Misplaced Pages

• Please sign and date your posts by typing four tildes (~~~~).
• Put new text under old text. Click here to start a new topic.
• New to Misplaced Pages? Welcome! Ask questions, get answers.

• Be polite
• Assume good faith
• No personal attacks
• Be welcoming

Q: Hey, you deleted my page!
A: That's entirely possible.

Q: So, what gives? I worked really hard on that.
A: Well, it could be any number of things. Because I'm a new admin, for now I restricting my use of the delete button to really obvious cases only, which in Wiki-speak we call Candidates for Speedy Deletion. There are a ton load of things that might have qualified your article for speedy deletion, but the chances are relatively high that 1.it was an attack page, or 2. it was blatant advertisement, aka Spam.

Q: What's an attack page?
A: An attack page is a page which exists solely to degrade another person. Whether this person is your sister's ex-boyfriend, your mean old English teacher, or Tom Cruise. In fact the subject of an attack page doesn't even have to be real to qualify it for speedy deletion, because the fact remains that an encyclopedia has no need for an article that consists solely of "John Doe is gay." It serves no purpose. No one, except perhaps John Doe and his partner, gives one iota that he is gay.

Q: Well, how do I know if my page was an attack page?
A: Did you create a page about a person, real or fake, and write negative things about them?

Q: I guess...
A: Then it was an attack page.

Q: But everything I wrote was true!
A: It doesn't matter. For one thing, if your article was about a non-notable topic, it was going to be deleted no matter what. Misplaced Pages is the 💕 that everyone can edit, but we do have standards regarding what subjects are suitable, and there are requirements- we don't have an article about everything possible, just articles about subjects a reasonable amount of people would care about. This is why we have articles about William Shatner, but not That Guy Who is in the Theatre Troupe in your Hometown of Barrow, Alaska, and Did a Really Good Job as Hamlet that One Time, and Jackie Kennedy but not Barack Obama's Second Cousin's Ex Roomate's Illegitimate Daughter's Secret Lesbian Lover's Toy Poodle. Of course, by this measure we probably shouldn't have an article about Paris Hilton, but two out of three ain't bad.

Q: What was the second thing?
A: What?

Q: You said "for one thing," doesn't that sort of imply that there's more?
A: Oh, of course. I got off on a bit of a rant there, didn't I?

Q: Yes, yes you did.
A: Okay, the second thing is, if the person you wrote your attack about is real and whether he or she is notable or not, unless you have actual factual verifiable references with which to back up your sources, the page will immediately be deleted as a BLP concern, because we have strict rules governing articles about real people. The Wikimedia cabal Foundation could be held legally liable if the information contained within said articles could be construed as libel.

Q: Oi vey, big Words...
A: Just be careful when you're writing about living people.

Q: Sounds fair enough. What about spam pages, what's that?
A: Spam could be one of two things: a mystery meat that I am quite sure is not Kosher, or blatant advertisement that no one wants to read. You know, the stuff that clogs your inbox day in and day out with offers for natural male enhancement, even though you are most definitely a female? Anyway,we get a lot of that on Misplaced Pages too, and most of the time it is immediately deleted, often by myself. It's one of my pet peeves.

Q: One of my pages was deleted as spam, but I didn't intentionally write it as an advertisement. Why was it deleted?
A: Most of the spammy pages are written by someone within the company trying to use Misplaced Pages as the free directory that everyone can advertise . But sometimes, editors who have no ties to the company or product just get a little over-excited and forget to adhere to our neutral point of view. It happens from time to time, especially in a world where we are taught to write as flowery as possible. You might consider reading some of our policies and you can always ask questions if you are unsure.

Q: I'm pretty sure my page was not an attack page, or an advertisement. Why else might you have deleted it?
A: It might have been any of the other criteria for speedy deletion, including patent nonsense (no salvageable content), copyright infringement, test pages, and word-for-word recreation of material deleted per a deletion discussion. To be sure, check the logs. Follow this link: Special:Log, select "Deletion Log" in the drop down menu, and then type the name of the page. The admin who deleted the page will have left a short note explaining why the page was deleted.

Q: I really think that the article could be improved, but when I recreate it, it only gets deleted again. What do I do?
A: In many (but not all) cases, I can restore it for you and move it to your userspace where you can improve upon it at your own pace. For instructions, check out the next section.

Hi - I think Hopiakuta is asking to have a phone consultation - several of his comments have obliquely talked about that, and I think that's what he's referring to when he points to your sig - the "talk to me" part. I saw him saying something similar somewhere else, and I'm finally adding it up. It's all very bizarre. I don't have the time, nor the needed background, to sort through his technical issues, but I wonder if someone might be able to step up for this. He has something to say - it's just not getting to us. Nice to meet you, by the way. Tvoz |talk 22:19, 8 October 2007 (UTC)

Hi, it's nice to meet you too. I would agree that he is asking for a phone conversation... but I'm young and not all that well spoken, and I don't feel comfortable with talking to someone I don't know over the phone. Add that to the fact that I don't really feel qualified. I have experience w/ autistic and developmentally disabled people but this is, well it's very different. Parts of it do seem autistic, the problem with taking things out of context is almost aspergers-like... but I'm not getting that vibe otherwise. I just don't think I could do it justice, but I don't really know anyone who could. Maybe someone at the accessibility project? It seems that the person he connected with the most is Graham, but he seems to have stopped paying attention to the page. Maybe if we brought this back to his attention he could lend some ideas. Frankly, I'm at a loss, but I don't want to give up on this guy yet. L'Aquatique 05:07, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

That's how I feel too - you probably saw I brought this to AN/I initially because I just couldn't make any sense out of it and had a feeling it wasn't garden-variety vandalism, although it looked like it. I really am not the right person either - I don't have any experience and wouldn't know how to approach it - but there must be people here who can. Graham is a good idea - maybe he knows people at the accessibility project. Tvoz |talk 06:03, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

Oooh - how come the color continued? Looks nice! Tvoz |talk 06:06, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

It's pretty! Okay, I'm going to bop over to Graham's talk page and tell him there's a party going on over at L'Aquatique's talk page and he better get in on it before I get too goofy (as often happens at parties, particularly Christmas ones). I am kidding of course. I just finished a six page paper for a sociology class and I'm feeling QUITE goofy already! 'Nee way... L'Aquatique

Done! I think I managed to keep the goofiness to a minimum. I try hard not to freak out people I am just meeting! : ) 'Kay, we'll see if he responds. _{(By the way, your signature matches this odd purpleness that has engulfed our conversation quite nicely.)} L'Aquatique 06:41, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

(After edit conflict): Hmmm - I'm not sure how well I'd do at this - I'm a bit shy in voice communication and one of the reasons I like this place is that communication is all in text. I've been able to talk to other blind people who others considered really hard to talk to ... just saying "yep", "uh-huh", and so on did the trick as well as providing some good advice. But I'm not sure how I'd go with Hopiakuta ... he/she seems very talkative. The only person from Misplaced Pages:accessibility who I think might be able to do this is User:Rick Block. User:Theresa knott is a teacher assistant at a school who I find always has a knack of explaining things well - perhaps some of the editors at Talk:Autism maybe? I know people in RL who are good at that sort of thing but don't edit here... I wouldn't give the duty to any of them otherwise they probably wouldn't be my friends. In summary I could do it, but I'd prefer someone who is more quallified in working with developmentally disabled people. I have this page on my watchlist so reply here to keep the conversation in one place. Graham87 06:57, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

Holy cow, that was fast. Superhero fast... hey you're not a superhero are you? That would be cool. I could tell people I met a superhero on Misplaced Pages! But alas... they would never believe me! Anyway; I hope that you have not misinterpreted my original message- in no way am I asking you to telephone him yourself! I would not ask you to do something I wouldn't do- and I know how you feel. I'm horrible at telephone conversations... I stutter all over the place and can never think of the right thing to say! (until an hour or so afterward, that is) I am much better at typing out my thoughts. Anyway, I was just hoping you might have some insight that we are missing, since he seemed to react in more a positive manner to you than others. It's late where I am and I'm just up working on this and writing to blow off steam, so I'll try to get in touch with Rick tomorrow morning and try to get his advice on the subject. Thanks for the quick reply! L'Aquatique 07:09, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

LOL no I was browsing WP:ANI and followed a link ... then I found I had new messages. I'd love to be a superhero ... 'twould be cool to be able to fly around. Anyways, as a last idea, have a look at my advice about a similar situation at User talk:SandyGeorgia/arch19 #AnnieTigerChucky - I was probably a bit pesamistic in that message but it is true, unless someone reaches out to him and teaches him about Misplaced Pages, he will eventually be banned. I don't want that to happen. And I always think of a comeback far too late - what in French is called L'esprit de l'escalier (stairway wit) - I wish there was a concise English term for that. Graham87 07:27, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

Yeah, flying would definitely rock muchly. However, I think I'd prefer to be able to breathe underwater. Still, being a superhero would be scary. I don't think I have to guts to go fighting evildoers... I have trouble enough on vandal patrol! Then again, you can't move as fast underwater, so any epic battles would be pretty boring. Hee hee... 'Nee way, back to the subject at hand. I am not sure about this- I haven't been able to decipher a lot from his admittedly cryptic talk page (can't imagine what that page must sound like... maybe a very poorly tuned orchestra!) but I think he actually was banned at one point for a short time. Perhaps as an administrator you could confirm this? Frankly, while I see how it could work, I think that he may just react with the "handicappist, racist, etc" line. I'm afraid if we tried that we might push him away too far. Hmmm... By the way- love that phrase! It does seem to capture the sentiment perfectly, doesn't it? Je pense que les français comprendent l'idée de langue plus, plus mieux que nous... : ) L'Aquatique 07:42, 9 October 2007 (UTC)

This is his block log, which is accessible by everyone - it shows he was blocked for 24 hours and then unblocked. A link to a user's block log can be found at the top of their contributions, next to the talk page link; admins also get a block button. A block is not the same thing as a ban ... a ban is something given by the arbitration committee or by the whole community - see the banning policy. I don't actually know any French - I learnt that phrase from Chuck Palahniuk's short story "Guts", which is, um, interesting ... let's just say that the ability to breathe underwater would not have helped the main character at all to get out of his messy predicament! Graham87 08:20, 9 October 2007 (UTC)