User talk:Renamed user ixgysjijel/Archive 15

Arilang1234

Would you be interested in Manchu history? If you do, could have a look at Qing and give me some advices?Arilang1234 (talk) 16:07, 4 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Hi, I assume you followed me from Yang Jisheng? I'm afraid that I know very little about Chinese history and would be unable to contribute constructively to the discussion. - Banyan Tree 09:29, 5 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

What about Zhou Enlai? Give it a crack?Arilang1234 (talk) 21:50, 5 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Category:Rebels

This had been vandalized, modified, and generally was a mess. I tried to make it better, then simply went through each edit in the history. Most of the current text is what you originally put in back in Feb 2005. If you have a chance, please give it a look, and possibly improve on the "restored" version. All the best. sinneed (talk) 00:13, 14 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Ha! Isn't that just like Wikipedia?

The current version looks relative clean to me. If I recall correctly, I ended up writing such extensive criteria for that category page because I didn't feel up to fighting over the details of the article rebellion, which I see is still about where I left it three years ago. Ideally, there wouldn't have to be anything on that category page but "see rebellion", but that page is filled with landmines because of the multiple possible meanings, which multiple editors will have a stake in. I am only semi-active on Wikipedia these days and have a few other items in the mental queue, including hopefully finishing the rewrite of civil war sometime before I grow senile, so am unlikely to have to time to revisit these pages, but thanks for your cleanup. Cheers, Banyan Tree 08:38, 17 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Talk:List of ships captured by pirates off the coast of Somalia

Not sure you have the article on your watchlist but I replied to your note on the page move. Interested in your opinion on the matter. Cheers, Pascal.Tesson (talk) 00:53, 20 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I wasn't watching but have now commented. Thanks. - Banyan Tree 01:30, 20 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Weald-Artois anticline

Hi Banyan, I wrote an explanation for removing that sentence plus its reference at Talk:Weald–Artois anticline. If you wish to reply, please do it there. Kind regards, Woodwalker (talk) 00:05, 2 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Carlos Cardoso and Arthur C. Clarke?

Hi, I just posted a query at talk:Carlos Cardoso#Arthur C. Clarke connection? concerning Cardoso, and wondered if you might have any information. Thanks. Wwheaton (talk) 16:30, 18 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Merry Christmas

Morning BT,

I wish you and your family a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. — SteveRwanda (talk) 15:27, 19 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Nicopolis

Hi BanyanTree, I reverted your additions to the Nicopolis article. Barbara Tuchman is not a reliable source. I noted this on the talk page if you'd like to continue the discussion there. Adam Bishop (talk) 13:38, 20 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Discussion continued at Talk:Battle of Nicopolis#Tuchman? - Banyan Tree 14:49, 20 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]

ANI Notice

I noticed you were not made aware of WP:ANI#Alleged abuse of admin power... so now you have! seicer | talk | contribs 12:49, 8 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks muchly. - Banyan Tree 19:55, 8 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Actually, after seeing what the input of the community has been on the article, which has been to remove all mention of the two restaurants famous for half-smokes as "gratuitous" despite the citation, I think I'll spare my blood pressure and take pass, at least for now. - Banyan Tree 20:49, 8 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I agree with you about the restaurant mentions and find your restraint admirable. I'll do some source research. At the very least, I have added the restaurants into a See Also section. Hipocrite (talk) 22:42, 8 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

As an addition (balancing) note, though I assume you already were doing this, it is probably best if you do your best to avoid User:TechnoFaye for the forseeable future. Hipocrite (talk) 22:46, 8 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for the thought. I assume I will get back to the article again, so won't make any promises.

Speaking of no editors or situation in particular, in my opinion, the only thing worse than editors who spend hours whining, when a fraction of the effort would result in a perfectly fine article if they bothered to listen to the criticism they were given, are the editors who respond to such whining by doing the work that the whiner refuses to do. It's called "enabling" and just pushes back the date when the whiner finally exhausts the patience of the community and everyone wonders why they waited so long. - Banyan Tree 10:32, 9 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Just interrupting regular radio silence to wish you a happy new year, BT! I'll have to come and eat half-smokes one day at your mother's (or is it your father's?) place! — mark ✎ 09:26, 9 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Mark!!!! What a delight to hear from you! Happy New Year to you as well.

Did you see? I finally got accused of admin abuse at ANI! True, I had to inform the complainant of the existence of ANI, but I think it still counts. The funniest thing about the "BanyanTree is obviously the owner of a restaurant with a million-plus dollars in annual revenue, who somehow also has time to spend four years editing Wikipedia, and therefore any mention of the restaurants famous for a certain type of sausage in the article for that type of sausage is advertising, and let's just ignore my profane ALL-CAPS insults of identifiable living people"-drama is that I've never actually eaten a half-smoke. Ha! In any case, hearing from you again has made my day. Take care, Banyan Tree 10:32, 9 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Excuse me

What the hell did I do? --Double Sevenforth (talk) 23:24, 11 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Botswana city article names

Morning BT,

There are a few articles on cities in Botswana which have the title CityName, Botswana instead of just CityName with CityName as a redirect. This seems unnecessary and is contrary to usual standards, and indeed to the situation for most Botswanan cities (see Category:Cities, towns and villages in Botswana). I was going to put them into WP:RM but they're probably uncontroversial so I was wondering if it would be appropriate for me to just ask you to do them? Those in question are:

Lobatse, Botswana -> Lobatse
Ramotswa, Botswana -> Ramotswa
Selebi-Phikwe, Botswana -> Selebi-Phikwe

Obviously Kanye, Botswana and Sowa, Botswana should remain as they are as those terms are ambiguous.

Cheers — SteveRwanda (talk) 09:56, 12 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Steve,

Makes sense to me and Wikipedia:Naming conventions (settlements) appears to think so to. (Did you know that the wiki now has three different pages for naming conventions on articles about locations? Crazy.) Glad to be of help. Cheers, Banyan Tree 10:48, 12 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Signpost ITN

I'm going to start something at WP:FCDW/ITN soon, and feel free to participate. Spencer^T♦^C 01:53, 25 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Celebrity deaths

Not desirable because it no longer becomes a redirect. Try it. Carlossuarez46 (talk) 21:37, 27 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, the bizarre things that happen here. I do a lot of short page patrolling and you'd be surprised to see how often people don't want to write out the name of their subject but use PAGENAME templates to do it for them - which of course can make the subject unfindable in our search logic. Carlossuarez46 (talk) 22:05, 27 January 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Barnstar!

Barnstar moved to User:BanyanTree. - Banyan Tree 21:53, 2 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks, Spencer. It would be great if a few more editors wandered onto the template. - Banyan Tree 21:53, 2 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]

FAR

I have nominated Yoweri Museveni for a featured article review here. Please join the discussion on whether this article meets featured article criteria. Articles are typically reviewed for two weeks. If substantial concerns are not addressed during the review period, the article will be moved to the Featured Article Removal Candidates list for a further period, where editors may declare "Keep" or "Remove" the article's featured status. The instructions for the review process are here. YellowMonkey (click here to vote for world cycling's #1 model!) 03:30, 3 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]

=

I notice that the Museveni article starts out saying he is originally from Rwanda, and came to Uganda as a child. Further on the article says "Ssemogerere also accused Museveni of being a Rwandan, a statement often repeated by Museveni's opponents because of his birthplace near the Uganda-Rwanda border, and his supposedly Rwandan origins ..."

Shouldn't the bio be clear about whether his origin is an established (or acknowledged) fact, or simply a hypothosis or allegation? - Stephen —Preceding unsigned comment added by Stephengeis (talk • contribs) 13:47, 13 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Adding to Darfur?

My good fellow, I you mistaken. I added nothing Darfur. So could you please why you that I added to it? Sir mXe (talk) 22:50, 7 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Category:Old requests for Africa peer review

I notice that this category you created is unpopulated (empty). In other words, no Wikipedia pages belong to it. If it remains unpopulated for four days, it may be deleted, without discussion, in accordance with Wikipedia:Criteria for speedy deletion#C1. I'm notifying you in case you wish to (re-)populate it by adding [[Category:Old requests for Africa peer review]] to articles/categories that belong in it.

I blanked the category page. This will not, in itself, cause the category to be deleted. It serves to document (in the page history) that the category was empty at the time of blanking and also to alert other watchers that the category is in jeopardy. You are welcome to revert the blanking if you wish. However, doing so will not prevent deletion if the category remains empty.

If you created the category in error, or it is no longer needed, you can speed up the deletion process by tagging it with {{db-author}}.

--Stepheng3 (talk) 21:44, 10 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Orphaned non-free media (File:New Yorker 11 Sept 06 cover.jpg)

Thanks for uploading File:New Yorker 11 Sept 06 cover.jpg. The media description page currently specifies that it is non-free and may only be used on Wikipedia under a claim of fair use. However, it is currently orphaned, meaning that it is not used in any articles on Wikipedia. If the media was previously in an article, please go to the article and see why it was removed. You may add it back if you think that that will be useful. However, please note that media for which a replacement could be created are not acceptable for use on Wikipedia (see our policy for non-free media).

If you have uploaded other unlicensed media, please check whether they're used in any articles or not. You can find a list of 'image' pages you have edited by clicking on the "my contributions" link (it is located at the very top of any Wikipedia page when you are logged in), and then selecting "Image" from the dropdown box. Note that all non-free media not used in any articles will be deleted after seven days, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. Thank you. BJBot (talk) 05:02, 15 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Orphaned non-free media (File:New Yorker 11 Sept 06 third page.jpg)

Thanks for uploading File:New Yorker 11 Sept 06 third page.jpg. The media description page currently specifies that it is non-free and may only be used on Wikipedia under a claim of fair use. However, it is currently orphaned, meaning that it is not used in any articles on Wikipedia. If the media was previously in an article, please go to the article and see why it was removed. You may add it back if you think that that will be useful. However, please note that media for which a replacement could be created are not acceptable for use on Wikipedia (see our policy for non-free media).

If you have uploaded other unlicensed media, please check whether they're used in any articles or not. You can find a list of 'image' pages you have edited by clicking on the "my contributions" link (it is located at the very top of any Wikipedia page when you are logged in), and then selecting "Image" from the dropdown box. Note that all non-free media not used in any articles will be deleted after seven days, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. Thank you. BJBot (talk) 05:02, 15 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]

CNDP and Nkunda

As an expert in things Central African, would you mind taking a look at the new CNDP article and making any changes you see fit? Happy to do some editing under your lead should wish. Kind regards from the UK, Buckshot06(prof) 15:59, 22 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Sure. I tend to concentrate on events from the mid 1990s to early 2000s, but I'll see what I can do. - Banyan Tree 23:55, 22 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for uploading the Gersony Report article. Prunier certainly ought to be listened to; do you have 'From Genocide to Continental War,' as well? I have a feeling he just repeats the data between the two books. Cheers Buckshot06(prof) 12:44, 25 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Same book actually. ([1]) Published as Africa’s World War: Congo, the Rwandan Genocide, and the Making of Continental Catastrophe in the US and From Genocide to Continental War: The ‘Congolese’ Conflict and the Crisis of Contemporary Africa in the UK. I think the US title is probably the dumbed down one. Sigh. I'm probably no more than a quarter into it and I keep having to stop and rewrite Wikipedia articles - Seth Sendashonga, Gersony Report, Robert Gersony, an expansion of Kibeho Massacre and a metaphorical bomb dropped on the cause of death of Fred Rwigema. I'm clearly going to have to rewrite Great Lakes refugee crisis and I shudder to think what the book will do to First Congo War and Second Congo War once I get that far. Cheers, Banyan Tree 13:42, 25 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I'm really not an expert on the Rwanda genocide - I've been using the book to double-check my details for the reform of the FARDC article I've just submitted to a journal. A quick check of the Kibeho massacre article and the burden of info on the Gersony report suggests though to me as a neophite in this area that the RPA did engage in some ethnic cleansing of their own; 'limited retailiation' you might call it. Is that correct? Cheers Buckshot06(prof) 20:57, 25 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]

The characterization of the killings carried out by the RPA is the key point in dispute. Most sources I've read that touch this topic, and most seem to avoid it, seem to characterize it as "revenge killings", e.g. individuals filled with rage and sorrow losing discipline and lashing out at civilians they collectively blamed for the genocide. This was my understanding for a long time. There is a body of thought that holds that this was an attempted second genocide, but I don't think this was the case. It simply doesn't seem to have the scale of intention that the label 'genocide' requires. Prunier's conclusion is that it was neither of these but rather "a policy of political control through terror" (p. 20) and quotes an ex-FAR officer who joined the RPA before fleeing in 1995: "The plan of the elite in Kigali is to decapitate through any available means the Hutu elite, and to let live a voiceless mass of peasants only good enough to toil the earth for their masters." (21)

This actually fits better with my sense of the RPA, which is consistently described as being among the most disciplined warfighting organizations on the continent, so widespread indiscipline seems 'off' and it seems unlikely that the genocidaire propaganda machine could manufacture thousands of reports of deaths if none actually occurred. This is still heady stuff, and if it was anyone else but Prunier I would dismiss it as conspiracy-mongering. The fact that it is Prunier means that I'm probably shifted my personal opinion of the situation farther away from the common "revenge killings" framework towards Prunier's "murder as political tool" framework, but I'm still skeptical and would like to see some substantive scholarly work testing Prunier's thesis. The problem with this of course is that there are very few prominent academics who can speak with authority about Rwanda, and now one less after the untimely death of Alison Des Forges earlier this month (a great blow to Rwanda scholarship). Hope that helps. - Banyan Tree 01:27, 26 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]

(Thanks for my welcome btw). On your discussion above about the RPA killings of Hutus. There are quite a lot of awful things being said in various places about the scale of this, up to the madman stage of denying the genocide of Tutsis altogether, and quite serious suggestions that killings of Hutus by the RPA and associates numbered in the hundreds of thousands - a second genocide, and conspiracy-mongering indeed. As you imply, no smoke without fire. Whatever the scale it seems likely that Hutus were killed by the RPA / associates in significant numbers more than "just" in Kibeho. (Have you read Pres. Kagame's comments on Kibeho in "We wish to inform you ..."?). I'm not sure I would rule out discipline breaking down in the RPA as being partly behind it though. As the recruitment increased it is quite possible that new recruits absorbed were not made of the same stuff as the "originals", and quite likely received less than thorough politicisation (cf the situation in Uganda after the NRA take over where the army was so diluted by the time it reached parts of the north and east of the country as to be unrecognisable compared to the original NRA). On the other hand Prunier's ideas do go some way to explaining distinct unease amongst Tutsis refugees and the like in Uganda about Kagame's government and methods. Conversely I was recently chatting to a 26 year old Hutu (who rejects all such labels), who is totally into the Kagame stated doctrines. - Apalomita (talk) 18:48, 1 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Ooh, I have We wish to inform you... on my shelf but haven't opened it in years. I just found the relevant chapter you mention and added it as further reading at Kibeho Massacre. There seems to be pretty consistent reports of killing in all manner of places in Rwanda, including of RPF killing local Tutsi.

I've been thinking about starting an article, Human rights and the Rwandan Patriotic Front or something similarly titled, for a few years, which would handle both the displacement during the war through the alleged killings during and after the genocide. I suppose Gersony Report is my first dip of the toe in these waters, and even that article looks likely to be rejected from T:DYK because one reviewer doesn't like the HRW references. I dread starting a dedicated article because it'll be contentious even among sane editors, before the pro-RPF and pro-Hutu Power crazies show up. And it would undoubtedly be taken over by editors who insist of seeing the genocide through the lens of "what did the international community do or not do?", which I think has resulted in very disappointing coverage of the eponymous events at the articles Rwandan Genocide and War in Darfur. Even so, maybe it'd be worth it just so we have this discussion somewhere useful. - Banyan Tree 23:49, 1 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

DYK for Seth Sendashonga

On February 23, 2009, Did you know? was updated with a fact from the article Seth Sendashonga, which you created or substantially expanded. If you know of another interesting fact from a recently created article, then please suggest it on the Did you know? talk page.

--Dravecky (talk) 08:09, 23 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks muchly! - Banyan Tree 08:37, 23 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]

ITN for Special Court for Sierra Leone

On 26 February, 2009, In the news was updated with a news item that involved the article Special Court for Sierra Leone, which you substantially updated. If you know of another interesting news item involving a recently created or updated article, then please suggest it on the In the news candidates page.

--BorgQueen (talk) 14:39, 26 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Ooh, these new templates are neat. Thanks, Banyan Tree 21:45, 26 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Photo Removal from High School of Art and Design

I really don't understand what you are referring to. That photo you removed was placed there sometime in June 2006. It is copyrighted (on our alumni website, where it came from). Don't understand the problem. If there was something wrong with it, why didn't it get removed in the past? Enough wiki editors have watched over the page and removed vandalism, suggested fixes. One editor added the current photo and left ours in. I have no idea where he got HIS photo and who is the copyright owner of that one. I am not a techie. I am 66 years old and the recently retired alumni president. I still add notable alumni to the page and edit it, remove things that shouldn't be there (i.e., negative comments about the school). I would prefer you talk to me on MY talk page because I cannot follow yours at all.

I found some very bizarre message staring me in the face when I went onto the wikipedia site tonight, to read about another one of our notable alumni whose name I just came across: Al Scaduto. There was some mention of a "bot" -- what is that? And some man's strange name, and when I went to his page what he wrote on it sounded very disrespectful and nasty. Why do people have such attitudes? Yvonnefitz (talk) 04:41, 4 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Responded at User talk:Yvonnefitz#Speedy deletion of File:ADbldg60.jpg. - Banyan Tree 05:04, 4 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for your reply. I left some comments in response on my "talk" page. Yvonnefitz (talk) 21:19, 4 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

DYK for Gersony Report

On March 5, 2009, Did you know? was updated with a fact from the article Gersony Report, which you created or substantially expanded. If you know of another interesting fact from a recently created article, then please suggest it on the Did you know? talk page.

Gatoclass (talk) 10:42, 5 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Yea! - Banyan Tree 10:51, 5 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

request

As of now, I'm trying to deactivate my account, so can you remove all or your comments on my talk page. Thanks. I don't want anything appearing on my talk page anymore. Thanks.Cobenobo (talk) 22:11, 6 March 2009 (UTC)—Preceding unsigned comment added by Cobenobo (talk • contribs) 22:02, 6 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

It looks like you have already done so. Note that there is no means to 'deactivate' an account to make it disappear, as all contributions to an article must remain in the page history with attribution to comply with the GFDL license that the site runs under. You can certainly blank your user pages and never return. Good luck, Banyan Tree 23:58, 6 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Nominations for the Military history WikiProject coordinator election

The Military history WikiProject coordinator selection process has started; to elect the coordinators to serve for the next six months. If you are interested in running, please sign up here by 23:59 (UTC) on 13 March!
This has been an automated delivery by BrownBot (talk) 18:10, 8 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Boganda

Sure, and thanks for all your efforts in getting this to the main page. By the way, this is how I came to write the article: I read this piece, which mentions Boganda briefly. When I came in, the article was indeed a stub, but inspired to find out more, I came up with the core of the present article. - Biruitorul ^Talk 22:53, 8 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you for all of your work on the article. There seems to be something inherently gripping about the story, as I had a similar reaction of going straight to the wiki after reading about Boganda in Prunier's book. - Banyan Tree 23:06, 8 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Assistance Requested

Hi... Sorry to bother you with this, but I have NO CLUE how to edit pages. I noticed you contributed to the Rosa Parks page, and was hoping you could make an edit for me. That page also seems to be locked so even if I did know how to I don't think I could.

Anyway, I represent the Rosa Parks Scholarship Foundation. I noticed a reference to the only other foundation she helped to start and a link to their website. Would you be willing to add something similar for us?

If you like, please take a moment to visit our site and if you are willing please contact me. www.rosaparksscholarshipfoundation.org <email deleted for privacy>

THANK YOU! 74.204.25.20 (talk) 13:26, 9 March 2009 (UTC)Jon[reply]

I have looked into your website, done a web search to see what sort of coverage your foundation has received, and added mention of it to the article Rosa Parks, as well as Rosa Parks (disambiguation). While I have redlinked the article, I strongly suggest that you do not create it yourself, especially because of Wikipedia:Conflict of interest. After looking over online coverage, I find the foundation's claim to notability to be tenuous. A article for Rosa L. Parks Scholarship Foundation that is not created by an experienced editor who knows what hoops needs to be jumped through is more likely be deleted. Once notability is 'disproven' in this way, mention of the foundation in other articles may be put at risk.

Feel free to contact me if you have any other questions. - Banyan Tree 13:51, 9 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

deletion of Slow mo smile

A9: Non-notable music by artist with no Wikipedia article. Hi, I just wanted to point out that the band has an article. In fact, Bottlesmoker has been re-created twice already. Would that warrant a salting? decltype (talk) 13:23, 12 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Hmmm, that may be the first time I've ever done that, but I don't think I've been on speedy patrol since the devs allowed protection of deleted pages. In any case, I protected it for a week, which will hopefully allow the creator time to figure out what he did wrong. - Banyan Tree 13:30, 12 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Your most recent block

Really funny - I was about to unblock you but you beat me to it. dougweller (talk) 14:10, 12 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I started trying out Norton's IdentitySafe today, which remembers logins, and it replaced the IP's username with my own on the block page. I'd seen that screen so many times I didn't even notice. I couldn't believe it when the verification page came up saying I had blocked myself for a year. I still can't believe I just did that. Well, I won't be using that Norton program anymore... - Banyan Tree 14:17, 12 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Try Roboform, I've had no problems with it. dougweller (talk) 14:24, 12 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks. I'll check it out. - Banyan Tree 22:56, 12 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

The Next Generation Mobile Networks Alliance

Hi BanyanTree

I have noticed taht you have marked for deletion the content I uploaded to the Next Generation Mobile Alliance article. I guess I have uploaded incorrectly. I thought i had followed the guidelines and also looked at other organisations similar to the NGMN for guidance.

Can you help me start a page for the organisation?

Thanks Sarah--SBedwell0906 (talk) 14:56, 12 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Sarah, if you wish someone else to start an article you may list it at Wikipedia:Requested articles, though you should be aware that you may have to wait a long time before a volunteer gets to it. The Next Generation Mobile Networks Alliance (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views) had numerous problems that made it susceptible to be deleted on sight. At the minimum, you should read Wikipedia:CSD#G11, regarding the sale brochure tone of the submission, and Wikipedia:Notability (organizations and companies) for the minimum bar that an organization must meet. My advice is to first find some third party media coverage, preferably mainstream or independent industry publications, supporting a claim to notability, e.g. "NGMM Alliance is a coordinating organization containing firms with 60% of the sale in mobile phone service" or "NGMM Alliance is considered by X publication to be the most promising venue for interfirm cooperation". You should be able to come up with a well-formatted article stub of about five sentences aimed entirely at proving notability and providing references for each sentence. Massive unformatted and unlinked submissions just make reviewers, who have to skim all that text to see if there is a claim to notability, grumpy. If you can't find significant media coverage that is independent of your own publications and press releases, the organization probably isn't notable enough for a Wikipedia article.

Also, if you saw articles for organizations like NGMN that were similarly written without a claim to notability, you are welcome to put them in a deletion process. - Banyan Tree 22:47, 12 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Lord's Resistance Army

Thanks for determining the connection between Robert Gersony and that U.S. Embassy article. I somehow managed to completely overlook it. — C M B J 03:53, 18 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

No worries. I had just started Robert Gersony so am still trying to get it linked into other articles. - Banyan Tree 04:59, 18 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Sino-African relations

Hi BT, long time no see! Well, I've been working recently on the article and would like you to have a look at it if you got some time. Any comment or copy editing would be much appreciated since I am planning to make that article reach a GA status at least. -- FayssalF - ^{Wiki me up®} 17:32, 19 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Hey Fayssal! It has been quite a while. Wow, that article is much larger than the last time I saw it. Give me a day or two to burrow out from under my real world workload and I'll give it a good read-through. I'm surprised ArbCom allows you any free time. I thought they chained you to the evidence pages or something. ;) Cheers, Banyan Tree 03:46, 20 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

haha! Well, it seems that I've got a week-off after they decided that I deserve one. They also ruled that I should help bring a large topic to a GA status otherwise 'no vacation'! I've started working on Africa-India relations as well. See you later on. -- FayssalF - ^{Wiki me up®} 17:59, 20 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

See article edit and talk page comments. - Banyan Tree 11:11, 25 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

edit summary?

Please see User talk:Tabletop#edit summary?.

Tabletop talk) 02:27, 21 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

could you please help out?

I am currently a graduate student, working on a semester project regarding Wikipedia. I was hoping you would be able to privately answer a few questions in reference to your personal experience with Wikipedia in order for me to get your view on the website. The questions are on my user page, and if you could answer in them in word and e-mail them to the address shown that would be really helpful. Your anonymity is assured, and any personal information you give will never be used outside of this questionnaire. Thank you for your time.Curesearcher (talk) 02:44, 29 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

I'm sorry but I've done far too many of these and then had the person giving the survey 'forget' to tell the community the results at the end. - Banyan Tree 13:45, 29 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Copyright issue

Hello Banyan

A search of WikiMedia Commons shows that you used the following image

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nwhi_-_French_Frigate_Shoals_reef_-_many_fish.jpg

Please note that this image is the copyright of James D. Watt, a professional photographer. It is not, as stated in WikiMedia, in the public domain. We realize that you were mis-led in this, but would appreciate it if you would confirm that you will discontinue any usage of this image.

We have requested of WikiMedia Commons that they take down the image.

Aloha Christine Sheppard

for Ocean Stock 77-6425 Kuakini Highway, Suites D-201 Kailua Kona HI 96740 www.wattstock.com wattstock@seapics.com 808-329-4253

Cxsheppard (talk) 22:43, 2 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

What disconcerting legalese-esque language you've put on my page. Here's the deal: I follow the Wikipedia:Image use policy. If I recall correctly, NOAA had that image here without attributing to an external body, which tends to be a pretty clear indicator that it's an organization image, so I uploaded and licensed it as such. You have apparently convinced someone on Commons that your copyright claim is valid. That's the end of the story as far as I'm concerned. I'm sorry it took you nearly three years to find out.

You should ask NOAA to attribute images of yours they use, but the implication of "confirm that you will discontinue any usage of this image" is that this wasn't something not entirely aboveboard from start to finish. I don't know what legal boxes you have to check in these cases, but you should see if there's some way to check them off without asserting that my intention was to steal. Such pretty pictures and such ugly thoughts from your organization... Good day, Banyan Tree 23:41, 2 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

TfD nomination of Category:Interwiki translation templates

Category:Interwiki translation templates has been nominated for deletion. You are invited to comment on the discussion at the template's entry on the Templates for Deletion page. Thank you. –xeno (talk) 14:27, 13 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Apologies, I meant to come here and repair this note, or actually remove it since it's the templates within the category and not the category itself I'm nominting, but I got distracted. –xeno (talk) 14:59, 13 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Going to Uganda

BT,

You probably thought I was dead, but I've merely been focusing my energies elsewhere (specifically, grad school)! Good to see that you are continuing to hold down the fort here on Wikipedia. I'm doing my M.S. degree in Sustainable Agriculture at Iowa State University in the US, but I'm conducting thesis research in Uganda via the university's international program [2] there. It's a pretty solid program I think, though there is occassionally more oversight from agribusiness-oriented folks than I'd like to see. The CSRL operates primarily in Kamuli, where I will be doing some data collection. I will be spending most of my time at the Makerere research farm and Kampala will be my base. My thesis research focuses on organic production of grain amaranth, an underutilized crop that was introduced into Kamuli in 2006 (let me know if you want to see the full proposal!) Though I now have some Ugandan friends and know a number of people who've been to Uganda, I'd still like to bounce some questions off you!

Firstly, I can't remember where in Uganda you were and what your project dealt with specifically (Ph.D or M.S.?)

Second, I'm having a terrible time trying to find info on the history of agriculture in Uganda. Most of the sources I've found both on the web and in hard copy are of low quality and the information is really spread out between sources. I'm particularly interested in pre-colonial agricultural systems (esp. in the southern areas) and subsequent transformation to a more commodity-based export system during the colonial era. Any ideas on sources for this or any other more general lit recommendations on Ugandan history?

I am also considering doing touristy things. I will be there from mid-May to mid-August, the dry season north of the Equator. My instinct is to go out of the country, but most of the more interesting destinations (to me) are south of the equator. It actually looks like there is a fair amount of things to do in Uganda itself (i.e. Queen Elizabeth Nat Park, Rwenzoris, Murchison, etc). Do you have any thoughts on one or two activities in East Africa that stand out above the rest as recommendations?

It will be good to hear from you again! --gozar (talk) 17:51, 14 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Hey Gozar, Uganda is awesome. Set up your email so I can send you a message without censoring it for identifying details. - Banyan Tree 23:31, 14 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Happy BanyanTree's Day!

BanyanTree has been identified as an Awesome Wikipedian,
and therefore, I've officially declared today as BanyanTree's day!
For your amazing contributions on so many facets of this encyclopedia,
enjoy being the Star of the day, BanyanTree!

Cheers,
bibliomaniac 1 5
00:59, 18 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

If you'd like to show off your awesomeness, you can use this userbox.

Ha! I've always wondered how one goes about getting their own day. I still don't know but I thank you. :D - Banyan Tree 03:10, 18 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Abyei article neutrality

The Abyei article has a disputed neutrality tag displayed. There has been some discussion about ethnic groups, yet I am unsure of where the dispute is at. Any advice you have would be welcome. - AnomanderDrake (talk) 20:07, 21 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Replied there. - Banyan Tree 21:36, 21 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Template:In the news

Can you please remove the oldest item from ITN, for the MP balance? I'm not logged in so I can't do it myself. --125.252.14.30 (talk) 03:58, 22 April 2009 (UTC) (BorgQueen)[reply]

I'm sorry but I have no proof that you are BorgQueen. On my screen, the "On this day" header box is on the same level as TFA's "Recently featured" line, so the TFA is already significantly longer than ITN. While I've learned to abide by BorgQueen's edits, I won't make edits that worsen the already unbalanced, in my view, Main Page on an IP's say-so. - Banyan Tree 05:09, 22 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

You've forced me to log in. That's fine, I can understand that. Thanks for adding the entry overlooked by everyone else. --BorgQueen (talk) 07:36, 22 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Not at all. Sorry for the bother and I'm glad I wasn't talking to someone besides you. - Banyan Tree 08:34, 22 April 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Assassination of Habyarimana and Ntaryamira

I saw that you are the main author of the article on the Assassination of Habyarimana and Ntaryamira, and that you had returned to the page (to undo something else) subsequent to my addition of a small paragraph on the articlein the January 2007 "Le Monde Diplomatique" that basically suggests French collusion with the Presidential Guarde in the attack. Could you help me to make the paragraph more "wikipedia-like" E.g., should the article be cited via a footnote? If so, how to edit it in. Thanks in advance, Stephengeis (talk) 17:57, 6 May 2009 (UTC) Stephen Geis[reply]

Hi Stephen, It's always good to see another productive editor in Africa topics. I have copyedited your submission, integrated it into the body of the article in roughly chronological order and put the citation in ref format. You can look at the diff if you want to see how I created the footnote. If you are feeling adventurous, I have left Colette Braeckman a redlink and a stub using the content at fr:Colette Braeckman would be appreciated. Cheers, Banyan Tree 07:59, 7 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

And don't forget to close off the linked text, as I did not. Sigh. - Banyan Tree 08:05, 7 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Dear B. Tree Thanks for your improvements. I don't know anything about Ms. Braeckman, so I can't supply bio date for your redlink. I fixed a date error in the 1st sentence (the article is from 2007, not 1997). best regards, Stephen p.s. did you know that the Economist has started a weekly column on Asian affairs under your monniker? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Stephengeis (talk • contribs) 13:15, 13 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Ah, sorry for the error. Weird that I got it right in the reference but not in the main body. Obvious mental hiccup.

I was just reading the Economist column a couple days back. Unfortunately, I am not involved in the column but I think it's further proof that I have the coolest username possible. ;) And I'll eat my shirt if their line: "Gujarati merchants conducted business under it, and the Portuguese lent their name, banyan, to the tree" wasn't written by someone looking at our article. Cheers, Banyan Tree 05:29, 14 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]