User talk:McCormack/Archive 2007

Help:Quiz
I suggest you go ahead and start Help:Quiz; it can always be moved/renamed. Also, be sure to coordinate with User:Rayc, who I believe has been the Wikiversity participant most involved in working on a quiz system. --JWSchmidt 13:46, 7 April 2007 (UTC)

Quiz
Hi User:McCormack

Yes I did leave you a message on WikiEducator. Thanks for the links to the Quiz help and learning project. They are very interesting. I have been chaffing at the bit while waiting for the quiz extension to be rolled out on WikiEd. I'm not here much but will try to remember to post my messages to you here.

Cheers  kruhly 22:01, 9 April 2007 (UTC)

You're one of the Good Guys around...
...I've left a message for you over here. --HappyCamper 22:25, 9 April 2007 (UTC)

Custodianship
Cool! I suggest you say so on the request page, where others can see it. Thanks for all the work on Help:quiz - it looks great! Cormaggio talk 11:56, 20 April 2007 (UTC)
 * You now have probationary custodian status. Please list yourself at WV:STAFF. Good luck! sebmol ? 14:03, 24 April 2007 (UTC)



Oh, and also you might want to take a look at some of the reading list for Wikiversity custodians too. By the way, what time zone are you in (and where are you based)? Many other questions of course, but that's all for now. :-) Cormaggio talk 15:16, 24 April 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for blocking the vandal editing from 217.205.250.130. Take a look at w:User talk:217.205.250.130. --JWSchmidt 12:47, 30 April 2007 (UTC)
 * Good counter-vandal work today. :-) Cormaggio talk 14:34, 1 May 2007 (UTC)

Quiz project
Hi McCormack, thank you for your info about the discussion in meta about the quiz. I didn't participate because you centered on technical issues i don't know about. I center more on how this technology can be applied based following certain language acquisition theories. But I see now that the filling-the-gap quiz is running. Great. Thank you for your work. The "how-to" description for the quiz is very good. I am really excited, this quizzes are a very important step forward for wiki-based learning strategies. --Javier Carro 12:17, 20 April 2007 (UTC)

Revert
Hi McCormack - my revert was to address what I thought was a genuine error - that a newbie had blanked a page and replaced it with something else that they simply wanted to add. That account only has one other edit - which I agree looks sarcastic - but I think the principles of custodianship in Wikiversity should be a lot more tolerant of people who make mistakes. Where possible, a mistake should be an opportunity for learning - and leaving a note for the contributor is usually a good first step - though if there is clear and repeated trolling or vandalism, of course, it should be simply reverted. I'm not sure if the other anon edit from around that time was from the same person - it's a similar IP - so dunno, this case isn't clear to me. Still, I'd rather have someone feel better able or motivated to contribute to Wikiversity than the opposite (even if it turns out meaning cleaning up a bit more subsequent vandalism). Cormaggio talk 21:39, 30 April 2007 (UTC)

Drop boxes
The boxes are broken. The expand, collapse thingy is appearing in the upper right hand corner, instead of right on the boxes. I've tracked down this which lead me to this, which lead me to this edit. I'm thinking that is what did it. I've asked sembol what this edit did, since I'm not sure on the code.--Rayc 04:13, 4 May 2007 (UTC)

Thorough
You're very thorough with the mop :-) --HappyCamper 20:37, 5 May 2007 (UTC)

Template quiz answer
Hi,

I was just mucking about. Feel free to make my version an old revision -- it doesn't need to move anywhere. Long live the new quiz stuff! Historybuff 21:44, 5 May 2007 (UTC)

Vandal Fighting
Thanks! Your words are encouraging. I will visit the IRC channels next time i notice a troll messing up pages in wikiversity. Bduttabaruah 10:28, 6 May 2007 (UTC)


 * Cutting reaction time: McCormack, It seems that the most suspecious is when a brand new user uploads an image. Perhaps somebody can write a bot (I don't know...) for keeping an eye on the special:recentchanges and report it whenever this happens. Hillgentleman|Talk 12:52, 6 May 2007 (UTC)


 * Hi McCormack - no, I hadn't seen any instances of vandalism, having been tied up all weekend. :-( Thanks for your work - have you been on IRC at all in the meantime? Cormaggio talk 10:07, 8 May 2007 (UTC)
 * What's your IRC moniker? Is it also "McCormack"? Cormaggio talk 11:47, 8 May 2007 (UTC)

WV namespace
That's an interesting template. I agree that the Wikiversity namespace needs some organising - in fact, I think that a fair amount of it needs to be merged or archived. As for the rest, I think there still needs to be either an organiser page to list all related pages, or a navigational template to link related pages together. However, I'm not sure if a template or category on their own are going to cut the mustard here... Cormaggio talk 15:38, 10 May 2007 (UTC)
 * Good points - you've prompted me to start work on these already. :-) Cormaggio talk 16:04, 10 May 2007 (UTC)

Dead man walking
Hi McCormack, blocked users can edit their own talk page - this is so that people can request an unblock (for example, because they are editing from a dynamic IP that is used by a vandal). Thanks for your diligence! Cormaggio talk 10:07, 11 May 2007 (UTC)
 * Are you around IRC at all these days? I'd like to discuss the organisation of the Wikiversity namespace amongst other related things we've been discussing of late... Cormaggio talk 13:58, 11 May 2007 (UTC)

Heh, yeah... that was confusing :)
I was wondering what was going on there... of course to make it worse I was using a sockpuppet and so didn't have admin tools :). --SB_Johnny | talk 11:02, 2 June 2007 (UTC)

replied
Hi McCormack, I've replied to you on my talk page. Cheers, --Joe Gittings 13:58, 13 June 2007 (UTC)


 * ...and again... --Joe Gittings 15:04, 13 June 2007 (UTC)


 * and again. --Joe Gittings 15:44, 13 June 2007 (UTC)


 * I tend to troll "recent changes", so I usually know what's going on ;-) Thanks for the notifications, though. --McCormack 16:02, 13 June 2007 (UTC)

Release 0.9.3 of mobile phone client (Occleve)
Hi McCormack, Release 0.9.3 of Occleve is now talking to the wikiversity wiki. However it only understands multiple choice, single response questions. I'll add support for more question types in the next release. Have a play with it at http://occleve.berlios.de/demo.html, or download it to your phone if you feel brave (!), and please let me know what you think. --Joe Gittings 07:40, 17 June 2007 (UTC)

Thoughts
Hi McCormack, if you have a moment, could we share and exchange some ideas on what page protections mean for us? I think it would be healthy if we have a better perspective of each others philosophies, but I don't want to scare Joe away by outlining our positions on the project page. --HappyCamper 14:06, 25 June 2007 (UTC)


 * Sorry, I miseed you yesterday. Maybe we can pick it up at Page_protection? --HappyCamper 16:32, 27 June 2007 (UTC)

re: GCSEMatt
Hi McCormack. Yup, I'm sure. This guy is a seria vandal on at least 3 other projects (wikibooks, wikipedia, and commons). He probably has other accounts too, but I'm still waiting for a steward to run CU on him. The "do briefs stink?" vandal accounts tend to share the same IPs as the w/w/forum.php spambot operators. I personally ran CU on the IP he was originally editing from (he says he's not now, but no way to know without CU), and it was nothing but vandal accounts. I'm going to block the IP 1 year as well for good measure... it's either an open proxy or actually belongs to the vandal (we haven't quite nailed that part down yet).

Best way to handle these sorts of vandals is to have local CUs. --SB_Johnny | PA! 18:06, 20 July 2007 (UTC)


 * Nope, still no local CU set up, so we're vulnerable to this variety of troublemaker :-(. I don't think a high level of sophistication is absolutely required to use it as a vandal-fighting tool (the interface is quite intuitive until you get into deeper levels of searching), so you'd probably be able to make good use of it. --SB_Johnny | PA! 13:27, 21 July 2007 (UTC)

CU
Yup, sounds good... we're propably a good pair because you're a frequent vandal fighter, and I have experience with the tool (I only check for vandalism early in the morning (EST)... don't really bother looking for it later in the day because I'm busy editing). In my case it will also be nice because I'm fairly sure the serial vandals on WB and WV are the same people, so I'll be able to track better (b:User:Herbythyme has had very good results doing cross-project CU on commons and wikibooks, and both projects have seen vandalism decline). --SB_Johnny | PA! 17:07, 21 July 2007 (UTC)

Mobile editing coming soon
Hi Cormaggio, McCormack, and Lrbabe... After a break, I'm doing another burst of work on the mobile phone software. The main new feature in 0.9.4 will be the ability to add new questions to a quiz and upload them back to Wikiversity... watch this space! --Joe Gittings 19:08, 13 August 2007 (UTC)

Technical Writing Course
Hi there - was looking through the history of our Technical Writing course and notice that you made some changes to the enrollment section. I have a question about the exercise template we have, which seemed to have vanished. Was there a particular reason for the code being taken out? Obviously we are on a learning curve as well in building this course so any pointers would be much appreciated. Cheers AlistairReece 09:38, 23 August 2007 (UTC)

I just noticed that you are removing re-directs from pictures on the Technical Writing course we are doing. This is an exercise for our current students. Is there a rule concerning re-directs? If so could you point it out to us? Cheers AlistairReece 10:18, 23 August 2007 (UTC)

Concrete construction...
I want to say first that I am quite glad you are a custodian here, and that I see your works as being quite an asset to Wikiversity.

However, this message is about a question. Were I to restore Concrete construction and slap on a template (sans Russian), would you have any objections? --Remi 10:25, 24 August 2007 (UTC)

User:God
Thanks for the heads up - I've let User:God know that I can change their username for them, once they decide one that they like. Cormaggio talk 11:26, 31 August 2007 (UTC)

*Gives McCormack a high five*
--Remi 14:02, 31 August 2007 (UTC)

me too, thx Erkan Yilmaz ( evaluate me!, discussion ) 17:08, 4 September 2007 (UTC)

<!--

The Offending Deletion Request Template & Consensus
Your servant asks you why you do not remove the offending Deletion Request Template, not why did you not remove it. That is to say, "McCormack, my friend and adversary, please remove the offending Deletion Request Template."

Apparently, you and Your servant have a vastly different understanding of Consensus.

You indicate that, "[T]here is a small consensus in favour of deletion, but not a large consensus yet. If there is consensus against deletion, the template goes. If there is a clear consensus for deletion, the page will be deleted. If there is a neutral result or only a small consensus, the template remains so that more people can state their opinion. It makes no difference how strongly you oppose deletion - you can only vote once. Please respect the opinions of others and wait for more votes. It is quite possible the voting may last for months."

Your servant, on the other hand, finds that there is no Consensus. In his view, your servant has blocked Consensus.

The Wikipedia Article on Consensus Decision Making could provide us with some guidance here. It provides an etymology: (Latin) "cum meaning 'with' or 'together with', and sentire meaning to 'think' or 'feel'. Thus, etymologically, 'consensus' means to 'think or feel together'"; and indicates that "as a decision-making process, consensus aims to be:
 * "Inclusive: As many stakeholders as possible should be involved in the consensus decision-making process.
 * "Participatory: The consensus process should actively solicit the input and participation of all decision-makers.
 * "Co-operative: Participants in an effective consensus process should strive to reach the best possible decision for the group and all of its members, rather than opt to pursue a majority opinion, potentially to the detriment of a minority.
 * "Egalitarian: All members of a consensus decision-making body should be afforded, as much as possible, equal input into the process. All members have the opportunity to table, amend and veto or "block" proposals.
 * "Solution-oriented: An effective consensus decision-making body strives to emphasize common agreement over differences and reach effective decisions using compromise and other techniques to avoid or resolve mutually-exclusive positions within the group."

The Wikiversity notion of Consensus, which so far seems to summed up in the major content of the "Wikiversity: Consensus" Page: "Consensus usually means that a large majority of community members who have discussed a proposal have provided good reasons for either adopting or rejecting the proposal." does not seem to your servant to be so well thought out as the Wikipedia Consensus Policy, which Policy might provide us with some guidance.

Perhaps you, your servant, and others interested in the true meaning of Consensus could work together to develop a Wikiversity Consensus Policy which might reflect a shared Understanding of Consensus. While your servant has a concept of Consensus in line with the Wiktionary second definition of Consensus, in his humble opinion, a Wikiversity Consensus Policy needs to be developed, again, based on a shared Understanding of Consensus.

It is hoped that Wikiversity will work on building real Consensus. In the humble opinion of your servant, your comtinued Decoration of the "Riaz Ahmed Gohar Shahi" Page with a Deletion Request Template represents a clear departure from Consensus Decision Making. Your servant has blocked Consensus on your request to delete the Page in question.  A strong commitment to Collegiality prompted your servant to comply with your irregular request that your servant restore the offending Deletion Request Template; but his Action was in no way Unilateral. He did what is necessary to correct a continuing, real, and serious harm that a Pernicious Deletion Request is causing, after being advised that "These requests for custodian action do not seem to require custodian action." and receiving the suggestion that he "take the action" that he "feel[s] is justified." -- < JWSchmidt 18:54, 11 September 2007 (UTC)>. Now that he has removed and restored those Four (4) Offending Keystrokes, perhaps we can move on to a solution of the underlying problem.

Would you please be so kind as to join your servant and some other interested Wikiversitans in an effort to develop a Wikiversity Consensus Policy which will reflect what might come to be a shared Understanding of Consensus?

Dionysios (talk), a Participant in the Wikiversity School of Advanced General Studies, Date: 2007-09-12 (September 12, 2007) Time:  2007 UTC -->

computer course?
"edit style of the above page strike you as slightly weird" <-- Yes, it is unusual. My best guess is that User:Areil123 is having groups of students edit "Introduction to computers" pages. If you are concerned about edits to these pages, try asking "Areil123" what is going on. I suspect that "Areil123" may have made use of a script to help automate creation of Wikiversity user accounts for students. --JWSchmidt 05:51, 19 September 2007 (UTC)

Palo Alto...
I think I know which page you are referring. I was simply moving a comment that was located in a page ending in "index.php" (a bug I think?) to an appropriate talk page. The opinions expressed by the author were not mine.

Personally, I have no opinion. I would need more information on the matter. I lean towards assuming good faith. --Remi 04:34, 23 September 2007 (UTC)

Cheers
Thanks for this - made me smile, I didn't think anyone would notice. What sort of tools are you using to find out the words used? Thanks for the suggestion :-) --Pumpmeup 09:01, 25 October 2007 (UTC)

Deleting Pages
Thanks for the tip on 09:35, 23 November 2007. Don't be surprised ;-) - I am not that experienced - just do what I can when I can (occasionally). Kim 17:01, 7 December 2007 (UTC)

76.247.222.101
The same thing has taken place at Wikipedia. Some people just are not welcome here....this is a wiki where everyone is welcome but only as long as they contribute constructively. --JWSchmidt 14:41, 20 December 2007 (UTC)

Hello!
Indeed, it's great to be back! Just browsing around at the moment. Any highlights in particular I might be interested in? --HappyCamper 06:44, 22 December 2007 (UTC)
 * Nice bold edit to the main page. Looks great! :-) --HappyCamper 06:54, 22 December 2007 (UTC)