Refactored:

• March 12 2004

Look who's come to dinner: [1] -- BCorr ¤ Брайен 17:21, Mar 12, 2004 (UTC)

:/ Ah well. fabiform | talk 22:42, 12 Mar 2004 (UTC)

Thanks very much for all your help at that article, which is quite important (as you guess) for us Spaniards. Pfortuny 18:09, 13 Mar 2004 (UTC)

I drew the winners of the lottery last night. Sorry, but you didn't win anything. Better luck next time! silsor 19:31, Mar 13, 2004 (UTC)

dear fabi, did you follow the link in my vote of support? +sj+ 15:34, 2004 Mar 17 (UTC)

You are now a sysop. Tuf-Kat 21:21, Mar 17, 2004 (UTC)

• You are now free to move about the cabin. +sj+ 06:24, 2004 Mar 18 (UTC)
  • Look at all these lovely new links. I'm almost afraid to click them. fabiform | talk 06:31, 18 Mar 2004 (UTC)

Congatulations! Go very slow 'till you find your feet. Remenber almost anything you do can be undone by another admin except deleted images. So be extra careful with those. theresa knott 06:42, 18 Mar 2004 (UTC)

I always assumed that the word was 'bean-stalk'. Now I realize it must be 'beans-talk'. We learn something new at Wikipedia every day.
—Herbee 19:02, 2004 Mar 18 (UTC)

It brings a whole new meaning to Jack and the Beans Talk.  :) fabiform | talk 19:16, 18 Mar 2004 (UTC)

I would still put it up, but with either a note saying it was from the uk site, or under a different header. LarryGilbert was, last i checked, corresponding with amazon, but i'm not sure whats become of that.Crackshoe 17:14, 19 Mar 2004 (UTC)

Erie Canal has gone through some edits and fixes and additions since your Feb 19 objection to it on Wikipedia:Featured_article_candidates. Could you please review the article again? Kingturtle 18:57, 20 Mar 2004 (UTC)

Actually, I didn't do it for you at all! I tend to put the test message on before I delete the page, just cuz it works better navigation-wise for me. But you deleted the page while I was in the middle of posting the test message. It's not the first time it's happened that way, and I've only been an admin for a day! moink 00:15, 23 Mar 2004 (UTC)

I'm going to stop surfing RecentChanges right now because you are so fast and so good at it! Thanks for your work! BCorr¤Брайен 17:11, Mar 24, 2004 (UTC)

Well, I'm doing what I can (I'm at work, so I do a bit now and again). This may be the reason for the flood: http://news.independent.co.uk/digital/features/story.jsp?story=504287 -- BCorr¤Брайен 18:47, Mar 24, 2004 (UTC)

Thanks for your clarification on my talk page about the un-deleted Whitelighter. I was too hasty on that page delete (is it my imagination, or have we been absolutely swamped with gibberish and vandalism lately?) but holy cow - it sure was a doozy! - DavidWBrooks 18:59, 24 Mar 2004 (UTC)

That was probably my mistake, as they wouldn't commonly be called the "Peterson trials". To tell you the truth, I had forgotten the man's name (and I don't know it at this moment), but a certain person is on trial currently for the supposed murder of his wife (Laci Peterson) and kids. ugen64 20:30, Mar 24, 2004 (UTC)

Why have you moved Balaclava? I'm moving it back. Mintguy (T)

A balaclava is traditionally made of wool and can be rolled up to turn it into a hat, and pre-dates the popularity of skiing by quite some time. Perhaps a new page for ski-mask should be created. Mintguy (T)

Thanks for the welcome. Here is something I don't know. When you say bean-shaped, do you mean tall and skinny as the character, String Bean on the old show Hee Haw? Or do you mean shaped like an actual bean itself. H2O 17:24, 26 Mar 2004 (UTC)

Is this where I talk to you? Sorry, I'm sort of new and haven't figured out a lot of things yet. You sent me a message saying something about my test working, but it had been deleted and telling me to use the sandbox in future. I haven't edited any pages recently, and when I do edit them, it's to make them better, not to vandalise them or to do tests on them. So... I think you have the wrong person.

Hi.  :) Please ignore that message if you've not been making nonsense edits. You're probably using a proxy IP or a dynamic IP, and that message was for someone else who'd been messing around - sorry for the confusion. If you're enjoying using wikipedia, you might like to make an account (all you have to do is pick a username and password), then you'll have a talk page of your own, and only get messages which are meant for you.  :) Feel free to ask me any questions if you have any problems. fabiform | talk 16:53, 29 Mar 2004 (UTC)

If that was about what I think it was about, double argh. There will be a decision very soon, and we'll see if that has any effect. I would say more, but I am realizing now that all comments I make anywhere may be used to build a case against me, and while I don't believe there is any case, I'm tired of handing him what he perceives to be ammunition. :-) Have a good day! Jwrosenzweig 23:51, 29 Mar 2004 (UTC)

Relax, pals :O) You watch the news too much ! It may endanger your health. Good will has never, ever, harmed anyone :O) - irismeister 00:09, 2004 Mar 30 (UTC)

I'm curious as to why you oppose Karl's beaurocratship at wikibooks? theresa knott

Sorry about my edit in the featured pictures page. I understand the feature thing now. Dynabee 12:45, 30 Mar 2004 (UTC)

fab-4, I hope you agree now with the features I left in the 'uncontested' dept. I bolded a few comments here and there to clarify why I thought each nom was uncontested. In cases where an objection had been responded to by the author but not confirmed settled by the objector, I gave the author the benefit of the doubt -- since there is a suggested time limit for FAC and since some objectors don't always return to look again. +sj+ 22:51, 2004 Mar 30 (UTC) (thought I'd posted this a day or two ago, but I see not! too many simultaenous edit windows...)

I'll see if I can make a new pair or remake the second based on the one I made. And possibly tweak the colors a bit. Fredrik 18:58, 31 Mar 2004 (UTC)

Finally got around to doing it... I'm a pathological procrastinator, I guess. I simply modified my enclave image. I also tried a B/W printout, and it looked fine. Fredrik 13:56, 21 Apr 2004 (UTC)

No. I support it being a featured article. But it coulddo with a tweak. Mintguy (T)

Thanks :) I tried hard to capture his, er, unique style. -- DrBob 23:17, 1 Apr 2004 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Requests for comment/Everyone using a username which is against policy is this word rougher in the UK, or what? I wouldn't blink if somebody had it for a user name. Doesn't it just mean a twitchy gimpster, somebody prone to convulsions? I know there are some variations in english, so please clue me in. Sam Spade 11:05, 4 Apr 2004 (UTC)

It started out as a perfectly acceptable word for someone with a disease which causes spasms. But over time the word has become less and less acceptable. There's a nice explanation of this sort of thing on euphemism - the bit about the "euphamism treadmill". In British English the word is simply no longer used unless you're trying to offend. It's a bit like calling someone a retard, but more offensive. I didn't realise that Americans might still use it. fabiform | talk 11:14, 4 Apr 2004 (UTC)

I am familiar with it primarilly in regards to slang, someone who is easilly exciteable and has excessive motor activity is refered to as a 'spaz' or as being spastic. It's considered very tame to my knowledge, used on television and so forth. Sam Spade 04:54, 5 Apr 2004 (UTC)

I imagine that my answer should be obvious, Fabiform, but just in case you cannot guess it, no. Mutilation and modification are two quite different things. All mutilations are modifications, but not all modifications are mutilations. Tannin

Three things, Fabiform.

1. There is no consensus - I am far from the only one who is not happy with the push to bowdlerise this entry.
2. You have, as always, been the soul of courtesy.
3. My irritation is not with you

Best -- Tannin

Hmm ....an interesting line of thought, Fabiform, which seems perfectly rational on first sight, but rests on a false premise—the assumption that mutilation is the POV word when there are, in fact, two key words. Let's set aside their different dictionary meanings for a moment and pretend that, implications and emotional baggage aside, they are exact synonyms. (We are doing this little thought experiment in order to disentangle the literal meanings and the subtextual meanings, so as to be able to consider them in isolation and thus see them more clearly.) I agree that it's possible (and indeed common) to associate a sense of damage with the term mutilation. But just as mutilation carries an unbidden association, so to does modfication. Modification invites the reader to associate a sense of change for the better, or at the very least, change without damage. Even if you reject the "for the better" implication I have drawn (though I think you will find that modification is, in practice, used in this way more often than not), even the second and lesser implication is every bit as POV as that which you attached to mutilation. It is more subtle and thus harder to spot immediately, but every bit as real.

Now, let's set aside the implication side of things and consider, in turn, the literal meanings, alone, minus baggage. A modification is "any change"—adding, removing, altering in any way at all. A mutilation is a particular type of modification that involves removing something. (Or, in a different sense of the word, so altering something as to make it disfunctional, but that sense is not especially relevant in this context.) In other words, the two words do not share the same meaning. They are different terms, with different meanings. All genital mutilations are modifications, but not all genital modifications are mutilations. It is entirely appropriate, it follows, that there should be different articles for these two different (but related) subjects.

As to the merit of the present two articles, I have no comment at present. I'll have to read them over carefully, and am pushed for time tonight,

Best -- Tannin

I would appreciate your feedback re: WP Trust Metrics. Happy spring, +sj+ 08:14, 2004 Apr 14 (UTC)

Incidently dear Fabi, do you see the sweet and sour paradox of discussing how to manage trust with regards to steward activity, with 2 people who publicly opposed your nomination ;-) ant. Good idea I came around, I did not know about that trust metrics.

I scanned through my watchlist this morning and saw that you have been doing sterling work defending the thinking, morality and legality of the James Bulger article on Talk:Main Page and the VP. I think this is important so thank you very much. It is quite remarkable that that article was only started just over a month ago and now it is featured and been on the main page. I guess we have to pat all the other users who contributed to it as well as ourselves :-). Pete/Pcb21 (talk) 08:31, 22 Apr 2004 (UTC)

Can you help me to move Light-year to light year? The rationale is on Talk:light-year. No-one objected during about one month. Light year currently redirects to light-year. I tried moving light year and the associated talk page to subpages of light-year in order to make room for moving light-year to light year, but Wikipedia refuses anyhow. Thanks. -- Hankwang 13:27, 23 Apr 2004 (UTC)

...a TV show shhe's never...

Oops, sorry, I didn't know you were a sshe. But then I suppose a number of folks are confused by my name too, as gender-specific pronouns seem pretty thin on the ground. Perhaps I should take steps to make my User: page a big more macho (fuzzy dice, dead animal head, etc.)... -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 11:10, 28 Apr 2004 (UTC)

Hi there, I saw on your page that you are interested in dictionaries, so I thought you might be interested in a project I am starting as well. Please check my page and let me know what you think about it. Get-back-world-respect 17:11, 1 May 2004 (UTC)[reply]

With 3 arbitrators recusing themselves it seemed that a slightly reduced number would be required for acceptance. I notified the arbitrators on our mailing list about what I have done. At this point no one has ratified it or questioned it. Another question is how many arbitrators will be required to make a decision. I suggested four on the list, but we may not be able to get that many to agree on anything. Fred Bauder 02:59, May 3, 2004 (UTC)

You are English aren't you? Just letting you know about the London meetup. See User:Jimbo Wales/2004-06-05 for details. I hope you can come along, I want to see if you really are beanshaped ;-) theresa knott 12:41, 5 May 2004 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for the appreciation. Just felt like cleaning up the Wikipedia:Requested pictures page. It's amazing what you can find if you search Google for .gov sites for example for Hard Hats. Then you just have to pick a good one and check if it is public domain. -- Chris 73 | Talk 14:24, 9 May 2004 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks also for formatting the hat-pages. I just quickly put the pictures on the pages since i did not know if there is a special format. -- Chris 73 | Talk 03:47, 10 May 2004 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for helping to sort out my slip-up regarding the London Congestion Charge as a featured article. I'd looked for it on Wikipedia:Featured articles, but under the transport section rather than the economics section, which is how I missed it - should just have done a 'find' on the page!--ALargeElk 16:13, 12 May 2004 (UTC)[reply]

What happened to your pictures, i.e. ? cryptfiend64 21:23, May 14, 2004 (UTC)

This has led me to a quandary. The table I added to Robert Walpole looks ugly without a picture. Do you, by any chance, remember where you got that nice, fat picture of Mr. Walpole from? cryptfiend64 00:36, 30 May 2004 (UTC)[reply]

Your picture of William Pitt the Youngerer is gone too. Salasks 15:37, 15 Jul 2004 (UTC)

I just hadn't seen you around for a while and want to let you know that you've been missed. I hope all is well and that you're simply taking a well-earned wikivacation.

Peace, BCorr|Брайен 13:26, 7 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Likewise! I was talking to some new editors about the need for more work on literature the other day, and felt a particular pang of remorse for not having seen you around in so long. +sj+ 23:15, 21 Jul 2004 (UTC)