User talk:MiamiVolts/Archive 3

WARNING: User talk:MiamiVolts/Archive 3 is an archive of past messages. New messages should be added to User talk:MiamiVolts.

administrators

• I just wanted to address the "administrator" reference with my last reply since if people read things about the administrators collectively they may start to believe that we have some kind of influence inherent to the position and then that can end up being a self-fulfilling prophecy where people don't present their views when someone who happens to be an administrator disagrees because they feel like the administrator is in some kind of position of authority. Even Lulu's comment about "asking an admin" is a sign that people may be confused already thinking that administrators are in charge of sections of the site or something. Anytime I see things like that I usually try to remind people that it's the consensus of the community that matters, not just what a few administrators think. Hope you're warming up, it's like 20 degrees where I am. Brr. (Admin 21:30, 3 January 2008 (EST))
  • Sorry if my comment was misleading, I'm one of those people who generally enjoy some sort of higher up confirmation before doing something. <_> -- Lulu (talk) 21:34, 3 January 2008 (EST)
    • Ah, that's the key though. We're not "higher up". :) The "higher up" is the community. So anytime you're looking for confirmation, just post to the appropriate talk page and solicit input from the community. That's all the confirmation you need. :) (Admin 21:39, 3 January 2008 (EST))
      • I'll try and keep that in mind. I guess you won't be wanting that pedestal I was going to send you. :] -- Lulu (talk) 21:43, 3 January 2008 (EST)
        • I'll take a pedestal, but I'll use it to keep ham sandwiches raised above flash floods. (Mmm... Ham...) I understand wanting the advice of somebody who might have a little more experience, and that's fine. But "administrator" does not necessarily mean "experience". To demonstrate, Admin does not edit the portals, and does not have as much experience with them. Yours truly really has no idea what's going on in the theory pages. On the other hand, MiamiVolts is not an administrator, but has terrific knowledge of dpl. Lulu has recently been writing some terrific crew member articles. And if I have a question about memorable quotes, I almost always defer to Ice Vision. We all have our strengths and weaknesses, our "pet" articles, and our areas where we might have a bit more experience....Now how about that ham sandwich pedestal? :) -- RyanGibsonStewart (talk) 21:53, 3 January 2008 (EST)
          • Sure, wouldn't want you to have any soggy sandwiches. :] -- Lulu (talk) 21:56, 3 January 2008 (EST)
  • That's a good point, Admin. I'll try to keep that in mind. But for Lulu's sake, I'd like to point out that the community only gets a say if it's at least a super-majority. That's what I understand consensus to mean for this Wiki. Otherwise, it falls to the administrators to decide and since historically the administrators almost always end up agreeing with each other, I can see why "asking an admin" might be a comment she would make (even though it is technically incorrect). It's not necessarily a bad thing to have like-minded administrators which vary mainly in skill, but imho the difficulty to dodge this perception is a consequence of it.--MiamiVolts (talk) 22:38, 3 January 2008 (EST)
    • I've thought about that very point you bring up about it being up to the administrators to decide. It may have been a mistake for me to claim that's how it works when it doesn't really make sense for it to work that way. By that logic every decision is purely up to me since I could always declare there is no consensus among anyone and according to my earlier statement the decision would then rest with me... and that's not the right way to do things. Really the way it should work is that if there is no consensus then it shouldn't necessarily fall to the administrators, but rather the status quo should remain until there is consensus. The caveat there is that the status quo, by virtue of being the status quo, should have some legitimacy through policy or guidelines. For instance if there's a new ability and the first person to make an article calls it "Blah" and it's clearly a bad name for it, yet there's no consensus (i.e. multiple opinions) on what it should actually be called then the answer isn't to leave it as "Blah". The naming convention comes into play here and allows us to name it "Soandso's ability" in the absense of consensus. It's tricky because when it comes to politics like this we're still rather young compared to say Wikipedia which has all these formal processes for things like dispute resolution. We're feeling things out and I think we're going to end up in the right direction. (Admin 22:51, 3 January 2008 (EST))
      • FWIW, I think the "ask an admin" mentality is worse at Wikipedia because things are not as discussed as much. We're younger, but my opinion is we're on the right track as far as that perception of "listening" goes. Also, DPL is an example of a new functionality where there was not set policy or guidelines. I'm still working on an in-this-Wiki help for it, and I think that may make clearer any further discussion on the portal automation issue.--MiamiVolts (talk) 23:02, 3 January 2008 (EST)
      • Just so we're clear, to my best memory, there has only been one example of a decision being "made by the admins"--the name of bliss and horror. I don't think we have formally discussed anything else externally. -- RyanGibsonStewart (talk) 23:05, 3 January 2008 (EST)
        • Yeah, that's the specific instance that comes to mind and probably the one MiamiVolts was referring to. In fact, that was such a big deal that it spawned the naming conventions to help deal with such a thing in the future. So I think as long as we learn from our shortcomings and address them we'll be on a good path. (Admin 23:09, 3 January 2008 (EST))
        • And that's about the only time I can see consensus failing: when consensus breaks the rules. Even if there was 100% consensus that [[Peter Petrelli]] should be renamed to [[Princess Sparkle Panties]], it wouldn't happen--not because the admins disagree, but because as admins, one of our only functions is to enforce the few rules and policies we have--in this case, the naming convention.--Hardvice (talk) 23:10, 3 January 2008 (EST)

Cold weather

Sure Admin, it's 20 F where you are but you're used to it. Last night, it was forecasted 30s temp 20s windchill factor (what it feels like). The last time it got close to being this cold was 5 years ago as mentioned in that MiamiBugle article.--MiamiVolts (talk) 22:38, 3 January 2008 (EST)

• I wouldn't say we're USED to 20 degree weather. :) ...but, yeah, we're used to generally lower temperatures than say someone in Florida. (Admin 22:51, 3 January 2008 (EST))
  • Here's some "extreme" cold, Sacramento Valley style:
    last winter, we Californians experienced a big freeze in the middle of a LOOOOOONG dry spell. One day during the freeze: Clear with the ol' North Wind blowing, high of about 45. The wind chill that Day: about 14. the lows averaged about 20.
    a few days before Christmas, 2005: we were locked clouds/fog. the high the day the fog never lifted: 38
    for perspective: Normal highs (winter) = ~55. Normal lows = ~35
    --SacValleyDweller (talk) 00:16, 4 January 2008 (EST)
    • For perspective, the average low in Miami as of last night was 62 F. The actual low in Miami was 39 F, but the big sticker is the humidity which makes it feel "colder" with the wind. Unlike California or New England, Florida is surrounded by water on 3 sides. Tonight it is 67%.--MiamiVolts (talk) 00:33, 4 January 2008 (EST)

DPL and archives

• Do you know if there's a way to get DPL to iterate throught the section titles on a single page and then output them as a formatted list on another page? I'd really love to be able to automate the archive summary like I use on my talk page instead of having to copy and paste each section title from the archive each time I create a new archive. (Admin 19:19, 5 January 2008 (EST))
  • Funny you should ask that now, I was already working on it with an initial coding draft template here. It's already working on my talk page somewhat and I'm still debugging.--MiamiVolts (talk) 20:00, 5 January 2008 (EST)
    • It's mostly done now, and I added a rename tag to ask for comments on its name.--MiamiVolts (talk) 01:15, 7 January 2008 (EST)

Ahah!

So you are a guy. Odd, I assumed you were a girl (no offense). Everything you said just sounded feminine in my head...--Hero!^(talk)_(contribs) 22:27, 8 January 2008 (EST)

• Gee, you just figured it out now? I know I've been cryptic but that's being really slow to catch on to my hints (no offense).--MiamiVolts (talk) 22:30, 8 January 2008 (EST)
  • None taken. I am..........rather slo.......w. I guess it's a by-prodcut of my short attent- Ooh, something shiny! --Hero!^(talk)_(contribs) 22:51, 8 January 2008 (EST)
  • For what it's worth, even before knowing your name I just assumed you were a guy. :) (Admin 22:35, 8 January 2008 (EST))
    • I thought being male was a prerequisite for registering on the site. Go figure. -- RyanGibsonStewart (talk) 22:40, 8 January 2008 (EST)
      • Thanks guys. That's reassuring. Actually, from what I can tell, most of the users who have registered their gender on this site are male. Would the actual percentage be useful somewhere? It can be calculated using DPL.--MiamiVolts (talk) 22:54, 8 January 2008 (EST)
        • Well it would have to be 100% since the first rule of the internet is that there are no females on the internet. --  Seclusion  talk / contribs 22:58, 8 January 2008 (EST)
          • I was just counting the seconds until that was said. :] -- Lulu (talk) 23:01, 8 January 2008 (EST)
      • Actually, Ryan, you might be surprised. Browsing through the 9th Wonders message there's a very high number of females. I was surprised because I had always thought most people into Heroes and comic books were guys. (Admin 23:04, 8 January 2008 (EST))
        • I've noticed that too, that on 9th Wonders there seems to be a higher percentage of fangirls than there are on, say, Heroes Wiki. Odd. -- RyanGibsonStewart (talk) 23:38, 8 January 2008 (EST)
          • There's more female users on the Heroes forum in IMDb too. That's not surprising to me, though, as using a Wiki is more difficult than just posting to the standard chat forum, and it appears that a majority of Wikipedia users are also male.--MiamiVolts (talk) 00:01, 9 January 2008 (EST)
            • It could also be the social attraction along with Miami's reasons that there are more girls on forums. Forums are there for pure discussion, eg talk which is what most girls love to do. Wiki's don't do that ; Yes there IS discussion on talk pages but not like forums where you chat chat chat, wiki's are usually for editing which for most girls which cause them to go to a forum instead. --  Seclusion  talk / contribs 00:10, 9 January 2008 (EST)~

Away message

My condolences, Miami. Are you leaving Friday 1/11 or tonight 1/10? -- RyanGibsonStewart (talk) 00:00, 11 January 2008 (EST)

• Thanks. I'm leaving in a several hours, getting some sleep now and leaving at first light (1/11). I've a long drive ahead. Read you in a couple days.--MiamiVolts (talk) 00:12, 11 January 2008 (EST)

SC

• Hey MV, I have bad news. I can't do the summary because I have midterms this week and I have to study constantly. Maybe a little after quarter 3 starts I'll get on it. If you want to start it out I could follow. But right now school and studies are my top priorities, not the summary. lol. sorry. I will have time to do it though because I was originally going to spend all my time during February playing super smash bros, but seeing as they delayed it... lol. Jason Garrick 17:13, 21 January 2008 (EST)
  • That's okay. I'm still writing the dpl help offline and that may take me a few more days. It's taking a bit longer than expected.--MiamiVolts (talk) 17:55, 21 January 2008 (EST)

I need help.

I have another vision that could use the your technical knowhow.
The Vision: An automated page that bullet-lists all of the GNs by artist and by colorist (User:SacValleyDweller/list of GN's by artist and colorist|the work in progress)
The Problem: The template that does the bulleted list only works on a GN crew member page.
The jerry rig solution: use the inline Novels Created template that works anywhere.
The request: might you be able to whip something up that would do what I want? --SacValleyDweller (talk) 02:02, 24 January 2008 (EST)

• It sounds like from dpl, the table parameter is perhaps best if you want to list the graphic novels and their artists and colorists next to each novel. To print both the artist and colorist, just make sure both parameters are mentioned in the include call. I'll be back this evening sometime and can explain more if you're lost.--MiamiVolts (talk) 07:52, 24 January 2008 (EST)
  • Bringing this up again, I'd like my page, User:SacValleyDweller/list of GN's by artist and colorist, The table is ok and it works, but not what I really wanted. I would much prefer an automated bulleted list under each Artist/colorist/inker listing the works that they have done, kind of like this:
    

 ==[[Peter Steigerwald]]==

 ===Graphic Novels Created===
 <what he's penciled>

 ===Graphic Novels Colored===
 <what he's colored>

 ===Graphic Novels Digitally Inked===
 <what he's inked>

Might you be able to make this? --SacValleyDweller (talk) 20:10, 9 March 2008 (EDT)

• Yeah, we can change the {{PAGENAME}} parameter in the Template:NovelsCreated to add a specified "creator" option.--MiamiVolts (talk) 21:18, 9 March 2008 (EDT)
  • That would be great! And it would have the person in question at Heading 2 and the other sections at Heading 3, right? --SacValleyDweller (talk) 23:13, 9 March 2008 (EDT)
    • No, to do that would require a custom template. But looking at the code some more, a custom template is probably going to be the best method in this case as it would be more straightforward.--MiamiVolts (talk) 01:35, 10 March 2008 (EDT)
      • Would you make it please, then? <:) --SacValleyDweller (talk) 02:38, 10 March 2008 (EDT)
        • Ok, all is set, but I had to split the article in two: an artist page for the list of artists and what novels they've drawn, and a colorists page for the list of colorists and what novels they've colored. Due to tick restrictions, they can't be on the same page (the article is slow as it is). When Admin upgrades the server to the newer MediaWiki and DPL versions, things might be better.--MiamiVolts (talk) 08:15, 10 March 2008 (EDT)

Patrolling

• I'm using you as a guinea pig for the new Patrollers group. Could you see if you have the ability to patrol edits in the Recent Changes now? (Admin 00:36, 9 February 2008 (EST))
  • Yes, it works; thanks for promotion here. I can see the ! marks for unpatrolled articles/edits. I just patrolled a couple edits for Theory:James Walker. The first was [1] and the second was the current version [2]. Neither show the ! (unpatrolled) symbol for me anymore. Does the symbol show up for you? Also, I left a comment about the variable to set on Template talk:ArchiveLinks.--MiamiVolts (talk) 03:38, 9 February 2008 (EST)
  • Ah, I just noticed one difference from administator patrolling and this new patrollers group, which you may think is good or bad--my own edits are showing up as unpatrolled and I'm not allowed to patrol them. Administrative edits are normally automatically patrolled and don't need reviewing.--MiamiVolts (talk) 03:45, 9 February 2008 (EST)
    • Yeah, I purposely didn't enable autopatrolling. I wasn't sure if it would let you manually patrol your own edits or not after the fact. Thanks! (Admin 10:13, 9 February 2008 (EST))

Possessive with an s

Didn't you get the note? Now all posessives are with the letter 'a' instead of 's'. 'S' is so 90s. hahaha --HiroDynoSlayer (talk) 02/19/2008 17:56 (EST)

• 90s, eh? LOL. Nice tease. ;)--MiamiVolts (talk) 18:01, 19 February 2008 (EST)
  • ?Que pasa?--SacValleyDweller (talk) 18:05, 19 February 2008 (EST)
    • Nada importante, mi amigo. :)--MiamiVolts (talk) 18:18, 19 February 2008 (EST)

Sunday/Monday for Season Three Premiere

• I think it's more likely he got the date wrong than the day of the week, so I changed it to Monday 9/8. If you don't think that's a good idea then I think we should just revert it to how it was before until we get a consistent confirmation. Or we could just explain the inconsistency and say that it's either 7 or 8 and not yet known which. (Admin 20:36, 28 February 2008 (EST))
  • I think it's better we explain the inconsistency and that we don't know yet which is correct. That's what I did on my Unofficial NBC broadcast schedule page.--MiamiVolts (talk) 21:25, 28 February 2008 (EST)
    • I read in Entertainment Weekly about three weeks ago that Heroes will continue to be on Monday, and there's no move to Sunday. In the extremely rare chance that it is going to premiere on a Sunday, I don't think anybody will be marking their calendars this far in advance and never check back until September. I think we're pretty safe going with Monday, as has been established. -- RyanGibsonStewart (talk) 23:04, 28 February 2008 (EST)
• Just got a new relayed message from Chris at 9th Wonders!:

"I'm sorry - that's a typo I thought I corrected. We were told the it was the 7th,
 then realized that Monday is going to be on the 8th. Heroes day is still Monday and
 we will premiere on September 8th.
Chris"

The writers could still be mistaken in assuming that NBC gave them the wrong date. Chris didn't say if anyone confirmed it yet with the higher-ups, but since a writer is basically telling us to assume the 8th, I figure we should go with what he says so I've updated the related articles.--MiamiVolts (talk) 00:03, 1 March 2008 (EST)

Volts?

Is Volts you over at 9th, Miami?--SacValleyDweller (talk) 00:13, 1 March 2008 (EST)

• Yes.--MiamiVolts (talk) 01:16, 1 March 2008 (EST)

Re: Language Bias

Interesting! the Spanish speakers of Florida (Cubans?) have a bias against non native speakers, right? Hm... the Mexicans around here, at least the ones I've met, don't show that at all, and the Costa Ricans are very friendly towards the non natives, or so I've heard. --SacValleyDweller (talk) 16:24, 9 March 2008 (EDT)

• No, what I said was that the Spanish speakers of South Florida tend to be biased against non-native speakers of the Spanish language--that's slightly different from what you just said, but it's an important distinction. They can easily pick up on a non-native accent of a person speaking Spanish, and Spanish can be "muy rapido" (very fast). If you've heard even Mexican Spanish, you probably know what I mean... BTW, native Spanish speakers here don't just include Cubans: they also include Puerto Ricans (a territory of the US), Mexicans, Dominicans (people from the Dominican Republic), Columbians, Brazilians, and to a lesser amount immigrants from several other South/Latin American countries.--MiamiVolts (talk) 19:03, 9 March 2008 (EDT)
  • ok, gotchya. :) --SacValleyDweller (talk) 19:56, 9 March 2008 (EDT)

Residences

Thanks for making all the residences consistent. I was actually hoping to mirror the graphic novel residences after the episodes rather than vice versa, but didn't have time or the energy to do it. At least it all consistent now, right? -- RyanGibsonStewart (talk) 23:15, 13 March 2008 (EDT)

• Yeah, at least it's mostly consistent now. The graphic novel residences were more split up portal-wise than the episodes, so it would have been be hard to do vice versa. Anyways, we've still got to determine whether or not to split the graphic novel categories. I've set up the redlinks appropriately, but I'm waiting for a reply before making the new cats.--MiamiVolts (talk) 23:20, 13 March 2008 (EDT)
  • Yeah, I don't see why not. I mean, they're basically set up, it would just require some edits to each article, right? -- RyanGibsonStewart (talk) 23:29, 13 March 2008 (EDT)
    • Yes, and we can streamline it by adding the cat with the graphic novel residences template, like was done in Template:Residences (the old episode residence templates were auto-catting so I kept it that way).--MiamiVolts (talk) 23:32, 13 March 2008 (EDT)
      • Ok, I think the residences are now all set. Now for the events portal?--MiamiVolts (talk) 00:04, 14 March 2008 (EDT)
        • My graduate course ends tomorrow, and I'm just checking back here to take a break from writing. Over the weekend I'm heading to NJ to see my brother off to Siberia (literally) for two years. If you want to take on the events, go for it, but there's no rush. It's not like Heroes is starting up again next week! :) Take a break... -- RyanGibsonStewart (talk) 00:20, 14 March 2008 (EDT)
          • Ok, Doctor Stewart. A break it will be (at least until next Tuesday. ;)). SacValleyDweller already has it mostly done in his userspace, if you want to check it out. BTW, I hope your brother does well in the Russian countryside. I hear it's a good place to seek work nowadays.--MiamiVolts (talk) 00:38, 14 March 2008 (EDT)

Old versions of images

If you ever want to see an old version of an image, all you have to do is go to the file history and click on the date/time of the version you want. There's no need to revert to an older version of an image and then revert back again. For instance, if you wanted to see the Gunnell version of Linda, go to Image:Linda_Tavara.jpg#filehistory, click on "04:04, 19 February 2008", and you should see this image. No reverts or reuploads necessary. :) Hope that helps! -- RyanGibsonStewart (talk) 07:45, 26 March 2008 (EDT)

• Ah, yes; I didn't know that. Thanks for the heads-up! That's very useful!--MiamiVolts (talk) 07:49, 26 March 2008 (EDT)

interview questions

Thanks for submitting interview questions. I can always count on you to ask great questions, and it really helps guide my interviews. Thanks! -- RyanGibsonStewart (talk) 11:23, 27 March 2008 (EDT)

• You're welcome. The questions are as much for me as for everyone else. BTW, if you're interested in refreshing your GI Joe knowledge (since Atkins inked/colored for several GI Joe titles), I found this cool website while reading up on the upcoming movie. There's a related PSA there: Remember, anything worth doing is worth planning. :)--MiamiVolts (talk) 13:40, 27 March 2008 (EDT)
  • Oh, gosh, I totally remember those PSAs from when I was a kid! ... "If you fail to plan, you plan to fail. Now you know, and knowing is half the battle." Trip down memory lane! :) -- RyanGibsonStewart (talk) 14:20, 27 March 2008 (EDT)
    • Nice work again on the Atkins interview, Ryan. I'll be on sporadically at least the next few days or so while I get some work done on my computers.--MiamiVolts (talk) 14:08, 8 April 2008 (EDT)