when you are looking at a band that is notable for putting out an album or two, but whose gigs might not receive news coverage. In these edge cases, we have to do the best we can. I'm not sure how important playing at these gigs is considered in the career of a musician, or even if it should generally merit inclusion; you probably have a better idea of that. I wouldn't be afraid to remove anything with such poor sourcing if you are also skeptical of its importance (but ask at the WikiProject before you start removing them on a large scale or very rapidly, probably). If they are important enough to keep, news sources are preferable, but failing that, a reputable music blog might suffice. I would only include gig lineups or (worst case) an artist's own website if there is no alternative and you absolutely want to keep the information about the festival (but, again, consider what the fact that there is no news coverage of the gig might be telling you). Hope that's not too unhelpful! ;-) Dominic·t 14:17, 22 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

thanks very much for your reply. this makes sense. & thanks for the wp:music link too, I hadn't seen that before & it explains/includes some examples of what's not to be used. I'll try find some articles / interviews where the band/artist has mentioned they've thought this gig/release was important in their career, or that the writer has commented similarly on it & see if I can replace some of the current references with these. even interviews might be seen as not independent enough as it's the subject speaking (question/answer interviews). some of the pages still do sound very promotional, so I'm hoping to help work (slowly) on changing these to npov next. thanks again :) Kathodonnell (talk) 02:49, 23 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

The newsletter of the Wikipedia Ambassador Program – Volume 3, 21 March 2011 This is the third issue of the Wikipedia Ambassador Program Newsletter, with details about what's going on right now and where help is needed. Where the courses are - A brief summary of how each of the 31 Public Policy Initiative courses are faring so far in the Spring 2011 term, as of 9-11 March. Feel free to add more detail. Tracking students' articles - Make sure students' articles are tagged with {{WAP assignment}} on the talk pages, and have the newly improved Article Feedback Tool active. Education portal in progress - Wikimedia staff have started work on an outreach portal for information about teaching with and about Wikipedia. Please help develop it! Online Ambassadors logistics - If you don't have a Wikipedia Ambassador sweatshirt, now's your chance to get one! (Also, some other more mundane, but important, details.) Steering committee preparing proposals - Look for discussions about two major proposals about the future ambassador program soon: the "Regional Ambassador" role, and elections for a new committee. Editing Friday returns - This Friday, join fellow ambassadors and others real-time collaboration on Wainwright Building.

Delivered by EdwardsBot (talk) 22:22, 21 March 2011 (UTC) [reply]

I haven't written you in a very very long time. How are you doing? I have completely divorced myself from anything approaching controversy. I'm just doing disamming nowadays. Anyway. I sent you an email. :) --User:Woohookitty ^{Disamming fool!} 05:49, 22 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]

A familiar song. --User:Woohookitty ^{Disamming fool!} 04:44, 23 March 2011 (UTC)[reply]