User talk:Menchi/Stardate 0.0006

This is the sixth archive of Wiki-communication. For more or see the current version, see User talk:Menchi#Archives

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Move page: How?

Question: How do I move a page to one of pages that redirects to it? An earlier attempt to so move a page (not this page) resulted in "page already exists" error. What is needed is a page swap function. This is why I moved the contents. The location of the history is noted in the page talk. By the way, we still need a (Japanese) Kirin image. --Leonard G., June 1, 2004

1. I've never been to Japan, nor will I visit there any time soon. So, can't help with a photo of kirin.
2. If you see "Page already exisits", that's not an error. It simply means ...a page already exists there. Don't worry, you simply need to.... (I copy the following direction from pretending to move stone to mineral):

   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 contact an Administrator to help you with the move.

Since choosing another name is not an option here, you can contact an administrator by dropping a note on Wikipedia:Speedy deletions, because I may not always be in cyberspace and there are always packs of diligent and gentle admins just loitering 24/7 around places on WP like that.

Then some admin will fix the situation, usually by deleting the target page -- which usually is just a redirect or stub, so nothing to worry about. I believe this is the case with qilin originally -- that it was a redirect. Even though a deletion will usually be involved, it's not a good idea to bring it up on Wikipedia:Votes for deletion, because some people might misunderstand your intention and thinking you want to delete a legitimate article and there will be discussion and explanation (see inclusionism), and it will drag on and on and on in the bureaucracy ...... So, to avoid cut-and-paste when moving articles, Wikipedia:Speedy deletions it is. This kinda situation fits exactly as Candidate for speedy deletion, Type # 7. --Menchi 22:17, 1 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Buttons

Those are the standard Mac OS X style buttons in Camino. Sorry. -- Cyrius|✎ 22:16, 2 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Qilin

I am wondering if the "Chinese unicorn" is a qilin - I am doubting this as I have pictures of both from the same location. See the qilin article and compare the three pictures. Leonard G. 22:40, 2 Jul 2004 (UTC)

There are many mythical beasts in Chinese myths, but the common ones most people familiar with are only 4: dragon, lion, qilin, and phoenix. The other rarely appear as statues in architectures we'd normally see (i.e, temple, old houses). So, my flawed logic is that, if it doesn't look like the other 3 (dragon, lion, phoenix), then it has to be qilin.... >_< I may be wrong. Perhaps some day, somebody will come and confirm or disapprove those photos' accuracy. Until then, I feel those 3 are all qilin. --Menchi 05:37, 3 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Thank you so much for your support

Hi Menchi! Just a short note to thank you warmly for your vote in my favour in last week's sysop poll, and for your your encouraging words of support. Your support meant a lot to me, Menchi. Again, thank you so much. David Cannon 10:49, 3 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Welcome. --Menchi 10:52, 3 Jul 2004 (UTC)

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"Chinese" contemptuous?

Hey, i have just read an article written by a Taiwanese (i believe), which says the word "Chinese" is somehow contemptuous in English language. The general idea of that article is the author heard that a Korean was bullied by his classmates, and was called "Chinese" even though his classmates knew he's Korean; when he refused to give money to the beggar, the beggar called him "Your Chinese". Then he concludes that the word "Chinese" is contemptuous in English, and refers to an example in which the Chinese who are living in America for a long time are not willing to be called "Chinese" for this reason. The author points out that the suffix "-ese" is used to insult people (like Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, Portuguese) and "-an" is to promote people (like American, Canadian, Britain, German, Californian, Texan), and at last, he suggests that we should force the English speakers changing the "China" into "Central Kingdom of Sinaian, (C.K.)" and "Chinese" into "Sinaian" just like what Iran did (he also compares the word "Chinese" with "Nigger").I don't know how you feel about this word "Chinese"? Is it offensive? Because i am doubting what the author is talking about. --Yacht (talk) 17:08, Jul 13, 2004 (UTC)

Yes, that's just non-sense. The -ese suffix originates in Latin centuries ago. It was sinensis in Latin, not "Sinaian". See the scientific names of orange (Citrus sinensis) and tea (Camellia sinensis). --Menchi 19:38, 13 Jul 2004 (UTC)

well, the Sinaian is a Greek word, meaning "Chinese" as well as "heaven" according to the author. --Yacht (talk) 02:37, Jul 14, 2004 (UTC)

Neologisms.... --Menchi 02:45, 14 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Thanks very much. --Yacht (talk) 02:48, Jul 14, 2004 (UTC)

Menchi, I would like to ask you couple of questions since you thought that the original article quoted by Yacht was non-sense: 1. Do you know why China is now called "China" but not "The Central Kindom of Sinaian"? I think you should know the literal meaning of the Chinese name of China, which means the central kindom. 2. Do you know why the Sinaian ( by the way, this is an English word, not just a Greek word if it's a Greek word at all ) are called Chinese, not Sinaian? Why are German, American and Italian are not called Germese, Americanese and Italiese or even Beerese, Cornese and Pizzese? 3. Do you know why different suffixes are used to refer to people from different countries? What are the differences? Why are there differences? 4. Do you know why the american beggar said "Your Chinese" after being refused, if "Chinese" is not contemptuous at all? 5. Do you mind if Canadians would be called Canadese from now on? I think you should answer the above 5 questions before throw the word "non-sense" out. -- Huanyu

Meizhou

Hi, I saw your comment on Meizhou I 'Cleaned Up' that page when it was posted, but have always been unhappy that I may heve distorted the original intentions of the first author, as you have a better knowledge of the subject, could you have a look at the first edition and see if you do a better deciphering job than me. Thank Giano 10:01, 18 Jul 2004 (UTC)

The original version is like a distasteful tourism advert. It should be re-written from scratch because the info it does contain aren't that informative. (Not that I have the energy to do so any time soon.) It has no history at all. And the little bits on Hakka is repetitive of Hakka. This has not much to do with "better knowledge". The article is inadequate in regards to style as well. --Menchi 11:53, 18 Jul 2004 (UTC)

I think the original was probably written by some-one proud of their homeland, they may not have great language or writing skills,but they were trying to put the place on the map, hence they should be helped and encouraged. I, for one, had never before heard of the place. Hence, the article was fulfilling its purpose. Compared to some articles which appear in Wikipedia, written by non-native English speakers, believe me that was OK. Giano 17:22, 18 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Orkut invitation

Would you like give me a Orkut invitation? I'm Mountain in Chinese Wikipedia, and my email address is yuanml@pku.org.cn. Thanks. --Mountain 17:17, 18 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Sure. --Menchi 18:45, 18 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Compound verb

Hi, Menchi, I have always felt that all the grammatical articles of compound noun, adjective and verb should belong together and should be merged. After a fortnight's notice on "Duplicate articles" I finally attempted to move your original article "compound verb" into it, but unfortunately received the dreaded notice "unable to move this article", etc. I think the problem was that the main article had been altered slightly in the meantime and the system refused to move it. Do you know a way round this now so that your "compound verb" history can come across into the main article? I am also sorry this looks a bit underhand on my part, I should have been in touch with you before now. Dieter Simon 22:52, 3 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Yeah, merge. I don't really care. Wikipedia taught me that being a pushover is useful in online communities to avoid needless conflicts (half-joking). :-) No, really, it's all good. Separation of topics may be useful for people who are searching specific exact topic, but integration is really handy for people who love just just sit back and browse.

Histories cannot be merged. So just copy-and-paste and forget about it. After all, the history is preserved (in the redirect's History page). Or if you're really bored, you could drop a note in the integrated Talk page, stating simply that article X was integrated into Y. Have fun organizing! (It looks like you already did a good job.) --Menchi 08:05, 4 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Many thanks, Menchi. I appreciate it. Dieter

Dogen

Nitpicky question about Dogen Zenji: a while back you added the translation that appears on the page now, putting Dogen as "Elementary-Way". Isn't that backward? I would render it as "Primordialness of the Way" or "Elementariness of the Way" (I'm trying to think of a way to make that less awkward in English). - Nat Krause 18:29, 14 Aug 2004 (UTC)

By all mean, improve upon my awkward English! :-) Your suggestions sound much nicer! --Menchi 20:00, 14 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Administrative divisions of Korea

Hi, Menchi: yes, it's me - I'm back! You may want to update your User:Menchi/Temp page, since I've split up Administrative divisions of Korea into Administrative divisions of North Korea and Administrative divisions of South Korea. Also, please let me know what you think of the info boxes I've added to such articles as Seoul, Pyongyang, South Chungcheong, and Samsung. --Sewing 20:37, 15 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Welcome back! It's really great to see you coming back! :-)

The Temp page is nothing serious. I'm too lazy to change it.. ;-)

The infoboxes are really handy! I can't think of what more could be done to it. For example, German city infoboxes have websites address as one of the rows. I don't think that's necessary, since we have an "External links" section already. So, concise and sufficient! Hope to see more! --Menchi 21:14, 15 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Thanks! --Sewing 02:16, 18 Aug 2004 (UTC)

West Dakota Prize

You did'nt see the humor or get the point, I guess. Try a search for the words "legend states." Twenty entries! All 20 entries got the West Dakota prize. Why? See User:Wetman.

Huh? (Don't get the joke AND don't know what u're talking about). --Menchi 01:27, 18 Aug 2004 (UTC)

When I don't get the point, I don't delete anything. Can you imagine why that might be a good general plan? Wetman 08:49, 20 Aug 2004 (UTC)

I have the ability to imagine, but I cannot imagine why exactly are you so sarcastically angry. What exactly are you referring to? Please clarify. --Menchi 09:18, 20 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Well, you see, I thought you'd deleted my harmless "West Dakota Prize joke" as "vandalism" --but I was mistaken: that was something else you quite correctly removed, and now I see the prize award (for using the phrase "legend states") is still there at Chinese dragon (and 19 other sites) after all, and I'm more confused than you... The original point was simply that the words "legend states..." are usually followed by highly unreliable and often utterly invented legends... Wetman 09:39, 20 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Don't worry about it. We're all a buncha confused netizens roaming around in disarray. --Menchi 01:12, 21 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Sota Korea

(Re a fix you did on Korean reunification): Rearrange the letters, change the "t" to a "d," and sell it as "Korea Soda," the latest soft drink! --Sewing 02:16, 18 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Heheh! :o) --Menchi 02:52, 18 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Nomination for Adminship

Hi, Menchi: thanks for the words of support. I still have to decide whether I want to take on the responsibility! Should I notify the editor most likely to oppose me (you know who I mean) that I have been nominated? --Sewing 02:14, 20 Aug 2004 (UTC)

I see you had already notified Nanshu. It's big of you. :-)

Although some people think that all admins should be "super-administrators" like Angela, etc. But, many believe that it's a mere sign showing that the WP community trust the user with the additional "abilities" (not that there's much...) WP's founder, Jimbo Wales, himself said that adminship "is no big deal."

Also, adminship doesn't mean that you must be on WP 24/7. Admins can take wiki-vacations. Extended vacations! That's a fact nobody dispute. Just take a look at the ever-growing and fast-growing list of admins -- you'd see that most admins are not really active. Many of those are not listed as inactive are not exactly daily-active either. Just help out when you could and want to. Fuzheado puts it well, "you can always hold admin privs in reserve". When in reserve, take a relaxing vacation away from WP! --Menchi 04:52, 20 Aug 2004 (UTC)

All good points. I would want to use my admin privileges conservatively. I do like the idea of being able to run SQL queries, though.... --Sewing 06:36, 20 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Menchi, I've left you a message on Wikipedia:Requests for adminship. Kokiri

You mean the one stating you'd distant yourself from controversial Japanese-Korean topics to ensure your neutrality? Mmmm...isn't that more of a reply to Taku et al than to me? Or are you referring to another message somewhere? I don't doubt that principle of yours. It's not a bad one. One of the WP policy pages -- which I cannot find now, maybe it's a user page -- even recommend that one doesn't edit articles in their areas of expertise to totally prevent "over-passionate involvements" (aka, edit wars). That's a bit extreme, because -- for example -- I don't have an interest in quantum physics or horse veterinary medicine, and I did not come to WP to do research on those topics that'd pain and bore AND confuse me! --Menchi 21:25, 21 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Yes, that would be a bit much. I think it's a question of keeping a level head and resisting the temptation to engage in low-level bickering. BTW, the unsigned comment you responded to is not from me, but from Taku. --Sewing 08:55, 22 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Sorry, Menchi, I've forgotten to sign my post above (re my message to you) and it caused confusion. My apologies. Have a nice day! Kokiri 14:03, 22 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Ah...I see. I thought Sewing wrote that. Kokiri, I realize that Taku tries to use Sewing's past involvement in controversial edits as some sort of excuse for his opposition. However, in my humble opinion, that is barely an excuse. And -- in MHO again -- it's not at all a reason! How is that supposed be a solid reason for opposition? I don't buy it. Lemme explain why I'm unconvinced: It's a widely known fact that there's almost no Wikipedian active who's not been in some heated debates on WP. I have, so have most active admins. Now, officially (according to WP policies and metapages), whether admins are theoretical paragons of perfection and never express any human bias or is that just some saintly ideal -- that doesn't change the human nature that save a few sages (one assume Confucius is among that exclusive posse), we humans have this tendency to disobey this saintly ideal to be non-interfering.

I believe Taku himself realizes this reality clearly, so, I'm compelled to conclude that his opposition is merely an express of his dislike of those who have different viewpoints from him. And so, I asked him that rhetorical question, Kokiri. I feel that I know Sewing's character well enough, so I believe that Taku's remarks are not fully justified. Not to mention that the fact that Sewing has publicly proclaimed -- before Taku's vote/comment -- that he'd try not to get into emotional controversial articles, partly because it's just to darn stressful for him to take! Taku's comment implies that Sewing has a belligerent inclination that makes him interested or even addicted to edit wars or something?! When the truth is clearly the opposite: Sewing stood on -- in occasions -- to what he viewed as Japanese bias over Korean matters, but he is not interested in instigating quarrels or perpetuating fights -- he simply can't stand such unnecessary stress in his life! He's a pacifist with a proper level of righteousness, it seems to me.

To tell the truth, I was not even aware that Sewing and Taku had some run-ins when I read Taku's comment. Sadly to sound ignorant, but I was only aware of Sewing's disagreement with Nanshu. However, even with that ignorance, as I was reading Taku's comment, it just sounds like the reason wasn't so much a reason as an excuse to mask over a negative personal feeling. How's that for clairvoyance? :o)

Now, if the personal dislike arose from an encounter when one discovers that the other party is an uncivilized f!@k, then I could see how that dislike could be used as a valid reason to demonstrate how the other party is unsuitable as an admin because the other party's ass&#@!#5itchiness makes him an unapproachable and unamicable admin (hopefully an oxymoron). BUT, this -- as far as I know -- isn't the case with Sewing. From what I've seen (his dealing with unyielding Nanshu), Sewing deals with insidious and outright bias with patience and never resort to nastiness! (I, on the other hand, am not so virtuous.... ;-) --Menchi 17:46, 22 Aug 2004 (UTC)

I am humbled by your lengthy and well thought-out argument. And it is all true: if for no other reason than personal health and well-being, I just avoid stepping into controversies. I asked Taku to reply because he might have some concern (we never had a full-out disagreement per se, but we do have different opinions), and his response was pretty much as I expected: in a way, it was a backhanded endorsement.... (Although I had secretly been hoping for a Wikilovefest.) --Sewing 19:06, 22 Aug 2004 (UTC)

NPOV Tag

Hi there. I've posted on the pump with no real reaction with regards to the NPOV tag on Division of Korea. Honestly, the tag annoys me, but since I've written I'm quite reluctant to remove the tag. The tag has been added by an anon... I'd really appreciate if you had a look into it. Have a nice day! Kokiri 08:45, 20 Aug 2004 (UTC)

I took the Pump off my Watchlist weeks ago when the topics get more and more ...philosophical. But this topic is un-boring (as IKEA ads say). I've replied on the Pump, saying that the anon should explain that tag, or it's invalid. --Menchi 09:45, 20 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Thanks for that! Have a nice day! Kokiri 10:59, 20 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Actually, don't the IKEA ads say "un-böring"? --Sewing 12:20, 20 Aug 2004 (UTC)

National Revolutionary Army

Hello educated one!

Can you help us almost illiterate people out at Talk:National Revolutionary Army?

Cheers, Jiang 08:33, 22 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Translated there. --Menchi 21:30, 22 Aug 2004 (UTC)

License ?

Hi, I'd like to know what is the license of Image:Kaliningrad map.PNG. Is it public domain ? Thanks in advance. Tipiac 17:22, 23 Aug 2004 (UTC)

From where I obtained the image and how myself modified it was already specified on the img desc page. I've added some legal rambles on it. The source (CIA Factbook) -- AFAIK -- is in PD, and my touch-up is released to the GNU license. --Menchi 19:16, 23 Aug 2004 (UTC)

It seems like you've been asking people for license info since July in order to complete img desc in French WP. Very gung-ho! --Menchi 19:18, 23 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Article Templates

Hi, Menchi: Thanks for the suggestion. I tried using the pipes a while ago, but I couln't get them to work... :( But I can try again. (Except that then we have to port about 70 articles over to the new table style!) --Sewing 19:37, 23 Aug 2004 (UTC)

I've been thinking more and more about using a bot recently. But I know absolutely nothing about them.... Is all the information somewhere on a Wikipedia page, or should I look somewhere else? ...Or just use a bot operator, like you suggested? --Sewing 19:44, 23 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Okay, dumb question (that I struck out above): I knew about the Wikipedia:Bots page, although that seems to be just about rules and guidelines for using bots, not how they actually work.... --Sewing 19:49, 23 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Well, not using a bot for these edits increases my stats (Almost 4500 now!). I have a Computer Science degree (sorry to brag...), but PERL kind of turned me off.... But I've contacted Kokiri about it, and I'll contact WhisperToMe as well.... --Sewing 20:02, 23 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Heheh! Increase stats, perhaps. But decrease your available waking time! Inversely proportional! :-p --Menchi 20:17, 23 Aug 2004 (UTC)

s = k/w, where:

s = number of free hours

k = some constant

w = number of wikipedia edits

Sewing 21:55, 23 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Sewing's First Law of Wikipedianism. A must-learn golden rule of thumb for any pupils taking WP101. --Menchi 23:57, 23 Aug 2004 (UTC)

LOL --Sewing 00:56, 24 Aug 2004 (UTC)

P.S.: Check out my farewell wish to you on your user page... --Sewing 02:07, 24 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Good-bye? ...Or welcome back?

Hi, Menchi: If you are reading this when you return from your trip, welcome back. I finally adopted a pen name (it was just a matter of time, right?): 山道子, which is explained here. I thought I'd let you know, since you would probably appreciate it! -山道子 (Sewing) - talk 16:27, 24 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Your new apprentice

Hi, Menchi: Your humble Wikipedian has now offically attained the ranks of junior sagehood. Thanks again for your guidance and support, which you have unfailingly provided to me since my very first forays into the wild world of Wikipedia. -山道子 (Sewing) - talk 21:49, 26 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Survey

Hi Menchi,

If you have time, please vote on Wikipedia talk:Naming conventions (Chinese)#Survey. Thanks. -- [[User:Ran|ran (talk)]] 23:35, Sep 5, 2004 (UTC)

done. --Menchi 21:06, 17 Sep 2004 (UTC)

Translation of "taiqi" and other affairs

Hullo, Menchi! I've come begging to you again, because my Chinese is so bad:

(1) In Image:Tintin in tibet address.jpg, the last character on the first (leftmost) line seems pretty unclear. Could it be jia1 (or maybe wan2)? I seem to remember wen2jia1 being a poetic form of "Publishing House". (For context, the letter is supposed to be written by one Chang Chong-chen to Tintin). (2) How exactly is "tai2qi3" supposed to be translated? All I know is that it's a very formal salutation, usually used in old letters and such.

Thanks! --Xiaopo ℑ 00:01, Sep 14, 2004 (UTC)

I have no idea what that last obscure character could be. According to [1] taiqi is just "To [somebody]". It is used for people in the same generation. --Menchi 21:06, 17 Sep 2004 (UTC)

Ah, cool, thanks. BTW, I'm surprised you're not over at Wikipedia talk:Naming conventions (Chinese)#New survey. --Xiaopo ℑ 05:29, Sep 18, 2004 (UTC)

Oops, I should've answered "done" after I've actually done the task, not during my contemplation to do it. --Menchi 05:49, 18 Sep 2004 (UTC)

Contemplation -- very zen. ;-) Incidentally, in the interests of keeping down clutter, it would be better if you could vote once and leave a comment explaining your compromise positions. Or rank your votes or something. --Xiaopo ℑ 05:56, Sep 18, 2004 (UTC)

Commented and ranked. Btw, I just realized I replied "done" to Ran's old survey and not yours. So, there's nothing to oops about. But then again, I didn't do his survey either..... --Menchi 06:20, 18 Sep 2004 (UTC)

An oops a day builds humility and other virtues. --Xiaopo ℑ 14:49, Sep 18, 2004 (UTC)

Hello

Hi again, Menchi: I am deciding for the third time whether to quit Wikipedia. I decided to quit yesterday, sent out farewell messages, etc., but now I'm back.... -Sewing - talk 15:01, 14 Sep 2004 (UTC)

Great! --Menchi 21:06, 17 Sep 2004 (UTC)

Saitama (Toponym)

From Wikipedia:Pages needing translation into English; also copied to Talk:Kanji, Talk:Saitama, Saitama

• Article: ja:さいたま市#地名の由来 (just this segment)
• Corresponding English-language article: Saitama, Saitama#Toponym
• Worth doing because: Saitama seems to be one of the few large cities whose name doesn't have Kanji. The origin of this name is hard to find on English webpages.
• Originally requested by: --Menchi 10:29, 8 Jun 2004 (UTC)
• Status: I have translated it, hopefully this is helpful! CES 06:14, 18 Jun 2004 (UTC)
• Other notes: Adding a paragraph on those proper nouns (place and personal names) that do not (cannot) have Kanji in Kanji would be informative too.

-- Anon

k, thanks. --Menchi 21:06, 17 Sep 2004 (UTC)

Answer to question

Three months back, you asked on an image talk page "who the slayer was." I found the answer: you can read it on Image:Destruction of Leviathan.png. [[User:Neutrality|Neutrality (talk)]] 20:44, Oct 9, 2004 (UTC)

Cool, great answer! Nice of you to take the time writing that up! --Menchi 21:32, 9 Oct 2004 (UTC)

Here I spam

Come and join us at Wikipedia:China-related topics notice board. Or at least visit one in a while... --Jiang 02:09, 24 Oct 2004 (UTC)

Yep, I had that page on my Watchlist. --Menchi 02:30, 24 Oct 2004 (UTC)

There is also a Wikipedia:Canadian wikipedians' notice board, if you'd like to help out there as well! Adam Bishop 21:52, 28 Oct 2004 (UTC)

Cool. Watchlisting that as well. --Menchi 22:49, 28 Oct 2004 (UTC)

Climb Every Mountain

Salve, Menchi! I saw your comment on the height of Jade Mountain re the Columbia Encyclopedia. "Niitakayama" and "Mount Morrison" are the same thing as Yu Shan and the book does indeed have articles at both names for the mountain rather than a cross-reference. Another example of how you need to look every place information could be and not assume the editors and indexers know what they're doing. Ave! PedanticallySpeaking 15:28, Oct 30, 2004 (UTC)

Thanks for the info. --Menchi 04:48, 3 Nov 2004 (UTC)

The Meaning of Ethnic Chinese

Everything I planned to say has already been posted. We should avoid "ethnic Chinese" alltogether and stick with "Han Chinese" --Jiang 04:24, 3 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Thanks for the note. --Menchi 04:48, 3 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Long March

I wasn't experimenting. Everything I added was translated from the French version. If you didn't like the formatting or the way I grafted in the information, I'd love it if you'd help me clean it up. However the French version has quite a bit more detailed information that seems to need adding to the English version.

Thanks, Sowelilitokiemu 12:58, 6 Nov 2004 (UTC)

I was reverting what seems to be an insidious vandalism of changing a correct spelling ("the fourth front") to an incorrect one ("the forth front") [2]. That just seemed like experimentation to me.

But because you were editing so closely in a few seconds, it turns out that the next version was reverted even though I meant to revert the spelling one [3]. Sorry about the misunderstanding, I've reverted just the spelling now. --Menchi 17:06, 6 Nov 2004 (UTC)

ROC flag references

Flag of the Republic of China is currently on featured article candidates. there's been a call for references so if you know or remember any, please add them to the article. --Jiang 07:54, 10 Nov 2004 (UTC)

I got all my info from Chinese google by typing "ROC, national flag". The Chinese material probably wouldn't be of interest to the English readers. --Menchi 15:20, 10 Nov 2004 (UTC)

I just googled in English and found a couple of English pages. I tried to find some paper references from library catalog, but had no luck re: book or articles. --Menchi 15:35, 10 Nov 2004 (UTC)

It's for verifiability purposes so do list the Chinese pages, per Wikipedia:Cite sources. We'll just specify that's it's in Chinese so readers will be warned before clicking. --Jiang 17:52, 10 Nov 2004 (UTC)

The initial version by me [4] contains nothing deserving references. They're universal truth ("flag is red, white...") and not scholary opinions. I don't believe common knowledge needs to have its source cited, since there are literally thousands of such mentions out there. And they all say the same thing: "red for this, blue for that,....". Not to mention that the page was written over a year ago. There's no way I could remeber which exact page -- of those many with similar content -- I used. But if that guy really wants source for that. [5] works. And any of the pages here works too. --Menchi 19:04, 10 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Arbitration Committee Election Get Out the Vote Effort

Hello Menchi,

Thank you for the Pinyin tip you provided to me recently.

I really appreciate the tips you and others have provided in articles and talk pages that make it easier for me to learn what I need to know in order to contribute to the China-related articles I have an interest in. Specifically, I aspire to create an English-language map of Shenyang City and Liaoning province, that will make it possible for anyone who knows English to traverse the length and breadth of that great area of China.

To a Westerner like myself, it has been difficult to find out how to create Pinyin romanizations of the many proper names that appear on a map, but the tips I have received from you and others on Wikipedia have gone a long ways towards educating me in how to accomplish that task.

In the big picture, the China-related articles are a great example of the diversity of opinions here on Wikipedia.

As an experienced contributor, I'm sure you are aware of the upcoming Arbitration Committee Elections.

It's important that a diverse range of viewpoints be represented in the makeup of the Arbitration Committee.

I think the best way to make that happen is to help to increase voter turnout.

One of the technical people on this site, who goes by the name Danny, helped me to make a very convenient tag that makes it super easy to place this "get out the vote" banner on your user page:

Arbitration Committee Elections - December 4th-18th, 2004

Election Info — Candidates — Voting

If you support helping to increase voter turnout, please consider adding this tag to your user page, as a great many pages link to your user page.

Thanks in advance if you choose to help out. If there are any issues which prevent you from doing so, please let me know - I would be happy to make a custom version of this tag just for your page if that's what it takes for you to proudly display it.

If you choose to display this banner, please put the tag as near to the top as your aesthetic sense will permit.

Thank you for your time and consideration in this matter.

Regards,

--DV 17:53, 22 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Tudhoe / recruitment

Hi, Menchi.

So you asked me to drop you a message if I opened a Wikipedia account. Recruitment +1.

J

So you are 129.234.4.10 from APRIL?! Woa, that's 7 months ago! Amazing. What took so long? Anyway, welcome aboard! --Menchi 19:14, 24 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Article Licensing

I've "started" the Free the Rambot Articles Project which aims to get users to release all of their contributions to the U.S. state, county, and city articles under the CC-by-sa 1.0 and 2.0 license (at minimum) or into the public domain if they prefer. A secondary goal is to get those users to release ALL of their edits for ALL articles. I've personally chosen to multi-license all of the rambot and Ram-Man contributions under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License so that other projects, such as WikiTravel, can use our articles. I was wondering if you would be willing to multi-license all your contributions (or at minimum those on the geographic articles) so that we can keep most of the articles available under the multi-license. Many users use the {{DualLicenseWithCC-BySA-Dual}} template (or even {{MultiLicensePD}} for public domain) on their user page, but there are other templates for other options at Template messages/User namespace. If you only prefer using the GFDL, I understand, but I thought I'd at least ask, just in case, since the number of your edits is in the top 100. If you do want to do it, simply just copy and paste one of the above two templates into your user page and it will allow us to track those users who have done it. For example:

Option 1

I agree to [[Wikipedia:Multi-licensing|multi-license]] all my contributions, with the exception of my user pages, as described below:

{{DualLicenseWithCC-BySA-Dual}}

OR

Option 2

I agree to [[Wikipedia:Multi-licensing|multi-license]] all my contributions to any [[U.S. state]], county, or city article as described below:

{{DualLicenseWithCC-BySA-Dual}}

Or if you wanted to place your work into the public domain (which many people do or don't like to do, see Wikipedia:Multi-licensing), you could replace {{DualLicenseWithCC-BySA-Dual}} with {{MultiLicensePD}} -- Ram-Man 22:40, Nov 25, 2004 (UTC)

Why did you email me?

Why have I received two messages telling me that my posts are irrelevant and unnecessary. I have not posted anything on this website!! Kristin

E-mail? Who are you? --Menchi 09:42, 7 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Chinese textbook

i hope you have time to help me out at wikibooks Chinese textbook. i felt frustrated when writing the explaination for the English speakers. don't want to make them feel "the explaination is not understandable!". hope you can check that out, make some neccessary modification. i can hardly expression what i am thinking in English now... gracias! --Yacht (talk) 11:10, Dec 18, 2004 (UTC)

Done. It's very cool! --Menchi 22:58, 18 Dec 2004 (UTC)