User talk:Lar

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Note: Interpersonal communication does not work when messages are left on individual users' talk pages rather than threaded, especially when a third party wishes to read or reply. Being a "bear of very little brain", I get confused easily trying to follow conversations that bounce back and forth, so I've decided to try the convention that many others seem to use, aggregation of messages on either your talk page or my talk page. If the conversation is about an article I will try to aggregate on the article's talk page. If the conversation is on your talk page or an article talk page, I will watch it. If the conversation is on my talk page or an article talk page and I think that you may not be watching it, I will link to it in a note on your talk page, or in the edit summary of an empty edit. But if you start a thread here, please watch it. I may mess up, don't worry, I'll find it eventually.

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I am Larry Pieniazek, I like LEGO, and I am not notable.

I edit primarily on en.Wikipedia so if you want to leave me a message please use my user talk page there for more information. However I have email enabled here so feel free to email me if you need to.

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My archived talk
Archive 1 — start through about 1 Aug 2007
Archive 2 — about 1 Aug 2007 through about 1 Nov 2007
Archive 3 — about 1 Nov 2007 through about 1 Feb 2008
Archive 4 — about 1 Feb 2008 through about 1 May 2008
Archive 5 — not set up yet

This is a full apology to everyone for the sockpuppetry that the Sunholm account caused - we generally used it via open proxies after our Internet for Learning Ip got blocked, and then created multiple accounts. The original Sunholm has actually stopped editing, and I took over the account from him, with his permission. I've been a bloody fool. --Solumeiras1 21:29, 19 May 2008 (UTC)Reply

The best thing you could do is just stop with all the various stories about stuff, I think at this point no one cares any more about who is who, they all just want the disruption to stop. ++Lar: t/c 22:11, 19 May 2008 (UTC)Reply

Hi Lar,

If you check User:Jack Merridew/Matrix you'll see that I have accounts in the username "JackMerridew TEMP" on the German, French and Russian wikis. I created these because guess-who created accounts to block my getting them. I've noted my view re the impostor accounts on those wikis and no one seems to care much. I have found, however, that I'm using the accounts to do things like interwiki linking. I've created a bunch of articles on simple.wiki (i.e. they didn't have an article on the third largest island in the world).

So I would like to usurp the accounts. I see you speak a bit of German. Maybe you could guide me to the right page there and introduce me? And hook me up with people on Fr and Ru? There are some impersonator accounts I've not bothered with, my focus is on what's useful in the big picture, which would be the wikis with the most speakers/articles.

Thanks, User:Jack Merridew a.k.a. David 13:48, 26 May 2008 (UTC)Reply

Hmm... this looks like there is a need for some sort of set of template messages in common languages one can cut/paste... Another way to get aid would be to use IRC and ask around there? Might be faster. ++Lar: t/c 15:46, 26 May 2008 (UTC)Reply

I am loath to go too near IRC; last time I went there, the WC sussed-out my IP. Also, the time zone issue sure doesn't help; it's late night or early morning for most when I'm on (UTC+8). I've tried to read-up on the IRC-cloak and nick verification stuff, but it's messy enough that I stopped looking. I never use any of the chat or IM technologies; I guess I'm not a chatty guy.

I expect that at some point someone on those wikis will notice me and drop a welcome note. I'll look for a Category:User en-N which might help. Your template suggestion is a good one; if it comes to pass, please let me know.

Cheers, User:Jack Merridew a.k.a. David 08:21, 27 May 2008 (UTC)Reply

I've asked someone to see if they can give you a hand. Sorry for the delay. ++Lar: t/c 00:44, 28 May 2008 (UTC)Reply

• fr:Wikipédia:Demande de renommage de compte utilisateur/Usurpation#JackMerridew TEMP → Jack Merridew Done Blinking Spirit 06:30, 28 May 2008 (UTC)Reply
• de:Hilfe:Benutzernamen ändern/Benutzernamens-Übernahme#Jack Merridew ← JackMerridew-TEMP Done Raymond 04:56, 28 May 2008 (UTC)Reply
• User:Jack Merridew

Remind me in a couple days to check up on these, please. ~Kylu (u|t) 03:32, 28 May 2008 (UTC)Reply

Vielen Dank! Merci! :) ++Lar: t/c 03:57, 28 May 2008 (UTC)Reply

Thanks, all. I have commented on all three of the above pages; at some length on the Russian page. I'll note the details in the matrix. Cheers, User:Jack Merridew a.k.a. David 08:23, 28 May 2008 (UTC)Reply

Hello! I'm the owner of the unified login joystick, but at your project I have the account named joystick.pl, because the one named joystick had already been in use when I registered. Therefore I request for renaming the user nick from joystick in order to vacate it, so as to let me change my user name from joystick.pl to joystick and unify my SUL. --Joystick.pl 13:49, 28 May 2008 (UTC)Reply

You say "at your project" ... At which project? Meta? If so, Meta has a page to request local renames... Meta:Changing username. if it is at some other project that has local crats, ask using the process that project has defined. If one that does not have local crats, ask at Steward requests/Username changes... Both pages have detailed instructions. Hope that helps. ++Lar: t/c 14:04, 28 May 2008 (UTC)Reply

If mw:Extension:Makesysop appears to be true, then why do we still have stewards?? Also, when my new wiki launches (soon!), you can have sysop, bureaucrat, checkuser, steward status if you want... more details here . Thanks, AP aka --Kelsington 22:16, 29 May 2008 (UTC)Reply

I do not think I understand your question. Special:Userrights is a technology. Steward is a role. Stewards use Special:Userrights to grant and remove rights. As for your wiki I thank you for your offer but I do not think I would have the interest or the time necessary to devote to it. ++Lar: t/c 01:45, 30 May 2008 (UTC)Reply

• It was from the technical viewpoint. I asked it at the wrong wiki. Also, some interesting news for you and any checkusers/stewards involved in chasing up Grawp: on my automotive wiki (now closed) I checkusered Grawp after a series of page-move attacks on our Chrysler, Dodge and Subaru pages, and found him to be operating from various Comcast and Verizon IPs. I didn't do any rangeblocks since I estimate that over 200,000 IPs would have to be blocked, causing massive collateral damage. I don't know if that will be of any use, but I hope I've helped in some way. Thanks, AP aka --Kelsington 23:22, 30 May 2008 (UTC)Reply

Lar, I wish to review my community ban on en.wiki. Please could you discuss the issue at w:en:Wikipedia:Administrators' noticeboard and restore the currently-deleted w:en:Wikipedia:Requests for arbitration/Homeontherange. I want to come back peacefully, and I know I've done many things wrong on en.wiki, but I am reformed now. I have not edited since my ban, and would like a review of it. --Homey 16:13, 5 June 2008 (UTC)Reply

Lar, I've blocked this user as they were being disruptive - reporting non-existent vandalism to the OTRS wiki and requesting that a porn site be removed the blacklist because "Paris Hilton rocks". I'm suspicious about this being Homeontherange at all - it seems unlikely he would want the ArbCom case restored and wonder if the account has been compromised. I guess it's been to much time to be able to check. Could you review my block? WjBscribe 16:39, 5 June 2008 (UTC)Reply

I might have blocked for a shorter period to see if there was reform in the offing. But given that it's apparent impersonation, an indef seems reasonable enough to me. We're somewhat less tolerant of foolishness here than on en:wp... ++Lar: t/c 17:51, 5 June 2008 (UTC)Reply

Apparently the account was editing from a proxy and was identified as an impostor back in 2006 when it ran for adminship but for some reasons wasn't blocked then. I think it can safely remain blocked now. WjBscribe 18:39, 5 June 2008 (UTC)Reply

Yes. ++Lar: t/c 18:47, 5 June 2008 (UTC)Reply

Please have a look at Save the Siberian Wikipedia. Your comments there will be much appreciated. --SiberianHuskyRyder 21:30, 7 June 2008 (UTC)Reply

@ SHR: I don't think it makes any sense for me to get involved, so I will pass. Your message has been received and you need not leave it any more. @Mike and Majorly, thanks for the reversion, much appreciated, but I'll let one copy remain... that's what I usually do. ++Lar: t/c 03:44, 8 June 2008 (UTC)Reply

Refactored to User talk:Verdy p per my policy ++Lar: t/c 12:40, 3 July 2008 (UTC)Reply

Lar, do you understand the rationale for this? —Moulton 04:48, 9 July 2008 (UTC)Reply

No. Nor have I found where it was discussed first. ++Lar: t/c 10:55, 9 July 2008 (UTC)Reply

There was no discussion, Lar. It came unexpectedly out the blue. I was composing a response to WAS last night in the thread he had started on "The Future of Wikipedia" and when I finished previewing it and went to post it, I got an error page. I backed up my browser to recover the post (which I had spent half an hour composing) only to discover that Firefox doesn't cache newly added text in the post box. Needless to say, this kind of disruption is nothing short of exasperating. —Moulton 12:44, 9 July 2008 (UTC)Reply

I could not find any sign of discussion anywhere, I looked. I've posted a question at Majorly's talk page. If you're not prevented from posting elsewhere perhaps you should too. As a note: It may be better to get this sorted here than to move to another wiki. ++Lar: t/c 12:55, 9 July 2008 (UTC)Reply

For this. To keep to your word and promise to go "out" if Drini looks to be headed for passing is admirable and shows that your word means much to you. Thanks, and happy editing. ----Anonymous Dissident^Talk 16:00, 9 July 2008 (UTC)Reply

Hi Lar,I've got a bot in Persian wikipedia and request for flag ,from 16 june(this) and I have a oppose comments from 4 July to 6 July (he canceled his vote) (this) but now Amirobot hasn't flag ,please flag this thanks and regards

You know that Roozbeh(one bureaucrat of Persian wikipedia) isn't active

this robot have 9 support vote (this) Amir 22:33, 11 July 2008 (UTC)Reply

I have described to this user On irc he should wait for local bureaucrat to do it .thanks --Mardetanha ^talk 22:56, 11 July 2008 (UTC)Reply

Agreed, that is the way to go... stewards shouldn't normally do promotions if there are local 'crats. ++Lar: t/c 02:03, 12 July 2008 (UTC)Reply

I know the stewards get a lot of static on RFP about how someone "deserves" to be a perma-admin, so I asked around a bit and got the gist of when people are given what permissions. Perhaps this can be adapted for use as a reference document so people know when it's most likely to be approved? Kylu 08:18, 13 July 2008 (UTC)Reply

Seems a good start. I have concern about the second "temp admin" bullet though, it doesn't seem clear what the difference from the first one is, or why the additional time would be granted. We're coming round on the stewards list to thinking never go over 3 months unless there is a very very compelling reason to do so, and even for long term things (wikis where the community forms very slowly), that there be an approval every 6. I like the stuff about "when to get a crat"... it codifies what sort of seems defacto practice, in that stewards tend to not grant 'cratships when there are a very few admins or the votes are very small. There is something about ArbCom already out there that suggests arb com members need 25 votes (if you can't muster 25 votes, maybe you're too small) which has been either proposed or added, see the CU policy page which touches on it. Nice work. ++Lar: t/c 13:22, 13 July 2008 (UTC)Reply

Your oversight request passed and we simply await a Steward to turn on your permissions. I assume you don't need me to either tell you where to find the "how-to" material for oversight, as you've done significantly more of them than I have.

As an aside, I'd request that you wait on your removal until Drini's election has finished. Good job! :) Kylu 20:08, 22 July 2008 (UTC)Reply

Congratulations and keep the good work up!! Thanks, AP aka --Kelsington 20:17, 22 July 2008 (UTC)Reply

Thank you to all who supported me, or commented, and to Kylu and Thogo as well. As I noted during the request process, I intend to relinquish this right as soon as Drini's been switched on. There is a proposal before the Meta community to address the concern that some commenters had, that stewards now, with elected oversighters, would be reluctant to act except in dire emergency. It is called Meta:Meta-Steward relationship and I commend everyone to give it a look and discuss it. It's a very good idea in my view. ++Lar: t/c 20:55, 22 July 2008 (UTC)Reply

I've put an MD5 hash of a specific phrase on it, so that it confirms my identity, with a word/phrase known to me. Anyone else want to try this?? Thanks, AP aka --Kelsington 11:07, 25 July 2008 (UTC)Reply

Dear Lar, please invite people You promote, thanks, --birdy geimfyglið _(:> )=| ∇ 23:24, 26 July 2008 (UTC)Reply

D'oh! I even had the template in my cut buffer ready to paste in on his user page here but it was empty and I got distracted putting up the welcome template. Fixed. I'm not sure how often that user comes here though. I wonder if that template should be propagated to all wikis? ++Lar: t/c 23:27, 26 July 2008 (UTC)Reply

Thanks Lar. I normally paste the text on the local talkpage, for this exact reasont :) (I did that before writing here already for this user) Best regards, --birdy geimfyglið _(:> )=| ∇ 23:30, 26 July 2008 (UTC)Reply

So I saw when I went to do the same. We maybe should ask in the template that the new admin translate the template's pastable text into their language on meta :) ... (or improve an existing one) ++Lar: t/c 23:46, 26 July 2008 (UTC)Reply

Thank you for this flag :-) --Fabexplosive The archive man 20:53, 31 July 2008 (UTC)Reply

I promoted her to sysop based on Community consensus but mistakenly set the bureaucrat flag as well, which was not part of the nomination. Thanks much! --seav 16:32, 9 August 2008 (UTC)Reply

Probably best in future to post this sort of correction request at Steward requests/Permissions. I'll sort this out. Thanks for letting me know. ++Lar: t/c 16:59, 9 August 2008 (UTC)Reply

Done I have removed the 'crat right. LMK if you need anything else. ++Lar: t/c 17:01, 9 August 2008 (UTC)Reply

Thank you very much. Hmmm, I was not aware of that page. And I see that I have overlooked the somewhat prominent link to that page on Stewards where I first looked. Mea culpa. Thanks again! --seav 17:01, 11 August 2008 (UTC)Reply

Sorry, I fixed my requests --.snoopy.  06:01, 10 August 2008 (UTC)Reply

You should be all sorted. Thanks for discovering a new wrinkle! ++Lar: t/c 13:52, 10 August 2008 (UTC)Reply

Appreciated here if you have a minute. I do realise that there is some controversy with this but the JackPotte case which is referred to above that is ample evidence of the abuse that can occur. Cheers --Herby ^{talk thyme} 16:07, 10 August 2008 (UTC)Reply

I put my oar in. Hope it helps. ++Lar: t/c 19:23, 10 August 2008 (UTC)Reply

Does this apply across all Wikimedia projects? Thank you. Emesee 04:36, 18 August 2008 (UTC)Reply

I'm not sure I completely understand the question. Here's my opinion. It's not a foundation policy I don't think, but most wikis I've seen have a tradition that balances the notion that ALL pages of a wiki belong to the community against the notion that a user is given some latitude/control over pages in a user's own space... so while even there, content should not violate policy, a user has control, for example, over what stays and what does not stay on a talk page, within reason (repeated warnings or block notices maybe should not be removed), or control over what color scheme is used, within reason. (see w:User:Mindspillage/userpages which is displayed on my user page at en as well). What a particular wiki chooses to do is their perogative, I think, as long as it stays within the bounds of Foundation policy in other ways. I hope that helps. ++Lar: t/c 12:35, 18 August 2008 (UTC)Reply

Hi, Im just wondering what the procedure is for Granting of Sysop on meta, the reason i ask is i want to get involved in MW:OP. Also would you be able to advise me of what you would say the the requirements (edits, rights on other wiki's etc) would be to stand a chance at such a request as I am not a sysop on any wiki at this time. Cheers Prom3th3an 05:22, 25 August 2008 (UTC)Reply

It's the same as any other project. See Meta:Requests for adminship. You have to be an admin on another project to be granted permanent adminship, but you can try requesting temporary adminship for a particular task. However, without trust anywhere else, it's unlikely to be granted. Majorly ^talk 05:24, 25 August 2008 (UTC)Reply

Thanks for the speedy reply. My final question is with the moving of pages to the mediawiki wiki, is there anyway i can help with this? Prom3th3an 05:31, 25 August 2008 (UTC)Reply

You should ask over on mediawiki.org. Majorly ^talk 05:36, 25 August 2008 (UTC)Reply

Prom3th3an's been made a transwiki importer on mediawiki.org to facilitate this assistance. As long as it's in use, you'll keep the right. Thanks for volunteering. :) Kylu 07:47, 25 August 2008 (UTC)Reply

Glad to be of help! (all of this happened while I was asleep :) ) ++Lar: t/c 11:04, 25 August 2008 (UTC)Reply

I find myself needing temp. sysop on mediawiki so that i can delete the automatic redirects from moving pages, since Kylu is a crat' ill ask him/her. Prom3th3an 17:00, 25 August 2008 (UTC)Reply

Her. Also, if you've only got a couple pages to delete, it'll be easier on you to just mark them as {{delete}} instead. Do some good work on there and we'll chat about adminship sometime, k? Kylu 01:48, 26 August 2008 (UTC)Reply

I agree with Kylu, I don't think a temp adminship is justified. I suggest you consider withdrawing the request before you get a lot of pileon opposes. ++Lar: t/c 01:58, 26 August 2008 (UTC)Reply

Hi, I was just peeking at your matrix and think it needs a tweak;

• Bahasa Meleyu (simple:) Wikipedia (Laman Utama)

lands you on simple:en which seems wrong. Cheers, Jack Merridew 04:48, 5 September 2008 (UTC)Reply

I'm not sure how that should resolve. Simple seems to be a language code just like ms or en is... are there "simple" versions of some of the other languages than en? What is the correct URL? I deleted it for now, thanks for bringing it to my attention. ++Lar: t/c 01:57, 9 September 2008 (UTC)Reply

I don't think there are simple projects in languages other than English. You seemed to be trying to link to the Simple Malay Wikipedia and there is no such project. I've had trouble with linking to my simple accounts. The simple iwlink syntax is a hack; you're linking to the main wiki with a request for a further redirect once you're there to the simple version. see;

• w:simple:User:Lar which is the same as;
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/simple:User:Lar (hover over link and check status bar or see link properties)

Once you reach en:wp, an Apache redirect (see w:en:.htaccess and w:en:Rewrite engine) takes over and gets you to the next url;

• http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Lar

You do have a regular Malay user page at;

• w:ms:User:Lar (or w:ms:Pengguna:Lar)

SUL does make these matrices rather obsolete. I've not been maintaining mine as much. My general rule of thumb is if I get more than twenty edits somewhere, I create a user page there that takes about 6 edits for me to copy-paste (my user page is built from subpages). I make a few local tweaks, like linking to local articles on w:de:Bali and q:en:Lord of the Flies.

I've been putting iwlinks on the userpages, too, but interproject link syntax seems to not be supported. As I see it, I should be able to iwlink from s:en:User:Jack Merridew to w:id:User:Jack Merridew using the obvious syntax and get iwlinks over on the left (monobook, at least). The non-support is probably due to too much thinking inside the home-wiki-box. With the advent of SUL, features like this should be implemented to foster a metamedian user-view. Personally, being off en:wp for a bit has been a really good experience. There are a lot of users there that could do with an wider view of things.

fyi, I rather expect that the PoetGuy discussion is taking place here, and not on en:wp, in order to avoid the mob turning the discussion into a megabyte bicker-fest. I find it a bit surprising that the w:en:wp:an/i discussion of the boyfriend letter and blocking was archived after only a couple of days; I do think that was best. Cheers, Jack Merridew 10:28, 9 September 2008 (UTC)Reply

Yes I realise now that there is not a simple wiki for ml ;)... I am going to weed my matrix back a lot, unless I've done at least.. 20 (??) edits somewhere (within WMF) it doesn't merit mention. (Outside WMF maybe it's worth tracking, at least in part for my own benefit so I can find them again !) I have a template that I throw down on my user page when I turn up at a new wiki, it's at User:Lar/Generic. I thought about a more elaborate one using multiple templates, etc but decided to go with a single edit version. There's still an issue with language boxes, as you can see that page carries "you're using obsolete boxes" categorization... but the newer boxes are not everywhere yet, and the older ones work. Maybe someone should run a bot to propagate those boxes to everywhere :) I think interwikis are done with some strange hacks so it's surprising they work at all, if you ask me. ++Lar: t/c 11:54, 9 September 2008 (UTC)Reply

ms:wp is Malay; ml:wp is Malayalam and they're quite different; unrelated. I have userpages on both; ml is due to an impersonation I usurped. w:Malayalam script is lovely if you boost the font size a bit (Ctrl-'+').

I find userboxes awful (one area I agree with Tony and Kelly on) and rarely use them and the few I have, I make myself. I usually put language categories on user pages and this can be a bit tedious to sort out. And I put a {{userpage}} at the bottom; this is often unimplemented of small wikis. The babel boxes would probably do the categories for me, but exploring a new wiki a bit is a good thing.

I've not been trimming my matrix but I only add more that have a user page in place. My old threshold was more like 50 edits, but when Kuching seemed willing to to the bot trick with the iwlinks, I pasted about 6 new userpages; I've been maintaining the iwlinks myself since the bot balked. I've also tried to get pages in place on the big wikis even if I've not edited them much; zh:wp, for example, was one of the most recent.

I see the need for many cross-wiki initiatives in the next year or so. One thing I've mentioned in a few places is the idea of cross-wiki templates; Babel boxes and the userpage template would be obvious candidates. The idea would be to standardize stuff and get basics in place for small wikis. There would have to be a local override option, of course. I have no idea if there is anything currently in place to support such transclusion; if not, it's work for someone and there would be a need to nail down some policies and sort whatever issues emerged from discussions.

See;

• s:en:The works of Horace/Second Book of Epistles

I'm adding the footnotes to this work; one at a time and about half the text in the whole work is footnotes. It's hell; in Latin and Greek.

Cheers, Jack Merridew 13:27, 9 September 2008 (UTC)Reply

Lar, do you want me to update your userbox at wmf:User:Lar to use the new meta logo? MBisanz ^talk 20:38, 11 September 2008 (UTC)Reply

Thanks for the reminder, I've done so. ++Lar: t/c 22:54, 11 September 2008 (UTC)Reply

I think Shizhao could use some input from real stewards here, as opposed to pretend ones like me. :)

We may want to consider a more solid policy regarding hiding usernames. What'cha think? Kylu 22:55, 23 September 2008 (UTC)Reply

Pretend steward? We need to fix that... yes, I think a policy would be good. But for the most part I tend to just accept requests from admins, for the onerous-vandaly ones... if the name involves funny letters and stuff you see in V1@gr@ ads, I lock and hide without a lot of process. ++Lar: t/c 02:01, 24 September 2008 (UTC)Reply

Mostly just a gag, I wouldn't want to even claim pretend stewardshipnissity! I'm merely a lowly editor basking in the glorious radiance of ... something-or-other. Whatever. ;) Kylu 04:20, 6 October 2008 (UTC)Reply

Hi Lar. Would it be too much trouble for you to remove Krimpet's absurd hard block on my ip address on en-wp? I can't even edit *when I am logged in* on the SSL server and not even on my own talk page at that! What is this tomfoolery? Since when have hard blocks prevented user talk page edits? How is a person supposed to use the unblock template if they can't even edit their own talk page? I understand the need to stop vandalism, but this is just absurd. Anyhow, I was just about to clean up a spelling inconsistency in the w:Units conversion by factor-label article (someone had alternated between both metre and meter on the same page) when that silly "oh hai, you are an open proxy" page came up. My legitimate wireless router is most certainly *not* an open proxy. Thanks in advance! --Dragon695 20:41, 1 October 2008 (UTC)Reply

I'm not going to overturn a block but I can point Krimpet to this page and try to facilitate a discussion... would that be helpful? I'll drop a note on her talk page on en... she has an ID here, perhaps you could converse there? ++Lar: t/c 23:36, 1 October 2008 (UTC)Reply

I'd be glad to help, but, erm, Dragon695, what's the IP of the block in question? krimpet✽ 15:47, 3 October 2008 (UTC)Reply

18:05, 6 October 2008 Lar (Talk | contribs | block) changed group membership for User:Nishkid64@enwiki from Sysops to Sysops and Stewards ‎ (per http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Steward_requests/Permissions#Avraham.40enwiki.2C_Luna_Santin.40enwiki.2C_Nishkid64.40enwiki.2C_Rlevse.40enwiki) ;) Thogo fixed it. Regards, —DerHexer (Talk) 18:08, 6 October 2008 (UTC) Btw., en:wp is not your home wiki?Reply

Oops. Thank goodness. I didn't think this was a controversial permission but yes it is my home wiki... ++Lar: t/c 18:11, 6 October 2008 (UTC)Reply

Darn, I was looking forward to going on a mass promotion spree. :-P Nishkid64 (talk) 18:13, 6 October 2008 (UTC)Reply

Sorry? ++Lar: t/c 18:15, 6 October 2008 (UTC)Reply

I do believe it was a joke? :) And Lar... you haven't archived your talk page for nearly a year and a halfever. It's getting pretty long, could you please? Thanks. Majorly ^talk 19:06, 6 October 2008 (UTC)Reply

My goodness... you've never archived it?? Wow! Majorly ^talk 19:10, 6 October 2008 (UTC)Reply

I know it was a joke, that's why I said "sorry?" :) and yes I guess I should. I'll set it up when I get a chance, I want to do it the same way I do Commons and en ... thanks for the nudge. ++Lar: t/c 19:38, 6 October 2008 (UTC)Reply

Please feel free to comment on this new suggested Wikimedia project. --Kelsington 20:21, 7 October 2008 (UTC)Reply

(Refactored to the talk of Cdip150 per my policy) ++Lar: t/c 10:27, 29 October 2008 (UTC)Reply

Hello Lar. You now have user pages on almost every Wikimedia wiki (see discussion and logs of changes & skips). —Pathoschild 09:48:42, 21 November 2008 (UTC)

Thanks! The log showing skips is particularly helpful! ++Lar: t/c 13:26, 21 November 2008 (UTC)Reply

Apologies for vandalism from 82.42.** ranges with various users, they seem to be schoolkids using open proxies as far as I know. By the way, if you block this IP, remember it's the one for every Virgin Media customer in the UK for now. --62.30.249.131 12:16, 6 December 2008 (UTC)Reply

These have been used on Wikimedia projects for vandalism. Some have been proxies open on port 80

• 82.42.237.114 (talk · contribs · CA)
• 82.42.145.158 (talk · contribs · CA) - open proxy
• 82.42.237.173 (talk · contribs · CA) - open proxy, as per proxy.org
• 195.188.152.14 (talk · contribs · CA)
• 195.188.152.16 (talk · contribs · CA)
• 195.188.50.200 (talk · contribs · CA)
• 82.42.237.84 (talk · contribs · CA) - former open proxy, now closed as of November 2008 (was listed on proxy.org)
• 81.106.239.177 (talk · contribs · CA)
• 82.22.76.123 (talk · contribs · CA)

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special%3AWhatLinksHere&target=Virgin+Media&namespace=3 is a list of a few more, adding the full list would be tedious to maintain. --62.30.249.131 12:23, 6 December 2008 (UTC)Reply

That's transcluded for you, feel free to edit it as you wish! --62.30.249.131 12:25, 6 December 2008 (UTC)Reply

Hi,

I have send you a important email. I hope you can respond asap Sterkebaktalk 16:26, 8 December 2008 (UTC)Reply

I think I have... LMK if not. (the talk page notification system just now sent me the notice of this edit of yours) ++Lar: t/c 17:24, 8 December 2008 (UTC)Reply

Lar, this is not a big deal, but it's something I wish you'd avoid doing. Enwiki is your most active project, and you're changing rights on it. I also note you "strongly supported" Risker becoming an arbitrator, so in effect, you strongly support her getting Oversight and Checkuser. You also supported the other two. Please leave it up to a more impartial steward to grant the rights in future, especially for things you voted on... Majorly ^talk 15:17, 22 December 2008 (UTC)Reply

Thanks for your input. This stuff is pretty cut and dried, NYB shows up, and asks on behalf of ArbCom, that a (very publicly) approved candidate be granted rights. Doing so is purely mechanical, it's about as far away from a COI as it's possible to get in my view, as there's absolutely no judgement call required. Now for cases where I closed something (like a deadminship or CU election on Commons or something) that's different. Hope that helps clarify matters. ++Lar: t/c 16:43, 22 December 2008 (UTC)Reply

Do you, or do you not think it would be better for a more neutral person to do it? Majorly ^talk 17:16, 22 December 2008 (UTC)Reply

Marginally, but not so much that it makes a big difference. ++Lar: t/c 17:33, 22 December 2008 (UTC)Reply

It's not a big deal. Thanks for being quick to take care of the requests, Lar. It allows the new Committee additions to get on with things. AGK 17:11, 23 December 2008 (UTC)Reply

(User rights log); 20:33 . . Lar (Talk | contribs | block) changed group membership for User:Krimpet@enwiki from (none) to Administrators, Bureaucrats and CheckUsers (check another range)

Hit enter outside of the edit box, sorry. Anywho, you might wanna reverse that. Thanks! Kylu 20:37, 29 January 2009 (UTC)Reply

Um... ya. Birdy got it, thanks. There's a possible interface improvement here but I have to think about what went wrong, I was trying to add permissions to myself at wikiversity but had Krimpet's stuff up and hit the wrong button. ++Lar: t/c 20:40, 29 January 2009 (UTC)Reply

On the other hand, Krimpet can now say she was once an enwiki checkuser... Kylu 20:43, 29 January 2009 (UTC)Reply

However briefly. :) Tres embarrassing. ++Lar: t/c 20:47, 29 January 2009 (UTC)Reply

Hi Lar, I guess You still had that window open from removing Krimpet before and wanted to check on wv and filled in Your name but forgot to press enter before You changed rights, which resulted in changing Krimpets rights on the wrong wiki [1]. I removed cu and crat again, but I guess sysop should be removed again too. Best regards, --birdy geimfyglið _(:> )=| 20:40, 29 January 2009 (UTC)Reply

Sigh. That is twice I've made that same user interface driven mistake now in different situations. Dungodung said it best in his comment turning the admin off again ... "larfail" :). Serves me right for trying to sort out that en:wv CU question when I am already late for leaving for the airport. Fix my next flub before I make it, will ya? ++Lar: t/c 20:49, 29 January 2009 (UTC)Reply

Don't forget to bring us souvenirs! :D Kylu 21:13, 29 January 2009 (UTC)Reply

From where? My basement? I was flying home (and am now 1 leg away) ++Lar: t/c 01:43, 30 January 2009 (UTC)Reply

I dunno, got anything good in your basement? :) Kylu 03:11, 30 January 2009 (UTC)Reply

I'd be fine with some Legos as a souvenir... EVula // talk // ☯ // 03:24, 30 January 2009 (UTC)Reply

I doubt he'd part with them. :) Kylu 05:41, 30 January 2009 (UTC)Reply

I'm sorry, I don't have any "Legos". Whatever they are. I DO have a lot of LEGO brand building elements and sets, though. :) If you're interested in some, see Milton Train Works, my ebay store, or my stuff on Bonanzle ... Hope that helps. Oh, I am currently out of stock on the Skyline Chili model although I'm thinking about selling instructions for it. Oh... you meant for FREE? ... ++Lar: t/c 14:26, 30 January 2009 (UTC)Reply

Trust me, I've visited MTW and your Bonanzle store; if my money wasn't currently tied up with more mundane things, like rent, I would get some of the sets I remember lusting after as a kid, if just for kicks. :) EVula // talk // ☯ // 19:11, 30 January 2009 (UTC)Reply

Ha, rent and food are WAY overrated :) ++Lar: t/c 21:08, 30 January 2009 (UTC)Reply

Questions answered :-) SpeedyGonsales 10:57, 1 February 2009 (UTC)Reply

Thanks. ++Lar: t/c 02:09, 2 February 2009 (UTC)Reply

I thank you for having voiced your appreciation. It's been very kind of you. Bye. --Paginazero - Ø 18:44, 2 February 2009 (UTC)Reply

I've answered the three questions posed. Sorry for the delay; I had a nasty cold. - jredmond 20:59, 2 February 2009 (UTC)Reply

Thanks for letting me know. ++Lar: t/c 21:42, 2 February 2009 (UTC)Reply

The yellow box on your userpage has the last sentence

If the matter involves a need for discretion please feel free to email me using my email link, and note that you consider the matter private.

which doen't quite seem to make sense. Maybe you meant

... and note that you can consider the matter private.

or something similar? RoscoHead 05:06, 14 February 2009 (UTC)Reply

Larry, please do not remove talk contributions to open discussions as you did here. Especially since you are yourself decided over on that same page. Guido den Broeder 19:05, 4 March 2009 (UTC)Reply

The community had a chance to provide input about the confirmations. This period is now over, and the discussion you're editing is reserved to stewards. guillom 19:21, 4 March 2009 (UTC)Reply

Thanks Guillom, it might be an idea to make that (more?) clear on the page. Guido den Broeder 19:46, 4 March 2009 (UTC)Reply

From the top of the box that you were editing inside of: "This section is for steward discussion only. Please do not comment in this box unless you are a steward." ... how do you think it should have been made more clear? ++Lar: t/c 20:28, 4 March 2009 (UTC)Reply

That's not how I navigate such a long page. I jumped right to the subsections I was interested in, and found one where the discussion wasn't closed. So, I'd suggest to either repeat the message at each subsection, or to make it clear from the section title. Guido den Broeder 20:59, 4 March 2009 (UTC)Reply

So you didn't notice that the section was in a box rather than a normal page? And the box didn't lead your eye you up to the top of it to see what it said at the top? I'm not sure that putting the message in each and every section is necessary. The key point is, you goofed, it was reverted with an explanation, no harm done. That you then repeated your mistake still isn't the end of the world. You know now, right? All set. Next year you can suggest a different layout if you wish. ++Lar: t/c 21:41, 4 March 2009 (UTC)Reply

It's just a suggestion. Entirely up to you what to do with it. But indeed: no harm done. Regards, Guido den Broeder 21:44, 4 March 2009 (UTC)Reply

I changed the section heading to "Final decisions (by stewards)" since you said you found Oscar's by looking in the Table of Contents. ++Lar: t/c 22:42, 4 March 2009 (UTC)Reply

That should do the trick, thanks. In view of the length of the page, an idea for the next time might be to create a separate page for the final decisions instead of handling those in a box on the talk page of the confirmation page. Guido den Broeder 00:13, 5 March 2009 (UTC)Reply

I can definitely get behind that idea. I don't think it was done quite this way last year (but it also has a lot of things better than last year...) ++Lar: t/c 03:12, 5 March 2009 (UTC)Reply

Lar, if you've seen vandalism from 84.45.219.185 it definitely was a trojaned computer; we've had malware, spyware on the machines. Now new anti-spyware has been installed, it should stop people using the IP as an open proxy. Unfortunately a lot of public terminal/Internet cafes like the IP mentioned above sometimes have poor security, I've just ensured it got fixed. I apologise to you, any checkusers and any people who've seen this IP doing wrongful additions - not that I've made any myself (edit far too infrequently). I decided to get a username just to prevent myself from posting as an anon, which seems a bit "safer". Feel free to mention the above stuff to other checkusers if you need to. Sorry if I'm going on a bit, just had to get this off my chest! Cheers, --Wallsuches 11:24, 16 March 2009 (UTC)Reply

Just stop socking and messing around, SunStar, it wastes peoples time that could be better spent. ++Lar: t/c 12:02, 16 March 2009 (UTC)Reply

Err... I'm a different person. I was only trying to give a good overview of things. --Wallsuches 14:38, 16 March 2009 (UTC)Reply

This is a public PC y'know. --Wallsuches 14:40, 16 March 2009 (UTC)Reply

Er, you're not a different person. Or if you are, it doesn't matter, the PC is a source of trouble in any case. Just stop wasting everyone's time, please. ++Lar: t/c 15:09, 16 March 2009 (UTC)Reply

• That's not me posting that above. I do admit I did recruit meatpuppets on Wikipedia to edit on my behalf, much like User:Jason Gastrich and w:User:JohnBambenek did. The SunStar username really should not have been used by me; it was a joke account I created that used the name nicked from someone else's site (apologies to the site owner for stealing your website's name)! I'm not going to waste anymore time now, I don't find vandalism fun anymore, and anything suspected of being a sockpuppet of me is more likely to be a copycat. I'm not Willy on Wheels or responsible for any vandalism like him, unlike what some people on Wikipedia said. I also faked my edit history - well, stole someone else's to be honest. I've upset you, checkusers, far too many people. Not everything that is always suggested as me is me. I did share account passwords too, making these role accounts. Anyhow... I've been a bloody idiot and want to "go straight" now, so to speak. I've upset too many people, and may as well turn around. I've decided to grow up now. A full and public apology, --Sunholmx1 18:36, 16 March 2009 (UTC)Reply

I apologise for my vandalism. I recruited meatpuppets like Jason Gastrich. I was stupid at the time, but I was only 15-16 but I'm 19 now. I managed to find open proxies to edit Wikipedia via, as such, and got people who wanted to edit blocked.

But I have a reason for this - I was influenced by people I knew in school who edited Wikipedia abusively, treating it as a game.

Also, if anyone has ever seen any accounts with the username "Sunstar/SunStar" whatever, well, they're fakes created by me, not affiliated with the real individual's website (someone I know has a website with that name, I just felt it was a funny prank to play at the time, now, looking back I feel like an idiot! I have since apologised to him.)

The SunStar username really should not have been used by me; it was a joke account I created that used the name nicked from someone else's site (apologies to the site owner for stealing your website's name)! I'm not going to waste anymore time now, I don't find vandalism fun anymore, and anything suspected of being a sockpuppet of me is more likely to be a copycat. I'm not Willy on Wheels or responsible for any vandalism like him, unlike what some people on Wikipedia said. I also faked my edit history - well, stole someone else's to be honest - plagiarism. If I claimed to have edited in 2005, well, that's a lie - I used someone else's edit history. I've upset you, checkusers, far too many people. Not everything that is always suggested as me is me. I did share account passwords too, making these role accounts. Anyhow... I've been a bloody idiot and want to "go straight" now, so to speak. I've upset too many people, and may as well turn around. I've decided to grow up now. 'I do have mental health problems, so apologies if my on-wiki behaviour came across as a bit odd.

As for IPs I've used that get blocked, well, they've been open proxies much of the time, and 82.42.237.84 is now no longer being used by me (I did get access to it, remotely) - and there is a legitimate user on that IP - even though I abused it. (Needless to say, he's made good edits as an anon on mediawiki.org from that IP!)

I apologise for every single thing and for upsetting checkuser-l, checkusers, admins, and everyone else on Wikipedia and any other wiki on Wikimedia. Since someone I know who's better with computers than me gave me and my friends a private wiki to play about in we've stopped using Wikimedia sites as our playground. We didn't understand at the time that you could re-use Wikipedia material elsewhere.

My mental health problems are either w:autism or w:Asperger's Syndrome, I was diagnosed with it about a year ago, now that explains why I was the way I was.

I feel guilty, and express my apologies. I know I'll never be unbanned at en.wiki, but I did apologise to ArbCom and I am very sorry - very repentant in fact.

I am sorry if I upset anyone, and apologies to all. --Sunholm 20:49, 12 April 2009 (UTC)Reply

Dear Lar,
With respect, I'd like to point out that those questions were largely rhetorical. On the other hand, the other voters' comments were right on target, e.g. "not enough experience", "not suited to the Steward role at this time. Perhaps after some more work.", "doesn't understand stewardship", etc. I stand guilty as charged. I'm afraid I did not fully understand the implications of being a steward, or even how meta works! But, thankfully, I was not elected, so, it's all good. 173.9.37.97 21:45, 8 May 2009 (UTC)Reply

Thanks for letting me know... ++Lar: t/c 00:37, 9 May 2009 (UTC)Reply

sorry to be pinging you on multiple projects! (I wonder if the global talk page would ever be a reality? - perhaps a little behind the global 'you've got messages' bar? I dunno... anywhoo.. I digress...) - I'm not sure what the current procedures are for noting / judging whether or not an admin has 'left under a cloud', but figured that it's probably better to talk about while the iron is hot (I guess because otherwise it's bound to rub salt in old wounds) - it's my view that flying toaster did indeed leave under a cloud - basically multiple and significant issues of plagiarism and problems with the breaching of trust (publishing jimbo's details, accessed from a private database, onto IRC) - see multiple en threads, and follow the drama all the way through to Giano leaving, and Jimbo blocking Bishonen :-(

I feel sure you'll be aware of the best next step :-) cheers, Privatemusings 06:12, 22 May 2009 (UTC)Reply

I have no formal opinion about whether FT left under a a cloud or not, and formally, it's not my place (not being an en:wp 'crat or an en:wp arbitrator) to formally say. I have personal opinions but they are not relevant in the context of carrying out steward duties... ++Lar: t/c 13:35, 22 May 2009 (UTC)Reply

Hi Lar,

I'd have to say, I think this is probably a superfluous redirect. On the first front, it's redundant to the shorter SRP, and on the second, it's a cross-namespace redirect, the creation of which is generally discouraged. Did you have a specific reason in making it? —Anonymous Dissident^Talk 06:24, 16 June 2009 (UTC)Reply

Tried it, didn't take me where I expected. So I made it, which is what I always do when that happens. I never consider redirects "superfluous". It's not hurting anything. ++Lar: t/c 12:11, 16 June 2009 (UTC)Reply

Well, fair enough. I suppose that logic makes sense. If one person is liable to use it, more probably will too. —Anonymous Dissident^Talk 23:21, 16 June 2009 (UTC)Reply

Hello,

You have some time for freenode:Wikimedia-Commons ? Huib talk 21:27, 11 July 2009 (UTC)Reply

Maybe... try me Monday perhaps. ++Lar: t/c 18:39, 12 July 2009 (UTC)Reply

Just for the record, this is Done :) Huib talk 16:01, 13 July 2009 (UTC)Reply

Similarly, if you happen to be available now, join? [not commons in particular though]. If no, disregard. Prodego ^talk 04:26, 16 August 2009 (UTC)Reply

Would you please take a look at this? Altairisfar 20:21, 27 July 2009 (UTC)Reply

Yes, I did. It appears your block was reduced to a week... Do you understand why we don't want edit summaries with profanity in them? I'm not sure what else you wanted to know... was there a specific question? ++Lar: t/c 07:38, 28 July 2009 (UTC)Reply

Hi, I missed it sorry :( Best regards, Huib talk 18:07, 4 August 2009 (UTC)Reply

No worries. At least you were archiving things... something I usually forget to do. ++Lar: t/c 18:20, 4 August 2009 (UTC)Reply

Stewards handle the request, we archive it.. Great teamwork this way. Huib talk 18:33, 4 August 2009 (UTC)Reply

You might find User:Uncle G/On fundamental principles interesting reading. As far as I can tell, UninvitedCompany missed one. Uncle G 15:15, 15 August 2009 (UTC)Reply

Hi. We try to make a new language proposal, but our en:Prekmurian dialect has no ISO code yet. What is the procedure? We also think it could pass other conditions. Thanks for help. --Janezdrilc 20:27, 18 August 2009 (UTC)Reply

I'm not totally sure, not being involved with the language subcommittee much (at all), sorry. Maybe User:Pathoschild may be more help? Have you reviewed Language_committee as well as the related pages Requests_for_new_languages and Meta:Language proposal policy ? Requisite #2 says that if there is no ISO code, you must obtain one. I confess I have no idea where to start on that... the ISO 639-3 standards page may have some more info? Hope that helps. ++Lar: t/c 20:49, 18 August 2009 (UTC)Reply

Although now I can leave a message to you, I still can not see or pick any diff because of the stupid popups. I've used both Mac and PC and only Firefox (Safari doesn't work either, and IE is too slow to use), but the problem always remain the same. If that is beyond your capacity, please contact technicians to fix the problem. Thanks.--Caspian blue 02:09, 6 October 2009 (UTC)Reply

I am not the right guy to fix this. I am not sure what technicians to contact. Have you tried renaming your monobook.js (if you have one) so you are running standard, and then going into preferences and turn off all gadgets? More than that I cannot suggest. ++Lar: t/c 03:15, 6 October 2009 (UTC)Reply

I have not change anything or set up on this Wiki project. I'm asking you to help me because you're the only one I can remember that you're active on Meta (due to your steward/b'crat/checkuser position) and a "computer guy". Please give me some reference if you can not solve the problem.--Caspian blue 23:24, 6 October 2009 (UTC)Reply

Never mind. The problem is now solved and is due to my preference setting a long ago which I don't even remember. Kwj2772 thankfully helped me. Commons:User_talk:Kwj2772#Thank you for the help on Meta. However, I also appreciate your initial attempt to solve the problem. Sincerely.--Caspian blue 12:40, 7 October 2009 (UTC)Reply

If you can help me to correct it, I'll give you many thanks. --MisterWiki 23:13, 7 October 2009 (UTC)Reply

For starters I suggest changing every occurrence of my ID to yours, then delete all the wikis that you don't have IDs on. If you have more specific questions please ask. (Note: I'm not going to go fix up all your entries for you...) Hope that helps. ++Lar: t/c 03:25, 8 October 2009 (UTC)Reply

With regards to this request, I'm confused as to what the actual policy is, or whether it is based on "common sense/gut feeling". Thank you so much! Seb az86556 07:23, 8 December 2009 (UTC)Reply

Did. Sorry for confusion. Hope it helped. ++Lar: t/c 11:06, 8 December 2009 (UTC)Reply

Hi Lar, fyi: it will most likely not be possible for me to answer your questions within the next 24 hours. I need more time to think about possible answers, which is somewhat of a problem, because Tuesday will be a very busy day for me irl. Above that, having to formulate those answers in English requires some extra time too. Of course, I will try to do that as soon as possible. Hoping you're not too disappointed, Wutsje 23:48, 18 January 2010 (UTC)Reply

The election doesn't start till 7 Feb, so there's plenty of time, take your time. But thanks for letting me know. Best of luck in the election. Good candidates seem thin on the ground this year so you should do well, you'll likely have my support at any rate. ++Lar: t/c 10:07, 19 January 2010 (UTC)Reply

According to the policy: "Users get it if they need it, keep it if people trust them, and lose it if they do not need it or are no longer trusted. Steward status is granted until the next yearly elections, where users will be invited to comment and in particular to ask for removal of status. Should the stewards determine that consensus exists for a steward's rights be removed, the steward will lose their status."

I did not see an entry for you to ask you questions. Where would that section be? Ottava Rima 18:55, 19 January 2010 (UTC)Reply

About your last question: Steward elections are only for candidates who are currently not Stewards. Lar is already a Steward, so his candidacy can be found at Stewards/confirm/2010. You can ask questions on Stewards/confirm/2010/Lar (Section "comments"). Regards, --Church of emacs talk 19:14, 19 January 2010 (UTC)Reply

That is comments, not questions. I want to know where I can ask questions. :) Ottava Rima 20:03, 19 January 2010 (UTC)Reply

I'll just post the question here so you can answer it at your leisure - You have rights at WP, Commons, and Meta. These happen to be areas you are highly active in. What kinds of contributions (Steward related) do you make to areas where you are not highly active in? Do you randomly patrol any Wikis or do you mostly just respond to meta requests? You emphasised your main areas in your statement, but you said little about your Steward activities. Ottava Rima 20:07, 19 January 2010 (UTC)Reply

I think asking questions of existing stewards is a valid thing to do so perhaps we need to make some provision for it. To answer your specific question, although I was more active last year in "random" patrol of wikis, with the increase in the effectiveness of the Small wiki monitoring team and the advent of things like global rollback, there has been less need for stewards in general to get as involved in patrolling, and my stewardish things have been more around permissions flipping and discussion of things on the steward-1 mailing list and on IRC. You can get an overview of my activity crosswiki at http://toolserver.org/~pathoschild/crossactivity/?user=Lar and http://toolserver.org/~vvv/sulutil.php?user=Lar and http://toolserver.org/~luxo/contributions/contributions.php?user=Lar&blocks=true&lang=en (note: some of those are pretty slow to load) Stats on CU and OV actions are not public. Hope that helps. (note that if the Global Sysop proposal passes, stewards as a whole, will (presumably) spend proportionally less time on routine patrolling) ++Lar: t/c 22:31, 19 January 2010 (UTC)Reply

It does. And I always thought you were a fine Steward even though we never seemed to have a positive interaction. Ottava Rima 01:02, 20 January 2010 (UTC)Reply

Thanks for all your support. Not just your comments, but your other edits as well, trying to preserve decorum. They are appreciated. ++Lar: t/c 13:34, 16 February 2010 (UTC)Reply

As you're online... I added a notice about you joining the OC to your candidate page so those commenting would know. Feel free to fix/update/remove/whatever  — Mike.lifeguard | ^@en.wb 01:29, 7 February 2010 (UTC)Reply

Thanks. I've been holding off because I didn't think it has been announced as of when last I checked. Appreciated. ++Lar: t/c 01:39, 7 February 2010 (UTC)Reply

Hi Lar, this might be just me being dumb, but why are we going through a confirmation-process for your stewardship when you - due to being a memeber of the OC - will not be serving as steward for 2010? I take it you will have to be reconfirmed again for 2011. (Fixed a link on your userpage, hope that's ok ;) Best regards, Finn Rindahl 10:43, 16 February 2010 (UTC)Reply

Hi Finnrind. Shizhao skipped confirmation when he started, and one of the things he's getting for feedback is "inactivity" or worse "I don't remember this guy". So I decided to do my confirmation now instead of later. Assuming I am reconfirmed, I won't go through it again in 2011 when I resume my duties. Tactically, I perhaps should have waited so that the BLP furor died down... but I'm not tactical, I'm more concerned with getting honest feedback. Being told I'm "arrogant", for example, stings, and I may not agree with it but clearly the person who said that feels that way, strongly. It's good to keep in mind. (thanks for the fix, that was a bad cut/paste, I was using similar text on other wikis) ++Lar: t/c 13:32, 16 February 2010 (UTC)Reply

Thanks for clarifying, when reading the note on top of the confirmpage again I see I really should have got it without asking :). I fail to see the relevance of that BLP issue on enwiki for your stewardship, but it seem others feel differently (or just want to use this opportunity to get back at you for past disagrements). As for the arrogancefeedback - the moment feedback like that doesn't sting is when you probably have become arrogant... While keeping such remarks in mind indeed could be helpful, remember that all those "confirms" from myself and others are also honest feedback to be kept in mind :) Regards, Finn Rindahl 14:16, 16 February 2010 (UTC)Reply

Yep. Thanks for your kind words. ++Lar: t/c 14:54, 16 February 2010 (UTC)Reply

Hello. I have left this message on several other talk-pages as I am trying to draw attention of the community to a problem with which I was forced to come here. I filled out a report about abusive behavior of an administrator in az.wiki here but so far no respond I've received. In addition to all listed abusive behaviors there, now the administrator in question is trying to adopt a new rule in rush (to justify her actions) which is supposed equivalent of No personal attacks. That is not exact or even closer translation of the one in en.wiki. It is modified in a way to allow administrators to take any action on their will. I am hopping you will have time to look into the issue and end this bureaucracy in az.wiki. In that project an online version of dictatorship is being established and if no action is taken, the results will be catastrophic for az.wiki. I have presented many evidences here and will to elaborate on it to any extend. Thank you. Gulmammad 04:33, 2 May 2010 (UTC)Reply

It sounds like you need to talk to a steward. I am sorry but I am no longer a steward. ++Lar: t/c 04:47, 2 May 2010 (UTC)Reply

Thanks for the reply! I knew in the past you were a steward but didn't check it again. Sorry for distracting you :) Gulmammad 07:37, 2 May 2010 (UTC)Reply

Hello Lar. In accordance with Meta:Administrators/Removal and because you have made fewer than ten logged actions over the past six months, your adminship is under review at Meta:Administrators/Removal/October 2010. If you would like to retain your adminship, please sign there before November, 1 2010. Kind regards, --dferg ^{☎ talk} 14:37, 25 October 2010 (UTC)Reply

I regret to inform you that your administrator access has been removed, because you did not indicate that you wanted to keep it. Kind regards, Tiptoety ^talk 23:48, 2 November 2010 (UTC)Reply

this worries me. because I trust you. Can you point me to a reason? (On or off-wiki, prefer on, but if discretion is advisable, off is okay, by email.)

Does that link go where you think it does, Abd? I do not see any comments from me in that permissions request section. Thanks. ++Lar: t/c 20:09, 9 February 2011 (UTC)Reply

Arggh. this. Sorry. --Abd 20:16, 9 February 2011 (UTC)Reply

His activities in the 2010 Steward confirmations gave me great disquiet. He appears to have been politicking behind the scenes, along with Mike.lifeguard, to influence the outcome and then obscured the discussion. ++Lar: t/c 20:24, 9 February 2011 (UTC)Reply

Politicking as in canvassing for support, or...? Tiptoety ^talk 20:56, 9 February 2011 (UTC)Reply

As in (what seemed like at second hand anyway based on what I heard) private character assassination. Also distortion of statistics, and, during the final discussion about confirmation among the stewards selected to do so, participating secretly along with Mike.lifeguard (who subsequently resigned or I would be opposing him on the same grounds) in what was ostensibly a closed process and refusing to reveal what was said even when pressed repeatedly by multiple parties. All rather underhanded and not really the Pathoschild I remember working with closely in the past. Pathoschild is a great toolsmith but I no longer have absolute trust in his discretion, sense of fairness and judgment. I expect he will be confirmed anyway but I could not remain silent. ++Lar: t/c 21:03, 9 February 2011 (UTC)Reply

Hi Lar. If it was so unexpected of me, did you consider that this might also be inaccurate? I actually pushed to have the full logs published with anonymized names, but not everyone agreed. Since others did not agree to publishing, it is unreasonable to expect me to paraphrase what they said. You worry that the confirmation process was closed, but the 2011 confirmation committee — of which I am not a member — will likely be closed as well. It is not something I caused or favoured; in fact, I drafted the discussion summaries as a last resort when publishing fell through.

There was also no deliberate skewing of the statistics. I published them and invited others to verify them and correct any inaccuracies — nobody did so. —Pathoschild 21:59:04, 09 February 2011 (UTC)

The key to me is why you and Mike participated in a closed process, after you and Mike both had privately indicated to me that you had already made your mind up about the outcome and you were not selected to participate. The logs, I suspect, would show undue influence so it's not surprising there was reluctance to make them public. And that's what I find most disappointing, that you and Mike apparently maneuvered matters to ensure an outcome that was counter to consensus. You are a great guy for the most part, but that sort of sleaze is beneath you. It is a good part of why I choose to have nothing much to do with you or other stewards any more. ++Lar: t/c 22:04, 9 February 2011 (UTC)Reply

There was no such maneuvering, but I can offer no more proof than you can. I presented my side of the story; you're free to disbelieve it. —Pathoschild 22:17:10, 09 February 2011 (UTC)

I think you can offer less proof, rather than "no more", but whatever. (I remember what you yourself said to me on IRC at the time when I complained about your skewing the stats, which was my first inkling that things were awry.) Again, why were you and Mike even IN on that discussion if you were not selected to be in on it? Sleazy and beneath you. Hence my disquiet and lack of support. Enough. ++Lar: t/c 22:24, 9 February 2011 (UTC)Reply

• Thanks, Lar, and also thanks, Pathoschild. I believe you both. Lar, the practice of coming to a decision on IRC violates policy, but it's been so widely done that "punishing" someone for it is itself bad policy, effectively an ex post facto law, and some of the best have done it. It is effectively encouraged by having IRC with private logs. The problem is not Pathoschild, it is a problematic community practice. I'd recommend that stewards and admins opt out of discussion fora that are not publicly logged, as a start, but it's complicated, for there can be legit reasons for privacy. The real problem is making decisions with some assumed consensus, but without public input and understanding. --Abd 00:05, 10 February 2011 (UTC)Reply

I don't think there is anything wrong with using IRC, per se. ++Lar: t/c 05:01, 10 February 2011 (UTC)Reply

Per se. The problem is lack of transparency. If decisions or apparent decisions are made off-wiki, leaving the evidence and arguments invisible to the community. Does this violate steward policy? It obviously does. Discussion of steward actions should occur on Meta, rather than privately. As I noted, "there can be legit reasons." But, easily, those reasons, historically, in organizations like the WMF structure, take over. Private discussion should be severely limited to necessity.

The problem isn't IRC, per se. It is private logs or mail archives. --Abd 14:32, 10 February 2011 (UTC)Reply

What happened? You are not leaving us, are you? Béria Lima ^msg 14:34, 11 April 2011 (UTC)Reply

My heart just isn't in it any more, at least for now. ++Lar: t/c 14:47, 11 April 2011 (UTC)Reply

Sad to see you go, best of luck in all things. Snowolf ^{How can I help?} 15:02, 11 April 2011 (UTC)Reply

Good luck Lar, and i hope you don't forget us completely and come back someday! :D Béria Lima ^msg 19:09, 11 April 2011 (UTC)Reply