User talk:AzureCitizen

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Thanks for your help!

Thank you berry much for your help!
They're not quite azure, but they're delicious and good for you. Thanks for your help on SaveCalifornia.com. Now I'm a little less worried about it falling into the deep blue sea. Enjoy! – MrX 17:45, 27 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks, happy to contribute and help wherever I can!  :) AzureCitizen (talk) 21:02, 27 September 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you

Thank you for working with me to make Kerry Bentivolio a better article. As you can obviously tell, I'm new and rough around the edges, but I certainly learned quite a bit. Thanks for your patience and your help! --35.16.91.224 (talk) 17:37, 3 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

You're most welcome.  :) Please continue to edit and make Wikipedia one of your hobbies! Regards, AzureCitizen (talk) 17:39, 3 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Allen West edits

Thanks for your help on Allen West's page. I do have to disagree with you though, on a couple of points. A fire support officer's designation on his DD214 is as a "FSO" or Fire Support Officer, capitalized. (See: Artillery observer) And when we were in Vicenza, Italy together we were not the 4/325 Infantry Regiment ... all paratrooper infantry regiments receive the "Airborne" designation so we were the 4/325th ABCT or "Airborne Battalion Combat Team" once our 1/509th colors were retired and the 82nd absorbed us into the Division. Even if we were using the new unit designations at the time, it would be noted as 325th PIR or "Parachute Infantry Regiment." Simply noting "Infantry Regiment" is not indicative of his Airborne status at the time when he was receiving Hazardous Duty "jump pay." But you are correct on several of the other notes ... and between you and I we upgraded the entry a great deal. I served under Allen as one of his FDC Chiefs. We were, in order, the 1/509th ABCT Geronimos, the 4/325th ABCT Geronimos, the 1/508th ABCT Geronimos and now they are the 173rd ABCT Sky Soldiers upgraded to a Brigade Combat Team rather than a Battalion Combat Team. Thank you again. I'm learning.  :) --Scrooster (talk) 21:11, 3 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Howdy! Thanks for dropping by, I thought about leaving you a note on your Talk Page to clarify one or two things but then quickly moved on to other things. You're clearly right about the unit designations (e.g., 1/25 SBCT), but for non-military readers on Wikipedia, it's usually easier for them to understand it written out (e.g., "1st Battalion, 25th Infantry Division") with the corresponding Wikilinks to the smallest organization (in this case, 25th ID) to guide the reader to find out more. If you do a search right now for "1/25 SBCT", nothing will come up... maybe someone should create a bunch of article redirects some day, but the potential list would be exhaustive. In the alternative, you could use a pipelink to have the text in the article read "1/25 SBCT" while linking to the 25th ID if you wanted to, but again you have the problem where it's crystal clear to military folks like us and confusing to non-military readers trying to decipher it. Up to you if you want to take a stab at that and try reformatting the names to some sort of compromise in between. On the titles of positions, the convention I use is that if it's a specific position to a given unit, i.e., "he was the Executive Officer of the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team", you uppercase the position, while if it's in reference to a non-specific unit, you lowercase it, i.e., "he served as an executive officer for a maintenance company". In my opinion, frequent and repetitive uppercasing doesn't look good to my eye for encyclopedic prose, and using the lowercase versions for most jobs coupled with the more prominent specific units positions standing out in uppercase just flows better. Just my two cents. Feel free to make further enhancements if you feel it would help the readability... :) Regards, AzureCitizen (talk) 21:50, 3 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]


Gotcha. Okay, I can try to do something down the road with that and thanks for taking the time to guide me through the thought process a bit more. Much appreciated. Scrooster (talk) 22:36, 3 October 2012 (UTC)[reply]

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Medals and such

Howdy, stranger!
Your name just popped up on my watchlist for the first time in a long time, which reminded me that I had wanted to ask you a question. It has to do with this edit made a few months ago. The edit summary seemed logical on its face, so I didn't think too much about it, but then I started noticing the GCM being mentioned in various sources about the guy. Could all those sources be wrong? Compounding the confusion is the fact that Bowerman was in the ROTC first, then in the Reserves (which handles a GCM-equivalent somewhat differently), and was allegedly awarded the medal not long after the Army established it in the early 1940s. Is it possible the "active enlisted service" requirement was different back then, or perhaps he received a variation of the Army GCM? It's just been something I've been curious about, and I recalled seeing a flurry of chatter about medals on your Talk page a while back and figured you may have some insight on the matter. It's not something I'm losing sleep over, obviously (it's been months since that edit).

I hope all is well with you. :) Xenophrenic (talk) 03:42, 10 December 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Hello X, good to hear from you! All is well here and I hope the same for you. I took a look at the Bowerman article to glean what I could about the situation. I think you might be on the right track in figuring that if several sources document Bowerman had an AGCM, he probably really did have one, and that there might be something present in the current article write-up that is off track. Allow me to speculate one possibility that might explain it... there are plenty of Army officers who wear or have worn the AGCM on their ribbon rack (myself included... it's because of prior active duty enlisted time before commissioning). The article currently says that Bowerman "joined the United States Army as a 2nd Lieutenant in the days following the Pearl Harbor attack." Much earlier versions of the article just said he served in the Army, and the first edit to expand the subject and introduce the Moore source is here from May 2008, which actually says he "enlisted" in the Army following the Pearl Harbor attack. Is it possible he actually enlisted first, then got commissioned later, either through applying for it or perhaps earning a battlefield commission after he entered the European Theater? As long as he served for one year before becoming an officer, he would have been eligible. The edit changing it to "2nd Lieutenant" in 1941 came later in January 2010 here. However, by ~1945, the article has him commanding a battalion as a major, which is meteoric rise in a very short span of time (but again, things like that happened during WW II with rapid promotion when officers higher in the chain of command got killed off). Have you had the chance to read the Moore book yourself, and compare what's in it to the assertions that are currently being made in the article that he was in ROTC and joined the war as a second lieutenant?  :) Regards, AzureCitizen (talk) 04:37, 10 December 2012 (UTC)[reply]
It's been a while since I've read (at least part) of that book, but the digital magic of Google-Books enables the searching and viewing of relevant passages here. Different pieces of the puzzle can be found in these sections:
Pg 56 -- But in early 1933, something happened that would delay everything. Bill had joined ROTC as a senior because he needed the money, without realizing that in return for tuition help he was committing himself to a two-year obligation. He'd have to spend a fifth year at Oregon when he'd hoped to graduate in four.
Pg 67 -- ... it would seem like no time at all until war clouds thickened. "We were in Eastern Oregon with Jon," Bowerman would recall. "On the Sunday, we were driving back to Medford and heard the Japanese had come on in and dropped the bombs on Pearl Harbor." Looking over at Barbara, Bill simply executed a U-turn. "I just drove right to Vancouver Barracks and took a physical, and went back to Medford for a month while they decided what to do with me." Because he'd been in ROTC and the Army Reserve, he was made a second lieutenant and assigned to Ft. Lawton, near Seattle. The camp was essentially a staging ground for sending troops to Alaska, where an invasion was expected. "But they classified me limited duty," Bowerman would remember with disgust. "I've got a scar on my left eye. I got it when I was a boy, ten or twelve, playing mumblety-peg. All it did was nick it. Hell, I could see like an eagle. But they gave me theatre officer, athletic officer. I was doing everything except washing the dishes."
Pg 69 -- As Barbara would describe it, "The Tenth was like an Ivy League club -- a mixture of Regular Army leaders and citizen soldiers, some from expensive colleges. Occasionally officers objected to noncoms coming in the officers' club. But some of the corporals were world-class heroes to men like Bill, who were only officers because they'd been in ROTC. Bill would host these great skiers and be frowned upon by the colonels."
Pg 81 -- One blustery day, when the pear leaves were blowing across the fields, a pair of soldiers with MP armbands hailed Bowerman at practice to say he was under arrest. "Yeah?" said Bowerman. "For what?" The MP, who was from Portland, answered, "Because you refused to obey an order to return to somewhere in Texas where your people were to reassemble to be disbanded." "You think you are going to take me back to Camp Swift," said Bill. "In the first place, I'm not going. In the second place, you are going to look pretty funny. I've got four Bronze Stars and a Good Conduct Medal. I've got a Silver Star for gallantry in action. In the third place, the war is over. I'm a schoolteacher. I'm back here teaching school. In the fourth place, if you try to take me out of here we'll have a riot and you'll get arrested, right here in my Jackson County. "Well," said the MP, "I'm going back to the Adjutant General's office." Where someone must have taken a look at Bowerman's service record, for the Army wrote that he could officially muster out at Camp Carson, in Colorado. One of Barbara's favorite photos shows him there, holding up his honorable discharge papers. His medals would arrive in the mail a couple years later.
I get the impression that normal adherance to procedure and policy at the close of that war may have, at times, taken a backseat to more ad-lib handling of matters, but I'm not sure that holds true of the issuing of medals. Other sources routinely note the GCM among his other medals (like this one). Curious.
I'm doing well; just preparing for the annual end-of-year chaos here, while tying up loose ends before the end of the world.  ;) Xenophrenic (talk) 21:19, 10 December 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Good work on scaring up the most relevant material from the Moore biography. Based on that, I would say my theory that he enlisted in 1941 and became an officer a year after Pearl Harbor is a non-starter. I also reflected on the fact that with a birth date in early 1911, he was already 30+ years old by the time the U.S. entered the war. In all likelihood, he probably really was a lieutenant when he entered active service just a few days after December 7th. After taking another look at the three executive orders that established and amended the rules for the CGM, it doesn't look like he would have been eligible no matter how you skew it, yet numerous sources say he had a GCM and Moore's biography even anecdotally relates a confrontation between Bowerman and some MPs where Bowerman purportedly claims a Silver Star, four BSMs, and a Good Conduct Medal. So what's the real deal? At this point, I suspect either there was confusion at the time it was awarded and a mistake was made (S-1 sections don't always get it right when they publish orders), or Bowerman became confused decades later and thought he'd been awarded the GCM, which then propagated itself into the interviews that became his biography (neither scenario involving any devious intent, as Vets frequently don't always get their stories straight through the fog of many years). At this point, it's unlikely to be resolved unless someone had substantial access to records or could interview the rare surviving individuals (if there are any) who can shed light on these incongruent facts. Perhaps Kenny Moore would know more about it as well?
With regard to the end of the year chaos, I can very much appreciate that. Speaking of the end of the world phenomenon, on a segment of the Colbert Report recently, Colbert remarked that he was very confident that it was true - that December 31, 2012 is definitely going to live up to the predictions by "bringing about the end of the year".  :) Regards, AzureCitizen (talk) 01:16, 11 December 2012 (UTC)[reply]

BFA

Hey,

With regards to my BFA edit ( http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jessica_Lynch&diff=527610387&oldid=527609694), you are indeed right. Having never fired without one I completely forgot.. my bad. Thanks for re-editing it back, and sorry for what must have come across as a seemingly arrogant edit. All the best. --137.222.114.184 (talk)

No problem, and clearly your intentions were to improve the article - it's a subtle point that other people have probably missed as well. Thanks for the courtesy... Regards, AzureCitizen (talk) 03:19, 12 December 2012 (UTC)[reply]

A barnstar for you!

The Teamwork Barnstar
For your work on Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. I was copy-editing, and when I went in to remove "He was too young to have purchased a gun anyway," it was gone. Turns out you had gotten there before I could. You have been tirelessly editing and improving this article. Great work!! :D Qbgeekjtw (talk) 19:51, 16 December 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks, someone else had just added a <cn> tag and it immediately struck me that the statement was faulty OR. Go team! :) Regards, AzureCitizen (talk) 20:04, 16 December 2012 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks. Drmies (talk) 15:50, 19 December 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Signatures

I indirectly mentioned you at Wikipedia:Administrators'_noticeboard/Incidents#User:YahwehSaves_refusing_to_leave_signature. Feel free to leave a comment there is you wish.—Bagumba (talk) 20:59, 19 December 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Robert Bales

I won't revert you, just want to be clear. My edit didn't label him a killer, it labeled him an alleged killer. And before he was an alleged killer, he was just another non-notable soldier without an article. Seems like the reason for notability should fill the blank in "Subject is ______", and other relevant things (like military service) should follow. But it's not a big deal. InedibleHulk (talk) 18:13, 18 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

I see what you're saying and you certainly didn't do anything to abrogate the "alleged" aspect (I'm sorry if my edit summary implied that); it just seems more appropriate to say "alleged to have killed" rather than "alleged killer". With regard to his notability, I would definitely agree that he's notable because he (allegedly) committed the murders, not because he's a soldier; but the first sentence of the lede as it stands right now is unambiguous on that point. No worries... Regards, AzureCitizen (talk) 18:50, 18 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

George Will article

No it isn't. The reference is to a different article that refers to the Will article in passing.—Chowbok 22:28, 25 February 2013 (UTC)[reply]

It's more or less the same point/content, and both of those articles were published within 24 hours of each other on October 24, 2010. The simplest solution is to move the 2nd (new) source cite to join the 1st citation in supporting the content in the 2010 section. Sound good to you? Regards, AzureCitizen (talk) 22:33, 25 February 2013 (UTC)[reply]
I've gone ahead and fixed it, you see the edit moving it here. Regards, AzureCitizen (talk) 02:45, 26 February 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Shorter University

Thanks for your objective work on this entry. — Preceding unsigned comment added by JurgenSchmurgenBurgen (talkcontribs) 05:01, 15 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks, I strive for fairness and balance. Regards, AzureCitizen (talk) 19:21, 15 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

The Killing of Travis Alexander.

I left you a message on the talk page killing of Travis Alexander.--BeckiGreen (talk) 20:14, 20 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks, I'll respond there shortly... AzureCitizen (talk) 20:30, 20 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Victor Maghakian's Gold Star

Hello AzureCitizen,

Thank you so much on you contributions! Maghakian also won a "Gold Star in lieu of a Second Award of the Silver Star" I had added this before to the list of medals he won however, it was removed simply because it was believed that there was no "Gold Star Medal". I found a source that says he won the "Gold Star in lieu of a Second Award of the Silver Star" Is there a way we can add a ribbon for this? Is there any information on this medal? I really want to put it back on his article. Proudbolsahye (talk) 17:11, 28 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Proudbolsahye, glad to help. The gold star from your reference is referring to a gold
service ribbon of the medal itself. Does that clear up the confusion? Please don't hesitate to ask more questions if you need further clarification. With regard to the article itself, we can certainly make an annotation to make it clear that Maghakian received the Silver Star Medal not once but twice. Regards, AzureCitizen (talk) 17:23, 28 March 2013 (UTC)[reply
]
Wow! Thank you for your very informative response. It is all clear to me now. So basically the fact that he received a second Silver Star Medal means that he just received a Gold Star added to his ribbon. Adding a 2 next to his Silver Star would mean he basically won a Gold Star. Anyhow, there's talks that he will get a Medal of Honor. I'm pretty excited. We'll see how that goes. Once again thank you. Proudbolsahye (talk) 17:43, 28 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]
No problem! I've gone ahead and added ribbon images to the awards section in the body of the article, along with the actual ribbon devices mounted on the ribbons. Note that a single gold 5/16 inch star on the Silver Star and Purple Heart medals indicates second awards, while a single silver 3/16 inch star on the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign medal is worn in lieu of five bronze campaign stars. I've linked those devices as well so that a reader can read up on the specifics. If they are considering him for the MOH and there are references for that, I'd go ahead and add that to the article as well. It may or may not happen, but the fact it's being discussed is noteworthy. Regards, AzureCitizen (talk) 18:01, 28 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Azure, I ran into something interesting. A source says that he "His honors included two Silver Stars, two Bronze Stars, two Purple Hearts, the Navy Cross, a Navy Unit citation, a Presidential Citation with two stars, and an Asiatic-Pacific Area Campaign Medal with seven battle stars." Turns out Navy Unit Citation and Presidential Citation are separate awards. Shouldn't they both be added separately? Proudbolsahye (talk) 18:36, 28 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Had to step away for a bit and just got back to my computer. Reading the above, it may well be that he has more medals and ribbons (possibly a second BSM, plus a NUC, plus the source says he has potentially seven APACM campaign stars and two more awards of the PUC), in which case depending on the source we can probably justify updating and adding additional awards into the article. The NUC ribbon is actually the "Navy Unit Commendation" rather than the "Navy Unit Citation", but typos and misnomers are common in records and news reports. Let me start with this: can you refer me a link to the source that gave you the above information? Or is it in a book and/or paper journal? Regards, AzureCitizen (talk) 21:50, 28 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Okay it is source #11 of the article. It is from Armenian International Magazine, which is a very respectable journal/magazine edited and published by the Armenian community. I retrieved the full text of the source through the California State University of Los Angeles article database. Here's a very large and important chunk of the article:

Captain Victor "Transport" Maghakian was one of the highest decorated enlisted Marines of world War II, until he received a battlefield commission in July 1944 while serving with Carlson's Raiders in the Pacific theater. His honors included two Silver Stars, two Bronze Stars, two Purple Hearts, the Navy Cross, a Navy Unite citation, a Presidential Citation with two stars, and an Asiatic-Pacific Area Campaign Medal with seven battle stars. During his service with the 2nd and 4th Marine Divisions and the Raiders, Maghakian fought in seven major battles and was wounded three times. He was instrumental in shooting down two Japanese aircraft, which carried intelligence that could have wrecked the American conquest of the Solomon Islands. He is also credited with saving the life of film star Lee Marvin, then a 17-year-old, during the battle for Eniwetok Atol in 1944. The wartime heroics of the Raiders were portrayed in the film Gung-Ho, and Maghakian's role was played by Sam Levene. Maghakian himself acted as technical advisor to the film, whose title came form the Raiders' battle cry. At a 1972 ceremony in his honor in Fresno, Maghakian explained what drove him: "I fought for principles and ideals, not medals." Following the war, Maghakian became an executive at a Las Vegas hotel and casino. He retired with his wife Vera to Fresno in 1974 and died three years later. An outpatient center at the city's Veterans' Administration Medical center was named in Maghakian's honor.

I italicized something that I thought would be very useful information for the article. He shot down two Japanese fighters. But in what battle? Unfortunately I don't know. Also, I ran into trouble with his contributions to the Battle of Saipan. I cannot find any information on it. Proudbolsahye (talk) 22:10, 28 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Researching and digging up the information can be daunting when it happened six to seven decades ago. On the reference with additional information on his decorations and awards, that's a good find and would justify updating the tally. Since decorations accumulate as a person goes along, it's not surprising that one source may list one group of medals while a later source includes yet more. I will swing by the article shortly to update the ribbons and totals... AzureCitizen (talk) 22:33, 28 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Okay looks great now! Thank you once again. My next article is going to be on George Juskalian. Stayed tuned! :D Proudbolsahye (talk) 22:55, 28 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Hey it's no Silver Star with a Gold Medal but...

The Editor's Barnstar

The Editor's Barnstar
Heres an Editor's Barnstar for your tireless efforts and helpful contributions. Thank you. Proudbolsahye (talk) 18:34, 28 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Thanks, I too am interested in these types of articles and ensuring due credit to service members for the awards they've earned... AzureCitizen (talk) 21:50, 28 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

George Juskalian

Have you seen this picture? Itll give a better view. I'm going to have to deep deep to find confirming sources for all these medals. Boy it's going to be hard. Proudbolsahye (talk) 00:14, 29 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Response at TP of my sandbox. Proudbolsahye (talk) 05:05, 29 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]
I appealed
WP:RSN. Lets see what they say. Proudbolsahye (talk) 00:38, 30 March 2013 (UTC)[reply
]
Thanks for the heads-up... I will keep my eye on the thread.  :) Regards, AzureCitizen (talk) 00:53, 30 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Update: I have very good news! I found a source that has provided all the medals Juskalian has won. Turns out you were correct in all of them. Kudos to you! I also contacted the Juskalian family and they're going to send me some pictures of George Juskalian during his military campaigns and post-military life. I am very excited for that one. Also, sorry for my delay on the article. I am waiting for these photographs to arrive so I can put the article with the photographs up for DYK. Thereafter, I'm going to try to place it for FAC. Proudbolsahye (talk) 17:58, 3 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]
That's great and glad to hear it - you've done a lot of work getting the article built up and fleshing things out. I'll stop back by again sometime to check things out. Regards, AzureCitizen (talk) 22:59, 4 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]
The article George Juskalian is up. I put it up for DYK. I also placed you as second author of the article if you don't mind. Cheers! Proudbolsahye (talk) 19:39, 17 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]
The article looks great - good work! AzureCitizen (talk) 21:06, 19 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]
The proposal is fine with me. Thank you. Proudbolsahye (talk) 23:26, 23 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Glad to hear it... if I can help in any other way, just let me know. AzureCitizen (talk) 23:34, 23 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Munich massacre

Hello, I saw you undid one of my previous edits. That edit is not a vandalism and it actually does not change the nature of following parts of the text, as it can be clearly read who is the victim and who is the perpetrator. Please discuss beforeundoing. Thank you. 141.136.222.153 (talk) 14:25, 10 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Hello, this edit was not vandalism and it was previously discussed with all the people who were editing it in last couple of hours before the edit was done. As this is encyclopedic content, I do not impose any opinion or subjective content, because it is not ethical. The first sentence of that article is very clumsily written. It should be changed or the edit left. Thanks. 141.136.222.153 (talk) 14:32, 10 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]
I'm confused — did you mean to ask someone else? I don't remember interacting with you or with this IP before, and I've never paid attention to the Munich massacre article. Of course I'm happy to help, but unless I know better what's going on, I can't do anything. Nyttend (talk) 17:26, 15 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Sorry about that, I assumed you remembered from the other day, and realize now you may not have been following that closely. Take a look at the IP user talk page at User_talk:141.136.222.153 and you'll note that you blocked them, followed by DVdm posting below your block a few minutes later indicating this IP hopper from the 141.13* range (from Slovenia) keeps returning and getting blocked. The edit they made on the Munich massacre article is the same one they made the other day, and they again exceeded the 1RR restriction. Make sense now? Sorry I was so cursory in my prior posting. Regards, AzureCitizen (talk) 17:34, 15 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]
No, sorry; I'd completely forgotten about the block the other day. Your tone sounded as if you were in the middle of a conversation or continuing a long-running discussion (I saw the text before your signature and thought it was
Platinum Star, who routinely reports IP edit-warriors to me in this manner), so that's why I wondered if you asked the wrong person. Thanks for the clarification: it reminded me quite well, and I've blocked this IP. Nyttend (talk) 19:28, 15 April 2013 (UTC)[reply
]
Ironically, after I blocked him he replaced the contents of his talk page with "Fascist Wikipedia, as always". Funny, someone attacking Jews calls us fascists! Talk page access revoked. Nyttend (talk) 21:09, 15 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]
That editor certainly has a perspective problem. Good to keep your sense of humor in considering the irony.  :) For the long term, it's clear they are a problem because they keep IP hopping and returning. It's frustrating for editors trying to clean up the situation because while the edits are clearly problematic, they aren't prima facie vandalism or BLP violations, and since that particular article has a 1RR restriction, regular editors stop at one repair while the IP will keep going with reverts and hop IPs again shortly. What's the solution? Range block? Semi-protection? Not sure, etc. AzureCitizen (talk) 21:35, 15 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Semiprotection is the way to go. I'm not going to do it now, but feel free to let me know (but with context :-) if you find this guy coming back. Nyttend (talk) 21:42, 15 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Roger that, thanks... :) Regards, AzureCitizen (talk) 21:46, 15 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Sure enough, it's the next day, and he's right back at it again: Special:Contributions/141.136.209.52. AzureCitizen (talk) 19:16, 16 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]
{{Uw-ipevadeblock}} blocks levied, and page semiprotected. Nyttend (talk) 19:49, 16 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]
That'll help. Interestingly, the IP repeatedly hit the Vaginismus article with a comment on feminism, right up till April 5th, when Joe Decker took action and protected the page for ~10 days, expiring April 16th. Sure enough, on April 16th (today), the IP shows back up again to do the same thing. Something tells me that as long as he can keep jumping IPs, he'll keep up at this, and if he happens to jump to new articles that have no connection to the ones he has attacked previously, it's difficult to detect him. Prior pages edited include Nazi hunter, Simon Wiesenthal, FEMEN, Marc Lepine, Gloria Steinem, and Feminazi. There's probably no way to range block him because the range of IPs is too great. AzureCitizen (talk) 20:06, 16 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Just noticed that this IP (like the other one) blanked his talk page after I blocked it; I think I'll include no-talk-page in future blocks if I remember. If you remember, please remind me to prevent talk page access if you come across any more IPs that this guy is using. Nyttend (talk) 02:01, 17 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]
As long as you can demonstrate that it's the same person, you could propose a community ban on him. Go to
WP:AN and provide evidence why (1) it's the same person, and (2) he's been thoroughly disruptive across multiple IPs. Among other things, this will mean that you'll be free to exceed 1RR (and even 3RR) in reverting his edits, even when they're not 100% blatant vandalism. Nothing really can stop someone with a dynamic IP who picks vandalism topics with Special:Random. Nyttend (talk
)
I just thought of an abuse filter. Filters are great for blocking people who follow patterns; if you think that there's any pattern to his vandalism, you should request a filter. I'm not familiar enough with filters to determine whether this guy's abuse is consistent enough to be blockable by a filter, but some people at WP:AN or WP:ANI will be able to determine that. Nyttend (talk) 16:03, 17 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

My edit on the Travis Alexander article

Thanks for your message. You're probably right I have now reverted my last edit and am staying away from that article for the time being. Thanks!! Gerard von Hebel (talk) 22:02, 15 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

No problem, glad to help as it's easy to get caught up in the moment! Regards, AzureCitizen (talk) 22:04, 15 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

A barnstar for you!

The Teamwork Barnstar
For your work on
Boston Marathon bombings. Bearian (talk) 22:26, 16 April 2013 (UTC)[reply
]

Sun Yat-Sen birthplace edits

Why do you accuse me of being someone else? Is it because I think someone is being bullied and that a reasonable compromise can be reached? Curious. Sun's Hawaiian birth certificate is a legal document, and on other legal documents Sun claimed Hawaii as his place of birth. Now it does seem that the preponderance of evidence supports the views that he was actually born in China and that claims to a Hawaiian birth were motivated by expedience. But the idea is to provide the documented facts and allow the reader to decide, or am I wrong? The edit-war combatants who want to eliminate any mention of alleged Hawaiian birth from the section on birth are both rude and determined to confine any such mention to a section in which they can contextualize it so that it fits a particular interpretation of Sun's behavior. That is they draw conclusions for the regular wiki readers. But then this is what they accuse the other fella of. Near as I can tell you are operating with a double standard. You should block all parties to this dispute. Were I to use your sleuthing techniques I would say that you and the other two combatants are one in the same, an unholy trinity. Sure looks like collusion, at least. I hope wiki will die, and this little scuffle is a good example of why it should die.Gomezerella (talk) 18:16, 20 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

You seem like a decent person. So just a few words. I've no intention of re-entering this dispute. First, apologies for the impolite remarks. I don't like wikipedia, for reasons that have been clearly stated by others. But then of course I can just ignore it. No need to let it bother me. Just in balance I think it to be bad for the world. Still, not a justification of rudeness. And for that I apologize, to you. Second, the sockpuppet charge is just wrong. Friend, yes. Two people, also yes. I don't like being falsely accused. Third, I believe a double-standard was employed. To be fair, perhaps the others played by the rules of the game, as defined by wikipedia, but I think that might not even be accurate. In this instance the Sun birth issue had been discussed on the talk page, and while no consensus had been achieved, it has been left unchanged for a long time, until this recent group of people stepped in. By the rules of the game, they should have first addressed outstanding issues on the talk page. Fourth, my friend and I did make ample use of the talk page, but the other guys kept eliminating even that. I don't think they are capable of looking at the facts. They seem also embarrassed by the revelation that their treatment of this issue was based upon decades-old textbooks, and two other people: an anthropologist who just mentioned his thoughts on the matter in a book published by a low-level academic publishing house, and a civil servant in San Francisco who made some heavily edited comments in a pro-China publication (I guess you don't read Chinese), at the time when Sun's birthplace issue resurfaced a few years ago. Five, they repeatedly derive conclusions from facts, despite using that charge against others. Six, as a distant relative of Sun (hence my interest) it seems to be that he really was born in Hawaii (yes, the information is contradictory in places), but evidence published in reputable sources probably better supports the conclusion that he lied for purposes of expedience. What we wrote about the expedience issue is that it was not just a matter of Sun being so dedicated to China that he white-lied to save China from its enemies, internal and external. (I am of Chinese/Taiwanese ethnicity.) Seven, I would like to see the edits we made, at least to the talk page restored. But we won't restore them because wiki expects a mea culpa that requires admission of guilt for things of which we are not guilty. Again though, I do apologize for the rudeness to you. Eight, the sections relevant to Sun's birth are poorly drafted, both prose and content. Both should be re-written. Nine, a polite recommendation: rethink your dedication to wiki. Time could be better spent. My humble opinion: the rules of the game (and let's just say I choose not to play the game) are rigged, perhaps with good intentions, but in such a way that people with too much time on their hands and with ideologies to push can promote propaganda via this vehicle. This puts you in a bad position. Ten, consensus building is not a friend of truth, especially when consensus building does not require revelation of real identity and when it comes down to who has the most time to spend. Enough though of this. Good wishes to you.00:04, 24 April 2013 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Taichi101 (talkcontribs)

Thank you for stopping by and expressing your thoughts, and apology accepted in kind with a much greater understanding of your perspective. I don't know if I can respond to every numbered point but if I may, let me add:
  • I believe you could indeed be telling the truth when you say that you and your friend are actually two different living breathing people. Although rare, this does happen in a phenomena known as
    meatpuppeting
    (check the link). Unfortunately, for Wikipedia's purposes, it's very difficult to tell the difference unless a checkuser shows the IP addresses of the two individuals resolve to locations that are far apart, and the SPI in your case revealed that the two accounts were related by technical evidence. As a result, meatpuppets get treated like sockpuppets, and Wikipedia's policy says that remedies used for one can be applied to the other. Had both of you been independent editors with established histories, rather than brand new accounts that showed up within hours of each other on the given article advocating the same changes, it probably would have been a different story.
  • If you're a distant relative of Sun, I can totally appreciate your interest and knowledge in the article. I'm a caucasion (European ancestry) living in Illinois, and know next to nothing about Sun Yat-Sen and his place in history. Maybe I'll do some reading and catch up on that...
  • If you return to the article's Talk Page and try again, I think you could make some headway in changing the article. Just stick to the facts, cite your sources, and make policy based arguments. Avoiding commenting on other editors and instead comment only on the article changes at issues. Often times, that approach will get others to see what you're driving at and come to terms with the issue; if others try to obfuscate and pursue an agenda instead, it becomes apparent to other neutral editors who are watching the subject and they'll step forward. There are always ways to bring in independent editors automatically too, by way of an RfC (
    Request for Comment
    ). I can show you how to get one started if you'd like.
  • I noticed today for the first time that there is additional mention in the article itself that speaks about Sun obtaining a Hawaiian birth certificate, you can see it in this section:
    Heaven and earth society, overseas travel
    . Did you notice that too? I bring it up just in case it impacts what you're discussing.
  • On Wikipedia and spending enormous amounts of time getting sucked into things, I can't say that you're wrong. Wikipedia can and does consume large quantities of time editing, re-editing, and negotiating editing disputes. It can be very habit forming, akin to an addiction, and there are times when I tell myself I really should break away from the compulsion. Sometimes I take breaks, but I usually find my way back here one way or another when I'm interested in looking up a particular article and notice something, or see significant changes to articles I've edited previously and feel compelled to consider them. I think it's a natural human reaction really. If you've thought this through and have truly decided to never edit here again yourself, I understand.
  • If, on the other hand, you want to make another go at proposing edits on the article's discussion page, and have the time and patience to work things through, I will definitely stop back by there and try to ensure that fair discussion takes place. Regardless of who wrote the comments previously (you or your friend), if you cut-and-paste prior comments back to the page using the firstly-created account (Taichi101), there is no legitimate reason whatsoever for others to revert them now that the temporary block on the firstly-created account has expired. Up to you...
Good wishes to you as well and kind regards... AzureCitizen (talk) 02:20, 24 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

1. No, thanks for the invitation, but I at least won't go down this path anymore.

2. I understand the reasoning process that motivated the accusation. Just want to point out that it is erroneous. Also, just as a general point, I'm not certain a policy of this sort effectively blocks serious content, when people who may only know one another through cyberspace are still able to effectively bully someone. In saying this, as before, I do agree that a cooler attitude on my part might have helped. Even if not though, civility is important.

3. As for the mention of Sun's birth certificate, as I recall that was there before. That was what the one person was emphasizing. What bothered me is that contextualizing it in that way is a means of drawing a conclusion that the "birth issue" has nothing to do with where he was born. Placed there it better fits the expedience narrative. Unfortunately the Sun birth controversy coincided with the Obama birth controversy, and the two became conflated, such that Hawaii was regarded as generally playing fast and loose with the issuance of these. My views: in Obama's case it was ludicrous. In Sun's case, it is a contentious issue, that at least merits mention.

4. Let me try to provide a broader context here--just my views, based upon facts, but my views. Sun's status in the China-Taiwan dispute is that of a unifying figure, since officially he is regarded as playing an important role in the founding of both countries. I'm greatly simplifying here, but among those of us who hate the fact that Taiwan is the only democratic country on earth that goes unrecognized by the UN and by most influential countries, being lumped with China--in any sense--is unpleasant. Sun has nothing to do with Taiwan, since Taiwan was a colony of Japan when the Qing Dynasty was overthrown in China in 1911. Even Sun's involvement in that is a contentious issue, but you know how these things go with national/political symbols. To get to the nut of the issue, Taiwan is already being absorbed by China, and every means possible is being employed to justify this, as well as justify the threat of force to occupy Taiwan. The Sun birth issue is minor, just a part of the narrative that emphasizes his "Chinese-ness." The issue here has more to do with corrupt ideas about racial purity, which are always reprehensible. One reason why I won't jump back in to this business is that there are simply too many people with time and agendas--they'll wear you out, unless you decide to take a stand on this issue and devote all your time and energy to it. This issue isn't worth the effort. As for those that bear more directly on the attempts to occupy Taiwan, wikipedia provides a forum for the One-China people to rationalize what they do. This is related to my unkind observations about wiki--too many people take it is a reliable reference, and (please forgive me for saying this) it is not.

As above, best wishes to you.Taichi101 (talk) 05:32, 24 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

April 2013

Hello, I'm

talk) 15:55, 21 April 2013 (UTC)[reply
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Tea Party movement Moderated discussion

A discussion is taking place at Talk:Tea Party movement/Moderated discussion to get consensus on finding and addressing the main points of contention on the article, and moving the article to a stable and useful condition. As you have contributed to the article, your involvement in the discussion may be helpful. As the discussion is currently looking at removing a substantial amount of material, it would be appropriate for you to check to see what material is being proposed for removal, in case you have any concerns about this. If you feel you would rather not get involved right now, that is fine; however, if you later decide to get involved and directly edit the article to reverse any consensus decisions, that might be seen as disruptive. Re-opening discussion, however, may be acceptable; though you may find few people willing to re-engage in such a discussion, and if there are repeated attempts to re-open discussion on the same points, that also could be seen as disruptive. The best time to get involved is right now. SilkTork ✔Tea time 08:50, 25 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

There's a dispute at Talk:George Juskalian on whether or not a local newspaper is a reliable source for the claim that Juskalian's awards are "among the rarest bestowed on United States service members". You've been involved with the article in the past; could you please take a look? Huon (talk) 18:18, 27 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for the heads-up. You may have seen my prior comments on the article's Talk Page regarding "rarest" and "highest". In the interests of long term article stability, I'm wondering if the editor who keeps changing the text would agree to retaining a stabilized version if there is a compromise on the key word "rarest", given arguments like this have a habit of popping up again and again with other new editors. I'm going to try talking with him first, and seeing where things lead. In any event, thanks for your support at the article too, I appreciate that you've been trying to stop the edit warring. Regards, AzureCitizen (talk) 22:57, 27 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Gun control article

Just wanted to note that even though I reverted you (as being pre-mature with it under discussion) I think that you probably have the best idea of the "reasonable middle" on this. Unfortunately the reality is that going to the "reasonable middle" at the beginning of the process is a recipe for ending up at an unreasonable place. North8000 (talk) 15:04, 29 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

I can appreciate the difficulties of trying to find common ground when positions are drawn and stakes escalated, and took no offense to the revert. For me, I'm not invested in the article much and am not overly concerned with the outcome; my goal has been to help break the deadlock and indeed get the subsection to a state closer to the middle ground, where maybe folks can reach a compromise. If not, at least the divide will be lessened.  :) AzureCitizen (talk) 15:17, 29 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Cool! North8000 (talk) 01:26, 1 May 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Harry Kizirian

Thank you once again for your updates. I will contact the Kizirian family for some photographs of this man. Proudbolsahye (talk) 19:39, 29 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Turns out he has a Bronze Star with a Gold "V"...is that a very different medal? Proudbolsahye (talk) 03:39, 30 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Recent 'Good Faith' Undo

Hello, AzureCitizen. :) rJay here. This is regarding the revision you undid on the talk page of American POWs in the 2003 invasion of Iraq. I did some extensive research on your claim, and you are correct. However, for future reference, you should use the following page(s): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:TPG#Behavior_that_is_unacceptable I found this to be more explanatory, and on-topic. The page you referred me to ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:NOTFORUM#Wikipedia_is_not_a_publisher_of_original_thought ) is about the actual article code of conduct, and is off-topic. It only referenced talk pages to tell noobs about the talk page feature, but not to argue, or forumize the talk page. It was slightly confusing for a moment. Thanks for understanding, and for your time. rJay (talk) 04:26, 2 May 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for stopping by rJay, and for expressing your consensus. In pointing out what you're saying above, are you talking about the fact that http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:TPG#Behavior_that_is_unacceptable (otherwise known as
WP:TPNO) says at the bottom of it's list of unacceptable behaviors, "Do not use the talk page as a forum or soapbox for discussing the topic"? AzureCitizen (talk) 04:40, 2 May 2013 (UTC)[reply
]
Indeed I was. :) As that is, after all, the page of dos and don'ts regarding talk pages, rather than a quick reference to talk pages on a page about articles. Minute, I know, however, had this been someone less knowledgeable than myself (not elevating myself to a level on which I am not), they may have been confused to a greater degree than I. rJay (talk) 08:10, 2 May 2013 (UTC
By any chance, did you happen to notice that the text "Do not use the talk page as a forum" is actually a wikilink, and that if you click on it, it goes directly to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:NOTFORUM#Wikipedia_is_not_a_publisher_of_original_thought (otherwise known as
WP:NOTFORUM)? And then read #4 at that linked location?  :) AzureCitizen (talk) 11:49, 2 May 2013 (UTC)[reply
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DYK for George Juskalian