User talk:For7thGen
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Welcome
Welcome!
Hello, For7thGen, and welcome to Wikipedia! Thank you for your contributions. I hope you like the place and decide to stay. Here are a few good links for newcomers:
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I hope you enjoy editing here and being a Wikipedian! Please sign your name on talk pages using four tildes (~~~~); this will automatically produce your name and the date. If you have any questions, check out Wikipedia:Where to ask a question or ask me on my talk page. Again, welcome! Friday (talk) 16:37, 27 September 2005 (UTC)
Thank you for your nice welcome, Friday. I appreciated it then and I appreciate it now that I've carried out your suggestions. I'm responding in one month, which is fast for me, it sometimes seems. I just took a look at your User page, and thank you for it too. Time to put up an article myself, today if all goes well. For7thGen 16:14, 28 October 2005 (UTC)
- Nope, nobody really takes turns. But, when I see a user who doesn't have a talk page yet, I usually give them a welcome message. Friday (talk) 04:40, 2 November 2005 (UTC)
- Here are four off-the-topic paragraphs which were on the Golden Rule (ethics) talk page, moved here as promised there:
I had a big problem with the (only two) footnotes. I would much prefer to have done them as on my own website, entering [1] and [2] in the text, not superscripted, and linking them to what WP calls id attributes at the start of the footnotes. But WP has decided by consensus to follow the guideline of WP:Footnotes and that is what I have tried to do. "WP:Cite sources" is also a consensus WP style guide, and not inconsistent. In the case of multiple references to the same footnote, as in this article, the autonumbering of the footnotes is pointless since numbering by hand is needed anyhow, in the templates "ref label" and "note label."
So let's change the footnote consensus guideline to include let's say "method 4," the one above involving [1] and [2] in the text, not superscripted, linked to id attributes at the start of the footnotes. This method 4 would be "allowed" only for those few articles where more than half of the footnotes are multiply referred to.
This footnote guideline change does NOT depend upon whether autonumbering works, since numbering by hand is needed anyhow. And I know it may be considered poor judgment on my part, as a novice, to suggest this change. I'm not really a novice in matters involving communication and guidelines, however; plus my judgment is that most of the WP community wants even a novice to suggest changes.)
If I knew that "wiki" should be used where I'm using "WP", I'd write wiki instead. Also wiki is easier to write. But I think WP is easier for the reader; and the big multiplier effect, 100's of potential readers for my one writing, makes me choose the harder WP. For7thGen 16:10, 11 November 2005 (UTC)
American Civil Rights Movement
The easiest way to fix vandalism is to revert the changes yourself. Or, if it's a persistant vandal, you can also leave them a note on their user page and ask them to cut it out. If they're not logged in, this is less useful, as the user page is linked to their IP address which may change. I'll put this article on my watchlist and keep an eye out for vandalism.
Also, there is Wikipedia:Administrator intervention against vandalism, a page specifically for reporting vandalism, but it's really only meant for persistant vandals who've already been warned and haven't stopped it. The instructions there will tell you more. But, if there are content issues, particularly if you're not sure whether sections were removed for a reason or whether it was simple vandalism, you can rarely go wrong by leaving a note on the talk page.
Another thing (and this is something that's not usually obvious to folks who're new here) is understanding the role of administrators. Admins are no more (or less) responsible for taking care of vandalism than anyone else. It's everybody's job to do it. (Altho, since we're all volunteers here, I hesitate to say that anything is anyone's "job".) Still, I tend to revert vandalism when I see it, and I highly encourage anyone and everyone to do the same. You can find out who the admins are by looking through WP:LA, but there are several hundred. In many cases, when people think they need help from an administrator, what they really need is help from an experienced editor. Not all experienced editors are admins, and vice versa. Admins do have the ability to protect pages from editing and block users, which is sometimes neccessary when vandalism gets out of hand.
Wow, that's long. Anyway, hope this helps. I'll look through the civil rights page and try to see what's going on with that. Friday 14:40, 16 November 2005 (UTC)
American Civil Rights Movement (1955-1968)
Good work on the November 7 revert. I fixed the recent vandalism and tests, I think. -Walter Siegmund (talk) 03:01, 19 November 2005 (UTC)
Good additions to revert too. Walter Siegmund (talk) 03:27, 19 November 2005 (UTC)
Embedded links
Hi Frank, I noticed on the RfC against SEWilco, you expressed confusion regarding how to use embedded links. This is explained on WP:CITE. I've left an explanation here. Cheers, SlimVirgin (talk) 11:06, 29 November 2005 (UTC)
- I've replied on Wikipedia talk:Cite sources. SlimVirgin (talk) 04:25, 1 December 2005 (UTC)
- Hi Frank, could you leave comments about articles on the article talk page, please? Cheers, SlimVirgin (talk) 04:53, 1 December 2005 (UTC)
Your note
Frank, thank you for going to all that trouble. It looks very interesting, and I'll try to get back to you within the next couple of days. Cheers, SlimVirgin (talk) 23:10, 9 December 2005 (UTC)
Looking for articles to work on?
Hello, For7thGen. I'm SuggestBot, a Wikipedia bot that helps new members contribute to Wikipedia. You can learn more about ways you can contribute and find articles you might like to work on by going to the Community Portal. I hope you find this useful. -- SuggestBot 01:48, 13 January 2006 (UTC)
Image:BernardWilliams.jpg
Hello, For7thGen. An automated process has found and removed an image or media file tagged as nonfree media, and thus is being used under fair use that was in your userspace. The image (Image:BernardWilliams.jpg) was found at the following location: User:For7thGen/subpage 2. This image or media was attempted to be removed per criterion number 9 of our non-free content policy. The image or media was replaced with Image:NonFreeImageRemoved.svg , so your formatting of your userpage should be fine. Please find a free image or media to replace it with, and or remove the image from your userspace. User:Gnome (Bot)-talk 06:05, 15 May 2007 (UTC)
Image:BernardWilliams.jpg
Hello For7thGen, an automated process has found an image or media file tagged as nonfree media, such as fair use. The image (Image:BernardWilliams.jpg) was found at the following location: User:For7thGen/subpage 4. This image or media will be removed per statement number 9 of our non-free content policy. The image or media will be replaced with Image:NonFreeImageRemoved.svg , so your formatting of your userpage should be fine. The image that was replaced will not be automatically deleted, but it could be deleted at a later date. Articles using the same image should not be affected by my edits. I ask you to please not re-add the image to your userpage and could consider finding a replacement image licensed under either the Creative Commons or GFDL license or released to the public domain. Please note that it is possible that the image on your page is included vie a template or usebox. In that case, please find a free image for the template or userbox. Thanks for your attention and cooperation. User:Gnome (Bot)-talk 10:16, 19 May 2007 (UTC)
Black beauty and Blinders
Hi!
I left your assertion about blinders in the article, but I removed the reference to the discussion page.
The casual reader of Wikipedia ( that is, our real target audience) should remain ignorant of the talk pages. Therfore, the actual article should never refer to any talk page. Talk pages are intended to facilitate discussion about changes to the articles: (i.e., should we put the blinkers stuff into the article? where? etc.)
Incidentally-- Thanks for adding to the article. I personally like your changes, and I feel that we need to add them appropriately. -Arch dude (talk) 03:40, 3 January 2008 (UTC)
Proposed deletion of Fathers-line table

The article Fathers-line table has been proposed for deletion because of the following concern:
- Appears to be a neologistic (protologistic, actually) term devised by the article's author. In this form and in the form with possessive "father's", this gets zero Google Books, Scholar, News, and Web (other than WP) hits, so it fails WP:V.
While all contributions to Wikipedia are appreciated, content or articles may be deleted for any of several reasons.
You may prevent the proposed deletion by removing the {{dated prod}} notice, but please explain why in your edit summary or on the article's talk page.
Please consider improving the article to address the issues raised. Removing {{dated prod}} will stop the Proposed Deletion process, but other deletion processes exist. The Speedy Deletion process can result in deletion without discussion, and Articles for Deletion allows discussion to reach consensus for deletion. Deor (talk) 03:56, 3 September 2009 (UTC)
First, does a shortening of "patrilineal portion of the Ahnentafel or ancestors table" to "patrilineal table" still result in a protologistic term? I've substituted patrilineal in place of my original fathers-line (you are correct, here fathers is a plural, not a possessive).
In any case, as already explained in the Talk page of this article, there is a problem to be solved: There is a DNA-real-world entity, a table of information about one's patrilineal ancestors or one's patriline, for which the administrator of my own Richards DNA project apparently refuses to use the wrong-wrong name "pedigree chart" already used by a few administrators (most do not show this entity to the public at all), and just gets by without any name for the entity. What do you suggest to do about this problem? Surely you don't think my content added in the article, genealogical DNA test (see there), should list all the contents of the DNA-world entity each of the 3 times this entity is referred to? (Ie, twice for patrilineal and once for matrilineal.) Please, can you possibly find the time to understand the problem and then to help me (and WP readers) to handle the problem?
I am not married to my original name "fathers-line table". I would be very happy to drop it and just use "patrilineal table" or whatever you can suggest instead. I really hope you can help find a solution to this problem. If it comes to that, I am not married to the content which contains the un-named entity, either, and am willing to just drop that content -- although it really should be in that article to help WP readers. I do think the readers would be better off without seeing any content than they would be seeing wrong content. I would be willing to cooperate with you in putting the matter before other DNA-knowledgeable people to help with this matter. What more can I say to be helpful to all of us?
Upon rereading the above and noticing the word entity, I had an idea: If you agree, I'll rewrite my content which uses the un-named entity to, first, list the actual contents of the DNA-world entity, then say that 'This DNA-world entity will hereafter be referred to as the "patrilineal (or matrilineal) entity", footnoted if you like but I can't think of any footnote that would help the reader. This would not be naming the entity but it would allow one to refer to the entity within the given article. I've done all that I can think of. My solution to the problem could be either "patrilineal table" or "patrilineal entity". You decide it and tell me your solution to the problem; if it is not unreasonable, I'll do it. For7thGen (talk) 06:29, 3 September 2009 (UTC)
- I'm afraid that I know nothing about genealogical DNA tests, so I don't think I can be much help to you there. I do know that we (by which I mean Wikipedia) can't use made-up terminology to discuss such things; the terminology we use must be that used in the reliable sources we draw on to write articles. I suggest that you discuss the best way of handling the matter with other editors having knowledge of the topic, either at the article's talk page or at the talk page of a relevant WikiProject. Deor (talk) 17:02, 3 September 2009 (UTC)
Deor, first, you did your job, and tagged an article which I myself had clearly labelled in my Edit summary, "Create this name to meet an existing need, see Talk page." As stated in my last paragraph above, your tagging my article did help give me the idea of what I should have done, namely: Refer to the entity within the article itself, without naming the entity for use outside the article.
So I'll do that soon, and of course you're free to look at the result. And then I'll void the tagged article, so someone with that capability will please delete that article and its talk page. But I'm preserving the contents of that talk page below, for my own record of exactly what I wrote:
"Creating a name and using it
"Within Y-DNA testing I needed a name for the member's information used in surname DNA projects. My own Richards DNA project's administrator formerly called this information "ancestral chart", and its current administrator (whom I respect) apparently avoids any name for it by just providing a form to enter the info into. And, some project administrators use the name "pedigree chart" for this information. But both a pedigree and a chart are 2-dimensional, a diagram showing all one's ancestors.
"In contrast Y-DNA and mtDNA are very linear, being handed down the fathers line or the mothers line. So, after literally days of research, I finally realized that both of these lines are part of the Ahnentafel or total-ancestors table, which gave me the names (fathers-line table, etc), see this article. (I tried lots of names, including fathers-line list, which somehow seems lame to me.)
"If I could have just put the given description-of-info (see this article) into a definition of the name "fathers-line table" in Wiktionary and if the WP article would automatically default to its sister project Wiktionary for the definition, I would have been fine. But NO. So I believe I had to justify the new name in a new WP article, even though that seems to me to violate all sorts of WP policies. If someone else thinks it better to just describe the new name in genealogical DNA test where I needed to use the name, that would be fine with me, but I myself think it wiser to do one's business right out front, in a new article.
"So tell me, someone, what should I have done??
"And don't tell me to just use the 2 existing names above, beginning with "ancestral chart". I did that, to start out with, including creating it in Wiktionary, and within a day someone had changed my definition totally, to a definition I agreed with actually -- which told me how wrong any name containing "chart" would be! ...no matter how many administrators have already started using "pedigree chart", see my entry on its Talk page today. For7thGen (talk) 05:50, 2 September 2009 (UTC) "Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Fathers-line_table"
So Deor, thanks for your WP work, and good luck to us all, For7thGen (talk) 19:46, 3 September 2009 (UTC)
- The underlying problem here is that Wikipedia is not, nor is it intended to be, a venue for cutting-edge research or terminological innovation. We are by definition a tertiary or even quaternary source of information from secondary (and tertiary) sources that meet our standards of verifiable information taken from reliable sources: peer-reviewed journals, professionally-edited news publications, etc. We are not even remotely suitable as a place to introduce new terminology, or innovative uses of existing terminology. Thus: the inhospitability towards neologisms (especially since there is a certain type of editor who decides that if he just made up a new word and used it on his Facebook page or his Wii user forum, Wikipedia would be the perfect way to put the new word into the meme-pool. If a term is new to the literature of its subject, it shouldn't appear here or in our sister project the Wiktionary until it actually comes into widespread documentable use. --Orange Mike | Talk 16:53, 4 September 2009 (UTC)
Matrilineality
- [Copied here from Damuna's Talk page, and then followed by his reply]:
Damuna, you placed a non-"worldwide view" tag on the article section matrilineality#Matrilineal surnames more than two days ago, and it has been almost that long since I complied by improving the article and discussing the issue on its Talk page (see page). Now I would like to ask nicely about your plans to remove the tag?
Thanks again for your help with the wording of this section, For7thGen (talk) 18:04, 9 September 2009 (UTC)
Thanks for the heads up - I didn't have the page on my watch list, and I'd yet to check it again (usually I find that it takes longer for any changes to be made). I've taken down the tag now.
If you don't mind me commenting, from your edit summary it seems like you're a bit hot under the collar about the issue, and you seem to have taken offence at my tagging - you may want to take a few steps back from things in order to avoid taking things personally. I'm not criticising you as a person, or the effort you've put into the article; I am simply appraising it and giving commentary. "Our culture" is comparative (in the sense of "our culture" and "their culture"), and as there is not a worldwide culture shared by all, it would thus make an assumption about the article's readers, potentially alienating some of them. Thank you again for reminding me, I probably would've forgotten otherwise. :) --Muna (talk) 18:41, 9 September 2009 (UTC)
Genome discussion
Well, while I'm no expert, I can say a few things.
- In haploid organisms, including bacteria, archaea, viruses, and mitochondria, a cell contains only a single circular or contiguous linear chain of DNA (or else RNA for retroviruses), which is likewise referred to as a genome.
First, a haploid organism like bacteria, can have more DNA than just a single circular or linear chain of DNA. There are plasmids which can be transferred from bacteria to bacteria, for example, and these are then considered part of it's genome. In eukaryotes, the genes in the DNA are called the gene-coding regions, that is, they code for some sort of amino-acid-polypeptide product (via ribosomes). In prokaryotes, the gene-coding region _is_ the genome, but in eukaryotes there are regions of non-coding DNA, but this DNA is still considered the genome, since it may not code for proteins, but it obviously has something important to do with the genetic structure of the organism, although the 'reason' for this is still being debated (c-value paradox). At any rate, the sentence you wrote sounds good, except for the words 'only a single'. Hope this helps, Rhetth (talk) 21:25, 21 September 2009 (UTC)
- Rhetth, thank you, it does help. But you left it for me to write, so I've studied the wording more, with the readers in mind -- and here goes:
- In haploid organisms, including bacteria, archaea, viruses, and mitochondria, a cell contains genes, usually in a single circular or contiguous linear chain of DNA (or else RNA for retroviruses), which are likewise referred to as the genome.
- Can you live with that? I like having "a cell contains genes, usually in ..." because that allows for other genes and/or DNA, in other unusual cases. And I prefer to help the amateur reader who needs reassurance that in this haploid case the coding DNA is also called genes...
- So if you don't help further within a few days, that will be the wording I'll put in. Or, feel free to do the wording yourself, either here or in the article. (And I think it would look really lame for me to notify you on your Talk page that you have a message on my Talk page -- or would that be the normal thing to do? For7thGen (talk) 20:14, 23 September 2009 (UTC)
Should I delete, in Matrilineality article?
{{helpme}} I would like advice, about the following paragraph added in the Matrilineal surnames section of the above article, by 188.81.67.154 on 16Sep09:
- In Portuguese and Spanish-speaking cultures, children usually carry surnames from both the patrilineal and matrilineal lines. Up until the beginning of the 20th century, it was still common in Portugal that sons would carry the father's family name while daughters carried the matrilineal surname.
On the one hand, I think the paragraph is wrong; on the other hand, I hope it is right because I like having it in the above section. So, I need advice: Is it my responsibility, as possibly the most knowledgeable WP editor in this topic, to remove what I am at least 90% sure is wrong? If I don't remove it, soon, then what excuse do I have for not doing so?
I'll leave this whole message on that person's talk page:
188.81.67.154, can you please reply on my talk page, where did you get your information from? In other words, please try to convince me that your paragraph is correct. Please keep in mind that, by definition in the Matrilineality article, a matrilineal surname is handed down from mother to daughter together with their mtDNA (even if they themselves knew nothing about DNA). Also please keep the following information in mind:
I have worked hard, over these last 10 days, to verify your information. In the article Portuguese name, the 2nd paragraph in the section 1.1 called "General" states that Vasco da Gama's daughter took (only) her mother's surname -- which was probably the patrilineal surname that her mother carried (unless you can prove otherwise). And the daughter actually had the (patrilineal) surname da Gama as well, per the article Vasco da Gama. Also, that 2nd paragraph was added on 27Jan08 by 213.22.99.179 with no source information and not even an Edit summary, so there is no indication that its information is correct. In summary, I have sadly not been able to verify your paragraph, and I very much hope you will do so yourself. I'd really like to have more matrilineal surname examples! In any case, I join the rest of WP in welcoming you as a fellow editor. For7thGen (talk) 23:24, 26 September 2009 (UTC)
- (Answering help request) In this case, I would recommend following the concept of bold, revert, discuss - ie remove it for now and discuss it. The information is not referenced to a reliable source, and therefore not verifiable.
- I note that most of the article lacks footnotes, and hence most of the rest could similarly be removed by anyone; this is the problem with any unreferenced 'facts' - other Wikipedians may not be able to check that the facts are valid, and would be quite within their 'rights' to remove lots of the article. Verifiability is a core policy, as "we" (the community) have agreed that the only way to control the factual accuracy of the project is by providing sources for any facts that are either 'challenged or likely to be challenged'. It is recommended that there be a reference for at least each paragraph, and more is desirable. Featured articles cite almost every single 'fact'. Chzz ► 23:39, 26 September 2009 (UTC)





