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Hello Dr Aaij/Archive 1 and welcome to Wikipedia! It appears you are a course instructor leading a class project. We encourage you to read our instructions for teachers and lecturers. It is strongly recommended that you add your class to our list of school and university projects. For more help about educational projects using Wikipedia, see our classroom coordination project which was created for the very purpose of assisting course instructors who use Wikipedia for their courses.

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We hope you like it here and encourage you to stay even after your assignment is finished!

--The New Mikemoral ♪♫ 02:17, 8 January 2010 (UTC)

No problem, and if you ever have any questions, just drop a line at my talk page. Out of curiosity, were you already a Wikipedian? Your grasp of wikicode seems great. --The New Mikemoral ♪♫ 02:16, 9 January 2010 (UTC)
Thanks, I will. As for wikicode, I simply copy and adjust...but thanks! Dr Aaij (talk) 04:34, 9 January 2010 (UTC)

Your school project

Hello Dr. Aaij. I just noticed your project and wanted to let you know that I can try to help you and your students if you ever have questions about anything Wikipedia-related. I've been an administrator on the project since May 2009 and in the past was very active at the DYK project (I am less active there now, but I'm still very familiar with how it works). Feel free to contact me if you need anything, rʨanaɢ talk/contribs 02:31, 11 February 2010 (UTC)

Suggestion for welcoming your students is to use {{Welcome student}}. Happy editing, Mikemoral♪♫ 19:56, 15 February 2010 (UTC)

  • National Register of Historic Places redlinks that may be interesting

Montgomery: Dexter Avenue Baptist Church Pastorium; Powder Magazine (Montgomery, Alabama); Winter Building

Bullock: Bullock County Courthouse Historic District; Merritt School

Elmore: Hickory Ground; Wetumpka L&N Depot; Alabama State Penitentiary :)

Macon: Atasi Site; Butler Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church

  • Stubs in need of expansion

John L. LeFlore; Vivian Malone Jones; Joe Langan; James Hood; Edmund Pettus Bridge

Hope these help. Altairisfar 17:51, 28 February 2010 (UTC)

Don Haskins Center

I did a little clean up on the infobox for Don Haskins Center, but didn't see anything really wrong. I decided to check the master template and saw that the "Tenants" field appears to be set to display in the center, if you take a look at other articles that use it (Fenway Park and Madison Square Garden for example). I hope this helps! Altairisfar 00:54, 7 March 2010 (UTC)

  • Yes, thanks--I should have looked farther than my nose is long, as the Dutch would say. It isn't pretty, centered. Hey, I appreciate your help, yet again. Dr Aaij (talk) 15:50, 8 March 2010 (UTC)

Hi...Dr. Aaij —Preceding unsigned comment added by Mzcrystal2009 (talk • contribs) 18:44, 8 March 2010 (UTC)

Sign up here, please

Please tell me your (real) name, and don't forget to sign your name by typing four tildes. Dr Aaij (talk) 19:02, 3 March 2010 (UTC)

Hello Dr. Aaij, This is Bullock, the slower student of the class ;)!! (Jessicarhea1 (talk) 19:40, 2 April 2010 (UTC)) I just noticed that IO left you o total of two comments, this will make three! (Jessicarhea1 (talk) 19:46, 2 April 2010 (UTC))

Filter

Hello Dr. Aaij, and welcome. I'm an edit filter manager on Wikipedia. It appears that there has been an unusually large influx of activity on your talk page (here) and this has caused your page to enter a restricted state. I've checked this out and noticed that everything looks OK so I have exempted your page from future hits by this filter. I apologize for any trouble this may have caused your students. Please let me know if there's anything I can help you with in the future. Regards, Shirik (Questions or Comments?) 19:19, 8 March 2010 (UTC)

Finished Exercise Sign Up

  • Hi Dr. Aaij! I read your message regarding the edit I made for Exercise 2. I decided to edit the Andrew Lawrence (actor) stub this time. Is this okay? Fox1109 (talk) 03:24, 28 March 2010 (UTC)
    • Hi Fox1109, I have tweaked the reference, and have re-edited the sentence, since you basically copied it from that article. The rules for plagiarism apply here as well, and you also need to consider what the appropriate tone is for an encyclopedia: neutral. I'll mark you as done. Dr Aaij (talk) 03:27, 29 March 2010 (UTC)

Hey Dr.Aaij I am having trouble with getting my reference on the page right. I have posted it in my sandbox but not on the page.Shamesia (talk) 02:03, 4 April 2010 (UTC)

Thank you Texaspi...Dr.Aaij I have posted up my final article for the last exercise .Shamesia (talk) 23:35, 4 April 2010 (UTC)

  • Hi Dr.Aaij this is Tiffany,and I have completed exercise 3, could you please check it if any grammar needs to be cleaned up.Tiffanypeoples1 (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 03:28, 5 April 2010 (UTC).
    • Yes, it does need some cleanup, though I didn't see any major issues. A big issue with the article is the lack of references to independent sources. I can't believe that there was no newspaper coverage of the closing of Cloverdale and the move to a new school. The lack of that information takes away from the article's interest, and the lack of references can lead to questions about notability (as you can see in the article history). So I would get on that. Also, stop adding that mission statement, and read the edit summaries for why other editors do what they do. Good luck, Dr Aaij (talk) 03:35, 5 April 2010 (UTC)
  • Hi Dr. Aaij this is Tiffany, I tried to find an article on google news,Montgomery Advertiser, Montgomery, Al website,but I couldnt.Sorry about that motto I didnt realize why it kept dissapearing until I read the history portion where you were deleting and why. Also, I edited my resources and the section. Thanks. .Tiffanypeoples1 (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 04:20, 5 April 2010 (UTC).

Dr. Aaij, I have completed Exersise 2, I edited an article on Roman Harper. ^ Benn, Alvin (2010-02-28). "Prattville turns out to welcome Saints star home". Montgomery Advertiser (Gannett). http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/article/20100228/NEWS01/2280333/Prattville-turns-out-to-welcome-Saints-star-home. Retrieved 2010-03-30 (Jessicarhea1 (talk) 21:37, 5 April 2010 (UTC))

Dr. Aaij, I think I'm happy with what I have now. I need your Wiki Jedi powers to get it moved over. I don't imagine just cutting from my sandbox to the existing article would be appropriate? texasPI TALK 03:37, 5 April 2010 (UTC)

Image question

Thanks Texaspi for the help earlier but I wanted to also put a image in my info box of the school. This is url for the image http://schools.mps.k12.al.us/schools/mckeejr/header_photos/image1.jpg. Tiffany Peoples 01:30, 5 April 2010 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Tiffanypeoples1 (talk • contribs)

  • Sorry, you can't take someone else's picture--just because it's on the internet doesn't mean it's freely available. At the bottom of the page (for the school) it says "Copyright © 2009, Montgomery Public Schools", so that means it's out. But why not drive by and take a picture, which you can then upload (see left navigation links, "upload file")? Dr Aaij (talk) 01:33, 5 April 2010 (UTC)

DYK nomination of Edward Stallybrass

Hello! Your submission of Edward Stallybrass at the Did You Know nominations page has been reviewed, and there still are some issues that may need to be clarified. Please review the comment(s) underneath your nomination's entry and respond there as soon as possible. Thank you for contributing to Did You Know! Storye book (talk) 23:28, 26 March 2010 (UTC)

Hey

No Problem, if I reverted I reported, Anytime Mlpearc MESSAGE 02:34, 30 March 2010 (UTC)

YMCA deletion

I see this has been picked up by ladyofshallot. Main article space is not the place to do assignments, a sandbox like the one LadyofShalott has set up is better. The article was heavily promotional in tone, sounding like a church flyer rather than an encyclopaedia article, and needed deletion to allow a complete rewrite. it is not a requirement to give a warning of CSD, and indeed is pointless given that it is speedy deletion Jimfbleak - talk to me? 06:44, 30 March 2010 (UTC)
Actually, while the article certainly needs much work, I do not think a G11 speedy deletion was the correct response to it. There was enough non-promotional material in the lead section that it could have just been stubbed to that rather than deleted. LadyofShalott 14:39, 30 March 2010 (UTC)
Maybe, anyway, it's better where it is, so no harm done Jimfbleak - talk to me? 15:02, 30 March 2010 (UTC)
Thanks Lady. Jim, I had set up sandboxes for everyone; the student did it in mainspace nonetheless--but the article, despite all its problems, did have no fewer than three references to published books which clearly established that the topic was notable. And maybe notification is not required by law, but it's awful nice to do it. Thanks, Dr Aaij (talk) 23:22, 30 March 2010 (UTC)

Templates

I don't know if you saw my last message as there was no reply, but if you need any help creating templates, just ping me at my talk page, or through email. I'll happily create some for you.— Dædαlus Contribs 06:50, 30 March 2010 (UTC)

  • Sorry Daedalus, I did see it but just hadn't gotten back to you. While I appreciate your offer, I think, given the limited time span of my assignment, that it's not worth the trouble. Next time, though, I will have an option early on, and I may knock on your door next time I teach this class. Thanks again! Dr Aaij (talk) 23:13, 30 March 2010 (UTC)
Alright. Hope things work out for you.— Dædαlus Contribs 00:29, 31 March 2010 (UTC)
You too--I saw your busynesse with the self-replicating machine. I hate dealing with socks, so all the best to you. Dr Aaij (talk) 00:30, 31 March 2010 (UTC)
Indeed, banned users with large amounts of socks are quite annoying, to say the least. As soon as it's confirmed that that obvious sock is a sock, I'm erasing the sections, as banned user's edits may be reverted on sight regardless of content.— Dædαlus Contribs 19:46, 31 March 2010 (UTC)

DYK for Edward Stallybrass

Updated DYK query On 31 March, 2010, Did you know? was updated with a fact from the article Edward Stallybrass, which you recently nominated. If you know of an interesting fact from another recently created article, then please suggest it on the Did you know? talk page.

Materialscientist (talk) 17:50, 31 March 2010 (UTC)

User:Aatwell1/sandbox

this is a link to my sandbox. i have near completed the page for Frazer Methodist Church. i had some trouble with the references. take a look and let me know what needs to be fixed. Allen Atwell (talk) 01:26, 3 April 2010 (UTC)

  • Good work. This is a notable topic, no doubt about it. I made some edits; look in the edit summaries for commentary and explanation, and then edit the language throughout where necessary to make it more encyclopedic, less like a newspaper article, and more objective. Important step: the lead should suggest why this topic is notable (look at articles for other churches, to see how they handle it--browse around in a category by typing, in the search box, "Category:Churches in the United States". Next step: references from articles and books to prove these and additional facts about the church. Well done, and good luck! Dr Aaij (talk) 04:18, 3 April 2010 (UTC)

thank you, i will get to it Allen Atwell (talk) 05:12, 3 April 2010 (UTC)

Texaspi's Sandbox

Dr. Aaij, I should have my article cleaned up and ready to go on Sunday. Should I wait to move it to mainspace until after our class Monday? texasPI TALK 06:04, 3 April 2010 (UTC)

  • Also, as far as the table of contents, do you think its ok where I've placed it or should I just move it to the left and not have it float? texasPI TALK 06:53, 3 April 2010 (UTC)
    • Texaspi, it looks great. I have one or two reservations: the section with alternate names, that's not usual. Sometimes alternate names are done in bold in the lead, sometimes they're handled in the narrative, but it's your call. Also, the paragraphs, esp. the last, in the Early history section are a bit long. Consider chopping them up some.

      The TOC looks fine: you haven't forced it to go anywhere, and I think the traditional way looks best. As for timing, it doesn't really matter, and I will be glad to nominate it for DYK as soon as you go live. The oldest continuously operated note, that will make for a great hook. Excellente! (That's what they say in some kids' show, can't remember which one.) Dr Aaij (talk) 04:01, 4 April 2010 (UTC)

Whenever you do want to move it to the mainspace, you should get some admin who is familiar with history merges (they scare me) to do one to preserve GFDL. LadyofShalott 04:11, 4 April 2010 (UTC)
Thanks Lady for the advice and for the minor edits you've made in my sandbox...greatly appreciated! texasPI TALK 05:12, 4 April 2010 (UTC)
You are most welcome! Nice job on your part! FWIW, this whole thing has led me to play in my sandboxes and actually figure out how to do a history merge. I'm no longer afraid I'll screw it all up if one needs doing. LadyofShalott 16:38, 5 April 2010 (UTC)

I have moved user:Texaspi/sandbox to Ysleta Mission, deleting the sandbox (can undelete if necessary), and restored the previous history of Ysleta Mission (i.e. performed "history-merge"). Thus today (April 5) is the starting day for expansion of this article for DYK. I shall leave a technical note on that at the T:TDYK page when you nominate the article. Materialscientist (talk) 04:24, 5 April 2010 (UTC)

User:Clyles/sandbox

Dr. Aaij, I couldn't remember what you said in class about putting pictures in the article..if I find one from the newspaper I am using as a source can I put it in that section, or no? Also, do I need an info box? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Clyles (talk • contribs) 18:11, 3 April 2010 (UTC)

  • As for the picture, no you can't--there are copyright issues. You can't just paste in a WP article what you find online. Now, Commons has images, and these are the ones that have "pettus" in the file name somewhere. You don't necessarily need an infobox, but it looks cool. See "Template:Infobox bridge", fill in as many blanks as you can, and delete the rest. See Golden Gate Bridge, for instance. Dr Aaij (talk) 03:53, 4 April 2010 (UTC)

UserNicatwin2/Sandbox

Hey Dr. Aaij I looked at the newspaper article however I didn't know which category it should go on. Such as publications,bibliography,or biography. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Johnisha Holloway (talk • contribs) 20:57, 5 April 2010 (UTC)

Ysleta Mission

Dr. Aaij, I have removed the service schedule with times/days from the last paragraph. I was trying to find a verifiable reference to the claim that the mission is the second oldest in the nation (according to their website) but I could not find any. That would of been cool for the lead... texasPI TALK 22:52, 6 April 2010 (UTC)


DYK for Ysleta Mission

Updated DYK query On 12 April, 2010, Did you know? was updated with a fact from the article Ysleta Mission, which you recently nominated. If you know of an interesting fact from another recently created article, then please suggest it on the Did you know? talk page.

Materialscientist (talk) 22:52, 12 April 2010 (UTC)

Mark A. Fischer

Please see my reply to your comment this about this subject on my talk page. I believe he does not meets WP standards for notability and that the article seems to have been an autobiography created by the subject himself. I have never taken an article to Afd, but believe that is appropriate in this case. If you are already familiar with the process, perhaps you can start it. OccamzRazor (talk) 20:46, 20 April 2010 (UTC)

Ink Exchange Plot Summary

Hi Dr. Aaij. Thanks for your attention to Ink Exchange. I worked on the plot summary that you tagged for clean-up. Though I don't have a totally thorough understanding of all the details of the novel, I think the prose is much better and the summary is more concise. Let me know what you think. Roseclearfield (talk) 19:00, 25 April 2010 (UTC)

Greetings & welcome

Greetings & welcome Dr Aaij - I've just seen your posting over at Talk:Ahmad Jamal regarding threatening emails, etc. Not much I can do but send you my virtual support. In answer to your general enquiry, as one of the instigators of the original [false] polemic, I have not received any such threat, but the vehemence shown by the editor(s) concerned led me to think that rather than coming from the musician himself (musicians rarely have the time or inclination to read reviews, let alone Wikipedia articles), such aggressive behaviour might be from members of his entourage/staff. I have actually come across this before in followers of other musicians, so it didn't surprise me. As for the threats directed at you, I'm afraid they might be more related to your high-profile post at the university 'cos, in theory, your email address won't be accessible to editors here at Wikipedia (I hope!). Cheers! --Technopat (talk) 09:30, 10 May 2010 (UTC)

  • Technopat, thanks for your message and your support. I responded via email, and haven't heard back, and don't expect to. Did you ever hear Jamal's music? It is extraordinary. As for email--well, I had one unhappy customer call me at work to call me names, so this internet anonymity, I don't buy it. Take care, Dr Aaij (talk) 01:48, 13 May 2010 (UTC)
Greetings again, Dr Aaij. Thanks for your note. Again, please accept my support, such as it is. In answer to whether I know Jamal's music, yes, I have been a fan of his since the 70s, have seen him perfom live twice and have many of his recordings. A great musician.--Technopat (talk) 07:04, 13 May 2010 (UTC)

Wikipedia Campus Ambassadors wanted in Troy, Alabama

Hi! I'm leaving you this message because you're listed as a Wikipedian in Alabama. The Wikipedia Ambassador Program is currently looking for Campus Ambassadors to help with Wikipedia assignments at Troy University, which will be participating in the Public Policy Initiative for the Spring 2011 semester. The role of Campus Ambassadors will be to provide face-to-face training and support for students on Wikipedia-related skills (how to edit articles, how to add references, etc.). This includes doing in-class presentations, running workshops and labs, possibly holding office hours, and in general providing in-person mentorship for students.

Prior Wikipedia skills are not required for the role, as training will be provided for all Campus Ambassadors (although, of course, being an experienced editor is a plus).

I know Alabama is a big state, but if you happen to live near Troy and you are interested in being a Wikipedia Campus Ambassador, or know someone else from Troy who might be, please email me or leave a message on my talk page.--Sage Ross - Online Facilitator, Wikimedia Foundation (talk) 16:04, 6 December 2010 (UTC)

  • Ross, better late (with this response) than never: thank you for asking. Alabama is not just big, it's a great state (at least we say so).

    To all the good people at Troy in Prof. Rosell's class: I will be happy to help you out with any questions you might have. Drop me a line here, on my talk page, or email me (see the links on the left). Thanks, Dr Aaij (talk) 20:22, 7 February 2011 (UTC)

Wikipedia Ambassador Program Newsletter: 28 January 2011



This is the first issue of the Wikipedia Ambassador Program newsletter. Please read it! It has important information about the the current wave of classes, instructions and advice, and other news about the ambassador program.



--Sage Ross - Online Facilitator, Wikimedia Foundation (talk) 03:53, 29 January 2011 (UTC)

Wikipedia Ambassador Program Newsletter: 13 February 2011



This is the second issue of the Wikipedia Ambassador Program Newsletter, with details about what's going on right now and where help is needed.


  • Userboxes and profiles - Add an ambassador userbox to your page, and make sure you've added your mentor profile!
  • Be a coordinating ambassador - Pick and class and make sure no students fall through the cracks.
  • New screencasts - Short videos on watchlists and a number of other topics may be useful to students.
  • Updates from Campus Ambassadors - Ambassadors are starting to report on classroom experiences, both on-wiki and on the Google Group.
  • Other news - There's a new on-wiki application for being an Online Ambassador, and Editing Friday #2 is today!
  • Things you can do - This is just a sample; if you're eager for something to do, there's plenty more.

Delivered by EdwardsBot (talk) 18:22, 11 February 2011 (UTC)

Help with GA template

{{help me}}

  • I need someone who is geeky enough to work with templates to tell me how to work with the GAList template. For the life of me, I can't figure out how to do it... Thanks! Dr Aaij (talk) 19:27, 11 February 2011 (UTC)
    • Please be more specific about what you want to do with it? Review a WP:GAC, while using the template? Edit it? CTJF83 20:43, 11 February 2011 (UTC)
      • Yes. Please see [[1]]. A. I don't know what to fill in where, in between all those curly brackets. For instance, I want to say that the prose is fine and that aspect is OK (and there's a "tick" to tick it off, at the "GAList/check" template). B. When I click on "edit," all I see in the edit screen is the shortcut/name for the template, so even if I knew what to type I wouldn't know where to type it.

        If all this proves to difficult for a luddite like me, should I just use the "GAchecklist" template? Thanks, Dr Aaij (talk) 21:16, 11 February 2011 (UTC)

Hi, did you need more help? CTJF83 16:36, 17 February 2011 (UTC)

Talkback

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

Me and Juliet

I'm not done yet. Hopefully tonight or tomorrow.--Wehwalt (talk) 03:10, 14 February 2011 (UTC)

Thank you for the review and promotion (we will work out what is to be done about the image). If I can give you a hand on an article, please let me know.--Wehwalt (talk) 14:27, 15 February 2011 (UTC)

RE: Talk:Me and Juliet

 Done The correct topic is "Arts". Tbhotch* ۩ ۞ 19:46, 14 February 2011 (UTC)

I wish I had known about the album cover discussion. This seems obviously to be the wrong result. The album art is the same art as on the theatre poster, so it is the same fair use with respect to the same copyright holder. The artwork used is the only artwork available and assists the reader's understanding of the show. That is why the producers used it! We have had musicals article go through FAC with album artwork in the infobox. See Flower Drum Song and Carousel (musical). Please restore it to the article. The people who want to remove these are people who essentially believe that there should not be any fair use content on Wikipedia and hang out at those boards. Best regards. -- 03:56, 15 February 2011 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Ssilvers (talk • contribs)
I've been very busy the last few days, so did not look in on the discussion. Thanks for coming in, Ssilvers. Is the album cover actually deleted, and if so, should we apply for deletion review? --Wehwalt (talk) 04:15, 15 February 2011 (UTC)
The "consensus" that was reached (and I do think we stretch the meaning of the word here) makes no sense to me. As I commented there, the clear implication was that if the section on the album was pulled out to make a crappy little stub, the album cover could be used there. However it can not be used if the same content is used as part of a larger article? Nonsense. I'm not one to hang out at NFCC boards most of the time though. (Basically, I think either both of those uses should be fine, or neither. To differentiate them is illogical.) </rant> LadyofShalott 04:52, 15 February 2011 (UTC)
Wehwalt, I don't think the cover is deleted (haven't checked) but I don't see why it would have been. LadyofShalott, I would love to go by your and Moonriddengirl's verdict, but (as a relative newcomer to this particular area) I did not feel like going against some of the strongly worded opinions at the noticeboard. The suggestion that it could be moved to the section about the recording might be taken; if someone wants to put it back in the infobox I wouldn't object either. But since it was a GA Nomination, I wanted to play it as safe as possible--and I am not one for strong opinions. ;) Dr Aaij (talk) 18:23, 15 February 2011 (UTC)
I'm not sure I have a dog in this fight. Anyway, I'm arranging to get a copy of the Playbill. I've found that most free publications from the 1950s are published without copyright notice.--Wehwalt (talk) 22:56, 16 February 2011 (UTC)
Wehwalt, that's excellent--thank you. And congrats again on a great article (and a Good one, of course). Dr Aaij (talk)
Thank you. The insanity around this place!--Wehwalt (talk) 22:51, 17 February 2011 (UTC)

Re: Pittsburgh?

Sounds interesting. Chat me up next week, I will have more time to think about it then. --Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| talk 01:10, 24 February 2011 (UTC)

I am back. Let me know how much time you'd like me to speak for, on what subject, to what audience, and such :) We can also meet in person to discuss the details if needed... --Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| talk 00:47, 2 March 2011 (UTC)
Hi Piotr--the program is, I think, not yet finalized, but I will let you know as soon as I can. Thanks again for your interest! Dr Aaij (talk) 20:17, 2 March 2011 (UTC)

Re: Sigma Tau Delta convention in Pittsburgh - sure, I'll try to be there :) --Piotr Konieczny aka Prokonsul Piotrus| talk 18:38, 21 March 2011 (UTC)

Award

The Userpage Shield
Thanks for clearing up all the vandalism of my talk page - I was not surprised, you cannot delete 130 odd pages in an evening without someone getting wound up!  Ronhjones  (Talk) 21:43, 3 March 2011 (UTC)

Wikipedia Ambassador Program Newsletter: 21 March 2011



This is the third issue of the Wikipedia Ambassador Program Newsletter, with details about what's going on right now and where help is needed.


Delivered by EdwardsBot (talk) 22:22, 21 March 2011 (UTC)

Wikipedia Ambassador Program Newsletter: 22 April 2011



This is the fourth issue of the Wikipedia Ambassador Program Newsletter, with details about what's going on right now and where help is needed.


Delivered by EdwardsBot (talk) 16:32, 22 April 2011 (UTC)

Please take the Wikipedia Ambassador Program survey

Hi Ambassador,

We are at a pivotal point in the development of the Wikipedia Ambassador Program. Your feedback will help shape the program and role of Ambassadors in the future. Please take this 10 minute survey to help inform and improve the Wikipedia Ambassadors.

WMF will de-identify results and make them available to you. According to KwikSurveys' privacy policy: "Data and email addresses will not be sold, rented, leased or disclosed to 3rd parties." This link takes you to the online survey: http://kwiksurveys.com?u=WPAmbassador_talk

Feel free to contact me with any questions or comments, Thank You!

Amy Roth (Research Analyst, Public Policy Initiative) (talk) 20:38, 24 May 2011 (UTC)

Ambassador Program: assessment drive

Even though it's been quiet on-wiki, the Wikipedia Ambassador Program has been busy over the last few months getting ready for the next term. We're heading toward over 80 classes in the US, across all disciplines. You'll see courses start popping up here, and this time we want to match one or more Online Ambassadors to each class based on interest or expertise in the subject matter. If you see a class that you're interested, please contact the professor and/or me; the sooner the Ambassadors and professors get in communication, the better things go. Look for more in the coming weeks about next term.

In the meantime, with a little help I've identified all the articles students did significant work on in the last term. Many of the articles have never been assessed, or have ratings that are out of date from before the students improved them. Please help assess them! Pick a class, or just a few articles, and give them a rating (and add a relevant WikiProject banner if there isn't one), and then update the list of articles.

Once we have updated assessments for all these articles, we can get a better idea of how quality varied from course to course, and which approaches to running Wikipedia assignments and managing courses are most effective.

--Sage Ross - Online Facilitator, Wikimedia Foundation (talk) 17:23, 27 July 2011 (UTC)

How's it working out in class?

Hi, Dr Aaij. I'm a history prof just half an hour east of you in Tuskegee, and am curious as to how Wikipedia exercises have worked for you in teaching freshmen. You can email me through my user page if you don’t mind being contacted about this. — ℜob C. alias ÀLAROB 00:11, 14 December 2011 (UTC)

Wikipedia Ambassadors update

Hi! You're getting this message because you are or have been a Wikipedia Ambassador. A new term is beginning for the United States and Canada Education Programs, and I wanted to give you an update on some important new information if you're interested in continuing your work this term as a Wikipedia Ambassador.

You may have heard a reference to a transition the education program is going through. This is the last term that the Wikimedia Foundation will directly run the U.S. and Canada programs; beginning in June, a proposed thematic organization is likely to take over organizing the program. You can read more about the proposal here.

Another major change in the program will take effect immediately. Beginning this term, a new MediaWiki education extension will replace all course pages and Ambassador lists. (See Wikipedia:Course pages and Help:Education Program extension for more details.) Included in the extension are online volunteer and campus volunteer user rights, which let you create and edit course pages and sign up as an ambassador for a particular course.

If you would like to continue serving as a Wikipedia Ambassador — even if you do not support a class this term — you must create an ambassador profile. If you're no longer interested in being a Wikipedia Ambassador, you don't need to do anything.

Please do these steps as soon as possible

First, you need the relevant user rights for Online and/or Campus Ambassadors. (If you are an admin, you can grant the rights yourself, for you as well as other ambassadors.) Just post your rights request here, and we'll get you set up as quickly as possible.

Once you've got the ambassador rights, please set up at a Campus and/or Online Ambassador profile. You can do so at:

Going forward, the lists of Ambassadors at Special:CampusAmbassadors and Special:OnlineAmbassadors will be the official roster of who is an active Ambassador. If you would like to be an Ambassador but not ready to serve this term, you can un-check the option in your profile to publicly list it (which will remove your profile from the list).

After that, you can sign on to support courses. The list of courses will be at Special:Courses. (By default, this lists "Current" courses, but you can change the Status filter to "Planned" to see courses for this term that haven't reached their listed start date yet.)

As this is the first term we have used the extension, we know there will be some bugs, and we know the feature set is not as rich as it could be. (A big wave of improvements is already in the pipeline. And if you know MediaWiki and could help with code review, we'd love to have your help!) Please reach out to me (Sage Ross) with any complaints, bug reports, and feature suggestions. The basic features of the extension are documented at Wikipedia:Course pages, and you can see a tutorial for setting up and using them here.

Communication and keeping up to date

In the past, the Education Program has had a pretty fragmented set of communication channels. We're trying to fix that. These are the recommended places to discuss and stay up-to-date on the education program:

  1. The education noticeboard has become the main on-wiki location for discussion of the Education Program. You can post there about broad education program issues as well as issues with individual courses.
  2. The Ambassadors Announce email list is a very low-traffic announcements list of important information all Ambassadors need to be aware of. We encourage all Ambassadors (and other interested Wikipedians) to subscribe to the list; follow the instructions on the link to add your email address.
  3. If you use IRC regularly, or need to try to reach someone immediately, the #wikipedia-en-ambassadors connect IRC channel is the place to find me and fellow Ambassadors.
Ambassador training and resources

We now have an online training for Ambassadors, which is intended to be both an orientation about the Wikipedia Ambassador role for newcomers and the manual for how to do the role. (There are parallel trainings for students and for educators as well.)

Please go through the training if you feel like you need a refresher on how a typical class is supposed to go and where the Ambassadors fit in, or if you want to review and help improve it. If there's something you'd like to see added, or other suggestions you have for it, feel free to edit the training and/or leave feedback. A primer on setting up and using course pages is included in the educators' training.

The Resources page of the training is the main place for Ambassador-related resources. If there's something you think is important as a resource that's not on there, please add it.

Finally, whether or not you work with any classes this term, I encourage you to post entries to the Trophy Case whenever you see excellent work from students or if you have great examples from past semesters. And, as always, let students (and other editors!) know when they do things well; a little WikiLove goes a long way!

--Sage Ross (WMF) (talk) 20:46, 14 January 2013 (UTC)

Change in your user rights

Your Wikipedia account was previously granted a user right called "course instructor" by the Wiki Education Foundation. That right enabled you to create a course page through the EducationProgram MediaWiki extension. Starting in fall 2015, the Wiki Education Foundation has discontinued its use of this extension. Going forward, users should create course pages through the Wiki Education Foundation website. That application is more user-friendly, and any content is automatically mirrored to Wikipedia. To prevent confusion, we'll be removing your "course instructor" user right, as it is not needed with the new system. This is simply a notification of the technical change to your account. No action is needed from you at this time.

If you plan on teaching with Wikipedia for the fall 2015 term, please email me (helaine@wikiedu.org) for instructions how to create your next course page using our new system. --Helaine (Wiki Ed) (talk), sent by MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 02:34, 21 July 2015 (UTC)

ArbCom elections are now open!

Hi,
You appear to be eligible to vote in the current Arbitration Committee election. The Arbitration Committee is the panel of editors responsible for conducting the Wikipedia arbitration process. It has the authority to enact binding solutions for disputes between editors, primarily related to serious behavioural issues that the community has been unable to resolve. This includes the ability to impose site bans, topic bans, editing restrictions, and other measures needed to maintain our editing environment. The arbitration policy describes the Committee's roles and responsibilities in greater detail. If you wish to participate, you are welcome to review the candidates' statements and submit your choices on the voting page. For the Election committee, MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 14:15, 24 November 2015 (UTC)

Help!

Helaine (Wiki Ed), can you help me? I'm following the "Setting up your course" manual and I'm stuck at Education Program:Auburn University at Montgomery. I'm supposed to see an "Add a course" section--but there is no such section. Also, last year's class, I'm going to copy and paste the information, but I'd like for you to unenroll the students that are in there, students I don't know from Adam, or Eve, or Steve. BTW, like last year, I'm not sure if the class will make or not.... We'll see in the next few weeks. Thanks! Dr Aaij (talk) 02:36, 20 April 2016 (UTC)

@Dr Aaij: Wiki Ed is actually no longer using the course extension for the courses it supports. Your course page will now be hosted on dashboard.wikiedu.org. I'll send you an email with more information about the new course pages. Thanks. Helaine (Wiki Ed) (talk) 03:07, 20 April 2016 (UTC)
  • Oh, OK--confusing for dummies like me. OK, I'm dashboarding, and the "clone" button is about to become quite important to me. :) Dr Aaij (talk) 03:24, 20 April 2016 (UTC)
  • Helaine, I made some progress, though the cloning bit was of minimal use. I want to ferry the grading bit over from User:Dr Aaij/ENGL 1020D, CRN 3372 but I don't understand "Grading" on the dashboard. I have a suspicion it's to be gotten from adding or specifying assignments under the particular weeks, but I don't know if I want to do it that way. Dr Aaij (talk) 03:45, 20 April 2016 (UTC)
    • Your suspicion is correct; the Grading section is created automatically from timeline assignments that are marked as "Graded". However, if you don't use that feature, then the grading section simply won't appear for your students. (It will still show up and just be empty, for you as the instructor.) If you want an alternative, you could just add another block to your timeline to put in your own info about grading. --Sage (Wiki Ed) (talk) 16:00, 20 April 2016 (UTC)
  • Sage (Wiki Ed), it was all for nought again--class didn't make. :( Can you maybe delete what should be deleted, or maybe deactivated? I'm trying again for the spring semester, the regular semester for a class like this. Thanks, Dr Aaij (talk) 22:22, 8 June 2016 (UTC)

Wikipedia:WikiProject United States/The 50,000 Challenge

You are invited to participate in the 50,000 Challenge, aiming for 50,000 article improvements and creations for articles relating to the United States. This effort began on November 1, 2016 and to reach our goal, we will need editors like you to participate, expand, and create. See more here!

--MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 02:38, 8 November 2016 (UTC)

ArbCom Elections 2016: Voting now open!

Hello, Dr Aaij. Voting in the 2016 Arbitration Committee elections is open from Monday, 00:00, 21 November through Sunday, 23:59, 4 December to all unblocked users who have registered an account before Wednesday, 00:00, 28 October 2016 and have made at least 150 mainspace edits before Sunday, 00:00, 1 November 2016.

The Arbitration Committee is the panel of editors responsible for conducting the Wikipedia arbitration process. It has the authority to impose binding solutions to disputes between editors, primarily for serious conduct disputes the community has been unable to resolve. This includes the authority to impose site bans, topic bans, editing restrictions, and other measures needed to maintain our editing environment. The arbitration policy describes the Committee's roles and responsibilities in greater detail.

If you wish to participate in the 2016 election, please review the candidates' statements and submit your choices on the voting page. MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 22:08, 21 November 2016 (UTC)

Antonio Brown

Write like its ESPN.com? My edit was very simple and did not have an ounce of point of view and was only stats. I've been doing player pages for a long time buddy. Step off. Toeknee44 (talk) 17:11, 10 January 2017 (UTC)

Explain how this is not neutral? Did I say he was amazing or phenomenal or use any words that would describe a performance? No. Toeknee44 (talk) 17:17, 10 January 2017 (UTC)

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