User:Mendel/Talk Archive 6

I reserve the right to edit section titles to coincide with the section content. =Comments=

Promotion
I'll be honest with you: I still have my apprehensions. But I want to see just how right (or wrong) I am. So congratulations.

Don't forget to update Administrator information, also.

(T/C) 23:45, 2 November 2008 (UTC)


 * Thank you! It means less of a nuisance in day-to-day operations for me, I'll try to not disappoint you.  I feel even more honored because of . My plans for the first hundred days of my reign adminship are to not change my behaviour much, but do my deletions and simple edits by myself now. --◄mendel► 00:08, 3 November 2008 (UTC)

GASP!
'Grats! Entrea   [Talk]  23:46, 2 November 2008 (UTC)
 * Congratulations mendel. Cress Arvein [[Image:Cress sig.JPG]] 00:02, 3 November 2008 (UTC)
 * Yay! No more "Ishy, please delete this/add this to common.css/etc." annoyances on my talkpage! ;)  &mdash;Dr Ishmael [[Image:Diablo_the_chicken.gif]] 00:31, 3 November 2008 (UTC)


 * Finally, we may rejoice, Ishy :D Congarats ;) --- [[Image:VipermagiSig.JPG|Ohaider!]]-- (s)talkpage  16:03, 3 November 2008 (UTC)
 * Oh yeah, and since I never actually said it... Congratulations, mendel. ^_^ &mdash;Dr Ishmael [[Image:Diablo_the_chicken.gif]] 16:39, 3 November 2008 (UTC)
 * "Yay!" was good enough for me. ;) --◄mendel► 17:41, 3 November 2008 (UTC)
 * The ghost of Linebeck doth congratulate thee. [[Image:Rsz_PLSig.jpg‎]] 20:16, 3 November 2008 (UTC)
 * A bit late, but CONGRATULATIONS! Hope you enjoy your new position! Arnout aka The Emperors Angel 07:31, 4 November 2008 (UTC)
 * BTW, now you can edit/delete This stuff yourself! Gratz! Arnout aka The Emperors Angel 15:32, 4 November 2008 (UTC)

Sorry about being late, but congratulations on the promotion. Glad to see you got it. Here's to hoping you wear your crown well, lest you be beaten with it. &mdash; Powersurge360  08:23, 7 November 2008 (UTC)
 * Ridiculously powerful fairs ftl [[Image:Entropy Sig.jpg]] (T/C) 08:25, 7 November 2008 (UTC)


 * I miss your meaning. &mdash; Powersurge360  08:27, 7 November 2008 (UTC)
 * Play Brawl more. [[Image:Entropy Sig.jpg]] (T/C) 08:30, 7 November 2008 (UTC)


 * GASP! You're back!?! Neat! That makes me insanely curious how the affair that made you leave progressed. Thank you for your gratulations! Well, now you know whom to ask should you wish to have your userpage restored. Should I look in the fridge for some leftover champagne? --◄mendel► 08:35, 7 November 2008 (UTC)


 * I'm not actually back, although I may make a few more contributions tonight before I go to bed. As far as between me and Heather, we're still on shaky ground, but at least we're staying in contact. Today would've been the 3 year 8 month mark. &mdash; Powersurge360  08:42, 7 November 2008 (UTC)

My density far exceeds yours
You're doing a great job already. One of the hidden criteria I have for sysops is to amuse me by generating memorable quotes. <3 (T/C) 05:32, 3 November 2008 (UTC)


 * Now that's a good reason to idle on irc. --◄mendel► 05:35, 3 November 2008 (UTC)
 * What this means, in effect, is that any given volume scooped out of mendel would weigh more than the same volume from Nalee. This could also affect gravitational fields. [[Image:Felix_Omni_Signature.png]] 05:36, 3 November 2008 (UTC)
 * This deserves a userbox. And you've finally convinced me to attempt to get IRC. Gold star? [[Image:Entropy Sig.jpg]] (T/C) 05:40, 3 November 2008 (UTC)

The truth
Let me tell you the plain truth, Mendel.

I don't trust you to be a sysop. I promoted you because I was going out on a limb. I wanted to see just how good or bad you could be. Basically, to use Auron's words, I promoted you to see if you would fuck up. Since that would prove him/me right once and for all.

(paraphrasing from RfA page and some of Auron's thoughts)
 * 1) ...despite the fact that you misinterpret almost every major policy.
 * 2) ...despite the fact that you make mountains out of molehills and blow things out of proportion.
 * 3) ...despite the fact that you are a "troublemaker".

Personally. I agree with the negative points. But I do not agree with them strongly enough that I would waste your talents. I believe there is enough good in promoting you...I believe it is worth the risk. I bet that I will be proven wrong and my doubts will be baseless.

In short, I believe in you, and I have full faith and confidence that you won't turn out to be the devil others have predicted.

If this alienates you so much that you no longer want the position, I can understand; I would be pretty disheartened and upset also if I saw I was being "manipulated" in such a way. So I apologize if that is how you feel. But I feel I must come clean and explain things, if not for your sake, than so others know what the hell is going on too. (T/C) 19:11, 3 November 2008 (UTC)


 * None of the arguments are new. As you have surely seen from the hidden text in my original reply above, the parallels to Felix's promotion were not lost on me. If that had alienated me, I'd have stated it then.
 * As to the points themselves, I'm counting on the GuildWiki community and the strong admin team to show me when I fail, as you all have done in the past (thank you!). I hope that me being an admin now doesn't change any of that.
 * Editing on this wiki has been a strong learning experience, I hope it can continue this way, and the only thing I regret in my brief stay here is that I somehow upset Wolfie into leaving the Wiki &mdash; and that for some reason I had caused you to take a dislike to me. I am happy that this seems to be changing (?).
 * Already I am thinking about how my status as an admin affects how my actions are being interpreted. I am just as curious as you where it'll end. Any advice? --◄mendel► 19:29, 3 November 2008 (UTC)


 * Advice; don't ban for fun. No really, I doubt you'd break a lot around here just because you can ban/prot/del now. Quote: "In short, I believe in you,[..]". --- [[Image:VipermagiSig.JPG|Ohaider!]]-- (s)talkpage  19:36, 3 November 2008 (UTC)
 * Thank you for your understanding.
 * As to advice...when in doubt, ask the community/let them know your plans in advance (whichever is more relevant). No one likes having key changes happen without them noticing, and you would be surprised how differently some people can interpret your actions when you take them suddenly. In other words, it's better to clear up misunderstandings and opposition beforehand than to just "deal with it" later. (example: removing sysop flags from inactive admins. we would have missed a constructive discussion if I had just "done it".) [[Image:Entropy Sig.jpg]] (T/C) 19:42, 3 November 2008 (UTC)

Advice
I made a page just for admin advice and copied the above advice there. There's more on that page, too. --◄mendel► 01:14, 9 November 2008 (UTC)

Champagne
I forgot to ask, what is this "free images feature"? (T/C) 19:55, 3 November 2008 (UTC)
 * Images in teh public domain? (or other copy-left licenses). -User:PanSola (talk to the [[Image:follower of Lyssa.png]]) 20:02, 3 November 2008 (UTC)
 * I think it's a new Wikia feature released around... March/April? -User:PanSola (talk to the [[Image:follower of Lyssa.png]]) 20:03, 3 November 2008 (UTC)


 * (edit conflict) I don't know much more than what it says on Special:ImportFreeImages. I found another image on Wikimedia commons that I originally wanted to use, and it was imported that way, so I decided to use that to import it here. --◄mendel► 20:04, 3 November 2008 (UTC)
 * Oh, that. I remember tooling around with that before but never thought to actually use it. Cool. [[Image:Entropy Sig.jpg]] (T/C) 20:05, 3 November 2008 (UTC)
 * More info: Help:Import free images -User:PanSola (talk to the [[Image:follower of Lyssa.png]]) 20:06, 3 November 2008 (UTC)

Drop rate
I seem to remember you were working on a way to automate drop rate tables, such as miniatures from birthdays, using a Count* template or such. Is that on hold for infinity? Been looking at the drop rate for Trick-or-Treat bag and thinking of this... :) (T/C) 16:28, 4 November 2008 (UTC)


 * I don't think we can do it with the currently available tools (or it would be exceptionally convoluted), but I was looking around this afternoon and found an extension that would let us do it: Mediawikiwiki:Extension:Winter. It looks like it was modeled on Perl, which means it should be real easy for anyone (especially me :D) to pick up and use.  I'm already thinking of other things we could use it for, in fact.  &mdash;Dr Ishmael [[Image:Diablo_the_chicken.gif]] 22:09, 4 November 2008 (UTC)


 * Yes, I can do tables like that, that's what I did the Fibonacci test for initially. The template would be at the end of the table and extend the table on every save. It's a fair piece of work, and not lightly undertaken, and it'll be at least Friday(ish) until I'll have time. What can be done quickly is to make a template that displays the totals and calculates the percentages. --◄mendel► 23:53, 4 November 2008 (UTC)


 * That looks awesome. Other than drop rate, what else could we use it for? [[Image:Entropy Sig.jpg]] (T/C) 00:05, 5 November 2008 (UTC)
 * The storeh, of course. --◄mendel► 00:10, 5 November 2008 (UTC)

Symbolic?
I feel happy today. --◄mendel► 13:40, 7 November 2008 (UTC)
 * Fact 1: Earlier today I've had a 3-hour long chat and maybe made a new friend.
 * Fact 2: It's been overcast and showery all week, but when I came into my kitchen after the chat, the sun came out.
 * Clearly this is a sign that Breakfast McRitual is more powerful than we ever imagined. [[Image:Entropy Sig.jpg]] (T/C) 21:56, 7 November 2008 (UTC)

∞
It's "the infinity symbol", not "a sideways 8". :P &mdash;Dr Ishmael  16:55, 8 November 2008 (UTC)


 * Thank you for expanding my vocabulary.  = &infin; = ∞ --◄mendel► 16:59, 8 November 2008 (UTC)

hey you
Stop logging off irc 4 minutes before I get on and need to ask you a question D: --Shadowcrest  19:07, 8 November 2008 (UTC)