User talk:Southamite

New problem

Another new problem, David:

About the last six times I have tried to edit Bahaikipedia, I am not allowed in to edit it. Every time I try, I get the following error message:

bahaikipedia.org says: Error loading data from server: HTTP 0.

Paddy

I must have got the above response about ten times or more by now, but tonight it had a different error message, something about not being able to upload from server (curl error: 7).

I don't know if everybody else is getting the same, but it has completely prevented me from editing.

Paddy

Hi, sorry I didn't see the earlier message. If you hit "edit source" instead of "edit" it will work like normal under the old style. Will investigate the problem and try and fix it. Thanks for letting me know! David (talk) 22:11, 16 December 2016 (PST)

Everything should be working again. David (talk) 22:15, 16 December 2016 (PST)

Dear David,

If I am adding information into an article, sometimes I can see extra categories to which this article should be added. But I cannot see how to do that on this new editing protocol. Can you help me?

Paddy

It seems like it's faster to do it in the old edit mode. But it's possible to add a category using Visual Edit. The third option from the right on the same line as "Save page" is 3 horizontal bars. Click that and then a drop-down opens and then click "categories". When you go to add a category don't start with "Category:", just put "Authors" for example, it should populate a drop-down suggestions menu as you type. David (talk) 20:23, 8 October 2016 (PDT)

Thank you, David!

Articles

Thank you, David. That is actually very clear. I will continue along the same lines.

Paddy

Dear David,

There is a question I have been wanting to ask. Category:Articles contains "all articles". I would like some sort of definition of the parameters of the articles. I notice that hardly any book titles or authors are listed under "Articles". Does "articles" exclude certain categories of things?

Paddy

I guess I never gave it much thought. An easy boundary would be an article is a member of the main namespace (it does not have a prefix before it like User:Southamite which is a member of the User namespace), meaning an author should be a member of Category:Articles. It just becomes a trade-off after that. If every page was a member of Category:Articles it might become so large that it's no longer useful for navigation. If you impose an arbitrary limit, like "no people" (who must be somewhere like Category:Authors or a sub-category of Category:People) then navigation may or may not be more intuitive. I don't feel strongly one way or the other. Historically I was not putting people in Category:Articles, which I'd left for pages like Fireside, or Nine Year Plan, etc. You can make any choice you like with how you categorize things. David (talk) 17:19, 31 August 2016 (PDT)

New editing method

Thank you, David, for keeping me up to date. Paddy

Dear Paddy,

I have enabled a new editing method, called "Visual Editor". There are now two edit tabs at the top of any page. The one you're familiar with is renamed "Edit source". The new one is just "Edit", which provides a way to edit the text of a page while hiding the code and formatting. It will be like you're editing without leaving the page (in theory). It's a new feature and may not be working 100% correctly. Also, it may take up to 30 seconds to load the first time you try. Let me know if you have any problems. David (talk) 13:47, 30 August 2016 (PDT)

Well unfortunately it seems like this feature is not ready for prime time, and was failing on certain large pages. Will have to try again later. David (talk) 22:09, 30 August 2016 (PDT)

Dear David,

New Editorial Question

I have been having a go at filling in the gaps in the articles about the Appointed Arm of the Faith, properly known as the "Institution of the Counsellors". I clicked on that, and it redirects you to an article on the Continental Boards. Surely, there should be one article discussing the entire Institution, and a separate one on the Continental Boards. That is why the article on the Continental Boards contains information about the International Counsellors as well. If you decide that there ought to be a proper article on the entire Institution of the Counsellors, I will give it a good go!

Paddy

Images

I am keeping this paragraph to refer to:

Hi Paddy, "Gallery" is not an ideal way to display pictures because of how it uses space in the article. It is better to simply use this structure [[File:filename.jpg]] which would insert the picture at that location in the text at full size. If you want you can move the image to the right side of the page [[File:filename.jpg|right]], you can make it different sizes [[File:filename.jpg|right|200px]] and you can even give it a caption. [[File:filename.jpg|right|200px|This is a caption]]. Mediawiki has a Help page for images here: https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Help:Images

Short cuts

Hi Paddy,

I thought of something that might help you and that's "redirects" or short cuts. If you find yourself having to type in a long page title or search for an article over and over you can create a shortcut for yourself. For example, just search for ipg or bwc and you'll be taken to those pages. You can create one by going to the page you want to be your shortcut (for example, ipg) and then typing #REDIRECT [[Full page title]]. This can be used for books too, like GWB is a shortcut. Hope it helps! David (talk) 17:47, 24 April 2014 (UTC)

Pictures and other media

Hi,

I saw your note on the article about Pictures of 'Abdu'l-Baha "This article would be enhanced by the uploading of appropriate photographs.". I wanted to make sure you knew about this page: http://bahaimedia.org/Category:%E2%80%98Abdu%E2%80%99l-Bah%C3%A1 and Bahaimedia.org in general. All images uploaded to Bahaimedia can be referenced in the same way a file that has been uploaded to Bahaikipedia can. If you're ever looking for images that's a good place to start. David (talk) 21:51, 17 August 2014 (UTC)

Thank you, David. I wrote a fairly long reply, but then our broadband went!!! I got back your message to me, but lost my own.

Because of a number of difficulties at my end - logistical, technical and lack of skill - I have very few pictures to upload. Your suggestion should be very useful!

Thank you again, Paddy

OK. I have experimented with that media site you have directed me to. That will be very useful for me, once I have got the hang of it!

Paddy

Window

What window are you referring to in your edit about getting the links to work? I can try and get it back if it was helpful to you. David (talk) 03:11, 6 September 2015 (UTC)

When you clicked at the top to say you were going to insert a link (URL or internal), a window came up, with two lines: one for the address and another for what you actually wanted to appear on the screen. When one started to type into the top line, the system started offering you possibilities, i.e. articles which already existed. This was invaluable, not just as an immediate time-saver, but because different apostrophes, or whether people have typed in "u" or "ú", make the difference between whether the system recognises what you are typing or not. Then you get a red printed result, instead of a blue one. Then you have a long rigmarole to substitute what the machine wants. Now, not only does the window not appear, but the toolbar where you would click "insert" no longer appears.

Paddy

Sometimes software updates will break features, it should be back now. Please let me know on my user page if something like this happens again so I can investigate. I had never used that feature so I was not aware it went missing. David (talk) 18:10, 6 September 2015 (UTC)

Thank you, David. When something goes missing, I assume that it is deliberate (i.e. for some reason I cannot understand!) I will try it out, probably tomorrow.

Best Wishes, Paddy

Dear David,

That is excellent! Thank you! Anyone trying to upload material will find it much easier again!

Paddy

Discussion on site organization

FYI: I started a discussion on site organization at the Pilgrim House. Feel free to pitch in when you have some time! Dragfyre (talk) 14:58, 23 August 2017 (PDT)

New topic at Pilgrim House: Vital articles

Hi! Just wanted to let you know that there's a new topic at the Bahaipedia:Pilgrim_house that you might be interested in. Dragfyre (talk) 21:07, 7 April 2019 (PDT)

List of publications

Hi Paddy, I was wondering if you'd be interested in creating a few list-type articles relating to Baha'i literature? Right now we have a lot of articles about books and such, and it'd be nice to have a few list articles (for example, List of Bahá’í publications by year or List of Bahá’í publications by topic) to make them easier to find. Right now all we have is Category:Books which you can drill down in to find most of them, but it would be ideal to have an article that lists them all. What do you think? I know Jagar has been adding publications to individual year articles, so you two might be able to work together on it. Dragfyre (talk) 21:58, 23 June 2019 (PDT)

I recently got a copy of William P. Collins "Bibliography of English-Language Works on the Babi and Baha'i Faiths" which is a fairly comprehensive list of everything published up to 1985 which could serve as a basis for lists. It's a little hard to navigate though and lists every edition of works which makes it a bit confusing. Will be good to brainstorm the best categories to use, then we can make the articles like this one: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fantasy_novels_(A%E2%80%93H) Jagar (talk) 22:55, 23 June 2019 (PDT)

Dear Dragfyre, Thank you for thinking of me. Unfortunately, my life is rather busy at present with publishing books, handling stock and posting out sales. My wife is mildly disabled, which affect everyday life. I much prefer something which I can write instantly, with little research. Although I am still committed to upgrading Bahaipedia, I must, I am afraid, decline. Bahá'í Greetings, Paddy

Proposed deletion of Spiritual Pursuit

The article Spiritual Pursuit has been proposed for deletion because of the following concern:

Outside B:SCOPE, self-promotion

While all constructive contributions to Bahaipedia are appreciated, pages may need be deleted for any of several reasons, see Bahaipedia:Project scope for more information. You are invited to discuss this issue on the article's talk page. David (talk) 13:11, 9 November 2023 (PST)