User talk:Mike Serfas

You have new messages

Hello, Mike Serfas. You have new messages at George Orwell III's talk page.
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Images and File generally at Commons

G'day. Wikisource is able to dynamically use image files at Commons, by standard image wiki code, a very neat transwiki. So there is generally no specific need to upload generic images to WikiSource. -- billinghurst (talk) 05:57, 11 February 2009 (UTC)

My impression was that Wikisource is a bit faster than Wikicommons, and since it's only a 32-pixel square image, intended for placement on multiple Talk page banners if all goes well, I didn't think it would hurt to keep it here. Is that alright? Mike Serfas (talk) 06:02, 11 February 2009 (UTC)

It should make no discernible difference. We do work firmly on the principle that files should be at Commons as they can therefore be shared across all projects, and that we only keep files here where there is a demonstrated benefit for both projects. I am not sure that this file meets the criteria and is just likely to be transwiki'd.— billinghurst sDrewth 12:12, 21 February 2010 (UTC)

Template:Wp

Hi Mike, I am not sure how your template {{wp}} is different from our existing template {{w}}. I would prefer to have these be the one rather than there to be multiples. We are finding that given too much choice for little particular difference has been confusing to the punters.

Also note that I have moved some of your templates to more descriptive names. We have been trying to lift our game by having descriptive names as the base, and then if it is a long name to have a redirect from a shorter version. Thanks. — billinghurst sDrewth 12:08, 21 February 2010 (UTC)

Sorry, I missed Template:w when searching ... I thought there must have been a preexisting template for that. ;) I've switched over to it now, and I'll log Template:wp for deletion. Mike Serfas (talk) 19:04, 21 February 2010 (UTC)

I've also taken the liberty of modifying Template:w to accept an optional second parameter, to match my plan for Template:wp. This had already been requested on its talk page, and I don't think it should cause trouble. Mike Serfas (talk) 19:39, 21 February 2010 (UTC)

Sweet. Thanks. I created a redirect rather than delete it. Seemed more relevant. — billinghurst sDrewth 03:31, 22 February 2010 (UTC)

Chat to George Orwell III

It would seem that you are doing work similar to that undertaken by George Orwell III (talk • contribs). Would be well worth coordinating your attack on US legislation with the fellow contributors. — billinghurst sDrewth 11:36, 18 April 2010 (UTC)

Thanks for the suggestion, but I'm not currently planning more of the same. I put this up in response to a CounterPunch article lamenting the near lack of availability of the online text of the Glass-Steagall Act online, which is somewhat relevant to the current issue of "Wall Street reform". My intention was mainly to demonstrate that Wikisource is a sovereign remedy for the problem - providing a free, durable, free-format repository for any such document of public interest. By comparison, the secured .pdf is not indexed by search engines, takes up 25 megabytes, and is designed to defeat cut-and-paste; while the scribd copy (taken by itself) is not really a reliable source and poses some technical obstacles of its own. Mike Serfas (talk) 13:47, 18 April 2010 (UTC)

Fair enough. To the PDF have you tried converting it to a DJVU file and then we can load at Commons, and link through to our Page: namespace (see H:SIDE) and we then translude such back to the main namespace, and it becomes the best of both worlds, the original, and some useful text. If we cannot convert to DjVu directly or via Archive.org, we can actually have PDF through Side by Side, though it is a little less versatile. — billinghurst sDrewth 13:54, 18 April 2010 (UTC)

Done I didn't realize that the pdf2djvu converter would so simply push aside the "secured pdf" status. (Then again, I think this is the first time I've encountered one... which according to the originating site, was for the user's "own good" to prevent copying of inaccurate tables...) It was actually more trouble to get a ".djv" file uploaded to Commons... Mike Serfas (talk) 15:41, 18 April 2010 (UTC)

Okay, the Index file is now at Index:Banking Act of 1933 (Federal Reserve Circular 1248).djvu. I gave the work a test run on Match and split and I will look to do a proper run later this week, as time permits. — billinghurst sDrewth 17:14, 18 April 2010 (UTC)

Tidied the match; did the split to Page: namespace. Looks okay. — billinghurst sDrewth 04:09, 24 April 2010 (UTC)

Help page

Nice work on the expansion, perhaps you can think of a shorter name for this. Regarding file types, I'm not aware of any restriction on uploading pdf. Does something at commons contradict this? Cygnis insignis (talk) 21:19, 25 April 2010 (UTC)

I'm pretty sure that the upload page prevented me from uploading the .pdf of the Banking Act of 1933 file, which I then uploaded as .djvu (In fact, it rejected .djv also, without the "u"). According to the current upload page,[1] "Permitted file types: png, gif, jpg, jpeg, xcf, mid, ogg, ogv, svg, djvu, tif, tiff, oga." But I do see that there are .pdf's on Wikimedia Commons. Have you been able to upload pdfs recently? Mike Serfas (talk) 21:55, 25 April 2010 (UTC)

I have done, but not recently. A file type with an available text layer should be strongly encouraged, but sometimes a pdf and a separate transcription are what the source gives. If its possible I think it preferable to invite users to do upload that instead of nothing, verification for the reader, someone else can convert it if needed. Cygnis insignis (talk) 22:45, 25 April 2010 (UTC)

As for the name, I see that Help:Proofreading is still available. The Help:Side by side image view for proofreading‎ help file contains some grab-bag topics that stray far from the topic of the side-by-side proofreading interface, so perhaps it would be desirable to move it to the more general name. But I'm not sure I've even seen all the relevant help files, so I'd be nervous about reorganizing them drastically. Mike Serfas (talk) 22:00, 25 April 2010 (UTC)

The page Help:Editing has some overlap. I'm recently contributed to the jumble of help pages, someone fixed that, it's all good. I moved the page to your suggestion, all the relevant pages need updating, splitting, and merging. Make some comments on the talk pages if you are not sure how to improve it. cheers, Cygnis insignis (talk) 22:45, 25 April 2010 (UTC)