User talk:ShaneGero

Hey I reverted a couple changes you made to the taxobox templates. As far as I can tell, you are trying to get "Cetartiodactyla" to show up as the order and Cetacea as unranked everywhere. Is that right? I'm not going to try to stop you from doing this, but this wasn't quite the right way to do it. e.g., if we're going to do it we should probably get rid of Template:Taxonomy/Cetacea/Mammalia instead of doing what you were doing. Do you want to do this? Do you believe there is consensus to make a mass change to all whale taxoboxes? Can we float the idea at talk:Cetacea or someplace before doing it? If we decide to, let's discuss exactly how (or just let me do it) before doing it, ok? Thanks, ErikHaugen (talk | contribs) 01:49, 22 January 2015 (UTC)

Thanks, @ErikHaugen:, That is what I was trying to do. But I have no experience with editing the taxonomy templates. The Order for all cetaceans should be Cetartiodactyla Not Cetacea (which should be unranked based on current understanding); and Odontoceti and Mysticeti, which were previously suborder should be unranked as well. The old system should always be visible as unranked, since this is a major change in taxonomy compared to current public knowledge. I had managed to make Cetacea and the two suborders unranked in the template, but it would not allow me to make an new entry for the Order which should be Cetartiodactyla.

Based on molecular and morphological research, the cetaceans genetically and morphologically fall firmly within the Artiodactyla (even-toed ungulates).^[1][2] The term Cetartiodactyla reflects the idea that whales evolved within the ungulates. The term was coined by merging the name for the two orders, Cetacea and Artiodactyla, into a single word. Under this definition, the closest living land relative of the whales and dolphins is thought to be the hippopotamuses. Use of Order Cetartiodactyla, instead of Cetacea with Suborders Odontoceti and Mysticeti, is favored by most evolutionary mammalogists working with molecular data^[3][4][5][6] and is supported the IUCN Cetacean Specialist Group^[7] and by Taxonomy Committee^[8] of the Society for Marine Mammalogy, the largest international association of marine mammal scientists in the world.

If it helps, I am a cetacean biologist and sit on the board of the Society for Marine Mammalogy. Our taxonomy committee publishes the definitive list of marine mammal species and subspecies and recently updated the taxonomy to use Cetartiodactyla which has gained a majority agreement. I am happy to have this discussed and I have posted for help to edit the template both in talk:WikiProject Cetaceans ‎and talk:WikiProject Mammals but had not reply.

I am happy for you to make the changes and thank you in advance for any help or advice in guiding me through this needed process.‎

ShaneGero (talk) 15:04, 22 January 2015 (UTC)

Thanks. I'm aware, generally, of the shape of the cladogram, as it were. See Template_talk:Automatic_taxobox/Archive_8#Cetacea for an amusing historical digression. One problem is that I think there might be some resistance to putting Cetartiodactyla in Common dolphin's taxobox, etc. And in Moose's taxobox. Just as Bald eagle doesn't have Saurischia or Dinosauria in its taxobox. Also, I'd like your thoughts on this: currently template:Taxonomy/Artiodactyla's parent is Cetartiodactyla. Should we get rid of template:Taxonomy/Artiodactyla altogether, and use Cetartiodactyla as the "order" on all deer/cow/etc taxoboxes? As you can see this is kind of a big change. ErikHaugen (talk | contribs) 18:08, 22 January 2015 (UTC)

And a huge thanks for working on these articles! It is great to have your input, effort, and expertise here. ErikHaugen (talk | contribs) 18:13, 22 January 2015 (UTC)

Also, I've tried to consolidate discussion at WT:MAMMALS; usually it's best to have a discussion like this in one place but possibly advertising to it from other places. ErikHaugen (talk | contribs) 19:17, 22 January 2015 (UTC)

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 (helainewikiedu.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)

I have nominated List of cetaceans for featured list removal here. Please join the discussion on whether this article meets the featured list criteria. Articles are typically reviewed for two weeks; editors may declare to "Keep" or "Delist" the article's featured status. The instructions for the review process are here. sst✈^discuss 18:25, 13 November 2015 (UTC)

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) 16:51, 24 November 2015 (UTC)