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Welcome

Welcome!

Hello, MattWade, and welcome to Wikipedia! Thank you for your contributions. I hope you like the place and decide to stay. Here are some pages that you might find helpful:

I hope you enjoy editing here and being a Wikipedian! Please sign your name on talk pages using four tildes (~~~~); this will automatically produce your name and the date. If you need help, check out Wikipedia:Questions, ask me on my talk page, or place {{helpme}} on your talk page and ask your question there. Again, welcome!  — ApolloCreed (comment) (talk) 03:30, 31 January 2007 (UTC)

May 2007

Welcome to Wikipedia and thank you for your contributions. An article you recently created, Country Club of Troy, may not conform to some of Wikipedia's guidelines for new articles, so it will shortly be removed (if it hasn't been already). Please use the sandbox for any tests you may want to do and please read our introduction page to learn more about contributing. Thank you. Kim Dent-Brown (Talk to me) 13:47, 29 May 2007 (UTC)


Please refrain from introducing inappropriate pages, such as Country Club of Troy, to Wikipedia. Doing so is not in accordance with our policies. If you would like to experiment, please use the sandbox. Thank you. Also, please do not remove deletion tags yourself. If you wish to contest deletion, use the {{hangon}} syntax described in the tag.Kim Dent-Brown (Talk to me) 14:18, 29 May 2007 (UTC)

Please stop. If you continue to vandalize Wikipedia, as you did to Talk:Country Club of Troy, you will be blocked from editing. Corvus cornix 21:50, 7 June 2007 (UTC)


Image Copyright problem
Image Copyright problem

Thank you for uploading Image:Casagrande.jpg. However, it currently is missing information on its copyright status. Wikipedia takes copyright very seriously. It may be deleted soon, unless we can determine the license and the source of the image. If you know this information, then you can add a copyright tag to the image description page.

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask them at the media copyright questions page. Thanks again for your cooperation. NOTE: once you correct this, please remove the tag from the image's page. STBotI (talk) 13:46, 19 December 2007 (UTC)

North Portico v. South Portico

Hi UpstateNYer. The subject of which White House façade is either more identifiable, more of a "trademark" image or an official entrance has been discussed several times on that article's talk page. There has been general agreement that it is the north façade. Your image has greater saturation of color but also is dark in the foliage areas. Please share your thoughts at White House article discussion. Thanks. CApitol3 (talk) 20:52, 29 April 2008 (UTC)

Second moment of area

Nice images for Second moment of area. RJFJR (talk) 14:51, 25 May 2008 (UTC)

NowCommons: Image:OrientBeachSaintMartin.jpg

Image:OrientBeachSaintMartin.jpg is now available on Wikimedia Commons as Commons:Image:OrientBeachSaintMartin 20080108.jpg. This is a repository of free media that can be used on all Wikimedia wikis. The image will be deleted from Wikipedia, but this doesn't mean it can't be used anymore. You can embed an image uploaded to Commons like you would an image uploaded to Wikipedia, in this case: [[Image:OrientBeachSaintMartin 20080108.jpg]]. Note that this is an automated message to inform you about the move. This bot did not copy the image itself. --Erwin85Bot (talk) 11:55, 29 August 2008 (UTC)

Your Featured picture candidate has been promoted
Your nomination for featured picture status, Image:Declaration independence.jpg, gained a consensus of support, and has been promoted. If you would like to nominate another image, please do so at Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates. MER-C 07:19, 31 August 2008 (UTC)

WP:CEng

Hi, MattWade, welcome to WikiProject Civil Engineering!

We are a growing community of Wikipedia editors dedicated to identifying, categorizing, and improving articles related to Civil engineering. Some points that may be helpful:

  • Our main aim is to help improve Civil engineering-related articles, so if someone asks for help with an article, please try your hardest to help them if you are able.
  • Project-wide affecting discussions take place on the project's main discussion page; it is highly recommended that you watchlist it.
  • The project has several ongoing and developing activities, such as article quality assessment, of which you are welcome to take part in.
  • If you're not sure how to help, take a quick look at our To Do list for ideas.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask on the talk page, and we will be happy to help you.

And once again - Welcome!

Welcome onboard! There's not really much going on in the way of an organised project at the moment I am afraid but members generally just fix up articles they know and address any problems brought up at the talk page. Thanks for joining - Dumelow (talk) 20:02, 28 September 2008 (UTC)

Welcome to WikiProject Universities! :D

Happy to join; thank you! UpstateNYer (talk) 03:03, 9 October 2008 (UTC)
Please feel free to contact me on my talk page or on #wikipedia-en connect if you have any questions. - Jameson L. Tai talkcontribs 03:21, 9 October 2008 (UTC)
Your Featured picture candidate has been promoted
Your nomination for featured picture status, Image:New River Gorge Bridge.jpg, gained a consensus of support, and has been promoted. If you would like to nominate another image, please do so at Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates. MER-C 03:06, 27 November 2008 (UTC)

Excellent! ~ UpstateNYer (talk) 16:16, 27 November 2008 (UTC)

Mumbai Attacks

Hi. I would like to know if my comment might cause you to change your mind regarding a page move. Thanks, --brewcrewer (yada, yada) 05:08, 30 November 2008 (UTC)

Acid tests

Hi, you added the "see also" sections again to the acid tests. but these links are already in the template. do we really need the link more than once a time? --mabdul 0=* 17:35, 1 December 2008 (UTC)

Good point. I was on my typical "Random article" rounds and figured I'd toss those in. I personally always go for the "See also" section first, but I guess the box works. I didn't even notice it the first time around. Maybe b/c it's so small? Not sure. I'll revert my edits though. ~ UpstateNYer (talk) 17:47, 1 December 2008 (UTC)

Bowling club

Their is a Middle School Bowling Club its either that you dont beleive me or you want to keep the page to your self so may please stop deleting bowling club.—Preceding unsigned comment added by Dogz279 (talkcontribs)

Orphaned non-free media (Image:GWUlogo.png)

Thanks for uploading Image:GWUlogo.png. The media description page currently specifies that it is non-free and may only be used on Wikipedia under a claim of fair use. However, it is currently orphaned, meaning that it is not used in any articles on Wikipedia. If the media was previously in an article, please go to the article and see why it was removed. You may add it back if you think that that will be useful. However, please note that media for which a replacement could be created are not acceptable for use on Wikipedia (see our policy for non-free media).

If you have uploaded other unlicensed media, please check whether they're used in any articles or not. You can find a list of 'image' pages you have edited by clicking on the "my contributions" link (it is located at the very top of any Wikipedia page when you are logged in), and then selecting "Image" from the dropdown box. Note that all non-free media not used in any articles will be deleted after seven days, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. Thank you. BJBot (talk) 05:21, 8 December 2008 (UTC)

FPC

Please come back to the Mount Redoubt FPC. Anedit has been added. Thanks, —Ceran»^« 01:30, 9 December 2008 (UTC)

Your uploade NY icestorm pics

Hi, please consider uploading such images directly to commons the next time so they can also be used at wikinews or in other languages. --Matthiasb (talk) 22:04, 15 December 2008 (UTC)

Image sizes

I changed it to 200px ... per MOS:IMAGES 300px is the maximum permissible, but 150px is smaller even than the default thumb of 180px and, in fact, there's nothing requiring that as the max image size (I personally prefer 300px, but since I have a large widescreen monitor at home I may be biased :-), and I do understand that what looks great on 1920x1200 may not on 800x600).

I also reverted the move of the first image of Inwood to the right ... at that size it doesn't look good with the twice-as-wide infobox above it (and per MOS, as well as general layout aesthetics, you're supposed to harmonize image width and fixed-size templates).

But can you readd that change about roundabouts being small by definition? I couldn't find it in your diff. Daniel Case (talk) 21:16, 21 December 2008 (UTC)

I also just reverted your edits to Downtown Cohoes Historic District. I had that map where it was because a left-justified image right under a section hed tends to distance the hed from the text (this is what MOS:IMAGES is talking about, whereas putting a left-justified image above a section hed puts the hed itself on the same justification, which works. However, in the first section this pushes up against the bottom of the TOC and doesn't work, usually (I know there's some way around that but I can't remember what it is). Also it squeezes less text against the infobox that way)).

As for the Falls pic ... it's a nice idea but as I said having images below or almost just below the infobox that aren't the same width as the infobox looks awful, and I'm not sure that the falls image is really relevant other than a passing mention in the adjacent text (it's hardly underused, considering it's in the articles on both the falls themselves and the city). I really can't find a place for it otherwise (and it's a shame to take a nice panoramic pic like that and compress it into 150px).

The pic I would really like for that article is a nice old PD pic of downtown. There's a great color one in that city PDF that I used as a source ... if I can ever find out what year it was taken I'd use it. Daniel Case (talk) 06:21, 3 January 2009 (UTC)

DYK for December 2008 ice storm of New England and Upstate New York

Updated DYK query On 22 December, 2008, Did you know? was updated with a fact from the article December 2008 ice storm of New England and Upstate New York, which you created or substantially expanded. If you know of another interesting fact from a recently created article, then please suggest it on the Did you know? talk page.

BorgQueen (talk) 06:36, 22 December 2008 (UTC)

You removed a source I added

I came to ask why you removed a source I added into the ice storm article. This source is not good enough to list the outages? I think we should just delete the whole section if so, since the only other reference on that paragraph was to a news site that ran a story on the storm but removed the story after the storm was over. If I had been more alert, I would have used webcite on more of the pages in this article. Soap Talk/Contributions 03:43, 3 January 2009 (UTC)

Sorry about that. At the time, that source gave me a 404 error so I considered it an out-of-date source with no actual information to offer at the present time. Having looked at the archived version of the age, it seems the link does work. Maybe it was a glitch with my browser. Sorry about that. Feel free to re-add it if you haven't already. upstateNYer 09:45, 3 January 2009 (UTC)

Can you help with a photo?

I was wondering if you could help the Port of Albany-Rensselaer page with some photos? I noticed your photos on the Albany, New York page and checked out your gallery, they are very good indeed. Some possible photos that are needed would be- the Albany side of the port as seen from the Rensselaer side and vice-versa; the Cargill grain silo (tallest building in the port, cant miss it); the harbor crane (the largest one preferrably); the port as viewed from the Corning Tower (if that would even come out ok); a ship docked at the port being unloaded; and whatever else you think is good. Thanks and hope you had a good vacation!Camelbinky (talk) 05:53, 5 January 2009 (UTC)

  • Surely. Once I'm back in the area I'll see what I can do. I'll let you know when they're uploaded and send you all the links. Thanks for the kind words - trying to work on my photography skills! upstateNYer 15:07, 7 January 2009 (UTC)

The picture you sent me at first glance I would guess is either of Steamboat Square (today the site of public housing) and the bridge in the background either the now long gone Hudson River Bridge (railroad bridge) or a past version of the dunn memorial. Ill have to take more time to study the buildings versus other old photos and maps. Very good find! It would look great in the article, probably in the history section. any copyright issues? i believe it said it was from the 1920's so the copyright would be expired right?Camelbinky (talk) 18:26, 11 January 2009 (UTC)

I would say its up to you and your schedule and how the weather looks, how the snow looks, etc. The photos that I've seen show you have a great talent for this, so I'll leave those decisions to your better judgement. Nothing says we cant replace the photos in the summer and nothing says we have to have photos now; so either way not its not a loss to the article.Camelbinky (talk) 20:37, 11 January 2009 (UTC)
From looking at this 1920 map of Albany and Rensselaer http://etc.usf.edu/Maps/pages/10500/10582/10582.htm, I would have to say the old photo does have the old Dunn Memorial Bridge in the background (labelled on the map as Bridge Street). The street in the photo would be Broadway. This intersection is still there, though no longer right on the river. If you start on Broadway heading south from the intersection of State St., with the SUNY Admn. Building on your left, when you pass the end of that building and see the white building on your left right after it, then you reach an intersection where offramps/access roads from I-787 are dropped join Broadway (I think theres a Ramada or some other hotel on the right), the access road is Water Street I believe, and at this intersection will put you in the spot of this picture. At this intersection I believe you'll see on the underpass to I-787 murals saying "Hudson River". Ironic since in 1920 that spot WAS the Hudson.Camelbinky (talk) 08:54, 13 January 2009 (UTC)
Thank you soo much for your help on the photo! I am so terrible with the whole uploading and copyright info that needs to be filled out. I have a real hard time with that stuff. Im glad you caught the mistakes and fixed them so we dont lose the picture. Collaboration is a good thing!Camelbinky (talk) 22:22, 13 January 2009 (UTC)

Wow! I feel so bad now that I even asked you to take those photos, if I had known you were going out on such a cold day I would have waited to ask you in the Summer! You're not a jackass, just a very frozen human being! The photos are great (though I do get cold just looking at them) and I've identified the Cargill grain silo but havent been able to identify much else (a crane is a crane as far as I can tell from first glance), I think they'll do great in the article. I'll update the info on the photos once I get more confirmation on what they are as per your instructions on my talk page. I've sent a message to the person who did the article's GA evaluation and asked to be resubmitted and hope to hear a positive response. I'll be crossing my fingers.Camelbinky (talk) 22:47, 15 January 2009 (UTC)

I dont think any more pictures are needed for now, but if you find yourself where you want you to take a picture and think it would be useful it would of course be appreciated. I think I'll do a little minor editing and cleaning up on the page the next day or two then take a break from and it and start focusing on Albany, New York. It's a mess and very few work on it other than you and me. I love the new photos you put in on that page too. I had found some photos I had taken last summer and was just about to put them in when you put in your (much better) photos ahead of me by one day! I figure it would be good to let the port page sit and let others come across it and work on it, I'm thinking just as with children pages you work on need to be let go and make their own way in the world to become better. It's now time to go and adopt another child!Camelbinky (talk) 22:25, 16 January 2009 (UTC)

DYK for Averill Park Central School District

Updated DYK query On January 5, 2009, Did you know? was updated with a fact from the article Averill Park Central School District, which you created or substantially expanded. If you know of another interesting fact from a recently created article, then please suggest it on the Did you know? talk page.

--Dravecky (talk) 13:24, 5 January 2009 (UTC)

Re: Image renaming

I tagged it for speedy deletion - as it is now, that's faster than a rename since the bot doesn't seem to work. Hopefully an admin will come along and delete it soon. Dendodge TalkContribs 16:32, 13 January 2009 (UTC)

Your Featured picture candidate has been promoted
Your nomination for featured picture status, File:Aeronautics2.jpg, gained a consensus of support, and has been promoted. If you would like to nominate another image, please do so at Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates. Wronkiew (talk) 04:12, 17 January 2009 (UTC)

Capital District Wikiproject?

What would you think of a Wikiproject: Capital District? or Capital Region. I believe the article in wikipedia uses Capital District as the title. Albany and the C.D. seems to get overlooked alot in Hudson Valley wikiproject and its material seems to be mostly interested in Poughkeepsie and downstate (relative to Albany) and by definition doesnt care about Schenectady and Schoharie counties, and seems to not even care about Hudson River communities north of Albany, such as Glens Falls (apparently in the North Country and not Hudson Valley). Syracuse apparently had a wikproject that is now defunct, but I think a C.D. wikiproject could get alot more interest and could serve as a good tie-in of all the C.D. related articles.Camelbinky (talk) 07:04, 20 January 2009 (UTC)

I think that's a great idea. I've never built a wikiproject before. Shall we (essentially) steal from another and build it in a sandbox first before we present it to the waiting public? :-) Also, I would advise WikiProject Capital District due to the name of the article. upstateNYer 13:16, 20 January 2009 (UTC)
You got me going. I started a project page, but obviously it will need work. Working in sandbox is annoying because many links don't actually work. So this is a work in progress for now: WikiProject Capital District. upstateNYer 14:22, 20 January 2009 (UTC)

I responded on my page about how good I think it is, and will start on the discussion page of the wikiproject a section to talk about how to rank by importance. I know in many wikiprojects (like the roads wikiprojects, ports, etc) they get specific about what type of articles should be top, high, etc etc. Right now as I add the banner to pages I'm just copying what the class of the other banners happen to be and leaving the importance blank (except the Capital District page itself I think we can all agree it is of top importance) until some sort of consensus on ranking.Camelbinky (talk) 02:39, 21 January 2009 (UTC)

Since discussions eventually get archived, I would advise making a sub-page off the main project page similar to this. With respect to the chart, I asked another user how that's done. It's done by a bot, but I need to include the code to make it work. I'm waiting for him to get back to me and I'll update it once I can. You can continue to add the template though, because that will be updated to make it work and it will just update on respective pages. You might want to do a little reading here, though there's not much on the technicals. I'm going over to WP Hudson Valley to ask for possible participants. Hopefully I can get some - fingers crossed! upstateNYer 03:08, 21 January 2009 (UTC)
Thanks, I added myself to Wikipedia:WikiProject_Capital_District#Participants. Bearian (talk) 20:09, 21 January 2009 (UTC) I've also added the {{WPCapitalDistrict|importance=|class=}} tag to a lot of article talk pages. Bearian (talk) 20:54, 21 January 2009 (UTC)
I started the Category:Unassessed Capital District articles to help unify any articles with the wikiproject template but no assessment. Unless someone gets to it before me I'll start all the rest of the related categories as well (currently they show up as redlinks at the bottom of all the talk pages). I think you'll be happy to see how many are already in the project! At that's just the ones that no one put an assessment on. I dont know how many you have done, but I cant imagine I did more than a dozen of them, so other people have been working hard on this too, its not just you and me, that's good. But...if this name change idea goes anywhere...I'm with you on the whole "not it" on changing all the related links, categories, etc. You know how much of a pain that will be?!Camelbinky (talk) 02:53, 24 January 2009 (UTC)

I had to do some stuff with the ports wikiproject and that got me noticing some things you might want to look at copying for the CD project. In particular- Wikipedia:WikiProject Ports/Assessment is something we might want to consider, perhaps when we have more people or perhaps now if your not too busy with other aspects of the page. If you think it is a good idea but dont have time I can go ahead and do it myself, just wanted to make sure I had your blessing first, I dont want it to conflict or screw up any plans you are working on right now, you're the lead on this project, its yours. I dont always agree with the whole no one "owns" policy, its good for everyone contribute and work on different aspects as long as there is someone guiding the overall endeavor, the big picture (tag- your it). Having a dedicated two or three people who are assessing articles within our project scope would give us alot of legitimacy, especially if we can find an article wanting to go through a peer review or a GA, A, or FA nomination and one of us review it. Our membership numbers are small, but to be honest I dont think ports has more than 10 members and right now the assessment team has, at least officially signed up, only two members (one of which is me). Remember Fort Orange!Camelbinky (talk) 03:09, 25 January 2009 (UTC)

 Done - Assessments page is up and running (it is a blatant copy+paste from Ports, but I assume I had your permission :-D). I switched some things up, but not much. There were links to a "peer review" department on the page, which I left, thinking we may do that, but as of now, I'm okay with the redlinks. For more info, see the project's talk page. upstateNYer 06:13, 25 January 2009 (UTC)

You may want to check out this website, I've used it for citations alot, alot of good information on the CD as a whole. http://cdrpc.org/CDRPC/ Covers just about every topic on the CD you can think of. Also- http://www.cdtcmpo.org is the home page of the Capital District Transportation Committee Metropolitan Planning Organization, an MPO is federally mandated for any region that wishes to recieve (sp?) federal money for regional transportation (CDTA). Though the CDTA and CDTC are not related. All counties under the CDTCMPO pay dues based on population, if they opt out they lose representation and all money that could be directed to that county could be appropriated by those remaining. But, as usual, I'm digressing. I've found both websites very useful on facts for various CD-related articles and wonder if you would want to incorporate them as useful resources on the wikiproject. Sort of like heading of- Good sources to use for CD related articles that are getting started or expanding are: (and then we start a list of those websites and books). Just some tidbits I thought I'd pass on. Hope they are useful.Camelbinky (talk) 05:44, 26 January 2009 (UTC)

Sounds like a great idea; do it up! upstateNYer 05:48, 26 January 2009 (UTC)

Barnstar

Many thanks for your kind barnstar, it is always nice to have your work appreciated and it is great to receive it from a fellow civil engineer (although I have still got one and a half years left until graduation!). Cheers - Dumelow (talk) 12:41, 21 January 2009 (UTC)

Hi - a stub template or category which you created has been nominated for deletion or renaming at Wikipedia:Stub types for deletion. The stub type, which was not proposed at Wikipedia:WikiProject Stub sorting/Proposals, does not meet the standard requirements for a stub type, either through being incorrectly named, ambiguously scoped, or through failure to meet standards relating to the current stub hierarchy or likely size, as explained at Wikipedia:Stub. Please feel free to make any comments at WP:SFD regarding this stub type, and in future, please consider proposing new stub types first! Grutness...wha? 00:26, 22 January 2009 (UTC)

I didnt know this until it was put on an article I work on, but there is apparently a geo-stub template for Albany County. If Albany County can have a geo-stub why cant the Capital District? And in the discussion for stub template deletion on CD why is Texas being brought up? Apparently Pegship is doing something with Texas and she is also the one that put the Albany County stub template on Castle Island (New York). Is this a template she (or I guess it could be a he) just made and if so where is the discussion on THAT template? Why is a county one ok but a regional one not? Camelbinky (talk) 05:32, 27 January 2009 (UTC)

The Wikipedian I have been neeidng

Hey there. I noticed your comment on my DYK nom, Warren County Route 35, about that you work for the DOT (or have). I write the majority of road articles for NY and would like your insight. :) - Mitch32(Go Syracuse) 18:54, 22 January 2009 (UTC)

How can I help? I see you've been quite busy - I was wondering where all those NYS Route featured articles have come from. A quick history of me: I worked as an inspector for DOT the past two summers. I worked close out on the Northway Exit 12 roundabouts along NY 67, then a signal job on NY 50/US 9 at Exit 15 to downtown Saratoga Springs, then a resurfacing job on NY 22 in Comstock. Let me know what you can use me for and I'll see what I can do. upstateNYer 01:00, 23 January 2009 (UTC)
Strangely, I have seen all three of those places. :) - Well, you helping me out - a lot of the Capital District area roads are stubs still, and I could use your help expanding them. (See New York State Route 396 for example). We could use the help.Mitch32(Go Syracuse) 01:08, 23 January 2009 (UTC)

Congrats

Your Valued picture candidate has been promoted
Your nomination for valued picture status, Image:WhiteHouseSouthFacade.JPG, gained a consensus of support, and has been promoted. If you would like to nominate another image, please do so at Wikipedia:Valued picture candidates. Intothewoods29 (talk) 20:51, 22 January 2009 (UTC)

Nice! upstateNYer 00:47, 23 January 2009 (UTC)

Problem with Capital District name

I noticed on the talk page of the wikiproject that someone has a problem with the Capital District name. They have now brought that problem to the article page as well. I have a bad feeling we might not win this one. I have put at the top of the Capital District page something to the effect of {{This page is about the Capital District in New York. For other uses of capital district see capital districts and territories or capital region.}} based on what is at Port of Albany directing people to the Port of Albany-Rensselaer page. I hope that is enough for now, though more research into the guidelines on naming articles might be needed, I had looked over them when first making the port A-R page and I think we have a good case for keeping the name at CD, but I'll need to look over the wikipedia guidelines again.Camelbinky (talk) 03:32, 23 January 2009 (UTC)

Also please read wp:Own, which appears to be a bit of a problem here perhaps. :) I, Doncram, responded to Camelbinky's comment regarding me/we at Talk:Capital District, too. doncram (talk) 03:38, 23 January 2009 (UTC)
Yes yes, I've read it; in fact you can find an ironic link to it on my user page. I don't own anything on Wikipedia, I know. But it can be "my" pet project! upstateNYer 03:45, 23 January 2009 (UTC)

UpstateNYer I apologize if I seemed like I "owned" anything. I hope you dont take my defence of the name or anything else as a put down on you or your contributions. As far as Doncrams comment of "me/we", I dont understand it. I use the term "me" when referring to things I personally did myself, and "we" to collaborative things, I dont get the problem or where me/we came from because I dont think I used either word. I think its in the best interest of OUR cause for me to just shut up and let YOU handle this, before I tick you off too! Good luck, I'll just concentrate on editing and finding sources for the Albany, NY page! Anything in the future that gets controversial I'll just forward to you, you have a much clearer calmer demeanor. I put in my support vote where you wanted and now will back off after I send Doncram an apology on his page.Camelbinky (talk) 04:36, 23 January 2009 (UTC)

Don't worry about it. This whole process causes me to chuckle. I understand his points, but we have proposed viable responses. No one has yet offended me and I'm not too concerned with happens. If the name changes, it changes. We still get to keep "our" project. Plus, the three new members of the group are all admins - they know the rules too, but they still joined. upstateNYer 04:45, 23 January 2009 (UTC)
If it makes you feel better, I lost my cool too. But man did that piss me off. I don't care enough to defend it - it's not that important, but damn he was making a mockery of my attempts to improve this place in general. upstateNYer 15:22, 23 January 2009 (UTC)
My philosophy on all this right now is- keep the name Capital District on everything and leave it that way and on any future things made. If we stick to our guns everything will be too complicated to change and if someone feels they must take it to some kind of vote so be it, but until it comes to that keep working on the wikiproject, its going along good, dont give up hope, ignore the detractors, I'll try to be good and not lose my cool until you need a bulldog to bite people, then I'll speak up, your the good cop, I'm better at being the bad cop. I spoke up at the stub types for deletion, they are lucky it was you and not me that came across that first, you were down right gentlemanly compared to what I wouldve ranted off, but since it was you and not me I was able to put in more even-minded comments and defend you in a more neutral way that, hopefully, wont make them think that I automatically just take the pro-CD side of conflicts.Camelbinky (talk) 21:50, 24 January 2009 (UTC)
Second sentence: sneaky. I like it. Although we really have already reached that point - a lot of edits will need to be made to "start over". On a side note, do you have proof that WikiProjects don't need to be proposed first? upstateNYer 21:57, 24 January 2009 (UTC)
That is how I am choosing to interpret wikipedia:wikiproject and Wikipedia:WikiProject Council/Guide. No where does it state that you must go through the process of nomination, in fact it pretty much gives you the steps of starting one from scratch, I think the nomination process is more for controversial ones or ones that a person might not be sure there are enough people who support it. I think certain users or admins may just be caught up in the whole "process" and "nomination" philosophy and think everything must go through a nomination and a vote and everyone needs to get in their opposing opinion, but really nothing says you have to. Admins get arrogant if things dont go through them. Capital District it is, in this fight "no mercy, no quarter!". Remember the Alamo! Oh, um, in this case- Remember Fort Orange!Camelbinky (talk) 22:15, 24 January 2009 (UTC)
Perfect tagline. And you're right. WP:Wikiproject says propose it if you're unsure if there are others interested or if you don't know how to do it. Really no need actually. But we should respect the process we already started (but take any negative response with a grain of salt).upstateNYer 23:10, 24 January 2009 (UTC)

Remember the Alamo! Oh, um, in this case - Remember Fort Orange!Camelbinky

Ok, I'm fed up with seeing Doncram's arguments about the name at everything that comes up, the wikiproject page, then the article page, then the wikiproject council/proposal page, and then the stubdeletion page. We are winning the vote tallies that are taking going on at the proposal page and the stubdeletion page and want this all to end. I guess he's going to send the article to wp:RM (did I put the right initials? whatever the request to move page is). I'm confident we'll win there as well. If you want I personally think changing the stubname to drop New York from the front bolsters our case, he can, and has used that against us. I dont know where you stand but for me its Capital District or nothing, no compromise, we tried that already. Our time, especially yours, has been wasted enough on this, the wikiproject has been voted on and if you want I suggest getting one of the admins in the project to close it out as the wikiproject is up and running and looks legitimate, there's no need for it to be at the proposal and same for the stub, changing the name to Capitaldistrictstub and getting it closed out by an admin. Anything we can do to bolster our claim the better and closing those out helps.Camelbinky (talk) 16:20, 25 January 2009 (UTC)

What if you started a stub and went through the proper nomination procedure, naming it CD, but following the naming conventions they required (I guess you have to put a dash between the words, etc). Then I can just delete the stub I made and replace it with yours. Unfortunately, I don't feel comfortable changing the names of the categories on Commons (for the Images) and here; I think keeping the New York is important to keep unrelated materials from infiltrating (for lack of a better word) into our categories. upstateNYer 18:21, 25 January 2009 (UTC)

DYK nomination of Tech Valley High School

Hello! Your submission of Tech Valley High School at the Did You Know nominations page has been reviewed, and there still are some issues that may need to be clarified. Please review the comment(s) underneath your nomination's entry and respond there as soon as possible. Thank you for contributing to Did You Know! Shubinator (talk) 05:45, 24 January 2009 (UTC)

See nomination for my response. upstateNYer 07:25, 24 January 2009 (UTC)

Re: Request to review minor error

I've looked into it, but I can't see to figure out what's wrong with it... very odd. In any case, I supported the project proposal at WP:COUNCIL/P. Sorry I couldn't do more to help. –Juliancolton Tropical Cyclone 23:48, 24 January 2009 (UTC)

I appreciate the help anyway - thanks. upstateNYer 00:09, 25 January 2009 (UTC)

DYK for Tech Valley High School

Updated DYK query On January 25, 2009, Did you know? was updated with a fact from the article Tech Valley High School, which you created or substantially expanded. If you know of another interesting fact from a recently created article, then please suggest it on the Did you know? talk page.

Dravecky (talk) 11:40, 25 January 2009 (UTC)

assessing articles

I notice u visited several articles on my Watchlist to reassess them. I reverted one, for Erie Canal, for reasons i noted at its Talk page, but note otherwise that your assessing articles may indeed be helpful. However, please don't give importance ratings on behalf of WP:NRHP without coming to an understanding of what are the criteria for importance ratings for that project. (That was trick advice: the NRHP wikiproject has not chosen to set up and use importance ratings....so just don't add them). Thanks! doncram (talk) 08:16, 26 January 2009 (UTC)

Fair enough. upstateNYer 15:34, 26 January 2009 (UTC)
It looks good otherwise. :-) Bearian (talk) 19:27, 26 January 2009 (UTC)

Help needed: Sitakunda Upazila

The article failed an FAC mostly because of irregularities in citation format. I found you at the ciitation cleanup project, and I am really hoping that you can help the article. Would you consider helping it, please? Aditya(talkcontribs) 12:43, 28 January 2009 (UTC)

I'll talk a look-see, but no guarantees. upstateNYer 15:44, 28 January 2009 (UTC)
Thanks. Aditya(talkcontribs) 01:40, 29 January 2009 (UTC)

NowCommons: File:RFK-Gravestone.JPG

File:RFK-Gravestone.JPG is now available on Wikimedia Commons as Commons:File:RFKGravestone.JPG. This is a repository of free media that can be used on all Wikimedia wikis. The image will be deleted from Wikipedia, but this doesn't mean it can't be used anymore. You can embed an image uploaded to Commons like you would an image uploaded to Wikipedia, in this case: [[File:RFKGravestone.JPG]]. Note that this is an automated message to inform you about the move. This bot did not copy the image itself. --Erwin85Bot (talk) 17:31, 31 January 2009 (UTC)

Images at Commons

If an image has been transferred to Commons, you can use {{db-i8}} to delete it. This is faster to type than a custom message, and also puts the image into an appropriate deletion category, helping administrators. Thanks! Stifle (talk) 11:39, 3 February 2009 (UTC)

I appreciate that. It gets annoying writing in that reason over and over and over and over... upstateNYer 12:40, 3 February 2009 (UTC)
Or even {{subst:ncd}} if it has exactly the same name. feydey (talk) 21:18, 3 February 2009 (UTC)

Rollback

I have granted rollback rights to your account; the reason for this is that after a review of some of your contributions, I believe I can trust you to use rollback correctly by using it for its intended usage of reverting vandalism, and that you will not abuse it by reverting good-faith edits or to revert-war. For information on rollback, see Wikipedia:New admin school/Rollback and Wikipedia:Rollback feature. If you do not want rollback, just let me know, and I'll remove it. Good luck and thanks. PeterSymonds (talk) 15:33, 3 February 2009 (UTC)

What fast service! Thanks! upstateNYer 15:35, 3 February 2009 (UTC)
An image created by you has been promoted to featured picture status
Your image, File:MiamiSouthBeachPanoramaEdit.jpg, was nominated on Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates, gained a consensus of support, and has been promoted. If you would like to nominate an image, please do so at Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates. Thank you for your contribution! MER-C 04:36, 4 February 2009 (UTC)

VPC

Could you !vote on my new nom? Ceran//forge 21:30, 4 February 2009 (UTC)

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I've been gone...

I just came back to wikipedia after taking some time to cool off over this whole broohaha over the CD name and stub and wikiproject. I'm back to just working on getting Albany, New York history redone. Havent checked on it yet, but will be working on it as soon as possible. Just wanted to check in on how things are, I love the new format for the wikiproject WOW! Let me know if there's anything I can do, I hope to just stay out of controversies and hope I can do some much needed good old wiki editing and researching.Camelbinky (talk) 21:52, 7 February 2009 (UTC)

I figured that's where you've been. Great to have you back. We still have our project and we have more members and more tagged articles. I think it looks great (better than many other larger projects, for example) and we're doing good work. Keep in touch and let's come up with a "very much in need of work" list for the project. upstateNYer 00:07, 8 February 2009 (UTC)

Congrats!

Your Valued picture candidate has been promoted
Your nomination for valued picture status, Image:SanYsidroBorderCrossing.JPG, gained a consensus of support, and has been promoted. If you would like to nominate another image, please do so at Wikipedia:Valued picture candidates. Intothewoods29 (talk) 23:08, 7 February 2009 (UTC)

My talk page

I respect the suggestions you made regarding my attempted changes to the Fighting Scots page. I hope that the latest revision of the page is an improvement (though, as with anything else here, it is incomplete). I have a question regarding my talk page. Now that (I assume) the issue has been resolved to your satisfaction, would it be appropriate for me to remove the text there? --65.24.249.74 (talk) 03:17, 10 February 2009 (UTC)

Q?

Why did you consider this to be vandalism? THEN WHO WAS PHONE? (talk) 05:04, 10 February 2009 (UTC)

  • Mainly because 1) it had been there since May 2008 and I AGF that it was true and 2) the update was unsourced. I have changed it back to 98min and (very quickly) sourced it. Sorry for any inconvenience! upstateNYer 05:13, 10 February 2009 (UTC)
  • Cool, it's always a pain when numbers get changed by small, "reasonable" amounts ... I much prefer changes of several orders of magnitude lol. I also saw that you've handed out personalized comments for borderline disruptive edits – something I need to practice more often. Thanks, THEN WHO WAS PHONE? (talk) 05:35, 10 February 2009 (UTC)

I have added questions. Cheers, Dlohcierekim 14:07, 10 February 2009 (UTC)

I have added a critique to your answers. Dlohcierekim 21:45, 10 February 2009 (UTC)

Thanks for the consideration and thorough response. Glad you appreciated my answer to #11. upstateNYer 22:22, 10 February 2009 (UTC)

Congrats!

Your Valued picture candidate has been promoted
Your nomination for valued picture status, Image:Hindenburg burning.jpg, gained a consensus of support, and has been promoted. If you would like to nominate another image, please do so at Wikipedia:Valued picture candidates. Intothewoods29 (talk) 18:38, 10 February 2009 (UTC)

I love your work —Preceding unsigned comment added by Djscrew92 (talkcontribs) 00:39, 11 February 2009 (UTC)

That looks great, thanks! Quite visually appealing.

Best of luck with your RfA, –Juliancolton Tropical Cyclone 04:36, 11 February 2009 (UTC)

HVNY redesign

It looks great in IE and Safari, but in Firefox (what I'm using right now) it looks like a stack of boxes that's tottering. (Yep, you have to consider those multiple browser issues). Daniel Case (talk) 04:44, 11 February 2009 (UTC)

Hmmm, I have no idea why. I admit I didn't test it in IE or Firefox, but I just checked it in Firefox and it looked fine. Purge the cache maybe? upstateNYer 04:54, 11 February 2009 (UTC)
That's odd. I'm using Firefox, and the page seems balanced. –Juliancolton Tropical Cyclone 05:01, 11 February 2009 (UTC)
If you mean that they don't line up fully at the bottom, that is true, though unless your browser is really narrow (by choice), they should come pretty close (ie. within 5-25px). upstateNYer 05:10, 11 February 2009 (UTC)

Thank you!

Thank you for this! :) Kennedy (talk) 11:04, 11 February 2009 (UTC)

Couldn't help myself! upstateNYer 15:43, 11 February 2009 (UTC)

Your RFA

Best wishes for your RFA -- Tinu Cherian - 12:51, 11 February 2009 (UTC)

Many thanks! upstateNYer 16:31, 11 February 2009 (UTC)

Good luck on your RFA. I feel you have great potential but a little work to get a successful RFA. If you aren't successful, I am willing to offer you advice and nominate you later (assuming some improvement which I know will happen!).

The part about consulting ArbCom shows good intentions and much more care and compassion than some administrators use before blocking. However, ArbCom is busy and will not get involved except in selected cases. Better yet is to develop the best judgement and tact and work with other administrators with the same qualities. Then adjust the block duration. Chergles (talk) 20:01, 13 February 2009 (UTC)

Thank you; I really appreciate your comments. It's now well-known that I have little experience in some of these areas, but I am determined to learn. And should mistakes be made, they will be righted; but for the most part, I will be going to some admins for help on a regular basis at first, should I get the mop. upstateNYer 20:23, 13 February 2009 (UTC)

PPR Deletions

Hey UpstateNYer, can you stop randomly deleting nominations off the PPR page? They go into the archives when finished, but I usually just do them in a batch rather than individually. I assume you're not doing this anywhere else. Thanks, --jjron (talk) 14:48, 13 February 2009 (UTC)

No problem. Once I migrated over to FPC, I figured they were redundant. Sorry for the trouble. upstateNYer 15:46, 13 February 2009 (UTC)

Re: Blow in the wind

Heh, well, I am trying to find more notable county highways. I know your area is loaded with them :). Mitch32(Go Syracuse) 18:10, 14 February 2009 (UTC)

Hundreds in Rensselaer County alone. That's true, maybe I'll start working on this. Do you have a formatting preference or would it be fine if I just took one of the other articles as a template? upstateNYer 18:15, 14 February 2009 (UTC)
Yeah, no problem :) - I know Rennselaer County 144 is notable, its former NY 317.Mitch32(Go Syracuse) 21:13, 14 February 2009 (UTC)

Capitol Visitor Center

No problem :-) A couple of the images have larger versions on commons, and I just uploaded some more, so you may find more images to use as illustrations (the CVC site has a bunch more too). Someone had uploaded the photo you took to Commons, but not the full-resolution version, so I did that -- I wouldn't be surprised to see the en-wiki version deleted at some point now (the Commons file has the same name). I changed one image to link to the larger version (the others have the same names), and added a link to the Commons category of further images. Carl Lindberg (talk) 20:11, 14 February 2009 (UTC)

An image created by you has been promoted to featured picture status
Your image, File:CalliandraEmarginata.JPG, was nominated on Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates, gained a consensus of support, and has been promoted. If you would like to nominate an image, please do so at Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates. Thank you for your contribution! MER-C 02:32, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

Thanks for looking over the article. All of your changes look good, the article unfortunately came with alot of baggage when it was brought over from the Albany, New York page. Any changes you did to this page you may want to do again to the history section of the city's page as well, though I wouldnt bother anytime soon since its such a mess, I would just wait until the history article was mostly done and then we can decide what is important enough to move to the main page, like the New York City page has its history sections as just synopsises (synopsi?) of full articles. I think you're right about the attack in Lincoln Park being properly called an ambush rather than a battle. I'm currently getting all my sources from google books and of course that means the books are like 150 years old so the going is slow right now. I'm in the process of contacting some of the editors who work on the New Netherland related articles and see if they can come on over and fill up the early Dutch history and get me sources on things like the background on the transfer of power between the English and Dutch. Djflem would be a great help on Dutch history, but I'm not sure if he still edits anymore. I figure there must be people interested in colonial history and the Revolution who I can find that have information on those time periods as well, I'm just going to go around to various articles during different time periods (Saratoga Battlefield and such) and find people and ask for help.Camelbinky (talk) 02:36, 14 February 2009 (UTC)

I was wondering your opinion would be of me starting an article for the Dongan Charter. I think it would pass a AfD, though notability might be questioned by some. From what I have been able to find the new Albany charter that was passed recently (within the last 10 years) was worded specially to make it technically an ammendment to the Dongan Charter so that the Dongan Charter would remain the oldest city charter still in effect in the US, even though after the passage of the new charter basically nothing from the old charter remained in effect. I dont know if that technicality gives it enough notability and I havent found any articles on other cities charters, current or past.Camelbinky (talk) 03:13, 15 February 2009 (UTC)
Definitely meets notability if you're correct about:
  1. It being the oldest city charter still in effect; and
  2. That the current charter was passed in such a way to leave the old charter in effect.
I say go for it. I would suggest building it in a sandbox off your userpage (User:Camelbinky/Dongan_Charter) first. Once you think it's pretty good (you have less chance of a deletion for a longer, more referenced, and fulfilling article) I'll read it over so you get a second opinion and you can decide when to go live. Might want to make it a group review in WPCD too. On a side note, see if you can incorporate a link to History of Albany, New York into some more articles. Right now, it is only linked from Albany; I have a feeling you could get it into something else. upstateNYer 03:22, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

Thanks! I will definitely see if I can get verifiable sources for the two points you give, if they do pan out as true then I'll build it in the sandbox per your suggestion. I'll start trying to find articles to link to History of Albany, New York as well, though I cant off the top of my head think of what articles it could easily be put into other than putting it in a "See also" section on various articles which is where I'll start for now. On another note your answer was definitely the answer an adminstrator would give! I voted "strong support" at your nomination. From the votes and comments I would think you'll pass, *crossing fingers*. Though I must admit I have little respect (well, no respect actually) for admins (except Julian) so just dont change and always be the person I currently respect. I suppose as long as you promise not to drink their kool-aid I'll keep my respect for you, I know you wont become a wikivampire (thats what I call admins that BITE newbies and others). Dont let them change you! Remember Fort Orange!Camelbinky (talk) 07:31, 15 February 2009 (UTC)

Wikivampire; I like that. Consider it coined here on my talk page! Thanks so much for your support at my RfA. Per this guideline, it seems I need a few more supports to break the magic 75% min (I'm currently at 70%). But then again with strong (but legitimate) arguments on the oppose side, the deciding bureaucrat could choose not to approve me even if I reach or exceed the 75%. I'm hopeful some of the neutrals reconsider and re-read the entire RfA so they can really know me better than when they originally voted (plus, I'm not the biggest fan of a neutral vote in RfAs). I think I've been extremely truthful and open; more so than many other RfA candidates. Plus I believe in WP:NBD (and along with that WP:WTHN). If I do get the mop though, it won't change me; I'll just be more efficient and spread myself across a little more of WP. I think Julian and Daniel Case are two great role models for any sysop and I'm sure I'll be talking to them regularly should it happen (and they are probably currently battening down their hatches in response to this post!). I'm glad I got a chance to work with them before I put myself up at RfA. Thanks again Camelbinky and keep me up to date with what you be doing on the wiki! upstateNYer 07:57, 15 February 2009 (UTC)
Oh and for linking to History of Albany, you may want to consider historic buildings, landmarks, and neighborhoods and just throw them in the "See also" section. But don't do that unless there's an explicit reference in History of Albany. The plaza and capitol could each currently get one. In the future, you may want to consider some verbiage about city hall, Washington Park, the Alfred E. Smith Building, River Rats, Albany Firebirds (both the current firebirds and the Indiana Firebirds), SUNY Albany, the Times Union Center, and of course you pride and joy, Port of Albany-Rensselaer. A lot of these things only need one or two sentences mentioned and these could literally be stolen from their respective pages, especially if there's already a source for the statement (therefore no need to search for more sources). upstateNYer 08:12, 15 February 2009 (UTC)
I've decided to hold off on a Dongan Charter article and concentrate on History of Albany until I get it to a B rating. Doesnt even deserve a C right now. I've got a pretty good amount of detail up until 1720 and hope by the end of my work shift tonight to be up to about 1820 (dont tell my boss). I did however look at the new charters wording and it has section 103 of article 1 (i think, i cant remember the exact numbers right now) has legalese that I'm having some trouble figuring out whether it means that the Dongan Charter is still in effect as long as anything specific hasnt been ammended by the new charter. But I did come across that the US Congress authorized and the US Treasury minted circulating legal-tender half-dollars to commemorate the Dongan Charter's 250th anniversary back in the 1920s. Should the Dongan Charter no longer be valid would the minting of these coins be enough notability for an article, and what if I can also show a source that at the D.Charter was the longest running city charter ever in US history, even if it is today not operating it may still hold the title of longest but not current. And on a third topic- how'd the vote go? Do I now call you "Sir"?Camelbinky (talk) 06:05, 17 February 2009 (UTC)
I'll do some research on the Charter. But if your statements before are correct, it's already notable enough. You may want to call the historical society down in Albany (I assume they must have one). You can reference a conversation or an email. They could probably show you towards good sources. I'd advise not saying "I'm doing research for Wikipedia..." as this could scare someone lol. Probably better to say you're doing personal research. I look forward to seeing History of Albany at B-class status! And it looks to be that my RfA didn't pass, so I'm going to be coached by Julian. upstateNYer 06:13, 17 February 2009 (UTC)

Sorry about your RfA, you'll get it next time if you really want it (though I dont know why, just sounds like once you do get it you'll just get more stress and all those responsibilities would take you away from good old-fashioned research and editing). Well, I would love to call the historical society in Albany, but...I'm actually in Columbia, Missouri working on my master's degree in history. That tends to be why just about every reference I use is straight from the internet (or Google Books referenced as a book or the webversion of the Times Union), hard to get actual books about Albany out here. I'm sure I can find an e-mail address for the County Hall of Records, they have the original Dongan Charter at their location on Tivoli Street. Havent gotten as far as I had hoped to get on the H. of Albany, I believe I'm up to 1778. I have heard back from Djflem and he (she? can never tell on wikipedia) says no errors on a quick look but is willing to take a look at the Dutch history part in detail and expand if necessary as soon as time permits. Ok, this already getting long, but one more thing- you may want to mention (unless it has and I missed it) on the CD project page the various Featured Topics that are about places/things/whatever in the CD, I only know of one off-hand, the New York State Routes of Warren County (I pretty sure that's the title, you can find it on the talk page of New York State Route 32, which is a part of the topic). Perhaps also starting or proposing task forces within the CD project to put a bunch of articles into various topics and get them to featured topic status (each article in the topic does not need to reach FA status, so its not as hard as it sounds). I need to do more research on what is needed to reach Featured Topic status before I tackle putting one together, though I'm thinking something along the lines of "historical sites of Albany County", if anything along those lines we really should ask for doncram's help, despite the hard time he gives us about the CD name he is a good editor and is one of the most knowledgable about national historical places and sites (I forget the exact wording of that wikiproject), perhaps you'll want to put together a "School Districts of Rennselaer County" topic, I think that one would have the best chance right now.Camelbinky (talk) 02:55, 20 February 2009 (UTC)

Graphics lab: Waterfall diagram

Hello, MattWade. You have new messages at Wikipedia:Graphic Lab/Illustration workshop.
You can remove this notice at any time by removing the {{Talkback}} or {{Tb}} template.

--[|Retro00064 | (talk/contribs) |] 08:04, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

More about my comments in your RfA

Hi, I feel that I need to explain my Neutral a bit more. Once again, I most emphatically do not consider you a "bad-faith editor". So, a bit more detail on why I do not consider your involvement in the Talk:2008_Mumbai_attacks/Archive_3#Move_request thread a calling card for running for admin.

  1. Cerejota proposed renaming the article from November 2008 Mumbai attacks to 2008 Mumbai attacks before the year, or for that matter, even the month of November was out. Not a good suggestion due to WP:CRYSTAL.
  2. Most editors opposed, a few supported.
  3. One of the Oppose editors was Kensplanet who gave a hypothetical as justification. The hypothetical ("What if the Government declares the attacks as Black November attacks") was vaporous.
  4. Someone (brewcrewer or Cerejota) likened Kensplanet's justification to a "pigs would fly" scenario. Knowing how pigs are viewed in some parts of the world, perhaps it would have been a better idea to use an analogy like "if my grandma had wheels she'd be a bus", however, use of an analogy to demonstrate what is wrong with a proposal is not a violation of WP rules. It wasn't Kensplanet who was being criticized but his/her proposal.
  5. I can't see the picture but it wasn't necessarily wrong to insert a picture. Sometimes pics can liven up a discussion.
  6. Kensplanet did not comment again in the thread. There is no indication that he or she was offended.
  7. You then stepped up to defend Kensplanet. I am sure that your intentions were entirely honorable. However, (1) Kensplanet had not been attacked personally; (2) ladling alphabet soup ("… WP:CIVIL, WP:EQ, WP:NPA, and especially WP:DBAD") onto the screen as you did does not usually help matters; (3) writing "most of your comments on this page (oh, so many...) reek of superciliousness and sarcasm" did not necessarily help matters either: arguably it inflamed the situation some more, although that would be an exaggeration, more accurate would be to say that you raised the temperature in the room by a few degrees.
  8. Happily the situation calmed down soon afterward and all editors, being reasonable people, came to an agreement.

If your RfA passes, I offer you whatever support I can give, and if it falls short this time, I would encourage you to try again after some sustained involvement mediating in the most contentious areas of Wikipedia. And if you are heartily tired of me and my comments, please feel free to remove this post, it's your Talk page after all.--Goodmorningworld (talk) 20:38, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

Yea you had me confused by your comments at the RfA. I wasn't quite sure what you were getting at. Based on your assessment here, I can see where you're coming from, but I have a real problem with people that fail to treat others with respect and this situation was a complete lack of respect. While I know it's a guideline to assume comments are on the work, not the user, I feel this is not completely accurate. Too often I see it misused as a way for the offending user to hide behind policy "making it okay". Either way, I appreciate constructive criticism and your comments at my RfA are taken to heart. Thanks for taking the time to !vote and comment on my RfA. upstateNYer 21:43, 16 February 2009 (UTC)

Re: Admin coaching?

Thanks for the note and kind words. :) I might not be the most active coach you'll find, and I don't have an organized coaching program set up, but sure, I'd be happy to help out. Is there anything in particular you would like to focus on?

I hope your RfA doesn't discourage you too much. Many fine editors for utterly ridiculous reasons, and I'm at a loss as to why the community can't trust you with the tools. Meh. Cheers, –Juliancolton Tropical Cyclone 03:29, 17 February 2009 (UTC)

Well I made the mistake of saying what I thought wanted to be heard in question #1. But obviously it's essential should I want to pass again. Would you mind giving me an overview of what goes on and how an admin is used at AIV and ANI and maybe even AfD (though I think AfD is a bit more self-explanatory)? I guess I have to get some more experience with CSD; though I think holding those three against me so sharply was a bit unfair. I have some reading to do obviously. On the plus side, most opposers had no other problems with me and claimed they'd support next time, after experience is gained. Anything else you think could be useful to me (during every day editing, even), feel free to let me know. Case studies are probably the best way to go. If something is routine in your daily edits, it may not be for me; that's the kind of stuff I need experience with. upstateNYer 03:46, 17 February 2009 (UTC)
Sure thing. Go ahead and create User:UpstateNYer/Admin coaching when you're ready. –Juliancolton Tropical Cyclone 05:34, 17 February 2009 (UTC)
Fire away when ready. This is your show; not quite sure how you want to do it upstateNYer 05:44, 17 February 2009 (UTC)

Orphaned non-free media (File:RensselaerCountySeal.png)

Thanks for uploading File:RensselaerCountySeal.png. The media description page currently specifies that it is non-free and may only be used on Wikipedia under a claim of fair use. However, it is currently orphaned, meaning that it is not used in any articles on Wikipedia. If the media was previously in an article, please go to the article and see why it was removed. You may add it back if you think that that will be useful. However, please note that media for which a replacement could be created are not acceptable for use on Wikipedia (see our policy for non-free media).

If you have uploaded other unlicensed media, please check whether they're used in any articles or not. You can find a list of 'image' pages you have edited by clicking on the "my contributions" link (it is located at the very top of any Wikipedia page when you are logged in), and then selecting "Image" from the dropdown box. Note that all non-free media not used in any articles will be deleted after seven days, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. Thank you. BJBot (talk) 05:08, 17 February 2009 (UTC)

Incorrect, Mr. Bot. I db'ed it a while ago. upstateNYer 05:13, 17 February 2009 (UTC)
 DoneJuliancolton Tropical Cyclone 05:33, 17 February 2009 (UTC)

Stats for your RfA

Ees noah prhaablem. :) neuro(talk) 16:24, 17 February 2009 (UTC)

Request for adminship

On this occasion, your request for adminship was not successful. I hope that you will continue your useful contributions to Wikipedia and may consider standing again in future. Remember, a significant majority of editors commenting did support you becoming an administrator, and some of those who opposed simply want to see you gain a little more experience. Warofdreams talk 11:51, 17 February 2009 (UTC)

Already watchlisting Wikipedia:Requests_for_adminship/UpstateNYer 2 for next time out! BencherliteTalk 11:56, 17 February 2009 (UTC)
As I! :) neuro(talk) 12:01, 17 February 2009 (UTC)
On the contrary, I am (extremely) pleasantly surprised by the number of supports and good words I got in response to my self-nom. I went in knowing I was the underdog, so wasn't completely surprised to see the nom fail. But the experience was like editor review on crack; but with responses! It really was a good experience and it was a civil and respectful critique of my work here on WP. As you can see above, I started an admin coaching plan (even before my RfA was closed) and hope to run again in the future (maybe even with a nom who's not me!). Overall it was a very positive experience and I learned more in this past week than in any other week here on WP. Thank you all for the support. upstateNYer 16:18, 17 February 2009 (UTC)

My RfA

My RfA ultimately failed last night at 56/29/11. While it wasn't successful in giving me the tools, it was successful in giving me a good idea about my contributions and my standing here at WP. I appreciated every !vote I got, especially constructive comments; I prefer a weak support with a thought-out comment than a full support with only a signature. I am not disheartened because of the outcome here, but actually impressed by the number of supports that I did receive. I went in knowing I was an underdog and came out having learned more this past week than any other week on WP. I begin admin coaching presently and hope to run again in the future (maybe even with a nom other than myself!) and pledge to work hard at the areas that were determined to be lacking by the constructive criticism that I got. This experience was like editor review on crack; but with responses! All in all, it was positive and I thank everyone for the participation. Now enjoy my most recently featured picture to the left. Thanks again! upstateNYer 16:41, 17 February 2009 (UTC)
  • If I may be so bold, I don't think you need admin coaching. I think you need to keep doing what you've been doing, and if you have questions, find someone you respect and ask. That someone does not have to be an admin in order to have something useful to offer you, either. There are plenty of users who do not want to be administrators but know plenty more than many admins do, and there are certainly administrators whose opinions and actions are...suspect.  Frank  |  talk  17:16, 17 February 2009 (UTC)
    • I was thinking the same as Frank here on the topic of admin coaching - while it won't hurt, I think most people just need to see a few more months of experience in what you're already doing. I'm glad you got a lot of useful comments out of the RfA anyway, it wasn't actually far from passing either - I'll be watching for your next one. ~ mazca t|c 18:29, 17 February 2009 (UTC)
  • I don't exactly relish seeing all the "*Oppose - per WilyD"s that crop up these days. That said, CSD is one of the areas where we're worst about biting new users, so I don't exactly apologise for wanting new admins, especially those who've worked in newpage patrolling/whatnot, to be gentle/sensitive/on the ball. As I understood it, this was probably the biggest complaint against you. Just try to remember that there's hurry - apart from serious BLP problems, there's never any need to speedily delete anything. AFD has had a frontlog for a few months now, there's no harm in using it. Anyways, best of luck in moving forward - the usual meme is that adminship isn't all it's cracked up to be anyhow. WilyD 17:18, 17 February 2009 (UTC)
  • You're more than welcome for my support in your RfA. However, I too agree with above comments saying that you shouldn't go through admin coaching. A few more months of continuing your past work, but with new knowledge gained from the RfA, and your next request should be successful. Best wishes. Acalamari 20:19, 17 February 2009 (UTC)
    • This is true, but there's no harm in getting some insight into what goes on in the life of a sysop. Lots of that stuff you don't get to know about until the tools are handed to you. upstateNYer 21:53, 17 February 2009 (UTC)
  • Not wanting to copy+paste everything here, please see my response at my talk page. I hope you will run again soon as soon as you fixed those mistakes that caused this one to fail. Regards SoWhy 22:06, 17 February 2009 (UTC)
    • Sorry to see that, being an admin isn't rocket science and I'm sure you could deal with a few extra software functions quite easily. As a suggestion, you could put a few of these lists on your watchlist, choosing areas you know a bit about or are interested in, and get some useful experience of AfD that way. Tim Vickers (talk) 00:55, 19 February 2009 (UTC)

Re: Image Renaming

Done, there is a bit of a delay between when they are tagged and the bot takes care of it usually, and if a non trusted user edits them then the bot won't do it. As for FPC, the blue one has some quite badly blown highlights (blue channel mostly, only really salvageable if you have a raw floating about), the white balance needs adjustment and I'd probably sharpen the foreground and do a noise reduction on the background. Two also suffers from blown highlights quite badly, but it isn't as severe. There isn't much noise to worry about but I'd also give it a sharpen. Imo it really depends on if you can recover those highlights. Noodle snacks (talk) 04:13, 18 February 2009 (UTC)

<snicker>

:P --Dylan620 Hark unto me · Ping me @ 15:33, 18 February 2009 (UTC)

Oh no you dih' int! Youuuuu're outta here!! upstateNYer 17:10, 18 February 2009 (UTC)
An image created by you has been promoted to featured picture status
Your image, File:MSMajestyOfTheSeasEdit1.JPG, was nominated on Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates, gained a consensus of support, and has been promoted. If you would like to nominate an image, please do so at Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates. Thank you for your contribution! MER-C 02:29, 19 February 2009 (UTC)

#3, baby! upstateNYer 03:44, 19 February 2009 (UTC)

Orphaned non-free media (File:BCSD.png)

Thanks for uploading File:BCSD.png. The media description page currently specifies that it is non-free and may only be used on Wikipedia under a claim of fair use. However, it is currently orphaned, meaning that it is not used in any articles on Wikipedia. If the media was previously in an article, please go to the article and see why it was removed. You may add it back if you think that that will be useful. However, please note that media for which a replacement could be created are not acceptable for use on Wikipedia (see our policy for non-free media).

If you have uploaded other unlicensed media, please check whether they're used in any articles or not. You can find a list of 'image' pages you have edited by clicking on the "my contributions" link (it is located at the very top of any Wikipedia page when you are logged in), and then selecting "Image" from the dropdown box. Note that all non-free media not used in any articles will be deleted after seven days, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. Thank you. BJBot (talk) 05:13, 20 February 2009 (UTC)

Yea, yea, I know. It's only there so the graphics lab can work with it. I'll have it {{db}}'d when they're done. upstateNYer 09:21, 20 February 2009 (UTC)

Thamarai Namam

Sir, I drew this image using Adobe illustrator and tried to save as a SVG file. The result: The flower petals which I created through mesh turn rasterised while the remaing BG and effects remains vector while opening the file through Internet explorer. So I prefer to go for a PNG. Can such problems be overcomed at Wikipedia:Graphic Lab/Image workshop?

I seek for your valuable comments, Thanks. - Vaikunda Raja (talk) 20:06, 21 February 2009 (UTC)

Yes, graphics lab can do some good on this image. There's some really talented users over there. See what they can do for you. upstateNYer 21:07, 21 February 2009 (UTC)
Yes, I've requested over there. - Vaikunda Raja (talk) 04:56, 22 February 2009 (UTC)

Thanks for all your hard work

Thanks for all your hard work on Proposed naming of Oprah Winfrey to Barack Obama's senate seat. SamanthaG (talk) 18:07, 23 February 2009 (UTC)

Hehe, no problem. Works out as being a good lesson in citations for my adoptee.  :-) upstateNYer 19:01, 23 February 2009 (UTC)

Re: Quick favor

 DoneJuliancolton Tropical Cyclone 03:53, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

Speedy service as always, thanks! upstateNYer 03:55, 25 February 2009 (UTC)
No problem, glad to help. :)Juliancolton Tropical Cyclone 04:10, 25 February 2009 (UTC)

Two articles, same bridge

I'm hoping your admin/jedi training can help with this unusual problem I've come across while looking at other articles to link to History of Albany, New York. There is a Livingston Avenue Bridge and a Hudson River Bridge (Albany) article, but in my research for the history article I found that they are actually the same bridge. Each of them has at least one redirect to complicate any type of merge or whatever (which I dont even know how to do anyways). The names just simply arrise from railroads never really officially naming bridges I suppose, dont know, but have definitely determined they are the same bridge from opening dates being the same and statistics (two bridges owned by the same company being finished on the same date and having the first train go across on the same date and having the same length, pier height etc, seems way too coincidental, just how many bridges does one company need or can afford to build at one time?). There was a second railroad bridge farther south of the Livingston Avenue Bridge but it wasnt named the Hudson River Bridge, and it opened in 1877 and I can write a stub article on it, I have at least 2 sources. Unfortunately I dont have a source, so far, that specifically comes out and says "the Livingston Avenue Bridge, formerly the Hudson Avenue Bridge" or anything to that effect, so I dont know if that effects any attempt to merge. So basically, if you think its right to merge, can you talk me through any redtape or procedures or whatever on how to merge the two railroad articles and deal with the redirects I would really appreciate it, then I can go and create a stub for Maiden Lane Railroad Bridge and is this anything so big that I should be asking an admin to do instead of doing it myself?

Do you have online sources to prove they are the same? They certainly look similar based on their piers, but at the same time they look very individual. For example, the Albany Railroad Bridge claims it was a swing bridge, but the piers in the Harpers Weekly dwg and the piers in the photo of the current Livingston Ave bridge don't look the same (especially at the turning point). Tho I do admit, naming a railroad bridge after a road seems very odd to me. At the same time, the Hudson River Bridge makes no mention of ever having been closed and there definitely is only one railroad bridge across the Hudson River in the Albany area these days. On the other hand, the Livingston Ave Bridge claims the HRB has been demolished (see navbox at bottom). Also, the piers in the Harpers Weekly image show that the bridge is not straight but turns while over the water. This is not the case of the LAB, which crosses the Hudson straight on. Let me have a look at your sources and then we can proceed from there. Oh and also, when you make a new article, you should consider creating a DYK. You already missed your chance on History of Albany, New York, but if you create an article on Maiden Lane Railroad Bridge, and it's at least 1500 characters long, you can get a DYK on the Main Page. upstateNYer 11:43, 27 February 2009 (UTC)
Once I get to my computer at work I can give you the links for the sources on the bridges being the same. I can however from home address some of your concerns you mention. There is definitely one railroad bridge that crosses at Albany, the Livingston Ave one. There was a map that I sent you when we were discussing the Steamboat Square photo, the link is in your archives, that map shows where the two railroad bridges were in 1920's (I think thats the correct decade), comparing it to a modern map will show the northern one to be the LAB, it could then be claimed that the southern one is the HRB but from its location it would make sense it would be named the Maiden Lane Bridge as it would be at the location of Maiden Lane extending if it was a road bridge instead of RR. The current LAB is the second bridge of that name at that location, IF I am correct the HRB was the first at that location and that is why there is inconsistancies in the photo of the current bridge versus the drawing of the HRB. I believe the LAB article mentions that the original was built in 1866 (same year claimed for the HRB) and was replaced in 1906 (or a year around that, I'm doing this from memory). I am a bit worried that since, so far, I have no source that comes out and says they are the same bridge that this gets awfully close to the line of "original research". There are a couple more sources I can check, especially one that is really good on railroad history in the CD, hopefully they mention this problem.

I have often wondered about how to do a DYK, I will have to start doing that, a DYK about the Port of Albany wouldve been great to see on the main page.Camelbinky (talk) 17:44, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

Agreed. Maybe we can try for a delayed DYK. I created pages before I knew about DYK's availability. They should allow for this b/c not everyone is aware of DYK. upstateNYer 17:48, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

Apparently on wikimapia they show the (site of) Maiden Lane RR Bridge with the description-

Also known as the "Hudson River Bridge"

Former location of the NYCRR bridge connecting East Shore and B&A trackage to Mohawk division passenger trackage. On the west end tracks curved North passing to the rear of Albany's Union Station's elevated passenger track loading platforms, then north and west to the West Albany yards and points West. East end trackage passed thru the shown location of the Rensselaer High School which was one of the New York Central's steam locomotive servicing facilities

and then they have the wikipedia article associated with the listing as the Hudson River Bridge article. The history of wikimapia listings isnt like wikipedia and it doesnt say who put in the original information, only roughly when (9 months ago), and there are no sources or citations, so I dont know if this helps at all. Albany Chronicles by Cuyler Reynolds (it and all other sources are on google books) page 609 has the opening dates and statistics of LAB on page 609 and for the MLB on 650, but no information on a "Hudson River Bridge" other than the name of the company that built both as being the Hudson River Bridge Company. The Engineering Index by the Association of Engineering Societies (US) page 90 describes work done on the MLB. The History of Albany, New York by Arthur James Weise page 491 says the same date for first train crossing the MLB as the Albany Chronicles does but does not use the name LAB or HRB for the first bridge to cross the Hudson at Albany, only uses the name "Upper Bridge" and puts the date of completion as the same as the LAB article on wikipedia (page 90). I believe that wikimapia is right about the location and name MLB but wrong about the HRB being that bridge and that due to the dates of completion that the HRB is really the LAB since everyone seems to confirm the date of the MLB as 1871 but the wikipedia article says the date of the HRB is 1866 (the same as the LAB). Comparing the data on the HRB wikipedia article to the stats given in the various sources about the original LAB seems to confirm them being the same. This http://www.catskillarchive.com/rrextra/albbrdg.Html apparently is from when the HRB was first built and has the picture that is on the HRB article from the Harpers Weekly, it calls the bridge the Albany Railroad Bridge and not the HRB, which makes sense if it was the only railroad bridge in Albany at the time, its stats are the same as the LAB in other sources, such as completion date and date of first train crossing.Camelbinky (talk) 22:14, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

spelling out numbers

Hi, just so you know, I changed your edit at 81st Academy Awards in which you changed my edit of "thirteen" to 13. Per MOS, bullet point #2 (and general grammar rules), you don't write something like "42 and ten" but "forty-two and ten" or "42 and 10". Mixing them is bad practice. Just FYI. Thanks. upstateNYer 23:16, 26 February 2009 (UTC)

Hi. This is a funny coincidence ... because I was just about to send you a message about this very same issue. I was curious ... why do you think that the "13" should be "thirteen" ... and what makes you say that "if it were 27, it would be different"? Please let me know. Please reply at my Talk Page. Thanks. (Joseph A. Spadaro (talk) 23:20, 26 February 2009 (UTC))

Pic used in a blog

Hi,

I have used your wonderful picture of the Capitol in the blog www.ecologiablog.com. Your credits are there, of course. Thanks for putting it as creative commons. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 88.19.93.244 (talk) 01:22, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

Thanks for the heads up. Might you be able to tell me where it's used? I speak a little Spanish and was able to work my thru your site, but I haven't found it yet. upstateNYer 11:47, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

Re: Block

Looks like it's already  Done. –Juliancolton Tropical Cyclone 01:26, 27 February 2009 (UTC)

Orphaned non-free media (File:Jizzpantscover.jpg)

Thanks for uploading File:Jizzpantscover.jpg. The media description page currently specifies that it is non-free and may only be used on Wikipedia under a claim of fair use. However, it is currently orphaned, meaning that it is not used in any articles on Wikipedia. If the media was previously in an article, please go to the article and see why it was removed. You may add it back if you think that that will be useful. However, please note that media for which a replacement could be created are not acceptable for use on Wikipedia (see our policy for non-free media).

If you have uploaded other unlicensed media, please check whether they're used in any articles or not. You can find a list of 'image' pages you have edited by clicking on the "my contributions" link (it is located at the very top of any Wikipedia page when you are logged in), and then selecting "Image" from the dropdown box. Note that all non-free media not used in any articles will be deleted after seven days, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. Thank you. BJBot (talk) 05:17, 2 March 2009 (UTC)

All fixed. upstateNYer 05:22, 2 March 2009 (UTC)

Assignment 3

I finished the third assignment and would like your opinion, then the next assignment. :) I Grave Rob«talk» 11:13, 3 March 2009 (UTC)

Busy week, sorry; I'll get back to you tomorrow. upstateNYer 15:36, 5 March 2009 (UTC)
Your Featured picture candidate has been promoted
Your nomination for featured picture status, File:The Gerry-Mander Edit.png, gained a consensus of support, and has been promoted. If you would like to nominate another image, please do so at Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates. MER-C 07:24, 5 March 2009 (UTC)

Say what?

Hi, a couple of things you have wrong off the bat: UVA is not a private school, it is very much public. In fact, that's one reason why I think it's a better representative of American education... most Americans attend public universities, not private ones. Also, US News has ranked Harvard the #1 doctoral-level university in the U.S., not the world in the past... but of course, a World Heritage Site is a bit more significant than a newsmagazine ranking to my mind as well. For one thing, it's a distinction that won't change through the years like U.S. News rankings do. Omnibus (talk) 06:00, 6 March 2009 (UTC)

Sorry, my mistake on calling it private. But if you remove the world "private" from my initial statement, I believe it still stands. Since most students go to public schools, why not reference the UC system or the SUNY system rather than a single university? These are much larger systems that are well-respected throughout the country and make a difference to more Americans than one specific institution. But these are hypotheticals and I suggest them because I think UVA is a bad selection, and WHS status can't be the only argument. Harvard is the oldest higher educational institution in the United States and still represents itself as (one of) the best (and arguably most respected) institutions in the nation and the world. It stands above Oxford and Cambridge (again, per USNWR, which is much more respected than you seem to think, both to students and the schools themselves). Harvard also has the largest endowment in the United States ($29B, $10B more than the next closest). I'll also point out that Harvard has graduated 6 US Presidents while UVA has dished out 1; not completely relevant, but I think it makes a statement. I'm changing this back to Harvard because I believe it is a better representation of this country. Should you disagree, I would suggest bringing it up on the talk page of the article. upstateNYer 06:39, 6 March 2009 (UTC)
Obviously, there is disagreement here. I suggest you bring it up on the talk page, rather than me... as you are attempting to change the image and school here from what was previously agreed upon in prior discussions. In the meantime, I have edited this section of the article to remain as previously written. I just can't justify a private university representing education in the United States when 80% of college students attend public universities. Omnibus (talk) 07:11, 6 March 2009 (UTC)
Having looked over all the archives, there is actually no discussion about the image used and since it wasn't a consensus decision, there is no reason to not see a little change, if not just for change's sake (the original UVA image [since updated] was added by a single user in 2005 - and the status quo is not a reasonable argument for keeping it). While I'm not doing it for change's sake, I'd respectfully request that you respect my upcoming edit by leaving it so users can see it with the change, then possibly bring it to the talk page if you're still unhappy (who does it hurt?). Just as you can't justify a private university representing the United States, I can't justify a quasi-no-name public university doing the same. The world knows Harvard; the world does not know UVA. Articles are meant to not have a bias towards the United States; UVA biases toward US residents (and realistically, east coasters), who are more likely to have heard of the place. And again, my argument still stands that the image is of poor quality and should be replaced anyway. Images used in this article should be of good/great quality, with thorough captions on their respective image page. See my original post on your talk page for examples of replacements I made with much higher quality images. Due to the level of this article, it cannot have poor quality photos. upstateNYer 08:15, 6 March 2009 (UTC)

Photo Choice

Hi, you said "a photo with identifiable (unknowing) faces on such a high-traffic article is a no no." Can you point me to the Wikipedia policy you are relying on? Unless that is an actual policy, it'd be much better to have students in a photo with such a caption discussing students. Omnibus (talk) 19:39, 6 March 2009 (UTC)

There are a number of issues I need to go over with you:
  1. The use of the image is more of a common decency and respect issue. Would you like it if you found yourself on a very high-traffic article on Wikipedia without being asked? That said, Commons (where the image is hosted) does have a guideline on photographs of identifiable people, which makes this situation a bit of a judgement call. It states that "an anonymous person, in a public place, especially as part of a larger crowd [is] normally OK." But this is not a normal situation. This is broadcasting this image as a representation of American education, on a page that is currently receiving 55,000 hits per day. That's a lot of eyes that have the ability to recognize a person that may not want to be hosted on such a notable page (or any, for that matter). I understand that the Commons guideline is for hosting at Commons, but it is just as relevant (if not more so) for hosting an image in an article at Wikipedia. Give these people a break.
  2. I removed the term "state-funded" because (1) it's unnecessarily detailed for its image caption and (2) the term "state" to many non-Americans is equal to the highest level of government—though not necessarily federal; it depends where they come from (see State-sponsored terrorism). Again, it has to do with keeping the article neutral to all residents of the world, not just Americans.
  3. Issue with "80%" versus "Eighty percent": You always spell out numbers at the beginning of a sentence per general grammar practices but also per WP:MOS (bullet #4).
  4. On that note, you added the caption about 80% of students going to public schools. Maybe that belongs in the body of the article and a new caption might be made?
  5. I appreciate you adding the ref to the 80% figure, but you could have at least formatted the citation correctly. I've since corrected it, but I also think a better source could be found. Unfortunately, the author of that document did not list his sources. I feel as if anything short of something from the feds or DOE specifically is not really up to the standards of that article.
  6. I chose the Berkeley image I placed in the article because it showed the Sather Tower, in addition to other academic buildings and the surrounding landscape. There is a featured picture of the tower, but I felt it didn't represent a college campus well (could be mistaken for a church steeple). There's nothing saying a photo has to have students in the image. In fact, an image that showed the grand size of this campus is better IMO. A university is not such without its campus and displaying that gives a reader the idea of the scale that this university is at.
  7. Below I've listed the four images that have been bouncing around the article in that place. I'd like to once again bring up the quality and composition of these images. If you'll note, the lighting of the UVA image is not great; there are many shadows that look like they could be avoided if the image were retaken at a better time (if you look at a satellite view of UVA, you'll see that this face of the building faces south-south west, meaning it gets ample sunlight at around 1pm that would not cause these shadows). The Harvard image shows better composition, taken at the right time of day at a more interesting angle. While the Sather Gate image is indeed taken at an interesting angle with good lighting, there's a huge tree blocking 90% of the Tower, which is apparently the most notable structure on the campus. My replacement for your efforts is lit well, broad, and shows many examples of California architecture, while not placing much cover over the Tower.
I'm glad we could at least come to an agreement on the use of Berkeley as a representation of higher level education in the US. Now on to the fine details! upstateNYer 21:23, 6 March 2009 (UTC)

Permissions statement

Regarding this edit,[1] it appears that you missed the explanation at the image permissions line. This poster is a derivative work of a photograph that has unknown copyright status in France. So although it satisfies Canadian and US copyright as pre-1948 and pre-1923, it cannot be transferred to Commons. It would be a shame if one of our featured articles got deleted as violating Commons hosting policy. I rarely upload images locally at en:wiki, and do so only when unable to satisfy Commons requirements. If you would like to look up the author 'Brown Bros.', though, and find out where they published and when they died, you are welcome to do so. DurovaCharge! 23:24, 7 March 2009 (UTC)

Oops, sorry. I didn't read the copyright template closely enough. Nice catch! upstateNYer 23:27, 7 March 2009 (UTC)
Have a cookie! :)

Happens to the best of us. Cheers! DurovaCharge! 23:40, 7 March 2009 (UTC)

Asssignment and signature.

I believe I have waited a sufficient length of time and would really appreciate being able to resume the assignments in the adoptive process. :) I Grave Rob«talk» 08:33, 8 March 2009 (UTC)

Also, about your signature. I was trying to expand my signature using some formatting from yours, but as with my first attempt the signature box kept truncating it at 255 characters. Following this I was thinking about having my signature transcluded from a signature page, but went to WP:Sig first and after reading through the policy I saw that my idea was against policy and all signatures, including ones with wikimarkup, are meant to get truncated at 255 characters in the interests of the editors etc.

My question is this, how are you able to have a signature with approximately 375 characters in it? I Grave Rob«talk» 08:33, 8 March 2009 (UTC)
  • Assignment:  Done (sorry, spring break just started, so naturally I was bombarded with exams the past few days).
  • As for the signature, I make them in my user space and link to them rather than writing them directly in the box. Currently, I have this written in the box so it calls the signature I've made: {{subst:User:UpstateNYer/erutangis/StPattys}}. WP:SIG is a guideline, not a policy. Its main intention is to keep the coding level low for sigs and to keep really obnoxious sigs from being used (there are some really bad ones out there). My sig hasn't been a problem thusfar and there are many out there with much longer coding than mine. upstateNYer 15:19, 8 March 2009 (UTC)

Let me know if you spot any others. Dschwen mass reverted a bunch of my edits (probably rightfully so) at commons and made a bit of a mess of it a number of cases. Noodle snacks (talk) 22:12, 8 March 2009 (UTC)

Will do. I found it odd that it was since Dec 2008; probably should have been deleted per the template... upstateNYer 22:13, 8 March 2009 (UTC)

Attribution

I am redesigning my web page and wish to use your image of the "Contemplation of Justice" statute on the left side of the entrance to the Supreme Court Building.

How do you want me to set up the attribution for you?

Thanks.

Cy Phillips

66.166.255.19 (talk) 15:35, 9 March 2009 (UTC)

That will be $17million, plus state and local tax; just kidding. All I need to see is something like "Creative Commons/UpstateNYer at Wikipedia" (you can link to my user page, to be more clear, if you'd like: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:UpstateNYer). Something similar to this example would be fine (just don't forget to indicate Creative Commons). A link for me to see your page would be nice too. Thanks for the heads up (and actually informing me)! upstateNYer 16:26, 9 March 2009 (UTC)

Chris Young

The image is a WP:FP. I would like to keep it on WP for that reason. I am not sure what edit button troubles you please explain further.--TonyTheTiger (t/c/bio/WP:CHICAGO/WP:LOTM) 19:48, 9 March 2009 (UTC)

Yes, but almost all WP FPs are hosted on Commons (only something like 1.5% are not, which soon will not be the case since I'm transferring all eligible ones). The FP template is added on WP so you won't lose anything. Transferring to Commons does not affect FP status. So, do you mind if I move this to Commons? There's really no reason not to. As for your page, you have about 100 GA symbols () and other symbols representing articles you've contributed to. There are six rows of these and they overhang the toolbar on the top of your page, so I cannot press any of the buttons in that bar. Therefore I can't press the "edit", "watch", "history", or any other button on that bar. To fix this, you'd have to remove about 80 of the objects. Why not just use one symbol for each kind of award, place a number above that, and have that link to a subpage that lists them all? upstateNYer 20:25, 9 March 2009 (UTC)
Show me an example of an FP you have transfered so I can see how all the info transports.
I will try to reconfigure my header. I was not aware of the problem you mention. I do not want to remove the extra rows. I may need help lowering everything on the page.--TonyTheTiger (t/c/bio/WP:CHICAGO/WP:LOTM) 04:07, 10 March 2009 (UTC)
I'm not sure you can lower those things on the page. We're talking about the permanent toolbar on the top of every user's page, not content on your talk page; it affects every page you use that header on (including your userpage). As for the FPs, here's one example. Each one that I transfer I completely revamp the caption and other information so it is as clean and complete as possible. Here's what that example looks like at Commons. All it lacks is WP FP template, since that's only hosted here at WP. Everything else stays. upstateNYer 04:56, 10 March 2009 (UTC)
O.K. you can move it.--TonyTheTiger (t/c/bio/WP:CHICAGO/WP:LOTM) 05:00, 10 March 2009 (UTC)
I have tried my browser at 1024 width and the banner is below the tabs. How is your system configured. I.E., what browser and screen resolution do you use.--TonyTheTiger (t/c/bio/WP:CHICAGO/WP:LOTM) 05:02, 10 March 2009 (UTC)
Looks O.K. except you only put it in one category (something I do all the time on commons however).--TonyTheTiger (t/c/bio/WP:CHICAGO/WP:LOTM) 20:43, 12 March 2009 (UTC)

←I am not sure whether to start a new thread or not, but I know you move lots of images to commmons. I need a new gallery created at commons for all the images in Fountain of Time. Would you consider doing this?--TonyTheTiger (t/c/bio/WP:CHICAGO/WP:LOTM) 00:34, 15 March 2009 (UTC)

Could you be more specific in what you need? If I'm understanding you correctly, you could just create a new category at Commons and place all these images in that Category. Ah, but in looking closer, it looks like most/all of these images are hosted locally. I use the Move-to-Commons assisstant. It's pretty easy. Then you just place {{db-i8}} on the page of the locally hosted version (on wikipedia). This deletion template is for images that have an exact duplicate at Commons. If I find some time, I might do some. upstateNYer 21:17, 23 March 2009 (UTC)
By the end of the message above, it looks like you figured out what I was asking. It would be great if you could do it for the images in the gallery at the bottom of the Fountain of Time page.--TonyTheTiger (t/c/bio/WP:CHICAGO/WP:LOTM) 21:23, 23 March 2009 (UTC)

Re: Deletion request

 Done by PeterSymonds (talk · contribs). –Juliancolton Tropical Cyclone 20:29, 9 March 2009 (UTC)

Done. –Juliancolton Tropical Cyclone 03:31, 10 March 2009 (UTC)
checkYJuliancolton Tropical Cyclone 03:44, 10 March 2009 (UTC)
Heh, it's nice to have talk page stalkers. :) Done by PeterSymonds. –Juliancolton Tropical Cyclone 14:04, 10 March 2009 (UTC)
checkYJuliancolton Tropical Cyclone 02:38, 13 March 2009 (UTC)

On an unrelated note, could you review Wikipedia:Valued picture candidates/New York State Route 292 if you get a chance? It's my first VPC, and I'm trying to become more active there. –Juliancolton Tropical Cyclone 04:23, 13 March 2009 (UTC)

 Done I also cleaned up the image page a bit (wikifying, rearranging, removing redundant or unnecessary info [transfer programs put so much crap on these pages]) upstateNYer 05:27, 13 March 2009 (UTC)
Cool, thanks for the help. –Juliancolton Tropical Cyclone 13:43, 13 March 2009 (UTC)

Photo

I used your justice photo for my online article. It's not online yet, I'll give you the link if you want, it'll be in french though. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.203.189.39 (talk) 16:45, 10 March 2009 (UTC)

A link would be great. I'll get a friend to read it to me. Thanks for the heads up. upstateNYer 16:53, 10 March 2009 (UTC)

Adoption

Sorry that I haven't done much in the adoption arrangement, at first everything was a bit confusing, but I think I've got the hang of it more now. I don't know, I guess I'm not really needing the adoption much anymore? Sorry for any trouble this has caused you. Well, I guess it would be good if you reviewed my edits and gave me some more pointers, like any errors that I've made, or what I need to work on? Thanks, FingersOnRoids 00:22, 11 March 2009 (UTC)

No problem at all. I'll take a look around your history in a little bit and let you know what I think. Feel free to delete the subpage if you don't want it any longer. upstateNYer 02:54, 13 March 2009 (UTC)

The Bikers of Oz

I've tagged The Bikers of Oz with {{prod}} and I honestly would have tagged it under CSD {{db-group}}, except it has been around for a while. Would you agree with me going through a few of the other pages in this series and do agree with the page I tagged? I Grave Rob§talkstalk§ 12:02, 11 March 2009 (UTC)

April Fools

I was just wondering what Wikipedia's policy is on April Fools jokes? I'm sure a joke on mainspace wouldn't be appreciated but how would a fairly harmless joke on talk pages be received? (plan is already set up, just waiting for April Fools day (no references to lavender sticks are included)) I Grave Rob§talkstalk§ 10:33, 13 March 2009 (UTC)

Never been an active user during April, so your guess is as good as mine. Though I have heard reference to April Fools over at WP:FPC. Just be careful and common-sensical. Talk pages probably wouldn't be a big deal (though I guess it depends how well you know somebody.)! Just be smart, I guess. upstateNYer 20:45, 14 March 2009 (UTC)

Hi UpstateNYer,

Thank you for your fresh en-centric remarks on that template talk page and the substantial work you have done to include EN:FP info on the Commons image pages. I have given you some replies for your consideration and I am looking forward to continue the constructive dialogue there. Cheers, --Slaunger (talk) 13:32, 14 March 2009 (UTC)

Re: Deletion request

Alright, done. –Juliancolton Tropical Cyclone 21:52, 17 March 2009 (UTC)

No problem. Happy St. Patty's day! –Juliancolton Tropical Cyclone 21:57, 17 March 2009 (UTC)

Phylogenetic tree

The caption has been amended so as to address your concerns in the FPC. DS (talk) 01:11, 18 March 2009 (UTC)

Light/dark has also been addressed. DS (talk) 11:44, 19 March 2009 (UTC)

Re: Maps

I have noticed the distortion too. It seems that the lines of longitude are getting streched. I'm currently trying to figure out how to change the map projection on the GIS software that I use to make the outlines. --Schzmo (talk) 11:43, 18 March 2009 (UTC)

talk

can you leave me a message on my talk page, to which I can respond on my talk page? Eliphaletnott (talk) 12:36, 18 March 2009 (UTC)

Question about adding CD wikiproject banner to some articles

Doing the History of Albany, New York article I came across that American Express was founded in Albany, should the Amer. Exp. article have the CD banner on it then? As far as I know they dont advertise a big historic relationship with Albany or have any regional hq here or have any residual loyalty. At least GE supports local philanthropy, schools, and promotes its historic relationship. There are other people and places I've come across that were founded/born here and left to become famous and I'm not sure if they should be added. Leland Stanford, governor of California and founder of Stanford University was born in Colonie, booksoften say Watervliet, but it's not the modern city of Watervliet he was born in, at the time he was born the modern town of Colonie and cities of Cohoes and Watervliet were all a part of the town of Watervliet. Same thing happens with history books saying where the Shakers lived, they say Watervliet because it was called Watervliet at the time. After I get a chance to make those changes you requested on the Hist. of Alb. page I'll start a Watervliet (town), New York article to give the history of the original town of Watervliet, some of it is currently on the town of Colonie, New York page. Another side note- I noticed on your Brunswick School District article that the White Church School is unlisted on its location, I've been searching old maps I have on file for it, if you happen to have some sort of a timeline on when it actually around or at least the last year it was around I could narrow my search easier. I'm confident I can find the location of the school. Apparently it was a Horace Mann school and while I'm unsure if they have a centralized national organization they apparently do have current lists of Horace Mann schools online they do apparently get together and have regional and national events, there must be information out there somewhere on past schools and their locations. I guess they are like the Montessori schools.Camelbinky (talk) 19:11, 18 March 2009 (UTC)

It can't hurt to add a tag to something that may only be slightly related. If you have a ref, questions will be minimal. Nice idea on the town of Watervliet page. Eventually we'll probably get other historical locations on here too, but it's still early. And yes, Horace Mann sounds very familiar; what was it, a franchise? Assumedly, all of the schools closed when the district opened up the new buildings, which would have been 1958 (or within a few years of that). Whatever you can find, I would be appreciative of. Otherwise, how's life? Long time no see around the wiki! upstateNYer 03:38, 19 March 2009 (UTC)

Well, I guess I misunderstood the info I had found on Horace Mann schools, I had interpreted the info to mean that all Horace Mann schools had some sort of common philosophy or organizing principle, like Montesorri schools or something. But, it looks like its just a common name, especially for public school. Horace Mann was an politician/bureaucrat who I guess supported early public schools in Massachusetts and his interpretation and "rules" on how they should be run were copied in other states, so alot of public schools ended up being named after him. One of his basic tenants was strict control over schools by the state, so I'm guessing not alot of private schools are named for him, but its still possible. So based on that I'm going to go out on a limb and conduct my search based on the following assumptions- it was a public school, opened sometime after the 1830's (when Mann started to become famous) closed down around 1958, and was on White Church Road. Obviously the school may have had a different name before the 1830's and simply got renamed later, and it may have closed alot earlier than 1958, it might not have been a public school, and it might not have been on White Church Road. Mostly I've been spending time getting information for History of Albany, New York now that I've reached the end of the book I was using as the main source (it only went to 1906 or so). Also have been adding historical maps of Albany (city and county) to commons. Oh, yea and now going through a divorce so I've been a bit distracted when I try to do some research, but it'll be ok. Oh, and I think I remember that you have some interest in the State Capitol, I found this http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?ils:9:./temp/~pp_TV4d::@@@mdb=fsaall,brum,detr,swann,look,gottscho,pan,horyd,genthe,var,cai,cd,hh,yan,lomax,ils,prok,brhc,nclc,matpc,iucpub,tgmi,lamb,hec,krb thought you might find it interesting to see an early model of the state capitol, complete with a dome and everything.Camelbinky (talk) 06:22, 19 March 2009 (UTC)

The link is broken, but I believe I've seen it before, in doing image searches at the LOC. I always remember hearing that NYS Capitol is the only state capitol without a dome, but I don't remember reading that in the article. Will have to check that out soon. Sorry to hear about the divorce, but hopefully it's for the better. upstateNYer 14:44, 19 March 2009 (UTC)

Yea, work on the capitol's article is on my "ill get to it one day" list. At least three different teams of architects had to be brought in because they kept getting fired and it took like 30 years of work before Teddy Roosevelt came in said its done. I'm thinking there must be a big back story to the construction and detail, at least to my untrained eye it looks like from the outside that each floor has a different type of style when you look at the arches and the details around the windows, dont know if thats intentional to the overall style or if it has to do with different architects continuing to come on in the middle of construction. At the very least I would say that there is one other state capitol with no dome (or at least not one I've seen in pictures, it could be a small one on top). It would be the Louisiana state capitol in Baton Rouge, their state capitol is basically a copy of the Al Smith building in Albany (or the other way around, I dont know if they influenced each other of if they are just both art deco skyskrapers, would have to research that).Camelbinky (talk) 22:14, 19 March 2009 (UTC) addendum- I've come across something unusual in my ongoing research for Albany history. The CD article currently states as to the origin of the term Capital District that- "The term was originated in the 1920s in an effort between the Albany Chamber of Commerce (now known as the Albany-Colonie Regional Chamber of Commerce) and the Albany Times Union." It is unsourced and I have found references to the Albany area as the "Capital District", the "Capitol District" and their derivitives of lower case c's and/or d's; dating back through the 1910's, sometimes the source refers to the name as if it should already be commonly known, not like its new or unusual or something they are coining. The farthest back I've found it is 1911 "Princeton alumni of the capital district" were holding their "annual meeting" in a hotel in Albany. I want to figure out some way to fit into the article how long the various terms such as Tri-City, Capital District (and its various spellings), and Capital Region have been around if I can get close to a starting decade for each term. Tech Valley has a definitive starting period.Camelbinky (talk) 00:57, 20 March 2009 (UTC)

POTD notification

POTD

Hi UpstateNYer,

Just to let you know that the Featured Picture File:Declaration independence.jpg is due to make an appearance as Picture of the Day on July 4, 2009. If you get a chance, you can check and improve the caption at Template:POTD/2009-07-04. howcheng {chat} 22:52, 19 March 2009 (UTC)

I'm a caption stickler, and that one looks good. Nice job. upstateNYer 23:29, 19 March 2009 (UTC)

Apologies

Sorry I haven't been on for a while, my computer overheated and died which means I am frantically redoing the whole years assessment for school. Hopefully I will be able to get onto wikipedia April 1st to be able to release my joke upon the community. Mwahahaha. I Grave Rob§talkstalk§ 21:11, 22 March 2009 (UTC)

Bleh, I feel your pain. Best of luck. upstateNYer 23:03, 22 March 2009 (UTC)

Re:VPC Closing

I actually had the instructions open in front of me the whole time- I knew I'd do something wrong. Thanks for spotting my mistake... Maybe I should ignore the best images, and stick with the worst. J Milburn (talk) 23:01, 22 March 2009 (UTC)

Eckert & Obama VP

Done. Do I get any credit for the nomination or how does it work? --candlewicke 20:32, 23 March 2009 (UTC)

When it closes, I'll make sure you get the typical message on your talk page. upstateNYer 20:50, 23 March 2009 (UTC)
Thanks. --candlewicke 21:03, 23 March 2009 (UTC)

using white house image

Hello, I would like to use your image of the White House for a short film I'm making. Thanks. Sbmike (talk) 21:05, 23 March 2009 (UTC)

Feel free to do so, and thank you for letting me know. I'm going to assume you mean this image. In your credits you will be required to credit UpstateNYer at Wikimedia Commons under a CC-BY-SA-3.0 license. If you plan on uploading this online, I'd appreciate a link to view it. Always interested to see where my work goes. Feel free to respond here or at your talk page, which ever you prefer. upstateNYer 06:06, 24 March 2009 (UTC)
Please read this as well. upstateNYer 20:17, 24 March 2009 (UTC)

Re: Image deletion templates

Nah; WP:CSD#G7 works fine for nearly all mainspaces. –Juliancolton Talk · Review 03:48, 25 March 2009 (UTC)

Never would have thought to use anything but a file template. Thanks. upstateNYer 03:50, 25 March 2009 (UTC)

Siena College

I want to take the debate there to mediation, but apparently all parties must sign it within 7 days. There's also the complication that filling out the required information seems to be over my head. I could use some help.Camelbinky (talk) 02:10, 26 March 2009 (UTC)

I think Daniel Case's compromise is pretty reasonable. Did you check that out yet? upstateNYer 04:57, 26 March 2009 (UTC)

Talkback

Hello, MattWade. You have new messages at Cerejota's talk page.
You can remove this notice at any time by removing the {{Talkback}} or {{Tb}} template.

Cerejota (talk) 13:07, 27 March 2009 (UTC)

VPC

Hello UpstateNYer. I'm new to the whole VPC thing but it looks like a really good concept to me. Just one thing, perhaps somewhere in the instructions (which are a little clunky) we can encourage people who nominate images to review other images? That way we would hopefully increase traffic and hence reviews? Just an idea! Cheers. The Rambling Man (talk) 19:03, 27 March 2009 (UTC)

I'll see what I can do. I've taken more of an administrative role there, so I feel more confident in making related changes. I'll let you know. Thanks for the input. upstateNYer 20:02, 27 March 2009 (UTC)
I added your suggestion. What things do you think should change WRT the instructions? What makes them clunky? This outside information is very useful. upstateNYer 20:15, 27 March 2009 (UTC)
File:Windmills D1-D4 (Thornton Bank) edit1.jpg
Your Featured picture candidate has been promoted
Your nomination for featured picture status, File:Windmills D1-D4 (Thornton Bank) edit1.jpg, gained a consensus of support, and has been promoted. If you would like to nominate another image, please do so at Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates. MER-C 02:55, 28 March 2009 (UTC)

Re: another deletion

Done. –Juliancolton | Talk 02:27, 29 March 2009 (UTC)

Not at all, I love easy tasks. :) –Juliancolton | Talk 05:07, 29 March 2009 (UTC)
Ah, nice, thanks! Quite refreshing. –Juliancolton | Talk 14:50, 29 March 2009 (UTC)

Input requested

Hi, your are listed in WikiProject Civil Engineering and I wondered if you might want to weigh in a couple of requested moves?
An editor moved the text from Suspension bridge to Suspended deck bridge and now thinks that the article should land at Suspended-deck suspension bridge. That move discussion is here Talk:Suspended_deck_bridge#Requested_move.
The other move request is here Talk:Suspension_bridge_types#Requested_move which shows what the editor proposes to put into the Suspension bridge article.
The discussion has major consequences on the content of the main article on suspension bridges. The root questions: Is a suspended-deck suspension bridge the proper name for a typical suspension bridge? And what content should be in the Suspension bridge article? - ¢Spender1983 (talk) 01:57, 29 March 2009 (UTC)

I'll take a look and comment on the respective talk pages after I form an opinion. upstateNYer 07:34, 29 March 2009 (UTC)

VP:Obama/Eckert

Thank you very much. And thanks for the colourful addition to my talk page! :) And yes, I shall try to keep watch for potential future VPs. ;) --candlewicke 02:52, 30 March 2009 (UTC)

Nice, we are always in need of more noms and especially more votes! upstateNYer 05:37, 30 March 2009 (UTC)

A break then back to basics

I'm going to be doing a short break due to stress over this whole stupid Siena thing, I should never have even brought it up when it was first reverted, at least then the Newtonville and Loudonville articles would never have gotten in his sight and they would still have the distinction of where the college is. Anyways, I've gotten a backlog of info on the Port of Albany that I'll be adding to the article when I get back and hopefully after I do that it should be pretty much fully comprehensive as to anything it should need for promoting it to A class and maybe even to FA. Hopefully if you get a chance you can look it over for grammar or style or anything else you can think of and it can be all ready for a smooth sailing proper review in a month at most.Camelbinky (talk) 05:34, 30 March 2009 (UTC)

I'd be happy to. I'll do that (and finish History of Albany) hopefully sometime this week. Best, upstateNYer 05:36, 30 March 2009 (UTC)

<response archived> Thanks Camelbinky. upstateNYer 00:34, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

Paying attention

For the phylogenetic tree image, I explained eleven days ago what the dark and light mean. "Dark and light are just used to distinguish one phylum from the next". If you're going to refuse to promote because "(x) wasn't explained", you should at least make sure that (x) in fact wasn't explained. DS (talk) 00:21, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

Okay, but but what about every other reason? And on that note, are all colors in the same shade the same phyla? Your answers were not all that specific (and wandered off into copyright for some reason?) and there were enough other reasons against it to not promote. Fix the issues and renominate. Nothing says you can't. Though, it may not be worth it; this is the kind of image that is only useful in poster size. Compare to our other SVG FPs. upstateNYer 00:28, 31 March 2009 (UTC)
Also, you are welcome to ask a second opinion. MER-C typically does closings and I'm sure wouldn't mind commenting. But the nom was open for almost 14 days (alloted time × 2). upstateNYer 00:33, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

Question

UpstateNYer, you have given your support in favor of making the main suspension bridge article be named suspended-deck suspension bridge. There are a couple of questions I have posted that remain unanswered. As a civil engineer, maybe you and answer them and help explain your support. They are

Is there a reliable, secondary source that calls the Golden Gate Bridge or any other suspension bridge a suspended-deck suspension bridge?
Without any WP:SOURCES to support this name, how can we decide here in Wikipedia to use that name?

I have not been able to locate a single scholarly article that uses the name suspended-deck suspension bridge. If you could provide such a source and post it on the Talk:Suspended_deck_bridge#Requested_move page, it help support your position. - ¢Spender1983 (talk) 01:33, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

Yea, valid point. I was AGF that there was a source. The name sounds good because there are different types of suspension bridges and they really should be differentiated. I have no explicit bridge experience, but I didn't find any mention of the exact terms in any of my steel design books, but then again they only spent a page or two on suspension-type structures (which includes cable-supported roofs). I'll keep looking around, maybe AISC or AASHTO have something. upstateNYer 02:33, 31 March 2009 (UTC)
Thanks, UpstateNYer. If any reliable sources can be found, I will eat crow, but I don't expect you to be successful. The user who started this continues to propogate the change through articles and WikiProject Bridges is not real active to be able to discuss and/or clean up. - ¢Spender1983 (talk) 11:01, 31 March 2009 (UTC)

It is a situation akin to Blind men and an elephant. As far as road bridge engineers are concerned, the only type of suspension bridge of interest is the one described currently at suspended deck bridge; they write about suspension bridges and cable-stayed bridges but they are thinking only about one type of suspension bridge. But if you read about footbridges then you read about simple suspension bridges and suspended deck bridges, and the latter are suspended-deck suspension bridges. The confusion here has been going on for years; just look at the article edit history and the talk page. Linking to this (suspended deck) suspension bridge article from articles about suspension footbridges is beyond aggravating: it is downright misleading. --Una Smith (talk) 03:19, 1 April 2009 (UTC)

White House photo

I added a new photo to the whitehouse page, replacing the old one on commons. Do you know how I can edit the page so that I'm accredited as the photographer and the author?

Also - for some reason images on image pages now appear in full size when I view them, rather than more convienient viewing sizes. Do you know how I can fix this? HiraV (talk) 21:14, 1 April 2009 (UTC)

Actually you can't and I've reverted your upload. Note on the Commons image page that there are many attributions to me. If you overwrite, it's no longer an image by me. Also, this image has been selected as a valued picture on Wikipedia. You changing that makes it not so. Please upload a new version on Commons by going here. I also would not support this image as a replacement for the current version in White House. All due respect, but your image has many crushed blacks, seems unrealistically bright, and has poor composition (I took the photo where I did so the fountain wasn't in the way). I think it outweighs the noise issue in mine. My personal opinion, and granted it is my bias, but that's how I feel. upstateNYer 01:41, 2 April 2009 (UTC)
Also, another user has made an effort to reduce the noise in my image (not at my asking, but I do appreciate the effort). upstateNYer 21:44, 3 April 2009 (UTC)

Hello, UpstateNYer. I have proposed that Proposed naming of Oprah Winfrey to Barack Obama's senate seat be merged into Rod Blagojevich controversies or Rod Blagojevich. Please see the talk page to discuss the issue. Thank you.

The above is not a templated message and was personally written by me. Whip it! Now whip it good! 01:09, 3 April 2009 (UTC)

Loudonville

Now hippo has started putting in the Loudonville article that Loudonville is a town. According to his reasoning on the edit summary and on the talk page apparently we now need to have a source that specifically says Loudonville is NOT a town! I cant take this. I may end up leaving wikipedia. This is getting ridiculous! I've said it several times before, this is getting out of hand, hippo is now bringing this to other forums and changing other articles to simply cause conflict, this isnt helping wikipedia. I'm begging you to find some way to stop this all, or else all these articles on hamlets and towns and history of the CD are at risk of false info being thrown in. It makes me not even want to bother working on articles anymore because what is the use if hippo can come along and say Loudonville is a town!Camelbinky (talk) 17:34, 3 April 2009 (UTC)

Don't let it get to you that bad. You are right. A hamlet is different from a town and Loudonville is most definitely a hamlet. Take a deep breath, have a fun Friday night, and come back tomorrow. :-) upstateNYer 18:11, 3 April 2009 (UTC)
Camelbinky, enough of this crap. You have posted this fairly widely - as far as I'm aware I have not stated that 'Loudonville is a town' or similar in the text of the Loudonville article. Nor do I have any desire to include that, as I have made clear on the talk page. Your inability or unwillingness to read my own words is no excuse for spreading lies about me. ::Can you supply a diff showing that I have done what you claim? If not, you owe me an apology.
UpstateNYer, I sought comment at WP:NORN and WP:RSN, which proved useful. --hippo43 (talk) 20:46, 4 April 2009 (UTC)

UpstateNYer can you please check the history for yourself so its not just my word that he put a quote saying that Loudonville was a town. Doncram even mentioned it in his edit summary when he reverted it "Now hippo43 wants to say its a town?!" (not exact quote). Hippo saying that I lied and bringing this issue wanting an apology from me reminds me of something Karl Rove once said (not exact quote but damn close)- It doesnt matter if it's true, as long as we say it enough times. Ive been around politics long enough to know a smear campaign and propaganda when I see it.Camelbinky (talk)

Camelbinky, at your talk page I have posted links to all four edits I made on Loudonville, NY. Please point out which one you are talking about. I think you may have taken Doncram's edit summary as gospel. Before you say anything dumber, or make things worse, please read the diffs. --hippo43 (talk) 21:08, 4 April 2009 (UTC)

Number 4- and this isnt the place to talk about this and dont call me dumb again. I have addressed you on your talk page about your insults. I would hope you put that "say anything dumber" comment before you read that I have a disorder in the autism spectrum because otherwise I would hope you get your butt blocked for that. Now I want an apology. Take this discussion off UpstateNYer's talk page anyway.Camelbinky (talk) 21:49, 4 April 2009 (UTC)

I didn't call you dumb. You said something dumb. That is nothing to do with your Asperger's. No apology from me for that. I did not insert 'Loudonville is a town' into the article. It is a direct quote from a legitimate source which aappears in a footnote. I will address it wherever you spread this nonsense about me.
UpstateNYer, sorry this has become an issue here. -hippo43 (talk) 22:00, 4 April 2009 (UTC)

Re: Vandalism

 Checking...Juliancolton | Talk 18:12, 3 April 2009 (UTC)

Doesn't look like a block is necessary at this point, but I'll keep an eye out for 3RR violations. –Juliancolton | Talk 18:15, 3 April 2009 (UTC)
Thank you for the assistance. upstateNYer 18:29, 3 April 2009 (UTC)

It is still in its infancy but I think its pretty good for about an hour or two of work. It's only linked to from Watervliet Shaker Historic District, Colonie, New York, and Leland Stanford (he was born in the town) so I still have alot more article that are currently linked to Colonie, Green Island, or Watervliet (the city) for something that happened prior to 1897 and change to link to this article also. I dont know if any other former towns in NY have had pages made already that I can base this one on, or if I should make the article basically as any other town article, if I did that there are obvious sections I simply couldnt do like demographics.Camelbinky (talk) 07:48, 4 April 2009 (UTC)

It's definitely an excellent start. The map makes it. upstateNYer 22:27, 4 April 2009 (UTC)

I quit

UpstateNYer, Im done, I'm leaving wikipedia, Hippo's last comment on my talk page was too much. I hope you can find time to work on or find someone else who is interested in the articles I took so much work in creating and working on. It was fun doing research and editing but this ridiculousness of people who dont know a topic getting involved doesnt make sense to me. I dont go to topics I dont know about and assume I can contribute better than those that do know about it and have been working hard for a longer time. If you agree that hippo's comments were close to or crossing the line please feel free to make sure this doesnt happen to more people, regardless of his claims to having known several people with that syndrome (unlikely since it is under-diagnosed, I've only met two others beside me) his insensitivity is not what would be expected from someone who you would presume would know how to associate with someone with the disorder. Regardless of if anything happens to hippo (a slap on the wrist at most I'm sure), I'm done. Whatever maintenance needs to be done to remove my user page and talk page is not my concern, but if you want to bring it someone's attention to remove it, feel free. I did learn alot from you and enjoyed working with you, I hope I'm not too out-of-line to say that maybe bringing the idea of a CD wikiproject to your attention may have led you down the path to being a future admin. Well, enough with the sentimental crap. I'm outtie! "Remember Fort Orange!"Camelbinky (talk) 22:08, 4 April 2009 (UTC)

This is indeed a sad day. I'm sorry to hear that this user has gotten to you so badly. I would like to ask you to stay, but respect if you've already made your mind up. To have your userpage and talk page deleted, add {{db-userreq}} and {{Retired}} (the latter to indicate you've since retired from editing). I commend you on your efforts here; you are a very skilled researcher and have done a lot for local articles, especially your excellent History of Albany, New York. Asberger's or not, you are a superb addition to this community and your contributions will be missed. If/When you do come back, feel free to drop me line! upstateNYer 22:47, 4 April 2009 (UTC)

This is going to be long, got alot to get off chest before my final edit. Thank you for your kind words, though H. of Alb. is not finished and I dont consider to be fine work at this point, it could have been given time. If you or anyone remembers me I hope its for Port of Albany-Rensselaer, now that article is something I was proud of and hoped showed I could pull my own weight around here as it was only the second article I had ever made from scratch and probably 85% of its content today I can proudly say was put by me. Anyone ever coming across this discussion I hope gets curious and reads it. Perhaps it will put me in a better light. I can be abrassive and for that I apologise to you, UpstateNYer, since its usually you who comes in and rescues me and says "camelbinky has a point" and then puts in better more reasoned comments. Thank you for everything and I will add those to my page to get it deleted. Hippo's continued use of my talk page was too much and I would have at least spent time considering staying due to your kind words but for another comment by hippo, which I know this time at least he may have meant well but used poor judgement in saying "I found you annoying". Somehow in all this discussion at multiple places even with many people on my side I got the brunt from hippo for being obstinate and accused of not wanting to compromise even though I have signed on to every compromise anybody else has put forth, and in fact sometimes even put forth those same compromises myself before anyone else, but it seems no one cares! He can call me in other discussion pages the "anything but Loudonville" group and I dont ask for an apology but I call him out and say he edited Loudonville to include a comment of it being a town (which he did! It is even in the discussion page) and he DEMANDS an apology? I'm sorry, but this increased escalation on his part, bringing to multiple forums, bringing the edit conflict with doncram to other articles (first at Siena College then to Loudonville) without consensus, and the general feeling that he intentionally words things in a certain way to get under my skin to distract from the point of the discussion (including this insistance of mentioning everywhere that he demands an apology from me and that I spread lies about him) simply reinforces my opinion that he is in fact trolling. This is all about conflict and getting people to argue. How long ago did most of us explicitly or implicitly let it be known that we gave up and hippo could have it back? All hippo had to do was quietly put it in with the citation to the college website, but instead it was inflamatory (spelling?) with multiple unneeded citations to which doncram took issue to. I came back to the discussion to support doncram out of loyalty. Even though in one of hippo's edits his edit summary said he didnt mind the multiple citations to be pared down to one (I believe it was in the Loudonville article) when I asked that the citation referring to Loudonville as a town be removed since it was superflous and the technicallity was misleading, esp. to have the quote there in the citation suddenly there was an obstinate refusal to admit that it was not needed. I just find it strange that he can make a comment he doesnt mind that the citations be removed to only one, but when I am the one asking it becomes an issue... The other issue is his continued editing at my talk page regardless of me asking multiple times for him to keep the talk to article talk pages. I have read up on the wikipedia user talk harrassment policies and I have a right to ask that someone refrain from posting on my page and if they continue to bring it to an admins attention at the appropriate forum, and even though it might not have led anywhere if I was going to stay I most certainly would have brought it to that page. But since I am leaving anyways, its not worth it. If you can get doncram and the others (though I must admit it is probably down to only doncram now) to just back off and not say even one word to hippo I believe that some other edit will be made by hippo that will be controversial before too long. If I am wrong and this isnt trolling then good, I apologize in advance to hippo for ever saying it, but one thing my condition is good for is that I read and notice tiny things others dont pick up on, I've come to grips with my condition and know to trust in my instincts. I do believe that hippo brings some personal political/life beliefs into his view on wikipedia guidelines and how they should be applied, its a strict constructionist view of the world, and I just dont believe that viewpoint is a logical one to apply to wikipedia guidelines (or the Constitution for that matter, but I'm a liberal, I believe in the penumbra of the Constitution). I dont expect you to blindly trust me, I just ask you keep your eyes out and look between the lines in the future on this. Since I'm removing my account I'm pretty much free to express myself now and say all this without fear of the politically correct police jumping on me saying I've gone to far and "attacked" someone myself. I do truly hope I am wrong about hippo. I gave him good faith, but received none in return, I was just an annoyance whose opinion and comments were not worth it anyways.Camelbinky (talk) 23:56, 4 April 2009 (UTC)

Well, I have put those templates on my user page. This is my final edit. Remember Fort Orange! and if you find that wikipedia page where they list all the retired users and give a eulogy I'd be honored if you added me to it.

Camelbinky (talk) 00:10, 5 April 2009 (UTC)

Hello

Hello UpstateNYer, I like your userpage, so I added it to the UPDC Hall of fame. I hope you don't mind :) ZooFari 17:34, 5 April 2009 (UTC)

Why thank you, though I just stole the frames template from elsewhere :-) upstateNYer 17:40, 5 April 2009 (UTC)
I doesn't matter :) Yours is unique by the fact it contains FP content in the frame! ZooFari 17:57, 5 April 2009 (UTC)

Open Source Beer Project

It's Rory again, sorry I don't have time to be on long, but would you mind looking at Open Source Beer Project and try and discover how it falls under WP:WikiProject_Computing? I Grave Rob§talkstalk§ 05:43, 7 April 2009 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 121.91.71.186 (talk)

I posed the question here. upstateNYer 09:06, 7 April 2009 (UTC)

Orphaned non-free image (Image:NicholsSchoolBuffaloNY.gif)

⚠

Thanks for uploading Image:NicholsSchoolBuffaloNY.gif. The image description page currently specifies that the image is non-free and may only be used on Wikipedia under a claim of fair use. However, the image is currently orphaned, meaning that it is not used in any articles on Wikipedia. If the image was previously in an article, please go to the article and see why it was removed. You may add it back if you think that that will be useful. However, please note that images for which a replacement could be created are not acceptable for use on Wikipedia (see our policy for non-free media).

If you have uploaded other unlicensed media, please check whether they're used in any articles or not. You can find a list of 'image' pages you have edited by clicking on the "my contributions" link (it is located at the very top of any Wikipedia page when you are logged in), and then selecting "Image" from the dropdown box. Note that any non-free images not used in any articles will be deleted after seven days, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. Thank you. Skier Dude (talk) 00:30, 8 April 2009 (UTC)

Thanks for the heads up. I requested its deletion on the grounds that it has been superseded. upstateNYer 01:18, 8 April 2009 (UTC)

Talkback

Hello, MattWade. You have new messages at Wikipedia talk:Featured picture candidates.
You can remove this notice at any time by removing the {{Talkback}} or {{Tb}} template.

Here's my 2 cents. ZooFari 06:51, 8 April 2009 (UTC)

Thank you for your input. upstateNYer 06:54, 8 April 2009 (UTC)

Please look before blindly reverting

Look carefully at the links before blindly reverting. My edit was correct. The info about the man who died at the London protests is now located at G-20 Meltdown, split off from 2009 G-20 London summit protests. 78.34.134.128 (talk) 07:18, 8 April 2009 (UTC)

You're welcome. 78.34.134.128 (talk) 07:28, 8 April 2009 (UTC)

Sarcasm is my response to yet another established editor whose reflex is to undo an IP edit before looking. About the proper location for the Tomlinson information: I didn't move the info, nor do I have any opinion about it. I was merely looking for the info and entered "Ian Tomlinson". The hatnote there directed me to the wrong article, so I adjusted the hatnote is all. Also, "The name seemed like a joke"? Not sure what you mean. 78.34.134.128 (talk) 08:34, 8 April 2009 (UTC)

Re: GFDL

I looked through the edit history, and found that it was recently expanded from a redirect, so I reverted to the original revision. –Juliancolton | Talk 13:08, 8 April 2009 (UTC)

Happy MattWade's Day!

MattWade has been identified as an Awesome Wikipedian,
so I've officially declared today as MattWade's Day!
For your valuable image work,
enjoy being the star of the day, dear MattWade!

Signed,
Dylan (chat, work, ping, sign)

For a userbox you can put on your userpage, please see User:Dylan620/Today/Happy Me Day!.

What a pleasant surprise to come home to after a stressful day and before another stressful day (I guess you'd call it the eye of the storm). Thanks! upstateNYer 00:28, 7 April 2009 (UTC)

Is it UpstateNYer Day already?! It seems less than a year has gone by since the last UpstateNYer Day when I was opening my UpstateNYer Day presents under the Brittonkill Tree! I sure hope even being retired that I get presents this year from Capitaldistrict Claus. Happy UpstateNYer Day! YAH!Camelbinky (talk) 03:36, 8 April 2009 (UTC)
Literal laugh out loud→LLOL. upstateNYer 04:32, 9 April 2009 (UTC)

Re: Deletions

Done. –Juliancolton | Talk 18:48, 8 April 2009 (UTC)

 Done with the page protection questions. –Juliancolton | Talk 16:03, 9 April 2009 (UTC)

Can you do me a favor and look at the pushpin map on the city of Watervliet article? It looks to me that the dot is actually in Rensselaer County instead of on the Albany County side. I dont know if its just misplaced or just the fact its a small map and those dots are never going to be perfect.Camelbinky (talk) 05:33, 9 April 2009 (UTC)

Looks okay on my monitor. It's roughly on the border, which may be as close as can be gotten. upstateNYer 12:15, 9 April 2009 (UTC)

Japanese river boat

I have it in my to-do list, but I honestly am not looking forward to it much, so I keep procrastinating. Shoemaker's Holiday (talk) 14:01, 9 April 2009 (UTC)

Thanks for creating the article! You are very lucky to have created a future top music/video website article. I'm jeolous :-) ZooFari 04:36, 10 April 2009 (UTC)

I was legitimately excited! I thought, "No way did I just get to create this article and get its DYK!" I was especially surprised since there were news reports from the beginning of March about the site. upstateNYer 04:52, 10 April 2009 (UTC)
To good to be true :) Here is a barnstar for you!


The Content Creativity Barnstar
I, ZooFari, would like to give UpstateNYer the CC barnstar for creating the article Vevo, which hopefully will be 2010's best music video website on the Internet. Keep up the great work! ZooFari 05:08, 10 April 2009 (UTC)
I haven't gotten the DYK yet, but I don't see why I won't. Wouldn't wanna PO the DYK regulars by claiming something I don't yet have ;-) But I appreciate it! upstateNYer 05:11, 10 April 2009 (UTC)
Er, you will definitely get it. You still deserve it. Great job. ZooFari 05:15, 10 April 2009 (UTC)

Talkback

Hello, MattWade. You have new messages at Wikipedia:Graphic Lab/Image workshop.
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Replies have been made at the Image workshop. If the request is solved, please place {{Resolved|1=~~~~}} at the top of the section. Thank you! ZooFari 18:08, 10 April 2009 (UTC)

Hello, MattWade. You have new messages at Wikipedia:Graphic Lab/Image workshop.
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Replies have been made at the Image workshop. If the problem is solved, please place {{Resolved|1=~~~~}} at the top of the section. Thank you! ZooFari 18:45, 10 April 2009 (UTC)

Hello, MattWade. You have new messages at Wikipedia:Graphic Lab/Image workshop.
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Replies have been made at the Image workshop. If the request is solved, please place {{Resolved|1=~~~~}} at the top of the section. Thank you! ZooFari 19:00, 10 April 2009 (UTC)

Hello, MattWade. You have new messages at Wikipedia:Graphic Lab/Image workshop.
You can remove this notice at any time by removing the {{Talkback}} or {{Tb}} template.

Replies have been made at the Image workshop. ZooFari 02:36, 12 April 2009 (UTC)

Don't worry, it's on my watchlist. I check in from time to time. upstateNYer 07:43, 12 April 2009 (UTC)
 Done Added UpstateNYer:Graphic Lab/Image workshop to no TB list
Let me know if you want it back :) ZooFari 15:47, 12 April 2009 (UTC)

Barnstar thanks

Cheers. You seem to be getting around everywhere yourself, almost everywhere I've poked tonight I've seen your edits - talkpages, FPC, VPC, PPR, grahicslab, etc. Must be putting in a lot of time here atm. --jjron (talk) 17:06, 12 April 2009 (UTC)

Spreading my wings a bit, so to speak. Some of the administrative tasks are surprisingly... enjoyable. upstateNYer 18:58, 12 April 2009 (UTC)

Letting you know of my use of one of your pictures

I used your picture with the requested reference as part of my lesson on the Assassination of Abraham Lincoln as I liked the quality of it. It is the one of Ford's Theater.Briglss (talk) 21:05, 12 April 2009 (UTC)

WP:PPR request for the Andrew Carnegie image

I edited it. Care to take a look? Mitchazenia :  Chat  Trained for the pen 21:43, 12 April 2009 (UTC)

 Done upstateNYer 22:25, 12 April 2009 (UTC)

Hi again; a while ago I tried to get more involved in other sections of the project so I followed the procedure to gain access to the account creator interface with a login on there of § then made an edit as instructed on my talk page indicating that it really was me. Expectantly I watched over the next several days waiting for someone to approve me for it. Eventually I forgot about it but yesterday when I tried logging into it I couldn't and I couldn't recover the possible password for it (Attempted to use both I Grave Rob and § as the login to use, then tried to recover both of those names but they didn't exist as a user on the system there). If I try to sign up again it won't let me as it says both my email and me as a user already have an account on there. How should I got about solving this as I still would like to get involved there but it seems to be seriously neglected on the whole... I Grave Rob§talkstalk§ 06:20, 13 April 2009 (UTC)

What you checked for is for the Account Creator permission (Like rollback permissions it can be granted by any sysop after request) which removes the six a day throttle on creating accounts and allows names to be created that are similar (to inactive users). I can't even access the tool at all as that needs to be allowed by the Account creator interface admins. I Grave Rob§talkstalk§ 13:26, 13 April 2009 (UTC)

Found the weirdest thing

Surfing around (because I still love to learn new things about the CD) I found this http://www.albanyhilltowns.com/mediawiki/index.php?title=Main_Page Look familiar? It is edited and works exactly the same way as wikipedia. I never knew about mediawiki software, but I may just look into it and see how you buy it or whatever and create a Capital District specific wikipedia like they've done for the Albany County Hilltowns. I assume the copyright status of anything on that site would be the same as anything on wikipedia and therefore could be copy-pasted directly from its edit page to a wikipedia edit page. If that is the case it would be great boon for some CD articles since that hilltown page already uses the same edit notations.Camelbinky (talk) 00:38, 10 April 2009 (UTC)

Some of that is really detailed. It's annoying, I wish these people would centralize their efforts to Wikipedia. I looked quickly for copyright information but didn't find any. I'll look more closely later. If the copyright is GFDL or PD, that info can be copy+pasted right to WP. upstateNYer 00:51, 10 April 2009 (UTC)

I think it was started by a town historian or something, they probably decided to have their own website so they wouldnt have to worry about wikipedia rules on consensus and reliable sources and other people coming in with their own opinions and "ruining" their hard work. Not that I would know how that feels. ;-) The only problem I see with copy/pasting from there is that obviously we cant use another wiki-site as a reference and it doesnt seem like they've been as stringent on citations as some wikipedians prefer, but for articles like the hilltowns I'm sure there isnt alot of traffic and no one would mind. If you get ambitious, or know of an editor you can pass it on to, I've found another website on the hilltowns this one being more formal and covering not just the hilltowns of Albany County but also of Schoharie County and I think maybe Rensselaer County and Columbia and Greene as well (not sure, didnt look closely at it, I was concentrating too much on the wiki-hilltowns site at the time).

The Cities Wikiproject does (or did, I'm not too sure if its all that active right now) a "collaboration of the month", where an article each month would be selected and all members encouraged to do what they could/felt like at that article to make it better throughout the month, I was wondering if you perhaps wanted to add something like that to the CD project page, if even just two or three people followed along and did it that would be alot of good and maybe someone would get invested and stay at a needed article even longer than that month. I've been considering getting back into editing as I've come across alot of content, and if I do I may ask you if I can create within the w-project a "Municipality Taskforce" that can first settle some of these ongoing issues and then apply consensus to the articles and clean them up, I'd like to see all the hamlets have a common format and language, all the villages a common format, towns a common format, that way each type is distinct from each other and recognizable. BTW- dont let hippo get you upset, I see you got a lil hot under the collar about hamlet/neighborhood, I'd hate to see you turn your back on wikipedia too.Camelbinky (talk) 21:10, 10 April 2009 (UTC)

I may go back to editing using Camelbinky soon, thanks to some kind words added by Doncram in his recent edit to the Siena College talk page (edit done on April 13, but placed in a weird place). I realize I do have friends here who accept my bad quirks along with the good work I do and the good intentions I have. I would like to thank you again for always having my back (even when I didnt deserve it) and helping me everytime I had a question. My next project is to get every single hamlet in Albany County an article starting with those in the town of Colonie, with West Albany, New York being first since having the West Albany Yard makes it notable (though I would like a ruling on whether every hamlet, notable or not, can have a page just like every village, town, city is allowed to).Camelbinky (talk) 07:29, 13 April 2009 (UTC)

Glad to have you back. I would assume a hamlet is notable by definition, though I wouldn't make the effort unless you have something to write about. upstateNYer 04:38, 15 April 2009 (UTC)

If you find time could you see about taking a photo of the Quackenbush House (Nicole's Bistro) from roughly the same angle and location to the 1890 photo on the article page? At least as best as you can, Broadway has been widened in the past 120 years and I definitely dont want you to be standing in the middle of the road as I believe you would have to do if you were in the exact same spot! I think it would be interesting to use as a "before and after" set-up not just for that article but also maybe for Interstate 787, Albany, New York, and History of Albany, New York that could show an effect of the many projects that occured in Albany (mostly during Governor Rockefeller's administration). Thank you and hope it doesnt take too much time from your other projects.Camelbinky (talk) 22:55, 13 April 2009 (UTC)

Yea, I can do that. No promise when. upstateNYer 23:00, 13 April 2009 (UTC)

Thank you.Camelbinky (talk) 23:03, 13 April 2009 (UTC)

Advice

Hello UpstateNYer. You are very good at promoting files. However when you note that the file has been promoted you say 'image' instead of 'file'. Can you please make sure that this says file the next time you promote a file? Valerian456 Hush, Rush 16:13, 14 April 2009 (UTC)

I'm sorry, I'm not quite sure what you mean..? Are you talking about my edit summaries when promoting an FPC? upstateNYer 16:20, 14 April 2009 (UTC)
No. It's what actually shows up when promoting an FPC. Valerian456 Hush, Rush 16:22, 14 April 2009 (UTC)
Sorry, just lurking :-). Consider this for example: the file on the image page is called File:Eclairage.jpg but you've promoted it as Promoted Image:Eclairage.jpg, i.e., you've used Image instead of File. Yes, the FPC instructions say to use Promoted Image:FILENAME.JPG but they were written prior to naming on Commons changing to use the more general 'File:' prefix instead of the older 'Image:' prefix (I don't spend enough time around here, or especially on Commons, to know why it was changed). MER-C for example is now almost exclusively promoting as File:, but that's probably due to how he enters it in his wizard.
I guess no one bothered to change the FPC instructions because those of us most likely to do so already knew what to do anyway! I also note that a lot of users - perhaps all? - are still using the Image: prefix in their noms even though the images are now called File:. This is due to the FPC nomination template itself and the way it substitutes. Perhaps we should change it and the closing guidelines now that pretty much everything is called File:.
FWIW you (both) may also like to have a look at this question I posed in January, without success in finding an answer! User_talk:Brian0918#FPC_Result_Template and User_talk:Jjron#FPC_Result_template. Incidentally I did make this tweak to the nominating in Jan, but didn't change the actual substitution procedure itself; could be time now? BTW, don't think I ever tweaked anything on VP/VPC. --jjron (talk) 17:17, 14 April 2009 (UTC)
Thanks for clearing that up. I was kind of clueless as to what was previously meant. I only follow the instructions exactly because I assumed the template required the string "Image:" and would reject "File:", though to be honest, I never tried otherwise. I'll keep that in mind for future closings. If it doesn't affect anything, I say we just change it in the instructions and closing procedure. I'll take a look over at VPC when classes are done for the day. Thanks for that help Jjron and I appreciate your input Valerian. upstateNYer 17:36, 14 April 2009 (UTC)
No worries. BTW I just left a message at MER-C's talkpage that sort of indirectly mentions you; don't want you to think I'm talking about you behind your back. :-) --jjron (talk) 17:45, 14 April 2009 (UTC)
Changes made look pretty good to me; I had only left them because there seems to still be a few 'Image:'s coming through, but that's becoming pretty rare now and I think most people dealing with closing, etc, should be able to work it out if that happens. Wonder if we should also change the substitutions so they load using the 'File:' format in FPC/VPC noms? Again had left that due to the mixture of names - but 'File:'s obviously load if you call them 'Image:', suppose it works the other way round as well. --jjron (talk) 09:35, 15 April 2009 (UTC)
BTW, well done on adding this to the VPC archives - that was a bugbear missing that. --jjron (talk) 09:42, 15 April 2009 (UTC)

Image deletion

I'm not sure if you have noticed, but File:USNationalArchives-edit1.jpg is under eligibility for deletion. It is the corrected version made at the Graphics Lab. ZooFari 23:11, 14 April 2009 (UTC)

I uploaded it over the original (notice in the history, I called for the speedy delete). For some reason when I do that, the original shows on the image page for a while. It's annoying. But yes, everything is fine. Thanks for keeping an eye on things. ;-) upstateNYer 23:30, 14 April 2009 (UTC)
Ah. The image usually requires purging, which is quite a nuisance for my images as well. Cheers, ZooFari 23:36, 14 April 2009 (UTC)
I must have purged more than 15 times, both here and at Commons. I've purged and reloaded at Commons, then purged and reloaded here and nothing works. But if you look at the most recent version uploaded at the bottom, it's the correct version. Freakin' weird. upstateNYer 23:38, 14 April 2009 (UTC)
ERRR. I know how it feels. You reminded me of an image on my user page (Sisymbrium irio) that was updated a LOOOONG time ago, and it barely was updated on my user page this week. Like you, I purged thousands of times here and there and it took this long to get updated. Sometimes I get puzzled and think that I uploaded the same original file again and causes me to upload multiple times. ZooFari 00:36, 15 April 2009 (UTC)

Graphics lab

I updated the image. How is it? -- penubag  (talk) 22:25, 15 April 2009 (UTC)

DYK for Vevo

Updated DYK query On April 16, 2009, Did you know? was updated with a fact from the article Vevo, which you created or substantially expanded. If you know of another interesting fact from a recently created article, then please suggest it on the Did you know? talk page.

Victuallers (talk) 16:21, 16 April 2009 (UTC)

Thank you much! upstateNYer 19:58, 16 April 2009 (UTC)
Ha! I knew the DYK regulars would not let Vevo pass on without a DYK! So, do you want me to update your barnstar? :-) ZooFari 23:55, 16 April 2009 (UTC)
It's all you! upstateNYer 00:08, 17 April 2009 (UTC)

New York's 20th congressional district special election

Hi there, I saw you were the last to update the article on the election and I noticed the numbers have changed with Murphy leading by 178 votes as of tonight. Do you know how to input a new source page for the new tally or could you update it as you did before? The link is here: http://www.politico.com/blogs/scorecard/0409/Murphy_expands_lead_to_178_legal_battle_beginning.html#comments 12.203.0.250 (talk) 01:56, 17 April 2009 (UTC)

H

Hiyo UpstateNYer :D, its been a while. I registered a domain name recently, Rozza.me, and almost immediately regretted my decision. GoDaddy has a no refund policy so I perked up and thought about selling it :D. A valuation of it told me it was worth $300 USD but to be honest I only want $50 so I get a bit of profit and can expand into other areas of speculative purchasing of domain names to make a profit. Anyway I might not be on for a bit while I work through GoDaddys many convuluted T&C so I can force them to let me transfer it away from them >_> They as a company don't seem to like making it easy for a person to do anything without incurring hidden charges and costs; unlike most people I actually read them and am not trapped into paying fees. I Grave Rob§talkstalk§ 06:26, 17 April 2009 (UTC)

Strange, I definitely clicked new section >_> I Grave Rob§talkstalk§ 06:36, 17 April 2009 (UTC)
I bought a domain name from them a few years ago too and was annoyed to find that I then had to pay additionally for hosting space. The especially annoyed me because it was a .org for a local food shelter whose website I was in charge of. And I was paying for it as a charitable donation. Grrrrr. I know exactly what you mean. upstateNYer 11:23, 17 April 2009 (UTC)

Handel

I'll probably try it again in a bit: Easter week was a particularly slow week for FPC. Shoemaker's Holiday (talk) 18:00, 17 April 2009 (UTC)

Goings-on

Hi, UpstateNYer; when you add Featured pictures at WP:GO, can you please put them in date order, top to bottom, as done in the other sections?[2] That will make weekly archiving easier. SandyGeorgia (Talk) 18:24, 17 April 2009 (UTC)

Don't blame me. It looks like there is a disagreement here; this edit was definitely done for a reason. Let me know the outcome so I know what to do in the future. upstateNYer 18:48, 17 April 2009 (UTC)
That was incorrect; I changed it. (Since no one involved with any process other than FAs has ever taken one second to archive and update the WP:GO page, it would be helpful if those other processes follow the established norms.) SandyGeorgia (Talk) 18:51, 17 April 2009 (UTC)
Agreed. Sorry for the misunderstanding. upstateNYer 18:57, 17 April 2009 (UTC)

Hope you get a chance to check out the changes I've made to the article. If you have any pointers, see things wrong, questions, comments, pictures to add, I'd love for the feedback and hopefully you can add things to the article I didnt think of. With your help when you can and if I focus most of my attention on this article I think we can make this a GA article in about a month or two, just fill me in on a list of things that you think it needs and I'll get going on it. I'd really like the flagship article for the project to at least be a GA, it always bothered me in the ports wikiproject that the ports article was clearly not as good as many of the individual port articles. I've been working on NRHP articles in the CD with Doncram and its been giving me lots of good info for the CD article.Camelbinky (talk) 02:27, 20 April 2009 (UTC)

Closing seems to be a bit broken. The nomination itself mentions the wrong file, I got the wrong message, and the commons tag is on the wrong thing, but it seems right in other places. Noodle snacks (talk) 09:35, 22 April 2009 (UTC)

I'm used to copy+pasting from the first line; that was my first closing where the edit won over the original and I was apparently a bit lazy. As for the Commons tag, I think that was DustyBot misinterpreting my mistake and running with it. Sorry, it was late at night; all better now though! upstateNYer 15:26, 22 April 2009 (UTC)

Pearly penile etc

Hoi, what are you thinking removing a picture from a featured picture candidate? This is clearly absurd. GerardM (talk) 07:54, 21 April 2009 (UTC)

I think it's reasonable to say that FPC should be safe for work. upstateNYer 14:52, 21 April 2009 (UTC)
If this is your opinion, you should vote against it. Removing the picture is ridiculous. GerardM (talk) 22:39, 21 April 2009 (UTC)
Personally, I disagree. But this is a wiki. Change it if you want. upstateNYer 05:46, 22 April 2009 (UTC)
I'm with UpstateNYer, FPC should be safe for work and family -- Alvesgaspar (talk) 19:06, 23 April 2009 (UTC)
Pardon, but you call UpstateNYer's proper and faithful consideration rediculous? Perhaps you aren't aware of the FPC talkpage. It isn't one's decision, and I'm really against your phrase. For the time being, it was right to have the image linked. Take discussion a consideration if you are disagree. ZooFari 03:34, 24 April 2009 (UTC)
It is ridiculous because this about getting a picture featured. Featured means being on the main page of the English Wikipedia. If we cannot have the picture on the featured picture request, it is quite clear that this picture will not feature.
As far as I am concerned, the removal of the picture was nowhere obviously discussed beforehand and the notion that this is "screaming" is incorrect. I expect discussion to be on the subjects talk page. That one is empty. The discussion I think ZooFari refers to on the FPC is after my reply. Thanks, GerardM (talk) 06:46, 24 April 2009 (UTC)
Not all FPs make it to the main page, just as not all FAs make it to the main page. The point of featured content is not solely to end up on the main page. Again, if you were so upset, you could have changed it; this is a wiki. upstateNYer 11:08, 24 April 2009 (UTC)
I doubt the image would ever go on the main page, even if consensus was to promote. If someone wants to research this whole penis thing, then they would search it. However, the Today's Featured Picture regulars probably won't consider it, as the main page should be kept family friendly. So there really is no exception to linking the image, but again, as UpstateNYer mentioned, this is a Wiki. ZooFari 13:42, 24 April 2009 (UTC)

Fountain of Time

Did you ever copy the Fountain of Time images to commons?--TonyTheTiger (t/c/bio/WP:CHICAGO/WP:LOTM) 14:46, 23 April 2009 (UTC)

Completely forgot. Though my current preference is to move images with the {{movetocommons}} tag that are used in at least two articles here. More of a chance of use on other projects. Moving images really isn't that bad; why don't you try CommonsHelper? upstateNYer 14:49, 23 April 2009 (UTC)

Re: WP:NYCD

Thanks, I'll look into that. –Juliancolton | Talk 13:50, 24 April 2009 (UTC)

List of 81st Academy Awards In Memoriam tribute honorees

As someone with at least ten edits of 81st Academy Awards, you might want to comment at Wikipedia:Featured list candidates/List of 81st Academy Awards In Memoriam tribute honorees/archive1.--TonyTheTiger (t/c/bio/WP:CHICAGO/WP:LOTM) 14:26, 24 April 2009 (UTC)

Thanks!

That's my first award on wikipedia ever! Thank you!Camelbinky (talk) 23:31, 22 April 2009 (UTC)

I'm actually coming back to the CD during the summer, I'll be staying in Colonie (oddly enough about 2 miles from Siena College!) and will be going to Saratoga Springs to visit family so I hope to help out on getting some photos if you want to add requests for places up in Saratoga Springs or along the way (I dont mind taking the back roads of US 9 US 4 NY 32 NY 50 or NY 40 if there are places along those routes).Camelbinky (talk) 03:23, 24 April 2009 (UTC)
Good to know; will keep that in mind. upstateNYer 03:24, 24 April 2009 (UTC)

Do you know of any good sites for general info on the school districts of the CD so I can incorporate a section on Education in the CD article? Maybe info like- how many districts there are, how many are city versus central (and union free, etc), the largest by student population (I know its either Shenendahowa or Schenectady, I want to say Schenectady is and that Shen is the largest suburban school), BOCES and VOTEC info, and I see there's info on Tech Valley High already in the article. And of course any info that you think should be in there too.Camelbinky (talk) 22:46, 24 April 2009 (UTC)

I saw that you were listed in the Coaches for reconfirmation section of the admin coaching status page. Could you please update your status, and if you are still interested, drop me a note on my talk page? Thanks, Genius101Guestbook 22:17, 25 April 2009 (UTC) This message was delivered semi-automatically by AutoWikiBrowser.

Talkback

Hello, MattWade. You have new messages at Genius101's talk page.
You can remove this notice at any time by removing the {{Talkback}} or {{Tb}} template.

Genius101Guestbook 22:27, 25 April 2009 (UTC)

That article was recently made (about a month ago), has lots of info, but not properly cited, not wikified, and its an orphan. I stumbled across it when someone tried to put in a link to it from the Albany, New York page but in a place that wasnt the best location for mentioning the creation of the police force. I dont know if we should spend time putting the effort into putting wikiproject templates on it, categorizing it, wikifying it, and linking to it from other articles and generally just cleaning it up or just put it up for AfD. I havent found any similarly sized cities with articles on their police forces, the closest thing I've found is that there is an article for Buffalo's fired department (but not their police department strangely enough). What do you think?Camelbinky (talk) 04:16, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

It's actually a copy-vio. I db'ed it. upstateNYer 04:29, 28 April 2009 (UTC)
Thank you, sir.Camelbinky (talk) 05:06, 28 April 2009 (UTC)

File:NY20thDistrict2009PollChart.svg

I made a bitmap outline at File:NY20thDistrict2009PollChart.svg. What do you think? Please reply on my talk page. --Goldblattster (talk) 17:44, 30 April 2009 (UTC)

I cannot do it. I was working on the text. When I was done with the text and I uploaded it onto Wikipedia, it looked corrupted or something. Go check it out yourself. --Goldblattster (talk) 21:58, 30 April 2009 (UTC)
Oh I know why it happened. Oh well I can't do this, assuming I *do* know what is going on. Sorry! --Goldblattster (talk) 22:00, 30 April 2009 (UTC)
If you still have the original bitmap, I would be glad to fix your SVG. ZooFari 22:25, 30 April 2009 (UTC)

Vectored 2009 thingy

I mada a response above, and didn't know it was in the GL. Here is a clean file I vectorized:

File:2009 NY 20th District Congressional Race Polls.svg

Let me know if this works for you. By the way, the markers (bullets) in the colored lines were left black. I don't know how to change them in Inkscape. ZooFari 02:50, 1 May 2009 (UTC)

Looks good. Thank you, sir. upstateNYer 02:56, 1 May 2009 (UTC)
De nada! :-) ZooFari 02:58, 1 May 2009 (UTC)

Photo montage

Do you think you could pick out some photos and create a photo montage for the geobox on the Capital District article (and it might even be useful for the wikiproject page as well). I was thinking something similar to the one in the infobox on New York City. That one I think has five photos. There's plenty to choose from- the Empire State Plaza, Proctor's in Schenectady, a photo of the Saratoga Race Course during a race (there arent any good ones currently, will have to request), the Pepsi Arena, the Troy panorama photo, the TROY "sign" in Prospect Park, EMPAC (one of my fav photos), SUNY Albany, the GE sign as seen from Erie Blvd in Schenectady; ooooh, now that I think about it I like the GE sign better than putting the some of the others in, I definitely need to request a photo for it, since the Pepsi Arena already has its photo in the article maybe putting something else in would be better kinda keep from giving people the same photos over again. But you know what photos are out there and what ones you can get, so if you feel like doing it I know itll be good.Camelbinky (talk) 02:57, 30 April 2009 (UTC)

Yea, good idea. Will take some time because I'll have to take the photos and it's still only early spring. upstateNYer 19:57, 30 April 2009 (UTC)
The photo montage at the bottom of this webpage might give you some ideas for places to put in the montage when you get time to work on it. Clockwise from top left the pictures are of- children (ok, not a great example); Albany as seen from Rensselaer (probably somewhere north of Third); what I think is the Jay Street Pedestrian Walk in downtown Schenectady between State St and the City Hall; tulips with the King Fountain/Moses in background; restaurant in downtown Saratoga Springs; some stream somewhere; in the middle are the Nott Memorial and a horse at Saratoga. It obviously kinda leaves Troy and Rensselaer County out unless the children and stream are both photos taken there, but still. http://www.cdrpc.org/ Camelbinky (talk) 21:02, 1 May 2009 (UTC)
Don't worry, I'll get something. It will all work out. upstateNYer 21:05, 1 May 2009 (UTC)
Although on that note, do you know where the this was taken? I'm trying to figure it out, but I'm not having much luck. upstateNYer 21:07, 1 May 2009 (UTC)
My first guess is from the pedestrian bridge that is alongside the Dunn Memorial, to get onto the ped bridge (or whatever its called) the easiest entrance is on the Rensselaer side, Riverside Park, next to the offramp that ends across Broadway from the Dunkin' Donuts, taking that ped bridge up should get you as high and at the right angle for that shot, I just cant imagine anything being that high up for that shot, other than taking the photo from a car on the ramp that curves from Columbia Turnpike. MAYBE it was taken from the Rensselaer Amtrak Station... but it seems closer than that.Camelbinky (talk) 00:06, 2 May 2009 (UTC)

Statue identification

Burns Monument or King Fountain, also known as "Moses Smiting the Rock"; on the wikiproject talk page I mistakenly called it the Burns Statue, I believe the Burns Statue is actually a statue of Mr. Burns, whereas the monument is a statue by J. Massey Rhind (sculptor) dedicated by Henry L. King. http://books.google.com/books?id=g-oCAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA1-PA1&dq=burns+statue+albany&lr=&as_brr=1#PPA16,M1 page 16 for the monument, page 30 for the statue. I would label it the King Fountain per http://books.google.com/books?id=XNU0AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA770&dq=cuyler+reynolds&lr=&as_brr=1#PPA727,M1 page 727 and I think that tends to be the most common technical term, though most individuals would probably just say "that statue with the guy with the staff"Camelbinky (talk) 00:03, 1 May 2009 (UTC) Love the photo by the way!

It was a little too cloudy today. Hopefully I can replace it this weekend when it's sunnier. upstateNYer 00:08, 1 May 2009 (UTC)
If you think that would be better. I think it kinda adds to the whole Moses smiting the rock, God getting angry story from the Bible having it cloudy and such. I dont know how it will look but an angle where you can see Moses more clearly might be better, but then the flowers might not look as good if you move to that kind of angle. Next time you're there, you might want to get a picture of the bust of Henry Lincoln Johnson, go south from the King Fountain (I think that's probably the best way to refer to it) about 75 yards to Henry Johnson Blvd, the bust should be in the little traffic island formed from where Henry Johnson Blvd splits and HJB continues goes south to meet Willet St. and Madison Avenue and the other park road (Albany Plan of Union? cant recall name right now) goes north to go past the King Fountain.Camelbinky (talk) 00:22, 1 May 2009 (UTC)
I went ahead and added it to the Moses article, as a thumb it was the perfect size to go with the paragraph that concerns Moses smiting the rock. I dont know if it will stay or someone will want to remove it, but the other photos in the article are all of works of art depicting events in Moses' life so I dont see how its any different. But some may object that its not a well-enough known work, or its from behind, or whatever, but maybe it will stay there. Just thought I'd give you the heads-up that its in an article for when you replace it with a better photo.Camelbinky (talk) 00:51, 1 May 2009 (UTC)

Wow! That does look like it belongs in the Moses article! Thanks! I personally like the one with the tulips though as far as a photo representing Albany goes, seeing as how tulips have more to do with our heritage, history, culture, and festivals. Great photo!Camelbinky (talk) 21:24, 1 May 2009 (UTC)

I'm going back tomorrow. I'll try to get a better front shot with the tulips. Plus it's supposed to be sunny. I'll probably upload over this image so nobody will have to worry about updating articles. upstateNYer 21:25, 1 May 2009 (UTC)

re:

Thanks. I tried it with columns before and it screwed up, but I think I have an idea of how to get it working now. :) — neuro(talk) 13:29, 29 April 2009 (UTC)

Since you're using it as well, I'll prioritise this a little more and hopefully get on it tomorrow, and add some more stuff. :) — neuro(talk) 02:49, 4 May 2009 (UTC)
I thought it would be fun to beat you to it. upstateNYer 02:52, 4 May 2009 (UTC)

Thanks!

Thanks for the "nice job!", I just studied your edits and practiced with just "preview" until I got it looking like yours. Thats generally how I've learned on wikipedia, I just look at the edits that create things I want to do and mess around until it looks like theirs but with the info I want. I never knew about those color boxes until you just put them in the CD article, I just now tweaked the color for Amsterdam from pink to magenta, and for Hudson from green to light green, Hudson seems still a little off but I think its ok. I had about probably at least 85% of the school districts in the entire 11 counties in a table for a List of school districts in New York's Capital District but when I went to preview I found out I wasnt logged in and so lost all the information! I am PISSED! I dont know if I want to go back and do it again. I based it on the table of school districts in Rensselaer County, New York, but with an extra column for the towns and cities that the district covered. I like all the edits you did, love the new EMPAC building photo.Camelbinky (talk) 23:56, 1 May 2009 (UTC)

That's how I learn too. In fact, I copy source codes from other places instead of rewriting them. I don't know if you still have the same window opened, but you can always click "back" to retrieve the information. A nice job to UpstateNYer from me as well. ZooFari 00:49, 2 May 2009 (UTC)
You may want to just include the districts from Capital Region BOCES and Questar from List of school districts in New York. The list seems complete and those two BOCES seem to cover the whole area. Actually I don't think they cover Saratoga. But at least you'd have most of the start. upstateNYer 03:07, 2 May 2009 (UTC)

I didnt realize that article existed, that is a good idea. I havent checked that article out yet but I assume from the name that they probably have the Saratoga County names in it too, they have a BOCES (or Votec or Questar, whatever they call it) in Saratoga Springs so hopefully the schools in that organization are included as well and are most of the rest of the region.

BOCES is a collection of school districts (similar to, say, a congressional district being made up of towns) and is location based. All BOCES are known as BOCES except Questar (though Questar's official name is Rensselaer-Columbia-Greene BOCES), which felt the term came with too many negative connotations. Votec is a service typically offered by BOCES. BOCES are strictly location based, so you could make a map of the BOCES in the state based on school district boundaries. But no school districts overflow into more than one BOCES. Now you know have the Cliff-notes! upstateNYer 17:02, 2 May 2009 (UTC)

Oh, that explains alot! I just looked at the list article for the entire state and your explanation makes me understand their format alot more. It looks like the four BOCES they have under their "Capital District Region" heading covers over 90% of the expanded most wide-reaching 11 county Capital District definition along with Hamilton and Essex counties; Ill just have to double check and make sure I eliminate any districts in Ham and Essex and then it looks like there are some school districts in Fulton, Greene, and Schoharie counties that are part of BOCES listed in other regions and I'll just have to add those in too. The CDRPC website has a good map of all the school districts in the 4 core CD counties laid over a map of all the cities/towns/villages, unfortunately I dont know of a way we can use it since its not public domain.Camelbinky (talk) 17:26, 2 May 2009 (UTC)

I know exactly the maps you're talking about because I wanted to use them on school district articles, but figured they'd end up deleted. :-( upstateNYer 20:54, 2 May 2009 (UTC)
Would like to invite you to join Wikipedia:WikiProject Common Sense!Camelbinky (talk) 00:43, 3 May 2009 (UTC)
That newest panorama on the CD article page, was that from US 4 north of Exit 9? I like it, even though I'm more of a city person than someone who likes countryside, but it definitely gives a good contrast of just what the CD is made up of the two things the CD is made of, cities surrounded by beautiful countryside. Were you able to check out if I was right about where that one photo was taken? I would be surprised if it wasnt taken from the Dunn Memorial access ramp or the ped bridge alongside it.Camelbinky (talk) 21:29, 3 May 2009 (UTC)
Yea, that was taken from what used to be Bennigan's parking lot (now it's called The Sports Grille or something like that). Most of my photos have coordinates listed below the description, which will tell you where they were taken from (just click on the coords and it will let you choose between satellite services to see the location). I didn't notice a ped ramp from Rensselaer to Albany, though I didn't look that thoroughly. I'll check back in the future when I have more time. upstateNYer 23:19, 3 May 2009 (UTC)

It's definitely there, I've walked across it (and boy is it a long hike!). Here are the coord as given on the NYS GIS Clearinghouse website Long: -73.7449/Lat: 42.6410 I was wrong about it being across from the Dunkin Donuts (oops), its about a block south on Broadway about a block north of 3rd Ave, it will be on your left (if travelling north from Columbia Turnpike) almost immediately after you cross Mill Creek. Should be visible on wikimapia.Camelbinky (talk) 06:42, 4 May 2009 (UTC)

Re: Deletion deadline coming up

Sure. –Juliancolton | Talk 13:30, 4 May 2009 (UTC)

File:NYSED.jpg

It is listed as having been taken from State Street and that has been carried over on the caption for tje photo on the sandbox for a future article on the building, can you double check that it was? Washington Ave (Route 5 though unlabelled as such) is the road that separates the Education Building from the Capitol and seems like where it was taken from (specifically it looks like you may have been standing alongside the Capitol building itself), State St (often referred to as Upper State Street unofficially) is on the opposite side of the Capitol and at Eagle St jogs north a bit to continue down as the State Street most people think of.Camelbinky (talk) 21:58, 4 May 2009 (UTC)

You are correct. Good catch. upstateNYer 22:09, 4 May 2009 (UTC)

New message

Hello, MattWade. You have new messages at Schzmo's talk page.
Message added 03:20, 5 May 2009 (UTC) by JBC3. You can remove this notice at any time by removing the {{Talkback}} or {{Tb}} template.

Ready when you are

Wikipedia:Requests for adminship/UpstateNYer 2Juliancolton | Talk 16:25, 5 May 2009 (UTC)

Up and running; thank you for the nom, JC. upstateNYer 17:05, 5 May 2009 (UTC)
Great—good luck! –Juliancolton | Talk 17:14, 5 May 2009 (UTC)

use of some of your images for my web site

Hi there, I am an attorney, and I would like to use several of your courthouse pictures for my site. They are really great shots. In any event, I will post the credit line as you've requested. The new site is not up yet, but it's Bailylaw.com. Should be launched in a week or so. Thanks - and let me know If there is anything else I need to do.


Aaron Baily, Esq. 68.198.153.118 (talk) 02:33, 6 May 2009 (UTC) Larchmont, NY

Yea no problem. Just be sure to read this and you'll be fine. Thanks for the notification. upstateNYer 02:42, 6 May 2009 (UTC)

Barnstar for Yx7791

Hi UpstateNYer, thanks very much for the barnstar and reviewing my articles. Much appreciated! More to come on the demolished Mohawk Mall and Saratoga Mall...once I get some more time.Yx7791 (talk) 03:02, 6 May 2009 (UTC)

Blacklisted website?

I've never had this happen before, but apparently Business Images of New York’s Tech Valley official website is blacklisted? It is published by the Tech Valley Chamber Coalition, its the online version of their annual publication and has updates throughout the year...I'd put the html here for you to check it, but since it is blacklisted by wikipedia...I cant! Hopefully this goes through...imagesnytechvalley.com/ Do you know why or what the reason would be?

Not too sure. Maybe the help desk could help you... upstateNYer 04:22, 6 May 2009 (UTC)

Images at United States

Hi UpstateNYer – those are my two least favorite images on the page as well! As far as the church image, yeah I'm a little confused as to what denomination(s) would be acceptable. Granted, Presbyterians are not incredibly numerous in this country... but I'm not sure if he was implying it has to be Southern Baptist specifically, or if something like United Methodist would work since they're at least near 10 million members. Good point about Catholicism, that just confuses the issue more... is Protestants > Catholics more important here, or is Catholics > Southern Baptists? Also... even if it has to be Protestant because of there being more Protestants than Catholics, I think it should be a mainline church rather than an evangelical one like the Southern Baptists. Because even if there are more evangelical Protestants than non-evangelical Protestants these days, there are still more non-evangelical Christians (including Catholics) than evangelical Christians. And the caption says "Most Americans identify as Christian", right?

The strip mall image... I must say I am not a big fan of having a strip mall represent U.S. "Food". Wouldn't an image of a corn field or wheat field be more appropriate? Or a farm in general? It just seems like a bizarre choice to me... I don't know about you, but I've eaten maybe... one... two?... meals at a strip mall in the past year or so. Even Americans who "eat out" every meal probably don't do it at a strip mall. Maybe a free-standing drive-through (but I don't think that'd be a good idea for an image either!)

We should probably get together with the regulars and talk about those two images in the near future... so we can get a clear idea of what they can be replaced with. I agree that they could definitely use replacing. Ben Lunsford (talk) 20:32, 7 May 2009 (UTC)

Yea good point on the strip mall. Why use it in the first place? upstateNYer 20:54, 7 May 2009 (UTC)

Grant FPC

I realise this, but the thing has gotten to such a point that one of the stupidest statements I've seen in my life appears in that FPC - that we shouldn't include our only colour image, and only image depicting Grant's early military career, in our article on Grant. I mean, that's just jaw-droppingly stupid. Shoemaker's Holiday (talk) 21:51, 7 May 2009 (UTC)

Fair enough; just making the point. upstateNYer 21:54, 7 May 2009 (UTC)
I know, and it's well-meant, just I'm already rather frustrated at FPC, and this isn't helping. Shoemaker's Holiday (talk) 22:35, 7 May 2009 (UTC)

Color on the scrolling boxes

Is it ok if we use a slightly different color on the scrolling boxes? Having the boxes stand out a bit from the rest makes more sense to me, I dont know how you feel though it seems like you may be in favor of having it blend in with the rest. That's why I used the lightyellow color though that choice was probably not the best. I just think if it is a bit lighter than the gold color of the rest of the boxes it would stand out more as being a separate scrolling box instead of having an outlined box. If you dont agree I defer to your position.Camelbinky (talk) 03:36, 7 May 2009 (UTC)

I don't want it to be too different. But I see your point. how's that? upstateNYer 03:41, 7 May 2009 (UTC)
I'll see if I can find a color that isnt too bad, then make a small box on your talk page to examine and see if you like. If you dont like any we can leave it the way it is. BTW just voted on your admin nomination. You sure do have lots of votes for support!Camelbinky (talk) 03:49, 7 May 2009 (UTC)
You can make the edits on the page. Otherwise it will be hard to compare. Let me know when you find a color you like and I'll take a look. And thanks for the !vote of confidence. I very much appreciate it. upstateNYer 03:55, 7 May 2009 (UTC)
Your welcome. Oh, and you might be interested in this little tidbit I found on researching the beginnings of the Tech Valley slogan. Apparently it was originally "Techneurial Valley" with Tech Valley being the diminutive at least according to this article from shortly after the name was unveiled. http://archives.timesunion.com/mweb/wmsql.wm.request?oneimage&imageid=5912929 and
WTF does that mean? Techneurial? Glad they didn't boast that and stuck with the simpler version. upstateNYer 04:06, 7 May 2009 (UTC)
I think you might be agreeable to the current color, its just slightly lighter than the rest of the box. As for the Techneurial I totally agree with you! When I first read it I assumed it must be the combination of "technology" and "entrepreneurial" sort of like encouraging technology oriented entrepreneurs to the area...Camelbinky (talk) 04:20, 7 May 2009 (UTC)
Not once did I think of those two words, but now that you say it, you're most likely right. Still stupid. Colors look great; if you're happy, so am I. Then again, there's no reason we have to stay with the yellow motif. That was arbitrary on my part. I went with green for WP:NYHV b/c, well, I thought of forests and mountains. Not sure why I went with yellow here. We could always change to red or blue or something. As long as we keep the color palette pleasing to the eye. Looks like Doncram is pleased too. upstateNYer 04:25, 7 May 2009 (UTC)
I fixed the coords for Schenectady City Hall, double checked after posting them and yup they come up right. If you've never seen photos of their city hall, in my opinion it is architecturally the best looking city hall in the entire area. Though I'm looking forward in a couple years seeing a new Troy City Hall, though if they stay permanetly at the old Verizon Building on 4th I'll be PISSED, shed tears for the days o'old when the cities of the Capital District could spend money like they had a printing press.Camelbinky (talk) 04:39, 7 May 2009 (UTC)
Yea Troy really should be ashamed. I saw an old photo of their original city hall and it was beautiful (and I don't use that word often). Now they're housed in a 1970s piece of architectural shit. And now they plan on moving to a building with no windows??? They won't build new, but they should have renovated Proctor's, in all honesty. It just doesn't make sense. upstateNYer 04:46, 7 May 2009 (UTC)
I've read two different "possibilities" on Troy's permanent city hall. One that they might put it in the proposal for development at where Congress and Ferry split at 8th Street (where the public housing towers used to be, though its been a long time since they were torn down and I dont know how old you are and if you remember them!) behind the old county jail, across from the county office building. The second proposal I heard was that when the developer they sold city hall on River Street rebuilds it with a mixed use and a park and all that they'll have a new office building the city will rent space for a city hall there. Either way I'm sure it will be sterile, lifeless, and nothing with unnecessary ornate carvings or stonework detail like the city halls of old, like Cohoes, Albany, and Schenectady. Even Saratoga Springs and Waterford arent too shabby though plainer than the others, though Saratoga Springs might move theirs and I'm interested in seeing what they propose seeing as how they have the money to truly do something inspiring. Menands and the town of Colonie are probably the most sterile ones I've ever been to.Camelbinky (talk) 03:04, 8 May 2009 (UTC)

←I had just passed my permit test and walked outside and saw them demolishing those towers. My dad and I watched for about an hour; so cool. I don't care if they build a new building; tho I hadn't heard the idea of putting it between Congress and Ferry (it's a good idea though). I like old buildings and I like new buildings. But I hate anything built between 1965 and 1990. They all suck. Which is why I can't stand many architects. Bleh. And isn't the Saratoga Springs city hall the newer brick building on Broadway? Or is it the one further south near the post office? upstateNYer 03:14, 8 May 2009 (UTC)

It's brick, near the convention center/hotel (dont know what chain they are now, possibly a Crowne Plaza or Sheraton), same side of Broadway corner of Lake, the police department is in the back of the building on the same street as the "new" library. I think it was built in the late 1800s, the date is on the front towards the top of the building.Camelbinky (talk) 19:45, 8 May 2009 (UTC)

Re:

Sorry, I missed your message. What I would suggest is to subst another template that uses {{subst:SUBPAGENAME}} as parameter 1. That would fix it. :) — neuro(talk) 22:17, 8 May 2009 (UTC)

Empty Threats

You shouldn't issue threats you are not able to follow through on. Nor should you disguise political partisanship as NPOV vigilance. My edits are factual, and I can back them up with the popular press. It sucks when the political party you support loses elections. You should have the professionalism it takes to not threaten banning anyone that accurately states that your team lost. It makes you look like a child. Rain City Blues (talk) 02:20, 9 May 2009 (UTC)

First off, I never threatened you. I just warned you of what may come if you continue editing the way you did. Second, all of those examples were prime examples of POV and none of them were referenced. Adding [[Category: Propagandists]] to Zogby? POV to the extreme. And next time, please post on the bottom of my talk page, like everybody else. If you still have issues, please respond here. upstateNYer 05:59, 9 May 2009 (UTC)
Also, do you think I'm the author of this and this b/c I was a Tedisco supporter? Common sense will show you the correct answer. All in all, you need to outright reference your statements. You claim you have "popular press" on your side. Please prove it. upstateNYer 06:09, 9 May 2009 (UTC)

Bullshit. You threatened to have me banned for making accurate statements about Tedisco having lost the race. Do a google search with both contestants' names in Google News and you get 552 hits, all stating that Tedisco lost. Here's the link, you lazy bastard. http://news.google.com/news?pz=1&ned=us&hl=en&q=scott+murphy+jim+tedisco.

Now, will you kindly fuck off and stop trying to revise history? Your boy lost, get over it, and stop making threats on people that report the results of the election. I made that edit the night of the election, and those were the numbers being reported by CNN, NPR and every major television news outlet in the country. Maybe the outcome bothered you, but that's no reason to threaten me with a ban because I edited the article according to what was being reported in the press. And now here it is, weeks after the election is over and Tedisco conceded, and you can't let go and admit that you were wrong. You childish little brat.

Oh, and Zogby conducts push polls, which is a form of propaganda. By definition, a person who makes propaganda is a propagandist, and therefore, Zogby belongs in that category along with the rest of them. Maybe you do as well, given your obvious right wing and highly POV bent. Perhaps you should ban yourself for a while. Rain City Blues (talk) 09:16, 9 May 2009 (UTC)

Ok, calm down. You are free to express your opinion, but try to assume good faith and not attack him. I understand how ticked you can get when somebody and you can't agree. I am bad at that. Just do me a favor don't curse and scream at UpstateNYer. A calm discussion helps better than a screaming match. Thanks. 3 1/2 years of Mitch32 12:38, 9 May 2009 (UTC)

You can send me to a google search all you want, but that's not a reference in the article (indeed, you can't cite a google search anyway). I'm not right-wing, I'm centrist, and I supported Murphy (I thought this would have clued you in); not that that really matters because this is still an issue. Also, I'm not the only one that feels that some of your edits are an issue. Just the addition of this pushes towards point of view and opinion, which is not appropriate here. Admittedly, it's a fine line, but civilized society typically doesn't go outright calling the losing candidate "the loser"; it's just not professional. And probably most importantly, whenever you insert a number or claim into an article, you must reference it. You have yet to do that. Honestly, a vote count from the 31st of March means nothing because of the recounts of the voting machines. Board of Elections hasn't even yet released the official numbers because they're still counting (even though Tedisco did concede). And I'll kindly ask that you don't swear on my talk page. upstateNYer 15:33, 9 May 2009 (UTC)

Rain City Blues, may I ask you to see my reply if you haven't already? There are reasons why we don't say "loser". ZooFari 17:20, 9 May 2009 (UTC)

Talkback

Hello, MattWade. You have new messages at ZooFari's talk page.
You can remove this notice at any time by removing the {{Talkback}} or {{Tb}} template.

How is that? (uploaded over it) ZooFari 22:08, 9 May 2009 (UTC)

Hello, MattWade. You have new messages at ZooFari's talk page.
You can remove this notice at any time by removing the {{Talkback}} or {{Tb}} template.

How about now? ZooFari 05:07, 10 May 2009 (UTC)

Gahh! looks perfect! Thanks ZooFari! upstateNYer 05:22, 10 May 2009 (UTC)

Unknown images

Hi UpstateNYer,

I don't mind you creating a page in 'my userspace' in the least. Thanks for helping facilitate the identification of the photos I uploaded! I'm glad you like them.

Happy editing,

Neelix (talk) 15:50, 11 May 2009 (UTC)

Loudonville

wp:3RR is supposed to be 3 reverts in a 24 hour period was I at 3 already? ARGH!Camelbinky (talk) 20:57, 11 May 2009 (UTC)

You're right; I forgot about the time requirement. But still. better to debate it out on the talk page. Also, I wasn't threatening you; just a friendly reminder. :-) upstateNYer 21:04, 11 May 2009 (UTC)
I know you werent threatening me. The ARGH was just a frustration "yell" about the whole situation over there. Sorry.
About the photo, it might be able to be added to the Sematech article since its also the headquarters of their International Sematech subsidiary, though a photo that shows more of additions that are the heart of their manufacturing and research would be best. The photo only shows a bit of the newer post-1997 additions, along with the original CESTM. A photo like that could probably even be used for the IBM article since it has alot of their newer research going on their. For now I'll continue to look for a place in the University at Albany, SUNY page; it could also be used at the Tech Valley section on the Capital District page since it helped put Albany on the map, the Albany, NY page as well, especially if I ever get around to finishing the history section to the modern day.Camelbinky (talk) 21:18, 11 May 2009 (UTC)
I also have this. I don't know UAlbany that well, and based on a map, it seemed these two buildings are different centers, even thought they're connected. Unfortunately I couldn't get a panorama of the whole two because a light post was in the way. Take a look through my most recent photos (from today); you may find other uses for them. upstateNYer 21:21, 11 May 2009 (UTC)
Ah, yes, that is exactly the photo I was hoping you would have! The buildings are connected and to the best of my knowledge you can go from one to the other through internal hallways, though each section had (at least as each was constructed) a different name. I dont know if they are ever treated as separate buildings though. CESTM and the first nano-tech oriented addition built were actually not even touching, but it was always the intention to build the section between the two. There are some photos out there on the Web of the construction, unfortunately all would be copyrighted. I'll starting going through all your photos in a sec.Camelbinky (talk) 21:30, 11 May 2009 (UTC)
Per this http://www.cdm.com/knowledge_center/case_studies/phase_II_expansion_of_CESTM_complex.htm I believe the entire "building" or complex is still technically CESTM even though environmental science isnt exactly the main use or notability of the building anymore.Camelbinky (talk) 21:50, 11 May 2009 (UTC)

And this has the photo (at the bottom of the page) that I was thinking of, where they built the first "addition" with a gap and later connected the buildings, at the top of the page is a CADD-altered photo of what the building would look like when complete, though you'd be able to tell me better than my memory whether it ended up looking like that. Different sources seem to say different things about whether CESTM and the nanoscale complex are considered the same, though I have confirmed that the original Center of Excellence in Nanoelectronics (precursor to the Nanoscale College) was located in the original CESTM. http://www.albany.edu/pr/ualbanymagfall02/sematech.htm Camelbinky (talk) 21:58, 11 May 2009 (UTC)

Re

Thank you for making this public; I don't think I will identify them all myself. I started seeing some of Neelix's images, and some are very good, making them possible for FP. So, as species ID are identified, would you participate in moving them to Commons? Anymore notes or suggestions? ZooFari 23:28, 11 May 2009 (UTC)

Yes, I'll move them. Seems in a day or so I'll be a tad more effective in doing that (I'll be able to delete!). upstateNYer 23:36, 11 May 2009 (UTC)
Oh and just in case you didn't see this. upstateNYer 23:47, 11 May 2009 (UTC)
Excellent, and thanks for the notification. I received 3 messages at once and nearly missed all :) You mentioned something about the colors. I may not be comprehending this well, but do you want the same colors of the PNG? Or do you just want me to use dull colors (not bright) to somewhat match the other SVGs?
Actually, duller colors would probably be more appropriate for an encyclopedia. But when you do that, can you list the colors' codes here so I can update the boxes in the article? (i.e. #00FF00). upstateNYer 00:12, 12 May 2009 (UTC)
Okay. Of coarse. One more thing, do you want Lake Ontario the same color as the other SVG? ZooFari 00:19, 12 May 2009 (UTC)
Yep. upstateNYer 00:30, 12 May 2009 (UTC)
Sorry if you were expecting this right away, which I was, but I had to run away for an hour (or two). So here it is. 80ff87ff- green; 4d5de8ff- blue; ff80ffff- purple; Red is red. Let me know if the colors are okay for you or any other modifications you would like for me to do. ZooFari 01:56, 12 May 2009 (UTC)
Looks great! I just need the code for yellow. upstateNYer 02:16, 12 May 2009 (UTC)
Oops. ffff71ff. Anything else you'd like me to modify or do? ZooFari 02:21, 12 May 2009 (UTC)
Perfect. upstateNYer 02:27, 12 May 2009 (UTC)

What happened to Fulton County?

The new map made by zoofari (did I get the name right?) has erased Fulton County from the Capital District pink shaded area. By accident I'm sure. The Johnstown Micropolitan Statistical Area is a part of the Albany-Schenectady-Amsterdam CSA and therefore still part of the definition I'm using for the info being put in the Capital District article and its related pages (school districts, list of municipalities, media, etc). Is it possible to get this fixed?Camelbinky (talk) 08:39, 12 May 2009 (UTC)

Yup, you're right. I'll get that fixed. upstateNYer 14:54, 12 May 2009 (UTC)
Thank you, sir.Camelbinky (talk) 21:51, 12 May 2009 (UTC)

SVG Recent request

Hey UpstateNYer. Is it correct now? Anything else? And congratulations on your adminship! I will definitely come to you when I want some of my stuff deleted :) ZooFari 23:36, 12 May 2009 (UTC)

RfA Thankspam

User:UpstateNYer/RfAThanks







Just a couple of things:

ur a frickin retard. why dont u pick on a booger your own size u big fattie moron with a head too small for your body. i bet u dont eben know 1+1.

You shouldn't issue threats you are not able to follow through on. Nor should you disguise political partisanship as NPOV vigilance. My edits are factual, and I can back them up with the popular press. It sucks when the political party you support loses elections. You should have the professionalism it takes to not threaten banning anyone that accurately states that your team lost. It makes you look like a child.

;)

Lucifer (Talk) 15:46, 13 May 2009 (UTC)

your RfA

A consensus has been reached by your peers that you should be an admin. I have made it so. Please review Wikipedia:Administrators' reading list and keep up the great work. Sincerely, Kingturtle (talk) 17:03, 12 May 2009 (UTC)

It is now the 7th day; you can rest. upstateNYer 17:10, 12 May 2009 (UTC)
Congratulations. - Dank (push to talk) 17:09, 12 May 2009 (UTC)
Congrats, UpstateNYer! You deserve it! --JBC3 (talk) 17:21, 12 May 2009 (UTC)
Congratulations. Here are what pass for words of wisdom from the puppy:
  1. Remember you will always protect the wrong version.
  2. Remember you must always follow the rules, except for when you ignore them. You will always pick the wrong one to do. (See #5)
  3. Remember to assume good faith and not bite. Remember that when you are applying these principles most diligently, you are probably dealing with a troll.
  4. Use the block ability sparingly. Enjoy the insults you receive when you do block.
  5. Remember when you make these errors, someone will be more than happy to point them out to you in dazzling clarity and descriptive terminology.
  6. and finally, Remember to contact me if you ever need assistance, and I will do what I am able.
KillerChihuahua?!?
DISCLAIMER: This humor does not reflect the official humor of Wikipedia, the Wikimedia Foundation, or Jimbo Wales. All rights released under GFDL.
Shall keep that in the front of my mind. UpstateNYer | Talk→ 04:04, 13 May 2009 (UTC)

GO TO HELL

ur a frickin retard. why dont u pick on a booger your own size u big fattie moron with a head too small for your body.


i bet u dont eben know 1+1.


get a life —Preceding unsigned comment added by 205.152.162.35 (talk) 17:14, 12 May 2009 (UTC)

Aww, how sweet. Now stop saying Aaron Schock is gay. UpstateNYer | Talk→ 17:17, 12 May 2009 (UTC)
It's 2, and I bet UpstateNYer "eben" knows that. Along with how to spell even.Camelbinky (talk) 21:53, 12 May 2009 (UTC)
Dang, now you know you're an admin! The trolls are already here! KillerChihuahua?!? 22:19, 12 May 2009 (UTC)
1+1=2. Yay! I got it! Let me try 2x+4=12. Hmmm, I don't know, do you??? ZooFari 23:11, 12 May 2009 (UTC)
2,185,348 right?! Ok, now add up all those numbers, take THAT number, add the two digits together and then its the right number.Camelbinky (talk) 03:52, 13 May 2009 (UTC)
And don't forget:
Nice way of putting it :-) ZooFari 23:18, 13 May 2009 (UTC)

Photographer's Barnstar

The Photographer's Barnstar
Awarded to UpstateNYer for his spiffy photos of historic buildings that have smartened up Central Troy Historic District and the articles about the buildings themselves. Daniel Case (talk) 22:21, 12 May 2009 (UTC)

Really, you improved on my work. Thanks! Have you considered taking that St. Paul's pic to FPC, or QI on Commons? I really think it's that good. Daniel Case (talk) 22:21, 12 May 2009 (UTC)

Oops, just one thing. I went back to the old pic of River Street since that's the section under discussion in the accompanying text, the area that was the old River Street Historic District before the larger district was created. Northern River Street is a separate area outside the Central Troy district. Daniel Case (talk) 04:54, 13 May 2009 (UTC)

Yea I think it was the caption that "tricked" me, so I updated it to point out that it's the Antique District. Otherwise, I'm glad you liked my updates. Unfortunately, most city buildings will never make an FPC attempt because of the close proximity you must be in to get the shot (note the obvious distortion in the St. Paul's image); plus traffic lights, lamp posts, and wires are a big no-no. But that's not to say that I don't plan on taking a panorama of the inside of St. Paul's, which is one of the most beautiful in the area (I'll let you know when that goes up). I uploaded more images that didn't end up in articles yet. See if you can find a use for them. And thanks again for the barnstar. :-) upstateNYer 05:52, 13 May 2009 (UTC)
Speaking of which, in the group of NRHP photos and articles I am currently working through (all from one day, last August 15), I will end up with a bunch of buildings in downtown Albany and the historic districts (Downtown, Pastures and Mansion). Just letting you know.

Also, after your work on Central Troy, I am moved to start the process of both internal and external peer review soon (I'll be emailing a link to the RCHS, and I'd also like to get someone from Troy's Planning Department to look at it), with the goal, of course, of eventual FA status.

Now that it's green again, maybe we could get together at some point for a sort of mini-"Wikis Take the Capital District" event (way down in my pipeline are a lot of Schenectady's listings (City Hall, post office, Proctor's, Union Street, Stockade District etc.) Daniel Case (talk) 20:33, 13 May 2009 (UTC)

Oh, I changed this on Commons. Troy's city hall is purposely excluded from the historic district, and it says so explicitly in the application, because it's a newer building (look at the little jog east on the boundary near Monument Square). Daniel Case (talk) 02:48, 14 May 2009 (UTC)
Let me know when you get them up. Out of curiosity, have you contacted historical societies and government offices before to review articles? I had never thought of that. upstateNYer 05:02, 14 May 2009 (UTC)
It will probably be a month or so, if I'm lucky (part of pics from a really long day that went up as far north as Granville via Saratoga and Lake George, then back down to Hoosick Falls before it got too dark to shoot anymore. The Irving Langmuir House, Nott Hall, Lemuel Haynes House, Canfield Casino and Owl's Nest pics all came out of that day (they got to go in right afterwards because they were badly-needed NHL photos).

I submitted Milton Railroad Station to the small non-profit that's raising money for the restoration; they liked it so much they basically link to our article to give all the details (see the xlinks section). The process is called external peer review; I think more people should do it. Daniel Case (talk) 14:26, 14 May 2009 (UTC)

As far as that pic of Monument Square goes, I don't know the photographer, I just grabbed it off Flickr. You might try to make contact. Daniel Case (talk) 17:44, 15 May 2009 (UTC)
Yea, I did; he was invited into the building for a tour from a friend. Not a public building. Maybe I'll stroll in sometime and see if they'll let me up to the roof. upstateNYer 17:47, 15 May 2009 (UTC)

Help!

Began tagging these userfird/sandboxed articles for deletion. Incredibly tedious. Any way to simply get rid of them in one fell swoop? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:MichelQSchmidt/sandbox/63_Radio_Tales

It would be of great help. Thanks.

Schmidt, MICHAEL Q. 07:48, 14 May 2009 (UTC)

If that's the complete list, don't worry about tagging. I'll get them all. upstateNYer 07:50, 14 May 2009 (UTC)

Yup... all 63. Wanted to go through them months back and try a merge of content, but such was done by another editor and I simply do not have the time. Too much other stuff to do. No point cluttering up these sandboxes that in all honesty I will likely never be able to get to. Disappointing, but I have to face reality. Schmidt, MICHAEL Q. 07:53, 14 May 2009 (UTC)

You have my grateful thanks. Schmidt, MICHAEL Q. 07:54, 14 May 2009 (UTC)
NP. They'll be gone in a little bit. upstateNYer 07:54, 14 May 2009 (UTC)

 Done If you want User:MichelQSchmidt/sandbox/63 Radio Tales deleted, please tag it. I'm off to bed now. upstateNYer 08:03, 14 May 2009 (UTC)

Thank you and have a pleasent night. Schmidt, MICHAEL Q. 08:08, 14 May 2009 (UTC)

Your opinion requested on...

Would you personally say things like the car races at Lebanon Valley (or whatever the technical term for the "sport" is) and the horse races at Saratoga should make those venues be listed under the sports section or the recreation section? I've started to take apart some of the long lists and make more condensed prose, but not sure where those types of venues belong.Camelbinky (talk) 01:32, 15 May 2009 (UTC)

I would go with sport for both of them. upstateNYer 02:30, 15 May 2009 (UTC)
Thank you great, wise, sage administrator. Or should that be "great, wise, RPI administrator" instead of Sage... Ok, bad college joke... :-) Camelbinky (talk) 02:56, 15 May 2009 (UTC)
It admittedly made me smirk. upstateNYer 03:01, 15 May 2009 (UTC)
PS- Just added your CESTM photo to the UA article. I dont think it has been used in an article until now, didnt want it to be lonely.Camelbinky (talk) 03:00, 15 May 2009 (UTC)
Congrats on your GA for the special election article!Camelbinky (talk) 17:43, 16 May 2009 (UTC)
Thank you upstateNYer 19:57, 16 May 2009 (UTC)

RE:Your edits

Thanks for taking the time to look over my edits, I appreciate it. I think I'll take your advice and open an editor review; see what others think. ƒingersonRoids 20:37, 16 May 2009 (UTC)

FP closing

Hi UpstateNYer, just to point out something I think you may be forgetting while closing nominations. The alternative if promoted should then replace the original in the articles. --Muhammad(talk) 04:20, 19 May 2009 (UTC)

You're completely right; nice catch. Thanks for cleaning up my mess. I think that's the only one. Were there others? :-/ upstateNYer 04:41, 19 May 2009 (UTC)
You're welcome. There was one other, the Pseudatelus sp but I have done that as well. --Muhammad(talk) 05:27, 20 May 2009 (UTC)

Thought you might be interested in this-

In case you dont read the Times Union- http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=801152 Camelbinky (talk) 08:17, 19 May 2009 (UTC)

Haha, my father sent that to me yesterday actually. Disappointing though; I love roundabouts. upstateNYer 16:23, 19 May 2009 (UTC)

Minor issue with the closing I think. Just realised you were from New York State. I have been there for a few weeks (around Binghampton). I remember the thunderstorms and the very green countryside the most. Noodle snacks (talk) 05:01, 21 May 2009 (UTC)

Fixed. Done in a weird way, but still fixed. So you came half-way around the world to visit New York, and you decided to go to Binghamton? There's nothing there by SUNY. What attracted you? (I almost went to SUNY for college, actually). upstateNYer 05:17, 21 May 2009 (UTC)
I was relatively young and mum had a friend there. We did go around the state a fair bit, and down much of the east coast. My mum had a strong dislike of New York City though, so I haven't been there yet. Noodle snacks (talk) 05:19, 21 May 2009 (UTC)
Yea, I'm not the biggest fan either. Place smells like piss; even in winter. Although ground zero is quite moving, and they have the best bagels in the world. Funny how those three things just popped in my mind at the thought of the place. upstateNYer 05:21, 21 May 2009 (UTC)

FPC

I find your behaviour on FPC appalling, you must know after months being on there that certain things will kill a nomination, and not only did you manage to do something that far exceeds all of them, but edit-warred to keep it in, even when everyone else was against you.

I have been involved with featured pictures for years, and have over 70 credits, last I counted. I have no intention of continuing. Shoemaker's Holiday (talk) 16:35, 22 May 2009 (UTC)

Replied at WT:FPC. upstateNYer 17:43, 22 May 2009 (UTC)

Thanks!

Thanks for the barnstar! Still have a bunch more to put into the table from the list at the bottom, but I try to get at least 5-10 places put into the table a day. There are, so far, three villages that for the life of me I can not find the date they were incorp. as villages, but I'm still looking.Camelbinky (talk) 20:36, 22 May 2009 (UTC)

FPC >> FP

Careful! ZooFari 20:52, 25 May 2009 (UTC)

Hmmm, I thought I remembered specifically doing that. Oops; thanks for the catch. upstateNYer 00:05, 26 May 2009 (UTC)

Maps

Hi UpstateNYer. Sorry about the very late response - I've been on an extended wikibreak. Unfortunately, I still haven't figured out a way to un-distort the maps. Perhaps it's because of my inexperience with GIS, or maybe the data I used to make the maps is permanently like that. So I sort of had to give up. Oh well. --Schzmo (talk) 22:04, 25 May 2009 (UTC)

Not a problem. Thanks for the effort anyway. upstateNYer 00:04, 26 May 2009 (UTC)

I put List of incorporated places in New York's Capital District up for FL. Hope you can look it over and have comments or do whatever fixes you think are best. I'm encouraged that one editor already has made a constructive comment and I hope I fixed the problem satisfactorily.Camelbinky (talk) 01:56, 26 May 2009 (UTC)

Having not yet looked at the content, you're most likely going to get a comment about the Waterford image. Having the credits in the table itself is distracting will most likely turn reviewers off. If you can't get it to be used without credits immediately by the image, I would say don't use the image. upstateNYer 02:00, 26 May 2009 (UTC)

Yea, I dont believe I can use the photo without giving credit. I'll just remove it, next month when I'm in town I can always drive up there and take a very similar photo anyways.Camelbinky (talk) 06:21, 26 May 2009 (UTC)

Over time, images from local municipalities will pour in. Of course that time frame could be years, but still. :-) upstateNYer 06:29, 26 May 2009 (UTC)

Lomatium

I specifically said I hadn't done the promotion fully, to try and cut down on the controversy. Given your editwarring forced this move, and given, further, that your treatment of the Guy Mannering nom is at the exact opposite position to your claims that leaving a nom open 14 days was such a disaster that it must be avoided at all costs, I think you don't have a single leg to stand on in your criticism of me. Shoemaker's Holiday (talk) 00:02, 26 May 2009 (UTC)

There was no edit warring. I did something I thought was good in good faith. I apologized and fixed it. That said, fair is fair; you're too biased and should have just allowed for a completely new renom. Please don't blame me for your feelings on renoms being "guaranteed failures"; that is just life. But a promotion is a promotion. If you're going to do it, do it completely so I wouldn't have to waste my time wading through the mess you left. And to be honest, I've completely ignored your Guy Mannering nom because I don't care to close your noms based on the way I've been treated. You boycott FPC, treat me like crap, I boycott your noms. See how productive things get when you burn the bridges with the people that keep the place clean? upstateNYer 00:09, 26 May 2009 (UTC)
I don't care when the hell it does get promoted. But you struck out votes at least twice, stating it was because noms were running too long, despite every other person on the talk page being very upset at you for doing so, then smugly said it wasn't your problem, that other people should contact the people whose votes you struck out. If you cannot see that, after such behaviour, leaving a nomination open 11 days and counting makes you look like an utter hypocrite, I'm sorry for you. Shoemaker's Holiday (talk) 00:24, 26 May 2009 (UTC)
No, I struck votes out because they were no longer valid, just like here. It had nothing to do with how long the nom ran; it was a renomination and therefore a new nom. The user that renominates a nom is responsible for informing the previous voters that their original vote is no longer valid and that they just need to vote again; therefore it was not my responsibility to inform all the users that voted in four nominations that the nom was up for renom, it was the responsibility of you and Alvesgaspar. You asked Alvesgaspar to perform the same actions you did—which were more than annoying to anyone that closes—and he indicated that he didn't know how. Maybe you shouldn't have asked him? It was a bit irresponsible to ask a user to make their first administrative edits to FPC to make a point. With the Obama example above, I informed the voting parties to revote (or at least those that were not regulars, and may not stumble upon the nom again)—far from hypocritical; it's not like users are too busy to revote, especially since most agree with the outcomes (not promoted), just not the process (overturning consensus). You should have informed all voters that their votes were invalid and that they needed to revote. I can guarantee that none of them would have been promoted and we wouldn't have gone through this bullshit delist process, which has made a mockery of FPC. I'll say this again and again: you're taking this way too personally; you need to step back and see it from an unbiased viewpoint. I'm also not too scared to leave valid and reasonable discussion on my talk page; those moves make you look wholly unreasonable. upstateNYer 00:54, 26 May 2009 (UTC)

A supermajority votes to support, but most were against their promotion. Riiiight. Shoemaker's Holiday (talk) 08:55, 26 May 2009 (UTC)

You're ignoring the main points. I'd appreciate it if you actually addressed them in your responses. upstateNYer 14:16, 26 May 2009 (UTC)
Unwatchlisting. This isn't worth it. Shoemaker's Holiday (talk) 15:46, 26 May 2009 (UTC)
Apparently not, because you don't address any of the substantive issues; you merely complain about your own noms and are making things way too personal. upstateNYer 17:07, 26 May 2009 (UTC)

Admin Commons

Hey UpstateNYer. Are you an admin at Commons? ZooFari 22:55, 26 May 2009 (UTC)

Nope, only here. upstateNYer 22:55, 26 May 2009 (UTC)
Okay, just needed a trusted admin to change my license template :-) ZooFari 23:08, 26 May 2009 (UTC)

Talkback

Hello, MattWade. You have new messages at Raeky's talk page.
You can remove this notice at any time by removing the {{Talkback}} or {{Tb}} template.

— raeky (talk | edits) 08:11, 27 May 2009 (UTC)

FPC closures

Recently I joined the boycott of FPC and requested that you step down from closing nominations. At the time when I did so I had five open candidates, two of which have since been closed and both of which were closed by you. In good faith I would like to suppose that you are doing this in an attempt to demonstrate fairness, but as our prior discussion concluded you created the distinct impression of rather aggressively disregarding my opinions and reasoning. I have over two hundred featured pictures and have no urgent need for more; it would be more circumspect to extend respect. DurovaCharge! 04:50, 27 May 2009 (UTC)

One should extend respect if asking for it. I will still close FPCs; your wild and unfounded rants about my closures have not affected my day-to-day operations here. But what does it matter? You're now boycotting, which means all this will be moot quite soon anyway. upstateNYer 04:57, 27 May 2009 (UTC)

A less hyperbolic reply would be more productive. Note the following:

  1. You closed a nomination that had unanimous support without promotion.
  2. The sole objection was about artificiality of color, from a reviewer who supported without understanding that it was an artificial color process.
  3. The sole weak support was an echo of the misunderstanding.
  4. A second edit with adjusted colors was acceptable to everyone.
  5. Your closure note echoed the color issue as a reason for not promoting.
  6. Upon later discussion, your first response was a qualitative esthetic judgment.
  7. After I pointed out that closer esthetics should never overrule unanimous support, you changed your story.
  8. You allowed one extra week, during the same time when another candidacy was held open four extra weeks.
  9. No credible explanation has been forthcoming for that discrepancy, or for the urgency of rejecting a unanimously supported nomination.
  10. Your decision hinges on counting the sole weak support as a half opinion. If any discretion were warranted, it would be to count that as a full support on the basis that the editor who had first raised the matter had been completely satisfied.

Now I don't very much care about one more FP per se, which was why I didn't raise this at the time although it's disappointing to see the limited supply of African historic material wasted this way: countering systemic bias is difficult even when the process is fair. But the specific thing that lost my trust was to see how you shifted ground. It's doubtful the four examples I provided upon your requests were ever read: your later post miscounted them as three examples. The inconsistencies in closures at that process are blatant to a degree that would not have been tolerated this long anywhere else, and you appear more interested in name calling than in winning back the trust of the two prolific contributors who finally resorted to boycotting. DurovaCharge! 05:29, 27 May 2009 (UTC)

3.5 supports is less than 4. I would have been happy to promote the edit; but note how nobody ever voted for the edit. I'm no mind reader. I don't care to regain your trust; I lost any inclination when you falsely accused me of gaming the system. Your entire response above is about one nom (as I said before, the greyest of the grey), which others have indicated was closed correctly. And you only gave three examples previously; this first showed up here from what I can tell. You're acting hysterical and are so wrapped up in bias and POV that you can no longer breathe fresh, fair, non-judgmental air. But again, moot point: you will have no more FPCs going in a few days anyway. upstateNYer 05:41, 27 May 2009 (UTC)

This is interesting. You still have no answer to why you allowed only one-quarter the extension that a different image was being given, you refuse to acknowledge that your rationales have changed, and you're substituting another ad hominem attack for rational discussion.

If you hadn't noticed, these last few months we have had several new nominators at FPC who were doing similar work to Shoemaker's Holiday and myself. Most of them have left the process; while I was urging them to stay we had offsite discussions about the erratic closures. At that time I tried to make excuses for what was happening at FPC. Enough is enough; per this conversation I am withdrawing all existing FPC nominations. Please reconsider your course of action while people are still willing to return. DurovaCharge! 16:09, 27 May 2009 (UTC)

Actually, I have received 4 emails now of support from various FPC regulars telling me that I need to "stay the course", ignore your "hysterical bantering", and offering me praise for my "thick skin" when it comes to your "unwarranted and untimely attacks". Many are as baffled with you as I am. Granted they would prefer not to get in any altercations, and rightly so; it's just that you outright attacked me, so I had to at least respond. I still can't believe, though, that you're so upset about a nom that had 2.5S at more than 7 days. I was nice enough to leave it open for you another 7 days, in which time you only got one more S. I assume if you got an O after that S you'd be complaining that I only left it open so the closing cabal could win against your nom. You argue the point that suits you best at the time. upstateNYer 17:28, 27 May 2009 (UTC)

If I might say a little more: You are not allowed to do what you did on WT:FPC, people have been blocked for doing that sort of thing in the past. It violates WP:TALK. People get blocked for that sort of thing. Shoemaker's Holiday (talk) 20:40, 27 May 2009 (UTC)

I believe outsiders will see this as a ridiculous way of trying to "get me" for your disagreement with me in our discussions. Like I say at the page, I could have just copy and pasted this myself. Maybe you gave me a good idea: that that discussion should be made public to other members. It's not the case, but it's my right, just as it was yours. This is a ridiculous step SH, you're just being spiteful now. upstateNYer 20:46, 27 May 2009 (UTC)

Fw: Signature size

About the matter of my signature, I have been discussing this with other editors also, and don´t worry, just before you posted, I came up with the acknowledge with other editors to change my sign. I wasn´t aware that my typeface (french script) was missing in some user´s computers, I just took it from the wikipedia´s list of typefaces. Anyway, It won´t take me much to make another one (less than a month, while I finish some other unfinished business here). If you find very annoying my sign in some specific section or article or discussion, feel free to shrink it manually or tell me to do it.
By the way, I was sightseeing your user space, and I found out that I should give you this:

- The High-level Photographer's Barnstar -
I award you this upgraded-class barnstar for your astounding-quality pictures that you have taken, not only because they are prettier than others, but also, because of the excellent choice for the angle, accurate exposure and high resolution, expected from a distinguished photographer. Damërung ...ÏìíÏ..._ΞΞΞ_ . --  20:28, 27 May 2009 (UTC)


I think some of them may become nominates for WP:FIC under the appropriate development
p.s. The signature inside the award is given by "~~~", so the size was predetermined, so fell free to change it. - Damërung ...ÏìíÏ..._ΞΞΞ_ . --  20:28, 27 May 2009 (UTC)

Thank you for the barnstar. And fair enough on the sig; just do it sometime soon. It's quite large. :-) upstateNYer 20:36, 27 May 2009 (UTC)

Picture request (should be easy)

Can you get a pic of the half of the cottage at Springside that's on the fifth floor at the state museum? That's the only pic that article needs; in fact it's the only thing the article needs, period. If I can get it I'm looking to start the PR/GA process. Daniel Case (talk) 21:39, 28 May 2009 (UTC)

Yea, I need to get my ass to the state museum anyway. Haven't been down there in a long time. Will let you know when I get it. upstateNYer 22:59, 28 May 2009 (UTC)

List of school districts

Now that the the municipality list is done, I'm going to start the school district one. If you want to give me some column headings that should be included I can make sure I get those in. There obviously is limited space, but I was thinking for columns to cover the district name, which BOCES they are in, the towns/cities covered by the district, and type of district (central, city, enlarged city, union free, etc). I'll wait to make the table until I get your suggestions and then show you a proto-type in a sandbox first for your approval before making the article.Camelbinky (talk) 21:02, 29 May 2009 (UTC)

Hmm, being that specific will be difficult, but if you're up for it, then I'd say go for it. The mainly difficult part will be the towns/cities covered by the district. For example, the district I went to covers Brunswick, Pittstown, Grafton, and Poestenkill, but there are also like 5 houses (literally) in Schagticoke that are in the district too (that map isn't clear enough to show those minor issues). BOCES is necessary, as is the type of district. Let me know when u get the sandbox done. upstateNYer 21:26, 29 May 2009 (UTC)
Would putting the counties the district is in be of any use instead of the towns? With only three columns a table is going to look a little skimpy. If a county column would be useful (and I'm not so sure it would be) that would give a fourth column, and I was thinking maybe a fifth for listing schools in the school district, and maybe even a sixth for the enrollment numbers?Camelbinky (talk) 21:55, 29 May 2009 (UTC)
Counties may be a better idea. Schools would work too. Only problem with enrollment is that it changes every year and you're talking about updating 50+ districts every year. :-( Not even sure a bot could do that reliably. upstateNYer 21:59, 29 May 2009 (UTC)
Here's the heading for the table so far, with enrollment included. Yeah I hadnt thought about the fact there were so many schools that would need to be updated so often. Though once the new census comes out I (or someone else) will have to update 13 cities, 143 towns, and 64 villages in the municipality list (and all of wikipedia will probably see a huge amount of activity with all the census info changing and demographics for all the city articles out there). So if I can update over 200 every ten years, I'm willing to give it a try at updating 50 every year. Maybe put a note on the column heading (estimate for 2008) and just update every other year?Camelbinky (talk) 22:18, 29 May 2009 (UTC)
Heh, good point. This will be WP's first US census to deal with in real time. Will be interesting to see how it goes... Header looks good. I made one change. Otherwise fine. upstateNYer 23:01, 29 May 2009 (UTC)
Oh! Duh! What about an image column? I'd say the same percentage of school districts have photos as incorporated places. upstateNYer 23:43, 29 May 2009 (UTC)
Yea! I didnt even think of that even though I was just looking at the Albany High photo in the school section of the CapDis article! I'll add the column and make it an unsortable column (images cant be sorted anyways by a sortable table).Camelbinky (talk) 00:03, 30 May 2009 (UTC)

I just realized something- since the school districts are in more than one county, when the county column is sorted alphabetically it will only do so for the first county in each cell. So all the ones with Albany County, Rensselaer County, etc etc as the first county listed will be together but any with a second county name it will be lumped together with only the first county listed, no one will be able to "ask" "what school districts are in Albany County" and see all the Albany County ones listed together... Four possible solutions I have come up with are: to have 11 separate tables, one for each county; just drop the county column altogher; have a column for the county in which the main part of the school district is in, and a second unsortable column for additional counties; or instead of county columns just have footnotes attached to each school district name [1] Albany County [2] Rensselaer County etc. so that a school just in Albany County like North Colonie would be shown as North Colonie[1] and a school that is in both Saratoga and Washington counties like Schuylerville would be Schuylerville[5][6]. Camelbinky (talk) 02:08, 30 May 2009 (UTC)

Wandering glider

Hey, Before this nom closes, I thought I could drop you a line about the vote count. As it is now, there are 6.5 supports and 3 oppose + 1 oppose from what seems to be a non-credible user/puppet. IMO it is a promote. Your view? --Muhammad(talk) 10:39, 30 May 2009 (UTC)

Don't see why not. The supports seems to go down the balance scale IMO, so I think it should be promoted. ZooFari 15:37, 30 May 2009 (UTC)
With that oppose, you're at 62% S, without it, you're at 68%; but it has to be given some weight. You're >< this close to passing, but you have another 25 hrs before it closes. Think you can grab another support somewhere? If you don't, I won't close it; I'll let MER-C do it. upstateNYer 16:52, 30 May 2009 (UTC)
I don't know about another support, but if you dont close it, could you perhaps live MER-C a note about it? I don't think it should be considered because apart from a single previous pile on support, this is the user's first vote. The comment seems kinda lame and the timing fishy. --Muhammad(talk) 17:47, 30 May 2009 (UTC)
Would have preferred the nom stay open for Fir to reply as I had provided valid arguments --Muhammad(talk) 04:03, 1 June 2009 (UTC)
Looking into it. No more votes, but if his changes, I'll pass it. upstateNYer 04:13, 1 June 2009 (UTC)
Note. No change in votes; still no consensus. upstateNYer 20:48, 2 June 2009 (UTC)

re: Realization

Wow is right! Just motivates me more to get it to GA or FA status. New goal I'm setting for myself- get the article to GA status by the one year anniversary of that old edition you picked out, I think it was the way the article was on Aug 18, 2008. I changed to prose the museum list yesterday and hope to get the performing arts list done today. Then if I have time get started on the enrollment numbers for the list of schools article.Camelbinky (talk) 21:10, 30 May 2009 (UTC)

Vector

Hey UpstateNYer, are you online right now? ZooFari 06:32, 31 May 2009 (UTC)

Never mind,  Done. I made 2 version for you to decide at your desire.
Tyron and Saratoga were switched around to make the long lines shorter.
Let me know if you'd like me to modify anything (I want it to be perfect, since you mentioned something about FA above). ZooFari 07:32, 31 May 2009 (UTC)

I agree that the second is better. I will need some changes made once Camelbinky and I figure out exactly what we want. For one, we're going to add the incorporation dates below the names (smaller font size should be sufficient). Also, as noted below, there's a change that Camelbinky proposed due to the fact that one of the counties came from both Albany and Ulster counties. I guess you could begin working on those changes now if you'd like; almost all the dates are listed in the table in the section below. upstateNYer 17:21, 31 May 2009 (UTC)

Oh and just so you know, I requested deletion of the first one here (since it will never be used). Just FYI. upstateNYer 17:35, 31 May 2009 (UTC)

Deleting my picture

Edit 2, which I uploaded TODAY, has not had one single opinion. I propose that the picture stays there for at least a week. Also, what is the % of consensus to be premoted. Is it 75%? I am confident that if given a week, or even a half, that it will suceed. AndrewrpTally-ho! 20:53, 31 May 2009 (UTC)

67% is the current value needed to pass. I'll give it a few more days because of the new edit, but 7 is a bit extreme. Don't forget, the consensus has to be for one of them though, so past voters may want to update their votes to signify which version they prefer (i.e. you may want to leave a message to all voters to note the new addition). Also, have you considered telling the author about the nomination? I'm surprised he hasn't voted. Next time, feel free to bring up this issue with me; as you can see, a compromise can always be made. upstateNYer 21:23, 31 May 2009 (UTC)

In need of your mentorship

Hi,

I need help from an experienced Wikipedian, and I saw your name over at WP:ADOPT.

I need your advice concerning WP:WPOOK, which I've been coordinating. The set of pages the project concerns is listed at Portal:Contents/Outline of knowledge and Wikipedia:WikiProject Outline of knowledge#Projected outline, and has grown to about 500 articles in the encyclopedia.

The goals of the WikiProject are:

  1. Increase awareness of readers of the existence of the outlines on Wikipedia
  2. Complete the existing outlines
  3. Create an outline for every subject that is exensive enough to benefit from having an outline (core subjects and major or extensive fields). There are thousands of these.
  4. Recruit as many editors to work on these as possible (we need thousands of editors working on these)
  5. Surpass portals in number by the end of the summer, and leave them in the dust by the end of the year
  6. Get the major outline subject areas displayed on the Main Page (in place of or in addition to the portal links at the top of the page)
  7. Increase the OOK to higher quality than Britannica's Outline of Knowledge (published in its Propaedia volume).

I was hoping you could comment on how to achieve the goals above.

Also I'm interested in every possible way of reaching readers and editors of Wikipedia. How can I get the most eyes and typing fingers on Wikipedia's outlines? Contacting editors directly without a reason relevant to them is spam, which I'd like to avoid. There are 75,000 regular editors on Wikipedia, and I want to contact all of them. So how do I do it? Directly or indirectly, I don't care which, piecemeal or all-at-once, all methods are fine with me. But I've got to find ways. I need your help.

I would also like to know how to find or attract editors to create new outlines. And I need advice on finding editors to help write the new outline article mentioned above (it needs to be fleshed out, completely referenced, and brought to featured article status).

Can you recommend anyone in particular who might be interested in sinking their teeth into a project like this? Or ways to reach groups of editors? Or ways to reach all editors? I welcome any and all advice you might have.

I look forward to your reply on my talk page.

The Transhumanist 03:21, 1 June 2009 (UTC)

RE: For you...

Hey, I really appreciate that, what a surprise! Thank you for being so thoughtful, :-) Maedin\talk 07:09, 1 June 2009 (UTC)

Graphic Lab

Hey UpstateNYer. Here is the second one. It was one of my toughest vectorizations, but I was happy to vectorize this, as I learned many things as I was converting. How is it? Let me know if you'd like modifications. ZooFari 03:47, 2 June 2009 (UTC)

[3] upstateNYer 04:16, 2 June 2009 (UTC)
Next one done. ZooFari 23:47, 2 June 2009 (UTC)

UpstateNYer, thanks for adding images. Bearian (talk) 18:35, 2 June 2009 (UTC)

The Photographer's Barnstar
For creating and adding images to Cathedral of All Saints and other Capital District articles. Bearian (talk) 18:39, 2 June 2009 (UTC)
No problem; and Thank you upstateNYer 19:12, 2 June 2009 (UTC)

References and changes

http://books.google.com/books?id=R_zHwh4xByQC&printsec=frontcover&dq=new+york+gazetteer+1860&lr=&as_brr=1 best bet is to go to page 155 which begins the Albany County section, though looking at each county's section brings more in depth info. Three changes that I meant to make and that probably should be made to the new image if its not too late are that instead of Tryon being shown as a former county it should be shown as being the name of Montgomery prior to 1784 (and therefore Fulton and Otsego formed from Montgomery and not when it was named Tryon) and Charlotte was the name of Washington County prior to 1784 (and therefore Warren County formed from Washington in 1813 and not from when the name was Charlotte). This would eliminate the need for notation of "Former county in the Capital District". The third change is that Greene County should be moved over to the right side so that it can be something like this:

                   Albany                         Ulster
                     |                              |
                     +--+---------------+-----+     |
                        |               |     +--+--+
                 Tryon (Montgomery)     |        |   
                       |                |     Greene  
                 +-----+---+            |
                 |         |            |
              Fulton     Otsego         |
                           |            |
                           +------+-----+
                                  |
                               Schoharie

in order to show that Greene was a combination of area taken from Albany and Ulster (both were original counties) with Ulster given the notation of being a county today outside the Capital District like Otsego. Dates are: Albany (original county) 1683, Tryon (Montgomery) and Charlotte (Washington) both 1772, Columbia 1786, Rensselaer and Saratoga both 1791, Schoharie 1795, Greene 1800, Schenectady 1809, Warren 1813, Fulton 1838. Otsego 1791 from Montgomery and Ulster orginal county 1683. A disclaimer may be wanted that says to the effect that the table is only representing counties in the Capital District and does not represent EVERY county descended from the original Albany County. We can make a table that represents all those counties, but it would be a big table, every upstate county west and north of Ulster County.Camelbinky (talk) 13:52, 31 May 2009 (UTC)

I don't think ZooFari will have a problem updating. A couple things: Why don't we split Tryon (Montgomery) and Charlotte (Washington) so it's clear that one superseded the other. See my sketch below. Also, we'll need the years for Montgomery and Washington (when they superseded their predecessors). I also created a table with all the years. Double check that they're correct, so ZooFari can use them when he updates the image; fill in the blanks (****). Let me know what you think and I'll toss the honors back over to ZooFari. And the reference looks good; I added it to all the images. upstateNYer 17:17, 31 May 2009 (UTC)
                   Albany                         Ulster
                   1683                            1683
                     |                              |
                     +--+---------------+-----+     |
                        |               |     +--+--+
                      Tryon             |        |   
                       1772             |        |
                       |                |     Greene  
                   Montgomery           |      1800
                     1784               |
                 +-----+---+            |
                 |         |            |
              Fulton     Otsego         |
               1838       1791          |
                           |            |
                           +------+-----+
                                  |
                               Schoharie
                                 1795
Albany Schenectady Charlotte
(Washington)
Columbia Saratoga Rensselaer Tryon
(Montgomery)
Greene Warren Fulton Otsego Schoharie Ulster
1683 1809 1772 (1784) 1786 1791 1791 1772 (1784) 1800 1813 1838 1791 1795 1683
Looks great to me, I added the years for Montg., Wash., and Ulster. I cant think of any other changes that are needed. Let me know if there are any other issues or questions. Thank you alot for the professional table.Camelbinky (talk) 23:08, 31 May 2009 (UTC)
Dates added.
Alright, I've already added the dates as requested. I'm not sure what other changes you need, so you can summarize once both have figured the proposal. Anything else for now? ZooFari 00:05, 2 June 2009 (UTC)
Okay, it looks like we need Montgomery below Tryon, branching into Fulton and Otsego, and Washington below Charlotte and above Warren. See the sketch just above the table for how we want it. Move Greene County off to the right showing it was also made from Ulster. Ulster gets a ‡. There's a lot of dead space, so the legend (*, †, ‡) can have a larger font. Let me know if you have questions. upstateNYer 02:41, 3 June 2009 (UTC)
Alright, but let me give you my legend tip. Are you sure you want it larger? The legend usually stays smaller than the rest of the content, or can be made bigger but enclosed in a template box. Having it larger may be confusing and blend in with the other content. Just my 2 cents, let me know what you think. ZooFari 20:12, 3 June 2009 (UTC)
All good points. How about we make the legend font a bit bigger, but place in a box (how about the box has a very light gray fill—subtle—and no border). I'd like the text to all be readable in the article without having to worry about the wiki compiling the text looking weird because it's so small. upstateNYer 21:18, 3 June 2009 (UTC)
Okay. I got some of it done, but have one more question. Are you saying you want Washington in between Warren and Charlotte? ZooFari 22:23, 3 June 2009 (UTC)
Yes, sir. upstateNYer 22:31, 3 June 2009 (UTC)
How's that? I still need to add the additional, so I will go ahead and do that now. Let me know if it's okay so far :-) ZooFari 22:37, 3 June 2009 (UTC)
Make the box darker. Possibly #D3D3D3 or even a bit darker. upstateNYer 22:50, 3 June 2009 (UTC)
I can't seem to fit Ulster in there. Is that the only data that will be included? ZooFari 23:24, 3 June 2009 (UTC)
You can make the Ulster font the same as any other font (i.e. not Albany's) and just push it above the line that's already there (I'm okay with it not being, say, inline, with all the other lines and off to the left.). See what you can do and upload something. I'll let you know how it looks. And again → Thank you upstateNYer 03:23, 4 June 2009 (UTC)
What line are you referring to? ZooFari 03:28, 4 June 2009 (UTC)
There is also more space for a legend, not sure if that would be convenient though. ZooFari 03:47, 4 June 2009 (UTC)
The top line, under "Albany". Show me what you think I mean, and I'll let you know if that's what I meant. I think that's the only way to confirm. :-) upstateNYer 03:57, 4 June 2009 (UTC)
There is also this way, or something similar to that. ZooFari 04:05, 4 June 2009 (UTC)

Central Troy Historic District peer review

I just started this ... the guy from the city planning department who reviewed it emailed me that he loved it; it captured everything about downtown Troy. I have two of the Wikipedia Four already (started the article, got a DYK out of it); I think the other two will come easily. (And I did credit you for the improved pics. Daniel Case (talk) 06:32, 3 June 2009 (UTC)

Excellent! Good luck. And thanks for the shout out. Would you mind sharing that email with me? I'm interested in what he said. If not, nbd. upstateNYer 15:14, 4 June 2009 (UTC)

NYCD Climate chart

Per your suggestion I changed the table to a chart. Would like to know if it looks ok in that position. Will do the same at the Albany article as well.Camelbinky (talk)

Placement in both articles is fine. Do you like this version better? I do. upstateNYer 21:15, 3 June 2009 (UTC)
I like the type of chart it is over the table format that preceeded it, but wish it wasnt so big because it encroaches on the topic after it. Which is more a fault of the paragraph in the article section not being longer than it being an issue with the chart itself. When I get the time I'll do some research on the weather of the area and maybe fill up the section a little to match the length of the chart. Of course it could just be an issue of the size of my browser window and not everyone will be seeing the difference issue I'm seeing...Camelbinky (talk) 22:16, 3 June 2009 (UTC)
It is longer than the section, even with the small resolution of my laptop. But it doesn't seem to negatively affect images below it really. upstateNYer 22:34, 3 June 2009 (UTC)

Something interesting

I dont know if this would count as a reliable source as it ultimately is a forum, though I wonder if the fact that, in its own words, it is "articles written by international architects as they critique new designs and showcase research papers on contemporary issues in architecture", the particular "article" I am interested in using (if at all possible) is cited with references. It has alot of interesting ideas and puts the Empire State Plaza in a totally different light, calling the Empire State Plaza a "monument to democracy" is a unique perspective and could be a useful addition to the Empire State Plaza article. Plus it has interesting history of the selection and design of the ESP (much of which is not in the wikipedia article), I'm sure there are other sources with the same info, but it would be easier to take it from this source, if you think it is OK to use, since some of the sources in the "work cited" section on the webpage probably arent available online for easy reference.Camelbinky (talk) 05:37, 4 June 2009 (UTC)

Fascinating, definitely. But it's basically a blog and won't pass WP:V. I looked up some of the sources, and even amazon had never heard of a couple of them. Maybe they were locally-printed pamphlets or something? upstateNYer 15:13, 4 June 2009 (UTC)

...So, you're fine with reopening nominations and not striking the original votes now, so long as you're the one doing it. Shoemaker's Holiday (talk) 21:56, 4 June 2009 (UTC)

Completely different situations. Your situation was images that had already been closed and those closures were questioned by the community, and you reopened them—some of them a month later—as if they could continue as the same nom; obviously starting them over was the right call. This was a closure that the nominator immediately raised an issue about, which I questioned. Then I was asked nicely to reopen it for a valid reason (new edit), which is completely reasonable. Reasonable, civil, and mature editing will lead to reasonable, civil, and mature responses (golden rule). Had this user bantered me with accusations and attacks, I would not have responded so helpfully. upstateNYer 23:29, 4 June 2009 (UTC)

Albany County tree map

File:AlbanyCountyClarification.png
I was thinking something more like this

Okay, I updated the image with Ulster in it. Is that what you were talking about? ZooFari 23:22, 4 June 2009 (UTC)

And just in case you didn't see my post above, there is also this way, or something similar to that. ZooFari 23:23, 4 June 2009 (UTC)
I really like the second one (with the shading) but I fear that it makes it seem like Greene only came from Ulster. What if Greene is move all the way to the right and branched off separately, like in that last sketch? upstateNYer 23:31, 4 June 2009 (UTC)
If I branch it as you mentioned, it then would look isolated from Albany and seem more like it was made only by Ulster. Maybe the following suggestions?:
    • Overlap the shading
    • Keep shading as is, but remove Albany and Ulster titles and use them in the legend
    • Somehow specify it somewhere
I tried to think of ways, but just can't seem to get them straight. Maybe I'm understanding your way differently? ZooFari 23:44, 4 June 2009 (UTC)
See example. Know what I mean? upstateNYer 23:55, 4 June 2009 (UTC)
Ewww now you're talking! :-) I updated the image with the shading. How is that? If yes, do you want the shading in the legend as is (I don't think it is necessary, as they are obviously already labeled)?
Awesome. Drop the shading from the legend and use 90° corners for the legend. Drop the word "County" after Albany and Ulster (it's redundant and will save space after Ulster) and center "Ulster", its date, and the shading over the line. Then upload over the version that's in the article. I'll request the other versions are deleted from an admin at Commons. Looks great; thanks again for the help. upstateNYer 00:25, 5 June 2009 (UTC)
Okay! If you mentioned all the issues, then it is all done! Anything else? Also, you can now delete the old shaded version image (it was uploaded here at Wikipedia). ZooFari 00:36, 5 June 2009 (UTC)

Excellent, sir. As always, your vector skills are great and your help is greatly appreciated. Thanks so much for all the vector work you do for me. upstateNYer 00:40, 5 June 2009 (UTC)

You're very welcome, and thanks for your comments. And as always, feel free to make further requests without hesitation. Cheers, ZooFari 00:44, 5 June 2009 (UTC)
Hehe, pardon my Gramerr, Mr. Eagle who has wider eyes then me :-D ZooFari 00:55, 5 June 2009 (UTC)
its/it's and your/you're = two of my pet peeves ;-) upstateNYer 00:56, 5 June 2009 (UTC)

Hi

I just wanted to say that in my time at FPC (which, admittedly, is not as long as many others), I've never had a complaint about you. Indeed, I think you and MER-C do a great job. So, keep up the good work! Makeemlighter (talk) 06:39, 5 June 2009 (UTC)

Thank you and I'll try my best to minimize the drama. ;-) upstateNYer 06:43, 5 June 2009 (UTC)

Museums may give us low res pictures but keep the high res pictures

You doubt that museums and archives will give us material. It is possible to collaborate with them but they will invariably want to give the kind of quality that we got from the Bundesarchiv. They keep the high res pictures for reasons that are valid to them. It is exactly the featured pictures that opens the door to getting high resolution pictures.

I have talked to several museums. I know. Thanks, GerardM (talk) 06:15, 6 June 2009 (UTC)

No, I don't doubt that places of learning will offer us images; in fact I respect those doing such things and the users making the requests. I just question whether VP actually harms the process of asking for donations. I highly doubt that many—if any—donating group knows the background of all the "-pictures/images" projects that any wiki or Commons has. Doubtful that anybody sits them down and says, "Well, you could end up on the main page, but you may instead only make it on the main page of Commons, since the community at en:wiki may not like your images." You can't promise these outside sources that they'll end up on the Main Page because nobody can predict whether an FPC will pass or not. I find it a bit irresponsible to make promises one can't keep; I'm not saying users are doing that, but users should at least be truthful with those they're trying to persuade. Do you disagree with that? upstateNYer 07:45, 6 June 2009 (UTC)
"Places of learning" ?? Any way, This "valued picture" list is used as an argument not to consider historical material because it does not qualify the ideas of quality that make sense for digital images. Consequently "valued pictures" is used as an excuse to exclude them. The archives I have spoken to are showing an interest in providing high resolution, high quality images for restoration with the explicit idea that they have a chance of featuring on the main page. This makes sense to them because it demonstrates that they have a positive attitude to making their material available and it helps promote the notion that they need funding to maintain their collection because of their social and cultural relevance.
I can promise them that some pictures will be restored particularly when it is one of the restorationists who asks for a particular picture in hi res. The restorationist can put a picture forward as a featured picture candidate when done. And it has been the practice that such pictures feature. As the "valued picture" provides no material benefit, the only thing it does is provide an excuse to exclude pictures from being featured and as such it should be closed. Thanks, GerardM (talk) 06:35, 7 June 2009 (UTC)
Yes, places of learning: like schools, universities, museums, libraries, you know, where one goes to learn more about life and other subjects, which may hold the rights to many photographs..? But what this comes down to is my questioning of the negotiation process. Do you actually inform possible donors of all the "-image/picture" projects that exist at Commons or any given language Wikipedia? If you want donations, I doubt it. Do you tell them that their images may never actually make it to the main page because they could easily be shot down at the community-led process known as FPC? Commons has FP, VI, QI; en:wiki has FP and VP. That's 5 projects, only one of which makes it to the main page of en:wiki. What I'm saying is that selling an image repository solely on en:wiki main page glory is misleading and irresponsible; hell, they may only end up on the main page of es:wiki. There is no guarantee that any image will be elected as an FP at en:wiki, and therefore may never end up on the main page. See what I'm saying? You're welcome, upstateNYer 08:01, 7 June 2009 (UTC)

Graphic Lab

Hey UpstateNYer. I have now finished the last WH map. I'm sorry I kept you waiting, but as you can see, there are many situations going on in this encyclopedia. So anyways, how is that? Anymore modifications for the 4 of them? ZooFari 06:55, 6 June 2009 (UTC)

Architecture section

Ive started an architecture subsection of a "Cityscape" section on the Capital District page. Would love any suggestions on photos to include and any prose you can write, since with all the photos you have taken from Schenectady to Troy and inbetween you are probably close to an expert on CD architecture!Camelbinky (talk) 23:32, 6 June 2009 (UTC)

On an architecturally-related note- thought you might be interested in reading this if you have time, written by the president of the Albany Chamber of Commerce in 1919 encouraging Albanians to protest the location of the State Office Building that we today call the Alfred E. Smith State Office Building, which at this point in 1919 was originally proposed to be built where we now have Capitol Park West, so when he is protesting the State Office Building location he is actually protesting putting it where the park is today and not the current location across Swan Street. His proposal for a site is interesting and I find it fun to think of what Albany may have looked like if it had been done his way and how it might have impacted the Empire State Plaza over 50 years later.Camelbinky (talk) 01:16, 7 June 2009 (UTC)
I've added some info to the architecture section and put in one of your photos (at least I think it was yours) of some rowhouses on Fifth Ave. in Troy, three of the four buildings are brownstones so I thought it was the best photo to represent that style which is, in my opinion, one of the most important styles in the area.Camelbinky (talk) 21:52, 10 June 2009 (UTC)
Thanks for the credit, but that's Daniel Case's. As for the section, it looks good at quick glance. I don't really understand the head section title "Cityscape". I think we need to figure out something better/more descriptive. I'm gonna do a full read-over soon - I promise. No guarantees when though! :-) upstateNYer 04:14, 11 June 2009 (UTC)
Also, that image of St. Peter's is pretty bad, both before and after I tried to fix it. I would suggest picking a different church until a better photo can be added. I would suggest not using either of my images of the Cathedral of All Saints. They didn't come out all that well. Pick a random one for now; it doesn't really matter. upstateNYer 04:52, 11 June 2009 (UTC)
Cityscape seems to be the name preferred for city article sections on that type of info, it is in the FA article New York City dealing with architecture, parks, etc., it can also be found on Chicago and Los Angeles and was recommended to be created for the Albany, New York article in the failed FA nomination it went through long ago (and is still in the to-do box on the talk page). I've been, perhaps wrongly, basing this article as if it is on one REALLY large city (geographically speaking). Perhaps you can think of a better name than cityscape but that conveys the same meaning on a regional view. I'm still trying to expand the architecture section, but I cant find online sources describing the architecture of Schenectady for some reason but for Troy there are LOTS of online sources and I really dont want the section to be just about Albany and Troy. Wow you have high standards if you dont think the Cathedral photos were good! Dont be so hard on yourself, you'll go crazy, I would think its a hard location to get a good photo of since its surrounded by more dominating buildings.Camelbinky (talk) 05:46, 11 June 2009 (UTC)
I havent found any good photos of a place of worship for the Religion section yet will probably just use the First Church of Albany photo but in my opinion its been plastered around everywhere as it is. I'll be posting requests for some churches I know of that, in my opinion are quite beautiful, but unfortunately dont have an article, so I dont know if you want me to post my requests now or wait until I have time to make the articles. One of the things I plan on doing when getting back to Albany in a week from tomorrow is to hit up as many of the churches in the area and see what notable things I can find. If you are already putting St. Peter's on your list of places to take a photo of in order to replace the current photo could you see if you have time to go inside and take a photo of the floor, should be just as you enter (I'm not to big on church vocab, perhaps vestibule?) is a slab marking the spot where Lord Howe is buried, he is the only British lord buried in the United States and I think that would be beneficial to have a photo of. I would love for synagogues to have photos too but unfortunately other than the Reform temple in Troy, the orthodox temple in Troy, and the temple in Saratoga Springs (reform?) they arent exactly architecturally anything special, though I will need to get you coords for a former temple (today an Episcopal church? will have to look into that) in the Center Square neighborhood right next to ESP that I would like to request.Camelbinky (talk)
I tried taking a photo of St. Peter's, but it's (unfortunately) one of those buildings that you can't actually take a good photo without too much stuff in the way. Head on (from across State Street), there's a large tree in the way. From kitty corner, all you see is traffic lights in the way. Take the photo from too close, and you get the distortion that occurred in the image I tried to fix. I did get a couple new ones of Cathedral of All Saints, but one has a lot of blown whites because the sun was in the eye of the lens, unfortunately (I need to start getting over there earlier in the day). upstateNYer 05:21, 15 June 2009 (UTC)
Yea, I was actually down in Albany today looking for things I would want a photo of and noticed that same problem. I'm charging my new camera right now and hope I can take half-way decent shots of some places around here to be place holders until you or someone else gets better ones. There's a lot things that I wish had photos in their articles. BTW the little edit war on Albany is annoying, even though I personally like the old photo I support your side and recommend just ignoring the anon as a disruption unless actual signed up users comment that they agree that the old photo is better. The anon's comment calling you a "spammer" was over the line and I cant be on the same side with someone like that! Camelbinky (talk) 02:08, 21 June 2009 (UTC)

Re: Barnstar

Awesome, thanks! Also, good to see that you changed your sig back. ;) –Juliancolton | Talk 20:46, 10 June 2009 (UTC)

Re: Maybe

Sorry for creating too many sections (feel free to remove them) but just in case you didn't see this. I was able to vector it! Just need a reply ASAP (non-free image is orphaned). ZooFari 15:04, 11 June 2009 (UTC)

You were right, I wasn't watching your talk close enough. :-) I can't believe how good that came out. It's now in the article. Nicely done, once again! upstateNYer 17:43, 11 June 2009 (UTC)
Great! BTW, forgot to sign here. ZooFari 20:41, 11 June 2009 (UTC)
Damn, you're good at catching that. upstateNYer 20:44, 11 June 2009 (UTC)

Holocaust museum image

Thanks. I don't use Commons much, mainly because I never could get used to it. Don't know why, really...guess I'm just set in my ways. --User:AlbertHerring Io son l'orecchio e tu la bocca: parla! 01:39, 14 June 2009 (UTC)

Yea, understandable. Now the image is available to all the WMF projects. upstateNYer 03:04, 14 June 2009 (UTC)

School No. 6

If you have JavaScript enabled, it's here, at the state's page for these things. Daniel Case (talk) 20:40, 13 June 2009 (UTC)

Wow, that's really annoying. A pdf would be much better. Think they're making it all too difficult with the whole javascript thing. Thanks for the source, though. upstateNYer 21:08, 13 June 2009 (UTC)
What I suspect happened is that SHPO got a lot of money to digitize this in the late 1990s, before PDFs were widely used, when the technology was still proprietary. So they used this JavaScript based thing instead.

Meanwhile, while they were getting it online, PDFs became popular and widespread, but they'd already spent too much money to go back. And now that NPS is (supposedly) doing ti for them, why should they do it themselves? Of course, this does go faster and is a little easier to look up than PDFfocus. Daniel Case (talk) 02:57, 14 June 2009 (UTC)

Addendum: Which browser are you using? It looks best on my computer in Safari, but sometimes IE has a larger window, too. Daniel Case (talk) 02:58, 14 June 2009 (UTC)
I have a Mac, so naturally I use Safari. :-) I was able to make it into a pdf using the function in print that is standard with Macs. At first, I thought they made it so you couldn't do that (some, but very few, programs do that for copyright worries/reasons), but I was able to, so I'm able to read the pdf now, which is much better. upstateNYer 03:03, 14 June 2009 (UTC)
UpstateNYer, this might be of some interest- concerning that school it probably will be reprinted in the Record tomorrow, its one of the annoying things I dont like about the Record, they have a sharing agreement with the TU alot of stories will be printed in the TU and copied by the Record that same day or day later, and I hear that the Record does not keep their stories archived very long online like the TU does. Camelbinky (talk) 21:34, 13 June 2009 (UTC)
Just what I was looking for. Thanks. upstateNYer 23:54, 13 June 2009 (UTC)

OK, just looking at these quickly ... Generally we use the listing name in the nrhp infobox rather than any more common local name, even if the latter has been used for the article title. Also, the NRHP apps should have an author credit and date — they're in there; depending on the era in which the documents were written it may either be on the front page or very deep in. The usual format for NRHP noms tends to be descriptive stuff about the property first, then a break in which there's some more form stuff, sometimes with useful information like acreage of a property or historic district or a breakdown of property types and whether they're contributing or not, then a narrative "statement of significance" which gives the relevant local history, specific property history and should explain at some point what its historical importance is. Older apps, which are usually shorter, sometimes give this information in the middle; apps from around 1980 or so use the front page; then in the mid-80s they revert to the middle and finally more recent ones make you go all the way to the end.

Also, the publisher of record for these is not the NPS, it's the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. Daniel Case (talk) 02:44, 15 June 2009 (UTC)

As another rule I generally don't take pictures of the NRHP plaque ... they look pretty much the same on every property. Or any other historic indicators, unless they're relevant to the article (and there are copyright issues with non-federal ones, too). The interior pic you took for the Little Red Schoolhouse is much more relevant, and should probably be in the text and not a gallery. Daniel Case (talk) 02:49, 15 June 2009 (UTC)

Sorry I didn't realize you responded here. Thanks for the NPS→NYSOPRHP correction. I found the Garfield history to be absolutely fascinating (it was much more thorough than the LRSH one, which was unfortunately somewhat bare compared to it), as it was just the historical account I had been looking for for Brunswick Central School District[5]. I think I found the authors for both documents. One of them I know, and assume she filed the documentation. I do still have one question though: these are the applications for NRHP listing, right? Once signed, are they then considered the listing and no longer the application? I guess I expect to see a filing from either NPS or NYSOPRHP that is written (or at least reformatted with the same information) by them, making it more official and more of a statement, rather than a request. Know what I mean? upstateNYer 05:31, 15 June 2009 (UTC)
They're the applications (that's why you see that somewhat argumentative tone sometimes). What makes it official is when they announce it in the Federal Register (and on the NRHP website every Friday). That's when they give it a number and officially put it on the list. Daniel Case (talk) 07:15, 15 June 2009 (UTC)

Anonymous votes/comments disregarded

Hi, i checked out, to be sure, about anonymous votes being disregarded per our discussion at the valued pictures MFD. See this discussion and Wikipedia:Guide to deletion#Discussion. Basically this should never be the case. Not in deletion discussions at least. I also saw that you were an admin, so "welcome to the real world" :) and do take anonymous comments into account when closing discussions. Garion96 (talk) 17:54, 14 June 2009 (UTC)

That comment was meant to refer to FPC discussions. We don't take IP votes into account; it's just our way of doing things. It makes sense though: our population is low, so a couple (sock) IP votes could end up swaying a nom in either direction. I assumed (wrongly) that this applied everywhere (except for AfD or PROD, namely because many defenders there are IPs). I might be an admin, but my role as an admin is mainly to work with images and files; you'll note I have yet to close an AfD or MfD, and most likely won't any time soon (they bore me). I always read up before I make an admin action, which is why I do mostly image work: because I know it, and it interests me. upstateNYer 19:04, 14 June 2009 (UTC)

Closures

If you aren't too busy there are a few FPC noms sitting at pretty close to two weeks old. Noodle snacks (talk) 02:32, 15 June 2009 (UTC)

Yea, sorry about that. This past week was really busy and this weekend was filled with bbqs and late-night parties. I'll do a few later tonight. upstateNYer 03:11, 15 June 2009 (UTC)
Its cool, cheers. Noodle snacks (talk) 03:22, 15 June 2009 (UTC)
 Done upstateNYer 05:08, 15 June 2009 (UTC)

FPC of Hawaii bathymetry

You commented on my nomination at Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates/Hawaii Bathymetry, I have made changes to the image and would appreciate a revisit as the nomination is closing soon. Thanks. --ErgoSumtalktrib 23:16, 16 June 2009 (UTC)

Yea, I don't usually vote any more because I close the noms. COI, you see. But thanks for the heads up. upstateNYer 23:42, 16 June 2009 (UTC)

Recent closures

Looks like you forgot to add "promoted" or "not promoted" to these two: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Featured_picture_candidates/File:Erigeron_Glaucus.jpg and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Featured_picture_candidates/File:Echeveria_Blue_Curl.jpg Makeemlighter (talk) 05:32, 17 June 2009 (UTC)

Thank you. upstateNYer 05:38, 17 June 2009 (UTC)

Another pic

My original pic of the Fire Alarm, Telegraph and Police Signaling Building in Troy (on State Street maybe a block or two west of the current police HQ building) was the wrong building. If you could get this, I'll finish the article. Daniel Case (talk) 03:08, 15 June 2009 (UTC)

The coordinates in the article place it right next to the County Office Building, which is a block east of the current police station. There is an old building there (the coordinates are in the middle of the street, so I'm too sure where the intended placement is), which could be it—though I think that was a courthouse or something (can't remember precisely). Otherwise, mind being a bit more specific in what the building looks like? I can't picture it. upstateNYer 03:37, 15 June 2009 (UTC)
I meant east. In the morning I'll give you the link to the picture files (using that same JS viewer) at the NYSOPRHP site so you know which building it is. Daniel Case (talk) 07:13, 15 June 2009 (UTC)
They're here. Daniel Case (talk) 13:49, 15 June 2009 (UTC)
On it. upstateNYer 14:22, 15 June 2009 (UTC)
It's done. Thanks a lot!

Hey, while I have you, what do you think of this panorama I took in the Middle East? I did some different things while editing it, and as a result it's less noisy than most of my images. Think it has any potential for recognition? Daniel Case (talk) 01:52, 19 June 2009 (UTC)

Looks good. Won't meet FP, but go for VPC. I'd vote for it (and will, if not enough votes are found). Much of the image is riddled with JPEG artifacts, which is quite alright at VP. I didn't notice any stitching errors. What software did you use to stitch with? When were you in the Middle East - I want to travel!!! upstateNYer 04:29, 19 June 2009 (UTC)
BTW, thank you for supporting me at Commons. upstateNYer 04:32, 19 June 2009 (UTC)
Yeah, I thought it had a lot of artifacts. I usually do my stitching in Photoshop. As you can see, that was back in April (usually the best time to go there, although the haze in the distance over the sea of galilee is more common then, and I wish you could see it more clearly. Daniel Case (talk) 13:57, 20 June 2009 (UTC)

Hey UpstateNYer. Is that what's supposed to be done? I haven't read the procedures... ZooFari 05:42, 19 June 2009 (UTC)

Not as of yet. There will be a strict set of rules updated here when consensus is met in all realms. Will let you know; if you're up to it, your comments will be appreciated. upstateNYer 05:45, 19 June 2009 (UTC)
Ah. I finished the vector and voted on your rfa ;-) ZooFari 06:00, 19 June 2009 (UTC)
You are too efficient; you make the rest of us look bad! upstateNYer 06:04, 19 June 2009 (UTC)
Hey UpstateNYer, I went back to the logo and saw that the bottom left corner has the circle cut off. I did a hard-edge trace so it came out exactly like the raster. Do you want it like that or do you want me to fix it? ZooFari 16:48, 19 June 2009 (UTC)
The fix would be appreciated. upstateNYer 16:55, 19 June 2009 (UTC)
Fixed. Let me know if you need anything else... ZooFari 17:19, 19 June 2009 (UTC)

JFK Closure

Hey. Looks like you closed http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Featured_picture_candidates/Two_JFKs_For_Father%27s_Day and then someone removed your "Not Promoted." Not sure what to do about that...take a look. Makeemlighter (talk) 23:46, 19 June 2009 (UTC)

Thanks for the heads up. Looks like ZooFari correctly reverted that edit. upstateNYer 02:23, 20 June 2009 (UTC)

Commons adminship possibilities

What I told Julian. Daniel Case (talk) 14:26, 20 June 2009 (UTC)

Thanks

Thanks for the rollback permission. I've wanted to use Huggle for awhile now. Hintswen  Talk | Contribs  04:09, 23 June 2009 (UTC)

May the force be with you. :) upstateNYer 04:19, 23 June 2009 (UTC)

Photos

Sorry for not responding promptly. You asked, at my Talk page: "Thanks for adding that link. But when I go to it, there's only 2 images, not 13. Where are the rest? upstateNYer 14:16, 17 June 2009 (UTC)"

They're all there. You have to hit page down, i think, to get to the next page, if using Firefox (which only gives you a one inch tall window. The NYS documents system is apparently tuned for Microsoft Internet Explorer browsers, so it should look better there, but you may have to hit pagedown there too. There are 14 pages: 2 photos, then two corresponding descriptions (probably the backs of the photos), 2 more, etc. Let me know if this doesn't work now for you. It's important for you to be able to access the NRHP documents. doncram (talk) 08:08, 23 June 2009 (UTC)
Or, alternatively, you could select the print option and print the document to paper or to a PDF file. I use the free PDF995 pdf-writer software, which works as a printer you select, but prints to a file instead. It will print the whole file, all pages, and then you can read it more conveniently relative to using their slow, klunky interface. doncram (talk) 08:11, 23 June 2009 (UTC)
Wow, yea that was stupid of me. Works fine in Safari. Printing to PDF is what I've been doing since that java program is so clunky. upstateNYer 08:36, 23 June 2009 (UTC)

FP

It's OK - no need to apologize. Not your fault something went...strange, if you will. Thanks for the props on the other articles - it's always "nice" (not the best word, perhaps, but I can't think of any other) to see my hometown make it into the national press for something that isn't related to politics. Reminds me that we are, in the end, a real city, with real-city issues, and that sort of thing.

Speaking of the other articles...do you have any experience getting permission from Flickr users to upload their photos? There were some interesting ones I found in a quick search that could be used to illustrate both articles, but I'm not sure of the best way to go about asking permission. I'm going to try to get a picture of one of the service advisory signs today, but that's the best I can do myself. --User:AlbertHerring Io son l'orecchio e tu la bocca: parla! 13:39, 23 June 2009 (UTC)

I typically keep an eye on some DC articles; I went to GW for four years. As for Flickr, if the images are licensed CC-BY (for example) or CC-BY-SA (for example), then you don't need permission; you just need to correctly attribute the author (for example). If it's an image that's not freely licensed, I sometimes send a private message to the user stating my case, usually including something persuasive like "thousands of people per day will see this image". If they give it to you, I typically post a message on the page of the image stating that it's used on Wikipedia, with a link to the main article it's found in, and thank the person for freely licensing their images (for example). Lots will turn you down, but some will be pleasantly surprised (and outright flattered) and be happy to relicense their image. It's always worth a shot. Let me know if you have any other questions. upstateNYer 14:46, 23 June 2009 (UTC)

Hey UpstateNYer. Do you think you can restore this? The scratches are a nono for the article. Nice work on your previous restorations :-) ZooFari 17:06, 23 June 2009 (UTC)

Also, is there Twinkle at Commons? ZooFari 18:16, 23 June 2009 (UTC)
I don't think so. See if there's anything similar at Special:Preferences. upstateNYer 20:19, 23 June 2009 (UTC)
I thought so, Commons is quite different from here. Anyways, are you able to restore it? Feel free to say no, I can always request at GL. ZooFari 03:10, 24 June 2009 (UTC)
I can, but I'll need some time to do so. upstateNYer 03:57, 24 June 2009 (UTC)
There is a beta: commons:Commons:Twinkle Noodle snacks (talk) 03:38, 24 June 2009 (UTC)
I pasted it in my monobook sometime ago but doesn't appear. Maybe it's still under development... ZooFari 03:45, 24 June 2009 (UTC)

DYK for Little Red Schoolhouse (Brunswick, New York)

Updated DYK query On June 24, 2009, Did you know? was updated with a fact from the article Little Red Schoolhouse (Brunswick, New York), which you created or substantially expanded. If you know of another interesting fact from a recently created article, then please suggest it on the Did you know? talk page.

BorgQueen (talk) 20:36, 24 June 2009 (UTC)

Since the talk page is even getting edit conflicted...

In addition to sourcing this, this story seems to have a good amount of facts to sum his death and background up. This addition of mine is released into the public domain, could you please please add it to the 2008-09 section (since it is protected right now): Although there is no evidence of criminality, Los Angeles Police Department detectives have opened an investigation into his death.[1] Hello32020 (talk) 23:45, 25 June 2009 (UTC)

Unprotected now. Have at it. upstateNYer 23:55, 25 June 2009 (UTC)

Re at Commons & GL

Go for it! Also made a re at GL (hopefully that's what you were looking for). ZooFari 00:39, 26 June 2009 (UTC)

Full protecting an article so you can make edits to it is completely unacceptable

That behavior on the Micheal Jackson page was utterly inappropriate. Titanium Dragon (talk) 23:58, 25 June 2009 (UTC)

Yea, I figured somebody would say something. It was a necessary evil and somebody had to step up and do it. Some major updates needed to be made (relative to what was there). I updated the content, made sure it was well-written, cited it correctly. It was protected for 8 minutes - eight minutes. It had previously been fully protected for an hour and 17 minutes. Sorry, but it needed to be done. upstateNYer 00:18, 26 June 2009 (UTC)
Jackson dies today, maybe it should stay protected for the day... ZooFari 00:43, 26 June 2009 (UTC)
Oh wait, it already is. ZooFari 00:45, 26 June 2009 (UTC)
BTW, I noticed you linked dates in the references. They shouldn't be... Dabomb87 (talk) 01:40, 26 June 2009 (UTC)
I prefer that because it formats the references. I don't feel it's that big of a deal, do you? upstateNYer 01:42, 26 June 2009 (UTC)
Considering most readers don't see that consistency, linking dates for autoformatting is deprecated, and none of the other dates are linked or formatted that way, yes it does bother me (to be blunt). Dabomb87 (talk) 01:44, 26 June 2009 (UTC)
K, I'll change it; I just hate that {{Cite}} doesn't format the dates... upstateNYer 01:47, 26 June 2009 (UTC)
You should've prepared the content in your userspace first... –xenotalk 12:51, 26 June 2009 (UTC)
I did. That wasn't the issue. The issue was the multitude of edit conflicts over the 20 minute period I kept trying to revise the information and sources. Something had to be done. Unfortunately by the time I protected, the text had gone from my clipboard. No sense in unprotecting 4 seconds after just to protect again in 3 minutes. But that didn't really matter: the article was full protected for the rest of the night anyway. upstateNYer 15:01, 26 June 2009 (UTC)

Hi, per these[6][7] it would be a good idea to review Wikipedia:Requests for arbitration/Sarah Palin protection wheel war. The Committee admonished an administrator for wheel warring because he repeatedly changed the protection level on a page against consensus. DurovaCharge! 16:51, 26 June 2009 (UTC)

Thanks, but I didn't wheelwar. I changed the protection of the page three legitimate times (one more time was an oops). This wasn't against consensus and I didn't set it to the full protection that lasted most of last night (though I supported it; see here). I did remove the full protection at around midnight (EDT), since edits to the talk page had lessened, and per what was actually much of a consensus on the talk page (until the move was made, when others complained about that). In fact it turned out well since it was late and few users were editing (compared to before) and much relevant information was added (in addition to spelling/grammar mistakes fixed, tenses fixed, etc - things that as a a single sysop, I was not going to be able to do alone). I would have been in favor of full protection again this morning, when America woke up, but I took no part in anything like that. upstateNYer 20:45, 26 June 2009 (UTC)
This bears repeating: repeatedly changing the protection level of an article against consensus does constitute wheel warring, according to the cited arbitration decision. The administrator who was admonished for doing so has subsequently resigned all ops and been indefinitely blocked due to other problems. Whatever our differences in other matters, I wouldn't want to see you head down that path. Had something to do with his subsequent stuff, which brought this to mind. Best wishes: being a new adminstrator can be tough. DurovaCharge! 02:10, 27 June 2009 (UTC)
I do legitimately appreciate the feedback, but like I said in the cited section at the talk page, it had all to do with making the encyclopedia better. It was about making sure it was correct at a time it needed to be, when millions were viewing information that needed to be correct. upstateNYer 08:25, 27 June 2009 (UTC)

DYK for Garfield School

Updated DYK query On June 27, 2009, Did you know? was updated with a fact from the article Garfield School, which you created or substantially expanded. If you know of another interesting fact from a recently created article, then please suggest it on the Did you know? talk page.

Wizardman 20:35, 27 June 2009 (UTC)

More Albany NRHP listings coming

UpstateNYer,

In my current run up the Hudson Valley from one day last August that I've been developing articles from for the last month, I have finally reached the ones in Albany I told you I'd be reaching. They're all downtown; some of them (Downtown Albany Historic District, Palace Theatre and Clinton Avenue Historic District) are ones we already have articles but lack photos for. That saves me some work; I can just upload the pics and expand the articles instead from their NRHP noms (although I can no longer use Safari because the new version crashes when you open the JavaScript).

I might take a short break and work on some non-NRHP articles for a bit, then get back to this tomorrow. I will be starting with Quackenbush Pumping House, for which I've already uploaded a pic. It's now the Albany Pump House brewpub/restaurant, and that's what we'll be calling the article (Speaking of which, I bet you could get a good pic of the nearby Quackenbush House at 683 Broadway. We shouldn't be letting that old HABS one keep doing it for us).

Also, take a look at Kinderhook Village District, which I recently finished. Sort of on the borderline between CD and HV, but you if you get down there eventually and can get pics of some of the named buildings in it (the van schaack and Schermerhorn houses especially), that could spice it up a bit. Daniel Case (talk) 19:57, 28 June 2009 (UTC)

Will get back to you when I get any of them; hopefully will trek down to Albany this week. On an unrelated note, I need a good lead for Manor of Rensselaerswyck, which just got a large addition to it, and should hit DYK in a few days. You've got the knack, which I don't, as proven here. Would you mind having a look? :-) upstateNYer 06:03, 29 June 2009 (UTC)
Oh and I have this, which I think outweighs this, unless you're in love with the angle and the fact that Broadway and State are in view. I did try taking a panorama of the whole building, but it didn't work out (only clear view is too close, so the extreme right and left get stretched to much to be indistinguishable). upstateNYer 06:07, 29 June 2009 (UTC)
Yeah, yours is better. That tower's a symbol of the city, really, so we need to focus on it. Daniel Case (talk) 05:33, 30 June 2009 (UTC)

Hey Daniel, I was in Albany today, but didn't know what to photograph. The Clinton Ave Historic District is not very specific. Care to give me an idea? Same for Downtown one; where would you like the photo, looking up State Street? I'm gonna have to try to get a replacement for St. Peter's and St. Mary's, but they are difficult to photograph because of all the power lines, traffic lights, cars, etc. upstateNYer 21:30, 29 June 2009 (UTC)

I have the photos for Downtown and Clinton Avenue; when I write the articles, you can look at them and get an idea where to shoot if you want to improve. Daniel Case (talk) 05:32, 30 June 2009 (UTC)

The demonym

Hi. This is regarding the DYK thread. My point was that such links point to the country, not to the demonym (it's not the ethnicity that is being discussed), and ancestry is even less relevant (it's not like going through the man's genealogical tree). The link you mention has a purpose there, and wherever this specific nuance is discussed, but hardly necessary in simpler cases like this one. What's generally used is "American" (as in "[[United States|American]]"). Cheers, Dahn (talk) 00:58, 29 June 2009 (UTC)

Yea you're probably right. I was trying to stick with what they did there, which is what I thought was correct. Nbd. upstateNYer 04:04, 29 June 2009 (UTC)

Thanks

If you're willing to apologise, I'm willing to delete the statements. Feel free to delete that thread as well. Shoemaker's Holiday (talk) 17:32, 29 June 2009 (UTC)

Thank you; you can leave the thread as is if you want. upstateNYer 17:38, 29 June 2009 (UTC)

Oh common

Sorry for the "grinding" tone... but I really can't see why this one failed VP promotion. It practically passed FP promotion a couple months ago and no one raised any concerns with it. Seems like a classic case of good judgement to promote it even if it doesn't have 4 votes.
With respect, JaakobouChalk Talk 08:59, 29 June 2009 (UTC)
p.s. if you're interested in future PS retouching help on stuff like the Nott Memorial, let me know. :) JaakobouChalk Talk 09:03, 29 June 2009 (UTC)

I really wanted to pass that, trust me. I feel that image pretty much defines a "valued picture". But I can't go against consensus (it's common to count a "weak" vote as 0.5, but not to count a "strong" one as 1.5). Sorry :-( upstateNYer 17:06, 29 June 2009 (UTC)
Consensus was to promote actually. That's what I'm saying really. Just because not enough people voted doesn't mean that it shouldn't pass. This is not a case where I'm the only voter and people shied away from voting. Its more that there's little participation in that page and an old president from a hundred years ago is not interesting enough to load his full image (quite big since it ran for FP) and cast a vote. I think you should reconsider, honestly - either allow it to run a bit longer or just pass it. Currently, it's got 3 supports counting my own and, actually, you haven't voted. You already noted you believe it fits the bill... I'm really surprised that no one said anything bad and it suddenly gets rejected.
Warm regards, JaakobouChalk Talk 20:32, 29 June 2009 (UTC)
Lack of votes=lack of interest, which equals no promotion. Feel free to nominate again though. ZooFari 20:40, 29 June 2009 (UTC)
ZooFari, I'm sorry to lead you on, but I don't have the time currently to do that restoration you requested. Sorry. :-( upstateNYer 21:15, 29 June 2009 (UTC)
Maybe you should propose lowering the number of supports to three. Consensus must be clear but the minimum must be met. I don't vote because I close (doing both is bad form, unless it make no overall difference to consensus or vote mins). I completely forgot about VPC for a while (busy last week) and it seems the nom was open for 2 weeks. upstateNYer 21:15, 29 June 2009 (UTC)
Ok. I gave if a fair bid.. may raise it again for voting after I let the old voting acquire a bit of dust. JaakobouChalk Talk 23:54, 1 July 2009 (UTC)

"G-d thanks Wikipedia admin! Say's He's a big fan!"

I loved your edit summary on St. Peter's Episcopal Church. Thank you for the replacement image for the church on State Street, I know how difficult it was to find a good angle and that you must've spent quite a bit of time. So, since G-d probably is not a Wikipedia user (but if he was I'm confident he'd be a Capital District Wikiproject member), I thank you for Him.Camelbinky (talk) 20:45, 30 June 2009 (UTC)

A penny for your thoughts? or 20 dolla make ya holla

Do you think this image would be a good FP candidate? Also, I was looking at Wikipedia:Valued pictures and wanted your opinion on these images (the latter is noteworthy because the entire neighborhood was razed in the 1950s/60s) Gracias. APK coffee talk 16:09, 1 July 2009 (UTC)

I would say the horses are not detailed (crisp) enough and its EV is debatable (a bunch of horses on a beach). The EV they'd be on the lookout for would be a whole and complete shot of a single horse, unless they were naturally traveling in a pack or something.
As for VP, every user seems to have their own interpretation of the criteria. I usually see "value" meaning that an image is used well in many articles (like this or this). Here's an example user criteria. I really like the Arboretum photo and always have. Incidentally, I corrected the distortion from the camera and straightened up the columns (revert if you don't like). I would nominate that. I think for the store in SW, you won't get much response mainly because most people can't relate. I see your claim of value since it's been razed, but what does it show? I thought of this, but it doesn't make any statement like that; it's just a street scene. I don't think you'd get enough response at VP. FP might be an option, but before you do that, let me take a crack at make the colors a bit better.
20 dolla holla, please. upstateNYer 14:36, 2 July 2009 (UTC)
Thanks for the input and for tweaking the image. APK coffee talk 16:13, 2 July 2009 (UTC)

Delete this

Delete this please!. I'll try to finish the graphic today. It is kind of hard to tell what is supposed to be black and white. ZooFari 18:43, 2 July 2009 (UTC)

 Done upstateNYer 18:47, 2 July 2009 (UTC)
Thank you, and request done, see my talk! ZooFari 03:15, 3 July 2009 (UTC)
Okay, fixed for now, but I might modify it later because the file size went larger than needed. I'm out of town right now so I might not respond until I find another Internet source. Let me know if that works for you. ZooFari 21:39, 3 July 2009 (UTC)

Recently Closed FPCs

This http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Featured_picture_candidates/File:Flesh_fly_concentrating_food.jpg is in Recently Closed Noms with no closing statement. Makeemlighter (talk) 02:37, 3 July 2009 (UTC)

Thank you; you are completely correct (must have missed that one..). All fixed now! upstateNYer 05:59, 3 July 2009 (UTC)

Palace Theatre pic

No problem. I figured you'd eventually improve on that one ... I had cut off the chimney, in any event, and yours shows more of the front facade (I would have gotten that angle, but I was pressed for time at the time ... had four more historic districts to take representative photos of and it was getting late). Daniel Case (talk) 04:50, 4 July 2009 (UTC)

Image in signature

Hi there. I don't want to dampen your euphoria for the US national holiday but I think you should remove the image from your signature. WP:SIG#Images clearly forbids such use and as an admin, imho you need to be an example to other users. Regards SoWhy 10:15, 4 July 2009 (UTC)

wow

What an epic userpage! –Juliancolton | Talk 19:16, 4 July 2009 (UTC)

DYK for Manor of Rensselaerswyck

Updated DYK query On July 4, 2009, Did you know? was updated with a fact from the article Manor of Rensselaerswyck, which you created or substantially expanded. You are welcome to check how many hits your article got while on the front page (here's how) and add it to DYKSTATS if it got over 5,000. If you know of another interesting fact from a recently created article, then please suggest it on the Did you know? talk page.

rʨanaɢ talk/contribs 20:49, 4 July 2009 (UTC)

Corrected your user page

Change the US being 233 and not 223 years old on your user page. Chris (talk) 21:23, 4 July 2009 (UTC)

And to think I went to school for engineering. Thank you upstateNYer 00:12, 5 July 2009 (UTC)

Ottava Rima at WQA

Hi, since you're somewhat slightly involved in reviewing the FP nomination of Ottava Rima (talk · contribs), could you voice your input at Wikipedia:Wikiquette_alerts#User:Ottava Rima - Incivility and disruptive threats? I've tried to help the user, all I've got from the user is threats with dreadful languages, and harassment with inappropriate behavior. I feel very absurd that my good faith intention to help him is betrayed like that. However, since object eyes are welcome, your input would be appreciated. Thanks.--Caspian blue 03:19, 1 July 2009 (UTC)


By the way, I reduced the size of the images, which was what I thought someone was going to do based on what you were saying about size. I tried the gallery option in preview and it caused some bad formatting like some of my earlier attempts. Ottava Rima (talk) 14:14, 1 July 2009 (UTC)

Thanks for your patience. It was getting a little rough with everyone suggesting every formatting change. It was frustrating to put up the original formatting (you can see the history to witness the various trials for that) and the later problems, well... If it was possible, I would just link to the images and not display in order to avoid all of that messy stuff. :) Ottava Rima (talk) 14:50, 6 July 2009 (UTC)

Independence day

Hey UpstateNYer, hope your 4 day went well :-). Out of curiosity, how is New York? Las Vegas is filled with smog, and you can barely see the casinos. My hands are all burned :(, so I am having a hard time typing. I like the description on your page, very epic and generous of your country. So anyways, here is your next target, I won't be needing that till next year :). Cheers, ZooFari 07:19, 5 July 2009 (UTC)

 Done Thankfully, the weather wasn't rainy like it's been all week. But it was cold. Most of us were wearing jeans and sweatshirts. But it was fun and I got some great photos of fireworks! upstateNYer 15:51, 5 July 2009 (UTC)
Well luckily you don't live over here, it is like an oven. Sweet pics! ZooFari 18:15, 5 July 2009 (UTC)

Since you asked me a while ago if there were any pics you could get for this one, here's a few contributing properties that leapt out of the nom while I was researching the article expansion, some of which are mentioned in the text:

  • 3–5 Clinton Place. The oldest rowhouses in the district, one of which was Herman Melville's home for the year after his whaling voyages. This one we must have.
  • 69, 73 and 75 Clinton Avenue. The doorways and their high Greek Revival-style surrounds. Best illustration of that style in the district.
  • 163 Clinton Avenue. Former School No. 7
  • 168 Clinton Avenue. Queen Anne Style rowhouse with projecting gabled pavilion.
  • 252–70 Clinton Avenue. Unbroken row of 11 Italianate units with bracketed cornices.
  • Hope Baptist Church, west end of McPherson Place. Most notable Romanesque building in the district.
  • 222 North Pearl Street. Former police station now used as an office.
  • Old St. Luke's Church, Gothic-style building at Clinton and Lexington.
  • Urban blight, somewhere in the district. The Times-Union article I used as a source mentions some houses that no longer even have stoops anymore; we should get one of those. Graffitti and boarded windows wouldn't hurt either.

(As the last entry suggests, and as I recall from my own brief visit, this neighborhood has not been gentrified yet. Try not to look too suspicious walking around, and if someone asks you what you're taking pictures of, tell them the truth. Even if they then tell you to get the hell out).

We should also see if the historical society and/or library has any historic pics of the area we could use, showing it as it was getting built up (and especially one with the horsecar). I have a good feeling about this article. Daniel Case (talk) 21:21, 6 July 2009 (UTC)

Gentrification; new word for me, and very interesting root. I'll do what I can. I'll see if I can do anything about old photos; I'm currently trying to work the Rensselaer County Historical Society into releasing photos, in addition to my local town HS, but it's really difficult. They're all run by non-computer (let alone Internet) savvy people who are either ignorant or have no idea what I'm talking about. Needless to say, they have little knowledge of copyright and when I ask for a certain image (one in PD), they respond with, "I have to check with the owner who donated it to see if it's ok." These are images that are typically printed in those "History of Local Areas" books (one for each town) and are therefore published. I could scan those without request, but they're not the full size and restoring them would be pointless. But they get annoyed that people are using their photos online (most notably, the old one from Forest Park Cemetery, which you can see here under "About Me"). So now that image has been been published, there are no longer rights to the image... by anybody! But you can't just threaten a potential donor, even if you'd like to go over the whole US Code on copyright with them. Regardless, I'll do what I can. You got me going..! upstateNYer 22:33, 6 July 2009 (UTC)
Actually, I have this: upstateNYer 22:45, 6 July 2009 (UTC)

Nice. I put it in. I'd seen it (the photo) before and didn't know it was the same place.

Your experience getting photos donated is one of the reasons we have local Foundation chapters. At the conference in Berlin I was at a discussion of exactly this issue. Most of the European chapters have to do a lot of persuading with their governments because that "government work = PD" rule is a US-only thing, and talking to Europeans about their content-release issues really makes you appreciate this as an American even more.

Perhaps when we really get things rolling with the NYC chapter we can make this sort of thing easier. There's a photo I found in one PDF I used as a source for Downtown Cohoes Historic District (my next one for PR, once I get a new map for it as well) that I want to use but can't since I don't know how old it is. Maybe you can help on that one, too ... Daniel Case (talk) 02:21, 7 July 2009 (UTC)

Agreed; though it would still be nice if all state, county, and town works had to be in PD too. That annoys the piss out of me sometimes. I'll look into that photo; I assume you mean the postcard on the cover of the document? upstateNYer 06:32, 7 July 2009 (UTC)

Okay, here the are:

A few things:

  • 69 Clinton Ave doesn't exist; 69 and 71 are empty lots. But I got 67 and 65 just in case.
  • 252-70 Clinton Ave has an empty lot between the ends; I counted 10 buildings (but the lot is bigger than one building, but smaller than 2...)
  • Not sure if I got Hope Baptist Church. See coords; I'm not sure where McPherson Place is. If it's not the right place, mind fixing the image page description? The church itself didn't have the name listed on it.
  • I saw literally no graffiti. Anywhere. Even on side streets. But I did see some stoopless rowhouses.

Bit of a depressing day; enjoy. upstateNYer 00:58, 8 July 2009 (UTC)

Wow! Good work! I didn't expect it all back so soon! I see you put it all in the new category, too! Thanks for that! I'm busy today, so I may not be able to put it in the article yet.

Sorry about the vacant lots ... since the application dates to 1988, there are bound to have been changes. But not really sorry about the absence of urban blight to the extent I have seen it in Newburgh. Much better for the people who live there. Daniel Case (talk) 12:34, 8 July 2009 (UTC)

You are invited to participate in an interesting discussion at Wikipedia talk:Image use policy#File:Man Utd FC .svg. Your comments & suggestions are very much appreciated Arteyu ? Blame it on me ! 09:02, 8 July 2009 (UTC)

Commonscat

Hey. FWIW, instead of using {{commons|Category:X, New York}} you could simply use {{commonscat}}. Not a big deal, but it's more convenient. –Juliancolton | Talk 06:10, 7 July 2009 (UTC)

Bleh, and I ignored the "new message" bar until I finished all of Rensselaer and Albany counties. Will remember that in the future. upstateNYer 06:30, 7 July 2009 (UTC)
You can also consider AWB to add these rapidly. ZooFari 18:56, 8 July 2009 (UTC)
Win-doze only; call me a purist. :-) upstateNYer 19:37, 8 July 2009 (UTC)

Re:To our newest Rollbacker

Thanks for showing trust on me. I understand that rollback is only for use against obvious vandalism. I will use this right sensibly . --TalhaDiscuss © 17:51, 8 July 2009 (UTC)

Done

Done. I kept the greys, but correct me if I did it wrong. I aligned them as you said and used arial bold for all the text. There are some scribbles at the bottom right of the graphic, and it looks like hand-written words. If you know what it reads, I may be able to make it more comprehendible. If the svg is okay with you, I'll make the red version you requested. ZooFari 05:31, 9 July 2009 (UTC)

The "Quality Life" part seems to be hiding behind one of the borders (only figured that out when I clicked on the image and it rendered in my browser). The "Brittonkill Central" doesn't seem to be centered between the circles. Also, can everything that's grey be changed to black? And if that causes overlaps, there needs to be white lines that separate them. The scribbles should read: "Halse '85". Thank you! upstateNYer 05:44, 9 July 2009 (UTC)
Well that's odd. I'll have everything fixed tomorrow. Need some sleep now, but let me know about any other issues in the meantime. G'night, ZooFari 05:51, 9 July 2009 (UTC)
How's that now! Cute smiley, I just noticed that up there. ZooFari 22:47, 9 July 2009 (UTC)
Wow Zoo, it looks great. Can you email me a red version and a high-res png (or jpg; not sure which is better for this situation) of each version (or just upload them and I'll delete them after I download them)? If we use it on our website (which I hope we do), I'll let you know. :-) upstateNYer 02:54, 10 July 2009 (UTC)
I sent you the pngs the same size as it renders. If you want, you can give me the dimensions for a much higher resolution. Let me know if you need anything else. ;-) ZooFari 03:56, 10 July 2009 (UTC)

Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates/Harbor Kingstown

Hi, could you possibly re-open this candidacy, highlighting the post-closure note by Durova? ceranthor 00:18, 10 July 2009 (UTC)

I mean, I guess; it's still 3.5/1 after 8 days. How many more days would you like? upstateNYer 02:50, 10 July 2009 (UTC)

FPC

I'm going to try and close everything I haven't voted on. Can you get the rest? Shoemaker's Holiday (talk) 18:54, 12 July 2009 (UTC)

Mine are done. By the way, watch the difference between an arachnid and an insect - you misclassified the recent orb weaver spider under insect, when spiders are arachnids. I fixed it while putting in the moth image. Shoemaker's Holiday (talk) 20:09, 12 July 2009 (UTC)
Yup, will get them tonight. Sorry I wasn't around; went on an unplanned weekend excursion. And sorry about the spider; that was a stupid mistake. I was apparently not thinking; thanks for cleaning up after me. upstateNYer 21:32, 12 July 2009 (UTC)
P.S. You didn't sign the last 6 closures you did. upstateNYer 21:44, 12 July 2009 (UTC)
How odd. Must've lost the copy-paste I was doing - as you can imagine, that was a big, complicated batch. I'll get it now. And don't worry too much about the spider - frankly, with all the common names and scientific names, it's pretty easy to get shunted onto the wrong path. It'd be so much easier if we just used Arthropod. Shoemaker's Holiday (talk) 00:27, 13 July 2009 (UTC)
Or if we had someone chose the respective category when they make the nom... upstateNYer 03:25, 13 July 2009 (UTC)
Speaking of which, I think it's time we added a "Geology and Palaeontology" category under science [Adding Palaeontology simplifies a few things, like Petrified wood]: We've been getting quite a lot of high-quality mineral photos of late, and it's probably time to spin them out of "Other sciences" Shoemaker's Holiday (talk) 03:33, 13 July 2009 (UTC)
Probably not a bad idea. Also, I changed back the formatting at WP:GO, removing the gallery you added. I've been scolded for tweaking formatting there before; apparently they like it just the way it is. upstateNYer 03:55, 13 July 2009 (UTC)
No doubt. But if they like it so much, they might bother to mention the format in the FPC promotion instructions =) Shoemaker's Holiday (talk) 03:59, 13 July 2009 (UTC)

Oh, also, since we seem to be using slightly different rules of thumb: I'm using Entertainment for novels and such, Culture for religion and mythology. How are you dividing them up? Shoemaker's Holiday (talk) 03:56, 13 July 2009 (UTC)

Heh. Forgive me. I happen to be up, but a little ill, and really don't seem to have anything better to do =) Shoemaker's Holiday (talk) 03:57, 13 July 2009 (UTC)
I've typically put your engravings in culture, not entertainment. If you have a preference, I'll go with yours. upstateNYer 03:59, 13 July 2009 (UTC)
Either way seems fine, so long as it's consistent. The only thing I think is a problem is putting mythology into entertainment. But we ought to either be consistent, or make a category for literature and bypass the issue (not necessarily a bad thing). Actually, I'll go ahead and make the literature cat, and maybe theatre. Shoemaker's Holiday (talk) 04:01, 13 July 2009 (UTC)
That would indeed make things easier. upstateNYer 04:06, 13 July 2009 (UTC)
Done, and reshuffled. There may be a few in other cats, I'll check for them now. I don't know why we're so slow to add categories: We always seem to struggle with ambiguous images for years before finally doing something about it - like East Asian art: Once that was added, all the Japanese and Chinese stuff was suddenly easily categorised, instead of being everywhere. Shoemaker's Holiday (talk) 04:19, 13 July 2009 (UTC)
Looks good. upstateNYer 04:20, 13 July 2009 (UTC)
...I can't believe someone put Beer Street and Gin Lane in Wikipedia:Featured pictures/Places/Urban! This is why the occasional reevaluation helps =) Shoemaker's Holiday (talk) 04:41, 13 July 2009 (UTC)
Anyway, it's done. I've been very careful, so hopefully no problems have arisen. I'll ask MER-C to run the bot (which I believe exists) that checks for FPs not categorised into the featured picture pages. Shoemaker's Holiday (talk) 04:44, 13 July 2009 (UTC)
Fair enough; might want to leave a note at WT:FPC while you're at it. upstateNYer 04:45, 13 July 2009 (UTC)
Okay. By the way, be careful: You forgot to add {{FP|[Link to nom]}} to the image pages you just promoted. As I said, I have nothing better to do, so I'll get it =) My mistake, it was only one. Shoemaker's Holiday (talk) 04:49, 13 July 2009 (UTC)
Thank you upstateNYer 04:57, 13 July 2009 (UTC)

Ah, well. I'm getting rambly, I think it's time to go back to sleep for a bit: Been starting on a course of exercise, and, as you probably know, these knock you out rather for a while, until you adjust to them. Shoemaker's Holiday (talk) 05:03, 13 July 2009 (UTC)

A favor

Hey UpstateNYer. Can you do me a favor (and anyone else who reads this) and see if the banner on my user page works well? I'm sick of my browser having a problem with some SVGs. Thanks, ZooFari 02:12, 13 July 2009 (UTC)

Doesn't show up in the latest version of Safari for Mac (shows the box where it belongs, with a question mark). On Firefox, it doesn't even acknowledge that it exists. upstateNYer 03:29, 13 July 2009 (UTC)
If you'll forgive me butting in: Do remember that Wikipedia is having major thumbnail issues at the moment, though. Shoemaker's Holiday (talk) 03:46, 13 July 2009 (UTC)
Thank you. I'll be changing to png for the moment, hopefully that works. Mind deleting this and that? Thanks, ZooFari 03:59, 13 July 2009 (UTC)
 Done upstateNYer 04:12, 13 July 2009 (UTC)
Thanks. I assume the png is not a problem? ZooFari 04:16, 13 July 2009 (UTC)
PNG is fine. upstateNYer 04:35, 13 July 2009 (UTC)
Another one. ZooFari 04:40, 13 July 2009 (UTC)
more trash. ZooFari 04:44, 13 July 2009 (UTC)

FPC closing questions.

Hi. In the closing procedure, it says "Move the nomination entry to the bottom of the 'Recently closed nominations' section." Is this right? Isn't everything going to the top? Also, about this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Featured_picture_candidates/Joseph_Priestley_caricature. Why wasn't it closed as "no quorum" per the precedent you set here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Featured_picture_candidates/File:Nankeen_kestrel_midflight.jpg. Thanks. Makeemlighter (talk) 06:58, 13 July 2009 (UTC)

Thanks for the catch; fixed. As for the precedent you reference, I don't see the connection between it and the Joseph Priestly one. The latter had four full supports, which meets our passing requirements. We still haven't implemented the 5 votes min yet. upstateNYer 15:28, 13 July 2009 (UTC)

Just to let you know

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:DTM_Mercedes_W204_DiResta09_amk.jpg still had the FPC template despite already having been promoted. I (think) I fixed it. Makeemlighter (talk) 07:06, 13 July 2009 (UTC)

Thanks. Doing 7-12 at a time with no script to help can lead to minor errors like that. Thanks for following. upstateNYer 15:28, 13 July 2009 (UTC)

Tomorrow's FPC closures

I got today's, but tomorrow we have your nomination which I voted on. This will be interesting. Maybe I'll poke someone into adding the promoted/not promoted tag, if I promise to do the rest?

I hope it does get promoted: I for one like multi-level images, with a foreground and a background. Shoemaker's Holiday (talk) 17:15, 13 July 2009 (UTC)

I planned on asking MER-C to do that. upstateNYer 17:20, 13 July 2009 (UTC)
Works for me, though he hasn't done much in a long time. I wonder why? Shoemaker's Holiday (talk) 17:28, 13 July 2009 (UTC)

Splitting sciences

I've been thinking about this: What if we used "Mineralology" - which is a bit more specific than Geology - alongside "Palaeontology"? My worry with "Geology" is that we'd end up with ambiguous cases, e.g. petrified wood, dinosaur skeletons, and the last thing we want to do is add ambiguity. Shoemaker's Holiday (talk) 17:30, 13 July 2009 (UTC)

If I may: I think what you are looking for is petrology. They don't study minerals though. ZooFari 17:35, 13 July 2009 (UTC)
Most of the images we have are of minerals, though, with a few illustrating mineral shapes. Shoemaker's Holiday (talk) 17:38, 13 July 2009 (UTC)
I suppose we could put up Geology *and* Palaeontology - so long as the more specific one is there, it shouldn't be too bad. Shoemaker's Holiday (talk) 17:41, 13 July 2009 (UTC)
Paleontology is geology. Maybe Geology as a cat for science, and three sections for petrology, mineralogy, and paleontology. ZooFari 17:43, 13 July 2009 (UTC)
As a biologist, I'd probably have said Palaeontology was biology. Do we actually have any petrology FPs at the moment? Shoemaker's Holiday (talk) 17:46, 13 July 2009 (UTC)
I don't think so, but I'm not really sure what paleontology is classified into. They seem to fit under both, but I say biology. How ambiguous is biology? ZooFari 18:14, 13 July 2009 (UTC)
It's a little odd: A lot of it's classified elsewhere, e.g. Animals, Plants, etc. The "biology" section is mainly anatomy and cell biology. Shoemaker's Holiday (talk) 19:30, 13 July 2009 (UTC)
True, but I'd say leave Animals and Plants separate. upstateNYer 21:20, 13 July 2009 (UTC)
Agreed, though mainly because of the thumbnails on the main FP page. Well, anyway, it does seem this could be controversial enough that we should probably take it to WT:FPC. The three of us alone probably aren't enough. Shoemaker's Holiday (talk) 23:48, 13 July 2009 (UTC)
Agreed. ZooFari 00:09, 14 July 2009 (UTC)

S'more

Trash (will expand):

ZooFari 00:08, 14 July 2009 (UTC)

Might be interested in this-

[8] beautiful photos and might give you ideas of photos you want to take yourself. The name Dave Carroll sounds familiar, but I cant place it, he might be the one that took the Albany photos for Emporis, maybe not, I dont know, but it sounds familar. If you get a chance and you find yourself at Crossgates Mall you might want to stop by the Photos of Years-ago (or some similar name) shop, its owned by an older man who just sets up shop when he wants some extra money but otherwise is retired, great historical photos of the area, he might be able to tell you the copyright status of his photos, some are so old I'm sure you dont have to worry about it, good place to learn about history too, he's very knowledgeable. There are photos from all over from Lake George to Troy to Schenectady to Amsterdam to Averill Park.Camelbinky (talk) 06:14, 14 July 2009 (UTC)

Funny you should mention that; I've been selling various photos to him for the past month or so. He pays well. ;-) upstateNYer 15:02, 14 July 2009 (UTC)

Medal of Honor pic

Sorry about that I had never submitted a picture before but you should start seeing quite a few from me. I am trying to get the Medal of Honor related content up to Good status or better. So why does the image need to be 1000 pixels? --Kumioko (talk) 00:44, 15 July 2009 (UTC)

First off, welcome. As for the requirement, it's a minimum resolution expectation which ensures that featured pictures will be large enough to print at large scales (at least 11 by 14 inches (28 by 36 cm)). You may want to take a close look at some example featured pictures at WP:FP. The standards at FP are relatively high. Another option is Valued Pictures, which does not have a definitive size requirement, and has lesser technical expectations. Your Medal of Honor image my very well be able to pass there if you can prove it is 'valuable' to the project. Best, upstateNYer 00:50, 15 July 2009 (UTC)
Thank you for the quicl response. I will try that route then for the image, I think I can wordsmith a justification for it.:-). If you don't mind me asking a couple more questions about the process I have a couple. Here are a handful of other images that I planned on submitting. Would you mind taking a glance and letting me know if they are ok before I waste both our time submitting them. I looked through the requirements and they seem to meet them (including the 1000 pixel). Also, is it possible to submit a group on a related subject rather than submitting them each individually. For example there are several here related to Lt. Michael Murphy the Medal of Honor recipient and rather than submit them individually it seems like it would be nice to have a group nomination. Anyway here are a few just to get your advice.
  1. File:Michael P. Murphy portrait.jpg
    Too soft, especially considering this is probably a profession photo.
  2. File:Michael P. Murphy.jpg
    Even though it's taken in the field, probably won't pass: poor lighting, cut off at right, and size is pushing it (another, unwritten criterium of FPC is "wow factor"; keep that in mind).
  3. File:Michael P. Murphy Medal of Honor and SEAL Trident.jpg
    I personally could support this. But note that not all users at FPC are American, which could influence voting patterns. Meets my expectations for the most part.
  4. File:Parents of Michael Murphy with monument.jpg
    Poor lighting; gravestone is cut off; encyclopedic value is lacking, IMHO.
  5. File:USS Michael Murphy (DDG 112) photo illustration.jpg
    Doctored photos won't pass.
  6. File:SmedleyButler.jpeg
    Could use some restoration; also has JPEG artifacts.
  7. File:Chesty Puller.jpg
    Ditto the one above.
--Kumioko (talk) 00:58, 15 July 2009 (UTC)
I placed my 2¢ above regarding each one. But these are solely my opinions. You can (and probably should) take these off to WP:PPR where more people can comment. As for a group, featured sets do exist, but many users are not fans of them. That said, I would say the group should have more obvious connections than these do. Hopefully that helps. upstateNYer 01:12, 15 July 2009 (UTC)
Ok that helps a lot thanks again. These are only a few out of probably 3 0r 400 so far but this shoudl help me cull down the list to 30 or 40 really good ones. You should start seeing a few rolling through. starting with the Michael P. Murphy Medal of Honor and SEAL Trident.jpg one. I have never been a big fan of peer review. Althought they can help I have never had much luck with meaningful comments.--Kumioko (talk) 01:22, 15 July 2009 (UTC)

Hi- This page should be kept: Template talk:WPBeatles/doc, the above page should be deleted, somehow it got mixed up. Thanks!!

 Done upstateNYer 16:44, 15 July 2009 (UTC)
Thank you! --Funandtrvl (talk) 17:45, 15 July 2009 (UTC)

Wow! That is really great! I have been saying at WM-NYC meetings that one of our goals should be to lobby the city and state governments for some sort of PD release of at least some images. Seems like the State Senate already took a step in that direction. (As this makes clear, they didn't go to where this stuff would be permissible for our use because (read between the lines) they don't want potential opponents using this stuff in ads or fundraising against them. Tough. Senators and congressmen have to live with that possibility; there's no reason our state legislators can't).

Actually, reading it closely, it seems like they chose that brand of CC just for that reason. They seem to limit only that use. That might make it free enough for us to put on Commons, presuming a special license tag. We will have to put this before the Foundation and the Commons user community to see if we would accept this, since it's not full ND and NC.

Now, as to why public documents aren't always in the public domain ... I assume you mean state and local documents. When Congress passed the Copyright Act of 1790 and provided that all works of the federal government are in the public domain, in accordance with the principles of the Revolution so many of them had fought in or otherwise struggled for they didn't make that decision for the state governments (however, the Constitution grants exclusive power over private copyright to the states. So, as a result, many works of the states are still copyrighted (I think California and Florida have some limited public domain releases).

I would have to look at the relevant sections of New York state law, but I think it does say that the text of the statutes themselves and published court rulings are PD (which would make sense). Daniel Case (talk) 17:07, 15 July 2009 (UTC)

FPC

Hate to be a pain, but I'm afraid we're getting a backlog of ones I cannot close =/ Shoemaker's Holiday (talk) 18:43, 15 July 2009 (UTC)

Yea. Busy day. Hopefully tonight or tomorrow morning. Will do my best. upstateNYer 19:10, 15 July 2009 (UTC)
No worries. It's not too bad if at least one of us is active, as either of us can close maybe 2/3rds the nominations. Shoemaker's Holiday (talk) 20:26, 15 July 2009 (UTC)

St. Paul's

It's a good start, but there are a few issues:

First of all, you downsampled. Never do that to an engraving: Engravings have so much detail that I generally would go for a highe resolution even than your un-downsampled, to assure it'd reproduce well even if "blown up" a little. 800 dpi is a good minimum for all but the very largest, A3 engravings (where 600dpi may be acceptable, if only for file size) - but you presumably didn't have a choice there, so never mind. If you can, ask for higher resolution, pointing out to them that you're happy to have the final image put on cups, T-shirts, reprints of the books, etc, so you having higher resolution to start would let them use it for more purposes. (Pro tip: CC-by-SA for everyone else, but additionally give them alone the rights to use for any purpose without attribution. This gives them an additional incentive to release things to you, as they can sell T-shirts, mugs, etc.)

Secondly, the original scan isn't very good, and there's some odd pale-yellow squiggles in the background (they're faint, but clearly visible, even in the downsampled version). I presume you can't fix the scan, so I'd suggest getting rid of them by simply desaturating the image completely, then taking the background - including the (now grey) squiggles to white. There's a strong contrast between the ink and paper, so, if you do the tweak carefully, no actual detail will be lost. (And don't worry about FPC: You'll notice that I have several FPCs where the background is white. (Usually because I could only get a high-quality photocopy out of the library, so there was no point leaving the paper grain in anyway. Who wants to see 21st century paper behind an 19th century image?) Anyway, the white background is good for the historical society: It makes it easy for them to reprint it.

Thirdly, there's some bits you should have cleaned up but didn't, like the large stain under "St. Paul's". Since we're taking the background to pure white *anyway*, this should be easy to fix.

Finally, after that, you'll need to fix the blurriness on the bottom half of "Cor. Third & Congress Sts." - Tip: if you've taken the background to white, as suggested above, you can cheat this easily: Just apply a few careful levels adjustments to darken it a bit, and it'll look less blurred! A slight sharpen (do not over do this) will complete the fix.


You've done a good job with a very bad scan; a little more and you'll have finished a good restoration. Shoemaker's Holiday (talk) 22:48, 16 July 2009 (UTC)

Thanks for the feedback. I did the scan today with my home printer/scanner, which I brought to the historical society. I scanned at 600dpi, mainly because I have to hold the old (1880s) book on the scanner, and hold it still. I wish the images I wanted were on pages that had fallen out... Considering the image is in the PD, I don't see how CC-BY-SA is relevant; it's a book from 1880? I think I'll start turning them B&W rather than deal with the weird yellowing, which my scanner doesn't seem to be a fan of. I'll have a few more in a few days and will let you know. The hardest part is that these are in books that I can't deface, so I have to deal with the blur of the page getting into the spine sometimes... a crop is (unfortunately) sometimes necessary. Thanks again for the response. upstateNYer 23:48, 16 July 2009 (UTC)

I can't tell yet because of the problems at Commons. Daniel Case (talk) 02:53, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

Aww that's annoying. Even I can see the downsampled version. :-( upstateNYer 03:04, 17 July 2009 (UTC)
Now I can. Not bad. Daniel Case (talk) 02:45, 18 July 2009 (UTC)
Hmm. Have a read of Commons:Help:Scanning - it's from back before the file size limit increased, so some of the dpi values and such may be a little low, but it may help you get a better scan to work from. For instance, cleaning your scanner might make your job easier, and it's possible the yellow streaks were caused by bad autolevels settings - too much brightness or too high contrast, namely - which turning autolevels off or tweaking the scan settings would fix. Also, push down as firmly as the book's state will allow on the cover: You'll get a better result from it. =) Shoemaker's Holiday (talk) 03:20, 17 July 2009 (UTC)
Also, if you do get a better scan, save before you start on the colour adjustments: There's some tricks I can teach you. Shoemaker's Holiday (talk) 03:25, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

Closing of Female Hardhead

Hi UpstateNYer,

Can you have another look at Wikipedia:Featured_picture_candidates/File:Female_Hardhead_duck.jpg - I think it's meant to be a promote. Thanks, --Fir0002 00:58, 17 July 2009 (UTC)

My bad; I'll fix it tomorrow. upstateNYer 05:34, 17 July 2009 (UTC)
Don't worry, I made the same mistake recently: When people start indenting funny, it's easy. Shoemaker's Holiday (talk) 05:46, 17 July 2009 (UTC)


Rollback

Greetings UpstateNYer,

I guess I'm a bit dense (or one simply cannot teach this old dog new tricks), but the Rollback icon refuses to appear on my userpage, after numerous attempts. Any assistance would be appreciated. Wishing you the best of the day,--Lyricmac (talk) 01:39, 18 July 2009 (UTC)

Should be good now. upstateNYer 01:50, 18 July 2009 (UTC)

Where is it? Am I blind? Do I need to adjust any settings?--Lyricmac (talk) 02:01, 18 July 2009 (UTC)

Top right corner if you're using the default skin. upstateNYer 02:04, 18 July 2009 (UTC)

Oh-kay. Now, what is a default skin? I thought that I knew english.--Lyricmac (talk) 02:12, 18 July 2009 (UTC)

The skin you use that you can change in your preferences. The default is called Monobook. upstateNYer 02:20, 18 July 2009 (UTC)

Many thanks-I had the 'classic' skin enabled and had absolutely no idea-the icon does not appear there.--Lyricmac (talk) 02:30, 18 July 2009 (UTC)

I learned a new trick after all-many thanks.--Lyricmac (talk) 02:31, 18 July 2009 (UTC)

Trumbull painting co-nom

Ok. I'm game. Let's do it! It's what the founding fathers would have wanted (I always say that when I blow things up and drink beer on the 4th of July, lol). I've never withdrawn an FPC nomination before; I hope that won't be difficult. Also realize that this is the first picture out of my many, many nominations that has had at least a bleak light of hope at the end of the tunnel. This withdrawal will not be easy for me, with such a rare, rare victory so close in sight. However, you have nudged me into seeing the larger picture (one I should have considered from the beginning, to be frank about it). I'll get down to the dirty work right away.--Pericles of AthensTalk 05:01, 10 July 2009 (UTC)

It's completely up to you. To withdrawl, all you have to do is type I am withdrawing this nomination or something like that. I'll do the rest, as I do with all the other noms. As for a passing FPC, I predict (tho no promises) that this featured set will pass too... and that's 7 images. upstateNYer 05:08, 10 July 2009 (UTC)
Sir, the deed is done! I have decided to act boldly and have withdrawn my nomination. Let's get to work...and cross our fingers. Cheers.--Pericles of AthensTalk 05:13, 10 July 2009 (UTC)

Just to let you know, I just fixed the incredibly terse description and other info for this image File:Surrender of Lord Cornwallis.jpg, which beforehand had only the title of the painting and the source given in a link. Quite pathetic, but now it looks ok. It's certainly a start!--Pericles of AthensTalk 06:58, 10 July 2009 (UTC)

Okay; don't do anything with a nomination quite yet. I'll start that later today and you can spruce it up based on how you feel it came out. upstateNYer 11:53, 10 July 2009 (UTC)
I won't jump the gun, sir! Trust me. Just alert me when you are ready, and I'll sign my name behind yours as a co-nominator. Regards.--Pericles of AthensTalk 16:47, 10 July 2009 (UTC)
So, when do you want to get down to work with the paintings in the United States Capitol rotunda? So far I've tweaked with one of the images which had very little description on its page.--Pericles of AthensTalk 18:51, 12 July 2009 (UTC)
Sorry, went on a last minute weekend vaca and haven't been around since Friday night. I'll get on that tonight. upstateNYer 21:31, 12 July 2009 (UTC)
That's OK, take your time. Just alert me when you're ready to co-nominate. Regards.--Pericles of AthensTalk 04:49, 13 July 2009 (UTC)
Okay, go for it. upstateNYer 05:16, 13 July 2009 (UTC)
Bad-ass! I just put my "John Hancock" on the bulleted line below yours; we are ready to rock-n-roll. I have high hopes for this set; I can't wait for it to pass! An excellent tribute to American history and American art. Cheers buddy.--Pericles of AthensTalk 06:38, 13 July 2009 (UTC)

We got our first support! Check it out.--Pericles of AthensTalk 01:15, 15 July 2009 (UTC)

Things aren't looking too good. I'm starting to wish that I had not pulled my original nomination out of the race track.--Pericles of AthensTalk 19:54, 19 July 2009 (UTC)

Invitation to provide further input on desysop proposal

As someone who commented either for or against proposals here, I would like to invite you to comment further on the desysop process proposal and suggest amendments before I move the proposal into projectspace for wider scrutiny and a discussion on adoption. The other ideas proposed on the page were rejected, and if you are uninterested in commenting on the desysop proposal I understand of course. Thanks! → ROUX  04:27, 20 July 2009 (UTC)

Possible image for restoration

Thanks for the offer of assistance and I hope you don't mind me taking you up so quickly. Here is an image that I think is a very good one of Jimmie Doolittle (WWII Pilot, General and Medal of Honor recipient) but might need some restoration for the areas where its too white (not sure what the term is but I think you'll understand File:JimmyDoolittle.jpeg. Please let me know if you would prefer me to submit it to the image lab instead.--Kumioko (talk) 15:46, 21 July 2009 (UTC)

Suggestion

Hey UpstateNYer, Just though I'd drop you a suggestion. After closing nominations at FPC, and while leaving a msg on the user's talk page, IMO it would be better if you could have the subject link to the nomination as MER-C used to do. Anyway, keep up the good work --Muhammad(talk) 16:10, 22 July 2009 (UTC)

Aww, how impersonal. :( Hehe, I can do that if you prefer. upstateNYer 16:13, 22 July 2009 (UTC)

OK, UpstateNYer, now that I've finished that article (more or less) you might want to see about taking pictures of all the redlinked NRHP properties and the other buildings listed under significant contributing properties, save the Kenmore Hotel. The Coulson and Wing buildings would be especially important. Also, get one of that row being worked on at 136–40 State Street (or whatever it is) mentioned near the end of the history section. Daniel Case (talk) 02:48, 14 July 2009 (UTC)

It has recently come to my attention that 48 Hudson Avenue (currently a dilapidated shell of a building) may actually be the oldest house in Albany, at least the original parts of it may be a few years older than the Quackenbush House. Could you get a photo of it if you are downtown anytime? It is within the area where they are planning on building the new convention center, if they ever actually build it I'm afraid what may happen to the building. Even if they keep it and renovate it, it may be nice to have a photo of what it looked like now.Camelbinky (talk) 23:40, 21 July 2009 (UTC)
I answered your question on my talk page. I was also wondering if you could take a look at Kenmore Hotel, I just finished it up enough to put it from a sandbox to an article.Camelbinky (talk) 02:26, 22 July 2009 (UTC)
I just wanted to stop by and see if you ever solved the problem of getting 48 Hudson Ave to show up? Take your time on the photo if you have more pressing things to deal with. If I hear it is to be demolished you'll be the first one I tell! I unfortunately cant find any definitive info on the Patroon's birth/death, you'd think it would have been a big deal when he died! But right now I'm trying to nail down some definitive details on if 48 Hudson or the Quackenbush House is the oldest house in Albany. I'd like something better than "the Albany Historic Foundation says parts of 48 Hudson Ave may be older than the Quackenbush House" which even though the AHF is an authoritative source the wording is wishy-washy. Unfortunately with every source written since the Patroon's Manor House on North Pearl St. was moved to Massachusetts (in 1893) the Quackenbush House has been stated as being the oldest house in the city. So, its hard to contradict 100s of sources written over some 100 years or so.Camelbinky (talk) 21:33, 28 July 2009 (UTC)
I should be good on the location. I'm adding more sources to show the disagreement with both the birth year and death year for Van Rensselaer. It does strike me as odd that his death isn't better recorded. I have three years for both birth and death. That astonishes me. upstateNYer 21:37, 28 July 2009 (UTC)

Great job! If you and Daniel Case keep up at this pace there wont be anymore Capital District articles left to work on. I wouldve loved to have worked on that article it is an interesting topic and I hope you enjoyed working on it. I've started a sandbox for the Albany Lumber District at Wikipedia:WikiProject Capital District/lumbersandbox, it's still a work in process but if you dont mind taking a look at it and leave comments or add what you know or fix whatever you find I would appreciate whatever help you have time to do. I've got pretty much just a bunch of facts right now. I think it might merit a DYK once it's ready for being an article.Camelbinky (talk) 20:56, 18 July 2009 (UTC)

Just so you know, pretty much any new or expanded article warrants a DYK. Even the most boring of boring; it's the way of recognizing contributors for their efforts. upstateNYer 08:29, 19 July 2009 (UTC)
Ooooooooohhhhh, I had always thought that they were for interesting new tidbits in new articles. I've never actually tried to do a DYK before. Thanks for that info!Camelbinky (talk) 19:50, 19 July 2009 (UTC)
You may be interested in this, letter from Kil van Rens to a Johan de Laet. Interesting on how Kil wanted to name everything (and in some cases give names to things that already had names), and here's an article from the New York Times on the selling of Van Rensselaer Island in Rensselaer by the family to the NY Central Railroad in 1903.Camelbinky (talk) 01:12, 29 July 2009 (UTC)

a small mistake with the cooper promotion

Hello UpstateNYer, this is the false congratulations to the false user. I'm the author ;-) Best regards, --Alchemist-hp (talk) 18:06, 26 July 2009 (UTC)


Hello, MattWade. You have new messages at Damërung's talk page.
You can remove this notice at any time by removing the {{Talkback}} or {{Tb}} template.

Ethnicity

Hello UpstateNYer, first of all I would ask you to click this link- American ethnicity. Second, I would like to ask you to read the lede in the "Culture section" on the United States article. Third, I would ask you to read an argument I made on the discussion page. Race vs Ethnicity on the archives pg. 35. Yongbyong38 (talk) 17:00, 28 July 2009 (UTC)

It's an interesting concept, definitely. I've never filled out a census before, but I wonder how the question is worded when asking about ancestry. To me, American ancestry means Native American, or relation to the peoples of America prior to European discovery. Are people making mistakes in filling it out (or answering it in a way not intended by the Census Bureau) or is this a legitimate option for answering this question?
In reading the lead to the culture section, it does seem that race is a better word to use, though I don't say that because American ethnicity exists; I say that because America as a nation has no one race, and there is no "American race". North America may have (or better phrased, had) races, but once you put political boundaries on the map and consider only the United States, then no, we don't have a race. We do have at least some sort of ethnicity, though I'm not sure it's worth rewording the section just to include a link to that article. upstateNYer 17:28, 28 July 2009 (UTC)

RE:To our newest Rollbacker

Hi. Thanks for giving me rollback rights. Appreciate it. BejinhanTalk 14:22, 29 July 2009 (UTC)

May the force be with you. upstateNYer 14:23, 29 July 2009 (UTC)

Image renames

Hi UpstateNYer. Time to put the Commons admin to work :-). Reckon you could have a look at renaming the files related to Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates/File:Bicycle transport of Hay.jpg per the discussion there? Thanks, --jjron (talk) 02:43, 23 July 2009 (UTC)

Sure I'll do that later tonight; I wish they'd give a "rename" button over there, though. upstateNYer 19:58, 23 July 2009 (UTC)
Ta. What do you mean by the button - is it tricky to do? --jjron (talk) 07:04, 24 July 2009 (UTC)
Download, reupload, copy+paste caption from the original to the new version, then delete the old version. It'd be nice if there was just a button that would allow for a rename, or even a tool like Commonshelper. upstateNYer 12:46, 24 July 2009 (UTC)
That's crud, you're right. I assumed admins could just do a rename on the file - anyone can do it the other way, other than the deleting. --jjron (talk) 12:37, 30 July 2009 (UTC)

Springside pics

UpstateNYer ... those are exactly what that article needs! Thank you! Don't go selling yourself so short. Daniel Case (talk) 20:36, 29 July 2009 (UTC)

Delete

Hey UpstateNYer. Since tagging an image for SD takes a while for it to actually be deleted, I think it would be quicker if you delete for me. Here is a list (might expand a bit):

 Done upstateNYer 03:16, 30 July 2009 (UTC)
File:AlbanyEngraving1686.png

This file might have a copyright problem, I'm thinking perhaps you had thought it was original to the era. It was drawn by Len Tantillo in the 1980s, which I assume he would then hold any copyright or potential copyright rights per here bottom of the page.Camelbinky (talk) 22:52, 26 July 2009 (UTC)

Bleh, you're right. Good catch. Wasn't very high-res anyway. upstateNYer 00:13, 27 July 2009 (UTC)
You might want to go to Len's website, I think there is a contact email on there, you may want to contact him and see if he's willing to give permission for his work to be used here. He's given permission to several different educational and tourism organizational websites and events to use his work in the past, so maybe... I know there are ALOT of his works that I would love to use in different articles! I would contact him myself but I dont know all the different regulations concerning creative commons and if you have to give up ALL rights or what restrictions you can place, etc, blah blah, so I wouldnt know what to even ask from him.Camelbinky (talk) 01:05, 27 July 2009 (UTC)
I emailed him right after deleting the file, asking him for access to his images (even in low-res); so far no bites. People are unnecessarily scared: if you offer a taste of your work for free, people will come to you wanting to pay for quality versions. I tried to make that clear to him. upstateNYer 04:51, 30 July 2009 (UTC)
If he does say yes that would be a great day for alot of articles. Not alot of artists are out there taking the time and energy needed to research and make their works historically accurate. I remember one article (TU probably) where he talked about all the research and the length of time it took him for just one particular painting he just did. Alot of our articles would benefit from his visual representations of what they looked like. I'm crossing my fingers!Camelbinky (talk) 05:15, 30 July 2009 (UTC)
Hmm, no response yet. He probably just deleted the email after reading the first sentence ("Hi, I'm an editor over at Wikipedia..."). :( upstateNYer 20:01, 30 July 2009 (UTC)

Our failed nom

Yes, tis a shame. I might nominate one of the paintings again, but not in the near future. Best of luck to anything you nominate; I can't seem to get even one FP! Lol. Take care.--Pericles of AthensTalk 21:04, 30 July 2009 (UTC)

Thanks

Thanks for graniting me rollback rights, I will use them with great care. RP459 (talk) 02:35, 31 July 2009 (UTC)

May the force be with you. upstateNYer 02:37, 31 July 2009 (UTC)
Hello, MattWade. You have new messages at RP459's talk page.
You can remove this notice at any time by removing the {{Talkback}} or {{Tb}} template.

Request to use your picture in powerpoint presentation

I am doing a Powerpoint presentation at the church I attend on the monetary System.

The Supreme Court Building has architecture on it of the 6th Babylonian King Hammurabi who was responible for introducing banking regulations in Ancient Babylon.

I request permission to use the picture at the link belowin the presentation.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:AuthorityOfLaw.JPG

I look forward to your reply

Thank you in advance. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.222.100.234 (talk) 12:46, 2 August 2009 (UTC)

Absolutely. Just make sure to read this (since it's a PowerPoint, there's no need to link to this site, but listing my username and the license is a must). Thanks for the heads up. upstateNYer 17:30, 2 August 2009 (UTC)

Could you please check my request for permission to use New Page Watcher? It's been a couple of days with no decision or comment. Irbisgreif (talk) 20:35, 2 August 2009 (UTC)

Great new (old) photo!

I really liked the photo of the Burden Iron Works waterwheel you put in. I was wondering if you ever thought of getting a photo of the mural of the waterwheel at the intersection of Morrison, Stowe, and whatever the name of the road that comes off the Menands Bridge is called? (NY 378, possibly called Burden Ave). I'll try to get the coordinates for you for where the waterwheel was originally, but it was on the Wynants Kill along Mill Street (US 4), there's a small parking lot and path down to the dam that (should) still be there. I think a photo of it might be nice for the article.Camelbinky (talk) 03:37, 3 August 2009 (UTC)

Oh, and to make up for pointing out the Len Tantillo drawing as copyrighted I found an artist from the 1800s who drew similar streetscapes you might be interested in, being from the 1800s makes it copyright free right? Here's one site with his work that also shows what the same places look like today- http://www.bowserlab.org/education/edueightsart.html; he's also featured on the state museum website on the social history project of colonial albany.Camelbinky (talk) 03:50, 3 August 2009 (UTC)
I plan on getting a pick of the mural, but that's a work of art, and it's recent (they redid it since I was old enough to remember, due to graffiti and wear), so it's definitely copyrighted. Let me know where the wheel was, that would be helpful and I'll see if I can get some photos. Still haven't heard back from Len Tantillo yet, so I expect to never hear back. :-( That site is awesome though! The paintings are great, and all in the public domain. Upload them if you see a good reason to use them. Also, the Library of Congress has some great old photos (some of the Van Rensselaer articles now have images, thanks to the LOC). If you see images there you like, feel free to toss me the best and I'll do my best to restore them. upstateNYer 03:54, 3 August 2009 (UTC)

Possible vandalism

I noticed this while looking at my watchlist; do you think you could check the validity of it? Thank you, NW (Talk) 14:34, 4 August 2009 (UTC)

Thanks for pointing it out, though somebody beat me to it. upstateNYer 14:42, 4 August 2009 (UTC)

FPC Closing Procedure

Hi. I just fixed this: [9]. Maybe it should be bottom-bottom instead, but it can't be top-bottom. That just wouldn't make sense! Right? It's 4:31 AM, so maybe I'm just crazy. Makeemlighter (talk) 08:33, 5 August 2009 (UTC)

Yes, yes. Good catch. :-) upstateNYer 15:20, 5 August 2009 (UTC)

Saudi Arabian Airlines pic

Nice work, what did you use to fix the changing skew? I couldn't find anything in GIMP/photoshop. ed g2stalk 09:28, 5 August 2009 (UTC)

Edit→Transform→Warp for the bending, then Edit→Transform→Skew for the distortion. upstateNYer 15:19, 5 August 2009 (UTC)

Good job!

The Cleanup Barnstar
Awarded to UpstateNYer for cleaning up the images in the New York article in a complex and comprehensive series of edits. Powers T 13:43, 5 August 2009 (UTC)
Thank you! That place was overflowing and needed some work. Hopefully now it's a bit more readable! upstateNYer 15:34, 5 August 2009 (UTC)

Resuming restoration work

Hello UpstateNYer. I'm resuming restoration work for the first time in 4 years since I lost Photoshop, but luckily I'm familiar with GIMP. Mind if I use your restoration template? :-) ZooFari 22:22, 4 August 2009 (UTC)

Of course not, I was pleasantly surprised when I saw you were using my other one! upstateNYer 01:05, 5 August 2009 (UTC)
Awesome, I munipulated the template a bit though. I am also going to use the pic of the camera on your image template, since the brush on my image template doesn't look right :-) ZooFari 17:17, 5 August 2009 (UTC)

re POTD

Hey UpstateNYer, Could we postpone the image for International Day of Quds, in around a month? I think it would be more appropriate then. --Muhammad(talk) 10:58, 5 August 2009 (UTC)

Sure, sure. Do you have an exact day you want it used on? I'll just move it to that date. upstateNYer 15:18, 5 August 2009 (UTC)
According to this its 18th of September this year. I will let you know if there any corrections later. Thanks --Muhammad(talk) 09:17, 6 August 2009 (UTC)

Review

Very good article! I think I only have three minor things, will post them on the article talk page.Camelbinky (talk) 21:28, 5 August 2009 (UTC)

Delete

Hey UpstateNYer. Delete this category at Commons. Renamed without "Casino" in the name. ZooFari 00:43, 6 August 2009 (UTC)

 Done upstateNYer 05:55, 6 August 2009 (UTC)

Thank you

Thanks for this [10]. I'll do my best to continue my nitpicking! Makeemlighter (talk) 01:28, 6 August 2009 (UTC)

When your back from vacation-

Maybe you can tell me what I can do with this that wont be considered "Original Research". It clearly states when 48 Hudson was built, and the NRHP docs and everything else state the Quackenbush House was built but only in a range of a decade but that is the decade AFTER 48 Hudson was built. Obviously no one knows EXACTLY when each house was built, but if Quack isnt the oldest building anymore, can we reflect that in the articles? Obviously there may come a day when an even older building is discovered and settles the question once and for all.Camelbinky (talk) 22:50, 6 August 2009 (UTC)

Haven't read the article, but there's nothing wrong with explicitly explaining the problem. It's an interesting thing to point out, and it's clearer to say "Hey, this is debated, and there's a possibility that one is older than the other, but most likely the other is older..." upstateNYer 01:55, 7 August 2009 (UTC)
Hey! I said "when your back from vacation", so I am refusing to read your comment until you are back from vacation! :-) Now go and enjoy your vacation and dont be worrying about me or anyone else on Wikipedia, I personally promise not to cause too much trouble (maybe).Camelbinky (talk) 02:10, 7 August 2009 (UTC)
Hello, MattWade. You have new messages at Malinaccier's talk page.
You can remove this notice at any time by removing the {{Talkback}} or {{Tb}} template.

I pass your rollback test.

Please visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Requests_for_permissions/Rollback#User:Dr._Szl.C4.85chski for proof.

See my response. upstateNYer 04:45, 7 August 2009 (UTC)

New Albany NRHP listing

Per this. Could you go down to Jermain Street and get a pic sometime? Daniel Case (talk) 19:37, 7 August 2009 (UTC)

Another

Delete. ZooFari 19:39, 7 August 2009 (UTC)

 Done upstateNYer 20:05, 7 August 2009 (UTC)

Central Troy Historic District GA

You're welcome! Long time coming, and I do intend to take it to FA eventually. Daniel Case (talk) 21:14, 7 August 2009 (UTC)

I would hope! I agree with Mattisse that it is already beyond GA level. upstateNYer 21:16, 7 August 2009 (UTC)

ISS & Endeavour Shadow STS-127 2.jpg

Can I just say many thanks for fixing this image for us! :-) Colds7ream (talk) 23:14, 7 August 2009 (UTC)

My pleasure. upstateNYer 00:32, 8 August 2009 (UTC)

Question about Rollback privelieges

I have a question about how the page says that you need 200+ edits to qualify as a rollbacker. I'm wondering, do the 200 edits only include edits in the article namespace (such as vandalism reversions) or 200 total edits? Thanks, The Grand Reverter 19:57, 9 August 2009 (UTC)

Roughly 200 total, but that's rough. It must be in addition to obvious vandal fighting and warning usage. But that's what I put as a typical minimum. upstateNYer 20:22, 9 August 2009 (UTC)

Hello, MattWade. You have new messages at DasRakel's talk page.
You can remove this notice at any time by removing the {{Talkback}} or {{Tb}} template.

Note of a problem

Wikipedia_talk:Featured_picture_candidates#Credit_for_FPs.

Don't want to say much more than that, just... you know, Durova collaborates with people in order to bring them into FP, if we don't notify or credit them, they aren't going to be enthusiastic to try again. Shoemaker's Holiday Over 188 FCs served 13:42, 11 August 2009 (UTC)

Stupid mistake. Doing multiple closings (as you know) inevitably leads to a minor error or misread. Thanks for the catch. upstateNYer 21:18, 11 August 2009 (UTC)
No worries. It's one of those things that should be mentioned, since it is easy to miss, so a reminder can be helpful sometimes. (That's why I carefully kept your name off WT:FPC, for the record: This wasn't about you.) Shoemaker's Holiday Over 189 FCs served 20:37, 13 August 2009 (UTC)

DYK for Charter of Freedoms and Exemptions

Updated DYK query On August 11, 2009, Did you know? was updated with a fact from the article Charter of Freedoms and Exemptions, which you created or substantially expanded. You are welcome to check how many hits your article got while on the front page (here's how) and add it to DYKSTATS if it got over 5,000. If you know of another interesting fact from a recently created article, then please suggest it on the Did you know? talk page.

WP:DYK 20:15, 11 August 2009 (UTC)

Governor Joseph Johnson House

Thanks for catching this error. I probably was the one responsible for placing it on the county list; if so, it was because I saw a picture in the article infobox and assumed that it was of the building that was the subject of the article. Nyttend (talk) 03:53, 13 August 2009 (UTC)

No prob. Came across that image when I was replacing it with a new one and was like... "Why is this here?" upstateNYer 03:55, 13 August 2009 (UTC)

Lintner's History of Schoharie County

Cool beans. : )129.133.127.244 (talk) 03:13, 14 August 2009 (UTC)

Rensselaerwyck

It should be Rensselaerwyck, not Rensselaerswyck, throughout wikipedia. You seem to have an interest in the topic, so perhaps you should make the change. I have no interest in the matter, and am content for wikipedia to be wrong, so I'm not going to correct it.129.133.127.244 (talk) 04:30, 14 August 2009 (UTC)

The vast majority of sources call it Rensselaerswyck, most importantly including the Van Rensselaer Bowier Manuscripts, which are translations of original documents written by Kiliaen van Rensselaer. Per Wikipedia policy, we go by whatever is the norm. But thanks for keeping your eye on things. upstateNYer 04:44, 14 August 2009 (UTC)

It seems official & formal documents do not. http://nysl.nysed.gov/Archimages/106605.PDF —Preceding unsigned comment added by 129.133.127.244 (talk) 04:56, 14 August 2009 (UTC)

Yea, I've seen that map. I plan on uploading it soon, actually. Many maps have spelling errors and are formatted to the preferences of cartographers of the time. Note the spelling errors here (and this is the first official map of Rensselaerswyck, from 1631-32) and here. If I'm not mistaken, the map you reference is from the late 1700s, well after Kiliaen van Rensselaer founded the Manor and named it Rensselaerswyck, with the "s". upstateNYer 05:06, 14 August 2009 (UTC)

But this map was not a third party map, but an inventory map of rented farms, produced by the manor itself. That the Wyck was Rensselaer's, is not a question (Rensselaerswyck), nor that it was named for Rensselaer, (Rensselaerwyck). ---But it's not a problem. I enjoy the engrained errors of wikipedia. Not my issue. 129.133.127.244 (talk) 00:14, 15 August 2009 (UTC)

The other two were commissioned by various van Rensselaer patroons, the first being commissioned by the founding patroon himself. Spelling errors are abound when it comes to old maps. The current representation, with the "s", is undoubtedly correct based on the sources available (and I've read very many at this point). I don't mean to sound patronizing, but honestly, the vast majority include the "s" (most importantly, primary sources do as well), and based on Wikipedia policy, that is what I must go by (and it is what I believe to be correct, as well). upstateNYer 05:58, 15 August 2009 (UTC)

Delist - Commons Tags?

Hey UpstateNYer, I've just closed File:Romanian hay.jpg as a delist. Have killed the enwiki FP tag and made it a former FP tag, but of course the tag from Commons still shows up saying it's an FP on enwiki. As a Commons Admin, and since you've done a bit of work adding those tags on Commons - do you just remove it now from the Commons image page, or is there a Commons version of the former en:wiki FP tag? --jjron (talk) 08:07, 14 August 2009 (UTC)

I didn't realize it, but apparently that is part of DustyBot's responsibilities. upstateNYer 13:45, 14 August 2009 (UTC)
Well I'll be...isn't that a clever little thing, wonder how it does that. Looks like it's just a matter of changing the 1 to a 2 anyway. It's even predictive - according to the image page history I closed at 17:56, 14 August 2009, Dustybot changed the tag at 08:31, 14 August 2009, pre-empting me by over 9hrs :-). --jjron (talk) 14:01, 14 August 2009 (UTC)
Hmm, well that could be a bad thing. We'll have to keep an eye on that, especially since Wronkiew hasn't been around in a while and won't be able to fix the bot if something goes wrong. upstateNYer 14:14, 14 August 2009 (UTC)
Nah, it's OK. Times in edit histories often conflict with times on pages. I think the edit history records local time, shared pages use a common time (I guess that's the UTC bit), which makes sense as it shows a common time no matter where in the world you're editing so the chronological order makes sense in discussions. In effect I think the UTC is the old Greenwich Mean Time, may be something slightly different though. Anyway, since Australia is ahead of GMT, that's where the difference comes in. Though not sure why they use local time on the history pages, perhaps you can change that in your preferences and the 'history' times just adjust accordingly. --jjron (talk) 07:35, 16 August 2009 (UTC)
Another thing on this point. Does Dustybot pick up the new FPs and add the Commons tags, or do you do that manually? Just wondering, as I just did a 'delist and replace' on the Canada map but haven't added a Commons tag to the new version. --jjron (talk) 07:44, 16 August 2009 (UTC)

Its been a week.

Its been a week. Dr. Szląchski (talk) 20:33, 14 August 2009 (UTC)

Thanks a billion! I'll do my best and try some new anti-vandalism tools --Dr. Szląchski (talk) 21:33, 14 August 2009 (UTC)

Good luck! upstateNYer 14:46, 15 August 2009 (UTC)

Thanks

Thank you for Rollback. I'll do my best. --Captain Infinity (talk) 21:18, 14 August 2009 (UTC)

May the force be with you, and all that sort of stuff. upstateNYer 21:42, 14 August 2009 (UTC)

Need your help ASAP

Before I get in trouble, delete this because I'm trying to reverse a move due to that annoying assessment template. Delete this for the same reason. Thanks, ZooFari 07:00, 15 August 2009 (UTC)

 Done upstateNYer 14:46, 15 August 2009 (UTC)

FPC

If you are around, could you close two of the FPCs? One is nine days old and has been stagnate for five days, so I doubt that there will be any clambering to want to add in any votes. :) Ottava Rima (talk) 14:20, 16 August 2009 (UTC)

Ty. Ottava Rima (talk) 03:26, 19 August 2009 (UTC)
Yup. upstateNYer 03:38, 19 August 2009 (UTC)

Sept 19 POTD

Having that image in the middle of Rosh Hashanah is a bad, bad idea. I moved it to Template:POTD/2009-08-22. howcheng {chat} 05:13, 18 August 2009 (UTC)

Fair enough; thanks for letting Muhammad know as well. upstateNYer 05:18, 18 August 2009 (UTC)
Sorry if that came off as harsh; I didn't mean it that way. Not being Jewish myself, I certainly didn't recognize that as coinciding with a Jewish holiday, but I knew that Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur both occur in the fall, so I just double-checked it and was kind of annoyed to find out. OTOH, I also think that for the International Day of Quds, it would be better to show a positive image of Islam/Palestinans/Jerusalem, instead of an anti-Israel rally. howcheng {chat} 21:28, 18 August 2009 (UTC)
No, there was no offense taken; I completely understand. I trust your judgment. It's an unfortunate coincidence that once can't do much about. upstateNYer 21:39, 18 August 2009 (UTC)

Done

See my talk. BTW, you requested a move, File:Secretary chu.JPG, in which my script triggered from AWB and realized that the history contains two different images of Chu. Should I be concerned? ZooFari 06:12, 18 August 2009 (UTC)

Nope, that's fine. upstateNYer 14:16, 18 August 2009 (UTC)
Ok. My script triggered another file for File:Secretary_bodman.jpg. Another version at higher quality exists at Commons: File:Samuel Bodman.jpg. Continue? ZooFari 16:52, 18 August 2009 (UTC)
I guess I'm confused. What are you saying? :-/ upstateNYer 18:24, 18 August 2009 (UTC)
There is already a higher resolution pic: File:Samuel Bodman.jpg. Just wondering if the one you requested to be moved will still be used (otherwise I will choose a different filename). ZooFari 18:29, 18 August 2009 (UTC)
Ohh, I would say keep the file name as it is. Someone decided to take all these oval images from the Energy Dept. Not sure why they didn't use the official, high-res ones, but it's a Featured List, so I didn't screw with it. upstateNYer 18:32, 18 August 2009 (UTC)
 Done and delete the file if you would like. ZooFari 18:54, 18 August 2009 (UTC)
File:Penn Jillette in 2007.jpg already at Commons, but changed the content for more resemblance to the one right here. The file can now be deleted. ZooFari 19:05, 18 August 2009 (UTC)

Image moves

Just noticed this. Are you into moving images to Commons? I think the licensing looks OK, but don't really understand Tongan to be sure. --jjron (talk) 07:53, 18 August 2009 (UTC)

I do Commons moves all the time, but this one I don't feel so comfortable about. It says the source is the Smithsonian, but the copyright is CC-2.5. If I'm not mistaken, Smithsonian works are PD-USGov, though I'm not sure since I've never uploaded a Smithsonian work (plus, a Google image search shows the image, but no source is listed as the Smithsonian). That said, they are known for being notoriously stingy in the amount of works they offer for use to the public, so that's why I'm getting a bit of a fishy smell from the whole thing. upstateNYer 14:28, 18 August 2009 (UTC)
Fair enough. I'll probably add a note to this comment at PPR next time I'm there, then remove the notification later. --jjron (talk) 08:22, 19 August 2009 (UTC)
Sounds good. upstateNYer 13:27, 19 August 2009 (UTC)

FPC

UpstateNYer, I can't close my own images, and ones I vote on. Can you get everything in "Nominations older than 7 days"? Shoemaker's Holiday Over 193 FCs served 22:58, 18 August 2009 (UTC)

Just so you know, I no longer have the time to put into FPC to close like I used to. In an emergency, I can do closings, but it will have to be at night (at UTC-4) and I probably won't do more than 3 or 4 at a time. upstateNYer 03:38, 19 August 2009 (UTC)
Fair enough, but there really are some I shouldn't tuch, so I'd appreciate you getting those =) Shoemaker's Holiday Over 195 FCs served 04:16, 19 August 2009 (UTC)

I've put two more I can't do into the "Nominations older than 7 days" section =) Shoemaker's Holiday Over 195 FCs served 05:09, 19 August 2009 (UTC)

Remove rights

Hey UpstateNYer, mind if you temporarily remove the autoreviewer flag from my account? Thanks, ZooFari 05:04, 19 August 2009 (UTC)

 Done. upstateNYer 05:29, 19 August 2009 (UTC)

Maedin

Hi there. I noticed you worked with Maedin (talk · contribs) a few times. I offered to nom her for adminship but I am probably a bit biased. Would you mind giving your opinion on that? Regards SoWhy 11:07, 20 August 2009 (UTC)

Map of Rensselaerswyck

I can't find anything to change, to be honest. Seems solid overall. Great work. –Juliancolton | Talk 05:02, 21 August 2009 (UTC)

How about wording? Much of the content is copy+pasted from the main source, which was written in 1908. I did my best to "translate" to encyclopedia (and 2000s) vernacular, but it was sometimes difficult. So feel free to play with wording if you'd like. upstateNYer 06:13, 21 August 2009 (UTC)

Delete please

Commons:Category:Windows Vista. Thanks, ZooFari 23:07, 21 August 2009 (UTC)

The category itself or the files within it (or both)? upstateNYer 23:11, 21 August 2009 (UTC)
The category. I recategorized the files to Commons:Category:Microsoft Windows Vista. ZooFari 23:34, 21 August 2009 (UTC)
 Done upstateNYer 23:37, 21 August 2009 (UTC)
Thank you. ZooFari 23:45, 21 August 2009 (UTC)
Delete this too please. And I'm probably going to add a redirect to the deleted category. ZooFari 15:08, 22 August 2009 (UTC)

NRHP listing dates

Try the NRHP's own database. (Sorry to get back to you so late ... I've been busy). Daniel Case (talk) 05:09, 22 August 2009 (UTC)

Actually, that info is right here in a source used in the article: 08000582 and July 3, 2008. But it looks like you got it already. Daniel Case (talk) 05:12, 22 August 2009 (UTC)
Doncram helped me out a bit, and he has a question posed to the NRHP community. Incidentally, I was looking for the info on the District 2 schoolhouse; I already had the info on the District 6 schoolhouse. But thanks anyway. :-) upstateNYer 07:10, 22 August 2009 (UTC)

Ping

You have email. :) ceranthor 15:21, 22 August 2009 (UTC)

So do you. upstateNYer 17:01, 22 August 2009 (UTC)

If you're still hanging out in Albany taking photos...

then I have two requests for you. Saint Joseph's Church on Ten Broeck Street (west on Clinton Ave from Palace Theatre, take the first right and then the church is on the left after one block) and the surrounding park and gardens if they are worth a photo (the park is city-owned and not private property dont worry about tresspassing, I'm not sure who owns the church now, probably the Historic Albany Foundation). There's also these buildings which from the photo I have not been able to locate since there is no "Ten Broeck Square" though that may be referring to the block that the church takes up which then those buildings are probably on Saint Joseph Terrace/Hall Place which is the street on the backside of the church.Camelbinky (talk) 23:21, 24 August 2009 (UTC)

Maybe they mean Ten Broeck Triangle? That's a neighborhood, or something like that. I'm spending too much time in Arbor Hill this summer... :) upstateNYer 23:27, 24 August 2009 (UTC)

Re:Denying my Rollback Rights

Thanks UpstateNYer, I wasn't sure of your expectations because I wasn't quite sure.... so I added my name to see what would happen. I mainly wanted to do this because of recent vandalism of Monte Vista, CO and I wanted to see if I could place the removal of content box but wasn't sure if regular users could use it but now I know I may use it. Thanks Again! Atomic City505 (talk) 04:24, 25 August 2009 (UTC)

Thanks for taking it so well! Like I said, do some fighting at Special:RecentChanges, leave appropriate warnings, and come back in about two weeks. upstateNYer 04:26, 25 August 2009 (UTC)

Rollback feature

I think, I'm ready for the Rollback feature. I have 228 edits. If you don’t think I'm ready for Rollback and I need more time.. just let me know. I still make a few mastakes but I'm working on them. --David - (Wikipedia Vandal Fighter). 21:50, 25 August 2009 (UTC)
 Done Looks good, and good use of warnings. Thanks for putting in the effort. upstateNYer 21:56, 25 August 2009 (UTC)
Thank You. --David - (Wikipedia Vandal Fighter). 22:01, 25 August 2009 (UTC)

A possible breakthrough on Smackx Island

Are we trying to identify the Smackx Island that is on the map or the Smack's Island mentioned as the boundaries of the tract bought by the Patroon? I am led to believe that they are not in fact the same thing but could use your input on if they are or not, since if they are not the same then this widens the possible search parameters.Camelbinky (talk) 23:18, 25 August 2009 (UTC)

Well the source on the Map says that at the southern end of the map (which is on the left, I might add), is very accurate, while the northern end is not. Can't remember which end Smackx is on, but that might influence it. It can be assumed that Smackx and Smack's are the same thing. upstateNYer 23:23, 25 August 2009 (UTC)
The reason I ask is that everything I am pulling up online regarding the tract of land van Rensselaer bought says it was 20 miles from Beeren Island to Smack's Island. The island labelled Smackx on the map is not in anyway near 20 miles from Beeren Island. 20 miles north from Beeren Island, as the crow flies, would put you at Mohawk River delta in Cohoes, a bit less if you go by the twisting of the river. If the tract of land referred to as being between Beeren and Smack's means the boundaries of Rensselaerswyck, then Smack's Island must be Peebles or a nearby island. Can you confirm the distance between Beeren Island and Smack's (or Smackx) as being the 20 miles or any other number?Camelbinky (talk) 23:37, 25 August 2009 (UTC)
The article discusses the scale, which I believe was intentionally made misleading so that the West India Company directors would be okay with it, but in reality, it seems Rensselaer had more land than he was able to have. Give that a reread because it may help you out. upstateNYer 23:52, 25 August 2009 (UTC)
I re-read and looked at the map again. The island labelled Smackx (or at least that is how I am reading it, it is not quite clear to me) can not possibly be the same island referred to in books, documents, etc as the boundaries of Rensselaerswyck. The article you wrote states it is 22 1/2 miles from Beeren to Meno(whatever)'s Castle, marking the extent of the Manor. That is correct. Therefore Smack's Island must be 22 1/2 miles north of Beerens Island. Everything that is published regarding Smack's Island is clear, it is 20 miles or so (give or take) from Beeren's. Smackx Island is, according to the calculations given in the article, not even half of that. Smack's Island, as referred to as the northern boundary of the Manor, must be one of the islands around the Mohawk's outlet into the Hudson. The Albany-Schenectady border is the same line as the Manor's northern boundary; so too is, to a lesser degree but still within a tolerant margin of error, Manor Avenue in Cohoes, the Cohoes Falls, and the southern boundary of the most northern of Rensselaer County's towns (those towns having never been in the manor). Extrapolating from those boundaries you may get a perfectly straight line and therefore a rough idea of where the island may be. The northern tip of Peebles Island hits that line perfectly. Obviously going that far is original research. But there is no doubt whatsoever that Smack's Island is (or was) indeed 20 or so miles north of Beerens thereby making it in one of the islands of the Mohawk Delta. Smackx Island on the map is, by the articles own assertations regarding the map's scale. That particular island may be just a similarly spelled island, or may have been labelled as such to confuse the other directors as you say. But it cant be said to be the island referred to in books as making the northern boundary of Rensselaerswyck.Camelbinky (talk) 00:21, 26 August 2009 (UTC)
Sounds good. Out of curiousity, do you have a source for the Albany-Schenectady (I believe you mean Saratoga) border being the same as the Manor's norther border? I'd like to use it if you have one. upstateNYer 00:25, 26 August 2009 (UTC)
I can in a second, just have to backtrack all the different websites I was going to to find the one that mentioned it. I do mean Albany-Schenectady border, not the Albany-Saratoga border. A good graphic, but not verbal, representation is on the Capital District article I believe in the 1776 map of Albany County showing within it the Manor of Rensselaerswyck. A blow-up version can be found here where it can be seen easier that the Manor's border cut through the Cohoes Falls.Camelbinky (talk) 00:37, 26 August 2009 (UTC)

←Oh, okay, gotcha. For some reason in my head I visualize Schenectady County as being completely west of Albany County. Misconception fixed! upstateNYer 00:40, 26 August 2009 (UTC)

A verbal description can be found at page 458 and later in 459, of the Laws of the State of New York the year that Schenectady County was created. This I believe would be the most binding legal description of the county, barring any possible annexations to or from Schenectady, of I am not aware of any between Schenectady and Albany.Camelbinky (talk) 00:55, 26 August 2009 (UTC)
Which page? That just brought up a bunch of search results. upstateNYer 01:04, 26 August 2009 (UTC)
Hmm, when I just checked the link it came up to page 460, but you what you want is actually page 458 and page 459. The page numbers based on Google book's page number bar, though the actual numbers on the pages themselves may not always match up.Camelbinky (talk) 02:51, 26 August 2009 (UTC)

Rollback request rejected

Dear UpstateNYer, thank you so much for considering my request. it will be foolish of me to try and defend myself after you ve already reviewed my edit history. all i can say is that I am now in a better position as an editor. I have more time to spend on wiki, thats why i am a recent changes patroller. i find a lot of vandalism in recent changed articles, but due to inability to roll back, i can not do so much to keep up with the number of vandals. please, consider reviewing your decision. you may choose not to, and i shall try to request rollback powers again in 1 or 2 weeks. otherwise, i may lodge a new request on your talk page. Freshymail-user_talk:fngosa--the-knowledge-defender 09:52, 26 August 2009 (UTC) thank you

A few hours can't change a whole lot; like I said give it two weeks at least, then I'll most likely be comfortable giving you the tool. Sorry to disappoint. ~ 15:50, 26 August 2009 (UTC)

Rollback permissions

I just recently requested rollback permissions. Since then I have discovered vandal fighter and have taken your advice and eliminated several serious problems. I would be very appreciative if you could take another look at my profile.

Thanks! Gaelen 08:46, 29 August 2009 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Gaelen S. (talkcontribs)

Sept 19 POTD

Hey, Not meaning to offend you in any way. After a user harshly criticized by actions and called my intentions false, I had a look at the dates and it seems Quds day is on 18th September as I had let you know and not the 19th. --Muhammad(talk) 07:44, 23 August 2009 (UTC)

Wow. That was a big oops on my part. Mention that to HowCheng. (S)he will be able to move it. What a stupid mis-read on my part. Sorry about that. upstateNYer 17:26, 23 August 2009 (UTC)
I dont think theres any chance now, it was the POTD yesterday :) Don't take it hard on yourself though, with all the closings, I understand. --Muhammad(talk)
Didn't realize that either. Need to step up my game, apparently. upstateNYer 18:00, 23 August 2009 (UTC)
Isthis image possible for Sept 18? --Muhammad(talk) 11:07, 27 August 2009 (UTC)

VPC closure

Are you going to run closures at VPC, or is someone else? There are many nominations that should be archived. ceranthor 11:26, 28 August 2009 (UTC)

I'll get over there this weekend. upstateNYer 19:21, 28 August 2009 (UTC)

Grateful thanks and something shiny for you, ;-)

The Original Barnstar
For an excellent nomination statement and great advice by email. I'm so pleased you co-nommed and really appreciate the role you played in my recent successful request for administrator rights . We can't be having you lagging behind in the shiny stuff, either! Maedin\talk 12:32, 28 August 2009 (UTC)
It was completely my pleasure. upstateNYer 03:15, 29 August 2009 (UTC)

At least we know where Beeren Island is!

I was wondering if you had any interest in creating an article for Beeren Island (Beeren Eylandt in Dutch, Bear's Island). It would probably be little more than a stub, but this (page 14) has an interesting story regarding a fort the Patroon had built there to stop vessels coming up the Hudson and thereby causing a dispute with the Dutch West India Company. I once created, and am surprised it was never deleted as it is grossly unfinished, an article List of Hudson River Islands, if you find there isnt enough info for an article of its own you could always make it a long paragraph-listing on that page. I figure you might be interested in it since you have done a great job regarding Dutch history in our area and might have a leg up on anyone else. I'd be happy to supply any sources I come across while I work on Albany County, New York.Camelbinky (talk) 23:59, 28 August 2009 (UTC)

Question

Is it ok to leave comments on the Requests for permissions/Rollback. Like This If not please tell me. I'm just trying to help out. --David - (Wikipedia Vandal Fighter). 03:20, 29 August 2009 (UTC)

Nothing wrong with it, though admittedly it doesn't happen very often, mainly because so many sysops follow the page very closely. upstateNYer 03:31, 29 August 2009 (UTC)

Hi UpstateNYer, and welcome to the geographic-username club! I have a question I thought you might be able to answer. On August 4, Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Conrad Murray was closed with a result of keep. On August 19, however, the article was redirected to Death of Michael Jackson. Is that "allowed", given the result of the deletion discussion? I left comments on Talk:Conrad Murray and User talk:Bearian, but nobody's responded. Thanks for your help! --Albany NY (talk) 03:04, 30 August 2009 (UTC)

Looks kosher to me, though if I were to redirect, I'd send it to the section of the article that deals mainly with Dr. Murray. User:NuclearWarfare set up the redirect, and I trust him. Might want to ask him on his talk. See if you can't get others to help overturn consensus on the talk page; seems it's the only way out. upstateNYer 06:17, 30 August 2009 (UTC)

DYK nomination of Map of Rensselaerswyck

Hello! Your submission of Map of Rensselaerswyck at the Did You Know nominations page has been reviewed, and there still are some issues that may need to be clarified. Please review the comment(s) underneath your nomination's entry and respond there as soon as possible. Thank you for contributing to Did You Know! ++Lar: t/c 16:27, 30 August 2009 (UTC)

Vandal reverts

When reverting suspected vandalism, what should I write in the edit summary box? Is there a certain tag? I've just been adding the phrase "suspeted vandalism" to the end of the default undo message. ~~ Dr Dec (Talk) ~~ 16:36, 31 August 2009 (UTC)

That works. Also make sure to give the vandalizing account appropriate warnings. Thanks for asking! upstateNYer 20:50, 31 August 2009 (UTC)
I've been posting tags like {{subst:uw-vandal1|an article name}} onto their user pages. ~~ Dr Dec (Talk) ~~ 21:02, 31 August 2009 (UTC)
Great. upstateNYer 21:22, 31 August 2009 (UTC)

DYK for Map of Rensselaerswyck

Updated DYK query On September 1, 2009, Did you know? was updated with a fact from the article Map of Rensselaerswyck, which you created or substantially expanded. You are welcome to check how many hits your article got while on the front page (here's how) and add it to DYKSTATS if it got over 5,000. If you know of another interesting fact from a recently created article, then please suggest it on the Did you know? talk page.

Wikiproject: Did you know? 05:15, 1 September 2009 (UTC)

Autoreviewer?

I’ve created 25+ valid articles excluding redirects Dr. Szląchski (talk) 19:23, 24 August 2009 (UTC)

Click the "pages created" link above. You have 24. Make a few more and I'll go for it. upstateNYer 22:15, 24 August 2009 (UTC)

Done Dr. Szląchski (talk) 03:17, 25 August 2009 (UTC)

This is an example of why we have new page patrol. This article needs to be categorized, wikified, and linked to from other articles. All of your created articles should meet these criteria. upstateNYer 03:32, 25 August 2009 (UTC)

Done Dr. Szląchski (talk) 03:41, 25 August 2009 (UTC)

Right but what I'm saying is that if you have to be told not to do that, you're not quite ready for the tool. Give it a month or two. upstateNYer 03:46, 25 August 2009 (UTC)

Dr. Szlachski should not be granted autoreview right, since he is unable to follow one of the basic rules of Wikipedia: When creating a new article, search first if the subject has already an article. Example: Jean A. C. Chaptal (see Jean-Antoine Chaptal), the notion that one of the most famous French scientists would be without an article in August 2009 is absurd. Kraxler (talk) 15:36, 2 September 2009 (UTC)

Thanks you VERY VERY much for the roll back function

Thanks for the rollback function! It, combined with Huggle is VERY useful. Its amazing how much vandalism Wikipedia is bombarded with, and now I can help slow it down! Thank you! :) --Rockstone (talk) 23:43, 1 September 2009 (UTC)

May the force be with you, and all the sort of stuff... upstateNYer 00:14, 2 September 2009 (UTC)

Fireworks and such...

Do you have any tips on getting shots like this? I have a Nikon D60 as well, but my best attempt was barely recognizable.

By the way, I haven't forgotten about copyediting that article. –Juliancolton | Talk 13:58, 2 September 2009 (UTC)

Julian, I'm no Fir0002, but basically there is no possible way to catch fireworks in an entire photo (on a side note). I'll leave the technical explanation to UpstateNYer. ceranthor 14:03, 2 September 2009 (UTC)
Not sure what ceranthor means to be honest, but my set up was my D60 on a tripod set to "M" (fully manual). I went to some discussion forums online regarding photographing fireworks, so that's where I got the info on the aperture (it's f/16). The timing on this one is 15 seconds, though on others I've taken it's longer and shorter. The discussions led to disagreement regarding ISO, but the best argument was for ISO 100, so that's what I went with. This image is best because my buddies set off so many fireworks at one time. Seems Muhammad has responded on your talk as well; he would know much better. upstateNYer 01:55, 3 September 2009 (UTC)

Timeline article

If you have time do you mind taking a look at Timeline of town creation in New York's Capital District. I know the current format for the tables isnt great but I hope it's still readable.Camelbinky (talk) 18:46, 2 September 2009 (UTC)

If you have any insight into this user's history could you comment on a thread concerning them? WP:AN#User:Gaelen S.. Thanks,--David - (Wikipedia Vandal Fighter). 21:58, 2 September 2009 (UTC)

Killiaen van Rensselaer

Sure, I'll take a look when I can (when I saw it at DYK, I was wondering who this new editor was with interests so similar to yours. Well, now I know ...)

Speaking of which, I will be soon be getting to the photos from my second long trip last August partially through the CD. These start in Schenectady (it was the day I got the Nott Building and Irving Langmuir House pics), go up through Scotia, Ballston Spa, Saratoga Springs, then sort of out of the CD into the SE Adirdonacks (Lake George, Hartford, Granville, down through eastern Washington County), and then to Hoosick Falls. Just letting you know.

Sounds good. I'm also familiar with Lake George, Granville, etc since I worked for DOT up there. Let me know if you need any help with that. upstateNYer 02:31, 4 September 2009 (UTC)
Your Valued picture candidate has been promoted
Your nomination for valued picture status, File:Oklahomacitybombing-DF-ST-98-01356.jpg, gained a consensus of support, and has been promoted. If you would like to nominate another image, please do so at Wikipedia:Valued picture candidates. Makeemlighter (talk) 02:50, 4 September 2009 (UTC)

Kiliaen van R.

Done - best regards, David Conway, aka --Smerus (talk) 05:42, 4 September 2009 (UTC)

Awesome! I figured you were on here somewhere...  :) upstateNYer 11:28, 4 September 2009 (UTC)

DYK nomination of Kiliaen van Rensselaer

Hello! Your submission of Kiliaen van Rensselaer at the Did You Know nominations page has been reviewed, and there still are some issues that may need to be clarified. Please review the comment(s) underneath your nomination's entry and respond there as soon as possible. Thank you for contributing to Did You Know! LiteraryMaven (talkcontrib) 18:45, 4 September 2009 (UTC)

Rollback

Oops...I should've put the "Checking" icon up. I hope that I didn't step on any toes; everything seemed to be in order, so I granted the request :) Lazulilasher (talk) 21:54, 4 September 2009 (UTC)

Nbd. upstateNYer 21:56, 4 September 2009 (UTC)

Timeline

I took your suggestion and have started reformatting the page. Let me know what you think if you get a chance, and also I was thinking of color-coding the boxes to represent the same the notes (this town was in Albany County=Red, this town was in Schenectady County=Blue, etc etc), but I'm not sure what colors would be appropriate and not interfer with seeing the bluelinks, if you have any ideas let me know or experiment yourself if you'd like. Timeline of town creation in New York's Capital DistrictCamelbinky (talk) 03:17, 5 September 2009 (UTC)

WOW! That looks soooo much better. The color coding would make things more obvious; just make sure to use light, subtle colors so it's not annoying to the eyes of the reader. upstateNYer 23:42, 6 September 2009 (UTC)

Claverack and Livingston Manor

Can you provide any information on whether the Claverack (also known as Lower Manor) was founded by the same Kiliaen van Rensselaer as Rensselaerwyck or was this a later descendant? Was Claverack considered a patroonship as well or something separate, was Claverack ever considered part of Rensselaerwyck, either legally connected or just a common owner? Apparently there was a Livingston Manor as well, founded in 1686 that somehow got connected to Rensselaerwyck in some way...do you have any idea on what the connection was? The articles on Wikipedia that deal with these topics arent all that well sourced or well-written or researched as thoroughly as yours on the Rensselaerwyck Manor. Since alot of these manors were the basis of early districts and towns I'm coming across them in my research on early municipalities and am getting confused on who owned what and their boundaries, anything you can point me to would be of immense help.Camelbinky (talk) 23:10, 6 September 2009 (UTC)

I don't have as source on Livingston, though that may have something to do with the English take-over in the late 1600s (Livingston is definitely British, and Queen Anne had to give the van Rensselaers domain over their territory by royal decree when they renounced their Dutch allegience). As for the Claverack branch, there is a good amount of info here (should direct you straight to page 187). The pages before that (except for a quick write up about G. Washington, or something) are about the Rensselaerswyck branch. I found this article after doing the rewrite of Rensselaerswyck and will update it later as I begin working on the other van Rensselaers. My hope is to be an expert in this entire subject by the time I'm done! upstateNYer 23:46, 6 September 2009 (UTC)
On a side note, I'm excited; this is my first DYK that they accepted an image I put in as well! upstateNYer 23:48, 6 September 2009 (UTC)
Congrats! And thank you for the sources, hopefully they will answer the questions that have been popping up as I research those towns in Columbia County that are "descended" from the Livingston Manor. I would say you are very very well-along on your path to becoming a jedi of Dutch-New York history! I may nickname you Obi-van-Kenobi! :-)Camelbinky (talk) 01:11, 7 September 2009 (UTC)

Saratoga

Here's the logo. I used the same description as the old one. The colors don't show up on my browser yet, but may just need purging. Let me know if it's okay with you. ZooFari 00:39, 7 September 2009 (UTC)

Perfect as usual! upstateNYer 01:00, 7 September 2009 (UTC)

DYK for Kiliaen van Rensselaer (Dutch merchant)

Updated DYK query On September 7, 2009, Did you know? was updated with a fact from the article Kiliaen van Rensselaer (Dutch merchant), which you created or substantially expanded. You are welcome to check how many hits your article got while on the front page (here's how) and add it to DYKSTATS if it got over 5,000. If you know of another interesting fact from a recently created article, then please suggest it on the Did you know? talk page.

Wikiproject: Did you know? 05:21, 7 September 2009 (UTC)

Very well written with lots of footnotes, though the section regarding academics mentioning internships at GE and such could use some more, some outsiders who dont know GE's large presence in Schenectady may ask for a citation if this ever comes to GA/FA review. Also, is there anyone who would mind searching google books for online versions of the many books cited, obviously cited material doesnt need to be readily accessible online to Wikipedia readers but it still would be handy. There are five citations for the one sentence concerning the many universities' and colleges' whose designs influenced by Union's design, but there is no mention of which colleges they refer to. Since Schenectady County did not exist until 1809 I think the history section should make some note that when Union College started, it and the city were actually in Albany County. I saw no spelling errors, but there should be a look out for footnotes that get separated from the sentence they are citing and a non-breaking space should be put in to connect them up.Camelbinky (talk) 20:49, 7 September 2009 (UTC)

can I have some coaching?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Admin_coaching/Requests_for_Coaching#Current_requests

You're currently doing the right thing to get coaching. I'm not the right kind of admin to coach; I don't do anything at WP:AFD, WP:UAA, or WP:AN/I, so I'm not as well rounded as many others. You're probably better off going here and asking an available sysop. This will supplement the request you filed, which can sometimes take a long time to be answered. Also, don't forget to sign your posts. upstateNYer 23:34, 7 September 2009 (UTC)

Rollback

Cheers. Darrenhusted (talk) 00:00, 8 September 2009 (UTC)

Your Featured picture candidate has been promoted
Your nomination for featured picture status, File:Cleveland Arcade, 1966.jpg, gained a consensus of support, and has been promoted. If you would like to nominate another image, please do so at Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates. jjron (talk) 07:47, 8 September 2009 (UTC)

FPC Closing

Reckon you could close this: Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates/Pyrocumulus clouds. In lieu of MER-C, I think most of our other closers have voted. It's a bit of a tricky one I guess, but it's had two weeks. Thanks, --jjron (talk) 07:54, 8 September 2009 (UTC)

 Done upstateNYer 13:40, 8 September 2009 (UTC)

Sorry I haven't got back to regarding feedback for above article. Will try to get to soon87.210.7.209 (talk) 19:20, 8 September 2009 (UTC)Djflem (talk) 19:21, 8 September 2009 (UTC)

Union draft

Looks good. The athletics section needs to be expanded and linked to the Achilles Rink. Bearian (talk) 21:03, 8 September 2009 (UTC)

'UpstateNYer'

Why the change? And, Is this image possible for Sept 18? --Muhammad(talk) 11:41, 2 September 2009 (UTC)

Making an effort for it to be more difficult to figure out who I am, basically... upstateNYer 01:50, 3 September 2009 (UTC)
As for the POTD, what's the special occasion? I don't see anything here; not that I doubt you, I'm just curious. Also, if you have background knowledge, you may want to consider writing the blurb, since you're more accustomed to the history behind this. upstateNYer 02:01, 3 September 2009 (UTC)
I was going to ask the same question actually. I suppose it makes sense to separate your private/professional life from your wiki-life (such as they are!). I probably shouldn't allow my employer to see how much time I wastespend on Wikipedia either. ;-) Diliff | (Talk) (Contribs) 09:02, 10 September 2009 (UTC)

Use of photo

Hello,

I recently started a website, and I used your AlbanyNYPano.jpg picture. I cited it as you suggested. The web address is capitaldistrictpc.weebly.com

Thank you so much for the use of your photo, and I think that you have taken a lot of nice pictures of the Albany area. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.76.144.185 (talk) 00:59, 10 September 2009 (UTC)

Glad you like it. Also, the font used to credit me is kind of big; you can feel free to make it smaller if you'd like. Enjoy. :) upstateNYer 01:51, 10 September 2009 (UTC)

User Rjanag has moved the article to a spelling with a lower case "van" from the original capitalized "Van," which is general American usage. He called it "proper capitalization." Could you give me your opinion on this? All sources I have ever seen state "Van." Kraxler (talk) 17:01, 2 September 2009 (UTC)

I just got a message from User:Rjanag, that he moved the article without knowing anything about it... Could you please move it back to "Stephen Van Rensselaer III", I understood that you are an admin, and maybe have the tool, I don't. Kraxler (talk) 18:42, 2 September 2009 (UTC)
Sorry to interject, but in my opinion the lowercase 'v' is the correct standard for van Rensselaer, especially in Dutch. I defer to Upstate should he show that Stephen himself preferred a capital 'v'.Camelbinky (talk) 18:49, 2 September 2009 (UTC)
I haven't yet gotten to it completely, but I have a rewrite of the article going. I planned on moving it to "van" once I got to work on it. While most sources from the time use "Van", I am on the side that the name should remain consistent throughout the family (from Kiliaen van Rensselaer to the most recent one). So yea, I agree with the move and what Camelbinky says above. upstateNYer 01:57, 3 September 2009 (UTC)
Sorry, buy your personal opinion is irrelevant. This is an encyclopedia. It based on sources. Give me a source that any of these persons used a lower case v, and it would be fine with me. But there are none. These people are Americans, not Dutch. Except the first man who emigrated from Holland. By the way, personal names are not bound by orthographic rules, the notion that a name should be corrected in an encyclopedia to conform to whatever rules is absurd. You see, there are people named "Smith", "Smyth", "Smythe" and maybe "Smithh"... You cannot just move all these to "Smith" because this is the "correct spelling." Personal names must be spelled either as used by the person, or used by the sources. see WP:Manual of Style#Proper names: "A readily accessible and authoritative source for the accepted name of a person who has written books, or who has been written about, is the U. S. Library of Congress Authorities database, which provides the accepted name and variant names used by the British Library, the National Library of Canada, and other English language libraries." Besides most of the Van Rensselaers have sat in Congress and the names listed in the Congress files are the accepted spelling variant, like John Laurance, many times quoted as John Lawrence. See here for example for Solomon Van Rensselaer. Please move the articles back to capitalized "Van." Kraxler (talk) 16:25, 3 September 2009 (UTC)
P.S. As to "consistency within the family," John Cochran (military physician) was the grandfather of John Cochrane (general). You see name change over the times. Please respect these people by calling them by their correct name. Kraxler (talk) 16:31, 3 September 2009 (UTC)
First off, calm down; yelling at me doesn't really get you far. Second, if we went by all reliable sources, there would be no one correct spelling of these names, and I don't mean over generations, I mean for one person. This is a reliable source, but misspells the name Rensselaer; this is a reliable (and primary) source, but spells Krol's name wrong. With respect to "van Rensselaer", I'll speak to Kiliaen, since I haven't done much research on Stephen yet. The capitalization of the "van" is not explicitly noted anywhere that I've yet seen (and I've been doing a lot of research) as being either capitalized or not. Kiliaen van Rensselaer's own signature seems to indicate a lower-case spelling of "van", while Stephen's is unfortunately a bit neutral. Just because sources use the capital V doesn't mean it's correct. No source so far that I've seen actually acknowledges the V, though. This primary source uses a lowercase v when speaking of Kiliaen. I think there may have been (and yes, this is OR on my part) mixups over the hundreds of years. When starting a sentence with "van Rensselaer", the "v" must be capitalized. When recording names in an index, the "v" must be capitalized. I personally think that future writers assumed that because of these (mainly indexes), that the "v" is supposed to be capitalized. On the other hand, some people put the "Van Rensselaers" under the Rs, like this (note that they all have lowercase vans); this previously listed source (which is the best source on the early van Rensselaers in existence), it uses a lowercase v throughout the entire writing; I base my research off of this because it is a compilation of primary sources and is the best source out there. When I get to Stephen I will be sure to be careful in how I name him, based on the sources I use (I typically try to stick with primary sources when available; these are the most trustworthy). Unfortunately, I personally think there is no true "answer" to this question, and would like to err on the side of Dutch grammar, which has used van as a lowercase for more than 400 years now. upstateNYer 17:09, 3 September 2009 (UTC)
A very thorough and insightful answer, as always, Upstate. I agree with everything. Outside of Wikipedia there has been a similar debate amongst Jews (in particular Israelis) regarding proper capitalization of the "ben" in last names, as in ben Gurion; ben takes the same meaning as van in Dutch I would assume. As I understand it the proper form is lower-case, obviously this probably has no bearing on the van, but since I do believe van serves the same purpose as ben (which means "son of") it may. In an English translation one would not write x Son of y, but instead would right x son of y.Camelbinky (talk) 22:26, 4 September 2009 (UTC)
Actually van means "of" just like "de" in spanish or portuguese (think Ponce de Leon). The name comes from an area of the Netherlands, something called the Rensle, I believe. I know I've read that somewhere, but I've been unable to find it again. upstateNYer 23:23, 4 September 2009 (UTC)
Ah! I never knew that! It may be interesting to get some more information on what or where Rensle is or refers to. My own ancestor was of the name Guarin (or Warin/Warren in English) de la Strode and de and la were never capitalized even in books written in the United States; perhaps that's a better analogy for "van", I've never seen "de" capitalized in American English. It makes me wonder what the "ten" in "ten eyck" and "ten broeck" stood for, if you happen to know I'd love to learn more rudimentary Dutch terms! I know that the Albany Times Union periodically has contacted and interviewed what they say is the last male heir of the van Rensselaer family, last time I saw an article referencing him he was still living in California where he's spent most of his adult life and I believe that he has not had any male children, so according to the TU he'd be the last van Rensselaer if I'm remembering the articles correctly. It used to seem to me that they had an article once a year on him, but I dont recall reading any recently, which is surprising given all the hoopla surrounding the 400th anniversary of Hudson/Champlain (200 for Fulton). Perhaps there would be a way of contacting him and getting his opinion? I wouldnt hold ourselves to being binded by his opinion of course, but it might be worth listening to, and perhaps he has other information or resources he could pass on to us. At the very least he might be happy to hear that someone like Upstate has taken an interest in preserving and passing on his family's legacy for a larger audience than would have been possible for a museum or archive.Camelbinky (talk) 00:15, 5 September 2009 (UTC)
  • First of all, complaining of being yelled at, especially when it is not true ("yelling" is expressed by using capitals throughout, which I did not, highlighting, which I did, is established and accepted custom, to stress the most important part of a written message), disqualifies you as a serious debater. It is the attitude of an insecure person who does not want to lose an argument at any cost, even being wrong. Nevertheless I take your advice, I'm perfectly calm now, writing this.
  • 1. This is not about the spelling of the name. It is about the capitalization of the two words that compose the surname. You give some examples of "misspellings" above, but that is incorrect also. "Krol" and "Crol" are variant spellings. If somebody writes "United Sates" that is a misspelling, because there is no such thing. On the other side, when in ancient times people wrote down names from oral statements, it happened that the general spelling rules were followed, if the different spelling was not informed. Many times this happened if news reports were telephoned, or reporters wrote down the proceedings of a meeting amid some noise. For example Theophilus C. Callicot often quoted as "Callicott", Marshall B. Champlain often quoted as Champlin, or Chaplin) etc. This makes it difficult to establish a subjects name, but in these cases, as politicians, they are listed in official editions of the State government, and this establishes the accepted spelling. (see: [11]) Sometimes there are different variant spellings. To establish the correct one, one could look at a person's signature, like in the case of Callicot: the newspapers write the name almost always "-tt", but a handsigned letter of his establishes the spelling with one t only. The signature of Stephen Van Rensselaer is not ambiguous at all. Take a magnifying glass, if you can not see it with the naked eye, but the "V" in "Van" is as tall as the "R" and the "l" in "Rensselaer", and much taller than the following "-an". Besides, you give a lot of "sources" for a lot of things, but none for the actual writing "Stephen van Rensselaer". That is something done routinely by poor debaters, they tend to divert the discussion from the issue, when they have no argument at all.
Interlude: To explain the different usage of "Van" and "van" in Holland, Belgium and the United States, let me give you a short historico-legal explanation. In Holland both noblemen and commoners use the preposition "van", which means "of" (as you know, and had to explain to Camelbinky...). It could be just a commoner, like John of New York, or it could be a nobleman like John Lord of Somewhere. In Germany and Austria, the simple preposition von was used until 1919 as the lowest rank of nobility (equivalent to an English knight, "Sir") and in Holland the equivalent "van", if used by a nobleman, had the same meaning. When the U.S. Constitution was adopted in 1789, it provided that "no citizen of the United States shall accept or bear any title of nobility". This produced the American usage of prepositions as part of the surnames: To avoid any controversy, the Dutch prepositions were capitalized and constituted part of a two-worded surname (see: Dirck Ten Broeck, Gulian Ver Planck) or linked together and spelled as one name (see: Gulian Verplanck). To make the issue even a little clearer, all American "Van Soandsos" are sorted under V, but Ludwig van Beethoven is sorted under B. Today, in Holland the "van" is still used as in ancient times, but in Belgium, commoners now use "Van" (see: Karel Van Miert) and only noblemen use "van" (see: Jacques van Ypersele de Strihou). Taking into account the third patroon's leniency with which he treated his tenants, a noble-looking "van" is really outrageous. Conclusion: All Van Rensselaers living after 1789 use capitalized Van.
  • 2. For congressmen's names, the highest authority are the Journals of the House, because any congressman, to take his seat, has to present written credentials, and the name is entered as spelled there in the official journal. These have been preserved and edited, and you can see that the accepted name for this person is "Stephen Van Rensselaer", as you can see here. That is what the name of the article should be. The name of the article is not always the same as the name of the subject of the article. In this case, there being several people with the name Stephen Van Rensselaer, somebody has dubbed them I, II, and III, which is wrong, they were not kings, not even barons. They never used these Roman numerals. Our Stephen was known throughout his adult live as Stephen Van Rensselaer without any appendix, because his father and grandfather were already dead. So, to disambiguate them it is necessary to add something in parentheses, according to WP naming conventions (see: [12]), in this case Stephen Van Rensselaer (lieutenant governor). I will move the article to this name, and I urge you not to move it again without discussing the new move on the talk page (to which I will copy this discussion, to be continued there). Kraxler (talk) 01:08, 8 September 2009 (UTC)
You're acting like I've done something wrong here (and in bad faith), and you're definitely approaching the line of personal attacks. I'd appreciate a bit more respect. As I made clear in my previous response, I indicated that I was arguing from my research with Kiliaen, making the assumption that Stephen followed the same suit. I'm unaware of the convention changes you cite, but I trust you and appreciate the thorough description you've offered me. On that note, if you wouldn't mind, can you please update Van (Dutch) accordingly, with sources, so it's clear to everyone? That would be great. As for the rename to Stephen (lieutenant governor), I disagree at this point. I will make sure to have a source before I move it, if I do so, later on. Though quickly, I can point you to this source], which does include I, II, III, IV, etc. But again, you needn't be so on the offense, nor outright insult my "debating skills". I'm not debating you; I made it clear that these are the concepts I think are correct based on my experience with this person's great-great grandfather. I made it clear that my analysis came with clear caveats, and obviously things can very well change with time. upstateNYer 01:49, 8 September 2009 (UTC)
DO NOT MOVE ANYTHING KRAXLER, and yes I am yelling. This is a discussion that is ongoing and has not reached a consensus, obviously. Your move will be in bad-faith since you know that the discussion has not been resolved, therefore it is not your right to move it and say "dont move it back without discussing first on the talk page". You must first convince Upstate or a suitable number of people in debate thereby reaching a consensus first THEN you may move it. Do not move, if you have, move it back or I will. Consensus has not been reached, the matter is ongoing.Camelbinky (talk) 01:52, 8 September 2009 (UTC)
Nah, don't worry about it for now. When I begin my rewrite of that article, I will neutrally determine whether or not the capitalization is correct (I'll put in a call to the New York State Museum if necessary). For the time being, the article lacks substantially, so if it sits around with the incorrect name for a while, that's not a big deal. I would like to see some sources from Kraxler regarding the history of Van though; that would be helpful to anyone writing about New Netherland and the history of New York. upstateNYer 02:01, 8 September 2009 (UTC)
Ok, Upstater. You research and add your findings to the article, that is common and approved practice. In the meanwhile, the article can stay where it is now, I suppose. If you conclude that the name is not appropriate, you can move it again and we will start another discussion. Anyway, the discussion should be continued on the article's talk page, please.
I apologize if my remarks sounded offensive. My intention was to get back to the issue by pointing out, in a general way, that it is not helpful to debate the form in which an argument is presented when there is an issue to be discussed.
And Camelbinky, you better read WP:CIVIL. You can not forbid anybody to move anything. I have moved an article after a lengthy argument well explaining my reasons, and if anybody moves it again, I'll have to accept it. I could move it again, though, but I am a Veteran Editor, on WP since 2006, and have managed to avoid edit wars so far. Kraxler (talk) 15:57, 8 September 2009 (UTC)
P.S.: The above named source for the Roman numerals is an issue of a historical magazine of 1907, in which the author made scanty research and may have used these numerals of his own thinking, following current usage. He also uses "Van" for the original Dutch immigrants, which you say is wrong, and states that our Stephen was in the State Senate until 1796 which is definitely wrong, since he was elected Lt. Gov. in April 1795 and took office on July 1, thus vacating his seat in the Legislature. I'm sure you will research this thoroughly and I look forward to read your conclusions, with sources. Kraxler (talk) 16:13, 8 September 2009 (UTC)
I also noticed the error with regards to the State Senate, though Spooner's research on Kiliaen was superb and agreed nicely (not always, though) with the Van Rensselaer Bowier Manuscripts, which gives me confidence in the article (since the VRBM is a translation of primary sources). I would seriously suggest you work on Van (Dutch) for the sake of future editors. You seem well-versed in the subject and your knowledge would be helpful to share with others, assuming you have sources. upstateNYer 16:40, 8 September 2009 (UTC)
Oh, and when I sort these names (assuming you're correct), do I really list Stephen under the Vs and Kiliaen under the Rs? That doesn't seem like a good idea. In a written index, you can offer a "See Kiliaen van Rensselaer in the Rs", but on Wikipedia you can't do that. I don't think it makes sense to file them in different letters. What do you think?
In Holland about half of the people have a "van" somewhere, so listing under v would be crowded and pointless. The Belgians on the English WP are listed under v though, the noblemen who use lower case van also. We should list the ancient van Rensselaers under v too, because Americans expect them to be listed there.
I have read the Van (Dutch) article, it explains things quite well, but is rather incomplete. I will see if I can edit that later. Kraxler (talk) 15:30, 9 September 2009 (UTC)
Not that I'm speaking for all of America here (and I am biased probably because I live in Rensselaer County), but in my head, I put all the Van Rensselaers under R because Van is just a placeholder for Dutch names, unless the space is removed (i.e. Vanduesen). All the things named after the Van Rensselaers drop the Van: Rensselaer County, Rensselaerville, New York, Rensselaer, New York, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, etc. The only thing I can think of that still uses the Van is Van Rensselaer Manor, a nursing home in North Greenbush, New York. I was honestly surprised to find Stephen under the Vs in that Congressional listing. upstateNYer 15:35, 9 September 2009 (UTC)
See this as an existing guideline on sorting: Wikipedia:Categorization of people#Ordering names in a category, "Sort by surname" section. The sorting of Van Damme and Van Buren etc. under V has been firmly established. The general guideline is to sort under the first capitalized word of the surname (which is under V for American and Belgian "Vans"). The early "van" Rensselaers are open to dispute. You, as the one who takes care of these articles, have to make up your mind about this. I have stated my opinion above, but I might be wrong. Kraxler (talk) 22:53, 10 September 2009 (UTC)

What to do

I've found a number of users, such as User:PlasticJungle, whose accounts and pages are adverts. And not much else either. What should I do? Thanks, Saebjorn! 23:11, 10 September 2009 (UTC)

Well, considering the few visits this page gets, I wouldn't worry about, to be honest. upstateNYer 04:38, 11 September 2009 (UTC)

Waiting for PLW

I think both the nominations can be promoted since his concerns have been addressed and he did vote support before. --Muhammad(talk) 14:06, 11 September 2009 (UTC)

I've replied on both Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates/File:Perga sp. AF 2.jpg and Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates/File:Soldierfly.jpg. Thanks for the note. Papa Lima Whiskey (talk) 19:07, 11 September 2009 (UTC)

Union College intro rewrite

Not a problem. Seems to have saved about 500 bytes. It was easy to do because it tied into the articles about Schenectady's historic districts I'm working on lately: General Electric Realty Plot and Union Street Historic District.

Speaking of the former, you might want to head out there when you can (while we still have summertime, although the area probably will look good in fall color) and shoot the contributing properties listed in the Realty Plot article (and if you can get a better shot of Langmuir's house, do it) as well as:

  • One of the stone arch bridges over the creek, maybe in a way that shows the ravine described, if possible.
  • The Unitarian Church on Wendell Avenue. Even though it's not a contributing property, it's still a building by a notable modern architect that probably could support an article on its own.
  • That house that the college got sued over (now its alumni relations office).

As you can see, there's a commonscat already. Watch this space for additional lists of possible shots for the Union Street article.

Speaking of Schenectady, I hope you don't mind that I replaced the pictures you took of City Hall and the post office with mine. Usually yours improve on mine (I like the way you seemed to find the exact same spot to shoot the Albany Pump House from, but with better light), but in those cases I liked mine more as the sun was more clearly to the rear, lighting the front facades of the buildings and avoiding the slightly blown sky. Daniel Case (talk) 05:45, 12 September 2009 (UTC)

Hard to say. The college had more of an impact on the street than the other way around. Let's see how it looks tomorrow when I finish it (I hope). Daniel Case (talk) 05:46, 12 September 2009 (UTC)

Completely agree with you on those images; you were obviously there at a better time of day. I don't have the time or energy to go to Schenectady in the morning then again in the afternoon; damn sun! I'm going to go out to Union to cover most of the campus (the main author of the rewrite is the college librarian and said they hadn't done a photo update in a while), so while I'm out there, I'll do my best to get your buildings on Union St, etc. Thanks again for the rewrite, looks great. upstateNYer 05:56, 12 September 2009 (UTC)
Now that I'm finished with it, I think it honestly would be more relevant to a Campus of Union College article if you ever decide to do one. There's a short list of significant contributing properties — the church and the president's house seem like the one's you'd want most. They're both close to campus. Daniel Case (talk) 17:14, 12 September 2009 (UTC)

Hello!

I have seen you often at ZooFari's talk. I am ZooFari's adoptee. --Srinivas 05:58, 13 September 2009 (UTC)

Thank you, for signing my guestbook! :-) --Srinivas 12:50, 14 September 2009 (UTC)
Nottaproblem. upstateNYer 03:46, 15 September 2009 (UTC)

Re: Request for Japanese translation of Current FPC

Thank you for considering me in your request for a translation of the Japanese on the the picture. I looked at the thread, but it appears that it has already been done (albeit with a few spelling mistakes in the English). Feel free to contact me if you have any others. :) --KageTora - (영호 (影虎)) (talk) 11:01, 15 September 2009 (UTC)

Thank you in the meantime. A confirmation is always a good thing too! upstateNYer 11:49, 15 September 2009 (UTC)

WP:ORGNAME

Could you have a look at User_talk:Pfsecurity I think he is in violation of WP:ORGNAME when I saw his edits, is there another place I should have left this message? I was not really sure, so I figured I would leave it with you as you have helped me in the past... RP459 (talk) 06:42, 16 September 2009 (UTC)

Yea, you're gonna wanna go to WP:UAA with that. upstateNYer 14:46, 16 September 2009 (UTC)
Thanks I did that! RP459 (talk) 15:41, 16 September 2009 (UTC)

Rollback

My apologies if you find me irksome, but by "no evidence of vandal fighting," did you mean no evidence, or little evidence? --15lsoucy (talk) 22:10, 17 September 2009 (UTC)

No problem. After a quick scan, I found no evidence. Typically what I do is a Ctrl+F and search "Undid". None showed up for you. If you can show me 10 or more diffs of vandal fighting, I could reconsider, but if I have to really search line-by-line for vandal fighting on an account with fewer than 400 edits, it means you're not quite ready yet. upstateNYer 23:02, 17 September 2009 (UTC)
Thank you for your eloquence and consideration. The word I had used was "deleted," but I understand your meaning. Once my vandal fighting "resume" has received some more padding, I will try again. --15lsoucy (talk) 00:34, 18 September 2009 (UTC)
Glad we could come to agreement. I look forward to reviewing you again in the future. upstateNYer 01:39, 18 September 2009 (UTC)

Ahoy, matey!

Avast! Have yerself a happy International Talk Like a Pirate Day, me hearties. Ye landlubbers best be a-speakin' the pirate language o'er the next 20 hours or so, else be forced to walk the plank and sent into the depths, ye scurvy dog! yo ho ho! –Juliancolton | Talk 02:29, 19 September 2009 (UTC)

Upstate NY

I have a feeling I live some what close to you. --Abc518 (talk) 17:52, 19 September 2009 (UTC)

Most likely; I assume you'll be dealing with presidential-like traffic on Monday? upstateNYer 23:56, 19 September 2009 (UTC)
My son goes to day care there. That should be fun, since William's road is closed, and that's where the day care center is. abc518 (talk) 01:34, 20 September 2009 (UTC)
Haha, I know exactly where you mean; I took a summer class in the basement of that building. You'll have to walk him from the farmer's market up the road. (Sorry to laugh at your poor fortune there, but it is a tad amusing!) upstateNYer 02:52, 20 September 2009 (UTC)

Jermain Street pic

I know the feeling, especially in residential neighborhoods. I have one from a (unusually nice) neighborhood in Yonkers where some woman was really getting threatening even though I wasn't taking a picture of her house. Had my son not been waiting in the car, I might have told her to call the police and let them decide (of course, the definition of disorderly conduct is wide enough that it can encompass "continuing to take photographs you have a legal right to take if it makes someone uncomfortable and they've asked you to stop". But in that case I wondered if it would have made the situation worse. I think they might not have wanted the police coming over). Daniel Case (talk) 23:29, 19 September 2009 (UTC)

Yea. The worst part is the get out of the car, snap, get in the car, leave, sequence. People automatically assume you're spying on them or a PI or something (or at least that's what I'd probably think...). My goal is to get in and get the hell out pronto (especially when you sent me along the length of Clinton Ave!), but it makes the situation look worse. No real solution unfortunately. upstateNYer 23:35, 19 September 2009 (UTC)
I actually wondered, in the Yonkers incident, if the woman might have thought I was from some subprime lender looking for properties to flip. I would empathize with that concern. I didn't get the feeling she was interested in hearing any explanation I might have to offer. But she did say to "take your pictures and go".

Speaking of photos, you may have noticed that I've been busy with Schenectady lately. The armory is the last one in the city from this batch, then it's over into Scotia for the two listings there (the post office and Glen House, both conveniently located on Route 5 within a mile of the bridge. Hey, maybe you could go get a pic of the WG bridge and start an article ... I think it's notable). Then to Ballston Spa and out of the undisputed Capital District. Daniel Case (talk) 00:01, 20 September 2009 (UTC)

Haha! What a routine... ZooFari 23:44, 19 September 2009 (UTC)
One thing you may think about doing, especially in areas of Albany or Schenectady such as Arbor Hill, the South End, Hamilton Hill, and West Hill is to contact the mayor's office (or Supervisor if in a town), the neighborhood association, or (my last choice) the police ahead of time and let them know. When I was a senior at the University at Albany I was in an urban planning course where we had to do a major research paper on Fuller Road and the area around it including a detailed work up on every property in our designated boundaries, me and another classmate were driving through the residential community along the side streets just north of Stuyvesant Plaza and south of what is now Sematech (this was loooooooong ago, I dont even remember if Freedom Quad was built at the time) when the police pulled up and stopped us, apparently there had been a few break-ins recently and someone reported us being suspicious (we were stopping in front of every other house and writting down notes, so yea...) and they thought we were casing the neighborhood. The cops were understanding and let us continue what we were doing the way we were doing it, but asked that we pass on to the professor that he needs to contact the local authorities for the other sections of the road (Fuller Road goes through Guilderland, Albany, Guilderland again, and Colonie) so we dont have that problem again. Neighborhood associations I would think would be the most accomodating and enthusiastic about something like Wikipedia photos, and since Upstate takes such great photos may even ask to use them in their own publications/websites.Camelbinky (talk) 23:54, 19 September 2009 (UTC)
Save for privacy issues; not so sure how I'd feel if my house ended up in the infobox of an historic district, even if it was public information. upstateNYer 00:21, 20 September 2009 (UTC)
True, I personally probably would throw a fit now that I think about it from their perspective. There's always contacting the homeowner first (in owner-occupied houses, apartments would be more difficult as many sections of Albany, Sch., and Troy are absentee landlord owned). It's a long shot but maybe more people than we think would be willing to allow photos. You do seem to have a way with communicating with people, if it translates into real-world interaction as well as it does here I would think most people would be accomodating to your actions if you went to them first and was honest with what you were doing. You can always fudge the truth a bit, instead of saying "for a Wikipedia article" you can say "for promotional and educational material concerning the historic district that your house is a prominent feature of and a prime example of the architecture of the area". It flatters them, makes them seem important, and while not totally accurate of what you are doing it is not an outright lie since Wikipedia is educational and, in a way, promoting the historic district. Most of the towns around here do have solicitation laws (I know your not a prostitute!), so again you may want to contact the municipality just to be on the safe side that you dont need a solicitors licence to go to someone's house and ask to take a photo and it covers your ass if someone says you are a conman trying to scam them.Camelbinky (talk) 01:01, 20 September 2009 (UTC)

Almost done...

Since Cluebot III didn't listen to me about archiving, we'll continue over here. You mentioned that you only want the state routes. Do those include the smaller roads and seem to come to a dead end? It's very low in detail so it be good if we leave those out. Also, you want the color to be grey? Other than that, everything is in good shape and almost done labeling. ZooFari 23:38, 19 September 2009 (UTC)

None of the state routes should be dead ends. In total you'll have only six roads. You can do everything in black (background transparent). Also, even though is is based on another work, boundaries and road directions are public domain, so I believe the licensing would have to be PD. upstateNYer 23:51, 19 September 2009 (UTC)
You're kidding? 6 roads? I drew almost all the lines. That okay? ZooFari 23:53, 19 September 2009 (UTC)
I went back to the archive and looks like I misread (sorry, I could have finished this much earlier). No worries though, and one more question. Do you want the state routes icons, or just the number? ZooFari 00:06, 20 September 2009 (UTC)
Sorry about the misunderstanding! That was probably a lot of work. :-/ Though if you want to do one with all the roads (if you already did them) and one with just those six, I'll be able to use both; I can assure you. Use the full state route signs. You can find the svg for each in its respective article. upstateNYer 00:17, 20 September 2009 (UTC)
I saved the copy with the almost-all-the-roads. You don't have to use it, but I'll finish it if you find a place for it :-). I'll be uploading the file momentarily. ZooFari 00:23, 20 September 2009 (UTC)
Sounds good. Btw, you can zoom on that pdf I originally showed you; you needn't just use the png I sent you. The dead ends may show up better for you then.
Yeah, I assume that's how you assumed it was an SVG. cough ~~ cough. :-) ZooFari 00:38, 20 September 2009 (UTC)
Guilty as charged. upstateNYer 00:50, 20 September 2009 (UTC)
This article says that this icon is the right one for New York routes. Should I use that one or one similar to the png? ZooFari 00:53, 20 September 2009 (UTC)

←Yup, you have Route 7, Route 2, Route 40, Route 142, Route 278, and Route 351 (all svg links). upstateNYer 00:57, 20 September 2009 (UTC)

Done. Any tweaks you would like? Also, you can update the file page if needed. ZooFari 01:26, 20 September 2009 (UTC)
Looks great! Can you put another Rt 7 icon on its left end (left of where it meets Rt 142)? upstateNYer 01:41, 20 September 2009 (UTC)
Argg, still can't upload new versions! ZooFari 02:11, 20 September 2009 (UTC)
I would bring that up at commons:COM:AN and mention it to an admin or bureaucrat. That shouldn't be happening... In the meantime you can email me the file. upstateNYer 02:14, 20 September 2009 (UTC)
It's a problem here too, not just Commons. But I'll get help anyways. Emailed. ZooFari 02:16, 20 September 2009 (UTC)
Brought it up to a crat. upstateNYer 02:39, 20 September 2009 (UTC) Oh and so you know, I uploaded the fix you emailed me under a different name so I could use it. upstateNYer 02:40, 20 September 2009 (UTC)
Great. BTW, I'll be creating some taxo articles tonight and tomorrow so you can flag me autoreviewer again. ZooFari 02:47, 20 September 2009 (UTC)
 Done upstateNYer 02:50, 20 September 2009 (UTC)

Hello!

Where in Upstate NY are you? I'm in Montréal wich is one of the unofficial bids for wikimania 2011. Care to join in? --Mixwell!Talk 02:14, 20 September 2009 (UTC)

I live near Albany (spent a very rambunctious New Year's in Montreal a couple years back - good times). I don't really take part in the foundation kind of stuff; I stick to articles and photographs. Though you can feel free to keep me updated. upstateNYer 02:38, 20 September 2009 (UTC)

Lists of U.S. county name etymologies

After this AfD, I nominated {{Lists of U.S. county name etymologies}} for deletion. If you have anything to add to the debate, feel free to weigh in there. Thanks :)  JUJUTACULAR | (TALK)  15:26, 20 September 2009 (UTC)

Ironic Indeed

File:Capital District Irony.JPG Maybe the construction will be done soon, haha? TheWeakWilled (T * G) 20:26, 20 September 2009 (UTC)

Are they working on 90? I hadn't noticed. upstateNYer 22:45, 20 September 2009 (UTC)
oh that's 90. For some reason I thought that was the northway. They have been doing construction on the 6/7 bridge for an eternity now. TheWeakWilled (T * G) 02:10, 21 September 2009 (UTC)
Ah, yes, the coolest new addition to local highways. I worked for DOT for a while. Considering the circumstances, I personally would say they're doing a pretty good job there (they added an extra lane between exits 6 and 5 in each direction before starting exit 6). Though I envision some crashes when it first opens, considering nobody's ever used one in upstate, and it's a bit confusing. Have a look. upstateNYer 02:21, 21 September 2009 (UTC)

Editor Review

I just began work on clearing the backlog at Editor Review, and I noticed your old ER (which was unfortunately never done). I'm assuming this is no longer needed, is it okay if I close it? If you really want, I can still review you.  JUJUTACULAR | TALK  02:06, 21 September 2009 (UTC)

Wow, that's a while ago. Surprised it's still up. I've gone through 2 RfAs since (the second of which was successful), so I think I'm good. :) upstateNYer 02:18, 21 September 2009 (UTC)

Albany-Schenectady border

Here's the law for the creation of Schenectady County Laws of the State of New York page 458 is where the law begins, 459 mentions "along the northerly bounds of Rensselaerwyck". Hope it helps.Camelbinky (talk) 02:57, 22 September 2009 (UTC)

Great; thanks! upstateNYer 03:03, 22 September 2009 (UTC)
I actually have a similar question to ask of you now! I thought I had read somewhere that the western border of the current Albany County is a jagged line that is always X number of miles from the centerline of the Hudson River (making them parallel lines) and that it was a carry over from the original Rensselaerswyck patroonship, and I believe it mentioned that since the northern and southern borders were also parallel lines(except for the section of the Mohawk River) that it then made Albany County a rhombus. Do you know if the western border of Albany County is in fact always such-and-such a distance from the Hudson River? I figure if the county border is carried from that of Rensselaerswyck, then Rensselaerswyck may in fact have stated its western border was to always be a certain number of miles from the River, and you would know what that distance is in today's miles.Camelbinky (talk) 03:49, 22 September 2009 (UTC)
I never noticed that before, but yea it seems to be the case. While it's definitely not parallel due east of the river, it look parallel in the same direction as the south border. The original patent only seemed to mention the length of the land along a river, though there were mentions of depth being "up to two days venture into the woods". I'll have to look that up though. upstateNYer 11:25, 22 September 2009 (UTC)
"two days venture into the woods". LOL. I just love the old land patents and the early laws creating the towns and cities around here "go to Uncle Joe's Cabin, north of the old mill, go south eight chains to the log where Widow McCreadie first lost her virginity, then eighty dwarf's paces to the post blind man Johnson peed on last winter, that shall be the western bounds of xyz town" and that's not really as much of an exageration from some of the laws, and actually easier to map than most of the descriptions! Having looked at just about every law that established each individual town and city in the 11 counties around the CD it amazes me that anyone actually knows that these towns really do occupy the boundaries we take for granted. If they measured a two days venture into the woods based on how far I'd get...well, Albany County might have ended up only 4 miles wide!Camelbinky (talk) 03:17, 23 September 2009 (UTC)

Niagara Falls

Given that you live in "upstate NY", why haven't you driven to Niagara Falls and FPed it yet? Noodle snacks (talk) 06:21, 22 September 2009 (UTC)

Buffalo is almost 5 hours from me. And there's not much good there to pass the time, really. upstateNYer 11:27, 22 September 2009 (UTC)
I can't speak for it in the US, but google maps pretty consistently over predicts the travel time by about 25-30% for long journeys here (except the "lakes highway", which is actually a dirt road for 40-50km). I seem to recall visiting a pretty good butterfly farm (http://www.niagaraparks.com/garden/butterfly.php), and an aquarium (http://www.niagarafallsstatepark.com/Activities_AquariumOfNiagara.aspx). I was only 10 or something though. Agree that 5 hrs is a fair bit of travel for a single day. Anyway, if you do ever pass through, I'd try and get a shot from a high building or the like and get a blue hour one with the lights too. Don't forget the whirlpool also. I'm surprised that wiki doesn't have a half decent pic. Noodle snacks (talk) 12:02, 22 September 2009 (UTC)
It looks fairly accurate to me. Even if you were able to average 70 miles an hour for the journey (unlikely even with the American penchant for six lane highways), it would take over four hours. Google Maps thoroughly underestimates journeys in the UK. What Google Maps suggested would take an hour ended up taking me 2 hours and 45 minutes (the vast majority of it in the last 10 miles or so) the other week due to ridiculous amounts of traffic and roadworks. Oh how I love driving in London. Diliff | (Talk) (Contribs) 13:05, 22 September 2009 (UTC)
And without giving the article much of a glance, it wouldn't surprise me if it did once have better photos that have since been replaced by the another fly-by-nighter's latest tourist snapshots. The number of times my images of the London Eye have been replaced by blatantly inferior versions.. I give up on that article! Diliff | (Talk) (Contribs) 13:18, 22 September 2009 (UTC)
Having made the trek before, it is definitely about five hours. That said, Buffalo is literally the armpit of New York. I have a buddy that goes to school there and may venture out for a weekend sometime, but that would be the only time I'd ever consider going out there in all honesty. (UpstateNYer on a public computer→) 66.109.36.214 (talk) 18:57, 22 September 2009 (UTC)
Hehehe! "Armpit of New York". HEHEHE! Oh, if only there was a "Western New York WikiProject", we could start a regional online war here on Wikipedia! "Them thar fightin' words" as they say. Oh, it really made me chuckle!Camelbinky (talk) 03:04, 23 September 2009 (UTC)

DYK for Union College

Updated DYK query On September 26, 2009, Did you know? was updated with a fact from the article Union College, which you recently nominated. You are welcome to check how many hits your article got while on the front page (here's how) and add it to DYKSTATS if it got over 5,000. If you know of another interesting fact from a recently created article, then please suggest it on the Did you know? talk page.

Jake Wartenberg 04:43, 26 September 2009 (UTC)

Economy section

I've been adding some things to the economy section of Capital District, I havent added anything about the President's speech yet because I havent been able to find any copy of the actual speech which I would love to read first, have you been able to read it anywhere? I could write something based on what the TU covered but I would like to be able to add more than "he mentioned HVCC and the Luther Forest project as good for the national economy" I'd love to be able to put it into context of how he mentioned our area and possibly quote him directly, he apparently even used the term "Tech Valley" which can be a great boost for our region's profile and the notability of the term for a future article. Editors in the past have always thrown in my face the fact that Bill Gates was once asked "what do you think about Tech Valley?" and he answered "I dont know where that is". Now we've got a President on record mentioning the term.Camelbinky (talk) 17:20, 27 September 2009 (UTC)

Everything OK?

You haven't popped in my watchlist for awhile. BTW, remove the rights again this time permanently. :-) ZooFari 19:49, 27 September 2009 (UTC)

I recently did a paid photo survey of Union College where I took almost 300 photos. As part of the deal, Union wants me to upload all the photos I've taken. It's time consuming, but worth it, so it's taken me away from other stuff. upstateNYer 19:58, 27 September 2009 (UTC)

Request for mediation-type assistance

Hi, UpstateNYer. Given your range of editing interests, I think you might be a good candidate to step in at Poquetanuck (which probably should be renamed to "Poquetanuck, Connecticut," but that's the least of our worries right now) and Talk:Poquetanuck to help mediate (between Doncram and me). Acroterion has been playing mediator between us, but he's away for now, and things are getting weird. Can you help, or would you prefer that I find someone else (or wait until Acroterion gets back)? --Orlady (talk) 19:37, 27 September 2009 (UTC)

I'll definitely have a look. Granted I had my own issue with doncram in the past, but I've gotten over it and we have worked well together since. But if he has a problem with it, I will bow out, out of respect for him. upstateNYer 19:46, 27 September 2009 (UTC)
Thanks. I didn't know that you had a history with Doncram -- note that he said he was OK with asking a third party to look in there, but I didn't specifically ask his permission to invite you. --Orlady (talk) 20:23, 27 September 2009 (UTC)
Fair enough. After doing a quick scan over the initial issues, maybe you guys should consider doing a disambig page including the village and the HD. I would be willing to do enough research to get a few-sentence article going on the village itself, while you can leave the current article as the page for the HD. Granted I haven't yet gotten too far into the debate, but would that sound at all reasonable or have you already considered it? It seems a reasonable compromise. upstateNYer 20:29, 27 September 2009 (UTC)
Actually, the current consensus (I think) is that there should be a single article about the village and the historic district. The village, which is tiny, has no legal official existence (functionally it seems to be a neighborhood in the town of Preston, which has its own fully functional government). Meanwhile, the historic district seems to correspond to the neighborhood, more or less. There isn't a whole lot in the way of sources about either the village or the HD. The current contention is over one sentence in the article. Doncram wants the article to say "The Poquetanuck Village Historic District is substantially the same as the village", with a "citation needed" template, and I want it to say that the village "is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Poquetanuck Village Historic District", with a citation to an article in which the local historical society (which apparently wrote the NRHP nomination) announced that Poquetanuck Village had been listed on the National Register. (Source for my sentence is "Poquetanuck Village and Hallville Listed on the National Register of Historic Places", Preston Pipeline, September 1996, Vol. 3, issue 2, page 13.) Because of his objections to my version of that sentence, he has twice reverted me (in the last couple of days), including removing several other small edits I made to the article. Apparently he wants me to engage in additional prolonged discussion over the relative merits of his version of the article (at Poquetanuck) and what he considers my version of the article, which he moved to Talk:Poquetanuck/VersionC (never mind that Talk:Poquetanuck is now at 145,188 bytes -- all regarding a tiny historic neighborhood about which nobody has much information). I think it would be more productive for someone else look at the sentence in contention and reach a conclusion than for Doncram and me to engage in still more prolonged debate about this. --Orlady (talk) 22:00, 27 September 2009 (UTC)
I really wanted to help out here, but I just got a new job (today) and don't have to time to go through the whole talk page. Sorry to lead you on, but I don't want to lead you on any more. Best of luck with the resolution. But remember, it's one sentence in an article that's about 4 sentences long. Not a big deal. :-) upstateNYer 01:37, 29 September 2009 (UTC)

Answer to an old question-

You once asked me relatively long ago whether or not the orignal CESTM building was a part of the Sematech/Nanoscale College parts that were built on next to it. In doing research for the Tech Valley article I have finally found you a definitive answer- yes it is. CNSE's Albany Nano Tech page 25 on the header-breaks but labelled 23 on the bottom of the page of the newsletter itself, a great source if you ever want to add information about the college, the building, SUNY Albany.Camelbinky (talk) 23:35, 28 September 2009 (UTC)

Sounds good. upstateNYer 01:38, 29 September 2009 (UTC)

About photo's of Amsterdam

Hey, you posted on my usertalk the 21st of August.. I don't log in to Wikipedia that often, so that's why I was slow in replying, sorry for that. I'm new to editing as the above probably reveals, so despite reading some of the etiquette guidelines I'm not sure if this is the appropriate way of replying. Do post on my talkpage if you want to comment on that or anything else. Anyway, I can have a look at procuring those photo you asked for on my user talk if you still need them.. have a decent (5 megapixel) camera myself and can probably borrow a better one. Kinzarr (talk) 01:04, 17 September 2009 (UTC)

Again, I hope this is the appropriate way of responding. Anyway, I must say I'm a little suspicious about the address in the Wikipedia article, seeing as how I bike through that general area fairly often and up till now hadn't heard of any significant historical buildings in that area. I work quite close to there, though, so I'll check it out after my shift tomorrow, might even make some pictures. Any specific requests other than the blue sky you mentioned already? Such as point of view, distance, or specific details of the building itself? Kinzarr (talk) 01:24, 17 September 2009 (UTC)
Responding here is exactly the norm. As for POV, I'd like to see another straight-on shot like the current one. Unfortunately, the current one is a panorama and has stitching errors due to different exposures between pictures (note that the top right is darker than the rest of the image). Thanks for the help! upstateNYer 01:30, 17 September 2009 (UTC)
Righto, will see what I can do. Also, one more quick question on editing. Could you explain your reasons for the above reply being on your talk page instead of mine as the previous replies were?Kinzarr (talk) 01:40, 17 September 2009 (UTC)
It's up to each user; personal preference. You posted your message on the top of my talk, and they should go on the bottom (fixed!), so seeing you were so new, I figured it'd be more comfortable for you if I responded there, but now I see it makes no difference to you. So yea, it's your choice. upstateNYer 02:51, 17 September 2009 (UTC)
I managed to get some fairly good pictures, with the weather you wanted, but there's no easy way to get a good straight-on shot, seeing as how the street the building is on is very narrow. Also, I don't know if this is what you need for your geo-coordinates, but this should take you to a Google Maps view where the building is the first one directly south of the A mark. It's rather easy to recognize, as it's a block by itself, with a clearly visible inner courtyard, and has a big playground/garden directly to the south which is also easily recognizable on the view I linked. Let me know if you still want the photo's despite them not being what you asked for. Kinzarr (talk) 12:39, 21 September 2009 (UTC)
Wow, you aren't kidding. Based on the street view, that block is narrow. Upload what you've got, I'll see if it can be used. I now know why the other image is a panorama though, because there's not really any other way to get a good straight-on shot. upstateNYer 13:10, 21 September 2009 (UTC)
Funnily enough, it's not even -that- narrow by A'dam standards.. you should see some of the streets in the canal belt. Which this is on the edge of by the way. I uploaded one photo for you. I've unsuccessfully tried to link it here without having it actually appear on page, so you'll have to go through 'my contributions' to find it. Tips on how to do such links in the future would be appreciated. Check it out, tell me if anything should've been done differently. Once I'm satisfied that you're satisfied, I'll upload the second.. the third I dumped, it suffered from bad lens-flare and a lot of people in between the camera and the building. Kinzarr (talk) 18:45, 22 September 2009 (UTC)
To link to an image, use this code: [[:File:filename.ext|words to use in the link to the image]] upstateNYer 20:08, 27 September 2009 (UTC)
Looks good. Let's see the other. Thanks again for you help; it's very much appreciated! upstateNYer 20:10, 27 September 2009 (UTC)
Thanks yourself for your help and patience concerning all things editing. I like helping, feel free to send similar requests my way in the future. On that topic, here's the other photo, do what you do best.Kinzarr (talk) 18:56, 29 September 2009 (UTC)

Help!

Could you help me fix up a little mess I got myself into? Maybe you could just tell me what to do , maybe it needs some admin dark arts... I created a talk page proposal here and used a script to get it linked to a RfC but failed miserably :-/ Can I just copy/paste the {{rfctag}} at the top of the existing discussion, or does that page need to be deleted or something? (I've never noticed this before: Talk:<page> is distinct from Wikipedia talk: <page>... how does that work, then?) It needs fixing up, anyway, I'd appreciate your help. Cheers, mikaultalk 23:39, 30 September 2009 (UTC)

Dark arts applied. >:-D Run the script again, but at the correct page this time, and all should be well. Let me know if you need anything else. upstateNYer 01:23, 1 October 2009 (UTC)
Thanks, you're a wizard :-) Incidentally, would you say that was an appropriate use of RfC? --mikaultalk 01:49, 1 October 2009 (UTC)
Seems good to me, especially since it's so well-considered and thought out. upstateNYer 02:11, 1 October 2009 (UTC)

Requesting rollback

Hi there (fellow NYer),

I am interested in applying for Rollback rights after reading your criteria for receiving it and I believe I am in that boat. I believe my edits have overall contributed to several articles. I notify users of their any wrongdoing, (intentional or otherwise), welcome new users and IPs and am interested in improving Wikipedia overall. Thank you. tommy talk 22:42, 30 September 2009 (UTC)

 Done More than happy to. You have a good revert history. You seem to have some favorite subjects too; the edit counter typically defines each user as a person (note the list of all the articles you edit). Sometimes it's funny to look at that and think about. :-) May the force be with you and all that sort of stuff. Best - upstateNYer 01:31, 1 October 2009 (UTC)
HA WOW that is a bit scary actually. I bet that is funny to look at.. those are just interests, bare in mind ;) tommy talk 03:08, 1 October 2009 (UTC)
But of course. upstateNYer 03:10, 1 October 2009 (UTC)
PS I grew up in the Albany area, now live in buffalo :P tommy talk
Well in that case, have a read over Capital District and let me know what you think. Another editor and I have been working on fleshing it out. upstateNYer 03:38, 1 October 2009 (UTC)
Oh my, I haven't lived there since I was 13, but I'll see what I can do! tommy talk 18:41, 1 October 2009 (UTC)

Hi. There are now 4 versions of this picture. Please state which one you prefer. Thanks. Makeemlighter (talk) 01:24, 3 October 2009 (UTC)

 Done Thanks for the notification. upstateNYer 04:54, 3 October 2009 (UTC)

User ArmenianKing

The user ArmenianKing has been adding false and trollish information with false references, pointing to bogus web sites, to the articles on Armenia and Armenians. See my comments on the talk page for both. His access rights must be stripped. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Urchalka2000 (talkcontribs) 12:55, 5 October 2009 (UTC)

You'll want to take that to WP:AN/I. upstateNYer 14:59, 5 October 2009 (UTC)

POTD notification

POTD

Hola,

Just to let you know that the Featured Picture File:Aeronautics2.jpg is due to make an appearance as Picture of the Day on October 7, 2009. If you get a chance, you can check and improve the caption at Template:POTD/2009-10-07. howcheng {chat} 20:02, 5 October 2009 (UTC)

Looks good, gracias amigo. upstateNYer 05:36, 6 October 2009 (UTC)

Rollback

Thanks for your confidence. I will endevour to live up to it. Yworo (talk) 21:48, 5 October 2009 (UTC)

May the force be with you and all that sort of stuff. upstateNYer 22:07, 5 October 2009 (UTC)

re USA

Whoops. I completely misread the diff and thought they were changing it TO 13rd, rather than FROM it. --Golbez (talk) 05:28, 6 October 2009 (UTC)

Okay, just checking. upstateNYer 05:36, 6 October 2009 (UTC)

It was nice to wake up to this at 2:30 am when I couldn't sleep! Thanks again. Makeemlighter (talk) 07:26, 6 October 2009 (UTC)

PD status of NRHP applications

Hmm, I know this has been discussed extensively at NRHP. But I can't remember what the resolution was. Have you asked on the talk page? Daniel Case (talk) 05:43, 7 October 2009 (UTC)

I didn't; I figured I'd start with a good source like you. It's alright though, I've found a lot of PD-old books I can steal from too. upstateNYer 15:38, 7 October 2009 (UTC)

Need a quick review...

I just took a stab at closing my first FPC nomination. Can you take a look to ensure I did everything correctly? –Juliancolton | Talk 15:32, 7 October 2009 (UTC)

Looks good; not promoted noms are pretty easy. Promoted ones take about 4 times as long. If you're going to start doing it, I would suggest doing them in batches; assembly-line method is faster. upstateNYer 15:42, 7 October 2009 (UTC)
Thanks, sounds good. –Juliancolton | Talk 16:00, 7 October 2009 (UTC)

Any chance you'll be taking photos in the village of Waterford anytime? I have a growing list in my head of things needed. Right now the village article has one photo and it requires copyright credit information to be listed on it which makes it awkward and unusable for the list of municipalities article we worked on. The village claims to be the oldest remaining incorporated village in the United States, perhaps a photo of the sign saying that (the one I can think of is on US 9 going south into the city, though they may exist at other major gateways). A photo of the Troy-Waterford Bridge if a good one can be taken. The harbor/promanade area along the Mohawk, visitor's center. The Waterford Museum. The village hall and town hall (which I believe are either right next to each other or are actually the same building). A photo showing Main Street. Photos of the original Champlain Canal and current Erie Canal (good photos for those can be taken from the bridges of NY 32, first bridge in the village crosses current Erie Canal between Locks 2 and 3, second bridge crosses old Champlain Canal). If you dont mind driving up 32 out of the village the old Waterford GE plant now owned by Momentive would be good photo as well. Those are just the photos that I already have places in articles already staked out, anything else you see or think of would be a boon. Thanks in advance and I understand if it might be a long time before you get a chance.Camelbinky (talk) 04:09, 8 October 2009 (UTC)

Sure. I have 2 weeks off before I start my new job, so I'll do my best. Granted all the photos will be from fall, but that will probably add charm. upstateNYer 04:13, 8 October 2009 (UTC)
Congrats on the new job! I hope most of all that it is something you will enjoy and have fun doing, dont ever work just for the money! I tried that and it almost killed me, now I have a job I'm grossly overqualified for and so it allows me to have plenty of time sitting and working on Wikipedia or my graduate studies instead of actually doing anything productive.Camelbinky (talk) 00:47, 9 October 2009 (UTC)

Rollback Request

I am requesting rollback to assist me in my work combating obvious vandalism that ruins perfectly good pages for no reason. I was told that I had to ask an administrator to obtain this, so here I am. This will help out in my protection of more main stream pages such as; Stephen Colbert_(character) and more minor pages, such as; Cardinal Carter Catholic High School,. If you would be so kind, Thank You. If not, please tell me on my talk page other ways I can fight vandalism effectively. Outback the koala (talk) 02:21, 9 October 2009 (UTC)

I do not often issue vandals the warnings necessary; as I did this user and this user. But I understand your point; I promise I will in the future issue these warnings every time I revert vandalism. Outback the koala (talk) 03:50, 9 October 2009 (UTC)
Sounds good! upstateNYer 04:09, 9 October 2009 (UTC)

Delete

Hey, delete this redirect for me. BTW, I tried to take on the request this weekend but it was rather difficult for me, unfortunately. Sorry, I hope you don't mind :-( ZooFari 00:43, 7 October 2009 (UTC)

 Done and no big deal. :-) upstateNYer 15:40, 7 October 2009 (UTC)
Thanks, delete this as well. Gracias! ZooFari 06:33, 10 October 2009 (UTC)

Support requested

Hippo43 finally broke my back with this last straw at Albany, New York removing a subsection I started for the public library so I brought him to the Wikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard/Incidents, please make a comment of support regarding his disruptive behavior if you agree. Many cities, including Syracuse, have in their articles information regarding their public libraries and I just started Albany's it is sourced and I believe the information is notable and clearly shows it, there's more I would like to add to it given time.Camelbinky (talk) 21:39, 10 October 2009 (UTC)

I've responded. If I'm looking at what I think you're looking at, you've made a mistake interpreting the image: There are a lot of sparks created by the fire, which appear as spots without ink because that's the only way to depict the sparks from a huge fire in an engraving. It is an easy mistake to make if you're not looking at them in context. Shoemaker's Holiday Over 213 FCs served 08:51, 12 October 2009 (UTC)

Ok...

I appreciate the compliments, exagerations though they are. You and Daniel Case have been doing quite a great job making superior articles, my articles dont even hold a candle's flame next to your articles on the patroons, the Rensselaerwyck map, the Brunswick School, among others. And the Port article I did only got as far as it did because you helped with the wording, grammar, and got those great photos (I'm just glad you didnt get frost bite because just looking at the photos got me cold!). I have decided to work with some people at the Columbia, Missouri wikiproject on their articles since that is where I am for the time being and think I could do some good and pass on things you, Daniel Case, Juliancolton, Doncram, Mitch32, and others have taught me. I will of course finish up Timeline of town creation in New York's Capital District, do something with Dongan Charter, do the ideas I have for the Waterford photos, and continue to improve other NYCD articles I never finished (I get distracted easy lol), maybe even start one on the Albany Public Library; but if Hippo pops up on an article I've decided I'm walking forever away from whatever article that it is. I thank you, Doncram, and user:Orlady for your kind words. Hopefully at mid-missouri articles I'll find peace away from him.Camelbinky (talk) 03:46, 13 October 2009 (UTC)

Good, now get to work. :-) upstateNYer 03:50, 13 October 2009 (UTC)

Could you have another look at this? I've uploaded an edit. Shoemaker's Holiday Over 213 FCs served 11:39, 13 October 2009 (UTC)

Thanks

Thanks for the map at Tech Valley! Oakwood Cemetary looks great too, I have a feeling GA status really soon for that one.Camelbinky (talk) 23:51, 13 October 2009 (UTC)

Helderberg or Heldeberg?

I've started a sandbox for the Helderberg Escarpment and was wondering if you knew what the best spelling for the name was. Im coming up with both spellings with or without a "r" and none right now sticks out as "more official" than the other. Right now I think I've been using with the "r" but have no opinion other than that I want to be consistent throughout the article.Camelbinky (talk) 23:12, 14 October 2009 (UTC)

Huh, good question. I honestly have no idea and wouldn't know where to find a source for that one... upstateNYer 02:17, 15 October 2009 (UTC)
I think I answered my own question by looking more closely at Google searches for both terms. It seems the hits I got under "Heldeberg" led me to sites where the name of the website Google listed had no "R" but the actual spelling in the website itself DID. So I'm thinking Helderberg is the only legit spelling but I'll look on maps to see if I see any other spelling. Its a very interesting topic, I'm discovering information about history, geology, hydrology, fossils, recreation, and other things I never knew on a variety of topics just in researching this one article on one landform.Camelbinky (talk) 03:20, 15 October 2009 (UTC)
Can't wait to read it. I can think of a few places where it can be linked. upstateNYer 03:25, 15 October 2009 (UTC)

Oakwood cemetery, and other photos

I printed out Oakwood and went through it with a red pen. I believe my comments will be numerous enough that I may actually make a PDF, put the comments in that and email it to you.

Meanwhile, I've finished the northern end of my swing from 8/26/2008 through the northern CD and SE Adirondacks. Going back over it there are a couple of other pics you might want to get if you have the time and ability:

Scotia
Ballston Spa
  • National Bottle Museum: A picture of the front of the current museum, as well as maybe some of the inside. (We might want to get in touch with the director and see if she'd like us to digitize their collection. It seems like something she might be interested in).
  • Brookside Museum: The spring nearby.
Saratoga Springs

Every notable contributing property mentioned in the historic district articles that we don't already have (save the Adelphi Hotel, which I found a free one of on Flickr). Plus some general street scenes. We definitely want High Rock Spring, plus the residential section of North Broadway. And the lobby of the post office, since it was the DYK for the article.

BTW, I'm thinking that with enough pictures to choose from, we could make up a little montage for the lead image for the article on the city like the one you were doing for Albany.

Lake George

Daniel Case (talk) 16:36, 15 October 2009 (UTC)

Rollback

Ok, so it has been a little over a week since you said wait a week then ask again. I have been putting the warning templates on people's pages (and thanks for reminding me about them)...so can I have the rollback feature now? ---Shadow (talk) 18:41, 13 October 2009 (UTC)

 Done upstateNYer 11:19, 15 October 2009 (UTC)
Thank you so much! ---Shadow (talk) 00:03, 17 October 2009 (UTC)

Map of Tech Valley

I stumbled across your request for a locator map at User:ZooFari while doing some other investigation. I have created a map from a different (easier to use) SVG source, and have brought the state outline forward as you requested (I figured out how to hack the XML on the old map to do this, but it had other challenges as well). With permission from ZooFari, I have posted the new version with the same name, and it should appear in your articla. If you have any comments, let me know. Donlammers (talk) 13:37, 18 October 2009 (UTC)

Awesome! I really appreciate that. upstateNYer 23:03, 18 October 2009 (UTC)

Any further ideas for improvement or what could be in the lead? You are by far more qualified at writting the lead for this article than I am. I think I found as many photos as I could, maybe you know of more or better ones (since most of them are yours!). I'm thinking of adding another column for "date founded", if I can squeeze room out off the other columns. Sometime today I'll probably start the list of schools article we had talked about awhile back, just gotta remember where I stuck those examples I did to show you...Camelbinky (talk) 20:09, 18 October 2009 (UTC)

Mentorship?

Hi there. I have, after careful consideration, decided to make the FP section my home here at Wikipedia. You all are nice people, and really, I love the work being done there. I have an interest in becoming more actively involved. Any guidence you can give me would be greatly appreciated. Please feel free to post on my talk page. Also, I am interested in learning the closing procedure, as that seems to be the key (unless you can edit or take great photos) to becoming a power player in the FP section.   Nezzadar    17:56, 19 October 2009 (UTC)

DYK for Oakwood Cemetery (Troy, New York)

Updated DYK query On October 19, 2009, Did you know? was updated with a fact from the article Oakwood Cemetery (Troy, New York), which you created or substantially expanded. You are welcome to check how many hits your article got while on the front page (here's how) and add it to DYKSTATS if it got over 5,000. If you know of another interesting fact from a recently created article, then please suggest it on the Did you know? talk page.

BencherliteTalk 21:49, 19 October 2009 (UTC)

Translation

See my talk page. --Massimo Catarinella (talk) 22:22, 19 October 2009 (UTC)

Oakwood Cemetery (Troy, New York)

Just dropping by to congratulate you for your nice work on the expansion of Oakwood Cemetery (Troy, New York). --Orlady (talk) 19:49, 18 October 2009 (UTC)

Hey, thanks! upstateNYer 23:04, 18 October 2009 (UTC)

Per your request, I have finished marking up the PDF and just tried to email it to you. Did you get it? My mail client suggested there were some problems. Daniel Case (talk) 17:41, 22 October 2009 (UTC)

Just created this stub biography article, but since I have a conflict of interest in being his direct descendent I was hoping you could take a look at it and make sure it does meet our criteria for notability. He gets lots of hits on Google, though I dont know if that is something that can be taken into consideration. Camelbinky (talk) 00:41, 23 October 2009 (UTC)

Seems fine to me. Plus, you might be taking the COI rule a little far when it comes to an ancestor from almost 1000 years ago. :-) Consider yourself lucky that you can track back that far though. Very cool. upstateNYer 04:20, 24 October 2009 (UTC)
Good to see you back from your wikibreak! I hope it wasnt for Wiki-detox. One day I wouldnt be surprised to learn of a "Wikipedia detox center" to help the wiki-addicted. I might even check myself in!Camelbinky (talk) 21:31, 24 October 2009 (UTC)

I've uploaded an edit to fix some problems. Can you review? Shoemaker's Holiday Over 214 FCs served 16:49, 25 October 2009 (UTC)

RS for Brueggers being from Troy

http://www.brueggers.com/about-us

I realized that was kind of dumb afterwards, but the temperature one baffles me; I feel there's no way that can be. Brueggers can go in prose, but I don't care to see a bullet list (the economy section could use something regarding the Iron works and collar factories, then bounce into the fact about Brueggers). It's just that adding it randomly is just so abrupt to a reader. I hope to start working on this sometime in the near future, after I do a lot with Brunswick, New York first. upstateNYer 02:36, 26 October 2009 (UTC)
Yes, I wonder how that "fact" about the temperature got in there, must have been vandalism because you can search for the average and record highs and lows of just about anywhere by using the "The Weather Channel" website. Have a look: http://www.weather.com/weather/wxclimatology/monthly/graph/USNY1458?from=search, you have to check the box to see the record highs, but it's just 101! The highest temperature in NYS according to Wikianswers is summer of 2001, which was 110 degrees down in NYC. I think it was someone's idea of a joke to put that in there, probably the same collge kids who put in the radio show. The Brueggers thing is true, but it would be the only item in that section. I hope you are able to work it in eventually, as it's a cool little fact that could go at the end of a section on famous Troy businesses or something. Sorry I undid you, you're doing a fine job, thanks for all your help! Chrisrus from Troy Chrisrus (talk) 05:24, 26 October 2009 (UTC)

Category Invite

Please add the category [[Category:Wikipedia Featured Picture contributors]] to your userpage. The category is for ease of access to a list of serial FP contributors, and will not be used for spam. Thanks,   Nezzadar    17:10, 27 October 2009 (UTC)

 Done Good idea. upstateNYer 22:48, 27 October 2009 (UTC)

Not again..

Please do something about Hippo43, see if you can have another admin look at his actions. I cant take this. He's putting it back because I'm the one who removed it in the first place. Please! I know noone wants to argue about something so minor, but why should he win everytime just because no one wants to fight him over these things? I shouldnt be the only one to fight him, the little things matter. Two editors at the Village Pump and you, me, and Afriedman at the talk page is enough of a consensus. PLEASE find someone or some way to make it stop!Camelbinky (talk) 00:59, 28 October 2009 (UTC)

I'll keep an eye on things. Don't let it bother you. upstateNYer 01:02, 28 October 2009 (UTC)
I trust you, I'm going to sign off for a couple hours and come back to work some more late tonight on the CD school list; User:Camelbinky/schoolsandbox, I put Albany City School District in the first line and am trying to work out some kinks before I add any others. Hope to have them ironed out for you by the tomorrow. Good luckCamelbinky (talk) 01:10, 28 October 2009 (UTC)
PS: Oakwood Cemetery (Troy, New York)#The Panorama requests the presence of a live version of Helderberg Escarpment, and a DYK nom as well. :-) upstateNYer 01:28, 28 October 2009 (UTC)

Did I forget to thank you? ..

Thank you for participating in my RfA, which passed nearly unanimously with 174 in support, 2 in opposition and 1 neutral votes. Special thanks goes to RegentsPark, Samir and John Carter for their kind nomination and support. I am truly honored by the trust and confidence that the community has placed in me. I thank you for your kind inputs and I will be sincerely looking at the reasons that people opposed me so I can improve in those areas ( including my english ;) ). If you ever need anything please feel free to ask me and I would be happy to help you :). Have a great day ! -- Tinu Cherian - 04:29, 28 October 2009 (UTC)

School sandbox

I think I incorporated all your notes, let me know if there is anything else before I add more schools.Camelbinky (talk) 06:18, 28 October 2009 (UTC)

I think I've fine-tuned the table as much as I can think of on things it needs. I have added Brunswick as a second row to let you see how it would sort each column (yea, sorting with only two isnt much, but I'm lazy); normally I make the image column "unsortable" but since each image has a caption I made it sortable by the first letter of the caption. One question about Brunswick in particular- would you prefer it be labeled as "Brunswick" or "Brunswick (Brittonkill)"? I'll start filling in other schools tonight if I get time, since I figure any changes you will want arent going to be difficult to incorporate. I really like making tables btw, I've learned something new each time, so if you have more tables you need made anywhere, the more difficult the better, let me know; its fun to experiment with tables and see how they come out on preview (some of my previews have been scary looking!).Camelbinky (talk) 02:06, 29 October 2009 (UTC)
Voices Needed at Featured Pictures
Hey there, this is just to let you know that there are some images that need additional input at the older than seven days section, and/or the older nominations requiring additional input section, and/or at that pesky box up top that says "FPCs needing feedback." Either way, it's time to rouse the troops, so if you haven't been around and have the time, come on by. Thanks.

 Nezzadar [SPEAK]  19:43, 29 October 2009 (UTC)

File:Times Square 1-2.JPG
An image created by you has been promoted to featured picture status
Your image, File:Times Square 1-2.JPG, was nominated on Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates, gained a consensus of support, and has been promoted. If you would like to nominate an image, please do so at Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates. Thank you for your contribution! Makeemlighter (talk) 23:00, 29 October 2009 (UTC)
Thanks Makeemlighter! upstateNYer 00:40, 30 October 2009 (UTC)

Re: NRHP applications

Thanks for the response, but both of the main documents (not the photo one) crash my browser and any other program used to open PDFs. Is there something wrong with the docs? Or, maybe better, are they located elsewhere? upstateNYer 23:32, 2 November 2009 (UTC)

I've had trouble in general with pdfs before on my home computer, but they magically disappeared about a year ago, and I don't have any trouble now with the files you named. Try clicking on the URLs rather than the rectangles. Maybe if you go to the Adobe download center and get the newest version.... I've also had lots of hassles with the focus website http://nrhp.focus.nps.gov. Some of the files that they seem to indicate are there, aren't (but Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials are). They also have a special download feature DjVu on focus - but you have to download the software and install it first, then exit your browser and restart it. I've tried this software and it seems to be a hassle, but it might make downloading photos easier (or more high quality). Hope this helps. Smallbones (talk) 01:02, 3 November 2009 (UTC)

Thanks

For your answer here. You are right, I have too few contributions here but you will hear from me soon. I will start working against vandalism. Maybe I will contact you 15 days from now for you to see my development. Just I want to ask: What tool do you recommend for working? In es.wiki I use "Monobook Suite", for all manteinance issues, which is very complete and it is better than Twinkle, at least in Spanish (of course, for vandalism I use Huggle). I will look forward for your answer. Best regards Rrmsjp (Need something?) 03:28, 3 November 2009 (UTC)

Hey

Thanks for the pint! I guess I'm still lurking and making the occasional edit, but it is quite refreshing to get away for a bit. :) –Juliancolton | Talk 03:10, 4 November 2009 (UTC)

Having started a real job, I don't get on as often either. Makes me more efficient in my editing; fewer edits, so they end up being good ones, if you know what I mean. upstateNYer 03:11, 4 November 2009 (UTC)

Pittstown NY / Samuel Wilson

I was just checking out the Pittstown NY article. You were one of the last editors. First off there was ancient vandalism from 2006 on the "IQ" issue in the talk page. One user, using 2 different usernames, only edited the Pittstown article and added something equally silly to an article about a town in Florida, apparently only to reference Pittstown in it. So I removed that entire discussion he had with himself, I'd even go so far as to say it should be purged from the talk page history, but it is not BLP related so.. I guess not.

The information on Samuel Wilson is also possible vandalism. I was wondering if you'd take a look at it. So far I put fact tags around everything. The Isaac Singer stuff seems is correct (I found a source), but no source on "inventor of installment payment"

I'd appreciate it if you took a look, thanks!

Reliefappearance (talk) 02:00, 5 November 2009 (UTC)

Taking a closer look at the source, I'm not even sure about the Isaac Singer claim. The text of the source is this "In addition, Walter Singer, inventor of the famous sewing machine was born in Johnsonville," over at [13] So I really don't know what the story is.. lol. Reliefappearance (talk) 02:06, 5 November 2009 (UTC)
Jeez, I didn't even have Pittstown on my watchlist. Those "notable residents" sections are pointless for an article of this size anyway; small places (with low population) always seem to end up being 80% notable residents and no meat. The (very short) Samuel Wilson article makes no mention of Pittstown and seems to say he went straight from New Hampshire to Troy, though obviously the lack of that information doesn't prove the negative. I removed that section outright. I don't think it's needed. Do you live in Pittstown? upstateNYer 02:56, 5 November 2009 (UTC)
The source saying Walter Singer was born in Johnsonville may be referring to the hamlet in the town of Pittstown called Johnsonville, and therefore may be correct that he is from Pittstown. BUT it is Isaac Singer who invented the sewing machine, and YES he is indeed from Pittstown, though left around the age of 12. However, I have found no references to "Uncle Sam" Wilson being associated with Pittstown, other than I suppose since he and brother walked from New Hampshire to Troy they very well may have walked through Pittstown on the Albany Northern Turnpike! Oh, and there is a street named Samuel Wilson Lane in Pittstown, New Jersey (dont know why).Camelbinky (talk) 04:26, 5 November 2009 (UTC)

Autoreviewer

I seem to satisfy your criteria to become an autoreviewer. Would you give me the permission? I also have an understanding of most wikipedia policies. Btilm  02:53, 4 November 2009 (UTC)

I might investigate if you sign your post... :) upstateNYer 02:11, 4 November 2009 (UTC)
I'm sorry. That is one of the only times I have ever forgot to sign it....  Btilm  02:53, 4 November 2009 (UTC)
I'd say give it another 10 or so articles, preferably a few longer ones. Most of yours seem to be a few sentences long (save for the infoboxes). No offense; it's not a big deal if you don't have Autoreviewer. upstateNYer 03:22, 4 November 2009 (UTC)

Am I ready now to get the autoreviewer permission now?  Btilm  02:59, 5 November 2009 (UTC)

I honestly don't know what to do; you only came to me yesterday requesting the status and have since upped your count, but with one-line NHRP locations. The real thing you need is some time. Also, do you know that Autoreviewer does nothing for you? The status just makes it so any new page you create doesn't go through New Page Patrol, easing the burden on the New Page Patrollers. You don't actually "get" anything for it; it's not like Rollback. If you already knew that, sorry to bore you, but it seems many people don't quite understand what they're requesting when they do. If you'd like a second opinion, feel free to go to Wikipedia:Requests for permissions/Autoreviewer, though in fairness, it would be good if you could include a link to this discussion. upstateNYer 03:02, 5 November 2009 (UTC)

POTD notification

POTD

Hi there,

Just to let you know that the Featured Picture File:MiamiSouthBeachPanoramaEdit.jpg is due to make an appearance as Picture of the Day on November 9, 2009. If you get a chance, you can check and improve the caption at Template:POTD/2009-11-09. howcheng {chat} 05:44, 6 November 2009 (UTC)

My first POTD! upstateNYer 21:57, 6 November 2009 (UTC)
Congrats! snap (no homo) APK because, he says, it's true 04:15, 9 November 2009 (UTC)
Loving the pic of the enlistment - literally LOLed. upstateNYer 04:18, 9 November 2009 (UTC)
I guess that one guy never learned the cardinal rule: "keep your eyes forward – always forward". APK because, he says, it's true 04:44, 9 November 2009 (UTC)
That video is hysterical. upstateNYer 04:51, 9 November 2009 (UTC)

Thought you might be interested-

Open house at University at Albany's College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering Saturday 11-3. Thought looking around inside would be something you might be interested in.Camelbinky (talk) 21:59, 6 November 2009 (UTC)

I had heard about that. Not much interest though; but thanks for the update. upstateNYer 03:09, 7 November 2009 (UTC)

Some maintenance

I made some maintenance today. If you can review them before applying again for a rollbacker permission, I will appreciate it. It is a little bit hard to do maintenance withouth a proper tool (like this), but I'll try to do my best. If you have any comment, please let me know. Regards --Rrm·Sjp 18:54, 9 November 2009 (UTC)

Hello! A few days ago I completed a GA review for Kiliaen van Rensselaer (Dutch merchant), which can be found at Talk:Kiliaen van Rensselaer (Dutch merchant)/GA1. I hadn't heard back from you on my comments, so I wanted to drop you a note here and make sure you had seen the review. Thanks! Dana boomer (talk) 00:07, 12 November 2009 (UTC)

Thanks for catching up with me! I hadn't noticed. I'll look over your comments soon. I did take a peak and noticed your issue with the Wikisource references, which is understandable. However, all the documents I reference were transcribed by me from the Van Rensselaer Bowier Manuscripts and each Wikisource document has a link directly to the page of the document within the book at Google Books. Hopefully that clears things up in addition to answers at GAN. I'll get back to you soon. upstateNYer 00:13, 12 November 2009 (UTC)

Congrats!

Another excellent job on another GA. Im jealous. I just dont have the patience or temperment to do what you do; I envy you and wish all the articles I created were as good as yours. I look forward to reading the next one! And yes I'm still slowly adding schools to the table, lots more than I thought; let me know if you get any more photos of area schools or the Waterford photos.Camelbinky (talk) 03:47, 12 November 2009 (UTC)

Thank you. :-) Unfortunately working life is busy so I don't have Waterford pics yet. And yes, there are many districts in the area. upstateNYer 04:03, 12 November 2009 (UTC)
Helderberg Escarpment is up, thought not perfect, teaching myself geology etc while working on other things as well is tough! Feel free to add links to it from other pages if you get time.Camelbinky (talk) 04:34, 12 November 2009 (UTC)
Congratulations! —RobinHood70 (talkcontribs) 02:56, 12 November 2009 (UTC)
Hey, thanks guys! upstateNYer 00:58, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

I didnt want to...

but I'm afraid as a last resort I am asking you to please get involved at the AN/I thread I have against Hippo43 if only to comment against his repeated accusations in the thread that my edits are "badly-written trivia" or "crap". I know you dont like to be dragged into these drama-filled things, and I intentionally didnt come to you earlier as I thought I had a clear-cut case this time as he pretty much admitted to having seen something on my talk page and then intentionally following it in order to comment. Doncram saw the thread and has been kind enough to stick up for me (as you know I am probably my own worst enemy in a discussion) and Equazcion who knows me from policy discussions has also been sticking up for my contributions and debunking Hippos exagerations and lies. As someone who is unimpeachable regarding honesty and fairness I hope you speaking on my behalf regarding my editing of NYCD related articles may carry some weight in dispelling these slanders that what Hippo does is and I quote- "clean up poorly-written trivia" that I write.Camelbinky (talk) 00:32, 14 November 2009 (UTC)

Thanks

Thank you UpstateNYer for granting my request in such a quick manner. I appreciate it Deserted Cities (talk) 02:29, 17 November 2009 (UTC)

Used a couple images of yours...

I have used a couple images of yours at [14].

I think I attributed them correctly, but if not, just let me know.

Thanks...

...Rob

Tarrkid (talk) 15:24, 20 November 2009 (UTC)

Autoreviewer

Hi UpstateNYer. I wish that you reconsider my application for the Autoreviewer tool. I have recently engaged in the construction of Olympic articles in preparation for the 2010 Winter Olympics. If you examine my history on Wikipedia, you will find that I am no new editor and have the experience and record to substantiate these claims. I am uncertain as to why you originally declined my original application for the tool when other editors with less activity, edit counts, page creations, and experience were approved hours beforehand. I hope you can see to this quickly as it would be much appreciated. Thanks for your time and consideration. Mkdwtalk 03:17, 22 November 2009 (UTC)

Union

FYI, I nominated Union College for a formal peer review after seeing your posts on WP:Universities and WT:UNI. I hope you get plenty of helpful comments that benefit your work promoting Union College to GA status. -Mabeenot (talk) 04:17, 23 November 2009 (UTC)

Welcome to FAC!

Hi UpstateNYer, I noticed that you've submitted your first nomination for Featured article. It's always nice to see new nominators! I hope that you enjoy the process. Please don't get discouraged at some of the sourcing comments - often a better method of sourcing can alleviate some of the confusion. If you have any questions, feel free to leave them at the FAC talk page or ask any of the experienced reviewers or me or user talk:SandyGeorgia. Best of luck to you and your article, and I hope we see you at FAC many times in the future. Your interests are in a topic without a lot of featured articles, and your contributions are/will be very valuable in helping us to get a more diverse group of articles on the main page. Karanacs (talk) 19:28, 24 November 2009 (UTC)

Updated all the sourcing and made sure links to original documents were backed up by legitimate secondary sources. Thanks. upstateNYer 06:33, 25 November 2009 (UTC)
Wow, dude, I am soooo sorry about what is happening at the FAC. That type of stuff is why I dont even try to go for GA or FA anymore. Since it could be considered forum shopping if you brought the issue up at the OR/N would you mind if I used your FA nomination as the basis of a question whether or not using a bunch of primary sources (in your case one) is OR; I'm pretty sure your explanations show it isnt and you would find alot of support. User:Blueboar may be one you might want to contact and get his opinion on the matter, perhaps he could help you.Camelbinky (talk) 06:50, 25 November 2009 (UTC)

Oakwood Cemetery

Hi UpstateNYer, I've posted a review of the article for GA status at Talk:Oakwood_Cemetery_(Troy,_New_York)/GA1. A nice article but a few issues - I'll keep a watch - Peripitus (Talk) 05:36, 24 November 2009 (UTC)

Sounds good; I was just reading over your comments. Give me a couple days and I'll deal with all the issues. upstateNYer 05:41, 24 November 2009 (UTC)

I've seen the edits but have not had time to re-review. I will go through it in some depth today (Australian time) - Peripitus (Talk) 20:54, 25 November 2009 (UTC)

Okey doke. upstateNYer 20:57, 25 November 2009 (UTC)

And passed - well done. There are things required before you'd want to put this up for the FA star but it amply meets the GA criteria now. You appear to be getting a rough introduction to the Featured Article process, all the best with that - Peripitus (Talk) 10:23, 29 November 2009 (UTC)

Yea, a little bit. I'm going to have the NRHP wikiproject go through this again before I bring it to FAC. Thanks again for reviewing. upstateNYer 16:29, 29 November 2009 (UTC)

Congratulations!

Congratulations UpstateNYer! Your image Image:UAlbanyNanoscienceCenter.jpg was the Random Picture of the Day! It looked like this:

The College of Nanoscale and Engineering at University at Albany, SUNY
Image credit: UpstateNYer (talk · contribs)

. - Presidentman (talk) Random Picture of the Day 11:48, 26 November 2009 (UTC)

Never heard of the program, but, hey, thanks! upstateNYer 05:41, 27 November 2009 (UTC)

Worldenc's charts

I would just like to inform you that I've started a thread here about Worldenc's charts. If you could take a look, that'd be great. Killiondude (talk) 20:52, 28 November 2009 (UTC)

Diocese equivalents

The closest thing I can think of would be that the individual Reconstructionist, Reform, Conservative, Orthodox, and Hasidic congregations would each be in an umbrella national organization (such as the Union for Reform Judaism) that may have some sort of regional breakdown, but there would be no hierarchy like an arch-diocese/diocese with bishops (the generic term for such a hierarchy is episcopal whether Catholic, Anglican, etc). Britain, France, and Israel have a national "Head Rabbi" but I dont believe the US or any individual US state does. Given the history of Islam I believe the same thing would exist for them as well. I checked a book I own, The Handy Religion Answer Book and there doesnt really seem to be any official religious hierarchy for Islam outside of what certain governments may set up within their own boundaries (such as Iran).Camelbinky (talk) 19:55, 29 November 2009 (UTC)

Okay, I just don't want it to seem like I'm being biased on the template. Maybe someday we should create Religion in New York's Capital District? Though I'm not very religious and couldn't see myself having the patience to write it. upstateNYer 20:11, 29 November 2009 (UTC)
Until then feel free to add whatever you can to Culture in New York's Capital District#Religious life, I've got a little on Catholic, Lutheran, (Dutch) Reformed, African Methodist Episcopal, Episcopal, and Jewish religions.Camelbinky (talk) 20:23, 29 November 2009 (UTC)
I just came across this article- Micro-urban; both Albany and Saratoga Springs are listed on that list of "micro-urban" cities...I dont know where they are getting their sources for those inclusions and I'm not sure if we should try to incorporate that word into either article but if either city is reliably considered a "micro-urban" city then I think we should put it somewhere in those articles; have you ever heard of that term or know anything about it?Camelbinky (talk) 04:31, 1 December 2009 (UTC)

Rollback request

Hey, I want to apply for rollback rights. I was recommended by A8UDI and he told me to come to you. I have roughly 200+ edits, most of them against vandalism. I also try to do my best to warn the vandaliser so they can stop if they are consciously vandalising, and/or welcomly warn them in case if they aren't knowledgible that they are vandalising Wikipedia. As such, I hope you will read this request soon and respond back with your answer. I respect if you deny, and may you please give me details of why you denied my request so I can try harder? Thank you so much, Я£ΙИӺΘЯСΣĐᴙᶕᵻᴎᵮᴓᴚᴐᶒᵯɘᴎᴛᶊTalk 19:12, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

Oppose this request per this completely inappropriate misuse of Twinkle to label a valid edit as vandalism[15]. -- AnmaFinotera (talk · contribs) 21:46, 2 December 2009 (UTC)
One mistake should not be the basis of an opposition that does not involve a user. Sorry, not to be mean, it's the truth. Я£ΙИӺΘЯСΣĐᴙᶕᵻᴎᵮᴓᴚᴐᶒᵯɘᴎᴛᶊTalk 23:35, 2 December 2009 (UTC)

Funny stuff

After your mentioning the McD's commercial I got to thinking, hmm, could be fun to do an article on Kaydeross Patent (however you spell it) and/or the creek too. In googling for sources I found that Wikipedia already has an article on the creek Kayaderosseras, but I havent found an article for the patent. To think the creek was under our nose the whole time, I thought it smelled fishy! HA!Camelbinky (talk) 04:42, 5 December 2009 (UTC)

Poesten Kill

I was about to start a sandbox on the Poesten Kill and when I did a preliminary Google search to start getting information, lo and behold! I find your sandbox as the number four listing! Great work on it. Look forward to it in article-space.Camelbinky (talk) 00:49, 8 December 2009 (UTC)

Thought this might give you a chuckle.Camelbinky (talk) 22:37, 9 December 2009 (UTC)

Lansingburgh

The village of Lansingburgh was created before the town. Village in 1790, within the town of Rensselaerwyck, which the next year the village was included in the town of Troy (See town creation article for that breakdown). Lansingburgh, the town, was created as a town in 1806 from Petersburgh and the town of Troy.[2] Parts of the town and the entire village were annexed to the city in 1900 per Chapter 665 of the Laws of 1900.[3] Which if any of the "free standing stone monuments" mentioned in the law are still standing that might be a nice photo addition to articles. There also appears to have been a quasi-municipal organization of Lansingburgh under the name Stone Arabia back in 1771 mentioned in the Gazetteer, but I'd need to do more research on that if you need it. Lansingburgh may also have been the first village in the state of New York,[4] but I'd feel more comfortable doing more research on that because I think there may be a clarifying point to that statement.

  1. ^ Blankstein, Andrew (2009-06-25). "Pop star Michael Jackson dead at 50". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2009-06-25. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  2. ^ John Homer French (1866). "Gazetteer of the State of New York". p. 557.
  3. ^ City of Troy (1906). "Charter of and laws relating to the City of Troy". p. 216.
  4. ^ "A Brief History". Lansingburgh Historical Society.

Camelbinky (talk) 13:13, 13 December 2009 (UTC)

I started here a sandbox on the history of railroads in the area, however a name like History of railroading in New York's Capital District seems awkward, wondering if you have any ideas, and if you think the topic is notable enough for mainspace.Camelbinky (talk) 02:47, 14 December 2009 (UTC)

Rollback

I have been patrolling Recent changes and have more edits. Should I submit another request for rollback or talk to you?--Guerillero (talk) 20:47, 14 December 2009 (UTC)

Your post

Read this after clicking "save" on my most recent reply to another part of the thread. Requesting you consider a refactor; no need to cross the line into speculation of a personal nature. Durova381 22:26, 15 December 2009 (UTC)

Yes, the point is what you want people to do takes a lot of time. The "personal nature" isn't meant to be insulting, if that's how you took it; it's me following logic (if you're putting in 20 hrs a restoration, then you're sitting at a computer for most of your day; there's nothing negative about that comment). Regardless, if you want to sell your project, stick to user talks or WT:FPC. You don't like to hear about VPC, I'm sick of hearing nothing but "restorationism" at FPC. upstateNYer 22:32, 15 December 2009 (UTC)
PS, I assume you mean "I read this after clicking "save"..."; sometimes a pronoun can be very useful (the way you wrote it reads like a command). Just something to think about when you post in the future. upstateNYer 22:34, 15 December 2009 (UTC)
A few months ago you were posting about how easy it was to interface with the local historical society. Now you seem to be asserting the opposite. Is there a missing nuance where these views are consistent? Half a year ago you obtained image donations singlehandedly. It would seem to be easier to walk in the door, shake hands, and hand over the followup tasks to Gerard or the New York chapter reps or myself. Durova381 22:57, 15 December 2009 (UTC)
I was between school and work at the time (ahhh, time, such a commodity). That said, I never said it was easy, in fact I pointed out how difficult it is to get donations. I never got one high-res photo donation; they only let me scan engravings from books that were out of copyright. How boring and disappointing. Their worry centers around "not knowing if we have permission from the original photographers/families to release the images" in addition to "we don't want to give them more reasons not to come here to view the images themselves" (as if people go during the 6 hours a week they're open anyway. And the concern stems only from the fact that they will be online. Publish in a newspaper and they're more than happy. Not to say I won't keep trying in the future. I have to get the written works up to par first, show then how good they are, and then talk them into giving me better photos (such as replacements for this, this, and this) to supplement the writings (and dispel unfair assumptions people have about Wikipedia). upstateNYer 23:06, 15 December 2009 (UTC)
Best wishes on the studies in that case. Finals must be upon you. Just remember you don't have to go it alone when it comes to the historical society. Durova381 23:15, 15 December 2009 (UTC)
Nope, like I said above, I have a job now, but realistically speaking, it's just me and my town historical society. It will take some time (possibly work on the board) to convince them. upstateNYer 23:25, 15 December 2009 (UTC)

Any panoramas?

Only one I could think of, but don't feel obligated; it's not one of my best. upstateNYer 04:11, 17 December 2009 (UTC)

Currently looking for panoramas suitable for use in Portal:Hudson Valley/Selected panorama. I've added a couple of my own, and I was wondering if you have any lying around? I already used a couple of the skylines from up north. :) –Juliancolton | Talk 00:01, 17 December 2009 (UTC)

Hmm, alright. I'll see if I can fix that one up. In the meantime, I've just seen File:DowntownMiamiPanorama.jpg, and I'm very surprised that's not made FP yet. The detail is just amazing. –Juliancolton | Talk 04:28, 17 December 2009 (UTC)
I like it, but the exposure of the center photo ruins it. upstateNYer 04:35, 17 December 2009 (UTC)

POTD notification

POTD

Hi there,

Just to let you know that the Featured Picture File:CalliandraEmarginata.JPG is due to make an appearance as Picture of the Day on December 19, 2009. If you get a chance, you can check and improve the caption at Template:POTD/2009-12-19. howcheng {chat} 21:26, 17 December 2009 (UTC)

Calliandra surinamensis

Congrats on your recent POTD for your exquisite image of a Calliandra emarginata. I was very lucky to live in Kapoho, Hawaii, where at my grandmother's front porch lived a Calliandra surinamensis, a gorgeous pink version of the same plant. Sadly, no image of her tree exists, nor any other public domain version that I know of. If you happen to have the chance to photograph and post an image of a surinamensis, it would be greatly appreciated! Many thanks. ~Geaugagrrl talk 08:41, 19 December 2009 (UTC)

I'll keep that in mind. I live in New York and this photo was taken in Miami on vacation, so you might have to wait a while! But I'll try to remember. upstateNYer 18:09, 19 December 2009 (UTC)

Since this is in Claverack, I started it as a WP:HVNY article. But it occurs to me it might have some historic relevance as a Capital District article. If you want to, you can add it to WP:NYCD as well. Daniel Case (talk) 21:20, 20 December 2009 (UTC)

Indeed, good call. ❄ upstateNYer23:24, 20 December 2009 (UTC)

Happy holidays!

Best wishes for the holiday season and the upcoming new year! –Juliancolton | Talk 16:46, 22 December 2009 (UTC)
Hello, MattWade. You have new messages at Debresser's talk page.
You can remove this notice at any time by removing the {{Talkback}} or {{Tb}} template.

Happy holidays

--Caspian blue 22:09, 24 December 2009 (UTC)

Re: Happy Holidays

Hey Upstate, thank you for the holiday message! I somehow missed it earlier and didn't say thank you, :-) And now I know why it's always Merry Christmas and not Happy, all down to one of history's unluckiest "single" parents! By the way, we Brits don't say "Happy Holidays" at all, and I understand that the Yanks do. So Happy Holidays back to you . . . by which I, of course, am referring to Labour Day and George Washington's birthday, Maedin\talk 12:16, 27 December 2009 (UTC)

I always got GW's birthday off because I went to GWU, and now I don't :(. We Americans are just so respectful of every culture imaginable that we are almost legally bound to say Happy Holidays. The whole separation of church and state thing, and not having a national religion (and lacking a defender of the faith and all), leads us to walk on egg shells and not piss anyone else off. It's hard to be American on Christmas! ;-) ❄ upstateNYer17:54, 27 December 2009 (UTC)
Oh, and not to be too picky, but it's officially Labor Day. We are stingy with our "u"s here; saves on printing costs. :) ❄ upstateNYer17:55, 27 December 2009 (UTC)
Well, as for not pissing anyone off, the same is true in the UK. We're politically correct to the point of inanity. I picked up the Daily Telegraph about four weeks ago and (as well as devoting most of the front page to some golfer who got scratches in a little car accident (and I care about this because . . .?)) it carried an article by some religious figurehead who says we should not be wishing people "Merry Christmas" because they might be having a difficult time and we would appear insensitive by passing on glad tidings of the season. I despair. And you have to admit it, come on, Upstate, you like the extra "u"s ;-) They're fun! There aren't nearly enough of them around, if you ask me, along with zeds! Maedin\talk 11:41, 28 December 2009 (UTC)
But Tiger cheated on his (supermodel) wife with twelve people! The world needs to know this! ❄ upstateNYer23:31, 28 December 2009 (UTC)

Merry Christmas!

Thank you for the belated Happy Hannukkah, and Merry Christmas to you! I hope some of those sources I gave you before help out on the History of Troy, its a big task your taking on. Lately I've been very interested in both Menands and Green Island, many of the sources I've used on them may be useful for Troy as well if you have time to look at the references there. I just added a large section on the many amusement parks that used to be located in Menands. Look forward to a seeing a complete Troy history article!Camelbinky (talk) 20:36, 24 December 2009 (UTC)

In your research let me know if you come across (or perhaps already know) if this postcard is right in calling the Troy-Menands Bridge the "Gray & Menands Bridge". It definitely is the Menands Bridge with the ex-D&H/ex-Conrail (today CSX?) tracks in the foreground, possibly as seen from the location of the apartments at the dead-end of Stowe Ave. I know at the closed entrace to the old sidewalk along the bridge there is an original plaque, though I've never walked up to it to read it.Camelbinky (talk) 22:33, 24 December 2009 (UTC)
It will be a while before I make it to the 1800s/1900s, but I'll keep my eye out. ❄ upstateNYer05:59, 26 December 2009 (UTC)
I just started this- Beeren Island if you want to take a look and make sure it looks right about the patroonship and add whatever you want.Camelbinky (talk) 22:54, 26 December 2009 (UTC)
Do you happen to know if it is ok to take photos from Federal government websites? In particular any websites by the US Army about the Watervliet Arsenal, could I download the images and put them at Commons on the basis that they are Federal government property?Camelbinky (talk) 03:15, 30 December 2009 (UTC)
Only if it explicitly says that image (itself) was taken by a government employee. Government sites are known for using photos they don't have rights to and plastering them on their websites, confusing editors here into thinking, "It's on a .gov, therefore it's now public domain, no matter what." Not true, in fact. ❄ upstateNYer03:18, 30 December 2009 (UTC)

I've provided a sliced version (as you suggested) that you may be interested. Cheers, ZooFari 01:58, 31 December 2009 (UTC)

Hi... Thanks for contacting me about the recent FPC nom for the USS Annapolis... I have replied to you on my talk page but no idea if you get notified of that! I was wondering if you happened to know the answer to the question I posed as part of the nom? Thanks... Gazhiley (talk) 13:22, 31 December 2009 (UTC)

Vandalism

Hi, I'm a new editor on wikipedia--- when working to patrol for vandalism, should I focus on IP contributions only? Mrmewe (talk) 16:14, 31 December 2009 (UTC)

In short, yes. But that doesn't mean you should ignore the rest. Common sense is the best solution in this case. I typically look for edits made by IPs that result in changes in like 5-15 bytes because they often get overlooked and are meant to be overlooked. Have fun! ❄ upstateNYer17:27, 31 December 2009 (UTC)

Rollback Rights

Sincere thanks for granting me rollback rights. Have a most excellent 2010! SkagitRiverQueen (talk) 07:30, 1 January 2010 (UTC)

Re:To our newest Rollbacker

Hello, MattWade. You have new messages at JuneGloom07's talk page.
You can remove this notice at any time by removing the {{Talkback}} or {{Tb}} template.
Btw, a Happy New Year to you! :) - JuneGloom07 (talk) 23:51, 1 January 2010 (UTC)

Oakwood Cemetery review

I'd be happy to take a look. You might get even more comments by going through peer review at WP:PR; that's what I do before heading to FAC. I'll try to get to Oakwood Cemetery later today (Monday) or tomorrow. If you seek a formal PR review at WP:PR, I'll post my comments there; if not, I'll post them to the article's talk page. Finetooth (talk) 21:46, 4 January 2010 (UTC)

Your reviews are peer reviews, as far as I'm concerned. Look at it from an FAC standpoint, if you will though. Thanks very much! upstateNYer 22:29, 4 January 2010 (UTC)
Done and posted to the article's talk page Monday evening. Nice job, beautiful photos. Good luck with this one. Finetooth (talk) 05:51, 5 January 2010 (UTC)

Email

Thank you! I'm very honored to get a peak!Camelbinky (talk) 00:45, 6 January 2010 (UTC)

POTD notification

POTD

Hi ho!

Just to let you know that the Featured Picture File:MSMajestyOfTheSeasEdit1.JPG is due to make an appearance as Picture of the Day on January 10, 2010. If you get a chance, you can check and improve the caption at Template:POTD/2010-01-10. howcheng {chat} 00:33, 8 January 2010 (UTC)

Looks good! upstateNYer 01:03, 8 January 2010 (UTC)

How's this?

I know the lighting is rather harsh, but I'm gettin' close. :) –Juliancolton | Talk 21:50, 6 January 2010 (UTC)

I like the contrast between the bulb and the background. Did you use a tripod this time (you may very well have used one last time too, it just didn't look like it; incidentally, to get the best out of a tripod, use the self timer, which the D60 defaults at 10s, which is a good amount of time for it to get rid of all the jitters after you press the button)? upstateNYer 02:43, 7 January 2010 (UTC)
Yeah, I did use a tripod this time, but I had some trouble with it because of the snow. I'll try the self-timer next time. –Juliancolton | Talk 16:20, 9 January 2010 (UTC)
Yea, the advantages of a tripod aren't fully realized until you use the timer (it still shakes for a few seconds after you touch it). upstateNYer 20:58, 9 January 2010 (UTC)

Cliff notes

I've reviewed the cliff notes debate at FAC, and I regret that the notes comment has become an issue. To reach consensus (if I were the main contributor), I'd probably delete the pun as graciously as I could in the interest of moving forward. The pun is funny, but the article will not suffer much if it's removed. The alternative is to continue the debate, but the debate has become heated and does not seem headed toward a compromise. Hope this helps. Finetooth (talk) 02:58, 10 January 2010 (UTC)

I see what you're saying, but noting your wording, it seems the phrasing is not bothering you and that you understand it (either by pun, or by original meaning). I'd be happy to leave an article at GA level rather than remove wording just in the interest of moving forward and get an FA promotion, in all honesty. I have yet to see a reason to remove it save for one nit-picky response. Your opinion is well respected on this page, but for the time being, you suggestion does not meet my expectations for reason to remove the content, which offers a slightly chuckle-worthy pun that (while not completely necessary) offers the reader an enjoyable encyclopedic experience; and if it doesn't, it still offers a completely legitimate encyclopedic fact. Thanks again, my friend. upstateNYer 06:50, 10 January 2010 (UTC)
Bravo! I'm so glad someone else around here puts the article's best interest above that of promotion. Compromising one's own dignity (or the dignity of an article) in the interst of appeasing a reviewer creates an FA that doesnt deserve the title.Camelbinky (talk) 04:18, 12 January 2010 (UTC)

Deletion requests

Hey NYer, hope you have been having a wonderful eve :). When you get back from partying, you may delete some of my old files I don't need. Thanks!

ZooFari 05:52, 1 January 2010 (UTC)

 Done, my friend. The happiest of new years to you (and 2010 can only be better than 2009!). ❄ upstateNYer06:56, 1 January 2010 (UTC)
Thanks! One more... --ZooFari 01:05, 3 January 2010 (UTC)
Or two. --ZooFari 01:35, 3 January 2010 (UTC)
How dare you request more deletions! upstateNYer 01:54, 3 January 2010 (UTC)
J/K, it's done. upstateNYer 01:55, 3 January 2010 (UTC)
Oh poor New Yorker. You're not done yet :) --ZooFari 02:01, 3 January 2010 (UTC)
You're absolutely killing me! PS, I really like your photo of the Venetian. upstateNYer 02:04, 3 January 2010 (UTC)
Thanks! Sorry to request, but here's seven more. --ZooFari 02:08, 3 January 2010 (UTC)
Duped me, gotta hand it to you. I'm like, "Wait, really?" upstateNYer 07:12, 3 January 2010 (UTC)

When you get a chance, would you mind reading this and provide feedback (since most of these requests come from you) and I applied it as a test on File:Rensselaer County New York 2.svg. Thanks! --ZooFari 07:32, 3 January 2010 (UTC)

I think it looks fine. I understand the need for modifiable text for translation but if the system here is going to keep doing what it currently does to modifiable text, then non-modifiable is the way to go; it looks so much better. I like the template also, looks really good. upstateNYer 07:38, 3 January 2010 (UTC)
I'm here to strike again. Can you delete this old grainy image that was unfortunately moved to Commons where it's hard to get deleted? Thanks, --ZooFari 20:45, 15 January 2010 (UTC)
 Done upstateNYer 21:10, 15 January 2010 (UTC)

Finding Consensus

This template talk page has seen alot of discussion, and we on the page are looking for admin to tell us if we have found a consensus. Would you mind popping in to take a looksee and possibly help further or close the debate? Cheers! Outback the koala (talk) 06:40, 21 January 2010 (UTC)

I wish I had the time to spend reading all that, but unfortunately I don't. Sorry to disappoint! :) upstateNYer 02:59, 22 January 2010 (UTC)

Your book

I havent had a chance to look at it. Have H1N1 flu right now, so a bit limited on my ability to focus on a bright computer screen. Will get to it soon though.Camelbinky (talk) 04:12, 12 January 2010 (UTC)

Finally got around to taking time to read your book. AMAZING!!! I truly didnt know there was so much interesting history in Brunswick, Ive always concentrated on the urban areas of the area and never thought some of the suburban/rural lands surrounding them had "history"; boy was I wrong! I definitely wont dismiss the countryside again. Here's some pointers/critique-
  • The list of figures might do better if you had a title of what each figure was of, along with the copyright status.
  • Page 8 I believe you mean bull and not bear market. Bull is up, bear is down. (Bears attack by slamming their paws DOWN on you, a bull attacks by ramming its horns UP at you)
  • Map on page 2 doesnt have Sycaway labelled yet Sycaway is mentioned quite early in your book. You may want to label town hall and the school on your map too.

I have nothing else to contribute, you've covered everything great. Im glad to see you have a history of the Gilead Lutheran Church handy, very important and early church, first Lutheran church (1742) in the Troy area until Trinity Church (1870).Camelbinky (talk) 20:24, 21 January 2010 (UTC)

Thanks! I'll send you an update sometime soon; I've added a bunch of content. In the meantime, if you see notable (and reliable) sources on Brunswick on the Internet, please do drop me a line! upstateNYer 03:01, 22 January 2010 (UTC)
I still periodically hunt for information on where the White Church School was that is mentioned in your Brunswick Central School article, it bothers me that there is no record of where it actual stood, seeing as logically it either sat next to the white church (for life of me I cant think of the denomination...) or was on White Church Road, how hard could it be to know where exactly it was?! But yet... I still cant find an address, for all I know it was actually IN the church for which it was named after. If you ever happen to solve that mystery please tell me, its one of those that really eats at me! (along with "exactly what did happen to the second Roanake Colony that left behind the Cro on a tree outside of the village and the word Croatoan on a tree in the heart of the village?")Camelbinky (talk) 04:46, 22 January 2010 (UTC)
The Jewish question is answered on my page. My above post got me looking at old maps of the county in searching for White Church School. This map if you look at the hamlet of Brunswick (the site of the White Church, just south of Cropseyville) on the west side of the road is the same symbol used for the Draper School No. 9 labeled farther south on the map and used for the unlabeled Garfield School at Eagle Mills; so Im guessing fairly confidently it is a school symbol. I am guessing more research will find that this school is the White Church School. Today the route of the road is farther west than shown on this map (the road the church sits on today is the original road, and the one in the map), so it is possible the school site is now east of the modern road instead of west, or even under the road. Would have to compare modern topo maps to this one and do more research, but I'm confident that I can with more research prove that the symbol is indeed the White Church School.Camelbinky (talk) 05:24, 22 January 2010 (UTC) Addendum- Comparing the 1950's USGS map linked above to this one I can confidently say the school (or the site of it) is between the current NY351 and the old route (called White Church Lane), which still exists as a road, from Wikimapia it appears there are still buildings/houses there, the school may actually still stand.Camelbinky (talk) 06:06, 22 January 2010 (UTC)
I'll have to check that out; chances are it's now a house. upstateNYer 22:34, 22 January 2010 (UTC)
If it still stands perhaps the town or school district would be interested in putting up a marker (I have found no evidence of a state historical marker there). Even without a standing building it is still the site of a relevatively early school (maps dating back to the 1920s show it, but not the 1880s), and I dont know of any other Horace Mann schools in the area, apparently its a philosophy of schooling much like there are Montessori schools, so this one may be unique for the Capital District. With the obvious lack of material on the internet it might be nice if it got some attention and some people who have memories or knowledge of it were encouraged to come forth before they all pass on (its been around 50 years I assume since anyone attended it).Camelbinky (talk) 00:14, 23 January 2010 (UTC)
Yea, 50+ years. I don't see much use in those markers though; they can be written by anyone and raised at the expense of any interested party, making them completely open to mistakes and even irrelevancy. upstateNYer 06:30, 23 January 2010 (UTC)

So I drove down White Church Lane today, and while I couldn't remember which side the school was on in the map, none of the buildings there look like they could ever have been a school. Most are too new (best clue is that they have concrete foundations) or not the right shape to be a schoolhouse. It must have been torn down. upstateNYer 06:15, 24 January 2010 (UTC)

That really sucks. When it still stood it would have been on the right side (west) just after you cross a small stream (the stream is probably in a culvert instead of there being a bridge). Wish there was more on this school and the community around it, no one builds a church, a cemetery, and a school in the middle of nowhere, the place (apparently a hamlet also called Brunswick) must have had big hopes at one time; and it must have relatively dense enough that DOT went around it to save money when widening and modernizing the road (sometime in the '70s I'm guessing) instead of just widening the original road like it did for most of the rest of the length to Poestenkill. Its history may be lost forever.Camelbinky (talk) 17:42, 24 January 2010 (UTC)

Info from EliseB612

Hi UpstateNYer,

We want to use one of your image in a documentary film that we are producing, but we don't know what to write for the source since it will be written in the credits part of the movie, not on Internet so the links won't be working. Do you want use to write your name and Creative Commons??

Thank you very much for your help.

Eliseb612 (talk) 16:14, 26 January 2010 (UTC)

Hello UpstateNYer, I wish to apply for the Autoreviewer rights as i believe its a waste of time for new pages i create to be double checked, but ultimately thats not for me to decide. Is the 75 edit count a requirement to qualify or just a general rule of thumb? I’m interested in applying, as I believe I meet the requirements for notability and citations. But I’ve only created 58 pages. Could you please go over my history and advise me on whether its worthwhile me applying. Kind regards Wiki ian 23:07, 31 January 2010 (UTC)

 Done Thanks for your work. upstateNYer 23:24, 31 January 2010 (UTC)

Your expertise

Here it mentions that Elias Ireland bought "lands of Van Rensselaer" in 1832 in what is now Loudonville. Any idea who the Patroon at that time would have been? Do we have some place a time line or family tree showing who was in charge at what time?Camelbinky (talk) 06:16, 1 February 2010 (UTC) And this by the Colonie Town Historian is interesting reading though I dont know if it would be of any use for anything you are working on. Great work on the early geological history of the area (glaciers and Lake Albany) along with early colonial history. Only noticed one mistake, an image is labeled as Fort Orange when in fact its the much later Fort Albany on State Street (a block east of where the State Capital is).Camelbinky (talk) 07:36, 1 February 2010 (UTC)

Stephen Van Rensselaer was patroon from 1784 until his death in 1839 (see {{RensselaerswyckPatroons}}, which isn't exactly correct, but good for now). I noticed it was missing the name of the patroon in Loudonville. :) As far as everything else goes, I am essentially living and breathing everything Brunswick, though since the place wasn't settled until the late 1700s, I'm also giving a general history of the Capital District prior to that, so if you see good sources you think would work, by all means, let me know! upstateNYer 22:36, 1 February 2010 (UTC)
Ive actually considered spinning off a History of New York's Capital District using what we have on the article as a starting point, there's so much history that crosses boundaries and the big picture can get lost when just reading a local article (the Schuyler family was involved in Albany, Menands, Colonie, Watervliet, Stillwater, and Schuylerville for instance). It seems alot of references could be used by both of us if I can start on that this week it could help us both out. As for the source of the historical population that wasnt me, I just lifted the filled-out template from the Albany, New York article. Im not sure who compiled it. I've been trying to find similar info for the towns and villages I've been working on lately (GI, Wat'vliet, EG, NG, Menands, etc).Camelbinky (talk) 01:59, 2 February 2010 (UTC)

US population VS UE/Europe's population

Hy there, it seems that the "other side" is a bit strange/funny in their reasoning. 1st they were arguing that the comparison was reasonable because the EU/Europe is culturally and economically similar to the US. Granted Western Europe (the older and "core members" aka the initial 12) is very similar. But the UE (let's not talk about the whole continent) has changed since 1989. I formerly believed that that particular section was biased against the EU/Europe (and presented my concerns in the talkpage - what can I say? I tend to be honest. :).

Now I have changed my mind: the section seems to be an example of jingoism. The basic idea seems to be: the EU/Europe is "our only rival" in matters of culture (western), politics (democracy), and economics (capitalism with a limited government oversight) and "our" total population, birth, and growth rates are significantly better (notice how the total population figure is simply avoided ("solely" in the interest of accuracy of course)). Therefore "we" have to show the figures.

I'm considering to place a proper NPOV warning tag. What's your opinion? Flamarande (talk) 18:53, 30 January 2010 (UTC)

The tag will be removed immediately and I don't see that it's really that warranted. I would say just keep making the points on the talk page. upstateNYer 19:10, 30 January 2010 (UTC)

The other side seems to be silent. I checked their edits and they are active, they just don't seem to be interested in the talkpage. Now what? do we make an edit or not? Flamarande (talk) 19:33, 2 February 2010 (UTC)

This action will require consensus, and there is not consensus yet to change it. If there were more people in favor of changing it, it may show consensus to be on the side of the rewrite, however, right now, no action is called for. upstateNYer 00:31, 3 February 2010 (UTC)

TFA

Nice! Congratulations. :) Yeah, you've got points for date relevance and inexperience with TFA, which should be sufficient to get it through WP:TFA/R. Alternatively, you could simply ping Raul654 (talk · contribs); he's usually quite good about making good choices for the main page. –Juliancolton | Talk 03:37, 3 February 2010 (UTC)

Great! Thanks for the response! upstateNYer 03:37, 3 February 2010 (UTC)

Bot Script transfer of photos to Commons

I notice that a bot script was used to transfer my photos to commons. When I license my photos with 3.0, I always add this required attribution statement, and link, for use of my photos outside of Wikipedia:

This attribution link required with use of the photo outside of Wikipedia: EditorASC


Sometimes that attribution statement and link does show up after the transfer to Commons, but sometimes it does not. Here is an example of when that required attribution link did transfer with the photo:

[[16]]

And, another one where the link did not transfer:

[[17]]

My questions are:

  • Why does the bot sometimes fail to transfer the required attribution statement and link?
  • And, what can be done about fixing this problem?

My willingness to provide photos to wikipedia, is based on the good-faith bargain that the required attribution statement and link will always be posted with the photo. In fact, I don't think the license to freely use, is valid, if that statement and link is removed from the photo.

Your help in correcting this problem will be greatly appreciated. EditorASC (talk) 15:56, 4 February 2010 (UTC)

That very well may have been an oops on my part. :-/ I could see myself getting rid of that text by mistake while getting rid of garbage text that that bot inputs automatically during the transfer. There are two solutions I can think of. First (and easiest for the future) is to always upload to Commons, and not Wikipedia (if you aren't already doing so). To be honest, I don't understand why they allow uploads of freely licensed images at Wikipedia any more because there are users out there that spend their time solely on transferring to Commons. The other is to consider making yourself a template that you can put on your images. This can also automatically add all your images to a category at commons (most likely Category:Images by EditorASC. I have a template at Commons and a category, which is handy. Here's an example of what you could have a template look like:
If you want to go the route of a template and category, let me know and I'll create them. Then we can both spend some time adding the template to your images. I think I can speak for the community here when I say that we really don't want to lose your great photos. Too few are available between the 30s and the 90s, so they really are priceless (especially the aerials). upstateNYer 23:48, 4 February 2010 (UTC)
Thank you for a very prompt and informative reply. Yes, I think I would like to adopt both of your suggested solutions. I think I did try to upload a photo to Commons once, not too long after I was a fairly new Wiki Editor. To the best of my memory, it wouldn't work because Commons did not recognize me. So, I just always uploaded to en.wiki instead. I figured Commons was only for Administrators. I guess that sounds pretty dumb, but the time I have to devote to Wikipedia has been mostly spent on improving/creating aviation articles. Thus, I still have a lot to learn about the techniques related to Wiki software.
I have a link to the list of my Wiki photos, on my talk page, if that will help in creating the template and category. My apology for causing so many to have to work to transfer them to commons. I did not know I was creating unnecessary work for others. If you can give me some advice on how to upload to Commons from now on, I will be happy to do it that way. EditorASC (talk) 09:57, 5 February 2010 (UTC)
Trust me, it's not your fault. I blame the higher ups who seem to think the upload page is still needed at Wikipedia, even though it really should be limited to fair use (and a few other uncommon exceptions). I made the template and I started adding it to your images; it's here. The template only works if your image has been moved to (or uploaded at) Commons. Adding the template on images hosted on Wikipedia will not work. So there's some more incentive to move them over. :-) The category where they are all conveniently housed is here. Instructions on adding the template and uploaded to Commons are at your talk page on Commons. upstateNYer 21:09, 5 February 2010 (UTC)

Thanks again for all your time spent on helping me out on this. I will see if I can move the rest of the photos to Commons myself. Hopefully, I won't have to impose on your time anymore. EditorASC (talk) 00:56, 6 February 2010 (UTC)

Oakwood Cemetery

Belated congratulations on getting that article to FA. Good job! Daniel Case (talk) 16:02, 4 February 2010 (UTC)

Thank you. I emailed the president of their trustees and superintendent last week, but no response yet. I thought they'd be interested (and more likely to let me inside the Crematorium to take pictures of the (what they say is a ) beautiful chapel. upstateNYer 23:34, 4 February 2010 (UTC)

re : your question on nl: re Stadt ende Landen and Maze

hi, 'Stadt ende Landen' means 'City and lands' (Town and surrounding areas) . Maze could only mean river Maas River imho. regards, Aleichem (talk) 04:57, 10 February 2010 (UTC)

Brunswick population template

At User:Camelbinky/sandbox I've started gathering the census data for the town. I've gone back as far as 1930 so far. Hope to have back to 1850 by tonight. References to US Census publications are included.Camelbinky (talk) 19:13, 13 February 2010 (UTC)

Awesome! Thanks for the help. Only downside to that template is that you can't insert a reference after each one. It'd be nice if the census had one page that would list the pop each census. Just note that there won't be any info before 1810, since the town was incorporated in 1807. Thanks again for the help! upstateNYer 19:40, 13 February 2010 (UTC)
Wow! You really made fast work of it! Glad I got it started and could help. You may want to note the year that the western section of town got annexed by the city of Troy (1901) and that's why the 1910 census has the biggest percentage and actual drop in population from the decade before.Camelbinky (talk) 02:15, 14 February 2010 (UTC)
Was wondering if this could be useful to you if you crop it to just the Brunswick borders. Showing the approximate border between urban/suburban versus rural brunswick might be interesting to have either in Wikipedia or in your own book.Camelbinky (talk) 23:44, 15 February 2010 (UTC)

Request for Rollback Permissions

Hello Upstater, I would very much appreciate it if I could be granted rollback permission. I have 210 edits to date, most of which consist of reverting vandalism (including a warning each time), and I feel that I could have a much greater positive impact on the Wikipedia community if I were able to use Huggle. Thanks very much in advance! «Coopkev2»(talk) 17:18, 15 February 2010 (UTC)

Hi Coopkev2: You only have 174 live edits currently, which is low for a request for rollback (I see 200 as being the absolute minimum). Why don't you give it a couple weeks of vandal fighting then come back. This will also show dedication to the project a bit more. At that time, I'll be happy to review your situation. Thanks for the request. Cheers. :-) upstateNYer 01:56, 16 February 2010 (UTC)
Ah, I didn't realize that deleted edits get subtracted from the total. My mistake, I'll try again later. Thank you. «Coopkev2»(talk) 05:16, 16 February 2010 (UTC)

POTD notification

POTD

Greetings and salutations,

Just to let you know that the Featured Picture File:The Gerry-Mander Edit.png is due to make an appearance as Picture of the Day on February 17, 2010. If you get a chance, you can check and improve the caption at Template:POTD/2010-02-17. howcheng {chat} 22:57, 16 February 2010 (UTC)

Thank you... and a question.

Hello, UNYer, and many thanks for granting me Rollback rights yesterday. I'd thought about this over the last few months, but never acted on it until a thoughtful user suggested it might be helpful to me. I'll use this tool in the spirit in which it was presented.

Here's the question: from time to time, I've placed warnings on user talk pages - mostly IP addresses, and mostly blatant vandals. When I place a warning like this:

This is the only warning you will receive for your disruptive edits... etc.

... and the abuse does not stop, where do I go to request that someone be blocked (by an admin)? Does this template appear on some other page or list someplace, or do I have to contact an admin personally? I've never been able to figure this process out. Thanks again. --Seduisant (talk) 14:52, 18 February 2010 (UTC)

You're going to want to go to WP:AIV. Or, you can talk personally to a friendly admin named User:Juliancolton, who does blocks all the time (I don't; I typically work on content these days). Just tell him I sent you. upstateNYer 22:24, 18 February 2010 (UTC)

Request to look at my userpage

I have been plagued by somebody claiming I called them an idiot. This is unsubstantiated, and I never did. Have I responded properly? Funnyfarmofdoom (talk) 02:53, 19 February 2010 (UTC)

Thank you for looking at this. I'm still new to some policies, and I never even knew we had a policy on red links. (Thought it was a given). Thanks! Funnyfarmofdoom (talk) 03:59, 19 February 2010 (UTC)

Livingston Manor map

I do have my original version of that image, but since you might want a different crop that might not do. I had a lot of trouble with that PDF (can't get it open myself either at the moment) when I was writing the article. I'll see if it's available at the NYSOPRHP website. If not, you could write and request a hard copy from NPS. Daniel Case (talk) 14:30, 19 February 2010 (UTC)

Your translation question

'Groenen bosch' is (probably) old dutch and 'groen bos' (a modern ducth word) means 'green forest'. There aren't woods in Holland that are named 'groenen bosch', so I suppose that it's just the old spelling of 'groen bos'. Steppler 15:47, 18 February 2010 (UTC)

Dear NYer,
I just happen to pass by and would like to comment the following - if i may. Groenen bosch is a case (genitive, dative of accusative) of Groen bos(ch), like in German. In older Dutch gender and case were used routinely, like in modern German. So Groenen bosch is possibly an abbreviation for In/of the green bush without the preposition, so let's say it means (....) Of the green bush. There might exist an even older complete name, given by Dutch colonists like 's Groenen Bosch (= Des Groenen Bosch, meaning Of/At the green bush, this seems the most probable to me). If you try google "groenen bosch" and "groenenbosch" you find some examples of use and modern placenames in The Netherlands. A modern placename in The Netherlands uses nearly the same construction: 's Hertogenbosch. Another possbile translation of Des Groenen Bosch is: The bush of Mister Groen (=Green).
Summarizing:
  1. GroeneNbosch = Groenebosch (Greenbush, N added in pronounciation, green is colour)
  2. Groenenbosch = 's Groenenbosch = Des Groenen Bosch, (Of/At the green bush, or: The bush of Green, Green being a person's name) JMMuller (talk) 12:24, 21 February 2010 (UTC)

Request for Rollback Permissions

Hello Upstater, I'm requesting again after much more editing! I now have 233 edits, most of which consist of reverting vandalism (including a warning each time), and I feel that I could have a much greater positive impact on the Wikipedia community if I were able to use Huggle. Thanks! «Coopkev2»(talk) 21:35, 22 February 2010 (UTC)

 Done upstateNYer 02:16, 23 February 2010 (UTC)
Thank you very much!! «Coopkev2»(talk) 03:12, 23 February 2010 (UTC)

Interstate 88

Ive known for sometime that Interstate 88 was originally supposed to go through our area all the way to Portsmouth, New Hampshire and that the limited-access section of Route 7 from the Northway to Troy was supposed to be part of this, but recently I just realized- that would mean it was supposed to go through Brunswick! Have you come across any concepts of where any specific routes through Troy and Brunswick this highway would have taken?Camelbinky (talk) 02:00, 23 February 2010 (UTC)

No, the only thing I've heard was that it would cut through the Northway at Exit 3, hence the lack of an Exit 3. Otherwise, I never heard where it was supposed to end. And I've definitely not heard of any plans for it to go through Rensselaer County (even though it would, I just don't think it was that far into the design process, but I could be wrong!). upstateNYer 02:12, 23 February 2010 (UTC)

I have conducted a reassessment of the above article as part of the GA Sweeps process. You are being notified as you have made a number of contributions to the article. I have found some concerns which you can see at Talk:Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute/GA1. I have placed the article on hold whilst these are fixed. Thanks. Jezhotwells (talk) 22:15, 23 February 2010 (UTC)

Re Just Passing Through

How's the snow? It looked like you were getting dumped on in the news last night.

Thanks for your kind words. I was not involved with the TVHS project, but heard about it. Glad to hear now that it has had a possitive impact.

Speaking of Troy, NY, I noticed some of the pictures you have taken in the area. Any chance you can get one of the Troy Gas Light Company Gas holder House? I think it is better looking than the one in Saratoga Springs. -AndrewDressel (talk) 18:16, 24 February 2010 (UTC)

That's perfect! I didn't find it before when I looked for it, and I didn't even know there was an article about it. Ha. Thanks. -AndrewDressel (talk) 19:47, 24 February 2010 (UTC)

Lansingburgh, Troy, and Brunswick

Hopefully this covers all your questions you posed. At the very least it is a very reliable source for when Lansingburgh was annexed to Troy (I believe Troy annexed the village and most but not all of the town of Lansingburgh), the date it took effect was January 1, 1901 (mentioned in last paragraph of the law). Hopefully other laws in that source can give you the relevant information on land swaps between Troy and Brunswick up to the publishing date of 1906 though that probably means reading through every single law individually or at least word searching for "Brunswick". If you need more let me know.Camelbinky (talk) 22:15, 24 February 2010 (UTC)

PS- these 1893 and 1928 USGS maps might be handy in visualizing the changes in boundaries that the 1900 law describes.Camelbinky (talk) 22:23, 24 February 2010 (UTC)
Those maps are great. Being able to compare and contrast is awesome. However, it would be nice if there were maps that showed more of Brunswick. Do these exist? upstateNYer 04:09, 25 February 2010 (UTC)
Yes, below the section of where it has you choose the year and "northwest" or "southwest" etc there are links to the surrounding usgs quad names, going to the Cohoes Quad will give you the rest of Brunswick/Troy (lansingburgh) border and whatever quads are to the east (probably takes the Berlin name or something) would show the rest of Brunswick. Unfortunately the way the USGS splits the maps keeps Brunswick from being all on one page. I think I know of some pre-1900 Rensselaer County maps and I'll check some sites for Brunswick specific maps.Camelbinky (talk) 21:37, 25 February 2010 (UTC)
Troy/Brunswick border 1891 Lansingburgh/Brunswick border 1891 Rensselaer County with town borders 1829 Albany, Rensselaer, Columbia counties, quite detailed I like maps from David Rumsey's website (the three just listed) because at his site you can magnify in VERY close unlike other sites where its more limited and/or goes blurry, these are very detailed and high definition.Camelbinky (talk) 22:00, 25 February 2010 (UTC)
Wow, those are great! Could easily print screen the pages and put them together. Have you seen any maps from when the towns were created? Say like pre 1807 and post 1807, but before some of the other towns were created? Even when the four districts existed would be a good find. upstateNYer 22:10, 25 February 2010 (UTC)
Maps that early with town or district boundaries are hard to come by, but in the past I was looking for Albany ones, I can start looking for Rensselaer County and might have better luck. This has rough maps based on the descriptions given in French's 1860 Gazetteer, not bad for a person trying to draw from 140 year old vague descriptions but I would take them with a grain of salt, French's isnt always accurate.Camelbinky (talk) 00:56, 26 February 2010 (UTC)
Yea, I saw those, but not sure if I can run with them, especially since they're in copyright. upstateNYer 02:05, 26 February 2010 (UTC)
Also, note some cartographic additions; all restored to some extent so they look much nicer. upstateNYer 02:12, 26 February 2010 (UTC)

Autoreviewer page.

Hi I have created 60 articles and no one has responded on the Autoreviewer page for near a week Venustas 12 (talk) 03:47, 2 March 2010 (UTC).

What happened to RPI?

It's now listed as a C class instead of GA, is this something that can be fixed with some minor effort or are there serious issues? If there's anything I can do to help let me know, but my knowledge of RPI is very limited so I dont know what I can do but I definitely lend my support to any effort.Camelbinky (talk) 00:40, 3 March 2010 (UTC)

It was reviewed for the GA sweeps; see here. Admittedly, I had thought since I knew what a GA was that RPI was no longer up to snuff. I don't have time to fix it right now. Fortunately, User:Danski14 has been updating the article (it needed it). I've been watching his edits with interest. The GA sweep review is on the talk page. If you think you can help, by all means. upstateNYer 00:47, 3 March 2010 (UTC)

WikiProject New York assessments

Hi, UpstateNYer. I noticed you reassessed reassessed the West Albany, New York, article to "Low-importance" for WikiProject New York. Per Wikipedia:WikiProject New York/Assessment#Importance scale, articles on New York hamlets should be "Mid-importance". I've corrected that assessment, but if you've changed any others lately, please change them back. Thank you! Powers T 14:10, 6 March 2010 (UTC)

Okay, noted. But why would villages have higher importance than towns? It probably would have been a good idea to send a link to that to all project members when it was implemented because I don't think I was aware of it. A bot might be helpful as well. upstateNYer 18:29, 6 March 2010 (UTC)
I was a part of the discussion briefly on the changing of the criteria, and if I remember correctly the logic (at least it was logical to me) was that villages are recognized as incorporated places by the census bureau and towns are not. That aspect of having villages higher than towns may need to be looked at again and villages may need to be moved down to mid along with towns.Camelbinky (talk) 22:03, 6 March 2010 (UTC)
Towns are as well, otherwise we wouldn't have our population list for Brunswick now, no? upstateNYer 22:40, 6 March 2010 (UTC)
Yes towns are incorporated, but for some reason not recognized by the census as such, I dont know how that works that the census says they dont recognize New York towns (along with New England and I believe Wisconsin towns) as incorporated but still tabulate their populations. Its the reason they construct CDPs (which by the census's own definition are in areas that are "unincorporated", given that definition NY shouldnt have any CDP's). I can investigate further when I'm not messing around on the darn addictive farmville in facebook :)Camelbinky (talk) 00:27, 7 March 2010 (UTC)
My thinking was that villages and cities are more concentrated areas of population, and thus more important to a study of the state as a whole, while towns are merely divisions of a county and hamlets are unincorporated. I'm not inherently opposed to promoting towns to High-importance, but I think they fit best as "Mid". Powers T 13:48, 7 March 2010 (UTC)
Yes, I agree that towns should be mid. I would also say that I think villages should be mid as well. Just my opinion. upstateNYer 15:09, 7 March 2010 (UTC)
The assessment page doesn't get a lot of eyes, so I suggest Wikipedia talk:WikiProject New York for specific suggestions. =) Powers T 18:49, 7 March 2010 (UTC)
I support villages being mid as well. In a perfect wiki-world we would judge each individual village, town, city, etc on importance separately on their own merit of notability and significance to the state. The city of Sherrill, New York for instance isnt as important to NY knowledge as Yonkers, Watertown, Plattsburgh, or Saratoga Springs; examples could also be given of towns, villages, even hamlets with one of state-wide importance and one that barely has importance for the people who live 20 miles around it. Unfortunately with the divisions between downstate, upstate, southern tier, north country, niagara frontier, etc I think we'd have a problem of consensus determining what is important state-wide versus "that's important in my backyard"; human nature being what it is.Camelbinky (talk) 19:14, 7 March 2010 (UTC)
In case curious- this is the list of the census bureau's definitions of how they categorize things and while it doesnt explain why it does show that towns in the New England states, NY, and Wisconsin are not categorized as "incorporated places" where cities and villages and other incorporated places are put; instead they are put in the category "minor civil divisions" (MCDs) like Indian Reservations, election or assement precincts, road districts, and townships (which in Missouri where I am now, unlike in NY, townships tend to be useless with no elective bodies or functions, basically just election districts and can include a whole or part of a city the size of Albany). Since there are some NY, New England, and Wisconsin towns that are larger than many cities population-wise and have many of the same functions as cities whereas these other state's MCDs tend to be useless the logic of why the census does this escapes me.Camelbinky (talk) 01:23, 8 March 2010 (UTC)

Bit of trivia

Did you know that the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC has the main hall from the Van Rensselaer Manor house on the lower floor of the museum? (at least it was in 2005 per this) I had thought the building had been moved to a college in Massachusetts and then later burned or demolished, did not realize part still existed and that it was at such a big name museum. I wonder if they have information that might be helpful to you on early Dutch history in our area.Camelbinky (talk) 20:01, 7 March 2010 (UTC)

Union College question

Since you were involved in the rewrite of the Union College article I was wondering if you know anything about this- an iron bridge designed by Squire Whipple, the type of bridge is often called a whipple truss and was the official standard for bridges over NYS canals. This source, produced by the the Historic American Engineering Record and published by the Smithsonian states that there are only two known to still be standing, while mentioning the one in Albany and one at Fonda. I have seen other sources state there is a whipple truss bridge on the Union College campus in Schenectady, if it still stands that would make it that there are at least three, not two. Squire Whipple did attend college there so it stands to reason they'd have a bridge he designed, and of course its possible the one at Fonda was moved to Union College since the 1969 date of this "industrial archeaology survey".Camelbinky (talk) 18:04, 28 February 2010 (UTC)

Hmm good question. I'll ask my contact at Union. Having been educated in civil engineering and having analyzed many trusses, that design just looks weird, if I do say so myself. If there's one there, I can snap a photo sometime if you're interested. Same for the one in Albany if you know exactly where it is. upstateNYer 19:35, 28 February 2010 (UTC)
I dont have the exact location as I only saw it in person twice and even then I'm only assuming that this must be the bridge referred to, though I assume you'd be able to identify it if it wasnt. Even if its not it would put you at the right place (Stevens Farm) to find the bridge easily enough. Assuming you're coming from Brunswick- take I-787 to the very end (NOT going onto the Thruway) it will drop you off on Southern Boulevard (US 9W), take a left. Follow it and when Southern Blvd and US 9W both take a right at a Y-intersection makes sure you go straight, the road changes name to McAlpin Street. Dead ends onto Delaware Ave, take a left, follow it over the Thruway, and then on your right look for Normanskill Road, a narrow, winding, dark, tree shaded old road (hope you have good shocks on your car!). Mostly patched pavement and the original yellow brick pavers, its slow going. Eventually on your right you should see a bridge at the entrance to fields and farmland. This SHOULD be the bridge and is the entrance to Stevens Farm (is owned by the city of Albany as a city park, so there is no tresspassing problems, home to the K-9 and mounted police squads, historic farm buildings, and other things). There is also one other place in this vicinity that a photo would be beneficial. Taking Normanskill Road further down to the creek you'll reach the Normans Kill and an abandoned bridge, would love a photo of that bridge and if you can get a good shot, of both that old bridge and the modern Delaware Avenue Bridge above it (it is legal and safe to cross the abandoned bridge on foot). To drive back to Delaware Avenue you can take Mill Road which is at the intersection right before the closed bridge and follow it up to Delaware Ave. A large cemetary, Graceland Cemetery, is on Delaware Avenue opposite from all of this, but not aware of any historical significance other than being the only sizable cemetery in the citylimits.Camelbinky (talk) 22:01, 28 February 2010 (UTC)
Here is the entry from the UC Encyclopedia: "Whipple Truss Bridge. One of 5 bridges of a type patented by Squire Whipple (1830) known still to exist in eastern New York State, Union's Whipple Truss Bridge was originally built sometime between 1855 and 1869 over the Cayadutta Creek in Johnstown. It was installed on the Union campus in 1980. It was rebuilt between Achilles Rink and Memorial Field House and designated a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark in 1982 by the ASCE." Eliphaletnott (talk) 15:15, 12 March 2010 (UTC)
Oh, I know where that is. I crossed it during my photo survey. In fact I grabbed on it thinking how cool it was that it was through-bridge, meaning the supports were above the deck of the bridge. I actually jumped a couple times because I love feeling a truss pedestrian bridge bounce when you get the right frequency going. Structural engineer in me. upstateNYer 16:45, 12 March 2010 (UTC)

My Commons Page

I have additional requests, at [this page]. EditorASC (talk) 23:43, 11 March 2010 (UTC)

This is an automated message from CorenSearchBot. I have performed a web search with the contents of Joseph H. Allen, and it appears to include a substantial copy of http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nyrensse/bio3.htm. For legal reasons, we cannot accept copyrighted text or images borrowed from other web sites or printed material; such additions will be deleted. You may use external websites as a source of information, but not as a source of sentences. See our copyright policy for further details. (If you own the copyright to the previously published content and wish to donate it, see Wikipedia:Donating copyrighted materials for the procedure.)

This message was placed automatically, and it is possible that the bot is confused and found similarity where none actually exists. If that is the case, you can remove the tag from the article and it would be appreciated if you could drop a note on the maintainer's talk page. CorenSearchBot (talk) 00:43, 16 March 2010 (UTC)

FPC Closing

Hey there! I was considering doing a closure of an FPC nom, but I wasn't sure about the guidelines of doing so. Does one need to be an admin? I would certainly only start out with a fairly non-contentious one. Specifically, I was considering closing Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates/Vexi Salmi. I'm in no hurry, but I thought this was something I could do to help out the community further. Jujutacular T · C 22:44, 16 March 2010 (UTC)

  • You don't need to be an admin. Anyone who can understand the closing procedure is welcome to close a nomination. Makeemlighter (talk) 23:03, 16 March 2010 (UTC)
  • Ditto Makeemlighter. Checked over the closing and you did a fine job. My word of advice is to always follow the closing procedure step by step. Closing multiple at one time is also helpful because it saves time in the end. If you need any more help feel free to grab me, Makeemlighter, or Maedin. upstateNYer 00:44, 17 March 2010 (UTC)
Thank you both so much! It's good to know of another area that I can do work. And thanks for the pointers NYer :) Jujutacular T · C 05:57, 17 March 2010 (UTC)

Use of photo

Hello,

We have used your beautiful image of Albany on the IFMA website. As an engineer, I thought you might find this use appropriate.

Thanks kindly, Annmarie Lanesey MZA Multimedia —Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.43.10.178 (talk) 18:26, 19 March 2010 (UTC)

Note: image is here: http://www.ifma-nytechvalley.org/
Thanks for the heads up. Well used, and good job crediting me. upstateNYer 20:07, 19 March 2010 (UTC)

Talkback

Hello, MattWade. You have new messages at Logan's talk page.
Message added 15:26, 20 March 2010 (UTC). You can remove this notice at any time by removing the {{Talkback}} or {{Tb}} template.

Logan Talk Contributions 15:26, 20 March 2010 (UTC)

Proposal you might be better at implementing-

Recently due to someone proposing a soft block keeping k-12 schools from editing I got to thinking- wouldnt it be great if Wikipedia, or an individual Wikipedian, encouraged school teachers to have their students research a topic with the goal of helping out a Wikipedia article? (most likely on the town/village they lived in or a historical event that happened locally, but theoretically it could be anything) If there was a easy to read primer or guidebook on basic Wikipedia policies regarding editing (nothing technical) that teachers could read and base a one or two week class project on and Wikipedians contacted some teachers this could become a great asset to helping out lots of our stub articles, get children interested in Wikipedia, make children more proud of what they can do on Wikipedia as opposed to vandalism, and hopefully make some of those children full-time editors. With your background in working on school articles I didnt know if this is something you'd be interested in producing/promoting but I thought you might be interested in these thoughts.Camelbinky (talk) 00:19, 23 March 2010 (UTC)

FPC closure request

Hi. Would you be willing to close this? The users doing most of the closing lately both voted on it. Thanks. Makeemlighter (talk) 21:53, 25 March 2010 (UTC)

 Done upstateNYer 04:19, 26 March 2010 (UTC)
Thank you!! Makeemlighter (talk) 05:55, 26 March 2010 (UTC)

History of Brunswick

Hi. I see you have been writing on the history of Brunswick, here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:UpstateNYer/History_of_Brunswick,_New_York. Is it okay if I help on this? I have some knowledge in the area and would like to help you write it. Thanks Der Braunschweiger (talk) 18:18, 26 March 2010 (UTC)

Absolutely! I welcome the help! You may also want to have a look at Joseph H. Allen, an article about a former town supervisor and one that I just recently put together. upstateNYer 18:24, 26 March 2010 (UTC)
Great! I assume you got most of that info about Allen from Sylvester's book? I remember seeing a page on him.Der Braunschweiger (talk) 18:29, 26 March 2010 (UTC)
Yup, that's where it came from. Do your best on the history. I'll be working on it as well. upstateNYer 18:36, 26 March 2010 (UTC)

DYK for Joseph H. Allen

Updated DYK query On March 27, 2010, Did you know? was updated with a fact from the article Joseph H. Allen, which you created or substantially expanded. You are welcome to check how many hits your article got while on the front page (here's how, quick check ) and add it to DYKSTATS if it got over 5,000. If you know of another interesting fact from a recently created article, then please suggest it on the Did you know? talk page.

Materialscientist (talk) 21:35, 27 March 2010 (UTC)

Joseph H. Allen

Yes, I'd be glad to. I'll take a look tomorrow (Friday). Finetooth (talk) 05:30, 26 March 2010 (UTC)

Thank you upstateNYer 12:27, 26 March 2010 (UTC)
I think I've addressed all your concerns. upstateNYer 21:25, 30 March 2010 (UTC)
Glad to help. Congrats on the DYK. Finetooth (talk) 21:31, 30 March 2010 (UTC)
Your Featured picture candidate has been promoted
Your nomination for featured picture status, File:Allosaurus Jaws Steveoc86.jpg, gained a consensus of support, and has been promoted. If you would like to nominate another image, please do so at Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates. Makeemlighter (talk) 03:45, 29 March 2010 (UTC)

Spam articles

I believe I have run across several Wiki articles that are nothing but spam pages created and expanded by WP:COI members of those organizations, which have a bogus political agenda (no valid science research supports their wild medical claims) and a film to sell. I listed some of the articles for proposed deletion, but was quickly shot down by members of the group that tries to keep almost all articles proposed for deletion Wikipedia:Article Rescue Squadron. Some of those voting to keep, went to those pages and added external spam links, to make those articles look more legitimate, yet those links were not much more than press release articles from news media around the world, which simply regurgitated the wild claims made by those organizations. None of those external linked articles, provided any WP:RS evidence to support the claims. It is obvious (from the edit history of those pages) that those who started the pages became wiki editors just for that spamming purpose.

I would like to know if Wiki administrators care about such a blatant abuse of the "no spamming" rules, and if so who should be notified of the situation? I think some of the WP:COI spammers have successfully infiltrated and corrupted the process which is supposed to delete such spam articles. What I have discovered, may be just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. Thanks, EditorASC (talk) 10:58, 31 March 2010 (UTC)

Thank you!

Troy neighborhoods

I started a sandbox to hold any references I find about particular Troy neighborhoods if you ever need any. User:Camelbinky/troyneighborhoods

Smile

MfD nomination of Portal:Capital District

Portal:Capital District, a page you substantially contributed to, has been nominated for deletion. Your opinions on the matter are welcome; please participate in the discussion by adding your comments at Wikipedia:Miscellany for deletion/Portal:Capital District and please be sure to sign your comments with four tildes (~~~~). You are free to edit the content of Portal:Capital District during the discussion but should not remove the miscellany for deletion template from the top of the page; such a removal will not end the deletion discussion. Thank you. -- Alan Liefting (talk) - 19:08, 2 April 2010 (UTC)

Quackenbush

Dear Upstater,

Just read your nice articles on the Rensselaars and relished your gorgeous photo's!

Further to Poestenkill and Quackenbush:

Neither does the extensive multivolume Dutch dictionary Woordenboek der Nederlandse Taal WNL give the meaning "froth" or "bubbly" for poest, but is in line with the meanings given before (offers also: cowshed, piece of wood and the verb poesten (blow, brag, kiss, fight, what not! .... online results in Dutch to add to the confusion..). On the other hand, Quackenbos seems to be an old Dutch family name, see e.g. (thx to Google),

It would be nice to find present-day Dutchies with this familyname (not in the phone directory of Amsterdam in the same spelling, but Kwakkenbos yes!). It appears that the US/New Amsterdam immigrants kept the old spelling, whereas the Dutch familymembers at home modernized their name to Kwakkenbos (try Google Kwakkenbos). (In general immigrants tend to stick to old ways concerning religion etc. (e.g. the Dutchies in Michigan) longer than less adventurous stay-at-home people, so this is not so strange.) Meaning Quackenbush = bush of the kwak(or kwakken, plural?).

WNL offers voor kwak:

  • various types of birds
  • various sounds of birds and frogs
  • throw (verb kwakken)
  • quack (fake doctor)
  • a trifle, stupid fellow etc.

Nowadays, kwak in Dutch means Black-crowned Night Heron, a throw or a thrown quantity (kwak mayonaise). Cheers, groeten, JMMuller (talk) 15:49, 3 April 2010 (UTC)

PS1. Found a link on Poest nickname for Jan Barentsen (with an -s-) Wemp or Wamp from Troy, who was a miller. This makes sense: was his mill powered by the Poestenkil? Yes! (See my edits in Poestenkill, where i added our discussion). JMMuller (talk) 16:40, 3 April 2010 (UTC)

PS2. On Greenbush: I'm sorry i didn't think of this earlier: there is also a Dutch word grenehout = pinewood, so this explains the name Greenbush better. Edited both East en West Greenbush accordingly.

Cant find the creek on satellite maps (e.g. coordinates latd = 42 |latm = 41 |lats = 15 |latNS = N |longd = 73 |longm = 31 |longs = 17 |longEW = W as in the article. Can you help me out? Thanks! JMMuller (talk) 17:06, 3 April 2010 (UTC)

For info on the creek (the namesake of Poestenkill (town), New York), you'll have to see the draft in my user space: User:UpstateNYer/Poesten Kill. Thanks again for all this help. upstateNYer 18:12, 3 April 2010 (UTC)
By the way, are you sure of the change to Greenen Bosch? That limits the situation to pine whereas everywhere else I've read says it just meeds "green forest". upstateNYer 19:29, 3 April 2010 (UTC)

Northern Turnpike

This on the Northern Turnpike from Lansingburgh to Granville in Washington County is very interesting, well researched, and full of interesting documentation that might come in handy in Lansinburgh/Troy and general Rensselaer County history. I've known of the name and existence of the Northern Turnpike but never any specifics such as its path, length, age, etc. I learned alot.Camelbinky (talk) 21:21, 4 April 2010 (UTC)

Portal:Capital District

Just a suggestion, but if you were to move the portal to somewhere like User talk:UpstateNYer/Portal:Capital District then the deletion discussion could be closed. It would also mean that when you are ready to work on it you would not have to re-create it from scratch. something lame from CBW 16:33, 5 April 2010 (UTC)

GA review of Joseph H. Allen

Hello - I have reviewed Joseph H. Allen, which you listed at the Good Article nominees page. My review of the article can be found here. As you can see, I've raised quite a few issues with the article. Before you panic/become depressed/burn me in effigy, though, here are some things to bear in mind:

  • The points I raise are not necessarily all things that need to be addressed before I list it as a GA. Instead, they are things that I think could improve the article. In my view, the actual GA status is of secondary importance in the GA process; what's more important is improving the article, and I think that goal is best served by making as many suggestions as possible.
  • In my experience, I'm among the most stringent GA reviewers out there, especially in the "well-written" category, where I tend to review GA and FA candidates in essentially the same way. Again, I do this because I think it's best for the article; however, if you think the points I've raised are too nit-picky or minor and you'd rather not address them, I may be willing to promote the article without them all being addressed.
  • The opinions I express in my GA reviews are just that - my opinions (I also express some things, like grammatical rules or the requirements of WP:V, that are not my opinions). If you disagree with any of my opinions, please say so; you don't need to convince me that you're right, just that your position is a reasonable one. Steve Smith (talk) 09:28, 5 April 2010 (UTC)
Okay, fine, I'll put away my scarecrow doused in gasoline. :) Not worried; just happy someone took up the review. I'll get back to you once I feel I've made enough changes for you to look at. upstateNYer 21:09, 5 April 2010 (UTC)

Rollback rights

Thanks for giving them to me. I'll make sure to use them responsibly. Simon-in-sagamihara (talk) 14:51, 9 April 2010 (UTC)

Rollback

I'd just like to say that I am very disappointed in your assessment of my work against vandalism. I have made over 4,800 edits over the past year and a half and have spent a huge amount of time dealing with vandalism, spam, and related misuse of Wikipedia, and have tried to explain in every case the reasons and where necessary have entered into discussion, etc. It may not be apparent from a quick summery of my edits, but I feel I have done more than my fair share. And to go into details, in the month of March 2010 I've made over 50 edits dealing directly with vandalism, spam, etc. and in addition a large number of edits correcting old vandalism and other problems. I compared this with another editor (with a fraction of my total of edits) who did get the rollover rights from you, who made a total of 19 edits dealing with the same issues in March, and whose comments were in no way better than mine. And to simply say that I can spend a week or two dealing with vandalism (as if I hadn't been dealing with it for a year and half!) is almost insulting. I feel I'm due a better explanation. Hohenloh + 16:27, 9 April 2010 (UTC)

I understand your concern and thanks for bringing this up. My main concern is that you have not made use of warnings for IPs in your last 1000 edits (after a quick skim). I consider this a reasonably big deal. Warnings help invite users that may otherwise not actually take part (it's how I started here). If you can assure me that you will do so in the future, I will give you rollback rights. Didn't mean to cause you a fuss; you needn't feel too offended. Happy editing! :) upstateNYer 18:14, 9 April 2010 (UTC)
Thanks - I just had to get that off my chest! Yes, I'd be happy to do as you request - I did that last year but this year have been more involved in checking facts, verifiability and so on, much of it relating to older issues in articles, as well as project work. Hohenloh + 18:39, 9 April 2010 (UTC)
Understood. I've changed your permissions accordingly. upstateNYer 20:43, 9 April 2010 (UTC)

Hope the font is close to that in the raster. Let me know if that works. --ZooFari 18:59, 11 April 2010 (UTC)

Good enough, thanks. I know that font is kind of weird. Close enough. upstateNYer 21:26, 11 April 2010 (UTC)

Would you agree with userfying Portal:Capital District to your userspace? If so, please comment at Wikipedia:Miscellany for deletion/Portal:Capital District that you are all right with it being moved to your userspace. Thanks, Cunard (talk) 01:25, 14 April 2010 (UTC)

Could you pick a less ugly color? My designing skills aren't exactly top-notch... –Juliancolton | Talk 17:52, 15 April 2010 (UTC)

Cat fix

Now, this might not be the quickest or preferred way, but I'm thinking it might be the easiest with less hassle- how about I just create the new cats, put the articles into those new cats, and then just just put the old cats up for speedy delete? Eliminates the need to redirect and all that jazz. Do you think that would cause any problems?Camelbinky (talk) 20:47, 16 April 2010 (UTC)

Thanks for the rollback!

Now time to eat some vandals. Andewz111 (no 'r') (nudge me) 17:52, 18 April 2010 (UTC)

Adoption

Hi UpstateNYer,

I've started to clean up the Adopters' list. You appear to have changed username since you added yourself to the list but not updated your info there. In case you're still interested, can you kindly update your information? Or, if you're not interested any more, would you mind removing yourself? Thank you and happy editing, Snowolf How can I help? 13:23, 20 April 2010 (UTC)

Thanks for that catch. upstateNYer 21:27, 20 April 2010 (UTC)

Your poll vote got refactored here (following an earlier refactor in which I missed your vote). Please review the change to check that I'm representing your opinion correctly, otherwise please make changes to your input as you see fit. Thank you, Papa Lima Whiskey (talk) 23:12, 27 April 2010 (UTC)

Also, just because I mentioned this to Diliff - I know the discussion you had on the poll has died down, so that's fine now, but just as a reminder to keep it to a minimum. The second stage of the process will allow open discussion. Best wishes, Papa Lima Whiskey (talk) 09:32, 28 April 2010 (UTC)
Ahh, sorry about that. I didn't realize that. It's okay though, I've said my piece. upstateNYer 21:04, 28 April 2010 (UTC)

DYKs for CD portal

No problem. Where should I put them? Right in the list section at the portal template?

Also, I saw that you had a group of selected pictures, namely your own, for perfectly understandable reasons. May I nominate this one of mine, which I think is my best CD image? Daniel Case (talk) 16:08, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

Put the DYKs on the talk page of the portal under the labeled section. You can use any images you want! I was just going through my category and finding images that represented the area well. But since there's 20 now, which represent most of the generally representative places in the area, more specific images are more than welcome! upstateNYer 19:50, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

is shaping up nicely. Looks just about done for the most part? Nice work. –Juliancolton | Talk 19:36, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

We need DYKs and then I want to put more panos in (and select bios, if you know of any). Featured portal status possibly. upstateNYer 19:51, 1 May 2010 (UTC)

pittstown ny

I made some changes to Pittstown,_New_York. I thought you might want to review the changes and maybe suggest some possible goals for the article.

Sandeylife (talk) 15:06, 29 April 2010 (UTC)

Seams reasonable, though adding unsourced information can sometimes lead to reverts. If you're interested in the history of the town, you should look at Landmarks of Rensselaer County and History of the Seventeen Towns of Rensselaer County. Both books are listed in the further reading section and have links to free, full versions of them online. upstateNYer 23:28, 5 May 2010 (UTC)

trival residents of Troy?

Sorry about reverting your complete blanking of the entire "notable residents" section of Troy, but they can't all be trivial, because they've passed notablity standards enough to have wikipedia articles. Unless someone doesn't have an article, please leave them in as notable residents of Troy. Chrisrus (talk) 06:23, 2 May 2010 (UTC)

My opinion- Anybody who is mentioned in a "notable residents" category that isnt "trivial" will be able to be mentioned in another section (probably history) just fine. It is not the individuals that Upstater is saying is trivial, it is the section itself that is trivia. If an individual's name can not be easily put into another section of relevance then it isnt relevant at all to mention that individual's name in the city's article (not everyone who is famous who just happened to have lived in a city should get mentioned).Camelbinky (talk) 23:46, 5 May 2010 (UTC)
I don't agree. If an article about East Someplace doesn't mention that Shfamous McNotable lived there, whether it figures into the history of the place or not, it belongs in the article. Besides, since when has the fact that a piece of infromation is trivia, ever kept something out of Wikipedia? If there's a notable piece of trivia that isn't on Wikipedia anywhere, that's a situation that needs fixing. Chrisrus (talk) 05:26, 6 May 2010 (UTC)
For a small place, yes mentioning a person famous throughout the US or world or whatever country the place is; may in fact be good for the article. However for a place like Troy with a 300+ year history and a quite important one for the state, nation, and world mentioning everyone who comes from Troy becomes trivial. There are many who believe as you do that EVERYTHING should be mentioned in articles, but generally that view has been rejected at various discussions at the village pump regarding notable people sections, "in popular culture" sections, and other "trivia" sections. WP:Trivia and the essay WP:Handling trivia is worth reading about why such lists arent very encyclopedic though it doesnt mention notable people itself. On various articles, such as Glens Falls, New York it has been decided that one of the most famous of the people born there- Rachel Ray is not to be put in it's famous resident section for the reason she was only born there, never lived there. That is one of the problems that occurs from that section existing in articles, the problem of what constitutes "resident". Your view on Wikipedia is valid and legitimate, it just isnt what the consensus tends to be.Camelbinky (talk) 17:27, 6 May 2010 (UTC)
Agreed. Once I rewrite the article, that section will not be kept. Plus there are a number of people on that list that only lived there while attending Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (Mr. Ferris, for one). I went to school in Washington DC. If I'm ever famous, I don't think I would ever count as a famous resident of Washington. There are a number of locally important individuals that are not mentioned, but are important to the city's history. They will be included, but in the prose of its history, not as a bulleted list. upstateNYer 20:29, 6 May 2010 (UTC)
I see your point. I have reverted my action, thereby blanking the whole section. I do want to note, however, that I didn't mean to say "that EVERYTHING should be mentioned in articles" depending on what you mean by "articles". I think everything NOTABLE should be SOMEWHERE on Wikipedia. I agree that it would be bad to have in the middle of an article on NYC a list of every notable person ever to have lived there. Everything in it's proper place. Chrisrus (talk) 01:11, 7 May 2010 (UTC) Clarified, expanded Chrisrus (talk) 14:26, 7 May 2010 (UTC)
Eh - I don't see the harm. For example, Boston, a very old, much larger, and more important city has List_of_Bostonians as a separate article. On the other hand, Lowell, Massachusetts, while younger than Troy, is larger and probably on reasonably equivalent historical footing, has an extremely long notable residents section which nobody has really heavily contested. Then again, what do I know, I'm one of those RPI'ers. CSZero (talk) 12:53, 7 May 2010 (UTC)
Take a look at Youngstown, Ohio, a featured article. That article's section on notable residents is about the furthest that is appropriate. If someone someday makes a list of notable Troy residents, then sure, we can include it, but until then, in the main article, it is essentially equivalent to a trivia section. upstateNYer 21:28, 7 May 2010 (UTC)

ARRA photo

Is this the photo?

We plan to use your photo for the Summer 2010 issue of the Local Government Auditors Quarterly. Thanks! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 206.195.188.253 (talk) 23:41, 7 May 2010 (UTC)

Which photo is this? Can you copy+paste me a link? Thanks for letting me know. upstateNYer 00:02, 8 May 2010 (UTC)
Oh, do you mean the one I posted to the right? upstateNYer 00:05, 8 May 2010 (UTC)

New map

Check out File:Troy, New York Map.png and let me know if you see any errors there. Kmusser (talk) 19:24, 10 May 2010 (UTC)

I got Albany done as well, File:Albany, New York Map.png - Albany has a more complicated road network; I included anything the National Atlas was calling a highway, but if I missed any important links in there I could draw them in. Kmusser (talk) 21:01, 10 May 2010 (UTC)
For the Albany map I would extend 85 the rest of its route to the edge of the map and 155 the rest of its route past the Northway to Watervliet. Also I would add NY443 which is mostly concurrent with NY32 and US 9W but would fill in an important part of Delaware Avenue not currently showing on the map. NY5 is shown stopping at 9W, I would extend it along Washington Ave east and along State Street to its terminus at I-787. Those are some suggestions I think might help.Camelbinky (talk) 22:22, 10 May 2010 (UTC)
I don't disagree with that assessment. Since it's such a spider web, though, could you also upload a version without roads? upstateNYer 22:51, 10 May 2010 (UTC)
Great, thanks, I should have revised one plus roadless version tomorrow. Kmusser (talk) 00:11, 11 May 2010 (UTC)
Map revised, check it out, should be ready to go I think, I also noticed a chunk of 32 was missing so added that in as well. Kmusser (talk) 15:34, 11 May 2010 (UTC)
Roadless version uploaded at File:Albany, New York Map plain.png. Kmusser (talk) 14:48, 12 May 2010 (UTC)

Photo Use

Hello UpstateNYer,

My name is Erin and I am with the production team who will be hosting the Actors' Equity Association 100 year anniversary event. I wanted to inform you that we will be using your beautiful image (File:Times Square 1-2.JPG) in our printed sponsorship presentation. This will be used as a charity outreach to gain sponsorship for Actors' Equity, an organization that promotes the theater arts. We will certainly credit your work appropriately. Thank You. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Erineq (talkcontribs) 19:46, 10 May 2010 (UTC)

Sounds good. Thanks for the heads up! upstateNYer 20:42, 10 May 2010 (UTC)

Supreme Court pic

Howdy, I'm using your pic of the US Supreme Court building as a still in a documentary I'm making. While I will be giving the 45 minute movie away for free online, since the rights to some of the other materials i used are retained by others, i can't actually release the whole thing under a creative commons license without violating their rights and trust. I will credit you in the credits as Wikipedia user UpstateNYer. Hope that's all okay with you. Please let me know if not. Best, Ogbn (talk) 12:33, 15 May 2010 (UTC)

That's fine; thanks for letting me know! upstateNYer 16:02, 15 May 2010 (UTC)
Something more like this?

I found some aerial photos if you need them. APK whisper in my ear 23:30, 15 May 2010 (UTC)

Do you think a cropped version of File:Aerial view of Lincoln Memorial - east side.jpg could do well as the infobox image? Or would it be bad practice since almost nobody else could reproduce that photo (I guess that's not a good reason, but for some reason it came to mind). I love both of them though, and am happy to see they were taken after the security updates. upstateNYer 00:00, 16 May 2010 (UTC)
I made the edit, but would still appreciate your input. upstateNYer 00:16, 16 May 2010 (UTC)
Yeah, the cropped version looks better. I've been uploading some of Carol M. Highsmith's great aerial photos and was happy to comes across this particular one. Most of the Korean War Veterans Memorial images were deleted from Commons. At least the aerial shot is safe. APK whisper in my ear 00:32, 16 May 2010 (UTC)
Wow, I've decided that I want this woman's job. Take thousands of pics over the years, get money from them, then when my retirement comes up, release them. What a great collection she has going. Great find. I'm gonna have to go thumb through that collection online... upstateNYer 00:58, 16 May 2010 (UTC)
Note this too. upstateNYer 01:00, 16 May 2010 (UTC)
Apparently, you're not alone. "A lot of people have said they envy me, I must admit. I've dreamed about this for years. I've dreamed and dreamed and dreamed. I thought, gee whiz, If I could just get into the states and really do them right." APK whisper in my ear 01:23, 16 May 2010 (UTC)

FPC "Not promoted" instructions

As a contributor to featured picture candidates, I was wondering if you could comment on a potential change to the "Not promoted" instructions for closing nominations. The discussion can be found at Wikipedia talk:Featured picture candidates#Addition to "not promoted" instructions. I'm asking people to help gain consensus there. Feel free to ask anyone else to comment. Thanks! Jujutacular T · C 05:47, 20 May 2010 (UTC)

Lafayette?

Lafayette who was a French marquis who came over during the Revolution and fought alongside Washington is the only marquis I can think of who would have traveled through Albany and be famous enough to warrant a statue.

  • Albany- To the north of the state Capitol is Lafayette Park (adjacent to Academy Park, looks like one park but actually two) the two parks are the block bordered by Washington Ave, Eagle Street, Elk Street, and Hawk Street. There is possibly a statue in there since it is named for him but it would be along Washington Ave, I know there is a statue of Mayor Whalen sitting on a bench facing City Hall, a statue of Joseph Henry in front of the former Albany Academy building (Albany CSD offices now) and there's a statue in the middle of the intersection of Eagle and Washington of Mayor (and General) Philip Schuyler. Possibly someone has mistaken the state of General Sheridan in front of the state capitol facing State Street as Lafayette (interesting statue for even Mrs Sheridan commented it looked nothing like her husband at all and then the controversy over Sheridan claiming to have been born in Albany when most likely he was born in Ireland and only claimed an Albany birth because he wanted to become president and therefor one of the most prominent statues in Albany is of a man who possibly had no connection to the city)
  • State Street in Troy- Definitely no, short street and a statue would be at least somewhat familiar to one of us.
  • State Street in Schenectady- Possibly in the park at corner of Nott Terrace and State across from MVP building.
  • State Street in Saratoga Springs- best possibility if one existed, would be the first place to check.Camelbinky (talk) 16:09, 22 May 2010 (UTC)

Request Permission: Times Square photo

Hi sir/mam,

I came across your photo (http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Times_Square_1-2.JPG) while searching on the net. I own and manage a photobooth service here in the Philippines and am very much interested in using your photo as a backdrop for a client's upcoming event (Sex and the City 2 - Premiere).

This message seeks your permission to print/use your photo as a backdrop. My service does not earn much income so all I really have to offer is acknowledge/credit your photo on my website (www.barelytoast.com).

Hoping for a positive response. Thanks and more power to you!

Best Regards, Jericho Jensen Barely Toast Photography barelytoast@gmail.com 192.44.136.103 (talk) 03:23, 24 May 2010 (UTC)

By all means, enjoy using the photo. upstateNYer 21:37, 25 May 2010 (UTC)

Thanks

The Capital District Barnstar
The first Capital District Barnstar was awarded to User:UpstateNYer for his multiple contributions to NYCD articles on many different fronts- from the creation of the wikiproject to creative photographs; from creating interesting and informative articles such as Rensselaerswyck to encouraging others in pushing articles to the next level of achievement.
this WikiAward was given to UpstateNYer by Camelbinky (talk) 00:57, 26 May 2010 (UTC)

Thank you for never settling for "good enough" and always pushing for that FA star on every article you work on.Camelbinky (talk) 00:57, 26 May 2010 (UTC)

Thank you upstateNYer 01:47, 26 May 2010 (UTC)
PS What do you think of the new compilation photo for Albany? upstateNYer 01:48, 26 May 2010 (UTC)
I would suggest maybe replacing the Holiday Lights photo with either a) a residential photo from maybe the Delaware Ave or Pine Hills area to show some that Albany isnt all about urbanism, tall buildings, and unique architecture, that actual people live there; or just the opposite b) a photo of "skyscraper row" on State Street between South Pearl and Lodge streets, which is a photo I would love to have anyways, along with photos of each of the four individual buildings (currently of those, I believe only the Albany County Office Building has a photo on Commons).Camelbinky (talk) 02:51, 26 May 2010 (UTC)
Noted; I'll get out and get a photo of the more suburban area to the west. upstateNYer 02:58, 26 May 2010 (UTC)
Streets you may want to try for that photo are Delaware Ave, Whitehall Road, Hackett Blvd, Brevator Street, Berkshire Blvd around Buckingham Lake, Homestead Ave, Manning Blvd between Western and Washington, Washington between Colvin and Manning, Western between Belvedere and Manning. All have houses with at least some something of a front yard, trees other than those growing in a sidewalk cut-out, gardens, landscaping, and houses that can compete with anything the cookie-cutter suburban mcmansions could throw in Albany's face.Camelbinky (talk) 03:14, 26 May 2010 (UTC)
This is a really interesting book, and even though I only found it as a limited preview on google books there may be an older out-of-copyright version that you can read the whole thing. Amazing that the bigwigs in New Amsterdam/New York used to have to come to Rensselaerswyck and beg the Patroon for money and people to help accomplish things like building defensive structures on Manhattan. The NYCD region was the economic powerhouse and downstate was the land of the lessor backwater.Camelbinky (talk) 22:29, 27 May 2010 (UTC)

Upcoming Albany NRHP nom

NYSOPRHP has up their list of nominations it is reviewing before sending them to the NPS for Register consideration. One is yet another central Albany historic district, the Lower Washington Avenue HD.

This seems to be small ... 110-200 Washington Avenue, just that side of the street, and 19 and 31-35 Spring Street. Apparently it is the "intact side of the historic gateway to downtown Albany with a great number of architecturally and historically significant structures". There's a lot of detail in the nom document if you want to get a jump on shooting it. Daniel Case (talk) 20:55, 28 May 2010 (UTC)

The nomination is also related to the ongoing legal dispute over the Fort Orange Club's proposal to demolish 118 and 120 Washington Avenue in order to grow there parking lot after using the existing one (which was also built on demolished row houses) to grow the structure and their athletic facilities. Looks like the demolition will probably pass any legal challenges. I encourage keeping apprised of the situation as information in the nomination document would quickly become out of date in regards to certain aspects should those two structures fail to be there in the near future.Camelbinky (talk) 21:19, 28 May 2010 (UTC)
Noted. upstateNYer 22:02, 29 May 2010 (UTC)

Mayoral term and neighborhood names

Mayor, and all other elected officials for the city of Albany are four years according to the "new" charter. Here is the full text of the charter if you need it for further information. I've been working on expanding Dongan Charter, almost "done" with it, if you need more information on city politics that you think should be in that article or the Albany one let me know.Camelbinky (talk) 00:29, 31 May 2010 (UTC)

I have seen Hudson/Park neighborhood written both ways and sometimes without any mark between the words. It is named for the two streets between which the neighborhood sits, Hudson Avenue to the north and Park Avenue to the south (and roughly Lark or Willett to the west and Eagle to the east). The neighborhood association website uses the / backslash and so I always took that as the "official" way to write it. I do not remember which way the city has it on the small green neighborhood signs, though on the city website itself for their neighborhood section is simply a copy of what our Neighborhoods of Albany, New York article looked like at one point and therefore isnt helpful. I would go with the neighborhood association's spelling, myself.Camelbinky (talk) 00:38, 31 May 2010 (UTC)

Dongan Charter

I've done just about all I can think of on Dongan Charter if you have time do you mind seeing if it deserves to be a Start, C, or B class, it currently is still listed as stub. I would also like to know if you think the commemorative coin section should be spun off as a separate article since it seems like it takes up almost half the current article. There are several articles on specific commemorative half dollars but I dont know if this one would deserve to be its own from a notability stand point and I also wouldnt want it to be an orphan with few articles linked to it.Camelbinky (talk) 23:36, 31 May 2010 (UTC)

Washington Park Historic district nom

It's here. Daniel Case (talk) 03:43, 1 June 2010 (UTC)

Thanks. upstateNYer 04:03, 1 June 2010 (UTC)

Washington Park Historic district nom

It's here. Daniel Case (talk) 04:00, 1 June 2010 (UTC)

And thanks again! :-) upstateNYer 04:04, 1 June 2010 (UTC)

Albany history

For the history section at the rewrite, would you prefer short subsections based on themes like I currently have at Capital District or would you prefer longer sections based on chronology, or some other way to write that section. New York City is just as old as Albany and its history section is in multiple subsections which each have their own article and I wasnt sure if you wanted to go that route or not as that still seems like a pretty long history section. Let me know and I can start working on it. Right now working on User:Camelbinky/WashingtonPark if you want to take a look at that.Camelbinky (talk) 21:40, 1 June 2010 (UTC)

Things are really coming along. I just bought a book about Erastus Corning and filled in all the missing refs but 2 in the Government section. Can you fill them in somehow? They both pertain the Catholics. Also, if you could start sourcing the neighborhoods section, that would be awesome. I have high hopes for this article! As for history, chronological is my first reaction, but I'll see what you did on CD. NYC is not a good article any more, so I wouldn't base much on that article. upstateNYer 22:18, 1 June 2010 (UTC)
PS, I don't think there's any reason to make a separate article from Washington Park Historic District (Albany, New York), however, rewriting that article would be great. The historic district is mainly made up of the park anyway (only 1 house deep past the border roads, so it's almost all park anyway). What do you think? upstateNYer 22:20, 1 June 2010 (UTC)
Yes, I was planning on putting it at the historic district article, for length purposes I didnt make the sandbox name that long. Right now I'm concentrating on the park, though eventually I'll have to do some research on the neighborhood itself. One of the houses on Thurlow or Englewood (both of which I believe are in the historic district) is (or was) the house for the president of the University at Albany, I was lucky to be there once and its a beautiful house as all all of the houses on those two streets if you want to take some photos of them and some of the rowhouses on State, Willett, and Madison that are in the district, the Morgan State House is probably in the district, if not I'll probably still write an article for it eventually if you want to take a photo of that too if you ever get to the Park again during the summer.Camelbinky (talk) 22:33, 1 June 2010 (UTC)
PS- is the book you got Erastus Corning: Albany Icon, Albany Enigma? I have that book, its really great! Movable sidewalks on State Street, olive trees in Steven's Farm to use as a replacement for gasoline (the trees are still there), a giant multilevel underground parking lot between Pearl and Broadway, and all the other neat ideas he had but were never implemented are my favorite parts of the book.Camelbinky (talk) 22:38, 1 June 2010 (UTC)
It is. I haven't read it that thoroughly. I find myself reading for a reference than reading for the info these days, I guess. :-/ But it gets things done on here, so I'm okay with it. Oh, and the media section is essentially done once we get the refs we need. upstateNYer 22:40, 1 June 2010 (UTC)
Do you think you could get me a cropped version of 1857 map of Albany that you found? Just cropped to show the immediate area of the Washington Park historic district. I have found an earlier map that is cropped to that area at the colonial social history project of the NYSM and think as many maps we can find showing the evolution of the area would be beneficial to the article.Camelbinky (talk) 01:43, 2 June 2010 (UTC)
Sure, if you can find me a source that says when CBA moved from University Heights to Colonie. :) upstateNYer 01:48, 2 June 2010 (UTC)
This explains from Albany to Colonie though not the date, but this mentions the date but not that it was from Albany to Colonie, so not sure which is better. Let me know if you need more, that was too easy. ;)Camelbinky (talk) 01:59, 2 June 2010 (UTC)

Here you go!. upstateNYer 02:05, 2 June 2010 (UTC)

One of your images has made it to our website.

Your image of the New York State Capitol has been added to the Landmark: United States website. You can view it at http://www.landmarkunitedstates.com/site/19240/New-York-State-Capitol.

I'm not to sure how legal it is to use a username when attributing copyright ownership, as anyone could claim to be UpstateNYer. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.99.215.140 (talk) 14:38, 2 June 2010 (UTC)

As long as it's "UpstateNYer at Wikipedia", it's legal. It's the same as a pen name. Thanks for the heads up! upstateNYer 01:14, 3 June 2010 (UTC)

You may want to link to this part of the website you put on the Washington Park rewrite. The link you put is to the charter and the city code (general legislation not included in the charter), the above link will put people at ONLY the charter. Minor difference though as an encyclopedia for the masses we should probably be careful not to portray the whole city code as part of the charter.Camelbinky (talk) 01:48, 3 June 2010 (UTC)

Good catch. The city clerk gave me that link, btw. They were quickly receptive to the online contact form with questions. upstateNYer 02:02, 3 June 2010 (UTC)

Willis Tower at WP:VPC

You recently participated in the discussion at Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates/Willis Tower upward pano. You are now welcome to participate in the discussion of both Willis Tower images at WP:VPC.--TonyTheTiger (T/C/BIO/WP:CHICAGO/WP:FOUR) 02:07, 3 June 2010 (UTC)

Hi MattWade, because you contributed to FPC's recent review, I'm letting you know that the results of the poll have been posted. We appreciate your contributions to the first stage and hope you take part in this next step, here, to move towards implementing several changes to the process. Regards, Maedin\talk 18:38, 4 June 2010 (UTC)

Albany rewrite

This is the best I could do.

I'll be glad to look in on your Albany, New York rewrite. Step 1 - can we move it to a non-talk area? When it's at Talk:Whatever, there is no place to discuss it - you can't make Talk:Talk:Whatever. Wknight94 talk 02:34, 5 June 2010 (UTC)

Yea, I thought of that too. Unfortunately, it was moved from Albany, New York/Rewrite to User:UpstateNYer/Albany, New York Rewrite (article space can't have subpages, which in this situation, I find to be a stupid rule); then in an effort to seem less owner-like, I moved it to that talk page. I don't have a better solution (while still seeming transparent). Do you have an idea? For the time being, we are just commenting in the section spaces (none left now, but there were some before; have at it.) upstateNYer 05:18, 5 June 2010 (UTC)
I'd put it back at User:UpstateNYer/Albany, New York Rewrite. Or maybe Wikipedia:WikiProject Capital District/Albany, New York rewrite? Personally, I think not allowing it in main space temporarily is rule-wonking. Who is it hurting there? Wknight94 talk 11:24, 5 June 2010 (UTC)
Good idea, I moved it to Wikipedia:WikiProject Capital District/Albany, New York Rewrite. upstateNYer 13:30, 5 June 2010 (UTC)
If you get some free time I think I need some help, I cant seem to fix this file. It took me forever just to be able to get it off google books and into a type of file that could be brought onto Commons, now I dont know how to clean it up. Camelbinky (talk) 21:25, 6 June 2010 (UTC)
See image at right (it's a completely new file). upstateNYer 03:36, 7 June 2010 (UTC)
Awesome! Thank you, and thanks for deleting the Washington Park sandbox too.Camelbinky (talk) 06:04, 7 June 2010 (UTC)

UAlbany Alma Mater is probably public domain

Dear Upstate, I noticed that you removed the UAlbany Alma Mater as a copyright infringement. I assumed it met the definition of fair use, but I just realized it is likely to be public domain. The school created a four-year curriculum in 1890, adopted Minerva as a mascot in 1913, and became a university in 1962.[18] Therefore, the song was almost certainly published before 1964. From public domain: "Works published with notice of copyright ... on or after January 1, 1923, and prior to January 1, 1964, had to be renewed during the 28th year of their first term of copyright to maintain copyright for a full 95-year term. With the exception of maps, music, and movies, the vast majority of works published in the United States before 1964 were never renewed for a second copyright term." Given that SUNY Albany is a state-chartered nonprofit, it seems unlikely they would renew the copyright; indeed, I would think they'd prefer to have their alma mater on Wikipedia for publicity's sake. I didn't see a copyright notice here. Would you object if I restored the song? Best wishes, Albany NY (talk) 11:56, 23 May 2010 (UTC)

I see what you're saying. When it comes to law though, "almost certainly" really isn't good enough. That said (because, yes, you are almost certainly right that the alma mater is PD), the University and Schools wikiprojects have steered away from including alma maters because of 1) copyright issues and 2) it's a little too specific for an encyclopedia article. Have a look at any of these articles and you'll note the absence of alma maters in the articles. Now, that doesn't mean you can't mention it somewhere as, "The alma mater is called X; it was written in XXXX." and offer a link to it. upstateNYer 14:18, 23 May 2010 (UTC)
Thanks so much for the advice; I think I might create a Wikisource page and stick it there. I actually have another concern: I don't mean to be rude, but I've begun to worry that the Albany, NY rewrite page is contrary to the Wikipedia model of collaborative editing, especially for such an important and widely read article. How will you ensure that users who don't know about the rewrite page will have input? Also, how will you ensure that edits to the current article which were made before you started rewriting don't go to waste? Thanks and best regards, Albany NY (talk) 03:19, 25 May 2010 (UTC)
Understood. I added the {{Rewriting}} template to the main article (though I had also added a link to the talk page a few days ago). No promises on time though; this rewrite could take a few months. I've moved the article to Talk:Albany, New York/Rewrite, so it doesn't seem like anyone owns the new article. As for tracking current edits, many of them will be to wording, phrasing, and grammar of the existing article, which will be changing a lot, so those edits are essentially irrelevant (sorry to the IPs!), but that's just the way it is when you rewrite an article with the goal of getting GA or even FA, which is our (or at least my) ultimate plan. I will keep an eye on any content, image-related, or sourcing changes, because these could very well become useful for the rewrite. Unfortunately, it usually comes down to two or three main editors (sometimes just one!) when bringing an article up to an impressive status, which, I think Albany deserves. :) Hopefully this alleviates your concerns, and hopefully you're seeing the progress we're making as an improvement? upstateNYer 21:32, 25 May 2010 (UTC)
It certainly does alleviate my concerns; thanks for being so responsive. The infobox looks really professional -- have you considered updating the current one with your new montage? --Albany NY (talk) 04:06, 4 June 2010 (UTC)
 Done, however the rest is going to be unveiled all at the same time; a virtual "grand reopening" if you will. By the way, if you are interested, you are more than welcome to help out on the rewrite. Don't want you to feel like I'm pressuring you to stay away. I'm trying to label the refs we need with {{fact}}s; that's the hardest part currently: backing up some good content with just as good sources. upstateNYer 04:21, 4 June 2010 (UTC)
Sorry to bother you with a quick question, but here goes... If you forget to sign a post and someone puts an "unsigned" template next to it, is it good etiquette to replace that template with your signature? Thanks! --Albany NY (talk) 14:41, 12 June 2010 (UTC)
You can do that. The best way to do it would be to put three tildes ~~~ so it just gives your name, then manually type the day and time the template went on so it still follows chronologically. This is only if it's your comment though. Don't do that to anybody else's. upstateNYer 15:50, 12 June 2010 (UTC)
Great, will do. --Albany NY (talk) 17:24, 12 June 2010 (UTC)

Rollback request

Dear Upstater, I would like to get the Rollback privilege in order to use Huggle when reverting. Thanks for your consideration. Cstaffa (talk) 03:54, 8 June 2010 (UTC)

Thank you kindly. Cstaffa (talk) 13:55, 13 June 2010 (UTC)

Grab some glory, and a barnstar

Hi, I'd like to invite you to participate in the Guild of Copy Editors July 2010 Backlog Elimination Drive. In May, about 30 editors helped remove the {{copyedit}} tag from 1175 articles. The backlog is still over 7500 articles, and extends back to the beginning of 2008! We really need your help to reduce it. Copyediting just a couple articles can qualify you for a barnstar. Serious copyeditors can win prestigious and exclusive rewards. See the event page for more information. And thanks for your consideration. ɳorɑfʈ Talk! 15:39, 10 June 2010 (UTC)

Unfortunately I'm busy working on content creation and rewriting of a few articles that are important to me, so I'm not playing the wikignome part. Sorry to disappoint! upstateNYer 02:42, 14 June 2010 (UTC)

Saratoga County

Hey NYer. I'm traveling soon and since I'm bringing my laptop on the way there (no internet), I'd figure it would be a good time to start Saratoga County as promised. Just give me some maps to base it off of if you're up for it :) --ZooFari 01:53, 14 June 2010 (UTC)

When do you leave? It seems Saratoga County does not have any good maps listed on Google images and I can't readily identify the villages on the current map on Wiki (I don't know the county well enough). Might be able to Schenectady County in a pinch, though. I'll need to do some research first, so how long do I have? upstateNYer 02:18, 14 June 2010 (UTC)
There are only three CDP's that need to be removed from the current Wikipedia map. Hadley-Luzerne in the far northern reaches; a CDP whose name escapes me right now in the town of Ballston scrunched between the city of Saratoga Springs and village of Ballston Spa; and another CDP I'm not aware of the name of in the town of Clifton Park along the border with the town of Malta. Once those three are removed the map will represent only the two cities and various towns and villages of Saratoga County. Hopefully that is helpful.Camelbinky (talk) 03:42, 14 June 2010 (UTC)
Is there a map out there with just the towns and villages (labeled) for us to base off of? Sorry to say that Schenectady County's website is a crapload better than Saratoga's, which has almost none of the info (especially a map) that I need. upstateNYer 21:10, 14 June 2010 (UTC)
I leave at the end of the month. Any requests including others that may not be necessarily maps I can also take. --ZooFari 13:53, 14 June 2010 (UTC)
Well then I might give you both counties. Let me get the info I need from Camelbinky. Convo will continue above. upstateNYer 21:10, 14 June 2010 (UTC)
This website has a map for both Schenectady and Saratoga (and Albany and Rensselaer which are already done). Labeled and just with villages, cities, and towns. Unfortunately cant get a url to just the map, but on the right hand side of the website click Data/Map Index. Then click on Minor Civil Divisions Map under the heading of Location & Municipalities. The only thing I think you need to keep a sharp eye on is that Ballston Spa is partly in the town of Milton and partly in the town of Ballston, the town line goes straight through the village though this isnt clear on the map. Hope this helps.Camelbinky (talk) 22:10, 14 June 2010 (UTC)
Oh, perfect. Thanks! upstateNYer 22:23, 14 June 2010 (UTC)

Employment data

Having trouble finding any information regarding the largest employers just in the city of Albany. However, here is the info for the "daytime population" of Albany (162,401)- on page 5

Added to economy section. Any ideas for pictures in the Economy section (just duplicating Capital District isn't fun!)? I want to get a photo from the pine bush to put in Geography (something with snow might be appropriate for that section instead, since more than a third of the year we're usually covered in it...). Do you think the WTEN picture in media works? I'd go for the TU building, but 1) it's not in the city and 2) from Wolf Road, the building isn't worth taking a picture of and I don't want to get a ticket for stopping on the Northway to take a picture of a building. The Fox 23 building is in an office park and is not nearly as interesting as WTEN. upstateNYer 15:22, 19 June 2010 (UTC)
I would say the WTEN building looks fine, the Your News Now 24-hour cable channel (Channel 9 I believe?) also has their studios in Albany (Watervliet Ave Ext. next to a hotel), I dont know if the building is any more photographic but if you're in the neighborhood take look, I believe the Abrookin Voc-tech of the Albany school district is just a block away if you wanted a photo of that too (not an attractive building at all, a former grocery store).
For the economy section, since pictures representing government, hospitals, and colleges are probably not what you are looking for (and I'm betting they dominate almost exclusively the entire top 10 list) here's some suggestions- perhaps One Commerce Plaza as the largest (by square footage area) private office building, though the state still represents the largest tenant; Home Savings Bank Building as the tallest private office building and also would represent Albany's once-dominant banking industry though in reality the building is pretty much empty inside; the Port of Albany-Rensselaer, a major employer and Albany's connection to shipping and the river; the Albany NanoTech complex since it would represent Albany's future to high-tech economics (my favorite pick). I have sources that say the Wal-mart at Crossgates Commons (in the city whereas the mall is not) is the largest Wal-mart in the US and in the entire world outside of China; whether that's economics or not it is something worthy of mention some place and perhaps a photo, it's a two-story Wal-mart which is relatively rare, a photo of the inside showing the escalator and stuff might be interesting.Camelbinky (talk) 17:50, 19 June 2010 (UTC)
Give me the sources for WalMart. Image or not, that's notable. Thx! upstateNYer 06:31, 20 June 2010 (UTC)
This from the Business Review says its the largest Walmart in the US "according to company officials" at 259,650 square feet. I would say that's about as official as I can find since its in the words of Walmart officials and I would assume they'd know the facts. I can give you TU articles that say only China has a larger Walmart in the world but with the problems recently with putting MerlinOne links as sources I figure this is the best I can do for now. This is the source currently used in the Walmart article to source the fact that Albany has the largest Walmart in the US, I dont see it as a great source and will be changing it to whatever source you end up using in the Albany article.Camelbinky (talk) 20:42, 21 June 2010 (UTC)
The BizReview one works best. Do you have a source for One Commerce Plaza being the largest private office building in the city? upstateNYer 23:14, 21 June 2010 (UTC)
"In fact since Stephen and the Carrow team took over management and leasing of the largest privately-owned building in the area, One Commerce Plaza, 99 Washington Ave, the 20-floor, 850,000 sq ft office/retail space is fully leased − the first time in the building’s 40-year history." is stated here at the website for the management company that took over in 2006. Now, I'm not sure if that's a conflict of interest, I'll continue to try to find a non-biased reliable source if their word isnt good enough.Camelbinky (talk) 00:12, 22 June 2010 (UTC)

← I would think that's good enough. Btw, I got yelled at by security the other day for taking pics at the Nanoscale Science building. Apparently it's "private property" even if the security guard's uniform says "STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK" (you know, that public institution that I never went to but some of my tax dollars finance?) on it, which I pointed out. He claimed there were signs saying no photos. I was >< this close to taking pictures of the entrance... to prove there were no "No photos" sign. At least he didn't take my memory card, though. upstateNYer 00:26, 22 June 2010 (UTC)

Hmmm, I would call "bullshit" on that security guard regarding photographs and contact someone in the PR department at the university about getting proper permission on photography, though technically he may actually be right on it being "private property" because the college did set up a separate private entity in order to build/own the building in order to get around certain state regulations on university construction and if I remember correctly it receives all funding from alumni donations and rent from private businesses like TEL, IBM, and Sematech, etc with no funding from the University budget itself. Since much of what they do there is proprietary technology and highly sensitive with a big chance of industrial espionage occurring I can understand the security, but photos of the outside seems excessive.Camelbinky (talk) 00:37, 22 June 2010 (UTC)

Albany, New York

Hello! One of your various edits to Albany, New York in the last couple of days introduces a refname of "climatezone" but does not include a source to go with it. Would you please revisit the article and add in the source you intended? Thanks. - Salamurai (talk) 04:25, 24 June 2010 (UTC)

I'll do my best. Another editor added that and I tried to find the diff where I removed it, but I'm just not finding it (I have no problem with it being there). We'll fix it though; thanks for the heads up. upstateNYer 21:13, 24 June 2010 (UTC)
It was my fault, and I have since fixed it. My apologies to everyone and my thanks to Salamurai for bringing it forth. I should be more careful :(Camelbinky (talk) 21:30, 24 June 2010 (UTC)
oops, sorry about mis-blaming. Sometimes it's hard to figure out where these things come from! - Salamurai (talk) 04:11, 26 June 2010 (UTC)

Mount Olympus in Troy?

Have you ever heard of a Mount Olympus in Troy? It is mentioned here on page 296 as being on the east side of the Hudson just before the Green Island Bridge.Camelbinky (talk) 18:38, 28 June 2010 (UTC)

Central Ave article

Given the discovery of the Central Avenue article I would like to clean up and expand the article before a deletionist also finds it. I was wondering your opinion on whether it should, per the article title, be only the portion of Central Ave in the city of Albany or whether it should be expanded to be all of Central Avenue in Albany County since it is all one road with one name and only the difference of two municipalities, Albany and the town of Colonie (three if you count the village of Colonie). The western section of the Avenue in Albany (with Westgate Plaza) has more in common with the suburban portion in Colonie than with the urban "ghetto" streetscape "downtown"; but I dont know if this then makes the article too broad in scope and less helpful to readers when linked to from Albany or Colonie articles since a reader coming to it from an Albany article might be annoyed by too many Colonie facts and vice versa even if the article is unbiased towards either and roughly 50% to each municipality. If we expand the scope we then would have to move the article again, I suppose to Central Avenue (Albany County, New York); luckily as an orphan it wouldnt affect too many links anyways.Camelbinky (talk) 01:13, 30 June 2010 (UTC)

All good ideas. Go for it. upstateNYer 01:15, 30 June 2010 (UTC)
What do you think of my summary about turnpikes and the section about Corning and Rockefeller in the rewrite? upstateNYer 01:16, 30 June 2010 (UTC)
New Scotland Avenue was the Albany, Rensselaerville, and Schoharie Plank Road (later it was a turnpike, explained in the article) and should have that article linked. Missed two turnpikes- Broadway north out of downtown through the North Albany neighborhood was the Albany-Troy Turnpike and South Pearl Street south of Second Avenue was the Albany and Bethlehem Turnpike (this one is mentioned in the Kenwood, Albany, New York article]]. I think the turnpike paragraph should probably be moved above the Erie Canal paragraph since the turnpikes started in 1799 with the Great Western and the Erie and Champlain canals and the Albany Basin were all constructed in 1825, which was after most of the turnpikes mentioned were already built and most had started to decline.Camelbinky (talk) 01:29, 30 June 2010 (UTC)
I'll link to Albany, Rensselaerville, and Schoharie. I didn't include them all, there are a couple more mentioned in addition to those you brought up in McEneny's book, but I think a reader will get the picture. I'll do a little fiddling to get the order right. upstateNYer 01:34, 30 June 2010 (UTC)
Out of curiousity, what are the other ones McEneny mentions? I cant think of any others, unless he counts plank roads with no tolls or turnpikes technically outside the city (like the Columbia Turnpike, US 9 & 20, across the river). Unfortunately my copy of his book is in storage in Albany and not here.Camelbinky (talk) 01:38, 30 June 2010 (UTC)
The Albany-Lebanon Turnpike (which must have turned into the Columbia Turnpike, as he references it is now Rts 9 & 20), the Bethlehem Turnpike (now Route 144), and the King's Highway, though he says that one failed because it became obsolete. Also, another question: this map from 1895 and this map from 1857 both show a "canal basin" in the lumber district. And one labels the Erie Canal with Locks 1 and 2 at Albany. Do you have a source to back this up? I never knew that the canal went so far south; that's something important to include. upstateNYer 01:54, 30 June 2010 (UTC)
Yes, lock one and two (and possibly more now that Albany stretches further north than it did in 1825) were both in the city, the original Erie Canal did not use the Hudson and Mohawk rivers as it does today and in fact crossed on bridges over the Mohawk in several locations (Crescent and Rexford were the closest such aqueducts in our area and one in Cohoes for the Champlain Canal), it wasnt until the 1910s that the Erie Canal became the NYS Barge Canal and used the rivers as it does today; officially there is no lock 1 of the Erie Canal today, unofficially the Federal Dam at Troy is often called that though. Albany Basin and Erie Canal and Waterford Maritime Historical Society are two great sources on Erie Canal history in our area and why there is no current Lock One. This is state historical marker that marks the location of the basin and Lock One. The very original canal (Clinton's Ditch) probably had the numbers reversed, starting from Buffalo with Albany being around in the 50s number of locks; the "Enlarged Erie Canal" started in 1834 is the one normally considered the Old Erie Canal and with that the numbering as we know it has existed.Camelbinky (talk) 02:57, 30 June 2010 (UTC)

Researcher

I learned that a new type of ability has been on the wiki for a while, and it's called Researcher. It allows people to view deleted material. I was wondering if I could be approved for it. (I never saw any way to get that approval formally, so I'm asking here) My reason is fairly simple. I do a lot of work in the Black metal field of music, and that tends to have a lot of deleted articles, most of which I'm not always around to see. I'd like to be able to userfy those articles for the people who made them, in order for them to further better those articles (if possible), and even for my own use. (i.e., if I see why the article was deleted, and if I know how to fix the problem, I could re-write the whole thing with the help of the deleted content) If it is possible to get this right on the wiki, please let me know. Thanks. Undead Warrior (talk) 05:02, 30 June 2010 (UTC)

I've never heard of Researcher before and it's not something that's listed under user rights management. I would suggest going over to User:Juliancolton, who is a much more able admin; he would know best. upstateNYer 20:58, 30 June 2010 (UTC)

I'm going to be creating an article on Bleecker Stadium, which is a former reservoir that was converted into a football/baseball stadium; along with high school sports it was the home of the Albany-Colonie A's minor league team while Heritage Park was being built. Ive been coming across it quite alot recently and its very interesting on its change of use and that it was a Federal works project during the Depression. It was one of many projects done under Mayor John Boyd Thacher II who served from the mid-20s to 1940 (last mayor elected prior to Corning, someone else served out the rest of his term after he retired), he and those projects may need to be mentioned in the history section- the Albany Municipal Golf Course, the Lincoln Park swimming pool, the Quentin Roosevelt Feild (predecessor to Albany International Airport), and numerous park improvements like tennis courts, football fields, and baseball diamonds. He even brought "organized hockey" to Albany as well, though I assume this would refer to some sort of minor league team, though 60 years ago its possible it was major league team (after all Troy once had a major league baseball team).Camelbinky (talk) 01:13, 1 July 2010 (UTC)

The fact that they were public works programs (most likely during the depression?) is highly relevant, and will warrant inclusion. The organized hockey part is a bit too detailed for a summary style history of Albany, though. upstateNYer 02:24, 1 July 2010 (UTC)
Yes, during the Depression, I'm still trying to nail down whether it was 1930 or 1932 as sources vary. Even though Thacher had been the longest serving mayor prior to Corning and they had lots in common (very wealthy families, believed in strong-mayor form of government, and both had previous mayors of Albany in their family) he was kinda the "anti-Corning" when it came to spending money on services and looking for state and federal funds; if he hadnt stepped down as mayor to become a family court judge its possible he could have stayed "mayor for life" (he died in 1947) and we would never have had the "Corning Era" or at least started eight years later. A good "what if?" book if it would be written.
For the history section much is being said lately in the news for the last couple years about the city finances being hurt by two things (in the words of politicians; the real causes of the budget issues are probably less palatable to say to their constituates and are unlikely only be a result of the two always mentioned)- 1)having less "payment in lieu of taxes" (PILOT) money from the state for the amount of acreage the state owns in Albany as compared to PILOT money to other cities for their state owned acreage; and 2) for the landfill (the fees collected from companies dumping at the landfill are a huge contribution to the city budget) and the fact that the landfill is almost full and no alternative has been found for ANSWERS (the Albany led consortium of municipalities that use the Albany landfill, I believe it is an acronym of the towns that make it up but only Albany has any responsibility and makes money off the project), and trash pickup is free for residential properties may warrant mention as well, as I've found that uncommon. Albany remains at the highest bond rating for any municipality in the NYCD however despite these problems.Camelbinky (talk) 23:09, 1 July 2010 (UTC)

Albany age

This may not be allowed as a source but I would say is quite an accurate list using the most up-to-date knowledge regarding what places in the US were founded when but still has its problems. It lists Albany as number 6 but I have some problems with it listing Acoma (since it is not part of anything incorporated) and Newport News listed as 1611 when he even admits that may be dubious. And of course then you have all the posts of people on that page who argue that NH or Texas or NC have cities older than those listed.Camelbinky (talk) 15:19, 2 July 2010 (UTC)

Acoma doesn't count; we're talking European establishments. And we don't say "continuously inhabited". The 1540 fort easily outdoes the rest of them. upstateNYer 15:40, 2 July 2010 (UTC)
I've always been a little worried about that 1540 fort, its only mentioned in the sources from the 1800s. Does McEneny or anyone from recent times mention it at all? I'm thinking we may need a more up-to-date reliable source like his book to confirm that it is still accepted as historical fact rather than local lore, but I see nothing wrong with keeping it mentioned until we find out. A French settlement at Albany prior to Champlain coming south from Quebec over 60 years later. Perhaps started over confusion over a relatively elaborate Indian settlement or French propaganda in order to lay claim to the area or just local boosterism? I can start later today looking for sources that explicitly say that it is local lore and not true, if there is no source saying it is not true then by default we can say it is true...Camelbinky (talk) 16:09, 2 July 2010 (UTC)
McEneny's book says (from the chronology section, p 7 of the 2006 edition): "1540: Albany tradition maintains that in this year French fur traders in barques sailed upriver as far as Cohoes, to erect a fortified post on an island on the west side of the Hudson just south of the present city of Albany. But before their fort was completed, a freshet carried away its walls and the project was abandoned (Its outline, however, was visible to Jasper Danckaerts nearly 150 years later.)" I've found, when doing research for my book, that the older the source, the more accurate it is, because, quite simply, it was closer to that time. I think we should still go with this, maybe include a note that "some sources say it was destroyed before being put to use, but we will never know". Know what I mean? upstateNYer 16:29, 2 July 2010 (UTC)
Also, he says "Albany tradition" as if that's passed down to all the students or something as a true myth. I've never head of it before. If it's written in reliable sources, it's really fair game. upstateNYer 16:30, 2 July 2010 (UTC)

Central Park

Hello. Lovely old map of Central Park you restored and posted to the piece. I too have tried to cut the size of the Bethesda fountain photo, but there seem to be ownership issues with the piece now, and the editor simply reverts our changes. I preferred the piece as it was before its 'makeover,' and truth be told, I find quite a bit of it rather garish now. In any case, I did expand the size of your map – and that change, at least, wasn't reverted. MarmadukePercy (talk) 22:00, 4 July 2010 (UTC)

I thought it was a great addition. The fountain picture is useful, however it needn't ever be so big again (it's also not of very high quality, so if a replacement is ever gotten, use it). If you ever have a problem with ownership again, let me know. I can weigh in with an outside opinion. upstateNYer 20:29, 5 July 2010 (UTC)
Yes, a wonderful map, with good restoration too. I find these sorts of images a real boon to wikipedia (and wikimedia). Also, yes, the Bethesda fountain image isn't much, and I agree that it is overblown in size. Thanks for letting me know about the outside opinion. Much appreciated. I haven't done much work on the Central Park piece – aside from adding an oil by George Bellows [19] that was removed in the furious parsing. (I made sure I had put it in the piece on Bellows in his gallery beforehand.) Best, MarmadukePercy (talk) 23:03, 5 July 2010 (UTC)

Belated reply

I saw your answer to Don re your request to me. Sorry I couldn't get back sooner. If it still needs doing let me know.

On Friday, incidentally, my son and I went up to Albany. Most of the pics we took were on the way up, along the Taconic and so, but I did get some more pics of NRHP listings in Rensselaer and some of the contributing properties downtown that are separately listed but for which we lack articles. It was on rather short notice; otherwise I would have tried to let you know beforehand. Daniel Case (talk) 19:46, 5 July 2010 (UTC)

If you're still interested, have at it. I think I've brought the article to a pretty good status now. I just need the culture section rewritten, along with a few other {{fact}}s that need replacing. upstateNYer 20:28, 5 July 2010 (UTC)

Picture permission

Hello- I am an engineering professor writing a textbook on structure and I am requesting permission to use your wonderful Miami skyline photo at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:DowntownMiamiPanorama.jpg. I will follow your recommendations for citation, but would like to add your actual name as well.

I am "new" to wikipedia user talk. Could you please reply to this request via email? My address is mrpenn@uwplatt.edu

Thank you for your consideration, Dr. Mike Penn University of Wisconsin-Platteville Penner6 (talk) 17:29, 8 July 2010 (UTC)Mike

Need your expertise

Ive started looking at photos on Flickr but am unsure about all of the regulations regarding Commons, Wikipedia, and Flickr's copyrights. Most of the photos I've found that are NOT copyrighted outright are similar in restrictions to this one, so if you can give me some heads up on whether it is ok that will let me know the standard I should look for. Thank you.Camelbinky (talk) 22:38, 8 July 2010 (UTC)

There are only two types of licenses on Flickr that are allowed here, and the one you gave as an example is not one of them. The two are:
  • Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0
  • Creative Commons Attribution 2.0
Best bet is to look for the symbols. Also, you can do an advanced search and limit the search to only free-use photos by going here (it's the last option; check all three boxes in the Creative Commons section). If you see or in the license, you cannot upload it to Wikipedia/Commons. upstateNYer 02:23, 9 July 2010 (UTC)
PS: this user has a lot of stuff uploaded and since he releases a lot of it under CC-BY-SA-2.0, he may be inclined to release other ones that are copyrighted if you ask and tell him what you'll use them for. upstateNYer 02:32, 9 July 2010 (UTC)
Thank you, that helps and hopefully I can find some good photos now that I know what to look for.Camelbinky (talk) 12:02, 9 July 2010 (UTC)

Update

According to a friend of mine Harriet Gibbons High School, the alternative hs of the City School District of Albany has closed as of this year, if there is a source on this you may want to update that article and the Albany, New York article as well. I will check the TU archives soon.Camelbinky (talk) 22:58, 9 July 2010 (UTC)

 Done upstateNYer 23:09, 9 July 2010 (UTC)
Here is another update on the city schools regarding number of charter schools and percentage of total Albany students who go to them. I would put it in myself but I dont want to mess up your associated note attached to the statement, which is now out of date.Camelbinky (talk) 17:20, 10 July 2010 (UTC)

Hey, no problem. I recently updated central help guide wp:NRHPhelp; it would be great if you could see if instructions for New York State NRHP noms is adequate or could be improved. Direct link to New York subsection is Wikipedia:WikiProject_National_Register_of_Historic_Places/Editor_help#New_York. Thanks! --doncram (talk) 04:55, 10 July 2010 (UTC)

That's perfect. I didn't know you guys made that and it's extremely helpful. upstateNYer 13:12, 10 July 2010 (UTC)

Thank you for the use of your photo

Thank you very much for the use of your Supreme Court photo.

LobbyComply blog (by State and Federal Communications) has used it for a blog entry. Here is the link: http://www.lobbycomply.com/wordpress/?page_id=14

My name is Joe May and I can be reached at jmay@stateandfed.com Take care, Joe —Preceding unsigned comment added by JosephMMay (talkcontribs) 16:14, 13 July 2010 (UTC)

Albany PR

Sorry, we're swamped at PR and can't seem to catch up. You might add Albany to the pile there and hope for the best. Finetooth (talk) 02:46, 14 July 2010 (UTC)

Noted. Thanks for the response. upstateNYer 02:59, 14 July 2010 (UTC)

DYK for W. Averell Harriman State Office Building Campus

RlevseTalk 18:03, 15 July 2010 (UTC)

The Wikipedia Signpost: 19 July 2010

Helppppppppppp!

How's this?

Once again I have gotten in over my head trying to get an image on Commons. I was hoping, when you find time, if you could clean this up. No hurry, its for User:Camelbinky/sandboxII a complete rewrite of the Albany Pine Bush and I'll be working on the article for at least another week.Camelbinky (talk) 14:22, 18 July 2010 (UTC)

Since this came from a map we already have at Commons, I cropped that and did some color enhancements. Is that good? upstateNYer 15:03, 18 July 2010 (UTC)
Thanks! That's even better than I had hoped. Did not realize we already had that map. Oh, I was wondering if you could look into something else for me as well, on the Albany, New York article, citation number 17 is Brodhead (1871), p. 744 but I cant seem to find Brodhead in the Bibliography section to get the full citation, am I missing something?Camelbinky (talk) 15:21, 18 July 2010 (UTC)
I'll take a look; do you have a source for the banks that started in Albany (in the history section)? That will finish the history section, I think. upstateNYer 15:26, 18 July 2010 (UTC)
Just to clarify are you looking for sources just for Key Bank and Fleet regarding both being founded in Albany or sources that mention as many large notable banks that began in Albany?Camelbinky (talk) 16:06, 18 July 2010 (UTC)
All of them, if you've got them. Otherwise, whatever you can get. upstateNYer 23:18, 18 July 2010 (UTC)

Banks

I'm going to start loading you up on some Albany banking sources!

  • Bank of Albany 1792-1861 second chartered bank in NY, failed.
  • Albany Savings Bank 1820-1998 became known as Albank in the 1990s then became part of Charter One in 1998 (which was taken over by Citizens)
  • Keybank founded 1825 as Commercial Bank of Albany, merged with Cleveland based Society for Savings (kept Key name but Cleveland location)
  • Fort Orange Financial 1995 parent of Capital Bank and Trust
  • Norstar Fleet merger and State Bank of Albany The State Bank of Albany (1802) became Norstar in 1982 which then merged with Fleet 1989, then Albany became co-headquarters with Providence, RI then Fleet merged again and became FleetBoston, then merged with Bank of America.
Thank you much! I've incorporated some. upstateNYer 02:19, 20 July 2010 (UTC)

FAQs

This might be of some interest to you. In particular the question "What is the oldest water main in the City?" I've always heard rumors that some of the hollow wooden logs were still used as water mains in Albany, which kinda sounds scary that drinking water is flowing through that, but what is even scarier is that- the water authority is not completely sure about where the water mains are or what they are made of. Some of the other FAQs may be interesting, havent had a chance to read all the different sections yet.Camelbinky (talk) 01:06, 23 July 2010 (UTC)

DYK

I already nominated Albany Pine Bush on July 19th with a hook I think might be more interesting and better supported by the sources its been reviewed and I guess just waiting to be moved to the main page, I dont believe there is a source in the article that states it is the only remaining inland pine barrens in the US and I'm not sure that is even correct based on the List of pine barrens. I also nominated Rensselaer Lake on the 22. I'll try to keep you updated when I make a DYK so we dont duplicate again. Sorry!Camelbinky (talk) 15:49, 25 July 2010 (UTC)

I should have included the word "sizable" as this source does:
I'll keep a better eye out next time. upstateNYer 18:44, 25 July 2010 (UTC)
There are photos of several of the buildings at the W. Averell Harriman State Office Campus on Wikimapia, do you have any idea if they are on Commons or if not how to move them there? I have also been unable to find a non-blog reference to why Albany's last call is the time it is, I can give you a reference for it being 4am but that's about all. I can put it in once I know if you want to just delete the unreferenced material or wait a little longer for more research and a better source that references the entire info. Nice find on the Pine Bush info, I thought I had looked everywhere for something like that, I will incorporate that into the article right away, good find!Camelbinky (talk) 18:46, 25 July 2010 (UTC)
Give me the blog link, if that's the best I can do for now (I may end up just having to email the Mayor's office for confirmation). Give me the link to the wikimapia photos; since wikimapia is free, I would assume the photos are too, so if they are, we can upload them. upstateNYer 19:15, 25 July 2010 (UTC)
Here's the blog for 4am; and here is the Wikimapia entry. I'm working on creating an article for Patroon Creek at User:Camelbinky/sandboxII if you get bored and want to take a look, I was very much inspired by your Poesten Kill sandbox.Camelbinky (talk) 19:57, 25 July 2010 (UTC)
Sounds good. Ask Kmusser for a watershed map. upstateNYer 20:46, 25 July 2010 (UTC)

The Wikipedia Signpost: 26 July 2010

Manual of Style

Hi UpstateNYer. I saw this post. Are you saying we should not have some sort of effort to make sure our articles conform to a common set of standards? --John (talk) 03:24, 27 July 2010 (UTC)

Clearly not; that's quite the loaded question. However, I think WP:REPEATLINK says it well with an exception being, "where the first link was in an infobox or a navbox, or some similar meta-content." That covers both infoboxes and images as far as I'm concerned (images boxes and captions are created through a meta template, aren't they?). Albeit it's just as appropriate to add image captions to the "tables, as each row should stand on its own," because image captions do indeed (and should) stand on their own. However you won't find me advocating for it on a talk page somewhere because I prefer to just build content and clean up when necessary. Since the article Camelbinky was working on was about a location within Guilderland, a town in Albany County, in the state of New York, one of fifty such divisions in the United States, I think it's pretty appropriate to link them all. But then again, that's just my opinion. upstateNYer 21:08, 27 July 2010 (UTC)
Just to be clear, I wasn't trying to be sarcastic with that response. After reading it again, I could see a chance that that interpretation could run wild. I was just being blunt. upstateNYer 21:12, 27 July 2010 (UTC)

VPC

— raekyT 23:40, 1 August 2010 (UTC)

DYK notice

Just a head's up if you havent noticed that Albany Pine Bush is in going to be on the main page for DYK on the 29th and I have Rensselaer Lake and Patroon Creek both ok'd and ready to be moved to the queue; so Albany, New York should be getting quite a big jump in viewership tomorrow night and the next coming week as the other two articles make it there. Any chance the GAN will be done by next week? I havent followed it since you are much more capable than I at fixing things that are wrong. I hope to have an expansion/rewrite of Fort Orange done this week and nominated for DYK. My goal is to nominate a Capital District article once a week for DYK, if I quit my job I would love to get one a day! :)Camelbinky (talk) 22:50, 28 July 2010 (UTC)

I don't expect someone to take on the GAN for a while (a month maybe?). Unfortunately there's a big backup over there. Good luck with that DYK drive. If you ever need help, User:Daniel Case has like 300 DYKs or something, so he's the expert. upstateNYer 22:53, 28 July 2010 (UTC)
Oh, I think I'll slow it down then... Maybe get all the research done for lots of articles now and then when it looks like the GA is about to be given to AlbanyI can create/expand a whole bunch to dump on DYK and keep Albany on the front page for a long time; that way the article gets lots of attention right after promotion.Camelbinky (talk) 23:42, 28 July 2010 (UTC)
It's up to you. I don't see many big changes between now and GA or FA, so if they read it the article now, so be it. Nice going getting the image in there! I don't think any of my DYKs got the photo on the main page, too. upstateNYer 01:26, 30 July 2010 (UTC)
Wish I could get credit with the photo being put on the DYK, I assumed you added that to the DYK hook during nomination... If you did then you deserve just as much credit for that DYK as I do.Camelbinky (talk) 21:50, 30 July 2010 (UTC)
Could you take a look at my rewrite so far of Fort Orange and see if there's anything you can clarify/expand, especially since you are the expert on Rensselaerswyck. I'd love to get a DYK on it too, but a 5x expansion of the article isnt looking possible right now, I'm at about 3x the size I started at and running out of new sources or leads on new sources.Camelbinky (talk) 00:58, 1 August 2010 (UTC)
Looks good. I put in a request at WP:COPYEDITORS; a good copyedit is always helpful and they are very good. You can get a DYK. The 5x requirement is only on the size of prose. Original prose size was 2704 B and it has been upgraded to 16 kB, which is about 8 times. So go ahead and nominate! I'm going to look around for a good image for you. upstateNYer 19:45, 1 August 2010 (UTC)
Do what it says here to get the tool to read prose size (when it's enabled, you'll see "Page Size" under the toolbox on the right). upstateNYer 20:43, 1 August 2010 (UTC)
Oh I never knew that! I hope I still have time to nominate. I'm in Watervliet right now with limited access to a computer. I hope to possibly get some photos while I'm here to act as stand-ins until more professional ones can be taken, though last time I tried that none were good enough for me to download!Camelbinky (talk) 11:01, 3 August 2010 (UTC)
They'll probably cut you some slack. Nom it anyway and if anyone asks, play the newbie. :) upstateNYer 23:32, 3 August 2010 (UTC)
I got it nominated and so far so good, we'll see if its accepted. Still waiting for Patroon Creek to get its turn at the main page. Love the article on Albany's seal, very interesting! I know there are more historical images of different Albany seals from through the years (one with a crown over the letters ALB), if I can remember exactly which book they are in I'll give you a heads up, maybe we can get every single seal put up (I cant imagine there are more than two or three old ones). Since Schenectady articles dont look very active I figured while I'm here I'd walk/drive every single street in that city and learn as much as I can, take photos, and get ideas so when a source says x happened at y maybe I'll get lucky and have a photo (albeit bad one!) ready.Camelbinky (talk) 11:46, 4 August 2010 (UTC)

The Wikipedia Signpost: 2 August 2010

GOCE Backlog Elimination Drive Wrap-up

Greetings from the Guild of Copy Editors July 2010 Backlog Elimination Drive. Thanks to all who participated in the drive! Over 100 editors—including Jimbo Wales—signed up this time (nearly triple the participants of the May drive). This benefited the Guild as well as the articles in need of copy editing. You can see from the comparison graphs that we increased the number of completed copyedits substantially. Unfortunately, we were not able to meet our goal of completely wiping out 2008 from the queue. We also were not able to reduce the backlog to less than 6,000 articles. We suspect people were busy with real life summertime things, at least in the northern hemisphere! We were able to remove the months of January, February, March, April, and May from the backlog, and we almost wiped out the month of June. We reduced the backlog by 1,289 articles (17%), so all in all it was a very successful drive, and we will be holding another event soon. We'll come up with some new ideas to try to keep things fresh and interesting. Keep up the good work, everybody!


Stats
If you copy edited at least 4,000 words, you qualify for a barnstar. If you edited in the May 2010 GOCE Backlog Elimination Drive, your word totals are cumulative for barnstars (not the leaderboard). Over the course of the next week or two, we will be handing out the barnstars.

GOCE backlog elimination drive chart up to 31 July
  • Eight people will receive The Most Excellent Order of the Caretaker's Barnstar (100,000+ words): Chaosdruid, Diannaa, Ericleb01, Lfstevens, Shimeru, S Masters, The Utahraptor, and Torchiest.
  • Bullock and Slon02 will receive The Order of the Superior Scribe (80,000+).
  • The Barnstar of Diligence (60,000+) goes to Derild4921, GaryColemanFan, kojozone, and Mlpearc.
  • The Modern Guild of Copy Editors Barnstar (40,000+) goes to A. Parrot, AirplanePro, Auntieruth55, Bejinhan, David Rush, and mono.
  • Nobody will receive The Old School League of Copy Editors award (30,000+).
  • The Tireless Contributor Barnstar (20,000+) goes to Backtable, Cindamuse, dtgriffith, Duff, e. ripley, Laurinavicius, NerdyScienceDude, and TEK.
  • The Cleanup Barnstar (12,000+) goes to Brickie, Casliber, cymru lass, December21st2012Freak, Nolelover, TheTito, Whoosit, and YellowMonkey.
  • The Working Man's Barnstar (8,000+) goes to Bsherr, Duchess of Bathwick, HELLKNOWZ, Mabeenot, noraft, Pyfan, and Richard asr.
  • The Modest Barnstar (4,000+) goes to Adrian J. Hunter, Airplaneman, Annalise, Camerafiend, Cricket02, Fetchcomms, Gosox5555, LeonidasSpartan, Paulmnguyen, Piotrus, SuperHamster, Taelus, and TPW.


Gold Star Award

Gold Star Award Leaderboard
Articles Words 5k+ Articles
1. Diannaa (248) Shimeru (200,392) Shimeru/Ericleb01 (13)
2. Slon02 (157) Diannaa (164,960) Chaosdruid (8)
3. GaryColemanFan (101) Chaosdruid (130,630) Derild4921 (7)
4. Torchiest (100) The Utahraptor (117,347) GaryColemanFan/Slon02 (6)
5. Shimeru (80) Ericleb01 (114,893) Bejinhan/The Utahraptor (5)

Coordinator: ɳorɑfʈ Talk! Co-coordinators: Diannaa TALK and S Masters (talk) | Newsletter by: The Raptor You rang?/My mistakes; I mean, er, contributions

Delivered by MessageDeliveryBot on behalf of The Utahraptor at 22:36, 3 August 2010 (UTC).

The Wikipedia Signpost: 9 August 2010

GA review for Albany, New York

I have begun reviewing Albany, New York for Good Article status. The review subpage can be found here. At first glance this is an extremely impressive article; due to the sheer size, however, I have to warn you that it will probably take me a couple of weeks to complete my review. Grondemar 04:29, 11 August 2010 (UTC)

United Netherlands

United Netherlands apparently goes to an article about an organization while the country is at the article Republic of the Seven United Netherlands. I dont know if you want to do a push to redirect and move the articles, I for one would think the former nation is more notable. A cursory look at the type of articles that link to United Netherlands shows we are not the only ones to make this mistake of linking to the wrong article. Let me know what you want to do and I can change as many of the article links if we have to.Camelbinky (talk) 15:41, 13 August 2010 (UTC)

Thanks for the heads-up. I was bold (although, not really that bold, considering the numbers) and moved the article on the organization to United Netherlands (organization) and made United Netherlands a redirect to Dutch Republic. Considering Dutch Republics popularity of about 1000 daily views, it made sense to give that priority over the organization's daily viewing of about 30. upstateNYer 17:40, 14 August 2010 (UTC)
Oh good, because I was dreading having to change all the links in the articles. Strange enough coincidence is that the United Netherlands organization is headquartered in Nijmegen, a sister city to Albany! Kind of a Six degrees of Kevin Bacon game linking the organization to Albany.Camelbinky (talk) 17:57, 14 August 2010 (UTC)
As you can see above, I have a taker on reviewing Albany for GA. Will you be around/available if I need help in doing research if there are questions? That would be a big help if you could. The user hasn't made any edits to the review in the last couple days, so I assume it's just a lot of reading for him/her. Anyway, your help would be appreciated. upstateNYer 18:28, 14 August 2010 (UTC)
Sure, I will do my best, just finished rewriting Fort Nassau (North River) (which if I checked correctly wasnt a big enough expansion to get a DYK) and have nothing else on my plate for now except reading Beverwyck: A Dutch Village on the American Frontier, 1652-1664 and Inventors of New York's Capital District.Camelbinky (talk) 19:08, 14 August 2010 (UTC)

Albany City Hall

I think the justification for this was that the intervening properties weren't historic enough to include it in the district as well, although I can't find this in the application (I thought it was ... perhaps it's in the City Hall application?). Daniel Case (talk) 04:19, 17 August 2010 (UTC)

I don't think it's in the City Hall app. To be brutally honest, that's one of the worst noms I've seen. upstateNYer 04:23, 17 August 2010 (UTC)

The Signpost: 16 August 2010

DYK for Coat of arms of Albany, New York

The DYK project (nominate) 12:02, 17 August 2010 (UTC)

Image

I dont know if it is a problem on my end or if there is a problem with the image, but W. Averell Harriman State Office Building Campus doesnt seem to be showing the photo you put up of Bldg 8/8A.Camelbinky (talk) 01:50, 23 August 2010 (UTC)

I had to ask too: [20] upstateNYer 01:52, 23 August 2010 (UTC)
As usual you are one step ahead of me!Camelbinky (talk) 02:00, 23 August 2010 (UTC)

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The Signpost: 23 August 2010

done

Probably easier to notify you here. --ZooFari 03:49, 26 August 2010 (UTC)

Possible article we can work on-

What do you think about creating a NYCD version of Index of New York-related articles? (and there are other similar index articles for other states as well) We can start it as a sandbox off the wikiproject.Camelbinky (talk) 16:39, 23 August 2010 (UTC)

Dont know where this would be relevant, but seems interesting to me.Camelbinky (talk) 03:39, 2 September 2010 (UTC)

The Signpost: 30 August 2010

DYK for Albany City Hall

The DYK project (nominate) 00:02, 6 September 2010 (UTC)

Congrats!

Congratulations on Albany, New York's promotion. I currently am waiting for someone to review Albany Pine Bush for GA, if you get a chance to look it over and see if there's anything that needs to be worked on I think that would help alot, you have more experience in promoting than I do.Camelbinky (talk) 20:23, 6 September 2010 (UTC)

Thanks! I read it over last night. It looks good. It will probably take a while to get a review, unfortunately. upstateNYer 20:43, 6 September 2010 (UTC)
Also, quick question: I have the old names of Albany listed in the infobox. Do you think that's too much? It does take up a lot of space, and everything is mention in the article. I guess personally I'm looking for a way to kill it. What's your opinion? upstateNYer 20:44, 6 September 2010 (UTC)
Yea, I agree that it is probably overkill considering over 300 years of having the same name, it is not like there's an alternative name to Albany that someone would be looking the city up under. Beverwyck has its own article and the other names are not as well known, and as you said everything is mentioned already in the article. I dont know who put the names there, I dont remember doing it myself but I guess I could have, so I personally dont object to removing it and dont think anyone would.Camelbinky (talk) 22:07, 6 September 2010 (UTC)
I put them there, but I agree; they're going. upstateNYer 22:10, 6 September 2010 (UTC)

FAC

Thanks for letting me know. I do think I will comment — I just printed it out (36 pages!) and will be going through with the requisite red pen.

BTW, my son and I were up there Saturday, mainly (his favorite reason to go to the CD) watching trains at Rensselaer. But I also took some more photos of RHPs — the Washington Avenue Armory and some other places near it, mainly. Still can't find a place to park in the Center Square HD, though. Daniel Case (talk) 01:21, 7 September 2010 (UTC)

Yea, it's a bit long (~10,000 words). I was happy to see there are other, longer FAs out there, but I don't doubt I'll get some comments about it at FAC. Then again, Albany's history is an important one, so it would naturally be long! upstateNYer 01:23, 7 September 2010 (UTC)
Daniel, if you don't mind a little walking there's the visitor parking under the ESP, behind the Cathedral of Immaculate Conception (both pay parking), and free parking in Washington Park. You may also try the parking lot of the Price Chopper supermarket on Delaware Ave (though technically only for customers, its not like others havent done it or anything, though I take no responsibility for what happens!). Washington Park would be my first choice for parking in that area. Those options are all within a few blocks of Center Square. There's a good parking lot associated with Robinson Square, corner of Hamilton and Swan I believe, also pay but might be good as its in the best location.Camelbinky (talk) 01:53, 7 September 2010 (UTC)

The Signpost: 6 September 2010

Index article

I've started the index article at User:Camelbinky/sandboxII. The NY one has some redlinks, so I suppose if there's an article that has not been made but seems important that we can put it in to show that it should be made. I'm basing this just on the NY index article, there may be better formatted similar articles indices out there though, it looks like all 50 states have one.Camelbinky (talk) 01:17, 7 September 2010 (UTC)

Noted. I'll have to take a look at the New York one to get a good idea of what to include and what not to. upstateNYer 02:57, 7 September 2010 (UTC)

Reply re: Albany, New York

Hi there. Thanks for dropping a note on my user page. I see you've been hard at work on the article. I made an edit to address the minor issue of the word "riveted" that I wasn't keen on. I've now changed my vote to 'Support' in light of the recent changes you've made. I wish you luck with the rest of the candidacy. Great work. --bodnotbod (talk) 07:10, 9 September 2010 (UTC)

Albany article stuff

I'll definitely need a little bit to think of a great hook, something really unique... I had thought that spin-off articles from existing articles were disqualified from DYK though? I just skimmed the requirements so I probably misread or misinterpreted something. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.189.197.148 (talk) 23:37, 10 September 2010 (UTC)

Sounds good! upstateNYer 01:18, 11 September 2010 (UTC)
Feel free to pare this down and rewrite, at least the sources are here (except date for Westerlo Island annexation, working on it). Wasnt sure where you would want this put in the article:
The Dongan Charter created Albany as a strip of land 1 mile (1.6 km) wide and 16 miles (26 km) long.[1] Over the years Albany would lose much of the land to the west and annex land to the north and south. The town and village known as "the Colonie"[Note 1] to the north of Albany was annexed in 1815.[2] In 1871, the northwestern portion of Albany, west from Magazine Street, was annexed to the neighboring town of Guilderland[4] after the town of Watervliet refused annexation of said territory.[5][6] In return for this loss, portions of Bethlehem and Watervliet were annexed. Portions of this territory would be ceded back to Albany in 1910, setting up, more-or-less, the current western border.[7] By 1916 Albany's northern border reached roughly its modern course,[7] while to the south Westerlo Island in 1926,[8] and Karlsfeld in 1967, would be the last parts annexed, both from Bethlehem.[7] Camelbinky (talk) 18:05, 11 September 2010 (UTC)
Sounds good, just let me know when you get that other source. upstateNYer 18:17, 11 September 2010 (UTC)
There you go.Camelbinky (talk) 18:23, 11 September 2010 (UTC)
This may be of interest to you in adding to the Albany article.Camelbinky (talk) 18:40, 12 September 2010 (UTC)

Notes

  1. ^ "The Colonie" made up the current area of Arbor Hill and was the more urban area of the Manor of Rensselaerswyck, which surrounded Albany.[2] It is the source of the name of the current town and village of Colonie.[3]

References

  1. ^ Reynolds (1906), pp. 84–85
  2. ^ a b City of Albany Department of Urban Redevelopment. Appendix: Annexations 1815–1967 [Retrieved 2010-09-11].
  3. ^ Town of Colonie. Colonie History: Frequently Asked Questions; 2008-06-19 [Retrieved 2010-09-11].
  4. ^ Howell and Tenny (1886, Vol. I), p. 77
  5. ^ Laws of the State of New York, Passed at the Ninety-Third Session of the Legislature, Begun January Fourth, and Ended April Twenty-Sixth, 1870, in the City of Albany. Volume I. State of New York/Weed, Parsons and Company; 1870 [Retrieved 2010-09-11]. p. 412.
  6. ^ Laws of the State of New York, Passed at the Ninety-Fourth Session of the Legislature, Begun January Third, and Ended April Twenty-first 1871, in the City of Albany. Volume II. State of New York/The Argus Company; 1871 [Retrieved 2010-09-11]. p. 1688.
  7. ^ a b c Albany County, New York. Appendix [Retrieved 2010-09-11].
  8. ^ Town of Bethlehem. Cutting Ice: Big Business in Bethlehem [Retrieved 2010-09-11].

The Signpost: 13 September 2010

Template

I would recommend removing the Thacher Park and the Helderberg Escarpment from the Albany template since they are several miles from the city. Both great for the county template however. Other than that it is awesome and cant think of changing a thing. I feel bad that the Normans Kill is a redlink and I havent had that article finished for you yet, but I am sure you more than most others understand how hard these creek articles are (User:UpstateNYer/Poesten Kill).Camelbinky (talk) 03:02, 14 September 2010 (UTC)

Agreed. A redlink doesn't kill it. Maybe that will inspire someone else to do it? Can you think of anything else for geography and 18th century history? I'm hitting writers block I think. upstateNYer 03:04, 14 September 2010 (UTC)
Quackenbush House and 48 Hudson Avenue for 18th century. Westerlo Island for geography. Will take some time to look for more, have been working on a Mid-Hudson Valley version of Timeline of town creation in New York's Capital District and could use a break from that, I'm getting sick of Westchester County!Camelbinky (talk) 03:10, 14 September 2010 (UTC)

DYK for Albany Convention Center

RlevseTalk 12:04, 14 September 2010 (UTC)

Bratislava and other thoughts

Well, go ahead and list it at at FAR if you want; I wouldn't consider that pointy. I was just looking for an example of a city FA for a city that was older and larger than Albany but with a shorter article. (Did you ever notice how no one brags on their user pages about successful FARCs they've initiated? I can claim two: Spyware and Beverage-can stove) I didn't take a close look at it, just figured that since it hadn't been FARC'ed since its promotion or Main Page turn it was still OK. Apparently not.

My concern with length is partially from the only FAC I've ever initiated, where an 80K+ BLP was considered overlong (as I sort of expected it would be, to be honest ... when I get up the emotional nerve to work on it extensively again, I'll finish paring it down more to about the low 70s and renominate). Prose size is one measure, and 57K isn't too bad, but I knew that at 184K total it wasn't getting through the door. (If you want a more recent example of an FAC on an American city, albeit one not Albany's size, there's Kent, Ohio, at about 106K. For a larger foreign city, Manchester (yes, Camelbinky if you're reading this, more important historically globally than Albany) was promoted three years ago, on the Main Page a year and a half ago, hasn't been FARC'ed, and weighs in at 138K. I have sort of glanced over it and I don't see any clear issues).

I mean, maybe we could reconsider our article length standards as browser technology and connectivity improves (but remember we've also got to plan for people using older technology in the less-developed world). It seems to me, lately, that anything over 90K at FAC needs to really justify that size. Daniel Case (talk) 03:16, 15 September 2010 (UTC)

I really don't think we should be limited by technology. The whole time I was reading about "I can't even edit the article", I was thinking to myself, "Perfect! That means vandals won't either!" Realistically, an FA should need little editing in the future, and really should be frozen after reaching that point. Some minor fixes, updates, etc, would of course be necessary, but on the whole, it might as well be considered a published work. But that's not PC to say around the wiki, even though it's the truth. All I want is Albany to be on the MP for one day, so it can coincide with a newspaper article which would boost the readership by thousands. I'm not doing this for me, I'm doing this to show the area what a gem (the collection of NYCD stuff) we've created... for them. upstateNYer 03:48, 15 September 2010 (UTC)
It is sort of a contradiction that we tell people at Commons to upload at the highest resolution they have on the grounds that we don't know what sort of display devices will be available in the future (a perfectly solid idea IMO) yet here we are at FAC worrying about the ability of people with Lynx 1.0 on 300-baud dialup modems to view the page. (I mean, I have Firefox 1.0.7 on a broadband connection and it hasn't been that problematic). Daniel Case (talk) 03:56, 15 September 2010 (UTC)
I have a TWC cable modem in a notoriously slow area, which I access over wi-fi. I've edited the article 736 times without issue. Yea, sure, it was a bit slow as of the last month, but not ridiculous (10 s to apply changes, maybe? Not this 2 min that kept being claimed at FAC). upstateNYer 03:58, 15 September 2010 (UTC)

Schenectady maps

Hey NYer. Get ready for the Schenectady maps. Take a look at File:SchenectadyCounty Duanesburg.svg and File:SchenectadyCounty Duanesburg with NY.svg. If you and Camelbinky can verify this is correct, I'll finish up the rest of the uploads (I left a note on CB's talk). --ZooFari 20:56, 18 September 2010 (UTC)

Looks correct to me.Camelbinky (talk) 23:32, 18 September 2010 (UTC)

A tag has been placed on File:Grand Central test.jpg requesting that it be speedily deleted from Wikipedia. This has been done under section I2 of the criteria for speedy deletion, because it is an image page for a missing or corrupt image or an empty image description page for a Commons-hosted image.

If you think that this notice was placed here in error, you may contest the deletion by adding {{hangon}} to the top of the page that has been nominated for deletion (just below the existing speedy deletion or "db" tag - if no such tag exists then the page is no longer a speedy delete candidate and adding a hangon tag is unnecessary), coupled with adding a note on the talk page explaining your position, but be aware that once tagged for speedy deletion, if the page meets the criterion, it may be deleted without delay. Please do not remove the speedy deletion tag yourself, but don't hesitate to add information to the page that would render it more in conformance with Wikipedia's policies and guidelines. Makeemlighter (talk) 09:37, 19 September 2010 (UTC)

Actually, I think you need the speedy deletion tag on the Commons file. upstateNYer 16:25, 19 September 2010 (UTC)

Heads up

I wanted to let you know that I've undone the removal of my nomination for 2009 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup Final on WP:TFAR. Please add your nomination to Wikipedia:Today's featured article/requests/pending and wait for space to open up on the request page. You'll notice that there are 2 other articles waiting there already that will come ahead of October 18. If you read the header of WP:TFAR carefully, you'll understand that this is the appropriate way to proceed. Sorry for any confusion and let me know if you disagree with the actions I have taken. If you'd like to discuss this further, I've begun a discussion on the TFAR talk page. --SkotyWATC 08:29, 19 September 2010 (UTC)

I just replied to your comment in the discussion I started. Unless you're willing to fix this, it appears I have to sit back and wait for a slot to open up (again). Regardless of how you choose to proceed, I wish you luck with your nom and hope it successfully makes it onto the main page. --SkotyWATC 21:38, 19 September 2010 (UTC)

Hello! Your submission of Architecture of Albany, New York at the Did You Know nominations page has been reviewed, and there still are some issues that may need to be clarified. Please review the comment(s) underneath your nomination's entry and respond there as soon as possible. Thank you for contributing to Did You Know! Voceditenore (talk) 11:47, 20 September 2010 (UTC)

Me again. It looks like this is just not going to meet the criteria for new/5x expanded. [21] The only suggestion that I can make is to create an article for one of the red links at National Register of Historic Places listings in Albany, New York, nominate it for DYK and include a link to Architecture of Albany, New York in the hook (might even start one myself). Best, Voceditenore (talk) 09:19, 21 September 2010 (UTC)

The Signpost: 20 September 2010

Albany audio

Hi. I got your note on Wiktionary. I think I'm going to decline, for a couple of reasons. First, I've found lately that I don't have quite as much time to do things around wikis (pesky real life!), and second, I have never lived anywhere near New York. I suspect if I posted an audio rendition of your article I'd be getting talk page messages for the rest of time informing me that everybody (but apparently me) knows how to pronounce "Schenectady" (or should), and would I please correct it right away? And there really is no good way to correct that sort of thing out of the middle of such a long recording. So, good work in editing, and good luck in finding somebody to read it for you. --Dvortygirl (talk) 15:11, 21 September 2010 (UTC)

Need another pair of eyes

I was wondering if you could take a look at Timeline of town creation in Downstate New York? Another pair of eyes to check things over would be helpful. I'd love to get a DYK on it, but getting a hook for a list... I have no idea what would be usable.Camelbinky (talk) 17:04, 20 September 2010 (UTC)

Sure, I'll take a look. Also, you may find Empire State interesting. I just created it. upstateNYer 01:18, 22 September 2010 (UTC)
Wow, I must admit I never really thought hard about the origin of the term Empire State... I love reading articles that teach me something new instead of just regurgitating what is already known out there, original research is frowned apon but this type of research you do should be encouraged more. The Empire State route of the NYCRR, does it have a similarly named Amtrak route today?Camelbinky (talk) 05:14, 22 September 2010 (UTC)

Did you PP the right page? Your edit summary says "excessive vandalism", but looking at the page history, I see only 1 instance of possible vandalism in the last 10 days. Jesstalk|edits 01:20, 22 September 2010 (UTC)

Yea, even though I'm the main contributor to that article, it seems those small, IP edits always elude me somehow? Over the course of the last few months (when I did a massive rewrite), I got caught up by at least half a dozen. This helps me avoid that issue so that. upstateNYer 01:22, 22 September 2010 (UTC)
I'm not sure that meets the qualifications for pp. Obviously, we don't want to block out legitimate contributors, and since the article has 73 watchers, it seems unlikely heavy vandalism will sneak its way through. I could take this to WP:RFUP for comment from other editors, but I'd rather not. Would you possibly reconsider? Jesstalk|edits 01:51, 22 September 2010 (UTC)
Sure. We'll see what happens in the future. I just know that there a bunch of sneaky IP edits that seem to have gotten by all 73 of us in the last few months. Are you okay with me leaving the move protection on? upstateNYer 01:58, 22 September 2010 (UTC)
I'm not up-to-date on move protection policies, so I don't really object there. Thanks for reconsidering the semi. I appreciate it :) Jesstalk|edits 02:02, 22 September 2010 (UTC)
No prob. As for move, basically, the common sense test is "will this ever need to be moved?" and the answer is "definitely no". upstateNYer 02:09, 22 September 2010 (UTC)

I created this article yesterday from a red link at National Register of Historic Places listings in Albany, New York. I've nominated it for a DYK here and incorporated your article Architecture of Albany, New York in the hook. Let me know if you think the hook's phrasing is OK (or comment at DYK). Best, Voceditenore (talk) 14:05, 22 September 2010 (UTC)

Albany Pine Bush GA

Only one slight problem was found (so far) for the Pine Bush GA. I think I have taken care of the "choppy prose" but if you find time to see if there is anything you see needs improvement let me know.Camelbinky (talk) 21:34, 23 September 2010 (UTC)

Moved to Talk:Albany Convention Center. upstateNYer 01:51, 24 September 2010 (UTC)

Completed copyedit, would appreciate if you responded to concerns at talkpage. WikiCopterRadioChecklistFormerly AirplanePro 02:13, 24 September 2010 (UTC)
All done, thanks for the review. upstateNYer 03:12, 24 September 2010 (UTC)

The Regions of New York

Are there 11 or 8 which is right?

  • Why do other states have "Geography" as the first section shouldn't "history" be the first section

--Vic49 22:17, 27 September 2010 (UTC)

Are you referring to New York? Or a different article? The regions depend on who you're talking to. I would cite the New York Department of Economic Development, which claims eleven, though the whole idea is far from standardized, unfortunately (e.g., NYSDED doesn't acknowledge the Southern Tier as a separate area). As for history and geography, I'm basing the rewrite I'm currently working on on Virginia, the most recent US state FA; it puts geography first. So does Encyclopædia Britannica. But that's not to say it's more correct and I wouldn't care either way if they were switched. upstateNYer 00:03, 28 September 2010 (UTC)

The Signpost: 27 September 2010

U.S. map

Hey. Sorry, but I can't help. I created the template page, but not the map image itself, which I brought into the template from another map page either here on Wikipedia or in the Commons. That was almost three years ago, and I can't recall the precise source. Best, Dan.—DCGeist (talk) 03:02, 28 September 2010 (UTC)

No problem. I appreciate the quick response. upstateNYer 03:07, 28 September 2010 (UTC)

DYK for Empire State

The DYK project (nominate) 06:03, 1 October 2010 (UTC)

GA review for Coat of arms of Albany, New York

Hello. I've reviewed your Good Article Nomination of Coat of arms of Albany, New York, and placed it on hold pending resolution of an issue with one of the images. You can see the GA review here. Grondemar 19:14, 3 October 2010 (UTC)

PR

It would be best to place it in the hopper at WP:PR. If no one reviews it before it appears in the backlog, I'll try to get to it. It won't be neglected, but it might have to wait in line for a while. Finetooth (talk) 22:20, 3 October 2010 (UTC)

That works, thanks. upstateNYer 22:23, 3 October 2010 (UTC)
An image created by you has been promoted to featured picture status
Your image, File:President Rutherford Hayes 1870 - 1880 Restored.jpg, was nominated on Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates, gained a consensus of support, and has been promoted. If you would like to nominate an image, please do so at Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates. Thank you for your contribution! Makeemlighter (talk) 08:58, 4 October 2010 (UTC)

The Signpost: 4 October 2010

DYK for Geography of New York

RlevseTalk 12:02, 6 October 2010 (UTC)

DYK nomination of Philipsburg Manor

Hello, your nomination of Philipsburg Manor at DYK was reviewed and comments provided. --NortyNort (Holla) 11:29, 11 October 2010 (UTC)

The Signpost: 11 October 2010

Hello, it looks like TFA have gone with a different article for the 16th October, so you might just want to mention on the talk page about the Oakwood Cemetery being strongly supported as the article for the 31st, just in case it gets forgotten about. You might possibly want to re-add the blurb, just to make sure, or perhaps give Raul a buzz. Thanks! Bob talk 17:53, 10 October 2010 (UTC)

Thanks for that heads up. One would think Raul would have let me know, if not just as a formality. I still don't really understand how you guys work over there; it's like it's a twilight zone where our policies and guidelines are no longer in force. upstateNYer 18:55, 10 October 2010 (UTC)

Hello, just checking you were aware that it's now scheduled for 16th. Hope it goes well! Bob talk 21:03, 12 October 2010 (UTC)

Thank you for keeping me in the loop. upstateNYer 00:08, 13 October 2010 (UTC)

Oakwood Cemetery

Nice piece and congrats. MarmadukePercy (talk) 01:11, 16 October 2010 (UTC)

Roy McDonald

I have no experience adding photos to Wikipedia and I noticed you have edited the Joe Bruno article. The article on Roy McDonald really needs a photo, and I assume his official New York State Senate photo can be used, but I'm not sure. TY for help. Fatandloud (talk) 03:05, 17 October 2010 (UTC)

Nope, no NYS government created photo can be used because copyright is still valid. Have to wait for someone to upload, or have to ask a Flickr user to release an image. Ask around. Flickr users are usually pretty excited when they're asked if you can use their photo. They have to release the photo as CC-BY-SA or CC-BY (all 2.0, since that's all Flickr offers). upstateNYer 23:35, 17 October 2010 (UTC)
How do I contact a Flickr user, and what do I say? I'm a little confused. Check out this photo which I believe is Roy McDonald, would be great to use in the article along with a recent picture. [22] Fatandloud (talk) 17:13, 18 October 2010 (UTC)

DYK for Philipsburg Manor

The DYK project (nominate) 19:46, 17 October 2010 (UTC)

The Signpost: 18 October 2010

Just stopping by...

Wanted to see what you were up to and if you had any new interesting articles for me to read. I've been working on town timelines for the rest of the state like I made for the NYCD, and have one up for FL status. Once I "perfect" what these timelines should look like I hope to go back to the NYCD one and fix it up and get them all to FL status too and nominate the whole lot for featured topic status. But I'd love a break from researching places I've never been to and read some of your new material if you have any you are ready to share.Camelbinky (talk) 23:54, 19 October 2010 (UTC)

User:UpstateNYer/New York. I've finished the state symbols section and the first part of geography, and am working on history. It will have to be trimmed, lest I run into the same length problem as I did Albany, but I don't care as much about being detailed for New York's history as I do Albany's. On an unrelated note, I can't wait to look at those two Saratoga-based articles that I saw linked on your talk. I got a quick skim, but we seem to have an interested party to help out the project. Yay! upstateNYer 02:46, 20 October 2010 (UTC)

NY state capitol

Since you're doing the rewrite I have a question for you, the New York State Capitol article says it is the third state capitol... That can not possibly be right from my count. It is listing the building in Kingston in which in 1777 the state was founded, and the Van Schaick Mansion in Cohoes as the first two. Now there was at least one building on the current site prior to this one that I know of and I'm fairly sure (90%) that at least two buildings prior to that were shared state capitols/Albany City Halls. Do you have any concrete numbers on how many state capitol's NY has had?Camelbinky (talk) 04:25, 24 October 2010 (UTC)

The Legislature shared the Stadt Huys in Albany with city government from 1797 until they opened up the first real state capitol at the top of State Street in 1809. City government resided there until they built the Philip Hooker's City Hall in 1832. Then they built the next state capitol in the 1860s (while it took them until the 1890s to finish the building, I don't know when it was ready to move into; because the new building was on the same site as the old, there had to be a time when they didn't have a building to meet in and I'm not sure what they did). If I were to rewrite NYS Capitol, I would not give more than a few sentences to the buildings outside of Albany that represented the capitol, especially since some of them were probably used no more than a day ("Hey, we're here! Let's use town hall over there!"). upstateNYer 12:45, 24 October 2010 (UTC)

The Signpost: 25 October 2010

Stillwater, New York

Hello, I just had a quick question for you. Per Wikipedia talk:Disambiguation pages with links#Proposal for New York villages within towns, the most prominent of two identically-named entities should be located at the "main" page, as it were. So in the case of Stillwater, New York, that link should point directly to the town, rather than the village or some disambiguation page. My question is, could you please delete the current Stillwater, New York disambiguation page so that Stillwater (town), New York could be moved there?
--Gyrobo (talk) 00:47, 29 October 2010 (UTC)

 Done, however I think you could have done that yourself. I think moving pages and overwriting others is the only time a non-admin can delete a page. I could be wrong, but I don't think I am. Also, it didn't move the talk page at first, so you just have to cut the content from the old talk page to the new one and make the old one a redirect to the new one. upstateNYer 01:59, 29 October 2010 (UTC)
I tried doing just that about a month or two ago with Gardiner, New York. Non-admins can't delete pages now, but I think they once could.
--Gyrobo (talk) 22:02, 29 October 2010 (UTC)
Yup, just tried it with Poestenkill (town), New York. It gave me a bland "The page could not be moved: a page of that name already exists, or the name you have chosen is not valid. Please choose another name, or use Requested moves to ask an administrator to help you with the move. Do not manually move the article by copying and pasting it; the page history must be moved along with the article text." message. I'm not too sure about Poestenkill, though, because there's a creek by the same name, so it's not just two entites.
--Gyrobo (talk) 22:09, 29 October 2010 (UTC)

Intentional?

Just curious, was this intentional? I am curious as to why you reverted it. --Nuujinn (talk) 21:36, 29 October 2010 (UTC)

Hmm, must have been a mis-read of a trackpad tap. Sorry about that. upstateNYer 21:40, 29 October 2010 (UTC)
Why did you not revert yourself? --Nuujinn (talk) 01:53, 30 October 2010 (UTC)
First, this isn't a big deal because it was a mistake; but because I had no idea that it even happened, I couldn't have reverted it. It was not an intentional move, so I wouldn't have known to revert it. Understand? upstateNYer 05:14, 30 October 2010 (UTC)
No, sorry, I don't, since you did know after I told you and did nothing about it. But no worries. --Nuujinn (talk) 13:23, 30 October 2010 (UTC)
I presumed you had reverted it. Not sure why you wouldn't have after I told it was unintentional. My assumption was that you just did it yourself. upstateNYer 17:01, 30 October 2010 (UTC)

New York's 20th congressional district special election, 2009

I just wanted to get your opinion on New York's 20th congressional district special election, 2009 before I nominated it for FAC. I've fixed all the dead links and done some copyediting, just wanted to get your opinion before formally submitting it.
--Gyrobo (talk) 00:05, 30 October 2010 (UTC)

My talk page

Please do not revert other users on my talk page, particularly without an edit summary. Thanks. Fifelfoo_m (talk) 01:36, 30 October 2010 (UTC)

ah it seems to have been a big fingers incident. I created an account with fewer single keystroke powers to deal with being on a device where I can make such mistakes. :). No worries Fifelfoo_m (talk) 05:19, 30 October 2010 (UTC)

The Signpost: 1 November 2010

The Signpost: 8 November 2010

You supported the photograph of chlorine in a quartz ampoule and acrylic cube. The nominator has indicated no replacement photograph will be available in the near future, and has instead cropped the original file and uploaded over the top, leaving us with two alternative crops. Could you please indicate which of these you prefer? Thanks. Papa Lima Whiskey (talk) 16:28, 11 November 2010 (UTC)

Greetings from the Guild of Copy Editors Backlog Elimination Drive!

GOCE November 2010 backlog elimination drive progress graphs

We have reached the midway point in our backlog elimination drive, so here is an update.

Participation report — The November drive has 53 participants at this point. We had 77 participants in the September drive. In July, 95 people signed up for the drive, and in May we had 36. If you are not participating, it is not too late to join!

Progress report — The drive is quite successful so far, as we have already almost reached our target of a 10% reduction in the number of articles in the backlog. We are doing very well at keeping our Requests page clear, as those articles count double for word count for this drive.

Please keep in mind the possibility of removing other tags when you are finished with an article. If the article no longer needs {{cleanup}}, {{wikify}}, or other similar maintenance tags, please remove them, as this will make the tasks of other WikiProjects easier to complete. Thanks very much for participating in the Drive, and see you at the finish line!


Your drive coordinators –The UtahraptorTalk to me/Contributions, S Masters (talk), and Diannaa (Talk)

Delivered by MessageDeliveryBot on behalf of The Utahraptor (talk) at 16:43, 14 November 2010 (UTC).

Two things

  1. I found another little town that needs moving: Plattekill, New York.
  2. Could you give me the deletion log for Helderberg Escarpment, or transfer a deleted copy of it to my userspace? I remember it being an expansive article, and I'd like to take a crack at fixing the copyvio problems.

--Gyrobo (talk) 23:25, 14 November 2010 (UTC)

  1. Done
  2. No, I'm not allowed to repost deleted content.
upstateNYer 23:46, 14 November 2010 (UTC)
Ah, well, I'll just remove it from {{Capital District}} and work on it some other time then. Thanks for Plattekill.
--Gyrobo (talk) 23:50, 14 November 2010 (UTC)

I believe I've addressed all of your concerns. Thanks for the review. Wizardman Operation Big Bear 22:00, 15 November 2010 (UTC)

The Signpost: 15 November 2010

Times Square Image

Hello,

We have a customer that would like us to print your Times Square Image and we would like to ask your permission in doing so for them. We will definitely put a credit with your info as per your request on the image. Please let me know if you approve and we may proceed. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Abbotart (talkcontribs) 01:40, 20 November 2010 (UTC)

Sure, would you mind telling me how you'll use it? Just out of curiosity. upstateNYer 02:35, 20 November 2010 (UTC)

Our customer has an office in Manhattan and wanted us to print the image on canvas approx size 24x36 for them so they can display it prominently in the Hallway. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Abbotart (talkcontribs) 21:27, 20 November 2010 (UTC)

The Signpost: 22 November 2010

The Signpost: 29 November 2010

Re: Review request

I'll try to review the coat of arms article, but it may take a while. Gimmetoo (talk) 23:14, 29 November 2010 (UTC)

GOCE elections

Greetings from the Guild of Copy Editors

Elections are currently underway for our inaugural Guild coordinators. The voting period will run for 14 days: 00:01 UTC, Friday 1 December – 23:59 UTC, Tuesday 14 December. All GOCE members in good standing, as well as past participants of any of the Guild's Backlog elimination drives, are eligible to vote. There are six candidates vying for four positions. The candidate with the highest number of votes will become the Lead Coordinator, therefore, your vote really matters! Cast your vote today.

Sent on behalf of the Guild of Copy Editors via SMasters using AWB on 02:34, 1 December 2010 (UTC)

November 2010 Backlog Elimination Drive Conclusion

Greetings from the Guild of Copy Editors Backlog Elimination Drive!

We have reached the end of our fourth backlog elimination drive. Thanks to all who participated.

Stats

GOCE November 2010 backlog elimination drive graphs
  • 58 people signed up for this drive. Of these, 48 people participated in the drive.
  • Although we did not eliminate the months we planned to (January, February, and March 2009; and August, September, and October 2010), we did reduce the backlog by 627 articles (11.2%), which was over our goal of 10%.
  • 49 awards will go out to 33 of 48 participants. Check out the complete list of barnstar winners here.

Barnstars

If you copy edited at least 4,000 words, you qualify for a barnstar. If you participated in the September 2010 backlog elimination drive, you may have earned roll-over words (more details can be found here). These roll-over words count as credit towards earning barnstars, except for leaderboard awards. We will be delivering these barnstars within the next couple of weeks.

Our next drive is scheduled for January 2011. In the meantime, please consider helping out at the Wikification drive or any of the other places where help with backlogs is needed.

Thank you for participating in the last 2010 backlog elimination drive! We look forward to seeing you in January!

Your drive coordinators –The UtahraptorTalk to me/Contributions, S Masters (talk), and Diannaa (Talk)

Delivered by MessageDeliveryBot on behalf of WikiProject Guild of Copy Editors at 00:07, 3 December 2010 (UTC).

NY tribes

Hey, I finally got a chance to do a bit a research on NY Native Americans and basically confirmed that the map you are using is good, me making one would be a bunch of effort for relatively minor changes. Only tribes left off of there are the smaller Long Island tribes like Shinnecock or Poospatuck and in the NW the Neutrals should extend from Ontario into the Buffalo area a little bit. Kmusser (talk) 16:43, 3 December 2010 (UTC)

Sounds good. upstateNYer 19:39, 3 December 2010 (UTC)

Congratulations

The Press Barnstar
I hereby award UpstateNYer with this Press Barnstar for outstanding contributions which led to a glowing profile in the Times Union. Congratulations and keep up the good work! Gobonobo T C 16:21, 4 December 2010 (UTC)


Adding my congratulations; I just read that in the morning paper myself. Шизомби (Sz) (talk) 16:34, 4 December 2010 (UTC)
Another editor sent me the link. Great job! Bearian (talk) 16:48, 4 December 2010 (UTC)

I just saw this myself as well! Well earned! Congratulations! Kjscotte34 (talk) 13:04, 5 December 2010 (UTC)
Congrats! --Gyrobo (talk) 03:03, 10 December 2010 (UTC)

And from me too ... did they come to you? Sounds like they did. Nice job! (Sorry to have been so late in responding; I had a long day). Daniel Case (talk) 09:27, 10 December 2010 (UTC)

Actually, I went to the author of the article because he was the author of a source I used for Albany, New York. I asked him (along with other experts) to review the article. He responded by requesting an interview instead. I did get a response from a SUNY Albany history prof, who made it quite clear how impressed he was by the article. upstateNYer 21:43, 11 December 2010 (UTC)

The Signpost: 6 December 2010

The Signpost: 13 December 2010

The Signpost: 20 December 2010

Co-nom?

I just realized you never co-nominated Wikipedia:Featured article candidates/New York's 20th congressional district special election, 2009/archive1. Do you want to, while it's still open? You practically wrote the original article, and did a lot during the FAC.
--Gyrobo (talk) 14:01, 27 December 2010 (UTC)

Nope; you did a fine job bringing it where it is today. I didn't do the work to bring it from GA to FA, so it allows me to still be impartial. upstateNYer 15:35, 27 December 2010 (UTC)

The Signpost: 27 December 2010

GOCE Year-end Report

Season's Greetings from the Guild of Copy Editors

We have reached the end of the year, and what a year it has been! The Guild of Copy Editors was full of activity, and we achieved numerous important milestones in 2010. Read all about these in the Guild's 2010 Year-End Report.

Highlights
  • Membership grows to 503 editors
  • 2,589 articles removed through four Backlog elimination drives
  • Our encounter with Jimbo Wales
  • Guild home pages reorganized and redesigned
  • Report on our inaugural elections
  • Guild Plans for 2011
  • New barnstars introduced
  • Requests page improved
  • Sign up for the January 2011 Backlog elimination drive!
Get your copy of the Guild's 2010 Year-End Report here On behalf of the Guild, we take this opportunity to wish you Season's Greetings and Happy New Year. See you in 2011!
– Your Coordinators: S Masters (lead), Diannaa, The Utahraptor, and Tea with toast.

Sent on behalf of the Guild of Copy Editors using AWB on 07:02, 31 December 2010 (UTC)

COA of Albany, New York

I'm sorry I did not help you with Coat of arms of Albany, New York. I have the article selected for February on Portal:Heraldry, though. Gimmetoo (talk) 01:56, 2 January 2011 (UTC)

The Signpost: 3 January 2011

Invitation to join WikiProject United States

Hello, MattWade/Archive! WikiProject United States, an outreach effort supporting development of United States related articles in Wikipedia, has recently been restarted after a long period of inactivity. As a user who has shown an interest in United States related topics we wanted to invite you to join us in developing content relating to the United States. If you are interested please add your Username and area of interest to the members page here. Thank you!!!

--Kumioko (talk) 21:20, 4 January 2011 (UTC)

Chris Gibson

The photo from http://gibson.house.gov/about-me is no copyright violation. You had no right to deleate it without any discussion. Please explain to me why you did this. If you don't respond in 24 hours, I will report you.--Jerzeykydd (talk) 23:39, 6 January 2011 (UTC)

This image has long been used on Gibson's campaign website (trust me, I've been paying attention), proving the photo was not taken while he was in Congress, and therefore not taken by an employee of the US Congress or the Federal Government. His official photo will likely be out in the next week or so. Just be patient and we'll get a photo. I've had a request in to his campaign since just after the election (both thru his website and thru Flickr) but got no response. They don't seem to be interested, and nobody else has uploaded a legitimately free photo, so we'll just wait until his Congressional portrait comes out. Btw, greeting people with a less accusatory tone goes a long way. I don't just delete things willy-nilly. upstateNYer 01:00, 7 January 2011 (UTC)

The Signpost: 10 January 2011

GOCE drive news

Guild of Copy Editors January 2011 backlog elimination drive

Greetings from the Guild of Copy Editors January 2011 Backlog elimination drive! The drive is halfway over, so here are some mid-drive stats.

Participation
GOCE January 2011 backlog elimination drive progress graphs

So far, 43 people have signed up for this drive. Of these, 25 have participated. If you signed up for the drive but haven't participated yet, it's not too late! Try to copy edit at least a few articles. Remember, if you have rollover words from the last drive, you will lose them if you do not participate in this drive. If you haven't signed up for the drive yet, you can sign up now.

Progress report

We have eliminated two months from the backlog – January and February 2009. One of our goals is to eliminate as many months as possible from the 2009 backlog. Please help us reduce the size of this part of the backlog if you haven't already. Another goal is to reduce the entire backlog by 10%, or by 515 articles. Currently, we have eliminated 375 articles from the queue, so if each participant copy edits four more articles, we will reach that goal.

Thank you for participating in the January 2011 drive. We anticipate it will be another big success!

Your drive coordinators –S Masters (talk), Diannaa (Talk), The UtahraptorTalk to me, and Tea with toast (Talk)

Delivered by MessageDeliveryBot on behalf of WikiProject Guild of Copy Editors at 21:09, 16 January 2011 (UTC).

The Signpost: 17 January 2011

Mentoring JMU Class

FYI, check out this. Cheers, Sadads (talk) 02:15, 24 January 2011 (UTC)

This is an automated message from CorenSearchBot. I have performed a web search with the contents of History of Albany, New York (prehistory–1664), and it appears to include material copied directly from http://www.carmelogines.com/albany.asp.

It is possible that the bot is confused and found similarity where none actually exists. If that is the case, you can remove the tag from the article. The article will be reviewed to determine if there are any copyright issues.

If substantial content is duplicated and it is not public domain or available under a compatible license, it will be deleted. For legal reasons, we cannot accept copyrighted text or images borrowed from other web sites or printed material. You may use such publications as a source of information, but not as a source of sentences. See our copyright policy for further details. (If you own the copyright to the previously published content and wish to donate it, see Wikipedia:Donating copyrighted materials for the procedure.) CorenSearchBot (talk) 16:21, 19 January 2011 (UTC)

Regarding this message: The website the bot identified was a copy of a version of Albany on Wikipedia, so there's no real copyright violation. That said, when you're splitting an article like this you do need to attribute the content as described at Wikipedia:Copying within Wikipedia so that the original authors are attributed. I'm doing that right now for this group of articles. VernoWhitney (talk) 14:07, 28 January 2011 (UTC)
Hmm, interesting, never knew that. I'll remember that next time. Thanks for the heads up. upstateNYer 14:33, 28 January 2011 (UTC)

The Signpost: 24 January 2011

Wikipedia Ambassador Program Newsletter: 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.





Delivered by EdwardsBot (talk) 00:35, 29 January 2011 (UTC)

The Signpost: 31 January 2011

History of Albany

Sorry to take my time getting back to you ... it's a combination of weather-related disruptions to my usual routine, and spending more time than I thought last week writing O'Connor v. Ortega (one of those articles where the more you write, the more you realize you have to write and also rewrite what you've already written ... but that's typical of just about every WP:SCOTUS article I write). I will try to look at it ... perhaps the snow days we're all expecting to have today and tomorrow will give me some time.

Speaking of Albany, I went up there a week ago to recover a bag my son and I had left on our Amtrak train back from Washington on the weekend. Not the most ideal day, but after hanging out at the station for a while I went up to Cohoes and took a batch more pics downtown. Also went into the historical museum here, took some pics and got some contact info for the Spindle City Historical Society. Then I went to Troy, got a picture of that old firehouse on Third Street and stopped by the library, mainly to find out if they had old Records on microfilm (one of my long-term goals for bringing Central Troy Historic District up to FA is, per Camelbinky's suggestion at peer review, get better info on the urban renewal period. Yes! They do! Unfortunately, they don't have an index so I'll have to just look through the whole late '60s–early '70s period.

Had I had more time and leisure and not been worrying about getting home before dark in case it started snowing, I might have been able to let you know I was going to be in the area. Perhaps next time ... (if you feel like looking through old microfilm for hours :-)). Daniel Case (talk) 04:39, 1 February 2011 (UTC)

What do you think? Bearian (talk) 01:09, 4 February 2011 (UTC)

GOCE January Backlog elimination drive conclusion

Guild of Copy Editors January 2011 Backlog elimination drive

Greetings from the January 2011 Backlog elimination drive! We have reached the end of the month and the end of another successful drive; thanks to all who participated.

Statistics
  • 54 people signed up for the year's first Backlog elimination drive. Of these, 40 participated.
  • One of our goals was to reduce the size of the backlog by at least 10%. We managed to reduce the backlog by 633 articles, or about 12%.
  • Another goal was to eliminate as many 2009 months as possible from the queue. We eliminated January, February, March, and April—4 out of 12 months is not bad! In addition, we eliminated 37% of all remaining 2009 articles from the queue.
  • Chaosdruid copy edited Kutch Gurjar Kashtriya for 32,711 words, which is the largest single article completed in one of our drives so far. This article counts as six 5000-K articles, and Chaosdruid wins the "most 5000-K articles" leaderboard category. Way to go! A complete list of individual results is here.
Barnstars

If you copy edited at least 4,000 words, you qualify for a barnstar. If you participated in the November 2010 Backlog elimination drive, you may have earned roll-over words (more details can be found here). These roll-over words count as credit towards earning barnstars, except for leaderboard awards. We will be delivering the barnstars within the next couple of weeks.

Thank you for participating in this year's first Backlog elimination drive! We hope to see you in March.

Your drive coordinators –S Masters (talk), Diannaa (talk), The Utahraptor (talk), and Tea with toast (talk)

Delivered by MessageDeliveryBot on behalf of WikiProject Guild of Copy Editors at 15:57, 5 February 2011 (UTC).

The Signpost: 7 February 2011

Wikipedia Ambassador Program Newsletter: 13 February 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) 18:26, 11 February 2011 (UTC)

marking mentees' userpages

Hey Matt! This is just a quick reminder: please be sure to add {{WAP student}} (for an example, see User:Sfofana) the user pages of your mentees. And once they are working on articles, be sure to tag the talk pages with {{WAP assignment}}. Cheers--Sage Ross - Online Facilitator, Wikimedia Foundation (talk) 18:47, 14 February 2011 (UTC)

The Signpost: 14 February 2011

Congratulations!

Congratulations UpstateNYer, your image Image:WhiteHouseSouthFacade.JPG was the Random Picture of the Day! It looked like this: User:Presidentman/potd/10 October 2024.

- Talk to you later, Presidentman (talk) Random Picture of the Day (Talkback) 00:21, 21 February 2011 (UTC)

Mentoring students: be sure to check in on them

This message is going out to all of the Online Ambassadors who are, or will be, serving as mentors this term.

Hi there! This is just a friendly reminder to check in on what your mentees are doing. If they've started making edits, take a look and help them out or do some example fixes for them, if they need it. And if they are doing good, let them know it!

If you aren't mentoring anyone yet, it looks like you will be soon; at least one large class is asking us to assign mentors for them, and students in a number of others haven't yet gotten to asking ambassadors to be their mentors, but may soon. --Sage Ross - Online Facilitator, Wikimedia Foundation (talk) 20:09, 21 February 2011 (UTC)

The Signpost: 21 February 2011

Greetings Upstater

Apologies for my late response. I am very new to wikipedia and I am just getting my feet wet for my first article. I am interested in writing on the Native American Language Act 1990. I am starting my bibliography and not sure really it the format is in protocol. When you have a chance will you take a look at my sandbox? In addition I've tried to communicate with others on articles I'd like to see expand, but I'm not sure how to begin contributing to them as well. Again thank you for your kindly introduction and offer of mentorship. I greatly appreciate it. KuluppisKuluppis (talk) 22:40, 24 February 2011 (UTC)

Too Close To Call

I'm going to have to get my hands on that one. Thanks!
--Gyrobo (talk) 22:08, 25 February 2011 (UTC)

The first chapter is available to read for free on Amazon. upstateNYer 22:09, 25 February 2011 (UTC)

Gillibrand

(sp?) Not having as much time to edit substantially as I thought I would, but just wanted to let you know I haven't forgotten. These snowless, five-day weeks are throwing me for a loop... Juliancolton (talk) 23:17, 28 February 2011 (UTC)

Tell me about it. She's waiting whenever you've got some time. upstateNYer 23:55, 28 February 2011 (UTC)

The Signpost: 28 February 2011

Bloodroot Image

Mr. Wade,

I would like to use your image of a bloodroot in a field journal to be used by local children/families. The field journal will be a printed and given to school children visiting a nature center and/or a children's science museum during field studies. The purpose of the image is to show children how to observe the parts of a flower before sketching a flower of their own in their journals.

Thank you for your consideration, Jeff Paulson Educator —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.214.215.144 (talk) 00:05, 3 March 2011 (UTC)

Go right ahead, just credit me as the author. upstateNYer 01:10, 3 March 2011 (UTC)

Online Ambassador Program

Please take a look at this project page and see if you can be a mentor to one of the many Areas of Study. If you can, please put your name in the "Online Mentor" area of the Area of Study of your choice and then contact the students you will be working with. As the Coordinating Online Ambassador for this project, please let me know if I can be of assistance. Take Care...NeutralhomerTalk04:27, 3 March 2011 (UTC)

HV and CD overlap

I'm going to be nominating P:HUDSON for featured portal in a few days, but before I did I just wanted to check with you to see if there are any really high quality CD articles that fall under the HV scope but aren't currently labeled as such. There's definitely a lot of overlap between the upper Hudson Valley and Capital District, and I'm not knowledgeable enough to know where the one ends and the other begins. The portal is particularly lacking in biographies.
--Gyrobo (talk) 22:05, 6 March 2011 (UTC)

I'll keep my eye out. For bios, everyone here except for Allen would be appropriate based on the definition of HV you've used. You might want to pick through pictures, panoramas (specifically this and this; they have the Hudson right in them), and articles, too, to see if anything floats your boat. Most CD stuff can be considered HV stuff, I guess, in a strict definitional sense of the term. Region-wise, HV really is south of CD, though. upstateNYer 23:25, 6 March 2011 (UTC)
Cool, thanks. I was wondering about Allen.
--Gyrobo (talk) 02:09, 7 March 2011 (UTC)

Mentor request

Hi UpstateNyer! I am a student in Rochelle Davis' Refugees class at Georgetown and was wondering if you'd like to be my mentor? Thanks for your time!

Mmm245 (talk) 23:52, 7 March 2011 (UTC)

The Signpost: 7 March 2011

Thank You!

The Featured Sound Main Page Proposal Voter Barnstar
I was truly humbled by the overwhelming community support for the recent proposal to place featured sounds on the main page. The proposal closed on Tuesday with 57 people in support and only 2 in opposition.

It should take a few weeks for everything to get coded and tested, and once that is done the community will be presented with a mock up to assess on aesthetic appeal.

Finally, I invite all of you to participate in the featured sounds process itself. Whether you're a performer, an uploader, or just come across a sound file you find top quality, and that meets the featured sound criteria, you can nominate it at Wikipedia:Featured sound candidates. Featured sounds is also looking for people to help assess candidates (also at Wikipedia:Featured sound candidates.)

Thanks again for such a strong showing of support, and I hope to see you at featured sounds in the future.
Sven Manguard Wha?
Adam Cuerden (talk)

(X! · talk)

The Signpost: 14 March 2011

Marking articles students are working on

Howdy, Online Ambassador!

This is a quick message to all the ambassadors about marking and tracking which articles students are working on. For the classes working with the ambassador program, please look over any articles being worked on by students (in particular, any ones you are mentoring, but others who don't have mentors as well) and do these things:

  1. Add {{WAP assignment | term = Spring 2011 }} to the articles' talk pages. (The other parameters of the {{WAP assignment}} template are helpful, so please add them as well, but the term = Spring 2011 one is most important.)
  2. If the article is related to United States public policy, make sure the article the WikiProject banner is on the talk page: {{WikiProject United States Public Policy}}
  3. Add Category:Article Feedback Pilot (a hidden category) to the article itself. The second phase of the Article Feedback Tool project has started, and this time we're trying to include all of the articles students are working on. Please test out the Article Feedback Tool, as well. The new version just deployed, so any bug reports or feedback will be appreciated by the tech team working on it.

And of course, don't forget to check in on the students, give them constructive feedback, praise them for positive contributions, award them {{The WikiPen}} if they are doing excellent work, and so on. And if you haven't done so, make sure any students you are mentoring are listed on your mentor profile.

Thanks! --Sage Ross - Online Facilitator, Wikimedia Foundation (talk) 18:15, 15 March 2011 (UTC)

Wikipedia Ambassador Program Newsletter: 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.



Delivered by EdwardsBot (talk) 22:28, 21 March 2011 (UTC)

Picture Claiborne Pell Bridge

Hi,

I was looking for a picture that us Rhode Islanders relate to for a dark colored website and your picture of the Claiborne Pell Bridge in Newport is amazing. I saw that you would be interested in seeing what was done so here's the link to the project (http://www.rhodeislandwebsitedevelopment.com).

It is still a work in progress but I hope you like what has been done so far. If you want to contact me, you can reach me here info@rhodeislandwebsitedevelopment.com

Thanks Al —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.226.82.181 (talk) 22:31, 21 March 2011 (UTC)

The Signpost: 21 March 2011

The Signpost: 28 March 2011

If this is the first article that you have created, you may want to read the guide to writing your first article.

You may want to consider using the Article Wizard to help you create articles.

A tag has been placed on User:Forever true/Pure Logic, requesting that it be speedily deleted from Wikipedia. This has been done under section G11 of the criteria for speedy deletion, because the page seems to be unambiguous advertising which only promotes a company, product, group, service or person and would need to be fundamentally rewritten in order to become an encyclopedia article. Please read the guidelines on spam and Wikipedia:FAQ/Business for more information.

If you think that this notice was placed here in error, you may contest the deletion by adding {{hang on}} to the top of the page that has been nominated for deletion (just below the existing speedy deletion, or "db", tag; if no such tag exists, then the page is no longer a speedy delete candidate and adding a hang-on tag is unnecessary), coupled with adding a note on the talk page explaining your position, but be aware that once tagged for speedy deletion, if the page meets the criterion, it may be deleted without delay. Please do not remove the speedy deletion tag yourself, but don't hesitate to add information to the page that would render it more in conformance with Wikipedia's policies and guidelines. If the page is deleted, you can contact one of these administrators to request that the administrator userfy the page or email a copy to you. ukexpat (talk) 15:42, 1 April 2011 (UTC)

Sorry, bad form to template a regular. The mainspace article has just been deleted as spam, and I have tagged this userpage version and User:Forever true/Book of Pure Logic for deletion on the same grounds. – ukexpat (talk) 15:46, 1 April 2011 (UTC)
No big deal. I tried to give the guy a chance, but he got pretty irrational pretty quickly. upstateNYer 18:12, 1 April 2011 (UTC)

FAC request

I was wondering if you could take a look at La Stazione for prose? The FAC has been open for two months now, and despite early support, a few editors keep saying the prose is "choppy" and that an independent copyeditor should look at it. I'd hate to see it archived for what I think are WP:JDLI issues, so could you please take a look at it? You've never edited it before, and you're familiar with the region's history. --Gyrobo (talk) 00:16, 1 April 2011 (UTC)

Sure, be happy to. Give me until the weekend, though. upstateNYer 02:19, 1 April 2011 (UTC)
Thanks for restoring those old photos! You should nominate File:New Paltz station postcard edit.jpg for FP, it's certainly worth a try. --Gyrobo (talk) 04:36, 3 April 2011 (UTC)
They're typically a bit pickier than that at FPC, let me tell you. :) As for NRHP, I think you should do a write up and try it. I'm convinced that Wikipedians could write better NRHP noms these days because they're so used to reading them. I can tell a good one—and a bad one—when I read it. Sometimes I think these historians that write them can't. upstateNYer 04:45, 3 April 2011 (UTC)

WP:FOUR procedure

In the future, follow the nomination procedure rather than just promoting the articles. By nominating, you give people a chance to look over the candidate and raise questions if any exist.--TonyTheTiger (T/C/BIO/WP:CHICAGO/WP:FOUR) 15:59, 3 April 2011 (UTC)

But they were already promoted, independent of me. upstateNYer 21:54, 3 April 2011 (UTC)

The Signpost: 4 April 2011

Make sure that you are checking in on your students work for WP:USPP/C/11/PTE

Hey, just a happy reminder to make sure that you are regularly checking in on your mentees work for JMU'S Technical editing class, Sadads (talk) 11:11, 5 April 2011 (UTC)

The Signpost: 11 April 2011

Hello From a Student

Hey, not sure if this is the right place to do this, but just saying hi. I am one of the students working on the article on the National Renewable Energy Lab. I think the plan is to finish and upload the article by next monday (4/18). Thanks for you help so far! Ryan.ramirez (talk) 03:19, 13 April 2011 (UTC)

Here is exactly where you should post. Let me know when you're ready to review and let me know if there are any questions along the way. I'll be happy to help. upstateNYer 01:17, 14 April 2011 (UTC)
Hey, I will be posting my content to the current article on the National Renewable Energy Lab later this morning, April 18th. Should be posting sometime around 11:30 am EST or so. I will let you know again once I have posted. Thanks! Ryan.ramirez (talk) 05:56, 18 April 2011 (UTC)

NREL Article Posted

I have posted our additions to the article on the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Ryan.ramirez (talk) 17:46, 18 April 2011 (UTC)

I'll take a look this weekend, probably Friday. upstateNYer 23:02, 18 April 2011 (UTC)

use of your photo in PlaNYC

Dear Mr. Wade,

I wanted to let you know that we have used your photo of Times Square at night posted on WikiCommons in the PlaNYC 2011 update. PlaNYC is New York City's strategic sustainability plan and is a globally recognized leader in urban sustainability planning.

Best, Kirsten —Preceding unsigned comment added by 161.185.158.21 (talk) 18:38, 18 April 2011 (UTC)

Thanks for letting me know; I'm impressed that the photo is being used by such an organization. Would you mind sharing the link to the document if it's publicly available? Thanks. upstateNYer 22:54, 18 April 2011 (UTC)

DYK

Just wanted to make sure you were going to fill out the DYK for College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering in the next day. I'm going to be working on the CD portal in the next couple of weeks, and we could use as many hooks as we can get. And you may end up getting a four award for this, because you're expanding from a redirect. --Gyrobo (talk) 23:05, 18 April 2011 (UTC)

I didn't even think of that. I'll be honest, I won't be getting a four award for this one (I didn't write it, someone at CNSE did), but I'll put in for a DYK. upstateNYer 23:28, 18 April 2011 (UTC)
That's cool. I don't know if you're aware, but they made it mandatory about 3 months ago that if you submit a DYK and you've already submitted 5, you need to review someone else's and post the diff in your section. --Gyrobo (talk) 01:06, 19 April 2011 (UTC)
Obviously I haven't taken part in DYK in a while... :) upstateNYer 01:33, 19 April 2011 (UTC)
There used to be a big yellow banner letting people know. I guess they figured that if you've submitted more than 5 DYKs, you submit frequently enough to have already seen it. --Gyrobo (talk) 01:38, 19 April 2011 (UTC)
That system really seems to work; I actually had a hard time finding a nom to review. Lot more noms these days than when I was doing DYKs, and that was only a number of months ago. upstateNYer 01:46, 19 April 2011 (UTC)

The Signpost: 18 April 2011

Hello,

In class we started another project, so I am just now getting back to Wikipedia. I edited my article, but I noticed a message at the top of my article about using wording that promotes the subject. I was hoping to get that removed. I eliminated any words that I thought were biased. Thanks for your help!

Allie Smith — Preceding unsigned comment added by Smit23am (talkcontribs) 18:19, 19 April 2011 (UTC)

Charles Elliott Perkins DYK

I fixed the article, and left an explanation on the DYK Talk page. (Thanks for doing the scut-work of reviewing DYK noms!) - Tim1965 (talk) 00:50, 20 April 2011 (UTC)

use of your photo

Dear Mr. Wade,

I left a message yesterday on your WikiCommons page, but I wanted to make sure that I got in touch with you. As per your request on WikiCommons, we are contacting you because we are using one of your photos of Times Square at night in the PlaNYC update. PlaNYC is New York City's 20 year strategic sustainability plan. We have included your name and your url link with the image.

Please contact me if you have any questions.

Best, Kirsten

keiler@cityhall.nyc.gov —Preceding unsigned comment added by 161.185.158.24 (talk) 16:50, 20 April 2011 (UTC)

Wikipedia Ambassador Program Newsletter: 22 April 2011





This is the fourth issue of the Wikipedia Ambassador Program Newsletter, with details about what's going on right now and where help is needed.



Delivered by EdwardsBot (talk) 16:38, 22 April 2011 (UTC)

DYK nomination of College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering

Hello! Your submission of College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering at the Did You Know nominations page has been reviewed, and there still are some issues that may need to be clarified. Please review the comment(s) underneath your nomination's entry and respond there as soon as possible. Thank you for contributing to Did You Know! Materialscientist (talk) 01:15, 25 April 2011 (UTC)

The Signpost: 25 April 2011

Message at top of my article

Hi,

The message that reads "This article may contain wording that merely promotes the subject..." is still at the top of my article. (Nancy Sutley) I was hoping to get the removed immediately. I'm not sure who else to contact about this, so I'm hoping for some feedback/help! Thanks!

Allie — Preceding unsigned comment added by Smit23am (talkcontribs) 18:54, 26 April 2011 (UTC)

RFK gravesite image

Per your attribution page, I just wanted to let you know I have posted your image of RFK's gravesite on my blog. Thanks for uploading it under a CC license. --Jatkins (talk - contribs) 17:08, 27 April 2011 (UTC)

Found this hilarious

Some one made a Facebook page for Watervliet (town), New York, a town that doesnt exist. And stranger even more- 4 people have clicked like on it! Don't know if those 4 realize the difference between the defunct town and the current city, but if one of our lesser known articles can get 4 extra hits through something like this, perhaps some Facebook advertising is a good thing.Camelbinky (talk) 04:10, 2 May 2011 (UTC)

Well, I think Facebook links to all WP articles as they become applicable. But somebody would have had to 'like' it. Hey, while I've got you here. Any interest in helping me finish User:UpstateNYer/New York? upstateNYer 04:55, 2 May 2011 (UTC)

The Signpost: 2 May 2011

Photo of the King Memorial Fountain in Washington Park

Good Afternoon Mr. Wade:

Per your request, I would like to use your photograph of the King Memorial Fountain in Washington Park for a report cover. The photo is beautiful and I will see that full credit is given just as you have instructed.

Thank you —Preceding unsigned comment added by SSDesigner (talkcontribs) 19:59, 3 May 2011 (UTC)

GOCE drive newsletter

The Guild of Copy Editors – May 2011 Backlog Elimination Drive


The Guild of Copy Editors invite you to participate in the May 2011 Backlog Elimination Drive, a month-long effort to reduce the backlog of articles that require copy-editing. The drive began on May 1 at 00:00 (UTC) and will end on May 31 at 23:59 (UTC). The goals of this backlog elimination drive are to eliminate as many articles as possible from the 2009 backlog and to reduce the overall backlog by 15%. ! NEW ! In an effort to encourage the final elimination of all 2009 articles, we will be tracking them on the leaderboard for this drive.

Awards and barnstars
A range of barnstars will be awarded to active participants. Some are exclusive to GOCE drives. More information on awards can be found on the main drive page.

We look forward to meeting you on the drive! Your GOCE coordinators: SMasters, Diannaa, Tea with toast, Chaosdruid, and Torchiest

You are receiving a copy of this newsletter as you are a member of the Guild of Copy Editors, or have participated in one of our drives. If you do not wish to receive future newsletters, please add you name here. Sent on behalf of the Guild of Copy Editors using AWB on 09:08, 4 May 2011 (UTC)

West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Hi there. I'm editing a story for a news and public affairs show produced locally here in West Virginia. I needed a 9/11 image to illustrate our story about local reaction to Bin Laden's death and I found yours. I supered the image with your name and I can send you a link to the YouTube story once it's uploaded. I hope that this meets your requirements. Thanks so much for making your work accessible. It's a great service.

Cheers, Glynis Board Production Associate WV PBS —Preceding unsigned comment added by 208.180.157.30 (talk) 19:59, 4 May 2011 (UTC)

May 2011 Newsletter for WikiProject United States

The May 2011 issue of the WikiProject United States newsletter has been published. You may read the newsletter, change the format in which future issues will be delivered to you, or unsubscribe from this notification by following the link. Thank you.

 
.--Kumioko (talk) 02:48, 6 May 2011 (UTC)

Please help assess articles for Public Policy Initiative research

Hi MattWade/Archive,

Your work as an Online Ambassador is making a big contribution to Wikipedia. Right now, we're trying to measure just how much student work improves the quality of Wikipedia. If you'd like contribute to this research and get a firsthand look at the quality improvement that is happening through the project, please sign up to assess articles. Assessment is happening now, just use the quantitative metric and start assessing! Your help would be hugely appreciated!

Thank you, ARoth (Public Policy Initiative) (talk) 17:15, 6 May 2011 (UTC)

This is interesting

blog, but has alot of interesting information and great old maps of the proposed interstate plan for Albany in the 1960s. If it can be figured out if those maps and images are ok to use they would be a great addition to several articles.Camelbinky (talk) 13:46, 9 May 2011 (UTC)

The Signpost: 9 May 2011

Orphaned non-free image File:UniCamLogo.png

⚠

Thanks for uploading File:UniCamLogo.png. The image description page currently specifies that the image is non-free and may only be used on Wikipedia under a claim of fair use. However, the image is currently orphaned, meaning that it is not used in any articles on Wikipedia. If the image was previously in an article, please go to the article and see why it was removed. You may add it back if you think that that will be useful. However, please note that images for which a replacement could be created are not acceptable for use on Wikipedia (see our policy for non-free media).

If you have uploaded other unlicensed media, please check whether they're used in any articles or not. You can find a list of "file" pages you have edited by clicking on the "my contributions" link (it is located at the very top of any Wikipedia page when you are logged in), and then selecting "File" from the dropdown box. Note that any non-free images not used in any articles will be deleted after seven days, as described in the criteria for speedy deletion. Thank you. Courcelles 03:32, 10 May 2011 (UTC)

The Signpost: 16 May 2011

licensing Breakers image for documentary

Hi Matt, I'm a producer helping out with visual acquisitions for a new documentary. We would like to use your image of The Breakers Newport mansion. Unfortunately, since we have licensed other 3rd party material, we are unable to do a cc share alike license. Are you open to providing permissions for us to use this image in our doc? Pls let me know if you'd like to get more details. I can be found at rivkahbeth at hotmail {dot} com. thanks for your attention and great photo!Rivkahbeth (talk) 05:03, 19 May 2011 (UTC)

Wikipedia Ambassador sweatshirt

Hi! This is the last call for signing on for a Wikipedia Ambassador hooded sweatshirt (in case you missed the earlier message in one of the program newsletters about it). If you would like one, please email me with your name, mailing address, and (US) sweatshirt size. We have a limited number left, so it will be first-come, first-served. (If more than one size would work for you, note that as well.)

Cheers, Sage Ross - Online Facilitator, Wikimedia Foundation (talk) 19:43, 19 May 2011 (UTC)

The Signpost: 23 May 2011

Please take the Wikipedia Ambassador Program survey

Hi Ambassador,

We are at a pivotal point in the development of the Wikipedia Ambassador Program. Your feedback will help shape the program and role of Ambassadors in the future. Please take this 10 minute survey to help inform and improve the Wikipedia Ambassadors.

WMF will de-identify results and make them available to you. According to KwikSurveys' privacy policy: "Data and email addresses will not be sold, rented, leased or disclosed to 3rd parties." This link takes you to the online survey: http://kwiksurveys.com?u=WPAmbassador_talk

Feel free to contact me with any questions or comments, Thank You!

Amy Roth (Research Analyst, Public Policy Initiative) (talk) 20:46, 24 May 2011 (UTC)

Thanks for a great picture...

Actually, I've been looking through your stuff and there are a number of fantastic shots.

Hope I'm doing this correctly. I recently designed a basic web page for a democratic candidate for City Council in Troy and I'm using your waterfront panorama...fantastic pic.

Here's the site: http://nicholsfortroynow.com/

I believe I've attributed it correctly...at least I hope so. If not, please let me know.

I've enjoyed reading up a bit on your Wiki doings and am impressed. Thrilled to "meet" someone as active in this wonderful project as you seem to be. I've often thought I ought to get active more than just being an occasional donor.

Would love to treat you to a cup of coffee or a lunch sometime if you're ever in/near Troy. My son in Manhattan works in a related field to your imagery...he and his wife own a computer animation company. You might enjoy their stuff also (you've probably seen some on TV actually)...just check out pandapanther.com

Thanks again, george garin knonop@gmail.com — Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.226.70.34 (talk) 01:33, 29 May 2011 (UTC)

POTD notification

POTD

Hi Wade,

Just to let you know that the Featured Picture File:Cleveland Arcade, 1966.jpg is due to make an appearance as Picture of the Day on May 31, 2011. If you get a chance, you can check and improve the caption at Template:POTD/2011-05-31. howcheng {chat} 01:49, 30 May 2011 (UTC)

The Signpost: 30 May 2011

Likely new Capital District NHLs

Just to bring this to your attention if you don't keep up with WT:NRHP: The National Park Service will be meeting next week to consider its next batch of National Historic Landmark nominations. Two of the nominated properties are up your way: the USS Slater (already on the Register, and already photographed by you IIRC), and the Gardner Earl Memorial Chapel and Crematorium at Oakwood Cemetery, which you took a great photo of already. If you're interested in developing a separate article, its NHL nom is here (and this is the Slater's nom, as well, in case they have some additional things to say that the original NRHP nom does not). Daniel Case (talk) 04:12, 20 May 2011 (UTC)

Also, just yesterday the University Club of Albany was formally announced as added to the National Register (it actually happened nine days earlier). I have added it to the city list ... you can probably get the picture. Daniel Case (talk) 14:54, 21 May 2011 (UTC)

I still can't believe that nowhere in my research did I stumble across the fact that the Earl Memorial was NRHP on its own. An FA was written and literally no mention of it was made anywhere. I'm glad you showed me that earlier. Also, I'll try to update the SLATER with a better photo this summer (current one isn't mine). Will have to find a good spot on the Rensselaer side and use my zoom lens. Will also stop by University Club sometime this summer as well. Don't know when though; very busy IRL. upstateNYer 15:43, 22 May 2011 (UTC)
I actually don't think the memorial ever was NRHP on its own ... they're going straight for NHL on this one. Daniel Case (talk) 05:21, 2 June 2011 (UTC)

Copyedited Empire State

Sorry it took a week but I finally was able to take a break from my totally unintended major rewrite of Perp walk for long enough to do it. I left some content-related suggestions on the talk page; here are some notes on the prose:

  • Be mindful of words to avoid ... not so much the words on those pages but things that used to be there and still should be: conjunctions like "while" and "however" that have to be used carefully to stay within NPOV.
  • Watch out for run-on sentences (I still have this problem in my own first drafts, too). I broke up one in the intro to create the second graf.
  • Watch for redundant wording, like "a number of viable theories remain to this day". If they remain, they're still there by definition and the last three words aren't necessary.
  • What's the deal lately with this somewhat awkward tendency (I've seen a lot of it in younger writers) to use gerunds where the verb itself sounds better (i.e. "New York's overcoming Virginia in population", which I changed to "when New York passed Virginia in population")?

That's all. Good candidate for GA, I agree (Maybe we should add a pic of Empire Plaza, too, if we're going to discuss it so much)? Daniel Case (talk) 02:40, 4 June 2011 (UTC)

I used one of your photos

FYI - <a href="http://jazzfest.louthompson.com/2011-lineup/">http://jazzfest.louthompson.com/2011-lineup/</a> — Preceding unsigned comment added by 96.61.78.10 (talk) 03:34, 6 June 2011 (UTC)

The Signpost: 6 June 2011

June 2011 Newsletter for WikiProject United States

The June 2011 issue of the WikiProject United States newsletter has been published. You may read the newsletter, change the format in which future issues will be delivered to you, or unsubscribe from this notification by following the link. Thank you.

 
--Kumioko (talk) 00:00, 13 June 2011 (UTC)

The Signpost: 13 June 2011

Use of a 9/11 Image

Hello UpstateNYer,

I wanted to let you know that I would like to use your retouched image of the South Tower of the World Trade center during the 9/11 attacks (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:UA_Flight_175_hits_WTC_south_tower_9-11_edit.jpeg)

You be credited as requested in your userpage. If you have any comments or questions, please let me know. The project is in the early stages of construction - we will use images in a slide show-style video for history students and teachers. I am not sure when the project will be completed, but it will hopefully be finished within the next few months.

Thank you,

Sincerely,

Caroline Arbuckle

--Carolinearbuckle (talk) 20:48, 17 June 2011 (UTC)

Hi Caroline. Please credit Flickr user TheMachineStops as well. He took the original photo. Thanks for the heads up. upstateNYer 21:43, 17 June 2011 (UTC)

GOCE elections

Greetings from the Guild of Copy Editors

Elections are currently underway for our Guild coordinators. The voting period will run for 14 days and ends on June 30, 23:59 UTC. All GOCE members in good standing, as well as past participants of any of the Guild's Backlog elimination drives, are eligible to vote. The candidate with the highest number of votes will become the Lead Coordinator, therefore, your vote really matters! There is also a referendum to appoint a Coordinator Emeritus. Cast your vote today.

Sent on behalf of the Guild of Copy Editors using AWB on 08:12, 19 June 2011 (UTC)

The Signpost: 20 June 2011

US National Archives collaboration

United States National Archives WikiProject
Would you like to help improve Wikipedia's coverage of topics related to the National Archives and its incredible collection? This summer, the National Archives—which houses some of America's most important historical documents—is hosting me as its Wikipedian in Residence, and I have created WP:NARA to launch these efforts.

There are all sorts of tasks available for any type of editor, whether you're a writer, organizer, gnome, coder, or image guru. The National Archives is making its resources available to Wikipedia, so help us forge this important relationship! Please sign up and introduce yourself. Dominic·t 15:22, 22 June 2011 (UTC)

Times Square-1-2.jpg use

Matt,

Written on June 23, 2011.

Times Square-1-2.jpg is a beautiful shot of a classic NY scene at Times Square! I am using the photo as one of the three pix on the Pittsburgh Concert Chorale's season brochure for the 2011-12 concert season. It will appear on a reminder postcard for the third concert program in May 2012. The Chorale is a 501(c)(3) non-profit and we do very much appreciate the generosity of people who share their work freely. We try to always credit any non-Chorale artwork to the authors if they are known. We will put your credit (CC-BY-SA-3.0/Matt H. Wade at Wikipedia) just below the photo and if you send me your email address, I will send you a PDF of the brochure. My email is charlie1939 at hotmail dot com, if you want to accept my offer, put "Send copy of brochure" in the "subject" line, so I will know it is you.. If I do not acknowledge your reply, please resend as I might miss it.

Charlie McChesney — Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.20.224.181 (talk) 23:35, 23 June 2011 (UTC)

WMF budget

Replied on my talk page. Hope that helps. If not, I'd send an email to Jay Walsh and ask him.--ragesoss (talk) 17:57, 26 June 2011 (UTC)

The Signpost: 27 June 2011

Empire State

Is there anything usable here, or is it as apocryphal as this and this suggest? Also, would this book be useful? Its story on the nickname it very similar to what is already in the article. --Gyrobo (talk) 01:25, 30 June 2011 (UTC)

In regards to the MS Majesty of the Seas Photograph

Dear UpstateNYer, I am writing to ask your permission to use your photograph, MS Majesty of the Seas, in a documentary that a production company that I work for is making. We will give you credit for the film, as you state on your wikipedia page, but I wanted to write a request for permission first. You can contact me at megan@4throwfilms.com if you have any requests or questions, thank you! Mfilm1987 (talk) 19:15, 1 July 2011 (UTC)

Fine with me; thanks for the heads up! upstateNYer 20:25, 1 July 2011 (UTC)

GOCE drive invitation

Greetings from the Guild of Copy Editors

The latest GOCE backlog elimination drive is under way! It began on 1 July and so far 18 people have signed up to help us reduce the number of articles in need of copyediting.

This drive will give a 50% bonus for articles edited from the GOCE requests page. Although we have cleared the backlog of 2009 articles there are still 3,935 articles needing copyediting and any help, no matter how small, would be appreciated.

We are appealing to all GOCE members, and any other editors who wish to participate, to come and help us reduce the number of articles needing copyediting, as well as the backlog of requests. If you have not signed up yet, why not take a look at the current signatories and help us by adding your name and copyediting a few articles. Barnstars will be given to anyone who edits more than 4,000 words, with special awards for the top 5 in the categories: "Number of articles", "Number of words", and "Number of articles of over 5,000 words".

Sent on behalf of the Guild of Copy Editors using AWB on 09:33, 3 July 2011 (UTC)

The Signpost: 4 July 2011

Thank you! Great work as always.

Once again you've come through with excellent photos for some articles, I especially enjoy the St. Joseph's Church photo, looks like it was a beautiful day and I'm glad to see it looks even better than I remember last seeing it probably over 3 years ago. Thank you!Camelbinky (talk) 22:29, 5 July 2011 (UTC)

Thanks for your help!

The Photographer's Barnstar Ribbon
Thank you so much for the photos of William Bliss Baker's gravesite. I've added one of the images to his article. ···日本穣? · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe · Join WikiProject Japan! 05:02, 6 July 2011 (UTC)

In regards to the MS Majesty of the Seas Photograph

Hello! I am writing about using your photograph in our documentary again. I just wanted to clarify because under your rights and licensing you stated that you would like to mentioned alongside your photograph. I wanted to know if you are alright with us crediting your photograph in the ending credits of the film instead of crediting it next to the photograph? Mfilm1987 (talk) 16:50, 6 July 2011 (UTC)

Megan Elledge P.A. Assistant 4th Row Films

Yep, no problem. You are free to use it as you see fit, as long as credit is given somewhere (anywhere) in the film. Thanks for asking! upstateNYer 21:04, 6 July 2011 (UTC)

Orphaned non-free image File:Discoverycovelogo.png

⚠

Thanks for uploading File:Discoverycovelogo.png. The image description page currently specifies that the image is non-free and may only be used on Wikipedia under a claim of fair use. However, the image is currently not used in any articles on Wikipedia. If the image was previously in an article, please go to the article and see why it was removed. You may add it back if you think that that will be useful. However, please note that images for which a replacement could be created are not acceptable for use on Wikipedia (see our policy for non-free media).

Note that any non-free images not used in any articles will be deleted after seven days, as described in the criteria for speedy deletion. Thank you. Themeparkgc  Talk  22:45, 11 July 2011 (UTC)

No need now that there's an SVG. Delete away. upstateNYer 00:59, 12 July 2011 (UTC)

The Signpost: 11 July 2011

MIAMI DOWNTOWN SKYLINE

WHERE EXACTLY DID YOU SHOOT THIS PHOTO FROM,I WOULD LOVE TO TAKE IT AT NIGHT.I WOULD BE THANKFUL AND GIVE YOU FULL CREDIT FOR IT. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.203.94.17 (talk) 23:43, 12 July 2011 (UTC)

Dandelion

Hi Matt

I just used your wonderful photo on my not-for-profit web page www.wildlifegardening.org (http://www.wildlifegardening.org/controlling-pests-the-wildlife-friendly-way/) and credited you on the bottom).

Thanks!

71.225.238.227 (talk) 01:21, 13 July 2011 (UTC)John Humphreys (johnnydogmatic@comcast.net)

Glad somebody could use it! upstateNYer 01:28, 13 July 2011 (UTC)

Reynolds photo

Hey, would this be a better photo for Marcus T. Reynolds than the current one? The current one doesn't give a date, but this explicitly says it was created in 1919. It's also larger. --Gyrobo (talk) 23:42, 13 July 2011 (UTC)

You probably already saw this but just in case-

This article in the TU was surprising to me and I'm sure we should incorporate it into the NYCD article at least.Camelbinky (talk) 01:13, 14 July 2011 (UTC)

New NRHP listing in Troy

The Chapel and Cultural Center at RPI. Added to list here per source. Apparently we already have an article on it. But we never had a photo. Daniel Case (talk) 20:35, 15 July 2011 (UTC)

I find that unbelievable. I'm almost disgusted that they're now including brutalist concrete designs from the 70s. I think I'm going to do a troy photo spree like Albany sometime soon. I'll get it then. upstateNYer 23:05, 18 July 2011 (UTC)
Well, they're reaching the 50-year point, and some of them actually work, and they tell us about our architectural history even if we wish not to be reminded of it. Daniel Case (talk) 03:48, 19 July 2011 (UTC)

The Signpost: 18 July 2011

If you have time...

I cant seem to find much information about where, if it survived, the cornerstone of the old Ford Motor plant in Green Island is today. It had carved on it the signatures of Henry Ford, Harvey Firestone (of Firestone/Bridgestone tires), Thomas Edison (of General Electric), and John Burroughs (naturalist? poet? plant manager? Ford executive? I get contradictory answers). Given that the first three names are as famous as you can get in American industrial history having a photo of a stone they personally signed and apparently put under glass for preservation before becoming the cornerstone of the world's largest Ford plant at the time would be important; they seemed to know when they signed it that it was something important (of course these are people whose egos are well known, put them together and hey, they'll see a stone they pee'd on as famous). I just cant seem to find anything about the stone that is post-demolition of the plant, so I was hoping if you have time and find yourself anywhere near some place or some one who would know the answer perhaps you could do some investigation for me.Camelbinky (talk) 19:02, 19 July 2011 (UTC)

Wow, that's really cool. If you can come up with a more specific location, I'll take a look some day. upstateNYer 01:53, 21 July 2011 (UTC)
Well... any chance you'll be going to Detroit anytime soon? :) I have no proof but based on a youtube video of the rock, the museum it is located on seems to me to be the Henry Ford Museum. I'll check Commons and then Flickr and hope perhaps someone has put a photo of it we can use. Interestingly it is actually just the first letter of their last names, not their signatures, carved by them straight down, and eerily enough–in the exact order in which they died. Spooooooky.Camelbinky (talk) 19:30, 21 July 2011 (UTC)
Oh, and I'm working on Sprouts of the Mohawk River about the delta of islands and channels created by the Mohawk River and Hudson confluence. It's a wordy title, but when googling for "Mohawk River delta" most results come up with an area west of the Capital District (near Rome I believe), and "Sprouts of the Mohawk River" come up with quite a number of hits (spruyten in Dutch) about just this geographical area. A problem I'm having is that "sprouts" doesnt seem to be an English word with reference to water channels; any suggestions you have regarding the title or the article will be greatly appreciated.Camelbinky (talk) 20:37, 19 July 2011 (UTC)
I think that's good enough. Janny Venema's book on Kiliaen van Rensselaer came out. Ran into it in Barnes & Noble today. I'll probably buy it eventually, but I don't need so much info on one guy. However there was a very detailed family tree in it, which will be helpful when I go back to the topic. upstateNYer 01:53, 21 July 2011 (UTC)

July 2011 Newsletter for WikiProject United States

The July 2011 issue of the WikiProject United States newsletter has been published. You may read the newsletter, change the format in which future issues will be delivered to you, or unsubscribe from this notification by following the link. Thank you.

 
--Kumioko (talk) 14:17, 24 July 2011 (UTC)

University Club of Albany

That's a relatively new listing, IIRC? In that case it sometimes takes a while to get these things on the NYSOPRHP website ... you might want to wait a few months (Or, given your location, just go over to wherever they are (Peebles Island?) and put in a written FOIL request for a copy before it gets online. Daniel Case (talk) 04:14, 10 July 2011 (UTC)

So I spent a few hours today getting photos for most of the non-photographed National Register of Historic Places listings in Albany, New York. Some, I'm convinced, don't exist. I was able to find proof that the Times Union Center replaced the Abrams Building. For situations like that, can we use the photos from the NRHP nom or are they not Fed Gov't works? upstateNYer 04:29, 10 July 2011 (UTC)
Add any apparently-no-longer-extant buildings here. Wow ... as usual, your pics are better than the ones I have in my two-and-a-half-year long yet-to-upload queue (which wouldn't stop me from actually expanding the articles when I get to them, though) ... like, I have this one in late-day light of the A. Mendelson and Son Company Building, but yours just blows it away. And you got a good one for Lafayette Park Historic District. Perhaps I should get you down here to take some better pictures at some point :-).

As for the Abrams Building pics, there has been some discussion of the copyright status of pictures filed by states with their applications ... I think the feeling was that they might become free by virtue of being kept as federal government property, but I'm not totally clear about that. You could try seeing if there were any HABS images, which would be PD-US (but might not necessarily represent the building as it was prior to demolition), and failing all else you've got an unassailable fair-use rationale for the state pics ("building has been demolished; cannot create new image". Daniel Case (talk) 04:43, 10 July 2011 (UTC)

And all the other Albany issues

  • Missing bridge: This happens sometimes. I think I've looked for that one too and not found it; from the title I wouldn't be surprised if it had been demolished or moved as many bridges of that design have not held up well into today (see Tioronda Bridge in Beacon for one that could come back but is currently in storage otherwise; as noted it was a bowstring truss). Ask the Bethlehem town historian's office if they can tell you anything.
  • Rapp Road. I'd want to look at the application again, actually. If I remember it's not so much the architecture but the people who lived there that counted.
  • FL status. Perhaps we could work on this together as I have considered bringing the Orleans County list to FL as well. I was going great guns on it (as you can probably tell) until a new property, the Benjamin Franklin Gates House, was added to the list (and it's not like I can go jotting off to Orleans County again and take another picture). I felt betrayed by cruel fate and dropped it where it was to work on so many of the other things I have.

    Pubdog, God bless him, took a picture of that one and brought the list back to fully-illustrated status, and I eventually wrote the article, but I haven't gotten the oomph together to go back there (I don't know about you, but I often find that when I've gone through the effort of intensely putting together an article or improving it, whether for some recognition or not, I just get so emotionally exhausted by that process it often takes a while before I go back there (It took a long time to get to the point of doing a full copy edit and going through Anna Wintour with a fine-tooth comb to make what was, after five years at Wikipedia, my very first FA nom. Over a year after it failed, I still haven't felt enough intensity to make the necessary changes and renominate. And that has nothing (honestly!) to do with the fact that it failed ... I mean, the criticisms were somewhat on point, and although I was surprised that it was closed as early as it was, I'm not complaining. But I don't yet feel it in me to go back into that breach (even though I'd like to do it in time to get it on the Main Page for one of her birthdays, which I could do this year still, I guess I am also content for the time being with it being a GA, an A-class BLP and an article the Toronto Globe and Mail called more informative than The September Issue. But I haven't stopped wanting to be able to say I got it to FA, either.

    Anyway ... yeah, I was disappointed in those lists as models for a featured regular NRHP list. I actually think that what Doncram did with the NY list article in two efforts to get it to featured status was closer to what we should have, as I think what I started to do with the Orleans list was. And speaking of that, I also got the Genesee list fully-illustrated and fully-represented by fully-developed articles as well; I think I could work on getting that to FL as well.

  • 744–750 Broadway. Wow! They look so much better. I was thinking of your images today when I was out with my son, where I got some more images of my own for Downtown Ossining Historic District (Would you believe that's actually longer than [[Central Troy Historic District) that might make me content enough with it to go to PR and then GA at least, among other things. A few weeks ago I saw that the Mountainville Grange Hall has been thoroughly renovated into a day-care center, with some small additions and the installation of tan vinyl siding, to the point that I'm wondering if it retains enough historical integrity ... I have a picture of it but I haven't uploaded yet. Likewise, the House at 249 Main Street has been spiffed up and repainted in tan (it looks that way in the picture but that was because a cloud was covering the sun and I didn't feel like waiting; it was actually yellow). And now those buildings on Broadway have been made to look almost as good as new ... just when you thought you were done, you have to start over again :-). Daniel Case (talk) 04:05, 11 July 2011 (UTC)
If the missing bridge you speak of is the Whipple cast-iron bridge in the NRHP listings in Albany, NY then I can tell you it is still there. The address listed is technically correct and incorrect- while at one point 1000 Delaware Ave would have been correct, the road today is Normanskill Drive. Take Delaware south heading from the heart of Albany towards Delmar and Bethlehem, cross the Thruway, then on the right, across (and maybe slightly before the entrance) to Graceland Cemetary is a narrow badly paved steep sloping heavily forested road, it is Normanskill Drive, the old route of the Delaware Turnpike. About three-quarters of the way to the Normans Kill, on the right is the Whipple truss bridge, leading into Steven's Farm (Normanskill Farm), a city-owned farm and public park. Photos of the old yellow brick bridge at the end of this road would be appreciated as well, and if you are up to some hiking pictures of the farm and Normans Kill and ruins of the old mills and ice houses would be nice as well. You might get lucky and see some of the police force's K-9 and mounted patrols as both the horses and dogs are kept there and trained there.Camelbinky (talk) 16:55, 11 July 2011 (UTC)
Yep, just found it. 42°38′8.86″N 73°48′1.62″W / 42.6357944°N 73.8004500°W / 42.6357944; -73.8004500 upstateNYer 01:00, 12 July 2011 (UTC)
I look forward to some more great pictures. It's beautiful down in that area, I used to walk from my apartment on Delaware Ave near Lincoln Park all the way down there, it always seemed at least 10 degrees cooler down there under the trees than in the rest of the city, and back then Normanskill Drive wasnt paved so you walked on the yellow bricks and it was like being back in time 100 years. Covering those bricks was terrible, but along the edges and in potholes you can still see the yellow bricks and of course the old bridge still has them along with a nicely maintained section on the Bethlehem side of the stream.Camelbinky (talk) 01:32, 12 July 2011 (UTC)

Getting down to the list ...

Alright. Sorry for taking so long to reply on this one; I had to finish Wheeler–Stallard House and get my brain out of Aspen (which wasn't a bad place to have had it, though).

I have printed out a hard copy and will be going through it with a red pen. I don't anticipate much being a problem at this point. There's going to be a lot to add to it.

As my work on the Orleans list would suggest, I think that an NRHP FL should have ...

  • info like date of listing and description sourced and cited.
  • alt text for all images.
  • proper coordinates (in the course of writing articles, I've often fixed those ... but except for Orleans not done so on the list. And sometimes the NPS's coords are wildly wrong).
  • descriptions that use complete sentences (It helps for these that the articles on the listings not be short stubs, so obviously there may be some expansion to do).

I also think a sort of introductory overview or prose talking about the age range of the listings, the property types they represent (lots of districts), and the specific building types (how many houses, commercial buildings ... certainly going to be a lot of government buildings). And we can talk about how these listings tell us the history of Albany ... i.e., neighborhoods like the Mansion District being the first stop for immigrants, Downtown still reflecting the original street arrangement within the stockade, the construction of state government buildings reflecting the growth of the state and its government, city public buildings reflecting the city's own growth.

Any thoughts on that? Daniel Case (talk) 03:37, 18 July 2011 (UTC)

Even better picture ... looks almost like it could be a painting!

Sorry about being out of touch for the past few days ... combination of the worst heat wave of the year and having a fellow Wikipedian as a houseguest.

I have done a hard-copy red-pen edit of the list, just haven't implemented it yet. When I do I will be more specific about what, specifically, I can do. Daniel Case (talk) 05:29, 25 July 2011 (UTC)

CourtofAppealsPano.jpg Image Use

Hi Matt,

Just wanted to let you know that your photo of the Court of Appeals in Albany is going to be used in an upcoming educational book titled Judges and Courts (to be published in Spring 2012 from Lerner Publishing). Your work is credited at the end of the book under the photo acknowledgements section. Thank you for allowing us to use this image!

Enowicki (talk) 21:01, 25 July 2011 (UTC)

Hehe, keep getting your photos published in books and I'll have to break my "no doing biography articles" rule just to make an article on YOU. :) Congrats on another!Camelbinky (talk) 23:51, 25 July 2011 (UTC)

What do you think abou this for an article-

What do you think about an article (and feel free to throw out better ideas for the name of the article if you like the idea) preliminarily titled Etymology of New York's Capital District places, a lede consisting of showing some commonalities- so many Native American names (Schenectady, Cohoes, Niskayuna, Saratoga Springs), Dutch or Dutch inspired names (Watervliet, Rensselaer, North and East Greenbush, Rotterdam, Feura Bush, Pine Bush), Pine tree inspired (North and East Greenbush, Pine Bush, Green Island, Cohoes, Niskayuna), named for an individual (Latham, Rensselaer, Rensselaerville, Loudonville, Newtonville, McKownville, Defreestville); and then a series of tables at least two I can think of, one for cities, towns, villages, and hamlets, and another for geographic features like rivers, streams, mountains, islands and the such.

Sounds reasonable to me. I would name it Toponymies of places in New York's Capital District. upstateNYer 02:45, 26 July 2011 (UTC)
Love the name you came up with. Thank you. Hope to get working on it this week.Camelbinky (talk) 04:29, 26 July 2011 (UTC)

The Signpost: 25 July 2011

DYK for Marcus T. Reynolds

The DYK project (nominate) 12:56, 26 July 2011 (UTC)

Ambassador Program: assessment drive

Even though it's been quiet on-wiki, the Wikipedia Ambassador Program has been busy over the last few months getting ready for the next term. We're heading toward over 80 classes in the US, across all disciplines. You'll see courses start popping up here, and this time we want to match one or more Online Ambassadors to each class based on interest or expertise in the subject matter. If you see a class that you're interested, please contact the professor and/or me; the sooner the Ambassadors and professors get in communication, the better things go. Look for more in the coming weeks about next term.

In the meantime, with a little help I've identified all the articles students did significant work on in the last term. Many of the articles have never been assessed, or have ratings that are out of date from before the students improved them. Please help assess them! Pick a class, or just a few articles, and give them a rating (and add a relevant WikiProject banner if there isn't one), and then update the list of articles.

Once we have updated assessments for all these articles, we can get a better idea of how quality varied from course to course, and which approaches to running Wikipedia assignments and managing courses are most effective.

--Sage Ross - Online Facilitator, Wikimedia Foundation (talk) 17:31, 27 July 2011 (UTC)

From list copyedit

Alright, to start updating the list, I did a short copyedit based on my hardcopy. I saw you made the most obvious change, putting in the legend; I then took out the redundant "Listings in city of Albany" hed (which required—for now—putting {{clear}} in to hold the legend to the top of the list, but I suppose as we put in intro text, that will no longer be necessary.

My other change was spelling out street names where no number was used. The NPS may feel it can get away with using abbreviations all the time, but we can do better. I couldn't find anything in the MOS about this, so I just followed common practice from AP and Chicago with which I am familiar.

I'm going to put some specific broader questions on the list talk page, where they really belong. After we resolve that I think I can let you know which specific summaries I want to do and get to writing them. Daniel Case (talk) 05:26, 29 July 2011 (UTC)

Your Featured picture candidate has been promoted
Your nomination for featured picture status, File:LOC Main Reading Room Highsmith.jpg, gained a consensus of support, and has been promoted. If you would like to nominate another image, please do so at Wikipedia:Featured picture candidates. Makeemlighter (talk) 22:15, 1 August 2011 (UTC)

The Signpost: 01 August 2011

Summaries I'd like to write

OK ... First I'd like to do the articles I created or significantly expanded:

And maybe all the other historic districts (save Rapp Road): Arbor Hill-Ten Broeck Triangle, Broadway-Livingston Ave., Center Square/Hudson–Park, Knox Street, Lafayette Park, South End-Groesbeckville and Washington Park. They generally have longer nominations; you have to work a little harder to find the salient facts about them.

And, maybe, some of the other contributing properties within them: the United Traction Company Building, First Trust Company Building and maybe the YMCA. Is that all alright with you?

Speaking of summaries, we need to trim down that one for The Albany Academy and some of the other ones that have long columns; we have articles to relay all that (When I did the Orleans County list I tried to keep them as generally boxed in as I could).

Lastly, I think, since we have a picture we really should have an article (even a stubby one) for University Club of Albany. As the only redlink it looks bad. Daniel Case (talk) 20:26, 1 August 2011 (UTC)

All sounds good to me; in fact I was hoping you'd call dibs on the districts. Taking any contributing properties is also fine with me. Feel free to trim or edit my summaries as you see fit. I may do the same for yours. :) Getting University Club as a stub is fine; I'll create that when I get to its summary. Should we put a date on this? When we'd like a first final draft to be done? upstateNYer 20:51, 1 August 2011 (UTC)
Oh, that short! I'm definitely okay with doing that. (Just looked at Orleans County list.) In fact, I'd prefer it. upstateNYer 01:20, 2 August 2011 (UTC)
Thanks for that pic; I think I remembered seeing it when you first uploaded it, but for some reason I delayed putting it in the article.

As for setting a deadline ... probably not, I can't say for certain how my offline life will go for the next few weeks; it's much easier just to promise that I will try to do some work on the list every day as I have been so far (I just realized I need to add page numbers for those citations to. It was probably most necessary in the case of that 126-page nom for the South End, but that's something you should always have for featured status. So, later this weekend I will be doing that). I'm also trying to keep up with my other NRHP articles, currently alternating between Aspen and Ossining, in the meantime. Daniel Case (talk) 18:33, 6 August 2011 (UTC)

Dear Matt,

I'm writing to you from an Independent Documentary company. We'd very much like to have your photograph of the whitehouse appear in one our upcoming documentaries. Obviously we wouldn't be able to cite your name and link to the file directly but we would be able to credit you at the end of the film. Would this be okay?

Many Thanks


Andrew


Andrew@spiritlevelfilm.com — Preceding unsigned comment added by AndrewSpiritLevel (talkcontribs) 16:42, 2 August 2011 (UTC)

NickDupree GA nomination

Would you or anyone you know be willing to review my first GA nomination? I'd be willing to do some sort of arrangement "you review my GA nom/I review yours/strictly no favoritism or expectations." The Juan Gualberto Gómez article is my nominee stuck in the GA queue, but I would rather wait weeks for a tough, thorough review than get something shoddy and quick. Any advice appreciated. NickDupree (talk) 23:52, 18 July 2011 (UTC)

Yea, sure, I owe you one anyway. I'll have it done within a couple days at most. upstateNYer 00:33, 19 July 2011 (UTC)
Thank you! My gratitude from Manhattan NickDupree (talk) 01:13, 19 July 2011 (UTC)
Wanted to say that I haven't forgotten about your request, just having a really busy week... upstateNYer 01:53, 21 July 2011 (UTC)
No problem NickDupree (talk) 05:11, 21 July 2011 (UTC)
Sorry for my delayed reply. I've posted a full response to your initial GA Review. I can't thank you enough for your work reviewing Juan Gualberto Gómez. Please let me know where we go from here. —NickDupree (talk) 02:27, 12 August 2011 (UTC)

The Signpost: 08 August 2011

The Signpost: 15 August 2011

Online Ambassadors: Time to join pods

Hello! If you're planning to be an active Online Ambassador for the upcoming academic term, now is the time to join one or more pods. (A pod consists of the instructor, the Campus Ambassadors, and the Online Ambassadors for single class.) The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) explains the expectations for being part of a pod as an Online Ambassador. (The MOU for pods in Canada is essentially the same.) In short, the role of Online Ambassadors this term consists of:

  • Working closely with the instructor and Campus Ambassadors, providing advice and perspective as an experienced Wikipedian
  • Helping students who ask for it (or helping them to find the help they need)
  • Watching out for the class as a whole
  • Helping students to get community feedback on their work

This replaces the 1-on-1 mentoring role for Online Ambassadors that we had in previous terms; rather than being responsible for individual students (some of whom don't want or help or are unresponsive), Online Ambassadors will be there to help whichever students in their class(es) ask for help.

You can browse the upcoming courses here: United States; Canada. More are being added as new pods become active and create their course pages.

Once you've found a class that you want to work with—especially if you some interest or expertise in the topic area—you should sign the MOU listing for that class and get in touch with the instructor. We're hoping to have at least two Online Ambassadors per pod, and more for the larger classes.

If you're up for supporting any kind of class and would like me to assign you to a pod in need of more Online Ambassadors, just let me know.

--Sage Ross - Online Facilitator, Wikimedia Foundation (talk) 16:37, 19 August 2011 (UTC)

PS: There are still a lot of student articles from the last term that haven't been rated. Please rate a few and update the list!

GOCE drive newsletter

Invitation from the Guild of Copy Editors

The Guild of Copy Editors invites you to participate in their September 2011 Backlog elimination drive, a month-long effort to reduce the size of the copy editing backlog. The drive will begin on September 1 at 00:00 (UTC) and will end on September 30 at 23:59 (UTC). We will be tracking the number of 2010 articles in the backlog, as we want to copy edit as many of those as possible. Please consider copy editing an article that was tagged in 2010. Barnstars will be given to anyone who edits more than 4,000 words, with special awards for the top 5 in the categories "Number of articles", "Number of words", and "Number of articles of over 5,000 words". See you at the drive! – Your drive coordinators: Diannaa, Chaosdruid, The Utahraptor, Slon02, and SMasters.

Sent on behalf of the Guild of Copy Editors using AWB on 17:21, 21 August 2011 (UTC)

The Signpost: 22 August 2011

The Signpost: 29 August 2011

NRHP discussion

Hi, I noticed that you are active in the NRHP WikiProject, and I was hoping that you would like to make a comment on a discussion going on there. You don't have to, but it would be greatly appreciated. The discussion is at WT:NRHP#Numbers in NRHP county lists. Thank you. Theking17825 16:04, 31 August 2011 (UTC)

The Signpost: 05 September 2011

twin towers photo

I am thinking about using your photo of the second tower being hit in a documentary. You can see the trailer on YouTube here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsbaQ4dtifU As it is a video documentary, would I put your CC-BY-SA-3.0/Matt H. Wade at Wikipedia, (link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:UpstateNYer) in the credits at the end? Thanks. Chris75.248.92.122 (talk) 10:59, 6 September 2011 (UTC)

editor demographics

Hey! There's new data on editor demographics that came from the recent editor survey, the final report for which was just released: meta:Editor Survey 2011. The Profiles and Women Editors sections probably have most of what you're looking for.--Sage Ross - Online Facilitator, Wikimedia Foundation (talk) 14:58, 6 September 2011 (UTC)

September 2011 Newsletter for WikiProject United States

The September 2011 issue of the WikiProject United States newsletter has been published. You may read the newsletter, change the format in which future issues will be delivered to you, or unsubscribe from this notification by following the link. Thank you.

 
--Kumioko (talk) 02:44, 7 September 2011 (UTC)

Are you going to finish this review? Wizardman Operation Big Bear 16:26, 8 September 2011 (UTC)

Frankly, I don't have the time. :( upstateNYer 21:57, 8 September 2011 (UTC)

The Signpost: 12 September 2011

RE: File:September 11 Photo Montage.jpg

Hello, MattWade. You have new messages at Fox's talk page.
You can remove this notice at any time by removing the {{Talkback}} or {{Tb}} template.

Joseph Fox 23:26, 16 September 2011 (UTC)

Using an image of yours...

Hello Matt,

I decided (today) to try and start a small graphic design business, and I came across a photo of yours and doctored it up with my logo. It only exists on my new facebook page, and I credited you in the description. Thanks for making your extensive work available in this way!

Here's a link:

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.193458617393175.47430.193431850729185&type=1

If for some reason you'd like me to remove or change the post, let me know. syrcodesigns@gmail.com. And if you ever have any graphic design needs, remember me!

Thanks,

Richie Cannaday — Preceding unsigned comment added by 96.253.223.95 (talk) 21:11, 18 September 2011 (UTC)

Ha! I wasn't expecting that photo to be the one anybody would use for anything. No problem; glad you found a use for it. I may very well hit you up someday! Best, upstateNYer 01:56, 19 September 2011 (UTC)

The Signpost: 19 September 2011

Template:New York NRHP topnav

OK, at your insistance I'll remove them. When working on other states I found the topnav very helpful. Since you are so passionate about not having something helpful at the top of the lists, they must certainly be removed. Should this be agneral NRHP project policy because this helpful topnav template exists in WV too? Please advise Cheers--Pubdog (talk) 00:58, 24 September 2011 (UTC)

Hi my name is Michael Cargos I am also a big proponate of education and I am currently witing a a wiki article about Boys and Girls Club of America I have had the privlidge to work with them and experience the change and really see the growth that they help develope in youth. I believe a more educated society is a better one and am hoping to connect what I learn from my research when gathering information for this article about Boys and Girls Club of America with a research paper I am writing on the education system in America as a hole and how programs like the Boys and Girls Club of America that create a positve enviorment where children and young adults are encouraged to learn can really help it. I would really appreciate if you would help me through the process as my wiki mentor thank you for your time I hope to hear from you soon. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Cargosm1 (talkcontribs) 19:17, 26 September 2011 (UTC)

The Signpost: 26 September 2011


Update on courses and ambassador needs

Hello, Ambassadors!

I wanted to give you one last update on where we are this term, before my role as Online Facilitator wraps up at the end of this week. Already, there are over 800 students in U.S. classes who have signed up on course pages this term. About 40 classes are active, and we're expecting that many more again once all the classes are up and running.

On a personal note, it's been a huge honor to work with so many great Wikipedians over the last 15 months. Thanks so much to everyone who jumped in and decided to give the ambassador concept a try, and double thanks those of you who were involved early on. Your ideas and insights and enthusiasm have been the foundation of the program, and they will be the keys the future of the program.

Courses looking for Online Ambassadors

Still waiting to get involved with a class this term, or ready to take on more? We have seven classes that are already active and need OA support, and eleven more that have course pages started but don't have active students yet. Please consider joining one or more of these pods!

Active courses that really need Online Ambassadors:

Courses that may be active soon that need Online Ambassadors:

--Sage Ross - Online Facilitator, Wikimedia Foundation (talk) 23:15, 27 September 2011 (UTC)

ProctorsSchenectady.jpg

Dear Matt,

Thank you for giving Creative Commons license use of your photo of Proctors Theatre in Schenectady, NY. I needed to illustrate the theatre in a blog post that the CT Humanities Council published and it was just what I was looking for.

Link to blog post featuring your photograph is: http://www.ctculture.org/chc/program_resources/hrc/audience/building-communities.html

Best,

Scott Wands Heritage Resource Center Director CT Humanities Council — Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.166.46.185 (talk) 19:07, 28 September 2011 (UTC)

Pending NRHP noms in Capital District

As we continue work on the Albany NRHP list (the summaries are looking more and more complete; I see you've been working on them too), here are some more pending noms from NYSOPRHP in the Albany area (none in the city itself, thankfully) that you may want to photograph ahead of time:

Seems like they like Schenectady this time around. Daniel Case (talk) 04:43, 3 October 2011 (UTC)

The Signpost: 3 October 2011

NARA scanathon this weekend ... anything you might want?

I am going to the NARA scanathon in the Washington area this Saturday. As you can already see I've put in some requests for some material relevant to the Capital District articles I work on. If there's anything you can find using the linked search interface, let me know before then. Daniel Case (talk) 18:10, 6 October 2011 (UTC)

The Signpost: 10 October 2011

D&H building picture on list

Just to further explain my last edit to the Albany NRHP list: I chose to use the picture of the tower alone that you took (which is widely reused, actually) because that, to me, works better in the list than the broader picture we use in the article itself.

I'm pleased to see you're able to devote more time to this again. Two months ago most of the description column was blank; now it's jam-packed with interesting and cited information. We still have a ways to go, but I definitely see the light at the end of that particular tunnel.

Hope you don't mind that, as I looked up info for the descriptions, I expanded the articles appropriately (I think that will help at FLC eventually, actually). I currently have Nut Grove up for DYK (Given that it's part of a drug rehab center now, I can understand why you took that particular angle. I'm surprised you didn't get harassed in the parking lot ... rehab facilities have a lot of obligations, legal and otherwise, to protect their patients' privacy, and they would have certainly been within their rights to chase you away. On the other hand, I'd love to have a picture of the east facade as it is now, if it hasn't been changed too much, and maybe if we go to them and ask they could find a way to help us. Daniel Case (talk) 19:39, 11 October 2011 (UTC)

Thanks, more comments requested

Thanks for your support for the NRHP photo contest. I've put a draft of up for Wikipedia:WikiProject National Register of Historic Places/Fall 2011 Photo Contest. I'd love to see any comments about that page, just to make sure that it is easily understandable, and that the contest would be workable. Any more help appreciated. Smallbones (talk) 02:42, 12 October 2011 (UTC)

Thanks again for helping get this started.
Just a reminder that the WP:WikiProject National Register of Historic Places/Fall 2011 Photo Contest
will start on Friday, October 21.
Smallbones (talk) 01:22, 18 October 2011 (UTC)

The Signpost: 17 October 2011

The Signpost: 24 October 2011

New Page Patrol survey

New page patrol – Survey Invitation


Hello UpstateNYer! The WMF is currently developing new tools to make new page patrolling much easier. Whether you  have patrolled many pages or only a few, we now need to  know about your experience. The survey takes only 6 minutes, and the information you provide will not be shared with third parties other than to assist us in analyzing the results of the survey; the WMF will not use the information to identify you.

  • If this invitation  also appears on other accounts you  may  have, please complete the  survey  once only. 
  • If this has been sent to you in error and you have never patrolled new pages, please ignore it.

Please click HERE to take part.
Many thanks in advance for providing this essential feedback.


You are receiving this invitation because you  have patrolled new pages. For more information, please see NPP Survey. Global message delivery 13:45, 26 October 2011 (UTC)

RADIO CITY MUSIC HALL

I intend to use your beautiful photograph of Radio City Music Hall in a collage background for a projected set background image. this is for a college production of White Christmas. attribution and copyright information will be included in the program notes for the show. Please notify me if you have any questions 98.202.123.122 (talk) 23:12, 27 October 2011 (UTC)

Sounds good to me. Thanks for the heads up! upstateNYer 01:53, 28 October 2011 (UTC)

GOCE drive newsletter

Invitation from the Guild of Copy Editors

The Guild of Copy Editors invites you to participate in their November 2011 Backlog elimination drive, a month-long effort to reduce the size of the copy edit backlog. The drive begins on November 1 at 00:00 (UTC) and ends on November 30 at 23:59 (UTC). We will be tracking the number of 2010 articles (and specifically will be targeting the oldest three months), as we want to copy edit as many of these as possible. Barnstars will be awarded to anyone who copy edits more than 4,000 words, and special awards will be given to the top 5 in the following categories: "Number of articles", "Number of words", and "Number of articles of over 5,000 words". We hope to see you there! – Your drive coordinators: Diannaa, Chaosdruid, The Utahraptor, Slon02, and SMasters.

Sent on behalf of the Guild of Copy Editors using AWB on 02:52, 29 October 2011 (UTC)

The Signpost: 31 October 2011

The Signpost: 7 November2011

POTD notification

POTD

Hi Wade,

Just to let you know that the Featured Picture File:Allosaurus Jaws Steveoc86.jpg is due to make an appearance as Picture of the Day on November 12, 2011. If you get a chance, you can check and improve the caption at Template:POTD/2011-11-12. howcheng {chat} 19:22, 9 November 2011 (UTC)

A barnstar for you!

The Photographer's Barnstar
:) Rafandalucia (talk) 23:27, 9 November 2011 (UTC)
Thanks! upstateNYer 02:36, 10 November 2011 (UTC)

Future of the US Education Program and the Ambassador Project

There is a discussion about the future and the growth of the US education program along with the future of the Wikipedia Ambassador Project here. Voceditenore (talk) 06:41, 18 November 2011 (UTC)

The Signpost: 21 November 2011

The Signpost: 28 November 2011

The Signpost: 05 December 2011

The Signpost: 12 December 2011

Philip Schuyler House

I presume you mean this one?

Hi Matt,

I'd like to use your photo of the Philip Schuyler House in our I Love NY travel guide. I will make sure I credit the photo with your name. Is thereanything else I need to do?

Thanks!

BIll Finnerty

518/292-5386 — Preceding unsigned comment added by 205.232.253.12 (talk) 21:44, 14 December 2011 (UTC)

Hi Bill, I presume you mean the one I added to the right? It's all you. Thanks for the heads up. Be sure to have a look at my other photos of the Capital District (and beyond) as well. You may see something else you like in that collection. upstateNYer 22:45, 14 December 2011 (UTC)

The Signpost: 19 December 2011

GOCE newsletter

Greetings from the Guild of Copy Editors

Elections are currently underway for our third tranche of Guild coordinators. The voting period will run for 14 days: 00:01 UTC, 16 December – 23:59 UTC, 31 December. All GOCE members, as well as past participants of any of the Guild's Backlog elimination drives, are eligible to vote. There are five candidates vying for four positions. Your vote really matters! Cast your vote today.

Sent on behalf of the Guild of Copy Editors using AWB on 11:39, 21 December 2011 (UTC)

The Signpost: 26 December 2011

Giving Credit

Nice Picture you have of the Canada Pavilion. Once again,this note is for credit for the picture.

             Signed_Pongo Puppies.__________________  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.16.115.8 (talk) 20:06, 28 December 2011 (UTC) 

POTD notification

File:Times Square 1-2.JPG
POTD

Hi Matt,

Just to let you know that the Featured Picture File:Times Square 1-2.JPG is due to make an appearance as Picture of the Day on December 31, 2011. If you get a chance, you can check and improve the caption at Template:POTD/2011-12-31. howcheng {chat} 21:28, 29 December 2011 (UTC)

Appropriate date, looks good to me! upstateNYer 01:12, 30 December 2011 (UTC)

GOCE 2011 Year-End Report

Guild of Copy Editors 2011 Year-End Report

We have reached the end of the year, and what a year it has been! The Guild of Copy Editors was full of activity, and we achieved numerous important milestones in 2011. Read all about these in the Guild's 2011 Year-End Report.

Highlights
  • Membership grows to 764 editors, an increase of 261
  • Report on coordinators' elections
  • Around 1,000 articles removed through six Backlog elimination drives
  • Guild Plans for 2012
  • Requests page report
  • Sign up for the January 2012 Backlog elimination drive!


Get your copy of the Guild's 2011 Year-End Report here
On behalf of the Guild, we take this opportunity to wish you Season's Greetings and Happy New Year. We look forward to your support in 2012!
– Your 2011 Coordinators: Diannaa (lead), The Utahraptor, and Slon02 and SMasters (emeritus).

Sent on behalf of the Guild of Copy Editors using AWB on 07:35, 2 January 2012 (UTC)

The Signpost: 02 January 2012

I would like to use one of your Abe Lincoln pic

Hello Matt. My name is Rob Skiba. I am about to publish a book called, Babylon Rising: And The First Shall Be The Last and I'd like to include one of your photos of the Lincoln Memorial in chapter 4 of the book as per the usage requirements you requested here. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.9.41.254 (talk) 01:04, 4 January 2012 (UTC)

Best of luck with the new book, Rob! upstateNYer 03:08, 5 January 2012 (UTC)

Using Photo from Albany

Hi just letting you know we are using the photo "NYSCapitolWestSide" in our publication not sure if it will be posted to our website yet. We are a newspaper in Queens. I will add a link to it if we do put it on the website. A photo credit will be noted as it is with all photos we use. Thank you. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Dragonmac11 (talkcontribs) 21:36, 4 January 2012 (UTC)

Thanks for the heads up. You can just leave the link below my post here. upstateNYer 03:09, 5 January 2012 (UTC)

Minor thanks

Correction, Major Thanks for the Barnstar! (But I must say that cemeteries is one subject that I don't undertake too often.) --S. Rich (talk) 04:40, 5 January 2012 (UTC)

Facepalm Facepalm. Loved that little play of words. Well done. upstateNYer 04:43, 5 January 2012 (UTC)
That was nothing. For real fun-eral related puns, you should listen to the various episodes of The Life of Riley. The character of Digger O'Dell deserves an article of his own. (At the conclusion of his various visits to the Riley family, he'd say: "Well, I'd be better shoveling off.")
Re Oakwood, may I suggest moving the various image captions into the thumb boxes. I think it'd give a more consistent presentation.--S. Rich (talk) 05:14, 5 January 2012 (UTC)
Not sure what you mean, exactly. upstateNYer 18:19, 7 January 2012 (UTC)

hello,

you opposed the promotion of this picture, but now, as User:Fallschirmjäger retouched the picture, can you take a second look? Thanks. ♫GoP♫TCN 19:21, 6 January 2012 (UTC)

The alt is too small; it doesn't meet the 1000 pixel minimum size minimum. I would be sure to read through the full FP criteria and maybe have a look at other FPs to see the expectations of featured pictures. upstateNYer 21:03, 6 January 2012 (UTC)
How about the original picture, retouched by Fallschirmjäger? ♫GoP♫TCN 22:20, 6 January 2012 (UTC)
No, sorry. The original suffers from a bad composition, poor lighting, and an overexposed sky. This photo probably cannot be edited enough to bring it to a level that I could support. The alt looks very promising but it is much to small. upstateNYer 18:17, 7 January 2012 (UTC)

The Signpost: 09 January 2012

Your input is needed on the SOPA initiative

Hi UpstateNYer,

You are receiving this message either because you expressed an opinion about the proposed SOPA blackout before full blackout and soft blackout were adequately differentiated, or because you expressed general support without specifying a preference. Please ensure that your voice is heard by clarifying your position accordingly.

Thank you.

Message delivered as per request on ANI. -- The Helpful Bot 16:45, 14 January 2012 (UTC)

Email response, and what's doing with the Albany NRHP list

Hello, MattWade. Please check your email; you've got mail!
It may take a few minutes from the time the email is sent for it to show up in your inbox. You can remove this notice at any time by removing the {{You've got mail}} or {{ygm}} template.

Now that we got that out of the way, just letting you know what I'm doing with our ongoing project with getting the list to FLC. While it's not necessary to improve all the articles to have a successful featured list, it occurred to me that some were down to stubs and their list blurb was more informative than the actual article. So I fleshed out everything.

Or so I had thought. Returning to the central area of the city before Christmas to create University Club of Albany and make every entry on the list blue, I discovered that the properties in the nearby neighborhood had similarly stubby articles. So, I've been working on them. And there are a few more. I also think I will expand the large district articles (Center Square/Hudson–Park, Arbor Hill, South End) to a level comparable with Downtown, Pastures and Mansion.

Fortunately I may be able to go a little faster on these as, in one of the other facets of the threefold rotation I've been working on since last summer, I have now finished creating/expanding all the Aspen articles. Since Denverjeffrey had also taken photos in Redstone, I will be working on those too, but that should probably take less time. I've also had some shorter things to work on from Westchester, but that's not going to stay that way. I am hoping that by the end of February I can say that all the Albany articles will have been expanded to where I think they should be, and we can work on other phases of the list (I hope you don't mind that I've been taking my time, and have been such a perfectionist. But it will happen). Daniel Case (talk) 06:49, 16 January 2012 (UTC)

I think those are fair goals, but I disagree that the articles need to be fleshed out to run an FLC. If you're working on them as you go along, that's a good faith investment that reviewers should know about, but it shouldn't make or break it. What I'm more concerned about is the lead, which I tried my best on. I have two books that should be useful (Albany Architecture and Architects of Albany), but as I've told you in the past, I'm not really the best at the lead-writing part. The lead has no sources if I remember right. Where should we go from here?
On an unrelated note, Kirsten Gillibrand is getting a lot of heat for her initial support of SOPA which renews my interest in trying to finish a legitimate rewrite. It's harder to summarize what she's done in Congress than it was to write her earlier-life bio. Would you be interested in helping out and/or do you know anybody that might want to help? A member of her campaign staff has been more than helpful and I'm sure he'd continue to help (this isn't a very common occurrence and isn't a bad idea to foster this while it's available). Thoughts? upstateNYer 21:34, 20 January 2012 (UTC)
Rewrite in her article, or in the SOPA article? (Don't know if this has come up, but Markos Moulitsas really trashed her for, IHO, trying to have it both ways. Might be worth it as a source). Daniel Case (talk) 21:38, 20 January 2012 (UTC)
Her bio. I really do think it could be FAC material if I could just get someone else to help me. upstateNYer 05:51, 21 January 2012 (UTC)

The Signpost: 16 January 2012

Community input required: lowering delist bar at FPC

You are receiving this because of your current or past association with the Featured Pictures project. Following on from several cases where closers did not observe the prescribed minimum votes required for a delisting, there is now a motion to entirely dismiss the requirement for a minimum. Please participate in the discussion as wide-ranging changes may arise.

Link: Wikipedia talk:Featured picture candidates#Delist procedure changes Papa Lima Whiskey 2 (talk) 14:19, 24 January 2012 (UTC)

The Signpost: 23 January 2012

The Signpost: 30 January 2012

Online Ambassador, Spring 2012

Hi, UpstateNYer! As you may know, the Wikipedia Education Program has instilled a new set of standards that courses must meet to officially join the program for the semester. As you can see, one of the requirements is that at least one ambassador or professor is a Wikipedian, as this should give students more access to helpful information about contributing to Wikipedia and creating good content. You are listed on the Online Ambassador page; are you still interested in remaining active this semester? Some of these classes will have to remove themselves from the program should they fail to meet these standards, but we would like to ensure that new students are receiving proper support during the editing process. Please let me know if you are still interested in mentoring these students this semester and/or visit the Online Ambassador talk page to select a course that still needs an Online Ambassador. Thank you! JMathewson (WMF) (talk) 00:24, 7 February 2012 (UTC)

The Signpost: 06 February 2012

Using a photograph of yours on the cover of a forthcoming Penn Press book

Mr. Wade,

Before I discovered this page, I actually sent you a message on flickr! My name is Julia Rose Roberts, and I'm Assistant to Peter Agree (the Editor-in-Chief) at the University of Pennsylvania Press. Our cover designer plans to use your photograph of the New York State Assembly chamber on the cover of a forthcoming book--How Governors Built the Modern Presidency by Saladin Ambar. I'll see that you're credited correctly. Just wanted to drop you a line and let you know!

Best, 165.123.51.10 (talk) 20:15, 8 February 2012 (UTC)Julia

Sounds great, thanks! upstateNYer 22:14, 8 February 2012 (UTC)

Another William Bliss Baker inquiry

Do you ever get over to the Ballston Lake area (specifically Clifton Park)? If you do happen to find yourself in that area, would you be willing to take a few pictures of "The Castle", one of the former studios of Baker? You can see it listed at #17 on this page. I appreciate any help, and you're welcome to wait around until spring in order to catch the trees looking good in the area. A good photo of the "Clifton Park Register of Historic Places" sign would be great, as well. Thank you. ···日本穣? · 投稿 · Talk to Nihonjoe · Join WP Japan! 08:46, 9 February 2012 (UTC)

That's not Clifton Park anymore when you get that far north and west, but I could make an effort sometime to do so. You're right, though, spring would be better. upstateNYer 04:39, 10 February 2012 (UTC)

Your logo in svg

All done. --The Hedonist (talk) 11:22, 13 February 2012 (UTC)

The Signpost: 13 February 2012

MSU Interview

Dear UpstateNYer,

My name is Jonathan Obar user:Jaobar, I'm a professor in the College of Communication Arts and

Sciences at Michigan State University and a Teaching Fellow with the Wikimedia Foundation's

Education Program. This semester I've been running a little experiment at MSU, a class where we

teach students about becoming Wikipedia administrators. Not a lot is known about your community,

and our students (who are fascinated by wiki-culture by the way!) want to learn how you do what

you do, and why you do it. A while back I proposed this idea (the class) to the community

[[Wikipedia:Village_pump_(proposals)/Archive_82#Learn_to_be_a_Wikipedia_Administrator_-

_New_class_at_MSU|HERE]], where it was met mainly with positive feedback. Anyhow, I'd like my

students to speak with a few administrators to get a sense of admin experiences, training,

motivations, likes, dislikes, etc. We were wondering if you'd be interested in speaking with one

of our students.


So a few things about the interviews:

  • Interviews will last between 15 and 30 minutes.
  • Interviews can be conducted over skype (preferred), IRC or email. (You choose the form of

communication based upon your comfort level, time, etc.)

  • All interviews will be completely anonymous, meaning that you (real name and/or pseudonym) will

never be identified in any of our materials, unless you give the interviewer permission to do so.

  • All interviews will be completely voluntary. You are under no obligation to say yes to an

interview, and can say no and stop or leave the interview at any time.

  • The entire interview process is being overseen by MSU's institutional review board (ethics

review). This means that all questions have been approved by the university and all students have

been trained how to conduct interviews ethically and properly.


Bottom line is that we really need your help, and would really appreciate the opportunity to speak

with you. If interested, please send me an email at obar@msu.edu (to maintain anonymity) and I

will add your name to my offline contact list. If you feel comfortable doing so, you can post your

name HERE instead.

If you have questions or concerns at any time, feel free to email me at obar@msu.edu. I will be

more than happy to speak with you.

Thanks in advance for your help. We have a lot to learn from you.

Sincerely,

Jonathan Obar --Jaobar (talk) 07:26, 12 February 2012 (UTC)

Young June Sah --Yjune.sah (talk) 21:59, 15 February 2012 (UTC)

Hi. You live in the area, right? Do you by any chance get the paper? Which one(s)? Chrisrus (talk) 01:17, 16 February 2012 (UTC)

I do, and I don't. upstateNYer 03:17, 16 February 2012 (UTC)
Are you going to be reading the Times Union tomorrow and the weekend? Are you following this story? Do you know about it? Locals who get the paper know about it. And also a few times in the Metroland. Outsiders don't know, and neither do us locals who get their news from other sources. Chrisrus (talk) 03:44, 16 February 2012 (UTC)
Can you clarify what exactly the story is? upstateNYer 03:26, 17 February 2012 (UTC)
NXIVM. Keith Raniere. Chrisrus (talk) 07:29, 17 February 2012 (UTC)

Urban blight photo

Wow ... was that one of yours? (I could, if I wanted, take similar photos in parts of Newburgh, photos where there's even more of this.

And don't discount yourself ... after all, you got that picture of the Stephen and Harriet Myers House (which I will be expanding next), whereas I didn't want to because of all the people on the street when I drove by. I try not to attract attention too much, and there was just no way I could have done it. Daniel Case (talk) 02:41, 16 February 2012 (UTC)

No, no, it's not mine. I remember being mildly disappointed on the lack of 'stereotypical' urban blight (i.e. that photo on Jeopardy) in the historic district. Had I just ventured two blocks south of Clinton, it would have been there waiting for me. upstateNYer 03:15, 16 February 2012 (UTC)

New list of state NRHP noms

The state has, it seems, just announced its new list of noms to discuss at the next BHP meeting. Fortunately this time there's only one in the Capital District: the Dr. Wesley Blaisdell House, on Route 144 in Coeymans. Seems like it should be fairly easy to get a good pic of when you get the chance. (There are actually more in my neck of the woods: two new ones each proposed for Orange, Ulster and Rockland. Plus I'm happy to see that the Downtown Ossining Historic District boundary increase I anticipated at the end of that article is getting on the road to formally happening. Daniel Case (talk) 15:34, 18 February 2012 (UTC)

I've never had reason to down to Coeymans, but if I ever do, I'll be sure to bring my camera. upstateNYer 18:14, 18 February 2012 (UTC)

GOCE March copy edit drive

Invitation from the Guild of Copy Editors

The Guild of Copy Editors invites you to participate in their March 2012 Backlog elimination drive, a month-long effort to reduce the size of the copy edit backlog. The drive begins on March 1 at 00:00 (UTC) and ends on March 31 at 23:59 (UTC). Our goal for the drive will be to eliminate the remaining 2010 articles from the queue. Barnstars will be awarded to anyone who copy edits more than 4,000 words, and special awards will be given to the top 5 in the following categories: "Number of articles", "Number of words", and "Number of articles of over 5,000 words". We hope to see you there! – Your drive coordinators: Dank, Diannaa, Stfg, and Coordinator emeritus SMasters. 19:57, 20 February 2012 (UTC)

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The Signpost: 20 February 2012

The Signpost: 27 February 2012

The Signpost: 05 March 2012

The Signpost: 12 March 2012

The Signpost: 19 March 2012

File:Schuyler Mansion Plaque.jpeg

Dear Mr. Wade,

On 17 October 2009 I took a photo of the dedication plaque at the Schuyler Mansion, and uploaded it to Wikipedia the next day. It was subsequently moved to the Commons. It appears as if someone using the user UpstateNYer changed the author, so that you are credited with taking this photo. As the photographer (see the metadata) I have changed the photo credit back to my account. If you did not make this change, I would encourage you to change your password.

--Ira Goldstein (talk) 16:44, 22 March 2012 (UTC)

See response. Sorry again. upstateNYer 21:46, 22 March 2012 (UTC)
Response at [23] --Ira Goldstein (talk) 23:39, 22 March 2012 (UTC)

Lots of Capital District Register action today

I've been taking a break from NRHP stuff, but I do keep an eye on the listings. Among a whole bunch of NHL designations announced today are several recent NY ones, including two up around you that we're well-prepared for thanks to your photographic and other efforts: USS Slater and Gardner Earl Memorial Chapel and Crematorium (which should now get a separate article: I think I'll start it when I'm done with United States v. Approximately 64,695 Pounds of Shark Fins). I'll make the appropriate amendments to the lists.

Also, House at 698 Kenwood Avenue in Slingerlands got listed, too. Have you been able to shoot that one yet? Daniel Case (talk) 18:34, 23 March 2012 (UTC)

The Signpost: 26 March 2012

Happy Birthday (2012)

The Signpost: 02 April 2012

GOCE March drive wrap-up

Guild of Copy Editors March 2012 backlog elimination drive
GOCE March 2012 Backlog Elimination progress graph

Greetings from the Guild of Copy Editors March 2012 Backlog elimination drive! This is the most successful drive we have had for quite a while. Here is your end-of-drive wrap-up newsletter.

Participation

Of the 70 people who signed up for this drive, 40 copy-edited at least one article. Thanks to all who participated! Special acknowledgement goes out to Lfstevens, who did over 200 articles, most of them in the last third of the drive, and topped all three leaderboard categories. You're a superstar! Stfg and others have been pre-checking the articles for quality and conformance to Wikipedia guidelines; some have been nominated for deletion or had some preliminary clean-up done to help make the copy-edit process more fun and appealing. Thanks to all who helped get those nasty last few articles out of the target months.

Progress report

During this drive we were successful in eliminating our target months—October, November, and December 2010—from the queue, and have now eliminated all the 2010 articles from our list. We were able to complete 500 articles this month! End-of-drive results and barnstar information can be found here.

When working on the backlog, please keep in mind that there are options other than copy-editing available; some articles may be candidates for deletion, or may not be suitable for copy-editing at this time for other reasons. The {{GOCEreviewed}} tag can be placed on any article you find to be totally uneditable, and you can nominate for deletion any that you discover to be copyright violations or completely unintelligible. If you need help deciding what to do, please contact any of the coordinators.

Thank you for participating in the March 2012 drive! All contributions are appreciated. Our next copy-edit drive will be in May.

Your drive coordinators – Dianna (Talk), Stfg (Talk), and Dank (talk)

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EdwardsBot (talk) 22:23, 4 April 2012 (UTC)

The Signpost: 09 April 2012

Proctors Theatre

Hi Matt,

My name is Ashley and I live and work in Schenectady, NY. I just became a writer for Examiner.com which is an online news publication. I am a local writer and I write about the arts in Schenectady. I forgot to take a photo of Proctors when I left work today and I found your photo on wikimedia. I used your photo without changing it. If you'd like to see it, you can visit examiner.com and search under the arts/entertainment section. My name is Ashley Dale. I am waiting for my editor to OKAY the article before it gets published, so I'm not sure how long that will be. Thanks for the photo! And I did give you credit!


Ashley D. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 96.249.9.179 (talk) 21:44, 10 April 2012 (UTC)

Hey, no problem. Thanks for the update! upstateNYer 15:42, 13 April 2012 (UTC)

The Signpost: 16 April 2012

GOCE May copy edit drive

Invitation from the Guild of Copy Editors

The Guild of Copy Editors invites you to participate in their May 2012 Backlog elimination drive, a month-long effort to reduce the size of the copy edit backlog. The drive begins on May 1 at 00:00 (UTC) and ends on May 31 at 23:59 (UTC). Our goal for the drive will be to eliminate January, February, and March 2011 from the queue. Barnstars will be awarded to anyone who copy edits more than 4,000 words, and special awards will be given to the top 5 in the following categories: "Number of articles", "Number of words", and "Number of articles of over 5,000 words". We hope to see you there! – Your drive coordinators: Dank, Diannaa, and Stfg.

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Thank you

Hi Matt,

Just wanted to drop you a line to thank you for allowing others to use your photos.

If you would like to see the photo I used, you can click on the following link: http://latinaonamission.com/2012/04/minority-health-blogger-townhall-the-white-house

Gracias!/Thank you!

MsLatina (talk) 16:08, 23 April 2012 (UTC)

¡De nada! upstateNYer 02:25, 25 April 2012 (UTC)

The Signpost: 23 April 2012

The Signpost: 30 April 2012

The Signpost: 07 May 2012

The Signpost: 14 May 2012

GOCE May mid-drive newsletter

Guild of Copy Editors May 2012 backlog elimination drive mid-drive newsletter

Participation: Out of 49 people signed up for this drive so far, 26 have copy-edited at least one article. It's a smaller group than last drive, but we're making good progress. If you've signed up but haven't yet copy-edited any articles, please consider doing so. Every bit helps! If you haven't signed up yet, it's not too late. Join us!

Progress report: We're on track to meet our targets for the drive, largely due to the efforts of Lfstevens and the others on the leaderboard. Thanks to all. We have reduced our target group of articles—January, February, and March 2011—by over half, and it looks like we will achieve that goal. Good progress is being made on the overall backlog as well, with over 500 articles copy-edited during the drive so far. The total backlog currently sits at around 3200 articles.

Hall of Fame: GOCE coordinator Diannaa was awarded a spot in the GOCE Hall of Fame this month! She has copy-edited over 1567 articles during these drives, and surpassed the 1,000,000-word mark on May 5. On to the second million! – Your drive coordinators: Dank, Diannaa and Stfg

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I'm using your photo of the White House for my school project

Hi Upstater,

as you request here, I'm informing you that I'm going to use this photo in my school project about some social-interest arguments. The image will be in the chapter about the American Parliament and Government. I'm going to print it, so I can't use links, but I think an attribution like "The copyright holder of this photo, Matt H. Wade ("User:UpstateNYer" at Wikipedia), releases it under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)." is fine. Besides, I'm going to release the entire project under the same license. For clarifications of any kind, leave a message on my talk page at the Italian Wikisource. Soon, Erasmo Barresi (talk) 10:23, 21 May 2012 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2.193.234.42 (talk)

Works for me. Thanks for the heads up. upstateNYer 22:31, 21 May 2012 (UTC)

The Signpost: 21 May 2012

The Signpost: 28 May 2012

GOCE May drive wrap-up

Guild of Copy Editors May 2012 backlog elimination drive wrap-up

Participation: Out of 54 people who signed up this drive, 32 copy-edited at least one article. Last drive's superstar, Lfstevens, again stood out, topping the leader board in all three categories and copy-editing over 700 articles. Thanks to all who participated! Final results, including barnstars awarded, are available here.

Progress report: We were once again successful in our primary goal—removing the oldest three months from the backlog—while removing 1166 articles from the queue, the second-most in our history. The total backlog currently sits at around 2600 articles, down from 8323 when we started out just over two years ago.

Coodinator election: The six-month term for our third tranche of Guild coordinators will be expiring at the end of June. We will be accepting nominations for the fourth tranche of coordinators, who will also serve a six-month term. Nominations will open starting on June 5. For complete information, please have a look at the election page. – Your drive coordinators: Dank, Diannaa, and Stfg

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The Signpost: 04 June 2012

The Signpost: 11 June 2012

Use of your work

Hello, I am making a series of photographic videos on Youtube about the 194(ish) nations of the world, and your work http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:St_Johns_Antigua_2012.jpg is a photo I would like to use in a video about Antigua & Barbuda. I am aware of and acknowledge the Creative Commons attribution/sharing licenses, and will attribute the image to you in the credits as you require. Thanks for making the image available, which is stunning, by the way. Douglas Burgeson - Youtube account: http://www.youtube.com/user/LittleBillysWorld?feature=mhee — Preceding unsigned comment added by Douglasvburgeson (talkcontribs) 17:06, 13 June 2012 (UTC)

The Signpost: 18 June 2012

GOCE July 2012 Copy Edit Drive

Invitation from the Guild of Copy Editors

The Guild of Copy Editors invites you to participate in their July 2012 Backlog elimination drive, a month-long effort to reduce the size of the copy edit backlog. The drive begins on July 1 at 00:00 (UTC) and ends on July 31 at 23:59 (UTC). Our goals are to eliminate the articles tagged in April, May and June 2011 from the queue and to complete all requests placed before the end of June. Barnstars will be awarded to anyone who copy edits more than 4,000 words, and special awards will be given to the top 6 in the following categories: "Number of articles", "Number of words", "Number of articles of over 5,000 words", "Number of articles tagged in April–June 2011", and "Longest article". We hope to see you there! – Your drive coordinators: Dank, Diannaa and Stfg.

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The Signpost: 25 June 2012

The project in which I used your photo is now online

Hi Upstater,

do you remember my notification? Well, I decided to upload my project to the Internet Archive so you (and another user from who I took another image) can see how I used your image. The page is here. How does it look? Soon, Erasmo Barresi (talk) 11:36, 27 June 2012 (UTC)

The Signpost: 02 July 2012

The Signpost: 09 July 2012

Credo Reference Update & Survey (your opinion requested)

Credo Reference, who generously donated 400 free Credo 250 research accounts to Wikipedia editors over the past two years, has offered to expand the program to include 100 additional reference resources. Credo wants Wikipedia editors to select which resources they want most. So, we put together a quick survey to do that:

It also asks some basic questions about what you like about the Credo program and what you might want to improve.

At this time only the initial 400 editors have accounts, but even if you do not have an account, you still might want to weigh in on which resources would be most valuable for the community (for example, through WikiProject Resource Exchange).

Also, if you have an account but no longer want to use it, please leave me a note so another editor can take your spot.

If you have any other questions or comments, drop by my talk page or email me at wikiocaasi@yahoo.com. Cheers! Ocaasi t | c 17:35, 11 July 2012 (UTC)

GOCE July 2012 mid-drive newsletter

Guild of Copy Editors July 2012 backlog elimination drive mid-drive newsletter

Participation: Out of 37 people signed up for this drive so far, 25 have copy-edited at least one article. It's a smaller group than last drive, but we're making good progress. If you've signed up but haven't yet copy-edited any articles, every bit helps; if you haven't signed up yet, it's not too late. Join us!

Progress report: We're almost on track to meet our targets for the drive. Great work, guys. We have reduced our target group of articles—May, June, and July 2011—by about 40%, and the overall backlog has been reduced by 264 articles so far, to around 2500 articles.

Copy Edit of the Month: Starting in August, your best copy-editing work of the month will be eligible for fabulous prizes! See here for details. – Your drive coordinators: Stfg, Allens, and Torchiest.

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The Signpost: 16 July 2012

The Signpost: 23 July 2012

Radio City Music Hall

Hello,

I am contacting you from the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History in Detroit, MI. We would like to use your photograph of the Radio City Music Hall facade in our upcoming exhibit entitled Inspired Minds. The exhibit will run for 5 years but your image may not necessarily be displayed the entire time. It will not be available online nor will it ever leave our museum.

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to call me at 313 494 5813 or email me at kstinnett@chwmuseum.org


Thank you,

Kamilah Stinnett Research Assistant Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History — Preceding unsigned comment added by 50.76.189.238 (talk) 14:58, 27 July 2012 (UTC)

GOCE July drive wrap-up

Guild of Copy Editors July 2012 backlog elimination drive wrap-up

Participation: Out of 45 people who signed up this drive, 31 have copy-edited at least one article. Lfstevens continues to carry most of the weight, having edited 360 articles and over a quarter of a million words already. Thanks to all who have participated! Final results, including barnstars awarded, will be available early in August here.

Progress report: We are once again very close to achieving in our primary goal—removing the oldest three months from the backlog. Only 35 such articles remain at press time. The total backlog currently sits at under 2400 articles, down from 8323 when we started out over two years ago. We are just two articles away from completing all requests made before July 2012 (both are in progress).

Copy Edit of the Month: Starting in August, you'll be able to submit your best copy-editing work for palaver, praise, and prizes. See here for details. – Your drive coordinators: Stfg, Allens, and Torchiest.

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The Signpost: 30 July 2012

The Signpost: 06 August 2012

The Signpost: 13 August 2012

The Signpost: 20 August 2012

GOCE news and September drive invitation

Invitation from the Guild of Copy Editors

The Guild of Copy Editors invites you to participate in its events:

  • The August 2012 Copy Edit of the Month Contest is currently in the submissions stage. Submit your best August copy edit there before the end of the month. Submissions end, and discussion and voting begin, on September 1 at 00:00 (UTC).
  • September 2012 Backlog elimination drive is a month-long effort to reduce the size of the copy edit backlog. The drive begins on September 1 at 00:00 (UTC) and ends on September 30 at 23:59 (UTC). Our goals are to copy edit the articles tagged longest ago and to complete all requests placed before the end of August. Barnstars will be awarded to anyone who copy edits at least one article, and special awards will be given to the top six in the following categories: "Number of articles", "Number of words", "Number of articles of over 5,000 words", "Number of articles tagged longest ago", and "Longest article". This drive features a much easier signup process. We hope to see you there! – Your drive coordinators: Stfg, Allens, and Torchiest.
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The Signpost: 27 August 2012

GOCE September activities

Reminders from the Guild of Copy Editors

A quick reminder of our current events:

  • The August 2012 Copy Edit of the Month Contest is in the discussion and voting stage until midnight September 14 (UTC).
  • The September 2012 Copy Edit of the Month Contest is in the submissions stage until midnight September 30 (UTC), when discussion and voting begin.
  • The September 2012 Backlog elimination drive is now underway! The event runs until midnight September 30 (UTC). The goal is to copy edit articles with the oldest tags and complete all requests placed before September. Barnstars will be awarded to anyone who participates, with special awards given to the top five in the following categories: "Total articles", "Total words", "Total articles over 5,000 words", "Total articles tagged longest ago", and "Longest article". – Your drive coordinators: Stfg, Allens, and Torchiest.

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The Signpost: 03 September 2012

The Signpost: 10 September 2012

Online Ambassador

Hi Matt! Are you interested in being the Online Ambassador for any classes this term? We've got a few classes that are looking for ambassador right now (Canada, US), so if you're up for helping any, please do! Let me know if you have any questions, or if you'd like me to pick a course for you.--Sage Ross (WMF) (talk) 14:07, 12 September 2012 (UTC)

Hey Sage! Sorry, dude, not enough time in my life to put forward at this point. :( Happy to see you rejoining WMF, though. Good things in its future because of that. upstateNYer 00:34, 13 September 2012 (UTC)

GOCE mid-drive newsletter

Guild of Copy Editors September 2012 backlog elimination drive mid-drive newsletter

  • Participation: Out of 37 people signed up for this drive so far, 19 have copy-edited at least one article, about the same as the last drive. If you've signed up but haven't yet copy-edited any articles, every bit helps; if you haven't signed up yet, it's not too late. Join us!
  • Progress report: We're almost on track to meet our targets for the drive. Great work, guys. We have reduced our target group of articles—August, September, and October 2011—by about 44%, and the overall backlog has been reduced by 58 articles so far, to around 2600 articles. The biggest difference between this drive and the previous one is a stronger focus on large articles, so total word counts are still comparable.
  • Don't forget about the Copy Edit of the Month contests! Voting for the August contest has been extended through the end of the month. You don't have to make a submission to vote!
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The Signpost: 17 September 2012

Your free 1-year Questia online library account is approved ready

Good news! You are approved for access to 77,000 full-text books and 4 million journal, magazine, newspaper articles, and encyclopedia entries. Check your Wikipedia email!

  1. Go to https://www.questia.com/specialoffer
  2. Input your unique Offer ID and Promotional code. Click Continue. (Note that the activation codes are one-time use only and are case-sensitive).
  3. Create your account by entering the requested information. (This is private and no one from Wikipedia will see it).
  4. You'll then see the welcome page with your Login ID. (The account is now active for 1 year).

If you need help, please first ask Ocaasi at wikiocaasi@yahoo.com and, second, email QuestiaHelp@cengage.com along with your Offer ID and Promotional Code (subject: Wikipedia).

  • A quick reminder about using the account: 1) try it out; 2) provide original citation information, in addition to linking to a Questia article; 3) avoid bare links to non-free Questia pages; 4) note "(subscription required)" in the citation, where appropriate. Examples are at WP:Questia/Citations.
  • Questia would love to hear feedback at WP:Questia/Experiences
  • Show off your Questia access by placing {{User:Ocaasi/Questia_userbox}} on your userpage
  • When the 1-year period is up, check the applications page to see if renewal is possible. We hope it will be.

Thanks for helping make Wikipedia better. Enjoy your research! Cheers, Ocaasi EdwardsBot (talk) 05:15, 19 September 2012 (UTC)

The Signpost: 24 September 2012

Kirsten Gillibrand lead

As you requested, I've put my proposed lead revision on her talk page. --Grammarxxx (talk) 21:12, 26 September 2012 (UTC)

The Signpost: 01 October 2012

GOCE September 2012 drive wrap-up

Guild of Copy Editors September 2012 backlog elimination drive wrap-up

Participation: Out of 41 people who signed up this drive, 28 copy-edited at least one article. Thanks to all who participated! Final results, including barnstars awarded, are available here.

Progress report: We achieved our primary goal of clearing July, August, September and October 2011 from the backlog. This means that, for the first time since the drives began, the backlog is less than a year. At least 677 tagged articles were copy edited, although 365 new ones were added during the month. The total backlog at the end of the month was 2341 articles, down from 8323 when we started out over two years ago. We completed all 54 requests outstanding before September 2012 as well as eight of those made in September.

Copy Edit of the Month: Voting is now over for the August 2012 competition, and prizes will be issued soon. The September 2012 contest is closed for submissions and open for voting. The October 2012 contest is now open for submissions. Everyone is welcome to submit entries and to vote.

– Your drive coordinators: Stfg, Allens, and Torchiest.

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The Signpost: 08 October 2012

Use of Matt Wade's Albany Houses Photo

This is to let Matt Wade know that I have used his photo Albany Houses with an article on my website Anglicans Ablaze and have credited the photo to him as per his instructions. The article is at: http://anglicansablaze.blogspot.com/2012/10/mission-least-reached-may-be-your.html — Preceding unsigned comment added by Robin G Jordan (talkcontribs) 22:19, 9 October 2012 (UTC)

The Signpost: 15 October 2012

GOCE fall newsletter

Fall Events from the Guild of Copy Editors

The Guild of Copy Editors invites you to participate in its events:

  • The October 2012 Copy Edit of the Month Contest is currently in the submissions stage. Submit your best October copy edit there before the end of the month. Submissions end, and discussion and voting begin, on November 1 at 00:00 (UTC).
  • Voting is in progress for the September 2012 Copy Edit of the Month Contest. Everyone is welcome to vote, whether they have entered the contest or not.
  • NEW!! In the week from Sunday 21 October to Saturday 27 October, we are holding a Project Blitz, in which we will copy edit articles tagged with {{copyedit}} belonging to selected project(s). For the first blitz, we'll start with WikiProject Olympics and WikiProject Albums and add more Projects to the blitz as we clear them. The blitz works much like our bimonthly drives, but a bit simpler. Everyone is welcome to take part, and barnstars will be awarded.
  • November 2012 Backlog elimination drive is a month-long effort to reduce the size of the copy edit backlog. The drive begins on November 1 at 00:00 (UTC) and ends on November 30 at 23:59 (UTC). Our goals are to copy edit all articles tagged in 2011 and to complete all requests placed before the end of October. Barnstars will be awarded to anyone who copy edits at least one article, and special awards will be given to the top five in the following categories: "Number of articles", "Number of words", "Number of articles of over 5,000 words", "Number of articles tagged in 2011", and "Longest article". We hope to see you there! – Your drive coordinators: Stfg, Allens, and Torchiest.
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Great collection

Hi Matt. I just stumbled across your extesive collection of photographs on Wikipedia. A fine body of documentary work. Thanks for sharing. --Marcbela (talk) 15:01, 21 October 2012 (UTC)

Thanks very much! upstateNYer 16:45, 21 October 2012 (UTC)

Kirsten Gillibrand

I would like to discuss this article, and any possible "beef" you may have with Kirsten Gillibrand's promotion, or me. I am aware you are an administrator, and I may very well be stepping on some toes here, so if it ever seems I am being rude, please forgive me, I am never one to mince words

  • As you made your opinion known here, you claim there are still issues with the article such as "spelling, grammar, and clear truncation errors", may I recommend you just fix them, there is no need to go around poo-pooing every non-perfect GA.
  • During our "feud" on the talk page when we discussed the lead, I felt you were being uncompromising, and when I "won" with the arbiter siding with me, you made no comment. And as you said in the GA promotion page "Had I felt it deserved it to be a GA, I would have nominated myself"; I feel I need to remind you that you do not own this article; I took it upon myself to improve the article, and when the time came when I felt it was GA worthy, I nominated it. This in no way makes me the owner either, as you hinted at: "someone else has taking [sic] an ownership role".
  • On an non-Gillibrand subject, I would request that you do not interject yourself in conversations on users talk pages as you did on mine, it was a "private" conversation.

Grammarxxx (What'd I do this time?) 21:41, 21 October 2012 (UTC)

No beef. I'm sorry you've interpreted it that way. I think it's great that you went through the article to clean it up overall. I think we just have different expectations and interpretations of the wiki guidelines, which is fine. I'm from an older guard here and I guess I don't really have the right to complain about things now since I haven't been very active as of late. Real life and diminishing interest seem to be getting the better of me. You were right to be bold. I'd like to see if we couldn't flesh this article out a little more. I still think we're missing some critical content in the Tenure sections. And you're right, I'll go through and fix the errors I came upon. To me though, those errors are evidence of a quick review, which isn't the way the process was intended to be. Sure, it's not an FAN, which can take weeks, but it's also not a DYK, which just requires a few checks on a requirements list. GA is a big deal in my opinion; I was pretty pumped when I got my first one. I guess I still have that idealistic view on what a GA should be. As for the comment on your talk, I figured you would have rather been notified explicitly than stumble across the comments I made. Just trying to be transparent. :/ upstateNYer 01:43, 22 October 2012 (UTC)
Btw, I've read through a good portion of Jon Huntsman's article (out of interest because I've been impressed with him during the last year), and I like what I'm reading. :) upstateNYer 01:48, 22 October 2012 (UTC)

Request for use of Cuomo photo

You have a great photo of Andrew Cuomo that I just found http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Andrew_Cuomo_by_Pat_Arnow_cropped.jpeg I would be very interested to use it in a television ad about Cuomo and fracking. I work for a nonprofit that is doing work to oppose fracking in New York State. Would you be willing to let us use the ad? I think it's a creative commons license but I wanted to be sure. Please respond asap. This is a time sensitive request.

PS my Wikipedia user name is Mackabean. I have not been very active of late but used to do a lot of wikipedia editing. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Mackabean

Thanks!

I'm getting a lot of credit for that photo of Cuomo. But it's not mine. I convinced the photographer to release the rights on Flickr so we could have a legitimate photo on Wikipedia. I made some edits and happened to upload it, but I didn't take the photo, therefore you need to talk to Pat Arnow. A link to her Flickr page is on the photo page. upstateNYer 16:43, 21 October 2012 (UTC)
THanks a lot for connecting me with Pat. I found her and got the photo from her! — Preceding unsigned comment added by Mackabean (talkcontribs) 23:18, 28 October 2012 (UTC)

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photo

Hello Matt,

My name is Viktoria Vassileva, and I'am a execitive producer of bulgarian TV show - " Slavi Show". We wont to use your photo - "White House" in the show. We will notififed your name as a creator. It is ok ?

Have a nice day !

Viki — Preceding unsigned comment added by 91.212.13.6 (talk) 13:12, 4 December 2012 (UTC)

The Signpost: 03 December 2012

pending NRHP noms in Capital District

The latest round of nominations being considered by SHPO includes one from Troy that seems to be impossible to miss: United Waste Manufacturing Company Building, 1 Jackson Street. Apparently it's a big six-story brick complex right on the river that you can see quite well from across the river ... seems like it would be around Watervliet Arsenal. Yeah, the one that looks like a castle. So, if you get the chance, take a picture. Daniel Case (talk) 06:08, 10 December 2012 (UTC)

The Signpost: 10 December 2012

I redirected this link, which you had created three years ago, and which was deleted two years ago, to Helderberg Escarpment. Bearian (talk) 22:12, 13 December 2012 (UTC)

The Signpost: 08 October 2012

Use of Matt Wade's Albany Houses Photo

This is to let Matt Wade know that I have used his photo Albany Houses with an article on my website Anglicans Ablaze and have credited the photo to him as per his instructions. The article is at: http://anglicansablaze.blogspot.com/2012/10/mission-least-reached-may-be-your.html — Preceding unsigned comment added by Robin G Jordan (talkcontribs) 22:19, 9 October 2012 (UTC)

The Signpost: 15 October 2012

GOCE fall newsletter

Fall Events from the Guild of Copy Editors

The Guild of Copy Editors invites you to participate in its events:

  • The October 2012 Copy Edit of the Month Contest is currently in the submissions stage. Submit your best October copy edit there before the end of the month. Submissions end, and discussion and voting begin, on November 1 at 00:00 (UTC).
  • Voting is in progress for the September 2012 Copy Edit of the Month Contest. Everyone is welcome to vote, whether they have entered the contest or not.
  • NEW!! In the week from Sunday 21 October to Saturday 27 October, we are holding a Project Blitz, in which we will copy edit articles tagged with {{copyedit}} belonging to selected project(s). For the first blitz, we'll start with WikiProject Olympics and WikiProject Albums and add more Projects to the blitz as we clear them. The blitz works much like our bimonthly drives, but a bit simpler. Everyone is welcome to take part, and barnstars will be awarded.
  • November 2012 Backlog elimination drive is a month-long effort to reduce the size of the copy edit backlog. The drive begins on November 1 at 00:00 (UTC) and ends on November 30 at 23:59 (UTC). Our goals are to copy edit all articles tagged in 2011 and to complete all requests placed before the end of October. Barnstars will be awarded to anyone who copy edits at least one article, and special awards will be given to the top five in the following categories: "Number of articles", "Number of words", "Number of articles of over 5,000 words", "Number of articles tagged in 2011", and "Longest article". We hope to see you there! – Your drive coordinators: Stfg, Allens, and Torchiest.
>>> Blitz sign-up <<<         >>> Drive sign-up <<<

To discontinue receiving GOCE newsletters, please remove your name from our mailing list. Message delivered by EdwardsBot (talk) 19:34, 18 October 2012 (UTC)

Great collection

Hi Matt. I just stumbled across your extesive collection of photographs on Wikipedia. A fine body of documentary work. Thanks for sharing. --Marcbela (talk) 15:01, 21 October 2012 (UTC)

Thanks very much! upstateNYer 16:45, 21 October 2012 (UTC)

Kirsten Gillibrand

I would like to discuss this article, and any possible "beef" you may have with Kirsten Gillibrand's promotion, or me. I am aware you are an administrator, and I may very well be stepping on some toes here, so if it ever seems I am being rude, please forgive me, I am never one to mince words

  • As you made your opinion known here, you claim there are still issues with the article such as "spelling, grammar, and clear truncation errors", may I recommend you just fix them, there is no need to go around poo-pooing every non-perfect GA.
  • During our "feud" on the talk page when we discussed the lead, I felt you were being uncompromising, and when I "won" with the arbiter siding with me, you made no comment. And as you said in the GA promotion page "Had I felt it deserved it to be a GA, I would have nominated myself"; I feel I need to remind you that you do not own this article; I took it upon myself to improve the article, and when the time came when I felt it was GA worthy, I nominated it. This in no way makes me the owner either, as you hinted at: "someone else has taking [sic] an ownership role".
  • On an non-Gillibrand subject, I would request that you do not interject yourself in conversations on users talk pages as you did on mine, it was a "private" conversation.

Grammarxxx (What'd I do this time?) 21:41, 21 October 2012 (UTC)

No beef. I'm sorry you've interpreted it that way. I think it's great that you went through the article to clean it up overall. I think we just have different expectations and interpretations of the wiki guidelines, which is fine. I'm from an older guard here and I guess I don't really have the right to complain about things now since I haven't been very active as of late. Real life and diminishing interest seem to be getting the better of me. You were right to be bold. I'd like to see if we couldn't flesh this article out a little more. I still think we're missing some critical content in the Tenure sections. And you're right, I'll go through and fix the errors I came upon. To me though, those errors are evidence of a quick review, which isn't the way the process was intended to be. Sure, it's not an FAN, which can take weeks, but it's also not a DYK, which just requires a few checks on a requirements list. GA is a big deal in my opinion; I was pretty pumped when I got my first one. I guess I still have that idealistic view on what a GA should be. As for the comment on your talk, I figured you would have rather been notified explicitly than stumble across the comments I made. Just trying to be transparent. :/ upstateNYer 01:43, 22 October 2012 (UTC)
Btw, I've read through a good portion of Jon Huntsman's article (out of interest because I've been impressed with him during the last year), and I like what I'm reading. :) upstateNYer 01:48, 22 October 2012 (UTC)

The Signpost: 22 October 2012

Request for use of Cuomo photo

You have a great photo of Andrew Cuomo that I just found http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Andrew_Cuomo_by_Pat_Arnow_cropped.jpeg I would be very interested to use it in a television ad about Cuomo and fracking. I work for a nonprofit that is doing work to oppose fracking in New York State. Would you be willing to let us use the ad? I think it's a creative commons license but I wanted to be sure. Please respond asap. This is a time sensitive request.

PS my Wikipedia user name is Mackabean. I have not been very active of late but used to do a lot of wikipedia editing. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Mackabean

Thanks!

I'm getting a lot of credit for that photo of Cuomo. But it's not mine. I convinced the photographer to release the rights on Flickr so we could have a legitimate photo on Wikipedia. I made some edits and happened to upload it, but I didn't take the photo, therefore you need to talk to Pat Arnow. A link to her Flickr page is on the photo page. upstateNYer 16:43, 21 October 2012 (UTC)
THanks a lot for connecting me with Pat. I found her and got the photo from her! — Preceding unsigned comment added by Mackabean (talkcontribs) 23:18, 28 October 2012 (UTC)

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photo

Hello Matt,

My name is Viktoria Vassileva, and I'am a execitive producer of bulgarian TV show - " Slavi Show". We wont to use your photo - "White House" in the show. We will notififed your name as a creator. It is ok ?

Have a nice day !

Viki — Preceding unsigned comment added by 91.212.13.6 (talk) 13:12, 4 December 2012 (UTC)

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I redirected this link, which you had created three years ago, and which was deleted two years ago, to Helderberg Escarpment. Bearian (talk) 22:12, 13 December 2012 (UTC)

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POTD notification

POTD

Hi Wade,

Just to let you know that the Featured Picture File:LOC Main Reading Room Highsmith.jpg is due to make an appearance as Picture of the Day on January 5, 2013. If you get a chance, you can check and improve the caption at Template:POTD/2013-01-05. howcheng {chat} 18:13, 2 January 2013 (UTC)

The Signpost: 07 January 2013

Wikipedia Ambassadors update

Hi! You're getting this message because you are or have been a Wikipedia Ambassador. A new term is beginning for the United States and Canada Education Programs, and I wanted to give you an update on some important new information if you're interested in continuing your work this term as a Wikipedia Ambassador.

You may have heard a reference to a transition the education program is going through. This is the last term that the Wikimedia Foundation will directly run the U.S. and Canada programs; beginning in June, a proposed thematic organization is likely to take over organizing the program. You can read more about the proposal here.

Another major change in the program will take effect immediately. Beginning this term, a new MediaWiki education extension will replace all course pages and Ambassador lists. (See Wikipedia:Course pages and Help:Education Program extension for more details.) Included in the extension are online volunteer and campus volunteer user rights, which let you create and edit course pages and sign up as an ambassador for a particular course.

If you would like to continue serving as a Wikipedia Ambassador — even if you do not support a class this term — you must create an ambassador profile. If you're no longer interested in being a Wikipedia Ambassador, you don't need to do anything.

Please do these steps as soon as possible

First, you need the relevant user rights for Online and/or Campus Ambassadors. (If you are an admin, you can grant the rights yourself, for you as well as other ambassadors.) Just post your rights request here, and we'll get you set up as quickly as possible.

Once you've got the ambassador rights, please set up at a Campus and/or Online Ambassador profile. You can do so at:

Going forward, the lists of Ambassadors at Special:CampusAmbassadors and Special:OnlineAmbassadors will be the official roster of who is an active Ambassador. If you would like to be an Ambassador but not ready to serve this term, you can un-check the option in your profile to publicly list it (which will remove your profile from the list).

After that, you can sign on to support courses. The list of courses will be at Special:Courses. (By default, this lists "Current" courses, but you can change the Status filter to "Planned" to see courses for this term that haven't reached their listed start date yet.)

As this is the first term we have used the extension, we know there will be some bugs, and we know the feature set is not as rich as it could be. (A big wave of improvements is already in the pipeline. And if you know MediaWiki and could help with code review, we'd love to have your help!) Please reach out to me (Sage Ross) with any complaints, bug reports, and feature suggestions. The basic features of the extension are documented at Wikipedia:Course pages, and you can see a tutorial for setting up and using them here.

Communication and keeping up to date

In the past, the Education Program has had a pretty fragmented set of communication channels. We're trying to fix that. These are the recommended places to discuss and stay up-to-date on the education program:

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  3. If you use IRC regularly, or need to try to reach someone immediately, the #wikipedia-en-ambassadors connect IRC channel is the place to find me and fellow Ambassadors.
Ambassador training and resources

We now have an online training for Ambassadors, which is intended to be both an orientation about the Wikipedia Ambassador role for newcomers and the manual for how to do the role. (There are parallel trainings for students and for educators as well.)

Please go through the training if you feel like you need a refresher on how a typical class is supposed to go and where the Ambassadors fit in, or if you want to review and help improve it. If there's something you'd like to see added, or other suggestions you have for it, feel free to edit the training and/or leave feedback. A primer on setting up and using course pages is included in the educators' training.

The Resources page of the training is the main place for Ambassador-related resources. If there's something you think is important as a resource that's not on there, please add it.

Finally, whether or not you work with any classes this term, I encourage you to post entries to the Trophy Case whenever you see excellent work from students or if you have great examples from past semesters. And, as always, let students (and other editors!) know when they do things well; a little WikiLove goes a long way!

--Sage Ross (WMF) (talk) 20:49, 14 January 2013 (UTC)

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Permission to use your images

I would like to use 2 of your images for an informatial fact sheet I am putting together for the Albany Stratton VA Medical Center. Specifically the panorama of Albany from across the river. And the photo of the NY capital building. I can add the attribution credit to the photos.152.130.6.71 (talk) 21:11, 22 January 2013 (UTC)

Thank You, Adam Lyon Visual Information Specialist Bath VA Medical Center, Bath NY adam.lyon@va.gov

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thanks for the supreme court shot

...as you requested, I'm letting you know that I used it on my blog here:

http://donovanbacalski.com/2013/01/26/uniting-around-the-big-chief/

Please let me know if I need to adjust the image credit in anyway. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Donbac (talkcontribs) 21:58, 26 January 2013 (UTC)

Glad to help! upstateNYer 16:02, 27 January 2013 (UTC)

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POTD notification

POTD

Hi UpstateNYer,

Just to let you know that the Featured Picture File:President Rutherford Hayes 1870 - 1880 Restored.jpg is due to make an appearance as Picture of the Day on March 2, 2013. If you get a chance, you can check and improve the caption at Template:POTD/2013-03-02. — Crisco 1492 (talk) 23:55, 15 February 2013 (UTC)

I made a minor wording change and fixed a typo. Thanks for the heads up. upstateNYer 20:59, 16 February 2013 (UTC)

Attribution

Matt, I have posted some of your TROY NY photos on my Facebook Group TROY NY MEMORIES with 1400 members. I hope I did the attribution correctly. Hopefully you will come over and join and post some of your TROY photography on the group. Thanks, Bob Falk 75.251.117.152 (talk) 01:03, 17 February 2013 (UTC)

http://www.facebook.com/groups/115229841867653/

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Albany NRHP list: article improvement done

Just letting you know that, with First Church in Albany (Reformed) now updated to the extent I could possibly do it to, I have finished the task I set for myself a year and a half ago as a prerequisite for an eventual FLC nom—making sure there's a real article at the other end of every listing (except for First Trust Company Building, for which OPRHP does not have the nomination online, and for which I can find little else). Took long enough, didn't it :-)?

I will now, in my task rotation, be working on the list itself. At first I'm going to just be focusing on the technical stuff: making sure there's alt text for every image, that the coordinates are the same as those given in the article and that they're correct, that everything that needs to be cited is cited and that they use complete sentences in their writeups (something that we mostly have done already, thankfully ... back a long time ago when I thought this was going to be easier).

Then I'll be expanding that text intro, explaining what aspects of Albany's history the listings represent, doing some numerical breakdowns (like x churches, y state government buildings, and so forth) and noting the extremes (oldest listing, newest listing, largest and smallest historic district etc.). After that, I think it will be time to put it on PR before we finally go to the big dance. Amazing ... I think at the current rate I'll actually make my original timetable of getting this list to FLC before the Pitkin County, Colorado, list. Daniel Case (talk) 18:46, 27 February 2013 (UTC)

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pending NRHP noms in Capital District

The latest round of nominations being considered by SHPO includes one from Troy that seems to be impossible to miss: United Waste Manufacturing Company Building, 1 Jackson Street. Apparently it's a big six-story brick complex right on the river that you can see quite well from across the river ... seems like it would be around Watervliet Arsenal. Yeah, the one that looks like a castle. So, if you get the chance, take a picture. Daniel Case (talk) 06:08, 10 December 2012 (UTC)

OK, here's what they have for the March meeting. Basically, a couple more of those Pittstown farmsteads:

When you can, if you want to. Daniel Case (talk) 23:13, 7 March 2013 (UTC)

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using your image -- Equal Justice Under Law

Hello Matt,

Just wanting to let you know that my father, who is in the process of making a blog, is using your Equal Justice Under Law image. Here is the link to the page: http://openthecourthousedoors.com/about/

He just started the blog today so there isn't much there, just this page!

Any questions or concerns, feel free to email me at fontaine.claire@gmail.com or him at dff@fontainelaw.com. His professional website is fontainelaw.com.

Best, Claire — Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.69.228.94 (talk) 00:08, 20 March 2013 (UTC)

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Image use

Hello Mr. Wade,

I just wanted to let you know that I used two of your images in this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3xa0vZ70hU

Thank you for the great images. Please contact me at jkidd (at) publicsquare.net if you have any questions or concerns.

James Kidd Editor PublicSquare.net 68.98.184.132 (talk) 16:45, 23 March 2013 (UTC)

Use of one of your photos

Hello - this is just a quick note to let you know that we have used one of your images on the following blog page:

http://www.marilynstowe.co.uk/2013/03/27/gay-marriage-supporters-confront-opponents-outside-the-supreme-court/

With full attribution of course. Thank you for making it available

C Paterson — Preceding unsigned comment added by 78.154.103.82 (talk) 18:30, 27 March 2013 (UTC)

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Hello, Sir. May I use one of your photos?

Dear Sir,

I am running a blog, "Foreign Policy & Law" at http://foreignpolicylaw.org. I would like to use one of your photos in one of my posts which can be reached at http://foreignpolicylaw.org/2013/03/24/%EB%B6%81%EB%A6%AC%EB%B7%B0-%EB%AF%B8%EA%B5%AD%EC%8B%9C%EB%8C%80%EC%9D%98-%EC%A2%85%EB%A7%90-the-end-of-american-era/. I would appreciate it if you keep allowing me to use the photo there.

Thank you very much, Sir.


Sincerely yours,

Jae Y. Lee — Preceding unsigned comment added by Nexislee (talkcontribs) 07:32, 30 March 2013 (UTC)

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Used

Hi, I would just like you to know that I am using your image in a powerpoint presentation that I am making about Puerto Rico in my Spanish class. I really appreciate your help. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 122.161.123.58 (talk) 16:24, 8 May 2013 (UTC)

The Signpost: 06 May 2013

Main Page appearance: New York's 20th congressional district special election, 2009

This is a note to let the main editors of New York's 20th congressional district special election, 2009 know that the article will be appearing as today's featured article on May 30, 2013. If this article needs any attention or maintenance, it would be preferable if that could be done before its appearance on the Main Page. If you prefer that the article appear as TFA on a different date, or not at all, please ask featured article director Raul654 (talk · contribs) or one of his delegates (Dabomb87 (talk · contribs), Gimmetoo (talk · contribs), and Bencherlite (talk · contribs)), or start a discussion at Wikipedia talk:Today's featured article/requests. You can view the TFA blurb at Wikipedia:Today's featured article/May 30, 2013. If it needs tweaking, or if it needs rewording to match improvements to the article between now and its main page appearance, please edit it, following the instructions at Wikipedia:Today's featured article/requests/instructions. The blurb as it stands now is below:

Scott Murphy in 2009

The 2009 special election for the 20th congressional district of New York was held to fill the vacancy created when Congresswoman Kirsten Gillibrand was appointed US senator from New York, replacing Hillary Clinton, who had been appointed Secretary of State in the Obama administration. The two major-party candidates were Democrat Scott Murphy (pictured), a private businessman, and Republican Jim Tedisco, the minority leader of the New York State Assembly. Early polls favored Tedisco, but by February the race was considered a toss-up. The Republican Party considered the election to be a referendum on Obama's economic policy and injected significant funding into Tedisco's campaign. Major issues included Obama's stimulus plan, which Murphy supported while Tedisco eventually opposed. One early vote count had the candidates tied at 77,225 votes each. Absentee ballots decided the election; ballots were accepted until April 13. While Tedisco had been ahead in early counts, by April 23 Murphy had a 401-vote advantage and Tedisco conceded. Democratic electoral successes in November 2008 and Murphy's clear support of the stimulus package were credited for his success. (Full article...)

UcuchaBot (talk) 23:05, 13 May 2013 (UTC)

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Two new Pittstown farmsteads pending, and where we are with the list

First: The list of pending noms for the next HPB meeting is up, and while it's shorter than usual, there are nevertheless two from the Capital District. Yup ... you guessed right. More of those Pittstown farmsteads:

So, if you've got the chance, there they are.

Now, as for the Albany list—despite my efforts to prolong it by being such a perfectionist, I do indeed hasten toward the pebbled shore. While writing in the alt texts, I was dismayed to find that foue articles (Cherry Hill, James Hall Office, Lafayette Park Historic District and Whipple Cast and Wrought Iron Bowstring Truss Bridge) were, while not stubs, not much better. So I expanded them, as you may have noticed.

I am not done with the articles yet, however. During the Lafayette Park article it occurred to me that two of that district's contributing properties deserved their own separate articles, rather than being written about in the context of the institution they were associated with.

So, I will be writing New York State Court of Appeals Building (which, I think, may be the only state highest-court building individually listed on the Register) and Joseph Henry Memorial (for the old Academy building). Then, I will be working on the list itself again (And wondering what to do with myself ... no, just kidding).

Due to this self-imposed delay it looks again as if I will be getting the Pitkin County, Colorado list (for which I just finished another key step) to FLC first. Which, as I've said before, may be helpful with the Albany list. Daniel Case (talk) 01:23, 29 May 2013 (UTC)

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The Signpost: 05 June 2013

Hart-Cluett House

Hi Matt. We used your photo of the Hart-Cluett House for a post about some RCHS events:

http://alloveralbany.com/archive/2013/06/12/historical-houses-and-anarchy

12.23.29.146 (talk) 19:57, 12 June 2013 (UTC)

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Naming dispute

As an actual lifelong Albany resident, I'd appreciate your perspective at Talk:Joseph Henry Memorial on the question of whether "Academy Park" is the common name for the building as well as the park it's in. Daniel Case (talk) 19:52, 14 June 2013 (UTC)

The Signpost: 19 June 2013

Hi, I would like to use your Times Square photo for a graphic that will be used on my client's youtube, twitter and facebook page. How would you like me to credit you on the photo? I mean the font size and placement. I understand the credit needs to be placed somewhere that's visible for everyone.

Please let me know.

Thank you, Niepowiemnigdy (talk) 22:58, 25 June 2013 (UTC)niepowiemnigdy

The Signpost: 26 June 2013

I thought I was finally getting down to brass tacks with New York Court of Appeals Building (and thank you very much for your contributions to the Old Albany Academy Building naming discussion ... I can't believe it's still going on) now that every entry on the list links to an article specific to it. But then ... I noticed the Knickerbocker and Arnink Garages redlinked at the bottom. And ... there's another demolished listing, Dr. Hun Houses, that seems to have been removed within three months of being listed ([24]). Since they were at one point on the Register, they should have articles too even if we can't use the images in the list (and more about that re the Abrams Building at some point in the future). I don't think it would pass FLC with those unlinked.

So, I'm going to do that in the next couple of weeks. I don't think they should be long articles. And this will not affect the little personal race I have between the Albany list and the Pitkin County, Colorado, list as to which one will be ready for FLC first, as I thought the latter was closer but then I realized I'd skipped adding the alt tags, something I'd done with the Albany list a couple of months ago.

Nevertheless, I think one of them will be done by the end of the summer. Daniel Case (talk) 05:40, 1 July 2013 (UTC)

I wanted to let you know that I used your image of the San Ysidro border crossing for a banner, File:SanYsidroBorderCrossingBanner.jpg, for use on the San Ysidro Wikivoyage page. Thanks for releasing your image! PerryPlanet (talk) 22:13, 30 June 2013 (UTC)

And we (the wikivoyage we) used a trimmed version of this Albany panorama of yours for the Albany page. You've got to be flattered. Daniel Case (talk) 05:27, 1 July 2013 (UTC)
I'll assume the wikivoyage we ≠ the royal we. Thanks to you both for the heads-up. upstateNYer 00:00, 2 July 2013 (UTC)

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Saratoga grandstand

Hello Mr. Ward, I used your photo of the Saratoga Grandstand for a post on my horse racing site. Thanks for making this fantastic photo available. M L Gardner (talk) 16:46, 20 July 2013 (UTC)ML Gardner

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Lustron House

Interesting. It's not one of the Jermain Street ones. Wonder if they'll try to get it listed? Daniel Case (talk) 10:31, 13 August 2013 (UTC)

The Signpost: 14 August 2013

Orphaned non-free image File:SUNY CNSE Logo.jpeg

⚠

Thanks for uploading File:SUNY CNSE Logo.jpeg. The image description page currently specifies that the image is non-free and may only be used on Wikipedia under a claim of fair use. However, the image is currently not used in any articles on Wikipedia. If the image was previously in an article, please go to the article and see why it was removed. You may add it back if you think that that will be useful. However, please note that images for which a replacement could be created are not acceptable for use on Wikipedia (see our policy for non-free media).

Note that any non-free images not used in any articles will be deleted after seven days, as described in the criteria for speedy deletion. Thank you. Armbrust The Homunculus 15:18, 14 August 2013 (UTC)

Deleted. Thanks for updating the logo. upstateNYer 16:37, 16 August 2013 (UTC)

Photo credit

http://518ny.com/ai1ec_event/family-festival-mummy-birthday-albany-institute-of-history-and-art/?instance_id=9345

Thank you!

Kind regards,

Lori Davis Owner & Publisher http://www.518NY.com Lori at 518NY dot com — Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.226.98.149 (talk) 18:41, 20 August 2013 (UTC)


Upstater can you look at my Roger J. Cheng article and tell me what is wrong with it. Jac16888 keeps deleting it saying it is copyrighted (It is my material from my publications) and it not referenced correctly. thanks. Drittner (talk) 19:35, 24 August 2013 (UTC)Don

Old Post Office

Thanks for the heads up. I will add it to the article and list when I get done editing and uploading my photos from Shanghai and Hong Kong (take a look at my Commons photostream). Daniel Case (talk) 06:27, 25 August 2013 (UTC)

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Orphaned non-free media (File:CommerceHub.png)

Thanks for uploading File:CommerceHub.png. The media description page currently specifies that it is non-free and may only be used on Wikipedia under a claim of fair use. However, it is currently orphaned, meaning that it is not used in any articles on Wikipedia. If the media was previously in an article, please go to the article and see why it was removed. You may add it back if you think that will be useful. However, please note that media for which a replacement could be created are not acceptable for use on Wikipedia (see our policy for non-free media).

If you have uploaded other unlicensed media, please check whether they're used in any articles or not. You can find a list of 'file' pages you have edited by clicking on the "my contributions" link (it is located at the very top of any Wikipedia page when you are logged in), and then selecting "File" from the dropdown box. Note that all non-free media not used in any articles will be deleted after seven days, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. Thank you. Werieth (talk) 11:11, 27 August 2013 (UTC)

Upstater can you look at my Roger J. Cheng article and tell me what is wrong with it. Jac16888 keeps deleting it saying it is copyrighted (It is my material from my publications) and it not referenced correctly. thanks. Drittner (talk) 18:36, 27 August 2013 (UTC)Drittner (talk) 19:35, 24 August 2013 (UTC)Drittner (talk) 18:37, 27 August 2013 (UTC)DonDrittner (talk) 14:16, 30 August 2013 (UTC)

Roger J Cheng

Upstater can you look at my Roger J. Cheng article and tell me what is wrong with it. Jac16888 keeps deleting it saying it is copyrighted (It is my material from my publications) and it not referenced correctly. thanks. Drittner (talk) 18:36, 27 August 2013 (UTC)Drittner (talk) 19:35, 24 August 2013 (UTC)Drittner (talk) 18:37, 27 August 2013 (UTC)DonDrittner (talk) 14:19, 30 August 2013 (UTC)

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This quarter's pending NRHP noms in the Capital District

The board is meeting on this tomorrow morning:

Seems like they're getting a new MPS from Troy ready: Textile Factory Buildings in Troy, New York 1880–1920. Most seem to be in the same area of River Street—I would think between the Central Troy and Northern River Street Historic Districts. Looks like you could photograph all of them easily, not just the one that's to be nominated already: Searle, Gardner & Company Cuff and Collar Factory, 701–715 River Street.

Elsewhere in the city, there's also Theta Xi Fraternity Chapter House at 1490 Sage Avenue, apparently the Alpha Chapter of that organization as well as architecturally intact.

And it looks like that's it. I will be starting to rewrite the Albany list intro very soon, at long last. I really do mean it this time. Daniel Case (talk) 04:50, 18 September 2013 (UTC)

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Used your capitol photo!

Hi UpstateNYer--

As per your usage conditions, I'm writing to let you know that we've used your photo for a news story at the following link: http://www.peruthisweek.com/news-how-will-the-us-government-shutdown-affect-peru-101071

Thanks so much! Your images are great.

RachelMChase (talk) 20:02, 3 October 2013 (UTC)

Rachel Chase

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WhiteHouseSouthLawn photo

MATT - HEY! Thanks for the usage of your 'beautiful' White House South Lawn photograph! Love the tranquil nature of the shot - contrast to what the actual mood is there I'm sure...  ;-) Here's a link to the pic in my post of a blog I'm trying to get going - http://imleetaylor.wordpress.com/ Let me know if there's anything I can do for you. Thank You! --71.1.205.45 (talk) 01:52, 10 October 2013 (UTC)leetaylor imleetaylor@gmail.com

Hello - some editors fight off the vandal hordes, as I do repairing pages with citation errors. If I didn't - there would be a large backlog in Category:Pages with incorrect ref formatting and in Category:Pages with missing references list as in Category:Pages with broken reference names (more than 1500 yesterday). But it is impossible to work it alone. Do you know how to do a "Blitz" (excuse the comparision) to find willing editors to work on it. It is much more easier to repair references if you do it one hour, one day or one week ago after the errors were made instead of months and years after the error was done. Very, very difficult to find these errors.

Only with WikiBlame Search it is possible to find and repair such errors.

Best wishes & thanks --Frze > talk 09:01, 10 October 2013 (UTC)

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Backlog template made by User:TheJJJunk

Backlog status (Purge)
Category Current status
Pages with incorrect ref formatting  Not done
Pages with missing references list  Done
Pages with broken reference names Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character ",".

Best wishes --Frze > talk 04:04, 22 October 2013 (UTC)

New REFBot

There is a suggestion on Wikipedia:Bot requests for a new REFBot working as DPL bot and BracketBot do. I beg politely for consideration. Please leave a comment if you wish. Thanks a lot in anticipation. -- Frze (talk · contribs) 04:04, 22 October 2013 (UTC)

USCapitolRotunda.JPG

Hi Matt,

I used your great photo of the US Capitol Rotunda for an event page on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/597049567021277/?ref_newsfeed_story_type=regular

If you know anyone who would be interested in this event, please pass it on!

Thanks, James Brust JMBrust (talk) 09:11, 25 October 2013 (UTC)

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Books and Bytes: The Wikipedia Library Newsletter

Books and Bytes

Volume 1, Issue 1, October 2013

by The Interior (talk · contribs), Ocaasi (talk · contribs)

Greetings Wikipedia Library members! Welcome to the inaugural edition of Books and Bytes, TWL’s monthly newsletter. We're sending you the first edition of this opt-in newsletter, because you signed up, or applied for a free research account: HighBeam, Credo, Questia, JSTOR, or Cochrane. To receive future updates of Books and Bytes, please add your name to the subscriber's list. There's lots of news this month for the Wikipedia Library, including new accounts, upcoming events, and new ways to get involved...

New positions: Sign up to be a Wikipedia Visiting Scholar, or a Volunteer Wikipedia Librarian

Wikipedia Loves Libraries: Off to a roaring start this fall in the United States: 29 events are planned or have been hosted.

New subscription donations: Cochrane round 2; HighBeam round 8; Questia round 4... Can we partner with NY Times and Lexis-Nexis??

New ideas: OCLC innovations in the works; VisualEditor Reference Dialog Workshop; a photo contest idea emerges

News from the library world: Wikipedian joins the National Archives full time; the Getty Museum releases 4,500 images; CERN goes CC-BY

Announcing WikiProject Open: WikiProject Open kicked off in October, with several brainstorming and co-working sessions

New ways to get involved: Visiting scholar requirements; subject guides; room for library expansion and exploration

Read the full newsletter


Thanks for reading! All future newsletters will be opt-in only. Have an item for the next issue? Leave a note for the editor on the Suggestions page. --The Interior 20:48, 27 October 2013 (UTC)

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Just an FYI but you have a somewhat dead link under your "Admin Stuff" page. The view "my RFA voting record" leads to a page on the Toolserver that is now inactive due to an inactive user. Jakeable (talk) 02:23, 5 November 2013 (UTC)

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I moved all the politics to one section, merging some text. Bearian (talk) 23:29, 14 November 2013 (UTC)

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Matt--I used one of your White House photos to illustrate a story on the Kansas Public Radio website. Here's a link. Thanks! Bthom52 (talk) 06:01, 22 November 2013 (UTC)

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New Capital District NRHP noms being considered by SHPB this week

It now looks like it may be a good thing that I have wound up taking a monthlong break from expanding the intro for the Albany NRHP list. I will be getting back to it soon, but ... at its quarterly meeting the day after tomorrow, the board will be considering two more nominations in the city of Albany that you might be able to photograph:

  • Albany Felt Company Complex, 1373 Broadway. A large group of buildings from one of the last paper companies to be doing business in Albany. Since this nine-acre parcel straddles the Albany-Menands municipal line, it will have to be added to the county list as well, and I will no longer be able to say that Albany shares no properties with any adjacent community. It will also displace the Miss Albany Diner as the northernmost listed property in the city. (I wish I'd known it would some day be nominated a year ago when I was in the building across the street where DOCCS's investigations unit is based—I could have taken some pictures then ...).

If they get approved at the meeting they will probably be submitted and listed by springtime, bringing the Albany list to a nice round 60 total. I'll continue working on the list, but I might want to hold off on the FLC we've been working toward till after these two are listed and have articles.

Elsewhere in the region, there are two more of those old textile-mill buildings on River Street in Troy from that MPS:

And would one of these be complete without yet another Pittstown farmstead:

To the west, there's one in Schenectady:

Then we go north from Schenectady into Glenville:

Lastly into Saratoga County:

I suppose if you aren't able to go out and shoot some of these, I might find the excuse to come up there myself. (I've also been wanting a picture of the corner where the Abrams Building was). Good luck! Daniel Case (talk) 04:09, 4 December 2013 (UTC)

I'm using your picture

Your picture is being used for my class book about Washington DC. I really like your picture of the white house. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 204.76.175.25 (talk) 21:12, 4 December 2013 (UTC)

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The Wikipedia Library Survey

As a subscriber to one of The Wikipedia Library's programs, we'd like to hear your thoughts about future donations and project activities in this brief survey. Thanks and cheers, Ocaasi t | c 15:17, 9 December 2013 (UTC)

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Use of Easter Lily Photo

Matt,

Thank you for making your Easter Lily photo available for use. I would like to use the lily against a purple background for a cover photo on a choral Cantata I plan to publish online for free in February. I will give all of the credits you require in the publication. Is this acceptable to you?

Drkenmorrison (talk) 18:51, 28 January 2014 (UTC)Drkenmorrison

Fine by me! Use away! upstateNYer 05:53, 29 January 2014 (UTC)

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Hello,

I work for AFAR Media, a travel media company whose mission is to inspire and enable travelers to have richer, deeper and more authentic travel experiences around the world. We publish AFAR Magazine, which has twice been named America's best travel magazine, and AFAR.com, an online travel guide that has been recognized by the New York Times, Time magazine and many others as breaking new ground in inspiring and enabling great travel experiences (see www.afar.com/).

I’m creating content to recommend that travelers visit Key West and would like to use the image in the following link. I would like to request your authorization and approval to do so.

http://www.afar.com/highlights/key-west-museum-of-art-and-history?context=wanderlist&context_id=23686

AFAR also provides destination guides for partners, such as Westin Finds from AFAR, in which AFAR recommends places for Westin Hotel guests to visit. (See westinfinds.com/) We would also like to include your image in these recommendations.

If this is acceptable to you, I need you to reply to me that you are in agreement with the following provision, have the rights to the image and are authorized to provide this consent:

CONSENT AND AGREEMENT

AFAR Media is hereby granted royalty-free authorization and license to publish, display and use the image in AFAR Magazine, on AFAR,com, on WestinFinds.com, mobile variations thereof, and in such other electronic, digital, and print channels as AFAR and its partners shall determine, including in social media and collateral marketing materials. It is understood that you retain copyright ownership over the image, and this is a license only.

We will share our recommendation with you after it is complete. Thank you very much for your consideration.

All the best, Lara

community@afar.com — Preceding unsigned comment added by 89.158.248.111 (talk) 21:42, 3 February 2014 (UTC)

Use of image

Hey Matt,

You said you'd appreciate seeing where your work went, and I have an extra 30 seconds, so I figured I'd drop you a line. We'll be using this image ( http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:CourtEqualJustice.JPG ) on an upcoming piece of content at Listverse.com. It's slated to run 13 Feb and the image will be used on an entry concerning the famous Loving v. Virginia case. Great photos -- eternal thanks for making them available.

Cheers, Micah Duke Editor in chief, Listverse.com — Preceding unsigned comment added by 97.116.12.57 (talk) 05:43, 11 February 2014 (UTC)

Cool, thanks for letting me know, Micah. upstateNYer 03:29, 12 February 2014 (UTC)

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Hi. I have used your Albany State House image in my non-profit's blog. Many thanks for allowing the photo to be used. Here is the link. I believe I've given proper attribution but, if not, just let me know. http://lymphaticnetwork.org/news-events/lern-week-in-review-february-21-2014

More Albany and Troy NRHP noms, and where I'm at with the NRHP list

Some more Albany and Troy properties will be on the agenda at the next HPB meeting. In Albany:

In Troy:

Elswhere in Rensselaer County:

I am on a break from working on the Albany NRHP list intro. I found that we do have Architecture in Albany, New York, which I partially updated; however I took a break from it before tackling the question of to what extent I can integrate the architecture section I wrote at the NRHP list with what's already there. Once that's done, it will make it much easier to shorten the architectural-history section I had written at great effort. Daniel Case (talk) 03:44, 24 February 2014 (UTC)

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New York imagery

Matt,

Would you mind emailing me to discuss use of your New York photographs?

Best, Adam Scavone adamscavone@gmail.com — Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.173.110.102 (talk) 15:10, 20 March 2014 (UTC)

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Request for comment

Hello there, a proposal regarding pre-adminship review has been raised at Village pump by Anna Frodesiak. Your comments here is very much appreciated. Many thanks. Jim Carter through MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 06:47, 28 May 2014 (UTC)

Reprinting of Image

Dear Mr. Wade:

I hereby request your permission to reprint the following Photo: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:US_Capitol_from_NW.JPG


We are hoping to have this image appear in our forthcoming textbook: Title: American Corrections: Concepts and Controversies Authored by: Barry Krisberg, Susan Marchionna, and Chris Hartney to be published by: SAGE Publications, Inc.

• Scheduled Publication Date: September 23, 2014 • Estimated Page Length: 520 • Total Print Run: 12,000

We request nonexclusive distribution rights to include this material in the text and in future revisions, editions, and in all media thereof throughout the world. These rights in no way restrict republication of your material in any form by you or others authorized by you. If you do not control these rights in their entirety, please inform me of others to whom I should write.

SAGE Publications, Inc. will include a credit line as specified.

If you have any questions, please contact Jessica Miller at jessica.miller@sagepub.com — Preceding unsigned comment added by 208.88.132.251 (talk) 19:45, 28 May 2014 (UTC)

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Viewliner

Hi there. I've come to bother you because you seem to be active on Albany topics, and Wikipedia:WikiProject Capital District doesn't get much traffic. Amtrak is testing a brand-new Viewliner II baggage car at the Albany–Rensselaer (Amtrak station). See here for discussion and here for a picture of the car. This is the first such car produced, the first new Viewliner in almost twenty years and the first new single-level baggage car in decades. I was hoping you might be in a position to take a photograph of it, or to point me in the direction of someone who could. To the best of my knowledge it's still there, but it probably won't be much longer. Albany NY recommended that I contact you. Thanks, Mackensen (talk) 19:32, 27 May 2014 (UTC)

How much longer do you think it will be there? I could potentially stop by Rensselaer after work. Any clue at all where it would be? Likely on the tracks near the old station on the way up to the rail bridge that goes to Albany? upstateNYer 02:00, 2 June 2014 (UTC)
Hey, thanks for the response. I think it was parked near the maintenance shop just past the current station, but apparently Amtrak has since moved it to Philadelphia. Thanks again, Mackensen (talk) 02:05, 2 June 2014 (UTC)

Image Usage

Hi Matt, we would like to use the following picture according to the license: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_House#mediaviewer/File:WhiteHouseSouthFacade.JPG We are an IT startup from Germany. The pic will become a free postcard for visitors of our exhibition booth. Please send me your address to wiki at chrischmi dot de to get the postcard by USPS. Christoph — Preceding unsigned comment added by 87.79.69.106 (talk) 22:54, 5 June 2014 (UTC)

Hi Christoph, feel free to use the image. I don't need a physical version, though I appreciate the offer. :) upstateNYer 17:00, 6 June 2014 (UTC)

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Van Rensselaers

As you have done significant work in this area, I am deferring the matter to you. By my count the patroons appear to be: Kiliaen (merchant), Johan, Jan Baptist, Jeremias, and Kiliaen, son of Johan. Yet the latter's entry is titled Kiliaen van Rensselaer (fourth patroon) (not 5th?). I've come across differences of opinion regarding both Johan (patroon only in name?), and Jan Baptist (Spooner says yes, Reynolds says no). The Van Rensselaer family template gives a pretty clear listing, but the entries after Jeremias don't seem to conform to it. I'm a bit hesitant to adjust someone else's work here, because it looks like the entries may be out of sync. Cheers. Mannanan51 (talk) 22:43, 4 July 2014 (UTC)

It's not easy to figure out; I'm not even sure the history is recorded fully. But you could probably find out by contacting Janny Vanema, who is like the authoritative scholar on Dutch Albany history. I've reached out to her in the past via email and she got back to me quickly with good information. Also, her book Kiliean Van Rensselaer (1586-1643) wasn't out yet when I wrote all of the content I did on the VRs, so there might be something you can find in there. As you can see, I haven't worked on it in a number of years (the template included; I built that originally), so you're probably just as apt as me to figure things out. Sorry I can't be of more help. upstateNYer 03:53, 6 July 2014 (UTC)
Upon further research, the sources that state Jan Baptist was not patroon seem to follow Cuyler Reynolds, who apparently did not have access to Van Laer's translations. In the Bouwerie Manuscripts (pp. 787 & 788) Jan Baptist signs documents as "director" until the death of Johan, when in November 1663 the delegates to the convention at New Amsterdam refer to him as "patroon".[25] Moreover, his brother Jeremias writes to him as: "Myn Heere Joanys Batista Rensselaer, Patroon of the colony of Rensselaer".[26]
Apologies, please disregard. As Jeremias predeceased Jan Baptist, whom he addresses as Patroon, I have come to have reservations as to whether the first Jeremias was anything more than Director, and "patroon" merely a courtesy title. (Unless the other stuff on the web confuses him with the sixth patroon.) Nothing needs to be changed. You're right, it's confusing. Mannanan51 (talk) 16:25, 12 July 2014 (UTC)

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re:Photographer's Barnstar

Hello UpstateNYer, thanks a lot for your barnstar and words! This kind of things always motivate me to keep on and make me begin the day with a big smile :) Poco2 08:23, 13 July 2014 (UTC)

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This quarter's CD NRHP noms

Only two, now that all those four pending properties which I will now have to write articles on have been listed (still angling for a day to go up there while it's still summer). If you have the time to photograph ...

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9/11 Montage picture use

My name is Kim Ross and am editor of the Poteau Daily News in Oklahoma. I would like to use your 9/11 montage for a tribute paper tomorrow. I noticed the many attributions that are attached as well as yours as the author. I read your use requirements and still would like permission to print the images. Klross219 (talk) 21:41, 10 September 2014 (UTC)klross219

CC by 4.0

Hi Mark, we used your White House image at http://www.synopsis.today/news-opinion/news-opinion-editor/live-broadcast-from-the-whitehouse/ with a linkback attribution caption and CC by 4.0 in the footer and on your link-back page. Thank you for sharing your beautiful work !! ~ Chika :) — Preceding unsigned comment added by LoveJapanChika (talkcontribs) 05:36, 11 September 2014 (UTC)

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Using Times Square photo.

Hey Matt, Im Natalie, I'm just messaging about using this particular photo for my communications assignment. Here the link to the photo I would like to use: https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Times_Square#mediaviewer/File:Times_Square_1-2.JPG

I plan to modify this image so that it refers to a particular quote i have chosen for the assignment. I also, plan to layer some other photos on top to do this. It won't go online or anything, just for the assignment and all that.

So yeah, thanks for letting everyone use it! Much appreciated :)

It is an amazing photo too, by the way!

Thanks, Natalie. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Naatryder (talkcontribs) 03:43, 16 September 2014 (UTC)

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I would like use your photo of the White House

Good morning,

I am the assistant editor of a small, online newspaper in Southern New Hampshire: www.thisweekinraymond.com. A columnist of ours has written her second article regarding college, liberalism, and politics. I think your photo would go well with this column. She writes the column called "Did you know..." and her article will be up sometime this morning. I will absolutely credit you appropriately and I appreciate the use of your photo.

Thank you and take care, Lisa Grant — Preceding unsigned comment added by Lisagrant87 (talkcontribs) 12:04, 3 October 2014 (UTC)

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Supreme Court Photo

Hello Matt, I'm writing from the TV production company behind the TLC reality series "19 Kids & Counting" to let you know that your photo of the Supreme Court's West Facade will appear in an upcoming episode of the show, premiering Tuesday 11/4 on TLC. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:USSupremeCourtWestFacade.JPG We will credit your name in the final credits of the program. Please email at maggie (at) figure8films (dot) tv if you have questions or concerns. Thanks so much! Maggie Figure8Maggie (talk) 21:01, 24 October 2014 (UTC)

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Capital District NRHP developments

Happy Thanksgiving, Matt. Nice to see you're still occasionally active. If you're interested and up for it:

The big news (from my perspective) in the NRHP nominations being considered by the state this quarter] is a considerable expansion of the Central Troy Historic District. If approved by the state and the NPS, it will now include the Uncle Sam Atrium (as the most visible artifact of the mid-20th century urban renewal era, the largest piece of modern architecture in downtown Troy and the last large-scale construction in it) the Beth Sephilah synagogue on River Street near Congress Street Bridge, and all of the Russell Sage College buildings, even the newer ones. You can look through the nomination and see what's being added. I am excited because it gives some coverage to the city's urban renewal era that might finally allow me to fill in that part of the city's history and give it what I think it needs to be an FA candidate.

The only other potential listing possibly in the CD is the Dunning Street Cemetery on Route 67 up in Malta. Nice and small; would compensate for the trip up there.

Don't worry if you can't get out to these ... I now have a DSLR of my own available (which has rewarded me with a bunch of QIs on Commons from my trip to London for Wikimania this past summer), and I am still planning, one of these days, to go up to Albany and thereabouts for some of the pictures I still want for the NRHP list (haven't worked on it in quite a while, but I still haven't forgotten). Daniel Case (talk) 18:41, 23 November 2014 (UTC)

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Use of White House Photo

Hi Matt, Just wanted to let you know that we've used your photo of the White House in our blog. You can view it at: http://blog.lirs.org/house-homeland-security-and-judiciary-committees-hold-hearings-in-response-to-presidents-executive-action/ Thanks for making the photo public domain! Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service — Preceding unsigned comment added by 216.59.110.18 (talk) 15:06, 2 December 2014 (UTC)

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Image Use

Hi Matt, I'll be using this picture of yours for a blog post on my website tomorrow (you'll be able to see it here). Thanks for making it available for use!

Amanda — Preceding unsigned comment added by 63.245.31.51 (talk) 17:55, 22 January 2015 (UTC)

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New Albany County NRHP noms

If you're still paying attention, here are three new NRHP nominations being considered for Albany County:

If you have the opportunity ... Daniel Case (talk) 19:10, 9 March 2015 (UTC)

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Nomination for deletion of Template:Muchas gracias

Template:Muchas gracias has been nominated for deletion. You are invited to comment on the discussion at the template's entry on the Templates for discussion page. TL22 (talk) 15:56, 23 August 2015 (UTC)

Times Square photo

Your Times Square photo was used in this edit by Aaron Stokes, as a promotional photo for the web series "Masked." http://masked-thescarletpimpernel.tumblr.com/post/129245631881/our-promotional-photographer-had-some-fun-with thank you! — Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.15.154.49 (talk) 23:46, 16 September 2015 (UTC)

Template:GBLinks has been nominated for deletion. You are invited to comment on the discussion at the template's entry on the Templates for discussion page.  — SMcCandlish ¢ ≽ʌⱷ҅ʌ≼  19:16, 19 October 2015 (UTC)

Dear Mattwade I added photos to this Location article in Greek Wikipedia [[27]], There are photos that I captured, they are part from my personal file. I added this in source editting. Please check it. Thank you--Viliop (talk) 21:42, 19 November 2015 (UTC)

Hey! I wanted to let you know about an upcoming Art+Feminism event, at Bennington College on March 5: from 2-6 in the afternoon. It would be great to see some more Wikipedia editors at the event! Sign up here to let us know you will be attending! Sadads (talk) 03:02, 29 February 2016 (UTC)

Speedy deletion of File:JeffersonMemorial1994Report.pdf

A file that you uploaded, File:JeffersonMemorial1994Report.pdf, has been listed in Category:Candidates for speedy deletion because it is not an image, sound or video file and does not appear to have any encyclopedic use. See section F10 of the criteria for speedy deletion. If you feel that this file has a use in the encyclopedia, please place the {{hangon}} tag on File:JeffersonMemorial1994Report.pdf, then go to its talk page (by clicking Discussion at the top of that page) and insert an explanation of how the file is useful to the encyclopedia. Thank you. Cloudbound (talk) 17:33, 1 June 2016 (UTC)

Extended confirmed protection

Hello, MattWade. This message is intended to notify administrators of important changes to the protection policy.

Extended confirmed protection (also known as "30/500 protection") is a new level of page protection that only allows edits from accounts at least 30 days old and with 500 edits. The automatically assigned "extended confirmed" user right was created for this purpose. The protection level was created following this community discussion with the primary intention of enforcing various arbitration remedies that prohibited editors under the "30 days/500 edits" threshold to edit certain topic areas.

In July and August 2016, a request for comment established consensus for community use of the new protection level. Administrators are authorized to apply extended confirmed protection to combat any form of disruption (e.g. vandalism, sock puppetry, edit warring, etc.) on any topic, subject to the following conditions:

  • Extended confirmed protection may only be used in cases where semi-protection has proven ineffective. It should not be used as a first resort.
  • A bot will post a notification at Wikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard of each use. MusikBot currently does this by updating a report, which is transcluded onto the noticeboard.

Please review the protection policy carefully before using this new level of protection on pages. Thank you.
This message was sent to the administrators' mass message list. To opt-out of future messages, please remove yourself from the list. 17:48, 23 September 2016 (UTC)

Good to know, thanks for the update. Matt Wade 02:50, 25 September 2016 (UTC)

Wikipedia:WikiProject United States/The 50,000 Challenge

You are invited to participate in the 50,000 Challenge, aiming for 50,000 article improvements and creations for articles relating to the United States. This effort began on November 1, 2016 and to reach our goal, we will need editors like you to participate, expand, and create. See more here!

--MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 02:38, 8 November 2016 (UTC)

Two-Factor Authentication now available for admins

Hello,

Please note that TOTP based two-factor authentication is now available for all administrators. In light of the recent compromised accounts, you are encouraged to add this additional layer of security to your account. It may be enabled on your preferences page in the "User profile" tab under the "Basic information" section. For basic instructions on how to enable two-factor authentication, please see the developing help page for additional information. Important: Be sure to record the two-factor authentication key and the single use keys. If you lose your two factor authentication and do not have the keys, it's possible that your account will not be recoverable. Furthermore, you are encouraged to utilize a unique password and two-factor authentication for the email account associated with your Wikimedia account. This measure will assist in safeguarding your account from malicious password resets. Comments, questions, and concerns may be directed to the thread on the administrators' noticeboard. MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 20:33, 12 November 2016 (UTC)

A new user right for New Page Patrollers

Hi MattWade.

A new user group, New Page Reviewer, has been created in a move to greatly improve the standard of new page patrolling. The user right can be granted by any admin at PERM. It is highly recommended that admins look beyond the simple numerical threshold and satisfy themselves that the candidates have the required skills of communication and an advanced knowledge of notability and deletion. Admins are automatically included in this user right.

It is anticipated that this user right will significantly reduce the work load of admins who patrol the performance of the patrollers. However,due to the complexity of the rollout, some rights may have been accorded that may later need to be withdrawn, so some help will still be needed to some extent when discovering wrongly applied deletion tags or inappropriate pages that escape the attention of less experienced reviewers, and above all, hasty and bitey tagging for maintenance. User warnings are available here but very often a friendly custom message works best.

If you have any questions about this user right, don't hesitate to join us at WT:NPR. (Sent to all admins).MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 13:47, 15 November 2016 (UTC)

ArbCom Elections 2016: Voting now open!

Hello, MattWade. Voting in the 2016 Arbitration Committee elections is open from Monday, 00:00, 21 November through Sunday, 23:59, 4 December to all unblocked users who have registered an account before Wednesday, 00:00, 28 October 2016 and have made at least 150 mainspace edits before Sunday, 00:00, 1 November 2016.

The Arbitration Committee is the panel of editors responsible for conducting the Wikipedia arbitration process. It has the authority to impose binding solutions to disputes between editors, primarily for serious conduct disputes the community has been unable to resolve. This includes the authority to impose site bans, topic bans, editing restrictions, and other measures needed to maintain our editing environment. The arbitration policy describes the Committee's roles and responsibilities in greater detail.

If you wish to participate in the 2016 election, please review the candidates' statements and submit your choices on the voting page. Mdann52 (talk) 22:08, 21 November 2016 (UTC)

Administrators' newsletter - February 2017

News and updates for administrators from the past month (January 2017). This first issue is being sent out to all administrators, if you wish to keep receiving it please subscribe. Your feedback is welcomed.

Administrator changes

NinjaRobotPirateSchwede66K6kaEaldgythFerretCyberpower678Mz7PrimefacDodger67
BriangottsJeremyABU Rob13

Guideline and policy news

Technical news

  • When performing some administrative actions the reason field briefly gave suggestions as text was typed. This change has since been reverted so that issues with the implementation can be addressed. (T34950)
  • Following the latest RfC concluding that Pending Changes 2 should not be used on the English Wikipedia, an RfC closed with consensus to remove the options for using it from the page protection interface, a change which has now been made. (T156448)
  • The Foundation has announced a new community health initiative to combat harassment. This should bring numerous improvements to tools for admins and CheckUsers in 2017.

Arbitration

Obituaries

  • JohnCD (John Cameron Deas) passed away on 30 December 2016. John began editing Wikipedia seriously during 2007 and became an administrator in November 2009.

13:37, 1 February 2017 (UTC)

Nomination for deletion of Template:Election box-NY 20 2006

Template:Election box-NY 20 2006 has been nominated for deletion. You are invited to comment on the discussion at the template's entry on the Templates for discussion page. Frietjes (talk) 22:39, 2 November 2017 (UTC)

Orphaned non-free image File:Erastus Corning 2nd 1964.png

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Thanks for uploading File:Erastus Corning 2nd 1964.png. The image description page currently specifies that the image is non-free and may only be used on Wikipedia under a claim of fair use. However, the image is currently not used in any articles on Wikipedia. If the image was previously in an article, please go to the article and see why it was removed. You may add it back if you think that that will be useful. However, please note that images for which a replacement could be created are not acceptable for use on Wikipedia (see our policy for non-free media).

Note that any non-free images not used in any articles will be deleted after seven days, as described in section F5 of the criteria for speedy deletion. Thank you. --B-bot (talk) 18:07, 29 December 2017 (UTC)

Orphaned non-free image File:Erastus Corning 2nd 1964.png

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Thanks for uploading File:Erastus Corning 2nd 1964.png. The image description page currently specifies that the image is non-free and may only be used on Wikipedia under a claim of fair use. However, the image is currently not used in any articles on Wikipedia. If the image was previously in an article, please go to the article and see why it was removed. You may add it back if you think that that will be useful. However, please note that images for which a replacement could be created are not acceptable for use on Wikipedia (see our policy for non-free media).

Note that any non-free images not used in any articles will be deleted after seven days, as described in section F5 of the criteria for speedy deletion. Thank you. --B-bot (talk) 18:11, 8 February 2018 (UTC)

Survey Invite

I'm working on a study of political motivations and how they affect editing. I'd like to ask you to take a survey. The survey should take no more than 1-2 minutes. Your survey responses will be kept private. Our project is documented at https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Research:Wikipedia_%2B_Politics.

Survey Link: http://uchicago.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_9S3JByWf57fXEkR?Q_DL=56np5HpEZWkMlr7_9S3JByWf57fXEkR_MLRP_eyxpkrYLxTJyp6J&Q_CHL=gl

I am asking you to participate in this study because you are a frequent editor of pages on Wikipedia that are of political interest. We would like to learn about your experiences in dealing with editors of different political orientations.

Sincere thanks for your help! Porteclefs (talk) 23:13, 6 April 2018 (UTC)

Albany Executive Mansion photo

Hi Matt, I'll be using the Executive Mansion photo for a story in HomeStyle Magazine in our May issue. It will be online the beginning of May at www.readhomestyle.com. Thank you. — Preceding unsigned comment added by HomeStyleMagazine (talkcontribs) 18:58, 16 April 2018 (UTC)

ArbCom 2019 special circular

Icon of a white exclamation mark within a black triangle
Administrators must secure their accounts

The Arbitration Committee may require a new RfA if your account is compromised.

View additional information

This message was sent to all administrators following a recent motion. Thank you for your attention. For the Arbitration Committee, Cameron11598 02:40, 4 May 2019 (UTC)

Administrator account security (Correction to Arbcom 2019 special circular)

ArbCom would like to apologise and correct our previous mass message in light of the response from the community.

Since November 2018, six administrator accounts have been compromised and temporarily desysopped. In an effort to help improve account security, our intention was to remind administrators of existing policies on account security — that they are required to "have strong passwords and follow appropriate personal security practices." We have updated our procedures to ensure that we enforce these policies more strictly in the future. The policies themselves have not changed. In particular, two-factor authentication remains an optional means of adding extra security to your account. The choice not to enable 2FA will not be considered when deciding to restore sysop privileges to administrator accounts that were compromised.

We are sorry for the wording of our previous message, which did not accurately convey this, and deeply regret the tone in which it was delivered.

For the Arbitration Committee, -Cameron11598 21:03, 4 May 2019 (UTC)

MfD nomination of Portal:Capital District

Portal:Capital District, a page which you created or substantially contributed to, has been nominated for deletion. Your opinions on the matter are welcome; you may participate in the discussion by adding your comments at Wikipedia:Miscellany for deletion/Portal:Capital District (2nd nomination) and please be sure to sign your comments with four tildes (~~~~). You are free to edit the content of Portal:Capital District during the discussion but should not remove the miscellany for deletion template from the top of the page; such a removal will not end the deletion discussion. Thank you. BrownHairedGirl (talk) • (contribs) 00:42, 31 July 2019 (UTC)

2019 US Banknote Contest

US Banknote Contest
November-December 2019

There are an estimated 30,000 different varieties of United States banknotes, yet only a fraction of these are represented on Wikimedia Commons in the form of 2D scans. Additionally, Colonial America, the Confederate States, the Republic of Texas, multiple states and territories, communities, and private companies have issued banknotes that are in the public domain today but are absent from Commons.

In the months of November and December, WikiProject Numismatics will be running a cross-wiki upload-a-thon, the 2019 US Banknote Contest. The goal of the contest is to increase the number of US banknote images available to content creators on all Wikimedia projects. Participants will claim points for uploading and importing 2D scans of US banknotes, and at the end of the contest all will receive awards. Whether you want to claim the Gold Wiki or you just want to have fun, all are invited to participate.


If you do not want to receive invitations to future US Banknote Contests, follow the instructions here

Sent by ZLEA at 23:30, 19 October 2019 (UTC) via MediaWiki message delivery (talk)

Precious

images of buildings

Thank you for quality articles suach as Oakwood Cemetery (Troy, New York), 2009 New York's 20th congressional district special election and Albany City Hall, for featured pictures such as Miami panorama and for those in galleries, - Matt, repeating from 10 years ago: you are an awesome Wikipedian!

Awesome
Ten years!

--Gerda Arendt (talk) 07:55, 7 April 2019 (UTC)

A year ago, you were recipient no. 2178 of Precious, a prize of QAI! --Gerda Arendt (talk) 07:22, 7 April 2020 (UTC)

Pending suspension of administrative permissions due to inactivity

Information icon Established policy provides for removal of the administrative permissions of users who have not made any edits or logged actions in the preceding twelve months. Because you have been inactive, your administrative permissions will be removed if you do not return to activity within the next month.

Inactive administrators are encouraged to rejoin the project in earnest rather than to make token edits to avoid loss of administrative permissions. Resources and support for reengaging with the project are available at Wikipedia:WikiProject Editor Retention/administrators. If you do not intend to rejoin the project in the foreseeable future, please consider voluntarily resigning your administrative permissions by making a request at the bureaucrats' noticeboard.

Thank you for your past contributions to the project. — JJMC89 bot 00:04, 1 April 2021 (UTC)

Imminent suspension of administrative permissions due to inactivity

Information icon Established policy provides for removal of the administrative permissions of users who have not made any edits or logged actions in the preceding twelve months. Because you have been inactive, your administrative permissions will be removed if you do not return to activity within the next several days.

Inactive administrators are encouraged to rejoin the project in earnest rather than to make token edits to avoid loss of administrative permissions. Resources and support for reengaging with the project are available at Wikipedia:WikiProject Editor Retention/administrators. If you do not intend to rejoin the project in the foreseeable future, please consider voluntarily resigning your administrative permissions by making a request at the bureaucrats' noticeboard.

Thank you for your past contributions to the project. — JJMC89 bot 00:01, 24 April 2021 (UTC)

Suspension of administrative permissions due to inactivity

Information icon Established policy provides for removal of the administrative permissions of users who have not made any edits or logged actions in the preceding twelve months. Because you have been inactive, your administrative permissions have been removed.

Subject to certain time limits and other restrictions, your administrative permissions may be returned upon request at WP:BN.

Thank you for your past contributions to the project. — xaosflux Talk 00:09, 1 May 2021 (UTC)

Fixed your talk page archiving

Hi! I took the liberty of fixing the auto-archiving settings at the top of this page. --rchard2scout (talk) 09:48, 27 May 2021 (UTC)

Mentorship

Hi @MattWade I was wondering if you're available for mentorship? I'm looking for someone to help me with sourcing, grammar and writing, page creation and page move , etc., etc J-Man11 (talk) 13:23, 9 June 2021 (UTC)

@J-Man11: MattWade last edited in April 2020, and has not edited with any significant frequency since 2012, so I doubt that he will be available. It's a good idea to always have a quick look at an editor's recent editing history before making a request such as this. JBW (talk) 20:37, 15 June 2021 (UTC)
Ok thanks for the reply J-Man11 (talk) 22:38, 15 June 2021 (UTC)

Orphaned non-free image File:Abrams Building Albany 1979.png

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Thanks for uploading File:Abrams Building Albany 1979.png. The image description page currently specifies that the image is non-free and may only be used on Wikipedia under a claim of fair use. However, the image is currently not used in any articles on Wikipedia. If the image was previously in an article, please go to the article and see why it was removed. You may add it back if you think that that will be useful. However, please note that images for which a replacement could be created are not acceptable for use on Wikipedia (see our policy for non-free media).

Note that any non-free images not used in any articles will be deleted after seven days, as described in section F5 of the criteria for speedy deletion. Thank you. --B-bot (talk) 17:39, 21 September 2021 (UTC)

MiamiSouthBeachPanoramaEdid.jpg

Hallo und guten Tag

Ich bin ein Schüler und suche ein passendes Foto von miami wobei mir dieses sehr gefällt , ich würde das bild gerne benutzen und bitte darum um erlaubnis.

Danke 213.187.72.201 (talk) 09:56, 7 February 2022 (UTC)

Good article reassessment for Albany, New York

Albany, New York has been nominated for a good article reassessment. If you are interested in the discussion, please participate by adding your comments to the reassessment page. If concerns are not addressed during the review period, the good article status may be removed from the article. Femke (alt) (talk) 07:45, 10 February 2023 (UTC)

Precious anniversary

Precious
Four years!

--Gerda Arendt (talk) 09:03, 7 April 2023 (UTC)