Hi -- because of your previous involvement in maintaining and improving Wikipedia templates, I thought you would be interested in plans to create a new template. The new template would be appropriate for two main cases: where an article is getting too large, and someone wishes to propose a new 'spin-out' article; and where a 'spin-out' article on the subject already exists but detail is still accumulating in the main article. The proposed name for the new template is Template:Movedetail, and I suggest that planning take place at Template talk:Movedetail.

Hope to see you there! -- Antaeus Feldspar 16:27, 27 September 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Welcome to Wikipedia in Spanish, I hope to you learn so much from us, like us from you (sorry me english) Alexan My talk page 01:32, 7 October 2005 (UTC)

• Estimad@ amig@ wikipedista. Desde este preciso momento en el que has decidido inscribirte en este Magno Proyecto, eres propietario del conocimiento de los miles, que como tu, han decidido compartirlo con los demás. Suerte en tus colaboraciones, pregunta cuando tengas dudas, léete las páginas que aquí te dejo y, por favor, colabora con muchos artículos nuevos. Gracias. 195.219.17.99 05:37, 7 October 2005 (UTC).[reply]

...issue of transparent PNG files displaying improperly in some browsers

This issue is a problem from a nonfree browser not a problem of PNG format. ¿Convert a free site for Best viewed with MSIE? Fix the problem or change the browser not the image.

I am not referring to any one browser in particular. For example, older versions of Opera contain this problem. People should update to newer versions, but it is unreasonable to expect everyone to do this.

For the record, I am a Firefox user.

only results in a 1KB difference

These icons are used in hundreds of articles. A bit reduction in each one is a greet reduction for the server.

Overall, this reduction is very, very small. Such a tiny benefit is not worth the disadvantage of using an image that displays improperly for some people.

Sorry, you can see my english is not very goos. Regards. --Sanbec 12:02, 7 October 2005 (UTC)[reply]

It is much better than my Spanish. —Lifeisunfair 12:36, 7 October 2005 (UTC)[reply]

I think you're right about this one, so I'm giving in, as I said on the talk page. I just wanted to say "thank you very much" for being nice and humoring me by not re-reverting the template after I reverted it. You made your case clearly and without any scorn of arrogance, something that was a breath of fresh air for me. Thanks. Matt Yeager 06:19, 8 October 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Likewise, thank you very much for participating in the discussion and considering my reasoning. That was a breath of fresh air for me. —Lifeisunfair 19:57, 8 October 2005 (UTC)[reply]

I have replied on Texture's talk page. User:Nichalp/sg 19:18, 11 October 2005 (UTC)

I see you've reverted the png icons on the merging templates to gif format. I didn't know about the issue you've said on the history page (being that png images and transparency don't display correctly on some browsers), but on this page, Wikipedia:Image_use_policy#Rules_of_thumb, at point 10 if I'm not mistaken, it is stated that icon images and other types of images similar should be svg or png when only raster image is available and such is the case. Gif should be for animation. jpg photographic. I won't put them back in png without your approval, I'm not forcing you, but maybe the image use policy page should be more precise. Optimager 21:10, 22 October 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks very much for discussing this with me!

Note that the section in question is entitled "Rules of thumb." The American Heritage Dictionary defines a "rule of thumb" as "a useful principle having wide application but not intended to be strictly accurate or reliable in every situation." That's precisely what these rules are.

In most cases, it is preferable to use the PNG format (instead of the GIF format) for static icons, but the merger icons are unusual exceptions. They're very small (in terms of dimensions), and this has two pertinent effects:

1. The importance of the transparent background is much greater, because the images otherwise can be difficult to recognize. (A larger PNG simply doesn't look quite as good, but remains acceptable, especially given the reduced file size.)

2. Even in GIF format, the file sizes already are very small. The tiny reduction (1KB) is not nearly enough to justify the problem cited above.

Thanks again for being courteous enough to consider my edit summaries and initiate this discussion. I sincerely hope that I've explained my position to your satisfaction. —Lifeisunfair 22:30, 22 October 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Good, I understand now. I didn't know that Rules of thumb meant something like that. I accept your edits, they can remain as gif, what you said makes sense. Thanks for the info, I'm new around here at editing (with an account, at least). Optimager 23:23, 22 October 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Hello! I noticed that you've been adding a great deal of information to the various article status templates, and I'm writing to inquire about a portion of the text.

I recognize the benefits of the stating the associated category and listing the related templates in a "see also" section, and I agree that these templates should not be inserted via subst.

I don't, however, understand why you're including the sentence "This template is a self-reference." with a link to Wikipedia:Avoid self-references. The rule in question does not apply to article status notices within the template namespace, but this statement/link combination seems to imply that such templates are in violation and should not be used.

Could you please explain your reasoning behind the inclusion of this statement? Thank you! —Lifeisunfair 17:03, 23 October 2005 (UTC)[reply]

The common use for it would not be Wikipedia:Subst but it would be great if it does work with it.

They are are self-references are they not? From how i see it, there are some templates that do not self-reference because they refer to other article in content, but there are some templates such as status templates which refer to Wikipedia maintenance.

This is the same with articles and categories.

They are not in violation; I am just marking them to let people be aware of it.

Plus, I would like to put all those See Also references to other related templates into one template itself to be used in each of those templates.

Would that be a good idea?

-- Zondor 17:17, 23 October 2005 (UTC)[reply]

"The common use for it would not be Wikipedia:Subst but it would be great if it does work with it."

Why would that be useful? These messages are intended to be temporary and easily removed, and should be readily identifiable via automated means by those who wish to mirror the actual article content elsewhere.

"They are are self-references are they not?"

Yes, but they're the type that is explicitly permitted.

"They are not in violation; I am just marking them to let people be aware of it."

1. How is it beneficial for "people be [made] aware of it"? Why should this particular ordinary element of Wikipedia be singled out for notation (as opposed to noting that "this template is rectangular" or "this template is blue"?

2. Don't you realize that referring to such a template as a "self-reference" while simultaneously including a link to a page entitled "Avoid self-references" strongly implies that the template should be avoided?

"Plus, I would like to put all those See Also references to other related templates into one template itself to be used in each of those templates. Would that be a good idea?"

My understanding is that it's best to avoid embedding one template within another (because of server strain issues). —Lifeisunfair 17:57, 23 October 2005 (UTC)[reply]

It can be very useful. For example, the AFD templates are often used for Subst to put less strain on the servers or whatever. So adding noinclude tags will muck it up because Subst will include everything. Why is it that way I wonder because it would be appropriate otherwise. People may think its spamming, but I am just giving it extra attention it should deserves. Perhaps Avoid self-references should be renamed to Manage self-references to avoid any connotations. -- Zondor 18:19, 23 October 2005 (UTC)[reply]

1. I understand why the use of the subst method sometimes is desirable. As I mentioned above, however, these particular templates should not be inserted in this manner; it's better for them to appear in the article bodies in shorthand form (surrounded by double curly brackets). This makes them easier to identify and remove (particularly by outside publishers of the articles).

2. You haven't explained (and I don't understand) why "extra attention" should be paid to the fact that these templates contain self-references. How is this information supposed to affect the manner in which the templates are utilized? In other words, in what way should a person put this knowledge to use, acting differently because he/she read your notation? —Lifeisunfair 18:42, 23 October 2005 (UTC)[reply]

If they are subst'able then its an extra advantage in flexibilty. For example, I can reproduce the literal content of one of these templates to show you. A portal skeleton template could benefit from noinclude information but its primary use is in conjunction with subst. I am rewording my messages to: "This template is a self-reference and so is part of the Wikipedia project rather than the encyclopaedic content." and "This category is a self-reference and so is part of the Wikipedia project rather than the encyclopaedic content.". Hope thats better. It's easy to know that the articles in the Wikipedia namespace is part of the project but not the encyclopaedic content. For templates and categories it would be a little difficult because some are self-reference and some are not. My underlying agenda is to mark all self-references so in the future one can easily programatically remove them. This would be beneficial for a distinct separation between project and content. Perhaps, all self-references would fall into one big category of Cat:Wikipedia self-references? In conjunction with stealth templates? -- Zondor 15:22, 24 October 2005 (UTC)[reply]

I don't usually seek out particular users for votes, but having seen Margaret Turnbull through the VfU I'd like to see it pass the subsequent AfD, located here. You didn't actually comment on the content and of course you're free to delete, keep, abstain etc. Just thought I'd pass it along because you commented twice on the VfU. Marskell 23:59, 24 October 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you for using ugly as a verb! SchmuckyTheCat 19:25, 28 October 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Hi there. I see you changed back an edit I had made at Wikipedia:Template messages/Cleanup, regarding whether cleanup tags should go in talk pages or article spaces, noting that the consensus was that they could go into articles. Please could you refer me to the discussion that this consensus was reached at? Thanks, Enchanter 19:38, 31 October 2005 (UTC)[reply]

There wasn't one unified discussion. This issue has arisen on several occasions at various templates' talk pages. I don't recall exactly which ones, but the older, less specific templates are the most likely. (The newer, more specific templates were patterned after the existing ones.)

As I referenced in my edit summary, none of these templates use the "CoffeeRoll" style (which was formally selected as the design for all talk page templates.) Article templates come in variety of colors (blue for cleanup, purple for mergers and splits, etc.), but talk page templates always should use the "CoffeeRoll" format. If a template doesn't, it's a safe assumption that it's either the product of a consensus for article placement or a specialized version of a such a template. A talk page link (which many of the templates in question contain) is another clear indication of article placement (because it obvious doesn't make sense to refer readers to a page that they're looking at). —Lifeisunfair 21:29, 31 October 2005 (UTC)[reply]

The discussion is here. Please join! Pilatus 19:13, 2 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Hi there,

Your merge templates were a perfect solution - Just to let you know that I've started to use them in closing debates since today as a trial basis (and hopefully it all works well). :)

- Cheers, Mailer Diablo 06:26, 5 November 2005 (UTC)[reply]